6 What it means to be Talented

Chapter 6: What it means to be Talented

In an unknown place...

Rain poured down relentlessly, turning the streets into rivers of gray.

The sky was a heavy blanket of clouds, obscuring any trace of sunlight. The city was mostly silent, with the exception of the occasional traffic noise or the distant wail of a siren. The buildings loomed over the pedestrians, who hurried along with their umbrellas and coats, trying to escape the awful weather. 

One man ran as fast as he could, his heart pounding against his chest, threatening to burst open. Water splashed as he ran through puddles of water.

He pushed his way through the huddle of people, ignoring the angry shouts and curses behind him. He weaved through buildings and intersections as he ran seemingly without aim.

Once or twice, he would glance over his shoulder, and redouble his efforts in running, seemingly terrified of something or someone that was chasing after him.

He turned a corner and entered an alleyway, hoping to find a way out, only to come across a dead end. Realizing his mistake, he hurriedly turned around only to come to a complete halt. His heart accelerated even further, echoing the frantic rhythm of fear as he came face to face with him.

The man was a towering figure, his silhouette filling the entrance of the alleyway. His grizzled beard and weathered face were illuminated by the dim light from a nearby street lamp, casting an intimidating shadow that seemed to consume the entire alleyway. His eyes, hardened and unyielding, bore into him with an intensity that sent chills down his spine.

The grizzled man's rough, calloused hands were visible even in the dim light, a testament to the dangerous life of danger that he had somehow survived. They were hands that could easily overpower him, hands that held an implicit threat.

The man wore a tanned trench coat, which half-hid his muscular physique and only added to his imposing presence, much like a scabbard to a dagger. Contained, but primed and ready for use.

He was cornered, trapped like a rat. The cold, hard brick wall behind him offered no comfort, no escape. The rain, which had previously served him as cover as he ran, now seemed like a curtain of death, enclosing him in. Fear gripped him, a cold, paralyzing fear that made his legs feel like lead.

Then, after what seemed like an eternity, the grizzled man sighed and spoke:

"Milton. You should know better than to run from me. Besides, I thought you knew better than to betray the Ritz Family."

The man known as Milton quivered, as he backed up towards the wall.

"I had no choice, Bullet! If I didn't, the others were going to kill me! What else was I supposed to do in that situation, huh?!?"

Bullet looked down at the man, before sighing again.

"You know that I have my orders."

Bullet then stepped towards Milton, approaching him. His steps were like thunder, booming in Milton's ears.

Milton nervously gulped. He had known the risks, but for the Dons to have sent Bullet... he had messed up. But if he was quick enough...

Milton inched back slowly, carefully reaching an arm towards his back, towards his gun.

"...And I'm sorry, too."

BANG!

A hole tore itself into Milton's head before he could even react, and his body slowly swayed before slumping against the brick wall. He slid down slowly, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

In Bullet's hand, a Deagle had seemingly magically appeared, with smoke coming out of its barrel.

Bullet gave the dead man one last look, before turning around and leaving the alley. The gun was nowhere to be found.

It would only be after a few hours later that the corpse would be found. The only thing that the police could find was the cold, damp corpse, drenched by the rain hours earlier. While there was a bullet wound on the head of the corpse, no bullet or bullet casing was found on the scene.

*****

Outside of the alley, Bullet took out his phone and called someone. The line quickly connected.

"This is Bullet. The target has been dealt with."

"Understood. Your next assignment has already been designated. You are to meet up with the Stoll family and teach their son, Felix Stoll, on how to use Nen. The time period is one month. The rest of the details have already been sent to you."

Bullet was silent for a bit before replying back.

"...Understood."

He then hung up.

Bullet found a park bench, which he sat upon. He didn't mind the puddles of water already accumulated on it or the constant downpour. His varied experiences made him acclimated to such miserable weather.

He slumped upon the bench, his previous stoic demeanor seemingly gone, only leaving behind an old, weary man.

He absent-mindedly looked around the park. All he saw were strangers hurrying along with umbrellas. Rarely, he would see laughing children, jumping about puddles with their parents hurryingly trying to get them home in a less wet manner. None would notice him. He was invisible, a ghost, a relic of the past.

Bullet was getting old. Missions he would've breezed through in his prime were getting harder and harder to complete. While his body was still able to keep up for now, he could tell that it too, would fail him eventually.

And if not his body, then...

He sighed and closed his eyes, wondering if he should just throw in the towel.

At his age, he either got disposed of by the Mafia or would eventually meet his match in one of these missions.

Bullet sighed again. He seemed to be sighing a lot these days.

