John woke up to the sound of yelling and banging outside his door. Confused and still a bit fatigued, he rubbed his eyes and put on his clothes. Then he noticed that the slimeballs he left on the table were gone.
Weird. I could have sworn I put them on the table.
After a few more seconds of thought and more banging on the door, John swapped his, now mastered, [Small Spiky Copper Shield] for the base shield before finally opening the room to see what the noise was about.
"Can I help you?" he asked, yawning mid word.
"Are you the shield hero?" the knight in the front asked. Still half asleep, John nodded.
"The king summons you to the palace at once!"
"Do I have a choice?"
"No! Now get a moveon!" the knight barked at the still half asleep John. They led him to a carriage and began to ride towards the castle.
By the time they arrived at the castle, John was completely awake, and now a bit anxious. The slime balls weren't a big loss but it was still something he prefered not to lose.
Man, I should have also made a slime block yesterday while I could! It could have given me a better shield with more jump boost too!
He sighed as he was led to the throne room. People looked at him with disgust and anger, as if he just commited some crime.
What the hell?
John looked around and saw the other three heroes and their parties standing next to the king. But then he saw Myne standing behind Motoyasu.
"Hey guys. What's happening?" John asked, looking at the other heroes.
"Don't pretend like you don't remember!" Motoyasu yelled, pointing his spear at John.
"Remember what?"
"Please repeat the charges against the Shield Hero," the king spoke, glaring at John.
"Charges…?" John asked in surprise and looked around. Myne peeked out behind Motoyasu.
"Th-The Shield hero barged into my room drunk and pinned me down…" she began, holding tighter onto Motoyasu. The man in question continued to glare at John.
What?
"H-he said, 'The knight is still young,' and tore my clothes off! I barely escaped and ran to Sir Motoyasu, who happened to be staying in the same inn, for help!" she finished, burying her head in Motoyasu's shoulders.
"If she hadn't asked me to wait till dawn and call the knights, I would've cut you down myself."
"What are you talking about? I went to sleep as soon as I finished talking to you!"
"To think that the Shield Hero would commit the gravest sin in this country. If you weren't a hero, you would be executed immediately."
"Killed?" John muttered in shock. "For what? I'd never try to rape someone! And where is any proof?"
One of the knights walked forward, holding something in his hand.
"When we searched the Shield Hero's room, um… we found this on his bed," he raised a ripped purple nightgown. Myne yelled and hid behind Motoyasu, covering her teary eyes with her hands.
"You animal!" Motoyasu yelled, walking in front of Myne.
"There you have it. Undeniable proof."
"What proof?! For all I know, you could have bought it like five minutes ago and ripped it up!" John yelled.
"What a pity. I thought you were a decent person, but it appears I was wrong," Itsuki said, looking at him with pity and disgust.
"He thinks that as a hero he can do whatever the hell he wants and get away with it."
"Itsuki. Ren," John muttered in disbelief.
Even these two? They actually believe them?
"You're not the be all and end all in this world John. Know your place!"
But I'm telling the truth! Why won't you believe me? Why are you lying Myne? What did I do to hurt you? What did I do to deserve this?
John looked over at all the heroes in disbelief and then glanced at Myne.
What did I do to hurt you? What did I do to deserve this?
She stopped crying for a second and stuck her tongue out at him.
What?
John blinked, but she was still there, sticking her tongue out at him.
"It really was a mistake to summon all four together," someone said.
"True. We should have never summoned the Shield Hero."
"What use would a shield be anyways?"
Shield, shield, shield, shield! It was all the shield from the beginning! No matter what or who I was, you would have just framed me anyways, wouldn't you, Myne?
John glared at Myne, and watched as she went back to hiding her face.
Well I won't forget this. If I get… no… when I get out of this sh*thole and prove my innocence, I will do everything in my power to make you regret it.
"So what happens now?" John asked, turning to the king.
"Nothing."
"Huh?" Motoyasu turned to the king.
"There is barely any time until the next wave. And like it or not, the Shield Hero is one of the few beings who can fight the waves. So we can't afford to imprison or execute him."
"Can't we send him back and get a new one?" Motoyasu asked.
