From Player To Npc

They made it back in town in less than half the time it took them to go to the camp since the driver pushed them to run.

They made it to the gate, and Shingi told the driver to stop the carriage there.

Price was there as he Shingi had sent him a message to meet them there. Anna was also there.

Shing signaled them both to follow him, and he noticed that even the driver followed him. He didn't stop him as he understood he had no ill intentions.

They made it to the shop, where Players were waiting for it to open.

Greg was there and had the keys to open it, but he always waited for them before opening it.

They opened it, and Volig and Greg worked on orders and the customers. At the same time, Price, Anna, Shingi, and the driver went to the leatherworking and woodcarving room which Shingi was also using it as a meeting room in the shop if not meeting at the Guild's room made for that purpose.

"What is he doing here?" [Anna]

Anna pointed at the driver since she had never seen him in the past.

"I am sorry…. for intruding, but I couldn't stay back there. They have a…"[Driver]

He stopped speaking mid-sentence, which looked strange.

"Take off your glove and show me that tattoo."[Shingi]

The man got surprised by what he said, but he followed what Shingi told him.

Shingi checked it and showed that it was yellow, indicating that its quality was pretty high.

The most inferior quality of it would be black. Then its quality got improved to purple, then blue, green, yellow, orange, red and finally white.

Making yellow quality enslaving rune was quite hard to make and was also challenging to dispel.

Shingi grasped the driver's hand, and with a Dark Mana Gem at hand, he used its mana to erase the rune.

Dark mana was the only Element that could erase Runes, but one needs to know how the Enchantments or the Runes worked. He also required an almost perfect control and understanding of the Dark Element, and Shingi had experimented with it a lot these past weeks.

He would like to use the active effect of his Blessing of Beliss, but it was on cooldown since he used it during the battle. As for working on it later, it wasn't an option, as they would control him during that time.

Shingi wanted to help that man, as he never liked enslavement.

Still, his skills were high enough to deal with it in a couple of minutes.

The rune disappeared but left a burn mark behind in the shame shape, but at least he wasn't under the control of someone.

It relieved the driver when he saw his enslavement rune disappearing.

"Tha…. thank you. I don't know what I can do to pay this favor, but I swear to serve you at the best of my abilities."[Driver]

"You know I didn't free you to become my slave. You are welcome to work for me, though. Greg and Volig could use a helper."[Shingi]

Karemon and Aneta still haven't found a helper for Volig, and even if he didn't know if that man had any proficiency in crafting, he could help Greg around for simple errands.

His name was Herdan, and Shingi told him to help Greg.

The Shingi explained to Price and Anna what happened at his meeting with Snow Rogue.

"So what is our next move, then? Do you think they will attack like the ones in the past?" [Anna]

"They probably will, especially after taking one of their slaves. If they used a yellow grade enslaved rune on him, it means that it's someone crucial for them. We should keep close attention to him." [Price]

"I agree about monitoring him. As for how they will act, I doubt they will make an attack. They know now what we can do, and we will be ready for them. Also, knowing that we have a failsafe for our weapons not to get used against us should disrupt their plans. But we should prepare some defense plans of ours, especially since the main party will leave soon."[Shingi]

"What about the heist? The news of the events should have reached him, but I don't think they would let him communicate with us. He probably also won't get out if they are around."[Price]

This was true, as the man was too careful to be considered at a paranoic level and wasn't making any deals if a strange group was around.

The Broken Tower Guild, which was Snow Rogues Guild, was famous for causing trouble, and they were confident that their appearance in the area wouldn't be secret for long.

"We don't have the time to progress with the plan. But Price, you, and Anna will stay to monitor the situation for some time, and if a messenger shows up, progress with the plan. Me, Little Phoenix, Wild Tycoon, and the brothers will leave in a few days. Soryn and Marcy will stay to help with the Guild. I had informed her of some plans I want for them to work on. I also had talked with Harbin a few days ago, and he said he will send me some of his men, as it was only a matter until another Guild showed up. They should be here soon." [Shingi]

Even if he considered that most would be afraid that Aella had her eyes on him and Volig, and probably L'liw too, but there was always the chance of some not caring about that possibility.

They discussed some more plans for scenarios that could come and how to respond to them.

Shingi was planning to leave by the end of the week, and the trip to the Tower would take them a couple of weeks.

He also had to stop at the place on the map that was left for him, which was in the Neutral Territory.

The trip would be dangerous, but the student of his had passed Level 40 and should handle its dangers, especially with their new pieces of equipment, Skills, and Spells.

The artifact he wanted to get from the mansion was a unique staff that could handle four elements, air, earth, fire, and water, which he couldn't make even with Zhen's help.

Their limit was three Elements, and if one Element was the Light or Dark Element, the limit was two.

He had made a staff with Fire and Earth Mana Gem, but they couldn't make an Earth, Fire, Light one, but if they took that artifact, they could find a way.

He also wanted to start the trip earlier than planned, as he was confident that people would learn of his leave and get distracted while looking for him and the rest.

Shingi then went to inform the rest of his students and Marcy about the change of plans.

As for Ardent Scythe, he didn't have many meetings with her, but he had let her know of his plan to go to the Tower. But he didn't expect her to help him in there, as she couldn't help him against the Dark Guild. They had taken over most of the Neutral Territory.

He spoke with Aneta and Karemon, who had returned from Harbin's place some days ago and informed them about the Guild and his plan to leave.

He worked hard the next two days to finish anything he could craft that could be useful on the trip.

Hineko and Mizuneko also prepared as many potions and scrolls since it would be hard to make them away from their labs. They had made some moveable tools that they could use to create some, but the quality was lower.

They had no news of the Broken Tower Guild making a move in the village, but Price and Anna had detected them having some groups gather outside, but they weren't making a move yet.

Harbin's guards got in town, and they weren't like the ones still in training, like the ones around when Shingi was in town.

They could handle a sizeable group of people strong as Snow Rogue with the help of Price and Anna with their help, so Shingi was confident about leaving.

They left in secret to not leave tracks behind, but Anna and Price would spread rumors for their departure in the following days.

They were traveling by foot, and since not everyone was as fast as him or could continue to travel for as long as him, their trip would last a lot longer if he traveled by himself only.

His estimation to reach the place on his mother's map was two weeks, and he didn't know how long he would spend there.

After that, they would go straight for the Tower, and it should take them a little less than a week.

The first two days were pretty quiet, but they had passed the borders into the Neutral Territory in the middle of the third.

Monsters started being more aggressive, as they ignored even their instinct not to attack them even if they were stronger than them level-wise. Fortunately, with their preparations, they dealt with them quickly enough.

They also had some repellents for the night for their camp, but they kept watch just in case. The repellents were the same as Pan used at her place, so they were pretty effective.

That night, Shingi noticed that a new option was available at his System.

He could use the SCRY option once more, and this time he had to targets; sNPC#1 and Protector#2.

He knew sNPC#1 was Annoue, but he wasn't who exactly was Protector#2.

The obvious answer was Beliss since he had her blessing. But he didn't have that option last time, but last time he was trapped in that darkroom while waiting to earn his class.

He didn't know why the choice appeared now, but it most likely was because he had passed the field covering the Neutral Territory.

Since the last time since he selected to use it at Annoue didn't go that well, he checked that new option this time.

He felt his consciousness leaving his body and travel similar to the last time he used that option.

The trip didn't last as long since he was nearer the destination, which was the same as last time, the Tower.

Again, he couldn't tell at which floor they were, but he was confident it wasn't far from the one from last time, if not the same one.

The room he stopped at was dark, but he could see a cage and a figure in it.

The figure seemed humanoid but then noticed that it had a pair of wings, which had some holes and damaged them. It also had a lizard-like tail.

Everything started becoming brighter as time passed, which seemed to be part of the SCRY, not of the room becoming brighter.

The figure was a humanoid dragon, or a Dragonborn as they were known, and he could see that he was alive but badly damaged.

Typically, one didn't have wings or a tail, but this one was a special case.

Shingi was confident this one was the Protector Dormon, the Father of All Dragons.