From Player To Npc

Chapter 46: A New Friend and an Old One

After Shingi and Aneta finished discussing acquiring the Class Crystal, which would take some time. She had to find one interesting to buy the ores to obtain the funds needed and found one the crystal from as mostly Blessed Ones were selling them.

The best scenario was to find one Player with a rare Class Crystal who would trade it with the ores, which wasn't impossible.

"So may I ask why is your helper at his normal form this time?" [Shingi]

Annoue seemed surprised that he recognized that Karemon was her helper since he was now in his standard form.

Half-Demons could transform into a human form, and only a few people with rare Skills or Spells could tell that it was a disguise.

But the two forms weren't completely different as their general structure was the same, so for Shingi, it wasn't hard to put two and two together.

"Well, he is actually someone saved by your mother. He was hunted by a few Demons that wanted to get him when he was young. Fortunately, it seems now that he has grown, they aren't interested anymore." [Aneta]

Shingi knew that Demon's were considering the blood of young Half-Demon's very precious for some reason. It seemed like they can use it for some ritual but not sure what kind of ritual.

"I have raised him at the best of my abilities and tried to keep his secret from outsiders. But he and your family are quite close since he pretty much owns his life to your mother. But Annoue doesn't seem to get used to his real appearance, and I must say I was expecting something like that from you too. " [Aneta]

"Well, all my life, I was sleeping, so nothing can be considered too weird since my lack of knowledge for the world." [Shingi]

Even if he said it in his usual serious voice, Aneta didn't seem to believe him. He just woke up a few weeks ago, and not only was he back to health quite fast, but he didn't act like a child who hadn't learn anything but like an adult who was quite knowledgeable.

But she couldn't even imagine that he used to be one of the Blessed Ones and one of the top explorers of the Tower.

They made some more small talk, and not much time later, food started being served by the Chef and his young helper.

They prepared some salad and this time had a fish dish instead of meat or soup as usual. Some potatoes, carrots, and cheese with the fish add to the taste and complete the dish.

They quietly took their dinner initially, but Shingi decided to start some small talk with Karemon. Half-Demons were useful people to know and have an ally as they could use their Demonic blood for a few interesting things.

He also tried to bring Annoue into those discussions to make her more comfortable with Karemon.

But after they finished their dinner and had some tea and cake that Karemon had prepared beforehand, Shingi's MANA SENSE detected something.

"Excuse me; I will be right back." [Shingi]

He stood up and was ready to get out, but Annoue stood on his way.

"Where do you think you are going? It is quite late. You can't go out now." [Annoue]

"It is true. It is quite late, and I think it is also time for us to leave. Thanks for dinner." [Aneta]

Aneta stood up and left with Karemon, who said his goodbyes, and even Annoue answered back. It seemed that Shingi was somewhat successful in making her less afraid of him.

"Well, I guess then we should head to bed." [Shingi]

Annoue wanted to say something, but before she said something, Shingi moved his hand a few times and pointed towards the table.

Annoue turned and saw the dirty bowls that they used for their dinner to be completely dirty to be completely clean.

"This time, you didn't have to tell anything." [Shingi]

He had used his FILTH EATER like these past days to help keep things clean and make some chores like that more manageable.

Every time Annoue saw him doing thought it was amazing. She was also jealous cause up until now, he didn't teach her something that cool.

So they headed to bed, and for the second time, they slept while Annoue was gripping Shingi's hand, but this time seemed to be on purpose.

'She seems to know me well now.' [Shingi]

He was planning to get out when Annoue slept, and it seemed Annoue thought about it. Shingi once more was trapped by Annoue's STR, but things were different this time.

He had prepared for this kind of situation, but he had to wait for now, so he started feeding his Mana Tree and Seeds as usual while keeping his MANA SENSE of what he detected before.

After a few hours, the time finally came as it was past midnight and was considered a new day, so something he had used was once more available.

He used the active effect of his Blessing on him and got his INT at 25.

Then he started focusing his Light-element mana on surrounding his trapped arm. But unlike when he was casting his INVISIBILITY, he didn't just cover his arm with the mana but tried to merge the mana with his arm, similar to what he taught Phoenix to do with the Dark Element mana.

He had the advantage of using his mana. He also made the Mana pass through his Mirthtil dagger to empower it more and make things more comfortable.

Fortunately, it didn't get too bright to possibly awake Annoue, as he could control the brightness of it like with his LIGHT spell.

And so, after less than a minute, part of his hand turned into Light and passed through the hands of Annoue, making Shingi a free man once more.

