Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

Before making the next hottest kitchen appliance, however, Ed thought it would be nice to name his formation.

'Let's go with something simple and functional' Ed didn't intend to name it anything wacky. Plus, he didn't think this was the first array of its kind. In that case, it was best to differentiate it by its characteristics.

After much pondering, Ed thought to capitalize on its input characteristic.

[Quad Input Tree Growth Array]

An array made by the beginner formatonist Ed. It requires four inputs. Two crystals, a person, and the target in order to grow the tree. The array also has the secondary function of maintaining and expanding a tree's life span as long as the array remains active.

'What nice effects' Ed boasted snidely without a hint of shame. He had not planned to expand the tree's lifespan and he never even thought of it as a possibility since he knew that this increase was artificial.

It was similar to gaining immortality by remaining bedridden inside of a hospital with the doctor's holding the solution to keep you alive. Were they to fail to administer it a single time you'd immediately die.

'It works for a tree though' Ed thought as he observed the array which was starting to die down. After the outermost layer consumed the earth and water crystals, those three arrays slowly stopped circulating mana. There was nothing to circulate after all.

The case was different for the plant-pseudo element sub-layer however as it continued to whirr rapidly while holding the most mana. The middle array which limited the output spun slowly and passed this onto the tree's sublayer which also spun slowly as it inserted the mana into the ground.

'This will last a while' The tree wouldn't suddenly die, Ed could rest assured.

The only way was for someone or something to screw it up but the orcs were safe to pass by. There was still room for injury especially if they tried to enter the plant sub-layer but Ed planned to warn against it. Going against this warning would have to be counted as courting death. Unfortunately, Ed knew that some of the orcs would still test his patience.

Regardless now wasn't the time to test patience, Ed needed to test a potion.

Ed placed aside all of his array equipment and would only occasionally glance at his array to make sure everything was fine as he prepared the materials for this new potion.

'Remote materialization is really useful' Ed was now using his storeroom as a proper inventory and he couldn't be any happier about it. All of the required materials were within grasp in seconds.

Ed started the potion making process by leaving the cauldron to heat. After that, he plucked the tree clean of the lesser orc blood fruit it had grown and dropped them all into an earthen container. He controlled the earth it was made of and crushed them all into juice simultaneously

He then cast a wind spell to shred any leftover chunks. Casting wind spells through a wall of earth was a waste of mana, but unless he really wanted to take up appliance crafting, this was for the best.

'I might really need a blender in the future though' Ed didn't think this would be the last time he would be forced to shred something up. Fruit or otherwise.

The citric juice was done and Ed threw it directly into the hot cauldron. Just like that, the juice was put to slowly boil. Then came the most crucial part, deciding which ingredient would go first.

'Hm... ' Ed thought briefly before decisively tossing the earthen spirit bone into the boiling orange-colored fruit juice. The main reason was that it would take a while for it to melt inside of this solution anyway.

'Bones aren't so easy to melt' Ed doubted that boiling fruit juice met the requirements but Ed still pinned his hopes on significantly increasing the temperature. If the juice couldn't dissolve bone it would definitely dissolve ash!

'Hey, isn't that actually a good way…' Ed eyed the bone which was sinking into the solution and only gulped nervously. He wanted to start with the least valuable bones for this reason but although Trench was inferior to Iron and the newly introduced Gold he didn't have many other equals.

'What a blunder' But Ed didn't take it to heart and quickly moved on. There was always a chance the potion might be entirely different if crafted with ash. Plus, who knew if the consciousness would even last long enough to be placed into the cauldron under those circumstances.

Ed observed and casually stirred the solution. He made sure to place fort flower petals into it rather often and eventually the potion began to bubble and become volatile. Unlike before, Ed took it as a positive sign. 

Still, he had to be careful. He only had one earthen spirit bone. He did have other items from Trench but they ended up as nothing but regular spirit bones with hints of personalities.

[Rock Cauldron (Volatile)]

Once more the cauldron began to heat up. It bubbled by the dozen and no matter how fast or slow Ed stirred the state had remained the same. Out of fear for failure, Ed casually tossed in a couple of serenity buds.

The solution instantly sparked causing Ed to avert his eyes and squint.

'The heck' After taking a glance again the solution had changed in color. The previous orange turned closer to brown and the bubbles simmered down.

'Is it turning into a dud!?' This sudden fear entered Ed's heart but a quick assessment told him otherwise.

[Incomplete Healing Potion(Stabilizing)]

Well, the state was still worrying but as more time progressed Ed realized that he couldn't do anything about it. The solution continued to become increasingly steady and firm. It was almost like jello.

[Awkward Body Cleansing solution]

A potion which had become too stable for its own good. Can be eaten for slight improvements in health. Tastes like fruit.

'Did I make vitamin gummy's?' How could Ed forget about the ever so trustworthy vitamin gummies that protected him during childhood? Who knew that caveman could have such advanced scientific knowledge? He may have forgotten his parents but he would never forget those cartoons from that one show and the gummies they provided him!

'Eh, no wait that means I did forget them' It was a great injustice to those cartoons but Ed didn't dwell on it too long. Who said that having something healthy and delicious to snack on was bad?

Ed controlled the earthen cauldron to expand a bit leaving a cylinder of brown gelatin. He took a piece with his bare hands and tried it.

"Cou- Cough! This isn't delicious!" Ed nearly choked from how sour the thing turned out to be. It tasted like fruit alright but it tasted as the only fruit Ed had placed in there!

***

Eon woke up from his slumber within the span of a day. His injuries hadn't been very severe, his main problem had been exhaustion.

"Are you feeling better now?" A B-ranked healer asked Eon who had just returned from the bathroom.

"Yes- Cough Cough!" Eon coughed loudly while covering his mouth with his sleeve. The doctor frowned as he noticed the traces of blood but made no comment. This was a classic case of mana inefficiency.

It happened whenever a mage exceeded their natural lifespan by relying on their large quantity of mana. For Eon, an A-class space magician, the amount by which he exceeded his natural life span might have been as much as 100 years. The healer couldn't help even if he wanted to.

Eon ignored the healer's scrutiny as he grabbed his staff which had been resting by the bedside.

"I heard that the prince sent a royal company to take care of the dungeon already, yes?" Eon shot the healer a glance and asked. The latter was surprised by the inquiry but nodded in the end.

"Hahaha, that young lad doesn't respect his father at all" Eon wasn't close with the king. They were business partners, nothing more. He, therefore, found it funny to see his partner's life fall into shambles.

"But…? Wasn't that the king's order?" The B-ranked healer asked cautiously. Eon simply nodded however breaking his expectations of uncovering a great secret.

"I'll get going then- Co- Cough" A portal appeared in front of Eon. The pitch-black void of space scared the healer making him fall off his chair. By the time he stood up Eon was already gone.

"Are all legends so eccentric? I wonder where he went…" The healer certainly had no way to know but Eon hadn't actually gone very far. It had in fact been two rooms over.

"Master Eon!?!" The people inside of the king's temporary lodge were alarmed once the sickly Eon appeared next to the king out of thin air. But Eon didn't say anything. He simply grabbed the sickly Brenan and muttered some words.

"Brennan, help me out one last time" These words preceded the cast of another spell.

"Ho- Hold it!" One of the knights yelled while aiming his sword in shock. An A-class mage who was in the room simply fired a torrent of flames towards the helpless Eon.

Nevertheless, the flames bombarded the bed and wall but failed to hit the target that was Eon.

"Hey are you crazy you could've killed his maj-" "The knight didn't finish his words as the mage looked at him unfazed.. It made him dial back his thoughts out of fear.