At the Guild
Nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Patrons were ordering food, staff was serving customers, Adventurers were taking quests, the usual happenings in the Axel guild. That is...

???: Adventurers of the Axel guild, I Jett Mardel, come with a proposition that will greatly benefit you all!

...someone comes to disturb that peace.

Luna: Eh....?

Jett Mardel of the Mardel family. In the Kingdom of Belzerg, the Mardel family is famous for producing well-known Knights throughout the history of their founding. The current heir to the family, Jett, however, is spoiled and arrogant, traits unbecoming of what a Knight is supposed to be. While this isn't uncommon among heirs and some knights, he prefers spending his time hiring experienced Hunters or Adventurers to form Hunting parties to kill strong monsters rather than train in the arts of Knighthood. Many see this as him getting stronger to defend the Royal Capital, but he's just trying to get famous in the world.

Jett: I'm sure all of you have heard about the Griffin pride who's made traveling on the main road to the Royal Capital a hassle for Merchants. That's why I, Jett Mardel, have taken it upon myself to put together a hunting party of capable Hunters and Adventurers to get rid of the pride. Now tell me, who here seeks fame, fortune, glory, and recognition? If these sound pleasant to you and are your goals, join me and aid the innocent Merchants by killing the Griffin pride!

Everyone looks a little nervous. For even an experienced Adventurer, a Griffin is a difficult monster to kill as they're strong enough to carry a flailing horse in the air. So why would someone like Jett come to Axle, the town of beginner Adventurers, and seek some of them to join his hunting party?

Adventurer 5: HOLY SHIT!!!

Zion pov
It's been 3 days since I made a party with Alma and Umbra, and my days have been pretty mundane as of late. I've also learned that while names can sound stupid, they really are with some merits relative to perspective. A great example would be the One-Punch Bear. The One-Punch Bear, which is also called the One-Hit-Kill Bear or One Strike Bear, is an incredibly strong Bear monster who's strong enough to behead targets with a single swipe. Now this is impressive, but there's something people don't know: it can only DO that because it fights prey weaker than itself. If you put a One-Punch Bear against a Dragon or something, the Dragon is gonna win. Now don't get me wrong, I almost died of blood loss to the thing if it wasn't for the Troll's Regeneration. 

It's evolved to stand on its hind legs and fight upright with its strong muscles and sharp claws. Now there's nothing wrong with this, but it can't walk like a normal bear. See, its upper body muscles have increased in size and density, which has made its head shift lower than a regular Bear's. The people it fights usually die in one hit, so the strength of a One-Punch Bear is all about perspective. They're also pretty solitary so fighting them is a matter of getting the drop on it before it can kill you.

I killed 3 and ate 2. The first two were just torn apart like an animal got to them, except the livers since they fetch a good price. Then again, maybe selling the mangled corpses would've fetched a good price regardless of the condition. Sometimes I don't think, but this world has too many factors for me to think about. That's why I just killed one and brought it here because it could put me in good graces with the Merchants here. That and I didn't really feel like eating it. Eating multiple of the same creature doesn't make an ability stronger, but it DOES strengthen the abilities of a similar creature. For example, I ate a Big Arm Bear and a One-Punch Bear when I came here. By them being species of Bears, it strengthened what I can do with another type of Bear, like a Polar Bear. 

Adventurer 5: HOLY SHIT!!!

Ah, I keep forgetting the Town of Beginners and their perspective. Many Adventurers from Axle have died to the One-Punch Bear because they underestimated them. With a name like One-Punch Bear, you'd think people would try to stray away from them. But their names are so dumb that it sounds like nonsense.

Adventurer 2: Wait... there are no cuts on the corpse. It's an uninjured kill.

Adventurer 4: How did you kill it? The corpse looks high quality and the hide is devoid of any cuts, perfect for tanning.

Zion: With my hands? The hide is higher quality that way.

The random Adventurer gives a smile and holds his hand out to me. Now that I look at him, his equipment's kinda high quality compared to the other Adventurers here. He's also well groomed, much more than the common folk of Axle. 

