22 Hunter's Examination

Hunters are people who go out to kill monster's who live inside a Gate. Its one of the most successful profession advertised by the hunter's association. As it makes the easiest profit ever by killing monsters, gaining valuable resources and sustaining the order of the Gates by impeding it from invading the Kastelyst Kingdom.

Although Gates appear almost everywhere around the World, in the Kastelyst Kingdom, the Hunter was the official title made by the king as a form of acknowledging this profession to be one of the top 5 most enrolled occupation. Outside the Kastelyst kingdom however lies a whole new people who manages the Gates that were not In the jurisdiction of the kingdom…species like Elves, Dwarfs, Giants, And Half Demons. Although they are not at war with each other due to the ongoing problem with the Gates, they divide themselves mostly out of the fact that they just don't get along…race and all.

That is why the Kastelyst kingdom is 95 percent filled with just Humans. The other 5 percent is mostly just a rambled bunch hiding in the Shadows.

Back to the Hunters, the legal age to become a hunter was Ages 16 and above. 16 was the age were Mana circles would fully adapt to the Body and become applicable to the normal daily lives of humans…although only 40 percent of the human population encompasses the gift of having mana, while other species have different circumstances towards the access of mana.

Being a hunter starts off with the people going through the procedure of the Hunter's association. It undergo a basic lookup of the Person's ID, social status, and criminal records. After the basic scan of Identification, it goes for a basic interview with one of the handlers of the Test.

Questions like the reasons for becoming a hunter, did one ever come from any social statuses, And all other sorts of questions that may or may not help in passing the test.

Once the Interview is meet and approved by the Interviewee, the next procedure goes under taking the Physical Exams for basic capabilities of the test takers.

It was a list of Practical Events where it measured one's physical capability to survive a Gate.

System of measuring one's capabilities:

System Circle Scale: A wall engraved with multiple circles at a center point. It Measures the capacity of a person's Mana. Mostly if a person achieves a one circle, it was prompted to be the basic necessity to pass the exam. If not, there was a 60 percent chance of failing the hunters exam.

Dummy Tank: A dummy sandbag made out of Magic material. Once a person tries to damage it, it measure's the strength a person carries on his attacks. Just like one of those arcade games where one punches a sandbag and gives a measurement, the Dummy tank gave measurement of what the person gave. It measures from 0 to a 1000, where the basic passing score was 80 and at peak was a thousand. The handler would give 3 chances for a person to attack.

Simple Target platform: A simple test to measure one's accuracy when attacking a monster. It usually takes on the magic and Bow users. If the person gets 3 hits out of 5, then they pass.

Stamina Roller: an Inhuman Treadmill that goes at a regular speed of 30km per hour. A person who can pass this must at least go for 45 minutes without getting tired. This is a benefit for running away from an unavoidable danger.

After taking all of these test and passing it, they can receive their official Hunter's card. Which has a lot of benefits in the kingdom.

After passing the Exam, it'll only take an hour to process the results and by system of ranking, the Hunters are Ordered by rank of F to S. F being the Lowest and S being the Highest

This gives value to the person and his efforts in taking the Exam, it also gives Guilds who are hungry for Hunter's the chance to recruit them…mostly D rank and above are the People who get immediately recruited. People under F and E and mostly just ignored…

As these people pass the exam, they are officially part of the Hunter's Association, which is under the Government Organization which is associated by mostly people who aren't born in the Aristocratic world. Mostly hunters who aren't royalty join this association.

Despite the Hunter's association having the backing of the Government and the King's authority A certain Guild was also at the same level of Fame and Authority.

The Imperial Guild. Unlike any other Guilds manage by some rich person, This guild was also backed by the Authority of the King. It was a guild that managed the Hunters of the Royal Class, nobles could easily join this guild as long as they were enrolled in the Royal Academy, which just by being in the school, the guild recognizes the investment of the noble's talent . Their benefits were 2 times better than the hunter's association, but for the locals the only way to get in with the Imperial Guild was for the recognition of one's gift and talent. Where you should be in the Academy.

