Zaban City burned with neon and ambition.
From its tallest towers to its deepest gutters, everything gleamed — like the world's biggest casino sitting atop a mountain of forgotten dreams.
The Hunter Exam had reached its penultimate stage.
Out of the hundreds who started, only 24 remained.
Kaen stood at the top of a grand balcony in the Exam Tower, watching the city buzz below. Lights blinked like Morse code, whispering things he couldn't yet translate.
Killua leaned beside him, eating a bag of spicy chips like nothing in the world could touch him.
"You thinking about the final phase?"
Kaen didn't answer.
He was staring beyond the buildings, beyond the lights.
He was seeing paths.
Paths he hadn't noticed before.
"Yeah," he finally said. "But not just the exam."
"I'm thinking about what comes after."
⸻
The day before the Final Phase, all candidates were summoned to a wide, shadowy amphitheater in the Exam Hall.
At the center stood a towering woman with jagged gold earrings and eyes sharp enough to slice steel.
Chairwoman Asena Bael.
One of the 12 Zodiacs. A Beast Hunter turned Exam Master.
She wore no badge.
Because the room felt her authority.
She spoke once, and her voice thundered.
"Tomorrow you will fight for your licenses."
"But tonight… you will fight for your purpose."
Murmurs filled the room.
She raised a hand and pointed to a towering circular board on the wall. It flickered, and suddenly dozens of glowing paths appeared — each labeled in intricate Hunter script.
Hunter Types:
• Beast Hunter
• Ruins Hunter
• Treasure Hunter
• Gourmet Hunter
• Crime Hunter
• Terrorist Hunter
• Disease Hunter
• Curse Hunter
• Myth Hunter
• Memory Hunter
• Dream Hunter
• Death Hunter
• World Fabricator (???)
• Unknown
Each title pulsed with aura — dense, rich, dangerous.
Chairwoman Bael smiled. But it wasn't friendly.
"Choose your target."
"And tomorrow, you fight someone who wants the same path."
"The system doesn't need more aimless Hunters."
"Only those who can own their ambition."
⸻
Kaen's chest tightened.
His heart raced.
Not from fear.
But from recognition.
One title was pulsing brighter than the rest.
Not in red.
Not in gold.
But in a color he couldn't describe — like memories that hadn't happened yet.
"Dream Hunter."
He stepped toward it without hesitation.
Gon blinked. "You don't want to be a Beast Hunter like Ging?"
Kurapika looked serious. "Dream Hunter… that's one of the few unrecognized special classes. That title's only been held once in history."
Killua raised an eyebrow. "You gonna chase dreams, or break them?"
Kaen smiled faintly.
"I'm going to catch them."
⸻
What is a Dream Hunter?
It's not a job.
It's not even a category.
It's a pathless path.
Dream Hunters walk between imagination and reality — chasing ideas before they become real.
They seek:
• Forgotten nen techniques that exist only in the minds of dying clans
• Locations that appear in collective dreams
• Weapons and artifacts that choose their wielders based on belief
• Entities born from raw aura — living myths
Dream Hunters rewrite the map of what's possible.
And Kaen… was born to become one.
⸻
That night, he entered the Dreaming Room — a silent hall where aura could be projected into sleep, and candidates confronted themselves.
He knelt.
Echo Twin knelt beside him.
Kaen closed his eyes…
And fell into the Palace.
⸻
The Mind Palace was changing.
No longer a maze of mirrors.
Now, it resembled an ancient cathedral carved into a mountain of thought.
Pillars of obsidian rose to infinity, each covered in scripts from languages not yet born.
And on the far wall, a door.
The Third Floor.
He reached for it.
The handle burned.
But he gripped harder.
What would a Dream Hunter do?
What if this is the last time I'm afraid of the unknown?
He pulled.
And stepped inside.
⸻
A nebula.
That's what it felt like.
Color.
Form.
Force.
No ground. No sky.
Only dreams, shaped by aura.
And in the center — floating, weightless — was a figure.
A girl with hair like flame, skin like glass, and eyes that looked like the moon remembering you.
She whispered without speaking.
"You seek dreams."
"So then — take one."
She raised her hand…
And Kaen saw visions.
⸻
He saw himself battling a Chimera Ant with wings made of human sorrow.
He saw himself in a secret tower with Killua and Gon, facing a time-traveling Nen entity.
He saw a city beneath the Dark Continent, built by living thoughts.
He saw Kurapika dying — only to be saved by a dream Kaen hadn't imagined yet.
He saw Hisoka crying. Not laughing. Not playing.
He saw Ging, and an empty chair beside him.
He saw a new chair.
His.
⸻
And then he was back.
Awake.
Breathing hard.
Tears in his eyes, though he didn't know why.
Killua looked at him, eyes narrowed.
"Whatever you saw in there… it changed you."
Kaen nodded.
"It told me the truth."
Gon tilted his head. "What truth?"
Kaen stood, aura rippling like fire through paper.
"That the impossible… is just undiscovered imagination."
⸻
To be continued in Chapter 17: Final Exam – Against the Terrorist Hunter