Ed quickly came to a conclusion.
Go for it. If he could die from space travel the dungeon or system would have long since put a stop to him.
Even if he did die, was there really a problem? As Ed was inside of an undead body, the thought of death left him mostly unfazed. Coupled with his mental fortitude skill, he felt indifferent towards it.
Ed looked back towards the distant gate and could barely catch a glimpse of the skeletons sparring and meditating. If his body faced death, the skeletons would be left doing that for upwards of two hours.
'Better than doing nothing' Ed thought as he returned focus to the black void in front of him. He then plunged in an arm. There was no restriction. He also felt nothing perhaps a result of having no flesh.
He, therefore, dove right in.
As soon as his skull made it into the black void, he was hit by a disorienting shock. His sense of balance was gone and his vision only sent back pitch darkness. Time also seemed to have become a foreign subject.
Did a second pass? A minute?
An hour?
Has it been days? ...a year?
Would he be stuck in there forever? In an endless black void with no sense of self?
His mind grew increasingly hazy before being hit by clarity. Both in mind and vision as light blinded his vision.
'Argh!' But the clarity also brought with it a piercing and mind-numbing pain. Without too much balance, he fell to his knees and tried to clumsily hold his head in pain.
He endured without being able to even take In his blurry surroundings. It was only after what felt like many minutes that Ed's consciousness returned to its former state.
'That was quite scary' Ed thought as the lingering pain disappeared and he recollected himself. He assessed his location.
There was a large bright sky. The brightness came from the sun. Its rays glistened on the green prairie. The sight was holy and refreshing. He was back in the orc plains.
The location seemed to be a weird sort of ruins. There was also a skeleton laying on the stone ground in front of him. It was likely Martyr.
'So you didn't make it…' Ed knew why after experiencing the portal for himself. There was no doubt that traveling through space could be quite taxing on the mind. To an incomplete being like Martyr, it could only be considered a death sentence.
'Rest in peace' Ed thought without emotion as he considered his next plan of action.
He could access the next plane through the portal but the same was not true for his skeletons. It was a bit disheartening that he couldn't bring them over directly but he wasn't affected by it too much either.
The original purpose was to train their fire magic and he could always just use crystallize within the orc plains side of the dungeon and then take back the crystals.
With that settled, Ed examined the ruins and the portal that uncannily floated above it. He had never seen this structure before and it made him curious about whether its existence held any significance.
From what he could see, there didn't seem to be any inscriptions or drawings of magical or historical importance. It might just be the dungeon trying to create a smooth and pleasing transition. Ed, therefore, felt much better. The reason was simple, he intended to turn the portal into a trap!
The dungeon proposes but Ed disposes. Who said that there needed to be actual ground beneath the portal for example. Was the dungeon trying to get invaded?
Get rid of it!
'With all of the fire crystals I'll be making here I might even be able to create a threatening array before the open ground' His line of thinking was along the lines of some sort of fire trap. The adventurers would go out of the frying pan and into the fire to a much more literal extent!
'No wait, they might be able to reinforce their bodies and escape.' At least the stronger enemies definitely would. Ed however had no intention to spare anyone. He needed to expand his skeleton domain but he hadn't forgotten about the orc kingdom.
He needed to protect the orc plains in advance on the occasion things didn't go as planned on the previous floor. Until he could bring Vorgarag back without issue, no one else was allowed to die. He would make sure of it.
'A lava pit…' Ed muttered inwardly.
'That's right, there is a magma pseudo-element!' He had taken a chunk into his storage room and even went as far as scanning it.
'A magma element crystal should put a stop to the more powerful ones and without a doubt kill the weaker ones' As Ed didn't know of any adventurers rankings, he could only ascertain that the previous adventurers would have died if they went through the portal and fell in lava.
'There's still a chance that mana reinforcement will allow them to live through' Ed didn't dare underestimate the humans. Up until the previous two battles, he had only suffered losses.
Ed decided to forget it. He couldn't do anything about anyone that made it past. As long as the weaklings were taken care of, he would be satisfied.
The only issue was gathering so many magma crystals. The crystallize skill directly froze mana elements into shards and created impurities instead of forming pseudo-elements.
'If it advances I might have a chance' Ed never even stopped to consider the option of heading to the ogre cavern. The distance was simply too far and not worth the hassle. Switching to his other body relied on the dungeon and he wasn't sure it was willing to cooperate on the matter.
'I may as well start then' He would return only after creating many fire element crystals. Whether or not the skill leveled up during that period was not of real importance for the moment as he needed to first improve the fire liches cultivation speed.
Ed looked at the bright orb in the sky and held his open palm above his head. He activated the crystallize skill and began his creation of a fire shard.
After about two minutes, a small shard appeared. Ed continued the process until receiving an entire crystal.
[Inferior Fire Crystal]
A crystal forcibly formed by mana. It glows a diluted red and holds elements of fire and wind.
The red crystal dazzled under the sun's heat. Ed knew he had succeeded and immediately began production on more. He couldn't afford to waste time.
After more than 30 minutes of non-stop production, Ed could almost see the abundant red mana streak across the air.
[Crystallize has leveled up]
The skill leveled up. Unlike many of his other skills, crystallize was very consistent with its level ups. Ed was only one more step away from level 9 and the skill's likely advancement.
'I'll stop here though' The next level up would take over an hour based on the upward trend of level ups. Ed wasn't willing to waste the skeletons' time by not returning with his new load of fire crystals.
He proceeded to store a large majority of them one by one into the storeroom. There was no good way to carry them over to the crypt. Chucking them into the portal would be written off until he tested it was a working method.
Ed chucked the rest into the black portal that floated over the ruin.
[Adept throwing has leveled up]
Ed ignored the message and was soon left without any more crystals to chuck. Now came the time to enter the portal and return to the boss room. Needless to say, he wasn't very excited at the prospect.
'Here we go…' Ed mustered some strength and jumped into the portal. He felt disoriented and left his body to drift in the void of space.
***
Soon after receiving his order, Bayard gathered the count's knights outside of the Union. There were only fifteen of them, all at the B-class level.
"Sir Bayard" One of the younger knights said with a salute. It was a simple gesture consisting of touching one's heart, head, and then sword hilt. It signified trust and a ready mind. Both to follow orders and strike at one's enemies.
Bayard solemnly took in the salute without saying much. He was silently considering if the force he would be taking would be enough or if he would perhaps need some supplies.
"Men, young master Felix is in danger." After saying this he eyed the crowd. None spoke a word.
"He could also be dead" There was once more no response apart from multiple frowns.
"I don't care which one it is! We will kill anyone or anything that dares to touch him!" Bayard then fiercely declared. If he was ordered to he would conquer the entire dungeon! As a knight captain, he couldn't belittle his own strength.
The knights tightened their fists or gripped their sword with anxiety. Others placed their hands on the Flamewood insignia that was drawn on their armor, a tree that weathers fire. Tall and indomitable, that was what they strived to be.
"We set off!" Bayard declared with a stern voice.
"""AYE!!""" The knights responded with a thundering voice.. They would conquer the first three floors and avenge or safeguard their young master.