After purchasing some items at the herbal medicine stall, Akira and Pyon moved to another stall. Though this stall dealt in fossils, its business model was quite unique compared to others.
It was called "fossil gambling."
It sounded identical to the "stone gambling" back on Earth.
[A/N : Its jadestone cutting if you guys want to know]
In essence, it was quite similar—customers would select stones, which would then be cut and polished to reveal their contents.
However, while stone gambling on Earth aimed to uncover jade or gemstones, this fossil gambling sought valuable fossils.
Flame Rock Island had an abundance of fossils, with several large fossil valleys.
Some stones were excavated on the spot, while others were left intact and transported to various towns for "fossil gambling."
If a stone contained no fossils, or if the fossils were sparse and severely damaged, it meant a loss, But if it held well-preserved fossils in good condition, it could fetch a high price.
Fossils in the world of Hunter x Hunter weren't cheap, especially those from Flame Rock Island. The island boasted a wide variety of fossils, all having been unearthed before.
Naturally, the rarer the fossil, the higher its value.
Of course, while fossils were plentiful, it didn't mean the island only had fossils—there were also ores and gemstones.
So, "fossil gambling" could sometimes yield ores as well.
This stall was slightly larger than the old man herbal medicine stall next to it, with stones of various sizes and shapes displayed on it.
A few people were holding magnifying glass-like tools, carefully examining the patterns, cracks and other surface features of the stones.
So absorbed in their task, they seemed to forget everything else, leaning so close to the stones they might as well have kissed them.
"What do you think? Want to give it a try?" Akira watched as these "well-equipped" elders meticulously analyzed the rocks.
He then turned to Pyon beside him—perhaps as a Paleograph Hunter, she might find this interesting?
"No need. I'll just watch you play." Pyon shook her head, causing the rabbit-ear accessories on her head to sway as if waving in the wind.
Thanks to Akira's ability to conceal their presence, the two could move freely through the streets.
Though others could see them, they wouldn't recognize their true identities, assuming they were just ordinary people.
Otherwise, given Pyon status as one of The Twelve Zodiac and Akira rising fame, they'd likely be swarmed within steps.
After all, Akira reputation had already spread across all six continents, reaching its peak after the Martial Arts Tournament.
Today marked the third day since the tournament ended.
Upon receiving Pyon call, Akira immediately decided to investigate Flame Rock Island.
Menchi, unfortunately, had prior commitments and couldn't join them. With the annual Gourmet Competition approaching, she had to return to assist Linne with preparations.
Unbeknownst to them, a full year had passed since they last participated in the Gourmet Competition.
Last year, Menchi had gone as a contestant, but this year, she was attending as staff.
This concealment ability was actually quite simple—Akira had used it before in 'Port Carter'.
In short, it involved Gengar lowering the presence of the two, somewhat obscuring others' perception of them. People knew of Akira and Pyon, but when the two appeared before them in person, they wouldn't recognize them.
This method was extremely practical, especially for celebrities like them. It could also be understood as an abnormal effect of 'Zetsu'—a result of combining Gengar ability with 'Zetsu'.
Akira called it [Illusion-Zetsu].
Since this mainly targeted ordinary people, Gengar didn't need to expend much energy. Those Nen Users with sufficient skill could still recognize the two normally.
"Alright, I'll give it a try then." Hearing this, Akira shrugged and focused his attention on the surrounding rocks.
Suddenly, a message transmitted from his shadow into his mind—it was from Marshadow .
The rock to his left concealed a trace of Death Aura within it.
Oh? Death Aura, huh…
Akira frowned, shifting his gaze to the rock on his left and scrutinizing its surface.
From the outside, it looked like an entirely ordinary rock—uneven, pockmarked, with some dirt clinging to it.
It gave off a particularly "fresh" impression, even carrying the scent of earth.
In the blink of an eye, a thick layer of Aura covered Akira eyes—'Gyo'!
Even under 'Gyo', Akira still found nothing unusual—it seemed like just a normal rock.
But Marshadow words were never baseless.
Akira firmly believed Marshadow couldn't be wrong. As a legendary Pokemon, Marshadow' abilities far surpassed his own.
So…
"Boss, how much for this rock?" Akira pointed at the rock on his left, addressing the middle-aged man lounging leisurely on a small stool.
