Chapter 15 Cooking with the Force

While the underground tunnel had been a monotonous trek, it was also safe in the sense that there was no threat of death. Exceptions like Hisoka notwithstanding.

The following segment of the Hunter Exam's first round would not be as merciful. The Judge started off at a rapid pace, forcing the Hunters to sprint after him. Those unable to keep up would be left to their own devices or face the tender loving care of the man-eating creatures of these plains.

Rayleigh could feel Hisoka's desire to kill was growing. Killua seemed to notice it as well and said, "Let's go to the head."

Gon had no experience in detecting someone's desire to kill, so he replied, "Yeah, we should keep an eye on the judge."

Killua corrected, "It's more prudent to keep away from Hisoka. He wants to kill somebody."

Rayleigh added, "That's why he stopped the monkey. If the group divided, he'd have fewer toys to play with."

Killua asked, "You could tell?"

Summarizing his abilities with the Force, Ray explained, "I'm empathic, I can tell the feelings of others no matter how deeply they hide them. So I know who can be trusted and when people lie."

As a habitual liar, Killua asked with a straight face, "Oh, is that right?"

Rayleigh smirked back and claimed, "Yeah, but I don't mind lies, I think they're funny."

A thick fog had already descended on the plains, blocking the line of sight for more than a few meters around them. Noises came from behind as various hidden creatures in the fog attacked and lured out those who were aimlessly separated from the group.

Gon kept his head turned to the side to listen to the shouts and screams coming from the group in the back.

Killua noticed what Gon was thinking and shouted, "Don't act stupid. There's no time to worry about them. Even the guys in front of us are in the fog. Take your eyes off them and it's over. The best thing you can do is pray you don't hear your friends screaming."

A timely scream from the back filled the fog, and it sounded very much like Leorio.

At that moment, Rayleigh saw a panel of shattered glass, he saw Gon leaving, returning unharmed, and Leorio and Kurapika with them in a future Round. He then saw Gon staying, Leorio and Kurapika not coming back, and them all somehow failing a future round as a result of it.

Quickly decyphering the shatterpoint, Rayleigh said aloud, "Just go save them, you'll be fine."

Without needing another word, Gon ran to the back. Killua frowned and asked, "Why'd you let him go?"

Rayleigh directly admitted, "There are random times I can see a bit of the future. If Gon stayed, Hisoka would not kill Leorio or Kurapika, but neither would make it to the second test without Gon going back. And if they don't come back, none of us will make it past the 3rd round."

"I actually wanted to go myself and see Hisoka fight. He seemed to be using a strange ability, but we'll probably see more of that later."

Killua gave a curious look, but decided to leave it alone for now.

The fog has no effect on Ray's senses. His passive clairvoyance allows him to get a feel for everything around him even with his eyes closed. Due to the instance of being chased by that Terentatek in a pitch black tunnel, Rayleigh had since put a lot of effort into being able to 'see' in the dark using a Jedi's Clairvoyance.

The pair kept up with the Judge and, after a half hour of running, made it to a massive warehouse.

The Judge looked around and said, "The second round will begin at noon."

There was a clock conveniently located on the top of the warehouse that showed it was 11:45 AM. They had taken four hours to run eighty kilometers, fifteen minutes to climb up the stairs, and were given forty-five minutes to navigate Numelle's Marsh.

Hisoka showed up a few minutes later with Leorio on his back. The swelling on the 'young adult's face showed he'd been knocked cleanly out with a single punch.

Ray gestured to him for Killua to show he was fine, and said, "Gon and Kurapika should show up soon."

While waiting for the pair, Rayleigh sat down and started using clairvoyance to deeply observe Numelle's Marsh. and the nearby forest Since the second round would take place here, there was nothing wrong with getting a sneak peak at the area to learn a thing or two.

Five minutes to noon, Gon and Kurapika showed up and spotted Ray, who was sitting next to the unconscious Leorio. Killua went around to explore.

When Killua returned and spotted Gon, he asked, "What happened? How'd you get back on your own?"

"Well, Hisoka was playing Judge, and he said we passed, so he didn't kill us. Leorio was unconscious, so Hisoka took him back, and I was able to follow him thanks to the smell of his aftershave."

Killua badly reacted to that last line, "Thanks to his aftershave?!"

Killua suddenly had the impression that Gon was a dog. He then unconsciously looked over to Ray and got the impression of a monkey. If anyone asked, Killua himself gave others the impression of a cat.

