Chapter Summaries

Kevin watched Wearer Ghost leave a human body and battle Slash Ghost, who was trapped in another human body. After Wearer Ghost recaptured him and returned to the Manor, Kevin learned more about their history and the influence their human bodies had on them.

• Wearer Ghost transferred into a creature’s body, then fought Slash Ghost outside the Manor and restrained him inside a stone prison.
• Kevin questioned Slash Ghost and Wearer Ghost, learning that Slash Ghost could no longer change bodies and that Wearer Ghost had killed only one of the humans whose bodies he possessed.
• Slash Ghost celebrated being trapped in a human body, while Wearer Ghost scolded him for letting the body influence him.
• Wearer Ghost carried Slash Ghost back to the Manor and changed into a female human body, provoking Slash Ghost to protest over its safety.
• Slash Ghost asked Kevin to find him a human body, then fell silent when Kevin said the available humans were his companions.

Kevin learned how Slash Ghost became fused with a human body and why Wearer Ghost had imprisoned him. After Kevin identified how resentment had altered Slash Ghost’s Nen ability, Slash Ghost accepted a challenge to test their strength.

• Slash Ghost explained that she had merged with a despairing man while he was turning into Resentment, inheriting his memories and emotions, while Wearer Ghost described their differing beliefs about inhabiting human bodies.
• Kevin realized the man’s resentment toward the creatures that killed his lover had driven Slash Ghost to kill them, and Slash Ghost insisted that he had acted to grow stronger rather than let the body control him.
• Slash Ghost broke free of the stone slab, and Kevin noticed that his twin blades and Nen ability had changed, allowing him to grow stronger by killing creatures.
• Slash Ghost confirmed that he believed himself human, and Kevin summoned his Mental Image; Slash Ghost then manifested a Dual-Blade Samurai behind himself.

Kevin negotiated agreements with the Wearer Ghost and Slash Ghost as he prepared to leave Ghost Manor. He left with Three-Tails and Slash Ghost, who followed him while hoping to find a way to revive his lover.

• Kevin watched the Wearer Ghost maintain his human body and learned that the body had about fifty years left.
• Slash Ghost asked Kevin to trade for the body that had belonged to his lover, but Kevin said his team had suffered no deaths.
• Kevin and the Wearer Ghost agreed that the Wearer Ghost could move freely through Kevin’s future territory, trade with willing humans, and receive protection and assistance in return.
• Kevin asked Slash Ghost to protect the territory he chose and promised to seek suitable bodies to exchange for his lover’s body.
• Kevin left Ghost Manor the next morning with Three-Tails, while Slash Ghost followed and said he hoped to revive his lover by having the Wearer Ghost split off another individual.

Kevin returned to camp after more than half a year exploring the Dark Continent, bringing back a dazzling Ten-Thousand Color Stone and a route map. As he recounted his journey, Jin noticed that Kevin’s return route was far shorter than his recorded outward journey, exposing a missing stretch of the trip.

• Kevin and Slash Ghost returned toward the camp, and Kevin left Slash Ghost near the grassland while he hurried back with Three-Tails.
• Melusina welcomed Kevin home, revealed that her Nen amount had reached seven hundred thousand, and brought him to meet the waiting group.
• Kevin gave Biscuit a Ten-Thousand Color Stone from the Spike Mountain Range, and Jin recognized it from the New World Travelogue.
• Kevin surveyed the group’s improved strength, then shared his Notebook and route map while describing his exploration.
• Jin compared Kevin’s outward and return routes and pointed out that a large section of the journey was missing from his account, leaving Kevin speechless.

Jin and the others deduced that a hidden region lay somewhere along Kevin’s route across the Dark Continent and organized two groups to locate it. After dividing their exploration teams, they reached the Giant Beast Kingdom’s boundary, where Slash Ghost joined them as an enthusiastic ally.

• Jin compared Kevin’s outbound and return routes and concluded that a hidden region explained the vast difference in distance.
• Kurapika proposed surveying the routes with Ant Speech, while Jin and Biscuit agreed to explore the unknown region despite its potential danger.
• Kevin promised Bianluoke and Lorraine that Wearer Ghost could treat Lorraine, and the group finished its map and exploration plan.
• The explorers divided into teams, left camp, and crossed the Giant Beast Kingdom toward the suspected hidden region.
• Slash Ghost greeted the group warmly, agreed to protect his friends, and Kevin told the teams to split up and stay in contact through Ant Speech.

Kevin’s team found a vast field of buried stone tablets in a quiet area that might belong to a Lord. After Kevin pulled one tablet from the ground, the group debated whether to cut it open, unsure whether it could contain a seal or something else.

