Nightfall.
On the surface of the frozen lake, the cold wind howled.
Yuu sat in front of a dying campfire, eating a skewer of freshly grilled fish. He casually conjured his sleeping Nen beast in the palm of his hand.
The black Nen beast was curled up.
Its size had increased significantly. It had grown from the length of a finger to the size of a palm, and its body was now encased in a hard, pitch-black shell.
It looked like a giant black chrysalis.
"It's getting harder to guess what kind of creature is hiding inside..."
"I just hope... it's not a bug."
Yuu sighed as he looked at the chrysalis-shaped Nen beast in his hand.
But thinking about it, even if it turned out to be a bug, based on current observations, the beast's ability to grow by eating was a confirmed trait.
Following that logic, the beast would likely continue to evolve later on. So whatever form it took initially wouldn't be its final state.
In fact, if it was a bug, it might motivate him even more. He might develop a determination to "raise this thing into something I actually like"... fueling his competitive spirit.
Maybe he could even raise it into something everyone would envy.
Thinking of this, Yuu felt a surge of excitement. He examined the beast in his hand more closely.
He noticed that the four small bumps on its belly had grown into limb-like structures, tightly pressed against its abdomen, bound by the hard shell and unable to move.
Looking at its increasingly robust limbs, and its head—which was starting to distinguish itself from the tail and swelling into a sphere...
It didn't look like a bug anymore.
However, Yuu couldn't quite tell... what direction this evolution was taking.
"Looks like I'll have to wait a while for it to fully hatch."
"Who knows... maybe it'll be done by tomorrow morning."
Filled with anticipation, Yuu withdrew the beast back into his body.
He stood up, packed his gear and cleaned up the campsite, then headed back toward the location of the giant bear's cave.
With the Nen beast tucked away, Yuu's thoughts shifted to those high-value gems.
...
In the blink of an eye, three hours passed.
Thanks to his previous experience, Yuu became increasingly efficient at looting nearby Ice Crystal Bear nests.
During the process, he neither disturbed the sleeping adult bears nor touched the cubs lying in their warm nests.
He only took the surplus blue gems. Even if a nest was stocked full, he took at most two.
Although the gems were incredibly potent—containing enough life energy in a single stone to put his gluttonous beast into a food coma with energy to spare—Yuu stuck to his principles.
The concept of "sustainability" was timeless, no matter the world.
If he took too many gems, causing the cubs to die and the population to decline, the production of gems would eventually drop too.
Draining the pond to catch the fish was the height of stupidity.
Besides, these blue gems were clearly a public resource.
To destroy a public resource for selfish gain, hoarding everything for oneself...
People like that were shortsighted, stupid, and evil.
Yuu stopped at a secluded spot in the snow, swung his backpack around, and dumped the gems onto the ground.
He did a quick count...
In three hours, he had raided over twenty nests and harvested 31 blue gems.
Setting aside one to complete the exam, the remaining thirty should be enough to feed his beast for a month or two.
"That's enough."
Yuu nodded thoughtfully.
"For the next two days, I can focus on solidifying my Nen foundation while I wait for the beast to hatch."
While searching for a quiet place to train, Yuu happened to pass by the cave of the first bear he had encountered.
From a distance, he saw that despite the late hour, there were at least ten people trying to subdue the exhausted bear with ropes.
"ROAAAAR———!"
The bear's roar was much weaker than before.
It was currently facing... a group of over a dozen Hunter candidates working together.
And among them was the guy Yuu hated the most—
Tonpa.
...
Even though the wrestler Todo and some other random candidates were doing all the heavy lifting...
Tonpa, who was contributing absolutely nothing, stood in the back like a commander, barking orders at everyone.
Straining against the rope, Todo couldn't help but yell back at Tonpa:
"Hey! You! Get over here and help! We can't hold it much longer! This bear is stronger than we thought!"
Tonpa feigned cowardice: "In this situation, a rookie like me would only get in the way! Hey! Look... the bear is almost done for! Just a little more! We almost got it!"
Todo roared: "Are you kidding me!?"
The older martial artist, Bodoro, spoke up from the side: "No, Tonpa is right."
"I can feel it's much weaker than before. Luckily, it seems like this bear was already exhausted before we got here."
"Maybe it went out hunting and fought some other huge animal? After all, only someone like that little girl examiner could fight a monster like this!"
"Who knows..."
...
Standing on the steep cliff above, Yuu watched the group below, deep in thought.
He could also see that the bear's aura was thin, a sign of physical weakness.
"Looks like these guys are exploiting my hard work. Taking advantage of the bear's exhaustion to subdue it and enter the cave."
Yuu squinted, thinking for a moment...
"Since I'm the cause, I can't exactly say this is 'none of my business'."
With that thought, Yuu pulled a standard-issue knife from his backpack and floated it above his palm.
He aimed the tip of the blade at the bear's location, locked onto the ropes binding it, and channeled his Cursed Energy.
"Go!"
As the word left his lips, the knife flew like an arrow, cleanly severing the ropes on the bear.
With that brief opening...
The struggling bear instantly broke free. With a roar of rage, it bolted back into its cave.
Clearly, the bear knew that staying outside would only drain its remaining stamina. Returning to the pitch-black cave... that was the environment where its keen sense of smell gave it the advantage.
"Pretty smart..."
Yuu glanced at the cave, then at the confused candidates. He shook his head and said nothing more.
Then, he quietly slipped away.
This was the cruelty of the Hunter Exam—
Sometimes your enemies weren't just the dangerous beasts in the test, but the other candidates trying to eliminate you.
...
A short while later.
Under a snowdrift, Yuu found a small, empty cave with no signs of life.
He walked in, found a clean spot to sit cross-legged, and conjured his Nen beast again.
It had only been a few hours since the beast went to sleep, but its size had swelled slightly again.
Yuu was surprised to find... clear cracks had appeared on the black shell surrounding the beast.
The creature inside was moving, squirming against the shell and making crisp "crackling" sounds.
It was on the verge of breaking out.
And so...
Yuu sat there, holding the beast in his palm, waiting patiently for hours without sleeping.
About six hours later...
The sky outside the cave had brightened. The sun was rising, casting a cool light.
Yuu, whose mind was drifting, suddenly noticed the cracking sounds coming from his hand becoming more frequent.
Looking down, he saw the beast was fully awake.
It was working hard to break its shell.
"Come on... I've been waiting all night for this."
Yuu couldn't hide the excitement on his face. He had stayed up all night just to see this moment.
Finally!
The beast's head popped out of the hard shell.
However, what he saw...
Was completely different from anything he had imagined.
A small head covered in black fur... with eyes full of confusion, tilted its head and looked up at him.
"A cat?"
Yuu was dumbfounded.
He had imagined every possibility, but never the true form of his Nen beast.
It was actually this species.
Also, looking into the kitten's eyes, Yuu could feel that it was currently extremely hungry.
...