In human history, there have been a total of 149 voyages officially recorded by the Voyage Licensing Authority.
However, even among these officially sanctioned voyages, no team could cross the Dark Continent's border coastline without the assistance of the 'Gatekeepers.'
In other words, as far as the Voyage Licensing Authority was concerned, humanity had never successfully completed a round trip between the Six Continents and the Dark Continent by its own power.
And the 'Gatekeepers' were the only tribe of magical beasts that knew the paths to the Dark Continent.
Without negotiating with them, a voyage to the Dark Continent would become exceedingly difficult.
Conversely, if negotiations were successful, the Gatekeepers would summon a demi-human species known as 'Guides.'
These so-called demi-humans were, to some extent, a hybrid species formed by consuming human genes, much like the Chimera Ants.
From the perspective of summoning, it was also highly likely that the Guides were Nen Beasts conjured by the magical beast Gatekeepers through their Nen abilities.
—--
At this moment.
On the marshland.
The corpse of the massive black hand, as enormous as a mountain range, was silently devoured by an equally massive and bizarre black earth curtain that could move freely across the ground.
In just a few seconds.
The corpse of the massive black hand was completely 'swallowed.'
Afterward, the black earth curtain silently receded into the distance.
The marshland was once again deathly still.
And the figure quietly observing this deathly still marsh from a distance was none other than a Guide summoned by a Gatekeeper.
His figure was roughly similar to a human's, but his hands had two long, slender fingers like chopsticks, and his eyes and ears clearly bore the traits of other creatures.
The Guide silently watched as the black earth curtain, classified at the highest crisis level, departed, only retracting his gaze after it had completely vanished over the horizon. He then turned to look at the place where the massive black hand had once lain.
There, only a huge trench pressed into the earth remained, like a canyon splitting the land open.
If one hadn't seen it with their own eyes, who would believe that the corpse, so enormous that its mere presence could carve out a canyon, had vanished without a trace in a matter of seconds?
The Guide stared at the canyon.
Suddenly, he raised his right hand, the one with two long, slender fingers, and, as if holding chopsticks, plunged it straight into his own right eye.
Schlick...
A viscous, wet sound was heard.
He expressionlessly plucked out his own right eye, which brought out a stream of pale green fluid.
Then, a bright ball of aura surged from his right hand, completely enveloping the eyeball.
The aura slowly contracted like a living thing, eventually clinging tightly to the eyeball's surface like Ten.
Immediately after, an extremely faint popping sound was heard.
The eyeball vanished into thin air.
The Guide had used his ability to teleport this eyeball, which had recorded the 'visual data,' across a great distance to the Gatekeepers in the 'Land of Walls.'
This was his mission: to come and confirm the current status of the massive black hand, which had been classified as a destruction-level calamity.
However, he had only just arrived. He had merely confirmed the hand's death from a distance and noted its suspiciously 'almost completely unharmed' state.
He had originally intended to get closer for a detailed inspection but was forced to retreat by the sudden appearance of the black earth curtain.
In the end, he could only watch helplessly as the earth curtain took away the black hand's corpse.
Of all things, it had to be this earth curtain, the one that most often 'crosses boundaries and acts recklessly.'
The Guide's mouth, which lacked hard teeth, opened slightly, uttering a string of cryptic whispers.
He knew that the 'earth curtain's' active territory was nearby.
That area was situated between the marshland before him, the Chimera Ant Nest, and the Mushroom Mountain. A bit further out, the neighboring region was the restricted area of life, the Waterless Land (Land of the Drained Marsh).
On the Dark Continent, the vast majority of beings were fiercely territorial, sticking to their own recognized domains.
Even the Five Threats known to humanity, such as Hellbell The Twin-Tailed Snake, the Codependence of Desire: Ai, and Brion, even if their numbers could continuously grow through reproduction, they always remained entrenched in a fixed area, never spreading outward.
But there were also existences like the earth curtain, which had no concept of territory and would sometimes wander about, hunting wantonly.
With his investigation of the black hand's corpse interrupted by the earth curtain's appearance, all the Guide could do was record what he had seen and faithfully relay it to the Gatekeepers.
This, too, was considered fulfilling his duty.
However, although the Guide was a summoned being of the Gatekeepers, he possessed independent intelligence and the distinct life characteristic of 'dying if killed.'
So, after fulfilling his duty, the Guide now had time for his own thoughts.
He couldn't help but ponder the question.
How did the black hand, classified as a destruction-level calamity, lose its life?
What... exactly happened here?
The Guide stared at the massive canyon pressed out by the corpse, lost in thought.
