Buck kept to the front at the left-hand side wall trying to stay out of site.
The examiner started to speak while walking, not seeming any bit exhausted yet probably due to Nen strengthening his body. Buck knew some of what nen was and thought about trying it out later when he could concentrate otherwise he might die from his energy escaping while only having just started his second life
"How rude of me, I neglected to introduce myself. I am Satotz, your examiner for the first phase of the exam. It's my responsibility to lead you all to the second phase"
The bald ninja, Buck not remembering his name, questioned the examiner "The second? Whatever happened to the first?"
To which he got the reply "The first is already underway" A cluster of gasps and muttering was heard from behind Buck after the realisation that this is the first real test they would have to pass in order to become a hunter.
"The first phase is quite simple all you have to do is follow me to the second phase, so try to keep up"
Buck couldn't agree more, with those who learnt to control their nen, which improved their whole physique, they could go at greater speeds and not nearly feel as tired. So to the examiner, it was a simple matter but he knew that those who haven't learnt to control nen yet would find this a rather difficult challenge, as they have to keep up with a fully qualified hunter who had learnt to control his nen for many years already, and had a far greater strength than what is shown by his appearance.
It is even more challenging as those who have no knowledge of nen and have trained all their lives will realise a gap between themselves and this examiner, but wouldn't know how to close this gap leaving a psychological burden on them.
It breaches the gap that trained martial arts masters have with normal civilians. They may have stronger bodies and have mastered fighting, but if a civilian learns nen then it would be hard to see who would win. However, this only applies to the mid and lower-tier martial arts masters: people like the Zoldyck family are some of the best assassins and have learnt some of the most effective techniques to kill by training before birth to have perfect bodies. They can compete with people who had just learnt nen or even some of the less talented nen masters with only their strength and skill, shown by Killua knocking out Zushi, who learnt nen in the heavens arena.
"Follow you. So nothing else?" The ninja continued questioning, probably due to being taught to always question everything in his ninja training.
"That's right, I cannot tell you where or when you must arrive, you need only to follow me" The examiner answered leaving most of the applicants feeling the mental burden of not knowing how long they were going to run for or what they are going to arrive to after running.
As the applicants ran, more and more found it harder to match the examiner's pace with some gradually falling further and further back.
Buck was trying to zone out all the screaming and panting of other applicants to focus on controlling his own breathing as he even began to struggle with never having trained in nen or having the top-notch physical bodies that people of this world can develop through intense training, through this aspect people who have trained for their whole life like the bald ninja will have far better stamina than Buck, but Buck still pressed on having trained in breath control and stamina before knew he could make it to the end.
'Although I'm not ridiculously strong if people like even Loario and the three triplets can make it to the end who I doubt have trained much but have a good physical body naturally then I must also be able to make it as long as I set a pace for myself and reserve my energy for the later test after making it through the tunnel.' Buck thought while breathing in rhythmic sets.
Soon Buck reached the stairs to progress onto the next part of the hunter's test and saw the main protagonists of this world ahead of him not even sweating or out of breath, Buck could understand Killua not having any difficulty knowing what has gone through in his family complied of training to become an assassin through torture and intense pain to become what he is today
Buck then followed this train of thought but shifted the focus to another monster of a main protagonist of the hunter x hunter world 'How is Gon finding this so easy? it was like he was born purely to be a monster, he is physically strong and has a strange mentality like he is unaffected by most things and that lets him focus on one target getting stronger to reach that one target, he did it to overcome the bomber and the phantom troupe in the future to become a monster on par with Killua both having a one out of a hundred million talent in Nen allowing them to follow through with their unrelenting will.'
Buck feels like an empty void was inside of him leaving him with a thought 'I wonder if I also have a similar talent for Nen to become a monster that others view as a feared opponent if my desire and pursuit of the sword will allow me to manifest a strong nen ability.'
"I guess I still have a long way to go," Buck said allowed while looking up to the sunlight at the top of the stairs
*huff**huff* " What are you talking about man don't you see the light were at the end of the tunnel!"
Buck then turned to his right to see a Leorio panting for air and a small smile appeared on his face 'I guess its fine to associate with Leorio he wasn't directly targeted and was only there to support his friends'
"I wonder, let's get going or the doors going to close on us," Buck said while helping Leorio climb up the stairs to the top just making it in time before the doors slammed shut behind them leaving many applicants below who looked like they were on the verge of death with their distraught expressions looking mortified at being disqualified just before the end of the exam.
Author note-one more chapter cause I was bored of revising, I've got my first exam tomorrow morning wish me luck with some power stones.