Chapter 38 Killua's Hunter Exam
The Hunter introduced himself as Abengane and explained what happened to their group and the abilities of Genthru, the Bomber.
He had two abilities, the first of which was called Little Flower. It caused an explosion in his hand, but only when he grasped something. This implied he could not make an explosion punch or use this ability at anything but close range. The requirement to 'Grasp' the target limited Little Flower's flexibility, but an added restriction would also increase the skill's power to make it more effective.
The second ability, Countdown, had even more requirements. Genthru had to touch a person and say the word Bomber, probably while injecting them with his aura. Then, if the person he injected his aura into heard a full explanation of Bomber's abilities from himself, the aura would become an actual bomb, like the one currently on Abengane's shoulder.
In order for the Bomb to be removed, the person with Genthru's aura had to touch Genthru and say, "I caught the Bomber."
Over the course of the last few months, Genthru placed a Bomb in every single member of their group and once they collected enough Imposed Slot Cards and Spell Cards, he explained his abilities, activating Countdown. Apparently, he claimed he would defuse the bombs if they gave him all their cards.
Abengane explained how, since their group only used spell cards to steal, they did not have many proficient fighters, so most of them didn't even think about fighting until it was too late. Apparently, Spell Cards can't stop a player from using the Leave Spell Card to escape the game world to the real world. Leave is a Regular Spell and although there are Defensive Spells that can protect a player from being targeted by Regular Spells, those only affect the player using the Defensive Spell. There is no Spell Card to stop a player from casting a Regular Spell on himself.
Rayleigh wondered if he could destroy that Bomb with Dark Transfer. Since the Bomb had a destruction condition, it was removable. He could probably use Dark Transfer to inject the Force into the cracks he saw on that Bomb and break it without setting it off, like opening a door using a lockpick. Though such was only possible because it had a destruction condition. Breaking something without a destruction condition using Dark Transfer was like using a lockpick to open a door without a lock. It wasn't impossible, but not advisable on an explosive door.
If the man asked for his help, he'd consider it, but he wasn't going to advertise that he could do something.
Hypothetically, if he told the man he could remove the bomb and the man used a spell card to take him to their hideout, would Rayleigh remove all the Bombs? Not for free. He'd probably ask for the same thing Genthru asked for. But what then?
Most likely, after the bombs were removed, they would renege or attack him. Even if they didn't, Genthru would certainly find and try to kill him for getting in his way. Because one could use spells to see who they met, there was no way to save them using a mask to hide his identity.
Before he left, the man asked, "If you have the chance, avenge us. Or at least try to prevent him from finishing the game."
He used a spell to head out, claiming he would inform others of Genthru's capabilities before he died.
Once he was gone, Rayleigh said, "He won't die, don't worry about him."
Gon asked, "You mean that Bomber guy will really defuse the bombs?"
Rayleigh snorted, "Hell no. But that guy didn't give off the vibes of someone who was going to die. If he was certain he was going to die, he would have given us his cards. Instead, he left. Biscuit, did you notice the timer on that bomb?"
Abengane explained that the timer started at 4000 and went down once with each beat of the heart.
Biscuit considered it for a moment before exclaiming, "Ah! It was too slow! You're right. For someone who knew he was going to die, he was way too calm."
Gon looked even more confused, "So was he lying?"
Biscuit shook her head, "No, he definitely wasn't lying, but he should have a plan to save himself."
Gon asked, "Then why can't he save everyone else?"
Rayleigh shrugged, "He has his own reasons and already helped us with that info. In any case, let's head to Masadora."
Biscuit asked, "For spell cards?"
Rayleigh added, "And confirmation. If they don't get a new stock of cards, then they are alive and everything is fine."
The trio used the Return Spell Card to travel to Masadora and wandered around for an hour before heading to the spell shop. Unsurprisingly, the shop had just received a massive stock of spell cards.
Biscuit and Rayleigh had been hunting every valuable monster they could find and selling them for Money cards, and Rayleigh felt now was the time to spend it all on spell cards.
