"Let's get a move on" The young man, Felix Flamewood, told a group of adventurers.
This was only possible due to Khal's smooth-talking and connections. He contacted two Union branches, one in Lily town and another in Driftwood City. He knew the leaders of both branches and got them to send out the necessary notices.
The count was the one paying as well so he didn't dare hold back. The rewards could be said to be handsome for the average C-class adventurer and somewhat enticing for those at the B-class.
Of course, such a handsome reward also made some wary. The adventurers currently following Felix could be said to be the bottom rung. They were the only ones willing to look past danger for monetary rewards. As usual, some were due to circumstances, and others were due to greed.
But Felix didn't care. At the moment his mind was preoccupied with worries. Truthfully, he was scared.
Defeat.
Everytime! it was a defeat! He was defeated! Put at the mercy of the dungeon and its overpowered skeletons. He could still remember the torture. The nightmarish pain of having your organs damaged and reconstructed through healing magic.
The agile and swift swordsmanship that left him no pain was even scarier. It had cut through his body as if it was butter! His brain didn't even get a chance to react before he found himself on the ground spurting blood! He felt so… insignificant...
But how could that be!? The flame prodigy was not the title of an insignificant person. Was it?
Felix had started to doubt himself and his choices. He started to question his own life! What was he working towards? Is it the A-class? Or was that goal instilled into him by the mighty high praises of others as well as their expectations.
"Felix" A man in his late 20's spoke. He was wearing a clean green robe and his whole person exuded superiority. He was a B-class adventurer sharing the charge of the party.
He wasn't the only B-class either. The party of 30 consisted of seven B-class adventurers, including Felix himself. Their sole purpose was to kill the unique skeleton and acquire its drop item.
"I recommend you stay behind me." Mort told him.
It was also why they found it safe to venture without any A-class adventurers. They were only entering the first three floors and apart from the unique one, nothing was a threat.
"Why is that?" Felix returned without glancing at Mort beside him.
"I wouldn't know how to answer the count if you were to get hurt" Mort arrogantly replied.
Under normal circumstances, Felix might lash out due to the irritating comment but he couldn't afford to right now.
"As long as I'm alive you won't need to answer to anyone" How would others be responsible for any injuries he sustained? If his father had any issues with it he would take it up with him.
Mort didn't expect this reaction but he didn't care that much anyway.
"So be it" He said before moving towards another person.
It was a B-class paladin. He wore heavy armor and carried a thick shield. Mort was making idle chatter with the man but he seemed pretty disinterested. Felix didn't mind this and continued marching.
Soon, the mossy cave appeared in its grand lameness. There was a basic dirt path that led to it. It was formed due to the many parties that threaded past.
There was only one Union official keeping watch over the dangerous dungeon. Felix and the others were easily allowed in under orders of Khal. The person stationed here was also under orders of Khal.
If word got out that there was a dungeon with a valuable alchemical material, then lots of people would want to venture in. Conquered dungeons would usually have a fee that the adventurers had to pay but this one was still unconquered. By their own regulations, no freelance adventurer should be allowed into the dungeon.
There was therefore a need to warn any greedy adventurer looking to hit it big. A single person wouldn't be able to stop a party of greedy adventurers though so it was likely that a proper perimeter would eventually be formed.
Regardless, Felix and the rest were now heading down the stairs to the first floor. They were about to start their hunt, their hunt for that white menace and its drop.
***
Ed's army was coming along nicely. Over half of the skeletons had a ready body.
He was forced to stop fishing out bones in his storeroom however since he needed to catch up on the consciousness side of things. So far, the system did not automate any of the procedures that required tools. This task was still for Ed to handle.
To simplify the process, he only eliminated the memories of the orc consciousnesses and inserted them on the bodies. There had been zero accidents with this method.
He was actually tempted to fuse two orc souls with one another and test the upper limit of the new bodies but… He was really starting to feel pressured.
If the dungeon saw him inserting consciousnesses he would be screwed for sure. He could in theory play off the enhanced bones as some sort of skill but the dungeon was bound to recognize the consciousnesses since they originated from itself.
And even if it didn't it wouldn't take kindly to Ed messing with them since it trespasses into its own domain.
'I doubt the dungeon would want to keep something that might harm it inside of itself.' Ed was hacking away at a consciousness as he thought of this.
The situation wasn't entirely hopeless though. There was nothing that suggested he couldn't strike up a negotiation with the dungeon, it could learn and it could listen. Becoming its ally wasn't an impossibility.
Still, in the chance that it chose not to listen it was much better to keep a low profile. Deals are usually only made when people are in a position of equals or there is some sort of value to it.
While he had value, he was definitely not in a position of equals. The suffocating red he saw in that black void through his sixth sense was not something he would soon forget. The instinctive pressure it gave off… The sharp piercing pain of that one time he dared to rebel...
'These kinds of thoughts are the ones that make me feel down' Ed shook his head and threw the empty consciousness into the holding box to grab another.
The kinds of thoughts that made him feel like an ant had an upside. At least they instilled in him a sense of urgency as well as unwillingness.
Ed placed the finished consciousnesses into the spirit room and returned to the real world with some forged bones. These were from the latest batch.
They fell to the ground and Ed quickly assembled them into place. He had repeated this step so many times! Couple that with assimilation and it was no wonder he had quickly become so adept at assembling the human skeleton.
'Alright' Ed stood up and glanced at the lined up 35 skeletons. They had yet to have anything inserted into them.
Pioneer and Kenny Jr. were watching from a side and the other skeletons were doing their own things. Ed had treated them as afterthoughts ever since he started to make the new skeletons.
'I will create some allies for you' Ed told Pioneer.
Pioneer had been rather attentive of Ed's every action. It always watched as he assembled skeletons and as he inconspicuously leaned on the wall before summoning dark bones From its perspective Ed probably seemed quite godly.
Ed, therefore, made sure to treat it well. Perhaps in the future, he could leave Pioneer to assemble the bones for him.
'If only I could turn them into consciousness beings' Then he would be able to fully automate the whole process. The prospect alone was exciting.
'Maybe it will come later…' He suspected that the system was the one responsible for this aspect so it wouldn't be surprising. All of the other mobs didn't seem to have one as his time as an orc had told him. The system was therefore the only option.
'It seems like the dungeon is really lucky to have this system at its disposal. Even if it is planning to backstab it' Ed doubted that the dungeon would only use the system to create him. There were bound to be other benefits that he was not made aware of. Like, maybe the system is the reason for the overpowered bosses?
A lich has no place in such a low-level undead dungeon. The skeletons literally fall apart by themselves from time to time.
'Whatever it is time for them to rise' Ed in a very undramatic sequence, ducked down and quickly inserted consciousnesses into each skeleton.
The way he scuttered around to each was bound to make him seem really uncool from an outside perspective.
'Maybe I shouldn't do these all at once…' Once he was done, he got to see skeletons standing up and others already listlessly looking around.
All that was left to do now, was teach them to fight and give the talented the better weapons and armor. He would prefer if those lived more than any other.
'After that, all I need is to test them in combat' Ed could only hope that the next adventurers weren't too overbearing.. His efforts would go to vain if they were too powerful.