Chapter 1: Exposition and Exploration

…Right, so this took me a bit longer to get started on thanks to the gifts I received on Christmas… Having a new PSVR headset is fun! That being said, sorry for taking so long for those of you who have taken an interest in this story. Along with that comes another slight apology.

See, my original plan was to have this be the first real chapter of the story. You know, the one that started all those steamy scenes that are enjoyable to read… Unfortunately, that's not the case. Mainly because I realized after getting a fair bit into it, that I'd essentially built up even more lore for this story, and taken up what would essentially be half a chapter's worth with lore of the world and such… So, as a result, I'm splitting it.

This chapter is going to be fairly shorter than I planned as a result, but it's essentially a giant info dump for all of you who are actually here for the Plot of the story, as well as the "plot". So, for you guys, this chapter will be right up your alley in regards to something you might want to read. For those of you who are only here for the Lemons, sorry for essentially "putting them off" for another chapter…

That being said, with this chapter being all the info dump that I thought of over the past number of days, the next chapter will not only be much longer than this, but a good 80% of it will likely be the scenes that you are here for to begin with. So all this being said, for those of you here for the "plot", just give me a few days to get the next chapter out. For those of you who are actually interested in the Plot of the story, read away!

It had been a few hours after Alex's existential crisis, but he'd finally gotten around to accepting his new reality. He was now the Prime Time entertainment for an Omnipotent Being… Yeah, he might have accepted it, but it still sounded crazy to him, not to mention that "accepting" his new role and "liking" it were currently two different things. Sighing to himself, he walked towards the door of his new cabin in order to walk back out into the clearing, since he'd walked back inside to think for the past couple hours after that bombshell got dropped on him.

Luckily for him, that turned out to be a smart idea, since after going over this new situation in his head, he'd checked around his new living space for anything the Bastard of a Random Omnipotent Being might have given him to help him survive. After all, he had no idea how to hunt for his own food and such, so unless he'd given Alex a book or something to study how to hunt game, he probably wouldn't even last a week in this new dimension.

Instead, he'd learned something even better from a what looked like some kind of cross between a smartphone and a Pokédex, which had appeared on the center table inside the cabin. Likely after the info was downloaded into his brain, since it wasn't there beforehand when he first woke up. It also came with a case that clipped onto his pants, so that was nice. According to the note beside it, it was called the Monster Girl Encyclopedia, or MGE for short. Though it held more info than the name suggested.

Apparently, most of the cabin itself had been infused with the Omnipotent Being's powers, so that it could help him survive. Of course, there were heavy limitations to what it could do, since the Being didn't want Alex to spend his new life living in the cabin. It was supposed to be getting entertainment out of him after all! With that being said, he'd learned quite a bit about his new living space, and what it could do for him in this new life of his.

The size of the cabin itself would remain the same no matter what, though an extra door had been added after his new life had been revealed to him, which led to a small bathroom with a simple toilet, sink and shower/tub. Apparently, the Being had held off on creating this so that he wouldn't walk in there before exiting the cabin. Something about the dramatics of him waking up to only having a single door to go through. A small closet had also been added besides the bookcase as well. However, it's what he could do with the house that drew his attention the most.

Apparently while Alex was inside his new home, in a manner similar to when he used VR in his previous life, he could alter a few things about the house itself, as well as certain items inside of it. The first thing that he did after reading up on what he could do was add in a couple windows to his home. One on either side of his front door. Then, he "grabbed" a radiator for heat from an "inventory" that was available to him in his house, while also adding an AC unit into the wall above the door to his bathroom. He also added another one into the ceiling of said bathroom.

Once he was done with that, he looked through his closet, and found that there were only a few different clothing options for him. However, looking through the MGE, he found out that apparently more would become available to him as he traveled through this new dimension. He likened this part to video games from his previous life, but held onto some hope that actually changing outfits would do more than just change his appearance…

As it turned out, one item that he found in the closet did do something more for him, though at the moment, it was the only item that actually helped him in any real way. Hanging on a hook inside of the closet was a sheath with a dagger inside of it. It was nothing special really, but considering how Alex had been told his new life would consist of "collecting" Monster Girls, and he had no idea how to go about that at the moment, even after looking through his MGE, having something that he could use to defend himself was relieving.

