The mortals went absolutely bonkers for the new tea. Not because they were packaged in hardened mushroom containers, but because it now came in blends. Rud had spent the previous night as calmly as he could, waking to make his reports and water all his plants. But as soon as Dean was ready to head out, they made straight for Barlgore. The druid was happy to see the bramble vines doing well. The locals had been watering those plants, and there was evidence that an animal-style monster had become tangled in the thorns.

  “Could I trouble you by buying them all?” Feather asked.

  Rud had been seated in the lord’s home. It was clear this time, not crowded with too many people talking about too many problems. The lord had updated him on the way things were going with the dungeons. The adventurers had already taken care of one and were working on another. As expected, the teams that went west to explore the region hadn’t reported back.

  “That depends on the price,” Rud said after pausing to consider the offer. The truth was, he had already sold ten jars to a merchant. In return, he got two Dungeon Core Fragments. There wasn’t a stable economy around here for that rare resource, so the druid was ready to part with almost anything to get his hands on some. Anything except his freckles.

  “Are we still trading in fragments?”

  “Yes, but I’m looking for Dungeon Core Fragments now.”

  “Moving up in the world, are we?” Feather stood, tossing another log on the fire, He retrieved a dimensional storage bag and the negotiations began. Rud hated haggling, but sold his twenty remaining pots of tea for five fragments.

  “Don’t drink it all in one go. Did I mention this version of the tea is better?”

  “Extensively. Have I expressed how appreciative we are for your help in recent days?”

  Feather had indeed expressed his thanks. The only thing Rud cared about with that expression of gratitude were the Dungeon Core Fragments. He had enough to upgrade another building, but was unclear as to what he was owed by the teams clearing the other dungeons. The druid wouldn’t push things. The best he could do was tip the scales for the mortals in any small way he could think of. The bramble vines were a great example of that, resulting in a defensive measure he didn’t need to maintain.

  The idea for the vines had come from Basil himself. The Guardian of The Cliffs of Mog Grove lit his pathways with plants, which had been cultivated to suit a need. Rud didn’t have the skills or time to steer the course of a plant’s development, but he could force it with his spells.

  While Rud was inside the town, he used what little money had been given to him by the trader in town to buy a few second-hand tools. He went to the blacksmith and asked what he would need to start the trade. After that, he was introduced to a selection of hammers, tongs, and metal spikes he had no idea what to do with. It all went into his bag, cleaning out his cash and releasing his burden from mortal currency.

  “I have energy left,” Dean said, getting on the ground to help Rud reach the saddle. “As do you. We should explore this area.”

  Rud took the subtle suggestion as insistence and agreed. Dean was often more wise than he should have been. The dire wolf had seen more of the world than him, so he wouldn’t deny the request. Barlgore was notable for a few landscape features. The lake to the north held an island that seemed encased in ice. If one were to gaze out into the lake, they would see countless ships sailing along the glassy surface. It was to the north, providing a decent border against monster attacks. The south held sloping hills that reached the sea. A warm wind always rushed from that direction, bringing with it the scent of salty air and the call of seabirds.

  “At least they have a dock,” Rud said, leaning over the saddle to look at the sandy ground beneath them.

  A large three-masted ship bobbled in the distance, anchored far away from the dock. Folks out on the beach scattered away from the wolf, giving him plenty of room. But Dean was uninterested in the shape of the land here, pushing eastward instead. Mountain ranges spanned from south to north here, bordering the town on this side. The wolf growled, sniffing the air.

  “That’s their mine,” he said, taking another deep breath of the cold air. “But look. A pass to the east.”

  Far in the distance, Rud spotted a dirt road on a hillside. It had been cut into the landscape, angled directly for a split in the mountains. Peaks bordered the road on both the north and south side. The druid didn’t understand what Dean was getting at. But as he thought about it, something became clear.

  “Why are you so interested in the eastern approach?” Rud asked, holding on tight as Dean sprinted toward that road.

  “This is where I came from. I think I was born on this continent.”

  “Interesting that you don’t remember.”

  Dean only growled a response, climbing another hill to stand atop that dirt road. He sniffed at the ground, then at the air. “There has been much traffic over this road. The mortals use it often enough.”

  Whatever Dean was up to, he wasn’t sharing. Rud trusted that this research was required and went along with it. They had a good amount of time left until they needed to return home. Instead of heading to the west next, the wolf sprinted northward. He tracked a path through what few forests were still here. They saw stumps more often than anything else, but spotted several houses sitting on lonely hillsides. It was a strange region, and even stranger as they came alongside the lake. The wind from the icy island swept inland, killing most nearby plants and depositing a layer of frost on the ground.

  North of that section, they joined with the stone road built by the mortals. It was strange, but the road didn’t start at Barlgore. Dean halted his advance on the road, looking to the west. That was the road that led directly to the logging operation. Hills that led to mountains still bordered them on the west, but an expansive forest sprawled northward. While it was hilly in that direction, there wasn’t a range of mountains to halt progress entirely. The wolf dashed some more, driving hard into the forest. Rud had to hold on for dear life as the beast dodged trees and jumped over sudden valleys.

