One Month Later…
* * *
Between the constant training and endless construction, the past month was extremely chaotic.
-
Petra walked leisurely through a black forest.
From afar, she looked as if she were simply strolling through the garden. The space around felt silent, almost hollow in a sense, and lacked a certain vitality, but—
She was like a light in the night, standing out!
Her snow-white feet were bare, pressing against the cold stone that filled the walkway.
Her bright emerald hair slowly swayed, despite the lack of wind.
The path beneath her feet was formed from a black rock, each slab chiseled into thick bricks carved with earthly patterns. Black trees rose from either side of the path. They weren't very tall, but their roots stretched endlessly, twisting through the dark soil in unnatural directions. Occasionally, a root would break through the ground several dozen meters away from its tree, almost as if the entire forest was secretly woven together beneath the earth. Above, the crowns of each tree formed a misty black canopy, filled with drifting shapes. Black butterflies fluttered through the branches, joined by faintly flowing spirits shaped like tiny sea creatures. It looked like an underwater forest formed from darkness, dense with motion despite the strange silence…
Petra occasionally stopped to observe.
Her appearance wasn't much different than a young heiress on a stroll.
She had a solemn expression, one she rarely showed.
Instead of her usual leisure, Petra seemed to be very focused, almost calculating.
Between the uncountable colors concealed in chaos, a few creatures stood out more clearly.
Ethereal sea-turtle-shaped clouds drifted overhead, each one trailing a golden-yellow light. Packs of long, purple fish, swam lazily through the air behind her. Spectral red swordfish flashed between the distant branches, hunting in the haze. Looking up, the 'clouds' above weren't clouds at all, no, they were blue jellyfish floating slowly across the skyline.
Pink spectral squid-like things slid in and out of the trees, moving almost like snakes, while green ghostly sharks lurked in the deeper shadows, watching… waiting… ready for their next prey. Tall, pale crabs scuttled across the path ahead, and gray starfish clung to the tree trunks like strange decorations. Transparent rays drifted through the air, phasing in and out of existence, forming forgotten shapes borrowed from memory.
Beyond the trees, the black sea surrounding the forest lay perfectly still, but once in a while, a massive whale rose from the depths, releasing a plume of black smoke before sliding silently back into the darkness below, disappearing soundlessly.
Between all of these creatures swam countless motes of colors, chaotic and messy, filling every gap in this impossible ecosystem.
The black forest was alive, overflowing with life that shouldn't exist.
And indeed, it didn't….
These were a mixture of 'false elementals' formed from the darkness element, and 'poison spirits' born from Petra's special physique's innate trait.
She used her mental energy to manifest and shape this world, fusing together forest and sea, then followed an elven technique to resonate with 'nature', and create a feedback loop.
In short, her mental energy 'transformed' into dark-element elemental energy, because by 'feeding' the darkness element, it allowed it to 'grow and produce' more of the darkness element. It was a kind of abuse of its parasitic nature, allowing the darkness element to corrupt the mental energy, thereby mutating it into more darkness-element elemental energy.
Because Mental Energy (Mystic Energy) was basically infinite, as long as one kept thinking, then it was not far from an infinite feedback loop that would grow with time.
This was an extremely high-level technique that Petra had managed to copy, not create, from one of the books in her Inner Library. It was one of the rare moments where her unstoppable talent slipped through the cracks by accident and revealed itself without her intention.
Strictly speaking, it was not correct to say that she 'just copied it', because she had deduced a more personalized system that had long since branched away from the 'nature resonance' of the elves.
The life here was not life, not truly, not yet, no… they were merely 'instincts', instincts given shape by her evolving consciousness.
Petra watched them, the spirits, one by one, as she continued to walk down the road.
After a long, peaceful stroll, she stopped.
Her mind felt refreshed, and it was time to return.
She looked up to find a single black butterfly drifting down from the canopy above. Unlike the others, its wings carried a faint silver light that flickered with a unique black energy.
It landed on her shoulder, and—
In the next instant, a flash of black light swallowed her whole! Frooop!
-
Petra reappeared inside a massive library, her 'Inner Library'.
She was currently in her 'Sea of Consciousness'.
Endless shelves stretched in all directions, packed tightly with books, scrolls, tablets, and tomes that glowed with a faint spiritual light. All of it, every record, every memory, every experiment, was divided among the twelve towering floors that made up the library's interior structure.
Petra took a breath, feeling her thoughts settle in place…
This was the only place where she felt comfortable allowing her true talent to slightly surface. If her real capabilities ever became known, especially to Levy, then the expectations forced onto her would explode beyond control!
She didn't know what was going on with her 'so-called mother', but that woman seemed to have very high expectations for her, especially if she sent Levy over!
Just thinking about the paradigm shift from 'slacker' to 'genius' made her shiver!
She didn't want that!
Wasn't it better to just stay a salted fish forever? Laze around all day, be a little gluttonous, run around as a mischievous child and play? Even though Petra's mental age was much older than her appearance, she genuinely enjoyed acting like a child! Who wouldn't?
The entire library swayed gently with her thoughts.
