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

[Type: Item Card]

[Background: Death]

[Description: A damaged ice-type Zanpakuto. It can unleash ice-type attacks, consumes a large amount of Nen, and enters its Shikai state by shouting its name. The power of Hyōrinmaru increases during this state. However, since it lacks the consciousness of a blade, it cannot perform Bankai.]

It's a Zanpakuto from Bleach!

Moreover, it's the strongest ice-type Zanpakuto, [Hyōrinmaru].

However, this is a damaged Hyōrinmaru, lacking its own blade consciousness, so it cannot be Bankai. Even so, it is still a rare and excellent sword, especially with its ice and snow-related abilities that suit it perfectly!

With a slight thought, Lynn transformed the card into a seemingly simple longsword with a deep blue hilt and a layer of frost on the blade, occasionally brushing past with a barely perceptible frost pattern.

Hyōrinmaru's current appearance is not outstanding, but it will show its true handsome appearance after it is released.

Lynn casually made two slashes, causing the air temperature to drop sharply, accompanied by falling snowflakes, demonstrating that even before its Shikai form, Hyōrinmaru could still unleash considerable power.

He couldn't even imagine how powerful his ice and snow techniques would be if he were in the form of the Snow Woman, wielding Hyōrinmaru and using his swordsmanship.

Immediately, Lynn patted his waist again, and the sword-shaped Demon Sword Princess instantly transformed into human form, bowing slightly to Lynn in respect: "Lord Lynn."

"Yoto Hime, it's yours." Lynn handed the Hyōrinmaru directly to Yoto Hime.

Since the Demon Blade Princess can fully inherit the effects of the sword, it's natural to feed the sword to her to maximize its value.

"Yes!" Yaodao-hime seemed very excited, her beautiful eyes staring straight at Hyōrinmaru, just like Erina's expression when she saw the Eternal Spirit Sword, eager to "devour" it.

Lady Lynn is so kind to let her eat such a delicious knife.

Yaodao-hime admired Lynn again in her heart, while her hands continued to work, absorbing Hyōrinmaru. Since it was an A-rank famous sword, Yaodao-hime spent a little more time on it this time.

After absorbing the energy, Yaodao-hime transformed into Hyōrinmaru form on her own, allowing Lynn to experience the effects. Lynn also noticed that Yaodao-hime had successfully advanced from A- to A- rank.

【Name: Yoto Hime (Hyōrinmaru Form)】

[Grade: A]

[Type: Character Card]

[Background: Onmyoji]

[Description: This form is obtained after absorbing Hyōrinmaru. It can unleash ice-type attacks, consume a large amount of Nen, and shout the sword's name to enter Shikai state, where Hyōrinmaru's power increases. Bankai can be unlocked after Yōtōhime grows to a certain level.]

A-rank Yaodao-hime is equivalent to two or even more A-rank swords. She is equivalent to possessing the famous A-rank swords Shusui and Hyōrinmaru.

Since the Demon Blade Princess will continuously level up, the more swords he feeds to her, the more swords will level up along with her. It's like getting multiple things for the price of one – there's no better deal than this.

Currently, Yaodao-hime has three sword forms: a basic form without special effects, Shusui used for sword practice, and Hyōrinmaru used in battle.

Furthermore, since Yaodao-hime ate Hyōrinmaru, she essentially replaced Hyōrinmaru and regained the self-awareness of the blade. As long as she continues to grow, she will have the opportunity to achieve Bankai.

With the A-rank Hyōrinmaru, his combat power has reached a new level!

……

the next morning.

Because we departed on time the day before, the airship arrived at the location of the third exam—the Tower of Tricks—at eight o'clock sharp today!

The area is surrounded by forests, and in the very center stands a stone pillar. The "Tower of Tricks" is located on this huge stone pillar, as if another, relatively smaller stone pillar were stacked on top of it.

Its true identity is a prison, which holds many criminals, such as fraudsters and serial killers.

