NOVEL NEXT Chapter 14: Chapter 14
An elevator door opened, and out stepped Harry right into a dark underground tunnel.
It was a vast space, seemingly leading into endless darkness in each direction.
He wasn't alone; a few people already crowded the space. The atmosphere is quite tense, and so far he seems to be the youngest candidate. A few people eyed him critically.
From below him a voice gained his attention, "Hello, please take your number badge. Here you go. Make sure to wear it at all times, please, and be careful not to lose it." Said a short man with a lime-green jelly bean-shaped head who held out a round white badge to him.
"Thanks." Harry smiled as he took it, noting he had the number 65. Beans kept handing out badges to new arrivals as Harry stepped into the tunnel.
Suddenly, a shiver ran down his spine.
As he glanced around, his eyes locked onto a red-haired, jester-like man with a star and teardrop painted on his left and right cheeks, grinning menacingly at him. Harry recognized him instantly: Hisoka Morow.
The crazy clown could clearly see his nen awakened.
Harry just winked at him, as he had already expected he would gain the man's attention. Besides not participating in the Hunter Exam this year, there was nothing he could do to avoid him, and Harry wasn't keen on waiting a year for the exam.
With Dimension Lost, he could always run if necessary.
Hisoka grinned even more creepily as he waved back.
Ignoring the Killer Clown for now, and having nothing better to do, Harry sat down on an empty piece of pipe at the side of the tunnel and pulled a book out of his inventory.
The other candidates just stared at him in ridiculousness, their faces clearly showing what they were thinking, 'What's a brat doing here? Casually chilling and reading a book. That's the fucking Hunter Exam; it's supposed to be deadly. Alone getting here was hard? Did he get lost?'
Harry pretended that he didn't notice; getting here wasn't hard at all. After stepping into Zaban City, the hardest part had been finding the right restaurant, which he had just a drawing of, and he knew it was beside a tall and impressive building.
After that it was just a casual legilimency probe on the Cook, who wasn't a Hunter or Nen User, and he had the right catchphrase to get into the elevator.
Besides Hisoka and maybe Beans, there wasn't anyone that could even threaten him right now, so why wouldn't he read an interesting indepth study on Dwarf Enchantments from Jibril's World?
It was a really fascinating tome. Dwarfs were quite similar to Wizards in a way, their Magic based on their imagination. While Wizards had to use a form of Mathematics to find the right spell triggers for the desired magical effect, Dwarfs had an even more instinctual approach.
While they employed crafts like smithing, woodworking, and similar others, even magical ones like enchanting and inscriptions to fix their creations, to create they relied on their instinct and magic to craft different enchanted tools with their intended effect.
In fact, it's more an art than a science; since they had no idea how they did it, they just did.
Their masterpieces are so-called spirit arms that they use like wizards use their wands, as foci for their own magic.
These Spirit Arms could be a sword or even a giant robot, based on the desired effects and functions. The most powerful ones are a pair of giant robots.
Harry wondered if he could do the same; could he rely on his instinctual magic to create a magical tool or weapon? It would help with an idea he had for a while.
"Hey, how old are you?" A voice awoke him rudely from his theorizing.
Looking up, he saw a pair of piercing blue eyes, belonging to a silver-haired kid staring right at him. On his white shirt hung the badge with the number 99. Killua Zoldyck.
"I turned 14 a few months ago." Harry replied as he closed his book, storing it inside of his inventory while pretending to store it in his bag.
"Oh, you look younger." Killua remarked bluntly, "Still, I didn't think I would see anyone close to my age participating in the exam."
Just because his age was pretty much frozen didn't mean he was small. He had put on real muscles over the last few months, and his height would also catch up once he was aging faster.
"Well, how old are you?" Harry asked in response, not showing his slight annoyance.
"I will be turning 12 this year."
Harry chuckled, "So you are 11… Why do you want to become a Hunter?"
"No specific reason. I just wanted to try it because it's supposed to be really hard. What about you?"
