Shen. That was his name now, though his old name, his old self, no longer mattered here. Once an 18-year-old college student from another world, he had transmigrated into the universe of Hunter x Hunter. At first, he believed himself destined to be the archetypal protagonist—a chosen one, meant to rise to power, conquer the world, and rewrite destiny. How naive. Reality, as he soon discovered, was far from the fantasies he had envisioned.
Shen awoke in the fragile, ravaged body of a six-year-old boy—Shen Bertho. His new existence began in a hospital bed, tethered to life support. His biological parents had died in a tragic accident during a bank robbery that escalated into chaos. The criminal responsible, undoubtedly a nen user, had blasted through buildings to elude capture, leaving a trail of destruction. Alone in the world, Shen was taken in by his uncle and aunt, relatives on his father's side.
For two long years, he lived in this foreign world, unaware of its true nature. It wasn't until he saw a news report detailing a terrorist attack involving the infamous "Poor Man's Rose" that the realization struck: he was in the Hunter x Hunter universe.
Unlocking his aura nodes consumed a decade of his life. Shen had assumed his understanding of nen would grant him an advantage, but he was wrong. Searching for something invisible, intangible, and fundamentally alien within his own body was an exercise in futility. The process was akin to a blind man fumbling through an unfamiliar house. Eight years of meditation, trial, and error finally bore fruit. By then, the theoretical knowledge he had carried from his previous life had eroded into fragments, leaving him to stumble through his training alone.
Before that however, at age 11, tragedy struck again. Shen's uncle and aunt, motivated by greed, adopted him for his inheritance and then expelled him from the family taking all of the money from his parents deaths he rightfully deserve. The experience was a cruel awakening. He understood then that selfishnes were the foundation of human nature.
Through relentless physical training, Shen became a formidable martial artist—stronger than any ordinary human and well-equipped to survive in a world where power meant everything. At 14, he left his hometown for Heaven's Arena, determined to refine his skills and earn money. Rising through the floors with cold efficiency, Shen amassed millions of Jenny, crushing opponent after opponent. But he stopped at the 190th floor, refusing to cripple himself in pursuit of early nen awakening via initiation.
A year later, his aura nodes opened naturally. At 16, with nen coursing through him, Shen pushed past the 200th floor. It was there he encountered Sadaso, an experienced and calculating nen user. Shen, ever pragmatic, chose to lose to Sadaso deliberately—a calculated move to forge an alliance. Under Sadaso's guidance, Shen developed his first hatsu: the ability to craft nen constructs that functioned as versatile weapons.
For the next few years, Shen immersed himself in training and survival. The original Hunter x Hunter story became a distant memory until one day, on the 200th floor, he encountered Gon and Killua. A brief, tense exchange with Killua jogged his memories of the plot. But those recollections were distractions, mere noise compared to his singular focus on strength and survival.
Soon after leaving Heaven's arena with Sadaso, Shen parted ways with Sadaso. They took a job escorting a relic hunter into a dense jungle, unaware that it would be their last mission together. During the expedition, Sadaso was bitten by a venomous nen beast. The relic hunter, clutching the antidote meant for emergencies, refused to share it. Sadaso died in agony, his last words imparting a lifetime of hard-earned wisdom to Shen.
Standing before Sadaso's grave, Shen felt the weight of his own insignificance. He was not the protagonist of this world, nor its hero. But as he gazed at the unmarked grave, his resolve crystallized.
"Teacher Sadaso," he murmured, his voice cold but steady. "Rest in peace. You gave me the only gift that matters—clarity. You said that to us minor characters, crying is a waste. No one listens to the cries of the weak. The world forgets us, erases us unless we carve out a place for ourselves. You taught me that perseverance is the only path forward—to rise above mediocrity or die trying."
Shen clenched his fists, his nen flaring with quiet determination. "I will never accept death. I will not abandon my dreams, no matter how harsh this world becomes. Yes, I am a minor character. But I will work tirelessly, ruthlessly, to become extraordinary. This world is vast, and the strong write its rules. I will ascend, one step at a time, until I stand above them all."
With that, Shen turned away from the grave. He was no longer the naive boy who believed in destiny. He was Shen, a man shaped by the unforgiving reality of the Hunter x Hunter world, determined to forge his own fate.
