Chapter 109: Anime Crossover: Pokémon - Starting from Hunter x Hunter Chapter 45

Gastly suddenly jolted awake, turned around, and saw Luo Ge, who should have been beside Nidoking, silently appear behind it.

Luo Ge smiled at Gastly, sat cross-legged on his own, and patted the grass beside him.

"Come on, let's chat together."

"Gek."

Gastly silently nodded, floated over to Luo Ge's side, and together they looked up at the full moon in the sky.

To be honest, it was truly beautiful.

But it had no mind to appreciate it.

Its pale eyes gazed at the full moon, somewhat lost in thought, still immersed in sorrowful emotions.

"Gastly, do you remember the scene of our first meeting?"

"Gek?"

"Back then, I went to Black's villa for revenge, and it was in the collection room there that I met you."

"The moment I saw you, you didn't attack; you simply played a prank and made a funny face."

"At that time, I thought you must be a lively and cheerful child who also wanted attention."

"Later, you became my partner, and we lived together, faced difficulties together, and solved problems together."

Luo Ge recalled their shared experiences bit by bit, and his words dragged Gastly back to their previous life.

"Gek..."

Yes, they had lived very happily together.

Although it could not scare many companions, with partners, pranking was no longer a necessity.

It was already being watched by worthy people and companions.

Gastly thought silently to itself, and the sorrowful emotion in its heart gradually faded away at some point.

Luo Ge turned his head, looked at Gastly beside him, and said softly, "Gastly."

"Everyone can understand your desire to become stronger, and they know you very much want to evolve."

"Evolution is not the only path to becoming stronger."

"As long as you believe in yourself, persist in training, you can become stronger through other methods as well."

"Even evolving by relying on your own abilities is not impossible."

"In any case, you are our irreplaceable family; have a little confidence in yourself."

"You are my irreplaceable partner."

Although in the game, for Gastly to evolve into Gengar, it must either evolve via trade or require the item 【Link Cord】.

However, wild Gengar have appeared in the anime, which offers another possibility.

Perhaps Gastly can evolve into Gengar by relying on its own abilities.

This is naturally impossible in the game, but in reality, it is hard to say, after all, Pokémon are beings that turn the mundane into the miraculous.

Even if it cannot evolve, without relying on the power of evolution, it can still continue to improve its strength.

It is just that the road ahead will be more rugged.

"Believe in yourself, Gastly!"

Luo Ge extended his fist, suspended it in mid-air, and said sincerely to Gastly.

"Gek gek..."

Gastly murmured, looking at Luo Ge's expression full of trust, and the darkness in its heart completely vanished.

In its place rose a flame named fighting spirit.

"Gek!"

Gastly's eyes became firm, clenched its hand into a fist, and bumped fists with Luo Ge.

It's settled then!

I will definitely succeed!

I swear by my titles "Mysterious Ghost Shadow" and "Herald of Hell"...

Half a month later,

On a stretch of open grass, there were strangely many small, broken stones piled up, as if they had suffered heavy blows.

Looking out, the grassland was covered with piles of stones, each with different shapes.

Some rocks were completely crushed into small pebbles, while others had only a corner knocked off, with the main part intact.

These were all taken by Luo Ge to train 【Zhou】.

Although 【Zhou】 only utilizes 【Enwrap】, it is still not easy to practice.

To make a stone smash a rock while ensuring the stone remains intact, one must meet standards in the following three aspects.

Aura control, sustained output, and keen eyesight.

First, one must wrap the aura around the stone; this tests control.

If 【Enwrap】 is not cultivated properly, the aura leaving the body is like a rootless duckweed, fluctuating greatly, and then vanishes completely.

Even if it luckily wraps around the stone, the aura's intensity will fluctuate wildly before disappearing.

Secondly, wrapping the aura around the stone is not enough, because the aura output will constantly diminish.

If one wants to fix the power, one must continuously output aura into the object in hand.

Finally, and most importantly for mastering 【Zhou】—eyesight!

To smash a rock with a stone while keeping the stone intact is actually not difficult; one only needs to master sufficient force.

One can absolutely input a large amount of aura at once, wrapping it around the stone to protect it while using it for attack.

This absolutely meets the requirements.

However, in actual combat, such an approach is completely inadvisable; the reason is that it is far too wasteful.

When experts exchange blows, every fraction of Nen is precious; every wisp of Nen must be utilized to its maximum.

