Cards and Keys

Chapter Twelve: The Nen Test

Lucy POV

"Finally!" I exclaimed. After many painful hours and challenges, me and Hisoka had finally reached the end of phase 2- the speaker announcing it as we entered the waiting room.

"You took longer than expected." A familiar aloof voice echoed from across the room. It belonged to the only person who had passed before us- Illumi. He was leaning against the wall, with the same disinterested expression that seemed to never leave his face, though I'm not sure if that was thanks to the needles or just his personality .

"I had extra baggage~" Hisoka said while jokingly pointing to me.
He's calling ME extra baggage? That clown is the responsible for all the time we lost!

"Excuse me?" I put my hands on my hips, "I'm not the one who lost us 20 hours and then wanted to get drunk!-"
I quickly slapped a hand over my mouth, instantly regretting bringing up the drinking game. I'd avoided bringing up the topic until then, not wanting to deal with Hisoka's relentless teasing. I was still irked at the fact that he could tell I was inexperienced.

"Oh? From what I remember you seemed to thoroughly enjoy my drinking game~" He grinned slyly and trailed his finger down my arm.

I swiftly jumped away and held my hands up defensively.
"Hah-?! Keep being creepy and I'll open up the wound that scar guy gave you!" I threatened, my face flushed beet red.

"So cruel~," Hisoka moaned, sliding down the wall until he was sat down, "I'll play nice."

"You better," I replied sternly and turned to Illumi, "Do you have any bandages?"

"No, a competent assassin has no need for bandages."

"Riiggght,"I stifled an eye roll, "I guess I'll have to go for option two."

As neatly as i could, I ripped off a piece of fabric from the bottom of my top. It was just enough fabric to wrap around Hisoka's injury, but now my top only just covered my chest. I needed a serious shopping trip after this exam was over.

"Hold still." I instructed as I began to wrap up Hisoka's wound, making sure not to knock it as I did so. It wasn't bleeding anymore, but his outfit was stained heavily with dry blood- though a lot of it probably belonged to the poor souls who'd been stupid enough to fight him.

"All done! Does it feel ok?" I asked as I retracted my hands from his waist, which was now tightly wrapped.
"As good as new~" He smiled, admiring my work.
All of a sudden, his hands then began to glow, in the same way I'd seen him glow previously when using nen. I was about to ask what he was doing when a strange material emerged from his hands.

"This is my texture surprise; It can mimic any texture," Hisoka explained proudly, "I usually don't like to show my tricks but I'll make an exception for you~"
He placed the fabric over where blood was still showing and it blended in seamlessly with his outfit, I wouldn't have even guessed he was bleeding.

"Could you teach me a little more about nen? I feel like I should start learning it." I inquired, admiring his sorcery.

"I'll gladly teach you~ I suppose we could do a few tests to see what type of aura you have."

"Type of aura?" I questioned, not quite understanding. Hisoka then explained the six categories of nen types to me and what each of them entail. It was hard to keep up with, but I got the gist of it.

"So how do I do these tests?" I asked eagerly.

"Well, there's only two, the first is a simple personality analysis, created by yours truly~"

A personality analysis huh... that's not the most scientific test ever, but oh well, there's no harm in trying.

"What type do you think my personality fits then?"

"Hmmm~ You're quite determined and logical, and yet you're impatient and offbeat. If I had to guess I'd say either a Manipulator, Specialist, Emmiter or Enhancer."

"That doesn't exactly narrow it down." I sighed, ignoring Hisoka's peculiar description of my personality. I couldn't tell if being 'offbeat' was a compliment or not.

"I suppose that leaves us with the water divination test~"

"And that is?"

"It's better for me to show you than explain it~ Do you happen to have a bottle of water on you?" Hisoka asked.

I shook my head, but Illumi piped up instead.
"You can use mine," He said and pulled out a clear flask, "since we're 'teammates'."
He sneered slightly at the word 'teammates',
but I appreciated the gesture non the less.

I thanked him while Hisoka picked up a small leaf off of the ground, placing it on the water.
"Try and concentrate all your energy into the leaf~" Hisoka advised, taking my hands and positioning them over the bottle.

I channeled my magic energy the same way i did when summoning spirits or using startdresses. But unlike usual, I could actually SEE the energy. I watched it travel through my arms, to my hands, and flowing out of my fingertips.

Soon enough, the bottle began to glow a golden light.
"An emitter...?" Hisoka started.

But before he could finish, the bottle began to shake violently, thrashing back and forth. We all jumped back in alarm. The intensity of the shaking grew and grew, until the bottle exploded. I covered head with my hands, trying to avoid the plastic shards that were now flying everywhere. Luckily I didn't get hit by many, and the ones that did hit only left small scratches.

"What the hell does that mean?!" I asked, still panicked. My magic literally exploding something could not be a good sign.

"Oh how fun~ It means that your a specialist." Hisoka purred, thankfully not injured by the explosion.

"A specialist huh? What exactly does that mean again?"

"That your nen doesn't fit into any other category. It's unique, and in your case- powerful~" Hisoka said, his voice laced with delight.

"Really?"
I blinked in surprise.
Powerful? That's a first. I'd never been considered powerful back home- not compared to Natsu, Gray, Erza or even Wendy.
Could I actually become strong here?
~
A/N: Heyyyy!! This chapter is more of an interval between phase 2 and phase 3 but I hope it wasn't too boring😩
also what do u think lucy's specialist abilities could be? :0