Hunter x Hunter: Card Master, the Strongest in the World

Indeed, staying still is a form of rest compared to high-intensity exercise, and it helps people relieve the fatigue that has accumulated.

But this process will take longer than people imagine, and... it will be difficult to interrupt!

Many of the candidates had come here with a lot of determination, and their previous experiences had left them exhausted.

If you can maintain this momentum until the end, that's fine, but once you relax, it's hard to get back up.

"This person is a 'white-faced but black-hearted' person," Lynn thought to himself as he glanced at Doris out of the corner of his eye.

There are plenty of smart people out there. It wasn't just Lynn who saw through this trap. Some people were doing simple activities and not letting themselves relax completely. If they collapsed now, they would face a hundred times more difficulties when they tried to get back up!

Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye.

"Alright! Break time! Everyone, keep up!" Doris spoke again, then ran down the mountain.

Seeing this, the candidates looked distressed, but they still followed suit.

We've come this far, we have to grit our teeth and keep going!

Upon hearing Doris's words, some of the relaxed examinees tensed up again and struggled to get up, but... they found that their bodies seemed to no longer belong to them.

Especially my legs, which were almost numb and had no feeling, making them completely powerless, like two heavy lead blocks.

Finished!

Heavy hammers pounded on their foreheads, making them see stars.

Only then did they realize that the rest was a hoax!

But by then it was too late; the main force had followed Doris away, and they had no chance left.

That's how brutal the Hunter Exam is.

One second they're gloating over surviving a major crisis, the next they'll find themselves caught in a trap and burst into tears.

After Doris led the remaining examinees down the mountain, she did not head towards the next snow-capped mountain, but instead turned around and headed to the left.

After traveling for about ten minutes, they arrived at the seaside of the Cruz Mountains, where a small port came into view.

The port was rather rudimentary, seemingly a temporary structure, with only a guard booth-like building and a row of ships moored a little further away.

Doris turned around, put her hands behind her back, and announced loudly:

"The first round of exams has officially ended!"

"116 people qualified!"

"Thank you all for your hard work. This is the venue for the second round of exams." With that, Doris turned and left, leaving behind a group of examinees.

The first round of exams lasted for more than seven hours, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Of the 368 candidates, only 116 passed the first round!

The pass rate was even lower than the first round of exams in the next session. Lynn recalled that there were 404 candidates, and only 148 passed.

Doris's setup was indeed quite challenging; it was too cunning.

In fact, she had made two preparations.

If the avalanche doesn't trigger it, then climb another snow-covered mountain and bring it here; the overall difficulty is about the same.

After Doris left, the candidates spontaneously walked into the port.

The seaside... Will the second round of exams be related to the sea?

Many test takers began to make their own plans.

Suddenly, the gate of the security booth opened, and a burly man dressed in a light-colored suit and black trousers walked out.

He had no eyebrows, a square nose, a square chin, and amazing muscles. He wore sunglasses, and his bronze skin symbolized his identity as a seaman.

He carried an unidentified object wrapped in a wide, long cloth on his shoulder, which looked like a large hammer. Others didn't know what it was, but Lynn knew... it was an extra-large pipe.

I ran into another acquaintance!

"Congratulations on passing the first round of the test!" Mo Laowu's voice was deep and resonant. He casually placed his large pipe against the ground, perpendicular to the ground, and rested his hands on the base of the pipe. "I am Mo Laowu, the examiner for the second round, and I am a sea hunter."

While the candidates were paying attention to him, Mo Laowu was also sizing up everyone.

The number of people is even less than he expected... Did the examiners go a bit too far in the last round? And there are two people he needs to pay attention to.

Mo Laowu instantly spotted Lynn and Hisoka, the two Nen users who were blending in with ordinary people... As his thoughts raced, he continued to introduce the second round of the test.

He pointed behind him and asked, "See those small yachts?"

"The second round of testing is very simple. You will be divided into groups of ten, and each group will drive a speedboat to the next testing location. The first five groups to arrive will pass."

The speedboats moored in the port are all of the same size, totaling fifteen.

Mo Laowu was originally worried that there wouldn't be enough people prepared, and planned to play a small game before setting off to filter the number of people.

Unexpectedly, only 116 people qualified, which is 12 groups in total, and there were even three extra ships.

116 people is not exactly enough; there will be 6 people in a separate group.

Before the specific rules are determined, no one knows whether it's better to have more or fewer teammates, but they also have no choice, as team assignments are determined by drawing lots.

Lynn was assigned to ship number seven. When he arrived at his ship, he was met by Dongba, who had a very unnatural expression.

Dongba smiled awkwardly, but was inwardly panicking... Why did he have to be paired with this person of all people?!

Chapter Thirty-One: The Supreme Wisdom of the Dongba! An Unsolvable Problem!

Before long, the candidates gathered on their respective boats.

There were three candidates on Ship No. 7 whom Lynn knew: Tonpa, Amory, and Tomen, the wrestler who stood up to question Menchi in the original story.

The small yacht is single-story with no roof. It is simply furnished, has no other supplies, and the overall space is not large. After accommodating ten people, there is not much space left.

Previously, they were all working alone, but this round, which started as a team effort, still left them with a sense of distance.

This phenomenon has also occurred on other ships and is not an isolated case.

After all, strictly speaking, they are all competitors, but they were temporarily formed into a team due to the rules.

"Since no one is speaking, let me introduce myself first." At this moment, a bald, black man stepped forward, looking like a weaker version of Superalloy Darkshine from One-Punch Man.

"My name is Mark, and I'm a professional sailor. If you're all comfortable with that, I'll be the one steering the ship from now on."

