Gladesbale Grove Book 3 - Chapters 70,71,72,73

Chapter 70

Imbue

A small cubby rested on the desk near Rud’s radio. Since he had first upgraded the building and settled into his life as a ham radio operator, he assumed it was simply a nice place to store his junk. The druid removed a collection of acorns, sticks, and a very nice rock from the nook to reveal a small letter, sealed on one side with wax. Removing it from the confines of his desk, he placed it on the desk.

“It’s made out to me, but no return address,” Rud said, smiling as he split the wax seal. “Aw, the custodian in Harg’s Grove is named Caleb. And he wants to fight me to the death.”

Nulsa fluttered silently onto the table, tilting his head to the side to align to the orientation of the page. “He’s a fiery one.”

“No kidding,” Rud said, skimming the latter. “Weird. He says he needs rare monster parts for his observatory. Also, apparently Harg’s Grove is called Fight Club. That can’t be right.”

“Harg is the Wild Spirit,” Nulsa said. “It seems as though his custodian follows his doctrines of fighting.”

“Guess so,” Rud said, waving the letter around. “This also has instructions on how to send information back to Caleb. Bent is gonna lend us the smallest of favors so we can unite the Groves. Pretty sweet, huh?”

“Indeed. If only the required monster parts weren’t so rare,” Nulsa said. “Have you seen a dragon? Or a cockatrice? How about a phoenix? No? Neither have I. Not in the past hundred years, anyway.”

Rud tapped his chin. Of all the possible monster parts, the one he figured they’d have the easiest time getting wouldn’t win any favors among anyone in his Grove. “What is your opinion on sea monsters?”

Nulsa hooted, a hollow sound that revealed resignation. “I hate this plan already.”

Rud took a steady breath, focusing on the connection he felt in his soul. He searched that bridge, finding another 10 Agility he didn’t want and began plucking it apart. For some reason, the owl stuck around as he worked on this new skill. Thanks to the training he had endured in the time bubble, it only took him about an hour to get it brewing in the pit of his soul. Once he was sure it was working correctly, he turned back to the owl.

“You’re still here,” Rud said.

“Of course I’m still here,” Nulsa said, seeming slightly more upset about the statement. “Who else will help you kill sea monsters?”

Chuckling, Rud flipped over the letter he had received from Fight Club, sketching a scene of the ocean. He drew tentacles shooting up from the water and two birds swooping down. “We don’t need to kill anything. We just need to swoop down and steal the suckers of a kraken.”

“Interesting plan. But even my talons may not be sharp enough to do the job,” Nulsa said. “They’re excellent for stabbing, less good for slicing.”

Rud wiggled his brows, amending his drawing.

“So, the smaller one is you?” Nulsa asked. “Which means you just drew a pair of scissors underneath me. And I’m wondering how you’re still alive if this is where your thoughts go.”

“Come on, it’ll work,” Rud said. “Just a nice enchanted pair of scissors, imbued with the Grove… Might even be a chance for us to test Ban’s new spell.”

“The spell she isn’t done working with,” Nulsa said. “The one she is currently developing? That one?”

“Yeah, the one that isn’t done. Look, I’m not saying we need to do this tomorrow… But the sooner we get all the Groves on the same page, the better. If we pull in Caleb, we can send him to any problems in the other Groves like a rabid wolverine. Can you imagine?”

“You want to use a custodian as a weapon of war?”

“No! I wanna send him to defend. There’s a difference,” Rud said, tapping his head.

“May I review this information with someone more knowledgeable about monsters?” Nulsa asked. “Perhaps there’s an alternative.”

“Please. I’ve got stuff to do. Take your time.”

Nulsa seemed to consider the thought for a moment before flying away. Rud looked around his desk, finding a blank sheet of parchment paper and writing a message. When it was done, he sealed it with spit—which did nothing at all—and looked around. He shrugged, placing it where he had found the letter Caleb had sent. Although it didn’t vanish right away, he had faith.

Rud stretched out his back before leaving the tower. The weather was fine, and the amount of dungeons springing up in the Grove had reduced significantly. The adventurers were now at a point where they were destroying more than were generated. Things were looking up, which in his old life meant something was about to explode in his face. But this was the Grove! Everything was good always and forever!

“If you’re done congratulating yourself, I’d like a word,” Ban said, speaking into the druid’s mind. “Don’t mind me. Just overheard your conversation and have something to offer. That spell you’ve been waiting for is just about done. It is as strong as I can make it, but I was wondering if you wanted a crack at it.”

Rud actually had to think about that one for a minute. He wasn’t sure what to think about the offer, and found his brain stalling before it started. Stammering, he finally found his footing. “You want me to help you craft a spell?”

Ban giggled the way she always did. “Yes. Your domain is impressive, and would add a lot to this spell.”

“Well, how does that work?” Rud asked, holding his hands out as if to hold an imaginary spell. “Do you just plop the spell in my hands and let me go to town?”

