After a short moment, a list was displayed in front of Ed.
[Compatible materials detected, listing acquired possible combinations]
[Crystal Skeleton] - Fire, Water, Earth, Wind
[Anti-Skeleton] - Fire, Water, Earth, Wind
[Armament Skeleton] - Metal
[Muscle Skeleton] - Orc, Human
The list which appeared did not disappoint Ed. Well, perhaps a bit since it was a bit small but the content didn't.
'Armament skeleton…' One could easily infer that it required a weapon. It was likely the fusing of the skeleton with a weapon which Ed was sure might have some benefits. At the very least the skeletons wouldn't lose their weapons in the middle of battle.
The other new thing was the muscle skeleton which Ed also thought might have some benefits. He believed it would help the skeletons become nimble and agile.
The skeletons were held together by the faint spiritual power of the consciousness as it thins out to claim the entire body. Though it would still be thinning out, having a direct solid connection of muscles and ligaments would go a long way in terms of speed and dexterity.
The question was then which ones should he make and how many of them was he to make? The ultimate answer was many armament skeletons. He ordered as many as possible from the spirit smith who got to work almost instantly.
With the holding box being larger, Ed was able to throw in a couple of bodies into it. In the end, he was reluctant to use them. The bodies didn't come around every so often. The orcs might be useable but Ed also knew that any form of flesh was a weakness.
'They might still not feel pain but if their body is fundamentally changed they might end up getting crippled' The skeletons couldn't really become crippled until losing their limb in the normal case but for the muscle skeletons it might work differently.
With the spirit smith hard at work, all that was left for Ed to do was to start construction.
He brought out some skeleton earthen mages, the strongest being Trench, and had them start building out defensive walls. Ed made sure to reinforce any weaknesses himself whenever necessary.
While doing these mundane tasks Ed didn't forget about the dungeon. He was surprised it allowed him to chase out the intruders without killing them.
'While I wasn't confident in killing all of them, killing most of them should have been possible' The main issue for Ed was that as a skeleton he couldn't take enough hits. No matter how great he might think himself, he wouldn't pull off not getting hit.
That was why Ed was left curious. Was it busy or did it learn to be considerate?
'Well whatever' For the time being it wasn't any of his business. As long as the dungeon didn't interfere in what was his business all would be good.
Ed made a total of 20 armament skeletons through the spirit smith. Considering he said to make as many as possible this was a neat coincidence.
'Iron, from now on, this is your base' The base Ed was talking about was located where he spawned as was previously planned but it looked much different now.
Each door was sealed off by an earthen portcullis like one would have in a castle, it helped give the area a certain aesthetic. Most of all though, they were quite secure while still allowing visibility into the corridors.
Once an adventurer made it through these they would be faced with a perimeter of stalwart walls. The ceiling of most rooms in the dungeons measured at more or less the same height as a three-story house.
Thinking about it, the walls actually weren't that impressive. The only thing impressive was the skeletons atop of these walls
The armament skeletons were patrolling the perimeter.
As Ed had suspected, these skeletons had become weapons by integrating swords, spears, maces, whatever it was that the spirit smith had provided into themselves. With their metallic bodies, they all seemed very intimidating and unique.
Some had their hands replaced by their weapons and others their whole arm. An odd few had even their head become a weapon which made them look bizarre.
Iron who was being put in charge of this first "city" was not satisfied with the arrangement. Iron knelt down and looked up at Ed with no expression.
It withdrew its sword and placed it down on the ground with no intention of picking it back up.
'You don't want to?' Ed asked it to which Iron nodded.
Its gesture of putting down the blade was the same as saying I won't fight. It could also be perceived as giving Ed his blade meaning Iron was his sword Ed didn't think it was that though since he understood Iron quite a bit now.
'You are a very grateful skeleton' Iron wanted to repay Ed back for his gifts but it wasn't willing to take on this role. Why was it?
'You are my knight' Ed had told that to Iron once. He had said that Iron was his knight so how could he take that back now and ditch him? Iron was not at all willing!
Initially, Ed had been suspecting that Iron was performing these actions out of self-interest but now he realized it wasn't true.
'Since you insist on staying that way, you may follow me' Iron had been faithful and Ed was willing to repay the kindness.
This transmission between Ed and Iron was private so the others like Blaze and Prairie didn't hear of it. Nevertheless, they became aware that something was conversed after Iron prostrated himself on the ground without intention to look back up.
If it was a human Iron would have been overcome by emotion and broken down into tears.
'Wait, since you won't take the role…' Ed was put on a tough spot. Now he had to switch to his other candidates but he was sure they wouldn't be willing. Trench was also quite the fanatic so Ed doubted it would accept the proposal.
Actually, practically all the more intelligent anti-skeletons had formed some sort of extreme piety. Ed had an inkling as to who was to blame but there was no workaround. Ed had to choose somebody new.
'You, come here' Ed decided to appoint a new anti-skeleton for the job instead.
'Your name is Survivor' It was the earthen skeleton that tried to desperately save him in the boss room that one time. While that showed they were very devoted to him, their intelligence was not enough to know they were practically being abandoned at these outposts.
'Try and survive many more battles and I'll be sure to reward you handsomely' Ed, therefore, decided to compensate the anti-skeleton. There was also an ulterior motive of giving some other skeletons the wish to volunteer.
If any of them managed to do well in battle they could be shifted to new positions and given some more strength. This would result in Ed gathering talented skeletons all while making them happy. They wouldn't miss out on the opportunity.
'I guess I should make our headquarters next' All of these talented anti-skeletons had to end up somewhere.
***
The Bosque Kingdom was quite large as a hub of agriculture and Samuel had to admit he loved traveling through it. Unfortunately, he had already returned to Arbor Town.
It was early morning and Samuel's back was being illuminated by the brilliant rays of sun. His posture suggested he was thinking deeply about something.
'Helping take back the crown in my current state is quite hard' Samuel Oakley loved to spread his ideologies of reforming the adventuring system to not feed on the poor but that meant he wasn't very popular among the top brass.
Succinctly put, he didn't have any good and reliable connections. Most of his adventurer friends had already died in fact so even contacting them was impossible.
'Maybe I can contact Clarys' Though they had only recently become acquainted Samuel admired her character. She displayed little of it but he could tell she was quite upright.
If one were to couple in her healing ability and looks than her connections could not be small. As for what Samuel needed connections for… It was mainly to get his way with things.
The Freedom Union had not given him much leeway even after returning him his position. He couldn't form his own expedition team for example, only scout teams.
Someone had at some point made an arbitrary rule that a branch needed to have either a certain amount of dungeons, a powerful dungeon, or lots of people to create their own subjugation team. This rule was obviously made to put others down but it wasn't like he could go against it.
Arbor town had only two dungeons, of which one was hardly ever named. The other was so bizarre that Samuel wasn't sure if they were lucky or unlucky. It had not been graded properly even after all this time. That meant that while Samuel was sure it graded at least B, qualifying him for an expedition squad, the upper echelons could cling to this small loophole.
The conclusion was that he could not train elites without being put under fire by the Freedom Union.
This was important because retaking a crown was no joke. It was a bloody process and while the Duke likely had many hidden forces, having more couldn't hurt.
Just as Samuel was about to call it quits for the time being the door to his office opened.
"There are members of the royal company wishing to talk to you Sir" Jasmine said from the door.
"Royal company.... "Their involvement with the Freedom Union was small so what could they wish to talk about? Samuel was rightfully confused but he didn't mind going to greet them.