Having crossed the threshold of the Dark Continent, the first thing they encountered was the path Chairman Netero had once "walked."
Everything before them was incomparably massive.
Dodge. They had to keep dodging.
Just as an insect would instinctively shy away from a giant palm that could crush it with a gentle touch, intelligent humans would naturally choose to stay far away from such beings at the first opportunity.
No one wanted to be an ant, casually stepped on and killed.
This was the plight of humans on the Dark Continent.
Yet, Morrow had used his Nen to utterly destroy the life of a behemoth.
When the massive black hand came crashing down, the resulting tremor shook the very earth. Even Biscuit and the others, high up in the sky, could seemingly feel the vibrations in the air.
It was too incredible.
If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, who could have imagined that a single human could obliterate a being countless times his own size?
Even Biscuit and the others, who were knowledgeable about the Nen system, were this shocked, to say nothing of the non-human people who had been tossed into the air by the tidal wave.
As they fell back to the ground with the cascading lake water, they no longer rushed desperately toward the center of the lake. Instead, they prostrated themselves in Morrow's direction.
To these people, who had spent years scrambling for clean water under the constant threat of the massive black hand, what had just happened could only be described as a miracle.
—--
High in the sky.
Morrow watched as the corpse of the massive black hand lay like a mountain range across the ravaged marshland, a peculiar feeling welling up inside him.
From the moment the first Accretion Charge had ignited, he had been certain that the massive black hand was within his ability's "kill range."
But now that he was truly facing this outcome, it still felt a little unreal.
I might have still grossly underestimated the sheer scope of Nen.
Morrow's gaze shifted slightly, landing on his own right fist.
During his years of training and growing stronger on the Six Continents, he had believed he understood the Nen System well enough, which was why he could always pull off a surprise victory in adverse situations.
But after arriving on the Dark Continent, in just two days, the level of understanding he thought he had achieved was brutally shattered.
The rule-based effects produced by Nen's mechanics were actually far, far stronger than he had realized.
It was just that he had never had a reference point like the massive black hand before, so his perspective had always been limited to what was at eye level.
However, these behemoths don't seem to know how to activate their own aura. That must be why Starlight Convergence and Stellar Collapse were so effective.
Morrow knew that in the cognitive framework of magical beasts, the power of aura was collectively referred to as vital energy.
And all the giant creatures the team had encountered in the past two days, whether it was the massive black hand before him or the group of flying creatures that had been ambushed by the floating monster's tentacles, had shown no signs of activating their aura.
He didn't know if they lacked the awareness to do so or if they were inherently incapable of it.
Or perhaps, they did know how to use their aura, but instead of projecting it outward, they used it all to strengthen their bodies internally, even to accelerate their growth.
That might be why they could attain such absurdly exaggerated sizes.
And why they didn't collapse under their own weight.
Of course.
This was just Morrow's speculation.
The greater possibility was that they simply lacked the ability.
After all, if they could truly control their aura actively, or even instinctively maintain their aura in a state of Ren, then what kind of ravaged landscape would the Dark Continent become under the trampling of these behemoths?
Morrow couldn't imagine it.
In any case, if all the giant creatures were like this massive black hand, unable to activate and utilize their aura, it was undoubtedly good news for him.
At the very least, his Stellar Collapse could serve as a specialized offensive measure against such behemoths.
Like the gaseous lifeform in the desert, it doesn't provide experience points. The target range of Morena's Etude of Love is still primarily focused on humans. But using the Chimera Ants as a reference, it's likely that any Nen user with mixed human genes would meet the condition.
Morrow lowered his gaze to his fist, his eyes sweeping over the Tree Rings imprint on the back of his hand.
But to have defeated such a behemoth and gained nothing would be a pity. Once my level is higher, perhaps I can directly modify the general framework of Etude of Love to further expand the range of 'experience targets.'
When exploring the Dark Continent, the strength of one's Nen determined the baseline for survival, while various special talents for coping with the harsh environment constituted the upper limit of exploration.
Both Beyond, who had already experienced it firsthand, and Ging, who had conducted detailed research on the Dark Continent, largely held this view.
Before taking the life of the massive black hand, Morrow had thought so too.
