Chapter Summaries

Kevin and his companions searched the area around Black Tower for Tuck’s lost mechanical companions while discussing how Kevin could break through his physical training bottleneck. After their first day’s search turned up nothing, they camped and debated ways to create gravity-like training pressure, ending with Biscuit turning to Tuck for information.

• Kevin questioned Tuck about the missing Machine Lifeforms, and Tuck explained how their consciousnesses, storage bodies, and Black Tower’s recovery system worked.
• Tuck said at least ten companions remained outside, including one recently recovered; Kevin identified the recovered companion as likely Jin, and Morel and Pairo sent out search abilities.
• Tuck explained that he could not fight and that exposed consciousnesses were vulnerable to environmental impurities and Resentful Eater Snakes.
• Kevin’s group searched for a day without finding any companions, then made camp while Kevin considered his need to improve his physical training.
• Biscuit proposed gravity training as a way to pressure the whole body beyond the limits of weights, and the group discussed possible methods and whether the Dark Continent had high-gravity areas.
• Biscuit looked to Tuck, who might have records that could help them find a solution.

Kevin and his companions exchanged three A-rank Storage Crystals with Tuck and learned of a distant mineral that could create gravitational fields. Back at Snake Nest, Men Qi served a spectacular grilled meat seasoned with Thick White Milk, leaving everyone delighted and energized.

• Kevin and the others spent two weeks searching near the Black Tower and found three of Tuck's missing companions, with seven still unaccounted for.
• Kevin received three A-rank Storage Crystals from Tuck and noticed that two crystals in different conditions felt equally strong.
• Tuck found data about a gravity-producing mineral that had been traced west from the Core Homeland, though its exact location remained unknown.
• The group returned to Snake Nest and continued their intensive training, where Melusina's Nen reached three hundred thousand units.
• Men Qi served her Perfect Grilled Meat, and Kevin and the others savored the powerful flavor and nourishing effects of its Thick White Milk seasoning.

Jin's team encountered a Black Snail in the barren black expanse, where a crushing force damaged Tewashi and nearly killed him. After rescuing him, they decided to avoid the area and find another route to the Unmanned Stone Range.

• Jin's team spotted the distant Unmanned Stone Range and debated why the black expanse was absent from their guidebooks and expedition reports.
• Tuk sent the Mechanical Bird to survey the barren area, and the team cautiously entered after it returned without trouble.
• A Black Snail emerged and subjected Tewashi to crushing pressure, while Zaharut's thrown pebble fell short and Tuk's steel needles failed to pierce its shell.
• Jin used aura-driven punches to force the Black Snail back as Ximo pulled Tewashi out of the affected area.
• The team fled the black expanse, treated Tewashi's injuries, and decided to go around what Jin identified as a Forbidden Zone for living things.

The team returned from the Black Tower with a large stock of mechanical parts, allowing Bellolight and Koto to begin planning a greenhouse. Kevin continued developing his abilities and examined whether Storage Crystals could protect or nourish human souls, leaving the potential treatment for Lorraine uncertain.

• Tuck guided Shalnark, Pairo, Biscuit, and Bellolight safely to the Black Tower and back with enough mechanical parts to fill most of the warehouse.
• Bellolight showed Koto his greenhouse design, and they revised it together so construction could begin.
• Kevin trained by feeding Resentment to Little Wang, while Morel discussed his Aura growth and Koala’s slower progress was explained by his Chimeric Ant nature.
• Kevin told Lorraine that his research might help her condition, then explained to Melusina how he hoped Storage Crystals could be used to protect or nourish souls.
• Kevin admitted he could not yet make the soul-related medicine because he lacked suitable auxiliary materials and a Fusion Agent.

Koto cultivated a Cyclops Flower that Pairo successfully used as a long-range surveillance camera. Meanwhile, Kevin confronted the Four-Armed Beast that had harassed the Hunting teams and proved he could block its attack and stagger it with a punch.

• Koto found that a plant had matured in the greenhouse in under three days, but its aggressive roots made it difficult to grow alongside other plants.
• Koto brought a cultivated Cyclops Flower to camp, where Pairo imprinted his mark on its eye and used its vision to observe distant surroundings.
• Koto explained how the Cyclops Flower's eye helped protect it and planned to develop versions that could defend themselves.
• Biscuit and the others watched as Kevin challenged the Four-Armed Beast that had chased their teams and destroyed their Bohong Flowers.
• Kevin blocked the Four-Armed Beast's drumstick with his arm, then punched it hard enough to force it two steps backward.

Kevin fought the Four-Armed Beast, but the Sky-Covering Bird arrived and overwhelmed everyone with its spiritual pressure. After looking up at the bird, Kevin suffered severe mental and physical effects, while the beast escaped.

