I know you already know this but then again, Hunter X Hunter is not mine. This wonderful anime story is owned by Yoshihiro Togashi

CHAPTER 8: At Mt. Split-in-Half

Menchi called someone on her phone and reported the end of the exam. Since Sam is the closest to her, she heard muffled shouts on the other side of the line, obviously against Menchi's decision. "Whatever you say, nothing could change my mind."

But it brought a different reaction from the participants.

Imagine, not a single candidate passed the exam?

Is this really how this year's exam going to end?

"I refuse this!" Number 255 exclaimed, destroying the sink.

"Not even teaming up against me could change anything. You all fail."

"Stop screwing around!" He continued. "You asked for pork, so we risked our lives to catch those pigs!"

"He's right. True, not all of us are good at cooking but still-"Sam intercepted. "Is it really necessary to fail all of us?"

Menchi looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She thumbed the end call harshly.

"The objective is simple. Prepare a dish that we'll like but none of you did anything. You almost did the same thing! The same outcome! No one made an effort. Yes, some tried to make it presentable but no one gave importance to taste. You took cooking lightly."

"Still, pork dishes are all the same..." Baldy Ninja muttered with a shrug.

Menchi raged over the bald man like a mad bull seeing a waved red piece of cloth. She rashly grabbed his scarf and shook him violently. "Just say that one more time! Any more crap from you; I'll shove my arm right up to your ass and knock your teeth out!" She said angrily to Hanzo. She looked ready to eat him whole. "Don't mess with me! I don't want any word from a bunch of amateurs who can't even roast a pig!"

"Shut up! I didn't take the Hunter Exam to cook or to be gourmet!" Number 255 went up. "I want to become a Hunter!"

Most candidates supported him. "My goal is to become a blacklist Hunter. I refuse to let a mere Gourmet Hunter decide my fate!"

Menchi gave him a hard stare as she continued to sit calmly on the sofa. "Too bad you got stuck with a mere Gourmet Hunter as an Examiner. Better luck next year?"

Number 255's face turned red. "Why you..." He advanced towards the female examiner, ready to attack.

"Sam, get away from there!" Leorio screamed among the crowd.

Buhara smacked number 255 like a fly with only his right hand. He was sent flying up to the walls. He landed with a heavy thud.

Despite his extra-large physique, he moves with such speed. Like his body defies the law of gravity when comes to giants.

All applicants stared shocked.

Sam stood in shock. She knew for a fact that number 255 charged Menchi. In a swift second, she heard something hard solid broke in a distance and landed a heavy thud.

"Buhara, don't interfere." Menchi confronted.

'So, number 255 got beaten.'

Number 255 attempted to attack first, but- "Was that even necessary? That was too much." Sam suddenly voiced out.

"Kid, that's just minor than letting Menchi strike at him. I saved him from her." Buhara said.

'What?'

Menchi sneered. "What have you understood about Hunter Exam, young girl? You thought you were on a school trip or something?"

Sam's veins ticked.

"I may not know about Hunters that much but I'm pretty sure you failed us not because we failed but because of your pride." She retorted the female examiner with boldness.

"The girl's right!" Some candidates said, causing the others to follow.

"Hmm, probably..." She stood up and held a total of four knives in her hands. The heels in her boots clacked in every step she made downstairs. She juggled the knives with an effortless move of her hands. "But did you know that as a Gourmet Hunter, we frequently venture into the dens of ferocious beasts, searching for ingredients? And it's not just cooking I'm referring to. Every hunter knows some form of martial arts. You're not open to new things. Some of you lack motivation and willingness to experiment." She finally stopped and caught all four weapons with such precision and grace. She points it to the examinees. "That's the reason you're not qualified!"

"That said," A voice emerged from the sky-amplified with a microphone, making their heads turn up. "It would be excessive to fail every single applicant."

An airship floated across the sky with a symbol of the Hunter's Association. They watched it stop midair.

They all looked up and saw a person jumping down. It landed as if a grenade was thrown at them- blasting off chunks of soil and rocks.

Out of impulse, Sam ducked her head and covered her eyes with her arms as debris flew in every direction.

Sam coughed, as she inhaled some dust.

When the cloud of dust cleared, came into view was an old man. He walked closer. He had a ponytail, a thick beard, and stretched earlobes with two piercings in both ears. He wears a traditional kimono and a pair of geta with one tooth.

"Wh-who's that geezer?" Asked some random examiner.

"The Chairman of the Selection Committee. He's in charge of the Hunter Exam... Chairman Netero." Menchi responded.

"Well, I work behind the scenes," Netero spoke for the first time- his old voice seemed like he gurgled something. "I only take action when there's an issue, like now. So, Menchi..." He referred to the female examiner.

"Yes sir." Menchi straightened.

"You failed all the applicants because you disapproved of their reluctance to try new things?"

"No. What the girl said was right. I lost my cool when one of the candidates insulted Gourmet Hunters. And I made the exam harder than necessary." Menchi responded honestly.

"In other words, you're aware that this exam is unacceptable." He pointed out.

"Yes sir." Menchi weakly replied. "When cooking is involved, l lose control. I'm unqualified to be an examiner. I will resign as an examiner, so please redo the exam." She announced.

The chairman just hummed. "But it would be difficult to find another examiner on such short notice."

The examiner bowed. "I apologize..."

Netero smiled. "Very well. How about this? I'd like you to continue serving as an examiner. But you must also participate in the new test you propose. Is that acceptable? I am certain that will help the applicants to accept the results."

Sam's eyes glinted for a split second. A second chance!

