"Then why did you ask whether it was good or bad?" Botobai raised his glass and drained it in one gulp.
"Let me ask you a question first."
"Mr. Botobai, why are you so determined to change this world? Where there is light, there will inevitably be darkness. Even if you do not understand that principle, your experiences over all these years should have taught you as much, shouldn't they?"
"It's simple~"
Botobai paused, then said slowly and clearly, "Because my parents were both police officers who died in the line of duty."
"I understand."
Morin nodded lightly.
"You still haven't told me what you think!"
Botobai poured himself another glass of water, his face already flushed red.
Morin gazed at the full moon in the sky as the breeze carried his calm narration.
"Because a Magical Beast that merely wanted to play was mistaken for a monster by foolish villagers, and its home was burned down."
"Because the village where a beautiful girl lived was used as a failed bargaining chip in a political struggle by those in power, then wiped off the map."
"Because a pair of deeply devoted siblings were devoured by a new breed of monster created through the Coalition's research."
"Because an ordinary chef offended the powerful, and every member of his family vanished without a trace???~"
"If, in this world, you represent the light..."
Morin looked straight into Botobai's eyes. "Then I don't mind becoming darkness's spokesperson."
Botobai fell silent.
It was not that he did not want to speak, but that he could no longer say anything.
His flushed face burned as Botobai felt as though his tongue no longer obeyed him.
"Go to sleep for a while. With your physical condition, you should wake up in about half an hour."
Morin calmly put away the kettle, glasses, and peanuts.
By then, Botobai could no longer hear what Morin was saying. His body tipped sideways, and his head landed on the table.
"If I'd known your alcohol tolerance was this poor, I wouldn't even have needed to take out the Magical Appetizer." Morin looked at Botobai, who had fallen asleep with steady breathing.
Item: Magical Appetizer. Effect: Peanuts that can turn water into alcohol and leave one in a hazy drunken state.
Although Botobai had been vigilant enough not to eat even a single peanut, he had still fallen for Morin's trick.
The water they had drunk was not ordinary plain water either.
It still tasted like water, but it had been processed.
Item: Drunken Bottle Cap. Effect: Any liquid that passes through this bottle cap will make whoever drinks it feel drunken and tipsy.
The kettle of water Morin had brought out was plain boiled water that had passed through the Drunken Bottle Cap several times.
Although its taste had not changed, its potency was absurdly high.
Morin had only taken a few sips at the beginning. Botobai had drunk almost all the rest by himself.
No matter how well one could hold their liquor, no matter how immune they were to getting drunk, they could not resist this intoxicating sensation rushing straight to the brain.
"Let this Hunter Exam end here, thenoo V?"
Morin looked at Botobai, then at Tonpa in the distance, who was panting as he pushed the Anywhere Cannon over.
He felt rather listless.
"I should begin my own journey too???"
Forty minutes passed?
Botobai suddenly woke with a start.
He shot upright, and a surging torrent of aura erupted from his entire body!
Powerful Nen wrapped around him, making the surrounding environment tremble violently.
"Did I get drunk?"
Botobai sighed inwardly, full of regret.
"My training is still insufficient. To be taken down so easily... I need to be more vigilant about this in the future." Even as he thought that, he did not forget to inspect his surroundings.
He discovered that, aside from a square-nosed examinee trembling in a corner, there was no one else around.
"Did he leave?"
Botobai silently withdrew his Nen, and his raging, tidal aura gradually subsided.
He stood there like an old monk in meditation, lost in thought.
"Um..."
Tonpa timidly edged closer. "Before Mr. Morin left, he asked me to pass a message on to you."
"Hmm?"
Botobai's blazing gaze immediately turned toward him.
Feeling enormous pressure, Tonpa's scalp went numb.
"Mr. Morin said, 'I had a pleasant chat with Mr. Botobai. The next time we meet, I hope I can properly treat you to a drink.'"
He swallowed and carefully relayed Morin's words.
"A proper drink..."
Botobai considered the meaning behind those words. "He hopes that the next time we meet, we will not be on opposing sides?" He raised his head and looked at the moon as well, his gaze gradually becoming distant and profound.
"I look forward to that day."
Without Morin, the rest of the Hunter Exam was no longer much to watch.
Botobai would not bring his personal feelings into official matters.
After seventy-two hours had passed, he began the third round of testing.
