Upon receiving the two sets of bones. He immediately headed out. There were also three more regular anti-skeletons but Ed didn't concern himself with them for the time being as he hadn't prepared for them a consciousness.
Once out, Ed saw Zephyr was still patiently meditating slowly regaining its green complexion. He didn't bother paying attention to much else or calling Pioneer, he only needed to swiftly assemble two skeletons.
And just as planned, in no time at all there were now two sets of bones laying out in front of him ready to come to life.
'Let's see, this one first' Ed crouched over and inserted a regular memoryless orc consciousness into the blue skeleton. The reason was that he intended to focus his attention on the earthen one and thus found dismissing the water one first most optimal.
The skeleton slowly rumbled before assembling itself in front of Ed as per usual. Ed examined it as it stood dumbly in front of him. This skeleton was taller than himself by a couple of centimeters. The anti-skeletons and Zephyr however were of his same stature although he didn't really have a ruler to determine any of this.
The blue skeleton, unlike Zephyr, also seemed to be coated in some sort of metal resulting in a blue sheen. It overall just seemed more capable.
'It's a good thing I can always upgrade these guys' He just hadn't done so yet since it would be quite a time-consuming thing to do and he at the time hadn't succeeded in creating mages.
'Now that I think about it, there is no need to compromise between mages and footsoldiers' The only advantage would be saving resources which he currently didn't lack. That being the case, why bother? He may as well give them all a core.
The thought alone was enough to feel invigorated. He needed to quickly finish his current affair.
'Your name will be Drench' Ed transmitted to the lost blue skeleton. It was then broken out of its stupor and it quickly knelt.
Why settle for such a name? Well, the way it was coated entirely in blue made it seem as if soaked in water. Not only that, but he couldn't really think of any good water names or words.
'Now, for the next one.' Ed quickly shifted his focus to the anti-skeleton with a smooth brown orb resting near its abdomen. He approached it with hidden glee and inserted the prepared consciousness.
The bones rested for a couple of seconds before starting to vibrate and connect. The process was slightly longer than usual but it soon started to assemble itself upright. It was as if he was watching puzzle pieces pop themselves perfectly into place. Ed had become expectant.
Soon, the anti-skeleton mage was ready to go. The first thing it did was survey itself before following it with its surroundings. As soon as it caught sight of Ed it knelt no longer showing its previous curiosity.
'Interesting…' This was what Ed transmitted as to not lose face as he pondered over what to name the new cadet.
'Earth… Ummm… dirt- no that sucks... Trench…?' Ed asked himself while wondering if it was really an okay name.
'Well, it sounds better than Drench and it combos nicely, I'm all for it.' Ed decisively gave up.
'Trench, that is your name.' Ed transmitted with great grandeur to the new earthen skeleton. It seemed to tremble with emotion after that. Ed nodded and received a new message.
[Transmission has leveled up]
'Good. I am Ed, I will first teach you both a couple of things' Ed told both Drench and Trench. After hearing this, Trench knelt leaving Drench confused for a second before following suit.
'Alright, first is sensing mana…' Ed immediately commenced his lecture. It wasn't much different than Zephyr's. Only a couple of well-timed sentences. This was mainly due to the skeleton's innate ability to follow orders. He didn't know where it came from but it was certainly a blessing.
'Zephyr, that's enough, come' Ed called over the meditating Zephyr to teach it to properly release the wind.
Drench had managed to successfully control its mana to form a small spurt of water. It could be improved and it would be improved. As for Trench, since Ed had used a much larger consciousness for it, it easily got the hang of things.
It was able to make the ground softly rumble and at times create spikes of earth. The speed was a bit slow. Trench also seemed dazed or pained at times which Ed felt was a curious occurrence.
'I wonder if it has something to do with its consciousness being too large' This was the most likely culprit since nothing else truly differed Trench from its counterparts. Ed was however surprised that it didn't simply outright break.
'I suppose that means this body can take some beating since it isn't a weak skeleton but it would still be a good idea to resolve it' It wouldn't be surprising for Trench's body to slowly deteriorate otherwise.
[Assimilation is off cooldown]
Ed's assimilation had then gone off cooldown just as he planned to continue the lesson.
Ed walked over to a bladed weapon pile and directly grabbed a throwing knife. It was intact since whoever carried this clearly knew better than to use it against a skeleton.
'That reminds me, they didn't bring over any archers' After noticing this detail, Ed felt it had become really obvious that they had indeed come for him. There were occasionally zombies loitering around which could be dealt with by archery but it was otherwise pointless to bring one unless there were plans to advance to the orc plains.
'That's the power of information I suppose' Ed mused as he promptly assimilated the item.
[Constitution +1]
[Dexterity +1]
[Agility +2]
'Neat' The effects were much better than he had hoped. The dexterity stat also came as a nice boon.
'It takes adept hands to accurately throw a throwing knife' Ed never missed a chance to learn more about why things gave certain attributes. Information was power as he had just established.
***
"Why is there no information yet?" Count Flamewood pressed a Freedom Union member shortly after entering.
It took less than half an hour to get to the dungeon itself. From there, based on the gathered data, one could take anywhere between one and three hours to reach the third floor. This was since most of the preliminary investigations and explorations were done and one could simply plow forward.
The reason for the large range was due to the traps that had suddenly appeared at some point on the first three floors. They could cause significant slowdowns for weak parties. But… the party for his son was not weak!
He calculated two hours lost there at most! The count had set a condition for this farming expedition as a way to ease his hidden worries, it was for them to send a messenger after they first hunted the skeleton. The messenger's purpose would be to report any losses or injured as well as deliver the item.
Since the adventurers would already have experience fighting the skeleton, they could more accurately provide backup. That is to say, if they lost two or three B-class adventurers, they would know to send at least double as a backup.
If the situation was extremely dire, the adventurers inside could wait inside of a safe room for backup or call off the operation entirely. It was a well thought out system. To the point where if there was nothing, there was only a single real option.
They died!
But how would he accept that? His son was in there! Regret was starting to creep up in his heart and that regret led to exasperation. He couldn't help but lash out against the poor regular worker.
"Mr. Flame-" Before she could say anything though the Count interfered again.
"Where's Khal?!?" He yelled.
"Sir Khal is out at this time" The woman replied with worry. She was afraid of how the Count might respond.
"Hell! Carlton, contact Bayard!" The count turned around and addressed his valet.
"Bay-Bayard" Carlton inadvertently stuttered out. Who was Bayard? He was the Flamewood estates sole knight captain. This was already the highest title the nobles could bestow upon their knights based on Bosque's law. Did the count intend to wage war against Khal or something?!?
"Did I stutter? Go! He needs to rescue my son, hurry!" The count could not accept that his son had died. Perhaps he was trapped inside? Or maybe… he was injured! He was obviously waiting for his father to send help!
Carlton didn't dare decline. He didn't have that privilege even though he was afraid the young count successor had already met his demise. Carlton hadn't been working at the estate for long resulting in his lack of faith.
"Mis-Mister Flamewood, Miller should still be upstairs settling things for Sir Khal…" The oppressed clerical work shyly told him.
"Why didn't you say that then!? Take me up, quickly!" The count still cared about his pride so even though he knew the way he still wanted someone to guide him as a form of formality.
He thus retreated from the lobby as he followed after the woman. Realistically, Bayard wouldn't be able to head over from the estate so rapidly.. He therefore still needed to desperately discuss things with Khal or in this case, Miller.