On the cafeteria's counter was a bulky man with a chiseled face, sharp jawline, and thick eyebrows. There was a strange tattoo on his neck with the number LO-089. He looked at Ayan and spoke in an animated male voice. "Woah, a new face. Why haven't I seen you before, young man?"
"He's Ayan. He just got out of bed after healing from a deadly injury," Camilo replied before Ayan could.
The bulky man greeted him with a warm smile. "Well, nice to meet you, Ayan. My name's LO-089. I'm mostly responsible for this cafeteria and your food diets."
"Don't worry about his weird name. We just call him brother Loen," Camilo spoke in a casual tone.
"I'll have my usual meal," Camilo told Loen.
"Got it, one full meal coming up," Loen said and then turned to Ayan and gave him a menu. "And what would you like?"
Ayan looked at the menu and noticed only non-veg dishes. He frowned. "Are there only non-veg dishes?"
Loen turned the menu to the other side and pointed at a few small dishes at the last. "The food here is set up according to your training. Veg food is a rarity here and we only get limited stock each week. You can only choose a few as a side dish. Luckily for you, these three dishes are available now."
Looking at the numbers beside the dishes, Ayan felt puzzled, "What do these numbers in grams signify? Is there a limit to how much we can order?"
Loen nodded. "Yes, there's a limit to the weight of a particular dish. You can have a total of 1kg of meat and 100 grams of fruits per meal."
Camilo chimed in. "You might think 1 kg is a lot but once you go through the intense sessions. You'll realize they're not enough. And you only get to have food two times a day. Anyways, you'll be in the training session throughout the day with no time for food."
Ayan ordered some fish dishes, seafood, and a few veg foods available.
They went and sat on a table.
Camilo asked, "Anyways, why are you so against eating meat? Are you an animal lover or a religious person?"
Ayan sighed. "It's not that I'm a moralist or a religious person but every time I ate meat I felt a weird uncomfortable sensation in my body. So, I usually prefer veg meals. These feelings are less with fish and sea foods."
Camilo persuaded. "Maybe you ate some low-quality meat with a bland taste. Try the meat here, they're of excellent quality and the taste's so good. I'm sure you'll love them. Moreover, you need nutritious food if you want to finish this training in good shape."
Ayan shook his head and stayed silent. The food arrived after a few minutes and they started enjoying their meal.
Strangely, this time Ayan didn't have much repulsive feeling in his body when eating meat. He remembered one talk he had with the old hermit.
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"Why are the religious texts and spiritual people always suggesting to not eat meat? Is it because of morality?" Ayan asked.
"If you're thinking about morality then do you think the plant you eat is not a life? What will you do if you're stranded on an island with only animals as food? Will you starve to death?" the hermit asked with a smile.
Ayan became thoughtful at his words.
"Let me tell you a simple old saying: Harvest close, hunt afar. This means you should eat fruits and vegetables grown near you. Suppose you are in a place with a summer season and you eat fruits brought from a place with a winter season. It may not harm you, but you won't reap much benefits in terms of energy due to natural conflict of elements."
"Also, the term hunting afar doesn't mean hunting from far away places but hunting animals that are far from you genetically. Just considering physically, if you eat meat from animals that are closer to human genetics like pigs, then your body has to spend a lot of time to assimilate them ranging from 12 to 48 hours. But the meat of creatures that are far from you genetically like fish will take only 4 to 8 hours. The body has to spend considerable effort to digest pig than the fish."
"The important thing is the efficiency. If you want to run a car, a fuel with a certain efficiency is enough but if you want to move at the speed of F1 races, you need a higher efficiency fuel. Meat has more energy than vegetables but what's the use if you can't absorb and assimilate it properly."
Ayan asked, "What if the genetic part is removed from the meat improving its efficiency?"
The old hermit smirked, "If you can remove the genetic part physically and certain energy influences in the meat then you can eat meat to improve your energy. Always remember, if you want to grow your energies, then consume food that is of higher intensity of energy or at least efficient enough to add to your system."
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'There's definitely something different about the meat here compared to the outside,' Ayan thought.
Ayan had just finished his meal when an unusual fragrance caught his attention. He felt as if his whole body was craving for that food. He turned to the source to find, Sara who just uncovered the cloche from her dish.
Noticing his gaze, she fiercely looked at him and frowned.
Flustered, Camilo whispered, "I know you're interested in the weekly prize but please don't look at her like that."
Ayan turned his head to Camilo wondering why he was so scared all of a sudden.
Camilo whispered, "One time, another girl tried to touch her prized food, asking for a bite but Sara stabbed a fork right into her hand."
Ayan asked, "Don't you get punishment if you fight here."
Camilo replied, "It's true but Dr. Frostwind gave her light punishment but the other girl was placed in the white room for one hour."
Curious, Ayan asked, "What's inside this white room?"
Camilo shook his head. "I'm not sure. But the girl who went inside didn't speak for the whole day and stayed silent as if she experienced something horrifying."