It was late June, yet the wind blowing through the forest carried a slight chill.
Perhaps that was why the wounds on Moro's skin, pierced by flying daggers, still felt cold and numb.
That was close.
If he had the choice, Moro would never have put himself on a high-wire suspended in the air.
In the end, it all came down to one thing—he was too weak.
So much so that, in crucial moments, he could only put everything on the line as a last-ditch gamble.
Moro looked down at Zazan, who lay sprawled on the ground.
Based on the information he had, it was hard to determine whether the flying dagger was a Conjured object or not.
All Moro could do was rely on his opponent's decisions and place the "results" above the "deductive process."
Because he guessed correctly, he avoided being injured by the dagger.
Conjuration was likely the Nen category most dependent on stability.
Whether it was conjured items, Nen beasts, or even doppelgangers...
Maintaining their existence required focus and concentration.
Inexperienced conjurers could lose control of their conjured creations the moment they became distracted.
And that was without considering the intense pain they experienced when attacked.
That's why skilled conjurers often trained to withstand pain, ensuring their conjured items wouldn't dissipate from the shock.
But this guy...
Cold, cautious.
When he realized that playing it safe wasn't working, he decisively changed his approach.
However, his Nen control was lacking. When he took damage, the conjured dagger instantly vanished.
If it had lasted even 0.5 seconds longer, Moro wouldn't have died immediately but would have been severely injured.
In that case, Zazan might've had a chance to turn the tables.
By targeting the weaknesses of Conjuration users, Moro had gained a deeper understanding of how to deal with them in combat.
He absorbed the experience like a sponge and walked up to Zazan's body, gathering a sphere of Nen in his right hand.
Zazan wasn't quite dead yet, but barely hanging on.
Although Moro had opened his aura nodes and could use Nen directly thanks to his unique nature,
The amount of Nen his body could manifest wasn't something that could be boosted overnight.
Even after doubling his attack's power through Deceitful Meteor, it still wasn't enough to kill Zazan outright.
But it didn't matter.
"Cough... cough..."
Zazan's consciousness flickered between clarity and delirium, but he could feel the blade of death hovering over his head.
I'm going to die.
That thought flashed through his mind instinctively. His heart was filled with both fear and resentment.
He wanted to raise his head—but he couldn't.
Even his eyelids, half-open, fell weakly shut.
"You... monster..."
Zazan mumbled.
Even now, he couldn't comprehend what had happened to Moro.
So, as death counted down, a sense of resignation washed over him—it was "meant to be."
If he hadn't gotten into that car,
If that car hadn't had a monster that defied all logic inside it...
Thud.
Moro fired a Nen bullet straight into Zazan's head.
Zazan's body trembled briefly, then went completely still.
"Hmm?"
After killing Zazan, Moro immediately sensed a change in his body.
In an instant, the fatigue in his muscles faded slightly. His vision seemed clearer.
But the most noticeable change was the increase in his manifested Nen aura.
Sensing this, Moro instinctively glanced at the back of his hand.
In the center of his timewheel tattoo—
The "Lv.1" mark had changed to Lv.2.
"Love's Practice Song, huh..."
Seeing the level-up notification and feeling the changes in his body, a glint appeared in Moro's eyes, followed by a burst of joy.
Even though he didn't fully understand how Morena's "Love's Practice Song" extended itself or why it fused with his timewheel tattoo...
The clear improvements were enough to make Moro excited.
He had one goal—to kill Feitan within a year.
Even with half a year's worth of extra training experience, accomplishing that goal would be incredibly difficult.
Leaving Nen abilities aside—
Feitan's agility, refined through deadly combat and blade work, was a massive gap Moro couldn't close in a year.
Not to mention Feitan's vast experience from countless battles, as well as the total amount of his manifested and potential Nen aura.
Then there was his stamina, physical toughness, reflexes, combat instincts...
There was so much to account for.
All of these elements, crucial to overall combat power, could only be built up over time.
But because of the death timer, time was the one thing Moro didn't have.
To him, a single year was far too short.
So short that even if he trained relentlessly, he might not even match Feitan's physical strength or aura capacity.
But now that his timewheel tattoo had fused with "Love's Practice Song," his training efficiency would improve drastically.
This filled the gap that had been his greatest weakness.
Moro couldn't stop himself from smiling.
His reaction didn't go unnoticed by the passengers near the train door.
To them, that smile carried a very different meaning.
Moro didn't care. Calming his excitement, he turned his gaze toward the middle-aged man lying on the ground not far away, impaled by a metal rod.
The rod hadn't pierced any vital organs, so the man was still alive—barely.
But he wouldn't last much longer due to blood loss.
Moro walked over and stared coldly at the man's face.
Morena's "Love's Practice Song" had one simple rule:
Kill to level up.
Each level-up increased both his manifested and potential Nen aura.
Once he reached level 20, he would naturally awaken a Nen ability tailored to his own needs.
From what Moro could tell, the ability's max level was 100.
If he reached the max level, he could even bestow the ability to "kill and level up" to others.
However, whether or not his ability worked exactly like Morena's remained unknown.
For now, what Moro cared about most was leveling up.
Awakening a second Nen ability was secondary.
The increase in manifested and potential Nen aura was what mattered most.
With that thought, Moro reached out and gripped the middle-aged man's neck, squeezing lightly.
Crack.
The man's head tilted, and he died instantly.
Moro stood up and glanced at the back of his hand—
Lv.2.
No level-up?
Moro's eyes narrowed slightly. Based on experience, he quickly realized the issue.
You can only level up by killing Nen users?
Moro felt a pang of disappointment but quickly let it go.
If killing ordinary people could raise his level, that would have made him worry about unknown limitations or restrictions.
If he could only level up by killing Nen users...
At least he felt more at ease.
That said, he suspected that as his level increased, the difficulty of leveling up would also rise.
"Wait..."
Looking at the man's body, Moro suddenly had an idea.
What if I forcefully awaken someone's Nen? Wouldn't they technically become a Nen user?
I could test it on a criminal or some scumbag...
Just then, a sound came from the forest slope behind him.
Moro tensed and quickly entered battle mode, turning toward the noise.
Through the foliage, a slender figure appeared.
Moro raised an eyebrow.