Heaven's Arena.
A famous landmark in the Hunter world, and also the holy land of combat on the human continents.
It had a total of 251 floors.
Hyuga Arin sat inside a yacht, looking through the window at the skyscraper piercing straight into the clouds in the distance.
With a height of 991 meters, it was said to be the fourth-tallest building in the Hunter world, gathering countless combat enthusiasts within.
The first two hundred floors belonged to ordinary fighters.
Beyond the 200th floor, however, it had nothing to do with normal combatants anymore—that was the paradise of Nen users.
For Hyuga Arin, it was also the most famous leveling spot on the Hunter server.
The Hunter server differed somewhat from the Naruto server.
On the Naruto server, most enemies were humanoid mobs. Each ninja village was effectively a grinding area—from bandits and wandering ninjas, to small ninja villages, then major villages, and later even world-scale dungeons like the Fourth Great Ninja War where White Zetsu could be farmed.
In-game, monsters would respawn, and even the Fourth Ninja War was a cyclical event.
But in the real world, there was only one chance.
On the Hunter server, the true grinding zone was actually the Dark Continent.
Within the known Hunter world, there weren't many real farming spots.
That was why the Hunter server was relatively weak in the early stages. Only after entering the Dark Continent in the later phase could it catch up with other servers.
Hyuga Arin was quite interested in the Dark Continent. High-level equipment dropped there easily—you didn't need to wait on time-gated events like in the Naruto server.
And the gear was incredibly diverse. While the Dark Set was indeed one of the top-tier sets, there were also many single-piece items even stronger than it.
Still, he figured going to the Dark Continent wouldn't be easy. Everything depended on when a Dark Continent dungeon scroll would drop.
The airship slowly descended.
Hyuga Arin stepped out, glanced at the towering structure, and walked straight toward it.
At the same time, back at the airship terminal, two figures also stepped out.
"So tall…" Gon stared at Heaven's Arena in amazement.
"I heard it's the fourth tallest building in the world," Killua shrugged. He'd been here before, so the sight didn't surprise him much.
After separating from Kurapika and Leorio, the two had decided to come to Heaven's Arena to train.
…
Hyuga Arin stood in a long line at the entrance, boredly looking toward the registration counter.
"Why are there so many people here?"
They even had to line up.
"Well, of course," a burly, honest-looking fat man behind him laughed.
"Every day, martial artists from all over the world come here to sign up. Today's actually considered light."
Hyuga Arin turned to look at him. "So you're one of them too?"
The fat man stared blankly at Hyuga Arin's pale white eyes. "Brother… your eyes look really nice."
"…You know, saying that makes it easy to misunderstand," Hyuga Arin's mouth twitched.
His eyes really were eye-catching. The entire way here, his turn-back rate had been extremely high.
After all, ordinary people didn't have white pupils like this.
"N-no!" The fat man snapped back to his senses, scratching his head awkwardly. He probed cautiously,
"Brother, if you're interested in selling those eyes, tell me. I can offer a very high price."
Rare eyes like these could fetch quite a sum on the black market—just like the Scarlet Eyes back then.
Of course, those were known as one of the Seven Beauties of the World. White eyes couldn't quite compare.
"If you don't want to live anymore, you can tell me too," Hyuga Arin said with a gentle smile.
"I guarantee you won't feel any pain."
Malicious Nen burst out from his body.
The fat man instantly went limp, collapsing to the ground, staring at Hyuga Arin in terror.
The Nen pressure also caused many people in front and behind to collapse as well.
Hyuga Arin's eyes lit up.
So this worked too?
He ignored the fat man entirely. With malicious Nen radiating from his body, the people ahead kept getting stimulated until they couldn't stand up.
Hyuga Arin steadily advanced forward.
Before long, he reached the registration counter.
The staff member's mouth twitched as she looked at the people collapsed behind him.
Did this count as cheating?
"Don't use Nen while lining up!!!" a short-tempered woman shouted, waving her arms furiously.
As Heaven's Arena staff, she naturally knew about Nen.
Hyuga Arin impatiently slapped the counter. "Just hurry up and register me. Why are you asking so much?"
The woman forced an awkward smile. She still had a job to do, after all. She handed him a form.
"Please fill out this registration form."
Hyuga Arin quickly filled it out and handed it back. The staff member entered his information.
"Mr. Hyuga Arin, your number is 1888. All first-floor matches will call by number. Please pay attention. Now, proceed inside."
She pointed out the direction for him.
Meanwhile, Gon and Killua had just reached the registration floor.
They stared dumbfounded at the people collapsed all over the ground, while a single boy about their age calmly walked inside.
"That wasn't him, was it…?" Gon asked in disbelief, staring at Hyuga Arin's back.
Killua's expression turned serious. "That guy's dangerous."
He felt the same oppressive presence he felt when facing his brother Illumi.
"Yeah… even though he looks about our age, he smells strongly of blood," Gon sniffed slightly. His instincts were sharp.
"And somehow… he feels familiar."
He scratched his head in confusion.
"I've never met him, but he gives me a really familiar feeling."
…
Hyuga Arin glanced back.
"So it's them."
Gon and Killua.
This was indeed the time they came to Heaven's Arena.
Thinking of Wing, the Hunter Association instructor specially assigned to teach Nen to the two of them, Hyuga Arin wondered if he could use Wing to learn Hatsu in advance—without waiting until level 36.
If he could pull that off, he'd effectively gain Nen abilities early.
Seeing that the two hadn't yet connected with Wing at this time, Hyuga Arin didn't plan on interfering for now and continued inside.
Before he even reached the inner area, thunderous cheers echoed.
Passing through the corridor into the central area, he saw twelve arenas laid out, each hosting an ongoing fight.
The audience wasn't particularly large. He casually found an empty seat and waited.
Soon, he heard the announcement:
"Number 1888 versus 2014, please prepare at Arena A."
Hyuga Arin yawned and lazily walked toward the ring.
He had zero interest in anything below the 200th floor.
But to reach the 200th floor, he still had to climb up from the bottom.
On the ring.
A burly, muscular man grinned ferociously at him.
"Kid, you're unlucky to run into me."
Hyuga Arin ignored him and glanced at the referee.
The referee gave the signal.
"Begin!"
Bang!
Hyuga Arin was already standing behind the muscular man.
The man's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed forward.
[EXP +21]
"…I really shouldn't have expected anything."
The referee reacted instantly and shouted:
"Victory—Number 1888!"
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