Chương 712: Erynthea and Galactic Structure.

Over the last two years, while Liu Shu worked on the Sun, her roots also reached the last "closest" milestone in her Solar System domain expansion. Floating in the middle of the void, surrounded by six beautiful moons, a pale blue world spun gracefully. Liu Shu, who had stopped focusing on the Sun, leaving her roots firmly lodged at the surface level, quickly moved her attention to the last world of the Solar System.

"Erynthea, I finally found you." When her gaze zoomed over, she was pleasantly surprised. This world was an ocean with large, floating ice continents. There were a lot of storms, but nothing excessively extreme. The reason for life to fail to develop here was the lack of proper land. The entire world, being so far from the Sun, received very little heat. This prevented life from gaining those initial signs of evolution needed for fast development.

However, under the water, Liu Shu could sense that it was not sterile. There was, underwater, a quite large variety of microbial life.

"Not bad. It will be quite easy to develop this world." She only needed to move over a few arctic lifeforms and let them adapt to the environment. For creatures with the system, their adaptability was ridiculously fierce. Henceforth, as long as they were slightly adapted to the cold, they could quickly gain several buffs to their constitution that would accept Erynthea's environment.

"Those storms are a bit harsh, though. The ice continents are also not very stable." She pondered if she should create seismic activity to force volcanoes to pour out magma and create land. However, she soon shook her head.

"Erynthea's oceans are almost 300 kilometers deep of pure water. The water that's deep underground is being compressed by the pressure and floating up as ice constantly… What a peculiar environment. Ice forms at the bottom of the ocean, it floats, becomes a continent, the storms wear it down, transform it into rain, and refill the oceans, only for the cycle to begin anew." Liu Shu was quite interested in Erynthea.

She felt that, without any involvement from her, it would've taken no longer than a million years for life to develop in a complex manner. Because of the system, life evolution happened much quicker. The only question would've been if intelligent life would've been able to sprout.

"Well, now that you are mine, I'll help you develop much quicker." Once more, her roots manifested in the sky and descended like giant pillars, piercing into the Erynthea and spreading out. Finally, in the Teleportation hubs, Liu Shu told the Lignified Trees in charge to vacate the rooms for a little bit. Everyone was quickly moved out of all teleportation hubs, and soon, they heard the Lignified Tree begin to creak like bending wood, their inwards changing with Liu Shu's help.

For the Lignified Tree, this didn't hurt at all; it felt more like a pleasant tickle. Two days later, they all reopened, and people walked inside with curiosity. They couldn't help but raise their eyebrows in awe. Liu Shu had modified them all to show an open cylinder in the very middle. Using some Aether Mana and Anima Energy from the Lignified Tree, she created illusions at the level of each of the 8 floors.

These illusions showed the planets as they looked from the outside, with a massive illusion of Ceperet right at the bottommost floor. Everyone walking inside couldn't help but raise their heads and look left and right, making "ohh" and "wah" noises. It looked like a mix of technological and natural architecture, perfectly mixed to create a proper <Teleportation Hub>.

Naturally, all the Lignified Trees that were used as such had gained <Titles>, <Talents>, and <Passive Skill>, related to portals, space, and similar things, aiding Tree in managing things. Tree spoke to Liu Shu softly.

"I really like how it looks."

"Hehe. I am glad! I took a page from some information I extracted from Darius's database." Tree hummed and asked, curious.

"Little Sapling, have you learned anything important from the information?"

"Nothing much other than gaining a more detailed local galactic map." Liu Shu explained lightly.

"Actually, the Covenant and Nexus are not that large. Of course, they remain as a threat to us, since they have a few <Second Ascension> powerhouses. However, compared to the new arrivals, they are indeed lacking." Tree hummed.

"Besides the Covenant, Nexus, and the five new Empires, are there any other powers?" Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

"Yes." Liu Shu smiled. The galaxy has, overall, four types of powers. There are branching and mixed powers, but the main four categories are: Empire Type, Association Type, Sect Type, Hive Type." Tree muttered.

"I guess that the Explorer Association, very nicely explained in their name, is an Association Type. So, I more or less understand their working methods. Empire Types are like us, controlling worlds under a single empire. Then… What about the Sect and Hive Types?" Pondering for a moment, Liu Shu summarized them.

"Sect Type powers are similar to Empires. However, they focus not on developing society, but on developing personal power. They usually have a Sect Master, who holds the strongest combat power, elders, disciples, etc. These powers have extremely good relationships with Empire Types, as they usually are hubs for the high society youths to develop and gain personal strength in exchange for resources." Tree nodded, and Liu Shu explained a bit more.

