Beyond Nen Hunter Exam: All Four Stages Cleared

What the exam is for

The Hunter Exam is the first real gate in Beyond Nen. It is a four-stage test taken from a lobby, ending in a 1v1, and the reward is the Hunter License — the item the official game description ties to Hunter missions and the route toward Nen.

You do not need a perfect build for it. You need to survive an obstacle course, read a trap floor, win a scramble for badges, and hold your own in one duel. That is the whole exam.

Stage 1: Stamina Race

A course with falling boulders. The boulders telegraph their path before they land, so the stage is about reading patterns and not standing still — you are racing a time limit, not the other runners.

Practical notes from published guides:

• Sprinting drains stamina fast on Shift. One guide calls the drain a bug and recommends turning auto-run on in Settings; sliding into a jump is also reported to work.
• A skateboard helps if you own one, but the race is passable without it.
• Do not fight the course. Slow, deliberate movement beats a panicked sprint into a boulder.

Stage 2: Trick Tower

A labyrinth with pressure plates that trigger wall crushers and ceiling traps. The correct habit is slow and boring: stop before each corridor, look at the floor, then step.

At the end of the maze you fight a mini-boss NPC with a fire tornado attack. No source has published its name, health or damage numbers, so treat the fight as a mechanics check: stay out of the tornado, punish after it, do not trade hits inside it. If your damage feels low here, go back to the beginner guide loop before you retry — a few levels and a trained weapon change this fight more than any trick.

Stage 3: Zevil Island

Open PvP. You arrive with a badge and you must still be holding two when the timer expires — your own plus one taken from another player by gripping them.

• Being gripped costs you a badge and revives you at half health. You can take one back, so the stage is not over after a single loss.
• Third parties are the point. Everyone is chasing the same two-badge state; watch fights from outside and take the winner’s badge while they are low.
• Ping matters here. This is the stage where a bad connection loses fights you should win. If you are lagging, do the exam again later — the stages repeat.

Stage 4: Final Tournament

A straight 1v1 against a random player from your lobby. Win it and the exam ends with the Hunter License and a Hunter mark in the top right of your screen.

There is no published counterplay list for the duel, so the honest advice is preparation: bring your best weapon, know your ability’s range, and do not open with a long animation. If you lose, re-enter the lobby — the license is the only thing at stake.

After the license: the road to Nen

The license is not the end of the tutorial, it is the start of the interesting half of the game. The documented route continues through the Librarian in Port Town, Rohan and the Meditation Mat — walk through it in how to get Nen. Before you spend your spins there, read the lineage list and the Nen types overview; the choice of what to roll matters more than the order you roll it in.

Exam checklist

• Join a lobby from the main menu (friends optional).
• Turn auto-run on in Settings for the Stamina Race.
• Watch the floor in Trick Tower before every corridor.
• Enter Zevil Island ready to third-party a fight, not to win a fair one.
• Save your best weapon for the Final Tournament.
• Claim any spins you still have — codes page — before rolling a Nen build.

Beyond Nen Nen unlock route — all seven nodes and the fast path — YouTube

Beyond Nen Nen unlock route — all seven nodes and the fast path