Chapter 7 : Training X Encounter X Mysterious Box

After a refreshing sleep, Ash woke up habitually at 6 a.m. He wore the light sports clothes he bought yesterday, walked out of his room, took the elevator, coming out of the heavens arena tower, he starts jogging.

Although he learned Nen yesterday, Ash knows that he can't neglect body training. After all, the body is the container of aura; the stronger the body, the bigger the container, and correspondingly, the aura's quantity will increase.

After a little bit of warming up, he decided to make an order.

"My body, run ten kilometers with all of your strength!"

The reason why he did, is so to make sure that his body will perform one hundred percent of its capacity and reach its limits. If he relied on himself alone, the body's survival instinct and his mind would trick him, and he won't go all out in the training.

He wants to mimic Saitama-sensei's training method; maybe he will become the "one word" man?

Like a galloping horse, Ash's figure left clouds of smoke behind him from his speed.

At this moment, his body is like a machine, obeying the order it received. It won't stop until it runs out of energy.

Fortunately, at this time, there aren't a lot of people, or else he will make a fuss for nothing.

…

*painting*

Ash sat on a public bench and painted heavily. He took a bottle of water he prepared from his inventory and started drinking as if there is no tomorrow.

"Damn, I should pay attention next time. I can't let my body run until exhaustion or else I will be a fish on the board in case I meet someone with bad intentions."

After a rest, Ash starts doing basic body exercises: one hundred push-ups, one hundred squats, one hundred pull-ups, and one hundred sit-up crunches.

Such an intensity, if it weren't for the use of absolute order power, would be beyond Ash's ordinary willpower, which won't be able to do even a half of it.

His body, which received the order, will ignore all its instincts and obey the order to death! This is the perfect self-abusing device, no! I mean training cheat!

Ash lay weakly on the bench, His body trembled from all the previous training. matter of fact, he was blind in his left eye and forty three percent in his right eye, a matter of fact he can't even see you sir!

ASH: STUPID AUTHOR, THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!

AUTHOR: SORRY, SORRY, I WAS ABSENT MINDED!

As a matter of fact this intensity was nothing to him in his previous world, but due to the age regression, even his strength seemed to have weakened.

Ash used his remaining strength, opened the inventory, and took the food he stored in it: bread, milk, bananas, etc…

Putting them next to him, he made an order.

"My body, heal quickly!"

As his words feel, Ash quickly starts swallowing food to provide the energy required for his body to repair itself from the fatigue and muscle tearing.

The moment the food entered Ash's stomach, it directly turned into pure life energy and ran through the damaged areas, slowly repairing them.

His aura also seemed to gather more in those damaged specific areas.

This is a new order he found, it allows him to speed up the regeneration speed of his body. Currently, he can only achieve very basic regeneration like healing some small wounds or repairing damaged muscles and bones. This is what he can achieve with both Nen and the energy of food.

Ash's body stopped shaking, and he regained some physical strength, so he stood up and returned to the Heavens Arena tower.

After taking a refreshing shower, he put on his clothes and walked out.

He went to a restaurant on the 100th floor. Heaven's Arena Tower isn't only for fighting; there are all kinds of entertainment faculties, so it's only normal to have a restaurant. As a matter of fact, if Ash wanted, he could order food to his room, but he didn't do so because he felt bored.

As he reached the restaurant, he found it relatively empty; there were only three people eating alone at their respective tables.

'Huh?' Ash was surprised to see an acquaintance. His eyes fell on a young man with a muscular build that is reminiscent of a statue, with broad shoulders and a chiseled jawline. His skin is a deep bronze, and his eyes are a warm shade of brown. His hair is black, cropped short on the sides but longer on top, styled into a messy quiff, and he is wearing a white tank top revealing his huge biceps. The first impression he gives is one of strength.

Ash doesn't know anyone in this new world, so how can he have an acquaintance?

Because that young man is no one other than the troublesome opponent he meets on the 90th floor and defeats in order to reach the 100th floor.