“Not exactly. You can come retrieve it from me whenever you want.”

That just made Rud even more confused. He wasn’t sure how he was going to get a concept from the Sacred Tree, but he also wouldn’t argue. With a defeated shrug, he made his way through the thicket and found his tree… with a really weird glowing sphere of energy near her trunk.

“Is that a spell?” Rud asked, getting close and tilting his head to one side. He felt like an owl trying to get his head in just the right position to understand what he was seeing. The orb was made of either pure energy or glass, he couldn’t tell. The inside was a confusing mix of mist and light and as he reached out to touch it, he felt warmth coming from within.

“Think of it as a template,” Ban said. “Just absorb it into your soul and you should understand.”

“Huh. Okay,” Rud said. “Can I make these?”

“Maybe. With practice.”

Once Rud started looking at the sphere as something resembling a spell, he thought he felt something. Pressing his hand against the surface, he could immediately tell the similarities to the Imbue Crafted Item spell. But there was a lot of Grove energy in there, mingling in a strangely incomplete way. The druid looked at Ban, brows knitting as he tried to keep the words from his mouth.

You couldn’t finish this, could you? He kept the private thought to himself, then couldn’t help but wonder what made him so special. Why had it been so easy for him to craft a spell? For now, he’d chalk it up to stubborn idiocy. He was so dumb and hard-headed that impossible tasks were rendered trivial, if only because of the sheer stupidity of his actions.

That was a bit harsh. But it was the only way Rud could understand what was going on. Even Bent said he was talented, even if he didn’t think so. As the druid hugged the glowing sphere, watching as it vanished into his chest, those thoughts fell away. Now was a time to mess around with new spells. There were a few things that were missing from the template, and he was determined to add them.

“So, we can do a few things here,” Rud said, getting a sense of the incomplete spell the more he focused on it. “Dang, you really packed this thing with crafting magic, huh? Not my area of expertise.”

Rud tutted as though he were some big time academy teacher. He placed his hands on his hips for dramatic effect.

“Could you possibly save my spell, Professor Rud?” Ban asked. “Adding the restriction is so outside of my domain, I was never able to get it working.”

And that was the exact problem. It wasn’t that Rud was good at this. It was just that his domain focused entirely on Grove magic. Something that added a restriction based on if someone was a member of a Grove or not was exactly his wheelhouse. Ban might’ve been talented in a lot of things, but this wasn’t one of them. Despite basically being the Grove, he didn’t know if she had command over the domain the way he did. Or she was just being nice and trying to make Rud feel important. Either way, he was happy to help.

Falling into a cross-legged seated position, Rud got to work. He pulled on the power of the Grove around him and his own domain. He focused on the spell he had been given, the Imbue Crafted Item spell, and the concept of restriction. That concept was easy to expand upon while sitting in the Grove. The air was filled with those invisible magical restrictions. Pulling on those was like plucking a thread and pulling and watching it unravel was entertaining.

“If your domain isn’t Grove Magic, what is it?” Rud asked, focusing as he wove that new thread into the spell.

“Your domain isn’t even Grove Magic, though,” Ban said. “My domain is the Grove. But my command of spell crafting is lacking, so I cannot stretch the concept wide enough to make it work. You don’t have such a problem. Although your domain relates to plants within the Grove, you already wove the missing piece.”

Which wasn’t really an answer, but Rud wouldn’t complain. He kept at it on the spell, feeling Ban add her will to the effort when needed. There might’ve even been a bit of Bent’s help, but since Rud had made contact with the progenitor of the Groves, he had been using a lighter touch. Sneaky little stag.

“There,” Ban said. “That feels right. Do you think the restrictions are in place?”

Rud shut his eyes tightly, sensing the thread in the spell. It felt good enough to him.

“Yeah, why not?”

“Pull it together,” Ban said. “I’ll help you forge the spell.”

“Here we go.”

The spell came together in a snap. Rud felt everything just fall into place and he was ever-mystified by the process. It was the least intuitive thing he had experienced in this world, and the way everything came together was frustratingly easy. A system message appeared a moment later.

[Spell Generated]

You have created the Imbue Grove Item spell by combining mastered concepts, domain, Gladesbale Grove’s energy and the Imbue Crafted Item spell!

“All done,” Rud said, dusting his hands off. “Shall I read it, or can you magically see the spell?”

“I can see it,” Ban confirmed.

Rud shrugged, summoning the spell for inspection.

[Imbue Grove Item]

Rank 1 Druid-Grove Custodian Spell

Crafting Grove Plant Magic

Mana Cost:

Varied (400 minimum)

Varied (any domain-imbued item)

Description:

Imbue an item with the power of a Grove (depending on which Grove this item is imbued in). The item must be crafted by a member of a Grove and imbued by a member. Items affected by this spell will only be usable by members of a Grove, or through a specific contract.

