From Player To Npc

Chapter 97: Back to the lab

Shingi cast HASTE to test it also, and as a result, he made it to the Dungeon in less than half the time than usual, even if he was going as stealthy as possible.

His new clothes weren't restricting his movements at all and seemed to be made by an adaptive material to fit him perfectly after a few seconds of wearing them.

Just this ability would cost a fortune for an average person, which made him more curious about where Karemon had acquired it.

But Karemon seemed to no want to tell him, for now at least, and Shingi didn't pressure him more as he didn't have the time for it.

He was sure he would know sooner or later.

As he stopped in front of where the secret door was, he didn't knock for the Oozes to open it but instead closed his eyes and started focusing.

Light Mana started surrounding his body like when creating his MANA DOUBLES as he began to speak some words in a strange language.

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Requirements met, the Passive Skill Minor Arcane Words focus has 

been unlocked

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This was the first time he had used Arcane Words on his spellcasting as if one who didn't have a spellcasting-related class either would have no effect by trying or may be punished, and he didn't want to risk it.

But now he had a class like that, even if at the Apprentice state.

This would make his Spell complete and bring them to a new power, but he had to use the appropriate Arcane Words.

For the Players, the System helped them pronounce those words as some were quite complicated, but no such thing was in the case of Shingi since he was an NPC.

But he had studied them back when he was still a Player himself, even if they were useless to him back then.

The Spell he was trying to cast now was one he had failed in the past as he got stopped by the System; LIGHT FORM.

His legs turned first, then his arm, followed by his chest, and finally his head.

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SPELL LEARNED

The spell LIGHT FORM (Master Grade) has been learned.

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Cause of class being in Apprentice State, usage of Spells over Base Grade is limited to 10 seconds max and cooldown of 1 hour.

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Shingi read them and, in a hurry, used his new form to pass through the small hole to get in the room.

But he didn't have perfect control over his light body as he made it to the right side but miscalculated on how fast to go and was blasted through the hole like an arrow and went through the tunnel leading to Zhen's lab.

He crashed at one of the walls. 

He fell to the ground at his standard form since the Spell was over. Everyone in the room turned towards him with their weapons at the ready.

"It is me, Shingi. My class update just made my body grow up a bit."[Shingi]

He then summoned his dagger from his Spatial Ring since its unique design was a characteristic of his.

They got tense of seeing a weapon at the hand of the possible enemy, but after recognizing it, they saw that the one in front of him genuinely looked like an older version of Shingi.

"You are closer to be a true man, Master. I am happy for you. Maybe we should go for a walk together sometime to meet some people."[Hineko]

Mizuneko hit his brother's head with his staff.

The staff of his wasn't the one he had before as this one looked like it was one made of ice, but it clearly was by some mane infused wood, and its ice appearance was an effect on its Enchantment design.

It seemed Zhen had made an Ice Design for the staff and the Mana Gem of his.

"May I have a look at it?"[Shingi]

Mizuneko seemed a bit reluctant to give it as he just got it, and it seemed so cool at him to leave it in someone's else hands.

But he gave it to Shingi as he knew he wasn't going to steal it.

Shingi inspected the design and found some similarities in its logic with the one he made for Dark design since Zhen still had them as a reference.

He gave it some test tries on the triggering of the Mana Gem, and it seemed to work fine but could be improved.

He turned towards Zhen, who seemed to be instructing some of his Oozes.

"How is the progress with the Mana Gems prototypes. It seems the Ice one was ready since you made the staff."[Shingi]

"Design-wise other than the Light and Fire, we have started production of them and have a couple. I got to work on the staff and finished the Ice one just a few hours ago but haven't designed for anymore. But since you are back and you seem like you got somewhat stronger, you could prove how useful you are."[Zhen]

Zhen chuckled a bit as his chuckle was interrupted by the hand of Shingi on his shoulder.

He looked at the face of Shingi, where a smirk appeared.

"I am sure we can make some demonstrations on that."[Shingi]

He used his MAJOR ILLUSION for a split second to surround his face.

The illusion was close to that of a rat's face but added some sharper teeth and made his eyes redder.

He had noticed quite a bit of rat traps here and there, and Zhen to be on guard when one of his Oozes came through one of the holes that existed throughout the Dungeon.

