Gladesbale Grove [druid, litrpg, town building, slice of life, cozy]

The light sound of bats squeaking echoed through the cavernous caves. Rud held a lantern up high, slinking past the sleeping creatures as he approached the passageway through which Major had originally arrived. The musty scent of the wet cave wafted to his nostrils as he poked his head through the opening. From behind him, the bear growled.

"I'm not certain why I'm the one who needs to join you on this misadventure," Major grumbled.

"Because you're the one who came from the caverns," Rud said, "you should know them better than the others, right?"

"Yes, but there were monsters down here," Major countered, seeming less willing to join in the plan by the moment. "Can't we just go back and have some tea? Don't you have a road to build?"

"The road's gonna get built when it gets built," Rud said. "Right now, I want to figure out if this is connected to the labyrinth."

Rud had suspected there was some connection between the labyrinth and the caverns beneath the grove when it first appeared. He had been constantly putting off exploring this place since most of the sacred beasts were busy, but there was a small amount of downtime and Major wasn't doing anything, so he figured this was as good a time as any. He had done his chores that morning and even checked in with the other groves before concocting the scheme.

"Anyway, don't you have darklight vision?" Major asked.

"Yes, when I'm within range of the effigy of Gug, but I suspect these go deep, and that aspect will fade away. Come on, which way should we go?"

Although he was reluctant, Major led the way into the tunnel. There was a ramped section that led deeper into the network, and once the bear got going, he seemed less reluctant to lead the druid. Fortunately, the cramped corridors didn't last very long. After descending a few levels, it opened up, revealing caverns larger than the ones occupied by the bats. Rud took a moment to appreciate them, listening to his whistle echo off the walls.

"Now, the labyrinth should be that way, right?" he asked, pointing at one of many branching tunnels.

"Yes, but these paths have many twists," Major said. "To go southwest, we must first go north."

Rud put his faith in the bear and followed along. The paths were just as winding as Major had promised. The druid cast his Detect Life spell a few times as they walked, spawning a few more bats, but nothing much else. They walked for what felt like hours before anything interesting happened. They were approaching the mouth of another cramped corridor when the sound of rushing water filled their ears.

"This is a passage where I drank water from several times," Major explained, heading out to the open room.

Rud held his lantern high, squinting against the darkness as he illuminated the slick surfaces. Every step was a treacherous one, especially as he drew closer to the waterfall. The light caught the particles of water in the air, creating wisps that cast themselves onto the ground as soon as they appeared. The water smelled fresh.

After marveling at the waterfall for some time, the duo took another passage, which brought them to a place deeper still. A chilled wind blew from deeper in the cave system, howling over them and bringing with it an unexpected scent. The druid cocked his head to the side, but Major didn't seem to think anything of it. They pressed on for another hour before they reached the source of the scent. Rud shook his head, laughing.

"Well, that changes everything," Rud said, offering a half-hearted shrug as he gestured to the wide-open cavern.

The cave they found themselves in was massive. The walls were painted with a fungus that produced a faint illumination. Pale green lights shone over every slick surface, but more importantly, plants grew on the far end of the cave. The druid rushed over, running his fingers along the pale leaves and looking back at the bear with a large smile on his face.

"Yes, those are quite tasty," Major said. "Are you hungry?"

"I think you're missing the point," Rud said, shaking his head. "This is living plant matter within the bounds of the grove. Do you know what that means?"

"That you're responsible for taking care of them," Major guessed.

Rud clicked his tongue. Maybe the bear had to exist within the grove for a while longer before he understood how interconnected everything was. Instead, to display his point, he walked into the tangle of stunted plants, and a moment later appeared on the surface. He took in a sharp breath of the forest's air and spread his arms wide to catch what little sunlight burned through the trees above. He turned and passed through the same bush, appearing down in the cave once more.

"It means we unlocked a fast travel point," Rud said, beaming at the bear in the darkness.

"Hmm, I wonder if you could carry a potted plant and exploit the thicket travel upgrade," Major said. "Since the system doesn't care if the plants are surface plants or not, maybe that would work."

"Now that's not a bad idea," Rud said. "But for now, we can rely on these little bushes to travel between the surface and the caverns. We won't waste four hours walking in what feels like circles."

"I'm less upset about this journey now," Major said, nodding his massive head. "Come, the deeper you get, the more plentiful these plants are. We'll have more of your 'checkpoints' up ahead."

The Thicket Travel ability worked in a loose way. Rud didn't have an interface that appeared, allowing him to select travel points. Instead, he threw himself through intuition. He imagined the place he wanted to go, and then he passed through a bush, arriving there. The only conditions he was aware of were that he had to be able to imagine the spot or a general location, and that he had to have intent. Laying eyes on the plants down in the caverns was apparently good enough to unlock them.

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Both members of the expedition knew that they wouldn't reach anywhere near the labyrinth today. It would possibly take weeks to find anything interesting, and that wasn't even considering the idea that the labyrinth itself could have been a dimensional space. It could have absolutely no footprint in the underground, meaning that this entire exercise was useless for its purpose. But the druid had wanted to understand these caves since he had first discovered them.

They passed through several more large, open spaces that held a variety of plants. Rud held a secret hope that he would find some kind of underground tea plant, but that didn't come true. As the hours of the day wore thin and they entered the mid-afternoon, he decided to call it quits in another underground, bush-filled room. His lantern was getting low, but it was clear that Major had spent all of his energy for the day.

The duo passed through an underground bush, arriving near Ban's clearing a moment later. The bear let out a heavy sigh and went to rub his back against the sacred tree. He grumbled as he hit just the right spot.

