Test Of Fittest

Hunters Club

Chapter 4- Test of Fittest

Arthur had trained all day and studied at night the entire week. The hunter's qualification test day had finally come. Arthur had trained his best for the test and felt no fear for the test. 

The test was held in a forest near one of the hunter club cabins. The hunters club had several cabins and bases across Europe. The test had three sections, Knowledge, Combat and finally the most important of them all, Hunting. 

Arthur after arriving at the place was shown the way to his room, all the candidates were given their room so that they can rest. The test would take a few days to finish so they had prepared rooms for those from different cities. 

Shortly after arrival, the candidates had to take a test that tested their knowledge. It was relatively important in hunting but the higher-ups focus on the results of the combat.

Arthur had prepared for this, the test was not necessarily important or hard but in Arthur's mind, knowledge of knowing what you fight is key in hunting. All the candidates arrived at the hall where they took the tests. They were introduced to the examiner of the section of knowledge, Peggy Adelle. Peggy was a brown-haired middle-aged woman who was a knowledgeable person in the club, she was respected for her vast knowledge in monsters and hunting. In her younger years, she was a famous hunter who used her knowledge as the most important thing to hunt monsters. She told everyone to sit down in their respective seats and said, "I advise you all to take this test seriously, some of you do not think this test is important. Knowledge is key in hunting, never underestimated it! You may begin writing the test in ten minutes, you do not have unlimited time so write it fast and then you can leave to prepare for the next test."

Arthur saw several people around him who were strong hunters. Robert was not here since he had decided on doing the normal hunter test. He told Arthur that he was too weak right now and was not ready for monster hunting. Arthur understood it well and planned on waiting for the day Robert could hunt with him. Arthur found it interesting that so many people over the region came for the test. He did not expect the club to be so popular even though it was a monster-hunting club. He would finally see how different he may be from the other candidates since he heard some of them have been hunting since they were children. He was excited and couldn't wait to see their skills. 

As soon as the test began, everyone immediately started writing but their facial expression did not seem that serious. Arthur was one of the few who was serious about the test. Arthur knew the answers to a lot of questions but some of the questions about some specific monsters had confused him and questioned if he would have to hunt those terrifying and strange monsters who differed from the rest one day.

After the test ended, Arthur seemed confident that he would pass the knowledge test, while others yawned and did not care about the results. The candidates were informed that the combat test would begin in the evening and they were allowed to use the training ground or take a nap in their room. They were dismissed, they all ran off to the training grounds with an expression of excitement to be able to finally show their abilities to the world.

Arthur wanted to warm up for the combat, so he went for a run around the hills near the club. The misty hills sent a chilly sensation, it was a beautiful day in the hills for a run. Arthur was relaxed around the calm surrounding and enjoyed running in the cold climate of the hills. 

Suddenly someone was running towards Arthur from behind, the person ran faster than Arthur with ease. Arthur was surprised by the speed of the person, he decided to catch up to the person who just outrun him. Arthur did not want to waste too much energy in running so he tried to minimize his speed to catch up.

The person who had just outrun Arthur was a young man with brown hair of medium length, he was the same age as Arthur. He is Rory Desmond, an Irish hunter who has been training since he was a child. 

Rory had pride in his speed, people of his age had never been able to match his speed. He was running without any worry of someone catching up, that was the moment Arthur had caught up. He had surprised Rory with his speed, even if Rory was not running with the maximum speed he can, it was still a surprise for Rory. It had excited him with the thrill of friendly competition in his favourite thing, running. 

Rory wanted to introduce himself to the interesting man he had just encountered. He had a bright smile and eyes of competitiveness, he said to Arthur, 

"Hello lad, it's a good day for a run, ain't it? Would yee say? Wanna have a little competition? You see that big tree over there." He pointed his finger to the tree which stood at a faraway distance which one could barely see, a tall leafy tree which was alone. He continued to speak with excitement, "What do ya say? Wanna? It's just a friendly competition, we don't have to waste our full strength here, it's just a warm-up."

Arthur was getting bored of running alone at the time, he found it to be a fun challenge and thought of Rory as a strong runner. He agreed to run and thus they began the competition.