Effect:

Impart the aspect of a Grove into one crafted item. The power, and specific mechanism of this effect depend on the Grove, caster, and the amount of mana used in the spell. Additional domain-imbued items may also be used.

As expected, it was a weird spell. With a variable mana cost, starting at 400 which is pretty freaking high, and a varied input of items, it was sure to make for an interesting spell to cast. Rud had the feeling the resulting items would be far more powerful than the ones he made using the Imbue Crafted Item spell. The power of their entire Grove would come into play, which would result in some seriously good stuff.

“Only one thing to do,” Rud said, rubbing his hands together. “Taz crafted some items. Let’s go imbue them!”

Chapter 71

Leaf Blade

It was hard to remember a time when Taz was more excited. He had been working in silence on his project to create weapons for the groves for quite some time. Now, he would finally be able to put those efforts to use. Ban had forbidden him from distributing the weapons until the completion of this spell, and only the combined efforts of the Sacred Tree and Rud saw that dream come to fruition.

"About time," Taz said, thumping his fists on the anvil as Rud entered the smithy. After the Dwarf's encounter with Undeath in the underground, he had spent a lot of time here, likely decompressing. 

"Hey, did you try crafting a spell," Rud said, snorting. "Took everything out of me. I’m weak! Please save me!”

Rud feigned fainting, swaying and leaning against the wall as he dramatically sighed. Taz shook his head, walking to one corner of the smithy and gesturing to a tight grouping of weapons. He had placed them in wooden weapon racks and drawn his dwarven symbols, marking each section for what it was—swords, spears, knives, and so on.

“The question is," Taz said, drumming his fingers on the pommel of a sword. "How many of these do you figure you can do in a day?"

"That depends on how strong we want to make them," Rud said. "I imagine that we will not be creating a bunch of full-strength weapons, but rather only a few that are super OP and then a bunch that are pretty good. The spell can go up to as much mana as I can put into it, along with some other stuff, but 400 mana is the minimum."

"400? That’s a lot of mana.”

“Well, that’s right,” Rud said with a weak shrug. “That’s a ton of mana, and my mana regeneration isn’t catching up with my rapid growth. So I could probably do two every 30 minutes, assuming I don’t use any domain or viewed items. We’re getting ahead of ourselves. First, let’s do a test item where we go all out. How does that sound?” 

“Sounds good to me. I think we should start with this iron sword,” Taz said, holding up a particularly pristine example. “It’s about the finest thing I’ve ever made.” 

With that, the druid ran off to get a bunch of forest items to imbue with his domain. He found some sticks, a couple of leaves, and even some dirt. Why not? They were all happy to absorb the power of the Grove and become shiny examples of what that domain meant. Of course, it was very taxing to infuse so many items with his power. When the job was done, he took a break by sitting in the smithy for a while.

"Are you about ready to start?" Taz asked. He had laid the sword out on a strip of cloth that had been embroidered with various dwarven symbols. The druid knew those symbols would do nothing, but he wouldn't complain. The dwarf wanted to hold on to some of his people’s traditions. 

"I'm ready to start," Rud said, cracking his knuckles. "746 mana, ready to imbue into a single iron sword. Let’s get it." 

Rud got to work. He focused on the spell and felt it out. It was not the first time casting any spell, so it was a bit of a testing phase. It took him a moment to get a handle on it, but it was similar enough to his old spell that he needed no further instructions. 

With his hands held out and the items he had imbued with his domain arranged nearby, he began imbuing the item. The first thing he felt was Ban's power coursing through him. It felt like the wide-open forest, the rivers and the lakes, along with an endless canopy of trees. Next, and perhaps most surprising of all, was the sensation of excitement and battle coming from Mint. He hadn't really expected her power to mingle in, but she had done it before with the Imbue Crafted Item spell, so why not now? 

But that wasn't the last of the strange sensations he experienced. He felt the spell asking permission to add more mana and to use those imbued items, and he let it. Those things seemed to flood through him, as though the druid was the conduit. The surface of the iron sword glowed a brilliant shade of green, small flecks of magic cascading off as though the sword were white hot. Taz shielded his eyes as Rud did his best to maintain control of the spell. It was wild in a way he hadn't expected, as though at any moment it would buck out from underneath him and cast him to the ground.

He maintained his focus.

The spell was hungry. Even after it had taken almost all of his mana and chewed through the imbued items, it wanted more. It reached out, plucking from the grove itself some kind of conceptual vestige, some sort of signature that this was indeed the Gladesbale Grove, and that the denizens within it should all add at least something to this weapon. Perhaps it was Rud's excitement to cast the spell or the hungry metal Taz had created, but it drank it all up. The druid stood with his arms outstretched over the blade for about an hour. The five-minute affair he had expected was long gone, resulting in an arduous slog against a sword that seemed to fight back against him. Yet, he felt as though if he were to lose concentration against it for even a moment, it would somehow win against him.