"Hive Types… are not well received anywhere. They are like Mommy Ignatia's ant society. While Mommy Ignatia doesn't have Hive Type skills, she can certainly command all her children as one unit if she spends all her efforts. However, the thing that separates Mommy Ignatia from a proper Hive Type is that she lacks assimilation powers."

"Assimilation… powers?" Tree was startled by those two words. Liu Shu admitted.

"It is as bad as it sounds. Do you know the corruption that the Nexus uses? That's derived from the skills of these Hive Type powers. They bring other creatures into their fold, overriding their natural instincts, and, ultimately, assimilate them." Tree instantly felt confused, her Life Tree brain having a bit of trouble catching onto the intricacies.

"So… the Abyssal Void Nexus is colluding with a Hive Type power?"

"Most likely. Otherwise, they would not have been able to remain as strong and develop while causing so much damage to World Trees." Tree used her roots to gently caress Liu Shu's, and she questioned one last thing.

"Liu Shu… What is the standing of World Trees in the galaxy?"

"It's the same. Sacred, inviolable, worship-worthy… until interests don't align." There was a hint of mockery in Liu Shu's words.

"For the vast majority of the population, True World Trees are existences considered at the same level as a godly being. However, clearly, those at the top have different ideas. Societies like the Covenant, with a central World Tree, are unusual but not rare." With most of her immediate questions answered, Tree chuckled.

"Sorry for the sudden barrage of questions, Little Sapling. I was a bit worried." Liu Shu acted spoiled, using her roots to hug Tree.

"How can you be bothersome? If Mom wants, you can ask me anything at any time, and Liu Shu will answer!" Tree chuckled lovingly, gently caressing the roots of her big girl. Meanwhile, Liu Shu faintly lost her smile when she stopped speaking with Tree. Her eyes were a bit sharp as she looked out.

"I need to gain strength quickly." She realized how precarious their situation was. Currently, Liu Shu was an unclaimed fat piece of juicy meat. While she had been discovered by some forces, they were still tentatively probing around. They, with limited knowledge and perspective, believed that even if they allowed her to develop unchecked for a century or two, not much would change. The true "growth" sprout for a World Tree after becoming a True World Tree happened when they enveloped their first Solar System.

While it was not known why, the speed at which World Trees spread out their roots after completing that milestone multiplied several times over.

'Most likely, the rewards for the <Sylvan Quest> will be related to spreading speed and personal protection. Without that, there is no way that a World Tree as developed as that of the Covenant would allow other World Trees to exist as her 'neighbors'." Unlike Skyflower and the others, who could be reasoned over because of their long years of failure and previously lost hope, Liu Shu did not have the same expectations for True World Trees.

After all, those True World Trees, unlike herself, annihilated all Life Trees and World Trees in their home planets before blooming out.

"I have already completed my <Sylvan Quest>, and probably, I can already redeem it for those rewards that will help me. However, doing so now would not only be a waste. It would be stupid to the extreme and short-sighted. I must squeeze out every single percentage from this <Sylvan Quest> to have the strongest spring to change from interplanetary to interstellar." And Liu Shu had already understood what would allow for that "spring" to become the strongest.

Her eyes moved, glancing at the gargantuan ball of pure energy spinning at the center.

"I need to take over the Sun… down to its core." But she was not hasty. Like always, Liu Shu needed to develop step by step. Rushing things would only result in backlash.

While Liu Shu continued to develop, a fleet of starships traveled through the void at an extremely high speed, surpassing light speed. In the largest one, a mothership-type starship, a tall and well-developed hornet woman sat with a thoughtful expression. The aura around her was terrifying, while her presence exuded imperial elegance and majesty.

"How long until we arrive?" She asked. A male hornet by her side spoke solemnly.

"We are only a little over 1 year away, Your Majesty."

"One year…" She muttered. Looking at the reports she had been receiving from Xalis, one of her many children, her compound eyes flashed with interest.

"I can't wait to meet this little flower blooming in the middle of the void. To make that arrogant child, Xalis, praise her so excitedly, she must be exceptional." The male hornetkin by her side didn't answer. Instead, he reported on the anomalies they encountered.

"My Queen, we noticed that several merchant fleets have entered and left the Ceperet Star System. From the reports from Princess Xalis, it's clear that they are from high-level factions."

"Inconsequential." The Queen said.

"Even if I am Level 199, haven't I defeated plenty of Level 200s that wanted to trouble me in the past? I, your queen, do not fear them. Why would any of you do so?" The male hornetkin didn't say anything else. In truth, he was not worried, only warning her just in case. He had seen his Queen fight before, and her strength could only be described as horrifying. Below Level 200, he couldn't think of a single existence that was her match. Not even the other Kings and Queens from the insect species.