Hey guys. Its been a while since I released a chapter. I have been busy with IRL stuff.
This chapter delves deeper into the system, Fang and his new master and Kastriot. It's 12k long chapter and a bit of an info dump.
The first part and later half of the chapter is important. The chapters lately have been kind of bland like Togiri, just too serious so I hope you guys have some fun this chapter with the system upgrade name's
***
The morning air was crisp, carrying the faint scent of dew-covered earth and the distant chirping of birds.
It was early February, and despite the cold, the sky was a flawless shade of blue, unmarred by clouds.
The first rays of the sun stretched across the treetops, casting golden hues over the small clearing where the humble cottage stood.
Inside, Fang knelt on the wooden floor, his body tense, his heart still pounding from the weight of the decision he had just made.
"My name is Fang, Master Yu. Please train me. Make me strong enough to control the flow of life."
Silence.
A few minutes passed and Fang was losing his patience. 'Did I really make the right decision in accepting this gramps as my master?'
Seemingly able to read the thoughts of the young boy before him the old man exhaled softly and finally spoke "A wise choice, child."
Fang's body stiffened. 'Child? Not Fang? Not even boy? This annoying old man..' His fists clenched instinctively, frustration simmering beneath his skin.
He opened his mouth, but before he could voice his discontent, Master Yu's voice cut through the still air, laced with a faint hint of amusement.
"You will be sleeping outside tonight."
Fang sucked in a slow breath, forcing himself to remain calm. 'Can he read minds?' He swallowed his words, knowing better than to complain.
He had already learned that defying this old man's whims would only bring harsher lessons.
Yu's sharp gaze lingered on him, a flicker of approval hidden beneath the wrinkles of his weathered face.
'At least he's not completely foolish. What an amusing kid'
Fang stood up stiffly, walking toward the door, his steps heavier than they needed to be. But just as he reached the threshold, he hesitated to leave the cottage.
He didn't turn fully, only tilting his head slightly downward, his voice quieter, but no less firm.
"Master. What is Nen? I never got to hear your definition and experiences."
Behind him, he heard the soft clink of porcelain as Master Yu lifted the kettle again.
He turned around and as the old man poured himself another cup of tea, slow and deliberate, as if every movement held significance.
The rich aroma of herbs filled the room, steam curling into the air in lazy tendrils.
The seconds stretched unbearably long. Master Yu's frail hands lifted the cup to his lips, and Fang bit the inside of his cheek as the old man took an unhurried sip.
Fang's patience wavered.
Then, at last, Master Yu spoke.
"There is no point in asking me or others, until at least you have reached the end of your own research. There is no right answer. The simple answer to your question is... I don't know."
Fang's eyes widened slightly. He had expected something cryptic, something drenched in philosophy—but not such brutal honesty.
Doubts clawed at the edges of his thoughts. Who is this man I've sworn myself to?
He had heard tales of Master Yu before before arriving in this forest. A recluse, a forgotten legend, a ghost among those who once walked the highest echelons of strength.
Netero himself had spoken of Yu with an almost uncharacteristic solemnity, and that alone had piqued Fang's curiosity.
But now, standing here, he wondered—how could a master claim not to know the very foundation of power he was supposed to teach him?
Master Yu, seemingly aware of Fang's internal struggle, continued.
"Like I don't know, others also don't. They think they have figured out the rules of Nen, but they have merely imitated someone else's understanding of it." Master Yu took another sip of his tea.
"Even Netero, that young man—he is mistaken, despite gaining a small enlightenment in his younger years."
Fang's stomach twisted. Young man? Enlightenment?
Fang had known the fact that Chairman Netero was at least over a hundred years old. If Master Yu spoke of him as a young man, then just how ancient was he?
Fang's mind was even more confused than before. Master Yu rose from his seat, his movements slow yet deliberate. "Come," he said simply gesturing to leave the cottage.
Fang followed him outside. The crisp morning air hit his face, clearing his mind slightly.
The clearing was surrounded by towering trees, their branches bare from the winter cold.
The ground beneath their feet was firm, undisturbed save for their footprints on the soft wet earth.
The old man stopped a few paces from the entrance, his gaze shifting toward a large, ancient tree. Its bark was thick with age, its roots deeply entrenched in the earth.
He raised his hand, fingers slightly curled, and then—
The tree began to wither.
Fang's breath caught as the vibrant green drained from its leaves.
The sturdy trunk darkened, cracking, the bark curling inward as if consumed by an invisible force. Within moments, what had stood strong for centuries was now a shriveled husk, brittle and lifeless.
Then, before Fang could process what had happened, the decay reversed.
Leaves sprouted anew, fresh and bright as if it were the first day of spring. The bark healed itself, the cracks disappearing as though they had never existed. The roots stretched deeper, anchoring the tree with newfound strength.
Fang stared, his mind reeling.
Master Yu wasn't finished.
He flicked his wrist, and the tree vanished.
No, not vanished—
It had turned into water.
The air shimmered as droplets scattered, falling like gentle rain, soaking into the earth as if the tree had never existed at all.
Fang's heart pounded in his chest. This wasn't just a demonstration of power—this was a statement.
Master Yu turned to him, his expression unreadable. "If someone truly wished for something, with enough time and..." he paused, as if choosing his words carefully.
"understanding, they could achieve something usually only specialists could."
Fang gulped, his hands trembling. "Why doesn't anyone know about this?" His voice was unsteady, emotions swirling inside him. "If this is possible, why hasn't anyone else done it?"
Master Yu's lips curled into a knowing smile. "Many have achieved the extraordinary without even realizing it.... Who is a good example?" Master Yu started stroking his long white beard.
"Your fellow Hunter, Biscuit Krueger, for example. That woman transformed herself from a grown masculine woman into a frail little girl without even knowing how."
Fang's mind raced. He had heard of Biscuit Krueger, an elite Nen user—one of the best. And yet… she had unknowingly done something most would deem impossible?
Master Yu's eyes gleamed with quiet amusement. "You see, child, the world is filled with individuals who have surpassed their restrictions without understanding the why of it."
A sudden memory resurfaced in Fang's mind. The moment he died in his battle against Hisoka. He didn't know how but he survived.
Even more shocking was the fact that once he woke up, he was completly healed with an even stronger body than before.
Fang exhaled sharply, still overwhelmed by what he had just witnessed, but he quickly regained his composure.
"So, you're saying the six categories… don't matter?"
Master Yu shook his head. "They matter as much as you let them. They are the rules we impose upon ourselves, nothing more."
Fang lowered his gaze, his fists clenching and unclenching. His mind felt like it was unraveling, everything he had been taught about Nen shifting before his very eyes.
For the first time since arriving here, he felt something else beneath his frustration.
Excitement.
Master Yu continued to stroke his beard as his eyes focused on his disciple's reaction.
'It's a half truth, if you believe in the rules imposed on you then you will also become stronger... but it's to early for him'
Master Yu studied him for a long moment before nodding in approval. Fang was without a doubt a genius that.
He had a good grasp on the fundamentals in martial arts, combat and Nen. If he continued down this path then he could possibly be one of the strongest Nen users in the world.
But that was all. In Master Yu's eyes this was no special achievement. There were as many geniuses as there were sand corn in a desert.
To rise up and stand above the rest one needed to break the limitations of the word's genius and become something more... something far more terrifying.
A monster
"Go. Reflect on what you have seen. Tomorrow, your training will begin."
Fang didn't argue. He bowed deeply before turning toward the trees, his thoughts a chaotic storm.
The cold morning air filled his lungs, sharp and bracing, grounding him in the moment.
His mind swirled with uncertainty, but beneath it all, something new had taken root—a strange, quiet exhilaration.
The path ahead was unknown, yet for the first time, he didn't feel lost.