• Kevin dodged the Four-Armed Beast's attacks and smashed its left eye, driving it into a furious barrage of strikes.
• The Four-Armed Beast launched Nen Orbs at Kevin, and Biscuit and the others scattered to avoid the explosions.
• Kevin increased his speed and charged, but the Four-Armed Beast tried to flee as the Sky-Covering Bird's pressure forced everyone to the ground.
• Kevin looked up at the Sky-Covering Bird's enormous wing and eye-like patterns, becoming mentally frozen until the bird passed and sunlight returned.
• Kevin vomited and explained that looking up had overwhelmed him, while the Four-Armed Beast fled and Biscuit and the others gathered to help.

After confirming Kevin’s strength and mapping their surroundings, the team began preparations to explore toward the mechanical races’ homeland. An exploration party investigating the Gale Grassland found unusually high electrical charge and, after three days, discovered that dangerous creatures had gathered around the grassland in alarming numbers.

• The group discussed the immense Sky-Covering Bird and Kevin concluded that its mental pressure revealed how little they understood about willpower, spirit, and souls.
• Kevin announced that the team would begin exploring outward toward the mechanical races’ homeland, and Pairo set up Cyclops Flowers to monitor key routes and regions.
• Biscuit led Gon, Killua, Men Qi, Xiahara, and Kiy to the edge of the Gale Grassland to establish a camp and begin a detailed exploration.
• Kiy noticed that the area held far more electrical charge than during their previous visit, so Biscuit postponed exploring the grassland’s interior and redirected the team along its boundary.
• After three days of exploration, Biscuit gathered the reports and found that dangerous creatures had become unusually concentrated around the grassland.

Jin's team entered the Unmanned Stone Range and reviewed how Papu the Nurturing Beast had wiped out the previous expedition. By the second morning, flesh buds had grown on everyone's heads, leaving the team facing the creature's three-day window of danger.

• Jin led the team into the barren Unmanned Stone Range, where they traveled without encountering danger and camped in a cave.
• Moxi shared the survivors' records, and Jin explained that Papu the Nurturing Beast targeted people whose lives held regrets or imperfections.
• The team learned that the previous expedition's survivors had escaped because they had made peace with their regrets, while the others grew flowers and fruit from flesh buds before disappearing.
• Jin, Moxi, and the others rested in shifts, hoping to retrieve the Unmanned Stone and retreat before the three-day danger window ended.
• Jin woke on the second morning and saw that flesh buds had grown on everyone's heads.

Jin’s team discovered that Flesh Buds had marked them for the Human-Rearing Beast, so they retreated while Jin tracked the buds’ growth. He used a Greed Island card to freeze most of the team for nine days and prepare to return to camp, but Moxi chose to remain awake and witness the monsters feeding.

• Aimeimei and the others found Flesh Buds growing on their heads, and Jin decided the team should retreat from the Unmanned Stone Range.
• Tewashi and Tuk urged Jin to continue alone, but Jin refused, arguing that they first needed to understand the Flesh Buds and the monsters’ attacks.
• Jin and Moxi watched the buds grow into Flower Buds, then saw them bloom as the team retreated to the outer edge of the high-pressure zone.
• Jin revealed his Greed Island card and used it to create a nine-day absolute freeze that would protect the team while he returned them to camp.
• Aimeimei and the others accepted the freeze, but Moxi refused so he could witness the monsters feeding and help Jin gather intelligence.

Gon and Kiy’s reconnaissance near Gale Grassland was cut short by an unusual concentration of monsters, while Qiduo later cured Buhaci’s Nen poison. As Kevin considered why the ecosystem had changed, Pairo reported that Jin’s team had been badly injured, prompting Biscuit to lead a group to receive them.

• Gon and Kiy fled a pursuing lizard monster, then returned to camp and reported that monsters crowded the outskirts of Gale Grassland.
• Biscuit ended the exploration, and the team returned so Qiduo could treat Buhaci’s Nen poison; she extracted the toxin and Illumi showed interest in studying it.
• Kevin and the others speculated that something in Gale Grassland was attracting or driving out creatures, and Kevin decided to investigate the grassland further.
• Pairo reported that Jin was approaching with four injured teammates on a raft and a black-cloth-covered object, so Biscuit assembled a team with Gon, Kiy, Rukira, and Bianluoke to meet him.

Jin returned to camp with Tewashi and the others frozen in golden states and Moxi transformed by Papu the Nurturing Beast. After describing the encounter and theorizing that people with no cracks in their hearts were not targeted, Kevin offered to try to save Moxi.