Now, after looking through his home a bit more, he was finally going to check out the rest of this "dimension" that he was now living in. Closing the door to his home behind him, he walked towards the center of the clearing, before looking around at the three "portals" around him. Not entirely sure what led to where, he decided to take a look at his MGE, which turned out to be exactly what he needed, even if it wasn't all that helpful at the moment.

According to the MGE, the portal with the two arrows above it would allow him to begin his journey in this new world. Unfortunately, at the moment, that was all he knew. Looking through the MGE, He couldn't find anything about the "heart" portal, or the one with the single arrow above it. Sighing to himself, he supposed that he hadn't "unlocked" those pieces of info yet. With that in mind, he sheathed the MGE, before making his way over to the "Entry Portal".

Stopping in front of it, Alex raised his right hand, before hesitantly reaching out towards the shimmering, blue tinted air. When his hand passed through it, Alex didn't feel as if anything happened, but he could see the air that he was passing through was distorting around his wrist. Nodding to himself, he walked forwards, passing through the "portal" into the new area. Much like the previous one, this was also a clearing in the middle of a forest. However, the differences were clear to see.

Unlike the previous one, there was no house present here, and there were only two portals. And even then, these portals were clearly different from the ones he'd seen in the previous clearing, and the one he just passed through. Immediately drawing his attention was the portal on the left side of the clearing, and this was due to the fact that the environment around it seemed severely out of place. While it still had trees behind it, said trees were more spaced out, and there were less of them than there were on the other side of the clearing. Though the vines between them remained the same and kept him from leaving the clearing. However, it was the ground that really drew his attention.

The ground surrounding the left portal seemed to transition from the grassy floor of a forest, into regular dirt for a couple feet, before becoming what appeared to be a type of sandy rock in a large semicircle around the portal. Not only that, but the rock actually created a small mound that made it a small climb up to the portal, which unlike the previous three, had no clear marking above it to tell him what it might lead to. Blinking a few times to clear his mind, Alex turned to look at the other portal in the clearing, and was less surprised by what he saw this time.

This portal was also on a small mound, but it was still the same grassy floor of a forest, and was smaller than the one made of rock on the other part of the clearing. The surrounding trees were also growing similar to the previous clearing he was in, so all in all, the only real differences between this one and the ones in the previous clearing was that this one didn't have any marking on it, and it was slightly elevated. Looking between the two, Alex decided that for now, it would probably be best to stick with what was familiar to him in this new life.

With that in mind, he made his way over to the portal on the right side of the clearing, making his way up the small mound that it was on top of, and hesitated for only a second before walking through the portal. This time, the changes that occurred were more numerous, and obvious to Alex the second he stepped through the shimmering air.

The first thing that hit him was the sound. Or rather, the music. Because sounding like it was coming from everywhere at once, there was the slight sound of music echoing through this new area, and finding its way into his ears. For a second, Alex slumped in place a bit as his eyebrow twitched. What? Am I in Zelda or something? He thinks to himself, figuring that the B.R.O.B had decided to make "OST's" for each "Area" he'd be traveling to… He supposed he could be thankful that at least his "Home" area was pretty silent.

Shaking his head to clear it, the next thing that stood out to Alex was how confined the "entrance" to this new area was. On either side of the portal were the same… "Barriers", he supposed he could label them as, that had been present in the previous clearings to keep him from exploring further than what was "allowed", and in front of him was a mound of dirt that appeared like it'd be only slightly difficult to climb. However, because of both these factors, he couldn't see anything in this new area except the mound directly in front of him. In order to get a better look, he'd have to climb on top of said mound, and hope that he could get a better view of this new area.

