Chương 420: Wall Forest Conclusion. Liu Shu's Rumination.

Liu Shu's Rumination.

After diving underground, the 5, 000 people were divided into ten groups of 500 people. After all, more than that made no sense underground. The tunnels were far from being wide enough, and large groups would be easy to spot for Terragore who certainly had vibration or life-aura related detection skills. The leaders of the ten groups were Flor, Eila, Thalgryn, Galia, Hua Edharen, Verena, Cinderielle, Verdantia, Tempestria, and Harmonixia. Ignatia also participated, but her role was one of protection.

Her ants were scouting the surrounding area of each group, and they would hunt any <Terragore> trying to fight them or approaching them. Flor looked around her, and she carefully tried to search for traces of the <Terragore King>. While the reports had spoken of where the monster was roaming, they didn't have the ability to pinpoint its location.

No World Trees other than Liu Shu covered this area, and since Liu Shu was focused on dealing with the biggest forest in the entire continent, she naturally couldn't lend a hand. Moreover, Verdantia and the others had already informed them of Liu Shu's harmonization problem. In short, nobody would depend on Liu Shu for anything during this expedition. Ignatia appeared in front of Flor through one wall, and she spoke with a smile.

"Flor, I am going to try and push forward. You know my stats, so unless I encounter those two super monsters, I should be okay." Flor frowned.

"Why? Isn't it better to follow the plan?" Ignaita chuckled.

"Yes. However, I've left twenty of my strongest children to guide the scouts. Mommy will be able to explore better that way~." Flor sighed.

"As you please. Be careful, okay? The <Terragore King> still has much higher stats compared to you." Ignatia humphed.

"Tsk, tsk. This Mom is an Ant Queen! I am not someone who can be easily stomped by just a false king monster!" Then, she left through the hole she came from. An ant poked her head through the hole, nodded cutely, and then fixed the hole in the wall. Alba, the Rose Fairy Queen, looked at Flor and asked, confused.

"Lady Flor, are you sure it is okay? Lady Ignatia might be a very important force when we are trying to capture the <Terragore King>."

"She knows what she is doing." Flor smiled.

"She wouldn't deviate from the initial plan unless she had a very specific reason. Leave her for now and focus on searching for traces of the monster. We should be able to find something soon." Flor added, her tone serious.

"This expedition will not be short, as we've already explained. Be prepared to roam for a month or two. Terragore can be very cunning, and a Fourth Energy Cycle one won't be an easy target to deal with." Everyone moved forward, leaving behind traces and baits for the monster. After fighting them for so long, they had developed a few metal balls created from rich alloys coated in World Tree sap. They were tempting enough to make some lower-level Terragore go crazy for them.

The tactic was for the balls to attract the monster to follow them. Then, when they would follow any of the ten groups, things could develop in many ways, but they had a plan for most situations. Meanwhile, Liu Shu had conquered over seventy percent of the Wall Forest. By now, the World Tree was angry.

'You stubborn forest! Can't you understand that you've already lost!? Submit to me!' The Wall Forest resisted. It was an existence older than even some mountains of this continent. It had been there for so many years that it developed a very faint self-consciousness. If a few more years had passed without someone like Liu Shu appearing, the chances of the Wall Forest becoming sentient or a World Tree would not have been exaggerated. Therefore, it resisted. After so many years, it didn't know the word surrender.

Even then, Liu Shu didn't feel pity or sympathy for it. As a World Tree, she was a being that was bound to cover everything. Moreover, to complete the <Sylvan Quest>, she was dominating the forest without hurting it.

'If I didn't have this quest, you'd be crying for your mommy!' Still, a change was occurring. As time passed, Liu Shu felt strange. It was as if her mind was diffusing all over her domain. As if her thoughts were becoming different from those of an individual and more of a collective.

'Hm… Why is this happening? Should I… Should we… stop?' Liu Shu observed her roots moving forward and influencing the trees to her side with a confused expression.

'I can feel… Their consciousness… Our consciousness…' Instead of being a subconscious feeling, Liu Shu was starting to feel whatever the trees felt all around her entire domain.

'That root itches. The branch broke. I am being struck. I am dying. I am ill. I feel calm. I feel anxious. I am… I am… We are? Who?' Liu Shu's mind slowly harmonized with her surroundings, and her <Avatar> was connected to her main body deeply. The roots sank into her body without hurting, and her mind changed.

'We should assimilate the Wall Forest quickly… Become one with it…' This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Suddenly, she stopped thinking like that. The image of her four lovers, the image of Flor and Ignatia, the image of Tree, and many others. Those images flashed in her mind one after another.

