From Player To Npc

Shingi sent a message to White Biscuit to stay behind for now. They were at the same party as he got recruited by White Biscuit, so he could use the party chat with him.

He still had his INVISIBILITY Spell active. He wanted to test them to see how well they progressed in improving themselves during the time he was away.

He entered the room and noticed the different activities each of them did. An and Dark Shadow were training together, having a spar with each other. She used her double scimitar while having the two blades connected. In the past, Shingi had noticed that she used it mainly with the blades being separate, but she could use it at its combined state wasn't as proficient.

Dark Shadow had grown in size, being a little less than twice the size Shingi had left him. Its neck was a little longer, and its body wasn't as rounded as before and looked more like a fat eagle. Its wings increased in size a bit but didn't look like being able to fly. But Shingi knew Dark Shadow had the FLY Spell.

On its legs, Shingi also noticed that it wore dark gauntlets designed to fit its bird feet. It covered its talons, making them sharper, helping them act like blades, and causing more damage. Shingi was unsure of how Dark Shadow came to have these as they didn't report finding something like that, and none of his students would have the Skill to make them. But as he got a closer look at them and used his MANA SENSE on them, he found it made those gauntlets out of mana. 

The gauntlets were a combination of Dark and Earth Mana, which confused Shingi since Dark Shadow didn't have Earth Element at its Mana Pool.

Shingi turned his attention towards Hineko, who was currently working on producing some potions. Shingi saw Hineko had some pieces of paper he was reading, which seemed to be new recipes he could make.

Little Phoenix was in her meditation stance and worked on developing her Mana Tree. Shingi was seeing rocks moving around her, up and down, which he was confident that it was because of her Gravity Mana.

Syra was in a corner watching An and Dark Shadow, training. As for Price, Shingi didn't see him being around.

He focused all his senses to see if Price was around or was hiding, and he soon had detected him. He was some distance behind him, and was making his way towards where White Biscuit was waiting.

He made his way there and noticed that White Biscuit wasn't under the effects of INVISIBILITY anymore because Shingi had moved too far to keep the Spell active without giving more Mana than he could afford. White Biscuit was using his STEALTH Skill to hide, but to the senses of Price, he was like not using it at all.

Price was under the effects of an INVISIBILITY himself, which Shingi recognized to be the version of Little Phoenix's and not his. He probably used a Spell Scroll since he moved that far from Little Phoenix, and she didn't provide any mana.

Shingi couldn't tell what Price's stance was currently if he had any weapons in his hand or not, but he was sure that he had his blades at hand or at least on the ready to draw them.

Both he and Price reached where White Biscuit was, and Price was in front of him. White Biscuit hadn't detected Price.

Shingi, at that point, focused on affecting the mana of the INVISIBILITY Spell on Price to break the Spell.

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SPELL LEARNED

The Spell DISPEL MAGIC (Base Grade) has been learned.

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White Biscuit jumped away from the unknown individual, who appeared out of nowhere. Price charged at him as he lost the element of surprise.

Shingi could tell that Price had leveled up a few times, and since he had an Evolved class, he had the upper hand on this battle. Still, White Biscuit's natural talent seemed to help him keep up a bit. Price had some talent, but he mostly got where he was through tough work and the benefits of getting through levelling up his skills.

The battle's result was obvious that Price would be the final winner, as he was still inexperienced, even after the days of training with Shingi on their way up the floors.

"That's enough. "[Shingi]

The moment he said that, Price jumped back and turned toward Shingi.

"You took your sweet time. I see you picked up a newbie on the way too. Typical you. "[Price]

Price sheathed his daggers and walked back towards the room that the rest were in.

As Shingi entered the room, he saw a dark ball heading towards his way at incredible speed. It was, of course, Dark Shadow who went to hug the leg of Shingi. Shingi didn't try to avoid it and let it be.

"So you are finally back. "[Syra]

Shingi turned towards the Spirit companion, and now that he was closer to her, he noticed something strange. She was slightly smaller than before. However, the change in size was barely noticeable, for at least him, meaning that others probably hadn't noticed. Maybe even Syra hadn't noticed.

"So, how did you guys do while I was away. I see that some of you have some new toys. "[Shingi]

As he said that, Dark Shadow let go of Shingi's leg and started demonstrating his new piece of equipment by doing some quick kicks in the air.

"How long was it since he made them. "[Shingi]

He asked this question to Syra, but another one answered him.

"Been only…. two days…. since they reached…. their current state. "[???]

Shingi turned towards the source of this strange voice. It sounded weird, as each word was of a distinct tone like someone had recordings of different people and tried to mix them all to make their sentences. The tones used among the ones of his students or pretty close to them.

The source was Dark Shadow.

"I looked forward…to meet you… again, Red Eye. "[Dark Shadow]

Shingi had apparent confusion in his eyes as he turned towards Syra for answers.

"He had been 'talking' like that for the last week. He seems to reproduce our voices using Air Magic, so he uses words he had heard from us to speak. I had seen magic like that in the past but never expected this one to produce one. "[Syra]

Shingi had heard about magic to do something like that but never considered for Dark Shadow to learn how to use it since he wasn't as familiar with it himself.

Now they could communicate with each other more straightforward, which was good. However, with some training, he should have the ability to produce a voice of his and not use of others.

Shingi then checked Dark Shadow's STATUS and noticed that he had reached level 40, which was quite impressive considering that the exps he needed for each level seemed to be close to how much Shingi needed. Fortunately, they would start to earn more exps from the Floors to come, since the enemies there would be of higher level.

"Good job, Dark Shadow. "[Shingi]

He patted his 'pet 'as this was his signature move to congratulate people he was close with, like he did with Annoue.

"So what about you, Hineko? You seem to have found some new recipes. Did you guys find a treasure room or something? "[Shingi]

Shingi knew that there were some secret rooms on some floors, which were random places, and once they were found, they would disappear within the hour since the first outsider entered them. Those rooms contained many treasures, like weapons, gold, or even books of forgotten knowledge.

"Hm? Oh, we haven't been that lucky. Those, actually, were dropped by some guards we had to fight when reaching this floor. When we got to the floor, there was a squad of theirs at the same place, and we had to fight them, and one dropped this book with recipes. "[Hineko]

The response surprised Shingi, as the chance for a player to drop something without him being a Red Player was relatively small. However, it wasn't impossible since he had made that chance in the past and earned his first Spatial Ring as his new self.

"Anything good in those recipes, then? "[Shingi]

He didn't have the chance to read what was on those papers since he was too far, so he was curious to see what they were about.

"I am currently studying how to make The Potion of the Eagle Sight. "[Hineko]

Shingi's eyes widened after hearing the potion's name, and he reached with his hand to get the papers that Hineko studied to get a look. Hineko didn't stop him, as he trusted that Shingi knew what he was doing.

"They… they are truly part of it. "[Shingi]

Everybody looked at Shingi with apparent confusion, especially Hineko.

"What do you mean? What is it part of?" [Hineko]

Shingi turned towards Hineko and answered with a grin on his face.

"Those are pages of the Philosopher's Tome."[Shingi]