At this rate, it would truly become a useless ability that only wasted memory. Above all, the state of mind where I myself was denying the self I had created as an ideal likely weakened Quinn's power.
Thinking this, I reset the Vow. Originally, the content of an ability once decided cannot be added to or changed later. That's why I decided to define the concept of "death" written in the Vow more concretely. I set it as: "If I cannot keep the Vow, I will lose more than one-third of my maximum possession limit of lives." My maximum possession of eggs is roughly about 1000. If I break the Vow, at least 333 lives will die as a penalty. Assuming I have sufficient stock, the number of times I can safely activate the ability consecutively is limited to two. Technically, I can use it up to three times, but when that Quinn is killed, the main body will also die.
The number one-third might still be called lenient depending on how you look at it. But for the current me, this is the limit. A single human named Quinn is far too powerless on this Dark Continent. The Vow that I can "only" die twice continuously is heavy. It was an oath made to acknowledge the existence named Quinn. Thanks to that, she has now regained her previous performance. Though she remains weak regardless.
However, to survive in this world, I have to draw out the power I possess to the maximum. I was made to realize that Quinn has enough value to be used even by making the content of the new Vow stricter. She is extremely fragile compared to the main body, but this body has this body's advantages. It is by no means the case that all her abilities are inferior to the main body.
One of them is danger sensing ability. The human body has far more acute five senses. In this place, avoiding combat is prioritized above all else. The most necessary ability for that is rapid situational judgment, and the information gathering power that forms its foundation. Combat power can be said to be secondary.
The techniques most honed in these past few years are undoubtedly Zetsu and In. Zetsu is the technique of cutting off the flow of aura by completely closing the body's spirit pores, erasing one's presence as a living being. It also has the effect of enhancing recovery by keeping aura within the body. In is an advanced application of Zetsu that can hide the presence of the aura itself. Zetsu erases the user's presence, and In hides the aura emitted by the user.
One of the strengths of a Nen Beast user lies in this In. This technique cannot hide one's own presence, but it can make weapons or Nen Beasts created with Nen invisible. This In could also be applied to Quinn, who is a Nen puppet. Furthermore, even if Quinn herself is using aura, she can be hidden by the main body using In, so effectively, Zetsu and Ren can be used simultaneously.
However, during that time, the main body cannot use Zetsu (closing the pores means I can't pass aura to Quinn), so a slight sense of unnaturalness remains. If I want to erase our presence with certainty, it's best for both Quinn and the main body to spend time in Zetsu. However, in this state, absolutely no reinforcement can be done, so Quinn's frailty becomes a hindrance. Since the enhancement of the five senses also dulls, sensing ability drops as well.
Both Zetsu and In have advantages and disadvantages. Unlike Zetsu, the state of In can be seen through by an advanced technique called Gyo, which concentrates aura in the eyes, so it is not an all-powerful tactic. In fact, we are often spotted by the monsters lurking in the forest. They shouldn't be able to use Gyo, yet they find us using their innate physical functions. Even now, it is so.
"..."
Somehow, I have a feeling I'm being tracked by an enemy, though I have no proof. The opponent is also a fierce veteran who has lived in this world. They won't let their presence be sensed easily. But I have also lived in this world and stand here. I have learned how to hide my presence and how to search for others from the monsters.
The technique generally used to sense the surrounding situation in detail is En. This is an advanced application of Ten and Ren, creating a spherical aura space around oneself. One can perceive the shape of everything within this circle as if holding it in their hands.
The size of this En is determined by individual constitution, regardless of talent in Nen. Just because one is an excellent Nen user doesn't mean they can create a large En. In my case, it's about a radius of 5 meters. Since there are those who use En ranging from tens of meters to kilometers, it can be said that my constitution is not suited for using En.
To compensate for the narrowness of my En, what I put effort into was detection using Gyo. It is a technique to collect aura in a part of the body. If collected in the eyes, it enhances insight against the enemy's aura and allows one to spot suspicious aura movements. Besides that, by collecting it in the limbs, one can increase the attack and defense power of that part. In exchange, the attack and defense power of other parts drops, so one must determine where to use Gyo in accordance with the enemy's movements. That technique is Ryu.
Search with the eyes using Gyo. Don't stop there; next, search with the ears. Listen to the murmurs of nature. Next are the nose and tongue. Sniff out minute differences in scent and investigate the taste of the air. And the skin. Feel the slight tremors in the atmosphere, the intentional movements of the wind. I make that series of tasks into a single cycle using Ryu.
At first, it was clumsy, and this work didn't yield any results. However, as I repeated it frantically, the speed of Ryu increased. Eventually, I became able to perform this cycle in a single beat. The horizon I arrived at after that was "Synesthesia."
For example, some people say numbers have colors. For the number "1," there is an image of "red," and they actually see the color red when looking at the number. This is a phenomenon where "vision" and a part of it, "color perception," cause synesthesia. There are people for whom smell and vision cause synesthesia, seeing colors attached to smells.
An action where different sensory organs work in conjunction. Through this, there are cases where one can know information in a realm that cannot be grasped by a single sense alone. There is an anecdote that a synesthete who saw colors attached to voices (sound) could guess a person's physical condition just by hearing their voice, based on that color.
