From Player To Npc

Chapter 156: Secrets are out

"We are currently in Eneria's Tower, which exists in the Neutral Territory of Enerias. I am not familiar with either Avalair or a Mage Academy." [Shingi]

"Eneria's Tower? Neutral Territory? How could that be?" [Syra]

Shingi knew other Realms, but none of them were named Avalair. And he hadn't ever heard of the Mage Academy, not even a mention of it.

Shingi started explaining to her about their world, giving her a brief explanation about the four kingdoms, the Tower. He impressed his students once again on how much he knew for one supposed to be a 'normal' NPC, but they had accepted that he had passed the being average long ago. 

Finally, he mentioned that people here could only control six Elements and that Spirit Mana is somehow sealed from others to use it.

"But you can use Spirit Mana fine. Your control is lacking, but I didn't notice any restrictions."[Syra]

"I have a Blessing from one we helped that allows me to use it. Before that, I couldn't even try to manipulate even the tiniest speck of it." [Shingi]

"What is that Blessing you speaking of? How does it work?" [Syra]

"Well, beings who have reached the power above the mortal realm can share their power as a Blessing, giving benefits to individuals they choose. Most times Gods are the ones, but there are people like probably the Nyhm, whose blessing allows me to use Spirit Mana, that have somehow passed the Mortal Realm without being a God." [Shingi]

Syra's eye got wider in his last sentence.

"Did you say Nyhm? As the previous Omni Mage Nyhm?" [Syra]

"Omni Mage? I am not sure if we are speaking for the same person as all I know is his name. The one who gave me the Blessing knew nothing about him." [Shingi]

"So the one who gave you that Blessing wasn't him? How does that work if the Blessing is part of his power."[Syra]

Shingi didn't know the answer to that. It wasn't normal to get a Blessing from someone else than its creator. There were ways to transfer it from one person to another, but the first one would lose access to it, which didn't seem the case as he was confident that Azalea still could control Spirit Mana, possibly by having the Blessing since birth.

But now that he thought about it, he had taken his Blessing of Dlog through his SHARE EXPERIENCE function, and still, both he and his Player self had it, so maybe not that impossible.

"I can't answer all your questions, but there may be clues in the Tower. Nobody, to my knowledge, has even heard of Spirit Element Mana, and in the Tower, its quantity is much more than outside. Maybe your Status contains some more information since you can use the Spirit Mana too." [Shingi]

"Status? What are you talking about?" [Syra]

"Just focus on that word, and you shall see."[Shingi]

Syra seemed to have eyes full of doubt, which soon changed to a look of confusion and amazement.

"What are all these numbers? STR, AGI, INT? What do all those mean?" [Syra]

Shingi could see her status window since she wasn't one of his students, and he doubted he would accept being one.

"How about telling me what it says, and I will write it down." [Shingi]

Her body wasn't solid enough to hold things, so she couldn't hold a pencil to write it herself

"Do you have ink?" [Syra]

"I have some." [Shingi]

Shingi summoned a little ink bottle he had and a few papers. It surprised Syra to see those things appear out of nowhere.

"Is that ring of yours the one you just used to make them appear?" [Syra]

"I guess you don't have this type of item back home. Yes, this is a Spatial Ring. It is connected to a pocket dimension that allows me to store items without worrying about their weight. There is limited space, but still over one could handle to hold alone. So what do you need the ink for." [Shingi]

Syra said nothing as she used some of her Mana to control the ink and start writing on the paper. The writing speed was above one could typically write. Maybe Shingi could write that fast under HASTE's effect, but only if he had also boosted his INT with his Blessing. Writing what someone tells you isn't just a reflex, but your mind decoding the sounds of the words into actually writing, so there is some delay.

Her final status was quite more extensive than what Shingi expected.

Her Spell list was huge compared to his, even if she had only two Elements, Water and Spirit. Many of the Spells were unknown to him, and from their names, most seemed to be Water-based than Spirit-based.

Looking through her status, though noticed that she didn't have any Blessing or even a Passive Skill that would allow her to use Spirit Mana, but her Mana Pool had the Spirit Element in it. Furthermore, her INT was at 23, which was impressive, as few mages reached above 20.

Her Race was Spirit, different from the Spectating Spirit he had as his Player character and anyone who played as at SPECTATOR MODE, so maybe that was the reason she had no restriction.