"After all he's done, he should at least do his job," Itsuki said.
"I agree. He shouldn't be allowed to leave without making up for what he's done," Ren chimed in.
"But…!" Motoyasu began, but the king raised his hand.
"As much as I'd love to get rid of a disgrace like him, I cannot. Legends say that a new hero can only be summoned if all four Cardinal Heroes are dead."
"No way," Motoyasu muttered, "So we're stuck fighting alongside that rapist?"
"Shield Hero," the king said, turning his attention to John. "News of your crime has spread among the people. So that shall be your punishment. However, you are still expected to fulfill your job and show up for the waves."
"I see. Am I free to leave?" John asked, barely keeping himself together.
"You are. Take him outside," the king said, gesturing to the knights. The knights that brought him here dragged John out of the castle and threw him onto the streets. John sighed, slowly getting up and walking away. He began to make his way to the beginners area, only looking around every now and then to see if he could find the church Erhard told him about.
"Hey, shield kid."
Speak of the devil.
Erhard grabbed the back of John's shirt and dragged him into an alleyway behind his shop. Once there, John was lifted up and pinned against the wall.
"I heard what you did to your only companion. You deserve a punch to the face!" he said, pulling his fist back. John sighed.
"You too, huh?"
Erhard looked at him for a bit longer, and his expression slowly softened. He let go of John and sighed.
"I totally expected you to punch me there," John said, looking up at the bald man.
"I was going to, but I changed my mind. Wait here, I'll get your order," Erhard said and walked into his shop. After a moment of hesitation John looked around and walked inside as well.
Erhard pulled out a pair of boots and put them on the counter. They looked almost identical to the boots on display.
"Here you go. You already paid yesterday, might as well get your order now," Erhard said.
"Thank you," John took the boots and watched as his exp bar filled up a little.
Guess this counts as a trade with a villager.
He picked up the [Reinforced Wooden Shield] and began looking at it from all angles.
"If I bring you materials, do you think you can make me new spiky shields?"
"I guess. If you supply the materials, I'll scrap something up. What are you going to use them for?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
John stopped. He wondered if he should tell Erhard the truth now, or later?
No. Now would be the worst time.
"I can absorb the shield and get a perfect copy of it. And it could have better abilities than the original. Along with extra stats."
"I see. Well, I'll make something if you get the materials. Good luck I guess?"
"Thanks. See you around," John replied, hanging the wood shield and walking away with the boots in hand. He quickly put them away into his player inventory and began to make his way to the beginners area.
Let's see. I can't see the church anywhere. I should have asked Erhard for directions. But I suppose I can't do anything right now anyways. I need to wait for a bit for the situation to cool off.
He continued to walk forward, avoiding the glares he got from everyone, and finally made it to the starting area. Slimes began to surround him.
To get more stats, I need better shields. To get better shields I need to collect more stuff. To use said shields, I need more levels. To get more levels, I need higher stats to kill slimes quicker. For that I need to constantly be mastering my shields. What can the shield do? I'll f*cking show you!
John looked through his inventory and checked his food supply.
Bread 29
Cookie 20
Cooked salmon 15
Carrot 13
Cooked rabbit 10
Baked potato 9
Cooked chicken 7
Cooked Cod 7
Cooked Beef 7
Cooked Mutton 5
Cooked Porkchop 4
cake 3
Pumpkin pie 2
Apple
It may seem like a lot, but in reality, I'll be fighting non stop for the next few days. I'll run out of food pretty quickly. And I doubt the capital will kindly sell me food. I should master the saturation bonuses the food section gives me to last longer. The cake one should come first, as the one with the highest bonus. But unfortunately it has a higher defense than the others, so it would take the longest. So the best one right now would be the stew section.
He equipped the first stew shield and watched his defense stat plummet.
[Mushroom Stew Shield]
Abilities Unmastered:
Equip Effect: Food Saturation Up 7%
Defense: 1
If my math is correct, mastering time is an hour per the shield's defense. So I should be able to master several saturation bonuses by the end of today.
A slime jumped onto John's head. John grabbed it and tried to slam it into the ground, however the shield zapped him.