What they have in common is that they mostly have extremely long prison sentences, usually over a hundred years.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, they will remain in this prison until they die of old age.

However, this place was chosen as the venue for the hunter exam, and the warden arranged for anyone who hindered the candidates from passing the exam to receive a reduced sentence.

As the airship docked at the top of the "Tower of Tricks," countless examinees emerged from it one after another.

"Hello everyone, this place is called the Tower of Tricks, which is the location of the first half of the third exam."

"All candidates must reach the bottom of the tower within the specified 72 hours, or they will be eliminated."

The man with the bean-shaped face enthusiastically explained the rules to the test takers.

"First half? Is there a second half of the exam?" Xiao Jie raised his hand and asked, demonstrating his spirit of asking questions when he didn't understand.

"Yes, once you all reach the bottom of the tower, the second half of the exam will take place here. The specific details cannot be revealed yet, so please do your best," the Bean-faced Man said gently.

"I see, thank you, Mr. Bean Man." Xiao Jie suddenly realized.

The Bean Man then returned to the airship and disappeared from everyone's sight.

The third exam has now begun.

The seemingly empty top has grooves and patterns on it, clearly indicating that there is some kind of mechanism inside.

"Leorio, it's your time to shine." Lynn patted his capable apprentice on the shoulder. "This is a good opportunity to hone your abilities."

"In this exam, you'll have to dig all the way down to the very bottom using the operating room!"

Nen abilities need to be mastered through repeated use, and even further developed. The best way to master Leorio's "Portable Operating Room" is to find something and keep opening up space and cutting. Gradually, the spatial range, duration, and cutting intensity will also be upgraded.

This Tower of Tricks is a great place to practice.

"Huh? Okay!" Leorio was taken aback for a moment, then quickly realized what was going on.

Yeah, he already has Nen abilities, why would he need to find any mechanisms or go down any stairs? He could just create a path straight to the bottom of the tower!

The next moment, Leorio's gaze sharpened. He crouched down, placed his hands on the ground, and activated his [Portable Operating Room]. He then used the [Finger Gun] to enhance his fingers and began digging.

His Nen ability already allows him to cut and destroy objects more easily; it's just that his Nen can resist some of the effects.

Therefore, even the hard stone ground was like tofu in front of Leorio. He could cut it into several square blocks without much effort, and soon he dug out an entrance that could accommodate a person to pass through.

Seeing this, the other candidates were stunned.

Is the ground really that fragile? Can a human hand break through it?

Dongba, somewhat skeptical, inexplicably squatted down and plunged his hand into the ground... A fraction of a second later, he jumped up in pain, clutching his finger, his face ashen, and letting out a pitiful scream, "Ah!"

It wasn't that easy after all.

Seeing the tragic consequences for Dongba, those with strong empathy instinctively covered their own fingers, as if they were the ones in pain.

The floor is fine.

But why was that person able to dig it open like digging tofu?

Is his hand as hard as a diamond?

This question also arose among Kurapika and others.

Kurapika stared intently at the hole in the floor, then glanced at Leorio's unchanging hand, and frowned.

This unscientific!

There must be some special ability that he doesn't know about that allowed Leorio to do such an incredible thing.

Just like before when Lynn took something out of the shadows.

"Killua, did you see that? Leorio dug right through the ground!" Gon exclaimed, marveling at Leorio's incredible power.

"Hmm..." Killua's mind wasn't on Gon. Like Kurapika, he was also very puzzled as to how Leorio could do this.

He just tested the floor; although it's not thick, it's quite firm.

Even if he dug with all his might, it would be difficult to do what Leorio did... What exactly is going on? Could it be that Leorio was also an assassin, and even stronger than him?

If even his apprentices have such abilities, then how strong is Lynn?

Will he be as strong as his older brother?

Killua thought to himself, “Lynn and his apprentice are clearly not simple. I wonder how much information they have gathered about them.”