But separating public and private matters did not mean he lowered his standards.
On the contrary, Botobai had always held hunters to extremely high standards.
Thus, the examinees taking this Hunter Exam faced what could only be called hellish difficulty under Botobai.
It was like the same college entrance exam: one examiner set the Yanjing paper, where the questions were incredibly easy and the admission score was low.
But Botobai's paper was like the Su paper and the Hepu paper: not only were the questions hellishly difficult, but there were few good schools in the province and the admission scores were ridiculously high.
The two were completely incomparable.
And so, these examinees learned what true fear of being dominated felt like.
After excluding Morin, seventy-six people remained.
Under Botobai's rigorous training and examination, only sixteen people truly passed this round.
Then came the fourth round, with Biscuit as the chief examiner.
"Where did that brat Morin go?!!"
She rubbed her eyes. After looking several times without finding any sign of Morin—
A faint sense of unease suddenly arose in her heart.
"Did that brat withdraw and sneak off halfway through?!!"
She had not even considered the possibility that Morin had been eliminated.
At the very beginning, that brat had even made the examiners suffer.
Besides, the Hunter Exam was nothing to a Nen user.
So... what the hell was Morin plotting?!!
"Forget it. I'll ask about him after I finish testing these little brats."
Looking at the sixteen examinees before her, who had struggled all the way here yet appeared relaxed when they reached her, even staring at her with faintly strange glimmers hidden in their eyes—
A remarkably gentle smile slowly appeared on Biscuit's face. "Then, let us begin the fourth round of testing..."
I'll make sure to train you all properly!!
In the end, every examinee who had passed the first three rounds of the Hunter Exam fell at Biscuit's stage.
When Netero, the chairman of the Hunter Association, received the results and gathered all the examiners aboard the airship for a meeting—
"Although there have been occasions in the past where not a single examinee passed the Hunter Association's tests, still..."
Wearing a blue-and-white martial arts uniform and tall wooden clogs, Netero swayed the ponytail on his head. His long earlobes swayed with it as he stroked his thick, hooked beard and looked at the four chief examiners he had selected.
"The examinees would show dissatisfaction, despair, and other emotions. I have never seen examiners wear such expressions."
He stroked his beard and chuckled. "Especially when you are hunters I personally selected, hunters capable of taking on great responsibilities."
As he spoke, his gaze briefly flicked toward Biscuit, who sat beside him with puffed cheeks.
Well, never mind her.
Biscuit seemed to have gone a little overboard during the fourth round, tormenting those examinees until they cried for their fathers and mothers.
"To prevent accidents, I should tell Beans later not to let her serve as an examiner again."
That thought flashed through Netero's mind before he looked at the three juniors he favored, who sat silently in their seats, radiating low pressure. Kruke was still recuperating, though some color had finally returned to her face.
Botobai, meanwhile, had applied even more white powder to his face, seemingly concealing even some of the redness.
As for Kanzai—
Netero specifically looked at him twice. "Are you all right, Kanzai? Do you need me to call a doctor for you?"
After Netero spoke, everyone else turned to look at Kanzai as well, their expressions strange.
There was no other reason. Of everyone present, Kanzai looked truly miserable.
"It's nothing."
With two huge panda eyes and swollen cheeks, Kanzai replied weakly.
"Don't tell me that troublesome examinee beat you up?"
Kruke curiously poked Kanzai's bruised cheek, making him suck in a sharp breath.
"No, I did this to myself."
As he spoke, he took out the pair of self-fighting fists Morin had given him and placed them on the table.
"If any of you want to experience what I'm feeling right now, feel free to try them."
I'll pass.
Kruke immediately looked away. She had suffered under Morin's gadgets before.
Her injuries had not even fully healed yet, and she had no desire to cause herself more trouble.
Botobai did look at the gloves, deep in thought.
"Speaking of which, that examinee who gave all of you such trouble was named Morin, right?"
Netero picked up the documents on the table and casually flipped through them.
"It seems he only registered on the final day, and he arrived together with you, Biscuit?"
Netero glanced at Biscuit, whose cheeks were still puffed out.
"That's right. He is currently training under me."
Biscuit did not hide that fact. Sooner or later, after Morin became a hunter, the Hunter Association would learn of his information anyway.
"I just don't understand why he suddenly left halfway through."
Before you continue