Chapter Summaries

Jin visited Begel to obtain Spiral research files and learned about Kevin’s success with Red Stone Pharmaceuticals. Men Qi and Buhaci returned to Nosra Manor with a haul of ingredients, where they persuaded Kevin to let them cook a Golden Chicken and negotiated for a Golden Egg.

• Jin challenged the Golden Chicken King, then asked Begel for Spiral’s research files and accepted a Red Stone Pharmaceuticals Member Card from him.
• Jin read Begel’s files and decided to stay at the research base to study the Golden Chickens.
• Men Qi and Buhaci left a remote town with a truckload of ingredients and returned to Nosra Manor, where they found Kevin raising Golden Chickens.
• Men Qi and Buhaci convinced Kevin to let them cook one of his Golden Chicken roosters, and Men Qi negotiated for one Golden Egg.
• Men Qi captured a Golden Chicken with her seasoning-based Nen ability and began preparing it with Buhaci while Kevin examined their materials.
• Kevin found that most of the delivered ingredients had value and decided to give Men Qi and Buhaci another Golden Egg.

Men Qi served Kevin and the others Golden Supreme Chicken Soup, whose intense nutrients left them energized and unable to sleep. After Kevin told Men Qi and Buhaci about the Golden Chicken aftermath in the Kakin Empire, Men Qi invited him to join a future expedition to the Secret Realm called Food Village, and he agreed to consider it after settling his affairs.

• Men Qi unveiled her glowing Golden Supreme Chicken Soup, and Kevin and the others tasted it and experienced vivid visions of the Golden Chicken's vitality.
• Kevin explained that the soup's concentrated nutrients had overwhelmed their constitutions, so everyone needed to exercise to use up the excess energy.
• Men Qi and Buhaci asked Kevin about the Golden Chickens, and he recounted his involvement in the aftermath of the events in the Kakin Empire.
• Men Qi invited Kevin to travel with her and Xiahara to Food Village, a Secret Realm with rare ingredients and powerful creatures.
• Kevin agreed to look into Food Village but said he needed several months to settle his affairs before joining the expedition.

Kevin interviewed Squala for an animal caretaker role and Daznuer for a bodyguard position, testing their Nen abilities and professional skills. He was satisfied with their potential, but Squala’s future work became more daunting when a huge beetle charged toward them at the Breeding Farm.

• Kevin read about Food Village, a sealed Secret Realm inhabited by a cursed clan of Nen-using Traveling Chefs, and decided it was worth visiting.
• Kevin met Squala, a Manipulation Type Nen user who guided and trained animals, and approved him for the animal caretaker role.
• Kevin tested Daznuer’s bodyguard instincts by releasing a wave of malice; Daznuer froze briefly but tried to protect Kurapika and escape with him.
• Daznuer inspected the Manor’s defenses and pointed out numerous security weaknesses, while Men Qi and Buhaci returned to training after witnessing Kevin’s strength.
• At the Breeding Farm, Squala’s dogs failed to catch the Golden Chicken, and Kevin criticized both men’s lack of Nen training.
• A gigantic beetle charged out of the forest, and Kevin told Squala it would be one of the creatures he had to raise.

Kevin recruited Squala and Daznuer to work at Nosra Manor, then tested two new potions at the Training Ground. The dragon-heart potion let him move and strike with extreme speed and piercing force, and he began to realize that potion ingredients could preserve the abilities and instincts of their source creatures.

• Kevin hired Squala on a five-year contract paying one hundred million a year and signed Daznuer to a two-year security contract paying roughly two hundred million a year.
• Daznuer took charge of Nosra Manor’s security and reorganized its defenses.
• At the Training Ground, Kevin reflected on how few Nen users pursued strength and concluded that his own enthusiasm for Nen gave him an advantage.
• Kevin showed Men Qi two new potions and tested the dragon-heart potion, discovering that it greatly enhanced straight-line movement and thrusting attacks.
• Kevin adopted a stance inspired by the potion’s source and shot across the Training Ground, piercing a sandbag and a metal practice dummy with his hand.

Kevin tested two potions and learned their abilities, then spent the summer at Nosra Manor while waiting for the weather to cool. As autumn approached, he prepared to leave on his Phantom Beast hunt and entrusted the Manor’s security to Daznuer.

• Kevin discovered that he could imitate attacks through the movements of a potion’s main ingredient and named the potion the Thrusting Potion.
• Kevin tested the Strong Heart Potion, whose effects enhanced his body by accelerating his heartbeat and blood flow, and learned that using the ability without the potion could harm him.
• At Nosra Manor, Men Qi grew impatient with Kevin’s delay while she sparred harshly with Pairo and Kurapika during the hot summer.
• Kevin explained that he had delayed the journey until the weather cooled, partly because Nion’s fortune telling advised him to wait for the season of harvest.
• After reaching forty thousand Nen capacity and learning the potion abilities, Kevin began preparing to leave and asked Daznuer to recruit and screen additional security for the Manor.

