Divinity

It’s now been three days since I left the village.

I just got to the place where the exam is held.

It’s surprisingly barren here though.

There are no buildings, no trees, no mountains, nothing.

It’s just a large flat area with nothing there…

There are a bunch of other people here though.

I’m not quite sure how many, too many to count.

If I were to give an estimate it would probably be around 500 or more.

I was mostly expecting there to be people around my age, but there are all sorts of people here.

There are men, there are women.

There are young people, there are old people.

There are even some people missing arms and legs.

It seems like everyone wants to become a hunter…

Wait…

What’s that?

Suddenly a stone pillar rises from the ground.

There is a woman on top of it.

“QUIET EVERYONE!” – ???

Who is she?

“My name is Leanne Aqua, I’m a B-rank hunter from the Venomous Snakes Guild and I’m the one that will be holding the exam this year.” – Leanne

B-rank?!

Wow…

That means she’s even stronger than big bro, and way stronger than Vic…

“Every year the exam is different, and this year is no exception. This year’s exam will only have a single stage, a fight for survival.” – Leanne

A fight for survival?

Vic mentioned that there are times when the exam is almost purely theoretical, so I guess this one is more hardcore.

Just my luck…

“Before I go into more details, I will give the people who do not wish to enter this year’s exam a chance to leave. HOWEVER! The rules have changed a little this year… If you fail the exam, which you will if you decide to leave, you will never be able to take it again. If you still wish to leave then go ahead, now is your chance.” – Leanne

Huh?

If I fail, I will never be able to take it again?!

What kind of a rule is that?!

I better make sure I don’t fail then…

If I don’t become a hunter our village won’t be able to sustain itself.

I have no choice but to go through with this year’s exam, even if I have to risk my life…

I haven’t talked to anyone else here, so I don’t know their reasons for wanting to become a hunter, but since most people are staying, I assume they must have a good reason…

Or maybe they’re just confident that they’ll pass?

Anyways, not too many people left.

Surprisingly few actually, considering the kind of test it is…

“So, you all think you have what it takes then? You think you’re ready to take this exam? Well sorry to burst your bubbles, but most of you won’t make it. Maybe if you had someone else as your exam organizer, but I won’t go easy on you. It’s important that the quality of new hunters are high, so I won’t allow anyone subpar to become one.” – Leanne

This is making me even more nervous…

There is a real possibility that I won’t survive this…

Should I just leave?

No…

I can’t.

I’m already here, and if I don’t become a hunter then Minima is screwed!

Leanne raises both her arms, and a ginormous stone colosseum raises from the ground.

Is this this her specialty?

I never would have imagined it would be possible to make something this huge…

It’s probably more than 100 times larger than all of Minima!

I suppose this is why the testing ground is so flat…

“Inside here is where you will be spending the next 24 hours. I will randomly assign you into teams of three. If there isn’t enough people and someone ends up on a team with only one or two people in it, then tough luck.” – Leanne

She then raises both her arms again and stone pillars form under all of us, pushing us up.

She then connects some of the pillars with a vertical one.

It’s like a giant web of stone pillars connecting us together.

I guess this is how she sorts us into teams of three, huh…

She didn’t just pick the ones who were standing closest either.

It seems my teammates are both quite far away from me.

“Before you go and meet up with your teammates, I will explain the rules of the exam. For the next 24 hours you will be locked inside that colosseum. In there you will be fighting for survival with your teammates. If anyone on your team dies, you all fail and will never be able to take the exam again. The goal is simply just to survive. The ones who do will get the chance to get invited to a guild.” – Leanne

So, we don’t really have to fight then?

Hiding seems like the best option then…

“I can already tell some of you are thinking of just hiding…” – Leanne

…

“Unfortunately, It won’t be that easy. The hunter exam is always ultimately based on performance. The guilds will invite anyone they think would be a good addition to their guild. If you just hide through the entire exam, then they won’t have any idea of how good you are. Why would they want to invite you then? The ones who will get invited are the ones who are able to prove themselves, prove that they are strong, and worthy of joining their guild. Fighting is the only option if you truly want to become a hunter.” – Leanne

Tsk.

