“Wow, it’s an epic rarity skill,” I exclaimed, seeing my new skill being written in purple before noticing people glaring at me impatiently. “Ahem, my new skill is called Shield Grapple. Shield Grapple: launches a magic shield at the target, stunning them for one second before pulling them towards yourself if the target’s Strength stat is lower than yours. Requires a shield to use. Cooldown: one minute.”

  “Damn,” Tarrion said.

  “Yeah, I know. The cooldown could be lower,” I said.

  “That’s not what I meant, dumbass,” Tarrion said, making a frown.

  “Hey!” I threw a grimace at him.

  “Do you even realize how rare skills that can stun a target are, Furball?” Tarrion asked, returning a grimace back to me.

  “Ahhh… no,” I said, making a shrug.

  “Seriously?” Tarrion grunted.

  “That’s quite a unique skill,” Alragus commented.

  “Unique? No, it’s written in purple,” I said, becoming confused about Alragus calling my new skill unique.

  “See? You are a dumbass, Furball,” Tarrion said, this time adding a smirk.

  “Ah… ghahem…” I cleared my throat, feeling ticked off.

  “I apologize. I meant, that is a very unusual skill, Rockin,” Alragus explained himself.

  “All of his skills are unusual, just like his class. There are some rare classes that people can get but I had never heard of a Shielder Class,” Tarrion said.

  “Well, sorry. It’s the class that I’ve got,” I said, rolling my eyes.

  “We’re not trying to mock you here, Rockin. Your class, as well as, your skills are quite unusual, but we mean it in a good way,” Alragus had to explain it to me like to a five-year old so I would finally understand that the two of them were complimenting me all this time.

  “Oh… thanks,” I said, taking a moment to think why I took it offensively in the first place.

  “So, aren’t you gonna show it to us, Furball?” Tarrion asked.

  “Huh? Show what?” I asked, still being in daze about the previous issue.

  “How your new skill works. What else?” Tarrion said.

  “What? Right now?” I asked.

  “Of, course, Master Rockin. You would always ask me to show you my new skill each time I had acquired one,” Lilfira joined the conversation, reminding me of it. “Here, I’ll be your target, Master Rockin.” She added, stepping to the side.

  “What? No, I want to be your target, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya jumped in before I could say anything.

  “You can use me as a target as well, Master Rockin,” Sylfrin volunteered too.

  “Ah, no, no, no. Let’s… not do that,” I said, waving my hands in front of me defensively.

  “Why not, Master Rockin?” Lilfira asked.

  “Because I don’t want to hurt you,” I said, making the ‘doh’ facial expression.

  “Yes, but…” Lilfira probably wanted to insist on it, but she knew I was much stronger than she was.

  “Listen, I’ll just use the skill aiming at nobody just to see how it looks, ok?” I said before walking a few steps away from everyone. I knew I had to or they wouldn’t leave me alone. “Ok, here goes. Shield… Grapple.” I swung with my Piercing Shield, a look alike magic shield shooting forward in front of me about at the same time, leaving a thin line behind. The magic shield flew forward about thirty feet into the distance before fizzling into the thin air. “Woah.” I gasped, taken aback by how far it reached.

  “Wow, that is such an amazing skill, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya exclaimed.

  “It has such a long range,” Sylfrin commented.

  “You’d be able to reach monsters from a distance now, Master Rockin,” Lilfira said.

  “Aah… yeah, I guess,” I said. The skill had quite a long range, that was true, but I still wasn’t sure what to think of it since it didn’t hit any target.

  “Humph,” Tarrion squinted his eyes before coming closer to me. “Use it on me next.”

  “What?” I asked, becoming slightly perplexed.

  “I have high Stamina stat, I should be fine,” Tarrion said.

  “Oh,” it quickly dawned on me that Tarrion wanted to see the full effect of my new skill. In all honesty, I wanted to see it too.

  “It has one minute cooldown,” I said.

  “Ah, right,” Tarrion mumbled before turning his head to look directly at me. “What about your other skills?”

  “Oh, yeah. Show status,” I opened my Status Window before navigating to my Skills tab. I had two of my skills improved and my two main skills evolved. “So… my Shield Chain skill’s effect still lasts only three seconds but the cooldown has been reduced to fifty five seconds instead of sixty and my Shield Guard skill’s effect now lasts for eight seconds instead of six and… the cooldown has been reduced to twenty eight minutes instead of thirty. Yay…” I rolled my eyes at the end.

