Gladesbale Grove Book 3 - Chapters 46,47,48

Chapter 46

Glamour

 Billy had his shoulders thrust back as he walked through the Grove. Maybe Rud hadn’t noticed when the devil first arrived. Maybe he had missed the confidence that was there in another life, but it had returned. When he had emerged from the dwarven Gate, he had feared for his life. Taz seemed ready to deliver that fatal blow, but something held him back. Maybe it was that glimmer Ban had seen. Because Ban had to have seen a glimmer to offer him what she had.

“Taz!” Billy shouted, holding his arms wide.

“Well, I’ll be a rock squirrel’s rear end,” Taz said, blinking rapidly. “Thought you were going back to the many hells!”

“Not today,” Billy said, striking a pose. “You’re looking at the first demon to take residence in a druidic Grove.”

Billy and Taz went back and forth for a while, but Rud couldn't help himself. He was worried. Things that went against the natural order didn't sit well with the master of the house, and for quite a few minutes, he was concerned Bent would come and put an end to it. The only thing that brought him comfort was logic. Taz had become a valuable member of the grove, and he was a dwarf. Those two concepts were anathema. So why couldn't Billy stay here? Only what Oak had told him finally put his worried thoughts to rest. He wasn't a devil. He was something else entirely.

“Could always use another hand in the smithy,” Taz said, gesturing to the building. “Perhaps you’ll find another role that fits you better, though. Have you thought about pledging yourself to a god?”

“Which one would take me?”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Rud said, trying to pat him on the shoulder. He was too tall, so the druid instead gave him a playful punch in the leg. “You’re not even from this realm, so I need to explain how all this works. We can do that while we meet the adventurers in the southern entrance.”

“Lead the way,” Billy said, bowing his head.

It would have surprised Rud how quickly Billy was willing to join the Grove, except the same thing had happened with Taz. Once a person joined, it seemed as though their slate was wiped clean. None of their old worries remained, and all they could think about was being the best version of themselves possible. The same thing had even happened to Rud when he first arrived. After the seed planting ceremony, he felt as though he had a new lease on life. It was as though he could do anything, and the only thing stopping him was himself. It was easy to understand the Devil Lord's position, and he was eager to give him the best start possible.

The first thing Rud showed Billy was how to use the Thicket Travel ability. They took the quickest path possible to the southern entrance of the Grove and stayed there for a while as they went over the command structure. It wasn't exactly difficult to understand, but the druid thought it was best to grasp how it worked. He explained the Guardian, Heart, and Custodian aspects of the groves, along with the interconnectedness they would soon share once Kiara's Grove got their observatory up.

“So, you’re like the janitor,” Billy said.

“I’m the janitor, landscaper, administrator, and a few other things,” Rud said with a laugh. “But I’m not in charge. That responsibility goes to Ban alone.”

Billy looked up to the canopy, dappled light shining on his ash-gray face. The fire in his eyes burned brighter. “What a strange feeling to have after so much time in prison. Hope.”

The duo chatted about what would happen when the adventurers arrived. Rud told him all about the small city he had made and how the roads worked. Each road led to a dungeon, and those roads would shift as often as the druid could change them.

Although the druid had expected the adventurers to take quite a while to get here, they soon heard the thundering of hooves in the distance. A small group of ten adventurers was riding down the road. They were likely an advanced party destined to get a feel for the land before they made their way into the dungeons. Rud couldn't tell if they were doing this out of the goodness of their hearts or if the deal Ban and Oak had struck involved clearing the dungeons for a path to the north. Although it didn't matter, they were here to do a job, and he was the one who would reap the rewards.

“Salutations travelers,” Billy said, bowing as low as he could. The riders reined their horses in, some rearing back as they stopped.

Rud’s eyes were locked onto the faces of those adventurers. He expected them to scream in horror at the sight of the devil. But they didn’t. Most made the sign of reverence and bowed their heads, while others simply nodded in recognition.

“As you’re aware, Gladesbale Grove welcomes you in your efforts to weaken the dungeons. She thanks you for your power, and invites you to eat of her bounty. Housing will be provided in the form of a small town. If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you the way,” Billy said.

“Holy crap,” Rud muttered, watching as Billy turned heel and led the group down the path. “He’s really good at this.”

