Chapter 46. Requirements to build a house.
After Liu Shu heard her story, she was thoughtful for a while. Her mind pondered between how her instincts told her how to act and what she had just heard.
As a World Tree, Liu Shu had a natural predisposition to be an observer. As long as she was not being threatened, she would rarely act. This was not because she was indifferent, but because World Trees perceived living beings differently from others. For them, a life being ended was part of a natural cycle, regardless of how it happened.
The only thing that World Trees would never allow was danger to themselves since, as living beings, they had the right to protect themselves as much as any other or to fight for their existence, what Liu Shu had been recently doing about fighting nearby trees that reacted violently to her expansion was a nice example.
But now, the idea of interfering and saving those close to her was presented to her rather eloquently. Hearing such a tale, Liu Shu bounced back and forth between her current role and what the elderly Rose Fairy spoke about. 'Protector? Do I need to become one?'
But, at the end of the day, her mind was too different compared to that of a human to delve into the moral and ethical reasoning behind this conundrum. So, while the thought was there, she didn't act on it and rather placed it in the back of her mind.
Did this mean that World Trees were ungrateful toward creatures that took care of them? It did not. From the very beginning, Liu Shu never really cared about what or who took her fruits. At first, they were birds, then some insects also came, and finally, the Rose Fairies arrived and settled around her.
Did she have some sympathy for them? Naturally, that's why when the Thornstrides attacked, Liu Shu was ready to fight back together with the Rose Fairies. But even then, her mentality as a World Tree never got compromised or changed. She just acted on the situation as it was the most profitable for her own safety.
Placing her thoughts aside, Liu Shu focused on something she had wanted to do for a while: build a <Basic house>!
<Basic house (F Rank)>: A very basic structure that has enough rooms and space to make it habitable for one creature. The walls are somewhat sturdy and won't go down with common natural phenomena.
Materials needed: Saplignwood x 100 (F- Rank), Sprout heart x10 (F Rank), Budbark x1 (F+ Rank), Pebbleheart x100 (F- Rank), Earthmud x100 (F- Rank), Yellow Cotton (F- Rank) x10.
[System Hint: If you want to create a <Basic House> to house races of similar stature to <Rose Fairy>, you will need 40% of the materials, rounded up.]
Liu Shu read the system hint with curiosity. 'Rounded up? That means that… Ah! I need the <Budbark > still, not just a fourth of the <Budbark >.'
The materials needed were relatively easy to get. During these two months, Liu Shu used the corners the Fairies created to ask for materials. Sadly, she couldn't ask for materials which they didn't have because there wer, so she was still missing the <Budbark >.
Still, the Rose Fairies were very diligent and had gathered enough materials to build three <Basic Houses>, not counting the F+ Rank material.
'Hm… I have most of the materials, but…' Similar to the weapon situation, Liu Shu was clueless about how to build a house. 'What size does it need to be? How should the rooms be aligned? How do I shape it? QAQ.'
Liu Shu was again stopped by the significant barrier known as "knowledge."
'What to do… How do I even ask about this to them…'
Liu Shu knew some basic information about life, the system, and many more matters as a part of her "instincts." But more technological issues were utterly out of her "basic understanding."
After thinking about it for a while, Liu Shu reached one conclusion that would lead to her getting the knowledge: Whine to Flor until Flor understood what she wanted.
And so, she began.
'Flor! Flooooor~, Flor? FLOR! FlorFlorFlorFlorFlor. Hehehe, FloOoOoOr! Come Flor~, Flor I want to build a houssseeee.'
Meanwhile, the Rose Fairy Queen's brain started throbbing as messages at the rhythm of a drum roll hit her one after another. This time, Flor was not lazing around as many Rose Fairies had come with reports of nearby intelligent creatures appearing with increased frequency. 'Hm… This is important, but if I don't go to Liu Shu, my head might explode from all her calls.'
Flor looked back toward Liu Shu, who was around 60 meters away and spoke, knowing that the World Tree could easily hear her from there. "I'm going, I'm going! Stop calling me Liu Shu. I heard you!"
Her tone was helpless yet pampering, like that of a mother to her young child.
Liu Shu stopped calling her while giggling in her mind. 'Hehehe, it is so fun to see her face change. Hahaha.'
The Rose Fairies around Flor laughed as they teased her.
"Queen, how does it feel to take care of Liu Shu?"
"Right, right. You are really similar to a mother now, hahaha."
Flor's eyebrow twitched. "A mother, who me?"
Clavel was also around and smirked. "You wouldn't be cursing at me sometimes in your sleep for discovering Liu Shu, wouldn't you?"
Flor shook her head helplessly. "You are all too mischievous. Now, go! Send someone to inform Ignatia as well, although she probably has already realized the strangeness." She added with a serious tone. "If you don't want to become the next ones to die, be careful of ambushes and be alert!"
