After filling a new glass of water, Kurapika turned on the faucet.
He released all the aura in his body and focused it in his hands on either side of the cup filled with water.
The water turned into alcohol and burned on its own.
The fire grew bigger and bigger, reflected in Kurapika's fiery crimson eyes. He thought of the destroyed village where the Kurta Clan had lived.
Whoosh. The entire cup of water burned away into raging flames, leaving not a single drop.
After he entered the Scarlet Eyes state, just as Smith had guessed, his Nen type changed. From Conjuration to Specialization.
Kurapika looked up across the living room.
Liam sat cross-legged on the carpet with his hands on his knees, eyes closed.
Kurapika clearly saw a layer of rich aura on Smith's body like a solid, thick barrier.
Maintaining Ren was Ken.
The most basic Ten could enhance defense but didn't increase attack power much. Only Ren and Ken, both offensive and defensive, could be greatly enhanced. But Ren was an explosive burst. To maintain it and form Ken required expending far more aura. Once you relaxed, all achievements fell short. Once your focus dropped, it became unsustainable.
And Smith's Ken at this moment—whether the size or volume of aura or the stability of its outline—far exceeded Kurapika's own.
What was more important was the duration.
It had been over an hour since Kurapika started practicing Hatsu by enhancing the Water Divination effect. But Smith's posture and the aura around his entire body showed no disorder. It seemed he could continue so calmly indefinitely.
Kurapika didn't know how much hard work this young man, who looked no older than himself, had gone through to achieve such a level.
Even at this level, he still persisted in training every day.
This was the world of Nen.
Kurapika got another glass of water. He recovered from his Scarlet Eyes, put his hands on both sides of the glass, and after injecting aura, dolphin-like impurities resembling blue ore gradually precipitated in the water.
Now that he knew his Nen type, there was no need to put a leaf on it.
Kurapika continued practicing the basic skills of Hatsu while conceiving in his mind the Nen ability he would formally develop in the future.
Shizuku held a book and read it. This was a small portion of the "Journey to the New World" draft that Kurapika had recited over the past few days. At the same time, she had a timer in hand. When Liam started this round of Ken practice, the timer started. The numbers on the display gradually exceeded two hours and thirty minutes, but Liam could still maintain stable Ken.
________________________________________
Two days later. On the 188th floor of Heavens Arena, the referee watched the fierce three-minute fight. Smith finally knocked down his opponent. He announced loudly, "11 to 9! Contestant Smith wins!"
Liam waved toward the audience cheering like a tidal wave and took the slip printed by the referee to advance to the 190th floor.
"I can't learn anything anymore," Liam said on the way to collect the bonus. Shizuku had won easily again. "It's definitely not because my skills are perfected. I guess real martial arts masters aren't actually gathered in this place. Speaking of which, if someone's a true martial arts master, they'd have already awakened Nen and become a Nen user. Why would they still be spinning around below the 200th floor!"
Shizuku said, "That makes sense."
"But it wasn't in vain. At least my combat experience really increased, and I've become completely proficient in the Manipulation combat mode 'Flowing Star Strike.'"
Liam smiled with emotion. "The higher you climb, the more you realize. No wonder I always heard people say in the past that those who practice traditional martial arts fear those who practice MMA, and those who practice MMA fear weightlifters! No matter how good the technique, its uses are limited. When you meet someone with higher base stats, it's just some flashy tricks.
"If I hadn't used Flowing Star Strike to force myself to suppress the power I exerted to match my opponents' level, I'm afraid they wouldn't be able to budge me even if I stood still and let them push. But as soon as I raise my hand, I could throw them out of the Heavens Arena building."
Is this what they meant by seeing the mountain three times?
At first, he'd thought just increasing aura would be enough. Defeat all techniques with pure force.
Later, he'd realized that wouldn't work if he didn't practice basic combat skills. For example, if someone came up close and punched you, if your first reaction was to close your eyes or make the wrong decision, that would be bad.
And when he went from the first floor to the top floor of Heavens Arena with the "Fifty-Fifty Battle Method" and learned from all kinds of martial artists, fighting masters, sumo wrestlers, etc., he'd suddenly gained what people called fighting style and experience.