He looked down at his phone, the mission details already pulled up.

'Well, it could be a good change of pace. It's been a while since I've last taught someone about Nen.'

Bullet stood up and left, leaving an empty park bench behind.

'I at least hope the kid isn't some entitled brat.'

*****

A Monster.

That's what the kid was.

It had been a few hours since Bullet had come to the Stoll's residence and gotten acquainted with both the father and the child.

The kid seemed unassuming at first. Other than his striking red hair, not much would differentiate him from any other regular child.

But Bullet was wrong.

The kid, who had only just gotten introduced to Nen moments prior and taken his first steps in controlling it after Bullet's carefully induced Nen Baptism, was getting the hang of it at an unprecedented rate. If it weren't for Bullet's extensive life experiences, he would've probably just stood there in shock, and even then, he was extremely surprised.

At first, he had been pleasantly surprised at the kid's talent. Maybe it could be his chance to see a new loyal comrade join the ranks of the Ritz Family. Maybe even a successor. But as the lesson continued on, his surprise turned into shock, and that shock... into fear.

In all his life, Bullet had seen many talented people. People who shouldered the hopes of their organizations and how they were praised to the high heavens for how talented they were. But all of them met the same fate at the end of his gun's barrel.

But this, this was different. He could feel it. A creeping sense of dread slowly encroached upon him as he oversaw how the small, unassuming kid grew in his control of Nen by the second. The abnormal amount of Nen the kid had was in of itself worrying, but his talent took it a step further.

'Should I kill him?' As Bullet hesitated...

"Hey, old geezer."

Bullet snapped his head towards Felix, who was sporting a massive Chesire grin, the boy had somehow gotten right beside him without him noticing. Cold sweat dampened Bullet's back as he tried to mask his surprise. He couldn't remember the last time someone snuck right next to him.

'Has he subconsciously gotten a basic hang of Zetsu? What an absurd talent...' Bullet disregarded being called an old geezer. Both Bullet and Felix seemed to be throwing nicknames at each other, trying to get under the other's skin.

Bullet smiled as he asked, "Yeah, what's wrong boy?"

Felix ignored the verbal jab at him. "I think I've gotten a basic hang of moving this Nen thing around my body. What's next?"

Bullet sighed, putting aside the decision on what to do with Felix for later, and decided to focus on teaching him for now. Putting aside Bullet's own thoughts, when given a task, he would try to complete it to the best of his ability. Also, while Felix's talent was frightening, it at least made teaching the young boy easy. He absorbed information like a sponge and could implement it almost immediately.

Bullet then explained to Felix the Four Major Principles of Nen. 

Ten, which Felix could do almost immediately after awakening his Nen, was the process of keeping the aura nodes open by concentrating the flow of aura around the body, enshrouding it. Non-Nen users would subconsciously leak aura and it would stem up and off the top of the head, much like water vapor. Nen practitioners would be able to control that flow of life energy, increasing longevity and gaining a basic Nen protection.

Zetsu was the opposite. It would suppress the flow of aura by manually closing the aura nodes. This would help mask the presence of the user from other Nen users and also help relieve fatigue. In addition, it made the user more sensitive to the aura of others, almost to a fault. Due to Zetsu removing all the basic protection provided by Nen, it would leave the user vulnerable in both body and mind to attacks imbued by Nen.

Ren was projecting a large amount of aura outwardly from the body in an explosive manner. This would enhance the user's physical abilities and give the user more access to their pool of aura for greater use.

And Hatsu. The user's personal expression of Nen. Depending on the user, they could apply and manifest their Nen in a unique way. The efficiency of such a process would normally depend on the natural affinity of the Nen user.

There were six Nen types.

Enhancement, which could strengthen themselves or objects.

Transmutation, which could change the properties or shape of aura to match something else.

Emission, which could detach aura from the body.

Conjuration, which could create objects from aura. The conjured subject would either work the same way as what their form entails or invoke supernatural abilities.

Manipulation, which controls animate or inanimate things.

And Specialization, which invokes a unique effect that is not included in the aforementioned Nen types.

Felix chimed in, "That's good and all, but then how would you determine what your Nen affinity is?"

Bullet paused, before making up his mind. "I was originally planning to do this after a few days when you had gotten a hang of controlling your Nen, but considering your talent and progress, we can start immediately."

"Besides, knowing your Nen affinity can help us know in what direction to develop your abilities." Bullet shrugged.

Bullet left the room and then brought back a glass cup filled with water and a leaf.

"What's that for?"