"Gah, what the hell?!" he yelled, looking at the shield. Of course no answer followed.
"Oh, so I can't throw people now, is that it? Great!" he yelled, and slammed the shield into the small slime. It exploded and dropped some slimeballs, as well as exp. A few more came bouncing towards John. He continued to vent his frustration onto the slimes as he made his way deeper and deeper into the forest.
It was high noon by the time John took a break to eat.
[Mushroom Stew Shield]
Abilities Mastered: Food Saturation Up 7%
Defense: 1
[Rabbit Stew Shield]
Abilities Mastered: Food Saturation Up 7%
Defense: 1
[Beetroot Stew Shield]
Abilities Mastered: Food Saturation Up 7%
Defense: 1
[Cooked Beef Shield]
Abilities Mastered: Food Saturation Up 5%
Defense: 1
[Cooked Porckchop Shield]
Abilities Mastered: Food Saturation Up 5%
Defense: 1
[Cooked Mutton Shield]
Abilities Mastered: Food Saturation Up 5%
Defense: 1
With these six shields mastered, and with another one on the way, his total bonus saturation was raised by 37%. However he has already eaten 2 carrots, 2 pumpkin pies, and an apple. He wasn't short on food yet, but he should find a way to get more fast.
The good news is that John got to level 20, so the matter of levels wasn't the most pressing issue.
Well, I can finally use the [Blazing Iron Shield], which is currently the best shield available, and the second best I currently have. However, despite the huge masterable bonus it will give me, which will almost double my base defense, it will take almost two whole days to master. Though I guess it is better than the glowing obsidian shield, which will take over a week to master. If possible, I need to raise my level to 40 quickly so that I can use it during the wave. Hopefully I will master the rest of the weaker shields quickly and will be able to start mastering the obsidian one soon.
John took a few more minutes to relax before he got up and began to walk to a nearby pool of water. He sighed, looking at his reflection.
"Well, I'm summoned to my favorite game and got framed on day two. A horrible beginning but I might as well enjoy the chance of a lifetime. I'm sure it'll be fine," he muttered to himself.
John took down three oak trees and placed saplings in their place. He opened his status and began to look through his shields as he walked forward. Though due to this he didn't notice when he fell into a cave until the ground under his feet disappeared and he fell in.
"OH SH******************************T! he yelled, falling face flat onto a stone floor. Luckily for him the cave wasn't a deep one, and his defense stat worked on fall damage.
John got up and looked around. The cave he was in was more of a short tunnel. Other than a few unnatural dents in the walls, it was completely empty.
Unnatural dents?
John walked closer and looked at the holes. It took him a few seconds to realize what this meant.
Sh*t. All the surface and cave ores are looted! I should have known! Just like every other SMP, anything close to spawn gets looted extremely quickly. And this is a world with possibly thousands of years of people. What Aultcray did that king say he was? 15th? Damn it! This is gonna be a bit harder than I thought. If I want a chance at finding any ores, I'll need to either stripmine and risk a cavein, or trade with people.
John was pulled out of thought as a few slimes followed him into the cave. though the smaller ones died from the floor and turned into slimeballs. He smacked a larger slime mid flight, killing it before it even reached the ground, sighed as it turned into a bunch of tiny slimes.
"Jeeze, can you guys give me a break?" he muttered, not expecting an answer. If it wasn't for the *gloping* noises the slimes made, John would completely ignore them, as they didn't hurt him anyways. But the noise was slowly getting to him.
"Alright, let's get this over with."
"*Huff* *Huff* *Huff*," John sat down after depopulating the forest of slimes, and sat down inside the small cave he found
[Cooked Chicken Shield]
Abilities Mastered: Food Saturation Up 5%
Defense: 1
[Cookie Shield]
Abilities Mastered: Food Saturation Up 4%
Defense: 1
[Bread Shield]
Abilities Mastered: Food Saturation Up 4%
Defense: 1
*Ding*
*Ding*
*Ding*
*Ding*
*Ding*
*Ding*
His level rose up to 22 and he got over three stacks of slimeballs this time. But the sun was beginning to set, and he didn't have shelter yet.
