Luo Ning wasn't moving very fast. In fact, he was traveling toward Yanshui City in a state of constant stopping and starting.
On one hand, he was familiarizing himself with his own Nen; on the other, he was exploring the capabilities of his Two-Tomoe Sharingan. The increase in chakra brought about by the fusion allowed him to perform more ninjutsu. The Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique and Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Technique, which he had attempted before, could now be unleashed as soon as he completed the hand seals.
The more chakra released during this process, the greater the power of the ninjutsu. From his initial attempts at spitting out a small fireball to his current ability to blast a fireball the size of a house, the progress was staggering.
Of course, those massive fireballs also consumed a large amount of Luo Ning's Nen. In actual combat, he felt they might not be as practical as the Phoenix Flower Technique. During the process of performing ninjutsu, Luo Ning also discovered that while using the same amount of chakra, the power of a jutsu performed with simplified seals was significantly lower than one performed with the full set of seals. The reduction was roughly fifty percent.
Furthermore, the specific seals didn't need to be entirely correct; it was the quantity that mattered. Forty-four seals seemed to be the benchmark for maximum output. When he completed forty-four seals—regardless of which seals he actually made—he could bring the power of his ninjutsu to its peak. Simplifying it to seven seals allowed him to unleash seventy percent of the technique's power.
The choice of how to proceed was obvious. Most of the time, Luo Ning would opt for the fifty percent power of a single simplified seal. When he needed more punch, he would choose seven seals. Alternatively, he could deliberately use seven seals to confuse an opponent, then use a single-seal jutsu at the critical moment to catch them off guard.
As for forty-four seals, whoever wanted to use those could go right ahead. After all, even for someone like him who had practiced hand seals and now possessed physical speed and power far beyond ordinary people, completing forty-four seals still took six to seven seconds. Perhaps repeated practice could increase that speed, but by the time he finished the full sequence, an enemy's attack might have already taken off his hands.
Luo Ning estimated that with his Two-Tomoe Sharingan, the ninjutsu he could perform were capped at C-rank. He felt as if a restriction was limiting him, preventing him from performing higher-level techniques. It seemed that each evolution of his eyes would correspond to unlocking a new tier of ninjutsu. To perform B-rank ninjutsu, he would likely need to evolve his Two-Tomoe Sharingan into a Three-Tomoe. Following this logic, he would probably need the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan to perform S-rank jutsu.
Luo Ning couldn't quite remember every C-rank jutsu, so he would have to slowly experiment and figure them out.
Another thing that concerned Luo Ning was his own Nen ability. The Sharingan state was unique. As a member of the Kurta Clan, he shouldn't be a Specialist when his eyes weren't activated. As for his specific category, he needed to use the Water Divination test.
Water Divination was a common method used by the Shingen-ryū school to test Nen categories. The tester only needed to pour their Nen into a glass filled with water, and they could determine their category based on the changes in the glass.
Luo Ning wanted the same thing Kurapika did: to be an Enhancer. Because he could use ninjutsu and possessed the Sharingan, he didn't need to develop any special abilities. He only needed to accumulate more Nen and make his physical body stronger. This would give him more chakra when he switched to the Sharingan state, allowing him to perform more and stronger ninjutsu.
Therefore, when Luo Ning saw the clear water in his bamboo cup gradually increase as he poured his Nen into it, he couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement. An increase in the volume of water was the hallmark of an Enhancer.
However, thinking of Hisoka's personality analysis for Enhancers, Luo Ning felt a bit unsettled. He didn't think he was simple-minded, nor did he consider himself particularly earnest. It seemed Hisoka's judgment of people wasn't entirely accurate.
Regarding the development of his Enhancer abilities, Luo Ning had a general idea: to increase his total aura and physical strength. His first small goal was to surpass Uvogin—to reach a point where he could use his bare body reinforced by Nen to tank a rocket launcher hit without a scratch.
But how should he do it? Luo Ning had many images in his mind of Bisky training Killua and Gon. If he just followed those steps, he should be able to increase his strength rapidly. It was a pity he had no way to find Bisky and have her mentor him. With Bisky's ability, he could probably save a lot of cultivation time.
Through this cycle of traveling and practicing, Luo Ning finally arrived at Yanshui City five days after escaping Uvogin's pursuit. He used his crumpled, sun-dried cash to buy a fresh set of clothes at a shop, had a full meal at a restaurant, and then headed toward the airship port. To avoid any further complications, he planned to leave Yanshui City as quickly as possible.
However, while passing a newsstand, he saw the reports of the Kurta Clan massacre in the newspapers. The news really traveled fast. In just a few days, it had become a sensation. The content in the newspaper was similar to what he remembered from the manga: a woman who had gotten lost in the forest discovered the slaughtered Kurta village. In the village, only one clue pointing to the killers was left behind.
"We reject nothing, so take nothing from us."
Luo Ning didn't know how Kurapika associated this sentence with the Phantom Troupe; perhaps there were more obvious clues left in the village. Luo Ning casually tossed the newspaper into a nearby trash bin and walked quickly into the airship port.
He didn't choose to buy a ticket. Instead, after confirming the flight, he used the Sharingan's genjutsu on the ticket agent during the check-in process to enter the airship. Genjutsu had a mediocre effect on someone like Uvogin, who had Nen protection, but against an ordinary person, it was a total tactical suppression.
Luo Ning did this for one purpose: even if Shalnark investigated the flight information, he wouldn't find Luo Ning's name on the passenger list. As long as he could leave Yanshui City, it wouldn't be so easy for the Phantom Troupe to find him again.
The airship slowly ascended. Luo Ning stood in the corridor looking through the glass at the shrinking airport below, but a voice he least wanted to hear suddenly rang out behind him.
"Trying to run? Maybe if you jump now, you might still live."
The moment the voice sounded, Luo Ning spun around toward the source, his body instinctively dropping into a combat stance. His eyes entered the Sharingan state without hesitation.
However, a wave of confusion filled his heart. Why was Uvogin on the airship? Had he been under Uvogin's surveillance since the moment he entered Yanshui City? Otherwise, how could Uvogin have appeared here so quickly?