It was Fowler's turn to be on watch duty. With Rino's powerful defence array, there was no real need to take his watch duty seriously. The lesser vampire slouched against the World Tree and played with some pebbles he collected. There was a rather popular game about tossing rocks circulating in Spudville among the farmers that started from the goblin shaman. It was the trend now, and not even Fowler was spared from this addiction. It was a good way to kill time while improving one's reflex and coordination.

The hunter was not expecting a black mass of shadows to appear behind him as he tried to catch all five pebbles he threw into the air with the back of his hand.

When Rino arrived, he wasn't expecting to catch his head hunter skiving with something that looked like a commoner's game. Fowler looked positively embarrassed for his unprofessionalism as he stammered a welcome.

Although Rino did not call him out for slacking, he rewarded the lesser vampire with silence. Honestly, he didn't expect all his shadow minions to be hardworking all the time. However, something about Fowler just displeased Rino. The archer was just one of those people Rino found hard to get along with and tolerate for some reason. It wasn't anything personal but he couldn't help it.

"Don't mind me, I'm just here to borrow the use of the teleportation portal to see Kragami."

Fowler bowed low with a hand across his chest until Rino left the cave. Tension eased the moment the lich left, and the lesser vampire's legs gave way. Why was Rino back so soon? Didn't the necromancer say that he would need a long time to recover after spending so much mana moving huge quantities of items?

Rino stopped by the farm and offered as many potatoes as he could. The fields were growing very well, and Rino noticed how there was now a proper compost factory for fertilisers. The farm managers also started working on fencing the area and separating the crops to grow more flax in newer fields. There was also a hemp row, and Rino had to applaud the three sisters for their diligence. He had a feeling Fronzo and Erika had something to do with this.

With more GF credits in his system wallet, Rino wondered if he could afford enough Water Bell Flowers to plant all over his new town. Perhaps not yet, but in due time, he might be able to afford them.

With no further business in Spudville, Rino hopped onto the teleportation pad and found himself walking out of Cypress County's main base. The Ghost Tree grew bigger again, and there was a literal village in those branches. The few treehouses that Rino saw just a few weeks before now numbered in double digits. He wondered if all these houses belonged to his teacher or if some of them were actual fae housings.

"Blimey!" Kragami yelped in surprise when he saw the faceless face. "What are you doing here so soon? Don't you have a town to build?"

Rino shrugged as he climbed up the spiral stairs. "I finished using the materials I brought with me the last time, so I'm back for more. However, I ran into a few problems that I need your opinions on."

Welcoming Rino into his renovated hut, the necromancer boiled water for a new blend of tea leaves. The salt rock that Rino gave his teacher was put to good use as they were stored in several large glass jars on the bottom of the new spice rack in the kitchen.

The cypress furniture started to look cosy with cotton stuffed cushions and linen tablecloths. It began to look like a mayor's home now, and Rino felt happy for the progress.

"Water Bell Flower tea," Kragami smirked, and Rino gaped.

"Do you know how many potatoes those flowers cost? You made them into tea?!"

Raising a white brow, the necromancer snorted. "It's easy to grow and harvest them. We have a whole field of them now in Spudville. In fact, I think that village needs a new name. They don't just grow potatoes now. It has a little bit of everything."

Surprised, they chatted a little as Kragami filled his student up with the latest news and gossip. It was amazing how Noir Province prospered and progressed even without Rino's supervision. He didn't have to be here in person. With the gnomes, the goblin lord, the goblin shaman and his teacher holding weekly meetings to decide on the next building project, Fronzo and Erika had their schedules packed to the max.

"So, what brings you here?"

Rino grinned and retrieved the tanned lamia skin he promised he would deliver. "This is for you," he told the necromancer, who caressed it tenderly like how one would lick a gold bar.

The lamia skin was magic resistant, and Kragami spied Rino using the valuable leather for his new fancy boots.

"I can't believe you dyed this to make new shoes. I thought you would use it to repair your mantle."

Rino shook his head and sipped on the Water Bell Flower tea. It tasted oddly like mint and blood.

"I thought about making an inventory bag with an embroidered magic circle but decided against it because I didn't have enough leather. Also, I was trying to decide on some spells for my grimoire, but there were some difficulties."

Explaining his dilemma about precision teleporting for his logistic solution, Rino asked if Kragami knew how to set accurate teleportation markers. He shared his experience with drenched gargoyles, and Kragami laughed.

"Typically, I would set coordinates for my teleportation in the shadow realm. It's easier to determine your appearance location without a marker if you're in the shadow realm. You could set some minions to travel in the shadow realm or hide there as teleportation markers to teleport items without making the trip yourself. Alternatively, you can set up a teleportation pad like what you did."

The lich made a face that Kragami couldn't see. Making a teleportation pad was accurate, but it consumed too much mana. He wanted an express delivery. What good was a grimoire if it could not provide premium speed service?

Sensing his student's sullen thoughts, Kragami wondered if he should let the lich know his ambitious but highly risky solution. As a magician with weaker control of magic and lesser mana reserves, he could never attempt such a thing. However, Rino was powerful. Maybe he could pull this off with the help of a grimoire.

"Have you ever thought about storing excess collected mana in your grimoire?"

Rino blinked. You could do that?

Seeing how his student was clueless, Kragami once again wondered how such a person became a lich.

"By turning your grimoire into a cursed artefact, you can share your soul with it. It applies to any artefacts, but most dark magicians do this to exchange their lifespan for power."

Thinking about it, Rino was able to use his World Tree as a teleportation marker. If he used his grimoire as a soul marker, would that mean he could control and weave spells more efficiently with a different conscience?

"That sounds like a cheating ability," the lich confessed.

Kragami only laughed at his student's comments. Indeed, it was a cheating ability. However, the more powerful an ability, the higher the price was. Grimoires were not known as the devil's book for no reason.

"There's a catch," he informed Rino.

Grimoires that were turned into cursed artefacts were known to be mana hungry beasts. Depending on the number of spells written in a grimoire, the grimoire will constantly demand mana from the owner, like how a campfire would constantly demand firewood to avoid getting snuffed out.

"All your spells will be activated at all times, even when you're asleep. On the whole, more mana will be consumed in exchange for instant casting and better efficiency."

Rino listened to it with a frown. His grimoire did not contain calamity spells. It was more like a book full of useful buff spells for housekeeping and inventory management. In some ways, his grimoire was like his mana butler if it became his cursed artefact.

"I can teleport objects with accuracy if I turn the book into a cursed artefact?"

Kragami nodded. "It is something that could happen but only in theory. Nobody I know tried it, and even I have no faith this would work because it could suck my mana dry faster than I can recover."

Indeed, Rino could see the risk posed to ordinary magicians who tried to use grimoires as amplifiers, borrowing powers above their natural abilities. However, Rino was different. He was doing the opposite by optimising spells within his mana capacity with surplus. 

If anything, the creation of his cursed artefact will give Rino a better advantage. A different split conscience could act as a support mage. Theoretically, Rino could create a battalion of magicians by splitting his souls multiple times and wielding multiple grimoires. He wasn't going to do something this ridiculous yet, but the idea remained.

"I understand," he finished his tea and got up. "Let me think about it. In the meantime, do you know why it is taking plants such a long time to grow in the new soil?"

Kragami chuckled. "I think you should ask Fronzo or the farming faes for advice. I'm only good at cultivating corpses."

Sighing in defeat, Rino thanked his teacher and left to find the farming experts. Maybe he should bring a few experts with him to the new town. He had no idea what the new quest wanted him to do, but Rino refused to do his quests alone when he had cursed artefact to think about.