"It's not that hard. Just for untrained everyday people. I can already tell you won't have a hard time. The real fun begins after the exam; it's pretty much the entry requirement for a bigger world. Also pretty much why I am doing it; I want the license to get access to Hunter-only information and jobs." Harry replied and smirked as he saw he had pissed off a few people in hearing range, calling the exam 'not hard.'.
"Really?" Killua asked disappointedly, "So what can I do after becoming a Hunter?"
"Well, that would be spoiling; become a Hunter first. But I can already tell that some people close to you are aware of what happens after the exam. You could always ask them." He answered mysteriously and saw Killua's eyes widen.
"As if I would ask them anything."
"That's on you. I am Harry, by the way. Nice to meet you." He introduced himself.
"I am Killua. Nice to meet you too, I guess." Killua said, caught off guard, before he sighed, "So, what do you think? How long will this whole exam go?"
"No idea."
"On average there are 5 to 6 rounds. The exam committee adjusts the exam based on the number of examinees and the tests themselves. Overall, the duration of the exam can vary from a few days to around a month." A voice approached them from the side.
It's a short, stocky, middle-aged man with tan skin, brown hair, and a large nose, whom Harry recognized instantly. Tonpa the Rookie Crusher.
"Who are you?" Asked Killua as he turned to the man, "How do you know all that?"
"The name is Tonpa." He smiled as he held his hand up, "I know quite a bit about the exam since it's my 35th attempt. You could call me a veteran. Seeing you kids really brings back memories; I was 10 at my first attempt. If you have any questions, feel free to ask."
"Huh, sounds like you are quite resilient. Surviving so many exams is a special kind of talent." Harry replied drily.
"Hahaha, you could say that." Laughed, Tonpa was embarrassed.
"Do you have some information on the other candidates?" Asked Killua if he was interested in the competition.
Harry tuned out the two of them as they talked about the other participants, already knowing all he needed.
Besides Hisoka and later Illumi Zoldyck, who hadn't arrived yet, nobody was a Nen user. He couldn't confidently say he is the third strongest in this exam.
"Do you also want a refreshment before the exam starts?" Asked Tonpa to wake Harry out of his musings.
"Hmm, sure." Harry nodded as he took the can of juice from the Rookie Crusher.
Killua already held two cans in his hands.
Tonpa then left to greet other candidates.
"Cheers!" He said to Killua as he opened his can.
"You sure you want to drink something some old guy gave you at the Hunter Exam?" Killua asked with a grin.
"Sure, what is a bit of Poison?" Harry laughed as he opened his mouth, exing his can but in reality disposing of the poisoned juice in his inventory as he had opened a small portal in his mouth.
Killua laughed, as he also said, "Cheers!" and emptied his two cans.
———
Once the time limit for the exam ended a man entered trough a pipe at the side and used something that looked like tiny green Head, to make a loud noise and gained all the participants attention.
With a tap of his finger, it shut up. "Here I am. The time for the registration is over." He announced, once he was sure that all eyes were on him, he continued,
"Now the exam can begin."
"This way, please," the man said, gesturing down the tunnel before turning and walking in that direction.
He spoke loud enough that the whole crowd following him could hear him, "Just to be clear. The Hunter exam is extremely rigorous. Sometimes you can miss a chance and end up hurting yourself, or you can simply die. Even permanent injuries are not impossible. Other candidates may even sabotage you. If you are fine with that, then you are welcome to continue."
Nobody was leaving and kept following him. "Ok, the number of participants is 404 for the first round of the exam."
One of the participants got killed after he arrived, but that would have been just a matter of time. That guy had no survival instinct at all, or awareness.
He actually bumped into Hisoka, and the killer clown decided to cut off his arms.
They kept following the examiner deeper into the tunnel as the pace kept getting faster; at this point, everyone was jogging. "I forgot one detail. I'm Satotz the Examiner for the first round of the exam. And your guide to the second round!"
A bald man, whom Harry recognized as Hanzo the Ninja, probably the strongest candidate after the Nen Users, asked, "Second round? You mean the first…?"
Satotz replied as he kept the pace, "Like I already told you. The first round has already started. All you have to do is to keep up and follow me! Easy, right? Where we are going and when we will get there, I can't say."
