Different Goals

Southeast of Lake Mobius.

Inside the exploration vessel on the shore.

Kevin and the others were sitting on the deck.

Buhaci was using the outdoor grill carried on the ship to grill an ingredient that looked like Octopus tentacle.

However, this tentacle looked rather huge, almost filling the entire oven, yet it also resembled the tip of a giant tentacle.

A faint fragrance wafted in the air.

"The moon over this Dark Continent doesn't look any different from that of human society."

It was a rare moment when these people had some free time.

Sitting on the deck, admiring the moon.

The sky was exceptionally clear today, and the full moon hung high in the sky, shining brightly.

"Not only do they look the same, but their size, distance, and location also seem almost identical."

Men Qi looked at it and suddenly said.

Qi was somewhat confused. "What do you mean?"

Kevin glanced at him and explained, "By observing the positions of the stars and other celestial bodies, one can determine their own location."

"In addition, there is another very important point: the size of the entire planet can be calculated based on these celestial bodies."

This world is absurd.

It is very different from the world Kevin once knew, and the biggest difference is the exploration of the stars.

There are no airplanes in this world.

In human society, all air transportation relies on Airship.

According to the information Kevin has, a very important reason is that both the human world and the high skies above the Dark Continent have their own ecosystems.

There exist flying creatures that live high in the sky, and some of them are also very powerful.

This environment meant that the existence of the aircraft was doomed from the very beginning.

On the contrary, Airship, something neither here nor there, survived and began to be developed.

In contrast, this world has virtually no exploration of the outer reaches of space.

Rockets can't fly into space at all.

Their belief that the planet beneath their feet is a planet is entirely based on calculations and speculation.

The geographical area of this planet is far greater than that of Kevin's original world.

According to conventional physics, the gravity of such a large planet would be unimaginable.

After all, in the cosmos, the greater the mass, the stronger the gravity felt on a planet.

But clearly, this world is different.

After all, this world contains extraordinary beings.

Instead of exploring the stars, we should focus on exploring the world's geography.

Perhaps just exploring one's own native world would take an unknown amount of time and effort.

"We don't know how far human society is from the Dark Continent, so how could we possibly know its surface area?"

Men Qi said something.

"Dinner's ready."

Buhaci said from behind.

He took out a seasoning made from Thick White Milk from his personal spatial equipment and sprinkled it on the roasted tentacles.

He then took out a bottle of even stronger seasoning and sprinkled it on one of the dishes.

He handed this copy to Kevin.

Kevin had already gotten used to it and started eating.

"Your nutritional needs are really high right now," Xiahara couldn't help but say.

In terms of the concentration of the seasoning in the Thick White Milk, the nutritional concentration of the food in Kevin's hands is probably eight or nine times, or even ten times, that of others.

"After all, I'm still human, and I still need to get my nutrition from food," Kevin said with a smile, cutting off a piece and putting it in his mouth.

"Hmm~ This tastes pretty good. I should have cut more tentacles."

This ingredient came from a tentacle that they had emerged from the sea that morning, attempting to drag their exploration ship.

"Maybe you'll be strong enough to get nutrients from the air someday?"

Melusina said with a smile after taking a bite.

Kevin smiled helplessly upon hearing this, pointing his fork at the other person.

"What are you thinking? I'm not a plant."

It can't perform photosynthesis, otherwise it would have to take root in the earth.

Kiy ate the food in his hand and suddenly sighed.

"Just the act of eating means we can't stay in human society forever, which prevents us from even considering going home."

Does he still remember life after he went home?

In human society.

Ordinary foods are unlikely to provide them with the necessary nutrients.

With increasing strength, the ability to control and utilize power naturally becomes unquestionable.

If you don't fight, you can reduce your daily calorie expenditure significantly.

Even with that reduction, their strength remains unchanged.

The basic law of conservation of energy must be followed.

So where does this energy come from?

The simplest way is to eat, or rather, to obtain nutrients and energy from external sources; it's the simplest and most direct method.

