Ging was currently holding a book with great care, studying it intently.
Though its shape clearly identified it as a book, it was unlike any found in the Six Continents.
Its cover was made from the hide of an unknown beast, while its pages were crafted from an unidentifiable material.
In appearance, it differed greatly from conventional books, exuding a wilder, more primal aura.
Strangely, despite the obvious signs of age—some sections deeply yellowed—the books remained remarkably intact, with only minor wear at the edges.
Clearly, the materials used were of exceptional quality, allowing them to endure the passage of time.
Kururi's personality was very distinctive. He was deeply passionate about linguistic research and would immerse himself completely once he began studying.
At the moment, he was quietly flipping through books, seemingly oblivious to the outside world. He had already lost himself in his own realm.
It was precisely this love for language that drove him to study step by step, eventually reaching the status of a top-tier university professor.
Moreover, he developed a Nen Ability that suited him perfectly.
Beyond his fervent pursuit of his passions, Kururi was also a man indifferent to fame and fortune.
In the original story, when Ging competed for the position of second-in-command in the team, he not only willingly accepted challenges from other members but also offered double the reward.
Even though Kururi lost to Ging in ancient languages, he still received the doubled reward.
However, he chose not to keep it.
Instead, he had Ging directly transfer the money to the academic union's account—"197"—so the funds could be used for education, nurturing more intellectuals.
Though Kururi was accustomed to quietly studying languages, the growing excitement on his face suggested these books were anything but ordinary.
Or perhaps, the very presence of books here was already an extraordinary thing.
These books were not large, roughly the size of those from the Six Continents, or slightly bigger.
But they clearly didn't match the towering three-to-eight-meter-tall bodies of the stone giants.
Considering the non-human remains discovered earlier in the passage, everyone agreed these books must have been created by those ancient non-humans.
Hearing Akira's words, Kururi paused for half a beat before belatedly turning his head.
Pushing up his round-patterned glasses lightly, a gleam flashed in Kururi's eyes, and his lips curled in barely restrained excitement.
"We… have found something incredibly important!"
As he spoke, he raised the book in his hand, his face betraying a surge of exhilaration.
His impassioned tone immediately drew the attention of the others, who had just been discussing why there was a white circle there.
Ging was the first to react, stepping beside Akira to hear what Kururi had discovered.
Though they had once competed in ancient languages—ending in his victory—Ging still highly respected Kururi's expertise.
As a professor at a top-tier university, his knowledge was beyond doubt.
Moreover, when dealing with an entirely new language, Kururi might be better suited for the task than him.
If one had already grasped part of a language, recognizing other elements would be relatively easier.
But encountering a completely new, never-before-seen language was an entirely different challenge.
Especially when there were few reference materials available for comparison.
Facing a new language head-on and understanding nothing was perfectly normal.
Language systems were wildly diverse—some took unimaginable forms—making direct research on a new language extremely difficult.
But Kururi was different.
His Nen Ability could solve this problem quite effectively.
His Nen Ability, The Power of Knowledge, helped him learn languages more easily.
So even if he didn't recognize a language at all, his Nen Ability would subtly assist him.
For example, deep down, he might instinctively feel that a certain string of characters in the new language meant "to eat."
So, the meaning of this new string of language was most likely "eat" in the language of the Six Continents.
Therefore, in a place like the Dark Continent, if one wanted to study new cultures, languages, and such, Kururi's ability was absolutely essential.
Apart from Ging, everyone else also shifted their attention away from the murals and turned to look at Kururi.
For some time now, Ging had been studying this book intently.
The others had looked through it too but couldn't find any useful information.
Thus, they could only pin their hopes on Ging, whose abilities were special.
It wasn't that they were completely ignorant of languages—it was just that the writings recorded in this book were too abstract.
In fact, "writings" might not even be the right word.
The contents resembled patterns more than text.
The patterns were all perfectly square, containing many sketched strokes inside.
Somewhat similar to Kanji characters like "circle" or "ring", with an enclosing "fence" surrounding the internal strokes.
Perhaps it was psychological, but those perfectly square frames seemed unnaturally rigid, giving people an inexplicable sense of discomfort.
An inexplicable feeling of being confined emerged.
Within those square frames were various strange patterns, much like the strokes in Kanji characters.
Except these strokes were far more complex—less like "writing" and more like "drawing."
Clearly, this was an entirely new script, unlike any writing system across the Six Continents.
Thus, none of them could decipher it—only Ging stood a chance.
Ging scratched his slightly messy hair, saying excitedly:
"I haven't fully understood it yet, but I can already comprehend part of the content!"
"If I'm not mistaken, this book should be a diary!"
A diary?
The group was momentarily stunned.
After all, such a mysteriously styled book naturally made people imagine something grand.
Perhaps it recorded methods for using Hope, or how to avoid certain disasters.
Or maybe techniques to master special abilities.
No one expected it to be a diary.
Ging continued, "Our earlier assumptions weren't wrong.
There originally lived a different kind of human here..."
As Ging spoke, Akira was slightly distracted, immersed in his thoughts.
Just moments ago, Porygon-Z had fully absorbed Jin's memories and returned to the cavern.
Since Jin had lived a long time, his memories were unusually vast, which was why Porygon-Z took extra time.