  “What? Shield Guard? You had never mentioned you had that skill, Furball, nor I had ever seen you use it either,” Tarrion said, giving me an annoyed look.

  “That’s because it’s a… well, it has… had a thirty minutes cooldown and would last for six seconds only, and I had no need to use it yet,” I explained.

  “Well, what does it do?” Tarrion grunted.

  “Baah… Shield Guard: creates two shields around the character to protect them from any damage. The amount of damage that the shields can absorb is increased by the character’s Stamina and Strength stats combined. Lasts… eight seconds. Cooldown: twenty eight minutes,” I read the last line by adding some sarcasm to my words.

  “The hell? It protects you from any damage?” Tarrion asked.

  “Well, yeah, but…” I said.

  “And eight seconds is a fucking a lot. Hell, even six seconds was decent,” Tarrion said.

  “Yes, ok, it’s an awesome skill. Yay me for getting it,” I said, rolling my eyes.

  “Tch, you…” Tarrion was about to say something ‘nice’ to me again, but his facial expression changed from annoyed to a weirdly suspicious. “Alragus.” Tarrion hinted to him before taking out his Tarkee King’s Mace from his inventory.

  “Huh? What… are you up to?” I asked, a strange chill running down my spine.

  “We’re just gonna test your Shield Guard skill, Furball,” Tarrion added, tilting his head as a hint for everyone to get ready to do something. “Everyone…”

  “Woah, woah, woah. Hold it right there. You can’t be serious,” I exclaimed, raising my hands in front of me defensively.

  “Of course I am serious, Furball. You need to test your skill and we’re gonna help you do that,” Tarrion said.

  “That’s… Wait… You can’t just attack me like that, especially you three. I’m your Master, remember?” I became seriously worried in regards to what was about to happen, starting to back away slowly.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “But we’re not gonna attack you, Master Rockin,” Sylfrin said, wearing her usual, calm expression on her face.

  “Sylfrin is right. We just want to see how your skill works, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya said, her tail starting to dance excitedly.

  “Yes, we’ll just help you test your skill, Master Rockin,” Lilfira added, looking to be the most excited about it out of all three of them.

  “Sorry, Rockin,” Virghel said, readying her weapons.

  “Sorry?” I made a grimace before turning to Tarrion. “Listen, Scarface! I mean, Tarrion. Hey, we’re friends, right? How about we just go outside, I’ll aggro a bunch of Lesser Trents to attack me and use my skill to test it on them?”

  “Are you kidding? With your current stats those walking sticks wouldn’t be able to do any damage to you even if you had no equipment on,” Tarrion said, gripping his two-handed mace tighter with both hands.

  “No way. What if I get seriously hurt?” I protested.

  “That’s the whole point,” Tarrion said.

  “Hey! In that case, if you’re gonna attack me, I will fight back,” I declared, gripping my shields tight.

  “You idiot! You can’t rely on a skill without testing how it works,” Tarrion argued.

  “Tarrion is right, Rockin. You need to know what your skills can and cannot do, especially a defensive skill like your Shield Guard,” Alragus joined in.

  “Yes, but…” I said, not being convinced.

  “Think about it, Furball. You’re gonna get into a dangerous situation sooner or later, whether it will be fighting monsters or people. Your Shield Guard skill sounded too good to be true, but the only way to know if it’s reliable is to test it” Tarrion threw a bunch of reasons why he wanted for me to test my Shield Guard skill. “Besides, you want to protect your women, don’t you?”

  “What? Of course, I do,” I declared loudly.

  “What if something happens, you use your Shield Guard skill and it won’t be strong enough to protect you?” Tarrion added, sounding very serious about it.

  “Huh? Well…” I wanted to say something, but clicked my tongue instead. The thought of me dying was scary, but losing Ranalaiya, Sylfrin or Lilfira, was even scarier. Heck, I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to Virghel or Savirei, or Navirei, or anyone who I considered a friend for that matter. I lowered my head before letting out a deep sigh. “Yes, you’re right, Scarface.”

  “Huh? Ok,” Tarrion said. He probably expected me to still argue with him.

