After raising his level to Lv. 125 in one go, Morrow could feel a continuous surge of power welling up from within his body.
He had experienced similar sensations many times before, but this time it was exceptionally distinct.
After all, it had been a long time since he had tasted the feeling of leaping nearly 20 levels at once, not to mention this was the feedback from leveling up past level 100.
At this moment, the aura erupting from every aura node on his body was materializing into power in an almost visible way.
Morrow's eyes shone with a scorching light amidst the fiercely surging aura.
With just a casual lift of his hand, he could stir the airflow around him.
This was a significant change brought about by the drastic increase in his aura's intensity.
Enveloped by such a majestic aura, even a casual punch from him was now equivalent to a level 50 Nen user concentrating all their aura into a single point for a Ko.
It could be said that for Nen users within the human sphere, Morrow's current aura intensity was already an insurmountable mountain.
As for ordinary people...
Even if Morrow just held a finger out in the air without moving, should an ordinary person so much as lightly bump into it, their chest would be instantly pierced by this terrifying aura, leaving a bloody hole.
This was a difference of dimensions.
Morrow didn't even need to act personally; just by releasing his aura at maximum output, he could kill every ordinary person around him from a distance, like a death halo.
As expected of the objects of hope that humans flock to...
Morrow casually clenched and then slowly unclenched his fist, a slight curve appearing on his lips.
To be able to jump nearly twenty levels so easily, it was worth their team risking the journey to the Dark Continent and reaping these rewards under the threat of Hellbell The Twin-Tailed Snake.
However, compared to the significant increase in his aura output, the extension of his lifespan was perhaps more important.
No, that wasn't right.
In truth, both were equally important.
Morrow smiled silently, then looked at his teammates on Chimera's back.
"Let's leave this place first. As for this plant, its material conversion speed is very fast. Taking one stalk is enough."
Given that the plant only needed two to three seconds to complete its material conversion, and the limited number of Toothed Leaves they had set aside earlier, Morrow had no intention of taking all the plants in sight.
Although the others felt the plant was quite valuable, they were more eager to get away from this troublesome place as soon as possible.
The dense swarms of carcass creatures in the surrounding gloom were relentlessly exuding a suffocating sense of pressure.
Furthermore, both Morrow and Chimera were now afflicted with a strange luck-based Nen ability.
If they triggered the white feather representing good luck, there would be no problem.
But if they triggered the black feather...
In the environment they were in, it was hard to imagine what kind of misfortune manifestation they would encounter.
Something even more absurd than a meteor falling from the sky might happen.
After testing and confirming the existence of this power of Luck, Morrow naturally understood that a harsh environment would only amplify the intensity of misfortune.
Under these circumstances, leaving quickly was the right choice.
Carrying the diamond-shaped crystal that could emit a strong light when struck or shaken, Chimera once again flew toward the massive opening in the canopy.
At Morrow's reminder, Chimera mentally prepared itself to face 'that gaze' at any moment.
Thanks to its long, flexible neck, Chimera could extend its head in any direction around its body, ensuring it wouldn't miss a single falling feather.
Whoosh!
The air swirled as Chimera rapidly approached the opening in the canopy.
The surrounding carcass creatures stirred restlessly, but they were deterred by the intense light from the crystal and dared not attack rashly.
Under the protection of the crystal's light, Chimera smoothly passed through the opening and returned to the top of the canopy.
At that very moment, the familiar gaze descended once more.
Without hesitation, Chimera immediately followed Morrow's instructions, twisting its neck to scan the area around its body, searching for any feather that might appear.
Seeing its slightly odd movements, the team members instantly understood that the gaze had arrived.
Just as Chimera turned its head to its side, a pure white feather silently drifted down, only to vanish into thin air the next second.
"Roar!"
Chimera pulled its head back and let out a low growl at Morrow on its back.
White? Very good.
Morrow let out a small sigh of relief and then commanded, "Climb higher first, then follow Kalluto's directions and proceed at full speed."
"Roar, roar!"
Chimera responded swiftly, adjusting its posture to ascend.
As Chimera climbed almost vertically, the people, who had secured themselves in the gaps between its scales, couldn't help but look down again at the huge opening in the canopy below.
