96

Appearing at the entrance to Elderwood Village, Kirou took some time to check out his current surroundings. Contrary to the hustle and bustle of players he saw when he had just started or even after the update, the village was now back to its rural village persona, with few players both entering and leaving at any given point. Kirou saw this and guessed that most players either grew tired of the quests here and opted to head to SC Pier City or they've gone even further and started making their marks on the other continents.

To Kirou, this was a good thing as he needn't put up with the eyes of other players when he pulled out something extraordinary from his inventory. With this in mind, instead of rushing to Bladesmith as he originally intended, Kirou made a beeline towards the other NPCs within the village. Since he was nearby, he might as well make use of their facilities for his work. First on his list just so happened to be General Store Manager Almia, who happens to owe him a meal.

*******

It had been roughly two hours since Kirou had been in Elderwood Village. Starting with Almia, who made sure to make a feast out of the various grades of meat that he presented to her for him, Kirou made sure to give every NPC within the village. Whether it was normal NPCs that provide nothing to him personally or all craftsman NPCs, Kirou made sure to give all of them a visit and learn more about Elderwood Village. By the time he was done, even though there wasn't a change in affinity rank for each NPC, Kirou did receive a few updates on this from the system.

Tailor Sam: Affinity- (2,750/10,000)

General Store Manager Almia: Affinity- (5,725/10,000)

Pharmacist Shahna: Affinity- (999/1000)

Butcher Shane: Affinity- (975/1000)

Blacksmith Zac: Affinity- (980/1000)

...

When Kirou saw these, a strange expression formed on his face. He couldn't help but have a weird thought, 'Shouldn't it be harder to raise my affinity with village heads than it is for other NPCs? If that's the case, how is it that while the average affinity for the normal NPCs with me is low tier while the affinity for Old Wolf is already at ? Just what could have caused this?'

Kirou's thoughts on the affinity rating weren't wrong as this was something one can find on the official website if one searches for it and that is exactly how it is 'supposed' to go. As for the reason why the affinity ratings for the NPCs with him being so different, this stems from his own interactions with the NPCs themselves. Normal players wouldn't have interacted with NPCs in the manner that Kirou has done so until now at such an early stage in the game. With his work ethic and the level of understanding that he's shown while interacting with the NPCs, along with the occasional gifts (Cough cough *bribes* cough) that he's given to NPCs like Almia and Sam, it's no wonder why not only does he have access to the affinity rating page but the various affinities for each NPC is all over the place.

(Affinity Rating Page is only available to players that have reached an affinity rating of with three or more NPCs.)

This is information that Kirou, along with the vast majority of the player base lacks as it was not made known to the player base and was something they were to discover on their own in the later stages. In fact, it isn't until one gets at least five NPCs to the affinity rating of that the information about how to unlock the Affinity Rating Page would become available to the player. Kirou technically already fulfilled this condition since he currently has six NPCs with an affinity rating of but the system has locked this due to the method in which he used to reach such a level. That being said, as long as he fulfills the condition with the other NPCs on Affinity Rating Page, the information will be unlocked for him.

While Kirou was busy debating these thoughts within his mind, he was already standing before Bladesmith's door. Shaking his head free of such thoughts, Kirou knocked on the door, as usual, and receiving an 'Enter' from the other side of the door.

As usual, when Kirou entered, he saw Bladesmith within the forge section of the cottage. Same as always, Kirou shrugged at the sight of this before entering the forge area as well, taking out his own anvil and hammer and got to work, hammering away on a piece of metal. Bladesmith just glanced at him before going back to his own work. Kirou saw this but ignored it as he did his own thing. Like this, both Lycan blacksmiths drifted into this somewhat comfortable rhythm of hammering without disturbing the other as they worked on their respective pieces. This continued for roughly an hour before Bladesmith set down his hammer and went over to the lounge area to cool down and relax. Seeing this, Kirou set down his hammer as well and cleaned up his work area before joining Bladesmith in the lounge area to cool down as well.

Like that, another five minutes passed before Bladesmith spoke up, \"I take it that this isn't just a simple social visit. What's on your mind, lad?\"

Kirou kept silent for a moment, thinking about how to articulate his words before he spoke, \"It seems that I'm at a bottleneck, Senior. No matter what I kill, or what I make, I can no longer gain any experience at the moment.\"

Hearing this made Bladesmith raise an eyebrow before speaking, \"Sounds like you are at the peak of the standard Weapon Master Class, lad. I was wondering when this would happen, but I never expected it to be this soon.\"

Hearing the words 'standard Weapon Master Class' caused Kirou to furrow his eyebrows. He never expected that the Weapon Master Class, a class without a set path, would suffer from the same limitations as other classes when it comes to normal and advanced classes.

Not giving Kirou too much time to contemplate it, Bladesmith spoke up, \"Since you are already at the peak, I believe it's time I introduced you to the next step for weapon masters.\"

Kirou turned towards Bladesmith and spoke with a serious expression on his face, \"Please advise me, Senior Bladesmith.\"

Bladesmith nodded at Kirou's actions before speaking, \"I'm not sure if you've realized, or maybe you have noticed but haven't realized why, but while weapon masters are capable of making and using all weapons, some weapons still feel foreign or strange within your hands. Hasn't there been an instance or two where you found that while making use of your weapon and it followed through with your intent, the results of it felt off to you? You probably chalked it up to you being unfamiliar to the weapon, haven't you, lad?\"

Bladesmith's question caused Kirou to think about all the weapons currently in his arsenal. While he would have loved to say otherwise, Kirou had to admit that he has faced a situation or two like what Bladesmith described. This was especially so when he thought of his wires. His reason for always having his clones practice with them is that whenever he uses them, they always felt off to him. This was very obvious to him since he had mastered its use during his previous life but he always thought it was a problem with his current body. So far, he has been getting by with experience and expending more mp than is normally needed to pull off each move but if Bladesmith's words are correct, however, then it seems that something else is messing with his control.

