Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos

Chapter 198. Uncomfortable Waking.

Liu Shu felt a bit dazed. Looking around the town, she saw that the once very recognizable town had now changed to an almost unrecognizable level. It was not because of the growing number of buildings or the larger walls and trees. Those things were part of her, so they didn't feel out of place.

For someone like Liu Shu, the people were the thing that made her feel alienated.

Lately, Liu Shu has been highly focused on getting stronger and completing her quest. It was to the point that she placed almost everything else aside to do that. When she completed it, she started Leveling Up from Level 14 to Level 20, taking her several months. Even before completing the quest, she had another big Level Up spree from Level 8 or 9 to Level 11 or 12, which similarly took a lot of time.

Each time she Leveled Up and opened her <World Tree Eye> again, the surroundings had evolved far beyond what she expected. What was a simple place not long ago could barely be called a town now. The streets were filled with people she had never seen, far outnumbering those she found familiar.

Her fast growth in size signified a boost in the size of her tree buildings, the distance her walls were from her main body, and the number of people that she could house. The numbers were now quite ridiculous, with her wall, for example, having reached 30 meters in height.

These shifts in the town's structure hadn't gone unnoticed by the population. They were too radical to miss. Before reaching Level 20, Liu Shu's growth was fast but very gradual, so the changes were small enough for the human eye to fail to notice if they were not paying attention.

Most people would naturally not be looking at the walls and see if they were getting further away, so it went unnoticed for the first half a year of the town or so.

However, that changed when Liu Shu reached Level 20. Her growth rate increased several times over, eventually reaching almost double her height. With such a significant shift, people realized that the town was expanding in size; it wasn't just the buildings; everything was growing as if it were a single organism.

More impressively, the tree buildings barely covered any area of the outer part of the place, which was divided by an extensive flower field dubbed the forbidden flower ring by the inhabitants. This indicated that the town's potential for growth was ridiculously high.

At first, while it was considered a small paradise, people took the "small" in that title very seriously. Some estimated that 5,000 people would be the absolute maximum population in the future.

Those people were mocked quite heavily after Liu Shu's quick growth and the effects that it carried with her. Meanwhile, the miraculous nature of the <Golden Sap Town> spread far and wide.

All of this made the popularity of the town soar beyond what they expected, leading to the current situation where almost 4,000 people roamed the town at all times.

'This...' Liu Shu observed the numerous creatures roaming around her with a foreign gaze. She looked around with her <World Tree Eye>, forgetting to hide her presence completely and scaring some people with the pressure of her gaze.

Inside of her, conflicting feelings bubbled. 'I feel happy that there are so many... people. Hm? Do I?' The World Tree noticed something. 'Huh? When did I stop calling those living around me "little friends"?'

Liu Shu focused her mind on her senses and sent a powerful pulse out, making everyone feel a strange tightness in their heart for a second. Of course, most people just ignored it and continued with their lives.

Meanwhile, the entire forest appeared in Liu Shu's "vision." She could feel everything going around her, and the ridiculous amounts of information made her freeze for a few seconds as her powerful soul tried to analyze and digest the absurd stream of information.