The opponent rushed forward. The movement of his footsteps. The shift of his body's center of gravity after stepping on the floor. The tendency of his arm to exert force. The trajectory of his fist clenching, rotating, swinging toward Liam.
Everything flowed through Liam's eyes, which seemed covered with a layer of sapphire light.
While seeing it all clearly, his body moved accordingly.
He raised his foot first, kicking back his opponent's hidden low strike.
Raised his left hand to block the opponent's feint.
His right palm shot upward, turning into a whip-like afterimage that snapped against his opponent's chin, then raised his right elbow like lightning.
Stepping forward, his right elbow "lightly" struck his opponent's chest and abdomen. Bang!
Everything happened in one exchange. The referee only saw a few crisp moves from Smith, and his opponent was already elbowed to the ground embarrassingly.
The referee on the 140th floor immediately raised his hand and announced loudly, "Excellent attack plus knockdown! Contestant Smith plus 3 points! The score is 12-0! Contestant Smith wins!"
"This is Contestant Smith's first match today, and also his first victory today! His winning streak continues!" The referee's passionate voice echoed above the bustling audience in the venue. "Since entering Heavens Arena, Smith has maintained a rhythm of winning two matches every day. Today is already his eighth day! Will he continue his winning streak? Let's wait and see!"
Liam waved to the applauding and cheering audience around him and walked toward the referee.
"Same as usual, going to the 150th floor?" The referee smiled and printed a new slip for Liam.
Watching Liam leave, many viewers couldn't wait to rush to the 150th floor to reserve seats in advance.
Contestant Smith had already gained a certain reputation for his eccentric style. Some people thought it was outrageous how he could be so stable and "get stronger as he fights." Others hoped this pretentious guy would get beaten to death at a higher level as soon as possible. Many of these people had bet on Smith. If he lost, they'd lose huge amounts of money. Of course, more people were like obsessed fans, even setting up extra bets on whether he could reach the 200th floor by February 15th according to his current speed!
Liam didn't take it seriously. He returned to the players' lounge. Shizuku was fighting after him today and hadn't come back yet.
It had already been three days since he'd helped Kurapika awaken Nen. These three days passed very regularly: mornings at Heavens Arena, checking in and winning two matches; noon meeting with Kurapika at the restaurant outside; afternoons training together; evenings resting separately. After so many days of patient training in the Arena, Liam's combat experience had improved rapidly using the new Manipulation ability "Flowing Star Strike" mode.
If the fight was restricted to close combat with equal amounts of aura, his current self could pin his eight-days-ago self to the ground and beat him violently. Ensuring his past self wouldn't be able to fight back at all.
When Liam found a bench and zoned out, the other contestants in the lounge couldn't help but peek at him.
While they peeked at Liam, they didn't notice that above their heads, Flying Star Bubbles invisible to the naked eye were quietly landing on their heads, necks, and shoulders.
Liam felt somewhat resentful. Weren't these people challenging Heavens Arena supposed to be martial artists and fighting masters from around the world? Why was there no one who'd internalized combat experience into instinct? Forget general fighting experience—he didn't even have the chance to copy a single unique technique via instinct from the Star Mark. He couldn't get the slightest bit of wool from these people.
"Ugh. I shouldn't have let cute Killua run away so easily."
Liam felt a bit regretful. "Rhythm Echo, limb whip, snake movement... assassination techniques are quite coveted. Not to mention anything else, the style points alone are amazing."
Just as he was thinking this, Shizuku came back with a calm expression and said, "Let's go."
Liam went to the registration office on the 140th floor with her and collected their prize money from the matches they'd just won: 9.2 million Jenny for both of them.
And he and Shizuku had only won two arena matches. He'd taken a little over two minutes. Shizuku probably took less than ten seconds: get on stage, wait for opponent to rush over, slap them away, get off stage, collect prize. Walking back and forth took more time. This was more than picking up money. It was outright robbery.
"Let's go pick up another 10 million," Liam hooked his arm over Shizuku's shoulder and left with a smile. "Oh right, the two of us combined will get over 20 million."
Looking at the backs of Contestant Smith and his partner who'd already considered the bonus money in their pockets, the female staff member who'd just handed them their winnings could only feel ashamed and a little envious at the same time. For these powerful masters, life must be set on super easy difficulty mode. Sigh.
After Liam left, the contestants who'd been controlled by Flying Star Bubbles in the lounge found needles to prick themselves, puncturing the rose-gold pentagram marks.
________________________________________
On the 155th floor, Ring A, amid warm applause from the audience, Shizuku knocked her opponent away with a casual palm strike. He fell out of the ring, foamed at the mouth, and passed out.
On the 156th floor, Ring A, the battle on Liam's side quickly came to an end.