Twenty-five years had passed since humanity began its mass expeditions into the Dark Continent. Once a realm of mystery and myth, it had become a crucible for the known world, threatening its very survival. Variant humans, grotesque and intelligent, emerged as a new apex predator, forcing mankind to mass-produce nen users in a desperate bid for survival. Yet, even amidst this chaos, Shen stood apart—a lone figure, wounded, bleeding, and resolute.
He soared through the turbulent skies of the Dark Continent inside the head of his nen avatar, a towering, translucent humanoid construct. Its 16-meter frame, dark purple and featureless, radiated an oppressive aura. Nen wings stretched from its back, their strokes heavy with effort as they kept Shen aloft. In the avatar's grasp was a massive sarcophagus, ten feet tall and ancient in design. Its black metallic surface bore intricate carvings: depictions of gas-like monsters and a woman dancing around an altar. The engravings glimmered dark gray under the faint light, exuding an ominous presence.
Behind him, four grotesque variant humans gave chase, riding monstrous drakes bred from the depths of this cursed land. Their pale, hairless skin stretched unnaturally over elongated limbs, their faces split into grinning maws that opened three times wider than any human's. Eyes as black as the void glimmered with bloodlust and glee as they hunted. Each rode a cobra-like drake, its scaled wings beating rhythmically. The drakes' flattened, hooded heads shimmered gray, their amber predatory eyes locked on Shen. Their chicken-like legs ended in talons sharp enough to carve through steel.
Trailing behind these pursuers were the remains of Shen's fallen comrades. Their broken, bloodied bodies were bound in barbed chains, dragging through the air like grim trophies. The variant humans wielded death as a banner, their cruelty unparalleled.
Far below, the Dark Continent roiled with unfathomable life. Even at 15,000 feet above the ground, Shen could see kaiju-sized monsters locked in primal battles for supremacy. A hulking, elephantine toad bit down on a four-armed silver gorilla, its jaws crushing the life out of its prey. In another corner, swarms of insect-like creatures with mirrored exoskeletons and countless legs drained the vitality from a writhing plant-monster, whose countless mouths screamed in vain. Crystal spires pierced the sky like natural monoliths, cracking under the force of a quadruped beast with geometric horns. It rammed the spires in desperation, fleeing from a larger predator of its kind, whose horned body gleamed with menacing symmetry.
Amid this chaos, Shen's nen avatar clutched the sarcophagus tightly. Shen, inside its head, ignored the pain of his wounds as he pried the sarcophagus open with a surge of raw strength. The lid fell away, revealing a mummified figure inside.
The being was humanoid but barely. Its emaciated frame bore hints of femininity, its desiccated skin clinging tightly to bones. Wisps of dry, brittle hair clung to its scalp, and its eyes, a piercing and unnatural blue, opened to meet Shen's gaze. The mummy's lips moved, whispering words that carried no meaning in any language Shen knew.
"MΛʼ BIƧIBΛПIᄂЦʼ ПΛΛ DΣƧPЦé DΣ ƧƬΛᄂΣ ƬIΣMPЦ, GΛᄂáП XI DΣƧΣЦ ZΛПDΛ GЦDIΣΣʼ ᄂII YΛʼ."
The sound sent a shiver down Shen's spine. He strained his enhanced senses, catching every word but failing to grasp its meaning.
Undeterred, he closed his eyes and channeled a wave of nen. Its intention was clear: confusion and the desire to understand. The nen rippled out from him and enveloped the mummy. The being's unnaturally blue eyes narrowed, then slowly, almost mockingly, it raised two fingers in a peace sign. Shen sighed, his brow furrowing as the tension mounted.
Behind him, the variant humans were closing in. Their drakes screeched, their movements rapid and wild. At their current speed, they would overtake him within a minute.
Shen's mind raced. *I've already used total concentration to calculate every possible escape route with a chance above 1%,* he thought grimly. *Each time, the result is the same. Slowing down to think only brings them closer. Entering that temple was a calculated risk—a desperate gamble to gain strength. And now, it seems, it will be my death.*
He clenched his jaw, pushing away regret. *Enough. Wishing to change the past won't save me now. The only path forward is through the Regent Lord's inner territory. The odds are slim, but they exist. I need to—*
Before he could complete the thought, the mummy shifted. It lowered one of its raised fingers, leaving only the middle one extended—a vulgar, universal gesture. Then it spoke again, but this time, its voice carried meaning.
"Your wish shall be granted," it whispered, the words clear and cold as the void.
