Spoiler-Safe Summary

safe read

Gon and his friends arrive at a secretive underground venue to begin the Hunter Exam, encountering challenges from experienced veterans and enigmatic participants, as the test of skill and will commences.

Full Plot Summary

spoilers

With the navigators' help, Gon, Kurapika and Leorio arrive at Zaban City, the venue of the exam. The Navigator leads them to a small restaurant, which is actually a front for the Hunter exam venue. Gon's group is led to a back room, where an elevator takes them one hundred floors underground. Below, they meet the rest of the Hunter exam participants and are given their numbers. Tonpa, a regular participant who claims to have tried and failed 35 times in the exam, secretly goes about trying to fail all the rookie examinees by giving them drinks mixed with laxatives. However, he fails to convince any of them to take the drinks, including Gon's group. Hisoka, a magician who attempted to kill an examiner in his previous attempt at the exam, is introduced. After accounting for the number of participants, an examiner by the name of Satotz tells the participants to follow him in the first phase of the exam, without telling them their destination or how far they are going to travel.