He felt alive.
His entire life as long as he could remember, he had moved forward with certainty.
He had clear goals—protect his family, grow stronger, and, most of all, stop his older brother, Kastriot.
But as he stood in the clearing, breathing in the scent of damp earth and fresh morning dew, something shifted inside him.
For the first time, he doubted whether his previous approach was enough.
Kastriot wasn't just stronger than him—he was ahead in every way. His brother wasn't just someone he could surpass with brute force or sheer determination or he would've long been caught.
Kastriot had always been calculating, meticulous in everything he did. A man like that didn't just rely on strength. He relied on something deeper—understanding.
—Mastery
Fang clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms. He had planned to keep growing, to keep training, to one day challenge Kastriot head-on.
But that had been the mindset of someone chasing a shadow. A child grasping at the heels of a giant.
He realized now that if he truly wanted to stop his brother, if he wanted to stand on equal footing, he couldn't just train harder.
He had to change. He had to grow up.
Master Yu's words echoed in his mind. "They think they figured out the rules of Nen, but they only imitated somebody else's way of experiencing it."
Fang had never thought of it that way. Nen wasn't just about categories, about fitting into a box of Enhancement or Emission.
That was what he had been taught, what everyone believed. But if Master Yu was right—if even Netero himself was mistaken—then that meant...
That meant Nen could be so much more.
He inhaled sharply.
'I don't just need to get stronger. I need to understand. I need to see beyond the surface, to find my own way.'
Kastriot would never expect that.
For the first time, Fang wasn't thinking about Kastriot as someone he needed to surpass. He was thinking about how to emulate him.
His initial plan had been simple—develop his Hatsu, Emotional Feast, to such an overwhelming degree that he could 'convert' bad people into good ones.
He wanted to force change not through persuasion, but through the essence of emotions themselves.
It was a technique that coulf baffle his opponents, often mistaking it for something far more complex—an enigma even to those well-versed in Nen.
Hisoka, for example, had been thrown off by its nature, but in truth, Fang's Hatsu was deceptively straightforward.
At its core, Fang's ability was unique—melding all Nen types to create food imbued with raw emotion. Yet, control was its greatest limitation.
He couldn't dictate what kind of food or emotion manifested from each use; it was purely a byproduct of what he felt most strongly in the moment.
Fang didn't tell Togiri about his Hatsu because he wanted to keep it secret or a trump card, but unless he felt a strong emotion he couldn't use his Hatsu.
At first Fang meditated or tried to manipulate his own emotions with external influence such as music but he couldn't bring forth the specific emotion that he wanted.
Outside of training in a real fight he only succeeded once and it had dangerous repercussions.
During his battle against Hisoka, anger had consumed him, and the result had been a conjured chili pepper, burning with pure rage.
The mechanics of his Hatsu were both empowering and precarious.
When Fang created food from his emotions and consumed it, something fundamental changed within him—he became a vessel for that singular feeling, stripped of all else.
The moment he bit down, all emotions vanished, leaving him in a void-like state, and in exchange, his physical abilities and Aura surged.
The food was a catalyst, unlocking the most extreme form of the emotion tied to it.
Against Hisoka, that emotion had been rage.
His Ken output had tripled in power, his blows had become monstrous, and his combat instincts had sharpened with lethal aggression. But there was a cost.
He lost clarity. His own fighting style, his adaptability—everything was drowned out by the raw, untamed force of emotion. The aftermath was even worse.
The energy drain after his Hatsu deactivated left him completely vulnerable, his body barely able to move, let alone continue fighting.
It was a terrifyingly powerful ability, but also dangerously unstable.
Yet, despite its risks, Fang had always believed it was the right path.
He had thought that if he perfected it, he could one day bring Kastriot back—not just defeat him, but change him.
But now, for the first time, Fang questioned everything.
Was that really the way to stop his brother? Would strength alone be enough to reach him?
No.
Kastriot was beyond the reach of something so idealistic.
If Fang wanted to win, he needed something more. Something absolute—like the strength of Master Yu.
Fang minutes before had witnessed firsthand how his master commanded nature itself.
Controlling the very essence of a tree that had stood for centuries as if it were nothing more than a blade of grass swaying in the wind.
That wasn't just raw power. It was an understanding of Nen that transcended classifications and limitations, beyond Enhancement, Transmutation, or Specialization.
Master Yu didn't use Nen. He commanded it like a master.
In Fang's eyes, that was the peak—the pinnacle of strength, the mastery of one's own existence.
If he could reach that level, then perhaps he could truly stand against Kastriot, the most dangerous man in the world.
Kastriot—the man who had disappeared from the world for over a decade yet never once left its shadow.
Even now, ten years later, his name carried a fear that stretched across continents. His crimes weren't whispered myths or exaggerated stories—they were monuments to destruction.
Entire cities had vanished under his wrath, erased from existence in ways that defied comprehension.
No evidence left behind, no survivors to tell the tale—only smoldering ruins and the echo of his name in the air.
If nothing was left behind, then how did the entire world know it was Kastriot? Reports across the globe claimed that it was Netero who made the statement.
At first to be honest even now Arthur and Julia didn't belive that their kind and bright child would do this, but over time their doubts grew.
There were 2 indisputable facts that they couldn't ignore. First, Kastriot told them about the end of the world and his power to absorb animals, humans and plants.
Second, once he left them, repeated news emerged that villages and cities vanished. Once the Chairman of the Hunter Association himself adressed this matter the was sealed.
Even till this day Julia and Arthur couldn't believe that their child was a mass murderer, but time didn't follow anyone's wishes and passed.
They moved on, they had no other choice. They were raising another child and working hard to survive. This was the reason why Fang's family before Togiri's was flat broke.
One couldn't sell their products while having the reputation of the father of a mass murderer.
Even though Arthur was a master blacksmith, he earned less than minimum wage.
If not for the Hunter Association helping them a little money wise and of course their protection from the masses, then the Kastriot's family would have long perished.
The reason for all this was Kastriot, many had conspiracies about him, but the truth wasn't as amazing as they thought.
The Hunter Association had hunted him relentlessly, sending their finest, their most experienced, their most cunning.
And yet, they never found him.
He was the most wanted man in the world, his bounty so high that it eclipsed even the most notorious criminals like the Phantom Troupe.
But no one ever claimed it.
Because no one ever survived.
Hunter's with the ability to find anyone in the world suddenly collapsed and died on the spot and advanced technology also didn't make difference.
Fang clenched his fists.
Even if he had been a child when it happened, the weight of Kastriot's existence had never left him. His brother was a legend, a ghost, a nightmare.
And yet, Master Yu—the man who had just toyed with the essence of life and death itself—didn't see himself as someone great.
That contradiction unsettled Fang.
'Why?'
Why would a man who could reshape reality in front of him speak as if he were insignificant? Why would someone with such absolute control imply that his knowledge was flawed?
Did Master Yu believe there was still something beyond what he had reached?
The thought made Fang's stomach tighten.
For the first time, he questioned everything he thought he knew about power.
If even his master believed he was not at the peak, then how vast was the gap between himself and Kastriot?
And how could he possibly hope to close it?
***
Back to the Present - July 18, 1999
The night air was thick with humidity, pressing down like an unseen weight.
The hotel room was dim, bathed in the soft glow of city lights filtering through the half-open window.
The distant hum of traffic and the occasional honk of a car horn filled the silence, a reminder that the world outside continued its relentless pace.
Togiri sat on a chair, a table in front of him, his gaze fixed on the cityscape. His fingers were loosely clasped together, but his mind was anything but relaxed.
It was tangled in the echoes of a past that wasn't his—yet felt so deeply familiar that he could still feel the phantom weight of emotions that weren't his own.
