However, after exploring the entire floating island, Ronin became increasingly satisfied with the place.
The island was guarded by Gold and Silver Ingots. Although they were still in the process of being created, given enough time, new Gold and Silver Ingots completely under Ronin's control would be born.
When that happened, the island's defensive power would be restored.
If they could solve the island's energy problem and stop it from continuously spewing clouds and mist, Ronin even felt they could control the island and use it to explore the Dark Continent from the sky.
There might be some danger in the air as well, but in his view, it would still be simpler than the environment on the ground.
Especially since this floating island was large enough and had not just started floating today.
The fact that it had existed for so many years without being destroyed was the best proof.
After returning to the laboratory, Ronin and the others had no intention of repairing the other buildings on the island, because there was no need.
The laboratory itself also had rooms for the researchers to live in.
As long as they added some bedding, those rooms would even be more comfortable to live in than the house inside Shizuku's storage space.
After all, hot water and electricity could both be handled.
While Ging was busy, Ronin and the others also began transforming the floating island into their ideal version of it.
Whether it was living arrangements, understanding the island's situation, or even learning about the current conditions below the island, Ronin and the others made new arrangements and investigations.
By the time Ging happily came over with a plan, the floating island's situation had already changed greatly.
There were ten Gold and Silver Ingots stationed in various places on the island, ready to attack at any time.
At the same time, the giant eagle clan had once again begun living among the island's trees, and many hidden beasts had also been added to the island.
No matter what approached the island, the giant eagles would become the vanguard.
While the giant eagles blocked the enemy, golden light would bloom from the island.
That was the attack of the Gold and Silver Ingots.
If the golden light could not deal with the enemy, the spore swarm could also erode the target, causing the target's head to quickly transform into a new tree and generate a Gold and Silver Ingot capable of surviving for a short time.
Over these past few days, the power of the spores had been fully displayed by the Gold and Silver Ingots.
Those things were indeed an enormous threat. Those seemingly insignificant spores, as long as they landed on an enemy, had an ability to break through defenses that was even greater than the golden light.
If even the spores could not solve the target, then the Gold and Silver Ingots on the island would adopt a mutually destructive fighting method.
Just like when they had charged at Ronin and the others before, they would rush toward the target and, after getting close, stab their branches into the target's body, completing the assimilation of the enemy and seizing control of the target.
One could say that the Gold and Silver Ingot was a Conjured creation that had mastered the essence of Emission, Enhancement, and Manipulation.
That was right.
The Gold and Silver Ingots were also products created through Conjuration.
However, each Gold and Silver Ingot required an enormous amount of energy to conjure.
And more importantly, after a Gold and Silver Ingot was created, it needed to continuously absorb energy in order to keep functioning.
The energy it absorbed was not the electricity currently available on the island, but the flesh and blood of giant eagles that were likewise conjured.
In other words, the Gold and Silver Ingot was a carnivorous plant.
"So, at the very beginning, there must be one person who uses Nen to create the first Gold and Silver Ingot. Then the Gold and Silver Ingot uses its own Nen to create giant eagles. The giant eagles can hunt prey in the sea of clouds, but the giant eagles and the prey they catch are also food for the Gold and Silver Ingots," Neon summarized the entire process.
"That's right," Ronin confirmed.
"It's like the chicken and the egg," Abaki said, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu.
"The ability user came first," Ronin said, somewhat surprised himself. "But as long as the first Gold and Silver Ingot exists, the island can then enter a complete cycle. Even without an ability user, it can continue operating."
"I thought ancient humans had created a way to convert electricity into Nen," Neon said, somewhat disappointed.
"It's not that simple," Kurapika joined the discussion. "Divine Script does have properties that assist Nen quite well, but it only plays a supporting role. The true key has always been Nen.
"The fact that ancient humans could use a little Nen to start the entire process and keep it running is already shocking enough."
"The most critical part of all this is still the Gold and Silver Ingot itself," Neon sighed. "I really wonder whether this thing originally existed in nature, or whether it was created later."
No one could guess the answer to that.
In the island's data, they could only find various statistics on the Gold and Silver Ingots, but not their specific origin.
They only knew that now, as long as energy was injected into a specific instrument, a new Gold and Silver Ingot could be conjured.
And after this new Gold and Silver Ingot absorbed enough nutrients, it could grow into a special weapon capable of producing Nen.
"I've already found a way to repair the island's energy leakage. And once we solve the energy leakage problem, as long as we can activate the special engine built on the island, we should be able to realize your earlier idea of riding the island to explore the Dark Continent," Ging suddenly interrupted.
When everyone heard this news, they all showed delighted expressions.
After all, the island was still too large.
Neither Blinky nor Fun Fun Cloth could store it away.
Now that the island had been fully explored, it would truly be a pity if it could not move and could only remain in the sky.
After following Ging back to the island's core area, Ging carefully explained how they needed to repair the energy leakage.
"We need to fish all the Unmanned Stones out of the water, then repair the parts beneath the pool. These parts were created in combination with Divine Script. As long as we can complete the repairs, then after that, we can put the Unmanned Stones back into the pool and restart the program. That should solve the energy leakage problem."
Once Ging finished speaking, everyone instantly understood the difficulty of the task.
One had to know that Unmanned Stones released electricity when they came into contact with water.
At this moment, Ronin and the others could not approach the pool at all, because the pool had long since been filled with violent electrical energy.
If they got too close, they could easily be electrocuted.
Even with Nen as protection, they might still be burned into charcoal by the high-voltage electricity in an instant.
"Is there no protective suit?" Ronin asked.
Ging raised his hand and pointed to a spot near the edge of the pool. Some fragments could still be seen there.
"The repair task was originally meant to be handled by a special Gold and Silver Ingot. But this pool has clearly undergone an abnormal change. The protective suit could block high-voltage electricity, but it couldn't block the water, which looks harmless but actually has corrosive properties."
"I'll give it a try."
Ronin carefully examined the size of the space, while his eyes had already entered the Mangekyō state.