Hunting giant monsters.

Do you know which world it is? Or at least how dangerous it will be?

{Her chosen one isn't from the same world as you, but we are lucky that there are many similarities between them. This world is one of them. In your world, it was known as "Monster Hunter"}

The game?

{Yes}

… I don't think the reward is going to be worth it for me to risk fighting giant monsters.

{That's because you don't understand how it works}

{After you use it, no matter how incompatible the world is with your power, the nexus will pay for it. Of course, that only works on minor powers, like the clones. It's not worth it to waste the ticket on either the tyrant's constitution or your mind's power. You can also hold it with you for later. She will also pay us with everything her representative has left, she will even pay us upfront if necessary. That's how desperate she is}

But why? At most, she would pay extra. Or she could just go and look for another champion.

{That depends a lot on luck. On hundreds of worlds and even more people, going through a series of checks until you find the perfect one. The minimum is months, sometimes even hundreds of years. I was lucky and found you on the same day. But that isn't common}

Can I bring everything with me?

{As I said, she will pay for everything. Though I would like to not go too hard on her. Otherwise, she will not pay extra...}

Is that what worries you?

Sigh, and how long will this adventure be?

{Less than a day. And if you are worried about the time, then she volunteered to pay for a "time variation". It's pretty much just changing the time between both worlds, like stopping the time in a world so that when you come back nothing changed, or slowing it down so that while you spent a month outside, in that world, only a few hours have passed.}

{The price increases depending on what you want to do but normally for small changes it's very inexpensive. For your knowledge, she agreed to help slow down time for 48 hours, allowing you to stay 2 days in there while over here in the IS world, only one hour would have passed. After that, time will flow normally.}

{She also prepared an identity for you. If you fail, she wants us to at least get his soul back.}

{Let's go, in and out. 20 minute adventure.}

...And how do we get there?

{Like this:}

A portal popped up and sucked me in.

When I opened my eyes to a small room, three other beds were located around the room. Some small critters I had never seen before were walking around me as I looked around. I know what this is. The first player room: the barracks.

I got up from my bed quickly and got ready to leave before the goddess stopped me.

{Before you go there are some things you should know}

{First, put up your equipment, no hunter walks around without their gear unless it's a special day. Second, don't mention who you are to the target, nor that someone sent you here. This champion works independently of his patron. You know the story. He has a system, and as you must've guessed, his representative is the system.}

{Be really careful in this world. Some of the monsters are truly dangerous, so much so that some of your equipment would be ineffective in a sense. I suggest you go and buy some stuff before you go. Also, don't worry about your identity from the perspective of the champion, he hasn't been in this world for long so he doesn't know everyone yet. It's also his first world.}

{You have 10.000 zenny, good luck.}

I looked around until I finally saw the classic sword and shield strapped on a pillar, I opened my bag to see some health potions(Not even mega or full potions), a diary with a map, an encyclopedia of monsters and plants, and some other small items. Probably used on a day-to-day basis. Such as cleaning your weapon in the wild.

First, I need some armor, the one I have now is awful. Secondly, I need some potions and antidotes, just in case, I get poisoned. I should also stock up on energy drinks and dash juice. That is if I can even make one.

I went outside to the beautiful sight that is Astera. First, let's head to the smith.

I climbed the stairs into the second floor of Astera and entered the smith's workshop. The heat of the forge was crazy. A normal human might faint if they stay in here for too long…

{Humans in this world are much more powerful than humans from your world, coupled with their training style, they can even kill dragons.}

Perhaps I should get their training method.

{For it to work you would have to gain the bioenergy that all beings in this world have. Not like it would be that difficult, after all, your body is tied with your powers, as long as you train you will be able to awaken it.}

What is Bioenergy exactly?

{Something deep inside all living beings. It normally only appears in large quantities under the right conditions like in the rotten valley, but some monsters are capable of moving this energy around just like a limb. It is responsible for many of the special powers found in monsters. But not all of them.}

{For your knowledge, it isn't the source energy of this world, and the bioenergy found in the rotten valley and the Everstream(Kinda like an underground river of energy) is too impure to be properly converted to origin energy. Only some more concentrated and pure forms of it can be considered proper, but you can do it if you don't have any option left.}

But how can I train this?

{Talent and hard work}

{There isn't any method to train this energy apart from training your body. The reason why the people of the current era cant figure out how to decipher the ancient civilization technology is that they haven't yet found out about the connection between bioenergy and themselves.}

{Only in some places do they touch upon this, even if superficially. Like the special moves seem in some of the games}

I see.

The ancient civilization was a powerful kingdom of humans that ruled part of the main continent a long time ago. They built powerful weapons of war in order to fight against the monsters(monsters in here are just the normal animals of this world, nothing otherworldly) and eventually lost. This all happened because they pissed off the "gods'' of this world. Immensely powerful monsters with god-like power.

Because of this mistake, they eventually disappeared. If they had just lived their lives in peace with the monsters they would have been fine, since the monsters had signed a peace treaty with them.

{Remember that this world is different from the games. There will be monsters that did not appear in the original, after all, this is a real-world hence the ecosystem needs to be in balance}

I know. But I still hope that I don't meet an elder dragon.

The most powerful beasts in this world. They aren't dragons in the sense of the world. The hunters in this world classify the monsters into different categories. Bird wyverns, Brute Wyverns, Fanged Wyverns, Flying Wyverns, fishes, and so on. These monsters are creatures that have been researched and analyzed thoroughly, and like this are understood. Their behavior, habitat, how they breathe fire, and so on. Elder dragons, on the other hand, are monsters with either an unbelievable amount of power or they are simply way too rare to be properly studied, normally the former. Of course, this is only a simple explanation.

After I went inside the forge I looked to my left and saw a beautiful lady on a counter, she is probably the lady that sells the basic armor in the game.

-Ahh! A hunter, looking for something in particular? A piece of a monster to be turned into gear? Or something else? Like a Charm? Or perhaps, you want something made for your cat-friend?

OHHH YEAH! The cats! Where is my Palico?

{You, unfortunately, don't have one, if you decide to come to this world, later on, you can try finding one.}

-I came here to buy some new gear. I will be going deeper into the forest to support another hunter, and I don't want to drag him down.

-Ohh I see. Then how about this one…