"Air Strike Shield! Change Shield!"
Naofumi yelled his two skills at a horde of Large Electro/Mutant Slimes along with small Electro Slimes.
First, a large shield appears in front of two Large Slimes, but it instantly changes to a shield made out of water as it splashes all the slimes around it. Even if it is not Hydro, the effects still make an Electro-Charge reaction causing huge amounts of electricity around all the slimes. The reason why Naofumi did that was for this.
Well, first, he instantly changes his shield to the Cryo Regisvine Shield and uses its special ability vines as it wraps all the slimes into one big pile of yellow and purple. Then he used his plan.
"Shield Prison! Change Shield!"
A huge cage of shields traps the whole horde as it instantly changes to the Bomb Shield, creating a loud explosion in the Shield Prison, which breaks the whole cage of shields. Not only that, but it even knocked Naofumi to the ground, even though he was away from the attack, but he still got caught in the crossfire.
Smoke surrounded Naofumi as he used his Elemental Skill to blow away all the smoke, and he saw one lone Large Electro Slime still standing while its brethren lay dead on the ground.
"Guess you're stronger than all of them."
He mutters to himself as he sees the level of the slime
Large Electro Slime: physical level 25
One of the shields he unlocked gave him the appraisal skill to see the level of humans and creatures based on their physical experience. It makes sense why this slime was able to survive that whole explosion.
"Well then, Air Strike Shield! Gust Shield!"
Naofumi attacks the slime as he launches another giant shield at it, this time, thanks to the six-point stats, the skill was able to hurt the slime even if it was only a tiny bit, but it took damage from his other skill as sharp wind currents attacked the slime.
In retaliation the slime jumps in the air, aiming directly at Naofumi as he raises his shield to block the incoming attack. He was able to tank the hit as he knocked it away from him, and he attacked again, but this time with his Elemental Skill, finishing the slime.
Character EXP +900
Naofumi received a notification that he had now reached level 12 as he was beaming in pride. Another level up means more shields to master. After a quick check, it was a few stats bonuses, but Naofumi still decided to master them.
"Okay, time to absorb everything."
After absorbing all the remaining Naofumi checked how many slime condensate and secretions he had in total as he nodded to himself, as he got just enough to finish the commission quest for Sucrose.
Nodding to himself, Naofumi used Portal Shield to teleport back to Mondstadt, specifically at the entrance of the Knights of Favonius Headquarters. His sudden presence shocks the two knights until they calm down as they realize who has just appeared.
Both of them lightly scolded Naofumi for his sudden scare and asked him to warn them next time before appearing so suddenly again. Sheepishly, Naofumi apologizes as he enters the headquarters. He makes his way through the wall, upstairs, and to a room where Naofumi sees a familiar lone figure working on something.
He knocks on the door, which startles her as she immediately turns around and sighs in relief, seeing that it was someone familiar to her. She has light green hair, amber eyes, and brown round spectacles. She also has strange animal ears that make Naofumi wonder what she could be, he is aware of demi-humans but wonders which dem-human she is.
Sucrose's hair is tied into a low ponytail. Her Anemo Vision is attached as a brooch to her cape collar. She wears thick, white gloves; dark brown-rimmed glasses; a blue corset with a ruffled hem and the crest of the knights is on the black inner part; and a pair of white boots and black thigh-high stockings with a garter. She also wears a white and blue beret that has a smaller crest of the knights on the front.
"Mr. Iwatani! Hello! Uh, I heard you took on my commission."
She blushes as she turns away, unable to meet his eyes. Naofumi just smiles as he is all too familiar with Sucrose's timidness and shyness towards him and anyone she comes across. Actually, she was really calm when she was around him, more than anyone, a bit more comfortable when she was with Albedo.
Right now, his sudden appearance just makes her a bit timid as she'll quickly outgrow it after a moment.
"Yep, here are the slime remains you wanted."
He took out what Sucrose needed from his shield as both remained in separate bottles. Sucrose thanks Naofumi as she carefully observes them. She comments on how much research she would have to do on just the slime remains.
Naofumi just shrugs as Sucrose is the bio-alchemy, as well as the assistant of Albedo, like Albedo she too wants to research the secrets of life like him. So after waiting for a bit she thanked Naofumi once again and gave him his commission reward.
"Mr. Iwatani, have you found anything new about your shield?"
Sucrose asks as she wonders if there was anything else Naofumi might have discovered about his shield, as it has been a week since the situation of the Hilichurhls all around Mondstadt. The fact that it had all stopped made everyone wonder if something more dangerous would happen or if the Hilichurls' sightings had stopped altogether.