At that time, Ash had no other way but to use the order "sleep" in order to defeat him. Ash was afraid that an order like "blast away" or any attack order wouldn't do significant damage.

It seems he also reached the 100th floor, he sat in his place and quietly ate his breakfast.

In contrast to his wild appearance, his elegant way of eating shows that he is either from a good family or he is very disciplined.

As if he sensed Ash's gaze, the young man lifted his head and looked toward Ash.

He froze in his place from shock. He stood up from his seat and pointed at Ash.

"It's you!" His voice is filled with surprise.

Obviously, he remembered Ash.

How can he easily forget this weird opponent! Yesterday, he remembers clearly that he was fighting Ash when suddenly he felt his eyes become heavy, a sense of fatigue envelope him, and his body get weak, without knowing when he had already slept.

When he woke up and heard the news that he had lost, he was shocked, and after knowing how, he was even more dumbfounded.

He couldn't sleep well last night because he couldn't find out how Ash managed to do that.

He saw the video recording of the match, analyzed every frame, and didn't notice Ash using any anesthesia needles or gas, nor a secret weapon.

"He must be one of those people!" Kai's eyes glowed excitedly at this conclusion.

So, without hesitation, he walked toward Ash.

Seeing this, Ash stood in his place, he isn't afraid of getting attacked because the current him is already a Nen user, and a Nen user is hard to damage by a non-Nen user. He can see the leaking aura of the young man, he is just an ordinary person.

'Ten!'

The aura of Ash shrouded him tightly like an invisible armor, just in case this guy tried to attack him.

Step by step, the young man stood in front of Ash. Their heights are similar, it's just that the young man's build is thicker than Ash's lean body.

The young man observed Ash for a while before he stretched his hand toward Ash.

'Huh?' Ash looked at the stretched hand of the young man and was caught off guard. He thought the young man was coming to make trouble, but he didn't expect him to just want to shake hands with him.

"My name is Kai." said the young man called Kai.

Seeing the polite gesture of the young man, Ash was relieved. It's good he didn't come to cause trouble; it saved him from wasting precious energy.

Ash shook hands with Kain and also introduced himself.

"You can call me A——" Ash almost said his real name, but fortunately he noticed it quickly and he changed his words.

"Shiro."

Kai nodded his head and said, "Shiro-san, can I have a little bit of your time?"

Ash, who had nothing to do, nodded his head. He is curious what this guy named Kai wants to talk about with him, although he guessed that ninety percent he will want to know how he got defeated. If that is the case, Ash will simply leave, he doesn't want to waste time fabricating lies for something useless.

The two of them sat at Kai's table.

"Shiro-san, feel free to order whatever you want, I invite you." After seating, Kai immediately invited Ash to breakfast generously.

Since someone wanted to pay in his place, Ash was more than happy to agree.

This little move added a little bit of favorability in his heart toward this young man named Kai.

"It seems he is more clever than I thought." Seeing that Kai didn't directly enter the subject, instead, he waited until Ash finished eating.

Ash was in a good mood after eating a luxurious breakfast, so with a smile, he asked the other party's intention directly: "I don't know what you want from me."

Kai, who was silent the whole time, starts talking: "Before that, Shiro-san, could you tell me, are you a psychic?"

He looked at Ash's golden eyes without blinking, and from his confident tone, Ash felt that he didn't seem to be asking, instead just wanting to confirm his guess.

'psychic? does he refer to my superpower, Absolute Order, or did he misunderstand it as Nen?'

Ash thought that Kai must have seen how he magically fell asleep during yesterday's fight and then related it to Nen. After all, the ordinary people in this world refer to Nen users as psychics or superhumans.

'Troublesome… If I say yes, maybe he will entangle me and say he wants to learn it. If I say no, he won't believe it. So what should I do now?

Seeing that Ash was silent after hearing his question, Kai was afraid of being misunderstood and hurried to say, "Please rest assured, I won't ask you how you got this power or to teach it to me, I only want to confirm if you are a psychic or not."

"I know that most of the fighters above the 200th floor are psychics, and reaching that floor gives you the opportunity to acquire that power, so I won't trouble you. Please just answer my question truthfully." Kai replied quickly and politely.

