The journey passed without incident.
In some ways, that made Arin more uneasy than if something had gone wrong.
But as night settled over the horizon and the city lights bloomed in the distance, the yellow bus finally rumbled to a halt just outside a massive, reinforced checkpoint.
A glowing sign above the gates read in blocky characters:
Fallenerdes City Transit Hub – South Gate.
The bus doors hissed open, and one by one, the passengers stepped out into the cool night air.
Arin was the last to leave.
He adjusted the strap on his satchel, stepped down from the bus, and let his eyes take in the sight before him.
"…Damn," he muttered, almost in awe.
Fallenerdes was big.
Not quite Yorknew big, not a sprawling sea of skyscrapers and neon excess, but it was close.
A second-tier metropolis by comparison, yet still unmistakably advanced.
The roads here weren't dirt or cobblestone; they were paved, smooth, and stretched into multi-lane highways, buzzing with vehicles and streetlights.
High-rises gleamed under floodlights.
Arin walked slowly at first, letting the crowd from the bus scatter.
The four other passengers disappeared into the city's tide, swallowed by its rhythm.
None of them looked back.
"Definitely a developed zone," he murmured.
"Not canon… but if this is a non-shown region of the Hunter x Hunter world, they've been keeping this place hidden damn well."
I'll need to stay invisible for now.
He kept his eyes forward, hands in his coat pockets. No need to draw attention.
Eventually, he came to a quieter district.
The buildings here were a little older, the lights dimmer, and the shops fewer, but there were signs of life.
Convenience stores, modest apartment buildings, run-down motels.
It was exactly what he needed.
He stopped beneath a cracked neon sign that simply read :Stay-Inn.
The building was five stories tall.
The price list was taped to the front glass in faded ink:
Room – 2 Nights = 1500 Jenny
No Meals. No Cleaning. No questions.
"Perfect," Arin muttered, pushing open the door.
The receptionist was half-asleep behind the counter.
A greasy-haired man with a cigarette dangling from his lips didn't even lift his head as Arin slid fifteen hundred Jenny across the desk.
"Room 403," the man grunted, tossing him a key. "Don't break anything."
Arin said nothing and made his way upstairs.
The room was basic.
A single bed, tiled floor, small desk, and a sink in the corner.
A window looked out over the lower rooftops of the district, orange city light spilling across the horizon like a distant fire.
He locked the door behind him, threw the bag on the chair, and sat cross-legged in the middle of the floor.
He was tired. His muscles ached.
This was the moment he had been planning since the forest.
He opened his eyes and checked his funds again: after subtracting the map, the ticket, meals, and the room, he had around 15,000 yen left.
That would keep him afloat for a few days at least.
He exhaled slowly and whispered to himself:
"Time to open my aura nodes."
He remembered the method, the theory.
The Hunter x Hunter world explained Nen in a way that made it accessible, if dangerous.
The nodes were real. Everyone had them.
And while most people went through training to awaken them gradually, there was another way. A crude way.
Force them open.
"Say the word 'Unknown' to open the nodes."
Arin heard some words from within his mind, similar to the first words he saw when he opened his eyes.
The words that told him that he was in the world of Hunter x Hunter.
He did not hesitate and whispered, his eyes still closed.
"Unknown."
A surge of energy manifested in his body as he whispered and continued to meditate.
He visualized the 10 points across his body, the ten aura nodes.
Most people never opened them in their lives.
But once opened, the flow of aura could be felt, trained, and controlled.
He pressed inward with his will. He pushed.
The first one just above his navel resisted.
Sweat formed at his brow. His breathing grew ragged.
And then, with a snap like something clicking in his gut, it gave.
A strange warmth pulsed through him.
One.
He moved to the next his solar plexus. Then his chest. Shoulders. Wrists. Ankles. Neck. Forehead.
Each one took effort.
Each one felt like dragging open an ancient gate sealed by time and nature.
By the time he forced the tenth open, his whole body was trembling. His skin prickled with a strange pressure, and his breath came in shudders.
But then he felt it.
A warmth radiating outward.
A subtle mist-like sensation around his body. Like steam, but dry. It wasn't visible yet, but he knew it was an aura.
He was leaking it.
But it was there.
His nodes were open.
A grin crept across his face, exhausted but exhilarated.
"I did it…" he whispered hoarsely. "I'm in."
The first step had been taken.
He collapsed backward onto the floor, staring up at the cracked ceiling.
Tomorrow, he would begin to learn how to control it. Ten, Zetsu, Ren, Hatsu…
He needed a teacher eventually. Or at least a place where Hunters gathered. But for now?
He was no longer a civilian in a world of gods.
He had an aura.
And that changed everything.