Soon, the massive vessels appeared one by one near UHS1, locking into strategic orbital vectors around the planet's equator. From the midpoint of each vessel, a wide, thousand-kilometer tunnel materialized, extending downward until it anchored flush against the surface of an ascending tower. Simultaneously, the ships' primary thrusters flared, adjusting their orbital velocity in perfect synchronization with the planet's rotation to completely negate any gravitational disturbance on UHS1 below.
Standing near the canopy of the Elemental Tree, Keon's bio-exoshell dematerialized, flowing back into the ground like silver liquid. Far out in deep space, his physical presence re-formed within the primary command bridge of the lead super-vessel. At the same time, his four-dimensional perception remained fully active, giving him complete visual authority over UHS1 and every structural development occurring within its domain.
He cast his unified gaze toward the southern hemisphere, briefly surveying the radiant canopy of the Elemental Tree, before redirecting his attention to the expansive ice sheets and frozen peaks crowning the northern hemisphere.
'Let's begin with the northern hemisphere,' Keon thought, formulating the immediate sequence of operations. 'I will assimilate all the ice collected from UHS9 into the north first, converting it into liquid water until UHS1 is almost entirely submerged. Only then will I begin merging the solid landmasses. This will significantly cushion the aftereffects of violent continental shifts and minimize structural stress on the roots of the Elemental Tree.'
He paused, recalling the historical logs of the Great Merging between universes, where a similar systemic pattern had unfolded. 'It is a pity I did not possess this four-dimensional perspective back then... otherwise, I could have observed the simultaneous merger of entire star systems and broadened my analytical horizon.'
A brief flicker of regret passed through his optical sensors, but he quickly shook his head, clearing the thought. 'Regardless, there will undoubtedly be more opportunities for grand-scale mergers in the future. My intuition in such matters is rarely wrong.'
Focusing his control back on the primary infrastructure, Keon surveyed the twelve super-vessels connected to the planetary monoliths. The fleet had been arranged with meticulous precision: the ships laden with harvested ice, hydrogen, and atmospheric gases were anchored to the six towers spanning the northern hemisphere, while those carrying dense minerals and structural landmasses remained docked to the southern towers.
'It begins now,' Keon determined, with a single mental directive, he engaged the sub-talent across the northern sectors.
"Material Assimilation!"
Instantly, the six northern towers flared with radiant activation. Trillions of tons of compressed ice, liquid hydrogen, and atmospheric compounds surged downward from the vessels through the docking conduits, rushing toward the ocean floor bed at a terrifying velocity. The bases of the towers opened, discharging and seamlessly integrating the raw resources directly into the surrounding environment.
A violent tremor rippled across the planetary crust as massive frozen continents and soaring ice mountains materialized around the northern monoliths. As the overwhelming influx of frozen matter and dense gases expanded, the northern atmosphere rapidly plunged in temperature, threatening to freeze the surrounding oceans solid ice.
'Now, activate the orbital rings, increase the temperature and flash-melt the ice,' Keon ordered, seizing direct control of the nine cosmic megastructures encircling UHS1.
The undersides of the floating rings parted immediately, exposing thousands of specialized focal lenses that flickered with intense, superheated plasma. Streams of brilliant light tore through the freezing atmosphere, bringing focused thermal energy directly onto the newly formed ice sheets and ocean beds. These light looks like massive light pillars falling from the sky.
Upon impact, a massive sizzling shockwave echoed across the northern hemisphere. Billions of tons of ice vaporized instantly, releasing dense plumes of steam into the sky that enriched the ozone layer and elevated vapors concentration. Simultaneously, the freezing northern waters warmed rapidly, rising in volume and surging southward across the low-lying plains of the planet transforming into dense cloud layer all over the planet.
Observing the rising warm oceans and the smooth dispersion of vapor across the biosphere, a satisfied green light flickered within Keon's optical sensors as the initial stage of the planetary expansion proceeded according to plan.
'My guess was right; I can now use Material Assimilation at a planetary scale. This sub-talent is indeed one of the cores of my existence,' Keon thought as he recalled the current parameters of his assimilation ability. Though its current limit remained ten times lower than his highest overall control scale, he could now assimilate thousands of cubic meters of solid mass per second. 'Which means in just 1,084 seconds, I can assimilate an Earth-sized planet from my previous life,' he calculated with precise mechanical satisfaction.
Glancing through his dynamic perspective, he observed the six northern vessels completing their discharge. Having emptied their massive storage bays, the super-ships detached smoothly from the tower docks, immediately replaced by a fresh wave of vessels laden with ice harvested from other planets across the star system.
Below, the churning warm ocean expanded rapidly, drowning former lowlands until liquid water covered fully seventy-five percent of the planet's surface. Keon watched the cascading tides surging toward the elevated mountain regions of the southern hemisphere, where the roaring coastline neared the high plateau housing the Elemental Tree. 'The southern hemisphere is significantly more elevated compared to the north,' he noted quietly.
Suddenly, his green optical pupils shrank as an unexpected anomaly flashed across his HUD as his gaze fell on the elemental tree. 'Wait... is it accelerating again?'
Without a moment's delay, the perspective on the Elemental Tree zoomed inward while a detailed holographic projection materialized before his visual field, displaying the entire biological structure alongside its extensive, sprawling root system.
'It really is re-accelerating its growth... but why?' Keon thought in genuine surprise as he cross-referenced the live footage with real-time energy telemetry. The colossal elemental tree was rapidly expanding again, aggressively consuming wood elemental energy directly from the dense crystal vaults surrounding its perimeter.
Three hundred meters... three hundred and fifty meters... four hundred meters... At the same time, its underground root network exploded outward, expanding from a three hundred-kilometer diameter to three hundred fifty, then four hundred kilometers, thickening violently as massive tendrils breached the soil and burrowed straight into the encroaching ocean waters.
Keon's expression turned solemn as his analytical sub-routines scrambled to evaluate the sudden biological surge. 'Why is it acting like this at this precise moment? Does it awaken instinctual intelligence? Does it feel threatened? Or is there simply another underlying driver for this sudden growth spurt?' Watching the projection, he observed the tree expanding at an alarming rate without pause, devouring huge volumes of atmospheric gases... hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and complex compounds alike... while its submerged roots greedily absorbed raw water and minerals, consuming everything within reach to fuel its transformation.
Suddenly, Keon's optical focus locked onto a specific sub-surface root nodes moving toward the ocean waters, and his expression froze as a sudden realization struck his analytical core. 'So that's the reason... looks like, I almost made a huge mistake,' he thought to himself silently.
Watching the massive root network of elemental tree anchoring deeply into the ocean, the biological math finally clicked into place. 'So the slowdown in its growth was never a hard limit, but rather a severe deficiency of mineral nutrients and liquid water. I should have analyzed it from this perspective from the start. Before i assumed the local rivers and subterranean reservoirs that its roots accessed underground were sufficient for its growth, failing to calculate the exponential environmental demands of its expanding scale. Indeed, as a mechanical species, I am starting to lose my intuitive edge when it comes to biological evolution. I almost ruined it.'
An inexplicable wave of emotion rippled through his processing core as he realized how close his miscalculation had come to stunting the World Tree's development.
'Anyway, it's not the time to lament over it... i have learned the lesson and i will be careful regarding its future evolution.'
Rousing his consciousness from these deep calculations, Keon redirected his optical focus back toward the southern horizon. A flicker of genuine surprise passed through his green optical pupils as he processed the updated telemetry. While he had been lost in thought analyzing the biological efficiency curve, the Elemental Tree had already breached the six-hundred-meter mark, its massive canopy now casting a sprawling shadow across the rising coastline while its root system aggressively expanded across six hundreds of kilometers of seabed.
…