From Player To Npc

Ardent Scythe wanted to sleep with him while hugging his arm. She wasn't going to try anything, at least for now, as she said.

She was jealous of hearing of Annoue sleeping next to him, especially when he mentioned the night that he was trapped with his arm held in place by her.

She wanted to live the same experience.

It was getting late, and Shingi couldn't find a way out as Night Wind didn't consider this severe reason to use the rune.

If he had the TRANCE ROOM available, he wouldn't mind, but it was still in cooldown.

They went to the bedroom of Garry as Ardent Scythe didn't like the 'mattress' of Shingi's bed as it was too hard for her.

Garry's bed was a single bed, so they didn't have as much space, so they had to be closer than Annoue was with Shingi.

Ardent Scythe changed to a pajama attire of her, and she hugged Shingi's whole body and not just his arm.

Shingi was not comfortable with it, even if any other guy would kill to be at his place.

Night Wind left to take care of gathering the first batch of materials.

He was able at the end to free most of his body from her grasp but left his arm since he promised to do it.

Ardent Scythe didn't seem to be able to sleep but watching Shingis's face, and he was trying to focus on feeding his Mana Tree and make some progress there.

He had also cast GOLEMANCY to create two golems to handle tasks and not a battle, and he told them to clean the place up.

He was also able to 'see' them with his detection skills and give them further orders if needed.

He kept drawing at him any good compatibility mana around to feed the roots of his tree and regrow the Mana Seeds he had used these past days. They were pretty useful ones, and it was taking too long to grow if he let them by their own.

He used any mana he found with over 65% compatibility for his Mana Seeds, and anything above 50% left he was using to strengthen the roots of his Mana Tree.

He tried to keep the Mana Pool's current balance between the two elements and not increase the volume of one compared to the other.

He also tried to make some openings at his Mana Tree that no Mana was residing there.

He was planning to get the third Element for his tree, one that they were missing up until now; Fire.

It would help him greatly, especially when using it with his Earth Mana, as it would strengthen it and create closer to metal substances for things like his METAL HAND Spell.

It would also help with his crafting.

Other than purifying, he used his Light Mana to extra heat up what he was working on. If he were using Fire Mana, things would use less Mana and would be faster too.

But getting the third Element wasn't easy as most had difficulty getting the second.

He had to make sure he had enough space in his tress to keep three elements balanced and handle their power and reaction to each other.

Light, Earth, and Fire had good to no reaction, but he still had to prepare his tree.

His Mana Tree had grown in size, especially after getting Blessing of Choma, and he was confident he would have enough space for three elements.

After his training on creating Golems, he realized that he could change the consistency of his Mana Pool to make each Element of Mana with specific 'breathing,' making GOLEMANCY even faster to cast.

But making these kinds of changes wasn't something that he could do fast, and he needed to work on it carefully as it could damage his Mana Pool instead of increasing its efficiency.

He needed at least three days by his calculation to had his Mana Pool ready to start evolving it to have a third element.

Fortunately, because of the particular source he had chosen to create the Mana Tree's seed, it and his preparation of that seed itself made his tree have the chance to handle three Elements.

His meditation was stopped now and then from Ardent Scythe moving around while still holding his arm, which made him lose his concentration.

He made less progress than he wanted on his Mana Tree, but at least he made some progress with his GOLEMANCY Spell.

He could give them simple commands to follow them, and they could take decisions by themselves if something went wrong for some, but at most, they were waiting for further orders.

He developed the shapes of the 'brains' of the task handlers Golems to complete their work more efficiently, be somewhat more innovative, and need fewer instructions.

Hours passed until Ardent Scythe finally woke up.

Shingi found it interesting that she actually slept in the game as most would just logged out or spend time in the lobby or play another game while their character was asleep.

He could tell that she was really sleeping cause she was talking in her sleep, which wouldn't do if she did log out.

He didn't pay attention much to what she was talking about, but there were moments that she was dreaming of food. 

He knew it was about food from the drool of hers that her mouth was leaving and her calling the name of somebody that Shingi assumed was the cook.

When she finally woke and saw Shingi, she gave him a broad smile and wink.

"So how did it feel to sleep with a real woman? Life-changing, huh? You don't have to say anything Big Sister knows."[Ardent Scythe]

Shingi didn't even try to reply as he stood up and was ready to leave.

"Why are you leaving so soon? Won't we have dinner together? Pretty pleeeeeeeaase."[Ardent Scythe]

Shingi felt some of her Mind Contol ability tried to control him but stopped as she seemed to remember what happened before, even if Night Wind wasn't nearby.

Shingi sighed as he led her out to the nearby inn since he didn't have anything to cook at home.

It was a smaller inn than the one Phoenix, and the rest were staying and seemed to be primarily a tavern rather than providing rooms.

