Chapter 26: Chapter 25: The Second Test (1)
"Uh…yes." Raydel was not expecting that he would meet Han's golden leg. He never thought that she would greet him. He was stunned for a moment when he saw that beautiful face of hers.
"It's you," she said and became silent.
As they both remained silent, Raydel watched the other person and realized that she looked exactly like described in the novel. She had a slim body and the same height as him. Her jet-black hair was tied in a high ponytail looking agile. Her bright, white skin and accessories undeniably expressed her social status. Everyone could tell that she was from a wealthy family.
Or rather, an influential family.
In the novel 'Ways to Become the No.1 Hunter,' she became Han's golden leg because her family was wealthy and influential enough to support Han throughout the entire story. She was like a rich woman that liked a hunter and supported the hunter in everything from behind the scene.
Raydel remembered that she was interested in Han since the time that Han started going into dungeons alone and gained his famous title as the solo player. She knew him before he knew her. She could even be considered his 'secret fan.'
But the first time they talked would not come until Han applied for the hunter test, which was still a long way to go.
The heroine probably came to take the hunter test before Han in the novel and coincidentally was in the same batch as Raydel.
Raydel looked at her face and stood still for a second. A thought appeared in his mind.
She looked familiar.
Her face looked strangely familiar to Raydel, but he could not think of how or why. Had he seen her before this?
"What do you want?"
"Your name is in the first spot on the scoreboard after the first test. Mine is the second one. So, I just want to introduce myself. I'm Christa Wang."
Right, her name was Christa, but Raydel had never known that she was one of the Wangs.
"Your family sponsors this test."
"Oh, yes. To attract a lot of people to come take the test and make the test more exciting. Nice, right?"
Hunter tests were held several times through an entire year, so Raydel saw no need to have a number of people come taking the test at this time. But he didn't say anything. She probably sponsored the test to build some connections with the Hunter Guild like rich people would do. The only thing he wanted to know was if she really came to talk to him just because of his ranking on the scoreboard.
How did she know that he was Han's friend?
Raydel waited for Christa to speak first, but she did not say anything. He thought that maybe she did not know he was Han's friend after all.
Did she really come to introduce herself just because his name was ranked first on the scoreboard?
Raydel felt surprised a little. Her smile had all the hair on his arms stand up. She was about two or three years older than Han and a senior that madly admired Han. She might just admire all the strong hunters and thought that he was one of them when she saw his name on the top. Raydel could only apologize to her in his head for the fact that he was actually so far from being powerful.
Then, someone cried out.
"Little miss!" Raydel turned around and saw two women in maid uniforms rushing toward Christa. One of them was holding a tray with a glass of water on it while the other was holding a fan. The one with the tray was so hurried that she did not look where she was stepping on and, as a result, splashed some water onto Christa's shirt when she arrived.
"Oh."
Silence took over the area.
Christa was soaking wet. Raydel noticed that even though her expression remained the same, the two maids' faces went as pale as paper in an instant. Their lips were trembling as they apologized.
"I'm… I'm so sorry, little miss!"
Raydel eventually realized what was happening in front of him and hastily searched for his handkerchief. "I have a handkerchief."
"It's okay," Christa said softly. She wiped the water stain on her shirt like she did not really care. "You should go prepare yourself. The second test's about to start now. I hope you pass it. I heard this round they'll eliminate a number of hunters. You could fail even if you do your best."
"Uh, thank you."
"I don't know if I'm going to see you ever again," she said and turned the other way, looking at him.
"..."
Strange, Raydel thought. Everything about Christa screamed 'strange,' but he could not explain why. He reckoned that she might no longer want to talk to him, so she turned around. And so, Raydel started heading to the destination that the Hunter Guild had set. But he had just taken only a few steps, not even in the building yet, when he heard the sound of someone being slapped.
Raydel snapped his entire body around before seeing that Christa was standing, crossing her arms, looking right at the maid who spilled the water. The maid was now lying on the floor. The other maid was beside her, cowardly putting her arms around her friend's shoulders.
Since Christa had her arm crossing, Raydel did not know where the slapping sound came from. The maid was crying and shaking pitifully. She jerked when Christa leaned in. Raydel did not know what she was saying, but the maid nodded and rushed the other way.
Then, Christa stood up straight before turning around to look at Raydel.
The moment their eyes met, the bad feeling Raydel had been feeling all morning poked his heart nonstop. He frowned. Something gave him the courage to stare back at her. She stared right at him without blinking, but Raydel could not guess what she was thinking since they stood too far apart. He finally turned around and thought to himself.
She's kind of strange.
Raydel walked into the building of the Hunter Guild.
I shouldn't trust her.
Above his head, dark clouds in the sky signaled the coming of a storm.
"The second stage starts in five minutes. Please come take your ID card for the hunter test."
When Raydel walked inside the building, he heard the announcement.
