Upgrade

The wind blowing from the mountain forest in late June carried a faint chill.

Perhaps that was why the skin pierced by the flying knives held a lingering coldness.

Too close—

If circumstances allowed, Moro would never have placed himself on a high-wire tightrope.

At the end of the day, it came down to being too weak.

So weak that at a critical moment, he could only stake everything he had as a bargaining chip.

Moro looked at Zazan lying on the ground.

The information he had gathered earlier made it difficult to deduce whether the flying knives were Conjured items.

He could only rely on the opponent's decisions, prioritizing the "result he saw" over the "process of speculation."

Because he guessed correctly, he didn't have to suffer the damage from the flying knives.

Among the six Nen types, Conjuration was probably the one that demanded the most "stability."

Whether it was a conjured item, a Nen beast, or even a clone...

One had to concentrate and maintain focus to ensure the conjured object's continued existence.

A Conjuration Nen user with insufficient skill might even cause their conjured item to collapse instantly from a moment of distraction.

Let alone the intense pain from taking a hit.

That was why Conjuration specialists with a deep understanding of Nen usually put effort into this area.

At the very least, they trained to ensure that the pain of injury wouldn't affect the form of their conjured items.

But this guy...

Cold, cautious.

When he realized playing it safe wasn't working, he could decisively adapt.

Yet his Nen skill was lacking—when he took a hit, his conjured flying knives collapsed outright.

If he had held on for even half a second, Moro might not have died on the spot, but he would have been severely wounded.

And then the opponent might have had a chance to turn things around.

Through this battle, Moro gained a deeper understanding of the traits of Conjuration.

Absorbing it as part of his experience, Moro walked up to Zazan, slowly gathering a mass of Nen in his right hand, aiming it at the man who hadn't yet breathed his last.

Having just opened his aura nodes, he could rely on his own peculiarities to use Nen abilities directly.

But the hardware—the amount of aura he could manifest—couldn't be increased in a short time.

So even after doubling the power of Deceptive Flying Stars, it still hadn't killed Zazan outright.

Not that it mattered much.

"Cough... cough..."

Zazan's consciousness wavered between blurry and clear, but he could sense the blade hanging over his head.

He was about to die.

That thought flashed naturally through his mind. Fear and resentment churned within him.

He wanted to lift his head but lacked the strength.

Even his eyelids, rolled upward, fell weakly back down.

"You... monster..."

Zazan murmured.

Even now, he couldn't understand the phenomenon happening with Moro.

So in the countdown to death, he felt a sense of "this was fated."

If he hadn't taken this job, if there hadn't been a monster in the car that defied common sense, he wouldn't have—

Pfft.

Moro fired a Nen Bullet, driving it straight into Zazan's head.

Zazan's body jolted once, then went still.

"Hm?"

After killing Zazan, Moro immediately sensed a change in his body.

In that instant, the fatigue in his body faded slightly, and his vision seemed a bit clearer.

But the most obvious change was the aura swirling around him—it had actually increased a little.

Noticing this shift, Moro instinctively looked at the back of his hand.

At the very center of the Growth Rings—

The Lv.1 representing his level had become Lv.2.

"Love's Practice Session..."

Seeing the level increase and feeling the changes in his body, a glint of light flashed through Moro's eyes, followed by overwhelming delight.

He wasn't sure how Molena's "Love's Practice Session" had extended this far, nor why it had merged with the Growth Rings...

But the obvious improvement right now was enough to make Moro feel excited and joyful.

Kill Feitan within one year.

Even with an extra half-year of Nen cultivation experience, accomplishing that was no easy feat.

Setting aside Nen abilities—

Feitan's mobility and swordsmanship, developed from a foundation of physical combat, were already gaps Moro couldn't hope to close within a year.

Then there was the combat experience built on countless killings, as well as the total aura output and potential aura capacity so crucial in Nen battles.

Looking further ahead: physical strength, body toughness, reaction speed, explosive thinking...

So much.

All these factors tied to overall combat power required time to slowly accumulate.

And because of the Death Node, time was exactly what Moro lacked most right now.

For him, one year was truly too short.

So short that even if he tried his hardest, he might not catch up to Feitan's decade-plus level in aura output and physical strength.

But now, with Love's Practice Session fused with the Growth Rings, it could drastically accelerate his efficiency in improving strength.

This filled in what he currently lacked most.

Moro couldn't stop smiling.

His reaction, however, took on a different meaning in the eyes of the few pigs near the carriage door.

Moro naturally paid them no mind. Calming his excitement, he turned his gaze to the middle-aged man on the ground nearby, impaled through the abdomen by an iron rod.

The rod thrown earlier hadn't struck a vital spot, so the man still had a breath left.

But before long, he would surely die from blood loss.

Moro walked over, looking down at the man's face, a trace of coldness naturally creeping into his gaze.

Molena's Love's Practice Session—its ability was to gain one level per kill.

Each level increased total aura output and potential aura capacity.

Once the level exceeded 20, one could easily awaken a Nen ability suited to their needs.

From the ability's effects, the level cap granted by Love's Practice Session was one hundred.

If Moro reached max level, he could also grant others the ability to "level up by killing."

But whether Moro's overall ability matched Molena's Love's Practice Session in effect remained unknown.

For now, Moro cared more about leveling up.

Awakening a second ability was secondary.

What mattered most was the increase in aura output and potential aura capacity.

With that thought, Moro reached out, grabbed the middle-aged man's neck, and applied a little force.

Crack.

The man's head lolled to the side, dead on the spot.

Moro then stood up and looked at the back of his hand—

Lv. 2.

No level up?

Moro's expression shifted slightly. Drawing on experience, he quickly realized the problem.

Only killing Nen users grants a level?

Moro felt a wave of disappointment, but soon let it go.

If killing ordinary people gave a level each time, he'd have to worry about potential unknown restriction risks.

Killing Nen users to level up.

At least that put him a bit more at ease.

But reading the signs, maybe as levels got higher, the difficulty of leveling up would increase accordingly.

"Right..."

Moro looked at the middle-aged man's corpse, suddenly thinking of a method.

If he forcibly opened Nen for an ordinary person, wouldn't that make them a Nen user?

"I'll find some wanted criminal or scumbag to test it on later... Hm?"

Suddenly, a sound came from the slope on the road behind him.

Moro snapped to alert, quickly entering a combat stance, and followed the noise with his gaze.

Among the branches and grass, a slender figure came into view.

Moro raised an eyebrow.