'Thought'

"Speech"

System text

"Book, note, or projected speech"

Generic guy: That story is awesome and where I got the inspiration for this story. If I can even do it a fraction of the justice it deserves I would be amazed.

Plebston323: Dante will be joining up with a familia in the next couple chapters so I don't want to spoil anything.

Walking through the brush I'm careful not to make any noise. Finally I find a small cliff looking over I see my target.

Just about twenty feet down is a large bipedal creature. It's covered in long white hair from head to toe that is stained in blood. Most likely from the moose that it's currently feasting on.

What am I looking at? Well that would be a yeti. You know the abominable snowman, eight foot tall, strong as hell, yeah that bastard.

Why am I here hunting down what was considered a myth in my previous life?

The weather turned to shit fairy quickly and soon a blizzard set in. The caravan took refuge in an old abandoned mining settlement and we've been stuck there a week. Luckily with the ring of warmth I'm still able to go out without worry. I've been using that as an excuse to hunt down game so we don't burn through supplies too fast.

It also serves as a good excuse to hunt down rare monsters for both the xp and drops. As it turns out the one who put this caravan together is...well an idiot and a cheapskate. He figured it would cost less and be easier to take a direct route over this mountain which apparently is home to a good few stronger monsters and known for rapidly changing weather. On top of that he apparently didn't bother to inform the guards or other traders either so...yeah.

Though I'm not going to complain, it's working out for me pretty well so far. Seeing we were going to be holed up here for a while most of the traders opened up their stores to barter with each other or the guards.

One such item is why I'm here. For a discounted price of ten thousand valis I bought a map of the area that includes monster nests and areas they usually spawn which granted me a quest.

Mountain population control:

Stranded in the mountains with nothing to do until the roads clear? Well why not resort to one of the oldest pastimes of mankind...hunting! This mountain is lazy with strong and rare monsters. Hunt them down!

Objectives:

Hunt a pack of dire wolves: 50/15 [x]

Hunt a frost wraith: 10/1 [x]

Hunt a group of dire bears: 15/5 [x]

Hunt at least twenty winter goblins: 62/20 [x]

Hunt a yeti: 0/1 ]

Hunt a mountain griffin: 0/1 ]

Bonus objectives: [?]

Rewards: 300 Xp, 400 GP, 2 stat points

With that I've spent the last week hunting them down. Of course at first I didn't bother anyone with that information until other guards noticed I was coming back late and my equipment was beginning to look worn.

Considering we were ambushed by bandits on the way up here I didn't want anyone getting the wrong idea, especially since five of them are also adventurers. Speaking of which brings me to the biggest discovery of my week.

D.I.C.E threw my ass into an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE! Like seriously...the fuck I do to you asshole!

Anyway...yeah, the explanation I was given was that apparently the canon universe is the one considered the main timeline that can't be tampered with. Added onto the fact the difficulty not only decides how hard it is to advance, but also decides how much is altered or added onto the original.

Thankfully it isn't a world breaking feature as system did answer a few questions. No, saitama and Goku, aren't out there somewhere just tearing shit up. No, the system has not implemented outside forms of energy or combat like chakra or nin. No, main characters of other series are not out there. Yes, the system has only added secondary and/or nonessential characters into the world. No, there are not thousands of extra people in the world of Danmachi, at most there are maybe twenty to thirty considering I'm on very hard difficulty.

How did I figure this out you may wonder?

"Did you find it?"

Her...she has long black hair tied in a half-up with a dark green ribbon, pale milky smooth skin, narrow red eyes, shows about as much emotion as Ais in the anime.

Jasmine Flamesworth from what was arguably my second favorite manhwa, the beginning after the end. Now currently my partner in hunting down what's supposed to be about as dangerous as a silverback in the dungeon.

"Yeah, about twenty feet below us. I'll go left and get behind it while you go right. On my signal draw it's attention and I'll try to end it quickly."

She nods and slowly makes her way off to the right as I go left. Yeah, we're partners for now. Her party didn't like the thought of me out here by myself and she volunteered to come with me and I was voluntold to deal with it.

Speaking of if you're thinking I'm referring to the Twin Horn party from the same series as her you'd be right. All five of them are here only they're not known as the Twin Horn party. They're a party of adventurers from the Dia familia that consists of level two's with the exception of Jasmine. They primarily take quests as a way to boost their finances.