"We need to return to their side… We need to protect them… We… I need to finish this quickly.' Back and forth, her mind wandered into the chaotic root net between what she was.

'Am I Tianlian Liu Shu? Are we the World Tree? Am I the Avatar? Are we the forest?' The thoughts of ancient trees all around influenced her thoughts, but Liu Shu wasn't overly influenced. She quickly thought of who she was as the auras of her children reached her.

'I am… Everything. I don't need to choose. I can be Tianlian Liu Shu. We can be the forest.' Slowly, Liu Shu got accustomed to the feeling of being influenced by the billions of trees in her domain. The number of plant beings that were connected to her were so many, that even if their individual minds were small, the collective was able to try and overwhelm the mind of the World Tree. Regardless, Liu Shu digested all the new weak minds slowly. She didn't resist them; instead, she assimilated them.

And when she did so, her speed in taking over the Wall Forest increased several times over. It was as if the crawl-like progress had suddenly started sprinting. A World Tree needed to understand that they were not an individual. They were the tree of the world. The entity that connected everything through roots that extended distances difficult to describe. A creature that could act as both, a whole and an individual. Hence, Liu Shu slowly recovered her mind and accepted those truths.

'I am everything and one, I am one and everything…' That snapped her out of that strange, dazed state.

'Woah! That was trippy! It felt as if my mind was floating around aimlessly!' With her mind somewhat recovered, she decided to check on the progress of the mission.

'Let's see~.' [The <Wall Forest> surrenders.]'Hwah!? Now you surrender!? When I was about to swallow you whole easily by myself!? No! I want a refund! Stop the surrender! I want to swallow the <Wall Forest> myself!' Sadly, the System didn't listen to her and proceeded with the notifications. [Congratulations. You've completed the <Sylvan Quest: Spirit Of The Forest>!] [Main Objective: Survive for 3 months. (Completed)] [Objective 1: Make the <Wall Forest> submit. (Completed)] [Objective 2: Don't destroy more than 20% of the <Wall Forest>. (Completed)] [Objective 3: Don't let more than 20% of the fauna inside the <Wall Forest> perish through aftershocks. (Completed)] [Additional Objective: Capture the <Wall Forest> flawlessly. (Completed)] [You've completed all the objectives!] [Reward 1: Gain control over the <Wall Forest> and gain the ability to nourish its consciousness.] [Reward 2: Strengthen the <One Forest> title to <One With The World Tree>.] <One With The World Tree>: You are one with the World Tree. Her will is your will; her existence is your existence. You become impossible to corrupt and gain traits from the World Tree. [Reward 3: All creatures born in the forest gain the <Children Of The Forest> title.] <Children Of The Forest>: You will be born with traits of the World Tree that controls the forest. Your intelligence as a monster is slightly elevated.

You have a small chance to slowly evolve into a humanoid creature and explosively increase your intelligence. [Additional Reward: Increase the <Tier> of all beings born in the <Wall Forest> by two minor tiers.] [Similar <Titles> spotted.] [<One With The World Tree> and <Children Of The Forest> will meld into <One With The World>.] <One With The World>: You are a unique being that's similar to a World Tree but not entirely one.

Your inheritance is one that shall either wither in silence or bloom to illuminate all creation with your presence. Effect: You are able to assimilate all types of plant creatures in your domain, without exception, and keep their individuality unchanged while reducing their rebelliousness several times over. Moreover, your influence over other plant beings is increased by 100%, while other plant-based creatures have 50% less influence over you.

New Additional Effect 1: All trees in your domain will be born with <Title: One With The World Tree> New Additional Effect 2: All beings born within your forests will have the title <Children Of The Forest>. Liu Shu looked at the effects with wiggling roots.

"That's great! I hope this helps the people! After all, my <Golden Sap Country> can be considered a super large forest~, hehehe." Once she finished looked at that, Liu Shu expanded her senses and checked on what her people were doing.

'Hm? Wow! So much stuff has happened!' She could see the people roaming the underground, and the places where there were <Terragore> nests before were completely overturned. Now, to find <Terragore>, Liu Shu needed to focus on the center area of their empire.

'Hm~? There is a mission as well! Hehe, I want to do it too!' [You've accepted <Sylvan Quest: Terragore Empire>!]"Nice~. Let's check, let's check… Hm. Hm. I see. Okay!" Her roots moved, and suddenly, a notification spread all around. [<Objective 3> has been completed!] [Objective 3: Control all colonies and make sure no <Terragore> groups are left unchecked. (Completed)]