From Player To Npc

Chapter 8: Spectator Mode

Shingi went to lay down to bed. He could continue training his skills and probably make them reach base rank through the night, but he decided it wasn't wise.

Even if he didn't need sleep for now as a side effect of the Never-ending Sleep, he wasn't getting tired physically or mentally. If he strained himself too much, it would affect his future progress, and that was something he wanted to avoid.

He was aware of people who overworked themselves and increased their Skill Levels or Ranks fast enough initially. Still, later the bottlenecks were harder than normal and impossible to pass. So even if he were going at a faster pace than a normal person, he would still be careful not to take any unnecessary risks that would bite him in the future.

As he started thinking about his next moves, a notification window appeared.

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SPECTATOR MODE is ONLINE. Save file A06 is available to be used.

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After reading it once more today, Shingi was frozen in place.

He knew what spectator mode would normally mean for the game. Someone would connect a capsule-supported headset at the capsule and join the player at the game. Still, the player using the headset was somewhat limited in the controls and experience, so that was used either in demonstrating to a crowd since multiple headsets could be connected in one capsule or if someone needed help on something right away.

Also, the save file code was his or, more specifically, his past player character Ameanum.

But this character should have been deleted 2 years ago as a ban like that would surely follow by deleting the character even if his access was that high.

Shingi was always quite curious about this kind of thing, and he didn't waste any time.

"Enable Spectator Mode" [Shingi]

At that point, everything around him became dark. His body started becoming lighter and lighter and then started getting heavier and heavier as it stopped and was heavier than his child NPC body but then noticed the feeling of falling and soon enough of landing on the ground and something else. Or, more specifically, someone else.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING AT MY FRIEND THERE YOU PERVERT?!?" [Angry female voice]

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The voice was coming from behind him, and at the same time, Shingi barely felt the air hitting the back of his neck as if someone tried to grip him from there by was stopped.

That was really the case; a fully plated armor girl behind Shingi tried to grip him, but an invisible force wasn't letting her touching him.

That force, of course, was the System itself. Anyone who logged in had a 30 second of being in a state of not be able to be harmed or touched by other players, but that was only in case if they logged in in a safe zone. Since they seemed to be in the middle of a small town, this was a place like that. And the no harm state was working against players only. NPCs and Monsters would still be able to harm them.

Shingi noticed that under him was a young girl, most likely not older than 15. He could see a name over her head, so he knew that she was a player.

And with that, he got himself up and away from the young girl and started checking himself and his status.

He really was in his old player character, but there were some great differences.

Firstly his inventory was empty except for the set of clothing he was currently wearing.

Secondly, even if all his stats and skills seemed to be there, his race was currently as Spectating Spirit.

This was the race that anyone using Spectator Mode was having; it was considered as Spectator Mode was a supportive mechanic to be used and was disallowing the player to use any racial features or skills or items that could be used by living beings making the Spectator Mode even more unwanted and unnecessary by many players. But of course, being a spirit had its positives as you wouldn't lose any experiences if you died.

"HEY, YOU. STOP IGNORING US." [Angry female voice]

Shingi now noticed the source of the voice, who shouts at him both times. It was another young girl but seemed a little older than the girl he landed on. This one was wearing a heavy plated armor covering her whole body and seemed too heavy for someone that young to be able to wear.

The other girl was wearing simple ropes that any Mage Player was staring with.

Ameanum could see their in-game names because of a special skill he had were Little Phoenix and Wild Tycoon. Of course, Little Phoenix was the young Mage, and Wild Tycoon was the Warrior one.

Shingi could easily read the situation. The warrior girl was overprotective of the young girl and seemed to be the brute kind of girl who wouldn't be afraid of fighting, especially in a game. From here equipment, he could understand that she wasn't s beginner but not a very high level either. If he had to guess, she was probably around 10-13 level. As far as the girl, she seemed to be of the shy type as she was hiding behind her friend. And from her equipment was sure that she was a beginner that most likely just started playing and got the Mage Class.

He sighed cause he knew he wasn't at fault; the System was for deciding to spawn him there. Since he never wanted to get into an unnecessary fight, he bowed towards them.

"I am sorry for the inconvenience I caused you as it wasn't my intention. There was an accident on my transportation between places, which unfortunately led to the troubling situation we are currently at. I hope you find in your heart to consider of forgiving me" [Ameanum]

The once angry girl was surprised by the response of Shingi. She was ready to beat him up in the first word coming from him, but now it didn't feel right to do any harm to him.

"I see. Since you understand your situation and it really seems like it was an accident, I will leave it to pass for now. But only this time" [Wild Tycoon]

"Thank you for your understanding" [Ameanum]

And with that, the accident came to an end.

Shingi, at that point, started looking around, and he actually recognized the place. This should be Picton, a tiny town and actually one of the players' starting towns. Even if 10 years have been passed in-game, some things didn't change much for Shingi to recognize. Sure there were quite a few buildings around that weren't there before, but the plaza they were currently in the middle of was something he would recognize right away. And that was because, in the middle of it, there was a unique white tree of which the ends of its branches were of the blue like the sky, and its leaves, no matter the season, were golden yellow.

