Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos.

There were many more things to consider besides the materials needed for building the <Basic Defense Building>. It was a complex structure that would be part of her defenses, so she couldn't just make it at random and in any way, shape, or form.

So, the first thing to consider was how big it would be. Liu Shu pondered for a while, juggling her thoughts back and forth. 'If it is too close, the purpose of even building it would be lost. I need to put it in a place so that it can attack things I can't!'

Liu Shu felt that her attack range was too limited. Until now, she has been lucky that her opponents all used closed-range skills. While, lately, she had unlocked <Root Manipulation>, allowing her to attack creatures within her Root reach, it was not reliable.

Root Manipulation was a skill mostly used for slow battles and spreading her domain. It helped her grow roots further and deeper, which was also a great advantage when fighting other trees. While their reaction speed could be measured in hours, Liu Shu's was measured in minutes and, depending on their use, seconds.

Thankfully, Liu Shu didn't have the bad luck of encountering an enemy like the Rose Fairies, who dominated aerial combat and long-range attacks. Liu Shu understood their advantage; after all, if she couldn't hit them, she couldn't beat them.

So, when placing this structure down, she wanted to create something that would cover this weakness of hers. Even if aerial enemies came, a thing that she could use to defend herself.

Naturally, she was not completely helpless against flying enemies. If her roots could go horizontally for up to 35 meters, they could do the same vertically. That was a great reach; still, the prospect of being attacked from further up was not unthinkable. At the end of the day, she was an unmoving target.

With all of this in mind, Liu Shu opened the system and entered the building interface. This interface was something she unlocked when she absorbed the architectural knowledge from the books. 'Let's see~, the <Basic Defensive Structure> is… here!'

With a thought, the designs for the building appeared in her mind. 'Hm? There are new ones?'

At first, the designs for the Basic Defensive Structure Liu Shu wanted to build were very simple. It was a tree-like structure that used its branches to throw leaves and other types of projectiles reinforced by Aether Mana.

These branches could be equipped with projectiles either crafted by herself or others, or grown naturally by the Defensive Building as part of its own cycle. After all, what Liu Shu was aiming for was an actual living organism created by Woodcrafting and architecture and other complex procedures only possible because she was a World Tree.

Usually, these buildings were optimized for humanoid use, and hence, having "life" was not practical. So, for the basic designs people would create and build, the ability of the creature to level up was usually not taken into account.

First of all, creating anything that could level up was rare, complicated, and usually inconceivable. For something to be recognized as an organism by the system, it needed the potential to grow, and creatures couldn't give that ability at will.

But World Trees were an exception.

As the little darlings of the universe, their innate ability to control energies was superb and incredibly complex. Not to mention, their connection to life was the strongest of all creatures. So, even though World Trees come in many shapes and forms, they all have some level of life affinity.

Going back to the structure designs, what changed Liu Shu's options was none other than her own branch being mixed into in the process. With the use of the <World Tree Branch> as a construction material, the options presented were much more varied and complex, with different attack methods Liu Shu hadn't even actively thought about before.

The system interface was a helper during the designing process. Using the learned knowledge of the creature, it would be able to show the most efficient buildings.

This didn't mean the system listed all of them, just the most efficient ones. If a creature wanted something more specialized, it needed to use its own abilities to make those changes.

Furthermore, it wasn't complicated to generate structural designs that didn't follow the system's recommended ones; thanks to all her absorbed knowledge and with a bit of help from the system in terms of evaluating structural integrity, she could imagine a model in her head in almost any kind of shape or form.

The imagery was ethereal and different from what a human would see it as. It was like a flickering light structure with complex pathways for the ternary essences and also a large root system indicating how much land it needed or how the creature would live around her.

With Liu Shu's incredible mind strength, usually spread thinly throughout her gigantic body, calculating and reorganizing these otherwise complex details was possible. It took time, but she could do it without gaining a headache. If a human of the same level had the same mental capacity a World Tree would, they would become the genius of the millennia.

Liu Shu began planning. Unlike humanoid beings that focused on appearance while trying not to lose functionality, Liu Shu's objective was for the structure to become part of her ecosystem. If the structure she created would take space from her, the last thing she wanted was for it to become aggressive when she invaded its space. Similar to the <Lignified Vault>, the defensive structure needed to be part of herself.

As a World Tree, she was averse to other flora that could invade her domain. Yet, if one looked around all worlds, vegetation flourished around World Trees.

These two statements contradict themselves unless you add the fact that World Trees don't hate all flora. Instead, World Trees are hostile to flora that aren't under their influence.

When a World Tree expanded, they did not attack others indiscriminately. It showed in Liu Shu's first encounter with another tree's root system.

