Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos

It had been one week since the Verdant Elder arrived in the Golden Sap Empire. The people on the ships had disembarked and moved to the prepared housing. Of course, they were not prohibited from buying housing, so some of them spread out.

When they realized that there was a functioning and perfectly integrated Teleportation Hub in most cities, they received another shock. Yet, the biggest shock was seeing living World Trees.

Life Trees, as said previously, were born after a True World Tree took over a world. After all, even high-level Life Trees had trouble going multiplanetary unless they purposely evolved in that direction.

However, what they could not accept was the existence of other World Trees. Fortuna, being the closest, was a sight that left them reeling with surprise and shock.

The day the Verdant Elder discovered Fortuna’s existence and noticed that she was not a Life Tree but a World Tree due to her female-shaped trunk, he went straight to find Elyne and ask questions.

Elyne received them in the Eternal Cathedral and moved toward one of the wing rooms to speak. The cathedral, while it was imposing and magnificent, didn’t intimidate or surprise them. After all, the Covenant Church’s main building was even more extravagant.

Still, it was a gorgeous piece of architecture, though they had no mental capacity to admire it, due to the convoluted feelings from discovering Fortuna.

Once in the room, the Verdant Elder sat down and activated the runic field to avoid eavesdropping. He didn’t know that, since they were within the Eternal Cathedral, and the Eternal Cathedral was Liu Shu’s precious baby, their conversation was being listened to.

Still, Liu Shu couldn’t help but frown. ’That runic field is quite powerful. I need to learn countermeasures.’

Breaking through it was not impossible, but if she did it, she would be discovered. At that moment, she didn’t have the ability to break the anti-spying runic field undetected. ’When my skills reach S- Rank, things will change.’

The Verdant Elder’s voice reached her through the cathedral. "Elyne, we need answers."

Gently brewing Eternal Tea, Elyne asked with her back to them to hide her smile. "Answers? Ask away then. I do not know what you want to talk about."

The Verdant Elder frowned. "Don’t act like that. I am sure you know perfectly well what we want to ask."

Elyne continued brewing and chuckled. "Well, what can it be besides the existence of the other esteemed World Trees? Otherwise, Lord Verdant Elder wouldn’t have such an expression when we met."

The Verdant Elder glanced at Elyne’s back. That jade-green hair, instead of the previous golden-colored one, made him feel... unfamiliar. Even when he had interacted with Elyne for a few thousand years, he still felt... as if the woman in front of him had changed greatly in the span of just a few decades.

"World Trees are enemies. They might tolerate each other’s existence, but they act like predators with each other. When the other side is too weak, it isn’t a fellow predator, but food. That’s the harsh truth of their species."

Elyne asked, raising her head without turning back. "Is it? Perhaps... that absolute truth is not as unchanging as you thought."

"Impossible." The Verdant Elder spoke with certainty, even after seeing it broken in front of his eyes. "For as long as history has developed in our galaxy. For as long as stories have been told, recorded, and spread out, this fact has always been truthful and never broken."

Elyne, having prepared the tea cups, picked two and turned around with a faint smile. "And yet, your eyes have already seen that the immutable truth you and I believed in is not as absolute as we believed it to be."

Seeing Elyne place the cup and go back to take the other two for his two accompanying escorts, the Verdant Elder asked in a low tone. "Is Lady Heavenly Willow using some sort of dominance skill?"

Elyne’s hands paused, a touch of anger flashing in her eyes before she swallowed it back. While she abhorred the implications of those words, she was not too surprised that someone at the level of the Verdant Elder would think in that way first.

She carried back the two cups and spoke, her tone calm even if her heart was cold. "Liu Shu has never hidden it. She indeed has a