From Player To Npc

The plan wasn't very different from what they did to the other Ruin City floor; they needed to draw the Player Guards away. But there were some two problems with this plan.

First, these players had no chance to be beginners like the ones he encountered on floor 11, so they could be more knowledgeable and read his deception. So he couldn't use his Golem this time.

The second problem was that the guards weren't one or two but close to a dozen, and all were very near the stairs. Most were sitting on the steps, but some moved around the city, investigating if something changed.

At all times, there were at least six guards on the stairs, and different groups were investigating the city each time. Shingi had spent some hours the other day checking the way they worked, so he had a good understanding of them.

He usually would spend days monitoring their actions and make a perfect plan, but he didn't have that much time.

His plan to draw them away was to beat the group that was doing the examination, but he had to do it so fast that they wouldn't have a chance even to notice they got attacked. Since it wasn't a sizeable group, and now that he had a level, he could deal with them quickly enough, since he could deal with Players of a similar level even when he didn't have a Class.

Those players varied to level 20-30, so he could quickly deal with them, especially since his restriction from the System wasn't as heavy. His speed had saved him many times and made him have the upper hand until now, and he had faced more vigorous opponents than those, so he worried a little but didn't underestimate them either. But, of course, the biggest mistake one could make was underestimating his opponent.

He wouldn't kill them, though, as they would respawn and message their friends but would bring them unconscious, which was harder to do as he had to be more precise with his hits, as one mistake could cost him and fail. So instead, he would use his MARTIAL ART Skill, as he wasn't going for the kill.

After dealing with them, his students would move to the next part of the plan, which would be away from him. Their task would be more straightforward, but it would be impossible to work if he didn't deal with the investigation groups first.

Hineko would be the only one of his students who would be suitable to help him. Still, Shingi decided it was better for him to stay with the party after he had the most extraordinary PERCEPTION, and it was better to be safe than sorry.

Shingi went his way as the others waited for him to send them a message through the party's chat that he had access since they had recruited him. Of course, it was rare for an NPC to use the chat, and most times, it was to receive commands, but when did Shingi do what NPCs normally do?

He got cast INVISIBILITY, as he could easily afford it now. However, he also had used his STEALTH, making it almost impossible for non-professional Players to detect him. If he had his STEALTH at Master Rank, maybe even those professional Players would have a hard time.

He made it to an alley near the stairs, where he had an excellent view of them, and waited for the groups to start their way.

He didn't have to wait for long, as two groups of four Players each left, but each was going opposite directions. Of course, this would make things harder, but Shingi was always up for a challenge.

One headed to the North part of the City and the other one at the South. Later one would go for the East part and the other to the West part.

Shingi followed the North group, while he had a Golem of his to follow the South one. He currently could keep his Golem active even if he were on the other side of the City, which was times more than the distance back when he was at Harbin's town. His Spells and their limits had increased a lot when he earned his class fully, and he kept using his TRANCE ROOM when he had the chance.

He followed the group and waited until they were at a safe distance away from the stairs so that there wouldn't be any chance of the people remained behind hearing them being dealt with, even if he would try not to make any noise. Of course, this meant that the other group would also be further away, but he trusted his Golem on keeping track of them and stay hidden.

They had been quite a far distance that even if they screamed, they wouldn't be heard, so Shingi was ready.

Other than his INVISIBILITY, he used one more spell of his when he was ready to start his attack; he cast METAL HANDS.

Those Players wore some quite rare and expensive equipment that his standard punches' force would pass to have the desired effect. With METAL HANDS, he would increase the force, also increasing the potential damage, but he still could control it with his MARTIAL ART Skill.

He cast HASTE just to be safe and started his attack. Everything went as planned, as the first group laid down to the ground unconscious for a couple of minutes, possibly half an hour.

Since he didn't much time to spare, he ran toward the other group but still tried to keep his presence low.

In less than two minutes, he had reached the other group, who had stopped looking over an old statue that was broken, but still, they thought it might contain some secrets. It was one of the sights they investigated each time.

Shingi started his attack, and as he was ready to punch the final one of the group, that Player vanished.