• Kevin’s team reached the coast and proceeded to their planned landing point while Melusina’s group headed inland and kept in contact with Jin.
• Biscuit’s team explored a dangerous region as Slash Ghost described humanity’s migration from the Dark Continent and the intelligent, emotional races he had encountered there, including winged beings resembling Angels and Centaurs.
• Kevin led his team into a likely Lord’s territory, where Pairo spotted a circular plain filled with polished stone tablets and few living creatures.
• The team inspected a tablet and found that about a third of it was buried underground; Kurapika also observed that the surrounding soil was loose despite the compacted ground beneath it.
• Kevin pulled a smaller tablet from the earth, revealing a shallow hole, and Bianluoke suggested cutting the stone open while the team considered the possibility that it was a seal.

Kevin and his companions discovered that the stone monuments scattered across the plain were produced by an underground Lord Level beetle and contained valuable materials. After uncovering an enormous block of pure gold and an A-Rank mineral they named Treasure Diamond, they turned their attention to the still-unopened large monument.

• Three-Tails sensed a creature underground, and Kevin identified it as a Lord Level beetle that raised a new stone monument before burrowing away without attacking them.
• Kevin explained that the monuments were the beetle's solid-stone droppings, and Bianluoke suggested it compacted mineral-rich waste into them.
• Kevin cut open a monument and found exceptionally pure B-Rank gold inside; he and the others stripped away the stone to reveal an 850-ton gold block.
• Kevin opened a small monument and uncovered a transparent, diamond-like A-Rank mineral, which he named Treasure Diamond.
• The group wondered what the large monument contained and looked toward it with growing curiosity.

Kevin’s exploration team discovered that the large stone tablets contained Nen Sand, a mineral that conducted and stored Nen Aura, and decided the tablet field must remain under their control. Kevin then combined the sand with gold to create flying equipment, ending the chapter with the team eager to learn how to fly.

• Kevin cut into a large stone tablet and found emerald-green sand that conducted and stored Nen Aura.
• Kurapika and the others tested the sand, and Kevin recognized its value for Nen training, tools, and God Text.
• Kevin declared that the tablet field had to remain under the team’s control, and they named the material Nen Sand.
• Kevin used Nen Sand and gold to make a floating board for Three-Tails, then crafted gold bracelets that let him fly.
• Kevin crashed while landing and warned Pairo, Kurapika, and Bianluoke that flying with the bracelets required much better Nen control.

Biscuit and the others explored a dangerous Dark Continent forest where seemingly ordinary trees attacked with living tendrils. Slash Ghost revealed that nature forces a choice between a powerful individual and a large population, raising the question of how humanity could have both; the group was left wondering whether Kevin knew the answer.

• Biscuit, Qiduo, and Morel discussed the value of Kevin's discoveries, including pure gold, Treasure Diamond, and Nen Sand for God Text.
• Koala, Kansai, and the others sensed a pervasive threat as the group advanced deeper into the dense forest behind Slash Ghost.
• Slash Ghost struck a tree, exposing its living tendrils and purple-black blood, then explained that the forest's plants could blend into their surroundings and attack.
• Slash Ghost discussed humanity's ancestors fleeing the Dark Continent, and Morel argued that humanity would need a large region suitable for settlement and future growth.
• Slash Ghost explained that Dark Continent life generally had to choose between powerful individuals and a large population, leaving the group questioning how humanity had billions of people and produced Kevin.

Kevin explained that the Dark Continent seemed to suppress large populations, which was why he would limit the Forward Base to fewer than one thousand people while seeking to learn how the rule worked. The group resumed exploring and found a peaceful, lush forest where herbivores lived undisturbed near the Stone Tablet Wasteland.

• Kevin told the group that powerful species and even unusually large populations were subject to a rule that caused their numbers to decline, and that humanity’s ancestors had apparently found a way to isolate themselves from it.
• Kevin rejected a Forward Base population above one thousand and said they needed to understand how the rule was triggered before V5 brought thousands of people to the Dark Continent.
• Kurapika reasoned that the Lord Level Beetle’s frequent presence near the Stone Tablet Wasteland had kept powerful creatures away, allowing plants and weaker animals to flourish.
• After daybreak, Kevin and the others crossed the wasteland and reached a dense forest where herbivores wandered peacefully without fleeing from them.

Kevin and his group crossed a peaceful Dense Forest before fleeing a mosquito-filled swamp, while Jin and Biscuit’s teams explored separate areas. Biscuit’s team found a giant pollen-producing flower rooted above a corpse pit, and their lost contact with Kevin suggested he had reached the edge of the Folded Zone.