• Jin returned to camp carrying Moxi in a cage while Bianluoke protected the raft carrying the four frozen people in bubbles.
• Jin explained that Flesh Buds had grown on everyone except him, and he had used Greed Island cards to freeze Tewashi and the others until they recovered.
• Jin revealed that Moxi had been targeted by Papu the Nurturing Beast and had melted into a monstrous form after a fruit stopped his body from shrinking further.
• Jin suggested that he and the seven previous survivors shared clear self-understanding and had reconciled with the deficiencies in their hearts.
• Kevin, Melusina, and the others doubted they could endure the same test, while Biscuit speculated that Gon might share Jin's purity.
• Kevin offered to examine Moxi and try to save him, and Jin asked whether he had a way.

Jin returned from his expedition and reported a black Gravity Zone near the Unmanned Stone Range while Kevin and the others studied the victims of Papu the Nurturing Beast. After Aimeimei and the others returned to normal, their Flesh Buds bore fruit in the Snake Nest, and Shadow Creatures appeared to attack the fruit.

• Jin told Ce that his team had found a black Gravity Zone near the Unmanned Stone Range and described other dangerous regions they had encountered.
• Kevin said the Cocoon of Rebirth could restore Moxi’s human form, while Jin explained that the victims’ missing Life Force and souls remained in their fruits.
• Aimeimei, Tesiwa, and two others lost their golden coating and returned to normal, but their Flesh Buds remained on their heads.
• Jin and the others concluded that the Flesh Buds had fixed the victims in a delayed curse-like state and waited to see what would happen when the fruit formed.
• At night, the flowers on the four victims’ Flesh Buds withered and became large fruits, then Shadow Creatures descended and lunged at them.
• Kevin attacked the Shadow Creatures as they tried to gnaw at the fruits in the Snake Nest.

After black Papu the Nurturing Beasts attacked people in Snake Nest, Kevin and the others investigated how the creatures and their fruits affected their victims. They concluded the fruits acted like external brains and began using Kevin’s Cocoon of Rebirth to treat Moxi.

• Kevin, Jin, Melusina, and Killua struck the black Papu the Nurturing Beasts, which vanished as four people fell into a blissful, unresponsive state.
• Qiduo examined the victims while Kevin and Jin described how these Papu the Nurturing Beasts reacted differently from the ones they had encountered elsewhere.
• Jin suggested Papu the Nurturing Beast was an infection whose strength increased nearer the Unmanned Stone Range, and Qiduo and the others considered how it might spread.
• Kevin and the others examined the four victims overnight and concluded that their Flesh Buds and fruits functioned like external brains that drew their consciousness into blissful dreams.
• Kevin proposed that the black creatures used the illness to grow fruit that could restore them to a physical state, then began treating Moxi with a blood-and-Nen Cocoon of Rebirth.

Kevin and the others planned an exploration of the Pitch-Black Gravity Land while waiting for Moxi to emerge from the Cocoon of Rebirth. Moxi was reborn with a changed appearance and revealed that his Nen ability had changed, leaving the cause uncertain.

• Pairo told Kevin that more creatures were gathering around Gale Grassland, but Kevin decided to keep monitoring the area until he had time to investigate.
• Biscuit and the others planned an Exploration Team to map the route to the Pitch-Black Gravity Land and its dangerous boundaries, where Kevin hoped to increase his Nen capacity.
• An alarm signaled that Moxi's Cocoon of Rebirth was opening, and he emerged looking noticeably more handsome than before.
• Qiduo examined Moxi and asked about his memories; Moxi described a realistic dream, a muddled state after his transformation, and feeling reborn inside the Cocoon.
• Moxi said his Nen ability had changed, though he did not know whether the change came from his dream or the Cocoon's transformation.

Ximo’s Nen ability transformed from an infinite-capacity backpack into a Nen-enhanced motorhome after Papu the Nurturing Beast helped him confront his buried wish for family. The group considered whether the change could be reproduced and recognized Cocoon of Rebirth’s potential, while four more people remained trapped in perfect dreams.

• Ximo asked Benorite to build a motorhome, then used his changed Nen ability to turn it into an expanded, fortified vehicle with a large interior.
• Ximo explained that the motorhome reflected his rediscovered desire to travel with a family, rather than journey alone.
• Melusina and Biscuit asked whether Ximo’s transformation could be replicated, and Qiduo said they would learn more after the other four people recovered.
• Kevin realized Cocoon of Rebirth might have greater potential and decided to prioritize Youpi’s heart because its traits could strengthen the ability.
• Kevin said he would help the four remaining people escape their perfect dreams.

Kevin and Melusina planned the group's next explorations while they waited for four people to awaken from the Cocoon of Rebirth. The newly awakened Hunters revealed that their Nen abilities had changed through their realistic dreams, and the group left with evidence that fulfilled regrets and unfinished dreams affected those changes differently.

