Ed disassembled his suffocation trap. In the process, he got a brand new robe.
[Storm Robe]
Facilitates the travel of mana through the air resulting in faster cast time and reduced mana loss. Storm spells receive a noticeable boost in power.
He had forgotten about the adventurer who ran away so it was only natural he missed this robe.
'I am quite surprised he owned such a thing' To Ed, the only explanation as to why he didn't notice anything was that this adventurer either didn't know himself, or he had no storm spells and therefore couldn't make use of it.
'He did deviate my attack when I nearly killed the Felix fellow so he likely knew' Under normal circumstances, no one should have been able to divert his sword unless they anticipated such an event. That is to say, the burst of wind was cast quicker than it probably should be.
Ed decided to forget about the matter and sent his armor into the storeroom. He then equipped the robe and felt nothing much different. He thus decided to try it.
The earth beneath his feet shifted madly disfiguring the ink on the ground. Ed frowned.
'This is useless…' Since he cast earth spells through the earth there was no difference anyway!
Ed added getting the element of air into his to do list before wrapping things up in that hallway.
'Let's go' He told the white skeletons that were originally overlooking the young mage's dead body. They followed after him and he issued the same command to the anti-skeletons who were carrying his things.
Ed had decided to head towards the boss gate. It used to be his previous location of operation and quite honestly, he would do so again. The main reason being that he was curious about the portal found inside of there.
They walked for a while but they eventually reached and passed the merging corridors. He was once again the gloomy darkness gazing at the giant door that exuded grandness and a chilling aura.
He told the anti-skeletons to drop all of their items before drawing closer. Eventually, the white skeletons could no longer proceed. Their fear held a higher priority than Ed's command.
On the other hand, the anti-skeletons were perfectly fine.
'Huh, that's interesting…' Ed didn't pay it much mind though and left it at that. It was now time to test out his new skill.
'Condense the mana into a crystal' Ed thought as he opened his bony palm. Only the empty air stood above it. Of course, the air was filled with mana.
A small glitter suddenly appeared. It was green in color and it glowed that same color. Ed hadn't stopped the skill quite yet, but it was just a slow process…
After another 30 or so seconds, the crystal grew in size once more which left Ed severely disappointed.
'This takes forever…' Ed complained inwardly. In reality however, he wasn't the least bit mad.
Even though the forming of the crystal was only done shard by shard, it was just a matter of leveling up the skill. At the moment, it was a far better idea to travel to the ogre cavern and stuff a crap ton of crystals though...
Thus, Ed bid his time for a bit and waited. It took a total of five minutes until a crystal the size of the average fist appeared. The crystal glowed a light green color and seemed somewhat clear.
[Inferior Wind Crystal]
A crystal forcibly formed by mana. It glows a diluted green and holds elements of wind and earth.
'Inferior?' That was the first question that popped into Ed's mind. What exactly was the reason for it? The most likely reason was the earth elements mixed in there but Ed felt that the elements should cancel each other out. It made no sense that they remained.
'Formed by mana huh…' Ed activated his skill again and tried to sense his mana expenditure and found that it indeed used his own mana. A new small green shard appeared next to his palm and fell to the ground.
[Crystallize has leveled up]
Ed's non existed brows furrowed as he tried to come up with solutions.
'The best bet might be elementless mana but with or without element it is still mana' Ed thought this because it was the only other element he could at the moment house in his core. He was afraid the crystal might still be listed as inferior.
Of course, there was always the possibility that until the skill advanced, or even just leveled up more, the impurities would still exist.
'In that case, let's test some other crystals' For example, the earth one. If the impurities came from his own mana core then the earth crystals shouldn't come out as inferior.
Ed sat down on the ground hovering his palm above it. He then began the process anew and in nearly five minutes, a new crystal was born.
[Inferior Earth Crystal]
A crystal forcibly formed by mana. It glows a diluted brown and holds elements of earth and wind.
'This… is completely unrelated to me…' There was nothing that Ed could do if the skill decided to be so stubborn. The main culprit was likely the fact that he couldn't dig his hand into soil to form the crystal.
The crystal needed some space and the only way to get that is by leaving air in between. This meant that no matter what, his crystals would have the wind element in them! Or since he was underground, the wind ones would always have earth in them!
'I can boil it down to the skill not properly differentiating between the elements' Basically, a couple of foreign elements could sneak past due to the skill's inefficiency.
'Let's test fire to conclude this then' Ed thought as he glanced at the extremely dim torches. The area near the boss gate was as such. This coupled with the fact that these torches were not actual flames, made it unlikely for a crystal to form.
Still, trial and error.
Ed approached the wall and made the earth rise a bit. The merged hallway was rather tall in order to accommodate the entire gate. The torches were a bit beyond reach.
'Let's start then' Ed's hand hovered near the fake flames as he activated the skill again. A crystal shard then formed, it was black in color.
'Curious… Let's continue…' Ed thought and focused on the skill again. Multiple shards continued to pop out one after the other until a crystal was finally formed.
The crystal didn't glow. On the contrary, it seemed to suck in the light around it resulting in a black glow.
'I wonder if this is how these torches manage to be so dim, they suck in their own light' Ed joked before assesing the crystal.
[Inferior Death Crystal]
A crystal forcibly formed by mana. It glows a diluted black and holds elements of death, earth, and wind.
'Death?' It was an unexpected outcome. He had never even considered this as a possiblity. Of course that changed the moment he saw the black shard pop out. At that point he held his doubts but didn't address them until the final moments. Who knew it would indeed be the case!
'What can I use this for?' Ed instinctively glanced at the large gate. Unfortunately there wasn't a lich behind it anymore.
Ed lowered the earth while visually examining the crystal. It seemed quite eerie but that was about it. He didn't gain any insight from looking at it. It seemed he would need to try and find another way.
'I wonder if there is a shaman experienced in necromancy' The idea wasn't too farfetched given the principles of shamanism. They were depicted as being able to commune with good and evil spirits. The orc shamans from the orc plains were definitely not like this though.
Ed stored away the crystal. He could save it for the orc plains and use some of the boars for experiments. He could for example form an array that expells the death energy in the crystal and inserts it into a boar. What would happen? The boar would probably die.
But even if that was the result he wouldn't be disappointed, on the contrary it would make for a powerful trap. Stepping on it causing instant death, the thought alone could make one shudder.
'Actually, I should capture some humans if I find the chance from now on' He could experiment on them, although that would go against the bottom line he set literally just now, or he could extort their knowledge about the outside and magic.
'Damn, why didn't I think about that earlier…' He was lamenting having so simply killed the earth mage now. She was the perfect target for interrogation! After going through such a traumatic experience she might have been willing to listen to his every demand grasping at any straw resembling the slightest of hope.
'If I let a captive go after interrogating them or experimenting on them this dungeon would definitely become an elimination priority' Not to mention the weird rumors that would form about him…
Ed then dismissed all those thoughts.. He had wasted enough time now, it was time to check his status and enter the system space.