From Player To Npc

Chapter 83: Mana Gems

Things seemed to have gone quiet the next day as either Shingi or Anna detected no watchers at either the shop or Aneta's place or Shingi's house.

Shingi was confident that this wouldn't last for long, and they were getting prepared, but it would take some time for them to do so.

He had many things to prepare until then, but now his shop was back in business as the rumor of the Guild leaving the town spread quickly, and they started bidding for slots for items to be crafted for them.

Volig had prepared more blueprints in the meantime, and some Illusion shows Enchantment to make some drawings on it appear as a 3D Illusion for one to take a better look at it but won't be able to touch it.

He had Karemon's and Little Phoenix's help, mainly for the Blessed One to take some more experience.

This way, some could order some of the simple design ones, while the ones with the slots would take some of the more complex ones and higher quality and make adjustments for the person ordering them.

Greg seemed to have found some access to some materials for them to work through some old pals of his father, and that way, Volig had some materials to make a few more weapons ready.

The materials bids were better than the first time as people had more time to be prepared, as many of the Players were hoping for this situation of being forbidden on the shop to end soon.

Volig had started on the designs of the special orders while Shingi was working or producing more of the simple design ones that were getting ordered.

They were trying to keep a stock so that they sell the simple ones right away, but the number of players was more significant than expected, and some seemed to buy more than one to share with others who weren't here at this moment.

They had to limit the number of items one could order; otherwise, it would be too much even for the two of them.

He had HASTE active as much as he could and using MP Regenerations potions and even used some of his Mana Seeds; he had four left unused in the end.

They were able to make each of the simple orders for today even if there were some delays. As for the rest of the orders, they had it that it would be ready at most in a week, which would be more than enough time for Volig to craft them.

With the money, they made today, Greg's sources, and Volig's almost Master skills, they didn't have to worry much.

Shingi needed to help only today as Volig would continue as the organized things and most people came in the first day, but most likely, more will come soon.

After resting for a bit, he went to the Dungeon to meet Zhen and start making the rechargeable Light Mana Gem design as some updates on Earth Mana Gem design. The one Zhen had made could be improved using the mana produced from one's Mana Pool and not just the environment.

He also let Little Phoenix and Mizuneko join the production of Mana Gems for their Element.

Zhen didn't need sleep, but he wasn't working on this research all the time as he had some more personal research to do.

Zhen has left some Oozes in the secret room, so when they detected one knocking on the secret door in a specific way, they would use the lever to open the secret door. 

That way, Shingi didn't need to have Phoenix of Anna to get in there every time.

He was planning, though, to make a Spell similar to SHADOW FORM, but its Light Mana Version. 

Although it didn't count as a spell by the System, he had partially succeeded in the past when he did something similar to get free of Annoue's grasp.

Shingi noticed that the Oozes in the glass spheres were at their Ooze form this time and seemed that their color to be a little darker than the last time he saw them.

"Oh, you are here. Should I assume that your plans worked?"[Zhen]

"Something went differently than we discussed, but it is probably something we can use to our advantage. So ready to work on my Element Mana Gems?"[Shingi]

Zhen nodded but seemed to look behind Shingi like expecting someone to join him.

"Is it you alone this time? What about the rest? You know it is proven through my research the more people around, the faster a job is being done, especially if the majority are beauties."[Zhen]

Shingi just ignored him.

"So, what do you want me to do?"[Shingi]

Zhen decided to start with the Earth Gems since that should be the shorter and then move on to the Light Mana Gems design.

Shingi had to release his mana as a ball at his hand but only of the selected Element.

Zhen then had to manipulate this mana with some of his Special Mana which Shingi still didn't know what elements were using.

He probably had air since it was taking the form of mist and possible water or fire. 

He doubted having Earth even if his majority of Mana Gems he created was of that Element; otherwise, he wouldn't ask to check for making improvements on its design.

Zhen didn't tell him what Elements his mana was part of and didn't explain why he wouldn't say.

With his mana, he could somehow turn the mana of others into a liquid form and have it pretty similar to ink, just different color depending on the Element.

Shingi's Earth Mana was green while his Light was bright yellow.

He started designing different Enchantment Runes on pieces of rocks the Oozes have brought him with that ink.

The rocks didn't seem to be any different than a regular one, and it didn't need to be for this part of the production.

