Chapter 1: Love’s Prelude

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Late at night, torrential rain poured down.

In Youkexin City, on Downwater Street.

The rain fell like beaded curtains, converging into streams that traced the veins of the city’s streets.

The streetlights flickered unevenly, yet one antique shop blazed brightly.

Above the shop hung a common electronic screen, on which a line of red characters slowly scrolled:

“Buying antiques, sundries, and handcrafted artworks—June 22, 1997.”

Inside the antique shop, display cases were set against the walls.

Bathed in an amber glow, antique artworks were arranged, their true value hard to discern.

In the depths of the shop, a solid wood table was placed against the wall, with a desk lamp perched on the corner.

Under the bundled light, a red wooden figurine about fifty centimeters tall stood silently.

Suddenly, a pair of hands reached into the lamp’s glow, enveloping the seemingly ordinary wooden figurine.

The owner of the hands was a young man dressed casually, with sharp black hair and handsome features.

Click.

With a slight exertion of his fingertips, cracks appeared on the surface of the wooden figurine, from which white glimmers distinct from the lamp’s light seeped forth.

Then, the wooden shell shattered and fell away, revealing a translucent jade figure shimmering with faint aura.

The jade figure’s surface bore delicate pale green fish-scale-like patterns that gleamed under the light, clearly marking it as a precious artifact.

Breaking the wooden shell transformed waste into treasure.

This scene was quietly observed by a sturdy man wearing a dog-head mask standing beside the antique shop’s door.

But the man seemed well aware of the young man’s abilities and was not surprised in the slightest.

He crossed his arms, fixed his gaze on the youth, and spoke in a calm, steady voice: “Moro, why are you refusing the gift Melina prepared for you?”

“A gift?”

Moro, the youth, suddenly looked up, meeting the dog-masked man’s eyes with a helpless smile.

“Brother Dog, asking me to kill twenty-one unrelated people—that counts as a gift...?”

“Of course it counts. As long as you kill them, you’ll immediately reach level 21. After that, barring accidents, you should gain an additional Nen ability tailored to your needs. Even if the final result differs, at least you’ll strengthen your aura capacity.”

The dog-masked man’s voice remained firm and steady. After a pause, he continued:

“Moro, Melina wants quick feedback on her Nen ability, so don’t disappoint her. Besides... killing a few people casually to become stronger, that’s all benefit and no harm for you.”

“...”

Moro fell silent at these words.

Just casually kill a few people...

That’s gangster behavior.

Or rather, in this world called Hunter x Hunter, disregard for life and trampling individual existence is not uncommon.

Moro had experienced this firsthand since he was transported here a year ago...

He silently stared at the dog-masked man.

As a transmigrator, he was well acquainted with the plot and characters of Hunter x Hunter.

The dog-masked man before him, and Melina, who saved him a year ago, were both characters from a mafia family appearing in the Kakin Kingdom succession arc.

Setting aside Melina’s status as the Kakin royal family’s illegitimate daughter and her future role as the head of the Ai family mafia, what left the deepest impression on Moro...

Was Melina’s Nen ability as depicted in the original story.

It was an ability that allowed others to grow stronger by killing...

“Killing to get stronger, sounds so easy.”

Suppressing the thought in his heart, Moro showed a faint, inexplicable smile, but his eyes were calm and unreadable.

“Brother Dog, Nen isn’t such a shallow thing. There are systems of vows and restrictions... Though I don’t know how Melina discovered this ability, one thing is certain.”

At this point, Moro averted his gaze, looking down at the jade figure on the table, and said lightly:

“That is risk—a huge and unknown risk.”

“...”

Hearing Moro’s words, the dog-masked man fell silent this time.

Silence sometimes meant tacit approval.

But he did not forget his stance and soon broke the silence, asking bluntly:

“So your answer is no?”

“How could it be... this lousy life is given by Melina.”

Moro lowered his eyelids, smiling wryly to himself, while images of Melina’s deep, unfathomable dark eyes flashed through his mind.

After a pause, he looked up at the dog-masked man and said softly:

“Give me one day.”

“Alright. I’ll tell Melina.”

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The dog-masked man nodded at Moro’s words, then decisively turned and left.

Just as he was about to push the door and step out into the rain, he suddenly stopped as if recalling something.

“Oh, Melina said she hasn’t decided on a name for her Nen ability yet and wants you to help name it.”

“...”

Moro was momentarily stunned, involuntarily recalling scenes from the original work.

“Love Etude.”

That was the original name of Melina’s Nen ability.

As for why such a destructive ability bore such a name...

Moro did not know.

Without hesitation or much thought, drawing from the original story’s information, Moro replied:

“Just call it Love Etude, if Melina doesn’t dislike it...”

“Hm?”

The dog-masked man was a little surprised; he hadn’t expected such a whimsical name.

But he didn’t dwell on it, waved a hand at Moro, and strode into the rainy night.

Moro’s expression remained calm as he watched the man leave.

Creak—

The shop door closed.