If we don't bring back the Thick White Milk.

Seriously speaking, Qi feels like he might need to eat a big meal with every single meal.

In addition, they have to eat a lot of high-calorie snacks at other times.

Otherwise, even getting basic daily calorie intake would be difficult.

If you stay in human Chairman, you'll waste a significant portion of your day eating.

Moreover, as time goes by, in ten or eight years...

Even if you eat and drink excessively every day, you may still start to lose weight.

Of course, you can eat well and consume more high-calorie foods if you spend the money.

They can survive.

But that's the limit for them.

If it's Kevin...

Thinking of this, Qi couldn't help but glance at Kevin.

"What's wrong? You seem to be thinking about something unpleasant."

Kevin looked at Qi and said something.

He then stated directly, "Just as you thought, this is one of the reasons why I don't want to stay in human society for long."

"You can read minds now?"

Qi's eyes widened in surprise, but he seemed to find it rather unsurprising.

"How could that be? Your thoughts are too clear and directly point to me. This will allow me to anticipate certain information and naturally obtain it."

"Of course, part of the reason is my ability."

Back in human society, Kevin was able to discern the malice in others.

If it's malicious words directed at him, he can sense them even from a great distance.

He's reached that stage.

This ability translates into experience, giving Kevin the capacity to discern and acquire the thoughts and messages emanating from others.

It's useful, but not very meaningful.

"That's true. Back at the Manor, Kevin had to have every meal made with Thick White Milk; otherwise, his basic needs couldn't be met at all."

"That's when Melusina, who's in charge of Kevin's meals, spoke up."

Back in the Dark Continent, even without using the Thick White Milk, simply choosing highly nutritious foods would completely solve this problem.

"So, what are your plans? Who will you leave here? Where will you establish a temporary Forward Base?"

Kevin looked at the patterns on his palm.

"I still can't determine whether there is an Overlord here."

"As for who stays here, to be honest, my inclination is that no one stays; we should all return."

Hearing Kevin's words, the others looked at him with some surprise.

"Why?"

If everyone leaves, it will take quite a while to come back next time.

Kevin shook his head and said.

"To be honest, we are not really qualified to set up another Forward Base and continue exploring outwards. The conditions here will never be as good as they were in the territory of the Resentful Eater Snake when we landed on the Dark Continent."

Their initial plan was to have one or two people stay there, purely as landmarks.

They then teleported there via coordinates to begin their exploration.

"Let me put it this way, the Flesh-and-Blood Swamp occupied by the Double-tailed Snake is bound to attract other creatures."

"He only slaughtered all the slightly stronger creatures in the vicinity, but what about two or three hundred kilometers away?"

"Those attracted, yet feeling incapable of suppressing and killing the powerful Double-tailed Snake, will surely remain within this range, quietly waiting for an opportunity."

At this point, Kevin held up one finger and said seriously.

"That means there are definitely more than one Lord waiting around."

"This makes this place essentially a battlefield, and the surrounding Lord are definitely not to be trifled with. The safety here is nowhere near what we have here."

"In that case, the risks of our outward exploration would be extremely high, and it would be almost impossible for us to explore outward."

Just like now, if Kevin were to take a gamble, he could absolutely take down the Double-tailed Snake with his abilities.

But then they couldn't hold on.

More Lord will come to challenge.

Kevin doesn't have that much time and energy to stay here.

Especially after figuring out the mechanics of the Flesh-and-Blood Swamp.

He could have easily forced the signing of the exchange agreement when he was in a stronger position.

It doesn't matter who owns this place, but we must trade those bones with them.

In any case, their demand won't be very high for the time being.

"In the short term, at least for the next few years, it will be impossible for us to come here to explore."

"That means we'll have to waste two or three people here, just as coordinates, and there's a significant risk of unforeseen events."

After all, the coordinates must be held by members of the Dark Probe.

"To be honest, it's not very meaningful."