Shen's blood ran cold. In that instant, the weight of his actions, the countless risks he had taken, and the grim future ahead of him converged. His lips curled into a wry smile. *So, the gods of this cruel world have decided to mock me further,* he thought. *Then let it be so. I will seize whatever power I can, no matter the cost.*
Above him, the heavens seemed to darken, and the sarcophagus began to glow ominously, its engravings pulsating with an otherworldly light.
Shen's eyes widened in shock as the mummy raised its desiccated hand, pointing directly at him. An invisible, irresistible force gripped his nen, tugging at it with relentless power. His aura, the very essence of his existence, surged outward in a torrent, flowing into the mummy's outstretched finger like a river into an endless void.
His nen avatar dissolved in an instant, the towering construct vanishing into wisps of fading energy. Without its support, Shen and the sarcophagus plummeted from the sky. The wind screamed in his ears as he fell, his aura draining with each passing second.
Below him, the Dark Continent teemed with its chaotic, monstrous life, but Shen could think only of the alien force siphoning his power. He glanced at the mummy mid-fall, his vision blurring as the last vestiges of his strength fled. The creature's transformation was grotesque and mesmerizing: its emaciated frame filled out, its gray, lifeless skin turning smooth and alabaster. Worn, tattered robes wove themselves over its form, gradually growing more intricate. By the time they neared the ground, it no longer resembled a withered corpse but a nine-foot-tall humanoid woman, radiating an ancient and otherworldly presence.
Shen's body hit the ground first, the impact reducing him to little more than a grotesque smear. His thoughts fragmented into primal panic and despair in the final moments before death. Thirty seconds into the fall, he had become a hollow husk, his nen completely depleted. The sarcophagus landed next, face-down in the dirt, the newly revived mummy still inside.
*This is it,* Shen thought bitterly in the fleeting moments before oblivion. *So much for my life, my plans, my ambition… *
But even as death's grip tightened around him, Shen's mind refused to surrender. In the throes of desperation, an idea blazed to life—a restriction. It was reckless, impulsive, and born of sheer spite, but it was all he had left. He poured the last shreds of his being into the nen restriction: *If my aura is used, it will abandon its thief and form a beast—a nen beast—whose sole purpose is to destroy them.*
The restriction solidified as his consciousness faded, his final act of defiance etched into his nen. Shen's life ended, but a faint trace of his will lingered, waiting to enact his vengeance.
---
A cold wind swept across the balcony of a high-rise room in Heaven's Arena, carrying the faint hum of a bustling city below. Shen stood there, his dark eyes fixed on the sea of lights and life sprawled out before him. His expression was calm, yet his thoughts were a storm of complexity.
*Heaven's Arena… This is 30 years ago,* he realized, the weight of the revelation settling on him. *It seems I have regressed this time. My luck truly is strange.*
Shen turned and stepped back into the luxurious room behind him, his movements deliberate, his mind racing to process the implications. The decor, the familiar air of this place—it all pointed to one conclusion: he had returned to the time when he was 15, still training to unlock his aura nodes.
*So, the "wish" resulted in me being send back,* he thought, his lips curling into a bitter smile. *What an pleasant form of mercy.*
The cold from the balcony clung to his skin as he entered the bathroom. Steam quickly filled the space as he stepped under the hot spray of the shower, letting it wash over him. It cleared his thoughts, sharpening his mind like a whetstone.
*With the experience of my previous life, my reincarnation advantage becomes secondary,* Shen reflected, his eyes narrowing. *I was a nen user for 30 years and witnessed humanity's explosive growth during the colonization of the Dark Continent. This knowledge is my greatest weapon. Last time, I wasted opportunities, forgot key events, and resigned myself to obscurity. I became a minor character—nothing more than a fleeting memory in the memory of the world.*
The thought filled him with disgust. *Never again.*
He clenched his fists, steam rising around his form as his determination burned hotter than the water cascading over him.
*In this life, I cannot fear altering the future. If I lack even that small ambition, then what's the point of being human? Failure is acceptable—so long as I keep moving forward. Even if I fall short of my ultimate goals, so what? At least I will have fought, bled, and clawed my way toward them.*
Shen's expression hardened, his eyes filled with an unrelenting intensity. "If I can't even achieve that much, I deserve to die a third time."
The words echoed in his mind as he stepped out of the shower, his resolve as unyielding as the cold wind that had met him on the balcony. This time, Shen would not squander his second chance. He would not simply survive—he would Conquer.