Rising of the Shield Demon - Part 1

by The Dark Dragen

AU Story: A young man named Naofumi is unwillingly summoned to another world to become one of the four Cardinal Heroes, the problem was the hero he became was hated by the kingdom that summoned him and was considered weak. Read as he overcomes this and the events surrounding this, where he slowly become a darker version of himself. This is a slow and dark story, not for children.

8. Chapter 7

Author's Note: As you read this chapter, I would like it if you give some thoughts about something. Would you like to see guns in the story? I know that I started it off that I am planning to use the idea of guns, but the problem is that I read the Web Novel of Rising of a Shield Hero, guns aren't all that useful unless you are powerful, as guns meant work on your stats and such. So I was wondering if any of you can come up with a workaround for them if you want to see guns.

As you read this chapter, I would also like you to think about what Attributes and Skills I could give to Naofumi. Below is a list of what I have done so far, but I would like to hear your thoughts to what else I can add or what I can change, a way to make the Shield Hero stronger. When you come up with a skill, I would like it if you could give me some information about how it would work. To be honest, seeing how Naofumi's main Attribute and Skill is defence, I'm hoping you can help me with skills surrounding defence as I'm unable to think of anything.

Strength

Carry Weight

Attack Points

Might

Constitution

Health Points

Health Recovery

Stamina

Stamina Recovery

Action Points

Action Recovery

Defence

Physical Defence

Reflect

Shield Bash

Magical Resistance

Agility

Accuracy

Evading

Speed

Farsight (This is my beta readers idea, so need help to edit it will, if you can think of something, please let us know.) He isn't sure what this is called but eyesight awareness, you know when your eyes tracked something faster than your brain can't keep up with.

I looked up some powers and I believe this is the best one that we think it is: powerlisting . fandom wiki/Accelerated_Perception. The main problem I have is I don't know if this ability belongs to Agility or Wisdom, so I would like to hear your thoughts about this.

Intelligence

Bonus EXP

Bonus Skill Points

Magic Attack

Mana Points

Knowledge

Wisdom

Magic Defence

Mana Recovery

Awareness

Mana Points

Soul Points Recovery

Soul Points

Chapter Seven…

Magical Affinity!

But before he could ask about this though, someone ran into the forge calling out, "Master, I have some information for you."

Upon hearing the voice, Naofumi turned around and looked at the entranceway, where he saw a lizardman in its twenties quickly ran in. The lizardman had lava coloured scales, it was a good foot taller than he was. Taking a closer look, Naofumi's face turned red as he saw that the lizardman was a female who had huge breasts. She was wearing a green apron with gold markings, which was barely covered her cleavage, she also was wearing a heavy pair of brown gloves. Under the apron, she was wearing a green outfit. The most noticeable thing about her was that she was wearing a collar around her neck, which had a two-inch chain coming off it. Not only that, but she also had some sort of crest on her chest.

"Crusch, what's important that you barge in when I'm talking to someone?" asked Ulthane.

"Forgive me Master," Crusch said with a bow, "but I heard that news that the king has passed a law allowing to boycott the Shield Hero from the stores in town. Should he try and force them to serve him, all they would have to do is call the town guards, and they would deal with him."

"God damn it, that fucking bastard…" Naofumi sneered angrily, angry at what the Bitch and the Trash King did to him. Now they give the damn townspeople a way not to serve him. So he couldn't buy or sell things, things that would make his life easier and help him to survive in this damn world. What he didn't see was that there was a hint of red in the green jewel that was on his shield. "Why the fuck would he do such a thing?"

"My Lord?" Crusch asked in shock at seeing the Shield Hero, "Why are you doing here?"

Naofumi was shocked to hear someone calling him Lord without any content in their voice. He was shocked to see that her tail was wagging back and forth if she was a dog, Naofumi expected that she might jump at him and lick his face, happy to see her master coming home.

"I brought him here," explained Ulthane, "as the townspeople were accusing him of assaulting a human female."

"Why would they spread such lies about the Shield Hero?" hissed Crusch, unable to believe that such lies were out there. There was no way that the Shield Hero that she and the other demi-humans worship would do such a thing, so that what he was being accused of most be lies. But even if he did so, he must have had a just cause to do so, as he wouldn't do such a thing without a good reason, like protecting someone or needing to get something to protect someone. The Shield Hero wouldn't do such a thing for no reason.

"I have no idea why they would lie about me." admitted Naofumi, shocked that someone would take his side again, but part of him was worried that this was some sort of trick to lower his guard before they would do something to him. He knew that until he was sure that they could be trusted, he had to be careful, otherwise he could be burned again. "Do you know more about this boycott?"

"I don't know much My Lord," admitted the Lizardwoman, "but the story is that a few merchants reported that you have threatened them. Saying that if they didn't pay you so much, you would have monsters attack them and anyone who got in the way."

"How the fuck did he learn that so fast?" Naofumi asked darkly, with a hit of anger, "That only happened an hour or so ago, how was he able to pass such a law so fast."

"So it is true My Lord?" asked a shocked Crusch, she didn't think that he would do such a thing.

"Well, not fully no," admitted Naofumi, "yes I did threaten him, but only because he tried to undercut me. There was a customer before me where the merchant was selling Balloon Monster skins for two pieces for one copper coin, but when I came up next, the merchant offered me ten pieces Balloon Monster skins for one copper coin. So I threatened the bastard that if he didn't treat me like the rest of his customers, I would introduce him to some Balloon Monsters, up and personal. I also advised him to warn the other merchants what would happen if they tried to undercut me. And he was the only one I threatened."

"So, you only threatened him when he disrespected you?" asked Crusch with a smile.

"Yeah," nodded Naofumi, "but what I don't get is how fast the king learned it and get the law through."

