Stuck As A Dungeon Mob

Var Agus' trip was short. They had explored the caverns plenty by this point, and the mushroom god appearing so close to them was certainly a blessing. It led Var to suspect that the mushroom god had done it on purpose.

At the thought, there was some excitement in Var's heart. The mushroom god was looking out for them! But he promptly suppressed. If he switched faith so easily, he would be cursed by his ancestors. If not by his ancestors, the guilt would curse him for sure.

'Var Agus' Ed transmitted to the lizardman upon noticing him. Var Agus responded by immediately prostrating solemnly. Just because he was of different faith, it didn't mean he couldn't show due respect!

<"I am glad you've recovered"> Var Agus said, his forehead firmly planted against the ground. He had let the mushroom god go outside previously and didn't think much of it. Yet, looking at how things were now, Var felt they were quite the rude guests.

<"We are only being helped by you"> Var said tearfully. He intended to negotiate terms, but would he really have the gall? If there was a limit to shamelessness... He would be taking the shamelessness of others under credit...

Ed who still couldn't understand Var Agus only shrugged off any worries.

'I still can't understand you' This time he meant it literally and figuratively. He couldn't understand their language, and he couldn't understand why they hadn't caught onto that!

Var's heart suddenly jolted. His- His divinity was finding his actions ridiculous again! His watery eyes gave birth to a stream. The worries that plagued him appear to be such a non-issue in the face of a great god.

'...' Ed was speechless, he didn't even intend for Var Agus to contact him. He was just making the latter aware of his existence, nothing more. But now that he was here...

'I do need someone to do recon outside' Bloody and W proved that the outside was very hostile to anything that wasn't a lizardmen. If it wasn't for Bloody's strangeness, they probably would have been killed.

'The environment is best suited for them so it only makes sense they've become the apex predators' They were like humans but part lizard. The lizardmen's intelligence was not better than humans, but they were not necessarily inferior, this was just based off what Ed had seen anyway.

He had seeing enough to know they made ideal subordinates. Ed just had to overcome the language barrier and things would sort themselves. The first step towards this was establishing some method of communication.

'Var, would you like me to protect your people?' Ed asked Var Agus who lifted his head off the ground from shock.

<"YES YES!!!"> He shouted, nodding fervently. Was there no need for negotiation? Would he receive this for free- For free...

<"Actually-"> Var wanted to say they needed to offer the mushroom god something too, but-

'You are not qualified' Ed transmitted indifferently. Var Agus' thoughts froze that very instant.

<"Not... Not qualified…"> Var Agus muttered to himself while understanding. He felt guilty just a moment before, so being told he was not qualified didn't come as a surprise.

'You first need to learn a special language and receive my mark' Ed needed the lizardmen to learn at least the basics of human language. Ed could try to learn lizardmen but that was easier said than done.

'It's not like I can just ask them to teach me their language…' Not after all the misunderstandings that were surely happening. With all the kneeling and stuff, Ed understood that the lizardmen thought of him as a sort of divine figure.

'Wait… Assimilation does let me learn faster' Ed thought for a moment and recalled his conversations with the lizardmen. There was a specific sound they always used to call him.

<"Your divinity, I- I will have the others do whatever it takes to get your protection!"> Var Agus declared, making up his mind.

'That's the word' It most likely meant someone of high esteem or god, or something divine. If Ed continued to decipher other words by leading on the conversation… was it possible for the system to level up his language skill?

'Previously just learning to read gave me the entire language' But it also wasn't like he learned to read all the words in the written language.

'I' Ed transmitted to Var Agus who was instantly befuddled.

<"You?"> He asked back.

'That might be the word for I or you, or something like what' Ed's mind churned at high speed analyzing the possibilities.

'You' Ed transmitted to Var Agus who was once again left dumbfounded. What was going on here? Was the mushroom god saying there was some sort of bond between them?

<"Your divinity… Do you need me to bring my people over here to learn the language?"> Var asked after straightening his back and fixing his confused expression. It was back to business. Now that the divinity wanted something from them, he was eager to have things move forward.

