Early the next morning, the group set out again.
Kurapika buried the unease he had felt the night before and told no one. He had no evidence, only a feeling. The underground world was strange enough to make anyone wary.
The glow of the luminous ore gradually brightened, as though an underground sun were rising.
"Which way?" Gon looked around. Tunnels stretched in every direction, and they all looked much the same.
Genos's optical sensors swept the area, data scrolling across his vision.
"I'm detecting a large number of mineral energy signatures two kilometers straight ahead," he said. "The concentration is high. It may be a rare ore vein."
"An ore vein?" Leib's eyes lit up. "Creatures that feed on minerals usually live near ore veins. They're top-tier ingredients!"
"Let's go!" Without another word, Gon ran straight ahead.
They covered the two kilometers in less than twenty minutes.
Then the group stopped.
A vast cavern lay before them, its ceiling too high to see. Glowing ore covered the walls. Each piece was fist-sized and hexagonal, casting a soft blue-white light like countless stars set into the stone.
Strangest of all, liquid flowed inside the ore, pulsing like blood through veins.
"What is this..." Kurapika stepped closer to a piece and studied it. "The liquid inside is moving. It looks like it's storing some kind of energy."
Genos scanned it.
"Crystal Marrow Ore," he reported. "The ore stores a high concentration of Nen, making it a natural Nen battery. A fist-sized piece of crystal marrow holds as much Nen as the entire reserve of a One-Star Hunter."
"That much?" Leorio's eyes widened. "Doesn't that mean we've struck it rich?"
"Don't celebrate yet." Killua stood on his skateboard and peered into the cavern. "Listen."
Everyone fell silent.
"Click... click... click..."
Faint chewing