Chapter 16 Do you want to Play a Game?

By the time the blimp-copter deposited the failed examinees and returned to the sky and its path towards the the Exam Site of the 3rd round, the sun had already set and only the vast and starry skies stretched across the horizon.

Chairman Netero gathered the remaining Examinees at the blimpcopter's observation deck and said, "It might be time for the remaining 42 contestants to know who I am. My name is Netero, and I am responsible for the Trials and a member of the Hunter Exam Organization Committee. I wasn't supposed to show myself until the final phase of the trials, but... I came sooner than expected."

He may have introduced himself as just a member of the Hunter Examination Committee, but almost everyone knew he was also the President of the Hunter Association. His presence added a pressure all its own to the contestants.

The bean-head man pointed at a clock and said, "We should arrive at the site for our third round tomorrow at 8 AM. You are free to do whatever you want until we arrive."

Killua turned to Ray and Gon and said, "Hey, let's go on a tour of the ship?"

Rayleigh had been in a spaceship before, but never a blimp, so he was as excited as Gon when they chased after Killua to explore the floating vessel's every nook and cranny.

After wandering around for a half hour, they only found five areas of interest. The passenger deck, which wrapped around the base of the blimp had chairs where you could sit and look out the windows to the world below. The engine room was locked, and the security guard at the door didn't look like he would appreciate a forced entrance. The observation deck, which had the captain and steering wheel, the balloon part of the blimp, but that door was pressurized, so no entry there, and the upper deck on the top of the ship, which looked useful for training, was unfortunately empty.

After running out of places to search, the trio found an empty set of seats on the passenger deck and just stared out the window at one of the cities below.

Gon brightly exclaimed, "Great! It looks like a diamond!"

After quickly getting bored of the sights, Gon asked, "Killua, Ray, do you got any parents?"

Rayleigh answered first. "Nope. All dead. I've had others care for me, but I've been pretty much-taking care of myself for a few years now."

Gon looked over at Killua, and the latter answered, "Yes. I have parents."

Gon asked, "What do they do?"

"Assassins."

"Like that robot head?"

"Yup. My family's main profession is assassination. Every member. I'm not telling you how much pressure my family puts on me, but I don't like the idea of others deciding what I'll do in my life. But when I told them, they got mad. My mother started crying, telling me I was so gifted for this job. Well, to make a long story short, I beat up my mom and my brother and ran away! They probably haven't healed yet. If I become a Hunter, the first thing I'll do is arrest my family and cash in the bounty."

Rayleigh chuckled, "The only one of us with parents, but you want to cash them in for their bounties?"

Killua had the sense to look a bit awkward at that.

Gon looked like he wanted to ask Rayleigh about something, but they all felt an intense aura flare to their left.

Rayleigh felt the presence of something move to their right and looked right, while Gon and Killua looked left.

The man already looked like he was casually walking their way by the time Rayleigh had turned his head. This guy was really fast.

Gon and Killua noticed Ray was looking the other way and turned to see Chairman Netero. Gon naively asked, "Mr. Netero, did you see anyone coming from over there?"

The old man played the fool and innocently answered, "No."

Killua caught what Rayleigh had seen and stated, "You're really fast for your age."

The old man countered, "You think? I was just walking without haste. "

Rayleigh smiled and asked, "Then what would you consider fast?"

"Ho ho? Would you like to see? I'm bored, so I'm looking for someone to play with. This is your first time taking the Hunter Exam, right? How do you like it?"

Gon answered, "It's fun."

Rayleigh said, "It's okay."

Killua replied, "I'm disappointed. I thought the trials would be harder. Will we finally have fun during the next tests?"

The old man evasively answered, "We'll see," proving they weren't going to get any useful information from him. Killua turned to leave, and Ray and Gon followed.

"Wait, don't you want to play with me?"

Rayleigh had to shut his mind into Character Mode to stop himself from thinking the worst when a creepy old man asked three young boys if they wanted to play with him.

The man continued, "If you win, I'll give you the title of Hunter!"

Ray nodded to Killua and Gon smiled with excitement. The trio followed Netero to the upper deck, where he picked up a rubber ball about two-thirds the size of a soccer ball and said, "If you can take this ball, you win. You're free to attack me anyway you like. I won't hit back, but you can only come at me one at a time."

Rayleigh had to stay in Character Mode or else the act of an old man telling eleven-year-old children to reach out and take his ball would have elicited a very unchild-like expression on his face.

Confirming the mission parameters, Killua repeated back, "We just have to take the ball, right? Alright, I'll start."

