It's the first of at least three zones and we don't know what the other up-grade steps will be like. So far though it's following the same pattern as Zodiace and Anima weapons with having the first major stage be grinding monster/FATE drops.

I would not be surprised if the next two zones are different with one requiring multiple items to be turn in/traded (gotten by doing NM) and the other requiring grinding with the weapon to accumulate points on it (again, from NM). The general flow of the relic weapon grind has been monster/FATE drops -> collected item turn-in -> lightgrind. We still have to see if the overall pattern is any different or not.