Information that could no longer be hidden finally reached the leaders of both the Nexus and Covenant. Danlier glanced at the reports, compared them herself, rechecked their veracity, and further asked for original documents.
For a month straight, Danlier placed most of her other important responsibilities on hold just to confirm the deductions from the experts of the Covenant.
After there was absolutely nothing preventing the information in the document from being nothing but truthful, Danlier swept back her long hair and leaned into her comfortable chair. The sentence that Danlier had very much wanted to deny was the following.
"After comparing data within the returning starships, the accounts from those who went to the Golden Sap Empire, and checking all proof, we've come to the conclusion that time fluctuates differently within the Heavenly Willow's domain. The rate is unknown, but it is believed to be between two and three times as fast."
Danlier, who read that paragraph again, felt her stomach twist. "Time manipulation? How is that even possible?"
There were artificial methods to manipulate time, such as increasing the gravity coefficient within a zone. However, this manipulation was always negative. It could make time flow more slowly than outside, but never faster.
So, unless people wanted to basically skip ahead, manipulating time was meaningless. Even if one wanted it, the resources needed to make it in a controlled way were far too many for any empire to think or even invest in it.
And yet, within the remote Golden Sap Empire, time flowed two to three times faster than outside. Moreover, it was believed that this time acceleration was effortless, and most likely caused by the World Tree herself.
So, those living in the Golden Sap Empire would have double to triple the time to develop compared to their opponents, regardless of the situation. "Haha…"
Danlier laughed hollowly and asked no one. "Why was the one Solar System we decided to give up upon… this one? Is Destiny playing tricks on us?"
In the Nexus, the situation was similar, but instead of feeling hollow, they felt incomparably threatened. After all, they had very well declared a direct war with them. Plus, while the Covenant had shown enmity toward the Golden Sap Empire, it was more at the level of some skirmishes for now.
Asking the Covenant to ally with them was out of the question. Enemies of several thousand years would not become allies that easily even in front of a common enemy.
So, with knowledge that Liu Shu was twisting the fabric of time, both Star System Empires began their own preparations.
***
Deadly Petal was annoyed. She was told by Balaya to give up her developed war fronts, which, by the way, were about to collapse and give in. Then, as she advanced with her army, she received another message stating that the risk assessment of the True World Tree needed to be reevaluated.
So, Deadly Petal was angry. Truly, and entirely, angry. Because of a capricious order from Balaya, Deadly Petal had to give up over 800 years of effort into conquering her enemies, and now, they were telling her to wait.
Was she going to wait?
No. She wasn't. This one transgression had gone too far. 'These creatures think that I am someone who they can push around because Balaya is stronger than me!?'
"Cut off all connections with the Covenant leadership for now. We are going to expand in the agreed direction."
Her voice echoed with coldness across her vast domain. Either way, that prey she had tenderized for over 800 years would recover before she could reform her attack on them. So, what was the point? She would rather expand in this direction, even if it is expanding "backward," so to speak.
Most, if not all, World Trees always try to expand toward the center of the galaxy. The closer to the center, the more powerful empires and individuals one could encounter.
So, regardless of reason, Deadly Petal ignored them and continued advancing toward Liu Shu.
When Danlier received the reports a few months later, she felt a trace of resentment toward her mother, Balaya, before sighing. 'If it weren't because of her unreasonable… No. Excuses only make me weak. Think of solutions instead of blaming others.'
***
Around three years passed, and then some more. During this time, the Nexus successfully "dealt with" Liu Shu's roots surrounding their Solar Systems and even managed to push her back somewhat.
Meanwhile, the Covenant was in a bit of a pinch. After all, as a society that considered a World Tree's presence sacred, Liu Shu reaching out toward their solar systems was not considered a bad thing. It was true that, regardless of affiliation, being in a True World Tree's domain gave many advantages.
Namue, the leader of the Covenant, wanted to ask the leadership to exercise self-control because of the World Tree's exotic nature. However, these leaders were not stupid. They had already gotten to know how outrageous the blessings under Liu Shu's were.
So, forget rejecting her. Those leaders wanted nothing more than to welcome her with open arms and use her blessings. This was also a misconception: Liu Shu did not act like other World Trees, spreading her blessings at random to everyone in her sphere of influence.
