Gladesbale Grove Book 3 - Chapters 10,11,12 (Patreon)

Chapter 10

Fly My Pretties

“Powerful adventurers, you say.” Ban’s voice flooded into the clearing in the Grove’s center. “Coming to rescue us, are they?”

“Why the skepticism!?” Rud asked, shouting as he spun around. “Does someone know something I don't?”

Ban couldn’t keep up a joke as long as the others in the grove. She was already laughing by the time Rud felt like he was going nuts. The druid narrowed his eyes on her.

“Har-har,” he mocked. “Come on. That’s a good thing, right?”

“It could be. I’m not as knowledgeable of the world of adventurers as some. Powerful people come with problems. But if Elm recruits them from Sparwyn, there shouldn’t be many problems.”

Rud nodded. “Cool. So I’ll get some info on how to make that portal thingy tomorrow. Elm was just too tired to do anything else today, so I put her to sleep.”

“You didn’t resort to violence, did you?” Ban asked.

“Not yet. But she’s so stubborn I had to cast a spell on her. My sleepy spell.”

“Who gave you a sleeping spell?” Ban asked.

“River. Although it wasn’t meant for putting people to sleep, that’s how I used it. Deal with it,” Rud said, thrusting his chest out. “But seriously, you’ve got the power for a brief portal, right?”

“Yes. The magic is complex, and I need to make one more building before we can do it. But item-only portals are within our grasp. Sending souls and the bodies they’re attached to is another matter. I’ll be crafting new spells for this, which uses the Grove system. Which means I’ll draw on both your and Mint’s power. I need to create a spell that not only creates the portal, but establishes the Gate on the other side.”

“Gates and portals… What's the difference?” Rud asked.

“I don’t know,” Ban admitted. “I only know the basics Basil shared with me. Yet, he’s guarded about his knowledge. Which means we have to make our own way to do it. Boiled down to the basic parts, I can explain it like this: we’re making a gateway from pieces of the Grove itself. Since all Groves are connected, we can generate a Gate on the other side. Using that same logic, we’ll connect them.”

“Easy enough on paper,” Rud said, clicking his tongue and making other mouth noises that annoyed him when other people did them. “Is there anything I can do?”

“The building I’m about to generate will require upgrades. It won’t put me to sleep, but it’ll take a bit to make. I’m already working on it now. The building creates condensed energy I can use for the Gate. I’ll convert our baseline energy into the denser version, then inject that into the Gate. Easy peasy.”

“Lemon squeezy,” Rud said, nodding sage-like. “Nice. This puts us on a great track, I think.”

“As for what you can do: clear more of the diseased trees. Or apply your growth magic to the existing ones,” Ban said. “The more trees that have a connection to me, the better.”

“I’m on it, boss,” Rud said, performing a haphazard salute.

Three things were now vitally important to Rud. Replacing trees, gathering upgrade materials, and learning about these Gate things were his top priority. The druid worked his way through the grove, checking the stuff nearest the center at first. Diseased trees were hard to find around the center by now, but there were plenty of trees that could use another growth stage. With his newest upgrades, even the weakest tree could become a towering behemoth. And when those trees were stronger, they would produce more energy for Ban to collect.

Rud finished up outside of the smithy and dove into the mine. The sound of a pickaxe ringing against rock drew him in, revealing that Taz was working deep below. Since the dwarf had etched channels in the wall, the druid moved the tree bits into their spots, which did a lot to clear the walkways. He passed by a pile of shining blue crystals and nodded with approval. That was, after all, the reason for his visit.

Taz worked at the bottom of the mine, expanding it ever-further downward. Each swing of his pickaxe was mighty, shattering stone on the wall and sending a cascade of rocks to the floor.

“Hey, bud!” Rud shouted.

Taz turned, pickaxe clenched in his hands. He let out a steady breath. “Scared me half to death…”

“I see you collected a lot of fragments,” Rud said, placing his hands on his hips. “What’s up with that.”

“I can dig deeper with your supports,” Taz said, pointing with his beard at the wooden supports on the wall. “Hit a massive vein of the fragments. Why, upgrading stuff?”

Rud nodded. “Gonna need a lot of them bad boys to make my Gate plan happen.”

“Between your existing stock and what I gathered, I don’t see why you wouldn’t have enough.”