The Rose Fairies nodded. "Understood, Queen Flor!"
Flor turned around and flew toward Liu Shu, who was patiently waiting for her. "Well, I'm here. What's wrong?"
The Rose Fairy Queen heard a sound and looked over only to see the <Lignified Vault>'s door being opened. Taking the cute quickly, she commented. "Okay, hold it there, I'm going down."
Liu Shu held the door until Flor entered, and having learned from her previous mistake when she almost chopped one root with the door closing, she slowly lowered it.
Although it happened a few months ago, Flor naturally understood why Liu Shu was so gentle with the door and laughed. "Are you afraid of getting hurt again, Liu Shu?
Receiving a sincere yes from her reminded Flor that the World Tree was still young and somewhat innocent. She couldn't help but sigh with a smile. 'We are lucky and somewhat unlucky as well.'
Between discovering a new or old World Tree, there were advantages to both. Old ones were more likely to become guardians instead, while young ones could benefit entire races by growing together with them.
Flor didn't know as much about this, but thanks to Verdantia providing some interesting books about World Trees, she learned a few extra basic facts that she hadn't known before.
Once inside the <Lignified Vault>, she looked over toward where the roots were pointed and was surprised to see a very large pile of materials. Around a fifth of every material inside the room was stacked in a large mound. Flor asked with a doubtful look. 'So… What's this?'
The Fairy Queen approached while floating down and began grabbing the materials one by one. "There are branches, flowers, rocks… What do you want to do with this, Liu Shu?"
Liu Shu answered confidently. 'A House!'
But the message was communicated similarly to gibberish, making Flor confused yet again. Flor rubbed her forehead. "How do I even do this… Think, think, what needs all this material? It is enough material to make a freaking house!"
Flor sighed, but as she sighed, her brain almost shut off as Liu Shu spammed her signals as if she had gone haywire.
'YES! FLOR YOU ARE SO AWESOME! A HOUSE! A HOUSE! I WANT TO BUILD A HOOOOUSSEEEEEEE!!! WHAHAAHAH! FLOR IS AMAZING!'
Flor, this time, almost got light-headed for real. "Wait, wait. Liu Shu, stop. You are making me feel dizzy!"
Liu Shu stopped, but the happy mood radiating from the tree was easy to feel.
Looking at the large stockpile, Flor muttered. "So… You want to make a house with these? Hm…" She asked. "Did you call because you wanted to tell me about- oh."
Flor paused as a feeling of deja vu hit her. "You don't know how to build one, right?"
A very confident and happy "Yes!" slammed into her brain. Flor's lips twitched. 'Well, being honest with one's ignorance is the first step toward becoming knowledgeable.'
Flor nodded. "Okay, I'll ask Verdantia about those things as well. I just hope she can get them like the rest."
Flor learned from the Fairy assigned to carry over the books that she couldn't keep them for too long. While Verdantia seemed willing to give them to them, they were, at the end of the day, books that taught people how to raise a World Tree.
While other books were not that relevant, she could get away with, "I put them on piles and never managed to find them." Books about World Trees were something precious. Destroying, losing, or even damaging them was considered an act of vanda vandalism.
Flor rubbed her chin. "Perhaps I'll go in person another again? While I feel that Verdantia is strangely unstable, perhaps she will get better after a while."
When Flor was about to go out, she noticed something at the corner of the room. It was not conspicuous or even exciting to look at. However, once Flor saw them, she rushed over while asking. "What's this, Liu Shu? Did you produce those weapons?"
Our World Tree looked over at what they asked and sent an affirmative signal. She wanted to create them when she was at Level 4, so she did.
Flor couldn't help but look into the stats.
[Level 4 Wind Leaf Amulet (Basic-Grade Flawed Level)]
+40 Aether Mana
Aether (+8)
[Windy Currents (active)]: Use to increase movement speed by 20% for a short 2-second duration. It can be used every 10 minutes or by using 10 Aether Mana.
[Level 4 Wind Leaf Amulet (Basic-Grade Flawed Level)]
+40 Aether Mana
Aether (+8)
[Windy Currents (active)]: Use to increase movement speed by 20% for a short 2-second duration. It can be used every 10 minutes or by using 10 Aether Mana.
[Level 4 Wind Leaf Amulet (Basic-Grade Complete Level)]
+72Aether Mana
Aether (+12)
[Windy Currents (active)]: Use to increase movement speed by 20% for a short 2-second duration. It can be used every 10 minutes or by using 10 Aether Mana.
There were four of the Flawed kind and one of the Complete kind. "When did you finish these? I didn't even notice!"
Flor looked at them with an awkward gaze. 'I didn't remember I finished that. Well, now she can have them, I guess.'
Flor looked at the stats and nodded. "Not bad, really not bad. Just the additional skill can be a life-saver, not to mention the stats it gives. Thank you, Liu Shu."
Liu Shu giggled. 'No problem, Flor~!