From Player To Npc

Chapter 24: Stats upgrades

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STATUS

NAME: Shingi Maki

CLASS: None

RACE: Blessed Human

HP: 55/55

SP: 12/12

MP: 32/32

STR: 10

AGI: 11

END: 11

INT: 16

CHA: 4

Mana Pool: Earth and Light Element

Skills: VISUALIZATION (Base Rank), MANA MANIPULATION (Base Rank), MANA SENSE (Base Rank), PERCEPTION (Master Rank), STEALTH (Base Rank), IMPROVISED THROW WEAPON (Master Rank), SMITHING (Base Rank), ACCELERATION (Base Rank), MARTIAL ART (Base Rank)

Spells: MANA HAND (Low Grade), FILTH EATER (Ungraded), MINOR ILLUSION (Ungraded), LIGHT (Ungraded), ROCK THROW (Low Grade)

Blessings: Blessing of ??????, Blessing of Dlog

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Shingi checked his status and decided that his Skills were in a good enough state for now, but if he wanted to improve them, he wouldn't be able to with his current stats. His Mana Skills were easy to use cause he had a high INT already. Cause of his blessings passive effect, in many cases, he could do things way more manageable.

Also, suppose he wanted to unlock more skills. In that case, he could use SPECTATOR MODE and 'transfer' some of his skills into his NPC body, but he still had to adjust to his current ones, so he wasn't in a hurry to do that.

So since he wouldn't work on any other skills other than his SMITHING since he will work on the shop's orders, he decided to work on something else.

Increasing his Stats.

Hit INT was quite high for now, so he didn't have to worry about it, but he could always use more mana that came with it getting increased, but for now, he was okay with how it was. He was sure that if he upgraded his Mana Tree, it would also affect his Mana Modifier. That was deciding how much mana each of his INT is giving him. So he had to mainly on his other Stats.

His STR was the same since his curse was fully lifted. Even if he wanted to focus on the path of Magic, that didn't mean that he would leave his body being weak and not get some physical fight. He had his MARTIAL ART skill, which would give him some excellent hand-to-hand combat moves if he is out of mana or his spells don't work. No matter his skill's Rank, if he doesn't have the STR to back it up, he could damage himself instead. Same for AGI as some attacks were using the user's speed more than his pure strength.

His END was beneficial, especially since he didn't have second chances like players. Reaching 0 HP had a more significant risk than he is used with. His low SP isn't allowing him to use his Physical skills for long. Today he had to take a few breaks between his crafting sessions, and his deliveries cause his skill had consumed almost all his SP. Of course, he stopped using them when he had consumed 80-90% of his SP cause if he had spent it all, it would take more time to restore it, and he wouldn't be able to move for an hour or so.

And then there was the CHA stat, the one he was completely unfamiliar with. He had heard of the stat existing in other games, but he had never heard of it in this one, and none of the developers he knew had ever mentioned it. Although he can't be entirely sure about it, he also seemed to be the only one to have it. At some point, he thought it might be a secret NPC stat or something of his Race, but after checking Annoue's status and seeing that there wasn't CHA written there, he wasn't sure about it.

He decided that he would focus on his AGI mostly, which would greatly increase the power of his MARTIAL ART skill, following by END, which would increase the chances of his survival. Then STR, which would also increase his combat abilities but not as much as AGI and will. He would focus more on taking care of his Mana Tree to increase his mana instead of possibly increasing his INT. As for CHA, he would leave it in fate to find ways to improve it since he wasn't aware of what it was affecting and had no clue how to increase it.

And so he started making his training schedule, and it was quite simple. He would use his work on the shop to grind his SMITHING skill and increase his stats. That morning, he raised his AGI and END by overusing ACCELERATION and running around at a speed that his body wouldn't usually be able to handle. So he had to do the same to increase them all. Of course, using the ACCELERATION way again wasn't possible. Once a method worked, it wouldn't work a second time, so he had to try something else.

But since he had so much work and all he had to do was overwork himself in different ways, he had the perfect chance in his hands. And that is what he had done.

Garry seemed to pay less and less attention to the shop or putting more trust in Shingi. Even Shingi couldn't tell which was indeed the case. Garry was getting at the shop sometimes in the middle of the day and most times not all. But even when he was there, he took his usual naps until Shingi waked him up to check his crafts for the day before delivering them. There were a few cases that Garry made him make some adjustments on them, but Garry never made them himself.

