Chapter 125: Teaching Nen Abilities (Seeking Subscriptions)

Before Takeshi Wakatsuki's call came through, Hakudo Kyo was teaching Nen to his master and Saeko.

Since it had been confirmed that the future of this world would be a chaotic brawl of kaiju-level disasters, disseminating Nen to bolster human resistance was a necessary choice. After all, the sheer fragility of ordinary human armies in the face of those god-like behemoths had already been made painfully clear by the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the United States military stationed in the country. Even with the world's most advanced equipment, their effectiveness was pitifully small.

"There is no other way. While I believe this power can be mastered through personal enlightenment, for now, I can only force your awakening through infusion," Hakudo Kyo said, placing his hands a palm's distance behind their backs. "As for refining, integrating, and organizing this into a mature system that can be taught and passed down—that kind of work is better left to an old hand like you, Master."

Takemoto Hisayasu looked perplexed. He still found the concept of humans extracting energy from within their own bodies, much like the martial arts novels of old, both astonishing and unbelievable. Yet, on second thought, compared to a creature like Godzilla, the God of Destruction, mere human energy didn't seem so absurd after all.

The burly old man pursed his lips at his student’s jest. "The pioneer says what he must, so what can a tagalong like me say?"

"Uncle Takemoto! Kyo!" Saeko interrupted their banter with a dignified tone, carrying the air of a household head.

"Then, get ready."

As Hakudo Kyo's voice trailed off, the two kneeling before him felt an indescribable pressure suddenly descend upon the air. They gasped in shock, struggling to breathe; even then, their respiratory systems seemed unable to draw the thickened air into their lungs. If an ordinary Nen user from another world were to initiate someone else, they could never exert such oppressive force.

Nen is the synthesis and refinement of a person's life force. After absorbing the blood of two Godzillas through the *Dragon Blood Secret Art*, Hakudo Kyo's body was practically that of a Godzilla juvenile, possessing an unimaginably vast vitality. It was an amount of Nen that an ordinary human, even with a lifetime of grueling cultivation, could never hope to match. Even the slightest, emotionless release of his aura was enough to make nearby living beings feel as if atmospheric pressure had suddenly spiked.

As they gasped for air, a mass of Nen devoid of any malice surged from his palms into their bodies.

"Ugh!"
"Argh!"

Even without malice, this heterogeneous life energy spontaneously suppressed their own primal vitality upon entering their systems. Within half a minute, to Hakudo Kyo’s eyes, a blood-red aura and a pale golden aura began to emerge from the bodies of the two respectively. That was the Nen born autonomously from their bodies, aided by his intrusive energy.

"Do you feel the changes in your bodies? Now, wrap that escaping aura around yourselves and keep it circulating to prevent it from leaking," Hakudo Kyo instructed.

In the time it took to speak, their aura had gone from a "slow trickle" to a "bursting dam." Rapidly losing the stimulated Nen is precisely why forced awakening has such a high mortality rate. However, for a Nen monster like Hakudo Kyo...

"No need to rush. You can try slowly," he said easily. A massive surge of Nen erupted from his own powerful frame! His coat whipped about as the aura instantly filled the entire space. The sheer volume of his Nen wrapped around them, forcibly locking their escaping life force within three inches of their bodies. Because Nen does not merge with others except under specific *Hatsu* techniques, his aura acted as a containment vessel, locking their life force in a tiny corner—like a bubble trapped in amber.

Unsurprisingly, Saeko did not possess the prodigious talent of the protagonists from the Nen world; it took her half an hour of familiarizing herself with her life force before she finally mastered *Ten*. Conversely, the elderly Takemoto Hisayasu, perhaps due to his decades of martial arts training giving him unparalleled control over his body, mastered the basic *Ten* within five minutes. He even spontaneously achieved *Zetsu* to soften the aggressive gaze that had appeared after he stimulated his Nen.

When Hakudo Kyo dispersed the aura around the old man, Takemoto Hisayasu looked at his palms in disbelief. "Is this what refined life force feels like?"

The burly old man, who had seemingly been fond of martial arts fiction in his youth, naturally gathered his Nen into his eyes, gaining the ability to see energy—*Gyo*.

"Maintaining this dormant state, I could probably live for another... thirty years?" The old man, having calculated his own longevity just by looking, laughed with genuine emotion. "How interesting, this feeling of seeing one's own lifespan."

"And you, Kyo," Takemoto turned to look at his student’s calm smile, his pupils dilating involuntarily. "That overwhelming tide of Nen... before you, I am like a tiny candle before a volcano."

"You flatter me, Master. You are the true monster among humans, having learned two application techniques on your own before I could even explain them."

But they were only "human." Hakudo Kyo smiled, noncommittal toward the old man's sentiment. Having participated in the battle against the kaiju, he would never consider himself "strong." He was still too insignificant.

Just then, Wakatsuki’s call came through. After hanging up, Hakudo Kyo looked at the old man, who was already trying to manipulate his Nen, and Saeko, who had nearly mastered *Ten*, and said, "It seems there's some good news on Wakatsuki’s end. Interested?"

Takemoto Hisayasu nodded. Although his student had helped him glimpse a new horizon of martial arts based on human energy, the kaiju-based biological enhancement represented by Wakatsuki was a spectacle no one aspiring to the path of the "strong" could afford to miss. Saeko, having stabilized her *Ten*, shared the same sentiment.

As they drove off, Saeko began to practice *Zetsu*. By this time, Takemoto Hisayasu looked no different from before. He tucked his hands into the wide sleeves of his kimono and crossed them over his chest. Looking out at the ruins of Tokyo, he asked with curiosity, "Although I don't understand science... even with the combined R&D power of the world's top pharmaceutical companies, can a project as sci-fi as biological enhancement really yield results in less than a month?"

"We'll have to see what the joint laboratory between Furumi Pharmaceuticals and Tokyo University has to show us this time." A look of keen interest appeared on Hakudo Kyo’s face.