Chapter 40: Farming In Style

If Rino had to point out the most challenging part about crafting a bone rake, shovel and hoe, it would be the grinding of bones into that one perfect sized part and binding bones together to form something sturdy.

The rake was probably the easiest of all three tools to create. Rino simply had to choose a good rib bone to break at the same point then repeat the process until he had enough rake teeth to put together.

Finding the right bone to use for the shovel was a pain. Eventually, Rino decided to cleave the top half of his skull to use the curved part to cut and sharpen into a scoop for dirt. The process was so tedious, and Rino wasn't completely satisfied with the results. The shovel turned out way smaller than he wanted, and it would only be good for goblins to use.

The hoe was slightly easier to find a match, but Rino struggled to harvest it because it was stuck to the back of his arm at an angle he could not quite reach. Removing just the shoulder blade was tricky because that bone was connected to so many things. It took RIno a while to figure out all he needed to do was break his connecting collarbone for the arm to fall out nicely. Once that was done, the rest progressed smoothly.

As Rino looked at the three bone tool heads, he sighed. They were definitely not good enough for someone his size to use. However, it would be a different story if he invented this for goblins instead of using wood as he originally intended for. Thankfully, it matched the size of his femur handles, and all Rino had to do was bind them together with some strong rope.

According to Mutt, some spider monsters lived in caves not too far from the goblins' lair. If Rino could collect some spider monster silk, they would last very long, holding things even better than silk ever would.

Tempted, Rino sent the wolf out to gather some. In the meantime, Rino figured there was no harm in preparing farming tools for the daily repeatable task. Sure, it meant that he had to sacrifice tools but who said it had to be made from bones? Rino would reserve these special bone tools for his undead farmers. The Gods can have regular stone tools bound using linen. He wasn't going to waste perfectly good silk on sloppy tools.

While waiting for his shoes to dry and for Mutt to return with spider silk, Rino started working on his wardrobe project. There wasn't enough cloth, and now that he had a good mana farm within his shadows, Rino abused it thoroughly.

The first thing he did was reactivate the reservoir below so he could continue to dye threads. Afterwhich, Rino mass gathered resources through several teleportation jumps. He needed a lot more cotton, hemp and flax.

Phil watched as Rino abused his speedy mana regeneration and restored the environment with what he harvested using nature magic manipulation. The new plants Rino grew held the soil structure around the teleportation pad, even if it was a different species. The lich was rather fond of oak trees that provided him with oak galls for dye, among other useful items. It was the only tree besides pine that offered him sticky tree sap glue and hemp, which was generally useful, that Rino liked enough to not want them deforested.

The night passed quickly, with Rino gathering what he needed and brought back rocks from the goblins' cave. It had become a stone mining outpost for Rino, who was rather fond of the little cave. The lich thought about converting it to his second hideout if something happened to him and the farmhouse but decided that it could wait. No immediate enemies were threatening his safety, so Rino would do it later.

Mutt returned with a lot of spider silk, much to Rino's delight. He patted the sabre-tooth wolf monster on the head before dismissing him back into his shadows, entrusting it with the duty of regenerating his mana.

The loyal wolf slunk away with a wagging tail, happy to receive praise and worked hard at recalling all the crappy things that it experienced while it was alive.

Rino did not waste more time and worked on binding his bone tools. He now had enough raw materials sitting in his storage pit just as the sun started to peek across the mountains.

Working fast, it did not take long before all three tools were ready for quest completion. Ark manually marked the quest as completed when he saw the high-quality bone tools, even if they were too small for humans to use.

Ping!

===

Daily Quest #6 (Complete)

Objective: Create the following Farming Tools

1. Rake

2. Hoe

3. Shovel

Time Limit: 24 Hours

Tutorial here.

Reward: Potato Seeds.

Claim your reward here.

Penalty: Deduct 2 hours of sleep per 24 hours delay.

===

Rino did not hesitate to claim his daily reward well before the sun rose fully. A packet of potato seeds wrapped in a paper package fell to Rino's feet from the system screen when he failed to catch it.

Ping!

Another notification came, and Rino grinned. This was what he was talking about.

===

Side Quest #9 (Complete)

Objective: Craft a pair of durable shoes.

Reward: 8 hours of sleep.

Claim your reward here.

===

There was no need to think twice. Rino smacked the claim option and looked at his sleep wallet.

Ping! The system notified him after claiming his reward.

[8 hours of sleep successfully deposited into the Sleep Wallet. Please check your sleep wallet for available sleep reward balance.]

He now had eight hours to sleep the day through, but honestly, Rino wanted to make enough tools for his goblin farmers and turn the sloppier ones for the redeemable quest.

After all, it never really hurts to have too many potato seeds.

As for the new pair of bots, Rino quickly tried them on. They fit snugly, and while Rino could not really feel cold or warmth, he felt complete with them. It was said that a man's social status and self-worth lies in the footwear he invests in. Rino would have preferred leather, but these worked as well. Without the ability to sweat or feel discomfort when walking, these shoes were actually a good option.

Now, he could farm in style if he really wanted to, and nobody can fault him for being a slob even if he was lazy.