From Player To Npc

Shingi and White Biscuit quickly made through the floors, especially since they didn't try to clear them all. Shingi primarily tested the new sword after the Spirit Child was awake, taking two days to awake.

Sinhunter didn't seem to like the 'new kid' since it could use more Elements than it. On the other hand, Shingi could use its runes, which allowed him to do different things.

He could use it similarly to his staff to boost his mana and purify it to empower his spell. He could also make it produce its mana to be used to spell-like attacks, that even a non-arcane user could use them, as far as they became familiar with how those attacks worked.

It was harder to use because of its size, and his STR was too low to use a greatsword efficiently, and he had a mage class. However, he could still use its rune effectively. Even if the extra effect of special attacks was beneficial, it was almost useless without swinging the sword efficiently.

It was still quite helpful to use and was faster to change between the Elemental Boosting Runes than with his staff because of the help of the Spirit Child. 

'Maybe we should try to make a staff version next instead.' [Shingi]

Shingi made it to level 60 and couldn't earn another level unless he evolved his Class, or more precisely, he didn't want to earn another level. He could keep leveling up, but if he went over level 60, he couldn't evolve his Class no matter what and would lose lots of benefits.

He wasn't aware how exactly he could evolve his Class or what benefits he would get, but he had a few clues. By checking his inner skill houses, he had found that his MANA SENSE, MANA MANIPULATION, and VISUALIZATION were still requirements. His inner selves at those places had the special tattoo, and all three were of different colors and not black as they were before.

Shingi had thought that the tattoo could mean that those Skills had passed the required proficiency, but it seemed he was wrong, meaning that the level 58, he had to have them in a higher Rank. That meant he would need to have MANA SENSE and MANA MANIPULATION to Grandmaster Rank and VISUALIZATION to Divine Rank, which for the latter was impossible to do so.

Or at least that was what Shingi thought to be the case.

'There can be only one person alive with VISUALIZATION at Divine Rank, and most people who reached a Skill at that Rank is a God or Goddess. But I don't think I had heard of one with that high VISUALIZATION.'[Shingi]

He didn't know of all the Gods, and not every God and Goddess became to be like that by getting a Skill to Divine Rank. Still, he wondered if indeed there was nobody who had reached the Divine Rank on that Skill.

He didn't have to worry about it now, though.

He rechecked the tattoos and noticed that they changed, and he seemed to miss only one piece since each was of a similar size to the final pic. He checked all his inner houses of skills and spells, but no sign of his other inner selves having the missing tattoo.

This could mean that he missed the Skill or Spell, or the requirement was something else entirely.

Shingi kept working on increasing his proficiency with both Water and Dark Element, even if he wouldn't try to earn those missing Elements yet for his Mana Tree. He wanted to increase his Mana Pool even more, which he hoped would be the case when his Class would get evolved. He had more MP than one with his stats should have because of the Blessing of Nyhm, but if he had to have split his Mana Tree to let multiple Elements in it, he needed much more than ordinary people.

Shingi wasn't the only one who improved by going through the floors, but White Biscuit learned more than just a handful of new tricks. Shingi gave him two rings with Elemental Daggers, like the ones he had made for Hineko. He had made improved versions for Hineko, kept the older versions, and gave White Biscuit the latest one he had taken from Hineko.

White Biscuit was a quick learner and could also reach the point of evolving his Class if they cleared a few of the floors. But they were in a hurry, as his students waited for him for some time. So he wanted to meet with them as soon as possible.

Shingi couldn't speak with them through chat, as only the party chat worked while in the Tower, and only for those on the same floor. Still, he could communicate with Marcy, who could communicate with them, but he didn't want to use it this way unless he had something important to say.

Some of the followed floors had a similar puzzle-solving theme, like the maze floor, but some were the usual monster-filled floor.

Shingi didn't take any unnecessary chances to earn more exps, and fortunately, he had enough exp to reach level 60 by the time they reached the portal gate for the city floor.

"Get ready to move as soon as we appear. If there are any people, we avoid them and only fight them if escape is impossible. Do you remember the directions to the place?" [Shingi]

White Biscuit nodded as he showed a face of determination. They walked through the gate and appeared outside the whereabout of the City. They could have appeared anywhere, but fortunately, they weren't anywhere near any Players. Or at least Shingi didn't detect any.

He used everything he had to detect his surroundings, and he was confident that there was nobody around, but they had to move.

The hideout was outside the City but was in another corner from where they currently were, so they had to sneak around it. Fortunately, White Biscuit had a Rogue class, meaning his STEALTH was decent. So, with the help of Shingi, who cast INVISIBILITY on both of them, they moved at a decent speed, and it was hard for even professional Players to detect them.

On their way, they encountered a few groups of players who patrolled around. However, they didn't stay for long and kept moving toward the center of the City or a place east of it.

Shingi wondered why they were going to the East, but they didn't have time to investigate for now. First, he would meet with his students, and maybe they would know. If they didn't, he could explore with their help.

Even if with his current Skills and Spells, Shingi was confident that the two of them wouldn't be detectable by any Player, some items could do so, and he wouldn't be surprised if the Dark Guild had a few of them. However, they wouldn't have them in bulk, as they were hard to gain.

They kept moving for four hours, which used a lot of the mana of Shingi, but because of his vast Mana Pool and Minor Mana Regeneration, he still had his remaining MP on a safe level, but still had to use some MP Regeneration Potions to be safe.

He had noticed that his Minor MP Regeneration had been weakened when he got back to the Tower, which should be because he started hearing the Spirit Voices, once more, as part of the Minor Spirit Madness.

He still hadn't taken the cure, but he planned to do so soon. He didn't know if there would be any side effects from it getting lifted, which was a rare occurrence in those situations, so he would do so only when they were in a safe place.

They reached their destination, which was a broken pillar. There were many like that all over the place, so it didn't stand out too much.

It seemed to be part of the ruin of a nearby temple. Still, if one were perceptive, they would notice that this fallen pillar was hollow, and using a specific tap, the top of it could open, and people could go through it as it led to a tunnel leading to the floor's hideout.

Detecting that the pillar was hollow was difficult, as even if you hit it, you weren't getting a feeling like that unless you were as perceptive as Ameanum or were aware of its existence. He remembered that this was the hideout that took him the longest to find, back when he was still a Player.

Shing and White Biscuit crawled their way in the tunnel, as it wasn't tall enough for them to move while standing. The door closed after a few seconds by itself, as it stayed open for a few seconds only.

Soon they reached the usual cave-like corridor, which led to a larger room, where Shingi could detect some movement.

With his MANA SENSE, he quickly could tell that those were his students.

He finally was back with them.