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

A foreign willpower hit Rud like a truck. Once the message flashed up, he felt the strain of the dungeon's soul pressing against his mind. It was like holding back a truck with his pinky at first. Then something else joined him, bolstering his efforts with an iron will. The world around the druid was a rush of muffled sounds and blurred sights until that supporting effort of an unknown force came swooping in.

It took him too long to realize it was both the guardian and heart of his grove.

"Hold fast, Rud." Nulsa's voice washed over him once the fuzzy sound in his ears faded. "Don't let the dungeon beat you."

"What's going on?" Rud asked, his knees buckling.

"We don't know," Mint said. When had Mint arrived?

"Be strong, custodian," Dean said.

"Yeah, do the thing!" Sarya said.

Major grumbled and Taz yawned.

Rud didn't know when it had happened, but the entire grove had come out to support him. The weight of the dungeon's enormous power seemed lessened. While it did its best to crush down on him, his soul pushed back. Something flitted through the edges of the druid's consciousness, but didn't encroach. Instead, the combined might of Gladesbale Grove battered the dungeon down. Soon it faltered, flagged, and fell until that opposing will was nothing more than a fading wisp.

Sagging to the ground, Rud finally let out a breath. And a message appeared.

[Kobold Dungeon Soul Absorbed]

Your [Custodian's Twig] has absorbed a dungeon within Gladesbale Grove's borders. This artifact has gained +1 Strength, +1 Mind.

The [Kobold Dungeon] has been destroyed.

The sound of stone dragging against stone issued from the crumbling dungeon portal. Rud looked up with a hooded gaze, his mind unable to track what had just happened. The entire grove watched as the dungeon collapsed into the ground, the twisting portal in the center sucking in on itself until it blinked away with a snap. A long silence settled in over the rocky base of the cliff, punctuated only by staggered gasps drawn by the druid himself.

"Well, that was super-duper cool," Sarya said, sticking her butt in the air and growling. "Do it again."

"I don't think he should do that again anytime soon," Ban said, putting an end to the excited wolf's fun.

"Perhaps you won't be such a pushover forever." Mint shifted into her human form, clapping a hand on Rud's shoulder and laughing. "What does it mean to absorb a dungeon's soul?"

"I dunno." Rud shrugged. He didn't know enough about how dungeons worked to tell them the truth. Something about his weapon had drawn in the power stored within the dungeon. Since dungeons were accumulations of magical power, it made sense on a conceptual level… But he simply didn't know enough about them to give an honest opinion. "I don't think that's what you intended, Nulsa."

"Not at all." The owl sailed from the branch of a tree, landing on Major's head and hooting. "This wasn't the outcome I expected. I thought the staff responded to the power of the grove… Instead, it was the power of a dungeon interacting with the grove. Interesting."

"We could theorize about this all day. I suppose we know who should deal with the dungeons from now on," Ban said.

As long as they were within the borders of the grove. Rud didn't think the staff would work otherwise. And those dungeons had to be weakened. This meant he still needed the adventurers to do half the job. From what he understood, they could use some technique to destroy the dungeon from within. Perhaps this was an example where the dungeon was too strong for them to take it out in one go. No matter. It was now officially dealt with.

"Get this man some more dungeons!" Sarya shouted.

"There are none within the borders."

"Except we didn't detect that one," Mint corrected.

Ban went silent as the group realized the frightening truth about that. Everyone who had gathered turned slowly, looking at Rud with expectations.

"Well, you found the first one, right?" Mint raised a brow as she gazed at the druid.

"Would you look at the time?" Rud asked, stretching and yawning. "Getting mighty late."

"It isn't even mid-morning! Find more dungeons! Become powerful!" Mint grabbed Rud by the shoulders and shook him. "More powerful than anyone could imagine."

The forest spirits were very excited, but there was a lot to consider with this new power. One of those last statements really affected him, and he couldn't stop thinking about it. Rud had always been impressed by Ban's ability to sniff out things within the grove, but the dungeons were sneaky. They often shrouded themselves from her sight, relying on his ability to use the observatory to find them. But the one he just destroyed hadn't even shown up in his magical sight. Those dungeons he had marked for a good smacking had been damaged by the adventurers.

