Chapter 371. Marlius’ Plans. Golden Sap City Further Development.

On the other side of the Wall Forest, Marlius looked up as a massive tree burned down and wailed in pain. A chuckle escaped him, and he spoke. “That’s what you get for denying my offer, World Tree Farlun.”

From the dying World Tree, a strained voice that was holding back the screams of pain reached Marlius. It was not full of anger or resentment. Just a strangely peaceful and pitying tone. “Marlius, you are too arrogant. The cycle of Life and Death is not something anyone can control, and eventually, your time will come. If you continue as you are, this moment in time will approach faster. You are like a moth running toward the light, thinking there is salvation there, only to find that you will be burned to ashes.”

A frown appeared between his eyebrows, and his gaze toward the World Tree looked annoyed and frustrated. “Why do you all not care about yourselves in your last moments? No World Tree begs. No World Tree curses his killers.”

Farlun commented softly as her Phoer Body Cores slowly reached zero. “What’s the point? We are all beings participating in a competition, a race against life that starts the moment we are conceived. You proved that you were able to overcome my defenses and managed to defeat me… Therefore… there is nothing… to resent.” 

A black message appeared in front of Marlius, unlike the usual transparent screen with white letters. 

[You’ve killed <Level 61 World Tree Farlun>. The murder has been committed by a group, dividing Experience Points according to contributions.]

[Your contribution: 14%]

[Experience Points earned: 23,855.]

Marlius sneered at the black System window. It was clear that the System was despising his actions, but he didn’t care. ‘Why is killing humans okay but killing World Trees is not? Ridiculous.’

[You’ve killed more than 10 World Trees.]

‘Hm? There is more?’

[Title <World Tree Killer> evolves into <World Tree Murderer>.]

<World Tree Murderer>: Your heartless actions have been ingrained in your soul. You are unable to atone yourself other than with Death. All World Trees that see you will feel abhorrent hostility, and no aura concealer can hide it. (Note: If the title evolves one more time, the consequences will be dire.)

Then, the usual system page appeared. 

[Energy Method: <Soul Sanguine Nexus Absorber> takes effect! You earn an extra 10% Experience Points.]

[+2,386 Experience Points.] 

Marlius raised his eyebrow with a smile. “As expected, they are a good source of Experience Points.” 

A greyish bird flew down from the sky and landed on his shoulder, carrying a letter. He looked at it and read it. 

“One year has gone by since our assault started. We’ve managed to conquer around 70% of the territory from the <Verdant Sanctity Covenant>. However, the top World Trees, World Tree Garaya, World Tree Hamaya, and World Tree Baraya are still standing. We will start an all-out pincer attack on them in three months. Use this time to loot the places your group has conquered and set up temporary bases. Reinforce the southern part as well.”

Marlius tilted his head. “What about the Wall Forest? Should we ignore it?” 

There were no words about it in the message, so Marlius was unsure. The assistant by his side spoke, who was a different one compared to the one from the past. “Lord Marlius, there are no real threats beyond the Wall Forest. Why are you concerned about it?”

Marlius looked at his new assistant and felt that it was a shame that the other one died in the battle against World Tree Farlun. After all, killing a Level 61 World Tree was not an easy task, even for his mighty army. He liked that person quite a lot. Still, the feeling was brief, and soon after, he answered him. “The World Trees beyond the Wall Forest are indeed too weak. However, wasn’t the <Dark Aether Swamp> cleared by one of them not long ago?”

The assistant nodded, thoughtful. “That is indeed the truth. World Tree Tianlian Liu Shu has proven to have much more strength than expected. However, that’s just in comparison to the rest of that area. If World Tree Farlun was where World Tree Tianlian Liu Shu currently is, she would’ve been able to do the same as well.”

Marlius found that reasoning sound and nodded. “Well, you are right. However, I have a nagging feeling that this World Tree might prove to be much more of a problem.”

