From Player To Npc

Chapter 36: The Family business

Shingi ended his SPECTATOR MODE, and he was back to his NPC form. He was gone for a couple of hours, so there was still some time until morning, and everyone woke up. He noticed that Annoue was still asleep and having a smiley peaceful face as ever. Shingi got used to having her next to him being that peacefully; even when he was getting out to train at the storehouse, he tried to visualize her sleeping next to him. This action somewhat gave him peace in his mind.

'Things are moving on, and her face may not be that peaceful at the future, but change is part of life' [Shingi]

He knew that the Dungeons appearing was just the signs of sickness and that sickness was called Dark Guild. Suppose the Dungeons were what he thought of them to be. In that case, they will increase in quantity and especially the permanent ones. They will get stronger and stronger, and at some point, the Players won't handle them.

It was somewhat like the Demon Lucy's event. Even if it seemed to help the Players, there may be something behind the scenes that would harm them in the end if one didn't do anything about it. If that happens, not just the players but the whole Mortal Realm may be affected to reach this town too at some point.

He checked his Status to see if there was any change, but there were no new Skills. But one of his Skills had Ranked Up, and that was cause he spend some time practicing with Varic and the Skill was his SMITHING at Master Rank.

He focused on his inner self, not to notice the inner selves for each Skill to find ways to improve them as they had passed the point for this way to work. He did it to see how much SMITHING has increased in power. He had spent much time among Varic and could somewhat understand NPCs and Players' skills. Even if they were mostly the same, there were some keen differences.

One of their main differences was that the Players all had the same path as certain levels would unlock different skills mechanics. Still, it was the same for every Player. While NPCs, when they increased their Rank, they had access to everything the Players could learn and more, but they had to become proficient in using them. Still, they could do it with whatever order they wanted, which could make things faster.

So checking his inner self, he could see him doing different techniques that he was familiar with, either cause he was able to do them or had seen Varic doing them. That meant that he could use them, and with that, he knew what progress his Skill was at, and it had made some progress, but he would still be considered to be at the lower levels of the Master Rank Blacksmith from what he could tell.

Also, even if his Rank was at Master, he knew that he couldn't make the work a Master Rank Smith would do as he was the limited cause of his stats. His END and AGI were good for now, but his STR was too low to use the Skill at his full power.

He estimated that he needed to at least be at STR 14 to use his current Skill at full power, but even that would barely enough. Until now, this was the stat he had the least luck increasing. Even the unknown CHA has increased it more points, but that cause he got lucky and probably cause it was too low.

He never heard of anyone having a CHA, and he even checked the Status of his students and the players while he was using SPECTATOR MODE. Still, none had a CHA stat and no NPC he had checked. He even checked Lucy when she was weakened by the seal but no mention of it then either.

Either way, he understood now that it wasn't a useless stat as it saved his life, but he wasn't sure of its nature or even how to increase it, so he just had to do some tests in the future.

He continued working on his Mana Tree and Mana Seeds. Even if he didn't make tremendous progress on them, he had grown two more Mana Seeds, so he now had 14 in number and was able to increase them to be at the same power as the rest. It was easy to grow them at that point since he got familiar with it. However, they were still ways to go, but he could feel that their progress was slowed too much like he was in a moving car that was out of fuel, and he could move it by only pushing.

He also continued his MANA SENSE training but had no breakthrough on it but could feel it increased in power very slowly.

As the sun started getting up, he went back, laying on his bed and working on his MANA SENSE there while making himself look like he was sleeping. After a few minutes, he heard a knock on the door of his room.

The voice of Garry then followed the knock.

"Wake up both of you. We have things to do today." [Garry]

The knocking continued after that as Annoue seemed to notice them and woke up.

She didn't seem happy for one to wake her up that early in the morning as she stood up and went to the door and opened it.

Shingi kept making himself look asleep, but with his MANA SENSE and PERCEPTION, it was like his eyes were open.

Garry seemed to say good morning on Annoue as he noticed her was stopped by speaking and followed by a groan.

At that point, Shingi made his way towards them, looking like he was somewhat sleepy still.

He noticed that Garry was holding his chest while Annoue was heading towards the kitchen.

Shingi followed her, and as he passed Garry, he gave him a look of some pity for his situation. Still, he noticed right away that he was fine and that it was just an act. It was impressive considering the STR of Annoue.

After they had their breakfast, Garry joined them, and after coughing once to draw their attention, he spoke.

"Well, I hope you are ready now, so let's move both of you. It is going to be a big day." [Garry]

Annoue seemed to be confused about what he said.

