On the arena stage.
As the potion went down his throat, the bleeding hole in Kevin Carpenberg's hand began to clot and slowly heal.
This recovery instantly made Chello across from him widen his eyes in fury.
"What kind of potion is that?!"
Kevin had no habit of giving away intel to his enemies.
At the same time, his aura burst forth—clearly surpassing the average state.
Many sharp-eyed observers in the audience noticed this shift.
"Is it because he drank two potions?"
"So this is his Nen ability?"
Yungu muttered, "Looks like he's seriously studied and developed his Nen ability."
Bisky nodded. With her more extensive information network, she already knew Kevin had spent over a hundred million in the past few months collecting all kinds of materials.
So she wasn't all that surprised.
In the corner of the stands, Illumi watched this scene and lightly shook the potion in his hand.
As a Zoldyck, he naturally wouldn't trust Kevin's word and drink the potion just like that.
He could see it was the result of Nen—but to think it was this effective?
He was comparing it to the various medicines used by the Zoldyck family themselves.
None had the kind of healing power that Kevin's potion just demonstrated.
And he had clearly seen one of the potions Kevin drank was identical to the one he held.
He should find someone else to try it on.
He still didn't plan to drink it himself.
After all, he was always careful to avoid getting injured in battle.
Back on the arena, the fight continued.
After the first two rounds of exchanges, both sides had a rough grasp of each other's capabilities.
But Chello was more worried—because he still hadn't figured out what Kevin's Nen ability actually was.
As for the potion Kevin drank just now, he couldn't make sense of it.
The effect didn't look like a Nen ability—maybe it was just a high-grade medicine?
Now Chello fought even more cautiously, always maintaining maximum distance from Kevin.
He now fully understood—he absolutely could not let Kevin get close, or he'd be doomed.
Kevin had seen through his tricks and would never give him a second chance to escape.
A punch like that—just one—and he'd lose the ability to resist.
Kevin charged toward Chello again.
Chello repeated his old move, flinging out the meteor hammer.
He had to be careful about using the dagger, even thinking about keeping it for close defense.
After all, the meteor hammer could only be used to its full potential when thrown.
As for the steel needle—that was his final trump card.
He now planned to rely on the steel needle's scoring potential to win by technical points.
Any thought of "pruning the opponent's budding strength" was long gone.
Kevin's pressure was too overwhelming.
He had picked the wrong opponent.
The meteor hammer missed again. The shockwave from its impact was easily dodged by the prepared Kevin.
Immediately afterward, the hook curved through the air, flying along the edge of the arena.
Clang.
A crisp collision rang out.
Chello's eyes widened in disbelief. "What did you do?!"
The hook he had launched to latch onto a specific spot was knocked off course by some unknown attack, landing outside the arena without grabbing onto anything.
It had to attach precisely to a point on the floor to activate.
But now, it was like some discarded tool, lying useless beyond the boundary.
Kevin grinned.
He wasn't in the habit of answering enemy questions.
In fact, it was just a Nen projectile coated with In. After multiple fights, he had already calculated the hook's flight trajectory.
He had actually tried it twice before—just missed both times.
Other than Enhancement-type, he hadn't trained in other Nen types.
Even with 80% effectiveness, it still didn't feel natural.
And Chello had never activated Gyo to detect weird movements, so he hadn't seen anything.
Since the projectile didn't fly directly at him and didn't hit, there was no visible anomaly, so he remained unaware.
This time, it landed.
As Kevin rapidly closed in, Chello launched a steel needle again.
Kevin's aura burst out in a circle, extending about a meter from his body.
Since dodging wasn't an option, he left it to instinct.
After months of hardening training using his En, he trusted his body to respond.
He flipped midair with no leverage.
The steel needle sliced past his waist, tearing through his clothes—
but missed.
"No way!"
Chello screamed. The steel needle was his trump card. It had never failed before.
If it missed once, it would be on cooldown for a full ten seconds.
And Kevin had dodged it just like that!
Chello's eyes bulged. Gritting his teeth, he gripped his dagger and retreated rapidly.
Facing Kevin's charge, he stabbed forward.
"Your hand-to-hand skills are terrible," Kevin said as he sidestepped and closed in.
He grabbed Chello's arms and flipped him with a massive shoulder throw.
BAM!
Chello flew in an arc and slammed into the floor with force.
The impact made him cough blood instantly.
"I surre—"
Before he could finish, Kevin's fist smashed into his face.
His head was driven straight into the arena floor.
"Too late to surrender now."
Chello's weapons vanished, and his tight battle suit was in tatters.
The referee rushed over.
"Unconscious! KO!"
Cheers erupted from the stands.
Though most of the audience didn't fully grasp the techniques used, it was clearly a spectacular fight.
There were several craters left on the floor, after all.
Kevin let out a deep breath and walked out of the arena slowly.
Fighting was just too draining and boring.
…
When he returned to his room, just as he was about to rest and review the fight, there was a knock at the door.
He opened it—
"Master?"
Bisky stepped in with Yungu behind her.
"It's Princess Bisky, thank you very much."
"Yeah, yeah," Kevin said, already used to it.
"I just reached the 200th floor, and you two show up… Wait, were you in the audience the whole time?"
Yungu nodded.
Bisky walked up and gave Kevin's shoulder a satisfied pat.
"Very good. Your growth over these few months exceeded my expectations."
"Really? Hahaha!"
Kevin laughed heartily, not hiding his satisfaction.
He was proud of his progress over the past few months.
Bisky sat at the table. Kevin poured her a cup of sweetened black tea.
After a sip, she nodded with approval and put the cup down.
"Looks like you've met the goals I set for you."
Kevin nodded and briefly recounted what he had done and achieved.
"Based on that, I constructed a Nen ability that I call Blank Meteor."
"The ability is—"
"Stop!" Bisky interrupted.
"There's no need to share the details. Every Nen user's ability is highly confidential.
Especially in combat scenarios with specific rules or conditions—if an enemy learns your ability, it could be deadly."
Kevin nodded at the reminder.
Though he personally felt his Nen ability wasn't that dangerous even if exposed.
It didn't provide direct combat enhancement—mainly for training and sparring.
And it was simple. Knowing it wouldn't make a difference.
After thinking for a bit, Kevin shared only a few key points.
"Then I'll talk about the one you've already seen—my Specialist-type ability."
As he spoke, Kevin materialized his potion-making workstation.
"Sensei, I need your help now!"
He wanted to draw from Bisky's decades of knowledge and experience to get ideas for new ingredients.
After all, online information was limited.
The internet wasn't all that developed these days.