As far as he knew, in the nearby regions, the only existence capable of threatening the black hand was the earth curtain.
Even in more distant sectors, there were no other beings that could pose a fatal threat to the black hand.
However, the earth curtain could not possibly be the perpetrator.
If it had been the one to act, there would be no 'leaving a corpse behind' after attacking the black hand.
Because the earth curtain never leaves a trace.
This was precisely why the Guide was so perplexed.
—--
Land of the Drained Marsh.
The home of the Lakeside Tribe.
Morrow had obtained a great deal of key intelligence from the Lakeside Tribe's elder and was prepared to step into that deathly swamp.
But before leaving, he made a request to the elder in the name of an 'exchange.'
He wanted a set of Bru Tribe remains.
This strange object, which could completely solve the team's language communication problems, was simply too alluring for Morrow.
For the past few days, the thought of how to obtain it had been circling his mind.
If he could trade for a set of Bru Tribe remains, that would be for the best.
To Morrow's surprise, in response to his request, the Lakeside Tribe elder generously gifted him a set of Bru Tribe remains.
He even handed over the withered insect phase Nitro Rice.
"I once consumed a Nitro Rice plant and have lived for too long, I've also witnessed the departure of too many of my kin."
The elder's gaze was profound as he said softly, "I just hope you understand that survival, is more important than anything. And you, you brought us the most precious of gifts. This meager return may not be enough to express the gratitude of our Lakeside Tribe."
In their final farewell, this Lakeside Tribe elder, who had personally experienced the horrors of the deathly swamp, still harbored a sliver of hope that he could persuade Morrow and the others to give up.
Morrow couldn't explain his reasons and could only express his solemn gratitude to the Lakeside Tribe elder.
Although the Lakeside Tribe wouldn't have to worry about food as long as they solved their water problem, the team still deliberately left behind a portion of the food they had brought from the Six Continents before they departed.
As for the team's future food source, the Lakeside Tribe had already provided them with information on multiple locations where ingredients could be obtained along the route from the Land of the Drained Marsh to the Nitro Rice swamp, so there was no need to worry too much.
Compared to food, drinking water was the more critical issue.
And an ample supply of 'Water Droplets' happened to perfectly solve this need.
In addition, Morrow also planned to turn back and collect as many Toothed Leaves as possible.
This was not only related to his plan for dealing with the Hellbell The Twin-Tailed Snake calamity, but also to the preservation of ingredients during their subsequent exploration.
More importantly, if the team successfully obtained the Nitro Rice, how could they ensure its efficacy wouldn't be lost on the way back to the Six Continents?
The Toothed Leaf's excellent preservation ability could also perfectly address this potential problem.
Otherwise, they might end up like Beyond's expedition years ago. Although he had successfully obtained his desired item, the alchemy plant, he was forced off his original route by an encounter with some monster on the return journey, ultimately causing the plant to wither en route.
Strictly speaking, Beyond's voyage was perhaps the closest humanity had ever come to bringing hope back to the Six Continents.
And now, as long as Morrow's team had the Toothed Leaves, they wouldn't have to worry about such a situation at all.
That was why Morrow couldn't help but sigh in his heart about how lucky they were.
If they hadn't encountered these Lakeside people in the marshland, they wouldn't have met the elder in the Lakeside Tribe's settlement who had been fortunate enough to eat Nitro Rice and thus lived from the age of migration to the present.
And they would have been even less likely to come across precious information about Nitro Rice, let alone the Toothed Leaves.
Under normal circumstances, after witnessing the danger of the Toothed Leaves and shouldering the clear objective of finding the Nitro Rice swamp, Morrow's team would have never noticed the preservation properties of the Toothed Leaves.
Contact with the elder was the key that brought about this opportunity.
However, if one were to get to the bottom of it, the team's gains were not entirely due to luck.
If Morrow hadn't been able to slay that massive black hand with his Stellar Collapse power, there would have been no subsequent contact with that group of Lakeside people.
Therefore, strength was also an indispensable component.
After departing from the Lakeside Tribe's settlement, Morrow and his party immediately retraced their steps, heading for the flatland where they had first encountered the vast expanse of Toothed Leaves.
While crossing the Land of the Drained Marsh, the moisture in their bodies was continuously and rapidly draining away.
Although Morrow and the others had already stayed in this area for some time, whenever they felt the moisture seeping out and evaporating from their skin, they would still feel a pang of fear at the terror of this land.
This phenomenon of rapid moisture loss from the body was almost comparable to excessive blood loss.
