Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos.

Chapter 3. First Fight!

A week had gone by since our tree reached level one. During this week, Tianlian Liu Shu did nothing much but relish in her newfound complex thoughts. She would spend her days happily while thinking about many things. 

Moreover, she was accompanied by many more beings than before. A beautiful pair of butterflies were resting on one of her branches while a small bird chirped as it rested on another.

Around her, she could see small crickets like rodents and a few other tinier little bugs flying around her. 

This was all thanks to <Charm of the Seedling>; these little animals were attracted by her aura, accompanying our previous solitary tree.

While Liu Shu happily looked around her, a message entered her ear. 

[<Charm of the Seedling> has attracted a <River Beaver Level 5>. Proficiency increased by 5. (103/100)] 

[<Charm of the Seedling> has leveled up!]

<Charm of the Seedling>: Attracts small animals and insects to the area, fostering a harmonious ecosystem. (F- Rank level 2 [3/200])

Liu Shu smiled happily. 'Another friend!'

She used <World Tree Eye> to look over and saw a much bigger creature than what she had seen until now. With a brown-furred body, a peculiarly flat and wide tail, and a rounded body, the beaver slowly ambled toward our tree, looking at it as if it were a treasure. 

'So big!'

The beaver was enormous for Liu Shu, who was accustomed to seeing small birds and rodents. 

'Hm… Why is it looking at me like that?'

As she observed the new creature that slowly approached with a strange glint in its eyes, she saw a few of the other animals around her move away, making her a bit sad. 'Oh… Why are they leaving?'

[System Hint: Thanks to your <World Tree> racial trait, you can focus on creatures to see their system stats. (If the level or strength difference is too big, you won't be able to see anything, and the other party might discover your attempt).]

Liu Shu's branches swayed as she looked at the new set of words that appeared in her mind. 'Focus? How do I do that?'

Sadly, another message never came.

Liu Shu looked intently at the approaching beaver, and when it was about 3 meters away, something suddenly appeared in her mind.

***

Name: ---

Titles:

<Tree Cutter>: Gained after felling 100 trees. 

Race: River Beaver. 

Energy Method: ---

Level: 5 [254/1470]

Aether Mana Shards: 107/107

Phoer Body Shards: 345/345

Anima Energy Shards: 110/110

Attributes: Aether (2), Physique (6), Anima (2), Willpower (5), Destiny (10)

Affinity Percentage: Aether Resonance (7), Physique Refinement (15), Anima Affinity (10)

Resistance Percentage: Aether Resistance (4), Physique Resistance (7), Spiritual Resistance (4), Mental Resistance (6)

Talents:

<Bark Bite (F rank level 3)>: Gnaw on a tree and decrease its physical resistance by 10%. 

Passive:

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<Dam Building (D Rank level 1)>: Innately know how to build a dam and a nest in a river. 

***

Our Liu Shu looked at it and blinked, curious. 'Oh, the numbers are different from mine!'

Her "eyes" slowly looked at the system interface that just appeared, and her slow mind began thinking about what some of those words meant, and by the time the beaver was one meter away from her, she finally understood. 'Tree cutter!?'

Seeing the beaver slowly approach, Liu Shu was terrified. With a teary voice, she began telling it to go away. 'Don't come close! Bad beaver!' 

However, since her words couldn't be communicated, the beaver approached and reached her trunk's side, making her feel a chill. 'Wuwuwu, is this how Liu Shu ends?' 

While Liu Shu lamented her short life, the beaver opened his mouth and chomped on the side of our tree.

Clang!

The sound of something biting a very hard material echoed.

[A <River Beaver> has dealt 1 point of damage to you.]

[You've dealt 3 points of damage to <River Beaver>] 

Liu Shu, who was prepared for pain like no other, couldn't help but become confused when the bite felt very light. Curious, she read the new set of words that appeared in her mind. 'Huh?'

She opened her <World Tree Eyes> again and looked at the beaver, which had tears in its eyes as it held its mouth. Liu Shu was naturally confused. 'What happened to the bad beaver?' 