Kuroha sat on the bed, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. Her eyes were half-closed, her breathing steady, but she was far from asleep.
The flickering light from the silent television cast faint shadows across her pale face, though she barely seemed to be paying attention to whatever show was playing.
Neither of them spoke.
After everything that had happened today, words felt unnecessary. Perhaps even intrusive.
Although Togiri had faced assassins shortly after waking up in the morning, today was supposed to be a rest day.
His initial plan for today had been to gather resources and move on to the next city in the evening, but his plans had changed.
Kuroha was one reason. Tetsura's memories were the other.
He had spent the last few hours digesting what he had seen, forcing himself to separate emotion from experience, reality from remnants of another life.
And after careful deliberation, he had come to one inescapable conclusion — It was time to improve his Hatsu.
His ability, Phantom Book and Phantom Pages, had served him well so far. It had utility, it had versatility—but it wasn't enough, not anymore.
He had 54 days until Shura no Kōrin (the Descent of the Asura) — began.
Then 64 days until the true Shura no Kōrin, when Nen users from across the world would converge. He would be walking into a battlefield of monsters.
And at his current level? Togiri was still too weak. His Phantom Warriors were ideal for overwhelming a large group of weaklings—useful when killing non-Nen-awakened gangsters or slaughtering animals to maximize Shop Points.
But against real opponents? Against those who stood on his level or beyond? They were useless.
His battle against The Red Fang—or rather, against their leader Yotsuba, had exposed every flaw in his combat ability.
That night, he would have died if not for the existence of the Reviewer System.
Despite Togiri's Aura Units surpassing Yotsuba's nearly tenfold, he could only bring out 10 to 15 percent of his true power in battle.
It was pathetic, but Togiri also gave credit where credit was due, Yotsuba was a genius.
A talented Manipulator, capable of controlling over a few dozen people at once with frightening efficiency and precision.
The level of multitasking required to simultaneously puppeteer multiple opponents, was beyond the reach of most Manipulators, who typically focused on one or two controlled targets at best.
Not to mention that Yotsuba controled living and breathing humans and not objects or conjured Nen constructs.
Yotsuba turned his subordinates into extensions of himself, moving them with such precision and speed that, for all intents and purposes, it was like fighting a single mind with a dozen bodies.
And yet, that wasn't the worst part. Even without his army, he was a monster in direct combat which wasn't that typical for a Manipulator.
Manipulators weren't usually known for their physical prowess in head on combat, yet Yotsuba was an exception.
He had forged his own style of combat, strengthening his own body by weaving layers of reinforced strings over his fists.
At his peak, his entire body was wrapped in layers of Manipulated Nen-threads, a technique that acted as both offense and defense, allowing him to absorb massive blows while countering with precise, whip-like strikes.
Morel Mackernasey—one of the strongest known Manipulators—had once said:
"Calculating the odds of winning in Nen combat just shows how you're missing the point.
You never know what your adversary's ability is. A slight hesitation can cause a fatal turnabout.
The outcome is always a fluctuation. Having more or less aura isn't much of an excuse. That's the essence of Nen combat!"
When Togiri thought about his quote he couldn't agree more. Yotsuba embodied that philosophy.
Morel was a master of attrition, using his Deep Purple ability to create over 200 independent Smoke Troopers—Nen constructs that could simulate real opponents in battle.
He didn't just control his puppets; he overwhelmed his enemies through sheer numbers, deception, and endurance.
Yotsuba hadn't reached that level, but he wasn't too far behind. At his peak, he could control around a few dozen living subordinates.
He was enhancing them with his Nen while maintaining his own formidable combat prowess while observing his opponent and formulating strategies.
It was enough to turn any battlefield into a slaughterhouse under his command.
Togiri vividly recalled the chaos of that fight—the relentless wave of gangsters attacking from all sides, their weapons flashing as they lunged at him.
His blades carved through their bodies in swift, precise arcs, yet the onslaught never ceased.
Gunfire erupted from multiple angles, bullets slamming into him as he fought, each impact jarring but failing to slow him down. The battle was a never-ending storm of steel, blood, and gunpowder.
And the worst part? Yotsuba had only been using 70 or 80% of his strength during their fight.
Togiri knew it, only when Togiri 'miraculously' healed his injuries and restored his Nen stopped Yotsuba holding back.
Even though they were both classified as 3-Star Combatants by the System, the gap between them was glaring.
The ranking system didn't tell the full story. Togiri partly knew this, because the System analysed his opponents Combat Power via their physical strength and Aura Units, but he understimated how big the difference in Yotsuba's and his own Nen proficiency was.
Because Yotsuba was ' experienced' and 'refined '. Those were the words that came to mind whenever Togiri thought about him.
Calling it mere 'talent' would have been an insult to what Yotsuba had built through years of discipline, battles and mastery.
Togiri's ego wouldn't allow him to use such a shallow excuse such as 'talent' to degrade Yotsuba's strength.
While no one would assume it, given how mercilessly Togiri had killed Yotsuba, he actually held a degree of respect for the man
If he could he would have loved it to recruit him into the Phantom Society, as a strategist and team leader Yotsuba could grow his forces to unprecedented heights, but he couldn't.
Yotsuba had his own pride and wasn't willing to be anything else than his own boss, but still Togiri deeply respected and resonated with him.
Yotsuba had built his own forces from the ground up, mastered his Nen category to a high degree, and seized control of his own destiny with his own two hands.
The Red Fang, the organization Togiri had wiped out, was an impressive force.
Their snipers operated with a level of precision he would have expected from military elites, not mere criminals.
Every member was drilled into deadly efficiency, their coordination and discipline far surpassing what one would associate with a typical gang.
No—a criminal syndicate. Had they remained unchecked, their influence could have extended across multiple cities.
But they made one fatal mistake.
Their fame grew too much and making Togiri aware of their existence.
It didn't matter that Yotsuba had been Togiri's enemy, a heinous criminal, and a terrible person.
Togiri respected strength, and Yotsuba had it—in both his own abilities and the highly trained forces he commanded.
Even if, in the end, his deranged personality had surfaced before his demise, it didn't erase what he had accomplished.
Togiri in comparison also had strength, but… raw, untamed, and riddled with inefficiencies. Without the System, he wouldn't have even been standing on the same battlefield.
He had poured countless hours into training, learning martial arts from masters who had never even touched Nen, studying techniques, sparring, and engaging in deep self-reflection.
He had thought it was enough—that such effort would allow him to dominate most ordinary Nen users, but he had been gravely mistaken.
Without the System, he would have lost.
Badly lost.
Since that night, Togiri had stopped using the Training Simulator while sleeping. After facing Yotsuba his mental strength was completely drained.
Unlike an Existence Heal, which could restore all his physical fatigue and energy reserves, including Aura in exchange for Existence Points, it couldn't relieve his mental fatigue.
No matter how much his body recovered, the sheer weight of that fight—the overwhelming suffocation of Yotsuba's battlefield control—left a deep scar on his mind.
Togiri still couldn't shake the feeling that, even if he ran thousands of simulations in the Training Simulator, he wouldn't be able to defeat Yotsuba if they fought again, if Yotsuba had more time to prepare against his attack.
That level of mastery, of complete control over a battlefield, was something only a genius could achieve that was beyond the norm.
It wasn't a surprise that someone of Yotsuba's caliber had been able to build a massive criminal empire.
The more Togiri thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed.
'Why does the Hunter Association allow so many gangs to exist? And more importantly—how do so many non-Hunters know about Nen?'
This planet's total population was unknown, but based on its technological advancement, vast unexplored lands, and the countless humans still living among dangerous beasts, Togiri estimated it to be around 5 to 10 billion humans.
