Well, we blithely went to the grassland while fighting monsters and leveled up slightly.
Me: Lv 25
Raphtalia: Lv 28
Firo: Lv 15
Picking medicinal herbs among other things, we focused on Firo's food and several other harvests.
We defeated various monsters, releasing shield requirements with the best status bonus at around +1 or +2.
... The shield's Intermediate Compounding Recipe still has not been found.