Chương 273: Meeting Lakeborn Forest.

"Now! Did all the distractions disappear? I want to explore this forest moreee!" Liu Shu's complaining voice reached no one as she spoke in the middle of nowhere. Looking over at the Lakeborn Forest, she could start to feel the soaked dirt touching her roots, which told her that she was near the lake.

"There are a few underground water rivers… I should lower a few roots to give it a taste, right?" Curious about the water quality in this area, our World Tree lowered one of her roots and tapped into the underground water system.

"Let's see~..." A refreshing feeling washed over her mind when she touched the water and tried it.

"Ohh! Not bad, not bad. Rich in minerals and quenching, the best kind of water!" Her roots wiggled happily in the water, and instead of continuing through the earth, Liu Shu guided her forefront roots to move through the underground water cave system.

"La~la~la~, advancing in the water~, La~la~la~, drinking quite delighted~. Hm… That sounds similar... Is it considered a rhyme!? I am a genius~, hohoho." Her roots, slowly advancing through the ground for two more days, eventually poked through a wall of dirt into a large body of water. Elation filled her mind as the roots wiggled happily.

"I finally arrived! Here I am, strange presence!"

"... Noisy."

"Eh?" Liu Shu looked around, confused.

"Did someone speak to me?" A cold voice with a female tone reached her, speaking again.

"Hm… Which tree gained sentience this time around? You, Tree, where are you?" Liu Shu didn't like how whoever this was spoke to her condescendingly. She humped and said.

"Why should I tell you? Who are you? Nobody knows you! You should be the one to present yourself! Also, stop hiding like a coward!"

"... Noisy."

"HEY! WHO IS NOISY!? CALL ME NOISY ONE MORE TIME, AND I'LL UPROOT YOU!"

"Uproot us? You?" The cold female voice spoke with derision, resounding with a similar echo to Liu Shu's.

"A small tree that gained a bit of intelligence and thinks that they can face us. Do you think you are a World Tree?" Liu Shu went silent, making the other being curious.

"Why the sudden silence? Did you have an inspiration and learnt your place?" The cold voice spoke a bit more softly.

"Don't be so intimidated, we are not hostile." Our World Tree was evaluating whether to reveal that she was indeed a World Tree or not. Still, since the other side was still hidden, she decided not to do so. Instead, she commented, curious.

"So… What are you? Why are you so arrogant?"

"Hmph." A cold snort reached Liu Shu, annoying her.

"We are the Lakeborn Forest's ruler! The guardian that keeps this place secure from interference from everything and everyone!" Liu Shu reacted quite flatly. After all, even when protecting, she was here.

"Oh."

'It protects it quite badly, eh? I have reached here without many problems other than the annoying trees…' She, of course, didn't say that out loud. The being paused when it felt Liu Shu's lack of reaction. Then, it heard the new creature ask, in her gorgeous, gentle, and natural voice, "So… Are you a World Tree?"

"A World Tree?" The other side stayed silent for a few moments and then spoke.

"No… We are not a World Tree. But we should be close to attaining that status." Its words surprised Liu Shu quite a lot.

'Close to becoming one? So…Why was my <Shattered Core>'s signal similar to this creature?' After speaking with it for a little while, Liu Shu noticed that its presence enveloped the entirety of the lake and somewhat beyond. Its presence was much larger than any ordinary plant life.

"Hm~, you say soon… Do you mean that you will become a World Tree with certainty?" The creature answered, its cold voice sounding a bit gentler.

"Yes… We are weakened. We will soon recover and regain our former glory."

'Former…' Liu Shu wiggled her distant roots in thought.

"Can I expand my roots around here so that I can see you better? Right now, I don't know where your body is."

"You want to observe us?" The cold voice asked, curious.

"You should be able to observe us, Tree. Aren't your roots the ones glowing with energy?" Liu Shu paused and observed her surroundings more closely.

'I should be able to see it…?' Her surroundings were covered with some algae and other types of web-like underwater plants.

"There are only water plants here… I can't see you!"

"... That's us." Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Huh?" Suddenly, the surrounding plants started emitting a decently powerful aura as several voices with a similar tone reached Liu Shu.

"We are the plantlife of the lake. We are those you see and touch. The creatures in the lake are all born within us, feed from our bodies, and continue the cycle of life within our all-encompassing nets." The several voices echoed as they spoke once more.

"We are the forest that grew from the lake. We are the <Lakeborn Forest>." Liu Shu was stunned and quickly analyzed the water plants around her.

Name: Lakeborn Forest Level: 39 Aether Mana Cores:?? Phoer Body Cores:?? Anima Energy Cores:??

'L-Level 39!?' Liu Shu couldn't believe what she was seeing.

'How did such a creature go under the radar…' Liu Shu paused her thoughts and realized.

'Ah. Even I didn't recognize her with all my sensory organs… For humans and other creatures, those algae must be a very valuable plant, at most.' The voices asked, curious.

"Did you analyze us?" Liu Shu didn't hide it.

"I did! Your level is really impressive!" The Lakeborn Forest answered with a sigh.