His new staff could sniff them out better than anyone else. Perhaps that was simply another duty he had to add to his long list of chores each day. He wouldn't complain, though. It would keep the grove safer if he could take care of the dungeons before they became a problem. He remembered back to the Construct Dungeon that had brought terror to his home.

The chatter among the forest spirits was becoming overwhelming. Rud closed his eyes, trying to shut them out for a moment before he finally yelled.

"Okay, I get it! The staff is really cool!" Rud drew deep breaths, looking at the surprised expression on all the faces around him. "And we're gonna do cool stuff with it. But everyone chill out."

"Mastery over the staff will take time," Nulsa said, bringing a voice of reason to the rabble. "It's best if we leave him alone to do what he normally does, rather than pestering him the way we are currently doing."

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"Yeah, everyone calm down," Mint said, as though she hadn't just been freaking out five seconds ago. "Give the man some space."

Rud wouldn't say anything about it, though. He was happy that peace had returned to the grove, if only for a few minutes. Everyone had a theory about the best way to use the staff and how to grow it. But Rud didn't really care about that right now. Throughout the entire tumult of shouting spirits, there had been an aggravating point. Ban wasn't freaking out about it. If anything, she exuded the energy of someone slightly amused by such a shrieking arrangement of forced spirits.

Eventually, the spirits dispersed when they learned Rud wouldn't be performing party tricks for them to watch. Only when it was him and Nulsa did he turn his attention back to the staff's dungeon-finding powers. As always, the owl was a constant rock in the druid's life. He was calm no matter what.

"It isn't actually that hard to use," Rud said, closing his eyes and focusing on a strand of energy. He felt it stretch into the distance, wrapping to the west. Although he couldn't tell how far it was, he could sense that there was a dungeon in that direction.

"Of course not, but you don't want to traipse through the woods with three wolves, a bear, and a dwarf," Nulsa said with a chuckling hoot.

"Right now, we need to mark where the dungeons are and send that information to the adventurers," Rud said. "Once they weaken the dungeons, we can absorb their power. But how about we go check one out to see if we get an error message for trying to absorb a full-strength dungeon?"

"An excellent plan."

Rud didn't use Thicket Travel to find the dungeon. He feared he would lose track of it. Shifting into different forms didn't impede the power of the staff, though. It might have transformed into an artifact staff, but it was still soulbound to him, which meant he was effectively still holding it as he glided through the air in his squirrel form. He plucked at that thread of energy, jumping from tree to tree, until he saw it down below in a gully near the southwestern side of the grove. It was within their borders.

"Ban missed that one too, didn't she?" Rud asked, clinging to the side of a tree. He craned his little squirrel neck, spotting the collection of rocks down below. Unsurprisingly, there was a gathering of small green creatures before the dungeon's entrance. Monsters.

"I've made note of this dungeon's location," Nulsa said. "Do you detect anymore?"

Rud had many questions about how this power worked and how he had missed these dungeons from his observatory, but Nulsa was right. They should get to work. The sooner he could assemble a team of adventurers to weaken the dungeons, the sooner he could absorb more power. Not only would he grow stronger, but he would also keep the grove safe, which was his responsibility.

Instead of worrying too much about it, he went on a little adventure with the Owl. They flew through the grove, discovering different dungeons. By the time noon rolled around, the druid was getting exhausted. They had already spotted ten hidden dungeons that absolutely no one was aware of, and there didn't seem to be an end in sight. If there were so many dungeons springing up, how had they missed them? Even without considering magical senses, wouldn't the sacred beasts have stumbled upon them?

"The grove is vast," Nulsa said, answering Rud's concerns before he could even express them. "To cover the entire area would be difficult. But I'm afraid you should rest."

"Yeah, using the staff to find these dungeons is taking something out of me," Rud said, letting out a small, squirrel-sized sigh. "Maybe it's time for some tea."

True to his word, Rud made his way to the longhouse and put on a cup of tea. It didn't escape his notice that Nulsa wanted to be near him, perhaps due to his protective nature or his curiosity about the operation of the staff. When he heard a familiar voice outside, he poured himself a cup of tea and rushed out as quickly as he could.

