500 chapters whoo!!
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"Chii, gather all available intel on Kroll."
Ron delegated the task of intelligence collection to Chii, while he headed to the training grounds.
At that moment, Nina and the others were busy running simulated training exercises.
When it came to gathering intel and infiltration missions, Ponzu and Nina were the primary operatives.
Nina's ability was, frankly, broken.
She could take control of a target silently, without alerting anyone. It made her perfect for stealth-based infiltration—truly gifted in that area.
For example, imagine the auction scene from the Yorknew City arc.
A massive venue filled with people. No one, not even an S-rank Nen user, could singlehandedly monitor an entire location like that. Even someone as powerful as Neferpitou had a maximum En radius of about 2 kilometres. By reshaping it into a dome, it could stretch to several kilometres.
But how long could Neferpitou maintain such a state? That kind of strain would quickly wear down anyone. In that kind of situation, Nina could simply target a weaker individual and take control.
That would give them a key opening to breach enemy defenses.
Her ability was something no other Nen user in her tier—or even above her—could easily replicate.
Take, for instance, infiltrating the Zoldyck estate.
Nina could use her power to control Zebro and slip inside undetected.
If it were Misty trying to pull that off instead, Zebro might have had enough time to react. Misty would create more noise during infiltration, reducing the effectiveness compared to Nina's approach.
Meanwhile, Ponzu could deploy swarms of bees to gather intel across a wide area. Her Queen Bee also had a heightened sensitivity to dangerous individuals.
Natsu was in charge of direct combat.
Ruco and Sally handled long-range support.
When Ron arrived, a few of them glanced over but didn't stop their training.
Elsewhere—
Gon and Killua had been climbing through the floors of Heaven's Arena at breakneck speed, already reaching beyond the 100th floor. At this point, the arena provided them with individual rooms, a standard benefit for fighters between the 100th and 200th floors.
The rooms weren't huge, but they were enough for rest and recovery. Having accommodations right inside the arena saved fighters the hassle of traveling in and out. There were also shared training spaces, restaurants, and entertainment facilities—convenient all around.
This setup existed for two reasons:
First, to highlight the special status of fighters above the 100th floor and reward them with extra privileges.
Second, because these fighters were high-value customers.
In simple terms: they weren't short on money. What they lacked was time.
So they often chose to live and spend inside the arena itself.
"Heaven's Arena earns your money and takes it right back—don't expect to bring a single coin home."
However, Gon and Killua weren't exactly popular among the other fighters.
Posts about the "boy geniuses" had been circulating widely.
Other fighters, being competitive by nature, weren't thrilled about it.
Most had the same mindset:
"I'm the strongest around here!"
But Gon and Killua were getting way more attention and fame than anyone else at their level. Naturally, jealousy and resentment followed.
Plenty of people tried to provoke them.
Luckily, the boys didn't train in the public facilities provided by Heaven's Arena. Instead, they practised at an apartment they rented by Wing. If they had stayed around the arena all day, they would've been flooded with battle challenges.
Some people simply wanted to defeat Gon and Killua to gain notoriety for themselves.
"Killua, when do you think we'll actually start learning Nen?" Gon asked after a training session.
They had returned to their room in Heaven's Arena. Gon sat back in his chair, arms draped over the backrest.
"No idea," Killua replied, shaking his head.
"Everything Mr. Wing has us doing… I've already done all of it. I don't really feel like I'm getting much stronger from it."
Truthfully, Killua was a little dissatisfied.
He hadn't said anything out loud before, but the feeling was there.
Gon's eyes sparkled with hope.
"I really hope we get to learn Nen soon. It sounds so cool. Once we do, we'll be a lot closer to becoming real Hunters."
Gon had chosen the path of a Hunter to follow in his father's footsteps.
When he first earned his license, he believed that meant he'd become a true Hunter. But after leaving the Zoldyck estate and hearing what Ron had said about the real Hunter world, Gon realized how far he still had to go.
Becoming a Nen user—that was the first true step.
"Maybe we'll need to qualify for the 200th floor first?" Killua suggested.
"Above the 200th floor, practically everyone's a Nen user. If you're not, you can't fight at that level."
"Take Sadaso, for example."
"A few years ago, he was weaker than me. I already had clearance for the 200th floor, while he was still somewhere in the low 100s.
But now that he's become a Nen user, I can't beat him."
"If he didn't have Nen, there's no way he would've caught up to me in just a few years."
Gon nodded thoughtfully.
"Should we push harder, then? Enter more matches?"
"Exactly."
"Let's do it!"
They quickly made up their minds.
Meanwhile, Sadaso had left Heaven's Arena and arrived at a dojo.
But this wasn't just any dojo.
It was run by Mitian Doppo, one of the core members of TST.
He also happened to be the TST member closest to Ron.
Ron had offered TST a lot of help— But more importantly, his sheer strength was enough to give TST a massive edge. He didn't even need to act directly—just being affiliated with them made a difference.
So when Ron gave one of the TST slots to Sadaso, nobody objected.
"Hello, I'm Sadaso. I made an appointment earlier."
"Sadaso?"
The disciple at the entrance gave him a once-over.
"Our master is waiting for you in the study. Please follow me."
"Thanks."
Sadaso followed the disciple at a leisurely pace, taking in the surroundings.
"So this is what a Floor Master's dojo looks like..."
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