[Exam] Lets play some cards (first test, first exam)

In a well lit room stood a man, his back covered in a crimson cape. His mood seemed sour as his eyes ran from one side of the room to the next, while he was yelling into a phone: “What do you mean he is missing? Are you kidding me? No, no, also no and NO!” He let out a huge sigh and turned around to walk to a small table, in the middle of the room. Other than this table the room provided plenty of other furniture to sit on. Cosy sofas were placed along the walls, but no other table was to be found. “Yes I get it, yes I really get it, yes I told you I'm already there, yes I will avoid killing anyone...” He sighed out loud again, as the conversation on the phone kept stretching out and he just could not find the right way to end it.

He still had some preparations to do, but the phone was distracting him so much that he barely got anything done. Cameras were set up all across the ceiling, covering each inch of the room. At the entrance stood a huge basket as the man stepped up to it and stretched his hand over it, it suddenly filled with unopened card decks. “I told you I'm still getting the last things done, you can send them in soon. Yes as long as they take the right elevator. Yes just tell anyone that looks promising, I really don't care! Just find that slacker, it is worse enough that he makes ME stand in for him.” A third sigh followed and he could not stand it any longer and just hung up the phone.

The man known as “Admin”, creator of world, changer of rules and Two Star Hunter sat down on one of the sofas, where he opened a small book and ran through a few pages. “For this... something less suspicious maybe, this one and this one, ah and this one will hand out the cards.” As he said this three women appeared out of thin air. One young girl, with the looks of a pop-star and long teal hair she wore in two long pigtails to each side. One a bit older that looked a bit older, with long blueish black hair and an amazing rack. The last one had nothing to hide in comparison and her long red hair she wore in a ponytail made her look quite feisty. Each of them wore a maid uniform. “You hand out the cards, one deck for each person to enter the room.” He pointed at the redhead. “You will get me something to drink, I would prefer some iced tea.” Was his command to the pigtailed girl. “And you please go buy me a new phone, otherwise they will get angry.” With that he handed the last remaining girl the remains of his old phone and then stretched his legs out over the sofa to get comfortable.

It was time for the first people to appear, even if he was not really interested in leading the exam he was quite curious to see the visitors. He had thought up an interesting game, but before he got to play it, he needed some players.

The rules were quite simple, each player would get a deck of cards, two to ace, no jokers, four suits. On the table in the middle of a room he had placed four aces, one of each suit. The players would place down cards in order from ace to king and from ace to king again till they placed down all their cards. The players could do whatever they wanted with the cards, as long as they did not destroy them. The goal was to first get rid of all cards but one, everyone that failed at that was already disqualified.

The second part was to find a person holding the same card as them, but if they answered to contact with anyone, not holding the same card as them, they would fail as well, while the person initiating the contact would pass. Lastly if there was no one holding the same card as them, unless they made someone else fail, they would also fail. So as long as they made someone fail or teamed up with someone they would pass. Those were the rules he would tell once he had an audience. Admin did not really think about this too long, but thought it was a good way to get rid of at least fifty of the expected two-hundred people.

The weather outside looked nice Solomon thought as he looked through the dimmed windows of the limousine, he wore a fine white siden shirt with a vest over it and a pair of black suit pants to match the vest the shirt had roses and flowerstalks as of those in a twisted rose bush embroided into it all in gold colored thread. As fast as he arrived to the cemetary building he would open the door and gracefully step outside and past the guards until he was inside of the building where he stopped and dusted his shoulders off before taking a look around he then noted the elevators and made his way too them.

Solomon press the open sesame button right next to the plate doors and wait until he was able to go into the elevator closing it before anyone else could enter, he was in yorknew inside the cemetary building a building that in the underground world was known for its mafia auction activities. However Solomon himself had decided that for now he would not dabble in the criminal ways instead he needed to become stronger and the hunter exam would be the perfect place to level up and become one of those that were the strongest in the world, he however would most probably be a shrimp in comparison to those who were already strong hunters.

He wiggled his tie just a little bit before stepping out into the room below where the exam was to be held, No one had yet arrived except for what Solomon guessed were the event holders seeing as they did not look like your common plebian folk he would look over at the maid who held a deck of cards as she greated him and held the deck out he would bow slightly as a act of common courtesy he then took the deck and inspected it, the seal had not yet been broken but when he wiggled the deck he could hear and feel that some few cards had been removed already the deck had obviously either been manufactured to only hold some cards or it had been created through nen, whatever method they were using did not matter to Solomon instead he would walk forth and sit down in one of the armchairs close to a table in the middle of the room, the table had aces placed on it and Solomon could guess it had something to do with the exam and how it would play out and so he would wait for the others to come on in biding his time by sorting his deck by colors all the while listening to music in a pair of earbuds he had brought with him if he were to grow bored.

Catherine had waited quite some time and finally it was time for the exam. She almost could not bear it as she entered the Cemetery Building, a building she had entered multiple times in the past, either with her father or alone. Her curiosity was eating away at her the whole way to the elevator and down into the basement. She wanted to see what kind of people signed up for the exam and especially what kind of tests they would have for her. The young woman was quite confident in herself and her abilities. It was clear to her since her time at college that her mind was the sharpest around and that alone was probably enough to pass as a Hunter.

This lead to the question: What did Hunter actually do? She had only met one or two and never for long. All she knew was that they took any kind of work if paid enough or followed their own goals. Catherine knew that she would use the new freedom of being a Hunter to travel and see many new and exciting things, things she could not see as a normal person. The best was that she would not have to deal with her family any more, as Hunter she would have proven herself enough to enjoy a quiet life by herself. It was like she could finally enter the tall grass, once she picked her first Pokemon.