  “Fine, let’s do it,” I finally agreed. “But if we’re gonna do it, I want all of you to go all out on me. Use all of your best skills. Obviously, if my Shield Guard skill breaks, I expect you to stop attacking me. I mean, I could probably resist quite a bit of damage considering how high my Stamina stat is, but still.”

  “Now we’re talking,” Tarrion said, showing a bit of a grin.

  “Should I use my Shadow Double ability as well, Master Rockin?” Ranalaiya asked.

  “Oh, probably not. With all of you attacking me together, I think I will receive a good enough beating anyway. Also, don’t use your Shadow Claw ability since it prevents healing. If my Shield Guard breaks too easily, I will most probably get beaten up, so it would be better if I could heal right away,” I said.

  “Ok, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya said.

  “Ok, let’s kick Furball’s ass now,” Tarrion said.

  “You’ve been looking for an opportunity to beat me up all this time, haven’t you, Scarface?” I asked Tarrion, making a grimace.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Furball,” Tarrion said, getting ready to swing at me. “Here I go, “Bone Crusher!”

  “Shit! Shield Guard!” I had no choice, but to trust that my Shield Guard skill will protect me, activating the skill.

  The moment I used the skill, two, about four feet in height and two feet in width magic shields that had a shape of the medieval knight’s shields, appeared out of nowhere. The shields floated in the air, one in front of me and the other one behind my back, and the moment they appeared they started rotating around me. The shields were partly transparent, but had a visible form when looking at them from the outside. However, I could see through the rotating shields just fine when they would float passed in front of me. They also had some decorations on them but I had neither time nor willingness to see how they looked. I raised my King Tarkee’s Shield together with my Piercing Shield to block an avalanche of attacks that were about to overwhelm me if my Shield Guard skill breaks, slightly worried I’ll be beaten to a pulp by my own teammates.

  - ‘Bam!’ – Tarrion’s Bone Crusher attack landed, but it didn’t hit me. It hit the invisible wall that the two rotating shields had created, with me feeling no impact from Tarrion’s attack.

  “Huh?” I gasped, becoming somewhat relaxed. “Wha..!” But I had to raise my shields the next second when I saw another mace about to hit me.

  “Power Swing!” Alragus hit the invisible wall next, me feeling no effect from his attack once again.

  “Swift Cut! Claw Swipe! Double Slash! Quick Strike! Twinstab! Armor Pierce!” The women unleashed their skills on me next, my two rotating shields absorbing all the damage, with none of the attacks reaching me.

  “Frost Spear!” Sylfrin cast her spell when it was clear for her to do so, a frozen spike shooting from the ground underneath me the next second. I wanted to jump away, but by now I was feeling confident I wouldn’t get hurt, so I stayed still. To Sylfrin’s biggest surprise the frozen spike fizzled before reaching me, my two magic shields absorbing all the damage. “Frostbolt! Frostbite!” Sylfrin followed up with her other spells, the spells hitting the invisible wall before fizzling on impact.

  “Lightning Bolt,” Krisel was the last one to cast her spell, a lightning discharge shooting at me from above, the spell hitting an invisible wall over my head before fizzling as well. Right then the two rotating shields blinked just once before disappearing, indicating that the skill’s effect has ended.

  “Shit,” Tarrion cursed before lowering his mace. I could bet he wanted to attack me again, but it was pointless now.

  “Unbelievable,” Alragus said.

  “Wow, none of our attacks have reached you, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya exclaimed in shock.

  “My spells were absolutely neutralized,” Sylfrin said.

  “It felt like I was hitting an impenetrable wall when I attacked you, Master Rockin,” Lilfira told me.

  “That Shield Guard ability was tougher than the Stone Giant’s body,” Virghel said.

  “I had little hope for my spell doing anything to you even if you hadn’t used your skill, Rockin, but it was unbelievable to see it fizzle without reaching you,” Krisel added last.

  “Honestly… I was expecting to receive a good beating,” I finally admitted.

  “Humph, aren’t you happy you agreed to test it now, Furball?” Tarrion asked me.

  “Yeah, thanks…” I said, rubbing the back of my head.

  “The skill has quite a long cooldown, but at least now you can be certain it can save your life,” Tarrion said.

  “Right,” I dipped my head.

  “Now that we got that take care off, what was that about your skills evolving?” Tarrion asked. I shouldn’t have been surprised about him not forgetting that part.

