If you have observed the cover picture of this novel on the title screen, you may have noticed the achievements are sorted neither by rarity of creatures nor the percentage of players unlocked. And you might be wondering why on earth this guy would put all these achievements scattered and randomly as it is now. Well, that is because these are sorted accordingly to my own timeline that the creature was actually captured for the first time.

After you have finished reading this novel, you can look at the cover for a glance and re-visualize all the memories of how I started the path and felt the joy, excitement, pain, frustration and accomplishments that I had experienced along this journey of The Relentless Pursuit of Mythical Creatures.

Here is a bigger picture.


There are a total of eleven achievements for capturing the rare creatures. But at the time of starting this quest, I only know of nine creatures that hold achievements. I had absolutely no idea about the existence of the two creatures that are on the left most of the bottom row in the above picture.

That's it for the introduction. I hope you enjoy reading my novel.

Cheers!

Published Date : April 4th, 2023.

Update Log :
April 4th, 2024 : Wow!! It's been one year and my novel has received a lot of attentions. 1300+ visitors, 32 favorites, 30 ratings and whole lot of Steam Awards. Thank you so much guys!!

I have seen some of those creatures beforehand. Two of them to be precise. Let me tell you about my first encounter of Downy Crake also known as The Fluffy Bird.

It was just a regular day in Ancient Forest, when I joined one of my friends's session and roam around the forest. The weather was nice and it was night time when we met at the camp.

That was supposed to be a knowledge sharing session where we tell each other of our weapons' tips and tricks as we both use the flashy Long Sword. But as it turned out, we both knew how to handle our weapons decently enough that no one learnt a new thing about combat and weapons. However, after some time later in the camp, the weirdest thing happened.

My friend suddenly fired his Capture Net and caught some of the butterflies roaming around the camp as I was about to head out the camp. I immediately asked him what was that about and he replied that he was just "capturing" some creatures for his room and that blew my mind.

I have played Monster Hunter World for over 250 hours. And this is the very first time when I actually realized that any creatures that moves can be captured with the Capture Net. This is important to me as I remember my friend equipped and threw the net towards that flock of butterflies roaming around the camp and captured them to his keeping as I was stunned watching that. All these time, those creatures, to my knowledge, serves only for no more than a decoration to make the environment more lively, can be captured and brought back home. I was really shocked and in awe of it.

A few eye-opening moments later, I learnt a lot. And by that I mean I have chewed that big juicy information and swallowed it whole. Well, it's time to catch some creatures now, really exciting about all the creatures I can bring home.

As I was walking around, I found some aptonoths, minding their own business. But I got a glance that one aptonoth had some sort of round things attached on its back. They looked like several grey tennis balls line up and glued together on the back of that aptonoth.

As I approach to get a good look at those things, suddenly they seems frightened, jumped down to the opposite side of the aptonoth and run towards the nearest bush as if the human coming towards them was about to pluck their feathers and roast them up for dinner. I waited there for a while but they were long gone.

Later, I found out that those round creatures were actually the infamous Downy Crakes which are incredibly rare to find. But at the moment, it was just some creatures that run from me when I get too close so I didn't think of it as much. But it might just be the foreshadowing of my headaches along the path when I started the Relentless Pursuit.

Minutes later, my friend told me that some creatures will run from you when you approach so it's better to bring the gillie mantle. Thanks buddy, that would have saved me a ton of headaches down the line.

But for the time being, we carried on with what we were doing. We caught a lot more common creatures in that session. Birds, ants, butterflies, fishes, crabs, frogs, beetles and wasps. We even changed to the other locales for more regional creatures. And capture, we did.


It was delightful to have caught all those lovely creatures. A blessed session for the day.

Man, I had no idea..

I had 72 achievements in Monster Hunter World at this point and among my usual teammates, I was leading all of them by a wide margin. But there also was some friends on steam that have outperformed me in this field. One friend in particular had unlocked a whopping 83 achievements which I really admired. Even though these are literally some virtual achievements on a cloud based system, I love getting them and having them. There are some achievements that require a lot of time, efforts and dedications that the player have to go through in order to unlock them. I have high regards for the players that have multiple difficult achievements. Even more so with multiple Perfect Games with difficult achievements.

Needless to say I stalked that friend's profile and looked up for those other achievements, admiring them. And guess what I found. Yes... A decent number of achievements that I have never seen on my achievements list since they are hidden until unlocked. Among them, one particular category caught my eyes.

"Capture a creature known as..."

There were a bunch of those unlocked there and I immediately wondered that must be something to do with capturing some rare creatures using the Capture Net. Naturally I just found out about the very usefulness of this item and I wanted to go for these. This appears a lot less stressful type of achievement rather than killing a bunch of monsters day in and out. So I decided to go for all of them.





It was a little after something like this back then.















I did my homework well enough to know how to locate and capture most of them.

This is going to be an exciting journey... or at least I thought.

The next day after I was heavily inspired by my friend, I started my journey. I choose to go after the "Glittering Bug" first since they are guaranteed to spawn in ancient forest during dawn or dusk. There comes the first problem of the journey. To many of the readers, this might seem like a joke but at that point, I still had no idea how to determine the time of the day. When there is sun, it is day. When there is moon, it is night. That was all I know. And I tried to figure out how to know it was dawn or dusk. So I just look at the sun since it was a daytime when I arrived.

The sun was right above my head.

Good. Now I know it's around midday. So I might as well stare the sun dead in its eye like a mediating monk till it goes down close enough to hit the water. Or run around the forest looting everything I see to kill time. The answer was clear. I hate waiting. Just like everyone else.

While travelling around a forest, I saw an Anjanath. The mighty T-rex of the Monster Hunter World. The first monster in Monster Hunter World that I failed to defeat by normal means during my early days. It has pink and dark skin but it is not the girly kind of pink. But rather the kind of pink that brings terror and despair upon any creature that dares to stand in its way.It also breaths fire that hits hard, it shows its wrath with the glowing red eyes, with its flaming mouth along with the unfolded wings emerging from its sides of the body while enraged.



I still remember the time when I got my arse kicked terribly when I first met this monster. That one time I grappled onto the monster, it "bonked" me with its hip just like Mr.Bean's dance in his comedies. As much as Mr.Bean's partner "bonked" back and they looked cool and funny together at the same time, in my case, my armor was garbage and one "bonk" from the Anjanath sent me right back to the camp with the fastest way possible. Not to mention I only know 2 moves of the Long Sword. Anjanath was the only monster I faced that I had no choice but to wear that Defender Armor that made me look like a bloody coward in front of all the other witnesses. As far as I am concerned, Anjanaths are tough pricks.

It has been a long time since I fought an Anjanath now. I was on an total different caliber than I was when I first met one. I know for a fact that I can just kill it without any struggle for a bunch of reasons. My armor alone can take as many as 20 consecutive hits from him and live to tell about it. Along with my skills and experiences I picked up along the way of Iceborne, I just knew this Anjanath stood no chance against me. So I decided to have some fun with him.

For the record, I can dodge well enough and deal enough damage without necessarily rolling away. Even for most Iceborne Monsters, I didn't have much problem. However, with this Anjanath, I failed to dodge the roar, failed to dodge the first attack and that very attack sent me off my feet, got me thinking about all the choices I made for the past few years while flying away, before finally hitting the ground to eat some dust.

