HP - I Got My Sacred Gear... and It Manifested as a Chat Group!?

Satotz waited around 5 minutes for the participants of the Hunter Exam to get out of the tunnel before a gate shut close.

There even was a candidate right in front of it crawling up the steps, crying for it to wait.

What an idiot... that pretty much saved his life. If he wasn't strong enough to push through the goal, so close to it, then he wasn't Hunter material and would have died here.

While the group had gathered in front of the exit, most of them recovering from the long run they just experienced. Only a few, like Hisoka, didn't seem to be affected at all.

In the meantime, Satotz addressed the group of Examinees, "These are the Milsy Wetlands, also known as 'Swindler's Swamp.' The second round will be happening here. You'll have to pass through it to get to the location. The whole ecosystem is based on tricking its prey, and they eat humans. Follow me closely, and stay focused. Or else you will be lost!"

"That's wrong. He's lying to you!" Someone shouted from behind the tunnel entrance.

A tattered man came around the corner, pointing at Satotz accusingly, "He's an impostor! He's not an examiner! I am the real Examiner!"

Harry was surprised how well disguised this creature is. If he hadn't awakened his Aura Nodes or had foreknowledge, he would have a hard time distinguishing him from a real human.

Even with Nen the Monkey, the disguise is really good; the only thing confirming that he wasn't a Hunter was that his Nen was not awakened; else everything indicates that it supposedly was a regular human.

Not a small amount of candidates got confused by the man-faced ape; its plan worked.

Of course there is a bigger predator present. That one wouldn't want to lose his prey.

As the man-faced ape in disguise pulled another of its kind into Vision, whom he had supposedly taken out, confusing even more of the candidates, Harry noticed Hisoka's bloodlust rising.

Hisoka released a set of playing cards from his hands, and Harry noticed the aura around them. This is an even more advanced version of Shu; he enshrouded his Nen around the cards and threw them with a bit of emission.

Harry could do the same; he had gained the understanding from absorbing Gido, who used that as his Hatsu with his spinning tops. Hisoka just used Nen basics, but with a Master, it's very effective.

Without any resistance, they pierced into the Man-faced Ape; meanwhile, Satotz just casually caught them in his hands. The aura around these cards was not strong enough to pierce Satotz's normal Nen defenses.

Tough weather, Satotz could beat Hisoka in a battle was another question. In the future, the only ones Hisoka found slightly interesting amongst the majority of Hunters were the Zodiacs, which are implied to be the strongest Hunters in the whole organization.

Well, Hunters are far more complex than simple strength; Hisoka is rather an unpredictable outlier than the rule. He carves a good Battle to death. Always hunting for the next opponent.

As the ape dropped dead on the ground, Hisoka said, "Heh, heh, I see! ♠"

The monkey playing dead that had been dragged in front of the group noticed that things changed and fled for his life, only to be finished by another card.

"He is the real deal. ♥" Unbothered Hisoka pointed at Satotz, "Examiners are Hunters who do this without any pay on the request of the Hunter Associations. A real Hunter should have no trouble stopping my attack. ♣"

"I'll take that as a compliment. However, the next time you should attack me, and you will be immediately disqualified." Satotz stated stoically.

"Sure ♠"

Some of the birds native to this swamp crowded on the ape corpses and began to rip them apart; this was the fate of anyone being tricked by the wildlife in this swamp.

This part of the Hunter Exam is clearly more dangerous than the boring Underground Tunnel, where all you needed was stamina. Swindlers Swamp is the true test for this round; before it was just a method to sort out the weak.

Satotz took off at a rapid pace, forcing the crowd of participants to chase after him. Those left behind would have to survive on their own in this harsh environment.

Harry decided to keep close to Satotz; together with Gon and Killua, he could clearly feel Hisoka's bloodthirst in the air.

Killua felt the same, "Let's go to the front."

As innocent as ever, Gon nodded, "Yeah, we should keep an eye on Mr. Satotz."

