Noon quickly arrived, bringing concentrated focus and dripping sweat from two recruits. The entire convoy stopped for livestock to rest and regain their strength. The team had one hour to recover before afternoon training and movement sessions.

  Finn distributed simple food for Night Hawks team: dry rations, jerky and cheese. Theo frowned slightly—not because he was complaining—for mercenaries, this was acceptable fare, and Finn thoughtfully divided portions for him and Liam more generously. But with current high-intensity training volume, this ration still wasn't nutritionally optimal. Theo had another plan.

  A whistle rang out. Al immediately understood, circling above Theo's head then beginning to search for prey. Carrying a bow, Theo decided to execute a quick hunt. Fortunately, though today he was assigned to a training mission, the essential position he held was still scout, because Al was an advantage Ves couldn't ignore—this gave him more freedom than other positions—something he'd read in "Compendium on Mercenaries and Borderland Law."

  Together with Shadow, in just 20 minutes Theo had hunted one large chicken and two goats. He brought back and handed to Liam to process—innards and skin, with his ability wouldn't take too much time. Simultaneously, he took the opportunity to collect surrounding environmental data. This supplemented G with data helping Theo survive in the forest more easily—very important, because stress was the most dangerous enemy of mercenaries, warriors, and travelers—quiet, persistent, and far more frightening than any beast or trap.

  With time remaining, Theo harvested some more wild vegetables based on new data.

  Finn and Rowan looked at Theo with incomprehensible eyes. This was the first time they'd seen a recruit "acting independently" like this during break time. The strange thing was everything Theo did was accurate, not breaking rules or affecting team discipline.

  Workers in the merchant convoy stood watching Theo, mouths agape. Meanwhile, Theo remained very natural, not caring about surrounding gazes. He took salt and pre-prepared seasonings, quickly marinating the goat and chicken meat Liam had processed then hanging them on the two Striders—Swift and Shadow. This would be an important nutrition source for recovery after harsh training sessions.

  The afternoon passed according to plan—only the two recruits' sweat was more, breathing more labored. The convoy stopped beside a small stream; tonight they would camp here.

  Theo didn't rest. He took the processed meat, cut and skewered it with just-gathered mushrooms when camping. Bone portions like head, wings and spine were used to make soup with wild vegetables with the large chicken hunted at noon.

  Dinner was quickly completed:

  Grilled Goat Skewers with Mushrooms

  and

  Wild Vegetable Chicken Soup

  The aroma drifted through the camp. Night Hawks members looked at Theo in...silence. Truly, they didn't know what words to use to describe this young recruit.

  Theo even faintly heard Torvin's muttering voice: "Really making a fuss."

  Fortunately Night Hawks' camping area was separate from the convoy, so the two dishes didn't greatly affect remaining people.

  However, Theo still performed quick calculation. Two small wild goats, roughly 60 kg combined, after processing about 40 kg clean meat remained. He'd used a portion for soup; plus a not-large portion he wanted to save as backup for tomorrow because he might always have hunting opportunities—he had to have a Plan B.

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  Theo calculated mentally: divided among ten people in Night Hawks team was just enough. Especially with two large warriors Boris and Torvin—they needed much larger nutrition amounts. Average each person got about 1-2 kg meat, two big guys might need 2-3 kg each, not counting bones. Eating with mushrooms, soup and dry rations, this was a complete dinner to restore stamina.

  Rowan and Sable, after receiving soup and skewered meat portions, were still somewhat dazed. This was the first time in escort mission they ate such a lavish dinner—yes lavish, too lavish, repeating three times wouldn't be excessive. Normally, though Finn provided well, the whole team only had jerky and dry rations; many other teams even only had dry rations.

  But the rich fragrance of meat and soup quickly made all questions and voices dissolve. The whole team ate with respectful silence, as if enjoying a rare reward—around them silent except insect sounds, crackling from burning wood and appreciative eating sounds of bowls and spoons.

  Taking out a bowl of meat reserved for Al, Theo didn't forget the deserved reward for hunting merit at noon.

  For his own portion, Theo also began enjoying dinner. Meat texture wasn't bad, chewiness just right, but the characteristic strong smell of wild meat he still couldn't completely solve with seasonings. If at home, just using additional honey and roasting with Oakhaven region's special oak wood, this problem would be minor, but here was quite difficult. As for soup, because of wild vegetables the bitter taste was quite harsh; he'd tried to neutralize with mushrooms, chicken meat and salt but perhaps not enough—next time should reduce vegetables, add more wild roots. He sighed, but told himself: anyway main purpose was nutrition, couldn't demand too perfect.

  While eating, Theo again noticed something strange. Ronan and Vesper showed liking for this wild vegetable soup. Though faces remained indifferent and serious as usual, they ate more than normal—each person added one bowl. Their faces relaxed very slightly; if not for G analyzing micro-expressions, Theo also couldn't detect. Stroking his chin he somewhat speculated 'like bitter taste huh—men with stories'.

  Though eating more than normal, Vesper completed dinner very quickly. He dismissed rare relaxation and assigned the group final commands of the day:

  "Watch shifts divided into three. Finn and I take first watch, then Sable and Boris, finally Ronan and Torvin."

  Glancing at Liam and Theo once, his voice still calmly rang out: "Dinner was you two's effort so tonight's watch you're exempted."

  Theo frowned slightly. Not because of special treatment—this was precisely part of his calculation—but he wondered because Vesper lacked naming two people in the group: Rowan and Ryel. Theo suddenly woke up, turning to look around. Ryel didn't appear at all during dinner. He was too mysterious and communicated little, making his presence very low.

  Seeing Theo's behavior, Finn while eating soup smiled, he explained: "Ryel is guarding. Because now is still activity time, initial reconnaissance and guard duty is only assigned to Ryel alone. I've saved food portion for him, don't worry." He added: "Rowan is a mage, really needs time absorbing mana, very consuming mental force so she's also exempted from night watch."

  Taking a sip of soup, Finn gently continued: "At sleep time, will be first guard shift. Ryel will return to rest, then shift two and final shift three, each time two people. Mission is continuously scout outer perimeter, alert necessary situations for convoy guards and teammates to know. Clear?"

  Campfire light danced on the clearing, creating warm light circles contrasting with thick black night curtain. Inside the convoy's solid circle, life rhythm slowed, only remaining whispered conversation sounds and livestock chewing dry grass. Night Hawks, the mercenary group, maintained separate camping pattern: their professional warriors had established their own fire ring, keeping a respectful distance from convoy's logistics center. This was common arrangement—two groups not too close to interfere with each other's business, also not too far to be unable to support timely—a distance just enough for vigilance and trust.

  From dinner's end to sleep time was personal time. Rowan walked to Theo's side and sat down. Camp light shone making her hair blaze up like brilliant rosy-red flames. The girl took out from herself a small notebook, smiling gently saying:

  "Take it—a gift for the delicious dinner."

  The notebook was wrapped in thin leather, moss-green colored, tied with a simple leather cord. It seemed brand new and carefully preserved.

  Theo took the notebook without refusing—wasn’t this exactly why he had been building goodwill with the team?—a solid relationship was precisely giving and receiving back, a saying suddenly flashing through his mind. He took the notebook, thanked Rowan with truly sincere voice, then quickly assessed a bit, then opened to glance inside.

  A captivating line of writing on yellowed hide paper: "Mental Force Scanning Method". This was a handwritten copy by a young, intelligent woman—he assessed the slender handwriting, with some habitually abbreviated words, sentence ends had some cute characters and neat, clean, easy-to-understand presentation.

  Light from the campfire filtered through Theo's shoulder, clearly illuminating the notebook's content. Theo flipped through several pages, noticing the handwriting written at quite fast speed but not at all messy, showing the writer's confidence and flexible thinking. Formulas and small diagrams hand-drawn, sharp and clear.

  However, what made him pay more attention was the content's nature. A mental force scanning method written by hand, and it was given to him as a thank-you gift for dinner.

  He raised his head, eyes incomprehensible: "Rowan, you're really giving this to me?"

  Not that he questioned Rowan giving "Mental Force Scanning Method"—this was precisely what Theo aimed for. But one dinner to exchange for it—he felt it somewhat exceeded value. He clearly remembered, both in Lady Lyra's notebook and the books—though very few—Theo could read all only mentioned this concept but never addressed the specific practice method at all. Last time exchanging with her was also just preliminary probing testing. He wanted to know the real value he needed to pay to obtain it, but unexpectedly this time it lay neatly in his hands.