Rud sagged on the spot, falling backwards and collapsing, his vision swam. As he felt himself toppling end over end, he saw that he was lying flat on his back. Taz released a shriek of surprise and then another yell that Rud couldn't quite identify. The dwarf gibbered about something, jumping up and down and thrashing around, even though he was close to unconsciousness.

"What did you even create?" Taz shouted, shaking Rud even more violently. "Do you know what my dwarven brothers would give for a blade like this? We could go there now, and we would live as kings. Why does it have to be bound to the grove?"

"What are you talking about?" Rud asked, rubbing his head in a desperate attempt to shake off the feeling that he would fall through the floor at any moment.

"Get your leaf-covered butt up and inspect your item," Taz said. 

Rud groaned. Most of his senses had returned to him, so he rose, finding that he had been thrown at least a few feet away from the cloth-covered table. But what he saw resting there wasn't what he remembered Taz putting down. It wasn't the same gray sword that he started with. Instead, the length of the blade had been turned the hue of the forest itself. Visible pieces of living trees were growing from underneath the guard, and wrapped vines ran along the length of the handle, ending in a pretty blue flower over the pommel. He reached out with a tentative hand, touching the blade and feeling it almost reach out back to him.

With hesitation, the druid inspected the weapon he had created.

[Grove Leaf Blade]

Unranked Grove Sword

Grovebound

Description:

A weapon imbued with the power of Gladesbale Grove, imbued with its power and crafted by an adept dwarven smith.

Effect:

Mint’s Fury: Increase the sharpness of this blade depending on the skill of the user.

Ban’tanthein’s Grace: Increase combat mobility depending on the skill of the user.

Rud’s Tenacity: Significantly reduces fatigue in combat depending on how “cool” the user is.

“That last effect has nothing to do with me, I won’t take responsibility for it,” Rud said.

"I've never seen anything like it," Taz said, scooping it up and marveling at the weapon. "I guess it's bound to only members of the Grove, but it's marked as unranked, which means it should adapt to whatever rank the user is."

"Is that even possible?" Rud asked. "It seems like it would be incredibly overpowered if that's the way it worked."  

"You wanted to give the members of the other groves a fighting chance?" Taz asked with a laugh. "Well, here you go. The effects don't seem like much, but it's actually better if they're vague like that. Here, let me show you." 

Taz held the crafted sword in one hand and another mundane one he had forged in the other. They went outside and found a place where he had been cutting firewood. Why the dwarf was cutting firewood instead of using their much more reliable fuel source was beyond him, but he wouldn't question it. 

"So, here's the one that you didn't just put 700 mana into," Taz said, raising the mundane weapon high and bringing it down onto a circular rot log that was ready for splitting. It bit deeply into the wood but only made it about a quarter of the way through. Worse still, it was stuck. No matter how much the dwarf yanked, it wouldn't come out. “Not bad. I sharpened it well enough. But watch this…”

Taz hoisted the leaf blade high into the air, coming down alongside the other blade that was stuck. This time, it bit completely through the entire thing, cutting as though it barely met any resistance at all. Then it kept going, cutting through the rock underneath until it stopped in the dirt. Rud stood back, mouth hanging open as he watched the event.

"Okay, I'm thinking the one we imbued with the power of the Grove is just a little bit better than the base-level one."

"Just a little bit better?!" Taz shouted, throwing his hands into the air and kicking at the ground. "There's no pleasing you, is there?"

"I'm just joking. I know this is awesome. Look. Look at how excited I am," Rud said, grabbing the dwarf by the shoulders and shaking him. "I'm so excited." 

The power of the weapon was undeniable. They had created something truly great, and if Rud did a little bit of introspection, he realized it wasn't all that difficult. It wasn't that the spell had taken anything out of him. Instead, it had drawn from nearby concepts, leaving him feeling mostly fine. Not only did it make for an amazing weapon, but he felt the ten Agility he had stored in his soul stirring, as though it was almost ready to become another fake rank.

"You've got a busy day ahead of you," Taz said, rubbing his hands together.

"I might need a little break after that one. I mostly feel fine, but come on. Can’t you just be happy with that one?”

“No. You wanted an arsenal and here it is,” Taz said, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the piled items. “Don’t make me get my whip!”

“I really hope you don’t have a whip. Just give me a minute to recover, okay? Lay the weapons out in order of which ones should be enchanted, okay?”

Taz did a snappy salute before rushing off to assemble his weapons.

Rud was no longer reluctant to create and export weapons. Now that he had restricted them to only members of the Grove, he felt better. As long as that restriction extended to the other groves, they were in business. Even the weakest fighters would do great things with this stuff. He passed through the nearest bush and arrived near Ban's clearing, letting out a heavy sigh as he sagged against her trunk. Of course, his peace was short-lived. A voice called from afar.

"Hello, Rud," Barrow shouted, running over and waving. "Something's been sticking in my mind all day. Nobody else can answer my question."

