Whatever Rino did, Mutt swore that no other human would attempt it. Even the necromancer would claim it was a madman's work.

Yet, his master looked pleased with himself, inspecting his handiwork.

The new cottage was built out of stone bricks cut from the mountainside, covered in tough plant vines that grew from mud between the stone slabs. The roof was made from a needlessly large and thick slab of rock that Rino carefully cut with measurements bigger than the total cottage wall size. Mutt held his breath when his master placed the large stone slab on top of his cottage walls, wondering if the building would crumble under the weight.

Thankfully, his master had similar concerns, so the walls were reinforced with enchantments before the roof slab was slapped on. With a roof protecting him from sunlight, Rino hacked out a hole to create a chimney after the roof and completed the chimney structure with more stone and mud. The vines grew and twisted around the structure protectively, and Rino took a step back to admire the bare structure of his handiwork.

The cottage looked peculiar, but it served its purpose as a shelter. Mud flooring was unacceptable, and Rino did not feel like treating wood, so he chiselled smooth stone carefully and layered the ground with it. It would be cold to those who wore no shoes, but Rino would fix that with carpets later once everything else in the town was running.

The day was approaching, and Rino knew he had to work fast. There were currently still no doors or windows to his building. Stone was unacceptable, and Rino was forced to use haphazardly chopped wood to block the sun out. The wood pieces covering his window and door holes were not fixed with hinges due to the rushed job, but they worked well, keeping the sun out of his cottage.

Rino dismissed Mutt once the bare cottage was built and sighed as he lay on the cold ground. It was uncomfortable, and Rino wished he thought of bringing his comfortable bedding along in his shadow sack.

Making the best of what he had, Rino laid out the king toad skin and rolled the end,, so it served as a pillow. Making himself as comfortable as he could be, Rino claimed his daily sleep and allowed the dreamcatcher ability to weave him a beautiful escape from reality.

When Rino woke up in the evening, he received a new system prompt.

===

Side Quest #17

Objective: Craft Tanned Leather

0/1 Leather Product

Reward: Leather Crafting Skill

===

The magician groaned silently. The gods really wanted him to get dirty and stinky for the next part of his kingdom building project. Rino dreaded tanning leather for several reasons.

In his previous world, leather tanneries smelled worse than waste disposal grounds and recycling dumps. In fact, many people shunned leather tanner even if leather tanning paid well.

Urine, animal faeces and ground raw innards were used in leather production. The higher the leather quality, the longer the treatment process. Nobles often paid a fine dime for the softest leather that could take months to prepare. Rino hated the smell of tanneries and often gagged when he had to pass the area.

This was a project meant for others and not him. Rino decided to procrastinate for as long as possible before he found willing sacrifices for a nobler cause. Kingdom building wasn't a single person's responsibility and Rino reasoned that it was only fair some people played bigger roles than others.

Settling in a new neighbourhood meant visiting the neighbours. Rino looked around and sighed. There was a lovely river, but he had no rod, hook or bait to enjoy fishing yet. He remembered seeing huge spiders in the jungle and wondered if he should return to grab a few useful crafting resources but decided against it for now.

Instead, Rino craned his neck and looked at the mountains. There was another place that should be rich in various resources that Rino wanted to explore today. His main quest was pestering him with system notification reminders that Rino tuned out.

It was strange that quest reminder prompts never happened before this. The gods really were watching his every action and prompting him to hurry with his task even after he bought day-offs with GF credits he worked hard for.

How cruel.

Pulling his hood up, Rino decided to climb up the mountain with the help of shadow tendrils, stopping every now and then to enjoy the view from above. He could image the town he wanted to build already with the earth wall markers.

The higher he climbed, the smaller his cottage looked. Rino could only see the faint earth wall sections as he climbed. From the ground, his town felt big. From above, Rino could afford to expand his territory across the river if he ever needed to.

He reached the top of the mountain fairly quickly, and the slope was less steep towards the top. Feeling lazy to walk or fly, Rino summoned Mutt to carry him now that the sun had retired for the day. The salty breeze tickled the sabre tooth wolf's nose, and Rino let the wind sweep his hood backwards as the wolf ran.

The rock salts were everywhere on this mountain plateau, and Rino stopped to collect some smaller rocks to store away in his shadow sack. The night was beautiful, and Rino decided to walk while taking in the view of the vast starry sky.

The wind was stronger here as Mutt disappeared into his master's shadow, leaving Rino to enjoy his alone time. So much transpired in just a few months. Rino thought back to his nostalgic dream that afternoon and wondered why the dreamcatcher created such a dream for him.

It felt too real, and Rino almost believed that he was back in the tower, having a heated debate with his teachers about the right way to use a magic pipette. Those were the good days when he had not been appointed as a noble or a court magician. Rino missed his innocent youth, engrossed in only finding out the truth and making advanced magical discoveries, breaking new boundaries.

"Halt!" a gruff voice shouted from behind Rino, and the lich paused.

Was that a human's voice?