Kevin, Men Qi, Xiahara, and Gowen traveled toward Food Village, a dangerous Secret Realm, after Gowen joined them to seek answers about his missing sister. They reached the guarded entrance, where Men Qi presented her Hunter License.

• Kevin, Men Qi, and Xiahara found their Guide detained at Haxing Casino and paid to release him.
• Gowen met the group, asked to join their journey to Food Village, and revealed that his sister had disappeared after setting out for the Secret Realm nineteen years earlier.
• Gowen shared that his sister had mentioned an important Festival, while the group considered whether she meant the Harvest Festival.
• The four traveled for two or three days with the Guide, who told them legends about No Return Land and Food God Village.
• The group arrived at the Secret Realm entrance, where a Nen-using guard questioned them and Men Qi showed her Hunter License.

Kevin and his companions entered the Secret Realm, where they encountered a mysterious calling voice, a giant beast, and a venomous Hidden Snake. After Kevin saved Gowen from the snake’s poison, the group continued toward the Village, sensing faint Resentment in the air as its lights appeared in the distance.

• The middle-aged guide warned Men Qi, Kevin, Gowen, and Xiahara to follow the Village’s rules before they passed a stone monument and entered the Secret Realm.
• Kevin heard a voice calling them onward and recognized it as Resentment likely produced by post-mortem Nen.
• The group hid from a towering, plant-covered beast that crossed their path, and Xiahara noted that it matched the creatures described in their intelligence reports.
• Kevin punched Gowen awake, gave him an Antidote, and discovered that a Hidden Snake had poisoned him.
• Kevin caught the Hidden Snake in the bushes and sealed it in a preservation bag for Men Qi, pleased to have obtained a valuable material.
• As the group continued toward the Village, Kevin sensed faint Resentment growing stronger, and they spotted the Village’s lights after nightfall.

Kevin and the others entered the secluded Food Village, where they learned that its residents were trapped behind an invisible boundary and that an unusually large Great Food Festival was approaching. After the villagers’ surprise at the group’s arrival raised suspicions, the four settled in for the night with questions still unanswered.

• Kevin and the others crossed the sign marking the boundary of the Food Village and met Kuli, a resentful villager who said an invisible Cage kept the residents from leaving.
• Kevin, Men Qi, and Xiahara noticed that Kuli had acted surprised by their arrival, while Kuli privately wondered why four Hunters had come.
• The villagers crowded around the newcomers until Village Chief Kumoku dispersed them, explained the basic rules, and escorted the group to their lodging.
• Bianluoke told Kevin that this year’s Harvest Festival had become the Great Food Festival, an event associated with past clashes between villagers and Hunters.
• Kevin paid Bianluoke for information, then the group stopped asking about the Festival’s details and went to their rooms to rest.

After learning that Gowen's sister died during Food Village's Festival, the group debated whether to intervene, then explored the Village separately. Kevin visited the Library and began examining its collection of books from before the Village was sealed off.

• Bianluoke told Gowen that his sister, a female Hunter, died during the Festival nineteen years earlier, but withheld details about how she died.
• Gowen vowed to learn what happened and stop any sacrifice of innocent people, while Kevin urged the group not to jump to conclusions before understanding the Village.
• Netero noticed that Kevin and three other Hunters had entered Food Village during its Festival year and wondered whether they would resolve the danger he had encountered there in the past.
• Kevin and the others explored the Village, observed that most residents had Nen abilities, and exchanged money for Bone Coins.
• The group split up: Men Qi and Xiahara sought local chefs, Gowen spoke with villagers, and Kevin went to the Library.
• Kevin met the elderly librarian and found that the Library held both outside books brought in after the Village was sealed off and older books that had belonged to the Village.

Kevin searched Food Village’s library for creature ingredients and chose the dangerous Red Sparrow as a target for developing a heat-based medicine. The next morning, he left the Village with Gowen, who wanted to learn how to fight beasts, and they crossed the Boundary into the surrounding wilderness.

• Kevin studied the Village’s old ingredient books, selected the Red Sparrow as a target, and found other creatures suitable for his drugmaking.
• Kevin and Men Qi returned to the inn, where Bianluoke explained that Gourmet Hunters pursued ingredients and flavors rather than working as chefs.
• Kevin said he would explore outside the next day, while Men Qi and Buhaci planned to remain in the Village and compare their targets with his.
• Kevin set out with Gowen, and they noticed that the bone-chilling cold vanished when they crossed the Village’s Boundary.
• Gowen told Kevin he wanted to learn how to fight beasts, rather than fight other Nen users.

Kevin and Gowen traveled through the Secret Realm, where Kevin pursued the Red Sparrows despite their blistering speed and heat. Kevin managed to seize several feathers but suffered severe burns, then treated his wounds while Gowen watched.

• Kevin knocked out a Great Mountain Boar and continued traveling with Gowen rather than stopping to harvest materials.
• Gowen fought off a wolf pack at their night camp, killing seven wolves before the rest fled.
• Kevin removed a man-made stick from an injured Thin Bear, then used En to sense approaching long-armed monkeys, which fled from his Nen Aura.
• Kevin and Gowen reached the Red Sparrows’ maple forest, where the birds’ fiery attacks burned them despite Kevin’s barrier.
• Gowen gave up trying to catch a Red Sparrow after its attack burned his arm, while Kevin used a small-radius En to grab several feathers at the cost of serious wounds.
• Kevin cut burned flesh from his wounds and used medicine to begin healing as Gowen watched.

Kevin caught a Red Sparrow after five days of training at the edge of the Red Maple Forest, then confined it in a tiny cage despite the flock's fury. After treating his burns, he and Gowen decided to leave with their prize rather than risk another attack.

• Kevin and Gowen trained at the forest boundary, where the Red Sparrows had adapted their attacks and nearly overwhelmed them before.
• Kevin used En to anticipate the birds, caught one after drawing it into a final attack, and escaped behind a Hexagonal Aura Wall.
• Kevin and Gowen examined the palm-sized Red Sparrow, and Kevin assessed it as a potential B-Rank potion ingredient.
• Kevin placed the Red Sparrow in a fitted vine-and-branch cage and hung it from a nearby tree while the flock glared at them.
• Kevin explained that [Blank Meteor] helped his muscles and Nen Aura brace against impacts, though it could not protect him from burns.
• Kevin and Gowen treated his injuries and decided to leave the Red Maple Forest with the captured bird.

Kevin and Gowen returned to the Village with a captured Red Sparrow after escaping a strange Resentment that had called to Kevin from the forest. Back at the inn, Kevin discussed possible ways to break the Village’s Curse and said he would stay for a few days to experiment with potion-making.

• Kevin and Gowen fled as the [Coming sound] grew incessant, then saw a pitch-black figure formed from Resentment watching them at the forest’s edge.
• Kevin and Gowen returned to the Village and inn, where they washed up and reunited with Men Qi, Xiahara, and Buhaci.
• Kevin showed the others the captured Red Sparrow and explained its symbiotic relationship with [Burning Fruit], which he needed for his potion research.
• Men Qi, Xiahara, Buhaci, and Gowen discussed the Curse trapping the Village and the limits of using an Exorcist to remove it.
• Kevin proposed that the Curse might be lifted by fulfilling its conditions or by finding and exorcising the vessel carrying its Post-mortem Nen.
• Kevin said he would remain in the Village for a few days to experiment with the Red Sparrow and [Burning Fruit] as potion materials.

Kevin and his companions learned that a curse killed animals that entered the village and prevented villagers from leaving. They witnessed an elderly villager cross the boundary to die, revealing how powerful creatures outside attacked those who escaped, while the Saintess presided over the funeral rite.

• Kevin found the red sparrow dead, and Bianluoke explained that animals entering the village quickly died from its curse.
• Bianluoke told Kevin, Men Qi, and their companions that villagers who crossed the boundary would die, and described how the curse had begun centuries earlier.
• Bianluoke led the group to a funeral procession, where they saw the Saintess arrive and pray beside an elderly villager.
• The old man crossed the boundary, releasing his Nen aura as powerful animals swarmed him and fought over his body.
• Bianluoke explained that villagers chose this death in hopes their souls could return to the outside world, and Kevin understood that the creatures were the descendants of animals the villagers had raised.

Kevin and his companions settled into village life while Kevin studied the Library’s old records and prepared for a village hunt. He met Melusina, the wheelchair-bound Saintess, and she left the Library fretting over whether she had acted naturally around him.

• Men Qi brought Kevin and Gowen to Uncle Heng’s courtyard, where they began learning butchering and heard how the villagers used the Curse to lure creatures for food.
• Xiahara spoke with Uncle Heng’s son about airships and the boy’s wish to grow strong enough to leave the village, but he explained how dangerous escaping would be.
• Kevin visited the Library and saw a maid borrow familiar comics, then learned from Men Qi that the village planned a large hunt in about a week for the year-end Festival.
• Kevin arranged funds with his family and discussed buying particular creature parts with the Village Chief while continuing his research and medicine-making.
• Melusina visited the Library in a wheelchair, greeted Kevin with a smile, and later asked her Maid whether she had behaved strangely around him.

