Buster Sword

The instructor paused, his expression softening a little as he explained, "This system isn't a restriction. It's a form of protection.

A hunter's strength consists of two parts: personal ability and equipment. Without the latter, a hunt will fail. Without the former, you'll lose your life. Do you understand what I mean?"

Gordon nodded thoughtfully.

With the instructor's abilities and equipment combined, he stood a chance of hunting a Flying Wyvern.

If the instructor wore Gordon's equipment, he would struggle to kill a Flying Wyvern, but keeping himself alive would be no problem.

Conversely, if Gordon wore the instructor's equipment to hunt a Flying Wyvern, he definitely wouldn't make it back.

Not relying on others was a matter of principle, a rule meant to stop hunters from taking shortcuts that would ultimately cost them their lives.

"I understand. Then, Instructor, what Great Sword could I forge with the materials I have now?" Having worked it out, Gordon stopped dwelling on the training Great Sword and turned his attention to his own materials.

"If I remember correctly, the ores you have are iron ore and earth crystals, right?"

Although he phrased it as a question, the instructor sounded completely certain. He knew every detail of Gordon's activities in the hunting grounds over the past two years.

"Yes, that's right!"

Compared with the instructor, Gordon himself had a rather hazy recollection of the materials in his storage chest at home.

"With plenty of iron ore and earth crystals, plus a special mineral from the snowy mountains called ice crystal, you can forge a steel Great Sword called the Buster Sword.

It's sturdy and durable, and its green sharpness is good enough to serve you through your time as a three-star hunter.

You could say it's a weapon many Great Sword hunters choose to forge early in their careers."

Gordon's expression grew complicated.

Of course he wanted this Buster Sword, but what good did wanting it do? He didn't have those ice crystals.

A rare trace of a smile appeared at the corner of the instructor's mouth. "Of all the materials used to make weapons and armor, ores are the only category permitted to be traded. ①

Of course, there are restrictions on the types of ore. You're a one-star hunter now, so you're only allowed to buy the most common varieties.

I happen to have some ice crystals, and their material rank is within the limit."

Gordon was overjoyed.

The Guild's policy permitting the trade of ores was also intended to make life easier for hunters.

After all, most ore materials were easy to obtain. You only needed to take an iron pickaxe to an ore vein and start mining. Where they could be found, however, depended entirely on the region.

Surely he couldn't be expected to travel thousands of miles across more than half the continent to the snowy mountains just to mine a few pieces of ore that were barely worth anything?

That would be far too miserable.

He was decisive by nature. Once he made a decision, he acted on it immediately.

Taking the iron ore and earth crystals he had saved over the past two years, along with the ice crystals supplied by the instructor, Gordon went to the Workshop.

Only after asking the craftsman did he learn that, even if he supplied all the materials, the labor cost alone for forging a Buster Sword was over two thousand z, nearly three thousand.

That was more than ten times the cost of an ordinary blade.

The order completely drained the savings he had accumulated over two years. If the instructor hadn't agreed to let him pay for the ice crystals later, everything he owned wouldn't have been enough to forge a Great Sword.

He had gone broke in a single day, but he didn't regret it in the slightest.

As he watched the forge glowing with the fierce heat of firestone coal, Gordon's eyes filled with anticipation.

Unlike ordinary swords, forging a hunter's weapon from raw ore materials took considerably more time.

The craftsman gave him an estimate of four days. In four days, he would have the brand-new weapon he had dreamed of.

Naturally, he couldn't waste the time he spent waiting for his new weapon.

Changing weapon types wasn't as simple as merely picking up a different weapon. Even though Gordon was remarkably well suited to the Great Sword, he still had plenty of new things to learn.

The proper posture for swinging a Great Sword, how to link moves together, how to draw and sheathe it quickly, how to block with it, how to roll and evade while holding it...

Fortunately, Instructor Ernest had used a Great Sword for a while in his youth, so he could teach Gordon all these relatively basic skills himself.

If Gordon had chosen something like dual blades or a gunlance instead, he would probably have had to go to Minegarde City, or even Dondurma, to find a suitable teacher.

With every day spent at the training grounds, time passed quickly.

The Great Sword's moves, designed for sheer power, weren't complicated, but they demanded exceptional physical fitness and strength. Since Gordon fully met both requirements, he progressed rapidly. In just a few days, he had essentially mastered the use of this heavy weapon.

What he needed to do next was keep accumulating experience and develop his own fighting style.

According to the instructor, the Charged Slash, the Great Sword's core move, had even more advanced variations: high-level techniques called the Strong Charged Slash and the True Charged Slash.

These were special moves that only outstanding Great Sword hunters who continually honed their skills, trained their bodies, and reached a certain level of strength could hope to master.

Gordon had no need to think about them anytime soon. They were beyond both his reach and his ability to wield.

What the instructor hadn't expected was that, although Gordon said nothing, he had already engraved the names of those two moves deep in his heart.

Becoming a high-rank hunter is the basic requirement for learning the Strong Charged Slash and True Charged Slash? ② Just wait. That day won't be far off!

While Gordon was sweating away at the training grounds, a small figure hopped down from a wagon and arrived at the entrance to Kokoto Village.

It was a Palico.

It had snow-white fur, with a golden patch around its nose where the coloring was darker, and a golden oval marking on its belly. The markings were striking and lovely.

It looked around cautiously.

Clearly, this was the Felyne's first visit to Kokoto Village, and perhaps its first visit to any human settlement.

It carried an enormous bundle on its back and looked a little lost and uneasy. The bulging bundle seemed to be stuffed with hard objects.

A bone Felyne Pickaxe, a tool commonly used by Felynes, hung diagonally across its back, lending it a touch of valor-or perhaps just making it look even cuter.

The Felyne entered the village, looking this way and that, hoping to find someone to ask for directions. The constant ringing of hammers from the Workshop immediately caught its attention.

Because of their limited strength and other factors, Felynes had relatively undeveloped metalworking skills. To this one, which had had little contact with humans, the sound of striking metal was quite a novelty.

It crept up to a craftsman who was hammering away and timidly asked:

"Um, excuse me, is this Kokoto Village, meow?"

"Hmm?"

The burly craftsman looked down at the tiny Felyne. The red glow of the hot steel on his anvil illuminated his broad, fleshy face and unruly beard.

In the Felyne's eyes, the brawny craftsman raising his hammer amid a shower of sparks looked just like a demon from the depths of hell.

"I-I'm terribly sorry, meow! But please spare me, meow!"

With all its fur standing on end like a hedgehog's spines, the Felyne bowed deeply, turned, dropped onto all fours, and fled.

"Huh? Is my face really that scary?" The craftsman rubbed his large, admittedly unfriendly-looking face in confusion, then bent back over his work.

P.S.

① This is my own setting. Having the protagonist cross half the continent to mine in the snowy mountains at this point isn't realistic.

② This is also my own setting. The Great Sword's Strong Charged Slash and True Charged Slash didn't exist in the early MH games, so I can't introduce them too soon. Just as I won't have the protagonist, who was born in Kokoto Village, use a charge blade, I've stretched a little to find a reasonably logical excuse.