"Yeah, two days ago I found out that my shield can make items on its own when I have the materials in my shield. That includes food too. Remember the potions you taught me to make. I was able to make them thanks to the shield, but unlike when I made them, the potions didn't have the quality and effect that you praised, as if it was just normal."
He handed her the healing potion the shield made, and Sucrose quickly inspected the potion as she realized what Naofumi meant.
During the week, Naofumi asks Sucrose if she could help him teach him how to make potions, and she hesitantly agrees. At first, she was worried if she would be able to teach Naofumi how to make potions, but throughout the day, he was a natural as he made a successful healing potion, in which Sucrose comments how it was more effective than the one she and Lisa would make.
Naofumi commented that it was thanks to the effect bonus of his shields that boosted the quality and effect of the potion which surprised Sucrose. When she taught him how to make other potions, the results were the same, and Sucrose spent the whole day researching how the legendary shield could affect potion-making.
She did wonder if it could be the same for Alchemy until she recalled the first time they met, as she realized that she had already seen the effects firsthand. She noted it down and asked Naofumi if he would like to come by tomorrow for further testing to see if he can improve not only more potions but also Alchemy materials.
Naofumi agreed to, and the next day, after learning how to make other potions like elemental resistance and buffing potions for Vision wielders.
Sure, he could have made them by using Alchemy and get more than one potion created or have the materials that were needed for the potion returned to him thanks to the effects of the shield, but Naofumi wanted to see the changes when making it by his hands.
He was able to make Heatshield Potion, Desiccant Potion, Gushing Essential Potion, Shocking Essential Potion, and every potion that Sucrose had the materials for had some major effects.
Ordinary potions that came from the Crafting Bench can either increase the resistance or damage of a specific element by 25% and can last for 300 seconds, which equals five minutes.
But after making the potions by hand, he had tested out the effects and noticed that the percent was at 50% and 600 seconds, ten whole minutes! He even poured a few drops into his shields as he had unlocked more potion-related shields with bonuses that are purely elemental-related. Even upgrading some of the shields that are in the Potion series.
Sucrose was writing everything down with a mix of excitement and astonishment. She wanted to research more of what Naofumi is capable of until she received word from one of the knights that Albedo was looking for her, as he needed her help for a research project that he was working on.
So after Naofumi witnessed Sucrose struggling to decide which was more important to focus on before apologizing to him, she left, not before asking Naofumi to let her know in case he found something new that was related to potion making.
Which the days later came up to right now.
"Yes, even after checking them a few times, no matter how rare the quality of the materials I got the results are always the same. Guess the effects that I gain from my shield only work when I'm doing them physically and not using my shield as a shortcut."
"Interesting. Your shield is truly one of a kind."
She lightly taps on the green gem, wondering how such an amazing weapon could achieve something that she couldn't have done yet, at the same time not having the result that she wrote down.
"Do you need help with anything? I think my skills for Alchemy might be good enough to help you with something."
Sucrose froze for a moment, not before having a calculated expression on her face. Suddenly, her eyes lit up as she looked at both the legendary shield and Naofumi.
"Y-Yes! There's something I will need your help with!"
She led Naofumi to a blackboard on the wall, where there were sketches and notes that resembled a bag with the bold words of NRE (Nutrition, Ready-to-Eat). Naofumi pondered on what Sucrose making is related to food.
"When Mr. Albedo explained during one of your visits to his workshop at Dragonspine, you prepared his food as he noted how delicious it was than what he normally orders or makes in his spare time. He also explains how you told him that it was the shield's effect that gave me an idea."
Naofumi recalls making him Sunshine Sprat, which Albedo would tell him was a dish he would make when he had the time to cook, in which Albedo gave him his signature dish, Woodland Dream. Guess he must have liked it so much that Albedo even told Sucrose about it.
She picks up something that seems to be a model of the bag that Naofumi saw on the blackboard, but it looks like an ordinary blue bag.
"What if I make something relating to your cooking skills and storage, like your shield and Visions, to create a bag to put food in for later use to have an increased nutritional intake?"
Naofumi nods as he sees what she is going through with this. He let Sucrose continue explaining.
"I could make similar effects with my Alchemy skills, along with the materials I have to construct just the bag to do just that. But, so far, I have only managed to figure out how to make the bag for the food, not the effects. So, if you don't mind, Mr. Iwatani, could you please help me make the effects into the bag and test the results? I can also make this a commission if you wish."
Naofumi just smiles at her eagerness for this project of hers and nods in agreement.
"Sure I can help! Also, I don't need any rewards or anything. I can just accept this as a favor from a friend."
Sucrose thanked him as she led him to work on the NRE. The fact that the bag was done, despite being the prototype, was used as an example of what could be added to make it what it was designed for.
But that didn't mean it did not come with errors and mistakes along the way, the two of them were in the lab for so long that Naofumi felt his stomach rumbling as he realized the time was outside. It was already night and he realized he hadn't spoken to Katheryne about his complete commissions.
He now wonders if she was still there at the Adventurer's Guild and still accepts the complete commission at this hour. So after wishing Sucrose goodnight and giving her food to eat, he was sure there were restaurants like Good Hunter that were closed already, while taverns like Angel's Share remained open.
He doubts Sucrose would even go inside where there isn't a shortage of drunken citizens and knights just to have a meal. Still, the progress of the NRE is okay so far, just needs further improvement and more materials, which he was asked to get in the morning, as Sucrose realized the amount of lizard tails, chaos circuits, and electro crystals were left.
Naofumi knew it would be easy to get the crystals as he marked down on his map to know where they are, as for lizards well he would have to be lucky to find so much, as for the circuits, he would pray to Lady Luck that there would be someone to join him to do damage on the Ruin Guards.
Though now that he is thinking about Lady Luck, he wonders if such a goddess exists in Teyvat. But just in case he would also pray to Barbatos for the winds to help him. Still, he should check in with Katheryne.
He quickly made his way through Mondstadt and to his relief and curiosity, Katheryne was still there. He ran towards her as he stopped in front of her, catching his breath. Katheryne was surprised to see Naofumi but smiled nevertheless.
"Ad astra abyssoque! Welcome to the Adventurers' Guild, Mr, Iwatani. Are you here to turn in your commission for the day?"
"Ha… Yes! I… I'm surprised you're still here, Katheryne, at this hour."
"It is my duty to ensure people still wish to speak to me the best way I can help, even if it means the guild opens up at this hour."
Naofumi noticed there wasn't a single trace of tiredness on her face. Still, he informed her of his complete commissions as he was rewarded Mora for his efforts. He sighs in relief as he was able to get his reward that he should have gotten hours ago.
"Hey, Katheryne. Are there any commissions in the morning about Ruin Guards?"
Naofumi asks in hopes that there are, and would put a notice on that request for more adventurers to participate in joining to help. At least someone with a sword, bow, or even a spear would help him deal damage.
To Naofumi's surprise, Katheryne smiled at what he asked as she explained.
"There is a commission involving either a single individual or a group of adventurers to clear out a horde of Ruin Guards in Windwail Highland. More specifically in Drunkard Gorge. From what I've heard they would go near the gorge and would sometimes stand there watching merchants passing through. It causes fear and anxiety in anyone who sees them, especially in the morning."
This got Naofumi wondering what was causing those Ruin Guards to just watch merchants in the gorge, and why they were even there in the first place. He also realized that it was close to Springvale!
"There are two Vision wielders who have decided to take the quest an hour ago after hearing about it from other adventurers. Bennett and Fischl, you already met both of them during your time here. If you think it isn't enough, then we can send a notice for more adventurers or knights to help out with the commission."
Naofumi immediately smiled upon hearing Bennett's name mentioned and was not surprised that he had already taken the commission for the morning. He was also not surprised by Fischi joining in helping with the commission, from the time he met her, she was a pro when using a bow.
She can help with paralyzing the Ruin Guards by aiming at their cores making them vulnerable for a period of time. And with her Electro Vision and Bennett's Pyro, it would make damage much easier.
But considering what Overload can do to anyone close within its radius, it is best to keep your distance from being damaged as well.
"Then could you put me in as I want to help me with this commission. Could you also put up a notice in the morning if we can get more people to help? Those Ruin Guards aren't easy to destroy, especially with what they are capable of."
"I understand your concern Mr. Iwatani. I'll do that in the morning. I believe you should get some rest. From what I've seen you seem very tired when you arrive here."
Naofumi just chuckles as he considers her suggestion, as he does feel a bit tired, so he says his goodbye and returns to his apartment to get some sleep. But not even 10 steps in, he heard Katheryne say something.
"Error."
This made Naofumi stop and stare at her for a moment, wondering if he had just heard what he thought he had just heard from the woman who was now just staring to… Nothing. But he decided it was just being so tired and hadn't eaten, so he just shrugged it off and headed off.
So with the auto-cooking feature on his shield, he ate on his way back, and although it wasn't as delicious as he made them by hand, it was better than having to deal with a growling stomach.