Don't mess with the high school bullies.

I got up, put my sh*t together and faced the Anjanath. Only after some time, I got used to his attack patterns and started punishing him with all my might. Inside the rain forest, on the side of the cliff by the waterfall, massive caves with no sunlight. We fought each other like there is nothing and no one else was there completely lost track of time.

After a long and exhausting battles I finally managed to get the point where he had to go to his lair to get some sleep. I followed him, watched as he walk through narrow tunnels, jumped off cliffs and finally got to the lair where he stops for a second, check his immediate surroundings for more trouble and starts to lay down with his eyes closed. The beast must be so tired and was sleeping like even the loudest thunder during a tropical storm might not wake him up. Only then I started to get close to him, planted a trap and captured him whole for the sake of showing off to my friends back in Seliana. I have officially defeated my high school bully once and for all the times to come. Feels amazingly good.

Suddenly all my senses were back to reality that the purpose of this expedition was to capture the target creatures. It was already night time. I know for a fact that the only creatures that would appears in this region will only come out at dusk and dawn. Realizing that, and standing over the body of the captured Anjanath, it is as seems like this beast had one last Ace up in his sleeves. Watching over me with a look that says I have successful in wasting your time not only with the battle but even after the victory. Even his eyes closed, I can feel him mocking at me for what he have done.

The night was long. I tried to make some barbeque in the meantime because just like anyone else, I love making barbeque during night outs. Also just like anyone else, I failed my first few attempts. Some were under-cooked and some were burnt. It took a decent amount of tries to make a well done barbeque with some consistency. For those who do not know how to make a perfect barbeque, follow this recipe below.

People use to say "Enjoy the music while cooking", right? Listen to the music during your barbeque session. It goes like..

"~~Tong TongTong TongTongTong Tong TongTong TongTongTong TONG TongTONG~~"

At the exact moment of last "TONG" you press "F". You will get the perfect barbeque everytime.

Then the long waited dawn came. I rushed to the Aptonoths and check their backs on both herds and no luck with the Downy Crakes. Then I ran up towards the corner where the shiny bug sits and sure enough, I found the shiny beetle sitting on the stem of the tree almost as waiting me to be captured. The Rainbow Beetle looks exactly like a normal Dung Beetle but it has a glowing blue skin and it is beautiful. In addition, It does not carry Dung like the Dung Beetle. Quickly, I equipped the Capture Net, throw it right at the beetle and got it the first time. The achievement popped and I feel like the very first milestone was done at this moment. There will be even more milestones.



The journey to a hundred miles starts with the single step.

I made a schedule myself for each region where, as far as I know, the creatures appears and go around visiting without wasting a crap ton of time. According to my schedule, after the dawn at Ancient Forest, comes the rotten vale where two of these creatures can be found. Wasting no more time, I went to the Rotten Vale as soon as I got home.

At this point, I did not know that one can travel between the locales without returning to Seliana or Astera. As much as I planned my schedule, I was still wasting time. In Rotten Vale, there can be found two of those creatures. So I searched the areas and found nothing for the first time. So I came home empty handed.

Even more trips with empty hands piled up and I started to wonder how much more time do I need to spend for this mission to be completed. Regardless, my spirit to find all of them remained unbroken.

Several trips to Ancient Forest can only capture even more beetles that I already had. No Downy Crake once shows up. Rotten vale was no luck and the Hoarfrost Reach seems even worse. This is starting to take a turn for worse.

After some trips later, I found the Petricanth in the small pond near the central camp in the Rotten Vale. I'd say near but it was still a decent amount of walking towards the location including crawling under a small cave entrance inside where the pond is located. I equipped my fishing rod and casted the line as close as I could towards the Petricanth. There were a couple of other fishes in the pond as well. Both of the other fishes took the bait before the Petricanth. Those did not take much time but was a bit annoying. Only at the third time, The trophy fish bit the bait and the line was active. A few wiggles later, I pulled the Petricanth out of the pond right onto my both hands. And I got a close up view at the Petricanth. It is quite pretty to be a fish. Dark blue scales with light blue spots all over its body. It still wiggles on my hands with all its strength. The achievement popped just like the first time. But compared to the first time, being excited and accomplishment, it rather felt like a relief. Like putting the backpack down after a long trip. Still, it was fun.



Two down. Much more to go.

As usual, I have been visiting several trips back to back in different locations. Finally, a beautiful day awaits in Rotten Vale. Also a beautiful creature awaits there. Along with a beautiful quest called "The Lord of the Underworld Beckons". I looked it up online about the Arrow Head Gekko and I was fortunate enough to post this specific event quest where there is a certain spawn of this rare Gekko. Since this is an event quest, there may probably be times where it cannot be posted.

It was probably the easiest creature to find, given the circumstances. It was the same route to the small pond where I found the petricanth. But right before the narrow entrance, there is a elevated cave like entrance and there waits the Arrow Head Gekko by the Underground fruit. Just like the name says, its head looks exactly like an arrow. The skin is blue. It resembles a chameleon except the shape of the head. I captured it, achievement poped.



Today was a good day.

It was a sunny day in the Hoarfrost Reach. I was there for the Golden Macaque (The golden monkey) and somehow found myself in the middle of a Legiana and a Shrieking Legiana. Normally when the monsters meet, there is a chance that they are onto each other in a turf war. But with these Legianas, that never happens. They would team up against the player and strike you with icy blasts from every possible directions. Normally I like Legiana fights. They give decent openings and the tells are distinct. As long as you can keep an eye on his tells, the attacks can be dodged and punished accordingly. But two of them teaming up is a bit too much.

After a while, I ran away (shamelessly) towards the central spring where my Golden Macaque has a chance of spawning. From afar, I saw two things. The first was a Fulgur Anjanath coming towards the spring from the opposite direction. The second was a golden ball in the middle of the spring. As I get closer the golden ball is actually the Golden Macaque I was after. It looks just like a monkey but much smaller with golden hair covered its whole body. Seeing this, I ran up there as fast as I could. Putting gillie mantle on and for obvious reason, yet the Fulgur Anjanath seems to see me and roared, stopping me for a while and scared the Golden and other Macaques away. I started to panic. But fortunately, they ran up the spring to their hideout (a tiny cave) across the ice path. As I was chasing after the Macaque, closing the gap while getting near its escape, I equipped the Capture Net and aimed at the hideout spot and fired as the Golden Macaque ran towards it.

The Macaque got in the hideout and I lost vicinity at that moment. The Capture Net fell directly on the hideout. The Capture Net has the animation for every throw before letting the player know that the creature is caught or not. This is only a mere second animation but at this moment it seems to last forever in my mind and filled me with so many contemplations. And after a long wait and finally reeled the Net back into my hands and then suddenly popped the achievement. It was unbelievable and too good to be true. My heart was filled with joy and I almost jumped out of excitement. This enjoyment topped those of all previous encounter and captures up until this point. I did not even care that there was a Fulgur Anjanath right at my back nor the Legiana sisters anymore. Marvelous excitement.



Not wasting a single moment, I head back to base. The Fulgur Anjanath wanted my flash so hard that it bit my head several times but with no effect. I was already on my way back, too busy wiping the sweat off my face.

Lady luck has got my back.

