"Your current situation is entirely your own fault!"
Biscuit's voice echoed through the ward the next day, playful yet stern. She stood with one hand on her hip and pointed accusingly at Oboro.
"The most dangerous thing about the ritual is its rules. Once you're involved, you have to abide by them. And since the Bozwa initiated the ritual, the rules inevitably favor them. With the composition of your team, rushing the mission has only increased its difficulty!"
Although their words seemed harsh, there was an underlying concern in each of them.
Yun Gu leaned against the nearby wall, having come to check on his friend Oboro. With a sigh, he adjusted his glasses. "Master."
The missions had been completed, but Oboro's condition was serious. There seemed to be little point in such criticism now.
Yun Gu glanced at Oboro, who lay on the hospital bed with blank eyes. According to the other members of the Fells family, he'd been in this state since he regained consciousness a few days ago. Prior to that, he'd been in a coma for over three months, kept alive only by nutrient solutions. The Hunters Association had sent people to check on him periodically.
It was truly fortunate that he'd survived at all.
"If the ceremony had been allowed to proceed normally, it would have taken at least two months for the situation to calm down," Yun Gu explained. "Direct confrontation would have been inevitable during that time. The Bozwa tribe leader would have fled the station as soon as the ceremony was over. Even though Dongguotu's borders aren't vast, finding someone there is like looking for a needle in a haystack. The mission would have taken at least half a year. I understand Oboro's decision.
Bang!
Without hesitation, Biscuit's fist connected with Yun Gu's head. He smiled ruefully and rubbed the spot.
"Life always takes precedence over time!" Biscuit glared. "I taught you that!"
"Chairman Netero clearly wanted to train Oboro, and Oboro knew it," Yun Gu began. "If we had waited until after the ceremony, as you suggested, it might have gone against the Chairman's wishes! Besides, Oboro has always sought challenges to become stronger."
Biscuit cut him off before he could finish. She understood only too well, Oboro had been too eager for power.
Without facing danger, one could not get the "power" the old man had spoken of. That was the key to this process. Oboro had realized that and accepted the challenge.
"There are many ways to seek and gain power," Biscuit said, crossing her arms. "There is no need to fixate on one way. Frankly, I disagreed with the mission Netero had given Oboro this time. And I wasn't alone, other senior hunters who knew about it felt the same. It was too much, too early. The old man surely had his reasons, but there's no need to blindly follow them. If it didn't work out this time, there would have been other opportunities."
While Yun Gu and Biscuit argued, Oboro remained motionless on the bed.
"Power is directly correlated with risk," Yun Gu countered. "No matter how many times the chairman wants Oboro to improve, the difficulty won't decrease. It might even increase. Therefore, Master, I must disagree with you."
"Ahhh! Just shut up!"
Biscuit's expression became annoyed.
"Um, maybe we should give him some space?" Lily suggested gently from her wheelchair.
"You've only lost your strength temporarily, it's nothing permanent," Biscuit said, noticing Oboro's poor mental state. She exchanged a look with Yun Gu and they prepared to leave.
Before leaving, the blonde girl took a deep breath and looked back. "When you use your Nen again, you'll find that it has transformed and become stronger. As I said before, your abilities require mental strength that comes from experience and understanding. You must be prepared for that."
"I don't fully understand your ability, nor do I know its full extent. But judging from your performance in the Sky Arena, the ability you manifested is complex, similar to a game, but its power was too weak! No matter what kind of world you built, your "ability world" was poorly constructed. Even if it appeared massive, a single blow could shatter it."
"The foundation of every ability is mindfulness. Although I disagree with the old man's methods, I understand his intention. Before you waste more effort building an entire project on shaky foundations, starting over is the right way to minimize losses. Your mind will become like steel and cement, a more solid raw material for constructing mental capabilities. Now it's just a question of having the courage to start again."
With that, Biscuit pushed open the door and walked out.
"I believe in you," Yun Gu added encouragingly.
"Thank you," came a faint reply as the door closed.
Yun Gu smiled.
The ward fell silent again.
Oboro turned his head to the open window. The sky outside was a clear blue, the temperature was pleasant.
The Association had informed him about the circumstances of his discovery, including their theories about what might have happened after he lost consciousness. What Oboro knew for sure was that his "game world" had completely collapsed when something went wrong with him as a "server".
He had survived and defeated Ike. According to the rules of the game, he should have secured the blood lock, one drop or two. His subconscious had driven the chaotic collapse of his mind. Many of the game characters he'd created could save lives in critical moments, the Time Elder, the Barbarian King, Ike, and others. The healing spells and runes also had healing effects.
However, due to the previous restrictions, he could only choose one at random when using his ability.
Now that those restrictions had been shattered, overusing his abilities would only accelerate the disintegration of the game program until it disappeared altogether.
