Chương 880: Reunion, Level Up, and Lost Souls.

While organizing her people, Liu Shu realized something that she had overlooked as she pursued efficiency. For instance, her intent had been to set each of her loves on one of the surrounding Solar Systems together with her mothers and manage them. However, as she was about to put it into practice, Liu Shu realized a very large oversight.

"They will be far away from my Avatar and their children." It was true that pushing her Empire as best as possible was Liu Shu's pursuit, but it was not the main one. Liu Shu, unlike usual World Trees, took family matters very personally and preciously. So, she decided to modify their positions. Instead of being on-site leaders, they would be remote leaders.

Creating a central government where all reports from all her conquered Solar Systems gathered and were processed felt like a better option both in terms of sustainability and unity.

"If each branch has too much independence, there is a possibility of that branch becoming far too detached from the general power structure. If each of my branches had a mind of their own, it would be problematic when trying to control them." Having made up her mind, Liu Shu completely overhauled many long-term projects, changing them to her liking.

'It is in times like this that I am grateful that I am the true ruler. Otherwise, the administrative hell that would ensue because of the large changes would be a headache to deal with.' When Verdantia and the rest returned to Ceperet after their long expedition, she personally informed them. Verdantia hugged Liu Shu's Avatar closely.

"I am glad you decided that, love. During our return, we had planned to protest a little. How can I be away from my sun? I will wilt helplessly if I can't hug you once a day!" Liu Shu looked up with a laugh.

"You stayed far away for a while during the war and you still look healthy… to… um… me?" As she was speaking, Verdantia had pushed her waist forward slightly, and Liu Shu came into contact with a very hard and hot something poking straight at her womb area. Looking up and gulping, Liu Shu coughed.

"U-Um…" Verdantia smiled deeply.

"No turns. Come with us." Obsidianis, standing nearby, chuckled.

"Finally. I was about to explode while holding back." With wide, blinking eyes, Liu Shu was dragged into the core room and spent almost four days there, squeezing the souls out of her lovers. All of them returned home with deeply satisfied yet tired faces, flopping onto their beds and sleeping for 24 hours straight. Back in the <Core Room>, Liu Shu's Avatar was also resting on the bed, feeling the afterglow.

"... Wow. I thought I'd drown." Glancing around, the numbers of fruits rolling on the ground were so many that Liu Shu was sure she could open a fruit stall. Of course, that was just a thought. Selling Sylvan fruits was not seen too favorably. They were, after all, the fruits of a Sylvan's deep love. Selling them to others was like a human selling their breast milk to others. Liu Shu waved her hand, bringing one of Obsidianis's dark-colored fruits to her mouth and taking a bite.

The soft skin and plump flesh inside burst with a juicy and deep texture, making her squint.

"Delicioush~. Nom. Nom. Nom." She sat up and glanced at her total Experience Points.

"It has accumulated slowly, but the numbers are honestly higher than I expected." Accumulated Experience Points: 1, 585, 090, 738 She pondered what to do with them.

"Let's save them for now. I am in no rush to Level Up either way now that the war has finished… Wrong." Liu Shu shook her head quickly.

"My <Delicious Berries> and even my <Energy Method> work in base of my Level. I should pour as many Levels as I can while leaving enough Experience Points for my S- Rank breakthroughs." Liu Shu quickly did math and nodded.

"I can leave behind around 600, 000, 000 and have enough for all my skills. Let's start Leveling Up until I spend around a billion experience points. [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [<First Energy Cycle> Upgraded! Receiving stats!] [<First Energy Cycle> Upgraded! Unlocking Potential!]"Level 263 for 1 billion Experience Points with around 30 million remaining…" Accumulated Experience Points: 633, 027, 698"Whew. The more I Level Up, the more I understand why it slows down so much and people with thousands of years are still stuck at Level 200 and such." Still, she was satisfied. The remaining Experience Point would be used to complete a full overhaul of her skills.

"Speaking of them, so many have reached Level MAX during the war. I should pick a day to just Rank Up everything at once." Even some of her S- Rank skills had Leveled Up enough to reach Level MAX. Still, they were not the priority. Changing from S- to S Rank was much less substantial than from A+ to S- Rank.

"If I have enough Experience Points left remaining, I should consider Ranking Up a few of them, though." As for Wisdom… Liu Shu had long given up on upgrading her to SSS+ Rank. She was not yet using the skill to its full potential. Spending an absurd amount of Experience Points to rank it up was a waste. As a <Second Ascension> powerhouse, she could use S+ Rank skills and below to their full potential, but anything above it was difficult.

