Chapter 42: Sword Sect and Qi Sect
Menchi said, "He probably left on his own. He wasn't with the Ochima people anyway."
"True," Arthur waved and walked away.
Watching the three leave, Diego stood there for a long time before heading to the west town.
...
"Shizuku, don't you live in the west town?"
Walking outside the east town towards the amusement park, Arthur glanced at Shizuku.
Shizuku said, "The task is over. Do you have other plans?"
Menchi laughed, "As the boss, you have to arrange for your little brother, right?"
"Haha, do you want to join too?" Arthur said, "I'll arrange for you as well."
Menchi bared her teeth at him.
"Why not walk through the town?" Shizuku curiously pointed towards the east town.
Menchi laughed, "There's a slaughterhouse by the dock. Arthur said he can't stand the strong smell of blood... He might have a dog's nose, better than mine as a chef!"
Seeing Arthur's expression, Menchi quickly said, "Anyway, I'm off. See you at the usual place tomorrow afternoon!"
"What do you mean tomorrow afternoon? Aren't you going to train today and tomorrow?"
"Then see you in the afternoon at the usual place," Menchi laughed, waving to Shizuku. "Shizuku will come too, right? I'll prepare your meal in advance."
Watching Menchi leave, Shizuku looked at Arthur with a puzzled expression.
Arthur said, "Menchi is a gourmet hunter. She cooks really well."
"Oh." Shizuku nodded.
Not far along the road, they saw a moonlit white tiger approaching, it was Lumin.
"Haha, feels like it's been a while," Arthur laughed, rubbing the tiger's head.
He looked towards the nearby forest, where many birds perched on branches, green birds, white birds, and even two crows...
"Chirp, chirp!"
A small gray bird, a rock sparrow, flew over, landing on Arthur's shoulder, chirping excitedly.
"Caw, caw..."
The two crows also left the treetops, spreading their wings to fly over.
Seeing Shizuku's curious eyes, Arthur asked, "Don't you remember them?"
He pointed to the crows and Lumin, who had once "attacked" Shizuku.
"Why remember?" Shizuku asked, puzzled. "I've never seen them."
Arthur laughed, "But they seem to think they've seen you."
Shizuku said, "Impossible."
Such strong confidence! Arthur admired, "Anyway, let's get something to eat."
"Oh, okay." Shizuku took a few steps, then wondered why they let Menchi, who supposedly cooked well, leave if they were going to eat.
...
Menchi's cooking was indeed delicious.
In the afternoon, while training in the forest clearing, Shizuku confirmed this.
But Menchi felt a bit melancholic.
She hadn't expected Shizuku to be so much stronger than her.
Although, the strongest was still Arthur... Menchi looked at Arthur, who was releasing Ken as usual, silently honing his total aura and basic skills, thinking that if she could persist in training like him, even without his extraordinary talent, she could definitely become stronger.
"Energy restored." Shizuku, having just finished eating, was surprised by the change in her remaining aura. "No wonder Arthur invited you to join."
Menchi waved her chopsticks, proudly saying, "As long as I'm satisfied with the dish I make, my ability can take effect, I didn't say it had to be hot, fresh dishes! Cold dishes, bento, even cookies and cakes that are easy to store and carry might work too!"
"Might work?" Shizuku asked curiously.
"Because I haven't tried it yet..." Menchi held back but couldn't resist asking, "Shizuku, what's your ability?"
Shizuku didn't speak, her expression unchanged, but she remained silent.
"Whew!"
Over there, Arthur finally couldn't maintain Ken, collapsing to the ground, muttering, "Only extended by over a minute, estimating the total increase to be less than 100... If I spent these two or three days training, my total aura should be at least 6500, 6600? But now it's less than 6100... Balancing work and training is a skill too!"
For now, it's manageable. But if his total aura increased to tens of thousands, maintaining Ken until depletion would take several hours, possibly half a day.
Is it inefficient?
Hunter Association's Morel, with a total aura of 70,000, is considered a top expert... There's a reason for that. Everyone has the same 24 hours a day.
If maintaining Ken takes half a day with little effect, it's better to invest that time in refining Hatsu's Nen Ability, increasing precision, proficiency, and breadth, or developing abilities from other types to enrich one's tactical reserves. If you create an unbeatable ability, isn't that more worthwhile than struggling to increase total aura?
An unbeatable Nen Ability is truly unbeatable, as long as the total aura is enough to support it.
But thinking about those Chimera Ants with tens of thousands to millions of aura... No matter how unbeatable your ability is, if a monster with such terrifying aura glares at you, you'd be scared out of your wits, or they'd blast you with a simple Nen Bullet, shattering your body... An unbeatable ability can't be used, so what's the point?
"Sword Sect, Qi Sect?"
Arthur thought of this, then noticed Menchi, who was awkwardly silent due to Shizuku's silence, and couldn't help but enjoy the show.
Menchi saw him watching and glared.
Arthur laughed, "Shizuku, what's your ability?"
Shizuku said, "It's 'Blinky'."
With that, she raised her hand, conjuring a large-mouthed vacuum cleaner.
"You're a Conjuration Type too!" Menchi was surprised.
"The ability of 'Blinky' is..." Shizuku began to demonstrate, but Menchi quickly stopped her, "That's enough, knowing your type is enough! No need to reveal everything, I didn't fully explain my ability either."
Shizuku looked at Arthur. Arthur shrugged.
Menchi complained, "What about you, Arthur? I still don't know your type!"
Arthur rolled his eyes, "I'm a history major! It's your turn for Ken."
Menchi, annoyed, stood up, took a deep breath, released Ren, and maintained it with Ten, forming Ken.
Shizuku followed suit.
Arthur began enjoying the remaining food, eating for a while before realizing he had taken their chopsticks.
The delicious food with green seasoning entered his stomach, slowly restoring his depleted aura. Thanks to the Star Mark on Arthur's neck, the recovery effect was noticeably better than Menchi and Shizuku's.
Arthur ate while observing. Clearly, Shizuku's Ken was much larger in volume than Menchi's, but Shizuku's Ken wasn't as stable as Menchi's.
Arthur estimated that Shizuku could last about 2 hours, or 7200 aura; while Menchi could barely last 5 minutes, less than 300 aura.
After just over 5 minutes, Menchi lay on the ground like a dead dog, panting as she watched Shizuku, who maintained Ken without breaking a sweat, feeling quite unwilling.
Meanwhile, on a ship crossing the sea, Babimyna finished a brief report to the First Prince over the phone.
Upon returning to Kakin, he would need to provide a detailed written report of all the mission's details.
(End of Chapter)