The reunion with everyone was warm and lengthy. They stayed together from morning to evening, chatting with Liu Shu. Each of her babies rushed into Liu Shu's arms, clearly missing that warmth from childhood that they've almost forgotten.
Still, when Liu Shu hugged them, even the most aloof among the children felt their instincts taking over and melted in Liu Shu's arms like a little bird returning to their nest.
Dewna, leaning in the arms of one of her lovers, sighed with contentment. "Mom's arms are so comfy."
The man holding her blinked. "More than mine?"
Dewna snorted. "Is there a need to compare? You are going to make yourself lose face, so don't!"
The man laughed, patting the coy Alraune in his arms. Dewna was quite… omnivorous in this matter, so her harem was formed of both males and females of different species.
Still, because of a few mishappenings of the past, she was extremely selective. After all, in the past, there had been a case of a few of her lovers leaving her side.
During that time, Dewna cried rivers from heartbreak, and Verdantia and Liu Shu had to console the sad little girl. So, from then on, Dewna was extremely cautious when adding more people to her harem.
This was quite true for almost all Alraune. As a species derived from a plant which focused on reproduction, they were naturally innately lustful, so around 80% of the alraune and similar children had a harem. Sizes varied greatly among them, some being a group of 3, while others had as many as 12 lovers.
Liu Shu, in this aspect, didn't restrict them. As long as they were happy and they were not being deceived, she felt that her children had the freedom to choose her partners. Flor didn't restrict her, so why should she?
The only ones that Liu Shu was a bit worried about were her Sylvan babies!
She hugged the bouncy and happy Meldy in her arms, asking softly. "Do you have no one you like, baby?"
Meldy shook her head with a smile. "I don't! In the future, I want someone like Mommy as a partner! A World Tree is perfect in every way. I just have not interacted with any of them for now, so I am a bit conflicted."
Liu Shu blinked and looked at the rest of her adult Sylvan Children. "What about you four?"
They all chuckled and smiled. Arlyn commented softly. "We are the same as Meldy, Mother. If we ever have a partner, we want a World Tree."
Liu Shu was a bit speechless at the high standard of their babies. After all, there were no more than 110 World Trees spread throughout the entire Golden Sap Empire. Naturally, among those, around 40 had a partner already, around 30 were completely not interested, and the rest were still developing and had no intent to meet others yet.
So, the pool of lovers her babies had to choose from was just around 50 individuals, give or take!
"Well…" Liu Shu sighed. "If that's the case, you'd better go and start flirting with a few of them. After all, there are too few of them, and usually, World Trees are the ones to choose their partner. Also, be sure to choose ones that want lovers, and not means of reproduction. Remember that some World Trees don't really have a concept of love, so they just want people to carry their seeds."
The five of them knew, so they smiled and nodded. They were quite clever girls, and they knew that they were too young. Therefore, during the following few thousand years, the five of them felt that many new World Trees would be born and spread out.
Therefore, they were waiting for Liu Shu to enrapture more worlds, conquer them, and have more World Trees under her control.
Of course, if there was a World Tree they liked after interacting, they've learned quite a few tricks from Verdantia and the others. Mainly: 'Strike when the World Tree is young.' 'Be sure to leave an impression so that they always have you in their mind.' 'When you strike, make sure to push down the World Tree first…' and so on.
Was the advice appropriate? Clearly not.
Was their advice effective? Sadly, it was.
Would Liu Shu spank her lovers to heaven come if she knew about these conversations behind her back? Most likely so.
Liu Shu didn't know, but it seemed that most, if not all, of her Sylvan children were meant to become adoring and single-minded Yanderes! One says that the fruit that doesn't fall too far from the tree, and that was entirely the case!
Walking toward her boys, Liu Shu smiled at them. "How are you all doing, my pretty boys, hm?"
The Farlunes chuckled, and all came to hug her gently. As Alraune derivatives, they were all extremely handsome and charming. Each of them had different flavors, some short and cute, others tall and elegant, some muscular and wild… You asked for it, and they had it!
To say that they were girl magnets was an understatement!
Eluan, as the eldest, spoke with Liu Shu with a smile. "We are doing great, Mom. We are quite well received."
Liu Shu patted his chest, as Eluan was just too tall. "I am glad to hear that, love. Remember to tell Mom if someone bullies you, alright? You are all my precious boys, so Mom will naturally protect and love all of you!"
They all couldn't help but smile. In this world, they knew that the one who would always love them unconditionally was their mothers. Even Harmonixia, while being a tease with them, was incredibly protective when they were wronged.