Netero nodded, "Go ahead."

Killua started walking around Netero. He accelerated and stopped at specific intervals without making a single sound, causing an impression of afterimages to circle around the Chairman.

Gon was surprised, but Rayleigh noticed how Killua's ankles were basically shooting him from step to step. It was a flashy move, but not particularly useful against someone stronger than you. The stress it put on the body made it damaging in a drawn out fight, but since this was supposed to create an opening for a finisher, Rayleigh figured it was fine.

Killua's afterimages practically started dancing around the deck while the Chairman moved with the smallest possible margin of error to dodge and avoid the attacks.

Rayeligh put his backpack down on the wall and unzipped it slightly so that HK-47 could observe the fight. Recording the movements of such a powerful Hunter would prove useful in the future.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get the ball, Killua smashed his leg into Netero's shin.

Killua's excitement turned into panic as the bolt of pain traveled through his leg, causing him to shout and cry while hopping on one foot over to where Rayleigh and Gon were watching.

Killua warned, "His leg is as hard as a rock!"

Rayleigh remained seated, so Gon got up and said, "Alright, my turn!" Gon ran at a low position while Netero kept the ball balanced on his head, bracing himself for Gon's charge.

Gon quickly jumped into the air and due to the ball blocking his line of sight, Netero only witnessed Gon vanish and actually looked shocked for a moment. Until a cry of pain drew his attention and he looked up to see that Gon had used all his strength to perform a high-speed jump, but in doing so he had rammed his head into the ceiling.

Both Killua and Ray noticed that Gon's plan had initially worked, but the execution failed in the end.

Gon then tried a repeat of Killua's performance and was stopped at every turn by Netero and evaded.

Rayleigh then got up, and Gon noticed that his turn was over.

Rayleigh asked, "Is it okay if I go all out? I've never tried before."

"Oh ho? Well, I'm certainly not going to complain. Have at it little lad."

Rayleigh ignited his Lightsaber and strengthened his connection to the Force through its kyber crystal. He dipped it to the ground, which hissed as the glowing blade seared completely through it, showing Netero that this was not an ordinary stick of light.

Gon shouted, "Woah! What is that?!"

Killua looked equally impressed, and even Netero seemed intrigued.

Rayleigh didn't answer. He had practiced his Alchaka for thousands of hours, both with heavy weights and without, at his fastest speeds, but he never had a chance to use it against a living person. Rayleigh wouldn't kill if possible, and a Lightsaber was not a toy, so how could he justify practicing against anyone so far? But this, the President of the Hunter Association, wasn't this the equivalent of Grandmaster Yoda? It was said that the Grandmaster could use the Force to lift and move mountains, and his strikes were blindingly fast when he went all out. What about this guy?

It wasn't like he had no experience. Rayleigh had killed hundreds, if not thousands, of monsters during his Tavern Missions, but monsters were completely different from skilled fighters. Rayleigh considered most of them little more than particularly aggressive plants. This was completely different.

Rayleigh took control of his breath and raised Force Valor to the maximum. He then used Force Attribute to enhance his speed and accessed Battle Precognition to expand his awareness. Despite all his physical training, he could tell that his speed while using the Force was still greater than the max speed he was physically capable of reaching. Since it was the old man who initiated the spar, it did not go against Rayleigh's Force Code to go all out since the result would not affect anyone but himself, thus in no way affecting any form of balance. This would be the first time he could find out how strong his new Code could make him.

Rayleigh vanished from where he stood and appeared behind the Chairman. The latter's afterimage was split in two, but the dent on the ground confirmed the strength he used to move away in time.

Rayleigh vanished again, and this time the Chairman vanished with him.

Of course, it wasn't just the Code. Rayleigh's Balance of the Force Perk was also boosting his connection to the Force. That was the primary reason his Force amplified speed was superior to the highly magnified natural speed he obtained after unlocking the Hunter Power System. He'd be this fast even if he didn't come to this world, but he was limited in the duration he could hold this state, unlike his natural speed which could be maintained for hours.

The Chairman neatly dodged Rayleigh's Lightsaber a dozen times before he tried to block it. What happened next almost shocked Rayleigh out of his Force Valor state. The Chairman blocked the Lightsaber with the rubber ball!

Rayleigh felt the ball had been filled with the Chairman's life energy, and every bit of it seemed to be exploding with enough energy to perfectly counter the energy from Rayleigh's Lightsaber.

Ray couldn't help it, he started grinning.

He switched from Force Attribute: Speed, to Force Attribute: Strength.