Anyway I've gotten off track, I've been using the map I bought to hunt down monsters to grind xp and I. Mean. Grind. Over the week I've hunted down roughly fifty dire wolves, fifteen dire bears, ten frost wraiths, and sixty-two winter goblins. That sounds like a lot and in total it is I've hunted down and killed one hundred and thirty-seven monsters.

Unfortunately...

Xp: 166/100,000

I've only earned eleven experience from the entire week and that's after my purchases in the store.

Fast learner 5/5: Gain 25% more experience from rewards and kills.

Party Animal: You know the benefits of working in a group and are rewarded as such. Gain an experience multiplier for each extra person in your party starting at x2. Gain an extra x.5 for each person after the second up to a max multiplier of x5. (Multiplier only affects Xp gained by killing)

Yep after seeing how little experience I got from just seven bandits I decided to suck it up and spend some GP.

Remaining GP: 100

So...so damn much GP. It took me nine hundred just to get the last four levels of Fast Learner and four hundred for Party Animal. Truthfully despite the cost I think it was worth it.

From what I can figure up each monster kill regardless of what monster it was rewarded me with about sixth hundredths experience with the extra twenty-five percent bonus. After Jasmine joined my party temporarily that increased to just over one hundred twenty-five thousandth per kill.

I finally stop as I'm now directly behind the yeti only fifteen feet away. I slowly take my bow off my back and ready an arrow.

As I do I can see Jasmine across the clearing just within the tree line. We lock eyes and I give her a nod. She does the same and steps out into the clearing taking out her blades. She kicks snow into the yetis face causing it to let out a loud roar.

Just as it goes to stand I fire an arrow into its heel and then another into its other forcing it to fall to its knees.

Seeing an opening Jasmine rushes forward and tries to cut its head off. My eyes widen as I see her get within feet of the yeti.

"Jasmine no!"

Just as her left blade slices it's neck it gets stuck giving the yeti the opportunity to grab her in one hand as it lets out a blood curdling howl. It raises its hand to smash Jasmine into the ground just as I jump onto its back. Grabbing a fist full of hair on its head with my left hand I take an arrow and drive it into the yetis right eye.

It drops Jasmine as it begins to thrash around in a panic. "Firebolt!" Jumping off its back I throw my hand out hitting it in the back with my spell forcing it to the ground.

"Jasmine it has a thick layer of fat around most of its upper body! Go for the eyes!"

She does just as I say and plunges her remaining dagger through its left eye right into its brain killing it.

The body falls to the ground with a loud thud as I walk up to Jasmine who's rotating her arm.

"You alright?"

"I'm fine." She says as she grabs her dagger that's still lodged into the yetis neck.

"How did you know?"

She nods down to the corpse as she turns to me.

"Pretty simple, most animals in extremely cold environments have a thick layer of fat to keep their body heat in. Monsters are no different that's why I targeted near joints it's where the fats the thinnest."

Walking up to the body I take out my knife and go to work. Yeti hide is very expensive on account of its ability to hold temperature. Jasmine stands nearby as I work while my mind wanders once again.

I've been gathering and selling monster monster drops and other parts to traders to build up my finances. After all I have a few long term goals once I get to Orario. First and foremost I need to join up with a familia. I would prefer to find a god or goddess that hasn't started a familia yet as that would give me the most freedom to move around. Hestia comes to mind if I can get there before the start of canon though she remains strictly a plan B. I don't hate her persay, but her possessiveness is nerve grating. I'm sure the guild will have a list of deities looking to recruit.

I've managed to piece together that just about everything is the same as in canon. Alfia, Zald, and Evilus attacked the city and the Astrea familia are gone. From what I can tell I'm about a year and a half from the start of canon.

With that I plan to start working towards my first long term goal, clearing Ryuu's bounty. I plan to pay off her entire eighty million valis bounty and along the way win her over. Yes...yes I have a thing for Ryuu as well as a few others.

While I'm at it I plan to lay the groundwork for Bells arrival since I should have close to a year or just a little less before his arrival. Yes I plan on poaching the little rabbit right out from under Hestia. What will I be doing? I'm going to establish my familia firmly and for that I'll need to 'recruit'. One person definitely on my list is Haruhime, her magic makes her an asset no matter her level. For now she's my only definitive choice though I have a second in the works already though I'll need to be a first class adventurer to pull it off. Eh...one thing at a time.

I already have a plan to get Haruhime, she was basically sold into the pleasure quarter. If she's not already there I'll get her before Ishtar. If she is I'll just make enough to buy her out from under the goddess.

