The legs of a chair dug shallow trenches in the dirt as Rud dragged it from the longhouse. He placed it near Ban's trunk, taking a seat and getting comfortable with his staff leaning against his shoulder. The druid regarded the tree, trying his best to sense what she was pondering. Because boy howdy did that tree ponder a lot.

"So," Rud said, clapping his hands together once. "I got a problem."

"Another problem to place on our pile of problems?" Ban asked. "I'm shocked. Look, observe my shocked face."

"First, you don't have a face," Rud said, shaking his head. "Second, wanna hear?"

"Sure."

Rud cleared his throat. He didn't want to steer her in a direction, so he just gave her the facts. The mortals wanted to build a port along the northern coast, but it was a task too big for them. They would need the help of the Grove to get it down. "We can lend manpower, but I don't know if that's enough."

"Which is why you're hoping I have a magical solution using the power of the Grove," Ban said, humming to herself. "We could help them. Easily. With the strides we've made with Gate techniques, it wouldn't be hard to create a short-range portal linked between two fixed points. The question is: why? Why would we help the mortal do something like this?"

"Okay, a few things… How could you maintain a Gate? I know it isn't that far, but it isn't around the corner. You know I'm not a magical expert, but that's just too far."

Rud was waiting for the words, scooting to the edge of his seat.

"Your intentions couldn't be more obvious," Ban said with a laugh. "I'm nearly ready to jump a few ranks. Next rank, I can get an ability that allows me to create outposts."

"Woot!"

This was exactly what Rud was hoping for. The theory was pretty simple, so he knew she would get an ability that let her create a section of the Grove in a faraway place.

"But before you get too excited, you've got to do some work," Ban said. "I need a line of trees connecting me to the outpost. Without it, any tree borne from the Grove would be useless."

"Eighty miles of trees?" Easy mode," Rud said. "And then the mortals can travel through a portal, right? The energy requirements will be almost nothing since it is within the Grove… technically, anyway."

"That's right," Ban said. "The energy generated in the outpost would be enough to maintain a simple portal."

"Well, I have my mission. Got some stuff to do first. Dungeons… scouting. You know, the life of a custodian."

"Speaking of that, congratulations on getting Rank 1 in your subclass."

Rud stood, bowing dramatically. "Thank you, kind tree," he said. "Now, I have a date with some dungeons. I'm eager to get more overpowered so I can never use the power to do anything but grow trees and all that fun stuff."

Ban giggled again, and the druid was off. According to the adventurers taking care of the dungeons, they had cleared through about 12. Sadly, the first three they had cleared had regenerated or something. He was just happy they had cleared any of them and was ready to reap the rewards.

The Custodian's Twig staff had become skilled at absorbing the power of the dungeons. Rud wasn't certain, but compared to the first few dungeons, it had no problems with the first he absorbed. Not only did it pull the soul of the dungeon into itself quicker, but it also grabbed the attribute he wanted most right now, Agility. That Agility was for his flight form. He tested it on the next one, asking the staff politely to give him some Vigor. Although it gave him some Vigor, it also tossed him some random Strength.

"Can't win 'em all, huh?" Rud asked, patting the staff. "Good enough for me, though. You're the best!"

The adventurers were between dungeons, and spotted Rud along the road. A spellcaster amongst them took an interest in the process, and asked to join along. Rud had no objects, and allowed the mage along. There was a lot of gawking and note-taking that made the druid laugh and reminded him of Elm's studious nature. The spread of attributes was pretty decent this time around, although he noticed there were fewer than normal. 4 strength, 3 Vigor, 5 Agility, 7 Mind, and 3 Affinity. There was no way he'd complain about shooting up to 103 levels in attributes.

Rud flexed, getting a few polite claps from the observing adventurer. He certainly felt slightly more buff, which was awesome. He inspected his attribute sheet to make himself feel better.

[Rud]

Main Class:

Rank 1 Level 1 Druid

Subclass:

Rank 1 Level 1 Grove Custodian

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

Attributes:

Health: 173

Mana: 349

Strength: 21

Agility: 24

Vigor: 23

Mind: 44

Affinity: 25

Titles:

[Keeper of the Gladesbale Grove]

"Pretty slow level gains," the mage said, clicking her tongue.

That was the truth. Rud had heard the same thing a few times before, but now he understood what was going on. "Yeah, we take it easy here," Rud said, yawning and stretching. "I'm gonna reform these roads and put some fancier buildings in for you guys. I'm thinking of bigger houses, a kitchen. Stuff like that."

"Oh, that would be lovely."

What Rud lacked in ranking power, he made up for in stuff that rested on the side of the main progression of most people. He had a powerful artifact staff, upgrades and skills that linked him to an awesome tree, and stupid-high attributes. The druid thought about all these fun things while he reformed the roads, which required just about no effort at this point. The living pathways curled and snaked, moving into new directions or otherwise sucking back into the ground.

