I'm Really Not A Nen Exorcist (HxH Fanfic)

'The 'Pipeline' is the name given by this mysterious creature to the teleportation Divine Script, so 'contract' must be...'

'Divine Script?'

Moses quickly pieced it together and became more certain of his guesses about the Dark Continent.

'This mysterious creature...'

'How long had it been on the Six Continents?'

'Hundreds of years?'

'Or perhaps over a thousand?'

'Could it be that the creatures of the Dark Continent were all this long-lived?'

His thoughts began to drift, but Moses quickly suppressed them

After all, now is not the time to think about these things.

"Are Contract you're talking about the ones engraved on the stone tablet?"

In order to confirm his guess, Moses looked at Mammon, whose astonishment was now barely concealed, and asked back.

"Yes."

Mammon replied while giving Moses a brief once-over.

In fact, before raising this question, Mammon was basically certain that Moses had re-entered the ruins by autonomously activating the Pipeline.

But this also shows that Moses has learned Contract, and at a fairly competent level, too.

'He was asking 'how to get out' last time, so his reaction of being completely clueless about the situation back then was not fake.'

'In other words, this human being has reached a fairly high mastery of the Contract in such a short time?'

That was what surprised Mammon.

After a brief moment of consideration, Moses nodded and said, "I have indeed learned what you call the Contract, but in my understanding, this ability is referred to as Divine Script."

"Incredible."

Mammon suddenly leaned forward, his obsidian-like eye staring intently at Moses' face.

Faced with Mammon's sudden action, Moses remained calm. His Aura, along with the Nen surrounding him, stayed steady.

'There was truly no malice, let alone killing intent...'

Realizing the extent of the threat posed by this mysterious creature, Moses could relax a bit. Since his current situation wasn't immediately dangerous, it meant that he could maintain better control over the situation.

If circumstances allowed, he could even use this opportunity to extract more information through the conversation with Mammon.

'However-'

'If I rashly step forward to stop that group of people from entering the ruins, I'm afraid that the attitude of this mysterious creature towards me will instantly change.'

Mammon continued to scrutinize Moses, as if he was looking at a rare treasure.

The Contract is a precious ability in his homeland (the Dark Continent), a power that could carve out paths for survival.

For life forms with relatively weaker survival abilities, the flourishing Contracts across the Dark Continent acted like protective shields, offering some level of defense against constant threats.

Especially the Pipeline-Type Contract, which can not only greatly improve their efficiency in searching for food outside, but also provided protection against various potential dangers they might encounter on their journeys.

Some Pipelines could even transport them to a safe, internal space that would help them escape the harsh environment.

However, such Pipelines were exceedingly rare.

That's right.

The vastness of the Dark Continent was beyond description, with its landmass hundreds of times larger than the Known World.

However, in such a vast land, finding a truly safe place to live was incredibly difficult.

The constant threats were an ever-present reality, which is the true reflection of the Dark Continent's survival environment.

And so, the importance of the Contract, that can improve the survival conditions, is self-evident.

But unfortunately-

With the passage of time, the once-flourishing Contracts from ancient times had begun to wither away many years ago.

When Contracts with 'assimilation effects' lost their power, these life forms' presence became exposed to countless predators.

When Contracts with 'barrier abilities' ceased to function, the scorching breaths of predators would fall directly upon them.

When Pipeline Contracts loses its function, traveling through dangerous environments became impossible.

More and more Contracts began to wither, and as a result, survival environments were continuously compressed.

It is for this reason that Mammon took the risk of sneaking into Lake Mobius (the Six Continents), a paradise free of such harsh conditions.

The Contract was what humans referred to as Divine Script.

But more accurately, what human called Divine Script originated from the Dark Continent.

After arriving in the human world, Mamon had encountered and even interacted with some humans who had mastered the power of Divine Script.

But the ability of the Divine Script is too profound.

Even humans with exceptional learning abilities need a great deal of time to barely touch the surface of Divine Script, let alone reach the highest levels of mastery.

But the problem is-

Human lifespans are far too short...

What good is extraordinary talent if there isn't enough time?

Without enough time, how far one can go is always limited.

So, Mammon also began to try to learn the Divine Script, but his talent in this area was very average. The level he had reached today was entirely the result of sheer time and persistence.

Thus-

Moses became an incredible existence in Mammon's eyes.

But that's all.

Because Mammon now found himself in a paradise, not the perilous, vast land where the need for Contracts was dire.

Mammon slowly calmed his thoughts, looked at Moses, and said with emotion: "Human, you are very special."

This 'special' wasn't just referring to Moses's talent in Divine Script, but also to the mysterious presence from the Dark Continent that had parasitized inside Moses.

There were billions of humans in the world, so why did it choose Moses?

That was what made Moses particularly special in Mammon's eyes.

"…"

Hearing Mammon's sudden comment, Moses couldn't help but remain silent.

He didn't deny it.

Whether it was the presence of Perception or his identity as a transmigrator...

In this world, he indeed was very special.

Seeing that Moses remained silent, Mammon turned his gaze and looked at the ancient buildings not far away, as if he could see through the buildings to the group of ordinary people currently facing life-and-death danger.

"No matter the creature, all require 'sustenance' to maintain life. I am no exception. But my food source is the greed of humans."

"Hm?"

Moses was stunned for a moment. He hadn't expected Mammon to suddenly explain his motivation for sending the group of ordinary people into the ruins.

'Feeding on greed?'

'No wonder…'

'But if all it needed was to absorb human greed, there were countless ways to do so. There was absolutely no need to send a group of ordinary people into the ruins, right?'

'If nothing else, why not it just go to the casinos in Nightless City and take a stroll? Wouldn't it be full in no time?'

As if seeing Moses's brief doubts, Mammon's smooth forehead wrinkled and he explained:

"After I left this place, I had originally planned to secretly absorb greed to meet my basic survival needs, but the vigilance of you modern humans far exceeded my expectations. Despite being very cautious, I was still discovered."

At this point, more wrinkles formed on Mammon's forehead.

He had no interest in destruction and never intended to interfere with either ancient or modern human societies.

He actually liked humans as a species.

Because he didn't have to do anything to constantly feed on greed from the human world.

But in the end, he was an outsider, and worse still, a being from the Dark Continent...

While the humans of Lake Mobius covet the Dark Continent, they also have the highest fear towards it.

Therefore, once anything from the Dark Continent is discovered, their response was to take extreme measures, either kill on sight or, at the very least, imprison and study the being indefinitely.

Mammon understood humans too well. He wasn't naive enough to think he could win a space for survival among them.

There is no possibility of 'friendly exchance' between them.

Humans-

Would only greedily and ruthlessly extract every last bit of value from him.

And when there was nothing left to offer, they'd dispose of him as if he were garbage, completely erasing his existence.