This stall owner was much younger than the old man next door—a middle-aged man with a square face, calloused hands and noticeable dirt under his fingernails. Beside him were the tools of his trade—a hard hat, a pickaxe, and other mining equipment.
Clearly, this was a miner who spent long hours underground.
Looking at the fresh excavation marks on the rocks, a flicker of surprise crossed Akira mind.
Did he dig these out himself from the mines?
"Twenty thousand." The man deep voice carried only two words—simple and straightforward.
"Free cutting included." After a pause, he added another sentence.
It was clear the middle-aged man was the straight forward type.
The rock wasn't particularly large, about the size of a basketball and twenty thousand Jenny was a relatively low price.
Just like before, Akira pulled out twenty thousand Jenny and handed it over. The man counted the money, pocketed it, then carried the selected rock to a specialized cutting tool.
"Zzzzt! Zzzzt!..."
A long, sharp slicing sound echoed through the air—the sound of the shop owner cutting into stone.
As the owner began his work, one or two customers who had been analyzing rocks turned their attention toward him.
Curiosity is human nature, after all.
The owner moved with practiced efficiency, his experienced hands making the hard rock seem as easy to handle as a boiled egg. The sliced-off pieces fell away like eggshells, effortlessly peeled away layer by layer.
Before long, what lay inside was exposed to the air.
It was a claw bone.
About a dozen centimeters long, it appeared to belong to some medium-sized beast.
Strangely, the claw was unusually white.
Bones are generally white, that much is true.
But the claw before them was several shades brighter than ordinary bone, faintly emitting a soft glow. At first glance, it looked as if it had been digitally whitened with photo-editing software.
It resembled white jade more than bone.
Even the middle-aged man who had cut it out himself stared at the claw in bewilderment, utterly perplexed. What he had extracted was undoubtedly a claw—its details and shape made that clear.
Yet it was impossibly white, its luster identical to white jade, as if it were a claw carved from the precious stone.
Had he not personally sliced it from the rock, he would never have believed it was bone.
Normally, such a claw bone wouldn't be worth much, but with this inexplicable transformation, it might fetch a high price.
At this moment, Akira activated 'Gyo' once more. Sure enough, an extremely faint but eerie trace of Death Aura clung to the claw bone.
Marshadow warning had been correct—there was something wrong with this claw bone!
Noticing Akira odd expression, Pyon leaned slightly forward, the small tail accessory at her waist swaying gently as she whispered.
"Is something off? It just seems unusually white, doesn't it?" Though she had also used 'Gyo', her skill wasn't yet sufficient to detect the Death Aura.
"Death Aura" Akira murmured softly, his gaze still fixed unwaveringly on the flawless white claw bone.
Death Aura?
Pyon eyes widened as she scrutinized the claw bone again, this time with even greater care.
Death Aura, as the name suggests, are Aura persisting after death. There are generally two scenarios in which they can manifest.
The first is when a Nen User dies with such deep unresolved resentment that there's a small chance their Aura lingers even after death. In such cases, the residual Aura transforms into Death Aura, attacking living beings nearby.
The second involves objects—or phenomena.
Some things are inherently tainted with Death Aura, or can transfer them to other objects.
Such things usually originate from the Dark Continent.
This was a claw bone.
For it to be tainted with Death Aura, there were two possibilities.
One: A Nen User had died somewhere, their overwhelming resentment forming Death Aura.
Then, a beast possessing this claw happened to pass by, was killed by the Death Aura and thus its bones became tainted.
Two: Some strange object carrying Death Aura had appeared, transferring them to the bone!
[A/N : Correct me if im wrong but death aura is postmortem Nen right?]
The first scenario was manageable.
But if it was the latter… and if they connected it to their current objective… Could this be related to the Dark Sonata?
Pyon instinctively thought of this idea, but it was just a speculation without further evidence to prove it.
However, Akira beside her confirmed that the Death Aura lingering on the bones were indeed related to the Dark Sonata.
He had determined this through a very simple and straightforward method.
Just moments ago, the Incubation Bar in his mind, which had been stuck at a quarter progress, had advanced a little further!
Though it stopped again after moving only slightly, this was already enough to indicate the truth.
