Rick

Rick is a cave troll rescued into Haven who develops into the settlement's expert underground gardener and raises the two younger trolls living with him.

Biography

From cave troll to grove keeper

Rick receives his name through a misunderstanding—he asks builders for a “rock,” they hear “Rick,” and the name sticks—but quickly makes a clearer identity through his work. He takes responsibility for Jake's neglected cavern garden and the two younger trolls, steadily expanding the biodome and welcoming visitors with flowers and produce. After evolving into a Troll Grove Keeper, he cultivates rare life- and death-affinity plants, teaches Scarlett, corrects Jake's mistaken care of the time musa, and expands the grove deeper beneath Haven. His patience and expertise turn an abandoned gardening project into a thriving home and productive sanctuary that remains under his care. (Chapters 398, 449, 560, 900, 1071–1072, and 1262)

Appearance and personality

Rick is a very large troll whose body becomes green after his evolution, with moss growing across his back. Despite his size, he can cross planted ground without leaving footprints or crushing vegetation. He communicates mostly through gestures, grunts, smiles, and simple words; his recurring behavior is gentle, industrious, hospitable, and protective of both plants and the younger trolls. (Chapters 398, 900, and 1071–1072)

Path, class, and abilities

Rick begins as a cave troll but evolves into a Troll Grove Keeper, a race specialization centered on cultivating underground ecosystems. By Chapter 900 he is level 227 and visibly transformed; by Chapter 1071 he is level 256, showing sustained progression through tending and expanding the grove rather than abandoning his chosen work. (Chapters 900 and 1071)

• Cultivation and ecosystem design: Rick grows an ancient-rarity natural treasure, maintains distinct life- and death-affinity caverns, creates barriers that contain death energy, and nurtures epic moss toward a higher rarity. His practice depends on careful environmental control, appropriate soil and materials, and time; he refuses premature harvesting when it would undermine the plant's development. (Chapters 900 and 1071)
• Plant-safe movement and magical tending: He supports his great weight without trampling plants, mixes fertilizer with soil while infusing energy, and monitors the time musa closely enough to diagnose harmful energy saturation. His methods are specialized rather than universal: Jake notes that he favors underground plants, while Rick himself corrects conditions plant by plant. (Chapters 900 and 1072)
• Troll combat capability: Rick and the younger trolls explore deep tunnels for resources and fights, and Miranda notes that he swings a powerful club. These scenes establish that he remains physically formidable, but the corpus treats combat as secondary to his grove-keeping Path and does not detail named combat skills. (Chapters 558 and 900)

Relationships

• Jake Thayne: Jake gives Rick a safe home and entrusts him with the cavern and time musa. Rick repays that trust through skilled, independent stewardship, while Jake increasingly accepts Rick as the better gardener and protects his right to remain in human territory after evolution.
• Miranda Wells: Miranda explains Rick's naming and later keeps Jake informed about his safety and standing in Haven. Her administration recognizes his popularity and the protection the settlement gives him.
• The younger trolls: Rick acts as their parent and teacher. They live, cultivate, travel underground, and rest together, while he corrects their behavior around guests and incorporates them into the grove's work.

Items

No separately cataloged notable item is finalized for Rick in the supplied corpus.