With her new strength, Liu Shu pondered deep-space tactics. It was something much more complicated than on the surface of a world because of one thing: Space was three-dimensional.
If someone wanted to attack a location, they could deviate their curse to attack from "below," skipping the rings formed by the planets and asteroids. This would make much of the preparation useless.
Still, it also had its advantages.
When Liu Shu was attacked, the attacking force either made sure that they would defeat her or they became her prey as they tried to escape her domain. Usually, True World Trees would lose strength as the distance from their bodies widened. So, escaping was difficult but not too detrimental.
With Liu Shu, things were very different. She, a True World Tree that managed to have a 100% Completion Rate in all her
Regardless, this point was something the other side was unaware of. So, how could Liu Shu take advantage of it? Liu Shu smiled coldly. 'I just need to repeat what I did when armies previously attacked me. Show weakness when they approach, slowly escalate my tactics, and fully unleash my strength when they are close. When they try to escape, bombard them until no one is left alive.'
Liu Shu remembered what Elyne told her. 'They will take around ten years to arrive at Ceperet; that's twenty years since I was informed.' Looking at the calendar, she hummed. 'It has been seven years since then. Up to this point, I've produced 19
In total, Liu Shu needed 25 seeds to cover all the nodes in her three planets and spread her
"Still, those are my babies, so I can't really use them as disposable pieces."
So, Liu Shu moved her gaze toward her other skill. "I should use my
These clones of herself were not fully aware, and they were part of herself. They were equivalent to a finger. Losing one would hurt her, but it was not detrimental. Moreover, the wound could heal rather easily with her skills.
"How can I properly utilize my
Her thoughts moved, and as she looked around her entire domain, her eyes landed on the scattered planetoids in her Solar System. "Could I… use these?"
Her idea was to plant a
While she had the strength to "destroy" a Moon by cracking it from within, the effort needed was not small. Now, asking herself to move planetoids around like space bases she could manipulate was asking a bit too much of her.
"Perhaps, when I am Level 200, I will have the strength. However, until then, this idea will need to be shelved." With a sigh, she muttered. "So, I will have to fight as always. Use my roots, weaken them, and once I think I have them, unleash hell on them."
With a plan in mind, Liu Shu's focus changed to her four new skills. She had been practicing them as much as possible, and they were advancing quickly. The
"At this pace, they will all reach at least the A- Rank before the attack. That's good enough."
Then, her gaze moved toward the research nodes she was paying attention to, like secretly inspecting the runes used for the Skill Transfer, the Biological Computer, and protective Runic Fields and Array Fields to move trees through space.
This last one was something Liu Shu started to create her own starships and space stations. After all, she didn't want to use herself as a space station, which she perfectly could do. The reason was that managing a space station was not a simple matter. It was even more complicated than managing a city.
Therefore, Liu Shu knew that she needed one, or a cluster of, specialized Lignified Trees to take care of it. Her current idea was creating something akin to a spherical forest with a single main conscience and many secondary ones.
Basically, a small-scale tree hive mind.
This idea was not random. It came from her past encounter with the
Using that past experience, her progress toward creating such a space tree hive mind was not too far away. Liu Shu blinked. "Space tree hive mind… Space Hive Mind Forest? That's quite… unique? Hehe. Well, it doesn't matter. She will be my baby, so I will love her all the same!"
"Speaking of unique… How is the colosseum I built doing? This is one of the few structures that's not wholly a Lignified Tree species."
Her gaze moved over, and she noticed a few people killing each other. This was not strange. After all, this place was done just for that. You have an irreconcilable grudge with someone? Take it here, and whatever you do, it will be overlooked by the government.
A zone like this in Liu Shu's otherwise orderly and extremely safe city was created to steer destructive individuals toward this location. While it couldn't stop everyone, a good number of people who would've caused problems outside were gathered there, helping the city be even safer.
"Hm?" Liu Shu was somewhat confused as to why she was suddenly tempted to look at this place, and soon, she found the reason. One of her babies was actually here!
Seeing the Sanguine Blaze girl entering with an obscure gaze, she was a bit startled. Soon, the consciousness she had left with this baby unfurled all the memories within, making Liu Shu understand what was happening.
Her gaze softened as she sighed softly. The Sanguine Blaze, named Rubiera, suddenly felt a root gently coil around her arm and pull her. She was at first startled, but when she saw the root, she stiffened a bit.
