The grove that Basil guarded was called the Cliffs of Mog. Rud didn’t know where it was in relation to Gladesbale, but the air felt humid here. It didn’t have the bite of the mountains he was used to. The paths were all made of living wood, just like he had done back home, but the craftsmanship was exquisite. Under those floating lights, the druid could see that details had been etched into the wood. He suspected magic had been used to accomplish this feat.

  As the duo drew closer to a crowd of trees, Rud got his first look at the sprawling tree-city within the grove. Lights were off within houses, but even in the dark he could see the city crawling over hills, stretching to meet the sky above. One tree moved in the distance—a stunted thing not measuring up to the towering trees. It nodded as it passed by and Jim had an amused look on his face.

  “Took me forever to get used to this,” he said, gesturing vaguely to the entire grove.

  “How long have you been here?” Rud asked.

  “Twenty years,” Jim said in a casual tone. “This grove is the second-youngest, next to yours.”

  Rud knew about Basil, if only from the spells he had been granted. But the Sacred Tree within the area was a mystery. He could feel the tree in the distance, but hadn’t spotted it yet.

  “Who is your tree?” Rud asked.

  Jim paused on the wooden walkway, looking back with a quizzical look. “Interesting way to put it. Gar’ban is our tree…” He took a few moments, clicked his tongue, and moved on down the path.

  The Sacred Tree came into view in time. Rud spotted the tree from afar, watching as lights danced around its boughs. When the trunk of the tree came into view, he saw another being standing nearby. He didn’t need to ask to know it was Basil. The Tree-person ran an appendage over the bark of Gar’ban, turning to twist the bark of his face into a smile. His tree-person form was massive, coming half-way up the length of the tree. Something like twenty feet tall, but Rud had trouble judging. Basil erupted in a puff of smoke, shifting into his mortal form.

  “Rud!” Basil shouted, waving excitedly. “So happy to finally see you!”

  Rud jogged over, drawn in by the man’s shining personality. His human form didn’t draw from eastern inspirations. Instead, he looked like any fantasy wood elf. Pointed ears, blonde-green hair with armor made of bark and silks dyed forest green. He walked with an elegance that betrayed his tree-person nature and reached out to shake the druid’s hand when he arrived.

  “A pleasure. You’re the guy who gives me awesome spells.”

  Basil laughed, patting Rud on the head. “I am indeed.”

  Rud looked up at the tree, waving excitedly. “Hello, Gar’ban. Do you just call her Gar?”

  The tree was silent.

  “Come,” Basil said, pushing Rud on the back to get him moving.

  “Guess you were right,” Jim said, following close behind.

  “I’m rarely wrong,” Basil retorted.

  Basil led Rud and Jim to a tree house that didn’t seem to be occupied. The druid couldn’t help but compare his craftsmanship to the style on display here. Everything was ornate, details visible on every corner of every building, but there was a deeper sense of power. The trees themselves were stronger, imbued with some magic he couldn’t understand. And the interiors were decorated to match the outside, strewn with all manner of things meant to keep occupants as comfortable as possible.

  Basil shut the door, winking at Rud. “I’ll have to teach you this one before you go.”

  He was talking about the door. It was made from the tree itself, rather than metal hinges and wood harvested from the forest.

  “Tea?” Jim asked, rushing off to find a pot. He placed it on a flower of all things. But when he introduced mana to the plant, a flame burst from the center.

  “Yes, please,” Rud said.

  The smell of an earthy tea filled the room in an instant. Rud sat on a comfortable sofa, watching as Basil took a seat of his own. The only sound in the room was the boiling water and insects singing their songs outside of the opened window. The druid sat comfortably, but felt something hanging over the room. He had been taken by the scale of the grove and hadn’t considered what was going on.

  “When you’re new to this world, you don’t notice the little things,” Jim said, pouring tea for everyone gathered. “The looks people share when they know you don’t understand the system.”

  “Huh?” Rud asked, taking a sip of his tea. “What did I miss?”

  “Our tree can’t talk,” Basil said. “It never has, and likely never will.”

  Rud couldn’t imagine a world where he couldn’t talk to Ban. These guys had survived for twenty years without knowing what their tree needed? That was absurd.

  “Just let me know when people pop out of the cupboards with a camera and you scream ‘prank,’” Rud said, laughing nervously.

  “This is why we do the exchange,” Basil said. “It costs our trees a lot of energy, but we can share information this way. How soon did he start talking?”

  “She,” Rud corrected. “Right away, actually.”

  Basil and Jim shared a look, nodding together.

  “Wait, what does this mean? Should I be cagey with the information?” Rud asked, scratching his head. “My instinct says to bite and scratch my way out of this.”

  Basil laughed. He shook his head after sipping his tea. “Lord Bent himself would sacrifice his life to protect the new grove. You have nothing to fear.”