But now, he saw a higher ceiling for what Nen could achieve.
Thus, his viewpoint naturally changed.
Or rather, it had been inverted.
He now felt that the strength of one's Nen was the upper limit, while special abilities represented by professional traits were the lower limit.
This shift in perception wasn't entirely due to him having just taken down a behemoth.
The main reason was that once he realized the power of Nen could produce astonishing effects even on the Dark Continent, he once again raised the priority of his aura output level to the highest.
To continue increasing his aura output during this journey, he would have to find targets like the Chimera Ants, those with mixed human genes.
Or he would have to start attempting a drastic overhaul of Morena's Etude of Love.
As long as he could include beings like the massive black hand in his range for gaining experience, Morrow was willing to accept it, no matter how low the returns.
But such a thing was not easy.
Especially for a Specialization ability with an extremely complex structure like Etude of Love.
It was like a perfect product created after carefully "allocating points," the fruit of Morena's repeated experiments and accumulated efforts.
To better attune herself to this ability, she had even specifically collected a vast amount of data on Nen abilities, conducting in-depth research and analysis.
That was why her ability, despite its complex structure, still maintained a rare balance.
This balance was like walking the line between life and death, black and white.
Morena herself had walked such a path, and this deeply ingrained experience and philosophy had become a crucial part of Etude of Love.
To modify an ability of this nature would be tantamount to knocking out a load-bearing pillar.
But no matter how difficult it was, it concerned his future leveling efficiency, so Morrow had to try his best.
The tremors caused by the fall of the massive black hand gradually subsided, and Morrow reined in his scattered thoughts.
Just then, he suddenly noticed a large number of non-human people gathered on the marshland below.
More accurately, he saw the aura flowing around their bodies.
Hm?
Morrow's eyes narrowed slightly.
Before the massive black hand appeared, he was certain there were no other life forms in this marsh.
However, the giant hand's sudden attack had completely captured his attention, so much so that he hadn't even noticed when this group of non-human people, all wreathed in aura, had appeared.
What intrigued him more was their prostrate posture, which didn't look like they were hiding from danger, nor did it seem to be some special concealment technique.
Instead, it looked like they were piously worshipping something?
More importantly, this group's appearance and physique were highly similar to humans, and the possibility that they were ancient humans could not be ruled out.
Just as Morrow was pondering this, the Chimera swooped down from above, hovering beside him with a beat of its wings.
On the Chimera's back, everyone except Kalluto looked at Morrow with a mixture of shock and doubt.
"Morrow, get on," Kalluto called out to Morrow, who was suspended in mid-air.
Morrow smiled, and with a few sideways shifts, he landed steadily on the Chimera's back, simultaneously deactivating Terpsichora.
Biscuit looked at him, asking in astonishment, "How did you do that?"
"The mechanics of the ability," Morrow said, glancing again at the massive black hand lying quietly on the ground. His tone carried a hint of emotion. "I didn't expect it myself, that even a behemoth like this would fall within the effective range of my ability. Normally, with my potential aura, I definitely couldn't have done this. But the mechanics of Nen did."
"Tsk, you..."
Biscuit scrutinized Morrow's face, sighing softly. "You're becoming more and more incredible."
"It's not me," Morrow said with a smile. "It's Nen that's incredible."
Biscuit didn't refute him, but she didn't fully agree either.
The power of Nen was indeed incredible, but it also depended on who was wielding it.
Morrow then turned his head to look at the prostrated non-human people on the ground and reminded them, "There are a lot of people down there. Well, I should say, they look a lot like humans."
With his reminder, the others belatedly noticed the situation on the ground.
A moment ago, their attention had been completely captivated by the massive black hand. After Morrow dealt with it, their focus had inevitably shifted to him.
As a result, like Morrow, they had only just now noticed this group of people who had appeared out of nowhere.
"What are they doing?"
"Don't tell me they were scared silly by what just happened..."
"It doesn't look like it. The feeling I get is that they're worshipping something; could that giant black hand be their god?"
"That's actually possible."
The group exchanged their speculations while observing the non-human people below, who remained prostrated.
