I'm extremely interested in Nen abilities.

Just as Jingyang was immersed in the wonderful experience of fully automated cultivation, the carefree Menqi came looking for him.

After several days, she seemed to regain her radiant spirit in front of Jingyang, and asked with a smile, "Why are you still cultivating today?"

Jing Yang opened one eye and glanced at her, as if to say, "If you have something to say, say it; if not, get lost and don't bother me while I'm leveling up."

"That's unbelievable... I feel like you're more than twice as strong as when we first met!" Menqi looked at Jingyang and then said, "Today is New Year's Day! It's not 1994 anymore, it's 1995, January 1st! Let's not practice today, let's go to town, I'll prepare a delicious feast for you!"

She held up one finger, air swirling around it, and said triumphantly to Jingyang, "My ability has succeeded! I won't lose to you anymore! Haha!"

Thinking of his triumph, Menqi couldn't help but beam with pride.

“1994 is over, I miss it…” Jing Yang looked up at the sky. “Well, there’s nothing to miss. Wu Er, I’m leaving now, I’ll bring you some later!” He waved his hand. “Come on, let’s go to the feast!” The little rock sparrow chirped twice and spread its wings to catch up with Jing Yang and Men Qi. Men Qi looked like she wanted to show off her successfully developed ability, but she insisted on waiting for Jing Yang to ask first, while Jing Yang deliberately didn’t ask, making her feel very uncomfortable…

Chapter 28 Rainbow Seasoning

After taking his first bite, Jingyang immediately realized something.

On the table before them lay a feast prepared by Menchi herself—meat, vegetables, flowers, greens, all sorts of Hunter World delicacies that Jingyang would never recognize, a feast for the eyes, nose, and palate. Menchi truly lived up to Yinda's reputation as a culinary genius, someone no one in the culinary world could teach her. Even a simple head of cabbage, after Menchi's skillful preparation, had a melt-in-your-mouth flavor, and ordinary sea fish was so fresh it made one want to swallow their tongue.

But none of these are the main points.

After taking a bite of fish, Jingyang immediately felt a surge of heat within his body.

The heat spread rapidly throughout his body, as if his eight extraordinary meridians had been opened in an instant, and all 36,000 pores were fully extended... Most importantly, Jing Yang discovered that his mental energy, which had been slightly depleted after cultivation, was recovering at a sudden and rapid pace! It was as if his energy had tasted the most exquisite food, and he was suddenly injected with chicken blood, which also led to a rapid recovery of his physical strength. After taking a bite of fish, he actually felt a sense of relief from fatigue.

Jingyang didn't say a word, grabbed his chopsticks and quickly picked up the food, devouring it in a flash.

Although he didn't say anything, Menqi was already extremely satisfied with his expression and reaction after taking the first bite.

She puffed out her chest triumphantly, and with a wave of her hand, a ball of energy in her palm materialized into a spice jar.

“‘Rainbow Seasoning’—that’s the ability I developed!” Menqi twirled the spice jar in her hand. Even while listening to her explanation, Jingyang didn’t stop eating, which was undoubtedly the highest praise for a chef’s skills. Menqi appreciated it greatly. She introduced it with intonation: “Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple! The energy I infuse into this ‘Rainbow Seasoning’ will transform into special seasonings for different purposes! The seasoning used in the meal you are eating right now is…”

With a flick of her wrist, she scattered specks of green seasoning from the spice jar, reflecting a vibrant vitality.

"Green recovery seasoning!"

Jing Yang was speechless. Did this girl develop this ability because of his recovery ability during his cultivation these past few days? She was stimulated by it?

Jing Yang glanced at Yin Da, who was calmly eating his food. This so-called green seasoning had a much stronger recovery effect than the recovery ability attached to his star. It had only been a few days before Men Qi had developed it. There must be some kind of restriction.

Without Jingyang even asking, Menqi blurted it out herself: "I'm a chef, so I can't lie to my own heart—food that doesn't taste good doesn't deserve this ability! So, only when I'm satisfied with the food I make will the 'Rainbow Seasoning' take effect."

Despite the design being "self-imposed constraints," Menchi seems to have taken it as a form of self-discipline and challenge, risking his dignity as a chef!

She gripped the spice jar tightly, her eyes gleaming with a hunter's unique light. "Nen ability... this is so interesting! Hehe."

Jingyang asked curiously, "A rainbow has seven colors, which means there are six other uses for this seasoning?"

