Chương 799: Discussing Faith and Other Changes.

While Liu Shu was going through the <Ascension>, Liu Shu's rewards caused quite a stir within the Golden Sap Empire. Most of her Lignified children, falling into the classification of "Building" by the system, received tremendous buffs. Moreover, the terraforming progress of all the worlds accelerated tremendously. Flor stood on a balcony in one of Vorathen's cities with a confused look.

"Why is everything… changing so rapidly?" Vorathen's terraforming progress was still ongoing. While people over Level 25 could live without much harm within Vorathen, the environment was not welcoming for recently born babies. However, during the last few years, Flor noticed a massive shift in environmental factors within Vorathen.

Plant life was basically blooming widely, the skies were rapidly clearing and going through proper rain cycles, and the oceans were sprouting new life within and evolving new species quickly. Thanks to the <System>'s influence, evolution could be both fast and quick. The quickest way for creatures to evolve was, naturally, <Ascension>. Beings that had gone through transformations during <Ascension> would have children with similar features.

That's why, humans in Ceperet, without <Ascension> lineage, mostly had black to light brown hair colors, with the same variety for the eyes. However, outside Ceperet, humans sported colors like pink hair, green eyes, and other more exotic colors for skin, hair, and eyes. Some human species even had blue, grey, or other pigmentation due to their ancestors. In summary, <Ascension> affected not only individuals but also descendants, making it a quick way for evolution as long as one could Level Up swiftly.

The second way for evolution to occur rapidly in nature was the situation in Vorathen, Ceperet, the Moon, and the other worlds under Liu Shu's management. Liu Shu, as the main World Tree, had ridiculous amounts of influence on living beings. Her World Saint Bloodsap and many other of her buffs boosted the wildlife's spreading, growing, and adapting speeds. Some small mammals and lizards had already appeared on the Moon, adapted to the more barren, greyish land over there.

Even plants had learned to feed on lunar soil. As said in the very beginning, while World Trees conquered everything in their path, the new life that grew within that conquered land would be better adapted to new environments. So, more than reckless destroyers, World Trees were an accelerated cycle of life representing Nature itself as a single living entity. Complex, profound, and both terrifying and beautiful. That was the core essence of a World Tree.

Ignatia hugged her little fairy into her ample bosom and smiled softly.

"Apothea says that she is ready, love. Shall we go?" Flor shook her head.

"Wait until the girls are done or Liu Shu is done. There must be someone together with Xakira to keep that Verdant Elder in place." After Liu Shu's blow to the Covenant's delegation, those people naturally didn't take it kindly. The blow was quite severe, and their living conditions, while good, were not much better than those of ordinary residents. Previous to the incident, the Covenant envoys were living in luxury.

It was the bare minimum Liu Shu thought to give them so that they would not be too reckless in their attempts to dig out her secrets. Sadly, it only worked for around six years before someone blew a fuse or something and committed quite a grave crime. Ignatia, knowing most things that Flor took care of, looked down and kissed the top of Flor's head.

"Alright, love. We'll do as you say." Flor looked up, and her ruby-like eyes couldn't help but soften.

"Ignatia." Ignatia smiled.

"Hm?"

"I love you." Flor smiled softly.

"I really do." Ignatia laughed and lifted Flor to gently kiss her. Flor closed her eyes, greatly enjoying the pleasure of being kissed by her lover.

"I love you too, Flor." After spending some quality time on the balcony, Flor used her hands to gently stop Ignatia and smiled.

"Later, we need to go meet with Elyne, right? She seems to have noticed something strange that needs us." Ignatia pouted.

"I wanted to have some fun with my wife." Flor laughed, rubbing her small face against Ignatia's.

"I love you." The pair smiled at each other and soon moved, reaching the <Eternal Church>. Once there, the <Eternal Church> used two roots and wiggled them in greeting. The Church's mature yet slightly innocent call reached them.

"Grandma!" The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Ignatia and Flor smiled gently.

"We are here to see Elyne, love. Can you guide us?"

"Yeah! Do I inform Aunty Elyne?" While the church was religious and usually used proper terms to refer to people, she also let go a little with her closest family. Liu Shu had repeatedly taught the <Eternal Church>, her child who was in the most danger of falling into religious fanaticism, to never use formal speech with family. Spreading out her consciousness and with her powerful mental processing speed, Liu Shu was able to converse with her tree children in tree language quite often.

The reason she used the tree language, despite its slowness, was that it required almost no mental strength. So, it was much more convenient to communicate with her hundreds of thousands of Lignified children. Ignatia and Flor, being the recognized mothers of the World Tree, were given reverent gazes as they entered the <Eternal Church>. Thankfully, there was a sense of peace and tranquility within the Church that prevented a commotion.

