Shingi was back in the misty room where he got when he slept, but he didn't have his TRANCE ROOM active this time.
He had gotten used to this place these past days as he had his VISUALIZATION body right when he entered the area without the need to create it.
Shingi sat on the ground and just staring in one direction and staying still. He was playing in his mind what happened again and again. He focused that much that it enabled his VISUALIZATION without him noticing. It was playing the scene of his meeting with the Old Man repeatedly.
Shingi noticed every move of his, mainly when he used his mana. After that, he could see things more apparent, even actions he couldn't see before, as they were too fast. He could notice those details now, as he could play them in slow motion. But he could do it only for things in his visual range and some actions he could reconstruct by the sounds he had heard.
He kept looking as like out of instinct, and his TRANCE ROOM got created. It was like something inside him knew he needed as much help as possible.
His VISUALIZATION of the events became more evident as time passed, and even some empty instances were getting filled.
But even if the moves of the one named Mikhail were straightforward for him to see, he couldn't decipher them. They were simple moves, but the result of theirs made little sense for them to be that simple.
He seemed to lack some knowledge to comprehend them completely, as even when he tried to copy those moves, he couldn't have any result even close to 0.01% of what Mikhail's had.
But even if he couldn't comprehend these moves, it wasn't like it didn't give him any benefits. On the contrary, noticing an actual Arcane Practitioner's movements like that helped improve his Spells and improve the somatic components, especially those he hadn't heard before.
He started training on using those improved movements and noticed a significant change in the casting speed and even at their power.
Before, it took him ten seconds to cast his INVISIBILITY, but now he could at eight seconds, which wasn't his best time yet, as he could feel that he could decrease it at six seconds.
As for improvement in power, he could feel his ROCK THROW made of denser stones with less mana, making it cause more damage.
His CAMOUFLAGE, INVISIBILITY, and DOME OF SILENCE had the most remarkable changes of all as his ungraded spells couldn't get improved with those movements, and his ROCK THROW had just a minimal improvement comparing the rest.
As for his MANA DOUBLES, it decreased the casting time a little, but nothing else. He started focusing on his MANA DOUBLES, having one element and commanding them to battle each other.
The Light-Element one seemed to have the advantage cause it was faster but didn't seem to have the power to pass the natural defense of the Earth-Element one to cause any damage.
But this way, he could see the limits of each of his MANA DOUBLE and improved his control over them, and unlocked new uses.
Before, he commanded them and only sent them mana to repair any damage, but now he could send mana to strengthen them. As a result, he could enhance the defense or attack power of the Earth-Element one and the Light-Element's speed, but nothing else.
After more training, he could cast his Spells through the MANA DOUBLES, but only of the same element. So, for example, he threw ROCK THROWS with his Earth Element MANA DOUBLE, and the Light Element MANA DOUBLE could use CAMOUFLAGE and INVISIBILITY or even LIGHT to itself.
But their casting time was higher, and they weren't as potent as if he cast them, at least for now.
He kept training and training with no break, thinking of nothing else than improving himself.
Even when he faced Players of somewhat high level for beginners, he didn't get scared or consider not being able to have a chance of winning. But against Mikhail, he knew he didn't have a single case of winning, and even if he broke free once from his Spell, it was cause Mikhail underestimated him.
After finishing testing them in battle and not seeing any further improvements, he changed his TRANCE ROOM from the tree hideout to look like the blacksmith shop and, more specifically, the forge.
He started working on various crafts of orders he had already done and trying to use other techniques, but his MANA DOUBLES, not him, did everything.
His Earth one seemed to be best to work with the forge and hammering, while the Light one was better for more detailed works like carving or his GLASSBLOWING skill that needed quick reactions.
He kept working and making vases, bowls, knives, spoons, and more things he had made the past weeks. Of course, it wasn't the same experience as crafting them in reality, as it was a simulation that he was creating, using his memories as a reference. But it still helped him test his MANA DOUBLES at the best of their abilities and skills.
Shingi was too focused that he didn't notice that he had access to all of his Skills while in TRANCE ROOM without being at Master Rank.
So, like he got possessed, he kept crafting one thing after the other, but after finishing them and inspecting them, they disappeared as he moved to the next.
Time passed, and even if his TRANCE ROOM seemed to have lost its effects, he kept the VISUALIZATION of the room, but his abilities were slower for some time, but this didn't stop him from continuing. The TRANCE ROOM was getting re-enabled when its cooldown was over, which happened repeatedly.