Ever the busybody, Rud couldn't sit idle. He felt his construction magic skill getting closer to rank one by the moment. So instead of taking it easy, he went to work on the road, and only an hour after starting, he was rewarded for his efforts. He had seen many system messages concerning leveling both his skills and himself, but the one that appeared before him was novel.

[Rank Up!]

You've performed enough actions with your Construction Magic skill to gain a new rank!

Construction Magic is now Rank 1, empowering the skill even further…

Your Construction Magic skill has reached a milestone! Please select from the following upgrades…

Gaining a rank meant that he had to select a new upgrade for the skill. The first upgrade Rud had picked for his construction magic was called Grove Weaver. That made absolutely everything about casting that school of magic easier, so long as he was within the Sacred Grove. He was presented with a list of potential upgrades and sifted through them, finding the ones that would have synergy with his existing skill. More than anything, Rud wanted access to skills that would make building stuff easier, but there were a few that fell in line with his current goals. He narrowed it down to one, eventually.

[Grove Reinforcement]

Construction Magic Upgrade

Description:

Empower structures with the energy of the sacred grove.

Effect:

Allows you to imbue structures created within a sacred grove with your mana. This will strengthen that object, so long as it remains in the grove.

On the surface, the upgrade didn't seem like much, but it ticked a few boxes that Rud was interested in. First, it was an upgrade that was aligned with the grove, just like his Grove Weaver upgrade. And second, it would help him create stronger structures to contain things like the labyrinth. With more weird stuff like this happening, he had an interest in creating defensive structures. The last thing that made him go for the upgrade was memories of helping the mortals defend against dungeon attacks. His brambles had been incredibly effective, and this would make them doubly so.

Rud now had his first Rank 1 skill. It wasn't anything flashy, but he was proud of it. He remembered the hours of work he had put into creating structures for the Grove, and smiled to himself as he reflected.

"What's the point of getting a new upgrade if you don't test it?" Rud said to himself, rubbing his hands together. He still stood on a bridge section of the road and simply couldn't wait to put the upgrade to use.

He placed his hand on the railing and felt the upgrade respond in an instant. He knew—without knowing how he knew—he could flood that part with his mana, and he understood what it would do. Not only would it make the section of railing resistant to damage, it would increase its strength, too. Perhaps he could create more elegant buildings now…

But the mana cost required to reinforce such a large section was vast, unlike his mana pool. Without hesitating, Rud traveled through the thicket, arriving at the labyrinth's entrance. His defenses had gone undisturbed, but somebody had left the gate to the front open. He tutted, but inspected his brambles. He placed his hand on one of the sharp spikes and infused it with mana. The tip gleamed with power as it was hardened and strengthened. Those deadly points would drive into the flesh of attacking monsters better and would be less likely to break off.

After spending a little time reinforcing his choice of spikes for the brambles, Rud felt a rush of excitement. That was the first of three skills he needed to get to rank one in order for his class to roll over. That would give him access to another ability, which he absolutely couldn't wait to get his hands on. He felt himself pulled in several directions as he considered the best course. So, he shapeshifted into a squirrel form and headed through the nearest bramble, finding a group of deer grazing in the northwest section of the grove.

"Wussup, my deers?" Rud said, careening through the air as he landed near the herd of deer. The stag, who was in charge, assessed him and then bowed his head.

"It has been a while since you have paid us a visit," the stag said, his head still lowered.

Rud scanned the area, finding a few nearby diseased trees. He shifted into his true form, patted the stag on the head, and got to work chomping the trees down. "I hope you guys are doing well," he said. "Timber!"

The deer must have truly been used to the druid's presence, as they didn't scatter when the tree fell. It cracked through the canopy, taking a few branches with it as it fell, but still the herd remained where it was. Now that was a level of trust you couldn't get unless you were on good terms with a group of flighty creatures like them.

"We are doing very well. Thank you, Keeper," the stag said, finally raising its head. "May I ask what exactly you're doing?"

Rud had already taken notice, but all creatures in the Grove were gaining some semblance of intelligence. Those who were already on the path showed greater improvement. The deer were likely the smartest wild creatures within the grove, and the druid was happy that Mint was protecting them from random wolves. The truth was, most wolves didn't grace the grove because they weren't allowed to hunt there. Only peaceful creatures like badgers, deer, and squirrels called the place home. And goats. But they were transplants they didn't count.

"I have some skills I need to level up, and these trees here are diseased," Rud explained, gesturing to the sickly looking trees on the rocky slope.

"Should we avoid eating from those trees?" the stag asked.

"While I doubt you'll get sick, it's probably a good idea not to eat any nuts that fall from these," Rud explained. "If it looks sickly, just avoid it. There's plenty of space for your herd to graze, and if you really need food, please come to the grove's center, and I'll provide you with as many hazelnuts as you can eat."

"A most generous offer," the stag said, not even flinching as another tree fell."I have noticed groups of mortals heading to the north, and I didn't know if it was of concern to the grove."

"Those are just people heading up to the dwarven mountains," Rud explained. "I wouldn't worry about any mortals traveling through, unless you see them off the path. Were they traveling on the path?"

"The ones my herd spotted were on the road," the stag said. "But I have heard from other groups that there were mortals off the path to the southwest."

That was a problem Rud was working on. There were a bunch of ninjas pushing into the grove, and he didn't know exactly who they were. From what he understood, the beings to the west were mostly orcs. He didn't think there were any fair races, and yet he had seen them. Perhaps there was a group of barbarians or something lurking in those icy mountains. Whatever. They had been driven off, and hadn't caused any problems since.

"Just keep your eyes open," Rud said. "I'll do my best to check on you and your herd more often. Until then, watch out—another tree is coming down."