After setting up the teleportation pad, Rino looked at the little magic tree shrub behind him. There was still not enough mana to power the teleportation pad from this little magic plant. The distance between Cypress County and Spudville wasn't too far. His minions could travel between them freely and Rino set up the coordinates in a rather foolproof manner.

The distance between his new town to the two villages was considerable, and Rino wondered how much mana it would take for him to make one teleportation jump using the coordinates he input with his mana reserves. The amber that he used to set up this teleportation pad was merely a decorative tool now because it wouldn't contain enough mana to cover even half the distance Rino wanted.

He definitely needed an array with a powerful future mana power source.

The magic tree was growing steadily, and Rino thanked the night for providing him with some comfort. Now that he was out of that darned dungeon, the lich could finally summon fire to see a little better.

After setting up the mana array for Cypress County, Rino did not need to think much or plan the array for his town. He could always add on to the existing array in more sections after the main array was up.

The teleportation pad was hooked up to the main array's hexagonal diagram, and Rino looped the five crystals into the array to test if these mana generators would explode if overloaded.

For now, Rino let the mana circulate within the main mana web frame while he busied himself, marking out different areas with earth walls for future building projects.

The town was huge, and Rino sighed. As of now, he only had a few hundred minions under his command, with two-thirds being faes. Rino did not think that faes were useless. However, he needed more capable hands and legs to assist him with manual labour. The new town wouldn't build itself, and while Rino could do it alone with the help of his shadow tendrils to replace the hundreds of workers he needed, it would be a waste of GF credits to do this.

He had a tannery to create, after all.

Checking his assigned daily quest marked with only 1 day remaining, Rino estimated that his vacation credits would be consumed very soon.

===

Daily Quest #14

Objective: Tan leather

0/1 Tanned Leather

Time Limit: 5 Days.

Tutorial here.

Reward: Tanning Skill

Penalty: Deduct 24 hours of sleep upon failure and [Curse of Overtime] until quest is forcefully completed.

===

The leather tanning process really varied from two days to a few months, according to the tutorial. Rino had never felt so confused reading a tutorial before this, and it was another thing adding to his worries. Without a way to travel freely back to Spudville, Rino had to work on managing his time properly.

He couldn't fail this daily quest, and Rino did not want to give the crazy god in charge of watching him the pleasure of exploiting his labour with the Curse of Overtime. He spent too many GF credits dutifully to redeem his sleep hours. Deducting three day's worth of sleep was simply too painful for Rino.

Now that the main mana web array was complete, Rino decided to pick a new spot that would be his temporary shelter as he worked.

He did not want a farmhouse. However, he still wanted something fancy and homey in case Noir decided to visit. The town was in the middle of a beautiful valley near a river and backed by rocky mountains. What better resource was there than stone from the mountain?

Rino tried to recall the kind of building designs that he liked back in his previous world. He should try to replicate those stone cottages that looked cosy and felt homey. The farmhouse was too woody, and Rino decided that an upgrade was required.

The spot that Rino liked a little further from the teleportation pad and magic tree. In fact, it was closer to the mountain because Rino was simply too lazy to carry the rocks he cut over.

At the same time, the lich had enough of the underground, so he was going to build his cottage above ground, slightly elevated compared to the rest of the town. 

Working quickly using dark magic, Rino carved out a neat little digging site full of stones from the mountainside. He did not have cement to slab the rocks together, but he had earth and water magic.

If there was one trick he learned from Kragami, who managed Cypress County, it was the power of the bog.

Even if the swamp was less stinky and more magical, the muddy magic was still Cypress County's trademark. Mud was used for many things, even if they had a sawmill for wood and stone from the quarry.

For some reason, Kragami claimed that mud was very useful and proved to Rino that water and earth magic could make more than wood and nature elements. The bog element that Kragami dubbed it could create quicksand, makeshift cement and even pseudo clay. Water softened earth and helped mould it with dark magic. This combination was interesting enough for Rino to attempt it. 

The mud did not hold up very well as an adhesive, but it did fill in the small cracks between cut stone slabs that Rino made. In fact, Rino used fire magic to dry them quickly and discovered that mud, when hardened, was as hard as cement. The only downside was how crumbly it became, and some parts of the mud would crack.

Seeing how this wasn't going to work, Rino tried to think of something else, looking around for resources he could exploit.

A dandelion fluff flew past Rino and lodged itself into Rino's pants, giving the lich a strange idea. He summoned Mutt and borrowed his wolf mount's nose to hunt for twisting vine seeds in the valley, much to Mutt's confusion.

Yet, the loyal hound did not question his master's antics. It was easier to accept it and move along. The mind of a genius can sometimes be strange, and it was better not to question.