The weeks following Dean's successful completion of the Hunter Exam were filled with a sense of accomplishment and possibility. He had proven to himself that he could survive in the wider world, that his power was real and significant, and that he could make his own way without the family's support.
But the exam had also revealed something important to him: there were other powerful people in the world. Candidates who had unique abilities, who had trained in different ways, who possessed powers that were just as formidable as his own. Dean realized that becoming a Hunter was just the beginning of his journey. The real challenges lay ahead.
During this period, Dean took on several assignments from the Hunter Association's job board. These early missions were relatively straightforward—investigating disappearances, tracking down wanted criminals, gathering rare materials. But each mission taught him something new about the world, about the different types of threats that existed beyond the Zoldyck mansion, about the ways that Nen could be used in unexpected and creative ways.
It was during one of these early missions that Dean encountered something that would change the trajectory of his entire life: a mysterious game called Greed Island.
The information about Greed Island came to him through a chance encounter with an older Hunter who had been investigating the same target. The Hunter, a grizzled man named Raiga, mentioned in passing that there was a legendary game that had been created by a master Nen user decades ago. The game was said to be a training ground for Nen users, a place where the rules of the normal world didn't apply, where power could be developed and refined in ways that normal training couldn't achieve.
"It's just a rumor," Raiga had said, taking a long drink of his beer. "Most people think it's a myth. But I've heard stories from Hunters who claim to have played it. They say it changed their lives, made them stronger in ways they never thought possible."
Dean filed this information away in his mind. Greed Island sounded like exactly what he needed—a place where he could push his Adaptive Evolution ability to its absolute limits, where he could test himself against challenges that would force him to grow and evolve.
But first, he had another reunion to attend to.
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