• Kevin led the group through the Dense Forest, and they chose to leave it undisturbed rather than build a Forward Base there.
• Kiy helped the group escape a swamp’s mosquito-fly swarm, and Gon and Xiahara received treatment for their bites.
• Melusina’s team marked the swamp for later exploration, while Jin’s team finished surveying an area contested by a Giant Bear, a Forest Leopard, and a Gibbon.
• Biscuit’s team explored a plant kingdom ruled by a giant flower, and Koto inferred that its pollen nourished the surrounding Flesh Plants.
• Slash Ghost discovered that the flower grew above a large corpse pit, and Biscuit’s team decided the area was unsuitable for a Forward Base.
• Biscuit could not contact Kevin and realized his group had likely reached the edge of the Folded Zone.

Kevin and the others discovered that a hidden, artificially manipulated Folded Zone compressed distance between separated living beings and could be used for rapid travel. As they planned a Forward Base near its edge, Pairo realized the zone extended into the sea where they had landed, suggesting a concealed passage between its interior and the outside.

• Rukira reported that Ant Speech had gone out of range, and Kevin's group located the boundary where space folded despite no visible change in the landscape.
• Kevin crossed the boundary and measured the distance compression, while the group found that the effect depended on how far apart living beings were and whether they could see each other.
• Kevin tested the coastline and found that the sea was not folded, while the Folded Zone began inland and compressed travel by roughly thirteen times.
• Kevin and Kurapika considered establishing a Forward Base near the folded edge to take advantage of nearby resources and rapid passage.
• Pairo noted that the Folded Zone connected to the sea at their landing site and reasoned that its creators must have hidden a route between the zone and the outside, likely underwater.

Kevin’s group chose a coastal area near the Folded Zone for Forward Base and reunited with the other Exploration Teams. After sharing what they had learned about the Folded Zone and the Dark Continent’s population risks, they decided to seek answers from nearby Sapient Lifeforms before returning.

• Kevin’s group mapped the surrounding area and chose a territory with Half-Moon Bay, clean water, and suitable ground for Forward Base.
• Jin arrived with his teammates riding Ball Birds, and Kevin showed him the camp and the planned site beneath the cliff.
• Melusina and Biscuit’s teams arrived, and Kevin explained the group’s findings about the man-made Folded Zone.
• The group discussed the dangers of settlement and population growth on the Dark Continent, and Jin suggested asking the nearby Machine Lifeforms.
• Melusina proposed bringing the others from the territory over, while Morel reminded the group about his ship.

Kevin prepared to move his group to a new territory near Stone Tablet Land and discussed Tuck’s homeland and its Machine Lifeform population. At the coast, he found evidence that his group had unknowingly occupied a hidden entrance to the Folded Zone, apologized to its inhabitants, and left an offering.

• Kevin told the camp to pack up and arranged for Morel and Rukira to prepare the ship while Koto handled the plants.
• Kevin told Little Wang they were moving and learned from Tuck that 53,123 Machine Lifeforms had lived in Tuck’s homeland.
• After the supplies were loaded, Morel contacted Kevin about a warning left at the ship, and Kevin hurried to the coast.
• Kevin found claw marks, a rotting ape-like head, and a shattered surveillance flower, which led Morel to suspect the cavern was a hidden passage into the Folded Zone.
• Kevin moved the ship, sent an apology to the hidden creatures, and left them a piece of Thick White Milk Brick; one creature later emerged and took it.

Kevin's group returned to their camp at Half-Moon Bay, learned that a cautious lifeform likely lived inside the Folded Zone, and decided who would stay behind while the rest eventually returned to human society. As the team began surveying the territory, Kevin had Tewashi cut Treasure Diamond for medicine, then took the pieces into the Pharmaceutical Room.

• Kevin's group sailed to Half-Moon Bay, where Gon and Kiy stayed to guard the ship while the others carried supplies back to camp.
• Bellolight upgraded the camp with running water, electricity, and other systems, and Kevin told the team about the lifeform they had encountered near the Folded Zone.
• Jin, Tewashi, Ximo, Koala, Bianluoke, and Lorraine chose to stay at camp, while the team planned to survey the surrounding territory and prepare for a return to human society.
• Kevin asked Tewashi to cut Treasure Diamond into precise pieces, and Tewashi spent a day doing so with his chainsaw.
• Kevin thanked Tewashi and carried the cut diamonds into the Pharmaceutical Room to make medicine.

