Chapter 6 - Phase 2

*Creak* A huge door to a castle opened slowly. 2 Figures were waiting outside with plenty of kitchen-ware lying in the front garden.

"Nice to meet you, My name is Menchi and this is Buhara. We are Food Hunters"

Hearing this made everyone's mouths water, they were Running for God knows How long without any food or water. Many even fainted due to exhaustion, some of them tried eating few berries and fruits in the swamps to be poisoned or come down with stomach aches. A Food Hunter would surely give the best food.

"The next test is simple, make a Pig meat dish for us. If..." She was Interuptted by a fat guy with blonde hair.

"Huuhh, I didn't come here to be a lame food hunter." He rushed towards her pulling his right hand into a Fist.

He wasn't angry with the nature of the test but to make food for others when he was starving.

*Wham* A slap threw him around 10-15 metres above ground crashing on the watchtower before falling. A single slap from Buhara ended all signs of violence.

The Blondy gritted his teeth, brushed off the dirt and stood among the crowd this time, while his stomach grumbled.

Mach was surprised he could shrug it off, not only was he thrown that and high, he crashed into a wall and even fell down from that height. How was he still alive? Mach's nerves tensed up, the people here were not meant to be underestimated because they lost in the early stages. There were some crouching tigers and Hidden Dragons among them.

The test had 2 rules.

1. The dish should have Pig Meat in it.

2. Gain approval from both the Examiners.

Mach knew about this and hence he already prepared beforehand. After the captain's "Not enough" comment, Mach spent his time thinking on a contigency plan to pass the hunter exams.

The fruits he collected earlier with gon's consent in the swamp are going to come of use here.

"Gon, Killua, everyone come here. I was hungry earlier and ate some fruits from the Swamps before. They were good so I brought some for you guys too. We can add them to the dish."

Kurapika added "True, I was hungry too so I grabbed some berries earlier."

"Me and Ponzu will stay back and work on the bowls and berries, you guys go bring some Pigs." Mach was exhausted and needed rest. He had pushed himself to his limits again and again.

Ponzu spoke "I have some Honey too, It's not enough for an entire pig, but if we are using a small portion of Pig meat, it should be enough for 6 people."

Candidates rushed out to find pigs in the forest. However, these were extremely violent. They trampled the participants like insects beneath feet.

Thanks to Gon, they discover the pigs' weakness and manage to each get one for their cooking.

The dish contained an egg as a side dish, Pig liver coated with honey as the main dish served with Berry juice squeezed out in a small glass. Mach wanted to bring some spices, but that would raise questions. He held his breath, prayed to the gods and present his dish.

Buhara raises the green circle indicating pass as usual. Menchi looks doubtfully at Mach for a while before raising her green circle indicating pass and says "Only by the skin of your teeth. Go inside the castle to rest, the second half of phase 2 begins at 8:00pm tonight."

Mach's Heart had a rush, joy before breaking and then rejoicing again. He was the first person to pass, but his friends had made identical dishes.

He was Glad about passing, sad about the second half he never knew about before becoming eager to face the unknown. Afterall the unknown held a mystic lure to him ever since he got here.

Everyone else passed too, the onlookers understood the trick - Quality. They made the same dish. Sadly, only few could do so before the resources of the forest ran out. Any other species except the pig was a rarity, be it bees, birds, bugs or even bunnies. Only Apples, Grass and Pigs lived in abundant amounts in these forests.

Another 21 people also passed the exams. Menchi was quite strict, the only reason she let Mach and the gang pass was to encourage the others to make better food.

Hisoka just blatantly outright cheated, as buhara gave a pass to any edible food he made a simple pork and used Texture surprise on it to make honey and sauce. It looked extravagant.

26 people passed the first half of phase 2. Although an airship did hover above the skies, yet Netero did not need appear.

That night, Menchi made dinner for everyone they had Eagle Spider eggs, Grape of a tree that took 35 years to mature (it was essentially wine), Machurian, pasta, Stuffed potatoes, stuffed chicken, roasted fishes that were 4ft long and BBQ.

"Listen Up, The second half of Phase 2 is eating the right food. Some of the Food here is mixed with poison. Those who can report at 8:00am tomorrow morning can go for Phase 3. Good Luck"

"Gon can you find out which among them has poison in it?." Mach asked

"I will help too" Killua chimed in, poison didn't exactly work on him.

"Its useless to try such methods, These are the hunter exams. I suspect its all down to luck and taste. She probably injected sleeping drugs in the food individually. For eg - 2 out of 3 manchurian could have the drugs but the last one may not have it. 1 out 4 grape juice cups could have it, an entire chicken could have it too." Tonpa spoke.

Hearing him made the participants cautious, they were grateful to him. Mach was stunned by his astute judgement. "Was tonpa-san a genius?" mach wondered.

Just to be sure, Mach used nen vision on the food. The food is clean, there's no nen in it. Mach sighed, if only Menchi used nen to for poison.

"Why don't we mix the food" a woman carrying sniper suggested. Hearing her, A few people try it out. They crushed the manchurians into pulp, thoroughly mixed them before eating. Within minutes, all of them fell asleep. The poison was highly potent.

At the end, everyone sighed. They couldn't do anything about it. As tonpa said, it boiled down to luck. Besides, they were too hungry to struggle more.

A few candidates fell the ground, their mouth foaming. Many decided not to eat at all. To get to the next stage, they didn't need to eat, just report tomorrow morning.

Hisoka, tonpa, sexy woman with sniper and few others didn't eat anything.

Tonpa had a few dozen antidotes, he sold them for 10 Grand per antidote. But mach knew better, the dead couldn't reclaim back their money. If those 'antidotes' were fake, they will definitely die.

Gon and Killua tasted everything, they gave the good food to us. We felt horrible, eating your own food was ok but all the fruits and nuts were also used up in the first half.

Ultimately, mach, leorio, ponzu and kurapika had a little bit of food before saying they had enough. Even if Gon and killua could handle poison, taking in a piece or cup's worth will be enough to knock them out too.

After the dinner, candidates were shown to their rooms. The dead were dragged out somewhere else.

Out of the 26 candidates who survived first half, only 19 candidates woke up at 8:00am the next day.

They were Illuki, Hisoka(starving), Tonpa(starving), Mach, Gon, Killua, Kirapika, Leorio, Ponzu, a ninja (starving), the sexy woman with a sniper, the bee guy, Bourbon, an old man from a martial arts background.

Mach couldn't sleep the entire night, partially because he was adding nothing but trouble and because he was hungry.

At 8am next morning, Chairman Netero said "Those who did not manage to appear for the exam on time will be disqualified. Everyone present, Follow me to the airship. We will reach our destination in 3 days, so take this time to prepare yourselves."

Everyone felt a burden off their shoulders, if it takes 3 days, they will be provided meals, they didn't have their fill yesterday.

And so Phase 3 began with 19 candidates.

Mach noticed something else too, the hunter exams weren't mysterious but predefined.

The Hunter Examination was just a simulation of any real life situations they would have face as Hunters.

The first phase challenged a person's ability to follow or reach an objective over a large distance anyhow in any situations or deceptions.

The second Phase relied on obtaining the right nutrition in any situation.

Phase 3 was about handling various requests and deceptions.

Phase 4 required you to eliminate your pursuers.

Phase 5 was about the fights you cannot run from or you must win.

Over the next 3 days, everyone stuffed their stomachs like their lives depended on it. Quitely Frankly, they did. The airship reaches the Phase Three site - Trick Tower.

They were dropped on the roof, mach was actually worried at this point. The 6 of them couldn't go together according to story. It was going to boil down on his luck.