The group moved past the druid, each member of the party nodding down at him from horseback. Rud wanted to be jealous of the devil, but he couldn’t. That was some seriously good custodianship.

"Your job isn't in danger," Ban said, speaking directly into the Druid's mind. “There was something within the Devil that I felt a need to serve, from what little I could see in his mind. He wasn't exactly at the top, on his plane. He was in a position of service, so adapting to the ways of mortals should be easy enough for him.”

“You picked him to help me,” Rud said, smiling to himself. “Because you know how busy it gets.”

"That's right, little druid," Ban said. "He'll help free you up so you can get everything done. The observatory is almost finished in Bendy Brook Grove. After that, you'll have to unite the other custodians who wish to join the fold. Things will get busier."

Rud tapped his chin. Some evil dude turning his life around was one thing, but something didn’t sit right with him. “Why didn’t they freak out?” he asked. “I get it. He’s cool and I like his accent, but he’s still a giant devil dude with big horns and glowing eyes. The adventurers should’ve assumed he was a monster.”

“Oh, Rud… Do you think mortals see you as you are?” Ban asked. “They see you through a glamour. To most mortals, you appear more bestial than you are. They can sense the power of the Grove through you.”

“That, uh… explains a lot, actually,” Rud said, shuffling his feet. “Anyway, I’ll go watch the new guy now and live in my shame pit for a few days.”

Billy was pretty good with the adventurers. The one thing he didn't understand about them was that most people who lived such a rough and tumble life didn't enjoy pomp and circumstance. But the druid let him go on and on about whatever he wanted to do as they were introduced to their new homes. Rud was thankful that he had taken so much time to create accommodations that could hold many adventurers. While the demon lord gave them a full tour, he grew some more buildings, which gained shocked gasps and some applause from the adventurers.

It was an excellent time to strike a few poses and even do a little dance. Mortals loved the dances most of all.

Once everyone was settled, Rud and Billy took a step back to observe them as they moved around the tiny town. There were far more buildings for them to stay in now, but the most important thing of all was the roads.

“Straying from the roads means certain death for the adventurers. For all mortals, really," Rud said. "You see, the roads are made from living trees, which means they're connected to the Sacred Tree. She has the power to stop the mortals from losing their minds.”

“That sounds absolutely devious,” Billy said. “What an excellent defense.”

“Right? We had some orcs attacking before, and they must’ve known about the power of the Grove. They didn’t even bother entering, instead fleeing back to the mountains.”

A long silence settled between the pair. Rud had to fight with himself to accept Billy as part of the Grove, but that's how things worked around here. When somebody joined the Grove, they were a member from the start. They didn't need to build trust since they signed a sole contract, promising that all their actions would be for the betterment of the Grove. It was just hard to accept when the person who had accepted it was a devil. But Billy was actually trying. It was his first day, and he had already inserted himself into one of the most important aspects of the custodian's job. They walked along, fixing the paths leading to the dungeons and absorbing dungeon souls. That was something that caught the devil's attention.

“You have a World Artifact grade weapon?” Billy asked, his normally smooth way of talking somehow fractured. “What? Do they serve you the food of the gods on a golden platter? Does someone wipe your butt for you?”

“Jealous much?” Rud asked.

“Extremely,” Billy confirmed. “Well, I know who I’m sticking around. Speaking of, are there any tasks I can help with? My plan is to get noticed by a god or those spirits you were talking about. If I could activate a system on this plane, I could gain a method of advancement.”

Rud rubbed his chin. There were quite a few things he needed help with daily, and if someone wanted to take the workload from his plate, he wouldn’t complain. Although his gains weren’t massive that day, the druid was happy to show Billy around to all the chores that needed done every single day.

“First we have the squirrel cows,” Rud said.

“The what?”

Rud gestured to the pen before them. The cows rumbled over as though they expected some more food. Of course, the druid couldn’t leave them without some snackies, so he withdrew some cooked hazelnuts from his bag and tossed them inside. “They were squirrels once, but a cursed object turned them into cows.”

“What about the goats? Perhaps they were dragons at one point.”

“No, those are just normal goats. But the cows need to be milked and fed every morning,” Rud said. “Follow me…”

Next, they headed to the raised tea garden, arriving out of a bush near the bottom of the platform. After ascending to the top, they had a view of the rest stop and baths in the distance. “You can tend to the tea. I saw you caring for them earlier and I’ve gotta say… You might have a knack.”

