"Chairman Netero is a born warrior, so he really cannot understand the struggles of a layman," Bisky said calmly, though her tone held a sharp edge as they walked through the camp. "If you stand beside him and cannot keep up with his insane rhythm, you will either be completely ignored or mercilessly teased by him. I can assure you, neither of those are pleasant memories."
"You are literally gnashing your teeth together as you speak," Liam pointed out, crossing his arms and watching her.
When you were younger, Auntie, exactly how much did you suffer under Netero? Liam thought to himself. She had just claimed to have dull talent compared to him. Maybe that deep-seated stress was exactly why she had eventually developed a Conjuration Nen ability specifically designed to entirely eliminate physical and mental fatigue, the Magic Esthetician Cookie. Queen of Magic Scrolls? More like the Queen of Coping Mechanisms. To avoid being teased by Netero, she must have practiced desperately, day and night, until she finally achieved that ridiculously muscular, King Kong Barbie physique she hid so well.
Bisky sighed, smoothing the front of her pink dress. "In short, if we look at the two evaluation systems for measuring practice progress—the five-level system represented by my teachings, and the four-level system represented by Chairman Netero—the highest pinnacles are fundamentally identical. They can both accurately be called the ultimate realm. It is simply that my specific system actually provides a minimum entry level for normal people."
"We can easily add corresponding names to your levels to match his," Liam suggested cheerfully.
"Like Fine?" Shizuku added in her usual flat tone.
"Exactly. Fine, Good, Excellent, Talented, Extreme. That lines up perfectly with levels one through five. I feel much more comfortable with that structure now." Liam counted the levels off on his fingers and smiled. "To be completely honest, the evaluation system of Chairman Netero is just far too abstract and mysterious for my taste. It is all about vague attribute circles, natural endowment, and the profound unity of heart and Nen type. Your system is vastly more intuitive and data-based, Bisky. Every single step forward has a clear perception, every step further has concrete goals, and it honestly just has a very satisfying upgrade rhythm to it."
Bisky raised her eyebrows, placing her small hands firmly on her hips. "Oh, really?"
Liam casually glanced inward, pulling up his mental Death Energy Panel to check.
Enhancement: Level 2 [Good]
Transmutation: 84.3 %
Conjuration: 96.4 %
Specialization: Level 5 [Extreme]
Manipulation: Level 4 [Talented]
Emission: Level 3 [Excellent]
Sure enough, after listening to the detailed mini-lecture from Bisky, the profound change in his fundamental Nen knowledge was instantly reflected on his system panel. New, highly accurate text annotations had seamlessly appeared next to his numerical stats.
However, Liam thought, looking closely at his numbers. Even though I primarily use Manipulation for combat, it was actually Specialization that managed to reach the absolute max level first. That is completely outrageous.
"Lumos, you absolutely cannot slack off anymore! We are doing extra practice this morning! We must actively develop our Conjuration skills as soon as possible, do you understand me?" Liam turned around and yelled toward the trees, looking for Lumos. The massive beast had happily eaten the black wild boar for breakfast and was currently wandering around the edge of the rift valley in incredibly high spirits. "I can feel it. We are almost there."
Liam had originally been slightly worried that a wild monster like the charging boar might just be an empty, physical prop Conjured by Ging and his gang of administrators. However, after he had officially de-carded the wild boar back into a physical object, the system strictly dictated that he couldn't turn it back into a magic card again. It had physically remained exactly like an ordinary, heavy animal carcass, complete with warm blood and dense meat, and was easily eaten by Lumos.
This visceral reality perfectly reminded him of exactly what Bisky had said about the absolute highest level of Conjuration training. When Conjured objects become entirely indistinguishable from reality, that physical reality is the absolute pinnacle. The perfect combination of yin and yang creates all living things.
Bisky looked at Liam, who had inexplicably ignited with a sudden, burning fighting spirit. She smiled slightly, following him toward the edge of the camp with her hands clasped behind her back. "So, exactly how is the cooperative Nen ability you want to actively develop with your tiger designed?"
"Oh, I officially call it..." Liam spun around on his heel, flashing a bright, highly confident smile. "Seventy-two Transformations."
Shizuku walked past them, casually reminding him, "Bisky is asking about the actual design ideas and rules, Liam. Not just the dramatic name."
Liam cleared his throat and began to list the strict parameters of the ability.
Conjurer: Seventy-two Transformations Cooperative Nen Ability.
Rule 1. Lumos can physically transform into a wearable tiger-skin skirt. The specific person wearing the tiger-skin skirt can then use its power to transform their own body.
Rule 2. Lumos himself absolutely cannot initiate or undergo any transformation on his own.
Rule 3. The person actively wearing the tiger-skin skirt is strictly required to input a steady stream of their own aura to successfully maintain the transformation.
