The books are relatively small, about the size of typical ones found across the Six Continents or slightly larger, but this size seems out of place given the enormous stature of the stone giants, who range from three to eight meters tall.
After examining the alien remains found earlier in the passage, everyone agreed that these books must have been created by the original aliens.
When Larry shared his thoughts, Kururi was momentarily stunned before slowly turning his head.
He gently adjusted his signature "en"-patterned glasses, a spark of excitement flashing in his eyes as he struggled to suppress a smile.
"We've discovered something very important," he announced, holding the book high with enthusiasm.
His passionate tone immediately caught everyone's attention, especially those who had just been discussing the mysterious white "en".
Ging was the first to react, quickly moving to stand beside Larry, eager to hear what Kururi had uncovered.
Although Ging had once competed with Kururi in ancient languages, and lost, he still deeply respected Kururi's expertise.
As a professor at a top university, Kururi's knowledge was unquestionable.
In this situation, faced with a completely new language, it made sense for Kururi to lead the research.
Recognizing parts of a language you already know is one thing, but encountering an entirely unknown language with little to no reference material is far more challenging.
It's common to feel completely lost at first because language systems are so diverse and complex.
But Kururi had an advantage: his nen.
This ability helped him intuitively grasp the meaning behind the strange characters, almost as if his mind was quietly translating them.
For instance, if a certain string of unknown characters repeatedly appeared, he might instinctively sense it meant "eat."
If so, it likely meant the same across the six continents.
That made Kururi's skills invaluable in a place like the Dark Continent, where studying new cultures and languages was crucial.
As Ging and the others turned their attention away from the mural to focus on Kururi, it was clear that while they had all skimmed through the book, none had found anything useful, until now.
So, our only hope lies with Kururi, who possesses special abilities.
It's not that the rest of us don't understand language, but the words in this book are just too abstract.
In fact, it's hard to even call them words, the book feels more like a collection of patterns.
Each pattern is square-shaped, filled with intricate strokes inside.
Some of these designs resemble Chinese characters like "en", but they're enclosed in a sort of "fence" around the strokes.
Maybe it's just a psychological effect, but these perfectly regular square frames give off an unsettling vibe, almost like being trapped without any clear reason.
Inside each frame, the lines are complex, similar to the strokes in Chinese writing, but much more elaborate, more like paintings than simple writing.
Clearly, this is a completely new script, unlike any writing seen on the six continents.
That's why no one has been able to decipher it, except Kururi, who might be the only one capable.
Scratching his somewhat messy hair, Kururi said excitedly, "I don't fully understand it yet, but I can already grasp part of what it says! If I'm right, this book is basically a diary!"
Everyone was stunned.
Usually, a mysterious book like this would be expected to contain some profound knowledge, maybe instructions for using special powers, ways to avoid disasters, or secrets to mastering unique abilities.
A diary seemed almost too ordinary.
Kururi went on, "What we suspected before wasn't wrong. It turns out that an alien species actually lived here..."
As Kururi spoke, Larry drifted into thought.
Earlier, Porygon Z had fully absorbed Ging's memories and returned to the cave.
Because Ging had lived a long time, his memories were vast, so it took Porygon Z a while to process everything and pick out the most useful parts for Larry to review.
After some time, Larry finished going through the key segments of Ging's memories.
Much of the information was already familiar to him thanks to his illustrated book ability, but the new details answered many lingering questions, starting with the whereabouts of the diamond elves.
As expected, Ging captured the diamond elves but didn't kill them outright.
Instead, he treated them like laborers, forcing them to work day and night producing more diamonds.
It turns out these diamond elves emit a strange light that can affect the surrounding rocks.
By manipulating the inside of the rock, they can transform ordinary stone into magical diamonds.
Interestingly, this race doesn't need to eat; they simply absorb the essence of the land.
You could say they're natural "hard workers", low maintenance but capable of producing a huge amount of valuable gems.
Their living quarters are nearby too, accessible through another tunnel in the cave.
So, the issue with the diamond elves is settled.
Next up are the books and knives.
According to Ging's memory, these items originally belonged to the leader of the Bone Clan, not the stone giants.
The diamond elves' king had used a self-destructive ability to kill the Bone Clan's leader and several powerful stone giants in one strike.
That's how Ging seized the chance to rise to power and become the new leader of the stone giants, continuously pushing his limits with the diamonds.
Although the diamond elf king's self-destruction was surprising, Larry was more focused on the Bone Clan.
Ging couldn't read the books, even after years of trying, he still couldn't make sense of them.
However, he quickly figured out how to use the knives and found them incredibly useful.
He'd never seen anything like them before, so he treated these knives like treasures and kept them close.
Because the knives were so magical, Ging also valued the books carried by the Bone Clan's leader.
Unlike Kururi, who struggled,
Larry, who possessed an unown, quickly understood the books' contents.
The books Larry read were some that Porygon Z had retrieved from Ging.
Among all the Bone Clan's books, these were some of the most important. They covered everything from ore identification and how to locate specific minerals to the forging techniques the Bone Clan was most proud of.
These books offered an incredibly detailed guide on how to craft magical knives from the ground up.
They covered everything, from locating the ore and processing it to forging the final weapon.
Even the construction of the massive forge itself was described in detail.
It's no exaggeration to say that as long as you could understand these texts, you could master the Bone Clan's forging techniques. While ores were rare and hard to come by, having access to them was like having an endless supply of magical knives.
Larry still felt the same way about the forging process as he did about the forging table. It was a job best left to Meowth.
After all, professional tasks should be handled by professional cats.
Maybe one day, Meowth would get inspired and improve upon the original forging methods, possibly even crafting a knife as legendary as the one from Bleach.