From Player To Npc

After getting something to eat, Shingi decided to relax a bit, as he hadn't done for a while. He still had to go through everything he knew about the Growth Type equipment, as rarely he had free time lately. He wouldn't train on anything, but doing nothing completely was impossible for him, so he decided to organize his thoughts.

Fortunately, all this info was available to him like he was a computer, and that info was on an external hard drive. He had access to them and could go through them, but he needed to organize them to find what he wanted easier in the future. He had researched the possible ways to strengthen Sinhunter, but he needed to get higher in the Tower to start this process. Shingi needed to gather different materials from monsters and some minerals that existed in places on some of the Tower's floors.

He started looking for information about the rune's nature, as also their meaning. Syra seemed to be knowledgeable on the runes, so it surprised Shingi when she said the one on his sword's rune seemed unfamiliar to her.

But he didn't know exactly the limits of her knowledge or how similar the runes worked between their dimensions, but it seemed to be one similarity until now.

He found some mentions of the people who handled creating the first Growth Type Equipment, which seemed to be a shield. It wasn't a team that worked together over this task, but actually, it seemed like some people of similar interest sharing information, leading to one of them having a breakthrough.

Reading around these stories, which seemed somewhat vague at a few points, but more detailed at others, Shingi found some names of the people that worked on that. The name of the one with the breakthrough was actually L'liw himself, which seemed to be what turned him from Mortal to God. Many of the Gods used to be mortals until they proved themselves worthy, and they were offered to join the Old Gods.

But the name that drew mostly Shingi's attention was of one who got mentioned as having affected L'liw's success the most. His name was Nyhm. The same as the Omni Mage from Syra's world, and the same name as the one that Shingi had the Blessing of that allowed him to use the Spirit Element.

He wasn't certain if all three of them were the same, but those were too coincidental not to be. But if that was the truth, that meant that somehow the Nyhm from Syra's world could get to his world.

Researching more about mentions of Nyhm, he found a few more details, but not enough to understand if he had an ability like that. There were mentions of him communicating and not meeting with L'liw, meaning maybe they never met face to face and just could talk with each other.

Shingi thought for a second to send a message to Aella to ask her stepfather, but he decided against that, as it probably would make her go mad. Aella and L'liw were never on good terms unless when Aella wanted a new weapon.

After spending an hour searching, Shingi found no simple answer to his question. As for the rune's nature seemed like his hunch was correct; it was a combination of all seven elements.

It seemed different from usual runes because it used a unique system made and used by L'liw only. No details existed about how it worked, just the mention of its existence.

The base element that connected everything else was the Spirit Element, which was the reason that made it have a mind of its own, at least at a degree.

Shingi stopped as he started having a headache from going through so much information.

He kept getting reports from Sinhunter for the progress of their new companion. Sinhunter tried mostly to increase its mentality and not new skills. His progress seemed to be at a more than average rate, meaning that he would join them in combat after having a big rest here.

He took a nap without using his TRANCE ROOM this time, as he wanted to relax completely for a few moments. It was better for his mentality to take some time off and not be in action all the time. Since he found out TRANCE ROOM, he apparently was Spirit Based, and he decided not to overuse it, even if it didn't have any side effect. He had noticed though its benefits were greatest in the Tower than out od it. At first, he thought that it was just him getting used to it, bus it most likely was because the Spirit Element is in greater quality and quantity in here.

Before starting his nap, he made certain that everyone was on guards and watches were organized and scheduled. He decided to spend a full rest here, to allow Dark Shadow and Sinhunter to train with no disturbances.

During his nap, Syra started copying on a piece of paper the burn mark rune of Nivlek and started studying it with Little Pheonix. Wild Tycoon and An had some sparring matches, with Hineko joining them now and then. Mizuneko decided to work on some new scrolls, as they had to use a few of them during the battle with the Lava Dragon.

Fortunately, they had prepared many resources to make things like scrolls and a few herbs for making potions, but those were harder to make. Hineko didn't have enough space to make his lab or enough time to replenish their used potions, but they were still far from running out.

As his nap ended, he received a message from Sinhunter to come to take a look at them.

"'How did things go?'" [Shingi]

"'He is a fast learner, but no progress on making it over one-way communication for you. But still, he should understand you better now. Also gave it some tips for when in battle.'" [Sinhunter]

Shingi wanted to see Dark Shadow in action, but it still had many things to learn. It didn't have any attack other than using its toenails like claws.

Shingi started teaching it AIR SLASH, who normally would need a sword, but it was possible in other ways. Shingi remembered a Player using it with just his pointer finger.

He would use his entire wing in Dark Shadow's case, meaning he could use it no matter where.

It was tricky to do the right movement at the right speed, but Dark Shadow adapted to the new situation in the end. Since Dark Shadow had the Air Element in his Mana Pool, he could make AIR SLASH into a Mana Weapon Skill and reached Base Rank soon enough.

This one was the only one that could be learned as both Skill and Spell and be recognized by the System like that. The Spell version didn't need one to have a high AGI or STR, but the Spell was weaker than the Skill in 'some cases depending on the user's stats.

He actually learned the Spell version of it to help demonstrate it easier, and even if it was weaker at the end than Dark Shadow's, it was stronger than what Annoue's was back at when training on it. That was because of both his AGI and INT being quite high, as also since he was using his Air Element to cast it.

He had brought out his staff, a wand with an Air Mana Gem, and his sword. He wanted to work on changing between them, depending on the situation. Shingi hadn't used his staff much because he was more used to using a sword, but he would soon need the boost that he took by the staff.

Unfortunately, he couldn't make a staff with four Elements, but having just a wand was helping for now. He had stored some staves and wands on his Spatial Ring, just in case, which once more was a wise move. He never planned on unlocking more Elements, although he really would like to test it now. Maybe if he unlocked all the elements, he could be like Nyhm and get himself to where Annoue is or speak with her.

Earning the Air Element was a pure accident, but still wasn't certain what triggered this change. He had five of the seven Elements, missing Dark and Water, but he didn't know how to learn them. But for now, he let it so that he could first become proficient using the Air Element as good as he could the others before learning the remaining ones.

He kept working on Dark Shadows, Skills, and Spells and having Mizuneko helping on learning some new Air Element Based Spells. Both Dark Shadow now knew MANA DOUBLE - AIR ELEMENT, AIR BOLT, and AIR SLASH, although Dark Shadow had both the Skills and the Spell version, while Shingi had only the Spell version.

But with the help of Mizuneko, Dark Shadow learned WIND SURGE, which would boost the speed of the target, and LEVITATE, which would help him hover a bit, but not as precise as flying.

Shingi didn't learn them as he had HASTE which was, in the end, more powerful than WIND SURGE; even if HASTE had side effects when ending, that WIND SURGE didn't have. As for LEVITATE, it was easier for Dark Shadow to learn and use it at himself since he was lighter, as even Mizuneko didn't have unlocked it to a finished version, unlike Dark Shadow. Shing would first help Mizuneko perfect it and then learn it himself. He had his boots nonetheless that had a better effect than LEVITATE.

It was funny seeing Dark Shadow using levitate, as it was flapping his wings to fly away, but the spell mostly allowed him to hover and possibly move sideways and not freely fly around. Dark Shadow apparently desired to fly since he was a bird, but his body structure didn't make it look like he could normally fly. His wings were almost as big as an Eagle of its size would be, maybe a little smaller, but its body was rounder and heavier. Even so, with the use of magic, this was possible, and he had the right Element for it; he just had to keep training.

There have been almost 12 hours since they arrived at that cave. Shing and Dark Shadow weren't training on any new Skills or Spells but focusing on strengthening their Air Element side of their Mana Tree, as the Air Element had a high compatibility rate up here.

Shingi's current Elements were Air, Fire, Earth, and of course, Spirit, and he had his ECHOLOCATION and his other detection Skills active just in case. Everything was quiet until Shingi detected some movement from outside the cave.

Someone was heading their way.