It was morning by the time the silk was thoroughly dyed. The system alerted Rino about his daily quest's progression once more.
Ping!
===
Daily Quest #2 (80% in progress) [Chain Quest]
Objective: Build 10 bricks.
Tutorial here.
Reward: Textile Crafting Skills. Side Quest available upon skill unlock.
===
Going at this rate, tomorrow would be the completion of his chain quest. Rino didn't know if he liked or hated chain quests. However, he knew that it was finally time to claim his reward in time to make himself a really good cape and a comfy pair of underwear.
Rino tried to imagine himself in some clothes, not knowing what he could make or wear. The shirts would not look flattering on him with this many bones showing. Maybe he should forgo it. Capes were always cool and practical. Rino would keep it and make an oversized one. He needed more shadow space if he was out in an open field with a need to battle his enemies. Shadow was the power for dark magic, and if there were not enough of that in his surroundings, Rino would have to make his own.
More importantly, Rino was considering the most important question for men. In his previous life, he was definitely a brief kind of man. He hated the shifty-shifty he had to do with boxers, so he never wore them. However, things were not the same now. He was a lich. There was nothing to shifty-shifty down there, and honestly, he didn't think the front pouches in briefs would be flattering on his very flat pelvic bones.
"Times are changing," Rino sighed. "Boxers, it shall be."
Tomorrow will be the day Rino regained his dignity. It was such a simple thing - clothes. However, it was an important first step to regaining his shattered pride as a talented magician. If the Gods wanted him to build a kingdom, Rino could not say no. However, he was going to do it his way as much as possible.
The idle theory was real, and Rino wanted to prove it. The best way to accomplish things is not by working hard. It was by working smarter. Procrastination solved nothing. Automation solved everything. Work should work itself while he sleeps. Which meant he wasn't going to get off his butt to weave anything. He would do it all from the comfort of his mud hut hidden in his hemp shelter.
Dyed silk was heavy. Rino didn't know if he should empty the dye solution to dry the silk where it was or attempt to bring it outside slowly to dry it off with all that water absorbed. Maybe the dye solution could still be used for the other fabric he created while thinking about depressing thoughts during his fabric production spree.
He currently had about a hundred spools of hemp threads and almost ten spools of flax if he needed them. The only material Rino refused to process was cotton. He wanted to save that for the ultimate project.
After much deliberation, Rino decided that he should drain the water away. Even if the dye solution was still reusable, the black would not be as effective anymore. Most of its pigments were now in the silk. He would rather recollect oak galls when he needed more black dye than risk having badly dyed fabric. Gray wasn't black, and only black was acceptable.
The Gods above watched as Rino worked tirelessly. Despite his dark thoughts and mood swings, Rino's actions were surprisingly calm and logical. He drained the basin of dye water and used fire magic to speed up the silk drying process before winding them into spools and cutting them to length.
A man this insane in his mind was a dangerous one. Ark started to wonder if Rino would eventually prove to be more than they could handle. For now, the lich was doing very well. However, his mental condition was a little worrying with how often his enthusiasm fades and his homicidal tendencies, even self-harming ones surfaced. Rino felt no remorse about killing. It didn't matter if they were plant, animals or monsters. The lich simply calculated efficiency in his mind before he did it. Would it be the same when they sent him citizens to join his kingdom progress? Stephanie would probably have a fit if he killed her creations, but they would have to wait a little longer to find out.
Rino took a very long time to fully dry the massive pile of silk, even with fire magic. He was eventually forced to dry them in sections so that the dried and spooled silk could quickly be added to the weaving machine for weaving.
When it came to multitasking, Rino was the best. He kept a non-existent eye on the weaving machine he brought into the reservoir cave while drying silk. The only thing that wasn't ideal about this situation was the humidity. Fortunately, Rino took care of it by manipulating water particles in the air and added them back into the pool at regular intervals.
His work progressed smoothly even though Rino could not quite keep up with the amount of silk his weaving machine consumed. For his first cloth, he wanted to weave something bigger than his height. He might not have the ability to craft clothes yet, but there was something he wanted to try. In fact, Rino needed two of those silk fabrics. There was no time to lose.
For hours, the lich dried and spun silk. The Gods took turns to keep an eye on Rino and listened to his bipolar thoughts whenever he was running low on mana. It was a strange way to replenish mana, but it was the best method that worked for Rino. Ace tried not to judge it.
By the time night fell, Rino had two very large pieces of silk. He quickly brought it up to his mud hut and renovated the mud hut's space. He raised the ground of his new mud hut and widened the space by three times so that there was space to walk around in it. There were still no windows or doors, but the walls had holes in them now.
Rino ran straight to his cotton pile and started filling the large black silk cloth with cotton until he deemed that it wouldn't hold anymore. Then, he threw the other silk cloth over to roll the edges and tied the end so that cotton would not spill from inside. The thing looked ridiculous, but almost immediately, everyone knew what that was.
Rino dragged it back to his mud hut and placed it on the raised floor. This was good enough for now. He had more cloth to weave for everything else he wanted, but at the very least, he could enjoy his quality idle time in comfort with his newly made bed.
Ping!
===
Side Quest #5
Objective: Weave a cloth.
Tutorial here.
Reward: Basic Pottery Crafting Recipe.
Claim your reward here.
===
Rino took his sweet time to lie on his mattress and made himself comfortable before he accepted his reward. In the meanwhile, the weaving machine that he brought into his mud hut continued to busy away. It was time to prepare enough fabric for his clothes.