Ed was forced to think hard on this matter. He might be able to get most of the weaker tribes in the area but he also hoped to get more of the medium-sized ones.
'Then again, with a large enough force and ample food, the orcs might choose to migrate on their own.' So maybe it was alright to only gather the weaker tribes first. There was strength in numbers and it only made sense to move to from the countryside to the bustling city right?
'In that case, we should try to set up the boar farm as quickly as possible' Ed cast a peek at the boars that some of the orcs were herding. The number wouldn't be enough for their aspirations as they were now. The boars would need a good breeding environment. Luckily as they were more akin to monster boars their growth period was fairly quick.
Ed decided it would be a good idea to get help from Vorgarag to deal with this matter, he was a very capable orc after all. He was also the one most involved in the project. If anything he would just be confirming that both he and Vorgarag were of the same mindset as he was sure Vorgarag had the same thoughts he did.
"How was the knowledge damaged?" Asked Vorgarag, confusion written on his face. He was getting used to Ed's tendency to drift so he brought him back from his wandering thoughts.
Ed decided to just brief Vorgarag on his journey in a fair amount of detail to answer his question.
He hid his quick fight with the ogre from him though since revealing that they stopped fighting midbattle due to his relation to the dungeon, their so-called god, would earn him Vorgarag's enmity.
"After I salvaged as much knowledge as I could, I grabbed a couple more herbs and headed back to finalize things with Duma." Said Ed to Vorgarag concluding his recap.
"I see" Mumbled Vorgarag as he himself began to ponder on the matter.
After a good minute of fruitless thinking. Vorgarag let out a simple sigh before approaching Ed and patting him on the shoulder.
"We should get some sleep first. I can try to revisit the cavern with you later" After saying those words, Vorgarag casually waved goodnight and walked away.
Ed was left to think about the matter for himself since he wasn't willing to go to sleep. He had some things to consider.
'If only I could recover the knowledge that was lost somehow…' Ed was forced to think back on the skills he possessed and came up with two potential candidates.
Assimilation and thought manifestation,
Assimilation is all about consuming and digesting knowledge, attribute gains was a secondary function that just so happened to be extremely useful. This skill had pulled through for him many times, it was almost nostalgic.
Ed wasn't sure why he didn't think about this much earlier.
'Now that I think about it I assimilated a crystal before' Ed could only admonish himself internally, he had a tendency to forget about assimilation whenever it entered cool down.
This came about due to his bias to not waste a single second of the skill, as soon as he was alerted by the system he would assimilate something nearby. The fact that he never thought about what to use it on too deeply before was a missed opportunity.
Luckily this mistake was something minor. Not only that but Ed was probably one of the few people that could afford to make mistakes. He could always just respawn and give things another go even if he screwed up majorly.
'I haven't been thinking as much as I thought I was. My decisions have been too relaxed' Ed started to lament all of the missed opportunities.
"The doors will be opened to those who are bold enough to knock." Ed muttered to himself, these words that for some reason came up in his mind certainly rang true.
At the same time, he felt it couldn't be helped. His memories were still for the most part missing or just entirely vague. He also didn't know much about the dungeon, he didn't back then and he doesn't now.
With the lamenting out of the way, Ed moved on to the next skill. Thought Manifestation.
It had a rough start but it was starting to show how useful it could be. Maybe he could use it more willfully now? Who knows if it might be able to restore the missing text?
'If it can't restore the stone by itself then it might be able to work in tandem with assimilation' Ed had realized something now that he had the chance to witness the skill activate three separate times.
Thought manifestation worked with a skill.
The first time it was his adept throwing. Then his mana manipulation and again his mana manipulation. Skills, Ed felt he was onto something and if he succeeded in this new attempt the possibilities became countless.
'If you are such a good skill why be so vague?' Maybe he just felt like brooding today but he was lamenting lots of things. It wouldn't be a bad idea to learn some sort of time element if such a thing does exist.
'Now that I have a plan of action I should take the rest of the day to increase some of my skills.' Ed had neglected training his close quarter skills. He hadn't even done the basics of Axemanship.
Thankfully the system assured that he couldn't lose proficiency from being lazy or just forgetful. It would suck for him if he had to constantly train every single one of his skills. I mean, that would be too time-consuming, right?
Finally satisfied with having a lead and a plan for the night. Ed grabbed an ax and began practicing his skills.
The night passed by quickly as Ed focused solely on his skills. He also assimilated a tree just like last time since he felt it was an alright compromise. He would be bolder when he found the opportunity but for now, a tree would do.
Regardless, his status should show some more improvement.
[Name: Edw#&!]
Type: Orc
Health: 1200/1200
Mana: 265
Vitality: 8
Strength: 3
Agility: 2
Constitution: 7
Dexterity: 1
~Skills~
[Transmission lvl. 3] -Show info-
[Mental Fortitude lvl. 4] -Show info-
[Assessment lvl. 0] -Show info-
[Assimilation lvl. 5] -Show info-
[Thought Manifestation lvl. 1] -Show info-
[Language lvl. 1] -Show info-
[???] -Show info-
[Instinct lvl. 3] -Show info-
[Adept Throwing lvl. 0] -Show info-
[Mana Manipulation lvl. 6] -Show info-
[Axemanship lvl. 4] -Show info-
[Eloquence lvl. 2] -Show info-
The most substantial difference was that by assimilating two trees he acquired 4 constitution and vitality attributes. His health and defense might be too disgusting for orc standards at this point given how exactly attributes were scaled with this system.
The orcs that had made simple accommodations to rest in the wilderness were now getting up ready to eat and continue their march.
He decided to eat something as well and met up with Shel to have a simple meal. It was a simple meal because the menu was always the same, boar and maybe some grass posing as a salad.
'Would it taste better with healing herbs?' Ed thought as he ate the roasted boar meat. Maybe he could use the herb to win over the other tribes with delicious cooking…
Ed mused on the idea for a bit before his meaningless thought was interrupted by Vorgarag and the others.
"Did you both eat well?" Asked Vorgarag with his usual carefree and charming smile. He could definitely scam others with that face. Ed felt as though he definitely fell victim to it before.
"Yeah" Ed simply replied as he finished munching on the meat. Shel on the other hand simply nodded as she had stuffed a lot of boar meat in her mouth.
'Where did she get all that anyways? Did she take somebody else's share?' Thought Ed as he watched Shel happily eat up two person's worth of food.
"We got plenty of rest, we should be able to get there without any breaks" Vorgarag said as he stretched his body a bit.
"We should go grab our shares of food first" Said Sharog from behind him.
The whole march was actually pretty sudden for the residents so the ration amount couldn't be rationed on things like merit or affiliation. Thus, outside of the food she was already guaranteed from her deal with Ed, she and her followers could also eat from the rationed boar meat.
"Let's do that then." Vorgarag said a few words before leaving with Duma and Sharog to have their meal.
Soon everyone had rested up and eaten their fills.
Well, except for Vorgarag. He for some reason seemed a bit dejected like he didn't get anything to eat…
The march continued with Vorgarag and Ed in the lead just like before. They headed towards Duma's fortified settlement with lightened steps after a fine rest and a hearty meal.. There they would officially begin their expansion operations.