The other examinees also looked at Morin with strange expressions.
They thought of the loudspeaker Morin had pulled out from who knew where earlier and felt as though he was performing magic.
Kanzai had already explained the rules of the second round. After hesitating for a second or two, all the examinees firmly stepped forward.
Once one examinee took the lead, the others soon passed Kanzai in groups of two or three and ran toward the depths of the tunnel.
Before long, more than seventy people had vanished from sight.
Only three people remained where they were.
Besides Morin and Kanzai, there was also the great Tonpa, who had a square nose and had passed the first round.
His legs trembled slightly, and sweat kept pouring down his face.
"Um..."
Tonpa swallowed and pulled at his face, forcing out a smile even uglier than crying.
"It was wrong of me to hand out drinks with laxatives before. If there's anything else you're unhappy about, just say it!!"
He had wanted to leave early and avoid Morin.
But under Morin's calm gaze, and with some inexplicable pressure firmly locking onto him, he could not move at all.
"Why are you in such a hurry? Help me with something, and you can leave."
Morin casually waved a hand.
"Uh, what kind of help?"
Tonpa hurriedly asked.
Morin did not answer him. Instead, he looked toward Kanzai, who was walking over.
Kanzai came over and bluntly asked, "Are you that very trou... impressive rookie from the first round?"
"You meant troublesome, right?"
Morin smiled. "Am I that famous? Even you people know about me?"
"More or less. It's all the same."
Kanzai scratched his head and laughed awkwardly. "I can tell you're pretty strong too. How about a match?!!" As he spoke, Kanzai's face filled with eagerness.
"Is it really okay for an examiner to make a move against an examinee?" Morin asked with a smile.
"It's fine. It's just a spar."
Kanzai grinned. "We won't get serious. We'll just compare our physical skills."
As he spoke, he did not forget to glance at Tonpa beside them.
The hidden meaning in his words was obvious. He intended to have a match without using Nen abilities.
With another examinee like Tonpa present, he naturally would not mention Nen abilities.
Besides, he had no intention of competing in Nen abilities anyway.
Even Kruke had suffered a setback at Morin's hands because of Nen abilities.
He was not about to make trouble for himself.
Kanzai might have been blunt and hot-tempered, but that did not mean he was stupid.
"Do you just want to test each other's skills?"
A playful smile appeared on Morin's lips. "It's not impossible for you to fight me."
"But first, I need to know what level your physical skills are at. If you're too weak, I won't accept."
"Hm?"
Feeling that Morin was looking down on him, Kanzai raised his brows, his tone growing heavier.
"Then tell me, what level is good enough for you?"
"At the very least, you should be able to knock him down, right?"
"Huh?"
Tonpa, who had been watching the show from the side, suddenly froze.
He realized that the person Morin was pointing at seemed, perhaps, maybe, possibly... to be him?!!
"You're not joking, are you?"
Kanzai looked at Tonpa, whose eyes had turned into dots, and nearly laughed.
"I don't have time to joke around with you!!"
By the end, Kanzai's tone had clearly become more ferocious.
He felt that Morin was playing him.
"What, are you afraid?"
Morin still smiled playfully.
"Or are you afraid that an examinee defeating an examiner would be too embarrassing?"
"A clumsy provocation."
Kanzai stared straight at Morin. "But I really do want to see what gives you the confidence to say this ugly fat man is around my level."
He turned to Tonpa, whose face had gone pale. "Come on. I also want to see what makes an examinee who has taken the test so many times without passing so special."
"No, rather, the fact that you've survived more than twenty exams in a row already proves that you have some impressive qualities."
"Um..."
Sweat covered Tonpa's forehead as he repeatedly waved his hands. "I can't do it!"
"Can you please not drag me into whatever is going on between you two?!!"
He wailed inwardly.
"Enough nonsense!"
Kanzai impatiently cut him off. "Hurry up!"
He had already curled his hands into clawed fists and assumed a fighting stance.
"I-I-I..."
Tonpa panicked and could only look to Morin for help.
Morin's response was to toss something at him.
"Put this on and fight him."
Morin sat calmly in his chair. "Your willpower should be pretty good, right?"
"Huh? Yeah..."
Tonpa clumsily caught the thing Morin had given him, instinctively answering at the same time.
After going through more than twenty Hunter Exams, his will might not have been tempered steel, but it was at least as sturdy as iron.
"Then that's good."
Morin nodded and said no more. He even leisurely took a cup of freshly squeezed fruit juice from his pocket and began drinking it.
Kanzai's molars itched at the sight of Morin's relaxed posture, and the anger in his heart surged.
"Once I knock down this ugly fat man, I'll definitely teach that young punk who doesn't know his place a lesson!!"
Thinking that, his gaze toward Tonpa became even sharper.
At the same time, he noticed the item Morin had thrown to Tonpa.
"Are those... gloves?"
As he watched Tonpa put on the pair of red gloves, which looked no different from ordinary boxing gloves, Kanzai felt puzzled but also quietly became wary.
He had learned from Kruke that Morin always pulled out all sorts of strange gadgets.
For all he knew, these gloves might be one of them.
"Alright, begin!"
Morin, acting as the referee, gave the order.
Kanzai was wary and did not attack immediately, while Tonpa was even less likely to make the first move.
If the enemy did not move, neither would he. That had always been Tonpa's survival philosophy.
And so, the two stared at each other for several minutes.
Finally, unable to see any openings, Kanzai grew impatient and attacked just as Tonpa relaxed slightly.
He spread his clawed hands and lunged at him like a tiger.
The sudden movement startled Tonpa.
He wanted to roll out of the way, but Kanzai was incredibly fast and arrived before him in an instant.
"I'm done for, I'm going to get beaten up!!"
Unable to react in time at all, Tonpa fell into despair.
But at that moment—
His hands suddenly moved on their own.
Bang!
The gloved fist and Kanzai's tiger claw collided head-on.
"Wha... what???"
Both Kanzai and Tonpa were shocked.
Kanzai thought, Why does his fist have almost as much force as mine?!
Tonpa thought, Since when did I have this much strength? I can block a punch that powerful too?!
For a moment, the two simply stared at each other in disbelief.
Soon, neither of them being stupid, they both reacted quickly.
"It's because of the gloves?!"
Their gazes simultaneously fell on the gloves, then they tacitly turned to look at Morin, who was sitting there leisurely.
"What are you looking at me for? Keep going."
Morin raised a hand with perfect composure.
He was only missing the words, "Keep the music going, keep dancing."
Item: Unwinnable Gloves, also known as Fair Boxing Gloves. Effect: They look like ordinary boxing gloves. When the wearer fights someone else, no matter how strong the opponent is, they can fight to a draw. Victory or defeat depends entirely on the wearer's perseverance and determination to win.
With these gloves, along with Tonpa's willpower—
As long as they did not use Nen abilities and merely competed in physical skills, Tonpa might not be able to defeat Kanzai steadily, but holding out for a long time would be no problem at all.
"What the hell are these things?!!"
Kanzai's mouth twitched. "They're just a pair of lousy gloves."
Though he cursed aloud, he had more or less grasped the gloves' effect in his heart.
"Either they can reflect my strength, or they raise the wearer's abilities to the same level as their opponent's."
"He mentioned willpower just now. That means there's no way to determine victory through skill alone. It comes down to a contest of willpower."
Thinking that, Kanzai immediately withdrew from the fighting stance he had assumed.
Before you continue