Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos.

A week had gone by since the Rose Fairies had arrived. During this time, Liu Shu had been focusing on using her <Nature's Gift> skill, slowly making it part of her natural cycle. 

While a week was not much time, Liu Shu could now spare some time for other things. Her Aether Mana and Anima Energy were always kept at more than 95%. Moreover, with such consumption, Liu Shu could nourish the 200 berries with ease, leaving even some hours a day where she was at 100% energy.

At those times, Liu Shu practiced her other skills. One that had been too complicated to use was <Enchanted Growth>. Unlike her [Passive Skills], her [Talents] weren't instinctual at all. They needed conscious practice to be used. 

<Enchanted Growth> was a powerful E+ Rank skill, so the complexity of use was leagues above <Nature's Gift>, <Willow Strike>, or <Willow Strike Barrage>.

Once she tried to use it to accelerate the growth of the plants around her, she felt as if her soul was about to be drained from her roots. She had realized that the skill, with her current proficiency of use, needed at least 100 points of Aether Mana and Anima Energy per second. 

In short, for now, it was unusable.

Other than that, her gains were quite good. In the seven days Liu Shu spent with the fairies, she gained many things in addition to improving her quality of life. 

First of all, the fairies took care of her and even groomed her, making her feel extremely happy every day. They cleaned anything that got stuck in her trunk, took care of the minor harmful bugs that Liu Shu could do nothing about, and mixed things Liu Shu didn't know about on the earth, which made it tastier!

Her roots near her trunk were always wriggling in happiness at the savory earth that surrounded her. 

Other than that, Liu Shu was always expectant of the morning because the biggest fairy, Flor, would come and dance around her, leaving a trail of red dust that was even tastier than the earth and felt tremendously good. Moreover, each time, Liu Shu would gain 10 Experience Points.

So, just from that, Liu Shu had gathered 70 Experience Points! Then, thanks to her Energy Gathering Method, she gained 14 additional Experience Points. 

That wasn't all.

There were a few fairies patrolling her surroundings, and when one creature approached, Liu Shu curiously saw all the fairies flying into the trees, leaving her alone.

At those moments, because her <World Tree Eye> couldn't reach as far as normal eyesight, Liu Shu would become confused. 'Why do they leave me alone?' 

Of course, she couldn't ask, and she could also feel a few of them hiding in the canopy of nearby trees. With her improved 40-meter radius 360 degrees vision, she could see the closest trees. 

Of course, the beings that approached were varied: plant creatures, animal creatures, flying beings, small rodents that wanted to burrow in her roots, and many other tiny beings. All of them were Level 5 and below. 

There was a change, though. All Level 1 and Level 0 beings had stopped bothering her when she used her aura as intimidation. 

For the rest, Level 2 and 3 creatures that she killed gave just 1 Experience Point, Level 4 creatures gave 2 EXP, and Level 5 creatures gave 4 EXP. 

Because of her growth and increase in her aura, adding to the increase in the level of her <Charm of the Seedling> skill because of the constant visit from the fairies, she attracted exponentially more beings as the day passed.

Those who didn't attack her began living in the surroundings, slowly creating an ecosystem.

Those who attacked her… Well, they were all whacked to death by her branches. 

Remember that Liu Shu had 25 Physique Points. How much was that? 

An average creature with Physique as their main stat at the F+ Rank needed to be Level 9 to have an average of 21 Physique Points. 

So, while she was Level 2, she had stats similar to a Level 9 creature. Moreover, if you look at her numbers, she had high numbers for all her stats. This was not common, as other beings had one stat much higher than the others. Still, be it her Aether, Willpower, Physique, or Anima, all of them were close to specialized creatures at Level 9 of the F+ Rank. 

In short, any being at level 5 or below who attacked her was doing nothing but throwing their life away to feed our Liu Shu Experience Points.

Liu Shu calmly listened to Clavel speak as the fairy took one of her branches and slowly applied a strange paste to it. "Little one, do you like it here?"

