"Everyone, gather over here."
Seeing that everyone had more or less finished resting, Satotz called the examinees together.
"Alright. Let me congratulate you once again. Everyone standing here has passed the first test. I hope you'll continue to push forward bravely in the second test as well. I wish you all the best of luck."
Satotz's congratulations were delivered in his usual flat, even tone.
Having said that, he seemed to feel his task was complete. Without any unnecessary words, he turned around and walked straight into the forest, disappearing from sight.
"That's great!" Gon said happily.
"Yeah… we've successfully taken the first step," Leorio said with emotion.
"We made it," Killua said, though his curiosity was clearly focused on how Gon had managed to find Leorio and the others.
"Killua!" Gon said cheerfully. Killua looked different now compared to when they had first met.
"So what method did you use?" Killua asked excitedly. "I thought for sure you'd never make it here."
He had almost believed that the friends he had just made were about to be eliminated—and that would have been no fun at all.
"Leorio was amazing," Gon said. "He found Kurapika and me, and he was also the one who reminded us about the time limit. Otherwise, we definitely wouldn't have made it in time."
"He found you?" Killua raised his eyebrows. "That's impressive."
Killua knew how easy it was to get lost in this marsh—especially when it was covered in thick fog. That was no ordinary feat.
"Leorio really is amazing," Killua said again after hearing the full story. "To stay aware of the time limit in that kind of environment… that's incredible."
This was the most impressive person Killua had met since leaving home.
"No, I just happen to know a little about geography," Leorio said modestly.
"No way—Leorio is super amazing!"
Gon immediately launched into an enthusiastic rant, listing Leorio's accomplishments one after another with great excitement.
"So how did you find the route?" Killua asked. "Did Leorio lead the way the whole time?"
"At first, I followed Leorio's scent," Gon replied. "After that, Leorio led us."
"You followed his scent?" Killua froze.
He already knew Leorio was impressive—Gon had practically drilled that into him—but now Gon was saying he tracked Leorio by smell?
"In a place like this, you could still smell someone?" Killua found that very hard to believe.
"You… you're seriously weird," Killua said after thinking hard for a moment, finally finding a word that fit.
"You're basically a dog," he added, his face stiff as he tried to process it.
"Is that so?" Gon scratched his head shyly, completely unaware of how extraordinary that actually was.
Off to the side, Leorio was quietly calculating his gains.
Thanks to the help of the Man-Faced Apes, the supplies Gon had nearly lost had been fully replenished. With food on hand, Leorio finally felt at ease.
For him, lacking food was like Conan without his soccer ball—his combat effectiveness dropped straight off a cliff.
"149 people passed the first test. That's an unexpectedly large number," Satotz thought to himself.
"But that just makes it more regrettable. The examiners for the second test are Menchi and Buhara. I doubt more than fifty people will pass—and given the difficulty of their test, it's possible fewer than ten will remain in the end."
He found this exam extremely interesting.
"I'll stay and watch for a bit."
Satotz casually chose a tree near the exam site. Its appearance didn't matter—only proximity. He wanted a good view.
After securing a prime spot, he sat down to enjoy the show. This enthusiasm was completely at odds with his outwardly cold demeanor—almost as if he had two personalities.
Yaaah—yaaah—
A heavy gate began to creak, announcing its presence to all the examinees.
Those who had been chatting immediately fell silent, all eyes fixed on the massive doors.
"Looks like it's starting," Gon said excitedly.
"Yes… it's about to begin," Leorio replied. His heart was beating faster.
If he hadn't come to the Hunter world, he would never have had experiences like this. Otherwise, he probably would have lived out his life in mediocrity—and that would've been fine too.
"I'm starting to get nervous," Kurapika admitted. His heart was pounding as he wondered what kind of trial awaited them next.
"I wonder what kind of thing is going to come out," Leorio said. "It might start attacking us right away."
After using the medicinal herbs Leorio had been given earlier, he felt much better. The swelling had gone down considerably, and his energy had mostly recovered. Now he was eagerly speculating about the next test.
Creeeak—
The gate marked Visca Forest Park slowly opened.
The enormous, heavy doors parted bit by bit, as though opening the way to an entirely new world.
Despite Buhara's mountain-like physique, which should have been impossible to ignore, the first thing that caught everyone's attention was Menchi—petite, lively, and extremely well-proportioned.
Just sitting there silently, she was far more eye-catching than Buhara.
"Nice figure," Leorio muttered after giving her a once-over.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, everyone," Menchi greeted them cheerfully.
Her voice was pleasant and soothing, a pleasure to listen to. However, Leorio—having seen her fierce demeanor in the original storyline—felt a strange sense of dissonance.
All he could picture was her suddenly leaping up, dual knives in hand, turning people into ingredients.
"How about it? You must be starving, Buhara," Menchi said as she shifted her posture.
Her long, slender legs crossed elegantly as she reclined casually on the sofa, addressing Buhara, who sat behind it like a mountain.
Grrrrrr—
As soon as Menchi finished speaking, Buhara's stomach let out a thunderous rumble, as if by magic.
There was no need for him to answer—his stomach had already spoken for him.
"You heard it. I'm starving, Menchi," Buhara said earnestly.
Even though his stomach had already answered, he felt it was more sincere to say it himself.
"As expected of someone with an interdimensional stomach that can eat dozens of whole roast pigs," Leorio thought.
"In the original story, Buhara ate seventy whole roast pigs. When it comes to eating, only Luffy and A-Fu could rival him."
"As you can see," Menchi said, "the second test will be administered by the two of us—both Gourmet Hunters."
Her voice instantly made Satotz's flat, monotonous tone seem like it belonged at the bottom of a valley.
"Gourmet Hunters?" Leorio asked, confused. "That's a Hunter profession?"
Cooking food… he didn't quite get it.
"What's that?" Gon asked. "Leorio, is it like your map hunter thing?"
Having gained some experience, Gon was no longer completely clueless about Hunters.
"Yes," Leorio replied. "Just like Map Hunters, Gourmet Hunters are a specialized branch of Hunters. There are others too—like the Bounty Hunters Kurapika mentioned before. They're all different Hunter specializations."