By the end of the afternoon, Joey had killed twelve Chimera Ants.
The most dangerous encounter had left him with three punctures in his arm and two small holes in his abdomen.
Thankfully, with Gold Experience, he was able to heal his wounds after using Killer Queen to take down that emission-type beetle Ant.
After that, no more Chimera Ants emerged from the solitary confinement cell. Joey took the opportunity to eat dinner and entered Zetsu to recover his stamina quickly.
As he recovered, he began reviewing the day's battles in his mind.
Each Chimera Ant had a unique ability.
Take the rat-headed ant, for example—clearly a Conjuration-Type user. The dagger it conjured linked to shadows, and it could even dive into those shadows, launching attacks from within.
Joey suspected its true purpose was to drag targets into some kind of shadow space, similar to Knov's ability.
If that were true, the dagger strike was likely intended to apply some condition or restriction, allowing the user to manipulate the victim into the shadow realm.
But there was a clear weakness—so long as the dagger didn't strike the target's shadow, the shadow space stayed linked to the outside world, meaning Joey could strike back at the ant's true body from outside.
Overall, it was a well-developed ability.
But Conjuration, Manipulation, and Specialization types all rely heavily on meeting conditions to gain the upper hand—unlike Enhancement, Emission, or Transmutation, which allow for more direct combat.
The horned ant was a perfect example—pure Enhancer type, but lacking in raw stats and technique.
That night, the solitary cell began releasing Chimera Ants every 30 to 60 minutes.
Joey's skills improved rapidly through non-stop battle, but his condition deteriorated just as fast.
Yet Kite's judgment was eerily precise. Each ant was sent exactly at Joey's limit—forcing him to break through again and again.
From his basic Nen techniques to application skills, Joey's proficiency shot up. Facing enemies with a wide variety of abilities also broadened his tactical thinking.
And as the battles wore on, Joey realized why he could overpower the lower-ranking soldier ants so consistently.
They were reckless in developing their abilities. Most hadn't built a solid foundation in Nen.
They relied solely on their monstrous bodies and vast life energy to recklessly swing their "talent" in battle.
Even the rat-head's ability, while seemingly refined, was overloaded with elements. There were traces of Emission, Transmutation, and Manipulation mixed into what should have been a Conjuration ability.
The dagger's trajectory carried emission energy. The way Joey's aura blast disrupted the reaching shadow-hand pointed to transmutation. The final shadow grab might have even been a manipulation-style restriction.
It looked versatile on paper.
But in a real fight, each part had exploitable flaws. Once you saw through one, it collapsed like a house of cards.
Had Joey designed it, he would have focused purely on developing the shadow space—a direct Conjuration path.
This cycle of battle and analysis continued for three days.
On the third night, the solitary cell vanished.
Joey furrowed his brows and quickly packed his things, leaving the camp he'd been stationed in.
The disappearance of the solitary cell was a pre-arranged signal between him and Kite.
It meant Pokkle was bringing the Kakin Empire's agents into his proximity.
From here on, Joey wouldn't be facing Chimera Ants.
He'd be fighting human Nen users, arguably even more dangerous.
He had already begun planning this confrontation that morning—gathering intel, setting traps. It was the most efficient way to handle enemies who outnumbered him.
According to information from André and Kite, Pokkle likely hadn't brought those people of his own volition.
Which raised a possibility: could he ally with him?
If so, it would massively improve Joey's odds.
Rescuing him might also let him learn just how much information had leaked—and whether the enemy had laid any backup plans.
Of course, if things didn't go his way, or if his assessment proved wrong, Joey wouldn't hesitate to eliminate him.
With his objective set, Joey reached into his coat and pulled out a coin.
It spun between his fingers, then transformed mid-air into a hummingbird, which flew off with a flutter of wings.
Joey then headed toward a nearby high point he had previously scouted, hiding behind a rock to await their arrival.
Getting spotted was inevitable.
He wasn't confident in his stealth abilities.
Besides, his goal was to kill or incapacitate the enemy—not to hide forever.
Especially since he was sure the enemy had brought professionals capable of tracking him down.
All he could do was gather as much intel as possible before they spotted him—and ideally, thin their numbers beforehand.
While mentally running through possible enemy tactics, Joey began conjuring small animals around him.
All were tiny—nothing larger than a hedgehog.
That's because the amount of Wallet Nen he could safely store in his body at one time was limited.
Larger constructs required going into full Specialization Mode, which he wanted to avoid for now.
These animals weren't just companions.
They were potential First Bombs for Killer Queen.
Once the seventh creature took form, Joey stopped.
Seven was his current control limit.
And even then, he could only give them basic commands—"go," "jump," "return," "attack."
Anything more complicated was beyond him.
After all, Joey wasn't a Manipulator, nor did he want to devote too much time to that category.
Human energy is finite.
No one can master every Nen category.
The most practical path is to focus on one's dominant affinity first.
Put another way, every Nen user has limited memory capacity.
Training techniques outside one's natural category consumes far more "storage."
Complex abilities drain more memory as well.
For example, a Conjurer creating a perfect clone of themselves would use a lot of memory—but not all of it. They could still train some auxiliary skills.
But if an Enhancer tried to do the same? With only 60% affinity for Conjuration, creating a clone would nearly max out their capacity—and the clone would likely be weaker.
Even worse, that Enhancer might lose progress in their own category because their memory pool was fully taxed.
Of course, this isn't absolute.
With time, experience, and emotional growth, Nen memory capacity can slowly expand.
Maybe one day, an Enhancer who stops refining their clone could finally create a powerful personal technique in their own category.
But reaching that point would take so much effort that most would abandon the path.
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