Ed then went back to his cottage with the intention to finally do something about his lost items.
'I just need to get recalled' Ed thought as he closed the cottage door and sat on his thatchy bed.
That however was far more troublesome than one might expect. It goes back to the issue of dungeon, system, or both. Which one is in charge? Last time Ed ascertained that the system and the dungeon were separate entities but that doesn't clear up much of anything.
Given that the system has its own "mind space" Ed could safely infer that the dungeon is the one in charge of recalls. But how does the dungeon know to recall him? Every single instance in which his consciousness leveled up there were intruders present. Ed felt it was natural for the dungeon to watch over the intruders and the mobs in charge of dealing with them at that moment.
'But the system should be the one in charge of the upgrades...' Wouldn't that mean that the system informs the dungeon? The system is the one that alerts him of literally everything.
'But the dungeon has been shown to override its power from time to time' How he ended up as an orc is a perfect example.
'Well... I guess that instance also shows they oppose each other' Ed had at the time received two separate messages, one asking him to level up and the other one penalizing him.
His thoughts were in disarray causing him to ruffle his head in frustration, he was at his wit's end. He then breathed in and out a couple of times before taking a step back and identifying the crux of the matter.
'The point is I need dungeon approval.' The issue then was when to know if the dungeon was watching him. If he started to randomly shout at random intervals people would look at him weirdly.
'Unless...!' Ed's eyes widened in realization.
'Status!' He put the idea to the test.
[Name: Edw#&!]
Type: Orc
Health: 800/800
Vitality: 4
Strength: 3
Agility: 2
Constitution: 2
Dexterity: 1
Mana: 125
~Skills~
[Transmission lvl. 1] -Show info-
[Mental Fortitude lvl. 3] -Show info-
[Deduction lvl. 8] -Show info-
[Assimilation lvl. 3] -Show info-
[Thought Manifestation lvl. 0] -Show info-
[Language lvl. 1] -Show info-
[???] -Show info-
[Instinct lvl. 2] -Show info-
[Adept Throwing lvl. 0] -Show info-
[Mana Manipulation lvl. 1] -Show info-
[Axemanship lvl. 0] -Show info-
'I might be right after all. But there is one more problem...' Although the system link perks are still active. He can't be sure if the system space itself is currently accessible.
With that in mind, Ed tried to activate the skill a couple of times but it was to no avail. He couldn't see any sort of message either.
'That's a problem...' Even if he was able to go back to the crypt as a skeleton, it might take a while before he can open the space and access its storage function if he had to wait for the dungeon to stop overseeing. If that were to happen he would be stuck there for a while since the dungeon would probably be suspicious of him for wanting to return to being a skeleton.
'But then again... it never explicitly stated that I need to enter the space to store my items.' Ed got off his bed and picked up a rustic wooden sculpture. The sculpture wasn't particularly special, he just needed to grab something to test if he could store it.
Ed closed his eyes in an attempt to link up with the system. He thought about the vast emptiness and the divine white temple. And to no one's surprise, it didn't work.
So he changed his thoughts. He imagined the storage room. He imagined a random location there and imagined that the sculpture was placed there. There was no auditory cue, there were no messages, but once he opened his eyes he found out that the sculpture was already gone.
'It worked!' Ed felt overjoyed at the moment, it actually worked! He might be able to assimilate the books now! Well... if he can get to them at least.
'How will I do that...' If his conjectures are correct the dungeon should be supervising this very floor at the moment but... how was he supposed to get its attention? And most importantly, how was he supposed to convince it that he needed to be a skeleton again?
Ed chose to forego common sense and simply talk to it.
"Hey! I want to go back to the other part of the dungeon!" Ed said in a fairly loud voice. Hopefully, nobody could hear him talk to himself.
No reply. But that wasn't such a big surprise all things considered.
'What else can I do...' Just as he was about to start randomly waving his hands in the air like a madman he received a message.
[Recalling Dungeon Champion]
Before he could react and go back to his bed, his legs went limp and his consciousness started to fade. Ed's body fell on the hard ground and Ed himself soon after found himself inside of the infinite black space.
'Well, that wasn't very nice...' It should ask him beforehand so he can be mentally prepared.
