Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos.

Chapter 295. Assimilating Fortuna.

Liu Shu was focused on assimilating Fortuna. Unlike other flora that she had assimilated in the past, this action required the entirety of her attention. To assimilate Fortuna into her domain and change her nature from hostile to allied flora, Liu Shu’s aura and essence needed to penetrate deep into Fortuna’s being.

At first, using her title <One With The World>, Liu Shu could penetrate Fortuna’s first lines of defense easily since Fortuna was willing. However, the problem was not only that. It was that everything that had been under Fortuna’s influence needed to be kept that way while creating an influence above Fortuna’s related to her. 

For this, Liu Shu needed to respect Fortuna’s influence and not touch it as she basically changed Fortuna’s soul itself. The complexity of what Liu Shu was trying to do would literally fry the brains of almost any non-World-Tree creature below Level 50. 

‘Ugh… What is making my energy so unstable?’ Liu Shu could feel it each time Wisdom used her energy. That feeling was as if she was sewing slowly with thread and needle, and suddenly, someone flicked the thread without previous warning. It might not really ruin the entire thing. Still, it was bothersome and forced Liu Shu to redo some of her delicate and tedious work.

‘Why is absorbing another World Tree so tiring? QAQ! System! Wisdom! Help!’

[Unable to provide help.]

‘WAH! System is as useless as ever! Wisdom!’

[Wisdom: <World Tree Wisdom> skill is in use.]

‘WAH! DOUBLE USELESS! EVERYONE IS USELESS!...’ Liu Shu stopped complaining and became thoughtful. ‘In use? Hm? How is it in use? Is it because it is protecting me while I do this?’

She would love to see what was happening on the outside. However, she couldn’t. Her soul was tied with Fortuna to a profound level, and any kind of interruption right now would be very dangerous. ‘Let’s try to finish this quickly… but I don’t want to rush… but I need to be quick… but without missing things… and with details… but not too slow…’ 

Liu Shu complained again. ‘So difficult! I DON’T WANT TO DO THIS ANYMORE! MY MIND HURTS!’

‘Hm… Liu… Shu…?’n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Our World Tree stopped complaining and looked toward Fortuna’s soul. “Oh~? Are you waking up? That’s nice!”

Fortuna’s voice, dreamy and lazy, reached her intermittently. “Why… nice…? Oh… So… Sleepy... and… comfy….”

Liu Shu looked at her with a deadpan. “Hey, you haven’t gone back to sleep, right?”

“Zzz….”

Liu Shu would’ve flipped the landscape if she could. “WAH! EVERYONE IS USELESS! I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING BY MYSELF!”

She sobbed as she continued to do the hard work. “I want to laze around as well… I want to speak with the Sylva- Huh?” A sense of embarrassment tickled her soul. “Nonono. Why did I think that? THEY ARE CORRUPTING MY MIND WITH THEIR BODIES!”

Liu Shu rambled, lamenting. “Why are they so pretty either way, eh? Cinderielle has a cold and mature face, but her personality is so fun and mischievous sometimes! Isn’t that like against the rules!? Then, then, Verdantia’s BOING body is just unfair, okay!? Like, why does each of her steps make her entire body jiggle!? I don’t understand! Is she made out of pudding!? Then you have Tempestria’s slim and super athletic body with those faint but marked muscles that…. That… WAHHH! ASNDGJNAS!”

“Ouch.”

Liu Shu paused when she heard Fortuna’s small exclamation of pain. “Ah. I almost ripped out a part of her soul. Sorry, sorry.” Liu Shu muttered, ashamed. “I was a bit too… distracted.”

Then, her mind went toward Sirol City. “Speaking of Sylvans… There was one Sylvan in that city that caught my attention as well…” Liu Shu paused, coming to a ridiculous realization. “Wait… These thinking patterns of looking at others when I already have three of them at home… AM I A WOMANIZER!? WAH! I AM PURE! I AM NOT A WOMANIZER!”

“Ouch!”

“Oh.” Liu Shu stopped again and made a coughing sound. “Sorry, sorry. I’ll be more careful.”

Still, her mind went toward that Sylvan. “What was her name…? Lady Harmon… Harmon… Harmonica? Ah, no, that’s an instrument.” Her name flashed in her mind. “Ah! Harmonixia. I wonder what is she doing here? Her aura is also somewhat similar to Cinderielle’s, Verdantia’s, and Tempestria’s… Do they have something in common?”

There was a strange connection between them, and Liu Shu couldn’t help but be interested in it. “It feels… familiar? As if that strange aura they share is calling me…” 

She kept working as the images of those four Sylvans flashed in her mind. She thought about many things, and she also thought about her relationship with them. “Should I… Take a step forward?”

There was a slight hesitation in doing that. “Who do I even choose…? Or… do I need to choose?” Her core twisted with a bit of guilt. “I heard that Sylvans usually like to be in a monogamous relationship with the partners they choose due to their long lives. They value fidelity much more precisely because they are going to be with the same partner for a long time. After all, if you can’t trust someone in that regard, does it make sense to spend hundreds of years with them?”

Liu Shu could feel her roots tangling. “Ugh… So complicated. Even if they are magically okay with all of them being with me… How can I satisfy their needs?” Liu Shu thought of her enormous body and blurted. “They are not even as big as my nipple.”

