The Post-Mortem Nen at the ruin entrance, despite its aggressive stance of keeping strangers away, was fundamentally defensive in nature.
Such Post-Mortem Will, which primarily exerted a "fortifying effect," typically posed no substantial threat to Nen users, no matter how powerful and dense its aura might be.
In contrast, the Post-Mortem Nen that had just abruptly emerged from the living corpse and immediately lunged at Morrow and Ging, while far inferior in intensity and volume of death energy compared to the Post-Mortem Nen at the ruin entrance, possessed an extremely strong desire to attack.
Coupled with the bizarre and unknown phenomenon of the living corpses hanging from the ceiling of the underground palace, no one could be certain whether this aggressive Post-Mortem Nen concealed some special ability mechanism.
It was important to note that this ruin had a history of at least a thousand years.
This meant that those hanging from the ceiling of the underground palace had actually lived for over a millennium.
Considering these potential risks, Morrow took the initiative to absorb this Post-Mortem Nen.
Ging had anticipated that Morrow hadn't yet purified the Post-Mortem Nen at the ruin entrance, so his first reaction when the Post-Mortem Nen attacked was to block it for Morrow.
He never expected that Morrow still had the capacity to transfer this Post-Mortem Nen into his body.
Ging looked at Morrow's back, a flicker of surprise in his eyes, and asked with concern, "Are you okay?"
Morrow didn't respond, standing frozen in place like a statue.
Because... his mind was being forcibly flooded with a massive amount of blurred memory images.
These memory images, seemingly carriers of the Post-Mortem Nen's emotions, were filled with extreme resentful thoughts, launching an assault on Morrow's mind.
Noticing Morrow's unusual state, Ging's expression shifted slightly as he blinked to stand in front of Morrow.
He immediately saw Morrow with his eyes tightly shut, brows deeply furrowed, fine beads of cold sweat seeping from his pores, while the aura enveloping his body showed extremely unstable fluctuations.
As expected, he's overloaded, Ging thought, watching Morrow with considerable worry.
In this situation, it wasn't appropriate for him to intervene; he could only wait and observe for now.
But two or three seconds later, Morrow suddenly opened his eyes, let out a long exhale, then revealed a look of confusion in his gaze.
Just moments before, countless blurred images had rushed into his mind all at once, only to quickly vanish like bubbles, as if they had never existed.
This was the first time Morrow had encountered such a situation.
Based on his understanding of Post-Mortem Nen, while not all Post-Mortem Nen carried memory information, Post-Mortem Nen of this level shouldn't normally contain so much memory, even if it did carry memories from before death.
It should have been fragmented and scattered.
Yet the amount of information in that brief moment was like witnessing someone's entire life in detailed flashbacks.
Though blurred, the quantity was astonishing.
This was precisely what puzzled Morrow.
"Morrow, how are you?" Ging asked with concern again, seeing that Morrow had quickly recovered.
"Nothing serious," Morrow replied, wiping the sweat from his forehead calmly. "My mind was just flooded with a bunch of memory information, but it quickly dissipated. The impact is minimal."
In fact, the memory information he received from exorcising powerful Post-Mortem Will would all be absorbed by his consciousness.
But he was capable of sealing away these memory fragments, so normally, as long as his will remained strong enough, they would hardly affect him.
However, this recent experience was peculiar, allowing him to vaguely glimpse some underlying truths about the scene above him.
"Glad you're alright."
Ging breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, then asked curiously, "Receiving memory fragments from Post-Mortem Nen, is that a Limitation of your Nen exorcism ability?"
"Yes, more precisely, it's one of the Limitations."
Morrow didn't conceal anything and proactively explained, "There's another Limitation: my ability can only exorcise Post-Mortem Will."
Tree Rings could only absorb Post-Mortem Will.
This was a good opportunity to clarify, saving the need for others to seek him out for exorcising living Nen later.
"I see."
Ging nodded thoughtfully, finally understanding why the process of transferring Post-Mortem Will had been so effortless.
But based on what he observed during Morrow's transfer of Post-Mortem Nen, he quickly realized the differences between the Post-Mortem Nen at the ruin's entrance and these human-derived Post-Mortem Nen.
Yet he refrained from probing further.
After all, in the field of Exorcists, there was an unspoken rule against revealing the exorcism process to outsiders, let alone disclosing the underlying logic and operational mechanisms of Nen exorcism abilities.
