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

The magical energies east of the grove have settled down for now. Rud sat in his observation tower and observed the swirling bits of magic, making note of the incoming rain and the possibility of snow from the north. Most interestingly, he noticed the pinprick of magic that orbited his tower. He didn't include this in his report to the mortal town, but he knew what it meant. There was some powerful magic weaving itself into his staff.

"Just like that?" Maria asked. "You fixed your frozen island with the power of an otter?"

Rud shook his head yet again. Maria had been hung up on how he had saved the day since he first told her the story. She had since asked him to recount it several times. He thumbed the button on his microphone. "That's right, the power of an otter saved the day."

"I've been around for quite some time," Jim said, his voice coming through the radio in a series of crackling hisses. "I don't think I've experienced as much strife as you have, Gladesbale."

"Yeah, it seems like we're experiencing a bit of a change around here," Rud said, chuckling to himself. "But we've come out on top so far. There's no reason we can't keep everything going without a hitch."

The druid's confidence wasn't unfounded. Sometimes he had to remind himself that his grove was arranged uniquely. The other groves could not talk to their sacred trees, and he didn't think their guardians were as strong, but it was hard for him to tell. Sometimes it felt as though he was the lowest in the hierarchy, while at other times it felt as though he was right on top.

"More reports are coming in about system structures," Maria said, cutting through the radio. "Everyone's responding in their own special way. Do you have any progress on that supply portal, Gladesbale?"

"I think we're actually pretty close on that," Rud said. "We are working on w ays to tap into additional power sources, so it shouldn't be long now."

"If the tea you make is as good as you say, I can't wait," Jim said.

The conversation drifted on like that for longer than Rud had intended. He had a kitchen to build, but the conversation with the other custodians was always calming. When he was done, he wrote his report and handed it off to Dean for delivery. There might be rain in the mortal town by tomorrow, but that depended on how the winds blew from the ocean to the southeast.

Rud was unsurprised to see a scatter of wood-burning stoves resting in a clearing when he returned. Apparently, Mint had made good on her promise to find them enough for their cheese-making empire. They came in an assortment of sizes and shapes. The druid needed to express his gratitude to the guardian when he saw her again.

"Bright and early," Taz said, appearing from nowhere as he looked at the stoves. "I see our fearless leader has come through."

"Yeah, but you have to wonder where she gets all this stuff." Rud said. The quality of the stoves is too good for her to have found them in an abandoned place. He was wondering if she was robbing the town itself.

"Best not to complain, my druid-y friend," Taz said. "Instead, I think you should get to work on the building."

Rud had considered a few locations to place the building. The clearing around the secret tree was wide, and there would be plenty of space to do that. However, for production-style buildings, he preferred to place them away from that area. There was a section to the east, just north of the bathhouse. He could place the kitchen there, and while it would share the road with the rest stop, there was still plenty of space to build.

Proximity to roads hardly mattered for anyone with a Thicket Travel upgrade. It was more about aesthetics and ease of access for the mortals if they needed it. He didn't really mind if they were wandering around his buildings, so long as they left his cheese alone. Rud headed to the site with Taz, who wholeheartedly approved of the location.

"If this is the first thing the mortal sees about our little town, it'll strike an impressive image," Taz said. "It'll appear as though we're a bit more crowded than we are. How big are we going?"

Rud leaned over the edge of the raised road. There was space underneath where he could add some storage, and space above where he could add a second floor to the building with his newest ability. He could go wild with this, and it would only take him a few hours.

"I think we're going big," Rud said, rubbing his hands together. "Big enough that we don't have to worry about expansion after the fact. We'll just factor that into the construction now and never worry about it again."

"Time for some division of labor," Taz said, clapping his hands together. "I'll go milk the animals, and you get to work on the building. How does that sound?"

"Perfect."

Most buildings Rud had worked on were fairly simple. Even the rest stop felt rudimentary compared to what he could do now. Perhaps it was time to flex his newest power. The druid got to work, creating the frame of the structure first. It was far too large for what they needed, but he didn't care. He felt the energy of the grove flow through him as he wove living trees together. When he erected the walls on either side, he allowed those trees to sprout leaves, adding more of a woodsy aesthetic to the overall look.

Rud wove the floor of the first floor and created a staircase down to the basement, enclosing it. Then, in the center rear of the first floor, he wove a beautiful spiral staircase that led up to the second floor. The purpose of the second floor was for storage. The first floor served as the workroom, while the basement was intended for storage and the aging of cheese.

To tie in the theme of the grove, Rud imagined a sloped roof from which tree branches thick with leaves and flowers grew. He ensured it was a carpeting canopy shielding the building itself from whatever sun would poke through the other trees overhead. The process took several hours, but when he stood back and looked at it, the kitchen he had created was magnificent.

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"I think you may have gone overboard with this one," Dean said, appearing from nowhere.

"I believe you're wrong with that one, Dean," Rud said, smiling to himself. "I even put some greenery inside so we could teleport directly to the kitchen."

"I won't lie, it is impressive," Dean said.

"If you're so impressed, you can help us haul the stoves in. I still have to hook those up."

Pulling the stoves into the structure was difficult, but once they got each one in its place, Rud had no problem sending the exhaust pipes through the wall so they could vent outside. He reinforced the areas where the pipe connected to the wood to ensure he wouldn't start a fire. Dean helped him check and double-check the accessibility and integrity of the building. They had concerns about the first floor getting too hot, so the druid opened some windows in the walls. They wouldn't be able to close, but it shouldn't have mattered.