John walked up to one of the unnatural holes that seemed to be the biggest. He equipped the [Wooden Pickaxe Shield] and smashed it against the stone wall. To his surprise, a few cracks spread against the wall just like from a normal wooden pickaxe. He hit it a few more times until he got a block of cobblestone. He quickly mined out eight more pieces and crafted himself a furnace using the [Crafting Table Shield].
After placing it on the ground, John turned a log into planks and threw one into the bottom slot. He set a wooden block into the top slot and watched in awe as the furnace lit up.
After a few seconds he took the piece of charcoal and crafted torches to light up the hole he was in. It was small, two by two blocks at most, but it was currently the safest home he had. He crafted the slimeballs into a bunch of blocks to save some inventory space and absorbed one.
[Green Slime Block Shield]
Abilities Unmastered:
Equip Effect: Jump Boost 40%
Special Effect: Trampoline
Defense: 1
Wow, that is a pretty big increase! This plus the other shield together will give me a 50% jump boost, plus these iron boots! I kinda want to master this one first….
Hearing a noise outside, John mined up a few more pieces of cobblestone and blocked off the entrance. It won't do much to stop people, but it will at least prevent monsters from walking in.
Feeling somewhat safer, he turned towards the little stone hole he was in and began to mine a staircase down. It didn't take long for him to hit upon his first ore.
Coal.
John gripped his shield tighter in excitement.
Who would have thought I would be so happy to see you? You give materials, lighting, fuel, AND exp!
He placed a torch and began to dig through the vein of coal, only to end up disappointed when all he got was 18. However it did get him almost half way to level 23.
Well, that's pretty good. I honestly didn't expect to be able to get an ore this fast. Guess either barely anyone mines because of monsters, or people are just too lazy to strip mine and venture caves instead. Either way, good for me I guess. I should cont- RIGHT! Don't forget to absorb stuff.
[Cobblestone Shield]
Abilities Unmastered:
Equip Effect: (1 Defense)
Defense: 8
[Furnace Shield]
Abilities Unmastered:
Equip Effect: Smelting Speed Up 20%
Special Effect: [Furnace]
Defense: 8
[Charcoal Shield]
Abilities Unmastered:
Equip Effect: Smelting Speed Up 5%
Defense: 1
[Torch Shield]
Abilities Unmastered:
Equip Effect: Vision Up (5%)
Special Effect: [Torch]
Defense: 1
[Coal Shield]
Abilities Unmastered:
Equip Effect: Smelting Speed Up 5%
Defense: 1
[Coal Block Shield]
Abilities Unmastered:
Equip Effect: Smelting Speed Up 40%
Defense: 20
Smelting Speed 40%?! That's insanely generous! I mean, it's gonna take twenty times the time to get eight times the effect, but still! That's pretty sick. If I master all of these, I'll be able to smelt 70% faster! But what is Vision up?
John equipped the [Torch Shield] and looked around. The darker corners seemed to be a bit brighter than usual, but that was about it.
I don't know what I was expecting to be honest. But this is great! I should start mastering all of these right away! But it's already late.
He mined out a small hole in his cave and looked outside. The moon was out and monsters were roaming all over the place. One slime seemed to notice him, but John quickly blocked off the entrance and walked to the back of the cave and walked down to the bottom.
Well, I'm not going outside in the middle of the night, so I guess I should place some dirt and sleep here.
John listened outside for any noise, but only heard a quiet grunt and the slow footsteps of a zombie. The noise made him shutter.
Wow, the noise is a lot creepier to hear in real life than in game.
Trying to ignore the noises, he put down some dirt blocks, covered them with his coat as much as he could, and equipped his strongest shield, before dropping down on his makeshift 'bed'.
Got framed, raised my level, and I'm sleeping in a cave on some dirt. Let's hope that tomorrow is at least a little better.
[MEANWHILE]
Ren watched as the knights dragged John away. Just yesterday the four of them were talking together and everything seemed fine. But in just a few hours his fellow summoned hero tried to rape his only companion and was now known as a rapist by the whole country.
"What a shame," Ren muttered.