Frankly, Morrow's willingness to share this information with him had already overturned his understanding of traditional Exorcist practices.
Including how Morrow unhesitatingly revealed his ability's details just to have him as a training partner.
These signs undoubtedly demonstrated Morrow's trust in him.
Yet in his previous observations, he had considered Morrow to be meticulous and not the type to easily trust others.
Thinking this, Ging felt he must absolutely not betray this trust from Morrow and resolved to devote himself fully to their upcoming training sessions.
As for Morrow's character, he had already formed his judgment.
If nothing else, earning the trust of people like Kurapika and Menchi was sufficient proof of Morrow's integrity.
If his assessment turned out wrong, he could only blame his own misjudgment.
Unaware that Ging had contemplated so much in just a breath's time, Morrow raised his head to gaze at the numerous living corpses above, pondering the massive amount of vague memory information he'd just received.
In his view, when absorbing Post-Mortem Will, no matter how much memory information his consciousness received, as long as these memories would eventually fade on their own, there would be no resistance or impact.
Therefore, acquiring this Tree Rings energy was merely a matter of time.
Morrow wasn't anxious; instead, he considered the additional value these things might bring.
His Starlight Convergence, while capable of precisely reading a target's information, would impose tremendous strain on his brain's processing capacity whenever the number of targets within its range surged dramatically, accompanied by massive amounts of operational data.
This was the ability's Vow and Limitation, with no room for adjustment.
However, Nen users could typically undergo specific training methods to overcome or further utilize the effects brought by Limitations.
But due to Starlight Convergence's unique nature, being directly tied to the brain's information processing capacity, it was difficult to find targeted training methods.
Yet this recent experience made Morrow aware of a possibility.
Though the violent impact from those vague memory fragments was painful, it would only last a few seconds before ending.
As long as there was no risk, it seemed this could be used to train the brain's tolerance for receiving and processing information.
If similar stimuli were repeatedly experienced, perhaps the ability to adapt to this kind of information overload could gradually improve.
In the end, even if the weakness of Starlight Convergence couldn't be completely overcome, at least some improvement could be made.
Morrow pondered the feasibility of this idea, while also feeling inevitable curiosity about the Post-Mortem Will he had just encountered.
How exactly was such a vast amount of blurred memory information formed? Could it really be related to the human-keeping beast Pap?
Based on his understanding of Pap's ability, this creature should extract Life Energy by dominating humans, but at the same time, it gives the dominated illusory beautiful dreams as compensation.
Just like the memories produced when humans dream.
Even if the dream is false, as long as the person remembers it, it becomes part of their memory.
If Pap continuously weaves beautiful dreams for the humans it controls while manipulating them, and the dominated store these dreams as real memories... theoretically, this would form a massive amount of memory information.
And the human bodies on the palace ceiling still have faint life signs even now. It wouldn't be wrong to say they've been alive for over a thousand years.
Assuming the plant-like roots wrapped around the humans' heads possess abilities similar to the human-keeping beast Pap, then over such a long period, it would indeed be possible to create a vast amount of false memories.
As for why Post-Mortem Will was born... could it be because the thousand-year beautiful dream was interrupted?
And because the Post-Mortem Will that formed was too weak, the massive memory information it carried became blurred and only lasted for a few seconds.
It could only be said that this was a possibility.
Morrow ended his contemplation and noticed Ging's curious gaze directed at him.
Seeing Morrow return to the present, Ging asked curiously, "What were you thinking about just now? You were so absorbed that you didn't respond when I called you."
"I was thinking about the massive memory information carried by that Post-Mortem Will."
Morrow raised his head, resting his chin, and explained, "Normally, such a weak Post-Mortem Will shouldn't exhibit this phenomenon, so I speculate that those plant-like root structures might possess hallucinogenic properties, or..."
Here, Morrow paused.
"Or?"
Ging prompted with interest.
Morrow said calmly, "Or they might possess abilities similar to the human-keeping beast Pap."
"An equivalent exchange of happiness and life..."
A faint light gleamed in Ging's eyes as he understood the meaning behind Morrow's words, agreeing, "If used to explain the source of that memory information, this speculation is indeed quite convincing."
As he spoke, his gaze turned toward the palace filled with Post-Mortem Nen, "Although the manifestation of the ability phenomenon differs from the human-keeping beast Pap, as you said, these roots might indeed possess a similar essence of ability."