At this point I had several rare critters to decorate back at my room. I rushed there as soon as I got back and talk to the Housekeeper. The room music was no doubt the "Proof of a Hero". The flagship soundtrack that reminds me of the flagship monster Rathalos. One of my favorite monsters. As I talk and check all the critters for decoration, I feel so delighted even when the journey is hardly half way finished.

There I put the Prism Hercudrome (the Glittering Bug) at the flower bed. Petricanth in the pond outside. Arrowhead Gecko on the second floor. Golden Macaque in the spring. Other critters as well, all around my room. Now my room seems more lively and beautiful than ever.

With the complement of the music, it is almost as I can spend my whole day in my room just chilling and walking around. But there is still work to be done.



Note:
I really wish I could upload some screenshots of my critters roaming inside my room but unfortunately, my graphic card was damaged some time ago and I can play Monster Hunter World only at 800x600 resolution with the lowest of all graphic settings. At this rate, if I take a screenshot, it will only be pixelated silhouette shady pictures of the critters. My sincere apologies for the inconvenience.

Back to the Ancient Forest according to the schedule. And finally sighted the Downy Crake again after the long wait. I thought to myself that this would be the last trip for the Ancient forest as I approached the Downy Crakes. I put the gillie mantle on and run up to them. But suddenly those birds jumps off their host for no reason. But there I thought they just wanted some time on the ground foraging for food. But to my surprise, those birds started to run like they saw the creature that is about to pluck their feathers has come back for the second time. Not knowing what was going on, I followed them. As they ran towards their hideout, closely followed and fired the net the same way I did with the Golden Macaque, hoping for the lady luck to show up for the second time. Holding my breath and crossed fingers for that lingering animation to finish. Finally got the Net back in my hand.

Nothing happened.

No Downy Crake. For the second time. This is bad. Not only had I met the super rare Downy Crakes for the second time but also I let them get away for the second time. As I was so disappointed and super annoyed, I started to look for the cues on why those birds got spooked. I had my gillie mantle so it should do its job. Then my palico catches up to me and the reason was finally clear. THE PALICO SPOOKED THEM AWAY! I returned right to the camp and left the palico at his chair and decided that I would leave him until my journey is finished. Even my character would say the palico to stay at base politely, I would prefer if there were an alternate way to express some emotion. Something like stomping out on the palico after leaving him at the base. I really wanted to do that.


Right there is my palico, good for nothing cat.

The one besides him is the Poogie. The Poogie is still cute. Nothing wrong with the Poogie.







Palico, why had you done this to me?

Back to the Hoarfrost Reach after several trips here and there. This time, it was night. No more daytime creatures here anymore since I had already caught the Golden Macaque. Also, I just found out that in the quest "Monkey Business", there will be one guarantee Golden Macaque spawn at center camp (It turns out to be true upon testing). Regardless, it was night time and my targets there were Angler Fish and Wintermoon Nettle. Both of which were extremely hard to spawn. I have been here several times already with no luck. No luck at all for both. The spawn chance of the Angler Fish is already slim and on top of that, there is a chance of spawning a Great Platinum Fish instead of the target Angler Fish. At the same place, I have caught no less than 5 Great Platinum Fishs. Even though Platinum Scale+ is a valuable trade-in item, I was not looking for Zenny at the moment.

But it seems that Lady Luck did not abandoned me completely for now. After numerous trips to Hoarfrost Reach, this is the time when RNG gods had shown mercy to my soul and spawned the Angler fish. Usually, if it were a Great Platinum Fish, I would just equipped my Capture Net and throw towards it. But there is a risk to that. While it may be the quickest possible way to catch a fish, however if the aim was off and lands in water, all the fishes in the area will get panic, starts to run and despawn right in front of the player. This slightly faster catching time does not worth risking several more trips back down here. I just equipped my fishing rod, waited for a good while, dealt with all the other fishes that came to the hook and only then the Angler took the bite. Like all other trophy fishes, it struggles for a while. Carefully reeled it in and finally got the Angler Fish out of the water.



It looks nothing like the angler fish I have seen before. I has a long greenish body that looks like an eel. But the head is a totally different story from an eel. Almost like an angler fish, it holds a lantern at its forehead supported by an S shape thin bone. And this fish now swims peacefully in the pond by the flowerbed outside my room.

Another achievement for the keeping.

Day and night cycles in this world is beautiful. Just beautiful. It is so smooth that when you are engaged with a monster on the field, you can barely keep track of the time. Only when the fight was over, you realize that it is already daybreak. Just like the fight with Anjanath. While each day lasts 50 minutes, it is not spitted evenly between day and night. Day time lasts about 25 minutes, less than 20 for night. Dawn and dusk last about 4 to 5 minutes. This is partly the reason why the creatures that spawn at dawn or dusk are more tedious to find. While the night last a good while but it is not enough for a hunter to linger and explore around the whole map without a specific target or location especially for those who are after the rare creatures.

That being said, the specific creature I was after at that time was Wintermoon Nettle; which spawns at night on the very top of the highest snowy mountain located in the Hoarfroast Reach. This one is arguably the rarest one according to a vast majority of the hunters. I have been in this locale, at night, for so many times and have not sighted one since the beginning of the conquest. But every time I got in Hoarfroast Reach, I equipped my glider mantle, run up to the trail up north, practice jumping up the stream with the mantle on and make myself comfortable with the path to the Nettle with the purpose of not messing up on my way when it actually spawns. Also I did not know how to check if the Nettle was there from the surface level thus everytime I was practicing, it was with the hope that I met one when I got to the mountain top. Regardless of all my efforts, I have not sighted one so far.

After many attempts later, I gathered two precious pieces of information from various sources. The first piece being the Nettle can be spotted from afar from surface without climbing all the way up to its spawn point. I just have to check up the area of the spawn from three position where I can triangulate the mountain top. At this time, I was getting really good at climbing up those steep cliffs and riding the stream at the right moment that sometimes I didn't even require the glider mantle. This would save me so much time. Without further thoughts, I began to check the Nettle from the surface level from that moment on.

The second piece of information was that the Wintermoon Nettle spawns on every 5th night, also saying exactly when he sighted one, and if you are equipped with a super brain that can do the math you can even calculate how many day-night cycles have passed and how to predict when it will spawn again. It was said firmly that all the players across the world shares the same day-night cycle and it does not change. Even though I do not possess the mind that can count properly nor I could say the same about day-night cycle, this gave me a few things to reconsider my approach.

If I go to Hoarfroast Reach without any thoughts and stop playing after that, I have 20 percent of spawning the Nettle. This was not quite well for a completionist hunter like myself. So I decided that I would go two nights in a row everytime I look for the Nettle, get myself a double, 40 percent of spawning it. 40 percent sounds quite nice, by any luck it can be done in less than an hour, which was a big deal to a part time hunter that has a whole other life outside this world.

After applying these two pieces of information together, I simply cannot express how this 40 percent is a massive boost to a previous 20 percent. I sighted my Nettle at the second night of my first time two nights in a row mission. I got up the mountain quick, just like I have practiced for a very long time with 20 percentage which never spawned one. I took a good look at the slow floating creature that looks like a jellyfish, perfect combination of the purple, blue, and crystal tentacles lingering behind its head. the head is a carve pointy shape yet very round and smooth since it has no eyes at all. That makes the perfect whole body of creature.

I admired its beauty while it floats around the top of the mountain. It really is beautiful. Once it gets close enough, I aimed my Capture Net and threw at it.



