The first step for getting Rebub into tip-top shape or at least errand boy shape was to feed him all sorts of steroids.
'The remnant recipes left by Lagashka might be useful then' Ed knew where to draw the line, however. He didn't need any meaty dumb monstrosities. Just strengthening the body was enough. Even if the effect was in the end, temporary Ed would need to have it last until Rebub could move around safely on his own,
Ed could also go through the effort of improving the potion, and while that was once a goal of his at the moment, he would have to put Rebub through the wringer.
"Ah, the sun…!" Rebub who had been dragged out of the prison shrank back and exclaimed. He even seemed tearful.
"Let's hurry on" Ed tugged on his arm and said. He couldn't afford to loiter so though starting to feel guilty, he forced Rebub to muster some strength and follow after him.
"Urgh" As Rebub and Ed walked to the garden the former struggled and tripped here and there. Ed only continued to trudge on until they finally came face to face with the ramshackle shack and the blooming garden.
Ed let go of the light hold on Rebub he had and walked on over to what would qualify as his alchemy station. He quickly procured the necessary materials for a healing potion. He of course didn't forget to feed Rebub some of the fruits.
He was so broken that he immediately gulped the whole thing down not sparing Ed a glance nevermind a thank you. Though perhaps a thank you was a bit much…
The Quad Input Tree Growth Array was still working well and it was just a matter of time before Ed introduced it as an immediate solution to the food problem. Ed didn't mind sharing some fruits with Rebub due to this and tossed him two more before turning to work on his potions.
[Meager Healing Potion]
Ed created a couple of meager healing potions. Why? He thought it would be nice to mix them with the recipe for the body supplement. The Alivio Healing potion might be too powerful or not mix well with the body supplement.
The meager healing potion was however made with similar materials as the body supplement and were all even grown from the same garden. The Alivio potions were too magical and distant in contrast.
After that, Ed concocted the body supplement itself. The fort flowers were starting to run short but Ed simply brought out a brush and drew a new Quad-Input Tree Growth Array. Unlike with trees, however, the array was less effective.
Once the flowers were plucked they could still regrow but they were still prone to get out of control. The way mana entered the flowers in the first place also had to be changed. It was a lot more work compared to trees.
[Body Supplement (Solution)]
Nonetheless, It was nothing but a short interlude. Ed got the hang of things with relative ease and the body supplement solution was successfully brought to life anew.
'This thing can create monstrosities…' Ed muttered to himself before grabbing the meager healing potion which he had left at his side and tossed it right into the solution.
The solution instantly sparked as if to explode with ire but nothing of the sort happened in the end.
[Healing Supplement (Solution)]
{A nonstandard body supplement recipe with both harmful and helpful mid-term side effects. The positive and negative cancel out.}
Ed was instead rewarded for performing this low-risk operation with a high accolade. The potion's negatives were effectively canceled out and rather than cause long-term harm, the potion only caused mid-term harm. Its benefits were also limited to that same time frame but as Rebub only needed to recover it didn't matter.
"Drink this" Ed told Rebub who had been watching everything from the side with a lost and dazed expression. This sudden request however brought the orc back to reality.
Rebub smacked his parched lips and instantly grabbed at the potion container Ed held. Ed carefully handed it over to him but the orc didn't pay it much mind.
"Gah!" He chugged the whole thing down with a happy expression.
[Rebub (malnourished)]
{ A sacred tribe orc captive that has been starved by his captors. The torture has taken a toll on his sanity. The orc warrior seems to be showing signs of healing }
Ed assessed Rebub once more and was pleasantly surprised to find the effects to be almost immediate. Though the potion would affect Rebub for the midterm it didn't mean that it took a while for it to settle in.
Ed watched carefully as Rebub started to visibly recover slightly The malnutrition had turned his green skin paler than usual but some vitality had now returned to it.
This meant that it was now time to move things along. Ed needed to experiment with splitting himself.
'Rebub can be slowly healed up in two days at most' With the healing supplement that much had to be possible.
'That's already more than I'm willing to wait, however' Unfortunately it just meant that at most Ed would have Rebub retrieve his body while still being weak from hunger.
'Hmm… Maybe I should just send one of the skeletons' Ed's original plan was as follows. Get a body, trek towards skeleton body, store with area store, return with the body.
If he were to send a skeleton however the skeleton would have to be more careful with sending back the body as a single missing bone would be an extra piece he had to make up for.
There was also the possibility of simply sending his split mind in the body of a skeleton instead of a malnourished orc but the main issue with this was that the skeleton bodies were slower than that of the orcs.
The only real benefits to the skeleton were that they didn't require food or shelter and could continue without losing stamina. They were thus very good for traveling through tough terrain or for long distances.
'The plains classify as neither' A couple of hours was a lot to walk by foot but as Ed's attributes continued to grow that time began to shrink and he became numb to this number. Overall, his concept of time started to shift as his patience grew.
Spending each hour, spending each minute, dedicated to tasks one after another made it so he was always distracted. Time seemed to just fly by nowadays.
Ed's idle conversations stopped as he finally got to connect with the system. He first tied Rebub to a rope and left him to his own devices inside of the house before leaving it himself and entering the dream world that was the system space.
Without Ed saying or thinking a single thought, the system began to play its usual animation. The ground shook and the earth rose. It was the roof of the majestic temple inside of Ed's mind.
Its white walls suggested purity and divinity, these walls remained rose and eventually settled into their positions. The row of steps that rose alongside them seemed sleek, almost slippery. Yet Ed knew better, he transformed his body of light into the shape of a human and floated above them.
Ed entered the system space properly but he didn't wander. He immediately headed over to the forge room. It was the only place where he could split his consciousness after all.
'I'm really curious about one thing…' Ed thought as he looked around this the eye-searing mess that called itself the system space. Would the entire system remain intact even if he was split a clean 50-50? Was it possible that one of them could end up without a system?
Ed needed to know to what extent he could live as a split version of himself. This was important for his future. It was a backup plan.
'If I ever feel the need to guarantee my safety I can just keep what I suppose would be a sub-body hidden somewhere…' Assuming that his original half perished then the sub-body would still live as him.
If the system was not split properly between them though the sub-body would not be able to avenge the original or revive it in any way. Without the system, Ed's growth would stagnate significantly.
But that was all for future preparations. Ed only found this relevant to the current topic due to the fact that it would make the difference between his original retrieval plan working. After all, how could he use the area store if he didn't even have the system in his head?
Ed would then have to either send his original body on a quest and leave the third body as an acting chief or give up on sending himself. The third body acting chief would be hard to accept for most of the Sanctuary orcs anyway.
After walking into the forge room, Ed looked into the holding box which was empty, and back at his spirit smith. He hadn't gotten nearly enough use out of it due to the sudden human attack. Nevertheless, his purpose was another.
[Enter the forge]
Ed didn't have to say much for the system to understand.
'Give me a 40 60 split' Ed had no idea what those numbers would mean for the system but he went ahead and demand them. Every experiment needed quantifiable conditions.
[Starting Process]
As soon as Ed entered, the process began.