From Player To Npc

Shingi tied Nivlek tight enough that she couldn't move, and since she didn't seem to have high INT, since she was a Mage Type, he was confident that would stay in place. Still, he was in the ready. As for the hidden undead, they wouldn't act unless ordered to, and only she could order them through the Black Crystal only.

Still, he didn't plan to stay in this room, so after making sure that the knobs were tight enough, he told Wild Tycoon to pick her up, and they moved. The stairs were in the Hospital's basement, and actually, its door was under the throne. Of course, the location of the trapdoor leading down the basement wasn't the same as the hospital was getting rebuilt each time the Boss got respawned and got randomized a bit.

They would go to the next floor, where it would be another typical forest, so Shingi and his party could rest. Shingi was the only one who did something in that battle, but everyone except Syra got exhausted by getting affected by Nivlek's 'corruption.'

They didn't have any problem getting Nivlek through the portal, as she clearly wasn't a creation of the Tower.

After going through the Portal at the end of the stairs, they appeared in the middle of the forest. The trees' bark was darker than average, and the leaves were less like somebody corrupted the woods like the previous floor but not entirely yet.

They made a camp like the last floor and placed their repellents.

Shingi was ready to speak with Nivlek while the others took care of making the camp. Syra was by his side since she couldn't help settings things up.

Nivlek tried to free himself, but this was an Enchanted rope, and the knobs of Shingi with his AGI and boosted INT was impossible to untie by somebody this physically weak. Since the forest wasn't completely corrupted, her power here was weaker, giving Shingi an advantage.

"So, what do you think we start over introductions? My name is Shingi. What is yours?" [Shingi]

Shingi knew Nivlek wasn't her actual name. It was Kelvin backward, probably to show that she was the opposite of him, making her the best for the position of replacing him. But to be her actual name, he doubted it to be the case.

"I told you. You can call me Nivlek." [Nivlek]

"Even now, you don't drop the act? It is clear that this isn't your real name. How about you come clean? Or are you scared of your Master?" [Shingi]

It was clear that she wanted to keep her Master's plans.

"Scared? You don't know what you speak of. You think because you are one of them, you are unique, but in reality, you are at the bottom of the power chain." [Nivlek]

"Who is them?" [Shingi]

She didn't respond, and she even avoided looking towards him. He had enabled his special eyes, and at that exact moment, she stopped looking at him. The target had to look towards him to work, except with the WIPE since he had succeeded in doing that on an unconscious Player.

"So you guys know about my people. Is Mikhail one of us?" [Shingi]

Nivlek kept her eyes closed, as also her mouth, except for a chuckle that exited it.

"*sigh* I guess you are giving me no choice." [Shingi]

Shingi summoned his sword and started making his Spirit Blade once more. Nivlek couldn't see what he was doing, but she could understand the noises he made as he didn't try to be subtle. He could tell by some slight movement of her body that she understood what he was doing.

This time he made the Blade the usual way without using a Mana Fruit or even a Mana Seed. His Blessing's boost at his INT was almost over, so he had to take advantage of it as long as he could.

He formed the Blade in less than a minute, but it wasn't as smooth or at the same power as before. Still, it was more than enough for his plan.

"You know I am still getting used to all this new energy, but I have understood enough about it. It messed with your powers by weakening your natural resistances, but that only because I aimed at your body. I wonder what will happen if I attack your brain. Maybe we can see what Spirit Madness has to offer." [Shingi]

Nivlek showed signs of worry, but she still didn't open her eyes or looked towards him.

Shingi moved closer to her with his sword at the ready as he kneeled in front of her since she was sitting on the ground. He raised the Blade and brought it closer to her forehead like he was ready to split her head horizontally in two pieces.

It was clear that she could sense the Spirit Element, meaning that she probably could also use it to an extent which could be what her strange Power was. Shingi was almost sure that she somehow successfully merged Spirit Mana with something else, a possible Dark Element, leading to her current 'corrupted' mana.

If she knew about Spirit Mana, she would know its drawbacks too, which was at what Shingi counted on.

He slowly brought his blade closer to her forehead.

"OK, ok, I will speak." [Nivlek]

She opened her eyes and looked at him. Now that Shingi was closer to her, he thought he had seen this face before, but he couldn't remember where. Something else on her also seemed familiar, but he just couldn't place what it was.

"So, who are you? How do you know about my people? What are Mikhail's plans? Why he gathers all this power?" [Shingi]

Nivlek seemed to be still somewhat reluctant, and Shingi could guess why; the burn mark on her neck.

He doubted it was just something Mikhail used to show that someone worked or belonged to him. It most likely had other properties, but Shingi couldn't detect anything other than some Spirit Mana being emitted by it.

"Syra, can you take a look at it?" [Shingi]

Syra looked at the burn mark for a short time before turning back to Shingi.

"It looks so simple, but it is actually something complicated. He seemed to have combined many into one. Not many people can do something like that at least back home. It probably will take some time before fully understanding its use, but I can block the communication it has with its creator." [Syra]

"Just do that then. Need any help?" [Shingi]

Syra shook her head as she took a deep breath, and Shingi detected a massive amount of Spirit Mana gathering at her hand, forming a small sphere. She had compressed a lot of Spirit Mana, maybe even more than what Shingi could handle, in the small ball, which wasn't larger than a ping-pong ball.

She brought the Spirit Mana closer to the burn mark but stopped as Nivlek moved a bit.

"Stay still, or that much will drive you mad." [Syra]

Nivlek stayed still as she got frozen in place as Syra made her Spirit Ball come in touch with the unknown Rune.

Shingi could barely detect the fight of the two energies, and he could tell that one of the Rune was more potent than the one of Syra's. She knew she couldn't surpass it in power and quality, so she used quantity.

As Syra's remaining Spirit Mana was less than half of what she started with, Rune's energy began showing signs of weakening.

Shingi wanted to help, but he didn't know how to do so. Then he got an idea to try something he had never tried before.

He put his hand over the shoulder Syra, trying not to pass through her, and closed his eyes while he focused.

================================

Attempt to transfer the remaining active effect of Blessing of Beliss was detected.

Do you want to proceed with the transfer?

YES / NO

The cooldown of the Blessing will get double the usual amount.

================================

Shingi selected yes, and Syra's INT got boosted. Her INT was already high, but since she was dealing with something unknown, any boost would help. He wasn't sure what her limit you be and if she could go over 30 since she wasn't from their world, but he doubted a rule like that would not take effect.

The fight changed, as even if Syra still was losing some of her Spirit Mana, the amount was multiple times less than before. She didn't know what Shingi did to her, but she had a task to focus on.

Finally, as almost one-tenth of the starting Spirit Mana, she had gathered remained, she successfully made a layer with the remaining mana to surround the burn mark. The burn mark was now white, showing the field that was keeping any energy from getting out.

Syra seemed exhausted after that, but she would be way worse if she didn't have the help of Shingi.

"What was that? What did you do to me?" [Syra]

"I will explain later. But you should rest for now." [Shingi]

She agreed as she didn't want to see what would happen if she over-exhausted herself.

"So, how about those questions? Now you have nothing to be afraid of." [Shingi]

There was the chance of Mikhail noticing that they blocked his communication with that Seal, but Shingi was confident he would have more in his mind. Annoue had somehow used one of his creations and got herself in Syra's place, and since Netsu was in prison, Shingi was sure that things went quite complicated, and Mikhail wanted to punish him for whatever happened.

"Fine. But what I am going to tell you is for your ears only." [Nivlek]

Shingi signaled everyone to leave them alone. He waited a bit and after making sure that everyone was far enough; he continued their talk.

"So how about you tell me your real name?" [Shingi]

"I don't have a name anymore, but they used to call me by many things. Used to be called a hero, a Blessed One, a wife, a mother." [Nivlek]

Shingi had a bad feeling about this.

"I used to be known as Angel's Feather." [Nivlek]