Light's Ecstasy

Light is a professional Bounty Hunter with high aspirations and a strong sense of pragmatism; once he locks onto a target, he will do everything in his power to complete the hunt.

After setting his sights on the notorious Ian, he gathered various pieces of intelligence and tracked him all the way here.

Throughout this process, his Hunter License provided him with quite a few conveniences.

For instance, the distress call Monica made while fleeing through the mountains ended up becoming effective intelligence, pointing Light toward a specific direction.

Consequently, Light took over the dispatch mission from the police.

Although he could have requested police assistance and used a large number of officers as cannon fodder to draw out and quickly pinpoint Ian's location, Light wasn't depraved enough to go that far.

In front of a qualified Nen user, let alone ordinary people, even Killua—who hadn't yet learned Nen—would have to turn tail and run.

Light simply felt that if he let the police join the operation, it would be tantamount to pushing them into a fire pit with his own hands.

Unwilling to do such a thing, he only had the police set up a perimeter around the scenic area before arriving alone.

The reason he was delayed until now was that he had spent some time familiarizing himself with the conditions of this scenic area.

The terrain, the environment.

As well as the dilapidated Temple on the mountain and the father and son living inside it.

He had already gathered all this information.

So, when he tracked the scent of blood to the outside of the Temple, his initial judgment was that the poor father and son in the Temple had already met a tragic end.

He used Zetsu to conceal his presence and quietly entered the Temple to investigate.

Yet, he ended up seeing Ian's corpse in the courtyard.

Beyond his surprise, he keenly realized that he had been discovered.

There's an expert here.

That was Light's assessment at the time, and his mind immediately went to the middle-aged monk living in the Temple mentioned in his intel, but he never expected—

The Nen user who took out Ian was not the "father" in the Temple as he had assumed, but the "son."

Even so, he still concluded that the youth before him was an expert.

After all, someone capable of killing Ian and detecting his Zetsu couldn't possibly be weak.

So much so that when he saw Moyu's clumsy Ten, Light subconsciously assumed Moyu was hiding his true strength.

This left him feeling somewhat helpless.

His original hunting target was Ian.

Since the target was already dead, he certainly had no motive or reason to clash with Moyu; he wasn't looking for trouble for no reason...

He showed sincerity to make Moyu understand that he wasn't an enemy, but a Bounty Hunter whose profession was to track down criminals.

As it turned out, Moyu wasn't buying it.

Immediately after, Light realized he had guessed wrong again.

How is this possible!?

A novice Nen user who had just started and only knew Ten had taken down a Nen user who was proficient in the four major principles and had already developed his own Hatsu?

Only a Nen user would understand that such a thing was pure fantasy...

Then how exactly did this youth before him manage it!?

Stunned by this, Light was suddenly filled with intense curiosity.

He desperately wanted to know every detail of how Moyu had killed Ian.

In that very instant—

Moyu moved, picking up the Hunter License at top speed before hurling it forcefully toward the ceiling in front of Light.

"Hm?"

Light's expression shifted, and without hesitation, he leaped into the air to catch the Hunter License.

Are you kidding me!

In a sense, the Hunter License was more important than his own life.

Seeing Light's move to protect the Hunter License, Moyu narrowed his eyes, gripped the small knife he usually used for sharpening pencils, and charged straight at Light while he was still airborne.

Before making his move—

Moyu had pre-planned two options.

If Light had shown no reaction to the Hunter License he threw, he would have decisively jumped out the window to escape.

Conversely, Moyu would attempt an attack.

Which was exactly what he was doing now.

Sprint, pause!

Moyu drove the knife toward the space between Light Bullworth's legs.

"!!!"

Seeing that Moyu actually intended to stab his asshole with a knife, the corners of Light Bullworth's eyes twitched violently.

His tightly closed Aura Nodes burst open, releasing a massive amount of aura that instantly wrapped tightly around every corner of his body.

This was the advanced application technique, Ken.

And then—

Moyu decisively withdrew his hand and retreated.

Light Bullworth, now shrouded in dense Nen, landed steadily without showing any intent to attack.

Even though Moyu had just tried to stab him in the asshole with a knife, he had only defended himself rather than counterattacking.

This behavior from Light Bullworth finally convinced Moyu that the man had no malicious intent.

There was no helping it...

Facing an opponent who could use Ken so rapidly, he wouldn't even have a chance to struggle.

"I believe you; you really are a professional hunter."

Moyu dropped the knife and assumed a well-behaved posture.

Light Bullworth watched Moyu in silence, his eye still twitching.

Good grief, what the hell, good grief!!!

Light Bullworth took a deep breath, slowly forced a reluctant smile onto his face, and said, "I believe you too; you really only know how to use Ten..."

Through their brief clash, Moyu saw that Light Bullworth truly had no malicious intent, and Light Bullworth saw from that knife-to-the-ass attack style that Moyu really only knew Ten.

So—

How on earth did Moyu manage to kill Ian Archer?

While curious, Light Bullworth also felt a surge of excitement.

Regardless, this boy was absolutely a genius with terrifying potential!

If he could recruit him, he would have a guarantee for his future push toward becoming a Two-Star hunter!!!

Thinking of this, Light Bullworth was ecstatic and didn't care at all about the fact that Moyu had just tried to stab him in the ass with a knife.

