Chapter 18: Adopting a Rat! Playing by Different Rules

“Please spare me,” the thief pleads, his face full of terror—Auren’s strength and decisiveness far beyond anything he could’ve ever imagined.“Are you part of a gang?” Auren asks coldly, staring at the thief.

“No… I’m just an orphan! Please forgive me! I have siblings who rely on me!” he begs.

“I don’t care about you or your sad backstory,” Auren says flatly.

Gathering Aura into his hand, he presses it against the stone wall of the alley and releases it in a violent burst. The wall cracks and shatters around the impact point, leaving the thief even more terrified.

Auren flares his Ren, his Aura wild and overwhelming, causing the thief to tremble, his body beginning to shake uncontrollably, tears running down his face.

That should be enough…

“This power… do you want it for yourself?” Auren asks, smiling, his tone shifting to a gentler one.

“I… what… I… yes!” the thief stammers, eyes wide with confusion, hope, and a hint of greed.

Auren smirks. “I might teach you. For now, I have a task for you—and I’ll even pay you.”

He hands the boy 300,000 Jenny, who stares down at the bills in stunned silence.

“Let’s get you a proper phone,” Auren says.

After picking out a random phone model, they head back to Auren’s hotel room, where Auren forces the boy to shower immediately.

Lending him a set of spare clothes, he commands him to listen.

“Your name?” Auren asks.

“Eren,” the thief replies obediently.

“Sit down, Eren. I didn’t notice your presence earlier when you tried to pickpocket me. Try to get into that same mindset again. Close your eyes and imagine erasing your presence, just like you did before.”

Auren observes carefully as Eren’s presence noticeably fades.

Almost a passable version of Zetsu… he must’ve picked it up unconsciously from pickpocketing. This boy’s got some talent—and he clearly needs money. I won’t always be here in Yorknew… I need helpers. I also want to try something. If he betrays me, so be it. I’ve got nothing to lose but time—and I’ve got plenty of that right now.

“Do you know why you caught my interest?” Auren asks.

Eren shakes his head. “No…”

“You’ve got potential. What you just used is called Zetsu. It’s one of the basic techniques of something powerful called Nen. It’s a power that opens the doors to abilities people would describe as magical. I’m going to awaken that power in you. It could be lethal—but that’s a risk you’ll have to accept. With your talent, you should be fine. Keep your eyes closed and relax. I’ll awaken your Aura now. Every human has it—you’ve just learned how to suppress it naturally. For now, just get used to the feeling of your Aura Nodes opening.”

Auren activates Azure Restoration, not to heal, but to gently open Eren’s Aura Nodes.

As he pours more and more Aura into Eren’s body, he feels Eren’s own Aura beginning to stir—then gently gush out of his Aura Nodes. Auren immediately stops his Hatsu, carefully inspecting the boy in front of him. All of Eren’s Aura Nodes are now open, his Aura flowing gently, with no visible injuries or side effects.

That easily? He didn’t even notice. My Azure Restoration is basically a guaranteed method to awaken Nen… The only danger now is if he can’t close his nodes again. If not, he’ll burn through his Aura and die…. I could quickly create an army of Nen users, another thing I can’t let others find out.

“Your Aura Nodes are now open. Try to keep your Aura from leaking out. Imagine it surrounding your body, like an invisible cloak.”

It takes Eren nearly 30 minutes to manage a shaky version of Ten, his aura not calm, but unstable.

Maybe I was wrong… his Nen potential isn’t that great. He barely managed it. Another few minutes and he would’ve run out of Aura. Though, to be fair, he could’ve also used his primitive version of Zetsu to stop the leak. This was more of a test anyway—to see where he stands.

“Good. Now use Zetsu again,” Auren orders.

Eren obeys, and after a moment, the pressure on him lifts.

Not bad… he’ll be useful. I’ll teach him the basics, and maybe Gyo. If he performs well, I might teach him more. That’ll be his reward.

“All right, that’s enough for now. You need to control your Aura Nodes to stay mostly closed, like before your awakening. That way, you can relax. However, I expect you to train Ten and Zetsu daily! I’m staying here for ten more days. I’ll teach you the basics of Nen—I expect you to study and improve on your own, strictly adhering to my guidance,” Auren says.

“Master… you’re without a doubt someone special. This ability—this power—I didn’t even know something like it existed. I have to ask… why did you teach me this? What’s your goal?” Eren asks, eyeing Auren carefully.

“I need someone to do a job for me. Aura is a requirement. Let’s head back to the market—I’ll show you.”

The two make their way back toward the Bull Market, chatting as they walk. Auren quickly informs him about a few basic Aura concepts, focusing on the concept of Gyo.

“I’m going to use Gyo to search for items. That’s what I wanted to do earlier—until your little robbery attempt interrupted me.”

With Gyo active and Eren trailing him, Auren resumes walking through the sprawling Bull Market.

After 20 minutes of searching, he finds his first interesting item—an old painting of a tree.

He notices a few people have already placed bids on it. The highest is 11,000 Jenny—not a small amount for a dusty painting.

Not like I’m playing by your rules.

Switching to Zetsu, Auren simply picks up the painting and walks away. The seller doesn’t even notice anything is wrong.

Let’s see what else I can help myself to. This is like a treasure hunt. I guess it’s fun to look for rarities.

As the market begins to close, Eren leads Auren to a shop that specializes in antiques and second-hand goods.

