Come to think of it, before arriving at the Daragas Forest Wildlife Park, he had only eaten a few wild fruits in the nearby woods.
After arriving, Luke helped him find his hunter's license, and they entered the park together.
Then he met Ging Freecss and rested briefly inside Luke's tent.
Speaking of which, he hadn't eaten or drunk a drop of water since meeting Luke.
Of course, as a professional hunter, he was used to enduring hunger in the wild.
But now that Luke mentioned it, he suddenly felt a wave of hunger hit him.
Gurgle…
His stomach rumbled loudly.
"What are we eating, Luke?"
"Black coconut fruit..."
"...?"
A huge question mark popped up in Ginta's head as he watched Luke pull out a syringe-like injector and inject it into a tree.
Bud, grow, bloom, fruit.
After the whole process, a black coconut fruit appeared in Luke's hand.
"Want to try it?"
Luke handed one of the black coconut fruits directly to Ginta, who stood there in a state of shock.
"Ah... Oh!"
Ginta accepted it instinctively while glancing at Luke and then at the tree.
Finally, his gaze settled on the black coconut fruit in his hand.
"As expected of Luke, he can easily pull out something so surprising and unexpected."
"Even food can be conjured up so quickly."
Ginta admired Luke once again in his heart. Then, he opened his mouth, ready to bite into the black coconut fruit.
Fortunately…
Crack.
The sound of a shell breaking reached his ears, stopping him mid-action.
"Just kidding, open the shell and you can eat the food inside."
Luke personally demonstrated it to Ginta, who was watching, and handed him a pair of chopsticks.
Ginta: "..."
Actually, just the black coconut fruit itself already felt like a luxurious food to him.
After all, if you were in a dangerous environment, you couldn't be sure you would have enough edible food.
Being able to grow a black coconut fruit in such a short time and have it provide food was already amazing in his eyes.
But he hadn't expected…
"Have I underestimated Luke's abilities?"
He stared at the steaming rice and chunks of braised pork inside the black coconut fruit and found himself falling into the same daze as Ging Freecss.
Gulp.
Of course, while his mind was in a daze, his body's reaction was very honest.
The aroma of the meat wafted into Ginta's nostrils, sending a gurgling sensation through his throat.
In his mouth, a stream of saliva was rapidly secreted.
The instinctive urge to eat interrupted Ginta's thoughts.
Luke is right.
Now that things have come to this, let's eat first.
In the forest, Ginta was shoveling mouthfuls of braised pork rice into his mouth with a look of immense satisfaction on his face: "Delicious!"
His cheeks were bulging with food, and his eyes squinted due to happiness.
After all the exhaustion and hardship, followed by a good rest, a delicious meal of rich, juicy meat to fill the void was simply the greatest happiness!!
The more Ginta ate, the happier he felt. He squatted on the ground, head down, eating alongside Luke.
As for Ging, lost in his own thoughts… who cares!!
Whoever feeds you is your boss!
For Ginta, this was the simplest truth.
"Roar..."
A few Two-headed Wolves nearby caught the scent and started approaching. But they stopped at the edge of the range marked by Ging, unable to break out. They could only jump up and down anxiously while watching Luke and Ginta eat.
Ginta glanced at them from the corner of his eye, then lowered his head again, completely ignoring them.
No matter how rare or endangered you are, you can't interrupt my meal!
Besides, their extinction was not due to starvation, but rather to not reproducing. Missing a couple of meals was totally fine.
Well, Ginta has become more open-minded after spending some time with Luke and Ging.
Just as Luke and Ginta were replenishing their energy here… Somewhere on the outskirts of the Daragas Forest Wildlife Park.
This isn't the main entrance, but a remote and dangerous corner close to the outside world.
You know, a forest like this is home to so many terrifying creatures and monsters. If one were to rush in recklessly, they could easily stumble into a magical beast's territory, and thus began the cruel pursuit in the entire forest.
The truly safe passage lay at the entrance, painstakingly built through generations of hard work, pioneered by professional hunters and national organizations.
Even then, only adventurers at the rank of professional hunters were permitted access.
The survival rate for anyone else trespassing was extremely low.
But… today, a group of people arrived at the outskirts of the forest.
"The remaining Two-headed Wolves all live here, right?"
At the front strode a tall, lanky man with dyed yellow hair, eyes flashing with cunning light as he sized up the forest ahead.
"Yes, this is the information I paid a huge price for from the Sengi Guild."
Behind the tall, lanky man, a short, fat man with a bowl-cut crew cut and lips as thick as sausages nodded repeatedly.
"If this is information from the Sengi Guild, then it can't be wrong."
The tall, lanky man finally put his doubts to rest.
"As usual, if we find the Two-headed Wolf, the proceeds will first offset the purchase price you paid to the Sengi Guild, and then we'll split it equally."
"No problem!"
The short, fat man agreed immediately. "But if we can't find it..."
"Same as usual."
The tall, lanky man glanced at him, knowing what he was thinking.
"If we're forced to give up, we will go to Kute and see if he will reimburse us."
"After all, this is extra work for our gang. If Kute can reimburse us, that's great. If not..."
The tall, lanky man paused. "Then we'll split the costs evenly."
"Alright!"
The short, fat man had no objections.
The two of them had made up their minds to target the Two-headed Wolf this time!
"This time, we're going to go big!"
The tall, lanky man's eyes shone with greed as he gazed toward the forest.
