No Comparison, No Harm

"Compared to her, at least I don't pretend to be young. However old I am inside is how old I am. I'm upright and open about it!"

Watching Jing Yang say that with a perfectly serious expression, Ging—the burly, afro-haired man with stubble all over his face—fell silent.

Menchi asked suspiciously, "A woman in her fifties who looks like a doll-like little girl? Does someone like that really exist?"

Ging coughed lightly and cut in. "I'm guessing he means Biscuit, right? Jing Yang, you know her?"

Jing Yang said seriously, "I know her, but she doesn't know me."

Ging: "..."

Menchi was utterly shocked. "Someone like that really exists?!"

Ging said, "Biscuit is Chairman Netero's most outstanding disciple, and she's also my senior. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to comment." After a pause, he added, "I suggest you two don't badmouth her in front of me either."

"What do you mean, badmouth her?!" Menchi cried indignantly, clenching her fists. "I'm jealous of her! Doesn't that mean she gets to stay young forever? Nen Abilities can even do something like that?! When I get old, I really want an ability like that too..."

Jing Yang said, "...Do you two have anything else to do? I need to continue training this afternoon."

Training in the afternoon too? Menchi was deeply shaken. Jing Yang had also ignited her fighting spirit, and she decided to train alongside him.

In the dull life of training, having a hot girl around to feast his eyes on was naturally not a bad thing, so Jing Yang did not refuse. Wu Er seemed to have some issue with the female chef, though he kept that opinion to himself for the time being.

Ging looked at Jing Yang. "Is this really all right?"

For a Nen User, the category their ability belonged to was fairly important information—a secret they would usually only share with close friends.

"Oh, it's fine!" Jing Yang replied.

When Menchi heard that, she was deeply touched. Jing Yang trusted her that much?

Jing Yang continued, "I already trained my Nen Ability, Hatsu, this morning, so I can practice something else in the afternoon. It won't involve any secrets about my ability."

Ging: "..."

Menchi: "...What about me?"

Jing Yang scoffed. "You haven't even fully mastered Nen Abilities yet. Even if I wanted to peek at your secrets, there'd be nothing to see!"

Veins bulged on Menchi's forehead as she instinctively reached behind her waist for her cleaver...

"And haven't you already admitted that you're a Conjurer?" Jing Yang added. "Little girl, you have no secrets left in front of me."

Clang!

A flash of steel!

"Stop right there! If you're going to look down on me that much, then don't dodge!"

"..." Ging narrowed his eyes as cold sweat ran down his face.

After that round of commotion, Menchi angrily began training. She had already completed Ten, Zetsu, Ren, and Gyo, and could barely be said to have mastered them. Normally, she should have naturally begun training Hatsu and, with the help of Ging—the novice instructor assigned by the Hunter Association—officially developed her own Conjurer-type Nen Ability. But Ging had received news of poachers committing crimes and hurriedly brought Menchi to this island to catch the culprit.

Since Menchi had passed the Hunter Exam in January of that year, she had first delayed for several months in order to take part in a cooking competition. Then the matter with Ging had come up. Now it was already late December, and she still had no clear idea for her Hatsu. What kind of ability should she develop based on the characteristics of a Conjurer? She had no clue for the time being...

"Wouldn't it be better to start Hatsu directly? Isn't that what I need to practice most right now?" Menchi maintained Zetsu where she stood. "Why do I have to practice things I've already mastered?"

Ging said, "The basics are important. If you neglect the basics just to practice Hatsu, then you're putting the cart before the horse."

Menchi was unconvinced. To her, Nen Abilities were all sorts of miraculous superpowers, so Hatsu should have been the core.

Ging could only say, "Look at him."

Menchi turned to look. Jing Yang, the boy who looked only five years old but claimed to be twenty, stood in an open area nearby. His fists were loosely clenched, his eyes shut, and his body held in a tense posture. The Fanged Moon Tiger close to him lay quietly nearby, watching. A Bird rested atop its head, and another perched on its tail. Everything looked harmonious and natural, as though this scene had happened many times before.