Adventurer 4: I have an offer for a warrior of your caliber! I, Jett Mardel, have amassed a party of Hunters to take on-

Zion: I'll join. From what I can tell, you require strong fighters if you've rallied a party of Hunters rather than a small group or none at all.

Jett smirks.

Jett: No hesitation, I like it! Come, my men are just outside Axle. What's your name my friend?

Zion: Zion, no last name.

Jett nods and pats my back. We leave the guild and take a walk through the town.

Jett: So Zion, what's your Adventurer class? I imagine you're a Crusader, Rune Knight, or Dragon Knight.

Zion: Nope, I'm a Hunter. I wear this armor because it's kinda like a weapon with its jagged edges. Plus, I fight monsters with either my sword or bare hands.

Jett: Admirable, but strange. 

The walk is kinda awkward after that. Well, awkward for me at least. Jett kept asking me questions about my Skills, fighting style, successful hunts, and other things you'd expect. Though I didn't think someone from an obviously influential Noble family would be interested in a commoner's life, it's strange. Eventually, we make it to Jett's hunting party. There looks to be 25 people in total, 5 of which seem to be other Nobles evident by their ornate armor and horses. Everyone else seems to be a common man or Adventurer evident by their admittedly low-quality equipment. Though they all have the aura of an experienced Hunter, so majority of them must come from Hunting families or be village Hunters. 

Jett: Everyone, this is Zion. He's a Hunter class Silver Ranked Adventurer who'll be joining us on our hunt for Griffins!

Hmm, so we're hunting Griffins huh? I've seen them in different works of fiction, but never thought I'd ever see one. I mean this is a fantasy world but...I always thought I'd find some way to turn into a Griffin. I help the men load up their supplies, which seems to be a bit much, and we set off. I sat in one of the carts to read up about Griffins from my book.

Griffin (Alternatively spelled Griffon or Gryphon)
Griffins are feared hybrid creatures that have the muscular hindquarters of a Lion and the head, forelimbs, and wings of an Eagle. Because of their powerful wings, Griffins could fly and swoop down to catch their favorite prey: Horses. They seldom attack humans but will do so if they have Horses with them. Despite having the front part of an Eagle, Griffin's forelimbs are incredibly strong with sharp talons. The beak is also sharp enough to tear a human's arm off with ease and their shriek was deafening to those that heard it. Despite their reputation, Griffins are noble and fairly emotional creatures who could grow attachments to riders that can only be broken through death with babies being easier to tame. Griffins are one of the creatures with sexual dimorphism: 

Male Griffins have feathers on top of their heads either in manes or peaked protrusions with the latter being the most common. They're bigger than females at 10 feet in length and 5 feet in height with a 12-foot wingspan.

Female Griffins have smooth heads full of feathers. They're 6 feet in length and 3-4 feet in height with a 5-foot wingspan.

Note: Griffin's plumage can vary from brown to gray, but they aren't limited to Lions and Eagles. Many avian and feline combinations of Griffins exist, Lion and Eagle happen to be the most common variation. 

Timeskip
3 days later
Ok so no one told me it takes a WEEK to get to the Royal Capital from Axle. Luckily one of the Horses was kidnapped by a Griffin on the 3-day mark and we tracked it back to its nest. Griffins seem to have the pride behavior of Lions and this particular pride contains 20 members: 5 males, 18 females, and currently two young. Kinda strange since Lion prides can have up to three males, so one of the Griffins must be the dominant one. Though we did run into a sort of problem....

Jett: What are Quilvayne bastards doing in Belzerg!?

???: My name is Sir Dominic Azurosé, Knight of the Order of the Blue.

Dominic: With me are 5 more soldiers of the Order of the Blue as well as 15 soldiers from Her Majesty's army. 

Jett: I could give a rat's ass who you are or what you are! I want to know why Quilvayne trash is interfering with the affairs of the Mardel family heir?!

Dominic doesn't seem annoyed or bothered by Jett's rudeness. I gotta commend the guy, I would've snapped at Jett for insulting me when I simply introduced myself.

