Itsy Bitsy Spider

37. Phase Two And Three

After recording the passing applicants and taking a head count, the examiner started to lead the entire group up the narrow, cramped stairs; a trek to the surface. The examiner informed them of a trail they would take to reach the seaside, where the next exam would take place.

They would all make it to the second phase, that is, if nobody suffocated and was trampled to death on the staircase. It was tight, extraordinarily so, and people were shoving and pushing in their fight to the top, not caring about what they did to the others surrounding them.

But Feitan was above these people. He sped ahead of the tramping crowd, first to reach the top of the staircase. The white-haired brat followed not much later, to his surprise. Meeting gazes, the boy warily inched away from the Spider, while Feitan ignored him. Since they'd last met, the brat had improved on his speed. A Hatsu, perhaps? Either way, it would take much longer for any of the other applicants to arrive, given the mass of people and the tight space they'd been given to move. He generously estimated at least ten minutes before anybody else—

"I win." Rein stuck her finger in Lucky's face. "Losers!"

"Red, calm down, it's just a staircase."

Feitan stared at the two he'd come to supervise before looking away. Perhaps they would do better than what he expected of them, though granted, he'd set the expectation low. And to anybody who would dare ask, no, he wasn't holding back a grin because these two were ahead of the other applicants. He wasn't biting in the corners of his mouth because he knew those two. And their little success here certainly wasn't inflaming a strange feeling in him to root them on. He was not undergoing a sense of pride. No, of course not, Feitan was not doing any of those things whatsoever, and anyone who suggested otherwise could go die.

"Hey!" Rein caught sight of him and dragged Lucky over, who was panting. When they arrived, there was another person to their party, a small boy with a controlled stance and firm eyebrows. "Fei, you were first?"

Of course he was, that was obvious. He tipped his head over to the white-haired boy from Yorknew. "You slow. He came before you did. Do better."

Rein's lips drew tight. She must have thought she'd been doing pretty good, and even though Lucky was already panting, Feitan observed that his endurance and overall tolerance for all things that required physical activity had grown significantly. But Feitan was a harsh judge. His lack of compliments was nothing out of the ordinary.

"You want to go with us to the next phase? You can give us pointers and such if we're really doing that horribly, as you claim," she baited.

He gave a silent grunt before casting his cooled gaze elsewhere. "Here for supervision. You pass Exam yourself." He started to walk off, determined to make sure this would be the last she saw of him until the Hunter Exam ended. "They're all weak," he assured, confident.

He'd thought he'd left them behind, but a voice called to him, unusually small.

"F...Feitan!"

He tossed a look over his shoulder.

Sucking in a breath, Rein slapped on a huge and sort of lopsided smile onto her ridiculous face, and threw a thumbs up before shouting, "Love you too, Fei!" She pulled the two boys at her side away into the crowd that was just emerging from the staircase, calling a final: "Good luck!"

Feitan had paused mid-step.

He scoffed before moving on.

Like he would need luck. There wasn't any such thing. In the world, there was only wit, gut, and skill, and Feitan was of high standing in all of them. It was blatantly clear he would pass, regardless of whatever meaningless words were spoken or not. Blathering was useless and words often caused more trouble than they were worth, so Feitan thought nothing of it, really.