I'm extremely interested in Nen abilities.

Jing Yang opened his palm, and the shriveled, scalding bullet rolled in his palm, leaving only a small wound. It was quickly healed by the star mark on the back of his neck, leaving no scar.

It seems my "strong" defense is still pretty strong! Even if I had taken a pistol bullet with my head, it would have only resulted in a minor graze...

boom!

Galo's right eye shot out another burst of energy, heading straight for Jingyang.

Jing Yang didn't have time to use his "Finger Flicking Divine Power," and tried his best to dodge using his full "firmness." The eye-catching energy flick brushed against his protective "firmness," causing him to lose his balance as he tried to dodge.

Hula la la...

Just then, a flock of birds flew in from all directions, swarming around Garo's head and completely blocking his view.

"go away!"

Garo was furious and tried to swat the annoying bird away, but he couldn't manage it. In desperation, he raised his pistol and fired a burst of shots. Bang bang bang bang! In an instant, bird feathers scattered and flew everywhere.

Just as he was focusing his mental energy into a projectile with his right eye to blast the birds to smithereens, the five birds flapped their wings and flew away, scattering in all directions.

Directly opposite him, Jing Yang had already pointed his finger at him, muttering, "Nine seconds have passed, ten seconds have passed..."

"not good!"

Garo was terrified, sensing that an extremely dangerous aura had already formed in the hand of the imp opposite him. He desperately channeled his Nen energy into his right eye, and following his gaze, it transformed into a fist-sized Nen bullet, which he roared as he fired it out.

"boom!"

Jingyang unleashed his "Finger Flicking Divine Power" after a full 10 seconds of charging, transforming it into a beam of light almost as thick as an arm, directly shattering the oncoming visual projectile!

……

After the impact of the exploding Nen bullets dissipated, Garo's clothes appeared to be burned away, his body was covered in blood and wounds, his eyes rolled back, and the eyeball in his right eye socket turned into a wisp of Nen smoke and dissipated...

"Cough cough, pfft..." Garo spat out a mouthful of blood, swayed, and finally knelt down. He muttered to himself, "You should go to the Sky Arena and become the... Lord..."

With a thud, he collapsed to the ground.

"You're the one who started this thread, do you want me to save face for you?"

Jing Yang shook his hand and let out a long breath. This kind of real combat is extremely taxing; every move is a huge drain on one's internal energy. A few minutes of fighting is no easier than an hour of training.

But I won. It feels so good to win.

Wu Er emerged from the woods at this moment. The bullet wounds on his body had already healed thanks to Xingbiao's healing. Looking around, he saw a bunch of people lying on the ground. Of the five poachers, Garo had been defeated by Jing Yang, two had been shot in the head by Garo, one had been knocked unconscious by the two controlled by Jing Yang, and the last one, whose head had been bitten off by Wu Er, was almost dead.

Wu Er silently walked towards the poaching bag on the ground, while Jing Yang walked towards the head with its neck broken.

"interesting……"

He focused his gaze and observed carefully. He saw that, with the star mark on the wolf's body as the core, the wolf's life energy was being forcibly mobilized. Even the wolf's head, which had been severed and rolled to the side, was now slowly moving towards the severed neck.

Just then, a voice of amazement came from not far away: "You're really amazing, you took care of them all by yourself?"

Jingyang turned around and saw a hot, youthful girl with short green hair walking out from the depths of the forest.

Chapter 14 Gourmet Hunter

During regular training and battle preparation, simply maintaining "firmness" consumes 1 unit of Qi per second—this was also the basis for Jingyang's previous assessment of his total Qi consumption.

However, once the battle begins, because it is necessary to repeatedly switch between and use derivative techniques such as "Condense", "Flow", and "Circle" which consume more energy, the amount of energy consumed per second will increase exponentially. Depending on the combat experience and the ability to control energy, the energy consumption will be 6 to 10 per second.

"Hey, are you even listening to me?"

In addition, specific Nen abilities, especially certain finishing moves, consume a large portion of Ki...

Hey! Can't you see me?

For example, Jingyang's "Finger Flicking Divine Skill" consumes a lot of Qi each time it is charged up and fired. Moreover, the longer the charging time and the higher the destructive power, the more Qi is accumulated and consumed.

