Gladesbale Grove Book 1 - Chapters 21,22,23,24,25 (Patreon)

Chapter 21

Grove Weaver

The sound of a tree falling echoed throughout the grove. Taz winced as it hit the ground, looking into the forest as though Ban would smite him where he stood. When nothing happened, he wiped his brow and breathed a sigh of relief.

“The trees are yours to take, Taz,” Ban said, speaking into both of their minds and giggling. “Rud will plant a new one. There’s no need to worry.”

“Just strange is all,” Taz said, looking at the sky. Rud sympathized. It was hard to know where to look when talking to the Sacred Tree. “Uh… We thank you for this offering, noble tree.”

Ban laughed again.

“What? It’s good to give thanks. Right?”

“Right,” Rud agreed.”

The dwarf had a rough idea of how to process the tree and Rud spent the rest of his day helping. First, they removed the errant branches from the tree. Next came the removal of the bark, which Taz accomplished with something he called a draw knife. It was two handles with a blade between them he pulled toward himself, removing layers of bark. After that, arduous chopping came in. They were hours into the job before Rud had an idea. As to not dismay the dwarf, he kept his mouth shut for now.

“I’m feeling mighty hungry. Don’t know about you,” Taz said, dabbing sweat from his forehead with a length of cloth.

Rud agreed. The day had been long and the news of the monsters brought with it a draining stress. They left the unfinished tree where it was, heading to the Sacred Tree to find Sarya sitting.

“Good wolf,” Rud said, patting her on the head. She whimpered.

“Where is the guardian?” she asked. Her speech was getting better by the day.

“You’re the temporary guardian for now,” Rud said, scratching her behind the ear. Sarya kicked her leg, itching at her underside.

“I brought a deer,” she said, inclining her head to a prone animal in the clearing.

Taz licked his lips. “Mind if I clean that?”

“Please do,” Rud said. “Avoid the spots where she bit, please.”

Taz bounded off, producing a small knife from his waist. He got to work without hesitation. Rud still felt strange about killing forest creatures, but it was part of the cycle. A balanced ecosystem wasn’t one where everything got together to have parties around mushroom circles.

“The squirrels told me to return. They found me hunting outside of the grove.”

“Wow,” Rud said, looking around to find a group of squirrels wringing their hands. He remembered his promise to them and placed several small piles of shelled nuts for them to take. He made them do so in order. Squirrels came up one at a time, snatching armfuls of nuts and running around. “Good job, Sarya.”

“Thank you. Woof.”

“Stick close to the tree, alright? Ban said you should look after us for a while. Until Mint gets back.”

“I am very good at looking out for people.”

“I bet you are.”

Before long, Taz had the deer cleaned and ready to roast over some coals. He built a fire, using the pot stand as a spit and cooking it over the fire. Rud settled down near the flames, staring into them as they danced. Fat dripped down onto the flames, causing them to rush up and lick the cut of deer. Rud gathered plates for the group, setting the largest of the wooden dishes out for Sarya’s food. Once the dwarf was happy with the meat, he cut pieces for everyone and distributed the food.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve had dinner with a wolf. Believe it or not.”

“Really?”

“Dwarves don’t like wolves. Not normally,” Taz said. Sarya growled, looking up from the plate of food she had devoured. “But I knew a dwarf who took one into his heart. Didn’t go anywhere without that mangy beast. Such a fierce creature… Saved his life more times than I can count.”

“Wolves are ardent defenders,” Sarya said, sitting and wagging. Rud gave her some more scratches behind the ear. Even if she still smelled horrible.

Rud would have liked some vegetation with his dinner, but he didn’t complain. Taz told stories about his home and how he could never return. The grove was his only chance at a new life, and he didn’t intend to squander it.

“I might even sleep in the tree house tonight. If that’s fine with you, Rud.”

“I built them for mortal guests, but they have beds. Go crazy.”

Rud stayed by the fire long after Taz retired. The shattered moons hung above, painting the grove in shades of blue and white. Crackling with its last breath, the fire died, leaving the druid in darkness. He gazed out into the forest, worried about what happened to the guardian. With great effort, he made his way to bed and fell asleep without even feeding his own fire.

###

Taz was hard at work on the tree before Rud even woke up. The druid had a breakfast of mushrooms and nuts, topping it off with his own blend of tea before heading over to the mine. The dwarf had done a great job of shaping the tree into a general shape, and was cutting it along its length to create boards. He pitched in, helping with his minimal Strength. Sarya was nearby, keeping a close eye on them as they worked.

“Now, you’re going to be mad,” Rud said, trying not to laugh. They had spent the entire morning working on the boards, creating enough timber to support a few sections of the mine. “But watch this.”

Taz folded his arms, a confused look on his face as Rud approached a tree. The druid had never considered how hard it was to make lumber from raw trees. Those few times he needed a bit of wood he just walked into a hardware store and bought it. They even cut it up to the right size for him, which seemed like a neat service. With a mushroom in one hand, imbued leaf on his head, and a stick in the other, Rud shaped a tree.

“Oh, come on,” Taz groaned. “You didn’t tell me sooner?”

Rud shaped the smaller tree into a perfect rectangle. He stepped away, wiggling his brows at the dwarf. “Druid magic. Pretty neat, huh?”

Taz grumbled, coming over to look at the odd tree. The base was round, but at a point just above the trunk it pinched in, appearing as a normal support beam covered in bark and branches. “That’s cheating.”

Rud gestured to the pile of supports they got from the large tree. Four usable ones for almost an entire day’s worth of work. “Wouldn’t you rather be mining?”

Taz grumbled again, but nodded. “Alright. New life. New me.”

The shaped tree was far easier to work with. It was smaller than the first one they worked with, only taking a few strokes of a saw to bring down. They removed the branches and bark in a few minutes and had two supports ready to go within fifteen minutes. Rud watched as the dwarf measured the supports by eye, heading into the mine a few times and sawing sections of them off. He brought three supports in, having Rud hold one side as he wedged the ceiling support between the two pieces of timber. A few rusty nails later and the support was in.

“Alright. I’m gonna need a few shaped trees, Rud,” Taz said, stepping away and admiring his good work. “A metal brace for the crossbeam would be better, but we got what we got.”

“We have metal production, but nothing to shape the metal.”

“A task for another day, then. I’m going to search for the soft stone and start my bedroom. Shout if you need anything.”

Rud nodded, heading out of the mine. He found Sarya waiting for him, looking up expectantly. “Seems safe enough for now. How about you run a circle around the grove’s center? Maybe do some scouting near the edges? But you need to come back and report to me. At least hourly.”

“Got it,” Sarya said, growling. “Woof.”

Things had been crazy, but Rud needed to test something. He took the Spiritual Infusion upgrade for his Growth Magic, but hadn’t had time to test it. There was no difference that he could see in the trees that he had grown, but he wasn’t a tree guy. The hope was that some difference could be observed in the other plants, like the tea plants. The upgrade claimed it would infuse plants with power from the Sacred Tree, but what did that mean?

Rud fed a few fragments to Ban, which she thanked him for. Without the rain, she was sucking a lot of energy from the sun. With so much energy, she planned to siphon some of it into her upgrade energy, which would send her closer to Level 10. At that point, she would get a new upgrade and something more exciting. Every 10 levels she had the chance to ascend to a new rank. Each rank would provide a spike in power. While Rud didn’t know exactly what that meant, he was excited.

Rud messed around with the new tea plants he had added to his garden. A few still hadn’t felt the touch of his Plant Growth spell, so he used those as an experiment. Those that got the Spiritual Infusion upgraded spell had slightly more vibrant leaves. The druid looked close, spotting flecks of something within the altered ones.

“The potency of those plants will be greater,” Ban said, clearing up the confusion. She still wouldn’t speak out loud. “For your tea, that means more energy. More bolstering of the soul.”

“Neato!”

Rud ran off to grab a bucket of enchanted water. He stopped by the stump field, a small voice inside him hoping that the loggers had returned. There were no mortals in sight, but he watered his plants there anyway. After returning to the pool to fill his buckets again, he teleported back to the Sacred Tree to work on a fence for his garden. The druid planted a seed near his tea plants, watering it with the enchanted water. Moments later, a green sprout burst from the ground. He held his hands around it, invoking his Plant Growth spell to urge it into a sapling.

“What are you doing, silly little Talen Por?” Ban asked.

“I’m making a living fence,” Rud said, holding a stick in one hand and a mushroom in the other. He balanced a leaf on his head.

The druid urged the sapling to bend, then twist around his plot of land. He stretched the tree as thin as it would go, making sure the leafy parts were pointing upward to catch the most sun. He spent most of the day working on three trees that worked together to create the fence. His staff made the process much easier, as he didn’t have to wait long for his mana to regenerate.

