บท 17: Weapon of choice

As Eldrian entered the small storage room he was astonished by what he saw. All the weapons in front of him looked amazing even though they all cluttered the room fully.

The sides of the walls were stacked with weapons on racks, with shields and armors lying against the walls. To Eldrian it truly looked like a place someone just threw their unfit products in, due to how unorganized it was.

Even though it looked so cluttered, Eldrian felt it was a haven. Especially since he could choose one of these amazing-looking weapons.

Like a kid in a candy store, he started looking over all the different weapons available.

A laugh escaped from Boran as he saw the pure excitement in Eldrian. 'The kid certainly has something for weapons. Can't blame him though. My first time seeing magic grade items I was exactly the same.'

Once Eldrian finally calmed down he started questioning how he should choose. Since he didn't have any standard system skills, other than the basic interface, he couldn't go and identify the weapons to see their statistics.

"Boran would you mind telling me what these weapons properties are... Or if you wouldn't mind could you allow me to wield each one for a bit?" Awkwardly Eldrian asked. He had remembered halfway through that during training he could inspect the weapon he was using by asking calling up his equipment panel if he was wielding a weapon.

Through this method, he would be able to check each weapon, but he had to equip it to accomplish this. Eldrian had no idea if NPCs would detect when he equipped it, which was why he had asked to wield it for a bit.

"Sure, go ahead, just remember that you may only choose one in the end," Boran replied in a carefree tone.

With permission received, Eldrian went to work. He didn't want to waste too much time on Boran's so he decided to only look for weapons he expected he will use soon. As such his first thought was looking for a sword. More precisely any sword bigger than a short sword and smaller or equal to a bastard sword as this would be a very versatile weapon, useable in most situations.

Soon he found one.

[Failed longsword, Freeze.]

[Grade: Magical, Tier 0]

[Damage – 24 <Physical cut/pierce damage <25.2>]

[Attack speed – 1 <Attacks per second:1.15>]

[Reach – 1 meter]

[Durability – 1200]

[Attribute requirements:]

[Strength – 98, Agility – 88, Weight – 1.8kg]

When Eldrian saw that it was a magical weapon he knew this room was truly a gold mine. From the stats alone Eldrian felt the weapon would be one of the strongest players would be able to find for quite some time.

He also felt that the only reason he would be able to choose one of these was due to the quest being SS-rank first, and he had managed to resolve it to a degree. Instead of just being stuck the entire time.

He had no idea if the stats were good compared to other weapons, luckily he could just check more here to get an indication of what he should expect.

As such he got to work.

[Failed arming sword, Protect.]

[Grade: Magical, Tier 0]

[Damage – 20 <Physical cut/pierce damage <21>]

[Attack speed – 1.05 <Attacks per second:1.21>]

[Reach – 0.7 meter]

[Durability – 1280]

[Attribute requirements:]

[Strength – 87, Agility – 80, Weight – 1.1kg]

[Failed greatsword, Redeem.]

[Grade: Magical, Tier 0]

[Damage – 27 <Physical cut/pierce damage <28.4>]

[Attack speed – 0.92 <Attacks per second:1.06>]

[Reach – 1.6 meter]

[Durability – 1330]

[Attribute requirements:]

[Strength – 107, Agility – 90, Weight – 2.6kg]

[Failed short bow, Fly.]

[Grade: Magical, Tier 0]

[Damage – 19 <Physical pierce damage <20>]

{Damage with normal arrows}

[Attack speed – 0.6 <Attacks per second:0.69>]

[Max range: 125 meters]

[Durability – 1080]

[Attribute requirements:]

[Strength – 100, Agility – 78, Weight – 0.9kg]

...

Finally, Eldrian found a weapon he felt resonated with him even before looking at the stats. It was a polearm with sharpened blades on both sides of the metal handle.

[Failed polearm, Grace.]

