Qiao Lun did not have many ideas for developing his Nen Ability yet, but he would probably combine it with his own Ten Shadows Cursed Technique.
Also, Specialization differed from the other categories. Before developing his ability, his affinity for the other five categories was actually about the same.
In other words, as a Specialist, even if he did not train in Specialization and instead chose any other category to train in, he could still develop it to its maximum level.
This was also what Morena had said in the manga: many Specialists had no idea they were Specialists at first. By the time they had developed an ability in another category to its maximum level, all they could do was regret it.
As a Specialist, Qiao Lun would naturally focus on developing a Specialization ability, but he had a wider range of choices for his secondary category than ordinary Nen users.
For an ordinary Nen user who was a Manipulator, learning Transmutation abilities would be extremely difficult, with a great many restrictions.
But Specialization was different.
Specialists faced no barriers when training in any category.
So, as long as they knew in advance that they were Specialists, they could even attempt difficult abilities that required a high level of mastery over multiple categories to discover and use, as well as exceptionally unusual abilities that belonged to no category at all!
Qiao Lun had learned all of this from Morena in the manga.
For now, though, he only knew that his ability was related to shadows. Exactly how he would use it remained to be decided.
But Manipulation and Transmutation should be the two categories best suited to his ability.
Transmutation could let him create larger areas of shadow, while Manipulation could let him control shadows better.
Aside from those two categories, the most practical category Qiao Lun could think of was Enhancement.
As for Emission and Conjuration, with the Ten Shadows Technique available to him, Qiao Lun had little need for those two categories.
Shikigami did not need Emission Nen to sustain them at all. They could continue existing as long as Qiao Lun had enough cursed energy.
Qiao Lun had even less reason to materialize his shikigami to the point where ordinary people could see them, nor did he have any intention of creating weapons or the like, so Conjuration was not much use to him either.
Overall, once he had finished testing his category, he could roughly determine the three categories he would primarily need to master in the future.
Enhancement to strengthen shadows, Manipulation to control shadows, and Transmutation to create shadows.
If he could see a point-allocation panel, Qiao Lun estimated that his future ability distribution would look roughly like this: Specialization 100%, Enhancement 80%, Transmutation 80%, Manipulation 80%, Emission 40%, and Conjuration 40%.
That was the ideal. How far he could actually develop them would depend on his understanding of Nen Abilities during training and what he needed from their development.
As these thoughts ran through his mind, Qiao Lun, who had been watching the distant area of abandoned buildings, spotted three people walking out of a building.
After just one glance from afar, Qiao Lun quickly turned his head away.
Nen users had exceptionally keen senses. Too much attention could alert them, especially Enhancers.
And among the people emerging from the abandoned buildings below was the Enhancer Phinks.
The other two were the short Feitan and Pakunoda, a tall, beautiful blonde wearing a business skirt suit.
The Phantom Troupe members had begun leaving the building. Everything was going as expected.
He just did not know whether Killua and Gon had been caught, or whether they were still in that abandoned building as they had been in the manga.
Kortopi's buildings would exist for twenty-four hours after being copied. Once that time was up, the copies would automatically disappear.
With these buildings blocking his view, Qiao Lun really would have trouble noticing if Phantom Troupe members left in another direction.
However, he had already released the Divine Dogs while testing his own Nen category.
If any Phantom Troupe members left in another direction, they probably would not escape the Divine Dogs' detection either.
Normally, the Divine Dogs excelled at detecting Cursed Objects by sensing cursed energy. Asking them to sense Nen users now was difficult.
But the Divine Dogs also had their senses of smell, hearing, and sight. As long as they spotted someone leaving the abandoned buildings, they could report back to Qiao Lun promptly.
In any case, he did not believe the Phantom Troupe members would move around using [Zetsu] or [In]. As long as they maintained [Ten], the Divine Dogs should be able to detect them.
After all, "Ten" was quite conspicuous.
Soon, Qiao Lun sensed feedback. It was a cursed energy signal sent back by the Divine Dogs, and also a warning.
Qiao Lun analyzed the meaning of the signal the Divine Dogs had sent back and soon understood that they had probably also spotted three people leaving together.
However, since he could not share their vision, Qiao Lun could not be certain which three people the Divine Dogs had seen.
Having seen Pakunoda, who often accompanied Chrollo, appear alongside Feitan and Phinks, Qiao Lun could readily infer that Chrollo was very likely operating alone now.
Just then, Qiao Lun's phone vibrated. He took it out and found a message from Hisoka.
The message he had sent Hisoka much earlier had finally received a reply.
"There are two people with me. Can't act. One person is still guarding the hideout. You can make your move, but you need to wait. In half an hour, I can give you five minutes."
Five minutes?
A little short! But workable.
Still, judging from Hisoka's message and the information the Divine Dogs had sent back, the person accompanying Hisoka now should be Kortopi.
Half an hour should be enough for Hisoka to take Kortopi far away from here. But once Qiao Lun attacked whoever remained, the Phantom Troupe members who had left would probably receive word quickly and rush back to the hideout.
In that case, could Hisoka really give me five minutes?
After all, the Phantom Troupe should be moving in groups. Hisoka could only hold up Kortopi.
In other words, he could not take everything Hisoka said at face value.
If he really wanted to create enough time, he would have to rely on himself.
"Half an hour?" Qiao Lun muttered, while stretching out his hands and linking them in front of him. Under the moonlight, a shadow fell across the ground, forming the shape of a rabbit.
The next second, the shadow writhed, and a mass of rabbits darted out of the shadows rapidly appearing on the ground.
The snow-white rabbits from Rabbit Escape raced toward the stairs as soon as they appeared. By the time Qiao Lun made the summoning gesture for the fourth time, rabbits were already rushing out of the building entrance.
Rabbit Escape's core mechanism was endless proliferation.
Among the countless rabbits, as long as that one special rabbit-
-the core rabbit did not die, the rabbits that were killed would be born again from the shadows.
Summoning Rabbit Escape did not consume much cursed energy, but keeping a large number of rabbits in existence, and even having them continue multiplying, required a constant, small expenditure of cursed energy.
When the fifth batch of rabbits had been created, bringing the total to five hundred, Qiao Lun stopped. He changed his hand sign, and as the distant Divine Dogs disappeared, Nue emerged behind him, grabbed him, and carried him toward the abandoned building.