Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

Vorgarag didn't want a single wisp of mana to be wasted given the pressing circumstances.

"I need to use them to increase my mana capacity" Ed replied.

He wasn't lying as that was indeed his intention. As far as revealing how he would do it... It would depend on Vorgarag's response, and it didn't take him very long to come up with one.

"I am afraid that's a luxury we can't afford." Vorgarag denied him flat out. Ed could continue doing regular exercises to increase the capacity. The crystals would speed up the recovery process but Vorgarag felt that the speed wouldn't be anything game-changing.

'Looks like I might need to reveal my methods... ' Vorgarag already knew that Ed could revive. Finding out that he could directly absorb the mana of the crystals was far more normal.

"I didn't go into too much detail before but if you remember correctly the lich that taught me magic was originally against it. I didn't actually have any mana. I have a special method to acquire it and I need an elemental crystal for that. It will be far more helpful than using it for arrays, I guarantee it" Ed spoke resolutely, leaving no room for doubt.

The reason being it was the truth. Unlike the crystals, Ed could recover mana. Not only that but manning the arrays would keep Vorgarag preoccupied in case of a siege. Investing in Ed was a much smarter choice or at least he believed so.

Vorgarag was forced to make a decision here. Ed might not head out if he didn't oblige, but he also wasn't willing to waste the crystals. In the end, it came down to trust. Could he trust Ed's words?

The room was deathly silent for a couple of seconds before Vorgarag finally came to a decision and broke it.

"Alright, I'll give you a chunk of each. That's four pieces. That's the most I am willing to let go of" The answer was yes. Although he agreed Vorgarag couldn't help but reveal a pained expression after saying those words.

He had already used four chunks in the previous battle and to use four chunks once again hah... The future tribe leaders might mark him down as wasteful. But that wouldn't happen if the tribe was unable to overcome its current crisis. So he chose to oblige.

"Great" Ed was naturally pleased with the outcome. Truthfully he was only hoping to get at least one since one crystal chunk alone should contain a substantial amount of mana. The assimilation skill would probably make sure that not a single wisp of mana got wasted in the process.

"We should go get some sleep then and let you set off tomorrow, the sun has set already." Vorgarag's words seemed logical, even Shel couldn't help but nod upon hearing this but Ed wasn't willing.

"I would like to leave now if possible" When was the last time he slept? Multiple days had passed since he last slept. He usually meditated, he didn't need sleep. What he needed to do right now was get more mana and find any other possible advantage. The cavern was probably the breakthrough he was looking for. How could he just laze around at such a time?

Vorgarag was a bit concerned by Ed's decision, but he also acknowledged that they were both different. Although they were both orcs, Ed's capabilities were beyond his understanding. In that case, since Ed wants to go ahead and put himself to work overtime why stop him?

"Ok, just go get some provisions for the journey and then go back to the workshop. I'll hand you your bag and the chunks at that time." Vorgarag said simply. He would focus on both studying and making arrays while Ed is gone. He needed to optimize his skills if he didn't want to be wasteful especially now that he would be giving some chunks of his only energy source to Ed.

"Alright, Nag might be weirded out to see you living so just tell him I sent you and he will probably ignore it." Vorgarag then performed a casual wave and started to head back up the steps.

Shel looked like she wanted to say something but in the end, kept quiet. Ed left the cell and was going to go back up when he looked back towards Murbol's body which seemed to be slowly disappearing.

'I guess the dungeon doesn't miss anything.' Maybe it was even an automatic process, Ed wouldn't know.

After seeing an interesting sight Ed also made his way back out with Shel behind him. Ed threw her a cursory glance and she flinched in response. She then quickly recovered and revealed her reason for following him.

"I'm hungry" She said nonchalantly.

Ed only looked at her for a second before they both went to get some food, he was headed there anyway so why not have someone to talk to? They did some small talk here and there but it was otherwise a completely uneventful trip. After getting something to eat Shel waved Ed goodbye and returned to her house.

'She seems pretty normal if you don't get to know her more closely' He thought as he went down a different path. He was used to going to Vorgarag's by this point so it didn't take him very long to get there.

He knocked on the door before finding out it was actually open.

"Come in" Vorgarag said from the inside, seemingly preoccupied. Ed imagined he was likely fiddling with a thing or two inside the workshop and with that image in his head, Ed made his way inside.

To his surprise, however, Vorgarag was actually reading! It was the earth manipulation for dummies book that he had gotten from the lich! Ed also saw a couple of other books stacked next to Vorgarag, he then calmed back down he shouldn't expect tact from an orc, especially not the sometimes shameless Vorgarag.

"The diagrams in this thing are pretty interesting" Vorgarag said on purpose after Ed entered the room.

Ed was not the least bit astonished by Vorgarag's words. Him saying those words as soon as he came in had a clear purpose.

"You can keep it then" Ed was already done with that book and he had no plans to assimilate it either. Vorgarag saying his thoughts out loud was obviously to tell Ed he was interested in having that book so he saw no reason to keep it for himself.

"Thank you, I'll treasure it then." Vorgarag was evidently grateful. People are at times capable of doing things without knowing the intricacies behind them as was the case with Vorgarag here. The books no matter how elementary would help him understand magic more even if only slightly.

He placed the book down and tossed Ed his bag which had been sitting next to him. Ed caught it and looked into its contents. The first thing that caught his eyes was four bright lights of different colors, they were naturally the elemental crystals.

Since he had wasted enough time and it wasn't like Vorgarag could see he proceeded to assimilate a random one. The blue crystal's light dimmed and Ed felt his mana capacity increase.

[Mana +37]

[Assimilation has leveled up]

'Nice' Ed thought after seeing both system messages. He also noticed that the initially blue crystal was now a more greyish color yet still emitted a faint blue shimmer meaning that it still had some mana left inside of it.

"About these oth-" Vorgarag started to say while pointing at the pile of books on his desk.

"I'll let you borrow them, you can keep the earth spell ones but I still need the others" Ed had interrupted him since he already knew his intentions.

Although he didn't plan to assimilate the space hop spell book any further he still wanted to read the rest of its contents. Actually, most of the pages on that one were missing so Vorgarag wouldn't be able to use it even if he kept it.

"I was only interested in those anyway." Vorgarag was quite curious about the contents of the other books but his interest was mainly on the magic ones. In the first place reading the others would be quite difficult since he never really learned how to.

Knowledge was passed on through word of mouth so there was naturally no opportunity to learn regular writing. The only writing he learned was magic runes which aren't used as a language by others. By keeping those books he was mainly studying the diagrams and chants found inside of them.

"I guess I need to go then..." Said Ed somewhat dejected. Rather than feeling adventurous, he was feeling gloomy, it was a surprise even for him.

'I haven't spent even a month here, I guess it is easy to become attached after being alone for so long' Leaving the settlement would be similar to traveling down the endless hallways of the crypt. The only difference was that now it would be dark yet scenic woods.

'Actually now that I think about it, it might not be a bad idea to visit the other settlements on the way' The crisis of the adventurers was not something that he alone had to face. All of the orcs, hell even the goblins, were going to be affected. Roping them in forcefully or willingly would be the way to go.

"Yeah, take care not to die. I won't get the knowledge otherwise, make sure to take a weapon with you. Oh right, exit from the back of the settlement and then just head straight" Vorgarag said with a smile. But Ed wasn't convinced by his indifferent response.

'I know you were sad when I died!' Shel had told him all about it during their small talk.

"Will do" Ed didn't say that though. He simply gave him an affirmative reply before waving and leaving the cottage.

"I guess I should leave from the back...." He muttered to himself as he ran in that direction.