Harry kept jogging relaxed beside Killua on his skateboard; this pace was nothing for him. Endurance training has been part of his schedule for months now.
"All we have to do is follow him." That's too easy." Killua commented as he rolled on his skateboard.
"The examiner is probably a softie. From what I heard, the Hunter Exam can be quite deadly, so he is probably weeding out the weaklings before it gets too hard." Harry replied casually.
"Hmm, you may be right." Killua glanced over his shoulder. "It shouldn't take too long. More than half a day and most of the candidates would be gone."
A loud voice shouted, "Hey kid, that's not allowed! That's cheating!!!" It's Leorio, one of the other main characters. At least of the early story.
"Why?"
"What do you think?" Shouted Leorio, "It's an Endurance Test!"
It was Gon, the main character of the canon story, jogging beside Leorio, who replied this time, "No, he just said to follow him."
Killua noticed Gon for the first time as Leorio looked at the black-haired kid, betrayed, and his eyes lit up, "Hey you! How old are you?"
"Almost twelve!"
Killua looked at Harry for a moment. "Oh yeah? Just like me."
He jumped off his skateboard, jogging beside Gon. "I'm Killua."
Harry also joined them, "Seems like you were completely wrong, Killua, and actually found someone the same age as you. I am Harry; I am 14."
"I'm Gon!"
Looking at Leorio running with his briefcase, Killua asked, "And who are you, Mister?"
"Mister!?" sputtered Leorio indignantly. "I'm not that old! I'm only nineteen this year!"
Harry already knew that this reply was coming, but he decided to join in on the fun as he froze together with Gon and Killua and stared at Leorio, who didn't look anything like his age.
"NO WAY!" shouted Gon, shocked.
"Et tu, Gon? That's it! Our friendship is over!" Leorio complained while pointing at Gon's face.
Gon's friends in the end also introduced themselves as Leorio and Kurapika, who had remained silent till now.
The whole group kept running behind Satotz in a steady pace. After around the 60-kilometer mark, Leorio began to struggle, but after leaving his briefcase behind, he managed to push himself further with pure spite.
Gon showed his skill with his fishing rod and grabbed Leorio's briefcase with it, carrying it for the exam.
A chubby nerd, whose name Harry didn't remember, was actually the first one to drop out around the 80 km mark. That guy was so arrogant and overconfident in himself and his predictions about the exam that Tonpa had a really easy time breaking him.
From there, more and more candidates were dropping out of the exam, effectively saving their own lives.
Once they reached some stairs heading upwards was the point where most of the candidates in this phase began to drop out as Satotz raised the speed again.
Like Gon and Killua, Harry had no problem keeping up with the exam. Before his training he would have had a hard time getting so far, but thanks to his tight training schedule and abuse of potions, he had crammed a few years worth of intense training into a few months.
If Wizards weren't so lazy, they could have become a real power in their own world. Potions are broken.
So far the most tiring thing was that he couldn't really do anything else while running; he was so bored that he focused mostly on practicing the third level of Occlumency.
The most basic first level in Occlumency was to empty one's mind; the old Harry hadn't even managed that. It wasn't even that useful; it just prevented someone from reading surface thoughts and helped detect attempts of inexperienced Legilimens entering one's mind.
On the other hand, the second level was quite a bit more interesting; it consisted more of controlling one's thoughts to keep the state of a clear mind while permanently maintaining a defense, a shield around your mind that would detect and defend against most attempts of skilled Legilimens.
At this point only a Master could bypass that shield without being noticed.
And then there is the Third Level; it's more a preparatory step for the Fourth Level. While it doesn't enhance the actual defenses of the mind, it enhances the memory and learning ability of the user. But it's time-consuming; the user has to review and catalogue his memories piece by piece.
It's easier to do when one is young; fewer memories equal less work. But how many kids were patient enough to meditate and clear their minds? Harry was actually making good progress, since Gyo enhances his thinking speed quite a bit. But he had a full additional lifetime of memories to handle.
Lastly, the fourth step is the level where one has mastered Occlumency. The construction of a mind palace, a place where one had their memories fully organized and defended from intruders in the form of an imaginary construct.
