Theo didn’t know how long he’d been sitting there.
At so point, he’d simply fallen asleep on the chair.
Across from him, Ethan had also leaned back, his eyes closed.
Looking at them, the old man couldn’t help but chuckle.
"You ran into sothing quite unusual," he muttered. "A parasite like that... I’ve never heard of it before."
He paused, glancing up at the ceiling.
"Would we have been able to handle that in our younger years, Joop?"
After a few seconds, he simply shook his head.
"Since they’ve done the hard part... it’s ti I make sure the rest goes smoothly."
Just then—
The door creaked open, a soft bell echoing through the room.
A woman stepped inside, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
Her eyes swept across the room once before landing on the old man.
The old man smiled faintly.
"Perfect timing, Maren," he said. "Could you patch these youngsters up?"
Her gaze shifted towards the three of them.
"Are they new?" she asked.
The old man nodded once.
"They just ca back from quite the first mission."
Maren glanced back at the old man for a mont.
"You’ll have to tell more about that later, Alden."
"With pleasure," Alden responded.
She stepped forward without any further hesitation.
A deep red glow began gathering around her hands.
The air in the room shifted imdiately.
Blood particles began to appear in the air around each of their wounds.
As they touched the damaged skin, the flesh slowly started molding together.
After a few minutes, Maren let out a quiet breath.
"You’ve improved," Alden said, letting out a soft chuckle. "Let’s let them rest now."
He locked the door before turning back.
"We have so other matters to take care of."
With that, the two of them disappeared into the back of the building.
Hours passed by in silence for Theo and the others.
Each one of them had been pushed to their limits.
Finally, a soft light shone through the window.
Theo’s eyes fluttered as it landed on his face.
He let out a soft groan, raising a hand to block the light.
’Morning... already?’
He blinked once, seeing the strange ceiling above him.
That’s when he felt it.
The sharp pain all over his body had disappeared, only leaving so muscle aches behind.
"What happened?" he muttered.
His gaze shifted through the room, finally letting him realize where he was.
Beside him, Owen still slept on the couch.
In front of him sat Ethan, already awake, typing on his laptop.
"Good morning," Theo said, rubbing his head.
Ethan paused, raising an eyebrow.
"...You’re up," he said.
Theo nodded once.
"How long did I sleep for?" he asked.
"Fourteen hours and fifty minutes," Ethan replied. "It’s nearly four PM at the mont."
Theo let out a soft whistle.
"Didn’t expect that."
He pushed himself off the chair and began stretching.
Everything felt fine.
’Except my muscle aches,’ he thought, wincing slightly.
He paused for a mont, a blue window materializing in front of him.
On it, four lines of text appeared.
[Would You Rather cooldown: 00:04:12:21.]
[Daily Descent cooldown: 00:08:12:21]
[Remaining Normal Descents: 1]
[Punishnt Descents: 14]
Theo stared at the screen for a mont.
Then he closed it again.
’Four hours until the next one....’ he thought. ’Plenty of ti to handle this.’
Just as he lowered his hand—
The door to the back room opened.
Theo glanced over imdiately.
There, the old man walked in with a relaxed expression.
"Looks like you’re all awake," he said casually.
Theo turned slightly, glancing at Owen.
He was rubbing his eyes, even letting out a big yawn.
"When did he wake up?"
The two locked eyes for a mont.
Neither said a word, simply nodding once.
"Grandpa," Ethan said behind him, "how did everything go?"
Alden let out a quiet chuckle as he walked further into the room.
"Calm down, my boy," he said. "It’s all been handled."
Ethan let out a quiet breath and leaned back in his chair, patiently waiting.
Alden ca to a halt in front of all three of them, smiling warmly.
"The governnt has sealed the area off," he started. "They’re still assessing at the mont, but based on what they have so far..."
He paused for a mont.
"They are willing to bring the mission reward up to four million dollars."
Silence fell imdiately.
Owen, who had just woken up, rubbed his eyes again.
He looked around, instantly fully awake.
"Four million?" he repeated. "No one told there’d be money on the line!"
Even Theo fell into disbelief.
’It grew by that much?’ he thought. ’But how?’
There’s no way the governnt would do sothing like that willingly.
That’s when sothing flashed through his mind.
’It... has to be because this is a grandmaster-level hunting group, right?’
Alden continued as if it was nothing.
"That prize includes the out-of-scope danger level of the mission," he said calmly, "and the unacceptable behavior of their personnel."
He tapped the table lightly, smiling faintly.
"Alongside that, you also retain the right to na the new parasitic creature."
Ethan shot up from his chair.
"Really?"
Alden nodded again, his smile growing warr.
Ethan’s face lit up.
"That’s insane..."
Theo didn’t say anything.
Sure, it was cool.
But for hunters like him, it had no relevance at all.
’It’s a free ticket to worldwide fa for researchers, though.’
Ethan was already muttering to himself, fingers tapping rapidly against his laptop.
Theo didn’t say anything.
His gaze remained on Alden.
The old man noticed imdiately and nodded once.
He gestured towards the back with a tilt of his head.
"Walk with ," he said.
Theo didn’t hesitate and stepped forward.
Together, the two walked through the tiny corridor, ending in a small office space.
Alden moved behind his desk, pulling open one of the drawers.
"...I’ll keep this short," he said.
He placed a thin docunt on the table.
"You’ve been accepted."
Theo’s eyes fell on the paper.
"This paper allows you to beco an official mber," Alden continued, "of the Northern Line Hunting Group."
He fell silent for a mont—
And slid a pen across the table.
"All that’s left is your signature."
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