From Player To Npc

Shingi checked the weapon and tried to speak with the Spirit Child, but it seemed to be asleep. It seemed like the transfer took a lot from it, but Shingi could feel that it was there.

He didn't have time to test it out here, so he just stored it in his Spatial Ring. He wouldn't let Cheap Devil try it, as he wanted to let him at least one day of trying it. But, since they made it on the last day, he couldn't do so, but he planned to let him test the next one. 

Of course, Volig wouldn't be able to make it by himself for now, but mostly because his MANA MANIPULATION Skill was still at early Base Rank. If he trained it, he should be able to make it by himself. Also, they made it so that it was an Adjustable Rune for all 6 Elements, but he could try for less, which would be less challenging.

Shingi had made some notes of the designs for him, and after making sure everything was ok, he was ready to leave the shop.

He asked Karemon why he and Aneta were away these past few days, but the Half-Demon said he couldn't tell him yet. He would learn about the reason soon, though.

Shingi didn't ask more questions, as it seemed it was something big that probably Marcy would report to him, as he had told Karemon that he would be away once more.

He went next door to the Blue Moon Guild's Headquarters, where Quick Thunder waited for him. Quick Thunder had the contract that Shingi had to sign for him, which he had already checked, but was too busy to sign. White Biscuit was also there and had informed him he had the notes, and Shingi planned to check them when they got back to the Tower.

Marcy talked with his students, and they had reached the next Ruin City and its secret hideout a couple of days ago. Their discussions were brief, as they didn't want to go over details about what they were doing since Shingi had told them Enerias World might work with the Dark Guild.

Shingi reread the contract, and it seemed to be pretty straightforward and removed the parts he didn't like. So he signed the two copies of it, and Quick Thunder did the same, as each kept one copy.

Then they were ready to head towards the Dungeon, but a figure stopped them. Quick Thunder was ready to attack, but Shingi signaled him to stay put.

The figure was a known member of Enerias World as she was also one of the New Gods, Ardent Scythe.

Shingi moved towards her, and she noticed that she was looking down to the ground as he detected her doing the other night.

As for her to be a spy, Shingi had thought about it, but he doubted it to be the case after all that help she gave to them. As for doing all that to earn their trust, Shingi didn't think it would fit Ardent's personality.

"There is something you want to talk about?" [Shingi]

She just nodded, as she seemed unable to speak currently, but Shingi wasn't certain why. He then remembered that Zhen was somewhat sad the other day, so probably something happened between them.

"I am kinda in a hurry. So can you just tell me what you want?" [Shingi]

She raised her head and opened her mouth, ready to say something, but then she stopped herself from saying anything. She turned around and started walking away.

'What was that about?' [Shingi]

Shingi then felt a hand over his shoulder. It was Quick Thunder's hand.

"It seemed like you are really the lady killers. I have never heard of Lady Ardent Scythe being one not speaking." [Quick Thunder]

Shingi ignored that comment.

"Let's move on. We don't have all day to waste." [Shingi]

All three had high AGI, so they moved quickly and made it to the Dungeon and Zhen's lab quite fast. But, of course, Shingi didn't mind Quick Thunder knowing about that, as it was expectable for White Biscuit to report at least that much. But in the contract he signed, a paragraph was added after Shingi's request that they would keep any information about the Dungeon secret.

He trusted Quick Thunder from carrying this part of the contract, as he knew he was a man that kept his word.

With the help of Zhen, they made it to the room, but this time they teleported them from the lab to the room right away. Apparently, Zhen could use his ability to cover a certain distance per week, so he didn't use it all the time. The week was coming to an end, and he had enough saved up to make it there and back.

Zhen seemed to be somewhat better today, but Shingi could detect some sadness in his eyes.

"Take this." [Zhen]

Zhen brought out a rune stone with an unknown rune on it that Shingi couldn't appraise.

