Chapter 311: Just a Cough—A Different Focus

Auren is a little surprised that Rakshala does not pick up his call, a situation that has never happened before.

Rakshala not picking up my call, that’s rare. Almost unheard of... that woman doesn’t even sleep and works around the clock.

She mentioned leaving the Mountain City and permanently relocating to the East as well.

Let me call a few other numbers, but who?

Elders... Buno or Bunu? No, they are too unreliable; then that leaves.

Finally, Auren calls Grunah, who thankfully responds to him, and he quickly explains the situation to her.

“I’ll relay it to Lady Rakshala, Auren; it will be taken care of. I just want to...” Grunah tries to say before coughing loudly. After a brief pause, she calms down, catching her breath. “Excuse me.”

“Are you alright?” Auren asks. “I guess it’s time for another round of treatment for the elders, but it hasn’t been that long.”

“I’m... fine,” Grunah says, a wheezing sound audible after each breath. “I’ll take care of the issue. Have a good time and take care of Neffi... please.”

“I will... but don’t make such ominous statements...” Auren replies, causing Grunah to swiftly end the call without addressing his concern.

How old is she in the first place? That’s not sounding good. She didn’t have any lingering diseases or sicknesses a while ago.

“It will be taken care of,” Auren tells Menchi directly.

“I’ll focus on cooking; come back for frequent meals. Marsha seems busy; you gave her an extra order? How dare you let her do it alone when I’m here?! I’ll help her out,” Menchi immediately tells Auren, joining her in the kitchen.

Fine....

Finishing their breakfast, the group walks towards the mansion.

“Neffi, just out of curiosity, how old is Grunah?” Auren asks.

“I don’t quite know. Master’s age, she never told me. She always jokes about her age,” Neffi says, deep in thought. “Why are you asking?”

“Just out of curiosity...” Auren replies calmly.

“Okay!” Neffi replies casually.

“...”

I should tell her.

“... No. I’m sorry, I lied,” Auren corrects himself shortly afterwards, causing Neffi to stop and look at him.

“She sounded a little sick. It could be a common cold or something more serious. I’ll visit her in the future and apply another treatment with Azure Restoration,” Auren says, this time completely honest.

“...” Neffi remains silent before nodding at Auren. “Thank you for being honest with me. Please do that.”

“I will. In any case, training starts today; I’ll be training with Zeno and Illumi. I learned En by myself and also got taught by Rakshala, but Zeno is a master of En in his own right; perhaps I can learn a few more tricks,” Auren explains.

“I’ll be training with that old fossil. I’m gonna beat him up juuust a little; hopefully I don’t overdo it, hehe. I better be careful not to break one of those old and brittle bones of his, hehe,” Vanessa says, continuing to snicker, using Ren, focusing her Aura onto her fists, slamming both of her Regalia gauntlets together, creating a terrifying screeching sound and causing a few sparks to appear.

“Don’t do that again!” Neffi complains, holding her ears. “That’s why you shouldn’t give her these things! As for me, I’ll just watch, for now. After that I’ll train a little. I could really use a little more physical strength,” she reasons.

“Why not learn En as well?” Auren asks her.

“Auren, I know my strengths and weaknesses. En does not suit me, and I’ve accepted it. I’ll focus on my strengths and on my weaknesses. En is not something I’ll ever become truly good at,” Neffi argues.

“If you change your mind, you can always come to me,” Auren offers.

“I will...” Neffi replies, seemingly grateful.

“If you’re bored, you can go to Marsha, pick up the thing I wanted her to make, and then deliver it to the rookies,” Auren adds. “I’ve figured I’ll give them a little support; for strength training, there is nothing better, I guess. I won’t let Menchi do it, running errands for the rookies; she might get offended or feel frustrated. We know better and don’t have that useless pride, so it’s best if we do it ourselves.”

“Okay, I’ll do it after watching a little,” Neffi says. “I might as well try the training they’re doing. If I use Zetsu, it will be effective and quite difficult... even for me as a Nen user.”