A dark, gloomy hue still lingered around the edges of the opening, as if it would never dissipate.
Only those who had personally entered it could comprehend the terror within.
Faced with those ubiquitous swarms of carcass creatures that could devour any living being, let alone exploration, even ensuring one's survival for the next second was a difficult problem to solve.
After climbing to a relatively safe altitude, Chimera followed the guidance of the living paper doll and increased its speed to the maximum.
After flying like this for about half an hour, the sprawling canopy forest behind them finally disappeared from view.
They wondered if every corner of that forest was crawling with carcass creatures.
If that were truly the case, extrapolating from such a staggering area, the number of carcass creatures would likely be an unimaginably terrifying figure.
Leaving the canopy forest far behind, the expressions on everyone's faces visibly relaxed.
Previously, they could always rely on Chimera's flight ability to avoid risks, but this time, a 'variable' was attached to Morrow and Chimera.
This meant that unlucky events, like being knocked back into the forest by a falling meteor, were very likely to happen again.
If they were even more unfortunate and triggered a series of misfortune manifestations, they had no doubt that...
The alchemy plants that could temporarily serve as safe zones might wither and die for no reason.
Or perhaps the area where they were forced to land would have no alchemy plants at all.
If they fell into such a predicament, the countless carcass creatures would inevitably swallow them whole.
Now that they were finally far away from the forest, they at least didn't have to worry about that possibility.
However, the fundamental problem remained unresolved.
High in the sky, everyone's gaze fell on Morrow in unison.
Biscuit pressed a hand to her forehead, her tone grave. "This variable of Luck that comes with the unknown gaze, while it can bring good fortune, it can also trigger absurd misfortunes like a meteor to the face. If we don't find a way to solve it, I'm afraid our journey ahead will be anything but peaceful."
"The problem is, how do we solve it?"
Morrow pointed to his empty right shoulder and said, "The source of that gaze seems to be in a space that can affect us, but one we cannot reach."
"Do you guys think..."
Ponzu interjected with some hesitation, "Could this strange ability have a limited number of uses? Like one of those lottery machines with a penalty system, the balls representing prizes and punishments will eventually run out."
"If it's that kind of mechanism, it's actually more troublesome."
Gel took over, her brows knitted tightly. "Right now, not even counting Chimera, Morrow alone has triggered good luck more times than bad. If both have a fixed number of uses, then the probability of us encountering consecutive misfortunes next, will get higher and higher."
Morrow glanced at Gel and speculated, "Perhaps there's an even more troublesome possibility. For example, if we keep triggering good luck, it might accumulate into a single, extremely powerful misfortune, like a balloon being blown up continuously until it finally pops with a bang."
"We certainly can't rule out that possibility."
Gel nodded in agreement.
The others looked at Morrow and Gel, who were seemingly competing to see who could predict a worse outcome, and were momentarily speechless.
"For now, we can only take it one step at a time," Morrow said, turning his head to look at his empty shoulder. He calmly added, "While this thing is tricky, it also has a fairly obvious warning mechanism. At least it can tell us what we might face next."
"Sigh, this place is really not for humans," Ponzu sighed under her breath.
For her, this completely uncontrollable and unknown variable had even diluted the joy of receiving her share of Nitro Rice.
The group fell into a temporary silence.
The Dark Continent was just that unreasonable.
But at the same time, it was also filled with heart-pounding opportunities.
Any one of the objects of hope the team had obtained so far, if thrown into the six continents, would be enough to cause an unprecedented shock in human society.
However, these objects of hope were but an insignificant fraction of what the Dark Continent held.
So, this place was indeed not one that humans should set foot in, but it was also a vast and mysterious treasure trove of endless possibilities.
This was likely the fundamental reason why the V5, despite knowing the horrors of the Dark Continent and suffering tragic losses, were still unwilling to give up.
Moreover, the six continents were never short of people like Beyond and Ging, who were captivated by and obsessed with this land.
However, after personally setting foot on a few corners of this vast continent, Morrow had come to understand one thing.
Just as humanity can never truly conquer nature, it is also impossible to conquer this vast land where hope and calamity coexist.
High in the sky, the group fell into a brief silence, with only the ceaseless whistling of the wind in their ears.
The peaceful flight did not last long.
