Chapter 121. Level 10. Liu Shu's Monstrous Talent.
The first thing Liu Shu did was to destroy the small energy circuit she created as a test. The white lights that she filled disintegrated, and this made her feel the loss of energy affinity she gained.
Using her observation capability, her mind quickly processed the available pathways all across her body, root system, and everything linked to herself. Her focus on the outward world was completely cut off.
After she had completely analyzed everything from the canopy to the tip of her roots, Liu Shu realized how special the three branch accessories she had were. The <Sylvanium Branch>, <Cognium Branch>, and <Celestium Branch> had many empty pathways, a lot of which she was still not precise enough to thread through.
When creating her energy circuits through the <Energy Cycle> process, her accuracy was limited. Even if there were smaller pathways that she could distinguish, when she tried creating a path through them, the circuits were too thick and rough to pass through them, making it impossible.
Liu Shu guessed that these were paths for future Energy Cycles to use.
What was curious is that her ability to perceive energy increased when she completed more of her Energy Cycle. While she already had the ability to see the energy flow because of her nature as a tree, which often didn't rely on optical vision but energy vision, now it felt as if that was enhanced. From seeing rough shapes and clouds of energy, she could now distinguish everything much better.
Liu Shu painted her incredibly complex <Energy Cycle> over everything, and when she finished and connected the last opened circle, she felt an incredible rush of energy and strength.
A few messages appeared in her vision.
[<Energy Cycle> completed! Do you want to keep this <Energy Cycle>?]
[<World Tree Wisdom (SSS Rank Level MAX)> activates! <Energy Cycle> Completion rate is 76%. It can be significantly optimized. Do you want to activate the assistance?]
Liu Shu, who was about to agree to the first prompt, stopped when she read the second one. 'Huh? 76%? What is the average completion rate for World Trees?'
[<World Tree Wisdom (SSS Rank Level MAX)> activates! Average Completion Rate for World Trees is 63%.]
Liu Shu was once again surprised. 'So low? What about Sylvans and Humans?'
[<World Tree Wisdom (SSS Rank Level MAX)> activates! The average Completion Rate for Sylvans is 46%, and for Humans, 37%. Data cannot be more accurate due to the several races, worlds, and talents across the cosmos. It can still be used as a reference.]
Liu Shu pondered for a while and eventually decided to accept the help of her skill. After all, this skill was something that she had inherited from when she became a World Tree. 'I want to have assistance!'
[<World Tree Wisdom (SSS Rank Level MAX)> activates! Calculating… This will take 13 hours.]
'So long~.' Liu Shu waited, and after 26 minutes, she received a message.
[Completed!]
'What?' Liu Shu frowned. 'Did the skill get the time wrong? I can swear that it hasn't been longer than a few minutes…'
[<World Tree Wisdom>: Major errors were found in the canopy cycle, root-to-building connections, and trunk-to-bark connections. Minor errors were found in leaf cycles, inner trunk cycles, aggregate structure paths,...]
As the skill counted more of the mistakes she committed, parts of the map that were filled with white lines were now filled with red to pinpoint the location of the mistakes.
Liu Shu looked in stunned silence as the skill told her everywhere she made mistakes. While the completion rate was 76%, the red color was all over the energy cycle. It felt that the percentage didn't follow a linear increase but an exponential one. 'W-Where does my 76% completion rate come from!?'
[Finally, Perfect Executions were done across the Root Net Cycles.]
'Oh?' Liu Shu blinked a few times and saw that her root system was completely white with just a few red spots, while everything above ground was completely red. 'Ohh! So I did my root system perfectly~, hehehehe.'
[<World Tree Wisdom>: It is recommended to restart from zero after internalizing the mistakes.]
Liu Shu felt her smugness disappearing with that message. 'Wait, won't you help me with it!?'
[<World Tree Wisdom>: World Tree Wisdom is an assistance tool. The <Energy Cycle> must be completed by the user.]
'Are you still my skill!? Help me! Wisdoooooom! Lend me your wiiiisdooooooom!'
[<World Tree Wisdom>: Request Denied. World Tree Wisdom is a Passive Skill inherited by Tianlian Liu Shu along with her <#%@$&€$%# World Tree Inheritance>.]
Liu Shu flinched when the skill tried to pronounce the censored word. It sounded brain-jarring, as if something had scratched her mind with sharp nails. 'D- Don't say that word until I can understand it! It hurts!'
Thinking of the past, the World Tree asked. 'Why didn't you speak to me like this in the past?'
[<World Tree Wisdom>: World Tree Wisdom is too high-ranked of a skill. Tianlian Liu Shu can't bring out the true value of the skill until she gains enough strength.]
'How much of your utility am I using?'
[<World Tree Wisdom>: Unquantifiable. Like taking sips from an ocean.'
'Wow~. SSS Rank… it is indeed a Rank I've never heard about. The highest known rank is the mythical A Rank, and they are skills of powerful World Trees of the past that some doubt existed!' After reflecting on that, Liu Shu felt a bit smug since she had skills above the rank of those "mythical" skills, and even one at that rank, her <World Tree Heart (A Rank)>.