I've made decent headway on that front at least. With this yeti pelt, after Jasmines cut, I'll have roughly five hundred thousand valis in total. That's a lot considering the number of monsters I've been killing, but I can assure you each drop I've harvested has been at a premium quality. One of the perks to my previous profession is a great ability to gather even difficult loot from monsters. The fact I have plus five in my survival skill is definitely a plus.

Speaking of loot gathering, that is something the manga definitely got right over the anime. Monster corpses don't immediately burst into ash when they die. In fact that only happens when the magic stone inside is either removed or destroyed, but there are some instances where the monsters body suffers catastrophic damage and it bursts into ash.

Speaking of it seems I was so focused on my thoughts a half hour has passed already. I've got the pelt off the Yeti body and now I just cut out its magic stone or well magic shard is more accurate as monsters outside the dungeon don't exactly have very large magic stones.

After everything is secured to my pack I stand up and nod to Jasmine. This was our seventh kill today and we still plan on hitting another nest of frost wraiths. However as we start to leave something starts to bug me, it's almost as if we're being watched. Looking to Jasmine it's obvious she feels it too.

We stop and look around the area carefully before I look up just in time to see a black body descending on us. I quickly tackle Jasmine to the side.

As we both roll onto the ground I quickly look up to see what had attacked us and I feel a pit form in my stomach.

There just feet away is something I truly hoped to never encounter. It stands on two legs at about seven feet tall, has a slim body covered in black fur, long narrow arms with razor sharp claws, it wears a deer skull on its head concealing its face.

"Wendigo"

I'm not ashamed to admit that came out as a bit of a croak. Jasmine seems to share my sentiments as her eyes widen as she clenched her daggers in her hands.

The Wendigo, a monster native only to this specific mountain. It's extremely rare and even more dangerous than the yeti. That map I bought listed it as a flee on sight unless you were at least level two or had a party of competent high level ones and for good reason.

The Wendigo is considered to be on the same level of a Minotaur. It's extremely agile and very powerful meaning in a semi open area like we are currently it has the advantage.

It doesn't give us a chance to prepare or retreat as it rushes forward with a swipe of its claws. Quickly I cast my shield spell stopping the attack only for the force behind it to throw me backwards into the cliff wall.

The force at which I hit the wall knocks the air out of my lungs and leaves me gasping for air.

Jasmine has no time to waste as it tries to slash at her in a backhand motion. She ducks and rolls under the arm as she tries to slash it across the waist. The Wendigo doesn't let her as it lashes out with a kick sending her to the ground several feet away. It pounces and tries to land on her.

"Firebolt!"

A surge of electric fire hits it square in the chest throwing it away from her. "Magic missile!" just as it lands I fire three darts towards it hoping to catch it off guard. Unfortunately it's far more nimble than its size would suggest as its on its feet and dodges all but one of my darts which impales its midsection. "Truestrike!" I manage to call out just in time to avoid a sideways slash. I know another one's coming and I'm too slow to avoid it as it slashed my chest shredding through my leather armor. I can feel the blood trickle out as I'm thrown onto my back.

The Wendigo brings its arm back as it prepares to finish me off.

"Firebolt! Firebolt! Firebolt!!!" I rapid fire into its chest pushing it back and forcing it to a knee. I can see a huge patch of hair missing and charred flesh.

It tries to stand when suddenly a dagger impales its shoulder where Jasmine has jumped into it like I did the yeti. I take her distraction as my only chance as I unsheathe my sword and run it straight into the middle of its chest "FIREBOLT!!!" the spell channels through my sword and into the Wendigo.

My sword explodes throwing me away as flames erupt from from its wounds.

It thrashes around in a rage and throws Jasmine off as more fire begins to erupt. It doesn't matter anymore though as it's insides are currently on fire and after a moment it implodes.

As she stands up Jasmine looks around and finds sees me, my hand buried in the snow as I'm trying not to scream out in pain. She limps over and pulls my hand out to look it over, her eyes widen as she sees the shards of my sword imbedded in it.

"This will hurt." She says as she goes to start taking shards out.

"Ahh...no don't. Let's get back to the others, we don't have anything to stop the bleeding if you take them out now."

"You're hurt."

"No shit I'm hurt I had a Wendigo nearly cut me in half and I have what's left of my sword buried in my hand!"

She nodded and put my other arm around her shoulder. This was how we made it back to the caravan nearly an hour later. We were quickly met with the other members of Jasmines familia who got us each into rooms to be treated. Jasmine ended up with a sprained ankle and bruised ribs.

As for me, well I spent the remainder of the night biting onto a belt as I had the shards of my sword pulled out of my arm one by one.