Menchi thought for a moment then smiled. "I will gladly accept, sir... the new challenge will be boiled eggs!"

'Boiled eggs? Why did it become so easy? Well, who cares! That would be an easy pass!' Sam's mind screamed in delight.

"Chairman, can you take us to Mt. Split-in-a-half in your airship?" Menchi requested as her finger pointed in a certain direction.

The chairman's face lit with recognition. "Oh! I see what you're going to do. Of course. I'll bring you there." With that, he used his phone to instruct someone in the airship to land.

The airship made a few circles before it decided to lower down on the clearing until finally settling down. Once the main entrance opened, the candidates entered and headed to Mt. Split-in-Half.

The mountain's appearance was true to its namesake.

As they overlooked the view of the ecosystem below, Mt. Split-in-Half was noticeable- with no grass or any trees on top. It was sliced in the center- equally dividing the mountain into halves. At its base, the trees covered the earth.

When they reached the top and disembarked, Menchi started to give instructions.

Sam felt like fainting as she felt the strong breeze at the edge of the cliff, already having a wild guess of what the next test was associated with, but just continued hoping it wasn't.

"Say, how high are we?" Sam asked.

It was Kurapika who answered, "At least a thousand feet."

Sam just made an audible 'oh', and went into silence.

They carefully looked down at the edge. Feet away from the surface were web strings attached to either side of the cliff. The only difference to a regular spider web is that it's thick and its' pattern resembles an image of a plant cell under a microscopic lens of seamless vector pattern.

It was home to the Spider Eagles that built their nests between the cliffs on Split Mountain with their webs.

A strong wind blew from the abyss. Sam's locks and fringes danced wildly along with the wind.

"Those are Spider Eagle eggs," Menchi explained.

"Spider Eagles build their webs in deep ravines, to protect their eggs from predators." Chairman Netero continued as he walked closer to the group. "These make their eggs one of the most difficult ingredients to obtain. They are also known as dream eggs."

When she heard the female examiner jump off, Sam's inner guts recoiled. She hates it when her thoughts are always right.

"Omigod, shejumped," Sam uttered quickly.

"Oh, right. You have a thing for heights." Gon said, just noticing the girl's discomfort.

"Fear of heights to be exact," Kurapika added.

"No. It's a 'thing' for heights." Sam argued. "That's a common issue for blind people."

Kurapika shook his head. "Whatever, Sam."

Leorio laughed. "You didn't need to sweat a lot."

"Don't worry, we'll help you," Kurapika assured.

"Yup." Gon beamed.

It shocked her. Were they worried? She bit her lip to stop herself from smiling. In normal circumstances, she would have declined the offer. It would just make her look weak and pitiful. Her pride demands her she can do anything even without help. But these guys... are different.

Sam blushed and crossed her arms, "Hmmph! Who would sweat cause of this?" She said. "But I won't mind your help though."

The boys smiled at this and nodded.

"At least you won't see the ground if you fall off." Killua thought aloud.

"You could have said something that helps her calm." Leorio scolded the boy.

"I'm more afraid of not seeing where heading." She said.

Meanwhile, Menchi reached for the web and hung for a few seconds before jumping off again and grabbing an egg wrapped by a series of thick webs.

She fell straight into the abyss until a strong updraft carried her along like she was flying freely in air and landed where she once stood in front. "And all you need to do next is boil the egg!"

"Y-you must be joking. No reasonable person would jump down there..." One of the applicants said.

"I've been waiting for this!" Gon said as he and Kurapika held Samara's hands.

"I'm not waiting for this." Sam weakly commented before the five of them dived the cliff together, with Sam only making a scream.

They grabbed the web string and pulled Sam up to let her reach for it.

The moment Gon and Kurapika let go, Sam panicked.

"Oh, my gods... I'm thousands of feet above. The strings are durable right?" She weakly asked as her body swayed in the air.

"Just relax. Directly below you, there's an egg. You can get it, right?" Kurapika told her.

Sam nodded. "Uh, maybe?"

"Hey, you can't just answer 'maybe'."

"I'm trying okay?"

"We can't jump yet." Gon declared.

"There's no wind," Killua told them.

"Maybe that's a good thing?" Sam chuckled nervously.

"It's a bad thing!" Kurapika told her.

"Why not?" Leorio ignored and asked Gon.

"There isn't always an updraft."

"When's the next one?"

Gon closed his eyes and listened carefully. There was still no current. The webs were starting to detach from the rocks due to the number of people hanging from them. The web can't hold onto the rocks any longer.

But Gon did not utter a single word. Some of the candidates did not wait for the wind and jumped down. They were idiots for causing their deaths.

"Now!" Gon signaled.

They all let go of the web, letting their selves fall through. Sam snapped her fingers twice to grasp an image.

Sam reached out her hands to get an egg.

'Please lift us! Please lift us!' Sam chanted as she felt the gravity pulling her towards the deep abyss.

Wish granted, they all were lifted by the up drift and landed. Sam has never been grateful that she could almost kiss the surface. They started to boil the eggs and ate them after it was well cooked.

No doubt it was delicious, completely different from any regular eggs they eat at their homes. No wonder it's called dream eggs.

Samara could only ponder a lesson in this exam. 'Being a Gourmet Hunter is not a joke. They are risking their lives for that joy too. Whether you're a Blacklist Hunter or a Gourmet Hunter, calling yourself a Hunter requires an enormous amount of determination.'

The second phase officially ended with 43 applicants left. After clearing the exam's Second Phase, the gang and the rest of the candidates went inside the airship, flying through the starry sky, toward the site for the Third Phase.