"Looks like you're ready to fire it up," Taz said. Entering the building and looking around, he released a low whistle. "You really built this quickly."

Rud barely heard the words as he studied the walls. He tilted his head to the side as something unexpected happened. There was a strange shimmering of energy that ran over the wooden surface. At first, he thought the building might have caught on fire because of the intensity of that energy, but it released a faint green glow that was thick with the energy of the grove.

"Do you guys see that?" Rud asked, moving close and touching the wall. There was a faint tingle in his mind that reminded him of when the system was telling him he could inspect something. But when he tried, nothing came.

"What is it?" Dean asked, crouching as though it was time for a fight.

"Didn't you want to build this by hand because Ban was too busy?" Taz asked.

"That's right, I didn't want to distract her from dominating both the Labyrinth and the weird, haunted underground place."

"This feels like the energy that comes off the buildings she makes," Taz said, running his hand along the wall.

Somewhere distant, Ban giggled.

"What are you doing, you sneaky little tree?" Rud asked, narrowing his eyes and looking around. The energy only intensified until he felt it fulminate.

"All done," Ban said. "Enjoy the building. I'm getting back to work."

"You're not going to explain what you did or why?" Rud asked, looking to the sky. There was no response, leaving the group to form their own theories about what had just happened. The sacred tree had always required a time of rest after constructing a building, but this time, that wasn't the case. She had taken a building Rud made and turned it into one of her system-recognized buildings. He pressed his hand against the wall, feeling that familiar tingling in his mind. With a flash of willpower, he summoned the interface for the new building.

[Creamery]

Rank 0 Level 1 Sacred Tree Building

Upgrade Progress: 0%

Description:

A building dedicated to creating milk-based products.

Upgrades:

None

"What is a creamery?" Dean asked, growling as he looked around. "I don't like that name."

"I guess it's a place where we can make cheese," Rud said with a shrug. "I'm not going to complain. I've got plenty of materials we could use to upgrade this and get some bonuses. Hey, wait, could we make another building for my tea?"

"Integrating buildings you made with your new powers is easy. Go nuts!" Ban said.

"You sneaky little tree," Rud said, looking around and shaking his fist in the air. "You could have told me this before."

"Secrets, secrets!"

"She's in a really playful mood today," Rud said. "That's okay; she can have her fun, and we'll have our creamery."

"I'm not sure we have enough milk to justify all these stoves," Taz said, scratching his beard. "But we can get working on a batch."

Rud's mind was still in experimental mode with the cheese. He knew that if it was anything like his tea endeavors, he would need to find different methods to create various types of cheese. His goal, after all, was to create food that gave people buffs. The only way to achieve that was to create more than one type of cheese. The only problem was that he had absolutely no idea what he was doing, and the first sample of cheese he had created wasn't even ready for testing. Right?

The problem with that line of thinking is that things worked differently in the grove. Stuff grew faster, food spoiled slower, and perhaps cheese aged at an advanced rate. It might have taken a normal wheel of cheese weeks, months, or even years to age, but in the grove, it could have been completely different. There was only one way to find out.

Before getting to work on his cheese, Rud retrieves the one wheel they had created, bringing it back to the Creamery and placing it on one worktables. "Are you guys ready for the reveal?" he asked.

"I desire the cheese," Dean said, eyeing the mushroom shell of the cheese wheel with hungry eyes.

Rud placed his finger on the top of the wheel and dragged it towards himself, using his prune spell to slice through the exterior and crack it open. The air was immediately filled with a creamy, cheesy smell. The outside of the wheel was a powdery, thick shell, but upon breaking it open, they observed the inside to be creamy and runny.

"Almost looks like brie," Rud said, taking a deep breath through his nose. "We need to find some crackers."

"You're missing one important step," Taz said, shaking his head. "Imbue the thing with your special magic first."

"Oh, right," Rud said, rubbing his hands together and rolling his shoulders. He cast his imbue-crafted item spell on the cheese. It shimmered with green energy, and the salty scent of the cheese doubled in potency in an instant.

He inspected the resulting item.

[Grove Brie]

Rare

Description:

A soft cheese with a hard shell. This cheese is perfect over crackers, with a little slice of sausage, or all on its own.

Effect:

Increase Strength.

Aspect Effect (Mint and Ban'Tanthein):

For the next day, all Strength-based actions increase in effectiveness.

"A powerful effect for a powerful cheese," Taz said. Scooping up a piece and shoving it in his mouth, he visibly shivered as he chewed the cheese. "Oh, this is good."

Rud got himself and Dean a piece, allowing the wolf to have his fill first. The texture of the cheese was a mix between a light crunch on the outside shell and an intensely creamy sensation on the inside. It was slightly salty with a condensed milk taste. While it wasn't as good as some cheeses he had back on Earth, it was still pretty good.

"That is some fine cheese," Dean said, licking his lips. "May I have some more?"

The group could have gone off to do something productive. Instead, they stood around the table and took turns eating pieces of the cheese wheel. Before they knew it, the entire wheel was gone, leaving a wet stain on the table and the split mushroom wrapper behind. There was not even a single crumb of cheese left.

"Boys, I think we need to take a moment and realize we have just become the most powerful grove in the world," Rud said. His eyes locked on the spot where the cheese once was. "We crafted magical cheese… Magical cheese!"

"All shall know our power," Taz said.

"We cannot be stopped," Dean said, nodding with agreement.