Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos.

Liu Shu felt renewed. Her entire being was renewed as she absorbed the energy of Nature and the World. With her roots digging deeper, further, and swifter, Liu Shu wanted nothing more than to continue feeling this way forever. 

As she Leveled Up, her strength underwent a tremendous transformation. While it was possible to Level Up more than once in a row, it was not common. After all, other creatures needed to understand how some things worked before they increased their level. 

Her roots absorbed the nutrients of the surroundings, and her senses became sharper. As her strength increased, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour, her senses expanded and became more attuned to everything around her. 

On the outside, everyone was stunned. The event that was unfolding as Liu Shu leveled up was nothing but a magnificent spectacle of raw power. 

Be it above or under the earth, the shift was gradual yet noticeable. 

Above ground, they could see that as Liu Shu grew in size, the rest of the town followed her steps. All buildings were part of Liu Shu. Hence, as her energy surged, everything connected to her grew and moved. 

What was interesting was that the walls, the defensive flower field, and the rest of the buildings were gently shifting away from Liu Shu. 

The distance was not much; by the end of the event, they would've shifted just a few centimeters, probably not reaching a meter. However, the fact that they would move away was something fascinating for those who noticed.

It had been around one week since Liu Shu started Leveling Up, and Flor couldn't help but be a bit worried. "Why is Liu Shu taking so long?" 

By her side, the voluptuous Ant Queen picked her up like a doll and hugged her from behind. Flor blinked as she allowed those actions, thinking to herself. 'Huh? Since when did I start allowing Ignatia to be so comfortable with skinship?'

But her thoughts were interrupted by Ignatia's curvy body softly and comfortably surrounding her own. Flor shifted a bit, feeling a strangely comfortable but somewhat flustering feeling. 'Well, it doesn't feel bad, so it should be okay?'

Ignatia looked at the obedient little Rose Fairy Queen, and when she realized that she didn't resist other than fidgeting around a bit, her lips arched, and her compound eyes gleamed. To not allow the little Rose Fairy's thoughts to wander too much, she spoke. "Flor, something very important has changed since the last time she Leveled Up, right?" 

Flor's thoughts refocused on Liu Shu, and her worries resurfaced, making her forget about everything else. 'Hm… Something changed…' Looking around at the living town, she nodded. "Right, she built all these things."

Ignatia continued to guide her thoughts, patiently training Flor's rationale and intelligence. "So, what quality of these buildings is very peculiar?" 

Flor tilted her head, which prompted her cheek to rub with the soft skin of Ignatia's chest. 'Hm… Comfortable…' Flor shook her head with a frown. 'Ah, I'm getting distracted again. Anyways, qualities, building qualities…' 

Flor commented. "That they are alive and act as trees?"

Ignatia nodded. "Well, that's one thing. How about another one?"

Flor continued thinking and finally realized. "That they only Level Up when Liu Shu Levels Up?"

Ignatia laughed. "That's right. However, that is strange, right?" Flor nodded. "They are beings that just Level Up without needing Experience Points. That doesn't make much sense." 

Agreeing with her, Ignatia continued. "So, how do we compensate for this nonsense condition attached to them?" 

Flor blinked a few times and finally connected the time it was taking with them. "Ah! So, when Liu Shu Levels Up, she needs to absorb much more energy to feed these buildings. This takes a lot of time, which has lengthened the entire Level Up process!" 

Ignatia's throat released a clicking sound that simulated laughter. "That's right~, great job, Flor. Here, a reward~."

Flor looked upward with a confused expression and saw Igantia's face coming closer, making her heart strangely jump. The Ant Queen poked their noses together and separated again while keeping a smile. 

Flor was stunned and didn't move for a few seconds. Ignatia's throat clicked again with a giggle. "What's wrong, Flor?"

Flor snapped out of her daze and shook her head. "Nothing, nothing…" She touched her face with a puzzled expression and asked. "Why did you do that?"

Ignatia's eyes flashed with curiosity. 'She was quite sharp with Cinderielle and Verdantia, but Rose Fairies seem to be unaware of these… feelings and sensations when it involves themselves. Is it because their reproduction doesn't really need them to form pairs?' 

Ignatia's intelligent insect-like eyes didn't betray any readable emotion as she answered with a calm tone. "Hm? As I said, it was a reward~. You liked it, right?"

Flor couldn't really deny it, but she felt that something was off. "I didn't dislike it, but…"

Ignatia cut her words. "Then, there is no problem~. Or, is there?" 

Flor looked at the Ant Queen with a perplexed face, feeling that she was planning something, but she just couldn't put her finger around it. So, with no real clue, she reluctantly nodded. "I guess… it is fine?" 

Ignatia's lips arched, and her thorax-like ant tail swayed back and forth happily. 

At the side, a high-level ant looked at how her Queen played with the strong fairy with curiosity, but naturally, she didn't really understand much. She, the ant, just realized that her Queen was fond of that fairy, so she turned around and left, using her pheromones to tell all her sisters about it. 

Flor did not know when or how, but she would eventually realize that her status in the Ant Queen's family had somehow elevated to below one person and above ten thousand. 

Ten days after Liu Shu started to Level Up, Flor and the others felt a profound change as an aura of power spread around once more. Curious, the Rose Fairy Queen looked at Liu Shu and analyzed her. 'Oh? She reached Level 5.'