Between the three of them, they were able to get over one hundred twenty spell cards, filling up most of the 135 Free slots they had between them.
Many of the cards they got looked pretty rare, so they ran away back to the monster-infested area before they started looking over them.
[1035 Fortress S-10
Cards inserted in slots on target Imposed Slot page are permanently protected against stealing and destruction spells as long as they remain in the slots (Free Slot pages cannot be chosen).]
[1026 Holy Water A-20
Protects the player ten times from attack spells from other players. This card is immune to steal and destruction spells.]
They ended up getting two copies of Fortress and one Holy Water along with all kinds of attack spells, defense spells, and movement spells.
Seeing that it was a rare, S Rank card, Biscuit wanted to sell it, but Rayleigh countered, "Sell it for what? We use money to buy spell cards anyways."
Gon asked, "Should we use it? It can protect against anyone stealing a card."
Rayleigh shook his head, "It only protects against Attack Spells like Pickpocket, Thief, and Mug. See this card?" Rayleigh pointed out one of the other spells they had gotten.
[1018 Levy B-25
Take one random card from each player within a 20m radius.]
Rayleigh continued, "This one is a Regular Spell, so it can bypass Fortress. Though It can still be blocked with Drawbridge since that card protects against Regular Spells. Besides, Fortress can only be cast on a single one of the nine imposed slot pages we have, so there is no point in using it before we have a good card to protect." If someone used Levy to steal a card, then as long as the target player had a defense card and their book opened, they would have fifteen seconds to use a spell like Drawbridge to prevent the spell from going through. This also meant if you could cast it discreetly and distract your opponents for fifteen seconds, you could peacefully steal their cards without fighting.
Rayleigh went over the various cards and could pretty much guess how they worked and countered each other.
The card he was most interested in was one they got five copies of.
[1011 Clone D-70
Change into one random card from target player's imposed slots (if the opponent has no imposed slot cards or the card limit was at MAX, the transformation fails and "Clone" disappears).]
As long as you were in a group, you could have a friend with a single Imposed Slot card and use this card on that friend to duplicate imposed slot cards. This way if they found an Imposed Slot card with a cool effect, they could copy it and use the copy.
After looking over the cards, Biscuit asked, "Do you think we should use any of them?"
Rayleigh said, "First, I'd like to check something. Biscuit, please try to use Trace on Gon."
They only had one copy but Trace allowed someone to know where someone else was.
Biscuit had the copy in her book and took it out, the moment she did, Rayleigh used Force Muffle on the area around them, creating a dome of silence.
Biscuit tried saying, "Trace On," but no sound was heard. Rayleigh removed the dome of silence and said, "Let's see if it worked." Gon had his book out and cards like Defensive Wall which could be used to block attack spells, so the card in Biscuit's hand would take 15 seconds to go off, giving time for Gon to defend himself.
After fifteen seconds, the Trace Spell Card did not go off.
Understanding what was happening, Biscuit returned the card to her book and said, "So if someone is muted with that ability of yours, they can't use spells."
"At least not aloud. In any case, since I can defend myself from attack spells like that, I'll keep the valuable cards in my book and use Blackout Curtain."
[1025 Blackout Curtain F-200
Use to protect oneself against the effects of "Peek" and "Fluoroscopy".]
Peek was the card that allowed anyone who met them in the past to use and know everything in their free slots. Fluoroscopy was the same but was instead used to check their Imposed Slots. Blackout Curtain was also a continuous card and its effect would remain until someone used either card on him.
For the next few days, Biscuit had them practice their Nen attributes. Since Gon and Rayleigh were both Enhancers, they used the same routine of a day for Enhancer Training, a day for Emitter Training, a day for Enhancer Training, a day for Transmuter Training, and so on, always going back to Enhancer Training before moving to either Transmutation or Emission Hatsu training.