"This," Bullet pointed at the cup of water now situated on the table with the leaf floating on it, "is what we call the Water Divination. Depending on what results after a Nen user performs Ren with their hands hovering around the glass of water, we can determine their aura type. Give it a try."

Felix approached the table, his eyes sparkling with curiosity. He then held out his hands around the cup and projected his aura solely around his hands, applying Gyo, surprising Bullet once again.

Gyo was the advanced application of Ren, where the user would focus aura on a certain part of the body.

Then, the glass of water started to show changes.

Slowly but surely, the water in the cup started to move clockwise, spinning around and around as it sped up, forming a vortex of water inside of the cup. But strangely, while the water was splashing about around it, the leaf was perfectly still in the middle of it all, not moving at all.

Bullet looked at this with a grave expression, keeping his eyes locked on the phenomena happening before him.

Felix whistled. "That's neat. What Nen type am I?" 

Bullet paused as he gathered his thoughts. "... You are a Specialist, a sort of rare Nen type. Nen users that are not Specialists cannot use Nen that falls under the Specialization type."

Felix grinned. "Does that mean that I have the strongest Nen type?"

Bullet pinched the bridge of his nose. "Not quite. While Specialists do have unique abilities, even by the standards of other Nen users, the effects of said abilities can vary widely."

Bullet scratched the back of his head as he sighed. "This can be a problem. Specialists usually naturally develop their Hatsu on their own without actually choosing it. Besides, I'm not a Specialist myself, so I can't teach you any of the specifics in regards to that affinity."

Felix titled his head. "Then, do you know anyone who is a Specialist?"

Bullet thought back. "The only guy I know who was a Specialist had a Hatsu that let him transform his body to become the same as the material he was touching. He could become a man made of metal or other such materials. Usually, he would carry around a piece of steel to transform in battle."

Felix exclaimed. "That's so cool! What happened to him and where is he now?"

"He got poisoned and died."

"..."

"..."

Bullet coughed. "Anyways, for now, since we can't do much with your Aura type, we're going to focus on mastering the four Major Principles and then moving on to the more advanced applications of Nen. No matter what Hatsu you develop, mastering the basics is an important skill to have no matter what."

Felix nodded solemnly. He knew from his college years that skimming through materials to learn the subjects toward the back of the textbook could bite someone in the ass later on. It was better to have solid foundations than to try to learn quickly to get to the higher level stuff.

"Good, then let's continue on with our lessons."

*****

After the day's lessons, Felix returned back to his room.

Bullet had gone out and would return the next day, all the while muttering about how "a twerp like him had such a terrifying talent".

Felix laid down on his bed facing the ceiling. A massive grin could be seen on his face. The events of that day had been exciting. Sure, there had been no 'you are the chosen one' sort of deal or cool explosions, but he could feel it. This was just the beginning of something more.

Felix rolled over to his pillow and took out a pen and notebook from beneath it. He then went over his thoughts as he scribbled in his notebook and crossed out different theories he had written beforehand.

'It seems that this world doesn't have any of the normal RPG mechanics like levels and statuses that you would see in traditional LitRPGs like Solo Leveling. There don't seem to be any dungeons or towers either, though there do seem to be ruins and artifacts that can be scavenged around the world. Hmmm... And considering how the world map is just the modern Earth with its continents scattered about in different locations, I can probably rule out Wuxia and Eastern Fantasy.'

'Also, the existence of this Nen or aura, while similar to the Chi or Ki in cultivation novels, seems different as well as there is no Meridian or special organ as far as I can tell. I'll have to look more into this Nen Power System as I learn.'

'Though considering how Jappon, which is the Japan of this world, is considered its own country with a similar name to its modern Earth counterpart when many of the other names for the nations are different, may hint that this is a world originally from a manga? Or maybe a light novel with an anime.'

Felix reached out his hand in front of him and ignited his aura around his hand.

'In fact, this Nen reminds me a bit of the Cursed Energy from Jujutsu Kaisen. I should maybe conduct some tests to see if emotions have any effect on my Nen. Maybe even try replicating JJK techniques with Nen if I can. Maybe this Hunter World was inspired by JJK? Or it might've been the inspiration for it...'

But most importantly of all...

Felix clenched his fist as euphoria flooded his brain. 

'I'm talented.'

'In fact, extremely talented. If what my [Class Talents and Masteries] says is true, I am one in a billion. In the whole world, there are only about 8 people who are as talented as me (if we exclude other Players with the 20-talent bundle for Hunter). And the best part is, I know I'm talented. I don't have to devote hours upon hours of my life learning something just to find out that I'm not talented.'

Felix laughed with joy before his smile wavered. Every time he thought back to his previous life, the first thing to come to mind were regrets. 