'Anyways, let's focus on redoing the <Energy Cycle>.'
On her first try, Liu Shu tried to start from the outside of her body to the center. Now, she would do the opposite. Moreover, with the errors pointed at by the skill, Liu Shu felt much more confident.
Starting from her core, Liu Shu extended the lines of light through half of the paths available to expand outward. Then, cautiously, she continued painting the lines of light across everything.
Once she reached the canopy, she made sure to follow the advice and first went to the top, creating a thick middle energy path and then branching it out. Previously, she had tried to create a circular path for every branch, but that was clearly inefficient.
Connecting her bark and trunk was another tricky point. Her bark was her skin, so she needed to create paths along the meeting points of the trunk and the bark.
Previously, she had created energy paths even inside the bark, and that was clearly not efficient because the bark was a protection organ that needed to focus on, well, protecting. Being damaged was easy, so creating energy paths through it would eventually deform them. Exceptions to this rule naturally existed.
Her next major mistake was how she connected her town and other structures to herself. 'Hm… Should I not close the cycles inside the buildings and instead connect them with my root system as if they were not individual trees but part of a bigger "myself"?'
Working on big and small problems, time flew by, and eventually, she finished everything.
The second she finished, her mind felt as if it was expanding as the energy purity in her body transformed. 'Ah… Such a difference… I can feel it now.'
Her leaves felt as if they could breathe individually, her vision as if it could see through everything, and her thoughts were clearer than ever. The slight immaturity of her thoughts significantly diminished…
'Hehehe~, this is quite awesome. I can't wait to bother Flor about it!'
…But of course, this didn't mean her personality changed a whole lot.
[<World Tree Wisdom>: Calculating Completion Rate…]
Liu Shu looked at that, and if she had lips, they would be smiling. As if they were one, Liu Shu muttered the same message as the system.
[Completion Rate: 100%]
'Completion Rate: 100%'
[<Energy Cycle> completed! Do you want to keep this <Energy Cycle>?]
'Yes.'
[Level Up!]
[Aether +7, Phoer +9, Anima +8, Willpower +10, Destiny +100]
[Materializing <Energy Cycle>! <Energy Cycle> will be automatically rebuilt every 10 Levels!]
'Hm~, so this means I will receive the benefits that it will give me every 10 Levels? No wonder Level 20 is called a <Sub-cycle >, and it is a smaller divider of strength.
[Title Unlocked: <Perfect Cycle>]
<Perfect Cycle>: When creating new <Energy Cycles> in the future, it will be impossible to go under 90% Completion Rate.
[<Energy Cycle> Materialized! Receiving stats!]
[Aether +225, Phoer +300, Anima +225, Willpower +300]
[<Energy Cycle> Materialized! Unlocking Potential!]
[Aether Resonance +9%, Physical Refinement +12%, Anima Affinity +9%]
Liu Shu would've probably made a backflip or something if she wasn't attached to the earth by her roots. 'H-HOW MUCH!? Wait, system! Wait I need to internalize-'
[<Energy Cycle> Materialized! Potential for <Summon >-related abilities detected. Unlocking <Summoning Affinity>! This stat is affected by <Willpower >.]
Summoning Affinity: Summon Cost, Summon Enhancement, Summon Speed, Summon Maintenance.
'Oh, I am going to have a core attack or something! My leaves will wilt if you don't stop! Also…' Liu Shu looked at those stats with curiosity. 'Summoning? I've unlocked summoning skills?'
[Congratulations! You've unlocked <World Tree Calling (E Rank Level 1)>!]
Liu Shu was speechless. 'I see. Thanks. What does this skill do?'
<World Tree Calling (E Rank Level 1)>: The World Tree has a connection with the World and everything else to a fundamental level. You can use 400 Anima to call for a summon. Choosing a species of summon to focus on will make summoning more efficient.
'Choosing a species… Hmmm.' While Liu Shu pondered, another message that distracted her arrived.
[Congratulations, you've unlocked a new berry! <Energy Cycle Berry>!]
'... That name is quite… What does it do?'
<Energy Cycle Berry (D- Rank)>: Increase the Completion Rate of an energy cycle by 5% up to 60%. You can ingest 1 per berry rank. Production Cost: 25,000 AM and AE. Gestation Time: 600 Days.
'Oh.' Liu Shu remembered the Completion Rate averages and realized that she had another "Bomb" of a berry in her ever-expanding arsenal. 'If this ever gets discovered…'
[Please choose a race for your summons]
'What options do I have?'
[Options:
- Earth Worm (F- Rank) (Common)
- Sand Chinchilla (F- Rank) (Common)
…
- Shadow Cat (F Rank) (Rare)
- Carapace Bee (F Rank) (Rare)
…
- Armored Beetle (F+ Rank) (Special)
…
- Ink Crow (E- Rank) (Special)
…
- Cloud Running Deer (E Rank) (Unique)
- Arboreal Winged Serpent (E Rank) (Unique)
- Sky Shredding Eagle (E Rank) (Unique)
- Light Flower Mandrake (E Rank) (Unique)]
The list was enormous, and Liu Shu felt every process stop as she selected her summon type. It felt like the system was waiting for her decision before proceeding.
