We reach the weapons store. Store as in more like storage than a store which sells weapons. It’s a fairly large building. Though I’m sure most of it is just filled with weapons.

It’s most likely a blacksmith’s forge. Though judging from the size, I doubt they actually make any weapons there. It’s probably just to repair weapons and their maintenance. It makes sense for them to put the forge near the weapons store itself.

We walk into the weapons store. There were a few people guarding its entrance but they didn’t bother us since it seemed like they recognized Lena.

They mentioned it before, right? That the priestess only had one disciple. And piecing together that she’s one of the higher-ranking figures in the sect since we met her in the meeting/discussion hall, it’s odd for her to have only one disciple. Makes sense that disciple would be famous.

As we walk inside the weapons store, I see that it’s filled with lots of display cases. There’s one prominent model of the type of weapon displayed, and then shelves beneath it which contain more of said weapon type.

Lena resumes her previous nonchalant, totally-not-paying-attention routine and starts wandering around. Oh no, wait, she comes walks back towards me as if she remembered something she had to say.

“Y-y-you can…” She stutters a bit. Or rather, a lot.

Then, as if spotting her saving grace, she walks towards the old man sitting on a chair while reading a book in the corner of the store.

I thought it was odd that there wasn’t anyone inside the store itself to keep watch. Looks like this one here is in charge of the weapons store.

Speaking of how strong he is, I have no way to determine what level a person is, right? Any plans of giving me an option to do that?

Fine.

There are thin booklets placed near each weapon stand which explains the weapon itself and its normal use so I suppose there is no need for a person to go around explaining it to other people.

Lena whispers something to the old man and takes out a piece of parchment, which I suppose she kept somewhere hidden on her clothes, and gives it to the old man. The old man nods and then looks towards me and speaks.

“As the high priestess’s disciple you are allowed to choose one weapon to take, you can choose any weapon kept here since they all are Earth grade and below. The higher-tier weapons are kept in the sect treasury but you can’t take them yet.”

He pauses, then continues.

“The first floor contains only swords and such bladed weapons. The second floor contains Blunt or trauma weapons, the third floor contains polearms and the fourth floor contains bows and such weapons.”

Of course it did, what were you thinking it was?

Ignoring that previous statement. After hearing what I should do from the old man, I start looking at the weapon displays. With Lena following closely behind but still acting as if she totally isn’t following me.

I walk towards them one by one, taking my sweet time in admiring them.

One thing I notice for certain is that the swords here aren’t exactly the same as ones I would expect from ancient china.

They didn’t exactly use longswords in ancient china. I always thought they were more into spears and polearms. Ancient china is a country from my world.

I continue browsing the weapons.

That would be nice. I’ll tell you later what weapon I want, after seeing all the options here.

There’s also a few giant swords. Like an anti-cavalry sword and a two-handed sword.

Yeah, there wasn’t anything here I would have liked to use either. I could have read the ‘user manuals’ to the weapons but I already had an idea how to use them and wasn’t exactly interested in reading them.

Wait, can I even read the language used in this world?

Hey! You’re the one who created the system. You should know this.

“Where are the stairs, Lena?”

I ask her since I was pretty tempted to just see her reaction to that.

Lena tries to say something but she is still unable to say coherent sentences to me. But it seems like she learnt from her previous experience and just led me towards the second floor instead of telling where the stairs were.

You aren’t going to comment on that, Gaia?

I walk towards the few display cases that are present on the second floor, they contain a mace, war-hammer and a weapon whose name I’m sure is a ‘pointed stick’ in its own language of origin.

Almost all blunt weapons are weapons made especially for use against an armored opponent. They won’t be of much use to me.

I quickly move towards the third floor without waiting for Lena.

She needs to approach me on her own if she wants to even stand a chance with me.

The third floor is filled with spears and other such polearms. While they are one of the most used weapons in history, I’m not too interested in them.

Useful in an army battle, yes. Where the person beside you can defend you with his own spear, and they have an immense reach advantage too.

Yeah, let’s go another floor up. I’m interested to see what ranged weapons they might have.

I walk upstairs and look towards the display cases, instead there aren’t any display cases here. There are so few items here that they probably didn’t think the need to store them in a nice way.

There’s a bow and quiver of arrows here. Quite primitive and simple. But it’s much lacking in strength.

