Chương 661: [Temple Of Fatebrushing]. Star Chart Newts Developments.

Star Chart Newts Developments.

While Liu Shu attended to the <Dungeon> and its new design, she was interrupted by something quite important. A few lines appeared, making her eyes widen. [Congratulations on the successful <Synergy> evolution between the <Temple Of Destiny> and <Prophecy> concepts!] [The <Temple Of Destiny (B Tier)> has evolved into <Temple Of Fatebrushing (A Tier)>!] [All <Temple Seeds> for <Temple Of Destiny> have been deleted. From now on, you will gain <Fatebrushing Seeds>.] [All <Temple Of Destiny (Seed)> will evolve into <Temple Of Fatebrushing (Seed)>.] Then, the entire population suddenly received a collective message that made them hold their breath. [You've lost <Destiny Blessing>.] Flor, who was handling some paperwork, looked at that message, and her hand acted as if it had a mind of its own. She quickly reached out, grabbed her trusty teacup, and took a sip of Liu Shu's calming tea.

It wasn't only her; the slurping sound of tea was almost simultaneous across the entirety of Ceperet. Those who had it available took a deep sip in preparation for the absurdity. And then, it began. There was no terrible surge of Aether or Anima; there was no profound aura that made everyone tremble. As the <Temple Of Destiny> took its final steps to transform and evolve, the world around it fell into a strange stillness.

As the <Temple Of Destiny> slowly gained size and grandeur to match her other siblings, it grasped something far more complex than energy. A flow. A perception and a lack thereof. The concept was abstract, yet noticeable. A glimpse of how reality moved and how the world transformed. As the <Temple Of Destiny> shifted into the <Temple Of Fatebrushing>, the world around it seemed to… stagger. From Liu Shu's perspective, it looked as if'something' fell into place. Liu Shu's gaze shifted.

She, and those who got enveloped in the intangible aura of the <Temple Of Fatebrushing>, felt their awareness shift. When looking around, for a moment, they seemed to be able to look not outwardly, but inwardly and between moments. The feeling was fleeting, like a dream, but everyone who felt it knew that it was real. Liu Shu looked around, and her gaze gravitated toward a child who was running on the streets. Her gaze revealed a puzzled look, but she extended a soft root a bit ahead of the child.

Just as she did that, the child suddenly tripped and fell. The father wanted to react, but it was too late. Yet, when everyone thought the child would get hurt, she bounced on a root that appeared out of nowhere.

"Huh?" The child glanced at the faintly glowing blue veins on the root that slowly hid into the ground. The parents, much more knowledgeable, widened their eyes and quickly bowed toward the gargantuan World Tree towering in the middle of the city. Liu Shu didn't care about them; she was still immersed in the feeling.

'Why did that child's fall feel… obvious?' It wasn't a sensation; it was certainty. Liu Shu could tell the exact moment when the child would stagger and trip forward. She also knew that if she didn't interfere, the girl would have a split lip and bleeding nose. Nothing too dangerous, but something that would certainly hurt. Her gaze moved into a forest, where there was a junction. The forked path had two distinct directions to take, and not too far away, a group of Explorers strode forward.

As she glanced at the paths, the one on the right had no aura, yet there was a sense of pressure in the other. It was as if that path had a strange gravitational pull. She said nothing this time. She dared not move at all, just in case. A few moments later, the group arrived at the forked path. The leader and the others hesitated, each giving different reasons. Ultimately, one of them seemed to recall something and took out a worn-out map. After they glanced at it, they decided to move toward the path on the left.

'Whoa…' Liu Shu muttered, her mind flashing with many thoughts.

'Is that… Fate? Destiny?' When her mind understood it, the aura of the <Temple Of Fatebrushing> consolidated, and invisible threads tightened all around the world and Liu Shu's domain. [Congratulations! You've received the <Fatebrushing Blessing (A Rank)>.] Liu Shu blinked, that moment of extreme clarity giving way to a faint, foggy feeling. While the effects lingered, they weren't as obvious as they had been then.

'Was it Little Fatebrushing who was messing with it and brought all fate up to the surface?' Even when the feeling was not as clear as in that instant, the sensation still remained. When looking at a new forked path, she could still tell the "heaviness" of some compared to others. Often, the feeling was not as crystal clear as that one time, but peering into it was not impossible. It wasn't only forks in the road; all areas with any choice or action had this ever-present lingering sense of pressure.

"LIU SHUUUU!" A shout of not one, but many of her closest people, tore through the sky, full of frustration and many other complex feelings. Liu Shu blinked and chuckled. Then, she checked the blessing. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

<Fatebrushing Blessing (A Rank)>: While under its influence, beings become subtly aligned with the flow of fate, gaining heightened awareness of future possibilities and the unseen threads guiding events. Outcomes become clearer, coincidences grow meaningful, and pivotal moments feel easier to grasp. There is a faint chance of becoming <Fatebrushing-Touched> and gaining a <Title> with the same name.

While under the effects of the Blessing or the Title, you gain: Comprehension of Destiny-, Fate-, Probability-, and Prophecy-aligned Aether, laws, or principles increases by 400%. You gain intermittent <Prophetic Glimpses>, revealing short-term future outcomes related to major decisions, dangers, or opportunities (clarity scales with perception, comprehension, and relative influence compared to personal strength).

Actions taken during pivotal or "fated" moments gain a 25% increase in effectiveness, accuracy, or success rate (effects scale down outside such moments). Once per day, you may nudge fate to slightly alter a single outcome in your favor, converting a failure into a partial success or mitigating a disastrous result (the alteration fails if it would affect a comparatively higher existence). Resistance to fate interference, destiny manipulation, curses of inevitability, and forced causality effects increases by 30%.

