BXBX NOVEL Chapter 93 - Swamped (1)
The day was spent testing out basic dark magic spells and memorising their chants, with Erika revising her writing and counting. Rino found that time passed quickly with some company.
The sylphs never stopped dropping by to ask for directions regarding the underground tunnel construction. Unfortunately, without dwarves or architects, Rino could only make a basic design. Thankfully, the undead did not need to breathe, so Rino did not need to design any breathing points in his underground tunnels, even if he needed to design some kind of support structure similar to those in the stone quarry mine.
The magic web array was seventy percent completed, and the barn was finished. The gnomes were painting it with the help of fairies who insisted that it was too ugly to be left as it was without colour. Rino did not comment on that and hoped they painted it black.
The ladies were treating Kragami very well. Rino was surprised how his teacher somehow got along with the lesser vampire who offered to hunt him something good for the welcome feast they decided to throw without Rino\'s permission.
The lich simply pretended not to know what they were doing. It was better to keep the necromancer preoccupied while Rino returned to the swamp for some major reconstructing. For once, Rino did not dislike what Fowler was doing.
He wanted his paper factory and he hoped his dark magic teacher would not be too mad at the massive make-over. The fairies were thoroughly briefed on what they had to do, and even the newly recruited faes from the swamp were thrilled to start the reed farming and paper factory construction.
Mutt told Rino that the trees from the swamp were a lot sturdier than the hemp plants they normally used for construction. The gnomes also confirmed it, and Rino had a new goal to build a sawmill there. He left lumberjack arrangements to Fronzo, who got another upgrade from the farm manager to the resource production manager who oversaw Rino\'s production process. The farm management was left in the hands of three fairy sisters who were Rino\'s first customers. They worked without complaints even though World Tree Rino neglected them for the longest time after a huge influx of faes came asking for the soul contract.
Needless to say, the newly born fairy sisters evolved into light, water and earth sylphs after the appointment. Even Fronzo made a huge jump in evolution and turned into a fine lesser ghoul who was a lot more expressive than Erika with dirty blonde hair and tan skin, much to Rino\'s surprise. He was still scrawny, but he didn\'t look too bony now, and Rino felt satisfied knowing that the lesser ghoul was better than a regular zombie. Among all the subordinates who owned names, Rino had to admit that Fronzo was the weakest despite being one of the most likeable individuals. The precious lad should be protected, and thankfully, he had Goblin Lord Gnut for that.
The first thing Rino did was tear down the temporary teleportation pad when he arrived. Someone else can clear this mess at a later date, but now, he wanted to shift this portal to the most ideal location in the middle of the swamp by the Cypress Ghost Tree that was his new spare body.
The process of tearing the temporary teleportation pad did not take long, and Rino managed to salvage the amber. The lich flew towards the magic tree in the swamp and noticed how filthy the grounds were, littered with dead bodies everywhere. It was unsightly.
"Mutt," he summoned. "Gather those bodies into one heap by the temporary teleportation pad site. If they are too far buried into the swamp, leave them for now. This marsh needs some spring cleaning before I move in. Gather some hands to help you if you require. Don\'t burn the bodies yet. I want to use them later if they are not too badly damaged."
Obeying his master\'s commands, the sabre tooth alpha wolf dashed away into the shadows to do Rino\'s biddings. Thousands of zombie bodies littered all over the swamp, and cleaning the mess will take some time.
Meanwhile, Rino found his magic tree and used earth magic to establish a temporary platform while evening the ground for building new properties later. The new teleportation pad was established and connected quickly before Rino returned to the farm.
Now that there was an easy access route to the swamp, Rino had a few things in mind. Firstly, he wanted the fairies to start a reed farm. Then, he needed to create a paper production factory. Lastly, he wanted a sawmill for processing wood and cutting trees for construction. He owed his teacher a new house as a token of appreciation after destroying his original hut. With experience building the farmhouse, Rino assigned these tasks to his minions.
Fronzo was very efficient in gathering a team for land clearing. At the same time, Rino almost forgot that he had a fertiliser recipe. Thankfully, Fronzo had been dutifully making fertilisers without him telling the very capable lesser ghoul. The mulch that the goblins collected came in handy, and while the hobgoblins had to carry vats of mana imbued water because of the lack of mana infused water supply there, it gave Rino some idea.
Heading to the barn. Rino offered as many potatoes as he could without interfering with the number of potatoes the farm needed for land expansion. Then, he looked at the offering reward shop and hit purchase for that one flower he thought he would never buy.
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Item: Water Bell Flower
Cost: 1 GF
Qty: 100 seeds
Effect: Produces mana charged water. Consumes carcasses once every three days to produce mana charged water.
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He did not really need that many GF credits, but more was better than less if a hundred seeds were not enough to convert the entire swamp area near the magic cypress into a magically charged pond.
Rino needed fast production with his rapidly expanding empire, so he did not consider this a waste of investment, even if the cost of raising these flowers were high. Besides, that was what those zombie corpses were for, right?
Waste not, want not.