After assimilating the rogue World Tree, Liu Shu’s roots moved forward and reached her main body. ‘This is… A reef?’ 

World Trees came in all shapes and forms. This one seemed to have grown into a giant reef. The zone it occupied expanded several thousand meters in length and width, with plenty of underwater flora and marine fauna. What surprised Liu Shu was that the World Tree had grown some sort of glowing anemone, creating light where there should be none.

‘Wow… So pretty!’ Liu Shu was truly marveled at her. She was entirely different from Lakeborn.

Lakeborn was not a beautiful World Tree. She was extremely imposing and powerful, and her reach was truly terrifying. Nevertheless, her main body was the source of most of her underwater vines, which could be somewhat creepy for some. 

Meanwhile, this one was truly impressive in all senses of the word. “You are really pretty, Big Sister!” 

The World Tree communicated back carefully, still in tree language. “Pretty? Such a strange word to describe me…” She was still wary of Liu Shu, even after receiving all the benefits. After all, the presence of our World Tree was just too imposing. 

Liu Shu giggled and asked. “Can you tell me if there are more World Trees around? I want to assimilate them as well. Oh, and I wanted to ask, can you reach the surface from here? If you can create something like a coral island above the water, I might be able to create an ocean city with you!” 

Lakeborn was managing and developing the underwater city for intelligent aquatic creatures. Nevertheless, those creatures didn’t really live at the depths that this World Tree was. Being able to live underwater didn’t mean that they were immune to increases in underwater pressure. Only specialized lifeforms could comfortably live at her current depth.

And from what Liu Shu knew, there were no intelligent species that lived this deep underwater. Most creatures here were forced into a constant battle for survival, so developing intelligence was a difficult task.

Liu Shu didn’t let that stop her thoughts about creating underwater cities. What Liu Shu didn’t like about them was that, once the underwater city’s protective layers started collapsing, it would most likely mean death for everyone living there. She still had fresh in her memory what she did to those Abyssal Void Nexus people. 

While conversing with the Coral Reef World Tree, Liu Shu learned the basic layout of this aura and in which direction the nearest continent was. “Hm… So if I go in that direction for 800 more kilometers, I will reach the edge of that continent. I wonder whose continent that is? There is a one in six chance of a jackpot!”

She had a map with her. Nevertheless, it was hard to tell where exactly her roots were without proper landmarks or vision at all. If her roots were expanding outward and could collide with each other, she might’ve gone in circles while expanding.

“Let’s see… I’ll take a little while to reach there. In the meantime, should I use my remaining experience points to Level Up my MAX level skills?’  

She had two of them, Cerulean Bloodsap and World Tree Calling. World Tree Eye had increased in Tier together with her level ups, reaching B- Rank. It was currently at the second level as well, so it would take a while to improve. 

“How many Experience Points do I need to upgrade each of them, system?” 

[Experience Needed to Upgrade <World Tree Calling (D- Rank)> is 69,987.]

[Experience Needed to Upgrade <Cerulean Bloodsap (B- Rank)> is 559,874.]

“Oh! Upgrade them. It’s not that much.”

[Consuming Experience Points…]

Experience Points rushed through her body, and soon, both skills got upgraded—neither changed names nor description. 

A fresh sensation covered her body. Cerulean Bloodsap slowly evolved all around and showed better effects everywhere. While the effects were marginal, they were significant. After all, Cerulean Bloodsap didn’t only combat corruption. It also aided the growth of all plants affected by its aura. 

Moreover, this sap was used to make a delicious and sweet syrup that Flor and the others loved in their morning foods. Of course, it was not something that was marketed yet. Liu Shu didn’t want her sap to get sold around without proper control. 

While she was pondering these things, she wondered if Ophion and the other Serpents could keep up with her level. After all, she was quite accustomed to having Ophion around when summoning the serpents.

‘Will I get different summons when the skill levels up? Perhaps, it will make it more Ternary Essence Efficient.’ Even if she could summon very high-tier creatures thanks to her powerful title, it didn’t mean that Liu Shu had to ignore the skill. Who knew what advantages it would get as it grew in tier? After all, each major tier had a chance of significantly changing and improving a skill’s essence. 

Liu Shu now didn’t have any skill at Level MAX, other than Wisdom. ‘This skill needs quite a lot of Experience to Tier Up…’ 

She honestly didn’t want to look at it. Whatever it was, it was not worth it. She remembered checking when she was younger and not even knowing the number because of the number of zeros.  

With that in mind, Liu Shu focused on checking another aspect of her new skills that she had yet to look into in detail. “Berries! The changes are quite… large…” 

Or so she would if someone didn’t attack her at the edge of her expanding domain. 

“Who is being annoying now!? Do you want to be smacked!?”

“Out of my domain. I won’t say it twice.”

