Terrible! The palanquin might be a powerful floating village for evacuation emergencies, but Rino did not consider how transporting animals would contribute to noise pollution. Acht did his best to meditate and find inner peace, but he was close to losing it with all the squawking.

Flying the palanquin took a copious amount of concentration, and the four spectres had to stop several times to recondition their mental state before the palanquin crashed into anything. Mutt, who tagged along, pitied them and decided to lend a hand by howling and growling above the cacophony.

The fight or dominance among animals only caused the spectres to request a ten-minute break and some distance from the noise pollution while Mutt thought of a way to silence them. The sabre tooth wolf agreed, and the sky palanquin descended onto the fields nearing the rocky mountains ahead.

Acht led his brothers in death out of the palanquin after the wooden box docked and flew towards the sky, hovering above so that they were still within sight of the transportation. Mutt circled the animals and navigated around the cramped interior, crawling beneath wooden planks and side-stepping barrels of flower wine.

Inhaling deeply as the animals continued to protest, Mutt let the mana flow into his chest before he let out a devastating howl that could be heard for miles. The deafening sound overpowered the animals, knocking them unconscious. Really, the hunters should have stabbed these creatures with paralysing poison to save the spectres so much pain.

After confirming that every single animal was knocked unconscious by his howl and intimidation, Mutt hopped off the palanquin and wagged his tail at them. It was safe to continue their journey back to the town and finally complete their master's bidding.

The reset of the journey remained uneventful as Acht navigated flawlessly. Mutt stuck his head out of the gap as he lay on his belly and enjoyed the cold wind on his nose. The night air always smelled fresher, and the dizzying speed of trees passing beneath them soon changed into stretches of rocky mountains.

This had to be the most dangerous part of the journey. There was no stopping midway, or they would find themselves plummeting down, impaling on sharp rocks. The palanquin might be created with many enchantments, but Mutt wasn't willing to test out how durable it was. He was sure that the fall from this height would destroy a few precious cargo and weak animals. The spectres better do a good job of transporting them safely.

Just before sunrise, Mutt spotted the glowing crystals and young magic tree that Rino grew in the centre of the town in the distance. The mana web array lit up prettily, and from the sky, it was a breathtaking sight.

The palanquin descended once more in the field just before the animal pens. Rino briefed Acht on what he wanted to be done before sunrise, and the spectres got to work quickly, unloading the cages and placing them in the huge animal pen with no organisational skills.

Mutt took it upon himself to gather the rest of the spectres to help unload the other materials Noir Province packed for them. The wooden planks were tossed outside of Rino's stone cottage, and the wine barrel was carefully rolled into Rino's cosy cottage.

"Where's Master?" Mutt sniffed the air. He couldn't smell fresh traces of his Master. The scent was stale.

Een pulled a new barrel of wine and shrugged. "He's been working in the study for days now. You should be able to find him in the mountain vault, although he told us to let you know that you have a new task."

Perking his ears at that, Mutt demanded to know his new order. Een was oddly joyful when he told the sabre tooth wolf that Mutt was in charge of hunting food for the livestock.

"We'll help you gather them with the new toad skin storage bags once you sniff them out. There should be enough food around in the fields and mountains. If all else fails, we can raid the village. There's already a small farm growing so we can plant more crops."

Indeed, there was a small potato farm growing a distance from Rino's stone cottage. The field was nothing compared to what Spudville boasted, but that would resolve the greedy pygmy boars' appetite.

Hunting for the birds meant looking for insects, fruits and seeds. Mutt had no idea if there were any of those in this valley. The rocky mountain only had salt and minerals. Unless the birds did not mind mushrooms that grew on gargoyle flesh, Mutt did not think there was any use scouring the rocky terrain.

The rabbits that Fowler caught were very quiet and different from the ones Rino saw in the living cave. These rabbits ate barks, wild roots and leafy vegetables. Mutt saw Fronzo feeding them and wondered if he could find something similar here.

Rino was in his study, thinking about his next plan. He needed a barn because they had more animals than intended. Although the lich wasn't planning to keep all the birds that Fowler and his squad captured, it did not hurt to introduce new species in this area. All he wanted from the animals captured were the pygmy boars that loved spuds, the ground birds that couldn't fly and lived in bushes, and the fluffy bunny with soft fur. Rabbit fur was very expensive in the previous world because it was difficult to acquire a good batch with similar texture and colours. However, it was very soft and comfortable to snuggle in with a cup of coffee on a cold winter afternoon.

It was a shame that they did not find any animals capable of producing dairy. However, Rino did not want to give up hope. Talking with the spectres over the last few days in the brief moment he exited his vault study to check on the fish trap proved informative.

Een and Acht knew what the rocky mountains had to offer apart from many pockets of living caves, rich ore minerals and deadly monsters. There was a rumoured dwarven treasury that nobody found from legends, rare animals that loved the salt rocks and a rumoured pit of fire that could not be extinguished.

He didn't know if everything they said were true, but Rino was willing to take time out of his busy schedule to explore the mountains. He really wanted dairy animals, but he was at the mercy of creation this time.

Nevertheless, the lich looked at his barn building design. He might not have the means to teleport freely between provinces, but the communication channel between his split souls was always available. He wanted to arrange a meeting with Aiden by taking over the Cypress Ghost Tree's consciousness when the system notification rang in his head.

Ping!

===

Daily Quest #16 (done)

Objective: Collect Animals

8/3 Unique animal couples

Time Limit: 10 Days

Tutorial here.

Reward: Increased Animal Affinity

Claim your reward here.

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

===

Eight unique animal couples? Fowler and Mutt outdid themselves this time. He was informed that the lesser vampire almost died when he bought time for his friends to escape the wild hog. The injuries were severe, but Mutt came to the rescue in time. They failed to capture the spiny wild hogs, but Rino didn't want them anyway. Such violent animals would be close to impossible to domesticate even with his increased animal affinity and herding skills.

Rino claimed his reward and looked at the timer function. There were still two days before the main quest updated itself. The side quest was also completed, and nothing was pending.

This was the perfect time for Rino to hold that meeting and build that barn. Mutt informed him that the villagers insisted on stocking up on building resources when they found out the palanquin had more than enough space after loading the captured animal cages. Rino couldn't be more thankful for their thoughtfulness. The treated planks, water bell flower seeds and potato inventory will come in very handy.

Leaving the study for the first time in four days, Rino teleported to the base of his town. He came to a ridiculous sight of spectres working as labourers. Their shadow tendril ability was too helpful even if the sun was rising.

His face burned in purple soul flames, and Rino pulled the hood up as he made his inspection rounds. The flower wine barrels were sitting in the middle of his stone cottage. Kragami also sent him a new batch of paper that Rino sorely needed after turning a good stack of them into paper balls over the last few days from scratching out old designs.

The treated planks piled as tall as Rino's stone cottage, but he knew it wouldn't be enough to build a barn. Maybe the planks could be used as flooring. He should continue sticking to stone bricks and cement for the theme of this town because it was so hard for him to grow anything in this valley. Despite the farming fairy's best efforts to terraform the empty fields into lively spud plots, the potatoes grew painfully slow, and the hemp trees were not making much progress either.

That said, things might change after he sowed the water bell flower seeds. Rino couldn't wait to try it out.