From Player To Npc

Chapter 189: Some new thoughts

They had more than a decent meal and drinks, that other than Price hadn't had one for a while. But, no matter the Skills of Shingi, what he cooked had limits, and even if they had some extra benefits, a few of them, taste-wise, wasn't as good as in this meal.

Syra also had her fill, eating and mostly drinking the 'Spirit' of different types of food and lots of the drinks. She couldn't get drunk since she was a Spirit, but she started showing signs similar to one. Maybe it was just like 'muscle memory.' Even if she didn't have a body, she remembered what it was to have one.

She had been dead for a few months, but she was actually in this world most of the time than on her original one.

Shingi didn't have as much fun as the others, but he enjoyed some of the food and drinks and seen the others having fun. Even the normally shy Little Phoenix loosened up but probably were the drinks talking after a point.

Hineko even tried to flirt with some of the female Giant Guards, which didn't end with him being a pulp to the ground, mostly because they didn't understand him. Only Sisver was speaking and understanding their language. When Shingi asked for a reason, Sisver told him it was one of the 'gifts' of Mikhail.

He asked her what other 'gifts' there were, but she wasn't willing to share this information. He could try to use his eyes more, but they should be weaker now, meaning he probably would need to use more or maybe even not succeed.

He heard some voices speaking to him, but they weren't as loud as before when he worked on Sisver's rune. So this should be the Minor Spirit Madness, even if its effects got restrained.

He hadn't mentioned it to anyone since the side effects weren't as intense, and he didn't disable his special eyes, as he knew they were the ones that kept it restrained. He didn't want to know what would happen if it let it free.

There was no notification for how long it would last, meaning there was no time limit, so it would affect him until he cured it. He had the cure but could use it only once, and he had just Minor Spirit Madness, meaning it can get even worse.

He planned to focus entirely on increasing his Spirit Element proficiency, as he could feel that it helped him fight the 'voices.' But he couldn't just stay here for a few days, as he was certain that Mikhail would notice soon and won't like what he did to Sisver's Rune.

It's been quite some time, and there was no response like last time, meaning most likely that he hadn't been informed about this situation yet. So most likely triggered some alarm last time that they didn't notice, or they were unlucky of him watching over them or Nivlek at that exact time.

Either way, they had to move as soon as possible, but Shingi had to talk with her. She didn't want to talk about Mikhail, and she didn't know what his plans could be. He didn't ask her to do anything after making her the Floor's Boss and just asking to keep their people training to get stronger.

He also was the one that provided them with the Stone Giants, who crafted all their equipment, as also the one who brought the statue of Aella.

Shingi didn't mention that he was the Father of Aella, as that could work against him, and it seemed Mikhail hadn't revealed that detail either. But making a statue of hers, even if Sky Giants tend to worship her, was a weird move, and Shingi didn't know if it was the Mikhail who knew that made it or the father Mikhail.

He had abandoned his daughter thousands of years ago, but nobody, not even Aella, knew why. Shingi didn't know why Mikhail did anything other than the story of preparing for a war with the true enemy, which could be Enerias World.

Even if it was somehow true, Mikhail abandoned Aella a little after she was born, meaning it was way before the first Blessed Ones appeared in this world, or so it should be.

The Early version of the game had the Players playing in the Tower and had no access to the outside world. According to the lore, the Tower appeared just a few decades before the appearance of the Blessed Ones. Shingi thought it represented the time that the tests lasted, which on paper made sense since the time in the game passed quicker than outside of it. But what if that wasn't the case?

The Tower appeared out of nowhere. So where was it before?

Shingi thought it got created, but what if it actually was something that existed for a long time and it had just changed location? The Spirit Element, and the reason that most couldn't use it, seemed to be related to the Tower, but even if records before the Tower were hard to find, some people knew how it was back then. Most of them being the Old Gods.

But even Soren didn't know about the existence of the Spirit Element, meaning that even before the Tower existed, people didn't know about it, as Soren was God of Magic for a long time back then.

This could mean two things. Either the Spirit Element was always sealed, and the Tower has nothing to do with it, or the Spirit Element was never an Element of this world.

Ameanum had heard from NPC researchers saying that new Skills and Spells were created when the Blessed Ones appeared. Still, he assumed it was because of their creativity from the actual world and because the company wanted to show that not everything was predetermined.

But what if that wasn't the reason entirely, but the existence of a new Element, even of a restrained one, was?

He still didn't know why the Tower used that much Spirit Element, but the more he thought about it, the more crazy thoughts started appearing, and the spirit voices shouting at him didn't help. He could ignore them enough to focus on other tasks, but still, they were annoying.

No matter how much time passed, other than his headache passing, he didn't feel his weakened state to change for him to get full power again.

He should normally use the cure for Spirit Madness right away, but this could be something he could use to his benefit. If he could get himself stronger to the same or close to the power he was before, then after using the cure, he would be even stronger and could make his chance to Evolve even better. It wouldn't double his power but could let him pass his normal limits.

He was used to testing his limits and trying to surpass them, which wasn't any different.

He had some small talk with Sisver and actually learned something new; at what floor Mikhail's headquarters was. She learned it from one of his lackeys that she gave him some extra 'care, 'or so she 'said. Shingi didn't ask for any details about what she did to the lackey.

Mikhail's headquarters actually was on the next one from the floor what Ameanum faced the Dragon and got betrayed by Dark and Light when he was still a Blessed One. Shingi didn't know if it was a coincidence, but he didn't believe in them, especially in cases like that.

He didn't know if it was always its Headquarters or he made them recently, maybe something to do with the Dark Guild.

Either way, now he knew how many floors they needed to pass, and fortunately, he had dealt with all of them at least once. The top ones probably haven't changed as much as the lower ones, as the Dark Guild probably kept clearing them to get the resources from them.

But that also meant that most likely, he would face more members of the Dark Guild, and they would be stronger. But so was he and his party, even if he was in a weakened state.

He couldn't cast GOLEMANCY or even CREATE WATER ELEMENTAL in his current state, but his LIGHT FORM wasn't restricted, at least not fully.

After taking some food from the Giants and some drinks, they made their way to another room in the fortress that the stairs were leading to the next floor. So you didn't need to fight the boss to go to the next floor, except for the first time, to enable the portal.

They went through it, and they were in a dead land. It wasn't a dessert, but just like a forest that everything had died. Even at Kelvin's floor, there was at least some life, just as most of it was corrupted. But here, everything was dead, and the trees would break in touch.

Rotten undead was moving all over the place and turned towards Shingi and his party, as an unknown food source appeared.

Still, they seemed not to have a meal for a long time, and those were the usual mindless undead that was too slow that even Little Phoenix could avoid them.

Although there was a chance of them being raised again after some time unless their head was destroyed, those were weaklings. Their brain turned into their core, and they had to destroy it or it would just regenerate them given enough time.

The boss here was a Lich, one that was famous to control the mind of others, even better than what Kelvin could.

They actually got a chance to use the plan they didn't back then.