It was as if what lay before him wasn't some perilous, unknown, and treacherous place. Instead, a land glittering like gold, beckoning him!!
"Are you ready yet?!"
"Coming!!"
At the tall, lanky man's urging, the short, fat man responded a few times.
Then he dropped to all fours on the ground.
"Earth Dragon Burrow!!"
A low roar emanated from his thick lips.
Instantly, from where he was on all fours, the ground seemed to suddenly come alive.
The soil rose high from below, surrounding the two men, gradually forming a ball that tightly encased the two of them.
Boom!
Another dull sound, and the ball of earth gradually sank into the ground.
However, after sinking three-quarters of the way in, it could no longer sink further.
"Didn't you say burrow? Why is part of us still sticking out?"
The tall, lanky man's voice rang out from within the ball of earth.
"Nonsense! If I'm alone, I could sink completely underground. But with you tagging along, how could it be possible?"
The short, fat man said helplessly: "You know my Nen ability. The more people I carry, the greater the strain and consumption."
"If I hadn't been training so hard these past few days, even more of it would be sticking out right now."
"Okay, hold on tight and don't alert the other beasts in the forest!"
"Don't worry, I've done this stealth job countless times and I'm already very skilled at it!!"
With the confident voice of the short, fat man, the ball of earth began to move at a steady pace.
Just as the short, fat man claimed, it traveled along hidden paths in the forest, easily avoiding the beasts' main activity zones while slipping deeper into the forest along its edge.
If the beasts saw you walking on the ground, even at the edge, they would come and attack you.
But if you were hiding inside this ball of earth…
'What the hell is this?!'
This was the first thought that crossed the minds of the passing beasts.
They narrowed their eyes while staring at the rapidly moving ball of earth, without moving a muscle.
In this harsh and cruel environment, everything was unknown and fraught with danger.
Unable to determine the true nature of the situation, they would not take any action.
If they were careless and injured themselves, then, in such an environment, only death awaited them.
Even the reckless beasts, baring their fangs and wanting to cause trouble, didn't dare to make a move, because the ball of earth was traveling right along the border of their territory.
As a result, that ball of earth moved smoothly and unhindered, breaking through the outer layers of the forest filled with beasts.
With incredible speed, it approached the location of the Two-headed Wolf!
"He's really focused, huh!!"
Ginta, who had already finished three bowls of rice in a row, burped and looked at Ging Freecss, who was still lost in thought.
He couldn't help but utter a heartfelt word of admiration.
If it were him, there was no way he could stay calm and think clearly in an environment filled with such mouthwatering aromas.
When the brain received hunger signals from the stomach, there was no way he could keep up with deep thinking.
But Ging Freecss? He remained unmoved, immersed in studying those drawn images.
It was as if he had no nose or ears, unaffected by the smell or the sounds of them eating.
This made Ginta truly feel that, when it came to work, Ging Freecss was indeed an impressive man.
But…
"I admire his work ethic, but forget about working with him..."
Ginta shook his head.
This guy's standards were so strict, even to the point of being extreme.
Working with someone like that might get the job done, but the process would be absolute torture.
Not to mention, based on the rumors about Ging Freecss's personality, and from the short time he had spent with him, Ginta had no desire to work with him.
He would rather spend a month with Luke than spend even one minute with Ging Freecss!!
"Not necessarily."
Luke teased with a smile: "Who knows, maybe one day you will be in the same room, even at the same table, discussing things together."
"That's absolutely impossible!"
Ginta flatly refused: "I absolutely don't want to discuss work with him at the same table in the future."
Then he muttered under his breath: "I can't even imagine that scene."
"If that day ever came, I would probably burst into tears and throw a tantrum on the table."
Well, there's no doubt you would actually do that.
"Alright, let this guy figure it out on his own."
Luke clapped his hands.
"Let's not disturb him."
"Yeah, let's just wait on the side."
Ginta nodded repeatedly, very much in the self-awareness of a poor student.
"Right, and we also need to prevent anyone else from disturbing him."
"Yes, we have to prevent others from..."
Ginta nodded subconsciously, then froze on the spot.
"Wait, others?!!"
He said this while looking around bewilderedly.
"Yeah, they're coming..."
Luke casually pointed his thumb in a certain direction behind him.
"From that place."
That place… no matter how clueless Ginta was, he immediately realized what was happening.
"Did poachers sneak in?!"
He instantly became alert.
"I don't know if they were poachers, but they did sneak in. They probably have bad intentions..."
Luke casually remarked: "And they came straight here with a clear goal. They clearly had a plan."
"Those are definitely poachers!!!"
Ginta was furious. "Damn it! Those bastards really did come here!!!"
"I've been meaning to ask you this before."
Luke looked at him. "Even though you're a Poacher Hunter, why did you come here specifically to protect the Two-headed Wolf?"
"It's because, for some reason, information about the Two-headed Wolf has been resold!"
Ginta, still furious, said: "The Hunter Association has its own people planted in the underground channels."
"A while ago, there was news that information about the Two-headed Wolf had appeared on the underground intelligence market."
"The exact location of the Two-headed Wolf should be internal information of the Hunter Association, known only to the top brass…"
"But it ended up leaking out into the underground intelligence market!"
Ginta was furious: "There's a mole among the top brass of the Hunter Association!!!"
Then, after some arrangements, the Hunter Association entrusted Ginta to come here and temporarily protect the Two-headed Wolf.
Once everything is thoroughly investigated, the necessary actions will be taken.