Other Guilds are also available. Guilds manage by people who are mostly nobles.

"Okay..that sums up every important detail when taking the exam." I said as I finished readin all the information that was put in the web.

Right now, I just finished researching the necessary information needed for me to do the Hunter's Exam and gain the money to buy material needed from a Blacksmith.

Last night wasn't a great night since it took me three hours to final recognize the street of where my apartment was. I came home drizzling in cold rain water. At that night I decided to become a hunter since the benefits were good.

After the next day, I went to a net cafe which I stumbled upon last night while I was taking cover from the rain. The weather was to bad to a point that I saw the trees swaying sideways from the strong winds

As I stand by under the cover of a net cafe, I was surprised to see that in front of me was a poster of a hunter's association advertisement. Here, things like the link of its site were printed. It got me the idea of actually of researching some information since If I relied on my memory alone, It would be risky because I needed to have a measure a necessary strength needed for me to pass as a beginner.

Where I aim to be just between E and F rank.

And so after I finished researching every important detail in taking the Exam, I called for a taxi and made my way and was finally making my way to the Hunter's Association. While I was waiting at the back of the car, I reminded myself of the other information that was crucial for the start.

The Basic settlement for taking the exam was under 15,000 ence…and luckily the association allowed loans for the Settlement but only had a 5 day period before it increases in interest.

Fail or Succeed, I still had to pay for the test taken that day.

Luckily the Items go for big in value, where getting 15 white mana cores is enough to pay it off.

Which in terms of resources inside a gate, mana Cores dropped by monsters is valued by the size and color of the core. White being the cheapest and Dark Red being the most priced core

Normally White mana cores are found in basic weak monsters like the Goblins and the Dark red cores were found by the Boss monsters of high ranking.

Another resource was the Monster material. Materials from the parts of the subjugated monsters, things like bones of a Dragon, scales, and even organs. Certain parts of monsters were valuable in terms of it being turned into equipment for hunters.

Natural Resources Found from the gates, like rare fruits, and certain minerals like Ademantium was also a form of resource with great value.

Last resource was the Skill Books. A rare find in a dungeon, only attainable by killing one of the high Ranking monsters, found in certain bases of monster territories. Skill Books were Granted by Gods who were also worshiped by Monsters of the Gates. It wasn't only the humans who had access to worshiping a God, Monsters were just as Religious.

Selling one Skill Book was at a value of millions, its rarity and difficulty of finding one was a form of measurement of one's luck. I had a hunch that I wasn't probably going to find one except by killing a boss.

And speaking of killing bosses…the Main Characters were also registered hunters.

And as Hunters who took it by the Age of 16, Arthur, Licia, Martha, Liam and all other additional characters were involved in this profession. It was a form of practice for them to get stronger. Fighting monsters to get stronger, finding rare materials to get richer…these Characters had the pinnacle of Plot Armor going in down for them.

And I was going to follow in their footsteps, despite my knowledge towards the future events written in the novel. I promised myself that I wasn't going to involve myself with them. It Wasn't going to be one of those stories where the Character would take advantage of his past knowledge or something like that and be OP as heck. I was a devoted fan of these people, and as such I was only going to watch by the sidelines and admire the very coolness the book represented to me back then.

And other than Admiration, I was going my own road in this story, one reason for this was because of the Life Duty I acquired while I was taking the Ruler's Challenge, finding my people and rebuilding the Rulers name and all. And another reason was instead of following the Timeline of events that were going to happen in the Future of this novel, I was going to Fix some of its major Flaws.

One example of it was the Terrorist Attack.

After 30 minutes of driving, the Taxi finally arrived at the Destination. The Hunter's Association.

After getting off the taxi, I was greeted by a High Rise Building with a huge screen that was advertising the Hunter's Association by showing one of the famous hunters. It was a commercial of the hunter fighting of a Mid-sized boss monster and finishing it off with a flashy attack.

