Hunter Exam? Where Am I Translocated? Is This Still the Gourmet World?

After returning to the Human World, Toriko expressed his gratitude and left, as he still had his own goals to accomplish.

Twenty days later, Setsuna arrived in Healing City under Jiro's guidance.

The journey was far from dull. Setsuna sold several ferocious beasts he had captured before returning to the Human World to the International Gourmet Organization for a large sum of money, naturally enjoying all kinds of delicacies along the way.

In this world themed around cuisine, even the food sold by street vendors could be called delicious, allowing Setsuna's taste buds to thoroughly enjoy themselves while also making him even more anticipate those rare treasures.

Landing in Healing City, a large number of Healing Butterflies fluttered in the air, with red butterflies identifying severe injuries and blue butterflies identifying minor injuries, serving as a preliminary diagnosis.

As Setsuna looked around in wonder, Jiro smiled and said, "You can procure some of Healing City's Healing Butterflies and Acupuncture Cactus to take with you when you leave."

"Take them with me?" Setsuna was somewhat puzzled. Although these two plants could heal injuries, how was he supposed to take them?

"It seems you still don't understand. The stomach acid inside the Queen Snake is lethal poison to animals, but it's the best nutrient for plants. Therefore, the best garden in the world is the different space inside the Queen Snake."

Jiro explained, "So, you can completely plant Healing Tulip and Acupuncture Cactus inside the Queen Snake to prepare for any unexpected needs."

"I see." Setsuna understood. He had indeed heard the Snake King say something similar, but back then he thought it only worked for that fruit.

I wonder if it will help with planting the God Tree once the Titan grows to the size of the Mother King Snake? Setsuna let his mind wander as he arrived with Jiro in front of a large building.

"International Gourmet Organization?" Setsuna was somewhat puzzled. What were they doing here?

"To take the Hunter Exam, of course." Jiro answered as if it were a matter of course.

Setsuna froze. The Hunter Exam? Where had he translocated to, and was this still the Gourmet World?

Jiro explained, "Transplanting Gourmet Cells carries certain risks—severe cases result in death, while minor cases lead to mutation. You must pass the Gourmet Hunter Exam to confirm that your physical fitness is up to par before transplantation. With your physical strength, this part of the exam is just going through the motions."

Setsuna nodded slowly. That made sense, no wonder the exam branches were all in Healing City, but he soon noticed a detail in Jiro's words: "This part of the exam?"

Jiro continued to explain, "To become a qualified Gourmet Hunter, you naturally cannot rely solely on brute force. Cultural scores are also very important. At least you need to be able to distinguish which animals belong to endangered protected species so you don't hunt protected animals as ordinary animals. Another example is knowing what method to use for proper preservation after capturing precious ingredients with extremely short freshness periods."

Setsuna was speechless. He hadn't even taken his Chunin Ninja Exams yet, and now he was taking a Gourmet Hunter Exam in this world first.

Setsuna could not help sighing. "What other parts does the Hunter Exam have? Please finish listing them all at once, Teacher."

Jiro smiled and said, "There is also the endurance exam and the cooking exam. The ripening period of some ingredients is very short, requiring you to guard the ingredients for a long time waiting for them to ripen, and most of these environments are quite harsh, so endurance is also very important."

"As for the cooking exam, it doesn't require you to have the skills of a chef, but you must at least be able to reasonably match ingredients, and the phenomenon of wasting ingredients must never occur."

Setsuna sighed. "Fine, I understand."

Jiro patted his disciple's shoulder. "Although you cannot transplant Gourmet Cells yet, I can also teach you some methods of using Acupoint Striking to process ingredients to maintain their maximum freshness."

Setsuna did not know whether to laugh or cry. He did not actually want to be a chef.

Speaking of maintaining freshness, can I use this to increase the tenderness of the meat? Setsuna took a sword hilt from his waist pouch, gently pressed the switch, and burst out with a lightning blade as if it were a laser sword.

"Oh? The quality of your kitchen knife is quite good." Jiro nodded in approval. "Current stimulation relaxes muscle fibers, which can indeed improve the tenderness and flavor of the meat."

Setsuna muttered inwardly, Second Hokage, please forgive me. Let your weapon shine brightly in the culinary world; perhaps it can become a legendary piece of cookware.

Setsuna summoned the drive of his past life's college entrance examination, frantically studying this knowledge that he did not even know the use of. Finally, five months later, just before the start of the next Hunter Exam, he crammed all the cultural subjects and even learned a bit of culinary arts.

The day of the Hunter Exam arrived.

"Candidates, please enter in order."

Setsuna walked into the IGO with bold strides and was about to fill out his registration information when he suddenly found the person who had successfully registered just before him running back and saying tremblingly, "I—I want to cancel my registration."

Not just him, but the people lining up behind Setsuna suddenly fell into chaos and fled, and even the staff members wore panicked expressions. The entire registration hall instantly became chaotic.

"Ferocious beasts attacking the city?" Setsuna was somewhat dazed, but that didn't seem right either. If ferocious beasts were really attacking the city, how could those people who had successfully registered still have time to run back and cancel their registration?

Setsuna couldn't be bothered to think too much. Anyway, Teacher Jiro was right in the city; let alone ferocious beasts attacking the city, even the Eight Kings attacking might not necessarily succeed.

Soon, the candidates in the hall left until only Setsuna remained, and only a few staff members stood their ground.

"Hey, I want to register for the exam." In another queue lane, a man with a fierce expression, resembling an evil spirit descending to the world, spoke loudly.

The staff in that lane were almost on the verge of crying, and they tremblingly handed over a card. "Lord Zebra, this is your identification information. Please—please keep it safe."

"Zebra of the Four Heavenly Kings of Gourmet?" Setsuna naturally knew the other party. Because of his cruel personality, he had once caused 26 species to become extinct. He was an extremely dangerous figure locked up in prison and had only been released some time ago due to Toriko's request.

"Zebra, why are you here to take the exam too?" Setsuna did not shy away and asked whatever came to his mind.

"Of course because my hunter license was revoked." Zebra laughed loudly, and only then did he react. "You're not afraid of me?"

"You just have very distinctive facial features, not ugly enough to scare people." Setsuna said "tactfully."

Hearing Setsuna's comment, the crowd of staff members almost fainted from fright.

However, Zebra burst out laughing. "You're not bad. I like honest people. Don't I know what I look like myself? There are actually idiots who said they were scared half to death by how handsome I am."

Setsuna smiled with amusement; this guy's personality was quite interesting.

At this moment, the chief examiner slowly moved over with his back against the wall. "Given that the number of candidates for this exam is too small, your first three exams are considered passed. Proceed directly to the final combat assessment."

Setsuna's expression instantly turned to stone. If he had known he could skip three exams like this, what the hell had he been studying for?