Chapter 42
After waiting for roughly thirty seconds, Menchi’s eyes suddenly sharpened.
She released the strand.
It slipped from her fingers, sending her plunging toward one of the clusters of Spider Eagle eggs below.
The instant she passed it, Menchi plucked a single egg free.
Then she continued falling toward the seemingly bottomless ravine.
Haruto let go barely a second after she did.
Unlike Menchi, who took only what she needed, Haruto was considerably greedier.
As his body descended, he drew the kitchen knife he had prepared.
The moment he swept past his chosen cluster, his wrist flicked, sending the blade through a precise arc that severed the entire bunch from the strand above it.
Haruto reached out and caught the falling cluster, wrapping it in a large amount of aura.
A moment later, the whole bunch vanished into Gourmet Restaurant.
Watching from the summit, Leorio shouted in alarm.
"Hey! They’re falling! I-isn’t this basically suicide?!"
"No, it isn’t," Kurapika replied calmly.
In truth, he had already begun to understand the trick the moment Menchi jumped.
However, after his mistaken analysis during the pork challenge, Kurapika had decided not to explain too soon.
This time, he would wait and see.
...
Just as everyone’s hearts rose into their throats, a fierce gust of wind suddenly roared up from the bottom of the ravine.
The powerful current carried the fresh scent of plants and damp mist.
Like an enormous invisible hand, it caught Menchi and Haruto in midair.
The rising wind then propelled them upward toward the summit.
Netero stroked his white beard and leisurely explained, "The updrafts rising from the bottom of the ravine allow newly hatched Spider Eagles to fly back into their nests..."
By the time he finished, Menchi and Haruto had landed safely on the ground.
Menchi raised the smooth, gleaming egg in her hand and addressed the applicants.
"Now we’ll use these to make boiled eggs."
"Y-you’ve got to be joking!"
Todo’s face turned deathly pale. He staggered backward, his voice trembling with fear.
"No normal person would jump down there!"
As far as he was concerned, the challenge was no different from suicide.
Many of the other applicants reacted very differently. Excitement appeared on their faces instead.
"Now this feels like the Hunter Exam!"
Gon’s eyes shone brightly, and an eager smile spread across his face.
"I’ve been waiting for a challenge like this!"
He immediately leaped into the ravine.
Killua raised an eyebrow, an amused smile curling across his lips, and jumped after him.
Leorio and Kurapika followed without hesitation.
The remaining applicants soon felt their own fighting spirits ignite, and one after another, they rushed to leap over the edge.
...
"Wait! I haven’t finished explaining!"
Menchi panicked when she saw them and hurriedly shouted after the falling applicants.
She had intended to explain the wind currents in detail first, including the approximate intervals between updrafts and how their strength changed.
Collecting a Spider Eagle egg was not as simple as jumping into the ravine.
Timing was the most important part.
Unfortunately, the applicants had thrown themselves over the edge before she could finish.
Those who remained behind had already lost the courage to attempt the challenge, so there was no longer any point in explaining it to them.
What frustrated Menchi even more was that Haruto had jumped down again.
’That guy...’
She pressed a hand to her forehead.
Menchi had clearly seen him take an entire cluster of Spider Eagle eggs during his first jump.
He already had far more than he needed, so why was he still being so greedy?
Still, Haruto appeared to possess a storage-type Nen ability.
Spatial abilities like that were extremely rare.
It seemed perfectly suited to a Gourmet Hunter.
Even Menchi occasionally found more ingredients than she could carry and had to struggle with deciding what to leave behind.
A thought began forming in her mind.
The community of Gourmet Hunters could certainly use someone with talent like his.
While Menchi considered how she might persuade Haruto to become a Gourmet Hunter, several applicants hanging from the upper strands decided they had no reason to wait.
They released their grips and copied what Menchi and Haruto had done, reaching for the Spider Eagle eggs below.
"Hmph! This is nothing!"
"Watch me!"
"..."
The updraft never came.
The applicants continued plummeting straight toward the bottom of the ravine.
Their desperate screams soon faded into the depths.
...
Hanging from one of the strands, Haruto watched them disappear and shook his head, regret flashing through his eyes.
He was not mourning the applicants.
He was mourning the Spider Eagle eggs they had taken with them!
What a terrible waste.
Haruto sighed inwardly and continued waiting.
Before long, he felt a faint breeze.
His expression shifted, and Gon’s voice rang out a moment later.
"Now!"
Haruto immediately released the strand and dived downward.
Nearly everyone else hanging from the web let go at the same moment and began collecting their eggs.
Just as they finished, a powerful gust surged up from the depths of the ravine and caught them all.
Cheers rang out as the applicants were carried safely back to the summit, each holding a Spider Eagle egg.
All that remained was to boil them.
Buhara had already brought an enormous iron pot from the airship, carrying enough firewood in his other hand.
He found a level patch of ground, set up the pot, filled it with water, and lit the fire beneath it.
Flames soon began licking the bottom of the iron pot.
The applicants stepped forward one by one and placed their Spider Eagle eggs into the water.
Haruto did the same, quietly retrieving a single egg from Gourmet Restaurant and adding it to the pot.
While the eggs were cooking, he could not resist jumping into the ravine several more times.
This was a rare opportunity, and he would most likely never return here.
Naturally, he wanted to collect as many Spider Eagle eggs as possible while he had the chance.
At first, the other applicants paid close attention to what he was doing.
After watching him jump two or three times without apparently returning with any eggs, however, they lost interest and assumed he simply enjoyed bungee jumping.
Haruto finally stopped once the eggs in the pot were nearly cooked.
Sensing the sizable collection of Spider Eagle eggs now stored inside Gourmet Restaurant, he smiled with complete satisfaction.
----
This fanfic focus is gaining a rare ingredients and eating, dont expect harem or fighting tho, fight will happen from time to time but the main focus is still eating.