Hearing these words, Ash became puzzled.

"He knows the Nen initiation on the 200th floor, and he is sure that I'm a Nen user, so why does he want me to say it?"

Ash's curiosity was picked up, if Kai hadn't said these few words, he would have assumed that he wanted to learn Nen from him or at least know how he was defeated. But it seems he was wrong, Kai seems to have another motive behind his question, and the only way to uncover it is to say...

"Yes, I'm a psychic. Since you already know this, why are you asking?" With his piercing golden eyes, he observed Kai carefully, ready to analyze his facial expressions and eyes and see if he was going to lie.

Kai's face brightened up after hearing Ash's words, as if he found hope. He calmed down his excitement and said, "Long story short, my little sister, due to unknown and mysterious reasons, fell ill."

He continued, a sad atmosphere enveloped the place."She was a healthy girl, but slowly she became sick and tired, until she couldn't stand at all. Now she spends most of her time lying down, unable to even move. Her situation is getting worse day after day. In the last month, she entered a coma. The doctors can't find the reason for her illness at all."

Talking about his sister, Kai's voice became low and sad, deep worry appeared on his face, and Ash could see his clenched fists that conveyed powerlessness and anger.

"I spent a lot of money to get a piece of information that said only with psychic powers could my sister's illness be cured."

"After knowing this, I searched a lot on how to obtain this power and found that in the heavens' arena, those who reached the 200th floor all became psychics, or probably were psychics, so the best chance for me to learn it is to reach the 200th floor!"

'So he doesn't know the initiation!' Ash thought in his mind that Kai seems to only know that the fighters on the 200th floor are all "psychics," but he doesn't know about the "Baptism."

"You want me to cure your sister? If that's the case, I'll disappoint you because, although I'm psychic, my abilities don't heal others." Ash felt that things were getting troublesome, so he decisively poured cold water on Kai.

He isn't interested in wasting time on playing hero saving the beauty, nor is he interested in exploring the mysterious illness of Kai's sister. since it will bring him no benefits.

"Please wait a moment; as long as you can help me and cure my sister, I'll give you something in exchange." Kai understood that Ash had no reason to help him, so he must create a reason for Ash to give it a try. Although he isn't sure that Ash will be able to cure his sister, at least he can discover something through him as a psychic.

"I'm puzzled. Since you know that fighters on the 200th floor are "psychics," why not ask them instead?" Ash wants to know the reason why Kai proposed these to him and not the others, it couldn't be due to his handsome appearance, right?

"Besides the lack of time, I have a hunch that you might be able to help, and I also think those 200th floor and above fighters don't seem normal at all, each one of them is weirder than the other, so I can't trust them easily."

Ash looked at Kai and nodded, if he were in his place, he would never ask for help from a stranger stronger than him, because you will lose the right to "trade" with them, the absence of equal strength will force you to follow their words.

"What do you intend to use in exchange for my help? I must see what I'll get first, if I feel dissatisfied, then I won't make a move." Ash looked at Kain and spoke in a serious tone.

'Now what you will offer, money? your sister? or to become my servant?' Ash remembered all the routines he used to see in movies and anime and tried to guess what Kai would use as a price for his shoot.

But unexpectedly, what Kai said caught Ash off guard.

"I have a mysterious item, I'll show it to you and let you judge for yourself whether it's worthy or not."

Kai knew clearly that for psychics who had inhuman powers, money and ordinary things wouldn't attract them, so he thought of the only thing left to him by his lost father.

His father was an archaeologist who went missing two years ago, leaving him and his little sister alone in this harsh world.

If it weren't for his talent in fighting and his resilient body, which he used to fight in underground clubs to make a living, they would probably die of hunger and poverty.

Hearing Kai's words, Ash's interest was picked up.

"A mysterious item? You are not joking, right?" Ash can't think of what mysterious things an ordinary person like Kai could have.

"I swear I'm not lying. If you want, I'll show it to you right now!" Kai vowed, his tone was firm and his eyes were serious. Although he regretted what he just said, if Ash had any bad thoughts and tried to steal that thing, he doesn't have any way to prevent him at all!