The strength of once Occlumency fully depending on the creativity and willpower of the user.
Harry had been so absorbed in his Occlumency practice that he hadn't noticed they had moved to the front of the group, as the other participants had significantly slowed their pace.
Gon had also noticed it, "We are ahead of everybody now!"
Killua replied casually, "Yeah, it's the slow pace. Climbing slowly tires you faster."
"It's like you said, Harry. The examiner is really a nice guy, filtering out the weak ones before they die." Killua sighed, "So far the exam seems really easy and boring."
"It will get harder." Harry chuckled, "It's just the first test. Won't it, Mr. Satotz?"
"Hmm, yes. Each examiner is free to design their own exam; it can get quite unreasonable. Not even necessary too hard, just unreasonable." Chuckled Satotz, who was walking in front of them, "But you have noticed quite right that I choose to filter out the weaker candidates first."
Gon nodded as he listened to Satotz before turning towards them, "Why do you guys want to become Hunters?"
Killua replied, "I don't want to become a Hunter specifically. I was just searching for a challenge; so far I am disappointed."
"I am here mainly to get my license, so I get access to the Hunter restricted resources. There is not really any specific goal I pursue right now." Harry also answered truthfully.
"And you Gon?" Killua questioned.
"My father is a hunter. I want to become a Hunter like him and find him." Gon replied happily.
"What kind of Hunter is he?"
"I don't know."
"What's his name?" Harry asked while he already knew.
"Ging. Ging Freecs."
"Oh, I have heard of him." Harry replied while pretending to be surprised by the name, "He is a real big shot. One of the Zodicas, the high council of the Hunter Association. Also, he is a double Star Hunter. To get one Star, you need to have done something remarkable in one field. A second star is something you get if you have trained a student that has accomplished something remarkable in one field. But from what I have heard, he actually qualifies for three stars; he is just too lazy to apply for it. Which means he has done a remarkable achievement in multiple fields!"
"What really? That sounds impressive." Killua said, surprised.
"Do you know where I can find him?" Asked Gon with innocent eyes.
"No idea; he is, as far as I am aware, a vagabond and hard to reach. And even harder to find, especially if he doesn't want to be found by you." Harry said before he saw the disappointment in Gon's eyes, "But there are two people here who could tell you a bit about him. For one there is Tonpa."
"What? That Snake knows something about Gon's dad?" Killua asked disbelievingly.
"Probably. After all, he has participated in 35 Hunter Exams, including this one. He looks around 40-50 and has started to participate in them most like around our age. So there aren't that many exams he has missed; Gon's dad, to my knowledge, participated in the 267th exam, 20 years ago, so the chance is high that Tonpa has met him." Analyzed Harry based on his meta knowledge.
"Oh, that makes sense. I will ask Mr. Tonpa later." Gon nodded, "So who is the other person?"
"Yeah, but be careful about what Tonpa tells you. Your dad is a ruins hunter, a field focusing on archaeology. Just like Mr. Satotz there. Since Ging is a Double Star Hunter, he should be quite famous. So maybe Mr. Satotz knows a bit about Ging." Harry explained as he nodded towards their examiner, who had been listening in.
"Oh, you are quite knowledgeable for such a young candidate. How do you know all these things? A lot of your information is quite classified. Are you sure you need a hunter license? Chuckled Satotz.
"Hmm, yeah. While there are quite a few abilities helping with information gathering, a license makes it easier." Harry replied vaguely, implying his Nen ability was related to information gathering.
"Do you know my father, Mr. Satotz?" Asked Gon if he was interested.
"No, I haven't met him. But I know a bit about him." Satotz began as he told Gon about what he knew about Ging and how he had uncovered some special ruins in the past.
In that manner they reached the end of the stairs and got out of the tunnel, and Harry noticed something. Somehow he remembers a race between Gon and Killua at the end of the tunnel, but he wasn't certain whether this was an anime-only thing (he read these manga chapters too long ago) or something he had changed.
Maybe they were just too distracted by the chat with Satotz?
( End of Chapter )
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