—possibly lower than the Earth he once knew, which lacked both Nen, magical beasts and unexplored land.
Billions of humans and yet, there were only around 700 to 800 licensed Hunters.
Even if thousands of others had learned about Nen through underground channels, the number remained minuscule in comparison to the entire human population.
But it wasn't just about numbers.
Togiri understood that regular people could unknowingly use Nen or even develop Nen abilities without realizing it.
A prime example was Neon Nostrade—a sheltered girl with a disturbing hobby of collecting human body parts.
Despite having no combat experience, no training, and likely no understanding of Nen itself, she had awakened an incredibly powerful Hatsu.
Lovely Ghostwriter—a prophetic fortune-telling ability that allowed her to write the future of others with eerie accuracy.
A girl like that, with no formal training or knowledge, had still managed to develop a unique and valuable Nen ability that grew her fathers criminal empire by multiple folds.
That fact alone made Togiri wonder—how many others in this world were unknowingly wielding abilities beyond their comprehension?
How many others like her existed—people with incredible abilities, completely unaware of what they were truly capable of?
'I should ask Rika to contact their family. As long as Chrollo hasn't stolen her ability I can know about the following months leading up to the auction and the tournament'
In hindsight searching through his memories Togiri remembered something. He had actually experienced this phenomenon firsthand.
While still learning the art of blacksmithing, Togiri had once met a renowned master blacksmith, a man who had forged weapons for countless Hunters.
The master had no knowledge of Nen—he was just an ordinary skilled craftsman, or so it seemed.
Yet, a few of his most extraordinary creations had a faint aura around them. Without even realizing it, the blacksmith had infused Nen into his work.
'Was it pure skill? An innate talent for craftsmanship? Or had his will and dedication unconsciously shaped the weapons beyond what was physically possible?'
The world was bigger than he had thought.
And if Togiri wanted to survive the Shura no Kōrin, he needed to understand it all.
'How is it possible that so many gang leaders I've encountered developed Nen?'
Togiri's thoughts lingered as he gazed over the neon-lit skyline, the city alive with distant chatter and flickering signs.
At first, he dismissed it as mere coincidence. After all, the world was vast, and improbable things happened more often than people realized.
But this many? This frequently? It was almost as if someone had deliberately scattered Nen users across the underworld, threading them into the fabric of criminal organizations like a well-woven conspiracy.
It was no longer something Togiri could ignore.
Was Nen truly as rare as he had once believed? Or had he fundamentally misunderstood the nature of this world?
Perhaps the story he once knew wasn't an exact replica of the reality he was now living in.
Perhaps there were layers beneath what he thought was real.
Togiri leaned back in his chair, his fingers curling against the armrest as he let out a slow, measured sigh.
'It doesn't matter. I'll let it go for now. Haaaa…'
He closed his eyes, pushing aside his frustration, but the restlessness inside him refused to settle. His mind shifted to something even more unnerving.
The memories.
The life of Tetsura.
They had given him so many questions… and not a single answer.
'Why did I name myself after Tetsura's friend? Why did I change my name at all when I opened my eyes in this body?'
For the first time, Togiri questioned his own actions. His own thoughts. His own identity.
Something wasn't right.
'I noticed it before, didn't I? When I killed for the first time. I didn't feel anything. No guilt. No shame.
But instead… I was excited. I relished the sensation of growing stronger. Watching pathetic trash die beneath my hands. Viewing his life like an instect… just like them.'
His fists clenched.
'My personality changed from the moment I arrived. I thought it was because of the memories, the weight of countless deaths and tragedies, but it's more than that. '
His eyes narrowed as he sifted through his memories, retracing every thought, every decision since he first awoke in this world.
There were strange inconsistencies, behaviors that didn't align with his past self—things he had written off as mere adaptation.
But now…
Now, they felt deliberate.
'My need for control is unnatural. It's not just an obsession—it's pathological. The moment someone doesn't act the way I want them to, my first instinct is to discard them.
My outbursts, my depression, my guilt, my rage… I blamed it all on the memories, but something changed. After I met the Phantom Troupe… something inside me shifted.
A cold realization slithered down his spine.
'I need to control everything around me. I need to take control of the whole world and make it bend to my will.'
The words weren't his. Not entirely.
He had read about this phenomenon before—in psychology books buried deep within his subconsciousness.
[Subconscious overcorrection: When the mind experiences an extreme negative event, it overcorrects by driving the individual into the complete opposite state.]
He inhaled sharply.
'I didn't just burn my toe taking a hot bath and decided to switch to cold water. I threw liquid nitrogen into the damn tub.'
His grip on the chair tightened as his focus drifted away from these inconsistencies—toward the new memories that had surfaced.
'Why had they been in the mountains? What had shattered Tetsura's relationship with Fang? How did Special Pages—Tetsura's Hatsu work?'
'And, above all…'
'Why had Kastriot—Fang's older brother, the most wanted man in the world, a walking catastrophe who erased entire cities—been Tetsura's close friend?'
Togiri is a pragmatic person. He didn't care if someone was an assassin like Kaizen or a bloodthirsty battle junkie that trampled over the weak like Ryuha, but..
He'd never partner up with someone that couldn't be controlled and killed indiscriminately innocent people like he did.
The Hunter Association had spent years searching for him.
Entire nations had classified Kastriot as an existential threat, a danger so severe that his mere continued survival was considered a risk to the global balance of power.
The Hunter Association had labeled him an A- Level Threat, a category reserved for the kind of beings that could topple governments, erase entire nations, or destabilize entire regions with nothing but their will and strength.
Even the Chimera Ant Colony, a biological catastrophe that could have led to a planetary extinction event, had only been given a B Level Threat classification in its early stages.
But Kastriot? He had earned his ranking alone.
Not as the leader of an army nor as part of an organized group.
But as a single man.
The different Mafia family's, despite their arrogance and dominance over the underworld, had put a bounty on him.
The only moment that could compare to it would come later—during the start of the Yorkshin City auction.
The moment the Underground Auction was targeted by the Phantom Troupe, the Ten Dons had immediately placed a 2-billion jenny bounty on each member of the Troupe.
But that bounty had been retracted just as quickly as it had been announced.
Why?
Because the moment the Mafia heads had learned the truth—that the Spiders hailed from Meteor City, the place where the Mafia's own shadow army of nameless, identity-less assassins was trained—they backed down.
But Kastriot? He grew up in Momo City and lived a simple and ordinary life until he decided to become a Hunter. Kastriot had no such ties to Meteor City.
And yet, despite all the resources, despite all the money, despite all the professional hunters including bounty hunters, rogue assassins, and even the few specialists who had devoted themselves to hunting him down out of vegenace…
No one had ever come close and if they did through the use of Nen then they died on the spot.
No confirmed sightings. No near-captures. No evidence that he had ever been anywhere after his disappearance.
Kastriot hadn't just evaded the world's greatest hunters. He had vanished. As if the world itself had erased him.
Kastriot had never been found.
No traces. No sightings. No close calls. It was as if he had never existed in the first place.
That wasn't natural. That wasn't normal. Even the greatest assassins left trails—small, barely noticeable, but trails nonetheless.
Even the Phantom Troupe or the Zoldycks, no matter how elusive, had left something behind.
But Kastriot? He had disappeared as if the world itself had erased him which except those with grievances gladly welcomed.
Togiri leaned forward, pressing his hands together, his brows furrowed in deep thought.
Even after reliving Tetsura's memories, he was no closer to understanding the truth.
There were too many missing pieces, too many contradictions, too many gaps in what he had seen and what he knew.
And yet, among the uncertainty, one thing was clear. Tetsura's power was unnatural. No—unnatural was too weak of a word.
It was wrong.