As the elevator finally stopped, at what seemed to be the third or forth floor down, she quickly brushed over her cloths before stepping out. The first she did was to let her eyes wander across the big room. Quickly she noticed the man with the exposed chest and red cape, he clearly stood out among everyone else already present. Next her attention got pulled away from the room as a girl dressed as maid handed her a pack of cards. Obviously they had something to do with the exam and after stepping through the other contestants she felt reassured in this believe, since the only table in the room had cards attached to it, Aces to be exact. She quickly looked at the table and then the cards she had been given, lastly she looked around and found that multiple other people did the same. Some groups were also forming or knew each other. Other people rather kept to themselves while they waited and observed the situation much like her. It was hard to say which of the two was the best decision. Everyone held onto their cards as if their life depended on it.

Rajan entered the elevator in the cemetery building cautiously enough but as soon as the doors shut he... remained calm. While he was inclined to search every nook and cranny of the elevator space he came to accept that now that he was in the elevator there wasn't much more he could do. If this elevator was a trap he was already in it and would have to wait for it to try and kill him before he could react. If there were any spy cameras, showing he was aware of them would just tell them what they want to know. So as such he was tactically lazy as he rode down the elevator. Low profile was the plan, except plan was a bit flattering a description for Rajan's decision to not charge in stabbing everything in sight.

With that underwhelming display on display Rajan was carried ever downwards by the elevator. Eventually the doors opened and he stepped into the room. He was approached by a girl with a deck of cards and with just a little skepticism took it. Already on edge, fearing the pressure of the Hunter Exam he moved to a spot on the wall where he could see the whole room. His eyes darted over everything trying to take everything in but then for fear of his swift eyes being taken as a sign of weakness or fear he stilled them. He turned the deck over in his hands several times just waiting for something to happen. He had worked himself up to a point he couldn't come down from. He just had no idea how to act in this situation. Was it foolish to risk being caught off guard in order to look calm? Was it foolish to appear overly weary just to look around?

Ultimately Rajan decided to just stand there quietly until things got started. Until he considered that maybe things had already started and it was back to internally fretting.

Northland hurried into the Cemetery Building rather excitedly, keeping a spring in his step as he bounded through the glass doors and into the main lobby. He had his hands in the pockets of his long green coat as he pushed open the glass with his shoulder and pushed through the threshold, and his locks of red hair bounced lightly with him as he moved. Northland happened to see a few familiar faces as he entered the building, old business partners and colleagues and such, but he paid them little mind as he pranced away through the elevator. Today was not a day of regular business, but one that would likely change the way he did business forever. Today, he would begin the Hunter Exam and obtain his licence. Due to his lack of a hunter licence, many of his attempts at pursuing his new hobby, treasure hunting, had ended in total failure. Most of the areas that held significant historical importance, or those that had been largely unexplored by modern science, were restricted to those with special permits, but a Hunter Licence acted as a skeleton key in those cases and he'd be free to go wherever his heart desired.

So, almost shaking with anticipation, Northland retrieved his right hand from his pocket with a flourish and began to rapidly hit the down arrow on the outside of the elevator. The faster his transportation arrived the better, as it would be ideal to get a feel for his competition before beginning the exam. Northland wondered how many examees must be at the location already, and whether he would be considered an early comer or just barely make it in time. It wasn't as if he had received an invitation with an exact starting time nor a cut off time for entry, but he was still somewhat nervous that his timing would somehow be off. While he was pondering those things, the elevator arrived for him and he entered through the sliding metal doors. No one had followed him into the elevator, and there was no one in there to begin with, which Northland thought was strange for such a large building but he paid it little mind. Instead, he quickly pressed the key for the basement floor and proceeded to wait for his destination.

It only took a few moments for him to arrive, and as the doors opened he was greeted to a rather astonishing site. Well over a hundred people had already gathered in the basement, and at his first glance, Northland didn't think he could recognize a single face in the massive crowd. A young woman in a maid outfit greeted him politely as he stepped into the room, and handed him a sealed deck of cards. "Thank you, madame." He would say to her politely yet dismissively as he placed the cards into his front coat pocket. Northland's excitement had turned to apprehension as he noticed several people hanging back and observing the crowd with a careful eye, and groups of others speaking to each other in hushed whispers. It was his first time attempting the Hunter Exam so he hadn't been sure what to expect, but he thought that perhaps he should have hired on some goons to take it with him so that he could have some people to rely on himself. Northland tried to look around for someone who looked manipulable, or trustworthy, or experienced, or any traits that he felt might make them a good ally. His eyes were drawn to a bare chested man in a red cape sitting on a sofa very calmly and nonchalantly, and for a second Northland considered approaching him. As he took a step forward however, he thought he sensed something incredibly dangerous in the air. It made him feel as though every cell in his body was telling him to turn around, and he listened almost immediately. There was sure to be someone else in here that could help him, someone a bit more normal. There had to be someone in there with the wit and skill with which to complement his own, and he hoped to find them before the exam began. To further that goal, Northland began mingling with the other examee's to scope out potential allies and information on frontrunners if possible.

As it is with these things, news spread fairly quickly. Even to some of the more laidback and lazy kinds of people who are usually the ones arriving to any kind of proverbial party in the last moment. Such as Iris. While she had come to Yorknew to wait for news about whenever a Hunter's Exam happened, by the time she heard if it, the message was already a little old. Nonetheless it was time to stop with the loafing around and finally get back on track with her life goals.