Felix shook his head, getting rid of those depressive thoughts.

It was different now, he had a new chance. An entirely new chance. It was a new life. 

He could start from zero. He had talent, some money, and time, lots of time.

Besides, he had just opened the gates to getting supernatural powers. It was one thing to fail at life. It was another to fail at life while having the power to truly aim for the top.

Felix reached towards the ceiling. To never repeat the regrets of the past, he would live life to its fullest. He would better himself as a person and experience things that he would've never even imagined. He had better control of his life now than he did before, and it would only get better from here. Even now, he could feel himself soaring higher than in his past life already...

"Hmm?"

Felix rubbed his eyes. Was it just him or was the ceiling closer than what he remembered?

Felix looked down in shock. Both he and his bed were levitating a few feet off the ground. He was actually floating?!

Then, he and his bed crashed back onto the ground.

BAM!

Felix hurriedly sat up. Luckily, the bed had taken the brunt of the landing, with him only bouncing a bit on the bed.

The door to his room quickly opened. Stoll, Felix's father, surveyed the room with wary eyes before quickly checking up on Felix.

"What happened? Did that man do something?"

Felix calmed down a bit before collecting his thoughts to reply back to his father.

"I'm ok, father. I... think it had something to do with my Nen."

Stoll looked around for a few more moments before taking Felix's word for it.

"All right. While I might not understand all about this Nen subject, if there is anything wrong, you should come to me immediately. Understood?"

Felix nodded. Stoll then looked around a few more times before closing the door behind him as he left the room.

Felix immediately got off his bed and scrutinized his surroundings. There were no other changes to his room other than his bed having moved a few inches to the side, most likely having moved when he and it floated.

After looking around some more, Felix sat back on his bed, pondering. It didn't seem like anything in his surroundings had caused the phenomena, and all of his Player items were in his inventory. Then, it was definitely caused by him and his Nen...

Felix concentrated as he thought back to his actions. He had a hand reaching towards the ceiling, he was reaffirming his determination, and his aura was... surging?

As Felix immersed himself back into the emotions that he was feeling before, he noticed that his Nen was fluctuating in accordance with his emotions. In fact, he was projecting a larger amount of aura than he would normally project in Ren, covering both himself and the bed he was on.

'Huh, I don't think this was included in the basics of Nen. Maybe it's something I will learn later on?'

Felix had to practice a few more times in maintaining the "Nen bubble", as it would fall apart after a few seconds if he was not concentrating and was generally shaky. Then, he tried to imagine himself flying up in the air but he couldn't seem to replicate the event no matter how he tried.

'No, this isn't how I'm supposed to do it.'

As if in a trance, Felix then thought back to the science of how someone could theoretically fly. First, there would have to be an upward force applied that is greater than the downward force exerted on the object by gravity. This would depend on the acceleration of gravity, which was 9.8 meters per second squared, multiplied by the mass of the object. Considering how he weighed about 23 kilograms...

Felix blinked, realizing that he, was in fact, floating. 

The realization hit him like a bolt of lightning. Felix, still in shock, struggled to keep up with the situation in front of him. With calculations alone, he had defied the laws of gravity.

And then, as the shock began to wear off, a smile spread across his face. He had found it. A piece of the puzzle that felt just right. His own ability.

An ability that would grant him one of his greatest desires. One he had desperately grappled with the world to keep. Control.

Felix laughed with joy. Maybe Specialization wasn't the most powerful Nen affinity, but with this ability, no, he would make sure that he reached the highest heights. And it would all start with his ability:

[Vector Control]

======================================================

A. N.

Hola!

So... it's been a while. First things first, sorry for the delay. Life happened.

For those of you who don't know, the ability [Vector Control] originates from a character called Accelerator from in the Toaru Series, also known as A Certain Magical Index or A Certain Scientific Railgun/Accelerator.

Its original name is Accelerator, which is the same as his name and makes it confusing. That's why it is usually referred to as Vector Transformation or Vector Manipulation. I'm going to refer to it as [Vector Control] in this novel because 1) referring to it as Vector Manipulation might confuse it to the HunterXHunter Manipulation Nen Affinity, and 2) because having the name as Vector "Control" fits more in line with the desires of the MC to gaining control.

Also, I edited some chapters but when checking back, I noticed that it deleted most of the comments. My apologies (╥﹏╥).

Interestingly enough, The Reincarnator's Tavern updated just yesterday. So I'm excited to reread it! <('o'<)< p>

Also, it might signify a more stable update schedule for that novel and this one?

(No promises though.)

Have a good day!