The moment Killer Queen manifested as the wallet sank its teeth into Joey's palm, she lunged to grab it.
But before her hand could touch, the wallet slithered through the open wound, burrowing directly into Joey's body.
That bulky wallet, right before his eyes, turned into an eerie vapor-like aura and slipped into his arm, vanishing completely.
Only a few leftover coins clinked to the ground in its wake.
"…No way."
Joey's face drained of color.
An instant later, Killer Queen vanished too—as Joey felt his entire aura flood toward his arm, helplessly dragged from every limb and meridian.
In under thirty seconds, he collapsed onto the bed—completely drained.
The wallet had forced him into Zetsu.
Then—
Boom.
From his right hand surged a torrent of life-rich aura, rushing to refill his body, cascading through every pore and capillary.
Within minutes, Joey's aura was restored to full—but this time, all of it pulsed with the warmth of vitality, the life-drenched energy from the wallet.
And then he noticed it.
On the back of his right hand… a tattoo.
A fierce insect, its horn spiraling upward in a defiant roar, etched in living black.
Unlike the grotesque bug he remembered, this one had a haunting beauty.
A predatory elegance.
A savage divinity.
"…What the hell? Is this a 'before and after' pic? Raw vs. Insta filter?" Joey stared, baffled.
But his attention snapped back as he sensed a change—his natural aura was recovering with time… only to be immediately devoured by the tattoo.
Like the insect was feeding.
Joey scowled, eyebrows forming that familiar 八字眉.
He tested his aura, reentering Ten, letting it flow.
Second by second, the life-charged aura drained, weakened. When he tried practicing Ren, the rate of consumption spiked.
Twenty minutes later, he collapsed again.
Completely dry.
And the new aura his body began to produce?
Also consumed—swallowed whole by the tattoo.
When Palm called him for dinner, Joey didn't even have the strength to answer. He just waved it off and lay in bed like a corpse.
Five hours later, the tattoo shifted.
It peeled from his skin like ink becoming vapor, pooling at his palm—then solidified into the shining form of the wallet once more.
It gleamed.
Joey frowned, analyzing the numbers in his mind.
Five hours. That's about the time it takes for him to fully recover his aura twice using Zetsu.
Yet every drop had been absorbed by that bug.
So…
To recharge the wallet's "fuel," he had to feed it aura equivalent to 1.5 times his total reserve.
Because Zetsu recovery isn't 100% efficient.
At least Killer Queen still functioned during the process. If she didn't, he'd have been utterly defenseless.
His aura was still regenerating, but the exhaustion—mental, physical, spiritual—made his eyelids heavy.
But now, Joey understood.
The wallet wasn't just some cursed relic.
It was a Converter.
A device that could temporarily convert his Emission-type aura into Specialist-type.
The trigger?
Absorbing the aura that wraps the wallet.
And that aura?
It was equal to his entire potential reserve.
Even better—
The wallet slowly recharges on its own, like a battery, at the same rate Joey naturally recovers.
So really…
A Converterand a Supply Pack in one.
"Damn. Is this the cheat every isekai protagonist dreams of?" Joey muttered.
The idea of the bug suddenly didn't seem so gross.
Even the creepy mouth?
Totally forgiven.
Joey began stroking the wallet like a precious relic, affection in every touch.
With this tool, he could absolutely train Gold Experience.
And maybe, someday, regrow his missing hand.
It all added up—the soul-devouring Mei, the resurrection rumors, the vitality-soaked remains recorded in the New World Travel Log…
This wallet was not ordinary.
But what about that mouth?
Could it mean Mei still lived?
Had it not died at all, but simply transformed—evolved into this new lifeform?
It made sense.
The missing portion of its aura wasn't truly lost… it had become part of this new state.
More importantly, when the wallet entered Joey's body, he'd felt something intimate.
Not just physical.
Spiritual.
Like a fragment of his soul lived inside it.
Maybe that's the key.
The souls of Joey, Kira Yoshikage, the nameless local, and Mei—had merged the moment Mei activated its power.
That was the moment their fates braided together.
Joey gripped the wallet tightly, tuning in to the aura trickling back into him—still soaked in life force, still slow.
Even as excitement buzzed through his veins, his mind sharpened.
Replacing the wallet's aura would take about two full days of uninterrupted absorption.
That was… manageable.
And if he had to call it what it was?
A Converter.
A Backup Battery.
A Soul Key.
His.
Joey sat upright, pulled out pen and paper, and began documenting everything in Chinese.
Every reaction. Every theory.
He analyzed until his brain gave out—and half an hour later, collapsed on the desk, snoring softly.
Between aura depletion, two days of stress, and the constant throb of his amputated arm, his entire being had reached its limit.
Honestly, the fact he'd held out this long?
That was its own miracle.
He slept deeply until Palm knocked again.
"Dinner's ready."
Judging by her steps, she'd already left after announcing it.
"I'm coming. Thanks." Joey yawned, stretched, and made his way to the living room.
From down the hall, he heard voices.
Not just Palm's—but Killua's, Gon's, and a new one.
A woman.
Biscuit?
Joey's eyes lit up.
This was it.
Killua and Gon's second real nen training arc.
Their mentor?
The deceptively cute, pink-haired gem hunter who transformed into a muscle-bound amazon when fighting.
Joey had always been curious about her.
The tsundere loli with the JoJo-level physique.
He quickened his pace.
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