It has been a month since I started the experiment. Before doing anything major and leaving the island for some time I went and celebrated my 6th birthday for a few hours. Nothing new, just the same old story. Now I won’t be bothered for a long time. Especially because I am over 100 kilometers away from Farfalla town. I found the island when I went to the highest point on the island, climbed on the highest tree there and jumped as high as I could. Well I found a small connecting island 50 kilometers away and found this one from there. In short, it is far from home.

There is nothing but the connecting island in 100 kilometers so I think I am safe. The island I dubbed ‘the training island #001 ’ was unremarkable. From the few maps I saw, it was small in comparison to the other larger ones. There aren’t even any signs of human existence here. Simply put, I doubt anyone has or will be on this island for decades.

So this brings me to the next point, Subject #017. He is currently with me, practising nen. Yes, nen. I awakened him half a month ago with the initiation method, the same way Wing awakened Gon and Killua. I was curious how it was performed and tried it. It was simple, but required fine control over both aura and intent. Any slightest fluctuation and the awakenee dies. Judging from the result it was a success, but there were some injuries. The method itself was flawed so I couldn’t do much about it. The only thing I could do, would be to practise, but I needed more subjects for that. It was a quick and dirty solution, but detrimental to the growth of the awakenee. Well it wasn’t my issue to deal with.

It was his. The man looked at my emotionless face and dull eyes with complex emotions. I was supposed to be his overseer, since the fake scientist Manuel was busy with other subjects. 17 thought that I was being controlled through a manipulation hatsu and under Manuel’s full control. All the hints were provided in the text I had given him, so only an idiot would not find that out.

For now, I acted as an emotionless puppet, but in the future, I plan to ‘slip out of Manuel’s control’ and give 17 hints and guide him towards the wanted direction. The fool will never see it coming. On top of that, he will never develop any hatred towards me, which is a good thing. I don’t need someone ready to die after me. He might develop some sort of burner hatsu, that uses his lifespan as fuel to finish me off and escape. And yes, I gave him the information about hatsu. The reason? Well I want him to create a simple burner hatsu that burns some of his lifespan in exchange for a temporary boost in talent. I applied just the right amount of pressure for him to be desperate enough to create it and not desperate enough to die with the experiment. 17 saw hope at the end of the tunnel.

Of course, I am still a 6 year old kid. I don’t know how 17 will act towards me, so I have to keep every possibility in mind. From my current observations, he seems to pity me. But all of that can change. It is still a massive variable. He might kill me from pity to free me, or he might create a hatsu that will fuck up my plans. One thing is certain, I cannot give him too much time or else my life will be at risk. As useful as he could be if trained, I cannot let that happen.

And so I continued to train with him.

***

A total of 7 months have passed. I have been training with 17 for a long time now. We both advanced by leaps and bounds, 17 especially. But that was probably because of the burner hatsu he created. From my observations, it was surprisingly simple. Whenever he trains, he will leak lifespan 25 times faster and is unable to reclaim it. In return, his talent will temporarily increase. Originally, I planned to stage the final fight after 1 year, but this threw a wrench in my plans. Well it will be better for me, since I get a stronger opponent. His talent is probably around 100 thousand now. He made thrice as much progress as me in the last 4 months (he developed the hatsu 4 months ago), which was saying something, given that my training effectiveness increased by nearly double because of both competitions and spars. His total training time would be somewhere around 28 months, while mine would be 36 months of my training. I pretended to be weaker than I am, so he feels that he has a higher amount of aura than me, which is important. Given that he is an emitter, it should come in handy for him. In actuality, I have around 30% more aura than him, 200% better control over it and 70% more experience, including his past as a gangster. My knowledge of nen was far deeper than his and I knew several secrets he didn’t. Including intent. In short, I could beat him in anything. But there was one more variable, hatsus. I had none, while he had at least one. And I wasn’t sure of the details behind it either. I have to keep that in mind. I have to stay vigilant for whatever comes my way.

There was one more month of training in front of us, before ‘Manuel’ scheduled a battle between us. It would take place on a clearing not far away from our current position.

