AN: Can't believe this story is going to be 100 chapters long next week, damn
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The decision to make the next Illusion Room an adaptation of Monster Hunter had not come easily to Jin. He’d been considering many things. Portal, Dragon Age, Tetris, Eternum. Too many options.
In the end the decision had been made for him by the circumstances of the creation, rather than his own desires.
He’d weighed his options, communicated with the team and made a plan.
The thing about Francis and Hashimi’s advancement was that they were still one more significant contribution off of advancement while Jin had already gotten his.
This was because he’d been team lead on the projects and had thus accumulated more merits.
Too many merits in fact, considering his show at the tournament all those years ago.
He didn’t want to dawdle in the inner ring anymore, no matter what anyone else thought.
Ting, of all people, had gone up before him.
Even Da Bendan was about to go up, his contribution to Skyrim, minor as it had been, being the last piece of the puzzle he’d been missing in addition to some last breakthroughs in cultivation.
He wanted to go up.
Hashimi and Francis wanted to go up.
They were well-known now, relatively speaking.
But they couldn’t afford a slip up.
Couldn’t make something potentially transgressive and avant-garde like Tetris.
Stick with the safe option.
Stick with the option that made the most sense.
Monster Hunter.
The cultivation world itself was like one big open world Monster Hunter game. The most valuable materials in the world, those desired by its most powerful people, were cultivation materials. Heavenly Beast parts, cores and essences. Certain plants that grew in highly volatile qi environments.
Even armour and swords had to be crafted from heavenly beast bones in this reality, making the core gameplay aspects fit perfectly instead of having to be adapted.
The Illusion Room Sect had long since been creating scenarios of singular monsters and experiences. It was just that nobody had put it all together yet.
They would be the first.
They wouldn’t use real creatures of course, but instead those of the game. Jin’s justification of forcing breakthroughs through novelty and not creating false confidence through low-stakes engagements stayed fast.
The real reason, that of not wanting to put in the work of researching real heavenly beasts where every small mistake would be scrutinized with a magnifying lens by those familiar with the creatures, remained unmentioned.
Monster Hunter was a relatively close representation of Cultivation reality and the logic of the decision had been grounded in familiarity.
Armour and weapons had to be crafted from monster materials, just like in reality. Different monsters inhabited different zones, as in reality. Even the Hunter Ranking system was somewhat similar to the ranks one could attain in combat-focused and other sects. Outer, Inner, Core, Elder.
Jin’s previous games had certainly reached an audience. Disenfranchised soldiers, cultivators seeking novelty and enjoyers of entertainment.
Now he needed to tap into the market that the Illusion Room Sect typically catered too.
The John Smith of the cultivation world, who only did something if they thought it would make them stronger in the most direct way possible. No complex justifications, no rationalisations, just straight up mirroring of reality.
The Experiencer would wake up in a world in which they would get to practice their logical reasoning, patience and perseverance against a variety of monsters whose abilities they would have to piece together through clues, books and second-hand accounts.
Combat Skills would be sharpened, harvesting would be practiced and new abilities would be tested in the form of in-game consumable items that sometimes mimicked real life abilities cultivators could learn.
Jin’s goal was to create an Illusion Room that would serve as a tutorial for the life of a cultivator. Used by aspiring mortals, outer disciples and even inner disciples still unfamiliar with the combat missions often necessary to secure the survival of a sect.
He was going to sell Monster Hunter to every sect on the human half of the planet.
Aim for the stars, land on the moon. Even if Monster Hunter accomplished only a percentage of what it aimed to do, Francis and Hashimi would advance.
That is of course if their cultivation matched up to their creative output.
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“What do you know about the Phoenix Demon?” Xin Erwa asked seriously as they started travelling south-wards on the back of a small black dragon that Jin had summoned.
“It’s a fascinating creature by all accounts. Completely unique, for one,” Jin muttered as he stood with his arms crossed on the back of his creation, which somewhat resembled Alduin from Skyrim as he had been in the original. Not the one Ting had created for the commission. He didn’t want to give away all his abilities to Xin Erwa if he could avoid it considering they would end their hunt with a fight. “It’s also immortal and holds a grudge.”
“It’s on the level of a late-stage core formation cultivator,” Xin Erwa said slowly from where she was sitting on the back of the dragon, seemingly unbothered by the wind. “You’d think that would make it easy prey for higher level cultivators, especially considering the value of its heart. But the Grudge, that’s problematic.”
Jin nodded, recalling the information he’d read on the creature. “Whenever it dies it leaves behind a body, but is slowly reborn on another side of the planet from the egg of a chicken with all its memories intact. It does not fear death and has no desires. Its immortality makes it impossible for it to become stronger. Nobody has ever noted a nascent soul cultivator struggling against it in all of history. However, everyone is afraid to hunt it. It has nothing to lose and nothing to gain, but retains a demonic character. Once you hunt it, it will hunt you right back. If you’re too strong to harm, it will seek out your family, your friends, your servants. If you’re ever in a weakened state it will jump out of the shadows to finish you off. Killing it assures mutual destruction, just that us cultivators only have one life while it has infinite.”
“You’re willing to risk that?” Xin Erwa asked with a raised eyebrow.
“We are currently riding an anima of mine,” Jin said non-committedly. “If I can manage to stay hidden, the phoenix will not know who to retaliate against.”
“You think your anima is strong enough to match a late-stage core formation beast?”
Jin nodded confidently.
Xin Erwa didn’t ask further.
“What if it finds out your identity regardless?”
Jin looked at the vast expanse of blue sky stretching in front of them as the wings of the dragon flapped beneath him rhythmically.
