One trip...

Two trips...

Thirteen trips later, Rino realised he had a problem. There was no more space to kick his new haul, but already, the floor was out of space. Apart from the brick drying station and little mud shack, everywhere else the eye could see was covered in either cotton, flax or huge stalks of hemp. He didn't have enough hemp to complete the quest yet, but he was already out of space. There was no need to think of what this landscape would look like with his silk haul.

Clearly, Rino overestimated the side quest's quota. When he collected twenty pods of cotton, that itself made one trip. He had to make one trip for the flax, which was great because his overall haul was about three hundred stalks. However, collecting giant hemp might be an issue. To not damage the stem that he might need, he could only teleport four or five plants at a time. He didn't know which part was useful, so Rino uprooted everything.

"Side Quest."

===

Side Quest #2

Objective: Gather the materials.

Cotton - 20/20 pods

Flax - 300/100 stalks

Hemp - 57/500 stems

Silk - 0/5 meters

Tutorial here.

Reward: Unlock location for an undiscovered mine.

===

Rino looked at the mess around. Barely 10% of his hemp collection quest was complete, but already, he couldn't see the ground. This was bad. He had to build something to keep all the materials. However, he was also feeling lazy to make space. Was there a way he could simply chuck things further?

The lich studied the area. Cotton and flax could remain where they were. The hemp was piling up around his mud hut and brick drying station. They helped to block some of the sunlight, so Rino didn't bother moving them. It served a purpose, or so he assumed.

However, it would be too ridiculous to continue kicking over four hundred more hemp plants on this mud hut. The poorly built structure wouldn't hold under all that weight. With that much hemp, Rino should be building a hemp forest.

With a somewhat reluctant shrug, Rino gave up. There was no way around this. Even if he moved the teleportation pad to toss hemp all over this field, he would run into bigger issues at the later stage of not being able to find his materials or have enough room to move around or build structures. His future self would want him deader than undead, so Rino had to think of a better temporary solution.

So far, he had earth, water and fire magic at his disposal. It might be just about the right time to test the limits of his fire magic now.

If one couldn't go up or sideways anymore, the only logical solution was to go downwards. Hence, Rino did just that and dug a huge pit after making an earth wall to keep his stray materials outside. Then, he tested his affinity with fire.

Without needing to chant, a small flame danced on the tip of his ivory finger. The flame swirled and followed his finger movement without delay, and Rino was pleased. Looks like he was still quite the fire whisperer in this life as well. There was no problem with control. What about power?

Injecting a huge surge of mana into that small flame, Rino watched with amazement at how beautiful it transformed. The flame ballooned five times his height in the air and became a brilliant shade of bluish-white.

Unfortunately, without a sense for pain, heat or a good nose, Rino realised a tad too late that his salvaged cap was burning. The black fabric burned to ashes, scattering in the wind, and Rino only removed it on time to save that pouch tied to his pelvic bone. Thankfully not all was lost, although another issue quickly arose.

He was now on a different kind of fire without the cape's protection under the sun.

From above, the Gods watched Rino hop around in pain before slipping from his teleportation pad and falling into the chaotic mess of materials he harvested. Stephanie winced when she heard a crack. That had to hurt! Rino's leg was jutting at an odd angle. Even without muscles or tendons, that thing does not look okay.

She was right. When Rino finally got onto his feet, he quickly realised that his balance felt off and tumbled back onto the soft soil. Looking down, he saw his dislocated right leg. Thankfully, the limb hasn't fallen off. If it weren't for his passive high-speed regeneration skill, Rino's leg would probably not remain intact from the fall.

It was a rather humiliating moment for Rino, who wasn't used to being naked. He felt too exposed, and the pouch swinging from his pelvic bone didn't make him feel better. If anything, that looked like a poor imitation for something he wished he had to prove his gender. The need for clothes never felt more urgent than now.

After his leg was fully healed, Rino studied the hemp plants. If he stacked them nicely, one on top of another, they would form a very lovely sheltered pathway to keep him out of the sun. Without the cape to protect him from the destructive sunlight, this might be his only way to work. Gathering materials was no longer an option without his cape.

Sighing, Rino looked at the earth wall. Better get started on that storage solution before nightfall. He had a lot to do and an undiscovered mine to claim.

One by one, Rino used magic to arrange the hemp plants like a house of cards, using earth magic to anchor their roots in position firmly over his working spot. After he did that, the lich started cutting the hemp plants into long rectangular pieces that resembled planks and placed them in a campfire formation, tall enough to rival his wall of earth beside the teleportation pad.

The Gods were highly impressed by his innovation and efficiency. They watched Rino use fire magic to bake the wood from all sides while encouraging airflow with his minimal wind magic abilities. The wood took a few hours to dry, just a few hours before the sun set fully.

Rino worked quickly and hardened the surface of his huge storage pit with earth magic. Then, he went back to the flax field to pick up heaps of dried twigs and wild grass until there was enough to make several bushels.

The dried grass and twigs were used to line the base and side of his storage space before the baked wood was slapped onto them and cemented firmly with a huge mana blast to hammer it into the earth. Magic simplified the building process more than what the Gods expected, but even so, it took Rino almost all day and many of his gathered hemp.

The storage pit did not have a roof, but Rino wasn't worried. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky tonight when he looked up. The storage solution was completed all in a day's work.

Satisfied, Rino checked his side quest log once more.

===

Side Quest #2

Objective: Gather the materials.

Cotton - 20/20 pods

Flax - 300/100 stalks

Hemp - 14/500 stems

Silk - 0/5 meters

Tutorial here.

Reward: Unlock location for an undiscovered mine.

===

It was as he expected. Using so much hemp, Rino had to go collect more. He looked over at the cotton and flax pile. For now, those can remain where they were. Hemp was too useful. Maybe he should collect more if he could. It was an excellent building material, and he still needed to build more shelter ways now that he did not have a cape.

No better time to start his mass deforestation like the present!