  After a half-hour of sprinting at speeds Rud could only guess at, Dean paused to sniff the air some more. “Isn’t that curious?” he asked.

  Rud looked around. They were standing in a forest. It didn’t look different from any other forest in the area. The area was a mix of conifers and deciduous trees. Scattered plants filled the underbrush, most of which the druid recognized. The energy of the area was calm compared to the grove and the areas outside of the grove. But otherwise, it seemed much like the other areas he had visited.

  “What is it?” Rud asked.

  “No idea. Just observations.”

  “Spit it out, you old goat,” Rud said, patting Dean on the head. The wolf growled in response.

  “I don’t know what it means. I can feel the energy in the air. It’s strange. Too many things are strange.”

  “Exit wolf mode for a second. Not literally, I know you can’t shapeshift yet. Name a few things that are strange for me.”

  Dean took a moment to think. “The dungeons are spawning in two spots. The mortals haven’t pushed this far north. They’re also obsessed with the west, while paying no attention to the east. Those same mortals are unprepared to deal with so many monsters, although they knew about them before coming here.”

  Rud scratched his chin. Those were good points. “Just follow your nose, Dean. If you think something is afoot, we’ll tackle it together.”

  “Thank you,” Dean said, turning away from the spot. He angled himself southward and took off.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  During the trip back to the grove, Rud had a lot of time to think about what was going on. He was good at finding problems and fixing them, but the one thing he lacked was information. Most of his problems on Earth were solved by correcting channels of communication. Marching orders from higher-ups could be misunderstood or twisted to fit a person’s agenda. Then there were those that thought they were doing something for the good of the company, only to place a boatload of work on someone else’s plate. Where was the miscommunication here? Finding the root of that problem would reveal much.

  But his time away from the grove had rendered Rud too tired to concern himself with those things. He had sorted the pressing problems well enough. The thing he needed right now was Ban’s guidance. But she was still out. That left him as the de facto leader of the grove, which sucked. He wanted to run into the forest and do squirrel stuff, not manage a grove. Oh well. The mantle of responsibility came with the position and there was no use complaining. There were buildings to upgrade.

  Once Dean got them inside the grove, Rud shifted into a squirrel and took the nearest bush. The wolf had guard duty to take care of, focusing on the dungeons that were still releasing a few monsters. At least the bramble vine walls were doing their job. The druid made his way to the mine, eager to get Taz’s opinion on the smelter upgrade.

  “I’ll feel a lot better when the bear is gone,” the dwarf complained.

  “Speaking of…”

  Rud descended into the chilly cavern, finding the bear slumbering away. The bats had returned to the ceiling and were squeaking their objections to the new tenant. When the druid had asked Taz how he missed a giant hole in the wall, he got defensive. To his credit, the hole wasn’t visible from the far side of the cave. Rud needed to angle himself inside of the area to see it at all.

  “At least you’re doing fine,” Rud said, patting the bear on the head. It snorted at him. All the wounds on the beast’s flesh had been mended, but the red line on its chest remained. Just in case the spell wore off, Rud cast another instance of Nature’s Cleanse.

  “What has you so excited today?” Taz asked, meeting the druid near the cave’s entrance.

  Rud shook his backpack. The sound of Dungeon Core fragments hitting against Toeknocker mushrooms and tools issued from within. “Building upgrade. The smelter for today. Gonna keep the other five I have on backup for the blacksmith.”

  Taz rubbed his hands together. “Oh, yeah. Now we’re talking about some serious dwarf stuff.”

  “I thought the mine was a weird pick as Ban’s first building. But here we are.”

  “Yes, of course. The tree is wise to select things a dwarf would like.”

  Rud and Taz stood outside of the smelter. The druid inserted the Dungeon Core Fragments into the building, gaining notifications for each one. It leveled quickly, absorbing the five fragments and hitting Level 5. The familiar list of entries appeared, presenting the druid with endless selections. It was impossible to read each one out, but the dwarf insisted.

  “If you’re going to be picky, make me some tea,” Rud grumbled.

  The dwarf was off, returning later with a teapot and cups. He also brought two bowls of soup, which Rud appreciated. But instead of reading each entry out, the druid gave summaries of each that wasn’t complete crap. As always, there were a bunch of duds nestled with the good stuff, like an upgrade that turned the building purple. Another allowed them to grow pumpkins in the smelter, which just seemed like nonsense.

  “But I like pumpkins,” Taz complained.

  “Stay focused.”

  The pair narrowed the upgrades down to three. The truth was that each was amazing, especially considering Rud had taken an upgrade for his Smelting skill that bound their only smelter to himself. Taz had already tested it, and he could operate it. But it was willful, and seemed to only want Rud to use it.

  “Let’s review these,” Rud said, clearing his throat and reading the upgrades aloud. They would discuss each, deciding which was the best.

  [Additional Smelter]

  Smelting Workshop Upgrade

  Description:

  More smelters are better!

  Effect:

  A magical smelter appears in your workshop.

  This smelter is bound to the building, scaling with its rank.

  “If we had more people to work the smelter, this would be great,” Taz said, running his fingers through his beard. “But I’m not so sure we’ll find much use for it.”

  “I like it, though,” Rud said with a shrug. “My argument is that we can have two smelters at two temperatures. One for iron and one for copper.”

  Taz grunted his response. “Next.”

  [Hot, Hot, Hot!]

  Smelting Workshop Upgrade

  Description:

  Ease your heating woes.

  Effect:

  All smelters within this workshop will heat and cool easier.

  The heating of the smelters within your workshop will reach temperatures closer to the intended ore to be smelted.

  “You want to talk about efficiency?” Taz asked, laughing. “There ya go.”

  “I’ll admit. I’m partial to this one,” Rud said. “I spend a lot of time waiting for the smelter to get up to heat.”

  “The town I was born in had an upgrade like this.” This was the first time Rud heard Taz mention his home. More than in passing. “It’s not the same, but close. The dwarf who worked the smelter enjoyed the upgrade.”

  “Last one.”

  [Production Line]

  Smelting Workshop Upgrade

  Description:

  Using your own resources is good!

  Effect:

  If an ingot is produced within the smelter and used within a nearby workstation, the resulting item will be more powerful.

  “We’re taking this one next. I’m sold on Hot, Hot, Hot! What a stupid name,” Taz grumbled.

  Production Line was a great upgrade once Rud unlocked the blacksmith. But Taz was right. The Hot upgrade—he refused to think of it as Hot, Hot, Hot—would be the best for now. He imagined himself not waiting an eternity for the smelters to heat. That would save him Fairy Peat and time. Both things were valuable. The druid selected the upgrade.

  “That was exciting,” Taz said, folding his arms. “Are we going to test it?”

  Rud looked at the small piles of ore. There wasn’t much to be processed. But why not? “Sure.”

  Rud fired the furnace up, and Taz watched. They studied the heat of the fire, finding that the sides of the smelter heated far faster than before. The entire thing came to the right heat to smelt iron in about half the time as it had before. The dwarf helped shovel the ore into the smelter and sat around with Rud as they waited for it to melt completely. Once the ingots were poured, they tested the cooling of the smelter. It happened twice as fast as before, which was just as encouraging as the heating.

  “I have even more incentive to smelt ore.” Rud laughed, looking over his massive pile of ingots. “Still no idea what to do with those.”

  “We’ll use half of those reinforcing the mine when we get there. Half again if we’re planning on making me some new tools. We’re planning on some new picks, right?”

  “Of course!” Rud said, having exactly no previous intention of forging picks. “As long as you teach me how to be a blacksmith.”

  “I wouldn’t know the first thing. I only ever watched them work back home.”

  “That makes you the foremost expert in the grove! Congratulations.”

  Taz grumbled, but accepted his fate. “Fine.”

  Rud rolled his shoulders. He shapeshifted into a squirrel and the pain went away. Taz yelped when he shifted before grumbling and marching away. The druid scampered off, planning to use the Toeknockers in his backpack to create a wall around Ban. He scurried through a bush and approached the tree. Her energy levels were fine, although he hadn’t given her crystals in a while. But there was something interesting that had happened.

  “I thought you were asleep,” Rud said, reading the description on the tree again.

  [Ban’Tanthein]

  Rank 1 Level 1 Sacred Tree

  Upgrade Energy: 0%

  Reserve Energy: 70%

  Energy Nodule Efficiency: 90%

  Upgrade:

  [Thicket Travel]

  [Root Spears]

  Expansions:

  [Mining Workshop]

  [Smelting Workshop]

  [Energy Nodules]

  [Observatory]

  Ban had done it. She gave herself a way to defend the grove. Rud wondered if she had been holding out for that, hiding behind a mask of confidence. He inspected the newest upgrade.

  [Root Spears]

  Sacred Tree Upgrade

  Description:

  The defense of a Sacred Tree is a tricky thing. Their roots run deep and far, often covering an entire grove. It’s only fair that an immobile thing should gain a way to lash out.

  Effect:

  Consume a small amount of reserve energy to jab spear-like roots at the target.

  Targets impaled by this effect will become rooted on the spot. If the target is held in place long enough, the Sacred Tree may siphon energy from that target into themselves.

  “Yikes.”

  That was a nasty little upgrade. Rud couldn’t judge her for the decision. Being able to defend herself while she was immobile was important. This was an important step in that direction. The druid was considering the implications of that upgrade when Mint burst from a bush.

  “Trouble. Western road,” she said, dashing through the bushes again.

  “What now?” Rud grumbled, shifting into a squirrel and diving after the wolf.