"Master, please." Leorio cupped his hands and said, letting his master go first.

Lynn nodded slightly, then leaped into the cave and went directly to the first floor of the tower. Since he did not enter through the mechanism, he arrived at a fairly spacious corridor.

"Don't be shy, use it as you like," Leorio said casually, then jumped down second, followed closely by Kurapika and the other two.

Upon seeing this, apart from a few lucky individuals who had already used the mechanism to enter, most of the other examinees were eager to jump into the hole opened up by Leorio.

But before they could enter, they discovered that the stones had been thrown back into the cave, gradually returning to their original state before the excavation, as if they had never been opened at all.

What on earth is going on?!

Dongba was stunned once again, even wondering if he was hallucinating, that the floor hadn't actually been damaged at all.

……

Inside the monitoring room of the Tower of Deception.

The walls were covered with images of all the candidates, as well as many scenes where no candidates were present at the moment.

Not only to monitor prisoners, but also to satisfy Warden Riber's voyeuristic tendencies, cameras were installed in almost every corner of the prison.

In front of many images sits Riber, who is rather thin and has a purple rooster-like hairstyle.

Even with round glasses, he couldn't hide his narrow eyes, which made him look like a bad person.

Click.

Riber, with his squinty eyes, took a bite of half a biscuit, making a crisp sound in the monitoring room. His sharp gaze remained fixed on a few fixed images on the screen, and he said with exasperation, "What's wrong with these candidates? How come only so few have entered so far? Are they really that bad?"

“Warden, you… look over there!” A prison guard’s voice trembled as he pointed to a scene on the big screen.

"Hmm?" Riber frowned, looked in the direction of the finger, and his squinty eyes widened as if he had seen something unbelievable.

How could this be?! How come there are five examinees in the corridor?!

Chapter 134 Ginta the Sheep! Found Kim ahead of schedule?

The Hunter Exam shouldn't be like this.

Candidates should honestly find the mechanism at the top of the tower, enter the corresponding room, and then follow his procedure step by step. The team should create conflicts and trust crises, which will keep him entertained. After experiencing some twists and turns, you should be able to pass through the various checkpoints he has carefully arranged!

He had it all planned out!

But why?

Why did five candidates suddenly appear in the corridor?

Riber stared intently at the screen. Like Illumi, he was also a person with an extremely strong desire for control, coupled with a perverse sense of humor. When an accident occurred that was beyond his control, he couldn't help but become anxious.

It suddenly appeared in the hallway... Could there be something wrong with the ceiling?

Lieber quickly turned the camera to look at the ceiling, but he didn't see any holes or gaps.

Everything is still normal.

Because the hole had already been sewn back together by Leorio.

Since the goal is to develop skills, it's not enough to just practice cutting; you also need to pay attention to sewing to make it complete.

Furthermore, he had promised the old man last night that he wouldn't cause any damage, so it wouldn't be appropriate to open a passage from beginning to end for the trap tower today. Therefore, he sewed it back together after cutting it.

What the hell? How did these five people appear?

Did the organization make a mistake in its arrangements?

Riber scratched his head, completely baffled.

What's even more frustrating is that there's no loudspeaker in the corridor they're in, so he can't even make a sound. Luckily, it must have just been an accident. They'll have to keep trying to get through the challenges... right?

……

Meanwhile, in the corridor.

"Leorio, how did you do that?" Kurapika hesitated for a moment before stepping forward to ask, echoing the thoughts of Gon and Killua, who were also very curious.

First, he opened the hard floorboards with his bare hands, and then threw them back to restore them.

This is so exaggerated that one look is enough to tell that it's not something a normal person could do!

"Well..." Leorio scratched his face, seemingly unsure how to explain, and looked to Lynn for help.

"This isn't a secret. You'll find out naturally once you become hunters," Lynn said.

Will becoming a hunter allow you to find out?