"The red seasoning is for fighting~" Menqi raised an eyebrow, scattered the seasoning jar in his hand into a puff of air, and said with a grin, "As for the rest, I won't tell you!"

Jingyang laughed, "If you really tell me everything, I'll have a headache."

"Why?" Menqi asked curiously.

"In that case, I feel I have to tell you about my abilities, otherwise..."

"The orange seasoning is—"

"Otherwise, I'd feel like I'm lying to a silly girl. Why did you take out a kitchen knife?!"

Ignoring their daily bickering, Yinda calmly and leisurely began to finish his plate. Such good food, he couldn't waste it.

And so, the new year begins.

……

Before we knew it, another 10 days had passed, and the date was January 10, 1995.

Jingyang did a quick mental calculation and realized that it had been almost 20 days since he arrived in this hunter's world.

I have been practicing my spiritual abilities for more than half a month.

I give it my all every day.

...Even fully automated, idle cultivation requires going all out.

Moreover, he hadn't always relied on the star markers for cultivation. As his cultivation progressed, Jingyang's willpower became increasingly resilient, and he was able to persevere through an entire day of exhausting cultivation on his own.

And the hard work of the past two weeks has yielded quite gratifying results.

He has laid a solid foundation in the four basic Nen abilities: Enchanting, Zetsu, Ren, and Sarutobi. His derivative applications—Condensation, Firmness, Circumference, Hardness—while not quite masterful, have at least earned the recognition of Gintoki, the "Sheep" of the Hunter Association's Zodiac.

His training in the Emission Technique is progressing very smoothly. He can now use Nen Bullets of normal strength at will; and he can also unleash considerable damage with the Finger Flick Technique in the shortest possible charging time.

As for the operating system...

Jingyang, who had been maintaining maximum strength with his eyes closed for over an hour, not only did not feel much fatigue, but even had the energy to think about his newly developed abilities.

New capabilities for the operating system.

...Okay, actually Jingyang categorized this new ability as part of his manipulation system, "Song of the Earth."

It's a "monthly mark" that's different from a "starred mark"!

Jing Yang glanced at his palm, where a dark gray crescent-shaped mark was imprinted.

The development of this ability was inspired by the evolution of the previous star mark, which added the ability to communicate with the controlled target in the mind... Jing Yang used this as a starting point to extract the "communication" ability from the star mark and continued to develop it, eventually forming this boundless gray crescent mark like deep space.

In Jingyang's vision, he will develop a system of "sun, moon and stars" markings. If he is inspired to develop a "sun mark" in the future, such a name is not very elegant. Therefore, he will change the "moon mark" to "bright moon (mark)". If a third mark is developed in the future, it can be named "blazing sun (mark)".

If the core of "Star" is control, then the core of "Moonlight" is only one thing: communication.

That is, telepathy.

As for the range of the "signal" of the telepathy, Jingyang had some guesses in his mind, but he had not yet had the opportunity to test it, so he would talk about it later.

The biggest and most significant achievement of my practice over the past half month was undoubtedly the increase in my total recitation volume!

Initially, I only had a total of 100 breaths. After marking it with a star, I didn't have the strength to mark it with a second star and had to stop and catch my breath.

And now...

Jingyang maintained his "firmness" for over an hour without turning red or panting, and without shedding a single drop of sweat.

He tested it with a timer and now he can maintain it for a full 100 minutes if he keeps going.

Total recitation volume: 6000 breaths!

If converted to stars, I could type nearly a hundred in one go...

If we only consider total Nen, my current level is twice the average level of Gon and Killua at the end of Greed Island in the manga.

"Jingyang, you're still cultivating? You're crazy..."

Not far away, Menqi came over with a plate of stir-fried pork. She casually conjured up a 'rainbow seasoning' and shook off the specks of green seasoning. "Haven't there been some strange people going around town asking about things lately? Today I heard that Blanchett Corporation received an official statement from the Kingdom of Kakin, so they finally relented and allowed the people of Ochima to enter the protected area to investigate. So they're recruiting locally, both civilians and professionals..."

"Are you interested?" Menqi handed the prepared stir-fried pork to Jingyang to help him regain his strength, and said with a grin, "I'm thinking of giving it a try. Or are you planning to set up a stall at the amusement park to rip people off again?"

Jingyang took the meat, picked up a small piece of stir-fried pork, and put it in his mouth to savor it. Under the influence of Menqi's Nen ability, the energy he had consumed was recovering at a considerable speed.

He laughed and said, "Alright! I've recently made some progress in my martial arts, it's time to come out of seclusion and bring back a teammate."

