Liu Shu didn't know about what was happening outside her domain, but her expansion had officially begun. The method worked really well, and the subdimension space, which was relatively anchored to her own position, allowed her to ignore the universal motion.

"Only…" Liu Shu glanced at the vast nothingness in front of her roots and immediately pouted. "Where do I even go?"

She could see nothing with her essence view, and not much better with her normal one. The Sun's glare overwhelmed her sight, washing away the faint starlight that would usually be visible.

Liu Shu muttered, startled. "Huh? Where are the stars? Why can't I see them?"

She could look at the night sky in Ceperet, and because the illumination was dim, every night was full of stars. It was gorgeous to view, becoming even more mesmerizing when the Moon was absent from the night sky.

She thought that, logically, once looking outside the world, the number of stars in sight would become too many to count. "...Yet, there is nothing. A vast and ever-present void."

The sense of insignificance, of being a tiny speck of dust suspended in space, crashed into Liu Shu's mind like a falling mountain. She knew the numbers, and she knew the theory, but now that she was experiencing it, it felt like a hammer to the head, leaving her dazed.

Thankfully, in the middle of this vast nothingness, there was a glaring ball of light in the distance, serving as a guide to know how or where to move. With it, Liu Shu knew that she needed to extend her roots in the opposite direction of the light and reach <Nualis>, the fourth planet of her solar system.

"Hm… Let's check my memories on why space is just… black." As she thought about the science books she ate, ahem, learned, she finally found the answer in an obscure theory book.

"Oh… right. It's not that the stars vanish; it's that the Sun's glare drowns them out. In our atmosphere, scattered light makes the sky glow, so at night, the faint starlight stands out. But here, in this lightless void, the Sun's brilliance blinds me to everything else. Like turning on a lamp beside your eyes—you stop seeing what's behind it."

Driven by curiosity, she stretched a few of her roots toward the Moon's shadowed side, shielding her sight from the Sun's glare. Once she did, tiny white dots emerged from the darkness, sharpening little by little until the distant stars finally unveiled themselves.

"Wow~, so pretty."

Liu Shu got distracted, but thankfully, her roots continued advancing even then.

"Speaking of the Moon…" Her sight turned toward the barren piece of land. "It's quite large… Can't I create a livable atmosphere here?"

She was honestly clueless since there were no sciences that explored this realm of science in Ceperet. Still, Liu Shu learned not only science but also how to do science. "Since I don't know… Let's first think of a theory."

So, distracted once more, she began researching how to create a livable space on the Moon. The first and most glaring fault she noticed was the lack of atmosphere. While the Moon was large, it didn't have enough magnetic forces protecting it from solar winds. Therefore, even if Liu Shu transported some of Ceperet's air through her roots, it would not stick to the large floating rock.

"So… If I want to create life here, the first thing is an atmosphere. How is the magnetic field in Ceperet created anyway?"

Her senses stretched outward, enveloping the world as a single whole. She closed her eyes and felt its pulse. 'Ah… I see. Movement. Constant movement of the core and the outer core.'

With that in mind, Liu Shu quickly came up with many ideas. "The energy I would need is truly ridiculous… but not impossible."

Did she have a planetary level of strength? Not exactly. She, as a whole, was ridiculously large. She had long surpassed planetary scale in size, her comparatively tiny nine-kilometer-tall body serving merely as her core. But these branches were not that complicated to check, plus each branch also had a tiny mind of its own.

With that in mind, Liu Shu continued to plan things. 'When I took over Ceperet's core, I made sure to mix my roots with it dimensionally not to stir the core's movement… So, I must do the opposite for the Moon."

Developing her idea further, Liu Shu went to her workshop and used all her crafting buffs to plan out a Rune Array. "So… I must focus on initial movement. But I can't just push; there must be a way to calculate the amount of angular momentum it needs…"

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Complicated formulas flashed in her head one after another, developing math into a branch that had never really been tried before in Ceperet. Even with her super-powerful mind and bonuses from the temples, titles, and skills, it was not easy.

This was usually a process that involved decades of research on top of a thousand-year knowledge foundation. Thankfully, unlike normal beings, Liu Shu absorbed and digested information very unconventionally.

"Hm… Is this correct? I must measure the strength with my roots…"

Her outer-world roots slowly drifted in the middle of space, quickly sending information to our World Tree's mind and giving her the important parameters.

"Alright… So, taking this into account, blocking the solar winds wouldn't be that complicated. Only, the initial energy I would need is quite… egregious."

She had never done a project this big, but her core was pounding with excitement. She really wanted to be successful!