Arriving at the ridiculously impressive Cemetery Building as the date rolled around, she could not help but wonder, what kind of Hunter's Exam they planned to even hold in there. But very much longer she would not have to wonder about that, as there were instructions and direction being put up for participants of the exam. So finding her way would be the last of problems and then she would find out what the exam was all about soon enough. In the end, there was an elevator to take, which seemed to have just left as Iris pressed the call button on the door's frame. “Cool.” While she certainly wasn't too late, she definitely did not sound the happiest, missing elevators is always kind of aggravating. At least, so the young woman figured, how long it took to come back would give her an indication of how far up they were holding this test. As time slowly passed, in her mind the floors rolled up and her imagination kept escalating what was expected of participants. Any floor up from the ground was a terrible idea in her eyes. So it was quite some relief to feel a downward motion after the cabinet had returned and there was only one unmarked button on the inside panel.

She was definitely less nervous, feeling that she was going to a basement and not a top floor, but still had precious little, also known as zero, information on what was going to happen any second after the elevator halted and the metal doors slid open. And as they did, all was revealed. Or at least most of it. The widening gap between the two parts of the door allowed Iris to see more and more of the room behind it. Lots of people, every kind you could think of – more or less. Apparently there was a table, but the purpose was veiled among being unable to properly see it with all those bodies in the way and the fact that a Table as such was not very telling. Taking the first step out of the cabin before the doors would close again, the green-haired girl found herself immediately assaulted from the side of her vision.

The almost unusual sight of a maid uniform you'd expect to see in private mansions of billionaires crowned by a red ponytail almost immediately and wordlessly urged a seemingly fresh pack of cards onto Iris. With not many options besides taking it or arguing what that was all about, she took the easier way due to being fairly surprised and not wanting to mess up the chance of this Hunter's Exam. Looking at the packaged cards for just a brief moment, she decided to worry about it when whoever lead this event explained what was even expected of them and placed the deck and her hands in her jacket's pockets. For just now, it was probably easiest to join the mass of people and wait. The last thing she planned to do was overthink this whole Event, Playing by ear has always woked out great for her so far, so there was no reason to stop.

Admin kept an eye on the room slowly filling while he sipped on his iced tea and enjoyed a back massage from one of the girls he had created. Some of the guests seemed promising, but most were clearly below standard for a Hunter.

After a while he had seen enough and ordered the girls to shut down the elevator, before slowly getting up and making his way into the middle of the room. “Greetings”, he yelled into the room. “Nice that you made it to the exam. I will be the person testing you and I thought of a fun game for you!” He pulled out a deck of cards from his pocket and held it up high. “Each of you should have one of these, some have opened it, some have not, doesn't matter. I will explain what this is about in a bit, but first I want to make clear that everyone”, and he said the last word louder than any other word, “everyone here is your enemy! Everyone here wants to stab you in the back and use your corpse as stepping stone to climb to the top! That is what this first test is all about.” He smirked and climbed on the table in the centre. “Some might be your friends without knowing it, but don't be fooled by those that pretend to be your friend. The only thing you can trust on is information from yourself.” While he was standing on the table somehow his cape started to fly as if a strong wind was present in the shut tight basement. The man enjoyed such visual aid to communicate his greatness. “Now to the rules! Each of you got a pack of cards, as you can see this table has four aces on it, your first task is to get your deck down to one card by just laying down cards in order here from two to ace and repeat till everyone of you holds only one more card.” He started to lay down his own cards sorted by suit on the four spots, then held up the Ace Of Spades. “Like this. You may trade with or steal from others too, if you do not manage to lay down all cards but one, you already fail!” Next he sat down on the table and took a look around to see some people opening their decks and look at the cards. Other than that he had created them, they were simple cards and there was nothing special about them. Well they had one ability, which was if the card tower on the table became too high the cards at the bottom would slowly start disappearing.

He stretched a little and then continued: “Once the first phase ends, the second phase starts. From the moment you only have one card left you become an assassin and potential victim at the same time. Any contact with others can be the last thing you do in the exam. Show your card openly and you are disqualified! You can talk to people, but if they hold a different card from you and answer you, they are disqualified! By answer I mean anything from words to just turning your head and everything between.” Some people around him finally started to get nervous, obviously it was somewhat harsh. “Well you can pass, either by showing your card to someone with the same card. If you want to be mean you can also make someone fail, by letting them answer to you without having your card and you pass.” While he kept talking he got down from the table and made his way back to the sofa. “As you can see, once you only hold one card you better know who is and who isn't your friend, otherwise you might get stabbed in the back. Watch out and shut yourself away from the people that try to make you fail!”

He sat back down on the sofa in the corner of the room, before saying one last thing. “If you have questions, I won't answer any of them, but you might notice that some people do it wrong when I kick them out of here.”

If you're going to do something. Do it bold. Rajan pushed his was through the people gathering towards the table in the center, naturally his advance was opposed by other contestants who refused to be cut but there wasn't much they could do, Rajan was a slippery and swift and advanced from the wall to the center with little difficulty. While he would have preferred to charge through with his spear he wasn't sure if killing was permitted at this stage in this exam.

Upon getting close-ish to the table the lancer jumped into the air, over the heads of his competitors and landed on his feet on the table. From there he faced the cards on the table, some people had already started forming card towers but that could only be expected as Rajan didn't instantly transport himself there, but now some people had stepped back likely on guard as to what the man before them might do while others simply kept placing cards working feverishly to whittle down their decks. Rajan kept an eye on these guys for they were his prey.

He got used to his vantage point and just watched people play cards for a second. Once he felt comfortable he started working through his own deck placing cards. His rate was rather slow compared to the others standing on the ground. Which should have been a surprise considering Rajan was placing cards unopposed while everyone else had to force their way to the front of the mob to place cards. Why was he so slow? It's anybodies guess.