This was a special tree that was only existed in this town. It is rumored to be a gift of Mother Nature to the town's founder and was granting protection to the town from monsters. Of course, the protection was limited, and strong ones could overpower it. Still, it helped keep the peace of the town as all the monsters in the area weren't strong enough to overpower the tree's protection unless they worked all together. Still, monsters weren't known with working with each other, especially different kinds of monsters.

"Hey, pervy boy, you still with us?" [Wild Tycoon]

Ameanum ignored the way he addressed him and turned towards her.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" [Ameanum]

This time he was back to his plain way of speaking. Before, he was sweetening how he spoke to show his sincerity, but now it didn't seem necessary to him.

Tycoon was somewhat surprised by this change, but she continued with what she wanted to say.

"You seem like a beginner, so I decided to be the big person and help you around. Name is Wild Tycoon by the way" [Wild Tycoon]

"Shingi." [Ameanum]

Even if he was annoyed to be considered a beginner, he could understand since he was currently not wearing any equipment even if he was in a safe zone. So he decided not to be angry at her but gave his NPC name cause it may not be wise to let people know about him. Especially people of the Dark Guild, but even if he doubts that the girls in front of him would be part of it, you could never be too careful.

"Well, nice to meet you, Shingi. We were heading outside to help Little Phoenix level up since she just joined the game, but we could always use more help. So what do you say? It is a good deal, isn't it?" [Wild Tycoon]

Ameanum started considering this option. Even if he thought he would be fine by himself, he thought it would be interesting to check and notice if anything changed in the game and its mechanics during the time he was gone. And what better way by seeing a beginner level up.

"Sure. It sounds like a good idea." [Ameanum]

He got a notification from the system of Tycoon inviting him to join her party, but he rejected it right away.

"Huh?!? Why did you reject my party invite? I thought you said you wanted to join us" [Wild Tycoon]

"You said you wanted to help her level up. If I join the party, the system would have to share the exp between the three of us for each monster we kill, but if I weren't part of your party, the exp would be shared between just the two of you as long as one of you deal the final blow." [Ameanum]

"I see... that makes sense, but you are a beginner too, aren't you? Wouldn't it be safer to be in a party to at least be aware of what each other's health is currently at?" [Wild Tycoon]

"You don't have to worry about this. I am gonna take my equipment and be sure that I will be as safe out there as being next to the plaza's tree." [Ameanum]

Ameanum spoke full of confidence as he turned and started his way through the market.

He said it was somewhat true, but mostly he didn't want to join the party because they would see his real identity. Of course, to invite someone to a party, you didn't need to know his in-game name. You could send an invite to a person near you without knowing their in-game id, and rejecting the invitation wouldn't let you know their identity.

Even if Tycoon and Phoenix were surprised by what Shingi said, they were curious, so they followed him.

And so, no long after that, they stopped in front of the town's blacksmith shop. Picton wasn't a big town, and it had only one blacksmith. Still, a Master Blacksmith was making the separation from the other towns of the same size that were most have like a dozen Base Blacksmiths and no Master ones. But even a dozen Base Blacksmith weren't as valuable as a Master one.

The Blacksmith's name was Varric, a member of the Dwarf Race who was proficient in the Crafting Professions.

And so Ameanum made his way into the shop, which as usual was busy since everyone wanted to use the services of the Master Craftsman even if few could afford them. Even fewer were accepted by the craftsman himself to work for them.

Tycoon got next to Ameanum and curiously asked him.

"What do we do here? This shop is too expensive for us." [Wild Tycoon]

Ameanum just looked at her with a smirk on his face, and without saying anything, he started his way towards the counter of the shop.

Behind the counter, a male, well-dressed human seemed to be the front of the shop as he talked with all the customers, and if someone stayed in the shop all day, he would hear him mostly say one phrase.

"The master won't see you." [Young human]

But even after Ameanum hearing that been said to pretty much everyone who made his way to the young human, he didn't stop himself for even a moment. And so as he got himself at the counter and had the attention of the young human, he spoke.

"The hammer is heavy for the one who can't handle his drink" [Ameanum]

After hearing that, the young human's eyes got wide open as he responded.

"The master will see you right away. This way." [Young human]

And with quick steps, he leads Ameanum towards a door leading at the shop's backspace and even opened the door for him and bowed as Ameanum was walking in, leaving everyone in the shop frozen. None has ever had this kind of interaction coming from the young human, not even famous, powerful guild leaders. Still, now a guy got to meet Varic by just saying a phrase.

After Ameanum passed the door, the young human didn't follow him but closed the door and returned to his counter.

And so people went and said the same phrase that Shingi said, but they had the same response given to them as before

"The master won't see you" [Young human]

Everyone became more interested in the player's identity who made this happen, especially the two young girls that followed him in the shop.

"Nat. Didn't you say that no player would be able to see the owner of this shop?" [Little Phoenix]

"Yeah, that should be the case."[Wild Tycoon]

'Just who are you, Shingi?' [Wild Tycoon]