The Non-Human Guest

How to express goodwill?

For wild creatures, this doesn't seem difficult.

Faced with Kevin's long-distance exploration, this humanoid creature showed no resistance.

She made no attempt to conceal her probing of Kevin and walked towards him without any attempt to hide her intentions.

As the other party drew closer, Kevin scanned his surroundings extensively.

Once it's been determined that there's only one creature that needs special attention, the exploration distance is shortened, allowing for more precise targeting.

Until the other side is within 100 kilometers.

Kevin was finally able to accurately detect the other party.

It is not a human being.

During the exploration, Kevin was able to clearly sense the other person's size, shape, and body structure.

Without a doubt, on the surface, this is a human being.

And she was a woman.

But under close and precise scrutiny, Kevin couldn't ignore the inhuman aura emanating from within.

This feeling of inhumanity stems entirely from the experience of exploration.

Faced with the presence of creatures from the Dark Continent, numbering in the millions, Kevin couldn't fully trust them, nor could his intuition provide any more accurate judgment.

Even though he is Enhancement Type.

But above a million, after a complete leap in life, sensation becomes a very precise sense.

It's something that collects information invisibly.

Therefore, this feeling that made him feel inhuman must be real.

This being, which looks exactly like a human, is not human.

Kevin stood there, reaching out to touch the Three-Tails on his shoulder, offering a slight reassurance.

Despite having grown bolder, the Three-Tails remained somewhat uneasy as a Lord approached them.

The question is whether the other party has merely reached the level of Lord in strength, or actually possesses the authority of Lord.

This can only be noticed once the other party gets close.

After all, the Lord's authority is just a capability, not some kind of intelligent entity.

Finally.

As dawn broke.

The humanoid creature approached.

The other person came into Kevin's sight.

Her appearance was also revealed to Kevin.

Female, approximately 1.75 meters tall.

This is a relatively high level among women.

Her short, flowing hair was black, and there were no obvious wounds on her body, but her clothes looked tattered and worn, with obvious signs of tearing from the battle.

However, her body looked very neat and tidy, and she had a rather dashing appearance.

As they drew closer.

That inhuman quality was impossible to hide.

The woman walked very stiffly, and although her eyes were open, as if she were looking at Kevin, the expression in her pupils was extremely dull.

And Kevin was certain of it as soon as the other person got close.

This is a Lord.

Lord recognized by the Sky Overlord.

The initial vigilance dissipated.

While it's impossible to be certain, it seems that within the territory of the Sky Overlord, the relationships between the various Lord are mostly friendly.

The other party seemed somewhat surprised as well.

Although his face remained expressionless.

"Human beings."

Upon hearing this address, Kevin became absolutely certain that the other person was not human.

"You're human, right?"

Who are you? Why are you here?

Kevin asked first.

The woman's voice was extremely steady, with no fluctuations in tone or phrasing.

From body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice.

She gives the impression of being some kind of machine.

"Wearer Ghost, that's what you humans call me."

You humans?

Wearer Ghost?

This is what humans call it; this single sentence seems to contain a wealth of information.

In other words, this human form is a kind of disguise for his control.

Does "Wearer Ghost" mean wearing a living being on one's body?

Based on this single sentence, along with the other person's behavior and outward appearance, it seems possible to speculate in this direction.

"So, why did you go to all this way to see me? Is there something you need?"

Kevin thought for a moment and asked.

He didn't ask the questions that piqued his curiosity first.

"Because you are human, and I haven't seen a human in a long time."

"How long?"

In human terms, it has been 113 years, 5 months, and 25 days.

Kevin fell silent for a moment.

Its manner of speaking and the order of its sentences are identical to those of humans, indicating that it is a creature that understands humans extremely well.

It is truly rare to encounter such a wise being in the Dark Continent, someone with whom one can communicate smoothly.

"I really like human bodies, so when I sensed a human nearby, I couldn't wait to come over. I didn't expect you to be a subject of the king, just like me."

"Oh, what a pity, this way I won't be able to have you."

It continued to express its emotions in a steady tone.

But what he said made Kevin frown.