Rule 4. The vastly greater the physical volume change of the transformed image compared to the original body, the vastly more continuous aura output is required per second to stabilize it.
Rule 5. There are exactly three distinct transformation methods programmed into the tiger-skin skirt. Method one is Live Copy. While actively wearing the skirt, the user must physically touch the target person or object they want to perfectly copy with their left hand for more than ten uninterrupted seconds. Method two is Imagination. While wearing the skirt, the user must use aura actively released by their right hand to carefully construct the desired visual image. This highly complex process requires a continuous, stable aura output and absolutely cannot be interrupted. The total time span required to build a form ranges from one full hour to one entire day. Method three is Presets. Based entirely on previously saved forms from Live Copy or Imagination, up to seventy-two distinct types of transformable images can be permanently stored in the memory of the skirt for instant use.
"...Theoretically speaking, this is exactly how the logic of it works," Liam concluded, having repeated the complex idea of the Seventy-two Transformations to Bisky and Shizuku. He then turned to the big tiger, who was busy licking its massive paws, and said sincerely, "I am doing my part, buddy. I am almost there. I am literally just waiting for you to catch up. Where exactly is the magic skirt I ordered, huh?"
He reached out and aggressively rubbed the thick head of the tiger. Lumos let out a low huff, a clear look of profound helplessness showing on his feline face. Being the apex king of the jungle apparently didn't even cover the complex mental math required for actively developing a Conjuration Nen ability. It was entirely too embarrassing for a proud tiger.
Bisky nodded slowly, analyzing the rules. "This highly specific Nen ability will indeed have incredibly unexpected, devastating effects in intelligence warfare and deep spy operations. Moreover, by directly utilizing the natural Conjuration talent of Lumos, it not only evenly shares the massive mental pressure of developing the Nen ability, but it perfectly assigns the highly complex visual transformation processing and the heavy aura output directly to you as a human being. It is an exceptionally good, balanced idea."
Shizuku adjusted her glasses. "In this specific case, we will have to rely heavily on the actual Conjuration training level of Lumos being flawless, right?"
Unlike her vacuum, Blinky. Although her vacuum cleaner possessed Conjuration-type Nen, the actual degree of visual realism didn't negatively affect the ability of Blinky to exert its overwhelming suction effect. However, if Liam was actively relying on a visual transformation ability to hide in plain sight, and the resulting disguise was obviously fake at first glance, wouldn't that completely defeat the purpose?
"Exactly. So we simply have to practice. We have to practice incredibly hard!" Liam aggressively tugged at the thick corners of the mouth of the big tiger.
He sighed and muttered to himself. It would be absolutely great if there was a Detective Conan actively following by my side right now. Every single day when I go out, there would instantly be a fresh murder scene waiting for me. I would get a massive influx of pure death energy directly into my account every single day without lifting a finger. In exactly three days, it would be more than enough to completely max out the Conjuration qualifications on my Death Energy Panel...
After resting peacefully in the mountain air for about an hour each, Shizuku calmly used Blinky to quickly pack up the two heavy canvas tents. The three humans, one tiger, and one bird then immediately continued on their long journey.
The massive tiger ran swiftly through the dense mountain forest on their flanks, easily keeping pace. Jaku maintained a sweeping bird-eye view from high up in the blue sky, perfectly acting as a living drone camera and a highly reliable bird-shaped navigation system for Liam. The group traveled almost non-stop, heading directly toward the massive city located in the north where the so-called city lord was supposed to reside.
By the time noon arrived, the air had grown warm and dusty. They had steadily covered almost four hundred kilometers of rough terrain, and their final target was finally situated right in front of them. With the direct help of the sweeping view of Jaku from a hundred meters above the tree line, Liam could vaguely see the towering stone outline of a massive city sitting about a hundred kilometers ahead on the horizon.
"We are finally almost there," Liam breathed a heavy sigh of relief, wiping a thin layer of sweat from his forehead. "Four hundred kilometers of rough hiking. No paved roads, no digital GPS. We are incredibly lucky we didn't go completely astray in those mountains."
"So..." Bisky said, her fast pace gradually slowing down to a quiet walk on the dirt path.
Shizuku stopped completely, looking back over her shoulder. "Someone has been actively following us for an entire hour now, and there seems to be exactly only one person."
"So, who goes to deal with it?" Liam cracked his knuckles, clenching his fists in anticipation. "How about we just decide this fairly by playing a quick round of rock-paper-scissors?"
Bisky waved a small hand dismissively. "There is absolutely no need for that. This person has the immense patience to carefully follow our trail for a full hundred kilometers through the wilderness, but clearly has absolutely no courage to actively intercept us or launch a secret attack. It can be easily seen that as long as the three of us safely stay together in a group, he will absolutely never show his face. You two just walk away first, and I will intentionally stay behind alone. If I am standing here completely alone, he will probably finally get some brave ideas..."