"He has spies known as Shadows keeping an eye out for him, so he could have one of them keeping an eye on you." Ulthane informs the Shield Hero, "And as for the law I have no idea, I thought the only one who can pass laws in this country was the Queen and she is out of the country for a bit. So I have no idea what happened there."

"What has the bastard and his daughter got against me?" asked Naofumi.

"Sad to say but it's because this country believes in the Three Hero Church, who worships the Sword, Bow and Spear." explained the Maker with a sigh.

"What about the Shield Hero?" asked Naofumi.

"They believe that he is a Shield Demon." explained Ulthane before Crusch could, "In the past he helped the demi-humans out the most and because this country is a human superiority, believing that humans are better than the other races in this world, they hated him for it. So whilst the demi-humans worshipped the symbol of the Shield Hero, this country lough it and believe that he is the devil."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Naofumi hissed in anger, "you're telling me that I'm being mistreated because a past Shield Hero helped the demi-humans in the past and they worship him."

"More or less yes." admitted Ulthane sadly, he didn't like making Naofumi angrier than he already was, but there was nothing he could do about it. The Shield Hero had to know some of the truth so he knew why he was being treated so badly, he hoped that knowing this, the young hero wouldn't let his anger control him. As if he did, it could lead to doom for this world. "Now Crusch, could you please set up a room for…" Ulthane stopped as he realized that he hadn't yet asked for Naofumi's name yet, "I'm sorry, but I forgot that I haven't yet asked for your name."

"I'm Naofumi Iwatani." Naofumi said simply, not trusting himself to speak too much, seeing how he was so angry at the moment."

"Crusch, could you please set up a room for Lord Naofumi." Ulthane asked Crusch.

"Understood Master." Crusch replied, happy at the request, she left to do what she was told with a smile so that she could return as soon as possible, so that she could spend more time with their saint.

With Crusch gone, Naofumi asked, "Are you sure that it's okay for me to stay here?"

"It's fine," Ulthane said with a smile, "me and Erhard are the best blacksmith in Castle Town, so no one would want to upset us. They might disagree with some of the things we do, but they aren't foolish enough to do something stupid to upset and make us leave. Our gear is too important to them. Anyway, this is just for a short while until you decide what to do next."

"Thanks." Naofumi thanked the Maker. At least this was one less thing he had to worry about, all he had to worry about was food and drink, although if he was lucky, as long as he stayed with this Maker character, he wouldn't have to worry about that for now. All he had to do was worry about how to make money, thanks to the Trash King and his damn daughter, it had become near impossible to do so. The mere thought of them made him angrier.

"Listen I know that you're angry, but you need to control yourself, don't let your anger control you." Ulthane warned the Shield Hero.

"Why can't I be angry, I have every right to be." Naofumi told him.

"I didn't say you didn't, all I said you need to be careful." explained Ulthane, "It's just something I remembered about the Legendary Weapon, a story. It is said that the deity that wanted these weapons made placed a curse on each of the Legendary Weapon. It is said that the curses were based on the Seven Deadly Sins, so if you have strong connections towards one or more of the Deadly Sins, you might awaken one or more of the weapons hidden powers. These powers are like a double-edged sword, if you're not careful, they can come with a side-effect that can hinder you instead of helping you."

Naofumi knew what the Seven Deadly Sins were, pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth, but he never knew that they could be used as a weapon, especially sloth. He had no idea how sloth could be used as a weapon, other than putting people to sleep. Other than that, it seemed that sloth could be a weak power to have. But still, Ulthane seemed to be saying that if he wasn't careful, if he gets too angry he could accidentally awaken the curse of wrath. This seemed to piss him off even more.

"Are you saying that I can't even get angry anymore?" Naofumi asked darkly, not liking the idea that he couldn't be angry anymore.

"I said no such thing," Ulthane defended himself, "I said you had to control your anger and not allow it to control you. By letting anger control you, you lose sight of things, don't see things clearly and so make mistakes and put people at risk. You can even lose taste so that you can't taste what you eat or drink. You need to find some sort of outlet so that you don't allow your anger to get control over you."

"And how would I do that?" asked Naofumi, the way he sees it, he couldn't see an outlet that could help him.

"The only two ways I can think of is either fighting or sex." Ulthane said simply.

"Yeah right, like that going to happen." scoffed Naofumi, "I have one point in attack at the moment, so I couldn't hurt a Balloon Monster if I wanted to. And sex, after what that Bitch Princess did to me, do you really think I'm interested in sex right now? I don't think I'll ever be interested in sex again whilst I'm in this world, as I worry that whoever I fuck might fuck me in another way and give me more problems than I already have."

"I understand that," admitted Ulthane with a sigh, "but unless you have a better idea on how to control your anger, I'm all ears." Seeing how Naofumi couldn't think of anything, the Maker went on to say, "Now I think it's best for you to rest for the night, to help you to calm down. In the morning I might have an idea or two that might help you control your anger and a way to earn money." Ulthane already had a plan, but with the way Shield Hero was like right now, it was best to let him calm down before saying anything.

Naofumi hesitantly nodded at this, thankful that he had somewhere to sleep tonight other than outside, Ulthane got a few trust points here for this. But it didn't mean that Naofumi fully trusted him and Crusch, but, it was a good start to earn his trust - it'll be some time before he could fully trust anyone again, if ever. As he stood up though, both of them heard his stomach grumble, "Ah right I haven't been able to buy any food today thanks to the people in this town."

"It's fine," Ulthane told the Shield Hero, "you're my guest, it would be bad form as the host if I have to pay and get your own food and drink. I'll have Crusch make you something and bring it to your room. Maybe some food and a good night's rest, you might see things in a different light."

"I hope you're not going to tell me that I should forgive those fools of the heroes," said Naofumi, hoping that this wasn't the case.