The <Eternal Saintesses>, walking around, curtsied to them, and soon they arrived at Elyne's room. The place was as clean as ever, with a few rows of small wooden benches and a gorgeous stained glass window that poured rays of light onto Liu Shu's perfectly carved statue. The statue showed Liu Shu's World Tree body, with Liu Shu's avatar standing on her knees below it at quarter height. The World Tree's face was looking up at the sky, her gaze solemn yet tranquil, giving off a sense of serenity.

Meanwhile, Liu Shu's avatar was looking down at them, her face softened into a gentle smile, and her eyes extended forward as if to embrace the world itself. Flor and Ignatia couldn't help but stop for a moment and look at the gorgeous statue created by the <Eternal Church> herself. Seeing their child depicted so accurately, it made them feel both a sense of pride and happiness, seeing how well Liu Shu has grown. Elyne's beautiful and pious voice reached them.

"Lady Flor, Lady Ignatia. Welcome." Flor and Ignatia blinked and glanced down, their smiles calm as they approached. Flor spoke softly.

"You know that there is no need to call us so respectfully. You even call our girl by her name, so call us comfortably as well." Elyne nodded with a smile. Then, she turned to look at the statue and spoke with measured words.

"Liu Shu… has awakened." Ignatia showed a bit of a puzzled look.

"Awakened?" Elyne pondered.

"How to explain these feelings. Before, while we did pray to Liu Shu, and while we did feel a faint connection to her, the sensations were so… vague that it was hard to detect unless one's heart was truly pious." Flor asked.

"What changed?" Elyne spoke, her amethyst-colored eyes glancing at the statue with reverence.

"Now… I can feel Liu Shu's breath of life around me. My faith is being answered, and my senses become clear when I pray. Liu Shu is truly becoming a divine entity." Flor and Ignatia couldn't really understand this. While they both respected Liu Shu, the extent of their feelings was those of a loving mother toward their daughter. Therefore, they had never really prayed or participated in the religion. Flor felt that if she did, her love for Liu Shu would be twisted in an unwanted way.

Flor just wanted to love Liu Shu as her slightly stern, yet endlessly loving mother. Ignatia's feelings were very much the same, only leaning toward being a bit more pampering than Flor. For Liu Shu, Ignatia could become the terrifying Humanoid Ant Queen or a cuddly mommy that wanted to rain kisses on her adorable daughter's face. Ignatia asked the most important question.

"Is this good or bad? And I do not mean as an idol, but for Liu Shu."

"Absolutely," Elyne answered, her face serious as she looked them in the eye.

"Liu Shu, with this awakening, is closer to using the power of Faith. Perhaps she had even managed to unlock some type of skill. That's why the faith that previously lingered is now able to properly find a source. This source, of course, is Liu Shu." Ignatia hummed.

"I see. That indeed sounds like a good thing. If this <Faith> you speak of can become Liu Shu's strength without affecting her in any bad way, then it is a welcome thing." Flor was a bit skeptical.

"Still, if Liu Shu can feel <Faith> now, won't she be affected? Any connection is a two-way street. What flows into Liu Shu also connects her to the other side." Elyne nodded.

"That's a plausible worry. Still, I will put my position as an <Eternal Avatar> in line that the <Faith> essence does not have such adverse effects. The reason is the difficulty to even gathering said <Faith>. No small religion can gather enough of this energy unless the followers are in the hundreds of millions, or perhaps billions." Flor pondered and summarized.

"So, because <Faith> is so hard to gather, it already nullifies any adverse effect? The difficulty of acquiring it is the… limiting factor." Seeing that Flor understood, Elyne smiled.

"Yes. That's the case. Remember that to receive <Faith>, it is not as simple as being the Emperor. People must actively worship you." Ignatia showed a bit of a conflicted look.

"Why can't my children gather <Faith>, Elyne?" Elyne and Ignatia had talked in the past about it. When the religion was starting, Ignatia suggested that her ants pray to Liu Shu for a few minutes a day. However, when they tried, it clearly didn't have much effect. Ants were intelligent creatures, but their worship could not be on any other being other than Ignatia herself. This was another terrifying natural advantage of a Humanoid Ant Queen. The ants were intelligent enough to be considered individuals.

Therefore, once the Humanoid Ant Queen gained a <Faith> skill, they would immediately gather as many followers as there were children in the colony. To summarize, Humanoid Ant Queens were natural Goddesses. Elyne chuckled.

"We've already talked about this, didn't we? I do believe that you, Ignatia, should use this advantage yourself and become Liu Shu's strength. Don't you think that Liu Shu's eyes will sparkle if she knows that her precious Mother has become a goddess?" Ignatia suddenly imagined Liu Shu's big, soft, and adorable amethyst-colored eyes looking up as she said.

"Mommy Godddess!? So cool! I love you!" Suddenly, an endless surge of motivation to unlock <Faith> skills appeared in her heart.