You know, this was a village full of Nen users. Kevin and the others had been here for almost two weeks, and they had seen quite a few villagers' Nen abilities during this time. Unlike the distribution of Nen users in the outside world, where Enhancement users were undoubtedly the most numerous, in this village, though a comprehensive census hadn't been conducted yet, based on their visual observation, the number of Emission and Materialization users was far ahead.
"Perhaps it's due to bloodline, or maybe the growing environment is different," Menchi guessed casually.
At this moment, the light ball was still floating in the air. After a while, a wild boar came charging toward their direction with a rumbling sound.
"Mud Pit Boar." This time Kevin recognized it. This type of wild boar wasn't large in this world, belonging to the normal standard, and its entire body was covered in a thick layer of mud. The wild boar first rolled on the ground toward the light ball floating in the sky, and then started spinning in place. The mud shell on its body instantly turned into mud bullets wrapped in Nen, flying toward the light ball.
A villager standing at the edge of the area suddenly had a weapon similar to a javelin appear in his hand, and he fiercely threw the javelin outward. The moment the javelin flew out, it disappeared. At the same time, the villager appeared behind the wild boar and inserted the javelin into its body with extremely precise movements. The wild boar let out a miserable cry. The spear inserted into its body instantly changed, becoming a spear three meters long, directly piercing the wild boar. Immediately after, hooks were thrown over, dragging the wild boar back to the village.
"This Nen ability is quite good," Buhara commented. Afterward, the light ball disappeared. The villager who created it exchanged a few words with the person next to him with a helpless expression, then stepped aside.
At this point, Bian Locke stepped forward. He waved his hand outward, and a large number of bubbles surged outward like a tide. These bubbles gathered together, forming a giant bubble mass, slowly floating in the air. Sunlight penetrated the bubble mass, as if a brilliant rainbow was flowing within it.
Kevin squinted slightly, observing carefully. "No, Bian Locke's Nen ability has a certain degree of concealment. Compared to the light ball just now, the attraction is not strong enough, even when gathered into a mass," Kevin thought to himself. At this moment, he completely understood the hunting mechanism of these people.
It turned out they were hunting by utilizing the attractive properties of their Nen abilities. However, it was clear that only Materialization-type Nen abilities with specific functional properties could produce an attracting effect. Simply put, the key lay in whether the Nen spread outward. For Nen abilities like detection types, the Nen spread outward. For weapon-type Materialization abilities, to ensure the basic toughness of the weapon and grant it rule-based abilities, the Nen was generally solidified, and the weapons materialized by this type of Nen ability usually couldn't be too far from the user's body, and were even harder to control freely. Among Materialization abilities, detection types often had better effects in terms of free control and distance from the body. Their focus was more on rule attachment rather than the materialized object itself.
However, because Bian Locke's Nen ability was highly concealed and had low attraction, it took a full half hour to attract a snake.
"As expected, the earlier parts were just a warm-up for them." Buhara seemed to have noticed something.
At this moment, an hour and a half had passed since the hunt began.
"Alright, everyone, cheer up. The real hunt has just begun!" After Bian Locke finished speaking, he returned to his post.
Just then, the muscular man who had spoken on the watchtower earlier directly crossed the boundary. It seemed that ultimately, they still had to rely on people to attract stronger prey. After the muscular man stepped out of the boundary, the Nen on his body surged outward like turbulent waves. He was deliberately creating a stronger attraction.
This move had an immediate effect. Two eagle-like creatures cried out from the sky, diving down like lightning, full of aggression.
Kevin suddenly realized that the previous series of actions were similar to "baiting." If this hunt were compared to fishing, throwing out Nen ability creations to attract creatures earlier was like first casting bait at a fishing spot to attract some creatures. However, because these Nen ability creations had limited attraction, most of the creatures that actively came to attack were not strong and their numbers were not large. Nevertheless, the attracting effect was genuinely present.
When the attraction reached a certain level, they would send someone out. At this point, this person was like "bait," and the attraction instantly increased significantly. The creatures that had gathered around could no longer hold back and rushed toward this person.
At this moment, the villagers' hunting activity had completely entered a fever pitch. Eagles flying in the sky, snakes and wild boars running on the ground, and even rabbits, all swarmed over. The danger level of these animals was much lower compared to those that appeared at the funeral a while ago. This indicated that the previous "baiting" actions not only successfully attracted creatures but also cleverly excluded more dangerous ones, thus ensuring the safety of the hunting process.
For a time, various Nen bullets flew out like raindrops. Those animals that were already weak were instantly scattered, leaving behind only corpses. Hooks, ropes, and thin lines were all put into action, and even several strangely shaped Nen beasts could be seen participating in carrying the prey. At this point, the muscular man in charge of directing had retreated back to the village. And those Nen beasts participating in the carrying became new targets of attraction.
When the sun was high in the center of the sky, a large amount of animal ingredients had accumulated around the village.
"To be honest, I'm a bit disappointed." Kevin, who had been watching for a long time from the side, couldn't help saying. Menchi and the others naturally understood Kevin's meaning and could only shrug helplessly. After all, safety was the primary consideration for the villagers.
Because they had to ensure safety, the villagers used various alternating methods of attraction, sometimes sending people out, and sometimes releasing various Nen beasts. In this way, the attraction was sometimes high and sometimes low. Relying on their experience, they controlled the danger level of the attracted creatures within a tolerable range. But this also resulted in the quality of the attracted creatures being quite ordinary.
Kevin felt that there might be materials he needed among these creatures, but most were likely just mid-to-low-grade C-rank materials, which he didn't currently lack. However, Kevin could also understand the villagers' approach.
At this point, Bian Locke seemed to have completed his task and came over to them.
"Is the hunt about to end?" Gawain looked at him and asked. Unexpectedly, Bian Locke shook his head.
"If it were a normal hunt, it should indeed be over by now. But this time is different—the hunt has only just begun. These ingredients are too ordinary and simply not good enough to handle the festival."
"Oh?!" Kevin, who had originally lost some interest, was instantly invigorated.
"Look, Uncle Rabik has gone out again," Bian Locke said, pointing. Uncle Rabik was that muscular man. At this moment, Uncle Rabik strode outward with bold steps.
This action instantly attracted a large number of creatures. Though most of these creatures were still relatively weak, Uncle Rabik had finally started to act with full force. He saw his palm like a knife, swinging rapidly. The beasts that rushed forward were instantly hit in vital points and fell dead on the spot. His left hand was in a piercing shape, constantly thrusting forward. Every strike could leave blood-hole-like wounds on these creatures. In less than half a minute, he had completely cleared away the creatures surrounding him.
"Enhancement." Kevin instantly made a judgment. "But he's not as strong as me."