Chương 797: Delightful and Unpleasant Incidents.

Liu Shu's focus was currently concentrated on the Sun. Her roots, which had finally reached the Sun's core, were being pushed back with ridiculous force. The core of a star, one of the most violent locations in the entire universe, was currently fighting off the invader trying to pierce through.

'Powerful… incredibly powerful…' Liu Shu couldn't help but feel intimidated when faced with such a destructive force of nature. In her ears, her S- Rank skills involved in this fight were gaining proficiency crazily, pinging in her ear one after another with jumps ranging from 100 to 10, 000 proficiency points. Even then, Liu Shu was not deterred. Her roots pushed onto the viscous, almost solid core.

The plasma created at the center of a star, a substance that was neither a solid or liquid, churned and pulled on her roots with terrifying force while the constant explosions from nuclear fusion tried to crush her. Thankfully, <Eternity Of Stars>, together with many other buffs such as strengthening, star essence comprehension, and healing methods, allowed for her roots to only fracture and heal quickly, her World Saint Bloodsap leaking slightly before wounds closed.

This sap was doing incredible work, as its nature was such that it could even seep into the plasma created at the center of the star, making the area much more accessible for her. A root, taken by surprise, was struck fiercely as several fusion collisions occurred near it, severing it entirely. Once that root lost the connection with Liu Shu, the buffs disappeared, and what would normally happen occurred right before Liu Shu's eyes.

The root immediately combusted, blowing into pieces that were later swallowed by the terrifying heat. In less than a second, the root that could reach several hundred kilometers long vanished, disintegrated by the Sun's violent core. A chill climbed up Liu Shu's trunk.

'If I didn't have my current buffs against environmental damage, my roots would've been consumed like water droplets touching superheated magma. It was really no joke.

'Regardless… continue. Push through. Ignore the <Phoer> reduction messages as my regeneration and healing skills are enough to keep up with it.' She had cast <Touch Of The World> on her roots, consuming a cumulative of 20 <Eternity Strands> so that the buff would not disappear across the large area her roots were currently covering.

The healing buff applied to her roots was constantly regenerating them, and unless a concentrated explosion happened to blow off a root right off, her durability and regeneration could easily keep up.

'Deeper. Faster. Thicker.' Her roots grew, their thickness stretching out as they sank deeper so that the Sun would have no chance to cut them off. From the outside, the Sun looked somewhat scary. Hundreds of thousands of roots were currently piercing its surface all over, their resilient bark pulsing with blue veins as they dug deeply and rotated together with the star. From Ceperet and the other worlds, one could even feel the sun's light strangely flickering from time to time.

While it was not something noticeable, it would sometimes make some people blink and look around, confused. Noticing the Sun flicker was not something people would voice out, even if they realized it. Other than the Sun, Liu Shu's roots had already covered the entirety of the Solar System, so the one thing left was the core. A day passed… a month passed… and around 16 years after the War, 8 years for the rest of the Universe, Liu Shu's north and south roots touched right in the middle.

Liu Shu's eyes gleamed brightly when that happened, her body feeling a sense of accomplishment and ecstasy that made her burst into delighted laughter with her main body.

"Pahahaha!" The over 2, 000, 000-meter-tall World Tree laughed, her delight echoing within her domain and making people look up with a bewildered expression. The Verdant Elder, having been in Ceperet for six years already, couldn't help but frown when he heard such cheerful laughter. He had been working quite tirelessly throughout all this time, trying his best to get some people to infiltrate. However, his efforts were mostly in vain.

There was still no one from his side who had managed to successfully get the buffs or any information about them. Still, he had come to learn about the special berries being sold, and even bought some secretly. Controlling the output of several billion berries tightly enough not to have a few dozen slip was impossible, even with tight controls. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Just these berries, all A+ Rank, left the Verdant Elder quite shocked. Although they didn't work for beings over Level 200, as their limit was Level 199, it was an incredible boost for the entire Golden Sap Empire and their low-level people, helping them tackle <Dungeons> much more safely than in most other locations. The flat attribute boost and affinity boost were very helpful, not to mention their ability to give resistance against illnesses and many more buffs.

Combined with Liu Shu's other buffs, the Verdant Elder realized that illnesses in the Golden Sap Empire were almost a myth to scare children.

"Any idea why Tianlian Liu Shu burst into laughter?" The archbishop by the Verdant Elder's side shook her head.

