"This is the only route leading to the second test site."
Accompanied by the cawing of crows, the examiner's voice slowly rang out.
"This wetland is home to many rare and exotic creatures not found elsewhere. Most of them feed primarily on human flesh…"
Behind them, the massive gate slowly closed.
Quite a few people who had collapsed from exhaustion could only watch helplessly as the gate shut before their eyes—symbolizing their failure in the exam.
"Once you fall into a trap, it's a dead end. Please make sure to stay close to me."
Some people voiced doubts. If they already knew there were traps, how could they possibly be expected to walk straight into them?
Just as confusion spread, a voice suddenly rang out.
"He's lying. That guy is a fake."
From behind a nearby wall, a man carrying a burlap sack stepped out. Inside the sack was an unconscious person.
"That man is an impostor. He's not the examiner. I'm the real Hunter Exam examiner."
Everyone looked back and forth between the two, uncertain. For a moment, many couldn't tell who was real and who was fake.
In that instant of hesitation, two shuriken flew out.
The newly appeared man was pierced straight through the forehead.
[Experience +34]
The examiner tilted his head slightly, narrowly dodging the shuriken aimed at him. The spinning blades slammed into the ground in the distance, blasting out a deep crater.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Leorio, shirtless, glared angrily at Hyuga Arin. "At least you should've listened to his evidence first!"
Hyuga Arin shrugged. "If he were really an examiner, he'd have decent strength. There's no way he wouldn't be able to dodge my shuriken. Also, hurry it up—I don't want to waste time here."
All eyes turned to the examiner.
He glanced at the crater in the ground. For a shuriken to cause that kind of damage… wasn't that a bit excessive?
"Although the circumstances are special, next time I'll rule you disqualified," the examiner said seriously.
He strongly suspected this candidate wasn't here to take the exam—he was here to kill the examiner.
Hyuga Arin waved his hand dismissively. "Just lead the way already."
He had no interest in listening to arguments and suspicions here.
Nearby, Hisoka idly flipped playing cards between his fingers. "My prey was stolen."
The examiner resumed running forward.
This time, Hyuga Arin changed his strategy and stayed right behind the examiner.
The group set off once more.
Hyuga Arin glanced back and saw many people disappearing into the fog, losing their way. The members of the protagonist group were still there, while Hisoka deliberately slowed down and vanished into the mist as well—clearly going off to "play" his examiner-hunting game.
The group kept advancing.
This stretch was shorter than the tunnel before, but the level of danger was far greater.
By the time they reached their destination, more than half the participants had been eliminated.
Soon after, the protagonist group emerged from the fog as well, led by Hisoka.
The examiner fired a shot into the air, drawing everyone's attention.
"Congratulations. Everyone here has passed the first round of the Hunter Exam. I hope you'll also pass the second test smoothly. I wish you all good luck."
With that, the first examiner turned and left.
Behind the group, the gate slowly opened, revealing two figures inside—one tall and fat, the other thin.
The second round was a cooking test.
Although many people had plenty of complaints, under the examiners' forceful insistence, the test proceeded anyway.
The tall, obese examiner chose a simple dish: roasted suckling pig.
However, the wild boars used as ingredients were anything but easy to hunt.
Hyuga Arin struck one boar with a single palm, sending it flying. It hit the ground and passed out cold.
[Experience +45]
"Even a wild boar gives more experience than the average person," Hyuga Arin muttered. He glanced over it and saw no items had dropped.
After roasting the boar, he handed it to the fat examiner, who immediately devoured it.
The man's stomach was like a bottomless pit. He ate every roasted boar prepared by the participants, allowing everyone to pass.
But once the examiner switched to the woman, things became troublesome.
Her test was to make sushi.
No one could satisfy her standards.
Hyuga Arin directly chose to give up—he had no intention of making anything at all.
The result was that everyone failed.
In the end, it was the Hunter Association Chairman, Isaac Netero, who stepped in, restarting the test with a new objective: obtaining a difficult ingredient.
The female examiner led everyone to a canyon.
Hisoka walked up beside Hyuga Arin and asked with interest, "You seem to have known all along how this would play out."
Illumi—the man covered in needles—also came over.
"What does it have to do with you?" Hyuga Arin replied, watching as the female examiner demonstrated how to retrieve spider eggs from the canyon.
Once she finished, Hyuga Arin stepped straight into the canyon, clinging horizontally to the cliff face as he descended.
"That guy can walk on cliff walls?" Gon exclaimed in amazement as he watched Hyuga Arin move as if on flat ground, easily reaching the spider web to retrieve the egg.
"Isn't that cheating?" someone couldn't help but mutter.
"Hoho." Chairman Netero also watched Hyuga Arin with keen interest, using Gyo to focus Nen into his eyes. He saw the chakra wrapped around Hyuga Arin's feet.
It looked like Nen—but also wasn't Nen. And it was even less like aura born of resentment.
"A new type of power? From the Dark Continent?"
The thought inevitably crossed his mind.
Using various methods, the participants obtained the spider eggs. Quite a few, however, chose to give up—and the ones who failed fell straight into the canyon, dying on the spot.
"All of these people pass," the female examiner announced the results, then turned to Netero. "Chairman, how about that?"
"Hoho, this works too," Netero replied, though the corner of his eye was still observing Hyuga Arin.
Hyuga Arin sensed Netero's scrutiny and frowned slightly.
He finally understood why he was drawing so much attention.
"Chakra, huh…"
It seemed there were no players on this server at all.
Fortunately, he didn't belong to this server. Even if chakra was exposed, it wouldn't really affect him.
After the second round ended, everyone boarded an airship, preparing to head to the third test site.
"Now this is when the Hunter Exam truly begins," Hyuga Arin said as he entered the room prepared for him by the Hunter Association.
He had zero interest in tests like running or cooking.
However, before he could rest, there was a knock at the door.
"Who is it?" Hyuga Arin had a bad feeling. He opened the door and saw Hisoka and Illumi standing outside.
"Yo," Hisoka raised a hand in greeting.
"We're not that familiar, are we?" Hyuga Arin's eye twitched. He had no idea when Hisoka had become so chummy.
"We just wanted to ask about information on the next test. From the looks of it, you seem to know," Hisoka said casually.
"I don't know."
Hyuga Arin slammed the door shut.
For now, he didn't want any entanglement with these two—unless he already had jōnin-level strength.
But before he could return to the bed, the knocking resumed.
"I already said I don't know!" Hyuga Arin opened the door, ready to curse—
Only for the words to stick in his throat when he saw who it was.
"Chairman…?"
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