From Player To Npc

Chapter 217: Start of the ritual

Six days passed, and he had made some decent progress in his training. He had succeeded in raising his Air Mana Control to the point he could control ten spheres perfectly. Even if it was the Element he had for the least amount of time, it was still not as difficult to master.

Earth Element was still at ten, although he had to retrain it to get used to it to reach that control in the room. The Fire Element was still at eight mana spheres he could perfectly control, while for Light and Spirit had reached eight mana spheres, he could perfectly control. For the Spirit Element, he had just reached that control just last night.

When he took breaks to let his MP restore or rest from overusing his MANA MANIPULATION Skill, he tried to test the special surface 'switch' White Biscuit had found.

He found out that he had to use quite a bit of Spirit Element to reach its limit, and that was enough to keep the room let the Elements work for a full minute. But, unfortunately, it also seemed that he couldn't deactivate the room's special property for more than one minute per day.

During that, he could concentrate on having a mental image of the maze. He had tried to see if he could do anything else by himself, but it was like when he was using his SCRY MODE, although things weren't a blur this time.

He had one day more until he had to work with Volig, but he had another plan for today.

He had taken a message from Marcy that she had all the items he had ordered for his 'eye surgery.'So he sent a message to Marcy to inform Garry to be ready.

He hadn't seen White Biscuit with the notes yet, but he didn't mind, as he would most likely study them after they got back in the Tower. With his new finding of the room, he was confident that what he had in mind would work. But he needed to get back as much power as possible and get at least one of his eyes.

Since he had better control of Air Element, he learned a new Spell called WATER BREATHING, which worked similarly to what he did for White Biscuit the other day. But it was an unfinished Low Grade Spell.

To complete it, he had to combine it with Water Element, which he didn't have yet. Despite that, its unfinished version allowed him to make the way through the underwater tunnel.

His ECHOLOCATION was the only thing he could use to detect where to move, but that was a bit 'blurry, 'but with his current improved mana control of all his Elements and the help of his new spell, he made the swim with no problem. He passed from Zhen's lab and noticed that Ardent Scythe wasn't around.

Zhen seemed to be a bit sad, but Shingi didn't have time to spare for him.

He headed outside, and on the way there, noticed that there were more Players in the Dungeon than usual. There were even some that would be too high level to get any decent exps from the monsters of the Dungeon.

Maybe there was a special event, but he didn't stop, as he was certain Marcy would know the reason.

He reached the gate and found there one of the two King's Guards, the younger one. They said nothing to each other, as Shingi just showed his pass and the man let him pass. If Shingi wasn't in a hurry, he would stay to speak with them. Maybe if he finished early, he would return.

He made it to his family's house, as he didn't want it to happen at the Guild or the store, as others would notice. His house was still not public knowledge cause he rarely was there.

As he entered the house, he detected Garry, who he recognized by his Mana Pool, and one of the friends of Marcy's that he hat met when they first started making the Blue Mon Guild.

She was the mage called Yawning Bird, and she was the main trainer of the mage unit for a time. She later became in charge of the potion-making and scroll scribing teams of the Guild. This was important for the earnings of the Guild, as well as to provide the potions for parties like Shingi's.

Their Guild was also a business, even if they provided their services through Shingi's shop, but even so, they were earning quite some fortune from there. So they also advertised the shop, in exchange for a small percent of the shop's profits.

Rumors of Volig being a Grandmaster were getting around, but having someone spreading them, especially in the forums, was a better way of doing advertisement than what he could succeed with using the services of any NPC.

Even for the normal services, or getting the 'normal' weapons and armors was good enough reason to travel even through kingdoms, especially since most thought they would luck out and from a good relationship with the famous Grandmaster Craftsman or the almost equally famous owner of the shop.

But both of them were pretty hard to meet, not to mention making a relationship with them.

Yawning Bird seemed to be a professional at managing a business, and she was sending weekly reports to Shingi. He didn't get any of the profits on him as they couldn't get them from being in the Tower, but he didn't touch them even now. He didn't need to buy anything, but he had Marcy spent from that amount anything that he had ordered for the ritual that they would buy.

"Hello, advisor Shingi. I personally triple-checked the list, and everything are in order." [Yawning Bird]

Shingi nodded and removed his mask. Yawning Bird knew of his current situation, and he would have to remove it for the ritual. He had healed himself a bit, and other than the emptiness of his eyeholes, everything else in his face was normal. He was able to close every wound and even make it so as not to let a scar. That was only possible because he used Spirit Element Healing Magic.

He even earned a new Base Grade Spell from MINOR REGENERATION, which helped boost the natural restoration abilities of his body to a greater degree. Even if it was just a Base Grade Spell, its effect was at the power of some Master Grade Light Element Healing Spells.

Unfortunately, the Spell seemed to have no effect restoring his eyes, probably because the damage was too much to be restored that way. Still, it was an impressive addition to his spells, as it would help speed the rests.

The problem with the MINOR HEAL was that the spell restored some of the HP almost of the target unnaturally, as it was an instantaneous effect, so overusing it could harm them instead of healing them. But MINOR REGENERATION boosted their natural healing, which normally could be like next to nothing. Still, with the use of the spell, it became significant enough to be just a bit inferior to the HP Regeneration potion's effect.

Even if they could easily replenish the potions, it took time, and it was always best to use their consumable resources as much as possible so that the budget used for them would stay low. Many of the resources that were meant for Guild Members were going instead to his party, which would cause a big problem if it continued like that.

Shingi turned towards Garry, who he could seem to be anxious about. And Shingi couldn't blame him, as he was going to give one of his eyes to someone else, even if that someone was his son.

"Are you ready? There is no return after we start." [Shingi]

"I have enough time to prepare myself. You need my help, and if you need me to do it, I will. It is the only way to make things right." [Garry]

The change in Garry's personality impressed Shingi. Until recently, Shingi assumed that Garry cared little about his children, but he was trying to protect them all along. He had made some poor decisions about how to do it, but it seemed he wanted the best for his family all along.

Of course, there was the period of his continuous drinking, but he was a man in grief at losing his wife. Shingi didn't even consider how that could feel, as he couldn't know. He was never that close with anyone, but he could imagine it to be many times worse than what he felt when Mikhail took Annoue.

"Miss Yawning, if you don't mind, can you help with the ritual? Need someone who can actually see for part of it." [Shingi]

"Of course, advisor. That's another reason I am here other than making sure that everything is delivered." [Yawning Bird]

Shingi was ready to start with the ritual but stopped and looked towards the female Player once more.

"You can call me by my name, by the way. I am not officially your advisor, so calling me with that title isn't fitted either way."[Shingi]

He had acted as their advisor many times, by he never officially became one. He would have to sign a contract to do so, and he didn't want to sign one unless he had no other choice.

"As you wish. What would you like me to do, Mister Shingi?" [Yawning Bird]

Shingi ignored that she was still talking too formally to him.

It was time to prepare for the ritual to restore one of his eyes.