Stella finally awoke, and her change was tremendous. From Ceperet's surface, you could now see not only one but two moons at night. The second Moon was much tinier than the other, but because it was closer, their apparent sizes didn't differ by much.
Liu Shu looked over and smiled lovingly. "Good morning, sleepy girl. How are you feeling, love?"
Stella's voice, a touch more mature than before, answered Liu Shu with a soft whine. "Good morning, Mommy! I feel so good~. Hehehe. Did something happen while I was asleep?"
Liu Shu laughed and used her roots to caress her big, precious girl. "Not much, dearest. Mommy just conquered a few Solar Systems for my pretty Stella to interconnect. Wait a moment, love. Since you've reached Level 200, I can finally move the individuals who can help you."
Stella was curious. "Help me?"
"Mhm… Let's see. Mom, are you free?"
Tree's gentle and soothing voice reached Liu Shu. "Yes, love. I am taking care of the portal network for now. Is little Stella awake?"
"Wah! Grandma! Hehehe."
Tree laughed. "Hello, Little Stella."
Liu Shu asked Tree and Stella. "What I was thinking is that Mom could move within Stella. Since Stella will be the major interstellar hub for teleportation passageways, Mom could help Stella lighten the burden. What do you two think? Of course, if Mom wants to stay behind in the Golden Sap Empire and instead fully take care of the Ceperet Solar System, that's okay as well."
Stella's teleportation hubs were all focused on large jumps between stars. So, Tree would be able to help with her expertise, but it would be background help rather than anything more substantial.
Stella was the one who spoke first. "Mommy, I don't think that's a good idea. I know what you are trying to do, but I believe that interplanetary teleportation should be left for local World Trees or Life Trees."
Tree agreed. "After having taken care of the local teleportation network for so long, I agree with Stella. I've learned the principles, and if I focused, I could probably open one or two interstellar portals myself. Still, my skills are better suited for an interplanetary network. Later, when I gain levels, I might be able to help with interstellar travel, while Stella evolves to take over distances larger than interstellar ones."
Liu Shu listened to them and nodded. "Alright, then I won't move anyone other than a few pre-prepared Lignified Structures."
Stella's size was not as large as the Moon, but her living space was inside the sphere instead of outside. So, in terms of population alone, she could house hundreds of millions without problems. To prepare for the workers who will be attending the heavy traffic, Liu Shu asked Stella to develop some lifestyle skills and zones.
Liu Shu checked inside Stella.
"You built it well. I can see the staff zone, short-term zone, and long-term zone built differently. The starship ports are also orderly and divided into sections. Very good, baby. I only have a few details I want you to change in the micro-scale instead of the macro-scale."
Stella listened to Liu Shu. "First, you need to make it easier to move between sections. For that, using small-range teleportation arrays and runic fields will be much better. You are quite large, after all. So if someone needs to go from Sector 1-A to Sector 44-Z, they will have to travel a long distance."
Stella hummed, and Liu Shu smiled. "Don't worry too much, though. That's what Tree and the others are there to help with. Just allow their influence inside you to the point that it doesn't interfere with your spatial layout. We will create seven different teleportation hubs within you. A central one, and the other six will be in the six spatial directions."
Stella listened to the following suggestions and moved her internal structure at Liu Shu's will.
"...Also, leave some room for expansion. If a certain area becomes a tourist or mercantile hotspot, the traffic will be high. During those moments, we can expand for a few months or years until the trend changes. How many stars do you think you can interconnect right as you are right now?"
Stella pondered and commented. "If I add Mommy's blessings and my own
It was decent, so Liu Shu nodded. "Got it. Try to Level Up to Level 250 to get the stats from the major sub-cycles. Once you do that, focus on upgrading most of your skills instead. Since your overall stars are those of an SS- entity, your Level Ups are costly. It is better to focus on skills once you reach Level 250 than to keep Leveling Up.
Stella agreed once more, and together with Tree and Liu Shu, they fixed the few details in Stella's overall structure. Using
"Alright. Your first task is interconnecting Ceperet with the core Solar Systems."
The initial 10 Solar Systems were the most developed without a shadow of a doubt. Because Liu Shu had been new to conquering, she gave those Solar Systems all her blessings, unlike the rest. Only with the four of the Nexus and Covenant did her gradual delivery of blessings come into being.
Even then, those four belonged to former Transitional Star System Empires, so their societies were at a base level at Ceperet's level. Only a few details and systems were out of place, and they had long since been fixed.
