Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

In the elven library, the sound of books being tossed about and quickly paged through could be heard. There was only one individual capable of doing this.

'This one seems promising…!' Ed thought before closing his eyes and praying silently to both the system and dungeon. They were like gods right? He could pray to them... maybe…

The promising book in his hand then started to dissipate as Ed's skill activated and performed its duty.

[<Thought Manifestation> is in effect]

[Assimilation is on cooldown]

[<Alchemy lvl. 1> Acquired]

'Yes!' Ed rejoiced inwardly as information started to flow into his noggin.. He had been desperately searching for a hefty and knowledge filled book. Of course, with all the missing pages it was kind of tough to find such a book.

Only after Ed paged a dozen or so books and weighed their covers did he come to a likely ideal target. That said, Ed also made sure to read the proper content of the books.

'It won't do to learn useless knowledge' He didn't think his thought manifestation or assimilation would benefit from reading a hefty book about fairy tales for example.

This was part of the reason why Ed chose what he presumed was a book on herbs and botany. Unexpectedly, it seemed that the book was actually on alchemy. To be specific, it was a book on creating array inks through alchemy.

'Huh, I should have gotten this much earlier I reckon' Ed believed that his previous creation of the elven ink qualified as an alchemical solution. Then again, this was a level one skill acquisition not 0 so it wasn't that he didn't possess the skill.

'Hmm… I wonder why skills like Alchemy don't transfer from body to body' It was true that some things like muscle memory needed well… muscles. But the skeleton body didn't have any muscles, was there a difference between the alchemy of each of his bodies?

'The principle is always the same…' Yet simultaneously he had to admit the knowledge was in fact different. His current knowledge of alchemy as acquired by the skill contained the basic principles but it also contained subsets of knowledge pertaining specifically to array inks.

'That might be the answer' Broad titles had broad professions. Although they were technically the exact same alchemy it was unfair, almost insultingly so, to lump these branching paths together.

Putting all that aside, Ed was a bit disappointed.

'Grinding these skills out will be a lot harder than I'd like for it to' The cooldown of the assimilation skill bordered ridiculous. Ed needed another exercise to level up his thought manifestation.

'Let's see… what are some of the things I've managed to do with it so far' Ed had obviously used thought manifestation for recovering information from books but he also used it to more or less manifest miracles.

'What's something that needs a miracle?' What was an area where the manifestation of his thoughts might prove useful?

'Well, fighting with the dungeon was pretty effective for that...' Though more than just a tad bit risky.

'Maybe I can try practicing in the system space anyway' That sounded like a bad idea at first thought but after ruminating over it for a couple more seconds Ed was actually rather satisfied.

'I can also try improving body recollection that way' All he had to do was cut off an arm or leg and start practicing his thought manipulation in the system space while that happened.

'I might spend a lot of spirit points but that's also no problem' There were various miscellaneous tasks Ed could take care of in the system space. Some examples were the fusing of new mushrooms, cleaning of consciousnesses, restocking of the assembly room, checking out the living room, and many other activities.

The system had become a hub of many rooms before Ed even had a chance to realize it. Doing any of these things would provide his spirit a chance to recover.

'Using my skills on a consciousness is also something I can't forget to check out' Since he was apparently a different material he needed to create a new body for those consciousnesses and would you look at that… wasn't body recollection kind of ideal?

Ed could slowly collect body parts to basically clone himself. W didn't need to inhabit these bodies but it wasn't an impossible consideration either, right? Ed could be a lot more confident if his bodies were left for his other selves.

With all of his thoughts being tied neatly with a ribbon, Ed called for W who was still monitoring the elves from the sky.

The skeletal bat flew down into the center palace and flew through its wide hallways before reaching the library.

'W, I will be leveling up my skills in the system space. I need you to watch over both me and the elves' Ed informed W who nodded.

'Don't forget to later level up your language skill' W suggested to Ed.