As you guessed it, the achievement popped and Wintermoon Nettle was captured.

It's been some time since I have started this journey and as of right now I have already caught over half of all these critters. My mind is still not at ease about this Downy Crake which I had been given the opportunity before and yet somehow slipped between my fingers not once but twice. It was a bit frustrating to be honest. I was searching for this bird at every chance I got. Dawn and Dusk, Ancient Forest and the Wildspire Waste. Back to back as many times than I can possibly keep the count. Yet, no luck.

Among all those trips with the sole intention of finding and capturing the Downy Crake, There was one particular trip that will definitely not go away from my memory for a very long time. The Nargacuga.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~~ I woke up early this morning. Took a dump right beside my bed. Got outside my cave to check the sun rising slowly above the horizon of this green rain forest. The sun is not a bright as the daytime. It is just dawn at the moment. All the glooming light scattered through the sky and formed a rainbow at the end forming a half conical shape that starts with the orange sun and ends at the colorful rainbow. I gazed at the shape for a while until my stomach growls. The force of nature has called me to fufill its needs once more as every other day. Right outside my cave is where I used to have my breakfast. Aptonoths. They are the most delicious kind of meat you can find around here and part of the reason why I like this forest. As I approach the herd of three or four of them, I move nimble and quietly. And they still are not aware of my presence. As soon as I get to the range where the biggest one is only one leap away, I jumped over him, grab its back and head with my claws firmly and bite down hard to its throat. It only take a couple seconds before the creature stopped twiching. After that, I started digging in to my breakfast.~~
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


It was a normal day in Ancient Forest. The glittering light from the rising sun is beautiful as everytime I have been here. I started the expedition at the southwest camp and instantly headed out toward the open field where the flowers, springs and the waterfall beautifully exists. My goal, of course, is to find and capture the Downy Crake and I checked upon the backs of all the Aptonoths in the area. No luck. At this point, not sighting the Bird is not even disappointment for me. I have passed that. I just only mummered "Hum" quitely and moved onto another possible spot which was the north west camp.

The Northwest camp has a small entrance which you can only crawl through. And then a small cliff right in front of it. Then you have to jump down from the cliff to get to the road and taking a right will take you directly towards the second herd of Aptonoths.

As I search among the Aptonoths, I did not sight a single bird that I was looking for and I was almost ready to head back home and continue the search in Wildspire Waste. But as I was about to head back, I saw a Nargacuga with its attention fixed on something and moves like it was hunting in stealth mode. Nargacuga is an Iceborne monster that generally resembles a black panther. With the addition of a strong pointy tail that can raise spikes when enraged and claw-like wings sticking out from either side of its elbows. The glowing red eyes that matches its temper. The Nargacuga is quite a force to be reckoned with. It still have not spotted my presence yet.



As I examined the Nargacuga a bit more, it was actually hunting for its prey, the last Aptonoth that I failed to see and check. And upon further inspection, there were some tan color round balls attached on its back. I immediately realized they were undoubtly the very Downy Crakes that I was looking for for so long. And finally, they are here and ready for the taking. I put the gillie mantle instantly and went towards the Aptonoth. And then suddenly..

The Nargacuga decided that it was the perfect time to capture its prey. It jumped over the Aptonoth, making it fall to the ground. And without a doubt, all the birds fall of its back, frightened and started to run. Seeing this, my anxiety and stress levels go through the roof and I can feel my subconscience swearing a thousand cursed words inside my head. It feels like a lightning from the thunderstorm hit the top of my head with dead aim accuracy. I was totally shocked. And as the last ditched attempt, I dashed towards the birds hoping I can still turn the tables around with one shot and hoping to get a little luck, I tried so hard to get near the birds. However, the Downy Crakes got to their nest quite quickly and I did not even had a chance to throw the capture net. They were gone!

As you can imagine, the Nargacuga has received my uninvited attention, stress and anger, which just went through the roof. Spontaneously, it all came down towards a single creature with all its weight dragged down from above. Not only had I just sighted the RAREST BIRDS of all creatures at my reach but also they were the only reason that I am even here in this Ancient Forest. This is my third encounter of the Downy Crakes and it is simply unacceptable to me at any rate. Before I started this conquest of capturing all the creatures, I considered no unnecessary killing any monster of any kind until the deed was done. Otherwise, it will simply be a waste of time. But screw it. I cannot bare it any longer. This Nargacuga did this unacceptable thing to me. I need to take a course of action and of course, I immediately pick up a red slinger fruit, grabbed onto its face, point it towards a steep rock wall and throw it into the wall with everything I have got.

The Nargacuga flew towards the rock, slamming to it with a painful roar and fell onto the ground. I grabbed onto its tail, tenderized it. By the time the tail is tenderized, it go back onto its feet. I can also feel its anger. Its eyes started glowing red, shake it's head and it becomes enraged. Now we both have our own reasons to kill each other.

I would like to tell you that this Nargacuga and I stared each other for a good while, contemplating every reasons to take revenge at each other, we both still incredible still, closed our eyes and imagined a very well choreographed fight between the two of us just like Donnie Yang and Jet Li in the movie "Hero". With honour and respect to each other with an awesome classic music playing in the background, just for the two of us. But that was not the case. I already had my sword out. The Nargacuga, its fangs and claws. There was almost no time for both of us as we certainly do not trust each other. Let along respect. Therefore, the fight started out the moment we both had our feet back on ground. I have slain some of its species in the past but it has been a while for now. Therefore this fight almost makes me feel like I am fighting a Nargacuga for the first time. Because of my rage, I did not think straight. I starting spamming attacks. All I can feel is my rage and all I can manage to do was some straight combo slashes without dodging or countering any attacks. This battle lasted a good while and ended with the retreat of the Nargacuga and half of my inventory depleted. But I did not faint. My pride would not let me faint to this one particular Nargacuga.



The camp was on the way to where the Nargacuga retreated to and very convenient to have my supplies filled and make myself become a hunter new to the quest with arms to the teeth. But I refused to do so. If I do that, I would not call myself a disciplined hunter or a disciplined man for that matter. I have started this fight out of rage and I was on my way to revenge. I would be pointless if I just refresh myself, take a bath, with a big full of supplies and come after the same Nargacuga that I was fighting with the current health it has left. No. It may have been a disgrace to faint but far worse to do so otherwise.

I passed along the camp with a glance. There I saw a sheperd hare right next to a small Redpit flower on the small cliff at the entrance of the camp.

I kept on moving forward.

At the time of writing this guide, I have played well over 550 hours in Monster Hunter World. I am at the point where I can solo kill the mighty ALATREON well under 15 minutes. If you have encountered Alatreon, you would not argue about the fact that Alatreon puts up a fight like hell. I have failed more than 20 times before I can barely slay him for the first time. Dawns Triump excluded since it is literally a trial version of Alatreon. Also, another 25-ish times before I can managed to perfectly dodge and counter attack him.

You can say it is unfair to compare a end game monster like Alatreon to a semi-starting monster like Nargacuga. That would probably be right. But I also have tried killing the Tzitzi-Ya-Ku in Arena Quest over 40 fights. With every intention of getting the kill as fast as possible since I was after one specific Achievement. And still, I cannot finish the Tzitzi-Ya-Ku without getting hit multiple times.