"120 million Jenny, 150 million Jenny. Please keep them safe." The staff member smiled politely.
"Thank you." Shizuku nodded and bowed slightly. Most of the time, she was quite polite.
The two of them added up to a total of 270 million Jenny!
Close to 300 million.
Liam was very satisfied. Even more satisfying was that there were still floors above the 190th.
________________________________________
On the 198th floor, in Ring A, Liam slowly stepped onto the ring amid the cheers of the crowd and the passionate announcement from the female referee.
This time his opponent was a comprehensive boxing master with bulging muscles, shiny black skin, and a solemn face. He said to Liam seriously, "Smith, I've watched your previous matches. You like to learn your opponent's moves during the fight, defeat them with psychological warfare, and torture them, right?"
"But you're going to miscalculate this time. I, Black Alloy, don't have any special moves for you to learn!" Black Alloy clenched his fists tightly. The muscles on his body piled up like obsidian. His eyes were bright. "I only have the strongest power! The most agile footwork! The fastest punching speed! That's all—"
"Then, the match begins!" the referee announced.
With this order, Liam appeared directly in front of Black Alloy, who was making his sonorous declaration, as if teleporting. He shocked the other party so much that he cut off his subsequent words in his throat and instinctively punched at Liam, who was so close.
This punch was so powerful and heavy there was no doubt it could break rocks. It even made a sound cutting through the air.
Liam moved faster. Before Black Alloy's fist hit him, he'd already slapped Black Alloy on the chest. A collapsed palm print was actually pressed into the black muscle as solid as iron.
Stop pretending. Big brother here is a 32-ton Hercules. I'm showing my cards.
Black Alloy's eyes rolled back white. He was sent flying, hitting the fence of the nearest spectator section. He was knocked away so fast that everyone thought there was an afterimage of Black Alloy still standing in front of Smith.
At this scene, the referee was stunned. It wasn't until the audience, who'd been silent for a few seconds, erupted into amazing shouts that the referee hurriedly announced, "Uh, KO! The winner is Smith!"
"It seems that's your true strength," the referee said to Liam, who walked over easily. "Congratulations, Contestant Smith. You can already advance to the 200th floor!"
"Thank you." Liam took the slip to the 200th floor and left.
________________________________________
Liam was waiting for Shizuku outside when suddenly a stranger came up to him. The man stared at him with a bitter expression. "That was your true strength just now, right? But don't get complacent. When you reach the 200th floor, you'll definitely regret being so arrogant!"
"Who are you?" Liam was genuinely confused.
"..." Tetsuo almost choked to death on a mouthful of old blood, staring at Liam with red eyes.
Liam suddenly asked, "Are you from the 200th floor? Are you here specifically to bully newcomers?"
"I..." Tetsuo held it in for a long time. Finally able to breathe without taking a gasp, he said with a stern face, "You can think of it that way! On the 200th floor, there are opponents you absolutely cannot defeat! Someone will make you pay the price for humiliating martial artists... Smith! Hmph!"
He huffed heavily, turned around, left, and entered the elevator.
Liam couldn't help but be confused when he saw the elevator actually go downward.
At that moment, Shizuku came over amid a din of shouting from another venue and asked, "Who was that just now?"
As expected, she'd also won with one palm without any trouble. It seemed Shizuku had earned the nickname "One-Palm Pusher" by knocking away her opponents with one palm from the 1st floor to the 190th floor.
Liam said, "No idea."
"Oh." Shizuku didn't care and followed Liam to collect the bonus.
"210 million Jenny, 240 million Jenny. Please keep them safe." The staff on the 190th floor quickly paid the bonuses to them both.
Liam was in a good mood.
It was one thing not to be short of money. It was another thing entirely to make a lot of money.
Just like picking it up for free, the two of them had made a total of 520 million Jenny in one morning.
The bonuses below the 100th floor weren't worth mentioning. But above the 100th floor, the bonuses became more and more generous, rising with each tier.
He and Shizuku had penetrated Heavens Arena level by level. A rough calculation showed they'd earned between 800 million and 1 billion Jenny total.
