Chapter 17 : Phase X Two X Cooking (1)

"Will all the applicants who passed the first phase please enter?"

The source of this voice is a young woman with light brown skin, and light green eyes, tying the back of her light blue hair into 5 top knots and wearing a bikini top with a mesh shirt worn over it, alongside daisy duke denim shorts.

"Welcome, I'm Menchi. The second phase examiner." With a beautiful smile on her face, she greeted the applicants.

"And I'm Buhara, the other examiner." Behind Menchi, a huge fate young man wearing a yellow shirt and green pants was sitting behind Menchi, the latter looks like a child in front of this giant.

"Where is this place? Weren't we about to fight Hisoka?" Leorio finally woke up, and he followed them inside while asking about their location, he didn't understand, just a moment ago he was facing Hisoka and now he appeared here. What happened that time?

"Good morning! We have reached the site of phase two. You were unconscious because of Hisoka, later I fought him, and then we managed to run away."

Shinji hurried to 'explain', afraid that Leorio will Get angry at him for What he did, he winked at the others secretly to let them cooperate with his lie.

*growl*

All of the examinees were attracted by this weird sound.

"Wh-What was that sound?"

"You must be hungry, Buhara." Menshi looked at Buhara and smiled.

"I'm starving…" Buhara replied with a pitiful voice, he made a great sacrifice by starving himself till now in order to be able to eat the 'dishes' of all these candidates.

"There you have it…" Menshi stood up from her Chair, her hands on her hips, she said: "phase two will involve…" then she stopped for a moment, The applicants looked at her with tense nerves waiting to hear the content of the test.

"Mmm, C cup, not bad." Shinji also 'Listened' to her carefully.

Feeling their nervousness, Menchi smiled and then pointed at them, and said with excitement: "…Cooking!"

'Her smile is breathtaking!' Shinji didn't care about her words; he was intoxicated by Menchi's innocent smile.

'It would be wonderful if she were my wife, but I don't have the strength or the appearance to be qualified to be with her, at least for the time being.'

Without a doubt, the moment he saw Menchi, an instinctive desire to possess her arose in his heart, not only for her attractive appearance but also for her strength!

Menchi's strength as a one-star gourmet hunter cannot be questioned, and her ability to accomplish such a feat at such a young age demonstrates her talent and potential.

Shinji has this desire because he knows all of these things, to have a partner in life who is not only beautiful and knows how to cook, but also strong.

When he saw everything he had hoped for in his future wife gathered in this woman, he couldn't help but wants to rush to confess to her. Fortunately, he knows his place and understands that this is not the right time.

'Let's Wait for the right moment and right place.'

After hearing Menchi's words the applicants were shocked.

"C-Cooking?!!" The bald ninja Hanzo repeated in shock.

The yellow-haired wrestler Tudo besides him was dissatisfied : "wait! Cooking? We are here to take the hunter exam!"

"That's quite right!" Menchi replied calmly : " your challenge for the second phase is to produce a dish that will satisfy our palate."

"Why do we have to cook?" some applicants said angrily.

Menchi still remained calm and said : "that's because…we are gourmet Hunters" She said loudly and proudly.

"Huh?" the applicants were silent for a while then…

"Ha ha ha ha" they start laughing.

"Man, What a letdown!"

"Ha ha ha, they are gourmet hunters ha ha ha…"

Shinji far away looked at them fiercely: ' dare to laugh at my future wife! Seeking death!'

Menshi frowned upon seeing this scene, she closed her eyes trying to calm down the impulse to beat the shit out of these ignorant who dare to laugh at her!

"So, gourmet hunters, what are we supposed to make?"

Menchi didn't have the mood to answer them so Buhara took her place.

"The required ingredient is pork. You're free to use meat from any species of Biska Forest pigs, you must use the cooking facilities here to prepare the pork."

"You only pass if we both find it delicious!"

"And we will evaluate more than just the taste, Don't underestimate the intricacies of cooking. Got it?" Menshi besides him said anyone can hear the dissatisfaction in her voice.

She continued: "when we've eaten our fill, the exam will end!"

"Then the exam's second phase begins now!" Buhara said and then he patted his stomach hard. The sound was just like the ringing of the church's bell.

*DUM*

afraid that the pigs will not be enough for all of them All the applicants raced to get the pork,

"Let's hurry, guys, if all the pigs are taken, we'll lose!" Shinji and his companions followed the crowd as well.

"Free to use any meat from any species of pigs? You have a real nasty streak." Menshi turned her head to Buhara and smiled evilly she said: "only one species of pigs lives in the Biska Forest, right?"

Buhara also smiled mockingly: "hmph, I hope they don't get themselves killed."

…

The applicants went to the forest and searched for the pigs.

The five of Shinji were also searching together.

"Find a pig and cook it, this is way easier than the first phase." Leorio was overjoyed that the test is simple and doesn't require much physical strength like the one before.

"I hope it will be that simple…" Kurapika besides him didn't think so.

"Leorio, it appears you forgot about all the previous tests we went through?" When did the hunter exam become easy?" Shinji awakened him out of his daze.

"Well, you are correct! All of the tests we went through appear simple on the surface but are deceptive... Shinji, did you find anything?" When Leorio heard Shinji's words, he immediately recognized the issue.

"*sigh* I have no choice but to tell you why this test is difficult."

