Unfortunately, this wish was one he was destined to never accomplish. His talent in the field of magic was too lacking. No one would take him under his wing. Such being the case, entering an academy that taught more broadly was his only choice. Though his prospects would likely remain shabby.
"Now… the key…" The blonde man frowned. The dead coachman... Was it really in their stomach?
The man was disgusted by the thought but their desire to study overcame disgust. The man's sword which was already coated in red blood hovered over the dead coachman. He would cut him open.
"Urgh-!" That was when suddenly the carriage tilted to one side. The blonde man was awed by the incompetence of the random people he teamed with. There was no way a scout missed whatever caused this!
A bit dizzy from the impact, but kept rational by rage, the non-magic swordsman gripped tightly onto their sword. He formed a conviction to murder whatever monster or person caused the impact.
Before he could act on this conviction, however, a clean slash made off with his head.
Samuel Oakley made a grimace. His blade was once more covered in blood.
"You deserve it…" Samuel knew that the carriage stopping in the middle of the road was not good news. The smell of blood that was still strong further proved that. But Samuel did not have time to gloat about his smarts.
He rushed in after the potion not minding the man he had just killed. Frankly, the man mattered little. His actions spoke about the politics of Galeburst or that someone wanted the Bosque kingdom to undergo new management.
While the latter was worrying, it was not the most immediate danger. Therefore, these were all matters that had nothing to do with Samuel. He needed the potion.
"It's locked!" But no matter how much he fiddled with the box he saw no way around using a key. No way except brute force.
Samuel's sword became coated in green energy, it shone radiantly before it arced down towards the cage.
A clang resounded in the vicinity. The end result was just a large dent. Samuel was fed up, however.
"I can't waste my time with you!" Instead of aiming at the cage anymore, Samuel's sword swung at the carriage! He severed the connection between the cage and the carriage.
While the potion was without a doubt still locked, he could make progress towards Bosque. He had to hurry!
***
After 10 minutes, Ed was allowed to respawn.
[Summoning Dungeon Champion]
The iconic message appeared and Ed's consciousness disappeared after being vacuumed away.
Within moments, his consciousness was elsewhere. But where was elsewhere? As Ed was now able to make out his surroundings, the answer was the crypt.
'A little disappointing' The next floor seemed to insist on teasing him with its potential existence. To make matters worse, Ed didn't have another compass to find the exit with. It might tease him for a while longer.
The torchlight was eerie as always in the temple of Ed.
[Eliminate intruders]
A system prompt appeared that instantly made Ed form various question marks.
'Did you suddenly remember your roots?' Why was the dungeon telling him to kill his bait? No one would want to come back if he killed them indiscriminately.
'There have to be some human hunting laws, you know, we cull them on human season' Ed had to admit the idea of human season was a bit ridiculous.
[Eliminate intruders]
But the dungeon was pretty adamant about having human season, or just killing humans Ed supposed.
'The dungeon probably needs more energy' This was the only explanation within the scope of Ed's knowledge and previous deductions. The reasons why it needed more energy were pretty self-explanatory.
Another possibility was that they were threatening it somehow but this was not even doubtful, it was ridiculous. What could the humans do from the first few floors of the dungeon? They had to get to the marshlands for Ed to consider this a possibility.
'Let's just kill a couple' Ed was running low on some materials anyway. The irony of a mob farming humans for materials was not lost on Ed. He wanted to laugh but that was kind of difficult as a skeleton.
'Maybe they'll have a new compass too' If the humans didn't, some other dungeon exploration devices would be appreciated.
Today, there was no one waiting for him at the temple. There were a couple of probable reasons as to why and the most likely was…
Ed stood up from his throne and ran outside. Immediately, the flashy sight of spells rocketing back and forth from two opposing sides caught his attention.
The most likely reason for their absence was that they were in battle. Ed swept a glance past the whole battlefield quickly identifying his subordinates. The named skeletons all stood out due to their outstanding performances.