"Oh? So lucky? We have professionals like Mark, the chances of passing the exam are pretty high." Dongba said, feigning surprise, but his eyes were glancing at Lynn out of the corner of his eye.

His previous nervousness was just a conditioned reflex. He had offended Lynn before the exam and was even knocked unconscious, so he was inevitably embarrassed when he found out that Lynn was his teammate.

But now that he's calmed down, he immediately noticed the problem.

First of all, this candidate number 300... he didn't even know Lynn's name yet, but he was certain that the other party was definitely a powerful figure, and the sense of danger he felt was the same as that of Hisoka.

Secondly, the fact that the person was only knocked unconscious instead of killed, despite the malicious intent behind the attempt, indicates that the person has certain limits and would not kill indiscriminately. The key is to avoid crossing those limits and not provoke the other party.

In summary, the shrewd Tonpa instantly realized the key point and activated his super intelligence, which had enabled him to participate in the Hunter Exams for 34 consecutive terms.

This guy is definitely a top performer!

As long as he doesn't do anything reckless, at least in the second round of the exam, he will be on the same side as the other party and can rely on their protection.

Therefore, he had to observe Lynn's reaction to everything he said and did from then on.

Since Mark volunteered and no one else objected, the position of driver fell to him.

Actually, there's not much of a learning curve when it comes to driving small yachts; even someone who doesn't know much about them can operate them. But professionals have a slight advantage... Mark himself is eager to pass the test, so he doesn't feel comfortable letting others drive them.

"Now—the second round of the exam officially begins!"

Three minutes later, with Mo Laowu's order, a total of twelve ships started up and headed towards the sea ahead.

Even though we don't know where the destination is, it's always good to rush out first, since only the first five ships to arrive can advance.

Watching the departing ships, Mo Laowu slowly unwrapped the cloth strip, revealing an extra-large pipe inside, and took a puff for himself.

"call--"

Thick white smoke was exhaled from his mouth, but it did not dissipate. Instead, under Nian's control, it condensed into a shape resembling a disc.

Mo Laowu plopped down on it, and then the white smoke disc carried him into the air, flying in the direction the examinee had left.

This is Morel's Nen ability, which belongs to the manipulation type, allowing him to control the smoke he exhales in various ways.

For example, the smoke could transform into a rabbit shape for reconnaissance, or it could transform into a human shape for attack...

It also has a mimicry effect, allowing the smoke to resemble other people to confuse the audience.

His love for the ocean gave him a powerful lung capacity, which allowed him to exhale large amounts of smoke at once, making his large pipe his constant companion.

In the air, Mo Laowu leisurely smoked a cigarette, a slight smile playing on his lips, and muttered to himself, "Someone should have noticed the problem by now..."

"The Hunter Exam isn't so easy to pass."

……

The sea area outside the Cruz Mountains.

Due to the climate, the nearby seawater temperature is low, and ice blocks can often be seen floating on the sea surface.

If it were just small ice blocks, it wouldn't be so bad, but some of them were as big as a car, and small yachts could easily capsize if they weren't careful.

After a few minutes of sailing, the twelve ships dispersed in different directions, spreading out across the vast sea, riding the wind and waves.

The vast majority of test takers were doing the same thing – taking a break!

The first and second rounds of exams were seamlessly connected, while the previous round had already exhausted them.

Now that they finally have a chance to rest, everyone is sprawled out on the boat, except for the teammates assigned to the helm who are working.

But bad news soon followed.

"Everyone, we're in trouble." Mark stood up from the driver's seat, turned to Lynn and the others, and said solemnly.

After starting the yacht, Mark realized something was wrong.

The ship only has half a tank of fuel left. At this rate of consumption, the fuel will only last them half a day, and they don't even know where their destination is.

The group discussed this briefly and then dropped the subject.

There is no solution due to insufficient information.

If you run too fast, you won't have enough fuel.

But if you run too slowly, someone else might get ahead of you.

We can only take it one step at a time now.

Finally, after about half an hour, Mark was pleasantly surprised to find that the ship's radar was active, showing a location three kilometers away at the four o'clock position... Could this be the end?

Everyone unanimously decided to go and take a look.

Soon, Ship No. 7 approached the location, but to their surprise, there were no islands or even a small piece of land, only a box with a flag stuck in it.

When they pulled it out, they found an unidentified location and half a barrel of fuel, just those two items.

“So, the ship’s radar shows the supply crates, but the location inside the crates is what guides us to the final destination,” Lynn said thoughtfully.

They were briefly overjoyed after successfully solving a puzzle, but new bad news followed.

Mark said with a serious expression, "The finish line is too far away. Based on the fuel we have, we can only travel less than half the distance."

Since some fuel was consumed when retrieving the supply box, and the direction traveled was not consistent with the destination, it was equivalent to wasting some fuel.

They currently have a little over half a tank of fuel, meaning they need two full tanks to reach the third test location.

We need to get at least three more supply crates.

"So, this ship can only cover half the distance?" Amory frowned. Not enough fuel was a big problem. They couldn't possibly swim to the finish line in this icy sea, could they?

“That’s right. If nothing unexpected happens, it will take more than twenty hours to reach our destination, and we only have enough fuel for half a day,” Mark nodded.

"What if we reduce our speed? Will we save fuel and reach the finish line?" one candidate asked.

Mark shook his head: "Unfortunately, even the most fuel-efficient method is not enough, and... the rule is that only the top five ships can pass the test."

Yes, if they slow down, it won't matter if they reach the finish line, because someone else is likely to overtake them.