And the skeletons of creatures seen along the way had probably, for the most part, watched their own lives wither away with the moisture, bit by bit, until death.
This place was simply too cruel.
No, it should be said that the entire Dark Continent was just this cruel.
—--
On the evening of the eighth day after leaving the Lakeside Tribe's settlement.
Morrow and his party finally saw the vast land covered in brown, withered leaves in the distance.
More than twenty days had passed since that heavy rain.
The team had no way of knowing if this area had received more rainfall, but what was visible to the naked eye was that the countless Toothed Leaves on the ground had all returned to their dry, dormant state.
In this state, if a Toothed Leaf didn't encounter a sufficient amount of liquid, it was equivalent to a dead object.
"Great, that giant fire-breathing thing isn't here."
Ponzu didn't pay too much attention to the Toothed Leaves on the ground, instead constantly scanning the clouds in the sky.
Everything was normal.
The cloud cover was thin today, so there was no need to worry about the sky-blotting behemoth they had previously encountered hiding within them.
"Even so, we can't let our guard down."
Biscuit habitually ran through the worst-case scenarios in her mind. She didn't voice them explicitly, but simply reminded them, "Get what we need and leave as quickly as possible."
Afterward, the team cautiously observed from the edge for a while longer.
After confirming that these Toothed Leaves were indeed in a dormant state, they quickly began to collect them, stuffing them piece by piece into the animal hide bags the Lakeside Tribe had given them.
These hide bags, taken from some kind of creature, would always remain dry inside. The Lakeside Tribe normally used them to hold the Water Droplets that had been picked and thus shed their 'membranes.'
A dry environment could prevent the Water Droplets from soaking and expanding to the greatest extent, allowing them to be preserved for a longer time.
Now that Morrow and the others were using these hide bags to carry the Toothed Leaves, it was quite fitting.
After filling three hide bags with Toothed Leaves, Morrow and his party immediately leaped onto the back of the Chimera, which had remained on high alert.
Swoosh!
The Chimera flapped its wings and took to the air, carrying them swiftly away from this land to which they had returned.
"Next, we need to test the strength of the Toothed Leaf, and..."
Pressing his body into a gap between the Chimera's scales, Morrow took out a Toothed Leaf with a diameter of about 22 centimeters from a bulging hide bag.
"Starlight Convergence."
The aura on Morrow's body shattered into starlight, blanketing the Toothed Leaf in his hand.
In the next instant.
Golden chains appeared on the Toothed Leaf.
Faced with the entanglement of the chains, the dormant Toothed Leaf still showed no reaction.
But since the conditions for Starlight Convergence could take effect on it, it meant that even in this state, it was still categorized as a life form.
And it was precisely because its aura was so faint as to be almost negligible that Morrow's Starlight Convergence could bypass the evasion condition and directly implant a Star Mark into it.
As the golden chains shattered and dissipated, a clear Star Mark quietly appeared on the surface of the withered leaf.
"Biscuit, get ready."
Morrow gestured to Biscuit, who was not far away.
Biscuit, holding a container full of water, nodded and replied, "Okay, throw it."
Morrow immediately flicked his wrist, tossing the withered leaf with the implanted Star Mark into the air.
The leaf flew upward like a spinning frisbee.
Biscuit's gaze sharpened. Using a unique force application technique, she scooped up a handful of water and flung it into the air, accurately hitting the rising Toothed Leaf.
The moment the water splashed across the leaf's surface, the originally dry and dormant Toothed Leaf abruptly awakened. The tooth-like veins on the leaf rapidly evolved into savage maws, chomping madly in mid-air.
However, the surroundings were empty. No matter how it gnashed and bit, it couldn't find any prey to grind its teeth on.
Morrow condensed a wisp of a Shooting Star at his fingertip and flicked it.
Swoosh!
Under the precise guidance of the Star Mark, the Shooting Star struck the Toothed Leaf like a stream of light.
With a bang, the Toothed Leaf shattered on impact, turning into numerous fragments that fluttered down from the sky.
"Its durability is very low. The first step is fine."
Seeing this result, Morrow nodded in satisfaction.
This way, he could be sure that after utilizing the Toothed Leaf's offensive value, he could easily deal with the subsequent hidden dangers.
However, for the sake of rigor, further testing was still needed.
For example, verifying whether the durability of a satiated Toothed Leaf would change.
The team members all looked at Morrow.
They still found Morrow's plan to be a bit crazy.
But it was also a viable method for consistently dealing with a calamity.
They just didn't know, what would it be like when it was actually implemented?
And could it truly achieve the expected results?
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Bonus chapter @200 powerstones and next one @400