As per their usual practice, V5 blocked the news about the giant Chimera Antspecies causing chaos in NGL and the Mitene Union.
Therefore, very few outsiders were truly aware of the entire Chimera Ant incident, but Kakin Empire was one of them.
The hunters who had initially come into contact with the 'Queen's Remains' under the pretext of a biological survey commission had, in fact, all been hired by the Kakin Empire.
Among these hunters, there is Kite's team, the now-deceased Pokkle's team, and many other amateur hunters who, like Pokkle, had died during the mission.
So strictly speaking, the Kakin Empire was the first to obtain firsthand information and had detected clues from it.
However, the Kakin Empire did not intervene. Instead, they chose to monitor the entire Chimera Ant incident as bystanders.
And then-
The king of the Kakin Empire, Nasubi Hui Guo Rou.
This man, who appeared round-headed, pudgy, and utterly lacking in dignity or majesty, possessed a boldness and skill far beyond ordinary people.
It was he who single-handedly brought about revolutionary changes to the Kakin Empire, allowing the nation's power to grow explosively in just a few decades.
As a result, this ancient superpower, which had endured war and division throughout history, now occupied a position commensurate with its territorial scale, rivaling other great nations in terms of national strength.
Nasubi's achievements were not solely due to his own boldness and skill but also relied on the Guardian Spirit Beast born from the Post-Mortem Artifact, the Seed Urn.
The Guardian Spirit Beast was, in fact, a Nen Beast.
But to be more precise, it was a Nen Beast created through post-mortem Nen.
The source of this is none other than the first king of Kakin Empire, who had conjured the Seed Urn.
It was his strong desire after death, hoping that his descendants would continue to thrive, that created the Seed Urn and the Guardian Spirit Beast, thus granting the royal family of Kakin Empire a supernatural power to perpetuate their bloodline.
Since the Guardian Spirit Beast was created from the Post-Mortem Nen of the first Kakin King, it did not act according to the host's will after attaching itself to a descendant of the royal family.
From this, it was clear that while Nasubi could receive some assistance from the Guardian Spirit Beast, the complete transformation of the Kakin Empire was largely due to his own abilities and methods.
A man like this was anything but short-sighted.
Therefore, after receiving vast amounts of intelligence, he made the predictive judgment with great confidence that 'Netero will die in the Chimera Ant Incident'.
As for why he was so focused on this incident...
No.
What he was truly concerned about was Netero's life or death.
Because only with Netero's death could he and Beyond Netero proceed with the final phase of their collaboration, which is launching a full-scale exploration of the Dark Continent!
By then, his name would be recorded in history as the 'pioneer of the New World'.
This was the fundamental reason why Nasubi cared about Netero's fate.
Because as long as Netero is alive, he, Nasubi Hui Guo Rou, will not be able to start the voyage exploration plan.
Originally, he had assumed that Netero would die in the Chimera Ant extermination mission due to the heavy burden of his 'duty'.
However, contrary to his expectations, Netero not only survived, but had also completed the mission with minimal losses.
This outcome greatly surprised Nasubi.
"I've waited long enough."
Nasubi propped his cheek on his hand, his eyes calm.
…
Hunters Association's Headquarters.
The accumulated fame prompted Moses to obtain the second Counterpoint Cornerstone.
However, Moses had yet to decide how to use this hard-earned second stone.
Considering that the first Counterpoint Cornerstone used to 'counter the phenomenon of death' took away his shadow after the ability was activated...
Moses was uncertain whether the second stone could once again bear the effect of 'counter the phenomenon of death'.
After all, he is now a man without a shadow and no longer had shadows to pour his abilities into.
Under these circumstances, it was difficult to guarantee the effectiveness of a second attempt.
With so many uncertainties, Moses chose not to hastily assign an attribute to the second Counterpoint Cornerstone, leaving the matter pending for now.
…
A few days later.
The Hunter Association's Zodiacs' members gradually assembled.
In order to discuss Moses's succession, all members of the Zodiacs were required to attend the meeting at the Hunter Association's Headquarters.
Even Ging, who has been absent for many years, was supposed to attend this meeting.
However, given Ging's track record, even if he was ordered to attend the meeting, he would likely bail at the last minute. At most, he would send a stuffed doll as a stand-in for himself.
Beans and the vast majority of the Zodiacs think so.
But as a result-
Not only did Ging show up, but he arrived right on time!
He pushed open the meeting room's door and strode in casually.
The eyes of all the Zodiacs' members in the room immediately focused on Ging. Aside from Pariston, the others reacted with varying degrees of surprise.
"What's going on!?"
Kanzai stared at Ging, who had just entered the room, and shouted in disbelief:
"Isn't this the Absentee King who has been out of touch for many years? How could he come to the meeting on time without receiving any notice? This is unprededented!"
"It's 'unprecedented', you idiot."
Pyon, who was sitting diagonally opposite, triggered her passive skill of correcting Kanzai as usual.
Kanzai glared at her upon hearing this.
However, Pyon didn't even bother to look at him any more and continued to play on her phone while sprawled over the table.
Cluck, the Chicken of the Zodiacs, glanced sideways at Ging, who had his hands in his pockets, and said sarcastically:
"Slovenly, filthy, unkempt… yep, it's definitely him."
"Uh, Cluck, isn't that a bit harsh..."
The Sheep, Ginta said cautiously.
Cluck raised an eyebrow and looked at Ginta, sneering: "I didn't name anyone. What, you think so too, Ginta?"
"N-no, I didn't! Ging might look slovenly and unkempt, but he's not filthy!"
Ginta was shocked and quickly waved his hands to deny it.
Hearing this, Cluck rolled her eyes speechlessly.