Back in the crypt, Ed was sitting upon his throne. Behind him, one could make out etchings illuminated by faint torchlight. These etchings were a few letters that pertained to the full name of the mighty being that sat on the imposing throne.

The atmosphere'| Trench had to take in this atmosphere as he knelt before Ed solemnly. Currently, there was a slew of other skeletons also showing their fealty behind the powerful skeleton mage.

Named or not named all of these skeletons could tell that something special was about to take place in the temple of their liege.

"Approach" Ominous words were spoken audibly. If there were any humans in the vicinity they too would get sucked in by the atmosphere.

One could only imagine the feelings of Trench after he received permission to grow near the sacred throne and their liege.

Normally, Trench wouldn't put much importance in regard to approaching Ed but thanks to this carefully orchestrated scene, Trench could only feel privileged and those behind him jealous.

After Trench grew sufficiently near to his throne, Ed elegantly stood. He looked down at Trench and placed his bony palm on the hooded skeleton mage's skull. Trench shuddered from anticipation, the feeling that followed was indescribable.

Trench felt his consciousness becoming infinitely closer to that of their liege and he felt as though his thoughts were bare before their liege. The strangest part however was that in a way'| the feeling was mutual.

Trench's link with their liege went both ways to the point that Trench could easily understand the thoughts and emotions of Ed if here were to so allow it.

Ed allowed it and Trench felt joy surging through their connection. Could it be that their liege felt just as great as Trench did in regard to this newfound closeness?

'Success!' The reality was that Ed became elated at the knowledge that upon the link skill's level up it allowed for more connections.

Of course, it wasn't untrue that Ed was happy about the connection to Trench. He could now get things moving in a positive direction for the crypt.

'Trench, you will become a pillar for the skeletons of the outpost from hereon' Now that Ed had a permanent link to the crypt as well as a way to transfer his powers the skeleton outposts would evolve into skeleton kingdoms.

There would be legions of skeletons scattered throughout the entire crypt each with its own unique material body. Their weapons would also be those repurposed from those unfortunate enough to fall by the legion's might.

'But that's only if you can follow my teachings' Ed needed to teach Trench how to do these things first and for that... Trench needed an upgrade, Ed stored away Trench without warning.

The skeletons who saw this happen weren't shocked by the sight and maintained their kneeling positions.

Ed then sat back down on his throne looking rather casual.

'I'll have to upgrade Trench's body and consciousness' Trench's body would start to break if he only upgraded the consciousness so Ed had to be careful and select some new materials to add to this classic anti-skeleton.

Luckily, Ed had lots of things at his disposal. This time considering the earthen element of Trench he decided to go to the system forge and fuse Trench's body with some Terrafirm bars. He had used these bars before he was sure.

This was an earthly ore that was actually a bit lacking in the tensile strength department. Using it for a skeleton would normally be a bit unwise but in this case, the skeleton in question was a mage and an earthen one at that.

'Trench should be more than able to defend himself with the earth' The earthen affinity of the metal would make it all the easier. Plus, it also didn't really matter if Trench's ability to tank hits was reduced too much.

'The change shouldn't be too significant anyway' In Ed's mind this was a non-issue.

Soon after Ed settled these thoughts in his head a slightly taller and larger Trench was created in the forge. Ed now needed to add to Trench's consciousness which was a piece of cake for him.

In less than half an hour Ed was already outside the system space with Trench's upgraded body. The body was soulless for the moment however so Ed pressed his palm against the dark brown skeleton's head and inserted back its consciousness.

After a short while, Trench came to life. Almost immediately after Trench was able to think rational thoughts, he knelt on the ground and looked up. The skeleton looked at his liege with an inexhaustible supply of gratefulness and admiration.

'I will follow you until the end my liege' Trench transmitted solemnly after having had only a brief moment to assess their new body and mind.

'Then stand next to me' Ed then instructed Trench who gladly followed this command. Trench stood up towering over the skeletons behind him.

These skeletons were secretly jealous but there was no reason to be like that and Ed would soon show them why.

'Observe' Ed transmitted before calling over one of the plain white skeletons inside the temple.

The likes of Brutus shot this skeleton a dark glare while the smarter ones like Iron who stood at the side knew this was likely to be some sort of experiment or demonstration. All in all, Iron didn't take they'd lose out.

Matching the thoughts of Iron, a spark appeared in Ed's bony palm. It was brilliant yet felt cold but this cold was only temporary as it was washed away by the spark's warmth. This mix of cold and hot left the skeletons in awe for the two feelings did not seem to counteract.

More notably, however, they couldn't feel anything! Yet that flame seemed to transfer its icy-hot sensation past the body and directly into the mind.

The white skeleton looked at the flame dully offering no real reaction, not even when another object appeared on Ed's other bony palm.

'Trench, through our connection I can allow you to do this so pay close attention' Ed said before holding the object he summoned right on the white skeleton. With his other hand, Ed started to melt the object using the forge sparks.

The skeletons were astounded as they observed the orc iron ore Ed summoned start to fuse onto the skeleton's arm.

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'You can upgrade your kind as long as you call for me' There was a cooldown so he couldn't do it endlessly and neither could Trench hod onto the power infinitely. It was best to use the power in moderation lest Ed be caught off guard by his inability to make use of it in a critical time.

The anti-skeletons all felt cheery seeing what had just occurred but these emotions unbefitting of an undead were soon washed away. The skeleton which had received this great benefit maintained a dull look, no this look was perhaps much duller than before.

'Of course, they won't be able to upgrade their consciousness' Ed had used a fairly sizeable chunk of orc iron when fusing the material onto the skeleton's arm so the regular skeleton's consciousnesses wouldn't be able to handle it.

Since Ed knew that Trench wouldn't be able to upgrade the consciousness of the skeletons Ed was a bit disappointed. The sizeable chunk had proven to already be too much in regard to upgrading the regular skeletons' capabilities.

'Though in that case...' There was one potential solution.

'Shrinking the skeletons' Turning the skeletons into mini versions of themselves didn't seem like a wise decision at first glance but that was if the material remained the same.

'The larger skeletons are both flimsy and clumsy but if we can change the material without hindering their ability'|' Then there was no real loss for Ed.

Thinking along these lines Ed decided to put the idea to the test. He apologized inwardly to the white skeleton before him as he started to mentally design the skeleton's model.

The new skeleton was teeny.

With a swift motion, Ed started to store away the limbs of the skeleton before any of those present could even realize what was happening.

All that remained of the white skeleton ended up being its skull and the better arm.

The sparks in Ed's hand then started to burn brighter and the arm started to melt anew. This time Ed made sure to meld the softened bone and iron mix into the shape of a skeleton.

If Ed needed more material he would toss back in the limbs he stole and soon enough a small skeleton body no taller than Ed's knee was born. Ed then placed the skeleton's skull onto the small body and to his surprise'|

'Eh, this works' The skeleton though still clearly stupid started to move as though the limbs were its original.

'Run a few laps for me' The skeleton then started to run around Ed and the throne while he observed it diligently.

Ed was satisfied with the speed of its gait considering its short legs but Ed now needed to perform another test.

Without warning, Ed kicked the small skeleton causing it to fly off into the crowd of skeletons.

The watching skeletons all froze thinking that something had gone wrong with their liege. They were also worried about the small skeleton who crashed into a wall of the temple but to their surprise'| emerged mostly unscathed!