The gates opened to reveal a stage on which a girl and a huge man with a big belly.
"Is this the second phase?" Gon asked excitedly.
"Yeah, I think so." Killua replied to him.
"Let's go inside then!" Gon said to both Killua and Sachiko. He also didn't forget to call Kurapika and Leorio.
Soon, the applicants stood in front of the stage in an orderly manner.
'This phase is going to be cooking , right? Ahh...I'm not really gifted in that. So far, I've never seen a person think straight after eating my cooking. If they ended up eating at all, that is.' Sachiko sweatdropped.
"Welcome all! I'm your examiner for the second phase, Menchi." The girl introduced herself.
"And, likewise, I'm Buhara." The man with a big belly also introduced himself.
"Well, then second phase will be cooking" Manchi announced.
The crowd was silent, some were already wondering they heard it wrong. Some had already started complaining.
"That's right. The second phase is about cooking a dish that will please both our palates." Manchi announced.
"Why do we have to cook?" A guy started asking. When Manchi explained him by saying it was because she and Buhara were gourmet hunters, the guy laughed.
Needless to say Manchi was offended, Sachiko knew they were so screwed.
'She will just fail all of us now. How fun!' She thought sarcastically.
"Buhara!" Manchi called.
"Today's ingredient will be pork. Feel free to use any species of pork in Visca forest." Buhara announced. "To pass the exam, you must prepare a dish that can satisfy both of our palates."
"Alright, let's go guys." Sachiko said as she walked out.
Five of them walked around the forest searching for pigs.
"Oh, there!" Sachiko jumped from the hill to get to the bottom where several pigs were eating grass.
The pig was furious that it got distracted and started charging towards her.
"Hey, cute piggy , you can't do that. You're supposed to end up on my plate!" Sachiko yelled as she dodged it. 'Now, what's their weakness again?'
'Is it the forehead?' She thought. 'Probably.'
"now, be a good little piggy!" Sachiko said with a grin, before jumping onto the forehead while reinforcing her legs with cursed energy.
The pig let out a wail before dropping dead.
"Yes! Now, let's take it back and make an amazing dish" Sachiko hummed and started dragging the pig back to the kitchen space.
Gon and others also started to realize the weakness of the pigs and soon, everyone carried a pig each back to the kitchen space.
"Now, what should I do with this?" Sachiko wondered what she should make. If Manchi was going to fail them all, she should just make whatever she likes.
She decided to skin the pork first. Sachiko used her cursed energy sword because it was easier to control. While Sachiko was skinning the pork with a sword, Manchi looked at her with interest.
After the first step was completed, Sachiko decided to stuff the minced vegetables into the pork. She washed them beforehand, of course but she wondered if she was even doing it right as she minced the vegetables on the chopping board.
Applicants near her looked at the scene in horror, thinking, 'Is she chopping vegetables or humans? Why does this look more like a murder scene?'
When Sachiko was satisfied with the chopped vegetables, she stuffed them into the pork belly. Yes, she realized some were really chopped up to a paste while some were still very chunky, she just decided to leave them for texture. After that, she threw it onto the grill along with some leftover tomatoes.
Sachiko nodded proudly as she watched the grill.
"That should be good, no?"
'Why am I suddenly glad that I'm not the examiner?' An applicant thought.
When the pork was done, Sachiko decided to cut it into big slices. The outside was pretty charred, maybe a little bit burnt but the inside was pretty raw. Sachiko insisted it was a pretty color. The stuffed vegetables or whatever , they looked mushy and all but Sachiko didn't think it was too bad. She then realized she forgot the tomatoes she put on the grill.
"It's okay, I will just peel the charred parts off." She muttered as she got to work.
A few minutes later, Sachiko was somewhat pleased with the results.
When the time was up, Manchi called the applicants one by one and judged their dishes. So far, no one had passed, not even Gon, Killua, Leorio and Kurapika. Finally, it was her turn.
Sachiko brought the tray to the table in front of Manchi and Manchi had to look at the tray twice. She had never seen an uglier dish before.
"It looks good, right?" Sachiko smiled.
"...."
Buhara tried that anyway. Even though he had been the one who had approved every applicants, he spit out the bite he just took and pulled up the cross sign.
"Huh?"
"You fail, applicant number 406. Your dish is the worst. Even if a toddler cooks, it will taste better than this. The charred, burnt outside and the inside being raw, not to mention thesw mushy burnt vegetables if you can even call them that." Manchi said.
"It looks fine to me." Sachiko shrugged. "I mean I won't taste it myself but..."
"You brought a dish you wouldn't even taste it yourself? You're insulting us." Manchi said.
"But you gave me the task to cook. It's just unfortunate that I became a devil whenever I cook. Some gets food poisoning but since you are hunters, you are probably fine." Sachiko said without remorse even when Buhara looked like he wanted to puke everything out of his own gut.
"Truly a devil." Applicants muttered to themselves.
Sachiko shrugged and returned to her place.
"Hey, do you think I have the potential to be a gourmet assassin or something?" She asked jokingly to Killua.
Killua laughed and said, "I have never heard of anything like that profession but hey, I think you could be invincible in that."
"What can I say? I'm talented." Sachiko says with a laugh.
Soon, Netero arrived at the scene after hearing Manchi failed everyone.
Then, they were taken to Split Mountain to make boiled eggs.
----------------
"Look, everyone. Those are spider-eagle's web. Look past the webs, see what's there?" Manchi asked.