I only have a maximum of 1000 Qi right now, is that enough for a few more rounds of this?

This made Jing Yang reflect deeply. It seems that in the future, unless he is absolutely certain of hitting the target, he must never charge up for more than three seconds!

Otherwise, it's just a complete waste of gas.

Fortunately, the encounter didn't last long, and I still had enough energy left. Otherwise, that last "Finger Flicking Divine Skill" that took a full 10 seconds to charge up would probably have drained me dry...

This reminded Jing Yang of a member of the Phantom Troupe named Phinks, whose enhancement-type ultimate technique, "Return to Heaven," increases the power of his fist with each additional rotation of his arm... It's probably based on a similar principle to his own "Finger Flicking Skill," and naturally, it would have similar drawbacks: the more rotations, the more energy is gathered, and if the punch fails to hit the enemy, it's a pure waste of energy. The worst-case scenario is that he might deplete his own spiritual energy, which would be even worse...

"Hello!!!!!"

The green-haired girl, who wasn't exactly known for her good temper, roared, interrupting Jing Yang's deep thoughts, "You little brat, don't ignore me!"

Jingyang raised his hand to her, signaling her to wait a moment, and the girl immediately fell silent.

Jing Yang reached out and touched a spot on the wolf's corpse. The star mark vanished, and the wolf's head, which had been slowly moving towards the severed neck of the wolf's corpse, came to a complete stop.

At the same time, a wisp of death energy invaded Jing Yang's heart.

He thought to himself, "It seems that this wolf was already half dead when its head was blown off, but it's only truly dead now... Moreover, this also confirms that as long as the star mark isn't destroyed, even if the head is off, the brain is rotten, and the heart is removed, it still won't truly die. It's just that this kind of fatal wound will heal very, very slowly."

Just as the green-haired girl was getting impatient, Jingyang stood up and pointed behind her.

"Behind?" the girl asked suspiciously. "What's wrong?"

Jing Yang said solemnly, "Take a few steps back."

Seeing his serious demeanor, the green-haired girl took a step back, puzzled. "Like this?"

"Take a few more steps back. Okay."

Only then did Jing Yang feel relieved enough to walk over to the poachers scattered on the ground and squat down. The burly man whose head had been half-eaten by Wu Er had already pierced Jing Yang's heart before death, and was naturally dead. One of them had been knocked unconscious by the other two under his control. The other two had been shot in the head twice by Garo... Jing Yang glanced at the gunshot wounds between their brows; the wounds themselves had already closed under the healing of the stars, but a faint wriggling sound could be heard from inside their skulls...

It seems their falling posture was wrong. Although they healed on their own, the bullet remained in their brains. These two were experiencing unimaginable intracranial orgasms repeatedly... This is... Jing Yang shook his head, reached out and wiped their cheeks and necks, erasing their respective star marks, thus helping them find relief. Immediately, two more streams of death energy pierced their hearts...

I am a manipulator, and for a qualified manipulator, the best situation is, of course, that no one knows about my abilities.

Jingyang decided to disguise himself as an Emission-type Nen user as much as possible from now on.

The green-haired girl didn't realize that Jing Yang was cleaning up the star marks. She thought he was just "looting the corpse" and worried that he might also touch the last Garo. She reminded him from behind, "Hey, that guy over there isn't dead yet. Be careful."

“Of course I know he’s not dead.” Jing Yang clapped his hands and stood up. There was no death aura emanating from Garo.

He looked at the green-haired girl and asked in confusion, "What are you still standing there for?"

The green-haired girl angrily retorted, "Didn't you tell me to stand here?! I still don't understand what's going on!"

"Oh." Jing Yang nodded and walked towards Wu Er on the other side. Another Can Yue Tiger emerged from the bag, seemingly injected with a powerful anesthetic. It appeared dazed after being dragged out by Wu Er.

"Oh what?!" The girl, unable to contain herself any longer, strode over. "Aren't you going to explain?"

She reached out to grab the boy's ear, but he dodged it.

She was not convinced and reached out to grab it again.

Swish, swish, swish... Seeing that he couldn't dodge any longer, Jing Yang grabbed the other person's wrist and accused, "What are you doing? Are you taking advantage of me because I'm tired after just finishing a battle?"

The girl choked, and suddenly it made me feel like I was in the wrong?