Liu Shu groaned in her mind as the tiny hands gently applied whatever Clavel was using. 'It feels so nice~.'

Clavel felt happy feelings coming from Liu Shu, and her eyes curved in a crescent as she smiled. "That's good." Then, Clavel moved up the branch and slowly moved toward the root. She was careful not to touch the leaves to avoid damaging them. 

The thing she was using was a mix of natural oils created to moisturize the bark of trees. As Clavel moved toward the main trunk and started moving downward, her eyes couldn't help but linger on the two apparent bulges three-quarters up on the trunk. 'Hm? Are they getting bigger, or is my mind playing tricks on me?' 

Clavel curiously touched them and squeezed. 'Huh? What? It's softer than the other bark-'

Suddenly, her hand was slapped by a branch. Clavel hissed, looking at the tree with a puzzled expression. "What's wrong, little one?"

Meanwhile, Liu Shu's mind was a bit chaotic. 'W-What was that feeling?'

Liu Shu didn't feel much when Clavel touched that part of her trunk. It was similar to the rest of her body. However, the moment Clavel started fondling and pressing, Liu Shu felt her mind go blank for a second as an unknown sensation flooded her mind. 

Out of fear for the new sensation, she instantly attacked whatever was touching her. Thankfully, she didn't hit Clavel with all her might, or her hand would've been more than red. 

Feeling guilty, Liu Shu looked at Clavel and thought about how to compensate her.

Clavel, on the other hand, was confused and asked softly. "What's wrong, Little one? Did I press too hard? Hm… Let's use our communication method, okay?"

During this week, the fairies realized that the level of sentience in Liu Shu was extraordinarily high for a tree. Therefore, they created a yes and no answer method.

If the answer was no, Liu Shu would release her Aether Mana Aura. If it were a yes, she would release her Anima Energy Aura. 

This allowed for simple communication between them and also pushed Liu Shu to practice "thought" and Aether Mana and Anima Energy control.

Liu Shu remembered what they had explained in the past, so after a few minutes of digesting Clavel's words, she released her Anima Energy Aura to answer yes. 

For the fairies, it would be a lie to say that it wasn't tedious to communicate with the slow-thinking tree. After all, sometimes they would have to wait even hours to receive a yes or a no. 

By the way, it was with this method that the Fairies learned that Liu Shu already had a name. Of course, with their method, they couldn't really know which name she had. After all, while Liu Shu could understand speech thanks to her most powerful SSS Rank skill, reading and writing were still not possible. 

Even if she had the ability to use the SSS Rank passive, she couldn't fully utilize those skills with her current level of strength. It was like using a cup to take water out of a clean lake. 

The water she took could be drunk, but if you spoke about using the entire lake at once, it was impossible. So, for now, she had the ability to understand all kinds of speech but nothing further than that.

Clavel began asking. "Did you like it when I touched you?" 

She was actually quite nervous. What if their little one was just being polite by letting them touch her at will, but in truth, she hated it? 

Clavel would feel awful if that was the case. 

Thankfully for her, a small stream of Anima Energy came her way after five minutes of nerve-wracking wait. Clavel sighed in relief. "That's good, that's good."

Then, Clavel looked at the two bumps on Liu Shu's trunk. Honestly, all the fairies had somewhat realized that Liu Shu, even as a tree, somewhat resembled the body of a female.

However, trees grew in all kinds of shapes, and coincidences as such were not that uncommon. Moreover, it was common sense that all trees were female, so the fact that some adopted semi-humanoid shapes was taken as the tree's femininity shaping their trunks. 

What the Rose Fairies didn't know about was that trees could feel pleasure, not common pleasure like the one Liu Shu exhibited when eating, but sexual pleasure.

Trees developed by themselves and didn't need a mate to produce seeds. They could produce them easily and spread them around, using the earth as fertilizer to reproduce.

The way they evolved happened during the life of the tree. Unlike humans, who combined the gene pools of two people to create a completely new life, trees subconsciously changed their own genes during their long lives, and the seeds they spread around would then blossom with those new traits. 