But if Garry were spending more time in the shop, he would be amazed at what was happening. Shingi, every day he was thinking of different challenges to put his body to the limits. He was using the hammers that were too heavy for him, and even Annoue would may some difficulty using them, which would help increase his STR. He was working right next to the forge while having its temperature as high as possible to help raise his END, work on multiple crafts and running around them, hammering them, and shaping them to the final product help with his AGI. And when one training didn't have any results for two days straight, he moved to the next one, which was even crazier than the last as it added to the difficulty.

Of course, he didn't forget about Annoue as he helped her with her Enchantment training, using on her the active effect of his Blessing for an hour each night. He then helped her with ranking up MANA MANIPULATION, which still lacks what was needed.

And so a week passed, and even if more orders came during it, he had finally finished them all, and he was on his way back in the shop to get the last ones to deliver.

During that week, his training methods had worked somewhat as his END had increased by four and his AGI had by three. His STR had only increased by 1.

It seemed weird that his STR was so hard to raise, but he didn't mind since his AGI was getting high and would cover his lack of STR somewhat at combat. Also, seeing his END increasing that much was a good surprise. Probably it happened since those days that Garry wasn't around, which were the most, and since no customers were coming at the shop most of the times, he had the forge being at full power and even not drinking much water and some times skipping breakfast to push his body at its limits.

He noticed two figures outside the shop on his way back, and actually, he was familiar with them.

They were Little Phoenix and Wild Tycoon, the two female players he had met during his SPECTATOR MODE playtime.

He told them to come to this town and look for him, specifically his NPC self, although he didn't say that it was him but just a boy with the same name as the one he was using.

They had asked him why he had the same name as an NPC, but he told them they would know when the time comes, and they seemed to respect that.

Even if he was expecting them a few days later, he had made enough preparations. So he brought out a cloth and put it around his mouth to completely cover the lower half of his face.

He was pretty similar to a young self of his player character, so for now, he didn't want to explain it; that is why he decided to hide somewhat his face. After doing that, he made his way towards the two girls who seemed to discuss something outside the shop.

Of course, even if they were talking in low voices, almost whispering, Shingi could hear their talk, which seemed to be if this was the right place and if they should get in or not.

"*cough* *cough* Can I help you with something?" [Shingi]

The two female players turned their heads towards the one who spoke and seeing that it was a young NPC boy, they then turned to look at each other with wonder in their eyes and then turned back to him.

"Eeeehm.... excuse me, young man. But could you be named Shingi?" [Little Phoenix]

Phoenix, even being shy, had been the first one to talk and ask what both were wondering.

"Hmmm.... two girls... one with a big axe and angry face and one with a big staff and low voice. Yeah, it seems like you are the two that Master had mentioned." [Shingi]

Once more, the two girls looked at each other, and this time Tycoon spoke.

"What do you mean, master?" [Wild Tycoon]

If they could see under the cloth, they would see a smirk appearing on Shingi's face.

"Well, let's go inside, and I will explain everything." [Shingi]

He then opened the main door of the shop and led them inside. Since they didn't have many seats, they used a box and a bucket as seats as also the seat Garry was usually taking his nap on.

"Let me introduce myself first. I am Shingi Maki, and I am the son of Garry, the local blacksmith. My mother was cursed during her pregnancy, and so was I since she was pregnant with me. The curse was the Never-ending sleep. It had affected me for most of my life until not long ago; a brave adventurer helped gather ingredients for a ritual to break that curse. Of course, that ritual was successful, and the brave adventurer is someone who, from that point on, had helped me a lot but not only me as he had decided to help others. His name is unknown to me, but he told me that he found two individuals, and he used my name as his and told them to come here to continue their training. He let me with some of his knowledge to share with you when needed to make your training progress as he also let me with the task to gather others too." [Shingi]

Shingi stopped talking at that point to let them process everything. He wasn't going to tell them the full truth cause even he wouldn't believe it. A Player who was killed in the game and became an NPC isn't something that one would believe. Even if he showed them the complete truth, he didn't want to reveal this knowledge yet. Even if he trusted them, secrets could always be leaked accidentally.

"So you want to tell me that he saved you and now are in charge of completing our training? And even so, why is he doing what he is doing?" [Wild Tycoon]

Shingi was expecting this kind of reaction and had thought about possible answers. Still, he felt that only one was appropriate.

"He said, and I quote his exact wording, 'It is time to take the tower back.'"[Shingi]

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