NOVEL NEXT 2.44 - Rank Up!
"For the last time, you're not squirrels anymore," Rud said, folding his arms as he glared at the cows.
He was getting through to them, but it was slow going. Despite their massive bodies and predilection for eating a lot of grass, the cows still didn't believe they were cows. Instead, they insisted on doing squirrel things, like eating nuts and trying to climb trees. But the advantage of the animal communication skill was that he could talk to them and bring them closer to a domesticated cow each day. His group of ten cows and a scattering of goats gathered around him as he spoke, creating an awkward air.
"Cow… Moo?" one cow asked.
"Yes, cows go moo," Rud said, breathing out a heavy sigh. "You go moo, you eat grass, you frolic in fields, and most importantly, you make milk."
Rud had the unenviable task of telling the cows how they produced milk. Eventually, they understood the concept. Apparently, when Taz had milked the cows, he had done it more forcefully than they were comfortable with. But now, they were alright with it. The druid sat on a milking stool and filled metal pails with the cows' milk. It was more than he could ever hope to use, but he still had a plan for it.
"And it doesn't taste bad," Rud said, taking a sip from the bucket. He cast all ideas of pasteurized milk out of the window. He was a magical forest spirit and doubted the pathogens within could even affect him. But at least it tasted mostly like cow's milk, if not a little nutty.
He finished the job quicker than he had expected. Taz made it sound as though the cows did not cooperate with him, making the job take hours on end. However, Rud could complete it within half an hour because he could tell the cows where to stand and what he was doing. It was something he had not expected from his animal communication skills. Being able to talk to farm animals made everyone's life easier.
"Thank you for the work, ladies," Rud said, waving as he made his way out of the pen. A familiar tingle radiated in his chest, but this one was slightly different. As he walked, he felt himself falling to one side without his command. His legs gave out from underneath him, and he slipped, spilling a pail of milk on the ground. He drew a staggered breath as more energy swirled in his chest. Without hesitating, he ran to the nearest bush, appearing at the base of the sacred tree.
"Help, I'm dying," Rud said, collapsing near Ban's trunk.
"You're not dying, you're ranking up," Ban said with an amused giggle.
"Are you serious?" Rud asked, rolling onto his back. His breath still came in ragged gulps, but he could now feel exactly what those energies were. His body was being strengthened by the increased rank. His mana pool deepened. Even his skin felt tougher, but the process was uncomfortable.
"You've worked hard enough. I don't know why you're surprised that you're ranking up. It appears as though your Animal Communication skill is the last one to hit the mark. Congratulations!"
This one was going to be a doozy. Rud would gain access to a new ability for his Druid class and an upgrade for his Animal Communication skill. That was a lot of choices to make, especially considering his goals had shifted slightly since the last time he got to pick an ability. He thought about all the different things he could specialize in and still found himself unsure which path to take. Spellcasting had been very good to him, but he had since specialized almost entirely in construction-based magic, focused on growing and shaping plants.
"The pain is mostly gone," Rud said, taking a few steady breaths, "And... oh, yes, there it is. The system message."
[Rank Up!]
You have gained enough experience in three skills to achieve Rank 1! Your general power has increased.
You have gained a free attribute point, and a free ability pick.
There was also the system message about his skill upgrade, and he wasn't sure which one to look at first. After some internal debate, he picked an upgrade for his Animal Communication ability first. It would likely be the most underwhelming of his choices today, seeing as Animal Communication wasn't exactly an earth-shattering skill set. He flicked through the menu, finding the abilities available to him. As expected, they were strange choices, and he found it very easy to narrow it down to one.
[Understanding]
Animal Communication Upgrade
Description:
Bridge the gap between animals and yourself.
Effect:
When communicating with animals, your meaning will be better translated.
The usefulness of this upgrade was difficult for Rud to explain to himself. It was often hard to get animals to understand what he was trying to tell them. He could say they were in great danger, but they never truly understood him. His hope was that this upgrade would solve that problem.
But that was the easy pick for the day. Rud now had to sift through the vast list of abilities he could choose for his Druid class. As expected, there were selections for every kind of specialization. He had two abilities currently attached to the class. Druidic Spellcasting was simple; it allowed him to cast druid spells. Druidic Attunement enabled him to better control his spells, increasing or decreasing their power, which influenced how much mana they consumed.
"Well, that's new," Rud said, looking over a series of abilities in his list. "Specializations?"
"Oh right," Ban said. "At the first rank, you can pick a specialization. This won't impact your other schools of magic. It'll just make you very good at that one thing."
Those specializations seemed a bit random to Rud. There were things like shape-shifting and plant magic, but there were also overly specialized areas such as plant care or... digging.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
"What do you think about specializing in plant-based magic?"
"My recommendation is to take a broader form of specialization. Bent said that they are less powerful than the more narrow abilities, but you will get far more use out of it."
Rud had to scroll through the massive list to catalog everything in his mind. However, when he got past the initial burst of specialized abilities, he found something interesting. His brows knitted as he read them over. He looked up at the sacred tree and shook his head. "Are you aware of these other ones?"
"What other ones?" Ban asked.
"There are the standard specialization abilities that I just mentioned to you, but there are also grove specializations," Rud said. He scrolled through the list, finding an example to read off for her. "Grove Animal Communication."
"I'm afraid I'm unaware of such an ability," Ban said. She tried to conceal the surprise in her voice, but she failed. "Why don't you look at the one specialized in plant magic and read it out to me?"
From what Rud understood, the sacred tree could effectively see what he saw, and for a while, he had suspected she could even see his system interfaces. But this just meant that his theory was wrong. If she needed him to read it out, then she couldn't see it. He felt a wave of confusion and shock roll over him as he realized the tree wasn't omnipotent.
