As a magician educated in the tower, Rino knew his basic herbs and poisons. However, he did not claim to be an expert. Moreover, this was poison in a different world. Apart from knowing that it had a paralysis effect, Rino did not know how potent it was.
Naturally, he would find a few test subjects to experiment on.
In a dark and secluded spot in the forest, Rino summoned the villagers from his shadow and asked for hunting volunteers. As expected, there were no more than five volunteers, and Rino sighed.
Even if he had the experts, there were no weapons for them to use. How awful.
"Do you know how to use knives?" he asked the arrogant archer. "I want you to hunt me living creatures for an experiment."
The archer was silent. Hunters killed. They did not capture live prey.
"I'm sorry, my liege. It's not within my expertise to capture live prey. I only know some knife basics for dismantling corpses, but they are not useful in actual combat. Would you like to ask the guards or warriors instead?"
Rino thought about it and agreed. He might not have good weapons for the warriors, but surely, they know how to find something useful in this forest. The warriors he had in mind were different from the ones the archer spoke about, and the skeleton gaped when Rino summoned the goblins.
"You," he singled out the goblin with the most unusual garment.
Every other goblin wore simple tattered cloth clothing. Rino easily differentiated their occupations from how they dressed, and only the goblin chief had a headgear made from bones. The other goblin that appeared slightly more special was their shaman, who wore headgear made from bird feathers.
The goblin chief got on one knee, and his clan followed.
"Bring those who can fight and hunt to capture me some live animals. I want to experiment on them."
The goblin chief bowed and turned around, raising his arm to hype his comrades and marched into the thick undergrowth. The archer remained silent, but Rino could feel that sick glee coming from his bond with this arrogant prick.
For petty revenge, Rino withdrew the king toad from his inventory and tossed the archer a knife.
"The rest of you, go back to grab some vats. We will be collecting King Toad poison for the test."
The unfortunate archer looked at the enchanted knife in his hand, tossed by Rino and wanted to cry. What could a bone knife possibly do against this monster? The King Toad that Rino dumped onto the ground was at least as wide as five men and taller than him. It weighed at least a ton and looked foul.
"What are you waiting for?" Rino scowled. "An invitation to start dismantling?"
Hurriedly, the archer apologised and got to work, stabbing the bone dagger into that thick bumpy blue and yellow-striped skin. The knife went in about an inch deep but stopped there, going no further.
After withdrawing the knife, the archer lamented inwardly. He wasn't able to cut it deep enough at the throat to drain the toad. How many more stabs would he need before he pierced through the skin? Also, that was just one small stab. He had to cut open this fat toad, and suddenly, the night felt very long.
Rino enjoyed the taste of this braggart's misery and watched as the boastful skeleton got to work. He had to admit, there were better knives and enchantments that he could use to make the dismantling process easier. However, this fool had to learn his position, and Rino wanted to show him who the master was.
If a dog did not learn how to sit, it was the owner's fault for not educating it right. Even if Rino had to be a little rough, this was his dog to train.
There was nowhere comfortable to sit in this forest, so Rino summoned Mutt, who had grown a lot since the last time Rino saw him. Just as a flex, he told Mutt to kneel so that he could climb on the sabre tooth wolf in front of the frightened archer.
Mutt read Rino's mind and growled menacingly at the terrified skeleton, instilling fear as Rino casually treated this monster as his mount.
"Hurry up, I don't have all night."
Rino's words reminded the archer of his task, and he worked twice as efficiently as before with Mutt leaning in close and skulking behind him. Rino made himself comfortable on top of the shadow wolf. Mutt was a good dog even though the lich preferred cats more. There was a difference between patting Mutt and patting Noir.
The other villagers arrived quickly with vats and some spare tools that they could help with. Even though the archer had an obnoxious personality, he had quite a group of loyal followers who cheered him up and helped him with their shabby clay knives without enchantments.
The teamwork here did not pale in comparison to the goblin chief. Suddenly, Rino felt as if there might be a dark horse in the hunting games he intended to hold. With two candidates present and one uncertain competitor in the forest looking for living creatures to capture, Rino wondered who would emerge victorious and deserving of the Hunting Squad's Commander position.
Would it be Mutt or this nameless archer with his jolly gang?
The experienced hunters worked deftly, slicing open skin and removing innards while draining the blood that they collected in vats. Rino wondered why they did it but decided to lend them a hand by fetching more vats.
The goblins returned with their captures just as the hunters were ready to remove the King Toad's innards. Rino thought it would be a good time to test the effects of the paralysis poison and made the goblins help out.
In the smaller clay pots he brought along, Rino added water conjured from magic with different quantities.
"Dilute the smaller cuts of the parotoid glands in the pots and spray it on the captured animals starting from the weakest dilution."
The goblins and hunters got to work quickly, cutting small pieces of the toad's poison gland and watched as the first captured squirrel got sprayed with the poison.
Rino observed how long it took for the squirrel to stop struggling and stiffen. The paralysis poison was not very fast-acting, according to observations earlier in the afternoon. The King Toad would wait for a minute or so before its prey, usually the size of an adult deer, succumbed to it before gobbling up.
The petrified squirrel did not lose consciousness despite the poison it inhaled, and Rino could see the thumping of its heart quickly as he approached. The amount of poisonous gland Rino mixed in one pot of water for this first experiment was barely the surface area of a fingernail, but already, it was so potent for small creatures.
Rino mentally recorded the observation.
"Try the next," he told the goblins. "Keep an eye on this one. Let me know when the poison wears off."
They had the whole night to learn about the King Toad's poison and how much was too much before it started killing.
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