"Weapon bonds are bonds formed between man and weapon, arising when the two unite as one in the battlefield after causing immense bloodshed. Due to this, only those who have spent a long time with their weapon in the battlefield, or those who have wreaked havoc with their weapon and caused a massacre in the battlefield have a high chance of awakening a weapon bond."
'Huh.' Deciding to focus on answering his question involving Sana's peculiar ability first, Valyr read through the book's introduction on what weapon bonds were, noticing that the second method given by the definition was quite similar to the method he used to awaken the weapon bond between him and his spear in the first place.
'As far as I remember, players always told other players that if you wanted to awaken a bond with your weapon, you should kill a total of 1,000 monsters or greater. Did that saying come from this book somehow?' Pondering over this thought, Valyr felt like the chances of his thought being true were likely.
Then again, with how many books there were in the Myriad Archives tackling the same topic, he did not dismiss the possibility that the player where the saying originated from came across a book that was similar to the one he was reading. In fact, even a book that could only be accessed with a higher rank of authority did not escape his realm of possibility.
Feeling like his train of thought had gone off on a tangent, Valyr shifted the topic back to what it was earlier, proceeding to read past the book's introduction and into the main part of what the book tackled, which were the various types of weapon bonds that existed.
'Although I more or less know how these different weapon bonds work, it doesn't hurt refreshing my knowledge of it.' Concentrating all of his attention on reading the information contained within the book, Valyr proceeded to go through its various pages, muttering some of the passages along the way.
"There are four types of weapon bonds: Nascent, Ignition, Ego, and Spirit. Nascent weapon bonds refer to weapon bonds that are classified as Level 1 and Level 2 bonds on one's weapon, allowing the user of the weapon to establish some form of communication with their weapon."
"At Level 1, the form of communication most commonly found is through the sensing of emotions, with the ability to talk being rarely observed, only being a few words at most." Nodding as he cross-referenced what he knew from back then to what he was reading, Valyr continued.
"On the other hand, Level 2 allows the owner to engage in a greater form of communication, being able to hold basic conversations with one's weapon. In conjunction with the ability to sense the emotions of a weapon, this allows the user to obtain more information from their weapon."
'Hmm. I do feel Sana's emotions from time to time when it talks. Though, with how we've been talking to each other so far, would our level of conversation really be considered basic?' Taking a bit of time to process what he had read regarding nascent weapon bonds, Valyr quickly noticed how his weapon bond with Sana seemed to be at a higher level even though it was classified as Level 2 by the system.
'Aside from that, there's no mention of the weapon gaining the ability to look through the user's memories at the nascent weapon bond level.' Rubbing his chin with his forefinger and thumb as he contemplated over the matter, he also checked through his memories to see if what he knew about nascent weapon bonds talked about the ability to scour through the user's memories.
Surprisingly, there was no mention of it in his memories either.
'If I remember correctly, that's only something that's available to weapon bonds of a higher level.' Letting out a faint sigh, he decided to continue reading through the book.
"Forming a Level 3 bond with your weapon now classifies as an Ignition weapon, hence the bond being called an Ignition weapon bond. At this level, the user has no problem holding a full-on conversation with their weapon, even giving the owner the ability to tap into the potential of the weapon bond and allow their weapon to temporarily achieve a great level of power."
"With that, a Level 4 bond only pushes that further, turning an Ignition weapon into an Ego weapon, which is also the name of the bond. Though the owner still has the ability to tap into the weapon bond's potential, the weapon now has the ability to act on its own and fight alongside its owner, acting as if it were an entire entity altogether."
"Still no mention of Sana's ability…" Valyr muttered to himself, scratching the back of his head as he found his bond with his spear more peculiar by the second. Fortunately, the final level finally shed some light into his question, though the answer he obtained only made him realize that his bond with Sana was all the more peculiar.
"Lastly, a Level 5 bond allows the weapon to take on the shape of a human, transforming into what is called a Spirit weapon. Weapons at this level are capable of shifting between their human form and weapon form at will, while at the same time being able to exert a level of power far greater than even Ego weapons."
"It is also said that Spirit weapons gain access to a rudimentary version of the system, allowing them to increase their strength even further, as well as gain access to a portion of the owner's memories, allowing them to synergize with their owners to a whole other level."
Thud!
Slamming the book shut as the paragraphs describing the final weapon bond level lingered in his mind, Valyr stared off into the distance in silence as he tried to make sense of the information he had just read. By the time a couple minutes had passed, he let out an incredibly long and exasperated sigh, the frustration he felt at arriving at a complicated answer felt through it.
"So, if I'm getting this right… my bond with Sana, even though it's classified as Level 2 by the system, functions like a Level 3 bond and a Level 5 bond at the same time. Then again, the latter function disappeared so it would be more correct to say that it's similar to a Level 3 bond."
"Ah, forget it. I'll ponder more about it later." Furiously scratching his head for a bit, Valyr took a few deep breaths to calm himself down before deciding to proceed onto the next question he wanted to answer, which had something to do with the mark that was on his back.
"Haah…"
"I really hope the answer I get this time isn't as complicated."
