He Who Fights with Monsters, #1
He Who Fights with Monsters
by Shirtaloon
Contents
2. Of Course Magic is a Thing
Overview
Jason learns the looting system, gaining healing unguent, monster cores, and spirit coins—even discovering the coins brand him as their source. He tests healing and questions his sanity while battling varied monsters. Completing a bonus objective by defeating ten lesser enemies, he earns simple footwear, a small but tangible survival upgrade.
Summary
Jason loots the slain potent hamster, watching it dissolve into foul, rainbow smoke. The system grants a lesser monster core, healing unguent, and spirit coins, which he tests by healing his scalp wound instantly. Withdrawing a coin reveals it bears his likeness and the phrase “PRODUCT OF JASON – G’DAY, MATE!,” deepening his conviction that he may be hallucinating.
Continuing through the hedge maze, Jason fights a flying eel that bites dangerously close to his groin. He heals the gouge with more unguent and learns he can trigger looting by touch and retreat to avoid the dissolving stench, though any monster blood on him still reeks. Repeated encounters yield consistent loot—one core and ten coins—plus packaged creature parts and more ointment from enemies like a malicious hedgehog and a tyrannical pheasant, which he refuses to eat.
Jason advances his mapping until he meets a bizarre flower. It sprays spores, disorienting him as a vine latches on and clamps to his head. Forcing through the haze, he hauls up the plant’s baby-shaped root body and smashes it repeatedly over his knee, killing the carnivorous mandrake.
The system marks his tenth lesser monster defeated, completing a bonus objective of his quest and awarding simple footwear. He equips the sandals, still otherwise naked, and resigns himself to surviving a magical, game-like reality he neither understands nor trusts.
Who Appears
- Jason AsanoProtagonist; learns looting and healing, questions sanity, fights multiple lesser monsters, completes bonus objective, earns simple sandals.
- Carnivorous MandrakePlant monster that drugs Jason with spores and tries to consume him via a vine; Jason smashes its root-body to kill it.
- Flying EelAttacks Jason’s inner thigh; its defeat advances the lesser monster tally.
- Malicious HedgehogEarlier foe; costly to heal from, drops bundled spines as crafting materials.
- Tyrannical PheasantEarlier foe; yields neatly wrapped monster meat Jason refuses to eat.
- Potent HamsterFirst slain monster of the chapter; dissolves into smoke, yielding a core, coins, and healing unguent.