The mountain path was winding and rugged.
Moro had been walking for about an hour and hadn't encountered a single soul.
Looking up at the sky, he estimated there were still two or three hours until sunset.
In terms of time, it was barely sufficient.
But it was best to leave this desolate area before nightfall.
In this world, undeveloped wilderness areas were often filled with life-threatening dangers.
Most of these dangers came from various bizarre creatures capable of killing humans with ease.
In such places, without professional survival knowledge, even a Nen user could lose their life in the deep forests and mountains.
Since Moro's arrival in this world, he had mostly thrown himself into human society, where opportunities abounded, and had rarely ventured into the wild.
He hadn't even visited natural parks that were fully developed and open to the public.
But that didn't stop him from respecting the dangers of the wilderness.
After a brief rest, Moro continued descending the mountain path, pondering his next steps as he walked.
First, he needed to solve the issue of his identity...
From the moment he was thrown into the caged transport truck, a death certificate had already been issued for him.
As a result, all of his records in the identity database had vanished along with that death certificate.
Back then, Morena had helped him obtain a new identity. But this time, he would have to figure it out himself.
Fortunately, it shouldn't be too difficult.
After spending half a year in Yorknew City, Moro knew that many things could be solved with money.
"600,000 Jenny... I wonder if that'll be enough."
The money he had taken from the two corpses wasn't much, but it was crucial to Moro right now.
Even if it wasn't enough to buy a new ID, it could at least serve as startup capital to generate more income.
Lightly patting his bulging pocket, Moro looked into the distance, where faint wisps of smoke could be seen rising.
Solving the identity issue was his top priority. After all, using high-speed transportation, such as airships, required proper identification.
For Moro, time was as valuable as life itself.
He had to make sure not to waste even a single second.
Once the identity issue was dealt with, he had two possible destinations in mind.
One was Heaven's Arena, where he could earn prize money and compensate for his lack of combat experience.
During his climb to become a floor master, he was likely to encounter competitors with malicious intent.
Most of those competitors would be Nen users seeking to exploit newcomers for easy victory points.
These people were ruthless and would stop at nothing to achieve fame and fortune. Dirty tricks and underhanded methods were their standard fare.
If Moro encountered such opponents, he certainly wouldn't hold back.
After all, defeating a Nen user would mean acquiring more Nen experience, which was critical for him.
The other destination was Yorknew City.
Moro was very familiar with Yorknew City. As long as he had startup capital, he could quickly generate profits and secure his financial situation.
More importantly, he wanted to spend money acquiring antiques or handcrafted artifacts imbued with Nen to see if his ability to absorb energy through The Yearring still worked.
Even if he could still collect energy, Moro knew that upgrading his strength would take priority over any lengthy energy-gathering process.
Two choices.
No matter which path he chose, his ultimate goal was the same:
To kill Feitan within a year.
Moro pondered for a while, unable to make a decision right away. Then, he remembered something important.
Intelligence channels—
To kill Feitan, the prerequisite was being able to find him.
According to the original storyline, the Phantom Troupe had been notorious since its inception, committing heinous crimes to make a name for itself.
Many shocking crimes were their doing.
Their brutal methods quickly earned them a reputation as a notorious S-rank criminal organization, instilling fear in the hearts of many.
Eventually, the world learned that the Phantom Troupe members hailed from Meteor City.
Public fear and hatred for the Phantom Troupe began to extend to Meteor City as well.
This was one of Chrollo Lucilfer's motivations for forming the Phantom Troupe:
To make the world fear and dread the Phantom Troupe, thereby using that fear to create a protective aura around Meteor City.
The Troupe was devoted to this goal.
But beyond that, the Phantom Troupe had one more objective:
To avenge the death of their childhood friend, Sarasa.
Under Chrollo's leadership, the Troupe waded through blood and carnage, eventually killing those responsible for Sarasa's brutal death six years prior.
After that, the Troupe's wild rampages gradually subsided.
Their crimes and killings became less frequent, and the frequency of their group activities visibly declined.
At one point, the Phantom Troupe didn't even gather for three years.
When its members dispersed, they became like stones thrown into the sea—impossible to track.
Because of this, Moro had to consider the importance of having an intelligence network.
Without it, even if he became strong enough to defeat Feitan, it would be useless if he couldn't find him.
Moro's thoughts drifted back to that deadly rainy night.
Why had the Phantom Troupe come after him?
He didn't know.
Now that he had chosen a different path, he couldn't be certain whether Chrollo and the others would show up in Yorknew City a year later.
He decided to keep that "piece of information" as a backup plan.
If circumstances allowed, Moro would much prefer to face Feitan one-on-one.
Hence, an intelligence network was essential.
It would help him locate Feitan when he was acting alone.
But in the world of Hunters, intelligence was an extremely expensive commodity.
"Yorknew City it is, then."
Realizing how crucial an intelligence network was, Moro decided to head to Yorknew City first.
He planned to scout for valuable finds and quickly amass a fortune.
Back when he was making his name in Yorknew, he'd often heard stories of people finding rare treasures at street markets and others tricking wealthy collectors out of their most prized artifacts.
Moro could use future knowledge to intercept and claim some of these priceless treasures.
This way, he could quickly accumulate money for his intelligence needs while also testing the current capabilities of The Yearring.
Two weeks later.
Yorknew City, Downwater Street, Rat Alley.
The slightly damp alley wasn't filled with much garbage, but the air was still thick with an unpleasant smell.
It was late at night. Deep within the alley, the dim glow of a few yellow lamps barely provided enough light to see.
Moro stood at a T-intersection, holding a briefcase in his hand.
Tap, tap—
Footsteps echoed from the shadows.
A masked man dressed in heavy clothing emerged cautiously from the dimly lit area, scanning his surroundings with suspicion.
When he spotted Moro, his wary eyes quickly swept to the briefcase in Moro's hand before he slowly approached.
Stopping in front of Moro, the masked man pulled out a long, cloth-wrapped object from behind him and held it out.
"You can inspect the goods, but I need the money first."
The man's voice was hoarse. He paused, then added, "I'll only wait one minute."
"Deal."
Moro tossed the briefcase at the man's feet, then took the long object and unwrapped the cloth, revealing a red-and-white katana surrounded by wisps of Nen energy.
Seeing the smoke-like Nen emanating from the blade, Moro nodded in satisfaction.
He had arrived in Yorknew a week ago but found that resolving his identity card issue was more troublesome than expected.
So, he temporarily set the identity problem aside and began hunting for valuable items at the street markets.
In less than a week, he had earned over 20 million Jenny.
But instead of using that money to fix his identity issue, he immediately sought out the masked man to purchase this expensive but questionably-sourced katana.
If he could resell it...
He could make over a billion Jenny in one deal.
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Powerstones?