Starting forwards, he supposed this change, while a bit surprising and annoying at first, at least meant that this area was sure to be different from the previous two, which seemed like they were essentially "starting" areas for him to travel through before he got around to actually starting his adventure in this "new life" of his. Getting to the top of the mound and looking at the view that spread out before him proved this to him, as his eyes widened in slight surprise at the sight before him.

From what he could see, it was completely different from the clearings he'd been walking through, but at the same time, it was similar. From what he could see, there were only a sparse number of trees to be seen in front of him, except for the large amount that made up the "Barrier".

At the same time, despite there being so few trees, the leafy cover that was created by the trees around the "Barrier" seemed to extend over the entire new area, making it so that despite there only being a handful of trees in the area itself, the "Cover" of the forest stretched out over this area without the need for a large number of trees in the area itself.

The occasional vine hung from the leaves, while streams of sunlight filtered in through the different holes in the "Cover". Though considering the Omnipotent Being that created this place, Alex supposed he shouldn't be too surprised. Although there were only a few trees to be seen, there was a much larger number of bushes that were spread out in this area. Some were actually so large that they appeared to be more like hedges than bushes.

Continuing to look around the area that he could see, another big difference between this new area and the clearings he'd been traversing was that this area definitely wasn't as flat as the prior mentioned clearings. The ground rose and fell in multiple different places, with some areas appearing to lower by a good number of meters, while some of the mounds seemed more like hills that nearly reached the "Cover" of the area.

Continuing to look around the area, Alex couldn't make out anything that really stood out to him, and he also couldn't see the entirety of the "Barrier" surrounding this new area, meaning that it must stretch on for a while. With that in mind, he gave a light sigh, before sliding down the mound he was stood on top of, and slowly making his way into this new area in order to explore it. There was sure to be something here, probably another portal to lead him into another part of this dimension that was his new home if he had to guess…

After a few minutes of wandering, Alex had gone from humming along with the music, to getting annoyed by it repeating on a constant loop, to eventually getting used to it and being able to mostly ignore it as it became more like a background noise so that the forest wasn't silent as a grave, considering he couldn't hear anything else, and he would probably freak out if the only thing he could hear would be his own footsteps in an area this large. That being said, over the course of those few minutes, Alex hadn't found much. Wandering around the area hadn't really revealed anything to him, though considering he still hadn't explored all of it, he supposed it wasn't all that surprising.

However, as he climbed a small mound, he found that it led to a small drop, about two meters down. However, before dropping down, he paused in his tracks as his eyes caught sight of something new. There, just a few meters away on the lower part of the area he was in, was a new creature. From what he could tell, it seemed like it was your typical "beginner level" monster you face in video games. A Slime. Although he was slightly confused, since it appeared to just be a blob of slime, and yet he'd been told that he'd be collecting "Monster Girls".

Eh, it's a Slime. It can probably shapeshift and whatnot. Alex thought to himself with a shrug. However, now that he'd found his first monster, he was a bit hesitant to do anything, seeing as he wasn't entirely sure how he was supposed to go about any of this. Taking a few seconds to look around, and seeing this was the only Slime in the area, he brought his attention back to the blue blob, which seemed to just be moving around randomly.

Thinking on it a bit more, he remembers the dagger at his waist. And unsheathes it to look at it. In all honesty, it pretty much looked like your average dagger, nothing special about it. Glancing between the dagger in his hands, and the roaming slime a few meters away, Alex's shoulders slumped once again. …He's totally fashioned this world similar to a video game… He thinks to himself, referring to how the Omnipotent Being created this dimension. Heaving a sigh, he walks closer to the edge, and looks down at the Slime below him.

"Well, I guess that at least makes the idea of "collecting" them easier… Just gotta beat them probably… Here's hoping a Slime actually is the easiest monster to face…" He mutters to himself, tensing up only slightly, before gently pushing off the ground so that he was dropping down towards the blue blob beneath him, his dagger raised above him as he fell. He got lucky, managing to slash the slime as he hit the ground. Although instead of being hit towards the ground due to the direction of his strike, the Slime was instead knocked back away from him by the blow, even though it was brought straight down on top of it.