Time passed quickly, and after around two years of Liu Shu's full focus, she finally developed a method. Far up in the sky, around the Moon's orbit, a spatial fissure suddenly manifested.

From that fissure, an incomparably thick root surged forward and struck the surface of the moon, creating vibrations throughout the surface of the large celestial object. This, however, was only the first of many.

Silent explosions rang all across the barren, grey land of the Moon as roots dropped on the surface and dug into the Moon. At this moment, even Liu Shu's real eyes opened as her gaze rose to look up at the night sky.

"Moon… You've slept for eons. Now, it is time to wake up."

As her roots reached the core of the Moon, they began stirring the heavy metals at its center. The movement at first was basically negligible. After one week, the core spun so very slightly faster that it would be almost impossible to notice even while looking at it.

Yet even that tiny motion sent ripples through the Moon's metallic heart. As Liu Shu's roots forcibly increased its core's inner rotational energy, the World Tree felt as if her entire being was being squeezed out of energy.

'So… Heavy…! I will… shave off… a few layers… of rock… You fat Moon!'

She knew that the strength she would need to start the motion of the Moon's core was ridiculous. Nevertheless, she didn't think she would feel as if she were trying to lift a mountain overhead with a few weak branches.

"More roots! Moreeeee!"

Spatial ripples appeared all around the Moon, roots raining down and digging into the surface of the cratered Moon.

As the moonquakes cracked the entire surface, the inner core heated up accordingly. The Moon's structural integrity cracked, and the metals became free to move. With motion appeared friction, and with friction, heat. The heat slowly melted the metals within the Moon, increasing the overall energy and retaining it as pure heat.

"Ugghhhhhh!"

Liu Shu cried out aloud, her face crumpling with effort. "Now… to etch… the runes!"

The people in the city were confused and looked over, confused. Seeing the World Tree's face appear as if she were about to pop a vein, everyone felt their lips twitch.

Elyne blinked and asked aloud, confused. "Liu Shu… what are you doing?"

Flor and Ignatia, who were by her side, were also confused as they saw their daughter's expression crumple due to effort.

"I am… moving… the Moon's… Core! ARGH, YOU FAT THING! MOOOOVEEEEE!!!!"

Elyne, Flor, and Ignatia became speechless. With a motion so familiar that it gave off airs of an expert, Flor's tiny hand reached to the side, picked up her favorite teacup, and took a sip. "Hm~. Delicious."

Elyne looked at Flor, stupefied. "Are you going to ignore the ridiculous thing that Liu Shu just said!?"

Flor smiled like a saint, her eyes glowing with the light of enlightenment. "Here, Elyne, take a sip."

Ignatia glanced at Flor with adoration, holding back her laughter so much that her stomach hurt.

Elyne wanted to talk again, but she was interrupted by the enlightened Flower Fairy. "Elyne, the world is full of wonders; trying to understand each of them will only make you…"

[Congratulations! You've triggered a random <Eternal> attribute buff. You've gained half a year of lifespan.]

Flor choked, her face crumpling. Then, she grabbed the edge of the table… and flipped it. "LIU SHU! I SWEAR THAT ONE DAY I'LL SPANK YOU… SOMEHOW!"

Elyne was flabbergasted, while Ignatia couldn't hold it back anymore and burst into loud laughter.

Seeing Flor return to normal and take another sip of the tea, sitting back as if nothing had happened, Elyne very wisely decided not to comment on what had just transpired. "Ahem… So, do either of you two know anything about this Moon thing? The Moon wouldn't fall down if Liu Shu messed with it too much, right?"

Flor stiffened. She had not even thought of that. Even Ignatia stopped laughing, her face gaining a touch of concern. Thankfully for them, Liu Shu heard them and answered. "Oh, don't worry, I made the calculations, and the amount of force I am spending will only shift the Moon's orbit a fraction of a percentage. You won't feel it at all!"

"...So she IS shifting the Moon's orbit." Elyne reached out and took another sip of tea. "I see." Then, she took another sip. "Interesting." Her voice sounded as if she were half-crying. "Let's hope the Moon doesn't fall then, yeah?"

Even this <Sixth Energy Cycle> was not accustomed to the shenanigans of our dearest World Tree.

Liu Shu wanted to reassure them, but she noticed that things were progressing to a critical point. "Oh, I must focus now. Don't bother me for a bit; engraving a rune array in a surface as large as the Moon is very difficult and tedious. So, it might take a few years."

The three women stiffened again. This time, even Ignatia reached out for her own cup. Three aggressively slurping sounds echoed in the main room of the Eternal Cathedral for a few hours.

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