Whatever was left of Ed's will waited eagerly with anticipation for the advanced options to appear in front of him. They were then quickly listed out.
[Please choose from the 4 skills]
[(Basic) Psychopathy - You've learned to cope with outside stimuli by disassociating from your own emotions. Your mind has reached a state of near-complete psychological immunity. ]
[(Rare) Fortified Mind - You've learned to cope with mental stimuli by building a literal wall around your mind. No mental harm will come until breached.]
[(Special) Evasise Mind - You've learned to cope with mental stimuli by running away from your problems. Your mind is able to scatter to minimize or altogether avoid damage dealt]
[(Special) Mirror Mind 1- You've learned to cope with mental stimuli by lashing out. Your mind gains deflective properties, deflected damage has a chance to be negated]
Ed's injured mind was suddenly faced with four options, the first one could be easily tossed out simply due to his current predicament. The other three could help him but Ed didn't even know what the difference between rare or special was, how was he to choose?!
Nevertheless, there was no way that the dungeon would wait for him to figure things out. Under this increasingly precarious situation, Ed had to make a wise choice. This should have been impossible.
'I'm oddly calm' But Ed's mind seemed to have become separated from the situation on the outside. He was like a third person, only watching. Clearly, this was the effect of his level 9 mental fortitude.
'This isn't bad…' This brief thought caused Ed much dismay as it meant that he in fact had four options. Never before had he considered not taking an upgrade but it was true that separating from oneself and viewing things from a different perspective was very useful.
'But it can't save me' He didn't want to see himself dying with a clear mind. Wasn't that actually much worse than dying regularly? That meant that Ed could only choose one real option to withstand the predicament without a shred of doubt.
'Fortified mind' Ed really liked the effects of Mirror Mind as well as Evasive Mind but both of these skills left room for uncertainty. Planning for the future only worked if you had a future.
[<Mental Fortitude lvl. 9> has advanced to <Fortified Mind lvl. 0>]
Soon after this message was delivered into Ed's field of vision he felt himself sort of returning to reality. The weird sensation of a third party was gone and in came a new sensation. A strange feeling of mental sturdiness.
The lights that Ed had up to that point been manipulating to shield himself started to dissipate. They were however instantly replaced by what seemed like a translucent glass wall. These walls formed in his entire surrounding forming a glass cube.
The slew of damage notifications that had been appearing all the while finally finished and Ed could breathe out a sigh of relief.
'...Hm?!?' Was what he thought. The glass walls he had just set up through the fortified mind skill were under the dungeon's powers just that. A glass wall. Cracks started to form around it and Ed felt as if he had made a wrong decision.
'F*ck! If you were going to break so soon tell me that!' Could it be that rare skills were nothing more than rubbish!?
Ed bantered with himself in anxiety as more cracks webbed around the cube. It was only a matter of time until it shattered completely, Ed didn't doubt this at all.
Worst of all was that he knew that the skill was not at fault. The dungeon was an ancient entity for all he knew. What gave Ed the confidence to face it with a recently advanced lvl. 0 skill? The notion was very much ridiculous.
Thus… It shattered.
[<Fortified Mind> is recovering 00:1:30]
[You've been dealt critical damage. -100 hp]
The glass cube broke into tiny pieces, and a piercing feeling of pain assaulted Ed. This mind-shattering power that beset him at a moment's notice almost caused him to blank entirely. Thankfully, advanced skills usually maintained some of the essences of their predecessors.
His fortified mind allowed Ed to maintain consciousness and this, in turn, allowed him to manipulate his thoughts anew. The thought manifestation skill was often finicky as it depended on will but with his life on the line, Ed had no problems using it over and over again.
[<Thought Manifestation> is in effect]
A shield of lights not shining as brightly as before was quickly formed and Ed was only forced to lose a significant chunk of his health once. By this point, however, he understood quite well that this would likely be the end.
The amount of health he sacrificed was now at least 30 every second and while each second felt like an eternity it still meant that the ending was soon.
As his mind grew weary and he struggled to maintain himself in an awake state. His shield began to falter and… he suddenly felt no more attacks...
[Name: Edw#&!]
Type: Level 7 Consciousness.
Health: 352/800
Bodies: Skeleton, Orc
~Skills~
[Transmission lvl. 5 (-3!)] -Show-
[Fortified Mind lvl. 0 ( ! )1] -Show-
[Assessment lvl. 2 (-1)] -Show-
[Assimilation lvl. 7] -Show-
[Thought Manifestation lvl. 2(-1!)] -Show-
[Language lvl. 1] -Show-
[???] -Show-
[Eloquence lvl. 4(-2!)] -Show-
[Sixth Sense lvl. 1(-1)] -Show-
[Body Recollection lvl. 2(-1!)] -Show-
Ed grimaced mentally after quickly scanning through his health and affected skills.
'You've really done a number on me…' Ed preferred to die at this point. This much damage would take forever to recover from! He was still injured from before so how was he supposed to recuperate from this too!?!
He couldn't. Not in the short term anyway.
'I need to look into a way to fix this…' Ed muttered tiredly in his mind. Usually one wouldn't be able to adjust the voice inside their heads but that was just how tired he was.
[10 minutes before respawning]
A normal notification that would appear in a normal situation. Ed wanted nothing to do with it, he only wanted to find a way to heal his mind. He did know one method but if he asked the dungeon for compensation it could very well finish the job.
'I'll wait patiently…' Ed could figure out how to heal himself later. He did think that the system would not let him down. Who knew, maybe he could even merge himself with some orc consciousnesses to mend the damage?
It all simply took time and patience.
***
Time and patience were not something Balin's royal company was known for, however. The group of low-class thugs led by the only descendant of the destitute noble household was a rowdy bunch. Easily riled up and quick to act on this anger.
Such were the rumors that followed Balin and the others in the capital. Balin of course knew it wasn't true, and some of the members thought it wasn't entirely true, which meant that the rumors weren't reality.
The company was currently marching steadily forward following after the hints Explorer left on his return to camp.
The steady march was slow and it persisted for multiple hours yet Balin and the others never once complained. They took breaks regularly and ate generously. The company was the type to move only methodically.
This also meant that Balin wanted to figure out a way to pin down the pesky Eon.
"He can just teleport anyway…" But it was quite difficult. He really wanted to retrieve the king but against a master of the space element, it was impossible to guarantee victory.
Some of the squad leaders who followed behind him would simply listen in to these casual mutterings wondering what exactly it was that Balin was proposing in his mind.
"Sir, it looks like the traces end here" The group after about three hours of toiling reached their destination. There were small incisions caused by Explorer after sinking his daggers into the ground as well as subtle skid marks here and there.
The blood that could be usually found after a battle seemed to have however disappeared. Either way, this wasn't the key point. What really mattered now was figuring out what would be Eon's next move.
"He would have likely continued forward this way" Explorer said somewhat ashamed. His decision to engage with the goblins and orcs allowed Eon to easily snatch his prize and leave unfettered. It was a slap not just to his own face but that of the entire company. He was proving the rumors true, even though in reality it only represented him.
"But are you really sure...?" Siar asked skeptically. Since Eon had teleported who knew how far it was impossible for them to know where the tracks would continue.
"Yes… Well, the goblins and orcs were heading straight this way" This was Explorer's reasoning for believing that Eon was heading in this direction.
He believed that Eon had been watching his exchange with the orc from the very beginning. That was not his original intention, like himself, he probably only wanted to see where they were headed.
His battle with the orc put this in jeopardy. He couldn't follow a dead orc but fortunately, he knew to hold himself back. This gave Eon the opportunity to teleport in and take the orc away.
"So you are confident, that, the orc will have taken him in this same direction?" Balin who was looking at where the orc's body was once laying turned to Explorer and asked. Explorer meekly nodded.
"Good, We'll head there then" They would head towards wherever it was that the orcs and goblins were going. Whether they find Eon would from there rely on their good or bad luck.