Level 1 for Transmuter Hatsu Training was changing the shape of your aura. It was in fact the same thing Biscuit did when she made numbers over her finger. The training required manipulating the shape of your Ten so that the aura gathered over a part of your body and changed into a shape. Level 1 of Transmuter Training was finished if you could make every number from zero to nine in five seconds. Biscuit insisted they do this training while running.
Level 1 of Emission Hatsu training involved separating the aura from your body and moving it away from you. This required altering your Ten into multiple separate locations.
Hatsu training was basically the advanced version of the Water test, figuring out how to add the attribute into your Nen to make the effect more pronounced.
During the Enhancer Hatsu training, Rayleigh surprised both of them by completing level one after only a few days. While Gon could only use one rock to break about 300, Rayleigh had already grown capable of using one rock to break a thousand rocks of the same size.
Compared to that, his progress in Emitter and Transmuter Training was lackluster. He was further along in Transmuter training than Gon, allowing him to form the shapes of zero through nine in twenty seconds while Gon was still at the forty-second mark. Gon on the other hand was much better at the Emitter training, already able to separate his aura and send it at a distance while Rayleigh was still having trouble keeping his aura from going out after separation.
It wasn't that Rayleigh's imagery of separating his Ten was weaker than Gon's, it was that his talent for Emission was lower than Gon's, so he was having more trouble applying the Emission Attribute to his aura than Gon was. This was also why Rayleigh's Enhancer Proficiency was so powerful. It allowed him to advance the training of applying his Enhancer Attribute to his aura eight times faster than someone else of the same talent.
And although Rayleigh considered his progress with Emission and Transmutation slow, that was relative. Ignoring Rayleigh's progress in Enhancer Hatsu Training that even Biscuit claimed was perverse, everything else was proceeding at an excellent pace according to the veteran trainer.
They didn't spend all their time on Hatsu training either. Ten was trained using shovels while digging more mountains using Shū. Zetsu and Ren were trained when Gon and Rayleigh sparred with each other using Kō and Ryū. In essence, all four of the basic principles were trained equally. Biscuit was absolutely adamant that they never neglect their basics, since all their power originated from the basics. This was especially true for Enhancers like Gon and Rayleigh.
When Rayleigh finished Stone Breaking, Biscuit moved him to the second level of Enhancer Hatsu practice, Boulder Breaking. It was similar to Stone Breaking, but used a smaller rock to break a larger rock. As for how difficult that was? Rayleigh's rock broke on the third rock.
According to Biscuit, after Boulder Breaking was Rock Cutting, where you hardened a sheet of paper to the point it could slice through rock. After that was Steel Cutting, where you sliced a piece of steel with a sheet of paper. Then came Ice Cracking, where you used a clump of ice to smash a rock. She didn't know what came after that. Each stage was hundreds of times harder than the previous, and few if any ever made it past Steel Cutting. She only knew levels 1 through 5 of every category except Transmuter, which she knew eight levels of and was on level seven herself.
Enhancers did not simply enhance hardness, that was just the simplest way of using the Enhancement Attribute. They could also enhance Sharpness and other things. This pleased Rayleigh since sharpening his aura was exactly what he wanted to do.
It was around this time that Rayleigh decided to close the General Chat and open the Hunter Chat Room.
Over the last few months, he'd been staying in the General Chat to hear about the random stuff that happened across the various worlds. The Players who attended Hogwarts were having some problems with something turning students into stone statues. No one knew what it was yet.
The Warrior Players who asked for training from Master Roshi were all accepted by him, but learned why he accepted everyone very quickly. He used them as laborers for extra money. They plowed fields with their bare hands and delivered food up and down various mountains. It was true that they were getting stronger, but Roshi was also getting paid.
