Chapter 46. Requirements to build a house.

Chapter 46. Requirements to build a house.

After Liu Shu heard her story, she was thoughtful for a while. Her mind pondered between how her instincts told her how to act and what she had just heard.

As a World Tree, Liu Shu had a natural predisposition to be an observer. As long as she was not being threatened, she would rarely act. This was not because she was indifferent, but because World Trees perceived living beings differently from others. For them, a life being ended was part of a natural cycle, regardless of how it happened.

The only thing that World Trees would never allow was danger to themselves since, as living beings, they had the right to protect themselves as much as any other or to fight for their existence, what Liu Shu had been recently doing about fighting nearby trees that reacted violently to her expansion was a nice example.

But now, the idea of interfering and saving those close to her was presented to her rather eloquently. Hearing such a tale, Liu Shu bounced back and forth between her current role and what the elderly Rose Fairy spoke about. 'Protector? Do I need to become one?'

But, at the end of the day, her mind was too different compared to that of a human to delve into the moral and ethical reasoning behind this conundrum. So, while the thought was there, she didn't act on it and rather placed it in the back of her mind.

Did this mean that World Trees were ungrateful toward creatures that took care of them? It did not. From the very beginning, Liu Shu never really cared about what or who took her fruits. At first, they were birds, then some insects also came, and finally, the Rose Fairies arrived and settled around her.

Did she have some sympathy for them? Naturally, that's why when the Thornstrides attacked, Liu Shu was ready to fight back together with the Rose Fairies. But even then, her mentality as a World Tree never got compromised or changed. She just acted on the situation as it was the most profitable for her own safety.

Placing her thoughts aside, Liu Shu focused on something she had wanted to do for a while: build a <Basic house>!

<Basic house (F Rank)>: A very basic structure that has enough rooms and space to make it habitable for one creature. The walls are somewhat sturdy and won't go down with common natural phenomena.

Materials needed: Saplignwood x 100 (F- Rank), Sprout heart x10 (F Rank), Budbark x1 (F+ Rank), Pebbleheart x100 (F- Rank), Earthmud x100 (F- Rank), Yellow Cotton (F- Rank) x10.

[System Hint: If you want to create a <Basic House> to house races of similar stature to <Rose Fairy>, you will need 40% of the materials, rounded up.]

Liu Shu read the system hint with curiosity. 'Rounded up? That means that... Ah! I need the <Budbark> still, not just a fourth of the <Budbark>.'

The materials needed were relatively easy to get. During these two months, Liu Shu used the corners the Fairies created to ask for materials. Sadly, she couldn't ask for materials which they didn't have because there wer, so she was still missing the <Budbark>.

Still, the Rose Fairies were very diligent and had gathered enough materials to build three <Basic Houses>, not counting the F+ Rank material.

'Hm... I have most of the materials, but...' Similar to the weapon situation, Liu Shu was clueless about how to build a house. 'What size does it need to be? How should the rooms be aligned? How do I shape it? QAQ.'

Liu Shu was again stopped by the significant barrier known as "knowledge."

'What to do... How do I even ask about this to them...'

Liu Shu knew some basic information about life, the system, and many more matters as a part of her "instincts." But more technological issues were utterly out of her "basic understanding."

After thinking about it for a while, Liu Shu reached one conclusion that would lead to her getting the knowledge: Whine to Flor until Flor understood what she wanted.

And so, she began.

'Flor! Flooooor~, Flor? FLOR! FlorFlorFlorFlorFlor. Hehehe, FloOoOoOr! Come Flor~, Flor I want to build a houssseeee.'

Meanwhile, the Rose Fairy Queen's brain started throbbing as messages at the rhythm of a drum roll hit her one after another. This time, Flor was not lazing around as many Rose Fairies had come with reports of nearby intelligent creatures appearing with increased frequency. 'Hm... This is important, but if I don't go to Liu Shu, my head might explode from all her calls.'

Flor looked back toward Liu Shu, who was around 60 meters away and spoke, knowing that the World Tree could easily hear her from there. "I'm going, I'm going! Stop calling me Liu Shu. I heard you!"

Liu Shu stopped, but the happy mood radiating from the tree was easy to feel.

Looking at the large stockpile, Flor muttered. "So... You want to make a house with these? Hm..." She asked. "Did you call because you wanted to tell me about- oh."

Flor paused as a feeling of deja vu hit her. "You don't know how to build one, right?"

A very confident and happy "Yes!" slammed into her brain. Flor's lips twitched. 'Well, being honest with one's ignorance is the first step toward becoming knowledgeable.'

Flor nodded. "Okay, I'll ask Verdantia about those things as well. I just hope she can get them like the rest."

Flor learned from the Fairy assigned to carry over the books that she couldn't keep them for too long. While Verdantia seemed willing to give them to them, they were, at the end of the day, books that taught people how to raise a World Tree.

While other books were not that relevant, she could get away with, "I put them on piles and never managed to find them." Books about World Trees were something precious. Destroying, losing, or even damaging them was considered an act of vanda vandalism.

Flor rubbed her chin. "Perhaps I'll go in person another again? While I feel that Verdantia is strangely unstable, perhaps she will get better after a while."

When Flor was about to go out, she noticed something at the corner of the room. It was not conspicuous or even exciting to look at. However, once Flor saw them, she rushed over while asking. "What's this, Liu Shu? Did you produce those weapons?"

Our World Tree looked over at what they asked and sent an affirmative signal. She wanted to create them when she was at Level 4, so she did.

Flor couldn't help but look into the stats.

[Level 4 Wind Leaf Amulet (Basic-Grade Flawed Level)]

+40 Aether Mana

Aether (+8)

[Windy Currents (active)]: Use to increase movement speed by 20% for a short 2-second duration. It can be used every 10 minutes or by using 10 Aether Mana.

[Level 4 Wind Leaf Amulet (Basic-Grade Complete Level)]

+72Aether Mana

Aether (+12)

[Windy Currents (active)]: Use to increase movement speed by 20% for a short 2-second duration. It can be used every 10 minutes or by using 10 Aether Mana.

There were four of the Flawed kind and one of the Complete kind. "When did you finish these? I didn't even notice!"

Flor looked at them with an awkward gaze. 'I didn't remember I finished that. Well, now she can have them, I guess.'

Flor looked at the stats and nodded. "Not bad, really not bad. Just the additional skill can be a life-saver, not to mention the stats it gives. Thank you, Liu Shu."

Liu Shu giggled. 'No problem, Flor~!