From Player To Npc

Shingi continued training on what he could until Harbin came late at night after dinner.

Harbin brought him what Vardan gave him, which was a rolled map.

It was a map of the North Kingdom, where they were, with some nodes all over the place.

Things were chaotic, and using different languages in his writing, making it almost impossible to understand all of them.

Shingi was familiar with most of those words, but it still was a coded message he needed to decode even if he translated. It would take him some time, but he knew that this was what he looked for—the location of some artifacts.

He needed to decode the messages to find what each location could have, and he was certain that a few could be a deadend but worth the time to investigate if needed.

Since he couldn't leave the room other than having a walk with Himon, under the security of some guards, they have the shopping promised and take a few things for that day's lunch or dinner.

He worked with Sinhunter and decoded what he could from the map as four days passed, and Orsina had told them the day before that she was ready to leave tomorrow morning.

Harbin wasn't happy since he couldn't go with them, but he had a lot to do while they were away so he could dive deep into work.

That night Shingi told them that Annoue wasn't back home, since they would find about it fast enough.

He explained to Himon that she was away training with his Master but told the truth to Orsina. He had told the truth to Harbin before when he explained his past.

In the morning, he had a few light bags with some toys of Himon and had a few Golems to hold some other stuff of theirs. He needed 6 Golems, which were a little bigger than the usual ones, to strengthen them but less agile to have all their luggage.

They gathered in the backyard of their house and made a circle, except for Harbin, who watched them from the door of the house leading to the backyard.

"So as you said the other day, I know TELEPORT, which fortunately doesn't need those special crystals like the TELEPORTATION, but things may go wrong if my focus throws off. So try to stay still and quiet."[Orsina]

Shingi was aware of the way TELEPORT worked, at least its fundamental concept, and many ways of how it could go wrong, but most would happen if used by someone inexperienced.

He wasn't certain how experienced she was, but from some talks he had with Harbin, it seemed she had many tricks up her sleeves.

She also was quite perceptive since she had noticed that Meyana was in his room that night.

All of them, including the Golems, held hands as she started saying a few Arcane words while holding the Black Feather amulet that Shingi lent her to decrease the chance of something going wrong.

From the way she was casting the Spell, he could tell that she was very experienced in the ways of Magic.

A teleportation-like circle got formed under their feet with a diameter a little over the circle they made as they fell in it.

They weren't falling and falling in a one-color place, as the other times Shingi had Teleported away but landed right away.

They weren't in a forest or a city or town, but they seemed to be inside a dungeon.

The place seemed to be abandoned, and a lot of parts that seemed man-made got damaged.

"Where are we, mama?" [Himon]

Orsina looked around as she tried to keep her face to look calm, but Shingi could read on her face that this shouldn't happen.

"This is a brief stop we are doing. Why don't you sit over there, and we should be on our way soon."[Orsina]

Himon nodded as she sat in a corner and started playing with a doll she had with her.

"Do you know where we are?" [Shingi]

Orsina shook her head left and right.

"Can you get us out of here? Maybe trying again?" [Shingi]

"I would, but something restrains me from doing so. I could try to overpower it, but I don't have enough mana after using TELEPORT."[Orsina]

Shingi was ready to give her an MP Regeneration Potion as he noticed some movement from a corridor ahead towards their way.

He signaled to Orsina to go at Himon as he summoned his Earth/Light staff, which had both Mana Gems together.

He could say that whatever this creature was, it had noticed them and was heading their way, so he cast a few LIGHTS as the place didn't have any sources of light, natural or not, so they may not like it.

The bet paid off as the creature stopped to stay away from the lights, which kept it from moving any closer.

Shingi threw an MP Regeneration Potion to Orsina so she could restore her MP as fast as possible as he noticed more creatures moving towards their way.

There were four entries to the place they were, and he started hearing movement from each of them.

He cast LIGHT enough times to lighten up the entire room and each entry, to prevent those creatures from getting closer.

He hadn't gotten an unobstructed view of them yet, but he could tell that they moved on four, and they were as big as horses. But their total mass wasn't like that of a horse.

Those creatures seemed to get used to the LIGHT fast enough, and some were getting into it, giving Shingi a better view of them. They were ape-like but skinny like they hadn't eaten for many months, and there was no fat on them. He could see the bones of their chest cause their skin was on its shape as it was lucking any fat or muscles in between.

Their eyes were easier, completely black, and he could see that they each had a pair of tusks like that of an Orc.

Those were actually some Orcs who were cursed to become undead after doing something unforgiven by their clan. They got cursed to have infinite hunger and never to die unless the Clan's shaman who cursed them released them from their curse as each Clan had their own way of ritual and how to end it.

They seemed to be too weak to move using just their feet, and their general structure seemed to differ from the Orcs Shingi was familiar with while he was a Player. They looked like their structure was less evolved, like a caveman compared to the modern man.

Maybe those were Orcs of thousands of years ago, which made it troublesome on where they could be like most times, those undead Orcs got destroyed by someone or got released from their curse at some point.

Shingi cast as many EARTH SPIKES as he could to cover the way between him and those creatures.

Because they were undead, their INT was almost nonexistent, as they kept moving forward and getting themselves pierced by the Spikes. But cause their number kept getting increased, the Spikes were getting broken or covered as bodies of Undead were falling over them, and the ones behind them were climbing over those bodies.

The amount of that undead was ridiculous, and some seemed to have their body more evolved and closer to the one Shingi had fought in the past.

"How long till you can get us out of here?" [Shingi]

"At most a minute."[Orsina]

She had Himon close to her, and they have moved at the center of the room as every side had an opening for the undead to come towards them.

Shingi had the Golems surrounding them in case the undead reached them.

He tried to make more EARTH SPIKES and make them taller to keep them away for as long as he could.

He even summoned Sinhunter and threw some AIR SLASHES towards them, but since he didn't have the skill, so it wasn't strong enough to damage them a lot.

Ten seconds passed, and the ones at the wider way were almost at the end of the corridor leading to the room they were.

He ordered his Golems to go at them to stop them for as long as they could as they left the things they were carrying.

The Golems could handle those foes if their numbers weren't that big and seem like there was no end to them.

He kept the one way under control. The rest got close to reach them and had to split his Golems and keep using his MP to strengthen them and heal them.

But his MP was getting low at a rapid rate, and there was at least half a minute left until Orsina was ready.

So he cast HASTE on him and started charging at each group to lessen the burden on the ones needed the most.

Since he was in combat and Himon was around, he was under the effect of one of the regeneration auras, which was SP.

Since those were undead and didn't seem to have anything to eat for a long time, they were quite slow, and with his current speed, he could easily avoid them even at their current amount.

He had strengthened his blade with some EARTH Mana, which was easier to do after the training he had with it the past few days, and cut them in pieces with one swing.

This didn't mean that he was killing them with one hit as cutting an arm of one undead wasn't a lethal hit but was helping the Golems to deal with them easier.

If only he had his full class, he would earn quite a few exps out of it, but since he was still an Apprentice at it, he didn't have a level to earn exps for.

Some said that an apprentice was actually taking part of the exps and would get used when he fully earned his class, but it was quite a small part and wasn't anywhere in the System that one could have access to.

He and his Golem had killed quite a few of them but compared to their number, it was a drop in the sea.

"I AM READY."[Orsina]

Shingi quickly got next to her, and she started casting her spell as quickly as she could.

Shingi stayed still not to ruin the Spell, so the Golems were the only ones fighting the undead.

His MP had gotten low as healing the Golems took a lot, and he had to stop it so some Golems got destroyed.

Orsina finished her Spell barely in time as a few Orcs almost entered the area of her circle, which could ruin her Spell.

This time they appeared in the usual purple area falling and reached a hole and went got through they landed at the edge of a forest and seeing the walls of a familiar place.

They actually reached Carda this time.