Ed connected to the system once more. He appeared next to the storeroom just as he had been previously.
'Let's start then' Ed walked over to the spirit room and grabbed as many as 7 wisps by creating multiple hands of light. They didn't struggle too much, it was as if they were committed to their fate.
Ed took them away and entered the forge which was situated next door. The last time he came he felt quite overwhelmed by everything but this time he was far more confident. The reason was simple.
'Assessment' Ed thought as he glanced at different tools inside of the workshop from the entrance.
[Hand Hammer]
[Sledge Hammer]
[Chisel]
[Tongs]
The assessment skill, based its answers from the system's knowledge, and as he was currently inside of a system made facility it was almost a guarantee that he would know what everything in there did through it.
[Holding Box]
Store materials for convenient use.
This seemingly regular box was also scanned. It was obviously not a blacksmithing tool but Ed didn't complain after reading its description. He approached the box which wasn't too far from the white forge and dropped the consciousnesses in it.
Ed then observed the inside and found that the wisps couldn't exit the box even though it had an open top.
Ed was satisfied with this and decided to start the next step.
'Start the forge' Ed told the system.
The forge was lit with a mystical white flame. It burned brightly and alluringly, the way the white flame flickered was oddly entertaining.
The last time, the system had offered some basic functionalities. This time, however, the system offered no such thing. Ed felt it was likely that what he intended to do simply required his own effort.
'In that case, how should I start?' Ed glanced around for a bit before grabbing one of the chisels. It was short and thick. He then walked over and grabbed what he felt was a suitable tong.
While the system would tell him what each tool did, it was still up to him to put that knowledge to use.
For example, knowing that chisels are used to cut and shape tools is fine but... what about consciousnesses? Was he supposed to use a hot or cold chisel? He had ultimately chosen cold since souls and spirits are said to be chilly.
As for the tongs… He could only hope that the consciousness wouldn't slip while he tried to smash a chisel onto it.
'Those things actually feel quite malleable, I am not sure how I'll be able to cut it' As he had grabbed them he naturally knew this. They weren't particularly tough, like clay maybe.
Ed walked over to the forge. He thought about taking one of the wisps from the box and just as he had expected...
[Igubat's wisp of consciousness]
Igubat's wisp appeared in front of him.
Ed used the tongs to firmly grasp it and brandished his cold chisel.
'Sorry buddy' It was for the sake of science! ...magic?
Ed struck the chisel against the trapped consciousness. He looked away as ethereal blue sparks flew into the air. He hadn't expected such a reaction especially since he wasn't dealing with metals.
'This thing is tougher than I imagined' Ed glanced at the wisp which was writhing in between the tongs. There wasn't a trace of having been struck.
He decided to change plans. He had told the system to start the forge earlier for a reason.
He used his tongs to place the wisp inside the blinding white fire. Ed couldn't really see much in the fire but he felt the resistance from the wisp become more pronounced.
It eventually started to calm down at which point Ed quickly pulled it out. The wisp seemed to have lost some of its shine and seemed to be in a more liquid state.
'If I smack it with a chisel in a liquid state would there be consciousness bits all over the place?' Ed casually pondered not really willing to find out. He thus waited a bit just to make sure that it was at an optimal temperature.
'Not that I really know what that is... ' Ed murmured inwardly
After what he assumed was a good minute, Ed struck the wisp. It squirmed in response and more sparks flew out.
'I think I'm doing something wrong…' Maybe the issue was that the consciousness wasn't an actual metal? Was that where the problem originated?
'Unless the sparks are exactly what I want' Ed immediately scanned the wisp a second time hoping to verify this conjecture.
[Iguba$'s wisp of consciousness]
'Indeed, although it seems to only make them forget' What the chisel was cutting away was their memories rather than their physical body. The sparks might have been the memories slowly fading away with each strike.
When Ed thought of it this way he finally realized a potential way to get what he wanted.
'I can split it after it liquifies' This approach made perfect sense now that he thought about it.
To create Kenny Jr. He had united two separate consciousness. Then all he has to do now was separate the orcs' consciousness to create two. And this was also the whole principle of the dungeon based on his conjectures.
It would split pieces of its consciousness and impart it onto mobs. Similarly, he could split the orcs' consciousnesses and impart them into the skeletons.
'Would the memories be split evenly in half if I don't erase them first?' It was an interesting train of thought but he wasn't too interested in finding out. It was rather cruel after all.
If he was going to experiment on them, potentially causing them harm, it might be better that they just forget everything.
At the same time, letting them forget certain things was much better for him. If they knew nothing and had no weird dungeon imprints that they might have received from when it imparted them their consciousness, then it would be easier to control them.
The only morally right thing to do was not experiment on them at all which he wasn't too keen on, selfish as that may be.
Ed started whacking the wisp with his chisel. If an actual blacksmith were to see his rough handling they just might die on the spot. Luckily or unluckily there was no one here to see this. He would appreciate some tips.
The ephemeral blue sparks appeared in a flurry with each strike. Ed continued going at it until eventually, the number started to dwindle. Since Ed had been constantly scanning the wisp all the while so he was well aware of the reason why.
[Wisp of consciousness]
A fraction of thought. It no longer holds any memories of its origins.
The entire process was finally complete. The system gave him the green light he had been expecting so he threw it into the forge.
The wisp didn't writhe as badly as it had previously. This could only be accredited to having lost all of its memories. This implied that the wisps still held some personality and self-awareness after being collected by the system.
'Does it mean they form memories of this space?' If that was indeed the case Ed would have a lot of things to explain to Vorgarag.
'Well, even without that there would be a lot to explain…' He would be hardpressed to explain it without flat out admitting the existence of the system. Which he wasn't entirely opposed to doing, the problem was how the dungeon might take things if it found out that Ed had a system space.
'Ah, I still need to think of how to make a body for Vorgarag' The surest way was to hijack an orc's which really didn't sound like such a bad idea. It relied on him finding an enemy orc though. He wasn't sure if there was any orc crazy enough to do that.
Ed decided to put that thought on hold as he brought out the liquified blob of consciousness. It had taken longer to melt since it was larger than the skeletons' but it was finally done melting.
Ed looked around and found a flat-ish chisel. He then walked over to the melted blob and tried to accurately hit its center. He sliced it in half with a swift somewhat accurate strike.
'I need different measurements to test anyways' Ed convinced himself that it was intentional as he moved both pieces away from each other.
He waited a bit while having idle thoughts until he finally felt they had solidified.
[Wisp of consciousness]
[Wisp of consciousness]
'Success!' Ed rejoiced internally. Both wisps still had the earlier description so Ed didn't place much importance on it. All he now had to do was put both of them into skeletons for a test. And he had a feeling things would succeed.
Before that though, he would need to do the same process for the other ones left in the holding box. He couldn't be too eager to try things out as the dungeon could return at any moment.
'Such a hard worker, it should take a vacation' Ed joked a bit as he prepared to smith more consciousnesses.
'Wait how did my life as a mob turn into smithing?' Ed questioned as he prepared to chisel away at another wisp.