Leorio woke up, but no one told him he was carried back by Hisoka. They assembled in front of the warehouse with the others, and an ominous rumbling sound echoed within.

As the seconds passed and noon got closer, tick by tick, the thundrous groan of some ancient beast became louder and louder.

As the last few seconds ticked away, many of the hunters drew their weapons and prepared to defend themselves against whatever unholy monstrosity lay within the warehouse.

The clock struck noon and the door slowly opened. The no longer muffled roar and groan could be heard throughout the entire field.

As the light shined in through the door, a dainty woman was revealed sitting in a soft chair, and a massive man sat on the floor behind her. The groaning continued, and all could now clearly hear that the sound originated from the giant's stomach.

The woman asked aloud, "So you hungry?

The man answered, "You bet! I'm Starving!"

The woman then shouted, "Therefore, the theme of the second trial will be... COOKING! We are both Fine Gourmet Hunters! Your Mission will be to satisfy our appetites by cooking us a meal!"

The assembled crowd was appropriately dumbfounded. Rayleigh was actually relieved. Didn't this mean he could play around more with Force Cooking? Hell yeah!

The giant stated, "You'll start by cooking the plates I ask for you."

The woman continued, "Then, those who have qualified will have to satisfy me!" The mischievous look on her face did not give anyone a good feeling.

"You will qualify for the third round if you hear, "It's Good." The test will be over when we're no longer hungry."

The examinees started whispering to themselves, hoping to figure out this out-of-left-field mission and hope for an easy way to pass.

The giant declared, "For me it will be, Roast Pork! That's what I like best. I don't care what kind of pork it is, as long as you chase it in Biska Woods." The drool escaping his mouth as he gave the instructions clearly showed how hungry he was.

Ray excitedly declared, "Last to finish is a rotten egg," before sprinting at his fastest speed towards where he saw some giant pigs through clairvoyance. Killua shouted, but Ray was already helping him by showing the direction of the pigs.

Rayleigh had wanted to try out his max speed for a while, but didn't have a good chance, so now he ran towards the pig as fast as his legs could carry him, more than three times faster than he was before the activation of the Hunter Power System. He'd have to ask the Tavern about this boost later and see if the same thing would happen in the Pirate World.

The local species of pig was the size of a cow with a rock-hard snout. Rayleigh didn't bother to play with his food. His Lightsaber had been on his waist this whole time, and now he was going to use it. With a quick slash, his blue and white blade removed the giant pig's head. It weighed about 400 kilograms, a bit less than a cow, but it was light as a feather for Rayleigh to pick up and return to the warehouse with.

Rayleigh cut off the bone with his Lightsaber and removed the burnt part with a chef's knife from his backpack. He then used the Lightsaber to light a fire to cook the meat while keeping a hand on it and using psychometry and tutaminis. Psychometry told him all the information about the meat and tutaminis allowed for perfect temperature control. He used telekinesis to squeeze out the blood and used some Force precognition to confirm the best time for cooking. When finished, he used his Lightsaber to lightly scour the meat for extra texture.

In other words, Force Cooking 101.

By this time, some other participants had brought back their pigs but, for some reason, decided to just roast the entire thing.

Rayleigh handed over a proper plate of hand-cut, force-cooked, Lightsaber-seared, Roasted pork to the Judge. A waterfall of drool fell from his mouth once the smell reached his nose, and he quickly emptied the plate into his mouth and hummed contentedly as he savored the flavor.

After a hearty swallow, the man stated, "Delicious. Are you a chef too? I've never eaten Roasted Pork like that before."

The woman had taken a look at the plate before Rayleigh handed it over and nodded as well.

Ray replied, "I know a bit about cooking, but I don't consider myself a chef, as I will only ever cook for my friends."

The man nodded, "That's a shame. I'm Buhara. I hope we can be friends in the future."

Rayleigh smiled back and returned to his spot under a tree to continue using clairvoyance to spy on everything in the area. Satotsu from the first Exam was perched on a branch of the same tree, watching the contestants arrive with their pigs.

The remaining contestants just hand over entire pigs that have been cooked over a fire. It technically counted as roasted pork, and Buhara's appetite didn't seem to mind as he skillfully ripped the cooked flesh off each pig like one would meat off a drumstick.

