The Zoldyck family valued martial arts over academics. After completing their basic education, cultural classes were significantly reduced, only taking up half a day per week. Homework was optional, and exams were so simple that with a little effort, one could score above ninety.
So, what was the point of the frantic internal competition between Illumi and me in the early days? It was utterly meaningless. I almost doubted my own existence.
It was that brat Illumi who initiated the internal competition! It’s all Illumi’s fault! That brat kept getting perfect scores in cultural subjects, forcing me to spend extra effort to catch up!
Now, Illumi was ahead of me again. I was restricted to training at home, while he could go out on jobs with Silva and still train to his heart’s content upon returning.
I felt so much hatred! I was so envious! Why?!
At this moment, with seven hours deducted from my training time for the day, leaving me with less than an hour, I resentfully watched Illumi train.
Secretly observing.jpg
Damn it, my envy, jealousy, and hatred made my eyes water.
I remembered a theory about "mental rehearsal" in the "real world." It was said that excellent golfers would mentally rehearse every step from the initial movement to the ball hitting its target before striking. When a concrete image existed in the mind, the probability of success greatly increased.
What Zeno called "observe and wait" was probably something similar.
I did more but thought less, so I had to rest, observe the performance of my peers who were better than me, and the perfect example was right before my eyes.
Hmph, I am officially jealous of Illumi Zoldyck.
Intelligent people are great; they learn everything quickly, easily extrapolating from what they learn to mastery. Thinking about how Illumi became a leader among the younger generation in the original work, a significant mountain the protagonist had to overcome, and even received a high score of 95 from the renowned battle enthusiast Hisoka, it was clear that Illumi's talent from childhood was definitely not low.
Fortunately, although my intellect was lacking, I wasn't so dim that I couldn't see the gap between people. There was still hope, albeit a little difficult to save.
The Zoldycks were an all-elite setting. Recalling their past education, they tended to guide appropriately but rarely explained in detail, requiring self-comprehension for a considerable portion of the content.
I recalled the arguments against "cramming education" in the "real world," discussing how crude indoctrination destroyed children's independent thinking ability and creativity. According to this theory, the Zoldycks' education should be more scientific, benefiting the development of children's personalities. Judging by the results, the five Zoldyck children in the original work indeed each had their own personalities and were very opinionated.
But I grew up with "cramming education," accustomed to waiting for everything to be force-fed. I was like a tree whose posture had already been fixed. Suddenly changing the educational method, and never fully explaining things, I couldn't accept it!! I couldn't digest it!! I was too stupid to comprehend it!!
I could only watch, like an apprentice in old-fashioned craftsmanship. As the saying goes, "Teach your apprentice and starve yourself." Masters often didn't teach wholeheartedly, and some never offered guidance. Apprentices could only learn skills by observing the master's craft. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
The biggest flaw I was pointed out for was having too many superfluous movements.
Illumi was much better than me. His fundamentals were solid, his movements very precise and clean. Watching him for a long time was like enjoying a scene from a kung fu movie.
"..." I was so envious.
Was this talent? Why was the gap between people so large? No matter how diligently I worked, this gap would only widen, leaving me unreachable.
"..." Indeed, I was just a filler.
How shameful.
I really wanted to die.
It would be better to just die.
"Ah, Sister." It was Milluki's voice.
Kikyo picked up the ball that had rolled to my feet and handed it to Milluki, who ran over. Kikyo walked behind Milluki and asked what I was doing.
I told her the truth, that I was watching Illumi train, hoping to learn something.
Afterward, I eagerly awaited Kikyo to offer some constructive advice. A woman qualified to be the Zoldyck matriarch must have more experience than a mediocre person like me.
As a result, Kikyo delivered a lengthy string of uninformative "Mom is proud of her excellent son" sentiments, like a parent-teacher conference, which annoyed me to death.
Just wait! Illumi! Kikyo!
Once the chosen one, Killua, is born, your world will change completely!
Illumi wouldn't be Kikyo's most excellent son; he'd be second. Kikyo's favorite son wouldn't be Illumi either, but Killua!
Hmph! Truly worthy of being the protagonist, the center of the world!
At that time, I would be even more of a filler... No, in terms of combat power, Milluki was at the bottom. I didn't have to worry too much about being last. But Milluki had intelligence to compensate. If my combat power was second to last, combined with my mediocre intelligence, I might be at the very bottom.
When studying professional theoretical knowledge, I did consider pursuing a research path. Oh, just thinking about it. After reading a few pages, I knew I wasn't cut out for it.
If I couldn't be an intellectual, I only had the martial arts path left.
After observing Illumi's training for several days, I suddenly had a brilliant idea. After Illumi finished his training, I would invite this Zoldyck honor student to the training ground I was using recently and observe his performance in the evasion training. By copying his techniques, I could quickly clear the evasion training stage.
The attack device used for evasion training required a password to unlock. Since I wasn't overusing the training ground, and it was Illumi who was going to use it, the butler supervising my training had no reason to refuse and helped me activate the device.
I nodded at Illumi and made a fist, as a gesture of encouragement.
Go for it, Illumi! I'm waiting to copy your homework!
Using Illumi to answer the questions would mean I wouldn't be restricted by the rule of "stopping after deductions to eight points." I would have more time for exploration, and Illumi himself was very intelligent, answering questions more efficiently than I could. I believed he would provide an excellent answer today!
