บท 258: Chapter 258. Liu Shu's Headache... Rootache? Mindache.
After speaking with Fortuna, Liu Shu didn't really know what to do about it. Her first thoughts were to ask for assistance from Flor and the others. However, she didn't want to do so right away. Instead, she tried to form a decision first before going to consult them. "Hm… Let's see. Fortuna wants to become my subject. What does this entail? For myself, a few things. But let's leave that aside for now. First, what does it mean to those looking at me? The most glaring thing is that I would become the first World Tree to forgive another World Tree in a conflict."
The World Tree pondered, thinking further and developing her own thoughts. "If I am successful, that would make me even more of a threat than if I eliminated Fortuna. After all, if I have the ability to put other World Trees under my control, World Tree cities will fear that their World Tree might fall into my clutches once my roots arrive… It doesn't matter if Fortuna does it willingly; there is no proper way to communicate that. Hence, it will appear as if I have forcefully placed Fortuna under my control."
Liu Shu groaned in her mind. The amount of trouble that this would bring her was not small, and yet, it was just one of the many things that would come together with Fortuna's subjugation. "Not to mention…" Liu Shu muttered. "If she betrays me in the future, I will be in trouble, no? She can attack from the inside, and as a World Tree, her ability to cause havoc is not small… I will have to always keep an eye on her, and that's quite… tiring." A sigh escaped her again. "No wonder other World Trees don't bother and just kill their opponents. There are so many things to take into account! QAQ!"
The World Tree observed her domain, her gaze moving around with interest. There were many plants and creatures that had been affected by her <Cerulean Bloodsap>. After all, if the plants change, the animals that eat the plants change, and the predators that eat those animals will change similarly. In short, her <Cerulean Bloodsap> had become part of the ecosystem's cycle, making changes that she didn't expect.
One example was that the wild trees were slightly more conscious of their surroundings. Liu Shu could hear the echoes of their thoughts, which were clearly more complex than before. Gazing at the lake area where Tree was, Liu Shu pondered. 'My walls will eventually reach here, right? This place is around 1300 meters from my body and… My walls constantly expand, currently reaching around 1040 meters from my body… Wow~, I am almost there! Also, look at all the new space that has been liberated! I can plant many new World Tree Houses around the edge… Hm… How about I create a closed area around the lake? This place is quite important for the entire forest since many creatures come here to drink…'
Suddenly, the young World Tree exploded in fake sobbing. 'WAH! SO MANY THINGS TO DO! I DON'T WANT TO SLEEP FOR TWO YEARS AGAIN!'
Liu Shu wanted to relax! She wanted to laze around and do nothing, growing fruits and observing the surroundings! She didn't want to plan complex strategies to swallow everything. 'Why can't things just be obedient and accept my domain!? I give people so many nice buffs, yet they dare resist!? Are people allergic to good things!? WAH! STUPID PEOPLE! STUUUUPID! STUUUPID!'
Liu Shu complained and rambled to the high heavens until she was satisfied. After blowing off some steam, the World Tree sighed and deflated, her branches and body going completely limp.
The city's inhabitants had quite an enjoyable time seeing all the reactions of the World Tree. Many couldn't help but realize that until today, the World Tree had probably been asleep, and she was now awake and doing who knows what.
Liu Shu heard the people in the city speak.
"Lady World Tree is so adorable. Is she upset now about something? Look at her branches, all limp and clearly gloomy, hahaha."
Liu Shu snorted in her mind. 'Why are you laughing!?'
"Right? Poor Lady World Tree, I hope whatever is troubling her gets solved soon…"
'Right, right! That's how you should speak!'
"...but she does indeed look adorable, hahaha."
'WAH! MEANIE! MY INHABITANTS ARE ALL MEAN PEOPLE!'
"Oh? There she goes again, swinging around at who knows what."
Meanwhile, Flor was starting to feel somewhat nauseated at all the movements. Therefore, she asked aloud, her tone somewhat amused. "Love, what's wrong?"
Liu Shu exploded. "EVERYTHING IS SO COMPLICATED! SO MANY THINGS TO DO! WHY DID FORTUNA SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT? NOW MY ROOTS ARE GETTING TANGLED THINKING ABOUT ALL THE CONSEQUENCES! WAHH! FLOR! EVERYONE IS A BULLY! I JUST WANT TO GROW FRUITS AND BE A NICE TREE! WHY CAN'T I GROW FRUITS IN PEACE!"
Flor held her laughter with every single fiber of her body and soul, patting the World Tree and trying to console her. "There, there. Everyone in the city loves you lots. You can grow as many fruits as you want."
"That reminds me…" Liu Shu burst again, almost crying for real this time around. "I HAVE ALMOST 300,000 EXPERIENCE POINTS TO SPEND! WHAT DO I DO? I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING! I ALSO NEED TO UPGRADE MY BERRY SKILL! WAH! SO MANY THINGS TO DOOO!"
