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Alex, Shalnark, Linus, Eirini, and Patricia make their way toward Menchi, Linne, and the black-suited examiners overseeing the task. Around them, other groups form up, with most candidates arriving in teams of five.

Menchi scans the crowd, her excitement palpable, but her expression turns sour when she notices a handful of stragglers arriving alone or in incomplete groups.

"Let's see how many of you couldn't even set your differences aside to form a simple group," she says, her gaze critical. "One pair, three people short of a full group, and eight of you couldn't find a single ally. How… disappointing."

Her eyes linger on the pair and the eight single examinees. She points to three of the solo candidates. "You—the man with the glasses, you the cool looking woman with the sniper rifle on your back, and you, the idiot with the two giant axes. You three look at least somewhat capable despite being… off-putting. Join that pair."

She waves dismissively at the remaining five loners. "And you five—the most hostile and weird people here—congratulations, you're the final group. Maybe you'll surprise me and actually pass. That'd be hilarious."

With that, the groups are finalized, bringing the total to 20 teams of five.

"Now for some good news!" Menchi announces, her tone suddenly upbeat. "Half of you will pass. Even if you all fail miserably at cooking—which I fully expect—my generous mentor Linne has decided that at least half the groups will advance. You're welcome!"

She pauses for effect before continuing. "Here are the rules: Each group will receive a single computer with a card reader and five mobile devices. These devices work anywhere within a large radius around this camp and show the locations revealed by your scanned cards. However," she emphasizes, "the computer only works inside the base—specifically, in that building over there." She points to a structure outfitted with equipment.

"And," she adds with a mischievous grin, "fighting, stealing, or any other bad behavior will result in the entire group being disqualified—at least inside the fenced area. Outside, though? I couldn't care less what you do. So, to the few nasty-looking people here, feel free to go wild."

She continues, "Now, what's the purpose of the computers, card readers, and mobile devices? Even an idiot should figure this out. You scan the cards you won earlier, and the computer reveals a location. How do you track these locations outside? With the mobile devices!"

Her grin widens. "What will you find at these locations? Random ingredients, animal breeding grounds… I won't give you the specifics. But fair warning—some of these locations might be dangerous! And don't forget," she adds, with a hint of sadistic glee, "some cards are duplicates. That means you might not be the only group heading to certain spots. Have fun with that!"

"Finally," Menchi says, wrapping up her explanation, "what's the goal? You have exactly six hours to hunt for these ingredients—or gather whatever else you can find outside—and then prepare a great meal. Be back here by 8 PM sharp. Anyone who's late, even by a few minutes, is automatically disqualified!"

She pauses for effect before adding, "You'll have an additional two hours to cook. But let me give you some advice—you might want to return earlier, especially if your dish requires more time. Your team must present up to three dishes to me and the best gourmand in the world, the Double-Star Hunter Linne Horsdoeuvre." Menchi gestures dramatically and hugs Linne, who remains completely unresponsive.

Menchi continues, "The top 10 teams will move on to the next exam. A few last hints: It's better to present two or even one well-prepared dish than to serve three subpar ones. Your score is based on the average of all the dishes you present. If you present only one or two dishes, a point will be deducted for each missing dish. We rate your dishes from 1 to 10…"

Suddenly, Linne's hand flashes out, slapping Menchi's rear. The elderly woman looks at Menchi with clear disapproval.

"Aaaahh, you're so mean, Linne!" Menchi whines before composing herself. "Well, it seems Linne will be the only one officially scoring your dishes. I'll just taste them and give you my opinion anyway—lucky you!" She winks mischievously.

Menchi elaborates further. "For example, if you present two dishes and Linne scores one a 6 and the other a 4, that averages to 5. Since you're missing a third dish, we'll deduct a point, giving your team a total score of 4. However, if you present three dishes—say, one scores a 6, one a 4, and the last one's a disaster and earns a 1—your average drops to about 3.6. So, you'd have been better off with just the first two dishes. I hope even the dumbest among you understand what strategies are possible here!"

"As for supplies," Menchi goes on, "we've built temporary cooking stations for you. They'll have all the utensils you need, as well as salt, pepper, and some oil. That's it! If you don't bring back ingredients, you'll fail. And if you can't present even one dish, that's an automatic disqualification!"

Alex suppresses a groan, thinking, This is getting excessive. Can't she just stop talking already?

"Finally," Menchi announces, "the task starts at exactly 2 PM, which is in about 30 minutes. Until then, you're not allowed to leave the base. You are only allowed to cook inside the designated zone, and we'll also be monitoring you outside of it. If you cheat by bringing in ingredients, meat, or anything not caught by you, you'll be disqualified from the exam.Any questions?"

Alex, angry that she mentioned "finally" more than once, briefly considers asking if there's a special reward for first place but feels a bit embarrassed. Thankfully, Emma's arrogance and greed save him the trouble.

"Is there a reward for first place?" Emma asks, her tone dripping with expectation.

Menchi looks at her with mild confusion. "Not really. But how about this? The top three teams get to join us for dinner tonight. I'll be cooking!"

A few candidates smile at the prospect of tasting the cooking of a Single-Star Gourmet Hunter. Alex, however, shakes his head and mutters under his breath, "Useless!"

"YOU!" Menchi snaps, her patience clearly fraying. She appears directly in front of Alex, unsheathes two knives from her back, holding them in a threatening pose aimed directly at Alex's nose. "You'd better place in the top 3, or else I might just have to punish you…" she says, her tone dripping with menace.

