The Viper was silent for a moment but quickly seemed to agree to the change of subject:

“I think I have made it clear in the past that I am not a big fan of giving direct advice on things to improve as it often does more harm than good in my experience, but fine. For once, I shall act like a proper Patron god and give some actual advice and direction.

“There are limitless ways to fight in the multiverse, and to call one method superior to others is fallacious and stupid. However, no matter the method, understanding yourself and the path you walk is essential. Someone such as a highly experienced warrior – a swordmaster, spearmaster, et cetera – is one such valid path. To them, their weapons become extensions of their bodies, and they live and breathe through their weapon, every part of them poured into it. A mere movement of their weapon can impose their will upon the world as they become one… but I must emphasize this is but one path,” Villy began.

“A mage mastering magic and comprehending all there is of their given element, a spirit that is one with their environment or a snake mastering its toxins and embracing that part of itself is also a valid path. I myself have never learned to truly wield a weapon, but I did learn to use my claws, tail, fangs, and generally just my body as a living weapon. And Jake, if I am honest… so should you. At least partly.”

Jake frowned at the last part.

“Are you telling me to stop using weapons?” he asked, a bit confused.

“I am not telling you to do anything, just giving my perspective. But no, that is not what I am saying. I am saying where to center yourself. So let me first ask you something very simple… do you feel the edge of your blade as you hold your sword?” the Viper asked.

Without waiting, Jake gently lifted Sylphie off him and placed her on the table with only a few minor protests from her as he walked down from his porch and took out his scimitar. He stood there with it in hand, not sure exactly what Villy was asking about.

“I’m not sure I get it? Jake asked.

“Do you feel the wind on your skin right now?”

“Well yeah, of course?”

“Do you also feel it on the scimitar? No, not the slight nudging on it… do you feel the wind slightly cool it down, the sensation as a small gust embraces and wraps around it, and yourself holding the handle not only in your hand but like you are grasping your other arm or hand?” Villy kept asking.

Shaking his head, Jake just asked. “What the hell you on about?”

“That you never embraced any weapon, at least not a melee weapon. You swing them like sticks, not extensions of yourself. You use them as tools, a sentiment any master would feel offended by. I would say you have decent skills when using weapons, but you do not have any knowledge of weapons, nor have I ever felt any desire from you to truly embrace and understand one,” Villy elaborated.

“I thought that whole extension of your body thing was just some joke or over-exaggeration… but you’re serious?”

“Dead serious. I am certain that the old swordsman you fought views his sword as fondly as you view your arm. Many weapon masters in the multiverse spend obscene resources on upgrading old weapons or repairing them without sparing any expense when they could get better by buying new ones. I have seen one mourn his broken axe by annihilating an entire race of poisonous frog-like creatures, leading to their extinction after one corroded his axe into nothingness with their special toxin.

“Getting a new weapon for them is like adopting a child. There is a long time where they are uncomfortable with their new weapon, and have to slowly adapt and get used to it before forming a bond. Meanwhile, you just pick up any new shiny weapon you got and use it right away if it seems better than your old stuff,” Villy finished.

Jake took the words in, and he couldn’t really disagree. His Nanoblade had broken, and while he sure did like the weapon, he liked it for its usefulness, and he disliked it being broken mainly because he would have to find a replacement or spend time and money getting it repaired. Not because he felt like an old friend had died or something like that.

He then looked over at the porch table with Sylphie and the broken bow both sitting on it, Sylphie having fun with inspecting the ruined weapon. Jake didn’t really feel anything special there either. Again, he liked the bow, but it was in the end just a tool in his mind.

“How do I learn to really embrace a weapon then?” Jake asked.

“I think your takeaway is wrong here. No one says that is the only option. I think an example of how it isn’t needed is that girl from Valhal also on your planet who only uses her fists. Her entire body is her weapon, and she has embraced that.”

“So, we back to me not using weapons?” Jake once more asked.

“Not necessarily. There are other options, but I would consider going away from tools not fitting you as much. Your body moves like a weapon as you fight, and you have embraced it far more than I see many seasoned warriors. Your instincts for self-preservation and avoiding blows is simply too powerful, and in many ways, I can see a large tool get in the way of that. So, maybe consider going smaller? Something where your weapon is only a small extension of your own body, and then if you need a longer weapon, you can use a method you have embraced: your arcane magic,” Villy suggested.

