There definitely weren't any divine beasts on this island that could be lured away with a piece of grilled meat, but there were Bullfango Kings-one of Monster Hunter's former beginner instructors, and monsters that could even spell doom for veteran hunters who let their guard down.
Two of them, in fact.
"When I was exploring earlier, I saw those two Bullfango Kings facing off against the Forest Sheep King, meow. Neither side ended up fighting, so they should be about evenly matched, meow."
Sanji Meow, who had already explored nearly half the island, barely hesitated before choosing this Bullfango King couple as the targets for Xie Wen's first hunting expedition.
Xie Wen had no objections to Sanji Meow's choice. Compared with the other monsters, familiar or otherwise, Bullfango Kings had much simpler attack patterns. Whether viewed from a gaming perspective or a real-world one, they were the best targets for "getting started."
If only he could find a smith. With the materials from two Bullfango Kings, he could surely put together most of a set of Bullfango Armor.
Xie Wen thought this with considerable regret.
There was no helping it. In this real world, where any injury affected his physical condition, going without armor did very little for his sense of security.
If he still couldn't find a village, Xie Wen hoped he could summon a Palico with smithing skills. Although the smithing cats in the games seemed only capable of making equipment for Felynes and Palamutes, he figured a few minor adjustments would make it usable for him too...
And so, things came back to square one. To summon another cat, he first had to try hunting other large monsters.
After deciding on today's targets, Xie Wen followed Sanji Meow toward the two Bullfango Kings' territory, gathering some ingredients along the way...
After all, food didn't just fill Xie Wen's stomach. It could also serve as an item for healing and boosting his stats.
Besides that...
"Tsk! Still couldn't unlock the Endemic Life Field Guide, huh?"
Xie Wen opened the Hunter's Notes several times along the way, but unfortunately, the "grayed-out pages" showed no sign of unlocking.
In the games, besides the separate field guides for large and small monsters, both of which could be hunted, many neutral and even friendly creatures also had their own dedicated guide. The game designers classified them as "endemic life."
Yet Sanji Meow had previously brought back ingredients that didn't even qualify as small monsters, without unlocking this guide. Xie Wen had guessed that, as in the games, he probably needed to visit their "spawn points" himself to unlock it.
But he had now spent over ten minutes walking through the woods, and even increased his map exploration by one percent, without seeing an Endemic Life Field Guide appear in the notes.
Thinking about it, though, the games' "endemic life" either gave characters temporary buffs or served as collectibles for hunting-tool materials and points. Most importantly, despite being called living creatures, they all stayed in fixed locations rather than moving around. They were less a part of the Monster Hunter world's ecosystem than a mechanic designed to make the games more entertaining.
So it was actually quite normal for the Hunter's Notes not to include a field guide for them.
Having figured that out, Xie Wen twisted his mouth and finally gave up on that line of experimentation.
"Still no luck, meow?"
Seeing Xie Wen put away the Hunter's Notes, Sanji Meow looked disappointed too...
Compared with Xie Wen, this little yellow cat was actually far more concerned about whether the Hunter's Notes could unlock new pages.
"Come on, there are plenty of ways to unlock them. At the very least, we've confirmed how the weapons page works. We'll collect everything sooner or later." Xie Wen rubbed Sanji Meow's head and reassured him with a smile.
Of course, Xie Wen couldn't be sure whether the cat he summoned would be female or male, and he had deliberately avoided mentioning that issue to Sanji Meow...
Because he was really looking forward to seeing the spectacular expression on Sanji Meow's face if the next cat he summoned turned out to be another male.
"Meow?!"
Sanji Meow, who had been enjoying Xie Wen's petting, suddenly felt a chill. The little cat straightened up warily and glanced around, but found nothing unusual.
"What's wrong?"
Thinking he had spotted some danger, Xie Wen grew tense as well. One hand gripped the hilt behind his back, ready to draw the Salted Fish Long Sword at any moment.
Sanji Meow twitched his ears and shook his head before answering sheepishly, "...Maybe I was mistaken, meow. Let's keep going."
"Wait a second." Although his attempt to unlock a new page had failed, it had suddenly given Xie Wen another idea to try. "Take out a few of the little animals we killed earlier. There's something else I want to test."
"Meow?"
Sanji Meow tilted his head in confusion, but obediently took two dead rabbits and a dead wild bird out of his Meowster Bag.
Meanwhile, Xie Wen took out the primitive-looking Carving Knife.
Thinking about endemic life appearing as materials had instinctively reminded Xie Wen of the Carving Knife hunters used to harvest materials.
Since the Hunter's Notes, the BBQ Spit, and even the Whetstone and Fishing Rod all had special properties, there was no reason the Hunter's Knife, which saw just as much use as a weapon, should only function as an ordinary dagger...
Of course, its special property might simply be infinite durability, like the Whetstone and Fishing Rod, but there was no harm in trying.
"What are you doing, meow?!" Sanji Meow objected as soon as he saw Xie Wen take out the Carving Knife. "I can prepare the ingredients myself. Fighting suits a clumsy guy like you better, meow!"
As he spoke, he tried to stuff the ingredients back into his bag.
Sanji Meow was always particularly serious about anything involving cooking. Even after Xie Wen explained his intentions, he still seemed reluctant.
He carefully picked through the ingredients in his bag before handing Xie Wen the smallest and most badly damaged dead bird.
"You don't need such good ingredients for an experiment, meow," the little cat declared confidently.
Xie Wen didn't mind. He casually tossed the bird's body onto the ground, held the Carving Knife in a reverse grip, and copied the way hunters carved materials in the games, stabbing hard into the carcass.
"Meow!"
Watching Xie Wen's utterly amateurish movements made Sanji Meow itch all over.
But in the next second, shock made every hair on his body stand on end.
"What the meow is that?!"
At that moment, Sanji Meow shouted without even worrying that he might attract the island's predators.
Because after Xie Wen stabbed the knife down and dragged it through the carcass, a perfectly standard-looking bird leg abruptly "popped" out of the dead bird...
Even by Sanji Meow's exacting standards for ingredients, this bird leg had been prepared perfectly. It was an excellent ingredient, ready to use immediately.
What he found most unbelievable was that, even after the leg had "popped" out, the bird's body remained exactly as it had been. Even the spot where Xie Wen had stabbed and sliced showed no damage whatsoever.
"Uh...I'm just carving materials..." Xie Wen scratched his head. "Isn't this how all the other hunters do it?"
Well, although the hunters in his inherited memories didn't seem to possess such a peculiar ability, this was indeed how hunters in the games carved materials. He wasn't lying.
Unfortunately, Sanji Meow clearly didn't agree...
"Of course not, meow! What hunter would be as weird as you, you idiot?!"
Someone recommended a Pokémon auto-battler to me, and I got hooked for an entire day...I'd meant to use the weekend to build up a backlog of chapters...
But since it's the weekend, taking a little break is perfectly reasonable, right?
Before you continue