Arthur started running first whilst Rory stood there and tried to warm up. Rory was giving Arthur a handicap, he seemed to have been confident about his abilities, Arthur thought. He could not call Rory overconfident since he had witnessed the speed he had. Arthur felt a little irritated to have been given a handicap but a competition is a competition, rather than worrying about your opponent being a little irritating, focus on the goal. 

After Rory gave Arthur the chance to gain some distance, he took a deep breath and let out a large burst of energy. He accelerated towards Arthur at an amazing speed which shocked Arthur to a point that he almost lost his will to run. Arthur started speeding up, Rory had sped up as well, he managed to leave Arthur behind with another quick acceleration.  Arthur knew that he could not beat Rory even with full speed, but that did not mean he'd just give up. Arthur tried to be on an equal footing with Rory so he used a bit of his energy and sped up to him. He still could not be on the same footing. He managed to get close but he was not able to beat him.

Rory reached the tree before Arthur could, he ended up winning. Arthur had fun competing against Rory even though he ended up losing and feeling a little disappointed. Rory looked at Arthur and held his hand out for a handshake, they shook hands and Rory introduced himself to Arthur,

"It was a good warm-up! I had fun thanks to ya! The name's Rory Desmond, nice to meet ya. I was surprised you caught up with me."

Arthur said, " I had fun too, It was boring running alone. My name's Arthur Ray, nice to meet you as well, Rory. You're pretty fast, I was shocked when you came out of nowhere and went away just like that."

Rory felt a bit proud of himself when he was complimented by Arthur. He has always been complimented for his speed since childhood but it felt nice to have a compliment from a rival.

He was a bit shy but he asked Arthur in a low voice, "Can I uh, be your friend? We can warm up together for the test."

Arthur gladly agreed to become his friend and warm-up.

After they warmed up, the test was about to begin and all candidates were summoned to a ground near the forest entrance. The examiner of the test was Arnold Deckard, a former sergeant in the military and currently a vice-executive, a position below the executives in the hunters club management system. He had a muscular build with brown hair in his 50s. He was known for his strength across  Europe and America. He made the candidates get in order and said to the candidates in a deep but charming voice, 

"Good evening, candidates! I am believing you are all excited to be put to the physical test and show everyone your remarkable abilities. I shall start clarifying to those who don't know about combat types and I shall explain how the combat test is.

Ahem, as you all know, different types of abilities exist. The combat abilities are the most needed by the club. There are several types of abilities alone in the combat section. Everyone has a different way of hunting monsters, some use strength or speed to hunt, like me. We have enhanced strength that can not be obtained just from training. There is the more famous category of combat which a lot of you like, magic. In magic, there are various magic arts and ways in which one could hunt. There are abilities similar to magic but do not exactly follow the same principle of energy. We learned magic from species like the elves. Then there are the weapon hunters which almost every hunter uses, but weapons have been more popular due to the advanced development of weapon technology. The weapons like swords, bows and spears have always been a common choice for hunters but lately, due to the development of snipers, guns and other weapons, hunters have used those weapons more often. These three are the most common, there are some talented enough to use them all. After the major three, there are martial arts, tamers, contractors and others etc. That is all about the abilities for now. Next will be about the combat test and how we will perform it. You will be separated into groups which each have a hunter as an examiner, you will be asked to show the examiners in charge your abilities in specific categories in particular in strength and speed but there is also defence. You will be using your power against the examiner in charge of the group. No need to be concerned about them being in danger, worry about whether or not you can pass the test instead. Groups will be in 10-15 each and you will be evaluated one by one. The hunters who will be assisting with the evaluation of your abilities will be me and my colleagues Peggy Adelle, Joe Carter, Charlotte Blanche and Doyle Huxley. You might know them for their outstanding skills in the field of hunting. Anddddd, don't forget that if you are caught using anything considered illegal by the hunter law, you would be immediately disqualified from the test and possibly from every test in future. 

Now I will form the group. I will say the name of the examiner then all those whose names I call out should stand before the examiner I mentioned earlier." 

Arthur was a bit tense about the test since he did not know magic or martial arts or anything else. He wondered if he could learn magic or any other form of combat in future. Arthur saw Joe who had helped him when he was with Robert. He was hoping to talk to Joe after the combat test.

Arnold started announcing the name of the examiner and candidates who are to stand before them. 

Arthur and Rory were in the group in which Arnold was in charge. The combat test had officially started and everyone was eager to show off their skills to the hunters in front of them. Arthur just wished to pass the test and become a hunter. The candidates were put in a straight line in front of the examiner. The person in the front of the line would go first to be examined and then the second after the first finishes. Arthur and Rory were the last of the line and the first person in the line seemed to have been a magic type. The magic user was a blonde-haired girl, she formed water arrows and attacked Arnold, he dodged it as if it was nothing. The girl continually used every kind of magic she knew against him, fire, water and earth did not affect him. He dodged easily and he said, "Stop! Your time to show your attack is over, it is time to check how good your dodging and defence is."

Arnold quickly threw a punch at her, she tried to form a shield but barely managed to form it before his punch could hit her. But the shield could not comprise the strength of Arnold, it instantly broke. After a few more punches, he decided to stop and he announced, "You are weak right now but you have the potential to be a great hunter if you increase your speed and strength. Your results are still uncertain but I am sure you have a chance to pass." 

The girl jumped in joy, Arnolds punches may be hard but he looked after the candidates and his fellow hunters.

After all the other candidates fought him, Rory's turn finally came to fight him. Most of the candidates had already finished with their examinations and only a few remained. Arnold said, "Rory Desmond, you're next, please forward. Heh, Desmond? That's a familiar name. Show me what you got then, the skinny kid of Desmond. 

Rory came forward and started stretching his body, he said to Arnold in an irritated voice, " Damn, took long enough. My warm-ups feel useless now. I'll show you what I can do, you monstrous gorilla." Arnold got aggravated but kept his patience and said, "I hope we can maintain a good relationship in the future. Now show me!" 

Rory finished stretching his legs and stood up in front of the enormous body of Arnold. He threw a fast punch towards Arnold's face but he caught the punch. After several failures in attacking him, Rory backed away a little from Arnold and tried to give a fast kick directed towards his face but he dodged it. 

It was Arnold's turn to attack and he threw a punch directed at Rory's face, he might have become a bit too mad at him. He dodged the punch, Arnold started to put speed into them but Rory had impressive reflexes and speed that he managed to dodge most of them. A few of the punches barely hit him but it did extensive damage, it decreased his speed bit by bit.  Arnold began putting more power into his hits, he threw a punch towards his chest, due to the damage he had already gotten and the power in the punch, Rory felt a bit timid and lost his balance, he fell to the ground before the punch hit him. Arnold laughed and said, "Of course I would win! Haha! Anyways, you did excellently! I recommend increasing your strength, you have great speed and reflexes but you lack the strength to harm me. You can still increase your speed as much as you want, but you need to get the power to do offence against someone. You did great overall." Arnold was genuinely impressed by the potential of Rory and wanted to see his future.

Arnold was in an amused mood and said, "Alright! The last candidate, Arthur Ray, please step forward."

Rory had not left yet and was cheering for Arthur. Arnold's expectations for Arthur had risen. 

Arthur was still amazed by the fight between Arnold and Rory, he lost his worries and stretched his arms and stepped forward to fight Arnold. 

Arthur politely greeted Arnold with excitement 

in his eyes and said, "May I go a bit wild today, sir? I do not have much experience or abilities such as magic like the others, so please don't go too rough on me if I make mistakes." Arnold chuckled and said, "Haha, you're a polite one compared to that kid Rory. Very well, you may go wild today and fight me."  

Arnold's first impression of Arthur was polite and sincere. Arthur started the fight with some fast punches, his speed started increasing punch by punch. He continued to punch without any thought. Arnold's expectations started diminishing, but Arthur said to his face with a bright cheerful smile, "That was a good warm-up, sir. I shall start fighting then!". These words made Arnold excited a little.