"No, it isn't my place to tell you to forgive them or not," Ulthane informed the young man, "that's down to you to decide. But like or not, at some point in the future you'll need their help with the Waves, so you'll have to figure something out for when the time comes. You don't have to like nor trust each other, but you'll need to find a way to work with each other."

"Are you sure there's no way I can't do this on my own?" asked Naofumi, hoping he wouldn't have to deal with them. With the way they treated him on the first night here and how easy they turned on him, he didn't know if he could work with them or not.

"As I told you, if even one Hero dies, it becomes near impossible to defeat the Waves," the Maker reminded the Shield Hero, "so if three heroes were to die it would more or less the end for this world. And even if there was a slim chance of a hero to defeat the Waves alone, it wouldn't be you with your low attack points. Matter of fact, with each new Wave that appears, the heroes will more and more need to work together to save this world."

Naofumi sighed at this, it would seem that no matter what, it would seem that by the end of all this, he would have to work with the other heroes like it or not. But as he thought about it, that's a problem that he'll have to deal at a later date, for now, he had to find a way to get stronger and fast. Starting with getting new armour. He wasn't that stupid to think he could defend against these monster and demons with the outfit he was wearing right now, only a fool or someone who wasn't thinking straight would do this.

So with a sigh, he said, "I might not like it, but I'll deal with the other heroes at another time, right now I'm not in the mood to deal with those idiots. For now, I need to get stronger."

"Fair enough." Ulthane nodded at this, glad that the Shield Hero was thinking of the bigger picture, he wished that the Shield Hero would work with the other heroes sooner, but it wasn't his place to interfere. All he could do was advise the Shield Hero and hope for the best, what happens from here on out, as long as the Waves were dealt with, is down to the Shield Hero.

"Either way, to get stronger, the first thing I need to do is to get new armour," Naofumi informed the blacksmith, "so I was hoping that in the morning I could buy some armour off you."

"That's not a bad idea," admitted Ulthane, "but a better idea is for me to make you a new armour."

"How so?" asked the Shield Hero.

"So that the armour is fit around your needs and help with your strengths." the Maker informed the Hero, "Whilst I might have gear that might help you, making a new armour from scratch would be better, so we can make sure you have a good start with gear fitted to your skills and talents."

"You would do this for me why?" Naofumi asked suspiciously, wondering what the catch was.

"Because you're the underdog with no one willing to help you," admitted Ulthane, "I'm just giving you the same level field as the other heroes are getting."

"Thanks," thanked Naofumi, "So how do we do this?"

"To start off with I would like to see your Status Card, to see your stats and any abilities that you might have." Ulthane informed Naofumi, who, with unease trust, give the Maker his Status Card.

Name: Naofumi Iwatani. Race: Human Class: Legendary Shield Hero. Guild: None.

Level: 2 EXP: 93/240 Skill Points: 5 Attribute Points: 3

Status: Adventurer/Criminal.

Special Abilities: Four.

Perfect Balance.

Drunkenness Null.

Animal Charisma.

Clairvoyance (Small.)

Magic Affinity: Unknown.

Health Points: 160 Mana Points: 40 Spirit Points: 40

Physical Attack: 1 Magic Attack: 20

Physical Defence: 50 + 5 Magic Defence: 25

Stamina: 100 Carry Weight: 175 lbs

Elemental status

Fire Attack: 0, Resistance: 0. Electricity Attack: 0, Resistance: 0.

Water Attack: 0, Resistance: 0. Light Attack: 0, Resistance: 0.

Wind Attack: 0, Resistance: 0. Ice Attack: 0, Resistance: 0.

Earth Attack: 0, Resistance: 0. Darkness Attack: 0, Resistance: 0.

Thermal Resistance: 30

"Hum…" Ulthane hummed to himself as he looked over what the Shield Hero had, "So that's why you can withstand the heat in here."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Naofumi.

"You have thirty points in Thermal Resistance." explained Ulthane.

"Oh, it's because of my cape, explained Naofumi, "it has a low Thermal Resistance skin on it."

"I see, in that case, I'll need to work the cape within the design of your new armour." the Maker told the young man, "Now you don't know your Magic Affinity."

"No, I was planning to find a Magic Shop before all this shit blew up," Naofumi informed the blacksmith, "but I can't do that now."

"You're in luck, I have just the thing to help you." Ulthane informed Naofumi, as he went to one of the draws and pulled out a crystal ball out. As he placed it onto the table, "You see, when I make custom made armour, I try to work in the customers Special Abilities and Magic Affinity to help to make them stronger. Now there are times where people don't know their Magic Affinity, either because they have no interest in magic or they haven't got around to finding it out or they don't care about their Magic Affinity."

"Does it matter if we know what our Magic Affinity is though?" the Shield Hero asked in interest.

"No, not really no," admitted the blacksmith, "as you'll be able to learn any type of magic over time. But if you know what your Magic Affinity is though, you can learn that type of magic faster. Say your Magic Affinity is fire, but you want to learn let's say earth magic. Whilst you'll be able to learn earth magic, it would take twice as long, even longer, to learn it where learning fire-type magic would take you no time at all to learn seeing how it's your Magic Affinity."

"I see," Naofumi said thoughtfully, "even if my Magic Affinity is useless, I'll still be still able to learn other types of magic, but it'll take longer."

"It depends on the form of learning yes." said Ulthane, "If you use a Magical Crystal, you can learn the basics right away and master it over time, but you can only learn one maybe two or three powers from the crystal. But if you learn magic from a magical book known as a Grimoire, whilst it might take time, you can learn as many spells as you like from the Grimoire, as they have loads of spells in them. More often than not, these spells are more powerful than the ones from the Magical Crystals. As you would take the time to learn what each spell can do, in doing so, learn how to make them better for yourself."

"How so?" asked Naofumi.