Jake furrowed his brows a bit as he considered. “Daggers or knives?”

“Fangs in hands,” Villy joked back as Jake imagined him snickered.

“I do have the Twin-Fang style skill,” Jake remembered. It was a skill he didn’t really use much, but he did recall what it did. It was an actual martial art of sorts, all focused on stabbing and leaving narrow cuts with small weapons.

“Yeah, I know. It was a style developed all the way back in the first era by someone following a powerful mammal-like creature with highly venomous teeth, and the man managed to acquire two of its fangs with some of its venom still on it after the beast had battled a powerful foe, and he began using them as weapons and developed a style with them. The guy kept hunting down venomous creatures and getting their fangs as he honed his style, in the end becoming far more skilled at using fangs than the creatures they originally came from. After his death, others picked up his style from the Legacy he had left behind. They honed it to entirely new levels, and it just spread from there and is a very well-known fighting method for those using poisoned weapons now,” Villy explained, giving a brief history lesson.

Jake snickered as he made a guess: “I am sure the guy would have loved some Malefic Viper fangs… I guess he bit off more than he could chew?”

“No, it was actually mainly me biting him,” Villy answered, Jake certain both of them had silly smiles on their faces.

“Anyway, back on topic,” Jake said after the brief intermission. “I guess daggers do work well. I did like using them, but the range was just limiting.”

“That is where magic comes in. Extending the blade with mana is something you already do. Plenty of methods to get around it, and honestly, even just scratching the skin is enough to deliver a good dose of poison most of the time,” Villy answered. “But again, it’s all up to you. Just something to consider for the future. Daggers or short weapons are far closer to your body and are in many ways closer to using claws than actual weapons.”

“Certainly food for thought,” Jake said, nodding, as he moved to one thing nagging him. “But… where does the bow come in?”

It was something he had been holding off on asking about because he did have a bad feeling about what the Viper would say.

“We were talking about melee combat here. Jake, you are already a jack of all trades, using both magic, archery, and melee fighting during bouts, which is far more than most bother with at your grade. I would say that the type of combat you are best at is honestly magic due to your level of energy control and skill in manipulating it and imposing your will upon the external world, and your arcane affinity is potent when used to attack and defend both,” Villy answered.

“As for the bow… well, now we’re back to me telling you to do whatever you want. You certainly have more skill with your bow than your melee weapons, but I wouldn’t classify you as some archery genius. You’re decent enough, but my honest take is that giving up on the bow and focusing more on magic would be beneficial to you and also work more synergistically with your profession.”

Jake nodded with a serious expression before answering. “Well, that is dutifully noted and promptly ignored. Besides, it isn’t a waste; archery is a damn good way to deliver my poisons, and-“

“You can deliver it more effectively by just coating magic attacks or creating new spells integrating it directly,” the Viper swiftly countered.

“Now, considering I have stacked points in Perception, it would be a waste not to-“

“Perception is a primary stat of magic users too, and you can easily specialize your magic to make better use of the stat, and besides, you are still only barely mid-tier D-grade; you got plenty of room to adjust.”

“You miss that many of the class skills currently require a bow to use, so abandoning it would be-“

“Would be a choice that can still easily be made as you have only been in the system for less than a year, and we are back to you having plenty of time to adjust,” the Viper kept shutting him down.

“But if I merge archery and magic, I will be able to make use of the best of both worlds-“

“I didn’t know you had infinite skill choices, levels, mental energy, and time,” Villy said teasingly.

“I like archery,” Jake finally just said.

“And there we have it and the first thing you should have said. If you like it, do it. Your path will take you further than the engineered path of perfection created by someone else. Perhaps not in the short term, but most certainly in the long run. Bla bla, the path to godhood is a marathon and all that, and remember it is YOUR marathon. Not mine. So while I will gladly share my opinion, do know that what you feel is best will likely be a better choice for you. Even if no one else sees it.”

“Good, we agree archery is great,” Jake promptly declared his victory. “But really, magic? I am not that good at it in my opinion. I just make big explosions and piercing bolts and the occasional barrier here and there, with a platform sprinkled in to step on for good measure.”

“All of which are powerful in their own right, and I can see the potential for growth. Also, your magic is linked with your archery, and I will advise you to continue pursuing those methods. Make the bow a harbinger of your power, a way to focus your magic like one would use a staff. You already kind of do that right now, but I think that could be interesting and allow you to make better use of all your talents,” Villy said.

