As they followed the mine passage farther down, they saw plenty of abandoned pickaxes along the way. The miners seemed to have dropped them in their panicked flight from the mine. Although they looked rather old and battered, they should still have been usable.
Farther in, the sunlight from outside could no longer illuminate their surroundings, and everything grew dim. Chuan Wenwu took out the mining lantern the villagers had given him and lit it, providing a faint glow.
Bzzz~ Bzzz~
A familiar vibration came from his arm. Chuan Wenwu looked down at the Shield of the Hero. It was signaling that there was something it could absorb.
Chuan Wenwu paused, then tried feeding the shield the various odds and ends he found along the way.
Lantern Shield requirements met. Successfully unlocked! Pickaxe Shield requirements met. Successfully unlocked! Rope Shield requirements met. Successfully unlocked! [Lantern Shield] [Equipment bonus: Illumination I [Ability not liberated]] [Pickaxe Shield] [Equipment bonus: Mining Skill I [Ability not liberated]] [Rope Shield] [Equipment bonus: Technique · Aura Shield [Ability not liberated]] [Exclusive effect: Rope]
...Something new had appeared.
Chuan Wenwu quickly scanned the bonuses provided by the newly unlocked shields. As its name suggested, the Lantern Shield was a shield with the functions of a mining lantern. Holding it would illuminate the darkness within a five-meter radius. The Pickaxe Shield, meanwhile, granted him the Mining I skill. Judging by the name alone, it probably let him mine with his shield, right?
Setting aside the first two shields, whose functions were easy enough to understand, Chuan Wenwu turned his attention to the third-the Rope Shield, which left him rather baffled.
Based on his experience absorbing items and unlocking numerous shield forms over the past several days, the effects of shields unlocked by the Shield of the