"In most cases when someone learns a spell from a Magical Crystal, that's it, the person doesn't see the need to do more. They just need to learn how to use the spell in their fighting style, that and that alone is how they become stronger from learning spells from Magical Crystals." Ulthane explained to Naofumi, "Now learning from Grimoire, you learn the in and outs of the spell, the diagrams and the incantation to some of the spells. Also with Grimoires, you can alter the spells and even make them stronger. But you should know, to do this though, you need years of experience with magic before you can do such a thing."

"Hum... I see, so basically the Magical Crystal will give me instant spells and the only way for me to get better results and make them stronger, is if I work them within my fighting style." Naofumi said thoughtfully as he tried to understand what he had learnt about magic, "However, I should be able to get much stronger if I read and study a Grimoire." Naofumi said thoughtfully, as he thought about it, he realized that this would be ideal for him. He knew he had to find a way to go on the offensive instead of going on the defensive all the time, and by the looks of it, magic could be what he needed. As even if his Affinity was for something else, all he had to do was to work extra hard to learn the magic he needed to go on the offensive.

"Now these Grimoires not only able to teach me magic but over time as I gain experience in magic, it should teach me how to adjust the spell so I could make it stronger or weaker. Not only that, but unlike the Magic Crystals, these Grimoires can teach me multiple spells not just one or two or three."

At the thought of learning magic got more interesting, the Shield Hero couldn't help but grimace as he realized something, "I just realized something, a problem that I have," Naofumi informed the blacksmith, "I've seen a few signs here in this world, but the problem is that I haven't been able to read any of them. Whilst it seems that this Shield might have a translation feature to allow me to understand the people in this world, at least for this kingdom, but unless it has some sort of feature to allow me to understand the writing of this world, something I thought it would have had right off the bat, it'll be difficult for me to learn. So it looks like I need someone to teach me the language of this world for me to read, looks like searching for someone to teach me to read this world's language came top of my list of things to do. Right after finding a way to fight easier so that I can level up and possibly find some companions that won't use or betray me. Well, I was planning on doing this before the damn First Princess stabbed me in the back anyway, this just pushed me learning to read sooner than later."

"Well, one thing for sure, you definitely got the right ideas if you want to become powerful in this world," admitted the blacksmith, "learning to read and learning some magic right off the bat is a good start. But so is getting some good armour and equipment, along with finding some reliable companions."

"I'll admit that'll be the hardest of the things I've got to do." sighed Naofumi, he knew that he needed companions, but he wasn't sure if he would be able to trust them. "As I'm unsure if I can fully trust anyone fully again."

Ulthane frowned at this, if it wasn't for the First Princess and the King, he would have thought this world could of had a bright future, but now he was unsure. "I would have liked to say that we had a strong and hopeful future ahead of us, but it looks like this stupid Kingdom took out one of the strongest or at least smartest Heroes that I have seen."

"Don't worry I'll keep on fighting, but only so I can get back home and get away from this fucking world." Naofumi informed the Maker.

Ulthane could only shake his head at this, this kingdom seemed to destroy this young man, making it so that he finds it hard to trust anyone ever again - if he can learn to trust again. The kingdom should be happy that as a Maker, he had sworn not to interfere in things any more than he already has done, otherwise he would be more than happy to destroy the kingdom for what they put this one man through.

"Anyways, let's find out what your affinity is…" Ulthane informed the Shield Hero, deciding it was better to get back on track and help Lord Naofumi get stronger, "Please place your hands onto the crystal ball so that we can find out what your affinity is."

So Naofumi did as he was told and placed his hand onto the crystal ball in the front of him, where it glowed for a few seconds. "Now this is something I wasn't expecting," whistled Ulthane as he saw the results, "I was expecting at least one magical affinity, as many people have at least one, it is rare that no one has an affinity, maybe two as there have been a few people who have two magical affinities, every few years. However, I wasn't expecting you to have three… I haven't seen anyone with three in the last hundred years when I started my training as a blacksmith."

"Wow really?" Naofumi asked in shock, unable to believe this, "So what are my magical affinities?"

"The first two was something I was suspecting, seeing how you are the Shield Hero, Healing and Support Magic." Ulthane informed the Shield Hero and before Naofumi could ask what he meant by this, the blacksmith went on to say, "You see as the Shield Hero, you are there to defend the other Heroes and the people, so having Healing and Support Magic would be expected. Not only would it help in the fights better, but whilst you might not be beating the Waves with your low attack, you are definitely going to survive them. With your high defence and your affinity with Healing and Support, you're going to be a monster to take down in a fight and the longer the fight runs on the worse for your enemies it's going to be."

"WHAT!" Naofumi said in disbelief.

"Hahaha! What's so surprising about it kid?" Ulthane asked with a smirk, "Whilst I don't know everything about the Shield itself, I do now that it's a powerful weapon, it's not called a Legendary Weapon for nothing. The fact is, it's not supposed to be weak, it meant to be strong in its own ways…"

Ulthane looked at Naofumi with a more critical look, before getting much closer and poking him, knocking him back with his huge finger. It was like he was seeing something for the first time, as he began to frown before he asked the young man, "You know now that I think of it you don't look like someone who has seen much of fighting, do you even know how to fight with that weapon?"

"Hmm… no," Naofumi hummed thoughtfully, looking down as he scratched the back of his head, "my world is quite peaceful and the places that have war and violence, they have specialized people trained to fight so that people like me didn't have to fight. I took up a fighting skill known as martial arts class, to keep my parents happy and to know self-defence should I get unlucky and get into a fight. I never really thought I would need them, so I never took it seriously as I should have, because of that I'm not even sure I could use it here."

What made things worse was that at least two of his magical affinities didn't help him in fights. Sure Healing Magic would help him to heal himself and others, and some healing magic might help him with the undead if Healing Magic worked the same way as it did in some of the games back home.

