1:20 am.
Hunters Association.
Leon is descending in an elevator that is taking him to the subway floors of the building while enjoying his cup of coffee.
The elevator doors opened, revealing a long, poorly lit hallway.
He walked toward the end of the hallway, taking occasional sips of his coffee and keeping silent.
He found a disinfection area when he reached the end of the hallway. He finished his coffee, entered the disinfection area and, as part of protocol, donned mouth covers and gloves.
After completing all these procedures, he entered the door at the end of the corridor and found an exceptionally organized laboratory.
Inside, one person was completely focused on their work, not yet aware of Leon's arrival. Finally, one of them turned around and his eyes met Leon's.
"Oh Mr. Leon, I didn't realize you had arrived, why didn't you announce your presence?"
Hearing the name 'Leon', the others stopped their chores and turned their attention to him, who was observing everything with a serene expression.
"No, the mistake was mine in not announcing my arrival. Go on with what you were doing, I just came to take a look."
Leon waved his hand to indicate that the others could continue with their work, since, as he had mentioned, he was only there to inspect.
They all continued with their work, except for one who appeared to be the leader of the lab.
"So, Mr. Leon, what was the reason for your sudden visit?"
The lab leader asked as Leon paced the room.
"I came simply to see if you had discovered anything about the creature I brought you this afternoon."
Leon stated his reason for coming to this place so late, even though his work hours were over.
'Looks like I'll be getting paid a lot more than usual this month.'
"Ah, is that why you came? At the moment, we haven't found anything. It's the first time we've come across something like this."
Spoke to the head of the lab, a little disappointed. However, his expression quickly changed.
"But what you brought is unique. This creature possesses no magical powers and its DNA is completely different from that of a Hobgoblin. It's like it's something that doesn't belong in the dungeons. It's been a long time since I've encountered something as interesting as this since the dungeons came into being."
The lab leader spoke with an expression of complete excitement, his eyes shining with happiness as he looked at what appeared to be a Hobgoblin.
Leon was silent for a moment, pondering until he caught a crucial detail.
"You mean his DNA is not entirely that of a Hobgoblin?"
He asked, sensing the importance of that detail. It is well known that modifying DNA is not a simple task.
Changing DNA is tantamount to completely altering the identity of any organism, be it human, animal, plant, or even monster. Moreover, modifying a creature's DNA is completely improbable unless several prerequisites are met or a system such as Erik's is available that allows for a complete transformation. Otherwise, it is an impossible task.
So Leon posed the question, aware that altering DNA is not a common thing to do, and even less so for a D-rank boss monster, whose intelligence is low.
The lab chief explained:
"As you may have heard, after analyzing a DNA sample, it does not completely match that of a normal goblin. We still don't know what caused this."
He then handed Leon the test results.
Leon took the samples and began to check the contents. He soon realized that the lab chief was right: the hobgoblin's DNA was completely altered, it looked nothing like the DNA a hobgoblin should have.
'This is very strange, how did they manage to alter the DNA?'
Leon could not understand how this transformation had occurred in the monster. He only had what Erik told him and when he entered the dungeon, the monster had already completed its transformation.
'I need more information about it'
'Things are getting more complicated. I think big changes are coming in the world.'
Leon sensed that the quiet times were about to end. He handed the evidence to the lab chief and headed for the exit.
"Report immediately if you find anything important."
"I will, Mr. Leon!"
Leon said goodbye and left the lab, as the lab manager returned to his duties.
***
A little later, to be precise, it was 9:30 in the morning and Erik and Violet were about to finish their preparations.
Violet, after fully absorbing the mana stones, turned her gaze to Erik, who was sitting on the couch with the cat Kiara on top of his head, who had not left his side since his arrival.
"How was your first night, did you sleep well?"
She asked with a slight smile stretching her body after absorbing the mana stones.
"Huh?
Erik turned his face towards her, flashing a small smile.
"I slept well, I've never rested so comfortably before."
He replied with complete sincerity, as he had had a restful sleep like never before.
"I'm glad you got a good night's rest."
Violet said with a warm smile.
'It seems that these mana stones are no longer as effective as before'
Violet noticed that after absorbing twenty mana stones her magical energy didn't increase much like the first time when they were in the dungeon before ascending in rank.