'Still... it did take it a bit to respond huh' Maybe it needed some time to think about recalling him, regardless he now needed to be summoned.
[Initiating penalty]
'Ok... No-! Now hold on just a minute!' Ed was caught off guard as he had completely forgotten about the postponed penalty. Maybe that was the only reason why the dungeon didn't refuse to summon him back. If so, how vicious!
[Conditions lessened, Champion will be subjected to 3 hours of isolation]
Maybe it felt bad for Ed but his penalty duration was shortened considerably. He certainly wouldn't complain but there were other matters he needed to deal with.
'HEY! At least respawn me as a skeleton!' Ed yelled in his mind while staring up into the endless void.
Silence.
'HEY! Just promise me okay?' The system still sent no alert. Ed could only let out a mental sigh and patiently wait for the time to be over.
'Let's hope this doesn't take too long...' If Vorgarag or Shel went to go find him the next day and he was collapsed on the floor there would certainly be trouble.
And so Ed was forced to wait for 3 hours in complete darkness. His mental fortitude was much higher than before however allowing him to more easily endure the isolation. The 3 hours went by before he even knew it. And all along he just stared out absentmindedly.
[3 hours have passed, the champion has 10 minutes before respawning]
'Finally!' But just because he could endure it doesn't mean he wants to.
'Can I respawn early, but as a skeleton?' Who knew he would one day ask to be dead.
No reply, but he wasn't expecting much either.
'Status' That would be the second time he opened up his status that day. Still, there wasn't much else he could do to wait out the timer.
[Name: Edw#&!]
Type: Level 4 Consciousness.
Health: 500/500
Bodies: Skeleton, Orc
~Skills~
[Transmission lvl. 1] -Show info-
[Mental Fortitude lvl. 3] -Show info-
[Deduction lvl. 8] -Show info-
[Assimilation lvl. 3] -Show info-
[Thought Manifestation lvl. 0] -Show info-
[Language lvl. 1] -Show info-
[???] -Show info-
His status as a consciousness didn't change much apart from Orc being listed as one of his bodies.
'This suggests I can switch between my bodies, no?' It seemed like a pointless feature otherwise. It just had to be a matter of how.
Ed racked his mind to look for an answer. Asking to be put in another body looked like the most surefire way to get it done but no messages appeared when he asked earlier.
'There must be something I can do.' Ed did his best to come up with an answer but by the time the timer was over he still hadn't figured anything out.
Suddenly the black space ruptured and started to suck him in like a vacuum.
'F*ck! How am I supposed to know if that's the right portal?!?' But it wasn't like he could resist right?
'No! wait! I should be able to move around just like in the system space!' If the place he gets recalled into is the dungeon's mind space than he should be able to move away from the vacuum.
Ed tried his best to move away from the vacuum but unlike in the system space, he felt oppressed here. The more he resisted the stronger the pull of the vacuum became. He ended up being slowly dragged towards it no matter how hard he struggled.
But it seemed as if the dungeon had enough of him as a strong deterring force suddenly landed on his consciousness.
[You've been dealt damage. -100 hp]
Ed stopped resisting for a second as he felt the extremely sharp pain assault his mind.
'Damn it!' He quickly recovered but he got even closer to the vacuum during that short lapse of attention. The pain he felt right then was probably the most piercing and mind-numbing pain he had ever felt to this date.
[Mind Vacuum]
A portal linking the mind to the body.
Ed was hoping that deducting the vacuum could help him out in his predicament but it was to no avail.
[Champion is advised to cooperate.]
'Just get me my damn books!' Ed couldn't help but furiously yell out in his mind.
For whatever reason, the mind vacuum suddenly closed and Ed was finally able to rest his tired mind. It seemed that the situation had simply been too mentally taxing.
[Champion is advised to cooperate with future endeavors]
A new vacuum opened up, one which he once again knew not where it led. Still, the message made him hopeful. Maybe the dungeon had complied with his demand.
Regardless of where it led he was too exhausted to retaliate. His consciousness was forcibly pulled into the vacuum and his mind grew foggy.
His hazy consciousness then hit something which jolted him awake. He heard the sound of rattling bones finally putting his mind at ease.
'I did it....' He was too exhausted to celebrate.