Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos-Chapter 711. Lake Spirit And The Sun.

After that day, Liu Shu detached a comparatively large piece of her consciousness to remain by their side. Compared to the whole, it was not that much, but the level of consciousness was enough to act like an average human.

"Hm... Let’s see..." Liu Shu muttered, her main consciousness focusing on the biocomputer project she was developing. "After a few years, it has managed to become much faster than before. Moreover, I have expanded it to connect different main stations, which could be considered the hardware to build personal computers."

She felt quite happy with that progress. With the help of the specialized groups and their few hundred disciples, the technology was advancing step by step in the direction she wished.

Honestly, her entire society was developing extremely dazzlingly. Because she was quite hard on those who disobeyed, corruption was not rare, but practically nonexistent.

Of course, she was not naive enough to believe that it would remain as such forever. The fickleness and ability of humanoids to adapt was ever present in her mind. Only by having a stable and practically eternal figurehead like herself would the path of her empire not become crooked.

’But for that, I must also continue to evolve myself. If I stay the same, after a few hundred years, my ideals will become outdated and hurt rather than help the development of my empire.’

Her eyes moved toward a place where a war was ongoing. This place was on the outskirts of the Origin Lake Continent, the one that previously housed the Nexus Empire. When Liu Shu recalled the name of the continent, her eyes flashed with curiosity. ’Right, how is that living lake doing?’

Her senses spread out, and soon, she found the main core of the existence.

"Hello!"

A voice as clear as water reached her. "Heavenly Willow, it has been a while."

Liu Shu chuckled. "Not much for beings like us, right?"

"You are not wrong." The Origin Lake answered with a smile in her voice.

"So... How are you doing? Did you take over all the water in Ceperet as I told you?"

"I have not. Even with the help of your blessings, I can’t expand at your speed." The Origin Lake paused. "Still, I will soon complete a big transformation."

"Oh?"

The Lake didn’t hide anything. "I’ve reached Level 99 already and have seen the species I can transform into. While I am the spirit of a living lake, my potential was that: becoming a lake. That’s why I’ve been so slow."

Liu Shu’s eyes flashed with understanding. "So, among the evolutions, I guess that you’ve encountered something nice."

The Origin Lake chuckled. "Calling it nice is an understatement. It seems that due to your influence and help to expand around the ocean, I’ve unlocked an extremely powerful evolution at the <Mythical> level."

Liu Shu was faintly surprised. That was the same level as her own race!

"It is called <Infant Origin Spirit Of Cosmic Water>. A mythical species of my kind that was unlocked thanks to you dropping a few drops of my water to another planet. Becoming a multiplanetary existence before Level 100, together with many other blessings and feats you provided me, has opened up this option for me."

Liu Shu was impressed. "That sounds really powerful." Then, she congratulated the Origin Lake. "I am happy for you. I hope you take care of the waters in all the worlds I dominate in the future."

"I will." The Origin Lake spoke solemnly. "I, the Spirit Of The Lake, will guard all your waters and make sure they remain pure and untainted."

Liu Shu answered gently, her voice commanding her own will and strength. "Henceforth, you are the source of all water in my domain."

As she said that, the Origin Lake, as if she had been waiting for that approval, surged with terrifying might. Everyone in the world felt as if the ocean suddenly became alive, while the water everywhere trembled with a ridiculous amount of essence.

Liu Shu didn’t stop her, allowing her to quickly expand and take over. She even opened a portal at the bottom of the ocean, connecting it to Nualis, the Moon, and Vorathen: the three other locations with water bodies. ’I wonder how long it will take for her to fully evolve?’

Speaking of evolutions, her gaze moved toward Warlya, Skyflower, Azure Rose, and Celestial Lotus. These four, who represented the top powerhouses of the world a few years ago, had been Leveling Up for many decades already. ’I guess that’s the usual pace of World Trees.’

She wondered why Tree could evolve so quickly, together with a few other World Trees that managed to reach Level 100.

’Are their Ascensions something powerful, forcing them to take much longer to awaken?’

Liu Shu recalled that her own evolution would’ve lasted for several centuries were it not for the rewards of her <Sylvan Quest>. "The Sylvan Quest’s progress is already 102%, and I have yet to reach the last planet of the Solar System."

While she had not reached that planet, her roots had arrived at another very important location. One could say it was the most important location.

"So... This is the Sun."

Her vision was filled with a gargantuan mass of roiling flames. The Star of Ceperet was neither too large nor too small. However, that was comparing it with other stars. For Liu Shu, the body of this star was incomprehensibly large. Even with her mind already accustomed to the size of large worlds, the Sun was another beast altogether.

"Large doesn’t do it justice. Ceperet, in comparison, is nothing but a pebble in front of a mountain."