"Become a Hunter just like me." said the Actor as he gave a Thumbs up at the finish of the commercial.

Looking at it, I was amazed by the production value of that video, it clearly showed signs of its motive being effective, seeing that I was quite giddy and excited of becoming a hunter myself.

As I passed through the entrance, I was met with a hoard of Hunter's standing around at the center of the building.

I looked around for a bit and admired the very view of what I was seeing before me. It was a land of Fantasy, something I imagined was only seen in conventions back in my world.. Giant Swords at the back of Hunters, Cool staffs that were held by Mages with pointy top hats and Armor that was too cool to be real. All these things were in front of me…and my eyes couldn't be in more disbelief, but in the end everything was real…my second chance at life was…very Epic. I couldn't do anything at that moment but be grateful for what he gave me.

"damn, everything is so frickin cool. I could only ever look at these things at fantasy fan art at the web and in games, but right now…Oh god. Thank you G."

Looking at those weapons that they were carrying made me think of what I was going to use during this exam since a hunter usually specifies on one type of style they would fight by.

There were tankers, swordsman, bow users and all other types of specialties.

But I had only one thing in mind since I left the Ruler's Domain.

'Since I can use a bow fine, a spear just as good and a sword pretty well…the shield is my problem at the moment. Maybe if I can use a Spear with a shield, I can make do.'

I made up my mind to using a spear as my main weapon along with a shield to further improve my proficiency at using it. This was also going to be my main weapon to use at the Academy so that my ID profile wouldn't get messed up with me using different weapons all together.

After that moment, I made my way to the desk that was handling the Hunter's Exam. In front of that desk was a line of 20 people lining up with their faces showing a bit of stiff and nervous expression. They were also going to take the test as well. Most of the people lining up were either young or at some middle age.

After thirty minutes of waiting in line, it was finally my turn to take my exam.

I was greeted with a smile by a beautiful lady who was constantly typing on her computer while she was handling the papers of the examiners. This was the first step of the exam…the checking of one's Identity.

The Handler gave me a form, asking me to fill up the necessary information needed.

After filling every page of the form, I gave it back to her. I wasn't fully confident with my identity here in this world since this body was never mine in the first place. If ever there was some bad news with this Identity…then every chance of me passing a hunter's exam was going to be thrown out the window.

"...Well, looks like everything is in order."

'Phew…looks like this body was clean. Thank god."

"Now, if you follow this yellow line on the floor, you can proceed to the first step of the Test. After you arrive at the end of the line, you must pull a number and wait your turn, after there, you can wait until you are called for the interview." The lady said after giving me the approval.

I followed the yellow line, after that I arrived at another line that reached up to 30 people. At the end of that line was a machine that gave off numbers.

".…" I pulled a number 67. this tells me that I was the 67th person to take an interview for this day.

"67 people tried taking the exam on this morning…that's a lot of people."

After two hours of waiting in line, the person in front of me was finally next. He entered the room with so much confidence that when he opened the door, he looked back at me and gave me a smirk.

"Damn..."

5 minutes later.

*BOOM!* the door burst open and what came out was a man crying with his pants clearly showing signs of dampness.

".…damn."

Not long after, a janitor came walking out of the door with a bucket and a mop before my number was called out.

[number: 67]

"Oh, that's me."

As I entered the room, I was met with a guy who was smoking a cigarette right in front of me. He's eye's were glued at the screen and his foot tapping at the floor.

"Hmm, It say's here that you're about to take the Royal Academy's entrance exam."

"!..um, yes, I am. In a couple of days."

"I see. Well, why don't you sit down and will begin the interview."

"Thank you."

"Now, I usually ask this to every youngsters who were dreaming about becoming a hunter…so lets begin. Why are you trying to become a hunter? It's a dangerous profession to go by and although its pay is better than others, it isn't usually the case when the only thing stopping you is a sword to your throat."