Experience required to improve Destiny-, Fate-, Divination-, or Prophecy-related skills is reduced by 20%. <Fatebrushing-Touched>: You gain a passive awareness of major branching outcomes, instinctively sensing which choices carry long-term consequences without revealing their exact results.

"... No wonder they screamed." Liu Shu thought with a wry smile on her lips. She just made her entire population semi-seers.

"These temples are quite ridiculous, aren't they?" [Congratulations! You've received <Title: Fatebrushing-Touched>]"WOAH! MY BABY LOVES MOMMY THE MOST!" With this, she had been blessed with two out of the four temples! Liu Shu giggled delightedly and kneaded her child with endless love, making Little Fatebrushing sway her branches happily. Feeling a bit of envy from the other temples, she moved her roots to pamper all of her children across her entire domain.

Today, she wouldn't stop until she had kneaded all her babies until their branches danced with pure delight! While she did so, she noticed one thing. Or, well, what she sensed was its absence. The <Temple>'s ability to negatively influence her enemies was gone! The previous <Temple Of Destiny>, even if the effects were not that significant, helped her a lot by affecting her enemies. She was sure that some important decisions that led to her quick ascension had been influenced by it.

"Well, it's a loss, but compared with the benefits… I can't complain." The reason for the disappearance was quite clear either way. What she made was a <Synergy> effect of <Destiny> and <Prophecy>. The <Temple> probably decided that focusing on either a path of misfortune or fortune was better than having its roots half-heartedly dip in both directions. Therefore, the final effect was one that focused on prediction and "luck." Looking around the realm, Liu Shu noticed the whole spectrum of emotions.

Some despaired, as this blessing went against their businesses; others were delighted, and much more. Among the many creatures in her domain, there was one group that Liu Shu was very curious about. Her gaze split as she looked at the Star Chart Newts spread across small communities throughout her domain. Their initial number was not that high, just a little over 80, 000. After separating those that could be integrated according to her, being honest, quite evil selection methods, there were only 55, 000 left.

Tanya, as she had promised, used the past few years to catalogue the Star Chart Newts from most talented to least talented and to divide them according to other criteria. In short, Liu Shu separated the non-talented from the talented, grouped them up, and hoped they would breed until their populations grew. Then, she would compare descendants.

'Well, whatever happens after that, I won't control. After all, I've been harsh enough to them. If, beyond what I did, I start trying to selectively breed them, my actions won't be evil by necessity, but evil for profit. The difference between those is vast and something I don't want to cross.' Basically, all of Liu Shu's ruthless actions had a "reason" behind them. While she was a bit sad about some of them, she didn't really regret any of them.

There were choices she had to make as a world leader, and even if she stood at the same crossroads again, her choice wouldn't waver much, if any at all.

"Dad, what does this mean?" One young Star Chart Newt asked his father, curious. The father looked at the new blessing with a complicated expression.

"This is… good news." He managed to leave their race's "open prison" thanks to his wife being pregnant. There was no sense of happiness, but he couldn't deny that he felt… relief. As a father, he desired to protect his family, and moving to Ceperet had been nothing but a source of endless benefits. Not to mention the endless buffs, which healed old battle wounds without a single trace and old ailments, and the quality of the food and other items which had made his wife's pregnancy go without a single hitch.

She had already given birth to a little Star Chart Newt girl, and the child was in excellent health. When he saw her for the first time, the father doubted that someone had exchanged his newborn for a one-month-old baby. Compared to the state of his son at birth, this daughter was so healthy and plump that her skin glowed. What's more, the tiredness of his wife disappeared swiftly, with almost no after-effects. After all, there was a domain-wide regeneration and healing buff.

Since that day, his wife's attitude toward the World Tree that "abducted" them changed tremendously. What was more important for a mother than the health of their child? Nothing. So, seeing the benefits of living here, the wife quickly chose to adapt. The husband, with no other real choice, reluctantly tried to control his innate pride. What was he supposed to do? Confront his family and risk falling out with them for his ideals? If there was a fighting chance, perhaps he would try to convince them.

However, there was no fighting chance. He didn't know if it was on purpose or not, but when they arrived at Ceperet, the giant space-traveling manta-ray circled around Liu Shu a few times before settling down. He would never forget the feeling of seeing the Heavenly Willow for the first time. Towering beyond mountains, with an aura that felt as vast as the sky and as profound as the ocean, the World Tree he saw was so many leagues beyond those he saw in the past that he doubted they were from the same species.

"Sigh…" So many emotions churned inside him that only a sigh could express them.

"If that was not enough…" The father looked at the new buff, his reptilian eyes showing conflicting feelings.

"Isn't this tailor-made for our species?" It was a misunderstanding, but he and most of the other Star Chart Newts thought that this buff was compensation toward their race for what she did. As he was pondering while playing with his son, his wife entered the room with a wide smile and delighted eyes. Her lizard tail was wagging happily behind her.

"Husband! Our child has been blessed by Lady Heavenly Willow! Look at her <System Page>!" The man did so, and what he saw almost made him drop his son.

Name: Starlishia Chartnewt Titles: <Fatebrushing-Touched> Race: Golden-Eyed Star Chart Newt Level: 0 [0/10] Aether Mana Shards: 10/10 Phoer Body Shards: 10/10 Anima Energy Shards: 10/10 Attributes: Aether (1), Physique (1), Anima (1), Willpower (1), Destiny (17) Talents: - Passive Skill: - Accumulated Experience: 0 It wasn't only Starlishia. Many other Star Chart Newts, especially those recently born, received the blessing. After all, they were innately affined with the <Destiny> stat.