Monarch of Solitude: Daily Quest System

Chapter 124 - Town Marker

When in doubt, procrastinate. That was Rino's rule of thumb for difficult problems in life. He was a pro in the art of procrastination that even the king could not make him do anything in such a state of idleness.

There was no use thinking too hard about the dungeon or the womanticore. Rino decided that he would sit on it and think while fishing. However, he had to first find a place to set up his new town. Hopefully, it would be somewhere close enough to this dungeon but not too close. He did not want the womanticore and her monster minions to steal his livestock and destroy his fields.

Weekly fights against monster invasions did not sound like fun, even if Rino had complete faith in his magical defence array.

Yes, Rino was going to do the exact same thing he did with Cypress County and Spudville. Except, it was going to be bigger. Noir Province was big but not big enough for Rino. After all, animals tend to need a lot more space than farms did. Fattening up meat wasn't easy, and to enjoy high-class meat, the livestock needed to practice healthy living that included a lot of exercise for the juiciest of muscles and the perfect amount of fats.

Getting out of the dungeon took Rino one whole day, and he was a little glad that they made it out during the night. 

There was only one problem with where they exited. The jungle was so far in the distance with the trees, and Rino saw the mountains in a different direction from what he remembered when they fell into the hole in the ground.

Needless to say, Rino gave thanks to the lucky stars for bringing them away from the disastrous zone. The mountains that were in front of him were now facing his left. The river was also very far behind, and Rino quickly took to the skies, marvelling at the flower field by the river. Compared to the chaotic jungle, the hills brought a peaceful vibe even if the cave Rino exited from reeked of death.

The monsters did not use this entrance too often, as seen by the tracks. It might be a side entrance that Rino found by luck following the wind. Then again, this entrance might be too small for the monster residents of the cave. It was enough to squeeze Rino through, but Mutt would have gotten stuck in the cave mouth if he tried to squeeze through in his regular size.

To make matters stranger, Rino came across many horned rabbits with fangs and red glowing eyes. They came in many colours but constantly hopped around Rino as he neared the cave exit.

Honestly, shouldn't rabbits be small, fluffy and grumpy? These rabbits were aggressive, fought each other and practised kickboxing, jumping almost as high as Rino's head and ricocheting off cave walls.

Nothing about the cave residents was normal, and Rino doubted that those were regular rabbits.

Yet, he relished the cool night air and flew past the flower fields, searching for a good spot far enough from the cave. He had no idea how large that cave was, but Rino figured that the best place to situated his new town was near to the mountains. At the very least, the mountains will protect his new town from one direction.

He thought about building a town inside the rocky mountains but decided against it. That was simply too much work for him, even with magic. Besides, it was easier to hide in plain sight in the valley between mountains where the wind felt great. The river that passed through the valley also made a great peaceful fishing spot. Here, he should be quite safe from the creepy dungeon and also away from the jungle that could no longer be seen in the distance.

Lowering his speed and altitude, Rino decided on the spot he wanted to act as his town's centre. A typical town in his previous world was at least five times bigger than the whole of Spudville, so Rino estimated the distance between the mountain to his village. He really liked the rocky mountains. It could be used as a stone mine, and Rino liked the idea of creating a second stone mine better than making a transportation system travelling to and fro from Spudville's stone quarry.

Besides, he was interested in a new resource that these mountains had. Kragami often complained about the lack of flavour in food. With heaps of rock salt to mine from the mountains, that should resolve the culinary concerns his teacher had.

Rino estimated the distance from the mountain and river, giving some buffer or building a decent residential area for a small town before marking out a huge spot using earth magic.

This would be the town's centre, and Rino searched his shadow sack for the magic tree sapling, eager to know what kind of magic tree this will turn out to be.

Thankfully, Rino had natural tree fertilisers in the form of mana-emitting crystals. He was slightly concerned about growing a new magic tree without assistance and needing to go through with the complicated magic circle that World Tree Rino stood in.

Maybe his dungeon diving adventures were not in vain as Rino dug up dirt and placed his town marker in the spot before covering it up and watering the sapling with mana imbued water.

The lich considered redeeming more water bell flowers from the offering reward shop but shook his head. Unless he made an artificial pond to collect that water, the running river was going to wash it all away.

For now, Rino worked on planning the crystals around the tree and finding the right resources to feed them. He collected a total of five different mana-emitting crystal types, excluding the red crystal that fed on blood.

The magic tree sapling adapted well to the new soil and Rino's nature magic, growing rapidly into a young shrub as it glistened with a golden sheen, taking in the small mana particles from the five crystals.

Satisfied, Rino turned around to find a good place to set up his teleportation pad.