The Death Aura on these claws were caused by the Dark Sonata!
Pyon efforts had not been in vain—her conclusion was correct. The Dark Sonata traces truly existed on Flame Rock Island.
If it was the Dark Sonata, then the peculiar changes in these claw bones could also be explained. It must have been the influence of this instance of the Dark Sonata.
The only question was, which movement of the Dark Sonata was this and what were its 'Sacrifice' and 'Reward'?
Could this pristine, glowing bone be the 'Reward' of the Dark Sonata?
For a moment, everyone focused on the claw bones, exclamations of amazement rising one after another.
Then, an almost imperceptible wisp of dark Death Aura suddenly drifted from the claw bones.
With unerring precision, it flew into Akira shadow, vanishing completely in an instant, like a stone sinking into the ocean.
Within the shadow, Marshadow looked curiously at the Death Aura in its hand, its orange-red eyes filled with intrigue.
"Gengar, Gengar." The Gengar beside it, seeing Marshadow curiosity, happily chimed in.
He thought this was a very tasty "snack" and that his friend Marshadow should definitely try it.
"Oh?" Marshadow tilted its head, examining the wisp of Death Aura in its hand.
Taking Gengar recommendation, it popped it into its mouth.
The moment the Death Aura entered Marshadow tiny mouth, they instantly transformed into pure Aura and were absorbed.
"Hmm?" After savoring it carefully, Marshadow shook its head.
It didn't find it particularly delicious—just average, rather bland.
"Gengar…?" Hearing this, Gengar was shocked.
Its already large mouth gaped even wider.
If it weren't made of gas, its jaw would have hit the floor.
This was supposed to be delicious!
This was actually due to the difference in their strength.
Gengar was currently only S-rank, while Marshadow was SS-rank.
Though just one major stage apart, the gap between them was huge!
To Gengar, the Death Aura of the Dark Sonata were a gourmet feast—like lobster and wagyu meat.
Even if the Death Aura were sparse, they were still at least the level of a stir-fried meat dish. But to Marshadow, the Death Aura of the Dark Sonata were like a plain bowl of rice, without even a side dish.
The tiny amount it had just eaten was pitifully small.
Like picking a single grain of rice from a bowl—hardly enough to even fill the gaps between Marshadow teeth.
"Oh?" Marshadow patted Gengar "shoulder," noticing its friend's dejected mood and wanting to comfort it.
However, as a simple Pokemon, Marshadow "art of speech" was slightly lacking. This only made the already miserable Gengar pull an even more bitter face, like a wronged little wife.
"What's wrong?" Noticing Akira slightly odd expression, Pyon quickly asked with concern.
"Is there something wrong with the claw bone?"
In reality, Akira was trying hard not to laugh.
"N-no, it's nothing." Akira replied to Pyon concern while subtly glancing at his own shadow.
He could sense the movements within it—meaning he was fully aware of Marshadow consuming the Death Aura and the conversation between the two Pokemon.
Thus, he had also heard Marshadow' attempt to comfort Gengar.
If he hadn't misheard, Marshadow words of comfort were.
"You don't need to feel sad. Even though you eat cheap food, you can eat a lot—your belly is much bigger than mine."
At first glance, it sounded like sarcasm.
But both Gengar and Akira could tell from its tone that it was genuinely trying to console.
Yet, precisely because it was meant as comfort, Gengar found it even harder to keep a straight face.
Ignoring the Pokemon's exchange, Akira held the claw bone in his hand. Despite the Death Aura being consumed by Marshadow, the bone remained unnaturally white, glowing as before, with no change whatsoever.
It seemed the effect was permanent.
After a moment of contemplation, Akira turned to the middle-aged man and asked solemnly.
"Boss, where exactly was this stone mined?" He wanted to confirm the location where the Dark Sonata had appeared.
"It was dug up from the Karst Mine Valley south of Flame Rock City" the man replied honestly, scratching the back of his head.
All his stones came from that mine, so he didn't even need to think before answering.
"Karst Mine Valley?" Pyon pupils constricted, and she turned to Akira, whispering.
"That's the place I mentioned—where eerie music occasionally appears!"
Now, even Pyon was almost certain.
The anomaly in the claw bone was likely caused by the Dark Sonata.
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