Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos

After waiting for almost nine days, Liu Shu started her attack. Her initial intention was to eradicate the party and leave no survivors. The reason was her acquired knowledge through the books and other items that the Covenant’s envoys had gathered and given her.

As far as she knew, these people should be mercenaries from the Explorer Association. They were no different from paid bandits that completed missions with certain rewards. The Explorer Association, being a completely neutral force, accepted all types of missions as long as the compensation was proportional to what was being asked.

Someone could even post a mission called "Destroy the Abyssal Void Nexus Empire," and as long as the compensation was proportional, it would appear in the Explorer Association hub. Of course, one would need the strength and motivation to take on such a daunting task.

’These people have not arrived here as a coincidence. They probably took on a mission related to us. There is no one other than Altherion or Ceperet’s Nexus survivors who has the resources and reasons to reveal our solar system.’

Liu Shu muttered to herself. "Because we are an unexplored and remote space, I am sure that the Explorer Association wouldn’t need much compensation for any mission related to them."

This time, though, Liu Shu’s reasoning was flawed. Because the Explorer Association existed on their planet, the superpower had a sense of their strength and of what happened in Ceperet. There might be discrepancies with the real state of Ceperet, but they could evaluate it to an extent.

Regardless, Liu Shu’s thoughts, while not entirely correct, were not that far off from the truth. The Ceperet Solar System was considered an , unregistered within an official database of the Explorer Association. Hence, anyone who came and conquered the "open" location could label the space as their territory.

Before, since Covenant and Nexus were fighting here, no one dared to come. However, after Altherion gave the green light, the coordinates managed to catch the eye of those weaker mercenary groups who previously felt it was not worth it.

Mercenary groups with certain levels of fame all had a few solar systems under their dominion. It not only made it easier to recruit and nurture new people, but it also earned them benefits, fame, and even ranking among the endless groups in the Explorer Association and other smaller hubs.

After waiting and observing the ships, Liu Shu finally made sure that they were traveling in Nualis’ direction. After all, until now, she had held that slight doubt that they might be passing by.

But after they arrived at a distance of around two days from Nualis, Liu Shu could tell without a hint of doubt that their direction of travel was moving with Nualis, basically chasing it. ’Since you want to harm us, then there is nothing to talk about. Moreover, since you’ve left that Starry Phantom Trail behind, ready to inform others, you will be giving me the chance to penetrate into the intergalactic society and start spreading my roots.’

Her plan was what she didn’t dare do with the Nexus’ army. She would show her strength and basically force the Explorer Association to acknowledge her. While she was somewhat tied to the Covenant, even if not entirely willing, this step would help her slowly connect her isolated Solar System to the rest of the world.

By the time she absorbed every fleet that came to challenge her, her strength would reach a level that the Nexus would find difficult to deal with, and the Covenant difficult to ignore.

"That powerful person told Elyne that he would give me 300 years to conquer my solar system, didn’t he? Heh." Liu Shu’s gaze pierced through the void, locking onto the Starry Phantom Trail. "Let’s see what I can do to subvert your expectations. Later, you’ll have to support me even if you don’t want to... I’ll make sure of it."

Her Aether Mana surged, transforming into Spatial Aether Mana. Then, she controlled it and enhanced it, all her buffs and the new boosting her dimensional manipulation abilities far beyond her current Level.

What Liu Shu was manifesting was neither a , , nor a