Only in Solar Systems that Liu Shu completely took over and controlled did she allow her blessings to run rampant.
Naturally, her individuality was unknown to these people, causing Namue endless headaches. In the end, during the time that Deadly Petal took to arrive, Liu Shu managed to encroach and surround the two Covenant solar systems with a complex root net system. The only thing left was spreading inward and taking over the worlds.
'We can wait before that. Now, the most important thing is the two new things I've developed.'
Liu Shu turned her gaze toward a large empty area in Ceperet. The only large desert in Ceperet. In this place, while it was possible for life to flourish, Liu Shu held back and let it remain barren to act as her testing space.
A testing space for large-scale projects she could not carry out in her usual workshop.
So, what did Liu Shu build here? Two new structures. After thinking about it for a long time, Liu Shu believed that she needed to think outside the box. If she wanted to create new starships and space stations that suited her territory, following the typical construction methods would never give her an advantage over existing methods.
So, with ideas similar to when she developed the biological computer, Liu Shu decided to make her starships and space stations… buildings. Lignified buildings, to be specific.
This way, all those juicy buffs her Lignified children enjoyed would also apply to her starships and space stations. The innate Runic Array, the several tiers, the ascension buffs, and many, many more benefits.
The result of all these worries was the following two Level 1 structures.
Liu Shu smiled, satisfied. Flor and Ignatia, standing in front of the two small five-meter-tall trees, asked. "So… How do they work?"
Liu Shu chuckled. "Their names do not explain their nature, but their potential. What I focused on when creating them was raw potential. What's better to grow strong than a living being? So, like the Lignified Residence buildings, I focused on giving them freedom of evolution, a purpose, and a path to tread. Within this path, they can deviate as they please. Nevertheless, they won't step outside it."
Ignatia caressed the bark of the Level 1 tree and asked. "So… what is this path?"
Looking at her two new children, Liu Shu explained as she lovingly caressed their trunks. "For the
"...Flight?"
Liu Shu laughed at Flor's bewildered retort. "Who says that trees can't fly? This darling's current exterior, similar to the others', is somewhat deceiving. In truth, they will grow large fast, similar to a World Tree, until a certain extent. Once they reach that size, their forms will change accordingly and slowly retract their roots."
Ignatia frowned. "However, the engines to travel between stars are not something you can develop easily."
Liu Shu agreed. "That's why, for the
Following her train of thought, Flor asked. "Are you trying to force them to merge during their
Liu Shu smiled, confident. "The process of
Her words sounded good, but Ignatia found a problem in Liu Shu's plan. After organizing her thoughts, she spoke up. "Love, but aren't Biological Computers living beings? They do have Levels and System Pages, and can even earn titles and many other qualities, right? How can something like that merge together with another creature? You are asking two different organisms to become one through
"It's possible if it is them." Liu Shu explained. "A biological computer is considered a living being… but not entirely. The barrier between a living being and not one is fuzzy, but not impossible to challenge. To cause them to become
Flor frowned deeply. "Love, they are, in the end, living beings. Isn't using them in this manner a bit too cruel?"
Liu Shu asked back. "Is eating cattle cruel? Is harvesting crops cruel? Both are living creatures you use to feed the population. This is no different. Only, the cattle for these trees are biological computers. Moreover, they only eat one in their entire lives."
Flor couldn't retort. Ignatia looked at the other tree, which looked sturdier. "What about this one?"
"The
They were startled, and then they showed disbelief. "Are you saying this little thing can grow into a giant, functional space station?"
Liu Shu answered cheekily. "No. I am saying that they can grow into a giant, functional, and sapient space station."
A single adjective added, yet it made a tremendous difference. Both Flor and Ignatia couldn't help but tremble. If Liu Shu's experiment was successful, their future space conquest would become many, many times easier.
After all, what the Golden Sap Empire lacked the most was interstellar foundations. They had no relay stations, no information nodes, and most of the knowledge they received came from information sent in ships and spread out through nearby neutral pubs.
Ignatia sighed deeply. "You've created two… impressive creatures."