“That might be agreeable.”

“And over there are the baths,” Rud said, gesturing. “And you can see the Creamery and the Tea Workshop from here as well. With the bathhouse, you’ll only need to run water when the mortals need it. I can show you how to do that. But the cheese and tea require a bit more instruction.”

“Excellent!” Billy said. “Well, I’m happy to do it all!”

“Really?” Rud asked. “You know, that’s a lot of work.”

“Nonsense. For the fortified mind, labor such as this is nothing,” Billy said.

“Okay, then. Well, how about we go check in on Oak and Elm before we go through a mock day. Sound good?”

“Sounds like a dream, my little friend,” Billy said.

The duo passed through a bush. Rud was excited to show him a typical day, but he absolutely needed to ensure Elm and Oak were… Well, that wasn’t good.

From the base of the tower, Rud could hear it. The sounds of one elf yelling at another.

“A battle?” Billy asked.

Rud shook his head. “No, something far worse,” he said, swallowing hard. “Elven sisters arguing.”

Chapter 47

The Cycle

Elm’s relationship with her sister was strained. Rud had figured the situation out between them right away. Oak was the golden child, always picked up by adventuring parties and touted as the best thing since squirrel cheese. She was an amazing healer, there was no doubt about that, but as long as Elm traveled with her sister, she’d always be in her shadow. That’s why their separation was the best thing for them.

The one thing Rud hadn’t expected was the explosive meeting they had in the tower. Outside of the wizard’s tower the druid stood with the devil. They looked up as something heavy was tossed from the top floor. When it finally landed Rud winced.

“It was hard to find a nice sofa around here,” Rud said.

“And now that one is in pieces,” Billy said. “Should we flee?”

“Might be a good idea… Ah, nevermind,” Rud said, watching as the door swung open.

Oak appeared, a weak smile on her face. She crossed the distance between them, placing a hand on Rud’s shoulder and nodding. “She’s got that fire back in her belly.”

“Excuse me,” Billy said, pointing upward with a single finger. “Not to pry in family matters, but your emotions don’t seem appropriate for the situation.”

Oak looked back to the tower, her smile growing broader. “She always thought I stole the spotlight on purpose. Like I was some braindead healer who didn’t see what was happening with her sister. I tried getting her out of the party, but she didn’t want to go back to an academy on the mainland. Now look at her!”

Rud laughed nervously. “Is she mad?”

“Yes. I think she’ll stay mad for a while, but one day she’ll get over it,” Oak said.

Rud could tell there was a lot left to be said. Oak’s tone carried some sadness with it. She had to take the beating so Elm could feel better about that, which wasn’t fair to anyone. But they knew better than anyone else how to sort out their family problems, so the druid wouldn’t interfere.

“Glad it ended well,” Rud lied. “If you need an escort back to the adventuring parties, just yell into the forest for a wolf, or a fox.”

“Or a devil,” Billy said with a chuckle.

“Yeah, why don’t you show her the way?” Rud asked.

“Not that I know the way,” Billy muttered. “But I shall figure it out.”

Rud watched as Billy led Oak off to the east. He cleared his throat, gesturing southward. The duo changed their course, angling instead to the south this time.

A small gathering of mushrooms growing out of a stump near the bank of the lake became very interesting to Rud. He inspected them, feeling their quality through his druidic senses. “Yes, very interesting mushrooms,” he said, nodding to himself as he scratched his chin. “Might be the most interesting mushrooms I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”

It took Elm quite a while to exit her tower. Only when Rud began smashing rocks together to figure out which one was the hardest did she step down and join him. But instead of talking about what had just happened, she found a few rocks of her own to join in on the test.

“I know nothing about rocks,” Elm said, using all her might to slam a pretty big rock onto the edge of a boulder. The rock she had selected shattered into pieces, falling to the ground in sharp sheets. “See? I picked the worst one around.”

“Depends on the application,” Rud said, sitting near her pile and finding the best-looking shard. He used another rock to knap it as best he could, although his skills were poor. A sharper edge came out the other end and it was enough to prove his point. “You found the worst stone for hardness, but sharpness? I think you found the best. You could use this as a knife if you really needed to.”

