The snow glows blue upon the mountains, illuminating it from a great distance. On the summit lies the deadly blizzard, covering what lies ahead for a player to see.
"Damn, already?" Julian shivers. He checks on his pockets and grabbed a flask with red liquid.
Warmth envelopes him as he gulped the last ounces of hot potion. The path was suddenly quiet, nothing but the whistles of cold wind passing through him.
"Blizzard's out, better grab those whelps." Julian crawled into a hole, leading him to the top. Upon reaching the summit lies the husk of a dragon, rusted from the unbearable cold.
Quickly he mined through the shell with his iron pickaxe. A bunch of Khezu Whelps came out, crawling to him. "Ow! You fucker.." A whelp bit his finger upon grabbing it. He angrily placed them to a sack, strapped to his side.
"Okay, lets get you boys out of-" a sudden loud roar caught his attention.
Looking at the bottom, Julian saw a monster; gold and blue.
"The Tigrex, you are in for a treat, sir." Karl suddenly said.
"Shut it! I have been training for this day!" The hunter jumped down, landing on its head. The floor cracked from the tremendous impact he emitted. "Let's see what you are made of, you damn pain train." He muttered.
Jumping away from the staggered monster, the hunter unsheathed his greatsword.
The Tigrex attempts to bit him but was dodged perfectly. Seeing an opening, Julian went for the attack.
"What now, you piece of filth?" Julian checked for a slash but was deflected by the sturdy shell of the Tigrex. Rolling out of the way, he barely missed the monster's tail.
"You're screwed, Julian." Karl said. "You better gather herbs and blue mushrooms."
"Alchemy is for pussies." He replied, dodging icy boulders.
"Well, it is beneficial to hunting. Stop being a limp dick and bail out!"
"I never quit!" He delivered a successful three slow but powerful hits to the Tigrex, causing it to move back.
"Congratulations.." Karl said in a monotone manner.
"I told you homeboy; can't touch this!" Julian starts taunting, whilst carrying his Ravager Blade.
A massive roar interrupted his celebration, causing violent shockwaves to blow him away with a slight amount of damage.
Its eyes now stained with red, its veins, glowing through its arms; indicating imminent threat.
"Well, if you listened to the soundtrack music, its telling you that you're in for a treat." Karl added.
"Oh shi-" The trigrex starts charging towards the player. Unabling to react early, he received the attack, depleting his health completely and fainted with shame.
You fainted
Reward Decreased to 2,500
"Alright, I quit."
Start*
Abandon Quest*
"I call utter bull-"
"Excuse me, are you sir Julian?" A waiter intervened, carrying their order.
"Yes sir.." he replied, still wearing the face of defeat.
Scratching his head wildly, he dropped his PlayStation portable on the table and starts unwrapping the burger.
"This is like the fifth fucking time, damn it!" He muttered angrily.
"You'll overcome it." Karl said with a smirk. "Just remember to mix health potions and you will do just fine."
"I stacked potions, mega potions, max potions and buffs for this shit! How come I can't seem to see myself gaining the upper hand."
"Well, either you lack discipline or just suck at playing it." Karl said, shadowing his friend with more misery.
"... maybe its my armor" Julian wondered. "I haven't upgraded it yet to level 6."
"What do you mean?" Karl took a bite from his burger.
"Maybe if I need to find armor spheres, it would absorb most of its damage.." His eyes opened widely upon realization. "..So that I can save potions!"
"Well that can be an advantage." Karl commented. "But still, Alchemy is still effective."
"Sure, whatever." He took a bite from his cheeseburger. "Anyways, hunting aside, how is life?" Julian asked.
"Well school's out, and I am hell-free. I can play my game in peace, finally." He laughed. "Say, Julian."
"Hrmph?" He grunted with a mouthful of his previous bite.
"Have you heard that they are collaborating the game with VR?"
Julian swallowed, "Capcom? How so?"
"They sold their game to another company. So whatever company that is, they now own the franchise."
"Thats a sudden; wasting such a great game. What company by the way?"
"I dunno." Karl replied. "But they said that they will release a MH game in "Virtual" version. Fun fact that it is their first game."
"Virtual and first time release is a very bad mixture for a company."
"What do you think of VRChat? They sold well, considering the fact that its their first game."
"Its called being lucky." Julian implied. "They have a new "essence" to the world of trends, Karl."
"Well, the new company also has a new "essence" too."
"You mean they also have something new to show?" He asked.
"Yeah, they call it something like "Something manipulation" or what. The concept of it is quite hazy; but judging by its namesake, it has something to do with altering a part of your body, like your mind, to see something you aren't supposed to see."
Julian was baffled by his words, either to believe or doubt. To him, it sounded like it came from a fictional story.
He decided to play along, "So its like a device or a helmet that will be placed on your head and start dreaming about the game?" He asked.
"Kinda like that. But like I said, very hazy." Karl replied.
"Man, Its like some Sword Art Online bullshit there."
"Kind of. But I wanna see it for myself."
"I also wanna see the source of that information. What's the site?" Von asked, nibbling french fries.
"triple W dot phase underscore one dot com. look it up if you have time."
"Sure thing."
-END OF PART I-