Want to read ahead? Join my Patreon for just $7 to get early access to all upcoming chapters!
> Patreon.com/NegativeTranslations
─────
Chapter 158: Entering the Ancient Ruins
Ronin's timing was perfect. Looking toward the ruins, the Ateli Kingdom's soldiers were already withdrawing from the site. In their place, various fully geared individuals lingered nearby. And without exception, all of these individuals were enveloped in a faint layer of energy. That is to say, they were all Nen users.
Just at a rough glance, the number of Nen users already exceeded twenty. Aside from that one time in Meteor City, Ronin had never seen so many Nen users gathered in one place.
"Ronin, your timing is perfect. The soldiers have excavated a new underground tunnel. There are buildings at the end of the tunnel, but there are also monsters guarding them. What we need to do next is head inside, clear out the monsters, and explore the situation within the buildings."
Without leaving room for argument, Muhuell dragged Ronin into a nearby tent. Inside the tent, all sorts of gear had already been prepared.
"Take your pick. Just grab whatever you can use," Muhuell said with a grand wave of his hand, looking quite the big spender.
Ronin hadn't expected such perfect timing, so he simply picked out a few useful items and stuffed them into his backpack. Then, he followed Muhuell's geared-up squad and walked toward the entrance of the ruins.
Upon entering the ruins, Ronin felt a bit disoriented. It wasn't until Mashuel bumped him with his shoulder that he snapped back to reality.
"What's wrong? First time entering ruins?" A young girl was following right beside Mashuel. She peeked out from behind Mashuel's broad frame to observe Ronin, seemingly a bit shy and bashful.
Upon realizing Ronin was looking her way, the girl immediately hid, leaving only her hair bun visible to him.
"Yeah, I didn't expect to descend into the ruins right after arriving. I guess I didn't have much time to mentally prepare," Ronin replied. "Plus, I didn't expect entering the ruins to be this noisy and chaotic."
Ahead of Ronin, there were quite a few people who clearly didn't belong to the mercenary squads. These people had either formed small teams or were moving solo. Once the soldiers had completely pulled out, they eagerly rushed into the ruins.
"At first, the Ateli Kingdom only hired our Rock Mercenary Group. But with the dual intervention of Kakin and V5, the situation here was completely exposed," Muhuell, who was walking in front, explained. "Certain Hunters from the Association, as well as some civilian organizations, also gained the right to explore the ruins during their negotiations with the Ateli Kingdom."
"It couldn't be helped. Besides, if we really relied solely on the mercenary group to conquer these ruins, it would take a solid three to five years to get the job done."
Nen users weren't the only ones entering the ruins. In the groups ahead, quite a few heavily armed ordinary people could be seen. These were likely the civilian organizations Muhuell had mentioned.
"However, historically, this kind of situation tends to improve within a month or two after truly entering the ruins," Mashuel added. "Because for ordinary people in this kind of environment, it's essentially a death sentence."
"And that single path to survival usually relies on accidentally awakening to Nen, granting them some means of self-preservation." Muhuell sounded somewhat resigned. "But wealth moves the hearts of men. Even knowing that exploring the ruins could cost them their lives, they still can't resist the greed in their hearts."
"Maybe being poor is scarier than dying," Ronin remarked, causing both Muhuell and Mashuel to freeze for a moment.
Only the girl hiding behind Mashuel poked her head out and nodded in strong agreement. Looking at their expressions, Ronin knew neither of them had probably ever experienced true poverty. So he just smiled faintly and glossed over the topic.
"Roughly how big are the Mahavi Ruins?" Ronin's primary investigative target was anything related to the Kurta Clan. He had no intention of actually wasting a massive amount of time here. And judging by what Muhuell had said earlier, fully exploring the entire ruins would take years. Ronin still wanted to participate in the Hunter Exam, so he would inevitably have to leave here around late December.
"Huge. Right now, we've only excavated a small fraction of it." Muhuell naturally understood Ronin's implication. "If you have matters to attend to, you can leave at any time. The entire exploration cycle won't be short anyway. If we discover anything important, I can always notify you to come back."
Ronin nodded and thanked him.
"However, right now we need to head to the newly explored area first. So I'll have to take you to investigate the location related to the Kurta Clan in a few days," Muhuell said bluntly.
"That's fine. Even if I leave, it won't be until late December," Ronin explained.
"Are you going to take the Hunter Exam?" the girl behind Mashuel asked, speaking up for the first time.
Ronin glanced at her and gave a slight nod. "Yes."
"This is Vanessa." Mashuel pulled Vanessa out from behind him. "Her dream is to become a Professional Hunter."
"With her abilities, that shouldn't be difficult." Ronin could see the [Ten] on her body, proving she was a Nen user. And for a Nen user, passing the Hunter Exam wasn't hard at all.
The instant Mashuel let her go, Vanessa's figure flickered, reappearing directly behind Muhuell. Looking at her, Ronin felt she was almost like a clinging ghost.
"Her psychological fortitude isn't that great. If she can overcome that, passing the exam shouldn't be difficult." Muhuell explained, reaching behind him to grab her, only to catch empty air.
Instead, he took a heavy punch to the kidney area.
Ronin, however, noticed that right as Vanessa was about to be caught, her body sank slightly into the ground, allowing her to evade Muhuell's grasp.
Is she an Emitter? Or...
Ronin's gaze swept over Muhuell's shadow. If he wasn't mistaken, the spot where Vanessa had just stood was directly atop Muhuell's shadow.
The noise ahead lessened considerably. Ronin looked up and saw three branching paths appearing in front of them. However, from the terrain, it was clear that all three paths sloped downward. In other words, the entire Mahavi Ruins were situated underground. Could it be that the people who lived here back then were subterranean dwellers, much like the dwarves described in certain movies and television shows?
"The rightmost passage is the one that was discovered first. It's also the path leading to where the Kurta Clan clothing was found." Muhuell explained as he walked toward the left. "The middle passage is where the monsters surged out during the large-scale monster attack last time."
"The leftmost one was explored previously, but only superficially. Nothing was found back then. But after the soldiers continued excavating it, it led to the new ruin structures that we're about to explore next."
The choices of the exploration teams diverged here. The majority of people headed down the left path, though some teams veered right. The only passage that was left virtually untouched was the middle one.
─────
Support this fanfict by leaving Positive Review, Comments, and Power Stones.
For Advance Chapters:
> Patreon.com/NegativeTranslations