Raydel counted the number of people who came to take the test. If he remembered it right, seventy hunters passed the first stage. And it seemed all of them came for the second stage with the place being this crowded. Raydel took his hunter ID card and put it on his shirt like everybody else. Then, he followed the crowd into a hallway that led to the place for the test.
"The second test will be a simulation dungeon of the Hunter Guild. You won't find any deadly danger, but you could still get hurt like in real dungeons."
The crowd arrived at the entrance to the simulation dungeon, which was an old door that could be easily found in the city.
"After getting into the dungeon, you won't be able to leave until the second test ends. If you want to change your mind, do it and quit now. We'll give you one minute to make a decision."
Everyone in the room started looking at each other. Whispering sounds could be heard before someone shouting bravely.
"I came all the way here. I won't back down easily!" He walked through the door acting all ready after finishing the sentence. It encouraged the rest to start following him into the dungeon in groups.
"He's right!"
"Let's go in!"
The atmosphere was filled with excitement. Raydel did not even have to walk in as the waves of people kept pushing him into the dungeon. In that split second, the change in temperature told him that he was in the simulation dungeon now.
It was quite cold inside. But it was not because snowflakes were falling down or that they were stranded in a freezing cold place or anything like that. Once Raydel was in the dungeon, he realized that this simulation dungeon looked just like regular towns, but abandoned. The buildings were weathered and dilapidated. The windows were out of place and the doors were broken. The roads were completely void of cars.
The town was in total silence. Not even a person lived here.
Garbage rolled aimlessly on the floor. Huge trees and large vines penetrated deserted buildings. Combined with the evening sun at the horizon, the town looked exactly like the world after an apocalypse. The emptiness and silence of the dungeon shook the hearts of all the hunters. They could feel in their bones the danger lurking behind these beautiful shadows.
When all of the participants were inside the dungeon, the entrance closed itself. The tear in the air disappeared. No one could get out of this dungeon now.
They had passed the point of no return now.
The hunters saw a tram parked in the middle of the street. The person from the Hunter Guild got on the tram and walked to the front. She waved at the rest to follow them.
"Come this way."
Then, she pressed a button on her watch, releasing a transparent shield covering her whole body.
The person waited till everyone got on the tram and started driving it along the street. Cold breeze hit everyone as they silently watched the view. They could find no movements of monsters. The tram brought them depper into the center of the town.
The person from the Hunter Guild began explaining.
"The second stage of the test will be held twice. You all are the first seventy people that passed the first stage. Another group of seventy people will be tested tomorrow as a second group. In this stage, you have to complete a mission to get through to the third stage, which will be held in the next two days when an unnamed C-rank dungeon appears."
The woman clasped her hands on her lap.
"Today, thirty people will fail the test."
She spoke plainly.
"No exceptions, no begging. If you fail, you can take the test again next year. Please keep these conditions in mind."
Silence.
"Okay, we're almost there."
When she turned around to look at the street again, the sky suddenly became darker. Day had completely turned into night.
"...!"
The darkness had the hunters shocked and screamed. Then, they heard something that sounded 'rustling' and the sounds of footsteps so loud as if a hundred living things were heading this way. Raydel was sure that a lot of the hunters had already summoned their artifacts, but it was so dark they could see nothing.
Something attacked the tram!
In the darkness, Raydel saw a blurry figure. They dashed back and forth in the air.
The others' scream made Raydel's blood freeze up. He sat down to hide, but the things that attacked the tram saw him. A hand reached out and yanked him by the collar. Raydel punched the hand in an effort to free himself. The back of his hands felt something with rough skin and hair.
"What's happening!?"
"Help me!"
"Arghh!"
The chaos continued for about two minutes before all the sounds stopped at once.
The darkness disappeared. The surrounding area returned to the evening time.
Raydel could see again. He blinked several times before realizing that the others were also sitting on the floor to hide from those creatures just like him. The only one still standing was the person from the Hunter Guild since she had the shield unlike everyone else.
It seemed the creature that attacked them did not throw anyone out of the tram. The number of people was the same as before, even though everyone looked a mess. It was clear that they all fought against something. The state in which everyone was in left them all in shock. The hunters started whispering to each other. The person from the Huntet Guild smiled and pointed at herself.
"Look at your shirt," the woman said.
Everyone looked down at their shirts and suddenly notice that… their hunter ID card had disappeared.
"Look at that!" one of the hunters shouted.
The rest instantly looked up and saw that on the branches breaking out of the deserted buildings were four-arm creatures swinging from one place to the other, swiftly increasing the distance between themselves and the hunters on the tram. There were roughly more than a hundred of them!
The woman announced.
"The mission in the second stage is taking back your hunter ID card. If you fail to do so, you fail the test. Since this stage only allows fourty people to pass and go through to the next round, you can take others' ID cards for special points. The more points you get, the higher your ranking on the scoreboard will be, which means more chance at passing the test."
Then, a message box appeared.
[Mission: take back hunter ID cards from the monsters 'Local Monkeys']
[The countdown starts now.]
[59:59 minutes]
"Good luck."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone