Chương 19: Perfect Mimicry and Spatial Specialization

Aren placed a cup of water on the table. A single leaf floated on the surface. He had delayed his own water divination until he could do it alone. Not because he feared the answer, but because any answer involving him might become difficult to explain. Aren released aura into the cup. The water did not simply rise, sweeten, change color, grow cloudy, or move the leaf. Space bent. A tiny distortion formed at the center of the cup. The water curved toward it, as if pulled by an invisible mouth. The level dropped.

Aren's eyes narrowed.

"Specialization." He increased his aura output. The distortion deepened. The cup trembled. The water spun inward, shrinking into a dark point. A heartbeat later, the cup itself twisted, folded, and vanished into the same black dot. The dot disappeared. The table was empty. Aren stared at the place where the cup had been. Then he smiled.

"Space." Space and time were never ordinary attributes. In any world, abilities tied to them stood near the peak. His soul had crossed a boundary it should not have crossed when he came here. It made sense that some trace of that passage had fused with him. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Or maybe the Undying had always carried that trait. The exact reason could wait. The result mattered more. A spatial Specialist ability. Aren's mind moved quickly.

He remembered countless fictional powers involving space: storage, displacement, portals, compression, exile, blades that cut distance instead of flesh. The problem was not inspiration. The problem was turning inspiration into a real Nen ability. Restrictions and Pledges could amplify power. Kurapika would one day prove that with chains sharp enough to bind monsters. But restrictions were not magic wishes. They strengthened a foundation. First, an ability had to exist. Only then could rules deepen it.

Aren needed foundations. He began with the new stirring from Oss. His body shifted. White hair darkened. His face thickened. His left arm vanished. His clothes changed. A gold tooth pressed against his tongue. Oss stood in the room again. Perfect Mimicry. It was more than appearance. Aren flexed his remaining hand. Muscle memory that did not belong to him moved beneath the copied flesh. He created a dagger like the one Oss had used and spun it between his fingers with a familiarity he had never trained.

Oss's knife work was there. His posture. His gait. The little habit of leaning weight to compensate for a missing arm. No memories. No thoughts. But the body had kept skills.

"Interesting." Aren changed back. The knife slipped from his hand and nicked his finger. The skill vanished with the form. Blood welled, then healed. If Perfect Mimicry copied the entire target, then partial mimicry might copy only a body part. Skill mimicry might let him borrow movements without taking the shape.

'If a target had a Nen ability, could he copy that too? Or would the lack of memories and conditions block it?' Too many questions. Good. Questions meant paths forward. A month passed. Meteor City did not become peaceful. It never would. But the little house on the trash heap became a territory people learned not to approach. Uvogin and Nobunaga trained every day. Machi trained even more quietly and more efficiently.

Aren taught the basics, corrected their mistakes, and tested his own abilities behind a locked door. At some point, he realized he had forgotten to teach Shu. Before he could correct that, Nobunaga walked in with a rock wrapped in aura and announced he had discovered a new application. Uvogin, not to be outdone, broke three reinforced rocks with one punch. Aren stared at them.

"You two figured out Shu on your own?"

"Is that what it's called?" Nobunaga asked. Uvogin grinned.

"We were going to name it Rock Punch."

"Absolutely not." Their instincts were better than his lesson plan. That was comforting. And terrifying.