In the last few days, the Lizardmen had lived rather lavishly. With the magic technology of Eon, they had more and more time for themselves. With so much free time, boredom was bound to become a problem. At least if Eon hadn't provided them with games and hobbies they could try.
The games he introduced were simple games involving only oneself. These games were getting around the village. If one wasn't playing these games than they were cooking some new recipes. With over 100 years of living, Eon knew to cook up some exotic dishes.
On the surface, for Eon to teach them to laze around seemed counterintuitive but what Eon wanted was loyalty. Providing them safety was enough for most but it still wasn't enough to guarantee undying loyalty.
He had to give them at least a little more. This better and lavish lifestyle was the little more. To truly guarantee loyalty, he had to show them that the impossible was possible as long as they were with him.
"Coug- Ahem, Cough-" The lizardmen were currently gathered in the village center waiting for Eon but…
He was hacking and coughing every single time he wanted to clear his throat to prepare to utter some words. Fortunately, he was concealed. He fumbled around in his pockets for a bit before space mana started to surge into his body from the mana stone which grew slightly less radiant by the day.
After about a minute of nothing, Eon suddenly appeared like a ghost in front of all the lizardmen. Even Kurgher was left awestruck by the appearance, and he had been subjected to it more than the others as chief.
"LIZARDMEN!!!" Eon yelled raising his black branch-like staff into the air.
<"'YOUR DIVINITY!!!"" """EON!!!""> The lizardmen screamed out with bloodshot eyes. They were touched beyond belief to be able to chant such a thing together.
Eon had appeared like a ghost. That was accurate. His face was as pale as a sheet of paper. To some, this signaled weakness but to the majority who were witnessing Eon's eccentric inventions and life improvements, he appeared to be ethereal1.
He had improved their life, he had improved their strength, he had taught them. The last was particularly difficult since they spoke different languages, but Eon had taught them a couple of easy to understand words.
Lizardmen were they, and Eon was the name of this deity-like entity. Those were the basic of the basics.
"You cannot be satisfied with just… this" Eon said gesturing to their surroundings with disgust. Some of the lizardmen understood and others thought he was disgusted at them. Regardless, they all listened to the man they could not understand.
"YOU CAN BE GREATER!!!" Eon screamed before shooting something out towards the sky from his wand. This something was made up of lights and after reaching a certain altitude seemed to have exploded.
It burst into four different pictures which alternated in succession. It was like a small animation, but the contents were bad and that was already an understatement.
<"What!?! That's mad!"> A lizardman using a modified spear was lopping off the head of another in plainer equipment, betrayal! It was a crime, that had to be a crime!
The atmosphere that Eon had built up instantly soured as the magical animation started to fade. That was until a few smarter ones picked up on an oddity.
<"That lizardmen had poor weapons and armor!"> Those lizardmen were weak. At the very least, they were weaker than themselves. The deity could only mean one thing…!!!
The eyes of the lizardmen started to all gleam, greed evident in them. With their power, they could conquer the entire marsh! How great would that be? Any other tribes would have no choice but to come under them!
The lizardmen all become exuberant and wanted to run to grab their weapons and gear to annihilate other tribes right away but… none of them dared to leave without first glancing at Eon.
The ethereal figure only flashed them a warm smile, like that of a grandparent towards their grandchild. This candid smile was followed by a subtle nod of approval.
<"Let's become the greatest!"> Someone shouted no more scruples in their path for conquest. They ran home where they had their modified spear. Eon had upgraded everyone's combat power by now. Some just didn't carry the weapons on them afraid to sully the treasure.
Many others started to shout similar things getting caught up in the atmosphere but Var Agus and Kurgher never left. Kurgher was for one always equipped and Var Agus had no intention to participate.
<"We will leave to meet god during the expedition"> Var told Kurgher who nodded. Eon who was listening in could not understand what the two chatted, but his eyes still narrowed to slits.