  “Look at it this way,” Jim said, leaning in and steepling his fingers. “The groves were created to protect nature. To forge strongholds of natural energy. Each one has been an experiment. A combination of three souls. Heart, Guardian, and Custodian.”

  “The problem is,” Basil said, continuing Jim’s thought. “The combinations are random. We’ve seen mining groves, production groves, and even groves dedicated to war. But every single time, the soul embedded in the Sacred Tree has been silent. No agency.”

  “I talk to Ban every day,” Rud said.

  “Which means you, Mint, and Ban’tanthein are a perfect match,” Basil said, clapping his hands together. “We’ve had failed groves before you. The trees burned themselves out before they could even ascend to Rank 1.”

  This was too much for Rud to digest right now. He nodded along as they explained the long history of the groves. The modern version of a grove was created by the Stag Spirit Bent. It was established in a time of war, when the loose communities in what was now Sparwyn fought a losing battle. After that, Bent had seeded the world with as many Sacred Trees as he could. He was always chasing something special, but had never produced it.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “But what does that mean?” Rud asked.

  “It means that your grove will ascend to power like we’ve never seen before,” Jim said with a shrug. “A bastion.”

  “He was also given the Druid class to start,” Basil said, nodding with approval.

  “Lucky. I got the Butler class.”

  “Did you get the Grove Custodian subclass?” Rud asked.

  Basil and Jim once again shared a look. “Nope,” they said as one.

  Rolling the dice was one thing, but this was absurd. How many stars needed to align to give Gladesbale Grove what it had? Too many for Rud to be comfortable. He felt as though he had been given a gift he didn’t deserve. It wasn’t as though he didn’t want the gift, but it should have gone to someone more worthy. The things he had accomplished in his grove were now small in his mind, not living up to the things he should have done already.

  “I’ll reinforce this one more time, Rud.” Basil leaned in, reaching over the table to place a comforting hand on the druid’s knee. “The other groves are behind you. We’re eager to see what you can do with your partners.”

  That single statement brought more comfort to Rud’s soul than he could describe. As the story had unraveled, he expected there to be blowback. Instead, Basil offered his hand to help him understand this new world. And Jim was great, too. They were both as warm and comforting as a summer’s day, and twice as nice.

  “I appreciate it,” Rud said, finding the words coming out in earnest.

  The group sat in silence for a while, finishing their tea and giving Rud time to process the information. After only a few minutes of contemplation, he realized his position among the groves didn’t matter. He was already out of his depth, so what did it matter if he went deeper? Having the most potential out of all the groves meant… what? Well, at least this grove was neat.

  “The denizens of the forest are stirring,” Basil said, pushing himself to his feet. He offered one last smile before heading out. Rud watched him go, craning his neck to get a look at the guardian once more before he was gone.

  “Phew. That was awkward,” Jim said with a nervous laugh. “At least he was nice about it.”

  “Yeah… I’m not sure what to think about it.”

  “Can’t give you much advice there. My tree doesn’t talk. Well, only one of my trees talks.”

  The duo waited for the sun to rise. Rud was surprised when a woman deer-person came down from a higher floor, kissing Jim before getting to work on some food in the kitchen. He hadn’t considered that the custodians could have relationships. He had been too busy to consider it. But twenty years was a long time to spend alone. Especially considering the duties of a custodian without a druid class. Rud shook the thoughts loose from his mind, feeling as though he should help with breakfast.

  “You’ll just get in my way,” the woman warned, swatting at Rud with a spatula.

  “I’d say she doesn’t bite, but…” Jim trailed off, laughing to himself. “She might if you get too close.”

  That earned Jim a spatula to the face.

  “My Sarah is a real firecracker.”

  “Sarah?” Rud asked. “Is she from Earth, too?”

  “No. Old longhorns gave me the name an age ago. Said he couldn’t deal with the beastfolk name I had.”

  “That’s not awkward,” Rud said, peering into the pan. She was frying up random vegetables that had been placed together in no particular order. He suspected they might have adopted a diet similar to deer, and feared for his stomach.

  “What race are you, anyway?” Jim asked. “I picked a deer because I thought it was cool.”

  Rud shrugged. “Mint found me in my office. I was just working away on something and thought she was joking. So I tried picking an elf, but Mint picked a Talen Por.”

  “Talen Por?” Jim asked, trying not to laugh. “What on Earth is that?”

  “Mint said they are the Talen Por in this world, but I’ve never met one.”

  “Oh! I’ve heard of them,” Sarah said. “Lovely people. Similar enough to regular humans, but with a deeper love of nature.”

  Rud put on a brave face when it was time to eat breakfast. He sat down with Jim and Sarah at the table. She heaped his plate high with the cooked vegetables. There wasn’t a mushroom or a strip of meat in sight. But the druid powered through, drawing on his inability to disappoint someone that had made him food. Each bite was harder than the last. It tasted like piled grass, seasoned with some dandelions for flavor.

