Monarch of Solitude: Daily Quest System

Chapter 83 - Fairy Circle

The celebration went almost literally from dawn to dusk, and Rino spent most of his time in the farmhouse, only occasionally returning to bring back the empty dishes or get new food. For the rest of his time, Rino remained in his farmhouse to look over the map he drew with the help of the sylph's information.

Some of the fairies who were tired of the rowdy party offered to help Rino scout the swamp area so that the lich could have a more detailed map. Rino told them to scout for wisps or faes in the area and tell them to head to the World Tree for a contract if they were interested. 

Honestly, he wasn't expecting much. He only wanted to know if there was a magic tree within the swamp where the strange activities were and if there were any useful resources worth his time to create a teleportation pad in the marshes. The atmosphere in the swamp was humid, and Rino did not like the gloomy scenery, even if it was very befitting for the undead.

From the bond the fairies shared with World Tree Rino, they reported many refugees seeking a new home after they were terrorised by king toads. Talking to these terrorised faes, Rino pierced the information together and finally understood why the gods gave him a quest to hunt these big creatures.

King toads were powerful predators, but they were also forest menaces. The king toads they found took over territories that belonged to the homes of many other creatures. Thanks to their oozing poison contaminating the water supplies, many animals had few clean water sources to drink from or shower in. The spread of diseases and dehydration became so bad that the distressed guardians of the forest and faes were at their wit's end.

Those king toads hogged ponds, lakes and rivers. Thanks to the abundant food supply in the forest and the lack of natural predators, they multiplied very quickly. Rino thought back about the huge monster snake. He was glad he did not kill that huge serpent for its skin now because it was helping to keep the king toad numbers in check. Unfortunately, the king toads were still multiplying too quickly with only a few giant serpents who slept for a long time after eating a king toad. The paralysis poison these king toads gave might not kill the snakes, but the snake monsters needed a lot of time to sleep the poison off. In that time that could be months, the king toads would have multiplied by a few hundred.

With this much information from the fairies, Rino decided that they should be his private information gatherers. The fairy circle should not be underestimated, given how social these winged creatures really were.

For humans who had never seen a fairy, they would think that these creatures were shy and elusive. If they were in the company of only one fairy, they would think that fairies were friendly with a little bit of spice to their personalities.

However, the real game-changer was when you put two or more fairies together. These winged faes thrived on creating drama. One day, they were sisters and the next day, they were mortal enemies. For a while, these fairies were amusing to watch. They were talented actors and actresses with never a dull moment,

For Rino, a lover of peace and tranquillity, they can get on his nerves a lot. Thankfully, the World Tree and the lich body could separate their identities for a while, and the disassociation provided lich Rino with the silence in his mind that he needed from time to time.

There was no denying that when a cluster of fairies worked together and put their drama aside, they were extremely efficient. Their peer pressure techniques that consisted of gaslighting, emotional blackmailing, encouragement and toxic positivity pulled the poor terrorised swamp faes over to make a contract with World Tree Rino.

As a boss, Rino was proud of the results they achieved. If he were a consumer, he would be worried about this black business and scary sales technique. The poor faes that were approached hardly had room to think or a chance to deny before they were pulled along to Rino's stone cave. His mana capacity increased steadily, and Rino would not be surprised that there would be very few faes left in that forest by the time he visited it tonight.

"Breaking news!" a fairy reported, and World Tree Rino gave it an apathetic response until he heard that the existence of a magic tree in the swamp was found.

World Tree Rino quickly sent this discovery to lich Rino who was still mapping out the swamp in greater detail.

"Really?" lich Rino asked the World Tree. "Where is it located?"

It was time to prepare for a new teleportation pad. 

Rino noted down the magic tree's location and drew a circle around it. That circle represented the effective radius of this new magic tree. For now, nobody was able to get close enough, but the fairies reported very sinister magic energy in the area that Rino drew a circle around.

From the local faes living in the area, they talked about a bog monster. The swamp was home to a terrifying creature that would lure living things into it with powerful illusions. Once trapped in an illusion, these creatures would act as sacrifices to the magic tree and swamp monster, burying themselves in the murky waters and offering their bodies as puppets.

Rino paused. That magic tree was a cypress. It was different from the magic oak tree he found in the forest. Oaks were trees of nurturing. Rino left it alone because it helped to purify the land. However, a cypress tree represented greed. Anything that came close to it would become its fertiliser for its personal growth and cultivation.

The cypress tree by itself was not very dangerous. It would lure one or two creatures every month and suck its vitality after it traps it. Some people call it the Bloody Willow because of its human eating behaviours in Rino's previous world. 

Rino knew that someone else was working behind the scenes to manipulate the magic cypress tree with such a high death toll.

Excited to finally meet someone else in this world that could possibly be his opponent, Rino prepared for battle.