"What is he doing?" A question mark seemed to pop up over Menchi's head.

"Using Gyo," Ging reminded her.

"Oh." Menchi hurriedly tried to gather Aura in her eyes.

Slowly, she saw it clearly. Jing Yang only appeared to be standing still, but his entire body was actually wrapped in a layer of Aura.

Menchi was shocked, yet even more confused. "That's Ren? But why couldn't I sense even the slightest presence from him just now?"

Ren was the act of releasing all the Aura in one's body at maximum output.

From Menchi's previous experience, once someone released all their Aura, even people who knew nothing about Nen Abilities would definitely sense that the atmosphere had changed. If the person releasing Aura was filled with killing intent, malice, or similar emotions, those feelings would be clearly sensed as well. Sensitive, vigilant animals would immediately flee or be frightened into submission.

Ging said, "Because he isn't using Ren, but Ken. And his Ken is quite good, which is why no excess Aura is leaking out."

"Ken?" Menchi had never heard of it.

"Simply put, it means using the technique of Ten to maintain your Aura at the right moment, based on Ren," Ging explained. "This is a more advanced derivative technique. Menchi, you haven't reached the stage where you should learn it yet. You need to become much more proficient with Ten, Zetsu, Ren, and Hatsu before considering these things."

"Oh..." Menchi nodded, closed her eyes, and obediently went through the foundational training first. "Ren!"

She released her Aura with all her strength, but secretly tried to see if she could use the trick of Ten to maintain the Aura she had released.

Whoosh!

Menchi made a mistake. She failed to grasp the timing for Ten, and the Aura released from her entire body became chaotic.

Ging simply watched. It was good for her to suffer a little.

After Jing Yang grew tired from his own training, he went over to watch Menchi.

Menchi had already begun attempting Hatsu. She was a Conjurer, so naturally she had to consider an ability along the lines of "conjuring some useful object." And since she was a chef, she naturally thought of "kitchen utensils." Connecting kitchen utensils with Nen combat naturally led her to think of "cleavers"...

"If it's just a cleaver, couldn't you just buy the best-quality one at the market?" Jing Yang teased as he watched, casually petting the big cat and the Bird.

"You're so annoying! What I want isn't an ordinary kitchen utensil!" Menchi snapped. "It's a 'cleaver that can effortlessly cut through any ingredient'! With a cleaver like that, I could cook and deal with enemies. Isn't that perfect?"

Jing Yang was speechless. Then he beckoned. "Give me your cleaver."

"I haven't developed it yet!" Menchi said.

"The one you used to chop at me earlier."

"Oh." Menchi handed him the cleaver she carried with her.

Jing Yang gripped the handle.

Ging's gaze shifted. The Aura wrapped around Jing Yang's hand flowed like water over Menchi's cleaver...

Holding the cleaver, Jing Yang found a stone by the roadside and casually sliced at it. Like cutting vegetables, he smoothly cleaved the stone in two, while the blade did not gain a single mark.

"'A cleaver that can effortlessly cut through any ingredient'—an ordinary cleaver can do that too." Jing Yang spoke to the dumbfounded Menchi.

"What was that?" Menchi pointed at Jing Yang and turned to ask Ging.

Ging broke out in cold sweat, but answered honestly, "That's called Shu, a technique that wraps Aura around an object."

After a pause, he added, "Like Ken, it's a derivative application of Nen Abilities. You should first—"

"First become proficient with Ten, Zetsu, Ren, and Hatsu." Menchi gloomily cut him off. Still unwilling to accept it, she asked Jing Yang, "How long did it take you to learn Ken and Shu?"

"Separately? No, I learned them at the same time." Jing Yang handed the cleaver back to her, utterly puzzled. "Is it really that hard?"

Menchi: "..."

Ging increasingly believed that this person who looked like a boy might truly be in the same situation as Senior Biscuit...