Dominic: Her majesty was growing concerned with the migrating Manticore pride. Because we were still recovering from an attack from the Empire, she had to send a small but capable force to eliminate them.

Jett grits his teeth at this. Manticores eh? Better consult my book.

Manticore
If you see a Manticore, run. Manticores are a predatory species and one of the few who actively hunt Humans. They're chimeric creatures with the body of a lion, wings of a bat or dragon, a tail, and a maw of teeth not unlike a shark. Manticore tails can be either a cluster of spikes that it can launch at a distance or that of a scorpion with a strong paralytic or lethal venom. Traditionally Manticore prides make their homes in caves or jagged peaks, but they very rarely act nomadic. This is usually temporary until they can find a permanent home. Either that or they're solitary creatures. While all Manticores are intelligent to beast standards, Manticores can start to develop humanoid faces that boost their intelligence. Fully Human-faced Manticores were known to speak the languages of Humans and have the capacity to learn magic. Oddly enough, Manticores can both lay eggs and birth live young, but the reason for this is unknown. Manticores hatched from eggs are commonly the more beastial ones while live birthed Manticores are usually the intelligent ones, but this isn't always the case. Similar to their rivals the Griffins, Manticores are sexually dimorphic animals:
Male Manticores look similarly to regular male Lions with the more intelligent ones having masculine humanoid faces.

Female Manticores look similarly to regular Lionesses with the more intelligent ones having feminine humanoid faces.

Huh, looks like I'll have more Lion based abilities today, but damn are these complicated creatures. Jett didn't take too kindly to Dominic and his men coming here as he pointed his small sword at them. Then again, a hunting sword isn't supposed to be the same length as a broad sword. 

Jett: You and your blasted Queen can rot in a damn hole for all I care! The Mardel family and MY men will slay the Griffins AND any Manticores foolish enough to challenge us!

Jett's party cheers at his declaration. I however get in the middle of them, glaring at Jett. Despite the glare being through my helmet, he can feel the overwhelming presence of something as simple as a glare from me.

Zion: Think for a second. Manticores and Griffins are not only territorial, but they're rivals in nature. All of us fighting them separately would be suicide with no doubt. We need to work together to kill EVERYTHING. Turning down Knights and extra support is a dumb decision, we'll need all the help we can get if we have to hunt both Griffins AND Manticores. Besides, leaving one or the other will cause problems for BOTH kingdoms.

Ok, I may have lied a little. Personally, I just want to kill a Griffin and Manticore or two and leave. I really could care less what happens to Jett and his Hunting party, but these Quilyavne soldiers make me feel odd. No, they aren't remotely close to the same 'species' as me, but I feel like they're more competent than Jett or his men. Eventually, Jett gives in and sheaths his sword before turning his back on Dominic.

Jett: Be lucky Zion is a wise Knight, I would've just killed the Griffins and left you to perish.

Jett and his men leave. I go to follow, but I feel Dominic place a hand on my shoulder.

Dominic: You have my thanks, Sir Zion.

Zion: Think nothing of it, I'm here to kill any monster that gets in my way.

All of us follow Jett and his men with the former and latter scowling at the thought of them joining us. I don't know much about the kingdoms and empires of this world, but I can see Belzerg and Quilvayne have a tense relationship.

Dominic: Why do you work for Jett Mardel anyway? You seem to be a strong Knight, strong enough to enlist as a Knight for a King or potentially an Emperor.

Zion: Think of it as a contract. He's paying me to help him exterminate the Griffins, but I have another personal interest.

Dominic: Oh?

Zion: I have this...interest in consuming monster meat. I've eaten a Toad, a Troll, a Hard Wolf, a Dire Wolf, a One-Punch Bear, a Big Arm Bear, a regular Lizardman, and a variety of normal animals. My stomach is incredibly strong, so I don't suffer negative effects from consuming monster meat.

Dominic: Well may I enlist in your aid?

Zion: Depends on what you need and what you can offer.

