Chapter 11: chapter 11-first time
'After going through a few more rooms, each time descending lower, we both completed the puzzles and opponents. With Ryu being slower than me to complete them it gave me more time to practice my ten and increase my aura size and mastery. We were finally informed that we had reached the last puzzle'.
"You both have been given the same riddle to complete, type the answer into the keyboard. Once you both complete the riddle you can proceed to the bottom of the tower," said Lippo
Adam looked forward to see a sign with the riddle written on 'If you're 8 feet away from a door and with each move, you advance half the distance to the door. How many moves will it take to reach 0 feet away from the door?'
Adam knew the answer straight away since he still had his previous memories of his first life in school.
Adam typed into the keyboard 'You will never reach 0 feet from the door, you will always be half the distance of the step you took 2 steps prior so that means if you were to step 4 feet then 2 feet then 1 foot you would be half of the distance you took to get from 4 feet to 2 feet so you would be 1 foot away, even if that is to become a very small number as you continue to step forwards you will never reach 0'
Adam checked the time left and they still had 10 hours left.
'I hope Ryu can figure it out, guess I'll continue my training for now'
Adam once again started to practice his ten that was now twice as big as it was when he last practised on the airship. He had made significant improvements even though he still hadn't trained in the other basic uses of nen.
'I've still got a huge way to go'
However, on the other hand, Ryu was struggling with the riddle.
"Half of 8 is 4 and half of 4 is 2 half of 2 is 1 half of 1 is… dammit it has gotta be 4 right? Yh it's 4 surely"
Ryu then put 4 into the keyboard but nothing happened.
"Haha that Adam still hasn't figured it out I guess he's not as smart as me"
Ryu then lay on the floor and began to rest as he was still full of injuries.
'After 9 hours of waiting he still hasn't got it?' Adam then stood up and activated his ten at his maximum output, then started to punch the floor.
What ensued was a loud bang and dust flying everywhere, but the floor only had a slight crack in it.
Adam punched again and again even when his hands were bleeding, creating an even larger crack on the floor.
Then the crack expanded and the floor caved in. Adam fell down into a dark room with rubble everywhere and noticed that the crack kept expanding and Ryu had also fallen down.
"Quite a brute way to pass, maybe if you had some brains about you we could've passed sooner," Ryu said looking at Adam.
Then Adam noticed a door open in front of him and he saw other contestants there already.
Ryu then walked past Adam but Adam activated his ten and punched Ryu in the back sending him into a wall, but he died before even hitting the wall.
Ryus body then sloped to the ground with blood pouring out his orifices.
"Maybe if you had some intelligence about you I wouldn't have killed you" sneered Adam.
Adam then walked through the door and sat down at the now-closed door that he just exited from.
'Killing a human and an animal is not so different, I thought it would be but it appears that my regard for human life is not as high as it was in my past life, or I could have always been like this and never known' Adam thought.
Then Adam heard his name announced.
"Adam number 309 is the 19th to pass. Time elapsed 71 hours 10 minutes"
After waiting another 50 minutes Gon, Killua and Kurapika arrived with a mere 30 seconds left. Then Tonpa and Leaorie arrived at the last second all looking beat up and dirty.
"The third phase of the hunter exam is over 25 applicants have passed including one deceased"
'I guess my attempt to intervene and cut down the participants didn't work, even after the guy with the blowgun died someone else passed in his place'
A large door then opened after the announcement and revealed the warm sunlight, something that Adam was pleased to feel after being stuck in a tower for 72 hours.
One by one, each of the 24 applicants who passed the third phase of the hunter exam exited the trick tower eager for a long-awaited breath of fresh air.
Then a man in glasses with a purple mohawk started to say "Congratulations on escaping trick tower, everyone. All that remains now are the fourth phase and the final phase, the fourth phase will soon take place" Lippo then pointed to an island behind him "right over there on Zevil island now let's proceed" Lippo then stuck his hand in the air and clicked his finger signalling a man with a cart to come over.
Whispers then erupted from the remaining applicants but quieted down soon.
Lippo continued "to begin with I will need each of you to draw lots now"
And another wave of murmurs and whispers erupted and a question was asked "draw lots for what? What will that decide?"
"Hmph, who you will hunt and who hunts you. In this box are exactly 24 numbered cards, which means that one of the number cards will correspond with your badge. Now each of you will draw a card in the order you exited the tower. Alright, which of you will be first?" Lippo announced.
Hisoka walked up to Lippo and took a card then walked back.
When it was Adam's turn he walked up and grabbed a card, Adam then walked back to the group.
After Tonpa drew his card Lippo began to speak again "Has everyone drawn? Very well now if you would please go ahead and remove the sticker"
Adam then peeled the sticker off his card along with everyone else and saw the number 53, Adam recognised number 53 as Pokkle who passed the hunters exam and died in the chimaera arc.
'I remember Pokkle had a nen ability of an emitter, who shot arrows of different effects and was a proficient archer, who used poison in the hunter's exam to get his target. I think if I'm careful enough and wait for him to drop his guard, I can take his badge and I will practice zetsu while stalking him so it'll be harder to notice my presence'
While Ten allows a user to keep aura from leaking away from their body, Zetsu (Zetsu; "Suppress"/"Null") stops the flow of aura from their body altogether. By closing all of their Aura Nodes, the user is able to halt all outflow of their aura like water from a valve, making their presence much harder or even impossible to sense.
Since they are no longer surrounded by their own aura, they become more sensitive to the aura of others so it also becomes easier to track someone.
This technique is thus useful when tracking another person as the other person will not notice them and it will be useful in tracking the person they want to pursue, although if someone has highly sensitive senses they still might notice them.
Lippo continued to speak after everyone looked at the number they drew "the number you see is your target"
A lot of people then covered their badges so others couldn't see.
Adam hid his badge as soon as he got it, as he knew about the content of the exam and didn't want whoever got his number to know it was him. However, if someone remembered his number from the announcement after he had finished the tower then that would offset all he had done.
Lippo then continued talking "this box has recorded the number that each of you drew and each card was tallied and then stored in memory, so if you like you are free to dispose of the cards. It makes no difference at this point, the objective is to steal your targets id badge"
Then one of the triplets spoke "Ah good, so we don't have to kill each other then"
To which Lippo replied "The method is up to you, procure the badge however you see fit. But if you kill your target you can take their badge easily"
Then another one of the triplets spoke "Yeah that sure sounds like the fastest way to me" showing their clear difference in personality despite being triplets.
They looked identical, apart from the larger one of the triplets the other two looked the same with the only thing differentiating them being their clothing.
"Listen carefully, collecting the id badge of your specified target will earn you three points, understand? Your own badge is also worth three points and all the other badges are worth one point. In order to move on to the final phase, you will have to collect 6 points, so during your time on Zevil island gather enough badges to collect 6 points or fail the exam. Only those who do will clear the fourth phase of the hunter exam"
Then everyone was instructed to get onto a boat to head to Zevil island.
(Thanks for reading, If anyone feels like buying me a coffee: Ko-fi.com/hunter931)
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