To lift the mood, 17 tried to talk to me. We had gotten familiar with each other. He talked about the wonders of nen and that he wished he could learn it sooner. He even mumbled about the price he had to pay for it. He talked, as I listened as the night slowly passed.

***

The last month of training was intense. I had to come up with several trump cards in case my plans failed. I capitalised on the things I knew about him and made plans and took into account the things he didn’t know. The same was happening in a cave on the opposite side of the island. Two minds prepared plans and contingencies. Many sleepless nights went by as the fight inched closer and closer. On a sunny day, a man and a child faced one another. Their gazes were sharp and their resolve was firm. It was time for the fight.

[Change of POV - Narrator (3rd)]

The two figures bowed to each other. Respect echoed in their gestures. Both took a stance and their bodies were covered in explosive aura. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife. They slowly approached each other, before entering a slow bout that gradually sped up. After 10 minutes, they fought at insane speeds invisible to the naked eye of even some nen users. The shockwaves tore leaves from the trees and tore rocks from the ground. The previously calm and tranquil forest was filled with loud bangs and blasts.

The two figures separated from the clash and stood over 10 meters away from each other. Both had some minor injuries but could still move easily. After a few seconds of observing the opponent’s moves, the clash restarted.

17 shot blasts of aura towards the ground and created a smokescreen. Alan’s vision was blocked so he retreated. Using the smoke, 17 jumped on a tree and shot several dozen small blasts towards Alan. Or at least towards the sounds he heard. Alan soon noticed this and threw rocks infused with aura towards the ground. He saw the blast and used the angle of impact to determine its origin. After a few more blasts, he could finally approximate the position. But he knew that 17 knew that as well. 17 moved out of the way, but he did not expect a rock to scrape his face. He immediately grabbed a tree branch and changed his trajectory. However, he didn’t expect for something invisible to hit him. It was outside his field of vision and even his senses couldn’t warn him in time. But he had no time to think as he felt a punch in his stomach. 17 gasped for air before noticing the attacker calmly standing in front of him with a smile on his face.

With this, the battle continued for an hour before the two exhaused figures stood against each other one last time, before 17 fell to the ground in a painful laughter. Alan chuckled before asking: “You knew? How long?”, to which 17 replied: “All along dumbass. You still act your age sometimes. If not for the few slip ups I noticed, I would have thought that you were truly under mind control.” Alan replied with a tired voice: “I thought I fooled you pretty well. Sadly we must go our separate ways. I noticed by the way. Guess I am back to my original plan.”

“Huh. Well I knew all along that I wasn’t going to survive. I just poured my lifespan into a few hatsu and here we are. My talent is abysmal, but thanks to the burner ability, I could keep up and even surpass you. Well I lost decades of lifespan while you have a century left. Life truly is unfair.”

“You don’t know the half of it. I am but an ant before some people in this world. Could you imagine someone training for a month and outclassing us both? Yeah, it is unfair. But you must use the most out of it, if you want to get far. I have no doubts that I will surpass all of them one day.”

“You dream big, child. I like that about you. You remind me of a person I used to know. He was just like you. It was Preston Hill. Swear to me that you will never grow up like him. Never become a poisonous snake, backstabbing others while rotting inside.”

“There is no use swearing. Words hold no power over me. I will prove it with my actions, for if I betray myself, I might as well die.”

17 smiled hearing this. “I guess it is time to say goodbye. The last 9 months were fun. I spent time actually living instead of rotting on the islands. Ironic isn’t it?”

Alan nodded before taking an item out of his pocket.

“Goodbye friend. May you reach your goals. Make this world a better place!” Were the last words that left 17’s mouth, before his body relaxed.

Alan looked emotionlessly at the corpse in front of him. The previously vibrant brown hair turned gray and wrinkles appeared on its face. The body slowly shrivelled up before being blown away by the wind.

“Never let anything tie you down huh? An interesting message for a guy like him.”

Saying this, Alan walked away, not looking back.

Unknown to him, a mark appeared on his forehead, resembling three concentric circles.