Special training begins

On the Moonlight Tundra, morning light filtered through the glowing canopy, casting dappled patterns across a forest clearing.

The pool lay in a relatively open patch deep within the forest. Its mirror-smooth surface reflected the moss and ferns around it, all glowing a faint, luminous blue.

Biscuit stood beside the pool, bent down, and stirred the surface with a finger. Ripples spread outward, startling several phosphorescent insects into flight.

"There's a kind of fish in this pool called the Twin-Wing Shuttlefish."

She straightened and smiled at Leo.

"Go down there and catch one. No Nen allowed."

Leo rolled his shoulders and looked into the crystal-clear water.

"What's special about these fish?"

"They're incredibly fast and agile-"

Biscuit paused, her smile widening.

"-and absolutely delicious! Off you go!"

Leo asked no more questions. He stripped off his shirt, shoes, and socks, took a deep breath, and plunged into the water.

Splash!

Water sprayed everywhere, and coolness instantly enveloped his body.

The pool was deeper than it looked. Leo descended seven or eight meters before reaching the bottom.

Sunlight filtered through the surface, casting wavering patches of light across the bottom. Visibility was excellent.

The water was astonishingly clear.

Fine white sand and gravel covered the bottom, dotted here and there with moss-covered rocks.

Glowing algae clung to the aquatic plants and stones, bathing the underwater world in a dim blue light.

Leo hovered in the water, holding his breath as he observed his surroundings.

Half a minute later, he spotted his targets beside a dense clump of aquatic plants to his left-three silvery-white fish.

Each was about thirty centimeters long, with a perfectly streamlined body. Strangest of all were the pairs of transparent, membrane-like wings on either side, gently fluttering in the water.

These were the Twin-Wing Shuttlefish.

Leo adjusted his posture and slowly approached.

He kept his movements as small as possible, trying not to startle these seemingly vigilant creatures.

One meter away.

Leo kicked hard, shooting forward like an arrow. He spread the fingers of his right hand and reached for the nearest fish-

Just as his fingertips were about to touch it, the Dartfish gave a slight shudder.

It vanished.

No, it hadn't vanished-it had moved so fast that it left a silvery-white afterimage in the water.

Leo hadn't even seen how it moved. He only felt the surge of water churned up by its sudden burst of speed.

He raised an eyebrow and quickly turned his head.

The Dartfish reappeared three meters to his left, lazily fluttering its wings as though that explosive burst had never happened.

The other two fish had also swum farther away, seemingly mocking their clumsy predator in silence.

Leo turned and kicked hard again.

This time, he had learned his lesson. Instead of approaching at top speed, he advanced at a steadier pace, his eyes locked on his target and every muscle tense, ready to react to a sudden change of direction.

The Dartfish seemed to sense his intention.

When Leo came within two meters, it flicked its tail fin and glided diagonally away, moving as gracefully as though it were dancing through the water.

Leo immediately changed direction and accelerated after it.

For the next two minutes, a chase unfolded beneath the surface.

Leo tried approaching from every angle, falling just short each time.

The Dartfish displayed astonishing athletic ability-instant acceleration to speeds the naked eye could barely follow, abrupt stops, changes of direction, sideways glides... every movement flowed seamlessly into the next, without warning.

What troubled Leo most was that the fish seemed able to anticipate his movements.

Whenever he changed tactics, they reacted in advance, weaving effortlessly through the water as though they were simply toying with him.

But Leo wasn't discouraged.

He gradually cleared his mind, stopped deliberately planning his movements, and let his body react on instinct.

His eyes followed the fish's path while his brain worked at full speed, searching for a pattern among his countless failures.

Ten minutes later, his lungs began to burn.

Leo shot upward, broke through the surface, and gulped fresh air.

Biscuit sat on a flat stone beside the pool, holding that fashion magazine. She only looked up when she heard him surface.

"No luck?"

She smiled as she asked, her tone as casual as if she were discussing the weather.

"Then you'd better work harder. Otherwise, we won't have anything for lunch today."

Leo took several deep breaths and dived again.

This time, he changed his strategy.

Instead of actively chasing them, he hovered in the middle of the pool and quietly observed the three Dartfish's movements.

He discovered that they didn't always move at high speed. They also swam slowly and gathered together at intervals, seemingly communicating.

But the moment a threat approached, they could accelerate from a standstill to top speed in 0.1 seconds.

Timing is the key...

Leo pondered.

I have to strike the instant they let their guard down, and predict which way they might flee.

His second attempt began.

Leo waited patiently for five minutes until the three fish finally gathered beside a rock.

He approached slowly, closing the distance to three meters, then-

He burst into motion!

This time, he didn't charge straight at his target. Instead, he anticipated that the fish would most likely flee through the gap on the right and moved forward and right to intercept them.

