Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos.

Chapter 57. Cinderielle’s first contact with Liu Shu.

When Cinderielle, the red-haired Sylvan, crossed the distance, she didn't even hold back her intentions as she hugged the tree. Her arms wound around the thick trunk as she buried her face in the somewhat rugged surface. Because Liu Shu's body was close to seven meters tall, counting the canopy, Cinderielle reached around the waist area of the faint humanoid figure.

As a World Tree, her trunk was thicker than a typical tree of her height would have, making it thicker than what her arms could surround. However, Cinderielle couldn't care less right in this instant.

The second she hugged Liu Shu, her entire existence seemed to have become complete. Something deep inside her that had, for the first time since forever, felt satiated.

The powerful sensation entrapped her mind, body, and soul, making Cinderielle's eyes gain a deeper-than-usual tone that reflected her inner feelings of growing obsession.

Yet, even as this powerful feeling grew inside of her, there was something that Cinderielle couldn't or didn't understand deeply. While there was a desire for a monopoly, there was a strange feeling looking at Flor and the Rose Fairies, not wanting to make them go away.

In Cinderielle's mind, she knew what was happening. Her instincts as a Sylvan wanted to court this World Tree and make it hers. However, at the same time, she wanted the World Tree to grow and become stronger.

'However, from the way Flor has been treating Liu Shu, it seems that she is still quite childish mentally. What to do~?' Cinderielle separated from the tree when she felt the energy inside of it become strangely relaxed. 'I can… make her accustomed to my presence? Perhaps I can become an essential part of her and slowly enter her mind.'

Cinderielle smiled as she separated. And to her expectations, she saw her branches extend but stop midway. This action made Cinderielle's smile deepen.

Meanwhile, Liu Shu was confused. 'Why is she hugging me? But…' Cinderielle might've been a person with Fire affinity, something that most flora didn't like. However, she was not any being but a Sylvan who had an affinity toward plants. '…It feels warm.'

The innate heat and aura emanating from her relaxed and made the World Tree feel comfortable as if her branches were being warmed up by the Sun after a cold winter. The heat from Cinderielle's aura seeped inside her and made her own energy feel attracted to it.

Liu Shu looked at Cinderielle and thought. 'It would be nice to be smaller and fit in her arms…' It was the first time Liu Shu wished to become smaller. Her entire life, even before she became a World Tree, was all about getting bigger and bigger.

Of course, this fleeting desire wouldn't even minimally affect her efforts to get bigger. Her primary and biggest desire was to become bigger and stronger; her entire existence, desires, skills, and will pushed her in that direction.

While Liu Shu comfortably relished in Cinderielle's presence, she suddenly felt the source of such warmth slowly getting away, making her relaxed mind become alert as the <World Tree Eye> fixed on Cinderielle.

Seeing her smile as she moved away, Liu Shu's branches extended unconsciously to grab onto her, but she stopped herself. 'Why did I reach out?'

Flor asked from above, interrupting Liu Shu's pondering. "Did you have enough?"

The Sylvan looked upward and smiled, her face much more relaxed when facing Flor. Flor blinked, surprised at her adaptability. Usually, after being almost killed, a creature would remain cautious and even flinch.

Of course, while Cinderielle remained cautious inside her heart, somewhat having been able to get so close to Liu Shu made it so that Flor, who was acting like a protector, looked much more pleasing to the eyes.

The fact that she almost got killed by her still remained fresh in her mind. Yet, the fear she felt from that time had calmed down a lot after hugging Liu Shu. The aura emanated from her made all her other worries seem insignificant as she finally, after so many years, found the creature that the leaf belonged to.

Cinderielle had been honestly doubting her own mind at some point. How could a single leaf have her so utterly captivated? However, now she understood.

After seeing Liu Shu, feeling her aura, and interacting with her, even if it had been just an instant, Cinderielle understood that other than this World Tree, there was no one in this world that could fit her more perfectly.

Cinderielle answered Flor's question. "I actually didn't, but I don't want to bother Tiantian too much in our first meeting."

Flor snorted. "You've adapted quite quickly, haven't you? Adding a nickname and all to Liu Shu already."

Cinderielle smiled. "She likes it, so there is nothing wrong with it."

Flor looked at her for a few seconds, making the surroundings become tense, but after a while, the Rose Fairy Queen closed her eyes. "Whatever. When are you going to leave? I want to recover from my wounds to deal with the people that are coming here."

Cinderielle was about to answer that soon, but Flor's words changed her mind. "What happened?"

Flor didn't mind explaining. "Territorial battles escalated, and now there is a group with hundreds of beasts coming our way to eliminate us. It seems that not only the race we were fighting but many others in the surroundings felt a threat when I gained too much strength. Moreover, Liu Shu's existence is not a complete secret, as some of those people know about her."