Netero could obviously move faster than Rayleigh's max and was just matching his speed, so he might as well try to use some strength.

Pulses of light and shockwaves burst from every impact of Rayleigh's Lightsaber and Netero's ball.

Netero took the change of pace in stride, and their movements could not be made out by Gon, though Killua was following them without a problem.

Rayleigh wanted to just keep going, but he couldn't hog the entire time, so he tried to finish it up by jumping back while throwing his lightsaber forward with the spinning throw.

Netero moved to dodge, but the ball that should have been balancing on his head suddenly started flying towards Rayleigh. In order to reach out and grab it, he'd had to block the blade with his hand, and since the ball was going up into the air, the Chairman couldn't use a strong step to move towards it without bypassing the spinning Lightsaber.

Rayleigh pulled the ball as fast as he could towards him, but the Chairman's hand delicately maneuvered past the blade and grabbed the Lightsaber's handle in flight and tossed it to the side in an instant before moving towards the ball.

At his speed, he could catch the ball before it got to Ray, but Rayleigh then pulled the tossed away Lightsaber back towards himself, and its path would bisect the President of the Hunter Association.

The Chairman still grabbed the ball, but in an instant, tilted his body out of the way and used the ball to once again block the Lightsaber, causing it to bounce away before flying back to Rayleigh's hand.

Rayleigh sighed. That was his best attempt.

He disengaged his Lightsaber and sat cross-legged on the wall.

Netero asked, "That was pretty interesting. What do you call that?"

Rayleigh shook his head, "Just some psychic stuff the tribe I was born into could do. Still not enough it seems."

"Oh ho, I see."

Rayleigh asked, "Since I answered your question, you have to answer mine. What you did with that ball, can I learn that after getting a Hunter License?"

He took a moment to think of the best way to answer with as little information as possible. He then replied, "It's up to you."

Rayleigh nodded. It wasn't a no, which was good enough for him.

Killua and Gon looked like they wanted to ask more questions, but Rayleigh closed his eyes and began to meditate to digest the fight.

Seeing this, Netero chuckled and said, "That was a good warm up. How about the two of you come at me together?"

Since they saw how fast he could be, he wanted them to have some hope, or else they would give up and leave.

The pair, on the other hand, looked more excited than worried. Deep down, they were all battle junkies.

An hour passed, and Rayleigh was still meditating. Gon and Killua were covered in sweat and, despite a number of very close calls, neither hand touched the ball.

Killua asked, "Hey, you want to go against all three of us at once?"

Rayleigh opened his eyes and gave a smile filled with provocation.

The old man shamelessly answered, "Nope."

Rayleigh shrugged and closed his eyes. Even if he was added to the roster, Netero would just increase his speed accordingly. Two extra pairs of hands at that speed wouldn't make enough of a difference to win.

Killua's urge to kill spiked for a moment before he suppressed it and sighed. "I give up then."

Gon tried to talk him into staying, but Killua revealed that against them and even against Ray, Netero only used a single leg and one hand.

Gon then decided to stay just to see if he could make him use his other hand and foot while Killua left and Ray kept meditating. Rayleigh was basically fighting Netero in his head, and having the man there helped the visualization immensely, so he wasn't going anywhere if he didn't have to.

Gon did ask, "Ray, you want to try again?"

Netero answered before Ray could, "Your friend hasn't stopped trying. Even now, he's fighting me in his head, but he still hasn't beaten me yet."

The way he said that was filled with 100% provocation. Even a pacifist like Ray was pissed, but only for a moment. Rayleigh said aloud, "He'll speed up if I try, and I haven't figured out how to get the ball when he does. You have a better chance than I do, so don't give up yet."

A burst of killing intent surged from the side, and Rayleigh felt Killua seemed to be letting off some stress. He didn't care. If the guys Killua was going to kill didn't ask him for help, they had nothing to do with him. If there was no connection, he wouldn't protect someone's life unless they asked him too.

Gon spent another hour and a half doing all kinds of random stuff and ended up doing a suicide headbutt, twice in a row. If Netero allowed the second one to hit, Gon would have died, so he used his other hand to dodge, causing Gon to declare his victory before blacking out and falling asleep.

Netero chuckled and picked up the phone to the command deck and asked the captain to slow down. They were supposed to arrive at 7:30 AM, but it seemed they would now be arriving later. Rayleigh didn't mind.

Netero looked over at Rayleigh and asked, "Did you want to have another go?"