Auren sells the painting, along with an old candlestick and what appears to be an ordinary vase. All three items contain a few traces of Aura, lingering around the entire item, or parts of it.

He receives a total of 450,000 Jenny, leaving Eren completely stunned.

“Do you get it? This is what I expect you to do,” Auren asks.

“I think so… I just need to train enough to use Gyo. It’s really that simple—find items with Aura and then sell them. You want me to work for you, right? Will I get a share of the profits?” Eren asks cautiously.

“You can keep all the profit for yourself. I’m only interested in weapons, equipment, gear, books, and antiques. I want you to send me pictures of anything that might catch my eye. If I’m not interested, sell it and keep the profit. If I want it, it’s not like I’ll confiscate it either. I’ll buy it from you—and I’ll pay you fairly. If you do a good job, I’ll even teach you more about Nen. Sound fair?”

“Yes! Please trust me, I won’t disappoint you. Master… if you’re interested in weapons, I also know a guy who sells really old ones. People call them trash, but I know that he gets visited by a few collectors, so maybe he has what you are looking for. He always gets new stuff, but barely sells anything. It’s hard to find rarities, but perhaps with Gyo, you have a shot. I used to steal near his shop when tourists walked across.”

“Is it part of the Bull Market?” Auren asks.

“No, it’s just a regular shop. It should still be open!” Eren responds quickly.

“Worth a try. Show me the way.” Auren orders.

Eren leads Auren to the rumoured shop. As soon as they enter, Auren is hit by the sight of piles of metal junk everywhere—rusty old metal objects, swords, axes, clubs, armor, knives, pots, cutlery, and an assortment of random tools.

It’s just trash… but the sheer volume is a good sign. Most people wouldn’t bother digging through it.

Auren activates Gyo and begins carefully sifting through the mess.

He glances at the owner, who sits behind the counter, clearly bored, checking his watch and clearly ready to close for the day.

Suddenly, Auren pauses. He spots an old knife—and despite his foggy memories, he’s certain it’s a genuine Ben’s knife.

The knife has a jagged, menacing design with a long, curved blade featuring sharp notches and an aggressive hook near the tip. Its handle appears twisted and oddly-colored, seamlessly blending into the chaotic form of the blade. The overall look is brutal and dark.

Why is nobody interested in it? It looks fairly dangerous! Awesome design! This is art, this is a real treasure. I can’t believe I found something like this in this junk shop!

Activating Gyo confirms it—the dagger is faintly but consistently cloaked in Aura. The Aura is seemingly endless, never running out.

Looks like my luck’s holding strong today. This is it… a knife permanently infused with Aura. This is definitely something special. My old Master must’ve rubbed off on me… I really do have a thing for weapons. But one isn’t enough. I want to collect them all. I also want to test this Knife in battle. Since I am an enhancer, I could do crazy things with Limitless Waters, I’m sure of it.

He places the knife back on the shelf, pretending to keep browsing. Then, with the owner’s view blocked, he quietly slips the knife into his pants.

Grabbing two ridiculous-looking knives with skulls embedded in the blades, he walks to the counter and asks, “How much for these two?”

“1,500 Jenny each. If you take both, I’ll give them to you for 2,500,” the owner replies, obviously surprised that the boy in front of him is actually buying something.

Auren pretends to hesitate, then hands over the 2,500 Jenny and takes the knives. He leaves quickly, with the owner smiling behind him, glad to have made a sale. The man follows them to the door to close the shop for the day.

As soon as they turn a corner, Auren tosses the useless knives over a nearby fence and pulls out the Ben’s knife again.

He holds it up beneath a streetlamp, the blade catching the light.

Beautiful…

“This is what I’m looking for, Eren. If you can bring me a knife like this, I’m willing to pay you a couple million. I’ll teach you Gyo, a surefire way to identify them. But here’s the thing—if the item has no Aura, I’m not interested. Even the finest collectible is just trash to me if it doesn’t have Aura,” Auren explains.

He channels Limitless Waters, applied via a simple Shu into the knife, and holds it close to Eren. The boy immediately starts to shake, a bead of sweat trickling down his face. He sees the terrifying blue Aura cloaking the knife and instantly realizes that he has no way of resisting even a single attack.

“If you ever betray the trust I’ve placed in you…” Auren says, his voice calm but commanding. “I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

He then slashes the knife against a nearby wall, a large, deep scar appearing on it, the knife cutting through it like butter.

Eren stares at the damaged wall and nods quickly, then steadies himself. He responds seriously, “I won’t disappoint you. Until now, I’ve never had a chance—never had a real opportunity to change my life. You gave that to me. I’ll never betray you.”

Auren spends the next ten days teaching Eren, focusing only on the basics and how to use Gyo. He explains other techniques but forbids Eren from experimenting with them, promising to teach him more if he produces results and masters the basics.

Eren, of course, isn’t able to learn Ren, a requirement for Gyo, in just ten days, but Auren teaches him how to focus all of his Aura into his eyes using just Ten. With that, Eren is finally able to see the faint trace of Aura surrounding the Ben’s knife.

“This is good enough for now. At least you can get started this way. You can train slowly and carefully until you learn Ren and Gyo. If you can see Aura, that’s all I need for now.”

During his ten days in Yorknew, Auren earns another 4 million Jenny, ending up with exactly 13 million—more than he had at the start of his journey, making him smile with satisfaction.

Finally, it’s time for his long-distance flight to the Federation of Ochima. Before leaving, he says his goodbyes to Eren, making sure that he delivers regular updates on his activities.