The Crafter didn't rise.
He shifted.
His body was barely humanoid—shoulders too wide, eyes too far apart, legs crossed like a spider's mandibles. Nen swirled around him not in waves, but in threads—each one pulsing with purpose.
Books floated overhead. Diagrams rotated endlessly in the air.
Kaen took one step into the Crafter's Hall.
Instantly—
The entire room changed.
"You walk with a Mind Palace," the Crafter said, voice echoing in a dozen languages.
"But that is just a gallery."
"I designed the engine of all galleries."
Suddenly the floor beneath Kaen warped into a black blueprint.
Lines, symbols, rules. He was standing inside a design itself.
"This is my domain," the Crafter whispered.
"And in here, imagination obeys."
⸻
Round 1: Control vs Curiosity
The Crafter raised one hand.
Five glowing spheres emerged—each containing a failed Nen concept:
• A blade that fed on unspoken guilt
• A time loop that only worked when the user lied
• A shield that got stronger the more you lost
"These are constructs abandoned by your kind," the Crafter said.
"Too risky. Too fragile."
"But I refined them. I command them."
The spheres shot forward.
Kaen's Mind Palace surged open behind him like cathedral doors in a hurricane.
"And I learn from them."
"Construct: Nen Conversion Theatre – Adaptive Arena Protocol."
With a pulse of blue lightning, Kaen transformed the room into a live feedback arena.
Each sphere that came near him—
He didn't dodge.
He absorbed the concept.
He understood them.
• The guilt blade? Reforged into a Hope Dagger—a weapon that got sharper the more you believed you could survive.
• The time loop? Translated into a Reflection Pulse—a defensive barrier that resets upon inner truth.
• The loss-shield? Turned into Momentum Armor—protecting Kaen stronger with every setback.
"You took risks and made rules," Kaen said.
"I take rules and make possibilities."
⸻
The Crafter narrowed his dozen eyes.
Then the hall began to split apart.
Hundreds of floating corridors emerged.
Each one… a dream Kaen never had.
⸻
Round 2: The Lost Possibilities
"You think you have mastered imagination," the Crafter whispered.
"Let me show you what you left behind."
Each corridor was a potential life:
• One where Kaen had joined the Phantom Troupe.
• One where Kaen became a Beast Hunter and died young saving a Nen-infected city.
• One where Kaen never awakened Nen at all, and stayed a lonely fisherman.
Kaen felt all of them.
Like memories he never earned. Regrets he'd never truly owned.
His steps faltered.
The Mind Palace flickered.
But he gritted his teeth.
"None of those are me," he growled.
"I don't need to walk every path to know who I am."
He slammed a hand down.
"Construct – Identity Core: Singular Resolve"
The palace reshaped.
It was no longer a shifting castle.
It became a single radiant tower—solid, burning with light.
All the fake corridors burned to ash.
⸻
Final Round: Creator's Verdict
The Crafter rose.
At last.
His final form was pure concept. A being made of imagination with a skeleton of rules.
"You stand before one who predates the Hunter Association.
One who designed the Labyrinth to find a successor who would not just survive,
but create."
He raised a hand of infinite fingers.
"Last test, Kaen."
"Make a world."
⸻
Kaen's eyes widened.
Then he smiled.
His Mind Palace EXPLODED outward.
Not as a weapon.
As a cosmos.
• Forests of thought.
• Rivers of emotion.
• Cities made from shared dreams.
He crafted:
• A mountain where Hunters learned from the dreams of the dead.
• A field where Phantom Beasts could safely roam and share Nen.
• A tower where Hunters from any nation could vote with memory instead of power.
The Crafter stared.
And then…
He bowed.
"You pass."
"You may leave this place."
"And you may take my gift."
⸻
Reward: Crafter's Legacy – Forbidden Construct License
Kaen has unlocked access to Blueprint-Class Nen, allowing him to build abilities from discarded, broken, or dangerous Nen fragments others would never use.
He may now use the Crafter's Loom inside the Palace to reconstruct forgotten Nen ideas—bridging generations of lost power.
⸻
Back in the Labyrinth
Kaen opened his eyes.
The hall behind him collapsed—flooded with data, sparks, light, and the memory of a man who built forever.
Killua stared.
"You look… older."
"Nah," Kaen said, smiling. "Just upgraded."
Kurapika checked the map.
"There's a new path forward. And it's marked in a name none of us typed in."
They looked.
It said:
"Mind Palace Protocol: Whale Ascension."
Kite laughed.
"Guess the Crafter gave you the keys, huh?"
"You're not just in this world anymore, Kaen…"
"You're writing it."
⸻
TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 25 – Whale Ascension: Gateway to the Final Floor