671 Loophole Hunting

Aron had been spending more and more time with his family since he had decided to go to Proxima Centauri at the Proximians tree folks' request, and that decision was further reinforced after the two-star systems were connected.

An hour before, the Emperor addressed the Proxima Centauri exploration fleet.

While the fleet admiral was sending out an emergency call order for the meeting Aron had requested and scheduled for an hour later, Ayaka was seen leaving the mothership and heading back to the planet, having been assigned another mission.

Upon landing at the designated zone, Ayaka wasted no time. She stepped off the ship with a suitcase in hand and walked purposefully toward a lone tree.

When she was about a hundred meters away, the lone tree began to shake and transform. Branches and leaves twisted and rearranged until a humanoid figure emerged, facing Ayaka with an uncanny valley smile.

"Welcome, Ayaka," the humanoid tree said. Her tone and manner of speaking seemed to have evolved, as expected. She and her fellow root senses were spread all over the planet, allowing them to see and hear everything happening on the surface.

As a result, the exploration fleet scientists classified the planet itself as a bona fide body of theirs, with anything on the surface akin to bacteria living on human skin.

With those extensive senses comes information, with information comes data, with data comes experience, and with experience comes change.

Im here because of this, she said, tapping the suitcase. A communication network has been completed between our two star systems, allowing for instant communication. The emperor wanted to see if we could use this new capability to meet your criteria or not. She finally got to the heart of her visit.

Ooh, congratulations, Birch said, pausing thoughtfully.

Ayaka recognized that Birchs pause indicated she was consulting with the other treefolks. As their representative, Birch's official statements required consensus from the entire group. To Ayaka, this was just part of the usual process.

After a brief pause, Birch resumed, While our criteria do include having a conversation with him, which your new communication network can facilitate, meeting him in person is also a requirement. As for the rest of the criteria, those details are still confidential since we have yet to reach a consensus on all of them. However, achieving those criteria will necessitate a face-to-face meeting.

Birch's response provided not only an answer to Ayakas question but also an insight into the tree folk's internal dynamics. It became clear that they were not as unified as might have been assumed, revealing a level of internal complexity that could either simplify or complicate their children's integration into the empire.

But that doesnt mean we cant start communicating now, as our criteria are based on humanity as a whole, and this meeting might help us refine them, Birch added.

Ayaka paused, considering the implications of Birch's statement. The outcome of this preliminary meeting could either make the official meeting easier for the emperor or set more challenging criteria. She didnt deliberate for long before responding, In that case, let me arrange the meeting. Will your fellow tree folk be joining us now, or will you be the sole representative for this discussion?

For now, I will represent them, but for the official visit, all of us will be present, Birch replied.