Kevin and the others watched the Village’s Hunting Day operation, learning how the villagers used a Nen-made lure to attract creatures from beyond the Boundary. The hunt began with a gray-black bird being shot down and dragged safely into the Village.

• Kevin and the others joined the villagers gathering in the western field for a rain-soaked Hunting Day operation.
• The hunting commander explained that the Village needed extra food for the approaching Festival and warned everyone to stay alert.
• A Villager sent a Nen-made ball of light beyond the Boundary, where it began producing Resentment and attracting creatures.
• A gray-black bird flew toward the lure, and villagers shot through its wings with Nen Bolts.
• A Villager caught the wounded bird with a Hook and rope, and the others quickly brought it within the Boundary and dealt with it.

Kevin and the others watched the villagers use Nen abilities to lure and hunt animals, learning how they controlled the danger by alternating between different kinds of bait. Bianluoke revealed that the ordinary prey was only the opening act for the Festival hunt, and Uncle Rabik began drawing stronger creatures as Kevin assessed his strength.

• Men Qi guessed that the village's abundance of Emission and Materialization Type Nen users might stem from their bloodline or upbringing.
• Kevin watched villagers use an orb of light, a javelin-like weapon, and Bianluoke's concealed bubbles to attract and capture prey.
• Bianluoke explained that the hunt was only beginning, and Uncle Rabik crossed the Boundary to attract more creatures with his Nen Aura.
• The villagers hunted the creatures that swarmed toward Uncle Rabik, keeping the prey manageable by alternating between people and Nen Beasts as bait.
• Bianluoke told Kevin and the others that the ordinary ingredients were unfit for the Festival, then pointed out Uncle Rabik as he went out again.
• Uncle Rabik swiftly killed the creatures around him, and Kevin identified him as an Enhancement Type user who was not stronger than Kevin.

Kevin warned Bianluoke that something would go wrong with the hunt after spotting Little Black, but the village’s preparations failed when several powerful creatures appeared at once. After Rabik was pulled back inside the Boundary, a Tentacle Python’s tentacle pierced through it and dragged a villager outside.

• Kevin recognized the approaching Tentacle Python and warned Bianluoke that the hunt was about to go wrong after seeing Little Black watching him from afar.
• Bianluoke relayed Kevin’s warning to the Village Chief, who told the villagers to stay alert.
• An Armored Rhinoceros charged toward Rabik while he fought the Tentacle Python, and Kevin spotted another powerful creature approaching.
• Rabik escaped toward the Boundary and villagers pulled him back inside with iron hooks.
• The Saintess warned the villagers as a Tentacle Python tentacle pierced through the Boundary, seized a villager, and dragged him outside.

The creatures breached the village boundary and seized Melusina, prompting Kevin and the other Hunters to fight them. Kevin rescued Melusina and dragged the Frog down, but the battle was still underway.

• The creatures penetrated the boundary, and the Frog grabbed Melusina with its tongue.
• Rabik urged the villagers to retreat from the boundary while the Village Chief asked Kevin and the other Hunters to rescue Melusina.
• Kevin, Xiahara, Men Qi, and Gowen charged outside and split up to face the three creatures.
• Kevin punched the Frog, and the Snake bit its tongue, freeing Melusina.
• Kevin caught Melusina, dodged another tongue attack, then seized the tongue and yanked the Frog to the ground.

Kevin and the Hunters rescued the villagers from the attacking beasts, and the Saintess gave Kevin a temporary winged Gift that let him defeat the Frog and Giant Eagle. Afterward, the villagers arranged to buy the beasts’ meat while Kevin and the Hunters examined the butchering and the villagers’ Nen abilities.

• Buhaci knocked down the Armored Rhinoceros and struck it with his Meat Hammer while Men Qi and Gowen blinded the Tentacle Python with chili powder and freed a captured villager.
• A Giant Eagle joined the battle against Kevin, who struggled to evade its attacks while protecting the Saintess and a villager.
• The Saintess gave Kevin a Gift that created temporary wings, allowing him to pierce the Frog’s head and use its tongue to bind and drag down the Giant Eagle before killing it.
• Kevin returned to the Boundary with the Saintess, while Xiahara and Chou Wen also brought back their targets and rescued villager; Kevin treated the injured villager with potions.
• Rabik offered to buy the four beasts’ meat, and Kevin agreed while reserving any materials he wanted to keep.
• Kevin watched the villagers butcher the beasts and noted that most villagers’ Nen abilities reflected their traditional professions and upbringing.