They just spent time every morning after breakfast competing in the ring.
As he turned to leave, Liam couldn't help but say to Shizuku, "Damn, the money comes so easily. It makes me want to give up my qualifications now and go back to the first floor to do it all over again."
The staff at the back hesitated to speak. Finally breathed a sigh of relief as they watched the two people enter the elevator heading to the 200th floor.
________________________________________
In the elevator, Shizuku said, "I thought Liam finished two matches today and wouldn't go to the 200th floor until tomorrow."
Liam said, "You've always been curious, haven't you?"
"Yeah." Shizuku nodded.
The elevator slowed down. With a ding, the elevator door opened, revealing the scene on the 200th floor of Heavens Arena outside. It was actually nothing special, except there were suddenly fewer people. As far as the eye could see, the corridors were empty. Not a single person in sight.
Shizuku walked out of the elevator curiously and felt an aura shrouding the passage ahead, rushing toward her like mist.
It's just mist. Liam and Shizuku weren't affected by this aura at all and walked straight through. As soon as they exited the passage, a figure emerged. Judging by his appearance, he looked very similar to that guy Liam had met on the 190th floor who'd been inexplicably making trouble!
"As expected, you've always been a Nen user," the man said, staring at Liam.
Liam wondered, "No, seriously, who are you? This is inexplicable."
He dragged Shizuku, who was still curious, straight to the registration desk. The female staff member warmly received them. "Welcome to the 200th floor! Please register your signature on this form. Do you two want to apply for matches immediately?"
Shizuku looked curiously at the form handed to her, which read:
Please check the desired items
□ Specify competition date (can fill in multiple)
□ Any day from __month__day to __month__day
□ Can participate at any time
"A battle declaration system is adopted above the 200th floor. Each contestant has a 90-day preparation period, during which the battle date can be specified..." the staff explained patiently.
Of course, players could fight every day. However, the 90-day preparation period would reset every time they participated in a battle.
Win 10 matches total and you'd qualify to challenge a Floor Master.
Floors 230 to 250 had a total of 21 Floor Masters.
However, lose 4 matches and you'd be disqualified from competition.
In other words, the worst record for a player challenging a Floor Master would have to be 10 wins and 3 losses.
Shizuku checked the third option. Then she looked at the form in Liam's hand.
Also looking to see which option Liam would choose was the person they'd just met. He looked with provocative eyes, as if wanting to decide when to fight after Liam finished filling out the form.
Liam checked the second line and filled in tomorrow's date, February 15th, but left the deadline blank. The meaning was obvious: he didn't plan to compete today and would start casually tomorrow.
Today was February 14th. Valentine's Day!
He planned to go shopping with Shizuku in the afternoon. No time to go on stage or fight.
The man saw the date Liam filled in and said with satisfaction, "Looking forward to our battle." After that, he left gracefully.
"This guy..." Liam looked thoughtful, watching the man's figure disappear around the corner. "Who is he?"
"He's Tetsuro," another elegant young man wearing glasses came over. "Tetsuo's biological brother. A genius martial artist! And his goal is you, Smith. He wants to take revenge on behalf of his brother Tetsuo."
Liam said depressedly, "Tetsuro? Who's Tetsuo? Who are you? Why have I met so many people today who seem to know me..."
The elegant young man with glasses smiled. "My name is Wing. I've always been paying attention to you both." He looked at Shizuku.
"Thank you," Shizuku said politely. "But I don't plan to participate. After 90 days, I'll lose my qualifications."
Wing was a little stunned, obviously surprised by Shizuku's answer.
So it's Wing! Bisky's disciple.
Looking at this simple and upright reaction, he was indeed a typical Enhancer.
Liam asked, "That guy just now, Tetsuro, wants revenge on me. Is he very powerful?"
Wing said seriously, "As far as I know, on the 200th floor where there are so many masters, Tetsuro has won 8 matches in a row and is undefeated! He's closest to challenging a Floor Master. It seems he originally wanted his 9th match but postponed it just to wait for you. I think he must have a way to make it possible for him to compete on the same stage with you on the same day."
"Nice." Liam smiled immediately.