Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

As Ed approached the elderly elf, all the ones doing their work noticed his approach. They were spooked out of his way making a natural path from which Ed could walk.

"How may I help you, esteemed sir?" The elder Sud as Riniya had called him said amicably. Ed could tell this was nothing more than a facade though as the elder's words were subtly traced with dishonesty.

"I have a couple of questions regarding the blood haven" Ed informed him. He actually had more than just a couple of questions.

"Regarding the blood haven...?" The elder was taken aback by Ed's topic of inquiry. Why would the undead mage or lich be unfamiliar with the blood haven?

"Yes, that's right" Ed replied not missing a beat.. The elder in his wisdom found the detail odd but that didn't really matter to Ed.

"I see, in that case allow us to step aside" The elder kindly invited. Ed didn't know if the elder had a reason to keep a secret or if he just wanted to waste more of his work hours.

Either way Ed had no reason to oppose. Due to the limited amount of trees most elves stood around doing not much of anything to begin with.

In fact, in order to keep everyone busy they ended up doing pointless things like passing the fruits through long lines of elves or having someone clean the fruit. They didn't dare to use any water though so they were literally just wiping what they had just plucked off the tree.

Elves were prone to nature and giving the rough environment they were forced into they definitely couldn't possibly be such picky eaters!

That aside, Ed led the elder out of Azalia's chamber. They were now standing by its entrance which didn't see any traffic until it was time to clock out.

"So... What do you know about the blood haven? Riniya said you've visited it before, is that true?" Now that they were isolated Ed started his probing.

"Is it true… Definitely… It's definitely true… How could I ever forget that place?" The Elder started to reminiscence on the on his not so fond memories. He had a sour expression.

"I was young, Sudryal Maglynn was nothing but a boy" The Elder started to tell his tale in an overly dramatic tone of voice. Paying that no mind, Ed readied himself to listen to the story in full.

It started with the aspirations of the the young Sudryal. Raised as a water mage, he was not prepared for any sort of combat in the hot deserted surface. Nevertheless, against the will of everyone he managed to force the matter.

"Wouldn't it be easier for our warriors if they didn't need to worry about supplying water?!" He had questioned the elders at the time with such words. 

When fleeing, it wasn't unheard of for the warriors to lose their supplies. Food was an afterthought but water was impossible to find in the surface. Sud's idea was, though reluctant, approved and he was allowed to expedition with the warriors.

"Wait… Why were you all doing expeditions to the surface anyway?" To Ed that seemed and sounded suicidal.

"Hope" Sudryal answered.

"We hoped that one day we could return to the surface, and for that we needed to somehow stop the blood haven. Well, some of us also thought it wise to eat the meat for sustenance" Elder Sud answered his voice full of regret.

The satisfaction of meat was not worth the sacrifice of many. The constant expeditions into the blood haven were hopeless in terms of anything else. Most of the time few made it back alive. 

This was something all the warriors knew. Sud learned that the hard way, however. Sud firmly believed that the reason why those expeditions failed was due to his absence. Time had told that wasn't the case.

"The boundary between the desert and the blood haven… it's a surprisingly sudden drop" The boundary felt as though someone forgot to make the rest of the desert. But looking past this drop one would see the slow incline of a mountain of flesh.

"Hold on, I can understand you all getting down but how do the undead manage to get up?" Ed said interrupting the elder's story anew.

"Oh, it's simple really" The elder said.

"You don't know the type of beings that spawn from the fleshy floor" Some creatures had wings of flesh, others had a sticky body capable of climbing the steep cliff from its bottom to its top.

There were also some that didn't need to cross, they could pull off long-range attacks with enough range and lethality to harbor staying underground at all times. Of course, lots of these creatures didn't seem to have a proper sense of sight much to their fortune.

They were blind to obstacles and instead seemed only capable of spotting the living. They knew this thanks to the fact that the sudden drop provided a wall of safety from such ranged attacks.

"I don't see how you can all be so brave…" Ed muttered. Just walking on a floor of flesh was enough for Ed to decide to never go there again.

"It sure is easy in retrospect" The elder commented.

'I just think you are all not very sane' Ed thought snidely inside his mind.

The elder obviously had no way to hear Ed's thoughts and continued with his stale of bravery or stupidity. The barrier between both of those things was surprisingly thin.

"Anyway, in the end my team and I climbed down the steep cliff, the winds were harsh that day. We went through a pre-constructed stairwell" The many expeditions from before saw earthen mages creating various passages up and down the cliff.

"So you actually just went down stairs…" The choice of words was a bit misleading.

The elder ignored Ed's comments and once more continued his tale, though now with a tinge of annoyance.

"Ahem, down there, it was putrid" The feeling of the fleshy floor and the blood that dripped it was simply put, revolting. The constant squishing and squirming of the floor was unbearable for the cleanly water mage.

For someone raised with purity in mind, there was no purity to be found in such a place. Needless to say, Elder Sud quickly became a liability.

The monster they faced ranged from beings on four legs to beings with no legs. They were all the same to Sud, they were all monster he wasn't able to handle.

Having never been taught proper water spells at that point in time, Sud could only provide drinks and not fight on his own. But actually even if he knew any spells, gaining back any amount of water elements seemed near impossible.

Though it had to be noted, funnily enough the fleshy biome was more hospitable than the hot desert when it came to regaining the water element mana.

The events that followed his fatal mistake of going there was lots of strife. Hardly had the elves tried to climb the mostly flat fleshy incline did they find themselves unable to move forward.

Their numbers were dwindling but their foes were increasing. They could no longer take the pressure and hastened back in retreat. By that point however the damage to both their minds and bodies was irreversible.

"I should've known better" The periphery of the place was scary enough, where did he get the courage?

Seeing that the elder finished his recounting, Ed became pensive. The brief story allowed Ed to get a better feel for the place but it didn't actually provide him with any new significant knowledge.

'Looks like I'll have to visit it myself' Ed thought inwardly.

"Where is the blood haven? What direction" Ed didn't actually plan on visiting it now but it had to be in his list of travel destinations.

"You really never been there… Where did you learn your arts?" The elder asked back feeling curious.

"I ask the questions" Ed said refusing to sate said curiosity.

"Ah… Well, the Blood haven is straight towards the direction of the setting sun" The elder told Ed who nodded.

'The direction of the setting sun…' Ed would need to improve a couple of skills if that was the case.

'It's time for some self improvement' His current consciousness health didn't allow him to take too many liberties regarding his splits. The amount of links he had were also limited.

Overall, regardless of whether Ed wanted to venture there personally or not, there was a lot to prepare.

"You've helped me quite a bit Elder, have these as a reward" Ed said before pulling the water mana fruits out of thin air.

The elder was surprised by the act but his eyes quickly focused on the blue fruits. They captivated his attention thanks to the rich mana they emitted.

"These are…?" The elder couldn't help but exclaim in question.

"Your reward, eat them, distribute them, plant them, you do whatever you want with them" Ed told Sudryal who nodded absentmindedly. He had a lot of options for sure!

Ed then dismissed the elder and watched as he returned to work.

'Speaking of, after leveling up a few skills maybe it's about time I teach them to make formations' Growing those water mana fruits was impossible otherwise.