"Hmm."
Morrow nodded in response.
Ging fell silent again, thinking for a moment before suddenly looking directly at Morrow. "Are you confident you can completely eliminate it?"
His tone carried rare seriousness.
Whether it was the unknown Post-Mortem Will in the palace or the potential for these human bodies above to generate large amounts of Post-Mortem Nen, both posed a potential threat to the team's excavation work and even to human society.
So rather than figuring out the details of these ability phenomena, Ging was more concerned about whether he could completely eliminate the potential threat.
"Absolutely no problem, just give me some time."
Facing Ging's inquiry, Morrow gave a definite answer.
Seeing this, Ging revealed a smile.
"You're really reliable."
He said with slight admiration.
Due to the appearance of plant roots and numerous living corpses, the excavation work of the ruin had to be temporarily suspended.
However, the excavation team could first conduct preliminary research on the circular stone gate at the ruin's entrance and the main passage leading to the underground palace, which somewhat alleviated the team's urgency.
Taking advantage of this gap, Morrow returned to the surface and explained to Menchi and Kurapika his decision to stay with the excavation team.
He didn't hide anything, directly stating his agreement with Ging to undergo special training.
Learning that Morrow was staying to train, Kurapika thought for a moment and also made a decision. "In that case, I'd like to stay too."
"Are you sure?"
Morrow looked at Kurapika, though he didn't really need to ask. He could already see the determination in Kurapika's eyes.
Without a doubt, Kurapika gave an affirmative answer.
Morrow nodded slightly and said, "Then stay and help. But there's one thing, if Ging offers to pay you, you should refuse directly."
"I hadn't thought about that."
Kurapika shook his head.
His choice to stay was more about taking this opportunity to train and become stronger together with Morrow.
Morrow showed a meaningful smile. "That's not what I meant."
"Hmm?"
A trace of confusion flashed in Kurapika's eyes.
Morrow hinted meaningfully, "Don't underestimate the intelligence channels available to one of the world's top five Nen users."
"..."
Kurapika, being highly intelligent, immediately understood Morrow's meaning.
This was telling him to make good use of this opportunity, then leverage Ging's intelligence channels to investigate the whereabouts of his clansmen's eyes.
Thinking of this, Kurapika actually felt somewhat expectant.
Seeing Kurapika decide to stay with Ging's team, Menchi hesitated uncertainly.
But her hesitation soon disappeared.
Because after learning she was a Gourmet Hunter, Ging actually used his financial resources and connections to directly procure many rare ingredients, wanting Menchi to prepare a feast to celebrate the opening of the ruin's entrance.
Taking this opportunity, Morrow suggested that Menchi use these ingredients to make medicinal cuisine.
On one hand, this could maximize the value of the rare ingredients; on the other hand, it would let Ging know that Menchi understood medicinal cuisine.
Thus, after learning about this, Ging considered the difficulty of this excavation work and extended an invitation to Menchi.
And Menchi, considering that Ging could procure rare ingredients anytime, ultimately accepted.
As for Morrow, who personally facilitated this matter, he was already chuckling secretly in the corner.
After all, medicinal cuisine used to enhance physical constitution was extremely expensive.
Now that he could get it for free long-term, how could he not be happy?
With this matter settled, Morrow, Kurapika, and Menchi all became members of the excavation team.
Several days later, Morrow officially began clearing these living corpses from the top of the underground palace.
Perhaps it really was as he initially speculated. These living corpses' thousand-year beautiful dreams had been shattered, so they all left behind Post-Mortem Will one after another.
Although each Post-Mortem Nen provided very little Tree Rings energy, for him, this could serve as adaptability training for Starlight Convergence.
Moreover, he calculated the number of living dead. If all of them left behind Post-Mortem Will, it could bring at least about 10% of Tree Rings energy.
The only drawback was that the process of the brain receiving the massive memory torrent was excruciatingly painful.
Time passed slowly.
—--
Late December.
A person named Hisoka registered for the Hunter Exam.
As for the reason... it was because a person named Morrow had gone missing.
Hisoka couldn't find Morrow and grew anxious again.
Later, he recalled that Morrow had once mentioned wanting to obtain a Hunter License.
So, both anxious and desperate, Hisoka decided to try his luck at the Hunter Exam.