Gourmet Hunter (HxH Fanfic)

Rust coated the blade, but the blade remained unchipped.

After a long period of sedimentation, it should no longer be effective in killing the enemy, but Law couldn't shake his desire to obtain it.

This is a sword... that has gone through countless life-and-death battles but has never tasted blood. It is also a sword used by a Nen User.

Shin

Quality: rare treasure

Age: 922

Description: The sword is forged by the famous swordsmith, Moose, in his later years. It was his final creation and has never been released to the public. It was eventually obtained by an unknown young swordsman.

Law grasped the hilt and slowly lifted it up. It felt heavy in his hand, but it possessed an undeniable balance.

The details about this artifact were now firmly etched in Law's mind.

He held the rusted blade horizontally in front of his eyes, staring at it silently, and then said, "This is the last blade made by the bladesmith, Moose. It is named Shin, which means the blade of the most merciful."

The sword stretched nearly five feet long, only a head shorter than Law. When Law held it in his hand, it looked oddly oversized.

At this moment, Law's thought had shifted: He no longer thought about absorbing the Nen on the sword. Instead, he felt a burning desire to claim the sword as his own.

Gripping the sword tightly, Law turned around and looked at the Elder, and then said, "Moose has forged countless swords in his life, and all of them are killing weapons. Maybe something went wrong in his later years and he felt deeply about his own sins, so he forged such a sword as a way to mock his own legacy."

The Elder's eyes changed slightly, but he remained silent.

Law did not realize the Elder's strangeness and continued, "The sharpness of Shin surpasses any blade Moose ever forged, but it was never intended for combat. Its sole purpose was to be admired."

"Moose gave Shin unparalleled sharpness, but he never intended for it to fall in the hands of any swordsman, so this should be the most suitable sword for collection."

After finishing the explanation, Law slowly put Shin back to its stand, and then looked at the Elder quietly.

He did not absorb the Nen from Shin, and also concealed more detailed information about Shin. He just picked out some information he knew the Elder wanted to hear.

As Law had mentioned, the origin of Shin was tied to a peculiar tale. Moose wanted to make the sharpest sword that would not draw blood, that is, a sword specifically for collection.

Even children know this information, let alone the appraisal experts, but why the appraisal progress of this sword is still zero even now? The reason was simple: the tale originated from a fairy tale, and no official records corroborated its existence.

After all, Moose was a bladesmith infamous for his affinity for bloodshed. The swords he forged are valued solely for their lethality.

Many people also know this, making the fairy tale seem like a biting satire. But only Law learned the deeper truth, thanks to the description offered by the white smoke text.

If Law truly wanted to obtain this sword, the best thing to do would be to directly point out that it was a worthless forgery. This approach just happened to fit in with the Elder's understanding of the sword.

However, Law refrained from doing so.

Since the sword was kept by the Elder, if Law made it clear, it might make the Elder unhappy.

The risk of doing so was too great, so Law did not do it.

"You think the fairy tale is true?" The Elder narrowed his eyes and stared at Law quietly.

Even though the Elder didn't like reading books, but for the sake of this peculiar artifact, he had made an exception and went to read this fairy tale.

If it weren't for the ability Law showed in appraising the previous few items, at this moment, the Elder would probably have let the giant black dog devour Law without saying a word.

Hearing the Elder's question, Law smiled slightly and said seriously: "Fairy tales are all lies, but Moose's signature mark doesn't lie."

On the blade of the sword near the hilt, there is the signature mark of Moose. Half of it is covered by rust, but it can still be roughly identified.

This sword's conundrum lay in its authenticity. It was a genuine artifact, yet no records supported its existence. And the association with the absurd fairy tale only muddied its legitimacy further.

Having said that, it cannot conceal Shin's value as a collector's item.

The Elder nodded and his temper seemed pacified.

He liked this sword, so even though there was a ridiculous fairy tale hanging on it, he insisted on keeping it here.

When Law saw the Elder had no objection to what he said, he slowly walked towards the next item.

Regarding Shin, Law is the only one in this world who understood the full story.

In the eleventh year after the birth of Shin, on the coldest day of winter, a young man visited Moose and begged him to forge a sword for him, but Moose had stopped forging swords a long time ago and refused him outright.

However, that young man was exceptionally stubborn, and Moose, who was annoyed by his relentless pestering, eventually kicked the young man out of the house.

However, the young man did not leave. Instead, he stubbornly stood outside Moose's house for the entire winter.

Finally, Moose relented and invited the young man inside. He explained that he was too old to forge any more swords, so he gave the young man Shin, who had never appeared, and asked the young man to swear an oath not to let Shin draw blood.

This was a rather unreasonable request, but after seeing the young man's reaction, Moose did not regret his decision to give the sword to the young man.

The young man made the oath without hesitation. Because he is an Enhancer, he stupidly made the Vows and Limitations directly.

Make a rule, swear in your heart, and stick to them. The more difficult the rules are, the stronger one's Nen Ability will be. If they violate the rules, they will have to bear the corresponding price. This is the Vows and Limitations.

After the young man done that, he obtained Shin, and from that day onward, he never lost a fight, nor did he harm a single person with Shin. Over time, as he fought countless battles without defeat, rust began to creep across the sword's surface.

Maybe... it's the sword that is crying.

Although the young man felt guilty, he still adhered to the oath he made and never replaced the sword until his death.

Shin is both the first and last sword wielded by this unknown swordsman.

As the years passed, the Vows and Limitations that this unknown swordsman has maintained throughout his life still remain in Shin.

This is why Law doesn't want to absorb the Nen and instead yearned to obtain the sword.

However, he knew that with his current strength, it was impossible to obtain Shin.

'One day... I'll find an opportunity to steal the sword and everything else in this collection. After all, they are worth a fortune.'

Law thought silently.

He then walked to the nameless strange urn. After he reached out and touched it, the details flooded into his mind and his face suddenly turned dark.

It was an utterly grotesque object, which is a chamber pot made from a human head.

'No wonder I can vaguely make out a human face on its surface.'

The origin of this human head chamber pot is that a prince, who finally ascended the throne after going through many hardships, made the chamber pot out of the head of his rival and half-brother.

The Nen that remain on the human head chamber pot are, to some extent, a kind of resentment.

When Law told the Elder about this chamber pot, whose appraisal progress was still zero, he did not show any disgust. Instead, he seemed thrilled by the artifact's macabre uniqueness.

'Only a twisted mind could create something so twisted… And only someone equally twisted could appreciate it.'

While explaining the human head chamber pot, Law quietly absorbed the resentment on it. As a result, he saw his Enhancement's Awakening Rate increased from 2% to 5%.

Thankfully, none of the three people present notice his action.

'Success.'

Law thought with satisfaction. He also thought that with this ability to absorb resentment, he would never starve to death in the future. After all, he could just become a charlatan and specialize in exorcising ghosts for people.

The last artifact in this basement was a stone lamp, which was nothing special. After Law appraised it, all the information about the Elder's collections was updated.

The Elder was very satisfied with the results.

"You are very good, better than any of the bones here." The Elder praised.

'Bones…'

'These so-called appraisal experts had spent lifetimes accumulating knowledge and honing their craft, only to be reduced to mere bones in the Elder's eyes.'

'Perhaps, the Elder never saw them as people to begin with.'

Law's expression remained unchanged, but in his heart, he felt pity for these appraisal experts, who were eaten by the giant black dog.

If he didn't have white smoke text helping him, Law would likely have joined their ranks in the pile of bones.