After he had crafted enough items that would make a mountain if they didn't disappear, the moment he finished examining them and even worked on crafting some weapons or armor, which he had known their blueprints in the past, he kneeled to the ground.
He wasn't precisely tired as he didn't have a body here, but felt like he had passed his limits many times and now felt the strain it had on him.
Now that he wasn't training anymore, the memory of Annoue being taken by Mikhail didn't like it, as he reminded him of his weakness. There was a long time since he felt like that, and even then, it wasn't anything close like now.
He had a few friends in the game, and a few stopped playing the game and never heard from them again, but he was used to it as people moved to a more recent game. Even with his real-life family, he never felt like that because they never interacted or cared much for each other.
He had a relationship with his brother in the past. Still, they barely talked or spent much time together to be considered close with each other.
With Annoue, even if he spent the most time training with her, she was considering him like her actual brother, which was a new thing for Shingi. He may not have acted like a brother would at his sister, but it wasn't like he didn't care for her.
He cleared his thoughts, and so after that, he focused on waking himself up.
The moment he was back in his body, he felt the state of his whole body. It wasn't in pain but was numb. His movement was slightly slower as he noticed bandages everywhere, especially his legs.
He smelled that some familiar herbs under the bandages and some elixirs sped natural healing progress.
He recognized the place he was as it was at Garry's bedroom, as his bed's mattress was more suitable for one to rest.
He noticed next to him a sleeping Karemon that probably was here to take care of him but seemed to be quite tired and took a nap.
Not much time passed as the bedroom's door opened, and in came Garry, who noticed that Shingi woke up the moment he entered.
"Took you a while. For a moment, I thought someone cursed you once more." [Garry]
Shingi sat up but said nothing.
After a moment of silence, Garry broke it.
"Maybe now you can explain what happened. Although your friends have told me a few things." [Garry]
Shingi didn't care what Garry knew as he explained everything, using the same story of the Blessed One who helped awaken him to have trained him and help the rest. He even told him the plan for the tower. When he got to speak for Mikhail, he said everything except his name.
"I see. I guess it is part of the family to be affected by Blessed Ones." [Garry]
Karemon had woken up while Shingi was explaining everything and left to leave them in their privacy. Garry didn't show his emotions, but Shingi could see some sadness in his eyes, especially after listening to his story.
Garry told him he was out for two weeks and had a few visitors who wanted to talk to him.
"So, what do you plan to do now?" [Garry]
Shingi looked him in his eyes and said nothing, but Garry seemed to have taken his answer.
"*sigh* I guess some things are destined to happen." [Garry]
At that point, Garry brought out of a pouch that was hanging on his belt a crystal. Shingi hadn't seen a crystal looking like that but knew what it was by his talks with Aneta.
It was the class crystal he had asked her to buy for him.
It wasn't massive, just enough to fill his palm. It had this black color, and there seemed to be some purple light trapped in the middle of it.
Annoue told him that the color of the light meant different things, and purple meant that it had a greater chance to give a more Mage-like class.
The crystal determined a class depending on someone's skills, but after some testing, they found out they could control the result by its characteristics, like the light's color.
Garry left the crystal in front of Shingi and left the room, saying nothing else.
As he left Shingi, he checked his Status Window.
================================
STATUS
NAME: Shingi Maki
CLASS: None
PROFESSION: Scholar Master
RACE: Blessed Human
HP: 88/88
SP: 45/45
MP: 42/42
STR: 12
AGI: 14
END: 16
INT: 16
CHA: 3
MANA POOL: Earth and Light Element
SKILLS
Base Rank: STEALTH, MARTIAL ART
Master Rank: VISUALIZATION, MANA MANIPULATION, MANA SENSE, PERCEPTION, IMPROVISED THROW WEAPON, SMITHING, ACCELERATION, GLASSBLOWING
SPELLS
Ungraded: FILTH EATER, MINOR ILLUSION, LIGHT
Low Grade: MANA HAND, ROCK THROW, CAMOUFLAGE,
Base Grade: INVISIBILITY, DOME OF SILENCE, MANA DOUBLE - LIGHT ELEMENT, MANA DOUBLE - EARTH ELEMENT
BLESSINGS: Blessing of Beliss, Blessing of Dlog, Angel's Boon
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Chapter edited at 02/10/21
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