“Interesting game”, Catherine said out loud to herself and stepped forward to the table in the centre of the room. It became quite clear that it became nearly impossible to just sneak in and watch others lay down their cards. A lot of people laid down cards in groups or did it under their hand, while they were quickly pushed away by others that wanted to lay down their cards. Even the spot on top of the table was soon taken by one and then more other people, that wanted the best place to look at the cards of other people. After the explanation she had realized one important thing about the game, it was much easier to make others fail, compared to find a partner to pass together. In that case it hardly mattered which card she held onto unless she wanted to partner up or trick a special person. Catherine looked around in the chaos around the table and saw no one that was worth to trick.

Before even laying down one card she backed of out of the chaos. She was not the only one that did not lay down any cards, if about half of the people were storming the table about half were just watching the chaos quietly and used the time they still had all cards to talk among each other, maybe plan on a card to keep with their friends. While she was walking through the room she heard a loud yell: “YOU SAID YOU WOULD KEEP THE ACE OF HEARTS!” As she turned towards the source it looked like the first person had already failed and at the same time another person had passed. She looked at the two men, one crushed on the ground the other standing above him with a huge grin.

Honestly Catherine was surprised the game could be over this quickly, this would also have a huge impact on other people, that did not even think about the possibility that their friend would betray them that easily. It was risky to trust others in this game, she did not plan to do so. Also at the same time as the one person was guided out of the room by one of the maid, the man in the cape pointed at five other people, that had turned their head towards him, while they had only one card, which was not the one he had held onto and declared that they had failed.

As this happened a bunch of people suddenly backed of the table and stopped laying down cards. It was another game changer. People felt lucky that they still had cards as they turned their head towards him. Catherine was one of them, even if it was less luck and more that she had decided to remain save and observe before she made any decisions. Rushing the first phase and entering the second phase of the game was an option, but a dangerous one. Having more than one card was like a shield. One thing remained unclear to her though, what if a person with only one card answered to someone with multiple cards? Did they fail or was it save? The unclear rules were one of the reasons many others observed the game for now, there was no reason to rush, with this many people and after so many people just failed it was clear that there were “hidden rules”, like that even after failing as long as the contestant remained in the room he could make others fail, but neither of them passed. Also it was possible to fail multiple people at once like this.

Still conversing with the other examinees, Northland was a bit startled when he heard a voice yell out a greeting from behind him. He quickly turned to see who it was that was speaking so loudly over everyone else, and the rest of the crowd's gaze seemed to turn that way as well. It was the same man that had given Northland such a forceful chill before, and he let out a sigh of relief after realizing he had nearly attempted to team up with the examiner. That would have been quite the foolish thing to do, and he certainly would have looked like quite the idiot had he done so. He continued to explain the rules of the game that they were about to play, and Northland listened intently as the rules were laid out before him. It was the first test of the Hunter's Exam, so it would need to be taken very seriously; for him to lose out in the beginning round would be an utter embarrassment and one that he would not stand. So, he quickly set to grasping the crux of the game that had been laid out before him. There had to be some key factor that would allow him to claim victory in this game, and he stood at the outside of the crowd in thought as the game began. He watched as people rushed over towards the table and began laying down their cards as soon as possible. Several of them seemed to be cooperating together even at this early stage in the game, and some seemed to be relying on a strategy of dumping all of their cards and making contact with anyone they could manage. Northland continued to observe as a group of people were all disqualified from the exam after looking over to witness one man's victory over another. The crowd seemed to instantly become aware of the dangers of holding only one card, and many of them backed away from the table timidly.

It was at that moment that Northland understood the determining factor that would allow him to easily push through this portion of the exam. The winning condition of the game all hinged one one thing, and Northland had figured it out. Even though many potential Hunters had stayed near the table, enough people had backed off that there was plenty of room in the immediate area near it. Northland pushed through the crowd surrounding the card covered piece of furniture until he had secured himself a spot near one of the corners. He had developed his plan and now all that was left was to carry it out. Quickly, he began placing cards down with as much speed and precision as he could muster so that he could be rid of the majority of his cards before the crowd began to gather courage once again or form too many groups. Time wasn't necessarily of the essence, but the sooner he could enact his plan the better for him in the long run. It only took Northland a few fractions of a minute before he'd placed the majority of his cards onto the table, and he was ready to enact the crucial point of his strategy. Slipping his cards into his pocket, Northland hopped up onto the table by propelling himself up with his hands and stood directly on the corner of the table, shutting his eyes behind his sunglasses and facing the crowd. "Everyone, I understand I can't have your eyes, but if I could please have your ears." Northland shouted over the raucous prattle of the other examinees. He then pulled two cards out of his pocket and held one out in each hand. Both of the cards were Jacks, one of hearts and one of clubs. "As you can see, I have more than one card and it is safe to make contact with me. As a precaution, I will not answer any questions about the plan I have come up with on the off chance that any of you happens to have only one card." He continued, speaking in a friendly yet still businesslike tone, one he had developed through several years of work as the C.E.O. of North Industries. "My plan will allow all of us to pass through this portion of the exam easily and safely!" He said, trying to convince anyone who would listen, and hoping to draw more to his voice with that line. "We've already seen that several people can fail off of making contact with the same person." He said, referring to the man who had earlier caused six people altogether to fail the exam. "I assume that means that several can pass by making contact with the same person. If we all hold the same card, we'll all pass!" He said, explaining his plan as simply as possible. "I have no need to keep secrets, because this is the most honest way to get through this portion of the exam! Anyone who wishes to join is free to!" Northland said, his eyes still shut behind his sunglasses as he placed the jack of clubs into his right hand so that he was holding both cards in his grasp. Then, with his other hand he pointed to another corner of the room. "Place all your cards aside from the Jack of Hearts and Clubs on the table and follow me to that corner if you wish to hear the rest." He said, finishing and pushing through the crowd towards the corner, placing both cards back into his pocket and keeping a firm grip on them. In his other pocket, he fingered the butterfly knife he had bought on impulse while on the way to the Hunter Exam. A thin smile spread across his face as he moved towards the corner, hearing what sounded like at least a dozen pairs of footsteps following behind him.

