After a long night of helping around the globe, Clark sneakily landed back at the balcony of his room and since it was still very early in the morning and most people would be still sleeping, he grabbed a book from the shelf and tried to read it
"Huh...I don't know the language, that something I will have to learn if I will be staying here for a long time" the man of steel said as put the book back and just sit in a chair
After around a hour, he heard a knock in the door and went to open it
"Sir shield hero, the king has requested the presence of you and the others" a maid said as she greeted him
"Sure" Clark said as he waited outside for his fellow heroes, that all came out of their rooms after the maid had done the same she did to him and woke them up
Clark and the other three heroes made their way to the throne room where now there was a line of about 12 people standing in front of the throne some wearing armor while others had intrigued clothes
"Heroes! I have gathered these braves souls before you today, these are the best warriors in the land and they will be accompanying you on your journey to save the world" the king said in a booming voice
"are we going to choose them or is it them who will choose us?" motoyasu asked, wanting to see if he could score all of the beauties amongst the line-up
"the latter sir spear hero" the king responded his serious tone from before still in his voice, Clark thought of the dodgeball classes he had back at Smallville although he was usually the popular choice in that regard
"Now! Our future champions! Is time to start your journey!" The king exclaimed and the adventurers made their way to the heroes of their choice. While Motoyasu had 4 members, Ren had 5 and Itsuki had 3 which left the man of steel with not a single party member
"This seems a bit unfair..." Motoyasu comments, he was glad that he scored a party full of beautiful women, and seeing that Kal-El had no one to help him made him feel a bit bad for the guy, but considering his choice of clothes it made complete sense for no one to choose him 'to bad he had to come with such a lame suit'
"Is there a reason Kal-El doesn't have any party members?" Itsuki asked wanting to know if they had a good reason to not choose him, he knew the shield class was bad but at least one other person would have joined him 'It can't be just because of his clothes right?'
"I must say I also didn't expect this" the king said before one of his advisors come close to his ears whispering something in his ear, Clark use his super hearing
"There are rumors about the shield hero's clothes" that was what Clark heard and he could see what was going to be the cause of his lack of party members
"I see... So there are rumors" the king said seemingly pleased by this confirmation
"Huh?" the other heroes got curious 'how could such rumors already be spread out? We only arrived yesterday!' Itsuki thought
"There are rumors about the shield hero's bizzare choice of clothes as they seem very confusing, rumors about the shield hero having a weird name with a just as weird pronunciation and finally some lesser rumors about his job as a reporter which a lot of people are confused about at to what it is" Aultcray said with a confident smile which Clark thought was a bit off
"Guess you dug your own grave there buddy" motoyasu said in a joking tone, he could see very well why none of the girls would want to hang around Kal-El as he looked like a complete weirdo
"Makes complete sense if we can be honest here" Ren also agreed with the reasoning, the shield class was already bad but then he went on to leave such a bad first impression about himself, he almost felt pity towards the shield hero
"I see..." Itsuki said in defeat 'I knew he was the weirdest choice amongst us but I didn't think he would be that unpopular'
"Well I can handle myself so it shouldn't be a problem" superman said as he was used to working alone most of the time, and even if he worked together with someone here, unless his teammates could either fly or teleport, they would be mostly traveling on foot which would limit the man of steel scope of fighting and helping others
"You sure? The shielder isn't know for it's attack" Ren comments as he knew that a shielder alone by himself was dead on the water in terms of getting exp
"I can make it w-"
"If I may?" A feminine voice cut Clark off caughting the attention of everyone in the room, the girl in motoyasu's party line up had red hair in a ponytail and green eyes "I can go with the shield hero, if that's okay with you spear hero that is"
"No of course you can" motoyasu said, he couldn't stop a fair maiden from being with him if she didn't want but he only hoped that Kal-El would treat her well
"Pleasure to meet you Mrs" Clark extended his arm to do a hand shake with the girl
"You can call me Myne Sophia and the pleasure is all my sir Shield hero" the girl said smiling, hiding her true intentions
"Since it seems that the shield hero will have to find party members by himself, he will receive a larger amount of money this time" the king said as the maids came in to deliver bags of silver coins to the heroes with Clark having 800 while the others got 600
"Heroes I wish you all luck for the adventure ahead of you" the king said, the heroes were taken to outside the castle gates and they all went their separate ways
"We should go to a blacksmith sir shield hero, I know the best one in town!" Myne said as they walked out of the castle's gates and into the city
"Sure that sounds good, although I'm satisfied with my costume as it is" Clark said as he knew this world might have strong materials but he knew that his superman suit was one going to be more reliable than any armor he tried, still it was worth a shot to see the type of stuff they had
"Really!? You are planning on using that for the entire adventure?" the girl said doubt as she didn't want a guy dressed like that to be seen with her 'why would he wear such a weird and awful looking atuff like that?'