With everyone busy, the three head into the mansion.

Immediately, a couple of butlers welcome them.

To Auren’s surprise, he also sees Goto among them, his expression stern.

“Welcome, dear guests. I’ll inform the masters of your arrival,” he says in a completely serious and dry voice.

“Good morning, go ahead,” Auren replies nonchalantly.

A few minutes later, Zeno and Illumi appear, both dressed in their usual clothes. Zeno wears his traditional assassin’s outfit, and Illumi wears the same type of clothes he wore during the Hunter Exam.

“Let’s go outside,” Zeno says, gesturing towards Auren.

He and Neffi follow the two assassins, leaving behind a grumbling Vanessa.

“Damn old man... so slow!” Vanessa complains. “If the public knew that a man dares to make me wait.”

Now she’s losing it.

Almost leaving the entrance area behind and reaching the back door towards the garden behind the mansion, Auren hears Vanessa yell.

“AAAAAAH, damn you! So creepy!” she suddenly screams. “How did you sneak up on me? Pervert!”

“...”

“Let’s walk a little faster,” Auren urges his hosts.

“That might be a wise decision,” Zeno says, noticeably picking up the pace, the four of them quickly exiting the mansion.

“Auren. While it’s not my place to tell you what kind of associates to hire and to surround yourself with, I’m quite curious where you managed to pick her up,” Illumi says.

“She’s a feisty beast. The opposite of what an Assasin should be like, but still quite impressive. I wonder what Grandpa saw in her specifically. Her potential must be greater than expected,” Zeno says, Auren a little disturbed by the fact that an elderly assassin such as Zeno talks about his grandfather like that.

Maha, his missing son, Zeno, Silva, Killua, and his brothers. Five generations of Zoldycks... Illumi might soon create a sixth, or Milluki if he ever sets his sights on one of the female butlers... though his figurines and dolls seemingly take precedence.

“She’s the sister of a friend whom I met during my Hunter Exam. Both are talented in their own right. I’m actually feeling a little frustrated. I have access to tools she doesn’t have, yet in certain aspects, she’s almost catching up to me,” Auren admits openly. “If you underestimate her, you’ll get burned. She’s already a Single-Star Hunter and a Floor Master. Frankly, without me participating, she’d easily have won Battle Olympia as well. Her Aura output is insane, so is her Hatsu.”

“While I can’t teach her, I can’t deny her outrageous Hatsu. Simply foolish, to a degree that makes you almost admire it. To be honest, while it’s not as diverse and doesn’t provide the utility of my own Hatsu, it surpasses mine in terms of destruction,” Zeno says. “A well-chosen Hatsu, taking into account her personality.”

“Really? Grandpa?” Illumi wonders, his face calm, yet obviously not convinced by Zeno’s words.

However, before he can reply, they reach a pavilion outside, with a few butlers securing the scene, giving them anonymity, yet also complete protection.

“I guess we said that I’d first show you my little advanced Nen technique. Its effect will become apparent once you use En. Uhm... Zeno. Can you please demonstrate your En? It’s best if you stand a little farther away.”

“There is no need to hesitate! Just call me by name,” Zeno says, walking a few steps away, while Illumi observes.

In an instant, a simple, robust, yet also extremely practiced En appears around Zeno, encasing him, Illumi, and even the butlers, easily stretching over a hundred meters, extremely elegant in its simplicity.

“My technique... is called Enken!” Auren announces, not wasting any time as he immediately activates it.

A smaller but much thicker, denser, and more powerful En bubble appears around Auren, covering only about ten to fifteen meters.

Illumi watches calmly, but despite his composed expression, he looks unconvinced. “I’m not quite sure about the effects.”

“You can ask Zeno,” Auren says, shrugging.

“I can’t feel or sense Auren at all,” Zeno explains. “While I can sense his technique, I can only sense its outer borders. Anything inside is hidden.”

