The next day, Petra woke up early.
The clouds remained dark, but the storm had begun to calm down. Petra estimated that after a few more days, the green tide would end.
Today, Petra planned to do something very Important.
Using an extra large spirit stone tablet, Petra began designing the blueprint for the main building.
She spent the entire day walking around the tree trunk, taking various measurements and calculating the shape and angles of the many pieces involved.
Petra made a list of all the things she would need to fill the various preplanned rooms. Many of the things she needed could only be purchased and not built, so Petra would need to make a trip to town sooner or later. As for where she would shop, she didn't plan to go to Evergreen Town. Instead, she wanted to go to the largest city in the northern region.
In the northern region, before the Green Wind Forest met the Blackstone Mountain Range, there was a transition called the Vibrant Planes. Where the vibrant planes meet the green wind forest, there is a large city called Sevensen.
Sevensen was the largest city in the northern region.
Although not located within the green wind forest, Sevensen was the largest trading hub in the north.
As time passed, the blueprint Petra created became more and more complete. She drafted each piece individually, making sure that their measurements were easily readable.
Lilly would peek over Petra's shoulder from time to time.
The large table that sat in the main lobby was filled with dozens of crystal tablets and crystal tomes, each filled with many diagrams and lists.
Lilly had never seen this technology before, so she found it very interesting.
If she were told that it was just a simple utilization of spiritual energy, spiritual stones and the Illumination command, she would never believe it.
Two days later, Petra finished up the final page.
Luna silently passed her a bowl of beef stew and Petra devoured it happily.
After doing a quick check, Petra confirmed that she was indeed done. After checking on the Ant Queen, all that was left was to make the journey to Sevensen and buy some stuff.
Petra suddenly realised a problem...
She didn't have any money!
The little girl sat among the pile of spirit stones, distraught.
How was she going to make money?
Petra considered a few things. She could take a stroll in the middle of the night and wait for a big, kind, and wealthy bandit to sacrifice himself to her, or maybe she could go around and find some rare poisonous plants to sell in the big city.
The little girl turned to Luna. "How would you make money?"
Luna looked over. Her little master was drowned in a sea of overflowing spiritual energy. The illumination from the spirit stones gave her small body a radiant outline. Luna was sure that Petra's hair was even swaying in the wind from the overflowing energy. Was she being serious?
Lilly popped out of the kitchen, "Why don't you sell information about us? Take a piece of our old clothing and say that you found it in the forest. Just that should sell for a few crystal coins."
Petra tilted her head. "Crystal Coins?"
Lilly seemed to realise something. She quickly explained, "Crystal Coins come after Gold Coins. Their value comes from the energy contained in them."
NCC (Natural Crystal Coin) - Large and white.
MCC (Mystic Crystal Coins) - Small and green.
SCC (Soul Crystal Coins) - Thin and blue.
ECC (Elemental Crystal Coins) - Hollow with an aurora.
"The four forms of crystal coins all hold a different type of energy, but the overall value contained in each coin is about one unit of each. Most people just use NCC, but some specialty stores only accept certain kinds of coins, but it comes down to preference and need."
1 Crystal Coin is 10 Gold Coins.
1 Gold Coin is 100 Silver Coins.
1 Silver Coin is 100 Copper Coins.
"When someone wants to make a bigger purchase, they can just use a higher-grade Crystal Coin."
1 Supreme Grade Crystal Coin is equal to 1000 Upper Grade Crystal Coins.
1 Upper Grade Crystal Coin is equal to 100 Middle Grade Crystal Coins.
1 Middle Grade Crystal Coin is equal to 10 Low Grade Crystal Coins.
"So one Supreme Grade Crystal Coin is the equivalent of 10,000,000 Gold Coins."
Lily carefully explained the concept of money to the little forest girl. At this point, she was unsure if her little master had ever received a formal education. If Elena knew about this, then Petra would definitely receive a beating.
Petra, clearly picking up on this, didn't know how to react.
Did she look that stupid?
After carefully explaining to Lilly that she did in fact have a proper education, Petra went outside to inspect the ant queen's progress.
Petra walked to the entrance of the mine and quickly descended. Before reaching the Spirit Stone Mine, Petra took a side tunnel and followed it down into a large cave opening.
When she reached the end, Petra was greeted with the sight of thousands of ants all working diligently.
Looking around, Petra discovered three new species of ants.
The Warlord Forge specialized in 'creating warlords'. Not only did it create a vast array of different soldier type ants, but it would also create a complex logistics system when given enough time.
Petra had requested that it focus on construction, so the ant queen started with this.
From the three new ant types, Petra found one that was good at cutting, one that was good at transporting, and one that could glue things together.
After finding everything she needed, Petra was satisfied with the inspection. She passed the designs to the ant queen and asked her to start shaping a large quantity of wood and stone.
The Ant Queen took the drawings and began manufacturing the individual pieces in bulk.
Petra left the mine and walked to her next destination.
Reaching the poison garden, Petra began absorbing the medicinal properties of many of the poisonous plants. Although not many of them had reached maturity, there was still enough to play around with. After that, she returned to the house and absorbed most of the poisons she carried with her on a regular basis. This made her body feel a little bit bloated, but it wasn't an uncomfortable feeling. Instead, Petra almost felt more complete.
