From Player To Npc

Shingi told Soren everything he knew about Mikhail. He also told him about Annoue's kidnapping and that Syra and Annoue have moved one to the world of the other.

Finally, he told him about the Spirit Element, about which Soren knew nothing about, and that surprised Shingi. Soren was a God before the Tower appeared, and from what he understood, the Tower was why almost no one could use that Element freely. But Soren didn't have any recollection or experience with this Element, other than using it without his knowledge on things like VISUALIZATION.

"How could I have not noticed? It all makes sense now. As always, my friend, you are bringing fresh discoveries with you. That's why I always enjoy meeting you." [Soren]

Avea had returned with the harp and left the room after Soren, telling her to do so. She followed his orders, as she knew that she was powerless to do otherwise.

"I would enjoy keep or talk for days, maybe even weeks, but you have important things to do. But first, how about you tell me the idea you have for Lucy's Seal. I really have tried to do something like that in the past, but the corruption seemed to have merged with the soul. As you know, magic can't be used to…" [Soren]

He stopped mid-sentence as he just had a revelation.

"The soul, but of course. The normal Elements can't affect the soul in that way, but the Spirit Element should be. Making the seal with this as a source should weaken the bonds of her corrupted side and free her. GENIUS." [Soren]

Shingi nodded and admired how quickly Soren came to understand his plan without revealing too much. This was the true talent of Soren, as he probably had more experience in the Arcane Arts compared to all the living Arcane practitioners combined.

"Then all you need to do is train using the Spirit Element, but I am confident you will do it in no time." [Shingi]

Soren's eyes showed his excitement, as it was a long time since he had to train in something new like that.

"But I thought you said that no one could use the Spirit Element. Not even those said to be Gods." [Syra]

Shingi turned towards Syra, and it surprised him for her to notice something like that. At her word, everyone who could use magic could use the Spirit Element, so it should be hard for her to understand why here wasn't the case. But since there were some other major differences between their two worlds, she probably adapted even some similarities.

"Very true, but that was if one didn't have the Blessing of Nyhm." [Shingi]

"But I thought you said you couldn't give it to others. That's why you hadn't done so for the others." [Syra]

"That is also true. I can't give it to others, but others can take it. As I said, the Blessing is part of the power of the individual that the Blessing belongs to, at least most of the times. In theory, one can get part of the power from me and make it his or hers. But no one but Soren can do that as it needs Mana Manipulation to be at Divine Rank." [Shingi]

Soren revealed this information in the past as even if one knew about it, they couldn't do anything for two reasons.

First, only one person could exist with a Skill at Divine Rank, so nobody else can reach Divine Rank unless that person dies. So as long as Soren was alive, nobody could reach MANA MANIPULATION to Divine Rank, and he was immortal.

The second reason is that nobody could demand from Soren to do something like that since nobody was confident in overpowering him.

"But wouldn't that weaken your Blessing?" [Syra]

"Just for some time. It will be back to full power after some time, and he doesn't need to take a lot, as his will grow too." [Shingi]

"I must say that this sounds interesting. Mind if I am watching you while you do so?" [Syra]

Shingi looked towards Soren and Soren towards Shingi as they both turned towards Syra.

"He already did it before you asked." [Shingi]

That response amazed Syra, as she knew it wasn't a joke, as Shingi rarely joked.

"I will work on it. I will let you know how it goes, and you let me know if you find anything special. When you reach another of our floors, we should meet again." [Soren]

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A communication channel for Soren, the Goddess of Magic, was created.

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Shingi was confused about the notification calling Soren a Goddess, but as he looked towards Soren, he saw that he had changed his appearance once more to female, but different from the one when he arrived. This actually wasn't the shortest time he had spent in one form.

"You should be on your way. I would like to offer more help, but you know the rules. But I am certain you will find a way, as always." [Soren]

Soren snapped his fingers as a bright purple light surrounded Shingi and Syra. It lasted for a few seconds, and when it disappeared, they weren't in the storehouse's room. They actually were in front of the stairs leading to the next floor.

Shingi's rest of the party noticed him and Syra appearing out of nowhere and moved towards them.

"Did everything went as planned?" [Mizuneko]

"Not as planned, but even better than that. We got what we came for, and we didn't piss off anyone." [Shingi]

He gave a brief explanation about what happened. It didn't surprise them that Shingi knew Soren after learning about who he was, especially since Mizuneko had researched Ameanum and shared it with the rest.

"Mister Shingi, why did you tell them about this demon Lady? Do you think she is still a danger to the Realm as she used to?" [Little Phoenix]

"Maybe. She had tried to destroy the seal of the Tower, which also keeps her Master from getting here, so there is no saying she won't try again. But preparations for retrying something like that take time. Hopefully, enough time for Soren to do what needs to be done. I don't think at this point the players can deal with another Lucy, like in the past." [Shingi]

Back then, many of the players had stopped playing since they couldn't progress because of the Dark Guild or because they found a new game.

After making sure that he hadn't forgotten something, Shingi and the rest went this time up the stairs.

They got Teleported in the middle of the square, which was unfortunate for them as that was where some of the Player Guards were taking a break. Shingi and the rest attacked and dealt with them easily, but they had already seen them and probably reported their existence.

Shingi was annoyed at being found like that, as it was just of them being unlucky on the place to appear, but eventually, they would be found out. The Dark Guild should already know that an unknown party was in the Tower, but now that they had a description, they probably would find their identity soon enough. Especially of Shingi, at least of his NPC self, as he doubted they would make a connection of him being Ameanum.

They move outside the town, but this time they didn't go into a cave but instead stopped in front a gigantic tree. The tree had a big enough cavity for someone's arm to enter, which was precisely what Shingi did.

He seemed to start feeling around as he closed his eyes and focused. After a couple of minutes, part of the tree trunk slid up, revealing a pair of stairs leading underground. They went in as the tree door closed by itself after a while.

This was one of the few hideouts that Shingi hadn't found himself, but a past mage at his at one of his party back then had. He always looked for these hideouts, as each Ruin City floor seemed to have at least one. Some had multiple ones, but that wasn't the case for the early ones, at least as far as he knew, as he hadn't found over one.

There was an entrance in a room identical to the one from the last hideout at the end of the stairs and even lead to a training room.

Shingi had worked on their designs a bit and had brought the furniture, keeping the same style for every one of them.

They would stay here for some time training before moving on, as they all had reached a bottleneck they had to pass.

Everybody, except Shingi, was level 60 after clearing most of the floors. Little Phoenix had adjusted so that Shingi took most of it through the Party System since all of them were much higher level than him back then. But in the end, he had just reached level 58, but everyone else reached level 60.

Since they were level 60, they could Evolve their class, but this took time, preferably a safe environment.

The one who would have more trouble Evolving her class other than Shingi would be Little Phoenix's, as she was still just a Mage. She had succeeded in merging her two mana, making a new Element called Gravity Element, but that didn't give her a new class as expected.

But the Mage class, even if it was one of the basic classes, could evolve; it just was way harder to do so than if you had a Special Class already.

But first, all the Players had to log out of the game, as they needed to get more breaks, as the higher they got in the Tower, the more they pushed themselves.

This gave Shingi time to make the preparations for their training.