"Just a shadow of our past strength. There is nothing to brag about or be proud of. Our roots reached everywhere around this land hundreds of years ago…" Our World Tree was curious and asked.

"Oh? What happened?"

"War." Lakeborn Forest said.

"Our enemies then attacked us and managed to shatter our core. Even then, we are resilient. We are many, so our core being shattered didn't finish us. Still, our strength has increased, and we might be able to create a new core soon. Once we do, our strength will recover."

'Wah… The core I have belongs to a World Tree of the past! Not a Life Tree!'

"That's so interesting!" Liu Shu was so invested in the story of this old being that she forgot she came here with the intention of assimilating this forest.

"So, since you were a World Tree, did you also have a large body and trunk?" Seeing that the strange being that entered her domain was curious and not having spoken with anything in decades or more, Lakeborn Forest decided to amuse this new intelligent creature.

"We were different. World Trees are not only towering trees. Under the sea, above the mountains, and everywhere the land touches, a World Tree might appear with myriad forms and shapes. We've always been a water-plant-based World Tree."

"Oh…!" Suddenly, someone called.

"Liu Shu!" Liu Shu muttered.

"Wait… Someone is calling me."

"Hm?" Lakeborn Forest was confused.

"Calling?" On the other side, she saw Flor flying in front of her with a slightly worried expression.

"What's wrong, Flor?"

"That's my question!" Flor asked, somewhat angered and worried.

"You've been silent for more than a month already!"

"Huh?" Liu Shu commented, confused.

"We spoke together not long ago, right? About Kaedric's visit and such… no?" Flor frowned and landed on one of Liu Shu's branches. She touched the trunk of the World Tree and commented.

"Love, that was more than a month and a half ago."

"... What?" Liu Shu checked her system, and, to her horror, hundreds of messages had accumulated.

"How… What happened?" Flor listened to Liu Shu's mutters and became worried.

"Dear, tell me. Are you having problems with something on the border of your roots? You told me that you were advancing in the Lakeborn Forest or something, right?" Hearing Flor's worry, Liu Shu muttered.

"Yes… And I've been talking with another plant-based creature… But the conversation was quite short!" Hearing that a conversation lasting a month and a half was short made Flor reevaluate life. She coughed and asked.

"So, love. Any idea of what happened?"

"No… Wisdom! Help! QAQ!" [Wisdom: When speaking with Former World Tree Lakeborn Forest, you've been conversing in tree language. To make communication better, once two trees speak in their plant-based language, time passes much quicker.]"WAH! STUPID PLANT-BASED LANGUAGE!" Flor almost jumped when she heard Liu Shu's indignant scream.

"W-What language? What are you speaking about?" Liu Shu complained to Flor like a little child.

"SPEAKING TREE LANGUAGE IS SO SLOW! WHY IS IT SO SLOW!? I WILL NEVER SPEAK TREE LANGUAGE AGAIN IN MY LIFE!" Flor laughed wryly, already imagining what had happened. After all, Flor was not unfamiliar with tree language. At first, when Liu Shu answered her, her tree thought in tree language, making it so that she would need to wait for hours, and sometimes even more, for an answer. Now that the mystery was resolved, Flor started trying to cheer Liu Shu up. For that, she started by changing the subject.

"So… How is your conquest in the Lakeborn Forest going?" However, that question stepped into another sensitive matter, and Liu Shu continued complaining.

"Flor! I don't know what to dooooo! That forest has a slightly annoying but very nice former World Tree! A Level 39 at that! That's why I didn't want to forgive Fortuna. Now I feel that I need to forgive this tree as well!" Liu Shu was almost crying by the end of her tirade.

"WAH! I NEED TO DO DIPLOMACY THINGIES WITH A SEVERAL CENTURY OLD WORLD TREE THAT'S ABOUT TO REGAIN HER FORMER STRENGTH!" Flor almost had a nervous breakdown.

"How in your branches' name did you turn a small conquest into finding a Level 39 World Tree of several hundred years ago!?"

"I DON'T KNOW! HELP ME FLOOOOR!"

"HELP YOU!? HOW DO YOU WANT A LITTLE LEVEL 28 FLOWER FAIRY TO HELP YOU!?"

"WHEN DID YOU RAECH LEVEL 28!? I AM STILL LEVEL 25!"

"STOP SCREAMING TO ME!" The World Tree instantly calmed down and stopped screaming. Her tone returned to her usual gentle and ethereal voice. She asked innocently.

"So… What do I do?" The Flower Fairy could almost imagine a cute blinking face in front of her, looking as innocent as a newborn baby.

"Sigh…" Flor fell backward, landing flatly on her back while looking skyward through Liu Shu's gorgeous canopy.

"How would I know, Love? Also, why does this place have so many hidden things? I wonder if you can assimilate her… Will she even want to be assimilated?"

"Well…" Liu Shu commented.

"We have her Shattered Core, so perhaps we can." Flor stared blankly at the sky.

'Whoa… This conversation feels like a fever dream.'