Chapter 911. Too Few Babies? Lead By Example!

Chapter 911: Chapter 911. Too Few Babies? Lead By Example!

News of the ceasefire between the Covenant and Nexus reached Liu Shu’s ears quite quickly thanks to Sarlos. While he had no such duty, he had left a few of his top informants to help Liu Shu’s information business a little bit.

He didn’t provide full-on help, just enough that nobody could call their link a true alliance.

Liu Shu asked Sarlos to be cautious, as she didn’t want to get deeply entangled with anyone yet. It would be a great help if Sarlos became her backer, but once Sarlos became her backer, Liu Shu would be slightly restricted.

’I planted all those Lignified Cities not to become Sarlos’s underling, but to later swallow him before he can even react.’

While our World Tree didn’t have any intent of going against Sarlos, he was not that far away from her current location. If Liu Shu swallowed everything and expanded outward, Liu Shu would reach Sarlos’s territory before she conquered 1,000 Solar Systems.

’By then, though, the level of my Golden Sap Empire might rival or surpass Globular Star Cluster empires.’

Her empire’s growth rate was vertiginous. Even with just 10 Solar Systems, Liu Shu felt quite comfortable fighting against transitional Star System Empires. Remember that those empires had between 100 and 1000 Solar Systems under their control.

Transitional Solar System Empire: 2 to 10

Star System Empire: 10 to 100.

Transitional Star System Empire: 100 to 1000.

Globular Star Cluster: 1,000 to 10,000.

Transitional Globular Star Cluster: 10,000 to 100,000.

Nebula Empire: 100,000 to 1,000,000.

Etc.

The Shattered Ring and the other five powerful Globular Star Cluster Empires were all between the peak Globular Star Cluster and Transitional Globular Star Cluster categories.

If one of them suddenly had their cables crossed and chose to crush Liu Shu’s territory, they would most likely be able to do it. As for the cost... that would be something to be seen.

Checking her own empire, Liu Shu noticed many Level 290s. Thanks to her Dungeons and other Experience Sources like recent wars, many elites soared and reached incredible heights.

’Even I have stopped upgrading my skills and poured everything into my Level.’

Since they’ve all reached S- Rank and above, Liu Shu wanted to first reach Level 300 before she invested more into her skills. It was because upgrading costs after reaching S- Rank skyrocketed tremendously.

Liu Shu spent around 1.3 billion Experience Points during the last few years, reaching Level 279. The Experience needed to reach Level 280 was 89,674,150 and Liu Shu only had 19,752,468 left in her Accumulated Experience Points.

Reaching Level 275 was quite a big milestone, though. She received a sharp increase in <Stats>, increasing her maximum ternary essences by a good chunk and, therefore, many other areas.

Plus, thanks to her <Mind Sea> passive skill and other titles, her mental processes were swift and orderly. Expanding her territory did not increase her mental burden. On the other contrary, that constricted feeling she felt during the war was slowly easing up, making Liu Shu feel much freer.

***

<Mind Sea (S- Rank Level 1 [0/839,900])>:

Increases thought processing speed by 150%. 300% more efficient multitasking.

***

’I’ve finally conquered over 50 Solar Systems.’

The progress was rapid. Once she fortified the core 10 Solar Systems and began expanding, there was absolutely nothing that could stop her. The biggest obstacle had been Apricot, and not because she was strong, but because Liu Shu took pity on her and decided to be patient.

’Still... the Nexus and Covenant have stopped biting at each other’s throats. So, their gaze will most likely move toward me. I am no longer that small power that barely covered ten Solar Systems. Now I am a fully fledged Star System Empire with solid roots all around.’

She was planting <Soulseeds> in every Solar System like previously planned. Two per Solar System. One of her <Soulseeds> was in the Capital World of the Solar System, while the other was at the outermost world, regardless of whether life inhabited it or not.

Temples were placed almost everywhere as well. Thanks to all the World Trees she has been meeting, Liu Shu gained a whole bunch of seeds. The only one who was slightly lacking in number was the newly built <Order Temple>. Even then, it was not a core temple in terms of <Blessing>.

’Although, her effects are much more impactful than I expected.’

The industrial areas in Liu Shu’s territory worked by both machinery and biological computers. Biological Computers, like explained during the creation, were living beings. The sole objective Liu Shu had when creating those was that they would be able to Level Up and receive buffs and such.

That was the whole point of them, to be honest. Otherwise, she would’ve just focused on normal technology and developed it further with her knowledge.

The <Order Blessing> was like a massive boom in progress for all Biological Computers. As Computers, what they wanted wasn’t creativity, it was precise calculations and lack of errors.

Biological or not, the core mechanics changed little.

Therefore, when the <Order Blessing> was applied, they all evolved and even fixed themselves up at a level that even Liu Shu had trouble understanding. Thankfully, Liu Shu’s mind was like a gargantuan supercomputer when focused, so she could perceive, process, and understand those faint changes at a level no Intelligent Species could.

’It’s a massive breakthrough in biological computer technology.’

Normal computers had developed for thousands of years and were advanced to a level that they could calculate massive spans of terrain and process at levels no human mind could. The fact that a massive server could perfectly control and calculate everything within a Mothership-Class starship spoke volumes.

There wasn’t only navigation. Pressure, breathable air, living environment, users, weapons, engine conditions, overall integrity, etc. The computing technology took all of that and made nanosecond calculations with little, if any, burden.

Biological computers had yet to reach that level, but they were slowly reaching it. Their calculations at that level were still at the microsecond level. That was over 1,000 times worse. Yet, they were catching up.

Liu Shu knew that it would not take more than another century or two for the biological computers to catch up to normal ones. Once that occurred, their synergy would elevate the Golden Sap Empire’s era to a whole new level.

A problem Liu Shu was facing now and had not expected was... fertility. Because it was a golden era, most people were focused on themselves and progressing their careers. After all, with extended lifespans thanks to easy Leveling Up, the average individual, even among "short-lived species," could live for over 500 years without much effort.

If we focused on top-level individuals, they could all be classified as babies compared with their overall lifespan. Only Dungeon Divers had to be slightly careful since diving into an <Atemporal> dungeon didn’t magically cause their aging to stop.

For everyone, regardless of place, their biological clock ticked at one relative second per second, with themselves as the reference point.

’...Should I add a doctrine of fertility within the church?’

Although she muttered that as a joke, Liu Shu suddenly paused, thoughtful. ’If I use myself as the role model... Won’t they follow in my footsteps?’

Of course, having over 400 children, like Liu Shu’s Avatar, was far too much. However, if she asked the people to follow slightly behind Liu Shu’s valiant example...

"Elyne, do you have a moment?"

Elyne was currently meeting with Etheria, who, after who knows how much effort, finally managed to reach Level 200 and soar high enough to be considered a local powerhouse.

Etheria and Elyne, both discussing church matters, quickly stopped speaking and bowed toward Liu Shu’s statue. "Welcome, Liu Shu/Lady Liu Shu."

Etheria was still an <Avatar>, so she had to add the "Lady" beforehand. Nevertheless, it was almost guaranteed that Etheria would be the next appointed <Apostle> right after Elyne. Etheria had shown that Liu Shu’s guess was not wrong.

As a religious leader, Etheria’s competence was much higher than Elyne’s. This didn’t mean that Elyne was incompetent, though. She had built the entire <Eternal Church> from the ground up together with Liu Shu.

Elyne was just... slightly too reclusive and gentle. Etheria, on the other hand, symbolized what the "Pope" of an active doctrine would usually do. She moved around, spread the gospel, and also made sure that the <Eternal Bible> would never be interpreted at will.

"Hello~, I was thinking and suddenly had this idea..."

Both of them listened silently, and after a while, they blinked. Elyne, holding back a laugh that was about to escape, asked. "So... you want to increase the number of children?"

"Yes." Liu Shu answered candidly. "The average about 100 years ago was around 7 children per couple, but that has plummeted to 3 per couple. At this rate, there won’t be any more children! QAQ!"

Etheria bowed deeply. "As Lady Liu Shu wishes. We will make sure to lead by example and make a new page about Lady Liu Shu in the next printing of the <Eternal Bible>."

Elyne, who had been laughing, stiffened. "U-Um, lead by example?"

Etheria looked at Elyne and grabbed her head. "Let’s go find a husband or wife, Lady Elyne. Sylvans with an extra male member are rare, but if it is us, we will be able to easily find one among the church members! If not, a human male or a beastkin male would not be bad. We both are Human, after all."

And so, Liu Shu saw Etheria drag a dumbfounded Elyne out with a wide smile. Liu Shu nodded with a satisfied smile at that. ’As expected of Etheria; a woman of action!’

Both of them would later go on to find themselves two Sylvan Wives each. The four Sylvans were gorgeous, talented, high-leveled, and with powerful bloodlines and tiers. They were quite well-endowed, similar to Liu Shu’s wives (information Liu Shu learned by mistake when she accidentally peeked at them rolling around).

The new experience also seemed satisfying, because Elyne and Etheria got pregnant in less than a year after finding their new wives. Their faces were quite radiant, making Liu Shu laugh whenever they saw them squished between their tall Sylvan wives.

The Saintesses and other Avatars, following the example, also found themselves husbands and wives quite quickly. Who would reject the gorgeous Saintesses and Avatars, who were basically at the top in terms of influence in one of the strongest branches of society?

Multiple partners were not frowned upon at all. On the contrary, it was a charm point for both men and women.

A woman with multiple male partners, or vice versa, showed that they had the ability to keep them. Moreover, because this practice went both ways, few people lacked wives or husbands to find.

’...Wow. The average birth rate is skyrocketing! Nice, nice. Reproduce and populate the new worlds we are conquering! HEHEHE! MORE BABIES FOR EVERYONE!’