"What is it?" Rud asked, his brows knitting as he attempted to predict what it would be. The human asked him.

Barrow gestured to the north toward an incomplete project. "What exactly is that?"

Rud gritted his teeth, shaking his head. "It was supposed to be a water park, but I got kind of distracted." 

"Ah, and are you presently distracted?" Barrow asked. 

Of course Rud was distracted. He had a whole crapload of stuff to do and not enough hours in the day to do it. His increased vigor had recently helped him stay up later, which meant he got more work done. But there was still just too much. As he thought about it, he figured that Taz's project could wait. The druid was convinced he could feign some kind of illness or exhaustion.

"Come on, what are we waiting for? Let's get those slides working!” Rud shouted. “Where are my swim trunks!?”

Chapter 72

All’s Well

The problem with the excitement in the Grove was that projects that were more fun than practical fell by the wayside. Rud had done a lot to get his water park working. He had created a very big tree with slides that went down with a constant trickle of water. He had made a pool at the bottom where people could swim. Yet this feature had been disused since he first built it, and the function of it, or lack thereof, had gone unnoticed by him.

Something had happened, and there was a clog in one of the roots that provided water for the slides. Although that was an easy enough fix, it was difficult to get done when an angry dwarf came calling.

"What do you mean you need to fix the water park?" Taz shouted, throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation.

"My domain energy is out," Rud said, shrugging and hoping the dwarf fell for the lie. "It'll take about an hour to restore."

"Okay," Taz said, glaring at him. "I'm waiting at the Smithy, though, so hurry up." 

Only once the dwarf had ducked into a nearby tree did Rud share a knowing look with Barrow. The fighter winked at him, stripping down to his undies and stretching out.

“Which one are we going down first?” he asked.

Rud smiled. "I'm thinking we could make the angle on the second slide steeper, have one for people who don't want to go so fast and another for people who want to get whiplash."

Barrow laughed at that and was all too happy to test the slides one after the other. The initial repairs didn't take anywhere near the hour Rud had quoted Taz. It only took a few minutes to get everything working correctly. Then, he adjusted each slide until they provided the perfect amount of speed. It was a combination of the angle and the amount of water that came out. Unsurprisingly, the plunging pool had to be adjusted to be deeper. He even worked on the third slide, which ended about 10 feet above the water, allowing people to experience freefall before falling into the pool.

"As fun as this has been, I really do have some work to do," Rud said, feeling depressed that he had to leave such an interesting thing.

"Me too," Barrow said. "More dungeons to clear. I'm sure you're happy about that."

"I am, but I'm also concerned about something." Rud noticed the concerned look that formed on Barrow’s face. He waved the thought away. “Nothing to be too worried about. Everything will sort itself out in the end.”

“Oh! I forgot! I came here for a reason,” Barrow said, a look of horror spreading across his face. “Oak sent me to find some reagents for her spells. She’s going to kill me.”

“Buddy, let me tell you something,” Rud said, slapping a hand on his shoulder. “You got the best excuse around. Just say I kept you too long and you’re golden! What reagents did you need, anyway?”

“More salt. And some bones if ya got any.”

“I’m sure we got some bones sitting around here somewhere. Any specific kind?”

“Nope.”

After gathering bones and salt, Rud tried to goof around for as long as possible. Taz came looking for him eventually, pulling him back into the crafting situation. Of course, he didn’t plan to go wild like he had with the first sword, but each item they would imbue today would hold enough of the Grove’s power to make any dwarven rune weaver blush. As the druid did his work, enchanting a ton of weapons, Ban had some rather interesting information.

“We’ve got a very level mix here,” she said. “I don’t have to tell you these items are at artifact-level, do I?”

“You could tell that to me, but I don’t really know what it means,” Rud said. “I’ve seen very few magical items in my time, so this could just be normal.”

“It isn’t. The Grovebound tag is extremely good for us, though. Any guardian, heart, or custodian can offer the weapon to a non-Grove member. It can only be used in the interests of that specific Grove, which might seem limiting…”

“But that’s perfect for us,” Rud said, finishing the thought. “Better than putting every single person under a soul contract.”

“Right. And the density of magic within that first sword is… frightening. Can you imagine what that spell could do at a higher tier?”

Rud rubbed his chin, trying to think of how things would change. There were a few mechanics at play here. While he didn’t normally think too deeply about this kind of stuff, it had recently become a requirement. “The Grove, me, you, Mint… Maybe even a bit of Papa Bent? We have enough random energy mingling around in that thing to kill a fair-sized horse.”

Ban hummed into his mind, seemingly satisfied with where that conversation ended. Rud could feel her emotions, picking up on contentment and a hint of something he almost couldn’t place. Getting stronger, whatever that meant for a pacifist tree-hugger, was a dangerous thing. The Sacred Tree knew how strong they would become. She knew his plan to expand the Grove would become real soon enough. A few more ranks and he’d be crafting an even more powerful spell to expand their area of influence and the druid couldn’t tell if that was a good thing.

