Chapter 317: Expectations—Hidden Trigger

Auren, Neffi, and the group of five walk across the Zoldyck estate, their goal being the entrance to the estate as they once again head towards the huge Trial Gates in the distance.

As they arrive, Leorio trails behind angrily, his suit now completely colored brown with mud instead of its usual navy-blue color. He looks fairly angry as he talks, gesturing around wildly.

“How can I try to open the gate like this?! I’m completely soaked and muddy; the damn mud won’t come off! The constant rain prevents it from drying,” he points out, trying to clean his suit with his hands, which in turn only makes his clothes more muddy.

“You’ve got a point,” Auren admits, nodding at him before activating Limitless Water and making sure that his Aura is not harmful to him. Skillfully controlling it, he encases Leorio with it before spinning it like a whirlpool, somewhat resembling a washing machine.

“OOwuwuwuhuhuhuhuh! Wha... ooohuhuh,” Leorio yells out comically, making strange noises and not understanding what is happening as he is surrounded by an, at least to him, invisible force, rampaging around him.

Using Emission to expel the now dirt-filled Aura, Leorio is left clean, yet still completely drenched.

Focusing hard, Auren wraps his Aura around Leorio, controlling only the water around him and slowly pushing it away from his body, drying it.

Though it is not completely effective, Leorio is left not only clean in the end, but also somewhat dry, with only somewhat moist clothes.

“Better?” Auren asks.

“... This is magic. I don’t understand what happened at all!” Leorio yells. 

“Just a playful application of Nen,” Auren says. “I’m currently at a certain point in my training where I’m playing around and using what I’ve learned for more benign purposes. The more skilled you are, the more creative and natural you need to become with your... techniques. It’s a lot of fun. Fun is actually the most important aspect of Nen; if you don’t truly like or at least truly value what you are doing, it’s all for naught.”

“The highest stage of Nen, the number of people who have reached that level of mastery is incredibly small,” Neffi says, smiling softly, as she looks at Auren.

“That’s just in your mind. You... no, we all need to aim much higher, Neffi. The limits set by others shouldn’t be used as a prison to limit our progress,” Auren replies.

“I guess you are right!” Neffi says. “Vanessa is the best proof of that, after all. If even she can become a monster like that... there are no limits.”

Poor Vanessa....

Confidently, she walks towards the doors, uses Ren, and easily opens four sets, one more than last time.

“You improved,” Auren says, nodding in approval.

I like what I’m seeing. Her attitude changed.

“Not bad at all...” Killua says, his eyes widening. “Even with everything I’ve been through, I can only open three, and that hasn’t changed after this so-called training. It’s just not effective for me. I wonder how it can help her when she’s seemingly stronger than me?”

“Because she is not relying solely on physical strength, an aspect in which you are still far ahead of her,” Auren explains. “She can now open four because she used to be quite bad in terms of strength. She’s just slowly closing the gap. The training is, of course, not effective for someone like you; in terms of strength and physicality, you are even a lot stronger than I was at your age.”

“Stronger than you?” Kurapika perks up. “The Zoldycks are indeed just as rumoured.”

“I see, so this is also because of... Nen,” Killua mutters, understanding. “But you learned Nen much earlier; I might be stronger physically, but in the aspect that truly matters, I’m far behind.”

“You are still young,” Auren calms him. “Don’t stress yourself out. I’m just saying that your progress thus far is impressive. It will surely help you in the future; I guarantee it.”

As the doors slowly begin to close, Neffi does not step back before they fully shut with a loud boom. With the doors closed, she still stands in front of them, not turning around.

Instead, she desperately performs Ren again, her Aura spiking even higher, something quite rare for the somewhat shy, controlled, and laid-back Neffi.

Trying again, she pushes as hard as she can, even taking a few steps back and charging towards the gates and using the momentum to create enough force to open five sets of doors.

Slowly but surely, her entire body tenses as she desperately pushes the doors open. She struggles before finally managing to succeed, opening them far enough to walk through.

Immediately, she steps back, and the doors close again, creating an even louder thud.

Breathing heavily, sweat pouring down her face, she walks back with a smile, seemingly satisfied with her results.

“This makes no sense, even this dwarf...” Leorio mutters, earning himself a quick kick to the stomach from the exhausted Neffi, causing his legs to buckle and kiss the ground once again.

“I’m not cleaning you again,” Auren reminds him.

“Why me...” Leorio laments.

Finally, Neffi stands close to Auren, acting nonchalant and merely glancing at him.

She is the older one... why does she act like that? I guess... what she wants is...

Auren gently places his hand on her head, softly ruffling her hair. “Good job. I’m really quite impressed. This has never been your strength, but you made great progress, not only in strength, but also in attitude and willpower.”

“Just a little...” Neffi replies, trying to act cool, but calmly and continuously sliding her feet back and forth by a tiny bit.

Next, Gon steps forward, ready to challenge himself.

Rubbing his hands together, he prepares to open the door.

“Wait,” Auren says. “I want you to try for real... remember, this is a test. Take off your weights.”

“Weights?” Gon asks, looking down at his body, finally noticing his weighted vest. “It doesn’t really bother me anymore.”

Still taking it off, Gon is obviously surprised as he jumps into the air, easily reaching a couple of meters in height.

“So light!” he says, his face full of joy.

Finally, he turns towards the doors, his gaze turning serious.

