Kevin Carpenberg returned to the base with Menqi and Buhara.
Begel and the others remained behind—they needed to wait for the local authorities to arrive.
A massive flying creature wasn't something a simple forest park could contain.
Its territory and hunting grounds likely spanned dozens of kilometers, and now that it had injured people, the level of danger had skyrocketed.
They needed to be fully prepared.
"Ugh, what terrible luck. We just got here and ran into this mess." Menqi crossed her arms and complained.
"Can't be helped. Besides, didn't we already achieve our objective?" Buhara said cheerfully.
Their goal from the start had been that giant-headed, delicious strawberry—mission accomplished.
Originally, they had planned to stay a few extra days to explore the area for new ingredients.
"Yeah, but I'm super curious about that monster," Menqi muttered, gazing up at the sky.
Kevin turned to look at her and said, "What, you planning to get yourself torn to pieces like those poor souls?"
Menqi playfully punched his arm. "Don't jinx it! I'm just curious, okay? Don't you get it?"
"You said it was highly resilient, right? Well, creatures with high vitality tend to be very tasty, you know." That, clearly, was her real interest.
"You two only just became Hunters. Focus on refining your Hatsu and Nen techniques before fantasizing about cooking up some beast like that," Kevin replied.
He spread his arms and added, "This world is vast. There are plenty of delicious, powerful creatures out there. No need to obsess over one we can't handle yet."
Buhara nodded vigorously in agreement.
A Hunter might risk their life for their target, but they shouldn't throw it away recklessly.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. I was just talking." Menqi sighed, hands on hips. "But my mood's wrecked now. Let's go hunt some ingredients. Somewhere safe. I'm going to eat my stress away tonight!"
Kevin had no objections to that.
Regular hunting was much easier for Hunters with Nen abilities.
Once they activated Zetsu, their aura completely disappeared.
Add light footsteps, and most prey wouldn't even sense them.
Hunting became child's play.
By the time they returned to the base, Toby was stunned by their haul.
"Hey, are you guys sure this is okay?" he asked, his eyes wide.
Kevin and the others had brought back a ridiculous amount of prey.
Three massive tusked boars the size of grown men, plus all kinds of deer, rabbits, and wild fowl.
Kevin was even carrying two half-man-tall river fish over his shoulders, parading around proudly like a fisherman showing off his catch.
"Oh, Toby! How'd you guess I caught two in one shot—"
Before Kevin could finish, one of the fish thrashed in his hand and its tail whipped Toby right in the face, knocking him to the ground.
That tail hit hard—Toby's face turned red immediately.
"Get that damn fish off me! And that's not what I was asking!" he grumbled, getting back up and rubbing his face.
Buhara patted his round belly with a hearty laugh. "Don't worry, I could eat all this myself if I had to!"
Toby gave him a skeptical look. The mountain of prey was taller than Buhara.
"Whatever. You're Hunters, after all." Toby waved it off.
Tusked boars like that were definitely out of reach for ordinary people.
Then he turned to Kevin. "I came to say goodbye. Begel said this area is too dangerous now. My teacher decided we're leaving tonight. There's a research group from our school stationed in a nearby city."
That was fast.
Kevin blinked, then nodded. "Got it. Safe travels. See you around."
"Yeah. See you."
The entire research base became busy. Over the next few days, most would evacuate, packing up equipment and securing materials, leaving only essential personnel behind.
"That monster really is a threat," Menqi muttered, arms crossed.
Things were escalating faster than expected.
"Where's the kitchen? Let's prep all these ingredients tonight and leave tomorrow. I can't believe we only arrived yesterday."
Kevin led the way to the kitchen.
Menqi and Buhara immediately got to work, giving Kevin a taste of what real Gourmet Hunters could do.
"This is ridiculous. Anyone walking in would think they're watching a food anime," Kevin muttered from the sidelines.
"One-slice dissections," "ultra-fast skinning, gutting, and bleeding"—they were pulling out all the stops.
Kevin recognized Buhara's Enhancement-type abilities at play, and both of them had mastered En to a remarkable degree.
They were chefs, through and through. Every cut was precise—prepped ingredients practically flew into the pot in a smooth stream.
Menqi used the process to train her Manipulation abilities.
Perhaps food prep was a unique kind of Hatsu training for Gourmet Hunters.
They even used Emission-type Nen to strike the meat.
They called it: "Using aura to firm up the meat and purge it of blood and gaminess."
Strangely enough, it actually worked—and it clearly doubled as good Nen practice.
In under an hour, they processed the entire mountain of prey and stacked it all neatly to one side.
Efficient and disciplined—on par with a team of elite chefs.
"With this much meat, it's barbecue night!" Menqi declared, already wearing an apron.
"Yeahhh!" Buhara shouted, pumping his fists.
He loved grilled meat.
Kevin tried to help but was quickly kicked out of the kitchen.
His home-cooking level just didn't cut it here—he was politely, but firmly, rejected.
Night fell.
The sky turned pitch black, pierced by twinkling stars, and the gentle moonlight bathed the forest in silver.
Near the clearing by the forest, the outdoor barbecue began.
Aside from Kevin's group, some of the researchers who hadn't left yet joined the party.
"Haha! Sucks to be Toby—they missed out on this heavenly feast!" Moagu said between giant bites of meat, moved to the point of tears.
"I can see the ingredients running free in my mind! It's beautiful!"
"No kidding! This is insane. So this is what Gourmet Hunters can do?"
An older scholar danced with joy, one hand gripping a skewer, the other holding a bottle of liquor.
Gone was the stern lab persona—he looked ten years younger.
"What's on your mind?" Begel had returned at some point. He held a beer in one hand and grilled meat in the other, watching Kevin.
Baishu was nodding along, cheeks stuffed. "What, you don't like it?"
Kevin shook his head and kept chewing. "It's delicious. That's the problem. It's too delicious—and the energy density is off the charts."
Just one skewer packed more energy than the nutrient bars he usually ate during training.
And yet… this meat was heavenly. Nutrient bars tasted like cardboard in comparison.
Even without digestive agents, Kevin could tell this meat was absurdly easy to break down.
Perfect, in fact—ideal for use with his digestion-enhancing potions.
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