Chapter 29 The Twelve Zodiacs Need to Make a Living Too

Jingyang and Menqi walked back together along a path that was far away from slaughterhouses, markets, and the like.

In just that short time, Jingyang finished a plate of stir-fried pork with green seasoning, and his strength had already recovered to about 70-80%. Menqi's Nen ability, combined with her superb cooking skills, was truly amplified.

When they passed through Dongzhen, Menqi patted him on the shoulder.

“Yes, I saw it too.” Jing Yang said, glancing at the group of people who were asking passersby something.

People who are from Kakin.

A little over ten days ago, Jing Yang completely cut off his covert surveillance of Babimaina and the others, so he was unaware of their activities on the island. However, four days ago, people from Kakin began to appear intermittently in the towns along the east coast, acting suspiciously and inquiring about various things…

They're probably looking for that missing baby boy.

Judging from their situation, it seems there hasn't been much substantial progress, which is good news for Jingyang.

All of these are search operations. It seems that Okima doesn't have many clues either. In the past few days, in addition to the people from Kakin, the amateur hunters that Okima brought have also started to send people to search for clues in the towns and cities in the east and west of the area. More than 20 years ago, this island, which should have been in the territory of the Kakin Kingdom on another continent, appeared here like a ghost. It is possible that there are still the original inhabitants of Kakin on the island. Even if it is just some rumors, we might be able to find some clues.

For the past two weeks, Jingyang had kept the two crows free around Xiaodi, not letting them get too close—they didn't insist on following her back to the hotel in Xizhen; but when Xiaodi infiltrated the protected area on missions, they would offer some help in exchange for food. It was during this process that Jingyang learned through the crows that the people of Oqima seemed to be looking for the tomb of some ancient emperor of the Kajin Kingdom on this island.

...What can we do with it once we find it? Develop the ancient site and create a tourism project? Or turn it into a museum, excavate antiques, and hold exhibitions?

Jingyang followed Menqi and soon met up with Yinda. Together they went to the official representative of Oqima, who was currently in Dongzhen. This was the balding young man, Sloe, whom Jingyang had "long heard of".

On the way, Jingyang asked, "Yinda, aren't you going?"

Yinda said, "I'll pass. My mission this time was to deal with poachers, and I've already completed it. If the people of Okima want to hire me, they'll have to submit the mission to the Hunter Association first, and after the review department confirms it, they'll pass it on to me. That's a waste of time."

Menqi pointed to herself and Jingyang, and asked in confusion, "What about us? We're professional hunters too, don't we need to go through the procedures?"

“My fees are relatively high. You should be able to accept the payment from civilian hunters, right?” Yin Da said. “If you can accept it, then there’s no need to go through the formalities.”

"I see!" Menqi exclaimed in realization. "Although I feel a bit cheated, it's all for the sake of broadening my horizons, so a lower reward is acceptable!"

Jing Yang asked, "It's only official agencies' hiring missions that are this troublesome, right? If it's a private commission to the Hunter Association, especially for small transactions, do they really have the time to review each one? The members of the association are quite free; it's impossible for everyone to be willing to take on jobs on their own, as they're all being restricted by their superiors."

Yinda glanced at Jingyang and nodded, saying, "That's true. However, the rewards for missions assigned by official agencies are far greater than those for missions undertaken by civilians."

Menqi exclaimed, "They're rich!"

Jingyang laughed and said, "Anyway, it's a government grant, so it doesn't matter where we spend it. The more we spend, the more we earn."

Yinda glanced at Jingyang a couple more times and said to the two of them, "The reward I'm talking about is not just money."

Menqi was completely bewildered. "What else could it be besides money?"

"Little sister, you're so young, aren't you?" Jing Yang patted Menqi's hand earnestly. "Being able to showcase your skills in front of official institutions from various countries, what a great resource that is! You'll have a lot of influence and be associated with all sorts of people. If you close a deal, who knows, maybe one day a king or president will hire you as their 'national advisor' or 'minister,' supporting you for life. Wouldn't that be a huge win?"

If I remember correctly, "Chenlong" of the Hunter Association's Zodiac, the hunter whose strength is said to be closest to Chairman Netero, is actually a government official of a certain country.

"I see!" Menqi suddenly understood.

Yinda said, "They said they were temporarily recruiting some locals, but I guess it's because the people from Ochima heard about me and Menchi at Blanchett's company, and they're after professional hunters like you, Menchi..."

"Don't forget me, uncle." Jing Yang pulled out a hunter's license. "I'm a hunter too."