"But their population is strictly controlled," Begel continued, his tone still mild but carrying the weight of absolute professional authority. "They serve as apex predators, maintaining the balance of entire food chains. Your 'legal permit' was for observation, not extraction."
Menchi scoffed, crossing her arms as she sat back up on the roof, though her voice carried down clearly. "It was a once-in-a-lifetime ingredient! A Molten-Tusk Boar that had just completed its final molt. The marbling in that phase is—!"
"Is irrelevant," Begel finished, finally glancing up at the rearview mirror as if he could see her. "You disrupted a critical territorial shift and nearly sparked a conflict between three rival prides of Shadow-Stripe Cats. The ecological cost would have far outweighed your dish."
The big man in the back, Buhara, let out a low, rumbling chuckle. "She was in confinement for a week. I had to bring her meals. She spent the entire time writing a ten-thousand-word treatise on the ethical harvesting of apex predators to present to the Hunter Association's review board."
"I won, didn't I?" Menchi declared, a note of triumph returning to her voice. "The guidelines were amended! And you," she pointed an accusatory finger down at Begel's head, "were assigned as my mandatory instructor. You made me catalog beetle dung for two months!"
"It was a foundational lesson in ecosystem interconnectedness," Begel said, a faint smile finally touching his lips. "And your Nen control improved because of it. Precision in sensing the smallest life forms translates to precision in handling the most delicate flavors."
Kevin listened, fascinated. This was a side of the Hunter world he'd only glimpsed—the complex interplay of rules, ethics, and enforcement, where passion and protocol clashed. Begel wasn't just a researcher; he was a warden, a teacher, and a pillar of the Association's often-invisible framework.
"So that's the 'hidden training system,'" Kevin mused aloud. "It's not just about teaching Nen. It's about teaching responsibility."
Begel nodded, guiding the jeep onto a narrower track leading deeper into the reserve. "For some. For others, it's a corrective measure. The power of a Hunter's license is immense. The Association has a duty to ensure that power isn't wielded carelessly, especially by those with… particularly strong appetites."
Menchi let out a dramatic sigh from above, but didn't argue further. The story had clearly reached its familiar, grudgingly accepted conclusion.
Buhara, filling the back seat with his serene presence, added, "It was a valuable time. It taught us that the pursuit of a goal must be measured against its wider impact. A truly gourmet ingredient cannot be born from a spoiled environment. This is why we are here now, working with the reserve, not around it."
The jeep emerged from a thicket into a sun-dappled clearing where a low, modern research lodge stood. This was the heart of the conservation base. As they rolled to a stop, Kevin looked from Begel's steady profile to the passionate, volatile Menchi hopping down from the roof, to the wise Buhara carefully extracting himself from the vehicle. He felt a renewed sense of the world he was stepping into—a world of immense freedom, bound by equally immense accountability. Passing the exam would be just the first step; understanding the weight of the license that followed would be the real test."A mother…" Buhara rumbled thoughtfully from the back, a gentle smile on his face. "That is a noble role. It suggests she cultivates not just power, but character. A rare quality in a teacher."
Kevin nodded again, a genuine warmth in his expression. "She's tough, but it all comes from a place of wanting you to be better. The fundamentals she teaches are… unshakable."
Menchi, now resting her chin on the edge of the roof directly above Kevin, studied him with renewed interest. "So you're Bisky's student, hanging out with a Conservation Hunter at a remote reserve, and you haven't even taken the exam yet. Your path is… unconventional."
"It's my own path," Kevin said simply, letting the Nen shapes between his fingers dissolve. "The reserve is the best classroom for what I need to learn right now."
Begel brought the jeep to a smooth stop in front of the main research lodge, a long, low building designed to blend into the forest edge. "Here we are. The sample vault and your temporary lab are through the west wing." He cut the engine and looked up at Menchi. "And you, stop treating the vehicle like a jungle gym. We have protocols."
Menchi dropped lightly to the ground with a fluid grace that belied her earlier petulance. "Protocols, shmotocols. Let's see the goods! I want to assess the Iron-Hoofed Antelope's marbling before the midday heat affects the subcutaneous fat distribution."
As she strode purposefully toward the lodge, Buhara unfolded himself from the back seat with a soft grunt. "Her focus, once engaged, is absolute. Thank you for the transport, and for the… enlightening conversation." His kind eyes rested on Kevin for a moment. "Good luck with your exam, Kevin. With your control and your teachers, I suspect you will find it less a test and more a… formality."
Kevin thanked him, gathering his packages of materials. As the two Gourmet Hunters disappeared inside, following Begel, he was left standing in the clearing. The morning sun had burned away the last of the mist, and the reserve lay before him, vast and humming with hidden life.
He thought of Bisky's foundational drills, of *Mori's* unpredictable challenges, and now of these two Hunters who saw the world as a pantry of profound and dangerous delicacies. Each perspective was a different facet of the same impossible world. His own path—using potions to carve specific abilities into his Nen, to learn the "language" of power in binary, mastered chunks—felt stranger than ever, yet perfectly suited to him.
The hexagon was now a word in his lexicon. He wondered what the next word would be, and what recipe he would need to find in the wilderness to learn it. The exam was a door he had to pass through, but the real training, he was beginning to understand, was everywhere.
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