Following his failure, Ed spent the rest of the entire day working with other materials. That included Drench's Crystal Phalanges. Unsurprisingly, he met failure. But it was a good failure this time!
[Poisonous Substance]
A toxic alchemic failure. The viscous liquid can cause severe irritation on contact. Tastes like dirt.
'This isn't a great poison but any poison is good poison' Though it sounded a bit farfetched the saying definitely applied to combat. As long you weren't on the receiving end anyway.
The poisonous substance lacked substance but Ed thought he could fix it. The solution had been created using the cura weeds in fair quantities as well as the serenity buds, Ed didn't know how this created poison but he did think an orc blood fruit could help boost the lethality of the potion.
He tossed one into the vile pot and pondered silently as it boiled in the putrid green. Ed was wondering if it was possible to use the potion as a solvent. While the system didn't say anything about it being corrosive it didn't mean it couldn't become corrosive, right?
'Since it needs a piece of Drench it wouldn't be very viable but…' If the result was powerful enough Drench would have to just deal with it. Of course, Ed would make sure to give him some benefits for his sacrifice.
'Getting clean new body parts is a benefit' Drench would shake its head furiously but the more Ed thought about it the more he was convinced.
[Unnamed Poisonous Solution]
After some more minutes, Ed succeeded in turning his failure into opportunity. A quick assessment told him that the irritant nature of the initial failure was at least doubled in power.
The poison could now irritate the entire body. While that sounded like a weak effect if losing focus in battle was already enough to cause one's death then it was easy to imagine what would happen to someone that felt uncomfortable in their entire body.
Death. If his orcs took the chance provided by the poison it was a definite death.
'I'll be coating this on the orcs' weapons then' The orcs might think little of petty tricks but it wasn't like Ed planned on consulting them about it. Plus, he always had in mind the bigger picture. He didn't care about some fictional sense of honor. He had no shame nevermind honor!
As for the name… Ed didn't think to name it. Irritating poison would have to do the job for the time being.
Ed instead decided to expend his creativity on the task of creating new recipes. Ed's entire rest of the day was spent creating these different potions as well as increasing his own proficiency with the potent healing potion.
[Alchemy has leveled up]
[Alchemy has leveled up]
The effort did bear fruit. As his alchemy skill continued to increase so did his success rate. Eventually, not even the regular spirit bones could not be spared by Ed.
[Calming Potion]
[Lesser Frenzy Potion]
[Heat Resistance Potion]
[Potent Healing Potion]
The frenzy potion was courtesy of Brutus and the orc blood fruit. They worked surprisingly well. Blaze's fire resistance potion was a bit of a disappointment but Ed also knew it was great he got something in the first place.
The calming potion was from the spirit bones and had the small effect of calming one's nerves. Ed thought that the only one that might find them useful was Vorgarag. The potent healing potion wasn't anything new but Ed was positive that its quality had at least improved.
While all of this had transgressed, Ed didn't forget to assimilate some new things.
'Status!' He called up his status to glimpse at all the changes.
[Name: Edw#&!]
Type: Orc
Health: 1800/1800
Mana: 276/276
Vitality: 14
Strength: 6
Agility: 5
Constitution: 17
Dexterity: 8
~Skills~
[Transmission lvl. 4] -Show-
[Mental Fortitude lvl. 7] -Show-
[Assessment lvl. 2] -Show-
[Assimilation lvl. 7] -Show-
[Thought Manifestation lvl. 1] -Show-
[Language lvl. 1] -Show-
[???] -Show-
[Instinct lvl. 6] -Show-
[Adept Throwing lvl. 1] -Show-
[Mana Manipulation lvl. 8] -Show-
[Axemanship lvl. 5] --Show-
[Eloquence lvl. 4] -Show-
[Craftsmanship lvl. 2] -Show-
[Body Recollection lvl. 2] -Show-
[Alchemy lvl. 3] -Show-
[Formationist lvl. 1] -Show-
Ed assimilated the vitamin jello he created and it resulted in some vitality. He also assimilated some grass rope he made himself on passing for dexterity.
As the attribute yield hadn't been great, Ed was still too tanky. For someone that could revive to have such high regenerative capabilities was simply preposterous.
