One week passed quietly.

  Not in the sense that nothing happened, but in the sense that nothing went wrong.

  Conrad trained, learned, listened, observed.

  He took short but intense lessons from different instructors, learned how swords dictated distance, how boxers read shoulders and hips, how grapplers punished hesitation.

  He didn't master anything but he understood enough to be dangerous, and more importantly, enough to stay alive.

  Now, as he walked through the streets of Yorknew City, Conrad felt different.

  He stopped walking.

  For no clear reason, his body simply told him to stop.

  Conrad stood still as the city moved around him.

  Cars passed.

  People talked.

  Somewhere nearby, music pyed faintly.

  Yet all of it felt distant.

  Inside his mind, a quiet sequence of thoughts formed, slow and clear.

  "Calm."

  "Heart."

  "Calmness."

  "Against death."

  He frowned slightly not in confusion, but in recognition.

  "…So that's it," he murmured.

  It wasn't a complicated realization.

  There was no grand vision or dramatic fsh.

  It was closer to understanding something that had always been there, waiting for him to notice.

  Survivability.

  Conrad had trained, pnned, and prepared, but at the end of the day, the most important thing in the world of Nen wasn't power.

  It was not dying.

  "You can pn forever," he thought. "But one mistake is enough."

  A simple ability.

  That was what he needed first.

  Something that didn't attack, didn't show, didn't draw attention.

  Something that worked silently, constantly, and reliably.

  Something that kept his mind steady.

  His thoughts immediately drifted to Killua.

  More specifically, to the needle Illumi had pced in him.

  "The Needle was a soliciting-type maniputor ability that Illumi pced on Killua."

  "It worked like a suggestion, a habit, it is only reason for to exist was to stop Killua from trying to act against dangerous or unknown enemies."

  "A sickening love from Illumi to Killua."

  Not the control itself but the effect.

  Emotional regution under extreme stress.

  He exhaled slowly.

  "A simple ability that boosts my survivability… and my combat reliability."

  His feet moved again without conscious thought, carrying him toward a quieter area.

  He entered a small park tucked between buildings, with a few benches and trimmed trees.

  Conrad sat down, resting his arms on his legs.

  "I don't need strength," he said quietly. "I need stability."

  Fear, panic, hesitation those killed more Nen users than ck of aura ever did.

  If his mind broke under pressure, no system would save him.

  "My ck of experience of real battles, not to mention nen battles is easy to see."

  "Not to mention against experienced martial artists and battle maniacs like Hisoka."

  "If I want to get involved and have some meaning in this world, my mentality needs to be changed."

  "I need to accept death, walk with the death," Conrad felt like Chrollo for a moment, the comment from Melody to him the fact that he breathes death in his every step.

  "I dont need something extreme."

  "Just the stability and calmness against threat of being murdered, tortured, I need to keep my sanity and calmness, mental energy in a battle so that I can pn and strategize."

  That was when his eyes lifted and nded on something specific.

  Across the street, a small trinket shop sat quietly between rger stores.

  It looked old-fashioned, selling rings, neckces, charms, and simple accessories.

  Conrad stared at it for several seconds.

  "…A ring," he said softly.

  It made sense.

  A physical anchor.

  A constant contact point.

  Something he could wear at all times without suspicion.

  A focus object that could serve as a condition and a medium.

  "It would work as a simple object of condition."

  "Simir to Big Pipe of Morel..."

  He stood up and crossed the street.

  Inside, the shop was quiet.

  An elderly clerk barely gnced up as Conrad browsed.

  He ignored the expensive items and focused on simplicity.

  Finally, he found it.

  A small, empty bck ring.

  Perfect.

  "This one," Conrad said.

  After paying, he slipped the ring onto his pinky finger.

  It fit comfortably, snug but not tight.

  He rotated it once, feeling its weight.

  He ughed softly under his breath.

  "Yeah," he nodded. "This will do."

  The choice of the pinky wasn't random.

  It was easy to protect, easy to notice, and rarely used in combat.

  Losing it would mean something had already gone very wrong another natural condition.

  "I may add losing my pinky finger to give some boost..."

  "Hahaha." Conrad ughed at his idea.

  "I like my new life..."

  "It is interesting at the very least."