After settling into his room, Conrad let out a quiet breath. He took several drinks from the minibar and placed them on the desk before beginning to think.
Unlike before, he was no longer inexperienced.
Because of that, he needed to prepare himself for the possibility that his upcoming meeting with a man named Ervia involved what he personally referred to as a Multi-Condition Ability or a Layered Nen Ability.
Although information listed on the Hunter Website was rarely dangerous or intentionally misleading, Conrad had no intention of leaving things to chance.
"Now then..."
"It should be possible to use Ancient Script to prepare one or two disposable safeguards against Nen abilities."
"First, I need to define my objective properly. Otherwise, the Ancient Script ability I create will require unnecessary conditions."
Conrad rested his chin on his hand, opened a small bottle of whiskey, poured himself a glass, took a sip, and smiled.
"Rather than directly protecting myself from a Nen ability, it might be enough to simply become aware when someone is trying to pull me into one."
"The ability doesn't need to be stopped."
"If someone has completed—or is attempting to complete—one of their conditions on me, Ancient Script doesn't need to interfere."
"It only needs to notify me."
"I don't think there's a single Nen user in this small city who's stronger than I am. Especially if I know who they are."
With that thought in mind, Conrad picked up a blank sheet of paper and began working.
Objective
"If a Nen ability is being used on me, or if its conditions are being fulfilled, I will receive a warning."
Over the next ten minutes, he carefully wrote down the desired outcome and every detail he expected from the Ancient Script ability through a series of symbols.
The more he practiced, the easier it became. The symbols came to mind naturally now, and writing them correctly required less effort than before.
"Good..."
The next step was adding realistic conditions and limitations.
From what he had learned, a limitation could only truly function as a limitation if it genuinely restricted the scope of an ability. Likewise, a condition needed to involve an actual action rather than meaningless wording.
He wrote another line.
"The temporary name of this ability shall be Enemy Herald – Ancient Script."
Then he continued.
Condition 1 – In order to activate Enemy Herald, the user must first place a drop of their blood on the paper.
Condition 2 – Enemy Herald remains active for three days after blood touches the paper. Once those three days expire, it must be reactivated using blood again. This time, three drops are required instead of one.
Limitation 1 – Unless a new Ancient Script is created, Enemy Herald functions only within Lukso Province and its surrounding region.
Limitation 2 – Enemy Herald may provide warnings only twice per day. After the second warning, it must be reactivated through Condition 1.
After nearly half an hour of work, Conrad had successfully transferred his thoughts into Ancient Script and completed the preliminary version of Enemy Herald.
The ability itself wasn't particularly impressive. It merely provided warnings, and its effectiveness was restricted to a single region. Those restrictions significantly reduced the Nen cost required to maintain it.
Deep down, Conrad knew he didn't truly need extra conditions or limitations for such a simple ability.
He could have simply written his desired effect and poured a large amount of Nen into it.
But why waste energy?
Once Enemy Herald was complete, Conrad took a shower and went to sleep. There wasn't much else he needed to do for now.
The following afternoon, he woke up, showered again, and left the hotel in search of a proper breakfast.
After finishing a meal at a reasonably nice restaurant, he ordered a coffee and sat back in his chair.
"Now then..."
"I still have time until midnight."
"I already know where the Background Bar is. I got the map yesterday."
"As long as nothing unexpected happens, I should be able to reach the region where the Kurta Clan was born by tomorrow morning."
"If I remember correctly, the Kurta Clan used ostrich-like mounts. Traveling between the city and their territory took around five or six hours."
"With a normal vehicle, it would probably only take a few hours."
"Honestly, if someone simply told me where the place was, I could get there much faster on my own."
After finishing his coffee, Conrad spent the rest of the day exploring the more interesting parts of the city.
There wasn't anything else demanding his attention at the moment.
Inside the Background Bar, Ervio handed a bottle of beer to a silver-haired woman sitting on one of the stools.
His expression looked troubled.
"Nelara..."
"If they got the information from the Hunter Website, then the person coming here should be a Hunter."
"Do you really want to do this?"
Nelara took the beer and drank directly from the bottle.
"Are you scared?" she asked.
The old man shook his head and continued wiping the counter with a cloth.
"Honestly..."
"Why are you targeting Hunters?"
"If I remember correctly, you're a Nen user yourself."
"And especially as a Hunter, targeting other Hunters isn't exactly the right thing to do."
Nelara took another drink before raising the empty bottle, signaling for another one.
Without saying anything, Ervio handed her a fresh beer.
"Aren't you getting paid?" she asked calmly.
"Your only job is to fulfill the requirements necessary for my ability to activate."
"Don't concern yourself with anything beyond that."
"I have no intention of sharing my goals."
Although Ervio disliked hearing those words, he wasn't really in a position to argue.
The payment had been extremely generous.
In truth, all he had to do was serve as a component required for Nelara's Nen ability.
Because the ability itself demanded cooperation with another person before it could even be activated.