And so, the honor student Illumi fell.
"..." Should I say your excellence harmed you, or your grandfather harmed you?
Thanks to Illumi, I had the opportunity to experience the difficulty level beyond one hour: the attack device's attack power and density had doubled.
"Old man Zeno said to proceed step by step," the supervising butler reminded me.
After the butler took Illumi to the infirmary and left, I impatiently used lip-reading to ask Illumi if he had any tricks or insights.
"..." Illumi's eyes remained his usual vacant cat-like gaze, making it impossible to tell if he was seriously thinking or just spacing out.
"At this difficulty, it requires a high level of physical ability, and I don't think it has much to do with technique anymore," Illumi said. "To use a game level analogy, when leveling up, choosing enemies one or two levels higher than yourself yields the highest experience gain. Although enemies of higher levels give more experience, they also consume more time, and there's the possibility of zero experience due to failure. Therefore, it's best to disengage from combat quickly when facing a strong enemy. The level setting of that training device falls into the latter category. By normal standards, such an arrangement is unreasonable."
The honor student Illumi actually dared to question the questioner's problem. Was this the meaning of "it's not me who's wrong, it's the world"?
What should I do?
Should I take Illumi's statement to question Zeno about why he gave me an overly difficult problem?
No, isn't this a test for me? A test of my resilience? Is it really okay to admit to Zeno, "I can't do it, please reduce the difficulty"?
Zeno said, "Don't compare yourself to others; everyone's situation is different." Illumi's answer was in his own style. Directly applying it might not be a good choice. Should I provide my own answer?
Leaving the infirmary, I walked away, lost in thought, and habitually arrived at the torture chamber door. I used to often ponder life in this secluded place. Habitually, I pushed the door open; it wasn't locked.
"...?!" I confirmed that the adjacent rooms were all unlocked.
I hadn't been here for days. I didn't know the torture chamber map had been unlocked again. The main reason the torture chamber map was sealed was that my injuries hadn't healed. Now that I was at full health and condition, I should have checked earlier if the torture chamber map was unlocked. I was so stupid!
Perhaps it had been too long since I thought about life while being electrocuted, and I felt unaccustomed to it. My mind was blank. This wouldn't do! If I forgot the feeling of electric current, I wouldn't be able to copy Killua's Nen techniques in the future!
After indulging in a thoroughly satisfying electrocution, I went back, took a bath, and then lay in bed. The moment I hit the pillow, I fell asleep, sleeping extremely peacefully, even forgetting my pre-sleep meditation.
The next day, I woke up and sat in front of the mirror, slowly combing my hair. It was the time when my mind was most relaxed, perhaps why Muer'si tended to appear at this moment. Moreover, mirrors themselves had the saying "they can reflect the soul," which was why mirrors were used as props in many supernatural games, along with taboos like "they should not be placed directly facing the bed."
["Are you going to tough it out?"]
"..."
["Or go and question them?"]
["Choose one of the two, which one?"]
"..."
I didn't want to be seen as "someone who easily gives up halfway" or "a stubborn person who doesn't adapt." The most important thing in answering questions was to understand the questioner's intentions, but the original work provided limited descriptions of Zeno, a supporting character. I only knew he was a shrewd, professional assassin who didn't kill people unrelated to his missions and wouldn't threaten supporting characters.
What answer did Zeno truly want?
Today's evasion training also ended within an hour. Resentfully, I watched Illumi train.
Secretly observing.jpg
This time, I was a bit distracted. Since the torture chamber map had been unlocked again, did it mean I could actually use training facilities other than "evasion training" for self-study?
Could it be that "observe and wait" that Zeno mentioned meant that I should find my own shortcomings and try to arrange my own training plan to improve my self-learning ability? Had he realized I was a victim of cramming education?
"Muer'si."
"!"
The voice from behind me startled me, and I reflexively jumped two meters away. Although my [Alertness: Level 4] was still active, and I was distracted, after years of Zoldyck training, including during sleep, maintaining constant vigilance was a compulsory subject. I would usually sense any creature approaching from behind, unless... the opponent's strength was higher than mine.
It was Silva. His strength was definitely higher than mine; he could defeat ten of me without breaking a sweat.
"...Dad." I moved my lips.
Not "dad" in the sense of family, but "dad" in another sense.
Example 1: Today, I'll let you know who's the daddy.
Example 2: Even so, I'm still your dad.
Example 3: I am your father!
-The legendary Zoldyck current head, Silva Zoldyck, has appeared!
Silva's imposing physique was truly suitable for commanding a scene. For instance, in the original work, to stabilize the large group of noisy gangsters from different factions, Zeno had Silva punch a pit into the wall, causing the entire place to fall silent before he started making threats, which was very effective.
After returning from the Meteor City dungeon, I hadn't spoken to Silva face-to-face. For some reason, the courage I had when loitering at the entrance of his Boss dungeon completely vanished when I saw him in person. In other words, I chickened out.
No, I became calm. My current level was too low, and using a free challenge to the Silva dungeon was a waste. I should save such high-level tickets first.
-Combat
-Items
-Escape
"Watching Illumi train?" Silva said, looking in the direction I had been looking.
-Combat
-Items
-Escape (√)
As he shifted his gaze away from me, I took a step back, turned, and slipped away.