“How common is this, Ban?” Rud asked, taking a rest and admiring his work. The fence looked decent, but served no other purpose than looks.

“Creating living structures? Quite common. I saw you considering a tree walkway.”

“Yeah. That was outside of my skill range, though.”

“Give it time. You’ll rise in power quicker than you’d expect.”

Rud’s level certainly wasn’t shooting up as fast as Ban’s level. Without the mortals in the stump forest, he found himself without a direction. Instead of lingering on that, he considered his next course. The druid followed the flags set by Mira for a while, finding a stretch of ground that wasn’t so hilly and was more sparse with trees than the others. The walk wasn’t bad, taking only a half hour. Now that he found the spot he could teleport back to it with Thicket Travel.

“What are you planning, custodian?” Ban asked in a sing-song voice.

“Feels weird letting the mortals stay so close to you,” Rud said, sizing up the trees in this area. He would need to clear out quite a few, meaning he would need to plant more elsewhere.

“Why the sudden caution?” she asked.

Ban knew exactly why he was feeling this way. The mortals had enough trouble being near the tree, and with the monster attack on Barlgore, the fragility of those creatures came to mind. A comfy little spot on a separate piece of land made more sense to him. And the mortals that worshiped the groves would feel more at ease that way. He didn’t answer at first, getting to work on clearing away the smaller trees with a simple handsaw. The druid counted those trees he destroyed in his mind, moving rocks out of his way. He didn’t just want a cluster of houses, but a communal area they could gather around.

“What’s going on here?” Taz asked, forcing his voice into a polite tone.

“Did Ban send you? I’m fine.”

“Well, she said you were clearing some stuff away and needed a big strong dwarf.”

Rud looked over his shoulder, scanning the forest dramatically. “Where’s the strong dwarf?”

“Har-har,” Taz said, slinging a pick over his shoulder. “What are we doing?”

That’s all Taz asked about the project before getting to work. Instead of forcing structure onto the landscape, they worked with the open area to create the layout of this mortal village. It was a rare place in the grove with few trees, but there were plenty of rocks. The dwarf took care of those as Rud focused his efforts on picking the perfect trees for his design. To start, he would make a semi-circle of four tree houses, all arcing around a central tree which he would form into the shape of a pavilion.

Fifty trees needed to be regrown after the effort, which dragged on into the late afternoon. Rud created a border of trees, numbering far more than fifty and likely close to one-hundred, as a backdrop for the tree houses. He had an idea for a tree tower, giving people a pleasant view of Ban, but shelved it for now. Instead, he worked on seeding the nuts into the ground, and dousing each with a fair sprinkle of enchanted water.

Taz puked in a bush, bringing his head up to give Rud a lopsided smile. “Can’t get used to that sky…”

“Head back to your cave,” Rud said, chuckling. “I’m heading to bed soon enough.”

“Thanks, buddy,” Taz said, wandering into the same bush where had just vomited. He vanished into the greenery.

“Poor guy is doing his best.”

Rud got to work on the tree houses, having no intention of sleeping until at least one was completed. With the area clear, he couldn’t think of anything else. After snacking on a few mushrooms, he twisted the shape of the tree to suit his needs. The layout of the houses he had used near Ban was acceptable. Those mortals loved the common living space on the first floor, and didn’t complain about the bedrooms. Future models might have an enclosed sleeping area, but a loft was fine for now.

The druid took a break from shaping the building, feeling his Construction Magic on the edge of a breakthrough. He popped mushrooms into his mouth, idly chewing nuts as he stared off into the darkness. Light wasn’t needed to form the trees. He had a sense with his magic that transcended sight. Rud raised his head as something came crashing through the bushes, panting and howling as it skittered across the open ground.

“I’ve come to report, sir!” Sarya shouted.

“Anything interesting?”

“I circled the grove until I passed out. I then ran to a hilltop and observed monsters heading southeast. The guardian was fighting!”

Rud clenched his teeth, nodding. “How was she doing?”

“That wolf is a demon! They didn’t stand a chance.”

At least that was good news. Rud tapped his staff on the ground, pushing pebbles along the forest’s floor as he thought. He would leave matters of war to Mint, losing himself in the construction of the tree buildings.

“Get some rest, Sarya. You look like crap.”

“I rolled in some!” Sarya said, bounding off into the forest.

Rud shook his head, reaching to pinch the bridge of his nose. The druid put the final touches on the first tree building, satisfied and drained enough to call it a day. Of course, as he was leaving a message appeared informing him his Construction Magic had hit Level 5. Rud passed through a bush, appearing near his mushroom house. He breathed life into his fire as he read through his Level 5 upgrade options. One stood out.

[Grove Weaver]

Construction Magic Upgrade

Description:

The essence of a Sacred Grove flows through you. Become its conduit.

Effect:

Casting Construction Magic spells within a Sacred Grove you are attuned to is easier. You gain expanded access to free casting spells, decreased mana costs, and increased effectiveness while within your grove.

This wasn’t a hard pick. Rud selected the Grove Weaver upgrade, feeling it slot into his Construction Magic skill. He could feel a faint heartbeat somewhere in the distance. Something within his chest reached out to touch it, and they met as friends. A moment later the sensation subsided. The druid reclined in his chair, listening to the sound of the forest outside and the crackling of his fire as he fell asleep.

Chapter 22

Cave Freezer

Rud tilted his teapot, filling his metal mug with steaming tea. Mint’s version of the blend was fine, but he had suspected her of stealing it for quite some time. Not just the recipe, but the actual tea. Like most things she brought into the grove, it had been pilfered from nearby ruins, meaning it was old tea. Damaged by time or the elements, it didn’t have the same fragrance as his fresh tea. The druid held the cup under his nose, smelling the mixture of pure sweetness and oranges. He let out a sigh as Taz stepped into the mushroom house, smiling.

“I’m sleeping much better. Thanks for asking,” Taz said, finding a seat. “Could I have a cup?”

Rud nodded, pouring more tea into a spare mug. He handed it over, watching as his friend took a seat in a chair. The druid couldn’t deny that having a friend that always walked on two legs made him feel better about many things. 

“Did the soft stone upgrade work for you?” Rud asked, snacking on roasted mushrooms.

“Oh, yeah. Slept on the cold stone last night. It was divine. Far better than some warm house.”

Dwarves were funny like that.

Rud was eager to test his Grove Weaver upgrade for his Construction Magic skill. The village he was building for the mortals had to be as comfy as possible. If he could construct the communal area as he planned, they could all gather under the pavilion and cook under an open fire. Perhaps they would share tales of their travels. Down the line, he hoped to reduce the harmful effects of the grove on outsiders. But perhaps that was just a dream.

“You don’t mind if I work the smelter, do you?” Taz asked, breaking the extended silence. “I wouldn’t mind feeling the heat of one again.”

“Go for it. I have a stock of Fairy Peat in the coal bin outside. Just be careful, it burns like crazy.”

“Huh. Never heard of that. Thanks for the warning.” Taz sipped his tea, pausing for a beat. “Are you working on the mortal village today?”

“Yeah. Hoping we’ll see some real-life mortals soon enough.”

Taz gestured to himself. “Gaze upon me. For I am mortal.”

Rud laughed. “Yeah, they don’t really mean non-spirits here when they say ‘mortal.’ They’re talking about everyone outside of the grove.”

“Oh.”

Taz ate more of the meat brought by Sarya, but the way it was already spoiling revealed a problem with the grove. Ban didn’t need food. Mint and Sarya went off to catch their food. But they had no way to store food for long, and that stuck in the dwarf’s beard like a mine spur. His words. But the dwarf had a dwarven solution.

“Cold hills,” Taz proclaimed with no further explanation.

“What?”

“The stone in those hills can get cold, depending on how deep you go. The bat cavern was close to freezing, wasn’t it?”

Rud remembered back to the times he had gone in there. Between his cloak and the fact his body ran hotter than his last, it was hard to tell when something was cold. He recalled his toes getting chilly, and nodded to himself. “It was quite cool.”

“If you can convince the bats to move their spot, or let me work, I can carve out a tunnel in there to dig deeper.”

Rud rubbed his narrow chin, shaking his head after a moment. The bats weren’t jerks, but they wouldn’t move. They were there first, and saw the place as their home. “Bats go out at night, don’t they?” he asked.

“Not the ones in the mine I’m from,” Taz said with a scoff.

Rud drained the last of his tea, pushing himself to his feet with a groan. “Well, I’m sure these ones do. Let me go have a talk with them. Are you cool with working at night?”

“Sure, why not? I just need a few hours over a few days.”

