Arin stood and nodded, his arms crossed over his chest; he gave a single clap.
"White-1," he said, voice clear and steady. "Punch the tree in front of you. With all your power."
It didn't hesitate or pause to think. It simply moved to punch.
It took three steps forward and stood before a thick-barked tree.
The creature raised its fist.
And drove it forward.
A deep thwack echoed through the clearing, followed by the creaking moan of the tree swaying under the impact.
Leaves trembled from the branches, and a small fracture ran up the bark where the punch had landed.
Arin raised his eyebrows.
"That's not bad," he muttered.
"Not quite a Nen user with enhancer qualities or any Nen user with gyo to their punch, but for conjured aura, a Nen beast, and a life-form... that's solid."
"I would assume their defense would be high."
"As long as their core in the middle is not damaged, they should be able to take on a machine gun blast to the face."
"I believe hand-grenade-level explosions would destroy them for now, but it needs to be tested too."
"In the end, it is still great to have these."
He flicked his fingers twice in the air.
In response, fifteen of the twenty life-forms around him shimmered and vanished into thin air. unsummoned with a thought.
He didn't want to waste aura or core duration unless he needed them.
The remaining five, White-1 through White-5, stood waiting.
"Let's test mobility," Arin said.
He pointed at White-2, who immediately took a crouching stance. Arin nodded and then spoke.
"Jump as high as you can."
The creature obeyed.
It launched upward with no fanfare or dramatics, simply applying its power with eerie precision.
Its white-sheeted form shot into the air like a ghostly projectile, rising and rising until it cleared the treeline.
"Ten meters… maybe eleven,"
Arin estimated, shielding his eyes with one hand.
White-2 landed with a soft thud, knees bending slightly to absorb the impact, then returned to its default standing posture.
Arin scribbled a quick note in the small notepad he'd brought with him:
Jump Height (avg. White Life-Form): ~10m vertical.
He turned to White-3.
"Run to the edge of the clearing. Full speed."
White-3 darted off. The sound of rushing air followed it as its robe flapped wildly.
Arin watched, analyzing the speed.
"Fast," he muttered.
He whistled once, and the creature returned.
Next was White-4. Arin gestured toward a moss-covered boulder nearby.
"Push that rock."
The creature moved in silence, approached the stone clearly weighing over one and a half tons, and placed both hands on it. It began to push.
The boulder shifted.
Slowly at first.
Then, with a heavy grind, it began sliding across the muddy earth.
It didn't roll or tip; it was pushed.
Arin narrowed his eyes.
"One to two tons of raw push force," he said to himself.
He turned to White-5.
"Combat motion," he said.
"Throw twenty punches in ten seconds. Full force."
The creature began instantly.
Its fists blurred through the airtight, linear jabs that hissed with wind pressure.
Arin counted.
Twenty exactly.
He nodded.
White-5 stopped and returned to rest posture.
Two hours passed as Arin put the five life-forms through continuous motion testing.
He had them leap over rivers, balance on thin tree limbs, and dodge rocks he threw with violent force.
He ordered them to crawl, sprint, feint, grab, and lift.
He even simulated a team maneuver of White-1 and White-2 working together to flank a tree trunk from opposite sides and strike it simultaneously.
They worked seamlessly.
Arin sat on a fallen log as he opened a bottle of water from his pack.
He took a long drink.
His hand trembled slightly from aura fatigue, but nothing unbearable.
"Their physical power is solid," he said aloud, watching White-3 and White-4 perform partner drills.
"Equivalent to a newly awakened Nen user."
"If I sent one of them to fight a civilian or even a martial artist with no Nen, they'd win without trouble. But against a skilled Nen user… they're dead meat."
He leaned forward, elbows on his knees.
His eyes flicked from one to the next.
"Together, with coordination, they're a different beast entirely."
Arin stood.
"If I flank with two while keeping one for defense, and the rest apply pressure…"
He imagined it.
Him at the center. Five white life-forms moving like satellites.
One drawing attention.
Two flanking.
One guarding his back. One standing by to intercept.
Multiply that tactic across twenty, then fifty. Eventually, one hundred.
"One hundred life-forms," he whispered.
His heart beat a little faster.
He walked back to the center of the clearing, surrounded by the five still-standing life-forms.
He raised a hand and said,
"Return."
They vanished one by one.