It was no use. Rajan had been counting on being able to keep tabs on what cards had been played by what player in order to identify a solid target. Playing smart was never really Rajan's cup of tea anyway. What mattered now was that Rajan had two cards left and once he placed one more he was in danger but at the same time that meant he could succeed as well. Without a mind geared towards trickery and without the ability to trust anyone the lancer was left with little choice but to defeat this battle of wits with hair brained stupidity. As he saw an opening to play his second to last card Rajan cried "I will cut off the hand of the next person to play a card after me!" He slapped down his card and stood straight up on the table. Throwing caution to the wind he reached out in front of him and grabbed at the air conjuring his spear Blink.

He pointed the spear downward so the tip of it's blade hovered over the card stacks. Then he waited with the two of diamonds hidden in his free hand.

The hall had slowly calmed down and more and more people became just observers. Some people passed by teaming up, more and more people got tricked. Then she spotted someone she knew and a group of stupid people following that person. Before she could mess with that one, something else happened and her attention was pulled to the table again. Suddenly a man had pulled a spear out of thin air and pointed it at the table. Beside her multiple other people looked, but a quick look to the Exam leader unveiled that non of them held only one card. Catherine guessed that only about one quarter or less of the people around her were down to one card and the ones that did so were scared enough from the previous yell that they had become scared and retreated to the edge of the room.

At the same time the table had cleared up enough for her to make her way to it, before doing so she quickly took a glance at the table, sorted through her cards and made sure her deck was in order to lay down ALL cards but one at once. She suddenly had found a great way to pass. With a big grin she stepped up to the table and looked up at the man. “Hey big guy, don't worry I still have all my cards, so you can look at me.” She held up the deck and fanned it out. Then she looked at the table again and even lifted one stack of cards to look into it, they clearly were mixed and not each stack for one suit only, so she could just play all cards at once. While doing so she made sure to not let anyone else place a card onto of the spot she was standing at, which was easy since everyone was still afraid to get their arm cut. “But I plan to lay down every card other than the Queen of Hearts which is already laying here at once. I bet you that the card you hold is not the Queen of Hearts and the moment you cut my arm it counts as answering my action and you fail and I pass. Next I bet you that you actually can't cut my arm and I just pass without problem.” She leaned onto the table and smirked up at him, like some crazy cat. Then she giggled and turned around to lean onto the table backwards as she was still looking up to the man. Oh god this kind of game was really intoxicating to her, just the joy of manipulating others and thinking of ways to use them for her drove her crazy. It was always uncertain how they reacted to it and this made her incredible curious, as if it was some food she had never tried before and was just about to discover for the first time, each time! “I make you a deal, give me your last card instead, step down the table and you are save again, because you do not hold any card.” As she was saying this she began to hover her deck of cards over the stack, ready to drop it and reached up to the man with her other hand. “I count to three then you got to decide! ONE!”

It all was just a test to see if having zero cards was possible, since cards could be stolen she had a feeling that it was, but she had to know for sure, if it was one of the hidden rules of the exam.

Meanwhile she heard some louder voices coming from the direction she had seen Northland walk, apparently the people there wanted to make sure that he was not cheating them and requested to see the content of his cloths or any other place where he could hide a card. Even among sheep there was usually at least one with some smarts.

His initial plan had failed so now there was only one thing left for Rajan it was time for some acting on impulse. Rajan dropped his card. He was to his own understanding safe for the moment. The examiner had not even mentioned having zero cards which indicated he had neither passed or failed. Rajan was able to justify in his own head that now that he was outside the rules he could whatever the heck he wanted really. So he did, "Stay here. Start playing your cards, these guys will only be stunned into inactivity for so long. Do as you said you would and you get yourself free hired muscle for the rest of the exam." Then as if to prove he was capable of providing the service he offered he jumped off the table and approached a random applicant. They seemed too busy looking at their cards to notice Rajan approach, their bad luck. The lancer dropped his spear, it hit the ground with a clank, the sound made the poor applicant turn his head up in surprise.

With the element of surprise and a swift hand on his side Rajan yanked the deck from the guy's hands and started shifting through it. He acquired the card he desired just as his victim. pulled back his fist to retaliate. Rajan let himself get hit and was sent skidding across the ground. He dropped all but one card mid-flight. When he came to a stop by the table he just stayed there for a couple moments. If he had dodged or cried when hit that would have been reacting. Figuring he had waited on the ground long enough Rajan stood up looked at Catherine and nodded.  This was either the beginning of a team-up, or a short but emotional story of betrayal, or the beginning of the story of how Rajan got disqualified from his first attempt at the Hunter's Exam because of what he just did.

She quickly picked the card out of the air and listened to the man's words, but before she could even think about them she let out a loud sigh as she watched the man do what he did. The guy she had picked to work with was just the kind of idiot she thought he was and it ruined her plan that he moved before she could explain anything to him. Even worse he had come into contact with cards again, which made it unclear to her which card or cards he had and made him a risk to her again. His clear declaration of only having one card made it possible for her to trust that he really only had that one card, so did his actions following that, but now, now he had become a risk again and Catherine did not care about playing any risky games with a stranger, his stupidity might just be an act to trick her.