Suddenly, Arthur distanced himself from Arnold, his eyes suddenly burst into fury! He took a stance to fight and jumped all of a sudden and threw a punch directed towards his head. He had barely dodged the unexpected punch. Arthur did not leave him time to think and continued to punch, he suddenly did a kick trying to make him lose balance but failed. They both started getting more engaged in the fight. Arnold could not precisely predict his attacks but it just delighted him more. He became wilder every moment and attacked without a thought. He simply followed his instinct to attack a rock-hard person like Arnold. 

Arnold was enjoying the fight, it was his turn to attack now. Arthur eased himself down and got into a defensive position. Arnold was a bit alarmed by his speed of changing from a wild fighting style to a defensive style. He was excited to know if Arthur could dodge his punches, it was quite entertaining. He put more power than he did with other candidates except for Rory, he punched but surprisingly Arthur caught the blow but his hand got injured a bit. It would be considered pretty promising if you were able to catch the punch of a vice-executive. Arthur thought of not doing anything reckless like that again. He held up against the speech of punches, but he started getting a bit exhausted and nearly lowered his guard down for an instant. He thought of how to avoid his punches and started noticing a pattern in his punches since he was going easier on the candidates, he made an obvious pattern so someone could find it. Arthur used the pattern and successfully evaded the punches but Arnold noticed that he found the pattern so he did not try to change it but he sped up his punches. Arthur started finding it more and more problematic to evade his punches since the speed had vastly boosted. He got punched and fell on the ground like Rory. 

Arnold was amused by the performance of Arthur and Rory, he called both of them together and said, "You've both surprised me with your fighting skills and spirit. Rory, you have a good speed which I already told you but if you are not able to get the strength then try weapons. You can try both too, no one's stopping you. Arthur, you have the most talent and potential I have seen but you have not yet decided which skill set to learn first. You both have the potential to be great hunters, prepare for the final test which is going to be difficult for most hunters. So sleep well, I will meet you in the morning unless you have any problems you can come to me. Good luck!"

They both found Arnold to be a good friend and a great hunter. They didn't want to disappoint him so they thanked him and went to training but Arthur remembered that he wanted to talk to Joe after the combat test, so he asked Rory to wait for him and went to Joe. Arthur went up to Joe who had just finished with his candidates. Joe noticed Arthur and said, "Hey there, Arthur. Nice to see you here, saw your name on the list. You seem happy, I assume you did well then." Arthur was glad to meet Joe, "Thanks again for helping me. Yes, I did pretty well on the test. I am going to train with my friend for tomorrow's test. I just wanted to greet you before I went for training. Would you like to have a meal with me and my friend after the test ends?" Joe smiled when he heard the news and replied, "No need to thank me every time we meet, that's great to hear! Sure, I'd love to have a meal. You better get going, your friend must be waiting. Good luck with the test." Arthur said his goodbyes and went to Rory. 

They went to the hills after a few minutes with water bottles. After arriving they noticed the mists had cleared and then they stretched and started running for a while, they trained their abilities for a while. They did this the whole afternoon until they were tired out. As the sun was setting Rory was exhausted and lying down on the grass at the top of the hill while Arthur stood and drank water from his bottle. They saw the sun setting and wondered if they had trained hard enough to become the hunters Arnold hoped for.

Rory said to Arthur with a grin on his face, "Heya Arthur, do you think we'll pass tomorrow's test?" Arthur smirked and said, "Of course we would, we are going to hunt down those hideous monsters and pass the test cause we're the best, haha." Rory chuckled and said, "Very optimistic and proud, are we? By that way, do you think they allow teams for tomorrow's hunt? Might be permitted since hunters are usually in teams and we are just candidates. Wanna plan for the hunt if they do allow it?" Arthur smiled and said, "Seems plausible, sure why not? I'm a bit hungry now, let's discuss this quickly and go have dinner." Rory and Arthur made a plan for the hunt, Rory made most of the plan with the information he had. They discussed it for a while and went to have dinner. 