By the time he declared he was full, there were seventy pig skeletons next to him in a pile that stood taller than the giant himself. Rayleigh was the only one who didn't just give him a whole pig.

The woman asked, "Was all of it good? This way, it's not a test anymore."

Buhara replied, "So what? We still eliminated a lot of participants. Anyway, were not here to judge the taste today."

The woman shook her head and said, "You're too nice. Gourmet Hunters must respect the sense of taste! Alright, what's done is done." She then shouted out, "Roast Pork Test, 71 qualify for the next round!"

That mischievous smirk returned to her face and she declared, "I'm warning you, it won't be as easy with me~~. I'm very careful when it comes to taste. Second Round, phase two, here's my order. I want Sushi!"

Silence was all that answered her. With the exception of those like Rayleigh and Hanzo who lived in Jappon, no one would would know anything about sushi.

Rayleigh did, in fact, know about sushi. He made quite a bit of it two days ago since the grocery store he got his ingredients from was in a port town of Jappon which had all the necessary ingredients. But there was a big problem, and he needed to address it first.

Seeing that no one knew what sushi was, the woman gave a smile and said, "You all seem bothered. But even if you've never seen them, you can still make them. I'll give you a hand."

She then gestured to the inside of the warehouse and turned on the lights. Within were about eighty fully-stocked mini-kitchens with rice and all the tools needed to make sushi.

Everyone walked over to the mini-kitchens to look through the tools and piece together clues on how to make sushi. It was true that these tools could only be used to make sushi, but if you didn't already know how to make it, their use would not magically pop into your head.

Rayleigh considered just giving it a shot and picked up a knife, but the moment he did, he saw a vision of himself handing the woman a plate and being told by the woman that he failed. Rayleigh sighed and put the knife down. He walked over to the woman and used Force Muffle to prevent his conversation from being heard by the others.

"Excuse me, but is there an ocean or saltwater body nearby?"

They were very far from the sea, but he still wanted to ask on the off chance there was some kind of underground saltwater lake his clairvoyance didn't spot.

The woman shook her head, "Nope, no oceans around here at all."

Rayleigh then asked, "Then why would you ask for sushi? There is no such thing as freshwater sushi. You might as well ask for a roast port sandwich made of salad instead of pig. This is insulting and childish."

The good impression she had of Ray from the food he made earlier vanished when he confronted her about the test she was responsible for and directly insulted her.

She frowned at Rayleigh and an intense, lethal pressure emerged from the woman. Every cell in Ray's body told him to move or die. Instead, he cycled the Force through his body, taking Force Valor to the maximum and strengthening his mind. The pressure was successfully resisted.

The fact that Rayleigh stood there as she flared her aura confused her, but she wasn't willing to back down. She directly stated, "If you don't want to even try, then you fail. Get out of my kitchen!"

Ray didn't flinch as the pressure magnified, but his Force Valor and mental protection seemed to hold up fine against whatever it was she was trying to do to him. It was as if her lifeforce was screaming at him, directly affecting his own lifeforce.

After coming up with an idea, Rayleigh turned and left the warehouse. He didn't need precognition to tell how this was going to turn. If his own attempt at freshwater fish sushi didn't make the cut, no one else's would either.

Ray spotted Satotsu in the trees and asked, "Hey, can you get a big table? I'm going to make a feast, but don't have anywhere to put it."

Satotsu didn't have much to do besides people-watch as his round of the Exam was over. That, and he saw how delicious Rayleigh's roasted pork looked, so he nodded as Rayleigh left the area.

Using a combination of Clairvoyance, Psychometry, and Precognition, Rayleigh was able to quickly find a massive assortment of fresh ingredients, from animals to herbs to wild vegetables.

He didn't know how to cook any of them, but Force Cooking wasn't a normal skill, and it allowed one to feel out the perfect dish and create it. It was similar to how a master sculptor could see a statue hidden inside a rock and bring it out. Rayleigh could feel the final, most delicious dish and bring it out.

By the time Rayleigh returned with a massive sack of ingredients, most of the participants had gone to catch a fish in the nearby river or had already returned.

Satosu had a large table ready, and Rayleigh created another fire and started cooking everything together, using energy control and tutaminis to prevent over or undercooking while separating some flavors and letting others mingle.

To add to his feast, Ray applied the feelings of joy, serenity, excitement, and a passion for life. Spicing up a dish with emotions for a hidden flavor was the specialty of Force Cooking.