Flor added. "They are not as dangerous because they couldn't recognize Liu Shu as a World Tree thanks to their lack of knowledge. Yet, if they are contacted by the correct people, things can escalate very quickly." Flor sighed, looking toward the blue sky through Liu Shu's canopy. "Fighting you was something I wanted to avoid, but it was impossible."

Cinderielle commented with a twitch of her lips. "I told you I'm not dangerous."

Flor gave her a side-eye filled with disdain. "If you saw a <Lurther> looking at you in the eyes and smiling while saying they are not dangerous, would you believe them?"

Cinderielle and the humans almost fell over while the Sylvan spluttered. "A <Lurther>!? What does a C- class creature have anything to do with this!?"

Flor shrugged. "For me, at that time, your existence and the existence of one felt equally threatening. If I let you go without confirming that you would indeed not spread information about Liu Shu, I would only be inviting over a bunch of high-level people who want to kill us all."

Ariel and the rest wanted to refute it, but they couldn't because it was actually true. Most powers that had a World Tree as their core were at odds with others similar. Very rarely would these people join hands for anything. Moreover, for older powers with more history, indoctrination often taught that their own World Tree was the only "true" World Tree while the rest were fakes that were to be purged.

Not many were fooled by this propaganda, but those who were became almost impossible to convince otherwise. Physiological beliefs were a formidable weapon for those ignorant. They could reach the point of defining a person's personality, and therefore, making the "believer" of those teachings that anything that goes against it, regardless of how good arguments or facts were, was nothing but gibberish.

While Flor was unaware of many of these facts, that didn't diminish the correctness of her decisions. Although she jumped to conclusions, who could be cautious and patient in a jungle zone that was about to become a warzone?

Cinderielle changed the subject. "Anyway, can we…" Cinderielle looked at the humans for a brief moment and continued. "Can I participate in the defense? I will even listen to your orders. However, I will probably ignore any order that goes against Tiantian's safety."

Ariel approached. "Hey, I've bet a large part of my future here. Since you are talking about that, you might as well include the <Sunflower Caravan>'s sub-leader!"

Cinderielle looked over with surprise. "And you wanted me to help you? Don't you have enough influence to manage and ask for powerful Explorers?" Cinderielle rationalized. "While the <Sunflower Caravan> is really not a powerful group, you can always ask for top personnel as long as you are close enough to the top people."

Ariel shook her head. "Internal problems are quite deep. Anyways, what's wrong, Rose Fairy Queen?"

Flor smiled. "Changing the title now?"

Ariel laughed. "Now that we are close, we can finally analyze you and see your race and ternary essences. Quite a powerful creature."

Flor sighed ruefully. "I'm still behind to that thing when she transforms."

Cinderielle snorted. "Hey, be more respectful. Who are you calling a thing?"

Flor rolled her eyes. "I'll be respectful when you don't annoy me."

Then, she finally answered the question. "As I said, a tide of beasts is coming our way. We need to defend it, and while we are a bit short on personnel, Liu Shu honestly counts as a small army. As long as she has Aether Mana and Anima energy to help us, victory is not that hare…. Or so I thought if you all didn't appear and make this…" She looked at her burnt skin and sighed.

 Cinderielle wanted to retort, but she couldn't. "Don't worry, we'll help."

Flor smiled. "That would be quite nice. Also…" She looked at the merchants and asked. "Any book around there related to communicating with World Trees? There are some things I've failed to understand lately, so I'm a bit eager to get something like that."

The four of them looked at each other and shook their heads. "Those kinds of books are usually in libraries, not in our hands, where they can easily be broken by our fights."

Flor nodded. "A library is a place to store books, right?"

The others confirmed it, and Flor asked out of curiosity: "Is it possible to take them out permanently?"

"A place like that is not usually where you can buy books. Of course, they have their prices, and they will be sold even more expensive than the original for being unique many times."

Flor thought of Verdantia and pondered. 'How did that woman deal with the fact that she have lost those three important books?'

Placing those thoughts aside, Flor told one Rose Fairy to go get Ignatia while she explained a bit about the Thornstrides and other races they've spotted.

Ariel asked, curious. "We could use some kind of building, but do you have any?"

Flor snorted. "Of course I don't, why would-."

Suddenly, several pulses of energy burst from the tree with the meaning of "Yes!"

The six people looked at the World Tree with many different expressions. Some wondered how she did that, something they hadn't been accustomed to even after all this time; others were looking with a strange glint in her eyes while Flor knew what was coming and prepared herself. 'I'll need to be an interpreter again, it seems. I wonder when Liu Shu will be able to talk with us.'