Chapter 496 An Examiner Passing By

Ponzu's venomous bees were far from harmless honeybees, they were formidable yellowjackets capable of delivering lethal stings.

Normally, just a few stings from these yellowjackets could induce a severe allergic reaction in their target, causing a red, swollen area that would gradually spread across the body, leading to shock and death from excruciating pain.

This was the fearsome power of her precious yellowjackets.

Although less aggressive than murder hornets, these bees would never get close to a stranger so easily.

This strangeness overwhelmed Ponzu's understanding, as if a dragon had struck her with incomprehensible force… both the examinee who, despite severe swelling from stings, seemed perfectly fine, and the man surrounded by her bees defied her understanding.

"Who exactly are you?"

Faced with Ponzu's question filled with strong emotions, Moses casually discarded the needle that had lost its Nen and took a moment to consider.

After a few seconds, he looked down at Ponzu, whose face was full of disbelief, and said calmly, "An examiner passing by."

"What?!"

Ponzu was stunned and subconsciously glanced at the number plate on Moses's chest. A series of question marks suddenly popped up in her head.

'Examiner?'

'How is that possible!'

Besides the fact that each phase only had a single examiner, under ordinary circumstances, even the Review Committee would not intervene if an examinee faced danger or an accident.

Yet here was this man with a silicone mask rescuing her, something typically only done after a round ended.

This is something that most candidates already know before signing up for the Hunter test.

Ponzu also knew this very well.

'It's just-'

Her eyes moved away from the number plate on Moses's chest and turned to look at the eerily accurate Netero silicone mask on his face.

'If I had to find something wrong with this man before me...'

'Apart from the somewhat strange number plate zero, there is also this silicone mask with the appearance of the Hunter Association's Chairman Netero.'

If not for these two strange details, Ponzu might have thought Moses was simply joking.

"You are really... an examiner?!"

Ponzu looked at Moses in surprise and doubt.

Although the number plate and silicone mask were strange, in her opinion, examiners weren't supposed to interfere mid-test.

"Sort of."

Facing Ponzu's questioning, Moses replied nonchalantly.

His current identity is both an examinee and an examiner.

After answering Ponzu's question, he didn't wait to see her reaction but instead turned his gaze in a specific direction.

When the Needle People are in action, they will emit an unmistakable Nen fluctuations, which can be used to quickly locate their position.

But compared to dealing with these Needle People active nearby, his higher priority was stopping Illumi himself.

Ponzu looked up at Moses in a daze, and for a moment, she forgot to get up.

'What do you mean by 'sort of'…?'

She opened her mouth to say something but hesitated.

On one hand, she wanted to ask further, but on the other, she realized the implications: 'If this mysterious man was indeed an examiner, did that mean him rescuing me meant I was disqualified?!'

These puzzling thoughts only heightened her mental strain as Ponzu pondered.

As Moses stared in a certain direction, he suddenly thought of something, and raised his finger.

Buzz-

A graceful yellowjacket alighted on his fingertip.

"Interesting."

Moses looked at the yellowjacket on his fingertips, and muttered with a faint smile.

In addition to mental resilience, the Buff effect of [Star Of Mankind's Shine] also includes an attribute called affinity.

The initial affinity level was level 1, and then it was upgraded to level 2 due to the reward from Perception.

The specific effect of this ability is just as its name suggests, which is to enhance affinity at the living creatures.

Moses had experienced this firsthand when accompanying Menchi in the deep mountains to search for new ingredients, where he was naturally loved by many animals.

Though this effect didn't extend to magical beasts or aggressive creatures, it was plausible that as his affinity buff increased, it might even influence rare magical and aggressive creatures.

Even if it doesn't work-

Moses also has the powerful [All Extinct] skill.

So in a sense, Moses has the potential to become a top-tier Beast Hunter.

What Moses didn't expect was that the affinity buff also affected animals under someone else's control, such as Ponzu's bees, which he found amusing.

It must be known that, even without the blessing of Nen, there are many exceptional talents in this world like Ponzu, who have the ability to control animals.

Moses's affinity buff is simply the nemesis of this kind of people.

"Go back to your master."

Moses said, flicking his finger gently, and the yellowjacket flapped its wings and flew away.

Then, Moses waved his hand, and the yellowjackets that were originally hovering around him flew towards Ponzu.

"…"

Seeing that Moses could command her bees freely, Ponzu was stunned and utterly confused.

'Are those really my precious bees I raised?!'

Once more, Ponzu found herself questioning reality.

But Moses didn't care how much impact his behavior would have on Ponzu, and he turned around and left.

'There are still a lot of Needle People that needed to be dealt with.'

'So troublesome...'

Moses sighed slightly.

By the time Ponzu came back to her senses, Moses had vanished from her sight.

"Who on earth is he?"

Ponzu stared blankly at the direction where Moses disappeared.

Everything that had just occurred left her shaken to the core.

In the forest.

Moses followed the Needle People's presence and quickly moved through the forest.

'There is no reward… It seems that I still need to establish some kind of relationship...'

After saving Ponzu, Perception did not give Moses any reward.

But this is normal, after all, the difficulty and risk of the rescue are almost zero.

Supporting characters like Ponzu, with low presence, likely only yielded rewards when he established a relationship with them.

As his strength increased, it had become challenging to earn rewards purely through combat.

Because becoming stronger is equivalent to reducing the risk of combat, and risk correlated directly with reward probability.

Thus-

If he wanted to continue to frequently obtain rewards from Perception, he must actively interact with these characters from original work and establish some kind of relationship with them...

This clear path aligned well with the Hunter Association's system, where a Single-Star Hunter must cultivate connections to progress to Double-Star.

Though Moses was interested in digging for potential rewards from Ponzu, the current situation left no room for that. Rescuing Ponzu was, for now, a seed planted for later.

And compared to Ponzu, Killua and the others have a higher priority.

Of all the individuals, Moses looked forward most to potential rewards from Killua's 'Gacha Box'.

If it weren't for the Zoldyck Family's control...

Moses would have formed a relationship with Killua back at Heavens Arena.

As he gathered these thoughts, Moses's shared vision from his shadow clones revealed new developments.

Illumi had come into sight...

'Killua's presence really does make his movements predictable.'

Moses sighed in his heart.