Elm knelt, taking the stone knife and laughing. “Did you plan that? Am I meant to be the stone?”

“Yeah, you’re sharp on the edges and you crumble easily,” Rud said.

Elm waited a full breath before she laughed, eventually stabbing the stone blade into the ground. “Your clumsy analogy has improved my mood slightly.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

“No. I want to blow something up,” Elm said, standing and extending her hand.

Rud took it and was hoisted to his feet with more force than he expected from the elf. Apparently elves got a bonus to Strength when they were super mad. He followed her through a nearby bush, and they appeared on the northern edges of the Grove. Elm walked forward without explaining herself and the druid wasn’t about to object. Instead, he shifted into his raven form and landed on her shoulder so she didn’t have to walk.

“Well, how are we supposed to talk if you’re a raven?” Elm asked.

“You can understand me now, duh,” Rud said, cawing.

“Right. I forgot about that.”

Elm led the way north until they were clear from the Grove by a good distance. She looked back a few times, ensuring they were far enough away. Then she shrugged the druid from her shoulder, forcing him to hop along the ground in indignation.

“This one will take a few minutes to cast,” Elm said with a sigh. She held her hands out and closed her eyes. “Please, don’t go near the area I’m pointing at.”

Rud didn’t dare disobey the command. Instead, he hopped along the ground in search of bugs. When he got bored of eating bugs, he shifted between his squirrel and otter form. When that lost its charm, he just made some sculptures of badgers with his Shape Plant spell. Eventually the chanting from the elf became quite loud and she reached a crescendo. The magical energies of the spell came together in an instant, forming in the air and stinging his skin.

Visible strands of orange magic swirled around Elm. Pressure flowed from her like nothing Rud had felt before. No, he had felt such magical power before. But only once. When he had laid eyes on the Great Spirit Bent, he had experienced similar pressure. But he barely had time to think about these things as a pillar of fire reached for the heavens in the distance. If not for the green-blue barriers that sprung up before Elm, he was certain the shockwave would’ve killed him.

“Burn!” Elm shouted, streaks of fire pouring from her eyes.

The situation had escalated a cute elven girl casting some sweet magic, to a crazed elf about to blow up the world. Rud’s instinct was to flee, but he stuck with it for reasons he couldn’t understand. After a few more explosions, the fire dimmed from Elm’s eyes. She sagged, swaying dangerously only for the druid to catch her.

“You good?” he asked. “Did you imagine your sister up on that hill?”

“What hill?” Elm asked, laughing as she pointed with her chin.

Indeed. There was no more hill left. Rud whistled, making a very strong mental note to avoid making Elm mad at all costs. “We gotta put those fires out.”

“Oh, must we? We’re far enough away from the Grove… Fine! You’re right, of course.”

Rud laughed to himself, leading the way over the jagged landscape toward the crater. So long as Elm had blown off some steam, he didn’t care if she tore up the landscape. These kinds of things were easy enough to fix and who didn’t love a giant crater?

“You know how to do elemental manipulation, right?” Elm asked.

“Kinda. I’m not very good at most of them, but I can do wind very well. That’s how I seal my tea and cheese,” Rud said.

“You haven’t practiced fire?”

“No, I thought that was out of my reach as a druid. Fire doesn’t seem very druidy.”

Elm blew out a breath. “I don’t see why not. Life and death are a cycle. Fire followed by water brings life like you wouldn’t believe.”

Rud blinked a few times, pausing as he considered the idea. “Dang, you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right!” Elm shouted, slapping him on the back. “Now, come on. I’ll show you how to manipulate fire. The one I created has become an inferno somehow.”

“Somehow? Maybe calling down a fire tornado wasn’t the best idea. How did you even cast that spell?”

“I have my ways.”

Elm might’ve been good at casting giant fire tornados, but she was even better at yelling at Rud for being a bad elemental manipulator. She was disappointed in how little he had practiced, determining that his fundamentals were flawed. After she took care of the fires, with barely any effort of course, she drilled him.

“Doesn’t matter how low your mana is,” Elm said, tapping Rud in the forehead with her staff. “Reach out and touch the mana around you. That little flame is putting off enough Fire Mana to light a beacon. You shouldn’t need more mana to fuel it.”