The biggest challenge was changing the unorganized tangle of roads to something more manageable. The Grove itself had two roads. North to south, and east to west. The southwestern region, still unnamed for a reason Rud couldn't produce, had roads going in every known direction, and a few people just weren't aware of. It was time for the area to conform to the concept he and Ban had just talked about. The southwest would become an outpost of Gladesbale Grove, having most of the amenities of the main area.

"I'm thinking another pair of cardinal roads," Rud said, talking only to himself. The mage had left, leaving him speaking to the forest. "Might as well clean the messy road heading to the tower while I'm at it."

No more crooked roads. They had been a plague on the Grove since Rud got sloppy. Melodramatic, perhaps, but drama was a great motivator.

Rud started by pulling a line off of the main road to the east and dragging it through the entire area afflicted by the dungeons. He took that road as far west as he could without wasting too much time and picked a spot in the center to pull north. This would be a project that took quite a few days, so he wasn't expecting to get it done right away. That took away most of the day. He worked on the central area, creating a circle with the roads and then getting to work on his hotel and kitchen.

A design similar to the longhouses that he envisioned includes a massive tree growing in the center of the circle. After hollowing it out, he created the appropriate chimneys to vent the smoky air. He ensured that the entire interior was lacquered to prevent burning before installing stoves and designing the interior of the kitchen itself. Of course, it would have a dining area with a large fire pit for the adventurers to enjoy. All this activity was apparently enough to draw the adventurers away from whatever they were doing, and each watched in awe as he then got to work on the habitations.

A few quaint houses was all they needed, but Rud wanted to make sure he did it right this time. The idea of this being a camping area had gone out the window. It was now a copy of most of the awesome stuff folks visiting the Grove could experience by visiting the center. He wove beds, dressers, and other stuff mortals loved out of trees he had grown.

Dusk had drawn over the western sky and passed into twilight before Rud was even close to done. The houses were livable at least, so the adventurers had a better place to stay. The finishing touches would simply need to wait for tomorrow. That didn't stop a nosy owl from swooping, landing on the ledge of the roof of a house.

"Working late… again?" Nulsa asked.

"Got a whole mess of things going on here," Rud said, rubbing his hands together. The adventurers had already claimed homes—one each, for some reason—and their lights shone through the windows. Bars of light were cast over the ground outside of those buildings, lending a dreamy quality to the darkened clearing. "Hey, you interested in doing some scouting?"

"I scout daily," Nulsa said.

"Cool. We're forging a path to the northern coast."

"Sounds daunting."

"Anything worth having is… something, something," Rud said, waving his hands through the air. "Doesn't matter. Can you find me the cleanest path from here to the northern coast?"

"Naturally, I already know the path," Nulsa said.

"Excellent. Now, if we could get about ten other druids on my level, that'd be swell."

"That is something I cannot help you with."

Truth was, this wasn't something Rud was looking forward to. His specialization was plant magic. All plant magic. He wasn't as specialized as Basil, who only used construction magic, but all the upgrades he had taken involved the grove itself. This meant that when he was outside of it, he was less effective. While he hoped that his new attributes would help with this, he wasn't certain it would be enough to bridge the gap.

Rud grabbed a snack for dinner before retreating to his mushroom house. He had plenty of time to worry about this stuff later. Resting some trail mix on his belly, the druid ate the delicious trail mix while scratching Jasper behind the ear. No matter how powerful the Sacred Beast, they all liked a good scratching.

"How did it go with the hidden dungeon?" Rud asked, popping another hazelnut in his mouth. "Did you guys crack the code?"

"Almost," Jasper said. "I have a simple question for you, Rud."

The fox didn't look up from his spot on the ground. Although he had scooted over to get some better scratches, he didn't move otherwise.

"Shoot."

"Why haven't you made Elm our champion yet?"

Rud let out a low whistle. That was a doozy of a question. "Can't rush these things," he said. "She's very interested in the power within the Grove, but she's also got a foot in the mortal world. I don't think she wants to be a member of the Grove, but even something like becoming a champion is hard for her to wrap her head around."

"Are you certain?" Jasper asked. "Have you talked to her about it?"

"No, not yet. Things get kinda busy around here, y'know? And I run around the Grove doing all kinds of druid stuff. I can't just drop it on her. She's gotta come to it on her own."

"If you say so," Jasper said. "Anyway, my fox magic was the first step to cracking the new dungeons, but there's more to it. We're certain there's a willful power behind these spells. My magic isn't pointed like that of arcane mages. It is wild, and cannot be controlled so easily. When I applied my Foxfire ability to the dungeon, my magic recoiled. Almost like it sensed something within that was more than just a dungeon. I bit the dungeon, but the dungeon bit back."

"Perfect," Rud said, dusting the crumbs from the trail mix off of himself. "A sapient dungeon. That's exactly what we need around here."

"Good thing a smart mage has the problem in hand," Jasper said, yawning. "Goodnight, custodian."

"Goodnight."

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