"Of course I-" Clark stops his speech as he sees two men struggling to lift a crate, one had cat ears similar to the maid in the castle while the other had ears similar to a otter, both were wearing stich up rags
"Let me help with that" the man of steel says as he offers a hand to the exhausted demi human cat
"Oh no there is no need fo-" the demi human man is unable to finish his sentence as he sees the weirdly clothed man lift the heavy box with a single hand, and then stack's the rest of the other boxes up with the other
"Where do you need to put it?"he asked seemingly not bothered by the seven crates he was carrying with a single hand, people on the street were surprised at the strength of the man in what they thought was some sort of clown costume
"In the carriage over there..." Before he can finish pointing the man of steel had already placed all boxes, organized them and tied them with incredible speed and efficiency, all the people looking were shocked at the display
"How did you-"
"Sir shield hero could we please continue" she wanted to get out of there fast as possible, she didn't like the attention the Shield was getting specially because it was positive
"Ah sure" Clark says as he resume their walk, the two demi humans are left in disbelief to have seeing the shield hero of legend just casually help them like that, think it was some sort of small blessing from their savior
During their walk to the blacksmith Clark helped some kids get their ball from a roof, stopped a pick pocket robber, helped a old man climb a stair and even assisted more demi humans doing minimal tasks. All that was going through Myne's head was anger during this 'why does he has to be such a nice guy!? I know they are legendary heroes and all but they shouldn't be helping with ever single person needing help! If he keeps this up making him a criminal is going to be hard...'
"Here it is! This is the best shop for an adventurer" Myne said as she opened the door of the shop, Clark looked seeing that there were swords, spears, and armor decorating the shop.
"Welcome to my shop, how may I help you and your friend?" A man said at the counter, he was a tall buff figure, with a beard and a bald head with a scar to the side of it, he looked like he had fought against a strong beast before "My name is Erhard by the way... Well now that's something you don't see every day, that's quite the attention grabbing suit you got, although not for any good reason I can think of" he says surprised by the appearance of his new customer as the outfit he wore was something he never expected to see anyone wear in his life
"Yeah you have a point there, I'm just looking around I don't intend on buying a different armor although some more casual clothes would be nice" clark said as he would like to have something to wear when he wasn't in his superman outfit going around saving people
"Are you sure about that? I don't see why you would keep that..." Erhard said as he observed the weird suit, it looked like something from a carnival show or circus in his opinion
"I bet this is stronger than most metals here" Clark remarked, as in his many adventures, his suit was never really damaged or burned by some of the most powerful individual's and monsters of his earth
"Really now?" the blacksmith said sarcastically as he walked over, pulling out what looked like a monocle as he began to examine Clark's costume
"What in the world!?" Erhard says as he jumps back at what the monocle shows
"Something wrong?" Myne asked, confused by whatever reaction the blacksmith had from that, it was just a stupid looking suit
"This can't be... You! Get here!" Erhard said as moved closer and began to inspect the man of steel suit from various angles
"This suit your wearing, it has got to be the most resistant thing I have ever laid my eyes own heck I dare say your wearing a suit of gold from how amazing this is!" Erhard said as he never heard or seen such overwhelmingly good material, the stats on this thing was nuts
"You're saying that this thing costs a lot?" the girl says as she lifts a part of the cape
"Lady the material and stats of this thing alone make it worth 5 times more than the entire castle" Erhard said, admittedly it was a bit of a exaggeration but it wasn't far off from the possible value of this thing
