Feeling like he aged twenty years just listening to Rino's story, Kragami brought the potato beer out. He needed stronger alcohol to deal with his student's problems. Knowing that there was a power gap between their abilities as magicians was one thing. Acknowledging that no amount of hard work would bring him anywhere close to what Rino could accomplish was another.

Depression hit the hardest in times that Kragami least expected. He knew that his student would become someone significant in the future, but this kind of progress was still too fast for the necromancer to believe.

"Let me get this straight," Kragami downed a mug of potato beer. "You want to build a tannery in the town and place an order for a lot of wooden planks that you will carry in your shadow sack to fly back. At the same time, you want to bring back a stack of paper for creating a grimoire, clay vats, silk, linen, cotton and hemp seeds."

Rino nodded and added, "Black dye products and concrete powder too."

Rino wanted to bring back this much in just a single trip to develop his town because travelling cost too much time and mana. Kragami was looking at him as if Rio grew a second head.

Sure, flying back would take him a few days if he flew non-stop. However, the necromancer believed that it was more ridiculous for his student to stash everything away in his shadow sack. The shadow sack skill consumed a lot of mana and more so than teleporting in short sprints while alternating riding on a shadow mount.

"You realise that this is an impossible request, right?"

Rino averted his gaze. He did not want to hear it. In the last few days, production speed went back to normal, and Rino understood that he was driving the villagers here a little too hard to cope with his ridiculous town expansion demands. However, he did not have infinite day-offs to use. Time was money! In this scenario, it was potatoes and GF credits, but Rino wasn't going to sweat over details.

"I'll declare work compensation for the extended working hours to cope with the production demands," he told Kragami firmly. "I cannot remain for long, there is a town that requires building, and I don't exactly trust all the shapeshifting spectres to do their jobs well without supervision."

Rubbing his temple, Kragami wondered if Rino was hit in the head as a baby. Common sense was such a foreign concept that his teacher wondered if it was even worth explaining the problem.

"We have the materials," he told Rino slowly and carefully. "However, I don't think it is wise to carry so many things in the shadow sack on top of using the teleportation pad to return. You could exhaust your mana completely with no means to defend yourself if you're attacked."

Hearing that Kragami was concerned over his safety more than the production deadline, Rino shook his head. He couldn't remember the last time someone was this concerned about his safety and health. All people wanted from him was to know when a certain project was completed or if he could help them on a task. There was little to no appreciation for the work he did in his previous life, and Rino almost made the same mistake of not recognising the people around him more.

"Don't worry," he told the necromancer. "I don't intend to do this very often. As soon as I think of a proper way to transport goods from one province to another, I will stop risky decisions like this. On the bright side, the mana web array for Noir Province is working very well."

Rino was trying to change the subject, and they both knew it. In some ways, Kragami felt that geniuses often died early because they were reckless with no sense of danger, fear or self-preservation in their pursuit of the unknown. Rino reminded him of those suicidal workaholics. However, the world needed suicidal geniuses like him.

"Very well," the Mayor of Cypress County sighed. "I will ask Aiden to prepare what you need from Cypress County.

Pleased, Rino drained the rest of his tea and was about to leave when he remembered he had a souvenir from the mountains for his teacher.

Kragami took a look at the strange white clump that fell apart when he touched it.

"You might want to store this somewhere safe," Rino informed the necromancer, who raised a brow.

"What's this?"

Smirking inwardly, Rino told Kragami to lick it. The suggestion made Kragami freeze, uncertain if his student was serious or joking. Then, he swiped a finger to pinch a crumbling bit of the white rock and put it in his mouth.

Surprised by the overwhelming taste of salt, Kragami coughed and downed the rest of his tea, emptying the clay teapot to get rid of the aftertaste.

"Salt?!"

Rino grinned mischievously, and even if Kragami could not see his expression from just a skull, he had a feeling Rino was laughing at him.

"You said that your food was tasteless, so I hope you have enough flavour from now on. Let me know if you ever run out. There's a whole mountain of this where it came from."

Swatting at Rino, Kragami dismissed his trouble-making student. Yet, he could not force the small smile away from his face. It was difficult to hate Rino or remain mad at him when he was like this.

Rino left Cypress County and hopped back onto the teleportation pad to stop by Spudville. He had potatoes to sacrifice for a nobler cause in case he needed to extend his work vacation. At the same time, Rino had a whole list of things to get from Spudville before he visited the clay kiln.

Fronzo and Erika were startled to see their master return so quickly, but nobody questioned him when Rino fired off a list of things he needed to gather by the end of a few hours. The secretary and production manager gathered all the hands they could get as soon as Rino left to visit the granary.

In a few hours, Rino would be making his way back to his town plot with his new inventory. He hoped that the mana reserves he had would last the teleportation.