"Let me reintroduce myself."

Suppressing the ecstasy in his heart, Light Bullworth put away his Hunter License and said solemnly:

"I am Light Bullworth, a professional Bounty Hunter, currently in pursuit of Ian Archer—the man outside whose neck you snapped."

"Oh."

Moyu nodded.

Light Bullworth looked at Moyu, seemingly waiting for him to continue.

However, after that single response, Moyu fell silent.

The two stared at each other, while Monica, huddled in the corner of the bed, looked completely bewildered.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

The room became exceptionally quiet.

"?"

Slowly, a question mark appeared over Light Bullworth's head, and his voice seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth: "Are you... not planning on saying anything?"

"Hmm."

Moyu pondered for a moment, then raised his index finger and said calmly, "I have a question I'd like to ask you."

"Fine, but before you ask, haven't you forgotten something? Like introducing yourself first?"

Light Bullworth stared straight at Moyu.

The intelligence he had gathered before coming here included the names of Moyu and Hawk.

But Light Bullworth believed that in this situation, exchanging names was a necessary step.

Because he wanted to make a deal with Moyu.

"My question is..."

Moyu ignored the reminder and threw out his question directly: "Since you've already confirmed the death of Ian Archer, why go through the trouble of making the situation complicated?"

"..."

Light Bullworth watched Moyu silently, then sighed after a moment: "You really are an unlikable person. How should I put this? This question is quite troublesome to explain. It's just... well, I want to make a deal with you."

Hunters are divided into ranks.

From lowest to highest, they are Amateur Hunter, professional hunter, One-Star hunter, Two-Star hunter, and Three-Star hunter.

Only by obtaining a license from the Hunter Association can one officially become a professional hunter.

Once a professional hunter, one can raise their star rating through "merit."

Within the Hunter Association, star ratings represent status, power, and honor.

Therefore, increasing one's star rating is one of the lifelong pursuits for the vast majority of professional hunters.

Light is one of them.

As a professional Bounty Hunter, the natural path to increasing merit is by tracking down criminals.

Light is currently pushing for One-Star, which is the motivation behind his proposal to Moyu.

"Oh?"

Moyu raised an eyebrow slightly. Surprised by Light's words, he asked in turn, "What do you want to trade with me?"

"I need the merit for capturing Ian Archer. For that, I am willing to pay you 5 million Jenie. Of course, the full bounty on Ian Archer will also go to you. How about it?"

Light stated his request candidly.

He had spent over half a month tracking Ian to secure this merit, and since he was at a critical juncture in his push for One-Star, he really didn't want to give up just like that.

Thus, he had no choice but to swallow his pride and use a "trade" to obtain the "merit" for capturing Ian from Moyu.

Hearing the terms of the trade Light proposed, the look in Moyu's eyes as he gazed at Light grew increasingly strange.

Being willing to pay 5 million Jenie to purchase the merit for capturing Ian showed that Light had a very high demand for this specific merit.

Yet, Light could have easily used his superior strength to take Ian's corpse and claim to the outside world that he was the one who captured him, allowing him to pocket the merit without spending a single cent.

If he were ruthless, he could even kill him and Monica here, turning this into a secret known to no one.

But Light did not do that.

This guy—

He's a "good person."

Moyu was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly asked, "Light, you're an Enhancer, right?"

"Yes, why?"

Light admitted it readily.

The condition for promoting from One-Star to Two-Star is to personally cultivate a One-Star professional hunter.

He already viewed Moyu as the key to his future push for Two-Star, so naturally, he wouldn't hide anything from him.

If he weren't afraid of Moyu's resentment, he would have wanted to propose taking Moyu as his apprentice right then and there.

"Nothing."

Moyu shook his head and said calmly, "Back to the trade. I have no objection to the 20 million Jenie bounty on Ian Archer going to me. As for the merit, I have different requirements."

"..."

Light's eyes flickered slightly.

He had deliberately avoided mentioning the specific bounty amount for Ian earlier, just so Moyu would readily agree to the trade of 5 million Jenie for the merit.

He hadn't expected Moyu to know the exact bounty amount for Ian...

"Let's hear them."

Light looked at Moyu.

Moyu held up three fingers and said slowly, "I have three requirements. First, 5 million is too little; double it. Second, be my sparring partner for a period of ten days. Third, you owe me a favor."

Proposing three requirements in one breath, Moyu didn't even blush or lose his composure.

Of course, he didn't expect Light to agree to all three just based on the merit attached to Ian. What he truly wanted was to make Light his sparring partner.

As for the additional demand to double the 5 million and the third requirement of owing a favor, they were merely there to make it easier for Light to agree to the second requirement of sparring.

"These three requirements of yours..."

Light looked serious, but inside, he was screaming with ecstasy.

A ten-day sparring period!!!

It was like being handed a pillow just as he was starting to doze off.

He was already fantasizing about the scene where he would demonstrate such impressive teaching ability during those ten days of sparring that Moyu would take the initiative to beg him to take him as an apprentice.

Moyu watched Light calmly, waiting for a response while already prepared to drop the other two requirements.

However—

Light said solemnly, "Very reasonable. I agree."

From hearing the requirements to agreeing, the entire process didn't contain a hint of hesitation.

"???"

Moyu was stunned for a moment.

This script isn't developing the way it's supposed to, is it?