The beaver looked in confusion and pain at the trunk, which only had a minor blemish because of its bite. It had never met a trunk as solid as this one. 

While the beaver was level five, and our little tree was only level one, Liu Shu's natural defense and regeneration were outstanding. Moreover, her Physique attribute was higher than the beaver's while the physical resistance was also very high, making its attacks deal very little damage to her.

The fact that the beaver's teeth didn't break when chomping down was the beaver's good luck that it encountered Liu Shu as a tiny level 1 being.

[System Hint: Killing enemies grants experience.]

Little Liu Shu looked at those words and pondered. 'Killing?'

[System Hint: Killing an enemy means reducing their Phoer to 0.] 

Liu Shu received System Hints because of her immaturity as a World Tree.

World Trees could be said to be the little darlings of the Universe, so they were aided by the system when their knowledge was lacking in some aspects.

While Liu Shu read the system hints, the beaver began attacking her again, making a few red damage numbers to appear.

[-1]

[-1]

[-1]

[-1]

This time, it was cautious as it gnawed to not damage itself.

The World Tree looked at the beaver attacking her and pondered. 'So, killing is ending a creature's life. It is part of the cycle of life and death.' 

The words she read from the system hints gave a fuzzy part of her young mind a clear understanding of the basic principles of the World. 

While one might think that World Trees would love all life and be generous and forgiving, that was not entirely the case.

It was true that most World Trees preferred a non-confrontational approach. However, these trees weren't revered just because of the benefits they provided to creatures.

They were revered because very few could keep their lives when someone provoked a World Tree.

Liu Shu's mind became cold as her willow-like branches moved without wind, and her gaze locked on the beaver biting her trunk. Then, she read one of her skills.

<Willow Strike (F- Rank Level 1 [0/100])>: The World Tree is from a willow family, with characteristic long but thin branches. She can use Aether Mana to move them and strike a target. Range 5 meters.

Liu Shu focused on this skill and felt the Aether energies rushing along her body and enveloping her branches. 

The beaver that was biting the trunk suddenly felt its entire being explode with danger signals and wanted to leave, but it was too late.

<Willow Strike>

BANG!

The tree's branch was like a metal whip, landing on the back of the beaver with fearsome strength for a level one being.

The strike sunk into the beaver's back, reaching the spine and damaging it greatly.

[-50]

The beaver's brain felt light as a massive wave of pain coursed through its body, and the hind legs stopped responding for a second.

Meanwhile, Liu Shu looked at the consumption of Aether Mana and saw that only five points were lost. Then, without hesitating a single moment, the willow's branches began moving with ruthless precision.

<Willow Strike>

[-38]

<Willow Strike>

[-22]

<Willow Strike>

[-71]

<Willow Strike>

[-36]

<Willow Strike>

[-44]

<Willow Strike>

[-68]

The sounds of several whip lashes landing on the beaver were heard. The small animal had no chance at resisting the barrage of attacks, and its Phoer plummeted.

This continued until a message appeared in Liu Shu's mind. 

[Congratulations on defeating <River Beaver Level 5>. You've gained 9 Experience Points.]

[System Hint: Different damage values will be shown depending on where the strike lands. Weak Points have a chance at instantly killing a creature.]

Liu Shu's branches stopped moving, and they softened again while the gentle wind that came moved them with a rustling sound.

Other than nature's sounds, the surroundings became silent, returning peace to the young World Tree. 

Curious, Liu Shu observed the slightly deformed body of the relatively large creature. 'I see. So, this is death. Interesting.' 

There was no pity or discomfort in Liu Shu's heart. The cycle of life and death was part of nature, and as a World Tree, one of the closest beings to nature, death didn't affect her in the same way it would a human.

This didn't mean she was unafraid or indifferent about death, as she had shown anxiety previously when she thought that the beaver would chop her down.

After looking at it for a few seconds, Liu Shu lost interest and observed her surroundings. Seeing that there were no creatures, she became a bit sad. 'Oh… did my hits scare them away?'

Her branches swayed gloomily, showing sadness.