His Hatsu, Special Pages weren't just stronger than Togiri's Phantom Pages—they were something else entirely. They weren't just refined. They weren't just optimized.
They were absolute.
As if his ability had reached a state of completion that defied logic itself.
As if it had transcended what a normal Hatsu should be capable of.
Netero's strongest attack against Meruem Zero Hand probably paled in comparison to Tetsura's strength.
'Was Tetsura human? Can what he used even be called Nen? How did he exceed the power that this world had?'
Togiri ran a hand through his hair, inhaling deeply before exhaling slowly. And his instincts—the same instincts that had kept him alive were screaming the answer at him.
Tetsura hadn't gained that power through training. He hadn't honed it through sheer effort. He had sacrificed something. Or someone.
Togiri's breath slowed. His mind replayed the memories—not his, but Tetsura's. The people who had once stood at his side.
Reina.
Kastriot.
Asdo.
Bijuki.
And the other Togiri.
The only reason that the other Togiri had survived was because Tetsura had healed him. Togiri clenched his fists in frustration.
'But why?'
Why had he been spared, when the others had not? Why had Tetsura—who had already crossed the line of no return by using his friend—chosen to save him?
Togiri had felt it—lived it—in those brief, fractured glimpses of a complete memory.
The weight of his grief. The way his hands had shaken when he used his ability. The way his heart had screamed in agony each time another friend was turned into a weapon.
Tetsura had wept when other Togiri was bleeding out in his arms. He had hesitated. He had suffered.
'This wasn't the power of someone who had willingly chosen to sacrifice his comrades. This was the power of someone who had been forced to, but why?'
These last two words still lingered on Togiri's mind as he made the most unrealistic theories while thinking.
Togiri exhaled sharply, pressing his thumb against his temple.
Togiri's Phantom Pages would never reach that level. Not unless he was willing to pay the same price.
And that—
That was something he wasn't sure he could do.
Togiri pressed his thumb into his temple, irritation bubbling beneath the surface.
The pieces weren't fitting together.
Something in his gut told him that the answers to Tetsura's past held the key to his own future. He just had to figure it out.
Togiri exhaled, rubbing his temples as frustration gnawed at him. His ability wasn't enough. That much was clear.
Togiri had seen it firsthand. Felt it. His so-called "phantoms" had been nothing more than disposable fodder against the strong.
Togiri wasn't a genius.
He wasn't like Gon, who grew absurdly strong through sheer willpower alone, sure he pushed himself farther than most, but there were no sudden power ups when he lost his reasoning.
He wasn't Killua, whose natural instincts and training since birth made even professional assassins look sloppy.
He wasn't like Hisoka, who could see a single technique and instantly figure out ten different ways to fight around it and use it to his advantage.
He also wasn't like Fang who had incredible sharp intuition and only lacked proper guidance from a teacher to turn into a terrifying genius.
He wasn't one of them.
His Nen talent? Average.
His battle instincts? Decent at best.
He had no overwhelming mastery for his own category, Conjuration. No innate brilliance that let him refine his Hatsu in weeks instead of years.
Everything he had, he fought for. Every ounce of strength, every scrap of technique—it had been carved into his bones through sheer effort.
He had built himself up from nothing, clawed his way through Heaven's Arena, spent years refining his craft, only to realize—
It was meaningless.
The System—the so-called ultimate cheat, the thing that should've propelled him to greatness, had turned his years of suffering into a joke in mere months. And all because of a single function.
The Shop.
It was effortless. Stupidly easy. A shortcut so mind-numbing that it mocked the blood, sweat, and sleepless nights he had endured before.
Swallow a pill. Boom. Aura Nodes unlocked.
Swallow another. A body ripped and perfect in balance only achieved throuth decades of hard training.
Swallow another. Aura Units increased to absurd levels.
He had pushed his body before—pushed it until his muscles tore apart, until his bones fractured under the strain, until he collapsed from sheer exhaustion.
Now? A single pill did more than months of breaking himself ever could even his talent in Nen was accounted for as he could directly increase his profiency in Nen through EP.
And despite all of that—despite cheating reality itself, despite increasing his Aura Units to over a hundred times what they once were— It still wasn't enough.
Togiri felt like he was chasing shadows. Ghosts of the strongest Nen masters in this world, always just out of reach.
And then came the Training Simulator. It had been nothing more than a crude tool, a system function meant to grind combat experience like a predictable, monotonous game.
It had exposed him to a world of fighters far beyond his own, let him face hundreds of different battle styles, refine his movements, sharpen his adaptability whenever he wanted.
And yet… He was still too slow. Too slow to bridge the gap. Too slow to matter when facing the true monsters lurking in the shadows of this world.
'If I waited for a couple years then I'll become the strongest, but it's too slow. The Hunter x Hunter storyline spans not even over 3 years.
I wished I had put my transmigration farther into the past. Gambling into thinking Netero would take me as a disciple or making friends with Gon and the rest wasn't worth it.
If I had known that my talent was so weak then I'd never have...' The faces of his family flew past him.
Fang his best friend an brother even without the same blood.
Lilia his small little sister that smiled brightly at him, erasing all the shadows surrounding him.
Arthur, his father that didn't treat him like a naive child and always worried for him, but still let him walk his own path.
Julia, his mother who was just so... warm. She never was mad at him or forced him to anything. She simply was happy when he was home.
'Talent…'
Most people who lacked talent resented their limitations, blaming fate or cursing their own inadequacy. But Togiri? He simply accepted it. 'I have no talent? So what?'
Talent only dictated the length of the journey. Some started higher, some lower. Some walked the mountain path, while others started halfway up the peak.
That didn't matter.
Until he exhausted every possible method and pushed beyond his limits—until he reached a point where he could say, without a doubt, that he had done everything in his power—then and only then would he allow himself to complain about unfairness.
Togiri didn't waste time wallowing in self-pity. He was realistic about his growth rate.
He measured it, calculated it, and optimized every second of his training by reflecting on his shortcomings, and the truth was simple:
his progress was slow.
It had taken three entire months—a quarter of a year—just to develop his initial idea of what his Hatsu should be like.
Even then, Phantom Pages were weak. Morel who was the inspiration behind his Hatsu had likely taken a decade or two to master Deep Purple to its full extent.
Togiri didn't have that kind of time. The Shura no Kōrin was approaching, and his current strength was insufficient.
The tournament was just the first step of his plan. His real objective was something much bigger: the Chimera Ant Queen.
Farming Shop Points by using the Queen was his ultimate goal.
From what he calculated, he could likely handle Squad Captain Chimera Ants, but the Royal Guards? No. Not even close.
The anime never properly explored the Nen users that had been fed to the Queen, but the implications were frightening and Togiri would have never attempted this if he didn't now have his own advantage—the Reviewer System.
If he continued killing strong enemies like Yotsuba's, stockpiling their corpses in his inventory, he could keep accumulating Shop Points while having a way to feed the Chimera Ant Queen without the need to wipe out innocent villages.
Togiri would benefit, the world would benefit and everything would end well, if he didn't understimate the variables present.
If the Nen users he fed the queen would be stronger than in the original story, this could very well be the end of the human race.
If the Royal Guards and the King were even stronger than in the original and Togiri couldn't contain them, then the only other option left would be to nuke the whole NGL country.
Meruem himself was too strong that only a nuke helped and even then he survived.
Stronger Chimera Ants? They would be monstrous.
'If I do this right… I could become something even a post-revival Meruem wouldn't be able to defeat. Who could then stand in my way?'
The thought of such power sent a shiver through him.
Togiri wasn't just planning for the next battle. He was planning for the war ahead. He needed more than strength, more recources, more manpower, more Points.
He needed a Hatsu that could evolve alongside him.
A dozen strategies raced through Togiri's mind.
