Who Says A God Can't Be A Hunter Too?

Chapter 4

               

Already, energy began to rise in the large enclosure as each of the applicants mentally prepped themselves for the start of the exam. Besides her, Hisoka lightly chuckled, but Priya hardly paid any mind to him as she observed the others around her. '406 of us...I wonder how many will be left at the end of this first trial...?'

"A final caution," the examiner started, bringing everyone's full attention to him once again. "If you are short on luck or ability, you could very well end up seriously injured or even dead. Those who accept the risk, please follow me... Otherwise," the man paused and raised an arm to point at the elevator that had transported us all down here. "Please exit via the elevator behind you."

No one turned to leave or even made a move to glance at the exit. Priya felt a single drop of sweat run down the back of her neck, and she gnawed worriedly on her lower lip.

'I could leave. I remember all too well how the villagers thought I was foolish enough to want to become a hunter anyway, just because of what happened in the past. They wouldn't be angry if I came back...No, they'd certainly be relieved. But I don't think if I turned back now that I could ever face any of them. No, that would be admitting defeat too easily. It hasn't even been five years yet. The disappointment of the past will stay if I continue to forget these days, until my life is all used up. So no, I cannot forget and forgive so easily...'

Priya took a deep breath; her fist clenched and her nails digging into her palms, she looked straight on, just like everyone else.

"Very well then; all 405 applicants will participate in Phase One."

Oh, right. Priya had almost forgotten about the man whose arms were taken off by Hisoka.

'Well, one less competitor isn't a bad thing.'

The examiner turned on his heel and began to walk, and each of the applicants followed.

"I am Satotz, the Phase One examiner," Satotz announced. Despite being near the back of the group with Hisoka, Priya could hear the Hunter loud and clear. "You must follow me to Phase Two. This is the exam's First Phase."

Slowly, but surely the pace each applicant was walking at began to pick up, and Priya could tell it was because Satotz increased his pace first, until they were all jogging behind. 'So this phase is basically to test our endurance. Geez...I hate running,' Priya thought to herself, inwardly sighing. She hated exercising, but it didn't mean she wasn't good at it, though. She easily kept up with the others, although she did get separated from Hisoka at a point. 'Well, no use in wasting more energy in trying to find him,' she decided and kept going at her comfortable pace.

Two hours into the exam, and there was still no end in sight. Many applicants had already dropped out, and Priya easily breezed by them, feeling a tad bit sorry for the lot. They'd have to walk all the way back to the elevator to get out of the tunnel if that area wasn't already sealed off once more. While Priya was behind the pack, she kept up easily with them, while at the same time watching others meet their fate in failing the exam. She watched curiously as three exam veterans, the brothers Tonpa had told her about, harassed another rookie before he fell back and had a breakdown.

'And horrible people like these have a chance of becoming powerful hunters...'

The thought made her sick. Priya hated those who picked on the weak for mere satisfaction. It reminded her too much of the hunters who wreak havoc in her past. Thinking of them, she clenched her teeth and increased her pace, soon swallowed up in the throng of other runners.

Four hours into the exam...

"We've reached the eighty-kilometer mark. It is now time to pick up the pace a bit," Satotz called out.

They had reached a long winding staircase that stretched high, high above them, with no end in sight. Priya halted abruptly at the foot of the stairs, looking up in awe, and annoyance. What she hated more than running was climbing stairs, and now that the two were mixed, irritation was plain on her delicate features. She continued to stand at the foot of the stairs, taking the moment to rest, and wipe the sweat that had gathered on her forehead and the back of her neck. Sitting down on the first step, she removed her cloak and stored it in her bag, and now only wore a tight fitting tank top and loose pants that cinched tightly at her waist. She fanned herself lightly, letting her body cool down internally as she drank from a bottle of water she had stored in her bag. She rested for a few more moments before getting up to lightly stretch. Rolling her eyes in exasperation, she took a deep breath before taking a dash up the stairs.

The group that had been in front of her was already out of sight.

'How far behind am I; I only rested for about ten minutes,' she thought, completely perplexed. Not even three hundred steps from the bottom and already her legs were burning. She had to keep in constant motion and to avoid the applicants who had passed out on the stairs.

'There's no one around...surely, I can use it?'