Pushing with all of his might, despite his small and light body, the second door briefly budges before it closes, and only the first set of doors opens in one swift motion.

“Almost two sets of doors,” Auren comments. “That’s a little surprising.”

But considering he didn’t have his broken arm, could train fully, and got the special food prepared by Marsha... it makes sense. He’s far stronger than he should be. By now... my vague memories almost don’t matter anymore. Things have drastically changed.

But... so what? My own skills will be enough to carry me through anything, as long as I rely on my abilities, remain calm, and carefully plan things through. It doesn’t matter!

“I guess that is a pass,” Auren says. “If you couldn’t have opened the first set of doors, that would have been a clear failure. Since you almost opened two sets, I guess that’s a fairly good result, especially for someone of your weight and age.”

“Damn!” Gon says, looking dissatisfied. “I want to try again.”

“Forget it,” Auren says, leaving no room for negotiation glancing at Kurapika. “Your turn.”

Kurapika, much like Gon, is also on the verge of opening two sets of doors, but seems to be just short of success.

Still, he desperately struggles, the door refusing to open as his strength remains right on the edge of opening the second set.

Time... for a little test.

“If you open more than one door, I might have some information for you... I know someone who owns a majority of the Scarlet Eyes,” Auren calmly says from behind.

Immediately, Kurapika stops, and the doors fully close.

Still standing with his back towards Auren and the group, he feels something shift inside him.

Despite his closed Aura Nodes, Auren notices a visible increase in Aura quantity, almost reaching the level of an amateur Nen user.

“I’ll hold you to that...” Kurapika says in a voice full of anger, desperation, and hurt.

Suddenly, he explodes forward in anger, throwing his body violently against the gates and smashing not one, not two, but three sets of doors open, his strength increasing to an absurd degree.

The doors now completely open; Kurapika takes a step back until they close again, snapping back into their former position.

“Damn...” Leorio mutters. “How is that possible? Kurapika... another monster. Is everyone completely crazy here?! What even happened?”

“There’s something special about this guy,” Killua remarks, thinking. “I saw the same thing during the exam as well, when he fought that blue-colored tattooed swindler in Trick Tower.”

“Amazing... but... he feels like he’s in pain,” Gon remarks, showing real concern.

Leroute suddenly sneaks over to Auren and Neffi. “Tell me about that in more detail. That pretty boy is unexpectedly strong.”

“Instead of gossiping, it’s your turn next,” Auren replies, gently turning her around and giving her a push towards the doors.

Walking past Kurapika, who returns to the group with an icy glare, Leroute can’t help but briefly freeze up.

“Tell me!” Kurapika demands, standing in front of Auren.

“Do you want me to tell you? Right here, right now?” Auren asks, curious about what Kurapika is thinking.

Hesitating for a second, Kurapika seemingly regains his clarity, his Aura returning to normal.

He’s wearing contacts, but I don’t need to see his eyes change color. His Aura is a much more accurate source of his current state.

“No...” he replies, calm again. “Please... tell me later.”

“Of course,” Auren replies, leaving Kurapika slightly surprised by his immediate agreement.

“I didn’t lie to you; I won’t say things I can’t back up,” Auren informs him. “I’m sorry for triggering that reaction, but I wanted to see and also demonstrate how your eyes affect you. You need to be aware of it.”

“I see...” Kurapika mutters.

“Now, Leroute,” Auren orders, waving his finger. “If you fail... I’ll tell Vanessa to do evil and unspeakable things to you. I’m serious.”

“No, don’t...” Leroute says, shrinking back before taking off her vest and throwing it onto the ground.

Doing her best and struggling to open the door, the frail Leroute still manages to succeed, opening the first set of doors with somewhat moderate difficulty.

“Pass,” Auren declares. “Somewhat clean... but for you, that’s quite alright, I guess. Considering your circumstances. Good job.”

“Thank you!” Leroute says, now smiling. “I really got stronger, huh? I guess I need to thank Marsha for that....”

Quite wrong... you need to thank me for allowing you to eat that rice in the first place.

“Looks like... only you are left,” Auren says, looking straight at Leorio.

“Fine! I’m so angry, I need to let off some steam anyway!” Leorio announces, taking off not only his weights, but also his suit jacket and shirt. His upper body is now bare, revealing a surprising amount of bulging muscle.

Walking towards the gate and visibly tensing up, his muscles tightening, Leorio yells loudly as he pushes with all of his might.

His face quickly changes color, his entire body straining in an almost comical manner, but he still succeeds in opening two sets of doors without too much trouble.

Fully opening them, he breathes heavily and looks around with a proud smile, only for the doors to snap back and bump into him, hitting him in the back, causing him to shoot forward and fall into the dirt once again.

“Is this... a comedy routine or something?” Auren wonders. “Are you doing this on purpose? I was about to praise you for real but I guess you aren’t after praise, but laughter.”

A tear of frustration rolls down Leorio’s cheek. He gets up, dresses himself silently, and stands beside the others, his Aura seemingly all used up, his presence significantly reduced.

Surprisingly, all of them choose to wear their weights once again, seemingly used to them.

“I guess you all did a good job,” Auren says, nodding approvingly. “You all met my expectations; some of you even exceeded them.”

“Let’s talk... in private, and let me test one more thing,” Auren offers, walking towards the familiar shack near the entrance. “After I’m done, you have a choice to make.”