[Grade: Magical, Tier 0]

[Damage – 22 <Physical cut/pierce damage <23.1>]

[Attack speed – 1.03 <Attacks per second:1.185>]

[Range: 1.5 meters]

[Durability – 1220]

[Attribute requirements:]

[Strength – 103, Agility – 94, Weight – 1.4kg]

As soon as Eldrian held this double-headed spear he felt that it will certainly be with him for a long time.

'Grace.' What a nice name Eldrian thought while enjoying the look of this spear. The handle looked enchanting with beautiful carvings around the pole. These carvings were done in a manner that made the pole easier to grip and the spearheads had a pretty gleam with waves in the metal itself.

The pole itself was about a meter long and the top blade almost as long as Eldrian's entire arm, while the bottom blade was only as long as his forearm.

Satisfied with his choice Eldrian turned around and exited the room. Even if there was a real magic weapon inside, he would still choose this one. Simply because he loved the versatility the spear will give him in an open battle.

As Boran saw Eldrian coming out of the room he lifted one eyebrow quizzically. The weapon Eldrian choose was one of his earlier failures. The reason it failed was that he couldn't connect the enchantment from both blades to each other effectively.

Still, while Boran failed in making this weapon, he did learn a lot from the attempt. Even though he had never tried forging a double-bladed spear again, he was certain that if he was to give it a go now, he should be able to accomplish it.

If he wanted to fix this problem he had two options. One would be to use higher-tier metals to reinforce the enchantment. The other option was using an inert metal for the pole or engrave a negative rune into it. This would allow two different enchantments since each blade could then act as a separate entity.

Boran had been thinking of trying it again, but since few people wanted to use polearms in the kingdom, he had put it off. Now with a potential user he might try again.

"Good choice, that one has been gathering up dust for years now. No one in the kingdom wanted to give it a try, mainly due to them all preferring swords over polearms. Then add the fact that the basic spear is normally what people fall back on."

"It seems like you really want to try it," Boran said after finishing his thoughts on how he would change things if he were to make this spear again.

"Yes, thank you. I also never understood why so few people use them. They are so cool and I believe they are also very versatile." A huge smile was visible on Eldrian's face as he said this.

"I can see why you completed your proficiency challenge so quickly. You want to learn for fun right?" Vivian asked as she saw the smile on Eldrian's face

"I think that might be true. I just want to learn how to use all the fantastic weapons available. I will only be able to decide after having tried them all." A boastful Eldrian replied.

"So which weapon do you prefer so far?" Vivian asked.

"I think polearms." Hearing his replied Vivian grew a bit sad.

"Really, why would you prefer them? Swords are so much better. They also look far cooler." She retorted. Hearing her become so worked up on this matter Eldrian was quite surprised and confused.

Still, he tried to clear it up, "Well with a polearm you are far safer, especially when you haven't really mastered your weapon yet. The range it gives you is just incredibly strong."

"Humph!" Vivian turned her head away and walked away from him.

Eldrian seeing her reaction had no idea why she suddenly had a mood. Since he only interacted when needed with girls, Eldrian had missed the clear clues to change the subject.

He even tried to rationalize it by assuming it might be her time.

"Well thank you very much, Boran. When I have time, I will come over again to learn to smith. For now, I need to go back and finish the challenge Old Sword gave me." Eldrian said in a rush as he was completely flabbergasted when he saw the prices of weapons here. A normal iron sword cost 70 silver coins.

He knew that a silver coin would tide over a family for quite some time. Thus when he saw the prices he felt scared and a bit embarrassed. He had planned to buy some other weapons for cases where he couldn't use his new double-headed spear. Those plans had quickly been removed after he observed some more prices all near the 1 gold mark.

Unknown to Eldrian this shop wasn't a cheap shop. Rather it was one of the most expensive. With no weapons on show being less than Tier 4 normal items. Items in the game came in two variants. Normal items and magical items, with normal having tiers up to 6 and magical up to Tier 10.

There were even a few magic weapons on show in the first place. Luckily, Eldrian didn't see them or he would have had a heart attack. The cheapest magic Tier 1 weapon in this shop was 10 gold coins and 23 silvers.

As Eldrian exited the store Vivian glared at him angrily.