"Well…I really don't have any choice at the matter. I'm having problems at my house, I'm a 2 months late in my bills and just like any reckless kid out there trying to make it out in life, I'm broke as hell."

"Okay, on to my next question."

"y-yeah, okay.."

"What's your preferred style of fighting?"

"Um…A spear and shield."

"Oh nice, using both offense and defense. Usually beginners don't tend to go for wielding two weapons at once since they tend to focus on one thing at a time, but for you going forth with a shield and a Spear, you must have trained a lot just by being able to handle these two weapons."

"haha, yeah I did."

"Now unto the next question. Have you learned any skills that matched with your weapon or maybe enough, a simple cast of magic?"

"um, no I haven't."

As he continued with the simple questions and answers, He proceeded to ask complex questions like the rules of the Basic principles of Hunters where he discussed rules on how one shouldn't steal a kill on a monster, or how long a hunt should last on a gate. All the basic knowledge needed was answered without any fail thanks to my knowledge in the novels.

As time passes, it took around 10 minutes to actually finish the whole interview. After that, he insisted I go to the door on my left. Telling me to proceed on following the yellow line so as to go with the next step of the test, the System Circle Scale. It was a simple process, and by looking at the line before me, it didn't take long for my turn to be up next.

I was amazed that some people despite their age, were getting two circles of mana. Especially this one girl who was probably at the age same as me where she got two circles of mana completely filled on the scale. But with the backlash of giving it her all, in return she came out quite pale just from testing her mana limits. It was amazing nonetheless, knowing that most people our age usually come with only one circle of mana capacity. If we gave it our all, we can turn up just like her, drained from exhaustion but showing some great results.

The only possible way to improve our mana capacity is by training and drinking elixirs, but those things cost money, so it was quite hard for people to instantly become strong in the mana since except for Nobles and the like.

After admiring her efforts to show, I too was up next on the board.

I planned to not over exert myself and just give a passing grade.

'One mana circle is enough.' I thought to myself.

"Okay, looks like your up next. Please stand in the square line under your feet and please touch the scale in front of you. Now I'm going to stick these wires on top of your skin so I can see if there are any complications with your body when handling with mana. . By my count, please exert the mana in your body."

"Okay."

"3…2…1…release."

"Hnn."

As I exerted the mana out of my body, the scale in front of me instantly glowed a bluish light. It slowly filled out a small carving of a circle and after that, it stopped just at the complete end on one circle.

"hmm, okay you have the capacity of One Circle of mana. Please proceed to the next step of the test."

"thank you."

After that I followed the ongoing yellow line. I was satisfied with the result of the test, I didn't complain with how little it was and judging from the reaction the handler gave me, it was probably the average amount…so I'm quite grateful.

Meanwhile, back at the person who was handling the Mana scale.

'Amazing…this kid didn't even gave any sort of reaction from expelling his mana. Usually people would show major signs of complications but for him to just do this without repercussions is amazing. The way he released it shows that his body is already used to having mana expelled from his body, its not something one can easily get used to handling even if one trained for months. Looking at how his heart rate didn't even exhilarate means that he's at a breaking point in reaching the 2nd circle. It's the same with that girl…' The handler was impressed with the two test takers, that he made sure to label them in his mind as future big time people.

Back to Hamil, he came across the next stage of the test, which was to take on the Dummy Tank.

He was greeted by another handler, She told him to pick through the weapons he was familiar with. And without thinking back on it, he grabbed a simple spear. Since they were only going to measure he's attack, holding a shield was going to be pointless at that point.

He was told to wait his turn while others were proceeding to take their chance.

He saw how they handled they Dummies. Some where powerful and others were Mid. Looking at their choice of attacks, people who used weapons were only given a one slash move or a one thrust move, it depended with the type of weapon they were holding. And with each test taker, they were only given three chances to attack.

"Haa!!" shouted one of the middle aged man.

*Swing* His sword was meet with the sturdy body of a dummy and at the result of it, the Dummy took and showed around the passing score.

