Grape Vulture eggs in the ravine

"Your turn." Menchi dusted off her hands.

The examinees wore conflicted expressions.

Jumping off a cliff, hanging from spider silk, waiting for an updraft-one mistake at any stage would mean falling to their deaths.

She looked at Odin. "You've already passed the sushi test, so technically, you don't have to take this additional test.

But I suggest you go. Grape Vulture eggs are an exceptionally rare ingredient. As someone who wants to become a Curio Hunter, you shouldn't miss this opportunity."

Odin fell silent for a few seconds.

He really didn't want to participate. The fewer complications, the better.

But Menchi was right. Grape Vulture eggs had been described as incredibly delicious in the original story, and he might never get another chance to taste such a rare ingredient.

"Fair point," Odin said.

"Good." Menchi smiled.

Odin walked to the edge of the cliff and glanced down.

The bottom was nowhere in sight.

Spider silk swayed gently in the wind, with Grape Vulture eggs hanging like fruit in midair.

He heard some examinees murmuring prayers beside him, while others took deep breaths.

The four main characters were nearby too.

Without hesitation, Odin jumped straight down.

Wind howled past his ears as weightlessness swept over him.

He adjusted his posture as he fell, picked out a strand of spider silk, and reached out to grab it.

The silk pulled sharply against him, and his arm muscles instantly tensed.

His fall slowed. His body swung a few times from the strand before settling.

Quite a few examinees hung around him.

Some were deathly pale, some had their eyes shut, too afraid to look down, and others were already trying to collect eggs.

The Grape Vulture eggs were in awkward spots. Reaching them often meant letting go of the silk and jumping across.

Odin hung from his strand and studied the air currents.

He remembered that, in the original story, Gon had judged the timing of the updraft by watching how frequently the silk swayed, but he didn't have that sort of animal instinct.

Still, he had a simpler method-wait for Gon to move.

Gon hung a short distance diagonally above him, intently watching the silk and rock face like a cheetah waiting for its moment.

Odin waited patiently.

A few minutes later, Gon's eyes lit up, and he let go.

Now!

Odin released his grip almost simultaneously, his body plunging downward.

He felt an updraft surge from below and buoy his body.

He adjusted his angle and shot toward the nearest Grape Vulture egg.

He reached out, caught it, and hugged it to his chest.

The shell was smooth and faintly warm.

Riding the updraft, Odin rose and dipped a few times before landing steadily atop the cliff.

When he looked up, Gon had just landed too, also holding an egg. Other examinees were returning to the cliff edge one after another with Grape Vulture eggs of their own.

Odin paid them little attention and carried his egg to the large pot.

He carefully placed it inside.

Now all he had to do was wait for it to cook.

Water bubbled away in the pot, with a great many Grape Vulture eggs slowly turning in the boiling water.

An aroma began to spread, a unique scent that was difficult to describe.

Odin sniffed, his eyes brightening slightly.

At least I get to eat something good.

That thought lifted his mood a little.

"Will the shells crack?"

"How long do they need to cook?"

"Who knows..."

Odin ignored them and stood to one side, watching the eggs in the pot.

The water boiled vigorously, gently rolling the eggs around.

He could see tiny bubbles beginning to form on the shells as the air inside expanded from the heat.

Time slowly passed.

One after another, the eggs in the pot began to change.

After about twenty minutes of boiling, Odin lifted his egg out with a slotted spoon and set it on a wooden plate nearby.

Seeing Odin act, the other examinees, who had no idea when to take their eggs out, hurried to retrieve their own Grape Vulture eggs.

The shell was scalding hot. Odin wrapped it in a cloth and gently tapped open a small hole.

An unusual fragrance immediately wafted out.

It was difficult to describe, a little like truffles, a little like some sort of nut, with a faint milky note.

The aroma was rich without being cloying, and the smell alone whetted his appetite.

Odin peeled away half the shell. Inside, the egg white was translucent amber, quivering like jelly.

The yolk was deep orange, plump and round, its surface glistening with oil.

He tasted a bite of the white.

The texture was quite unusual.

The white was silky and tender, melting in his mouth with a subtle salty, savory flavor.

"Delicious," Odin couldn't help saying.

He kept eating and soon reached the yolk.

It was creamy and intensely fragrant, with a texture somewhat like crab roe, only finer.

He looked at the examinees beside him.

Some had already finished and were licking their fingers, satisfaction written across their faces.

Gon and Killua shouted between bites, "This is delicious!"

Kurapika ate neatly, but not slowly.

Leorio wolfed his down and nearly choked.

Good food really never lets you down.

Odin soon finished the entire egg.

It was a generous portion, leaving him comfortably full without feeling overly rich.

In the end, around fifty-two examinees passed this test.

That was ten more than the forty-two Odin remembered.

"All right." Menchi clapped her hands. "The second phase is officially over. Those who passed, follow me. I'll take you to the next test site."

The examinees gathered their belongings and followed Menchi and Buhara.

Walking in the middle of the group, Odin glanced back at Pudding Mountain.

The webs along the cliff swayed gently in the wind, the remaining Grape Vulture eggs still hanging there.

The taste of the egg lingered in his mouth.

I have to admit, those things are really good, he thought. I'll come back for a few more if I get the chance.

He followed the group away from the cliff toward the airship parked in the distance.

The sky had begun to turn red. Evening was approaching.

Once they boarded the airship, Menchi and the others made no effort to organize the examinees, apparently intending to leave them to their own devices.

That gave Tonpa, the rookie crusher, an opening. He spread all sorts of misleading information about the tests aboard the airship.

Odin ignored him. He didn't believe the Hunter Exam would be absurd enough to launch another test after two days without rest.

Leaving on his own, Odin began searching the airship for somewhere to sleep.

Time slowly slipped by-

The corridors inside the airship were quiet, with only the low hum of the engines coming through the metal bulkheads.

Odin strolled down a corridor, the carpet beneath his feet absorbing most of his footsteps.

It was now nine at night, and most of the examinees had already settled down to rest.

After two demanding tests in a row, physical exertion was only part of it. The constant mental strain was even more exhausting.

Odin had been tired earlier too, but the Rabbit Talisman gave him an astonishing recovery rate. Even his usual sleep only took an hour.

As he walked down the corridor, the events of the past two days kept replaying in his mind: the mist of Demin Swamp, the charging Great Stamps, and the Grape Vulture eggs rolling in boiling water.

In his previous life, he would never even have dared to imagine living like this. Now, it had become part of his life.