Rino could not even fire ten arrows successfully. Heck! He was so bad at placing that arrow on the bowstring that the hunters stopped trying to help him after a while. It was close to midnight, and Rino prayed his new daily quest would save him from this embarrassing side quest activity.

Ping!

Ah, that familiar sound he missed. Rino excused himself for a break and let the hunters take turns with the bow to check what was wrong with it.

===

Daily Quest #11

Objective: Craft Basic Hunting Tools

0/10 Longbows

0/10 Shortbows

0/300 Arrows

0/20 Quivers

Time Limit: 10 Days.

Tutorial here.

Reward: Basic Fletching Skills

Penalty: Deduct 24 hours of sleep upon failure and [Curse of Overtime] until quest is forcefully completed.

===

Ten days?! Rino almost keeled over in shock. The side quest was a week-long, but this bow crafting quest was the longest he had so far. The Gods must be super generous to grant him this luxury. He wondered if it was because of all the potatoes he offered. Were they too busy to bother with him counting the potatoes and distributing them?

Either way, this was great news for Rino. He could use the extra time to focus on the other areas that needed his attention before leaving the village for a new area to set up something else.

Rino took the time to read the tutorial. He had no idea if bows and arrows were crafted this way, but the level of proficiency required to fire one arrow was too much for the lazy lich. He needed something with minimal effort and high accuracy.

The tutorial did not help much. Apart from suggesting different wood types, sizes and designs, Rino did not learn anything useful. Sure, the tutorial included optional accessories that could help an archer pull a bow better, like a wrist and finger guard, but Rino looked at his bare bones and decided they would be useless.

Instead, he wondered if he could replicate what he saw to modify the current bow before producing better bows and arrows to complete the daily quest and distribute it between the hunters and goblin guards.

"Fowler," Rino called out after reading through the requirements of the quest again. He would be damned if he entrusted crafting the bows to this fool. Instead, there was a better task more suited for this lesser vampire that Rino wanted.

"Yes, my liege?"

Rino thought for a while and then wondered how appropriate it was to ask the hunters to gather a few large birds or their feathers and sinews. He needed enough for three hundred arrows, and honestly, Rino did not know much about the birds in his territory. Did the forest even have turkeys or geese?

"What kind of large birds are there in this hunting ground?"

For a moment, Fowler did not understand the question. Large something that differed from person to person. Did his king want him to hunt a phoenix or a hawk?

Sensing Fowler's hesitation, Rino rephrased his question to ask for the names of the birds in the forest and swamp that these hunters normally saw.

At that, Fowler beamed and listed over twenty bird species that were common in this area. He wasn't an expert about the wildlife over at the swamp or forest where king toads were found. However, he knew a few that he saw previously during the hunting competition.

Rino had no idea how the birds that Fowler listed looked like. Maybe they looked different in another world. However, Rino was also confident that there were at least some birds similar to the size of turkeys and geese. He hated to think about what he would do if the hawks and pheasants were hunted to extinction for feathers.

Hence, the lich ordered them to trap birds and collect their feathers instead of killing them. He only needed feathers to attach to the arrow ends. As for sinews, killing a few more king toads would not harm the ecosystem. They reproduced way too quickly, and Rino felt no remorse culling the population. Only this time, they were keeping the sinew for crafting purposes.

Fowler obeyed Rino's instructions and gathered his team to start searching for bird nests. Rino explained that the feathers had to be of somewhat uniform sizes to be attached to the ends of the arrows. The hunters used a twig snapped to the approximate size that Rino wanted, and left swiftly.

Remembering that his teacher asked Fowler for help to hunt large birds for a quill pen, Rino asked Fronzo if he knew where the other feathers were stored.

The helpful lesser ghoul led Rino to the underground storage cave that the lich did not know was constructed. They had more things here than the exposed storage pit. The items were well cared for, and the condition was perfect for keeping mould away. Thanks to the mana web array in the area, it was well lit too.

"Here," Fronzo took out a wooden box that contained washed and dried feathers. "Do you require more?"

Rino looked around the underground storage vault. There was silk, spare woven fabric, extra thread spools, spare farming tools and even processed wooden planks. Rino saw a section barricaded by wooden fences that stored slightly more fragile items such as clay pottery and glass. He spotted a shelf with many vials and could not help his curiosity.

"Those?" the lesser ghoul blinked. "Those are coloured dyes that the ladies are experimenting with. Also, they tried to make soap bars that we store separately on the lower shelves because they are heavier. Is my lord interested in any of those?"

Rino shook his head. "You did very well. If the ladies have some time, they can ask Kragami for advice about making spices and salt for cooking. See that separate storage space is made for processed food. Beer, cured meat and even dry spices can be kept for a long time under specific conditions."

Fronzo bowed, and Rino chose a few nicely sized feathers before leaving with a spool of linen thread.

He did not have sinew, but threads should do the same trick that sinews did, right?