[ 86.]

"Hmm, out of all your attacks, that was the strongest. Good, it looks like everything is in the green. You pass, now go follow the next stage." said the handler to the middle aged man.

The middle aged man smiled at his efforts and continued to the next stage. Up next to him was me.

"Next."

"Here" I said As I stood in front of the Dummy tank. I was slightly intimidated by the size of it, seeing as how it was twice my size.

".…"

"Well, you only have three chances, please follow accordingly by my order so we can move on with the next stage without any delay. If I say go, please proceed with your attack."

"Okay."

"Okay…setting it up now…3…2…1…Go."

'I've got three chances…I don't usually know how strong my first attack would measure up so for know I should do a light jab at it.' I thought to myself while I carefully made my stance to attack.

"Ha!"

*Thud!!*

[120]

"Wow….amazing, but you still have two chances please standby by my signal." said the handler as he was amazed by my power.

".….."

'WTF!! that was a light jab!!!???'

I panicked in my mind. Okay….if I follow through with this, maybe it'll be the same result.

'just a simple light jab…a simple light jab will do.' I prepared myself not to go any further than it usually is.

"Okay…3…2…1..Go!"

"Ha!"

*Thud!!*

[Processing….125]

"Damn…that's even much stronger than the first one. Haha, looks like we've got a rising star here. Hey, tip of advice. If you ever pass the score of 150 then you might even get the attentions of some of the higher ranking Guilds."

".…" (fuck...)

"Last one baby!. Here we go. 3…2…1…go!"

Why is he so hype about this?

"Ha!"

This was my final attempt. If it goes any higher than it usually was, then the association will be on my tail.

I decreased a lot of my thrust at the last minute and just at it hits the dummy in front of me, I gave my most weakest attack I could ever muster at that moment.

"-----------------------Boom!"

[Processing…]

"...come on."

[113]

".…Okay ,that's good."

"Aw tough luck, you must've given it your all at the first two. Well, at least for now I can say that you might reach rank E immediately."

"Wow, really?" I tried acting ecstatic so I could show that I was satisfied with the result and lucky for me, he bought my act.

"Yeah, keep working hard and if you get your second evaluation, you might just reach Rank D."

"Thank you."

"Okay, now go to the next Stage. Since you were a spear user, we usually test their accuracy by throwing their spears as an attack, but for later evaluation it was decided that it was only taken when the Hunter decided to do so. It kind of defeats the purpose of being a hunter when your throwing your only weapon ahead and not get it back…So what will it be, will you try going for a simple target practice or go for the last test which was the Stamina Roller?"

"...I'll" I was already confident with my sense of accuracy and knowing the test itself and my objective for today. I can easily get the perfect score if I had to…but it was pointless knowing that I still had to purposefully get the passing score. So I had to pass the test knowing that it wouldn't change anything.

"I'll go straight for the last test."

"Okay, you should follow the green line since you're skipping the accuracy test."

"Thank you."

"Okay, Good luck."

And so I made my way to the final test of the hunter's exam…Stamina Endurance. There I meet a lady who was managing a single average looking treadmill.

"Welcome to the Treadmill AKA the Stamina Roller. The test is simple, all you have to do is last for at least 45 minutes. The Speed will remain in a constant 30kph. Now….are you ready?"

"yeah, give it to me."

"Okay. First I'll have to set you up first to this cable and then…once I push the button you can start."

Once she sticks a cable at my back, she was ready to press the button.

"3…2…1…Go!"

"!" I braced myself since I didn't fully grasp how fast 30kph was but to my surprise it was like a light jog.

"Vroom~~" the sound of the treadmill was the only one thing I was focused on. And truth be told, I was quite disappointed that it was only this fast…

".…."

"Vroom~~"

".…."

"Vroom~~"

".…"

45 minutes later…

Ting!

The treadmill finally ended and what came out was a man who barely made a drop of sweat.

