As Walker considered making Su a new shield, he wondered what kinds of materials he might need. The eternal orb was already a unique piece of equipment. It literally felt like a part of his body at this point. The materials for that had been rare enough that he had yet to see them again. But Walker also felt that the shield would no0t need the same materials.
The eternal orb had to have mana rick materials because they were going to have to change their form. The idea to change form had been with Walker's unique system in mind. He had the master of none system so he had to have tools and weapons of all sorts.