Chapter 12: Another Journey to the Dark Continent
Biscuit gave Germain her contact information and helped him register online for the Hunter Exam scheduled for January 1998, promising to inform him of the exam's exact location as soon as she learned it.
By noon, after settling their bill, the two who had only known each other briefly went their separate ways.
You must become a Hunter, Biscuit said, waving goodbye before turning away.
Germain watched the small figure disappear into the crowd, then silently changed her contact name in his phone to Little Mother-in-Law.
From that moment, Germain decided to begin forging his own network of contacts.
A Month of Blood and Silence
It was December 25th, 1997 Christmas in some countries and the city streets overflowed with festive joy.
But none of that mattered to Germain.
Since the Phantom Troupe meeting on November 21st, followed by his encounters with Biscuit on the 22nd and 23rd, he had faced wave after wave of assassins and bounty hunters, witnessing every imaginable method of killing.
Some days he fought four separate groups; other days, only one.
Each encounter was deadly yet he survived them all.
After adapting to his new body and mastering his Nen abilities, combined with the Gift of Resentment granted by the Hunter Badge, Germain began to see the defeat of his enemies as a kind of daily reward.
In truth, he even came to enjoy this phase.
He estimated that the first or second month would bring the peak number of attacks from killers and Hunters targeting the newest member of the Phantom Troupe after which the frequency would naturally decrease.
It was inevitable.
The more people learned of him, the clearer it became that the new Troupe member was no easy prey.
His prediction proved correct.
Within a single month, Germain accumulated a significant amount of attribute points and gini a mysterious essence or form of genius harvested from countless corpses.
Naturally, his Spiritual Pressure continued to rise as well.
To date, Germain had earned 13 attribute points and 13 Spiritual Pressure points, though he spent the gini as quickly as he gained it.
Vitality: 20
Endurance: 17
Spiritual Pressure: 26
If Germain's body were an army, it was now disciplined, reorganized, and armed with new and powerful weaponry Nen.
Vitality and Endurance served as the logistical forces of that army: unseen by outsiders, yet essential to victory.
He could feel his physical condition improving; his Nen flowed more naturally with each battle.
Perhaps this was simply because he had yet to encounter monsters like the Zoldyck family or Hunters of Biscuit's caliber.
In short, Germain had spent the past month both acclimating to life in the Hunter world and sharpening his fangs for the greater hunt to come.
And now, after a month of preparation, it was time to return to the Dark Continent his second expedition.
The Portal Reopens
In the dead of night, he traveled to a remote suburb and found an abandoned mine.
He laid a simple trap nearby, then materialized a lantern within the pitch-black cavern.
At once, a dim purple-gray light filled the mine, spreading like liquid moonlight over stone.
Four Messenger Imps, still clinging to the lantern's frame and pole, turned their tear-streaked faces toward him.
Their faint sobs betrayed the sadness of a month spent in silent waiting.
I know, I know, Germain murmured, nodding to the hungry little creatures.
Unable to tell them apart and not particularly caring he extended his pinky finger toward one of them.
This time, I'll choose you.
The chosen imp howled with delight, quickly grabbing Germain's finger.
The other three shrieked in disappointment.
Two glowing lines appeared on the lantern:
Lantern Location:Dark Continent Dry Valley
Cooldown Time:2 minutes (Cooling Complete)
With a chaotic twist of space, Germain and the Messenger Imp still linked by their pinkies vanished into the lantern's light.
The mine fell silent again, swallowed by darkness.
The Dry Valley
In the next instant, Germain arrived in the Dry Valley, breathing in the sharp, fresh air.
For the second time… he muttered, scanning the barren horizon.
It had been night in the mine but here, it was broad daylight.
He looked down at the lantern resting near his feet.
Surrounded again by the four Messenger Imps, it now displayed a different set of runes:
Lantern Location:Central Isles of Mobius Lake Abandoned Mine
Cooldown Time:4 minutes (Countdown: 3:59)
The meaning was clear.
The Central Isles of Mobius Lake represented the current human world minuscule compared to the vast Dark Continent, no larger than a small archipelago.
From this, Germain deduced the pattern of the lantern's teleportation cooldown: each interval doubled the last.
At first, it was instantaneous insignificant.
Then one minute. Then two. Now four.
Next would be eight…
The waiting period would only grow longer.
Predator and Prey
Now… is that creature from last time still around?
He scanned the horizon carefully and noticed something strange.
Instead of the red flesh-eating beasts he had encountered before, a new monstrosity appeared.
Judging by its shape, it resembled a centipede but it was colossal, the size of a twenty-two-car train.
Dozens of spindly legs supported its segmented, twisted body.
Its antennae swayed as it crawled along the edge of a nearby ridge.
So, it's a centipede this time… Germain mused.
The creature suddenly shuddered, releasing black smoke from its limbs that drifted into the air before settling lightly on the dry valley floor.
Moments later, the mounds and rock formations scattered across the plain some half-buried, some exposed lost their camouflage.
Their dull brown surfaces shifted into shimmering crimson, revealing their true forms.
They were the same crimson beasts Germain had encountered on his first visit.
Now, however, under the centipede's dark mist, those bright creatures trembled violently, then collapsed one by one, motionless.
The centipede immediately crawled onto one of the fallen beasts.
Its hooked legs pierced the creature's fleshy shell with a muffled crunch.
Its mandibles plunged into the crimson hide, tearing through meat as it began to feed.
The toxin paralyzes the prey and softens the shell… Germain muttered, analyzing.
The venomous centipede and the crimson flesh-eater both parts of this region's food chain.
To explore the Dark Continent more safely and efficiently, Germain had prepared a proper field pack this time.
It contained a compass, remote-detonated explosives, medical supplies, compressed rations, and drinking water.
He also brought several emergency antidotes, though he wasn't sure they'd be effective against the centipede's venom.
Taking a slow breath, Germain stepped forward toward the monstrous creature.
(End of Chapter 12)