Liu Shu didn't know what this feeling was. She couldn't really grasp the depth of it or why it was so powerful. It felt as if it came from the center of her core and spread outward like a flame.
Until now, Liu Shu has felt slightly sad when those around her died. For example, when she learned the number of deaths this time around, she couldn't help but let out a mental sigh. But, it never really affected her much more than a few fleeting thoughts that could be summarized with, "Well, that's life, I guess."
But when she saw the three Sylvans on the verge of death, that was not the thought process. Her first reaction was to want to heal them rapidly. She wanted to use anything in her power to help them.
The sight of their bloodied bodies was strangely heartwrenching and depressing. Liu Shu felt that way even when looking at Tempestria, who she hadn't known for long. 'Why fight outside my walls?'
Liu Shu looked around her and analyzed her town. In her opinion, it was strong enough to resist a few attacks. She couldn't really understand what was the point of going out to fight. She had heard their discussion, and she listened when they spoke about not leaving any of them to return alive.
'But, is there a point? Are people outside that strong?'
She knew about Fortuna World Tree, which was Level 26. However, Liu Shu always thought that Fortuna was not the standard for strong people. She still did so, but seeing a group of Level 12 people riding Level 10 creatures, she understood that she had underestimated the outside.
Other than that, she had clearly underestimated her own feelings toward the ones surrounding her. Her notion of indifference was not as clear now that the three Sylvans lay by her side at the doors of death.
'I care.'
Now, she understood.
'I care about Cinderielle.'
During the last months, she had been someone who had made her laugh so many times that she had lost count.
'I care about Verdantia.'
Like Cinderielle, Verdantia has become a source of knowledge, peace, and someone Liu Shu relied on when she didn't know about something.
What she understood a bit less was her care about Tempestria.
She had shown loyalty to her, she had been interesting, and above all, similar to Verdantia and Cinderielle, the aura around her was very attractive.
Although Tempestria has been by her side very little, Liu Shu was surprised that she found her core hurting when the thought of her being gone appeared in her mind.
'Since I first saw them, I felt they were different.' Slowly, Liu Shu's mind matured due to this event. 'I found I cared about them enough to even stop the person I trust the most, Flor, from doing bad things to them.'
The situation when Flor almost killed Cinderielle flashed in her mind, and this made her recall the urge she felt back then to stop her.
It was such an impulsive and incomprehensible feeling. 'What are these feelings of care? Do I feel like this toward all Sylvans?'
Liu Shu knew that was not the truth. When the Earth Sylvan appeared, she didn't feel the same intent she did with the others. Seeing her receive everyone's assault and slowly get killed did not make Liu Shu want to intervene. On the contrary, she herself increased her attacking rate.
'So, it is not all Sylvans? Are they special? Or is it because that earth Sylvan was corrupted?'
As hours passed and Liu Shu continued looking at the resting women, her convoluted thoughts calmed down. She didn't know what they were or what this surge meant, but she could understand that these three were special to her, one way or another.
For Liu Shu's current mind, knowing that was enough. 'To protect people, I need strength.' As she absorbed the nutrients from all the high-level beings, instead of using them to grow taller, she used them to increase the reach and strength of her roots.
The process accelerated, and underground, Liu Shu's roots glowed faintly. The tip of the roots dug through the earth, expanding, stretching, and increasing her vision range.
Days and weeks went by, and eventually, Liu Shu reached her current maximum reach. She had never really tried extending her roots this way before. In Liu Shu's mind, height had always been a priority, not expanding. She wanted to grow tall as a tree and have the necessary root system to keep her growing trunk and canopy from toppling over.
Now, she didn't mind about height as much as she used her time and
The flower ring field around her was specially engineered to create lethal projectiles and shoot them a long distance. So, reaching a few hundred meters away was not that strange. Of course, the lethality of the attacks decreased with range. Liu Shu calculated that the current range before the bullets lost effectiveness was around the 240-meter mark, a little less than her vision.
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During these weeks, while Liu Shu focused on expanding her root net, she also came to know the limits of her
With a vision range of 250 meters and considering that the first 160 were free of trees, Liu Shu had many trees in her eyesight. Because the grove was densely populated, the number of trees within her sight was around 6,000.
Liu Shu looked at her Phoer Body Shards next.
Phoer Body Shards: 16,869/18,310 (+650/Hour)
During her forceful expansion, some trees were unhappy, so they attacked her. Sadly for them, Liu Shu was a Level 8 World Tree with incredibly tough defenses. Their attacks were almost ineffective. Moreover, she had been analyzing the trees around her, and she noticed that the highest level ones were two Level 10 trees to her north and her south. They were the ones that did most of the damage to her root system.
She didn't retaliate because she wanted to know her surroundings perfectly before starting.
