Spider Hawk's Nest

The airship docked at a towering rock platform, long, narrow, and rugged. Below lay a canyon hundreds of meters deep, where rolling heat rose from the valley floor. Moisture condensed along the platform's edge, and occasional torrents burst from distant mountain walls. Mist swirled at the bottom of the cliffs, like a natural steamer.

Menchi stepped out of the airship and pointed toward the steep cliff face shrouded in mist at the platform's edge. Her voice was cold and clear. "This is the Spider Hawk's Nest area, and it will be your next testing ground."

She swept her gaze across the crowd and continued expressionlessly, "Spider Hawks are spiritual birds extremely sensitive to air currents. Their nests are usually built in cliff crevices with high temperatures, high humidity, surging hot winds, and nearby water sources. The shells of their eggs are thin and fragile, and the liquid inside expands easily when heated. Strong pressure, violent shaking, or a sudden drop in temperature will all cause them to crack."

"Your task is simple—retrieve one intact Spider Hawk egg and hand it over to us. You may use any method to complete the task, but you may not steal eggs that others have already obtained."

With that, she pointed to the platform's edge and added in a deep voice, "The first time I took the Hunter Exam, I completed this test among these cliffs. Watch closely."

Before her words had faded, she leaped forward. The wind roared as she traced an arc through the air. Her figure shot into the mist-filled depths of the canyon.

Ryan held his breath and watched. Menchi's figure rose and fell several times in the mist, each Landing Point seemingly hanging in midair. As she slipped into a narrow vortex of air, the outlines of spider silk gradually emerged from the fog—semi-transparent strands stretched between the cliffs on both sides, crisscrossing one another and trembling slightly beneath the heat, like bridges and nets.

Menchi landed on a strand of silk as thick as an arm, her body naturally bent as she slowly moved toward a bird-nest-like structure with both hands and feet. The nest was hemispherical, woven from spider silk and feather membranes. It was firmly embedded where several strands met, swaying as a grayish-white sheen glimmered from within.

She crouched down, took out one of the eggs, and gently placed it into the cloth pouch on her chest before starting back. Several times along the way, she used the buoyancy of the heat to make reverse leaps. Every Landing Point was as steady as a hammered nail. In less than three minutes, she reappeared on the platform, landing without a sound and taking the egg from her pouch.

"This is a Spider Hawk egg." She raised it high for everyone to see. "It is laid in this kind of suspended silk nest. The spider silk is secreted by the Spider Hawks themselves. It is extremely tough, but its surface is very slippery due to moisture and hot air currents. The nests are usually located where wind pressure is stable and damp heat converges."

"You have six hours. Any examinee who fails to obtain an egg within six hours, or whose egg is not intact, will be eliminated."

"Begin!" Menchi shouted.

The examinees began to stir. Some had already rushed impatiently to the cliff edge, attempting to cling to the spider silk. With a sharp whoosh, someone chose to jump straight down, hoping the rising heat would lift him high enough to grab a strand. But his Landing Point was off, and those who failed to secure their grip immediately fell into the canyon below, leaving behind only deafening wind and desperate cries.

Ryan remained motionless in the middle of the platform, his hands behind his back as his gaze swept across the terrain below. He studied the paths and structure of the spider silk. Some strands arched between the cliff walls, while others hung down like vines. Most nests dangled at the intersections of the silk, their faint sheen visible as they swayed.

"That's the center of the heat," he murmured.

Suddenly, another examinee tried using a zipline device, sliding from high above toward a spider-silk junction. Just as he neared the nesting area, a Spider Hawk hidden above swooped down at him. Its sharp wings tore through the air, and the examinee cried out as he plunged beneath the dense mist, his fate unknown.

Hanzo stood off to one side with his arms folded, calm and composed, though he had already tightly wrapped cloth bands around his elbow joints. Without a word, he suddenly moved. Taking broad strides, he ran along the cliff wall with both feet and soon vanished into a more concealed cliff path on the right.

At the same time, another examinee leaped into the web of spider silk with a homemade grappling hook and slid toward an intersection. Though he swayed repeatedly along the way, he relied on arm strength and coordination to finally obtain an egg. But on his return, he lost his balance and snapped a thin strand beneath his foot. The egg fell straight into the canyon, and his green light turned red—eliminated.

"They aren't lacking in courage." "They simply lack the proper reverence for this valley."

Ryan's gaze narrowed, and he stopped watching the other examinees.

Ryan silently tightened the rope harness around himself, then slowly walked toward the cliff edge. His steps seemed somewhat heavy, as though he carried the weight of the entire world on his back. When he reached the edge, a fierce wind howled in, carrying scorching heat and moisture as it slammed into his face.

Ryan drew a deep breath, feeling that powerful force, then tilted his body forward without hesitation and stepped off the cliff. His feet rapidly kicked off the rock face, and propelled by the wind, he leaped diagonally downward like a bird in flight.

As he descended, Ryan did not blindly follow the routes taken by the others. He keenly observed the pulses of the surrounding air currents and the knots in the spider silk. After careful consideration, he chose an upward current hidden within a small crack along the cliffside.

As he approached that current, the wind pressure lifted half his body at just the right moment, allowing him to glide into the core of the spider-silk structure with minimal effort.

However, just as he was about to reach his destination, a thicker strand of spider silk suddenly stretched across his path from above at an angle. Like a deadly rope, once it tangled around him, the consequences would be disastrous.

But Ryan did not panic. His body reacted in an instant, twisting sharply as his waist clamped tightly around the silk like iron pincers. At the same time, his remaining limbs spread out swiftly like a cheetah's, securing themselves in midair and allowing him to remain still in that perilous moment.

Using that brief pause, Ryan calmly observed the nest's location. Not far away, a semi-transparent milky-white Spider Hawk egg lay quietly between two layers of feather membrane. Directly beneath it was the densest cluster of spider silk, as if a cradle had been specially made for the egg.

Ryan approached the target as slowly as possible. After confirming that his footing was secure, he reached into the nest, wrapped the egg in the hem of his clothes, and silently removed it.

Rather than returning the way he had come, he stood quietly in place, waiting for the next surge of heat. When the powerful updraft rose like a raging wave, he borrowed its force without hesitation while skillfully using the elasticity of the spider silk to perform an astonishing reverse leap.

His body drew a graceful arc through the air before landing steadily against the cliff wall. Then, using a unique three-point balancing technique, he climbed upward without pause, every step stable and powerful. In this way, he climbed all the way up and finally leaped back onto the edge of the platform.

As soon as Ryan came up, he handed the egg to Examiner Menchi for inspection.

Then Menchi's voice rang out across the platform. "Number 199, Ryan, passed." This meant that he had cleared this round of the test.

A moment later, Hanzo also climbed up from the cliff path on the right. His body was covered in moisture, but he tightly held an egg that still retained its warmth. Clearly, he had faced no small number of dangers during the climb.

"Number 301, Hanzo, passed." Menchi's gaze swept calmly over the two men without offering further comment. Her attention was soon drawn back to the growing number of examinees desperately climbing below.

All kinds of sounds echoed across the cliff face—footsteps, wind, beating wings, and the occasional snapping sound. Intertwined, they made it feel as though one had entered some bizarre rehearsal of life and death.

Standing at the other end of the platform, Netero quietly watched it all. A faint smile appeared on his face as he murmured, "The meaning of being a Hunter is who can risk his life to walk a path others dare not take."