Ed assimilated a rock on the way back home and immediately got to practicing. He summoned flames and created spirals, it was like a light show as he moved it all around the room. Or at least that was what he was hoping to do. Unfortunately, his control over it was far too limited. The moment he tried to do anything too complex he would lose control over the flames. He decided to try another element as he was afraid to burn down the house.
'I should practice something else' He avoided practicing the flame elements and moved on to the harmless ground. By the time night came, Ed was able to see some improvements in the way he handled the elements.
[Mana Manipulation has leveled up]
And the system seemed to believe so as well given that his mana manipulation skill had leveled up. Ed spent the rest of the night doing the monotonous task of summoning different elements and controlling them to the best of his abilities. His mana reserves were emptied multiple times leading him to meditate and recover his strength. By the time the next day rolled over Ed was at least twice as adept at spell casting and manipulation.
Just as usual, a knock was heard on the cottage door. Ed wasted no time going over to open it and prepared to say his greetings to Shel. To his surprise however, the visitor this time was actually none other than Vorgarag. He seemed a bit hurried and apologetic oddly enough.
"Ed I am sorry, I have been too careless. I can't believe I had the gall to call you a disciple yet I have been so indifferent towards you. I hope you can accept this short apology as we don't have much time." Vorgarag spoke quickly yet sincerely. He must have truly reflected on the many things he had done in the past few days, not that Ed ever saw him as in the wrong.
"Don't worry about that" Ed simply dismissed Vorgarag's worries with a wave of his hand. Vorgarag's face formed a bitter smile after seeing that.
"That aside, I will quickly teach you a spell before proceeding to do my duties so I hope you can pay attention" Ed nodded in response, it looked like Vorgarag had sacrificed some of his sleep to wake up early and teach him a spell today. He couldn't afford to waste either of their time so he simply acquiesced.
"Alright then, just come out of the house and pay attention." Vorgarag pointed at some bits of grass and then pulled out a wand from his clothes to cast a spell. The incantation was not much larger than the fireball one but it certainly seemed to have a higher level of complexity to it.
The grass at which he had pointed towards hardened and grew in length. It flailed everywhere shortly before dying out.
"That was the Entangle spell. It uses both earth and water elements to control weak plant life. The targeted plants will grow in toughness and size and can be used to wrap around enemies holding them in place. The reason why the grass dies afterward is that it can't sustain its longer and tougher form by itself. These sorts of spells are usually called pseudo-element spells. They combine two separate elements to form new possibilities." Vorgarag explained his understanding of the spell in a clear and concise manner while still covering all the bases. Ed was about to ask for more information but was cut off by Vorgarag.
"I will now repeat the earlier chant, please pay attention." It seemed he truly had no time as he purposely cut off Ed and proceeded with the chant. Ed decided to leave the questions for the future if he ever had a chance and simply paid attention to the chant.
As Ed had learned other spells and was already coming to understand how these chants work he had a much easier time learning the Entangle chant even though it was slightly more complex. The way chants work is comparable to how programs worked which if he remembered correctly was actually the career he had chosen in his previous life.
Vorgarag left after Ed had learned the spell chant and went about his business. Ed practiced the spell for a little while longer until Shel came over and interrupted him. Ed told her his plans to practice magic a bit more and simply asked her to tell him which techniques to exercise. Shel herself seemed to be busy as she easily complied and went on her way.
For the rest of the day, Ed trained. In the morning he first completed his basic mastery over the entangle spell and later practiced his mana manipulation. He found some time in between to eat and assimilate some other things before training his axemanship skill. All Ed did that day was train his various skills.
It was now nighttime and Ed was waiting for his assimilation to once more exit cooldown while sitting on his bed. It was time for him to check his status and hopefully finally enter the system space.
[Name: Edw#&!]
Type: Orc
Health: 800/800
Vitality: 4
Strength: 3
Agility: 2
Constitution: 3
Dexterity: 1
Mana: 203
~Skills~
[Transmission lvl. 2 (-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-
[System Link lvl. 0] -Show info-
[Instinct lvl. 2] -Show info-
[Adept Throwing lvl. 0] -Show info-
[Mana Manipulation lvl. 4] -Show info-
[Axemanship lvl. 2] -Show info-
'Yes!' His attributes and skills had gone up but what he was really celebrating was that his system link skill was finally revealed. He could now go retrieve his items and even find out what the thing he picked up in the crypts was. Although he had formed his own theories last time he still needed to confirm them.
'Let's not waste any more time' He thought as he laid on his bed and activated the skill. His consciousness drifted to what seemed like sleep and he found himself inside of the boundless white space.
'I am back' He floated around happily feeling completely free and in control. This space was the only place that made him feel this way as the dungeon's space always seemed to emit some sort of suppressive force.
The ground then began to rise and the temple-like figure rose out of the white ground once again. The white building was just as blinding as he remembered it to be.
'I should get inside' He was really tempted to switch back into a human form but he learned his lesson last time about climbing steps in the form of a small child.
Once he was in front of the entrance he shifted into human form and ran inside. He hurriedly looked around while making his way into the storage room. He noticed that nothing had changed from the last time he entered, however.
'I guess I do need to improve the skill's level... but how do I do that exactly?' Was entering and exiting the space enough? Or maybe he needed to level up his consciousness?
'That doesn't matter right now' Ed slowed down as he looked at the door to the storage room. If he had any facial expressions he would definitely be forming a smile at this moment. He was always a curious person.
'Wait... was I?' He then shook his head and focused. He opened the door to the storage room and then...!
He saw that the largely empty room now had a small pile of books and a bag thrown near it. Oh right, the wooden statue was there as well.
'Where are the skeletons?' He looked around but didn't see much.
That was until he walked further in and saw a small sparkle. It was incredibly hard to discern since he was in a completely white room and all.
'I wonder if I can change these colors' If he had any eyes they would definitely be hurting.
He walked closer to the tiny sparkle and could barely make out its shape. It was an extremely small spherical light. It actually reminded him of himself. Maybe...
[Wisp of consciousness]
The remnants of a being's thoughts.
'Indeed' What he had acquired last time was the skeleton's consciousness.
'But how come it isn't the soul?' Although he thought they might be consciousness he was expecting something more similar to a soul since the skeletons were the remains of dead humans and all.
'Now that I think about it the lich was actually quite peculiar.' The lich had purple flames inside of its eye sockets which the other skeletons did not have. Was it possible that it was an indicator of a soul?
'Not like it matters' He needed to figure out what to do with the so-called wisp of consciousness, it wasn't like he could return it to the skeletons after all.
'There should be more here.' He paid close attention to the surroundings and managed to catch a few more flickering lights. He neared each of them and compared them to one another. The small wisps were nearly identical but if one had a discerning eye they could actually tell they slightly differed in size.
'Maybe the sizes determine their intelligence?' He couldn't really tell that much so he simply put the matter aside. He still didn't really know how to take anything out of the storeroom which he needed to find out.
'Wait can I take things outside this room?' The only area that was called a storeroom was the room he was currently in but shouldn't he still be able to take things out and walk around the temple with them?
Following that thought, Ed did his best grab the small wisps without letting them slip past his palms and also placed one of the books under his arm. He then ran towards the exit hoping to find out the answer. He felt a bit of resistance under his arm and the book slipped out and fell back into the room. Only Ed's body and the wisps made it out.
[Detected 7 new consciousness... Do you want to offer them? Y/N]
'Eh? offer them?' Ed was a bit surprised by the message as he didn't expect the system to be able to make use of the small wisps. Did those things help it level up or something?