The Ninja Players actually complained the most. The ones who stayed in the Village finally graduated from Ninja Academy and were full-fledged Ninjas with the rank of Genin. They were grouped together and given a strong Ninja leader and tasked with Missions. The problem? These Missions were terrible. Digging potatoes, babysitting, helping an old lady do her grocery shopping, etc. The most complained about Mission was one where some noble lady's cat kept running away and they had to catch it without harming it. The only reason most of them had not run away yet was because the pay was at least going to them, unlike Roshi's students, and they would soon be able to rise in rank from Genin to Chunin after they passed an upcoming exam.
The Jedi Players usually had good stories of alien worlds and dangerous conflicts that made the adventurous Players jealous. Jedis all had their own spaceships and took their Padawans to other planets when assigned Missions, so the Jedi Players got to see the wonders of the Universe while everyone else was doing the equivalent of playing in the mud.
Stories and info from the General Chat were usually fun or at least semi-interesting, but since the Hunter Exam was rolling around, the Pirates would be returning to the Hunter World, and now would be a good time to change it over. According to Biscuit, the Exam this year was set to start Jan 7th. She knew this as she was asked if she wanted to be an examiner a few months ago, but she declined as she intended to tackle Greed Island.
Since Rayleigh didn't want to hear from the whiners looking for the Exam, he only entered a few minutes before the Exam started.
[Swordsman has signed in.]
[Swordsman: Did anyone make it to the Exam this year?]
[Glitter: I'm here. Where are you?]
[Invisible Man: I'm here. Can't you see me?]
[Justice: You're not still wandering outside are you?]
[Dragon Chef: Hey Swordsman! You need directions?]
[Demon Hunter: The entrance is on the top floor of the tallest Hotel. Keep breaking open doors until you find one with a person and demand that person take you to the Exam Site.]
[Lightning Lord: No one's falling for that again.]
[White Knight: Swordsman isn't there. He passed the Exam last year.]
[Glitter: You actually passed last year?]
[Swordsman: Where's Dyna Might?]
[Justice: He left yesterday. Spent all day complaining since the fake ID he purchased last year didn't work to register for the Exam this year.]
[Dragon Chef: That idiot had to run back to Pirate World since he was being chased by the authorities after making a scene.]
[Lightning Lord: What happened in the test last year?]
[Swordsman: We jogged, boiled an egg, descended a building from the top down, played tag, then had a tournament where the loser advanced.]
[Dragon Chef: What kind of egg?]
[Glitter: Are you being serious?]
[Demon Hunter: That does sound like a standard Hunter Exam.]
[Swordsman: Tarantula-Eagle egg. Texture of caviar, slight spiciness. 9.1 out of 10.]
[Green Lantern: Hunter Exams are weird. 10 out of 10, would not recommend.]
[Justice: Did you see the Main Character?]
[Dragon Chef: Now I'm getting hungry.]
[Swordsman: There were two others our age who participated in that exam. One passed, and the other failed. But apparently, kids showing up for the exam is normal.]
[Invisible Man: Did the one which failed have silver hair?]
[Dragon Chef: Yeah, that's the silver haired kid. He certainly feels stronger than the rest.]
[Swordsman: Yep. Silver hair.]
[Glitter: If you made it last year, why didn't you say anything?]
[Swordsman: Dyna Might never asked me specifically for help. You probably assumed I never made it. How'd you guys get there this year? Did someone find the entrance or did someone meet a Guide?]
[Dragon Chef: I met a guide and he showed me. Everyone who came with my help now owes me a favor.]
[Justice: As long as it is not illegal.]
[Invisible Man: Anyone we should watch out for?]
[Swordsman: May the Force be with you.]
[Justice: You're a Jedi?]
[Invisible Man: Oh, the Exam is starting.]
[Dragon Chef: Haha. Slug five people and take their tags, huh? I like this guy.]
[Glitter: I'll just- What was that?!]
[Lightning Lord: He's fast.]
[Invisible Man: Don't mind me. I'll just stand in the corner.]
[Swordsman: Let me guess. Silver hair guy?]
[Glitter: Yeah. He hit the back of my neck, or tried to. I'm indestructible, so I'll just wait until he gets tired.]
