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

"Powerful adventurers, you say." Ban's voice flooded into the clearing in the Grove's center. "Coming to rescue us, are they?"

"Why the skepticism!?" Rud asked, shouting as he spun around. "Does someone know something I don't?"

Ban couldn't keep up a joke as long as the others in the grove. She was already laughing by the time Rud felt like he was going nuts. The druid narrowed his eyes on her.

"Har-har," he mocked. "Come on. That's a good thing, right?"

"It could be. I'm not as knowledgeable of the world of adventurers as some. Powerful people come with problems. But if Elm recruits them from Sparwyn, there shouldn't be many problems."

Rud nodded. "Cool. So I'll get some info on how to make that portal thingy tomorrow. Elm was just too tired to do anything else today, so I put her to sleep."

"You didn't resort to violence, did you?" Ban asked.

"Not yet. But she's so stubborn I had to cast a spell on her. My sleepy spell."

"Who gave you a sleeping spell?" Ban asked.

"River. Although it wasn't meant for putting people to sleep, that's how I used it. Deal with it," Rud said, thrusting his chest out. "But seriously, you've got the power for a brief portal, right?"

"Yes. The magic is complex, and I need to make one more building before we can do it. But item-only portals are within our grasp. Sending souls and the bodies they're attached to is another matter. I'll be crafting new spells for this, which uses the Grove system. Which means I'll draw on both your and Mint's power. I need to create a spell that not only creates the portal, but establishes the Gate on the other side."

"Gates and portals… What's the difference?" Rud asked.

"I don't know," Ban admitted. "I only know the basics Basil shared with me. Yet, he's guarded about his knowledge. Which means we have to make our own way to do it. Boiled down to the basic parts, I can explain it like this: we're making a gateway from pieces of the Grove itself. Since all Groves are connected, we can generate a Gate on the other side. Using that same logic, we'll connect them."

"Easy enough on paper," Rud said, clicking his tongue and making other mouth noises that annoyed him when other people did them. "Is there anything I can do?"

"The building I'm about to generate will require upgrades. It won't put me to sleep, but it'll take a bit to make. I'm already working on it now. The building creates condensed energy I can use for the Gate. I'll convert our baseline energy into the denser version, then inject that into the Gate. Easy peasy."

"Lemon squeezy," Rud said, nodding sage-like. "Nice. This puts us on a great track, I think."

"As for what you can do: clear more of the diseased trees. Or apply your growth magic to the existing ones," Ban said. "The more trees that have a connection to me, the better."

"I'm on it, boss," Rud said, performing a haphazard salute.

Three things were now vitally important to Rud. Replacing trees, gathering upgrade materials, and learning about these Gate things were his top priority. The druid worked his way through the grove, checking the stuff nearest the center at first. Diseased trees were hard to find around the center by now, but there were plenty of trees that could use another growth stage. With his newest upgrades, even the weakest tree could become a towering behemoth. And when those trees were stronger, they would produce more energy for Ban to collect.

Rud finished up outside of the smithy and dove into the mine. The sound of a pickaxe ringing against rock drew him in, revealing that Taz was working deep below. Since the dwarf had etched channels in the wall, the druid moved the tree bits into their spots, which did a lot to clear the walkways. He passed by a pile of shining blue crystals and nodded with approval. That was, after all, the reason for his visit.

Taz worked at the bottom of the mine, expanding it ever-further downward. Each swing of his pickaxe was mighty, shattering stone on the wall and sending a cascade of rocks to the floor.

"Hey, bud!" Rud shouted.

Taz turned, pickaxe clenched in his hands. He let out a steady breath. "Scared me half to death…"

"I see you collected a lot of fragments," Rud said, placing his hands on his hips. "What's up with that."

"I can dig deeper with your supports," Taz said, pointing with his beard at the wooden supports on the wall. "Hit a massive vein of the fragments. Why, upgrading stuff?"

Rud nodded. "Gonna need a lot of them bad boys to make my Gate plan happen."

"Between your existing stock and what I gathered, I don't see why you wouldn't have enough."

"Nice," Rud said, waving his hands in the air. The tree he had forced to become subterranean expanded down the tunnel, wrapping it in the supporting structure. "Are you expecting to hit more cool stuff down here?"

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Oh, yeah. My Prospector class is going crazy for this place. Doubt I'll hit half of what it's sensing, and at this point feels more like I'm gathering a dragon's hoard." Taz paused for a long moment, stroking his beard. "But I just like digging!"

"Fair enough, buddy," Rud said, clapping him on the shoulder. "I'm gonna take all those fragments, if you don't mind.

Taz shrugged. "I'm gonna get back to it," he said with a laugh.

That was the dwarven way of saying 'get out of my mine before I plant a pick in your head.' And Rud didn't blame him. While working, getting interrupted was the worst.

After making his way out of the mine, Rud gave some attention to a few more trees before something caught his attention. A flash of black through the air drew his eye for only a moment before it vanished. At first, he thought nothing of it. But an hour into his efforts to restore the forest, something fell from the trees above and hit him in the head.

"Okay, who was that?" Rud asked, rubbing his forehead as he scanned the trees above. The druid searched at his feet, his brows raising in unison when he saw the object there. A small brass button sat nestled amongst the fallen leaves, nestled between two sticks. He knelt, picking it up and rolling the object between his fingers. A moment later, he activated his Clear Communication skill. "Uh… Magpies?"

Although Rud's voice echoed tentatively amongst the trees, the sound that called back was anything but meek. A series of expressive caws came back, cutting sharply through the silence of the forest. Between those crow-like sounds came a chorus of chants.

"More seeds! More seeds! More seeds!"

"Ah. This might be a problem," Rud said, reaching into his storage bag. He groped for some more seeds and nuts as his eyes scanned the branches above. The black and white forms of many magpies stood out, some stark against the open sky and others blending in with the dense canopy. A shock of pain spread through his forehead as another object slammed into him. "Come on, ya bird jerks!"

"More seeds!"

Rud dodged to one side as three more objects came. He scrambled along the ground, only stopping when he looked back to see the shape of the objects. One was a jagged shape, the semi-circular black surface holding a rough edge.

"By the horns of Bent!" Rud shouted, crawling as more objects fell overhead. The chorus grew louder. "Is that a Dungeon Core Fragment?"

"Fragment!" the birds repeated.

"More fragment!?" another shout-asked.

"Yes, more fragments," Rud said back, standing and digging back into his bag. "You guys get more fragments, or other valuable items, and I'll give you a billion nuts."

"A billion!"

"How much is that?"

"I don't know!"

"A lot," Rud said. "More than you can eat."

More of the items fell from the sky, but the magpies were descending. They gathered at Rud's feet, all forming a line and hopping in unison. The ones who still had objects in their beaks dropped them at the ground as the druid handed the nuts out. Not every bird brought a useful item, but he figured singling one out wasn't the best idea. Instead, he figured as long as they brought something, they should be rewarded.

"Thank you," one pudgy magpie said. Rud wasn't sure that one needed more nuts but who was he to judge?

Rud was pretty sure the exchange was one-sided. Perhaps it was the nature of the magpies to collect junk, so this was just fun for them. They must've known there were nuts all over the place in the grove. The druid hadn't even cultivated a farm of the bushes because they were so abundant. Instead, he simply took them from the forest. The only thing he was sure of was his unwillingness to turn down the help of the birds. If they were happy, he was happy.

"Okay guys," Rud said, gaining the attention of all fifteen birds. Maybe there were 20, it was hard to say. "If you bring me this, or this, I'll give you food. I'm not accepting anymore buttons, shiny rocks, or teeth. Got it?"

"We got it!" the birds shouted.

"Good. Now, fly my pretties!" Rud shouted, throwing his arms wide. The birds scattered to the wind, rushing into the sky and quickly out of view. "I should've told them where to bring the loot."

Since experiments with the birds hadn't gone well in the past, Rud didn't have much faith in the abilities of the magpies. But if they could remember what the good stuff was, this would be an interesting source of fragments. The more he thought about it, the more he was concerned about how they sourced those fragments… Were they little magpie thieves? Or perhaps they were little magpie dungeon-runners. It was impossible to know.

Rud spent a few minutes in the grove's center, trying to figure out the best place to put a water slide. He still didn't have any good ideas, but all his thoughts were shattered when Major came lumbering out of a distant bush. He trotted over lazily, huffing by the time he had crossed the distance.

"Need more healing," Major panted, jerking his head back from where he came. "Sarya got hurt messing around on the first floor of the tavern. She's right outside."

Rud gripped his staff, shifting into his raven form and taking off right away. He dove into the nearest bush. An instant later, he burst from the leaves of another bush, taking to the air for only a moment before coming down. Mint stood in her human form, arms crossed as she looked down at a whimpering wolf. Sarya was prone, kicking her legs in an odd enough way to make the druid's heart drop.

"Are you okay!?" Rud shouted, shifting into his true form.

"Ugh, don't baby her," Mint said.

Rud shot her a glare. That was a strangely cold thing for the guardian to say. But his concern was for the whimpering wolf. "What happened?" he asked, bringing the healing magic to the front of his mind. Ribbons of green magic wrapped around the wolf and she howled louder.

"I sprained my ankle!" Sarya shouted with a howl. "Is this the end?"

Rud paused, looking down at the squirming wolf in disbelief. "Do uh… do wolves even have ankles?"

Mint rolled her eyes. "Yes, but it shouldn't be that painful," she said. "Stop being so dramatic, Sarya."

The prone wolf whimpered.

Rud sighed, pushing past his annoyance to treat the patient. "There, there little wolf," he said, patting her on the head. "We'll get you healed right up."

"Really?" Sarya asked with the world's best puppy-dog eyes.

"Yep. Your poor little boo-boo will be gone before you know it. You're such a brave wolf."

"Yes," Sarya said. It looked as though she was holding back tears. "I am very brave."