At first, she approached carefully, testing the waters and checking its reaction. However, the random tree she approached rejected her and not only that, it even tried to push her back while attacking her.

This was a slap to Liu Shu's face, and so, that tree got brutally uprooted by her and turned into fertilizer.

Putting it in a very direct way, World Trees could be considered an invasive species that instead of upsetting the environment around them, they enhanced it while getting rid of all flora that would not cooperate with them.

Were they good?

Were they bad?

The conversations around these topics were deep and philosophical in almost every culture.

World Trees were brutal, that was something everyone knew, but appropriate for the instinctual objective all World Trees had since birth, one attached to their very name.

I digress.

With all of those concepts in mind, the way Liu Shu approached the Defensive Building Construction became clearer.

Liu Shu was thinking of creating flora that would be able to surround her and, at the same time, be able to attack at a distance. So, creating one single structure was not appropriate. 'If I do that, the problem is that I will need another three to cover all my angles right?' Liu Shu pondered hard, making time tick. 'Instead of a large tower, another tree, or a bush, I might need to aim for something smaller but able to target the skies. It would lose in durability, but it would gain plenty of functionality.'

Liu Shu's mind swam through many concepts she slowly learned while trying to visualize many different types of constructions and root net systems. One after another, they flashed in her mind and got scrapped, making her sink into deep thoughts.

As she thought, another day went by. The reason Liu Shu even realized it was thanks to her daily alerts.

[A <Rose Fairy Level 12> has used <Royal Pollination> on you. You've gained 16 Experience Points.]

[<Basic World Energy Gathering> has absorbed 4 Experience Points]

Liu Shu looked at those two messages and giggled in her mind. 'I should ask Flor for help~. Hehe.'

Liu Shu cleared her imaginary throat, and then she focused on the relaxing Rose Fairy Queen. Flor was leaning on her body after using the pollination skill. Her face relaxed, and she had a faint smile as she closed her eyes and basked in the sun that Liu Shu's branches allowed to pass through. 

The scent of the World Tree was pleasant and filled everything around it with an aura of life. Moreover, the <Enchanted Growth> skill was similar to an aura, affecting everything in a certain radius. The sounds of her soft leaves rustling in the soft wind, the pleasant bark pressing against her back, and the gentle sounds of Rose Fairies buzzing around and speaking made this place the perfect spot for relaxing.

Of course, that would be the truth if it wasn't because of a certain young and mischievous World Tree.

An impish giggle escaped Liu Shu before she started her message barrage without any warning whatsoever. 'Hehe… Floooooor! FlorFlorFlor! FoOoOoOoR! Floo-o-o-o-rrrrr!'

Flor opened her closed eyes slowly, her eyebrows twitching incessantly as wave after wave of pulses slammed into her head, telling her what Liu Shu was saying.

She couldn't help but lament. 'Is this how she was calling me all those times?'

Flor rubbed her forehead with a sigh-like smile. 'This is annoyingly adorable. Tsk, tsk. I can't get angry even if I want to. Why is she so cute, eh? I can't bring myself to berate her no matter what she does, sigh.'

She straightened her body and looked at the trunk of the playful World Tree. "Yes, yes, I can hear you. What do you want, little one?"

Liu Shu laughed happily when Flor answered. 'Well, you see, you see. I was thinking about where to put my Defensive building and how to build it. Do you have any ideas? I will only have one building for now, so I will be quite upset if the enemies come and attack me from the wrong side!'

Flor blinked and placed a hand on her chin. "That's an interesting question. Let me check around for a few moments, Liu Shu."

Liu Shu looked confusedly as Flor left. 'Why did she leave?'

There was one thing that Liu Shu was not aware of yet.

As a creature with limited vision, she didn't know how the land around her was shaped. For Liu Shu, as her roots grew, her world also expanded. However, beyond that, she saw nothing. It wasn't anything like an all-consuming darkness or a blinding brightness. It was more similar to a barrier-like thing that blocked her view.

Therefore, when Flor said something about checking the surroundings, she wasn't sure what that meant. 'Are my surroundings important? Hm… I should ask Flor one day.'

Meanwhile, Flor's leaf-like wings buzzed and lifted her body into the air. Then, she flashed toward the sky and looked around at the entries into the grove that were easy to attack from.

She muttered. "Honestly, we are quite in the open. There are not any places that are more difficult to attack or cross to get to Liu Shu. I guess we need to create a barrier somehow. Liu Shu said that she had a defensive structure called a <Basic Defensive Wall>, right? That should help once we have enough materials."

After circling around the place for an hour, Flor couldn't spot any apparent weaknesses to be exploited or, on the contrary, obstacles that could limit a group's advancement. Their grove was open and as accessible as the dense flora allowed it to be.

This made it quite clear to Flor that it was quite dangerous.