'Tsk, no bite' The method would have to be revisited in the future. For now, he should have the lizardmen learn instead.

'I can give them some skills to help learning, it will go by quickly' He was admittedly low on that specific skill ink but just giving it to a few would be fine as long as they leveled up that skill.

Ed suddenly spawned in a bunch of mushrooms. These mushrooms were growing steadily towards the direction from whence Var Agus came. The latter was stunned but not for long, he followed after the trail of brilliant gray.

'I will make a path to you, but please bring some chosen people over' Ed transmitted while continuing his work. At that moment he ran out of gray mushrooms and swapped to another type.

Var Agus noticed this and couldn't help but become curious. What exactly was the god doing? Many thoughts came to his great detective mind, but he inevitably shook them off.

<"I will get it done!"> Var Agus declared with confidence, even bumping his chest.

Ed was satisfied with this attitude and watched as Var with a skip in his step. Yet, the back of the shaman also seemed burdened.

'Not my problem for now…' Ed thought before focusing on planning his expansion plan. Since he was in a tunnel, sectoring off areas with walls of metal shrooms and mud shrooms seemed like a simple and effective idea.

He also of course thought to place traps and long range mushrooms behind these walls.

'I need taller mushroom walls' Ed realized the current mental shrooms fell short of stopping much larger creatures. Some would just have their legs trip with no real consequence. Ed thought of a couple of methods, but the surest way was to use the forge.

He quickly moved to put his thoughts into actions, he entered the boundless white of the system space.

While in there, Ed also rummaged his storeroom for any type of blood. He wanted to make new blood clots.

'Unfortunately, Blurak's blood is gone' Getting rid of that blood had to be marked down as one of his biggest mistakes.

The blood mushrooms he made were not perfect. They were still affected by things like soil, energy, etc. which could affect their quality. This meant that the blood mushrooms could never perfectly grow the blood of Blurak without an obscene amount of energy and nutrients.

The next best material for Blood Clots was therefore his own blood.

'I'll have to do more bloodletting in my orc body' His blood was already being used for potions in Sanctuary, so he didn't have any in his storeroom.

Ed finished rummaging through things in a matter of minutes. There was no good quality blood, but he could always test the blood clot species.

'Will inferior blood create inferior products?' It was very well possible. Bloody was made of regular orc blood, but its journey was anything but normal.

'If orc blood is already that frightening…' Ed couldn't help but shudder at the thought of something more overpowered than Bloody.

'Oh wait… That's me' He made the damn thing. Ed was pleasantly surprised to find out he was actually so fearsome.

'Hehehe, enough tooting my own horn' Ed went to the living room and collected batches upon batches of mushrooms. The fungi had spread everywhere meaning there was lots to collect. After collecting everything, he then dropped different containers of blood in the room.

'These will be new blood clot subordinates' Ed was excited to see if they would all have the blood integration skill. They were made with the blood of inferior creatures like bugs, worms, moles, etc. Basically, blood from lots of things of the very mushroom cavern were put into those containers.

After doing that, Ed went to make his tall metal mushrooms. The spirit smith didn't have a recipe for it, but after Ed tossed metal mushrooms into the forge, it learned quickly. From there, it was just a matter of giving the spirit worker enough to work with.

Ed watched this with satisfaction. Everything was coming together well.

'Nothing can spoil this' Ed thought with a hint of happiness.

Ed immediately exited the system space, feeling a great sense of foreboding. His mushroom roots skipped a… drink? Roots didn't beat, did they?

Calming down, Ed watched the area carefully and found nothing threatening.

'Oh, good I didn't jinx it' With the lizardmen around, the amount of mobs was very small. The chances of anything threatening his body ranged from low to none. If such a fearsome beast lived nearby, the lizardmen would have already suffered.

Perhaps Ed had summoned the lizardmen with this thought, as he was surprised to spot lizardmen approaching rapidly from afar.

'Aren't they a little too hurried?' Ed asked himself, watching their approach.