Then, a gentle and soft voice enveloped her figure, the aura like a mother embracing her child. "Baby, why are you here? Are you trying to make your Mother and me feel heartache for a few decades by throwing your life away?"
Rubiera's expression cracked a bit, and then she spoke with a tensed voice. "S-She left me for a random man… Why? Why did she?" As she spoke, the deep possessiveness and hatred in the Sanguine Blaze's heart burst forth, her gaze turning a touch malicious. "Why should he live, then? It's better to kill him here once and for all and take my lover back!"
Liu Shu sighed. Sanguine Blazes had many character flaws. They were not called a taboo species for nothing. Just their usual birth method was enough to mark them as a target of extermination.
Were it not because of Cinderielle and Liu Shu's endless efforts, care, and love, people would've long marginalized them, even if they were the Heavenly Willow's children. Liu Shu asked gently. "To start with, are you even his match?"
Rubiera paused, her face gaining a struggling look. Rubiera was around 40 years old, and the other party was a lion beastkin over 100 years old. Their strength was naturally very far apart, even if Rubiera was quite talented.
Liu Shu used her roots to caress her face and spoke gently. "Love, what did Mom teach you when you were young?"
Rubiera lowered her head, looking like a child who had done something wrong. "I-If someone doesn't want me, there are a thousand others who will…"
"Exactly. Look at yourself, love. You are so pretty, so caring, and so loving. Whoever doesn't cherish you was just not meant to be."
As they were speaking, the lionkin in question approached from a distance. "Hey, Rubiera. Are you going to do this or not? I am telling you, crazy woman, stay away from Stally! Otherwise, whatever happens inside is not my problem."
Before Rubiera spoke, Liu Shu spoke aloud. "Child, did your parents not teach you to control your tongue? Who are you calling a crazy woman?"
The lionkin's body erupted in chills, clearly knowing who was talking right now. Full of fear, the man quickly kowtowed. "L-Lady Heavenly Willow, t-this one didn't mean, didn't mean to…"
"Enough. I know what happened, and I am not blaming you. However, if you dare to insult my child one more time, I'll throw you into prison for a decade so that you can reflect. Am I clear? Now, take that Stally woman and scram from my child's life."
Seeing the lionkin scramble with his tail between his legs, Rubiera's mood improved a touch. Liu Shu, seeing her small smile, used a root to poke her cheek. "Silly girl, see? If you are feeling bad, isn't your Mom here for you? Now, come home and spend a good afternoon with my Avatar, alright?"
Rubiera nodded softly with a hum, and then she stepped into the portal Liu Shu created, appearing in front of Liu Shu's Avatar.
Before Rubiera could speak, she felt roots lower her, and then her face landed accurately between two soft and warm pillows. Smelling the familiar scent, Rubiera lowered herself to her knees and hugged Liu Shu's waist.
"There, there. Come and lie down with Mommy on the sofa now, alright?"
Rubiera hummed once softly, all her bad mood cleansing with each passing second.
Liu Shu nodded, using a bit more consciousness in the Avatar than usual, and then continued with her matters. 'Sigh, my precious babies. Sometimes they are a bit of a handful, but this is what being a mother is in the end.'
With a smile, she suddenly heard news of something quite incredible.
Aionthra's voice reached her, full of confusion. "Um… Mother, it seems that I will have my first challengers."
Liu Shu blinked quite rapidly, her gaze moving toward the
[Dungeon System: Eighth Trial, Aionthra, She Who Walks Between Seconds, is being challenged. Time synchronization is being momentarily stopped.]
Liu Shu instantly synchronized her own mind to keep up with the accelerated time within the
Understand that not even Liu Shu felt confident enough to challenge Aionthra! She felt that, even using her revival skills, she only had a 20% chance of winning!
When she entered, the first thing she heard was a loud, disdainful voice. "Heh. Everyone is so scared, but the Level 199 puppets of ourselves fell so easily. Do they truly think that everyone is stupid? I bet the Explorer Association is using this instance of the
Liu Shu would've slipped and fallen if she weren't a World Tree rooted in her own realm. 'Alright, now I understand. A bunch of overconfident fools are at fault.'
Still, how could she say anything? This was the first "Fun" for her Aionthra! She was, of course, willing to let these few Level 180 people court death as they pleased! After all, long gone were the times when Liu Shu was unable to raise such powerhouses.
With all the resources pooling in through her
So, after prepping some snacks, Liu She began watching with earnest interest.