His reasoning was beyond the news of the demise of the <Dark Aether Swamp>. When traversing the Wall Forest, he found a Life Tree in the past that forced him to retreat. When he marched with his army, he wanted to deal with it on the way. However, that Life Tree was gone. It was as if she had vanished into thin air.

Then, he received news that a Life Tree had appeared in World Tree Tianlian Liu Shu’s territory, making him suspicious. Of course, the mere thought that a World Tree was able to move a Life Tree was ridiculous. The amount of power needed to move a High-leveled Life Tree was inconceivable, even for <Fourth Energy Cycle> powerhouses.

Regardless of all his reasoning, there was a nagging feeling at the back of his head.

The assistant noticed that Marlius’ frown didn’t disappear and pondered. “Lord Marlius, if you are so worried. How about we attack World Tree Tianlian Liu Shu and get rid of her?”

Marlius blinked and rubbed his chin, interested. “The orders were to do as we pleased during the three months, right? Since we’ll spend a month at most to loot what we’ve captured, we can use another month to get rid of World Tree Tianlian Liu Shu and also reinforce ourselves. The last month, we can spend it relaxing and resting for the final assault.”

The assistant smiled. “That’s for the best. We are controlling a branch of the Nexus’ main power, with over 5,000 <Third Energy Cycles> and 100,000 <Second Energy Cycles> over Level 40.”

Marlius was surprised. “There are so many even after our fight?”

“Ah.” The assistant coughed. “Well, there are 3,800 <Third Energy Cycles> and 68,000 <Second Energy Cycles> left now. Still, I heard that a few soldiers had been enlightened and might reach Level 50. Our elite soldier numbers should be back to normal soon enough.”

Marlius smiled. “War is, after all, the fastest way to gain profit. Okay, let’s get the plan started.”

Meanwhile, on the Golden Sap City’s <Lignified Wall>, Galia, Flor, Ignatia, Eila, Verena, and Wert stood together with speechless expressions.

Flor muttered, baffled. “What is this?”

Wert agreed, equally confused. “There is no way, right…? How far are we from Liu Shu?”

Galia muttered, having never seen something like that. “Has this always happened?”

Ignatia chuckled. “It has happened since the beginning. The <Lignified Wall> grows and gets further away as long as Liu Shu grows in size. However, the movement we’ve seen in the last year is truly… terrifying.”

Eila sighed. “You still have time to laugh? Must I tell you that the Wall is almost double the distance away from where it was before? Look at the <Guardian Trees>! With their height reaching almost 400 meters, Someone might mistake them for World Trees…”

Verena laughed awkwardly. “That happened already. I’ve seen a few people approach them and try to take information out of them, thinking that they are World Trees. There are some people praying to them as well.”

Galia commented. “Still, the fact that we are 5500 meters away from Liu Shu compared to the 3,400 from before means that Liu Shu might almost double in height as well…”

Flor muttered, bringing her hands to her head. “2-2,000 meters? Already?”

Ignatia was all smiles. “Most likely, or at least, very close to it. Look at how my baby is growing! In just a year, she has reached over 1,350 meters in height! At this pace, in two more years, she will wake up!”

Flor muttered to herself, her eyes spinning with numbers. “Double the height, that means double the canopy volume. How many more fairies do I need to take Liu Shu’s constant berry production? What if she gets some very cheap and ordinary fruit? She will be growing tens of thousands a day… Do we need to go out and conquer a few more fairy tribes? What about the payment? Well, the berries per se can pay and…”

Everyone else looked down at the crouching fairy with speechless looks. ‘What is this woman murmuring about?’ 

Ignatia saw a few ants coming over and tilted her head, confused. “What’s wrong, babies?”

The first ant communicated with her antennae and pheromones while the second one used her two front agile legs to give each of the people gathered here a parchment. 

Galia couldn’t help but observe the two black-colored ants. They were distinct from the others, and their eyes shone with a certain intelligence that felt like a threat. Galia couldn’t help but ask Ignatia. “Hey, have your children developed intelligence?”

Ignatia’s insectoid eyes glanced at Galia. “Galia, you know that I am still on guard with you. Details about my colony are a se~cret from you.”

Galia rolled her eyes. “If I wanted to deal with you, wasn’t right after the War the perfect time? Liu Shu was KO-ed, we had solved Liu Shu’s corruption, and your ants were far from organized even when there was a big strength boost. I can’t even imagine how much stronger your colony has become during the last year after gaining 2,000+ Level 50 ants!”

Ignatia nodded, crossing her arms under her voluptuous breasts. “You are right.”

Galia blinked and raised her eyebrow. However, Ignatia smirked and said. “I still don’t trust you! Not until my biggest baby tells me that it is okay to trust you!”

Galia sighed and looked at the others. “Is there anything important in the letter?”

Wert spoke with a strange expression. “It seems that Liu Shu’s weight is compromising the integrity of some underground tunnels the ants have created, and they want to ask for a solution.”

Galia’s eyebrow twitched. “You constructed tunnels below Liu Shu?”

Ignatia would’ve rolled her eyes if she could. “When they were built, they weren’t under Liu Shu!”

Verena chuckled incredulously. “So, she has already grown past your expectations?”

Ignatia sighed and shook her head. “My baby is just too talented. She is getting stronger faster than I can adapt!”

Aurelise’s voice reached them. Her root net, which reached over 7 kilometers by now, could easily reach the place they were at the moment. “Ignatia, if you want, I can stretch some of my roots together with Tree and help you.”

“Oh?” Ignatia smiled softly in the direction of the Life Trees. “Then, I will be under your care.”

Wert crossed her arms. “By the way, how many <Lignified Tree Houses> has Wisdom built?”

Flor looked at the sky with dead-fish eyes. “There are 2,559… Also, how are they houses? They should be called <Lignified Tree Buildings>! We need to start dividing this place into North, South, East, West, and Central areas! I mean, theoretically, there can be over 30 million people living in our city!” 

Everyone who heard choked, and Verena asked with disbelief. “Where did that number come from!? Give me the math!”

Flor reached into her pouch and took out a piece of paper that was bigger than the pouch. These were <Spatial Pouches> that some people created by luck and commercialized. They didn’t have much space, around one cubic meter of space, but it was a massive breakthrough.

Verena glanced at the numbers and muttered. “2559 Tree Houses, each house can take in… 10 thousand people? Well, they are 100 meters tall, with a 130×130 meter base… around 30 floors, each with several 250 square meter apartments…” Verena’s voice became smaller as she saw the math. “This… Just the houses alone can have over 25 million people.” 

Her eyes moved toward the inns, and her head started to ache. “Right… The inns, which are more like enormous hotels, number at around 85 of them. Each one of them is 150 meters tall, and they have a much chunkier base compared to the Lignified Houses. Each room in the Inns is smaller than the apartments as well…”

After revising the detailed math, Verena couldn’t deny that this city had, in fact, enough room to house over 30 million people. There was one problem, though. “Flor, I don’t think there are 30 million people across the entire province, even if you take the surrounding ones into account.”

Flor laughed bleakly. “I know… There are approximately 9,570,000 Intelligent Race People. Of those, nearly 2 million live scattered in the surrounding cities, towns, etc…”

Galia coughed and spoke. “I… I will send a message back to have super city managers come.”

“Books.” Flor’s dead eyes glanced at Galia. “Give me all the books you can find about super-city construction, management, and law.” Her lips arched in a dark smile. “I will make Liu Shu choke on them and create a neatly summarized version in the <World Tree’s Endless Library> when she wakes up.”

Flor paused and blinked slowly. “Oh… wait.” Then, a low ‘fufufufu’ laugh escaped her as she called out ominously. “Wiiissdoooom~. Mommy has a small favor to ask for~.”

The SSS Rank super skill felt a strange chill for some reason. 

Everyone prayed in their hearts for Liu Shu. ‘Little one, I hope Wisdom has the ability to deal with Flor, or you’ll be eating books as if they are snacks when you wake up.’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep