Monarch of Solitude: Daily Quest System

Chapter 154 - Mountain Mysteries

Not one to refuse gifts of food, Kragami accepted the new foraged items and invited Rino into his ever-growing tree village. The lich looked very satisfied despite the awkward twigs in his clothing and a toad skin bag full of foraged materials.

"I never knew that there were so many different kinds of herbs in the swamp area. Do you happen to use any of these?" Rino asked over tea.

Kragami raised a brow. "What for? I don't need medicine when there is healing magic. The same cannot be said for other creatures and villagers. I'm sure the shaman might have used some of these herbs to treat his villagers while he was still alive."

Hearing that, Rino wondered if humans or monsters were more advanced in medicine in this world. As strange as it sounded, Rino only knew the basics. The magician tower in his previous world tried to make him study more about magical herbs and their uses in common medicine, but Rino claimed that potion making should be left to those who did not have talent in elemental magic.

He wasn't wrong to say that potion making was for those who did not have a huge mana reserve. However, their efforts could reach more people in a pandemic than a single healer could. Potions could be brewed in batches, but a magician's mana reserves are limited. Rino wished he thought about that earlier and paid more attention to herbology in his previous life.

"I see. I'll ask the shaman about these herbs then. Also, I found something that would make good tea."

Kragami smelled the fragrant small white flowers that RIno plucked and raised a brow. "Are you sure? These flowers usually grow on moss that eats dead animals."

Hearing that, Rino froze. Then again, Kragami was the kind of magician who would make tea out of water bell flowers that ate carcasses. It wasn't very different as long as it wasn't poisonous and tasted good.

They settled into small talk as Kragami asked about Town Zera's progress since he left. Rino explained the new findings and the birth of Genesis fairies. So far, the new fairies were very helpful and did more work than the spectres did under Griffith's leadership. The outline of the barn was completed, and the fairies started working on the new farms, working on his maa array design to add water runes at spaced intervals.

"They grow according to your power, don't they?" Kragami smiled. "I guess you can say the same about the World Tree and this Cypress Ghost Tree. Look at how big they've gotten. I doubt the growth would slow even if the Cypress Ghost Tree touches the limits of your mana web array barrier."

Chuckling, Rino had to admit, seeing a physical representation of his growth was satisfying. He hoped that the day would come when the entire swamp was covered under the leaves of this Cypress Ghost Tree.

"You did not travel over in haste just to indulge in idle chat," the necromancer commented. "What's troubling you?"

Indeed, he came here in haste for two reasons. The first was to see if he could discover any other crops he could grow while leaving the agricultural research to more experienced hands. The second reason was to ask about the rocky mountains. No matter how Rino thought about it, there were still things he could not understand.

Kragami listened to Rino's plans to develop Town Zera and his labour concerns. Even if the Genesis Tree could birth fairies, the rate of replacing the required population was too slow. Not to mention, Rino needed more physical labourers and building experts. Having Aiden and Griffith take turns to manage the new town's piling list of building projects wasn't a long term solution. Things at Noir Province also required their attention.

Despite Rino's best attempts, he couldn't find a single fae outside of the area. There were only monsters and the occasional creature like the three-eyed goat who were residents of the huge rocky mountain range. Initially, Rino thought that the faes were simply hiding from him. However, as the weeks passed with no faes showing up at his doorstep, Rino wondered if they did not exist in that area.

"That's not possible. The rocky mountains are ideal for earth elemental faes. You might be looking in the wrong area."

Confused, Rino frowned and nursed his tea. What was he doing wrong? The fairies in the forest flocked to magic trees. He already had the Genesis Tree there. Why didn't more faes become attracted to it?

Silently, Kragami observed his student's reactions. He knew a thing or two about other magical creatures as a necromancer, but he never saw many of them around until meeting Rino. Fairies are elusive creatures. There were usually not this many around. Not finding them was normal and he had no idea how to tell Rino this.

"You might want to try looking for them using the legends."

Legends? Rino didn't know any legends of this world.

Seeing how his student clamped up, Kragami's suspicions started to deepen. It wasn't possible for a lich who had so much knowledge about magic to not know about the magical creatures and their legends. Before this, it was only a thought that maybe Rino lost part of his memories. However, with more and more incidents pointing that his student actually did not have amnesia, Kragami started to wonder if Rino was truly someone from this world.

He couldn't be a god. That's not possible. Rino might be powerful, but he wasn't powerful enough to be a god yet. His knowledge of certain fields proved to be lacking too.

Kragami tried to sound his student out by asking about various legends, but all of Rino's responses only confirmed his theory. Rino wasn't a magician of this world.

"Trolls? Don't they live under bridges?"

Kragami tried to keep a straight face. There weren't bridges in this world built by man out of stone. If anything, bridges should naturally occur, such as a fallen log struck down by lightning or a fallen tree pushed along by the river and wedged between narrow logs.

The creatures that Rino knew lived in rocky mountains were also a little different from what Kragami knew. The Jackalope that Rino described did not exist, and when Rino expressed his surprise at three-eyed goats, Kragami knew for sure that Rino was someone born from a different world or timeline.

It was very possible to catch glimpses of parallel worlds using dark magic and live in a different dimension for some time. The shadow realm was only one of the places, a border of sorts between different worlds. The demon world was a popular place that dark magicians liked to trade in because devils could offer them power and services in exchange for vows. Contracts were a popular way, and selling one's soul was the easiest method.

Rino had to be one of those souls that crossed over. According to the legend, this king who would save them will make the dead rise from the ground. Kragami did not doubt that Rino was truly the man from the prophecies of long ago. However, he was starting to understand why the man was chosen. Yet, this monarch could not do without the help of his loyal subjects.

"Trolls don't live under bridges," the necromancer finally corrected his student. "We also don't know about Jackalopes. However, I know that the rocky mountain is said to be home to giants, dwarves, trolls, and gnomes. Of course, the many pockets of living caves there are homes to unique monsters, but those stories aren't mentioned in folklore."

Dwarves! When Rino heard this, he wondered if Kragami knew more about those stocky, alcohol loving, money-grubbing miners.

Rino chuckled at Rino's description of dwarves. It was mostly accurate, but dwarves were not very materialistic. If anything, they were inquisitive inventors with the soul of warriors.

"Where can I find dwarves?" he asked.

Sighing, Kragami set his empty cup down. "That's the thing. They once existed alongside humans, but after the great war, many dwarves died. The survivors went into hiding. We only knew they hid in the mountains, but nobody knew where exactly. The mountains are huge, and it would be impossible to locate them unless you had a clue where to look."

Hearing that, the lich fell silent. Kragami tried to change the topic and told Rino more interesting anecdotes about trolls and giants. The rocky mountains often experience lightning storms, but it seldom rains. The lightning storms were said to be the clashing of trolls and giants.

"Legends say that the leader of giants was born from a human mother while the leader of trolls was born from a goblin mother even though they both share the same titan father. The brothers never got along and often fought whenever they saw each other on the rocky mountains."

From the story, Rino learned that his best chance at recruiting trolls or giants was to wait for a lightning storm to occur, then hurry to the spot to check if there were any victims nearby to abduct for a nobler cause.