"Yeah. He seemed like a decent person yesterday, but who would have thought he was really like this," Motoyasu mumbled in response.
"Spear Hero Motoyasu. Please take care of Myne for now, and don't let the Shield Hero approach her."
"Of course your majesty! I won't let that scumbag lay a hand on her," Motoyasu quickly replied to the king.
"It really is a shame things turned out like this. Anyhow, I suppose it is time for you to continue on your adventure. We have gathered some tools for you to help you out," the king said, gesturing for the maids to bring something out. They brought out three bags.
"We have prepared some tools for you to help you get better materials. I'm sure these will help you on your adventure."
Ren reached out and took his bag. He reached inside and pulled out a….
A bluish purple pickaxe?
"It is enchanted by our best mages and has obtained the third level of fortune. I hope this will help you out."
"What are we supposed to do with a pickaxe?" Itsuki asked. The king looked at him and raised his eyebrow.
"Does the hero of the bow not know about the fortune enchantment?"
Itsuki looked at Motoyasu and Ren for help, but they seemed to be just as confused as he was. Ren shrugged and dropped the pickaxe into the bag. Next he pulled out a golden apple and a…. piece of cooked beef.
What is up with this world? How does the meat… what the hell?
"We have also packed you some food for the road, as well as 10 golden apples and one Enchanted Golden Apple. I hope these will be very useful to you."
The three heroes looked at each other again in confusion, but shrugged when they realized all three of them had no idea what the golden apples did.
If John wasn't a rapist, he would have probably been able to explain how to use these. I guess I'll feed one to my sword to see what it does.
"Thank you very much, your majesty. We will put these to great use," Itsuki said. The king smiled.
"And for the final items, the dimensional passes. They will allow you to travel into the nether and end dimensions without any additional fee if you ever find the need to go there."
Dimensions? Nether? End?
"Thank you, your majesty," Itsuki replied, tying the bag on his waist. Motoyasu did the same and Ren followed suit.
I guess we will figure it out later.
"Well then. Good luck, Brave Heroes. May fortune be with you," the king said, and the heroes exited the throne room.
Once they were out of the castle, and Myne walked over to the rest of Motoyasu's party, the three heroes walked into an alleyway.
"God damn it! to think he would stoop so low," Motoyasu mumbled.
"That's not the biggest problem right now. Out of the four of us, John knows the most about this world and its items. If we don't get the info out of him somehow we will all fall behind," Itsuki said.
"I say we find him and beat the info out of him," Motoyasu replied, but Ren raised his hand.
"Calm down Motoyasu. I'm also upset that our only source of information turned out to be a scumbag, but shouldn't cause a commotion and instead focus on getting information. I'll ask my party about everything later," Ren said, trying to stop Motoyasu from doing something rash.
"You're right. Should we try absorbing one of these apples to see what it does?" Mortoyasu asked, pulling a golden apple out of his bag.
"I wouldn't do it now. We should find out what they do first. Otherwise we might waste it," Itsuki said, pulling out three small metal pieces. One was golden, one was bright red, and one was a light purple. On one of the sides was a crown and the other was blank.
"These are supposed to be passes to other dimensions?" Itsuki muttered.
"Didn't the king say there were two? Nether and End? Why are there three?"
"Must be for this dimension," Ren muttered.
"Well anyhow, I think we should find other black smith shops and copy their weapons. I got a few good ones from Erhards shop with some pretty cool skills. Though I'm not at a high enough level to use some of them," Motoyasu said. "I'll probably level up for a bit and try out some new skills on the weaker mobs. What about you guys?"
"Same. I asked my party where the best place to grind levels is, but they replied that slimes are one of the fastest ways to get levels for beginners," Itsuki replied.
"You too?" Ren asked.
"Dang it, so they weren't kidding. But I guess getting 19 levels a day at this pace will be fine," Motoyasu said.
"You got 19!? I only got 13!" the bow hero complained.
"You are really falling behind Itsuki. I'm halfway to level 21. I don't even know what I'll do with all of these slimeballs. They aren't exactly expensive."
"Wait, you don't need them for anything?" Itsuki asked curiously.