'Unlock the Karma function now, or wait until the System passively absorbs enough Points?'
'Refine my Hatsu, rerefine my martial arts or focus on combat experience?'
'Grow the Phantom Society's Shadow Squads, expand its influence, increase revenue streams by releasing another pill?'
Too many possibilities, but one undeniable truth—'Strong gangs are finite.'
'I need something more.' Could he enhance Phantom Pages through the Reviewer System?
Yes.
But was that enough? If the System could fuse 10 Phantom Pages into a single one and increasing it's strength by 10 percent then what if he combined a hundred, would the Phantom Warrior born from it be stronger than its creator?
'What if I took it further? What if, instead of just boosting raw stats, I layered more Transmutation into it?
A Lightning Phantom, coursing with electricity.
A Fire Phantom, burning everything in its wake.
A Shadow Phantom, slipping between reality itself.' Togiri quickly shook his head.
'Is that even realistic for me?' Togiri frowned. His affinity for Manipulation and Conjuration was decent, but not outstanding.
Even with relentless effort, it would take years to perfect something like that. If his creations number only in the single digits then it could well be possible, but Togiri wanted the to be the definition of an one man army.
'Without the ability to directly increase my Hatsu mastery with Existence Points, it's just not feasible. Maybe I should create a new ability'
'There are a couple of big gangs left, but I doubt their leaders are Nen users. And even if they are, I highly doubt they're strong.' The problem was risk versus reward.
Togiri tapped his fingers against the table. 'What other targets are there?' Bounty Hunters? Rogue Hunters? Corrupt Association members?'
He had already considered them before. The Hunter Association wasn't infallible, and there were plenty of Hunters who had abused their power or gone rogue.
'Maybe I could do what Kurapika couldn't — Kill The Phantom Troupe…'
— Sigh.
He quickly discarded the idea. Too much risk, not enough reward.
'Defeating any of them right now would be still a stretch. If I invest all my EP in Nen then it could be feasible, but it's just not worth it'
Not too mention that Togiri couldn't force a situation where he could fight one versus one against single member like Kurapika, it was too dangerous.
Chrollo would soon gain the ability to foresee the Spiders future. This ability threatened me as a good ambush would turn into a trap for Togiri.
Togiri took a deep breath and exhaled trying to clear his many thoughts.
'Seven, is there some training method or technique I can buy from the System to improve my Nen mastery?'
@Hm, yes, but I wouldn't suggest it. In my personal opinion, you should just upgrade the Training Simulator.@
Togiri's brow furrowed. 'Really? Why?'
The Training Simulator was already a brutally effective tool. It let him refine techniques, gain experience, and fight stronger opponents in a safe environment, all while sleeping.
The downside? Togiri couldn't bring his trained body or Aura outside, only his experiences and it was mentally exhausting using it.
Togiri was mentally resilient, but the burden was enormous. He was already constantly suppressing his chaotic emotions, keeping his inner demons at bay, and balancing his constant hunger for revenge,
The Training Simulator drained him faster than anything else. @It's already broken as hell, but maybe you didn't notice.@ Togiri scowled. 'Notice what?'
Seven's pauses were always annoying—that deliberate, dramatic hesitation that made him want to punch something. @Your mental strength.@
'What about it?'
@You noticed your physical strength improving, right? Your enhanced senses, your increased charm, the way your body keeps adapting? But did you never notice that your mind is also working better? Faster?@
Togiri's breath hitched and then—Lightning struck.
He had noticed it. He just hadn't realized it. His thought process was sharper. His reaction speed in fights was smoother.
He could calculate multiple steps ahead while fighting—something he could have never done before.
It was subtle, but undeniable. '...My mental capabilities increased with my body cultivation?'
@Took you long enough to notice, stupid Master@
Togiri exhaled slowly over this information. His stats didn't properly represent his current abilities anymore.
'So, my Aura, physical strength, and even my mind are all evolving in sync?'
@Exactly. Do you want to change how your status is displayed?@
Togiri thought for a moment. 'No. Forget it. Maybe later, but not now. Quickly tell me about the Training Simulator. Wha-'
Togiri's thoughts were interrupted by a sound before him.
— Twing Twing
His cellphone vibrated on the table before him. Togiri picked it up and looked at caller ID.
[Unknown]
'A secure line? Did something happen for Rika to call me?'
— Yawn
Kuroha stretched lazily from the bed, her massive yawn so deep and loud that she could have been mistaken for an alligator.
@Wow… is she really a teenage girl? Maybe you should check what if she is wielding a sword@
"Aren't you gonna pick up?" Kuroha asked annoyed while staring at Togiri.
"Y-yeah. Hello, Rika what's the matter?" Togiri asked concerned while picking up the phone.
"..." He didn't hear anything back. Concerned he gripped his phone tighter "Rika..."
Fearing for the worst Togiri clenched his fist. 'Has she been kidnapped by those assassins?'
Togiri almost put the phone down when he heard some static.
"Hello? Togiri-kun? I'm sorry I was driving through a tunnel. How's it going?"
Rika's pleasent voice rang through Togiri's ears with static. As she spoke she was loud enough for Kuroha to hear her every word.
Togiri quickly regained his composure and spoke in an annoyed tone.
"Rika. Are you driving with your roof down again? The wind is-" "The what?" Yelled Rika back.
"The. Wind. Is too" "The what?" Rika yelled again. Togiri gripped his found and clenched his fist.
"The wind! The fucking wind! Drive over!"
Kuroha flinched back when she saw Togiri yell loudly. She never saw him so emotional. She almost believed he didn't have any from the way he acted.
Rika also flinched, its been some time since she has seen her boss have an outburst. She lifted her foot of the gas pedal and stopped at the side of the highway.
"Sorry..."
There was an awkward silence between the too, but Togiri quickly broke it.
"Why did you call?"
"Oh right. The Hunter Association called me half an hour ago. They want to award you a star, making you a Single-Star Hunter. Also-"
"Wait wait wait." Before Rika continued to talk Togiri interrupted her. She talked too fast for him to fully understand what she said.
"A star? Why?"
Togiri understood how hard it was to become a Single-Star Hunter.
1 Star (Single-Star Hunter) - Given to Hunters who have produced remarkable achievements in a particular field.
2 Stars (Double-Star Hunter) - Given to Hunters who fulfill the first 5 articles of the Hunter Bylaws, who hold an official position and who have mentored at least one junior student who has received one star.
3 Stars (Triple-Star Hunter) - Given to Hunters who fulfill the first 6 articles of the Hunter Bylaws and who have produced remarkable achievements in multiple fields.
This is the rarest and most difficult rank to obtain, and it is considered a great honor.
Of the hundreds of Hunters in the Hunter Association, the number of Triple-Star Hunters is only about 10.
"They gave you a star for the Beauty Pill. After extensive research they found out that the effects were genuine without side effects.
Also they found at that you are apparently the Blue Demon. I understood it only a few days ago, when the information we gathered on the gangs, were wiped out. Thanks for telling me by the way."
Togiri's body tensed. 'How did they know it was me? Nen?'
"Togiri-kun, they said that you need to go to the Hunter Association for the ceremony"
"Wait. What about the.. Blue Demon?"
Togiri suddenly found the alter ego he made up very cringe, when he casually said the name outloud.
"Pft... *Cough* Ehm, they said as long as you don't destroy any city infrastructure and innocent civilians aren't involved, you have free reign to wipe out the gangs.
You'll also receive some money and except a few people nobody knows about the true identity of the bl-blue demon"
Togiri's cheeks heated up. He could feel how Rika held back her laugh.
"Thanks"
—Beep Beep
Togiri hung up and twisted his head at Kuroha who held her hand before her mouth, then he looked away.