“Are you taking your feelings out on me?” Rud asked.

“You want to be powerful, don’t you?” Elm said. “That’s what you told me. You want the power to help the Grove, so you need to put in the work.”

“Understood,” Rud said, understanding that she was using him as her punching bag. But that thing with Oak had been such a massive sore spot for her for so long. And he truly did want to get better with manipulating the elements. He had a feeling this would help him cast his druidic spells the way Nulsa wanted him.

The duo spent way too much time practicing elemental control. Elm had some interesting observations to share as they worked their way back to town. But at least the fires were completely out and the forest was safe. As long as Oak didn’t pick another argument with Elm, everyone was safe.

“You have an interesting problem,” Elm said, guiding her path as she worked her way over the rocky landscape. “Your attributes are very high, but you have no idea how to use them.”

“Hey, when you’re right, you’re right.”

“I don’t know of any way to lower your attributes, so we just need to develop our own method,” Elm said. “Glad to see my instruction isn’t going to waste on you, but you’ve neglected practice too much.”

“I’m very aware of my shortcomings,” Rud said. “Nulsa was on my case about casting druidic spells the natural way. Something better than freecasting, according to him.”

“Controlling elements is a good stepping stone to instinctual casting,” Elm said. “If you applied yourself, you certainly could make a good channeler. Especially considering that your attributes will only continue to expand.”

Rud and Elm wove a lazy path through the Grove. Although it would take too long for them to reach the center in any reasonable time, they still aimed for it. Only when the sun was getting low did they give up, instead using Thicket Travel to get there with speed. The druid shook his head as they arrived, The scent of a celebration lingered in the air.

“Always expect Taz to throw a party when someone joins the Grove,” Rud said, breathing in the scent of cooking meat. “Wish he would learn a few more dishes, though.”

“Maybe we could help him out,” Elm said, nudging the druid. “Come on.”

When Rud and Elm entered the longhouse, the wizard froze for a moment. Sitting at the table were Barrow and Oak. The sisters locked eyes for a few moments before the tension broke.

“What are we having tonight, Taz?” Elm asked, striding to the grill to help him cook. “More grilled venison?”

“And some soup,” Taz said. “Why, something wrong with my grilled meat?”

“Nothing at all,” Elm said, looking up at Rud and winking.

Chapter 48

Preparing for Upgrades

Another member of the Grove wasn’t something to take lightly. If it was up to Rud, he wouldn’t have accepted Billy into their ranks. But he wasn’t in charge of it for a reason. Ban had a way of seeing past mortal bias and picking the people that were the best for them. Just like he had selected Elm to be their champion, she saw something in the Devil Lord and the druid was there to support it.

Of course, Taz wanted to party all night. Whatever bad blood rested between the dwarf and Billy was gone in a flash. They were now fast friends, happy to sing the night away with no concern to how busy the next day would be. But Rud hadn’t taken part in such endless celebrations. He got to bed on time since there were about ten billion dungeons he had to absorb.

He had expected the longhouse to be sparse the next morning, but it was deserted. Rud had some soup, instead making his way to the area he had built for the adventurers in the southwest section. The dining building there was bumping, with more adventurers than the druid had ever remembered seeing in one place before. He had spotted the scouting party’s mounts outside the building, then proceeded inside to get hit with a wall of sound. Conversation flowed from the group like a waterfall, excited people here and there planning their day.

“Barrow!” Rud shouted, jogging through the crowded interior until he got the burly adventurer’s attention. He wove back like an idiot, pushing through the crowd to meet him half-way.

“What a turnout,” Barrow said, laughing nervously. “I didn’t expect everyone to accept, but we have our backs against the wall here.”

“When faced with the idea of being near the outworlders and being trapped here forever, the adventurers made the right choice,” Rud said. “I have to say that the outworlders have caused us absolutely no issues. They’ve been in the tower for a while now and I haven’t heard a thing.”

“Try telling that to them.” Barrow gestured to the packed dining building. “Most teams are getting started today, though. They’re interested in the new system you have for clearing the dungeons. Even though no one knows why you’ve asked them to do it this way, they don’t seem to care!”

“Classic cultist behavior,” Rud said with a wistful sigh. “Excellent. Just shout for a forest critter if you guys need anything. All the roads I have are current. You’ll have access to about twenty dungeons today, and we’ll have more available tomorrow.”

Barrow had a few more things to say, but Rud wasn’t overly concerned. Of course, he forgot that mortals had to use the bathroom and hadn’t created those facilities to capacity. That wouldn’t be as much of an issue if people didn’t go crazy upon wandering off into the woods. He made some quick outhouses before rushing off to the Observatory, flying through the top window and settling into his chair.

The radio hissed to life, and a conversation flooded through.

“I’m not sure,” an unfamiliar voice said. “Everything just showed up but it vanished after that. Over.”

“He’ll be on soon,” Maria said.

“I’m on now!” Rud shouted. He knew the voice of the new fish was Kiara from Bendybrook Grove. “You got your observatory built?”

“Is that my benefactor?” Kiara asked. “What was your name? Whatever it was, thank you… over.”

“Rud. My human name was Shawn, but I got a new one.”

“Again, thank you. The cheese was excellent, and the tea kept me up all night. Over.”

You don’t have to say ‘over’ after everything you say,” Maria said. “We just kinda know when to start talking. I guess when the static comes back on the air. HAH!”

This was big. Rud had to drink in the moment for a few seconds before he continued talking. Kiara and Maria chatted about what was going on. Bendybrook Grove was one of those weird Groves where the Guardian had a strange plan. She was between a bunch of rivers and they basically lived in the water. They also didn’t have a tree that could talk, which made things doubly hard. But the druid gave himself a few moments to appreciate what they had accomplished.

“This is the first step,” Rud said, kicking his chair over and standing. He gripped the microphone tightly. “Soon we will not only unite the Groves through conversation. We will unite them physically. Then we shall take over the world!”

“Calm down, Brain,” Maria said. “How about we get those portals working first? You know. Portals that people can take.”

“We’re about half-way there, so worry not,” Rud said. “Hope you have a good time in the Grove’s sewing circle, Kiara.”

“It has been interesting.”

Although Rud hung around to chat with both Kiara and Maria for a while, he wasn’t truly interested in the group conversation. After Kiara signed off, he and Maria switched to another channel and flung some dirt. Bendybrook Grove was messed up. The custodian there was the only person capable of speech. River couldn’t talk, the tree couldn’t talk, and all the spirits were either aquatic or amphibious.

“Not even her critters can talk,” Rud said, wincing. “That’s gotta be rough.”

“Which is why you gotta get those portals up, Rud. She’s been there alone for thirty-some years. Says she lost count.”

Rud gritted his teeth, his grip tightening on the microphone. “I gotta bite the bullet and upgrade my tree. She’s gonna jump at least two ranks, likely more.”

“Great googily moogily,” Maria said. “That’s gonna be rough.”

Rud could feel Ban’s potential ready to burst. She could only hold so much power in the Grove, and it was leaking into her. Although she had said something about putting that energy to work by strengthening herself. There was only so much it could do. Now she was on the border between the energy functioning to make her body stronger and the energy adding to her system-based levels and ranks.

“I can handle it,” Rud said. “So long as you can keep up with the other Groves. I’ll have some weapons ready soon enough… I think.”

“You think?” Maria asked.

“Slight complication. My dwarf got distracted and my tree is about to explode with mana,” Rud said. “The dwarf is on task, so I gotta fix the tree. Then we can make Grove-bound armor and weapons.”

“Huzzah!”

A shimmer of power pass over the forest. Rud could feel it in his bones. Maybe Ban heard him talking about her situation. Perhaps she was so eager to get it over with, that had stirred something in her.

“Okay. Gotta go. I think the whole energy thing is kicking off in a big way,” Rud said, setting the microphone down. He picked it up again before running away. “Again, thanks for all the help.”

“No problem!”

Rud appeared at the base of the Sacred Tree, rubbing his hands together. “Okay. We ready to get started?”

“Ah, so you finally have enough time for me?” Ban asked.

Rud chuckled, shaking his head. “Okay, you sassy tree. Let’s see what we got going on.”

Ban’s bark shimmered with power. She released… something. It took Rud a second to realize what she was doing, but she was showing some amount of the power she was holding on to. It was as though Bent himself was standing in the Grove. The weight of her energy was overwhelming, driving the druid to his knees and forcing him to grit his teeth through the ordeal.

