Chapter 412: Lizard Rally

Back at the crypt, Ed was currently sitting on his throne waiting for a transmission.

'Anytime now…' Ed thought as he rapped his bony finger on his custom throne. The lighting of the crystal torches painting an eerie picture with Ed at the center. But the majesty was lost once anyone realized that the skeleton on the throne was naked.

For the sake of giving everyone an easier time, Ed did not wear any sort of armor or equipment. As for why he still wasn't wearing any… well… going through the storeroom would be rather troublesome. Ed did not feel like doing it when he might soon be sent back to the orc body as well anyway.

'Did W die? Why is this taking so long?' It had been a good while since W transmitted to Ed that he was exiting the dungeon.

'W, I have yet to receive your message' Ed decided to go ahead and transmit his thoughts first. There was always the chance that the spiritual mark which he sensed faintly was just too far.

With the chance this transmission wouldn't work, Ed decided to put his mind to the test.

'Mind power...' Was it possible to transmit a message faster with mind power? Ed didn't know, but he would try. He cleared his mind and gathered his thoughts before finally sending his message.

'DAMN IT W, YOU'VE LEFT ME ON TRANSMISSION!!!!!' The best way to make use of his mind power was definitely a strong will, and a strong will required strong emotion.

'…well?' Ed tried to see if he felt any differently, but-

'Oh? Do I feel slightly more lethargic per chance?' Ed thought as his body suddenly drooped slightly. He had a feeling of… emptiness? As if something in his mind was sucked away.

[Recalling Champion's Soul]

Well, apparently his whole mind was being sucked away. Ed's vision darkened, and by the time he regained it he was already in the familiar sea of red.

'Off with that' Turning of the sixth sense, it became the familiar sea of black.

But Ed's thoughts quickly turned more solemn. The transmission he sent would likely reach W, but if he had sent one to his previous position.... There was a chance it couldn't make it.

While Ed did not yet have any proof, he heavily suspected that the spiritual mark did not pinpoint the specific coordinates of the one with the mark.

'It's just a feeling of where the consciousness or soul is' Ed could not feel W's exact location, nor could he feel the exact location of Sharog, Shel, Dakgu, etc.

'The transmission also takes longer when travelling across space-time' The transmission had a delay when W was in the orc plains earlier as an example.

This told Ed that the spiritual mark pinpointed not the coordinates of the person… but more like the coordinates of their space.

'By crossing space, the transmission most likely needs to find the target mark in the new space' A surprisingly quick process, but that was probably because the transmission was not being sent blindly. The feeling of closeness Ed often described came into play here.

That the mark pinpointed the spatial location did not mean it had no sense of direction. Ed could tell if W was located behind him, beside him, in front, or even above with this vague directional sense for the mark. The signal were working in tandem with the spiritual mark, so they did too.

It was as if the signals were guiding themselves with a compass rather than a map.

'The signals will probably die' If W sent his transmissions but the compass pointed to the wrong spot... They might end up wandering aimlessly in one direction, before inevitably fazing away into nothingness. Since he was no longer in the same space, going off his direction would lead to nowhere.

But Ed would not be fazing into nothingness like the signals, the 10 or so minutes of travel that the dungeon always required from him flew by. Having been immersed in his thoughts, Ed returned to his body in what felt like an instant.

'Hm?' But Ed couldn't see anything in this new body.

[Name: Edwa&!]

Type: Magic Mushroom

Health: 17/17

Mana: 160/160

Vitality: 16

Constitution: 3

~Skills:~

[Transmission lvl. 8] -Show-

[Fortified Mind lvl. 1] -Show-

[Assessment lvl. 2] -Show-

[Assimilation lvl. 8] -Show-

[Thought Manifestation lvl.3] -Show-

[Language lvl. 2] -Show-

[System Link lvl. 6] -Show-

[Eloquence lvl. 4] -Show-

[Sixth Sense lvl. 2] -Show-

[Body Recollection lvl. 2] -Show-

[Enhanced Spores lvl 3] -Show-

[Spiritual Mark lvl. 1] -Show-

Just as he had suspected, he was back in the mushroom body. He had admittedly forgotten about the forsaken thing.

'Sigh… I guess I needed to go back here anyway' His industrial dreams all relied on the mushroom body to do its part.

'It's a good thing I prepared' He had the the spirit smith craft various mushrooms with the stocking of the spirit worker. These mushrooms were just waiting to be used. The living room of the system space obviously couldn't allocate them all.