Perhaps it was because they were in an environment like the Dark Continent, or perhaps it was because they saw the primitive and simple clothing of the people on the ground, but Biscuit and the others unanimously associated them with a primitive tribe.
And for a primitive tribe, a behemoth like the massive black hand, which seemed to reach the heavens, could easily be worshipped as a deity.
Similar examples were not uncommon on the Six Continents.
In the depths of dense forests not yet fully explored by humans, some primitive tribes would regard giant pythons living near their homes as gods, even proactively offering sacrifices to pray for their protection.
Throughout recorded human history, similar cases were numerous.
Perhaps because this world was already teeming with exotic beasts, the occasional appearance of a mutated individual could easily become an object of worship for a primitive tribe.
"Should we go down and make contact?" Gel asked with a frown.
In her view, if they could communicate with this group of non-human people on the ground, it would undoubtedly help the team's subsequent journey and allow them to understand the situation on the Dark Continent more quickly.
Of course, that was assuming there were no language barriers.
But that was something they could only find out after making contact.
Hearing Gel's proposal, the group exchanged glances.
In the end, everyone's gazes converged on Morrow.
Meeting their questioning gazes, Morrow said, "Don't just look at me. What do you all think?"
"I think we should try to make contact," Biscuit stated her opinion. "Their physique is highly similar to humans. We might be able to obtain some useful information through communication. But before formal contact, it's best to let Kalluto's familiar spirits test the waters first."
"Mm."
Morrow nodded.
Kalluto's familiar spirits were excellent mine detectors.
Whenever there was a need for probing or verification, they could send the familiar spirits in first.
Just like before, when they needed to escape the floating behemoth's encirclement, they had first used the familiar spirit Youpi to scout for risks.
"I also think we can try to make contact," Menchi then stated her position.
Seeing that everyone was generally in favor of making contact, Morrow signaled for the Chimera to descend toward the ground.
—--
At this very moment.
The piously prostrating non-human people noticed the Chimera's movement, and their bodies couldn't help but tremble slightly.
It was a mix of nervousness and excitement.
To get a better look at the situation, they all rose from the ground, their eyes fixed on the Chimera as it landed steadily on an open patch of ground before them.
However, after the Chimera had settled, Morrow, whom they regarded as a god, did not come down.
Instead, a tall, entirely crimson figure was the first to leap off the Chimera and walk toward them.
The non-human people paid him no mind, their fervent gazes still fixed on Morrow, who was on the Chimera's back.
This unusual reaction was taken in by everyone on the team.
"Morrow, they all seem to be looking at you?"
"Indeed, and their gazes... what's going on?"
Everyone suddenly looked at Morrow with slightly strange expressions.
Morrow was also a little puzzled, but he made no further moves, still intending to let the familiar spirit Youpi probe the situation first.
Seeing that Morrow remained motionless, the group of non-human people who had gathered from all directions exchanged a few words in low voices.
Their language had a distinct gurgling sound, like the bubbling of flowing water.
After a brief exchange, a squad of them quickly stepped forward. Using their strangely structured feet, they ran swiftly across the water's surface, dashing toward the lake.
Morrow and his group remained still, watching to see what would happen.
Before long, that squad of non-human people returned.
Each person was holding something that resembled a bunch of grapes, covered in tiny, granular beads.
The small beads were about the size of BB pellets, translucent and shimmering with a faint luster.
One of them plucked a small bead and gently placed it in a puddle at his feet.
In just a second or two, the small bead rapidly expanded in the water, stopping only when it reached the size of a basketball.
That non-human person took out the expanded bead and slit an opening in it with a fingertip.
Gurgle...
Clear water immediately gushed from the opening, flowing continuously with no sign of stopping.
After completing the demonstration, they neatly arranged the items they had brought on the open ground in front of them, then once again prostrated themselves in unison before Morrow.
These grape-like fruits were clearly being offered by them as a tribute to a god.
—--
On the Chimera's back.
Seeing this, Biscuit and the others looked at Morrow with even stranger expressions.
They now clearly understood that this group of non-human people was indeed worshipping some being.
Only, the object of their worship wasn't the massive black hand they had assumed, but Morrow, who was right beside them.