There was no way for Ed to know if things would be ok as they were. Nevertheless, after lots of pointless back and forth the three of them still left the matter for the next day.
'Unfortunately building a secure wall without Bulwud is a challenge' There were many other orcs capable of building a wall and that was to be expected as many had to have worked as laymen before. Nevertheless, the skills of a good supervisor could not be underestimated.
Bulwud was by no accounts a master but experience made even a noob formidable when amongst other noobs.
'We could have just gone to him but…' The main issue with that was that Bulwud was inside of the orc iron mine. They would have to expend some effort looking around for him.
That didn't mean they couldn't inform anyone. They did send an orc with this mission but they couldn't just loiter around until Bulwud got the message.
Vorgarag gave himself the task of preparing more cannons. He said he could probably do a better job now. Ed wasn't sure what gave him the confidence but he had no intention to probe as he did have his own matters.
'I should try and create a golem now' The original intent was to build one in the crypt but many things were not going according to plan as of late. There were also no issues with employing golems on this floor.
After walking back to his garden and stopping to think for a short while Ed was finally able to summarize the things he might need.
'These ingredients might not be enough on their own' As to why Ed was gathering ingredients, the answer was simply that making golems was an alchemical process according to his vague memories.
'I wonder if my other half knows more on the topic' Splitting himself didn't guarantee complete efficiency in situations like this but Ed couldn't do anything about the cards he was dealt. Even if they could have been played differently, they had already been played so why dwell on it?
After getting his materials into the storeroom Ed hurried over to the barrack where some very haggard prisoners still remained.
"Ah… Where… what happened to Rebub…?" One orc asked noticing Ed's return. He asked this with a hopeful tone. Ed knew what he was thinking.
"Rebub got it easy" Ed replied before closing the prison door.
"Th- Then-!" The sacred tribe orc's eyes were almost glistening as he was about to ask about their chances.
"Unfortunately you all won't meet the same end" The next experiment didn't necessarily have to be a tortuous one but what could compare to having one's consciousness taken while they slept peacefully? Rebub did have it quite easy.
"Le- Let us out! We promise to be loyal!" "YEAH!" "please…" The prison suddenly got lively as pleas started to ring out from all of the cells.
"Sigh…" Ed was starting to feel like the bad guy. These were people that sacrificed their own for food and believed in a bunch of nonsense crafted by the dungeon. He couldn't say were clean but… it was true they were innocent.
They innocently fell for the schemes of Sarfu and the dungeon and they naively continued to believe in these lies that were cooked up by them. They had fostered some sort of elitism in their simple minds which led to their current predicament.
'Maybe… Maybe I can show them a small mercy' A small mercy. The dungeon was no god but it was true he was a sinner. He had directed the death of hundreds of humans and killed many orcs. There were hardly any traces of his humanity.
'But…' Naive, innocent, or not. These orcs had killed ones under him. There was actually no need for any kind of mercy.
[Vakmu (Dying)]
"Vakmu, you'll be the first then" Ed said nonchalantly amongst the clamor. The voices all quietened after these insensitive words echoed in their hearts.
Ed approached Vakmu's cell and didn't hesitate before summoning his axe.
"Wa- Wait!" Ed slammed open the door leaving Vakmu aghast and before he could turn as pale as a sheet, an axe swung his head right off his body. Blood spurted which Ed collected with the help of his mana manipulation.
A swift death was the only mercy he was capable of granting. But in truth, it wasn't that he was trying for this. He simply felt that collecting the orcs' blood was more effective this way.
'Let's see…' The reason he collected the blood was to test out the theory of anything that came from the living could form a body. If blood clotted into a slime-like lump was it possible for him to then assign it a consciousness?
Ed actually didn't think this mattered anymore. After looking at the consciousness of trees and going through the small period of learning that was Lofty's giant body he could gather that it likely didn't matter if the body used to be alive or not.
'Although Lofty's giant body was made from remains it still couldn't be operated' The reason was that the consciousness was stretched too thin. That on its own didn't mean much but the tree's consciousness was also an eye-opener.
'The mind of a tree could be said to be stretched the thinnest' It wasn't that lofty's mind couldn't operate but simply that it couldn't move its designated body. If consciousnesses were stretched too thin they would likely live just like a tree did. Alive yet not at all. A vegetable was a fitting term.
If these theories were up to par then Ed was bound to create himself a blood slime then no? It satisfied the living condition while still making sure that the consciousness wasn't stretched out too thin.
'The question of what a body means remains unanswered, however' Ed had an idea already but he couldn't be certain it was the right answer.
Ed waited for the blood he contained to clot and harden before loosely touching it and inserting a consciousness into it. The consciousness he prepared was that of Zabub and Gaturn. They were two sacred tribe orcs he had experimented on previously.
He made sure to clean out their memories however since Ed believed that it was possible for consciousnesses to contain a sort of muscle memory.
Consciousnesses that were used to thinning out in a human shape would try to do the same when transferred over to that of a boar. This had yet to be tested but Ed's experience with the drop items had taught him a thing or two on consciousness muscle memory. It at least taught him enough to be certain of this hypothesis.
'A merged consciousness with no memories into a literal blob' The result had to be a success.
After a short while of waiting, something amazing happened.
'It's alive! It's alive!' Ed screamed out inwardly as he saw the lump of blood start to writhe.
[Lump of Blood (Unnamed species)]
{ A lump of blood that has gained sentience through the amazing powers of the system and the ingenuity of the being Ed }
"At least you know to give me some credit…" Ed grumbled to himself after reading the description provided by the system.
'Unnamed species… Can't I just call it a blood slime?' Ed asked himself before scanning the lump of blood again. In the end, however, nothing changed.
'In that case, I'll call it blood clot' Ed could only assume the name was taken. He couldn't just call it Blood Slime01 so he settled for Blood Clot.
[Blood Clot (Confused)]
After receiving a proper name as a species the system displayed the current thoughts of the clot of blood.
'I'm your master' Ed decided to ease some of the creature's confusion by directly transmitting his thoughts to it. He also freed it from the container which used to hold it. Nevertheless…
'Blood clot?' The blood clot just kept on wandering about as soon as it came out aimlessly as if it was looking for something. Ed could only assume it was looking for him.
'It's blind, why?' The blood clot could not see. This was a setback for his golem creation plan. If things created by him were all going to end without any senses then he was in for some trouble.
Feelings like pain would be detrimental but not being able to see, smell, or hear, would impair the golems' ability to perform real-time combat.
'Damn… But I must be close to the truth!' Ed pepped himself up and began to rummage through his thoughts. The blood clot could not see. It had no eyes so that should have made sense but neither did the skeletons.
'They have eye sockets but… that can't be it, right?' Ed looked back at the blood clot which was at the moment running directly into a wall not realizing it existed. He was thinking about how he could carve in it some eye holes.
Like magic, the blood clot suddenly reacted by changing its direction! It started moving away like a snail out of the cell.
"Wha- What is that!?!" One orc yelled as the blood clot accidentally entered his cell.
"EH?!?!" "Hey!" "Food…?" All of the orcs then started to have different reactions as the blood clot began to pass in front of them.. Ed only watched on amused while thinking of a solution.