"It's not following Satotz that worries Killua. Hisoka wants to kill again." Harry sighed as they passed some candidates getting further to the front, "That's why he stopped the man-faced ape in the first place. More prey for him."

Proving his innocence, further Gon turned his head to the back and shouted, "Leorio, Kurapika! You should get up here to the front!"

All they got in reply was a distant, "If we could, we would!"

In their surroundings the air grew heavy with more shouts and screams of horror, but the thick mist covering the swamp made it impossible to identify the threats. Gon kept looking worried towards the back.

"Don't be stupid. You have to watch out for yourself!" Killua reprimanded Gon, clearly anticipating what he was thinking, "We can barely see the guys right in front of us. If you leave, you won't find your way back."

Harry jogging beside them was relaxed, with his En active monitoring his surroundings, it was easy to dodge the crafty wildlife.

Gon was simply Gon and had his own mind; the moment he heard Leorio's scream in the back, he rushed off.

"That idiot!" cursed Killua as he kept jogging with the group.

"Don't worry about him. Hisoka decided to act. But he won't kill Gon, Leorio, Kurapika, or even you."

"Why? You could feel his bloodthirst too!" Killua replied, confused.

"Sure, but what Hisoka loves the most is a good fight. Most of the candidates can't give it to him. But you, Gon, and even Kurapika and Leorio have a lot of potential. It's no fun for him to kill you now if you can entertain him even more in the future!" Harry explained that he had gathered this info from the short interactions with Hisoka.

No. But he knew a possible future.

"And you don't have potential?" Killua pointed out.

"I do. But he would fight me now if he had the chance." He chuckled.

Killua pouted annoyed, "Are you saying you are stronger than me?"

"Yep." Harry popped the P. "Hisoka would most likely fight me seriously and try to kill me. I will keep my distance from the perverse Killer Clown! As for why I am stronger than you? Once you have truly become a Hunter, you will know."

"Tell me!" Killua complained.

"Won't!"

"Come on!"

"Nope!"

———

Like in the original story, at the site of the Second Exam, first Hisoka returned while carrying a knocked-out Leorio, dropping him off at a tree, followed by Gon and Kurapika, who had used Gon's keen sense of smell to follow Leorio's cologne.

"Huh, you were right. He let them go." Said Killua as the two of them approached the other three who were staring at the building where the second round of the exam would happen.

"We can't get in yet." Killua once they were beside them.

"Killua, Harry!" greeted Gon.

They chatted for a while, since the second round would only begin at noon and there were still a few minutes left on the clock of the building.

Exactly on the minute, a rumbling sound spread through the area, and the door opened, revealing a turquoise-haired woman on a soft chair, with a massive man sitting on the floor behind her.

The loud rumble came from the man's stomach.

"So… you're hungry." The woman, whom Harry knew was called Menchi, asked the large man he believed was called Buhara.

"Hungry? I'm starving!" Buhara replied.

Menchi then shouted into the crowd, "Okay, listen up! The topic of the Second Round is cooking. You will prepare some dishes to satisfy our tastes. If you can do that, you pass onto the next round."

As Harry prepared himself for the upcoming idiots, the crowd was dumbfounded.

"Cooking?" "Why cooking?"

"Because we are Gourmet Hunters!" Menchi stated confidently.

At that laughter spread through the crowd, most prominently from a fat wrestler or something, who had even a name but was so unimportant for the story that Harry had long forgotten it. The participants were taking this not serious at all.

Unfortunately, Menchi wasn't taking that well at all and got visibly annoyed.

"So, Gourmet Hunters, what are we supposed to make?" Asked the fat wrestler dismissively.

Before Menchi could continue, Harry said loudly, "Man, the weaklings are always the most annoying ones…"

At that, more candidates laughed, including the wrestler, "Even the kid is looking down on you."