"What is that?" [Shingi]

"Just use it if you made it on the other side. Will help you on your trips." [Zhen]

Shingi didn't press the matter more. He didn't detect any ill will from him, so he took the stone.

"So, what is the plan? Can you tell us now?" [Quick Thunder]

Shingi looked around the room and started imagining where he should do what he wanted to do before giving his response.

"We are going to cause a Mana Release Explosion. A controllable one." [Shingi]

This was what he used to free himself from the chains, and he wasn't completely confident but should be the reason he teleported her without dying. Unfortunately, he couldn't have the ability to respawn because if he had, he wouldn't appear in this place, and also, all his wounds would have healed. Since both weren't the case, this meant that he somehow forced a portal to open.

From his talks with Zhen, he understood that the Master of his was also opening portals from here to the Tower, so he knew it was possible.

"Are you serious about that? It will lead to you and anyone else in the room to die." [Quick Thunder]

"That's what the materials I asked you for are for. To make sure we don't get to that point. So shall we start?" [Shingi]

Quick Thunder brought out from his Spatial Ring all the materials Shingi ordered. They were materials needed to make a special field to a small place in the room. He will have to be outside of it to do the explosion and enter it after he finished, and the explosion was ready to start, meaning he would have very little time. The field wasn't active since Shingi wouldn't be able to enter if it was active, which meant he had to activate it.

He will have to boost his INT and triple cast HASTE to himself to have a significant chance to make it all in time. Making the field compared to the ritual he made for getting back one of his eyes was nowhere near comparable, with the field being many times easier. The hard part was finding all the materials.

White Biscuit helped, as much as he could, while Quick Thunder and Zhen had to leave, as the explosion would kill them if they stayed. The field that Shingi was making wasn't a secret one, so Quick Thunder had no interest in looking over it. Shingi had ordered some extra materials that weren't needed for it so that they wouldn't know exactly what he was planning to do with them, but he was certain that few had possibly understood.

Some of the extra materials, though he would use them for a few things he needed to do while at the Tower so they wouldn't go to waste.

White Biscuit would remain in the field's area, which was just big enough to fit two people.

So it was finished, and all Shingi needed to do was make the explosion using almost all of his Mana. He couldn't use all of it, as he needed some to enable the field, and if he wouldn't be able to keep his HASTE Spells active, making him unable to make it in the field.

He was carefully and slowly gathering all his mana in a space before him without trying to change it. His Mana Pool had increased these past few days, so he had more mana to spare, but he planned to use as much as he could. He had used enough Spirit Element to change the room to allow all the Elements to word normally, as he was confident that he needed to do all of that while the connection was open.

He had gathered all his mana in a ball, a little bigger than a basketball, in front of him, and he barely was keeping its shape with his hands and using his skills. One could see multiple colors in the ball of each of the Elements he used: Air, Fire, Earth, and Spirit. Air was white, Fire was red, Earth was green, while Spirit didn't have a color and looked like empty space.

The moment would let it go from his hand, it would start the explosion, as he couldn't keep its shape from a distance.

Shingi took a deep breath and moved with everything he had.

White Biscuit couldn't keep up with his speed, especially since he saw the explosion, which made a dazzling light, and he had to close his eyes.

When he opened them once more, he noticed Shing, heavily sweating and breathing, in front of him. The distance he covered was pretty small, but the speed he reached was more than he ever had tried to reach, way over his limits.

But he made it barely in time.

As the explosion was over, they noticed a portal was really open, and Shingi knew that they had just a few seconds before it prevented the Elements from working in the room and probably would cause the Portal to close.

Shingi disabled the portal and jumped inside, followed by White Biscuit.

The other side, as expected, was the Maze, but it was the entrance of it, not the exit.

This time, Shingi didn't plan to 'clear it' and would make it to the exit as soon as possible. Last time, he was too arrogant and thought that everything worked out until that moment that it would as well. He paid the price for this arrogance.

He wasn't planning to repeat this mistake.

He explained to White Biscuit what they had to do, and began their trip to the Tower.