This didn't mean that they would protect them. If they made a mistake, it was up to them to correct it without their interference!
Otherwise, becoming a pampered second generation was too easy with Liu Shu's canopy as their protective umbrella.
Therefore, taking into account their innate natures, their education was strict and comprehensive. If anyone grew crooked, the first ones to give them a beating would be Liu Shu and Harmonixia!
This method of teaching was done by all of them, including Tempestria, whose Sylphaith children were extremely timid and shy by nature.
After all, timidity could quickly evolve into gloominess, and gloominess was easy to give way to resentment and self-isolation. These were the best ingredients to create a resentful ghost!
So, each of the species had things they needed to take into account.
After spending her day with her children, Liu Shu returned to meet her plant babies!
When she arrived, Blue, Red, Green, and Grey all welcomed Liu Shu with excitement. "Babies, I know you four are excited, but can you let me go for a second?"
A wry smile spread on her lips. She was currently tied down by four different roots, each from one of her eldest Lignified babies!
Red spoke with a chuckle. "Sorry, Mom. Let us hug you for a bit longer. You are really soft and nice."
Blue laughed. "Exactly, Mom! Let us pamper you. Don't worry, I am quite proficient after dealing with those brats for years."
Grey spoke softly. "Just let us take care of you. Why walk, Mom? We'll do everything for your Avatar instead."
Green sighed softly. "You three are quite mischievous."
Of course, her roots didn't retreat even a single millimeter.
Liu Shu felt a bit helpless in front of her babies. So, she turned to look at her lovers. "Some help here?"
Verdantia and the other three raised their eyebrows and then scoffed at once. Cinderielle commented. "You gave birth to them and then threw them to us. How about taking care of them for a bit?"
Tempestria nodded. "Right, right. One day, a potted plant appears on my doorstep. The next day, another. Who can deal with all of this?"
Verdantia smiled gently. "Sorry, love, I promised Green the other day, so I can't help you."
Harmonixia directly turned away. "Mom, let's go to the backyard first. Lian'er will follow us later."
Of course, all four of them were joking around. Each time a little potted plant, who was their child, arrived, all four of them felt delighted. Work? For them, taking care of the children was pure joy and a form of relaxation. After all, each of these babies was a sign of Liu Shu's love for them.
If they didn't have responsibilities to fulfill, they would spend all day in their garden made of plant babies.
After a little bit, Green and the other three also stopped, having satisfied their craving for hugs. Even though the hugs Liu Shu gave them with her true body felt much better, entangling their Mom's Avatar was a new joy that they were very willing to explore!
Once she arrived at the shared backyard of the four houses, Liu Shu couldn't help but exclaim a little. She, naturally, knew about it, tended to it, and all the time took care and communicated with these plant babies.
However, seeing it from a human perspective made her realize how beautiful the garden looked.
It was a large expanse of flowers, trees, and bushes made out of violet, blue, red, orange, grey, and green-colored flowers. They were all planted beautifully, and there were even paths that guided her toward some wooden tables.
Walking on the stone paths, Liu Shu caressed the many plant babies she had given birth to, feeling satisfied from the bottom of her heart.
"This place is gorgeous." Liu Shu sighed, arriving at the table with her lovers, mothers, father-in-law, and mothers-in-law.
Melody, unable to further contain herself, stretched her claws and snatched Liu Shu into her lap, hugging her from behind. "You are just too cute, Liu Shu! I always imagined you much taller, with an elegant and gentle face. You know, like a Queen? Who knew you were this adorable little creature! I just want to put princess dresses on you every day and shower you with kisses!"
Although Verena and Amareal didn't say anything, they internally nodded very much in agreement.
Verena looked at Verdantia and sighed. "To think that such a delicate flower got trampled by you? How about I prune your branch a little? Aren't you too big for my cute Liu Shu?"
Verdantia almost fainted from anger. "No need! Liu Shu likes my branch very much as it is!"
Amareal, meanwhile, asked curiously. "Little Liu Shu, did you put on makeup yourself? You are really skillful."
Liu Shu smiled at them. "No! I met someone at the entertainment district and had her help me put it on! She was a really nice woman!"
Instantly, everyone who was listening became quiet, their gazes carefully moving toward the lovers who had been joking around until now.
As if all of them shared a single soul, they all smiled, turned to look at Liu Shu, and asked. "Where did you say you went?"
Liu Shu looked at their expressions and gulped. 'Did I make some kind of mistake? QAQ!'