He wasn't sure why, but Zhen did not like rats and was even afraid of them somewhat.

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TRUE SPELL LEARNED

The True spell FEAR (Base Grade) has been learned.

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Shingi wasn't expecting to get a Spell and a True Spell nonetheless out of something like that. He just wanted to scare Zhen and remind him who is the real boss here.

A True Spell was something unique to True Spellcasting Classes, and sometimes they were improved versions of existing Spells, or those versions were mediocre versions of the True Spell.

Sometimes they were Spells that not even a lesser version existed or could exist, but this one wasn't one of them.

The FEAR spell would create an Illusion that only the target would see, and it would be one of his deeper fears.

Usually, the caster would select the illusion, but the True version didn't need this kind of action from its caster.

Since this one triggered him to learn the Spell and not the actual Spell, it scared Zhen but didn't terrify him as it may would if he casted Fear.

Zhen took some steps back or tried to but couldn't move as Shingi held him in place.

The illusion was gone, and Shingi's was back to normal.

"Let's go to work since we seem to understand each other now."[Shingi]

Shingi let go of his shoulder and went over to a desk with a few staves and papers with different designs drawn on them and Mana Gems.

He studied the prototype design Zhen made started working on them.

At the same time, he cast a Light MANA HAND to transport some mana to Zhen's test rock for the Light Mana Gem's design.

He saw that the rings of Hineko for the daggers were on the table, and he decided to work on them as most of the Mana Gems for them were ready.

The Enchantment for them was ready, but before their effect would be active all the time, but the consumption would be lower than what the Mana Gem would be restoring.

But now Shingi was better at it than back then and could use actual Programming Enhancement and not just the shaped one, which had a downgraded effect.

He summoned the Spatial Hammer and started working on them at a more incredible speed than before.

His movements seemed to be more precise even without using his PERCEPTION skill.

He erased the Enchantments as they were created by a fine dust of mana-infused silver metal. They weren't easily removed, but a craftsman with the knowledge like Shingi knew the way behind it.

He then progressed, this time carving the Enchantments on the blades.

He was confident in the idea for the design he had in mind and his Spirit Hammer and was able to add the trigger function on all of them. He even carved the rest of the Enchantment and strengthened the effect.

They were simpler designs than the ones for the staves as they didn't need to boost the mana, just keep in place and at a certain amount.

He then cast another MANA HAND and had it touch his shoulder as he used the active effect of his Blessing on him.

He checked his status quickly and saw that for the first time, his INT reached 28.

It still was less than what it should be, and he knew that it could make him reach 29 since it had when he used it on Phoenix back when they first explored Zhen's Dungeon. 

Enchanter skills were INT-based, so a boost like that had affected them greatly.

Of course, since this was a temporary boost, it wasn't the same as having 29 INT naturally since he didn't have the extra benefits of passing 20 and 25 at INT.

Nonetheless, it was more than he needed and brought his speed of coming up with appropriate adjustments for each design to a new level.

When the hour ended, he had made all the designs for every Element except Fire and Light since he didn't have a final design for them.

He even improved the Ice Element one.

He asked Mizuneko, the staff, to make the necessary adjustment so that he didn't have to make one from scratch.

Mizuneko gave the staff to Shingi, but Shingi could feel him watching him anxiously through the whole progress.

He finished it in less than half an hour, and Mizuneko seemed to be pretty amazed by the adjustments than before.

Shingi then worked on adjusting his Dark Element staff since he had some new ideas for it too. 

He wasn't going to use it himself but would give it to Little Phoenix since it was her Element.

He could use it to quickly cast his DOME OF SILENCE, but it would be more useful on her hands instead of his.

He would make an Earth one for him since that Element was mostly meant for Battle and since his Light Mana was already pretty fast.

But he was planning on making a staff with both Elements in the future, but this would need more time to research.

The adjustments for the Dark Element got less as it was one he had made and was closer to the one the adjusted one.

So he moved on making an Earth one for him, which would take longer since he had to make it from scratch.

After that, he planned on working at some Spell Scrolls with Mizuneko and ask Hineko if he needed any help.

Time was ticking, and he was going to use it to the best of his abilities.