One man cooking an entire feast on his own wasn't really possible, but Rayleigh got around that limit with telekinesis. Satotsu watched with interest as various foods, utensils, and plates floated around, but it wasn't more than a passing curiosity. The only thing Rayleigh used from the Warehouse was the fresh water to wash the ingredients with, but he got it directly from the water tank in the back, so he didn't need to go inside.

None of the participants carrying back their own fish cared about what Rayleigh was doing before heading back inside.

At 2 PM, Rayleigh could feel the mood inside the warehouse and figured it was over. He was told not to come back inside, but that didn't mean he couldn't just stand at the door and shout.

"Hey Killua, Gon, Kurapica, Leorio, Buhara, I got some food for you!"

Rayleigh then returned to the table and said, "Mr. Satotsu, you are welcome to some as well."

"Oh, don't mind if I do."

Gon and the rest came out, but were followed by the other candidates who spotted the long table of food. Gon ran over to pick some up, and Leorio shouted, "Alright! I was starving with all this cooking."

Buhara easily pushed away the crowd and stood at the side of the table to pick up some of the meat and veggies Ray had on display. His eyes shined with stars as he started eating. Thankfully for Rayleigh's friends, he was still 98% full from the roasted pork, or he would have finished the entire table himself. Ray had a plate himself and heard from Killua that the woman had failed everyone. He wasn't surprised.

Buhara's presence prevented any of the other Exam candidates from approaching the table, as they would feel the threat of death if any uninvited guest tried to steal a bite. There was an exception, though.

"Oh, this is good."

The woman had snuck through and stolen some food.

Ray walked over to her and said, "Then I pass, right?"

The woman realized what she said and angrily shouted, "No! You didn't make any sushi!"

Rayleigh claimed, "There wasn't any saltwater fish, so I couldn't make any sushi. I made something else."

She called out, "You didn't even try!"

Rayleigh calmly stated, "Sushi is to be eaten raw. Freshwater fish cannot be eaten raw due to the bacteria that live in fresh water bodies. The only way to safely make freshwater sushi would be to cook the fish to remove the bacteria and then cool the fish, but that is not sushi."

"Shut Up! I said you had already failed!"

"No, you said we would qualify for the third round if you say, 'It's Good.' Are you going to take back what you just said?"

"No, but the test is over!"

"You said the test was over when you weren't hungry. If you weren't hungry, why'd you come over to take food from a table you weren't invited to?"

The woman was almost beet red from anger, and Rayleigh thought there was a small chance she might actually kill him, so he said, "Tell you what, if you can figure out exactly how I cooked this food, I'll admit defeat. Come on, miss One-Star Hunter."

Satotsu already told Rayleigh a few things about the One-Star Gourmet Hunter Menchi while he was cooking. To prevent his own death, he was going to use her own weapons against him. If she could figure out how Force cooking worked, he'd admit defeat.

The rest of the candidates were experiencing all-out schadenfreude at the fact that the insufferable woman who failed them all was getting backed into a corner by a child. The points he spoke of were perfectly logical to those who knew a thing or two, and they were all getting the feeling that the problem was with the Judge, not the Exam.

Menchi wasn't blind to the change in the atmosphere. The one in the right was the majority, so even if she had been given responsibility for the Exam, if everyone decided she was wrong, she was wrong. Stubbornness could only take you so far.

She had no choice but to accept the challenge and tried one of everything while Gon, Killua, and the rest watched her. The fact that she was getting more and more visibly frustrated was seen by everyone.

Rayleigh even added, "If you give up, feel free to ask Mr. Satotsu how I did it. He watched everything."

The woman's eyebrow twitched. She had been thinking of accusing him of using something he brought with him, because she was in fact familiar with every ingredient. She was the one who chose this spot as the site for the Second Round because of how familiar she was with the local ingredients, but she couldn't figure out how Rayleigh accomplished this taste using just what was available. She had seen his Lightsaber when he cooked the pork, but that would not have accounted for what she was tasting.

Fifteen minutes later, she still hadn't given up or figured it out. She was just being stubborn at this point.

The sound of a blimp-copter was heard from above. Those who looked up spotted an old man jumping out of the door and falling to the ground.

The old man neatly landed with a thud, and Rayleigh noticed that even his wooden sandals were unharmed from the impact. He wondered if the Hunter's Power System could be used to strengthen items like Force Weapon could.