“Nice,” Rud said, waving his hands in the air. The tree he had forced to become subterranean expanded down the tunnel, wrapping it in the supporting structure. “Are you expecting to hit more cool stuff down here?”

“Oh, yeah. My Prospector class is going crazy for this place. Doubt I’ll hit half of what it’s sensing, and at this point feels more like I’m gathering a dragon’s hoard.” Taz paused for a long moment, stroking his beard. “But I just like digging!”

“Fair enough, buddy,” Rud said, clapping him on the shoulder. “I’m gonna take all those fragments, if you don’t mind.

Taz shrugged. “I’m gonna get back to it,” he said with a laugh.

That was the dwarven way of saying ‘get out of my mine before I plant a pick in your head.’ And Rud didn’t blame him. While working, getting interrupted was the worst.

After making his way out of the mine, Rud gave some attention to a few more trees before something caught his attention. A flash of black through the air drew his eye for only a moment before it vanished. At first, he thought nothing of it. But an hour into his efforts to restore the forest, something fell from the trees above and hit him in the head.

“Okay, who was that?” Rud asked, rubbing his forehead as he scanned the trees above. The druid searched at his feet, his brows raising in unison when he saw the object there. A small brass button sat nestled amongst the fallen leaves, nestled between two sticks. He knelt, picking it up and rolling the object between his fingers. A moment later, he activated his Clear Communication skill. “Uh… Magpies?”

Although Rud’s voice echoed tentatively amongst the trees, the sound that called back was anything but meek. A series of expressive caws came back, cutting sharply through the silence of the forest. Between those crow-like sounds came a chorus of chants.

“More seeds! More seeds! More seeds!”

“Ah. This might be a problem,” Rud said, reaching into his storage bag. He groped for some more seeds and nuts as his eyes scanned the branches above. The black and white forms of many magpies stood out, some stark against the open sky and others blending in with the dense canopy. A shock of pain spread through his forehead as another object slammed into him. “Come on, ya bird jerks!”

“More seeds!”

Rud dodged to one side as three more objects came. He scrambled along the ground, only stopping when he looked back to see the shape of the objects. One was a jagged shape, the semi-circular black surface holding a rough edge.

“By the horns of Bent!” Rud shouted, crawling as more objects fell overhead. The chorus grew louder. “Is that a Dungeon Core Fragment?”

“Fragment!” the birds repeated.

“More fragment!?” another shout-asked.

“Yes, more fragments,” Rud said back, standing and digging back into his bag. “You guys get more fragments, or other valuable items, and I’ll give you a billion nuts.”

“A billion!”

“How much is that?”

“I don’t know!”

“A lot,” Rud said. “More than you can eat.”

More of the items fell from the sky, but the magpies were descending. They gathered at Rud’s feet, all forming a line and hopping in unison. The ones who still had objects in their beaks dropped them at the ground as the druid handed the nuts out. Not every bird brought a useful item, but he figured singling one out wasn’t the best idea. Instead, he figured as long as they brought something, they should be rewarded.

“Thank you,” one pudgy magpie said. Rud wasn’t sure that one needed more nuts but who was he to judge?

Rud was pretty sure the exchange was one-sided. Perhaps it was the nature of the magpies to collect junk, so this was just fun for them. They must’ve known there were nuts all over the place in the grove. The druid hadn’t even cultivated a farm of the bushes because they were so abundant. Instead, he simply took them from the forest. The only thing he was sure of was his unwillingness to turn down the help of the birds. If they were happy, he was happy.

“Okay guys,” Rud said, gaining the attention of all fifteen birds. Maybe there were 20, it was hard to say. “If you bring me this, or this, I’ll give you food. I’m not accepting anymore buttons, shiny rocks, or teeth. Got it?”

“We got it!” the birds shouted.

“Good. Now, fly my pretties!” Rud shouted, throwing his arms wide. The birds scattered to the wind, rushing into the sky and quickly out of view. “I should’ve told them where to bring the loot.”

Since experiments with the birds hadn’t gone well in the past, Rud didn’t have much faith in the abilities of the magpies. But if they could remember what the good stuff was, this would be an interesting source of fragments. The more he thought about it, the more he was concerned about how they sourced those fragments… Were they little magpie thieves? Or perhaps they were little magpie dungeon-runners. It was impossible to know.

