Chương 507: Exploring The Ocean.

Liu Shu's roots were extremely swift thanks to the <World Embracing Endless Roots> Passive Skill. If before, in terms of root speed, she was running while the rest of the World Trees were walking, this skill made her look as if she took flight instead. Of course, the energy consumption to create and extend her roots was nothing to joke about. Nevertheless, with Liu Shu's current insane regeneration, she was more than okay using the skill to its maximum capacity.

'I wonder if natural <Lignified> species have started sprouting?' She chuckled and muttered.

"I am too impatient. After all, these babies will basically be a new species I've created, so I really want to see them grow!" The specialness of Lignified Species was their ability to become building-type flora. Liu Shu pondered for a bit and knew that this peculiarity could lead to them being exploited. Nevertheless, since they only appeared within her domain, she should be able to protect them. While thinking about that, her roots moved quickly across the seafloor.

The oceans that divided the seven continents were large and deep. How deep? Liu Shu didn't really know. Nevertheless, after crossing over the 400 kilometers from the coast, she could get an idea.

"It's… so dark. I can't see anything with my <World Tree Eye> sight. I can only use my natural receptors to look around." Thankfully, she never developed dependence on the skill. Usually, when she looked at things, she would first look with her normal sight and then overlay the <World Tree Eye> skill. This way, the skill would work like glasses did for a nearsighted person.

In this dark environment, Liu Shu thanked herself for always thinking about ways to keep her sight functional even if <World Tree Eye> didn't work.

'Hm… There are quite a few creatures down here. Moreover, they are not weak. Most creatures at this depth are at the <Third Energy Cycle>!' This came as a surprise. Nevertheless, she thought that underwater creatures didn't really need to deal with the Intelligent Beings. Therefore, it was a much more brutal battle for survival. This made them much worse intelligence-wise but stronger strength-wise.

'If these monsters could walk on land, people would be in quite a lot of trouble—EHYAH! Who is grabbing my roots so suddenly!? Don't you know how to ask a lady first before making a move!?' Looking over, she noticed a giant shadow with many root-like appendages drilling into the ground and pulling her roots.

'Hm… Octopus? Its strength is quite high…'

Name: Race: Krakenus Abyssalis Level: 91

"Woah!" Liu Shu muttered.

"No wonder it felt somewhat stronger than the rest. It's a <Fourth Energy Cycle> Octopus! Or, well, a kraken?" Liu Shu waved her root back and forth, wanting to escape the octopus's slimy grasp, but the suckers were latched quite tightly, and she couldn't throw it off.

"Ugh… Why are you nibbling now? Have you become arrogant because you are a <Fourth Energy Cycle>? Stupid octopus, take this!" One of her free roots shone with Light Aether Mana, momentarily creating a spot of light on the always dark ocean floor, and then, she swung it. PAK! The Kraken was hit right on its head, the soft tissue deforming under the strong power of our World Tree. Not having expected such a strong strike, the Kraken spat a cloud of corrosive ink due to panic.

"Aw…" Liu Shu muttered.

"Now I feel bad. Look how panicked the cute kraken is! Hey! Don't gooo! I didn't want to startle you!" Cute for Liu Shu meant that the monster was a few hundred meters long. Of course, for our big lady, who measured over 5000 meters in height, such length was almost perfect for a pet. The kraken didn't stop, though. It had never felt such a powerful hit from anyone ever. It swore that if it encountered those delicious, blue-glowing roots, it wouldn't fall for the bait!

Seeing the kraken shoot away while her roots tingled lightly from the corrosive ink, Liu Shu was a bit depressed.

'It was quite cute… I just wanted it not to suck with the strange mouths in the suckers; it was tingly and painful. If I find it ever again, I'll capture it for me to hug when I am anxious!' The kraken strangely felt a chill all around its body and swam away even quicker. It didn't even care if it bumped into other <Fourth Energy Cycle> overlords at the bottom of the ocean. While traversing the seafloor, Liu Shu's roots encountered a myriad of interesting things.

Thanks to the adaptability given by the System, many species had become specialized to live underwater and at the terrifying pressure of being this deep under the ocean. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Hm… That's an underwater volcano, right? There are a few volcanoes in the Wild Continent, but they are all inactive. I guess it is because our continent is not too prone to quakes." Speaking of quakes, the knowledge about them was quite deep. The theory of moving tectonic plates was something that the entire scientific community was aware of. Nevertheless, Liu Shu was a bit doubtful.

"Where did that knowledge come from?" Liu Shu could guess that it was either World Trees attuned to the Earth Attribute or people with that same affinity who explored these concepts.

'I need to glomp a few more scientific books. Perhaps I'll gain some delicious knowledge!' When you ate knowledge instead of learning it, books were more about taste than interest. Thinking of how jealous everyone who learned about it became, Liu Shu giggled.

