NOVEL NEXT 3.11 - Number One Druid
It didn't take long to heal the wounds of the wolf. Instead, it seemed more like a psychological affliction that had hurt her pride. Despite Mint's warnings, Sarya had delved into the tower, promising herself to only stay on the first floor. Although she had done that, she wasn't strong enough to contend with the monsters there and had slipped. Injuring her ankle in the process, she had to limp out of the tower and ask for help from the other forest spirits.
She would be fine, but Rud doubted she would pull something like that again anytime soon.
By the time dusk came rolling along, Rud found himself more concerned with how Elm was doing back in town. He made an uneventful report at the observatory, ate a quick dinner at the longhouse, and then took to the skies in his raven form. Heading to town didn't have to be unproductive, though. Along the way, he searched for forming dungeons using his mana sight, and although he found nothing, he intended on doing the same on the way back.
The druid landed on the window sill of the tower, peering in through one foggy pane of glass and tilting his head to get a better look. He spotted Elm there on the sofa, resting still. Whatever journey she must have been on was tiring, and he wasn't eager to wake her until the next day, even if she wouldn't be thrilled about what he had done. For now, he was left to consider whatever hints had mentioned about his attempt to get the Gate working. He took to the skies again, catching an air current heading west and soaring over sections of the grove.
From what Rud understood, the idea behind this whole lesson was to help him grasp the nature of these gates. He needed to create the right shape and perhaps etch some sigils into it. However, as he looked back on his memory, he couldn't remember much about the gate he used to reach the Cliffs of Mog Grove. That might have been Basil himself, hiding the required shape and symbols to get a gate working. But nothing could stop the druid if he put his mind to it, and he had an amazing mage to help him out.
Rud banked to the right. As his mana-enhanced eyes scanned the forest below, he spotted something familiar.
"Nulsa, I've got something over here," Rud said, sending his thoughts out into the Grove itself. "Might be another one of those weird magical things."
"Weird magical things… Right," Nulsa said, sounding only slightly annoyed. Perhaps it was him being bored, rather than annoyed.
Rud followed the current of air in a circular pattern, descending before finally diving through the canopy and arresting his momentum just before he landed. He remained in his raven form, filling his eyes with mana and observing the collection of energy before him. Although he did not want to be right, he was. It looked exactly like the other strange formation they had discovered in another part of the grove. Soon after, the sound of a large owl landing almost silently next to him drew his attention.
"That's actually the fourth one," Nulsa said, ruffling her feathers and giving a disapproving hoot. "I fear we need to discover the true meaning behind these pockets of energy. Before they get out of hand."
Rud gave a concerned caw, also ruffling his feathers. "My mage friend is going to be here tomorrow," he said. "We can ask her."
Nulsa turned his head nearly all the way around before spinning it back again to lock onto Rud. "Ban has gone into a slumber," he said, his voice filled with concern. "She isn't fully asleep, but then again, she isn't fully aware. We'll need to be on high alert while she's busy."
Still unsure of how much energy creating a new building took from Ban, now that she had advanced to rank, Rud felt that same concern. It was all because he wanted her to generate a building that would allow him to make portals. However, it wasn't a selfish request. He had to remind himself that they were doing this to help the other groves. Since they were all interconnected, there was no choice; each grove had to succeed.
Breaking away from his worried thoughts, Rud shifted into his true form. The sight of the collection of magical energy vanished in an instant, and the druid did his best to replicate the mana enhancement effect he had when he was in his raven form. However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make it work. Instead, he imagined where the cloud should have been and walked around it, stretching his senses as far as they could without making much progress at all. Eventually, he huffed and took a seat near it, closing his eyes and reaching out with everything he had.
"Perhaps if you spent more time working on yourself, that act would be more successful." Nulsa said, "As it stands, I don't believe you'll be able to force Mana into your eyes without the help of the system. What are you hoping to gain, anyway?"
"I might not be talented, but I still have some magical ability," Rud reminded him. "If I can interact with the magic here, maybe I can figure out what it's doing. You've really never seen anything like this? Aren't you ancient?"
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"What makes you say that?"
Rud took a moment before responding, not sure if he wanted to reveal how much he thought he knew. "From what I understand, beasts have two paths to progression. I understand the first path very well."
"Do you, now?"
"Yes. Beasts like you and Dean gain their power through battle and long life. I'm guessing you've been collecting energy for a long time. Maybe 100 years?"
Nulsa gave an approving hoot. "I'm impressed. Closer to 200 years, though. What about the second method?"
