NOVEL NEXT 3.15 - When You're Right, You're Right
No matter how prepared Rud felt to start the gate and send supplies to the other groves, there was the reality of Ban's energy. He might have created the archway and helped upgrade the building to supply it with power, but if the tree wasn't ready, she wasn't ready. After taking care of his chores and making his report the next morning, he scoured the grove, cutting down old trees and replacing them with stronger versions. All of this added to her net energy, but it all felt like a drop in the bucket.
The adventurers had mostly recovered and were now retreating to places deeper within the grove. It was Rud's responsibility to escort them, at least part of the way there, and he wouldn't complain. The more he helped those people, the more he increased his custodianship skill, which had reached level 9 and was now close to ranking up. With his Farseeing skill not far behind, he now focused on bringing his subclass to rank one. Of course, that would have to wait until he was done settling in each adventurer, which meant housing and feeding an army. It was a task the Grove was oddly prepared for.
"We really couldn't have expected that many orcs," Tuft said, following closely behind Rud as he led the way along the wooden path.
The druid smiled to himself. He could have set them on their way and observed them from afar, but with the sheer number of adventures he had to ensure the safety of, he wasn't eager to leave them on their own. If just one of them wandered from the path, he worried about what might happen.
"Worry not, fair citizen," Rud said, thrusting his chest out and listening to the rhythmic tapping of his staff on the wooden path. "As long as you're with me, you'll be safe."
"For some reason, I don't doubt your spirit," Tuft said with a soft chuckle. "Most of us felt better upon stepping into the Grove. Now that we're heading to the heart, nobody is afraid of being attacked. But we have to ask the question: What are we going to do about the orcs? If they circle around the grove and attack, Barlgore will be in trouble."
"Elementary, my dear Watson," Rud said, turning and striking a dramatic pose. "We expand the grove far enough north and south so nobody can pass. Then we're an impenetrable wall guarding the fair mortals against the monsters of this world."
"I think that was slightly more impressive of a statement than you thought it was," Tuft said, clapping a hand on Rud's shoulder and moving past.
Once the adventurers were settled into the larger rest area near the center of the grove, Rud felt comfortable leaving them there. His first stop was down to the dungeons, which had been cleared by the adventurers over the course of days. They had gone through far more than he had expected, encountering far more attributes than he could have hoped. 5 Mind, 2 Affinity, 4 Strength, 1 Vigor, and 3 Agility. It was an absolute haul. The druid felt the power of his staff flowing through him, enhancing his attributes far beyond what should've been possible. He summoned his attribute screen to check.
[Rud]
Main Class:
Rank 1 Level 1 Druid
Subclass:
Rank 0 Level 7 Grove Custodian
Attributes:
Health: 149
Mana: 257
Strength: 14
Agility: 11
Vigor: 15
Mind: 27
Affinity: 17
Titles:
[Keeper of the Gladesbale Grove]
According to some quick math, he now had 50 extra levels of attributes, which seemed completely absurd. That would have put him at rank 6 at the least, but these were pure attributes and didn't come with the enhancing effect of an additional rank. Still, he felt stronger and faster. His mana pool felt deeper, and his connection with spellcraft felt wider. Passing his staff through the air, he watched as a tree traced the exact arc. He channeled the shape plant spell and was amazed at how easily he could control his powers. Compared to when he had first arrived in the grove, he now felt strong.
Rud felt like taking a brief break. He passed through a nearby bush and appeared at the mine. He was unsurprised to see that Taz was working on something that would have made the druid recoil when he had first arrived. He was making armor and weapons, likely under Ban's command.
"Hey dwarf, wanna wrestle?" Rud shouted, gaining the attention of the blacksmith.
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Taz narrowed his eyes at the druid. His gaze eventually landed on the staff. "You absorbed a whole bunch of new attributes, didn't you?" the dwarf asked. "So you sucked up a bunch of Strength and now you're going to beat me up? No thanks."
"Oh, come on. I bet Sarya would fight me if I asked her," Rud said.
"Then go ask her," Taz said, turning his attention back to the anvil.
Rud jogged over to the blacksmith, his ears ringing after each strike. "But I wanna fight a humanoid."
"Find another humanoid," Taz said. "This one is off-limits."
"Bah. So, you're working on some weapons? That's not very druid-like, is it?"
"I'm a Blacksmith. Not a druid," Taz countered. "These weapons are under Ban's orders, so why are you so bent out of shape?"
"I'm not," Rud said. "Ban mentioned she's working on a spell that allows me to imbue them with magic. It's not my normal kind of magic, but the kind that will make them usable only to those loyal to Gladesbale Grove."
"She might have mentioned that to me," Taz said. "I'm starting with a base of your imbued iron and working from there. This stuff is devilishly hard to work with, but I'm gaining a ton of levels for my skill."
"You're doing a fine job, humanoid," Rud said. "Keep it up."
Taz offered a half-hearted salute, too focused on the sword he was making to pay much attention. With nothing else to do for the day besides leveling his subclass and replanting old trees, Rud made his way back to the grove's center. The northern part of the clearing was a section he had claimed for himself. His storage area and house were there, and he didn't care to create any big projects in that spot. Instead, he decided that the best place for his latest tourism venture was on the eastern side of the clearing, south of the main road.
The first thing Rud would need to create this new feature was a massive tree. He got to work clearing out several old trees and then planted a seed after imbuing it with his power using the plant growth spell. He watched as it progressed through the stages without stopping. It only took a few moments for the tree to grow from a seedling to a towering oak. Although it didn't rival Ban's size in terms of total area, it certainly gave her a run for her money in terms of height.
But this was more than just a regular tree. It had to be functional in other ways. Rud took the root bed on this side, closest to the clearing, and began forming it into a large bowl. Then he etched out pieces of the tree on the inside, creating a section where he could pump water. After that, he got to work on the slides. The design of the tree was locked in his mind, but after a few hours of working his concentration was shattered.
A novel message appeared after casting the Shape Plant spell for the hundredth time that day.
[Rank Up!]
Your understanding of the spell Shape Plant has expanded, increasing it to Rank 1.
Ranking a spell shouldn't have been such a pivotal moment, but Rud understood the implications. Until this point, the druid thought the spells he had were the domain of the spirits. Basil, from Cliffs of Mog Grove, had gifted him the spell. His thought was that only Basil could upgrade the spell for him. But there it was, a Rank 1 version of the spell sitting in his spell list. There was no change to the description or requirements, but there it was. The implication was that he didn't need the power of the other guardians to strengthen himself in the realm of druidic magic.
"But what exactly does it mean?" Rud asked himself, staring up at the massive tree he was only part way through finishing.
"It means you're getting better," Ban said, her voice floating across the clearing like a cool summer breeze. "I honestly didn't expect you to break through that barrier so quickly, but there you are. You don't give yourself enough credit sometimes, but you're very good at this, Rud."
"Do you think so?" Rud asked, his eyes still locked on the tree. "Sometimes it feels like we're just living in the shadow of the other Groves."
"Comparing yourself to another entity that has existed for hundreds of years isn't good for your confidence," Ban said. "You've been here for a far shorter time, and look at you. Your connection with nature grows by the minute, and I wouldn't be surprised if you surpassed Basil himself soon enough."
"Do you think so?" Rud asked, turning his attention to his staff. "How much of that is my cheat staff?"
"The staff isn't a 'cheat' like you think it is," Ban said. "It resonates with your soul. Druidic power draws from your connection with nature. The artifact picked you because of your connection. Your dedication to balance. That's the key word here."
"Balance," Rud repeated with a nod. "Basil's problem is a matter of balance."
"Exactly. Balance is the reason Gladesbale Grove is so potent. We aren't one thing. Basil has his plants, and that's fine. But nature isn't just trees. Nature is the land, the water, the air, plants, and animals. It is the sum of those things. Nature is kind and cruel. Strength and weakness all rolled into one beautiful package. It doesn't hate or love. It just is."
Rud let out a low whistle, nodding eagerly. "When you're right, you're right…"
Sometimes it seemed to run against the ideals of nature, the things Rud did around the Grove. However, life and death were as close to nature as spring and winter. He had to destroy parts of the Grove to build it up better. He was the conduit for the Grove's power. In that moment, he realized that the connection between the Groves and nature was a thing relegated to those who inhabited it. They could choose to be beacons of the natural world, or to twist it into something else as Basil had. Not that the guardian in Cliffs of Mog had done it wrong.
Gladesbale was simply doing it better.
"That was a very poignant pep talk," he said, letting out a heavy sigh. His eyes lingered on the staff in his hands. He felt more than ever that it was a conduit between him and the natural world. He couldn't stop his mind from wandering to the other groves, the one inhabited by the spirit Land. It felt easier to understand the unknowable motives of Bent, even if his mind couldn't wrap itself around the concept.
"I can feel your concern and confusion," Ban said.
Rud shrugged. "I don't know if I'm confused or if my eyes have been opened," he said. "Attributes don't change the way minds work, do they?"
"No. But your increased Affinity and Mind bring you closer to your magical source. Since you have absurd scores in both, you're getting closer to the core of your power," Ban said. "You're becoming the star druid Bent knows you can become."
"No pressure, huh?" Rud asked, shaking his head. He took a steadying breath, then turned to the Sacred Tree in the distance. He struck a pose. "We got this!"
"Yeah we do!" Ban shot back. "Now finish that water slide!"