The Hunter Exam continued as Dafifi delivered his report to Netero in a concise and efficient manner, ensuring the conversation ended quickly.
In the quiet room, Netero twirled his compact phone like a basketball on his index finger, with contemplative expression on his face.
"Law, huh..."
A smile crept across Netero's face, signaling his growing interest in Law.
There were several reasons for this: first, Law's seemingly limitless potential; second, the prospect of fresh blood; and third, his youth.
While the motivation behind Law's actions in rescuing the other examinees remained unclear, Netero refrained from making premature judgments about his character.
"Well then, I'll have to meet him myself."
With a flick of his wrist, the spinning phone came to a halt in his palm.
"And it's a good excuse to go out and have some fun."
Meeting Law was undoubtedly one reason, but indulging in a bit of leisure was just as compelling for Netero.
"Chairman!"
An urgent voice broke into the quiet room from outside.
The voice arrives before the person arrives.
Hearing that voice, Netero rolled his eyes. Propping his face on one hand, he rested his elbow on the low table, wondering whether this new interruption was something he could evade. After all, it wasn't the first time he'd avoided pressing matters.
Bang!
The door burst open, and a diminutive figure rushed into the room.
The newcomer was short, barely a meter tall, with a bean-shaped face devoid of hair, a nose, or ears. His entire head was green, and he wore a black suit while clutching a stack of documents.
This man's name is Beans, and it can be said that his appearance lives up to his name. He is Netero's right-hand secretary.
"Yo!"
Netero raised his hand and greeted Beans.
Beans exhaled sharply, held up the documents in his hand, and said, "Chairman, the airship is ready to depart in 30 minutes. These are the materials needed for the meeting. Please review them as soon as possible."
"What meeting was this again?" Netero asked with deadpan expression, cleaning his ear with his pinky finger.
Beans sighed deeply and answered with a wry smile, "It's the evaluation meeting for new candidates for the Zodiacs, and the establishment of threat level classification for the recently explored Dark Continent."
"Oh."
Netero nodded in feigned understanding and said, "I might have to skip it. Gorilla just called about an issue with the Hunter Exam, so I'll need to check on that. Let the others handle these matters."
The 'others' mentioned here refers to the current members of the Zodiacs. Each member is a Hunter recognized by Netero, and their abilities should not be underestimated.
Beans was very familiar with Netero's tendency to shirk responsibilities, and he also knew that the Gorilla was referring to Dafifi, so he calmly said, "Please don't worry about the Hunter Exam. If necessary, I can go there to personally oversee it. You should just go to the meeting honestly."
After saying that, Beans walked over, firmly placed the stack of documents on the table, and said seriously: "You've already skipped too many important meetings. This time, there's no room for negotiation."
Both of the meeting's agendas are very especially the second one, which involved a massive workload and cannot be done in a short period of time.
"No way out this time, huh?" Netero said regretfully.
Beans looked helpless when he heard this.
"Well, in that case, do me a favor before we board the airship. Look into the records of a particular examinee for me." Netero also knew that he couldn't escape this time. He felt that Law would pass the Hunter Exam without any suspense, so there was no need to rush to contact him, and it would be fine to get to know about him first.
"Okay." Beans felt relieved, but he was still afraid that Netero would skip the meeting again this time.
…
Amaromi forest, Red Pudding Mountain.
Dafifi stood at the edge of the summit, looking down at the many examinees who were trying hard to climb below.
The time limit is about six hours, and there are no other restrictions. It is fine to use tools, and with the holes he deliberately left on the rock wall, the difficulty of reaching the summit is actually not high.
The test content mainly assessed the examinees' courage, endurance, strength, and willpower...
Confident examinees will immediately began climbing using the footholds Dafifi had left. Examinees who realize that they have plenty of time will make full preparations first. Examinees who are not confident enough will hesitate whether to give up.
The first batch of people who took action were all skilled rock climbers. Although there were no safety measures, they still had enough confidence to take on the challenge.
However, even if they are a good rock climber, they may not be able to succeed in the challenge.
Shortly after the test began, one examinee slipped and plummeted from over a hundred meters, releasing a shrill scream, which attracted the attention of most of the examinees.
Then, they all looked at the examinee falling from the cliff with indifference. In this situation, they could do nothing but stand by and watch.
If they insist on catching this examinee, at best their arms will be broken, and at worst, they may die on the spot.
The falling candidate was overcome with despair, certain that the hard ground below meant certain death. The fear of dying kept his eyes tightly shut.
However, under the gaze of both the examinees and Dafifi, Law moved to the spot where the examinee was about to land, then caught the falling examinee with his arms with apparent ease.
Law had used his Nen Ability to greatly weaken the impact of the examinee's fall, using the same principle he used when blocking bullets, so he was able to catch him steadily and effortlessly.
The examinee, who had resigned himself to death, opened his eyes in shock to see Law's calm face.
He was stunned and couldn't come back to his senses for a long time.
After a moment, Law let go of his hand and the examinee fell to the ground with a thud. Then, he finally reacted and hurriedly thanked Law.
In response, Law acknowledged the gratitude without concern, and Buhara also began to climb. He climbed directly up along the hole left by Dafifi.
As time passed, more and more examinees started to climb, and more and more examinees accidentally fell down, like rain of bodies from the sky.
Law became a one-man rescue team, moving back and forth at the base like a character in a mini-game, catching every unlucky climber.
On the top of the mountain, seeing Law saving everyone without discrimination, Dafifi rubbed his temples and resisted the urge to jump down and drag Law forcibly to the summit.
The examinees who were rescued in time by Law were grateful for their second chance, and some of them gave up the test immediately. It was because of the try that they realized that they did not have enough ability to complete the test.
After they thanked Law sincerely, they turned around and left as if they had accepted their fate.
Compared to the examinees who gave up at the beginning, they at least had shown the courage to try. However, their lack of strength meant they couldn't complete the test, and without Law, they would have paid with their lives.
The examinees who did not give up challenged themselves again. Most of them climbed to a height of more than 500 meters and were unwilling to give up.
An hour into the test, the number of examinees who successfully reached the top exceeded 100, and Buhara was one of them.
Thanks to Law's rescue, although more than 500 examinees fell, there were no casualties.
The number of pages slowly increased, and more and more examinees successfully reached the top.
At this time, Dafifi was no longer willing to pay attention to the progress of the test. He had originally planned to eliminate 70% of the examinees at this stage, but who knew that a Samaritan like Law would appear!
The most important thing in this test is courage. And once someone fails, it will dampen the courage of other examinees, making them realize their current situation and give up the test.
But Law's act of saving people was equivalent to insurance for this group of examinees. Moreover, as he successfully saved more and more people, the examinees became increasingly emboldened.
Three hours later, the number of candidates who reached the top had exceeded 500...!
When there was no one left to save, Law finally began his climb and reached the summit as the last examinee.
When he appeared at the summit, everyone looked at him with extremely complicated gaze.
Afterwards, the airship that received the news headed towards Red Pudding Mountain to transport the examinees who passed the first test to the next testing location.
After the airship arrived at Red Pudding Mountain, the examiner of the second test was dumbfounded when he saw there are more than 500 examinees on the scene.
At the same time, Netero, who was sitting in his airship, received the report on the results of the first phase of the Hunter Exam.