Rud spent a few minutes in the grove’s center, trying to figure out the best place to put a water slide. He still didn’t have any good ideas, but all his thoughts were shattered when Major came lumbering out of a distant bush. He trotted over lazily, huffing by the time he had crossed the distance.

“Need more healing,” Major panted, jerking his head back from where he came. “Sarya got hurt messing around on the first floor of the tavern. She’s right outside.”

Rud gripped his staff, shifting into his raven form and taking off right away. He dove into the nearest bush. An instant later, he burst from the leaves of another bush, taking to the air for only a moment before coming down. Mint stood in her human form, arms crossed as she looked down at a whimpering wolf. Sarya was prone, kicking her legs in an odd enough way to make the druid’s heart drop.

“Are you okay!?” Rud shouted, shifting into his true form.

“Ugh, don’t baby her,” Mint said.

Rud shot her a glare. That was a strangely cold thing for the guardian to say. But his concern was for the whimpering wolf. “What happened?” he asked, bringing the healing magic to the front of his mind. Ribbons of green magic wrapped around the wolf and she howled louder.

“I sprained my ankle!” Sarya shouted with a howl. “Is this the end?”

Rud paused, looking down at the squirming wolf in disbelief. “Do uh… do wolves even have ankles?”

Mint rolled her eyes. “Yes, but it shouldn’t be that painful,” she said. “Stop being so dramatic, Sarya.”

The prone wolf whimpered.

Rud sighed, pushing past his annoyance to treat the patient. “There, there little wolf,” he said, patting her on the head. “We’ll get you healed right up.”

“Really?” Sarya asked with the world’s best puppy-dog eyes.

“Yep. Your poor little boo-boo will be gone before you know it. You’re such a brave wolf.”

“Yes,” Sarya said. It looked as though she was holding back tears. “I am very brave.”

Chapter 11

Number One Druid

It didn’t take long to heal the wounds of the wolf. Instead, it seemed more like a psychological affliction that had hurt her pride. Despite Mint’s warnings, Sarya had delved into the tower, promising herself to only stay on the first floor. Although she had done that, she wasn’t strong enough to contend with the monsters there and had slipped. Injuring her ankle in the process, she had to limp out of the tower and ask for help from the other forest spirits.

She would be fine, but Rud doubted she would pull something like that again anytime soon.

By the time dusk came rolling along, Rud found himself more concerned with how Elm was doing back in town. He made an uneventful report at the observatory, ate a quick dinner at the longhouse, and then took to the skies in his raven form. Heading to town didn’t have to be unproductive, though. Along the way, he searched for forming dungeons using his mana sight, and although he found nothing, he intended on doing the same on the way back. 

The druid landed on the window sill of the tower, peering in through one foggy pane of glass and tilting his head to get a better look. He spotted Elm there on the sofa, resting still. Whatever journey she must have been on was tiring, and he wasn’t eager to wake her until the next day, even if she wouldn’t be thrilled about what he had done. For now, he was left to consider whatever hints had mentioned about his attempt to get the Gate working. He took to the skies again, catching an air current heading west and soaring over sections of the grove.

From what Rud understood, the idea behind this whole lesson was to help him grasp the nature of these gates. He needed to create the right shape and perhaps etch some sigils into it. However, as he looked back on his memory, he couldn’t remember much about the gate he used to reach the Cliffs of Mog Grove. That might have been Basil himself, hiding the required shape and symbols to get a gate working. But nothing could stop the druid if he put his mind to it, and he had an amazing mage to help him out.

Rud banked to the right. As his mana-enhanced eyes scanned the forest below, he spotted something familiar.

“Nulsa, I’ve got something over here,” Rud said, sending his thoughts out into the Grove itself. “Might be another one of those weird magical things.”

“Weird magical things… Right,” Nulsa said, sounding only slightly annoyed. Perhaps it was him being bored, rather than annoyed.

Rud followed the current of air in a circular pattern, descending before finally diving through the canopy and arresting his momentum just before he landed. He remained in his raven form, filling his eyes with mana and observing the collection of energy before him. Although he did not want to be right, he was. It looked exactly like the other strange formation they had discovered in another part of the grove. Soon after, the sound of a large owl landing almost silently next to him drew his attention.

