From Player To Npc

The two female players were familiar with the tower since it was supposed to be the main quest of all the players to clear it even if they couldn't use it currently.

"He wants us to get in the tower?" [Wild Tycoon]

Tycoon playing the game more time than Phoenix was aware of the tower being under the control of someone powerful. No player could access it without their permission. She had heard of influential players and Guilds not even considering fighting this mysterious, powerful entity. So she was amazed that the one she knew as Shingi wanted to fight for the tower.

"Well, isn't one of the reasons of the Blessed ones that came to this world to clear the tower? As Master told me, and I understand the last few years, the expeditions were slower than ever." [Shingi]

He was fully aware of the past speed of the expeditions since a lot of it happened because of his actions, but after hearing that after all that time, they cleared only one-floor from where he was left, he wouldn't be surprised if the previous floors are currently back to full power.

In the past, he kept going through each floor that he had explored and made sure of cleaning them again and again so that they don't grow back to the power they used to be. If they had, it would increase the higher floors' difficulty, as all seemed to be connected. He wasn't able to do it by himself, but many players were willing to help, and with his tips, they were perfect for the job. But as he understood now, the Dark Guild wasn't letting anyone else in. They focused on cleaning the top floors, allowing the lower ones to get stronger and making the top ones even more difficult.

Phoenix and Tycoon, even if they were new players and haven't ever been to the tower, they understood that it wasn't fair that there seemed to be someone to keep it for themselves. But this was how sometimes games worked, and since the dungeons appeared, the game somewhat started reaching new players to join as they did.

"Is he certain that it is possible? Guilds of higher power than possible, even him tried to get in the tower and have failed. I admit that he is a monster player, but against them, he may not be able to do much." [Wild Tycoon]

Shingi looked towards her and could see in her eyes the worry over what will happen to him or, more specifically, to his Player self if he followed his plan.

"It is true that he won't be able to do much himself. It seems that even the Gods haven't done much against them even if they rarely act, but as you probably understand, he isn't a man acting without a plan." [Shingi]

Tycoon nodded as even if she didn't spend much time with him, he gave her the impression that every action of his happened for a reason.

"And what is his plan?" [Wild Tycoon]

"Well, as I already somewhat said, it is to help others to get stronger and make a team to take the tower back and return to the glorious days of the past." [Shingi]

Tycoon seemed to be a little confused over the answer and somewhat angry, but the second was a usual response.

"I get that you think that a team probably won't be able to do much, but it won't be just a normal team, but a team of blessed ones and not that will be at as you said 'monster level'" [Shingi]

"Both Blessed Ones and not?!?"[Little Phoenix]

Phoenix had heard of NPCs referring to her or other Players as Blessed ones. It was somewhat cooler than just out of nowhere knowing her name or calling her adventurer or things like that. She was confused about the idea of creating a party of NPCs and Players, which seemed to be what the boy was talking about.

"Yes. As I said, Master was helping with the ritual to break my curse, as well as helping me get stronger not just to live my life but to help him at the task he gave himself. There will be others like me or you to join us in the future, but for now, we have to gather our strength and develop them to the best of our abilities." [Shingi]

The two girls seemed to have a look of concern after hearing that, and Tycoon seemed to ask what was bothering them.

"And what exactly can you do?" [Wild Tycoon]

Shingi smiled once more, but the cloth piece still covered his mouth, so he wanted to show the answer to their question with action instead of worlds.

He first cast a MANA HAND right at the mana blower's control plate and used it to move parts of its mana to enable the forge. He cast another MANA HAND to bring a light hammer and another one to bring a small piece of iron that threw it in the forge, which the fires were getting heated more and more as time passed.

He then made the two MANA HANDS of his that weren't used to power the forge to be fully Earth ones and hold one of them the heated piece of metal. With the other one, have his light hammer to hammer the metal. He wasn't using the force of the hammer to shape the metal but using the force to open the way for his mana to get in. That way, the mana enabled him to push out any impurities of it. After finishing with that, he brought the piece of metal which wasn't overheated over his anvil. He used his MANA HAND that brought the metal to open a trap door that he had made on the ceiling. It was afternoon but not too late, so there was some sunlight out, and so Shingi raised his right arm and closed his eyes to focus on only one thing entirely.