Menchi looked rather stunned, not at the old man's entrance but at his identity. She softly stated, "Chairman Netero, the man responsible for the Hunter Exam."

Netero had a perfectly straight and triangular old man's beard and a broom mustache. He said, "Responsible, yes, but I am only an advisor. And I'm here to solve this kind of problem."

He then looked over at the devoured feast on the table and asked, "What do we have here?"

Satotsu arrived at his side and whispered what appeared to be a summary of the situation, as the old man's eyes flicked over Rayleigh for a moment.

Netero nodded and said, "Menchi, concerning their ability to take on a challenge in a domain they do not know, do you believe their attitude towards the trial justified the severity of your elimination?"

She looked like a scolded schoolgirl. She explained, "I was troubled by their lack of respect towards cooking and I lost my temper."

Netero took a whiff of the former feast and said, "What you chose was not a bad concept, but the execution was too narrow. I can understand the desire to search for new things, it is why many of us chose to become a Hunter. But can you see now how this could have turned out if you had given them more room to display their talents?"

She sighed and walked up to Rayleigh. "I'm sorry for my earlier behavior. You were right."

Rayleigh didn't take on an air of superiority and replied, "It's fine. I understand that good food can be worth dying for, but many do not. You gave what could be considered a Gourmet Hunter Final Exam when you could have given an Introductory Lesson to show how amazing the Hunter Standard of Gourmet Food could really be."

She sighed once more at being lectured like a child by a literal child, but knew he was correct. "The results of the exam are void, I don't qualify as a jury member."

Netero interrupted, "Well now, how about this. You can go on, but as compensation, you'll have to take the test also! That way, it will be easier for the contestants to accept your decision."

She thought for a moment and looked at Rayleigh before smiling brightly. "Alright, my test will be a Boiled Egg!"

She turned to ask Netero, "President, could you give us a ride to Split Mountain?"

"Oh ho. I see. No problem."

Without complaint at the second chance to pass the round, everyone waited for the blimp to land and loaded up before being taken into the air to a nearby mountain. From the window, those looking out saw a lone mountain in the jungle that was split down the middle.

The blimp parked on the top of the mountain, where everyone got off and followed Menchi to the cracked space between the mountain's two halves. "Here it is. Don't worry, at the bottom, there is a very deep river with a current strong enough to take you dozens of kilometers before you know it."

Without another word of warning, she hopped over the edge into the open air.

At that, Netero drew everyone's attention and stated, "Here on Split Mountain live the tarantula-eagles. She went to get one of their eggs. Tarantula-eagles string incredibly strong lines between the cliff faces and suspend their eggs along those lines to protect them from land creatures."

Those peering over the edge witnessed Menchi grab a line as she fell, which bounced up and down but easily held her weight. She shimmied over to a bundle of eggs that hung in the middle of the line and plucked one off before shimming back to the cliff face and climbing back up.

She looked at everyone as she reached the top and said, "There you have it. Then you just have to boil the egg."

Ray, Gon, and Killua jumped down first, followed by Leorio, Kurapika, and the rest. Slanting your body to control how you fell and make sure you passed one of the many strings to catch before reaching the bottom wasn't difficult for those who'd trained enough.

Each plucked an egg and returned to the top. Killua and Rayleigh both raced to the top, but the cat-boy was outmatched by the monkey-child and left in the dust.

Technically, one could argue that Rayleigh had already passed, but he wasn't opposed to seeing how the tarantula-eagle egg tasted. He'd only pluck one, of course.

Menchi had a pot of boiling water ready and had thrown some chicken eggs into the pot so others could compare the taste. Rayleigh tossed his in and kept an eye on it as he patiently waited for it to boil.

As the first one to toss the egg inside, he was also the first to retrieve his own egg. It didn't have a hard shell like a chicken egg that needed to be peeled off, so he directly took a bite out of it and immersed himself in the flavor. It had the texture of an egg, but the flavor of caviar, with a slight spiciness that deepened the overall taste.

Rayleigh saw Menchi staring at him and gave her a big thumbs up, causing her to smile back.

The others weren't as quiet in their enjoyment and gave praise after praise for the depth of flavor and how well it suited the texture.

To those ecstatic faces, Menchi proudly declared, "Maybe I made you better understand the joy of discovering new exquisite food. We risk our lives for it."

With that, Netero called everyone to return to the blimp. The losers would be dropped off at the closest city and the winners would be taken to the third round.