From Player To Npc

Chapter 152: Annoue's start of adventure

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Author here

Thanks, everyone for reading up until now and I am glad to announce that this chapter is the beginning of a crossover of two novels, this one, and The Omni Mage written by Soryn Studios.

Hope you guys enjoy it and give them both a read. Links at the comments

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Annoue had spent most of her days at Mikhail's library studying the books brought to her by Netsu. 

She missed the days she trained with her little brother. 

She was missing him and his teachings. She wanted to see and hear him once more working on the forge of their shop, for him to cast his MANA HANDS as a helper and multitask.

She even missed the time they spent eating together and the other people she met because of him.

She had taken care of him since he was born and was in a comatose state cause of his curse, but he was the only one she had after their mother left, and her father seemed to be like a lost man.

She remembered the birthday party Shingi organized for her, the friends she made that day of those Blessed Ones, and the gift she took from Shingi.

The Enchantment to summon her sword didn't work, as Mikhail did something to it so that she couldn't practice her sword skills by herself only.

They forced her to study hundreds of different Enchantment Circles and their more complicated version; the Runes.

She found out through the books something interesting, though; the existence of a seventh Element.

According to some of the research she read, some skills were using some unique energy that wasn't like the essential Mana Elements, but it couldn't get defined. 

An example was the VISUALIZATION Skill.

Many skills consumed the SP of their user, but the VISUALIZATION seemed to use something else that nobody found the source.

Some said it was the power of the user's soul. Others noted that they tapped into the energy of the universe or the spirits of the deceased. 

Some who had researched the time before the Tower appeared and the Blessed Ones' appearance said that those two events had brought changes to the Realms.

There weren't many recordings from that long ago, but some considered that those two events had forbidden people from tapping into the seventh Element almost completely.

Those almost spell-like Skills used the limited accessible Element, or so some researchers concluded. They said that the seventh Element got used partially on some Spells, and some Spells were incomplete versions because of the lack of the Element.

Most healing magic was using the Light Element, but those researchers said that the seventh Element was the one to be used, and people had to use the next closer for the job.

She found out that some Runes could tap into energy more, but still not in full power.

She understood Mikhail was also researching this seventh Element, as she found many personal notes on that subject.

Netsu was not always there for her, and a lot of times, he barely paid attention to her unless she tried to leave or touch something she wasn't supposed to. When she did something like that, even if Netsu wasn't in the room, he seemed to know and send her a mental warning if she couldn't physically hear him.

She was confident that the M mark Mikhail burned on her neck wasn't just a sign of her being his property but also allowed him and Netsu to monitor her to a certain degree.

She tested around and was sure they couldn't see or hear what she was doing, just feel where she was, and if she was close to some items, she got warned about not to touch.

She noticed that they especially didn't like when she was near this weird door in the middle of the room.

She had studied enough to understand that it was to act as a teleportation method, but she wasn't sure of the destination, as many Runes were working with each other, making it too complicated for her.

Annoue also earned her profession but hadn't fully unlocked it yet; she just had it in Apprentice state. She was a RUNEMASTER since she had studied all those Runes.

She didn't have any materials to make Runes, and her Mana Skills seemed to get disturbed by something in the room and couldn't create a mana-made Rune or Enchantment Circle. She couldn't even manipulate even the slightest amount of mana or even move her own. 

It was almost like she had no mana or Mana Skills.

She also succeeded in controlling another power of her she had never shown to anyone but her parents, maintaining her special eyes. She hadn't shown it to her brother, as she was getting too tired of using them.

Mikhail seemed interested in that power of hers initially and seemed to have adjusted the M mark to help her control them by sealing part of their power.

Her eyes were getting somewhat gray instead of pure white when she enabled their special power, and everyone could see the change when usually others should see them as black.

While using those eyes, time slowed out a bit, and her thoughts were more precise. In addition, it helped her with the sword practices to keep up with Mikhail's moves and even helped her to study for longer, as her brain was receiving additional pieces of information easier.

But still, she couldn't keep them active all day as her brother was doing it but could for most of it. She wondered what Shingi's red eyes could do and why he never disabled them.

She wanted to escape that place, but there was no escape from the room until she noticed something.

For a split second, when Netsu or Mikhail sent her a mental note, her Mana Skills worked perfectly before being disturbed once again. This meant that the reason for the distortion was the mark on her neck.

She couldn't do anything for it as removing it could bleed her to death, but she had an idea.

She went around studying like normal and waited for a moment that Netsu wasn't in the room.

He left after explaining to her a few things, and he would return after some time that would be enough for her to finish the study he gave her. After that, it was a usual thing for him to do.

Annoue continued studying even after Netsu left to make sure he really was away.

After she was sure of that fact, she started moving closer to the weird door.

Mental warnings started coming to her, but she didn't stop.

She was confident that Netsu was far away to take him some time to get back, so he kept sending her warnings.

But she needed little as she reached the door and touched it with the particular rock, with different runes that she almost enabled with her mana that she used on it as those small moments the mental note gave her.

The runes of the stone interacted with the runes of the door. Finally, the door opened by itself, and Annoue got sucked into it, and a mysteriously transparent humanoid shape got shot out the door and vanished into the wall leaving no marks of damage on it

After that, the door closed, and the runes that produced a bit of light returned to normal. Cracks started to spread at the door like the web of a spider as it fell to the ground in pieces.

Netsu had just arrived in the room to see what his Master had worked all these years getting destroyed by the one he was in charge of, who had also escaped.

He panicked for a moment, but he soon knew what he needed to do.

He entered a smaller room that was acting as a storeroom and closed the door behind him. He took a big breath before doing the only thing he could do. 

Netsu knew Mikhail wasn't the forgiving guy, and he would punish him with something worse than death. He knew it because he had seen him do it to others.

He drew a dagger he had and was ready to stab himself in the heart, but his body froze in place.

An M was burned at his neck but was barely visible after all that time. It produced some dark smoke, but his skin wasn't burning. Instead, it was like it released darkness.

In his mind, Netsu heard a voice he didn't want to hear at this point.

"I don't think I have permitted you to have thoughts of leaving your post like that."[Mikhail]

It was as he was afraid. The use and destruction of the Special Project send a warning to Mikhail, and he checked on the situation.

Netsu wished he were just a bit faster.

Annoue passed out on her way through the door, and when she was back in consciousness, she was in the middle of a forest.

She stood up and noticed after a long time. Her sword being next to her down in the ground.

She couldn't summon it before because of what Mikhail had done to her tattoo, so it was supposed to still be on the unique store dimension.

She tried to store it back, but it didn't work, so something else seemed to have summoned it.

She tried to open her Status, but there was no reaction.

She could still use her Mana and Skills, just couldn't access her Status, and felt like she lacked something but couldn't point out what it was.

She also felt this energy she could use that was and wasn't familiar with at the same time.

She looked around for any signs of civilization, and she noticed some smoke from some distance away. She wasn't sure where she was, as the trees looked nothing like the ones back home.

She hoped she would find a safe place and a way to go back home.

She tried to hide the M burn with her clothes and hair as if it was something people knew of and of the one who gave it to her.

So with her sword at hand and after taking a deep breath, she started moving to find a way back home, but little did she know that her adventure just begun.