Conrad returned to his room when Anisa and Adarte went to their own rooms and immediately began gathering information about the upcoming Hunter Exam.
He did not rely on rumors alone.
He cross-checked details and searched for patterns in registration movements, transportation spikes, and small anomalies in city logistics.
The exam this year would take pce in Rilbura City.
It was not a city mentioned in the original series, but that did not surprise him.
The world was vast.
The anime and manga had only shown fragments of it.
There were countless cities, isnds, and remote regions never explored on screen.
He did not overthink it.
This world was real.
And that meant variables existed beyond canon.
Without wasting time, Conrad left Heavens Arena temporarily and traveled to Rilbura City.
The city itself was industrial.
Perfect for hiding something like the preliminary stages of a Hunter Exam.
For two days, Conrad followed subtle clues.
People disappearing after answering strange job advertisements.
Applicants wandering around aimlessly,
He observed without drawing attention.
Finally, he met a man named Eldro, a man that was hired by the Hunter Association and responsible for filtering out the “noise” from the applicants.
Eldro skimmed through the thousands of general participants and redirected the ones who met minimum requirements toward the actual examination site.
Conrad passed through naturally.
Soon, he entered a rge warehouse-like building.
Inside were dozens, no, hundreds of applicants.
And near the center of the room, standing in a formal suit with composed posture, was a small, familiar figure.
Beans.
Conrad’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“He looks unimpressive at first gnce,” Conrad thought.
“But almost everything administrative flows through him. He is Chairman Netero’s second hand… not counting Pariston.”
Beans was not weak, at least in terms of administration work and management.
He could not say anything about his new progress, as it was almost nonexistent, or he did not know if this green bean could fight at all.
Anyone close to Netero could not possibly be ordinary.
Conrad received his tag.
Number 100.
He clipped it calmly onto his chest and moved toward a corner of the room.
Not long after, a familiar chubby man with a sly smile approached him.
Tonpa.
The Rookie Crusher.
Tonpa held out a drink with a fake-friendly grin.
“First time, huh? You’ll need hydration.”
Conrad simply smiled.
“No, thank you.”
He did not eborate.
Tonpa shrugged and moved on.
Conrad exhaled.
Then he began noticing the faces.
People he had watched on a screen once upon a time.
“It feels different,” Conrad thought. “They feel different and real.”
Seeing them here was not nostalgic.
He did not stare too long at anyone.
It would be pretty bad for people to think that he knew them from somewhere.
He positioned himself in a corner with good visibility.
And then he waited.
He was waiting for one person in particur.
The real surprise.
Hisoka.
Conrad kept his breathing calm.
He wanted to see him but not react.
Hisoka was extremely perceptive.
Even in the series, it was implied that he could sense killing intent, curiosity, potential, and emotional fluctuations with terrifying precision.
Even Kalluto Zoldyck, a trained assassin from the Zoldyck family, could not hide from him in the Zetsu.
If Conrad reacted as someone who “knew” him
It would be suspicious.
And suspicion from Hisoka was not something Conrad wanted.
It would be foolish to believe that Hisoka would not notice someone observing him with recognition.
So Conrad prepared himself.
Conrad’s pn was simple:
Observe, and under any circumstances do not engage with that pervert of a man.
Let events unfold naturally.
If the story flowed as expected, Hisoka would eventually be expelled from this phase of the exam for attacking an examiner.
Conrad did not want involvement.
Hisoka was a variable best avoided unless absolutely necessary.
The Hunter Exam was about to begin.
