First x Night

"If I could have everyone's attention please!" turning away from the view of the sea I look at one of the exam staff, a short woman with a headset and a uniform with the hunters association logo printed on the chest. Having caught everyone's attention she began talking about the procedures for the exam

"We have arrived at the exam grounds so I would like to inform everyone of the rest of the exam rules. First, you all will be leaving the boat in order of who completed the third exam in intervals of two minutes. Second, the time limit of the exam is exactly one week from the time the first contestant leaves. Third, you must have six points and be here on the beach when the boat comes back to pick up any examinees on the seventh day of this test. Now may we please have the first contestant come forwards to depart?" finished speaking, she steps to the side of the plank bridge as she beckons forward Hisoka to leave the small boat.

"2nd" after a small timer beeped the exam staff ushered the next contestant onto the island

"5th" with every person called the more tense the remaining members on the boat were

"9th" after all, every moment those before them had they could use to set up ambushes or get to advantageous positions.

"16th" when my name was finally called I slowly stood up and shambled towards the island. When I stepped foot on the beach I quickened my pace and swiftly walked into the tree line of the island to obscure my vision from those on the boat. Once I made sure they could not see me I made sure to make erratic movements, already treaded paths just led to other people and my target wasn't on the island yet meaning it would be pointless to confront someone else.

'My best bet is to push towards the farther reaches of the island where no one is currently and find somewhere I can make camp for the week… I would much rather play the slow and methodical game than quickly try to hunt down my target only to fail to do so or get my tags snatched after the fact because I was too brash.' making another quick turn in the forest I moved further inland while assessing my options and making plans for the week

'Unfortunately, I lost a lot of my carrying capacity when my coat got burned in the tower… which is quite unlucky as up to that point I looted all of the safe rooms for supplies. Thankfully I still have my revolver with ammo to spare, the flashlight, my wallet with some paper bills… those could be used for fire starting, and then a small metal cup that the food was served in could be used for cooking? Most of the useful stuff went into flames with the coat.' *sigh* thinking about the few items I had at my disposal was depressing but I still pressed on further into the island

"... Man I wish I had one of those gamer systems that had a blackhole inventory, then I could have grabbed every item in sight… who knew Bethesda game habits could translate to real life, heh." chuckling at the thought I slowly come to a stop and sharpen my senses and listen for anything

'Hmm? Sounds like flowing water… which will be essential during this exam' slowly creeping out of the woods into a clearing I am met with a small stream, nothing very deep, and didn't seem to be populated with marine life.

'I guess I will set up camp a little ways from here as it would be a poor decision to set up camp in a clearing…' deciding to turn around and walk back into the wooded areas of the island I looked for a suitable area to set up

'I want somewhere with a thick roofed canopy as I would rather not deal with rain or morning dew… I have camped long enough to know that getting your sleeping area just sucks. That and it would hopefully hide any smoke from fires if I make one for boiling water or cooking any small game I manage to catch.' with those features in mind I inspected the nearby area for a suitable location.

"That over there should do wonders…" I said in a small voice, being conscious to mitigate my presence on the island as much as possible. Moving towards the designated area I looked up at the small tree that was well below the others in height that would make an excellent sleeping place in one of the lowe hanging branches to keep me off the ground. That and the taller trees would make a great secondary buffer in addition to the canopy of the smaller tree.

'Hmm well, time to get to work setting up camp…' following this thought I began to collect and forage some items from around the area. Creating a bow drill to start a fire and creating a Dakota fire pit, which was just two chambers I dug in the ground near the base of the tree and connected with a small hole in the walls separating the chambers. Eventually, I will create a small fire to boil some water to drink and look for something to eat sooner or later.

'Next, I need to consider both my offense and defense… I am way too heavy of a sleeper and I could probably be attacked during the night easily by both wild animals or contestants. I need some sort of way to keep alert, the ideal situation would have multiple watch shifts with someone but I doubt I could find someone who I trust. As for offense… do I want to lay a trap and hope the person who is hunting me and a few more contestants fall for it to get points or do I want to actively look for my target. Mmm, probably the latter for me, I'd rather just find and shoot the bastard in the leg and take the tag off him.' with my future plans concluded I start working on the fire as the sun starts to slowly set in the distance.