Kevin shook his head and gave his conclusion.

"Although the Gatekeeper had previously said that he knew we would be coming and going frequently and asked us not to disturb him, he even gave us a method to train the Navigation Whale."

"But even with that method, it's definitely not something that can be done in one or two years. At worst, we can reduce the frequency of our trips in and out, and only make one round trip every three or four years."

"Therefore, when we bring back our next harvest, we can have the accompanying personnel return and come directly here. By then, we might have enough manpower to continue exploring from here."

Kevin could even stretch the timeline to a normal range, eight or nine years, or even more than ten years.

So many years have passed.

Leaving Netero aside, he thinks of King, Melusina, Guy, and Gon.

They all have the ability to break through to the Lord.

Of course, this would take at least ten years, and also depend on a certain amount of luck.

But it definitely won't take Netero that long.

Because Netero had essentially already grasped the basics, but lacked the most fundamental foundation.

Five years.

Kevin thought five years might be the time it would take Netero to reach the Lord's position.

With an additional Lord, their exploration scope and various ideas can be explored more freely.

Having already obtained the Longevity Rice, the goal is achieved; there's no need to be greedy and continue exploring.

In the Dark Continent, one must maintain curiosity and greed, but always within limits.

"Since you've made up your mind, then let's do it this way." Men Qi nodded, agreeing with Kevin's idea.

The same was true for the others.

"And what will you do after you get back? Where do you plan to explore after you get back?"

Kiy asked curiously.

"After we get back?" Kevin paused for a moment, then began to think.

"After returning, our exploration will naturally head west, because there's something else that's very important to us in that direction."

These words made Kiy think back for a moment.

"All-Curing Herb?"

"That's right, the All-Curing Herb is located due north of the coast of the Dark Continent, while the direction of the Unmanned Stone is northeast, in a more northerly region."

"Of course, that doesn't mean we'll be very close, but exploring in that direction is a great goal, isn't it?"

After listening to Kevin's words, Melusina looked at him and suddenly said, "I thought you were going to start exploring inland."

Kevin shook his head upon hearing this.

"Of course I want to, but fundamentally I'm different from Jin and the others. Jin wants to explore areas that no one has explored before. After all, Dong is his ancestor, and he doesn't want to live in the shadow of his ancestor's achievements."

Jin's true intentions are not hidden.

Jin's primary goal now is to rapidly increase his strength. Even if he doesn't reach the Lord, he should at least reach the top of the Knight Rank.

Then he will most likely begin to explore inland, to explore areas that have not been explored before.

Lake Mobius.

The fact that our ancestors chose to find their home in the center of a lake was already providing information.

That is Lake Mobius and the area around it, which is likely to be less dangerous.

Then the inland areas are very likely to be even more dangerous.

Kevin didn't share Kim's ideas; he preferred to explore based on the information provided by Dong and obtain the already established materials.

After all, his Nen ability is so straightforward.

If you know that a material has specific attributes, you should definitely prioritize acquiring those materials to enhance your strength and resources.

All-Curing Herb.

It's impossible not to get your hands on something like this.

Given Dong's limited perspective at the time, it was impossible that he was unaware of the so-called damage to the soul.

In the Dark Continent, in addition to various toxins affecting the body, there are also numerous viruses that cause significant damage to the mind.

They dare to claim that a bag can cure all diseases.

Therefore, the materials there must be effective on both the flesh and the spirit.

Having it in hand is a huge guarantee.

I happened to be not far from them, so it was impossible not to go and get it.

They chatted idly like that.

The next day.

They towed the boat into the woods.

Then, Kevin dripped a few drops of blood directly onto the boat.

This blood is imbued with Kevin's life force, and also with his will.

And it was malicious.

The range of malicious intent may not be large, but it can still completely cover an area of several kilometers.

Unless one is bold enough to provoke the Lord, no one should dare to approach, at least for the next few decades.

"Then, it's time for us to go back."