'Brand Essen.'
The name engraved was the missing person he was impersonating.
Brand never expected the buried object to be a shield. More so, it had Essen's name engraved on it.
There was a mystical feel about the shield, which he couldn't help but feel awe about.
'When did you ditch the shield for the sword?'
He remembered Ruby's words.
"Was this his shield?" Brand asked, expecting Seraphine to answer him, but she just kept quiet and pointed at the shield. As if to tell him to find out about that himself.
'It should be.'
Well, Brand Essen could store his weapon in his hut, no doubt. But it was buried 10 meters deep!
He looked at the aftermath of the digging and found it absurd.
Before, the state of the hut looked like it had been hit by a tornado. Now it looked as though it had been washed away by a landslide.
The shield was buried in the soil layer, which was beneath the sand layer of the desert ground.
'And this shield was…'
Brand with Scarab Shield activated had a heightened sense of touch and could feel vibration waves.
He could feel that the shield was constantly absorbing vibrations. Pulses of vibrations faded and disappeared when they touched the shield.
Brand undid his Scarab Shell transformation and activated his cyborg eye. At his current level, he couldn't use both together at the same time.
[A very normal shield owned by Brand Essen.]
He scoffed at the flavor text shown.
Brand and Seraphine examined the shield for a longer time. Then they reached a conclusion.
"Yep, this was definitely not normal."
"This was the first time the System lied?" Brand asked.
"Nah, it could also mean the shield could fool the System," Seraphine replied.
The shield's material couldn't even compare to the ones among the trading goods earlier. They were just metal scraps.
The shield he was holding was not only durable but also showed special properties.
When Brand knocked the shield lightly, the shield didn't move at all. There was no sound as well. It just absorbed all the force applied to it.
He tried again, this time using all his force—
"What if you break it?" Seraphine stopped him.
"I didn't think about it. Besides, this shield seemed to be sturdier than I." Brand replied.
Brand was actually confident about his defensive ability after the few duels he had. He also showed great regenerative ability, thanks to the body modification by the Seraphim.
"Okay, let's gradually increase the force." Brand followed Searphine's advice.
He began punching the shield with increasing force with each subsequent blow. After a few rounds, he decided to apply aura to his punch as well.
But they yield the same result.
'How about, with activated Might?'
It was the same result.
Brand was impressed with the shield. At this point, he started to feel pain in his hands.
But he decided to deliver a final punch, using all his force and skills.
This time, he even coated his hand with Scarab Shell to increase his defence just in case.
"Here goes nothing!"
He punched the shield with all he had.
This time, the shield vibrated. But his fist suffered a great repercussion.
The shield vibrated as it dispersed Brand's force and propagated the energy along its surface to the golden trim at its edge.
When it reached the golden trim, it shone and began to rotate. The trim seemed to be trapping the energy and amplifying it with its revolution before sending the energy back to the center of the shield, where Brand landed his punch.
When the energy collided with Brand's fist, his Scarab Shell cracked, unable to bear the force!
His skin tore, and his knuckle broke. He could hear his bones cracking.
'Just like that time in the chamber…'
He had a traumatic experience after hearing his bone cracked, for several hours under torture in the secret chamber with Seraphim, under the pretext of body modification for a cyborg.
The pain was nothing to him, though. he had great resistance to pain, thanks to it.
Back to addressing the shield, he couldn't help but mutter in shock.
"The shield could disperse energy and return it to the attacker, amplified…" He experienced it first-hand.
Brand cracked his knuckle and watched his knuckle bone fixing itself and his skin mending together, slowly.
"This could be an S-rank Shield!" Seraphine exclaimed.
"Items also have rank?" Brand asked.
"Of course, the Nano-Machine which you were finding was SSS Rank!" Seraphine replied.
Suddenly, the shield shook and radiated a ringing sound. The name carved on the shield glowed and slowly disappeared, and a new name was etched on the golden trim.
'Brand Smith'
His name was engraved.
The sound of the System notification started to ring in his mind.
[You have uncovered a hint of Nano-Machine.]
[Karma Point + 10]
The info on the shield appeared in his vision.
==========
Vibrant Shield (A)
- A droplet of impurity from God's artifact, Nano-Machine.
- Once per week, you could use the skill [Reflect] to negate any form of damage and return it to the attacker with double damage.
Condition: Perfect Parry
==========
"Hmm, it showed A-rank instead." Brand showed Seraphine the text.
"Probably because it was only an impure droplet." She replied.
"The cooldown was too long… one week is too much," Brand complained.
'In this case, this skill would be a trump card. To be able to negate damage and even return damage two-fold!'
"What if this shield was the reason for the raid on the hut?" Brand looked at the surroundings once again and then looked up at the sky. He remembered the hut was split in a single slash.
He had to hide this shield. The culprit of the raid might be after the shield.
While he was contemplating, another notification appeared.
==========
Mission: Refine the Vibrant Shield
- Refine the Vibrant Shield by applying a droplet of Mermaid's Tear on it.
Reward: True Vibrant Shield (S)
==========
"True?" Brand laughed. "Pfft, the naming."
—Punch
'It hurts?'
Seraphine knocked his head, defying the constraint of her ethereal form. "Seraphim ordered me to!" She giggled.
'One day… I would smack this cheeky angel.'