“I’m off to have a conversation with some bats,” Rud said, grabbing his staff and leaving the building. He needed to work on the second floor in his mushroom house but hadn’t bothered recently. There were other exciting things to do.

Rud paid attention to the temperature in the mine this time. The entrance was warm enough, but after taking the left at the fork and descending to the cavern he could tell it was much cooler. The druid licked his finger, testing the air. It was considerably colder. Almost cold enough to act as a massive refrigerator even without digging deeper. He toggled on his Clear Communication skill and blocked out the errant conversation amongst the bats.

“Hey guys,” Rud started.

“Interloper. Flee! Fly, you fools!”

“Just a second. I’m that guy… You know, the one who is cool?”

“It is the idiot. No need to worry. All is safe.”

“Just wondering if you guys would clear out of the cave. Maybe there’s another cave nearby.”

“This is our home! Home. Cannot leave. Stay.”

“Alrighty. Just so you know, some dwarf is coming down here to mine tonight. Maybe tonight. I don’t know.”

“Dwarf. Love dwarf.”

“Alrighty. Good talk,” Rud said, turning away and turning the upgrade off. Listening to critters babble on was still pretty rough. He couldn’t wait for the skill to increase in level.

When Rud returned to the surface, he smelled the furnace being heated. The Fairy Peat didn’t have a distinct scent, but anything foreign contrasted against the earthy scent of the forest. The druid passed through the undergrowth, appearing at his mortal village. It needed a name, but without the place in a completed state, he wasn’t willing to settle on anything. All he knew was that the name needed to be pleasant.

Rud stood before the next tree, prepared to transform it into another home. He didn’t know what the ‘freecasting’ feature of his newest upgrade was, but didn’t care. As he held the mushroom and stick in hand, he channeled the spell. Compared to when he cast it before, this time felt smooth. The leaf on his head pumped mana into the spell cleanly, never faltering like it had before. Each swipe of his stick saw more material moved in a place better aligned with his thoughts. The difference was one of buttery smoothness compared to life without the Grove Weaver upgrade.

The village came to life as Rud worked, but there were details he didn’t like. While he had planted more trees to make up for the ones he cut down, the sparsity of the area made it unappealing. He looked back at the road, estimating that he could pull a length of that road off, connecting it to his village. Between the houses, he could plant shrubs. Near the pavilion—which wasn’t yet grown—could be more greenery to breathe life into the place. A gravel path would be good enough to connect each building.

Rud walked toward the nearest bush. The sun was getting low and he was hungry. But as he glanced back to the new buildings, he couldn’t help but think about Mint and her situation. Each building needed a wood-burning stove and she was the only one that could get those. That selfish part of him died, leaving behind a desire to see the spirit wolf back and in good health.

###

Taz sat with Rud in the mushroom house the next morning. The tea they were brewing was far better than the old version, but the dwarf complained about a lack of ‘spice.’ The druid understood his meaning, but doubted their ability to brew anything stronger than energizing tea. Anything like that would need to come from the mortals.

“I made progress on the cold storage,” Taz said. Some of the tiredness on his face had faded, likely aided by the bolstering effects of the tea. “The bats weren’t there at night. Shame you couldn’t get them to leave.”

“Try arguing with a bat,” Rud said.

“I can only imagine…”

Something prickled at the edges of Rud’s senses. He stood, poking his head through the door to spot Mint limping into the clearing. Dropping his tea cup to the ground, he rushed out and wrapped his arms around her.

Mint grunted in pain, but leaned into the hug. Her fur was matted with blood and mud, and streaked in places with soot. She smelled horrible and grimaced at the lightest touch.

“What happened?” Rud asked, taking a step back to look at the massive form of the wolf.

Mint nodded, then rested her tired body on the ground. She folded her paws under her head and sighed. “That was a battle worthy of song.”

Rud could feel Ban’s interest lingering on the wolf. An unseen hand reaching out to probe the many wounds on the guardian’s body. After some close inspection, she pulled away. The druid got the sense that the wolf would live.

“Tell the tale, wolf!” Taz shouted, coming out from inside the mushroom house.

Mint cleared her throat, growling slightly as she recalled the events. “The mortals were in trouble. Something strange happened with the dungeons nearby. Perhaps they’re not managing them well enough. But a wave of monsters descended on Barlgore. The mortal forces were routed back to the town, pressed on three sides. I destroyed the lizard monsters to the west, then the bear monsters to the north. Once the mortals saw what I was doing, they rallied and pushed eastward.”

“Are any of these injuries… as bad as they look?” Rud asked, pushing fur back to inspect Mint’s skin. The cuts weren’t deep, and none were bleeding freely.

“I’ll be fine now that I’m back here.”

“She’s so cool,” Taz said, patting Mint on the head. “Scary. But cool.”

“Let her rest,” Ban said. Rud looked up, noticing how she used her real voice. “It takes more than a few low-ranked monsters to take down a spirit guardian.”

Rud and Taz lingered for much longer than they should have, prodding at the guardian to ensure she was fine. Sarya arrived sometime later, licking at Mint’s many wounds and whimpering the entire time. The guardian drifted into a fitful sleep after that, right in the center of the grove. The druid transplanted a sapling, grew it to size, and shaped it to provide cover from the dappled sun overhead.

“How about that freezer?” Rud asked, nudging Taz. “Wanna show me?”

“Let’s go,” Taz said, rushing to the nearest bush.

Rud accepted the Aspect of Gug before descending into the mine. The bats seemed less disturbed when they entered the cave area. Near the passageway leading into that cave, a new tunnel had been started. The druid inspected it, finding that Taz had carved stairs into the rock. Only a few steps down, he felt a cold that seeped through both his cloak and skin. It soaked into his bones as his breath caught in the air.

“Now this is cold,” Rud said, rubbing his arms through his cloak. “Great idea.”

At the bottom of the stairs was a short hall that led to a larger room. Taz had started working on the shape of a storeroom, but hadn’t finished it. The walls here were still rough, displaying tool marks on every inch. The dwarf was proud of his work, though. He puffed out his chest, folding his arms and nodding at every compliment thrown his way. When they were done in the food storage area, the dwarf showed off his room.

Compared to the cold storage area, the room was more complete. There was a small wooden chest on the far end of the room sitting next to a thin bedroll. The room might have been bare, but when Taz entered it he let out a contented sigh. He rubbed his hands against the wall, showing off how smooth they were. Rud threw more compliments. He had no desire to live underground, but considering how little the dwarf had arrived with, this was impressive.

“Very comfortable,” Rud said, although he didn’t truly believe it. The stone floor looked like the opposite of comfort.

“Actually,” Taz said, snapping his grubby fingers. “You have the mining skill, right? Mind helping me etch out some more space in this wing? At the end of this hall I want an ore storage area.”

Rud shrugged. He didn’t foresee mortals arriving the day after they fought back a bunch of monsters, so he agreed. Taz’s plan was to create a long hall near his bedroom, carving out rooms for various purposes. Dwarves were like that. The druid got some more tips on using the pickaxe as they worked, and it was the first time in a few days that he could use his Grove Custodian subclass. It didn’t take long for the subclass to level from 3 to 4. Like the skills, he expected some ability for both his main class and subclass when they reached Level 5.

The excavation project took most of the day, leaving Rud with little time to consider his village. He finished with what few buildings needed work, and mapped the area out for some plants. Every building within the semi-circle kept most of their tree-like features, but the druid made sure there was plenty of sunshine. Standing under the boughs of so many trees might be harmful to the mortals, as he imagined they lived in open areas with plenty of access to the sun.

“We don’t want unhappy mortals, do we?” Rud asked, humming to himself. He entered the forest, looking for plants to grow in his village.

“I like your project, Rud,” Ban said.

“Thanks,” Rud said, stooping low to inspect a bush. He had seen many like it in the forest. It mostly grew low to the ground, never rising high enough to challenge the sunlight from the trees. Instead, it preferred to live in those dappled spots under the trees, sucking what sunlight it could from the sparse beams.

“Mint is recovering. But I don’t think the mortals will return for a while,” she said. “She left out some details about the attack from you. They took a lot of damage and will be rebuilding for a while.”

“You’re pushing me to build the living road, aren’t you?” Rud asked, tutting at nowhere in particular.

Ban giggled. “I am. Your main class is Druid, but you’re attuned to this grove. Once you understand freecasting, it’ll become much easier. The best way to do that is practice.”

“Is this the part where you tell me what freecasting is? Because no one explained that to me.”

Another polite giggle. “Druids are natural spellcasters. You enjoy the rare privilege of casting without knowledge.”

