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

Rud pressed his hands into the heaving chest of the bear, casting nature's Restoration. While he could feel the life coming back into the beast, it still seemed a far way off. After getting a good night's rest, he had focused his attention on making Mint a new blend of tea. This wouldn't really be chai, but she didn't need to know that. The system would likely have another name for it. After being presented with the thought of milk in tea, she had taken charge of the goats.

"Good thing," Rud said, patting the matted fur of the bear. "Last thing I need is a bunch of goats to care for. Who knows where Mint stole them from."

Once he was done in the cave, Rud ran into Taz outside. The dwarf needed help smelting some ore today, so Rud put it on his to-do list. First, he needed to check in with Maria, updating her about the weird box they found in the ground. Tea water, bear healed, goats checked, he was off to the Observatory.

The radio turned on with a satisfying click, static crackling gently. Rud thumbed the button on the microphone. "Rud, reporting in for my daily update."

Maria must have had her radio on all the time with the volume way up, because it took about the same amount of time for her to answer every time. There was a period of extended silence before her voice came drifting in through whatever magic the object used to transmit voices.

"Maria here. Cursed object or bones?"

"Cursed object," Rud confirmed, shaking his head. "We don't know what it does, but I have a spell that should remove the curse. I guess."

"Wow. The all-powerful druid taking care of business."

"I hope, anyway. The strange thing about the object was it interacted with the magic from the grove. I have everyone looking for something similar, but we haven't found a thing so far."

A long pause came in over the radio, static hissing to fill the silence.

"Gug says he's not familiar with cursed objects. He says they're rare and dangerous."

"That's what my dwarf said. But I'm certain we found a decent way to seal it up." Rud thought about adding defenses to the cursed object's tomb. "Also, we have some goats."

"Goats? I love goats."

"Mint wants to milk them so she can have chai. I won't tell her that chai is more than just spicy tea. She's too excited. But you should see how big my tea garden is."

"You've inspired me to work on a few new projects of my own! Gug has been on my case for years because I'm 'lazy' and whatever. I guess he's right…"

"I can't imagine being underground for so long."

Rud left it at that, still not wanting to get her hopes up. A two-way portal that was up all the time would be hard to pull off, but Ban said it could happen. They were in a rare position of communication between a tree and custodian. Most others weren't lucky enough to be where they were, and he wouldn't waste it. Maria talked about all kinds of things after that, detailing her plans to do something with her grove. Enough time passed that Rud got hungry, and they ended the conversation.

Before heading to breakfast, Rud teleported to the goat pen to check on them. They had cleared a lot of the vegetation away… Too much. He brought a pail of magical water and gave the stubs of grass some druidic treatment, watching as they grew in an instant. Rud looked up, watching as the four goats bounded over.

"You're multiplying," he said, watching as the creatures lapped up the water. They hiccuped after drinking it, shaking their heads and snorting. Rud activated his Clear Communication upgrade. "What's up, goats?"

"Grass," a goat said. "Vines, twigs, grass, roots, worms, voles—whatever. Gimmie."

"You're pushy," Rud said, emptying his water over the grass. They sprouted up immediately, only to be mowed by a goat. "And greedy."

"More grass," another goat said. Rud supposed it was Goat-Three… or four. "Want more grass."

"You guys too cold?" he asked.

"More grass," the goat said, bleating loudly. "Not cold."

"Works for me. Think you guys can be good goats and follow me?" Rud asked. "I promise more grass."

The goats shared a look, eventually nodding. "Yes."

Rud led the procession of goats through the forest, yelling at the critters when they took too much of the food he used to lead them. The grove was large enough that they could have their fill of stuff nearby, but he didn't want them to disturb the balance. The druid admitted defeat when the goats disobeyed his orders once again. They were goats, after all.

"Dean, could you give me a hand?" Rud asked, feeling a shiver of a response from afar. The massive wolf burst through the underbrush moments later, sending one goat toppling to the side with rigid limbs.

"Snacks?" Dean asked.

Rud fished through his bag, finding some mortal currency he had been forced to take in the past. "Can you head to town and get some hay? Or goat feed."

"They will not understand me," Dean said.

Rud sighed. He was right, of course. No one in town spoke wolf. Mint was the only one who could communicate clearly with the mortals. Dean helped him with the new plan, which was to scare the goats back to their pen. The plan to feed them out in the forest had failed, but the backup plan was in motion. Once the goats were secure, Rud rode Dean to the town, quickly finding a merchant who would sell him hay. There was no such thing as goat feed in the town.

Rud formed a basic shelter inside the pen for the goats, and outside the pen for his new hay. He stockpiled it, hoping it would stay dry enough for the goats before tossing one bale inside.

