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

Wind blew through the forest of Gladesbale Grove. Trees swayed to one side, their branches dotted in sections with flowers that glowed. The lights twinkled even around noon, brightening as the powerful mana blew from the north. Whatever chill had settled upon the forest today was anything but natural. Normally, this cold energy would've come from the icy island to the east. But today it blew from the north—a wind driven as though by the breath of the dwarves themselves.

With no place in the assessment of the grove's latest addition, Rud found himself ranging to the northern reaches of Gladesbale, looking out over a footpath. It was the same path Taz had taken to reach the grove and the one that led to their mountain homes. The tower had appeared over the labyrinth yesterday, sending not only his grove but all others into a frenzy. System-generated structures were one thing, but for two rare structures to appear one on top of the other was another matter.

"I wish to know your thoughts," a familiar voice said. The sound of a not-so-massive wolf padding over the soft soil came next. Then Sarya's slight whimpering.

The young Sacred Wolf was scared. Rud didn't need any of his druidic powers to know that. "We say 'penny for your thoughts' back on Earth… Although I really don't know why," Rud scratched his head, trying to remember if he knew that bit of trivia. It only served to remind him how he needed to beat Dean at a night of trivia. Another time, perhaps. "I'm just taking a moment to think. It feels like we were really kicking butt with the grove."

"What do you mean 'were'?" Sarya asked. "We're still kicking butt. We just have a new tower. Towers are cool, right? You spend a lot of time in your tower talking to your girlfriend."

"She's not… Doesn't matter. That's a different kind of tower!" Rud shouted, his voice echoing over the path before him. The forest ate the sound before it got too far. "Hard not to worry about a giant doom tower, ya know?"

"Doom tower, underground city, labyrinth… Who cares?" Sarya asked. "I ate a chicken today."

"Where did you find a chicken?" Rud asked.

"Doesn't matter. Point is, we got food and friends."

"And tea," Rud said, nodding. "And squirrel cheese."

Sarya made a face.

Rud patted the wolf on the head. She closed her eyes, grunting with each pat. "You've cheered me up, Sarya. Yes, that quickly. No reason dwelling on what we can't change when there's so much to do. I want to make new kinds of cheese. There are nuts to roast, baths to run, and an absolute wild idea for the grove's center I need to work on."

"Oh! A new project?" Sarya asked, her tail beginning to swish.

Rud nodded, growing more resolute. "The answer to all our problems is obvious, isn't it?"

"Oh, yeah! Super obvious!" Sarya said, bouncing around with her butt in the air. Her tail wagged furiously. She paused. "What is it?"

"More attractions for the mortals," Rud said, rubbing his chin as he nodded. "We get some more adventurers in here, and we don't have to worry about the tower or labyrinth."

"Uh-huh. Yeah, I understand completely," Sarya said, jumping around a few times and letting out a low growl. "But, uh… Maybe explain it anyway."

Scratching Sarya behind the ear, Rud shook his head. She might not have understood, but she was a good dog. "Adventurers love this kind of stuff. If the tower works how I think it does, it'll be an amazing chance for them to get stronger. If we build cool amenities, that's all the more reason for them to come."

"Yeah, duh… Hah! I knew that," Sarya said, dashing off into the forest. She paused behind a tree, sticking her head out and whining. "I still don't get it, but do you need any help?"

Rud nodded. "I think I will. As long as you're not busy with the tower business, I could use someone to go over all our buildings and pathways."

"Oh, yes. That works. I'm on guard duty!" Sarya struck a proud pose. "Which means I just wait to feel for intruders. There have been none."

"Perfect!" Rud clapped once. While he was eager to build new things for adventurers, he couldn't forget about upgrading Ban so she could get them portals working. He cleared his throat, pointing eastward. "Let's start at the start!"

"Onward!"

Rud shifted into his squirrel form, jumping onto Sarya's back. If he was as light as a squirrel, his weight wouldn't be too much for her. Clinging on for dear life—since Sarya didn't understand how to run without bouncing up and down like a rodeo bull—the trees whipped past him until the over-eager wolf ducked into a bush.

The first stop on the tour of the grove was the eastern logging camp. This was the place where Rud had first encountered the mortals of the land. They were taking lumber from the nearby forest, and when contacted, were quite respectful of the spirits that inhabited the grove. To the southeast was a small mortal town called Barlgore. Most who inhabited it held the same respect for the groves as everyone from the mainland. That made things easy.

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"Here we have a bunch of cursed objects," Rud said, just turning out to a field of strange-looking trees. They were swollen and spherical in the center, as he had reshaped them to house cursed objects. "I don't think we have to do much with this area, but of course, we should always be concerned about turning more squirrels into cows."

"Those creatures aren't right," Sarya said.

"Right you are, my dear wolf," Rud said, turning to look back at the path that led into the grove itself. Shortly after delving into the thick forest of the grove, a person would encounter the road. Walking upon this road granted mortals access to the grove itself, ensuring they would experience none of the deleterious effects that plagued the mortal mind once within. "Any suggestions for improvements?"