However, our little tree was quick to recover from her gloomy mood, and she became cheerful again. 'When will the next little friend come?' 

Her eyes landed on the <Willow Strike> skill and saw that the proficiency had increased. She gave her system page a look.

Name: Tianlian Liu Shu

Titles: 

<Awakened>: A title that's gained when a tree gains sapience and evolves, gaining human-like intelligence. 

<World Tree>: A tree that can grow to be an overlord, admired by many, hated by some.

Hidden titles: [9]

Race: World Tree.

Energy Method: Basic World Energy Gathering (Gathers experience points*Level per day.)

Level: 1 [0/150]

Aether Mana Shards: 58/113 (+4.07/Hour)

Phoer Body Shards: 169/176 (+6.34/Hour)

Anima Energy Shards: 120/120 (+4,32/Hour)

Attributes: Aether (7+2), Physique (9+4), Anima (8+2), Willpower (10), Destiny (100)

Affinity Percentage: Aether Resonance (25), Physique Refinement (35), Anima Affinity (20)

Resistance Percentage: Aether Resistance (28), Physique Resistance (48), Spiritual Resistance (35), Mental Resistance (49)

Talents: 

<Enchanted Growth (E+ Rank level 1 [0/18000])>

<Nature's Gift (F- Rank level 1 [0/100])>

<Willow Strike (F- Rank level 1 [70/100])>

Passive Skill:

<World Tree Heart (A Rank Level 1 [0/589900])>

<World Tree Eye (C Rank level 1 [122/144000])>

<World Tree Wisdom (SSS Rank Level Max.)>

<Charm of the Seedling (F- Rank level 2 [3/200])>

Accumulated Experience: 16

Seeing the numbers grow, our Liu Shu felt happy. 'I'm growing~.'

She was very laid back about her development, but she was happy with her progress. Since she was just a tree, the concept of using her talents constantly to increase proficiency was not in her mind. 

After her encounter with the beaver, another three days passed. Thanks to the beaver's corpse, our Liu Shu had a few new visitors during this time. She saw a few larger-than-usual birds with dark plumage called crows, and the strongest one was even a level 6 crow.

The thought of attacking them never crossed her mind. If World Tree were not provoked, they would never attack at will to become stronger. They would grow naturally and slowly. 

Of course, the attraction of these birds increased her proficiency with <Charm of the seedling> skill two entire levels, upgrading it to F- Rank level four. These crows seemed quite comfortable around her, and they had called their friends to set up their nests in nearby, more giant trees.

Still, they would swoop down and land on Liu Shu's branches from time to time, as her aura was very appealing to all creatures.

Thinking of something, Liu Shu looked at her skills and observed her <Nature's Gift> skill.

'Fruits… If I create fruits, will these little friends eat them and come often?' 

Thinking like that, Liu Shu began moving her Aether Mana and Anima Energy around her body, slowly allowing it to flow toward her branches.

[You've created <Delicious Berry flower>.]

<Delicious Berry flower (F- Rank)>: A blue flower that blooms with three <Delicious Berry> after germinating for 30 days.

<Delicious Berry (F- Rank)>: It is a common, seedless berry with a savory taste and good scent. Low-level animals love it, especially birds. It can give one experience point when level 9 and lower creatures consume it. Maximum 3 a day.

[System Hint: You can pour one Aether Mana and Anima Energy daily into each flower to reduce the germinating period by ten days.]

Lui Shu read everything slowly, absorbing the information, and then felt elated. 'I hope they like my fruits.'

After using 10 Aether Mana and 10 Anima energy, 20 flower buds appeared along the long branches of the World Tree. 

After that, Liu Shu smoothly controlled the energies in her body and fed each flower with extra energy, making her consume 30 Aether Mana and 30 Anima Energy in total.

The flower buds glowed softly and opened at a visible speed, becoming half-opened and gaining their characteristic blue color in just two hours. 

Liu Shu looked at her skill and saw that she had gained 3 Proficiency Points. Feeling proud and delighted, her branches softly danced, and her aura spread and gently surrounded all the animals and plants around her.