Chapter 249: Targeted Tracking Technique x Fellow Travelers Across Several Eras
This is the Republic of Padokea.
This is Kukuroo Mountain.
This is the Zoldyck family estate!
Coming and going as one pleases... there is no such logic!
Rip~ Ripples suddenly appeared in the void. A deep, profound glow suddenly bloomed from Maha's shriveled hands. He tore forward barehanded... The void vibrated, and abruptly, a rift was forcibly torn open by him... Immediately following, with a stern face, he plunged headfirst into it... Leaving Zeno, Silva, Illumi, and the others looking rather unwell!
"Roy, I think you should have something to say about this."
Buzz~ The rift closed, the void smoothed out, and Maha's figure was gone. Silva, with a dark and serious face, looked over, his gaze resting for a moment on the wooden box gripped in the boy's hand... Following suit,
Zeno, Illumi, Milluki, and even... Killua, who had been taken back into Tsubone's arms, half-opened his eyes in innocent curiosity and looked over... Feeling a sense of familiarity, a fluctuation of déjà vu emanating from the wooden box, Roy frowned and said, "I've only met the other party once, in an underwater ruin about three hundred nautical miles in the West Sea of Yorbian..."
Roy briefly explained his encounter from beginning to end while exploring the underwater ruins with Ging, Razor, and the others, concerning "capture" and "De-Conjuration methods"... Whether it was the "one-on-one fights in the displaced mirrors" or the final "mysterious skeleton" taking the Elephant Tapir, rolling up the entire cathedral, and pulling it into the void... it left the younger ones, like Illumi and Milluki, somewhat dumbfounded...
The mysterious skeleton's ability to vanish into the void... they had just seen it, but...
Fighting with Ging. Silva and Zeno exchanged a glance, keenly catching the crucial point, and looked at each other in dismay... "Don't misunderstand, the one I killed was... a fake Ging," Roy noticed their strange reactions and added at the end.
But even so... "A fake Ging is still Ging," Illumi glanced at him and said, "I heard the authorities intend to include him on the nominee list for 'One of the Top Five Nen Users in the World'."
"Hehehe... It's not 'include', it's confirmed," Zeno cast a surprised look at Roy and said leisurely, "The results are already out, just waiting to be announced."
This was what Netero had told him during a casual chat a few days ago.
If that's the case, to be able to fight one of the top five Nen users in the world without falling behind, and even killing him... even if the opponent was a "mirror image" and not as strong as the original, still... Silva's tall figure stood with his back to the window frame, looking deeply at Roy. The child's height was shooting up crazily, almost reaching the tip of his nose. Involuntarily...
A sense of... crisis arose in his heart!
Ridiculous... too ridiculous... To think that he, Silva, who had killed so many people and experienced so many battles... didn't even know how to spell the word "crisis"... The man's nostrils flared, snorting out a long stream of air, instantly strangling and shattering that "sense of crisis" surfacing in his heart! "A year isn't long, but it isn't short either... Ah, Silva, this old man will be waiting to see... just you wait..."
Maha's words still rang in his ears. Silva straightened his back again and said, "Now is not the time to talk about that. Figuring out the other party's origins is the most important thing."
But right now, it seems... "We can only rely on Grandpa." Zeno sighed silently. Both he and Silva were Transmuters. Compared to Maha, who could tear the void barehanded, they were still... too inexperienced...
Roy remained silent.
He stroked the wooden box gifted by the Elephant Tapir, falling into deep thought.
After a moment, he said, "Perhaps I can try to follow and see..."
As his words fell, several gazes shot over in unison... The boy said frankly, "Of course, I don't have Great-Grandfather's strength, I can only try to find a workaround..."
"How?" Illumi asked.
"Like this." Specks of fluorescent light bloomed. Roy's entire body suddenly erupted with dazzling golden light, seemingly merging with the ten thousand rays of morning glow shooting from outside the window. In an instant, he [Photified]. Borrowing the rising red sun, he melted into the light, wandered on the edge of space-time, and vanished in the blink of an eye. When he reappeared, he had arrived right beside Illumi, placing a hand on his head.
The boy smiled broadly at the others and said, "I have mastered an ability to turn into a beam of light at any time and shuttle through the void. If Great-Grandfather and the others haven't fled too far or too fast, perhaps... I can still catch up."
Silva: "..."
Zeno: "..."
For a moment, they were utterly speechless.
Turning into light... shuttling through the void... Looking at Illumi's stunned expression and Milluki's dumbfounded look, one could tell... it's easier said than done. Clearly... this wasn't something Roy could brush off with a mere "workaround."