He didn't know if it was because he had more and more combat experience, but in his eyes, his opponent's movements were getting slower and slower. More and more openings appeared. This kind of pure hand-to-hand fighting was becoming more and more boring.
Liam knocked his opponent down and punched into countless afterimages. However, none of the punches actually landed. They just hovered quietly above the tip of his opponent's nose.
The opponent was so frightened he fainted.
While the surrounding audience screamed and applauded excitedly, Tetsuo, a martial artist in the crowd who'd lost to Liam before, looked unhappily at "Smith," who was in the spotlight being pronounced the winner by the referee. What a hateful guy. He obviously had the power to crush opponents. Why pretend to be a beginner? He was obviously a master but only dared to tease the weak and deceive others. Wasn't that fun?
You'll pay the price!
Tetsuo left angrily.
________________________________________
"You got 14 million, I got 13 million. Tsk!"
Liam collected the bonus from the 150th floor tier and happily pulled Shizuku away from Heavens Arena. "We earned a lot today. Let's go out and relax. By the way, I wonder how Kurapika's training is going." He pulled out his phone and called.
When he arrived at the appointed restaurant, Liam opened the door to the private room and saw Kurapika releasing all his aura in a state of Ren—strictly speaking, maintaining Ren should be called Ken. But it was obvious Kurapika's current proficiency couldn't maintain it well. After Liam praised him, he quickly dissipated the Ren around his body and let out a long, exhausted breath.
After the waiter finished serving the food, Liam said to Kurapika, "Keep practicing Ten, Zetsu, and Ren. These are very important basic skills."
After hearing Kurapika's backstory before, Shizuku had quickly lost curiosity about this Kurta Clan orphan. If Kurapika hadn't already agreed to Liam's invitation to become a member of the organization, she probably would've forgotten what Kurapika looked like. Now she concentrated on the sumptuous meal.
"Hatsu is the key. It's the field of all those strange special abilities you described, right?" Kurapika said. "I want to move to the next stage and practice Hatsu."
Liam went with the flow. "Okay, okay. If you feel confident, that's fine."
He himself was someone who'd rushed through all Hatsu training in one day. In fact, he didn't have much empathy for the step-by-step training process of ordinary people.
"Before you practice Hatsu, you need to confirm which system your Nen ability belongs to."
________________________________________
Liam and Shizuku no longer lived in a hotel. They'd found an apartment to rent. Now they were in the living room, placing a glass of water and a leaf before them, explaining the characteristics of the six major Nen types to Kurapika.
"The way to identify your type is Water Divination. Put your hands on either side of the water glass. An increase in water volume is Enhancement. A change in the water's taste is Transmutation. Impurities appearing in the water is Conjuration. Movement of the leaf is Manipulation. Change in water color is Emission. All other situations are Specialization. Do we need to leave the room?"
Kurapika looked at the still leaf on the water in the cup. He thought for a moment. "No need."
Bro, I didn't really want to leave anyway. Liam nodded.
Kurapika placed his hands on both sides of the water glass.
Soon, some impurities precipitated out of thin air in the water. Through the curved glass, Shizuku's eyes became distorted and enlarged. She blinked. "What strange impurities. Blue. Dolphin-shaped. Like some kind of ore."
"I'm a Conjurer," Kurapika said to himself.
Liam guided him. "A Conjurer will usually manifest a handy tool, and most will add special functions to it. The more conventional the form, the simpler the structure, the lower the difficulty of manifesting. The more powerful and complex the additional abilities, the higher the potential restrictions and risks."
Kurapika said, "I want a book."
"A book. Such a simple structure shouldn't be difficult to manifest." Liam nodded. Then he processed what he'd heard. "A book?"
"The path to salvation lies within," Kurapika murmured. He looked at Liam and said seriously, "After listening to you talk about the characteristics of Conjuration, the first thing I thought of was books."
"Didn't you say there was a glimmer of hope to resurrect my compatriots from the Kurta Clan?" He said firmly. "I want to record all their names."
Liam said, "I thought you'd develop your abilities to deal with the Phantom Troupe."
The Dowsing Chain I've been thinking about for so long... Could the cooked duck just fly away?
"Although I hate the Phantom Troupe, murderers like them..." Kurapika's eyes turned red as he spoke. "But they're not as important as my compatriots."
Looking at Kurapika, who'd become agitated again and entered his Scarlet Eyes state, Shizuku said in surprise, "Your aura increased."
What an assist! Liam also saw the aura on Kurapika's body. After turning into Scarlet Eyes, the concentration and volume of his aura surged like adding fuel to a fire. It almost doubled in volume.
He pointed at the water glass with blue dolphin ore impurities in it. "It seems the Scarlet Eyes of your Kurta Clan is a special constitution. Test Water Divination again."
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