He wanted only to see if the design was correct. He didn't care that the stone would break a few seconds after it got enabled. Those few seconds were enough for Zhen to understand if it was a success a failure.

He had to use the mana ink as soon as he created it, as it seemed to be drying up at a rapid rate and becoming unusable at that point.

So he wasn't turning more than he needed each time, but since he was creating multiple designs simultaneously to test them and his drawing speed was inhuman, it was using up Shingi's Mana at a rapid rate.

But it wasn't something he couldn't handle.

They were finished with the Earth one quite fast, not taking them more than 30 minutes, but they were working on Light one for over two hours, with some breaks, but it still didn't seem like Zhen had found a way to make it work.

Each Element had its nature and was working in different ways, so even if he had done similar work with some of the other ones, it didn't mean he was confident on how this one would work.

He also was drawing somewhat slower as he was worried for any ink falling on his body as the Light one seemed to burn his skin in touch while the Earth one didn't affect him like that.

Shingi touched the ink, and he wasn't affected like that, but it could be because it was his mana.

Shingi had to take some breaks to recharge his Light Mana, and as they reached their third hour, Zhen seemed to make a breakthrough.

To tell which one was a failure and which one wasn't it, he had to check how the stone broke. 

If it cracked and fallen apart, it meant that his design was holding the mana in place, just the body wasn't able to keep them for long and broke.

But if they explode, making the pieces fly away with some force, this meant that the design wasn't working as it supposed to, and the mana was getting crazy, resulting in that way of destruction.

The stones started cracking a bit before exploding, meaning he was on the right track but still not there.

After four hours of work for the first time, Zhen had to take a break to replenish his mana as even if he wasn't using much for each design, after the massive number of tries, his MP was getting low too.

While waiting, someone else joined them.

Little Phoenix came to help with what she could and let Shingi know some news.

She had earned her profession as Apprentice ENCHANTER.

She tried to understand the work of Zhen, but her knowledge and Skills weren't there yet.

But she tried to learn, and Zhen was more than happy to explain to her or even having some private lesson in the future, which Phoenix rejected by saying she had a tutor already.

Shingi noticed that the room temperature started been increasing slowly but didn't understand the reason at first.

Then he noticed Zhen's cat familiar, which seemed to control some kind o small lever.

With his MANA SENSE, Ameanum found that this lever controlled a massive Enhancement covering the whole room, which seemed to be managing its temperature.

"*phew* things are getting hotter. I think there is some magma underground us that seems to get randomly active. How about you, Shingi go bring some drinks and take a break while I work with Miss Phoenix's Mana Gem design for a change?"[Zhen]

Zhen didn't have much trouble with the temperature as he wasn't wearing much either way, but Shingi and Little Phoenix started sweating a bit.

"Oh well, if you need drinks, I have some."[Shingi]

He summoned from his Spatial Ring three water-skins and gave one at Zhen and one at Phoenix.

Zhen seemed to try to keep his annoyance to himself, but it was clear as day to Shingi's eyes.

The temperature after a while went back to normal, and Zhen worked on some more Light Mana Gem designs while Phoenix was watching and tried to learn.

After a few hundred more tries, Zhen was closer but still far from a functional design.

They decided to finish with improving the Dark Element one with Phoenix's help.

Phoenix's and Mizuneko's Elements were the ones with the highest priority as Shingi could use them to craft for them wands or staves that would empower the spells that were of their Element based.

But he wanted to improve the Earth ones to help on the training of Phoenix to earn it and strengthen his Earth-Based spells.

Light Mana Gems was also to help his casting as likewise could be used on the shop. The Light Mana was the best mana to purify materials and make them easier to be worked with, more substantial, and able to handle Enchantments better.

He was doing this with his mana, but he couldn't do it with all the orders or wouldn't be able to finish them all.

It would improve their quality and crafting speed, as also they could buy cheaper materials and 'purify' them to make them of higher quality or do it for what they already had. Although that would take some time and mana, it should be possible with enough rechargeable Mana Gems.

Of course, they should be careful so that they don't force too much mana to create Mana Infected Minerals.

Also, they could infuse other Elements of mana to give unique properties to it, but this needed some further testing.

For now, he focused on finishing the designs and prepare for the dangers they were expecting.