The western Dark Continent was a place Law was relatively familiar with.
During those years, he went basically everywhere he could.
Using travel as a metaphor: normally, if one has already visited most southern places and now just arrived in the north, it's logical to explore the north thoroughly, not go south again.
But Law's upcoming travel plan was to return south… that is, the western Dark Continent.
There were several reasons. The most crucial wasn't Don's published [Journey to the New World] but because in several places in the western Dark Continent, Law had been denied entry before.
Now, he assembled what he considered the world's best exploration team precisely to plant his own flag in those so-called forbidden lands humans couldn't set foot in.
Whether it was the Sky City or the Mirror Lake.
The most desired destination remained unchanged: the towering, stretching World Tree.
What was up there? Only going would tell.
However, the difficulty of ascending the World Tree was probably the highest in the entire Dark Continent.
It was like the phoenix tree where phoenixes perch. Mere humans would likely be incinerated by phoenix flames before getting close.
In his memory, the scene of countless behemoths circling the airspace around the World Tree remained vivid.
Law wanted to go to the World Tree, but he hadn't actually figured out a method to ascend it… he could only take one step at a time.
Two weeks later, the team had plundered many supplies. Considering storage space utilization, everyone, quite annoyingly, conducted another round of screening.
Setting aside monetary value considerations, they discarded lower-priority items from Hide-and-Seek.
Salin's main work was deciphering ancient script, assisted by Bruna, so they couldn't participate in the screening. Nique was the same, as his mind was fully on the recently sprouted herbs, staying by the cultivation area all day without leaving.
Besides these three, even the Nen Beasts Kuro and Cookie were called out to help.
Law spent an hour in the massive item pile before slipping away, pulling Sheila along as he left.
If Sabro, responsible for the Lawlin Museum's operations, were here, he'd surely complain again that Law was just not cut out for labor.
Perhaps as the team leader's privilege, Law's blatant laziness didn't incur objections.
Of course, each time Law slipped away, he'd find an excuse for himself.
Like now, his excuse was having Sheila help appraise something.
Indeed, he wanted Sheila to summon Ai-chan to appraise the metal seed from Demon Island.
Timing this when everyone was busy screening and clearing numerous items was definitely a coincidence.
Leading Sheila to a room corner, Law first took out the stone box containing the Demon Island's seed.
Initially, Sheila didn't know why Law pulled her away. Seeing the stone box, she understood… he wanted her to summon Ai-chan again to appraise something.
Holding the stone box, Law said, "This is something I found earlier in a human ruin on the Six Continents. It seems the same type as the Brion seeds."
Sheila exclaimed, "But Brion seeds are products of the Dark Continent."
Law smiled. "Right, but this also comes from the Dark Continent."
Hearing this, Sheila was even more surprised. Then she saw Law open the stone box. Inside was a sphere seemingly cast from brass, its surface covered with rough, walnut-like patterns.
"Could this be...!" Looking at the sphere in the box, Sheila showed a shocked expression, instinctively saying, "A walnut?"
"..."
Law's lips twitched. He smiled wryly, "Not a walnut. It's a metal seed that continuously absorbs flesh and blood."
Sheila was startled, then realized, "No wonder you said it's the same type as Brion seeds."
Looking at the enlightened Sheila, Law felt they weren't on the same wavelength. He tentatively asked, "You... understand, right?"
"Of course! They're both metal, and both seeds!"
"..."
Law remained silent for a moment, then said seriously, "Hmm, you're absolutely right. Please call Ai-chan out… I want her to appraise this metal seed."
"Alright."
Sheila gave Law a sweet smile, then released her aura, materializing Ai-chan.
For some reason, Ai-chan didn't treat Law well. After being summoned, she only glanced at him dismissively, then acted as if he were air.
Law didn't mind. Looking at Sheila, he asked, "By the way, I forgot to mention earlier: this seed not only absorbs flesh and blood but also Aura. I wonder if it'll affect Ai-chan's appraisal ability."
"This... Ai-chan has never appraised anything similar, so I'm not sure if it'll work."
"Let's try then."
"Hmm."
Subsequently, Law placed the stone box on the ground, taking out the seed with his bare hand.
Aura would be absorbed by the seed, so he couldn't use his Domain to manipulate it remotely… he had to use his hands.
Moreover, to prevent the flesh on his palm from being absorbed by the metal seed, before picking it up, he had to cover his hand with Aura.
Allowing the metal seed to absorb his Aura, Law unhurriedly held it between his fingers. "Ready?"
Sheila looked at Ai-chan, who nodded slightly, seemingly not wary of the seed in Law's hand at all.
Seeing Ai-chan prepared, Law tossed the seed into Ai-chan's mouth.
Within seconds, Ai-chan acted like someone scalded by hot water, instantly spitting the seed out, quickly hiding behind Sheila, staring at the seed rolling on the ground with a fearful look.
Seeing this, Law was somewhat disappointed, picking up the seed Ai-chan spat out.
Ai-chan's reaction just now was indeed exaggerated, startling Sheila, who quickly asked what happened.
"Squeak, squeak!"
Ai-chan, looking terribly wronged, complained bitterly to Sheila.
Sheila patiently listened to Ai-chan's complaints, then looked at Law. "Ai-chan says this thing absorbs the Aura maintaining her body."
"Just that?" Law was taken aback.
"Yes, just that." Sheila nodded.
Law drooped his eyelids, speechless. "With her reaction then, I almost thought she swallowed magma."
Hearing Law, Sheila smiled apologetically, while Ai-chan glared angrily at Law.
"If it's just that, if you continuously supply Aura to Ai-chan, it should sustain the appraisal process, right?"
"Theoretically, yes. But if the appraisal time is too long, I'm afraid I can't hold on."
"Don't worry, we have Lichen."
"Ah? But Lichen is precious supplies."
"It's fine. Compared to consuming Lichen, I want to know this seed's true nature more." Law looked at the seed between his fingers, wondering if it was related to Brion seeds.
Since Law said so, Sheila could only comply.
She spent some effort persuading Ai-chan, restarting the appraisal process.
This time, Ai-chan didn't spit the seed out. But to maintain the appraisal ability, Sheila had to steadily Aura output, injecting it into Ai-chan.
However, another problem arose: the appraisal duration was up to twelve hours!
Sheila could last at most three hours. Who knew how many Lichen pieces would be consumed later?
Law told her to relax and focus on maintaining the appraisal ability.