Green plains and rocky mountains disappeared in a blur beneath them and clouds but were a passing companion.
“Then so be it,” he eventually said. “You never get anywhere in life without risking anything, and I’ve been luckier than most already.” Worst case, he just wouldn’t let those close to him leave the sect until they were at the nascent soul stage. Sometimes, you needed solutions first before thinking about potential consequences.
Francis had become a friend of his, and as selfish as it may have sounded, Francis would die soon if he didn’t advance to the next stage of cultivation.
The heart of the phoenix was a life-saving medicine in this scenario and sometimes you needed to risk a life to save a life.
“I didn’t expect an answer like that from a scaredy cat like you,” Xin Erwa commented.
“Why are you not worried?” Jin asked curiously. “After all, don’t you have just as much to lose as I do?”
“I also have much to gain,” the woman pointed out. “A phoenix is a creature of fire. I happen to be cultivating that element in particular at the moment.” She grinned. “As for eliminating me? That stupid chicken can keep dreaming.”
“And those close to you?” Jin asked with a frown.
“There is no one,” Xin Erwa replied. “I’d suggest you follow my example if you’re serious about walking the path of a cultivator. Bonds, sentiments, love. All of these things are distractions, meant to chain us to this pathetic plane of existence.”
“We can agree to disagree,” Jin said simply, not truly caring about convincing anyone. In his opinion, he’d been satisfied with just living to eighty in his last life. Life didn’t have to be eternal to be meaningful, nor did one have to attain ultimate power to have value.
The landscape beneath them had shifted.
The green had slowly disappeared, leaving behind cracked black earth.
Not a desert, but not a place where anything could grow.
Soon, as they approached the volcano at the center of it all, Jin knew the cracks would start spitting fire.
The Burning Plains. They’d gotten their name for a reason.
“Attention all passengers, we are approaching our destination, the last bastion, the hunting village of the Fairy Lake. Please fasten your seatbelts as we prepare for landing,” he said softly, drawing a chuckle from his new companion.
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The burning volcano, as high as the sky, loomed in the distance even at night. Illuminated by its ever-present glow it reigned over the fiery landscape like a geographical tyrant of sheer hateful light.
It was in that permanent state of red hot crepuscule that Jin and Xin Erwa landed on the cracked volcanic stone a few miles out from the hunting village, right on the other side of the lake.
Jin had read about the location, but his eyes still widened as he beheld the beautiful scene.
A calm and serene lake, water flowing from the depths of the earth, had created one last oasis while reflecting the glow of the volcano on its cool surface. Jin and Xin Erwa walked by the city-sized lake calmly, approaching the village on the other side where no lights needed to be lit but shadowed human figures nevertheless led a normal life.
The sound of conversation, or rather, the sound of rowdiness carried over the water, informing them of what they were about to find.
“A bunch of wandering losers, hunting for spirit stones and heavenly beasts in the fiery cracks where no sect cares to look,” Xin Erwa said dismissively.
“Sources of information,” Jin said more diplomatically. “The phoenix was last sighted here a few months ago.”
Xin Erwa looked dubiously as an old man in ragged clothes stumbled out of the village, towards them, before leaning on a palm tree and puking onto the grass beneath.
“Let’s just make sure the sighting wasn’t hallucinated,” she muttered as the two cultivators entered the ramshackle village consisting of maybe 200 or 300 houses.
The first thing that Jin noticed as they entered was that they stood out and that other people immediately noticed them.
The reason was simple.
Wearing mono-coloured robes was the sign of sect affiliation. In terms of the people currently out in the village, nobody else seemed to be more than a mere wandering cultivator.
Jin remained unworried, feeling, for the most part, that nobody here was truly stronger than him. He glanced sideways at the horned figure next to him.
Xin Erwa’s strength meanwhile could not be perceived. When he’d met here she’d been an outer disciple at the qi condensation stage. Now, she seemed to have directly outgrown him.
“Let’s get a drink in the tavern,” the woman said, ignoring his gaze and the obvious interest and somewhat obvious disdain in the eyes of most people that they passed.
They entered one of the inns arrayed in the middle of the village, picking one at random. Two-storied, run down and with few customers it seemed just the location to catch an infectious disease.
They sat down regardless, Jin keeping his hat on. Not long after, a young waitress dressed in grey rags came to their table. She had oily black hair and a bored look on her face.
“Anything without spit in it,” Xin Erwa said simply.
“Water will do,” Jin muttered as he leaned back in the booth they’d occupied and crossed his arms.
“We don’t sell water,” the waitress said politely.
“Then give me a glass of water and charge me the price of whatever drink you want,” Jin said dismissively, at which the waitress’ eyes glinted and she walked off with a pep in her step.
“Everyone will think we’re idiots,” Xin Erwa chided him.
“When she comes back she’ll answer any questions we ask more truthfully, hoping I order another glass,” Jin replied.
Xin Erwa snorted and a figure stepped up to their table, swaying drunkenly.
It wasn’t the waitress, but rather a young man dressed in leather armour, sword at his side and a horned black helmet covering his head. He was also carrying a chair.
“New arrivals!” the man slurred, slamming down the chair and sat down in a practiced manner.
“Who are you supposed to be?” Xin Erwa said dismissively.
“You haven’t heard of me?” the squinty eyed man asked, seeming surprised. “My name is Olaf Nordsson, but around these parts they call me the Dragonborn!”
Xin Erwa started laughing.
-/-AN: Monster Hunter fits very well into this world, didn't have to grasp for an explanation at all tbh, just explain the timing