14 -Len-

Two days passed and Len hammered the scimitar ceaselessly.

After a bucket worth of sweat later, it was time to harvest the result of his hard labour.

[Red Fayfare +6]

Equip Requirements:

Level 82

80 STR

150 DEX

50 WIS

[???]

A scimitar that was crafted with the intent to protect those who are dear to the user and uphold justice. Carved with elegant strokes by the maker, it exudes an elegant aura that could intimidate one's enemy.

Fused with meltium, it is extremely durable and shock resistant.

Stats:

+60 DMG

+30 Thunder DMG

+150 SPD

+15 Charm

*A very small chance to intimidate hostile enemy when attacking

*A moderate chance to inflict critical hit with a slash

*Has active skill [Shockwave] Level 4

*Has active skill [Sunder] Level 2

*When fueled with mana, further increase Thunder DMG

[Sunder] Level 2

Sunder one's enemy with a deadly, electrifying blow. Contains fire and thunder element.

*Moderate chance to intimidate enemies

*High chance to inflict stun

Ding ding~!

[Congratulation! You have set a new milestone in the history of blacksmithing!]

[One of the requirement for (???) has been fulfilled.]

[Endurance (END) stat has been unlocked!]

"..."

'Jackpot!!'

Len made a fist and thrust the scimitar up in the air.

He laughed in satisfaction. Toying the scimitar on his fingers, the experiment was successful.

Mana can be substituted with ether. Also, Len does not have thunder affinity with him, yet there it was. A thunder related skill was born.

Blacksmith's Craftsmanship EX guided him to utilize his knowledge and experience forging the scimitar. Len thought an option to pass on a skill would appear, instead what appeared was something completely different.

[Everything that is made of ether, shall return to ether.]

[Reinforce Red Fayfare +6 with ether essence?]

A different prompt appeared.

Naturally, Len chose to reinforce and the result was beyond his expectation. Not only a new skill appeared, the stats also increased nicely along with the requirements.

With this end, new questions appeared.

'Can I repeat this process over and over again? Are there certain requirements that needed to be fulfilled to create new skills for the weapon?'

Len also wondered did [Sunder] being connected to thunder element was a coincidence or not.

And that's not all. Len unlocked a new stat for endurance. Judging from the description, END increases his patience and decreases STAMINA consumption.

Combined with VIT stat that increases HP and STAMINA regeneration, he can work for twice or maybe even thrice more longer and shorter rest time.

Another thing that surprised him was the notification slipped in between. He fulfilled one of the requirement for (???).

'What are those question marks mean?'

But Len didn't contemplate it too long. It doesn't seems to be anything dangerous, for now at least.

Thinking about question marks, Len did notice regarding how peculiar one of the requirement is.

'This weapon is a bonded Cross Gear.'

Exactly like its name, the weapon is bonded with its owner. Others cannot use it, for them it would be just nothing but a lump of sharp metal and unable to bring out its true power. Only the true owner can dish out the utmost potential of the weapon.

'Now that I think about it… where did Octo get this thing anyway? It's filled with question marks, so the owner isn't someone that I know of.'

There are methods on bonding a Cross Gear and they cannot be undone.

'...Furthermore, the owner is someone with no simple background.'

Another thing regarding bonded weapons is that, bond cannot be created with just anything. A bond can only be created between two living beings with emotion.

In another word, this scimitar, Red Fayfare was a being with its own sentience.

But the sentience they possess is of different entity than humans and alike. The sentience they possess born from intents of their maker, granting them the ability to be aware of themselves. They can perceive their surrounding and make their own judgement on certain things.

However, not all possess the same kind of sentience. Starting from the bottom, they are like newborns that grows from a baby to a child, then into teenagers, young-adults, and finally a full fledged adults.

Len with his current ability and strength was able to assess this scimitar.

A Cross Gear that is brimming with bright, golden energy. The aura it emitted waved gently, yet fierce and full of vitality.

'Around young-adults, I think… '

Len doesn't know how these beings aged into adulthood. They just exist for some reason. There are explanations about them in the library, but it was still quite vague.

Being granted with the permission to repair it, the scimitar obeyed and let itself to be hammered.

"Hmm…"

Having unlocked a new stats and experience, Len was elated. He sheathed the scimitar carefully and decided to eat beef on his favourite restaurant.

…

3 days ago.

A red scarfed person was eating noodles in a small shop. Hands and legs covered in bandages, this person attracted quite a bit of attention.

Yet none of those bothered this scarfed man.

He continued to eat his noodles in a loud and aggressive fashion. Droplets of noodle soup dripped from the corner of his lips down to the table.

He wolfed the noodles as if it were his last dinner. The egg, meats, vegetables, onions, noodles and all it soup vanished within 5 minutes.

'I'm still hungry…'

Not wasting even a second, he stood up and left the shop.

