Liu Shu had been struggling for a while. She knew that she could learn skills easily. However, she didn't know if those skills would later be something she would need. After all, once you detach a skill to gain "skill shards," the essence of that skill still remains in your body, only inactive.
Therefore, you can't just learn the skill "Basic Throw" one thousand times over and sell it to the Skill Merchants to farm shards. Each skill must be unique and different.
So, Liu Shu was struggling because the skills she could learn easily were tied to her essence as a World Tree. For example, she could learn "Root Constriction," or "Leaf Storm," or something like that with relative ease.
However, Liu Shu's sights were quite far in the future, so who could say that in the far future she wouldn't need one of these World Tree type skills?
In the end, Liu Shu was acting like a player in a game who didn't want to spend her "consumables" just in case, and eventually she would hoard everything until it was useless.
"Arggh!"
Violet was sitting calmly and reading a book when she heard Liu Shu's miserable cry. She looked to the side, and she saw the Little Beauty sprawled on the large and comfortable sofa, her hands on her head.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know what to learn to unlearn later! Everything has the potential to become something powerful!"
Violet asked, confused. "Everything? What about a skill that increases your speed when throwing trash?"
Liu Shu raised her head and deadpanned at Violet. "Do you think learning something like that is easy?"
Violet shrugged. "You are the talented World Tree, not me."
Harmonixia entered the room, her wide hips gently swaying from side to side and attracting Liu Shu's sight. Violet looked over and sighed. "Your body figure is so good, Lady Harmonixia."
Harmonixia chuckled. "Yours is not worse than mine, Little Violet." She then blinked and, after placing Liu Shu on her lap to feed her, asked with a teasing light. "So, do you fancy any of my boys? They are quite handsome, aren't they?"
Violet, having worked in the adult entertainment industry, was not ashamed about her question and laughed. "Lady Harmonixia, while I do agree that they look quite good, I am currently trying to separate myself from those kinds of things."
Harmonixia blinked and chuckled. "What, are you entering your pure and untainted arc?"
"I am." Violet grinned. "I want to cleanse my mind of those things so that I can take my next relationship seriously!"
Liu Shu munched the food Harmonixia fed her and asked, curious. "I've checked that zone and saw where you actually worked."
"Oh? When did you go? And how have you not been spanked by Lady Harmonixia?"
Liu Shu looked at Violet, and after swallowing, she asked with a smile. "Little girl, you have not forgotten that this body is just a tiny part of me, have you?"
Seeing the mature look on Liu Shu, Violet's heart trembled for a second. She almost forgot that the little girl she helps put makeup on almost every morning is actually the World Tree.
It was not forgetting that she was it, but more like forgetting the true authority she represented.
It was at this point that Harmonixia's eyes lit up. "I know what skills you can learn, Lian'er."
"Which ones?"
Harmonixia looked down and smiled widely. "Sexual skills~. Don't worry, we four will be your very faithful testing dummies."
Liu Shu paused, and then, her eyes became thoughtful. She didn't dismiss it immediately, and seriously pondered it. "That's… not a bad idea. It's not like I need those skills, so learning them and giving them up is not much of a problem."
Violet looked back and forth between them and then pondered silently. 'I can also give up those skills…' With a smile, she nodded and looked at Liu Shu. "Little Beauty, can I go with you at that time? I will also unlearn those skills and browse their catalog."
Liu Shu smiled. "Sure. I'll tell Leafara at that time." Then, she quickly finished lunch and then stood up with a jump.
Being at home, Liu Shu was wearing only a single-piece dress and nothing else, so the jump made the eyes of both Violet and Harmonixia move up and down a few times.
"Impressive softness and elasticity." Violet praised from the bottom of her heart.
Liu Shu turned, leaned down a bit to look at the seated Harmonixia eye-to-eye, and smiled. "So, will you help me?"
Looking at the two plump and mature hanging fruits occupying a good chunk of her vision, Harmonixia couldn't say no.
About two months later, Flor had to ask for substitutes for her daughters-in-law, as they had been kidnapped by a certain World Tree and squeezed of their fruits to the point that they were all lying like dead fish on top of their beds.
Meanwhile, looking radiant, Liu Shu approached Violet with a bloated stomach and smiled. "Let's go to see Leafara!"
Looking at the pregnant Little Beauty, Violet didn't know how to react for a moment. She scratched her cheek and spoke carefully. "Um… congratulations?"
Liu Shu blinked. "About what?"
Violet pointed at Liu Shu's very conspicuous stomach. "That… are you not carrying a baby?"
"Oh. Yes, I am." Then, she thought about it and realized. "Right, right. It is customary to say congratulations. I almost forgot after everyone stopped saying that to me."
Confused, the curvy woman asked. "Why did they do that?"
Liu Shu hummed. "It must be because my Avatar has almost given birth to 200 children?"
"T-Two hundred…?"
Violet was utterly stupefied. Seeing her face, Liu Shu laughed and grabbed her hand, dragging her to Leafara's place. "Well, not that many. Even counting my Sylvan babies…" She suddenly paused and began counting in her head.
"Oh my, this baby is actually my 200th child on the dot!"
Violet felt a bit faint. 'Two hundred… I, as a human, would need to basically pop out children for almost 180 years without stopping to reach that number, right?'
She was truly dumbfounded by the Little Beauty, whose figure was basically perfect. Moreover, now that she was pregnant, there was an aura of life and maternity around her.
Violet rubbed her head and sighed. "Well, then, my congratulations were not misplaced. The 200th child is quite a… milestone."
Liu Shu laughed happily. "Indeed it is!" Her steps grew lighter, the loose dress bouncing with each step.
Seeing such a happy yet motherly smile made Violet want to sink into Liu Shu's arms and close her eyes. It had a really… soothing, peaceful feel.
Looking at the dazed girl, Liu Shu smiled and squeezed her hand. "Is everything okay, Violet? Remember to tell me if you are feeling down, yes?"
Violet blushed a little, scratching her cheek. "Oh, um, nothing wrong. Just a bit dazed. You look radiant."
Liu Shu squinted for a second and then smiled. "Alright, just tell me when you feel ready. Don't worry, child, I will wait for when you feel like telling me."
Violet once more felt how truly mature and gentle Liu Shu was when she was not being a bit silly. 'Mother of the world… quite a fitting name.'
That was not an official title, but one that some historians and common people used to refer to Liu Shu.
While pondering those things, they quickly arrived at Leafara's house. She, wanting to be closer to Liu Shu, actually moved to a nearby Lignified House that was in the inner area of the city. This was a special zone not many were allowed to reside in, but Leafara had shown nothing but true goodwill, so Liu Shu allowed it.
When the two arrived, they saw Leafara speaking with a tall, elegant, and beautiful hornetkin. Liu Shu trotted over with a smile. "Xakira!"
Xakira looked to the side, and seeing the pregnant Little Beauty, her heart instantly melted like ice cream under the rays of the sun. "Oh my! Little Liu Shu, congratulations on the little one!"
Liu Shu softly crashed into Xakira's arms with a big smile. "Hehehe, thank you! This is my 200th baby!"
Leafara, at the side, clapped once. "That's great! I can actually use this as a reason to give you a 10% discount! That would make it a total of 13600 C Rank shards! Remember that I will give you a 5% discount straight from my pocket~."
Xakira looked at Leafara with surprise. "If you said that earlier, I can tell you that I've had over 400 children."
Violet almost slipped when she heard that. 'Even when I've grown in this society, it still shocks me the reproductive ability of other races. Weren't we, humans, supposed to be the race that reproduced quickly?'
Leafara chuckled. "You are Liu Shu's friend, do you think I'd hold back any discount I can offer? You need to be in the middle of the pregnancy for that."
Xakira tilted her head, placing Liu Shu on her lap and hugging the soft little body. "How do you confirm it, by the way? Otherwise, anyone can claim it and get the discount, right?"
"There is naturally a way." Leafara placed a crystal on the table and smiled at Liu Shu. "Place your hand here, Liu Shu."
Liu Shu did so, and the crystal shone for a second. Then, the numbers in the crystal began shooting up at a shocking rate.
100… 300… 800… 4000… 14,000… 50,000… and it finally reached the number 99,999 before it shut down.
Everyone in the room turned utterly silent, looking at the device that shut down with strange eyes. Liu Shu blinked and asked innocently. "What happened?"
Leafara's lips twitched. "Liu Shu, dear, are you sure that's your 200th child?"
Liu Shu answered innocently. "This is, indeed, my 200th humanoid child."
"Humanoid…" Leafara's eyes shone with understanding, and then she sighed in relief. "Right, right. You are a World Tree. Of course, your plant children also count here. No wonder it couldn't detect how many children you've had."
Xakira asked, curious. "So… what happened?"
Leafara chuckled. "This is an item with the C Rank
"Ohh!" Liu Shu nodded and then smiled. "Help me exchange the skill
"..."