Rising of the Miracle Shield

Opening her eyes, Asuki looked around to see a group of mages gathered around her and three others. Looking down, she saw a familiar shield resting on her forearm, and could only think of one word to describe her situation right now.

"Fuck!" She exclaimed, startling the other three heroes.

"Uh... You ok there?" Motoyasu asked like the simp he was, undoubtedly concerned for a 'fair maiden' such as herself.

"I'm fine, just pissed about something." She said before immediately opening and checking her status page while the priest made his pitch to the Heroes, asking for their aid.

Title - [Shield Hero]
Name - Asuki Hatashi
Class - Shield Hero
Level - 1(0/100)
HP - 500/500
MP - 30/30
SP - 50/50
EP - 100/100

Stats
ATK - 5
DEF - 80
AGI - 15
MAG - 10
M. ATK - 10
M. DEF - 50

...Holy shit, she is a goddamn brick. She expected the high defence stats, but fucking 500 HP? Even if she did find something early on that could hurt her she still wouldn't have to worry much.

Also, an ATK stat of 5? It's shit compared to her other stats, but actually functional. Hm... Already the nails were making themselves apparent.

She had no delusion that events would be the same as canon, as even if Malty tried to frame her for **** Asuki had no intention of following the story, and would also try to break it as much as possible out of sheer spite for the author making the Shield useless by itself.

Closing the Status Menu, Asuki saw they were leaving to see the king and followed behind the group, making mental lists as she walked.

Ok, first of all, threat assessment. Who were the biggest threats to her life? That would be Aultcray, Tact, and Fitoria.

Fitoria was a none-issue so long as she maintained good relations with the other Heroes and did her job of fighting the Waves, with her even being a potential ally. Tact was unlikely to appear any time soon, so she had time to prepare until then. And Aultcray... Yeah, she had no idea how to counter him.

Her best bet was to try and negate any possible accusations towards her, which was difficult, but not impossible. All she needed was an undeniable alibi, like say, she was present and accounted for by someone? Erhard was the obvious choice, but she didn't want to cause him unnecessary trouble due to him being such a bro to Naofumi in canon. The three Heroes were also options, with Motoyasu being the easiest due to his womaniser tendencies and distinct lack of logical thought processes.

Sigh, why couldn't things be simple?

Entering the royal meeting hall or whatever it was, Asuki delved back into her Status Menu and looked around, familiarising herself with the system. And while she was doing that, she found a Tab containing the Strengthening Methods... All... twenty four of them...

Oh, oh fuck the hell yes!

Not only did she have all 23 canon Strengthening Methods, but also her fanon Strengthening Method for the Cardinal Shield!

[Hero Supermarket]

It's premise was simple: By spending money she would obtain GP, the very same from the Vassal Projectile's Strengthening Method. Only instead of enhancing other Strengthening Methods with it, she could purchase various things from a Status Menu store, from items and materials to bypassing the Level Requirement for Weapon Forms! This meant she could unlock [Portal Shield] early, making this one hell of a game-changer.