“Okie dokie,” Rud groaned, barely rising to his feet. “That’s about… what? Twenty billion levels?”

The power subsided, and Ban giggled. “Not quite. The conversion isn’t great. This is the same method Sacred Beasts use to gain their power. The difference is that we’ll do it all at once.”

“Sounds dangerous. I also like living dangerously.”

“I’ve segmented the energies into tenths using parts of the Grove,” Ban said. “Which means if anything goes wrong, we’re only dealing with a tenth of the trees exploding at a time.”

Rud made a record scratching sound with his mouth. “Back it up, tree. Explosions?”

“Should I cut those in half?” Ban asked. “Give me a moment…”

Rud scratched his head. Even if it was only a fragment of the Grove, for any of it to explode… Well, the more he thought about it, the less it seemed like a bad idea. Taking any sample of the Grove split into twenty distinct segments, the chances that more good would come than bad was pretty high. He wasn’t orderly with his replacement of diseased trees, so almost everywhere needed some chopping and growing. An explosion was just an expedited version of that.

“Right?” Rud asked himself. Perhaps he was just trying to rationalize it, but Ban knew best. Right?

“Done,” Ban said. “Okay, I’ll consume the first segment.”

“Now?” Rud asked, eyes going wide. “Shouldn’t we check something or do something? Or…”

Ban knew that if she delayed, Rud would weasel out of the arrangement. The light that came from her bark was blinding. Rivers of pure mana poured from her, tracking a path toward the ground to soak into the roots. That same overwhelming pressure pressed down on him like a vice. This time, he wasn’t forced to his knees. He couldn’t maintain enough of his senses to remain standing. His face pressed against the dirt, the rich scent of the earth flooding into his nostrils.

Just as the energy was subsiding, it increased to an even greater height.

“Let’s try two more,” Ban said.

“Why am I here?” Rud grumbled, his face pressed firmly in the dirt.

“For what happens next,” Ban said. “There, did you feel it?”

Rud sure did. At first, there was a slight tingle that raced through the Grove. Ban had jumped to Rank 2. But then there was another jump… and another. And another.

“RANK 5!?” Rud shouted, spasming on the ground. He still couldn’t stand, but he could have a fit and wiggle a bunch. “How many pockets did you eat?”

“Twenty,” Ban said. “After consuming about five, I figured it was going well.”

“Holy crap, Ban. That’s a lot of upgrades for me to pick. We’re gonna be here all night, my dude.”

“Perhaps if your Sacred Tree was an amateur. By the time I’m done, we’ll only have two or three new upgrades.”

“I’m not great at math, but you should get 8 upgrades? 10?”

“I got them to roll together. This solves a few of our problems,” Ban said.

Sometimes, it was nice to be humbled. Rud was reminded that he wasn’t the biggest thing in the Grove. Ban was. She was special. More than any other Sacred Tree on the planet, she could do some seriously impressive stuff. That might’ve been because she was sapient and could communicate. Or she was just super duper smart.

The pressure finally let up, and Rud raised his head from the dirt. He brushed himself off, helping himself to his feet with his staff. With a groan, he checked to ensure none of his parts were broken or otherwise inoperable.

“All good,” he said, double-checking his legs. He needed his legs. “How is it on your end?”

“Just a moment,” Ban said. “I’ve got some intense magical junk going on. I need to do this in the correct order, otherwise it won’t work.”

“Cool. I’ll just stand here awkwardly,” Rud said, feeling the grain of his staff. After fondling it for a bit, he cocked an eyebrow. “When are you gonna turn into a duck?”

The staff had no response. The metal duck he had seen when he snatched the world-ranked artifact might’ve just been a quirk of the way these artifacts worked. But he could hold out hope there was a secret duck living in his staff.

“That’s the foundation of the upgrades,” Ban said, releasing a sigh that came with a magical breeze.

“Can I see them yet?” Rud asked. He felt her mental denial of the request. She was still working. “Well, dang. At least you didn’t blow up any part of the Grove.”

“I blew up four of my segments,” Ban said. “Surprised you didn’t feel the shockwaves. They were brutal.”

Rud blinked a few times. Then he blinked some more. Then he coughed.

“Excuse me?”