To use MANA MANIPULATION to control the sunlight's mana and not remove it but drag all of it towards him, not just the mana.

That was not something impossible to do as it was quite a simple thing to do. It was having fewer steps than what it would typically have to do, which was to 'cut' the sunlight's ties and its mana. But now he was using those ties to manipulate the mana, leading to manipulate the whole thing. But of course, the resistance was great as it was like he was trying to use magnets to stop a moving car, but he was up to it.

The room was getting brighter as he gathered the light right over the palm of his raised arm. And then, a small ball of light in the size of a ping pong ball was created. He slammed it by lowering his arm with an incredible speed to the piece of metal in the anvil. Even the surface of the anvil reddened somewhat on the impact.

The Shingi used his Earth Mana hand and the light hammer he held with his normal hand and started working on the metal. He focused on the remains of the sunlight mana and kept it in the metal.

He had his eyes mostly closed cause everything was too bright when being that close but using his MANA SENSE and the rest of his senses, he was able to work without much problem.

The two girls kept staring at that young man working in those mysterious ways and wondered what he was crafting.

And so seconds became minutes and minutes became an hour and then two and when it went close to the third to be finished Shingi let the what sunlight was left off his control. And there on top of the anvil st not one but two items, almost identical in appearance.

They were circular in diameter of little more than 8 centimeters. They had the same two circles and shapes of the Enchantment trinket he had prepared for Annoue. But these were of higher quality, meaning that they could handle stronger Enchantments but not in their current state as they weren't yet complete. They were the top and bottom base of an hourglass. All he needed was to create the glass body and fill it with sand created by Earth mana

The user would use the mana in the dust to fill the space of the shapes he wanted to use instead of filling them with his or her mana, but he still needed to use mana to keep the dust in place. Also, since there were two bases, the user could combine even the same shapes to make other enchantments bringing a wider variety of possible enchantments.

The material was purified with mana and took some of the sunlight's power, which wasn't the case with his last time creating the trinket. Creating an enchantment with this would be much easier and faster. Mostly if someone used Light or Earth element mana, the two types he used to purify it.

The two girls came to check what he created and were confused about what they saw as they were expecting to see some weapon.

"As you see, I am a craftsman as well as an Arcane Practitioner. I will in the future try to keep our equipment in the top shape, and if we are lucky, we may find some materials to make unique equipment for all of us." [Shingi]

Even if they weren't impressed with his creations since they weren't sure of their use, they were impressed by how he created them and his skills in magic. Especially Phoenix who understood how difficult it actually was to manipulate an Element of Nature as she tried to control different shadows through the past day. She wasn't able to reach the size of the light ball of Shingi. But she didn't know that the Light was easier to control for Shingi since he had a Light element Mana Pool. Also, cause of the passive effect of his unknown Blessing. Of course, this wasn't the first time he had done this kind of action as it was part of one of the crazy training methods he had used these past days.

"Either way, since you now know what I can do, there is only one thing I expect from you. An answer. Are you willing to help my Master?" [Shingi]

The two girls nodded in agreement without a second thought. They had talked about it while he was crafting, and they knew it was best for them to join him as it sounded like it would make the game more interesting.

"Good. With the power given to me by the Gods and the tutorship of my Master, I give you his Blessing. Are you willing to accept it?" [Shingi]

Saying that a notification appeared in front of each of the two female players, which even if Shingi couldn't see, he expected them and had guessed what was their content.

It asked them if they wanted to become his students or, more specifically, Shingi's students. He hoped the System would say without a title or mentioning that it was the NPC Shingi and not the Player Shingi.

But soon enough, Shingi got two notifications from the System.

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Wild Tycoon has accepted to be your student.

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Little Phoenix has accepted to be your student.

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And now he had his five students recognized by the System, which would make things more comfortable since they would most likely grant them more benefits in his teachings.

"Well, you better take some good rest and prepare yourselves as in a week from now we are gonna meet with the rest and do our first mission" [Shingi]

"M..m...mission? What kind of mission?!?" [Little Phoenix]

Shingi looked at her, and one could read the excitement in his eyes and even hear it somewhat at his usually serious voice as he spoke.

"But of course, clearing the nearby Dungeon." [Shingi]