Chương 699: Seeds Of Empires.

The 28 Merchant Ships advanced as one fleet, even when they clearly came from different factions. Liu Shu noticed that their systems were not alert, so she tried to pierce through their outer shields with her senses to see the insides of the ship. Once she tried, there was a moment of resistance, but the level was like a finger trying to pierce paper. A little bit of force, and Liu Shu's consciousness pierced through and spread around.

"I must say…" Liu Shu muttered to herself.

"These ships are truly… large." Due to the difficulty of transportation in unexplored and uncharted space, travel usually took several years at a time. Therefore, the ships needed to be more than transportation tools. Most merchant ships were built like portable cities, with internal structures and even families that were born and developed inside. Most of the internal economy and political structure was controlled by the company that owned the ship, so it was easy to keep tight control.

Liu Shu observed and noticed that the merchant ship had 10 levels. The topmost and bottommost levels were connected, acting like the outer shell of an "egg." Meanwhile, the remaining eight levels in the middle were divided into farmland, city, entertainment district, factories, upper-class residential area, lower-class residential area, and more.

"Very orderly… Although the closed space and limited resources should be quite prone to creating small-time tyrants, right?" Her gaze moved toward the entertainment area, and she quickly saw many alien species participating in various activities, some willingly, others under duress. Of course, these activities were much more than just brothels. There were casinos, game areas, filming areas, and much more. Liu Shu mused.

"Overall, the merchant ships have around 700, 000 people on average. Some barely overcome a million, while others do not reach half of that." In essence, these ships dropped most of their combat capabilities in exchange for size and internal structure.

'While I have not seen the mothership-type ships like the World-Types, I can guess that they should be a combination of both military and merchant ships, upgraded a notch further.' The size of the World-Types was gigantic, even larger than these merchant ships, so she was quite sure of it.

"Quite… interesting. Now, for the important part… where is the main control cabin?" Her senses bloomed out, passing through all passageways and quickly enveloping the entirety of the complex structure. Soon, near the back of the ship, she found it.

"At the back, huh? I guess it makes sense. Even if the front of the ship gets wrecked, the main control room will be safe. However, this leaves the back area of the starship quite vulnerable. After all, the motors and the control room share a single space." In short, if you divided the entire ship into four equal sections, the first three would not match the importance of the last quarter. When she entered the main control room, the creatures she saw were quite unique.

Liu Shu had never seen anything like it before. These creatures were still humanoid, but they had fleshy wings on their backs. Their attires were quite formal, and their faces varied greatly. Some were close to looking human, while others had bestial features. Searching in her memory, Liu Shu quickly recalled that these creatures belonged to the <Daemon> species, not to be confused with the <Demon> species.

"Daemons are a neutral species, while demons are somewhat warlike and excellent merchants. Their appearances overlap, so it is quite difficult to distinguish them. The most glaring difference is their eyes. Demons usually have black scleras, while Daemons share human whites." Pondering for a bit, she searched her memories and quickly found more relevant information.

"From what I remember, there should be a nearby <Globular Star Cluster> society named <Crimson Dominion> that is mainly governed by a mix of Daemon and Demons, right?" In the galaxy, powers were divided very differently. The lowest measure of a power was a <Star System> Power. These controlled from 10 to 100 stars, and they often lacked a Second Ascension powerhouse. The Covenant and the Nexus were powers in this category, considered <Transitional Star System> powers.

This was because they controlled between 300 and 400 stars. Beyond the Star System were the <Globular Star Cluster> powers, having between 1, 000 and 10, 000 stars under their control. Finally, powers above were classified as <Nebula> empires. Liu Shu didn't have much information on them, but she knew that only those with 100, 000 stars under their name could start to be considered as such. Beyond that, Liu Shu didn't bother collecting information because it was meaningless.

Currently, Globular Star Cluster powers could squash her, so anything beyond needed to be treated with respect.

"So… these Daemons and Demons might come from the Crimson Dominion Globular Star Cluster Empire." Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. This gave her a bit of a headache. After all, she was already a bit too entangled with the Nexus to have a new superpower turn their eyes her way.

'I am still a little Solar System Ranked Empire, not even a Star System. Why are you big shots coming over to poke your noses around!? QAQ!' The reason was exactly that, though. Because she was a little Solar System Ranked power and was still independent while situated in the middle of two Transition Star System Empires, her existence was like a firefly in the midst of dark bushes. Difficult to find at first, but once encountered, difficult to ignore.

"Hm…" Liu Shu looked around the other ships, and she quickly encountered several other powers. Some were nearby weak Star System Empires, while there were other Transition Star System and Globular Star Cluster Empires.

"Wow…" Liu Shu was honestly baffled.

"So many big shots." Liu Shu wasn't afraid, though. As always, her preferred way of acting was to disguise herself as a flower that could be easily trampled but, once stepped on, reveal two man-devouring maws full of sharp teeth and leave nothing behind.

"I wonder… how many chomps will it take me to reach your levels?" Liu Shu chuckled, and once they were past Feltera's orbit, she acted. During this time, the people she observed didn't share any important information. At most, they spoke about their tasks, which, to be summarized, were to investigate the little odd new True World Tree that stubbornly refused to submit.

'They should've calculated that I might have reached the orbit of my nearby planets. Hence, I'll "surpass" their expectations and show that I am about to reach the second-most nearby planets. This should confuse them enough that they don't investigate in too much detail.' When the 28 merchant ships from a multitude of powers and different alien species passed Feltera's orbit, she manifested her presence.

Inside the merchant ships, alarms started to go off one after another, while people shouted information for fast communication.

"Energy levels near a Star Lord's detected all around the fleet!"

"Spatial domain detected!"

"A powerful Aether signature is manifesting around our vessel!"

"Level of threat is three! The being manifesting has the capability to threaten our ship's shield integrity!" The captains became startled, never in their dreams expecting the recently bloomed True World Tree to be able to manifest this level of threat. The captains of each starship quickly asked to show what the outside situation was, and when they looked out through the many sensors and cameras, their breath hitched.

The space around the 28 vessels was visibly twisting, and cracks appeared as gigantic roots burst from them, like some kind of horror manifesting directly from a nightmare. The roots, glowing due to their shimmering blue veins, were easily visible in the void of space. Then, the creature spoke.

"Unknown creatures from afar, what are your intentions? I, the Heavenly Willow, have not received any communication of someone visiting my domain." The voice was vast, with no clear source, as it reached them from all directions at once. It was clearly female and carrying the usual touch of softness all World Trees shared, yet each word drummed against their very souls, making their hearts shudder.

'She is not normal.' Instantly, all the captains understood deeply that the small World Tree they initially thought was naive and weak enough to pinch between their fingers was an existence far beyond their wildest guesses. As planned, the top five captains from the strongest Globular Star Cluster civilizations decided to use hologram technology to manifest themselves in the void. Five creatures appeared, each of them with distinct features.

"Lady Heavenly Willow, this one is named Aurelius Valencrest. I am a passing merchant from the <Radiant Accord>." Aurelius was a creature made of liquid gold light, constantly refracting like sunlight through crystal. He appeared male, with unclear facial features.

"Lady Heavenly Willow, this one is named Cassian Mordrake, a humble merchant from the <Crimson Dominion>." Dark red skin tone and fleshy wings with a pair of black ram horns. While his stature was not particularly tall and his body was rather slim, his characteristics were standard for his species.

"Lady Heavenly Willow, this humble servant comes from the <Astral Fold>, named Selene Vaelthryn." The third woman was quite peculiar. Her body looked carved from midnight space, with faint constellations shimmering beneath translucent skin. Even the dress she wore felt intangible.

"Lady Heavenly Willow, this merchant comes from the <Shattered Ring>. I, Darius Kainthar, have come with no ill intent." The man's voice was deep and powerful, his posture straight and elegant. His skin had a metallic luster, still keeping an overall humanoid appearance like the previous four. However, the metal skin was not uniform, with deep red fissures running across the exposed surface.

"I, Virelya Noctharis, come from the <Umbral Imperium>. I hope Lady Heavenly Willow will allow our humble ships to dock in your ports." Like the rest, this woman was unusual yet humanoid in appearance. Her skin was a matte black, as if it could absorb light that fell on it. Her eyes glowed a faint golden hue, while her head had no hair. Instead, a strange two-pointed crown adorned her, clearly part of her entity and not an accessory. Liu Shu took everything in, internally summarizing.

'Aurelius, Cassian, Selene, Darius, and Virelya, each clearly stating they come from a Globular Star Cluster. With their tone, they are 100% confident that I won't dare rattle them due to their impressive backgrounds.' However, Liu Shu thought otherwise. While these people came from impressive backgrounds, and she needed to be careful, she was not afraid of them. While Liu Shu did not intend to be violent toward the new visitors, if they dared to overstep their boundaries, she would not stand idly by.

Her gaze swept the rest of the ships, and she noticed that no one came out. Clearly, these five "big bosses" were the main influence and those who would lead further interactions. After summarizing and absorbing all the information, Liu Shu didn't move out of her roots. Instead, she once more spread her presence and aura, never going all out, but exposing enough to scare them.

"Merchants of several civilizations coming at the same time and in a group?" Liu Shu, to start their conversation, wanted to show that she was not someone easy to deal with.

"Such a great coincidence. Regardless, I do welcome new visitors. Please, go on." Then, she retracted her roots and presence. Any more conversation would not do Liu Shu any good, as it would pull her otherworldliness to a more mortal plane. Mysteriousness and hidden cards were what would give her the biggest advantage in the near future.