Actually, I don’t doubt that. Its strength lies in its simplicity. Any smart creature might be able to make a simple bow.

The bows aren’t strung since doing that would wear on their durability and strength in actual use.

There’s also a recurve bow kept there. A contrast compared to the simple bow. It’s much more useful but still not something my type.

There are no throwing knives or such weapons here.

But there I see it. A crossbow. Now that’s something I’d use.

I just like the way it works. It’s most powerful in close range, it can even penetrating armor, though not very accurate over a longer range than 50 meters.

Not wasting much time, I choose the only crossbow kept there and start walking downstairs.

I’ll keep it since it’s nice, but I have another weapon in mind. The weapon I want is like a piece of art. We’ll do that some other day.

While walking downstairs, I spot Lena waiting for me at the second floor, back where I left her. With her I walk down back to the first floor and towards the old man. I show the old man the crossbow that I took.

“Ah, an unusual weapon choice, and it’s earth tier too. People are usually unable to use it properly, perhaps you could. The crossbow arrows could be made in the forge nearby.”

“I’ll keep that I mind. Thanks.”

“Ah no, the pleasure in meeting you was all mine.” The old man chuckles to himself as I walk outside the weapons store.

“Let’s go see the sect hall since I didn’t ever visit there before.”

“Okay.”

She doesn’t stutter this time. And her expression tells me as if she’s made up her mind about something.

So, now about that observing other people’s levels feature.

System feature added. You can now inspect people and get an idea about their abilities. This feature however is limited by your own strength and discerning ability.

I try it out on the nearest *cough* test subject *cough* I could find, which happens to be Lena, who is walking quite more confidently than before.

Name: Lena ____

Level: 31 (2nd stage Earth realm)

Race: Human

Hair color: Black

Eye color: Dark Brown

Skin tone: Fair

Height: 165cm

Weight: No.

Three Sizes: No.

Gender: Female

Age: 20 years

Nature: Assertive, shy

Likes: The priestess, Gray …

Preferred position: From behind.

Prior experience? Probably not.

Weapon of choice: Bow

…Show more…

Abilities

Child of Light

As someone chosen by her god to be an apostle, healing spells and skills are greatly strengthened. She can imbue weapons with holy element while using her aura/mana. Favorability with people who believe in the same god, rises dramatically. Favorability with believers of different gods decreases slightly. Divination is possible.

Inspiring Presence

Her mere presence boosts the strength of allies by 1 or 2 levels, as long as their level is lower than hers. The level boost is dependent on her favorability to said ally.

I TOLD YOU I DON’T WANT TO SEE SO MANY DETAILS!!

I take deep breaths and calm down before Lena notices anything amiss.

Seems like maybe keeping things this way would be harder than I thought.

I let out a sigh, I wish I could go back to my world.

Right, I should do what my kidnapper says.

Sure, you ‘borrowed’ me, right?

I take a few more deep-breaths. Actually, she isn’t wrong. In a kidnapping scenario, the safety of the victim is of top importance. And for that purpose, the victim actually should listen to what the kidnapper is saying so that the kidnapper doesn’t get angry and harm the victim.

It wasn’t a compliment.

Thankfully it didn’t ever need to be used, but I was taught such things since being the heir to a top clan is a sensitive position that plenty of people would want to harm or kidnap me.

Perhaps being here wouldn’t be such a bad experience.

Lena starts walking besides me and starts a conversation.

“You chose a crossbow, right?”

Finally, she’s showing her assertive nature.

“Yeah I did.”

“That’s great. I too use a bow. We should go to the practice range instead of the sect hall to test our shooting ability.”

Somehow, I feel like I know what’s going to happen.

Quest Added.

Side quest

Young man, display your advanced archery techniques to these uncivilized people and enlighten them on the ways of archery. Impress at least 10 people with your shooting skills.

I almost let out another sigh but refrain from doing so. I quickly check the system time, it’s about to be 9 am.

Why do you want me to pick so many fights with people?

No, don’t answer that. I don’t need to know that it’s fun or something.

“Yeah, that’s a fine idea. Let’s go there. I could see the sect hall later.”

“Great! I’ll show you the way.”

At least Lena seems excited as she starts walking faster towards where I suppose the practice range is.