Consuming the continent would benefit everyone, right?

“Let’s see,” Taz said, snapping him out of his concentration. “We can settle for mass-producing your lowest version of the weapons. Let’s aim for ten of the basic weapons and one fancy one per Grove.”

“Which is over 100 weapons,” Rud said. “You’re gonna kill me.”

“Bah! Read the description of the weapons. You’re tenacious.”

With the entire point of this exercise being to arm the groves against the rising threat of both system-generated buildings and the dungeons, Rud had to embody that concept of tenacity. Oftentimes, he felt lazy, but right now, he didn't have a choice. The other groves might not come out and say it, but they were struggling. They were dealing with just as many, if not more, monsters than his own grove. Jim could handle those just fine, since Basil's plant-based construction magic allowed him to encapsulate the dungeons. People like Maria weren't so lucky.

Rud liked to imagine that even the people who hadn't joined the communication network were waiting for his weapons. Being a manufacturer of such things would never have crossed his mind when he first arrived in the Grove. But now, as he looked over piles of swords, spears, and even a few axes, the dwarf was eager to get on the field. He knew it was the right move. They had taken all precautions to make sure nobody else could use these things, so why not?

"I'm ready, boss. Put me back in," Rud said. 

Rud and Taz worked late into the night. The two mana per second regeneration effect on his staff wasn't great, but it was enough to keep them working with minimal interruptions. Mint actually delivered them dinner, but she said nothing. She came in with a grim expression, set the plates down, and departed. When the pair got back to work, neither really thought much of it.

Taz snored, his back pressed up against the anvil as his head bobbed up and down. Rud let out a steady breath, enchanting yet another spear with the power of the grove. He wanted to make sure that each of the other groves had a decent spread of weapons to choose from. 

"You do sleep, don't you?" Elm asked, appearing at the entrance to the smithy with an unusually bright smile on her face. The insects were chirping outside the building. Rud blinked away his tiredness and looked up at her. He had been resting on the ground after enchanting yet another weapon. All the sounds of the night had fallen away. Owls hooted somewhere in the distance as a wolf's howl cut through the darkness. 

"Wasn't very hard to sneak up on me, was it?" Rud asked with a half-hearted chuckle.

“No, it really wasn't,” she said, coming to take a seat on the floor. She looked at the dwarf and suppressed a giggle. “Well, at least he's out for the count.”

“I guess he doesn't have the advantage of extremely high vigor like I do.” Rud said, "What's your excuse?"

"Mana reinforcement," Elm explained. "So, do you think these weapons will really work? It seems like you guys are making some extremely powerful stuff."

“They have to work. Otherwise, I'm out of ideas to protect the other groves.”

"Well, at least you got time to get the slides working again," Elm said, patting him on the shoulder. "Barrow told me about them. He also told me you helped my sister find some materials to keep the ghosts at bay. Apparently, they would become a serious problem in about a week."

"Well, that's a week away from today and not my problem yet."

"Everything will work out," Elm said in a reassuring tone. "You'll see."

Rud gazed up at the shattered moons through a gap in the trees. He saw each piece glimmering like its own star. He couldn't yet understand the connection between the shattered moons and the city below his grove, but there was something there, some mystery for him to discover. Just not today. Today, he enjoyed the sound and smell of the forest outside the smithy. He appreciated the massive stack of weapons he had already enchanted.

***

Many celestial bodies orbited the world of Asevar. Many of these were remnants of the shattered moons. These moons were called Aselan and Pult. Both had been revered in times past as representations of a god and goddess long forgotten by the mortals of this world. It had been so long ago that perhaps even the gods themselves had begun to forget. But there was one who could never forget.

Compared to some other places in the universe, this local sector was rather boring. The one planet that held life was interesting; it had never produced many people of worth. This was mostly due to the strict guidance of the local gods and the interaction between them and powerful primordial spirits on the surface, which had ensured a constant state of stability for millennia.

Of the many scattered rocks that once made up the moon, a pale one glittering brighter than the others. It glowed with an otherworldly shade of green, not only catching the light of the distant sun but also emanating its own source of power. Power that had been fed since the moment this rock had been shattered. Upon the service of the planet, this rock could be seen. Some cultures called it the Eye of Pult.

Only a handful of people on the surface of the planet paid enough attention to the movement of celestial bodies to notice that one had begun moving. Not in any direction that made sense, but directly toward the surface of the planet, toward a continent called Aiswyn and the Hornfen Region. If their instrumentation for detecting such movements had been sensitive enough, they could have pinpointed that location exactly.

A piece of Pult was headed directly at Gladesbale Grove.