They went to the club's dining hall and saw most of the hunters had already eaten and were going to their rooms. They sat down and quietly had dinner, they were hungry. They heard loud noises and saw a man near their age making a drama and being a jerk to his companions. The man had black hair and was shorter than them, he was angry at his tablemates for ordering the wrong food. They both thought he seemed like a jerk and ignored it. After finishing dinner, they saw that the man earlier was sitting alone and assumed his mates had abandoned him. They went to their rooms after saying good night to each other.

Arthur was in his room and thought about tomorrow, he erased his concerns and tried to make his mind free with some mediation.  He prepared his equipment and went to bed.

Morning came, it was 9 am and everyone had woken up and gotten ready for the test. At 5 pm they had lined up in the entrance of the forest for the final test. The examiners had arrived as well, Arthur saw a familiar face amongst the examiners, it was Jeremy! He was shocked to see Jeremy here, he had forgotten that Jeremy told him he was an executive. 

Arnold was standing alongside Jeremy and said to the candidates, "Good evening you all! It's finally time for the last test. Before I begin explaining the test, I would like you all to meet one of the executives of the club, Jeremy Hutton! It was a surprise when I heard he was coming, he had never come to the test as an examiner before.  The examiners who will be supervising this hunt will be me, Jeremy Hutton and Doyle Huxley. Please be warned that there is a slight possibility of death if you let down your guard at any moment. I shall start explaining then!

The final test will be the hunting test where you would be required to spend the night in the forest and hunt monsters. Might be a bit tough but this is how real hunters do. The test will end at 5 am, you have to kill a total of 15-20 monsters. You have to cut their nose as proof. If you kill higher rank monsters though, the rate will decrease. You will be provided with supplies for the night including food, water, medicine and a map of the forest. We will come to get you at 5 am, so stay alive and well until then. Oh, you can also form a team of three if you want. It is advised to go with a team rather than go alone in the forest. Any questions?"

Everyone seemed relieved and less worried hearing they could form teams. Then a man raised his hand to ask a question, it was the jerk from last night. He asked with a grin on his face, "Sir, are there any rules to be followed by the candidates while in the forest?" Arnold's face turned blank and said, "Yes, no candidates are allowed to burn the forest and not injure any of their fellow candidates. That is all, if you are caught doing something which breaks any of the laws by an examiner, you would be immediately disqualified." The man had a big smile on his face and stayed quiet after that. 

They were given ten minutes to prepare and form teams. Rory went up to Arthur and said with a huge smile on his face, "Hello there, young Arthur Ray, would you like to hunt with this gentleman hunter, Rory Desmond?" 

Arthur chuckled and said, "Why, yes! Who wouldn't like to hunt with the gentleman hunter Rory?"

They laughed and Rory said, "It seems we were right after all. Shall we go dance with the monsters then? Ya got yer stuff ready? We gotta get going." 

The test had commenced, they went into the forest one by one. Everyone had a team except the jerk from dinner, they went inside the forest and scattered to different parts of the forest. They tried to find a place to set a camp at. Rory and Arthur didn't want to camp at one place for too long and go hunting down monsters.

They found a place and looked around the area for anyone or any monsters. They rested there for a while until sunset, then checked their supplies and the map to plan. The sun began to set, everyone was at unease as the night had come. Rory and Arthur were comfortably settling into the forest, they had confidence in their strength but they still had slight anxiety because they were not fully aware of what they're going to fight. 

As the sky went dark and the forest started being covered in mist, Arthur thought it was the perfect time to start moving. Arthur started warming up for the hunt and so did Rory, they packed their stuff and warmed up. They were ready to hunt in the ominous forest, they heard several noises of monsters. They were alone in a forest with big and leafy trees covered with monsters everywhere, but they had the composure and followed where the noises came from. They had found a small group of goblins, they held no hesitation and immediately charged towards the group of goblins with their weapons. There were a total of goblins, Arthur slashed the head of the goblins with ease. He had learned to not let his guard down already and his concentration had gone up as well. He chopped off the remaining goblins on his side and Rory used his speed to instantly slice the goblins on his side. Rory sliced the noses of the goblins and put them into his bag.