The energy pulsing out, the temperature of the surface, the terrifying radiation, and the sheer magnitude of the celestial body were incomparable to anything Liu Shu had felt before. In front of the might of the central star, all she had experienced until now became secondary.

"Thankfully, I have the passive skill <World Embracing Dimensional Roots>, an S- Rank skill that makes me immune to environmental energies." If that was not the case, Liu Shu knew that her roots would be unable to approach this beast.

With that in mind, Liu Shu understood why the <Sylvan Quest> didn’t take into account taking over the Sun for completion. Were she a normal World Tree, she wouldn’t even think of touching the star until she was far, far stronger.

"But I am strong enough."

Liu Shu smiled, her eyes flashing with conqueror intent. "You will become part of my domain as well, even before I have taken over the rest."

Liu Shu, therefore, stopped spreading everywhere else in the Solar System. Instead, she focused all her energy on the roots that reached around the Sun and quickly expanded, multiplied, stretched, and sped them up.

A month passed, then six, a year, and finally two years.

When two years had gone by, Liu Shu used the natural orbit of Ceperet to expand her roots in all directions around the Sun. If they were visible, the Sun would’ve found itself surrounded by a star-encompassing mass of roots.

"Now, you are surrounded." Liu Shu’s real eyes opened, and the towering World Tree looked up at the Sun, her green eyes glowing with incredible majesty. "Go."

BOOM!

A pillar of energy burst around Liu Shu’s gargantuan body and soared beyond the heavens. The pillar of essence was so large that even the Moon residents were able to spot it.

Thankfully, this pillar was manifested in Liu Shu’s <Realm>. Otherwise, Golden Sap City might’ve been in trouble. Even then, it was visible.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked straight up toward the sky. The massive pillar of green and purplish light felt like the manifestation of a divine power.

After buffs, Liu Shu’s ternary essences reached over 27 stars in reserves. These were the buffs when she was not defending her territory. After all, while defending, she had an additional 50% buff.

The 27 stars within her existence spun rapidly, generating endless amounts of energy and pouring everything into the roots. The void trembled as Liu Shu became a beacon of high-level energy.

Cassian and the other newcomers couldn’t help but gaze outward with wide eyes. Even they, who came from high-level societies, rarely saw a World Tree that emitted such horrifying levels of ternary essence at once.

Liu Shu spoke, her voice seemingly piercing through the distance between the Sun and herself. "Tear the void open."

Around the sun, the energy Liu Shu poured began rupturing the space, like a glass eggshell slowly cracking from within. Because of the sheer size of the star, Liu Shu could naturally not manifest her roots around the Sun at once. It was just too big.

Therefore, if one were to stand on the Sun’s surface, they would see roots constantly spawning outward from a starting point as they dove into its surface.

Pillars of Sun plasma soared skyward as the World Tree’s roots struck down. The pulsing forces of the Sun naturally created a backward push, fighting against the invasion just by existing.

Liu Shu didn’t mind, though; she continued to shatter the dimension with one root after another. The last two years she had spent fully developing the roots around the Sun, and now she was going full throttle!

’Terrifying heat.’

The surface was already enough to melt basically any metal that didn’t reach a B+ Tier of hardening. However, as she dove deeper inside, the temperature rose exponentially.

If the surface was hot, the insides were vaporizing. Even with the <World Embracing Dimensional Roots>, Liu Shu could feel the searing heat of the star. Her eyes opened as she looked at the glowing sun in the sky and couldn’t help but flicker with faint pain. ’Incredible, even with an S- Rank skill, I can still feel pain.’

S Rank was another dimension of strength compared to the A+ Rank. So, for the Star to naturally hurt her just on the surface, it showed that Liu Shu perhaps was not yet qualified to dive to the center of the Solar System.

When she realized her inadequacy, Liu Shu couldn’t help but feel startled. ’It seems... I was too arrogant.’

While her roots pushed deeper, she had not dug even 1% from the surface. And yet, at this depth, her roots had started suffering some burns. The "immunity" of the S- Rank skill was clearly not enough!

Liu Shu, however, was not saddened by this discovery. Only excited. Her green eyes on her World Tree body shone with expectations. "Don’t think you will keep me away for long. I will reach your core.’

Her eyes then moved toward the progress of her mission, and a number that startled her flashed in her mind.

Progress: 283%

"...Didn’t I just begin? Why did it jump so much?"

[System Hint: A Star is several times more massive than a world and several times more difficult to penetrate for World Trees. Only very special World Trees dare do so before Level 300.]

"300...?" Liu Shu, somehow, couldn’t get upset anymore that her <World Embracing Dimensional Roots> had "only" allowed her to enter around 1% of the surface. Clearly, what she just accomplished was ridiculous.