In the system space, Ed's skills were seeing a hardly noticeable rise. He was quite disappointed to know that his past hours were spent for little gain, but he was simultaneously happy about the fact that there was any gain.
The nature of these few skills made him believe that it would take far longer to see any notable rise. During times like these, Ed could only thank assimilation. He couldn't imagine how arduous and impossible it'd be to level up his skills otherwise.
'Status' This happiness was why Ed decided to check his status and take in the small achievements.
[Name: Edwa&!]
Type: Level 8 Consciousness
Health: 1001/1001 (!)
Mind: 3/10 (!)
Bodies: Skeleton, Orc, Mushroom, Elf
~Skills~
[Link lvl. 0]
[Fortified Mind lvl. 1]
[Assessment lvl. 4]
[Assimilation lvl. 8]
[Thought Manifestation lvl. 5] (!)1
[Language lvl. 3] (!)1
[System Link lvl. 6]
[Eloquence lvl. 4]
[Sixth Sense lvl. 1]
[Body Recollection lvl. 3] (!)1
[Spiritual Mark lvl. 0]
[Transmission lvl. 0]
There were a couple of notable new developments as could be seen. Starting from the top, his available spirit went up a small amount. Ed hadn't yet wrapped his head around this attribute but he was glad to see it rise.
'It's not too dissimilar to mana in the way it grows' Ed's effort had proven that repeated practice could make the attribute increase, even if the rate was not ideal.
That aside, the first skill Ed managed to level up was Thought Manifestation. All Ed did with the skill was move objects in the system space as well as attempt to build a small mental barrier with it. This method was unexpectedly effective as well as a rather useful learning opportunity.
'Thought Manifestation is very versatile in the mind space after all' Though it led Ed to wonder if his choice to acquire the Fortified Mind skill was a bad one.
The next skill Ed managed to level up after Thought Manifestation was the language skill.
Just as W had suggested, Ed created a book containing the basic rules of the elven language as well as common words and terms. Ed then translated the contents of the book to the human language he learned from the lich and to Ed's surprise… it worked!
'I didn't think it would' Since he was still in the elven body he figured it would be impossible to learn the language he technically already knew but apparently that wasn't truly the case.
'As long as I digest the language and translate it into another one I can continue to level up the skill' Ed was now secretly looking forward to repeating this same procedure with other bodies.
In fact, Ed was now also curious about whether it'd be possible to accumulate a myriad of languages through the use of A and W.
'If they can also try to translate languages and help me digest them then it should be possible' Ed would become well versed in the languages of all species if this method was viable.
'Well, the skill would probably level up by then' Though Ed couldn't help but wonder if it was even possible to advance from language. What surpassed language after all?
Ed's best guess was his transmission skill but since he already had that skill anything remotely similar would be nothing short of pointless.
Last on the list of skills that leveled up was body recollection which meant all was going according to plan.
'From what I can see the rate of regeneration increases with each level' The skill only went up one level but Ed could already tell that it was faster by more than just a few minutes.
'When dealing with large numbers even small percentages can make a huge differences' It was easy to forgot that was the case at times.
Anyway, having tried out all he wanted to try out in regard to skill level ups, all Ed had to do now was keep at it. He obviously couldn't level up language again until he switched to another body but the others were still fair game.
Unfortunately for Ed, however, not everything went quite as planned.
[Expelling user]
'Huh!?' Ed suddenly exclaimed. The system kicked him out!
Ed was now back in the elven library completely flabbergasted.
[Recalling Champion's Soul]
Despite Ed's muddled thoughts, he was now able to realize why the system expelled him. The dungeon was summoning him!
Ed's consciousness was swiftly whisked away and within what felt like a single breath Ed found himself back into the eternal darkness of the dungeon's mental space.
'Well… I hope you are sending me somewhere nice…' Ed was hoping to do more in the library but he wasn't too put down by the summoning.
'I left W there after all' Ed could pin his hopes on W maintaining order during his own absence.
Ed instead focused on trying to decipher where his next location would be. If the dungeon understood the urgency of the situation the Marshland was facing he would undoubtedly be sent back to his mushroom body.
'If not…' The only other option was the crypt. That location was the only one actively visited by adventurers so the dungeon most likely had nothing to worry about when it came to the other floors.
[Summoning Dungeon Champion]
The 10 minutes passed in a flash and soon Ed found the answer to his question.
As he recovered his vision and took in the dark torch lit environment Ed knew that this was definitely the crypt.
'What the heck…!' One problem however was that the torches he was seeing were all regular crypt torches. That was to say… they weren't the crystal torches he made for his little temple!
'Is this from after the earthquake?' The walls of his temple had crumbled and the floor was littered with debris. Ed could also see the bones of some skeletons scattered about wantonly.
Ed then heard the clanging of armor.
'Iron' The skeleton knight knelt solemnly before Ed but there was something pitiful about his image. His armor was tattered, not just scratched, it was mangled.
'There had to have been an attack, where are the others?' Ed asked Iron after noticing that there seemed to be only regular skeletons in his surrounding.
Iron of course could not speak but there was no reason why he couldn't try writing something with scratches on the ground. Yet, Iron remained steadfast in his position. No, actually, he lowered his head further down.
'Iron! Tell me what happened!' Ed commanded through the system. He refused to believe that all of his skeletons had just up and disappeared.
Having been commanded, Iron finally stood from his spot and unsheathed a sword. His sword also appeared to be worn from battle.
He swung this chipped blade against the ground making an unpleasant sound. Ed paid careful attention to each stroke and although he had no heart, he felt his heartbeat faster and faster with each moment.
He started to entertain thoughts that he wouldn't normally entertain. He started asking what if... what if…
Ed was afraid of finishing what came after... But Iron's writing did nothing to alleviate this.
A T T A C K E D
'No way' After reading the letters Iron painstakingly inscribed Ed could only feel denial.
'The dungeon would have definitely summoned me!' He refused to believe it was stupid enough to only bring this to his attention now, his whole place was destroyed!
Yet… The proof was right in front of him.
Before Ed could start panicking too much, however, Iron continued writing.
R E T R E A T E D
The scratchy letters now wrote that the skeletons had retreated from the main outpost which was… still horrible.
'I can't begin to imagine how many died…' Most importantly, Ed feared that one of the named skeletons like Drench, and Prairie might have perished. He had no doubt that the likes of Trench would survive though.
Nevertheless, losing Prairie who was a lot more unassuming in the group of anti-skeletons would still be a horrible loss.
'Alright, let's stop wishing death upon my skeletons…' Ed decided to quickly calm down. The skeletons were fine enough to think ahead, they had left Iron to care for him after all.
'Though it's weird that they left me in this throne to begin with' Shouldn't they haul him around with them?
'The battle must have been that bad' They couldn't even spare their liege a glance, it was unforgivable yet understandable.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Ed noticed that Iron no longer wrote anything, clearly he had fulfilled his command.
'Lead me towards my subjects' Ed would rebuild the temple and the outpost later, right now he needed to figured out how many skeletons were in need of a healing or an upgrade.
Iron nodded solemnly and began to walk away towards one of the room's distant entrances. Ed followed behind him faithfully while also observing the damage and changes the room had undergone.
'That wall over there collapsed… Oh, that's blocked' Ed's internal map would clearly need to be updated. In fact, everything in the crypt would need an update.
'I can't let the skeletons slowly die out again' They needed autonomy and that meant giving them the system's forge flame once and for all. Ed needed to form a link with one of his skeletons asap!
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