They took a little rest for a few minutes and moved on again. They tried to find more monsters, there were no noises for a while and tried to think of something and attempted to trap them. Rory ran towards every side in search of goblins and made them follow him, Arthur made traps around the place, Rory led the goblins towards the trap and they fell for the trap and Arthur killed them all while they were trapped.

They attempted several methods in capturing and killing goblins; they had gotten 14 noses of goblins by now. It was 2 am and they were close to succeeding in the hunt, they moved through the mist and saw a man sitting under a tree. They went closer to see who it was, they saw the man was the jerk from dinner. The jerk had injuries and sat there alone in the forest, Rory felt a bit of pity for him. The jerk noticed the two and said, "Who are you two?" Rory greeted the jerk and said, "I am Rory and he is Arthur, why are you sitting here alone?" The jerk said, "I don't have a team, I don't have enough noses either. I might as well give up." 

Rory felt bad and asked the jerk if he would like to join their team. The jerk said with a smile, "Oh really? You'd let me join your team? I cannot forget this favour! My name is Nathan, by the way!"

Arthur whispered into Rory's ears, "I don't think we should let him in just because you feel pity for him. Didn't you see why his team left him last night? But it depends on your decision." Rory had a sense of justice within him telling him to, so Arthur ignored Nathan and continued walking. Nathan had joined the team, he was in charge of carrying the noses since he was not that strong to help them hunt. They continued to hunt down goblins and got about 18 noses. 

They met a dreadful giant humanoid monster, it was a type of Giants which were usually found on hills and they were taller than 13 feet, they were huge creatures with no hesitation in killing humans, a monster indeed. It was his first time seeing a Giant, Arthur was convinced that it was bigger than the troll. Rory was a bit frightened from the height of the giant but stayed put and charged into battle with Arthur. Nathan stood there with the noses in his backpack, while Arthur and Rory fought against the Giant.

The Giant was difficult to slice through since its skin was thicker and its power could crush the bones of humans easily. Arthur took minor injuries and Rory tried to distract the Giant. Meanwhile, in all the chaos, Nathan who was standing there had a large smile and backed away step by step and said to the two, "Welp, it was nice meeting you two clowns. Thank you in advance for the noses! I shall forever be in your debt, I don't think you'll be able to see the sunrise when you are fighting a Giant like that. Remember, in the wild, it's the survival of the fittest. Have a good sleep, my companions." He bowed down and ran away immediately, Rory was mad that he trusted a jerk like him! Arthur was right about him, Rory was angered and distracted. Arthur yelled to him, "HEY! Stop getting distracted right now, use your anger towards the Giant!" Rory snapped back and put his rage into killing the Giant, they both tried to synchronize their attacks and kill the Giant. After a few more strikes, Arthur went wild and Rory sped up to finish the Giant off. They sliced the giants heads and legs at the exact time! They managed to kill their first Giant!

They tried to take a breather, Rory asked Arthur, "Hey, I can still catch up to Nathan with my speed, he wouldn't have been able to go too far."

Arthur said, "No, no need to. It would be a waste of time and it's currently 3 am, we still have time. He only has 15 noses, I switched out most of the noses onto my bag. We also have this giant so we should still be able to ace the test. Maybe we would be lucky and find a troll? I want to fight one again. Nathan would be lucky if manages to survive without any companions, like he said, Survival of the fittest. Anyhow, we should rest for now."

Rory tried to calm himself down and ignored Nathan for the time being, and replied to Arthur, "Damn, well alright, I hope Nathan gets himself into some nasty trouble. A rest, eh? Sure, I am tired after fighting the Giant, let's hunt a little more after." They both were confident in passing the test and ignored Nathan.

Nathan fooled more groups of people and stole their noses and was in search of another group but an ominous figure was behind him. It was a Troll, the troll attacked Nathan and he started to fight the Troll. He became seriously injured fighting the troll, he lost most of his noses. He was about to die when a strange man found him, it was the examiner Doyle Huxley, he said to Nathan with a creepy grin on his face, "Hoohoo, aren't you lucky I found you? Little thief."

