Chapter 535 - Chapter 535. World Tree Crafters and the Explorer Association’s Reach

Eight years after the defeat of the Nexus, the Golden Sap Arborarchy had officially become the most powerful empire on the planet. Liu Shu's strength was obvious. However, what was most important was not her personal strength, but the numerous World Trees under her. Because of all her titles, temples, and other passive enhancements, a few of the World Trees and Life Trees stuck at Level 74 managed to reach Level 75. 

After being stuck at Level 74 for a while, their Accumulated Experience was also abundant, allowing all of them to surge immediately to high levels. 

It was not just the World Trees and Life Trees; thanks to the Liu Shu controlled, the number of among the intelligent species had surged to over 300, while the were in the hundreds of thousands. Moreover, these numbers didn't take into account the ant empire developing underground. 

As Liu Shu scanned her domain, she noticed Fortuna holding a potion with one of her thin branches. "Big Sister Fortuna." 

"Liu Shu?" Fortuna's elegant and gentle voice echoed softly. "What's wrong, Liu Shu? Do you need my help?"

For World Trees, a few decades were nothing but a blink of an eye. Therefore, they weren't affected by Liu Shu's strength like intelligent creatures. They were reverent and respected Liu Shu, but they didn't treat her as a superior being out of their reach. 

Liu Shu commented, curious. "What is that potion you are holding? It looks weak, but there is something strange about it."

Fortuna chuckled. "How about you analyze it? I bet you'll be surprised."

Curious, our World Tree did as told. 

***

: It is a potion that recovers the sap of trees and heals injuries. It can also cleanse harmful substances up to E+ Rank. 

Note: This is an amateur potion created by World Tree Fortuna. The craftsmanship is that of a novice, but the quality can be qualified as super for a low-tier potion. 

***

The effects were nothing special. Potions many times stronger than this one were readily available in almost any market or Explorer Association Building. What surprised Liu Shu was the Note attached to the potion. "You created this, Big Sister Fortuna?"

"Hehe, that's right! It took a while, but I finally managed to create a potion without it failing! It's really complicated to manipulate the materials and medical herbs with the roots. But I am getting accustomed to it!" 

Liu Shu was truly happy for her. "That's great! Aren't you the first World Tree other than me to be successful as a ?"

"That's right!" Fortuna exclaimed proudly. Then, she added. "Of course, without the and a few other boosts you provide, it would've been too difficult to make a breakthrough for the first time. Now, though, I feel that I can continue to improve even without your help."

Liu Shu was quite happy to hear that. She didn't want their skills to be dependent on her. "I see. So taking the first step is what felt difficult. That's interesting since I was the opposite, hehe." 

"Right…" Fortuna paused and asked, her voice curious. "I never asked, but how did you manage to develop your understanding of runes?" 

"How?" Liu Shu thought back and answered. "I asked Mariane back then to use Runes to conceal my World Tree aura. However, something triggered within me, and I managed to absorb that rune field. Then, a basic understanding of runes popped into my head. From then on, I just studied runes and developed naturally. More than a crafter… runes are part of my strength." 

Fortuna was speechless. "I shouldn't have asked… It makes me feel as if my accomplishment is nothing." 

"Not at all!" Liu Shu refuted passionately. "Big Sister Fortuna was able to develop even before Big Sister Prarya and the others, who are much older than you!"

Fortuna, similar to Liu Shu, was among the young World Trees. Her talent was truly exceptional, even when her Tier had not increased during the last few years. 

Prarya listened and used her roots to pull on Liu Shu's roots. "You little tree! Why are you looking down on your Big Sister, eh!?" 

"Waah! It hurts, Big Sis!" 

Prarya snorted, pulling and stretching Liu Shu's roots without any mercy. Prarya was still a World Tree, so there was no chance at all to hurt Liu Shu. "Ask for forgiveness from Big Sister, then I will stop stretching your roots!" 

Liu Shu pleaded. "I am sorry! Big Sister, it hurts! Let me goooo!"

Prarya stopped and chuckled, using her roots to caress Liu Shu's roots gently. "Good job. Good job." Then, she asked. "By the way, Liu Shu, can you teach me about this rune? I've read your book about basic runes, but it's a bit complicated to grasp the meaning."

"Oh? Big Sister Prarya is going to be a rune crafter?" Liu Shu asked, happy that a World Tree chose what she was learning.

"Yeah. I have tried a few crafting professions, and I think Runes are the one I feel most comfortable with." 

