Chapter 156: A tribe.

After walking a bit among the trees, avoiding crossing paths with the 'voices', Kai finally arrived at a small clearing. He quickly crouched down and, using his index finger, began to slowly draw a mark with his aura. He meticulously traced what appeared to be a circular seal with a complex pattern of Aura Script, which seemed to be a combination of an electrical circuit and tribal runes.

Once the mark was ready, Kai swiftly conjured the Magnetic Force card and placed it over the mark. This caused both to glow softly for a moment, as if they were synchronizing. At that moment, Kai wrote the words [Spider Island] on the card using his aura, causing the card to disappear from his hands—a sign that the waypoint assignment had been successful.

Adding or removing a new 'waypoint' from the Accompany and Magnetic Force cards cost one use of these cards. However, since both cards shared the same list of waypoints, Kai usually used the Magnetic Force card for this purpose. Not only did it have twice the weekly uses (60), but he also used it far less frequently, making it perfect for the task.

Almost simultaneously with the disappearance of the Magnetic Force card from Kai's hands, a new hologram in [In] mode appeared before him. It displayed a list of 18 different waypoints, with the first 10 being his family and Salem, and the last one being the one he had just marked as [Spider Island].

The names of the waypoints couldn't be random, nor could they be numbers, letters, or codes known only to him, due to the pact of the cards. They had to implicitly convey information about the destination, creating the possibility that a stranger could figure out where he was going. This was all designed to create a sufficient level of risk to enhance the ability.

After quickly checking the list of waypoints, Kai dismissed the holographic screen and focused his gaze on the other screen, which showed the real-time video feed of what Sage was seeing. What he saw left him utterly stunned, his mouth hanging open in disbelief. It was shocking and surprising on too many levels and for various reasons.

First, the island seemed to be infested with spiders of various sizes and shapes. The smallest were about 30 cm, while the largest were several meters long. They rested in the trees and what appeared to be dens made of intertwined roots. Each spider had different levels of strength, as indicated by the labels above them. Even the smallest spiders were significantly stronger than an average civilian, with some spiders reaching or surpassing Mirko's level. But even more incredible than that was the place Sage had just arrived at.

The place looked like a small village in the middle of a clearing, composed of about 50 houses made from materials found on the island—logs, branches, roots, and the like. All the houses had roofs made of dried palm leaves and were arranged in a concentric pattern, with a particularly large house at the center. In addition, people could be seen around the place dressed in simple clothes made of what appeared to be jute or something similar could be seen. They looked more like an indigenous tribe than the technologically advanced organization Kai had imagined finding.

But what was even more shocking about the 'tribe' were the labels hovering above the people's heads on the holographic screen. Each label read exactly the same: [Strength Level: Civilian], meaning they were incredibly weak. This clashed greatly with the image of a 'super powerful organization' that Kai had in mind.

Moreover, the appearances of these people were too 'normal', lacking the strangeness Kai was accustomed to. There were no anthropomorphic people, no extra arms, tails, or unusual hair colors. They all looked perfectly human, with the most unusual hair color being reddish, and some having mixed features, like golden, wavy hair with slightly slanted eyes, but nothing more.

As Kai stared at the images in complete astonishment, suddenly, an old man, about 50 years old, emerged from the central hut of the 'village' displaying a label above his head that read [Strength Estimation: Pro Hero].

The old man was not only dressed in much finer clothing than the others, wearing what appeared to be a crown made of large feathers and roots. He was also escorted by a group of two spiders, each about a meter tall. According to Sage’s estimations, these spiders had a rather impressive level of power, being able to stand up to one of the original spiders.

Unlike the original spiders, which had varied shapes and sizes, these two were quite consistent, appearing more robust, as if they were wearing some kind of exoskeleton. At that moment, Kai asked his reliable assistant through their mental connection, taking a deep breath to calm himself, as the image of him fighting countless 'mini All Mights' inevitably came to mind.

[What's going on, Sage?]

[I don't know, Master. These people are speaking in an unknown language. It seems like a mix or variations of English, German, Italian, and something else, but I'm still deciphering it.] Sage quickly responded in a serious tone, to which Kai replied with equal seriousness as he watched the man call the other people to gather around him.

[Alright, I'll meet up with you. I've already set the mark.]

After informing Sage, Kai quickly leaped onto a tree branch and began jumping between branches at high speed, not making a single sound. As he moved, he scanned his surroundings with his Haki, and even with his own eyes, he spotted various types of spiders. The sheer number and strength of the spiders made him click his tongue in frustration.

Although the island wasn't just home to spiders, there were also several other types of animals, such as birds, tigers, crocodiles, monkeys, wolves, and even meerkats—a rather strange and diverse mix. However, aside from the spiders, everything else seemed fairly 'normal', without any strange appearances or insane power levels.

After a few minutes, Kai finally arrived near the 'village' and perched on the branch of a large tree, at least 15 meters tall. From there, he could see all the people gathering around the man who was clearly the leader. They then began to light a bonfire, which didn't seem very smart, given that the 'ground' was nothing more than intertwined roots, and it was almost certain that some of them were dry and could catch fire.