One of the originals, Prairie, was making elegant sword swings to devastate the humans that attempted to overwhelm them. Brutus themselves was not doing too bad, their mace was being swung around with liberty and ease
Ed was proud of the sight, but he couldn't sit back and do nothing. If there was one thing that was obvious, it was that the dungeon didn't call him to sit back.
Trench and Blaze who seemed to have bonded were casting spells together side by side. The human magician who wore a flashy purple robe stood no chance under the magical assault.
Suddenly, the purple-robed magician's eyes widened. Just as they had cast a barrier to defend against the fire, a figure came darting out of the aftermath!
Iron's blade sunk past their robe and deep into their body. No, it pierced directly past it! Iron's hand holding the sword's handle could almost be seen on the other side. For the magician who was trying to cling to their life, this was a terrifying sight.
"Aaaa…" They were too weak to utter words of pain, not even as Iron's helmet opened and revealed two rows of shiny black teeth like fangs. The shock alone was capable of killing them.
Before Iron could finish off the now unconscious magician with a crunch, stakes of earth flew directly into the magician's body. Iron was shocked, who would take his kills? These were achievements that would get him in Ed's good graces!!! Iron needed them!
Fortunately, Iron was a cool-headed anti-skeleton. It verified the assailant and quickly gave up any thoughts of admonishment. Their liege was back!
Ed's figure was darted in and out of the field of skeletons. The adventurers that faced this small army were in the 40s or had been.
Their numbers had dwindled significantly by now and just as Ed was about to try and finish off the rest...
[Don't Eliminate intruders]
His non-existent eyes twitched. What kind of attitude was that for the dungeon to have? Was this sent by the system?
Ed didn't know, but he did comply. He stopped killing the humans per the dungeon or system's wishes. He ended up simply watching as the skeletons finished up the rest of the humans.
'They did a great job gathering this many white skeletons' Ed thought before the final human was put out of their misery.
The humans were stronger overall and without their advantage in numbers, Ed's minions would not be able to make a dent in them.
With the humans out of the way, Ed was left in the crypt confused. As for his skeletons, they all of course knelt down solemnly before starting to gather the loot.
'Oh right' The skeletons had picked up the habit of storing up everything thanks to his instructions. He just had to check their arsenal for more materials.
'Wait, I can't get sidetracked' The dungeon instructed him to stop killing the intruders which not only was it out of character, but it gave Ed a weird feeling.
'Was it testing something?' If the dungeon needed more energy killing more humans should have been-
'Ah… If I am nearby the souls go to me instead of the dungeon…' In that situation him killing the intruders was actually counterproductive. Still, Ed did not want to believe the dungeon was stupid enough to call him while knowing that.
Giving the dungeon the benefit of the doubt, Ed decided the dungeon must have simply intended to verify once and for all the theory. Unfortunately for the dungeon, however, as long as he was in the vicinity the souls would go to him anyway.
'Hm? If it's smart it'll notice the problem anyway then...' The skeletons were probably killing before Ed got to the scene. Now that he entered it and there were no souls... Ed was reminded to always keep his guard up when following the dungeon's instructions.
He essentially fell for a trap and he didn't want to do anything that could sour their relationship, not unknowingly at least. While the dungeon tolerated the system space nowadays, it hadn't before.
'Plus I don't want to take a beating for every step forward I take with the dungeon' It wasn't the best way to learn things.
What did this all ultimately mean?
'I should try and see if the system can give me the souls instead of applying it for my level up' That way he could offer them to the dungeon. While he would not be getting 100% of the loot of battles, the dungeon would not be 100% mad at him which was a nice bonus.
Just like that, Ed's plan for his stay in the crypt was settled.
'Rebuild outposts, restock treasures, improve anti-skeletons based on merit…' And then finally, acquire the physical manifestation of a soul.. The skeleton body had the handy materialize skill, so it might be possible to hold a soul.
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