As she looked at him she sighed again. “Sorry you just ruined it, if you had not moved from your spot and stayed with zero cards I could make us both pass, but now, who knows what card and how many you have.” She slowly shoved her cards back into her pocket again, including the two of diamonds which she now had twice, maybe she could use it at a later time. “I hope you are lucky enough to pass somehow, as it seems like you need a lot of luck, especially after that display.” The faces of the people around the two made it clear, they looked worried about the brutal man. After he had shown his strength without it being necessary he surely made a desirable target for others. She would not have been surprised if the next guy stepping up to him would already trick him. One thing she had quickly noticed around her was that she was not the only person that noticed that the man had used Nen, which made him a quite formidable opponent, which everyone surely wanted to avoid in later rounds.

The test was only the first and as any card game, it was better to hide an ace in the sleeve than to show it openly. She clearly did not plan to show any of her abilities to any of the people around.

Rajan was aggravated by how quickly the girl had assumed the plan was an instant bust. Sure he had completely misread her intentions and it had been his actions that "ruined it," but her giving up so quick got on his nerves. He had taken some pain to get that card and to find out it was actually counter productive to have was irritating. What further got on his nerves was how simple a mistake it was to remedy. He just had to drop the card again and like magic things were on target again. Sure it was possible he had hidden some cards on him but that had been possible the first time around as well. Ultimately Rajan decided it was for the better, someone who can't take even the slightest risk wasn't worth siding with.

He had bigger problems now anyway. First he was now in the dangerously fragile state of having one card. His next big concern was that he had shown his hand by conjuring Blink and now everyone knew about it. Then there was the part where he had drawn some undesirable attention to himself with his recent actions. He could feel people observing him, even if not looking at him, identifying him as an easy target for elimination. If Rajan really was an easy target or not remained to be seen. Sure he had done some stupid and brash stuff, but he avoided elimination the whole time. But the bottom line was that with enough people aiming for him it didn't matter how good he was, someone would make him slip up.

He needed to remove attention from himself, let things calm down and approach the problem from a new angle. "Drop something punk?" Rajan started walking towards the edge of the room refusing to look towards the source of the voice. The candidate he had stolen from a moment ago was now holding Blink and was walking after the spear's master while egging him on "It was real stupid of you to drop a weapon this nice. How'd you pull it out of thin air like you did anyway?" Rajan was confident the man still had cards but it was possible he had handed them off to a buddy before approaching him so trying to interact with him wasn't an option. The lancer reached the wall of the room after a minute of ignoring his pursuer.

Rajan turned around and flopped his whole body on the coach now facing the wall. Still refusing to leave him alone the man holding Blink came up to him and kept talking to him "Hey! I'm talking to you. This isn't about the test now. You attacked me and there was consequences to actions like that. So how about you stand up and we can settle this honorably. Then we can both go our merry little ways." Rajan let him drone on, this guy wasn't a threat to him and his blabber mouth to some degree kept away people who were a threat.

He just needed to lay low for a while.

The game had slowed down a lot, hardly anyone was laying down cards any more, everyone just began to be careful and scared to expose themselves. Catherine had to look for a new way to pass. She still had the solution for the game, but she had to find someone to team up with to do so. Maybe she should just do it like North did and announce it, but his strategy made it a bit harder, since people avoided everything they already saw and perceived as possible danger. The better solution was to talk to someone directly, but first she had to take care of something else. She indeed disliked the brute, for his brutish behaviour, but that did not mean she wanted him to fail just because of something so silly. Most people probably saw it as better to make others fail to have less contenders later, she wanted everyone that was so weak to fail at this stage to pass, to make sure her later opponents were weak and easy to beat.

She just quickly stepped behind the guy that was holding the spear. “Well I don't think this is yours, you should not have it.” She just touched the weapon for a short moment, focusing her Aura on her fingers and suddenly the man's hands were empty. She had split all Atoms in it and turned it into gas, which should be impossible for anyone around her to identify as such, after all the spear was just suddenly gone. “You really shouldn't pick on others just for hurting you.”

The man himself still avoided looking or reacting to her, since he could not know if Catherine still had any cards. Till a friend of his came up. “Don't worry that bitch still has all her cards.” Then he quickly turned and was just about to throw a punch, when a maid stepped up and caught his hand. “Sir you have failed this part of the exam.” He looked confused, Catherine also was a bit confused, but the next words from the maid made it easy to understand. She turned to the guys friend and congratulated him on passing.

Catherine had to admit that it was well done and he had used the chance masterfully to trick the other idiot. In the light of this she went over her own strategy again and then realized something she had not realized before. It really did not matter who it was and how many cards that person had, it was fail safe for her, which made her reconsider dealing with the brute again. “Yo muscle head, give me your last card again and stay still till I'm back this time!” With a stretched out arm she waited to receive the card. “I'm sick of the game and really want to pass already.”

That was all Rajan needed. While he was concerned with where Blink he knew he could just remake it later. But what really made his day was the exchange between Catherine and the other guys. Since the maid passed guy 2 and failed guy 1 that meant Catherine was safe to talk to, which meant she was also legitimately looking to pass with him. Which worked for him because that saved him the trouble of putting his own neck on the line to pass. It could also be an elaborate trick but considering his recent blunders Rajan felt he was pretty deserving of failure at this point, so if it was a trick he got what he deserved and could try again next year.

With that he tossed his card into the air without turning around. Silently he thought Alright braniac. I'll leave this test in your hands so next round it will be your turn to count on me.

After getting the last card the idiot had Catherine quickly looked over her cards, began to sort them. The next part was to get rid of all but two cards, double two of diamonds. It was not as easy to really get rid of all the other cards. It required a bit of wait for the other card she had double, but after a few other people placed down their cards she finished her setup. In her hands she was now only holding two cards and quickly walked back to where she had left the spear wilder.

