From Player To Npc

Soryn seemed surprised at what Shingi just told him.

Mentioning being Blessed Human as this wasn't something the public was aware of, even Shingi himself didn't know everything.

Benjamin and Varan seemed to be aware of them, but they were exceptional people who had sources that could learn things like that.

Soryn was part of the Air Spire who had sources at the same power as people like Benjamin and Varan, or so were the rumors.

Shingi expected it, which is why he mentioned this and possibly learn about the existence of others like him as Benjamin, and even Varan didn't know of any.

The Air Spire was older than Varan himself, so their knowledge could be even more remarkable as they were an organization of many people and not just a single person.

"What do you need me to do? I heard what our friend has done with the Guild we came here to help with."[Soryn]

"Just come to the blacksmith shop in the morning. But I see that you have heard about people like me. I would appreciate it if you could tell me what you can."[Shingi]

Soryn was in deep thought on what to say, and after a few seconds, he came to a decision.

"This isn't the place to discuss but will tell you tomorrow what I know. But I have to tell you that I don't know as much as you may hope."[Soryn]

Shingi bowed once more at him and went back to his table as the food was just brought there.

"So did you have fun talking with him? I have heard those Spire people aren't the best talkers, especially the Air Spire ones."[Ardent Scythe]

"He is a man who wants his quiet, and I respect that. Sometimes silence can be a blessing."[Shingi]

They ate an inferior meal compared to what Ardent Scythe usually ate and was dreaming of eating just a few moments ago, but she was eating it with no arguments.

After they finished and Ardent Scythe paid for it, even if Shingi wanted to be the one to pay, they went for a walk.

Shingi wanted to go back on training but promised to show her around even if he didn't know the town sights that well.

Since he didn't have any exciting sights in the town, he decided to show what was outside the town and headed towards his Tree hideout.

On the way there, he noticed more beasts seemed to be near the area of the tree as before it seemed to avoid it.

Maybe the strange Seal kept them away or something else, but they seem to spread in that area since he dealt with it. 

Before Egroeg was around, and beast probably could sense him and kept their distance, but Egroeg had left with Aella.

The beasts were easy to avoid, and even if they had to fight them, Ardent Scythe could deal with them, and even Shingi could probably fight most of them.

When they got at the Tree and Shingi opened its entrance, she seemed impressed as she examined the trunk of the tree.

"This seems a bizarre one. I wonder if mom hid something in here. Maybe clues for a Quest?"[Ardent Scythe]

He didn't mention his Quest with Aella or the strange energy used to be under it.

He wanted to ask Mikhail if she knew anything about him, but he knew he wasn't ready, even if he knew where to find him. 

Also, even the creators of the game didn't know where every NPC was at any point. Only the AI System of the Game could do something like that but not for everyone.

"I have searched for any indication, but if there was anything, it seems that isn't here anymore."[Shingi]

Ardent Scythe then lost interest as she hoped to take a Quest together, but she knew that if there were a Quest, Shingi would have found it.

She didn't consider him lying as he wasn't in theory as since he had completed the Quest's task here, there isn't anymore, and had searched for an indication but didn't say he didn't find one, just that there isn't one currently.

"Scythe, if I may ask, what are your current Elements?"[Shingi]

Ardent Scythe's class was a Warrior/Mage class called the Reaper, which allowed her to have up to dual Element Mana Pool of any Element of her choice.

She could change her Elements by killing one with the Element she wanted to use with her Scythe and absorb part of its Mana Pool and changing with part of hers.

This class could handle only up to three Elements depending on the combination, but Ardent Scythe could handle at most two.

She was able to only do that with the main elements of Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light, and Dark and not of any of the unique mana that could be created by their combinations or create those combinations herself.

She was wearing some artifacts herself that were making it impossible for his Mana Sense to see what kind of mana her Mana Pool had.

"Well, I currently have Light and Water. Why do you want my help with something?"[Ardent Scythe]

"I have a few things to test out and could use your Light Mana."[Shingi]

She started walking closer to him as her face became serious and she was looking towards him.

She almost tripped again but avoided it happening at the last moment.

Her face was in front of the Shingi's face. She was staring at him with a smirk on her face.

"If you want my mana, I will happily give it as much as you want."[Ardent Scythe]

She winked at him as she sat on the leaves in the Hollow Tree, which was the only comfortable place to sit.

Shingi wanted to test once more to learn a spell similar to the SHADOW FORM of Little Phoenix.

Before, he thought it impossible to learn without a class, but after learning GOLEMANCY and the improvements he could make to his Mana and Mana Pool, he thought maybe it wasn't the case.

But it still would most likely be a Master Grade Spell, like SHADOW FORM, so it wouldn't be easy to learn.

He was lucky to learn GOLEMANCY because he had a Tutor showing him how it worked, but he didn't know anyone who could show him something like that.

He explained what he wanted for her to do, which was pretty much to release her Light Mana to the environment for him to Manipulate and use it on its Mana Tree to increase his mana regeneration of the specific Element.

