Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

The place was peaceful, almost to the point of being still. The sound in the area was the sound of slow and methodical rowing. It was a singular lonely boat, and as it reached land, it was obvious it wasn't as lonely as first suspected.

"Anything?" A lizardman asked as the one in the boat slowed and approached.

"Nothing" The lizardman on the boat responded.

This was a small dock made out rather hurriedly. Nonetheless, there were many boats docked here. Actually, calling it a dock was perhaps wrong. It was nothing more than a slightly longer natural stretch of land with many boats bound to a couple of common points.

"Inform the captain then" The lizardman overseeing the dock said. The patrol lizardman nodded but before they could leave, they were surprised to notice the faint outline of a boat in the distant.

"Hey, did you send out any other patrols?" The lizardman asked the overseer who vehemently shook their head. Who was this?! Who would come to the edge of the world?

The patrolman and overseer didn't have to wonder for long. The approaching lizardman who wore a heavy expression eventually managed to dock their boat alongside the others.

"Thank Eon I found you all!" The lizardman exclaimed with tears threatening to burst. They had it tough!

"What... What's wrong?" The lizard patrol asked with some trepidation. He felt this familiar lizardman was going to deliver some unfortunate news.

The atmosphere became tense.

"Eon is dead, he was killed..." The lizardman began to explain the occurrences of the previous day and the horrible defeat their army suffered. The patrol and overseer deeply regretted not being present for the battle yet at the same time, they couldn't help but feel like they wouldn't have changed the outcome.

While it was true that Kurgher did not deploy his entire army, it wasn't by as large a margin as some might imagine. The missing lizardmen were all forming part of Kurgher's conquest plans and there could very well be 30% of the army's total manpower concentrated on this task, but they wouldn't make a difference.

"Just more casualties…" The patrol lizardman muttered bitterly. They were to search every inch of the floor and capture and assimilate all and any lizardmen they came across into the tribe. That was the task they were giving, and he suddenly felt grateful for it.

"You all need to help! We can defeat those traitorous bastards! The hydra is dead too! Without its help... it's almost an even match!" The fleeing lizardman brought them quite a huge burden. Neither the overseer nor the patrol wanted to be responsible for it.

"We will take you to the captain!" The overseer declared.

"Great!" The lizardman was overjoyed. They might be able to stage a comeback! The overseer and patrol lizardmen both lead this to their captain but they were secretly regretful. Why did they have to be on duty today?

Kurgher's order to explore every single inch of the place was a tall and long term project. The army of lizardmen he ordered to handle this obviously split up into four directions to cover more ground.

This lizardman could have chosen any direction and at any time but they were the ones that had to deliver this bad news. Ordinarily, there wouldn't be a problem but... After a good bit of walking...

"Our captain, Loask" The overseer said pointing at a lizardman sitting arrogantly on a carved wooden throne. It mimicked the seat of the tribe leader.

Walking past some wooden fences from the dock, this would be the first sight of anyone that came in. Loask sitting upon a wooden throne in an arrogant posture. Their position left of a poor and arrogant first impression.

"Sir!" But the lizardman from Mensch did not know about this. Were they blinded by desperation?

"I beg you! Help us! The Mensch main village was taken over!" They had relocated to different villages or old villages that were abandoned but that was not ideal. They needed their buildings back! That was their home!

The lizardman was pleading and about to burst into tears from having to recall the experience a second time. This was when they heard a laughter.

"Hahahahah! Heehehe…" This weird boisterous laugh came not from bystanders but from the captain.

"That Kurgher bit the dust huh?" The leader of the tribe was dead.

"Doesn't that mean we need a new leader?" Loask said while rubbing his scaly chin. The prospect of Loask the leader didn't sound bad. Loask and Leader both even started with L, that had to mean something good for sure.

"Alright! I will help reclaim our tribe!" If Kurgher was still alive, Loask would have considered a rebellion. But as he was not, there was no need to be petty.

