"Hey Blixie!'" Garrett called out. "Why is the shield trying to eat this guy?" Garrett shook his arm and used a few strands of Unseen Force to try and pull the bugbear arm away from the shield's mouth.

Blixie flew over to take a look. "I'm not sure Garrett. I haven't heard of any cursed items that could eat things."

"Is it a mimic?" Kyle said as he came over to take a look. The body of the larger goblin was being dragged behind him with a tentacle, and he carried the staff above him with another tentacle.

"If it was a mimic, it would have just attacked and eaten the other adventurers that had the shield before us. Are you sure it is not one of your friends that George told you about? The gems that are used for the eyes are the same color as yours and Kyles cores."

With a groan and a loud snap of tearing leather, the bugbear's arm popped free of the shield that was gnawing on it. "I had the thought that it might have been one of us since I couldn't grab it directly with my Unseen Force skill." A soft grinding of metal on metal could be heard as the bugbear's bracer was swallowed by the shield and chewed up. "I've tried talking to it a few times since we left the shop, but I haven't gotten a response at all. You are absolutely sure about it not being a mimic Blixie?"

"Absolutely." Blixie said proudly. "We learn about a lot of different types of monsters while we are in the academy since we don't know what type of dungeon we will be assigned to." Blixie struck a pose as if teaching a class. "Mimics that are created in dungeons usually take the shape of chests, but they can also take the shape of doors, beds, or crates. Usually something box shaped. Very rarely they can take on other shapes, but they are still rather large, like a table or maybe a chair. They are immobile and hunt by letting their prey come to them and thus are categorized as a trap monster, along with some slimes and spiders. If this shield was a mimic, it would be pretty weak and only able to kill the weakest of adventurers with how small it is."

An audible gulp was heard from the shield and the three turned to look at it as it spit out the leather straps from the bracer. "Huh." Garrett said as the shield then lunged for the bugbear again. Before Garrett could react, the shield had latched onto the bugbears shoulder and started to chew on the shoulder guard. Garrett tried to pry the shield off of the bugbear again with no success. "Well, it seems to only be going after the bugbear's armor." Garrett said. "Not a big deal I guess."

"Not a big deal?!" Kyle exclaimed. "We could have sold it."

"True, but we still have the bugbears' axe." Garrett replied as he put the axe away in his inventory.

"Did the goblin chieftain have anything on him?" Blixie asked.

"Let's take a look." Kyle replied. "He had the stick..."

"Staff." Blixie corrected.

"He had the staff," Kyle continued as he felt through the goblins tunic, " and looks like a necklace with a wolfs fang. I think that is all, at least as far as I'm seeing."

"What are the stats on them Kyle?" Garrett asked.

"Stats?" Blixie asked confused. A familiar popping sound was heard as the metal shoulder guard ripped free from the bugbear. The group ignored the sound of softly grinding metal.

"It's short for status." Kyle said. "I don't see anything Garrett."

"They must not be magical." Blixie said. "Only magical items will have an identification window pop up when they are picked up."

"If that is the case Blixie, why didn't I get one when the shield appeared on my back."

"Ahh, that was soooo good." Said a soft feminine voice.

"Umm, Garrett?" Blixie said with concern as she floated away from him. "I think your shield is alive."

"I knew it was a mimic." Kyle yelled as he got ready for a fight.

"Mimic?" Said that same feminine voice. "Where?" The shield swung lightly from side to side. "I don't see a treasure chest anywhere."

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Garrett floated in front of the shield and saw that the demonic face now looked quite worried. "He's saying you are the mimic." Garrett replied to the shield.

"I'm not a mimic, I'm a shield. At least, that is what my status says." Came a flustered reply. "Wait, you can hear me?" The shields face become excited. "Why can you hear me now though? I've been trying to talk to you since we left the shop, Garrett, and you haven't responded. Which is kind of rude, you know? I thought we were friends." The shield hmphed.

"Wait, friends?" Garrett's memories came rushing in. The smell of smoke. The burning heat of a fire. The fear of being trapped underground. a smiling female face appeared. "April?"

