Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos.

Chapter 257. Fortuna’s Startling Suggestion.

Flor waited patiently for a few moments, and after she felt Liu Shu wiggling cutely, she couldn’t help but laugh. She didn’t have anything to do, so she patiently waited for her to speak back to her. She leaned back on a tall enough bump and closed her eyes, allowing herself to be surrounded by her presence. This was not the first time or the last time she would need to wait for an answer for a long time.

After a few minutes, Liu Shu talked back to her. Her tone was clearly elated, and even with her currently more mature voice, the mix made her even more adorable. “Flor! I am so strong now!” 

Flor answered softly, her eyes still closed as she felt the breeze around her. “That’s great. The stronger you are, the better.” Then, she muttered. “Speaking of stronger. Are all the buildings inside the town Level 25 now? They grow with you, right?”

Liu Shu hummed. “They do! The reason I usually take so long to Level Up is because I need to feed all those little ones as well. Well, my root net is enormous, so I have no problems keeping up with everyone. Each building also has its own ternary reserves, which is nice~.”

“Oho~, you are a responsible mother, aren’t you?”

“Hm?” Liu Shu asked, confused. “What do you mean with ‘mother’?”

The Flower Fairy hummed and smiled. “Well, you placed down their seed and nurtured them. They all also take after you, having many of your innate qualities, and they are all very cute~, similar to a certain World Tree.”

“Hehehe~.” Liu Shu giggled happily. 

Flor smiled and opened her ruby-like eyes. She asked softly. “So, what are you going to do now?”

Liu Shu answered quickly, her voice carrying no doubts. “Continue to stretch my roots~! I don’t know how far I can reach now!”

“Great. Speaking of distances, how tall are you now, Liu Shu? I can tell that you are over 300 meters tall, but the exact number evades me.” 

Liu Shu asked her system and received an answer. “Oh~! I am 337 meters tall!”

Flor sighed in awe. “Woah…” Then, she smiled. “By the way, love. You better summon a bigger serpent. The Level 25 serpent that you have now can barely cover your chest.”

Liu Shu looked down and saw that the comfortable wing-bra was now covering around half her breasts instead of fully hiding them. “Oh… It’s true. I should change serpents.”

Flor’s eyebrow twitched. ‘Don’t speak of them as if they are a piece of cloth!’

Before unsummoning the serpent, she spoke with her for a little bit. “Thanks for being with me these last years~. I’ll unsummon you now, okay? Tell a bigger one to come so that they can cover me properly!”

The Arboreal Winged Serpent smiled gently, her feminine voice sounding quite pleasant to the ears. “No problem, Master. I’ll make sure to tell one of my larger siblings to be prepared.”

“Hey!” Liu Shu spoke, pouting. “Did you forget that I don’t want to be called master?”

The serpent blinked. “Oh. My bad, Liu Shu. It has been a while, so I truly forgot.” 

The leaves of Liu Shu rustled gently, as if a faint smile were passing over its branches. “As long as you know~... Well, without further ado~ Bye-bye!”

A green pillar of light enveloped the serpent, leaving Liu Shu topless for a few moments. One second later, another pillar summoned a gigantic serpent more than forty meters in length and with a wingspan of similar width. Each wing, reaching around twenty meters in length, could easily cover Liu Shu’s massive chest.

Liu Shu's branches swayed slightly, a silent welcome for the newcomer. “Hello~.” 

The large serpent smiled, and a low but soft male voice reached her. “Greetings, Liu Shu. I am a Level 30 <Physique> based serpent. If you need me for anything, tell me.”

“Oh! Level 30 already!” She was very happy that her new summoning limit had increased to Level 30. “Well, for now, you need to cover me well so that perverts can’t look at me!”

The giant winged serpent gently chuckled and answered. “Understood, Liu Shu. Leave that to me.”

His massive wings gently extended as he positioned his body between Liu Shu’s soft and sizable curves. Flor looked down from where she stood with an amused expression. ‘Using a Level 30 creature just to cover herself… That would leave many feeling lost of purpose, hahaha.’

Liu Shu finally decided to extend her senses, and a pulse of energy covered everything where her roots reached. Her mind processed everything as sensations all over the place flooded her soul. The amount of detail she could capture when covering her domain had increased together with her soul’s deeper connection to her own body, achieved during the <Second Energy Cycle> process.

‘Woah~, I can sense everything so clearly~... Hm?’ Liu Shu looked into her root net and noticed the corpses of several beasts, humans, and other creatures being digested by her roots. 

‘...’

She just didn’t know what to say. ‘Why did Wisdom attack so many people? Wisdom, can you answer?’

[Wisdom: Creatures that attack a World Tree should never be forgiven. Excessive compassion always leads to people thinking you can be taken advantage of.]

‘Huh?’ Liu Shu was surprised when she heard Wisdom because, unlike usual, the voice didn’t sound peaceful and constant. This time, the tone had an edge of resentment and coldness. ‘Hm… Are you okay?’

[Wisdom: Request not understood.]

‘I see.’ Liu Shu didn’t insist. Instead, she continued checking her domain. When she looked toward Fortuna’s direction, she was flabbergasted once more. ‘W-What happened here?’

Fortuna City was around 25 kilometers away from the edge of the previous Golden Sap Forest. Their roots met in the middle, with Fortuna extending around 15 and Liu Shu taking 10. Now, things have made a complete turnaround. Liu Shu’s roots had invaded more than ten extra kilometers! 