"Eggs?" Sachiko said.
"Correct, they are spider-eagle's eggs. They build their webs there to protect the egss from predators." Netero explained why these eggs were rare ingredients.
"Wait, you don't mean..?" An applicant asked.
"You bet I do." Netero replied.
At the same time, Manchi had jumped into the ravine and held onto the web, waited for the updraft, then grabbed an egg before jumping down. As the updraft came, Manchi was pushed upwards, returning to the ground safely.
Gon shouted, "Let's go!" and Sachiko also jumped. As they waited for the updraft, some guys weren't patient and jumped too early, resulting in their death. Sachiko waited for the updraft but heard a small rip sound. It was the part of the web near her starting to break.
'Shoot!' Sachiko looked at the rate the web was breaking and started to feel like the web would break before the updraft.
Sachiko tried to create a firm rope to tie onto the parts of the web which were still sturdy.
She succeeded at the last moment, when the web broke completely and she started to fall along with some unfortunate applicants.
"Nakamura san!" Gon shouted worriedly, thinking she fell to death. But, a strong rope appeared and tied to the sturdy web. On the other side of the rope was none other than Sachiko. Sachiko sighed in relief.
A few seconds later, the updraft was coming. Gon gave them the signal and so they jumped simultaneously, grabbing the eggs before the updraft took them back to the ground.
As Sachiko's feet landed onto the ground, she heard the system. 'Dream eggs retrieved. Rewards : 50 hunter points.'
"That was fun! I even managed to make a strong thread out of cursed energy. I also got fifty hunter points even tho I don't know what I can get with that yet." Sachiko nodded, pleased. Then, like everyone else she boiled the eggs. Gon and Killua had to supervise her so that she wouldn't mess up a boiling egg. In her defense, she wasn't going to.
"I mean how can someone mess up a boiling egg ?"Sachiko defended but Killua shook his head, saying, "You probably would find a way to do so."
"That's an insult, Killua!" Sachiko whined.
"Aren't you the older one here? Act mature, geez." Killua complained as Sachiko was being dramatic, again.
"I'm only nineteen!" Sachiko said. "Isn't Leorio older?"
"I'm nineteen too! Can't you tell I am also a teenager?" Leorio yelled.
"Huh? I wouldn't have figured it out if you didn't tell me." Sachiko acted like she was surprised.
"Now that's an insult!" Leorio yelled louder.
Gon, Killua and Kurapika laughed at the side.
---------------
After boiling the eggs, everyone who jumped and got the eggs passed the second phase of the exam. Applicants who didn't jump were all sitting with a gloomy look on their faces. They failed.
As Manchi announced that they passed, Sachiko heard the system notification.
'Congratulation, host has passed the second phase of hunter's exam. Host received random reward. Do you want to open it?'
'Yes, hell yes.'
'Reward opened. Host received one and a half billion yen.'
'Did you just say yen? System, doesn't this world use jenny?'
'You can use yen when you travel to jujutsu kaisen. You can also exchange it for jenny with system's exchange rate.'
'Okay, how is the exchange rate?'
'One and a half yen for a jenny.'
'That means I will get one billion jenny if I exchange?'
'Yes.Do you want to exchange now?'
'No, not yet.' Sachiko didn't know if the exchange rate was fair. But, it's okay. She really didn't mind. She just didn't need to exchange it right now.
After passing the second round, Netero took the remaining 43 applicants to the third phase by his ship.
He also said that the ship would arrive at 8:00 a.m. and the applicants could enjoy the ship's amenities.
Sachiko decided to go to the dinning hall for a nice dinner. She grabbed a plate of delicious steak and ate it all up.
"I am so stuffed. Now, I should try and get some sleep." Sachiko told herself as she got up from her chair. She walked back to the spare rooms to find a place to sleep.
It was 11:00 p.m.
Sachiko was about to take a nap when she remembered that she still haven't gone to Jujutsu Kaisen world yet.
'Since I have Jujutsu Kaisen system, I should get more power-ups if I go there, right?'
She still needed a lot morr power-ups, she thought.
'Alright, let's take a nap first, then I will go check out Jujutsu Kaisen world.' Sachiko came to a decision. She had not slept well in two days so taking a nap sounded like a better idea. Third phase is going to start tomorrow and there was no guarantee that they would get another rest.
So, she slept for a few hours. When she opened her eyes, it was already 6:00 a.m.
'System, if I go to Jujutsu Kaisen now, when I come back, is it still going to be 6:00 a.m.?'
'Yes, time will only resume when you come back. It will be as if you never left here in the first place.'
'That's good.' Sachiko nodded, then said, 'I will go to Jujutsu Kaisen now.'
After she said that, she felt herself being sucked into a void.
Sachiko opened her eyes only after that feeling subsided.
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Sachiko's update stats
Name : Nakamura Sachiko
Alias : None.
Age : 19
Relationships : Gon Freecs (Friend), Killua Zoldyck (Friend), Kurapika (Acquaintance), Leorio Paradinight (Friend), Hisoka (Acquaintance)
Assets : One and a half billion yen.
Hunter level : Not accessible yet.
Jujutsu sorcerer level : Not accessible yet.
Cursed technique : Cursed energy manipulation (Competent), Time Manipulation Eyes (Novice)
Cursed energy : 4990/5000
Cursed energy reserves rank : D
Curse points : 0
Hunter points : 150
Cursed tools : None.
Skills : Intermediate Sword Skill (Advanced beginner)