'Hm… I should choose one of the Unique ones, right? I like the serpent one, but… any help or suggestions?'
[Common summons are available to everyone who has a summoning talent]
[Rare summons only appear as an option to 10% of summoners]
[Special summons only appear as an option to 0.1% of summoners]
[Unique Summons only appear when the summoner has a special talent.]
[System Hint: The Summon's Rank is related to the Summon's potential. As your skill is E Rank, the maximum you can see is E Rank summons. However, that doesn't mean that E Rank is the ceiling of talent for those summons. As the summoning skill increases in Rank, if the original summon had a higher rank, they would advance in maximum potential as well.]
[World Tree Wisdom: Unique Summons with words related to the summoner are usually the best-fitting ones.]
Liu Shu giggled. 'So much help! Hahaha. Thank you, everyone~.'
Then, she said. 'Also! We think the same, then, Wisdom! I would like to choose the Arboreal Winged Serpent!'
[Summon Type Chosen. Connecting Tianlian Liu Shu (World Tree) with the <Arboreal Serpent Dimension>.]
[Title Unlocked! <Touched By Dimensions>.]
<Touched By Dimensions>: You have increased ease of connecting with or sensing other dimensions.
[Completing Level Up process…]
[The time that it took to Level Up is 184 Days!]
Liu Shu read that last message, and she blurted. 'What!?' Then, her vision flashed outside that space. Before opening the <World Tree Eye> to look at her surroundings, Liu Shu decided to take a look at her system page, and a louder exclamation burst out from her.
'W-WHAT!?'
***
Name: Tianlian Liu Shu
Titles:
<Awakened >
<World Tree>
<Defender >
<Wonder Tree Building>
<Seedling World Builder>
<Perfect Cycle>: When creating new <Energy Cycles> in the future, it will be impossible to go under the 90% Completion Rate.
<Touched By Dimensions>: You have increased ease of connecting with or sensing other dimensions.
Hidden titles: [9]
Race: World Tree.
Energy Method: Basic World Energy Gathering (Gathers experience points*Level per day*(Complete Energy Cycle+1).)
Level: 10 [0/10,610]
Aether Mana Shards: 72,170/72,170 (+2599/Hour)
Phoer Body Shards: 103,799/103,799 (+3737/Hour)
Anima Energy Shards: 70,685/70,685 (+2545/Hour)
Attributes: Aether 533 (295+238), Physique 697 (390+307), Anima 543 (305+238), Willpower 664 (400+264), Destiny 1000 (1000)
Affinity Percentage: Aether Resonance (34), Physique Refinement (47), Anima Affinity (29)
Resistance Percentage: Aether Resistance (51), Physique Resistance (56), Spiritual Resistance (51), Mental Resistance (56)
Summoning Affinity: Summon Cost (-56%), Summon Enhancement (+20%), Summon Call Time (-56%), Summon Upkeep (-56%).
Talents:
<Enchanted 4 Growth (E+ Rank level [254,000 486,000])>
<Living 3 Wood City (D- Rank Level [11,500 839,900)>:
<World Tree Calling (E Rank Level 1)>: The World Tree has a connection with the World and everything else to a fundamental level. You can connect with another dimension to call a <Arboreal Winged Serpent>. You can use Anima Energy to call for a summon, and it costs Anima Energy to maintain it.
<Nature's 5 Gift (E Rank level [17,000 1,152,000])>: Produces small, magical fruits with unique and beneficial properties. Liu Shu can use 10% of the berry's cost to accelerate 60 Gestation Days.
<Energy Cycle Berry (D- Rank)>: Increase the Completion Rate of an <Energy Cycle> by 5% up to 60%. You can ingest 1 per berry rank. Production Cost: 25000 AM and AE. Gestation Time: 600 Days.
<Willow Strike (F+ Rank level MAX)>
<Willow Strike Barrage (F+ Rank level MAX)>
<Land 4 Modifying (E- Rank Level [61,950 248,900])>
Passive Skills:
<World 1 Tree Heart (A Rank Level [0 589900])>
<World 2 Tree Eye (C Rank level [21,000 1,152,000])>
<World Tree Wisdom (SSS Rank Level MAX)>
<Charm 3 of the Seedling (E- Rank Level [30,750 105,000])>
<Root 3 Manipulation (E+ Rank Level [12,470 486,000])>
<Seedling 2 World Builder Aura (E+ Rank Level [14,800 144,000])>
<Mind Call (F+ Rank Level MAX)>
Accumulated Experience: 6,044
Currency: Sylvanium Shards [115], Etherium Shards [0], Ascendium Shards [150], Celestium Shards [265], Cognium Shards [365].
Inventory: Saplingwood (1200), Yellow Cotton (150), Earthmud (500), Pebbleheart (800), Sprout Heart (50), Earthspire (150), Yellow Cotton Thread (20), Dustheart (30), Budbark (30), Gustbark (6), Mistbark (6), Blazebark (6).
***