"You can go!" Loask dismissed the lizardman who was left confused.

"Alright! Then I, Rhaz, will see myself back out!" The lizardman, Rhaz apparently, said. Loask could only roll his eyes, nobody cares who you are!!!

"I will reclaim MY tribe…" Loask muttered when Rhaz finally left. The lizardmen that formed part of this small outpost all remembered their tribes. Loask was no different.

When forcefully putting together so many tribes, there were bound to be some dissatisfied talents. Loask was ready to demonstrate he was one such talent. Well, it did help that he found something interesting at the edge of the this world.

***

Back in the central part of the marshlands, Ed and the others were unaware of the potential threat brewing from Kurgher's poor decisions.

Currently, Ed was managing his field of mushrooms in the Mensch tribe main village.

'Looks like a plentiful harvest' It was hardly no more than a day but Ed's mushrooms were shining and decorating the otherwise hideous swampland with sheer numbers.

Ed planted many metal shrooms this time  . He prioritized the scarce ones like Bollumetu, Caerulite, Magicaes and others he found he might need in the future. These were mainly scarce because he used them after all so growing more would help.

Outside that however, Ed also planted some basic elements shrooms. He was planning on learning from Eon's use of magic mushrooms and he would be needing lots of fuel.

'Luckily, my mushrooms can be grown more selectively' Anything he made would likely be of higher quality than Eon. One reason was obviously his selective breeding, but the other was time.

'I'll have more time to research the use of mushrooms in arrays and magic devices' Eon had to create something in a matter of a couple of days which Ed did not know. He was just assuming Eon partook in this test after Bloody escaped which was still a low time margin.

Other than Ed however, the lizardmen were not idling away. The Mensch tribe's main village was pretty big and there was plenty of war reparations to collect.

'Great mushroom god, here are new offerings' Whenever they found something weird, per Ed's own instructions, they would offer it to Ed.

[Waterstone]

{ A stone attuned to the elements of water }

The offering this time was a bluish stone. If Ed remembered correctly, Iron's first set of knight armor was made using windstone. The waterstone might come in handy.

'I wonder if we can find where they picked this up from' The Mensch lizardman responsible for procuring this one might have just casually picked it out of the water without thinking much of it. Even if they weren't dead or missing, Ed would probably have no luck finding the source of the water stones.

In the case of Ed receiving something useful, he would reward Var Agus with knowledge.

[Link is on cooldown]

The knowledge he would pass on was mostly related to things required to grow a village and community. Basically, they were basic applications of what he learned running the orc city of Sanctuary.

While there was still much to learn on Ed's behalf, even this bit of knowledge allowed Var Agus to appreciate the breadth of knowledge inside the mushroom god's head.

'Hm? Thinking about it… how long can I keep this up for?' For how long could he play mushroom god? He spilled the beans for the orcs, shouldn't he do the same for the lizardmen?

He could pick favorites and play the lizardmen for fools but that wouldn't sit well with Ed. Being called mushroom god was pretty awkward to begin with. Ed had simply developed a very thick skin thanks to his constant switching of bodies.

As for how that was related… Well, the different titles he was conferred in each floor were actually equally awkward. He was a liege with the skeletons, leader in the orc village or Ed if that was a title, and a mushroom god.

'I guess the orcs are the best by comparison... ' He could pick them as favorites then. Ed was joking about inwardly but he didn't forget the main objective of staying.

'Var, do you think it will be a good time to chase them?' Ed's words were transmitted to Var who considered them before nodding.

'Your divinity, just say it and I will get it done' Var Agus said solemnly.

Today was an important day for Var Agus. It was the day he made the conviction to become a shaman for the mushroom god. This wasn't an easy choice, he probably should have committed suicide to please his ancestors and abide by their training but…

"This is more fun…" At some point, Var Agus muttered this to himself and realized that he could be more than what he was taught to be.. He could learn new things and transcending the traditions.