The situation inside the ruins left everyone feeling a lingering sense of fear.
As for the Gold and Silver Ingots that were still growing, the moment they discovered Ronin's group, they actively stood up from the ground and staggered toward them.
One could see golden light beginning to gather on those underdeveloped trees.
However, Ronin could deal with even mature Gold and Silver Ingots, let alone these juveniles.
But as he looked at these young trees, another thought appeared in his mind: have Odo control all of them, then let them continue growing. Wouldn't that mean they could possess even more Gold and Silver Ingots?
Especially judging from the movements of these juveniles, it was not hard to tell that they probably had not synchronized enemy information like the Gold and Silver Ingots that had gone out to deal with them.
Everything was just as Ronin guessed.
After the Gold and Silver Ingot controlled by Odo easily deflected the golden light gathered by the juvenile Gold and Silver Ingots, Odo's hand easily touched their bodies.
As Odo's ability activated, these juvenile Gold and Silver Ingots also developed human-like facial features.
During this process, one could see that the juvenile Gold and Silver Ingots were rapidly synchronizing information and adopting new strategies. However, Ronin did not give them the chance to come up with a solution.
There were fifteen Gold and Silver Ingots in total, including three non-combat cleaning units. All of them were taken under Odo's command.
The team had grown much stronger. As for the Gold and Silver Ingots' growth, that could only be left to time for now.
Ronin temporarily stored the extra Gold and Silver Ingots with Fun Fun Cloth. In any case, these juveniles would not be useful in the short term.
Inside the enormous hall of the building, aside from the juvenile Gold and Silver Ingots that had been taken away, there were also many special mechanical devices. However, Ronin and the others could not tell what these things were used to produce.
After passing through this factory-like hall and entering the deeper area behind it, they saw one tank after another, like cultivation chambers.
Inside those tanks were all kinds of creatures—some twisted, some bloated, and some missing various organs.
There were humans, and there were also all kinds of wild beasts.
On the nameplates beneath these tanks were written descriptions, but the writing was not any language Ronin had ever seen.
Ging, however, fixed his gaze firmly on the writing, as if he could recognize it.
Ronin and the others did not urge him. While Ging browsed the words beneath the tanks, everyone explored the not-so-large space.
There were no traces of human presence, but they found many devices that resembled computers.
These devices were still operating. Perhaps thanks to the cleaning robots from earlier, even after such a long passage of time, the ruins still maintained a good working condition.
"This is practically a miracle," Kurapika sighed.
Just the state of the interior of these ruins was enough to be called a miracle.
After all, judging from the vines outside, no one had been here for decades, perhaps even longer.
"Yeah," Ronin also praised.
Compared to the Mahavi Ruins he had visited before, these floating island ruins could indeed be called divine.
However, after thinking about the various advanced creations inside the Mahavi Ruins, the situation inside these ruins did not seem quite as godlike anymore.
The technology of this world was in a very strange state.
From the various ruins, it was not hard to discover that a thousand years ago, or perhaps even longer ago, humanity had already possessed an extremely brilliant civilization. Their technology had reached a level that the current continent could not compare with.
Now that they had reached the Dark Continent and seen this ancient ruin, it made people even more curious about what kind of splendor the human civilization that once lived on the Dark Continent had possessed.
"I've roughly understood it," Ging said at that moment as he walked over.
His single sentence immediately attracted everyone's attention.
"This place should once have been a research facility. The plant weapon Gold and Silver Ingot was probably born here. After these weapons were developed, they were sold to the major powers.
"In addition, those cleaning robots were also one of this research facility's flagship products. They were once extremely popular."
Ging's words filled everyone with shock, but after thinking about it, they also felt it made some sense.
After all, everyone had already discovered various blueprints on the computer-like devices in the nearby office. Just from their appearance, it was not hard to judge that the contents of those blueprints were the Gold and Silver Ingots.
However, judging from Ging's words, this place was not only like a research facility, but also like a company.
"In that case, the ones who once lived here were humans?" Ronin was most curious about this point.
The Dark Continent might not only have humans, but also other intelligent beings.
For example, what humans called magical beasts.
"Yes." Ging nodded and confirmed it. "The ancient cities near Lake Mobius were all places where humans once lived."
Ging even revealed another piece of information.
"Although there is no longer any way to verify why humans chose to hide in Lake Mobius back then, what can be confirmed is that the human empire that once lived on the Dark Continent should have been stronger than we are now within Lake Mobius," Ging said, his expression serious and solemn.
"I really wonder what happened back then that made humans decide to migrate from the Dark Continent into Lake Mobius," Ronin sighed.
That was also the question in everyone's hearts.
"Do you recognize all these characters?" Ronin did not dwell on the history of human development for too long. Instead, he pointed at the writing beneath the tanks and asked.
However, he already had a rough guess in his mind.
"Yes." Ging nodded. "I think you should have encountered this writing before too, since you entered Greed Island."
"Divine Script," Ronin said.
"Yes."
"Speaking of which, why is this writing called Divine Script?" Ronin asked curiously.
He had once thought about understanding or even learning Divine Script, because he always felt that this writing, which could be connected to Nen, hid many secrets.
However, not many people knew this writing in the first place, and learning it would require an unknown amount of time.
So in the end, he had chosen to give up.
He had not expected that after arriving on the Dark Continent, this writing would seem to have been the common script of ancient humans.
That once again stirred his interest in learning Divine Script.
"I don't know. In any case, when I learned this writing existed, it was already called by that name." Ging's face also carried some curiosity. "I once investigated the origin of Divine Script, but the farthest source I could trace was Chairman Netero.
"Supposedly, he was the one who brought this writing back from the Dark Continent. As for whether he knows more, I'm not sure. But research into Divine Script has always been one of the Association's extremely important projects."