Rud had never been offended by a tree before, but he pretended to experience the emotion. “Oh, my. You dare challenge my spellcasting prowess? I’ll twist you into the shape of a jungle gym.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Ban cooed. “Freecasting allows you to employ your knowledge of the spell to cast it. You rely on your own ability, as well as the level of your skill in that magical school. Construction Magic is already as close to freecasting as a druid can normally get, but your spell opens that up.”

Ban always had a plan, so Rud put it together quickly. This new freecasting state for his magic would allow him to make things quicker, which meant he could build the road. Easy enough to understand, but he didn’t see the need for haste that the Sacred Tree expressed.

“What’s the rush, though? The mortals can take care of this, can’t they?”

“They certainly can. But a living road is better.”

“Strong opinions there,” Rud said, shuffling his feet through the leafy undergrowth. He shrugged, tilted his head, then smacked his lips. “Good enough reason for me!”

“You’re a pushover,” Ban said, laughing into his mind.

“I do whatever is required of me by my tree,” Rud said. He performed a shallow bow before stepping through a bush. The druid arrived at his mushroom house in time to find Taz roasting some meat over the fire. He put on some tea and joined with the dwarf.

Mint’s chest rose and fell slowly, the dirt kicking up near her nostrils when she exhaled. Dinner was a quiet affair aside from Sarya’s whimpering. No one told her to stop, because they felt her pain. With the guardian injured, the grove was weaker. But with Mint injured, the spirit of everyone within the grove was weaker. She would recover from this, but Rud had to question if such a risk was worth it.

Chapter 23

Freecasting

“Fit as a dragon!” Mint shouted, dashing off through the forest.

Rud stood in the clearing, holding a chunk of meat and watching as the wolf tore off with incredible speed. He took a bite out of the meat, sharing a concerned look with Taz. They shook their heads and turned away, both understanding that the energetic response was Mint being Mint.

The druid made his way to the enchanted pond, washing up with soap but not taking a full bath. He seemed to stay mostly clean, as long as he wasn’t constantly getting wet. He once again thought it was because of his self-cleaning clothes, but couldn’t prove it. Rud finished washing, splashing cold water on his face and grabbing his staff. In a moment, he was standing in the empty stump field.

After watering the plants in the stump field, Rud turned his attention to the road. With no mortals to talk to, he focused his efforts on this new freecasting concept Ban told him about. He started by considering the spell itself and how easy it was to cast. With a mushroom, stick, and a leaf, he pulled trees over the way he always did, weaving them together to create a road-like structure atop the ground.

“That was normal casting,” Ban said. “Try focusing on the elements of the spell.”

Rud grumbled but nodded. This wasn’t something that would happen right away. But the good news was that the cost of the Shape Plant spell had gone down significantly. Before, his imbued leaf and stick would last about fifteen minutes of shaping. That was about fifteen minutes of work for about 40 mana, which wasn’t horrible. But now the cost was 20 mana, which was more than enough for his staff’s regeneration to take care of. As long as he had sticks, mushrooms, and leaves, he could shape the plants until he passed out from exhaustion.

“Just keep trying. Cast it like normal and you’ll get it.”

While Rud had been annoyed by the vague instructions at first, that was all he needed. He twisted trees from near the road, pulling vine-like pieces of them off and weaving them into the road. For now it was bumpy. But the Lacquer spell would smooth them out enough that people could travel by foot, beast, or car if they wanted to.

Through the unforgiving forest, it was about a three hour walk from the center to the stump forest. Most of that time was spent avoiding drops in the landscape, or surmounting unforgiving hills. Rud steered his road for hours, adding more sections as time rolled on. Each piece wove into the last perfectly, creating a seamless living road. He approached the first challenge of the road as a sudden drop.

Rud trudged to the bottom of the ravine, using his Plant Growth spell to create behemoths. They sprouted up, past the edge of the cliff to meet the line of trees at the top. “Oh, this is awesome,” he said, rubbing his hands together.

One tree he had grown was in the center of the path, half-way between either side of the span. Rud shaped the center, creating a hole large enough for three human-sized people to stand on each other’s shoulders. Vine-like sections of nearby trees snaked out, weaving themselves together. The druid could control more than one plant at a time by now, splitting his focus between them and wrapping different pieces together at the same time. It looked as though someone was playing footage of growing vines at speed.

“Looking pretty good,” Rud said, slapping his hand on the first section of the bridge. It wobbled slightly when he jumped on it. “Reinforcement…”

Vines poked through the bridge itself, wrapping around and creating supporting braces like a suspension bridge. Rud guided them to wrap around that one massive tree, creating a webwork of support that wouldn’t fail. The next time he stepped on the bridge, it was perfectly stable.

“Hey, Mint,” Rud said. “Could you jump on this thing? I’m not fat enough.”

“Are you calling me fat?” Mint asked, bursting from the bushes behind him. She looked to the half-bridge before her, pausing for only a moment to appreciate it. As always, she didn’t want to express too much admiration. But she didn’t just jump on the bridge. She pounced, putting her full weight into both paws. The bridge didn’t budge. “Excellent work, custodian.”

Rud looked over his good work. This ravine was wider than most within the grove, spanning almost two-hundred feet in total. He imagined how long it would have taken the mortals to accomplish what he had done and smiled to himself. It took him about an hour to get everything sorted. He slapped Mint’s side, noticing how she didn’t wince.

“Thanks, Mint,” he said, hands on his hips. “Glad you’re feeling better.”

Mint nodded before dashing off into the forest. Rud got back to work, crossing to the other side of the ravine by foot, which took a while. It was better to use trees that were rooted in solid ground, rather than manipulating their branches to span hundreds of feet of distance.

“I wonder when he’s going to notice that he already understands freecasting…” Ban said, humming into Rud’s mind. “We might never know!”

“What?” Rud asked, climbing up a rock. “Was I freecasting?”

“You broke the bonds of what the spell should do. You were freecasting.”

“Really? That’s all it takes?”

“You’ve been at this for six hours,” Ban said. Her voice was flat this time, as though she was shocked he hadn’t noticed.

Rud looked to the sky. He couldn’t see the sun through the trees. “Time flies, huh?”

Rud completed the other side of the bridge before spending some time shaping the tree in the center. He wanted an imposing image of the grove so he took his time. Once the tree looked impressive enough, he shrunk some trees under the bridge, ensuring that everyone would get an awesome view of the forest. After that, he added handrails to the bridge in case people weren’t as safe as they should be. He leaned on the handrail, looking over the dusky forest below with a smile. His squirrel army chittered words of encouragement.

Taz found Rud before he got to work on the next section of living road. The dwarf burst from some bushes holding two plates. Both were laden with mushrooms and roasted meat.

“Woah,” Taz said, blinking as though he didn’t believe what he saw. “Where did that come from?”

Rud smiled to himself, gesturing with his stick and mushroom. A nearby tree reformed into the shape of a table and two chairs perfectly sized for them.

“Let’s eat,” Rud said, taking a seat.

Taz sat down, testing his weight on his chair before sitting. “Not sure I’ve seen something like… that.”

He was talking about the bridge. Rud had no sense for how strong his class was, but had suspected that he was empowered by the Sacred Tree in all things. Considering the concept of shared intent within the grove, it was no surprise that they had developed powers to entice mortals. The druid wasn’t incredibly social back on Earth, but he had friends. He felt stir crazy if he didn’t talk to someone for too long, even if it was just a few passing words. No matter how much he saw himself as a lone man in the woods, that wasn’t the life for him. He looked over the food that Taz brought and nodded. Some pleasant company was what he needed.

“A road, huh?” Taz asked, stuffing his mouth full of meat. Rud could barely understand him afterward. “How long?”

“How long is it going to take?” Rud asked. “A few more days at least. I have a few more bridges like this to make, which is going to take the most time. It’ll be functional after that, but I have to lacquer the entire thing.”

“I’d offer my help, but I wouldn’t be much use.”

“Actually, I could use some gravel for the village I’m working on. I want a gravel yard for them to walk around in.”

Taz nodded. “Yeah, I can do that.”

Rud enjoyed his meal far more than Taz. The dwarf didn’t like being around trees so much, but he endured for the druid’s sake. As the sun dipped lower, there was another topic on both their minds.

“Did you get that class yet?” Rud asked.

Taz offered a sheepish smile, shaking his head. “Nope.”

“Ban, why doesn’t this man have his class yet?”

“That’s for the gods to decide. I’ve held up my end of the bargain.”

“We should send them a strongly worded letter,” Rud said.

“I’ll draft it.” Taz rubbed his hands together. “Dear muck sucker… It has come to my attention that you are a son of a frog. Please pitch yourself off the nearest celestial cliff.”

Even Ban laughed at that one, but Rud felt himself growing resentful to whoever was in charge of these things. Taz had earned his class already. He put himself in a state of extreme discomfort to fit in with the grove. He was a fish out of water, having lived his entire life underground. The druid related to that, but he wanted this life. The dwarf didn’t.

Dinner went on until the sun fell below the horizon. Rud considered continuing his work on the road, but it would be there tomorrow. He checked his mailbox again before bed, but found nothing. He stood in the stump field, gazing off into the distance. Somewhere to the east, there was a logging camp. South of that were the mortals he had met. Each was in a state of limbo, as he didn’t know if they had survived the monster attacks. He hoped they were safe. Especially Mira.

###

Trees twisted in on themselves as Rud formed another section of the road. The sun was low in the eastern sky. The light that pierced through the canopy cast long shadows on the trees, bringing with it a lingering chill. Today felt colder than the day before it, and the day before that. Despite the temperature, no tree within the grove showed signs of giving way to the changing seasons. He was interested in the ecological impact of that, but had to focus on the road today.

Rud had refined his freecasting ability. He tossed and turned before falling asleep last night, imagining ways he could exploit his newest upgrade. His technique had been to pull sections of trees off, elongating them along the ground to join with the others. Now he focused on the roots of those plants, or simulating roots by sending portions of the tree underground. A few hours of shaping more trees later, and he settled on a combination of those approaches.

Four trees twisted into new shapes, shooting underground and rising to join with one-another. Rud stood with his eyes closed, feeling those trees rather than seeing them. He stepped forward, conducting them with his stick as he took purposeful steps. Even the surface of the road was smoother on the top, which would require less of the lacquer spell. He didn’t open his eyes when a message popped up, announcing his advancement from Level 5 Construction Magic to Level 6.

As long as Rud had his staff tucked between his back and his backpack, he gained the mana regeneration effect. That meant he could walk in a straight line, pulling the trees together without end. Only the sound of an approaching wolf brought him out of his meditative spellcasting. His eyes opened, scanning over the area as his concentration focused on the road.

“I have a report. Woof,” Sarya said.

“What is it?” Rud asked, capping off one section of roots and pulling from another tree.

“The mortals are moving outside of Barlgore.”

“Have they finished their repairs?” Rud asked.

“No. Mint suspects they are coming here to request supplies. Lumber, mostly.”

The wood provided by the grove had magical properties. Rud didn’t know what those properties were, but he knew they were prized by the mortals. If they needed lumber to rebuild part of their defenses, they needed high-quality wood to prevent another disaster like last time. A part of him hoped that Mira would be the one to make contact, but it was hard to say. If things were rubber-stamped after the attack, it could be another official willing to make their way to the grove. He just hoped they had the good sense not to enter the grove without an escort. The last thing the grove needed was a mortal wandering around, only to die of starvation.

“Thanks for the update,” Rud said. He hadn’t stopped weaving the roots together, finding it easier by the hour to control his spell.

“Can I watch?” Sarya asked.

“Sure,” Rud said, seeing no harm.

The wolf took up a position near the road, her tail thumping against the ground as she watched. That provided Rud with a tempo to work by, which he found useful. There was some internal ticking in his mind that was unreliable, but the wolf’s tail beat like a metronome. She followed him over the hours that he worked on the road, until he spanned another ravine. The wolf scampered off after that, but returned occasionally to check up on him.

Over the next three days, Rud completed the road. He spent his days, from dawn until dusk shaping those trees into a perfect road. Lacquering was the hardest part, but the results were worth it. The uneven surface of the road was transformed into a perfectly smooth plane. It wasn’t slick, though. The road provided enough grip that people traversing it would gain traction if they needed it. Taz spent his time on various projects in the mine, asking for the druid’s help occasionally, but keeping mostly to himself.

After finishing breakfast, Rud stood in his village and admired the gravel yard. The plants he placed there made the place look lived-in. Pipes shot from each roof, representing the stoves that Mint had brought. All four buildings were ready for people to stay in them. With Taz’s cold storage area, they also had enough food to feed a small army every day without feeling as though they would starve. He walked along the road for a while, appreciating how it looked.

Traveling with the Thicket Travel upgrade was faster, but this was his first time on the road since it was done. The wood felt better underfoot than cobbles, as though it was imbued with something that made traveling over it comfortable. After walking over it for some time, he grabbed some buckets and headed off to the stump forest. As he had seen over the past three days, he expected it to be empty. His heart nearly stopped when he spotted a lone tent near the forest’s edge. And his heart sank when he didn’t recognize it as Mira’s tent. Hers was patchy and soaked in oil to prevent the rain from seeping in.

Rud sighed, approaching the tent. “Knock knock. It's your friendly neighborhood forest spirit.”

Rud couldn’t bring his hands up quickly enough to defend himself. He saw a blur burst from the tent, scooping him up and squeezing the life out of him. The druid groaned under the force of the attack, but was unable to remove himself. Just as he thought death was close at hand, he heard a familiar voice.

“We were so scared!” Mira said.

Rud glanced up, spotting the tears rolling down her face. She had released him enough that he could check. “What?” was all he could ask.

“When the monsters attacked Balegore, we were worried about the grove. I had to sneak out to check on you guys,” Mira said. Her voice was filled with sadness, but she pushed through.

“Release me,” Rud grunted, trying and failing to draw breath.

“Oh. Sorry,” Mira said, placing him on the ground.

“They didn’t send you to get materials?” he asked, finally drawing lungfuls of air.

“No,” Mira said, craning her neck to look into the forest. “Did the monsters even come this way?”

Rud shook his head. “Sarya and Mint made sure of that.”

“Mint? That’s the guardian, isn’t it? People said they saw a wolf in the battle, but I couldn’t be sure.”

Rud’s mind finally caught up to the reality of the situation. He had worked so hard on the road, he couldn’t help himself. The druid gestured for her to follow, leading her over the stone road. They passed through a group of trees he had cultivated for the mortals and noticed how Mira darted to the mailbox, stuffing the letter that was there into her bag. When he stopped, intending to question her about it, she gave him a sly smile.

“Enough of that,” Rud muttered, pressing into the forest. “Stay close, though.”

Mira nodded, forming the sign of respect over her forehead before she entered the forest. One-hundred feet within the forest, the stone walkway ended, turning into the twisted tree path. She gaped at the scene.

“How far does it go?” she asked.

Rud turned around, wiggling his eyebrows. “All the way. Wanna see the Sacred Tree?”

Mira swallowed hard. “Yes.”

Chapter 24

Custodian Exchange Program

The time to get from the stump field should have been reduced by a half-hour. Maybe forty-five minutes at the most. But the three hour walk was reduced to two hours. More than that, traveling over the road was pleasant. Mira gawked at the bridges, rubbing her hands over the enormous trees in the center as they passed. The village came into view first, causing the mortal to stop walking completely.

“Oh, yeah,” Rud said, gesturing at the buildings with his staff. “Those adventurers appreciated my tree houses last time, so I made some more.”

“This is great. People are going to love this,” Mira said. She fawned over the buildings some more, taking time to explore the area a bit.

The village covered an area roughly the same size as the clearing for Ban. Something between one- and two-hundred feet, if Rud’s eyes were judging it correctly. Mira’s reaction was worth it, especially when she checked the beds for comfort. He didn’t expect her to enter the houses, but when she did he covertly observed her. As expected, upon entering the house her mood brightened. Perhaps she didn’t even notice, but the homes had a way of scrubbing away the effects of the grove.

Mira lounged in the covered pavilion, kicking up her feet onto the table and leaning in her chair.

“Are you stalling?” Rud asked, watching as she lounged.

“Maybe,” Mira said with a nervous chuckle.

Mira got moving in time. Rud let her linger for a while, but the tree wasn’t far off. It came into sight shortly after, and she did the things mortals did when they saw the tree. Rud pulled away from her when she approached the tree. She drew close to the tree, standing and staring up at her boughs. The druid made his way to his mushroom house, bringing the fire back to life with a few branches and starting some tea.

Rud was pouring tea by the time Taz showed up, coming to take a break from his ceaseless mining.

“What’s up with the mortal?” he asked.

Rud peeked outside of his window, finding Mira with her hand clasped over her chest. “The mortals in Sparwyn worship the trees. They take it seriously, so don’t make fun of them.”

“Understood. Don’t make fun of the tree-worshiping weirdos.”

Rud gave him a stern look, then poured him a cup of tea. The dwarf accepted it graciously, sipping it although it was still steaming hot.

“Seriously. Keep that little beard from flapping, alright?”

“Dwarves are many things. But we’re not ones to take stabs at other people’s faiths. Count on that.”