"No, fatso. I was talking about you and the other idiots. Harry replied in a calm voice, but the pulse of the fat wrestler was clearly racing, "Do you even have an idea who you are talking to? Not only are they fully fledged Hunters, having completed the exam, which, as far as I am aware, you failed before. And the beauty over there is even a single star hunter in her early twenties. Do you know what a single star hunter is? Someone who has produced remarkable achievements in a field! Like solving a pandemic, for example. So who are you? A dumb fatso in his thirties laughing about a successful woman who even decided if he can become a hunter this year…"

This silenced the crowd. Of course the fat wrestler was completely pissed off.

"You fucking brat! Die!" He rushed at Harry, who looked at him bored. Dodging the incoming fist, Harry punched the fat guy in the face, making him fly through the air without even having used Nen.

"Now that this is over with, can we continue the exam?" Harry asked as if nothing happened.

"Sure, thank you, Participant 65!" Menchi smiled at him.

The Examiners continued with their explanation, "First you will prepare a dish for me." Explained Bukhara.

Menchi followed up, "Once you pass Buhara's assessment, you will be allowed to prepare one for me. Once the two of us are full, the second round ends. You have until then to satisfy us."

No longer dared the participants to laugh at them.

On the other hand, Harry got confused. He is certain that the exam participants laughing at the gourmet hunters at the beginning of the exam only happened in the anime. But that the exam had two different dishes to prepare was out of the manga.

Wouldn't that mean that he was in a completely original timeline neither belonging to the manga nor the anime? Or was it his influence that had caused these events?

The multiverse is a complex construct… but he had to be careful; that also could mean that completely unexpected events could happen.

Well, the first dish was simple and only required a bit of combat skill. All Buhara wanted was a roasted pig dish.

In this reserve lived only one type of pig, a carnivorous one with a big, hard snout.

They were easy to take out since their weakness was their forehead protected by the snout and could be taken out with one punch.

And Buhara passed 70 applicants.

It was Menchi who was troublesome. Or rather spiteful.

She asked for sushi.

Yeah, sushi. A dish that requires decades of practice to be called a master in preparing it.

And it was a relative unknown dish in this world, although the necessary ingredients for the classic version got leaked, since Ninjy Baldy Hanzo is from Japan (this world's version of Japan), and Kurapika is knowledgeable and remembered that this dish required fish.

While they were right, most kinds of sushi require fish; it's saltwater fish, and they were in the middle of a continent, no ocean close by.

Preparing sushi with freshwater fish is a completely idiotic idea since you shouldn't eat freshwater fish raw. These fish are full of parasites that usually don't survive in saltwater but require you to heat up freshwater fish.

And at this point not even one candidate had passed yet. Even after Hanzo revealed the correct shape for sushi.

Harry had a different idea. While he had never eaten sushi in this life, no way the Dursleys would eat 'Jap' food. And how would a society stuck in the Middle Ages know about sushi? No way Hogwarts was serving it.

But he had tasted it in his past life a few times. There wasn't just raw fish sushi.

"And what is that?" Asked Menchi, pleased as she observed the plate Harry served her.

"Well, you can be quite mean." Harry replied in a tone that only they could hear him, "As a gourmet hunter, you should be aware that you shouldn't prepare sushi from freshwater fish. Instead I decided to prepare some vegetable rolls for you. Hopefully they are to your tastes, since I am not a qualified sushi chef."

"While the shape is a bit clumsy, it already looks far better than the rest of the participants. You even prepared some reverse rolls! So what do we have here?" Menchi asked.

"I worked with what I could find. These are wild carrot rolls with some spring onions. For these ones, I used wild cucumbers, and these ones are pickled variants in a lightly spicy brine; they took the most time." Harry pointed out.

Hopefully, his skills that he developed while slaving away for the Dursleys were good enough. But he had secretly used his trump card while nobody had been watching, since he knew one round of the exam was cooking, he had specifically learned the Inn Charm.

