From Player To Npc

More whispers were filling the room as the people of each Guild were talking with the rest of their members.

Shingi didn't let them think a lot before continue speaking.

"I know that the Dark Guild is the one that doesn't let any of us getting in the Tower, but have you thought how they got that much power. They have power that no Blessed One should have unless they worked with some particular people." [Shingi]

Everyone in the room had thought of what Shingi had said, as the Dark Guild really had shown signs of power over the limits of anything else they met. Even if all their monster-powerful Blessed Ones got together, they wouldn't have a chance of winning. Dark Guild had exhibited how easily they can deal with people like that in the past.

"So you don't want to fight the monster but the owner of the monster? How is that not a suicide?" [Unknown person of a Guild]

The same person that spoke before continued with his confusion about the reason they were here. Shingi could tell that others had decided to let him do the talking for now.

"I thought your motto was 'I decide my Boss, 'Quick Thunder. Or had something changed?" [Shingi]

Shingi was familiar with many the people of the powerful Guilds, as it was rare for a new one to appear. Quick Thunder was actually the Vice Leader of the Storm Guild, which was in the top ten of Guild Ranking since the start of the game.

Shingi could tell that his level hadn't improved over the years, and it made sense since the Tower expedition didn't move.

Except for a suitable spot for leveling up and earning resources, the Tower also had another use that was the core for the game. Each time a new Ruin City floor level was reached, the cap level of all the Blessed Ones was raised by 10. Currently, they had reached the 8th Ruin City, at floor 88, meaning that the cap was at 90 since it started from 10.

There was a good chance that the next one would be the last since they would reach level 100, which in many games it had great importance. Quick Thunder had reached level 90 a long time ago and had reached a bottleneck he couldn't pass.

Another reason that made them think that the next one was the last was that no known NPC had reached level 100. NPCs didn't have their level cap limited like the Blessed Ones, and it seemed that Level 99 was always their Limit. But reaching it wasn't that easy.

Shingi had worked and fought with him many times and could easily recognize his voice, even after all those years.

It did not surprise Quick Thunder that this person knew who he was since he was quite famous, but not many people knew his motto. It wasn't like he used it in public to draw attention, but it was something he truly believed in and didn't tell just anyone.

"Then what is your plan? You better make it worth our time, or this building will come down by my own hands for wasting my time." [Quick Thunder]

Shingi didn't doubt that he would do what he told, but even then, he was as calm as ever.

"I would gladly share my plan, but how do I know that nobody here is secretly a spy?" [Shingi]

Shingi kept his senses at their limit for any weird move or any unexpected reaction from anyone in the room, from what he said. But everyone here were professionals and could control their emotions to a degree.

"So, what do you want us to do? I hope you don't want us to pay or will make the entire town disappear from the map." [Unknown person of a Guild]

This time it was a female figure and was on the other side of the table than Quick Thunder. Shingi recognized that person too. She was Shiny Knight, and actually, she was the Guild Leader of her Guild Steel Lust.

Her Guild was also at the top ten but not as powerful as the Storm Guild. The Guild allowed only female members, but nonetheless, it was among the top of the Guilds. Shiny Knight was also level 90 for a long time, but in a fight against Quick Thunder, she would lose even if he used just his hands. Their proficiency in using their skills was at a different level.

"Of course, no payment is needed. I just want everyone here to swear that they aren't a spy. So how about everyone raise their hand and…"[Shingi]

"Is this some kind of joke?" [Third unknown person of a Guild]

This time Shingi didn't recognize who the person that talked was, but it was one of the members of the Storm Guild group. Most likely, a powerful member of theirs who appeared while Ameanum was away. Ten years was enough time to raise one enough, even with no access to the Tower.

Shingi could tell that this person hadn't reached the cap yet, but should have passed mid 70.

"I never joke about things like that. I am certain that everybody here has better things to do, but I promise to reward you for your time. So lets everybody raise one of our hands…" [Shingi]

He then progressed with raising his hand and waited for others to do so. Since everyone here were Blessed Ones, he could see their whole body surrounded by this aura of theirs. Everyone's aura was quite tense since they were at the cap level or quite close.

Slowly, people started raising one of their hands.

And then ten of those people fell to the ground, as behind them appeared some humanoid-shaped earth golems.

Everyone was ready to attack them, but they stopped as the Golems disappeared as fast as they appeared. They looked toward Shingi, and nobody attacked as the ones killed weren't any friends or fellow members of the people left in the room.

The Golems were made using mana from his mana storing ring, as it was the only way for the spell to work in his current weakened state. He still hadn't used the cure for the Spirit Madness.

"Now that the spies got taken care of. We can talk." [Shingi]

"What is the meaning of it? How could you tell if those people are spies." [Quick Thunder]

"That is pretty easy. Check their necks." [Shingi]

Quick Thunder sent one of the members to check out the nearest body, and they soon found out what Shingi was talking about. They checked all the bodies and found out that each of them had an enslaving rune on them.

They were like the one that the messenger he had encountered in the past, but those were of red quality, meaning two qualities greater than the one he had encountered before. Those would be impossible to erase for him in his current state, but he didn't have to.

The red enslaving runes didn't let any energy be emitted as the yellow did, but he could detect them as it seemed to mess with their aura. Also, some of them were NPCs, and those were the first that Shingi was aware of being spies, as no Guild would send an NPC in this kind of meeting to represent them.

He didn't mention anything about the runes messing with their aura or why he knew that the NPC ones were NPCs, as it didn't seem that it was usual for MANA SENSE to work like that. He had made quite a few tests with his students in the past, and they could never detect that aura.

"You are something else, aren't you? Who is really behind this Guild? You don't want to believe me that you haven't made all this without someone else's support? Even that CRAFTSMAN of yours is the result of somebody's else action, isn't it?" [Unknown person of a Guild]

The person who spoke was actually silent during the whole meeting and was the only one that was alone and hadn't tried to talk to anyone else.

Shingi knew who he was right away. His Blessed name was Cheap Devil and was the Guild Leader of the number one Guild that there was other than the Enerias World and the Dark Guild, of course.

His Guild was the one with the least amount of people, with the count of ten. They were hiring others from time to time to fill their numbers if needed for a Quest or something similar but never made them a permanent member. Even though their members were that few, each of them were so powerful that monster Player wasn't a suitable title for them.

Shingi had heard from Marcy that Cheap Devil and his Guild were actually the ones in charge of the first attack at the Dark Guild, back when they first appeared in public. But even Cheap Devil and his fellow Guild members got obliterated back then.

Because of that fight, five of the Cheap Devil's Guild members left the game, while the rest became less frequent. Cheap Devil was the only one who stayed as active as before but gave up any attempt to make another attack against those people.

Shingi had seen Cheap Devil in action a few times and was really impressed by him. Of course, they didn't know each other well, but Shingi knew that he was a man of great values and would be a great ally to have.

"You speak the truth. A Blessed One is behind all this and helped as best as he could. But he can't do anything else anymore and left me to try to do what is possible to be done. His name was Ameanum." [Shingi]

And before people get to finish thinking about what he said completely, he cast a MAJOR ILLUSION of Ameanum wearing the same equipment as when he fought the Dragon.

He still remembered every detail of that armor, so his Illusion was perfect, and even if some details of his face weren't completely accurate, if one wasn't too familiar with him, they wouldn't notice it.

There was silence, but Shingi detected a few people's responses as they recognized who the person of the illusion was.