• Kevin and Melusina decided to prioritize exploring Gale Grassland while postponing Gravity Land, Youpi's heart, and the journey to Papu the Nurturing Beast.
• Aimeimei, Zaharut, Tuk, and Tewashi awakened from the Infirmary cocoons, and Moxi hurried over to rejoin them.
• Tewashi, Aimeimei, and the others said their Nen abilities had changed after their complete dreams, though those with unresolved dreams did not feel mentally complete.
• Tewashi's scissors became a chainsaw, Aimeimei gained a Strawberry Bear family, Zaharut improved his throwing, and Tuk's Mechanical Bird gained new machinery forms.
• The group concluded that the realistic dreams and the Cocoon of Rebirth had changed Nen abilities according to whether people had reconciled with regrets or still pursued unfulfilled dreams.

Kevin and Jin investigated the growing gathering of Dark Continent beasts outside the Gale Grassland and considered what might be luring them there. Melusina’s observation that the newcomers were all flesh-and-blood creatures led Kevin to suspect the Resentful Eater Snakes had kept the Giant Beast Kingdom’s creatures away.

• Kevin and Jin watched powerful beasts compete over territory while avoiding lethal fights, and Jin proposed ranking the strongest as Knight Rank creatures.
• Jin reasoned that something emerging from within the Gale Grassland was drawing creatures to wait at its outskirts, though the group could not identify what it was.
• Morel returned from scouting after losing over half his Purple Smoke Machine Soldiers, and the group discussed whether Thick White Milk or Golden Grass Leaves might be attracting the beasts.
• Melusina noted that every creature gathered outside the grassland had a flesh-and-blood body, unlike energy-state creatures such as the Resentful Eater Snakes and Machine Lifeforms.
• Kevin realized the Giant Beast Kingdom might be absent because it was the Resentful Eater Snakes’ hunting ground, and Jin asked whether the snakes controlled the entire kingdom.

Kevin and the others endured a supernatural gale that carried an essence more refined than Thick White Milk, which Kevin realized could break their bodily limits. The storm eased after leaving them badly injured, and Kevin confirmed that they had surpassed those limits as the Gale Grassland turned golden.

• Kevin explained that the Resentful Eater Snake seemed to bind creatures to the Giant Beast Kingdom, while powerful beasts gathered around the grassland's edge.
• As an abnormal wind swept in, the beasts began slaughtering one another and the gale grew strong enough to flatten trees and hurl debris.
• Kevin shielded the group with a barrier until he sensed moisture in the wind, then urged everyone to face the storm themselves; Jin threw Gon forward, and the others followed.
• The gale carried an essence more refined than Thick White Milk, which Kevin recognized as entering their bodies and breaking their physical limits.
• After the wind subsided, Kevin treated the group's severe injuries with Healing Potion and checked Kiy, Gon, Melusina, Jin, and Morel.
• Kevin announced that everyone had broken past their bodily limits as the Gale Grassland turned golden and the injured Moss Elk limped away.

After surviving the grassland’s violent winds, Kevin’s team discussed how its nutrients had helped them break through their physical limits, then hunted injured Knight Rank creatures. When the Overlord’s shadow passed over the Golden Grassland, the golden grass vanished into ash and fresh green shoots rapidly covered the wasteland, leaving Kevin and Jin to wonder whether the Overlord had caused the change.

• Morel used purple smoke to clean Gon and Kiy, and Kevin treated their wounds while the group recovered and discussed the grassland’s wind and its benefits.
• Kevin explained that the grassland offered another way to break through physical limits, and the team returned to camp to rest rather than explore its electrically charged edges.
• Kevin, Koala, and Morel hunted injured Knight Rank creatures, and Kevin discovered that a pale-purple weasel’s attack left persistent wounds until he severed and reattached his hand.
• The Overlord’s shadow passed over the area, and Kevin hurried to find Jin, who had watched the Golden Grassland disappear into ash.
• Fresh green shoots rapidly grew across the barren ground, and Kevin and Jin wondered whether the Overlord had caused the transformation.

Kevin and Jin pieced together how the Golden Grassland’s food chain worked and ended the fourth exploration. Back at camp, Kevin created an A-Rank potion that redirected soul injuries to the body, giving the group a way to protect consciousness from otherwise difficult-to-heal damage.

• Jin and Kevin observed the Golden Grassland’s recovery and reasoned that the Overlord, charged grass leaves, seeds, storms, and creatures’ trials formed a self-sustaining food chain.
• Kevin and Jin returned to camp, where the group ended the fourth grassland exploration and began revising its plans to include long-term patrols.
• Kevin urged the group to breed mounts to reduce travel time, while Biscuit explained that Koto was working on taming Beasts.
• Kevin dissected four Knight Rank creatures that had survived the trial and used a depleted Storage Crystal and other materials to make an A-Rank potion.
• Kevin explained to Melusina that Soul-Heart Unity let bodily Life Energy shield the soul and transfer soul injuries to the physical body.