Fortuna City was just five kilometers away from Liu Shu’s roots. 

“Um… Hello?”

Liu Shu tried to communicate with Fortuna, and to her surprise, the World Tree answered her. “What’s wrong? Are you going to start attacking again?”

Liu Shu heard a hint of resentment in Fortuna’s voice and was startled. “Why do you sound so bitter?”

“Did you just ask why I sound so bitter? Even for someone without mercy like you, this is a bit too cruel, no?”

Liu Shu’s confusion couldn’t help but increase. Thinking about it and how aggressive Wisdom had been, Liu Shu guessed that something must’ve happened while she was Leveling Up. “Wait, wait. I’ve been Leveling Up for the last two and a half years! I don’t know what happened.”

Fortuna’s voice paused for a second. Then, she asked. “The last two and a half years?” 

“Yeah!” Liu Shu spoke honestly. “I am truly clueless as to what you are speaking about.”

Fortuna hummed, her voice relaxing and somewhat calming down. After a while, she commented. “Then, I’ll try to communicate with you once more.”

Liu Shu waited for a few seconds and heard Fortuna speak. “I surrender. I want to be assimilated by you instead of destroyed.”

“Huh?” Liu Shu’s core shook, feeling that those words were utterly lacking in sense. “What do you mean that you want to be assimilated? We are both World Trees! We can’t assimilate each other.”

Fortuna asked. “And who says that?” Her voice reached Liu Shu with strange confidence and peace. “Have any other World Trees ever tried this? There are no reports. Every single time that two World Trees fought in a nearby territory, one was eaten by the other, with no exceptions. World Trees communicating as we are come as rare as they can. Usually, the second we recognize the other side as another World Tree, we would start brutally killing each other.”

Liu Shu’s core started spinning as many implications of what this could mean were processed by her powerful root net. “This is a bit crazy… Do you really not want to continue fighting?” 

“Fight?” Fortuna laughed in derision. “Even when you were unconscious, I could never make a dent in you. Although I am about to reach Level 30, I feel that I have no chance when fighting you. Since we faced each other the first time, I could sense my inferiority as a World Tree as clearly as ever. I do not mind dying, as such is the cycle of life. However, submitting to you might allow me to live in peace that I didn’t have before.”

Liu Shu was not fully sure about what to do. She knew that killing another World Tree would give many rewards. So, the temptation of doing so was not small. Fortuna was just the first World Tree she would face. Many more would appear later, and having killed one previously would give her an edge against those that didn’t.

“Let me think about it.”

She couldn’t answer straight away. If she decided to try to subjugate Fortuna in a non-violent manner, she needed to think it through very thoroughly because, once she subjugated her, she would change from someone to attack to someone to protect.

Eila Neoflora had been quite a nuisance, but in Liu Shu’s opinion, other than the inevitable confrontation more than two years ago, she had never really moved against her.

Liu Shu felt that Eila had had many chances before the war to just come and strike fear into her. She could’ve harassed her monthly or so, weakening her, or any other tactics that used her incredible personal strength to her advantage. Instead, she got the war that happened and, until now, Liu Shu had never truly seen the strength of that Sylvan in flesh. 

Suddenly, Liu Shu saw the appearance of a system message. 

[The next part of your quest has been unlocked!]

‘Oh?’ Liu Shu was a bit confused. Why didn’t it show before she spoke with Fortuna? However, she didn’t give that a lot of thought for now and asked the system to show the quest to her.

[Sylvan Quest unlocked: <Recognition as a juvenile World Tree.>]

[You’ve created a domain and made your presence known. However, you are not the only World Tree in this world. Your objective is to be set apart from the others, spreading your roots further than any other World Tree could before. You, Tianlian Liu Shu, are destined for much more.]

Liu Shu was stunned. ‘My name is in the quest? How personal are they? Hmm… System, show me the objectives and rewards. 

[Understood.]’ 

[Objective 1: Make three other recognized cities fall under your control.]

[Objective 2: Improve the mineral mine you are standing on by at least one rank.]

[Objective 3: Deal with World Tree Fortuna.]

[Objective 4: Reach 100,000 population in your main city.]

[Objective 5: Build your second <Temple>.]

[Reward 1: 2250 Sylvanium <Ores>, 2250 Etherium <Ores>, 2250 Ascendium <Ores>, Celestium <Ores>, 2250 Cognium <Ores>.]

[Reward 2: 100,000 Experience Points.]

[Reward 3: Improve <World Tree Town> title to <World Tree City> title.]

[Reward 4: Improve <Seedling World Builder> to <Minor World Builder>.]

[Reward 5: Etherium Branch.]

‘... ETHERIUM BRANCH!? OH YEAH! I’LL FINALLY HAVE IT!’ She quickly asked again. ‘Show me the progress of the quests, System!’

[Objective 1: Make three other recognized cities fall under your control. (0/3)]

[Objective 2: Improve the mineral mine you are standing on by at least one rank. (0/1)]

[Objective 3: Deal with World Tree Fortuna. (0/1)]

[Objective 4: Reach 100,000 population in your main city. (86.540/100,000)]

[Objective 5: Build your second <Temple>. (1/2)]

‘Huh? Didn’t Flor tell me there were around 50,000 people? Oh… Wait. Ants count as population as well? That means… There are more than 30,000 ants… Ignatia was busy during these last two and a half years…’’