“That’s actually the fourth one,” Nulsa said, ruffling her feathers and giving a disapproving hoot. “I fear we need to discover the true meaning behind these pockets of energy. Before they get out of hand.”

Rud gave a concerned caw, also ruffling his feathers. “My mage friend is going to be here tomorrow,” he said. “We can ask her.”

Nulsa turned his head nearly all the way around before spinning it back again to lock onto Rud. “Ban has gone into a slumber,” he said, his voice filled with concern. “She isn’t fully asleep, but then again, she isn’t fully aware. We’ll need to be on high alert while she’s busy.”

Still unsure of how much energy creating a new building took from Ban, now that she had advanced to rank, Rud felt that same concern. It was all because he wanted her to generate a building that would allow him to make portals. However, it wasn’t a selfish request. He had to remind himself that they were doing this to help the other groves. Since they were all interconnected, there was no choice; each grove had to succeed.

Breaking away from his worried thoughts, Rud shifted into his true form. The sight of the collection of magical energy vanished in an instant, and the druid did his best to replicate the mana enhancement effect he had when he was in his raven form. However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t make it work. Instead, he imagined where the cloud should have been and walked around it, stretching his senses as far as they could without making much progress at all. Eventually, he huffed and took a seat near it, closing his eyes and reaching out with everything he had.

“Perhaps if you spent more time working on yourself, that act would be more successful.” Nulsa said, “As it stands, I don’t believe you’ll be able to force Mana into your eyes without the help of the system. What are you hoping to gain, anyway?”

“I might not be talented, but I still have some magical ability,” Rud reminded him. “If I can interact with the magic here, maybe I can figure out what it’s doing. You’ve really never seen anything like this? Aren’t you ancient?”

“What makes you say that?”

Rud took a moment before responding, not sure if he wanted to reveal how much he thought he knew. “From what I understand, beasts have two paths to progression. I understand the first path very well.”

“Do you, now?”

“Yes. Beasts like you and Dean gain their power through battle and long life. I’m guessing you’ve been collecting energy for a long time. Maybe 100 years?”

Nulsa gave an approving hoot. “I’m impressed. Closer to 200 years, though. What about the second method?”

“That’s the one I don’t know a thing about,” Rud said. “I know Ban was a forest spirit before she was reincarnated as a tree. What happened to her before she became a tree is how she got her power.”

“That’s an interesting theory. I don’t know how Ban got her power, but you’re right. She walked a different path.”

“And since you’re so old, since you know about stuff like this,” Rud said gesturing toward the area the magic was. “It feels like it would be in your wheelhouse. You’re always so wise about everything.”

“While I appreciate the sentiment, I didn’t spend much of my time near the groves. I’ve been alone for most of my life and have been very selective with both the locations I visit and the friends I make,” Nulsa said. “A collection of energy like this reminds me a little of a dungeon forming, but you rarely see the cloud for this long. Maybe an hour at most, but not days.”

“If a tower pops out of this energy field, I’m losing it,” Rud said.

Nulsa shook his head. “I don’t think that’s it. This is something novel.”

Rud gritted his teeth, drawing on Nulsa’s wisdom about how this stuff worked. It wasn’t likely to be a system-generated structure like the labyrinth, the tower, or a dungeon. Instead, it had to be something else, and that got him thinking. If it was unrelated to the generation of a system-based building, then it was unlikely to be an event triggered by the system. There was only one strange occurrence he could think of that had to do with high concentrations of magical energy

“That underground place,” Rud said, snapping his fingers. “With the big crystal. That’s gotta be where this garbage is coming from!”

“You think so?” Nulsa asked, his head going from side to side like a metronome. He caught himself after a few cycles, ruffling his feathers. “That would be concerning. The energy required to do something like this is vast.”

“Yeah, and Ban is tapping into the underground thingy. Ah, crap this could be bad,” Rud said, jumping to his feet and dancing on the spot. “Forget portals and towers, what would happen if these magic clouds went ape?”

“Anything,” Nulsa said simply. “Think about forming a spell. Your mana makes a shape based on the system’s definition for spells. Freecasting allows you to push that spell to its limits. Just about anything could happen under the right conditions.”