I suppose what I am trying to tell you guys is that the amount to know and counter every attack of any monster, small or large, it would take a whole lot of time and effort. But then again, back to the Nargacuga business, I was furious. I was in raged. And rage showed me what it can do.

As stated in the previous chapter, I refused to get back to camp bare handed. Thus, I followed the Nargacuga right in its tracks. As I entered the area, it gets alerted. It seems to have memorized my face. Or apparence. Does not matter. You better remember my face before I finally cut you down like the felyne chefs cutting the steak back in Astera. And then the fight begins.

I was not thinking about fighting like usual. Attack, dodge, counter and all those stuffs. My mind was shut off and all I can feel was my rage towards this Nargacuga. But as soon as the fight begins, my body got hot wired to the visual cues of all the movements of the Nargacuga. I still do not understand thoroughly but my hands just knows how to time the dodge perfectly and counter attack immediately. Dodged its roar, yes. Countered its bite attack, yes. Dodge and countered its double tail slam attack, yes. Tail spin, yes. I started to counter every single attack that creature throws at me with my conscious mind sitting back, doing absolutly nothing, just enjoying the show. I really did. It was just like the combat scene from "Hero" that I mentioned in the previous chapter.

After a couple of minutes of this perfect fight, with the Spirit Round Slash, the creature has got its tail cut off. The severed tail sprung off like a boomerang in the air. The Nargacuga also flew forwards with immense amount of pain that can be seen through its body language and painful growl. It tries to roar at me but it seems it has ran out of breath. No loud roar was heard. Nor did it stagger me. But there still was aggression towards me in its eyes. But it can barely stand. I stood in front of its face thrust-ed my sword at it with all my might, stepped on its face and jumped myself over its head and with all strength I can gather, I slashed its face vertically, made me felt like I swung my sword across all six heavens and seven hells. The Nargacuga took all my attack bluntly. Got dealth several blows at its face. Leaps backwards from so much pain. Stands there for a moment, starts limping then starts retreating back to its lair.



I jumped onto my tailraider and followed the Nargacuga instantly.

I sharpened my sword, picked up a slinger ammo that was lying around and called a tailrider to follow the Nargacuga. I did not need to heal. Not at all. That was really something. That was rage. And there is only little we can intervene while the rage is at war on its own. This is something we need to keep in our mind. Because there is rage inside everyone's mind just like a stallion tied up inside a stable. And it will come dashing out from the stable when given a slight chance, causing chaos to everything in its path. It will give you pleasure of the most fulfilling kind. While alongside a good cause, it will make a great progress and success, it can still be dangerous. Because there will always be lost causes and no bearings on lots of minds and so little good intentions in most souls.

I now have arrived at the Nargacuga's lair to find the creature is already resting. With its closed eyes and not worrying a bit about the approaching hunter that it about to do some violence. At this point, I can simply put my shock trap and capture it without any trouble. But that is not what I want. I can not capture this creature back to camp alive after what has been done. Not after all the lost efforts. This creature must die. And it must be now. I unsheathed my weapon, take one last look at its face, which is all meshed up and its tail severed. Limbs broken as well as the back. But those are not enough. It is still breathing. I started my attack.

The Nargacuga was already in pain, out of breath, no stamina left. It does not stand a chance. But it still fights back with all the strength it can gather. Which was not fast. It takes several seconds between each of its attacks and by just simply walking away, I could avoid any damage. It was even drooling and catching its breath for a long time. And with a last wide slash of my Long Sword, the Nargacuga was finally dead. I can see the life of the creature leaving its body while it was twitching. It is finally done and the vendetta is won.

At some near future of fulfilling this vendetta, I started killing even more Nargacugas. For reason I cannot comprehend. I just keep on killing them knowing those are not the same Nargacuga that I once hated so much and had it killed very furiously. This killing spree went on for a while and as on top of a huge pile of Nargacuga corpses I now stand, I had realized something. None of the killings of those Nargacugas gave me the satisfaction nor the perfect counter moves that I once had. Nor had I the bloodlust. This is weirdly strange. May be I did not put my back into those enough. May be I did not improve any skills. May be they were just another Nargacugas. So many maybes and so many reasonable answers, I believe one answer will always be true.

It was the rage.

And it just wanted to see the Nargacuga dead.

.............................................................................................

That was dark. Here, have a meme to lighten up the mood.



I also posted on Facebook back in the time of this incident.

After several trips between several areas capturing even more rare creatures that I have already captured, now I am back in Wildspire Waste. Looking for a rather rare bird. Normally speaking, this one is a very rare kind of bird but given the situation I am in, this is just a rather rare bird. However, I have not sighted this bird even once. The name is Diva, Blue Diva. Some calls it Sweet Melody because of the sweet song of Diva. I once watch a video of it where one guy explains how the song of the Blue Diva while standing next to it in his room. But may be my hearing wasn't good enough or may be the room music was too loud, I cannot tell. Nonetheless, I failed to recognize the song of it.

There are three possible spawns of the Blue Diva in the Wildspire Waste. One on top of the pointy rock, one on top of the high mountain and one on the tree branch by the side of the mountain. All three are located near a same mountain and it does not take much time to scout for all three spots. I have been in the Waste for several times now finding the Blue Diva and thus, I don't need to spend too much time to scout the spots. And with the help of a little luck, I found the Diva sitting on top of the pointy rock, singing.

As soon as I spotted the Diva, I put on my gillie mantle, and went towards it. As usual, the Capture Net is already equipped. I walk towards the Diva, stopped at the bottom of the tall pointy rock and try to get a good aim for it and then threw the Net.

To my surprise, the Net went flat against the vertical side of the very thin and pointy rock, making the bird frightened and it flew away immediately. Why? Just why? I am already having headaches about the Downy Crake and the Nargacuga. This can't be happening. Buy Why? Why this game hates me this much? What possible cause does it have to have me see in this way? I can almost not take it any more. It is becoming more and more frustrating following this path. The ambition. Everything hit my head with everything it's got at its disposal. As much as getting more and more achievements and victories can shower me with all the glory, and yet simply not letting me have it is can drag me down as much painful if not much more miserable desperation onto my soul.

"It never rains in California. But when it rains, it pours.."

I looked into the incident of Blue Diva once again when I was collected. So many questions unanswered. When your brain is in distress, all kind of questions pops up, without answers. When you don't have answers, you start to panic. When you start to panic, your body will do without proper instructions from the brain since the brain itself is in need of help. It will not give appropriate command to your body to any given circumstance. When it happens, you need to remember that you need to stop your body from doing anything of stupid. You just have to let the brain rest to recollect itself and it is crucial that u need to stay physically stationary at one place while doing that. Only then, your brain can rewire itself, calm itself down, and finally start looking for answers of a messy situation happening in front of you. And that's what I did exactly.

I leaned my self onto the chair, closed my eyes and just thinking of nothing for quite a while. While my eyes are closed, All I see should be nothing but a total pitch black. But that is usually not the case. All the images of my currently having crisis become to pop up with spectacular visuals imaginations inside my head. They are pretty hard to ignore. Sometimes, you can even recall the whole animated clip just inside your head. Many people must have had it and usually they let their emotions let loose while reviewing those hurtful memories. After all, it is also a more difficult thing to control your own emotions. But I kept my emotions in check and just let it be. What has happened already happened. And I know that all I can do is to re-watch those scenes and find out what I did wrong and when it started.

