Chapter 109: Lawless Zone

With the first mission completed, Auren and the others slowly fall into a certain rhythm.They train hard for most of the day, enjoy the luxurious amenities the Royal Glam Hotel has to offer, and also take their time to enjoy the shows to relax. Every other day, they do their best to complete missions, for now sticking to the easier H-rank missions, which mostly involve dealing with armed saboteurs that are interfering with the Clan’s gas trade. Sometimes they investigate on their own, other times they escort engineers through the dangerous parts of the rough red terrain, never too far away from the city itself.

During training, after going through the usual exercises and sparring, everyone focuses on their own interests. Vanessa and Eren focus their attention on training with weapons on a nearby shooting range, most of which they acquired on their first mission. Eren focuses mainly on pistols, practicing steadily, while Vanessa is excited and eager to learn about rifles in addition to pistols. Her enthusiasm makes her stand out, and she throws herself into training with visible motivation.

Auren decides to train every day with Goreinu, spending at least a couple of hours working on improving his Emission and Manipulation abilities.

Per Auren’s request, Goreinu demonstrates his Hatsu daily, using his Black Goreinu Nen beast, which looks like a black haired Gorilla, to change position with Auren, allowing him to experience firsthand one of the highest and most difficult forms of Emission—namely Total Transposition, an extremely advanced concept that allows the user to perform feats such as teleportation.

“Auren, you are scaring me,” Goreinu says after another training session, eyeing him seriously. “You look like you want to swallow me whole. I can sense that you intend to copy my ability, or at least come up with something similar. I can only warn you, this is my personal Hatsu, and I took a long time to come up with it. You can’t just copy it, because you like it. Your Hatsu needs to be something deeply personal! Please don’t make a mistake, that may cost you parts of your potential.”

“I am slowly forming my next Hatsu in my mind, Goreinu,” Auren replies with a grin. “I am almost there, I can see the shape of it already. Trust me, I know that this is a serious decision.”

“Auren, you are young. There is such a thing as a limit. You can’t endlessly create new Hatsus. Every single Hatsu you create will become a part of yourself. You can view it as the memory of a computer. If you come up with new Hatsus, you lose empty space... and once that space is full, you’ll be stuck and can’t come up with something new, even if you don’t use your old Hatsus anymore. You need to be careful! You are still young, there is no reason to hastily create another Hatsu!”

“I never heard that ‘limit’ theory before,” Auren says. “How do you know it’s true?”

“My master told me,” Goreinu replies. “It’s a fact. You can slowly raise that limit by training, but it’s mostly inborn. I can vouch for my master and his knowledge—you shouldn’t overdo it! You will slowly feel your memory getting fuller and fuller with each Hatsu you master. Even with my single Hatsu, I felt myself approaching my limit already, years ago, when I came up with it. Since then, I haven’t learned a new Hatsu, and only slowly do I feel my limit growing again. Perhaps I’ll be able to come up with something new in a few years.”

I have never felt this way. Truthfully, I only have Azure Restoration and Limitless Waters. Hiding in Mist and Heavy Rain are more like extra abilities that rely on Limitless Waters. Still, why am I not feeling some kind of limit? Two full Hatsus and two sub-abilities are almost pushing it... in fact, my arsenal is larger than that of almost all Hunters I know of. Maybe I not only have two different affinities that merged into one... maybe I also have twice the limit of the average Nen user?

“Thank you, Goreinu,” Auren says, genuinely thankful for the advice. “However, I already have a pretty good idea of what kind of Hatsu I’m lacking, and it will also be based on a Hatsu that I already know. You can just view it as an extension of that Hatsu.”

This will be my ace! If things go through as planned, I’ll be able to counter one of the deadliest threats any Nen user faces! I am sure this is the correct decision.

After a hard day of training, they shift their focus back to missions, fulfilling official requests, all issued by the Glam Clan. Sometimes they even manage to successfully complete more than two missions on a single day.

Finally, a week passes, and the group has completed ten missions, earning a total of around 100 million Jenny.

Auren, Neffi, Goreinu, and Auren’s three “students”—Konrad, Vanessa, and Eren—decide to meet in his room to discuss their future plans.

“It’s getting boring,” Neffi complains. “The missions are tedious and repetitive. Everyone we’ve been dealing with is either a badly trained mercenary or someone with half a brain who abandoned their post the moment news about us started spreading. The other missions are simple escort missions that are beneath us.”