Sure enough, the fish in the middle darted right the instant it was startled!

Leo reached into that space-

Contact!

But it felt wrong. He hadn't grabbed the fish's body, but its tail.

The Dartfish thrashed violently. Its slippery scales and astonishing strength let it wrench free in an instant, leaving only a few silver scales in Leo's palm.

Still too slow...

Watching the startled fish dart into the aquatic plants, Leo nevertheless felt a flicker of excitement.

At least he'd touched it.

For the next hour, Leo cycled through pursuits and fleeting contact.

Sometimes he managed to touch a fish's body, but more often, he couldn't even brush one.

His stamina was draining rapidly.

Moving underwater already consumed more energy than moving on land. Combined with the intense chases and repeated breath-holding dives, it left Leo noticeably fatigued by around ten that morning.

At noon, Leo swam ashore, utterly exhausted, and collapsed beside the pool, his chest heaving.

Biscuit put away her magazine, walked over, and crouched beside him.

"So, how does it feel?"

"...There's too much resistance in the water."

Leo panted, his voice somewhat muffled.

"Those fish are ridiculously agile. I can't react to their sudden stops and turns at high speed."

Biscuit nodded, her expression turning unusually serious.

"That's the point of this training. On land, your speed and reactions already surpass those of most people. But underwater, the environment changes and resistance increases. That's what will let you improve further."

She stood and clapped her hands.

"That's it for this morning's training. Rest for half an hour, then we'll begin another kind of special training."

Half an hour later, Biscuit led Leo to a barren stretch of land at the edge of the Moonlight Tundra.

It was completely unlike the glowing forest-the ground was dry and cracked, without a blade of grass, only scattered rubble and exposed rock formations.

Unobstructed sunlight poured down, baking the ground.

Biscuit bent down, picked up a fist-sized stone, and hefted it.

"Next is reaction training."

She pointed at an open area fifty meters across ahead of them and addressed Leo.

"You need to dodge as many of my attacks as possible-and watch for numbers that might appear on my finger. As soon as you see one, shout it out."

Leo immediately understood. He gathered his Nen aura and activated Gyo, concentrating it intensely in his eyes.

His vision instantly sharpened.

He could see the Nen aura flowing around Biscuit. Then he noticed the tip of her raised right index finger-

A clear "5" appeared, formed from faintly glowing Nen aura.

"Five!" Leo shouted immediately.

"Too slow."

Biscuit's voice turned cold.

The number on her finger dispersed, replaced by a stern look.

"From the moment I saw you use Gyo to the moment you called out the number, 1.2 seconds passed. In a real fight, half a second is enough to decide victory or defeat."

She pointed at the ground.

"Do a thousand push-ups. Now."

Leo didn't argue. He dropped straight down and began.

The cracked ground was rough and scorching, sending a sharp sting through his palms the moment they touched it.

But he maintained proper form and a steady pace, completing one after another.

Biscuit watched from the side, inwardly nodding in approval.

No complaints, no slacking. His willingness to follow through was certainly commendable.

After finishing a thousand push-ups, he stood and faced Biscuit again.

"Pay attention this time."

Biscuit raised her hand again, but no number appeared immediately.

Leo maintained Gyo, staring intently at her finger while lowering his body slightly into a stance that would let him dodge at any moment.

"Begin."

The instant she spoke, Biscuit whipped her left hand forward!

The stone shot toward Leo's left shoulder at astonishing speed!

Leo twisted aside. The stone skimmed past the edge of his clothes and struck the distant rock face, gouging out a shallow crater.

At the same moment he dodged, the number "3" appeared on Biscuit's right index finger.

"Three!"

His reaction was much faster this time, but Biscuit had already thrown a second stone.

The training had officially begun.

Over the next hour, Leo darted and twisted across the open ground, dodging stones hurled from every angle.

There was no pattern to Biscuit's throws-sometimes she attacked repeatedly, sometimes she paused for several seconds; sometimes she aimed at his torso, sometimes his lower body; sometimes the stones flew blindingly fast, while other times she deliberately slowed them down to disrupt his rhythm.

Meanwhile, numbers appeared at random on her right hand, lingering for anywhere from one second to three-tenths of a second.

Leo had to divide his attention: judging the stones' trajectories and dodging while constantly watching her finger with Gyo.

At first, Leo could barely keep up.

But as Biscuit gradually increased the speed and force of her throws, things began to deteriorate.

Thud!

A stone struck Leo's right ribs. He grunted and staggered two steps.

Biscuit controlled her strength with extraordinary precision-enough to cause pain and bruising, but not fractures or serious internal injuries.

"Two!" Leo gritted his teeth and shouted the number he'd just seen.

"Too slow. A thousand push-ups."