Happy to help, Liu Shu moved some of her consciousness over while also dealing with the words other World Trees were spreading towards her. "Let me see… Oh, the Gharma rune. Yeah, this one can be a bit tricky among the basic ones. Gharma is a rune that represents cleanliness. However, it's not the same meaning of [Clean] that you use for surfaces, rooms, or hygiene in general. This clean is about rune division and regulation." 

"Oh…" Prarya blurted. "I don't get it. If it is about that, why would you add it to a rune string?"

"It's not a permanent rune, haha." Liu Shu explained step by step. "When you are creating a Rune Field or anything rune-related, you need to accumulate runes with different meanings and create a chain reaction of meanings to move the Aether, Phoer, and Anima of the world."

Prarya answered positively. "Yes! That I know. For example, if you use the runes with the meaning of gas, inflammable, heat, and spark, you can create the most basic , right?"

"Yes. Now you are learning elemental runes, so the rune-strings are short. You can easily check their ordering and effects. However, for more complex rune strings with hundreds or thousands of runes, you will need runes that help you see the integrity. Gharma does just that. You add it not for an effect, but to check that the string is [Clean] and won't backfire."

"Ohhhhh." Prarya released a long exclamation. "I am inspired! Talk to you later, Liu Shu!" 

Liu Shu giggled and left Prarya alone. Her gaze moved above the city and observed the runes. Each building had complex runic arrays with hundreds of rune strings. Moreover, each rune-string was almost a thousand runes long, making a complex pattern that looked like an .

If combined "meaning" for an effect, "interlocked and twisted" the world's ternary essences for similar results. Runes were much more common to enchant small artifacts and places, while could cover cities and larger areas. 

Only a World Tree like Liu Shu, whose calculation and processing abilities far surpassed those of normal intelligent beings, was able to use runes so easily for large-scale formations. Her skill's name, , was not for show, after all. 

Other than runes, Liu Shu's had also increased by leaps and bounds. Now, she could develop and create B Rank or Profound Rank equipment. The only thing lacking was materials. Thankfully, her helped her passively gather materials rather quickly.

Moreover, after taking over the entire continent, she acquired different mines and underground sources of minerals. The ants helped a lot in that regard as well. The wealth that flowed in and out of Liu Shu's daily was enough to buy an average city.

'Hm~. Should I make a check on the structure to see if it is working properly? It has been two years since the last one.' 

Her senses focused on the many children, and she began observing, analyzing, and checking on the attitudes of the workers. 

'Wah… I didn't know that some people were brazen enough to secretly have intercourse during work…' She was confused as to why they would do it. 'It's only these seven people, which is not much, but it is strange that these seven exist.' 

Looking at the man shaking his hips, she spoke to them. "Stop that. Work properly."

The man and woman jumped, their faces turning pale.

"L-L-Lady Heavenly Willow?!"

"I am sorry! I am sorry! Oh, please have mercy!" 

The man and woman started apologizing profusely while haphazardly throwing clothes over their half-naked bodies. 

Liu Shu involuntarily came to notice something. 'Oh. His small member became even smaller so quickly… does he have erectile dysfunction? Also… that's the average human size? It's only a bit longer than a finger when erect. I guess I forgot about sizes that make common sense after being with Cinderielle and the others. Aaaanyway, let's continue our inspection.' 

As she scanned the place, Liu Shu noticed some people moving suspiciously. She was somewhat speechless. 'There is no way that there are still people who want to antagonize me… right? I literally deleted a few dozen in front of thousands to send a message! QAQ!'

Nevertheless, her thoughts ended up being slightly incorrect. There were people who were doing some scheming with bribes and such. Nonetheless, the purpose was not to oppose her openly. 'Hm… The leader. Ugh.' 

She had checked Wert's successor a few times, and she didn't like him. Not because he was incapable. The successor Wert chose was great when it came to administration duties, etc. 'Only… His personality is a bit too haughty.'

This man placed no one in his eyes. The only people he was slightly careful about were Liu Shu and Flor. Other than them, his nose was almost pointing at the sky in each interaction. 'Wert wasn't as competent as him… But at least he knew how to deal with relations. Does he really think that having the backing of the Explorer Association is enough to deter me?'

The , according to Skyflower, was a monstrous existence. It was so vast that neither the Verdant Sanctity Covenant nor the Abyssal Void Nexus dared to touch it. 

However, Liu Shu understood that a power so large won't really check on small branches of itself. Even if a few branches broke, the tree won't really notice it. "I don't want to get rid of the successor Wert appointed personally… But it is becoming a bit too blatant that he is bribing and manipulating the political situation from the shadows.' 

After thinking for a bit, Liu Shu decided on her course of action. 'Alright, let's give him one last chance. If he continues to act as he has, I will have no other choice but to leave the Exploration Association headless for a few weeks.'