There wasn't any fancy meal there, but it was famous for its cheese pie.

The business owner also had a farm and a shop selling cheese, so most of his inn/tavern dishes were using products from his farm, including his cow milk and cheese he made.

After they made their order, they waited in silence for the food until Ardent Scythe couldn't handle it more.

"You know people use to talk when out together for dinner, especially when a man and a woman."[Ardent Scythe]

"Well, in theory, I am a child, not a grown man yet. But I see your point."[Shingi]

She was happy that he persuaded him to talk as most times they were out doing boring things or avoiding her.

"So what do you suggest to talk about?"[Shingi]

"How about you tell me what you really of these two girls 'students' of yours. You seem to have shared with them more pieces of information than what you used to give on beginners like that."[Ardent Scythe]

Shingi has helped and gave Players tips in the past but never had one as a student of his like Phoenix and the rest.

His tips helped them make the right decision for themselves and not tell them what was the best decision, although most people just wanted op abilities.

"I thought you understood how serious things are with the Dark Guild. Even I in my Player form wouldn't be able to deal with them even if I had all my past equipment. Being a lone wolf isn't always an option."[Shingi]

"I understand that, but why did you pick them? You found them just because of pure coincidence, and you decided they were worthy just like that? Are they that beautiful?"[Ardent Scythe]

Shingi just put his thumb and index finger on his nose bridge as he didn't know how to respond to this.

Seeing him like that she mouth opened wide after a few seconds.

"Oooo la la. Did I just hit a bingo? The man who has spoken with Goddesses of unimaginable beauty ut didn't bat an eye finally hit puberty?" [Ardent Scythe]

Shingi didn't say anything as he knew that she was telling the truth, partially.

He didn't have any romantic feelings towards Tycoon or Phoenix or any other person he had met. But he has come closer to them than with anyone else he met in the past.

He had friends, but almost all of them were either NPCs or people of the Company, and they weren't close as they were discussing only game-related stuff and nothing personal.

He never was a man of romance, either in-game or real life, and he wasn't caring much for it as he was living a happy life with what he had.

After the time with Annoue, who cared for him from within her heart, this had changed him.

It was true that he wanted to use them as tools in the beginning, but after learning more about each of them and spending time with them, he had grown attached to each of them.

He wanted them to grow in power and serve his purpose and have fun together in the game.

He didn't have a way to return to the real world, and the game was all he had, so this was indeed a second life for him, and he wasn't planning to waste it.

Then he remembered something as he used his System to check something.

The title of his Main Guest, ROAD TO LIFE.

'Could this be a way for me to return to the real world?'[Shingi]

Most times, the Quest's title also contained clues for the Quest itself, especially when talking for one Main Quest.

He wasn't sure how he could return to the real world as his natural body was wormfood at this point, but the whole situation didn't make sense to him.

In either case, he put this at the back of his mind as he noticed a person having dinner at another table.

This person was Soryn, who seemed to enjoy some of the specialty cheese pie of the establishment.

Shingi stood up and started his way towards Soryn but was stopped by Ardent Scythe, who grabbed his hand.

"Where do you think you are going? Food didn't even get here."[Ardent Scythe]

Shingi realized that this action seemed rude as he bowed a bit as a sign of being sorry.

"The person there is the person from the Air Spire I talked about. I have some things to talk about with him but will be back by the time food gets here."[Shingi]

She seemed annoyed of him leaving her at the table alone but let him go.

Shingi headed at the table of Soryn, who noticed him and seemed to get prepared just in case but tried to hide his intentions.

But in the eyes of Shingi, it was the same as if he didn't try to hide them.

"Hello, there traveler. I am a student of Master Ameanum. He gave me the task of asking your help to train some of the people that will help on the plan."[Shingi]

He bowed while putting his hand together, one with an open palm and the other with a close fist, as Soryn had done the day when he first met Ameanum.

Soryn stared at the boy in front of him, trying to read his intentions or if he was hiding something.

"He also has trusted me with his sword. It doesn't seem to want to be fully cooperative, but at least it isn't completely against me using it."[Shingi]

At that point, Shingi summoned Sinhunter but tried to cover it with his body for only Soryn to be able to see it.

There weren't many people in the place, and they were at a corner table, so it was somewhat easier to do this. 

Soryn's eyes went wide as he recognized the sword and saw that the boy was holding it without any problem.

He had read that Growth Type was creating a bond with their user and wouldn't let just anyone using them unless approved by either the weapon or its user.

Shingi put Sinhunter back to the Spatial Ring as it would draw attention for a child like him to have a sword like that. Especially since his clothing was still straightforward and not like an adventurer's would be.

"And what is your name, boy?"[Soryn]

Shingi smiled as he gave his answer.

"My name is Shingi Maki, the Blessed Human."[Shingi]