Dreu originally thought the making of a shield would take less than one night but he had grossly underestimated how much time was needed and spent three days in total. The end result was somewhat acceptable, though even he admitted that there was lots of room for improvement. His shield wasn’t perfectly round as shown in the books despite his best efforts. Once he realized that the shield wasn’t going to look any better, he did the last step which was installing the braces for his hand to wield the shield. Once it was all done, he had new appreciation for blacksmiths who made the task look so simple. At the same time, he also felt regretful that the bull armor he worked so hard to acquire wasn't turned into a stellar shield.

  Time to give this shield a try.

  Taking his new shield to the courtyard, Dreu imitated what he saw Bayard did with the shield but it still felt off. He realized that he needed a teacher before he could master how to use a shield. For the time being, he couldn’t even visualize himself using the shield which felt lightweight in his hand. As he wondered if he could use it in combat to learn firsthand, he jumped as soon as he heard a voice behind him.

  “Now that you have your shield, you are ready to tackle the next stage.”

  Before he could ask the being for clarification, the young man found himself back in the large room with all the steel tiles. Last time, he had to fight a velo so he wasn’t looking forward to seeing what he faced this time. With his sword by his side again, he drew it with one hand and held his new shield in the other. Some distance away, a portal materialized and out came three velos. He gauged the distance between himself and the three velos, deciding that he couldn’t possibly reach one of the room’s corners before the creatures got to him.

  “Bring it on!” shouted Dreu as he advanced towards the velos.

  The irony of the scene was that he approached three creatures capable of killing him easily. Yet, he couldn’t stand around until his three foes got their bearings. He could sense their hesitation following their arrival which he hoped to take advantage of. As he advanced, the velos backed away slowly. Their actions only emboldened Dreu further. Eventually, the three creatures were backed into a corner with nowhere to run.

  One velo at a time. No need to get greedy.

  The young man advanced inch by inch with his shield hugging against his body. As soon as he felt he could hit a velo, he delivered a stab at the creature. The unfortunate creature was stabbed in the face and collapsed on the ground. The other two velos, upon seeing this, charged at Dreu who held them at bay with his shield. He was thankful that the shield was big enough to cover his knees up to his upper torso. The velos tried to target his body but they couldn’t get through the shield despite how light it was in Dreu's hand. As they tried, Dreu waited for an opening before he stabbed another velo to death. Now that the odds were shifted in his favor, he waited patiently, wondering if the remaining velo could tire. When there was no sign of the creature slowing down, he attempted a shield bash before delivering the finish blow.

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  The shield bash didn’t feel right. Maybe it’s too light to have much of an effect.

  Recalling the shield bash he saw from Bayard, there definitely needed to be more power behind it. He couldn’t be sure if the footman had a heavier shield or the ability gave it power. He knew that his current shield was no good for shield bashes so he should just use it for defensive purposes. The lightweight made the shield easy to wield so, against a weaker attacker, the young man could easily defend himself. Seeing that continuation of the fight didn't benefit him, he finished the last velo off. After the velo corpses vanished, he found himself back in the courtyard.

  “Good! You now have a shield and can use it somewhat in combat. Given the low quality of your shield, I will present you with more opportunities to improve your skills.”

  As Dreu wondered what the being meant by that, he was once again at the clearing. The weeds were back but they were in far larger quantities than before. A few minutes later, a large creature was grazing away at them. The creature seemed like a big teal turtle and, from its appearance, the young man couldn’t figure out how dangerous it was. With his sword and shield setup, he approached the creature slowly. As soon as the creature noticed him, it ducked its head and limbs inside its shell.

  So this is just an overgrown turtle?

  Dreu took a quick swing at the shell and felt like he was attacking a mountain. The impact definitely made him wonder if his sword could handle more than a dozen blows with the shell before breaking. At the moment, he had no way of making a new sword, at least none that he knew of. This fact did bring him some excitement as such a strong shell would surely make very powerful shields. The young man then circled the creature as he looked for weak spots. Eventually, he got down on one knee when he was beside the creature.

  Doesn’t look like there’s anything stopping me from stabbing into the opening at its flesh.

  Dreu did exactly that and heard a cry of pain from the creature. Despite its pain, the creature still kept its head inside the shell. The young man hesitated with his next attack because he wasn’t sure if he could finish the creature off. The creatures he killed in the past were either dead after one blow or were more than eager to kill him. He wasn’t interested in killing the creature slowly so he could get some material to practice his shield making.

  “Just go home,” said Dreu as he sheathed his sword and headed back to his base.