Conrad walked around the market for a long time.
He picked up several objects, turned them in his hands, and then put them back.
Nothing sparked a clear idea.
Nothing felt right; he was still not sure of which item he should choose for himself.
He stopped walking and let out a slow breath.
"This is stupid," he muttered, then smiled slightly at himself.
"I'm overthinking again."
He raised his hand and looked at it.
"I should be using Gyo."
The thought felt obvious the moment it surfaced.
"If there's any item here that already has Nen or a lingering aura, I'll see it."
That alone would change everything.
An object that already carried aura, even weakly, would amplify any ability linked to it.
It would also reduce the amount of raw aura he would need to force into the item during creation.
Conrad knew this was also about discipline.
Using Gyo should not be something he remembered only during combat.
It needed to become instinct.
With that in mind, he activated Gyo and focused aura into his eyes.
A few objects glimmered faintly with residual aura from previous owners, emotional attachment, or simple prolonged use.
Conrad kept walking.
Minutes turned into hours.
He checked stalls again.
Still nothing.
Eventually, the sun shifted enough that shadows stretched across the ground. Conrad deactivated Gyo and sighed.
"Nothing," he said.
He turned back toward Heaven's Arena, deciding to give up for the day.
"I'll try again another time," he thought.
As he walked away from the market, his eyes caught something at the edge of his vision.
A faint shimmer.
He stopped.
Slowly, he turned his head.
Near the corner of a small stall, half-hidden beneath other items, a chain.
At the end of it hung a blunt hook, worn smooth as if it had been used for a long time.
Conrad reactivated Gyo.
The chain shone clearly.
"What…" he murmured.
He stepped closer.
The aura wasn't his imagination.
It wasn't residual in the way most old objects carried faint traces.
This aura was deeper, embedded into the object itself.
"This object was either created by a genius or a Nen user."
"Whoever created it must have put a lot of life energy into it."
"I am not sure if it is intentional Nen user creation or something like Zepile creating a copy without knowing how to use Nen."
But something that had been saturated.
The stall owner noticed Conrad's interest and leaned forward.
"This?" the man said quickly, picking it up. "Good eye."
He held the chain up.
"This neck chain came from an underground burial," the man continued.
"Dug up a few years ago."
He smiled.
"A powerful antique."
Conrad listened without saying anything.
He took the chain from the man and held it in his palm.
The weight felt right.
The hook was blunt, not sharp.
"This thing has seen use," Conrad thought. "A lot of it."
That alone made it valuable in his eyes.
"How much?" Conrad asked.
The man hesitated, then answered.
"One hundred thousand, Jenny."
Conrad knew immediately.
This was overpriced.
The man either didn't fully understand what he had, or he understood just enough to inflate the price.
Either way, the aura alone made the cost irrelevant.
Conrad didn't haggle.
"I'll buy it."
The stall owner blinked, surprised by the lack of resistance, then quickly accepted the payment.
Conrad put the chain into his pocket and left without another word.
Back in his room at Heaven's Arena, Conrad placed the chain on the table.
Up close, the aura was even clearer.
"What a great amount of aura,"
He sat down and leaned forward, elbows on the table, studying it.
"This wasn't made for Nen," he said. "But it was used by someone who had it."
But the aura had soaked in all the same.
"If I link an ability to this, the base output will already be higher."
It also fit his criteria.
"If it breaks," he said, "I lose the ability."
That was a real risk.
But unlike the Black Ring, this ability would be defensive.
A fair trade.
Conrad leaned back and crossed his arms.
"This might be it," he said.
Not certainty.
But close.
He smiled faintly.
"For once," he thought, "the market actually paid off."
He reached out and touched the chain again, his aura brushing against it gently.
Conrad felt something was different with this chain.
The Black Ring he chose for the State of Calm ability came to him without him making a conscious effort to find an item.
It was just like that; he felt it was right, and that was it.
This item, Silver Blunt Chain, called himself. This was different than what he expected until now.
Not to mention the aura on it.
"Anyway."
"I do not need to think much about these things."
"In the end, I have already decided that I will be linking my ability to this item."
"It feels right."
"I believe if it feels right, it is important for nen to work."
"I should be aware of such things."