It seems to be very similar to his earlier guess.

This seems to be a creature that is not very friendly to humans.

"I know from your expression, you think my behavior is dangerous, right?"

The other party suddenly spoke.

Kevin just looked at it.

"I didn't kill anyone. Most humans are very weak; they don't need me to kill them. They die on their own."

"I'm just preserving their bodies, and these bodies are very fragile and difficult to protect. This is the last intact body left."

As she spoke, she raised her hand and touched her arm, then touched her face.

It remained expressionless, but its words revealed that it truly cherished it.

So you're waiting for me to die so you can take my body away?

"Hmm, but it seems you're quite hard to die. That's impressive, just like that guy named Dong."

These words made Kevin's eyes light up.

"Have you seen Dong?"

The other person nodded. "I've met him. He's the most powerful human I've ever met, though of course not as powerful as you."

When did you meet him?

More than three hundred years ago, I think.

More than three hundred years ago?

Based on the timeline, the Travelogue the Dark Continent appeared in the human world more than two hundred years ago.

The other party was someone I met more than three hundred years ago.

In other words, at that time, Dong was still traveling and had not yet started writing books.

No one is as good as me.

In other words, he had already begun traveling the entire East Coast when he was still Knight Rank.

However, this level of strength is certainly sufficient.

"You're so powerful, and you're already a subject of the king, do you have many humans? Could you give me a few?"

It was genuinely asking, wanting to obtain humans from Kevin.

"The king's subjects? Does that refer to the Sky Overlord and Lord?"

"Sky Overlord? Lord?"

Upon hearing these words, the other person paused for a moment, seemingly deep in thought.

"Hmm—a very suitable form of address, more appropriate than my own. Yes, that's it."

Kevin heard everything the other person muttered to themselves and kept analyzing it.

Instead of analyzing it on his own, he asked the question directly.

"You possess human knowledge and memories? You inhabited their bodies, so you possess their memories?"

"Yes, of course."

Faced with Kevin's questioning, even with its human knowledge and memories, it seemed to have no intention of avoiding the question and directly admitted it.

It remained true to the way intelligent beings on the Dark Continent answered every question.

They neither deceived nor concealed anything.

"Would you like to come to my house as a guest? Don't worry about the danger, we are all— the Sky Overlord, yes, the Lord of the Sky Overlord. Only fools would fight each other."

Faced with such an invitation, Kevin remained silent for a moment before nodding.

Such an opportunity is rare.

Moreover, just as the other side said, everyone is Lord, and there is no need for a fight, whether in terms of strength or other aspects.

The territory of the Sky Overlord is extremely vast, and the advantages of Lord recognized by the Sky Overlord are even greater.

There are almost no points of conflict.

Unless this Wearer Ghost desperately wants a human body, to the point of fighting Kevin.

Kevin, however, had reservations about this.

Having acquired human memories and knowledge, he should have known just how vast the human population was.

With a powerful Lord like Kevin in existence, the human population will only continue to grow.

Moreover, this is a Lord knows about humans and can communicate with them.

Lord with the authority.

The information provided was very helpful to Kevin.

Even deceptive information can still be helpful.

Kevin agreed.

The other person turned around and walked back.

Kevin followed behind him.

As Kevin walked, he frowned. Why were they walking so slowly?

It didn't seem to have any intention of talking as it walked; it was simply leading the way, but it was walking very slowly.

When did you become Lord?

Kevin was more interested in information related to the Lord than information about humans.

"I don't know. It's been a long time. Before I possessed human knowledge and memories, I had no concept of time."

I see, that makes sense.

What are the duties of Lord?

"Responsibilities? Hmm---- Protect the environment, and prevent large areas of our territory and the surrounding area from becoming dead zones."

"And also eliminate the enemies, those enemies that cause extremely serious damage to the environment."

Sure enough, it was pretty much exactly what Kevin had guessed.

"For example? Did you encounter any enemies?"

"There are many enemies, but the most annoying one is that big-mouthed bug that can burrow through the ground."

Sand Worm?

"Sand Worm?" It paused, as if searching its memory.

