From Player To Npc

Shingi, for the first time, noticed an Enchantment Rune at the bottom part of the feather. He had checked it many times, and he never saw this Rune be there.

He noticed the Rune wasn't carved on the feather as he focused on it, but it manipulated the mana he used to take this shape. He wasn't sure how his mana got manipulated, but he was confident that it had to do with something in this location, as it didn't happen in the past when he tried the same thing.

He started moving closer to the mountain and noticed the Feather get warmer, but slightly. He started moving away, and as expected, the Feather's temperature was getting cooler.

It seemed like he was in a hot, cold game, and the Feather was the one letting him know how close he was at what he was searching for.

There weren't any paths leading up the mountain, and it was a challenging climb, so he hoped that what he was looking for was just hidden down there.

He followed the 'indications' he was getting by the Feather, but it took him a while to notice the changes after a point.

After half an hour of search, he still had found no secret doors, but he was now sure that he had to climb the mountain.

They had prepared some climbing equipment for just in case, but none other than Shingi had used them in the past.

Shingi started explaining to them and sharing some tips. Since he had spent all that time with them and had personally trained them to some degree, Shingi was familiar with approaching them and teaching each of them in the best possible way.

Even if the System wasn't letting him know everything, he finally understood how his SCHOLAR MASTER worked.

It was actually sharing some of his experience with them for NPCs, not actually Exps, and making them easier to unlock or rank up the skill up to the limit he had it at. From the testing he did with Volig, since he was his only NPC student, he could make an NPC an almost 50% boost at their ranking up if it was for a Master Rank Skill of his and a 20% boost if it was a Base Rank Skill. Of course, that was a boost to the chance to Rank the Skill up, and not making it a certain event to happen.

Also, when he helped Volig with a task that required a Skill that Volig had of lower Rank than Shingi, Shingi could give that Skill an extra boost to be close to his Rank. No benefit there was if they had the same Rank.

As for Players, since he had more to test it with, he was more familiar with the effects of his profession on them and how to use them.

He could have the same effects as he did at NPCs, but the boost he gave them was the same for each but changed depending on their Skill level. The Lower their Skill level and the higher his Skill Rank, the higher the boost.

He could also teach them Skills that he hadn't available through the System and give them a boost, as far as he was familiar with them. The boost was less than what he gave for Skills he had unlocked, but it was still beneficial.

He also benefited from raising his Skill when training others, but at Master Rank, the change was barely noticeable.

They all unlocked the CLIMBING Skill, and they reached it to Base Rank, or level 10 for his Students, in less than an hour.

Since they had the equipment to help them out, having it at that level was more than enough.

Out of the students, Wild Tycoon had the more STR in the party, which gave the least trouble in climbing. Then Hineko kept up with her as he was using his AGI's effects instead of his STR.

As for Mizuneko and Little Phoenix, both had trouble since both the STR and AGI were low, but since they got tied with Tycoon to help them move and the equipment they had, they could keep up with the rest.

Hineko was in the lead to make sure there weren't any enemies, as Shingi had to focus on the Feather and any changes to its temperature.

It kept getting warmer, as, at some point, it was burning his skin and would damage him if he kept it on his hand for long. He kept it with an Earth MANA HAND of his and touched its tip here and then to check any changes.

After a point, the temperature of Feather starting falling, meaning they were getting away from their destination.

They climbed for 4 hours to get to the height of what the feather led them at was.

Shingi cast ECHOLOCATION to detect any secret rooms in the surrounding mountain, and he soon had made a discovery.

There was some hole space, but it started at almost the edge of his Spell's Range, close to 4 meters.

He tried to detect a Secret Entrance, but he found none.

They rested at a ledge of the mountainside that was big enough to fit them all.

Shingi used his Detection Skills and ECHOLOCATION at their limit, but he had no results.

He doubted that there wasn't an entrance nearby; otherwise, why would the Feather lead them here.

His detection Skills weren't perfect as they had missed the secret door at Zhen's dungeon, so he considered that this could be a similar situation.

He explained to his students the situation in case they had any ideas.

"What if the feather is a key?" [Mizuneko]

"What do you mean? He just told us he detected nothing resembling a door."[Wild Tycoon]

"We looking for a lock, not a door. Locks are smaller and easier to miss and blend than a whole door."[Mizuneko]

Shingi considered it a valid point, as he was looking for an opening or a door and not just a lock.

As he was ready to look around once more, he got interrupted.

"Maybe that thing over there then."[Hineko]

Everybody turned towards where Hineko pointed.

Everyone except Shingi noticed nothing, and that was because those two were the only ones that had their PERCEPTION at Master Rank. Hineko's PERCEPTION Skill was at level 82, while Shingi calculated his if it had a level to be at 90.

The benefits of the last ten levels were something unique to Players, but the NPCs had some similar ones but to lesser degrees.

Shingi noticed at the wall of another ledge that it had a small slot, a perfect size for his feather to fit.

Shingi used his MANA HAND to take his Feather over there and put it in the slid.

He wanted to keep a distance in case someone trapped it.

The feather got in, and then a sound of stone moving on stone got heard. An entrance to the left of the lock for the Feather started forming.

After waiting for a bit and using his Detection Skills at the max for any trap signs, they started making their way towards it.

The slot for the feather, had disappeared, and when he got in, the door started closing.

It closed at a low pace, so quickly everyone got in, even if they didn't know how to get out afterward.

They could hear the earth moving as their path ahead was still getting open, like something was manipulating the Earth and pushing it aside to make a tunnel for them.

Shingi used his MANA SENSE and noticed that the mana of the Rune at the feather spread through the ground and took 'control' of the mana of the Earth, manipulating it in the way they saw.

He wasn't sure how this was possible to do, as he had seen nothing similar to this or even heard or read about anything like that.

But he had learned that the Runes were more powerful than what he expected but were harder to master, too, especially with the restrictions that only RUNEMASTERS could use them.

Shingi and Phoenix cast Light, with Shingi's being a little brighter since he used his Light Element Mana, while Little Phoenix used some from a Light Mana Gem she had with her.

Shingi with Wild Tycoon was at the front since it was wide enough for two people to move side by side.

Mizuneko was in the middle, and Hineko with Little Phoenix was in the back.

Shingi paid attention to signs of anything unusual.

After a few minutes of careful walk, they reached the open space Shingi had detected from outside.

This seemed to be a tomb as there was a large stone coffin in the middle of it, surrounded by different jars and a few chests at the side.

The furthest side of the coffin was attached to the wall, and over it, there was a statue of an angel on the wall.

The angel's feathers were black, while the rest of it was silver.

The coffin, even if it was dusty, it got preserved pretty well.

Shingi moved closer as he signaled his students to stay behind and be on guard if something happened.

He reached the coffin, and there was no reaction from anything from his movements.

He saw a writing on the coffin but wasn't in the common language but a rare language to see the writing of.

It was the language used by the Angels that worked for the Gods, and its writing was uncommon but not too rare for one to see, and many researchers or religious people had learned it. But to have one at a coffin wasn't that common.

Shingi was familiar with the language and could translate it, but it took him a while as he hadn't done it for some time.

Fortunately, it wasn't too long, and the final translation was 'Angel's Feather final resting place.'

This made little sense to Shingi as he knew Angel's Feather was a Player, so she couldn't die to have a 'final' resting place.

He made sure he didn't translate it wrong, but this was really the translation.

'Maybe she was here the last time she played the game.'[Shingi]

This was the only thought he could have to make some sense of it.

Something restricted him from seeing that it was inside. He checked it for any traps or anything strange about it.

Everything was normal, so he opened it.

As he opened it, the air in it came out, and since the coffin was so well preserved that it wasn't letting even the air escape, it had a 'dark' smell on it.

Shingi covered his mouth, but fortunately, the little air he breathed didn't affect him.

Seeing inside the coffin, there was a body, but not one Shingi thought he could find in there.

It was a young teenage girl whose body was dusty, but it did not decompose.

Shingi soon noticed that the girl was still and then started breathing a little time after opening the coffin. Like something brought her body's functions back to life.

Shingi noticed that there was a Rune design that was more complicated than any that he had encountered until now at the lid's side that was inside the coffin. There were lines drawn on the other sides of the coffin on the inside, which were ending at the body, when he opened the lid, he 'cut' the connection of those lines with the Rune design.

The Rune was there to preserve the body, or that is what Shingi assumed it was doing as he couldn't decipher it with what he currently knew.

As he checked the body for any characteristics, she opened her eyes, and Shingi noticed their color as Dark Red like his special eyes.

As she turned her sight towards Shingi and noticed him, she moved at an incredible speed and caught him completely off guard as she brought him to the ground.

She raised one of her hands like a beast with claws would do to attack its prey, but her nails weren't that sharp.

Before she could start her attack, a WATER SPHERE surrounded her, cast by Mizuneko. The girl fought to get free, but soon she passed out from being underwater for too long. Mizuneko let her free as Shingi signaled him to keep her alive.

The water had cleaned her face of the dust so Shingi could see it clearer.

It was identical to Annoue's face.