Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

Without too much trouble, Ed managed to dismiss the lizardmen. He now had the liberty to enter the system space without fear. But that didn't mean he was confident doing it in an open field, so perhaps there was some fear.

'Then again, I haven't found out yet if pain brings me out of the system space…' If he was forced out he could take the risk when there was no other choice at the very least.

But this meddlesome thought felt like nothing more than the temptation of the evil monster called curiosity. The loathsome beast that had led to discoveries and breakthroughs in technology was threatening to kill him as it also had many others.

Ed simply ignored the curiosity and entered the system space after finding an empty distant building. He was soon met by the white majesty of the system space and he could only sigh inwardly.

'This feels like the only place I can relax in' The outside was full of stress and constant things to manage. The inside of his own head was the only place of solace.

Without further ado, Ed made his way over to W who was kindly waiting in the storeroom. He took the wisp of himself back with him to the forge room where they would merge.

'Seems fine…' Ed thought giving W one last look. He then just shrugged and tossed both himself and W into the forge where the bone-chilling fire began to melt them both into liquid.

The unbearable excruciating pain that was familiar to him brought him unimaginable nostalgia. It was unimaginable because he couldn't currently think never mind imagine.

This luxury was eventually returned to Ed, however. By the time the procedure ended, Ed's thoughts were out of wack.

[Mind + 1]

'Huh?!' He ended up suddenly earning something in the mind attribute. But why was that so?

[Name: Edwa&!]

Type: Level 8 Consciousness.

Health: 798/798

Mind: 3/3

Bodies: Skeleton, Orc, Mushroom

~Skills~

[Transmission lvl. 8] -Show-

[Fortified Mind lvl. 0] -Show-

[Assessment lvl. 3] -Show-

[Assimilation lvl. 8] -Show-

[Thought Manifestation lvl. 3] -Show-

[Language lvl. 2] -Show-

[System Link lvl. 6] -Show-

[Eloquence lvl. 4] -Show-

[Sixth Sense lvl. 2] -Show-

[Body Recollection lvl. 2] -Show-

[Spiritual Mark lvl. 1] -Show-

He had decided to look at his status to check he earned some mind, but he was quick to notice something else instead... he had a new letter in his name! Who could have thought just merging with W would have been enough to regain some memories?

That was right, Edwa had finally learned some memories. They weren't blurry, actually, these memories felt more like pictures where only specific scenes were depicted. The order was a bit weird too so he might be able to recall them quite yet.

[Records of Nostalgia is now available]

'Huh? Are they in the theater room?' An odd turn of events. But what would these records show him? He was curious as it mentioned nostalgia but what he was most curious about was the small details.

'What does my world look like?' The details of things which he couldn't properly recall… he wanted to see these details closer up and ingrain them into his mind.

'But this will have to wait' There were other changes in his status after all. First, he had broken through to the 1000 consciousness health mark with the merging. This was notable for only one reason.

'This might have been what got me the letter' If the more hp equaled more storage for memories, it was obvious that these old memories could now be brought in. This allowed Ed to connect a couple of strings.

'The system is the one in charge of passing me my memories' Up until now, it made no sense to Ed how his memories were slowly returning with each level up.

Ed kept on changing bodies so it wasn't like these memories were on his brain, he was a consciousness! All of his memories could be on his consciousness but the notion alone was laughable since if it was true he would be able to recall them.

'Was the information hidden and compressed inside my consciousness?' He felt the answer was no, he wasn't exactly a computer. The system however had a database and managed most things Ed related. It was the only possible culprit.

It was like having a backup server. The comparison made Ed feel uneasy.

'It can't be that I am easily replaceable, right?' There had to be a reason why the system was returning his memory. Apart from appearing as benevolent, there didn't seem to be any benefits for both the dungeon and the system from him retaining his old memories.

'A clean slate would be best...' Ed suddenly realized a possible flaw of the system.

'It can give me skills which contain information but it doesn't do it indiscriminately' With all the knowledge in its database, the system could turn Ed into a super-genius if needed.

The thing was, turning him into an all-knowing sage seemed like it was needed or at least strongly preferred.

'The system must only be able to store and return my own memories at little to no cost' Using the knowledge of others was for some reason pricey. If this was the case it would explain why to sacrifice total servitude for knowledge. As previously stated, turning him into an all-knowing sage was always preferred.

If he knew how to best make use of technology or at least think critically and logically, the system would be less burdened. Ed's journey so far had already proven that knowledge was power.

'With hindsight, I can safely say there is a lot I would do differently about the start of my journey all the way until now' The strategies… the decisions… they could all be better now that he had experience.

But the experience he earned naturally through the dungeon was not the same as that of his previous life, this came into play at different times. His understanding of the world when he first stepped into it, when he made carts, the recent currency, these were things based almost entirely on his memories.

'A great deal of these memories were selective' He had asked himself who chose these things at first and believed it to be the dungeon but evidently, the system was the one dictating what he was allowed to remember or not.

'You are the one that has blurred out my family and past' It prioritized knowledge of technology, physics, chemistry, all the scholarly knowledge or basic know-how an average 18-year-old college student could possess.

Nothing superfluous, just what was necessary to complete its function. A cold outlook.

'In the end, I have to go to the theater to get memories of myself and family' It was a sad thing to consider. To not even pass on the knowledge directly. Though there always existed the chance the timing was just misleading. Regardless...

'I'm still incomplete' But if the system was going to make his life a movie then perhaps the end was fast approaching. With only two letters to go, the theater room would be full of records for sure.

But the final thing Ed had found out from his status was mind. The power of the mind which he had developed before. It seemed to be similar to mana or health and it did indeed function like that.

With it, one could cast mental attacks. With it, when using skills like thought manifestation he wouldn't lose any health. The mind was an interesting consumable attribute.

The fact that he had only 3 of it at the moment was what surprised Ed. He had only two known notices of it leveling higher. This implied that if he wasn't in the system space when he earned this additional mind he wouldn't be notified.

'A weird bug for sure' But Ed didn't attack the system for being bad. Actually, it was being rather good to him, and compared to the dungeon, the system was like an angel.

With this, Ed had concluded his thoughts. All that was left to do was to make the choice between heading into the theater room or exiting the system space.

'The theater room this time might be a simulation of my memories' This was an important decision to make. Was he willing to face himself? To learn more about the first him and their likely innocence.

Or would he abandon the idea for now and focus on what was in front of him? Leaving the system space and planning the attack on the humans anew did not seem like a particularly dumb decision.

Was this a grueling decision? Edwa did not need to ask that. He already knew the answer.

'I need to enter the theater room' Last time at the end of the records of struggle he received a mind attribute. It wasn't much but it was simple and honest work.

He wanted more mind and he was still curious. Though tempted by curiosity once more, Ed was able to block out the sentimental thoughts and focus solely on how that would help him.

The mind attribute was attractive on its own so Ed headed quickly to the theater room.. He was determined to learn something new today, and he was ready to be reward for doing so too.