Ed cast aside the name of the dungeon which was of little importance and instantly began to think about testing the spirit branding he acquired for his level up. He entered the system space and considered what he would need.
'I'll need a skill first, let's pick an orc consciousness' The orcs were likely to have more skills than the skeletons and goblins. The quality was also bound to be higher.
That said, he could totally place whatever skill he extracted onto the hands of a goblin for a simple test.
'I guess I need to get one of Prild's men' They were the only live goblins in the vicinity. He wondered what excuse he would have to come up with to convince them, however.
'But first let's start this already' Ed ran down to the spirit room claiming some orc consciousnesses and searched for a holding box to no avail.
'The rooms are a little different then' Ed didn't mind this for long, he left the consciousnesses to float about without a care. It wasn't like they could escape his head.
Ed briefly scanned the extracting machine before grabbing one of the consciousnesses that was starting to drift too far apart and pinned it down to the machine.
[Start Skill extraction? Y/N]
A simple message appeared which Ed kindly declined before repositioning and shifting the needle about.
[Start Memory extraction? Y/N]
Each time the message content would change, but the mystery would not be lost. Ed would only be able to differentiate whether he was removing a skill or a memory.
For obvious reasons, the next time that Ed was prompted for a skill he agreed readily. The system didn't hesitate to take action as the needle promptly dug into the consciousness.
The needle then started to extract the color out of the consciousness in a quite literal manner. The radiant light that was the consciousness started growing pale and liquid with a blueish tint was being produced by the extraction machine.
The process was fast, the machine soon powered off and the needle was removed from the consciousness. All that was left was inky liquid on a plate which Ed wasted no time in assessing.
[<(Orc) Running lvl. 3>Skill Ink ]
{The running skill of an orc as extracted by the system}
Ed read through the assessment and nodded to himself in understanding.
'I just have to use this on the branding machine' He could then brand a new skill onto a goblin consciousness. For that, he needed to first grab it as it had floated about close to the exit. Later he would swap out one of Prild's goblins and quickly revert it after verifying the changes. Though it might be hard to test out running...
Ed grabbed the ink, it felt cold as did most things in there. He also grabbed the consciousness and walked over to the branding machine. He placed the ink into its rightful place and did the same for the goblin consciousness.
[Brand <(Orc) Running lvl. 3>? Y/N]
'Yes, brand it!' The machine instantly pressed down on the goblin consciousness in what seemed to be only a second. In another second, it also lifted.
[<(Orc) Running lvl. 0> has been branded]
'Eh?' Ed who was eager to test the result was left astounded as the system provided him a disheartening message.
'Only level 0?' Ed was disappointed greatly by the news but after looking at the brand printer and checking the ink he realized most of it still remained. That was to say…
'So the main purpose is the spread of skills rather than the perfect transfer of them?' Ed asked himself. The more he thought about it the more convinced he became that it was the right answer. The question was then if the skills would level up independent of the ink.
'That's fine but… Shouldn't the goblin have already known to run?' As soon as Ed found out the skill was running he knew this should have been the case and was thus expecting some sort of adverse reaction.
'Hmm… Let's give it another whirl, I can't test running anyway' Ed decided after careful consideration.
***
The morning fog hazed the piers planks making ones step uncertain. But it also signaled a new day which Eon spent wandering aimlessly.
If there was one thing different, it was how Eon walked calmly with a small smile on his wrinkled face. He was glad to not have to wade through the swamp water anymore, but that wasn't the main cause of this smile, it was that he had observed enough and the lizards could... be of dubious help...
Over the short couple of days Eon wandered the village, he made sure to get a good glimpse of the lizardmen's homes and their livelihood. They seemed to be rather peaceful living as the land allowed, passing their days with fishing competitions or even occasional spear bouts.
All things considered, they were if anything just a bit too territorial. Any of the lower-class mobs that even came close to their pier would be killed on sight. This territorial nature was actually a common trait found within monsters that was often said to be the cause of the incorrigible relationship between humans and monsters.
Through observing all these things Eon had to ask himself, was this really all he could make use of? The lizards spear arts barely placed them onto the C-class, Eon doubted such moves could even be used to scratch the hydra's itch.
They did have some redeeming qualities, however. Their tough bodies combined with their nature for traversing and livings in swamps however made them fall within the B-class. Outside a marsh, they would hardly qualify for the absolute bottom of the B-class but as he was in one he didn't need to make such considerations.
"For now… they are only that much" Eon said rubbing his beard quickly managing to come up with a relatively simple plan. Yes, a relatively simple plan.
There was something that fell between these competitions sometimes even before or after. That was of course prayer. The lizardmen believed in one god, and one god only. This was the hydra.
Initially, Eon had been disheartened by the news but after careful consideration, he realized that it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It was a good thing to have something to compare himself with. That was to say, he would act as a greater deity.
He only had to offer help using his great wisdom. He could make weapons using some monsters in the vicinity, he didn't know much about crafting weapons but he didn't think he could lose to some lizards, he could then also provide some simple enchants to these weapons.
The end result? Many of the lizardmen would think of him as mighty and be devout enough to sacrifice their lives for him. With all the help he had provided the lizardmen would have also become stronger than before to barely qualify as cannon fodder. It was a simple yet devious plan that only he could pull off.
As for what would happen if they tried to attack him due to their territorial nature… Well, then he just had to crush them. The ones that learned what true fear was and repented could then form a new village devout to only him.
If the numbers weren't sufficient he could do the same to another village and annex them to his new village. Eon could not see a way to lose. After all, intelligent monsters were well known to have some form of resistance to the whims of the dungeon. Otherwise, they would act like the low-class trash that had kept on attacking him. He could safely say the lizardmen would know fear and therefore also know to revere him.
Eon stopped walking, he was at the end of the pier. Here there was nothing but a large hut. Eon barged his way in without caring for whatever business the lizardmen might be attending to and undid his invisibility.
There was only one figure inside. The lizardman, the tribal chief, abruptly reached out for a spear which they set by the wall in that very instance. The tribal chief then shouted oddly with anger hinted by every single pore on their body.
As the lizard person spoke in a foreign tongue, Eon did not understand a thing. The muscular lizardmen seemed to notice this as well but had no intention of retrieving their spear.
Eon sighed knowing that this could become a problem before decisively exerting a ton of pressure on the lizardman.
<"K- Kurgh!">1 The tribal chief felt their body freeze over entirely and his legs grew wimp. It wasn't long before they fell to the floor on their knees painting a sorry sight. But the chief was still unyielding, they stabbed at the wooden floor and tried to prop themselves up this way.
Eon who was pushing the lizard down by manifesting the heavy space mana stopped abruptly. The lizardman did not calm down, it thrust its spear at Eon who reinforcing himself yanked it out of its hands.
"Hahahaha!" The lizard fell and Eon burst into laughter before gradually calming down. He grabbed at the air and pulled a pen out of it. The style of it was rather elegant. The red ink at its tip made it chilling for some reason, however.
Eon's hand then reached out towards the spear shaft, the red ink shining inscribed runes adeptly from the shaft all the way onto the spearhead.
The chief was very much left stunned by the man's weird actions but soon this confusion was replaced by awe. Eon who had finished enchanting the weapon only swung it casually but the way it sounded made the chief terrified!
"I improved the durability and inscribed some wind runes" Eon said passing the spear to the chief who could only stare at it deeply moved. This was a very generous intruder!!!