Suddenly, he felt stinging pain coming from his chest area. Gritting his teeth, he held the pain and returned to a small inn inside a cramped alley.

He entered his room and made sure to lock it. He pulled the red scarf in front of a mirror and threw it aside. The bandages that covered his face was also undone and revealed a face of a woman.

A huge scar slitted across her left to her right cheek was reflected on the mirror.

Bullets of sweat dripped down from the pale white skin. Taking a deep breath, a soft voice echoed in the quiet room.

"Shit."

Her short brown hair swayed as she tilted her head down. She dropped all her equipment and unbuttoned her shirt which revealed a black and purple-ish spot below her right breast.

"...?"

A poison. She was sure of it.

'It was at that time, eh?'

A bounty hunter. If anyone ever asked her occupation, she would answer with bounty hunter.

Apostles or not, criminals and outlaws wanders in and out of the city. The guild or the kingdom itself could issue a quest to hunt them. A wanted poster will be spread across the land and a price will be labelled on their head.

And so, people who possess the strength and confidence in their ability will try to make a living by hunting these wanted people through any means necessary, dead or alive.

She is one of them. A bounty hunter that makes a living by hunting wanted people.

And just recently she hunted a wanted criminal outside the city. Naturally, she won and claimed the rewards in the guild. However, it was not easy at all.

A wanted man with a bounty of 500.000 gills. Gresle Rosh, he was predicted to be on level 96. Not much was known about him except that he did a genocide in a brothel from the neighboring town. 43 people was murdered and 7 heavily injured.

And he's not an apostle. But people of the land.

She fought Gresle outside the town in an ambush and managed to take him down with a heavy price.

Gresle, a wanted criminal for his savagery and ruthless behaviour was not an easy target to hunt. Even for her who's on level 132 at the time, it was difficult. A wide gap of 30 levels should have given her a serious advantage, but the reality was different.

Gresle was a specialist in poison. A man who's main attribute is deception and trickery. Her Cross Gear, Red Fayfare's durability fell and got poisoned.

Why did it take so long for the poison cause harm? How did he do it? It does not matter for her.

'No other choice…'

She reached out into her inventory and took out a small green potion. She drank it in one-shot and felt a faint heat spread throughout her body.

The heat grew more and more intense, sweat dripped down the floor and her eyes turned hazy.

The black spot turned red, yellow and finally vanished along with the heat.

Unable to take risks, she drank her strongest all-purpose potion that costs 100.000 gills. She doesn't know much about poison and unable to discern how powerful it was, but 100.000 gills worth nothing compared to her life.

'Damn that man…'

Even in death, Gresle attacked her in financial way.

Nausea and dizziness surged. It was an after effect from the potion. She propped herself and lied down on the bed.

…

When she woke up, it was already afternoon. She almost fell asleep for a full 24 hours.

She took a shower and wore her equipment back. Covered in bandages and red scarf, nobody could tell whether she is a man or woman.

Sun has risen quite high and it was time for lunch. She went outside the inn and visited the same restaurant as yesterday.

'I need to fix my weapon soon…'

The risk going for a hunt with crappy equipment is too high. She cannot take bounty requests in this state which will be a problem since she doesn't have a stable job.

'I'll be fine for a few months, but…'

She shook her head lightly and sighed.

It was then she overheard a gossip from the customers.

A gossip regarding a certain skilled blacksmith that doesn't craft weapons. She herself has not lived in the city that long. Most of her time was spent outside hunting. She was a bit lagging behind regarding the current trends and topics.

'A skilled blacksmith…'

Would that person able to handle it?

And that was how everything began. Len, the man who lived his life in peace has struck the strings of fate with his hammer. The gears already turning without rest long before humanity rose from clay. The world lines intersected with each other and countless souls were taken from their homeland.

Each souls plays a certain role their were entrusted with. To be satisfied or not, these souls were free to believe, to have faith and to act. They struggled ceaselessly until the end of their time and left behind a legacy of wisdom and wealth.

Through wars and ruthlessness of time, those legacies were buried and swallowed by earth, waiting until the right time and the right person to be discovered.

One man and one legacy. Separated by barriers of dimension and time had finally reunited with each other. Their strings of fate intertwined and brought the world to the state it's currently in.

"Welcome~... oh it's you."

"I'm here to retrieve what is mine."

"Please wait a moment."

Soon, Octo came with the scimitar covered in a cloth.

"How did it go?"

"See for yourself."

Octo tossed it lightly with a smile.

Resting her gaze on the scimitar, she untied the cloth. The sheath became visible and a status window appeared in front of her eyes.

"...!"

Her eyes widen in shock.

She pulled the scimitar out of its sheath and brilliant light glowed faintly from it.

'The strength has risen, and also there's a new skill! Such craftsmanship, just how…?'

Gulping her saliva, she said.

"Are you the one-"

"Not me."

"...Who did it?"

"What are you going to do with that information?"

"I want to meet that person."