Then he tossed out one last remark: "Nice earrings."
He left the corridor and went straight up to the second floor.
Assassins had exceptionally keen powers of observation. Top-tier assassins could see through everything in their surroundings... Silva was like that, and so was his grandfather, Zeno. If he wanted to, nothing within a three-hundred-meter radius could escape his notice.
After all, the radius of his En extended beyond three hundred meters.
So Roy had never expected to keep the earrings a secret from Silva.
He might as well wear them openly and stop taking them off.
"Young Master, it's time to eat."
At four thirty in the morning, Gotoh arrived with a food cart.
"The kitchen followed your instructions, Young Master, and made another serving of minced pork with eggplant. We hope you'll find it satisfactory this time."
Having learned from last time, the kitchen had made some improvements.
"Take it straight to Great-Grandpa."
He was getting on in years. Roy shouldn't keep making an elder come over to see him.
Besides, in both his lives, Roy had never made a habit of eating stir-fried dishes in the morning. He simply sat back down at the table and started on a bacon sandwich.
Gotoh returned a short while later, carrying an empty plate...
"Great-Grandfather said it's better than last time, but still not as good as yours, Young Master."
Roy was grateful for his great-grandfather's kindness... but he knew this was just the "first-time effect" at work.
Life was full of firsts: taking an entrance exam for the first time, falling in love for the first time, getting married for the first time, losing a loved one for the first time... Those were often the hardest to forget.
Roy ate his sandwich without comment, silently listening as Gotoh went over the day's training schedule, while his mind remained on one question—how to become a tree.
"融于自然," or "becoming one with nature," was how Roy understood Urokodaki Sakonji's reason for telling him to hug a tree.
That did have something in common with training in Zetsu.
"After your father said he wanted to test you last time... I put together some notes on what I learned when I trained in Zetsu."
"I hope they'll be useful to you."
Gotoh was diligent. He took out the notes he'd prepared and handed them to Roy.
Roy took a sip of milk as he flipped through them. "How long did it take you to learn Zetsu?"
"One year and two months." Gotoh nudged the gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. "Tsubone said I had no talent. It took me three months to learn Ten and nine months to learn Ren. As for advanced techniques like En, Ken, Ko, and Ryu, I've only mastered Shu so far..."
Shu was the technique of enveloping an object in aura. In Gotoh's case, the object was his "weapon"—
coins.
"Don't sell yourself short."
Nen Ability wasn't something you saw every day. Across the entire Hunter world, only six or seven hundred people were Nen users backed by the Hunter Association. Even someone as privileged as Kakin Empire's Fourth Prince, Tserriednich, hadn't known what "Nen" was before meeting Theta.
So Gotoh did have talent. It had simply been diluted by the "Zoldyck monster training ground."
After reading through Gotoh's notes, Roy could sum them up in two words—
Power through.
There was no technique to it. It was all about putting in the time. The only remotely notable part was that, during "meditation," he sometimes seemed to reach a state of "enlightenment." But Roy seriously doubted whether that was actual "enlightenment" or just the sensation of drifting off while half-asleep.
"Oh, right. I nearly forgot the book Great-Grandpa gave me."
After finishing Gotoh's notes, Roy washed down the last bite of his sandwich with milk, opened a drawer, and took out Jager's notebook.
A closer look only made it seem even more abstract...
The entire notebook mentioned just one thing about training in Zetsu—"self-hypnosis."
Use "hypnosis" to deepen your "imagination," quickly place yourself in a "natural" state, and gather aura naturally by becoming one with nature.
So this was the world of geniuses?
Roy could even imagine what Jager had been thinking as he wrote those words—
What's so hard about Zetsu? Anyone with hands can learn it.
It was enough to make a person give up on feeling jealous...
Roy fell silent for a moment, then quietly put the notebook away.
"Dong~" It was five in the morning.
It was time to head to the training room again.
But this time, Roy didn't bring Snow Walk.
He was a good listener. Since Urokodaki Sakonji had specifically told him not to hold a sword, then he'd only hug a tree!
"Young Master, you forgot Snow Walk." Gotoh cleared the table and kindly reminded him.
Roy waved a hand, left the room, and headed toward the training room with his back to Gotoh.
The one-million-volt shock was still on today's training schedule. Now that his body was stronger, Roy was eager to see how long he could withstand it.
"One minute and thirty-five seconds..." That was the result Illumi had managed.
The only reason he seemed able to endure without collapsing was that he always had to outdo his big brother.
When Roy pushed open the training room door, he saw that explosive hair, so wildly at odds with Illumi's ghastly pale face, once again. Illumi had just been shocked until his whole body convulsed. Using the last of his strength, he looked back at Roy and stubbornly held on before...
He fell straight over.
Roy understood what he meant...
This time, I'll definitely wake up before you...
Roy briskly took off his undershirt.
"Sorry, Young Master." Luke bowed to Roy.
Now that Illumi was done, there was no need to move the equipment around. Luke simply planted the rod against Roy's chest.
"Crackle~" Arcs of electricity flashed. Through Roy's skin, the current could even be seen coursing through his body.
This time seemed a little better than last. At least Roy didn't let out a groan, and he held himself steady instead of swaying back and forth.
"Huh?" Luke was surprised.
He instinctively thought he'd picked up the wrong baton, so he looked down... The large 100 was plain to see, proving...
It wasn't his mistake. It was that...
Roy seemed to be holding out longer than before!
But... this was ridiculous. Could someone really grow that much in just one day?
Luke stared at Roy in disbelief and urged him, "Don't push yourself, Young Master. Your father said that holding out for two minutes would count as passing."
Two minutes?
Roy refused to be a sprinter.
He clenched his teeth and said evenly, "Keep going."
Soon, one minute passed, then a minute and a half... Finally, when the stopwatch in Luke's hand reached two minutes and thirty-five seconds, Roy opened his mouth and exhaled a plume of black smoke. Luke caught him in his arms.
Sunlight blazed down through the clouds, scorching the earth and bringing on a sweat...
The hole in the garden had been dug yesterday. Illumi woke up from the heat today.
When he sleepily opened those hollow, dead-fish eyes and saw Roy shoveling dirt over him, one scoop at a time, the boy shut his eyes again in resentment and called for Luke to bring him another sip of water.
"It's fine if you woke up late. I'll still get one more sip of water than you."
Young Master Illumi's bottom line had always been flexible... Roy noticed that he'd woken up, but didn't stop what he was doing. He kept swinging the shovel, slowly regaining control of his body.
Not until...
The numbness in his body had completely faded,
did he plant the shovel in the ground, turn toward a nearby cypress tree, and wrap his arms around it.
Illumi: "?"
Before you continue