The reason for his current stupor wasn't desperation; over the past few days, he had been thinking about how to rebuild his abilities. He had indeed received the "power" Netero had spoken of.
Just as Biscuit had said.
He had really made a connection with his own thoughts. Instead of just using them.
From now on, no matter what happened, Oboro would choose to believe, to believe in his own thoughts.
In the years since his arrival in this world, he'd relied on his advantage as a time traveler, being "omniscient and omnipotent". But that mindset had nearly led him astray until Old Man Netero pulled him back.
If his ability, the "Treasure of the Endless Dreamers," had been allowed to develop unchecked, starting over would have been impossible. It would have remained a shoddy project with only an impressive facade, just as Biscuit described.
It might have looked intimidating, but its actual power would have been quite small.
Still, it would have been easy for him, the "Creator", to get intoxicated by its beautiful appearance.
Even if he'd realized it later, it would have been too late to regret it.
"The stability of the game world depends on thoughts," Oboro thought. "If I recreate the other dimension, high-intensity thoughts can support more of my ideas without crashing or requiring constant repairs. The game's memory will be larger, with firewalls to resist intrusion. Most importantly, I need NPCs, agents in the real world!"
After this incident, Oboro's thoughts had become crystal clear. He realized that he had opened a door that would truly allow him to reach the top of the world!
Previously, his concept had been sound, and thanks to the system, he'd achieved perfect scores in developing and creating Nen abilities, surpassing at least 90% of Nen users. But he hadn't really integrated himself into the hunter world, and his practice and experience lagged far behind the top performers like Netero. It wasn't enough to surpass 90% of the hunters.
He wanted to reach the absolute peak, to surpass everyone, to reach a level that no one had ever reached before and no one would ever reach again.
Instead of just being better than most.
"Lily," Oboro called.
"I'm here," the woman replied.
"Have the family recruit new people with potential and train them to become Nen users. I will personally supervise and guide the development of their Nen abilities."
"I will contact David immediately." Lily nodded and pushed a button on her wheelchair.
Soon, David arrived.
What Oboro needed now was to help the newcomers formulate and develop game-specific abilities.
He needed players.
A real game world, it didn't have to be huge, but every player who entered would have to sign a contract beforehand.
An agreement that would eventually place him at the top of the world.
As these thoughts crossed his mind, feeling the breeze from the window, Oboro smiled.
His gains this time were beyond imagination, a true fortune!
Not only in the quality of his thoughts.
Netero and Biscuit had probably assumed that facing death would allow his thoughts to grow to a certain extent and increase his upper limit.
But neither of them understood what was in Oboro's mind or the truth behind his ability.
If they knew all his secrets,
Their expressions would certainly be interesting.
"The weather is beautiful today," Oboro remarked.
The words stunned Lily and David.
They could tell that their master was in an unusually good mood.
"Shall I take you for a walk?" David asked eagerly.
"Yes."
Later, in a private rest area outside the hospital,
Oboro sat in his wheelchair, surrounded by bodyguards as David pushed him across the star-shaped patch of grass.
A family member brought him a phone and held it to his ear.
"I haven't heard from you in so long, I thought you were dead," a familiar voice came through, Hisoka's.
"Aren't you here to kill me? This is a rare opportunity," Oboro said easily.
"I'm not really interested in you right now. Besides, the stage I need belongs only to the two of us. You know that very well," Hisoka joked. "Are you calling to ask what happened after you lost consciousness?"
"No, I just wanted to confirm whether you were dead or not," Oboro replied.
"How cruel of you to say that."
"Is that Oboro?"
Suddenly, another voice asked through the phone. Oboro narrowed his eyes, he remembered the voice. It was Illumi.
So they were together!
"Hey, hey, hey," Illumi called into the phone.
"Oboro, it's me, Illumi, remember? Back when you had no money, I upgraded your cabin on the airship and you introduced me to Hisoka."
"..."
"I remember. You didn't have to go into that much detail."
"I heard from Hisoka that you became one of the Ten Dons. I said that I wouldn't be wrong to choose you. So, what do you think? Do you have any problems to deal with now? You must have many enemies. Though I'm sure with your current wealth, money is not an issue."
Oboro's expression remained neutral.
This guy couldn't stop talking about work.
"Hey, hey, hey, are you listening?"
"Can you help me kill him?" Oboro asked.
"You mean Hisoka? Sure, no problem, he's right next to me now, very convenient. As for the price, let me think about it." Illumi thought seriously.
After a moment, he actually asked Hisoka directly: "Hisoka, what do you think you're worth?"
"..." Hisoka remained silent.
Click
Sensing that something was wrong, Hisoka immediately hung up the phone.
Better to prevent these two from doing business.