"Supposing that you have that mysterious item, aren't you afraid that I'll just take it and leave?" Ash looked at Kai and felt this young man is very naive. He would dare to reveal his wealth in front of someone stronger than him; this is simply seeking death.

Nen users are the weirdest creatures in this world; their perspective on the world is very distorted, and the concept of the strong eating the weak is only the norm in their lives. Of course, there are exceptions to everything. But people like Gon and others are in the minority.

Kai was silent for a moment, he seems to make up his mind and then he said, "If that's what happens, then I can only blame myself for choosing the wrong person."

"Well, I'm just joking, don't worry, I won't do something like that, I'm not a thief."

"Now, show me that thing." Ash's curiosity has already reached the limit, he can't wait to see what the mysterious item will look like.

'Is it a product of Nen?' This is the reason he is so curious, anything supernatural in this world is related to Nen.

"I left it in my room, it's better to see it there so as not to attract unnecessary attention."

Obviously, Kai is afraid that thing will attract the attention of Nen users, so he doesn't keep it with him.

"Ok, let's go now."

Ash and Kai stood up, and the two of them walked towards Kai's room on the 100th floor.

Ash was surprised to find that its design is like his own room, only to realize that all the rooms on the 100th floor are like each other.

Kai took a bag from below the bed, and from the bag he took something covered with a black cloth.

He unwrapped the black cloth, and slowly the thing hidden in it was revealed.

…

It is a small black iron box.

The black box is full of inscriptions and mysterious symbols that give it a strange atmosphere. At first sight, even the average person will realize that this black box is not a normal thing at all.

'Gyo!' Ash gathered aura on his eyes, and his eyesight increased, but that's not the goal.

He could clearly see the eerie black mist that surrounded the box.

'Interesting, it seems he didn't lie, this thing is really mysterious. But what is this black aura? Is this the obsession or resentment left by the previous holder or creator of this box?'

Ash knows that some ordinary people, artists, skilled craftsmen, etc.—who devote themselves to their art or craft will unconsciously infuse their aura with it.

But this dark and frightening aura was not something that ordinary people could leave behind, only a Nen user who had a great obsession or unwillingness to die could leave this Nen after such a long period of time that only God knows.

"This mysterious box was left by my father. after he disappeared, I tried every possible way to open it or break it, but no matter what I used, not even a scratch was left on it."

"Seeing such a magical thing, I thought this thing shouldn't be ordinary at all, so I believe it must be able to pick the interest of those psychic people."

"They aren't called psychics, they are Nen users." Ash was fed up hearing the word "psychic" countless times, so he corrected Kai.

"Nen? What is this?" Kai was puzzled, this new word seems to contain a hidden charm, he wants to understand what it means.

"Nen is the art of manipulating life energy, in short, it is a kind of power that once mastered, you become what you call a psychic person."

Ash purposefully shared this information with Kai because he believed the value of the mysterious black box to be higher than what he had anticipated. the eerie dark aura was not a typical Nen, suggesting that whatever was inside the box must be extraordinary enough to require the dark Nen as protection in order for it to remain sealed.

'Those mysterious inscriptions look similar to the ones in Greed Island, this black box must be sealing something or protecting a certain treasure. Either way, the thing inside is definitely extraordinary!"

"Can I get this power too?" Kai asked excitedly.

"Yes, you can." Ash replied briefly, but in Kai's ears, it seems as if he heard the most beautiful news of his life.

"How?" Kai couldn't help but ask.

Ash smiled, shook his head, and didn't say anything.

"Sorry, I couldn't hold myself from asking, I know it wasn't in our transaction." Kai apologized.

"Don't worry, if the thing inside this box is more valuable than the help I gave, I will consider helping you learn Nen. I'll do my best to keep it a fair exchange. That's the only thing I can promise." Ash is someone who cherishes words and promises very much, so he will abide by what he said before.

"Now that this thing has picked up my interest, now take me to see your sister and see if I can help her."