She took a deep breath and said calmly, "My name is Men Qi, and I'm a newly minted professional hunter! I was drawn here by the gunshots. These poachers are the criminals we've been trying to catch recently. And these two giant moon tigers over there are protected animals in this first-class protected area! Let go of me, and I can show you my hunter's license."

Jingyang scrutinized her for a few moments. She was wearing a tank top and hot pants, with a black breathable mesh top over it. What was this "Mitarashi Anko"... oh, it's Menchi. So she was the female gourmet hunter who was the examiner for the second round of the Hunter Exam in the manga.

Jingyang let go of his hand.

"Look!" Menqi pulled a hunter's license out of his hot pants pocket and waved it in front of Jingyang.

"Stop waving around. It's just a license, right? Don't act like you don't have one!" Jing Yang scoffed, taking out a hunter's license as well. "Look, when it comes to the Miserable Moon Tiger, nobody knows more than me! You think I don't know this is a protected area? Didn't you see this Miserable Moon Tiger obediently following me to fight poachers?"

Menqi was stunned by him and looked at Jingyang with disbelief. "Blanchette Company, do they also hire other hunters? No, you're so young, how can you be a professional hunter?"

What the hell is Blanchett's company...? Jing Yang focused his energy in his eyes, glanced at Men Qi's aura, which was loose and not very concentrated, and seemed to be less than half of his own at his peak. He then said earnestly, "Young man, don't have such a narrow vision. The world is vast, and there are countless possibilities in the world of thought! What do you mean I'm so small? I'm already—how old are you?"

"...16."

"Hehe, I'm already 20! You really are a young girl." Jingyang said, "You haven't been learning Nen for very long, have you? Have you mastered the Enchanted Nen Technique and the Nen Release? Have you developed your own unique Nen ability yet?"

Menqi was a little confused by his senior-like questioning. "I did learn it not long ago... but I have a reason! I was busy preparing for the culinary competition and missed a few months! As for my Nen ability, I've only recently become somewhat proficient. I think I have some inspiration, but I also think I don't have any..."

"Actually, it's just that it hasn't been developed yet."

"Ah."

"Keep up the good work! The future of the Hunter Association depends on energetic young people like you!" Jing Yang said earnestly. "I have high hopes for you; you'll definitely become a one-star hunter very soon."

"Alright, that's enough. I'm leaving now. Wu Er, follow me!" He patted his behind and was about to leave. "I won't compete with a novice hunter like you for credit. You can contact the company to deal with these poachers yourself."

"I...this..." Menqi was even more confused. "Why am I the only one left here to contact the others? Aren't you coming with me to wait for them?"

Jingyang beckoned, and Wu Er, seeing that Men Qi didn't seem like a bad person, entrusted her companion to her with peace of mind and strolled over to Jingyang's side.

"You don't want the poachers you finally caught to wake up and run away, do you?" Jingyang asked.

Menqi nodded.

"That settles it then." Jing Yang flipped over and jumped onto the tiger's back. "Wu Er, charge!"

The Moon Tiger let out a low growl and carried him away, flying into the forest along the original direction of travel, heading towards the towns along the eastern coast.

Menqi stood there dumbfounded until Jingyang rode away on the tiger, then she realized, "Wait a minute! What's your name?"

"Hey! Come back here..."

From a distance behind came the exasperated voice of a young gourmet hunter. Jing Yang rode Wu Er, with a flock of birds following overhead, laughing wildly. How interesting!

Chapter 15 Assigning tasks

As Jingyang made his way to the amusement park in the eastern coastal town, he also did a simple review of his first real Nen ability battle.

I am well aware of my disadvantages.

Because it's not a reinforcement type, it avoids close-quarters combat with enemies as much as possible.

Because the total amount of energy is not much, even after maintaining distance from the enemy and at least maintaining the "Firm" defense, other derivative application skills, such as "Condensation," are not used if possible. As the saying goes, good steel is used on the blade, and it is only used when necessary. In this way, the energy consumption per second in battle is greatly reduced.

Even so, in just over three minutes of actual combat, the necessary losses alone exceeded one-third of the total energy, estimated to be close to 400 energy.

Jing Yang once estimated that each star mark he successfully cast would consume more than 60 units of his Qi.

This is already a type of Nen ability that consumes a relatively low amount of energy.