Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos

While Liu Shu attended to the and its new design, she was interrupted by something quite important. A few lines appeared, making her eyes widen.

[Congratulations on the successful evolution between the and concepts!]

[The has evolved into !]

[All for have been deleted. From now on, you will gain .]

[All will evolve into .]

Then, the entire population suddenly received a collective message that made them hold their breath.

[You’ve lost .]

Flor, who was handling some paperwork, looked at that message, and her hand acted as if it had a mind of its own. She quickly reached out, grabbed her trusty teacup, and took a sip of Liu Shu’s calming tea.

It wasn’t only her; the slurping sound of tea was almost simultaneous across the entirety of Ceperet. Those who had it available took a deep sip in preparation for the absurdity.

And then, it began.

There was no terrible surge of Aether or Anima; there was no profound aura that made everyone tremble. As the took its final steps to transform and evolve, the world around it fell into a strange stillness.

As the slowly gained size and grandeur to match her other siblings, it grasped something far more complex than energy.

A flow.

A perception and a lack thereof.

The concept was abstract, yet noticeable. A glimpse of how reality moved and how the world transformed.

As the shifted into the , the world around it seemed to... stagger. From Liu Shu’s perspective, it looked as if ’something’ fell into place.

Liu Shu’s gaze shifted. She, and those who got enveloped in the intangible aura of the , felt their awareness shift. When looking around, for a moment, they seemed to be able to look not outwardly, but inwardly and between moments.

The feeling was fleeting, like a dream, but everyone who felt it knew that it was real.

Liu Shu looked around, and her gaze gravitated toward a child who was running on the streets. Her gaze revealed a puzzled look, but she extended a soft root a bit ahead of the child.

Just as she did that, the child suddenly tripped and fell. The father wanted to react, but it was too late. Yet, when everyone thought the child would get hurt, she bounced on a root that appeared out of nowhere.

"Huh?"

The child glanced at the faintly glowing blue veins on the root that slowly hid into the ground. The parents, much more knowledgeable, widened their eyes and quickly bowed toward the gargantuan World Tree towering in the middle of the city.

Liu Shu didn’t care about them; she was still immersed in the feeling. ’Why did that child’s fall feel... obvious?’

It wasn’t a sensation; it was certainty. Liu Shu could tell the exact moment when the child would stagger and trip forward. She also knew that if she didn’t interfere, the girl would have a split lip and bleeding nose.

Nothing too dangerous, but something that would certainly hurt.

Her gaze moved into a forest, where there was a junction. The forked path had two distinct directions to take, and not too far away, a group of Explorers strode forward.

As she glanced at the paths, the one on the right had no aura, yet there was a sense of pressure in the other. It was as if that path had a strange gravitational pull.

She said nothing this time. She dared not move at all, just in case.

A few moments later, the group arrived at the forked path. The leader and the others hesitated, each giving different reasons. Ultimately, one of them seemed to recall something and took out a worn-out map. After they glanced at it, they decided to move toward the path on the left.

’Whoa...’ Liu Shu muttered, her mind flashing with many thoughts. ’Is that... Fate? Destiny?’

When her mind understood it, the aura of the consolidated, and invisible threads tightened all around the world and Liu Shu’s domain.

[Congratulations! You’ve received the .]

Liu Shu blinked, that moment of extreme clarity giving way to a faint, foggy feeling. While the effects lingered, they weren’t as obvious as they had been then. ’Was it Little Fatebrushing who was messing with it and brought all fate up to the surface?’

Even when the feeling was not as clear as in that instant, the sensation still remained. When looking at a new forked path, she could still tell the "heaviness" of some compared to others. Often, the feeling was not as crystal clear as that one time, but peering into it was not impossible.

It wasn’t only forks in the road; all areas with any choice or action had this ever-present lingering sense of pressure.

"LIU SHUUUU!"

A shout of not one, but many of her closest people, tore through the sky, full of frustration and many other complex feelings.

Liu Shu blinked and chuckled. Then, she checked the blessing.

***

: While under its influence, beings become subtly aligned with the flow of fate, gaining heightened awareness of future possibilities and the unseen threads guiding events. Outcomes become clearer, coincidences grow meaningful, and pivotal moments feel easier to grasp. There is a faint chance of becoming and gaining a