'I wonder if it is that hard to learn not by eating, but by memorizing and understanding like the others do.' Traversing the ocean floor gave Liu Shu a window to just think about things. Something unusual since Liu Shu was always preoccupied with other matters.

'Speaking of other matters, I still have to continue the experiment of how my children with those four work! Let's call Verdantia today! I'll focus on expanding, though. I want to explore the ocean~!' Verdantia was called suddenly and went to the <Core Room> to visit the Avatar. Once inside, she was grabbed by the World Tree's soft vines.

"O-Oh. I understand." Verdantia's smile was uglier than crying.

"I am going to get squeezed quite a lot, aren't I?" The avatar moved over and straddled Verdantia with a tempting smile and a faint blush.

"Verdantia, let's have another baby!" And then, Verdantia became a fruit-producing, fluid-losing Sylvan. The poor woman ended up lying on top of Liu Shu's body and falling asleep while Liu Shu's avatar munched on her fruits happily. Meanwhile, under the ocean, Liu Shu encountered the first wild World Tree.

"Oh! Hello!" The other side started communicating, but the way of communication was through tree speech. Liu Shu was not in a hurry, so she continued exploring the surroundings while listening to her. After around thirty-five minutes, a sentence was successfully completed: "Get out of my domain or I'll attack you!" Liu Shu was baffled.

'Wow. Thirty-five minutes to tell me to go root myself!" Thankfully, Flor wasn't here, or our big lady would've been scolded by her mother for the foul language! Unresigned to just killing the interesting suboceanic World Tree, Liu Shu answered back. Her tree speech was relatively fast, but still slow. Twenty minutes later, she replied.

"Why are you so aggressive? I come in peace~." 40 minutes.

"Peace? There is no peace between World Trees. Moreover, I can feel something strange about you. Leave!" 30 minutes.

"I won't leave~. I am conquering the entire world, so I need to either assimilate or destroy you. I don't really want the latter to occur, so listen to me, okay?" 1 Hour.

"Destroy me? I am the third strongest World Tree in this area of the ocean. Don't underestimate me!" Liu Shu hummed and pondered how to deal with this stubborn lady.

'Should I just pressure her with my aura? After being enhanced with my titles and such, it should be quite strong, right?' So, after thinking about it, Liu Shu manifested her presence forcefully and targeted the World Tree. In the Golden Sap City, the air solidified for a second, making everyone feel short of breath for a moment. Then, that presence slammed against the ground and rushed along Liu Shu's root system toward that location. When her presence arrived, the water wobbled and the ground shook.

"Are you sure you want to make me your enemy?" The other World Tree was arrogant because it was a Level 74 World Tree. Moreover, it was a B+ Tier World Tree, so her stats could match up to some <Fourth Energy Cycle> beings. However, the second Liu Shu's presence manifested, it almost shrank and whimpered out of pure fear and instinct. Liu Shu's menacing aura felt like a giant hand that could uproot her as if she were a common weed. A whimpering sound reached Liu Shu, clearly asking for mercy and forgiveness.

Liu Shu immediately stopped pressuring with her aura and chuckled softly.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I just want to assimilate you. Then, you can continue growing as you like, okay?" The wild World Tree that never came across other creatures besides underwater monsters quickly accepted Liu Shu's conditions. Thanks to all the skills Liu Shu had in terms of coercion towards plant beings, a single aura burst was enough to make any creature in the <Third Energy Cycle> and below surrender. Thanks to the difference in strength between the two sides, the assimilation only took one day.

After that, Liu Shu connected the new World Tree to the I. C. A. R. E. network. Prarya's voice reached the area first.

"Oh? A new sister! Are you a big or a little sister?" Fortuna sighed softly.

"Don't overwhelm her, Prarya. Since she is someone from the ocean, she must not have been in contact with anyone." Liu Shu giggled.

"That's right. This Big Sister only knows how to communicate in tree language as well, so be gentle for a while, okay?"

"Will do, Liu Shu~."

"Since Little Liu Shu said so, I'll be gentle with this one." Warlya's voice reached them, her tone gentle.

"With this World Tree and all my new petite neighbors, I feel like I am taking care of my children once again~." There were many of the World Trees that Liu Shu purified. Some of these were reborn, making eight baby World Trees in the process. After the Abyssal Void Nexus war, only Warlya remained as a mature World Tree beyond the Wall Forest. Therefore, she was basically an old grandma surrounded by babies. Liu Shu smelled gossip and quickly caught the strangeness in the sentence.

"Again? Warlya, you had babies!?" Warlya felt all the World Trees and Life Trees suddenly look her way, almost overwhelming the powerful World Tree.

"O-Okay, I'll speak about it. So, don't focus on me with such intensity." Liu Shu and the others listened attentively. After a while, our World Tree muttered.

'Oh wow! She actually had some Sylvan children. Sadly, she doesn't know what happened to them because they moved out to the Celestial Lotus Empire after the final war started…' Liu Shu hummed.

"A thousand years have passed… I wonder how they are doing?"