"Expensive milk machines," Rud said, watching as the goats tore into the bale. "I guess they like it."

"They seem happy," Dean agreed. "Do you still require my help? I am needed elsewhere."

"Go on," Rud said, waving as the wolf rushed off into the forest.

Supplying the goats with food he bought wasn't ideal, but that was a problem for another day. Rud headed to the tea farm, giving it a good looking over before picking a direction to go with it. He decided on equal parts of everything, because it wasn't just one blend of tea he enjoyed. Thanks to his druidic magic and cuttings from existing tea plants, he had a decent field of tea plants within a few hours. Sorting through the new spicy leaves he had placed in the drying building—and adding some more—he crafted a pot, placed the leaves inside, enchanted it, and inspected the result.

[Wolf Spice Tea]

Rare

Description:

As spicy as a wolf. Wolves are spicy, right?

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Effect:

Sharpens your focus for a limited time.

Aspect Effect (Mint and Ban'Tanthein):

For the next day, your physical attributes are increased by 20%.

"Power tea," Rud said, nodding with approval.

Every other tea Rud had created made a person more energetic, and increased their mana or health regeneration by a percentage. This was the first tea that affected attributes. He smelled the mixture, finding that it stung his nose. It wasn't the kind of tea he liked, but that wasn't the point. He placed the pot filled with Wolf Spice Tea on a table, finding and mixing in the standard earthy, sweet, and citrus leaves.

[Deep Spice Galactic Tea]

Rare

Description:

A combination of earthy and spicy notes, this tea will warm you to the bone.

Effect:

Provides a minor increase to both energy and focus.

Aspect Effect (Mint and Ban'Tanthein):

For the next day, your maximum health is increased by 10%.

The scent of this one worked. It would be the base for something close to chai, even if it wasn't on the mark. But it had all the notes he remembered from Earth. And the effects weren't too bad, especially the increased maximum health. Rud didn't know how effective that would be for people, but whatever. Folks might like the flavor, so the effects were sometimes an afterthought.

[Sweet and Spicy Tea]

Rare

Description:

A combination of sweet and spicy notes, this tea is like a slap and a kiss at the same time.

Effect:

It takes more to make you feel fatigued.

Aspect Effect (Mint and Ban'Tanthein):

For the next day, you will recover from feeling fatigued from physical activities 1.5x as quickly.

Another twist on what the standard teas did. Sweet and Spicy Tea would make it so a person would feel less fatigue. This one would be good for the days where Rud was working long hours, creating things out of plants and all that fun stuff. He could imagine it would be popular with workers. And the scent wasn't too bad.

[Cursed Lemon Tea]

Rare

Description:

A combination of citrus and spicy notes, this tea is like biting into a lemon only to find a spicy pepper. Why would you bite into a lemon?

Effect:

Jump higher.

Aspect Effect (Mint and Ban'Tanthein):

For the next day, acrobatic actions will be easier for you.

This one was weird all around. The smell was strange, the description was questionable, and the additional effects added from his spell would allow the drinker to become a parkour master. Well, maybe not that good. While each tea seemed interesting in its own way, Deep Spice Galactic Tea was the one he selected to blend a few pots of. Rud placed the lid on three of them, carving a note in each. He labeled them with the name of the blend, but also etched 'for Mint' into them.

Rud left the labeled tea in his drying building, finally making his way to the smelter to help Taz. The dwarf was working on more tunnels within the mine, creating switchback staircases to lead him to the lower levels.

"Ready to work?" Taz asked, leaning against the wall.

Rud's stomach grumbled, but he nodded. "What do we have going on?"

Taz lead the way out of the mine. "Well, I know you haven't done a thing with the new smithing building. But I know my way around a forge, so you don't have to worry about leveling a Blacksmithing skill just yet. You're well-versed with the smelter, though."

"Ah. Need some ingots?" Rud asked.

"That would be a decent start," Taz said, his eyes lingered on the new Blacksmithing Workshop. "Mint brought me some hammers for the smithy."

Rud didn't want more to do around the grove, but taking on Blacksmithing was a good idea. For now, he would do what Taz said and create some enchanted ingots. They arrived at the Smelter Workshop and lit the smelters with Fairy Peat. Once they were heated, they added iron ore into the top and waited.

"Are you sure you can work the ingots into something useful?" Rud asked.

"It might not be a powerful item, but I can make it happen," Taz said. His voice held a tone that made Rud question his motives.

"You're hoping for a Blacksmithing class, aren't you?" Rud asked, shaking his head. "Not satisfied with being a Prospector?"

"I won't complain about getting my class back. I know I was a bad dwarf, but I can hope can't I?" Taz asked, shifting uncomfortably on the spot. "I pray the dwarven gods see the good I'm doing and give me something interesting."