With that in mind, Ed started planning his mushroom empire anew. He started by probing the land. Sentry shrooms after sentry shrooms started to appear out of his storeroom.

[<Enhanced Spores> is recovering - 21:47 minutes]

His enhanced spores were also quickly put to action and gray mushrooms started to sprout from the ground near Ed. They grew quickly and copied Ed's infinitely wise tactic of reproducing immediately. This in turn meant that mycelium network underroot also rapidly expanded.

[Mushroom TNOD: <Spores> is recovering - 14:01 minutes]

[Mushroom OD: <Spores> is recovering - 23:55 minutes]

With things rapidly advancing, it wasn't long before Ed made a sentinel mushroom to get an even better view of the land. The sentry shrooms had told him something, but he was quite skeptical to believe the feed in this situation.

The sentinel mushroom went up and with its great height affirmed that Ed was indeed located where he was located. While that sentence seemed to say nothing, that was the expected result.

'I am much higher up in the caverns this time' Ed recognized his location. There were no weird mushroom rivals, there were hopefully no toxic mushroom monsters, and there were also hardly any mobs to begin with.

'But there should be mobs…' Since he recognized it he knew that there should be mobs. Ed also needed nutrients to keep his mycelium network connected and his mushrooms healthy, there HAD to be mobs. Expansion would be impossible and the quality of his offsprings would dwindle without them.

'Is this related to why the dungeon summoned me here?' Ed wondered quietly. He didn't remember committing any grave mistakes.

'I did think a couple of blasphemous thoughts, but it can't read those' The dungeon had no reason to punish him unless it was for amusement. Since that was the case…

'Something big is happening' There was only one person who could have something big happen. But… what could a mushroom do anyway?

***

The marshlands seemed peaceful. There were creatures swimming earnestly in the water and bugs kiting above it with great elegance. All that was left was for someone to snap a picture.

But the man of the ancient Epoch family, Eon, did not have the technology to snap any pictures and it wasn't time for that either. Having gotten rid of Brennan, things got just a tad bit lighter for him.

While he still had a VERY bad habit of coughing out blood, he was coughing less of it with each frequent interval.

Wiping the blood off his beard with his hand and sleeve, Eon prepared himself to meet the lizardmen anxiously waiting for him outside the tent. The man was not currently at home, but rather preparing to make the best speech the uneducated lizards would ever hear.

"Your divinity" A lizardman finally called for Eon from outside the tent flap. Eon stepped out not long after.

Where he stood was on a stage raised slightly above the others. He also had a podium just in case he needed to read any documents. Realistically that wasn't happening but it was a nice place to at least hold a drink.

"My subjects... " Eon said in a sorrowful voice, his words slurring from the distant emotion in his heart. The current Eon was pained greatly. Did he part with a loved one?

No, what pained him was the physical pain of his ailment. The sorrow came from the knowledge that he would not live long, and the distance came from Eon's lack of familiarity with the word acceptance.

Only the weak accepted their circumstances! The strong forged a path ahead! This was what his family taught him since young. Death could not be the end! Eon wouldn't accept it.

"I am hurt!" Eon cried out, suddenly spurting out a mouthful of blood.

""""GASP!!!""" "YOUR DIVINITY!!!!""" """Eon!!!"" The surprised cries of the lizardmen entered Eon's ears, causing him to secretly smile.

"I was hurt by the very incarnation of evil! The oppressive, The- Cough cough, the tyrannical god of old. The hydra, Lernaean!" Eon said with bloodshot eyes. That damn overgrown multi-head lizard was stopping his advancement so he did some studying.

The hydra, Lernaean, was a beast with might not inferior to dragons. But it was slain not long after Eon's birth by a heroic man of past. The cost was great, the man's achievement cost him his live by interested parties looking to take the loot.

"My subjects… give me your power in either body or mind!" While the hero didn't die from the beast, Eon still needed help!

This method, riling up the lizardman, was not his original intention, however. The encounter with Bloody made him realize that he was still vulnerable while in that dungeon. He couldn't allow his body to weaken further if he were to have any hopes of regaining his vigor under his own terms.

The lizardmen's reactions were mixed. Part of the reason was that a good chunk of them had still not grasped the language and the other… oh, there was no other. The lizardmen were down to be there in body or spirit.

"""KILL THE TYRANNICAL DEITY!!!""" The lizardmen never liked it anyway! Out with it!