@Pft. The blue demon, hahaha@ Seven chuckled. He was the only one not having the decency to not laugh at Togiri.
Togiri ignored him. 'Show me a few options for the upgrade'
@... sure@
A System panel appeared before Togiri.
For a brief second, his body twitched—a short, involuntary reaction to the reveal of the information before his eyes.
Kuroha, despite watching TV, didn't miss it. Her eyes shifted slightly, her focus still half on the screen, but now, she was watching him.
Togiri ignored her as well. His attention was fully on the System's upgrade menu.
[Training Simulator Upgrades]
1. Daydream Architect
Description: Create places you have never visited using pure imagination.
Great for scenic resting places, training grounds, or vacation spots where you can pretend you're not constantly in mortal danger.
Cost: 1,000 EP
2. Think Harder, Dummy!
Description: Increases artificial intelligence of the Avatar.
It will now come up with original strategies and go beyond observed real-life movements and reactions during fights.
Cost: 50,000 EP
3. Muscle Wizard: I Cast Fist
Description: Increases the strength growth of your Avatar.
The more it fights, the stronger it gets. However, without Upgrade #2, the Avatar will only improve brute physical strength with no battle IQ boost.
Cost: 3,599 EP
4. Detroit: Become Human
Description: (Requires #2 & #3) The Avatar becomes a real person with its own thoughts and goals.
Whether that's continuing to train, questioning its own existence, or overthrowing you as its master is yet to be determined.
Cost: 500,000 EP
5. The Sims Expansion Pack
Description: (Requires #4) The Avatar continues to live inside your subconscious with its own life.
It may pursue hobbies, relationships, or even go to therapy to deal with the trauma of being an artificial construct.
Cost: 1,000,000 EP
6. Brain Kidnapper
Description: Allows you to drag another person into the Training Simulator against their will.
Can be used for sparring, teaching lessons, or just to mess with someone for fun.
Cost: Based on target's strength + 10 EP per second
7. Multiplayer Update: Professional Kidnapper
Description: The group package version of #6.
Drag multiple people into the Training Simulator at once. Perfect for team training, forced interventions, or reenacting battle royales.
Cost: Based on targets' strength + (10 EP per second × amount of targets)
8. Furry Mode: Unlocked
Description: Change your own appearance into that of a monster or an animal inside the Training Simulator.
Ever wanted to fight as a dragon? A werewolf? A suspiciously buff bunny? Now you can, but you'll will only look like them without the strength increase.
Cost: 5 EP
9. Mood Mixer – Drugs Are Good For You
Description: Slightly manipulate your own emotions inside the Training Simulator.
Perfect for training without fear, feeling pure rage for max damage, or achieving peak cold-hearted protagonist mode.
Cost: 80 EP
10. Harem Protagonist Daily life
Description: Unexplainably increases charisma and romantic tension inside the Training Simulator.
Expect unnecessary blushing, dramatic misunderstandings, and a sudden influx of love interests that may or may not try to kill you. Not included: the real reward from a relationship.
Cost: 77 EP
11. Harem King...
Description: ….
Cost: 6969 EP
Togiri was speechless for a full minute. The list in front of him wasn't small.
The scroll bar on the right barely moved, indicating that there were hundreds of available upgrades.
'This? These names... did you make them?'
@Pft. If you think I'm weird, then you really don't understand the Reviewer System.
If you scroll further, the pop culture references only get more bizarre—so do the upgrades. Without me as an assistant, you'd need years to browse through them all.@
Togiri sighed, rubbing his temple.
'Sure. Let me process the first nine upgrades for now.'
His gaze skimmed through the list again.
Daydream Architect—the upgrade that let him create training grounds and imaginary locations.
'Seems kind of useless, unless…'
Togiri's mind wandered to the classic Dragon Ball gravity chamber. If he could manipulate conditions like that, maybe this would be useful.
But he already wears specially weighted clothes and could manipulate the weight even more with the system.
His organs also were strengthened through the cultivation pills he consumed.
It was also bullshit.
He already tested the limitations of his Training Simulator. If he couldn't carry his physical gains into the real world, then creating extreme conditions was meaningless.
If it were that useful why not create a place where he suddenly absorbed a different worlds energy like mana or qi and instantly become the strongest just by being there.
'It's not a bad idea, but if I could just imagine a place where I instantly master Nen, then why hasn't the System made it more expensive?'
He had experimented before. Changing the environment inside the Simulator wasn't an issue, but it drained unnecessary mental energy.
If he fought in Heaven's Arena, the system would only generate an empty ring—it wouldn't include the spectators or the feel of the place.
In the end, the space itself didn't matter. It was still just a simulation.
Togiri moved on.
Think Harder, Dummy and Muscle Wizard: I Cast Fist, were clearly linked, improving the intelligence and strength of the Avatar inside the Simulator.
Then came Detroit: Become Human—a path to making his Avatar into a real person.
Togiri frowned. 'If I bought all three… could I create an assistant like you?'
@No.@ Seven's response came immediately.
@The Avatar would exist outside the System's control. The System can create it, but once you buy the fourth upgrade, it's independent—capable of thought, action… even rebellion. If I wasn't directly linked to the System, it would probably try to erase and replace me.@
Togiri blinked. Then, a small smirk crept onto his face.
'Haha. What? That's actually possible? Here I was thinking about replacing you. Looks like you got lucky.'
@Hm. Sure.@
Seven's voice was as neutral as always, but Togiri could tell his assistant was sulking, not that he cared.
Despite their constant back-and-forth, Seven had been getting… tamer. Less annoying and more obedient.
Togiri wasn't sure what had caused the change, but he didn't question it.
Maybe Seven had finally realized his importance or maybe… he was just afraid of Togiri.
After all, Togiri could enter his own Mindscape and physically beat Seven up if he wanted to.
The next upgrade made Togiri pause.
Brain Kidnapper.
'Bringing someone else into the Training Simulator… huh?'
It was useful. He could pass it off as a Nen ability the first time, but it would become obvious something was off once they both woke up at the same time.
'Would be very effective in a one-on-one fight, though.'
If he could trap his enemy inside the Simulator, he could summon an army of Avatars and overwhelm them. That would be an instant kill.
But… what if the mental backlash when his opponent died didn't affect his opponent but Togiri as the system's owner?
If that was the case, this ability had zero practical use—outside of controlled training sessions with Fang… or maybe showing Lilia some cool places.
Togiri paused. His eyes flickered with mischief.
'I wonder how Fang would react if I summoned a Hisoka Avatar next to him? He could relieve his trauma by beating him up. He wasn't quiet the same after the fight'
If Seven had been paying attention to his thoughts, the AI would've answered.
But thankfully for Fang, Seven wasn't listening. Togiri shook his head and moved on.
One thing was clear—there were too many options. He needed to prioritize.
Togiri quickly composed himself before continuing to talk to Seven.
'I get it. These upgrades are somewhat useful, but I have no interest in reading through hundreds of them.
Show me the top five for training under a million Points, along with their side effects. I don't want a repeat of the Avatar creation one.'
A few seconds passed, and another system panel appeared before Togiri.
[Training Simulator Upgrades]
1. Yamate Kudasai Sensei™
Effect: A training instructor summoned by the system to help The Reviewer become stronger.
Side effects: The Reviewer cannot dismiss the instructor until he passes out from exhaustion, dies, or completes the lesson.
The instructor can choose to leave, but this is highly unlikely. If The Reviewer runs out of EP, the instructor will charge an alternative fee, including other currency like life energy, skills, a fragment of the soul, or temporary body possession.
Cost: 1,000 EP (Not recommended until The Reviewer clears the tutorial.)
2. Hypeybonic Rhyne Chamber™
Effect: Increases time dilation between inside and outside the Training Simulator.
