Sherwin, looking annoyed, took the longsword out from the hunter dimensional pouch…It even came with a strap and a scabbard!
"Meow? It actually this weapon. Meowster, you've got pretty good taste, meow."
As Sherwin drew the blade, a nearby Felynes walked up and patted his arm, praising him.
Facing the Felynes praise, Sherwin rolled his eyes helplessly.
Of course the Felynes would like this blade. After all, from the appearance alone, it looked like a long cutlass fish, with a sword handle stuck into its mouth...
Speaking of which, in the game, the main material used to forge this blade really was a cutlass fish.
Thinking of this, Sherwin brought the longsword up to his nose and sniffed it...
Fortunately, it didn't smell fishy.
Still, even without any strange odors, Sherwin was feeling pretty frustrated about only having the longsword. More precisely, it was the fact that it was a longsword that made him so frustrated.
Although the design of the longsword was a bit abstract, Sherwin didn't particularly mind.
After all, there were tons of abstract-looking weapons in Monster Hunter, and the longsword was still a final-tier longsword, saving him a lot of time gathering materials.
However, the problem lay in the type of weapon.
It wasn't that using a longsword in reality was the same as in the game, where players tended to focus all their talent points into looking stylish, making it hard to master.
Sherwin cheat ability was pretty reliable — the weapon skills he obtained were all at a level worthy of carrying the title of "Meowster."
But in Monster Hunter, all longswords were essentially wild swords, or rather great swords — weapons almost as tall as the characters themselves, requiring them to be carried slung across the back to be used conveniently.
With Sherwin current height of about 1.3 meters, trying to wield a longsword close to two meters long proficiently was just way too much to ask.
Moreover, with his thin arms and legs right now, trying to swing it around would be...
Eh?
As Sherwin thought of this, he suddenly froze, because he realized he had been holding the longsword for quite a while without feeling much strain.
He tried lifting the longsword again and swung it twice according to the techniques he had just grasped.
Although the length made the movements feel a little awkward, Sherwin really didn't feel any heaviness.
It seemed that even though his body had been shrunk, his physical abilities had been enhanced to the level of a qualified hunter.
With this, he wouldn't have to rely entirely on the Felynes for protection anymore.
Sherwin let out a slight sigh of relief.
If possible, he didn't want to become a burden.
Since he couldn't sling the sword across his back, after sheathing the longsword, Sherwin adjusted the strap slightly so that it hung horizontally around his waist, making it easier to draw the sword quickly in critical moments.
After equipping his weapon properly, Sherwin reached out to scratch the Felynes chin and said,
"Now that I have a weapon, I should be barely able to protect myself. But we should still find a safe place to settle down first. Who knows when we'll run into others?"
The Felynes squinted its eyes, enjoying Sherwin chin-scratching skills, then patted its chest and said,
"Leave it to me, meow! I might not be great at fighting, but when it comes to exploration, you can always count on a Felynes! Meowster, just rest around here for a bit. I'll come back and let you know once I find a suitable spot, meow!"
This was something Sherwin absolutely believed.
In the early games, Felynes were already depicted as riding hot air balloons to scout the surroundings, and in later versions, they could be assigned to explore on their own and gather materials.
Even in the wild areas of the game, many Felynes lived right under the noses of all kinds of monsters, and players could even find items and materials in their nests.
Especially in the Rise version, gathering-type Palico companions were specially designated.
So he continued scratching the Felynes a few more times and smiled as he said, "Don't call me Meowster anymore. My name is Sherwin. What about you? What your name?"
"My name is Sanji, meow," the pale yellow Felynes answered honestly.
"Sanji?" Sherwin froze for a moment.
Actually, he wasn't particularly surprised that this Felynes had such a familiar name.
Back in the PSP era of Monster Hunter, because of some antics by the fan translation teams, the Felynes in the game were indeed often named after anime characters.
In the later versions where Sherwin could name his own Felynes, he naturally continued that tradition. Depending on each Felynes development path, he would assign fitting names.
For example, cutting-type ones would get names like Ichigo Kurosaki or Zoro, while impact-type ones would be named things like Vita or Poppy.
Although in later versions the chef Felynes became NPCs with fixed names, the fact that this chef Felynes in front of him was named Sanji actually felt quite natural to Sherwin.
But after carefully examining this Felynes appearance, Sherwin realized it wasn't just a simple coincidence.
The overall fur color of the chef Felynes in front of him was the same pale yellow as Sanji hair, but the fur on both of his feet was pure black, making it look like he was wearing a pair of black boots — clearly corresponding to Sanji nickname, "Black Leg."
Moreover, at the tips of Sanji-meow ears, there were tufts of black fur similar to that of a Lynian.
But unlike typical Lynians, these tufts weren't straight — they curled up, just like Sanji distinctive eyebrows.
Earlier, because of the visual angle, Sherwin had thought those tufts were drooping from seawater.
Now, upon closer inspection, he noticed this strange, uncanny resemblance.
So...
Maybe this chef Felynes named Sanji actually had pretty high combat strength?
Thinking about Sanji from One Piece, who ranked among the top fighters of the Straw Hat Crew, Sherwin became much more optimistic about surviving on this island.
As Sanji-meow disappeared into the jungle, Sherwin, unwilling to sit idle, drew the Fresh Blade: Shiranagi from his back and began training with it, using the hunter knowledge he had just obtained.
As mentioned before, although for reasons unknown, his current combat skills weren't as smooth and fluent as those in his memories.
For the sake of his own safety and that of his Felynes, it was still necessary to quickly become proficient in the techniques stored in his memory.
Among the inherited hunter memories Sherwin received, besides hunting and battle techniques, there were naturally various training methods as well, so he didn't have to worry about training incorrectly or developing bad habits.
Also, unlike in the game, in reality, some techniques were actually interchangeable between weapons.
For example, the Great Sword charged attacks, the Dual Blades Demonization Mode, and the Lance charged thrust could still be used even if the weapon was a Long Sword.
Even the Charge Blade super discharge could be performed by unleashing accumulated spirit energy all at once.
Moreover, the Long Sword Spirit Blade slashes and Spirit Gauge techniques didn't necessarily require hitting enemies to charge up, unlike in the game.
Unfortunately, abilities like the Insect Glaive Kinsect commands, the Gunlance Wyvern Fire, and the Light Bowgun slicing ammo couldn't be used because they lacked the necessary components.
Similarly, the new Wirebug skills introduced in Monster Hunter Rise faced the same problem — without the Wirebug itself, most of those skills couldn't be activated.
Even a few techniques that could be forced out would lose certain additional effects and damage boosts due to the missing Wirebug.
But none of that really mattered.
Once they found a village and Sherwin took on some quests at the Gathering Hub to earn money, he could once again devote himself to the Church of Slicing Shots.
While planning his future, Sherwin swung his Long Sword around with lively vigor.