Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

Drawing arrays and planting seeds… The meaning was clear for Ed but to the elves this was an entirely foreign concept. The legacy of the elven arrays had been lost to its totality.

Ed could be certain of this, when he infiltrated the old elven underground village he saw no trace of any arrays. The closest thing to an array that might have been in the village were the earthen mages that sealed and opened its entrance but… That was the work of mages not an array.

'When I think about it, I suppose it makes sense that there are no arrays' Without any magic crystals to be found in the arid and abandoned desert, there was nothing to reliably use as power for the arrays.

The elves could have used elves for the task but what's the difference between just having the earthen mages do the job themselves at that point?

Ed knew that the difference was that anyone with some mana regardless of level of mastery could perform the same feat. Ed supposed that wasn't a sufficiently large advantage for the elves to pass down when their lives were at stake.

Of course, there was always the chance that it wasn't a conscious decision on the part of the elves and just something that happened to be that way. Losing legacies and arts was a common occurrence during the downfall of civilizations.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand, Ed decided to explain to the elves the meaning behind his words.

"I will be teaching you all how to draw a basic array that uses your own magic power to grow a seed" Ed said elaborating on his intentions.

"This isn't free of course, the land is mine and the seeds are mine so you'll have to pay a price. I'll be taking half of your harvest gains" Ed continued to add.

Despite Ed's selfish words, the elves all had shining eyes full of gratefulness and expectation. They had seen the arrays in Azalia's chamber and with Ed's explanation they were able to put two and two together.

""Thank you!"" "I can't wait!" "Too generous…" "Hahaha! I knew I picked the right line!" The elves all started to celebrate in their own way. The thought of owning a tree seemed surprisingly important for them.

The reaction of the elders was a tad different however. They were infinitely impressed but they were also infinitely wary. This was too generous.

Many of the elders felt their prejudice being challenged and were left at a lost as to what to do.

But perhaps the most different expression was that of Sanev. They were accustomed to holding a stoic expression devoid of worldly desires but in this case, their face was smug. It seemed to just scream out… as expected of my potential teacher!

Oh right, it went without saying that Riniya was also present and she held a begrudging expression. At this point Ed was really tired of teaching that girl lessons so he simply ignored her as he inspected the crowd causing her to become much angrier.

Ed formed a small smile.

'Hahaha, I think I am starting to like messing with her' Ed's bullying was innocent from his point of view so he could only hope Riniya wouldn't hold a grudge when she finally decided to abandon her childishness.

"Enough, now pay attention" Having gauged the reactions of the elves, Ed told them to be quiet and pay attention. It was time to teach the fundamentals!

"Arrays rely on runic shapes. Basically, you draw individual runes that when put together form a shape. Each of these runes may or may not have a special function, but the basic function of the runes is to transfer power from one rune to the other. Upon activation, if done properly, the entire runic shape will light up" Ed began his instruction with a wordy paragraph.

Nevertheless, none of the elves were immediately lost by the information dump. On the contrary, they were all engaged and seemed to form some understanding of arrays with this concise explanation.

That was because Ed spoke quickly, but also comprehensibly. His pronunciation of the words were clear and whenever Ed mentioned a key component in regards to arrays he would make sure to emphasis it with his tone of voice.

One could say Ed had mastered the art of… Eloquence.

[Eloquence has leveled up]

Of course, anyone who claimed so would be wrong. Ed had yet to reach level 10 with the skill but for the elves present Ed already took on the image of an unparalleled scholar, a man withholding infinite wisdom!

"All that being said, to activate an array you first need a power source. From the top of my head, there a couple of runes that can get the job done but for the sake of simplicity, pay attention to this" Ed said before the earth beside him quickly protruded into a shape.

"This is a simple absorption rune" Ed said pointing at the large runic letter. It had the appearance of a k laying flat on its longside. It also had angles drawn on the inside forming two incomplete semi-circles.

"A bunch of these runes combined with…" Ed said slurring his words as a new rune appeared out of the earth.

"Some of these runes can allow any person to transfer their mana into the absorption runes from the soles of their feet. Of course, an individual can sit down or just use their hands but standing inside is better for transferring mana" While mana was a magical element it did still have a tendency to concentrate and gravitate towards the ground. This truth varied by element but it was generally true.

Ed continued his lecture. He listed many different types of runes and their functions as well as what they did when combined and what type of uses the arrays they combined to form had.

"For now, I won't be allowing you to draw anything complicated. We'll be drawing… this!" Ed said as he quickly spawned a brush out of thin air and started to draw on the earth.

The brush had been dipped in a red blood like ink and stood out to the elves present. Because it stood out they didn't fail to miss how a small array was born in what was not even 10 seconds.

The elves didn't think much of it though.

"You will all be drawing this array. If you were paying attention and recognize these runes, you can tell all it can do is absorb mana" Ed said to the crowd of students while looking at the runes he drew.

They were cursive and compact giving one the false impression that they were messily drawn. This was a false impression because the reality was that each rune was masterfully drawn despite their rushed inception.

The ability to draw an entire array in what constituted a single stroke was unheard of for most formationists and it was certainly impressive. To any expert in the field, it was impossible to create runes more beautiful than those Ed drew half heartedly on the ground.

"I'll hand you all some brushes and ink. Try to draw the runes at least twice the size of mine or you are guaranteed to fail" Ed said to the eager looking students. These words sounded arrogant but most of the elves took these words to heart.

"Sudryal, help distribute them" Ed said to Sud who snapped out of their reverie. He had been so engrossed in the lesson that he forgot he was supposed to assist Ed.

Sudryal nodded and responded positively.

"Y- Yes!" He cried out immediately approaching Ed who promptly handed him sets of brushes. When he disappeared earlier Ed wasn't wasting his time, he was making brushes equivalent to the number of people he expected would come to his study.

The brushes weren't anything special but as Sudryal handed them out each of the elves treated it as if it were a treasured object.

'It's just boar hair' Considering the types of species Ed had encountered thus far boar fur brushes were far beneath him. His current brush for example used the whiskers of a mob from the mushroom cavern combined with magical metals to ensure precision and smoothness.

The transfer of mana was also important but not majorly so. All in all, the brush quality didn't matter too much, even sloppy runes could activate after all. 

Nonetheless, a good brush was also a matter of status. While Ed didn't care much about this status, there were no other formationists in the dungeons to contend with, he knew the prideful elves eventually would.

'A profession is bound to be made out of brush making, ink making, and of course, array drawing' Out of all those present, only a few would be able to learn how to draw formations at an expert level.

That being the case, the 'failed' students would need to try to get something out of their new knowledge naturally giving birth to these branches.

After every elf received their brush and ink, which was just boar blood, they all began their drawing.

Immediately, Ed could hear some surprised exclamations.

"Why…" "This… I can't get the shape right" The elves were at a loss as to why their runes were coming out worse than the sloppy mess Ed created.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, you can try and control the ink with your magic if you are skilled enough" This was the one case where brush quality might matter, though not too largely. This principle skill of array drawing was something Ed discovered after leveling up his formationist skill through drawing Azalia's array.

'More things!' Ed heard Azalia shout into his head.

'The range of her vision is rather impressive' Ed thought as he continued to observe the struggling elves. As it turned out, his tip did not help them at all. In fact, some elves were failing even more miserably now leaving Ed amused.

Maybe he shouldn't have clued them into the existence of an advanced skill.

"Hm?" As Ed was thinking this he spotted an anomaly.