12 Stories of the past
Shingi repeated the same routine as yesterday with both him and Annoue, training their Mana Skills. Shingi let Annoue know how to visit her inner space and the secret of how watching her inner figure could help her train. It seemed like she noticed some variations to help her, even if her skill were already at Base Rank, which didn't surprise Shingi at that point.
Shingi tried to increase his MANA SENSE since he had to use it during his night activities to make sure no one else was reaching him and repeat yesterday's events.
The rest of the day passed with no change in the Rank of their Skills, but Shingi could feel some improvements in his MANA SENSE.
He made his way to the storehouse, and the night passed with no accidents.
Also, he had made enormous progress with his Mana Seed, as he could feel some roots have taken form. Just a little more, and he should finish with it, taking at least its early plant form. That was the bare minimum he needed to do.
Returning this time, he didn't find his father in the kitchen as today he also didn't seem to have left his room at all.
During the day, he kept looking if there were any changes in his SPECTATOR MODE. He kept his senses open at night if he saw Hineko around, but both had negative results.
For at least Hineko's case, he was sure that he would hear news from him, and he wouldn't tell about him to anyone else. After having a rational mind following an encounter like that with an NPC who mentioned he wanted to meet them again, most players would assume some special reward or Quest would come after it. So most would like to keep it for themselves.
Of course, there was the case of him not showing up, but that was almost close to zero and wouldn't much affect him, as also maybe he actually would come with some company. Still, in that case, it should be limited.
On the third day and last of the festival started, and today it was somewhat different. Annoue seemed down today and not in the mood to train and just wanted to stay in bed, which seemed quite surprising to Shingi after spending these days with Annoue.
His father remained in his room, but this time, Shingi knew he wasn't sleeping as he didn't hear any of the typical snoring.
Well, he tried to cheer Annoue up, but she didn't seem to be in any mood to talk, and so Shingi let her alone for now.
Since he had little to do as his MANA SENSE trained enough for his needs, he took a walk around town and further investigated.
He made a makeshift cloak with some of the storehouse's cloth with a hood to help him boost his STEALTH skill, so he wore it and went out. He visited the rest of the Low Town other than the market area that he mainly had seen with Annoue the other day.
He kept seeing a few players almost everywhere. It seemed like a ship transported them, sometimes with some products for the town.
After a while, he found out from the players' discussion that the dungeon near the town was rare and seemed to be permanent. There were quite a few months since it appeared, but that it was a Low Level one.
As for Hineko, he didn't find him anywhere.
Then he moved to a specific building he wanted to visit for some time.
The Mayor's office.
Fortunately, even if she was a high-power person in the town, her office was in the Low Town and not High Town since not everyone had access to High Town.
After he found the place, it seemed full of players, and he saw the reason behind it.
There was a quest board outside the building.
This was a common thing that most of the towns had, especially one with monster problems. There wasn't anything significant, primarily things like delivery tasks or gathering herbs, looking at some of the remaining tasks. Most players would find them quite dull. He assumed that the more interesting ones were already taken, and most likely, the ones here were to report their progress.
Usually, there would be a sizeable group of people helping organize everything most of the time. However, the Mayor and a helper of hers were the only ones behind organizing the quests, so things went slowly.
After hours of waiting and was getting quite close to dinnertime, the last Player left the building, so Shingi made his way towards the Mayor's office. But, of course, he took down his hood just before he entered the building.
When he entered, both of the people had noticed him. The Old Lady seemed to be surprised seeing him as at her helper's eye. He could see that small amount of pity that he was seeing in everyone else.
"Young one. I see you have recovered well, but how come you came here." [Aneta]
Shingi looked around the place, and he went to a corner that there was a chair, and he brought it in front of them and sat on it.
"I am here to learn the truth about my Mother." [Shingi]
Hearing that, the Mayor was surprised.
"What do you want to know?" [Aneta]
"I want to know about her disappearance and what it has to do with the way Father is now and how he used to be." [Shingi]
He had heard that missing a loved one would change people, but he wasn't entirely sure how significant a change could be.
After Aneta sighed and nodded towards her helper, he closed the door after making sure that no one was outside.
"Well, first, you need to understand that your mother was a special woman—a woman of courage and kindness. One who would help the people in need and punish those who were at the side of evil, no matter their backgrounds. But this is a typical thing for a lot, but not all the Blessed Ones…" [Aneta]
After hearing this, Shingi seemed he temporarily went deaf.
'My mother is a Blessed One? But how is that possible?' [Shingi]
Aneta started mentioning a few things she had done for the town and things she had heard of her doing in other places. To tell the truth, there were some impressive things among them, and he wondered if he actually knew that Player.
