Stuck As A Dungeon Mob

Among the elves there was one skillfully inscribing runes onto the ground using what Ed could only assume was the “advanced” method he had merely mentioned.

‘Sanev is actually rather skilled huh…’ The elf in question was, of course, Sanev who upon noticing Ed’s gaze immediately flashed a smile. They seemed to be taunting him so Ed could only offer a smile of his own.

‘Their learning capability is quite great but that alone isn’t enough to learn from me exclusively’ To be Ed’s disciple would mean to one day grab his mantle which by all means was impossible.

‘If nothing goes wrong I’ll outlive everyone here’ As far as Ed could tell his life only relied on the dungeon and all dungeons were basically timeless structures. Though it had to be said even if he died any potential disciple would still have a hard time filling his shoes assuming they didn’t have a system of their own.

Ed then switched his attention back onto the rest of the elves and watched as they attempted to draw the messy runes he had given them. Most of them failed miserably but a small few managed to more or less imitate the shapes Ed had drawn proving they had some talent.

Ed was satisfied by this but it also became clear to him that most of these arrays wouldn’t be useable that same day.

‘They are taking too long’ The elves were taking too much time drawing each individual rune meaning that if Ed continued to linger and wait for them he’d be wasting far too much time.

That was when Ed recalled a blessing, or curse, that sometimes fell upon him in his previous life for whenever his teachers wanted to skedaddle.

“Ahem, finishing these arrays will be your homework. You can continue working here, take a break, or do anything really but I expect them to be done by tomorrow. ” Turning classwork into homework was a perfect strategy that was especially viable when you had no homework to assign to begin with.

After saying these words Ed didn’t wait for the elves to respond and began to immediately leave.

The elves who had been focused on the rune inscribing process didn’t even have any time to process what had just occurred before Ed had vanished from his previous position.

“We… We need to finish this by tomorrow?” One of the slower elves muttered with widened eyes. They had no idea if there would be any punishment for failing to do so but they did feel compelled to oblige nonetheless.

The only problem was… at their current rate they were bound to fail for sure!

This was a sentiment echoed by some of the other elves present. They all seemed to hold the same thought that they would not be able to get a wink of sleep if they were to have any hope of succeeding.

“Wait… Look over there!” An arid elf shouted pointing at Sanev who elegantly jotted down multiple strokes to form nice-looking large runes.

“S- Sanev, could you teach us your method?” Someone immediately ran up and prompted. Sanev who had been paying attention to the situation smiled.

“Of course, I can teach all of you” Sanev figured that doing this could help them earn some points with Ed and were naturally not opposed.

The next day came quickly and just like yesterday, in the morning time, two lines were formed. Ed’s line looked particularly large that day, however.

‘I guess the rumors must have spread’ The ability to grow their own tree! That was much better than doing the thankless picking job in Azalia’s chamber!

“Morning everyone, those that are joining us for the first time please form a third line. I will come to pick you up for a catch-up lesson later” Since drawing arrays could take time, Ed splitting the classes into different time periods was actually entirely possible.

‘As long as I keep giving them homework at least’ For now however Ed was not thinking about the future, he had to think about the present state of the students’ homework.

Ed wished he didn’t have to think about the homework however as he was frankly appalled.

‘Isn’t this too blatant?’ Ed figured he would have to teach someone a lesson.

“Guys, I saw your attempts yesterday. Why do all of your arrays look so similar all of a sudden?” Ed asked full of suspicion.

After Ed posed his question, all of the elves started to feign nonchalance. Ed was able to see through this act, however. Though he was able to recognize one individual that did not fake this nonchalance.

“Sanev, did you do their homework for them?” Ed questioned.

“Huh?” Sanev’s nonchalance then faltered. Were they caught?

“No, I just ummm… taught them my methods” Sanev said telling what he believed was nothing more than a slight embellishment of the situation.

Yes, just a slight embellishment.

After Ed’s departure, Sanev’s lesson started. The problem however was that Sanev lacked both the eloquence and knowledge required of this task. All of the elves were left at a loss and didn’t know how to follow any of his instructions.

It just so happened that Sanev’s drive towards recognition made him lack another trait. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​

Patience.

Seeing the sun start to set and having made no progress Sanev employed a new method. Since the students couldn’t understand by hearing explanations then he could only give them examples… right?

Dozens of examples later and Sanev had done everyone’s homework for them. Only a select few arrays were not done by Sanev at all.

“Sigh…” Ed could only sigh.

“I’ll excuse this behavior this time but there won’t be a next time” Ed said with a tone that suggested he couldn’t be bothered to handle the matter.

If Sanev wanted to do free labor it was none of his business. Plus in the end, it worked out for Ed anyway since the lesson Ed had planned required the arrays to be completed and functioning.

“Sudryal, hand out these seeds” The array that Ed taught the class- Well Sanev apparently, would grow the seeds into trees using the mana provided by an individual.

“Plant the seeds in the designated spot of the array” Ed told the students who all immediately looked at the array they didn’t finish with dread.

Just as Sanev was handed his seed the elves all realized it wasn’t all hopeless. They just had to discretely steal the answer from the smart kid-

“Sanev you can wait to do it yourself once they are all done” But Ed’s cold words poured cold water on the thoughts of all the elves. Now they were all truly in despair.

‘If they can’t even do this I should kick them out of class’ Ed’s lesson had been rather comprehensive. The elves might not be able to put their knowledge into practice but at the very least they had the knowledge, right?

Looking at the uncertainty on some of the elves Ed wasn’t quite sure anymore but after one or two individuals started to plant their seeds the others no longer hesitated, they too dug their seeds into the soil.

‘Yeah, you now all know the answer’ Ed thought while rolling his eyes. There were actually a few variations on the answers but there were only so many runic shapes in an array.

Most of the students had the right answer and for those that didn’t, Ed had to praise their bravery.

‘Why do I feel so dispirited?’ Ed thought taking notice of this. Was this a side effect of teaching? What a horrible profession.

Ed decided that once he regained his memories he would thank his past teachers and professors sincerely for the sacrifice they were making.

Unaware of Ed’s thoughts, all of the students planted their seeds.

“Alright, now step into the correct runic shape to activate the array. Remember, you just have to send out your mana into the array” Doing so in the wrong place could result in some accidents but Ed chose not to mention this.

‘These are low-level arrays, they aren’t too dangerous’ Ed was also confident in his ability to bring back people from the dead so what was there to worry about?

Soon after Ed’s instructions came down, all of the elves positioned themselves into what they presumed was the correct spot. Just like last time, Sanev was the last one to enter the position.

Ed then nodded at the class indicating that they could now start. The students of myriad ages all grit their teeth and sent mana down into the array. Within moments, the beautiful sound of explosions rang out.

No, wait, the beautiful sound of the seeds stretching and growing. The explosions and painful screams weren’t beautiful, or not to the elves.

“ARRGH!” “Ah!” The screams were brief and pained.

‘That’s what you all get for trying to cheat’ Ed thought happily. If they had all honestly done their task he would have gladly corrected them to avoid injuries.

Thinking of the bliss Ed now felt,  he suddenly realized that being a teacher did have its perks.

‘Making students suffer is quite satisfying’ Seeing Ed’s happy expressions some of the elves who had yet to activate their arrays could only change their image of Ed again.

He was definitely the devil!

Praising Ed this late into the task would do them no good, however.

“Hey, don’t try to switch places now” Ed said to a cheeky elf. This elf was on the verge of tears as they were forced to activate their array from the wrong position.

With a boom, another tree grew.

Seeds were planted into the minds of the elves once again.