Monarch of Solitude: Daily Quest System

Chapter 8 - Rat Knife

There were four locations scattered all around the building plot. If he were an ordinary person, the journey would not be completed in a day. Enthusiasm was good fuel for determination, and Rino found himself making serious plans to cover every base.

There was one main problem. He didn't want to walk all the way to these four places again once he had the crafting skills and recipes. He was busy trying to be lazy, so Rino refused to do it manually. Those who were given the gift of magic should fully use their talents to make life better. Although Rino could no longer use holy magic, he was still a rather powerful mage.

There were two things he needed to create magic circles for teleportation pads. The first was a high control over mana to create the waypoint, and the second was a transferring medium. As a court magician, he only set up teleportation pads at the church's or king's request. The medium the empire used wasn't common. Mithril was a very rare type of processed metal that only the King had control over. Rino couldn't possibly replicate that in this world where magic and technology were both backdated.

Thankfully, the map he was given in the side quest also indicated important landmarks. While all four locations he had to find were far from each other, they were still within the same forest. It was easy to build a small teleportation pad from a similar material readily available in the forest.

Ark and Phil could not understand why Rino was not heading directly to the four landmarks indicated on the map. If he used his unique travelling method, he would be able to reach them all within hours. Instead, Rino packed up and was currently trekking through the forest. He appeared to be looking for something, but they couldn't understand his intentions.

The good thing about living in a world with backdated history was the number of natural resources available in the wild, undiscovered by anyone else. Back in his old world, honey could no longer be harvested from wild hives in the forest because the woodsmen kept cutting the hives faster than the bees could build them. Hence, the kingdom passed the order that only honey harvested from bee farms could be packaged and sold in marketplaces. Of course, wild honey and farmed honey tastes different. Rino found it a pity that he couldn't eat wild honey with his morning toasts after the order was passed. It was one of the things that the lich would never forget.

Here, Rino scouted for the oldest tree. The more ancient it was, the better. Most people wouldn't think of it as valuable until much later, when magicians discovered their ability to store nature magic. He was looking for a gem made from fossilised tree resin called Amber. It was said to last a very long time, and if preserved well, Rino was certain this medium would not lose to Mithril.

After passing several gnarly trees, Rino found what he was looking for in an ancient tree that had once been struck by lightning. The aged tree survived even as it was split in two with charred fossilised parts. The resin that oozed from this tree hardened and turned into a kind of gemstone over the years. The oddly shaped amber growing on this tree was as big as a mirror, and Rino rejoiced. He could use this to create four teleporting pads and still have plenty of spares for future uses.

As the amber can continue to grow if it was still attached to the tree, Rino only cut the portion he needed with an advanced water slicer spell. Then, he carefully sliced them into smaller pieces that fit into his bony hand and wondered how he should carve the magic circle into them as he imbued them with his mana.

Amber was softer than most gemstones and can be cut easily with a heated knife or scratched by something sharp. Without tools here, Rino could only improvise. What was the next best thing to metal for a knife?

He looked down at his hands and pondered. That's it! The answer was literally right in front of him and even on him. Bone!

So far, Rino did not see any animals. It was slightly sad, but he was glad he brought the grey little rat's corpse along with him. He never thought that he would repurpose its corpse into a tool, but it was what it was. He didn't need another spare body now and had no idea how to use dark magic to do it yet, so this was probably the best decision to make.

Rino retrieved the wrapped body from his skull. He had a dull sense of smell, but the stench of rotting meat was very distinct. The lich apologised briefly for not giving the rat a proper burial after its death. Instead, he was going to turn it into a weapon for the greater purpose.

It was easy to get rid of all the rotting flesh from the bones. The only decent bones that could be fashioned into a small carving knife were the spine and tail. Everything else was too small and fragile.

Rino got to work once he pulled the bones he wanted, separating them from the parts he had no use for and washed them thoroughly. He found a rough rock to work with and slowly filed the bones into the shape he wanted. There were moving parts to the bone, so Rino worked carefully. He made the spine into a knife that could slice and the tail into a knife that could carve. All in all, he was satisfied with the rough product and quickly took advantage of the setting sun to carve the magic circles onto all four amber pieces.

Rino carefully tucked his precious rat bone knives into his poorly made stone pouch together with the amber pieces when that was done.

It was finally time to locate the four resource sites with preparations complete and set up his teleportation pads. Rino couldn't wait to unlock his first crafting recipe. For some reason, crafting recipes reminded him of alchemical discoveries. It got the inventor in him worked up as Rino curled into a ball and sped off in his water bubble to the hemp site.