She guessed that to start using SS- Rank skills flexibly, she would need to reach the <Fourth Ascension>. At the very least, the <Third Ascension> might also work, but she was unsure.

"Feels nice feeling my strength grow a little bit~." What increased the most Level by Level was not her raw <Stats>. It was her <Ternary Essence Pools>. Of course, thanks to her <Origin Essence Branches> and <Eternal Core>, which Leveled Up with her as bound equipment, her <Stats> also grew nicely. After all, she went from having six Level 250 pieces of equipment to six Level 263 pieces of equipment. Liu Shu felt her growth begin again from the Level Ups and squinted comfortably.

"Ah… This feeling is nice." Her height increased without Level Ups, but by a minuscule amount compared to when she Leveled Up. A refreshing sensation swept over her as she felt her own size grow, allowing her to better manipulate her massive reserves of ternary essence. It was like that lingering, pleasant feeling after a long stretch.

"I wonder how much I'll grow? At Level 250, I was around 10 million meters tall…" Placing it at the back of her mind, Liu Shu refocused on gathering the scraps and materials scattered around all the battlefields. While she stretched her roots and filled the voids left by the wars, Liu Shu would occasionally come across wreckage that had been blown away by explosions during the war. She even found a few survivors from the Covenant and Nexus who got lost in space.

When she noticed them at first, she was quite surprised!

"Oh… another person." A female human sat on a space structure, looking ahead with a gaunt complexion and dead eyes. She wore the uniform of the Nexus, but there was absolutely nothing left in her eyes. Even for <Second Ascension> powerhouses, being lost in the middle of space was almost a death sentence. What could you do without a starmap if you were lost in the void between the stars? By sight, it was basically impossible to distinguish which star was the nearest.

Large stars shining brightly from a long distance, dim stars shining dully from nearby locations… At a glance, it was impossible to tell them apart. Not to mention, the soldiers lost this way were all <First Ascension> powerhouses. High-level ones, but still below Level 200. If someone at their level tried an interstellar voyage with just their body, they would die from either an encounter with an <Astraelis>, the harsh environment of deep space, or lack of food.

As Liu Shu observed the woman sitting on the large rock, she pondered what to do. Leaving her to fend for herself was usually the correct option. This woman was the most common type of Nexus soldier. Even after scanning her, there was nothing special about her, and the negative <Titles> for participating in World Tree invasions and killings flashed quite glaringly in her System Page.

"Hm… Should I speak with her? In the situation she is in, I might be able to listen to something interesting." Pity? She didn't feel such a thing. This woman's System Page showed that she was an individual who followed the Nexus's convictions to the letter.

"Hello." Her voice made the woman flinch, her face twisting with terror as if a PTSD button had been pressed. Liu Shu had chanted several times during the battlefield, so her voice was quite well known to any Nexus soldier. Hearing her gentle and ethereal voice was no different from listening to the sounds of an approaching hell.

"H-Have I finally gone mad? Hahaha…" Being isolated for years in this place with nothing truly made her think that she was having some kind of psychotic episode.

"You've been lucky… or perhaps not. Still, it is true that I've found you. How curious, right?" The woman glanced ahead with an empty gaze, trying to ignore the gentle voice of that demon. Liu Shu felt somewhat amused.

"Stop acting crazy. You have not gone insane, at least not yet."

"... Heavenly Willow?" Liu Shu chuckled.

"Yes. That's me. Do you have some kind of wish?" Our World Tree was curious. Would someone of her beliefs break under her current situation? Or would she persevere with her blind hatred toward World Trees? The woman's choice was the latter. Having seen so many of her companions die brutal deaths while also being trapped with her thoughts for years, what kind of rationality would remain in this lost woman's mind? Her answer was short yet to the point.

"My wish…? I wish for your death, World Tree."

"Interesting." Liu Shu muttered.

"Are you from deep within the Nexus territory?" The woman spoke, her eyes still empty.

"You may… say so. I am from the central 40 Solar Systems… My path was supposed to be smooth sailing as I became a high-ranking official…" Her empty gaze was filled with anger and hatred.

"But you ruined it all! You parasite of the universe! I hope you burn from the fires of a star!" Liu Shu was not offended. Still, she was an example of what she would be dealing with as she conquered deeper and deeper Nexus territories.

"I see… I hope you find your way back then." In the end, Liu Shu chose to do what usual World Trees did… Ignore her and move on.