According to Lance, every few years, there were actually people who managed to cross the imaginary continent and reach the island where the Dark Gate was located.
But very few could truly pass the trial.
"The screening system set up by the human nations here is completely unnecessary. Those without ability will be killed by magical beasts like us who live on this continent. And anyone capable of breaking through our blockade isn't someone those human trash can stop anyway," Lance said, his tone full of disdain.
Veronica immediately became unhappy.
"We've intercepted plenty of people too, okay?"
"Yes. All people you picked off after they were badly wounded, or targets you finished off with sneak attacks while we were holding them down. Truly glorious work, humans," Lance said, his mockery practically overflowing.
Veronica opened her mouth, but had no idea how to retort.
And Lance was not done.
"Isn't that why you followed us this time too? To pick up scraps? Admit it. You humans stationed on this continent are nothing but trash who only know how to eat leftovers."
Even Ronin found it a little hard to listen to.
But looking at the whole situation, there was nothing wrong with what Lance said.
"I'm not arguing with a brainless thing like you." Since Veronica could not win the argument, she directly started attacking the gorilla personally.
"Want to fight?" Lance still had injuries on its body, but its momentum did not weaken at all.
Judging from its posture, as long as Veronica dared to answer, its fist would immediately greet her head.
Veronica looked at Lance's body, which was over eight meters tall, then at the fist that was almost as large as she was. She backed down. With a soft "hmph," she turned her head away.
"Say less," Ronin warned.
"Yes, sir!" Lance changed its attitude extremely quickly and immediately came to Ronin's side with a flattering expression.
Seeing its behavior only made Veronica angrier.
"How much do you know about the contents of the test?" Ronin was not particularly interested in Odo and Veronica.
Just as Lance had said, although the two of them had abilities that seemed decent, their actual strength was only so-so. If everyone V5 stationed on the imaginary continent was only at this level, then in Ronin's view, they really were not very useful.
Of course, he would not truly underestimate them because of that.
After all, Nen abilities were not limited to Enhancers. There were also cooperative Nen abilities that could unleash far greater effects through teamwork.
The division into six systems was only a simple way to judge the most suitable direction for an individual. If there was a systematic approach to learning and creating coordinated Nen abilities, then in some situations, they could indeed unleash even greater power.
"I don't know." Lance's large eyes were full of helplessness. "Lord Gatekeeper's thoughts aren't something anyone can casually guess."
"Fine." Ronin was not disappointed.
If it were really that easy to obtain the details of the Gatekeeper's trial, then they could simply complete it in advance. Wouldn't that mean they could pass directly once they reached the Gatekeeper?
For the next few days, the team continued moving forward at a steady pace.
There were many dangerous things on the imaginary continent, but those dangers were not much of anything in front of Ronin.
"If the danger is only at this level, then this place really isn't much," Ging said, having the same thought as Ronin.
"After all, this isn't the real Dark Continent. It's impossible for anything disaster-level to appear here," Lance explained.
It had already realized that Ronin and Ging were completely treating this place as a training ground before reaching the Dark Continent.
"According to the Gatekeeper, the danger here isn't even one ten-thousandth of the Dark Continent's. The entire Lake Mobius region is like a small garden. There's basically no real danger here. Of course, a place without danger also means there aren't many opportunities," Lance said.
This gorilla actually knew more than most humans.
The reason for that was simple: it was already over two hundred years old.
Although it was still somewhat immature and arrogant in the way it handled things, its experience was very real.
The imaginary continent was too vast.
Although there were not many truly great dangers, there were far more beings capable of using Nen on this continent than in the lands where humans lived.
And the root cause of that situation lay with magical beasts like Lance.
They had never had any sense of caution about using Nen, nor any thought of preventing Nen from spreading easily. Some beasts that survived their attacks slowly learned how to use Nen as well.
Although most monsters only mastered the simplest Enhancer-type Nen, that alone increased their danger by an unknown amount.
However, this kind of spread was still niche. It was very difficult for it to truly happen on a large scale.
After all, the situation where a beast survived being attacked by Nen and then mastered Nen itself was extremely rare, even among ordinary wild beasts.
Most beasts died the moment they were hit by an attack containing Nen.
Even if they survived by luck, being injured or crippled in the wild was extremely dangerous. One could say that injury marked the line between life and death. Anyone who fell below that line and still survived could only be called lucky.
"There are even more Nen-using beings on the Dark Continent, so there's no need to make such a fuss," Lance said proudly, showing off its knowledge.
Veronica listened to the gorilla running its mouth and opened hers, wanting to snap back. But before she could say anything, a large hand covered her mouth.
It was Odo.
Odo was extremely steady, and he also understood how to read the room.
As for Lance, it received Ronin's reward: a flying kick to the backside.
There had to be a limit to showing off. Ronin felt he had really given Lance too much encouragement. Now it wanted to act smug at every opportunity.
"I'm two hundred years old," Lance muttered as it climbed up from the ground, its eyes full of grievance.
Ronin ignored it and continued leading the team through the jungle.
Just as Ronin had calculated earlier, crossing the entire imaginary continent still took them nearly a month, even with their team's lineup and with Lance serving as such a distinctive presence.
What surprised them, however, was that even after they reached the coastline, they did not see anyone from V5 waiting to intercept them.
It was as if V5 had already tacitly allowed them to pass.
Of course, they might also have been waiting.
After all, there was not a single ship along this coastline.
In ordinary people's thinking, if one wanted to continue sailing, one needed a sturdy ship.
But now—
Looking around, the tall trees nearby had all been damaged to a certain extent. If they wanted timber, they would have to go much farther away.
And this was clearly man-made.
The purpose was simple: lure people toward the areas where intact trees still existed.
It was an open scheme.
A trap that one had no choice but to jump into, even knowing it was waiting ahead, if one wanted to reach the Dark Continent.
But the other side had obviously miscalculated.
~~~
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