Before meeting Ronin's group, Veronica had always considered herself a genius.
Even in the highly competitive environment of the Mimbo Republic, she had managed to distinguish herself and leave everyone in her generation far behind.
That was also why she had constantly competed with Odo for the captain's position after arriving on the imaginary continent.
She had never believed herself inferior to anyone.
In fact, she had always been the "perfect child" other parents used as an example.
But after meeting Ronin's group, the convictions of Veronica, who had grown up in the Mimbo Republic, began to waver.
Ronin, Shizuku, and Kurapika—none of them were older than her, yet every one of them was stronger.
Ronin had even reached a level so far beyond her that she could no longer see him no matter how high she looked. She truly had no idea how these people had trained and grown.
Ronin did not know what Veronica was thinking. But if he did, he might have sympathized with her.
That was because among the three people Veronica had chosen to compare herself with, two were genuine geniuses, while the other was an absurd cheater who surpassed even geniuses.
Compared to them, Veronica's already impressive talent appeared rather ordinary.
More importantly, with Ronin and Kurapika working together, the members of their team progressed in training far faster than ordinary people.
After all, Kurapika could provide rapid recovery, while Ronin could use the Super-Weighted Rock Technique to create an environment more suitable for his teammates' training.
With both abilities complementing one another, as long as someone was willing to put in the effort, their rate of improvement could never be slow.
And the one thing Ronin's team never lacked was hard work.
In Ronin's eyes, both Shizuku and Kurapika had the potential to become obsessive training maniacs.
Shizuku possessed an almost childlike purity. Once she decided she wanted something, she would continue working until she obtained it.
Training and becoming stronger had always been part of her plans.
Kurapika, meanwhile, had always worked hard to keep pace with Ronin. Even though his revenge for the Kurta Clan had already been completed, he did not dare relax in the slightest.
Especially since Ronin had come to the Dark Continent partly to search for the Kurta Clan. That made Kurapika even more unwilling to slack off.
When Kurapika trained, he gave off the impression of someone willing to work himself to death.
Only Abaki and Neon maintained a relatively ordinary training intensity. Neither of them had such a strong desire to become more powerful.
Neon even devoted much of her time to her own hobbies.
The number of collectibles she stored inside Shizuku's space continued to increase. Not a single one had been purchased. She had handcrafted all of them herself, little by little, and greatly enjoyed the creative process.
As for Abaki, she spent most of her time fishing.
Streams, rivers, great lakes, dry land, even trees—there were only places others could never imagine, never places Abaki could not find.
No one could predict where her cast fishing line might go, but it always brought something back.
Perhaps this was also one of Abaki's obsessions.
A true fisherman never returned empty-handed.
By the afternoon, the team finally approached the ancient city.
Veronica, who had considered herself unnecessary, finally became somewhat useful during this part of the journey. Her ability was no longer limited to humans and could now also be activated on ferocious beasts.
The organs vomited from the beasts' mouths even used their blood vessels to form various words.
Those words were the answers Veronica received after asking her questions.
The beasts' bodies were extremely honest. If they knew the answer to Veronica's question, they answered. If they did not, they did not.
However, most of the answers Veronica obtained were extremely simple.
It was unclear whether the beasts could not understand complicated questions, or whether the blood vessels on their organs were incapable of twisting into complex enough shapes.
Even so, her ability provided Ronin's group with considerable help.
And once the head of such a beast was replaced by a Gold and Silver Ingot, Veronica's ability became even more useful.
Because she began receiving more answers.
That was right.
At a little past five in the afternoon, Veronica used a beast's answers to discover the position of a solitary Gold and Silver Ingot on the outskirts of the ancient city.
Then Ronin attacked the isolated Gold and Silver Ingot.
A Gold and Silver Ingot that had never experienced the baptism of Amaterasu was easily dealt with by Ronin.
The body it left behind became Veronica's toy.
"You modified your ability, didn't you?" Ronin asked.
By the time the sky darkened, Ronin's group had already stopped outside the city.
They did not approach rashly. Through the organs of the body used by the Gold and Silver Ingot, they had already obtained intelligence that patrol teams of Gold and Silver Ingots existed inside the city.
Once they encountered one of those teams, what awaited them would be an endless pursuit by countless Gold and Silver Ingots.
No wonder the Saherta United States special forces that had once come here to explore had been completely destroyed, leaving only two survivors.
Just recalling the scene of the seemingly endless Gold and Silver Ingots pursuing the floating island was enough to imagine what kind of situation awaited anyone discovered by them.
The closest comparison Ronin could think of was kicking a hornet's nest.
"There are far too many Gold and Silver Ingots inside the city. Even if we can deal with a few isolated ones, once one of them dies, a large number will inevitably come to investigate the place where it was killed. The risk is too great."
Ging's expression was extremely serious as he spoke.
By now, everyone in the team understood one thing clearly.
If they wanted to explore the ancient city, they had to find a way to avoid being discovered by the Gold and Silver Ingots.
As for destroying every Gold and Silver Ingot along their route through the city, that was an impossible task for them.
Ronin continuously searched his mind for ninjutsu suited to the current situation.
But after thinking it over repeatedly, the only suitable one he could come up with seemed to be the Shadow Clone Technique.
"As long as we lure away all the Gold and Silver Ingots along our intended route, we should be able to enter the labyrinth city and explore it successfully."
Ronin took out a scroll and placed it on the ground.
"How many scrolls do you have? And how can we be certain the Gold and Silver Ingots won't see through the operation?" Ging asked, pointing out the key problems.
"Thirty. That's the total number of scrolls I currently have."
It was not that Ronin did not want to create more scrolls containing shadow clones. There simply had not been enough time, and he had also left quite a few on the floating island.
As for how to keep the Gold and Silver Ingots from seeing through the plan…
Remembering what had happened on the floating island, a bitter smile appeared on Ronin's face.
The Gold and Silver Ingots' ability to continuously adjust and evolve their methods of attack had truly allowed Ronin to experience how powerful their adaptability was.
"We only need to remain undiscovered by the Gold and Silver Ingots, right?" Kurapika had also identified the key point. "Using the Ultra-Light-Weight Rock Technique to travel through the air will inevitably attract a large number of Gold and Silver Ingots.
"We can use the opening created while the city's defenses are weakened to break inside. Throughout the process, we must also avoid every remaining Gold and Silver Ingot."
Ronin considered the plan for a moment.
"Let's try it."