The Hunter Exam is the only way to obtain a professional Hunter License, with tens of thousands to even millions of candidates registering each year.
However, in the end, the number of candidates who can successfully reach the first exam location are usually only a few hundreds.
Tonpa is a veteran examinee who has been participating in the Hunter Exam since the age of ten. He has taken the Hunter Exam thirty times so far.
This year is his thirty-first Hunter Exam.
When he first took the Hunter Exam, Tonpa, like other candidates, was aiming to obtain a Hunter License.
However, after experiencing numerous failures, some things naturally changed within him.
Gradually, Tonpa no longer desired to obtain the Hunter license.
Now, his favorite thing to do is to personally push those enthusiastic young people into the hell called despair during the Hunter Exam.
This is also the fundamental reason why he persisted in participating in the Hunter Exam thirty times.
Because of his frequent actions of deceiving rookie examinees during the Hunter Exam, Tonpa has gained a certain level of fame in the circle of veteran examinees, earning titles such as the 'Rookie Terminator' and 'Rookie Crusher'.
'Those two newcomers should be the last ones...'
Tonpa mingled among the crowd, quietly observing Moses and Menchi who had just arrived.
'Both of them seemed to be around sixteen or seventeen years old.'
'The man has a slender build, and looks calm and composed, and he has a long black sheath sword on his waist.'
'Judging from the sharp aura emanating from him, he was undoubtedly an expert.'
Ignoring Moses's somewhat enviable face, Tonpa made a rough assessment of Moses's level through preliminary observation.
As for Menchi…
From his point of view, she is a young girl dominated by curiosity. When she first arrived at this place, she couldn't contain her curiosity and looked around everywhere, almost as if the words 'I'm a newbie' were written on her face.
Anyway, young and vigorous youngsters like this always aroused his desire to deceive.
'Speaking of which, the difficulty of this year's clues is really low. So many people have found the exam location. Roughly estimating, there must be at least a thousand people here.'
Tonpa narrowed his eyes slightly, then surveyed the dense crowd gathered at the foot of the mountain.
In previous years, the number of candidates who passed the screening and successfully arrived at the first exam location was basically around 500.
For example, in last year's first phase test, only over three hundred people qualified, but this year, the number has multiplied several times.
This makes Tonpa somewhat excited, but at the same time, he regrets that he didn't prepare enough powerful laxative drinks for this year.
So much so that when he saw Moses and Menchi, his already empty bag caused him to miss an opportunity to act.
'Let's talk to them first.'
With a hint of malice in his eyes, Tonpa slowly made his way through the somewhat crowded crowd towards where Moses and Menchi were.
Located in the Rocky Mountains, Aragas Mountain stands at an altitude of over six thousand meters, with steep and rugged terrain.
The winters here are long and cold, but there is little snowfall.
Therefore, there isn't much ice and snow on Aragas Mountain.
The examiners responsible for the first phase of the test set up the location here, making the assessment content apparent.
"Climbing a mountain…"
Moses didn't pay too much attention to the examinees at the scene but instead focused on the mountain peak named Aragas Mountain in front of him.
Referring to the 287th Hunter Exam from the original work, the purpose of the first phase of the exam should lean towards testing the physical fitness of the examinees.
Therefore, today's first phase test is most likely climbing the mountain in front of them.
And given that there are too many candidates coming to the first exam location, the examiner is very likely to add a time limit condition to the basic requirement of climbing the mountain.
In this way, not only can the test be completed efficiently, but many candidates can also be eliminated in one go.
Moses raised his hand to support his chin and thought to himself, 'I hope this year's examiners will be more ruthless and try to end the test within 3 to 4 rounds.'
Regarding every year's Hunter Exam, if the examiner arranged is more reliable, the entire exam process is usually 5 to 6 rounds, which is too lengthy.
Moses actually hoped that this year's Hunter Exam would have a few unreliable examiners, so that most of the candidates could be eliminated in the first and second rounds, which will save him a lot of trouble.
'By the way, why haven't I seen Tonpa?'
While thinking, Moses suddenly thought of an indispensable figure in the Hunter Exam—
The self-proclaimed 'Rookie Crusher', Tonpa.
'According to the normal course of events, this guy who enjoys deceiving rookies wouldn't miss any opportunity to interact with newcomers.'
Just as Moses thought of Tonpa, he noticed a short, chubby figure moving slowly through the crowd.
"Oh?"
Moses glanced at the figure calmly.
Short and chubby, with thick eyebrows and a square nose, he looked like a sleazy uncle.
It is very likely that it is Tonpa himself.
Moses retracted his gaze without revealing any trace, and then began to observe the other examinees around him one by one.
After a few glances, except for Tonba, a regular in the Hunter Exam, it was basically impossible for him to find any other 'familiar' faces.
"Master, there are so many people here."
Menchi also looked around at the examinees.
Looking from their location towards the front, it was basically all people.
"There are too many to count. I really don't know how many people are here."
Menchi looked left and right, but she didn't feel nervous at all, even though it was her first time taking the exam.
Moses smiled and said: "When the number plates are distributed, we'll know how many examinees there are."
"Ah?"
Menchi didn't immediately understand the meaning of Moses' words.
After a moment…
Bean, who is in charge of issuing number plates, happened to be running this way.
He had a shoulder bag hanging on his body, which contained many number plates.
"Please take your number plates."
Approaching them, Bean first took out a number plate numbered 1788 from the bag and gave it to Menchi, and then took out a number plate numbered 1789 and gave it to Moses.
"Nearly 1,800 people."
Moses took the number plate 1789 and felt slightly surprised.
No. 1789, which means that he is the 1789th examinee to arrive at the first exam location.
After handing out the number plates, Bean turned around and walked towards the newly arrived examinees.
'The assembly time for the first phase of exam was almost here, and there shouldn't be many more examinees arriving.'
Bean thought to himself as he walked quickly.
After walking a short distance, he suddenly turned around to look at Moses.
'I didn't expect him to come to take part in the exam this year...'
Due to his responsibilities, Bean didn't greet Moses just now.
'I guess the Chairman would be pleased to know.'
Bean knew that Moses was exceptionally talented and that Netero held Moses in high regard.
He knew that with Moses' abilities, passing the exam is not a problem at all.
That is to say…
This young man with endless potential was about to become a member of the Hunter Association.
Thinking of this, Bean, who had already assumed that Moses would pass the exam, felt quite happy.
After all, exceptionally talented individuals are always treated with great respect wherever they go.
Let alone an organization like the Hunter Association, which gathers elites from all walks of life.
"It's almost time."
After handing out a number plate numbered 1911, Bean then looked towards the high point of the mountain, as if waiting for something.