Chapter 20 - Apprenticeship
Ed had just finished the crappy wooden barricade with the help of his followers when he received a message.
[Assimilation is off cooldown]
‘Great!’
He wouldn’t try to learn the language again instead, he would assimilate an arrow. Why? He hoped that the arrow could give him at least one point of agility. The human scouts were at least three times faster than himself which put him at a large disadvantage. It was specially so since at the time they had similar strength,
In the midst of construction, Ed found the arrows he had thrown during his fight on the ground, some of which were broken or slightly damaged. He didn’t know how the adventurers defended against the arrows since he had run away rather quicky but they weren’t in a good state.
[Arrow (Slightly damaged]
[Arrow (Broken)]
[Arrow (Bent)]
[Deduction has leveled up]
The last message came as a welcome surprise. He chose the slightly damaged arrow as only the front was damaged. He might not get agility if the arrow is bent. Of course, there is no way to know if he doesn’t assimilate the bent arrow but he learned to leave the experiments for another time.
[Assimilation on cooldown]
[Agility +1]
[Strength +1]
Indeed, it happened just as Ed hoped. The function or purpose of the items affect the given attributes. Things like arrows that fly through the air are likely to increase his agility attribute upon assimilation. If he finds something like wheels he might also get agility from that as well.
‘Alright, I should leave the skeletons here then…’
Ed was looking at his 60 followers who were all looking at the boss gate warily. None of them were trying to run away since Ed was still in the vicinity.
Ed ignored the trembling skeletons and faced the boss gate for the third time. He started to push it open and found it to be much easier than last time.
‘Must be due to my strength increase’ Ed thought to himself as he heard the grating sound of the opening gate.
As usual, he was greeted by darkness. The only thing unusual this time however was that the lich didn’t turn on the lights! Instead, Ed could see purple flames looking at him from afar.
‘You don’t have to be so f*cking creepy!’
Ed had no choice but to enter the room and approach the lich to make his thoughts be known.
‘I wish I could simply yell at him…’ He slowly walked towards the lich.
‘Mr. Lich could you please turn on the lights’ For some reason Ed was talking respectfully to the lich.
It seemed as though the lich agreed as Ed heard the sound of staff hitting the ground and the room suddenly brightened.
‘This guy is going to give me a heart attack and I don’t have a f*cking heart!’
“Why have you returned?” The hoarse voice seemed to have a tinge of annoyance.
‘Ummm… I was hoping you could teach me some combat skills…’
The lich suddenly started to chuckle. It was the most terrifying chuckle Ed had ever heard based on his memories.
“And why would I do that? Leave” The lich slammed his staff on the ground and the lights went off once again.
Although Ed was terrified, he decided to stay. The lich was seemingly annoyed but if it was just that he wouldn’t die. Plus, Ed didn’t believe the dungeon would let the lich kill him. While he wasn’t sure if the lich also had a system and penalties, he definitely knew it abided the words of the dungeon based on what it said during its encounter with the adventurers.
A minute passed, two minutes passed, time passed. Perhaps due to his mental fortitude or the hope to learn, Ed managed to stand in the darkness doing nothing.
‘This is a cakewalk compared to the 24 hours I spent in that stupidly dark abyss’
The lich continued resting without minding Ed all the while.
‘Please?’ So Ed resorted to sending messages.
‘Come on, resting isn’t even fun!’ Based on the lich’s personality, Ed deemed that annoying it was the best solution.
“Quiet! Leave!”
The ground trembled and shifted under Ed’s feet carrying him to the exit.
‘No you don’t!’
Ed tried to stand and run on the trembling ground only to fall on his face. He was carried against his will to the gate door but he refused to leave and held on to the open door.
‘This is way too rude!’
As an 18-year-old college student, Ed could relate to not wanting to be interrupted during naps. He would never be so rude as to forcefully push the aggressor out of his room however.
‘Actually, maybe I would if I had this kind of power…’ Ed was thinking useless thoughts as he firmly grasped the closing door. If he didn’t let go his hands would be crushed.
‘No! Come on!’ ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
Once Ed was halfway out of the room, the ground stopped trembling and shifting.
‘Wait a minute… He can’t act outside of his room!’ Ed realized.
The door also wouldn’t close completely while he was holding onto it. Although Ed couldn’t see the lich’s face, he was probably really annoyed. Well, not that he has a face. Ed stood triumphantly between both sides.
“You are a weird one, Champion”
Ed didn’t expect that the lich would acknowledge his status.
‘But if regular skeletons can why wouldn’t the boss be able to’ He murmured in his mind.
Ed couldn’t talk to the lich as he was pushed too far back. He looked at the purple flames in the distance and looked at the ground. He was wondering if he could go inside now.
The lich seemed to be able to see in the dark as it understood his intention. However, it didn’t agree. As soon as Ed tried to step further in the ground would shift.
“Leave, I cannot teach you”
Ed wanted to ask why but he couldn’t speak out. He would need to increase the range of his skill somehow or to get closer.
‘Damn it! That can’t be true’
Ed continued to try and step in only to fail each time. That kept happening for a good minute before the lich finally turned on the lights. It was obviously annoyed.
Ed neared it once more and asked a simple question.
‘Why?’
“You have no mana, I can’t teach you whatever it is you want to learn. Stop wasting my time and LEAVE!” The air turned chilly when the lich said its last word.
‘I don’t want to learn magic’ Ed wasn’t lying. He did want to learn magic, but not right now. He would have to deal with the mana issue at another time.
“What is it you want to learn then?” The lich became curious.
‘I want to learn Swordsmanship’ Ed said without an ounce of doubt.
“And what makes you think I can teach you that?”
There was no reason to believe a lich could teach him the way of the sword.
‘I can learn from your knights’ Ed replied.
At that moment, the lich started to laugh.
“Why should I waste my mana on something like that? Not to mention the knights are simple puppets, they can’t teach. Now leave, you have wasted my time.”
It was an oversight on Ed’s part. But he decided there was still hope.
‘No wait! you would teach me magic then?’
Seeing that the sword was a no go, Ed wanted to try and learn some magic.
“You have no mana, leave” The lich motioned him to leave but Ed was stubborn.
‘What if I had mana, would you teach me?’
The lich stopped to think.
“Yes”
It was a simple reply, but Ed was more than satisfied. He had a plan.
The assimilation skill could probably allow him to use mana. All he would need to do is assimilate some sort of magic device. Ed didn’t have any but the lich should.
‘Do you have a magic device?’
The lich’s curiosity had returned.
“Yes, the adventurers from earlier had one”
The lich pointed the back of the room were some loot was gathered. It was so far back that Ed never realized it was there.
He approached the pile and suddenly wanted to organize it with his hoarding skill. He shook his head and started looking for a magic device.
After a few seconds, Ed pulled out some sort of magic compass. The lich was still curious and was anticipating what Ed could do with a magic device.
A few seconds passed and Ed simply held it while looking at the lich. The lich became confused.
“What are you doing?” Its hoarse and domineering voice asked.
‘Ummm… We have to wait 12 hours’ Ed scratched the back of his skull as he sent that thought.
They both looked at each other in silence.
“Leave…”
‘I will come back in 12 hours!’ Ed declared as he headed for the gate.
He was somewhat embarrassed by the turn of events but he ultimately got what he wanted. An apprenticeship.. He would learn magic from a lich.