Support Magic though, that mainly helped to buff up his and other peoples stats and make sure they could resist certain magic and attacks and help in certain areas. But with his low attack points, the buff up part of the Support Magic wouldn't be of any help to him. And whilst the debuff side of the magic would help others, making it so that the monster's attacks and defence were weaker and vulnerable to certain magic, it meant nothing to him. From what he knew about the Shield, over time as he upgraded his shield, it becomes better than any spells that he could learn for Support Magic.

So unless his third magical affinity was some sort of offensive magic, Naofumi knew he would have to study extra hard to learn some decent offensive magic. He just hoped that it wouldn't take as long as Ulthane made it out to be, it could be because he didn't have the affinity for any offensive magic. Part of him hoped that with his magical attack points was literally twenty times stronger than his regular attack, he would gain some form of affinity in offensive magic. But how his luck has been so far since he got to this world...

"But you can!" said Ulthane without even a second thought, breaking Naofumi from his thoughts.

"What do you mean by this?" asked Naofumi.

"Does your world know anything about physics?" asked the Maker.

"Yeah, they do." The Shield Hero admitted to the Maker.

"I don't know if your world knows this but in my races original world, they have a saying, everything has a cause and effect." Ulthane informed the young man, "For example, let me ask you this, what if I had only one attack point as you have, and I punch you in the stomach as hard as I can, what would you think would happen."

Naofumi had to admit he wasn't all that into physics, nor if he knew if the same rules would apply in this one. "I'm not sure, but I would say you might push me back a bit, but I wouldn't be hurt."

"You would be wrong, the cause would be me punching you and the effect would be you flying across the room." explained Ulthane, "Whilst you wouldn't lose any of your attack points, because of my size, you would have a collapsed stomach and have the wind knocked out of you. If you apply enough force to something, you can do damage to a person, even if you don't have high enough attack power to get past their defences."

This caught the young man's interest, whilst he might not be able to do damage in the normal sense, like taking attack points from people and monsters, he now knew he could knock them out and cause them pain, maybe even breaking a few bones. It wasn't much, but at least it was something, he could now threaten people with pain if he had to or knock someone or thing out when needed.

Either way, Naofumi wanted to get things back on track and wanted to learn what his third magical affinity, "So what's my third affinity?" Naofumi asked with interest, hoping beyond hope that it was some sort of offensive affinity.

"This one is the most interesting one, it's Alchemy." Ulthane informed the Shield Hero.

"You mean like some of the Healers of this world that are known as an Alchemist?" Naofumi asked in worry, thinking that this was some sort of affinity that mixed Healing and Support and created a different affinity.

"Yes and no," the blacksmith told the young man before he went on to clarify, "you see in this world there are two types of Alchemy. The first is The Healers/Researchers, those who study potions and do research on different things, so they have the title of Alchemist."

This reminded Naofumi about the old fashioned, where they were called by many names, one being an Alchemist. They were scientists/doctors of their time, trying to create new medicine and learn new things about the world and such. So hearing this made some sense to Naofumi, seeing how this world was set in around the medieval times and haven't advanced much, not even when they seem to have summoned heroes from another world with advanced technology.

You would have thought that the heroes would pass down the knowledge they knew, to help with making the world that they were summoned to more like their own world. It would make sense if for some reason they wanted to stay in this world, especially if they thought if people back in their world thought they were dead.

So Naofumi had to wonder, what was this second kind of Alchemist? There was part of him hoping upon hope that it was something it was what he was imagining, that this second Alchemist was like the Alchemist he was thinking of. Like from a few anime that he used to watch, Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, along with Senki Zesshou Symphogear, where they used what they had around them to fight or use it in some form, to manipulate and alter the matter, energy and elements to their needs.

So he had to ask, "So what's the second type of Alchemy?"

"The second one is where the Alchemist apart for making potions and such, they are able to manipulate and alter the matter, energy and elements around them, they call it transmutation." explained the blacksmith, "This Alchemist has the ability to use whatever around them as a way to fight."

"YES!" Naofumi called out with joy, he finally had an offence way to fight and do some damage. He was happy that he guessed correctly about the Alchemy Affinity, now he had a way to level up easier. It looked like his future had just got better. Taking a few deep breaths he said, "I'm sorry for that outcry, but I wasn't expecting an offence affinity ability."

"I fully understand Lord Naofumi, I would be the same if I was in your shoes." admitted Ulthane, "But you do realize that before you can use Alchemy, you need to learn how to use Magic and that will take time, more so seeing how you can't read this world's books."

Naofumi's heart shrunk at this as he realized that he had forgotten about this, he got caught up with the fact that he had offence affinity ability, that he forgot he needed to learn how to use it first and that would take time. His heart shrunk even more as he heard the Maker say, "Even then, even if you were able to read this world's books, it would take some time to learn how to use the full use of Alchemy."

"What do you mean?" asked Naofumi, worried about what he was going to hear.

"Sure the true form of Alchemy is one of the most powerful magical skill out there, but it's also one of the hardest to learn." explained Ulthane, "To use the full might of Alchemy, you need to learn the symbols used to create Transmutation Circles, the way to cast advanced Alchemy Magic. These symbols known as runes are difficult and need to be done right, or the effects could be deadly should you try and cast magic with a Transmutation Circle. This is why most people don't try and learn the true form of Alchemy unless they have an affinity for it, as it is too hard to learn otherwise."

"So you're saying that until I learn to read this world's language, I won't be able to cast any Alchemy Magic?" Naofumi asked with a sigh.

"I didn't say that," the blacksmith informed the young man, "you see those with the affinity Alchemy can do a few things that those who can't."

"Oh, and what is this?" Naofumi asked with interest, hoping that he might be able to learn some magic sooner than later.

"What do you know about the magic and magical items that can be used in this world?" asked Ulthane.

"Nothing…" Naofumi told the giant simply.

