Ant King's Traits X Headquarters

On the Airship heading to the Hunter Association headquarters.

Kevin looked at the tablet in his hand.

The above is the newly launched official website of the Kakin Empire, which is dedicated to publishing information about colonization in the New Continent.

August 8, 2001.

Muttering the date to himself, Kevin couldn't help but ponder.

This date is the departure time.

It was only October 2000, almost a year before the start of the voyage.

Clearly, they gave us plenty of time to prepare.

Kevin doesn't need to worry about securing a spot; as compensation for bringing Gon into the team, all of that can be left to Jin.

Based on previous speculation.

Because of this incident, the International Voyage Bureau has had to seriously consider relaxing the quota.

We can no longer set up so many strict standards, but in reality, this means preventing anyone from having the opportunity to go to the Dark Continent.

Besides Beyond's team, there are many other teams like Kim and Kevin's trying to ride the wave of this incident.

That's absolutely true; the number of people involved in its operation is countless.

For the International Voyage Bureau, this incident came on strong and was unavoidable, so allowing one team to leave is fine, and allowing more teams to leave is also fine.

After all, for the staff of the International Voyage Bureau, people like Kim have always been a major source of trouble and headaches.

This time, we can pack them all up and throw them away at once.

Even now that the process has been liberalized, it would be extremely troublesome for them to navigate the procedures on their own without relying on government funds.

The current focus is on determining the number of slots.

This is something Kevin has been thinking about ever since he saw the news that day.

Still thinking about it?

Melusina brought over the afternoon tea, placed it on the coffee table, sat down next to Kevin, and leaned against him, asking questions.

Kevin leaned back, supporting Melusina's head, and let her lie on his lap.

He let out a sigh of relief.

"Because it's very troublesome, this incident really caught us off guard. Of course, the more important reason is that we have a lot of manpower at our disposal, giving us options."

A little bit of happy trouble.

Since Kevin returned from the Dark Continent, he had been making preparations, and given his somewhat aimless state, his preparations were actually quite substantial.

However, since it was the initial stage, Kevin's preparations were mostly focused on "human resources".

Members of the Nosra Manor, recruited from Meteor City, three members of Food Village, and external friends.

The total number exceeded twenty, but it was clear that the first batch of teams couldn't directly give Kevin and his group twenty spots; that would be too many.

"Take your time to think about it. We can gather everyone together after we get back from the Association and discuss it properly."

Melusina suggested, and then reached out and pinched Kevin's cheek to stop him from frowning in thought.

"Even though that's what I say, I can't help but think about it that way."

Upon hearing this, Melusina smiled and asked, "What about the hearts? Do you understand what those hearts are?"

Kevin rolled his eyes and reached out to pinch and tug at Melusina's cheek.

Isn't trying to distract yourself a bigger problem?

However, as he spoke, a slightly smug smile appeared on Kevin's face.

"Fortunately, I've roughly figured out the main characteristics of Meruem's heart; the problem now is finding suitable materials."

Upon hearing this, Melusina sat up abruptly, pressed her face against Kevin's, and asked curiously.

What is it?

How could a man not be curious about the Ant King Heart?

"We can draw some lessons from Neferpitou's Heart, although the characteristics of the hearts of these four Chimeric Ant are strange due to their Nen ability."

"But we can still explore their behavior and Nen ability during their lifetimes, just like Neferpitou's Clone."

After Melusina said, "The Ant King's Nen ability, I remember you mentioned it, it seems to be devouring, right?"

To be honest, it's a very powerful Nen ability, but the Ant King's past arrogance and the short time all prevented him from fully utilizing it.

However, this impromptu performance during the battle already caused considerable trouble for Kevin and Netero at the time.

"It's about devouring, but to be honest, I didn't find any related characteristics on his heart. Perhaps it's because he rarely used Nen ability during his lifetime?"

This was the only reason Kevin could think of.