Remembering her conversation with Ignatia, she knew that now she would need to feed all her structures to become Level 6. 'This will take a while, won't it?' 

Flor was currently in the Town Hall's main office with Verdantia, Ignatia, and Cinderielle. In front of them, there was, quite literally, a mushroom man. A humanoid creature with a mushroom head and a soft body made of mushroom flesh. It was white and filled with vertical fibers. Moreover, his eyes were pearly black, like two obsidian orbs. They were very similar to the Rose Fairies' ruby-like eyes, which made it clear that the creature before them was a monster-kind. 

Verdantia and Cinderielle were wary at first, but after realizing that Flor and Ignatia were monster-kind as well, they decided not to be so judgmental and wait for the conversation to develop before reaching a conclusion. 

The mushroom man spoke, his voice low and deliberate, each word being pronounced slowly as if they had great thought behind them. "Lords of the forest. We come to speak. We felt Life. We want to link." His earthy tone was pleasant to the ears but also like a whisper. "The Tree of Life visited our cave. We want no war. We want to live. Peacefully." 

Cinderielle and Verdantia looked at him with a stunned expression. Cinderielle asked with a whisper to Verdantia. "Do you think they are a race of intelligent hermits?" 

Verdantia didn't know the answer, but Ignatia did, and she did so while Flor responded to the Mushroom man. "They are not. He speaks slowly because he lacks intelligence, not the opposite." 

Cinderielle and Verdantia's curiosity vanished as they looked at the Ant Queen with a deadpan. Ignatia titled her head, her antennae swinging with her head movement. "What's wrong?" 

Cinderielle commented. "Couldn't you like, I don't know, leave a bit of mysticism to them? They appeared like someone important."

Ignatia looked at both Sylvan for a few seconds, making both girls somewhat uncomfortable. "W-What's wrong?"

Ignatia turned her attention toward Flor's conversation, leaving behind a sentence that felt like a punch in the stomach. "I sometimes wonder why your races are called intelligent races and ours are called monsters." 

Verdantia and Cinderielle coughed and stopped playing around, refocusing on the conversation. 

"... Below the Life Tree. It was a powerful aura."

Both of them blinked, feeling that they had missed a big part of the conversation. Flor saw their faces and bothered to clarify. "I see. So, our Life Tree's aura, as you call it, seeped into your living place, which is right below us. Then, as the chief of the <Myconid Tribe>, you decided to come and join us because the aura felt strong yet welcoming, and you feel like you could fit into our growing society."

The Myconid Elder got thoughtful, slowly understanding Flor's words. Flor didn't mind waiting for an answer. After all, she was accustomed to speaking with Liu Shu, who, even after learning to speak, would sometimes take a while to answer her questions.

When he was sure, he nodded. "Yes. That's Correct."

Flor looked at the man, and while he was a Level 10, honestly, he felt inoffensive. She still didn't dare underestimate him. Moreover, as a mainly subterranean race, Flor was unsure of how to adapt or assimilate their species. She tried to think of a few methods, but the only way she could think of was something similar to what Ignatia did: make a tunnel to their camp and connect it with their town. 

'Other than this option, what other one is there?' Flor was unsure; she was a leader of a race, but her race never really had houses! They were always living from tree canopy to tree canopy, using a symbiotic relationship with them in exchange for security. 

Ignatia saw her struggle, but she didn't intervene. She used her hand to support her chin as she smiled and looked at the struggling Rose Fairy Queen. 'Fufu~, so cute.' 

Flor asked to make sure. "How do you want to be assimilated? Live near the World Tree? Or, be left alone while living in her domain?" 

The Myconid Elder's mushroom-like head bobbed up and down, making Flor's eyebrow twitch. 'What does that gesture mean!?'

She cleared her throat and asked again. "So, you want to live around the World Tree?"

The Myconid Elder bobbed side-to-side and then up and down, making Flor lament in her head. 'This will be a long conversation, won't it?... Ah! I know what to do.'

"Verdantia, Cinderielle, I'll leave this conversation to both of you for practice!" 

Both Sylvans looked stunned at the self-righteous Rose Fairy Queen throwing her work onto them. Flor raised her eyebrows. "What? Do you have any complaints?" 

Cinderielle asked. "Are you trying to skip work?"

Flor said with an honest smile. "Of course not. I never skip work! I'm very hardworking~." 

Both Sylvans would spit on that sentence if it was physical from the pure disdain they felt from it. However, they didn't say anything and agreed. After all, their objective was to be as entangled with Liu Shu as possible. 

After taking the baton from Flor, both Sylvans squeezed their brain cells as much as possible and managed to decipher what the Myconid Elder wanted. 

Verdantia smiled, her face a bit tired. "I see. You want to have an underground space for your race to live nearby, but living on the surface is also not much of a problem because the World Tree's aura is just very nutritious."

The Myconid Elder bobbed up and down in agreement. "Yes." 

Verdantia and Cinderielle sighed, and Cinderielle asked. "So, how many of you are there? Ten? Twenty?"

Numbers were not a problem for creatures born with a system interface. The Myconid slowly yet clearly pronounced. "One-hundred-and-eighty."