Several minutes later, Moro slowly withdrew his gaze and looked toward the translucent jade figure standing amid broken wooden shards on the table.

“Guess I have to run away...”

Some things you don’t want to do, and when there’s no room for negotiation, Moro decided to leave Melina’s circle.

It wasn’t that he resisted killing per se, but among the twenty-one people Melina sent, there were infants and children.

That crossed his bottom line.

Moreover, he understood better than anyone Melina’s true hidden purpose.

To destroy the Kakin Kingdom, to destroy humanity, to destroy the world, to destroy everything...

That was Melina’s pursuit.

So Moro’s departure was inevitable, only he hadn’t expected it to come so soon.

Over the past half year, the antique shop he ran had brought Melina considerable profit.

If nothing had gone wrong, he had actually planned to repay Melina’s life-saving grace as much as possible this way.

That was enough...

Moro thought silently, then raised his right hand to look at the back.

There was a tattoo resembling tree rings, composed of six hollow rings in different colors.

From the center outward, the colors were white, green, blue, purple, red, and gold.

At the very center was a tiny black infinity symbol.

Moro didn’t know the origin or function of this tree-ring tattoo.

He noticed it appeared on the back of his hand a few days after transmigrating, gradually deepening until it fixed in place.

What he did know was that others could not see the tattoo on the back of his hand, and the skin it covered seemed to have an “indestructible” vow effect.

Additionally, he could absorb Nen aura from antiques to fill the hollow spaces of the rings.

This was the fundamental reason he chose to run an antique shop in Youkexin.

Over more than half a year, he had absorbed a considerable amount of faint aura from antiques and handcrafted art.

Now, the innermost white ring was almost full.

Moro put aside thoughts about leaving Melina, focusing instead on the jade figure wrapped in faint aura.

If he absorbed the aura from it, he could fill the white ring completely.

Even if he couldn’t fill it, the employees he sent out would bring back some antiques tonight that might contain aura.

In the silent antique shop, Moro reached out and covered the jade figure with his hand.

No visible movement or fluctuation appeared, but the faint aura on the jade visibly flowed into the back of his hand.

The tiny gap in the white ring was filled, becoming relatively complete.

Looks like I don’t need to wait for the lazy employees to return.

Moro thought as he stared intently at the white ring tattoo on his hand.

After all his efforts over the past half year, he felt a hint of anticipation.

Because, to him, the tree-ring tattoo might well be the “golden finger” often spoken of in transmigration tales.

If it could assist him now, he’d have more confidence to break away from the Ai family.

He waited patiently for changes, but as seconds passed, the white ring, filled like a progress bar, showed no anomaly.

“The worst outcome has appeared.”

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Seeing the motionless tree-ring tattoo, Moro shook his head slightly.

At this point, there were probably only three possibilities.

One: all the rings must be filled before an unknown ability is revealed.

Two: the filled rings require some special condition to unlock the ability.

Three: the tree-ring tattoo is not the golden finger he hoped for.

Moro was a bit disappointed but not overly concerned.

Even if he gained a golden finger ability now, it would merely be a pleasant surprise.

His true confidence lay in the Nen ability of emission-type he had painstakingly honed since transmigrating.

...

Night deepened; the rain showed no sign of abating.

The dog-masked man trudged through the downpour to a black sedan parked by the roadside.

The rear window slid down, revealing a refined and elegant woman.

Her eyebrows were like willow leaves, eyes like red phoenixes.

But her beautiful face bore two parallel, hideous scars.

The scars ran from her hairline, across her left eyelid, down her cheek, spanning nearly half her face—a shocking sight.

“Melina.”

The dog-masked man bowed slightly, looking at the woman inside the car.

Melina lifted her eyes: “Aquan, what did he say?”

“Moro asked for one day.”

The dog-masked man reported truthfully.

Melina lowered her gaze, seeming to sense something.

The dog-masked man waited for her response, letting the rain soak him.

After a moment,

Melina habitually touched the scars on her cheek.

“Forget it.”

She murmured softly.

The dog-masked man was momentarily stunned.

Melina lowered her hand and looked past him toward the antique shop.

“Aquan, do you know... little Moro has something I really hate.”

“What?”

The dog-masked man asked naturally.

Melina’s eyes grew deep and cold.

“A bottom line.”

“...”

The dog-masked man was at a loss for words.

Melina said coldly, “My people cannot have such a thing.”

The dog-masked man understood her meaning. For a moment, he considered persuading her but held back.

Melina withdrew her gaze. “The Phantom Troupe is causing trouble again—let little... let him become one of the bargaining chips to settle the conflict.”

“Understood.”

The dog-masked man agreed, then said the name Moro had chosen for the Nen ability.

Love Etude...

Upon hearing the name, a ripple flickered in Melina’s eyes. It was still incomplete after all...

Even if she could feel little Moro’s loyalty in a deep kiss, the “purpose” was utterly different and meaningless.

“Let’s go.”

Melina lowered her head slightly. Though unable to receive feedback, she had discovered the flaw in the ability.

Aquan looked at Melina, sensing a trace of wistfulness in her tone...