Rayleigh shook his head, "No point until I learn how you can use your life energy like that." That wasn't entirely true. He was also trying to see through the Chairman with the Force and find a Shatterpoint he could use, but the man's lifeforce seemed unnaturally dense and blocked his ability to see Shatterpoints on the man's form. He'd have to learn to see through life-force if he wanted to see the man's Shatterpoints.

"Oh ho, you can feel life energy?"

"Indirectly. All life has mental energy. That I can feel."

"Is that so? Interesting. I look forward to that day." Rayleigh could tell that part was not provocation. After their first exchange, Rayleigh had the Chairman pegged as a battle junkie of the highest order. Nothing would make this old man happier than meeting someone matching or exceeding his own strength in battle, preferably a battle to the death.

The Chairman left, and Rayleigh walked over to his bag and pulled out HK-47. "Did you see everything?"

[Affirmation: Indeed I did. These Hunters are most interesting. New Assassination Protocols will be required.]

Rayleigh highly doubted HK-47 had ever seen a Lightsaber get blocked repeatedly by a rubber ball, and he certainly would not have seen someone move so fast without the Force.

Rayleigh asked, "How'd I do?"

[Commentary: Your speed and strength can be ranked at the level of a mid-ability Jedi-Knight that specializes in combat. Your flexibility and tactics, however, are only at the level of a beginner-level Jedi-Knight.]

"Really? Why the difference?"

He thought he was pretty skilled, experience notwithstanding.

[Explanation: You have achieved proficiency in basic combat, but you entirely lack any means to control the fight or press against a stronger opponent. Extrapolation: You fight too directly, even the Pseudo-Pacifist Jedi use tricks. You cannot fight a stronger opponent using these means.]

Rayleigh nodded. It was a fair point. Though he had been training to be the fastest, it would take a long time to get there, and he would likely fight many people stronger than he was along the way. He certainly wouldn't avoid them. Fighting someone stronger is the best way to increase your own strength. Without an all-out fight against the Chairman, Rayleigh would not have been able to spot all his flaws so easily.

Rayleigh sat down cross-legged once more and started to meditate again, but this time he opened his menu and entered the Tavern. He could only enter mentally since he was within an enclosed space, but that was fine with him.

His senses whited out, and he stepped through the Tavern's door. The first thing he did was smile. He had a feeling, but he couldn't have been absolutely certain that either Gon or Killua was the Main Character of the Hunter world. Now, he knew.

With his Metaknowledge returned, there were two things that surprised him. The first was the fact that no other Player successfully reached the Hunter Exam site.

This could be attributed to a number of coincidences. Rayleigh was the only Jedi to apply, and none of the Pirates took a path that allowed them to meet a Guide. Guides were only along the paths that others pointed out. Some of the pirates may have been pointed in the right direction, but without knowing the true worth of the path, they may have ignored it and gone their own way. Pirates weren't ones to follow the rules after all.

The second thing that surprised him was that the number of participants was the same. After thinking on it for a while, he realized there was a strange coincidence. The man who Dyna Might punched off the ship. Wasn't that the guy Hisoka killed before the start of the Exam? Wait, didn't Rayleigh have that guy's number?

Maybe in the original canon, that guy rented a camel, found the Guide and ended up at the site.

In any case, he still had some questions. Rayleigh approached the counter and found that Red was still on duty.

"Can I ask what's the deal with my strength? I haven't opened my Aura Nodes right?"

Red seemed to consider it before answering, "Well, this can't really be considered Metaknowledge, so I'll let you know. Every Class has a scale for how training affects them. Warriors who exhaust themselves lifting weights will gain far more than Wizards who exhaust themselves doing the same thing. It's just how the Class is built."

"If a Warrior, a Ninja, and a Wizard all do the Saitama Series Training for two years, the Warrior will be stronger than the Ninja, and the Ninja will be stronger than the Wizard. But if all three did the exact same training with the exact same amount of effort, they would have the same strength once the other two unlocked the Warrior Class."

Rayleigh looked a bit confused, so Red elaborated, "Look, if a Wizard tries running for ten kilometers, he is going to do so at barely a jog because he can't withstand that much exercise. If a Warrior ran for ten kilometers, he'd do so at the highest rate he could keep to force his heart rate to the highest state. The effort for each is about the same since that's how their bodies work. If both did so for two years, they'd both be stronger, but the Warrior would be much stronger. If the Wizard unlocked their Warrior Class, he'd suddenly have the same strength as the Warrior because, relatively speaking, they put the same effort into their training."

Rayleigh asked, "Isn't that a cheat? So if a Wizard trains until they are Hercules, they could gain the Warrior Class and be upgraded to god?"

