They pushed open the door and stepped inside.
Almost immediately, a pair of eyes locked onto Ron.
"Big Brother!"
A young girl dashed straight toward him. She had white hair tied into a small tuft on top of her head and wore a white training outfit.
"Miste."
Ron patted the girl's head.
Miste pressed her face against Ron's chest and inhaled deeply before letting go. Then she looked at Ponzu standing beside him.
"Ponzu?"
Ruco had arrived at Heaven's Arena earlier, so she'd already mentioned Ponzu's existence. That meant Miste knew about her in advance. The two of them were about the same height.
Ron introduced them. "This is Miste."
Miste gave Ponzu a polite nod.
"Hello, Miste. I'm Ponzu."
They shook hands. Meanwhile, Ron sized Miste up. She no longer looked like a little girl—she carried a fresh, youthful air. Something about her reminded Ron of a character from that other world in his memory, someone named Mirajane, an S-Class mage from Fairy Tail.
"Miste, where are Nina and the others?" Ron glanced around but saw only Miste.
Normally, if he'd told them he was coming, Nina and the others would have been here waiting, maybe even picking him up at the airship terminal.
"Nina has a match," Miste replied. "Sally took Ruco out for some training. Shizuku went with them."
Ron nodded. "Ponzu, pick out a room for yourself. This entire floor is ours."
He had divided the floor into two areas—one for rooms and the other for a training ground. The training space was pretty big, suitable for standard sessions, though it might be lacking for serious marksmanship practice.
"This is one of our team's bases," he added.
"Yes, Captain," Ponzu answered, and went to find a room. Any room already claimed had a sign on the door.
Turning back to Miste, Ron said, "Let's head to the training area."
"Yes, Big Brother."
The two of them entered the training ground. With a thought, Ron summoned a figure who promptly appeared.
"Let's begin!"
Miste nodded, and a formidable aura flared around her. Over the years, Ron's strength had steadily grown, but so had the strength of his teammates—especially Miste. Excluding Ponzu, whose talents were tied to the Bee Queen condition, Miste showed the greatest potential among Ron's recruits. She'd already reached the level of a B-rank Nen user. She'd learned Nen later than Nina and Sally, but had quickly caught up.
Shizuku had also advanced to B-rank. Sally, on the other hand, had exhausted a lot of her potential early on, so her upper limit was capped. When Ron met Sally, she was at C-rank, and she remained there still. This is common for many Nen users—not everyone can keep growing stronger indefinitely. Some hit their limits early on, like many rookie fighters at Heaven's Arena or members of the Underworld Mafia's Shadow Beast.
They might work hard, but certain ceilings can't be overcome without the right combination of talent, training, and instruction.
Nina, meanwhile, hovered between C-rank and B-rank, just shy of stepping fully into B-rank. But since Nina's ability was more support-based, even at a slightly lower rank, she still had significant value.
In the next moment, Miste's form changed. A blue and white battlesuit materialized around her, and a black cloak billowed behind her. An intense, dangerous aura rose from her entire being. Her long white hair flickered like flames. She sprouted two golden horns on her head, and her exposed skin shone with a metallic luster. Even her fingers turned into sharp claws, and a tail appeared behind her. At the same time, her aura surged once more.
Boom!
Miste's fist collided with Natsu's—the summoned figure—producing a startling crash. Ron focused again, and Chii appeared. She began tracking and recording Miste's data so they could analyze it afterward and offer specialized training suggestions.
Miste's ability resembled a style taught in the Fiore Kingdom's Beast Dojo, letting her take on the form of certain creatures—sometimes real, sometimes imagined. Hers was clearly the latter. After transforming, Miste typically fought in two ways: first, using her enhanced speed and power to overwhelm an opponent much like an Enhancer would; second, channelling white flames. Her hair flared with those flames, not just visually but with genuine heat far hotter than any normal fire.
A massive shape suddenly leaned close to Ron while he was watching. It was White Bear. Ever since it opened its aura nodes, White Bear had ceased to be an ordinary dog—its entire nature seemed changed. For starters, its size had increased again, even though it had supposedly reached its limit years ago. Now it stood over a meter tall at the shoulder and weighed nearly two hundred kilograms. Strengthened by Nen, its speed, claws, and teeth made it fearsome enough to take on most wild beasts without trouble.
Ron patted White Bear's head, and the dog flopped down next to him.
"Captain, I've picked a room," Ponzu said, hurrying over. Then she spotted Miste mid-battle and couldn't help widening her eyes.
"That's incredible! Is she another member of our team?"
Ponzu automatically compared herself to Miste, realizing there was a huge gap in their abilities—they weren't on the same level at all.