[Grove Specialization: Plant Magic]
Sacred Grove Ability
Description:
Dedicate yourself to plant magic. All spells, abilities, and skills that influence plants fall under your domain. These improvements are bound to Gladesbale Grove, and cannot work outside those confines.
Effect:
Drastically increase the power of all plant-based spells, abilities, and skills while within Gladesbale Grove.
"Give me a moment," Ban said after Rud read the description off for her.
This was an ability Rud would take without her input. When the system said 'drastically,' it meant drastic. He was eager to see what he could do with his spells. The druid stood there, waiting for the tree's response for what felt like an eternity, when she finally spoke, it startled him.
"Prepare yourself," Ban said, a tinge of nervousness in her voice. "I must spend some of my hard-gathered energy to open a temporary portal."
Before Rud even had a chance to prepare himself, he felt the air shimmer before him. Roots sprang from the ground, wrapping into an archway that filled with a green magic. It rippled out from the edges as though someone had dropped a stone in a calm pool of water. An instant later, it became solid, and then a pair of magnificent antlers poked through. Next came the head, and then the body of the progenitor of all groves. Bent. True to his name, one of those pristine antlers was bent at a slight angle.
Without words, the forest spirit looked down at Rud and regarded him with oddly human-like eyes. He blinked once and then turned his attention to the sacred tree. The sacred beast's body was a swirl of magic. It had a fawn-colored hue, but when it moved, it rippled as though responding to the latent energy in the air. Wordlessly, the pair communicated. The druid could feel it in the air, if only as a faint afterthought.
Eventually, Bent turned to him, a sense of sheer power washing over Rud as he watched the massive stag approach. It was roughly twice his own height, and the ground rumbled as it walked. Bent lowered his head and pressed his nose against the staff in his hand before turning back to Ban for a moment. Another ripple of energy occurred, and the portal opened. The stag spirit vanished into the shimmering green before it vanished once again.
Rud realized it felt as though someone had seized his heart and was squeezing it. He fell forward, taking a deep breath and inhaling the scent of the forest floor. He looked up at Ban with pleading eyes but found only her unfeeling bark. It took a few minutes for the sense of comfort to return to the air, but when it did, he finally found the strength to talk.
"What was that feeling?" Rud asked, finally able to find the words.
"That is the power of our benefactor," Ban said, her voice shuddering as she spoke. "And the reason why not many visit the heart of his grove."
"Yeah, I could see why," Rud said, dusting himself off as he rose to his feet. "I didn't even hear him say anything. Were you two talking?"
"It is both an honor and a curse to communicate with Bent," she said. "He has a theory about the ability that was revealed to you, although he has never seen it before. He thinks it's because of our almost perfect connection, along with your new item."
"Did he have an opinion on whether or not I should take the ability?" Rud asked.
"He's impressed with the progress you've made building things within the Grove. He thinks your plant magic may one day rival Basil's abilities and encourages you to pursue this path. More impressively, he predicts our powers will combine as we both grow."
Rud was never one to go against what the master of the groves thought was best. Although he planned to pick the ability, he hesitated. The meeting with the stag spirit was off-putting. He had never imagined he would feel so much power in one place, and he wondered how the folks back on the mainland ever visited his grove. The druid doubted anybody ever got close enough to see him. If they did, they would be simpering puddles of people rather than whole beings.
"I feel like I need a shower and about ten cups of my tea," Rud said, grumbling to himself as he headed to the longhouse.
"Are you actually going to make some tea?" Ban asked, laughing as he left.
"Yeah, I'm absolutely going to make some tea," Rud said. He put a pot on and set it to boil before coming outside to wait for it to finish. "That wasn't the most pleasant experience of my time here in the Groves. Honestly, I'm kind of scared."
"Perhaps now you can see how lonely of an existence it is to be the master of these groves," Ban said. "Cloistered as he is, Bent typically only communicates through thought. His presence is too much, even for us to bear."
The druid was only certain of one thing. If he closed his eyes and did his best to forget about the absolutely frightening stag spirit, he could consider the suggested ability pick to be good. Anything that combined his own powers with the grove was good, so he would pick it. He was just going to have nightmares about giant stag spirits crushing his mushroom house and eating all his tea for a few weeks.
With a cup of tea in hand, Rud marched out into the grove and found a group of young trees to experiment on. "Care to observe me as I do a little test?" he asked.
"Absolutely," Ban said, her voice echoing through the forest. Rud always enjoyed it when she spoke aloud, rather than directly into his mind.
This part was simple. Rud selected a group of trees and cast the base level of his plant growth spell to see how quickly they would grow. He and Ban took rough measurements of how much they grew and how much mana it cost him to cast the spell. Then, he went into his list of abilities and accepted his newest one. The power of the specialization ability flowed through his body. A faint thread he had only ever been partially aware of blazed in his mind and served as his connection to the sacred tree and all she represented.
"Got your eyes on these trees?" Rud asked, gesturing to the sapling he planned on growing.
"I'm ready," Ban confirmed. He felt her focus narrow.
Rud cast his plant growth spell. Unlike normal, a swirl of powerful druidic magic flowed around the sapling. The ground rumbled slightly as it shot skyward, skipping every single step in between and becoming a fully grown tree in an instant. Better than that, the mana cost for the spell was more than halved, and the druid felt an empowering rush of energy flood through his body.
"Okay, a few things happened there," Rud said, holding his hands up defensively. "Did you see everything?"
"Indeed, I did," Ban said in an excited tone. "The power of the spell has more than doubled. I can't really estimate the rank you're casting it at now. It's just extremely powerful."
"Oh yeah," Rud said, "Things are about to get interesting."