From Player To Npc

Shingi started his way back to the hideout. He was still under the effect of the INVISIBILITY Spell and moved carefully while using his STEALTH Skill just to be safe.

He was halfway to the hideout when he jumped backwards, as he noticed a lightning bolt appearing out of nowhere and falling exactly at his spot.

He luckily avoided it in time and turned towards the opposite direction from where he was heading. Small bolts of lightning were gathering in a spot a bit of a distance from him and were forming a figure.

The figure finished forming within a couple of seconds and was the same female Mage Shingi faced at the mine just a few moments ago.

'It seemed I underestimated her. '[Shingi]

Shingi dropped his Spell, as he could tell from the precision of the last attack that she could tell where he was. As for any other people, he didn't detect any.

He had his hood and drew the same daggers as he had before. He was in a defensive position, waiting for the next move of this new enemy.

"I thought I would have to play more with you before stopping hiding. It would be best to drop your hood too, as it is useless, and this place is too hot to wear one." [Female Mage]

Shingi could tell from her tone that she was confident, but not overconfident. She was on another level than the Players of the Dark Guild he had faced until now, and the demonstration of her spellcasting until now was a clear sign of that.

Having a three Element combined Mana Pool was challenging but not unheard of, but no beginner could do so. Also, besides the control over her Spells being at a top-notch level, her detection abilities were exceptionally high.

Shingi considered that her hiding skills were also high, and it wasn't an accident he didn't detect her last time at the mine.

HASTE wasn't active anymore, and if Shingi recast it on himself, its effect would soon be lesser. But it didn't seem like he needed a speed boost for now.

"Who are you?" [Shingi]

He didn't remove his hood, and had a defensive position with his dagger as he perceived this fascinating, unknown figure.

"It seems that you are more mistrusted than the stories. I can't answer your question in the little time we have, but maybe this one will help. How is Biscuit?" [Female Mage]

The last question surprised Shingi, as it was unexpected.

'Is she a spy from the Storm Guild?' [Shingi]

Shingi didn't speak out his question for now. Instead, he starred at the woman, trying to get a read on her, but he got nothing. This was a rare occasion to Shingi, as he had even had conversations with Gods and could get something out of them, but against this fellow, he had nothing.

"I guess the mistrust continues. I respect that. I have just one thing to say. Try to not mess much with the people here. Things sometimes aren't how they look." [Female Mage]

Her body turned in many bolts of lightning and moved back in the mine's direction as she said that.

'What was that about?' [Shingi]

Shingi didn't stay long there, and after making sure that the woman indeed left, he recast INVISIBILITY and made his way to the hideout.

He moved extra carefully, and to be safe, he took many turns around as even if one followed him, there was a significant chance to miss him.

He made it back to the hideout, where everyone, including Price and White Biscuit, was there waiting for him, while some of them worked on their daily training or preparations for the trip ahead.

As he entered the room, he dropped his INVISIBILITY. Then Price, White Biscuit, and Little Phoenix walked towards him.

"You took your sweet time. So, did you find any new clues?" [Price]

Shingi nodded as he summoned the stone part from his Spatial Ring.

"This was more than we considered. It may help with getting Syra back to her home." [Shingi]

Syra was nearby, and as she heard that since Shingi was speaking in an average volume, she joined them too.

As she looked at the stone, she had a look of recognition in her eyes.

"That is part of that door. The one that brought me here. "[Syra]

Shingi explained everything he knew and what happened in the tent. He didn't mention his talk with the female Mage in the way back.

'If she is a spy, it is better to keep that information hidden for now.' [Shingi]

"So how can we use it to get Syra home. Do you think there are more pieces of it around?" [Little Biscuit]

Shingi put his hand over his chin as he took a couple of seconds to think.

"Well, since one of it appeared here that far from the floor that the door was supposed to be, other should exist, but they could have appeared on any floor. We haven't gone in an extensive search of the previous floors for anything like that, so there is a chance we have missed a few."[Shingi]

Little Phoenix over everyone seemed to have gotten more upset by that information. She and Syra had a bond over the time they passed here, and she wanted to help her go back to her place, even if it meant that they had to say goodbye.