Liu Shu looked over and noticed the roots of another World Tree. “Oh… Another rogue World Tree! I guess that just because there are no deep-water intelligent creatures, it doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be World Trees. Have there been cases of a powerful underwater World Tree surfacing and taking land in the past?”

She didn’t remember reading about anything similar, so she was unsure. “Hm… This new Big Sister feels quite powerful! More than the previous one! I wonder if she is the one Coral Reef Big Sister warned me about?”  

“Will you not leave? I do not know you, and I also don’t know where you came from. Nevertheless, if you continue bothering me, I’ll have to become aggressive.”

Liu Shu answered, curious. “Wow! Why can you speak the common tongue? Isn’t it common for a World Tree like you to speak with arboreal speech?”

The other World Tree paused. “Hm… I also didn’t expect you to answer back. I was just giving it a try, since I find it more convenient.” 

“Really?” Liu Shu hummed. “While speaking in the arboreal tongue is slow, it feels much deeper. You know, as if each word has much more meaning and will behind it. If I could, I would communicate with that language instead.” She added. “Ah. Don’t get me wrong, though. The quickness to share information through normal speech is very practical.” 

The other World Tree asked, confused. “Are you… lonely? Why are you so chatty?” 

“Wah!? Who is lonely!? I will tell you that I am a mother of many children! And those babies all love me lots! Their mothers love me lots as well! And my Mom, other Mom, and third mom also love me lots! And…”

“Okay. I get it.” The World Tree sighed. “Still, I want you to leave my domain.”

Liu Shu asked back, curious. “How much of the seafloor do you control?”

“35%.”

Liu Shu choked inside her soul. “T-Thirty-five percent!? That’s huuuuge! You probably are the World Tree that controls most land in the entire world!” 

Land makes up around 35 percent of the surface of the planet. So, controlling a third of the oceans meant that this World Tree had expanded through over a fifth of the entire world. Compared with the rest of the World Trees, she was the one with the most terrain.

“Why have I never heard about you?”

“… Are you a land World Tree?”

“Wow! You guessed right!”

“…” The World Tree was really confused as to why this new visitor was so lively. Don’t all World Trees start fighting each other at the mere sight of a foreign root? 

With that in mind, the World Tree decided to give a warning to the carefree World Tree. Her energy pulsed and her roots quickly lashed, striking Liu Shu’s roots. 

These roots were not as sturdy as her normal roots. After all, they were just extended from the main body and needed a bit of time to harden and gain their peak strength. Therefore, when the strike landed, some roots actually broke and started bleeding.

“Ouch! What was that for!?” Liu Shu complained. “Attacking others out of the blue when I just want to talk is rude!”

“Who are you?” The voice from the other side had become a notch more serious. When she struck, the root felt like a metallic appendage. For a root that just extended her way to be this tough, the other side must’ve been at least a Fourth Energy Cycle. 

“Are you Azure Rose? Verdant Skyflower? Celestial Lotus? I don’t remember messing with any of them…”

“I am not any of those big sisters!” Liu Shu commented, rubbing her aching roots with the good ones. “…You really hit me hard, eh? So bad… Hmph.” 

Feeling somewhat helpless, the World Tree asked. “Just… Can you tell me why you are here?”

Liu Shu complained. “Wasn’t I going to do it before you started attacking me and telling me to go away?” She sighed ruefully once, as if complaining that she was too impatient. The other side almost smacked her again. 

After playing around for a bit, Liu Shu finally presented herself properly. “I am Tianlian Liu Shu. A new <Fourth Energy Cycle> World Tree that has taken control over the Wild Continent. It is a pleasure to know you~.”

“Fourth…? How is this possible? There have been no Fourth Energy Cycle World Trees there since Warlya.” 

“Wow! You know Big Sister Warlya?”

Sensing something strange from that sentence, the World Tree asked back, confused. “It seems that you know her as well.”

“Of course! She is under my domain.”

“…What?”

Liu Shu commented proudly. “I have assimilated her, and now she is in my domain! Isn’t that nice? I also took over the land of that pretty Coral World Tree a few kilometers away. She is really pretty.”

The new World Tree felt a strange chill creep up her body. ‘How could someone as headstrong as Warlya accept being under this World Tree? Does she have the ability to swallow World Trees and become stronger? If so, it would make sense why a World Tree of the Fourth Energy Cycle appeared from nowhere, almost with no warning or explanation.’ 

Liu Shu suddenly heard the other party speak with a threatening tone. “Leave my domain. This is your final chance. Otherwise, I will attack you.” 

“Eh? Why are you so aggressive all of a sudden? 

“One last chance. Leave now.”

Liu Shu was confused, but since she didn’t really want to enter a fight at the moment, she left her big sister for later. ‘Mysterious Fourth Energy Cycle underwater tree… I’ll come back in the future!’

And so, she retreated and moved away. 

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep