Gelman chopped down a tree with the Meat Saw for building materials.
As he stripped off the branches and leaves, leaving only the trunk, he noticed quite a few wild animals nearby, glaring at him—the uninvited guest—with hostility.
The beasts seemed wary and hostile toward the human who had brazenly trespassed into their territory.
Gelman, nominally a "Beast Hunter," was now truly living among beasts.
Actually, the person who truly deserved the title of Beast Hunter was Knuckle, the disciple of Morel, who was still a One-Star Hunter at the moment.
Morel and Knuckle would play a very important role in the future Chimera Ant invasion.
A Beast Hunter's duty was to maintain the balance of nature, protect rare animal species, and control ferocious or overpopulated species.
Knuckle had certainly managed to do that.
Gelman, however, had his own way of doing things—even his own interpretation of what a "Beast Hunter" was.
In any case, Gelman would be living here for a while. Getting along with the beasts would be ideal, but if he couldn't, there was nothing he could do about it.
Then it would come down to the laws of the wild: survival of the fittest.
He had just carried the felled trunk back to the clearing he'd picked out when his phone rang. He took it from his pocket and saw "Bad Woman" on the caller ID.
The writing in the Hunter world was somewhat abstract, but thanks to the original owner's memories and the past few months of adjustment, Gelman had no trouble reading or writing.
What was she calling about? Gelman wondered. He'd paid the full fee for Nen Thread Stitching last time, so it could only be...
"Machi." Gelman answered without small talk and asked directly, "What is it?"
There was a two-second silence