Chương 14: The Power Hidden by the World

Interested? The answer was written on all three faces. Uvogin's excitement was the easiest to read. His grin looked ready to split his face. Nobunaga's eyes had narrowed with the sharp focus of a swordsman seeing a new blade. Machi said nothing, but the tension in her fingers betrayed her. She had felt helpless when Oss's dagger crossed the distance. She did not want to feel that again.

"There are risks," Aren said.

"Good," Uvogin said.

"If there weren't, it'd be boring." Nobunaga kicked him in the shin.

"Listen first." Machi looked at Aren.

"Will it kill us?"

"If handled badly, yes." Uvogin laughed harder.

"Then handle it well." Aren looked at him for two seconds.

"Your trust is touching."

"You're our Boss." The word came out of Uvogin's mouth with no shame at all. Nobunaga rolled his eyes, but he did not deny it. They owed Aren too much already. Food, shelter, power, and now the road to something hidden from almost everyone in Meteor City. At this point, thanking him would have felt weaker than simply following him. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Machi's feelings were more complicated. She still distrusted the world.

She still kept thread ready even while standing close to him. But after his blood had splashed across her hands, something in her had shifted. Uvogin suddenly ran into the house. A moment later, he returned carrying the single sofa from the living room.

"Sit, Boss." Aren stared at him.

"Where did you learn that?"

"No idea."

"Never do it in public."

"Got it." Aren sat anyway. They moved inside. The door shut behind them, leaving the corpses and the cold wind outside.

"First question," Aren said.

"Do you know what a Hunter is?" Three blank stares answered him. Aren paused. Right. Meteor City accepted everything the world discarded, but that did not mean the world explained itself to the people trapped here. Hunters, exams, licenses, the secret structure of Nen users, the rules of the wider world. All of that belonged to places children in Meteor City might never see.

"Then we'll start lower." He raised a hand. A plain sheet of paper appeared between his fingers.

"Aura is life energy," Aren said.

"Every living person has it. Most people leak it without ever noticing. Nen is the technique used to control that aura." A faint layer of power covered the paper.

"With Nen, you can defend your body, strengthen objects, sharpen attacks, hide your presence, and create abilities that look impossible to anyone who doesn't understand the system." He flicked the paper. It cut through the air and buried itself halfway into the wall. Uvogin's mouth opened. Nobunaga stepped closer. Machi's eyes followed the paper with silent intensity. A moment later, the aura faded. The sheet drooped, soft and harmless again.

"Without aura, it's paper," Aren said.

"With aura, even paper can become a blade. The same rule applies to your body." He tapped his own chest.

"Skin can become armor. Fists can become hammers. A sword can carry enough force to cut things steel shouldn't reach. Nen turns life energy into power."

"Then why doesn't everyone use it?" Nobunaga asked.

"Because the world hides it." The room went quiet.

"Hunters know it. The elders' bodyguards know it. The powerful, the wealthy, and the people who serve them know it. But most ordinary people never learn the truth. If every starving kid in Meteor City could use Nen, the structure outside wouldn't stay comfortable for long." Uvogin cracked his knuckles.

"So they keep people weak."

"Exactly." Machi looked toward the paper in the wall.

"And you can teach us."

"I can open the door," Aren said.

"You still have to walk through it yourselves."

"How?" Aren's smile returned.

"There are three ways."