Gourmet Hunter (HxH Fanfic)

The basement wasn't large, about 150 square meters. Its walls and floors are made of white stone bricks with uneven surfaces.

There are ten square stone pillars standing in the room. Each pillar was the same height, though their bases varied in size.

The six collectibles are placed on six of these stone pillars and covered with a layer of transparent glass, making it look like museum's display.

The six collectibles are a sword, a stone lamp, a silver bowl, a golden pen, a stone statue of a monkey, and a strange urn.

Among them, the ones with faint traces of Nen are the sword and the strange urn, but Law knew that such faint traces of Nen should not be underestimated. Not to mention the strange human-shaped urn, the sword that could have Nen must be a murder weapon.

Law's eyes couldn't help but be attracted by the sword and the strange urn. He wondered how much his abilities would be enhanced after absorbing the Nen from these two items.

So far, Law only knows that absorbing the Nen will increase his Potential Aura, and it is not clear whether it will increase his power. However, Law is still very curious about what it will look like if the Awakening Rate of all six categories become 100%.

'It may take a long time to achieve that goal. For now, I need to focus on the immediate task. Getting too far ahead would only hinder my progress.'

Suppressing the excitement bubbling within his heart, Law carefully maintained a composed demeanor, fearing that the three would notice something unusual.

"These six antiques are my treasures. Tell me their names and origins. This is the opportunity I'm giving you." The Elder turned slightly and glanced at Law.

"Just their names and origins? That's too easy." Law's mouth corners curved slightly, looking very arrogant.

Machi had once told him that in Meteor City, the only way to survive was to act high-profile and let others realize your strength and value, so as to deter the potential threats.

Similarly, if you want to highlight your value, you have to be as high-profile as possible.

And when it came to appraising antiques, there was no room for humility. If it were about demonstrating Nen abilities, Law might have chosen to keep some secrets. But in this situation, Law had no reason to hold back.

Hearing Law's words, the Elder narrowed his eyes slightly but said nothing.

The two men standing next to the Elder looked at Law as if he were a dead man.

There are six antique collections in the basement, which the Elder spent about fifteen years collecting. In order to obtain these six antique collections, countless of his subordinates were killed.

Of the six items, four were 80% appraised, but the appreciation progress of the remaining two collections is almost zero. No matter which expert the Elder consulted, they had failed to provide answers.

These two items were the sword and the strange urn. Originally, when the Elder only asked Law to tell him the names and origins of the items, it was already too much to ask.

Cook's twin brother was secretly happy when he first heard the Elder's opportunity, and then he became ecstatic when he heard Law's arrogant remarks.

'There is a road to heaven but you don't take it, there is no door to hell but you insist on breaking in.'

At this moment, Cook's twin brother had already regarded Law as a dead man. Although he did not kill him with his own hands, it was good enough.

Silence fell over the basement as the Elder said nothing further.

The bright lights illuminated the room like daylight, yet a chill lingered in the air.

The Elder suddenly raised his cane, pointed at the mound of human bones next to the giant black dog, and said coldly: "These belonged to so-called expert appraisers. You don't wish to join them, do you?"

Meteor City has a close cooperative relationship with the Mafia, so it is not difficult to kidnap appraisers for the Elder, and these appraisers eventually become food for the giant black dog.

The pale bones are the proof of their existence, and also proof of how the powerless faces tragic accusation.

Their reputation is actually not in vain, but the Elder's requirements were too high. Perhaps from the moment they arrived here, these people were doomed to death.

Law stared at the mound of bones silently, 'It turned out that they were all professional appraisers. It was their bad luck to meet people like this Elder, who were indifferent to life. They were too weak to resist and eventually became food for his pet.'

"Can we start now?"

Law smiled, looking relaxed. He knew that the Elder was trying to intimidate him so that he retracted his earlier boldness, but he had no intention of backing down.

The Elder's narrowed eyes slowly opened, and he silently lowered his cane. Then, without another word, he said calmly: "Begin."

Law nodded and walked towards the first item, which was the monkey stone statue.

Law stood in front of the monkey stone statue, pretending to think, but in fact, he was trying to find a reason to touch the collection.

As the Elder looked at Law's back, his eyes gradually becoming colder. He had come into contact with many professional appraisers and knew some of the steps and preparations for appraisal.

However, from what he saw, Law was just like a layman.

The Elder made a gesture to Cook's twin brother, who nodded slightly, walked over, removed the glass cover from the monkey stone statue, and gently put it aside.

Law was slightly stunned when he saw this. It was as though a pillow had been handed to him just as he was about to doze off. Without hesitation, he reached out toward the monkey stone statue.

But at this time, the Elder's icy voice cut through the air, "Aren't you going to 'cleanse your hands' first?"

Touching antiques directly with bare hands was a necessary step for appraising them, but cleansing one's hands beforehand was a preparatory ritual.

This is a preparation ritual that every connoisseur will perform before appreciating antiques, which is to wipe their hands with a pristine white silk scarf or cloth to show respect and solemnity.

Of course, although amateur connoisseurs are aware of this preparation ritual, most of them will skip this process.

Hearing the Elder's words, Law was slightly startled, and his outstretched hand hung in mid-air.

'Cleanse my hands…?'

'Is this one of the steps in appraising antiques in this world?'

'Perhaps it involved wearing white gloves to avoid contaminating precious artifacts.'

'That seemed plausible.'

Law's thoughts raced and he retracted his hand. He turned to look at the Elder, and said with a wry smile: "The problem is, I don't have the necessary equipment."

Although he thought that 'cleansing his hands' might require wearing white gloves like on Earth, he chose to give an ambiguous answer when responding. This was Law's cunningness.

Judging from the Elder's tone, he was already displeased for some reason. If Law directly answered that he has no gloves and it was the wrong answer, he would probably be in big trouble.

Anyway, no matter what this 'cleansing hands' is, Law believed it should require equipment.

Gloves, water, even disinfectant, it doesn't matter. With such an answer, as long as the Elder wanted Law to do 'cleansing his hands', they will naturally hand it over

Hearing Law's reply, the Elder's cold gaze softened slightly and he motioned to Cook's twin brother with a nod.

Cook's twin brother understood the gesture and reached under his tattered cloak to retrieve a pristine white silk scarf before handing it to Law.

Looking at the silk scarf handed over by Cook's twin brother, Law took it without saying a word. At the same time, he thought about the silk scarf and 'cleanse hands' together and quickly came to a conclusion.

'As the name suggests, it's cleaning my hands!'

Law wiped his hands calmly and watched the Elder's reaction. Seeing that the Elder's expression did not change much, he felt relieved.

'I guessed it right...'

'But seriously, this Elder seemed a bit... obsessive in his ways.'

After wiping his hands, Law returned the scarf to Cook's twin brother, who stared at him coldly as he took the scarf.

With his back to the Elder, Law gave Cook's twin brother the middle finger, which he knew is an international greeting gesture from Marza.

Cook's twin brother's eyes narrowed, and his killing intent slipped through for a moment.

At this moment, Law reached out calmly to the monkey stone statue. At the same time, the Elder's eyes turned cold again, but this time his eyes were on Cook's twin brother.

Cook's twin brother's body trembled slightly, and he lowered his head as he took a few steps back. The killing intent that had leaked out was instantly restrained.

'Serves you right.'

Law curled his lips and when he placed his hand on the monkey stone statue, all kinds of information about the monkey stone statue appeared in his mindscape through the white smoke text.