".….So…did I do good?"

"Hmm…yeah, you're good to go. I just need to give this to the processor and after an hour you can finally get your Hunter's license."

"Haha, thanks."

"Yeah…no problem…um you can just wait by the benches until someone calls for your name."

"Okay. Thank you."

".…"The handler just watched as the kid who ran 30kph without feeling any bits of discomfort walked up to a bench just ahead of him and sits down like nothing happened. Although her expression didn't show any signs of excitement, deep down inside, the emotion called disbelief was the only thing managing her brain at that moment…

"kids nowadays are healthy as hell." this was her only compliment to the boy who was walking away.

moments later a new examiner of the Stamina roller was waiting for the handler to hook him up to a cable

"Hey handler, I'm waiting!" shouted the man.

"...yeah, I'm coming." This handler was at disbelief to a point that his brain decided to think of what everyone should really consider at any age…to exercise.

While Hamil was just seating in a bench that was near the office of hunter releases. All he had to do was wait.

"The test took shorter time than I expected…maybe I'll get enough time to go to a Gate and come out with enough money to pay of the test fee and my bills…that would be a blessing." he was talking to himself while he waited for the results.

Inside an office was a woman who was checking through the papers of the examiners who just took the test.

Like any bored office lady, all she saw right before her was the same result from any same beginner at the Hunter Exams.

"Average….average…above average….all these papers are average. All of them will be ranked F, next."

'Sigh…..its been a whole year since an interesting profile was submitted here. I think it was Arthur? That kid had talent…he made two circles of mana on his first try at the age of 16 and most of his physical attributes were top notch. His friends were also the same, but that fact was only possible since his friends are mostly royals.' thought the lady as she reminisce on the past.

"uuughhh….I wanna smoke." she said out loud.

"No can do. first off, this is a non smoking area and the ventilation in this room sucks no pun intended. second, If you smoke at least one cigar, your bound to go for the next until every cigar is used up thanks to your nicotine addiction. and third I found an interesting profile here." said a man while correcting the person who was seated in front of him. He looked like the proper business man who combed his hair to his back and wearing a proper business suit.

"An interesting profile? Last time I've heard you said the word interest is when you saw two birds colliding at one another and sinking into a basketball net while you were inside a Cafe store reading a book about 'How to Successfully Find The Worlds Conveniences'."

"yeah…the timing back then was pretty convenient. I should have invited you to join me back then Sherlitt."

"...y-yeah, you can invite me next time, Rian..." said the middle aged woman, who was unknowingly expressing a red face filled with anxiousness. Her name was Sherlitt.

'.…Ah, that's cute as hell.' The somewhat younger looking man who was named Rian.

These two people were responsible for assigning the optimal ranking of a hunter had to offer. And as you see from the way they talked to each other, the certain atmosphere named affection was lingering in the air.

"Right, you said there was an interesting profile, show me." insisted Sherlitt.

"Okay, here." Rain said as he passed over a three piece profile.

As Sherlitt looks over the profile, Rian walks up to her back to look at the same paper.

"So, what do you think?"

"...I don't know. His potential is above average at best."

"Really? Hmm, doesn't seem that way to me."

"Explain."

"First off is how the mana scale couldn't detect to any alterations when he tried activating a mana circle. Second, his attack is way beyond above average…I mean 120? most people can't even reach that level yet until they're at the peak of rank F and lastly is the Stamina Roller. It's the same as the mana scale, no alterations to his condition whatsoever, even for 45 minutes." explain Rian to his accomplice.

"I guess you're right…but his peak F rank at the beginners test….this shows promise."

"What do you say?" asked Rian.

"lets get him in here and try to recruit him…but lets be vague about it. Usually beginners who show promise and are told by it, tend to get Big in their heads…"

"Okay, lets call for a second interview."

***OUTSIDE THE OFFICE

[Calling number 67…Calling number 67…proceed to the Office BA-1A for evaluation.]

"Evaluation?"