The Curious Scientist

__________ POV Ashton__________(From now on, the story will feature the perspective of the MC more often)

As a scientist, I don't like leaving my laboratory very often. There are many things that I like to do, but I also need a vacation from time to time.

I became a hunter for that reason, travel privileges. It's as simple as that. But my research turned me into a two-star hunter.

Apparently, my work is 'helpful' to society. I fail to see how playing around in a laboratory is helping anyone. Besides the power-hungry pigs that financially support my research.

Giving me a 'high rank' was just another way for them to control me. Even so, no one will ever hold any power over me.

I thought that travelling to this country as a nice break from my studies would have been a great idea.

But I arrived right in the middle of a conflict.

Worst of all, Netero, the old decrepit fuck, decided it would be a great idea to make me scout out the situation.

Oh well, he now owes me a favour. I'll make him regret wasting my time at some point.

As for the intrusive species, everyone has their panties in a twist about... Just some ants. They may be strong, but they mostly have average intelligence.

If they were truly deemed a threat by humanity they'd be nuked into oblivion.

I guess it's not up to me to make that judgement. I made it quite clear to Netero that I don't plan on interfering with this event. At least not in any major way.

Even so, I still get attacked by these neanderthals. Brainless insects that try to chew more than they can swallow.

I made sure to slowly kill them. Exploding their bodies bit by bit.

Letting my Hatsu seep into their organs and blowing them up from inside out slowly.

My Hatsu, I call it 'Parasitic Explosion'. My Nen sticks and embeds into everything near me, turning anything into a bomb. There are restrictions, but I made sure to design them properly.

As a Transmuter, I made my Hatsu extremely flexible. I dislike relying on pure strength. Although I trained every single Enhancement technique there is in my 26 years of life.

Mostly because I need to be able to withstand the blast from my explosions.

I made sure to close up any weakness I might've had. But not everything is perfect. Humans are flawed... And as much as I hate the notion, I cannot distance myself from this race, at least not genetically.

As the ants finished gathering their brothers in a huge pile, I just ordered them to dig a huge hole. I just sat there and watched them.

I am somewhat curious about how resistant they are to fire... I can't wait to study their deaths extensively. Shame I cannot bring some of them back to my laboratory...

As the ants finished digging, I just kicked the pile of bodies on top of them. The gasoline was something I prepared beforehand. I may have hoped they would act against me. But still.

Setting them on fire was easy. Their bodies didn't burn as nicely as I had hoped they would. So I just kicked some trees in the hole, to add to the fire.

After a while of watching them burn, I took out my notebook and started writing my discoveries. As uninteresting as these ants are, their behaviour is strangely humane.

They seem just as intelligent too... How interesting...

I could feel some people approaching me, I stuffed my notebook and pen into my coat. And turned around to face them. I think these are the people Netero told me about.

Nothing wrong with scaring them a bit.

But still, so much for my free time...

Helping these three hunters will be a bit of a bother. But at least some of them are intriguing.

Maybe they can provide me with some entertainment. I don't care much for the two-star hunter, he's not even all that strong.

But these two kids seem to be quite talented. They look very young, I'd wager they aren't above 12. And they both seem to know how to use Nen.

The one with white hair seems to be wary and cautious. But the black-haired one is just strangely positive about everything.

He even trusts me already. Just because I somewhat know his father. Innocence, it's an unfamiliar sight.

I cannot wait to see the changes he will experience over the years. The innocent ones always fall the furthest... I would know that best, I was once like him too after all.

He didn't choose the best profession if he's looking for happiness.

Still, to think that Ging would be such a deadbeat father... Oh well, not any of my business.

After I explained the situation to them they asked me to tag along and lead them to the ant nest. I didn't feel like agreeing at first, but I am quite curious about these two. So I can hang around them for a bit.

The ants attacking us was not really all that unexpected. Just annoying, I want to get this over with and relax already.

I just want to see what they will do when fighting a lot of ants.

A shame they decided to attack me too. If they so much as stained my coat I would've killed them all myself.

But the Two-Star hunter had that handled. His Hatsu seems a bit intriguing, but not that special.

At least, not at first sight. He might've made something interesting with his conditions, who knows? It's never good to underestimate a Nen user. They are crafty, most of the time anyway...

Being bombarded with questions about my Hatsu was something I expected. Well, Gon is the only one asking, but he's so loud that it feels like speaking with 5 people at once.

So much for being sneaky huh? I guess it doesn't matter much, explosion and trees falling aren't exactly the actions of a scout team.

We steadily approached the hive. It wasn't exactly well hidden.

I had actually found it in the first week after coming here. It was easy to see them coming and going form it.

They aren't exactly the smartest specimens of this species... I did see a few that seemed a bit more composed. Logical in their actions, they got smarter over time.

And I think it all depends on the diet of the queen. The better the food she gets to eat, the stronger the offspring that comes out. Quite a simple concept really.

In the distance, I could see a strange-looking woman. It was hard to tell from a distance, but she was just standing there, at the top of the nest. None of the others saw her.

I instinctively used Zetsu. Concealing my aura and jumping on a tree. As soon as I did that, the others felt that woman's Ren. It was as if they just entered her line of sight.

They were all startled, and she acted quickly. The children managed to take a step back, they were pushed by the other hunter. But he also lost an arm in the panic.

I just stood on a branch and observed them. As the white-haired kid knocked out Gon and ran away with him.

The other hunter seemed to have remembered about my existence.

"Ashton! A bit of assistance would be nice!" He said, his regularly calm tone seemed to hold some panic in it.

I just ignored the hunter, I can't even seem to remember his name. I am quite curious about the strength of this new arrival. It seems she is also a Chimera Ant.

She has some features that resemble a cat. Like the ears and the tail. But her joints are doll-like. A strange appearance. It also seems that she can use Nen. It's certainly not proficient though...

She seemed to be quite strong, not as good as Netero, but still stronger than most other humans.

I wonder how well she will fare against this guy?

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Bonus Chapter!

This was posted on phone, paragraphs and all that(you get the point)

Forgot the plug: