From Player To Npc

Shingi told Marcy everything he wanted to tell his students and also gave her a list of items to prepare as soon as possible. Some had to do for his plan to persuade the other Guild people to join his Alliance, while others would help him in his plan to heal his eyes.

Replacing one of his eyes with Garry's had a significant chance of success since they were blood-related, but that didn't mean he would get back his power of the special eyes. Most likely, he would have the same one that Garry had, but he couldn't be certain, as he didn't know if something completely stored the power in his eyes. He had tried to look for anything close to that power in him, but he found nothing.

Still, he couldn't give up. Even if the benefits of his red eyes were great, especially the CHA stat, which was currently disabled, he was still powerful without it.

He left the Headquarters and headed towards the Dungeon to meet Zhen, and Garry, who should have gotten there some time ago.

He met the two King's Guards on the way out, who recognized him even with the mask and his different clothes, but didn't do it in a way to draw attention to him. It seemed that he really had made a good impression on them.

His time to reach the dungeon got shorter than what it took him to go from the dungeon to the town, as he had gotten used to moving faster. Of course, he still couldn't run at full speed, but he was almost comfortable moving at half speed.

He encountered some Players in the Dungeon trying to level up, but since they were quite low, he could avoid them easily, even in his current state.

The entrance to Zhen's Lab was void of any monsters, so not many Players were around that place.

Shingi did the secret knock, and the Oozes opened the door for him to enter, and when he did, they closed it again. He went down the stairs and reached the lab of Zhen, where he detected three humanoid figures.

Two of them were, of course, Zhen and Garry, while the third one Shingi recognized to be Ardent Scythe. He hadn't spent a lot of time studying and memorizing her aura, but he could easily recognize the Runes on her Scythe. They were bright while examining them with his MANA SENSE, and actually, their color fit the elements she currently had at her Mana Pool.

She currently seemed to have Air and Fire, as some runes were red and some were white. The color was just visible through MANA SENSE and similar Skills as it was him detecting the mana that was the core of these runes.

The Scythe's runes worked a bit like the design of the latest staff of Shingi, meaning that Ardent could change them to fit her needs. Normally that would be challenging to do and impossible for someone like Ardent, who paid little attention to the details, but the Scythe was made to be adjusted to her by itself. Another special gift she got because of her background outside Enerias Tower.

Ardent Scythe was the first to notice Shingi, and she ran, trying to hug him, but this time Shingi was on guard and ready. He sidestepped and moved quickly behind Garry, putting him as an obstacle between him and Ardent.

"It seems that you have learned your ways of dealing with women in those past months, son. I guess your body wasn't the only thing that grew when used that crystal of yours." [Garry]

Garry still didn't know that he wasn't actually a 9-year-old or a 14-year-old as he looked, and Shingi kept it like that for now.

"There isn't much to learn for dealing with Ardent. What are you doing here, though? I thought Mizuneko told you it was best for you not to get back in Carda." [Shingi]

Shingi could almost feel her piercing look, as she was still mad at him since he was openly avoiding her like that.

"I came here for Zhen. We have a date." [Ardent Scythe]

"We do….? I mean, yes, of course, we do. I almost forgot it with everything happening. So… the person here was telling me something about this book?" [Zhen]

Shingi didn't need to hear their heartbeats to know that they both were lying, but he decided to play along.

"Yes, can you read it? It is said to be in the Old Runic Language." [Shingi]

Shingi heard pages being turned as Zhen flipped through the book.

"I have no idea what it says." [Zhen]

Shingi didn't notice Zhen's heartbeat to be acting like when he lied. Meaning what he said was the truth.

"But you should be able to read it. Does that mean that it isn't the Old Runic Language?" [Shingi]

"Ye, it is. But I still have no idea what it says." [Zhen]

That response confused Shingi, as it made little sense for Zhen not being able to read it. He had seen him make runes easily, so his understanding was above normal, meaning he should be able to decode this.

But for some reason, it seemed like he wasn't even trying to do so, as he gave his answer too quickly.

"Why can't you read it?" [Shingi]

"I am not allowed to say." [Zhen]

Shingi considered the possibility that they ordered him to do so or a Seal that prevented him. Both cases led to one person to possibly be behind it; Zhen's old Master.

He doubted the order was not to read any runes, as Shingi had seen him studying some simple ones. This meant that the ones in the book were the ones he ordered not to read. If that was really the case, his master being someone close to Mikhail, if not Mikhail himself, had an even more significant chance now.

Shingi could try to scare him and push him, but he was certain that the way they made him follow this order would be a magical one. But, unfortunately, he wasn't in a state to deal with something like that in his current state.

"Do you want this decoded?" [Ardent Scythe]

Shingi nodded towards her, and he could hear some of her heartbeat skipping.

"I have the right tool for this job." [Ardent Scythe]

She brought out a pair of glasses, which Shingi could tell what it was, cause all over its skeleton was full of small runes.

"This will allow anyone to read any language just by wearing them. However, they last for one hour per day only. I… can… let… you… borrow… them."[Ardent Scythe]

Shingi could tell that there was a price to pay. He was familiar with those types of glasses, and their limit, so he knew she didn't try to scam them.

"What do you want?" [Shingi]

"Same price as last time. But this time, you will wear the pyjamas I prepared for you." [Ardent Scythe]

It seemed that she already forgot about her 'date' with Zhen, which Zhen also noticed and seemed to have gotten a bit annoyed about it.

"Are those 'pyjamas' anywhere close to what you had those Oozes wearing last time?" [Shingi]

"No. Just normal matching pyjamas with mine. Don't you want to look alike with your big sister?" [Ardent Scythe]

Shingi could never get a good read on her or understand her intentions. She kept referring to herself as his big sister, but she clearly wanted more than to be his sister.

He had little of an option, and if she tried something weird, he could always leave.

Ardent Scythe gave the glasses to Garry as she pulled Shingi by the hand toward the other place of the secret room. It had a simple bed that was smaller than the ones they used last time, meaning they had to be closer to each other.

She gave him the pyjamas mentioned, and Shingi inspected them with his hands to take a general feeling of how it looked as he could see it.

They seemed to be normal ones, and he could tell that they were high-quality ones from the feeling. So he put them on quickly, and other than them being quite comfortable, he noticed nothing strange about them.

He lay on the bed, and soon Ardent locked her arms around his right arm since he slept on the right side of the bed. Her grip was even more powerful than Annoue's, and she was forcing him to be closer to her.

He could feel her breath on his neck and his arm being between her well proportional chest. Some of her long hair was on his face, and she was using her free hand to play with his hair.

Shingi hadn't been in a situation that tense in the past, as even when Annoue had locked him in place, he wasn't that close to her. Ardent seemed to play with him, and it actually worked.

Shingi could have one of the strongest wills in the world, but he was just a man in the end.

And men are weak against women, especially beautiful ones.