Chapter 26: Moving on training

Shingi talked with the two female players about their progress at their special training given to them as his player character.

Tycoon mentioned that she had killed close to 30 monsters that should fit the requirements of her challenge. Phoenix could manipulate enough Shadow Mana to make a sphere of 2 centimeters in diameter. Hence, she still had a long way to go to make one to fill her entire hand. She also was Level 7, while Tycoon was still Level 12. They both tried not to level up too much since it would make their training harder, and a specific mechanic helped them with that.

Players could decide the exp they received to be added instead to one or more of their skills, but they have to be lower than Level 10. That way, their level wasn't increasing, and their skills were getting stronger.

Shingi had investigated the Dungeon, and its monster would be at around level 10. Still, some should be over level 12 or more, which was what Tycoon needed.

Even if Annoue was too low level, if he counted Hineko and Mizuneko, even if their combat abilities didn't seem too good, they should be able to handle the Dungeon. He had, of course, some more preparations to do to help them.

After saying goodbye to them, he closed the shop and ran to make his last delivery for today since it was getting late. After that, he returned home and saw Garry having dinner in the kitchen by himself. He could detect Annoue with his MANA SENSE being in their room practicing.

"Oh, you are finally back? I expected you'd be back sooner. What took you so long?" [Garry]

Shingi just took out a pouch and dropped it on the table, and it opened enough for someone to see what it contained. It was full of coins, mainly copper, with some silver coins mixed in.

"These are today's last payments plus tips. You better use them wisely." [Shingi]

After saying that, he took a bowl and filled it with the soup that seemed to be dinner. He noticed that, unlike usual, the soup wasn't meat but a vegetable. Whoever made it knew what they were doing, considering how the taste of the vegetable all mixed well with no overpowering the others.

Shingi knew the Mayor was the one who was sending them this food but wondered if she was cooking it herself or if the cook was actually someone else.

'Well, Annoue has the cooking skill. Maybe I can ask the Mayor to help her raise her rank. It will be useful to have it.' [Shingi]

COOKING skill didn't just focus on the food's taste but granting on those who ate it temporary benefits and other kinds of buffs. But, of course, they needed unique ingredients for those dishes.

After finishing his meal while being watched by Garry, he was ready to get to his room, but Garry stopped him.

"You have learned to handle the shop and your SMITHING skill well. I have heard quite a lot of praises for our shop's crafts these past days." [Garry]

Shingi was a little angry about mentioning his work as 'their' crafts. Even if he rarely gave him some tips, he had done nothing to help or taught him something new, but he said nothing or acted on those words.

"Since you did such a great job with SMITHING, we are going to move your training to another skill. I wonder how good you are going to be in that one." [Garry]

Shingi expected him to say that as he understood from the equipment at the shop that Garry didn't just have the SMITHING skill but probably had other crafting-related skills.

"What kind of skill are we going to work next?" [Shingi]

Garry seemed to think about that for a second before he gave his answer.

"Since you got familiar with working with fire by using the forge, let's move on GLASSBLOWING. We can use the Mana Blower with some adjustments to it that have been removed. But don't worry, I will work on that, so have a day off for tomorrow, and after that, we will work on your new skills. Expect a similar amount or more of orders that would use that skill, so you better not disappoint me." [Garry]

'Just the skill I needed.' [Shingi]

Shingi needed to make the Enchantment Hourglass body of his, so he needed the GLASSBLOWING skill. Since Garry would teach him, it was a perfect time. Of course, he could buy an hourglass and replace its bases, as they weren't much different from what would usually be used, but it wouldn't fit perfectly if he didn't make it himself.

And so he made it to his room, ready to help Annoue at her training by using his Blessing's active effect. He had his MANA SENSE active and noticed her mana manipulation being better and faster than usual. Finally, she seemed to have gotten the hang of it.

As he got in and Annoue noticed him, she smiled at him, but he caught a look of surprise and somewhat hiding something.

"How was today's training? Any progress?" [Shingi]

Annoue looked down at the floor, having a sad look.