"Well, can't be sure, but other than that you be familiar with using the Mana from your world, the only possibility would be because you are a spirit yourself. Some Spirits have innate abilities that allow them to possess or charm someone, so maybe this is them using Spirit Mana. The System never mentions the sources for things like that." [Shingi]

Then Shingi noticed not only Syra but also Little Phoenix and Mizuneko to look at him confusingly. He found it strange until he understood the reason.

He mentioned the existence of the System.

NPCs considered the status to be a gift of the Gods to them. Of course, there were cases of people not having access to it, but this was quite rare, and most of the time, if they did something unforgiven by the Gods and were weak enough to be affected by their powers.

"An, do you mind going to keep a watch that way?" [Shingi]

She followed his suggestion, even if she found it weird. NPCs weren't allowed to know the truth about the Game. As for Syra, he doubted she would move if asked.

"*sigh* Firstly, I want to say that I would tell you the truth at some point, but I had to be careful." [Shingi]

"Careful? Careful with what? You worry we couldn't keep your secret?" [Mizuneko]

"What secret?" [Hineko]

Hineko and Wild Tycoon seemed to be confused about what they were talking about.

"It isn't a matter of trust. Pieces of information are revealed even if you don't actively share them, so the fewer people know this, the better. But since we are in the Tower, having something like that happening would have lower chances, but keep in mind not mentioning this to anyone. Especially outside the game." [Shingi]

Now everyone's eyes widened completely while looking at him.

He started telling his story about how who he was, the Dark Guild killing him, and how he woke up to the body of an NPC. He said nothing about the Company's experiments with his DNA, though, as this was confidential.

Syra, though, was still confused, as she did not know that most of the terms he used were. What was a video game, a capsule, or even virtual reality, she wondered as those were unknown to her.

Everyone else also seemed confused, and it was hard to understand it, but Shingi shared a good deal of information about the actual world that an NPC wouldn't know.

"So that's why you try to take back the Tower from them? It's part of your revenge?" [Hineko]

"I am not looking to get revenge. I am happy with my new situation, but I was never one to sit around doing nothing. The Tower is changing and will get out of control if this continues, so we need to stop it, or the place outside won't be safe. My home won't be safe." [Shingi]

"But, if you die, that's it, you die. Erased forever. Right?" [Little Phoenix]

"Most likely. I don't think I can respawn as everything else works similar to other NPCs, but you guys knew that was the case since we started this trip. Nothing changed since then." [Shingi]

"Nothing changed? NOTHING CHANGED?!!? You just told us you were an actual person and not just a piece of code." [Wild Tycoon]

"And why would this make a difference? Did your opinion of me change that much after knowing who I am? Because it shouldn't. This is a game, but everyone here, and I mean EVERYONE, is more 'actual' people than those out there. So it would be best if you didn't think of my situation differently from before. I know that this has a high risk, but I was and am still willing to take it." [Shingi]

"I am sorry for stopping your sentimental discussion, but could someone explain what you are talking about? Are you guys living in different places or something?" [Syra]

"They are part of a different Realm than the one that the Tower exists. I used to be one like them until I got killed. At their Realm Magic, monsters and such don't exist. That's the simplest explanation I can give you." [Shingi]

"Well, still not completely certain what you were talking about, but this explanation helped a bit. What about this 'respawn' thing?" [Syra]

"Well, they can't stay dead. Their spirit will create a new body after a few moments of their death, but they will be weaker and maybe other side effects depending on how they died. But people of this realm can't do that, and I shouldn't either." [Shingi]

"That is a handy ability. Do you guys get older, or you stay young forever? Don't tell me you all are hundreds of years old "[Syra]

Shingi laughed at this question. It was logical for someone to think that if one could not die, he or she would also age slower or not at all.

"No such thing we all age at a standard rate. In the other realm, though if they die, they stay dead." [Shingi]

Shingi started wondering about Syra's existence and who she knew nothing about the System or the Status, as creatures of high INT should know how to access it. But it seemed at her place things didn't work like that.

Syra explained a bit about her world, which magic was also widespread, although powerful mages started becoming rarer. Also, everyone who could use Magic could by default use Spirit Mana and unlock more of the other Elements, with most reaching up to three or four, including Spirit.

But nobody could have all the seven Elements, but people could use the ones they lacked using runes.

Throughout the history of her world, some people could use all seven Elements.

Those people had the title of Omni Mage.