Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos-Chapter 456. Infiltrating in The Underwater Base.

The sound of waves and the clear blue sky above them gave a sense of tranquility that was hard to replicate in any other place other than on the ocean. The small floating platform, created from sturdy yet buoyant materials, was quite a wonder, where many professional crafters came together to achieve its existence.

However, this platform was not the real ocean base. At the very center of the several stadium-wide, floating platforms, there was a large descending and ascending platform that connected with the bottom of the ocean. Once you descended a few hundred meters, you’d arrive at a large underwater military city. There, a few tens of thousands of reserve troops gathered, living comfortably under the sea in a transparent underwater dome.

In the underwater base, there were several anti-flooding installations, all created to activate in a worst-case scenario to save the most relevant personnel. These people were <Third Energy Cycle>, high-level crafters, and officials with either political or economic influence.

But no one knew that deep inside the structure of this complex and supposedly secret base, thousands of roots had slowly carved a path into it. The hard materials and all sensors that would detect malfunctions were left untouched by the roots, as they only moved through the cracks and empty spaces, slowly but gradually filling all the space that they could.

A woman wearing a flowy white dress leaned on a recliner as she looked at the transparent ceiling of the underwater city. Many fish and aquatic animals would usually surround the structure because plankton were stuck on the outside. This attracted small fish, which in turn attracted bigger ones, creating a small ecosystem. "Pretty..."

"Hey!"

Breaking the comfortable silence and mood she was experiencing, a man’s voice reached her. The woman frowned for a second, but this person wouldn’t have come to her resting house if it weren’t something important. So, she stood up with a grumble. "You know I like to relax at these hours. Why have you come as if a root was sticking up your ass? Were you itchy and eager to break my peace?"

The man was stumped at the tirade of words the woman spouted with a straight face. "Um, Madam. A message from Lady Eryndis has arrived. It seems that they are going to start the attack in two or three weeks’ time. So, we should start preparing as well. Once the coastal troops leave to defend against the attack, our troops should go and take the coast. If we settle down in one of their coastal cities, we will create two fronts and weaken their ability to defend. Then..."

"Excuse me." The woman smiled. "I know what the plan is. So, your first two sentences were more than enough. Now, shoo. We attack after they cross the Wall Forest." A sneer appeared on her face as she returned to her reclining chair. "Let’s hope that this time, they don’t get beaten down by a bunch of wild beasts. What an embarrassment, really."

The man looked at the woman with a calm and polite expression, but internally, he wanted nothing but to slap this person. ’All because you are her sister. All connections and zero ability. What are the higher-ups thinking, placing a woman like her on top? Sigh, the ex-commander was much more professional than her and could do what she does ten times better.’

After a small show of respect, he turned around and left without looking back. Still, as he left, he heard the woman’s voice. "Hey!"

The man, annoyed to the extreme by the person, turned and spoke with a polite smile. "I am sorry, Madam. I need to quickly inform the other departments. This news is very important, and it is my job to make sure everyone is kept informed."

Then, he left without turning back. Perhaps, if he had listened, things would’ve gone somewhat differently. If the woman hadn’t been so self-important, perhaps the events that followed wouldn’t have happened.

Sadly, there was no room for "ifs" in the world, as the most important thing is the actions one takes in the moment.

When the man left, the woman was left baffled, her face turning from surprised to indignant and angered. "That little fuck! Do you really think that I can’t deal with you because your position is a bit important?" The woman snorted and looked up again, her eyes somewhat confused. "Is that... a crack? That can’t be, right? How could there be a crack in the <Deep Ocean Dome>? It is constructed to sustain the pressure of up to 3000 meters deep, and we are just a bit more than a third of that theoretical value."

While she was unjustly placed in her position and rather incompetent, she was not utterly inept. Therefore, instead of ignoring the strange sight just after reasoning with herself, she decided to ask one of the researchers she knew personally. That way, if she made a mistake, there would be no embarrassment, and if it was really a sign of failure, she could take the credit.

The woman looked at her white dress and hummed. "This is too casual to go out. Let’s go change first. It won’t take that long."