Finally, she began packing.
Because most of the dark forest didn't have proper paths, the journey from here to Sevensen would take about a month one way, maybe slightly longer.
Petra planned to take the Centipede and the Frog, leaving the twins and the other three beasts behind to avoid any unnecessary trouble.
Because she planned to buy a lot of stuff, she chose the centipede because it currently had a much larger carrying capacity than the spider.
Petra used the same oversized backpack she brought from Evergreen Town.
After tossing the big frog into her hood, she did one final check, hopped onto the centipede's head, then disappeared through the thick leaves.
The twins waved goodbye, watching the little girl leave home for the first time.
* * *
The day passed, but the centipede didn't slow down. Its dozens of little legs sped violently through the forest, looking closer to an out of control bulldozer than a real insect.
Petra sat on top of its head, recording various things on her Crystal Tome.
The combination of Petra and the centipede scared away most of the wildlife, but the occasional beast would still attack.
Petra let the centipede quickly deal with it, rarely looking away from her notes. If any creature somehow got past the centipede and attacked her, the frog would take action and swallow it whole.
When night finally came, the trio stopped and built a campfire.
This was like lighting a beacon that said, 'Come kill me. '
To Petra, this was what she wanted. The only things that would attack her at night were either very valuable beasts, or value filled people.
On the third night of her journey, the fish finally bit the bait.
It was late at night, and Petra had just finished eating. Her deep hood concealed the frog, and the centipede blended in with the surrounding forest, almost looking like a pile of rocks.
Petra's ears twitched, and she suddenly slowed down, assembling the tent in a less experienced way. Her little eyes hidden beneath the shadows twinkled with an excited light.
Crack!
The sound of a branch snapping echoed through the forest.
Petra snapped around, her face showing panic, her body showing caution.
"Who-who is it!"
The little girl cried out in a helpless and frightened tone.
From the darkness, a tall man emerged.
He wore light leather armour that had been engraved with complex runes. Two bags hung from his waist, and a bloody sword was tied to his belt. His face was scarred, and his short hair unkempt.
He looked at the little girl, conflicted.
He originally planned to threaten the little girl like all villains would, but something immediately felt wrong. Wasn't she too quick to jump to the desperate situation of begging for her life?
Although he was the bad guy, did she really think he was stupid?
Looking at this frail and helpless little girl, if one could forget that they were in the depths of one of the most dangerous places in the northern region, then they might be deceived into believing that she was a helpless little deer.
But her acting...
"Oh my God! No! Please don't hurt me! I'll do anything! No no no no no! Please! Not my body!"
She fell to the ground, whipping her arms around in the dirt.
She cried and whaled like a dying cub. Tears streamed down her face as she 'not so secretly' stuffed something into her eyes, making her cries much more real.
The man, feeling uncomfortable, slowly took a step back.
Petra paused.
She looked at the walking money bag.
He took another step back.
Was he going to run?
What was wrong with her acting?
There was an awkward silence.
Before the man turned and ran, something shot out from behind the girl and stuck to his leg.
He heard the girl click her tongue, then a sudden force caused him to lose balance, and he fell to the ground. He looked down and realised that 'something' had extended from the back of the girl's head and stuck to his leg.
He wanted to draw his sword, but an even more violent force suddenly jolted him forward, dragging him through the fire and towards the girl.
He screamed as the hot coals scraped against his flesh. Fear bubbled up from the depths of his mind and he realised that his intuition was right, something was very wrong with this child!
He could hear the girl grumbling to herself about how he wasn't tricked by her perfect acting. She scratched her chin, thinking deeply as the man was pulled closer and closer.
Soon, he realised that what stuck to his leg was the tongue of a massive frog. He wanted to pull away, but realised it was impossible. When he was pulled down, he dropped his only sword.
With each tug, the man was pulled closer and closer to the little girl
There was a flash of inspiration, but before he could act on it, the girl flicked her hand. Something yellow shot out from her index finger and splashed on his face.
The unknown liquid soaked into his skin, followed immediately by a wave of paralysis.
He fell limp, left to the machinations of the big tongue.
Once he was in front of Petra, she immediately began 'looting' her prize.
She checked through the two bags before fetching the sword and checking its quality. After a disappointed sigh, they looked at the man disapprovingly.
"What's the point of attacking a little girl in the middle of the night if you're so blind and poor? Just who are you trying to hurt?"
She shook her head.
The paralyzed man came to a sudden realization.
The 'stones' behind the little girl stood up and looked towards him. Fear exploded in his mind before he was devoured bite by bite.
Petra ignored the crunching sounds and checked the loot. Petra picked at the painfully few crystal coins the man had in his bag, feeling disappointed.
Although she didn't know how much money she would need, it was still better to have more, right?
What Petra didn't know was that this man was a scout from the Mercenary Alliance's Silver Eye. He was one of the many scouts that had been monitoring the forest for any signs of the twins.
It's not that he was weak, it's just that the frog was too fast. Combined with his underestimating the unarmed Petra, the man died silently.
As for whether his death would cause problems?
After the frog shot its tongue into the sky and dragged down a desperately struggling bird, there was no longer any way to pass on news of his death. He became just another unnamed individual to disappear into the Green Wind Forest.