On her way she realized something and paused. She looked to the boss of the exam in his cape, laying all comfortable on the sofa. He seemed pleased that only a few people passed so far and that by removing someone else. Winning the game was one thing, but winning against someone was more fun. “Spear Idiot come over here.” She yelled through the room and by doing so drew quite a lot of attention. Her voice did not lower as she kept talking and basically had a volume high enough for the whole room to hear. “Listen up, I took all your cards, then laied all cards down but two matching ones.” All of a sudden even the man in the cape was listening as she continued to explain for the whole room how to beat his stupid game without removing anyone from the exam. “Now, I will give you the card I took from you, which I know will be the same I am holding and then to make sure for you that I am not tricking you, I let you talk to me and I react.” The people around here seemed a bit unsure if that really was the solution, but Catherine continued. “Because even if you are secretly holding another card, that would mean you have more than one and that makes you unable to kill me. This is the perfect solution to pass without tricking anyone.”

As she finished her explanation her eyes shifted over to Admin, who clearly was surprised, annoyed and slightly impressed of this loophole in his plan. After all that, the last thing that was left was to hold out the card for the guy with the spear. “I'm Catherine Redfen, you better know the name of your owner for the remaining exam, my pet.” A big smirk covered her face and all she had to do was for the man to take the card, talk to her and then both would pass.

Rajan rolled off the couch onto his feet with a grumble. He would take the embarrassment for now, but sooner or later he would make the girl(he know knew as Catherine) eat her words. In a good way. There is a good way to eat words right? In a "see I'm not an idiot," kind of way and not in a "I'll make you pay for calling me an idiot," kind of way. Rajan saw one way to improve Catherine's plan just for a little more safety on his part, and to save a little face, but he had the feeling he was in no place to make demands. She could go to anyone else if she didn't like his idea. So just this once he accepted his subordination, but only to survive. He reached her and held out his hand ready to end this tiresome game. "You're the boss."

“Do you have no name or should I keep calling you Idiot?” Was her response to the rude man that still had not introduced himself and at the same time a maid stepped up to them. She looked to be in a bad mood and particular angry with Catherine for ruining her “master”'s game, but she had to admit that both of them passed as they were holding up the same card.

Soon after this many people followed the example and the maids had their hands full guiding everyone out of the room, into another big room, that offered some quiet, for a moment at least and multiple machines to get something to drink. When the two entered the room was still rather empty, maybe ten or twenty people, but soon after it became fuller than the previous room. Cathline quickly grabbed a few iced coffee cans and found herself a spot in a corner of the room from where she could keep watch on the other passing people. There was nothing special about most of them, they obviously were not even especially smart, since they passed with her plan. Some even came up to thank her for the solution, others stared at her for quite some time. It seemed like some people tried to gauge her “power level”, after she had proven to be smart.

Luckily the girl had a rather weak appearance, even when she rated herself as stronger than the Spear Idiot for example.

With over half of the people suddenly passing Admin got into a bad mood. He had hoped that over half of the people would only find betrayal as the solution, even he had not thought up to use trading like this. The first test was a disaster, he just had to wait till everyone found a partner... Well there was still the possibility that some people would not manage to get down to one card, with the suddenly very limited amount of cards still in play. “Since half the people have passed and you know how to beat this game, I suggest you hurry up!” As he said so he lifted a finger and made a giant clock appear in mid air. “I give you one more hour!” Losing his game, clearly had ruined his mood.

__________________________________________________

As of now, since the 1st test has already taken rather long and half of the players passed, you are limited to one week to pass or you fail! The 2nd test will start once everyone has passed or the week is over.

Rajan followed Catherine painfully aware of some contestants condescending gaze and mocking whispers. Even if he had passed the test somehow he got the feeling he had been labeled the weakest contestant in the exam. Something he would soon find a way to remedy. He only grabbed a few water bottles when Catherine went by the drinks, he shoved a few into a pouch on his back but kept one in his hand. Finally when she settled in the corner Rajan decided to introduce himself "Call me idiot if you will. But I am Rajan Iberian. While I appreciate your assistance in passing the first exam, but I will have to command further respect from now on. I confess games of the mind aren't my greatest strength but I'll prove that I am more then competent in other areas."

He leaned against the wall and looked at the people now filling the room "Then again I don't think it quite proper that you can call me idiot after that stunt. You earned the ire of the examiner, made yourself a target, allowed a large number of competitors through that would have failed otherwise and to top it off you have greatly under estimated the hunters exam." Rajan didn't mean to get preachy but the events so far were getting him worked up "Every person in this exam is a master in their own right. Each one coming from a background that establishes them as some of the most skilled on the planet short of Hunters themselves. To mistake any of them as an easy victory is a fallacy beyond fallacy. I chose to take that embarrassment back there because I thought it worth it to work with you. I'll leave this at this just because I'm honestly in no place to talk. But if you underestimate the ordeal in front of us again, our deal is terminated."

Anything else you want to add to your sermon Father Iberian? Rajan shut himself up quickly when he realized how long he had been talking. He hadn't meant to go on a tangent like that, but as everyone in this exam had seen once he decided he was going to do something he would do it to the extreme. He silently prayed for a chance to redeem himself.

“I would never underestimate the exam, after all it took me quite some time to beat the man leading the exam in a mind game, which you might consider my strength.” She emphasised that she had beaten the exam leader, not any of the contestants or just the game. “But if you want to think that my brain is the only part where I am stronger than you, then you are underestimating me.” Again she could not help but smirk. Catherine usually was not as arrogant, but her victory intoxicated her slightly. “If I remember right your weapon did not even survive a soft touch from me.” As she kept mocking the man, she opened a can of iced coffee and enjoyed the vitalizing effect the coffee had on her body and mind.

