Wheel X Talisman

Phew...

He couldn't quite remember the details of the training...

For now, all Baishi could do was follow the general outline. He first focused his mind on the trace of life energy between his brows, concentrating on fusing with and controlling it. Then, starting from that point and extending outward, he let it naturally form a great cycle over the surface of his body.

At the same time, he imagined an obstruction, such as a wall... Compared to armor whose details he couldn't picture clearly, an Aura wall was easier for Baishi to imagine.

Thus, as he started from that point and extended outward, fusing his will with his life energy and circulating it in a great cycle, he also imagined an Aura wall preventing the life energy from rapidly escaping, gradually binding the Aura fused with his will to the surface of his body.

In this way, starting with an area as small as a finger and expanding to the width of a palm, then to his limbs, torso, and head... With each rapid cycle, he extended outward, fusing his will and life energy into controllable Aura and wrapping it around his body one part at a time.

He didn't know how much time had passed.

When Baishi came back to himself from contemplating his inner self, the life energy that had been rushing wildly out of him had all become controllable Aura. It wrapped around the surface of his body like a rough, unpolished Aura wall. Though it was only barely bound in place, he could clearly feel the warm current nourishing him from within.

So this is Ten. No wonder Netero can maintain such a strong physique at over a hundred years old...

Feeling a supernatural power unlike that of ordinary people, Baishi couldn't suppress the excitement in his eyes. His unpracticed Ten wavered slightly, and seeing this, he took a long breath to settle himself before scratching his head.

With his current, unpracticed control over Aura, he couldn't close all the Aura Nodes on his body anytime soon. That meant he would have to maintain Ten throughout the Hunter Exam.

The advantage was that he could practice it nonstop while constantly nourishing and strengthening his body.

The drawback was that it was far too conspicuous. To the examiners, or people like Hisoka, maintaining Ten was like a beacon, telling every Nen user that he was a newly awakened rookie.

Being so "dazzling" was extremely uncomfortable. That pervert Hisoka might suddenly take an interest in him and decide to test him, and he might not even know how he died!

Right, I almost forgot the Talisman Wheel!

At that thought, Baishi "looked" at the wheel and stone panel in his consciousness. When he noticed [Talisman Wheel (Conjuration)] in particular, a thought struck him.

Since the Talisman Wheel, which was supposed to be a system cheat, was localized by the forced application of the world's rules as a Restriction, does that mean I can conjure it like a Conjuration Nen Ability?

It was very possible!

Baishi's eyes flickered.

In theory, Conjuration could transform Aura into physical matter of any form, materializing it.

Generally speaking, conjured objects made from Nen naturally possessed the ability to be summoned and dismissed at will. The drawback was that they would disappear as soon as they left the body. This flaw could be addressed by imposing a Restriction, though depending on its conditions, the advantage of summoning and dismissing them at will might be lost.

At that thought,

Several figures flashed through Baishi's mind.

Kurapika's future Chain, the Phantom Troupe's Shizuku and her vacuum cleaner, Kortopi and his copying hands, and Kite's Crazy Slots.

Hmm... Thinking too much isn't necessarily a good thing. I'd better see if I can conjure it first.

Shaking his head slightly to clear his mind, Baishi used Ten to contemplate his inner self and focus. He fastened his sword cane to the loop at his waist and held out his right hand, palm up. Fixing his mind on the Talisman Wheel in his consciousness, he willed it to materialize in his hand.

Whoosh! In an instant, the transparent Nen Aura wrapped around him surged toward his right palm like a crashing tide. Before long, perhaps because the Talisman Wheel in his consciousness was so real that he could see every detail clearly, the conjuration process went exceptionally smoothly.

Hum! The transparent Nen Aura condensed and shifted rapidly, and with an exceedingly faint fluctuation, a stone Talisman Wheel, the color of rock, materialized in his hand.

Just then,

Boom!

The remaining transparent Nen Aura wrapped around Baishi turned black and purple the instant the wheel appeared.

At the same time, scene after scene of Illumi's beginner-level memories of manipulating Nen Needles entered Baishi's mind with the chill of data and experience, instantly being absorbed.

Hiss...

The cold sensation made Baishi shiver, and surprise flashed in his eyes. So the Advent Emulation Talisman's ability could only truly be activated after he conjured the Talisman Wheel. No wonder Illumi's Needle-Person Control had done nothing while he was practicing Ten earlier.

He had thought it was because of the beginner-level proficiency imposed by the Restriction, but it turned out the Advent Emulation Talisman hadn't truly been activated.

But...

Looking down at the stone wheel, which was about the size of a Daoist compass, Baishi stroked his chin and examined it from every angle.

The conjured wheel was made of grayish-white stone and had an archaic appearance. Its front had twelve sockets, just as it had in his consciousness. Eleven were completely blocked by grayish-white stone, leaving only octagonal outlines around their edges.

The only open socket was at the twelve o'clock position. Its opening was a perfect fit for the Talisman set into it, [Needle-Person Control]. The Advent Emulation Talisman was black and purple, with the four characters for Needle-Person Control engraved on it.

The back of the wheel was gray, with a ring of twenty-four unsealed spare sockets, like the twenty-four hours of a day. They were also octagonal and seemed to be used only for storing spare Talismans.

If a Talisman is set into one of the spare sockets, will it work?