By now, the people in those four worlds had completely accepted their new identity as people of the Golden Sap Empire.
It took about half a year to fix everything and make it buttery smooth. How to move between sections, the living amenities, the starship zones, the portal zones… everything had been engineered down to the last bathroom for comfort.
In the meantime, Stella had been checking her skills and becoming familiar with them. She would open a portal here and there, speaking with Tree and other Space Aether-focused World Trees and Life Trees.
After half a year, Stella finally activated for the first time. Many starships, important individuals, and others looked at the sky through telescopes and other tools. Even national television was showing Stella's massive figure live.
The people who had been living in Ceperet since before Liu Shu's reign couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. It was then that everyone felt a pulse spread outward from Stella.
That spatial pulse rippled silently and entangled with Liu Shu's roots. Liu Shu didn't resist the influence and let Stella access her root network completely.
With efficiency impossible to replicate by intelligent species' hands, Stella's energy crossed light-years of distance in just a few minutes, arriving at the Etheria Solar System. Once there, Stella's ternary essences skyrocketed, and a massive wave of energy that could be felt anywhere punched through the dimension.
THUD!
A low, heavy sound reached the heart. For that moment, it felt as if everyone's heartbeat had beaten at once.
Then, within one of Stella's rooms, one of the hundreds of rings lit up. The runes and array lines all over the ring lit up brightly, and the empty space began sinking inward. After the visual appeared to have stretched the fabric of reality to the limits, something snapped.
CRASH!
The dimension behaved like glass shattering after a heavy impact, creating a swirling portal of… nothingness. It was a spiraling portal of darkness with some bluish undertones and sparkling white dots like the stars in the firmament.
Everyone held their breath, wondering if it had been successful.
Stella's young, adolescent voice rang out, reaching everyone watching this historic moment. "Success. Etheria Solar System and Ceperet Solar System have been linked."
"WAHH!!!!"
Cheers rang out everywhere, people throwing their hands up in the air in celebration.
Liu Shu smiled as her population celebrated. Then, her gaze shifted toward the cosmic horizon. 'It all truly starts now. With my Solar Systems interconnected, I have truly become a power that can't be ignored.'
Before, an ambush might've caused heavy damage in certain areas. Ambushes were what you had to fear the most in an interstellar battle because you couldn't react properly. That fear was now gone.
'I owe a big one to Sarlos.'
She had given him enough compensation, but the technology he brought helped with Stella's birth. Liu Shu had not even dreamed of finishing interstellar travel technology and building the first interstellar passage this fast.
Yet now, it was a reality. A reality that would cause her opponents without it to feel a heavy weight in their hearts.
Her voice, after so long, spread out through all her Solar Systems. This was information impossible to hide, so why hide it? If they wanted to know, Liu Shu would tell them. She would let the cosmos around her know that the Golden Sap Empire had graduated.
"Today marks a new era."
The Heavenly Willow's gentle yet powerful voice reached everyone.
"It has been a long time since I was born and began my expansion. I started in a small forest and evolved while surviving. I gave my nearest people a place to live and protection, and grew. First, my forest. Then, the surrounding cities. Later, the continent. I continued to grow, eventually conquering my home world. My canopy expanded, becoming as vast as the sky. My powers grew, allowing us to reach a new world."
Her words moved many, prompting them to reminisce about the past.
"After a new world, there was the surrounding void. Vast emptiness that felt impossible to cross. Distances between the stars were far more intimidating than we had expected. Yet, we conquered them and spread out. War after war, enemy after enemy, we pushed everything back, defended our home, and advanced."
No one had stopped the advance of the Heavenly Willow. No one expected her strength, and no one was able to defend against the continuously growing World Tree.
"Now, our empire stretches between the stars. Dozens of Solar Systems… yet each remains alone. We are one, but the distance between the stars continues to be the walls separating us."
"No more."
"No more, because today marks a new beginning. Today, with Stella reaching maturity, we punch through that seemingly insurmountable wall for good. Today, we will become a True Star System Empire. Not a gathering of dozens of isolated stars, but a tight whole interconnected within my roots."
With her voice raising a notch and booming in every corner of her domain, Liu Shu declared with strength, pride, and solemnity.
"Today, I, the Heavenly Willow, declare that we've conquered the stars. For now and for eternity, our Golden Sap Empire shall thrive under my canopy."
""""FOR ETERNITY!""""