HunterxHunter: I Became Stronger After Death

Late June brought with it a breeze from the forest, carrying a hint of coolness.

Perhaps because of this, the wound on Moro's skin from the dagger carried a chill that refused to fade.

That was far too close…

If he had the choice, Moro wouldn't have willingly stepped onto such a perilous tightrope.

At the end of the day, his strength was still too lacking.

So much so that, at critical moments, he had no choice but to risk everything as a gamble.

Moro looked down at Zazan, who lay sprawled on the ground.

The information Moro had previously gathered wasn't enough to definitively conclude whether Zazan's daggers were Conjured objects or not.

He had to rely on Zazan's decisions, prioritizing the "result he observed" over the "process of deduction."

Because his guess was correct, he avoided sustaining further injuries from the dagger.

Conjuration, among the six primary nen types, was likely the one that required the most "stability."

Whether it was Conjured items, nen beasts, or doppelgängers…

They all required intense focus and concentration to ensure their continued existence.

For a Conjuration user with insufficient training, even a brief lapse in focus could cause their Conjured object to dissipate instantly.

Let alone the intense pain they might feel when sustaining an attack.

As such, skilled Conjurers often worked hard to address this vulnerability.

At the very least, they needed to ensure that the pain from injuries wouldn't affect the stability of their Conjured objects.

But this guy…

Cold, cautious.

And yet, when he realized stability wasn't the best choice, he was able to decisively adapt.

However, his nen mastery wasn't refined enough. When he was attacked, his Conjured dagger disintegrated instantly.

If he had held it together for just half a second more, Moro wouldn't have died outright but would've been gravely injured.

That might have given Zazan a chance to turn the tables.

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

He added this knowledge to his experience and approached Zazan, standing over him. With a slow movement, Moro gathered nen energy into his right hand and aimed it at Zazan, who was still alive but barely breathing.

Although Moro had just recently opened his nen pores, his unique condition allowed him to directly utilize nen abilities.

But his current nen reserves were still too low to see significant short-term improvement.

As a result, even after doubling the power of his "Fraudulent Star," it wasn't enough to kill Zazan instantly.

Still, that didn't matter.

"Cough… cough…"

Zazan's consciousness wavered between clarity and confusion, but he could feel the blade of death hanging over his head.

I'm going to die.

The thought surfaced naturally in his mind, filling Zazan with fear and resentment.

He wanted to lift his head but lacked the strength.

Even his eyelids, which he tried to open, fell shut without energy.

"You… monster…"

Zazan murmured faintly.

Even now, he couldn't understand the phenomena surrounding Moro.

As death approached, he felt a strange sense of inevitability.

If he hadn't taken this job… if the transport truck hadn't contained a monster that defied logic, then maybe he wouldn't be…

Pffft.

Moro fired a nen projectile, which pierced Zazan's skull.

Zazan's body convulsed violently before falling completely still.

"Hm?"

As Zazan died, Moro immediately felt a change in his body.

In that brief moment, the fatigue weighing on him seemed to lighten slightly, and his vision became sharper.

The most notable change, however, was in the amount of nen energy manifesting around his body—it had grown.

Sensing this, Moro instinctively glanced at the back of his hand.

At the center of the ring-shaped tattoo marking his hand—

The number that displayed his level had changed from Lv. 1 to Lv. 2.

"Morena's Love Training Song…"

Seeing the increase in level and feeling the changes in his body, Moro's eyes sparkled briefly before filling with joy.

Though he didn't know how Morena's "Love Training Song" had manifested in this world or why it had fused with the ring tattoo…

The obvious improvement in his abilities was enough to fill Moro with excitement.

I have to kill Feitan within a year.

Even with half a year of experience using nen, accomplishing such a feat was no easy task.

Leaving aside nen abilities—

Feitan's speed and swordsmanship, developed through years of martial arts training, created a gap that Moro couldn't hope to close in just one year.

On top of that, Feitan's unparalleled killing experience, his total nen reserves, and his hidden potential presented further obstacles.

Looking further, there was Feitan's physical strength, endurance, reflexes, and the explosiveness of his thought process in battle…

There was just too much.

All of these elements tied to overall combat power required time to accumulate.

And with the looming deadline of death, time was precisely what Moro lacked most.

For him, a year wasn't just short—it was far too short.

No matter how hard he tried, he might not even reach Feitan's nen reserves or physical strength, honed over more than a decade.

But now, with Morena's "Love Training Song" fused with the ring tattoo, his ability to grow stronger had been drastically accelerated.

It filled the gap left by his lack of time.

Moro couldn't help but laugh.

This reaction, however, took on a different meaning for the few "pigs" lying near the truck door who witnessed it.

Moro didn't care. He calmed his excitement and turned his gaze to the middle-aged man lying on the ground not far away, a metal rod embedded in his abdomen.

The metal rod Moro had thrown earlier hadn't struck a vital spot, leaving the man with a faint trace of life.

But it wouldn't be long before he bled out.

Moro approached, standing over the middle-aged man and gazing down at his face with a naturally cold expression.

Morena's "Love Training Song" worked by leveling up through killing.

Each level increased both his nen reserves and potential energy.

When the level exceeded 20, he would effortlessly awaken a nen ability suited to his needs.

Based on its mechanics, the upper limit for the ability seemed to be level 100.

If Moro reached the maximum level, he would even gain the ability to grant others the "level-up through killing" ability.

However, whether his version of this ability worked identically to Morena's remained unclear.

For now, Moro was more concerned with leveling up.

Awakening a second ability was secondary.

What mattered most was increasing his nen reserves and potential energy.

With that thought, Moro reached out and grabbed the middle-aged man's throat, squeezing tightly.

Crack.

The man's neck twisted, and he died instantly.

Moro straightened up and glanced at the back of his hand—

Lv. 2.

No level-up?

Moro's eyes flickered with surprise before understanding dawned on him.

I can only level up by killing nen users?

Disappointment swept through Moro but was quickly replaced by acceptance.

If leveling up were as simple as killing ordinary people, he'd have to worry about unknown risks or restrictions.

Killing nen users to level up…

This condition gave him some peace of mind.

Still, he realized that as his level increased, the difficulty of leveling up would likely rise as well.

"Wait…"

Looking at the middle-aged man's corpse, a thought suddenly struck Moro.

If I force someone to unlock their nen, wouldn't that turn them into a nen user?

I could test this on a random criminal or scoundrel…

Before he could delve further into the idea, Moro heard a sound from the hillside road behind him.

Startled, he quickly shifted into a battle stance and turned toward the source of the noise.

Through the bushes and trees, a slender figure emerged into view.

Moro raised an eyebrow.

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