Inside a big white house in a certain room, constant banging was heard one after another. In between there would be grunts and yells that could be heard even with the doors closed, and after a while it had stopped.
Inside the office itself, Slough’s mayor was standing in the centre huffing and panting, his fists bloody. He was out of breath and the room itself had been turned upside down like there had been a robbery.
Papers were strewn all across the floor, broken chairs, smashed paintings, ripped books and more.
‘Those damned Howlers… why did they have to appear NOW?! They could ruin EVERYTHING!!! Everything I’ve painstakingly built up! I chose this town carefully. I carefully made all my connections… I was so close, and now they’re about to ruin it ALL!!!’ Ben clenched his fist, and it looked like he was about to attempt to smash his desk as well, until a knock just outside his door was heard.
Putting it down, and now noticing the mess he had caused, Ben straightened out his clothes while heading towards the door, opening it himself. At the door itself was D, leader of the Rising Dragon gang, who seemed to be spending most of his time at the mayor’s.
“The NIRV corp respective is here.” D explained.
Arriving home after the dreaded meeting he had, Ben had completely forgotten about his appointment today. On top of that, it was quite the important one that he couldn’t miss.
“Tell him I will be with him in just a minute, and let's move the meeting to the living room, make sure the doors are locked after me as well.” Ben ordered.
After a few minutes, Ben Clove had gone down to the living room, where his daughter and wife were already present. The two of them were sitting down peacefully chatting to the guest that would be there today. The guest himself was an older looking gentleman with grey hair and classes, on top of that he wore a lab coat.
‘These figures from NIRV seem to never leave without their coats.’ Ben thought as he put on a smile and went for a handshake. The representative stood up and shook the mayor’s hand, while noticing his hands were bandaged up.
“I didn't expect your profession to cause you to use your hands in such ways.” The representative sounded surprised, as he pushed glasses back up onto the top of his face. Noticing that both of them were bandaged up, he assumed it had come from hitting something.
Once again, Ben smiled, but it was a forced smile. NIRV was one of the, if not THE biggest corporation in the world. They were the first ones that were able to successfully create an Altered. Ever since they have been leading the way, always coming up with better technologies, making the process safer and on top of that, finding a vast amount of ancient beast fossils to be used as Altered.
Of course, this was why Ben had called them, because they were the best of the best, and his daughter only deserved the best in his eyes. However, as the market leader, NIRV’s headquarters was naturally located in a Tier-1 city. This house visit alone had cost the Clove family a small fortune.
Not everyone, but there were people in Tier-1 Cities that tended to look down on those living in lower tiers. Which made Ben have a disliking for most of those in the Tier-1 cities, even though he wished to be one of those people one day.
“I just needed to release some anger, it's a stressful job, after all.” Ben explained.
The NIRV employee didn’t comment any further. Instead, he turned on the large TV while in the room. What followed was a presentation of sorts, the employee went through all the benefits and the risks that one had to be aware of when undergoing the Altered process.
In the past, there was a high risk of the person dying, but nowadays NIRV had managed to decrease the fatality chance to around one in a million. However, there were some clear points to take away from the presentation.
Once a person selected a specific type of Altered, there was no way to change into another Altered. On top of that, there was also no way for them to reverse the process once it had been completed. Learning to control the Altered form would differ from person to person.
Interestingly, there was the possibility to upgrade one’s Altered form though. At times NIRV had managed to find similar beasts. When the procedure was performed on an Altered, it was possible that they could be strengthened if the fossil turned out to be stronger than the original. If this was the case they would be happy to upgrade the Altered free of charge.
“Now, as you have wished, I’ve brought along a selection for you to choose from. All this Altered DNA has yet to appear on the market and not a single person has had access to. In other words, it will be unique to her… unless of course someone manages to find more of that type of fossil.” The representative explained.
There was a reason why Ben had asked for this. It would have been a lot cheaper if they had asked for a more common Altered form. Although some of them could climb the ladder of fame with their strength, if they didn't, they would be left as guards to corporations or amount to very little in the world.
On the other hand, a unique Altered would be able to garner a lot of attention from corporations and more. If Xin didn't make it as an Altered fighter like she wished, then her father still wanted his only daughter to have an easy and good life. Even if it was costly, the mayor was sure that it would be worth every penny.
‘I want my family to be safe… even after I leave.’ Ben thought.
“Since you don’t seem to have any questions, shall we proceed?” The employee lifted a small metal briefcase and placed it out on the table in front of him. “At NIRV, we strive to perfect the Alterification process. Since you’ve chosen our top option, we’ve prepared something special for you. It will be announced at our next press conference, but there’s no longer even a need to go to a lab.”
As the man explained everything, he opened up the metal briefcase and inside there were three syringes with liquid inside. “Now all that is needed is just a simple injection.” He smiled.