[Invisible Man: Wow. Look at him go. Is that the Hunter Power System? He's moving like a blur.]
[Dragon Chef: He doesn't hit that hard. I've had stronger mosquito bites. Everyone else is going down with one hit though.]
Rayleigh smirked. Killua seemed to be trying to take out all the competition, but the Devil Fruit Users were not going down so easily.
[Justice: He's not that fast. He just got into a fight with Lightning. Lightning is a Logia User with what I'm guessing is the Lightning Fruit.]
[Glitter: Is it safe to turn my head? I'm still solid diamond at the moment and can't turn my neck to see.]
[Invisible Man: I've already collected five tags from some of the guys he knocked out. No one can see me, so I'll just stay here until everyone is done.]
[Swordsman: What about you, Justice?]
[Dragon Chef: Justice is knocking out some of the remaining people on his own and taking their tags. Guess he doesn't want to take the tag of someone knocked out by someone else. From how their attacks are going through him, I'm guessing Justice is a Light Man Logia User.]
[Invisible Man: Everyone is mostly down. Oh, that silver haired guy gave up on fighting Lightning.]
[Justice: Hahaha. Dragon Chef scared him off.]
[Swordsman: He tried to fight Dragon?]
[Invisible Man: Tried. His strikes didn't do anything. Then Dragon glared at him and he ran to the other side of the room and looked like he pissed himself. Ah, Dragon is negotiating with him.]
That surprised Rayleigh. The last time that happened was before Killua learned Ten and Wing used Ren to intimidate him. Considering the speed he's moving, Killua is definitely using Ren, so how did Dragon intimidate him? Does it have something to do with his devil fruit, or is it something else?
[Invisible Man: Yeah! The fighting is over!]
[Demon Hunter: So is this guy the main character?]
[Green Lantern: What's his name?]
[Glitter: We're not telling you.]
[Lightning Lord: Go find your own main character.]
For the next couple of minutes, the Players and Killua collected the tags of everyone who got knocked out and proceeded to the second round of the Exam. They were led to the roof of the building and got onto a Blimpcopter where the second round would be held.
[Dragon Chef: Not what I was expecting. But I was hungry anyways.]
[Glitter: What is wrong with these people?! Why is this a part of the Hunter Exam?]
[Lightning Lord: Didn't swordsman say they ate a boiled egg last time? Why is this so different?]
[Justice: What? You don't like meatbuns?]
[Invisible Man: For someone who can turn into a literal diamond, you don't seem very tough.]
[Dragon Chef: If you insult the meatbuns, I will drop you into the ocean.]
Rayleigh had a hard time not cracking up. The second round required the participants to eat twenty high calorie meat buns. If you couldn't finish or puked, you failed. There were several ways to pass even if you didn't have a massive stomach.
[Invisible Man: Is that cheating? Lightning's mouth is glowing. He's burning the buns into ash in his mouth without swallowing.]
[Dragon Chef: Are you really one to talk? Just because you made those meat buns invisible when you pretended to eat them, doesn't mean I can't smell them.]
[Swordsman: How's the suspected MC doing?]
[Justice: He's munching them all with ease.]
The second round concluded. Glitter and Invisible Man failed to eat all their meat buns, leaving Killua, Dragon Chef, Justice, and Lightning Lord as the only remaining participants.
The 3rd round was held the following day. The Blimpcopter took them to an abandoned city and told them there were a hundred dogs in the city. The rules were that if a dog got within three meters of a Hunter, they failed. If a Hunter harmed a dog, they failed. If they left the city, they failed. And the third round lasted three days. Because there was no way to make a three meter barricade around them, they had to keep moving away from the dogs which all had their scent.
At least, that's how it was for the two Logias and for Killua. Dragon Chef was able to keep the dogs from approaching him without running away. No one failed the 3rd round and after that was the 4th and final round.
[Dragon Chef: Which one should I challenge? Any good cooks?]
