In Andersen's Fairy Tales, there was a magic bean that could grow all the way into the sky. If the Long-Lived One wanted to, they could indeed do something similar.
Nearly every one of their roots stretched dozens or even hundreds of kilometers, with the longest reaching over 500 kilometers. Supported by those roots, they might not truly reach the heavens, but "growing" to a height of nearly a hundred kilometers would be more than feasible.
However, supporting such an enormous, heavy body as it "grew" into the sky consumed a staggering amount of energy. With the Long-Lived One's previous energy system, reaching that height would essentially have left them "out of fuel."
But that height was still insufficient for the Long-Lived One to enter orbit around Kara Star. According to the planet's gravitational model, 200 kilometers was the minimum altitude required for an object to maintain a stable orbit.
Thus, the Long-Lived One's "long legs" alone were nowhere near enough to get them into space.
But just as the Long-Lived One approached an altitude of 100 kilometers, they finally revealed another secret trump card!
A massive stream of blue particles suddenly erupted from beneath their roots. The immense thrust immediately sent their ascent, which had begun slowing, surging once more!
"Oh! Those... those are thrusters! They've installed a whole array of thruster assemblies on that biological weapon!" The Twin Stars people immediately realized what was happening.
This was no low-altitude fortress. It was a biological warship!
The Long-Lived One's base had been wrapped in layer upon layer of black roots from the start, completely obscuring what lay inside. No one had noticed the dozens of High-Power Thruster assemblies installed there.
Only when they ignited and began delivering thrust did Twin Stars' monitoring equipment detect them.
"We can't wait any