I hate being in pain, so I think I'll make a full defense build

Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu 191

Defense Specialization and Practice

While she failed in getting Sally a present, Maple could still use it without issue.

Maple returned her equipment to normal for now and opened her status menu to see her accessory slots and to think.

Maple

Lv50

HP 40/40 (+160)

MP 12/12 (+10)

STR 0

VIT 250 (+1755)

AGI 0

DEX 0

INT 0

Equipment

Head: Empty

Body: Armor of Black Roses: Oozing Chaos

Right Hand: New Moon: Hydra

Left Hand: Mirror of the Dark Night: Bizzare Eater

Legs: Armor of Black Roses

Feet: Armor of Black Roses

Accessories: Bridge of Bonds

Toughness Ring

Ring of Life

Skills

Absolute Defense, Giant Killing, Hydra Eater, Bomb Eater, Meditation, Provoke, Abominable, Knowledge of Great Shield IV, Body handling, Attack diversion, Shield Attack

HP Enhancement (Small), MP Enhancement (Small)

Cover Move I, Cover

The Indomitable Guardian

Psychokinesis

Fortress, Encouragement, Sheep Eater, Dedicated Affection, Machine God, Quick Change, Pierce Guard, Counter, Venom Incantation, Frozen Earth, Pandemonium I, Throne of the Heavenly King, Connection to the Underworld

“Hmmm…I’ll have to remove one of the rings in order to equip Helping Hand… I guess as long as it’s not Bridge of Bonds.”

She would not be able to call Syrup if she removed Bridge of Bonds.

Maple had no intention of allowing that to happen, so it was between Toughness Ring and Ring of Life.

“In that case…Toughness Ring, I guess. My HP will go down 30 points…but my defenses will make up for that.”

Maple nodded to herself as she removed the Toughness Ring and returned it to her inventory. Then she equipped Helping Hand in its place.

Two pale hands appeared on either side of her and floated in the air.

Maple checked and saw that she now had two extra equipment slots.

“For now…White Snow and Violet Crystal? It seems like it can’t be equipment used in Quick Change.”

Maple finished equipping them and her VIT went up by 70 points. It would be 6 times as much if it included skills.

Then Maple saw that the two floating hands were holding shields.

“Ah! I can move them. But…it’s hard.”

Maple imagined in her head that she was moving the hands, and the two hands started to move.

It was as if she now had two extra hands.

“I can control ‘Savagery’ pretty well. But this is a little different, I guess?”

Maple tried moving the shields for a while, but when she tried to move them at the same time, her concentration would move towards a single one, and then the other would stop entirely. It seemed like it would take a while for her to be able to use them well.

“Well, as long as I can do this movement for now!”

Maple brought the two shield right in front of her and held her own shield up in between them. Now there was a wall of three shields in front of Maple, and she felt that she would be able to block more attacks than ever.

“I’ll just practice this. Yes!”

Maple stayed there for a while and practiced bringing the shields together.

“I need to practice with the great shield a little more… Maybe I should ask Chrome for help.”

Maple thought as she returned to the guild home.

As Maple’s additional shields were through an accessory and not a skill, they remained visible even while she was in town.

Because of this, passersby did double takes and stopped in their tracks with surprise. There were even some who took pictures to take back to their guild.

However, Maple took no notice of this as she returned to her guild home.

And Chrome just happened to be there as well.

“Oh, Ma-… I see.”

Chrome seemed to have sensed something, and he forced a bright smile as he approached Maple.

Maple was glad to see him and ran forward.

“Chrome! Could you teach me how to improve with the shield?”

“Uh…I guess, but…do you mean how to use those things that are floating?”

“Exactly! I have more hands now, but I can’t use them very well.”

“Well, hands aren’t really meant to increase…”

But Chrome said he would do what he could, and he took Maple to the training room in the back.

Here she showed Throne of the Heavenly King to him as well, and Chrome was completely overwhelmed.

They also did a mock battle, but Chrome’s conclusion was that she would be perfectly fine, with or without the extra shields.

As long as she was sitting on the throne, she would not take much damage aside from the odd piercing attack. Though, having more shields would make it harder for those attacks to come through.

If she got off of the throne, she would have Savagery, and even if she didn’t she could survive with Indomitable Guardian.

“Is it possible for me to beat you? Probably not, since you have the throne. But, I wouldn’t say you’re almighty either.”

Chrome decided he would support her in the areas she was still lacking. And with that, he returned to instructing Maple.