Back in the crypt, Ed let out a sigh of relief. The lizardmen had finally won, that was great news!
Ed could finally focus back on the matters of the crypt and elven desert that W was overseeing. Though if there was one slightly disappointing turn out of this victory it was the state of the gauntlet beast.
'I wonder if it will still be possible to study the gauntlet' Its golem-like behavior was worth studying but it did seem like Dakgu might have trashed the gauntlet a bit too much.
Fortunately, even if the gauntlet wasn't exactly suitable for study anymore, Ed did manage to gain a couple of things from the experience.
To exhibit these changes, Ed went into the system space and called his status window. He had seen the notice for a couple of level ups before, but wouldn't it be nice to see the mall bundled together into a nice imaginary window?
[Name: Edwa&!]
Type: Level 8 Consciousness
Health: 1001/1001
Mind: 5/13 (!)
Bodies: Skeleton, Orc, Mushroom, Elf
~Skills~
[Link lvl. 1] (!)
[Fortified Mind lvl. 1]
[Assessment lvl. 4]
[Assimilation lvl. 8]
[Thought Manifestation lvl. 5]
[Language lvl. 3]
[System Link lvl. 6]
[Eloquence lvl. 4]
[Sixth Sense lvl. 1] (!)
[Body Recollection lvl. 3]
[Spiritual Mark lvl. 1] (!)
[Transmission lvl. 1] (!)
Lots of his skills mental skills managed to level up though the most notable was definitely the link skill.
'Now I just have to try and use it on Trench' That was good news. Though that wasn't to say the level ups of his other skills were in any way bad.
The next level up was sixth sense for example which Ed had relied on quite a lot up until now. The skill tended to get distributed to his parts proving how crucial of a skill it was. While its participation in the battle appeared minimal, Ed knew that couldn't be further from the truth.
Without using link to pass this skill onto Var Agus, Ed wouldn't have been able to confirm his theory. Information was the most important in a battle and sixth sense was excellent at gathering it.
That aside, another skill that saw a level up was spiritual mark which Ed figured was a bit overdue. The skill itself seemed like a much weaker link now that he that skill but it was precisely because it was a weaker link that it was useful.
'Otherwise I wouldn't be able to communicate across floors at all' Ed also figured that it was only a matter of time before he discovered another useful feature of the skill. The ability to place down a coordinate on someone had the potential to be powerful when combined with the right powers.
'Teleporting to marks would be indispensable for example' The odds of this happening were slim in for the near future but Ed did think it was something that could come to pass.
The final level up that came out of the whole gauntlet beast fiasco was transmission. After having lived without it for a short while he learned to appreciate it and Ed was therefore rather glad to see it level up.
Having finished checking his level ups, Ed left the system space and returned to the grim reality of the crypt.
[Assimilation is off cooldown]
'I'll have to see what to assimilate' Ed thought pushing the matter to the back of his mind, there was something else he wanted to focus on right now.
"Well done" Ed said to the skeletons using the mana speech skill. He had been practicing the skill for the sake of sounding more approachable to the humans.
Sadly, this practice was going unnoticed. The skeleton scholars Ed taught didn't move a muscle despite his words of praise.
'They don't have muscles but…' They could still flinch a little, right?
Ed couldn't nag them for this though, he was actually rather proud of how concentrated the skeletons were. Currently, they were being tasked with drawing protective arrays for the entire outpost which was by the way looking rather fine.
Thanks to the additional width and height instead of a temple surrounded by flimsy walls it now looked as though Ed's temple was located inside the courtyard of a grim castle.
While Ed didn't care about aesthetics, he just wanted a functional outpost, he could still be a little proud of the sight, no?
'Plus it'll help later when I set up dungeon wide tourism' Ed joked. He didn't think that dungeon wide tourism would ever become a thing.
'At most a couple of floors will realistically participate' Reaching the whole dungeon seemed impossible especially with places like the supposed blood haven existing.
'There are bound to be some terrifying places in this dungeon' Not all of them would be suitable for tourism with that being the case.
