Rolling in a water ball was fun, even if it wasn't the trendiest way to travel. Rino was thankful for his lich body. It wouldn't be possible otherwise.
When he reached the designated location, the daily quest window automatically updated itself. Rino grinned. He arrived with hours left to spare. How convenient!
===
Daily Quest #1 (Complete)
Objective: Relocate 5km to the east and 20km to the south.
Tutorial here.
Reward: Thought Projection Skill.
Claim your reward here.
===
Rino reached out to touch the screen, and automatically, knowledge flowed into his head. He was right. This was like reading a grimoire. Everything he needed to know, from mana theory to the correct method of execution, was crammed into his head. Rino felt as if he attended an hour-long lecture to master the art of thought projection, even if it only lasted a few seconds in reality. By the end of the experience, the lich finally understood where he went wrong. He had the right theory about projecting thoughts onto mana, but he didn't set the target focus correctly to project it.
In other words, whatever nonsense he thought nobody could hear back then had been entirely heard by the Gods. Jeez! Was there no privacy? If the Gods continued to watch his every move, he might lose more respect for them. Shouldn't Gods be very busy answering prayers? How could they have so much free time? It was unfair!
Without the ability to use divine voice, the Gods watching Rino could only stew in anger at his words. How shameless could a person be? After giving him the ability to learn thought projection, RIno was still complaining. He had the perfect body and very advanced magical abilities. Why was this person so ungrateful? They'd never met such a soul before. Actually, scratch that. They met many souls like Rino, but most of those souls are burning in hell. The ex court magician would probably join them too after judgement if the Gods didn't pull his soul for a forced reincarnation.
How hateful!
Not knowing what the Gods were thinking, Rino decided that the best way to pass his remaining time was to test his new skill. The fun about being a magician is to create new spells and find new ways to use them. He didn't want to do any actual work, but it would be handy to know what he could do with his abilities. Back then, he was lied to by the king, who told him becoming a court magician would give him access to the most research facilities and books in the empire. He could bury himself in experiments all day. Thinking back, Rino could only blame himself for being young and naive.
Now that he was older, more dead and a lot wiser, Rino had to make full use of this time that he didn't have to work. Thought projection magic... it was new to him. Dark magic was really fun!
There were a few ways to use thought projection magic. It worked like telepathy mostly, but it could also create soundwaves. In either case, Rino was curious about only one thing. This could make or break him, but it was the only way. He had to find out.
Calming himself down so that his knobby knees wouldn't hit each other from nervousness, Rino recalled the steps to creating soundwaves. He didn't know if he could alter sound waves to make it sound like what he wanted. The Gods only heard his soul's voice but his body's voice... he wanted to know really badly.
Accumulating mana to the head where Rino stored the little grey rat, he gathered his focus there and started casting a mana web outwards in all directions. This should be the listening range. Rino didn't need anyone else to hear the voice in case it turned out the wrong gender. This was for his ears only.
When the mana web was ready, Rino projected the thought in his mind as hard as he could.
"ALL HAIL THE IDLE LIFE!"
The force of his thought projection was so strong that the ground around him shook from the massive sound waves created. Even Rino wasn't ready for it and felt dazed from the sheer volume. This was the power of thought projection? Even better, the deaf would be able to hear him despite the physical limitations. Thought projection works directly into the mind and not only through soundwaves. How fantastic was this?!
Even more thrilled, Rino loved how his voice sounded like an ancient old magician. It was intimidating without thought and commanded fear. This was the voice of someone who dominated and conquered. It was a voice that said "HEAR ME" from the top, and everyone would have to listen. How wonderful!
In fact, Rino started thinking about the practical uses for this soundwave thought projection. In normal circumstances, it was only used to communicate. In unusual circumstances, he might use it to confuse his enemies and attack them. The mana web can be sent underground. Imagine causing an earthquake with just his thought projected voice. That would be completely redundant as he had earth magic but having alternatives made everything cooler.
The Gods watched as the crazy lich started to test his newly acquired projection skill in different ways. It was amusing for a while, but they remembered how long it took Rino to make his way over and became grumpy.
"Couldn't he have started travelling a little faster? He made us wait the whole day!" the Goddess complained. Her name was Stephanie, and she was in charge of the small world's repopulation.
Ark, the God in charge of the small world's life cycle, sighed. As the project manager, he was to blame for choosing Rino of every other soul from the exploded world. After that incident, he was demoted along with three other Gods to regrow a small world to build their divine reserves back up. If they failed, they would no longer be Gods. It was a serious matter.
Ace, the God in charge of the small world's prayer, looked glum. The population here was so miserable as humans have just been introduced. They still lived very primitively and had no actual kingdoms. As such, Rino's first and final task was to build this world's very first kingdom with the knowledge he had from his previous luxurious world. He was somewhat tired of listening to the prayers of making rain or giving someone a prettier wife.
"Don't complain," Phil told Ace. He was the God in charge of this small world's landscaping. "I foresee a resource issue in the future because a certain project manager wanted a huge and grand kingdom. Look at our boy. Does it look like he would build an actual hut, much less a kingdom?"
The four Gods looked at Rino from the reflecting pond and sighed simultaneously. They really chose the wrong person. Even with the daily quest system, this project might take several centuries to complete if they were lucky. Rino was not the easiest reincarnate to work with.