"No? Why would I?" Ren asked, looking over at the confused Itsuki. Motoyasu seemed to be confused as well.
"For enchantments?" Motoyasu suggested.
"For what?"
"You know… for using the items to enchant your weapon forms?" Itsuki suggested. "But mostly to use them to raise your stats."
"Raising stats? Enchants? What are you two talking about? Aren't you guys using proficiency and mastery levels?"
"Proficiency?" Motoyasu asked.
"You know… you use your weapon long enough to raise its mastery level up to 100."
"What's that?"
"Wrong! There is no limit to how much you can master a weapon! And what do you mean by raising your stats with drops?"
"You can turn drops into energy and then use a ton of energy to upgrade your base stats. Like attack, or defense."
"What are you talking about, such a thing doesn't exist! It says here you can use ores for smelting, master the weapon form for extra stats, use souls to enchant weapons, and even use items to get a random enchant."
"What are you talking about?! You master a weapon to get stats, then you reset said mastery to get energy, then you awaken the weapons and raise its rarity!"
"Wrong! Rarity isn't upgradable! And you don't collect souls! What kind of ability is that? You can equip the weapons with ores and enchant it with items. And you turn items into energy to raise base stats!"
Ren sighed.
"So not only does the game we're in differ from what we played, but apparently our weapons all come from different games as well."
"Seems like it. If you have no use for the drops, do you mind if I have them?" Itsuki asked, pointing to his bow. "I need just a bit more before I can start upgrading."
Ren reached into his sword and pulled out over two and a half hundred slimeballs.
"Geeze, you got even more than I did," Itsuki mumbled, absorbing them into his bow.
Itsuki turned the newly acquired slimeballs into energy and went back to the upgrade screen.
[Attack Level: 0 [0/5]]
Apparently each 'slot' was worth 1000 energy, and slimeballs were only worth 24 each. But with his and Ren's stash combined he had almost ten thousand points. He imputed the energy and watched the bar raise.
[Attack Level: 1 [5/5]
[Attack +1]
[Attack Level: 1 [0/6] 23:59:59}]
"Thanks," Itsuki finally said, closing his status.
"You want some of mine?" Motoyasu asked, opening his status.
"Sure, but didn't you say you needed them for enchantments or something?'
"Slimeballs didn't really give anything good. It only raised a random stat by 1 point. Monster souls are way more profitable anyways," Motoyasu replied, giving Itsuki the drops.
Ren switched his normal sword to a slightly bigger sword with a red and yellow flaming pattern on the blade. Currently it was the strongest sword he had for his level, since the meteorite sword required 40 levels to be usable, and it was also being boosted by his 20 current levels. The leveling managed to raise his sword's attack from 35 to 42.
[Blazing Iron Sword]
Abilities Unmastered:
Equip Effect: [Crimson Slash]
Special Effect: Fire Aspect
Mastery Level: 0
Attack: 42
Defense: 19
Speed: 12
Fire Attack: 14
"I'll see you guys later," he said to the other two heroes and walked towards the slime field. "I have to pay a visit to Erhard to copy some bows."
"See ya. Come see me when it gets dark, I'll give you more slimeballs if you want," Motoyasu told Itsuki before he walked off.
Once Ren arrived at the spot, he equipped an iron sword with small spikes coming out of the side of the blade and raised it towards the oncoming wave of slimes.
"[Chaos Barrage]!" he called out. The sword sprang to life and sent several slashes at the upcoming wave, killing the slimes no matter their size.
Ren smiled as the exp flew towards him and raised his level. He raised his sword again, equipped the previous sword, and called out another skill.
"[Crimson Slash]!"
Flames jumped from his sword and lunged towards the slimes, killing them on the spot.
"[Chaos Thrust]!" he heard Motoyasu use a skill from a distance and watched as several glowing spears jumped out of his spear and shot the monsters.
"[Chaotic Shot]!"
Itsuki shot an arrow that split into several mid air and obliterated the swarm.
And for the rest of the day the three heroes continued to grind with their parties. When it got dark, the three reunited again, and talked about their levels and dumped their slimeballs on Itsuki before heading over to the inn to rest for the night.