After some years of adventuring and her coming and returning to the town, she seemed to come into a relationship with a confident, passionate young man.
Of course, that man was his father, who he learned his name was Garry.
His mother's blessed name, or in-game name, was Angel's Feather, one he wasn't familiar with. After just a few months of dating, she got married to Garry, and not too much after that, they started making their shop in town.
She seemed like she wasn't so focused on her adventures anymore as her leaving and returning were getting less frequent.
One day she got pregnant with their first child, which was a healthy girl.
After a few years, they exepected another child, but during her pregnancy, she seemed like one of her old enemies, a powerful Arcane User that cursed her in Never-Ending sleep, found her. Of course, Shingi knew that no Player had learned the Never-Ending Sleep curse, or could learn it as the System wouldn't allow it, so it had to be an NPC. Still, going after her like that was unusual, unless it was part of a failing a Quest or something similar.
Back then, they weren't aware of any cure, but it seemed it wasn't a permanent one when its target was a High-Level Blessed One like her, but her child wasn't that lucky.
After giving birth and seeing her child's state, she became a being of pure madness and having only one purpose. Finding a cure for her child.
But even if they were some quests saying about potential cures, nothing seemed to work on the boy.
She kept looking for new leads, and her time away from home was becoming longer and longer, but she was sending a message back now and then. But almost two years ago, she sent a message saying that it was the last, and she put an end and would never return.
Hearing this, Shingi knew that she most likely stopped playing the game.
But after hearing the whole story, he had other questions replaced than the ones answered.
A player got pregnant in the game by an NPC, and not once, but twice?
'I have heard the developers bragging now and then that they created a world that everything was possible, but this is simply unheard of.' [Shingi]
He had heard of people that got romantically interested with NPCs, even some marrying one. Still, a Player getting pregnant from an NPC that he was entirely sure would be something that everyone would have heard of it happening.
First, he thought that maybe the Mayor was referring to her as a Blessed One for another reason, and she wasn't a player, but she had an ability that only the players had.
The ability to respawn.
That was something not even the most powerful NPC could replicate except if it was under the effect of some rare curses, but that would show some clear signs that should have been noticed at some point by someone if it was the case.
He also learned the reason people were looking at him and his sister that way.
It seemed the person who cursed him and his mother on Never-Ending sleep had also that he cursed his entire family with bad luck and painful death with his last words. Unfortunately, there were quite a few witnesses who heard of those words as his mother fought him in the town, so they spread the rumors of it everywhere. Unfortunately, things didn't work that well after that point, so people thought they weren't just words of a dying man but an actual curse. As a result, most people kept their distance from the family.
After hearing the complete story, he stood up, and saying nothing else, he started his way toward his house. But before he left, the helper of Aneta showed him a metal pot similar to the one he found in their kitchen the other day, and he could smell the same soup in it.
Since it was pretty heavy, the helper joined Shingi on his way to his house, since he didn't seem to be strong enough to lift it all the way there, and it was really the case.
On their way there, they said nothing to each other, but Shingi did only one thing, and that was opening his Status Window.
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STATUS
NAME: Shingi Maki
CLASS: None
PROFESSION: Scholar Master
RACE: Blessed Human
HP: 50/50
SP: 20/20
STR: 10
AGI: 10
END: 10
INT: 16
CHA: 4
SKILLS
Low Rank: VISUALIZATION, IMPROVISED THROW WEAPON
Base Rank: MANA MANIPULATION, MANA SENSE, STEALTH Master Rank: PERCEPTION
BLESSINGS: Blessing of ??????, Blessing of Dlog
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It actually changed his race to Blessed Human, which he had never heard of.
He and the helper made it to the kitchen, where unexpectedly both Garry and Annoue, his father and sister, were.
They both turned and looked towards Shingi when he entered, but only Annoue reacted as she went to hug him and whispered in his ear.
"Never leave me alone again." [Annoue]
Shingi would typically tell her she wasn't alone since their father was here. Still, after hearing the story of his mother, he understood he was a ghost of himself.
The family had their dinner, or at least Annoue and Shingi had, as Garry didn't seem hungry. After having some drinks of tea this time, Garry went outside instead in his room this time. Annoue sighed, seeing this, as it didn't seem to be something new. Shingi was confident that he shouldn't ask, as he could imagine a few possibilities in where he could have gone.
As they finished their dinner and went to bed at that point, Shingi encountered a problem he had never considered happening.
Annoue grappled his arm and wasn't letting go even when she fell asleep.
