From Player To Npc

Everyone was confused by what happened, but Shingi was the first to react. He said nothing, but just focused on encasing the particles of Little Phoenix's with a cage made by his Light Element Mana.

"What just happened?" [Hineko]

The young Rogue turned towards the only person who could answer this — Wild Tycoon.

But Wild Tycoon seemed just as surprised as the rest.

"I…I don't know. Maybe I should go after her. It could be something with her family." [Wild Tycoon]

Then she turned towards Shingi, with a look of waiting for his approval on that plan.

"You can't go after her now." [Shingi]

Everybody got shocked by that response, especially Wild Tycoon. But before she could say something, Shingi continued speaking.

"If you get out now, it will take you a lot of time to get back, and it isn't safe for us to stay here. Leaving from here means that when you get back, there is a good chance that you will get surrounded by monsters. We need to find a place to rest first." [Shingi]

Everyone nodded as what he said made sense, as most of the times.

"But what about Phoenix? If Wild finds what happened to her, won't she spawn here?" [Hineko]

"Not this time." [Shingi]

Although most were used to it, everyone looked at Shingi with a confusing look, and their confusion wasn't that apparent to see.

"It has not set her spawn point yet. When you people disappear, you leave behind these pieces of energy that mark the area you were in so your would reappear next time. But I had trapped Phoenix's before it could make its mark. If I release it, it will mark the area I will release it to, but I can keep only one caged like that; otherwise, Wild Tycoon could go too." [Shingi]

It was something that Shingi knew since his time being a Player, but he never had the chance to do. It was a valuable technique to use when a party wanted to move, but one of them had to leave the game.

Still, learning to use this technique wasn't easy, and only people with light or dark-based Mana Pools could use it. Fortunately, Shingi's control over the Light Element was good enough to succeed on his first try; otherwise, they would be a big problem.

It took a vast amount of concentration for him to keep the cage, as the particles within were fighting back and wanted to get released.

"But where can we find a safe place here?" [Hineko]

Shingi stood up and started walking in the opposite direction they used to move before starting their break.

Everybody followed Shingi as they were confident he had a plan; otherwise, he wouldn't move aimlessly.

"Is he always like that?" [White Biscuit]

He made this question to Price, with whom he was more familiar since he spent the most time with him during their lookouts at the mine.

He had spent a few days with Shingi when they made their way to the rest of the party, but they said nothing else other than training.

"More or less. I don't think I have ever been when he didn't come up with a plan unless his goal was to not come up with a plan." [Price] 

White Biscuit looked towards the fellow Rogue with apparent confusion in his eyes.

"You had traveled a bit with him, didn't you?" [Price]

White Biscuit nodded in response.

"He probably even taught you a few things in the way. Now think of what you learned, and how much you learned by him telling you what to do and how much you learned them yourself. "[Price]

White Biscuit thought about it and realized that his fighting abilities had really improved those past few days, but Shingi had said little to him in the form of lessons. He hadn't noticed till now, but during the battles he had in the way, he kept realizing mistakes in his style and new ideas faster than in the raids he did with his Guild outside the Tower.

He thought that it may have been because of the difference between the Tower's monsters and the one outside it. But other than the differences weren't that much.

"But how could he do something like that? "[White Biscuit]

Price looked towards White Biscuit and left a sound of possible smiling and a sign of understanding the young man's confusion. Price's mouth was covered, which was why White Biscuit didn't know if he really smiled.

"This is the power of a true tutor. You will understand it more in the future to come. "[Price]

Even if the two Rogues were whispering, Shingi had heard this discussion. Still, he said nothing.

It was true that he wanted to teach a lot of things to White Biscuit, as he still had him on his mind as his younger brother. In the past, that family didn't mean that much to him, but after losing Annoue, his feeling over family had changed.

But just because he wanted to help in White Biscuit's trip of getting power, that didn't mean he would make the way easy. With his profession and vast knowledge, there were many lessons to teach the young Rogue as he wasn't blind.

Most of the realizations of improvements that White Biscuit had during their way at the rest of the party were because Shingi was moving during their battles in the way White Biscuit needed to fill his gaps. His STEALTH also improved by watching Shingi's use of the skill.

Still, Shingi did it not to clarify what he was doing, but White Biscuit's subconscious was getting this info and filling the blanks with what made sense to it.

They kept moving and turning and not moving in one direction until they encountered an enemy.

Shingi was trying to get them to face the Boss, as he couldn't waste more time. As for improving their teamwork, they could retry when the Boss respawned. The Boss would take a couple of days to respawn, but they could stay on the floor till then.

When the Boss dies, and it gets respawned, no new monsters would appear in between. As for the Spirits, since the Boss was the one who gave them the power to remake their body, without him, they couldn't return.

Shingi could detect where the Boss was by heading towards the greatest concentration of Spirit Element. He was sure that the Boss could use that Element, as its healing rate was more significant than other Bosses. 

Most thought that they designed it like that to make it more annoying, as each time it escaped, it was back to full health when the Players caught up to it. But Shingi was confident that it just healed itself with Spirit Element Magic, which was much faster and potent in healing than the Light Element healing magic.

After close to half an hour since their break, they finally stopped. In front of the party, there was a large boulder, which had a height of close to 4 meters. On top of the boulder, a humanoid figure wore a hooded cloak, with its hood up.

One couldn't see its face as even Shingi only saw shadows under its hood.

As they got within 2 meters of the boulder, the figure disappeared and reappeared in front of Shingi in a split second. It had a dagger at hand and had tried to stab Shingi in the neck, but Shingi had brought Sinhunter in the way, deflecting the hit.

This was the Boss, and the moment an enemy entered its threat area, it would attack the one with the least HP. Shingi's HP was relatively high for a mage, but mostly because of his high END. Still, his HP wasn't as much as the rest of the party, with Little Phoenix being the only one with less HP than him.

The Boss disappeared once more in a split second before Shingi could get a counterattack.

'Its teleportation is faster than usual. It seems like they let it live for too long. '[Shingi]

The Bosses were getting stronger if you let it for too long, and Shingi had noticed that this one's speed and ability to Teleport around changed the more it was left around. It wasn't rare for the specific one to get unkilled for long periods since people most times ignored it, but Ameanum made sure to kill it not and then.

Shingi didn't mind this, but he couldn't waste much time. He couldn't kill the Boss himself since most of his focus was on keeping the Light cage active.

He had his Blessing active to boost his INT from the moment he created the Light cage to be safe and then double cast HASTE on Price. He was the man with the most experience after him, and with the boost in speed, he could easily catch with the Boss.

Shingi also used GOLEMANCY but could only make three golems, as anything more would take too much for his current situation.