"Well, there's magical focuses, like a bomb or a crystal, that would allow a person to use elemental attacks or summon certain things." explained the blacksmith, "To do this, the other kind of Alchemists use the cores from monsters that adventurers collect for them to create a magical focus to allow people to use the power of a core."

"Monster Cores?" asked Naofumi, don't get him wrong, he knew what they were, as they were used in a few games that he played back home, but he had defeated loads of Balloon Monsters and not one of them dropped anything that looked like a core. So he went on to inquire, "I have defeated loads of Balloon Monsters, but none of them dropped anything that looked like a core. Is it that only certain monsters drop them or am I missing something."

"I don't know if all monsters have cores, but I do know that most do," admitted Ulthane, "but the reason that you didn't find one on the Balloon Monsters as they come from another monster known as Balloon Legios. A monster that always in the air and rare few ever seen. The Balloon Monsters break off from the Balloon Legios and come floating down to land where they attack adventurers. If these Legios have core or not I don't know as no one ever defeated one before. All I know is that there are different types of Legios to match with the Balloon Monsters that you face. Some are stronger than others."

"I don't know if all monsters have cores, but I do know that most do," admitted Ulthane, "but the reason that you didn't find one on the Balloon Monsters that you've been facing so far, is because they're too young."

"You mean to tell me that Balloon Monsters evolve as they get older?" asked the Shielder. As if they did evolve, he wondered if they were like some monsters in the games that he used to play, where they have stages in their forms.

"Yeah they do," admitted the blacksmith, "as they get to a certain level they evolve into a creature known as Balloon Legios that have their own Balloon Monsters."

"I thought you said they were young, how does getting to a certain level makes them evolve?" asked Naofumi, sure he understood the idea of levels, but if they were young, he thought that they would evolve when they got older not levels.

"Oh, I forgot you wouldn't know this," Ulthane said thoughtfully, "you see monsters and demi-humans age somewhat differently in this world. You see monsters and demi-humans age as they level up, they can become adults after getting to a certain level."

"Are you telling me that demi-humans will die if they level too much?" Naofumi asked a bit worried about this.

"No they don't," Ulthane calmed Naofumi's fears, "monsters and demi-humans level up different, monsters get to their prime around the level forty and those who can evolve will do so around there and if they got another stage to evolve into, they do it at level eighty and after that they just get stronger - no one really knows how old they live for seeing most monsters are defeated before anyone can record their age. As for demi-humans, that one gets a little bit tricky unless they are levelling up, they would age like a normal human being. But should they level up, they'll start to age much quicker, for example if you had a seven-year-old start fight monsters and start to grind up levels, with a few months when they get to level six they'll look like a ten-year-old."

"It takes a few months to level up to level six?" Naofumi asked in shock and worry.

"For a normal person, yes, it can take a person a while. In fact, I have heard stories where it takes a person a year or two before they can get to level forty." explained the blacksmith, "But for those with Legendary Weapons and their party members, it can take them a few weeks to get to level forty, as they gain exp faster than normal people. Because of this, companions are known to go with the heroes as they can level up faster and not worry about the overhunting law. A law that's out there to stop the extinction of a monster."

Naofumi sighed in relief at this, he was worried that even if he got some allies to help him level up, it would take him a long time to level up. "Either way, within a year or so, that child can become an adult from levelling up to a certain level. From then on, the ageing stop, some will start again when they become that age from the moment they were born. But most only age a few years before their time of death to fit their age… some can between their eighties to nineties sometimes a few years older and then there are other demi-human races that can live for hundreds of years."

"So that means that any demi-humans looking in their mid-twenties, could be in fact be between fourteen to around late eighties or much older." stated Naofumi.

"Even younger," admitted Ulthane, "Crusch was eleven when I found her three years ago and within a few months when her level was in the twenties, she looked like she was in her mid-twenties."

Naofumi couldn't believe it, all the young-looking adults could be young children or old people. And so people wouldn't know that they were dating lolis or old people or they did know but it became the norm for them that they no longer care about it, either way, but the thought made him uneasy.

"Either way, about the cores of the Balloon Monsters, is because they aren't Balloon Legios. Some say that once the Balloon Monsters become a Balloon Legios, that's when they get their cores, but some say they are one of the few monsters that don't have cores. No one really knows as no one as defeated a Balloon Legios, or not that I know of. All I know is that there are different types of Legios to match with the Balloon Monsters that you face. Some are stronger than others."

"Anyway, what have these cores got to do with those who can use Alchemy Magic?" asked Naofumi, wondering where Ulthane was getting at.

"Whilst other adventurers need some sort of focus to use the powers from the core, a True Alchemist don't need one." explained the blacksmith, "Instead, they're able to use their Transmute power to use the power from the core? Those with the affinity for Alchemy can learn a few basic spells that allow the person to use the cores that those who use focuses can only dream of. In fact, these spells are what all Alchemists learn first, in fact, these spells are what some who don't have an affinity for Alchemy try to learn, as out of all the magic that an Alchemists can, basic Transmutation Spells are somewhat the easiest to learn. Although they are the easiest, they are still hard and so not many fully master the basic spells and so decide to use focuses for the easy use."

Now, this seemed very interesting, Naofumi thought that if he could find someone who could use these basic spells, he could ask them to teach him to use this magic. As it would be faster to learn this way instead of learning to read the books and then learning the spells.

"So do you know anyone who knows the basics of Transmutation?"

"Well, I know some but sadly I'm not that good at teaching magic," admitted Ulthane, "I'm better at teaching blacksmithing than magic. But I do know someone who can help you, she owes me a favour, so I'll see if she can help. And if she does help, she'll teach you something I can't, how to make cores."

"Make cores? I thought that cores come from defeated monsters." enquired Naofumi.