Timeskip
Hunter 5: Ack-

That guy got killed by a Griffin tearing him apart. That idiot Jett and his men recklessly charged at them with no hesitation, unlike Dominic who made a plan to kill the Manticores. Kind of a bad one with attrition warfare, but a plan nonetheless. That resulted in many of them dying with the exception being the Nobles that fled to "offer support" with magic. That left me, Jett, Dominic, and his men to fight off the Griffins and Manticores. The Griffins weren't as hard as one would expect, and they were tasty too. I ate a male and a female, but there was no real difference other than the males being stronger because of size and the obvious sexual body parts. The Manticores on the other hand, those bastards are built different. While Dominic's men were alright because of antidotes and some magic, Jett's men were severely poisoned and out for the count.

Jett: N-no...no...NO it wasn't supposed to be this way! I was supposed to return to the Royal Capital as a Hero and amazing Hunter! I'm the Lord of The Hunt dammit!

Zion: Lord of The Hunt? Sounds made up coming from you.

I shift my muscles into that of a Troll and catch a Manticore's stinger. 

Zion: As expected, Troll muscles are superior to Bear or Gorilla ones with the added benefit of regenerating in case of overuse.

Dominic: 'What is he talking about...?'

Dominic's an amazing good fighter, pretty expected of a Knight of his ranking. Though he struggles to kill something as strong as a Manticore, I can see the amount of effort and work he puts into his art. Wait....we're just fighting Manticores...that means...

Zion: Did Jett and his men leave already? I see no Griffin corpses except for the few I mutilated.

I was right, the coward and his party evacuated without a trace or second thought. No matter, I only needed to consume 1 or 2 Griffins, but I learned something about them. Their halves are in opposite directions. The Lion half, despite being in the back, does the strength duties of the front half and vice versa. That's why Griffins are terrible land hunters, their talons lack the raw strength of their lion legs. Unfortunately, I still can't use higher functions such as wings or a tail as a Griffin's brain just the same as a human's. It doesn't matter, my current abilities are enough to deal with these fucking meals! I step on the tail of a Manticore trying to take a bite out of me whilst holding its jaws.

Zion: Structure of a human...body of a Griffin...bones of a Dolphin...muscles of a Troll!

With that, I managed to change by utilizing the new Griffin abilities I got, just minus the wings and a tail, unfortunately. But hey, it's still a strong form.

Zion: Swapping the Eagle arms for Lion paws was a smart move...

With a smirk, which is hard to see due to my beak, I snap the Manticore's jaws before breaking its neck. While fighting, I looked at how the Griffin's body performed. Even without the Troll muscles or Dolphin bones, it still would've been strong and fairly agile thanks to the Lion's legs. Though the Eagle talons provided an amazing amount of grip strength due to the prey they're known for hunting. I'm actually glad I came along with Jett to hunt these Griffins, their bodies are useful for my ability. A female Manticore dived at me, but I dodged and grabbed her tail. With my Troll-based strength, I rip the tail off and stab her through the chest with it. I grab two by their heads and bash their skull together, crushing them both under the intense pressure. Feeling a menacing presence, I turn around to see one of the male Manticores growling at me.

Zion: Bring it on cupcake!

With a roar and screech, we charge at each other.

Timeskip
After almost the entire day, we managed to kill all of the Manticores. Dominic came to me while I was eating one of the males, not that it seemed to bother him in the slightest.

Dominic: Are you perhaps....a Metamorphian?

Zion: A what...?

Dominic: A Metamorphian. They're rare monstrous humans with the ability to turn into other monsters, a race very different from Beastmen and Lizardfolk. Depending on where you go, Metamorphians are respected, feared, or despised.

Gotta play along Zion.

Zion: That...might be what I am. Do Metamorphians eat monster meat as well?

Dominic: Not usually. Their powers are more...spiritual from what I understand. But thank you for staying with us to slay the Manticores. I will ensure you're paid handsomely for this.

I wave my hand.

Zion: Think nothing of it. I only came with Jett to kill Griffins, helping you and your men was a bonus.

Dominic: Well I still want to repay you. Whenever I have to go on another hunt, I shall bring you with me.

