Ed decided to no longer loiter. He needed to see himself in whatever way that might be possible. The quickest method he could think of was splitting himself but due to his low health, this wasn't ideal.
'Actually, come to think of it I'll get all of the memories from the merge' Which speaking of, W had seen quite some things. A lot of it was blurry perhaps a result of being battered black and blue by the system before completely assimilating them but the things were interesting nonetheless.
Ed was particularly interested in getting to know the goblin and whatever method it had used to attack the assassin. W was not in his right of mind in battle but an outside analysis would easily allow one to see that the goblin elder was the only one capable of attacking with an unknown invisible method.
'I need to put that in my backlog' Ed told himself before entering the system forge with the intention of splitting no more than a 10 or so hp. All he would need to do was then reduce this minuscule amount and take it back.
'Wait… how can I take it back?' While he could see it he didn't feel anything like arms or legs. It was then impossible to reach out for it.
'The system can do it' It took back W after all. If he asked nicely enough Soul Calling would be called into effect.
Ed immediately put his thoughts into action and tossed himself into the forge to be burned. This time he did actually blackout making him believe that the system did this on purpose.
[You've been dealt damage. -10 hp]
'Maybe I blackout to not harm my memories' The recent memories of W came back fuzzy or in random snippets. This didn't matter all that much but it was curious.
There was a small floating wisp in front of him. A mini W of sorts. Ed grabbed this mini W and exited out of the system space. This would automatically release the small blob and it would look around and naturally capture his figure.
From here on, all Ed needed was for the system to recall the small blob to himself. If the system had to keep hiding as it used to Ed wouldn't dare use this method but after already being found it didn't matter as much.
'Though it might be a good idea to keep some trump cards' He didn't need to reveal everything he and the system could do. That was stupid, even if the dungeon was stupider.
Ed waited patiently hoping that the system would notify him when it finally did the did but seeing that no such message appeared Ed activated two skills. Assessment and Sixth Sense.
[Stalagmite] [Rock] [Pebble] [Leaf] [Dust]
Surprisingly, the assessment skill returned to Ed a bunch of random objects. The only good that came of it was that he could now tell he was inside of some sort of cave. The cave was also likely linked to the outside given that a leaf rolled in. Though the question then became how far in he was and what he was.
'Am I a rock?' This question came from seeing the sixth sense skill return nothing. Just as he had expected, the sixth sense was a scam. Why was this sixth sense limited by his sense of vision!? Ed could only assume the level was either too low or advancement was in order.
But, all things considered, rock had to be off the list. Rocks weren't living things and he doubted he was a golem since he imagined those could see and wouldn't serve as much punishment.
'Livings things with limited senses then…' In Ed's mind that left only plants. Most animals could see and feel just fine after all, right? A fantasy world might be different but Ed couldn't be certain, this world had shown itself to be loosely in line with his previous reality as far as physics and common sense went.
As these random thoughts entered and left Ed's mind he finally returned to the system space and searched for the wisp of himself.
[Wisp of Edw#&!]
{ A wisp sent out by Ed with the purpose of scouting his surroundings. }
Ed read the assessment and nodded inwardly. The system was indirectly acknowledging his plan by mentioning these details in his assessment.
He took Wisp of Edw#&! To the forge room where he instantly merged with it. The process remained as hurtful as it was previously but the pain couldn't be compared to the torture that wisp of Edw#&! suffered on the outside.
'Arrgh…!' Ed had forgotten about that small detail in his search for the truth. But as the memories collected by his wisp settled in his mind Ed only looked more lost and confused.
'Let's see…' All he could remember seeing as a wisp was a semi-deep chasm. To be specific, he was in a semi-deep chasm in the ground. The walls were steep and seemingly slippery. Ed knew that climbing out of this place would be impossible.
That left looking at the ground. The wisp had taken a look at this even as it writhed in pain. But all Ed saw were rocks and leaves scattered about on the rocky chasm floor.
'Hm?' There was also a glowing speck of something. It seemed that his wisp self was also curious as it grew closer to the object and he made it out.
'A mushroom?' Ed's head felt like it was spinning. Why was there a single mushroom there?!?
There were rocks, dead leaves, and a single mushroom. Which one was he then?
'I am a damn mushroom!?!' Ed said screamed internally not knowing what to make of it. Was this another form of isolation!? What exactly did the dungeon expect him to do as a mushroom?
'Calm down…' Ed started to think back on the details of the monster encyclopedia. Assimilating it turned out to be surprisingly useful in this case.
'A magic shroom?' He couldn't make this stuff up! The magic fungi were a species of complicated magical organisms. Their nature made them hard to figure out but the book did still contain some hints of useful information.
One, magic mushrooms glowed in the color of the element they were. He was currently glowing a grayish-white. It was a dull and unsavory color.
Two, this was determined by the crystals the mushrooms ate up. The grey was however not tied to any element. At least he couldn't think of any.
'I should be able to use magic then…' The dull color suggested it would be nothing exciting, however.
'Wait… Status!' Ed had overlooked a simple point. His status knew all!
[Name: Edw#&!]
Type: Magic Mushroom
Health: 5/5
Mana: 10/10
Vitality: 5
Constitution: 1
~Skills:~
[Transmission lvl. 5 (-3)] -Show-
[Fortified Mind lvl. 0] -Show-
[Assessment lvl. 2 (-1)] -Show-
[Assimilation lvl. 7] -Show-
[Thought Manifestation lvl. 2(-1)] -Show-
[Language lvl. 1] -Show-
[System Link lvl. 3] -Show-
[Eloquence lvl. 4(-2)] -Show-
[Sixth Sense lvl. 1(-1)] -Show-
[Body Recollection lvl. 2(-1)] -Show-
'I… really am a mushroom…' Never in his life past or present did he expect to think such a thought. That dungeon was really wicked.
Ed never even liked mushrooms on his pizza never mind want to become one. This could only be described as cruel and unusual punishment!
'My stats are pitiful… How can I increase them?' Assimilation seemed like the go-to answer but when his skills were THIS pitiful there had to be another way.
Ed decided to trust the encyclopedia again regardless of the date. Magic mushrooms lived a rather frugal lifestyle. They would eat organic matter and use the energy from that to survive and reproduce, asexually of course.
These spores were usually made in the mushroom's caps and released when matured. The magic mushroom did do this but at an amazing rate. Due to being magical in nature, magic mushrooms could release spores in less than half an hour intervals. The rate of maturity was extraordinary when compared to normal mushrooms.
'This is weird but… let's do it' Ed decided to release spores. Skills, when acquired, did not do so with a cooldown and he was fairly confident this had to be a skill. Whether he would ever acquire it was another matter.
Ed released a cloud of dull grey particles. This cloud rained down in the chasm floor and planted itself in the piles of dead leaves.
[<Spores lvl. 1> Acquired]
[<Spores> is recovering - 25:59 minutes]
'Oh, I guess I can acquire it' Ed decided to ask the system for more clarification on what exactly this skill did.
[Spores lvl. 1]
{ Release spores to expand fungi area of influence and claim more territory }
'That sure makes it sound interesting' Ed jested inwardly before letting out a mental sigh. He still couldn't see anything but for some reason, after throwing these spores out he could feel things much better.
'My feeling was not stimulated before' He could now more or less see things by the way of feeling, it was as if every small particle was a part of his body.
Ed returned back to the system space to split himself up again. He needed to observe how the spores grew into full-sized mushrooms or mycelium. The fact that he had to do this told Ed this body would be a painful experience.
'Tough luck dungeon, I'll be the best mushroom to ever grace your floors!' Well, at least until the dungeon deemed his suffering enough to return him to an orc body....