He started working on turning parts of his body and increasing the space of his body, turning into Light form as time passed.

He started with his legs and arms and then moved and his body and planned to leave his head for last.

With the help of Ardent Scythe, he was able to keep his mana in a suitable amount all the time with almost no breaks.

He also used his Blessing of Beliss's active effect, which this time brought his INT to 26 instead of 25 as usual. It would become available again after dawn, where a reset of this kind of abilities happened, and he was confident he wouldn't need it before then.

With all that, he achieved changing everything but his head into the Light within 30 minutes.

He started testing changing his head which was the most challenging part of doing, but with his INT, it seemed to be a piece of cake, at least in theory.

When he was close to finishing turning his head, he lost control of his mana, and some System Notifications appeared.

================================

UNAUTHORIZED ACTION WAS DETECTED AND PREVENTED FROM BE COMPLETED

================================

================================

CHALLENGE COMPLETED

The challenge FIGHT AGAINST TIME was completed.

Description: Getting two Master Grade Spells at a young age (unfinished count too)

Reward: 1 Main Stat Point

*Unique to humans

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He was surprised of the System not allowing to learn something as he didn't have any restriction like that until now.

Also, he was aware of the Challenges, but he thought the human ones wouldn't work on him as he wasn't considered one but only partially one.

He now had one point to increase his STR, AGI, END, INT, or CHA.

STR would help him with some of his close combat abilities and crafting skills, while INT would increase his MP and some of his skills and increase the boost he would give with his Blessing's active effect.

His END was going to increase his HP and SP.

He didn't know what his CHA would change, but with only one point, he didn't think it would get something big but only if he got it at 10.

But the most beneficial one would be AGI as it would reach 15, which was the limit of a normal NPC, and with one more point after that, he would get the unique benefit of passing that limit.

He didn't know what to do and decided to keep it for now unused.

The System prevented his plan to learn the LIGHT FORM spell, but at least he got a suitable reward for it even if he wasn't going to use it yet.

"What happened? You seemed close to make it, but you stopped. Everything ok?!?"[Ardent Scythe]

He explained what happened to her.

"So then what you are going to try next? Or was this the only one you needed help with?"[Ardent Scythe]

Shingi thought about it for a bit.

"How about a spar? I want to test some moves and my new weapon."[Shingi]

Ardent Scythe nodded as Shingi summoned his sword from his Spatial Ring.

He jumped back to make some distance from her.

He felt the sword's consciousness to be almost in a numbed state, but he could still use it as a standard weapon.

Ardent Scythe drew her scythe, and the carvings on its blade started lighting up a little with a yellowish light.

She made two swings in front of her, as her scythe was leaving yellow lines and made two diagonal lines making an x.

The lines had some Light mana, and when finished being formed, they moved forward at an incredible speed.

Shingi was on guard and knew the fighting style of hers, which he doubted that would have changed after all that time.

He barely avoided this attack without using his HASTE spell to increase his speed.

The attack speed of Ardent Scythe was quite fast since she was mainly using the Light Mana of his to attack in similar slashes attack either a single one or multiple ones.

Shingi could deflect some with his sword as he continued playing defensively and not trying to attack her yet.

He worked on casting some of his Spells while in combat, but she wasn't letting him have that much time except for his Low Grade spells like ROCK THROW.

Tricks like blinding her with LIGHT or ROCK THROW wouldn't work on her as she was more experienced than the rest Players that he fought for these tricks to work on her.

Shingi noticed the improvements in his body after getting the Dragon's Blessing as he didn't have time to test his limits as one would do in combat.

Even if his END and AGI didn't change, their benefits were higher. Not in a very noticeable amount unless getting at his limits.

His speed increased by ten percent of what it was, and his stamina consumption lowered by five percent at least.

He was still under the effect of his Blessing and had the boosted INT, which boosted his detection skills and made his decision-making faster.

A few minutes into the battle, he changed into offensive as his Blessing's active effect was near its end.

He cast an EARTH MANA DOUBLE of his to move in front of him and get some of the hits as he moved closer.

When the MANA DOUBLE got destroyed, he was within one meter of her.

This distance was too close for both of them.

She was ready to make another attack at him, but she froze in place.

She was too focused on what Shingi was doing and overlooked the Golems he created some distance behind her.

He created four Golems whom he ordered to jump and grapple her hands.

Two of them did like the other two missed, but the weight of the two was enough to disturb her movements.

Shingi had his sword at the neck of hers but didn't cut her.

He had surrounded his sword with Light Mana, making it similar to his Light Blade, and it would cause some severe damage to her if he continued his attack.

But even if she would respawn, he wasn't just going to kill her while sparring.

She seemed to understand the power of the attack. She surrendered, even if there was a chance for her to survive if she took that attack.

Shingi seemed to learn his new limits and said his goodbyes to Ardent Scythe as he headed back to Zhen's lab.