More than anything, Rud needed a plan if he wanted to deal with the clouds of energy and the grove. He had to figure out the best way to approach the problem. The sun was setting lower by the moment and would pass below the horizon at any second, plunging the grove into darkness. Yet still, the druid’s thoughts gathered. Was it more important for him to finish the gate project, or did this now take priority? He found it was almost impossible to reach a decision, but he couldn’t do anything while Ban was busy creating the structure.

“Here’s the plan,” Rud said, clapping his hands. “When Elm gets here tomorrow, we’ll pump her full of tea and work her to death.”

“That’s a horrid plan.” Nulsa ruffled his feathers.

“New plan. When Elm gets here tomorrow, we’ll pump her full of tea and ask her politely to work real hard so we can figure out what’s going on.”

“Slightly better,” Nulsa said. “At least your heart is in the right place.”

Rud had a stockpile of cheese and tea large enough to send to the other groves. That was only because they currently had only two groves on their contact list. When that expanded, he would also need to increase his production efforts. He also needed to get a handle on his trail mix situation, but now that cheese had entered the game, he wasn’t sure he needed it as much. After discussing some more details with Nulsa, he headed over to the Smithy to find what he had expected. The druid had never wanted them to produce any weapons, but dwarves will be dwarves. There were samples of a few weapons scattered haphazardly around. Taz was likely using them for practice, but if arming the other groves would help, he wouldn’t be opposed to it. Maria’s grove was filled with dwarves, so they could definitely make use of a few swords or spears.

If those weapons were imbued with the power of Gladesbale Grove, they would be doubly effective.

The light from the shattered moons shone through the canopy above as Rud walked through the forest. He spotted the building Ban was working on and thought it looked far more alien than anything she had created so far. Right now, it resembled a giant onion wrapped in roots. Despite her brave proclamation, it appeared to be drawing most of her attention, which set him on edge.

Despite his feelings of unease, it was hard to be too worried. At night, the forest was alive with the sounds of nighttime critters skittering through the underbrush. It was audible all around him. Owls flew from here to there, although they hardly made a sound. Insects sang their songs, resembling a low buzz, while the rustling canopy overhead created a lullaby. 

Rud headed home, setting a modest fire in his wood-burning stove. He settled into bed, allowing his plans for the next day to solidify. If he could get a few things under control, he knew the road ahead would become smooth. Failure to keep ahead of all the weird stuff that happened in the Grove would bury him, and he couldn’t allow that to happen. Complacency is the thing that killed him in his previous life. Being proactive this time around was the only thing he could do to save himself.

“You got this,” Rud whispered to himself as he snuggled in his comfy blankets. “Number one druid…”

He fell asleep shortly after. Nulsa spent the night scanning for more strange energy signatures. The owl wouldn’t rest until he figured it out.

Chapter 12

Goodnight, Tree

Rud wasted no time at all the next morning. He woke up, had a slice of cheese, and then took to the skies. He headed east toward the town to rouse Elm, in case she hadn’t awoken yet. Just as he had done yesterday, he scanned the forest along the way, searching for those pockets of energy he still had no explanation for. This time around, he was motivated to be the custodian everyone thought he was. But he didn’t need to fly for long to spot a mounted figure tearing across the open landscape.

Elm rode Daffodil at a quick gallop, kicking up dust behind her as she plunged into the forest. Rudd banked, descending and flying alongside her. The mage didn’t pay much attention to him until Rud started jerking his head in strange ways. She must have opened her magical sight or something because she reigned Daffodil in, skidding to a stop along the wooden pathway and releasing a nervous chuckle. 

“Is it concerning that I recognized you even before I opened my mana sight?” Elm asked, dismounting and crossing her arms.

Rud shifted into his true form, leaning against his staff and shaking his head. “Yeah, I think you’ve been spending too much time in the grove. If you’re not careful, you may just turn into a druid.”

“That might not be the worst thing in the world,” Elm said. She reached into a bag at her side and withdrew a tome that was far too large to fit inside. She held it out for him to take and smiled. “This is the preeminent tome on constructing gates and casting portals, but of course I’m here for you if you need any instruction.”

“There’s a big pile of magically infused ingots waiting for you,” Rud said, beaming with excitement. “Make no mistake about that. Unfortunately, we have a secondary problem.” 