As one of the first Guardians born, Neferpitou developed her Nen ability prematurely under the stimulation and influence of Melusina and others. Moreover, it can be seen that Neferpitou's Clone have become the focus of her daily life.

Perhaps it was this intense use of Clone that caused the changes in the heart's characteristics.

However, materials are essentially an attachment to a concept, and it is almost impossible to get to the bottom of them.

This is just a guess.

"Since it's not Nen ability, we can only speculate based on the Ant King himself. Initially, I thought it was his usual strong physique or some kind of potential."

As the king of Chimera Ant, the Ant King possesses terrifying potential, and the strength of his body represents the limit of the entire species.

However, further speculation along this line of thought still yielded no results.

"And guess what the characteristics of his heart are?"

Stop keeping me in suspense, are you at it again?

Melusina poked his waist with her hand, clearly annoyed.

"It's a [furnace]!"

As he spoke, Kevin's voice even became slightly distorted; he was quite agitated.

Just thinking about it makes him feel excited.

"Furnace?"

Melusina puzzled; what kind of description was this?

She didn't understand what it meant at first.

Kevin chuckled and explained, "When we first spoke with the Queen, didn't she proudly declare that the Ant King would be the ultimate masterpiece?"

"During the later battle with the Ant King, he also said that he was the endpoint of the entire ant colony's evolution, and all evolution was for him. I traced back down based on this point."

"It can be confirmed that the Ant King's genes are a mixture of genetic characteristics from many different organisms. After refinement, the advantages were combined and nurtured generation after generation, resulting in a being that was a monster from birth."

It can be said that since the birth of the Ant King, he has made almost every wrong step, which is also due to the influence of the external environment.

Every correct step taken turns revealing a terrifying and intractable problem.

However, this does not diminish the power of the Ant King.

"This process of generation after generation of gestation, the fusion of various genes, creates its essential [melting furnace] characteristic, a nature that blends and integrates everything."

After hearing this brief explanation, Melusina frowned and pondered.

"So, how do you plan to utilize the characteristics of this heart?"

"Of course, the focus should be on enhancing its fusion capabilities!"

Kevin answered without hesitation.

Like a furnace, it throws everything in and they all melt together.

This is precisely what Kevin is missing most.

Kevin possesses a multitude of Nen ability, so many that they can only be described as complex.

Therefore, Kevin rarely uses potions to learn new Nen ability anymore, because there are simply too many.

In particular, the abilities granted by those A-Rank potions have strong versatility.

Even the special Nen ability granted by B-grade and C-rank potions can be learned and utilized using certain techniques.

Although these various abilities are combined, Kevin is a versatile person to some extent.

But this also prevented Kevin from specializing.

Just like when we fought the Ant King.

It relied purely on the numerical values accumulated from various potions, and then on the sheer power of various Nen ability, to blast them to death.

If you're asking what kind of Nen ability Kevin demonstrated in this, you could say there wasn't.

It's simply a matter of forcefully pouring all the power into the system.

Its most common application is probably the ability to combine various Nen ability in a logical way.

Such stacking requires time and effort; simply put, it's about building up energy.

And now, what's truly stopping Kevin is...

It's actually a physical "bottleneck".

The human body has its limits, and Kevin reached those limits long ago.

Now, due to his own talent, he has also reached the limit in terms of his Nen ability.

Four hundred thousand recitations.

This is the level without any other additional conditions. Under normal circumstances, Kevin can only output damage at this level; it's just that his endurance is very strong.

Kevin had seen it before.

Having regained his peak strength through the potion, Netero's power may even have reached 600,000.

In other words, Netero's physical abilities and Nen ability are superior to Kevin's.

But it only exceeded 200,000.

At this level, there's no fundamental difference between 100,000 and 200,000; they're all just the limits of human capability.

To break this limit, Kevin naturally had no choice but to use a drug.

And this time, the Ant King's "furnace" characteristic is very likely to be the breakthrough point.

When you incorporate various elements into yourself, they will naturally accumulate until quantitative change leads to qualitative change.