As I sit there, leaning back on my chair with my eyes closed, I can feel myself back to calm. And I noticed something I did not notice before the event.


"Victory loves preparation.."









It was a quote from the movie "Mechanic" starring Jason Statham. I watched this movie while I was still a kid and absolutely loved it. There was one particular pistol in this movie. It was a silver 1911 pistol and the most beautiful pistol I have ever seen. My love for 1911 pistols started here. On the side of the slide of this pistol, under the bullet ejection port, the above mentioned quote was curved.

I started to compare this failed Blue Diva attempt to the successful capture of the Wintermoon Nettle.

The Nettle was not easy to find. As I was hunting for the Nettle, I went up to the top of the mountain every time I got there until I know that I can climb up to the mountain top quickly with little effort. Mastery, in another word. To achieve the maximum effect with the minimum effort. And because of all the practices I have had beforehand, I was able to go up to the very top of the snowy mountain with little effort and captured the very rare kind of creature, the Wintermoon Nettle when the opportunity arises. I completely did not see it the way I see it now. I was lacking a very important element of the hunt. The practice.

I opened my eyes once again facing towards the exact same situation I had before I closed my eyes. I sit straight towards the screen. Everything was the same. Except everything is different now. I no longer feel the stress nor the disappointment. No unanswered questions left. And I started doing the thing which I should have done way before all this happened. I started practicing.

All I need to do was to aim towards the top of the pointy rock and get my capture net land on top of it with decent consistency. It was not that hard of a task but I failed to practice before and it has already cost me one rare bird. The Blue Diva. I kept on practicing for a while and in short time, I got my muscle memory down and I can land the Net on the top of the rock with little to no miss.

I went back to Ancient Forest afterwards looking for the Fluffy Bird but no luck. Not surprised at all.

After a usual trip to the Ancient Forest, I am back in the Wildspire Waste. This time, I am prepared. Should I see the Diva on top of the pointy rock, I would have no trouble with it at all. I went to the mountain and started scouting the area. There was no bird of top of the sharp rock. Normally, I would go for the tree branch but this time I decided to go up to the mountain top first. This is probably the tallest mountain in the area and you can see everything inside Wildspire Waste and makes a very good view point. There was no Diva on top of the mountain but there was another rare creature was hanging around. There was an Arrow Head Gekko.

I have already captured the Arrow Head Gekko but still, I want to capture this one as well. I put my gillie mentle on, threw my Net. One second later, the Gekko is mine to keep. I admired the view for a bit and started to climb down.

Ever since I started finding this Blue Diva, my background music is off. All I can hear is my footsteps and the sound of the wild creatures. As I decent from the mountain top, I could hear some sound that I have never recognized before. The closer I get to the bottom, it sound gets slightly louder. Then I remembered I left one spot unchecked before climbing to the top. The spot at the tree branch. I got excited. If anything, this is likely the song of Blue Diva. I went straight towards the tree and sitting on the exact branch, I sighted a blue bird. Undoubtedly the Blue Diva.

Obviously, I had learnt the lesson once and I have no intention of learning it twice. Therefore, as I stand in front of the tree branch I tried to calculate at which angle I throw my Net at the bird. It took a while. It was a good thing that my gillie mantle is still fresh. I took a good amount to time aiming and finally threw the Net. The Blue Diva was caught. The achievement popped.



I stand there without moving an inch, made the gesture "OMG!" for about three seconds. Some of you may have known this. This is a glitch where you can spawn another Blue Diva at the same position. I wanted to try if it works. And it works! Another Blue Diva appeared on the tree branch. I aimed my Net exactly the same way as the first time and captured the Diva again.

Three rare creatures caught for this session. Only one counts for achievement.

First of all, I don't like cheating. I even don't like modding beyond a certain extend where you starting to ignore all the difficulties of the game and making you invincible. Some of my friends started to mod in Monster Hunter World where they can't beat the Nergigante since the fight is so hard. I still don't think it makes a good excuse. I personally think a game should be played how it's intended to play at least for the first time. Otherwise, there is no point in playing this game anymore. If you just modify the game to an easier state for your taste, you might just better off playing Candy Crush. I really mean that. What is the point of playing a difficult game with a rather steep learning carve without learning the ways of the game if you would just change it in anyway you want? I know many of the players and readers may not agreed with me in this particular case. But I do not care. Not for one bit.

When I faced Nergigante, that fight alone took me a full three days of Monster Hunter World sessions. THREE DAYS. Of course, I eat and sleep. But it was between twelve to fifteen hours each, three full consecutive days of Nergigante until I dealt the final blow that put the beast into perpetual sleep. Not just Nergigante, when I fought Vlekhana, it also took me another three full days again. I did it without any mods. That is just how I like to play. I play a difficult game, I expect it to have it rough on me. And I get the full experience and accomplishment that come along with all the joy and excitement when I finally beat those bad boys.

With that being said, back to the issue at hand. The Downy Crake. The rarest bird of all kind as far as I am concerned. I have been after this bird for quite a long time. With all the burdens I carry. I still refuse to let it all go unfinished. I will find this bird. Definitely.

At some point searching for information about Downy Crake, for better or for worse, I found an incredible helpful info. It says it has almost certain chance of spawning Downy Crakes. Normally, I would ignore exploits as such, but it is different now. I want to try this one. Just for this one.

On the contrary, this is by no means a mod outside the game via third party software that I strongly disapprove.This is simply a glitch that is within the game itself. I definitely would not go out of my way by modding the game so that I can get this Downy Crake. I just will not. Even exploiting a glitch like this hurts my pride. But this time, I am at my limits.

So.. Here I come. Downy Crakes..

This time, I'm using the glitch as I explained in the previous chapter. But I can tell you this. After a couple of trips to Ancient Forest and Wildspire Waste, this trick does not work 100 percent. At least from my experience. Now for the third time, I am back in Ancient Forest. At dawn, where the light of the sun is just starting to shine across the entire landscape of Monster Hunter World.

I started at the Southwest camp as usual. Equipped my Capture Net headed out to the open area where the Aptonoths roam across. I stayed relatively far from the herd, stand at a point where there is a big flat rock by the stream nearby. Completely ignoring the Aptonoths. With the sun at the back, I look away from the Aptonoths. There is a tiny waterfall. I put all my focus and field of view towards it. Not a single Aptonoth in my view. I stayed in this post for about a minute.

Then I turn my head back towards the Aptonoths. The first one, nothing different. Just a normal creature foraging for some food. The second one, same as the first. I checked each and every Aptonoths in the ares one by one. Of course, I had my gillie mantle on since before I entering the area. By any luck, the fifth Aptonoth I checked, I found some different features. It was carrying something on its back. And they were round, tanned-color balls. I immediately knew that this is it. The Downy Crakes.

I got to the Aptonoth slowly walking. I did not want to spook them again by any means. As I got closer, I have a clearer view on those small creatures on its back. They look rather cute. And quite a lot on them on the back of the Aptonoth. A total of seven or eight birds tightly placed themselves together. Rather neat fashion. I aimed for the birds from the best angle I could get. Threw the Capture Net at them.



The long waited and painful achievement popped. I got three of them Downy Crakes which now are happily sitting right besides my bed back in my room. Normally, whenever an achievement pops, I feel joy and amusement, however small or big. But this time I did not feel those quite enough. May be I no longer have enough energy or have depleted all my dopamine reserves for me to get excited or possibly, the guilt for exploiting such a glitch is holding me back to a greater extent. I will never know.