Elm narrowed her gaze, a playful smile appearing on her face. “What did you get into this time, Forest Spirit?” she asked. “Tampering with magical forces you don’t understand, perhaps.”

“You’re frighteningly close to the truth,” Rud said, as he regained his bearings on where he was within the Grove. They were close enough to one of the strange collections of magic that he was confident Daffodil could reach it with little issue. Thanks to his Transient Guest upgrade for his Custodianship skill, he had marked Elm as a friend of the Grove. That would allow her to pass through any part unhindered. She wouldn’t go nuts like the others. “Can you help me look at this cloud of magic? I can’t figure out what’s going on with it.”

“Sure thing,” Elm said, nodding. “I’d planned to spend the next few weeks in the Grove anyway… There’s so much to study.”

Rud switched on his Clear Communication ability, turning to Daffodil. “Think you can keep up with me through the forest?”

The horse-deer snorted. “Me keep up with you? You have it backwards, little man.”

“Fair enough,” Rud said, shifting into his raven form. Elm yelped when Rud took off, because Daffodil jumped from the wooden path and took off into the open forest.

Navigating the forest as a raven was pretty easy, so long as Rud was paying attention. Daffodil would’ve had a hard time moving through if she was a lesser beast. But her species of deer-horse was superb at moving through the forest with untold agility. Elm screamed in terror the entire time. The trip would’ve taken a person walking a good six hours, but between the raven form and the deer-horse’s agility, they made it in fifteen minutes.

Elm rolled from the saddle and onto the ground, gripping the dirt in both hands and hyperventilating.

“Yeah, I think you might have gone a bit too hard there, Daffodil,” Rud said, coming over and patting Elm on the back.

“Just give me a minute,” Elm said, looking green in the face.

“She cannot handle my full power,” Daffodil said with a laugh. “I wasn’t even going as fast as I could. I was too concerned for my rider.”

It took Elm a good five minutes to finally gain her bearings again. She tried to stand a few times but looked as though she would vomit, so instead, she lay on her back until she felt better. Rudd tried to cast a few healing spells on her, but nothing seemed to settle her stomach. Only time and a bit of rest cured her when she was finally ready. She stood, dusted herself off, and prepared to press forward the last few feet until the magical anomaly.

“Oh, this isn’t good,” Elm said, reaching her hand out.

Rud could barely see the strands of magical power coming from her body. At first they whipped out before settling in over the collection of magic. He couldn’t tell exactly what she was doing, but he got the basics. She probed her senses deeper until Elm finally pulled back as though receiving an electrical shock.

“Got a diagnosis, doc?” Rud asked.

“Nothing exact,” Elm said, walking around the anomaly and humming to herself. “Could this be attached to the tower? No, that makes little sense. The magic there has a distinct signature. The power here feels old. I can feel the energy of the tower from here, and the signature is quite new. No, this is ancient magic. Magic older than anything I’ve experienced in my life.”

“Are we leaning to good or bad?”

“Hard to say,” Elm said. “The lattice arrays inside are so complex, I can’t just pull them apart. On the outside, I can see illusion magic meant to hide something. That bit of magical spellwork is tangled with something else… Maybe some dungeons? But the deeper instructions are unknowable without more research.”

“Okay. So, I’m pretty sure these are connected to the city underground,” Rud said. “And the illusion magic might be shielding some dungeons in our area. We’ve noticed a few dungeons that aren’t visible through my Farseeing skill. Or the Spirit Owl’s sight.”

“That might make sense,” Elm said. “Just because this effect is influencing the dungeons, doesn’t mean it’s working together intentionally. It could be more likely that they became tangled unintentionally. This could be the reason the tower appeared, too. We need to peel it apart layer-by-layer.”

“Would it help if we went down to the city?”

“If it isn’t poisoned. I was told it was volatile down there.”

“Ban, you awake yet?” Rud asked.

“I never went to sleep. Mostly,” she responded.

“Is the underground place still deadly?”

“For now. But I’ll have it cleaned up in a few days.”

“You’re the best!”

Rud cleared his throat. “Just talked to the tree. She’ll have the underground place ready in a few days. Which is absolutely perfect, since we need to get to work on a Gate.”

Elm just nodded, her eyes locked on the magical cloud. Rud stood patiently for a while before she finally snapped back to the conversation.

