The Quest “Retired Hunter” may not provide you any weapons, but it sure has its share of plot. Donoph, a HUmar hires you for this quest. He wears a purple uniform, has white hair and is from Redria. He wants to kill 99 monsters to complete his 10,000 monster goal. He retired 10 years ago, just 99 short of his goal. He will ask you if you understand what he's trying to do. Question him, and he won't like you, calling you a block-head like some other people he’s talked to. Agree with "!!" and he’ll say you know what it means to be a MAN, just like he does.
This statement is mysterious. Reaching your goals is manly? What does anything have to do with being a MAN? He doesn’t want you to tell anyone what he’s up to, as he should probably be in the hospital. His deal is, that he is about to die. Literally. As in 30 minutes from now. How does he know? And what’s killing him? Whatever it is, causes him to cough a lot, and makes me glad to be an android who can’t catch it. So his clock starts going down as you run out into town. There you can meet an extra nurse, who is concerned and nervous over Donoph’s disappearance. It could be because he ‘escaped’ on her watch over him. She doesn’t figure out that you’re with him though. Alicia Baz is also wandering around, and proves the most useful NPC on the quest. She knows he’s hired you right away, and provides a bit of explanation. Back on Pioneer 1, Donoph had a friend named Heathcliff. Donoph wanted to be on the “same standing” with his best friend, hence, his 10,000 monster goal. There is also a tekker present, but he proves no real use, making general comments.

The first area is Ruins 3, teleport down, and Donoph will find you. On VH mode, he’s level 90, ULT and he’s level 190, but still equipping a Claymore. Game Cube Update: He switches to the Zanba, a rare metal sword. He can cast anti and limited resta, but also uses dimates. For his techniques he prefers foie and gifoie. Not as crazy as Ash, he fights fairly well, but still needs lots of protecting. As you go along, pressing switches and helping him kill monsters, he counts them off. Any hit he takes causes him to cough more. One hallway remains locked throughout the trip. At the end, he says he can die happy, having completed his goal. (Note: Donoph himself does not have to kill a single monster the whole trip. It is enough that he is there while you do it, as he’s extremely useless on ULT and is literally incapable of killing anything, despite his level.) He tells you to go and get the reward while he remains, his last words being "I have lived enough...'Heath'".

Returning to town, speak to everyone again. If you picked “!!” in the beginning, Alicia will make the ‘quest complete’ sound when you talk to her. This starts the ‘semi secret’ part of the quest. Return to the teleporter, and find Forrest2 available. There’s a decent amount of enemies here, and one very special message. Press the switch to get to the weather station computer and pick to listen to the message. You perform a search on “Heathcliff” and it returns a single document, a voice-file from ol’ Heath himself. Heathcliff Flowen, presumably the maker of “Flowens Sword, Shield, and Frame” died in the year 084. (Which really isn't true) and (the rest of information consists of a “W” and some “…...”. Heathcliff says he knows who will be reading the message, but never says who it was meant for. (obviously not you, presumably Donoph) He’s sad to be leaving ahead of his friend on P1 and without the chance to see him again. He doesn’t want to ‘tempt fate’ (in regards to what?) He finds Ragol to be so peaceful as to be boring, and says it’s not the right place for “Donof” as he type-o’s his friends’ name. He says his daughter will take care of Donoph, and for him not to cause her any problems. Donoph was Alicia’s favorite since she was small. He then pulls up a mystery name “Zook” Did he type-o “Zoke”? “I know you want “Out” Zook, but don’t do anything stupid. You were always stubborn since you were young. I’ve done some things I wasn’t proud of, but we are so old now, I hope you understand. Don’t let her worry about you, and it’ll be a while, I’ll see you again, over there.” The message ends, and even if you pester the computer again, it won’t give anything further.

Back on the Ship, Alicia reveals more news. She was adopted by Heathcliff, who didn’t want to go on board Pioneer 1, and refused orders several times. Finally, who ever was in charge forced him to go, but before he went he told her “Evolution and Damnation are two sides of the same coin. It’s all up to the people living in it…Are we in the same situation…” Well, his last message didn’t make much sense either, but making sense isn’t Donny’s specialty, apparently. If you return to the ruins after she says her speech, you can hear Donoph, but not see him. He’ll cough and say “It’s almost done…” Further attempts to find his invisible self have since proved fruitless.