The sun slowly sank beneath the Cloud Sea.
Dusk painted the entire Spirit Essence Grassland a warm orange. Points of light glimmered across it like stars scattered over the ground.
But no one was in the mood to admire the view.
They had been stuck all afternoon. They had tried dozens of methods and ruined nearly sixty plants without a single success.
Gon still refused to give up. He crouched at the edge of the grassland, trying one wild idea after another.
He touched a plant through a leaf, tried lifting it with Nen, and even chanted at it, hoping it would not wither.
Nothing worked.
Every time, the grass blackened at a touch and turned to ash.
"This is driving me crazy!" Gon scratched his head in frustration. "Why is this grass so stubborn?"
Leorio leaned against a tree trunk and sighed.
"Forget it. Maybe this grass is just for looking at, not eating. Let's stop wasting our effort."
Even as he said it, regret filled his voice.
So many priceless treasures were right in front of them, yet they could not touch them. Anyone would have been heartsick.
Killua sat on a nearby stone, spinning lightning around his fingers as he frowned and searched for a solution.
Genos had not stopped scanning. He ran through the data again and again, but still could not decipher the rule.
Only Kurapika sat quietly at the edge of the grassland. He neither spoke nor tried anything.
He had barely taken part from the beginning. Instead, he had watched, reviewing the details of every failure.
First, Gon had touched a plant and it had withered. Later, lightning, Chain, a mechanical arm, and a vacuum chamber had all failed.
What did every failure have in common?
They had all involved... a single individual.