"Bingo." The shield replied. "I was so surprised when I heard your names. I wasn't quite sure it was you either until Kyle, started talking about weapons. By the way Kyle, should I start calling you squishy?" The feminine laugh was at odds with the very large demon face of the shield.

"I told you we should have used a different name." Kyle huffed.

"You remember your past life?" Garrett asked confused.

"Well yea, I remember my life before coming here. At least up until going into that tunnel. Don't you?"

"I do now thanks to George, but I didn't when I first woke up in this world."

"Old man George is here too." April exclaimed. "Where is he?"

"It's a weird story." Gerrett told April the story from how he first woke up in a crystal, to meeting Blixie, his first death and subsequent meeting with George. He wrapped it up by describing how he meet Kyle and finally joined the adventures guild. Blixie and Kyle chimed in here and there to fill in gaps or give their perspective. "...and so, we are on our way to the next town to drop of a package."

"Wow." April replied. "Who would have thought George was a god from a different world. He was always rather squirrelly when it came to talking about where he was from, and he was always so excited and would get absorbed by the games I kind of thought he was in witness protection or something."

"So, what about you April? You seem rather calm about being a giant shield." Garrett asked.

"Well, when I first woke up here it was really dark, and I couldn't move. I just thought I was in the hospital because of an accident or maybe I passed out after gaming too hard again. It felt like I was stuck in that darkness for a long time. I even started seeing floating menus like in games and that is where I saw that my race said 'shield', so I thought I was going crazy or maybe in a comma, but there was nothing I could do but wait. I guess I just grew kind of numb to the situation at some point until someone dug me out and I found I was in some old, collapsed ruins. Then they sold me to that armor shop. I've been trying to talk to people for the last few months but everyone that bought me couldn't hear me."

"Wow." Kyle said. "I thought being in a bottle was bad, but at least I was able to see where I was."

"But, if people couldn't hear you, why would they think you are cursed?" Garrett asked.

"Well, getting hit hurts." April said defensively. "So, anytime I was in a fight I would try not to get hit. I guess people don't like a shield that doesn't block." She giggled. "So, they would take me back to the shop. I'm just so glad you guys found me. You won't get rid of me, right?"

"What kind of friends would we be if we did? The friends who die together get transmigrated together." Kyle laughed.

An idea popped into Blixie's mind. "If we can hear you now when we couldn't before, it must be because of a skill. You should check your status to see if anything has changed."

Name: April Species: Living Shield Level: 1 Exp: 0 Exp to next level: 100 Element: Metal/Fire 0/10 MP Unused skill points: 0 SKills: Ferrous Forming 2

"It looks like my Ferrous Forming skill increased a level. Whatever that is, and my MP is gone, which is weird since it hasn't changed since I first read my status."

"Ferrous Forming sounds like a skill for shaping or controlling metals." Blixie said. "Specifically, iron or its alloys maybe. Hard to be sure since there are many different metals and metal-based skills. Since your mana is gone and your skill increased then you must have used your skill for something." Blixie thought for a moment then snapped her fingers as an idea formed. "You must have used your mana to assimilate the armor you ate using Ferrous Forming and created a way to talk."

"But wouldn't she have to focus and shape the metal into a specific shape or form like I do with my Earth Shaping skill?" Garrett asked. "April wasn't an engineer back in our world."

"Engineer?" Blixie questioned.

"You could think of it as a blacksmith or tinkerer here." Kyle said.

"Ahh, right. One of your otherworld terms." Blixie said. "Why do I even ask anymore." She mumbled shaking her head. "Anyway, she wouldn't have to be a tinkerer necessarily. Sometimes skills are more intuitive. You just have to think of what you want the skill to do, and it will do it. Usually happens more with the abstract skills but it depends on how you use a skill as well."

"So, pretty much magic and skills are weird and don't really have set rules." Kyle said.

"Skills are not weird and yes they have rules...most of the time." Blixie replied defensively. "But I guess from your perspective of only being here for a few months I guess you could say that."

"How about we figure this out later." Garrett interjected. "We still have a package to deliver."