From Player To Npc

Chapter 103: First hideout

The man starred towards Shingi while continue trying to get a read of him.

"Do you have any proof that you know the one you are talking about or that he had sent you?"[King's Guard]

"I have, but I can't share it here. Some eyes and ears shouldn't know this information."[Shingi]

He motioned for Shingi to follow him as he gave some orders to the guards left behind. It seemed he was here to do an inspection, and he noticed Shingi by luck as he was ready to go.

They got in a nearby inn, and the man paid the innkeeper for a private room to have their discussion.

"So the proof of yours should be worth my time and coins spent."[King's Guard]

The five cold coins landed in front of the guard.

"This isn't the proof, but I am not one to owe people. That should be more than what you spend on the room here. Not that a King's Guard would really miss those few coins."[Shingi]

The mana's eyes were wide of surprise at hearing the young boy knowing his rank. His brand was hidden for only certain people to see, and he doubted a young man like that was one of those people.

But in the eyes of Shingi, it was like it was out in the open.

The man had his hand at the sword at his side, ready to draw it at any moment.

"My Master had shown me your brand and how to look for it. I can show you the face of my Master if you want to by some Illusion magic. But I doubt this will be enough, so I guess the person you are here guarding should be able to help. I doubt it is the King, right?"[Shingi]

The man seemed to get ready to attack, but Shingi continued speaking.

"I don't ask to see whoever it is you guard. Just pass a message, and if they answer as I tell you, then you will know that I mean no harm. Of course, it is not going to be a bullshit question of a certain answer by default. What do you say?"[Shingi]

The man gave it a thought before giving his answer.

"First, show me that Illusion of the face of your Master. Then I will deliver the message of yours, but if anything wrong happens, I will not stop for a second from getting your head away from your body."[King's Guard]

Shingi made a MAJOR ILLUSION of Ameanum's face.

"The question is 'With power comes responsibility but what comes with responsibility?'"[Shingi]

He just opened his arm like showing everything around him.

"That is the supposed to be the answer? This movement?"[King's Guard]

Shingi nodded, and the man kept staring at him.

"Then let's see if you are telling the truth."[King's Guard]

He didn't stand but summoned from his Spatial Ring a gem with some Enchantments circles on it. 

He put it on the table and then used a Mana Gem attached to one of his other rings to power it up.

An illusion started being created of a man, but his face wasn't clear, so one couldn't really understand who he was other than being a human and male.

"What is it, General Roth? Why are you calling me at this hour?"[???]

"Excuse me for the late of hour, Sir, but there is a strange young man that arrived just a few minutes ago and said that he said that he represents one of the people on the list you have given me to pay attention for any news."[Roth]

The Illusion turned to see the one that Roth had pointed out.

"Who had sent you, boy?"[???]

"My Master is Ameanum, even if he doesn't like to be called like that."[Shingi]

He snapped his fingers as he recreated the Illusion once more for one of the crystals to see it.

"Sir, the person here has said there is a question to prove that this Ameanum fellow sent him.'With power comes responsibility, but what comes with responsibility?"[Roth]

The man responded right away with the same move that Shingi had shown to Roth before.

"How interesting. It seems like you really were sent by that man. I was certain that he was dead at this point as it never was his style to be gone for this long. General Roth, you can trust the boy and help him. Consider him as a quest of mine."[???]

Then the Illusion of the man disappeared, and the Enchantment got disabled.

"I will get a room for you here to stay. I will personally help you tomorrow to see the situation of the place of your Master. As you heard, by the way, my name is Roth."[Roth]

Shingi shook his hand, and he was secretly shocked by two things.

First, Roth was a General at this young age, usually for those who served the King for many years and only them himself, not their parents or someone else.

Secondly, he was surprised by the identity of the person Roth was here protecting.

The Illusion was clear enough, and his voice changed a bit by the crystal, but he could easily recognize it with his senses.

It was one of the oldest counselors of the King, and he was called Master Jax.

He had met him a few times in the past and had discussed a bit as he was the main person representing the council and the King to the public.

Shingi headed to the room right away when Roth gave him the keys that he got from the innkeeper, and Roth told him that he would be here for breakfast tomorrow.

Shingi, this time didn't train and fell asleep. He had pushed the limits of his body and Mana Pool too much lately and had to take extended breaks or would damage his progress.