"Yes, it's very similar. How come I never found this kind of memory before? I guess I really need to interact with humans more."

It started muttering to itself again.

That one is already dead.

"Dead? That's good. Did you kill him? You're really something. So that's how it is. You became Lord because you killed him?"

It seems that the more they talk, the more eager the other person becomes to speak, and they start talking like a machine gun.

Sigh, these intelligent, talking creatures all seem to have this tendency to be talkative.

Tuck is like that, and this guy called the Wearer Ghost seems to be like that too.

It seems that even after the Three-Tails learned to speak, it developed a similar tendency to some extent.

The presence of a strange Lord made the Three-Tails a little uneasy, which is why it obediently kept its mouth shut.

"I didn't kill it, but I was responsible for stalling for time so that the Overlord could arrive and kill it. I did indeed become the Lord after this incident."

"Haha, I knew it! This is called logical deduction, yes, that's right."

It started talking to itself again.

Kevin finally understood.

Although it inherits human memories and knowledge, this is not an instinct, but rather more like possessing a hard drive composed of information.

It is capable of learning and understanding, but because it does not exist in human society, it cannot truly apply much of its knowledge, nor does it have any similar beings to communicate with.

Once they seize an opportunity, they want to make the most of it.

Just as he said, he really likes humans.

Of course, it's uncertain whether humanity can handle his liking.

"Besides Sand Worm, there are also Frost Wind and Slash Ghost."

Are there two left?

A creature similar to Sand Worm.

This time, Kevin didn't need to ask; it just started explaining.

"The Frost Wind is an enemy from the outside world. It's very annoying. It comes every few years and turns many places into ice fields, freezing many creatures to death."

"After it leaves, all that's left is a dead land. You can't kill it; you can only try to drive it away. After that, you have to find a way to bring the land back to life."

"Slash Ghost is in my house. He runs away from time to time, but I can catch him and bring him back. Oh, and he's human too."

What the heck?

Kevin was still concerned about the Frost Wind and was still analyzing things in his mind.

And now you've given me a natural disaster like this, and one of the disasters is even human?

"It's not exactly human, it's more like a mixture of humans and other things. Anyway, it's complicated. Humans are precious, yet also very troublesome."

It seemed to suddenly run out of words, unsure how to express itself.

Never mind, I'll go and take a look; I'll probably find out.

Human-caused natural disasters.

Ugh, what a hassle.

Judging from this, it seems to be a disaster resulting from the combination of human characteristics with some kind of biological entity.

This inevitably reminded Kevin of the Ant King.

Seriously speaking, Kevin believes that the Ant King has a real chance of surpassing the million-strong limit and joining the ranks of the Lord.

Of course, this is assuming that the other party is given time.

It's definitely impossible to achieve that in human society.

However, if one were to leave human society with the strength one possessed at the time, return to the Dark Continent, and remain vigilant and humble...

Kevin felt that the chances of the Ant King becoming the Lord were almost 100%.

The characteristics of Chimeric Ant are, of course, the most important factor.

But humans really did play a very important role.

It wouldn't be surprising if there were similar creatures capable of exploiting human characteristics, and if such creatures were to merge and exploit them, creating a dangerous situation.

Over the past two years, Kevin has encountered quite a few strange creatures on the Dark Continent.

"Hmm, why don't you walk faster?"

Kevin, who was getting impatient, finally asked the question.

"Hurry up?"

The Wearer Ghost its tracks.

"Do you know how precious this body is? Running too fast will injure your body, and what if it can't be repaired?"

"The bodies I preserved before all deteriorated like this. This is the last one, and I must preserve it carefully."

Is that how it is?

This body doesn't look very strong.

The Wearer Ghost himself must be powerful; it's unknown what he can inherit by putting on someone else's body.

However, it's clear that there's no way to significantly enhance the original body.

It will break if not used properly.

Just like clothes.

Humans do indeed appear vulnerable on the Dark Continent.

Could it really be because this method is too slow?

This was something Kevin hadn't expected.

Helplessly, I slowly followed behind them.

Let's take this opportunity to chat more.