Cain, a competitor on the 200th floor of Heaven's Arena, had already achieved an impressive record of four wins and zero losses in the arena.
It was known that his physical strength was formidable, capable of easily punching through steel plates with a thickness of ten centimeters.
Illumi stood on the rooftop of a small building, his gaze fixed on a street below.
There, a tall man with short, spiky hair and wearing a white tracksuit was jogging along the street.
This man was Cain, the target chosen by Illumi for this mission.
Even though Illumi was standing on a rooftop two streets away from Cain, his keen perception told him that this man in the white tracksuit was not someone to be trifled with. At least, not at his current level.
However, that didn't matter. Illumi's main objective was not to kill Cain.
As Noah had guessed, the reason for choosing Cain as the target was to observe him while Noah fought Cain.
Illumi wanted to gather information he needed, and he had carefully considered his choice of target for this purpose.
If the target was too strong, Noah would be killed outright, and Illumi would not gain any useful information.
On the other hand, if the target was too weak and Noah defeated him easily, Illumi would still not acquire any valuable information.
Therefore, Illumi selected a target that would force Noah to use his full strength and engage in a tough battle.
According to the intelligence, Cain had a habit of jogging around the vicinity of Heaven's Arena at this time almost every day.
Of course, Illumi had no intention of sharing any of this information, including Cain's record, combat techniques, and jogging habit, with Noah.
He wanted Noah to face Cain in a state of complete ignorance. Only then could he draw out Noah's full strength.
All Noah had to do was follow his instructions and engage Cain at the location he had chosen.
After confirming the accuracy of the information, Illumi quickly selected the location where he would strike the next day: a small park that Cain would soon pass by.
"Noah, Noah, don't disappoint me. Let me see what level you, who received a decent evaluation from Gatoh and Mom, are really at." Standing on the rooftop and watching Cain's figure disappear behind a tree in the small park, Illumi let out a silent laugh.
Noah was naturally unaware of Illumi's current actions. He randomly found a rooftop and entered his Qi Refining posture.
Although he didn't know what kind of Nen user he would be facing tomorrow, Noah didn't naively assume that Illumi would arrange for him to face someone weaker than himself.
In order to survive the upcoming encounter, Noah needed to be in peak condition.
A day passed quickly, and on the following evening, Noah arrived at the designated location where he had separated from Illumi the day before.
"You're surprisingly punctual," Illumi remarked as Noah arrived. Illumi was casually seated at a street-side snack stall, holding a cup of green juice.
"Follow me," Illumi said after draining the last of his juice and tossing the empty cup into a nearby trash bin. He then walked ahead.
Noah followed him in silence.
Once they reached the small grove, Illumi pointed at the ground and said, "The target will pass through here shortly. Intercept him, wear him down, and I will strike when the time is right." With that, he took out a photograph from his pocket and handed it to Noah.
Noah took a look at the photograph, which showed a cheerful, smiling man with short, spiky hair.
When Noah shifted his gaze away from the photo and looked up, Illumi had already disappeared. Noah could only shake his head and smile wryly at this.
He casually found a bench nearby, sat down, and played with the photo, waiting for his target to arrive.
At exactly nine o'clock in the evening, Cain, who was accustomed to jogging every day, slowly approached the small grove from a distance.
Noah, who was sitting on a chair, saw the approaching figure in the distance and stood up slowly, blocking the pathway that Cain had to pass through this small park.
Tomorrow was Cain's fifth battle, and as he jogged while thinking about the upcoming events, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a young man in a swallowtail coat standing in the middle of the road ahead.
The young man's sky-blue eyes were locked onto him.
Upon seeing Noah, Cain immediately stopped his forward steps. His keen intuition told him that the young man before him was no ordinary teenager.
He raised his hand and glanced at the photo held between his two fingers. Noah confirmed that the man standing across from him was his target, sighing softly as he slowly put the photo back in his pocket.
"I apologize."
Cain only heard this sentence, and suddenly, the young man in front of him disappeared.
In the next moment, Cain felt a chilling sensation on his spine and instinctively raised his arm, striking behind him with his elbow.
There was a muffled sound as Cain's elbow clashed with Noah's palm. Due to his hasty defense, Cain was sent flying and tumbled in mid-air, landing on the ground.
As he raised his head, Cain's eyes gleamed with a cold light, as if he were a fierce tiger, fixated on Noah.
"Nen user."
After identifying Noah as a Nen user, Cain discarded the appearance of Noah being just a teenager.
Whether it was a young or old person, as long as they were Nen users, he couldn't afford to be careless. This was Cain's combat creed.
Withdrawing his palm, Noah's gaze shifted slightly and settled on Cain's right elbow.
It seemed that it hadn't suffered any damage. Indeed, Nen users were not easy to deal with.
Using Shadow Step to instantly appear behind Cain and adjusting the aura in his palm to 90, Noah struck Cain. This was the attack Noah had just made.
However, the carefully crafted strike didn't achieve the effect he had imagined.
Cain's reaction speed and countermeasure were fast and precise, making Noah marvel at the skill of fighters in the Heaven's Arena.
"Who are you?" Although it didn't appear that he had been affected, Noah didn't realize Cain's true intention. Instead, he foolishly answered Cain's question.
"Why did you suddenly attack me? If you have a grudge against me, we could have fought in the Heaven's Arena. Why resort to such underhanded tactics?"
In order to give his right arm some time to recover, Cain began using words to divert Noah's attention.
"No comment."
Noah, being a rookie with no combat experience, didn't perceive Cain's true intent and instead gave an innocent response.