From Player To Npc

In the morning of the next day, Shingi woke up with a headache and a knock at the shop's door. He had a drinking contest with Volig, which lost even if his END was high, but his body was still not used to alcohol.

Volig was a newborn, but his race had a higher toxin tolerance than humans but not as much as he had as a Dwarf.

The knocking continued, and it was like the person out there was knocking at Shingi's head.

"Be right there. SO STOP KNOCKING."[Shingi]

He cleared his mind a little, and as he walked towards the door, he noticed something.

He used the detection skills as usual towards the person outside, and he found a familiar mana aura that he hadn't seen for a while.

It was that mysterious figure that Garry had met the first time Shingi worked at the shop.

His detection skills back then weren't as good as now, so he wasn't sure if it was the same person, but there were some similarities.

He used some Light Mana to 'kill' some of the alcohol in him, which helped a little but still had some effects from last night's drinking. As for Volig, he was out cold as he was a heavy sleeper, especially after drinking.

Shingi opened the door, and he saw a man that had a mouth mask on and had a hoodie cloak but had his hood down.

"Are you the one called Shingi?" [Strange Messenger]

"I am. And who are you supposed to be?" [Shingi]

"I came here to deliver an invitation from my master for you and the Grandmaster Volig. You have ten minutes to prepare. I will wait across the street." [Strange Messenger]

The man didn't wait for Shingi to say anything as he moved away.

Shingi didn't like that this man said he was here to give an invitation but didn't even wait for him to accept it.

He couldn't be sure who sent him, as he had no bearings on him to show his master's identity.

Shingi woke Volig up and explained the situation.

They had little choice as they prepared to head out. Shingi went to the crafting room for woodworking and leatherworking to wake up Winestone, who was sleeping there next to Chubby.

"What do you want me to do?" [Winestone]

"Follow me and try not to let others know you can speak until I tell you." [Shingi]

So the three of them went across the street to see the strange messenger, who had his hood up now.

When he saw the bear, he turned toward Volig.

"What is that beast doing here? I came to get just the two of you."[Messenger]

"I am confident your master will be interested in him."[Volig]

They couldn't see his face with his hood up, but Shingi could read his body language and tell that Volig's response surprised him.

"Then follow me."[Messenger]

They moved to the gate, where a carriage waited for them. Fortunately, Winestone wasn't a full-grown bear and could barely fit in it. Volig also had to decrease his size for all of them to fit in there comfortably. It surprised the messenger, but he said nothing.

During the entire trip, the messenger stayed silent and didn't answer any of their questions.

They were heading in the direction that Shingi knew the mansion was.

Price had recruited him the other day so he could send him a message to let him know they were out and inform him in case they had to advance the plan.

But later, they took a turn that was taking them further away from where the mansion was supposed to be.

Shingi tried to find any clues in the carriage or the messenger for where they were heading, and he finally found one.

He detected little mana from the driver of the carriage forming a shape on his left hand, which was a sign that he had recently had a particular tattoo made on him.

He used his VISUALIZATION to form the tattoo in front of him, and the result was a Tower hit by lightning and broke in half.

He heard of this symbol from Marcy, being the Guild logo similar to Whip Masters, a Guild working for the Dark Guild.

Shingi didn't know how to act, and he didn't expect them to act this fast. He thought that the appearance of Aella would keep them away for some time.

They stopped at a camp as the messenger got outside and signaled them to follow him.

The camp wasn't too big as Shingi detected ten Players, but all of them well equipped and of a higher level than Price's, but he estimated that none was over level 70.

They headed to the larger tent where Shingi had detected the one with the densest aura of the entire camp.

Going inside, they found, on top of what looked like a wooden throne, a female figure having a mouth mask like the messenger and was currently cleaning an apple with a small knife.

Next to her, there was what at first looked like a dog but would notice that its spine bones were extending outside like curved horns if one looked at its back. It was also currently asleep, and with each heavy exhale of it, black smoke was leaving its nose. 

It was wearing a collar with multiple runes on it and a chain that the other end was at a pole behind it.

"My Lady. I brought them, and they also brought a pet of theirs."[Messenger]

She looked towards each of them and then made a motion towards the messenger to leave them alone.

"So you are the ones who made some ruckus yesterday. I heard it was a sight to behold. But where are my manners? Let me introduce myself. I am called Snow Rogue, and I am the one in charge over here."[Snow Rogue]

Her whole attire was white, which she probably did on purpose to fit her name.

"I would like us to make a deal. We have resources at our disposal that even the King would be jealous of, and I am sure you can use our help. I mean, this place doesn't have much to offer, so we can move you to a much bigger town and better shop than the little one you have."[Snow Rogue]

"What if we don't want to agree to the deal?" [Shingi]

She was still wearing her mouth mask, but Shingi was sure from the body language that she smirked at that point.

"We aren't as weak as Whip Master disgrace of a Guild." [Snow Rogue]

She then threw the piece of apple as it landed on the head of the sleepy, monstrous dog.

The dog woke up, and when it saw Shingi and Volig, it ran towards him, but the chain stopped it from reaching them.

Shingi and Volig didn't flinch for a moment. Just Winestone took a few steps back.

Shingi moved forward towards the dog that was growling towards him, but suddenly the growls stopped, and the dog tried to get away from Shingi but could get outside, as the chain didn't let it go.

"I will tell you then the same thing I told them. Dogs should stay obedient and don't act like they are lions."[Shingi]

She clapped him a few times and then threw her knife at the neck of the dog.

She hit a vital point of it, and it already had some wounds as it fell to the ground, motionless.

"Look what you made me do. Do you know how hard it is to find those? You owe me big, little boy." [Snow Rogue]

Shingi noticed the men outside starting to move to surround their tent, as she probably sent them a message.

He didn't notice her move to write something through the System's chat, so she probably had some other way of communication.

He couldn't send a message to Price, as she was paying careful attention to his moves.

"Now, why don't you be a sweet boy and sit to discuss our deal."[Snow Rogue]

There was a tone of her ordering them around, which both Shingi and Volig didn't like.

"There is nothing to discuss, as you have nothing we are interested in. So if you don't want to follow the fate of those annoying friends of yours just let us go." [Shingi]

She started laughing as Shingi told her the funniest joke there was.

"You sure are something. You don't know what genuine power is, boy, if you think dealing with those weaklings makes you strong. So I will say it once more. SIT. DOWN."[Snow Rogue]

Volig sat down, and Shingi felt some power trying to affect him, but he had his unique eyes active to he didn't allow it to affect him.

"Oh, how interesting? You are an impressive one if you can handle this Enchantment. Maybe we can have some fun later. I am sure this big sister can make your day."[Snow Rogue]

At that point, screams were heard from outside, as also sounds of battle.

Snow Rogue seemed to be surprised by it, and she seemed to have taken a message from the people outside as she looked with wide eyes towards Shingi.

"What did you do? Who are you?" [Snow Rogue]

Shingi had used for the first time one of his Mana Fruits to silent cast GOLEMANCY.

Also, because he used a Mana Fruit instead of Mana Seeds, his Spell got strengthened a bit, which benefited from using a Mana Fruit other than it having more mana.

He had made 8 Attacker Golems, which were bigger and stronger than those back when he was at Harbin's town.

He then summoned Sinhunter and cast HASTE on him as he charged towards her.

She was pretty agile as she avoided his attack and drew a pair of daggers she had sheathed at her belt.

They were Mana Gem daggers that Shingi and Volig had made available through their shop, but he could tell that they made some modifications to it.

Shingi was afraid that he would face someone using the weapon they created one day, but he was ready for this.

He stored his staff in his ring as he brought out from the ring a peculiar stone with different runes on it, each of a different color.

He attacked her a few times and paid attention to her dagger, and more specifically, what elements they had.

One was Earth, and the other was Air. The Earth was strengthening its blade, increasing both its defensive abilities and its attacking power a bit. The Air made it lighter to use and made more attacks in a shorter time while keeping its regular stats.

When Shingi was sure of what those daggers' element was, then focused some mana at two of the runes of the stone, the green one and the white one.

As he did that, it released a wave of energy that broke the Mana Gems and damaged the blades when it came in touch with them.

This was a creation of Zhen as a failsafe if their product fell into the wrong hands.

This got her off guard, as Shingi appeared behind her and slashed her with Sinhunter. He had his sword surrounded with a Fire and Light mana blade.

But this time, it wasn't enough to kill her in one hit as she was a much higher level than any of the people Shingi had faced till now.

But he could tell that it took a significant chunk of her HP.

At this point, Volig wasn't anymore affected by whatever she did to him, and he summoned from his Spatial Ring his Warhammer as he was ready to help Shingi fight. He wasn't much of a fighter, but nobody would consider him a weakling.

Snow Rogue didn't like the situation she was currently in.