Along with the information on the Downy Crakes, I got some new information as well. Apparently, there is also two rare creatures in the Guiding Lands which holds achievements for capturing. I learnt that those two are even rarer than the previously encountered Downy Cakes. And so far, there is no glitch to exploit for neither of them. Imagine my surprises. First there were nine creatures. Now there are eleven.

I studied where they spawn but they are all in written languages with almost no visual cues. On top of that, I am not familiar with the Guiding Lands at all. I tried to not panic and not get into distress mode. I can do better than that. With Downy Crakes captured, there are only three creatures left to go. This is not so bad a progress. But not as good as before, since my knowledge before was only one bird left after this miserable Downy Crake. The Bristly Crake.

The Bristly Crakes are probably a distance relatives of the Downy Crakes since they share the same surname. And they are also very rare to find. All those trips to Rotten Vale, I have not sighted one yet.
As far as my knowledge goes, Rotten Vale is the only place where they spawn.

I went to Rotten Vale right after I captured the Downy Crakes in Ancient Forest to find thier distant cousin. No luck.

I headed to the Guiding Lands on an SOS quest. Normally an SOS quest is a quest posted by other hunters to call for assist. When you reply an SOS, you assist in whatever the quest leader is doing at the moment. But I took the SOS granted for the sake of my mission. Since I am not quite familiar with the location, I might as well take some time exploring the landscape while others do the hard work. Other hunters were fighting a monster but I have no idea what that monster since I was just wandering around the map completely ignoring that there are other people that were trying to hunt a deadly monster. I only knew the general locations of the spawn points of my creatures, I made my best to scout each and every corner of the regions where those spawn points were.

The forest region is the first one I set my foot on. It is quite big of an region compared to other regions in Guiding Lands. It has multiple layers that are so easy to get lost if you get there for the first time. Even to this day, I am not quite sure that it has two layers or three. It is somehow confusing to me. Nevertheless, I started to look every corner.

There are vines that connects between the layers. So that a player can go up or down if they wish. After several minutes spending my time familiarizing this forest area, I found a small cave like entrance. Just like the entrance of the Northwest Camp we have back in the actual Ancient Forest. I remember there is one spot where one rare creature spawns have to go through a narrow cave entrance. Hoping this is the right spot, I put my gillie mantle on and crawled into the narrow entrance.

Inside the structure is a tiny round shape cavity. It also has a lake that is half the size of the whole area. To the right, there is a mining outcrop. And to my surprise, I found a creature like moleworm sticking its head out of the ground. Unlike a normal mole, it has yellow-ish color with pink pointy hair that stands up. It was a Moly. It is also very tiny. It was popping out on the ground just like a mole sticking its head out of the hole in Wack a Mole table, only to be smashed. In this case, only to be captured. I wasted no time, Equipped my Capture Net and captured the Moly that was right under my feet. The achievement popped.



That was not that hard.

Very soon after the Moly was captured, the hunting group has revealed to me that they have captured an Anjanath. The bully of my young days. It is even stronger now that it is tempered. How ironic that the very monster that I had a very distinct connection was harassing aggressively my fellow hunters while I was out there doing my own business which was done successfully. The hunters did their job very well and without faints they captured the tempered and bully Anjanath alive, to let it face the inevitable consequences back in Seliana afterwards before finally gets put away to a perpetual sleep.



I thank you all for those hunters that carried my weight throughout this whole session. Your efforts gave me a great window of opportunity which were handsomely applied to my great cause.

Thank you guys.

Relatively, not long after I got the Moly, and after several trips towards the Rotten Vale for Bristly Crake with no luck, I am back in Guiding Lands. Also on an SOS quest. With the intention of taking for granted. But this time was different. The lead hunter was fighting a Legiana. As I stated many chapters ago, I like Legiana fights. I just like fighting those. I ran towards the fight as soon as it was a Legiana they were facing. It was in Coral region. The most beautiful region of all. This cannot be argued. Even the misty and snowy mountains of Hoarfroast Reach cannot compete with the delightful and refreshing atmosphere that the Coral Lands hold. And the part of the reason I like Legiana fights being in the Coral Highlands. Both the atmosphere and the monster sets the tone of the fight perfectly. Almost feels like dancing at a beautiful dinner parties with romantic classical music in the background.

The Legiana, the other hunters and I fought in the Coral region of the Guiding Lands for some time. The fight took place at the heart of Coral region where there is a wide circular open space that forms like an open arena, entranced by a naturally forming bridge. While the bridge can be walked on itself, it forms a great arch of an arena inside. It was quite a fight. Since it was a tempered Legiana that we were facing. For non-MHW readers, a tempered monster is a harder version of a similar monster. It hits harder and it has more health. The fight took some time. But it was a good fight with no faints. Legiana falls back to another area in the Coral region.

Before the Legiana fell back, we were fighting inside the arena space. After the Legiana left, hunters replenished their health, sharpened their weapons and followed the Legiana immediately. But not I. I stayed back and climbed onto the bridge. Because there is one spot on the bridge upon the bridge itself that needs to be checked. I climbed from the furthest side of the bridge and checked towards the middle of the bridge with my bare eyes and seeing what I see, I could not even believe myself.

There was another mole like creatures popping out of the ground on the middle of the arch-like bridge. And they are different kind of moles from what I captured earlier. They look purple. Their hair looks more fluffy thus, making them seems a bit bigger than the previous ones.

I put my gillie mantle on instantly. Got close to the moles very cautiously and when I got inside the range of my Net, I threw it at the purple and fluffy creatures. And there comes my achievement. Later, I learnt that those creatures are called Fluffy Moly.



As of writing this guide, I now am aware that there exist a unique mole-like creatures for each and every region of the Guiding Lands. But as far as achievements go, two of them was enough. Therefore I have not go for other moles ever since.

It is funny. It really is funny to me that supposedly the ultra rare creatures to find like the Moly and the Fluffy Moly almost right off the bat just after I have learnt of their existence, yet failed to capture, or even sight a mere Downy Crake for more than a hundred of times. What is this? I do not see any logical explanation behind this. I already have the Downy Crake in my room but I still remember the pain and headaches that came along with it. The frustrations and stressful times that I have endured. May be it was just luck. And my luck with Downy Crake is not as blessed as the other creatures. May be Downy Crakes just hate me for some reason. That is probably the most logical way of thing as far as I am concerned because its cousin, the Bristly Crakes also have not shown up to this point. Not once. I now have all other creatures that can contribute towards my goal with the exception of the Bristly Crakes. May be I will find them soon enough. May be I won't. May be even another Nargacuga situation awaits me in near future. Who knows?

But I will not stop until the end. The end is so near now.

The Bristly Crake spawns any time of the day in Rotten Vale. It just super rare to spawn. After capturing the Fluffy Moly, the only creature left in order to finish my journey is the Bristly Crake. Rotten Vale is the only place it spawns therefore, I have no reasons to go scout the other regions anymore. I did not kill a single monster. As soon as I check the two spots that spawns Bristly Crake, I go back to Seliana and come back to Rotten Vale for another round.