Seeing Violet get up from the ground, Erik gently put Kiara down.
"Meow!"
The cat meowed in denial, unwilling to part from Erik's head. the cat Kiara didn't understand why Erik's presence conveyed such calm; it felt as if they were out in nature. Besides, she felt completely safe by his side.
"Violet, why is Kiara so attached to me?"
Erik asked in confusion. He doesn't understand why Violet's cat was so clingy, she had even slept next to him. It was as if she had something that attracted her.
'I think the giant wolf that appeared in my dream has something to do with something.'
He thought it had something to do with Violet's cat being so attached to him even though she hadn't even been here for a day.
"I have no idea why, the cat acts that way, even I'm surprised, that she's so attached to you."
Violet shook her head, not understanding why her cat acted that way. Besides, if she knew anything, she would have mentioned it by now, wouldn't she?
"So, are we leaving now or do you have something we'll wait a while longer?"
Violet asked putting her things away in the suitcase she has where she keeps her things.
"Sure, let's go."
Erik replied although the cat was reluctant to part from him.
They both left the place and headed straight for the hunters' association.
***
About half an hour later, they arrived and entered the building without delay. As they approached, they noticed the great turmoil that reigned in the city.
All the members of the Luminis guild were present in the city, and even several hunters from the rival guilds had disappeared.
"Why is the city so busy?"
Erik exclaimed aloud as he waited in line to upgrade his rank.
Next to him, a muscular man with a tattoo of a snake on one of his arms who looked to be in his mid-twenties spoke.
"You don't know what's going on?"
"I have no idea, can you tell me what's going on?"
Erik asked again, as a vague suspicion formed in his mind at the sight of the number of Luminis guild members present in the city.
"You don't seem to be aware. According to what you heard, the president of the Luminis guild has a son who has disappeared. That's the reason why all the guild members are here in the city."
Explained in muscular man, letting out a sigh today has had quite a hard time because of the Luminis guild members.
Erik hearing this, his expression hardened slightly, but he managed to keep his composure.
'Damn!'
Internally, he let out a curse as he realized that Richard hadn't lied.
'So he was telling the truth when he was begging me not to kill him. But if I left him alive he'd be trouble anyway.'
Erik doesn't regret killing him, because dead or alive he was going to be trouble and there would have been a lot more if he were alive.
But what he didn't expect was how quickly the Luminis guild president had begun the search for his son.
'You could tell he loved his son very much'.
It had barely been three days since he eliminated those three individuals, and already they were on his quest.
"Something wrong, buddy?"
"No, I just didn't expect the president of the Luminis guild to have a son."
Erik lied matter-of-factly.
After that, an awkward silence settled between the two as they moved down the line.
Finally, the man decided to break it.
"By the way, what rank are you?"
The muscular man asked curiously.
"I'm rank E and I'm here to improve myself."
Erik replied neutrally. He wasn't interested in striking up a conversation, he just wanted to keep abreast of what was going on in the city.
"Ah, awesome! I'm here to improve my rank too!"
Declared the muscle man proudly beating his chest.
Because as it is well known among hunters, it is not easy to move up in rank, especially for most hunters who do not awaken a common job which are: Warrior, Mage, Support, Tank, and Archer.
Besides, the main reason is because they are afraid of death, which is normal, since instinctively any living creature is afraid of death.
So most hunters prefer to hunt weaker monsters rather than take their chances with more powerful creatures as they move up the ranks.
And because they make enough money, which is about $2,000 a month, just by selling mana stones of rank E, which is the lowest!
"And are you also going to promote to D rank?"
Erik asked, showing a bit of curiosity.
"No, I'm upgrading my C rank."
Replied the man, puffing out his chest with pride.
"Oh, rank C! Not bad!"
Erik said, somewhat surprised.
"By the way which is..."
As the muscular man was about to say something, at that moment all the attention in the place was focused on a man with blond hair and black glasses.
He was being followed by a small group of people entering the building. He appeared to be the leader and began to approach where Erik was talking to the man.
"He's coming our way, what should we do?"
The man whispered, visibly nervous as he watched Leon and his group approach.
"Don't worry."
Erik replied calmly.
"Let's meet again."
....