However, Alex focused less on that, and more on the fact that after landing, the Slime seemed to be shifting its shape, getting thinner and taller. Realizing it was probably changing into a more suitable form to defend itself or attack him, he charged forwards with another slash, hoping to keep it from fully forming. Luck seemed to still be on his side, as the Slime was once more knocked back. Alex was quick to follow it, slashing away as it hit the ground.

This time, the blob didn't move when he hit it. Hoping that meant it was "low on health", he proceeded to slash a few more times. After a few seconds of slashing the immobile blue blob, it started to alter it's form again. However, this time, when he slashed it as it changed, it wasn't knocked back. Unsure of what this meant, Alex backed up a bit, his dagger held in front of him in hopes of defending himself if the Slime attacked.

After a few more seconds, the Slime had finished shapeshifting, and now appeared completely different from before. Unlike the ball of blue goo it was before, now the Slime had taken the form of a nude woman from the waist up, while her lower portion was still a mass of slime. A perfect hourglass figure with a pair of breasts that were easily D-cups, slim arms at her sides, short "hair" that just reached her neck, and despite being made of slime, a fairly pretty face. However, contrary to what Alex had been prepared for, the Slime in front of him wasn't preparing to attack him.

Instead, she was currently swaying in place in what appeared to be a dazed manner, her "eyes" slightly wide and staring at nothing. At the same time a large, red exclamation mark had appeared above the Slime's form, and remained there even as Alex hesitantly lowered his dagger and sheathed it. Walking forwards, he raises an eyebrow as he stood a couple feet from the Slime Girl, before his attention was brought to a beeping at his waist, making him raise the MGE, and seeing an identical exclamation mark being shown on the screen. Looking between the two, Alex raised the MGE so that the "camera lens" was facing the Slime Girl in front of him.

Only a few seconds later, a "scanner" of sorts came from the lens, and covered the Slime Girl. After a couple seconds, the scanner cut off, and the Slime in front of him seemed to dissolve into blue motes of light that disappeared after a few seconds of rising into the air. Blinking in confusion, Alex's attention was brought back to the MGE when it let off a chime, and the screen changed once again.

On the screen was a picture of the Monster Girl he'd just "collected", and scrolling down, information on her was revealed to him.

-()-

Monster Girl Entry 1:

Type: Slime Girl

Location: Forest

Behavior: Docile

Entry: Semi-Liquid monsters that live in the Forest. Their blue, half-transparent bodies are flexible, and can change into various forms. They are docile unless attacked. – Collect more Slime Girls to learn more

-()-

"…Huh. Neat." Alex muttered to himself after looking over the bits of info he'd learned by "collecting" the Slime Girl. From the looks of things, the more girls he collected, the more he'd learn about their species. Guess it gave him an actual reason to collect multiple girls of one type instead of just collecting one, and then doing his best to avoid that species from then on… That was probably why the MGE was set up in this way, now that he thought about it.

Sheathing his MGE, he made his way forwards, now slightly looking forwards to this new life of his. He still wasn't entirely happy about this new life of his, but he supposed he was getting comfortable with it. Wonder what other species he'd run into…

Oh, if only he knew…

And that's it for the second chapter! …Like I said, I originally planned to have this be the start of the story proper, but with how long the exposition dragged on, I decided to just cut it off here. It lets me post this a bit early, and at the same time, it's another chapter that those interested in the Plot can read for enjoyment, while those here for the "Plot" can completely skip over as they look to read the Lemons in this story.

All that being said, it should only be a few days until the next chapter is released, since from here on out the main focus of this story will be the "Plot"! Although each chapter will have it's own fair dose of Plot, most chapters will be focused on the Crack portions, as well as the "Plot". However, for those of you interested, there will be a few chapters spaced out in this story which will focus almost entirely upon the actual Plot of this story.

So, all this being said, I'm gonna go ahead and end it here. Hope all of you that actually read it enjoyed this latest chapter, and look forwards to the next one sometime over the next few days!