This was also why flora was everywhere, including volcanic regions. Trees in those areas had slowly evolved to not only resist fire but also feed on it.

Naturally, this didn't mean that trees couldn't reproduce sexually. If not, Sylvans wouldn't exist. But this was something that will be explored later quite… in depth. 

Clavel, who didn't know that she had just pressed on one of Liu Shu's erogenous points, asked confusedly. "Did you slap my hand because you felt uncomfortable?"

Liu Shu began thinking about it. 'Uncomfortable? Hm… It was definitely strange. But, it wasn't uncomfortable.'

After mulling over it, she decided to answer "no."

Clavel tilted her head, feeling confused. 'Why did she slap my hand otherwise?'

Aster, her friend, came and saw Clavel looking at Liu Shu confusedly. "What's wrong, Clavel?"

Clavel turned her head and commented. "Oh, Aster. Well, you see…"

Aster listened and also became confused. She commented. "How about you finish spreading the paste first? Look at her." 

Clavel looked and saw that only the upper part had a transparent, slimy substance. She commented. "Help me with it, Aster."

Aster had no problems with that, and both fairies got to work. Their hands descended, and they carefully looked at Liu Shu when they approached the waist area. After all, Clavel and Aster could guess that Liu Shu reacted when Clavel touched the "breast-looking" area on the trunk.

So, this time, they were extremely careful when applying the natural paste. 

Liu Shu looked at them with curiosity, but the feeling was as usual because of their carefulness. 'Strange… What happened back then?' 

Although she was confused, she didn't mull over it for long. A Level 5 Fairy approached and commented. "There is a small group of [Earth Carving Hare] coming this way. Our little one has probably attracted them."

Clavel and Aster were already done with the paste, so they flew upward. Clavel smiled. "Have fun, little one."

Liu Shu looked at how the fairies went into the canopies, leaving her alone, and mentally sighed. 'Are any other little friends approaching? Or are they the bad little friends?' 

Her <World Tree Eye> extended to its maximum range, and soon, she saw a group of yellowish quadrupedal fluff balls hopping her way. 

Looking at them closely, she saw that there were six creatures, three of them Level 3, two of them Level 4, and one of them Level 5.

Liu Shu observed them as she saw their noses twitching and approaching her. Naturally, she didn't react wrongly. It was not that she disliked creatures approaching her; it was just when they had bad intentions or treated her as prey. 

So, as the five hares hopped closer and sniffed the ground, Liu Shu looked at them curiously. 'I've never seen this kind of little friend.'

She looked at their stats page, just to be sure, and saw nothing menacing or wrong with them. 

The leading hare titled her head, its ears straightening as it suddenly looked around alertly. 

However, Liu Shu didn't find it strange as her senses also picked up something. 

Danger. Extreme danger that she had never felt before.

Then, from the edge of her senses, a being shot at tremendous speed, like a predator, and arrived in front of the five hares.

Naturally, the five small animals tried to dodge and run, their speed extremely quick for their level. 

However, it was useless, and Liu Shu knew it. The reason? The message that popped in front of her.

[<Charm of the Seedling> has attracted a <Thornstride Level 11>. Proficiency increased by 110.]

************

Author Note: Hello, dear. First of all, thank you for reading up to this chapter and giving the novel a try. I hope you are liking it!

Second of all, I'm here to promote myself shamelessly! Yes, you've read right! I have a Patreon page! Patreon.com/mortrexo. Why is this important? Well, I'm uploading the art of the novel there PLUS up to FIFTEEN EXTRA CHAPTERS!

Wow, right? Well. Art is unlocked even with the lowest tier, so check it out~. Even if you just read this novel, you have over 45 completed pieces of art!... I spent a lot of money, okay!? (Btw, there is zero AI art; you can even see the sketches for each and every piece)T_T, why is art so expensive...? Ehem. Either way, if you have a bit of extra money, I would appreciate it if you could support me~.

Much love and hugs,
Mortrexo.