"That's the one I don't know a thing about," Rud said. "I know Ban was a forest spirit before she was reincarnated as a tree. What happened to her before she became a tree is how she got her power."
"That's an interesting theory. I don't know how Ban got her power, but you're right. She walked a different path."
"And since you're so old, since you know about stuff like this," Rud said gesturing toward the area the magic was. "It feels like it would be in your wheelhouse. You're always so wise about everything."
"While I appreciate the sentiment, I didn't spend much of my time near the groves. I've been alone for most of my life and have been very selective with both the locations I visit and the friends I make," Nulsa said. "A collection of energy like this reminds me a little of a dungeon forming, but you rarely see the cloud for this long. Maybe an hour at most, but not days."
"If a tower pops out of this energy field, I'm losing it," Rud said.
Nulsa shook his head. "I don't think that's it. This is something novel."
Rud gritted his teeth, drawing on Nulsa's wisdom about how this stuff worked. It wasn't likely to be a system-generated structure like the labyrinth, the tower, or a dungeon. Instead, it had to be something else, and that got him thinking. If it was unrelated to the generation of a system-based building, then it was unlikely to be an event triggered by the system. There was only one strange occurrence he could think of that had to do with high concentrations of magical energy
"That underground place," Rud said, snapping his fingers. "With the big crystal. That's gotta be where this garbage is coming from!"
"You think so?" Nulsa asked, his head going from side to side like a metronome. He caught himself after a few cycles, ruffling his feathers. "That would be concerning. The energy required to do something like this is vast."
"Yeah, and Ban is tapping into the underground thingy. Ah, crap this could be bad," Rud said, jumping to his feet and dancing on the spot. "Forget portals and towers, what would happen if these magic clouds went ape?"
"Anything," Nulsa said simply. "Think about forming a spell. Your mana makes a shape based on the system's definition for spells. Freecasting allows you to push that spell to its limits. Just about anything could happen under the right conditions."
More than anything, Rud needed a plan if he wanted to deal with the clouds of energy and the grove. He had to figure out the best way to approach the problem. The sun was setting lower by the moment and would pass below the horizon at any second, plunging the grove into darkness. Yet still, the druid's thoughts gathered. Was it more important for him to finish the gate project, or did this now take priority? He found it was almost impossible to reach a decision, but he couldn't do anything while Ban was busy creating the structure.
"Here's the plan," Rud said, clapping his hands. "When Elm gets here tomorrow, we'll pump her full of tea and work her to death."
"That's a horrid plan." Nulsa ruffled his feathers.
"New plan. When Elm gets here tomorrow, we'll pump her full of tea and ask her politely to work real hard so we can figure out what's going on."
"Slightly better," Nulsa said. "At least your heart is in the right place."
Rud had a stockpile of cheese and tea large enough to send to the other groves. That was only because they currently had only two groves on their contact list. When that expanded, he would also need to increase his production efforts. He also needed to get a handle on his trail mix situation, but now that cheese had entered the game, he wasn't sure he needed it as much. After discussing some more details with Nulsa, he headed over to the Smithy to find what he had expected. The druid had never wanted them to produce any weapons, but dwarves will be dwarves. There were samples of a few weapons scattered haphazardly around. Taz was likely using them for practice, but if arming the other groves would help, he wouldn't be opposed to it. Maria's grove was filled with dwarves, so they could definitely make use of a few swords or spears.
If those weapons were imbued with the power of Gladesbale Grove, they would be doubly effective.
The light from the shattered moons shone through the canopy above as Rud walked through the forest. He spotted the building Ban was working on and thought it looked far more alien than anything she had created so far. Right now, it resembled a giant onion wrapped in roots. Despite her brave proclamation, it appeared to be drawing most of her attention, which set him on edge.
Despite his feelings of unease, it was hard to be too worried. At night, the forest was alive with the sounds of nighttime critters skittering through the underbrush. It was audible all around him. Owls flew from here to there, although they hardly made a sound. Insects sang their songs, resembling a low buzz, while the rustling canopy overhead created a lullaby.
Rud headed home, setting a modest fire in his wood-burning stove. He settled into bed, allowing his plans for the next day to solidify. If he could get a few things under control, he knew the road ahead would become smooth. Failure to keep ahead of all the weird stuff that happened in the Grove would bury him, and he couldn't allow that to happen. Complacency is the thing that killed him in his previous life. Being proactive this time around was the only thing he could do to save himself.
"You got this," Rud whispered to himself as he snuggled in his comfy blankets. "Number one druid…"
He fell asleep shortly after. Nulsa spent the night scanning for more strange energy signatures. The owl wouldn't rest until he figured it out.