"Daffodil!" Rud shouted, skipping over to the deer-horse and patting it on the head. "Where's your mommy?"

"Oh, she's just talking to that wolf," Daffodil said, sputtering. "They're coordinating their efforts to assail the labyrinth, if you can believe it."

"Well, that sounds like a good thing," Rud said, petting the creature on the head. "How have you two been doing? Is the ice problem under control?"

"Are you talking about the island Mommy has been fussing over?" Daffodil asked. "I suppose she's done. She rode me here earlier, so I guess she's finished. She left quite a few mages behind, though."

"Good to hear," Rud said, placing his staff in his bag. He wasn't ready to show her the item yet. How would a studied mage like her respond if she saw such a powerful artifact in his possession? It was hard to say.

Once Rud was done chatting with Daffodil, he ran off to find Dean. As expected, the sacred beasts weren't getting much done today. The excitement over what had happened still rippled through the grove, and it wouldn't subside anytime soon.

"Care to go for a ride?" Rud asked, patting the great beast on the side.

"Is there much else to do?" Dean asked. "Everyone wishes to gossip rather than take care of their responsibilities. Are we headed into town?"

Rud could have written a note to Feather, but he wanted to deliver the news personally instead. Not only would this give him experience for his subcore, but he could also convey it more effectively in person. Since he wanted the dungeons weakened as soon as possible, he needed to make a good impression.

The duo left the heart of the grove shortly after, leaving behind whatever scuttlebutt was spreading through the ranks. It was entertaining to watch everyone lose their minds over something so significant. But outside the forest, the world was different. The ice island had not changed at all. The guards at the gate of the town simply nodded and granted them passage within.

Rud found Feather in the southern part of town, on the same rise that the leader always seemed to occupy. Once again, the scent of the sea entered his nose, stinging it slightly as he was unaccustomed to it.

"You always bring something interesting to my doorstep when you visit," Feather said, turning and offering a weak smile. "Yet, sometimes that news is grim. As grim as I see it painted on your face now."

"You're very perceptive," Rud said, nodding with approval. "I've found a few dungeons I need some help with, but not the standard kind of help."

"A few dungeons?" Feather asked, raising an eyebrow. "We've been clearing about two a week. How many is a few?"

Rud withdrew a sheet of paper from his bag and looked it over. "We've got about twelve," he said.

Feather choked on his spit. "Twelve dungeons? Where did those come from? I'll call the guard right away."

"Just your normal adventurers are fine," Rud said. "I think these are very young dungeons, but I've just discovered a way to detect them if they're within the boundary of the grove. Also, I don't want you to destroy the dungeons. Just weaken them. And now I'm realizing I don't know exactly how you guys destroy dungeons."

"We can do that… Although, that's an odd request," Feather said, narrowing his eyes at the druid. "We destroy the dungeons by overloading the cores with mana. If we don't have a mage, we instead bash it with something heavy."

"Really?" Rud asked. "That's all you guys do? Smack it around a bit?"

"Well, we use calculated smacks, but… Yeah," Feather said. "A damaged dungeon core will spawn fewer monsters, and prevent it from leveling up. While destroying it is mostly impossible without a mage, this technique buys us time until a team of mages can move in."

"Okay. Can you do that for these dungeons?" Rud asked, holding his slip of paper out.

"Not sure if my people will know where 'right near that rock that looks like a butt' is," Feather grumbled.

"The butt rock?" a nearby adventurer asked. "We know the butt rock."

Feather turned, giving his people a flat look. "I stand corrected. If you only need them damaged, it won't take long. These people are itching to get out there and gain some experience."

A ripple of excitement spread through the adventurers nearby. Rud realized if he could feed them the locations of dungeons they couldn't find, the adventurers would benefit greatly. There was one problem, though.

"These dungeons are within the grove," Rud warned. "So when you send your people, make sure they understand how dangerous it can be. Stick to the forest's edge, or they could go… kinda insane."

"'Kinda' insane?" Feather asked, rubbing his face. "Okay. We'll be careful."