The Inn Charm enhances the flavor and quality of the food and gets used in wizarding restaurants regularly.

"Mhh, while you are no master, you have talent!" Menchi praised pleased as she tasted the different rolls; the charm had clearly done its job.

And Harry had specially made sure to compliment her before the exam and show off that he wasn't looking down on her to leave a positive impression. The Fatso was still lying knocked out in front of the exam site.

"Are you interested in becoming a gourmet hunter?" She asked.

"I never thought about it. While I am certain that it won't be my main occupation, I like cooking well enough for dabbling into it." Harry replied without committing himself to it.

Cooking had been an escape from the Dursleys, even if he was forced into it.

After all, Aunt Petunia was a below-average cook, and you could clearly see how much they loved food. No way they would mess with him while preparing their beloved food.

But to say that it was his passion would be a lie. He liked good food but enjoyed more to have a true master prepare it for him.

"Too bad. I would have offered you to become my apprentice." She sighed a bit disappointed, "Still, you pass! Congratulations!"

"He passes? How?" muttered the participants behind him since she had announced the last part loudly.

"How did you do it, Harry?" Asked Gon, who had already failed with the others.

"Hmm, I put a bit more effort into it." He replied casually. In fact, using Magic for it was a bit of a cheat unique to him.

With a loud gong, Menchi announced after she had finished all of his plate, "That's it! I am full now! Only one participant passes!"

That's a statement the candidates didn't appreciate at all. They feel wronged, kind of rightfully. This exam is very specific, with almost no chance of passing.

Harry only did so by being sly and familiar with the task and still needed a slight cheat for it.

The atmosphere is getting dangerous. Most of the candidates in the exam are harmless, but then there is someone like Hisoka, who was leaking a lot of bloodlust.

Preventing an escalation was only the sudden sound of an airship.

Isaac Netero, the chairman of the Hunter Association, opened the door and jumped out of it. He landed neatly in the middle of the candidates, who stared at him in astonishment.

Menchi also looked slightly nervous, "Chairman Netero, the man responsible for the Hunter Exam."

While everyone was stunned by the feat the old man just performed, Harry was stunned by something else. This old man is a total monster; his aura is over the top even in a state of ten.

Considering he couldn't even beat the Chimera Ant King while it wasn't even trying to kill him, it puts matters a bit more into perspective. Harry felt that his natural talent was around Gon and Killua's level; thanks to his potions, knowledge, and experiences, he easily had exceeded their speed.

In a serious fight he had no chance of beating Netero at the moment, and he felt that he could fight Hisoka, while not beating him, at least putting up a good fight and escaping. He wanted to reach that level.

And of course, like any powerful old man, he was a lecher. Harry deadpanned as he watched Netero take a peek down Menchi's cleavage.

"Responsible, yes. But I only interfere if there is a problem and solve it.", he said.

In the end, Menchi tried to step down as an examiner, but Netero offered instead to let her select another task. One that was solvable without a set of very specific skills that required years of training or some cheats, one that she had to perform first for all to see.

She decided to take them to Split Mountain.

Like the name said, it's a mountain with a split going through its center. Harry always wondered if it was the result of a powerful battle or some kind of training someone did, ending up breaking the mountain into two.

But there was no sign beyond the Split that could prove his theory. It happened most likely too long ago since it had already become a natural part of the ecology.

This Split is the home of Spider Eagles, who create their nest in between it out of web, their eggs hanging in the air, hard to reach for any predators. And the goal of the new task.

To pass, one had to collect one of the eggs and cook it.

While Harry didn't have to participate in it, he decided he wanted to do it either way. It looked like a ton of fun.

And why was he doing all this training in the first place? To live freely and do what he wants, getting some tasty but dangerous ingredient absolutely fits into that.

In the end he even secretly used a portal to gather a few full nests into his inventory to have some of these eggs in stock.

This time 42 participants remained in the exam.

( End of Chapter )

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