The room kept filling and more than half of the people entering after the duo looked towards them. “Don't worry, they probably don't think of you as weak or stupid. I bet half of the people here can't even use Aura or Nen and were quite shocked when they saw you conjure up a weapon out of thin air.” Calmly she emptied the first can and opened the next can without pause. “Yet they probably think of me as even stronger than most of them. They know I am smarter, even when the solution was so simple and maybe some saw me destroy your weapon and think I am rather strong.” The second can was half empty within seconds between sentences. “I would rather not fight you either way, the weapon looks painful if it hits me and there are clearly plenty of weaker opponents.” Catherine finished the second can and stretched her arms out.

She knew that in a real fight it would be hard to destroy the weapon before it touched her, she was not particular fast or strong, while the man looked to have the far stronger body. Compared to all the weaklings that entered before or after them he surely was a good pick as a pet, as long as he understood that he owed her one.

Things kept happening. People kept trying to win this test. People kept failing. Some passed. Iris was not in either pol of people. Passage of time was hard to track without any tools or other indicators. She just stood there and sort of tracked what happened. Not every detail, but the gist of what happened. Did not do anything, just watched. Honestly, this event was awfully not to her liking so far. She did not usually mind a bit of a challenge, but somehow this one would not click for her, no matter what. Maybe it was the many unknown factors and rules, maybe it was the different stages with their own conditions within the game. No one would know, but most certainly, the only way Iris would pass this part was by copying someone who had passed instead of figuring out how to actually do it.
Luckily, she did not have to take the full shame for this failure of mind. As it would turn out barely a minute in time, having all your cards still on you made one quite a desirable partner for any other person hoping to copy what spear-wielding numbskull and ginger-genius did. Since being able to adapt to anyone with just a few or even one card was a welcome hope for some of the participants who had quite quickly managed to get rid of many cards.

And the girl was in a very interesting position right now. It took another moment to dawn on her, as at least half a dozen participants had more or less approached her to get past this part of the test. She could actually influence who gets into the next round. Someone weak who would not be a problem if there's a competitive part later maybe. Or actually someone who looked qualified to actually pass was her initial thought. Then again, anyone actually qualified would probably not have been stupid enough to maneuver themselves into that kind of corner. If nothing else, Iris could make a strategic decision. Though at this point the to go on were mostly superficial. None of the participants trying to, some more and some less determined, get her attention seemed particularly outstanding. While she was trying to size them up without really engaging any single one of them, continually more people were guided out of the room, as they had done pretty much the same and found someone to copy the easiest strategy with. Time was running and eventually the girl would have to make a choice, as there were still a few other people around who could help someone win. So eventually, Iris just started counting out the four people that had proven to be interested in passing with her for longer than half a minute.

“Out, out, out and you are it.” she concluded her her kindergarten method of deciding, pointing at the four people with an extended finger. The three Out's consisted of two men and a girl. The guys looked generally rather interchangeable with most other male participants that were or had been in the room, somewhat in shape and visibly hardened by either work or straight up battles. The obviously younger and less storied girl seemed more like she had been shown the wrong door while trying to find a fashion show and not at all like good hunter material. But Iris also knew looks could be deceiving. The candidate she ended up with was a guy, probably around her own age or so, whom she did not get a decent second look at. Because almost immediately, he tried to shove his remaining few cards in her face, accompanied by “Thanksthanksthanks, lady!” At least he seemed to have some semblance ofmanners, although being called lady by someone she had estimated around her own age group was a bit strange.

“Well, then.” She took the small stack of cards after a moment, probably preventing to be stabbed in the eye with them a few more seconds down the line. While the green-haired girl made the few steps over to the much less besieged them before table with her short-term partner following like a dog, she eyeballed said dog. Certainly did not fit the same mold as the grown men she had dismissed. But looking at the guy gave her a weird feeling of that he probably had the same kind of issue with this test she had, but was otherwise decent, as they would say. Maybe a year younger, a tad bit taller compared to herself. Green eyes that looked not only happy in the moment, but also hopeful in the same way she'd seen her own eyes almost every day in the mirror. He looked like he was here to play for real. “First, I got to put down all of these but one.” Carefully reciting the steps aloud, hoping to not forget anything and accidentally mess it up for herself or her temporary comrade, Iris shuffled two of his three cards onto the table. The last one was a Three of Spades she temporarily stowed away in her sleeve. “And then put down all of these ones as well. Minus the double.” This time, she was clearly talking about her own, still complete, deck. Everything but a Three of Spades found it's way in the next moments. Iris was sure someone was very diligently watching her every move, two people were, probably. Her partner for one thing, and someone from the testing staff likely as well. “Now, I hold two cards of the same suit and value.” She did not show them to anyone during the whole process of discarding to the table, just in case someone found some way to mess their passing up with knowledge of which card she and soon he, too, had.

“And as my final step, you get one of them...” she kind of trailed off, handing out the face-down card. Not having done any kind of introductions really made for somewhat weird conversation. But it was probably for the best, since while Iris was kind of rooting for her Partner in the coming parts of the exam, she certainly did not want any unnecessary bonding that could get in her way just yet.
“Christo. Thanks again. These things are not my forte.” the taller, albeit likely younger man replied, plucking the cardboard from her fingers with a beaming smile. He looked at the relevant side for a second, then flipped the card around for her to see. Paranoid as she was, Irish checked it one last time, before holding up the equal. “Iris.” she reflexively replied while they faced each other matching Thee of Spades'. Goddamit, this was exactly what she did not want. Maybe if she could avoid talking to him too much more between rounds, it would still be ok.

It would take almost a minute for a maid to show up and knowingly usher both of them out of the room through the same way as a lot of other people who copied the strategy. And into a waiting room that was nearly as full as the test room was before.