  “Oh. It gave me an option to evolve my attack skill Shield and my defense skill Shield which I obviously chose to evolve. I haven’t yet checked how the skills changed,” I said before tapping in front of me to check them. “Let me see… Attack Skill: Shield. Launches a magic shield to inflict damage on the target. The damage inflicted is increased by the character’s Strength stat, adding one point two multiplier. Cooldown: six seconds. Huh? The cooldown has increased from three to six seconds?” I became perplexed when I read that.

  “Hold on, did you say one point two multiplier?” Tarrion asked me.

  “Ah, yes. Hold on, I think this wasn’t here before,” I said.

  “So, basically the power of your skill is increased by an additional twenty percent of your Strength stat?” Tarrion speculated.

  “Yeah, that’s probably how it works,” I said before adding. “Ok, that’s… an improvement.”

  “What about your other skill?” Tarrion asked.

  “Right… Defense Skill: Shield. Creates a magic shield that absorbs incoming damage. The amount of damage absorbed is increased by the character’s Stamina stat, adding one point two multiplier. In addition, the skill can be used on someone else other than the caster. Lasts two seconds or until the damage absorption limit is reached. Cooldown: six seconds. Huh? It can be used on someone else other than myself? Shield,” I gasped, using the skill while aiming it at Ranalaiya the next second, a half as big as before magic shield appearing in front of her in an instant.

  “Huh? Wha…” Ranalaiya exclaimed in surprise, not expecting for a shield to appear next to her.

  “Cool,” I said, feeling really happy about it.

  “Now that’s quite an improvement,” said Tarrion.

  “Very nice,” Alragus added.

  “Alright, now there’s only one last thing to do,” I said, a smug smirk entering my lips.

  “What’s that?” Tarrion asked.

  “To test my Shield Grapple skill. I heard there was a volunteer earlier, unless they’ve changed their mind,” I said, grinning wide.

  “Bring it on, Furball,” Tarrion said before walking away from the group. “This distance should be enough.” He said.

  “Hah, brace yourself, Scarface,” I said, Tarrion raising his shield in front of him.” Shield Grapple.”

  I swung, the same magic shield shooting forward at Tarrion. However, differently from before when I had no target, the magic shield didn’t fizzle. Once it hit Tarrion, it emitted a small flash of light upon impact, Tarrion becoming as stiff as a stone statue as a result of it. That was not all. The magic shield got stuck on Tarrion and the tiny line that followed the magic shield when it flew forward materialized, becoming a thick string. The next thing I knew, my hand that I shot the magic shield from moved on its own, retracting itself back and pulling Tarrion from his spot, and towards me.

  “Ah, crap. Humph,” my initial instinct was to swing and hit Tarrion with my shield when he was close enough, but I chose to raise my shields to block instead.

  “Bhah, cough,” Tarrion coughed before bouncing back from me, falling to the ground the next moment.

  “Tarrion!” Krisel exclaimed before rushing to check on him. “Are you ok? Tarrion?”

  “I’m fine… cough…” Tarrion said, shaking his head. “What… the hell happened?”

  “What? You don’t remember?” Krisel asked.

  “I remember Furball used his skill, then something flashed in my eyes… and then I felt like my body hit something really hard,” Tarrion tried to explain, blinking a few times to try and remember what happened.

  “Good thing I blocked instead of hitting you,” I said after coming closer.

  “What do you mean, Furball?” Tarrion asked.

  “Well…” I smiled before explaining to Tarrion what exactly happened.

  “Shit. Seriously?” Tarrion said, shaking his head before standing up. “Ok. At least you know… what your skill does now.”

  “Hmph, yeah,” I scoffed. “You ok?”

  “I’ll live,” Tarrion grunted.

  “I’ll live,” I rolled my eyes.

  “Anyway, do you have any more skills that you haven’t shown us yet, Furball?” Tarrion asked.

  “No. This was the only new skill that I have received,” I said.

  “Humph. Ok then. Shall we get going now?” Tarrion suggested.

  “Wait, darling. Maybe we should take a short rest before going?” Krisel insisted.

  “Don’t worry. I’m…” Tarrion was about to refuse, but then saw how Krisel was looking at him. “Yeah, ok. Let’s… have a drink maybe.” Tarrion gave in.

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