A storm swept in without any warning.
From spotting the churning dark clouds in the distance to the gale and torrential rain hitting them head-on, it took no more than a minute.
And just before that, a team member couldn't help but ask a question.
"Did a black feather appear?"
"No."
Faced with this question, Morrow could only answer helplessly that it hadn't.
Sudden, drastic changes in weather like this were not considered unusual on the Dark Continent.
Even without triggering a misfortune, they could encounter one at any time.
So, in a sense, even if they weren't afflicted by this strange power of Luck, as long as they continued to travel across this continent...
Any one of them could, in the next second, come face to face with various perilous situations representing misfortune.
To avoid this storm that blotted out the sky and earth, making it seem like the end of the world, Chimera was forced to descend toward the ground.
Coincidentally, on the flat ground below stood a strange mountain shaped somewhat like a giant pile of feces.
The mountain's surface was dotted with round holes, as if it had been bored out by some kind of maggot.
Chimera landed beside one of the holes, easily piercing the mountain's body with its claws and the sharp scales on its wings, embedding its massive body firmly as if cutting into tofu.
Although the hole was not small, it was still not large enough for Chimera to enter.
Before Morrow and the others entered the hole to take shelter from the storm, they followed their usual procedure and sent in the bee swarm and a familiar spirit to scout ahead.
At the same time, using the Honeycomb Network's shared vision, everyone was responsible for scouting in a different direction.
Coupled with the illumination provided by the glowing crystal, the reconnaissance proceeded very quickly.
Unexpectedly, the interior of this cave was sealed off, with no portals leading elsewhere.
Seeing all the similar holes on the mountain's surface, they had originally thought the insides would likely be interconnected...
"Let's go in first."
Soaked to the bone, Morrow was the first to step into the cave. To be on the safe side, he still activated his Starlight Convergence domain.
The others followed closely behind.
After confirming that everyone was inside, Chimera adjusted its position, using its massive body to cover most of the entrance, blocking the fierce wind and rain outside.
Although it could embed its claws and scales firmly into the mountain, it was still shaken continuously by the violent hurricane.
This showed that the wind's force was far beyond what any ordinary creature could withstand.
Fortunately, Morrow and his team had found this place to shelter from the storm in time, with Chimera blocking the entrance.
A magical beast like Chimera truly provided an irreplaceable and vital role in exploring the Dark Continent.
Morrow looked back at Chimera's faint silhouette outside the cave entrance and silently thought, Thank you for your hard work.
He then thought that if he had ample Tree Rings energy, perhaps he could try to hatch a second magical beast...
Unfortunately, the energy he could currently mobilize was quite limited.
If he hadn't absorbed a wave of Post-Mortem Nen from Eve earlier, he would probably only have enough energy to barely activate his rewind ability once.
Kalluto controlled a familiar spirit to shake the glowing crystal.
With the rapid shaking, the originally dim light inside the crystal gradually intensified again, soon filling the entire cave.
"Just hang it there and don't move."
Kalluto had the familiar spirit Youpi, which was holding the crystal, hang upside down from the cave ceiling like a bat, serving as a chandelier.
Once the crystal's light weakened, Youpi could automatically shake it to generate more light according to his commands.
This way, the cave could remain brightly lit.
Morrow looked up at the Youpi-brand chandelier, thinking that if he weren't afraid of the alchemy plant withering, he would really like to take advantage of this break to see what other new and interesting things he could transform.
He shook his head slightly and took out some grass fluff from his backpack to light it.
The flickering firelight reflected on everyone's faces, bringing a rare sense of warmth and security in this harsh weather.
Menchi then took out her cooking utensils from her backpack and began to prepare dinner.
The others watched the busy Menchi, silently enjoying this moment of peace.
Feeling he had nothing better to do, Morrow thought about exploring the cave more thoroughly.
But just as he stood up, his vision suddenly blurred, and at the same time, the gaze from his shoulder suddenly appeared...
Moreover, an inexplicable desire to eat surged up without warning.
"Hmm...?"
He actually had the urge to drink his own blood.
In the periphery of his blurred vision, he could faintly see a black feather drift down and disappear.
In his ears, the anxious cries of his teammates followed.
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Bonus chapter @200powerstones