[How's the language deciphering coming along?]

Shortly after, Sage appeared in front of Kai, her wings glowing in various colors. The holographic screen beside him disappeared, so he quickly asked through their mental connection. The beautiful fairy could only shake her head apologetically before responding.

[Still working on it, Master. Since I can't connect to the servers, I can only use my own computational power for this. However, I can give you an approximation of what they're saying based on what I've deciphered so far.]

[Then I'll leave it to you.]

Kai responded seriously, not making too much of it. This prompted Sage to create a holographic screen in front of her master, displaying a kind of subtitle for what they were hearing. However, since she hadn't fully deciphered the language yet, the screen showed little more than scattered words and some guesses in parentheses, followed by a lot of ellipses indicating uncertainty.

Although he could only catch small fragments of the conversations, Kai was able to understand that they were actually performing some kind of ritual to a deity. This filled him with curiosity, as the presence of the spider guards made it highly likely that they were connected to the spiders in some way. But since his goal was to investigate, he quickly communicated with his reliable assistant.

[Let's take advantage of their distraction. We'll investigate the leader's 'house'.]

[Understood, Master. I'll leave a Nen beast here to keep watching.]

Sage quickly responded as a tiny black-furred cat with blue eyes appeared on the branch where Kai was standing—a Nen beast in [In] mode, about 5 cm tall. At the same time, a holographic screen appeared in front of Kai, showing what the cat was seeing in the same way Sage's view had been displayed earlier. Satisfied, Kai commented with seriousness.

[Perfect, let's go.]

Cautiously, Kai jumped from the branch and landed on the ground without making a sound, using the minimal amount of aura he could while wearing the Shadow Cloak. He then took a wide detour around the village before reaching the central 'hut'. Despite being much larger than the others, it was constructed in the same way, with walls made of rustic, uneven wooden planks. It was slightly elevated from the ground by thick wooden pillars and had a roof made of dried palm leaves.

But unlike the other huts, which were square, the leader's dwelling was hexagonal and quite spacious, with more windows. However, the windows were closed with wooden shutters, so Kai quickly approached one of the windows in the group's blind spot. He then gently touched it with his finger, sending tiny amounts of aura to mimic a sonar.

This trick was something Kai had developed by imitating the original series. It turned out to be incredibly precise, silent, and used minimal amounts of aura, allowing him to use it even while wearing the Shadow Cloak. This was incredibly useful, as his Haki lacked the precision of his [En], making it useless for tasks like this—determining if there was a lock.

Just as Kai expected, the wooden shutters had two 'eyelets' carved into the wood at one end, with a small stick in the middle acting as a latch. Using the Manipulation properties of his aura, he quickly and silently moved the latch, as if using telekinesis. However, instead of opening it, he focused his gaze on the holographic screen beside him.

Since he didn't know if opening the shutter would make noise or how perceptive the spiders escorting the leader were, he decided to camouflage his entry with the noise of the people finishing the bonfire. He waited for the perfect moment to enter without drawing attention.

…

[Today… (We will perform the ritual)… to our supreme one!!]

Once the bonfire was fully lit, the man who appeared to be the leader announced loudly. In response, the group of at least a hundred people shouted in unison, extending their hands toward the sky. They then brought out various instruments, such as drums made from animal skin and flutes made of what appeared to be bamboo or something similar. With these, they began to play music and dance around the bonfire.

…

Knowing this was his moment, Kai quickly opened the wooden shutter with a swift motion. This did cause a slight noise, but thanks to the loud commotion of the music and dancing, no one—not even the spiders—noticed him. He swiftly entered the dwelling with a quick jump and closed the shutter behind him. He then focused his gaze on the screen, wanting to know if anyone had noticed anything.

As the group danced and played their instruments, Kai quickly noticed a group of about ten people starting to drive two large wooden poles, each at least two meters long and about 40 cm wide, into the intertwined roots that served as the ground. They then tied the poles in various directions to create tension. However, no one seemed to notice his presence, allowing him to let out a sigh of relief.

Taking advantage of the noise, Kai looked around and realized that the place was quite interesting. It had wooden floors, some animal skin rugs scattered around, wooden tables and chairs, and a few clay pots here and there. This suggested that somewhere on the island, there must be solid ground, and it wasn't entirely made of intertwined roots.

But the most striking feature in the place was what appeared to be some kind of altar, somewhat similar to the one in his mansion back home dedicated to his parents. It was located near one of the walls and was made of logs and planks with well-crafted carvings of spiders. However, instead of photographs, flowers, incense, or food, the altar held a beautiful braided golden necklace with what looked like a locket.

Curious, Kai approached the altar and examined the necklace. It was well-maintained, still shining, though the decorative reliefs on the locket seemed worn. He reached out and took the locket to examine the back, where he found a still-visible engraving that left him surprised.

(John & Mary, 2004)

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