[Swordsman: There was a Gourmet Hunter last time by the name of Menchi. Though it's up to you if you want to challenge a Gourmet Hunter to a cooking battle.]
The last round had the contestants meet ten Hunters. In order to pass the Exam, they could pick a Hunter and challenge them to something. It could be a fight, a race, a tennis match, a round of checkers, or a game of rock-paper-scissors. Netero hinted that each of the Hunters was great at one or more things. It was a test of insight to see if you could spot or at least guess the weakness of a Hunter and be better than a Hunter in at least one thing.
[Glitter: Darn. I could have challenged someone to a staring contest. I can go forever without blinking.]
[Invisible Man: No one can beat me at Hide and Seek.]
[Demon Hunter: You should challenge the Hunters to a swimming contest.]
Menchi was not there so Dragon challenged one of the Hunters to a cooking contest. That man was not a Gourmet Hunter, but he was a good cook. Not as good as Dragon Chef though, so he got the first victory and his License.
The Pirate Players made of Light and Lightning respectively then challenged two slow looking Hunters to a race and won. Killua challenged a random Hunter to a game of Darts and beat him easily, also getting his license.
[Dragon Chef: Hey, Swordsman, where are you?]
[Swordsman: I'm playing a game right now, so I can't come over for the moment.]
[Lightning Lord: Does this world have good games?]
[Swordsman: This one is a Hunter Only game you can only play after learning the fundamentals of the Hunter Power System.]
[Glitter: Oh? Teach me!]
[Justice: Can you tell us about the Hunter System?]
[Swordsman: Not for a few months. I lost a bet to Armory and the terms said I can't teach anyone the Hunter System for a few more months.]
[Demon Hunter: Are you Playing Greed Island?]
[Swordsman: Yep.]
[Poison King: Small world. Got any Imposed Slot Cards yet?]
[Swordsman: Nope. I got lots of spell cards though.]
[Green Lantern: We're looking for 036 Recycling Room, 073 Night Jade, 080 Levitation Stone, 082 Staff of Judgement, 084 Paladin's Necklace, and 090 Memory Helmet.]
[Justice: Why are you getting items in a game?]
[Demon Hunter: Because you can convert things from this game into inventory items.]
[Swordsman: Is that worth it?]
A Player can convert an item from a world into an inventory item with enough Mission Points, but the condition of the item did not reset when the item's projection was turned off and on. So if someone turned a fully fueled spaceship into an Inventory Item, it would run out of fuel eventually and you could not refuel it by turning the projection off and back on. If the ship was damaged or destroyed, turning it off and on would not get you a brand-new ship. Because of this, it was considered a waste to convert items besides essential items like Wizard Wands and Jedi Lightsabers.
[Demon Hunter: If you have the Spell card, Fake, use it on a Rock card to make 036, Recycling Room. Then you can decide if it's worth it.]
Rayleigh did in fact have the spell card Fake in his Binder. He picked up a stone on the ground, turning the stone into a card. Then he used Fake on it to turn it into Recycling Room so he could see what it did.
[036 Recycling Room S-10
Put something broken in this room, and it will be repaired as good as new 24 hours later. The door must not be opened until the time is up.]
Huh. That was pretty interesting. As long as the room itself didn't break, it could be used to repair any other Inventory Items that could fit in the room. Still couldn't use it on a spaceship, but repairing broken wands, lightsabers, or other interesting items would be invaluable.
[Swordsman: Wow. I'll keep a lookout for it.]
Rayleigh knew this was not a game. This was the real world. The Items in this Game were not fake items. They were made using ancient techniques from Ging's past life and would work just fine outside this place. If Rayleigh found any good items, he'd certainly check the price for conversion if there was a way to repair the items if broken later.
Killua should be returning soon and with their current level of skill, they would likely start collecting cards soon. It was time to start playing the game.
*Author's Note*
Sorry for the delay. Was sick for a bit and had no motivation to write. Back to normal now, and will try to make up for it to get back to 2 chapters a week.