Chapter 29: A Useful Boner (1/2)
It was an accident. Nobody expected Rino to slip on clay and fall against a sharp rock. However, that accident brought great findings.
For the longest time, Rino wondered where he would find bones to craft his side quest's bone needle. Now, he had an answer.
Ace was impressed by Rino's resourcefulness once more. However, he was also becoming increasingly worried about the lich's mental health. This kind of torture was considered inhuman even during wars. It was less thinkable that anyone would willingly volunteer for this sort of experiment.
When Rino fell and hit himself on a sharp rock, his last finger came flying off, and a ghostly fire enveloped his entire hand. The pain lasted only for a while, but very soon, Rino had a new bony pinky. The high-speed regeneration worked very well, and Rino could not tell that his finger broke just moments ago. If it wasn't for the calcium composite lying on the clay beside the sharp rock, Rino would have written it off as a hallucination.
Picking his broken pinky up, Rino played with it a little, curious about the movements of the joint parts. This bone was a little too unsuitable for filing into a bone needle. For that, he required something longer and straighter without moving joints.
Rino looked at his body, and the Gods suddenly had a terrible feeling as Rino ran his fingers over his exposed ribcage, listening to the sounds it made upon contact.
Heaving a sigh of relief in unison when Rino moved on from the rib cage, the Gods wondered what the lich would do now that he discovered a renewable resource. According to Phil and the system's tutorial, bone needles were normally made from animal horns or teeth. However, the more they listened to the lich's thoughts, the more terrified they became.
Even Ace could not believe such a person existed. While he was lazy, he was lazy within reason. Appreciating efficiency was an art. However, there was a fine line between art and insanity. Rino was very close to crossing that line now with his thoughts.
”No, not the forearm bone, although it looks very useful for some other things. The rib cage also looks very cool because of its curved shape. Maybe I can find a purpose for them in future. My spine looks flexible, but I don't know if ripping it out whole will make me regenerate in two pieces or one. I might have to rip it out slowly to minimise the risks. Let's see... what other bone can I use that's the right size to file down into a needle.”
As his eyes moved lower, Rino discovered many tiny bones in his body that he wasn't aware of when he was still alive. The human body was extremely self-sufficient, and Rino found just what he needed on his foot.
When he was still alive, Rino hated the feeling of stubbing his last toe on the side of his bedpost. That kind of pain was almost as bad as getting kicked in the groin. Thankfully, Rino had one less thing to worry about now that his pelvic area came without a package. It was a complicated feeling to have, but Rino decided that appearing gender-neutral wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The most important thing is his charismatic voice. At least he still sounded intimidating enough to haggle, although much of that intimidation factor came from his baldness.
Up above, Ace was speechless. Was this lich going to go with it? Rino was studying his feet and deciding the best toe to remove for his bone needles. Even with his disturbing thoughts, the shadow tendrils never stopped moving.
Ping!
The timely update distracted Rino from his contemplation.
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Daily Quest #4
Objective: Build a Farmhouse [Chain Quest]