  Although his stomach was churning, Rud patted his belly and made sounds as though he loved it. “Thank you for the food.”

  “I’ll make more if you’re still hungry.”

  “Oh, I couldn’t eat another bite,” Rud said, standing and searching for the nearest exit. “I’d really like to see the grove now that the sun is up.”

  “Come on,” Jim said, leading the way out the front door. “You can tell me about those classes you got.”

  Rud agreed and fled the building before he was forced to shove more lawn clippings down his throat. He refused to be impolite, but that didn’t mean he had to enjoy it. He walked with Jim, explaining how his Druid and Grove Custodian classes worked. While the deer-man was interested in that, he asked about Ban’s abilities more than once.

  “Everything you see here is made by Basil and I,” Jim said, pointing at each building. The sun had poked above the horizon, finally illuminating the grove. “I got a class that lets me shape the forest, but it took years. Climbed from a Butler, to a Tree Tender, and finally a Grove Shaper. Only took me twenty years.”

  “You’re making me feel worse by the moment,” Rud said. He could feel the magic within the trees that Jim had shaped. Despite the way he spoke, it was infused with some powerful stuff. It was far above anything he could produce.

  “That custodian class sounds wild,” Jim said, pressing on down the path. People were stirring within their homes by now. Rud spotted beastfolk coming out of their houses. Hundreds of people started their day, and they were all members of the grove. He didn’t see a mortal anywhere. “Your skills adapt based on the buildings your tree makes.”

  “It has been useful so far, but I haven’t been leveling it as much as I should. How long did it take you to hit the first rank?”

  “About a week,” Jim said with a shrug. “They say the first one is the easiest.”

  Rud had spent far longer than a week leveling up. He ran his fingers along his staff, feeling the leaves at the end and pinching them for comfort.

  Jim seemed to notice his concentration on the staff. “But I don’t have one of those. Even at Rank 10.”

  Rud’s mouth fell open. “You’re Rank 10? Seriously? You must be a god by now.”

  Jim let out a booming laugh, drawing the attention of nearby citizens. He clapped a hand over his mouth and stifled more laughs. “Are you always so flattering? No, I’m not a god. I could give some adventurers a run for their money, but there are stronger people out there.”

  Jim gave a full tour of the Cliffs of Mog grove. And he even got to see the Cliffs of Mog. Rud learned that the grove was situated near a strand of coast, graced by an expansive ocean. He also learned that this grove didn’t have the Thicket Travel upgrade, making the roads even more important. When on the road, just like in Gladesbale, a person moved faster and experienced less fatigue. They started on the south side of the grove, looking over the ocean and the few boats that sailed past. After lingering there for quite some time, they explored the expansive jungle to the west, hills to the north, and planes to the east.

  Cliffs of Mog was so different from Gladesbale. It had to be on the other side of the planet. The way grove magic worked, it might have been. The day rolled on, and Basil pulled Rud aside to teach him the plant shaping technique that would allow him to build doors on his buildings. That freed Jim up to do some duties related to the grove. The technique was simple enough but required fine control of both the magic itself and the freecasting aspect of the spell.

  “Can’t believe you’re still Rank 0,” Basil said, guiding Rud through another exercise. “Freecasting is hard to learn, but you’re doing great.”

  “Never thought I’d be good at it,” Rud said, forming the hinge made of tree material in a matter of moments. “I’d ask if you needed work done around here, but I’m guessing you’re like me. A druid specializing in magic.”

  Basil’s smile was crooked, and he tried not to laugh. “I’m likely the most powerful utility druid on the planet, Rud.”

  Rud looked up to Basil more than he could express. After seeing the grove, he realized that the tree spirit was everything he wanted to be. And the magic he could weave wasn’t limited to creating buildings and roads from living trees. Cliffs of Mog had defensive structures as well. Fields of vines that traced the entire exterior of the grove. When an enemy stepped onto them, they would produce spikes and ensnare whatever was attacking. They were advanced enough to have a vague intelligence, determining what was a mortal and what was a monster.

  “Do I really only get a day?” Rud asked. He understood the technique for constructing a door well enough, including a little nugget Basil dropped about removing a piece of a tree and letting it grow on its own. But there was a wealth of techniques contained in that one grove.

  “Those are the rules,” Basil said, smiling down at Rud. “The trip cost your Sacred Tree and mine a lot of energy. As you’re her caretaker, I’m sure you understand how taxing that can be.”

  Rud’s mind left the Cliffs of Mog grove, hurtling back toward his own. Basil was right. Energy for his tree was the most valuable thing he had right now. While he suspected that he was only brought here to reveal the truth of his grove, he had a lot of work to do back home. He didn’t feel tired, though. He pressed on, absorbing all the information that the guardian of the grove had to offer.