'I need strength, and while these trees around me could've probably submitted with time, I now need Experience Points.'
World Trees being fragile had been discussed. However, there were real independent World Trees with incredible strength. Many were confused, what's the source of a World Tree's experience points?
How can they Level Up so quickly in the early moments of their life?
Most attributed it to a secret energy-gathering technique, but that was not the truth.
As explained previously, World Trees expanded while replacing the Flora around them with new and often better flora. Better was a subjective way of describing it, but dumbing it down, the "better" here referred to more resilient, stronger, and fertile flora.
So, while expanding and replacing flora, World Trees naturally needed to kill the previous trees that would not follow their new rule.
The source of experience was this one.
[Congratulations on defeating
As a World Tree expanded.
[Congratulations on defeating
The World Tree slaughtered everything around them.
[Congratulations on defeating
Their ability to control their roots was unlike anything an average tree had.
[Congratulations on defeating
So, resisting their advance was only possible when the World Tree was either low-tiered or low-leveled.
[Congratulations on defeating
Sadly for them, Liu Shu was neither low-level nor low-tier in her current area.
[Congratulations on defeating
Hence, resisting was not possible.
[Congratulations on defeating
So, for these trees, their fate was sealed. They would become Liu Shu's Experience Point source.
Sitting on the walls, Flor looked toward the forest with a solemn expression. She could hear the sound of shattering wood and falling trees, the cries of a forest being mercilessly killed by one of their kind.
Yet, at the same time, behind her, she could feel the World Tree's energy surging outward with incredible strength as a determination she had never felt before swallowed her surroundings.
Flor knew the World Tree behind her was angry. The gentle World Tree that just wanted to become bigger and feed fruits to the people who lived with her had seen how ruthless this world truly is.
That's why the Rose Fairy Queen didn't stop the World Tree from slaughtering the trees around her. Rose Fairies were protectors of the natural cycle, so when a World Tree that was considered the physical manifestation of Nature's will itself created something like a "natural disaster," there was nothing to stop.
There was nothing to oppose.
As they always did, Rose Fairies would just observe as nature's cycle occurred, and they would try their best to stop outside forces from intervening in such a beautiful yet sometimes calamitous process.
Flor thought about these last weeks. 'Thankfully, we sent those groups to investigate. We managed to catch up to those two people who fled from the three Sylvan's hands. There were indeed 50 people in the reinforcement group, and now all of them are dead and providing sustenance to the World Tree.'
Flor felt a pair of relatively giant hands lifting her body, but she didn't react. She felt her back be engulfed by a warm softness, something she had already recognized by just the scent. "Ignatia, is there something wrong?"
Ignatia laughed. "Nothing~. I was just here to inform you that the three girls have made a full recovery."
Flor smiled. "That's good. Have they talked with Liu Shu lately?"
Ignatia smiled. "They have. Moreover, it seems that the innocent World Tree is not that innocent anymore. She feels a bit different."
Flor's smile faded slightly. "Well, you are right. Since Liu Shu stopped me back then, I knew that at least Cinderielle was special for that little darling. So, I am being protective as long as Liu Shu doesn't understand what she wants. Once she does and tells me, I will support her."
Ignatia laughed. "You are such a good Mom, Flor."
Flor blinked. "Huh? I am not a mother."
Ignatia tightly hugged the doll-like woman and chuckled. "Sure, sure. By the way, how many trees have fallen?"
Flor blinked. "I lost count at 313 or something."
Ignatia hummed. "No wonder the forest around us feels a bit more empty. Liu Shu has dealt with so many of them already? How much time has it passed since she started with this sudden slaughter?"
Flor tilted her head and muttered. "Around 20 days?"
The Ant Queen laughed. "Wow, 15 trees a day! Not bad, not bad."
Flor sighed. "Don't laugh. This is a serious event. Also, I said I lost count at 313. She should be in the 500th tree or so."
Ignatia stopped laughing and patted Flor's head gently. "I see. Since you consider it a serious event, I won't laugh. Speaking of which, what about the two Level 10 trees that are nearby?"
Flor pointed ahead of her, and Ignatia followed her finger.
Beyond the trees, she could somewhat perceive a tall tree being wrapped in roots with blue-colored energy veins. "Oh, that's-"
CREACK!
BOOM!
"-the tree... Wow. It's dead."
Flor blinked. "It is indeed dead. Trees have strong natural resistances and defenses, but their attacking methods are quite lacking in comparison. Liu Shu, who has the defense of a tree and the offense of a powerful Sylvan, can easily deal with them."
Ignatia nodded when she felt the aura of the World Tree behind her surging tremendously. "What now?"
Flor muttered. "Level 9? Perhaps… Level 10…"
Ignatia's face hardened.