Of course, it wouldn’t be as easy as just hiding…

I hope my teammates are strong.

If anyone of them dies I won’t pass?

So, worrying about my own safety, and my own performance isn’t enough…

I also have to worry about them?

This is gonna be much more of a hassle than I thought…

I assume the best way to prove yourself would be to kill people, but…

I don’t want to do that.

Murder is wrong, no way around that.

I’ll have to prove myself without doing that…

Aghhh…!

They’re not making it easy for me, are they?!

“The test starts in ten minutes. Go meet up with your teammates and get ready.” – Alex

I guess I’ll go meet up with them then.

I really hope they’re reliable…

The web of pillars connecting people is pretty complicated; it’s not easy to tell who my teammates are…

On my way there I hear lots of people talking.

“You can’t retake the exam if you fail? That’s bullshit!” – ???

“You guys, let’s form an alliance!” – ???

“God damn that colosseum is big… The one in Dolor is nothing in comparison…” – ???

After about 20 seconds of walking, I can finally see who my teammates are.

It’s two guys, one with white hair and one with black hair.

They both look around my age.

The guy with the Mr. White Hair is in the middle, so me and Mr. Black Hair are both walking towards to him.

We both get there at the same time.

“Hello! I’m Alex Minima, nice to meet you!” – Alex

“Yo! I’m Shin Magnum.” – Shin

So, the white-haired boy’s name is Shin.

That’s a strange name, never heard anything like that before.

“Oh, cut it with the formalities would ya’…” – Mr. Black Hair

What’s with the attitude…?

“We’re all here for one reason and one reason only, becoming hunters. No need for this friend bullshit. Just don’t be a burden to me…” – Mr. Black Hair

What the deal with Mr. Black Hair?

He’s so rude…

“Oh god… Just tell us your name and get it over with. No need to be such a dick about it.” – Shin

Couldn’t have said it better myself…

Even if we’re just going to spend 24 hours together, I would still like to know his name.

Mr. Black Hair sighs loudly.

“It’s Leon Adamas…” – Leon

“Adamas?!” - Shin

Adamas…

That’s the name of the capital city…!

Is he really from there?

That’s where the Emperor lives…

While training, Vic told me a lot about the outside world.

The world is divided into three parts.

The outer area, the middle area, and Adamas…

The outer area is where I’m from.

It’s a large area with loads and loads of small and medium sized villages.

Most of them are poor, just like mine.

Then you have the middle area.

That’s where the larger cities are.

If I’m not wrong, I think Magnum is a city in the middle area.

Then finally, you have Adamas…

It’s a mega city where the most rich and powerful people in the world live.

Even the Emperor himself…

Despite it’s large size, there’s not actually that many people that live there.

Only the rich, the powerful, the royal guard, and their families.

He’s probably the kid of a royal guard then…

The royal guard are all amazingly powerful hunters.

Vic told me that even the low ranked royal guards are around the same level as a C-rank hunter.

That means even the weakest of them are around big bro's level…

This might be one of those cases Vic warned me about…

Due to his connections, he has probably gotten intensive training since an early age, with excellent teachers.

Even though I’m talented, I don’t know if my 6 months of training with a D-rank hunter can compare to someone like him…

It seems like my teammates aren’t half bad after all, at least not him.

“Yeah, I’m from Adamas. You got a problem with that?” – Leon

“Heh, no. I just didn’t expect to meet someone like you, that’s all.” – Shin

Shin sighs and runs his hand through his hair.

“I guess this will be a lot easier than I would have expected then. With you and me here, it doesn’t really matter how strong Alex is.” – Shin

“Hey! I’m no weakling either!” – Alex

“Is that so? Well, that’s good!” – Shin

Shin says with a smirk on his face.

I’m not sure if he genuinely means it or not, but I’ll trust him for now…

“Don’t get cocky now, comparing yourselves to me is setting yourself up for failure.” – Leon

“Heh. We’ll see about that…” – Shin