"The main point is you people lack the courage to put in effort and challenge yourselves with new things. Understand?!" After berating Hanzo, Menchi sat back in her chair, looking down at the crowd.
"Shut up! My goal is to become a Blacklist Hunter. What right do Gourmet Hunters like you have to judge me?!" Todo sneered.
"Sorry, but this year, it just happens to be Gourmet Hunters like us who are the examiners. Try again next year," Menchi replied, still restraining her anger.
"Damn it! You've got to be kidding me!" Todo finally snapped and charged at Menchi. Before he could get close, Buhara swatted him away, sending him crashing into a wall dozens of meters away...
Takeru shook his head at the sight, 'To challenge a real Hunter without even knowing Nen... I respect your guts...'
If Buhara hadn't intervened, Todo would likely have been killed by the furious Menchi. So, in a way, Buhara saved his life.
"Let me make this clear. We Gourmet Hunters often search for rare ingredients. It's not strange for us to delve deep into the dens of ferocious beasts. Combat skills? If you become a Hunter, you'll learn them whether you like it or not!"
"Lacking not just focus, but also the courage to face the unknown… just that alone disqualifies you from being Hunters!" Menchi declared, brandishing the four short, knife-like blades in her hands.
Hearing Menchi's words, the examinees looked at each other uncertainly. Hisoka, however, paid no heed, toying with a playing card, ready to act.
At the critical moment, a loud noise echoed from above...
"Even so, having only one examinee pass is a bit too harsh, don't you think?" A voice spoke, followed by a figure leaping down from the airship.
Boom!
The impact sent gravel and dust flying, making the examinees cough.
Takeru, seemingly expecting this, activated a skill from his Star Ring. A transparent barrier enveloped him, completely isolating the dust and debris...
As the dust cleared, an old man's figure became visible.
"Who... who is that old man?"
"Chairman Netero!" Seeing the Chairman of the Examination Committee himself, Menchi immediately became respectful.
"So... Menchi. While testing their courage to face the unknown, you judged their attitudes problematic and thus failed them, correct?" Despite his high authority, Netero didn't speak down to Menchi.
"No. It was because some examinees made disparaging remarks about Gourmet Hunters that I became angry and made the judging criteria stricter than originally planned." Menchi, aware of her fault, explained softly.
"You're quite aware that your judgment lacked fairness, aren't you?" Netero smiled slightly.
"Yes. I tend to lose my composure when it comes to matters of cuisine. That was a failure on my part as an examiner." Menchi self-criticized, even offering to resign and let Netero redo the test.
However, under Netero's persuasion, Menchi remained as examiner, though the test subject changed. The new challenge was to go to a place called Split Mountain to... boil eggs...
Soon after, the group arrived at the foot of an incredibly tall mountain! This peculiar mountain had a massive fissure running down its middle and was devoid of any vegetation, only bare rock...
"Alright, everyone. Please take a good look down the cliff," Menchi said, standing at the edge of the fissure with a smile.
"Wh-what's that?"
"That is the nest of the Spider Eagle," Menchi announced.
"To build a nest in a place like that!" Gon exclaimed in awe.
A strong gust of wind blew, causing Todo to stumble back, fear evident on his face at the great height.
"Look closely below the nests. Those are the Spider Eagle's eggs," Menchi pointed out.
"To protect their eggs from predators, Spider Eagles build their nests deep within canyons and lay their eggs there. Consequently, they are listed as one of the world's most difficult-to-obtain precious ingredients, also known as [Dream Eggs]," Netero kindly explained.
"You don't mean..." Hearing this and connecting it to their location and the test, Todo stared at Netero in shock.
"You guessed right," Menchi said with a confident smile. She then stepped to the edge of the cliff fissure and leaped down, landing on a spider silk thread. She caught it precisely, suspending herself.
However, to obtain the eggs, she would need to descend another ten meters or so. The eggs hung from a single thread. To get one would mean a certain fall into the abyss below.
The examinees watched nervously. Even if Menchi could grab an egg, how would she get back up?
Suddenly, perhaps sensing something, Menchi let go of the silk thread. Her body began to fall. As she passed a cluster of eggs, she deftly snatched one. But her descent continued unabated...
Soon, Menchi's figure disappeared into the mist below...
"Hey! She fell! Isn't that basically suicide?!" Leorio cried out in disbelief.
Umaru covered her mouth, feeling Menchi's actions utterly insane...
But the moment Leorio finished speaking, a powerful upward current of air surged from below. Menchi was carried by this current, soaring back up to land beside the group.
"Wow, that's fun!" Killua remarked with great interest.
"The updraft from the bottom of this valley allows newly hatched Spider Eagle's larvae to ride the wind back up to their nest," Netero provided another brief explanation.
"Alright. Now, we'll use this egg to make a boiled egg!" Menchi announced, holding up the egg she had retrieved.
"You've got to be joking!" Todo said incredulously.
"Takeru, what should we do?" Umaru asked nervously.
"Of course, we go down," Takeru replied with a smile.
"Wait, Takeru. You've already passed, so you don't need to go down for this one," Menchi interjected just as Takeru prepared to jump.
"Haha, it's called a Dream Egg. I'd like to see how it tastes too," Takeru said with a grin.
Takeru was very passionate about food. Even though his enhanced body no longer required regular meals for energy, his habit of eating three to four times a day persisted, except in special circumstances...
"Umaru, once we're down, only let go when I say so, understood?" Seeing many examinees already jumping, Takeru instructed seriously.
"Understood!" Trusting Takeru completely, Umaru nodded. The thought of Takeru just getting an egg for her didn't cross her mind, as that would violate the rules.
"Let's go." Takeru then leaped toward a less crowded area, catching a silk thread firmly. He waited for the strong updraft.
Truthfully, Takeru didn't need to wait. With his telekinesis or Geppo, getting back up would be effortless.
"I'll go down first!" Several excited examinees jumped. After grabbing eggs, they plummeted toward the abyss without hesitation.
"Should we jump too?" Leorio asked eagerly.
"Not yet!" Gon quickly stopped him.
"Why?" Leorio was puzzled.
"Wait for the wind," Killua added.
"This wind isn't always blowing," Gon explained.
While Takeru didn't have Gon's keen sense of smell or instinct, his formidable Observation Haki allowed him to precisely detect the arrival of the powerful air current.