It also processed the memories, selecting the truly useful ones for Akira to review.
...
After a while, Akira finally finished reviewing the most important parts of Jin's memories.
Most of the content he already knew through his Encyclopedia Ability.
But the remaining portions answered many of his questions.
First was the whereabouts of the Diamond Spirit group.
As he suspected, Jin had captured the Diamond Spirits rather than killing them outright.
Instead, he used them as laborers, forcing them to work day and night to produce more Gemstone Power.
Apparently, Diamond Spirits emitted peculiar rays that could influence surrounding rocks.
They could transform the internal structure of ordinary rocks, turning them into miraculous Gemstone Power.
Yet this race capable of "turning decay into magic" didn't need to eat—they only absorbed essence from the earth.
They were essentially natural "laborers," requiring no upkeep while producing vast quantities of high-value items.
The place where they stayed was also very close, just a short walk through another opening in the cave chamber.
First, the issue of the Diamond Spirit group was resolved.
Next were these books and blades.
According to Jin's memories, these books and blades were all taken from the former Bone Clan leader.
Originally, it wasn't the leader of the stone giants.
It was only after the Diamond Spirit King used a self-destruct-like ability, wiping out the original leader and several other powerful stone giants in one blast, that Jin got the chance to rise and become the new leader of the stone giants, relying on the Gemstone Power to continuously push its limits.
Although surprised by the Diamond Spirit King's self-destruct effect, Akira was more concerned about the Bone Clan's side.
Jin couldn't understand the books either.
Despite years of studying them, it couldn't make sense of anything.
But it quickly figured out how to use the blades and found them incredibly useful.
Before this, it had never seen anything so miraculous, so it treated the blades as treasures, usually storing them within its own body.
Because the blades were so extraordinary, it also placed great importance on the books carried by the Bone Clan leader.
Unlike the inefficiency of the others, Akira, with the help of the Unown, quickly deciphered the contents of the books.
The books Akira read were the ones Porygon-Z retrieved from Jin, also the most important among all the Bone Clan's books.
Not only did they contain methods for identifying ores and locating specific ones, but also the Bone Clan's most prized forging techniques!
Combined, these books formed an exceptionally detailed "Guide to Crafting Miraculous Blades from Scratch."
From finding and processing ores... all the way to the final completion of the blades.
This entire series of techniques was recorded in these books.
Even the construction of this massive forging platform was described.
It's no exaggeration to say that anyone who could understand these books could master the Bone Clan's forging techniques.
Aside from the difficulty of obtaining the ores, it was equivalent to having an endless supply of miraculous blades.
Regarding this, Akira's approach was the same as with the forging platform.
That is, leave it to Meowth to handle.
Professional tasks should be left to professional cats.
Perhaps one day, Meowth would have a burst of inspiration and improve upon the original forging techniques.
Who knows? It might even craft blades comparable to those from "Bleach."
Apart from the Diamond Spirit group and the Bone Clan's techniques, the next thing that caught Akira's attention was Jin's experiences.
Although Jin was the leader of the stone giants, it wasn't the type to hide in its lair and leave everything to its subordinates.
This didn't mean it was considerate of its underlings, but rather that it didn't trust its kin enough, believing they would mess things up.
Whether it was the lowest-tier rock giants or the slightly better Silver Giants, none were suited for reconnaissance work.
Because they weren't very agile and lacked mobility.
So before Jun gained shadow abilities, Jin sometimes sneaked out to scout the surrounding terrain itself.
Even then, it kept a considerable distance, afraid that getting too close would invite some disaster.
This was all due to its extreme caution.
From its memories, Akira noticed that Jin didn't originally have such an overly cautious personality.
After surviving the Diamond Spirit King's self-destruct and narrowly escaping death, Jin became exceptionally fearful of dying.
He had also developed an unusually cautious approach to handling matters.
Afraid that sending his clansmen out to investigate might invite unnecessary trouble, or even the danger of annihilation.
He didn't trust the other clansmen enough, believing only himself to be truly trustworthy.
This was why, when faced with imminent disaster, he could flee without hesitation, not even considering whether any clansmen might still be alive.
During these investigative experiences, Akira discovered a very interesting detail.
The investigations in other directions were relatively normal.
Although there were one or two creatures with decent strength, Akira estimated they were all within the S-rank range.
Among them was a creature that looked familiar—the giant tree man he had defeated not long ago.
Yet, this tree man wasn't the existence Jin truly feared!
What it truly dreaded was the Hellbell Snake in the swamp!
Just by observing Jin's memories, Akira could feel its trembling and terror at the time.
When he saw this part of the memory, Akira suddenly frowned, somewhat puzzled.
Porygon-Z was extremely meticulous in its work, executing any task assigned to it flawlessly.
Yet, while all other memories were intact, the part after Jin encountered the Hellbell Snake was missing.
When the memories resumed, it was already the scene of Jin fleeing in extreme panic using teleportation.
According to Porygon-Z's explanation, Jin itself had no memory of this segment.
Such a coincidence was as if this part of the memory had been deliberately erased.
An existence that could make Jin flee in such a panic, even causing memory issues—Akira grew increasingly interested in this Hellbell Snake.
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