'I won't let you go war chief' Nothing brought up bait- Troop, troop morale like a strong and capable leader facing the enemy headfirst. If Eon could get him to charge at the Hydra the others would follow without any second thoughts. The war chief however seemed to harbor doubts.
But after thinking for a bit more, Eon still relaxed. Everything was going according to plan with little variables. The progress was slow and his illness was progressing, yet he did not feel any rush.
The crystal that Eon carried with him was more or less the size of a fist. Space magic required lots of mana, so how could a crystal of it be so small? The amount of mana had to be compressed to unimaginable quantities. It would feel nearly inexhaustible when used to heal his sick body.
Feeling and being nearly inexhaustible were different things though. He could probably survive only another two or three months with it. That was only as long as he continued to expend as little mana as he was now.
***
Back in the depth of the marshland caverns Ed and W were both thinking about the best next step.
'Two heads are supposed to be better than one…' Ed said neither of them could come up with a clear direction.
'That's a bit unfair, technically we are still one' W answered back still pondering deeply on the matter.
So far, Ed planned to use the mushrooms to farm for materials. This would strengthen his orcs and skeleton subordinates, but the main problem was that the dungeon was not taking him back.
He could farm for as long as he wanted but if the system never took him back to the orc plains all his mushrooms would go to waste, though not literally.
That begged the question, was he to send W back the way Eon had entered to allow him to rejoin with the orcs? That sounded like a noble idea but he would first have to map out the entire cavern system. Otherwise, W would be wandering around listlessly.
Even outside of that, whether W could even last long enough to exit was a mystery. He didn't have to rely on Ed for nutrients but if he had to fight for his food he would be taking a beating pretty often.
This would inevitably mean injuries. The mushrooms might heal, but the dirt would not regenerate. Some of the damage would be irreversible and W would be left stranded somewhere perhaps to never be found.
'In that case, let's not use me' W suggested causing Ed's mind to instantly whir with possibilities.
Almost immediately, Ed entered the system space and scanned the storeroom for something red.
'Here it is' Ed said before grabbing the red blood clot and taking it to the forge room. The freaky thing was blind and could not move anywhere previously, but now Ed knew of a way.
'Since it's not actually alive like the mushrooms it will probably have the undead qualities of skeletons' The blob would be able to scour around unimpeded.
On the matter of skeletons, Ed could let them do recon. With W, he could totally arrange their parts and insert a consciousness. The only qualm Ed had with this was potentially narrow crevices.
'The blood clot can squeeze through most places' The skeletons could not go everywhere. But if one thought about it broadly there were multiple advantages and disadvantages for both choices.
For example, although the blood clot could in theory travel everywhere it had no combat power. The skeletons did have combat power but due to their larger build, they'd be more likely to attract attention from other mobs.
The blood clot was red so it wasn't perfect in contrast to the black anti-skeletons, but that could easily be fixed.
[Anti-Blood Clot]
{ A blood clot with black metallic sheen. Some of its malleability 1has been lost. The Blood clot is more likely to retain its shape, however. }
The Anti-Blood Clot was translucent black, this allowed one to see something in its center. That was an eyeball.
'With this, it will be able to scout the surroundings' To capture everything Ed just needed to insert a consciousness.
'Inserting myself is too dangerous though, maybe it's about time I try extracting memories' If they were anything like the skill inks he would be able to use assessment to derive any important or noteworthy occurrences.
If that wasn't enough, he could simply import these memories into a skeleton and have them narrate to him what was going on.
'That'll work' Now all Ed needed to do was apply some skills to the new Anti-Blood Clot and send it off. Charge, Tough, and maybe even run from the orcs could be tried.
'I wonder what axemanship will get it' Ed joked as he started to gather the skill inks.
Extremely delicate and light in a way that seems too perfect for this world..Malleability - Mal·lea·bil·i·ty
The quality or state of being easily molded.