"Forget it." Zeno stood with his hands behind his back, forcing himself to stay calm, and said, "That level of combat is not something we can participate in yet. Your Great-Grandfather told us not to move; it's not without the intention of keeping us from dragging him down."
"Indeed..." Roy let go of Illumi, letting the boy sway leisurely for a moment, imitating him by leaning against the wall, blending into the shadows, and pondering the wooden box. Gradually, that inexplicable sense of familiarity surged into his heart again, growing increasingly stronger. At a certain moment, following... a cry of "Wah" from Killua, breaking the silence in the corridor,
Boom— It was as if something exploded in Roy's mind, driving him to step out of the shadows, lift his feet, and walk towards Killua...
Getting closer,
The boy looked at the infant in the swaddling clothes, finally seeing his full face, and spoke up: "Let me hold him."
Tsubone, worried he wouldn't know how to hold a baby, secretly glanced at Silva. The unsmiling man nodded. The old butler flicked her two pink ponytails and carefully handed Killua over, saying, "Young Master, be careful, support his head with one hand and his bottom with the other..." Roy gave a soft "Mm." The moment his hands touched Killua's tiny body, relying on that strong bloodline connection, he finally understood what that familiar feeling emanating from the wooden box was... It was karma... it was a bond... and similarly, it was... a mark... A Nen ability that could use "a certain object" to "mark" others, and subsequently "track others," and even... see what "others" are doing right now! That's right, a "Nen ability" was added to the surface texture of this wooden box!
[Arm Regeneration]!
Two arms suddenly regenerated from under Roy's armpits. While holding Killua, he fiddled with the wooden box, currently immersed in this peculiar Nen ability called [Marking]. Unknowingly... the panel unfolded...
Revealing one corner of it...
[Prompt... Detected 'Unknown Nen Ability'... [Magical Beast Encyclopedia] has unfolded... Tracing...] ["Targeting Grass": Plant-type "Rare Beast"]
[Rank: A]
[Manifested Aura Volume: A (7.84 million / 10 million) Note: Based on Chimera Ants as a standard... Squadron Leader C, Royal Guard B, Ant King B+] [Potential Aura Volume: S (14.25 million / 100 million)]
[Innate Nen Ability: "Targeted Tracking": You reap what you sow. Targeting Grass, as the name suggests, can trace directionally by planting karma... The method of planting karma is not limited to a part of the tracked target's body, such as nails, blood, skin tissue, etc., "all visible objects"... Revered as the "Guiding Angel," the "Monument of the Tracking World"...]
The panel's prompt echoed, making Roy freeze for a moment... Holding Killua, maintaining that wonderful bloodline bond, and continuously strengthening karma... His consciousness sank, lingering for a moment on the term "Guiding Angel." In a flash, his memory overlapped with a certain gadget from a blue cat cartoon he had once watched...
[Prompt... Extracting Innate Nen Ability of "Targeting Grass"...]
Splash— On Roy's Sea of Cognition, the waves surged... Faintly, it seemed he could see, following the already opened [Demon Slayer Gate], [Naruto Gate], and the [Bleach Gate] that had once revealed a crack, another gate hazily revealed its form... It overflowed with psychedelic, imaginative colors. Branded on it was an iconic cartoon blue cat, chubby, with a bell tied around its neck, and most conspicuously, a pocket sewn on its belly. Looking ordinary, but upon closer inspection, poking one's head out to see...
It was like an endless abyss, a bottomless pit...
"Nobita, Shizuka, it's Doraemon..." Faintly, a unique accent surfaced... When Roy regained his senses, the "Gate of Cognition" flickered, and he detached from the cognitive world, returning to reality. The panel's prompt immediately sounded in his ears again.
[Prompt... Extraction of Innate Nen Ability of "Targeting Grass" complete...]
["Targeted Tracking" has been extracted...]
Immediately, a stream of information rushed in... firmly grasped by Roy and stuffed into his brain.
From ignorance... to slight understanding... to familiarity... to proficiency... and finally... mastery...
Roy exhaled lightly, reached out, and handed the Killua in his arms to Illumi who had walked over.
Retracting the two arms under his ribs, he looked down at his chest... Threads of karmic branches, some thick, some thin, some showing an affectionate red, some revealing a disgust-filled black, extended endlessly from his heart as the starting point...
With a thought, Roy casually plucked one, the thickest and reddest one, and tracked it... On that end, the terminus pointed straight to the butler's villa, revealing the figure of Gotoh pushing a dining cart forward...
