12 Chapter 2 : Test x Impostor
Two hours have passed since the start of the exam. The applicants have traveled over thirty kilometers from the start. None of them knows how far they must go.
They are forced to run at the leader's pace, with no goal specified. It's a monotonous course with no end in sight and many applicants have already dropped out.
Extrapolating from historical data, this exam type usually involves a forty-kilometer course
Among the candidates James was one of the few who did not sweat, his heartbeat was constant and his steps were fast and steady.
During the course of the race, James secretly watched the group of protagonists hesitating to meet them.
First of all because the group of protagonists was a real problem nest attracting unwanted attention from people like Hisoka, not to mention Irumi, the Bro-con (Brother control), who tends to want to kill anyone who gets too close to his brother, but making friends with the protagonists also had an advantage.
You contribute more to the plot, and thus earn more points.
Unlike James, other people didn't know that the worlds of [Survival World] were worlds manga-inspired and animes, for them they are just random worlds where gaining points was extremely difficult.
Let's compare for example Traveller A and James, Traveller A has to survive in a completely unknown world, whose culture was foreign to him, let's not even talk about the plot, novice travellers didn't even know that [Survival World] gave bonus points, only the most powerful travellers had access to this information.
Even mankind's most powerful experienced travelers hadn't yet discovered the secret of bonus points, but they still had hypotheses, for example some think that the more destruction you cause, the more points you earn, and others think that the more you participate in the development of the world you travel in, the more points you earn, for them earning points as scandalously as James was simply impossible!
For them earning points as outrageously as James was simply impossible!
Comparing James to Traveller A was like comparing a professional cheat to an inexperienced player.
James had a strong advantage, not to say a scandalous advantage!
A silver-haired boy on a skatboard approached the group of protagonists, he was not a traveller but one of the protagonists.
"Hey! Wait up, kid!"
" Hmm?"
" You should show the Hunter Exam some respect!"
"What do you mean?"
" Why are you using a skateboard? That's cheating!"
" Why?"
" Why! This is an endurance test!"
Screamed Leorio before watching Gon.
"No, it isn't."
"Huh? Gon, what are you saying?"
"The examiner only told us to follow him."
"Whose side are you on?"
Killua then approached Gon with a smile.
"Hey, how old are you?"
"I'm twelve years old."
"Hmm We're the same age."
"Huh? Guess I'll run too."
"Wow! That was cool! I'm Killua."
"I'm Gon."
Seeing this scene the Otaku side of James couldn't help smiling, watching this scene was like watching his favorite series in 5D, but he finally decided not to get close to the group of protagonists for the moment, avoiding some unnecessary trouble, so he kept run.
As time passed the candidates had already covered more than 80km, they reached the end of the tunnel, but the test was not over because they had to climb stairs.
Most candidates fainted at this stage, or simply gave up.
James continued to run, one could even say that he was following Satoz closely.
He had even surprised Satoz.
"This young man has exceptional physical abilities, he might make a good Hunter."
James ignored the protagonists and then followed Satoz to the exit of the tunnel, arriving there he immediately noticed the fog around him but was not surprised.
Satoz looked at him for a moment with an approving glance before nodding his head, some ten minutes later, the other candidates having passed the test, Gon, killua and the two other protagonists arrived, although Leorio was one of the last, it was still Joyful to have passed the test.
The fog is fading as the candidates caught their breath.
Satoz's voice then came to the ears of the candidates.
" The Numere Wetlands, also known as Swindlers Swamp. We must cross these wetlands to reach Phase Two of the exam."
"This place is home to many bizarre animals, many of them being cunning, insatiable creatures who deceive humans and prey upon them."
Satoz then turned around and looked at the candidates with a casual look.
"Be very careful, if you let them fool you you're dead."
The candidates began to make a slight ruckus, but were soon interrupted by a voice.
"What a joke."
A wounded man then came out behind a wall with a strange beast resembling Satoz.
"How can they fool us, when we're expecting it? Don't let them fool you! I just said that they can't, D-Don't fall for it He's lying to you! He's an impostor! He isn't an examiner I'm the real examiner!!"
The candidates were immediately surprised by this turn of events.
"An impostor?"
" What's going on?"
" Then who is he?"
"Look at this He looks just like mr Satotz!"
"It's a Man-Faced Ape, one of the creatures that dwell in the Numere Wetlands!"
" A Man-Faced Ape?"
" Man-Faced Apes love the taste of fresh human flesh."
The man then began to accuse Satoz, and tryed to get the candidates on his side, some candidates even began to have doubts as to the identity of the real examiner, but suddenly everyone was surprised by the scene that followed.
The man claiming to be the examiner and the monkey he was holding in his arms both had their skulls broken, while James was standing in front of their corpses.
Then James looked at Satoz with a smile.
"Mr. Satoz can we continue, I'm in a bit of a hurry."
Satoz looked at James for a moment with interest before nodding his head, the other candidates looked at James with amazement and a slight fear.
Except for Hisoka, who had a strange smile.
James had two reasons to stand out in this scene, one, he wanted to kill the two imposters because there was a chance it would score points, two, he wanted to attract Hisoka.
Why would he do that?
Because a crazy idea had crossed his mind.
