For the most part that problem never comes up again, although in the endgame dungeons there are often none, the worst there isn't even one right before one of the harder bosses in the game, incidentally its in a secret area of Henne Mines, which is (I think) where you are. The secret area before it... its the same size as the normal side and its chock full of enemies that can kill you irritatingly easily even at level 99. Hello confuse and berserk... fuck you confuse and berserk, the endgame weapons do a lot more damage than you have health

Also there is another area in the stillshrine (I think) area a little further than you are without a save point... it might look like there is one, but make sure you heal yourself before you try to save. There is eventually one there.
Lastly, if you want to do the secret stuff be prepared for mind numbing grinding, the best weapons usually require you to get them at the bazaar, and its only with very rare drops... for example the best sword, requires 3 types of loot that can (mostly) only be got by selling sub loot

and the sub loot has something like a 5% drop rate, from an enemy that appears in one area... And you need three of the sub loot, plus two other sub loots three times to make one of the ingredients (out of three) also you need three of each ingredient.
Having said that for the most part none of that is necessary, even the lesser super weapons require limited grinding, just the best couple apart from the zodiac spear... but that is possibly even more annoying... yeah, why don't you punish me for exploring, contrary to every fucking rpg ever, I'd be suprised anyone ever picked that damn spear up without having read a strategy guide first.
This game annoys the hell out of me but I can't stop playing it.
Oh, the key to the licence grid is to work what you want to do with each character and then just get the bare minimum of what you need in terms of equipment. The most important part of the board are the stat boosting things, get them as soon as you can, you will find your mp lasts loads longer because there are about half a dozen licences that help charge your mp up, like get mp for killing, get mp for taking damage, get mp for dealing damage etc. Also the quickenings double your mp bar so getting them is pretty useful.
The reason you may not have found one at level 1 0r 2 but found one at level three is because 1&2 may need to have been found or bazaared, or it may be you got lucky with a chest/loot combo, you can get some pretty high level weapons quite early on if you get lucky.
Katanas and ninja swords are separate entities. Katanas are on the same side of the board as swords, ninja swords are on the same side as daggers. The ninja swords are quite weak anyway, all of them are dark element and too many monsters are resistant to dark for them to be useful (apart from in a couple of scenarios) largely speaking the left side of the weapons grid is quite weak, its easier to stick with weapons to the right side that includes all the swords, bows spears rods axes and hammers
I know too much about this game... I don't even like it all that much. I'm just obsessed with making the numbers go higher, but they don't really even go all that high, stupid damage cap.
Oh God I am a fanboy