“Right,” she said. “I cannot penetrate the magic further without viewing the source. So, I’ll find my way back to the road and meet you in the Grove’s center.”

“What, you don’t want to dart through the forest again?”

“No. I never want to do that again,” Elm said, resolute. “Unless Daffodil wants me to vomit all over her, we’ll take the road.”

“Got it,” Rud said. “I’ll meet you there. Ban’s new building might be done enough for me to check out anyway. And you know what that means!”

“I really don’t.”

“Upgrades!” Rud said, shifting into his raven form and flying away without another word. He dove into the nearest bush and appeared in the clearing. Ban was still working on the building, but he could tell it was close to being done.

Although Rud was hoping the onion shape for the new building would go away… it didn’t. Ban had made great progress already and she was clearly putting a lot of work into getting the building constructed as quickly as possible. Perhaps she sensed his desire to spend some of the stocked materials he had. The druid did a few laps around the building. It was being constructed on the southern side of the clearing, right against the forest. The structure itself was about ten feet high, and perhaps five wide at the base. It was shaped roughly like an onion, and the structure he could see below the roots was made from smoothed wood.

“You must be confused,” Ban said, her laugh echoing through the clearing.

“You have no idea how confused I am,” Rud said, tilting his head to the side. “So this is a big energy converter shaped like an onion?”

“Yes, an onion converter, if you will,” Ban said.

“Well, aren’t you just a big goofball today.”

“There are only a few layers left to go,” Ban said.

Since Rud was still waiting for Elm to arrive in the center, he waited for the building too. True to her word, Ban completed the construction of the building shortly after. Of course, the druid couldn’t wait and inspected the building right away.

[Energy Condenser]

Rank 0 Level 1 Sacred Tree Building

Upgrade Progress: 0%

Description:

Tapped into the core network of the Grove, this building converts low-density energy into higher densities.

Effect:

Allows the Sacred Tree to pump stored energy inside, converting it to high-density energy.

“That’s pretty simple,” Rud said, scratching his head. “Are you sure this is going to be useful?”

“After you upgrade it a few times, yes,” Ban said. “Right now, it will take me a long time to condense the mana. We’ll be waiting for months between uses of even the most simple portals.”

“So, we’re going to upgrade! Nice. You wanna steer it?” Rud asked.

“Yes, I know which upgrades I want already. Since you’re the one with the meat hands, you can get started on empowering the building.”

Rud chuckled, reaching into his bag and withdrawing a Dungeon Core Fragment. Upgrading the new building was cool and all, but as the druid watched the levels fly by, he had the desire to upgrade his other buildings.

“Go figure. Doing upgrades here reminded me of how fun it is upgrading buildings,” Rud said. “Okay. Upgrade coming up. Which one are we taking?”

“Linked Condenser,” Ban said.

Rud discarded the other upgrades, instead focusing on the one she recommended.

[Linked Condenser]

Energy Condenser Upgrade

Synergize Upgrade:

[Energy Nodules]

Description:

One plant can only do so much. Why not link all of them together?

Effect:

Allows you to draw on the power of every plant linked within your Grove to condense energy faster.

“Ah, you sneaky tree. That’s amazing. How much time does that shave off?”

“I can’t even give an accurate amount. It should take less than a day for me to condense enough energy to operate the portal for a few hours,” Ban said. “Pick Flower Blitz next. That should be enough for now, otherwise my network will be strained.”

“On it boss,” Rud said, getting to work. The next upgrade would bring the building to Rank 1. That would make the building far more powerful. It didn’t take long before the new upgrade appeared. The druid inspected it.

[Flower Blitz]

Energy Condenser Upgrade

Synergize Upgrade:

[Energy Flowers]

Description:

Each flower holds a secret potential.

Effect:

Once per day, you may draw on the power of your Energy Flowers. Each flower has a chance to produce a small amount of high-density energy per second.

This effect lasts for ten minutes.

“That was more stressful than I had expected,” Ban said with a sigh. “I think I need to rest now.”

“Hey, don’t push yourself too hard,” Rud said. “Great upgrades, but I don’t want to see my favorite tree wilt.”

“I’m offended you would have any other trees in your life aside from me,” Ban said with mock outrage. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need a nap.”

“Goodnight, tree,” Rud said, hugging her trunk. “Sleep tight.”