“Why don’t you come closer, Illumi?” Auren asks, gesturing to him. Illumi quickly steps next to him, well within his Enken.

“So it can also extend and thus shield and obscure other people. It’s a counter against En,” Illumi states.

“Not just En... also Gyo. Inside my Enken, techniques related to Aura can’t be observed or easily analyzed, neither through En nor Gyo,” Auren says. “It’s quite situational, and I’m being honest. That’s all it does. Netero was probably exaggerating a little when he told you about it.”

Zeno looks quite surprised and impressed. He ceases his use of En and walks closer, standing just outside Auren’s Enken, unleashing his Ren and then using Gyo, focusing all of his Aura into his eyes, trying to see through Auren’s technique.

“Indeed, it’s difficult to see any real movement of Aura, even with Gyo,” Zeno agrees. “It blocks both En and Gyo to a large degree. Against people specializing in En, it’s a perfect counter. You can obscure and cloak yourself, but much more importantly, also allies. Nobody will know if you are approaching alone, or are supported by tens of allies.”

“How far can you expand it?” Zeno asks.

“I’m approaching a point where I can raise my basic use of En to around 350 meters. Maybe 10% of that? Though I’m steadily improving,” Auren explains. “The thing is, I could expand it much farther, but the more I expand it, the weaker it becomes. If it’s not dense and strong enough, it’s essentially useless and turns into a failed mix of the standard En and Enken that consumes a lot of Aura but doesn’t fulfill its use at all. So I can’t just raise the radius; I have to maintain its properties, or the technique falls apart.”

“350 meters? En?” Illumi asks. “That’s just— I’ve never heard of such a feat.”

“That’s slightly above what I can do...” Zeno admits. “It’s a technique I’ve trained extensively. Most people are simply not aware of its uses. It takes a lot of effort and time invested to truly attempt to master this technique.”

“I’ve been told that if you can surpass a mere 50 meters, you’re already considered a master. That’s a silly joke, if I’ve ever heard one,” Auren says, slightly amused. “My teacher for this particular technique already counts in kilometers. The measly results I can achieve are completely eclipsed by that person, and even I can comfortably tell you that the real uses of this technique only become apparent after reaching hundreds of meters. Still, unlike the person teaching me, I’m not focusing only on this particular advanced application of Nen, so I’m satisfied with my own results. I’ll train this technique together with all the others. I still don’t see any real limits.”

“Let’s compare then,” Zeno says, surprised, but seemingly delighted by Auren’s accomplishments, as he once again uses En.

Watching closely, Auren uses En as well.

Their En bubbles, though looking almost completely similar, are more different than Auren would have ever guessed.

While my version, which I learned by myself and later refined under Rakshala, focuses on the borders of the bubble, so as to extend and stabilize it, causing a thicker amount of Aura to be present on its borders... Zeno’s En focuses on himself, directly around his body, getting thinner the more it spreads out.

“You are... focusing your Aura on the center of your En, which is your own body? Doesn’t that make the En more unstable the farther it goes? That’s how I initially learned it myself, but I quickly reached a limit. Once the Aura leaks from the very end, the technique should fall apart,” Auren reasons. “That’s why I’ve changed it, and I have progressed much faster and easier that way, after learning it.”

“Wrong! You have far more control that way. Using En like you are should weaken your center, which is not only the center of the technique, but your own body. Naturally it works best like this, at least according to what I’ve been told by my dead great-grandfather. Your approach confuses me. You keep it stable by focusing on the outer edges? Is that how you can reach such distances?” Zeno asks.

“Let me try it your way...” Auren says, intrigued.

Zeno nods, feeling the same way. “I’ll give your way a try; it’s been decades since I last studied what I consider basic tools for an assassin.”

With Illumi staring, usually hiding his emotions, the young assassin is visibly annoyed, not willing to use En by himself, even though he claims he can. Neffi, standing by the side, is also watching with interest, her eyes imbued with Aura as she carefully observes Auren with a soft expression.