Rud clapped a hand over Taz’s shoulder, releasing his grip to grab two mugs of tea. “I appreciate it.”

Rud cleared his throat, gaining Mira’s attention. She had a glassy look in her eyes and took the tea as though in a daze. He guided her away from the tree and into one tree house nearby. Between the tea and the house, her vision cleared a bit. The druid let her rest on a chair, exiting the building and standing outside to gather his thoughts.

“Taz, what do you remember when you entered the grove?”

“I remember I was starving,” he said, laughing loud enough to wake the dead. “Lost, hungry, and more than a little mad.”

The effects the tree had on beastfolk might have been different than that of dwarves. There were also cultural implications to consider. Mira’s response to the tree could be a fabrication from her imagination, where her brain built the tree up to be this big event in her mind and her body responded. There was also magic to consider, but the solution was clear. The road he planned to build in every cardinal direction needed rest stops.

When he entered the building again, Mira was already looking better. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Fine. Just felt a little dizzy,” Mira said.

“Come on,” Rud said, gesturing for her to follow. “Bring the tea. We’ll do an experiment.”

“I want to come,” Taz said, draining his tea and tossing the cup over his shoulder.

Rud led the group to his living road. He had Mira stand on the road’s edge, just outside of the Sacred Tree’s clearing. She could still see the tree, and the energy that flowed forth was just as intense. But her feet were on the road. That was the important part.

“Alrighty. Just gaze at the tree,” Rud said, gesturing back to Ban.

“Just look at it?” Mira asked, more than a little confused.

“Yep.”

“You’re testing to see if the living road grounds her,” Ban said. A sense of appreciation came with the words. “Smart.”

“Think it’ll work?” Rud asked, stepping far away enough that Mira wouldn’t hear him.

“Maybe. It might just delay the effects. Rank might have something to do with it, too. The adventurer group that passed through here didn’t experience the same effects.”

Rud nodded. He thought that some other custodians might have been happy to not have mortals in the grove. But he felt as though this was his purpose. The grove wasn’t just a great way for people to travel, it could also be a safe place to do so. Everything he heard about the path to the south claimed it was dangerous. As long as the roads prevented mortals from getting sick in the grove, this would work.

“We needed to put some living paths under the gravel at the village,” Rud said, scratching his chin. “Otherwise this is going to happen more often.”

“Also need a path going in another direction, right? North, toward the dwarves.” Taz wrapped his arm around Rud and squeezed his shoulder. “Right?”

“Would the dwarves come to a forest willingly?”

“Nope.”

“South or west, then.”

“Good call.”

The group waited a while to see if Mira would be affected by the tree. When she wasn’t, Rud constructed a small platform out of a tree near Ban. He didn’t plan to keep it there, as he liked the clean aesthetic of the area, but Mira stood on it all the same. Even being so near to the tree, she wasn’t affected. She looked up at the tree, said some prayers he couldn’t understand, but didn’t get the same strange look in her eyes. The mortal was fine.

“And there’s a new rule for the grove. Don’t leave the path,” Rud said, laughing. “Thanks for helping with the experiment, Mira. I’m guessing you can enter and leave the grove so long as you stick on the wooden path.”

“Good to know,” Mira said. “But they’re going to come looking for me soon. I should go.”

Rud nodded, gesturing for her to walk down the path.

“I’ll come along,” Taz said, jogging to catch up to the pair as they walked away. “I need some fresh air.”

“You?” Rud asked, scoffing. “Need fresh air?”

“Never heard of a dwarf leaving the mountain homes,” Mira said. It sounded like a slight jab.

“I’m a new man.”

Rud doubted it, but wouldn’t object. The group walked the path, giving Rud a chance to point out interesting parts of the landscape. Within the grove was a variety of topography that made it interesting to observe but a pain to walk through. They covered the distance within two hours. The druid found the stone path almost offensive with how uncomfortable it was to walk. But he never wore shoes, so that might have been a problem. 

Mira turned before she left to pull her tent down. She pointed at the grown trees—the ones with red ribbons tied around their trunks. “We’ll be back for those. With fragments as payment.”

“We’re calling them ‘offerings’ now,” Rud said, waving.

Mira smiled, turning and bounding over the stump field to disassemble her tent. The day had already worn thin. Rud wondered if she would make the journey back to Barlgore tonight and once again suspected she had an ability to travel quickly. If she did, she didn’t make it known. After her tent was secured, she waved and walked away without flying, bounding great heights, or teleporting.

“Well that was exciting,” Taz said, shrugging. “Not really, but better than monsters. I guess.”

“I have a feeling monsters wouldn’t stand a chance in the grove.”

“Yeah. Wouldn’t want to be the monster that met your army of squirrels,” Taz said, gesturing up to several red squirrels looking down from various branches. Perhaps they felt neglected in the past few days. “What are we having for dinner?”

“Mint is feeling better. Expect another wolf or deer over an open flame.”

Taz breathed in, closing his eyes as he exhaled. “That’s one thing I love about the forest. Fresh meat.”

And Taz’s freezer was already stuffed with quite a few butchered wolves and deer as it was. It had gotten full enough of meat that he was storing wild vegetables and mushrooms. Rud didn’t know how well the mushrooms would freeze, but the potonions did very well. They stepped through a bush after a pause, arriving at the tree. As expected, Mint was roasting some beast over the fire. Sarya was there, lurking around as though she were guarding the area alone.

Dinner went on for a while. Rud enjoyed whatever Mint served up. It wasn’t the best cooking he had—most things the wolf cooked were some variation of roasted meat—but she did so with enthusiasm. Ban pulled him away from the fun after a while, coaxing him aside to talk. Which seemed weird, because she could just talk directly into his mind.

“You’re doing great, Rud,” she said. He sensed the invisible ‘but’ within the statement. “There’s another duty you need to fulfill soon enough.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“There are eleven groves within Bent’s pact. Eleven guardians, eleven hearts, and eleven custodians.”

Rud wasn’t sure he liked where this was going, but he nodded along. He knew about the other groves. Someone might have told him about them, but he knew they existed because of the other spirits. Those nine other spirit animals and plants that were there when he entered this world.

“Go on.”

“I need you to visit another grove. Only for a day, but still… You were having a good day, so I didn’t want to interrupt. But I can’t delay it any longer.”

Rud paused before responding. The idea of going afar to visit some other grove sent his heart thumping. His duties here weren’t just a job. They were things he loved doing, and the only way he would get better at them was if he remained there.

“I’m not sure if I’d like that.”

“You’ll teleport, Rud. And the spirit who wants to meet you is Basil.”

“Oh, I like Basil.”

“Yes. Basil is kind and understanding. You have nothing to worry about. But visiting other groves is a long-standing tradition. As is the Meeting of the Custodians.”

“What was that last thing? Meeting of the Custodians?”

A wave of warmth spread from Ban. It was tinged with amusement. “The custodians gather occasionally. This is a one-off, though.”

“This isn’t optional, is it?”

“Just a day. Tomorrow would be best, but I’ll leave it to you. Just don’t take too long.”

Rud scratched his chin, not thrilled about the idea of leaving the grove. But if things had to happen, he couldn’t do anything about it. His projects would still be here, and the mortals had enough nice things to visit the grove without turning into zombies. He sat on the ground, wrapping his cloak around himself. He remembered a time as custodian, only a week ago, when he was more prone to naps than hard work. He drew in a great breath and nodded.

“If you’re asking nicely, that means this is dire. Right?”

Ban giggled into his mind. “You know me too well.”

“It might be nice to meet some other custodians. Do you know anything about Basil’s custodian? Or the heart in that grove.”

“I’ll be honest with you, Rud. I don’t. My hope is that you can be our repository of knowledge.”

“Fair enough. Consider it done!”

“Thank you.”

“Just no upgrading while I’m gone.”

“I won’t. Promise.”

Rud returned to the group. With Ban’s permission, he shared the information of his departure to the others. Mint was excited about it, but Taz was concerned. The Sacred Tree pulled him away in case his reaction wasn’t favorable. Since she was being so nice about it, he took it seriously. The tree never confronted him about stuff like this otherwise.

“Is that normal?” the dwarf asked, ripping meat off a large chunk he held by the bone. 

“Guess so.”

“It is a proud tradition!” Mint shouted. “If we have a stronger relationship with the other groves, we can request help. Knowledge is also important.”

“Because every grove is different,” Rud said. “But the grove where Basil is should be like ours. That spirit is the one that gives me the construction magic.”

The conversation rolled back and forth, but broke off shortly after the topic was brought up. Taz had a lot of plans and Mint was eager for Ban to ascend to Rank 1. Rud wasn’t convinced she was ready, but they had a decent stock of fragments. The elven mage, Elmera, needed to come back with the fragments he had been promised. Only then would the druid be confident in the upgrade.