I named the technique to draw out this synesthesia via Nen as 'Kyou' (Union), a derivative of Gyo. Transcendental sensing ability via the linkage of the five senses. It is difficult to put this into words. The sensation of experiencing sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch all at once is something I myself don't actually understand. Amidst a momentary sensation as if passing out because the brain cannot process that massive amount of information at once, a single piece of information surfaces from a completely different angle.
'Below?'
Immediately after jumping away from the spot, the ground where Quinn had been standing moments ago caved in. The hole expanded as if causing a large-scale ground collapse. In the blink of an eye, a mortar-shaped basin was formed. The center of the hole swirled, and from its bottom, the ringleader of this disaster revealed itself.
It was an insect with a gigantic body that I had to look up at. Its bumpy body with spotted patterns had an abnormally large abdomen, while its upper body was thin enough to look like it might snap. And its jaws were developed to be wickedly large and sharp—an unbalanced body. I have no memory of an insect looking like this, but I know an insect with a similar ecology.
An antlion. It makes a mortar-shaped nest in soft sandy soil and preys on insects that slide into that hole. The slight differences are that this is not sandy soil but a dense forest, and it is grinding trees up by the roots while stirring the soil and rock like a mixer. I want to ask what is going on underground.
Inside the vortex that suddenly appeared on the surface, I observed the situation while jumping between the trees being sucked in. I wasn't that tense. That is because this is not the first time I have encountered this antlion-type monster. I fought one once before.
Naturally, I was surprised the first time. As for the vortex of soil, escaping it itself isn't difficult. However, the bastard was just persistent. No matter how far I ran, it chased me underground. Even using Zetsu was useless. Once captured, it tracked me with terrifying tenacity. And when I encountered a stronger enemy along the way, it would flee alone. Once I somehow escaped that predicament, it would chase me again.
The most troublesome part is that it attracts those strong enemies. If we cause this flashy of a disturbance, we'll stand out whether we like it or not. Bluntly speaking, there are countless monsters more dangerous than this antlion. There are even those where you have to accept death the moment you encounter them. That is exactly why I am desperately hiding my presence. I have to "silence it" immediately, or this will be bad.
The course of action was decided. Quinn stopped while riding a tree sliding down toward the center of the vortex, leaving it to the flow. The opportunity to attack is a single instant. I'll make preparations by then. Quinn took a stance.
Many Nen users primarily use hand-to-hand combat. There are those who use projectiles, but one's own body is indeed optimal for reinforcing with aura, and it transforms into the most user-friendly "weapon." I also do not use tools in combat. Just my body.
However, in a sense, one could say I am armed. I have the main body clinging to Quinn's right hand. This "Ant Body" itself is Quinn's armament. A plant cellular structure with hard, tough durability compared to animals, plus the hardest exoskeleton with added metallic properties. There is no reason not to utilize this strength. Covering the right hand, it looked just like a gauntlet.
The main body enters Ken. This is an advanced application of Ten and Ren, dramatically increasing the defense power of the entire body. Using the defense power of Ten as a baseline, Ken rivals about five times that strength. Attack and defense power increased dozens of times over by the synergistic effect of the exoskeleton and aura was condensed in the main body.
Quinn's punching power is added on top of that. Quinn utilized her physical ability, raised to the limit by Ren, and leaped with enough force to destroy her foothold. Striking the enemy's opening, she closed the distance rapidly. She slammed her right fist, which she had held at her hip, with full power.
It doesn't end yet. At the moment of impact, I add a further technique. Like Kyou, a derivative technique I developed independently: 'Juu' (Stack).
I thought of it while practicing Ryu. Ryu is the technique of moving the attack and defense power of the whole body rapidly to various parts according to the situation. In other words, it is a high-speed usage technique of Gyo during combat. Even if inferior to the opponent in terms of manifest aura amount, if one excels in this technique of Ryu, they can defeat strong enemies. By concentrating aura in the fist only at the moment of striking, punching power increases; by concentrating defense power only in the area being hit at the moment of receiving an enemy attack, or reinforcing leg strength to evade, various things are possible.
However, one step wrong in usage, and this technique leads to exposing a fatal weakness. Concentrating aura on a single point means the reinforcement of other parts becomes neglected. It would be fine if the enemy moved as aimed, but reality isn't that sweet. One must fight while constantly thinking about how much aura to distribute to which part, fully anticipating that risk. Ryu is a technique that includes this risk management.
For example, if I gather 60% of the total aura in my fist, it becomes "Fist attack/defense 60: Others 40." The defense power of the body other than the fist drops to 40%. Thinking about how to distribute 100 attack/defense power is the original usage of Ryu, but a doubt suddenly arose. Inside my body, there are countless auras that are me but not me. The aura the eggs possess. If I could move this attack/defense power freely, couldn't I realize an enhancement rate of 120%, 200%, or 300%, not just 100%?
I have succeeded in the transfer of aura itself. The idea is to transfer it after converting it to attack/defense power. The technique devised this way is the derivative of Ryu, 'Juu'. With this, I apply reinforcement exceeding the limit to Quinn. "Defense power of the main body solidified by Ken (Hardness as a weapon)" + "Super reinforcement of Quinn by 'Juu'". I unleashed a killing right straight imbued with those two powers.