Side effect: Overuse may result in temporary coma, permanent coma, or brain hemorrhage.
Cost: 1000 Ep
Temporary: 10 EP per additional hour.
Permanent: 100,000 EP per hour.
3. Totally-Not-A-Training-Montage Mode™
Effect: Converts 10% of physical training inside the Training Simulator into real-world gains, but only one strength increase attribute can be brought out.
Side effects: Prolonged use may cause hair loss (source: some bald guy who punches really hard).
If strength increase is too much, consequences include sudden combustion, permanent disability, or a one-way ticket to the afterlife.
Cost: 100 EP per session
Permanent: 1,000,000 EP per 1% increase and every 10 percent the number doubles
4. Totally-Not-Mind-Hacking™ Protocol
Effect: Randomly connects The Reviewer's consciousness to another being in the universe, forcing a direct battle inside their Mindscape Arena.
Mindscape Arena represents their mental and physical strength. If The Reviewer wins, he gains:
1. ???? (??? Unknown ???)
2. Their memories (fully unlocked, fragmented, or encrypted based on opponent's mental defenses).
3. Their abilities/techniques (limited by what The Reviewer's body and mind can handle).
Side effects: Possible schizophrenia (may include hearing voices, hallucinations, or a constant narrator judging your life choices).
Mental collapse if opponent's willpower is too strong. Instant regret if opponent is insane (imagine winning only to inherit the trauma of a serial killer).
Additonal Warning:
The target could survive and take over The Reviewer's body.
Opponent selection is 100% random. Could be a weak child. Could be the strongest being in the known universe.
If The Reviewer loses, the opponent may gain access to his memories and copy his abilities instead.
If the opponent is too powerful, the System immediately forfeits the fight keeping the Reviewer safe, but will be forcibly deactivated for an unknown period.
The Reviewer should NEVER attempt this.
Cost: ???? EP per attempt (Not recommended until The Reviewer becomes ????)
5. Future Me's Problem™ (Ultimate Procrastination Combat Mode)
Effect: Allows The Reviewer to delay all consequences of injuries, fatigue, and even death for 24 hours only inside the Training Simulator.
During this time, he will feel no pain or exhaustion, no matter how much damage he takes.
Side effects: 1.5 times the accumulated damage hits at once when time runs out.
Nen burnout: If overused, the backlash can cripple Nen usage for days or permanently.
Severe hunger: While Training consumes 10x normal energy reserves, leading to extreme starvation.
Additional Warning:
The Reviewer won't realize how close he is to dying until the effect ends.
If deactivated before leaving the Training Simulator, the next morning will be pure hell (24 hours of exhaustion at once).
If overused, System prediction: "Please prepare a coffin ahead of time."
Cost: 100 EP per activation.
Togiri sat there stunned as he read every word carefully. Once he finished he read the System again from top to bottom.
After several reading and 20 minutes later he stopped. He closed his eyes, by the time his eyes rested he already knew what to choose.
Togiri sat motionless, his mind running through every scenario, every consequence, and every hidden meaning behind his decision.
He wasn't just picking the most practical option. He wasn't even picking the safest ones. He was picking the ones that made the most sense for him.
For who he was. For who he wanted to become.
'Seven, I want to buy number 2. The Hypeybonic Rhyne Chamber™'
@The one thousand Existence Points will be subtracted. Now, do you want a permanent increase or a temporary one?@
'How many hours is the maximum?' Togiri already knew this was related to his mental strength.
@Since your brain hasn't fully developed its one, but let me further explain. For example if you spent 11 hours inside it would be 10 hours in the real world.
Time dilation would be 1 : 1.091. The 1 representing real time and the 1.091 the time inside. I can also display it as 10:11.
11 hours with the one hour increase would be your maximum, but if you plan to spent only 3 hours training then you could add another 2 hours. Making it a single hour outside
But you would approximatly need to sleep 5 hours at least after that. To be honest I'd recommended not using this system upgrade until because of its side effects until you have grown stronger@
2 small system panels appeared over the previous panel Togiri was looking over. Togiri mulled over it.
'You're right. It's useless for the current me, but it's still weird how low the number is'
Togiri already knew the answer. It were the memories shackling him like chains that trained his mental strength.
Togiri felt dissapointed but he didn't regret spending a thousand EP to buy this upgrade, because in the future it would be immensly helpful.
This was his cheat code.
Not in the way his System had been, not in the way the Shop Points had accelerated his progression—but in a way that felt earned.
A way that still required suffering. He wasn't skipping steps. He needed to do something to grow this strength.
In retrospect Togiri knew it didn't make sense because strength was all the same and he was happy about quickly becoming stronger.
But the strength he experienced from swallowing pills or directly improving his Nen profiency didn't feel as good, because in the back of his mind it felt that his strength could leave as quickly as he gained it, just like when he upgraded the system from the first time.
He was brute-forcing his way up the mountain of strength, even if it meant burning through his mind, his sanity, and his very soul to get there.
It wasn't a shortcut—it was an intensified road.
One that would grind him down to his absolute limits and force him to evolve or die trying.
And that was exactly what he wanted.
'Buy, Totally-Not-A-Training-Montage Mode™'
In Togiri's mind this was the best uograde. It was about erasing the gap between his mind and body.
Togiri had felt it before—The disconnect.
The suffocating realization that no matter how much he learned, no matter how much experience he gained inside the Simulator…
His real body couldn't keep up. His mind was evolving at an unnatural rate. His reflexes were sharpening beyond what his muscles could handle.
His instincts were overwhelming his physical limits and it was making him slower.
Not in the literal sense, but in the way that mattered in a real fight. His body wasn't matching his growth.
Every time he fought someone stronger than him, he could see the openings. He could predict the right moves, the perfect counters.
But his body just wasn't fast enough to execute them. He had no natural talent for Nen. His ability was versatile but not inherently strong.
But if there was one thing he did have?
It was the ability to suffer without breaking and this upgrade?
This was suffering personified. It wouldn't be gentle. It wouldn't be kind. It would push him to the absolute brink of what his body could handle.
And if he survived— He would finally, truly, become strong.
These weren't just good choices. They were his choices because at his core, Togiri wasn't special.
He wasn't some chosen one. He wasn't born into a powerful bloodline. He didn't have some hidden god-tier potential waiting to be unlocked.
He was normal guy caught up in a shitty situation that he had no control over
But he was willing to grind, suffer, and push himself further than anyone else.
@The 100 EP are subtracted. Do you want to permanent increase the 10% you can bring out? Only a million Points@
'System'
A white panel with black letters appeared before the other 3 system panels showing the system functions and the points at the upper right.
Existence Points (EP): 51,184,003 ↑
Shop Points (SP): 1,000
Reviewer Points (RP): 0
'Making the 10% I can take out from training grow to 20% would cost 10 Million EP, making it to 30% another 20 EP. It's too soon to decide'
Togiri abruptly stood up and layed down on the other bed beside the one Kuroha was laying on.
"Going to sleep?" Kuroha asked curiously while glancing over Togiri.
"Yeah. Tomorrow we will be traveling to another all day. Good night"
Togiri flipped over to his right side away from the window, the television and Kuroha.
"... good night"
'Activate Training Simulator'
****
Somewhere in a dark and small cave sat a man cross legged with his eyes closed.
He slowly opened them and small grin could be seen on his face. He opened his eyes and his eyes changed color.
"Interesting decision. It's been a long time since I have been away from home. This tournament is a good enough reason to return home"
A devilish laugh escaped his lips. "Should I contact Chrollo and ask him to join the fun?"
His body slightly flinched in shock. "New one arrived? I thought they got the message after I killed the last ones. Tsk. How bothersome"