Things like divine beasts that could be tricked away with just a piece of grilled meat definitely didn't exist on this island. However, one of the former beginner instructors of Monster Hunter—monsters even seasoned hunters might fall to if careless—the King Bullfangos, did exist here.
And there were two of them.
"When I was exploring around before, I saw those two King Bullfangos confronting the Forest Ram King, meow. But in the end, they didn't fight, so their strength should be about equal, meow."
Having already grasped nearly half the layout of this island, Sanji Meows didn't hesitate to set Sherwin first hunting target on that pair of King Bullfangos.
Sherwin had no objections to Sanji Meows decision. Compared to other monsters, whether familiar or unfamiliar, King Bullfangos had much simpler attack patterns. Be it from a game perspective or in reality, they were the most suitable opponents for a "first hunt."
If only he could find a blacksmith. With the materials that could be harvested from two King Bullfangos, he could probably piece together most of a Bullfango armor set.
Sherwin thought with some regret.
There was no helping it. In this realistic world where getting injured had real consequences on physical condition, having no armor on made him feel anything but safe.
If he couldn't find a village soon, Sherwin hoped to summon a blacksmith-type Felyne. Although the smithing cats in the game only made equipment for cats and dogs, Sherwin felt that with a few tweaks, he could wear them too…
And so, things circled back to the beginning again—if he wanted to summon a new Felyne, he had to go hunt another large monster first.
So after confirming the target of today hunt, Sherwin followed behind Sanji Meows toward the territory of those two King Bullfangos, gathering ingredients along the way…
After all, food for Sherwin wasn't just about filling his stomach—it could also be used as an item to recover and boost attributes.
Aside from that...
"Tch! Still can't unlock the 'Endemic Life Guide'?"
Along the way, Sherwin opened his Hunter Notes several times, but the "greyed-out pages" showed no sign of unlocking.
In the game, aside from the large and small monsters that could be hunted and each had their own entries, there were many neutral or even friendly creatures that also had dedicated entries, classified by the game designers as "Endemic Life."
However, Sanji Meows had previously brought back some ingredients that couldn't even count as small monsters, yet the guide still didn't unlock. Sherwin had guessed earlier that, just like in the game, he might need to personally visit the locations where they "spawned" to trigger the entries.
But after moving through the forest for over ten minutes, and even seeing the map exploration gauge increase by one percent, there was still no sign of the Endemic Life Guide showing up in the Notes.
Then again, it made sense. In the game, "endemic life" either granted temporary buffs, served as tools, or were used as point-earning collectible materials. Most importantly, while they were called living creatures, they stayed fixed in place without moving around. Rather than being part of the world ecological system, they were more like mechanics added for entertainment.
So the Hunter Notes not showing a guide for this was actually quite normal.
Thinking it through, Sherwin curled his lips and finally gave up on trying to unlock that section.
"Still no luck, meow?"
Seeing Sherwin put away the Hunter Notes, Sanji Meows showed a disappointed look on his face...
Compared to Sherwin, it was actually this little yellow Felyne who cared most about whether that guide would unlock new pages.
"It fine. There are still plenty of ways to unlock things. At the very least, the weapon page has already been confirmed. Sooner or later, we'll collect them all." Sherwin rubbed Sanji Meows fuzzy cat head and comforted him with a smile.
Of course, he still had no way of knowing whether the next summoned one would be a female or a male Felyne—and he had deliberately never mentioned this detail to Sanji Meows ...
Because he was honestly looking forward to seeing the priceless expression on Sanji Meows face when he found out the next summon was also another male Felyne.
"Meow?!"
Just as he was enjoying Sherwin head rub, Sanji Meows suddenly felt a chill. The little Felyne sat up alertly and glanced around cautiously, but didn't notice anything unusual.
"What wrong?"
Sherwin thought he had noticed some danger and tensed up as well, one hand already gripping the handle of the blade behind his back. The longsword was ready to be drawn.
Sanji Meows twitched his ears and shook his head before replying awkwardly, "...Maybe I was mistaken, meow. Let keep moving."
"Wait a second," although the attempt to unlock a new page had just failed, Sherwin was suddenly struck by a new idea. "Take out a few of those small animals we dealt with earlier—I want to test something else."
"Meow?"
Sanji Meows tilted his head in confusion but obediently took two rabbit carcasses and one wild bird out from his Felyne pouch.
Sherwin, meanwhile, pulled out that primitive-looking hunting knife.
Earlier, when he thought about how endemic life might be used as materials, Sherwin had instinctively recalled the hunting knife hunters used to carve parts from monsters.
Considering how the Hunter Notes, the BBQ spit, and even the whetstone and fishing rod all had unique traits, there was no reason why the carving knife—which had usage rates rivaling that of weapons—should be treated as just an ordinary dagger...
Of course, it was also possible that, like the whetstone and fishing rod, its special trait was simply infinite durability, but there was no harm in testing.
"What are you doing, meow?!" Sanji Meows immediately objected upon seeing Sherwin take out the carving knife. "I'll handle the ingredients myself. You're better off sticking to combat with your clumsy hands, meow!"
As he spoke, he tried to stuff the ingredients back into his pouch.
When it came to anything related to cooking, Sanji Meows was always especially serious. Even after Sherwin explained his intentions, the little Felyne still seemed reluctant.
So after carefully picking through the food in his pouch, he finally handed Sherwin a wild bird carcass—the smallest one, and also the most badly damaged.
"Uh... I'm just carving materials..." Sherwin scratched his head. "Isn't that what all hunters do?"
Well, even though the hunters in the inherited memories didn't seem to have this kind of bizarre ability, the hunters in the game did carve materials like this, so he wasn't lying.
Unfortunately, Sanji Meows clearly didn't see it that way...
"Of course not, meow! What kind of hunter does weird stuff like you, you dummy!!!"