Everything here was controlled by her mind, so even the faintest emotions resonated through the vast structure. Shelves shifted, light dimmed or brightened, and the floor subtly rose with her mood, quite literally! She hadn't noticed it at first, but after her recent improvements, everything felt clearer, almost sharper in a sense. The shelves seemed more organized, the pathways broader, even the air was cleaner and more refreshing, and yet—
There was an inexplicable feeling that the library extended far beyond the twelve floors that she could see. It was as if another layer existed, close enough to touch, yet distant like a higher dimension, a step away, but also eternally out of reach.
Was this what people called 'a mortal's yearning?'
Although it was frustrating, the sense of dissonance was fading, and slowly, this unknown 'floor' was becoming less foreign.
In short, the library was evolving along with her mind!
With Petra's most recent 'sculpting' of the 'Dark-Element Forest' outside, the entire Inner World had taken another step towards becoming her ideal mindscape.
Petra was very content with the new state of her mind.
So, she had seen enough!
With a small nod to herself, Petra pushed her consciousness away, and her consciousness returned to her physical body, awakening in her cultivation room…
Mm, her bedroom!
-
Petra's mind returned to her body!
Her bright black eyes slowly opened.
She lay on her back, on the white bed, her emerald hair untied and spilling across the sheets like a waterfall. After a moment of stillness, she sat up while crossing her legs, her small weight sinking her butt a bit deeper into the mattress.
She looked like a tiny princess who had just woken up from a long nap.
Her eyes were groggy, and her clothes were messy.
She rubbed her eyes with her palm, tilting her head back thoughtfully as she yawned.
Then, without warning—
Woosh! She rolled to the side and crawled on all fours towards the edge of the bed! Pat-pat-pat-pat!
Petra stretched out an arm and opened the bedside drawer, rummaging through its contents.
Her little hands pushed aside artifacts, notes, candy wrappers, candy, more papers, and a suspiciously heavy hammer. Eventually, she found the notebook she wanted, and pulled it out with a triumphant hum! Then she immediately performed another tactical roll across the bed, Swoosh! Returning to the center of the circular mattress with a perfect, unnecessary display of precision.
It almost looked practiced…
Once she was back in place, Petra flopped onto her back, lifted the notebook above her face, and opened it.
Her eyes scanned the notes.
It was her personal notebook, where she recorded all her theories, experiments, and half-formed ideas about mental energy, consciousness, and the nature of the mind itself. She was from Earth, so everything she learned here was new to her, like discovering an entire new field for the first time.
After a few seconds, she sighed… then tossed the notebook aside.
It wasn't clear what she was dissatisfied with, but it certainly didn't stop the little lolita from continuing to train her body.
Petra closed her eyes and sank her mind inwards.
Not into her Sea of Consciousness, no, but into her physical body!
She had finally reached the threshold she needed to break through to the third level, to the Golden Core Realm of the Cultivation Pathway!
Petra grinned to herself.
She planned to break through as a 'surprise' to the others.
Levy never talked about cultivation, so she assumed that Levy didn't intend to interfere with her choices.
Then, she suddenly thought of something, and her cheeks puffed out slightly.
She knew Elena had broken through a while ago!
A little birdy, er, or at least, an ant-shaped birdy, had told her! It was unreasonable, illogical, and childish… but Petra still felt a little irritated to fall behind. Mostly because she wanted to act cute, but also because she knew that she was a monster, so she had no idea how Elena was cheating to beat her!
When they left Evergreen Town, Elena should have been in the first order, right?
Petra didn't know…
"I guess that's the advantage of regression…? Hump!"
Petra let out a little snort.
It was time for her to catch up!
* * *
Mage: 'Apprentice' → 'Mage → 'Great Mage'.
Summoner: 'Entrant' → 'Element Caller' → 'Element Crafter'.
Necromancer: 'Spiritualist' → 'Spirit Seer' → 'Spirit Singer'.
Controller: 'Innate' → 'Manipulator' → 'Mind Weaver'.
-
The first three levels of each pathway were all about 'Accumulation, Refinement, and Condensation', not necessarily in that order…
-
The 'Mage Pathway' absorbed Mana (Natural, Spiritual, Elemental Energy) and formed the 'framework' of the mana core during the 'Apprentice - First Order', as well as beginning the long process of learning to accumulate mana that will be used to clean out the mana channels (Bones).
As a 'Mage - Second Order', one refined the mana core's 'outer shell' and further 'developed' their mana channels through the repeated use of mana, driving it through their skeletal frame. This was all about the Refinement of the body, or more specifically, the internal systems, because after this stage, although it can still be done, it is far less efficient.
Finally, the 'Great Mage - Third Order' was all about 'condensing' the 'mana core' and an outer layer for the mana channels, turning them into true physical objects that became part of the body's innate structure, not just hollowed out voids in the body. In the end, the mana core would merge with the body and become part of the heart, and the mana channels would merge with the bones and become a linear vascular system in the marrow.
-
Petra had put most of her active attention onto the Immortal Cultivation Pathway. The Mage Pathway was relatively easy, essentially being no different than a massive spiritual energy battery that would eventually be stripped out and replaced when she reached the sixth level.
As for the 'Controller Pathway', or the 'Witch Pathway' in her case, it was kind of on autopilot. Petra could sharpen her mind and develop her inner world, but that wasn't the same thing as cultivating the Controller Pathway...
She didn't seem to need to cultivate this pathway at all…
Anyways…