"No progress. The lights are still hard to control." [Annoue]

Shingi got closer to her, put his hand on her chin, and raised her face. He then moved his face in front of her at breathing distance and looked into her eyes.

"Do you hide soothing from your little brother, big sister?" [Annoue]

After all that time, Shingi was familiar with her personality, and he seemed to understand what was going on.

Annoue probably was too bored with the training and assumed it would get more boring, so she made it look like there was no progress. And she didn't want to say anything cause she was afraid of hurting his feelings.

But of course, this wasn't the case since Annoue didn't want to stop this kind of training cause she liked it when he was using his Blessing on her. But seeing her brother's eyes and hearing his words, she felt like she had betrayed the trust he had in her.

"I... I... was successful on the Enchantment five days ago..." [Annoue]

It amazed Shingi that she kept hidden this for that long and that he didn't notice it. He could tell that her skill should be at the proper rank, but he assumed she wasn't successful because she was inexperienced and needed more time to find how everything worked for her.

He put his hand over her head to pat it as he usually did to let her know she did good or to calm her.

"You don't have to worry over anything, as I am here, so all will go well. But promise me you won't hide something like that from me again." [Shingi]

Annoue, who was almost ready to cry, nodded in agreement right away.

"Good. We have a few things to discuss then." [Shingi]

After making sure that Annoue could do the Enchantment and change the trinket's color, he told her about the Players and the team he was creating. He used the same story of the Player who gave the materials for his ritual that he was behind everything. He told her he communicated with him through magic, and that was why he had become that strong that fast.

Of course, he was planning to let Annoue be part of the team but wasn't planning on taking her to the Dungeon as she didn't have her class yet. It was too dangerous since she didn't have that luxury, unlike the others who could respawn. Or so he thought since he didn't know if a Blessed Human could respawn as a player could, but he didn't want to test it.

"So you have taken your first step in the way of Enchantments. We will leave it on that for now, but you can mess with it more if you have some free time. I have made some notes with the enchantments you can make so you can try them in the future." [Shingi]

He gave her a small notebook of very few pages with drawings of each shape that had to be used for the Enchantment and the result.

"So now we can move to our next part of your training. To learn how to use a blade." [Shingi]

He brought out the Mithril dagger that he always had with him and a wooden dagger of the same size but having a standard blade.

He gave the wooden one to Annoue, who was disappointed with not taking the cool-looking one.

"Your class would normally use bigger weapons, but for now, you need to learn some basics moves. The way of the sword isn't just to swing the blade left and right. There are many techniques and moves, but a swordmaster doesn't need to know all of them. They need to know when to use what. You need to be perceptive and use the right move at the right time." [Shingi]

Annoue's eyes got wide with excitement as they moved on a kind of training that seemed to have more action than just focusing on lights.

But then the disappointment returned to her face.

"To do that, you need to learn a Breathing Techniques and focus on your blade. Become so familiar with it to feel like an extension of your body. Then we will work on some moves." [Shingi]

And so once more, they were in their usual meditation stance, but this time they didn't have to focus on mana, but it was still a mental task. He then used his Blessing's active effect on Annoue to help her focus better.

This type of training was slower than the one with the Enchantment's cause there was no sign of how far she had gone. However, Annoue could describe if she felt any different handling the weapon, which was the only sign he could use. Still, he knew it would probably take some days before they have succeeded.

But close to the end of the hour of his Blessing, Annoue had succeeded.

Shingi made her do some simple movements with the dagger while having her eyes closed, and it seemed like she was successful. At least to a suitable level for their needs.

"You did well. You will train yourself in two moves from now on, but it is late, and we need some space, so I will show them to you and start training on them tomorrow at our hideout. I have a day off, and Garry will be busy, so we should be ok." [Shingi]

Annoue nodded, and Shingi told her to study a few of the pages with the different Enchantments before she would go to bed.

Shingi decided to lie down to relax his brain a little and checked his Status window. He noticed a change that probably happened during his crafting time of the hourglass' bases. He didn't see a notification window appearing since he had his eyes closed most of the time and focused on crafting.¹

'My MANA MANIPULATION finally reached Master Rank.' [Shingi]