"And for the most part you would be right," agreed Ulthane, "but like the Balloon Monsters, there are a few monsters that don't have a core. That was until an Alchemist, who lived about two hundred years ago, was able to create a Transmutation Circle that allowed him to use a captured monster that didn't have a core and turn it into a core, he even uses humans and some demons, who also don't have cores. This allowed him to use some skills that he couldn't normally use or learn or was too lazy to learn."

"Humans?" Naofumi asked in shock.

"It might be shocking and awful to hear, but humans and demi-humans who have special skills, like blacksmithing, are sometimes captured and killed or volunteer to be turned into cores when they are reaching the end of their life so that the few who can create cores can make them, so that others can gain blacksmithing skills or improve their skills in blacksmithing." explained the blacksmith.

Naofumi felt a bit sick at hearing this, to hear that people were being hunted for their skills so that they could be made into the core so that people could use the human or demi-humans core to gain their skills. But as he thought about it, Naofumi could see the usefulness in the idea. If an adventurer died and they didn't have some kind of religion believes or their family and friends weren't against the idea, making the adventurers who died during a mission or a non-illegal way would be a good way to remember the person. It would be some kind of legacy.

"Creating a core, whilst one of the basic and most important skills that any Alchemists needs to know, it's also one of the hardest to learn." Ulthane explained to the Shield Hero, "Because of this, it's normally only those who have the affinity for Alchemy or those skilled enough to learn the skill or determined enough, would try and learn it."

"How would a person who has, say a blacksmithing core, be able to use the core?" Naofumi asked in interest, "I can't see someone able to cast a spell and suddenly they'll be able to use the ability for a short while."

"It all depends on the person who creates the core." said Ulthane, "Do you know about slots in armour and weapons?" With this Naofumi only nodded his head, admitting he knew about the slots. In which case Ulthane continued, "In that case, the creator of the core would make it so that the core would be able to be added to a slot and so allow the wearer the skills of a blacksmith, or improve their own skills. Or the creator of these Human Core could make it so that a person could summon a spirit where they could do the work instead of the Summoner. I've heard that those spirits don't look like their past selves, instead, the creators of the cores would design them to be helpful in battle, not just to be summoned to just to make something. The problem with these cores was that they were rare nowadays, as there are fewer people knowing how to create these kinds of cores nowadays. As it has been outlawed to create and sell such cores in Melromarc."

Naofumi found the idea more and more useful as he thought about it, not only were useful in fights, he suspected that they were loyal to their Summoner. It was a shame that the knowledge of how to create them seemed to be lost and not many people knew how to make them, all because it was outlawed in this damn kingdom. He had to wonder why though, as the ability was useful, "Why was it outlawed to create and sell such cores in this kingdom?"

"Because of the Alchemist that came up with it," explained Ulthane, "they were a demi-human. Because this kingdom is a Human Supremacy kingdom, they didn't like the idea of a demi-human being able to create such a thing. So about a hundred years ago, the Queen at the time who had a problem with the demi-humans. for some reason, decided to outlaw of creating and selling such cores. This caused a lot of problems to a growing extent of other problems that the two races had."

Naofumi couldn't believe that because one race thought it was better than the other, that a Queen of this kingdom would outlaw something created by the demi-humans because they hated them. "Hasn't anyone tried to change things?"

"Until recently no, no one wanted to change what they felt was a good thing." explained the Maker, "But the latest Queen wanted the fighting to stop between the two races and has been in talks with the leaders of the Demi-Humans, in fact, I believe that she was speaking with them and the other kingdoms about that and a few other things before the First Wave hit."

'Maybe there is some hope for this kingdom after.' Naofumi thought to himself, seeing how one of the royals seemed to be helping out. Just then, he let out a yawn, after everything that has happened to him that day, it was catching up with him and he needed to rest.

"Either way, enough of the information for the day, I think you have had enough to think about." Ulthane told the Shield Hero upon seeing the yawn, "It looks like I've got a lot of work to do now that I know what your Magical Affinities are, I can start working on your customized armour. But before I do, I was wondering did you have any armour today and if so what was it, its stats and what happened to it?"

So Naofumi explained to the blacksmith about his armour and what happened to it. By the time he finished his story, Ulthane whistled with a frown as he said, "What the hell! Almost anyone should have been able to tell that the armour was stolen if you say the Spear Hero had it.

"What do you mean?" Naofumi asked in curiosity.

"Every blacksmith who is worth their mettle add a little Mark somewhere on the armour to identify where it came from and who made it, we can't have someone faking our work and I know for a fact Erhard keep a record of every armour he sells so he could have easily identified that armour as yours, almost any of the castle guards even the king himself should have been able to get that checked within a few minutes, that would have easily proven that you had gotten your stuff stolen."

"I didn't know that," Naofumi said with a frown, "but still it wouldn't have changed much if I did know. As the damn bitch said she bought it as a gift for Motoyasu, so they would believe her over me every time. They wouldn't look into this to see if it was true or not."

"Sadly, that's more than likely would have happened." the blacksmith admitted with a sigh, before getting back to the subject at hand, "Anyway, would you like the same type of armour, Chain Mail?"

At the mention of the type of armour the Maker wanted to make, Naofumi gave the man a dark piercing look. A look that made Ulthane think that he was staring into the dark abyss and he wasn't ever going to return. "Okay, okay not a Chain Mail armour, please stop giving me that look." Ulthane said as he raised his hands to show he meant no harm, thankfully Naofumi dark look disappeared where the blacksmith sighed in relief, happy that the Shield wasn't looking at him like that anymore." In that case, give me a week to make something up for you, I'll also need a few days to try and convince my friend to help you and to see if I can provide you with some kind of assistance, you're going to need it if you're going to be in this country."

"That's fine," Naofumi told him honestly, "it's not like I'll be facing anything too dangerous, so I can wait for the armour to be made."

