"Are they not connected to a network?" Ging approached the Gold and Silver Ingots and examined them carefully, trying to identify any differences between them and the ones on the floating island.
However, such a superficial inspection revealed nothing.
Kurapika thought of another possibility.
"The floating island seems to have been a facility that manufactured Gold and Silver Ingots and sold them to outsiders. Is it possible that the ones on the floating island were actually the complete versions?"
"Or perhaps the floating island had unlocked some of their restricted permissions," Ronin joined in with his own speculation.
The reason he had this thought was the unusual reaction of the Gold and Silver Ingots when the floating island approached the ancient city.
That had certainly not looked like a welcome.
Any of their guesses could be correct. But if Kurapika's theory was right, then another possibility existed.
"Could there be a way on the floating island to seize control of every Gold and Silver Ingot in the ancient labyrinth city?"
Ronin looked at Ging expectantly as he spoke.
"It's still the same problem. I know how to deactivate Gold and Silver Ingots, and even how to change the highest-level authority controlling them. But all of that depends on us finding an access port!" Ging had read through the floating island's information on the Gold and Silver Ingots countless times during their journey.
After all, everyone knew that the greatest obstacle inside the ancient city was its labyrinth guardians—the Gold and Silver Ingots.
If they could obtain control over the city's Gold and Silver Ingots just as they had those on the floating island, then the entire ancient city might become Ronin's group's private garden.
With countless Gold and Silver Ingots clearing the way for them, where in the city would they be unable to go?
"What about tracing it back to the source?" Ronin raised his hand and pointed at the opening in the ground.
That was a "charging station" that supplied energy to the Gold and Silver Ingots.
Could they follow that connection and locate the central system controlling them?
"It's worth trying." Ging chose to remain behind.
Ronin, meanwhile, led the others into the towering building guarded by the three Gold and Silver Ingots.
The interior was not in good condition. No one had entered this place for an unknown number of years, and a thick layer of dust had accumulated everywhere.
There was no furniture or anything similar. The empty room did not even look as though anyone had ever lived there.
However, judging from the height of the ceiling, even if someone had once lived here, they had not been ordinary humans. The building seemed more suited to a creature like the green-faced giant Ronin had killed.
The advantage of hiding inside the building soon became apparent.
They did not need to worry about Gold and Silver Ingots entering to investigate. As long as they had not been spotted before going inside, none of the patrolling Gold and Silver Ingots would suddenly barge in.
Ronin and the others discovered this when Ging entered the building to avoid a patrol.
The patrolling Gold and Silver Ingots saw the subdued ones placed near the "charging stations," but they did not appear particularly intelligent. They failed to notice anything abnormal about them, lingered nearby for a short while, and then departed.
Shizuku released the green-faced, fanged giant in bronze armour.
Only when observing it from such close range could they truly appreciate its enormous size. In particular, the bronze armour covering its body gave everyone the impression that it had existed for an extremely long time.
Ronin carefully searched the giant's body but found nothing useful.
The bronze armour, however, was somewhat unusual.
When Ronin touched it, the armour automatically released energy.
It was Nen!
The armour seemed to interpret Ronin's touch as an attack and automatically activated its defensive mechanism.
How could Ronin possibly abandon such a miraculous suit of armour? He immediately began studying how to remove it from the giant's body.
The armour contained some energy, but there was no way for it to replenish itself. After resisting Ronin for more than ten minutes, it finally ran out of power.
Once the energy was depleted, Ronin only needed to use a little force to strip it from the giant's corpse.
And when he had removed every piece of armour, an object finally fell from the giant's body.
It was a palm-sized token.
"Is this it? It was hidden pretty well." Ronin picked up the token.
It was surprisingly heavy and appeared to be made from a material similar to the bronze armour.
Upon closer inspection, he found unusual patterns engraved across its surface. They seemed to form the image of a tree.
There was no writing, leaving them unable to determine exactly what the token was.
After studying it for a while, Ronin tried injecting Nen into it.
After encountering various ruins on the Dark Continent, they had already discovered that Nen played an extremely important role in them.
The ancient city seemed to have developed an entire practical system centred around Nen long ago.
As Ronin poured Nen into the token, something strange happened.
The armour he had removed from the giant began shrinking.
It only stopped once it had become small enough for Ronin to wear.
During the process, Ronin also noticed that the token was absorbing his Nen.
"Interesting." Once the token stopped absorbing his aura, Ronin tossed it to a shadow clone standing nearby.
"If this token and armour really allow the wearer to move freely through the city, then I think our next targets should be the giants wandering around inside it."
As Ronin spoke, the shadow clone picked up the bronze armour and put it on.
Although the token might produce some unexpected effect, using a shadow clone to investigate potential dangers had always been Ronin's preferred method.
Even if something went wrong, it would not affect his real body.
It was not as though he could take Owl and Kortopi out of the Fun Fun Cloth and use them as test subjects.
However, thinking of Kortopi gave Ronin another idea.
Although objects copied by Kortopi only lasted for twenty-four hours, that was more than enough.
As long as they possessed the original, they could create another copy whenever they needed one.
Of course, all of this depended on Ronin's theory being correct—and on whether the city would also recognise the objects copied by Kortopi.
Kurapika and the others had no objections to Ronin's decision.
Given their current circumstances, Ronin's abilities were genuinely well suited for exploring the Dark Continent.
The Shadow Clone Technique, in particular, could practically be called a divine ability.
After putting on the bronze armour, the shadow clone felt nothing except comfort. The armour did not restrain him, nor did any other unexpected situation occur.
It seemed the armour followed a simple rule: whoever obtained the token and infused it with Nen became its owner.
"The technology here is far less advanced than what we saw on the floating island," Ging observed keenly. "But their use of Nen is far more widespread and flexible."
As he spoke, the shadow clone, now dressed in bronze armour, walked out of the building.
However, it would need to travel farther before they could confirm the armour's exact effects.
Meanwhile, Ronin casually released Kortopi from the Fun Fun Cloth.