"Still, compared to before, we have something to help us open a way to that other dimension. Even if it is a small part, we can try to use it to make an artificial copy of what it used to be. The chances of it working aren't high, but compared to the nonexistent we had before, it is something."[Shingi]

He sounded confident about his statements, but Shingi knew that even he didn't know where to start with this. He had tried in the past using VISUALIZATION to make a copy of the door for him to study, but everything was too advanced even for him to fully grasp.

'Hopefully, will have some clues after doing some tests to that piece.'[Shingi]

Even if it was a broken piece, Shingi could tell that it wasn't unusable, but using something in that state other than the effects would be much weaker, if any, they would also be unstable and would lead to great danger to anyone around if one wasn't careful.

He still had a few days in which they had decided that they would stay around, and he had more training left to finish. So, he had planned some break time, since even he can't train all day, which he could use to try some simple test on the rock.

In the meantime, Price would check over the Dark Guild Players and see what they would do after finding out that their finding had been stolen. He would go by himself this time since White Biscuit's STEALTH wasn't as good, and Shingi had warned Price to be careful of that female Mage and keep his distance from her.

Shingi kept working on his training over Water and Dark Element with the help of Syra and Little Phoenix.

By the end of the week, when Shingi had decided to leave, he had made some significant progress.

He had reached with his Water Element training to have perfect control over 8 Mana Spheres and was close to success on the 9th. For the Dark Element, he had reached only controlling 7 Mana Spheres, but at the same time, this train had helped him improve his control over Light Element, reaching the state of having perfect control of 9 Light Mana Spheres.

He also improved his Fire Element control, reaching 9 Mana Spheres, while his Spirit was still at 8. He couldn't pass the bottleneck of 10 Mana Spheres on Earth and Air for now, but he didn't focus on them too much.

His control over all the basic Elements was above average. He could even cast Base Grade Spells of Air or Dark Element using the surrounding Mana of needed Element, without having to purify it through his staff or other tools. Still, his Spells of those two Elements weren't as potent as if one cast with mana from within their Mana Pool.

In his training, he added two new Low Grade Spells on his Spell list; WATER BOLT and DARK BOLT. That way, he had at his disposal the ability to cast any Elemental version of MANA BOLT with the basic Elements.

He also mastered WATER BREATHING, which he had as Unfished Low Grade Spell for some time, and this was another addition to his Base Grade Spell list.

He worked on getting used to using DISPEL MAGIC, which needed some time to get cast, so it was useless against quickly cast spell attacks of significant speed, like those of that female Mage.

Shing had researched some of the books at his disposal, and a few brought to him by the Guilds before returning to the Tower. Next, he looked for the arcane words for each of his Spells that he didn't use any so that they would be at the peak of their power he could reach them at.

He had tried to use his SCRY MODE to check on Annoue, but hadn't succeeded even once. He also used it to Scry Dormon to see if he could learn more, and also get used to being able to talk while in SCRY MODE.

He still needed some work on it, and sometimes he didn't know how good he was doing, as Dormon was unconscious most of the time.

As for the rest of his group, Little Phoenix, and An, had the most considerable boost on their abilities. Phoenix because her Mana Control had reached another level, as she followed the same training as Shingi for her Gravity Element and reached 11 Mana Spheres.

Her control was at the level of a Guild Leader of one of the top Guilds, but not the strongest yet. Still, she had more to learn, but with the help of Shingi, she also learned some new arcane words suited for her Spells, boosting them even more.

As for An, her potential increased because of her new weapon. Even if it was bigger than her last one, she had more than enough STR to use it. With the help of the Spirit Child in the blade, they made an incredible duo that was a power that even Shingi could have some trouble facing.

As for Dark Shadow's appetite, he didn't show any signs of trying to go after Syra's and worked hard on the challenges that Shingi gave him in exchange for those special treats.

The little Kicnech had made some significant progress and had reached the 10 Mana Spheres on Air and Spirit Element by the end of the week, while the Dark and Light was at 7. It seemed like he had an outstanding balance on those last two Elements, and when he made some progress in one, the other soon reached the same state.

Price had monitored the Players outside and had noticed that they had created some search parties looking around for them. Also, there were at least a dozen guards on the stairs to the next floor.

Still, Shingi didn't worry, as this was an expected scenario, and he had formed a plan some days ago.

'It is time to reveal some of our cards.' [Shingi]