“I agree!” Vanessa says, “This is really beneath us. I even got used to the guns. I’ve been training every day for four hours, and by now I’m great! I can even infuse my Aura into bullets, giving them quite a punch! I can easily penetrate through thick body armor!”

She’s an Emitter, alright... I guess that is her strength. Even without a Hatsu, as long as you combine simple Emission and Enhancement with firearms, by imbuing the Aura into the bullet, you can kill almost anyone. Emission is a great affinity if you combine it with firearms. You do not require any Hatsu and can just rely on pure Aura control.

“Neffi,” Auren says firmly, “we’ve only been doing H-rank missions for a reason, and it’s been just one week. You might want to rush into danger, but this is supposed to be training for Konrad, Vanessa, and Eren. You don’t get to decide their lives. As for you, Vanessa, you’re doing great! I’ve seen how you shoot, and you are extremely talented. Even without a Hatsu, you’re already becoming a really competent Hunter. Perhaps you might want to focus on that and put your Hatsu aside for now. I still don’t get why you are so impatient. Either way, we still need more training, and that takes priority. No need to risk our lives for nothing.”

“Auren is correct!” Konrad says immediately, which only earns him an annoyed look from his sister.

“If you want to, and if you feel like you’re ready for it, we can try one of the G-rank missions,” Auren offers, which shocks Konrad. “Truth be told, the easy H-rank missions are gone, so it would probably be more efficient to move on anyway. In addition to that, we can head into the western district, the so-called Lawless Zone, and aim for bounties. According to the Hunter website, there could be hundreds of criminals hiding there, taking advantage of the Lawless Zone.”

“Isn’t that a little... too risky?” Konrad asks nervously. “You’re giving in to these evil wome—”

Before he can finish his sentence, Vanessa smacks him on the head.

“Good! Let’s start with the bounties. I’m interested in that so-called Lawless Zone!” Vanessa declares.

Konrad, rubbing his head, quickly interjects. “It’s just a small part of the town, mostly run by gangs and the mafia, though the mafia isn’t very strong here. It’s mostly bars, illegal casinos, brothels, and all kinds of shady shops. It’s certainly nothing we should be interested in.”

“You’re usually interested in brothels, brother. Why the sudden change of heart?” Vanessa says in a mocking tone, clearly enjoying herself.

“Shut up,” Konrad barks back, blushing a little.

“Konrad... really?” Goreinu asks, raising an eyebrow. “Just why? You’re pretty smart, you look pretty presentable, and you’re the rich heir of a massive conglomerate of businesses! Why would you even bother with places like that?”

“... I can’t trust women, so I might as well skip ahead to the part I’m actually interested in,” Konrad responds flatly.

“The poor guy got betrayed a couple of times. His previous girlfriends were only in it for the money, and our father got tired of it. Because Konrad simply couldn’t see the obvious, he exposed them by bribing and recording their reactions. Pretty harsh, but Konrad needed the wake-up call,” Vanessa explains, this time speaking seriously.

That’s a surprise! He is usually pretty sharp—he could even be described as a genius. Looks like relationships aren’t his strong suit.

This silly bickering is wasting our time!

“That is pretty interesting, but can we get back to the important parts? Konrad deserves some privacy, I’d think,” Auren notes.

“Thank you!” Konrad says, looking relieved.

A few hours later, the group—minus Goreinu, who stays behind to look after the others and continue teaching the twins and kids—arrives at the Lawless Zone.

“Park the car outside, or it will get stolen...” Auren says, signaling Vanessa to park in front of a nearby store.

As they stop, Eren suddenly speaks up. “The most important part is not to draw attention to yourselves. I learned that the hard way on the streets of Yorknew before I finally managed to stay under the radar. Maybe that’s the reason why my Zetsu is quite advanced.”

“True,” Neffi says, nodding. “Let’s use Zetsu and look for targets. If we find someone and can’t handle it ourselves, we call each other.”

“Splitting up is fine,” Auren says. “Neffi, you and Eren team up. I’ll go with Vanessa and Konrad. Remember, we’re aiming for anyone with a bounty—we’ve memorized our targets. Make sure to check bars, casinos, and even the more unpleasant businesses. If we don’t find anyone, we can just leave. More importantly, be careful!”

I’ve got a feeling Eternity will see a lot of blood today... I guess cleaning up this shithole is considered a good deed.