His TRANCE ROOM was on cooldown for a few hours more and could use it from tomorrow.

He was curious if its cooldown would have gotten down or the benefits increased for it to be unavailable for that long.

He didn't have any dreams once again and didn't get to either the misty white room or the dark one.

As he woke up and started heading down, he saw Roth without wearing his armor but close suited to one with a high rank but not fancy noble-like.

"I see you are awake. Do you want to get some breakfast, or will we head outside right away?"[Roth]

"I will have some breakfast. Same as you will do."[Shingi]

Roth signaled at the waitress to bring one more of what he had for Shingi.

His meal was some jam on bread and a few berries.

They didn't speak during this, and when Shingi was over, they went their way out.

Roth led the way as he learned from his research yesterday night where the house of the one named Ameanum was.

Shingi, on the way there, paid attention to his surroundings for anybody acting weird.

No matter how careful he was, there was always a chance of learning why he was here. Even if it wasn't public knowledge that the house was of Ameanum other than a few of the higher up of the village, he was confident that one could acquire this info if wanted.

The house was a single apartment suited for a small family to live in it.

There were some defense Enhancements to stop people from getting in, but nothing could last forever or keep out professionals.

When they reached the front door, Roth waited for Shingi to open it.

Shingi didn't have a key since none of his items were left to his Player self, but there were other ways to get in.

He put his hand on the door and started knocking on a spot, waiting a bit, and then knocked in a different spot of the door. It appeared like he was looking for a specific one.

On the fourth try, he founded the one he was looking for and then started pouring some mana there.

Four runes appeared then hovering in the air; each one was the Arcane symbol of the Basic Elements of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water.

Shingi then moved the order of the runes, from left to right, to be Fire, Water, Air, Earth.

He had to put the combination at the first try and in less than 10 seconds, or it would create a blast towards the one who inputted the wrong combination.

The combination was changing each time, but he could tell the solution depending on the time of the day. Also, the starting order when enabling the Enchantment was a factor.

He was using a similar one across all his hideout.

The Enchantment got created with the help of Benjamin. The two of them were the only ones who knew the way to find the solution.

The sound of the door getting unlocked and then slightly opening.

"It seems your Master is taking a few interesting precautions."[Roth]

He didn't let it show on his face if he was impressed or not, but Shingi wasn't here for this.

He got in the place, followed by Roth, and he looked. Everything looked to be as he remembered.

The first room they entered was a living room and a small kitchen, and there were two more rooms; a bedroom and an office/lab area.

He headed for the office/lab as that was the place he had his safe with the things he was after to get here.

He didn't mind Roth looking at all his moves as he trusted a man of his rank to be trustworthy.

The place was somewhat dusty since nobody was here for a long time.

He used his FILTH EATER to clear the air and space.

There was a closet in the office, and opening it, inside there was a small safe.

It was a simple one with a combination locket and opened right away.

Inside there were some papers, a few small vials, and one ring.

The papers were records of some of the floors and Quests outside the Tower. He was keeping records both in-game and in the real world.

The vials didn't contain any special potions but some strong alcohol.

They were considered great gifts for a few people, so he was keeping some just in case.

Finally, the ring wasn't a Spatial Ring but one with a helpful Enchantment.

It was a Ring of Servant.

It wasn't to make someone a servant but to create a Servant with the power of the ring.

The servant wasn't capable of combat, but it was inheriting all the non-combat abilities of the ring's user.

This meant he had another him during his crafting sessions.

The servant, though, would be out for one hour and would need to use an amount of mana to keep him for another one hour, and the cost would increase with each one until the servant wasn't summoned for at least 24 hours.

He could use Mana Gems, as he had in the past, but now that he had his mana, he was confident he could keep it summon for at least 8 hours.

The ring and the papers were what he wanted as the Quest weren't unique ones, and he would need some to get some experiences to level up when he fully earned his Class.

He usually would need to find a tutor with the same Class, but since he had a True Class, this was impossible, so he had to improve the abilities his Class was supposed to be good at.

In his case, this meant his Spells and mana-related Skills.

He looked around if there was anything else he may have forgotten and then started his way out.

"So, are you ready for our next stops?"[Roth]

Shingi looked confused as he hadn't mentioned going anywhere else.

"Master Jax had summoned you to join him for lunch."[Roth]

Shingi followed him as he knew he didn't have an option not to do so.

But he looked forward to seeing that old fox again.