Gon, Killua, and Kurapika all looked at Shinji and listened intently, hoping that what Shinji said would help them pass this test.

"Can you tell me what the content of this exam is?" he inquired first.

"Didn't the examiner tell us to catch a pig and cook it?" Gon replied that he wasn't sure if his answer was correct because it seemed too simple to him.

"Is that all?" Shinji smiled but didn't say anything.

"Gon, what you said is only half the test, the other half is making a dish that pleases both the examiners, which I believe is the deciding factor in who passes or not!" Killua spoke with his hands in his pockets. Obviously, he has already discovered the key point of this test, which is to obtain both the examiner's approval.

"- -" Shinji was speechless as he looked at Killua, who had just said what he was about to say.

'Sure enough, as expected of the heir of the Zoldyck family, his ability to gather information is soo strong!'

"Right, the key to pass this test is to satisfy the taste of both Menchi and Buhara! But this is something impossible for us to do!"

"Ehh!!!?"

The four of them didn't understand why Shinji said that.

'Sure enough, as expected of the Zoldyck family heir, his ability to gather information is incredible!'

"Right, the key to passing this test is to satisfy both Menchi and Buhara's tastes!" But this is something we can never do!"

"Ehh!!!?"

The four of them couldn't figure out why Shinji said that.

"You seem to forget that both of them are gourmet hunters, you understand?" Shinji smiled.

Killua and Kurapika nodded, but Gon and Leorio didn't seem to understand.

"As gourmet hunters, they must have tasted a wide range of delicacies to let them say the word 'delicious.' I'm afraid we should have the culinary skills of a five-star hotel chef!"

Killua's words solved their doubts.

"Killua is correct! I'm afraid they won't even look at what we'll make, and taste isn't the only factor we should consider."

Shinji agrees with Killua's words; he knows how to cook because he was forced to learn it in his previous life because he lives alone, but his level has only reached an intermediate; he can't cook complex things, and this level will not satisfy Menchi.

"Is there another factor? "What precisely is it?" Leorio posed the question In their heads.

"Do you recall what Menchi-Swan said?" Shinji once again posed a question rather than directly answering it; he did this on purpose to allow them to develop the habit of analyzing exam rules in order to cope with future ones.

"Menchi-swan?" The four of them exchanged strange looks with Shinji.

*cough*

Shinji coughed lightly and diverted their attention, saying, "The other important factor is to be fast!" We must serve them before they become full."

"That's it, quickly preparing a delicious pork dish is the key to passing this test!" Kurapika summed everything up.

"We may not satisfy the examiners' appetite, but we must not ignore the other factors!"

"Since you all figured out how to pass this test..."

"Let's go, it's time for pig-catching!"

After a few moments, the five of them were fortunate to come across a herd of giant pigs.

"There are a lot of pigs!" Leorio yelled.

"They appear to be chewing on bones!"

"don't tell me...they're carnivores!" Kurapika looked at the herd of giant pigs and couldn't help but worry, if they were surrounded by this pack of ferocious pigs, they'd be in big trouble.

Shinji couldn't recall the name of this species, but he remembered that these pigs' weakness was their forehead.

"Guys, make sure to hit their forehead, that's their weak spot."

The giant pigs noticed them and rushed desperately towards them as Shinji's words fell.

Shinji grinned as he saw the herd of pigs charging toward them: "Soul Points, I'm 'cumming'!"

Then he transformed into a hybrid form of the leopard devil fruit and jumped high over the pigs, piercing their foreheads with his sharp claws, then he repeated the same tricks again.

Fearing that his friends would steal his SP, he yelled quickly, "Guys, just let them to me, I'll kill all of them!"

seeing Shinji's transformation and the power he displayed, Killua nodded,: "not bad, both the power and the speed are at least 5 times that of an ordinary human."

"Wow, brother Shinji, your beast form is awesome!" Gon's eyes twinkled with stars as he looked at Shinji.

Although Shinji blocked the majority of the pigs, some managed to slip and run away, attracting the attention of other applicants.

Those who were weaker either fled after seeing the giant pigs or overestimated themselves and were sent flying by the great stamp hard nose, whereas those who were strong, such as the bald Ninja and Hisoka, were able to kill them easily.

"Ok guys let's take them back!" Shinji wiped his hands full of the blood of the pigs, and then they dragged the pigs to the phase two site.

Because of Shinji, many applicants were unaware of the great stamp pig's weakness, reducing the number of those who caught it.

Shinji looked at the number of SP he received from this kill.

- SOUL POINTS: 485

Shinji couldn't help but smile when he saw this number, he had killed at most ten of the great stamp pigs, and previously he had 185 soul points from killing the giant frog and tortoise. So each of the great stamps he killed earned him at least 30 soul points!

"Should I draw a new inheritance or exchange one of Rob Luccy skills?" Shinji was itchy to spend these soul points he just got, but at the same time he wasn't sure where to use them.

The reasonable thing he should do is to exchange a skill like Shave or another navy six skills, but Shinji had high hopes that maybe if he used these 'few' points he may draw another strong inheritance like how he did with Rob luccy!

In the end, Shinji decided to gamble on his luck!

With the idea of 'maybe I will hit the jackpot again,' Shinji entered the inheritance boundary and consumed 385 soul points for this draw leaving one hundred soul points just in case he needs it later.

A yellow orb entered between his eyebrows, he received the information about the character he inherited.