Everyone's a Hunter? I'm a Hunter x Hunter!

The platinum treasure chest marked on the intermediate treasure map has been obtained, and the first mythical beast has been unexpectedly contracted.

All the initial goals have been achieved!

Once the quest for the Thorn Garden is completed, my first hunt as a hunter will be a complete success.

It's time to go, let's go to the Thorn Garden.

"Shadow Clothing"

Lu Xiu grabbed with his large hand, using the skill he had obtained when he formed the "Phantom Beast Contract" with the Shadow King.

The cloud-shaped Shadow King immediately dissipated like smoke, transforming into a black misty trench coat, which Lü Xiu put on.

"He's quite handsome," Lu Xiu said, touching his trench coat as if it were a thin blanket.

As he stepped into the shadows, Lü Xiu's figure vanished into thin air.

Drizzle~

The dark clouds in the sky resembled the furrowed brow of the heavens. Gray and gloomy, one cloud after another stretched out before them. Large raindrops fell, one after another, seemingly without end.

At the entrance to the thorny orchard, Lü Xiu stood in the rain, gazing into the distance.

The thorn fruit is a very unique fruit.

Its surface is covered with thorny spikes, but the flesh inside is sweet and juicy, making it a popular fruit suitable for all ages. However, because it has relatively strict requirements for climate and environment, even when orchards are established, they are mostly in the wild.

Upon arriving at the orchard, Lü Xiu saw a hunched old man wearing a rain hat and using a net to pick thorny berries.

"Old Man Sha~" Lu Xiu waved and greeted him, while simultaneously putting Shadow King into the Beast Space.

The old man turned his head and saw Lü Xiu, and immediately showed his signature smile. His withered face twitched, like a wrinkled chrysanthemum.

"Lu Xiu, what are you doing here?"

Lu Xiu strode up to Old Man Sha and pulled a large pig's trotter out of his spatial backpack.

"I hunted a wild boar, so I'm bringing you a pig's trotter."

"Also, I'll help you complete this request."

"You've become a hunter?" Old Man Sand slapped his forehead. "Right, right, it seems like these are the graduation exams for the new batch of hunters."

"However, you're too late. Three young hunters arrived an hour earlier than you."

"It's nothing. I mainly brought you pig's trotters; the commission was just something I did on the side," Lu Xiu said with his usual smile. He wasn't surprised that someone had taken on the commission before him. He remembered that the Rock Horned Rhinoceros quest was marked "Competitive Quest."

Simply put, anyone can accept this task, but whoever completes it first gets to keep it.

They are often assigned to more urgent tasks.

"They only arrived an hour earlier than me, so they probably haven't finished their work yet either, right?"

"Not yet, that beast won't be here until tonight," Old Man Sha said, his teeth itching with rage as he mentioned the rock rhinoceros that had trampled his orchard and stolen the fruits of his labor.

"Alright, then I'll take the pig's trotters inside for you. I might have to stay at your thatched hut again tonight," Lu Xiu said, carrying the pig's trotters inside.

He became acquainted with Old Man Sand because he would sometimes stay out for the night when he was hunting too late in the wild and was near Old Man Sand's thorny orchard.

"No problem, you go first, I'll pick a few thorn berries and be right back."

Lu Xiu skillfully made his way into the thorny orchard and arrived at the hut where Old Man Sha usually slept and also kept his tools.

I ran into three people right in front of me.

All three were dressed in blue hunter's leather armor. One was burly and carried a greatsword on his back, another had a black hunting dog with him, and the third looked rather refined with a book hanging from his waist.

Without a doubt, the three of them were the hunters that Old Man Sha had mentioned who arrived an hour earlier than Lü Xiu.

"Weapons, Mythical Beasts, Knowledge"—at first glance, Lü Xiu confirmed the three's professions, mainly because their appearances were too distinctive.

Weapon hunters mostly prefer heavy weapons like greatswords, while beast hunters, although they have beast spaces, habitually carry their beasts with them. Knowledge hunters, on the other hand, almost always carry a book, and their weapon might even be a book.

Lu Xiu, dressed in hunter's attire, also caught the attention of the three, but they merely glanced at him before going about their own business.

Encountering other hunters during competitive missions is perfectly normal.

Lu Xiu didn't greet them, but walked straight past the three of them, went into the tool shed, gathered some firewood to start a fire, and prepared his own dinner.

As a foodie, and with cooking skills being second only to traps among hunter skills, Lü Xiu once thought he would become a gourmet hunter.

He was very confident in his skills.

After starting a fire, first throw the wild boar leg into the fire to singe off its hair, which will make it much easier to scrape off.

He then took out a small copper pot from his spatial backpack, set it up, poured in some millet, added some water, and a few goji berries.

Healthy living! Start when you're young!

Lu Xiu planned to cook some porridge for dinner, mainly because Old Man Sha's teeth were strong enough that millet porridge would be the easiest thing for him to eat.

Once the millet porridge was ready, the wild boar leg was almost singed. It was then taken out, washed clean with water, and scraped with a hunting knife.

The blackened hair on the skin came off easily.

After shaving off all the hair, they then cut and removed the bones.

As a wild boar, it gets more exercise than domesticated boars, so its foreleg meat is more tender and smooth than its hind leg meat, with a good balance of fat and lean, making it excellent for grilling. The hind leg meat, on the other hand, is firmer, with more lean meat and coarser fibers, making it better for slow stewing.

Compared to domesticated pigs, wild boars, because they are not castrated, have a strong, pungent odor. The pungent odor of female wild boars is relatively weaker.

However, it's not a big problem. In this world where hunting is the main theme, how to process these kinds of wild prey and turn them into delicious food is also a major area of ​​culinary arts.

The foreleg meat doesn't need much processing; it can be grilled directly. Lü Xiu, drawing on spices from his previous life, specially prepared an otherworldly version of cumin chili powder, which everyone ate without making a sound!

As for the hind leg meat, Lü Xiu cut it into small strips, then marinated it with special spices from the hunting world and a little white wine. After that, it was stewed separately, and finally added to the cooked millet porridge along with the chopped mushrooms.

Less than an hour later, a delicious aroma wafted from the tool shed.

The three hunters who were setting up the trap smelled the aroma and their mouths watered. They couldn't help but cradle their necks to see what delicious food Lü Xiu had made.

"Is the one who came a gourmet hunter?" the knowledge hunter among the three deduced.

"And he's a gourmet hunter with excellent skills!" the Beast Hunter affirmed, his Beast Hound staring intently at the tool shed, tongue lolling out, its eyes yearning.

"How about we go beg for some food?" the weapon hunter suggested.

"Go if you want," the knowledge hunter said, turning and leaving.

The Beast Hunter and the Weapon Hunter exchanged a glance and silently smacked their lips.