'If my enemies knew what they were against they would die on the spot' Ed commented in jest as he prepared to clock out for the day. The sun was setting and all of the orcs were starting to close up shop.
'I didn't see Sharog today' Ed thought as he returned to his smithy without much concern.
'Hm?' That was until he caught a glimpse of light inside the smithy. The glimpse came from the forge! He hurried in and discovered…!
"Ah… Ed…. She said to throw it back into the fire…" The orc who had created the Lovecraftian abomination said. Ed peeked past him and saw the lump of iron start to melt and felt at peace.
"She has good taste, you should keep her" Ed said before kicking the orc out of his temporary housing. The orc was dumbfounded but this time Ed made sure to lock up properly. The doorless entrance was sealed by the ground itself.
'Back to skeleton!' Ed declared as he laid down on the cold floor waiting for the dungeon to respond. His status check had already confirmed that the dungeon was watching so it was only a matter of time,
[Recalling Champion Soul]
Ed was right, his thoughts drifted into nothingness, and his body which lay down on the hard ground went limp.
***
"Sir Balin, the town is just up ahead" The B-rank scout, Fox, informed his superior Balin who nodded with a solemn expression.
"Sir, why do you look so serious?" Those under Balin were not afraid to ask questions. They were like a big family. That also meant that Balin didn't really want to hide anything from them. Fox had asked, so Balin answered.
"The place is more dangerous than we thought" These words were said with a shudder. Balin had underestimated the threat of the dungeon. He only realized this after reading the written accounts of both freelance and affiliated adventurers.
"Really?" Fox said with curiosity. Their captain wasn't the strongest but he was by no bound a weakling. They were also a company of 20 squads, each of these squads had 10 members lead by either Peak B-Class Knights or even A-Class knights.
Fox himself was at the peak of the B-class and worked as the leader of the magician scouts, which was the name that others called his squad.
Balin nodded while still going over the records. He was trying to cure his ignorance and planning how to go forward. Previously he was blinded by prejudice and therefore never looked into the danger of the dungeon. Now that he was heading into it with his family of 200 there was no way that could remain as the case.
The company did eventually reach the town. They were met by curious gazes wherever they passed and before they knew it the entire town was aware of their motive.
Nevertheless, Balin never heeded this any mind as he took his soldiers outside of town and towards the dungeon path to set up camp. Once they did that, Balin invited all squad leaders into his tent.
"We'll rest for today and continue in the morning." Balin said to his squad leaders. They would pass this message to their groups and the entire company would instantly be prepared to snooze.
As they left, Balin unfurled his documents. He was staying up.
In fact, he spent the entire night thinking up countermeasures for every scenario. The only thing that kept him going strong throughout the day was the nature of his mana.
Soon, Balin called on all of the 20 squad leaders and the 20 squads were quickly prepared to venture into the dangerous dungeon. With Balin at the lead, however, they had nothing to fear.
They passed by the Freedom Union's people without issue, they wouldn't reject a royal force.
Once inside, all manner of traps were blocked by Balin's timely earthen walls, flame traps were doused by his controlled water element, and any skeleton that appeared didn't even need to be handled by him. Two hundred people.
That was 200 people! What were groups of 5 or 6 measly skeletons supposed to do against even a single squad?
Traversing the narrow dungeon corridors was the actual hardest thing to do. Fortunately, this inconvenience was temporary.
"Squad leaders, split up and spread out. I want us to proceed carefully from hereon" Balin word's seemed inane but they knew not to ask too many questions even if Balin was willing to answer them. Doing so too often signified mistrust.
As for Balin's reason? Well, it was based on ambush reports. He couldn't have his entire company ambushed at once. He, therefore, decided to have them split while remaining close enough to provide back up to the others.
The reports of ambushes after the dungeon was opened to the public were actually zero but Balin wanted to take no risks. Who wanted to become number one?
Balin was resourceful. If his many years of experience taught him anything it was that one could never have enough options. Every problem had a solution, and even those that didn't could usually be prevented.
Just like how the fall of his family could have been avoided.. But that was a topic he didn't like to touch on.