Alex stares at her in shock, unsure where to look. Why me? he complains inwardly. I only wanted a rare, useful item—not food! Why am I getting singled out again? This is so unfair… His thoughts stray, and before he can stop himself, he adds, This mean, green-haired bitch… but damn, I'd love to spank that fat ass…

Suddenly, Menchi sheaths her knives and slaps Alex across the face.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" Alex yells, clutching his cheek.

You received 3 damage.

Menchi grins mischievously. "I felt you had some bad thoughts. Pervert!" she accuses, sticking out her tongue teasingly. "Anyway, you deserved it! Now I'm angry and very hungry. No more questions—you better get moving. The computer rooms are open, so you might as well get started. We've set up private rooms for each group."

Rubbing his stinging face, Alex curses internally. That bitch… ouch! It feels like getting hit with a damn brick!

Eirini looks at Alex with a mix of sympathy and amusement, while Patricia, Linus, and Shalnark can't suppress their laughter.

Linus smirks. "That crazy-looking gal's pretty sexy, alright, but you shouldn't ogle her that openly. Women like her? They're allergic to that kind of thing!"

"I didn't even…!" Alex starts to defend himself but quickly realizes he doesn't have a strong argument to back it up.

Shalnark, ever the voice of reason, interjects. "Let's just check our cards. The building with the computers is right over there," he says, pointing to a nearby building where other teams are already heading.

As the group walks toward the building, Patricia glances at Alex and comments with a smirk, "You've got a nice hand-shaped tattoo on your face. It looks hilarious!"

Even Eirini can't suppress a giggle, her soft laughter joining the others.

"…" Alex decides to remain silent, unwilling to derail the morale of their newly-formed group.

The team enters the building, where a staff member leads them to their assigned room. Inside, they find a single computer with a card scanner attached and five small mobile devices. Alex picks one up, inspecting it. Man, these almost remind me of Tamagotchis from back in the day… just slightly bigger, he thinks.

"They've only got two buttons—zoom in and zoom out. That's it? How cheap," Alex remarks.

Shalnark takes a seat in front of the computer, where a program is already running, displaying an empty map. "Looks like we need to scan our cards," he says, placing one of his cards in the scanner.

Beep.

A location immediately pops up on the map, and Alex notices the same location appearing on the mobile device in his hand. "Neat," he mutters.

Shalnark proceeds to scan his remaining cards. The rest of the group hands him their cards one by one. Once all the cards are scanned, the computer reveals a total of nine locations.

"Alright," Shalnark says, leaning back in his chair. "We've got nine spots to check. Let's figure out how to approach this."

"Damn, looks like we already have bad luck!" Alex exclaims, frustrated. "We got one of the duplicates she mentioned. It was this last card—no new spot showed up! We can't even see which location we have twice, which makes it feel even worse!"

"Well, it can't be helped," Shalnark says with a shrug.

The group stares at the map, contemplating their next move. Linus, leaning forward, asks, "What now? I'd suggest splitting up. These locations aren't just around the corner—it'll take hours to reach some of them. If we stick together, we'll never get to them all."

Shalnark speaks up, "We should at least form two groups. I'm confident in my abilities, so I'll handle these three spots in the east on my own. Don't worry about me."

Alex, Eirini, and Patricia exchange a glance, fully aware of Shalnark's skills, and nod in agreement. Linus, however, looks skeptical. "You don't look all that strong to me … but if the others are fine with it, whatever."

Alex interjects, "We should forget about the south—it only has one location, and it's too far away to be worth it."

Eirini points to the map and reasons, "Then we can start with the west, grab ingredients from the three nearby locations, move toward the north, and return along this route grabbing the other two." She traces a path with her finger.

Alex looks at Eirini and Patricia, noting their slightly battered state. "Do we all stick together? You two seem a bit beat up. I'd be fine going out with Linus alone—you'll be more useful cooking later, remember, the rest of us suck at it."

Worst case scenario, Alex thinks, they could slow us down or become liabilities. I might even have to reveal my new skills to protect them. He mulls over his earlier thoughts, recalling the people who already know about his grenades: Roja knows, and if she told Perlah, she might know too. Plus, Emma saw me selling grenades in Tribaio village. No point hiding that anymore.

Patricia cuts in decisively, "Not only should we avoid staying here, but we should also split up further. Let's create another group, starting in the north and meeting up at this last point in the northwest here." She points to a faraway location in the northwest, intending it as the rendezvous point.

Suddenly, Shalnark interrupts. "Wait. I just noticed something. Press the button on the back of the device!"

"The back?" Alex asks, turning the device over. Sure enough, there's a small, inconspicuous button. Pressing it, he watches as the previously displayed locations disappear, replaced by a single spot—the group's current position. "What is this? Isn't this useless?" he mutters.

Shalnark chuckles. "Zoom in."

Alex presses the zoom-in button repeatedly until the single spot splits into five smaller dots. "Ah, I see! These are the locations of our mobile devices."

The discovery sparks more discussion among the group as they adjust their plans, ultimately agreeing on a strategy.

"Alright, let's do this, everyone!" Alex says as they finalize their approach. Glancing at the clock, he adds, "Two more minutes until we can leave." Despite their careful planning, Alex feels a twinge of doubt. I just hope we made the right decision.

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