"It might work, depending on how much you dedicate yourself to the task. Rud, you're not interested in becoming a Blacksmith?" Ban asked.

Rud smiled nervously. "It's not that I'm not interested… I just don't know how good I'd be at it."

"You access the collective power of the spirits. You'll do fine."

Rud nodded, turning his attention to the forge. He and Taz were almost silent as the smelter did its work. They poured the ingots, and the druid enchanted them. Spirit Iron Ingots were infused with the aspect of Ban and would create potent items… That's what people always told him, anyway. Rud had never actually seen one brought to the last stage.

"What should we make?" Rud asked.

"You're gonna use the forge?" Taz asked.

Rud recognized the effigy outside of the Blacksmithing Workshop. The Salamander Spirit Aegael loomed over him, staring off into the forest. He pressed his hand against it, gaining a message.

[Aspect of Aegael attained!]

Your Grove Custodian subclass has reacted to an effigy of Aegael, spirit of the flame.

The Salamander Sacred Spirit has lent you some of their power. If you stray too far from the idol that granted you this power, it will dissipate.

How far he could stray from the idol was variable, and seemed more tied to the will of that spirit than anything else. "What are we making first?"

"A pickaxe," Taz said. Should be easy enough.

Rud nodded, pulling more Fairy Peat from his bag before inspecting the workshop. It was an open-air workshop just like the smelter. An anvil sat atop a stump while a stone forge dominated the building's center. He placed a bunch of peat in the center, lighting the forge and working the bellows until the flames roared.

"You're like an old pro," Taz said, handing a wooden handle over. "I carved that myself."

"Hold onto that," Rud said, tossing an ingot of copper into the forge. "I'll ruin a few of these before I gain the skill."

Rud removed the ingot from the fire once it was glowing. He knew it should have taken far longer for an ingot to heat up like that, but this forge was magical. It was powered by a spirit aligned with fire. He placed it on the anvil and swung the hammer. The tool seemed to move in slow-motion as it came down, missing the ingot entirely.

"Well, I guess I should have expected that," Taz said.

Rud tried again, this time managing to hit the ingot with exactly no power. He tried a few more times, changing the shape of the metal slightly. Aegael must have taken pity on him, because an hour of pathetic swinging later, he unlocked the Smithing skill.

"Thank god," Rud groaned, falling onto his butt. "Finally unlocked the Smithing skill."

"See if you have an easier time with it," Taz said, eager to see the change.

Rud rolled his shoulders, pulling a fresh ingot from the flames and placing it on the anvil. The hammer felt slightly lighter in his hands. He knew the right angle to strike down with, even if he didn't have the power to follow through. Swinging, he watched as the hammer hit dead-center. More surprising than anything was the way the metal deformed.

"What just happened?" Rud asked, looking down at the deformed ingot. It had splattered out, as though someone had dropped a big rock onto some clay.

"Figures. The spirits gave you a powerful class, didn't they?"

Rud shrugged. "I guess Ban was right…"

"I'm always right," Ban teased.

Rud tossed the ruined ingot to the side, picking another from his seemingly endless stack. He heated it, brought it to the anvil, and struck down. This time he imagined the shape of a pickaxe. The skill knew what he wanted, selecting the perfect spot to strike. The material spread out over the course of several hits, taking the shape of a pick. He didn't know before, but now he knew how to use a punch. Placing a spike over the place where the handle would go, he smacked it with the hammer. After some wiggling and additional hits, he got the hole he desired.

"Quenching time," Rud said, tipping the pickaxe head in some mysterious liquid. It didn't look like water, but he didn't mind. It was there when Ban had completed the building.

Rud wedged the handle into the hole in the pickaxe head, pulling another bar from the fire. He chipped a piece off–which should have been impossible, and made a tiny metal wedge. He then used that to secure the pickaxe handle to the head.

"There ya go," Rud said, holding out the pickaxe. "One fancy druidic pickaxe."

"A druid working the forge," Taz said, shaking his head. "I never thought I'd say… Oh, wow. Did you inspect the item? You should."

Rud took the pick from his friend, inspecting the item.

[Spirit Iron Pickaxe]

Epic

Description:

A Spirit Iron Pickaxe, infused with the power of Gladesbale Grove. This pick holds the signature of Ban'tanthein, an industrious sacred tree, and Mint, her guardian.

Aspect Effect (Mint and Ban'tanthein):

The durability of this tool has increased significantly.

Using this pick delivers more force, and induces less fatigue to the wielder.

"Oh, dang. Spirit Iron is the way to go," Rud said, rotating the pick to get a better look. Not only was it magical and cool, but it also was sized for dwarves and other short folk. "You're gonna be smacking some serious stone."