After overseeing the work of the skeleton scholars for a bit longer Ed separated from them and went to the outpost's new training ground. The training ground even came with earthen dummies equipped with adventurer armor.
Previously the skeletons didn't do such a thing since they were strictly told to hoard the items for Ed. Now however Ed knew that he didn't really need all of these things, they were better off being used for some practical purpose.
It wasn't like Ed was throwing away any good items by letting the skeletons have a couple of dummies. In order to prevent this from happening Ed put scavenger the skeleton appraiser in charge of well… Appraising.
It would be stupid of Ed to not put all of his skeleton's special quirks and talents to some good use. Scavenger was the kind of skeleton that was willing to look through piles of armors and weapons for free, Ed figured paying him with some of those scavenged gear in order to reserve the best for himself was a good deal.
'Oh, maybe I should assimilate some equipment' It had been a while since Ed last saw his status as a skeleton though. He didn't know what to prioritize right now.
'Status' Ed called out to the system and a hefty window popped up.
[Name: Edwa&!]
Type: Skeleton
Health: 1100/1100
Mana: 283/283 (!)
Strength: 7
Agility: 8
Constitution: 10
Dexterity: 7
~Skills:~
[Adept Throwing lvl. 5]
[Swordsmanship lvl.3]
[Hoarding lvl. 8]
[Explosion Resistance lvl. 0]
[Mana Manipulation lvl. 9]
[Materialize lvl. 1]
[Instruction lvl. 3]
[Requiem lvl. 3]
[Formationist lvl. 1]
[Mana Speech lvl. 0]
Ed never realized this before but his skeleton body had a fair share of rather unique skills.
'Adept throwing, swordsmanship, hoarding…' They were rather niche all things considered but definitely not useless. Ed still vividly remembered grinding these skills out.
'Hoarding is close to leveling up, should I give it the final push?' Ed wondered if that was the right move.
'I need to search for a valuable piece of equipment anyway so I may as well' Ed justified this action with this as the reason and went into one of the temple's rooms. Ed had the skeletons move all the equipment they had recovered from the earthquake into this room.
The equipment was damaged which was unfortunate but at the same time quite lucky.
'I can use the broken equipment to teach the skeletons smithing' If they learned how to repair things, crafting things would be a much easier step.
That aside, Ed had to start looking through this pile of wrecked equipment for something worth assimilating.
'Let's see… Constitution and mana…' That was Ed's current requirement for whatever piece of equipment he intended to assimilate. He believed that for his skeleton self these two aspects were the most important.
'This body is a mage more than anything' Even if the throwing skill and swordsmanship skill might make one believe otherwise.
After a while of searching through the pile of equipment and weapons Ed managed to organize the entire temple room.
[Anti-Mana Chestplate]
[ A chestplate with great magical resistance ]
[Soul Band]
[A band said to ward and protect against mental attacks]
The damaged equipment Ed continued to find was mostly unsatisfactory. Ed couldn't fathom using any of them for assimilation. The soul band for example left even the system uncertain of its effects.
'Anti-mana is unlikely to give me mana, right?' It had anti in the name. Nevertheless, for the sake of the constitution he could gain Ed followed through with assimilating the anti-mana plate.
[Assimilation is on cooldown]
[Constituion +2]
[Mana +13]
'Hm?' It turned out that the anti-mana plate was actually a lot more powerful than Ed gave it credit for.
'I suppose that anti-mana would require some mana to be effective, right?' There had to be some magic to the item for it to be effective.
'It's a pity that I didn't level up hoarding though' Ed thought as he lowered the soul band onto one of his separated piles.
[Hoarding has leveled up]
[Hoarding has met the conditions to advance, Advance Hoarding Skill? Y/N]
It was when Ed least expected it that the hoarding skill actually ended leveling up! He was both thrilled and surprised.
'I wonder what it will become!' Ed was really curious about the level up.. Though he also knew not to expect too much from it. After all, it was just a skill for organizing things, right?
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