Ed was extremely disappointed by the need to wait, was it really necessary for the system link skill to conceal itself in the first place? Well, There was no way he could find out since he couldn't exactly talk to the system or the dungeon for that matter.

'Should I store the rest anyway?' What if whatever he had just collected was useful in the end? If that were the case it certainly wouldn't be a bad idea. He felt a bit iffy about killing the skeletons in the process but...

'maaaaybe it would be alright to gather just the other six, right?' Ed didn't need to gather all of it and in the end, if it turned out to be something useless he would certainly come to regret it.

So he decided to try it again. Whether the skeletons actually died or not was uncertain to him. Admittedly, their limp state reminded Ed of whenever he was recalled into the dungeon's s.p.a.ce. If that was indeed the case he was likely collecting the skeleton's consciousness.

'That might explain why they are able to move without any sort of... well... life.' Ed would be lying if he said he was never curious about it. Still, that conjecture created more questions than answers.

'like, is the consciousness just the soul? or... are the orcs also driven by their consciousness rather than their brain? And would that not be the same thing?' Needless to say, it was something he couldn't really answer at the moment.

Ed placed one of his hands on one of the sword-wielding skeletons and thought about the storage room just as before. He then heard the skeleton hit the floor and knew that the same thing had happened once again.

He didn't bother to think about it anew and simply moved on to the next skeleton. Except that this time, he kept his eyes open while doing so. Who knew, maybe he only needed very good concentration to connect to the system s.p.a.ce. If that is true then he doesn't really need to close his eyes every time, right?

It took him an extra second but the result was ultimately the same. He saw the skeleton suddenly going limp before him and falling to the floor. No longer surprised by the action, he instantly moved his hand towards the fourth skeleton. It was still awaiting further instructions even though three of its buddies had fallen next to it.

The fourth skeleton also suffered the same fate and so did the fifth. However, once he was going to do the same thing to the sixth skeleton... he received a message.

[Recalling Champion's Soul]

'What?!?' Ed was startled by the sudden recall. Did he do something wrong?

His thoughts were immediately cast aside as his consciousness wavered and his vision faded. Before he knew it, he was right back inside of the vast darkness.

[10 minutes until resp.a.w.n]

It looked like the dungeon didn't intend to explain anything as it immediately informed him of his departure. It was obviously not a nice feeling to be so bluntly disregarded by the dungeon.

'Just you wai- No wait can't it read my mind while I am in here?' Maybe he should curse it out after he left.

He didn't want any sort of penalty after all. Be it pain, isolation, or even another one of those excruciatingly painful mind-numbing attacks.

'Now that I think about it that is the first time my consciousness was attacked, status!' He needed to see how quickly his consciousness was able to recover and if it affected him in any way.

[Name: Edw#u0026!]

Type: Level 4 Consciousness.

Health: 403/500

Bodies: Skeleton, Orc

~Skills~

[Transmission lvl. 2 (-2)] -Show info-

[Mental Fort.i.tude lvl. 3] -Show info-

[Deduction lvl. 8] -Show info-

[a.s.similation lvl. 2] -Show info-

[Thought Manifestation lvl. 0] -Show info-

[Language lvl. 1] -Show info-

[???] -Show info-

'There is a minus 2 on my transmission skill...' Ed was bewildered by that discovery. It was especially so since he didn't remember his skill being impaired when he used it earlier.

'Maybe it was because there were only 7 skeletons' Indeed if he had decided to gather a mini skeleton army just like he used to he would probably have noticed the skills limited range plus any other discrepancies.

'But why transmission...?' He didn't at any point use the skill so how come it was impaired? no, in the first place, the only skill he remembered using was deduction and that was even after the attack.

'So it probably has nothing to do with that...' Still, it was a scary thought to lose progress on skills by being mentally attacked. On the other hand, it made complete sense. Who knows, maybe if all of his consciousness health was depleted he would be mentally crippled.

'Well I would actually probably just die all things considered...' He was listed as a consciousness being after all. That is to say, his real body was that of a consciousness. Whatever that may mean.

Ed floated about listlessly while entertaining his own thoughts for the remainder of the 10-minute timer.

***

It was a beautiful location. The ground was painted in all sorts of orange hues by the fallen autumn leaves. The breathtaking mountain view that allowed people to oversee the distant yet lively capital also provided a nice contrast. It was too bad that the cold autumn breeze prevented anyone from staying out too long.

Well, that and other reasons. The beautiful mountain was actually the home of the only sage in the Bosque kingdom, he was known as Eon. And fittingly so as in truth n.o.body knew his real age. In the first place, the people qualified to speak with him were close to none.

Due to that reason, some referred to him as a hermit. Did he himself think he was a hermit? Not really. The mountains simply provided a better learning environment and reduced the risks of hurting others with magical experiments.

Although it was true that he spent most of his time in solitude, he wasn't against being with others. Eon would every now and then visit random villages and cities without alerting anyone. It was a way for him to refresh his mind and to well, have fun.

As a matter of fact, he had recently begun to take in disciples. Once the king found out he tried to get the prince under his wing but Eon found the prince's apt.i.tude to be lacking. Another reason that he refused was that he also didn't like to involve himself with those in power. He hated schemes and therefore hated scheming people.

okay, maybe he was a hermit. Eon was taking in his surroundings when someone suddenly called out to him.

"MMaster Eon" It was his newest disciple, s.h.i.+a. She still stuttered when speaking his name as she couldn't get used to him being her teacher.

Her apt.i.tude was also lacking compared to his other disciples so he kept her close by. He taught her more attentively than the rest but he also didn't dote on her. His definition of a poor apt.i.tude was the actual poor thing in other people's eyes. Meaning he didn't need to keep her under close watch, she was still extremely talented.

"I found a letter about William today." Since he was keeping s.h.i.+a around he naturally decided to put her to work. Whenever she had free time from her studies she was tasked with sifting through his letters. The number of letters he received were numerous so there was usually a delay until he got to see them.

William, he was a commoner that Eon had met during one of his journies to the outside. He was also his second disciple and extremely talented. Were it not for his lack of resources William might have become a formidable force even with his young age.

"William huh" Eon rubbed his beard as he reminisced.

The last time he saw William he had gifted him a very precious robbed and even armed him with some emergency devices. It would be a pity for William to die before unleas.h.i.+ng his true potential after all.

"It came from a place called Arbor town" s.h.i.+a said puzzled as she had never heard of that place before. Maybe it was because she came from a large city.

"What is it about?" Eon had actually been there before. It was quite close to where he first found William.

"Ummm..." s.h.i.+a hadn't actually read much of the content as she didn't want to pry into her teacher's life, even if by accident or duty. It was also very dangerous. The number of secrets that some of the letters contained were too numerous. She would be putting her life at risk just by taking a gander. Whenever Eon heard her say this he would just laugh jovially.

"You didn't read it?"

"No..." The envelope had urgently written all over it and mentioned William's name. That was all she really knew. She then meekly pa.s.sed Eon the letter.

Eon carefully read the letter and before his carefree expression turned into a frown.