Kevin struggled to create a potion that would channel a Treasure Diamond’s hardness into his Silver Scale defenses, until Melusina used her Nen ability to narrow the possible ingredients. After two weeks of work, Kevin emerged from the Pharmaceutical Room looking relaxed, suggesting he had succeeded.

• Kevin chose a Treasure Diamond as the main ingredient and Resentful Eater Snake scales as a supplement for a potion to strengthen his Silver Scale defenses.
• Kevin experimented for a week with the three ingredients and acidic venom, but the potion’s effects remained far weaker than he wanted.
• Melusina brought Kevin refreshments, listened to his problem, and used her Nen ability to narrow the room’s materials down to six possibilities.
• Kevin continued working for another week while Three-Tails wondered when he would come out and told Melusina she could not taste food’s flavor.
• Kevin emerged from the Pharmaceutical Room looking relaxed, indicating that he had likely completed the potion.

Kevin tested a new five-material potion that fused several of his potion-granted Nen abilities into Scaly Crystallization, a versatile power that formed exceptionally tough, force-dispersing scales. Melusina and Jin also tried the potion, revealing that its additional effects varied by user, while Kevin’s tailored combination produced the strongest result.

• Kevin injected himself with the new potion and watched Snake Scale, barrier, and his ability to shape Nen Aura dissolve and fuse into Scaly Crystallization.
• Kevin formed crystalline scales, a Club, and an almost indestructible barrier, demonstrating that the scales combined Treasure Diamond’s hardness with Snake Scale’s force-dispersing traits and could be shaped at will.
• Kevin explained that the Combination Beast Core let the potion fuse traits differently for each user, then Melusina used a dose and covered herself and Xiao Hong in crystalline scales.
• Melusina used a Gift to trap Biscuit inside a temporary scaly barrier, showing how the potion’s effects could express themselves through a user’s existing Nen abilities.
• Jin used a dose but gained only basic Scaly Crystallization, and Kevin concluded that his own customized potion produced the best results for him.

Kevin led Tuck and the others to the Machine Lifeforms’ homeland, where they discovered signs that Machine Lifeforms had destroyed their own mechanical units. The group reached the open Bronze Tower, where the battle traces suggested they might find the remains of Tuck’s companions.

• Kevin, Morel, Gon, Kiy, Bellolight, and Tuck traveled toward the Machine Lifeforms’ homeland while discussing their return to human society and Kevin’s strength.
• Tuck sensed that they had entered the homeland’s monitoring range but detected no information connection or probing.
• The group found an ancient mechanical body and Bellolight and Tuck discovered that its Storage Crystal core had been precisely destroyed by brute force.
• After inspecting more wreckage, the group concluded that Machine Lifeforms had attacked the autonomous mechanical bodies, which had not fought back.
• Kevin and the others reached the open Bronze Tower and saw battle traces that might lead to the remains of Tuck’s companions.

Kevin and the others explored the devastated home of the Machine Lifeforms, where they found ruined machinery and encountered a hostile machine that could not communicate. They reached a tower-shaped city and discovered an unusual object buried at the site of a fierce battle.

• Kevin and the others entered the ruined Giant Tower and found wrecked machinery, battle damage, and no Machine Lifeform remains among the debris.
• Kiy fought and subdued a tentacled mechanical body that attacked the group, and Bellolight dismantled and restrained it.
• Tuck could not communicate with the captured machine, and Bellolight found no consciousness inside its parts, only powdered Storage Crystals.
• The group reached a city of Bronze Towers and captured attacking Machine Lifeforms while Kevin searched the ruins.
• At the city’s heavily damaged center, Kevin dug an object out of the soil and noticed it was not metal.

Kevin and the others investigated the ruined Machine Lifeform city, but the traces they found could not explain what had happened or whether the machines’ destruction was related to the population Red Line. After three days, they had found only more ceramic fragments and a partly mined mineral vein, leaving them with no useful answers as Morel asked whether they should leave.

• Kevin questioned Tuck about the unconscious, self-moving mechanical bodies, and Tuck explained how his people’s spirits and aging worked but could not identify what the bodies were.
• Kevin and the others considered why the city had been attacked, while Tuck said the Automated Puppets might have been unable to respond and that the missing Machine Lifeforms had left no wreckage.
• Kevin found a ceramic shard, and Bellolight and the others concluded it likely came from an outsider group with tools and a civilization.
• Kevin reflected on whether the Machine Lifeforms’ disappearance was connected to the population Red Line, but the evidence offered no clear answer.
• After three days of searching, the group found more ceramic shards and confirmed that Tuck’s people had mined roughly a quarter of a long, narrow mineral vein.
• Morel asked whether the group should leave because further investigation seemed unlikely to help.