Flor continued patting the World Tree's trunk while holding her laughter, her eyes tearing up slightly at the effort. Liu Shu stopped moving her branches around and went limp again, sighing in pure resignation.
"Tiantian, are you alright?"
Cinderielle's voice reached her, prompting her to answer. "Yes… Too many things to do; I don't even know where to start."
Cinderielle was currently in her room, cleaning her clothes. She smiled when she heard Liu Shu answering her. It has been more than two years since she last heard her dear World Tree's voice. "Good morning, sleepy girl. You don't come to say hello now?"
"Oh." Liu Shu answered somewhat shyly. "Good morning, Cinderielle."
She also sent a message to the others around the town, and all of them answered her at once. Liu Shu proceeded to have a nice and relaxing conversation with everyone and asked them individually what happened in the town during the last years.
The answers she got were similar, with a few extra details on each person's specialty.
After getting a wider picture of their current situation, Liu Shu pondered and decided to visit the towns around her Domain. As her roots expanded, she had swallowed a few towns and villages, which have been systematically placed under their domain. 'Let's see… Oh, here they are.'
Her presence descended on the town, accompanied by a slight increase in pressure in the area. The feeling was noticeable at a subconscious level, prompting all the townspeople to feel as if they were being looked at. Of course, they didn't actually think that someone was looking.
"What do we do, Village Head? Many people are slowly changing their allegiance!"
Liu Shu was slightly surprised and looked into the house where she detected that sentence. Inside, she saw an obese man surrounded by four people, one woman who sat by his side, and three men standing in front of them. 'This person is the Village Head? Why is he so… round? I want to poke him with my roots… Will he explode if I do that?'
Due to the high activity level, natural resources, and way of consuming food, fat people were rather rarer. Most had a healthy complexion. So, this was Liu Shu's first official encounter with a very large human man.
The man spoke, his voice somewhat muffled from the built fat and sounding rather high-pitched for a man. "They wouldn't dare! I've been taking care of those pigs for so many years. If they are ungrateful enough to change their allegiance, then punish them! They would be dead by now if it wasn't because of how I intimidated the Golden Sap City's people!"
Liu Shu was baffled and asked Flor while continuing to listen. "Flor? Was a round man intimidating? He is the Village Head of a town around the middle area between Sirol City and us."
Flor blinked twice and then remembered who Liu Shu was referring to. "That round man? Why would he be intimidating? He can barely walk, even when he is Level 9."
"I see."
Liu Shu focused on that place again.
"Moreover! Those Golden Sap City people want to build strange trees here, and I avoided that. If it weren't for me, we would be living like tree slaves!"
Liu Shu felt that her intelligence might decrease if she continued listening, so she just ignored him. 'Either way, he doesn't have much more time to live. His poor heart is doing more work than my roots to pump blood around his body."
After checking on the few towns, she noticed that most of the village or town leaders were quite reluctant to allow them to rule. 'So strange… Why are they so reluctant? Is it because they will stop being the leaders of their towns?'
The World Tree felt that there was an important lesson here, so she didn't dismiss it and pondered over it for a little while. 'So… some people would rather live poorly as long as they keep their… power? Authority?' Liu Shu hummed. 'Selfishness that pushes a person to not care about how those that are under them feel or, more essentially, live, as long as they are the ones at the top… It is a bit different from a World Tree's indifference toward the lives in their domain; it feels… more destructive. More malicious.'
Liu Shu couldn't help but compare both sides and try to find out why they felt so different. 'Us, World Trees, are indifferent, but we do give benefits to those that are under our canopy. We give them a place with relatively high security, and in exchange, those people will take care of us. It is a… symbiotic relationship. Meanwhile… These people are parasites.'
The word "parasite" felt so… fitting that Liu Shu instantly understood why it felt so wrong compared to her indifference.
"Well, it's not of my concern. The ones that decided to assimilate those towns are Flor and the others, so they will probably take care of it. Now… Let's look at my skills and do some upgrades, shall we?"
'System! How many Experience Points do I need to upgrade all my Level MAX skills, excluding <World Tree Wisdom>?'
[Calculating… If you want to upgrade all your MAX Level skills, you need a total of 268,548 Experience Points.]
'Oh? I actually have enough?'
[The Experience Points needed are 384,930. However, Tianlian Liu Shu's understanding of many of those skills is profound enough to lower the Experience Points needed to 268,548.]
'Oh!' Liu Shu hummed. 'Well… will I need to go into another slumber to upgrade all the skills?'
[Unknown. In case a slumber is needed, it will be comparatively brief.]
'I see…'
Liu Shu communicated to everyone. "I am going to upgrade some skills~. I don't know if I'll fall asleep again, so anyway, I am giving you all a heads-up!"
Everyone blinked twice simultaneously, feeling somewhat speechless.
"System! Upgrade all my skills!"
[Upgrading…]
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