“Sounds fine… I just think I’ll keep doing what I already do when it comes to archery while maybe focusing a bit more on improving some basic archery stuff. But I definitely need to learn some more about melee combat and find a proper method for that. Anyway… Villy, while I do have more questions, I feel like those can wait. Thanks as always, we can chat later. Unless you got something on your mind?” Jake finished, throwing the ball to Villy.

“Hm, not much besides the question of why you are wearing a living Unique Lifeform on your face without commenting on it or mentioning it as something important quite yet,” Villy shot back, slightly teasing but with plenty of genuine confusion mixed in.

“Oh. Yeah. That.”

Jake had totally not forgotten it with everything else going on. Definitely not.

He took off his mask as he stared down at it. “Hey… so… got time now?”

Honestly, he was not sure where to start. First of all, how was the King still alive, second of all, why was he in the mask, and third of all, what should Jake do about having him in his mask? The entire situation was also just super awkward as Jake had naturally been the one to put him there. So, starting the conversation was just weird.

He looked down at the mask as he waited for something to happen. Seconds ticked by with nothing happening. Jake even went as far as to poke the mask with his finger and knock on it a bit to no avail. He used Identify on it, with the description not having changed.

Is he ignoring me?

That was certainly one possibility.

“I am not getting any response,” Jake said with a shrug to Villy. “Odd, he did talk earlier; at least I am ninety-nine percent sure he did. Either way… how is this even possible? I killed the King of the Forest and got the experience and all that. How the hell did he survive?”

“Oh, he didn’t; the King of the Forest is dead,” Villy just answered nonchalantly. “But the death of the King of the Forest seems to have given birth to a new Unique Lifeform that now dwells within the mask. It probably still shares all of the memories and is the same individual, but it won’t be entirely the same. As for how? No fucking idea man, Unique Lifeforms are weird. It could be some survival skill, some way of binding a part of his Truesoul to later regenerate, or a slew of other possibilities. It is rare one gets experience for such kills, but it does happen. I know of a few creatures with the ability to self-resurrect even after true death, and their methods are never simple or straightforward.”

“So, I shouldn’t expect to be absorbed into my bow and magically resurrect if I died?” Jake joked back.

“I get the joke, but I think you are kind of misunderstanding something. The mask isn’t some equipment off the King of the Forest; it was his true body,” Villy answered.

“Wait… are you telling me I have been wearing a corpse on my face for months now?” Jake asked as he stared weirdly down at the mask.

“Of course, we could also reframe it as you only wearing the severed head of a slain foe on your face for months, as it is only the most important part. Again, Unique Lifeform physiology is weird.”

“In the end, all roads lead to me wearing a corpse,” Jake shook his head as he smiled. “Though that is pretty normal, right? Heck, leather and fur are made of pieces of dead things too.”

“Don’t forget how even a lot of rare metals and natural resources are, in fact, just old decaying corpses of elementals, and a lot of rare plants are children of sentient plants, but still only infants yet to awaken,” Villy piled on.

“Slightly disturbing if very informative,” Jake laughed.

They kept chatting a bit more as he tried to get the mask to react a bit more but still got nothing. Maybe the King was sleeping again or just being a little shy.

“What are your plans now?” Villy asked him as Jake finally gave up on the mask and just put it on like before.

“For now, go meet Miranda and figure out of I have anything to do, as well as get the general directions to the city that houses the Court of Shadows. The auction begins in a week, and during this time, it should be possible to travel there and spend some time,” Jake answered, having already considered it.

“Hm… oh yeah, your relatives are here. I guess you can spare a week to visit them, just don’t make it an excuse to do nothing for too long,” the Viper warned.

“Relax, man, I don’t plan on entering early retirement, just visiting family for a bit. Anyway, as always, been good chatting with ya, and cya around,” Jake said goodbye for real. Then, with a smile, he waved towards Sylphie, who happily flew over and landed on his head. A bit wasted as Jake went over to take the pieces of his bow anyway.

“Sure, and we may just meet sooner than you expect,” Villy said, making it sound like a veiled threat. Totally on purpose for sure.

Chucking to himself, Jake exited the valley as he headed onwards.

He had lost one battle, and while he certainly didn’t like it, he wasn’t going to let it stop him. What he would do was take a brief intermission to recharge before it was back on the grind.