Chapter 73

Pult

Rud woke the next morning to the sound of a dwarf snoring and something warm pressed against him. Just a moment before he could say, "Hubba hubba," or something equally deranged, he opened his eyes to see the shape of a dwarf pressed against him. Sometime during the night, Taz must have gotten cold and cuddled up to him. Although it wasn't the image of Elm pressed against him as he had expected, he had to admit that it was nice to have something warm covering him during the chilly night.

After removing himself from the dwarf's embrace, Rud stretched out his back. Despite all that Vigor, spending the night pressed against the anvil and entangled with a dwarf did no favors for his back. But thanks to those increased attributes, and his new status as a guy faking being at Rank 3, he was mostly fine. Sometime during the night, the 10 Agility attributes he had added to his soul had finished processing. A new fake rank brought new heights of power that Rud thought he would never reach in such a short amount of time. There were plenty of attributes to gain within the dungeon, so he selected another ten agility points and added them to his soul, the process taking a meager hour to complete. When he was done, he felt significantly slower than he had the previous day, but it would be worth it. Once he chomped on a few dungeon souls, he’d feel right again.

Taz yawned, finally stirring from his rest and looking up with a blinkingly confused expression. "Did you finish everything?" he asked, his voice husky and filled with phlegm.

"Almost I've got enough weapons to cover the groves we're in contact with anyway. I don't think we need to make all the ones for the groves we're not in communication with yet." 

"Well, that's fair enough," Taz said, turning to spot the completed weapons. He nodded with approval, giving the druid the thumbs up. "You did very well.”

Rud took his time heading to the longhouse for some breakfast. Of course, since Taz had been busy until about five minutes ago, it was perpetual stew for everyone. Both Oak and Barrow were already in there, eating and chatting on the far side of the building. The druids settled in, making some tea and chatting about whatever. The ghost project was going well, and they didn't expect much of a threat to pop up after that, which just left the dungeons.

Once Rud was finished with his food, he checked on his animals, milking them and linking up with Billy for only a few minutes. The devil was doing a great job ensuring everything was in order, and they had enough milk and cheese to last a lifetime. After that, he headed to the observatory for his morning reports. A new fake rank meant that his low-rank skills operated slightly better. After accepting the aspect at the bottom of the tower and ascending to the top, he observed energies he had never seen before. He could now see well off the coast to the southeast and further north than he could have ever hoped. At least he could confirm some of what Nulsa had reported.

Speaking of that owl, soft hooting came from the banister outside.

"I'm sensing some strange energies," the owl said.

"When aren't you sensing strange energies?" Rud said, cocking his head to the side. "Where are they? I can't sense anything.”

“Look straight up," Nulsa said. 

Rud did as he was told, tilting his head back until he was looking straight up. That's when he saw a kaleidoscope of colors he couldn't quite explain. The energies were unlike anything he had sensed before. He thought his mastery of identifying those energies and predicting what they could portend had grown to unimaginable levels. But as he looked, he simply couldn't figure out what was going on. 

"What's that all about?" 

"I have absolutely no idea," Nulsa said. "I've never felt anything like it, and I've been around for a while. We should assume the worst and put the Grove on high alert."

"Not a bad idea," Rud said. He scrambled to get his report done, stuffing it in his pocket when he had finished. If he could remember, he would have one of the sacred beasts take it over later. But right now, there were more important things to worry about. The druid shifted into his raven form, wincing as the press of energies was almost blinding from above. He had to turn off his mana-enhanced sight. “That ain’t good!”

Dashing into the nearest bush, the druid appeared on the other side, fluttering onto one of the flower-strewn branches of the Sacred Tree.

"Yes, I can already sense it," Ban said, speaking into his mind. "I've never felt anything like that energy."

"What should we do?" Nulsa asked, coming alongside Rud onto the branch and resting there. 

"I don't know," Ban responded.

When the sapient tree didn't know what to do, that was when things were bad. At first, Rud's first impulse was to contact Bent and ask him for some help. Whatever this energy was leading up to couldn't have been good, and he had an ominous feeling about its impact. That feeling was doubled when he heard the nasally Jersey accent from down below.

“She’s gonna be a big one!” Mark shouted, his voice echoing through the clearing. Magical arrays had appeared on the ground, spreading out and covering everything Rud could see.

Rud flew to the ground, landing next to the goblin and shifting into his true form. He placed his hands on his hips. "Is this the calamity you were talking about?" he asked.

"Yep, this is it," Mark said, dusting his hands before waving them through the air again. More magical arrays appeared, this time in the air around them and high above in the sky. "Gonna be a pretty big rock falling on your head, so I'm here to stop it."

"A rock, like a meteor, comet, or whatever you call it?" Rud asked.

"Yep, we're gonna catch this bad boy and… Well, I don’t know what to do after I catch it. Got somewhere I can put a city-sized chunk of rock?”

“Uh… Maybe?”

As always, everyone fled when Mark showed up. Only this time, Nulsa hung around. But the pressure the goblin put on him was clear. The owl clung to Ban’s branch, holding on as though he were enduring a storm. All Rud could do was watch as the outworlder wizard did his thing. A series of arrays appeared above them, rising so high into the sky that their detail was quickly lost behind rolling banks of clouds.