"That's good." Ulthane said with a sigh, feeling a bit sorry for the young man in front of him. He had to find a way to help him as if Naofumi couldn't get stronger soon, he could end up dead and the world would be in trouble, something the Maker couldn't allow to happen.

Before he could say anything else, Crusch entered the forge as she said, "Master, the room for Lord Naofumi is ready."

"Good Crusch, take Lord Naofumi to his room and then bring him and me some food." Ulthane informed the Lizardwoman, "Afterwards, unless I have anything for you to do, please help Lord Naofumi with anything he needs."

"Of course Master, I would be happy to help Lord Naofumi." Crusch said with a bow.

"Before you leave, can I ask you something personal?" Ulthane asked politely.

"You can ask, but I might not answer though." Naofumi told the giant.

"The Skill Points and Attribute Points on your Status Card, what are they about?" Ulthane asked with interest.

"To be honest I don't know yet." admitted Naofumi, "I got a rough idea and I was going to check after I got something to eat, well, shit happened and I wasn't able to. But don't you know? Isn't it part of this worlds Status Magic?"

"No, it isn't," Ulthane informed the young man, "in fact, I suspect that they might be part of your Strengthening Method."

"Strengthening Method?" asked Naofumi, hoping it was the way it sounded, a way to strengthen himself up, that by using the Skill Points and Attribute Points that he gained, he could become stronger by the same way that he could with his characters back home.

"Not many know this, but each Legendary and Vassal Weapon has its own Strengthening Method to make not only the weapon stronger, but the user too, depending on the user." the blacksmith explained to the Shield Hero, "But the thing is, from what I've been told, the Strengthening Method is different from person to person, so no two Strengthening Methods would be the same. It is believed that the Strengthening Method is dependent on the Hero, on how they play their games back in their world."

Naofumi couldn't believe it, the games that he liked and was planning to use in his manga was going to be useful in this world. He just hoped that whatever his skills and attributes were in this world were helpful, he hoped that one of them would help with his attack. In fact, if he played it right and the other heroes didn't have something like this as a Strengthening Method, he could become stronger than them. This was something he had to look into.

"I see, I'll have to check it out," Naofumi told the blacksmith, "for now I think I'll go to my room and rest up."

"Fair enough, I'll see you later." Ulthane told the Shield Hero, as he single Crusch to lead Naofumi to his room.

As Crusch was leading Naofumi out of the forge, he stopped at the doors and turned to the Maker and asked, "There's one last thing, I was wondering, how could the bastard Erhard get past my defences? I thought that thanks to this damn shield, my defences would be unbreakable by most people in this town."

"And you would be right," admitted Ulthane, "but you need to know two things, first he is level forty-five with high attack power, something apart for a few advance adventurers in town are. The second thing is that like you, Erhard as a special ability, this ability allow him to bypass the defences of those who are lower level than him."

"So you're telling me that until I get over the level forty-five, he would be able to bypass my defences without a second thought?" Naofumi asked worriedly.

"I'm afraid so," Ulthane informed Naofumi with a sigh, "no matter how high your defence is, he'll be able to bypass it unless you are a higher level than his. But you should be warned though, with the Waves about, he like many other adventurers will be levelling up so that they can defend themselves should they get caught in a Wave."

"Damn, not good," Naofumi frowned, not happy with the news, he was a threat and he wasn't sure how to deal with him, "I'll have to be careful around him from now on. As I really don't want to get caught by another of his punches."

"Fair enough." said Ulthane, as Naofumi left the forge as he thought about how to deal with the new information that he gained that day.

To Be Continued

Author's Note - PLEASE READ TO THE END: Here ends another chapter of The Rising of Shield Demon, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter and if you enjoyed the chapter, please leave some feedback and let me know what you thought of it. I know that I said this chapter would be about Naofumi levelling up, but this chapter took on a life of its own and this came about, I hope you liked it though.

The chapter would have been out sooner, but I had a problem with my laptop which forced me to take it into the shops to get sorted. Because of this, writing been slower and I had to use my phone to write some of the chapter, which is hard enough for me.

As for the gun question at the start of the chapter, my beta reader suggested that I should use magic instead of normal gunpowder as they used in the Web Novel, but I still would like your thoughts about this and ideas on how to make firearms better. Because it wasn't just the bullets made the gun weak, but you needed to be high level for the stats to use them - that's how I understood it anyway.

I used the name Crusch from Overlord, as that's the only female name I could find for a female lizardman. So I would like it if you could help me with female lizardmen names.

I got a review saying that I need a Beta Reader, but I do have someone who looks over my work before I post it. Not only does he help with my spelling and grammar, but he also helps with ideas and such. So if you think you can do better in the spelling and grammar department, please let me know and I'll send you a chapter to look at to see what you can do with it. Please remember, I am dyslexic and have learning problems, so I write as I feel is right and hope that those who agree to help me fix any problems there are with the chapters.

Now there's been a few people who asked that I give Naofumi the Lust Curse along with the Wrath Curse, but I have a slight problem with this. In the WN version of the story that I have been reading, the side effects of the Curse is that Motoyasu sees most of the woman as Pigs unless they are Filolial Queens, and this is something I don't want. So if you want Naofumi to have the Lust Curse, I want three things from you:

First, how would he get the Curse? As I'm not planning to make him a womaniser nor a sex-crazed person, so I wouldn't have the faintest idea of how he would get such a shield.

Second, I want ideas for the looks and powers for this new Curse Shield, as the Wrath Shield had a few stages to it and had new powers and looks as the Wrath Shield got upgraded.

And lastly, what should the side effects be for him, as I really don't want Naofumi to see women as pigs as I want him to fuck a few of them. Not only that, I don't him to unable to feel the effects of lust, the urge to have sex or unable to get off. That would be no fun at all to write.