Biscuit's voice was emotionless.

Leo dropped down and began again.

Sweat dripped onto the scorching ground and evaporated instantly.

The training continued.

Stones rained down on him.

More and more red marks and bruises appeared across Leo's body: shoulders, arms, thighs, flanks... each hit made him suck in a breath of pain.

But he didn't stop.

He kept part of his attention fixed on Biscuit's finger, his brain working at full speed through the pain to calculate the stones' trajectories and the timing of the numbers.

Thud! Another hit struck his left shoulder blade.

"Seven!"

"Correct. Keep going."

Three hours later, Leo could barely stay on his feet.

Bruises covered his body, and his breathing rasped like broken bellows.

Yet he remained standing in the training ground, his eyes still fixed on Biscuit's finger.

Biscuit finally stopped throwing.

She walked up to Leo and looked at the young man who, despite being covered in injuries, still stood straight.

"That's enough for today."

For once, she gave him a gentle smile.

"You can take more than I expected."

Over the next two weeks, Leo's life settled into a fixed routine:

In the early morning, he chased Twin-Wing Shuttlefish through the pool, training his endurance and reaction speed.

At noon, after a short break, he trained in both dodging and observation on the barren ground.

In the evening, he practiced the fundamentals of Nen under Biscuit's guidance, focusing on sustaining it longer and controlling it more precisely.

Every day pushed both his body and mind to their limits.

But his progress was gradually becoming clear.

On the seventh day, Leo successfully caught a Dartfish for the first time. Though it wriggled free after just a second, it was a milestone.

On the tenth day, he could chase the fish underwater for twenty minutes without coming up for air, and had gained a deeper understanding of their movement patterns.

On the twelfth day, he dodged seventeen consecutive stones thrown by Biscuit during reaction training while correctly calling out every number.

On the afternoon of the fifteenth day.

Leo floated motionless in the pool.

Dartfish swam around him, seemingly accustomed to their relentless pursuer.

Leo moved.

His movements were no longer as swift as before. Instead, they seemed more composed.

His body traced a graceful arc through the water, and his right hand reached out almost casually-

He caught the fish in the middle precisely by its gills.

The Dartfish struggled violently, its transparent side fins beating frantically, but Leo's fingers held firm like iron clamps.

Ten seconds later, the fish gave up resisting and grew still.

Leo surfaced and held the Dartfish up toward the bank, its tail still twitching faintly.

Biscuit put down her magazine, studied the fish, then looked at Leo and nodded in satisfaction.

"Not bad. Reaching this level in two weeks counts as a pass."

She took the fish and gently stroked its scales.

"Let this fish go."

Leo froze for a moment, but did as she said.

Once back in the water, the fish swiftly swam away and disappeared beneath the surface.

"Then..."

Biscuit pointed to the weighted gear on the bank.

"Put the weights on, dive back down, and catch that same fish again."

The flicker of joy that had just risen in Leo instantly froze.

He looked at Biscuit, confirmed she was serious, and could only give a wry laugh before walking toward the hundred-kilogram set of gear.

Once he had put it all on, he entered the water again.

The familiar weight engulfed his entire body, making every movement several times harder than before.

The underwater environment he had just felt so at ease in now became extraordinarily difficult.

The Dartfish he had released seemed to have learned its lesson. It hid in a crevice between the rocks and refused to come out.

It took Leo half an hour to drive it out of hiding again, and then another round of pursuit began.

A month later.

Beside the pool, Leo gently lowered the Dartfish into the water.

His movements were steady and fluid, giving no hint that he was still wearing a hundred kilograms of weights.

Biscuit sat in her usual spot, watching him, and finally gave a smile of genuine satisfaction.

"That'll do."

She stood, walked over to Leo, and patted his shoulder.

"You're very talented. You haven't let me down."

For once, Biscuit spoke in a serious tone.

"All right, no more catching fish. Rest tonight. Tomorrow, we'll move on to the next stage of your special training."

"Yes, Master Biscuit."

Leo finally took off the weights and let out a long breath.

For more than a month, his nerves had remained taut as he endured Biscuit's hellish training.

Only now, with permission to rest briefly, did exhaustion wash over him like a tide.

But he could feel the changes in his body-sharper reflexes, greater physical strength and stamina, and finer control over his Nen Aura.

The Moonlight Tundra's glow softly brightened, bathing the pool in a dreamlike blue.

Leo lay on the glowing moss, gazing at the starry sky through gaps in the canopy.

More training awaited him tomorrow.

But tonight, he could finally relax for a while and give both his body and mind a chance to breathe.

Not far away, Biscuit lit a campfire and set a small pot over it to make soup.

The aroma drifted over-a rare proper meal after a month of training.

Leo closed his eyes and sank into a brief spell of peace.