Doyle quickly killed the Troll in a few minutes and Nathan told Doyle, "Thank you, Uncle Doyle." Doyle picked Nathan up and the remaining noses and went back. 

It was 5 am, and the test officially finished, the examiners went inside the forest to check. Jeremy found Arthur and Rory returning and said to Arthur, "Oh hi, was it a nice hunt, Arthur?"

Arthur said, "Hello Uncle Jeremy, didn't expect you to be here. Yes, it was a nice hunt. Goodbye then, we'll talk later, I'm exhausted."

Jeremy said, "You're starting to act like your Father! Always ignoring me, makes me quite upset, you know? Haha, alright I'm gonna go, good job Arthur!"

They both left and Arthur went to give the noses to the club. After that, Rory and Arthur went for breakfast 

Rory asked Arthur, "How did you know the executive, by the way?"

Arthur said, "Ah, he's my Father's friend. By the way, wonder what happened to Nathan though?"

Rory said, "I think Arnold said the candidates had to meet after breakfast in a room where he would like to discuss some things? I just remember this since I was too exhausted so I did not listen much and just went straight to my room."

They went to the room where Arnold was with the other candidates, they took seats and waited. Arnold cleared his throat and said, "Good morning, congratulations on surviving the forest. Some of the candidates are not in the room right now since they were seriously injured. Candidates like Nathan Huxley had suffered a lot of injuries and won't be able to hunt for a few weeks. Anyways, I called you here to congratulate you on your survival and speak a bit about the club system. The results of the test will come to your house a week or two later. I hope you all pass!

About the system now, when you pass you'll immediately be put into the lowest rank of the ranking system. I drew the ranking system on the blackboard."

There was a blackboard behind him which had written the ranking system, 

"||    Hunters Club Ranking System ||

                    God(Milton)

                    Demigod

                    Mythical 

                    Legendary

                    Master

                    Veteran

                    Elite

                    Regular

||                  Rookie                            ||"

Arnold continued to say, "As you can see, the rank you would be getting is Rookie Hunter, they're new hunters who have just gotten into the club. You'll understand more about this when you join and settle in. I am a Master Hunter, I have been hunting for years and have hunted down several kinds of monsters. The executive Jeremy is an executive but he retired from hunting a long time ago but he used to be a legendary hunter who could rival a mythical hunter. That's the system, neat, am I right? You need to rank up, who knows maybe you'll become a mythical rank? After joining, you need to work hard in hunting to become powerful and rank up. There are some issues internally and externally from time to time in the club but you don't need to worry about them yet. I wanted to speak more about the club but I have a meeting to attend. Take rest, you all did well!"

Arthur, "Huh, the system is interesting"

Rory grunted and said, "Nathan was a Huxley? No wonder he survived"

Arthur asked Rory, "What is Huxley?"

Rory replied, "Like one of the major families of hunters in the club. They're famous because of their heroic and legendary hunter Walter Huxley, Nathan's grandfather. Sure, the old man is a hero but his children are corrupt and nasty to the bone! Ugh."

Arthur said, "Ah well, let's just go have a meal with Joe. Ignore the Huxley family for a while. Food comes first!"

They went to have a meal with Joe.

Meanwhile, at night, the vice executives were having a meeting on the selection for the club. Jeremy came to the room and said, "Hello there! I see you're working hard! Just wanted to let you know that the Chief Executive will be coming tomorrow to see you all."

Jeremy checked what they were doing and saw the files Arthur and Rory put into the "passed" section. He whispered into Arnold's ears, "Good job, Deckard. You'll have fun with Arthur and Rory in future." And he left the room after making Arnold confused. 

A man came running to Jeremy and said, "Executive Hutton, you have a telephone call from the Chief Executive!" Jeremy went with the man and answered the call.

He heard the voice of the Chief Executive who said, "Hello there, Hutton! I heard you supervised a qualification test. You've never done that before, what may be the reason?"

Jeremy chuckled and said, "Oh well, I felt like I should give a visit to the new generation. I have a person I know there, and another interesting one. Nothing much, what about you? Did you have dinner yet? How's your wife?"

They continued to talk for an hour…

THE END