Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

Ed needed a magic sensing skill, but he did not believe he would be enlightened just because he existed.

'I am not some sort of miracle protagonist' He had gotten pretty lucky thus far but surely not to the extent of a protagonist right? It wasn't as though he would in the next few second suddenly- Ah!

'That's it!' He should give up completely!

The fruit was the only hint they had but he was incapable of locating it. What a pity.

Even if he couldn't miraculously learn the necessary skill, Ed could still try to check his bag of tricks. He had plenty of magic devices that performed a variety of different purposes.

Entering the system space and the divine white storeroom however Ed quickly realized that he really was out of luck.

'I have a hook shot but how's that going to help?' The number of magic devices he collected were little. In fact, a lot of them still came from the time he was with the lich.

'Hm? Wasn't there a compass?' The adventurers and even knights would always carry either a map or a compass. His first compass he ended up assimilating early on in his journey but the assessment or deduction he made back then suggested it pointed towards the next floor.

'Huh, I can use that' He couldn't use it for finding the fruits, but he could definitely make use of it to find the next floor.

'Wait… can I use it here?' Ed didn't remember if he ever figured out how exactly the compass functioned. But if it was related to mana he might be able to figure something out.

As A continued to wander around looking for clues, Ed tinkered with a compass. The forge had many tools that would allow him to dissect the magical device without ruining any of its components.

'I wonder if I can extract powers from a magical device…' Magical devices were magical, why couldn't they have skills? As Ed worked, he also pondered on such idle matters.

[Magic Compass (Tinkered)]

{ A magic compass tinkered with by an amateur. Its capabilities and range have significantly fallen }

'Eh, that wasn't the plan…' The system was not perfect it would seem. Although he did try to put every melted piece back together carefully, the internals were still harmed.

Well, it might also have to do with his little experiment. Ed did more than just wonder about extracting skills from the compass. The result was… Well, nothing…

'That's probably where its capabilities fell' It was a pity, that wasn't what he intended but… it still worked!

'I wanted to make it pinpoint sources between certain mana thresholds' Basically, he wanted to make it point somewhere that wasn't the exit.

After running many assessments on different components and the device as a whole, Ed figured out that the compass pointed towards places with large mana accumulation. More often than not, if the boss was in any way magical, there would be lots of mana at its location.

That left the question of how such a compass functioned in normal dungeons and although it definitely was capable of making errors, things like safe rooms still had more mana than plain old rooms in a dungeon.

'Enough of that, time to bring the compass out!' Although it was technically broken, it didn't need fixing. He was ready to have Var Agus set off!

***

In the capital, there was a man in his guest room sometimes pacing, sometimes sitting, sometimes just deeply contemplating.

There was a hidden tension that suffocated the one and only Samuel Oakley. As the A-class adventurer closest to the pinnacle of power, one could say he was an enlightened individual. So… what plagued him? What was ailing his consciousness?

Was it the fate of the world? The mystery of the gods? The threat on his life by the uncertain future?

No. It was family.

The journey ahead was perilous for himself but it was impossible for his family. How could they survive without him? They couldn't! Every second he was apart from them, he was risking their lives!

So why'd he leave? Why did he leave them alone? Was it not to protect them better? Was the plan not to acquire funding for an academy which would raise the strength of the human race? So what was wrong!?!

Samuel's ideals were conflicting.

The desire to protect, and the desire to progress.

"Sigh…" He couldn't balance between these ideals. His desire to progress came from both personal greed and his desire to protect. His desire to protect came from the years he spent with his wife and the beautiful son they had brought up.

By leaving he could work towards progressing the entire human race. The world would become both safer and more dangerous but at the very least the threat of monster and dungeons would be lessened. That was a compromise he willingly made. He knew the risk of increasing the strength of humans who were filled with both good and evil.

By staying alongside his family he could have monopolized this so called 'enlightenment' He WOULD become the pinnacle of strength. With the strength of humanity remaining at its plateau, the human threat would be mitigated.

It sounded too good to be true. Where was the compromise?

"Damn it…" It came with the loss of their freedom. Be it from the people coveting his power, or just the isolation of him and his family. In this uncertain world, isolation oneself was subjecting yourself to a different threat, the monsters.

Samuel was not thinking about and reflecting all of these different compromises and options for no reason. It was because a miracle had occurred. The genius alchemist that lay just past the Galeburst mountain range successfully concocted a potion from the drop item.

It was a miraculous solution capable of strengthening the human body manyfold. The miracle was that the potion was a permanent solution. That was unheard of.

Most potions capable of strengthening the human body were either temporary or carried huge side effects! One could die from those crappy strengthening potions!

This one didn't have these side effects and technically, the potion belonged to him. But that was just a technicality. He did not put forth the money nor the connections. He didn't even personally procure the item, it was graciously given to him.

This was why when the Duke gave him an ultimatum, he didn't bat an eye.

"Drink the potion and fight the dragon, or go home…" Samuel didn't know what to pick. Maybe there were other options but either his moral compass would not permit it or he was too shortsighted.

Recalling the conversation… The Duke did not leave anything unsaid.

"Samuel, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We could pick anyone, but we chose you" The Duke probably had some closer powerhouses he could share the potion with. Any of his subordinates should have been better than a random adventurer he picked up from a backwater town.

"Of course, there are some other strings attached to this…" The potion delivery would not beat a dragon in terms of speed. The news could travel fast but the potion itself could not be teleported.

There were some complications with using space to teleport both a liquid and its container with the current infrastructure.

That aside, Samuel would have to meet the person delivering the potion halfway. Not just that, he then had to race back to the capital before Pyre and the emperor Mite Volcan came to sow flames.

"Sammy...." If the dragon continued a course of destruction towards Arbor Town and he wasn't there to stop the dragon his son and wife could be in serious danger.

After some more deliberation and pacing around in his room, Samuel came to a decision.

"I'll drink it" The longer he took to make a decision the more hopeless the situation would become. If he stayed, when faced with a dragon, the most he could do would be to flee with his family.

"Luckily, the emperor is taking his time getting here…" That was their one saving grace. Mite Volcan was working on breaking the spirits of the people. It was an odd strategy but there were some reasonable explanations.

Based on what Bosque had found out, Mite Volcan was a schemer. He liked to act and manipulate things in the dark. In this situation, breaking the spirit of the people of Bosque would make it easier to take over it.

Who would want to fight a pointless battle? The majority of people would prioritize their own lives! When Mite assumed power of Bosque, the people would have already formed an intimidating image of him who was to some nothing but a young boy.

There would definitely be some patriots but they wouldn't be able to express themselves in broad daylight. If there was anything Mite seemed comfortable with however it was the shadows. Those patriots would be out of their element.

"What a strategist…" Samuel said with a hint of mockery.

"You are planning too far ahead" Samuel was going to teach Mite to stop dreaming of a false future. He grabbed his sword sheathe and headed out of his guest room. He would set off to intercept the miracle potion immediately.

"Make it to and back…" Samuel would make it to and back in a flash.. He couldn't fail.