The ship was left at the dock, and Ronin's group followed the goat-headed magical beast as they slowly walked toward the Dark Gate.
The closer they got to the Dark Gate, the more they could feel its weight and ancientness.
Especially the marks on the Dark Gate, and the dark-brown ground near it that carried a faintly bloody smell. All of it spoke of cruelty.
It seemed a war had broken out here not long ago.
There were still signs of damage on the island's buildings. However, they were all wooden houses, so Ronin assumed it would not take long for this place to look brand-new again.
The goat-headed magical beast brought Ronin's group beneath the Dark Gate.
There stood a terrifying figure with blood-red skin, curved horns pointing toward the sky, and a cigar clenched in his mouth. He looked more like a demon from hell.
The reason he was called terrifying was that even just standing there, the aura he gave off was more frightening than that of the dragon coiled nearby.
As for his appearance, he looked very similar to the main character from a movie Ronin had seen before.
Hellboy.
"Lord Gatekeeper, the people have been brought here."
The goat-headed magical beast bowed respectfully, and at the same time revealed the identity of the being who had been waiting for Ronin and the others.
Everyone's image of the Gatekeeper did not shatter just because he looked like Hellboy. After all, from the beginning, they had known that the Gatekeeper was not a true human, but a magical beast.
Because of the powerful aura around him, Ronin's impression of the Gatekeeper instead made him feel somewhat eager to test himself.
The Gatekeeper should be stronger than Netero, right?
That thought appeared in Ronin's mind.
But he also knew that now was not the time to challenge the Gatekeeper.
So he merely nodded slightly to the Gatekeeper as a polite greeting.
"You did well," the Gatekeeper said in a low voice.
He was over five meters tall, so when he looked at Ronin and the others, his gaze naturally came from above.
But that downward gaze did not make people feel disgusted, because there was no superior examining inferiors in the Gatekeeper's eyes, nor the slightest trace of contempt.
There was only a faint, detached indifference.
Ronin did not quite understand what the Gatekeeper meant.
"I assume you already know our purpose. We want to go to the Dark Continent."
"I know." The Gatekeeper nodded. "And that is possible. But I believe you should also know the rules.
"You may go. In fact, since you dealt with the ghost ship, I can count that as you having passed the test directly. However, you must bring back something valuable enough from the Dark Continent."
Seeing Ronin frown, Ging exchanged a glance with him, then stepped forward and said, "Do you have a list?"
Negotiation was clearly not Ronin's area of expertise.
However, from the Gatekeeper's words, it was not hard to understand that his earlier "you did well" was probably referring to them dealing with the ghost ship.
The only question was whether they had accidentally passed the test, or whether the Gatekeeper was using that as an excuse to give them special treatment.
After hearing Ging's words, the Gatekeeper smiled.
His large crimson hand fumbled around his body, then pulled out a list printed on A4 paper.
Nen naturally covered the paper, making it instantly stiffen. Then the Gatekeeper flicked it directly toward Ging.
This was clearly another test.
However, this kind of test was far too simple for Ging. Without any extra movement, he merely extended two fingers lightly and caught the Nen-reinforced paper the instant it approached.
There were not only words on the paper, but also pictures.
However, the contents were not especially new. The items listed were even things Ronin, Ging, and the others had already managed to gather information on.
It felt as if there were only these good things nearby, or that those sent to the Dark Continent could at most obtain things like these.
Ronin took the paper and looked it over. It gave him a more concrete understanding of items he had previously only known by name.
For example, the alchemical plant Meryon was a golden plant that looked somewhat like a money tree.
The Trinity Elixir, the source liquid of all liquids, was a drop of water suspended in midair.
Ronin put the information away. He became increasingly curious about the Trinity Elixir. He had seen something similar in Greed Island before. However, that item was not the source of all liquids, but something that could only create different kinds of alcohol.
It did not even require any operation. It could produce a fixed amount of alcohol every day on its own.
From the picture, however, this Trinity Elixir seemed to require some kind of operation.
Another reason he was curious about the Trinity Elixir was that it had been specially marked in red on the image.
Clearly, this was the thing the Gatekeeper most wanted Ronin and the others to retrieve.
However, Ronin remembered that the location of the Trinity Elixir was in the south after landing on the Dark Continent from Lake Mobius.
And entrenched there was the Desire Dependence, the mist-like life-form, Ai.
According to official records, the area explored by the Mimbo Republic back then was the south. In the end, only three people from the entire expedition team returned alive, and even those three had completely lost their sanity and suffered mental collapse.
It was not much different from saying no one survived.
Fortunately, Ronin knew that even if they did not go to the location of the Trinity Elixir, the locations of the other items were also filled with danger. Otherwise, he really would have suspected that the Gatekeeper was deliberately trying to harm them.
No.
Ronin suddenly reacted.
What if all the information given by the Gatekeeper was a trap?
But the thought had only just appeared before Ronin denied it himself.
There was no point.
Doing so would bring the Gatekeeper no benefit at all.
After all, according to the information obtained from Lance, sending them to the Dark Continent would also consume something on the Gatekeeper's part.
"Do you need the Trinity Elixir badly?" Shizuku was the type to say whatever she noticed.
So after seeing the Trinity Elixir marked in red, she asked directly.
"Yes." The Gatekeeper took a puff from his cigar. "You should have seen it too. This place has just experienced a major battle. Those who want to go to the Dark Continent are not only easy-to-talk-to humans like you, but also beings living in these sea regions that you humans have not yet explored.
"They do not have so many rules. Some even believe that I, who guard this place, am a heretic. Every few years, they launch an assault on the Dark Gate. They even call that war a holy war.
"Although I win every holy war, a few fish always slip through the net and rush into the Dark Gate. Every single one that enters consumes energy. If that energy is truly exhausted, then no one should even think about going to the Dark Continent for a while.
"The Trinity Elixir and Unmanned Stone are the two most important energy materials among them. I still have quite a lot of Unmanned Stone, but I haven't obtained Trinity Elixir in a long time."
The Gatekeeper did not hide anything.
"And don't think about asking me to leave. If I truly left this place, the first ones to attack the Dark Gate might very well be you humans' Five Great Nations."
~~~
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