Shingi sidestepped right away as he felt a disturbance on the air behind him, and he had moved just in time as the vanished Player appeared with a blade out and stabbing the place where Shingi was just a moment ago.

The Player seemed to be stronger than Shingi thought him to be, even if his aura wasn't any tensest than the rest. But the aura depended on their level and not on how good they were in the game. Some low-level players played professionally, and high-level players were as talentless in the game as a lifeguard who didn't know how to swim.

Shingi was ready to start his attack before the Player got the chance to send a message to the others, but it seemed he wasn't fast enough.

The Player fell unconscious on the ground without Shingi doing anything.

A ball of bright blue energy was hovering behind where the Player stood, and it started expanding and taking shape. Its shape was that of a human, and more precisely of a female human.

She was still made of energy, having this semi-transparent blue color, and when Shingi used his MANA SENSE, he could tell that it was a mix of Spirit Mana and Water Mana, but not like the one of the seashell.

The two mana had merged at the seashell and became a new type itself, while here, both Elements existed just in harmony with each other, even though the Spirit Mana seemed to be in a larger quantity than Water Mana. Her face had enough details to understand that she was an older female, maybe around her sixties.

"Who are you?" [Shingi]

"You know it wouldn't kill you to say 'thank you' to the one who just helped you." [???]

Shingi didn't expect this response, but he didn't get mad as he knew she was right.

"Thank you, my lady. May I learn your identity?" [Shingi]

"That is most likely. You learn fast, kid. If only we had more fast learners like you back home." [???]

She then sat over a stone piece that seemed decent enough as a place to sit for some time.

"As for who I am… I am just someone who is passing by. You can call me as just a Spirit, for all I care. I noticed you and wanted to ask you something, but since you were in the middle of something, I decided to help." [Spirit]

Shingi suspected that Spirit, and he had little time to spare as he sent a message to his party.

"What were those weird moves you just did?" [Spirit]

"For someone who doesn't answer the question someone asked him, you seem quite curious, Spirit." [Shingi]

The strange moves were him typing the message since she couldn't see his System UI.

"What a clever boy… I know a few people back home that would be interested in talking with you. Then I guess I should be on my way." [Spirit]

The spirit turned around and started walking away.

"WAIT." [Shingi]

The spirit stopped and turned back towards Shingi.

"I thought you said you wanted to ask me something. That's why you helped me. What is it you wanted to ask me?" [Shingi]

"It is nothing. You seem like a busy person, and one to be on the clock, as it was clear on why you tried to deal with them in such a hurry." [Spirit]

Shingi was ready to leave to join the others, but then he remembered something important. The player had seen his face, so it would let the others know when it would wake up. He didn't mind letting them know that someone may be in the Tower, but he couldn't let them know he is the one. At least not yet.

Then an idea came to the mind of Shingi, to use something he hadn't tried to use on purpose before; a WIPE.

He knew it was one of the safety measures that his eyes could give him, but since it cost a CHA point, and he couldn't easily replace them, he hadn't tried to trigger it willingly. But now it was different, as he needed it to cover his tracks.

He moved over the unconscious body of the Player and noticed that he was a little pale and full of sweat. His MANA SENSE detected a sizeable amount of Spirit Mana living his body, meaning that the spirit had used her Spirit Mana to make him unconscious. Shingi made a mental note of it.

He enabled his special eyed and focused on the Player while thinking of wanting to affect it with WIPE.

================================

Conditions for the WIPE(S) are met. Will you use them?

YES / NO

*Costs 1 CHA per WIPE

================================

He picked yes, and as he did it, he felt his Minor Mana Regeneration getting weaker. Also felt a lot of the energy in his eyes to instantly get spent.

He then opened his Status and used something he had earned a lot of time ago but never used it. His 1 Main Stat Point he got from completing the challenge FIGHT AGAINST TIME. He had thought many times to use it on AGI to bring it at 15, but he was happy he didn't now. Having his CHA at 5 to keep his Minor Mana Regeneration as robust as possible was more important.

As he was ready to meet the others where they planned, he was stopped as the Spirit stepped in front of him.

"What did you just do with your eyes?" [Spirit]