It is an understatement that the Bristly Crakes are super rare. I knew I had to find this bird right at the start of this journey and I'm still looking for it. Even after all these other creatures have been found and captured. I can honestly say I do not remember how many times I have been in this place. Day in and day out. It is a tiring thing to do even though I am just sitting in a chair, pressing buttons.

The Fluffy Moly was captured in the afternoon. Real time afternoon, not game time. And I spent the rest of the daytime and the whole evening looking for this one last bird. Doing the same routine over and over again. At some point, I can simply stop paying attention when going to the spawn point. The eye and the hands remembers it all. Every trips become the same. No luck. But I found some more Petricanths though. The dark blue fish with light blue spots, lingering quietly inside the lake at the heart of the Rotten Vale.

When I had my dinner, I have spent well over five hours of doing this same old routine. My eyes blurs. My hands starts feeling numb. And all the dizziness swelling inside my brain. Still I refused to call it a day. After dinner was done, I started looking for the Bristly Crakes again.

This is the fourth real time day that I spent since I started this conquest. If you claims to have the determination and willpower to endure the tough rocks that life throws at you, I dare you to follow this path. Even though this is a game, the resilience and determination it demand will not fall flat when compared to facing some tough problems of the real life.

After a couple hours of doing the same thing over and over again, I finally spotted the Bristly Crakes. On the back of a Mosswine. Mosswines are pig like creatures in Monster Hunter World with some green algae shape patterns all over its back. Bristly Crake spawns on top of the back of Mosswine acting like the Oxpecker Bird that sits on a Cape Buffalo. Signaling its ride of any threat that comes near it. At the second spawn point in the Rotton Vale, I found the Bristly Crake. A very dark greenish bird that resembles the Downy Crakes. But it is a lot larger and taller. Unlike thier cousins, who likes to group around and have a picnic on an aptonoth, Bristly Crake likes to be alone on the back of the Mosswine. Acting like a boss.

I equipped my gillie mantle and followed the Mosswine. It goes inside a small vine cave that I had to crawl through. When I finished crawling, the Mosswine is already at some distance from me. I followed him with great caution since I really do not want the bird to acknowledge my presence. Even inside my gillie mantle, I fear that somehow I would mess it up. I dare not run. I can only walk behind the Mosswine. I dare not throw the Capture Net while the Mosswine is walking because I might miss. The Mosswine was walking forever and I following it step by step. Not making a single noise. Finally, the Mosswine seems to found some delicious edible stuff on the ground and stopped. I took a good time aiming the Capture Net at the ultra rare Bristly Crake and finally threw the net at it.



The final and long waited achievement. It popped right at my eyes. It's over. It's done.

This whole journey of the "Relentless Pursuit of Mythical Creatures" took me almost four whole days of playing nothing else and doing almost nothing else. At this point, my achievement count for Monster Hunter World was 83. That was amazing. I feel great. Not just for the achievements, also the emotionally colorful story that I received along the journey of it. Sadly, I did not captured the screenshot of the achievement count at the point.

But I made something else.



This is the whole timetable of all the creatures captured for the first time.

August 10th, 12:29 pm
As you can see, after the Rainbow Beetle was captured fairly easily first, I started hitting a roadblock.

August 10th, 9:00 pm
It took almost nine hours without finding any new creatures. Only then, I found the Petricanth.

August 10th, 11:50 pm
The Arrow Head Gekko did not take much long. Relatively speaking.

August 11th, 11:43 am
The Golden Macaque was where I had luck. Yet it was very hard to find for my first time. This was the second day where I captured only one creature from my list of conquest.

August 12th, 7:56 am
The following two creatures were nightmare to find. After a full day of no creatures, I found the Angler Fish the next day early morning.

August 12th, 10:05 pm
Almost another whole day went by and almost hitting the next day, I found the Wintermoon Nettle. I had practiced enough therefore I was able to capture it once I had spotted it.

August 12th, 11:02 pm
Just a while after the Nettle, I found a Blue Diva. Completely opposite to the Nettle, I messed it up since I had no practice even though it was a matter of aiming. But considering I spotted and captured another Diva within the hour, I was very lucky on this one.

August 13th, 9:12 am
Next morning, the long waited Downy Crake was captured. Filled with so much memories.

August 13th, 12:27 pm , 2:44 pm
This is about time where I just learnt about the Moly family. It took me merely two hours to find these two creatures to fill my list.

August 13th, 9:12 pm
Lastly, a whole day went by, almost hitting another day, I finally sighted the Bristly Crake for the first time. And captured it.

I can now sleep in peace. As a matter of fact, I quit the game, shut the computer down and went to bed immediately. It was a totally different vibe I had before I fell asleep. Knowing I have fulfilled my purpose along the journey that took me four days of non stop searching, finishing the "Relentless Pursuit of Mythical Creatures".

I often check at these achievements and find myself being proud of myself for having such resilience and determination inside me that carried me through all the pains and hardships that a game can possible throw at certain someone.

August 14th, Morning

I woke up this morning feeling completely different. Knowing that I have successfully finished my conquest. I had a morning brew and entered into the Monster Hunter World.

I headed back to my room in Seliana and started talking to the Housekeeper. The Housekeeper is the felyne that keeps the house in order. Nothing happens in the house without his knowledge. I consulted him about the new creatures I captured and my intentions about redecorating the room. We talked for a while discussing about the matter.

First, I want my Downy Crakes right in front of my bed. So that I can see them every morning I wake up. Then its cousin, Bristly Crakes. They goes to the empty vases besides the fireplace. The Blue Diva, with its beautiful singing, can rest on the railing on the second floor with the Arrow Head Gekko wandering around the alleyway near the Blue Diva. For the Golden Macaque, can chill in the hot spring out by the small pond where the Petricanth and Angler Fish freely swim around. Above the pond is the open sky. I can think of no other creature than Wintermoon Nettle with its beauty and elegant floating scene. By the flowerbed next to the pond, there is a small post where the beetles can stay. The Rainbow Beetle finds its place there.

The Moly brothers have its own dedicated place to stay. Multiple vases stand upright, filled with sand to burrow through. I put both the Moly and the Fluffy Moly in the vases where they occasionally pops out to look for their master.

With every creatures in place, my living room looks livelier than ever. With the sound of the "Proof of a Hero" playing by the harp, it makes the perfect place in the Monster Hunter World where I can chill and relax as long as I want every time I get tired of hunting monsters.



Note:
I plan to upload all these beautiful creatures when I get a new computer. I really do not want to upload low resolution clips right now. Terribly sorry for tolerating the imperfections.

Many thanks to those who have finished and enjoyed my novel. Please leave a rating so that I can see how you guys feel about my writing. Let me know in the comments if there is anything you want to know.

Thanks a lot..!!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Just one more thing,

This is purely a coincidence that today is my birthday. April 4th, 1995. The same Tuesday when I was born to this world. And I managed to finish my novel just this morning. I feel even more special. As the journey of "Relentless Pursuit of Mythical Creatures" took almost four days, it took me more than two months to finish writing this novel. I put a lot of efforts in this and I cannot thank you enough if you really enjoyed reading this. This is another accomplishment for me. As of now, I have 94 achievements. I started hunting other achievements some time after I finished my unforgettable journey. And As I was checking the achievement counts, I found one more coincidence. Look.



The one on the left is the screenshot I took some time before I started the journey. The one on the right is where I am currently at.

They both meet at the Area quest Achievements.

What a coincidence.

Thank you all... <3

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------