However, how to leverage this property, and how it manifests after being transformed into a potion, still requires careful consideration.

But hope is already at hand.

With these thoughts in mind, Kevin, still brimming with excitement, continued to immerse himself in his research.

Kevin put down his work only after the Airship landed in the city of the Hunter Association.

Together with Melusina, along with Biscuit, Buhaci, and Men Qi, they headed to the Hunter Association headquarters.

"It's getting lively now."

Looking at the lively scene in the hall, Men Qi couldn't help but say something.

Hunter x Hunter are all loners, so despite the Hunter Association's grand and spacious appearance, its main hall is usually deserted.

More often, they are staff members from various locations, as well as personnel involved in liaison with other national powers.

At a glance, one can see a large number of Hunter x Hunter moving around in the hall.

This is a rare sight.

"It's obvious, for these Hunter x Hunter, boarding a ship to the New Continent is of paramount importance."

At this point, Biscuit's face showed a gloating expression.

"The old man must be so annoyed now."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a voice came from behind him.

"Oh dear, I'm such a leisurely old man now, it's a bit of a disappointment to you."

Upon hearing this, everyone quickly turned around.

Sure enough, standing behind him was Netero.

Netero's broken leg seemed to have healed by now. He stood on both legs, still dressed as before, in a loose white martial arts uniform and wooden clogs.

But the severed arm had not healed at all; the sleeve remained empty, casually hanging there.

Biscuit glanced at him up and down, then curled her lip in disdain.

"I thought I'd see you with only one leg and one arm, but you've recovered one leg after all."

"Haha, it's better for people to walk on two legs, isn't it?"

As Netero spoke, he added something that seemed quite insightful.

"You just think walking on one leg is unseemly and lacks class, but walking on one arm looks acceptable and even shows your contribution to the Association."

Biscuit knew her master all too well and retorted without any hesitation.

Upon hearing this, Netero touched the back of his head with his only remaining arm, seemingly embarrassed, but his face showed no such expression; in fact, he appeared slightly smug.

This made everyone roll their eyes.

This old man always manages to make your respect for him plummet even in the most respectful moments.

So that you know he's not some highly respected elder, but a genuinely willful and mischievous old man.

"Chairman! Everyone is very busy right now, and there are still many documents that need your processing. Where have you been?"

Kido's voice came from behind him, shuffling around with small, disgruntled steps, looking very unhappy.

Netero laughed heartily, offering a casual, perfunctory response.

"I knew they were coming, so I came specifically to pick them up. I'm not slacking off."

A Hunter x Hunter passing by overheard this, glanced at the Chairman, and rolled his eyes.

That's nonsense. You were clearly flirting with beautiful women outside.

"This isn't a place to talk, let's go upstairs first."

Netero spoke, then led the group upstairs on their own.

Take the elevator.

Taking this opportunity Kido looked at Kevin.

"Your achievements are enough to qualify you for Three-star Hunter. I doubt you, the shoe-bearer, would want to attend any promotion party, so before you leave, go and collect your credentials, shall we?"

Kevin nodded; after all, he was already there.

Kido then looked at Men Qi and the other two.

"Your achievements are enough to qualify you as a Two-star Hunter, but—"

Men Qi nodded directly and said, "I know. It's okay if we haven't cultivated any outstanding successors. I'm not in a hurry."

"Hunter x Hunter need to pass on their skills, and nurturing the next generation is something excellent Hunter x Hunter should do; we can't slack off."

Netero spoke with unusual seriousness.

He did a really good job in this regard.

As the founder of Shingen-ryu, the Chairman has mentored countless successors.

Biscuit next to him, was one of his famous students.

Kevin Biscuit's apprentice, so Netero deserves some credit for that as well.

"So what did you call us here to discuss? Logically speaking, I don't have much interaction with the Hunter Association, do I?"

Kevin asked.

Although he might have a vague idea, he still needed concrete information and a definite answer.

"The events caused by the Kakin Empire have created a lot of chaos, and we have had to take some action."