The young butler had already grown a beard like in the original story. He was more composed and experienced. Compared to the past, his strength had also reached the level of a Chimera Ant Elite Squad Leader, not far from a Squadron Leader. Come to think of it, if he encountered Hisoka again, he wouldn't end up being killed.
Rumble... The wheels of the dining cart rolled over the ground, making bursts of light sounds...
Roy withdrew his gaze, swept his hand, released the karmic branch belonging to Gotoh, and shifted to touch one that was just as thick and eye-catchingly red. Looking up... entering his view was the figure of Illumi holding Killua...
The foolish little brother had no reaction at all, unlike [Heart Worm] which could be detected. From this, it can be seen... "Targeted Tracking" belonging to an [A-Rank] magical beast is still above the status of [Heart Worm]!
Make sense... he himself is merely a small B-, how could he resist a magical beast with potential reaching the S-rank tier?
Boom— [re: In the Game of the Dead]... An A-Rank magical beast, the towering Killer Insect, a casual sweep of its tail almost possessed the power to destroy heaven and earth. The image was still vivid in his mind... Roy smiled self-deprecatingly, and in an instant, switched to another "thread of karma" to track...
There was his father Silva... Grandfather Zeno... Wing, dressed gently and wearing gold-rimmed glasses year-round, and his master, the old woman Biscuit, as well as Netero, Beans, and other men and women he had met before. Of course,
There were also those showing "malicious black"... such as Hisoka... Pariston... the Pig-Headed General... Storm Archbishop Benjamin, and others. The myriad forms, some clear, some hazy, too numerous to count.
While presenting Roy's past, it also allowed him to see and even touch upon some... thoughts and directions concerning the future... "Where there is light, there will be darkness... the sun won't always have a bright side, it will also... turn away from the sun... it will also cast shadows, revealing the filth and dirt of things..."
Tick tock... tick tock... Time passed like a white colt flashing past a crack, unknowingly slipping through the fingers like flowing water... One minute... two minutes... five minutes... ten minutes... Nearly fifteen minutes had passed since Maha left. The corridor clearly transitioned from the initial calmness to worry, and now to anxiety, gradually making people feel uneasy...
"What time is it?" Silva asked again.
"To answer Master, it's been fifteen minutes since the Ancestor chased after them..."
"Fifteen minutes," Zeno glanced at Tsubone, frowned, and began pacing back and forth in the mottled corridor of the ancient castle, dense with the aura of time...
Wah~ At this moment, Killua let out a cry. Not knowing if he was hungry or needed changing, he was taken back from Illumi by Tsubone and carried into the bedroom. Creak~ The door opened and then closed heavily...
Feeling the anxiety in Silva and Zeno's hearts, as well as Illumi's unease, Roy raised his hand, touched the thread of karma belonging to Maha, and with Nen surging, followed the thread to look...
Amidst a turbulent spatial storm...
A skeleton, an Elephant Tapir, and an old man stood with their hands down. They weren't fighting, but surprisingly peaceful, which was astonishing!
"I didn't expect you could follow." The skeleton led the Elephant Tapir, tilted its head to look at Maha, and with a wave of its hand, dispersed a rushing mass of turbulent void currents. "I didn't expect to meet a fellow traveler here either." Maha exuded a deep purple glow. Releasing his Nen Shroud, he resisted the turbulent void currents without budging, similarly tilting his head to look at the skeleton...
The two then... fell silent...
As the saying goes... the layman watches the spectacle, while the expert sees the intricacies... When experts clash, often a single look is enough to gauge the other's background. And "fellow traveler," as the name implies... means someone who has walked the same "path"!
What kind of path? Seeing the maple leaves filling the sky all dyed by blood, a surging river filled with corpses, it's nothing more than this!
The skeleton gently stroked the Elephant Tapir beside it, lowered its head, and seemed to fall into reminiscence. After a long while, it said, "Yes, so... you know, to be able to meet a new fellow traveler again, it's hard for us old folks not to be excited and thrilled..."
"Couldn't resist sending a little gift, hope you can understand..."
"Being unclear always makes people worry," Maha said faintly, with his hands behind his back. "After all, it concerns my great-grandson. I came looking, and I hope Your Excellency can understand..."
A leisurely, weathered sigh spread through telepathy, breaking through the turbulent void currents...
The skeleton understood Maha's meaning and explained, "It's merely the 'sloughed-off skin' of a friend. Seeing the young friend had an affinity, I just gave it to him in passing... 'If he calms his mind and studies it, in three to five years, perhaps... he will reap rewards...'"
"Sloughed-off skin? Are you talking about... the innate Nen ability of the 'Targeting Grass'?" As Roy's thoughts moved, he suddenly heard a sharp shout: "Who's peeping?"
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