Intelligence X Experiment

"A solution? There's a way to treat the symptoms, but as for the root cause..."

"It's actually simple..." Baishi shrugged. "Either you give up on yourselves and accept things as they are, with a fifty percent chance of dying depending on Hisoka's mood, or you make yourselves as strong as possible. Once you're stronger than him, the problem will solve itself..."

"Or you could stay far away from Hisoka. Though I can't rule out the possibility that he might suddenly remember you worthy fruits someday."

"Heh~ But you don't need to worry too much for now. Given how much he looks forward to your future, Hisoka generally won't make a move against you..."

Gulp!

Having come back to his senses, Leorio couldn't help swallowing.

"You believe me now, more or less, right?"

Seeing Kurapika lost in thought, Baishi raised an eyebrow and smiled. "You have two free pieces of information left, right? This offer won't last forever..."

"Me, me, me!"

Seeing that Kurapika hadn't spoken, Gon hurried to ask, "Mr. Baishi, do you know why Hisoka is so strong?"

Ding!

[Temporary Weighting Task triggered]!

[Temporary Weighting Task: Explain Hisoka's combat strength to Gon. Depending on the level of detail in the analysis, randomly obtain an Advent Emulation level of varying grade...]

[Restriction - Forced Equivalence: Advent Emulation x1 (random)]

Hiss...

Another one triggered?!

A look of surprise flashed across Baishi's face. Glancing at the three before him, he suddenly realized that interacting with these people more might allow him to quickly obtain more uses of Advent Emulation.

But the Advent Emulation level...

The [Purple] indicator in [Needle-Person Control [Purple] flashed through his mind, along with the [Blue] that had appeared in the stream of information when he activated the wheel earlier. A flicker of understanding dawned on Baishi. He then looked at Kurapika, who had come back to his senses, and asked with a smile, "Are you sure? That's what you want for your second piece of information?"

Kurapika and Gon exchanged a glance and nodded together.

Leorio: "..."

"That's classified information..." Baishi put on a slightly hesitant expression and even looked around warily before beckoning the three closer and whispering, "The reason Hisoka is so strong is that he's mastered... a supernatural power only a few people in the world can learn!"

"Supernatural power?!" x3

All three looked puzzled.

Shh!

"Keep it down."

Motioning for Kurapika and the others to lower their voices, Baishi said mysteriously, "[Nen]-you can also call it a Nen Ability-is the name for this supernatural power. And those who master [Nen] are known as Nen users in supernatural circles!"

"Put it this way: even if you honed your physical strength to the very pinnacle of the world, you'd still usually be no match for an entry-level Nen user!"

"And Hisoka is a veteran Nen user. Even in those hidden supernatural circles, his strength could be considered formidable..."

Nen... Nen Ability... Nen users... a power beyond ordinary people...

Gon and Leorio still seemed confused and were thinking it over, while Kurapika, who had heard and understood, fixed his slightly reddened eyes on Baishi with an intense gaze.

If I mastered that supernatural power called [Nen], could I easily avenge my clan?!

At the thought, Kurapika reached out and quickly seized the sleeve of Baishi's formal jacket, almost losing his composure. His eyes gleamed red, and his voice trembled slightly.

"Tell... please tell me! How can I become a Nen user?!"

"Heh, that brings us to another piece of information." Rather than answer immediately, Baishi glanced at Kurapika's faintly reddening eyes, a peculiar look flashing in his own. He then turned to Gon, who was still somewhat bewildered, and said with a grin, "What? You still don't understand?"

Kurapika's question could wait. Finishing Gon's Temporary Weighting Task was the most important thing right now; after all, a specific number of Advent Emulation uses was waiting for him.

"I understood a little..." Gon scratched the back of his head. "Hisoka is strong because he became a Nen user and mastered a Nen Ability, but... I fought him, and the gap didn't seem so big that I was no match for him, like you said."

"You don't think Hisoka was serious when he tested you, do you?" Baishi's lips twitched, and he chuckled. "Put it this way: once you've mastered [Nen], even without developing a Nen Ability of your own, just by using the basic techniques for applying [Nen]..."

"The gap between you and Hisoka is like the difference between ants and an elephant. I'll throw in a small piece of related information: among the basic techniques of [Nen]'s [Four Major Principles], there's one called [Ten]!"

"[Nen] is made up of each person's will and life energy. For people who don't know [Nen], their life energy is constantly leaking away on its own..."

At that, he paused.

The three were startled. They looked at one another but saw nothing unusual, then turned to Baishi in confusion.

Heh~

"Ordinary people can't see [Aura]..."

Baishi waved a hand. Looking at the three bewildered faces, he manipulated transparent Nen Aura around his fingertip, struggling to shape it into numbers, and chuckled. "Can you see what my finger is doing?"

"Hmm?"

Leorio was the first to lean in and take a close look at Baishi's fair, slender right index finger. Finding nothing unusual, he grew a little impatient. "Hey, hey, hey! Stop keeping us in suspense. There's nothing on your finger. You're not messing with us, are you?"

"What about you two?" Baishi shrugged and turned to the other two.

Kurapika stared at it calmly for a moment, then shook his head. "I can't see anything."

"Yeah, same here." Gon nodded. Staring at Baishi's "empty" fingertip, he said hesitantly, "But... my intuition tells me there seems to be something on your finger?"

Oh?

Intuition, huh...

Hearing this, Baishi recalled quite a few of Gon's standout moments involving intuition in the original story, and a look of understanding flashed in his eyes. Seeing the three looking at him with anticipation and confusion, he smiled. "That's right-you can't see it..."

"Once you've opened the [Aura Nodes] throughout your bodies and mastered [Aura], you'll naturally be able to see this invisible [Aura]."

As he spoke, Baishi manipulated the transparent Nen Aura to wrap around his black cane. Under the three's puzzled gazes, he gently poked it into the hard ground.

Sss! He pulled out the black cane, leaving a deep, straight, smooth round hole in the hard ground.