While the woman changed, the foundation below the city was cracking. Liu Shu observed the entire place with her gaze, and her roots slowly dug into the rooms where the energy was stored to power the entire city. This room was a Rune and Array room with complex diagrams that acted like a storage place for Ternary Essences. Everything connected to it would be able to gain energy and function as if a creature were pouring their Ternary Essence into it.

Each line that diverged from the center carried different amounts of energy, which were then further distributed and divided. Still, every single thing here was expertly crafted and very beautiful to look at, making Liu Shu feel awe. "They built something like this? It is very similar to the failed "engine" that some mechanics almost crafted in the past."

After all, who would want a generator that consumes so many resources and coal just to generate a bit of movement? A single Level 20 mount would be much easier to feed and keep than something so large and bulky like that. Many similar inventions failed to stick the landing because, well, Aethermancy and Soulmancy were honestly much more convenient than any primitive form of those technologies.

Regardless, it was a developing world with many people involved in crafting. Therefore, runic and array technology were slowly shaping up into much more complex systems.

"Woah~." Liu Shu observed the complexity and was astounded once more. "The crafters of the Abyssal Void Nexus are something else, eh? Where do all these innovations come from? Do they have a super genius on their side?"

In the World Tree’s opinion, none of the books she has read about runes could even achieve a tenth of the proficiency needed and shown in these runic fields and array formations. Even Mariane would never have thought of this without giving her a few hints.

Still, with the ideas that she was discovering, Liu Shu was crafting new books. Then, once these books were printed in her Endless Library, her Rune Crafters and Array Masters would have a chance to learn and develop them as well.

"Well, sadly, I can’t really delay too much. But I can imprint the shapes and forms to be analyzed later." Hundreds of roots entered the room and started slithering on top of the glowing lines and mimicking their shape.

As she was doing so, the door at the side suddenly opened, and an old man walked inside. The hundreds of roots and the man froze for a second.

Liu Shu felt a bit awkward. She had been so focused on mimicking the thing that she missed the old man coming. "Um. Hello, old man. Also, sorry."

Hearing the voice of the World Tree, the man’s eyes opened wide. "Wor—"

As he started to shout, one of Liu Shu’s roots moved so fast that it blurred. "<Root Strike>."

BANG!

[-35,500,900]!

When the strength of 350 Phoer Body Cores of damage hit the poor old man, his body was like a water balloon punctured by a needle. A blood mist spread around with the wind blast from the shockwave as the only proof that a man had stood there a fraction of a second ago—not even the clothes remained.

Liu Shu sighed, her roots wriggling with some embarrassment. "How could I let an old man sneak up on me? I was too focused on the runes."

She was quite fond of Rune Crafting in general, so seeing such a complex network of runes made her fairly excited—excited enough to get sneaked upon by an old man.

Just in case, she checked all over the base, and to her surprise, she saw that in another corner, someone in the city’s prison was looking at her root with a baffled expression. After much effort, the prisoner had managed to dig through the prison system and sneak into the entrails of the massive facility. Only, once he was inside the structure, he met a bunch of roots interlocked with the system wires and foundation. "What is this? Did an infestation occur without anyone noticing?"

Liu Shu analyzed the person and saw that it was a weak Level 48. A single blow from her would make this man explode into blood mist like the other one did. Still, since he was a prisoner, Liu Shu was curious. "Hello~, can you stop looking at my roots with those eyes? You are making me shy~."

"Mother of the sacred tree! Who’s there!?"

The little startled jump made Liu Shu chuckle. "I am the roots in front of you~. So, I see that you came from the prison system? Do you think that if you help me liberate the other prisoners, people from the surface will come down to lock them up?"

The man wore a simple black set of pants and a shirt given by the prison personnel. He was average in height, and his face was hidden behind a thick beard and hair, making it quite hard to differentiate his facial features. The man who looked rather young spoke absurdly. "Talking roots? Liberate prisoners? Have I finally succumbed to insanity inside that forsaken prison?"

Liu Shu knew that it would be a while until her roots copied the runes and arrays, so she planned to make some chaos in the meantime using this person as a scapegoat. A cold smirk appeared on her real trunk’s lips. ’Well, let’s play with these people and trap them inside~. I wonder how they will feel when a whole ocean falls on their heads~.’

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