Rud left the group after night fell, heading into his mushroom house to sort his things out. He placed the Twig of Ban’tanthein near his chair and looked at it for some time. There was no indication on the item’s advancement beyond Rank 0, but he could feel that it was growing in power. His Druid class was moving through Level 4 quickly enough, but hadn’t gotten to Level 5. Construction Magic was the only skill he had been advancing, a short-sighted move on his part. Crafting Magic, Plant Care, and Growth Magic were all useful skills to increase. But the road had taken up too much of his time.

After he checked that all his things would be ready for a trip tomorrow, he settled down for bed. With the firelight casting flickering shadows over his mushroom house, the druid fell asleep to the peaceful sound of the insects outside and the crackling fire inside.

Ban seemed eager for Rud to head off the next morning. He suspected there was something about the teleportation magic that required preparation and perhaps some of her reserve energy. But with enough mushrooms and nuts in his bag, the druid wasn’t worried about the trip. He approached the tree, his backpack secured on his back and his staff in hand.

“So, what do I do?” Rud asked.

“Give me a moment,” Ban said. Her voice was amused today. After a few moments, roots sprung up from the ground. They laced together, creating an archway. It filled with a glowing layer of magic, pulsing with the heartbeat of the forest.

Rud gave Ban a look, pointing at the portal. “Guessing that’s my ticket to the grove.”

“Just step through. They’ll send you back from the other end,” Ban said. “This is just a meeting of custodians, so don’t get too worried. But try and make a good impression.”

Rud pushed forward, already intending to assume the mantle of Project Manager once again. The other groves in the world were just clients he had to interface with. One foot through the portal sent the druid spinning for only a moment. It reminded him of the sensation he felt when using the Thicket Travel upgrade, and he suspected it was a similar technique. An instant later he stepped out onto a dirt walkway, the portal behind him still humming. Flowers floated alongside the path, glowing in the sudden darkness. It was night here. Wherever ‘here’ was.

“Rud?” a voice called from the distance, whoever it was was waving excitedly.

Rud squinted watching as the beastfolk approached. The closer the man got, the more features he could pick up. Fawn-colored fur, a long muzzle, and a set of antlers atop their head. This was a deer-person if ever Rud had seen one and they were tall. At least they had fingers. And thumbs.

“Hey… Sorry, this is awkward,” Rud said, chuckling.

The deer-person reached out a hand for him to shake. Rud looked down at the hand for a moment, but eventually shook it.

“I’m Jim,” the deer-person said. “It's early, but let me show you around. This is your first exchange visit, right?”

“Yeah. Jim? Did they name you Jim?”

“Jim was my name before I came over. They didn’t let you keep your name?”

“No. My guardian made me change mine from Shawn. Did I get scammed?”

Jim laughed. “Nope. Some guardians are just weird. I’m from Melbourne. You?”

Rud stared at the deer-person for a long time. He stammered, but finally got the words out. “You’re from Earth? Australia, even?”

“No, I’m from Melbourne, Florida. Man, you’re really far behind the curve. Every custodian is sourced from Earth,” Jim said, scoffing. “They didn’t tell you that?”

“I’m starting to think they didn’t tell me a darn thing.”

Chapter 25

Cliffs of Mog

The grove that Basil guarded was called the Cliffs of Mog. Rud didn’t know where it was in relation to Gladesbale, but the air felt humid here. It didn’t have the bite of the mountains he was used to. The paths were all made of living wood, just like he had done back home, but the craftsmanship was exquisite. Under those floating lights, the druid could see that details had been etched into the wood. He suspected magic had been used to accomplish this feat.

As the duo drew closer to a crowd of trees, Rud got his first look at the sprawling tree-city within the grove. Lights were off within houses, but even in the dark he could see the city crawling over hills, stretching to meet the sky above. One tree moved in the distance—a stunted thing not measuring up to the towering trees. It nodded as it passed by and Jim had an amused look on his face.

“Took me forever to get used to this,” he said, gesturing vaguely to the entire grove.

“How long have you been here?” Rud asked.

“Twenty years,” Jim said in a casual tone. “This grove is the second-youngest, next to yours.”

Rud knew about Basil, if only from the spells he had been granted. But the Sacred Tree within the area was a mystery. He could feel the tree in the distance, but hadn’t spotted it yet.

“Who is your tree?” Rud asked.

Jim paused on the wooden walkway, looking back with a quizzical look. “Interesting way to put it. Gar’ban is our tree…” He took a few moments, clicked his tongue, and moved on down the path.

The Sacred Tree came into view in time. Rud spotted the tree from afar, watching as lights danced around its boughs. When the trunk of the tree came into view, he saw another being standing nearby. He didn’t need to ask to know it was Basil. The Tree-person ran an appendage over the bark of Gar’ban, turning to twist the bark of his face into a smile. His tree-person form was massive, coming half-way up the length of the tree. Something like twenty feet tall, but Rud had trouble judging. Basil erupted in a puff of smoke, shifting into his mortal form.

“Rud!” Basil shouted, waving excitedly. “So happy to finally see you!”

Rud jogged over, drawn in by the man’s shining personality. His human form didn’t draw from eastern inspirations. Instead, he looked like any fantasy wood elf. Pointed ears, blonde-green hair with armor made of bark and silks dyed forest green. He walked with an elegance that betrayed his tree-person nature and reached out to shake the druid’s hand when he arrived.

“A pleasure. You’re the guy who gives me awesome spells.”

Basil laughed, patting Rud on the head. “I am indeed.”

Rud looked up at the tree, waving excitedly. “Hello, Gar’ban. Do you just call her Gar?”

The tree was silent.

“Come,” Basil said, pushing Rud on the back to get him moving.

“Guess you were right,” Jim said, following close behind.

“I’m rarely wrong,” Basil retorted.

Basil led Rud and Jim to a tree house that didn’t seem to be occupied. The druid couldn’t help but compare his craftsmanship to the style on display here. Everything was ornate, details visible on every corner of every building, but there was a deeper sense of power. The trees themselves were stronger, imbued with some magic he couldn’t understand. And the interiors were decorated to match the outside, strewn with all manner of things meant to keep occupants as comfortable as possible.

Basil shut the door, winking at Rud. “I’ll have to teach you this one before you go.”

He was talking about the door. It was made from the tree itself, rather than metal hinges and wood harvested from the forest.

“Tea?” Jim asked, rushing off to find a pot. He placed it on a flower of all things. But when he introduced mana to the plant, a flame burst from the center.

“Yes, please,” Rud said.

The smell of an earthy tea filled the room in an instant. Rud sat on a comfortable sofa, watching as Basil took a seat of his own. The only sound in the room was the boiling water and insects singing their songs outside of the opened window. The druid sat comfortably, but felt something hanging over the room. He had been taken by the scale of the grove and hadn’t considered what was going on.

“When you’re new to this world, you don’t notice the little things,” Jim said, pouring tea for everyone gathered. “The looks people share when they know you don’t understand the system.”

“Huh?” Rud asked, taking a sip of his tea. “What did I miss?”

“Our tree can’t talk,” Basil said. “It never has, and likely never will.”

Rud couldn’t imagine a world where he couldn’t talk to Ban. These guys had survived for twenty years without knowing what their tree needed? That was absurd.

“Just let me know when people pop out of the cupboards with a camera and you scream ‘prank,’” Rud said, laughing nervously.

“This is why we do the exchange,” Basil said. “It costs our trees a lot of energy, but we can share information this way. How soon did he start talking?”

“She,” Rud corrected. “Right away, actually.”

Basil and Jim shared a look, nodding together. 

“Wait, what does this mean? Should I be cagey with the information?” Rud asked, scratching his head. “My instinct says to bite and scratch my way out of this.”

Basil laughed. He shook his head after sipping his tea. “Lord Bent himself would sacrifice his life to protect the new grove. You have nothing to fear.”

“Look at it this way,” Jim said, leaning in and steepling his fingers. “The groves were created to protect nature. To forge strongholds of natural energy. Each one has been an experiment. A combination of three souls. Heart, Guardian, and Custodian.”

“The problem is,” Basil said, continuing Jim’s thought. “The combinations are random. We’ve seen mining groves, production groves, and even groves dedicated to war. But every single time, the soul embedded in the Sacred Tree has been silent. No agency.”

“I talk to Ban every day,” Rud said.

“Which means you, Mint, and Ban’tanthein are a perfect match,” Basil said, clapping his hands together. “We’ve had failed groves before you. The trees burned themselves out before they could even ascend to Rank 1.”

