After the attack by the Hushed Ones, the Hunter Association relocated the surviving examinees and new Hunters to a classified training sanctuary:
"Echo Vale."
A mountain city built inside the bones of a forgotten beast, carved into cliffs laced with primordial Nen.
Kaen stepped into the main courtyard, license glowing at his hip, boots cracking ancient tiles beneath him. He wasn't here to rest.
He was here to grow.
To push the Mind Palace into realms it had never touched.
A white-robed Nen master approached. He had a serpent's grace and a crooked smile.
"You're Kaen," the man said.
"I'm Velto Nox. I train Hunters in… impossible motion."
Kaen narrowed his eyes.
"I'm looking to evolve my speed. Space. Defense."
"Then step into the crucible," Velto said.
"And face what your mind thinks can't exist."
⸻
Trial 1 – Speed: The Mirror Maze
Velto clapped, and the courtyard bent inward — folding itself into a shifting labyrinth of mirrors.
"You won't catch me," Velto whispered.
Then vanished.
FLASH.
Kaen flinched as an elbow slammed into his back — Velto was already gone before Kaen turned.
"Gotta love high-speed nen types," Velto laughed.
"My ability: Prism Pulse. I split into twelve mirror selves, all attacking at once across reflections."
"How will you learn if you can't even see?"
Kaen inhaled sharply.
"Mind Palace… Sub-Temple: Observation Vault."
His aura rippled — and his irises lit up with golden rings. Suddenly, every mirror stopped being a trick.
He saw the pattern.
Reflections aren't real… unless you believe they are.
He turned and blocked a punch from behind.
Velto's eye twitched.
Kaen's voice was calm.
"Once you understand how the illusion is made…"
"You can overwrite it."
Kaen's aura surged — and from his back, wings of golden motion blur erupted.
"New Construct: Mirage Step – Delay Cancel."
Grants Kaen bursts of speed that ignore momentum and prediction models. Only usable after understanding motion trick Nen.
Velto grinned. "Now you're talking."
⸻
Trial 2 – Space: The Folding Duel
Hours later, Kaen was meditating when the next challenger arrived:
Doya Lii, a Spatialist-class Nen user who spoke in riddles and walked like her feet barely touched the ground.
She conjured a cube around them.
"Welcome to The Folded Box," she said softly.
"Each square meter inside this barrier is… elsewhere."
Kaen blinked — stepped forward — and immediately found himself behind Doya, facing the wrong direction.
"Space isn't broken," she explained.
"It's just… polite. And I'm asking it to twist."
She flicked her fingers — Kaen was launched upside down, spinning sideways as gravity reversed.
He barely caught himself with Enhancer-type air bursts.
But it wasn't enough.
He needed to know how this worked.
"Mind Palace… Sub-Temple: Dimensional Anatomy."
Symbols rotated in the air around him, like a model of a universe he was just starting to understand.
And suddenly…
Kaen didn't resist the shift.
He rode it.
He flickered out of the trap — appearing in six directions at once.
Doya's eyes widened.
Kaen clapped his palms together.
"New Construct: Horizon Echo – The False Coordinate."
Create false spatial nodes to confuse enemy attacks and teleport short distances using imaginary coordinates stored in the Palace.
Doya smiled as her construct unraveled.
"Congratulations," she whispered.
"You're not just learning space…"
"You're remapping it."
⸻
Trial 3 – Barrier: The Iron Curtain Duel
The third test came from a hulking monk-like man named Brann Veil.
He was a Barrier-type Nen user — a Defender-Class, contracted by kings and corporations.
"I hear your ability is vast," Brann said.
"But can it defend?"
He raised his hands.
A wall of transparent iron crashed down between them — six layers thick.
Kaen fired a bolt of imagined flame — it shattered like glass on impact.
"My Nen constructs don't just block attacks," Brann said.
"They block intent."
"You need to learn to make something stronger than 'hard.'"
Kaen sat cross-legged.
Eyes closed.
In the Mind Palace…
He walked into a sealed room.
Inside was fear. Memory. Doubt. Joy. Rage. Purpose.
He realized: the best defense is made of the core of self.
He raised his hand.
"Mind Palace… Core Construct: Conviction Shell."
A golden shell wrapped around him — not heavy, not thick.
Just true.
Brann struck with a hammer of compressed force.
It broke.
Kaen stood unfazed.
"New Construct: Conviction Shell – Conceptual Barrier."
A personal shield that resists Nen attacks based on the clarity and intensity of Kaen's will. The stronger the reason to fight, the stronger the defense.
Brann nodded.
"You pass."
⸻
At sunset, Kaen knelt by a mountain stream.
Not exhausted.
Awakened.
He opened his Dream Manuscript.
Three new symbols etched themselves in glowing ink:
• Mirage Step
• Horizon Echo
• Conviction Shell
And below them, a note:
"I do not hoard power. I understand it. I reshape it. I honor it."
"Because in the Mind Palace… even the impossible becomes architecture."
⸻
TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 21 – Into the World: The Labyrinth Hunt Begins!