บท 91: Chapter 92 : Teleported??
Germain's head throbbed painfully as he slowly regained consciousness, and the darkness scattered like startled aphids.
"Hmm..." Germain rubbed his forehead and attempted to sit up.
A hand reached out from beside him, grasping his arm. Startled, he turned to see Shizuku. His tense muscles relaxed.
"You're awake," Shizuku said, helping Germain up.
Germain looked at the faint light in the sky, taking a moment to realize it was dawn, not sunset.
Filled with questions, he asked, "Shizuku, what happened next? I don't remember anything after that."
"You were seized by an invisible giant hand, compressed into dark red gas, and vanished," Shizuku explained briefly, releasing Germain's hand.
"And then?" Germain inquired.
"Then?" Shizuku tilted her head, pondering briefly. "After you, Wing was also caught mid-air in the same way, then disappeared. After that, it was my turn."
"I woke up about ten minutes ago, used the 'Nen Radar', scanned around, and found you lying on the ground, so I came over and woke you up."
Germain frowned as he looked around.
This place was unfamiliar—neither under the World Tree, nor near the volcanic belt, nor the forest at the bottom of Spider Valley. It was a small hillside.
Glancing into the distance, Germain saw vague outlines where weak sunlight hadn't yet reached, shrouding everything in darkness.
It seemed they had all been captured one after another by the dark giant and brought here.
The dark red mist that had just dispersed seemed to be some form of teleportation ability, akin to Germain's teleportation lantern and the Rat in the Wall's black hole.
"Have you seen Bisky and Wing?" Germain asked.
Shizuku shook her head as expected. "I haven't seen them. I only met you. But the radar detected their location. They're quite far away, so I came to your side first."
Germain took out the radar. All four radars stored energy from the same life source. They were attracted to each other, allowing for rough positioning.
True enough, two bright spots representing Bisky and Wing were blinking on the radar's edge. It seemed they had already joined like Germain and Shizuku.
As long as they remained within radar range, they could easily find each other.
"Do you recognize this place?" Germain put away the radar and asked again.
"No, I don't remember this area at all," Shizuku replied.
Indeed, that was the case. Germain lowered his head and contemplated.
"Germain." Shizuku broke the silence and suddenly asked two strange questions. "I want to know, are we dead? Is this hell?"
Hearing this, Germain looked up in slight surprise and met Shizuku's dark eyes.
He couldn't see any sadness or anger, only the calm acceptance.
Shizuku continued, "After I was caught by that hand, I felt intense pain throughout my body, bones breaking, flesh tearing, and then a peaceful feeling of death. Germain, are we dead?"
"This is definitely not hell, and we're not dead," Germain shook his head. He circulated the aura in his body to connect with the aura around him.
"We're still alive and are in the Dark Continent."
"Why are you so sure?" Shizuku asked skeptically.
"You must have noticed," Germain extended his index finger, and the Nen formed four words - "Hunter Badge".
"The Nen here is much richer and more energetic than on the six continents."
"That's because the Dark Continent has the largest land area, richest resources, the most complete ecological system, and the most concentrated Aura circulation."
"We Nen users are fine, as aura circulation is as natural as breathing. If an ordinary person with a blocked pore were to enter the Dark Continent for the first time, they would likely have a severe adverse reaction."
"As long as you truly feel the aura here, you'll know we're still alive and in the Dark Continent. This is the evidence."
Shizuku did notice the difference in aura content between the Dark Continent and the Six Continents. At this moment, with Germain's reminder, she stretched as if to yawn, feeling the vital energy.
She nodded, agreeing, "We're indeed not dead. But, in fact, whether we live or die doesn't matter much to us who come from Meteor City. Every extra day is a blessing."
Germain sensed her seriousness.
Yet, he had no intention to convince her otherwise. After all, deeply ingrained beliefs from childhood weren't easily changed with a few words.
"Let's confirm what we can," Germain said, pulling out a bronze pocket watch from his sleeve. In the faint dawn light, he checked the time. "Six Continents time, six in the morning."
He pursed his lips, calculating.
The team of four had departed at one o'clock Six Continents time. Two hours later, around three in the morning, they reached the World Tree. Thirty minutes later, they encountered a massive black shadow.
Now, it was six in the morning, missing nearly two and a half hours.
What was more perplexing... It had been daylight when they arrived at the World Tree, yet here, the sun had not fully risen.
Germain gazed at the pale sky, lost in thought.
If not for the different aura, Germain might have believed they had returned to the Six Continents.
He retrieved his Hunter Badge and activated a projection visible only to him. The teleportation lantern's four-hour cooldown had passed, indirectly confirming the passage of time.
What was happening?
Germain pondered deeply and suddenly had a daring hypothesis—perhaps their teleportation destination was much farther than they had imagined, though there was no definitive proof yet.
At the same time, he noticed that some aspects of his "Hunter Badge" projection had changed.
Although Germain couldn't recall what happened after he lost consciousness, he remembered clearly what occurred before.
He knew he had triggered the "torture" called "masochism" with that giant hand.
However, if left unchecked, this "torture" state would only last for half an hour. Germain woke up two and a half hours later, and the "masochism" had naturally disappeared.
This change seemed normal, nothing out of the ordinary. What truly caught Germain's attention were the alterations in other aspects.
His "Endurance" had increased to 40 points, his "Physique" finally broke through the "Master" limit, reaching 51 points, and his "Pressure" had risen to 115 points.
"No wonder I felt such indescribable smoothness when I controlled the flow of Nen just now," Germain thought. "But why did I improve? Could this also be related to the huge black shadow?"
Moreover, he now had two additional "positive traits" and two more "negative traits", making a total of four "traits".
The "positive traits" were "toughness" and "robustness", while the "negative traits" were "Avaricious" and "moody moodiness".
"Toughness" allowed Germain to receive greater stress relief treatment.
In other words, Bisky's "Magical Beautician Miss Cookie" would provide more stress relief to the current Germain.
As for "robustness", it offered resistance that reduced the chances of falling ill.
As the name implied, "Avaricious" made Germain more obsessed with material wealth, while "moody moodiness" slightly increased the chances of triggering "torture".
After being caught by the giant hand, Germain was missing for two and a half hours, and suddenly found himself in an unfamiliar environment with Shizuku, with significant changes in his body.
Clearly, the huge black shadow was the origin of all this. Germain became more convinced of the bold idea he had recently conceived.
They were forcibly transported here, and Germain gained both advantages and disadvantages as a result.
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