This was too much for Rud to digest right now. He nodded along as they explained the long history of the groves. The modern version of a grove was created by the Stag Spirit Bent. It was established in a time of war, when the loose communities in what was now Sparwyn fought a losing battle. After that, Bent had seeded the world with as many Sacred Trees as he could. He was always chasing something special, but had never produced it.

“But what does that mean?” Rud asked.

“It means that your grove will ascend to power like we’ve never seen before,” Jim said with a shrug. “A bastion.”

“He was also given the Druid class to start,” Basil said, nodding with approval.

“Lucky. I got the Butler class.”

“Did you get the Grove Custodian subclass?” Rud asked.

Basil and Jim once again shared a look. “Nope,” they said as one.

Rolling the dice was one thing, but this was absurd. How many stars needed to align to give Gladesbale Grove what it had? Too many for Rud to be comfortable. He felt as though he had been given a gift he didn’t deserve. It wasn’t as though he didn’t want the gift, but it should have gone to someone more worthy. The things he had accomplished in his grove were now small in his mind, not living up to the things he should have done already.

“I’ll reinforce this one more time, Rud.” Basil leaned in, reaching over the table to place a comforting hand on the druid’s knee. “The other groves are behind you. We’re eager to see what you can do with your partners.”

That single statement brought more comfort to Rud’s soul than he could describe. As the story had unraveled, he expected there to be blowback. Instead, Basil offered his hand to help him understand this new world. And Jim was great, too. They were both as warm and comforting as a summer’s day, and twice as nice.

“I appreciate it,” Rud said, finding the words coming out in earnest.

The group sat in silence for a while, finishing their tea and giving Rud time to process the information. After only a few minutes of contemplation, he realized his position among the groves didn’t matter. He was already out of his depth, so what did it matter if he went deeper? Having the most potential out of all the groves meant… what? Well, at least this grove was neat.

“The denizens of the forest are stirring,” Basil said, pushing himself to his feet. He offered one last smile before heading out. Rud watched him go, craning his neck to get a look at the guardian once more before he was gone.

“Phew. That was awkward,” Jim said with a nervous laugh. “At least he was nice about it.”

“Yeah… I’m not sure what to think about it.”

“Can’t give you much advice there. My tree doesn’t talk. Well, only one of my trees talks.”

The duo waited for the sun to rise. Rud was surprised when a woman deer-person came down from a higher floor, kissing Jim before getting to work on some food in the kitchen. He hadn’t considered that the custodians could have relationships. He had been too busy to consider it. But twenty years was a long time to spend alone. Especially considering the duties of a custodian without a druid class. Rud shook the thoughts loose from his mind, feeling as though he should help with breakfast.

“You’ll just get in my way,” the woman warned, swatting at Rud with a spatula.

“I’d say she doesn’t bite, but…” Jim trailed off, laughing to himself. “She might if you get too close.”

That earned Jim a spatula to the face.

“My Sarah is a real firecracker.”

“Sarah?” Rud asked. “Is she from Earth, too?”

“No. Old longhorns gave me the name an age ago. Said he couldn’t deal with the beastfolk name I had.”

“That’s not awkward,” Rud said, peering into the pan. She was frying up random vegetables that had been placed together in no particular order. He suspected they might have adopted a diet similar to deer, and feared for his stomach.

“What race are you, anyway?” Jim asked. “I picked a deer because I thought it was cool.”

Rud shrugged. “Mint found me in my office. I was just working away on something and thought she was joking. So I tried picking an elf, but Mint picked a Talen Por.”

“Talen Por?” Jim asked, trying not to laugh. “What on Earth is that?”

“Mint said they are the Talen Por in this world, but I’ve never met one.”

“Oh! I’ve heard of them,” Sarah said. “Lovely people. Similar enough to regular humans, but with a deeper love of nature.”

Rud put on a brave face when it was time to eat breakfast. He sat down with Jim and Sarah at the table. She heaped his plate high with the cooked vegetables. There wasn’t a mushroom or a strip of meat in sight. But the druid powered through, drawing on his inability to disappoint someone that had made him food. Each bite was harder than the last. It tasted like piled grass, seasoned with some dandelions for flavor.

Although his stomach was churning, Rud patted his belly and made sounds as though he loved it. “Thank you for the food.”

“I’ll make more if you’re still hungry.”

“Oh, I couldn’t eat another bite,” Rud said, standing and searching for the nearest exit. “I’d really like to see the grove now that the sun is up.”

“Come on,” Jim said, leading the way out the front door. “You can tell me about those classes you got.”

Rud agreed and fled the building before he was forced to shove more lawn clippings down his throat. He refused to be impolite, but that didn’t mean he had to enjoy it. He walked with Jim, explaining how his Druid and Grove Custodian classes worked. While the deer-man was interested in that, he asked about Ban’s abilities more than once.

“Everything you see here is made by Basil and I,” Jim said, pointing at each building. The sun had poked above the horizon, finally illuminating the grove. “I got a class that lets me shape the forest, but it took years. Climbed from a Butler, to a Tree Tender, and finally a Grove Shaper. Only took me twenty years.”

“You’re making me feel worse by the moment,” Rud said. He could feel the magic within the trees that Jim had shaped. Despite the way he spoke, it was infused with some powerful stuff. It was far above anything he could produce.

“That custodian class sounds wild,” Jim said, pressing on down the path. People were stirring within their homes by now. Rud spotted beastfolk coming out of their houses. Hundreds of people started their day, and they were all members of the grove. He didn’t see a mortal anywhere. “Your skills adapt based on the buildings your tree makes.”

“It has been useful so far, but I haven’t been leveling it as much as I should. How long did it take you to hit the first rank?”

“About a week,” Jim said with a shrug. “They say the first one is the easiest.”

Rud had spent far longer than a week leveling up. He ran his fingers along his staff, feeling the leaves at the end and pinching them for comfort.

Jim seemed to notice his concentration on the staff. “But I don’t have one of those. Even at Rank 10.”

Rud’s mouth fell open. “You’re Rank 10? Seriously? You must be a god by now.”

Jim let out a booming laugh, drawing the attention of nearby citizens. He clapped a hand over his mouth and stifled more laughs. “Are you always so flattering? No, I’m not a god. I could give some adventurers a run for their money, but there are stronger people out there.”

Jim gave a full tour of the Cliffs of Mog grove. And he even got to see the Cliffs of Mog. Rud learned that the grove was situated near a strand of coast, graced by an expansive ocean. He also learned that this grove didn’t have the Thicket Travel upgrade, making the roads even more important. When on the road, just like in Gladesbale, a person moved faster and experienced less fatigue. They started on the south side of the grove, looking over the ocean and the few boats that sailed past. After lingering there for quite some time, they explored the expansive jungle to the west, hills to the north, and planes to the east.

Cliffs of Mog was so different from Gladesbale. It had to be on the other side of the planet. The way grove magic worked, it might have been. The day rolled on, and Basil pulled Rud aside to teach him the plant shaping technique that would allow him to build doors on his buildings. That freed Jim up to do some duties related to the grove. The technique was simple enough but required fine control of both the magic itself and the freecasting aspect of the spell.

“Can’t believe you’re still Rank 0,” Basil said, guiding Rud through another exercise. “Freecasting is hard to learn, but you’re doing great.”

“Never thought I’d be good at it,” Rud said, forming the hinge made of tree material in a matter of moments. “I’d ask if you needed work done around here, but I’m guessing you’re like me. A druid specializing in magic.”

Basil’s smile was crooked, and he tried not to laugh. “I’m likely the most powerful utility druid on the planet, Rud.”

Rud looked up to Basil more than he could express. After seeing the grove, he realized that the tree spirit was everything he wanted to be. And the magic he could weave wasn’t limited to creating buildings and roads from living trees. Cliffs of Mog had defensive structures as well. Fields of vines that traced the entire exterior of the grove. When an enemy stepped onto them, they would produce spikes and ensnare whatever was attacking. They were advanced enough to have a vague intelligence, determining what was a mortal and what was a monster.

“Do I really only get a day?” Rud asked. He understood the technique for constructing a door well enough, including a little nugget Basil dropped about removing a piece of a tree and letting it grow on its own. But there was a wealth of techniques contained in that one grove.

“Those are the rules,” Basil said, smiling down at Rud. “The trip cost your Sacred Tree and mine a lot of energy. As you’re her caretaker, I’m sure you understand how taxing that can be.”

Rud’s mind left the Cliffs of Mog grove, hurtling back toward his own. Basil was right. Energy for his tree was the most valuable thing he had right now. While he suspected that he was only brought here to reveal the truth of his grove, he had a lot of work to do back home. He didn’t feel tired, though. He pressed on, absorbing all the information that the guardian of the grove had to offer.