"We're trying to get more mortals, right?" Sarya asked, tapping a claw on the ground as she gazed off into the distance. "Perhaps we should have a friendlier entrance. This is where all the mortals come into the grove, isn't it?"

"That's right."

"Sorry, but the cursed objects just give off a bad vibe," Sarya said. "We need something that puts off a good vibe."

Most mortals took the eastern entrance to the Grove to pass through. It was a straight shot to the west, and heading north was easy enough. The road within was strong enough to hold not only people passing on foot, but also those riding mounts or dragging a cart with a beast of burden. Of course, the wolf was right. The cursed objects were sealed not only by the trees themselves but also by a purification spell. Still, there was a strange sense in the air.

"Excellent point," Rud said, rubbing his chin. "Perhaps we could build a structure, some kind of welcome center."

"Oh! And we could serve cookies," Sarya said, putting her butt in the air and growling again. "I love cookies."

"When have you ever had cookies?"

"We should serve cookies," Sarya reinforced.

Instead of arguing with it, Rudd withdrew a length of paper from his storage bag and made a note. On the eastern side of the Grove, it would be best if they had some kind of welcome center, preferably one that served cookies. If they could find a way to keep them hot, that would be even better. At least they had the milk situation sorted, which would allow visiting mortals to dunk those cookies, potentially increasing the number of adventurers willing to come tackle the tower.

"Next," Rud shouted as he pressed forward along the path. Shortly after, the pair delved into the Grove itself and walked over the raised living platform. Sections of this platform were dotted with the glowing plants that hovered at night. Many sections of the road still lacked them, but since this was the primary avenue the mortals took, it was the best place for everything to look nice and pretty. "The road is, of course, the most important feature of the Grove, as far as the mortals are concerned. As long as they stand on it, they won't go mad and get lost in the woods. Fortunately, we already have all cardinal directions covered, and they all lead to the center of the Grove."

"And you have the rest areas," Sarya added. "Can't forget about the rest areas."

"Right, we have small areas where they can rest along the way. This isn't a big deal for those with mounts, but for those traveling on foot, it's almost a necessity. Depending on their pace, they could take days, if not a week, to travel the length of the grove. I suppose that just depends on how fast they walk."

"I walk real fast."

Rud had first considered doing his tour of the Grove by directionality. Now he reordered his thoughts, instead considering which building he believed was most important. He passed through a nearby bush with Sarya and appeared outside a tower that was just southwest of the Grove's center.

"We're not going to tour the individual rest area buildings, and we'll leave the resort area for last," Rud said. "But the observatory is the second most important thing I maintain. This gives us a sense of where all the animals are within the grove, along with all the strange magical energies that seem to swirl around here. It also provides me with a line of communication with the other groves. It is incredibly important."

"This is also where Nulsa hangs out."

Rud made a note. He saw no changes that needed to happen with the observatory, aside from maybe upgrading the building. He clapped his hands together. "Now, we have a whole class of production buildings."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Sarya said, bouncing around.

"I'll just list those here," Rud said, writing each one down from memory. "The smithy, smelter, and mine. Those basically belong to Taz now, which I'm cool with. Those provide us with insanely valuable ingots and items I can barter with."

"So, they're the most important?" Sarya asked.

"Yeah. Next come the perishable goods. Cheese and tea," Rud said. "Our Creamery is going to churn out some extremely useful food for the adventurers and us."

"Hardy har-har."

"And the tea workshop can't be understated in importance. The mortals absolutely adore our teas. So, we also have the raised tea farm," Rud said, scribbling some notes. "That isn't recognized by the system, but that's okay. Our tea production shot through the roof with that one."

"Is that everything we have?" Sarya asked.

Rud shook his head, gesturing for the wolf to follow him through the nearest bush. They teleported miles away, appearing at the small resort he had constructed for the adventurers. It had a small compound that looked like a campground. On the other side of the road was a bathhouse with enchanted water directly from a powerful magical well. Right now, the adventurers still needed to ask the custodian to run the bath for them, but it had been a hit.

"This is where our entire plan starts," Rud said, holding his arms wide as he looked between the bathhouse and the campground. "It isn't enough that the Grove is a place where people come to slay monsters or that they simply pass through. It needs to be a destination, which means we need more things like this."

"Oh, what about a big old slide?"

Rud narrowed his eyes at the wolf. She flattened her ears. Reluctantly, the druid withdrew the sheet of paper once again. "Okay, that's not a bad idea," he grumbled. "But we need more than a slide to attract people. We need everything a resort should have. Food, drinks, entertainment…"

"And a giant tower!" Sarya said, tipping her head to the tower looming in the distance.

"Can't forget the giant tower filled with murder-monsters."

"Battle beasies!" Sarya adds. Rud said, nodding along. "Okay! While the other members of the grove worry about monsters pouring out of the tower and eating our legs, we're gonna build a theme park!"

"Yay!"