He stayed for a few minutes, making sure that Annoue wouldn't notice him getting free, but it seemed like he was safe.

So he enabled his usual combo of STEALTH and CAMOUFLAGE even if he was tempted to cast INVISIBILITY or use one of his Mana Seeds. Still, he didn't want to waste any resources without a crucial reason.

So he made his way outside towards what his MANA SENSE detected, which at this point seemed to move. It seemed almost like it wanted him to follow him, and Shingi didn't decline.

Using his ACCELERATION a little, he could get in visual distance of it, and it seemed to be a dog.

Not a very rare breed as far as he could tell and had long, but not too long, black hairs and no sign of any collar or anything that would show that it belonged to someone.

Well, nothing that eyes could see.

The MANA SENSE of Shingi was able to detect some mana on the dog that wasn't its own. It looked like a mark but not like one that was there to tame it and keep it in control. It seemed to be one to show, who was the owner of this dog, and Shingi had an idea of who may be.

And so they headed past the walls that Shingi had no problem to pass the low-level guards that were in guard duty there.

It seemed like they were heading toward his and Annoue's hideout, which he thought to be pretty suspicious.

They arrived in front of the Hollow Tree, where a young adult female human was sitting while at her labs was what looked like a very young small dragon. The dragon was small enough to fit on her laps.

Her hair was of turquoise color. If one were staring at them, they would notice a movement like the moving water but not very fast to be easily noticeable. Her eyes were of different colors, with her left being yellow and the right being green. Her clothing was of simple designs but had patterns of strange runes around her neck and sleeves.

One her back, there was a pair of longswords that even if Shingi could only see their handles, but by them only he knew how they looked as a whole.

Those were Elvish Blades that had somewhat carved blades but not as a scimitar would have. This was granting them to be easier to swing around with more agile moves.

Shingi knew this person although she was looking different from the last time they met.

She was looking younger, but that wasn't something hard for the daughter of a Goddess.

She was Aella, Goddess of Storm, and daughter of the Goddess of Nature.

Shingi had met her in the past in the same Quest that he got his Blessing from Dolg as he had the chance to meet with a few Gods then.

Ha hadn't met the Goddess of Nature herself and didn't even know her name, but her daughter seemed to show some interest in him.

She had a 'stormy' personality as she could seem calm and then turn into a monster that wanted to tear you up.

She didn't give him any present back to them, but they had a few talks and even fought each other, but of course, Shingi was beaten each time. He may be able to defeat a Dragon, but a Demi Goddess wasn't one he could handle.

Ad for her Father, it was unknown who he was. Most likely, even she didn't know anything about him. If one would ask her to talk about him, she gave a different story about his identity each time.

She noticed him when he got close, even if he was using his STEALTH and CAMOUFLAGE combo, but he couldn't hide from her godly eyes.

"Oh, you are finally here." [Aella]

She seemed calm at this point as she was petting her little Dragon pet.

"Who are you?" [Shingi]

He didn't know why he was an NPC, so he wasn't just acting as his Player self among everyone.

"Oh, drop the act. I know who you are. Even if you are now in this young body, you can't be hidden by my Nalrin's nose." [Aella]

Shingi didn't try to keep his act anymore as he knew that her eyes could hide almost nothing at this point.

"Well then, it is nice to see you again, Aella. It's been a while." [Shingi]

"Well, you could visit more. But you have been low for that long, and now you even turn into a young boy?" [Aella]

Shingi went through the story of his death and how he woke on this body, which was under the Never-Ending Sleep curse.

"Oh, I see. These people seem to be more annoying than I thought. But even I can't do something for them." [Aella]

Shingi was surprised by what she just said. Even she wasn't able to handle them? What kind of power they have?

"Well, it isn't really that I can't do anything, but I am not allowed. But I can't tell you why." [Aella]

Shingi's confusion was raised even more. It wasn't uncommon for Gods not to have anything to do with the Mortal Realm affairs except in exceptional cases, but it wasn't like they were frown upon helping.

"So then why are you here? You didn't just want to say hi, were you?" [Shingi]

Aella's smiley face changed to one of business as she was ready to tell the reason she was here.

"Well, it seemed like someone discovered something I had lost some time ago. I must say I was surprised that this person was you?" [Aella]

"Found something that you lost? What are you talking about?" [Shingi]

Aella didn't say anything but instead pointed towards the roots of the Hollow Tree. It was the place where the Special Mana he had found was at.