Haha, no leveling up! You just cut off monster parts and craft no weapons and armor for abilities. For instance, my armor now gives me an ability to land more critical hits and one ability that allows my blades to stay sharper for much longer. It is all about using the right armor and weapons for a hunt.
Yep, you hunt monsters, kill them and then carve their bodies for parts and then your get mission rewards which have more parts. I finally got enough parts from a NArgacuga to make some new swords last night! ^_^
I am working new swords today that are charged with electricity to help kill water monsters. It takes forever. Patience is the name of Monster Hunter. Plus armor abilities.
My armor now gives me these abilities:
Auto Tracker: This tells where monsters are on the map so I can always track them and they cannot surprise me too often.
Negate Stun - Prevents me from being stunned by monsters.
Critical Eye +2 - More critical hits
Razor Sharp - Halves the rate at which my weapons lose sharpness. A dull weapon cannot cut some monsters.
Earplugs - Blocks the effects from some monster's roars.
Health - 10 - Lower my health by ten. A negative ability.
Yep, there is low/high/ and G Rank armor. I made 8 new sets of armor yesterday. The one I have on now gives me a resistance to water, but weakness to fire. My abilities allow me to breath under water, run for long periods of time and never get hot in the heat (volcano or desert).
I am about to try some of the hardest missions with each new set and hopefully make some good progress. ^_^