If 【Zhou】 is used this way, spending 100 units of Nen would likely produce an effect of only 10.

The cost-performance ratio is extremely low.

Therefore, one must judge, based on the opponent's strength, how powerful 【Zhou】 needs to be.

In this way, when outputting Nen, one can strive to avoid wasting Nen.

And through training during this period, Luo Ge has not only mastered 【Zhou】, but has even begun to master it proficiently!

Luo Ge stood before a rock half his size, eyes closed, his right hand gripping a fist-sized stone.

The next moment, Luo Ge suddenly opened his eyes; a chilling glint flashed through his heroic gaze, and light erupted in his hand.

Wisps of Nen quickly wrapped around the stone, encasing it neither too thick nor too thin, but just right.

Immediately after, Luo Ge took this stone and, without exerting much force, smashed it against the rock before him.

Boom!

An explosion sounded.

The huge rock shattered with a crash, turning into dust filling the sky, as if a smoke bomb had been thrown.

Luo Ge casually waved his hand; the lime dust before him could not touch him and was quickly swept away by the clear breeze.

Nothing remained in the spot.

In contrast, the stone in his hand showed not a single crack, intact as before.

Clap, clap, clap...

Bisigi walked over clapping, her face bearing an expression of praise that was not concealed in the slightest, and she sighed:

"Indeed, you are a prodigy."

Without her saying much more, Luo Ge spontaneously began training a plan to master 【Zhou】 proficiently, not merely satisfied with initial mastery.

As one of the high-level techniques, 【Zhou】 is not something just anyone can learn.

If initial mastery of the Four Major Operations is the standard for distinguishing non-class from third-rate Nen users,

then learning two or more high-level techniques is the standard for distinguishing third-rate Nen users from second-rate Nen users.

The reason the standard is two or more is that 【Gyo】, as a high-level technique, is relatively easier to master.

Of course, this evaluation standard is actually not rigorous.

Because the strength of a Nen user depends not only on techniques, but also on Nen capacity, Nen ability, combat IQ, and so on.

For example, when Luo Ge was in the Dorok Ruins, he had not yet learned any high-level techniques besides 【Gyo】, yet was sufficient to fight two opponents alone.

Even to defeat both of them.

Even the suit man's strength was not considered poor among second-rate Nen users.

Yet Luo Ge still won.

This is because although his techniques and Nen capacity were inferior to the two, his advantages in Nen ability and combat IQ were enough to make up for the deficiencies.

What he lacked was merely time to grow.

Luo Ge, who has mastered 【Zhou】 proficiently, is a solid second-rate Nen user from every angle.

This level is also a good hand within the Lierenxie Society.

Paired with Nen beasts like Nidoking, the current Luo Ge is likely an existence few among second-rate Nen users can oppose.

Luo Ge started from zero.

Until now, even counting the month in Meteor City, only a little over four months have passed.

Bisigi placed her hands on her hips and said very satisfiedly: "As expected of my judgment; I have never misjudged a rough stone."

Luo Ge casually dropped the stone, clapped his hands, and tugged at the corners of his mouth, saying:

"I wonder who it was that tested this and tested that before accepting an apprentice?"

"Ahem, this was merely routine procedure."

Bisigi coughed twice and, putting on a serious expression, said: "You have now mastered 【Zhou】 and 【Gyo】."

"Next, what you must learn is another high-level technique—【En】."

【En】 is also one of the techniques demonstrated by the suit man, used for detection after bombarding with 【Zhou】.

【En】 is an advanced combined application technique of 【Ren】 and 【Ko】, and is harder to learn than 【Zhou】.

It expands aura outward with oneself as the center, allowing one to detect intruders within the range covered by the aura.

The definition of 【En】 is a technique that extends Nen beyond a two-meter range around oneself and maintains it for more than one minute.

The range of 【En】 varies according to each person's skill level, but "En" does not represent the level of one's personal Nen ability.

Sometimes it is merely a difference in how an individual applies 【En】 or their needs.

It can be said that the importance of 【En】 among high-level techniques ranks among the top, being considerably more important than 【Zhou】.

Luo Ge nodded; he naturally understood the importance of 【En】.

Bisigi briefly explained how to learn 【En】, then received an unexpected phone call.

Ding-ling-ling...

Bisigi paused mid-sentence and realized her mobile phone was ringing.