"Nothing. I've asked, and even those people working in the government showed puzzled looks. Still, since the laughter was a happy one, most people just smiled and prayed silently, hoping that whatever caused such laughter would last for a bit longer." The Verdant Elder nodded, sighing as he leaned back. He had been in the Golden Sap Empire for six years, and the treatment inside the Lignified Houses made him almost reluctant to go back to his own house.

The Lignified Houses not only helped with food and cleaning, but they also managed things that you told them to recall to a certain degree. It was like having a personal maid at home able to help at all times.

'I am becoming a bit lazy because of that.' No matter how much the Verdant Elder wanted to be on guard, he couldn't feel any negative feelings towards the Lignified Houses. He heard about the rules on how to deal with them as well, and just imagining someone trying to defile such simple, honest, and kind beings made his stomach churn. After all, everyone knew that most laws were written in blood. So, for such things to be specially highlighted, they must have happened in the past.

'I almost feel like the Death Penalty is a light punishment for anyone who bothers these children.'

"Alright, besides that, I wanted to ask. Did we have any luck in terms of getting to know the buffs?" The archbishop nodded with a slightly awkward look.

"We did, Lord Verdant Elder."

"Huh?" He had expected to receive the usual denial, but to his surprise, there was a result?

"How did you get it?" He didn't even ask about the buffs, as the method of how they obtained them was even more miraculous for the Verdant Elder. The archbishop hesitated for a few moments, and eventually, she sighed.

"I want to clarify, this was not my order. It was done independently, and the person has already been captured by Golden Sap authorities and killed." The Verdant Elder frowned.

"What happened?" The archbishop decided to blurt it out rather than hesitate.

"One of our mental ability users has slowly brainwashed a child and forced them to blurt out the buffs in their system pages." The Verdant Elder's heart dropped for a second before he frowned fiercely.

"... Brainwash? From what I know, there are not many in our midst with such an ability. Those who have it…" The archbishop nodded, and the Verdant Elder sighed, looking out of the window for a few moments.

"... Since it is done, state them."

"I think it is better to read them, Lord Verdant Elder."

"Read?" A small stack of paper was presented in front of the Verdant Elder, each sheet written on both sides. The Verdant Elder blinked and glanced at the archbishop.

"What is this?"

"The list of buffs and their effects." A simple yet terrifying answer. The Verdant Elder reached out cautiously, and then, he began reading. The room was silent as he read, when his room suddenly trembled and opened. The Verdant Elder and the archbishop tensed up, preparing to attack, only to see a wooden avatar appear before them. The wooden avatar's glowing blue eyes looked incredibly cold as she glanced at them.

"I didn't expect the Covenant's envoys to resort to such lowlife methods." The Verdant Elder looked at the wooden Avatar and spoke.

"It was not my order." Liu Shu answered coldly.

"It was not your order; it was your lack of supervision. This is a worse crime, Verdant Elder." She had been too focused on the Sun's core, so she had not been able to keep those dubious people in check, and quite a disgusting thing happened that left Liu Shu with an incredibly bitter taste. Her happiness at having completely conquered the Sun was now laced with an uncomfortable feeling. The Verdant Elder needed to speak for the Covenant, so he spoke firmly.

"It was an individual action. No direct or indirect orders were involved. I understand that Lady Heavenly Willow is feeling uncomfortable, and so am I. However, the past can't be changed." Liu Shu looked at him with a cold gaze, wondering on how to deal with this. Checking everything, she knew that his words were the truth. However, they needed to be punished. She won't let her information and what happened go freely.

"The punishment has been decided. You will give up 50% of your fleet ships as punishment. Beyond that, I have taken the liberty to check all communications and documents you have written and stored within them." The Verdant Elder's eyes widened before he answered angrily.

"That's too much! Lady Heavenly Willow, if you do that, we won't stay silent!" Liu Shu humphed.

"What are you going to do? I will be blunt. This time, you messed up badly. The papers in your hand are worth several times more than what I am asking. While I know that you already know, I will pass the check and get even. You want to complain to the Covenant? Sure, go ahead. Also, I won't be offering hospitality as good as before. Next time, control your people." Then, without hearing anything, she untangled her roots, and her ternary essences pulsed powerfully.

50% of the fleet was seized up, and anyone related to the incident was killed without trial. She similarly raised all their benefits, like free lodging and food, and, going further, publicized what had happened to the population so that everyone would be careful. After doing that, Liu Shu sighed and shook her head.

"Alright, let's see the System Messages now. [Congratulations! You've completed <Sylvan Quest: Envelop Your Solar System>!]