It was indeed nice at first, at least until Ed found a troubling issue.
'F*ck! What brute moved this thing here!?!?' Ed couldn't help but curse out whoever moved a boulder full of magic knowledge so recklessly. Some of the runic language was scratched or gouged out altogether. After venting his anger with a couple more curses, Ed let out a sigh. There wasn't anything he could do about it anyways.
'It was probably Blurak' Ed thought to himself. Although where he moved it from or why he did it was a complete mystery to him.
'Whatever, I'll look at what is available first.' Ed decided to simply let it go.
It was impossible for him to learn literarily everything in the first place given his limited time so he would settle for this for now. The spells and theories that were left jotted down couldn't be too shabby either.
'It looks like the writing is the same as the books' A few of the words weren't entirely discernable so Ed couldn't be entirely sure but it seemed that the first Shaman ancestors likely inherited their writing from the dungeon rather than come up with a new one. It was an odd thing to consider given that the spoken languages between species weren't necessarily the same.
Ed took a good 10 or so minutes to read over the entirety of the boulder. That included attempting to decipher scratched or disfigured sections. In the end, he only managed to learn the theories behind a total of four spells along with the basics of the wind element he had been missing.
'Most of the intact knowledge was things that Vorgarag had already taught me' The basic spells for a multitude of elements along with their manipulative theories made up a big part of the leftover knowledge.
The theories of space were also there but there were no spells available. The only spells he didn't already know he managed to salvage were as follows.
Meteor rain, A spell brought about by the combination of fire and earth elements. Flaming rocks spawn in the air to bombard the target.
Steam, a mixture of water and fire. Although lacking in lethality, it has tactical use and is for the most part extremely easy to conjure.
Breeze, Manipulate the wind to push around objects, or if one is particularly skilled move them to your will.
Wind slash, used to create a sharp blade of wind.
There were traces of other spells such as Mudslide or combustion but unfortunately, the damage on those spells was in critical locations making Ed unable to learn them without going out of his way to reconfigure their chants. This was not his area of expertise meaning it would take too long to figure out.
'I should try them out then' Ed glanced around the area. The vast space was perfect for fighting and thus ideal for trying out spells. Unfortunately however...
Blurak was sleeping peacefully in the center of the cavern, Ed could hear his peaceful snoring from time to time.
'Maybe not here though…' Ed hence changed his mind. He took a last glance at the boulder trying to remember as many critical details as possible before making his way out of the boss room.
Ed started to go back down the large passageway. He made sure to store away a couple of crystals but not too many given that his space was limited not to mention that things would likely appear stacked upon one another once he did get in there.
'I should probably check out if I can access it now that I think about it…' Ed had been particularly focused on getting new spells so it had completely slipped his mind.
'I should digest the knowledge first' Ed put the matter aside for now and continued going down the colorful crystal illuminated passage. He kept his eyes peeled looking for the location where the boulder might have originated from but unfortunately he didn't find any trace of it.
Ed finally exited the cavern which was, funnily enough, better illuminated than the outside.
'Let's start with the most exciting one' Ed thought with a smile. As a young man, how could he not be expectant of a spell called meteor rain? Isn't it the dream of every child to be able to call meteors down onto the earth? To have the power to tear the earth asunder? Wait he's not a child…
Ed assured himself that he wasn't immature as he remembered the incantation for the spell. It was a lengthy one that's for sure. The positioning of the meteors was high up in the sky as well, meaning that the mana consumption was not less than that of his space hop spell.
He looked up into the thick canopy wondering if it was actually a good idea to release such a spell there.
'Maybe I should hold off on that one…' The last thing he wanted to do was burn down the entire forest. The spell wasn't consisting of actual meteorites, they were just flaming rocks.
It was also worth mentioning that if he didn't actually have enough mana the spell would be incomplete. That could lead to two outcomes, either it would be conjured in a half-assed state or not at all while his mana would still be depleted.
So Ed moved on to the next spell, Steam. Ed closed his eyes and focused on the fire and water elements. He started to chant the much shorter incantation for Steam rousing the fire and water elements in his body.
Maybe he failed to get the right mix but he failed the first attempt. Nonetheless, the pseudo-element spell was surprisingly simple and Ed managed to get it by his third try.
He promptly moved on to the next two spells. Breeze was a breeze, in both meanings. He got it down in about 5 minutes and was able to move on to the wind slash spell which required better control over the wind element and was thus much harder.
Still, the difficulty of a single element spell was significantly lower than before thanks to his level 6 mana manipulation skill. After nearly 10 minutes Ed was able to successfully cast the spell to its full current potential,
As Ed finished the quick incantation a sharp and curved blade of wind formed in front of him. It looked as if someone was compressing the wind in the surrounding into the shape of a sickle.
The sharp blade flew forward slamming against a nearby tree, it left a deep gash on the trunk of the tree. With a couple more Ed would be able to yell timber.
'I'd say that's a pretty good spell.' Without things to throw Ed's long-range capabilities were almost nonexistent.
The fireball spell for example was fairly slow and without providing it enough mana it would simply extinguish. Water spurt had limited range and earth shot was simply lacking explosive power.
'Now that I think about it… My close-quarter skills are also fairly lackluster.' So far Ed had used his spells to supplement his axe swings but he hadn't used them in tandem.
'That adventurer was quite capable' Ed thought to himself as he tried to remember the way Samuel used his sword to sweep him away. The raging wave and his swift moves, he wanted to learn that for himself.
Unfortunately, seeing something once wasn't enough to learn anything. All it could do was help you get an idea of how things are done which was nowhere near enough when dealing with magic.
'Why can't magic just be magically easy… Why does it have to be so complicated?' Ed complained internally at all of the calculations and remembering he had to perform. The only thing it helped him ascertain was that this was another world, a true world of fantasy and magic.
'Fantasy is supposed to be fantastic…' He wasn't in the best position imaginable, it seemed other worlds weren't all they were cracked up to be. If this was a story Ed would definitely berate the author for creating such a hard world for its main character.
Ed put the useless thoughts aside and got back on track. Complaining about whatever god or object brought him into this other world wasn't helping anybody, well maybe the adventurers.
He glanced around the outside and caught sight of the plants' cyan hue.
'I should grab a couple to put in my bag' He had only placed the first one in the system space to avoid damaging the herb but things were realistically a hassle to get out of there. It would be in his best interest to have the herbs readily available.
'I'll just dig out the roots a bit' Ed thought approvingly. He immediately put his plan into action and approached the nearest herb. He proceeded to dig out the dirt using magic before getting hold of the glowing cyan herb.
'I'll get only a couple more and head back to Duma' He shouldn't dwindle the numbers of this unknown herb after all.
That was how the strong orc Ed, who vanquished the ruthless berserker Slug, ended up picking up herbs.