"Really!?" myne said in complete shock at this, to her the costume was weird and ugly but if it costs that much than she had a new goal in mind 'If I can steal this I could be rich! I won't have to work another day in my life'
"Where did you get this?" Erhard asked, he never heard of such material in his entire career as a blacksmith and if he could just know where to find it, he would spend as much money he could to go there and get some of the material himself
"I was wearing it when I was summoned here" Superman responded
"Summoned?" It suddenly clicked to Erhard who he was talking to "You're the shield hero!" he happily exclaimed, it made sense for someone to walk around with such a incredible resistant suit being the shield hero
"That I am my friend" Clark humbling confirmed his identity to the blacksmith
"Guess this explains the suit being so good, must be a very rare stuff from your world" Erhard said as he was a bit disappointed in not being to work with this material, although he couldn't even think on how to even do such a thing
"It wasn't when I was a baby but now there is only one place that has the material and devices to make it back in my world" the man of steel explained, as the only way for him to fix his suit was using the kryptonian equipment in the fortress of solitude
"That's a real shame, the defense and heat resistant in this suit is off the charts but it does lack in magical defense in comparison" the blacksmith said as the 200 magical defense of the suit was it's lowest stat as it's base defense was over 5000 with a heat resistance bonus that was even higher, nothing in his store came even close to the suit the man in front of him used, he was lucky to have even seen the thing if he could be one of the only blacksmiths to analyze the suit in the world
"Well i guess that means I'm good in terms of armor" superman said as he was a bit content in being able to keep his suit instead of having to get a new one
"You're not just good my friend, I say you got the best armor in the world" Erhard said as he observed the suit, he found weird that it would be made into this admittedly strange costume, but he also saw how it would be more impressive a sword breaking against a skin tight suit rather than a metal armor
"I guess we should head to the fields to fight off some monsters" Myne suggest as she would probably won't be able to convince him to sell the suit or buy a new one
"That would be a good step f-"
"Wait!"Erhard screamed out as he came from the back with a shield
"After what you showed me I can't let you go without something so here take this" Erhard says as he places a shield on the counter "it's the best shield I have" Erhard said as he was willing to give the man of steel his best creation so far
"You don't have to d-"
"Please it would be wrong to me for not giving you anything in return" Erhard explained, as a blacksmith, seeing such material like that was like seeing a work of art, it was as if he saw a suit stronger than the world itself and as such, he felt the need to give something back in return
"Well then i guess it wouldn't hurt" Clark says as he holds the shield in his hand a screen appears asking if he would like to use [weapon copy] he accepts and a new screen appears
[Siderite Shield] (Locked: Higher level required)
[Equip bonus 12 mdef]
[Ability: Shooting Star Shield: create a barrier of light around you, your party members can through it, but enemies and attacks won't]
"That is very useful" he says before placing the siderite shield in his inventory
"Thanks for the help erhard" Clark thanked the man for his gift
"The pleasure was all mine, hope to see you again mister!" Erhard said as he waved away the pair as they exited the shop
"So this is a monster?" superman said as he observed the round creature, it was a really odd thing, as it didn't seem like a actual living creature, he did see a group of creatures in Siltvelt that looked similar while he saved a child from being attacked, but they at least had snake features, this were just balls
"Yes! a balloon to be exact, they are the weakest monster of all" Myne explained as Clark thought that the name was more than fitting
"I can see that... Well I won't need any help fighting these thing so you can just sit back and relax" superman waved to his companion, who approached a nearby tree to rest against
"Right on sir shield hero and don't forget to collect their scraps, we can sell them later" myne said as she prepared to sleep below the three 'its going to take a long while before you can defeat that'
"I can use you to test something that has been bothering me" Clark said as he picked the creature with one hand and punched it, the balloon is send flying back a couple of centimeters before get back at attacking him
"That's a normal punch" he said as the man of steel picked up the creature once again "now if i put a little of sun energy into it" Clark said as he focused on the fist for a brief moment before unleashing another punch that this time explodes the small orange balloon
1 EXP
"The gauge went down by about 2% so the more force i use the more energy it will take from it" he analysis as the bar went back up full again and started charging to beyond 100%
"I never really had to think of my powers as a limited resource although I had collected a lot of solar energy during my life on earth so I never thought it would end quickly" Clark says with a hand on his chin as this was something he would have to get used to 'I could use the night to fly into the atmosphere and take as much of the solar energy of the sun, as the closer i get to it the faster it recharges'
As he was thinking this a group of balloons jump at Clark all at once with him only realizing when one jumps at his face, he uses a little bit of heat vision to pop all of them as balloons don't require a lot of heat to pop
The man of steel continue fight the balloons and even other monsters as he went deeper in the forest, he also absorbed their parts like the king had said his shield could although he didn't have a use for most of what he unlocked, around 4 pm Clark stopped his grinding session to help a man who was falling from a mountain in Shieldfreeden
"*Yawn* so how was the fighting sir shield hero?" myne said as she woke up from her sleep, four hours must have passed as the sun was already going down
"It was good we better call it a day,the sun is setting down" Clark said with a confident pose
"We can spend the night on a inn, let me show you" Maybe lead him to a run-down inn where they would spend the night, Clark thought that she might have chosen the place due to being cost efficient
"Shield sama i brought you a drink" maybe said as she came in with two cups of beer
"Thanks, although I'm not much of a drinker" the man of steel says as he takes a sip, for any weaker man the spiked potion would have put them to sleep but for Superman the thing was nothing more than a addition to the drink, it did not have the effect it was supposed to as the stomach of the man of steel was strong enough to digest the potion without it taking effect
'now that he drank the sleeping potion I can go steal his money and maybe even that suit of his' Myne thought, originally she was only going to steal his money and armor but after hearing the value of the stupid costume he used she got a new item in the list of things to steal on her mind
"I'm going to my room, have a good night" Clark said as he made his way to the stairs of the inn
"You too shield sama!" She waved at him
In his room Clark opened the window and flew off into the atmosphere once more,taking the sunlight while using his super hearing to see if any crime or disaster was happening around the world
"We need to fortify the dam or else it will break someday"
"I can't believe how stubborn kids can be, when I say to Wyndia it's her bed time she should just go to sleep"
"Man Larsazusa is really good in fighting! She dominates anyone in the coliseum"
"I wonder if master Takt will take me on a date this week"
"Have you heard of the alligator in the sewers?"
"Ah crap we are going to die!"
Superman focus on the last one and flies to help
Faubley
"ah crap we are going to die!" a man shouts in panic as he runs out
"the train tracks are falling off the bridge!" a woman screams as the citizens of below run away from the failing debris
"that was scary as fuck" a dark skinned man in overalls said as he was cleaning the sweat off his forehead
"at least no one got hit by them" a older citizen says, trying to be optimistic
"we better tell the authorities before a train leaves to the sta-" the woman stops her speech as she and the other citizens see a train coming to
"oh no this bad, really bad!" a man said as he put his hand on his head and started to hyperventilating 'If that thing falls I'm going to die and even if I don't my boss is gonna kill me from working just to fix that!'
"what are we going to do!?" panic was starting to spread amongst the people like wild fire
"this looks like a job for Superman" a man in red cape and blue clothing says, everyone looked confused at him but they couldn't care as soon the train would fall from the bridge and hit the buildings below
However the weirdly clothed figures starts to do something breath taking as he lifts part of the broken rail and flies into the track, that alone was shocking but he then starts to meld the rail back by what they could only assume was some sort of fire magic that came from his eyes
"his fixing the bridge!" a man full of oil in his clothes shots which catches the attention of more people
"but he can't fix all of it in time!" another citizen shouts as he points at the incoming train
the man in blue seeing this puts his own body in the track "wait he's gonna use himself as a rail track! that's suicide!" a woman in the crowd says as she covers her eyes, even if the man was able to fly and shot fire from his eyes there was no way he could resist the weight the train without getting a broken spine from it
But to the shock of the crowd he did it anyway, he withstand the weight of the entire tran like it was nothing like he had carried heavier things before, as the train passes safely the man flies up and stretch a bit "It has been a while since I got a massage like that" he joked
the people start to clap their hands in admiration of the work made by the mysterious figure as he slowly flies down to the ground, they all gather around him and start to praise him while asking questions
"that was absolutely amazing!"
"You are quite the individual, I tip my hat off to you"
"how can you fly like that mister?"
"what's your name?"
"I'm Superman but I guess you could call me by another name" the heroic figure says as he lifts his right arm to show the silver shield, for a moment all went silent before breaking into praises once again
"You're the legendary shield hero!?"
"I knew you heroes were strong but that was another level!"
"I wasn't aware that the four heroes had been summoned"
"We got a super strong shield hero with us! I'm not even mad that we didn't get the bow hero!"
"I bet the guys at Siltvelt and Shieldfreeden are jealous!"
the Shield Hero tries to move around the mob of people circling him before picking something up with his ears "I got to go, it seems like a volcano is about to erupt"
"how do you know that?" a gentle man with a top hat and butterfly tie asked
"Super hearing" the man in blue say's before leaving in super sonic speed, the citizens begin talking with each other about this new hero
"This shield hero is the man of tomorrow I tell you!" a kid in overalls shouts while putting his fist high above his head, the other people laughed at this but they all liked the title 'man of tomorrow' as it seemly fit the shield hero that they had all just witnessed like a glove
[author's notes]
fun fact I started writing this fanfic after rewatching the superman animated series
some may say that the suit stats are way too high but let's be honest here, they would have to be strong enough to handle entering and leaving the planet's orbit constantly in super sonic speeds
hope you guys like it, leave a comment if possible
now to answer some questions you guys asked:
To The JSmooth: i understood your question in two ways so-1 because Clark Kent/Kal-El has died in the comics before (three times if i recall correctly) 2 he is the most iconic superman and the one you think when you hear the name
To Kmart 364: thank you! Superman basically breaks the narrative of the story of shield hero so i will try to do interesting things with it, like giving the other heroes some spotlight similar to the motherly hero or maybe focus on the other countries and their people
To ideal man: not any specific version of the character but the closest is the superman from the death of superman
To JAKEkenstein: I'm flattered but i can't do that as I'm not a big wonder woman fan (there are two wonder woman crossover fanfics with shield hero already that you could check out, but i can't promise you will like them or not)
To FlexonWriter: i guess you have a point there, but hey she is teaching Melty well in comparison to Malty so she learned from her previous mistake
To ZukahaniMultiColor: great suggestions all around, i will consider them but i first need to do some extensive research on the politics of the world of shield hero, as the series barely focus on it which makes it hard to write about the political figures in the world
To TheRealD3lph0xL0v3r: the pope will definitely be angry but he won't know that the shield hero is a alien as he already sees him as the devil himself
To 2zz3: he will do international hero work during the work, it's one of the main things I like to write in this story and as for raphtalia... you will see what I got planned soon enough
To zanzara: good comparison, hats of to you my friend
also yeah he will be acknowledged around the world as the story goes on but for now is just rumors
To Student: that was what I was going for, I plan on keeping it up
To Perseus12: Hey man! sorry to say that I won't have Mirellia fall in love with Clark as it fells very forced in my opinion, but her thoughts towards him will be explored later on (but they are not romantic)
that was a lot, I will probably won't be doing another one of theses for a while but I'm sure to go non-stop at writing the next chapter