Harsh

The training room walls remained covered in cracks, since no one had bothered to repair them.

Every time the people training inside saw them, their fear of the white-haired boy deepened.

"Damn it..." One candidate slammed his fist against the wall in frustration, but didn't leave so much as a mark.

It only proved the gap in their strength.

"How did I end up in the same exam as a monster like that..." He sank helplessly to the floor.

"Why don't we join forces with the other candidates and eliminate him first when the time comes?" someone suggested.

The others all looked his way.

"Are you suggesting we all go get ourselves killed?" someone asked, glancing at the huge hole in the wall.

"The Hunter Exam isn't something you can only take once, and they don't only pass one candidate each time. But if we provoke a monster like that..." someone said in a particularly grave tone.

"We only get one life," several people said, clearly agreeing.

"...Fair point." The man who'd made the suggestion fell silent for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

Everyone sat on the training room floor. The atmosphere was surprisingly harmonious.

Not long ago, none of them would have imagined they could coexist so peacefully in the same room.

That was when the golden-haired boy pushed open the training room door and walked in.

Seeing him, someone snickered and asked the person beside him, "The punching bag's back. Anyone feel like playing with him?"

"He looks pretty boring."

"Not interested."

They still remembered how the boy had taken a beating without fighting back or even talking back.

Nobody wanted to waste time on such a weakling.

Yes, it would be a waste of time.

After all, fighting him wouldn't help them train at all.

It even made them wonder how he'd passed the earlier tests and made it all the way onto the airship.

The golden-haired figure stopped in front of them, his gaze moving from one person to the next.

The people sitting down felt insulted by his downward gaze, and stood up one after another.

"What do you want?" They eyed the golden-haired boy, their manner casual but wary.

"That one'll do..." Maro picked out a target and took a deep breath.

The next moment, he threw a fierce punch at the man's face.

His punch was fast, but not so fast that no one could react.

Even so, the man he'd targeted was caught off guard and struck in the face, his head snapping to the side.

The next moment, the man erupted in rage.

"You little—"

The first thing Su Wu did after getting up was make himself a cup of medicinal tonic. His gaze fell on the incense beside the bed, which had burned down to ash.

The incense wasn't doing much. He hadn't slept well last night, either.

Was there something wrong with the incense, or was there something wrong with him? Of course there was nothing wrong with him.

It had to be the incense. That gloomy-looking shopkeeper must have mixed in some fake stuff.

Next time he went there, he'd beat the man up.

Su Wu grabbed his backpack and opened the door, already in a terrible mood despite the early hour.

A lump... a filthy person was crouched outside his door. When Su Wu opened it, the man lost his support and toppled backward.

The white-haired, blue-eyed boy planted his foot against the man's back and nudged him forward with his toe.

If the man fell any farther, his upper body would end up inside the room.

The movement woke the golden-haired boy.

"My lord, I did it..." He blinked, saw the white-haired figure in front of him, and spoke excitedly.

"You're filthy. Get lost." Su Wu impatiently cut him off and bluntly told him to leave.

Maro lowered his head and looked at himself. He was covered in blood, and he smelled strange...

"I'm terribly sorry you had to see me in such an unseemly state!"

His face flushed red at once. He sprang to his feet and ran off at incredible speed, as if he'd suddenly found a reserve of strength.

"Looks like he got beaten pretty badly yesterday..." Su Wu watched him go, thoughtful.

So far, the boy's only redeeming quality seemed to be that he could take a beating.

The doors to the other rooms opened, too. Candidates stood in their doorways or poked their heads out, silently watching.

"What's your relationship with that kid?" As if Maro had set a precedent, the other candidates started addressing Su Wu politely, too.

They watched him, waiting for an answer.

His answer would determine how they treated the golden-haired kid from then on.

"No relation." Su Wu answered without pausing, his tone casual.

"Did he beat you up yesterday?" His gaze swept over the other candidates one by one.

Only one of them had any visible marks.

Hmm, the man had a new black eye.

Su Wu launched into an exaggerated performance. "That guy's incredibly weak. You're even weaker than him? That's amazing."

He even let out a snort when he said "amazing."

"Useless, all of you." He shook his head and left, nonchalant.

The only ones left were the furious candidates, rolling up their sleeves as they stormed around the airship looking for the golden-haired kid who'd humiliated them.

Having stirred things up and left, Su Wu sat down in the dining room and enjoyed his breakfast.

The airship was high above the ground, with a vast ocean below and no land in sight in any direction.

The airship was a lonely island in the sky.

What kind of test would they face aboard an airship like this?

Six Eyes detected two individuals approaching from behind, both brimming with life energy.

They were undoubtedly the two examiners aboard the airship.

Su Wu didn't even turn around. His gaze remained on the sea beyond the window, but he spoke directly:

"Shouldn't the examiners be waiting for us at the actual exam site? Why are the two of you traveling with us candidates?"

Bindo and Rogov looked at the boy sitting by the dining room window. He hadn't even turned around, yet he'd sensed their arrival.

They exchanged a surprised glance.

They'd both used Zetsu to hide their presence and make themselves harder to detect.

[Zetsu]—a Nen technique that tightened and sealed off the aura and presence throughout the body, making one's presence faint. It could also be used to restore one's energy.

"We examiners are people, too. Sometimes we want to take it easy. It's not that strange for us to travel to the exam site with the candidates, is it?" Bindo said with a smile, making light of it.

Rogov didn't say a word, but nodded.

"Is that so? I thought you might have come up with some brilliant idea to make the exam more interesting." The boy by the window finally turned around.

With his back against the glass, he sat before a deep blue sky dotted with white clouds.

His eyes looked as though they were an extension of the sky outside.

"Of course not." Bindo smiled and said no more.

To avoid Su Wu striking up a conversation, he and Rogov packed up their breakfast and left the dining room.

"Now I'm even more certain something's up." Su Wu looked at his reflection in the window and muttered to himself.

This boring trip was about due for some entertainment.

Su Wu: Yes, I did egg Maro on to pick fights, then fan the flames and get people to beat him up. But I'm a good person.