"What do you mean, both of us. I will come to the shop too?" [Annoue]

"Well, it is a family business, but even if you don't have a talent in the way of Crafts, you can still help around. Your brother seems to be able to do a few things, so he will need a helper." [Garry]

Annoue's eyes were widened with excitement, and Shingi was slightly annoyed by Garry saying that he could do just a 'few things.' But having Annoue around would help as even if she couldn't help at his crafts, he could help at her training.

For the first time, they all made it together outside their house and headed towards the family's shop.

Annoue noticed how clean the shop was and how organized everything was. She was impressed on learning that this all was her brother's doing.

Garry then explained somewhat of the modifications he made in the Mana Blower, which added a pipe near the main control panel. Next to it, another panel and lever controlled to opening or closing the pipe's top to change how much would get out. Of course, the main control panel was still managing the forge's air and heating the air that that pipe would release.

There were some molds of some vases and some cups that Shingi could use to make them and different materials he could use. Among the materials was the dust of metals. Still, none seemed to be anything extraordinary like the Mithril on his first day at SMITHING training.

Garry gave him some tips, and then instead of heading to his desk to take his nap, he pointed at some papers over it and then left.

The papers were orders, and most of them needed mostly the GLASSBLOWING skill, but some were SMITHING related, and some both.

He was expecting Garry to have that response as he seemed like he was in a hurry to leave Shingi entirely in control of the shop. He didn't mind it as Varic would get here in a week or two, but he was still curious of the reason.

He also noticed that Garry didn't help him craft anything or even showed him any techniques, only described them. The only time he saw him work on something was with his dagger.

"Well, let's begin. Annoue, you can take the corner over there and work on your AIR SLASH but be aware of where you throw them. Try to work mostly on your speed to gather the air and creating the slash. I will do some work here, and we will work on your DEFLECT later." [Shingi]

"Are you sure you don't want me to help you? Father said to get here to give you a hand. I may not have any crating skill, but there should be something I can help you with." [Annoue]

"No worries, I am going to work on some basics today mostly. I will let you know when I will need your help." [Shingi]

Annoue seemed happy that he didn't entirely not want her help, so she started working on her training.

Shingi started working with the molds first and got the smaller ones and the simplest of the designs with the least details to unlock the Skill. He used the forge to heat the material he wanted to use, had it in a crucible, and heated it until it was in liquid form. He even used some sunlight as he opened the ceiling trapdoor to make the heat process faster.

Used the Light mana to purify the material simultaneously by removing any unwanted part and left it in the forge to get destroyed by its fire.

Then he did some tests controlling the new pipe of the Mana Blower. After getting the handle of it, he started working with the mold, and after not too long, he had completed a bronze cup. He earned his GLASSBLOWING skill by that, but it was at Low Rank this time since he wasn't as familiar with it as SMITHING, but he knew a few things.

He focused on his Inner self to take pointers from there and then continued working on different molds and materials.

After he completed five of each of the eight molds he had each time using a different material, his GLASSBLOWING skills were finally at Base Rank. This took him a couple of hours, but he used his MANA HANDS to melt multiple materials simultaneously. He even used his Earth mana to create a crucible for some before moving them to it; he emptied after working on it.

He had become very familiar with using the MANA HAND. At this point, he didn't even need to look towards it to give it commands, and he was aware of it through his MANA SENSE mostly and his PERCEPTION. He could use multiple ones also, and each one could do its own thing to multitask. Still, he was limited to having three like that, but that was impressive for the small amount of time he knew the spell and considered it wasn't complete yet.

Even if he had two Base Grade Spells and after his time at the TRANCE ROOM, he was more familiar with them, but they weren't authentic spells yet cause they missed a critical component.

That was the verbal component that was to empower the spells and bring them to another level. The level he had them now, and he could reach without a verbal component, was not even half of what he could reach with it.

The first Arcane Users cast their spells the same way as Shingi using their mana and control over them. After hundreds of years, the verbal components were introduced, which brought the spells' power to another level. With the use of those unique words, they allowed them to increase the casting time and their capabilities. It was somewhat allowing the power of the World to be fused with those spells making them stronger.

It was said that the Goddess of Magic herself introduced the verbal component to let the mortals get stronger to keep the Realm safer so that they can deal with anyone who wanted to harm it. Of course, some didn't use that knowledge for the good of the Realm. Every time, someone appeared to stop them at some point. Of course, almost all the time that someone was a Player.

Unranked ones didn't need a verbal component, and Low Rank didn't have a big difference in power. It was still noticeable, but Base Rank and higher were more than just noticeable, but close to consider them two different spells. To learn to use the verbal component, he needed to access a Class of the Mage. Only then could he learn and use any of them as those that tried to use ones without a class would be punished by the power of the World instead of using it to empower his spell.

He could continue working more with the molds or start making some of the orders, but he was ready to work on something he wanted to work on for some time.

To make the body of the Enchantment Hourglass.