"Don't neglect the reinforcement array," a voice called from closer to the longhouse. Rud swiveled, spotting the living piece of furniture stomping across the clearing. His glowing eyes angled towards the sky.

"I know, I know. This kind of magic isn't my specialty," Mark grumbled, twisting his hands to alter the formation of the magical sigils. "How's that? Looking good to you?"

"That looks better, but you're still not interlinking them well enough. Shall I take over?"

"No, I've got this." 

The druid watched in disbelief as Mark argued with what was effectively a bookcase. But they were both satisfied with the way the array looked after a while, and then they watched the sky for some time before the druid realized nothing would happen immediately.

"So, what is this rock? Do you know where it comes from?" Rud asked.

"As far as I can tell, it's from one of the broken moons. There is a thread of fate I was examining that said each piece would fall, so count yourself lucky. This fate that's unfolding now has been created by an outside force, and we all know that's against the rules." 

“And we must follow the rules,” Tan said, tipping his entire body as though to nod.

As Rud stood there gazing at the sky as though he had nothing better to do with his day, he felt a sudden pressure come down on him. At first, he thought it was the weight of everything that had been happening recently, but the more he paid attention to the way the magic shimmered in the air, the more he realized what was happening. At the top of the magical array, which by this point must have reached outside the planet's atmosphere, the chunk of rock had already impacted. The pressure grew, and it soon felt as though he was carrying his body weight on his shoulders. Nulsa flattened against the ground, as Ban strained against the ever-increasing weight.

"I got it," Mark proclaimed, grunting as he twisted his hands through the air in rapid succession. Magical arrays formed everywhere, soon staining every inch of unoccupied scenery with random circles bearing sigils in the center.

"Much better," Tan said, his voice oddly calm given the situation.

"It wants to go a little bit to the north, so I'm just going to steer it down. Otherwise, I'll lose control of it," Mark said.

"We're all gonna to die!" Sarya shouted from a distance. Apparently, she had been hiding in a bush.

The weight reached such intensity that Rud wasn’t sure he could survive. He spotted the looming rock above them. It appeared first as a speck, almost indistinguishable against the sky crowded with arrays, but as it drew closer, he saw the enormity of it. Before long, it blocked out the sun, and the druid was forced to stand there gawking.

"So where are we putting this thing?" Mark asked, chuckling nervously. "It would be best if I put it in the grove. There are some magical energies inside that need to be dissipated, and I know your tree can handle that.”

“There's an area to the west that's mostly been destroyed. I think it'll fit in there."

Mark shut his eyes for a few moments, his lips twitching every now and then. "Yep, I see the spot you're talking about. That should be fine. Just make sure your tree is ready to wrap around this thing."

The flood of gravitational pressure, combined with a new wash of offensive magical energies, drove even Rud to the floor. The sun was completely obscured behind the massive rock, and then more magical rays wrapped around it. Mark was casting some kind of containment spell that would keep them all from dying. Rud assumed that because, right after he cast the spell, the pressure lifted slightly, and the rock ceased entirely, hovering in the air before moving to the side and eventually out of their view.

The druid stood there frozen for quite a few moments before he realized he should act. He turned to Nulsa, snapping his fingers.

“Come on, we’ve got a job to do,” he said, transforming into his raven form and taking to the skies. They found the nearest bush and dove through it. 

Roots from the Sacred Tree were already stabbing skyward, wrapping around the bottom of the massive rock. Mark was lowering it into an area that had been destroyed by the intentional explosions. Ban’s roots wrapped around the bottom and pulled it down, although the druid doubted there was enough force within her to actually pull it down. It settled onto the ground without making so much as a sound, until the rock beneath it cracked, creating a series of ominous rumbles that felt like an earthquake.

Mint, Major, Jasper, Billy, Dean, Taz and Sarya had all assembled nearby. Rud could see the strain on their faces.

“I’m expecting the worst!” Mint shouted, hoisting a spear into the air. It didn’t pass Rud’s notice that she was holding a spear he had imbued with power. “There’s something inside!”

Rud looked up, unsure how she could tell. The stone towered high into the sky, looming over them with its enormity. “Are ya sure about that?”

“Yes. Look!” Mint shouted, pointing to the side of the rock. A tiny form was removing itself from a crevice. It picked a lazy path down the side of the rock, finally finding its way to the ground after minutes.

Every member of the Grove watched as the creature hopped along the desolate landscape. When it drew close enough for Rud to get a good look, his mouth hung open. It was roughly the size of a house cat with a black mask over its face and a banded gray and black tail. The raccoon scampered over a log, resting on his butt and grooming his belly.

“Hey,” the raccoon said, as though riding a comet down from space was something he did every other Tuesday. “I’m Pult. Can I have a Grove contract?”