Thoughts roamed her mind about how to satisfy them. “Do I… Let them enter me? I do have a little hole where you would expect a human woman to have… that hole doesn’t really have any sense to be there if it isn’t for these kinds of acts, no? I do not need to urinate or something like other creatures, after all.”

If she had a face, it would be completely crumpled as her mind spun with these strange thoughts. “... Why do I need to satisfy them, though? Can’t I just make them pregnant…”

Liu Shu stopped as the sense of shyness and embarrassment swallowed her soul to the point that she felt her leaves heating up. “... I am a pervert. QAQ!”

Another piece of information flashed in her rosy mind. “Ah… Cinderielle and the other two had an extra phallus, right? They have both female and male sexes… So… Is it them who will make me pregnant…? AJSDGNOASJ! WAH! I DON’T WANT TO THINK ABOUT THIS ANYMORE!”

“Ouch!”

“Ah.” Liu Shu looked at Fortuna’s soul and winced a bit. “Oh dear. I almost ripped this out of you.”

With her thoughts wandering about, Liu Shu eventually managed to reach her objective. 

“DONE!”

A sense of achievement rushed all around her, making her feel super good. “Hehehehe. When the others hear about it, they will be full of praise for me! Now…”

She moved one of her roots and smacked Fortuna. “Wakey, wakey!”

“HWAH!? WHO IS THE PERVERT- Ah. It’s you, Liu Shu.”

Liu Shu barely held back from flipping the landscape. “WHAT IS THAT REACTION SUPPOSED TO MEAN!?”

Before Fortuna answered, the messages of the system arrived. 

[Congratulations! You are the first World Tree that has assimilated another World Tree in the <Ceperet Planet>’s History!]

[Congratulations! You are the first World Tree that has assimilated another World Tree in the <Ceperet Solar System>’s History!]

[Congratulations! You are the first World Tree that has assimilated another World Tree in the <Ceperet Star System>’s History!]

[Congratulations! You are the first World Tree that has assimilated another World Tree in the <Azure Lily Felgrana Star Cluster>’s History!]

[Congratulations! You are the first World Tree that has assimilated another World Tree in the <Grand Lily Felgrana Nebula>’s History!]

[Congratulations! You are the first World Tree that has assimilated another World Tree in the <Lily Felgrana Spiral Root Galaxy>’s History!]

[You’ve gained the title <Galactic Overlord>.]

<Galactic Overlord>: You have unlocked hidden and unique paths of Evolution. Stats +20%. This title can be improved.

[<One With The World> has unlocked a small part of its potential. You are going to <Tier Up>.]

Our World Tree was utterly baffled and exclaimed. “WHAT?!” 

Still, she couldn’t react further as a surge of power engulfed her, making her mind go to sleep once more. 

Fortuna was not faring any better. 

[Congratulations! You are the first World Tree assimilated by <Galactic Overlord> Tianlian Liu Shu! You’ve gained skill <Recolocation>... Error. World Tree Fortuna doesn’t have Space Aether Affinity. Searching for solutions…]

[Tianlian Liu Shu has Space Aether Affinity. Using the connection to give World Tree Fortuna Spatial Attribute.]

[Being the first World Tree under Tianlian Liu Shu. You’ll receive rewards depending on World Tree Tianlian Liu Shu’s potential]

[Calculating poten-pot-pot-p-p-p-p… ERROR. World tree Tianlian Liu Shu’s Potential goes beyond the scope of the System.]

[...]

[...]

[...]

[World Tree Fortuna will receive a <Major Tier Up> and title <One With Destiny>. ]

<One With Destiny>: Your affinity with Destiny and Fate is peerless. As long as you consciously practice it, your potential will be unmeasurable. Fate Affinity +100%. <Destiny> stat growth +100%. You’ve unlocked hidden Evolutions!

Fortuna read that and then sighed. ‘Dreaming is such a beautiful thing.’

And then, her mind blanked and she fainted.

Outside of their soul world, many events happened simultaneously. First of all, in the place where the Confederation checked the well-being of their World Trees, they saw one of the lights go dark.

“Huh?”

Looking over, the man in charge of checking on these lights blurted. “What happened? Did Fortuna suddenly die? Why have all our Arrays and Runes banished?”

In Fortuna’s City, Fortuna’s aura became berserk as a column of pure white light burst skyward like a beacon. 

Everyone looked over toward the World Tree with widened eyes as the majestic being was literally bathing in a pillar of light. “W-What is happening to Lady Fortuna?”

“Did she have a breakthrough?”

Eila, who just returned from the war, looked at Fortuna for a few seconds and then rubbed her forehead. “Ah… I am too tired for this. Let’s go to sleep.”

At the same time, in Golden Sap City, Liu Shu’s aura made another change as it became more profound. However, that was not all. As her aura skyrocketed and gained a more imposing touch, her body changed.

The World Tree that had no visible head suddenly grew one. The head that grew at the top of the branches had such beauty that charmed all who looked. There was a small smile on her face, while her blue energy veins ran up her curvaceous body. The details became much more clear, and the female image of Liu Shu completely matured, becoming an unmistakable mature female. 

Flor looked at her and rubbed her forehead. “Ah… I am too tired for this. Let’s go to sleep.”

And so, like Eila, she decided that the Flor of tomorrow would deal with whatever thing was happening.