Time Skip X Leaving Island

{Author's Note: "Parasitical Throwing Needles" has been changed to [Parasitic Senbon.] From now on, I shall use [ and ] to demarcate Nen abilities. Also, as I didn't post a chapter yesterday, here's a little bit of a longer chapter. 2574 words.}

I turned sideways to fit through the crack so that I could exit the cave, as I couldn't fit through it by simply walking through anymore, and I traveled deep inside the forest. I trekked along, looking for an animal to test my new Hatsu on, and I came across a gravestone that looked like "c{]" but right-side up. 'A gravestone? Perhaps the person that had that Ben's Knife didn't come here alone, and that his or her partner died, so they buried them here. Well, not like anyone is going to get angry if I dig up this grave. Perhaps I may find something useful. I don't have a shovel... I got it! I can use my manipulation on an animal and have it dig this grave up for me.'

I carved a chunk of wood out of a nearby tree and carved the words "Uncle Sam Says" and wrote, "Orders: One the phrase "Dig up the grave" is said, the manipulated being shall dig up the grave until I say "terminate," in which case the animal shall stop digging, climb out of the grave. The [senbon] will then kill the manipulated creature." 'Hopefully, this counts as "paper"... if it doesn't then I'll have to edit my ability. However, it has a good chance of working. According to my belief, paper is simply wood shavings pasted together, so it's basically wood.'

I searched for some tracks I could follow to find an animal, and I found some paw prints not far away, which I proceeded to track in a state of Zetsu until I found its nest. As there weren't any animals in its nest, I waited patiently. About two hours passed by (per my estimation) before I heard a creature prowling in the area. Quickly, I focused my attention and actively hid my presence better. Not long later, I was able to see the beast clearly. It was about 3 meters in length and about 1.5 meters tall, beige in color with black speckles here and there on its pelt. Surprisingly, it had one huge eye that took up its full forehead, with the eye sticking out of the forehead quite a bit. It had four tails, each with a serrated bone attached. it had bone spikes coming out of its spine, except for near its nape, forming quite the bloodcurdling sight. 'This one will do quite fine. Should the [senbon] work, I can test out whether or not writing new orders down will affect the current orders or if it will stay the same.'

Silently, I circled around as the beast approached its nest, eventually reaching the point where I could see the entire eye. I was at a slight angle off of the beast's path, such that if it were to continue on, I would not be in its way. However, at this moment, I conjured up a [Parasitic Senbon] and threw it with great force towards the creature's oversized eye, piercing it. The [Parasitic Senbon] made its way through the soft tissue, tearing through the sclera and superior rectus muscle (one of the upper muscles of the eye) and ever so slightly piercing into the brain.

As no activation conditions had been written, the creature should have immediately been manipulated by the [senbon]. However, it didn't work; 'it seems that wood doesn't count as paper... time to run!' The beast yowled, producing such an immense amount of sound that Veld had lost the ability to hear for a short while. Fortunately, although a little disoriented, Veld's robust and tenacious physique allowed him to escape almost unimpeded. Veld dashed with excellent speed with the beast chasing close behind.

As Veld wasn't worried about being unable to slip away should he need to, he leisurely thought, 'Hmm. Instead of paper, I should make it all wood and products of wood including paper. That way, there is a more acceptable activation condition so that I don't always have to worry about carrying paper with me... imagine if it were raining and I were in a forest. In that circumstance, my Nen ability's limitation of only being able to write on paper would make it unusable. I can't believe I didn't think about this before. Furthermore, I should add to the ability for any manipulated being to be able to follow simple verbal commands. Alright, lets test if I can put this beast under my control now.'

Veld once again produced the piece of wood he had carved on and flipped it over. He once again titled it "Uncle Sam Says" and wrote down exactly what he had written before, although this time quite a bit messier— he was carving while simultaneously sprinting and dividing some of his attention to the beast. Just as he finished carving the last character, the beast stumbled for a couple of steps, stabilized itself, and slowed down. 'It seems that it has fallen under my control. I'll test just to make sure.'

Veld said in Japanese, "Lay down."

It laid down.

Veld then said in English, "Roll to the left."

It rolled to the left.

'It shouldn't be able to understand verbal languages, but I do know that certain species have much higher intelligence. However, it shouldn't be able to understand both English and Japanese, especially since Japanese seems to be the only language used in this world.'

"Follow me."

Veld made his way back to the grave and said "Dig up the grave," while he sat down to think and rest. About a quarter of an hour passed and the grave had been fully dug up. 'Hmm. This beast has rather good agility and strength... perhaps I shall keep it under my control for a while to make things easier.' "Go rest nearby. From now on you shall be referred to as Beast One."

After Beast One laid down to rest, Veld hopped into the grave to search it. A moment later, he hopped back out with two items in his hands. One was a journal, and the other was an eye. Curiously, it hadn't decomposed or been eaten in what Veld presumed to be quite some time, considering that whoever had been buried here turned into a skeleton. However, Veld made sure not to directly touch the item, as it may be cursed. After all, it wasn't a glass eyeball, so whatever preserved it until now must have been Nen.

Veld opened the journal and read. "February 4th, 1981. After passing the Hunter Exam, I had thought I became a pro Hunter... but apparently, there is a secret test where one learns something called "Nen." At first, I was unconvinced... but the strange powers I was shown left me unable to deny the truth for long."

...

"July 19th, 1981. Today, I finally learned all four basic principles of the Shingen-Ryu style. I am apparently quite talented, as I learned the basics of Nen in 6 and a half months."

...

Veld didn't learn anything too useful from the Journal, as he already knew Nen and the basics of Nen. However, he did receive some limited insight. He flipped the pages quickly until he reached the cover of the book, in which he found a World Map detailing the route in which this particular individual named Elshia Helmur had traveled. The route ended on an unnamed island, which Veld suspected to be his current location. "Quite far away from civilization..." 'Thinking about it, if the route is marked, that must mean that the travel was intentional and that this person didn't end up shipwrecked like me. Perhaps I can find a method of travel across the sea such as a boat or submarine. I'll have to look through the journal later to see if it details how she got here and where she parked that vehicle. Otherwise, I'll be forced to cut down a tree and carve a canoe out of it.'

----

About 4 years pass by... Veld is now 11 years old.

"It's about time to leave this island, I think." 'Best that I do it now and attend the same Hunter's Exam, as Killua so that I may befriend him early on... I don't think I'll get another chance as he is taken back home afterwards.' "Thankfully, that journal did mention that there was a boat in a secretive alcove. It took me a few months to find it, given the size of the island and how concealed the location was."

Veld was currently on the ship in the alcove, using [soldiers] (this is what he shall call those under the effect of [Uncle Sam] from now on) to push the wooden sailboat out of the alcove into open water. As the boat was slowly moving, barely avoiding some rocks in some places— the alcove was C= in shape, allowing the boat to turn around but barely fit through the channel (the = part)— Veld thought, 'I've encountered a problem with my [Uncle Sam] ability over the years, but have never solved it. One of the reasons why I didn't improve my Hatsu was I truly had no need to. The problem is that, when I might want different [soldiers] to act differently, it is impossible; each time the orders are written down, the [soldiers] will follow the new orders as the previous ones become moot. This hadn't posed any problems for me because I didn't need such flexibility. Furthermore, making it such that different [soldiers] can act on different orders will most likely increase the aura cost of the ability, making it unwise to add an effect I had no need for.' Veld continued in his thoughts until the ship neared the exit.

As the ship entered the sea, Veld completed the change to his two Hatsus. For [Parasitic Senbon,] each one now had a number. The black one had the number 0 and the others had the numbers 1-6. That's right, he added two more [senbon], increasing the maximum to 7 at a time. After all, Veld had a much higher aura capacity than he had 4 years ago. The other Hatsu, [Uncle Sam,] had two additional conditions:

- All previous orders and conditions are still followed unless otherwise specified.

- The orders and activation conditions must be under a section labeled "Senbon #(Number here)".

Veld let his mind wander as he made his way to Kukan'yu Kingdom. Unbeknownst to him, a large storm was rushing towards him... "Ah, it's quite refreshing to feel the sea winds." ...'Now that I think about it... can my [Uncle Sam] control puppets/dead bodies? I don't think that I've ever put such a limitation... I shall test this later. As for— wait. I can test this now." Veld spotted a fish about 1 meter in length and threw the [senbon] labeled 1 at it. It quickly wriggled its way into the fish's brain and immediately activated. The current orders were "Push the boat out of the alcove without damaging it." However, as all [soldiers] could follow basic commands, Veld commanded it; "Jump onto the boat." After it did so, Veld ordered the [senbon] to kill the creature by stopping its heart. Veld ordered the [senbon] to attempt to manipulate the fish again. With some difficulty, it was able to do so for a few seconds before the fish's body became unresponsive. 'That's right. It seems that my Hatsu does not move the body on its own but orders the brain to do so. If the heart stops, the brain will lose its ability to command the body, especially since muscles need oxygen to move. Most likely, my ability will not work on puppets but will work on dead bodies for a short period of time after death... Perhaps it would work on robots as well, since some of them have "brains." It seems that I cannot retrieve my [senbon] as I ordered it to continue manipulating its target... which means it would have to kill something already dead in order to be retrieved, which is impossible. This means that the [senbon] must not accept new orders, otherwise it counts its target as still alive.'

*Flash*... *Crackle* *Rumble*

Lightning struck and, after a short pause, thunder echoed in Veld's ears. 'Oh. It seems I picked a terrible time to set off. Hmm... based on the direction of the wind, I will definitely encounter the storm. I'll just have to tough it out.'

After a little over 20 minutes passed, fierce winds began blowing, bringing dark clouds and tumultuous waves in Veld's direction. He had the sails catching the wind in a desperate attempt to escape the storm, but to no avail. The winds blew harder and the storm eventually caught up. When Veld had been watching the Hunter x Hunter anime, he had seen the great waves and rain brought down upon the boat in which Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio were on. At the time, he didn't think much of it, but now that he was personally experiencing a storm with a similar level of intensity, he was shocked. Not that he became dizzy, but that he had never seen such weather back on Earth. It seemed to be as powerful and violent as a hurricane! As Veld weathered the storm, time passed and a few hours flew by. Needless to say, he was exhausted. In order to prevent the ship from overturning and sinking, he put in tremendous effort. Unlike the main trio from the anime, he had to keep a small boat upright in a storm, whereas they were on quite the large boat, had an excellent captain, and didn't really need to do anything. Thankful that the onslaught had ended, Veld collapsed and took a nap.

Regrettably, the day's dangers had not fully passed. The constant tossing and turning, waves crashing against the ship, and many other punishments had left the sailboat quite frail. Or rather, regular boat, since the sail had been ripped off, leaving his boat adrift. All of this combined into one, along with the malicious eyes peering at the boat from below, bode terrible news for Veld.

Eventually, Veld woke up having a bad premonition, just as wood splintered everywhere with a sound similar to thunder. "Dammit, Fuck, Shit, Shit!!!" Angry, Veld rushed into the water and found the... octopus-alligator? It didn't matter. He gazed at it with a murderous intent and flared up his aura. 'Since you destroyed my boat, you're going to have to carry me yourself!'

Alas, beasts have a much higher perception of danger and aura than regular humans. Sensing imminent doom, it swam away with astounding speed. 'Fuck! Now how am I going to get to the Exam site?!'

...

After Veld spent a moment to calm down, he swam towards a plank, thinking, 'sigh, it seems I will have to depend on luck to find land.' Although Veld didn't have to worry about food or water, he had a deadline to meet, and he couldn't afford to aimlessly travel, hoping that the plank would end up at the right place.

...

11 days later...

"Finally! Some land!" Veld exclaimed, excited. 'Ah, and it seems that there is civilization as well, seeing the port and all.' Veld paddled with all his strength in order to reach the island. 'Wait... that looks a little familiar... seriously?! Is this lucky or unlucky?'