'Right, I did say I'd do that' The language barrier might have indirectly led to the distrust of the elf. Sure W was a skeleton so maybe nothing would have changed after all. Yet, at the same time, wouldn't they trust W's words that his master was an elf if he could actually understand elven?

'I'll have to write things down somewhere' Ed now sort of wished there was a notepad room.

'Well, maybe a scribe room to keep with the theme' The theme of old-fashioned rooms was what Ed referred to. The theater room did not disappoint in that department for example.

With the idle thoughts keeping him company, Ed summoned out a sharp blade and without any hesitation, cut off his arm.

"Argh…!" Blood spurted onto the dusty library floor and Ed clutched his arm painfully. His great vitality and body recollection would ensure the pain was temporary, but Ed didn't intend to suffer through it for much longer. 

He hurried into the system space.

***

Elsewhere, in the marshlands, the sun in the sky seemed oppressively dark. One could say it was not shining favorably.

"Ah!" A loud splash.

A fish had jumped out of the water.

"Calm down, you need to calm down" A lizardman said to his screaming friend. 

This was a small team of 10 lizardmen, they were all equipped with simple armor as well as the spears Ed brought them for their tussle against Kurgher and Eon some time ago.

"Did ya hear? Team 9 barely escaped with their lives… So how am I supposed to calm down!?!" The blood gauntlet beast was terrorizing the villages and many rumors had started to spread.

It was said that the gauntlet beast liked to strike during still nights, or when children cried. The latter was just an additional spook factor though. The former… well, maybe there was a correlation.

The dead made no sounds after all.

"Hahaha" Another lizardman laughed.

"You are a coward" They then added seriously.

They needed to keep their eyes peeled but it was day time. Could anything happen during the day? The beast was said to move at night after all. 

On the odd chance that today it didn't, the mere fact that it had to hide… Wasn't that a testament to its weakness?

"Yeah, say it all you want, I'll be the first to abandon you and keep my life as it sucks the life out ya" The cowardly lizardman said angrily

"Tsk, this is why no one wanted to be assigned with you" This lizardman was a well-known coward from one of the tribes Kurgher first attacked. No one was surprised to know the guy was still alive.

They were all currently sailing, or more specifically patrolling, in one of the small boats Ed made. Their job was obviously to keep a lookout and the one scared of fish was at least attentive... 

The others weren't slacking either though. In fact…

"What the-?!" That was precisely why they were surprised to find their boat suddenly stuck in place as if anchored down by something. No, to be more exact as if it was being grabbed by something.

"Huh!?! Watch out!" A red and bloody tentacle appeared from beside the boat's railing.

A spear cut through the air and split cleanly punctured a hole through the tentacle. To no one's surprise however, this hole quickly regenerated and the tentacle then darted forward like a lance.

"F*ck!" The targeted lizardman cursed before throwing themselves aside.

"Ah!" It was then that another tentacle pierced right through the bottom of the boat and struck the lizardman.

"This…!" The tentacle was boiling and hot. It was plain to see that it had melted through the ship's hull.

Soon enough, more tentacles started to appear from both sides of the ship and even from underneath.

"Ah! We are sinking!" The boat was being filled with holes and the tentacles continued to aggravate the lizardman warriors.

"Damn it!" No matter how they swung their spears the tentacles would not relent.

They slash, cleaved, and spun, but nothing was effective. Because with every dodge, hop, and slide, someone else had their blood drained from their body.

As if that wasn't enough, the gauntlet beast appeared to have the power to imbue its tentacles with elements.

In no time at all, a thick mist started to envelop the boat. The group of 10, or rather 5 which was what currently remained was left blind. The only thing they could see were the flaming tentacles that pierced through the mist.

But with every dodge, hop, and slide of these tentacles, came a clean death from one hidden amidst the light.

In under a minute, the water was still and murky. But no blood was ever spilled.

"Ah... Urgh...!" Which was odd, for even the coward had met their death.