He gives me a rectangular stone with a magic circle and a few other symbols on it.

Dominic: As long as you have this stone, we can communicate over vast distances.

Zion: 'So a fantasy phone...?'

I give him a nod and take my leave, but not without grabbing one of the things I agreed upon as well as some of the monster parts from the corpses. 

Scene change: Unknown castle
In a somewhat dark throne room, Dominic can be seen kneeling as he takes his helmet off. In front of him on an elevated throne is a female figure, obviously a queen judging by her crown and ornate gown that's red and white in color. Though her face is obscured, you can still make out ruby-ready red lips and caramel-colored skin. They're not alone however as a multitude of Nobles and other high-class/ranking Knights are in attendance in the throne room.

Dominic: Your Highness...

Queen: Dominic, one of my most trusted knights. Have you fulfilled your mission?

Dominic: Yes your highness. We managed to gather all of the Griffin eggs and that fool Jett did leave them as you predicted, but we also killed the Manticores as well with some help.

This elicits whispers from the audience. Dominic is known for his strength and loyalty to the crown, but even he struggles in killing a Manticore. To hear that he and his men, even with outside help, did something like this is an achievement on its own. Many assumed he'd fail in both tasks.

Queen: Wonderful! Now, how many eggs did you gather?

Flashback
Dominic: Her Highness was aware of the Griffin situation and sent me to retrieve the eggs from the nests. It was just a coincidence that imbecile Jett wanted to hunt them and the Manticore pride was constantly moving.

Zion: So you want me to help you gather the eggs?

Dominic: Yes. In exchange, I will have the Order of the Blue slay a strong monster for you to consume.

Zion: Deal, eggs for a beast. But I want to keep one egg, it's for a friend.

Dominic: That is...acceptable. It takes 64 days for a single Griffin egg to hatch. However, I do not know when these eggs were laid.
Flashback end

Dominic: There were 17, but we collected 16 because I gave one to the man that helped us...

Upon saying this, the whispers turned into angry rants. Everyone present chastises and berates him for what they claim to be a stupid mistake. Their anger is understandable, however. Griffin eggs fetch a high price in gold due to their intelligence and strength among monsters. Many kingdoms and Nobles search high and low, even in the black market, for Griffin eggs so they may one day raise them to be beasts of war of their own. The Queen however seems to be getting annoyed at her court.

Queen: Quiet!

The sound of thunder rings out as the Queen raises her voice. Her smile faded as she looked at Dominic, but she didn't seem disappointed. Rather, she seemed curious.

Queen: Now Dominic, I've always trusted your judgment even before you became my Knight. So why did you see it fit to give one of the eggs to someone?

Dominic: There's something about him...

Dominic thinks back to Zion in general. His strength, abilities, ferocity, bloodlust from his helmet, everything about him gave off the aura of a beast who cares for nothing, not even its own mortality.

Dominic:....that just...scared me, for lack of a better term. He consumes monsters for their natural abilities and adds them to his own. He admitted that he's consumed a Giant Toad, a Troll, a Hard Wolf, a Dire Wolf, a One-Punch Bear, a Big Arm Bear, a regular Lizardman, and a variety of normal animals. I didn't want to risk the health or survival of my men so I agreed to his demands. To my relief, I didn't have to haggle because he asked for one egg as a gift for someone. Other than that, he just took a few monster parts with him for what I assume is for weapons.

The Queen thinks for a moment before addressing Dominic.

Queen: Do you have any information on him? 

Dominic: Yes your highness. His name is Zion and he's an Adventurer stationed in Axle. He took his helmet off and I could see he was a brown-skinned human, likely from one of the desert regions, with black hair and blue eyes. He also wears a suit of jagged black armor with a large sword on his back.

She nodded at Dominic before smiling lightly.

Queen: Thank you, I'll send people to investigate him. In the meantime, I'm putting you and your Order in charge of protecting the Griffin eggs. All of you are dismissed.

Everyone bows and leaves the throne room, leaving the Queen by herself. She looks at her long nails painted ruby red.

Queen: 'Zion huh? I do hope to meet you in the future...'