Red nodded, "That is technically accurate. However, of the 100 Players, how many Wizards will put in more effort into physical training than a Ninja or Warrior when doing so is far more difficult? How many Jedi will put more effort into physical training than a Hunter or Pirate? I won't say you're the only one, but the number is very small. This was supposed to be a feature that let Players who started with Mage Classes like Wizard and Jedi keep up with Mixed Classes like Hunter and Ninja and Fighter Classes like Warrior and Pirate."

Red pointed at Rayleigh and said, "You're the weird one. This only works if you choose the physically weakest Class first and physically train that. No one who chose Wizard as their First Class stopped to think, "Hm, let's train to become Hercules instead of learning magic before I become a Warrior." Muscle training has almost no impact on the Jedi and Wizard Power System, other than staying healthy. Once you became a Hunter, the effort you put into your workouts was scaled up to the Hunter World. You can probably handle a few times the weight you could before. The small effect having a stronger body would have was amplified which is why it is noticeable. There will be another boost when you unlock the Pirate Class, but it'll be much smaller. Willpower is more important to Pirates than physical strength anyway. Maybe you should use some Mission Points to take that wonderful Robe back from the Jedi World and wear it all the time."

Rayleigh gave the lumberjack a deadpan stare and flatly stated, "No. I don't think I will."

Red chuckled, "Yeah, there's a limit to everything anyway, but it would have been funny to watch. In any case, physically, you are the strongest Jedi. And not just because of your exercise. There are actually some Jedi Players who were able to get crazy Masters to help them strengthen their bodies, but you have one major advantage over them. It was your solo training on Tython. You had a massive boost in strength, right? Far more than a kid before puberty should have, right?"

Ray nodded, he certainly had his biggest gains after leaving the Jedi on Tython.

Red continued, "Do you remember what I told you about the food in the Tavern?"

"Um, delicious and nutritious?"

"Exactly. Very nutritious. Very, very nutritious. You get what I'm saying?"

Rayleigh didn't speak, but he did nod slowly. He had no idea the Tavern had a hidden mechanic. The food was apparently so nutritious that it enhanced the effects of his workouts. But that meant if he wanted to keep it up, he'd have to keep eating Tavern food during muscle-building training.

Rayleigh noticed the grin on Red's face and realized he'd been cornered. He thought now that he could cook, his days of spending Mission Points on food were over. It seems that is no longer the case.

Rayleigh ordered a Beer and headed to a table.

Some Players were discussing the epic fail of the Pirates who missed the Hunter Exam. Some were talking about Hogwarts and Harry Potter. Some were talking about the Jedi and Anakin Skywalker. They mostly discussed progress and which Players had latched onto becoming their friends. Rayleigh wondered how some of them would react if he told them he fought Chairman Netero. Oh well. He wouldn't lie if asked, but he wouldn't go out of his way to say anything either.

When he returned to the Hunter World, the knowledge that Gon and Killua were the Main Characters would be sealed, but that was fine as his Character was already mostly sure about it. It was funny how Metaknowledge could be sealed. Even if a Player could deduce it using information from the Tavern, the deduction would be sealed. Although his Character knew he paid a premium for the ticket to the Hunter World and knew other Players paid more than usual this year as well, the idea that those actions implied that the MC would take the Hunter Exam at this time was suppressed, so even if a Character subconsciously figured it out, they would not be able to deduce it until the Main Character's identity was revealed without Metaknowledge.

This pissed off a lot of Players. One Player tried to pass a message to himself by timing his return from the Tavern to specific letters and spelling out a message when he returned, one letter at a time.

There was another Player who asked Yes and No questions to himself by returning from the Tavern either after an hour for Yes or two hours for No. As an example he would ask, 'Is Harry Potter the Main Character for the Wizard World?' and go to the Tavern. If he returned from the Tavern after an hour, yes, if he returned after two hours, no.

Neither attempt worked as the knowledge of which response was Yes and No was sealed. Even if he could force it or figure out a way around it, the knowledge would suddenly become sealed and the Player would be unable to access it. This meant whatever you did in the Tavern would not help you gain restricted Metaknowledge.

Not that you couldn't figure out some Metaknowledge using guesswork like Rayleigh had figured out for the future of Star Wars. That wasn't sealed because he didn't use any knowledge leaked from the Tavern to deduce it.

After listening to some more random conversations and finishing his Beer, Rayleigh left the Tavern and returned to his body. Red's explanation was retained, so Ray knew why he got so much stronger and didn't have to worry about it. He would rest for the time being. Soon, they would arrive at the Hunter Exam's third round.