Seeing the contemplative expression on Kirou's face, Bladesmith knew that he was right and spoke up, \"The reason for this stems from the very nature of the Weapon Master Class. Unlike other classes, Weapon Master is a 'Jack of all trades, master of none' class. Sure, we can make use of any weapon that we want, but we won't be able to use them to their full potential like members of the other classes. What they lack in variety, they make up for with supreme mastery. The opposite is true for us. With that in mind, overcoming this hurdle is the method to overcome the first bottleneck you now face as a Weapon Master.\"

An idea flashed through Kirou's mind, prompting him to narrow his eyes momentarily but he decided to give voice to it if only to clear his doubt, \"Senior, are you telling me that in order to overcome my current bottleneck, I will have to master the usage of one of my weapons?\"

Bladesmith released a hearty laugh at Kirou's question. This went on for a half a minute before he spoke, \"I knew I hadn't seen wrong. You definitely are someone that Old Wolf can be proud of in passing on his legacy.\" Having said that, Bladesmith continued with his laughter for a few moments before he stopped. He looked at Kirou firmly in the eyes before speaking, \"That's right, lad. You'll have to master at least one of the weapons in your arsenal before you can overcome that bottleneck of yours. I'm not talking being able to use them to take out stationary or randomly moving targets either. You've got to be able to use them in live combat and come out on top, or escape with your life. Either way, it will be considered as you mastering the weapon if you can pull either off. A weapon master may be capable of using any and all weapons, but they must own a weapon in which they can use to take on a member of any other class in an even fight, as there will come situations where a weapon master may be disarmed and forced into being only able to use one weapon. Can you positively say that you can fight a person with similar strength as you that has mastered the use of his or her weapon with just one weapon, lad?\"

Kirou could only shake his head at Bladesmith's question. Besides the wires which he currently had problems making use of, all of the weapons he uses fall short of him mastering them. Sure, he can use any of his weapons to deal with an army of players with ease, but that's only because none of them have mastered their weapons or skills. So far, Kirou has run into many groups like this and was able to overcome it using his wit, the environment and the variety of weapons at his disposal. Had there been a person of similar skill as him in any of those scenarios and he was forced to use just one weapon, he wasn't sure that he would be able to deal with that person before the group of players drown him in various attacks. At most, he would only be able to escape with his tail tucked between his legs and would have to grit his teeth in frustration.

Having come to this realization, Kirou released a long breath before speaking, \"Tell me, Senior. How would I go about reaching mastery with this weapon-of-choice of mine? I'm sure it's not something as simple as me using this one weapon to combat a person also at the peak of their current class like me, right?\"

Bladesmith had a wolfish smile on his face as he spoke, \"Heavens no, lad. Having fought you with that weakened clone of myself, I can already tell that a standard recruit at the peak of their current class has a much lower starting line than you. I'm almost 100% sure that I could randomly give you any weapon from your personal arsenal and you would still be able to beat such a person, your mastery of this random weapon not being counted in this equation. No, lad. You'll have to face someone much stronger.\"

Hearing those words caused a wry smile to form on Kirou's face. Who told him to be so damn strong with weapons that he hasn't fully mastered? Now he has to fight a stronger being while being handicapped to the only weapon that he has mastered, that just so happens to be his wires that he is currently facing issues with.

Bladesmith got a kick out of seeing Kirou's expression but he had to play the part of a 'Senior' so he cleared his throat in order to get Kirou's attention as he spoke with a somewhat normal voice, \"There you have it, lad. You'll have to pick one of the weapons you use or any weapon you can get your hands on, master the basics in dealing with stationary and moving targets, then move on to using said weapon in live combat. As long as you can win or make use of the weapon to escape the target, you'll be considered to have mastered your weapon and the restriction you currently face will be removed. Why don't I help you out?\"

Following Bladesmith's words, Kirou received a message from the system.

[System: You have received the mandatory quest ]

Quest:

Rank: S

Level Requirement: 20

Class Requirement: Weapon Master

Weapon Requirement: One weapon only. All other weapon types will be locked after the choice has been made, so choose wisely.

Description: You currently face the bottleneck experienced by all Weapon Masters at your level. In order to get strong, you must now master one of the various weapons in your arsenal (recommended). To aid with this, complete the following requests to the end and you will be acknowledged to have mastered your weapon.

Destroy Stationary Targets: 0/50

Hunt Various Monsters: 0/500 (No more than 10 of the same monsters will be counted to this score. Each tier gets its own count of ten)

Defeat or escape Weapon Master Bladesmith's clone: 0/1 (Combat will take place deep within the . The clone will be at level 25 and will only use its claws. Escape condition is to make it through the are and get to the door where Bladesmith will be standing in one piece)

Rewards: Weapon Master (Advanced), +3 levels, 2x Random Weapon Blueprint, A-rank Skill

Failure: Retry Quest, -1 Level, -1 Weapon Choice

Kirou could only stare blankly at the quest information being displayed before him. He could see Bladesmith doing his best to hide his joy but he chose to ignore that at the moment. Looking over the quest details, Kirou released a sigh before accepting the quest (Not like he had a choice outside of remaking the character) and another display appeared before him.

[System: CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON]