After her walk, Petra returned to the mansion.
She stood near the front steps, gazing out across the vast field of swaying colors, deeply satisfied. She turned, her eyes narrowing with pride as she looked at the renovated mansion and the towering structure at its center.
The 'central tower' had changed greatly.
What had once been a five-story tower was now a full seven-story structure, slender and elegant, stabilized with runes and built entirely from the wood of the World Tree.
The 'first floor' of the 'tower' formed the heart of the main mansion—
Connecting directly to the Emerald Ghost Tree, it was divided into the upper and lower levels, large enough to serve as both an entrance hall and a communal space that extended down the west and east wings of the mansion.
The 'second floor' housed the accommodations—
Spacious and warm, each room was designed with comfortable beds, wide desks, warm floors, and a few personal decorations that the girls had added themselves. A large central hall linked the rooms together, a shared space where they could eat, talk, study, or simply collapse after a day of hard work.
The 'third floor' was the library—
As the 'tallest' floor in the entire tower, its space had expanded from three interior layers to five. Bookshelves climbed upwards, lining the walls, while the art and architecture slowly approached what Dorthy had seen before in her divination.
The 'fourth floor' remained as a laboratory—
But now it contained two internal levels, just like the first floor, with an upper level and a lower level, lined with reinforced magic materials and a stronger atmospheric control.
The 'fifth floor' was entirely new—
It was a massive internal garden, containing its own tiny ecosystem, filled with rare plants, fresh herbs, medicinal vines, fungal towers, and a canopy of bioluminescent mushrooms that shifted colors depending on the time of day. Most of it served as high-grade ingredients for the laboratory, although Petra had also planted a few of the man-eating plants she had gotten from Imai's auction…
The 'sixth floor' was the navigation room—
It was a vast chamber dedicated to mapping, scouting, long-distance surveillance, and geographical analysis, basically Wind's new playground. Magic maps floated in the air, strange compasses spun, and crystal screens displayed distance scenes of the surrounding forest, outside the domain.
And finally—
The 'seventh floor', was Petra's room!
* * *
Back to Petra—
She nodded in satisfaction as she scanned the tower with her big black eyes.
With a step forward, the front doors opened.
She leisurely walked through the first floor, passing straight down its center and out the other side of the building. Unlike before, the first floor was now connected directly to the Emerald Ghost Tree behind the mansion, forming a direct corridor one could take.
Petra stepped outside, the wind brushing against her face as she passed by the stone walkway.
A moment later—
She stood before the Emerald Ghost Tree, or rather, the newly created 'Central Plaza', that was located directly beneath it…
-
The massive plaza spread out before her eyes.
The stone surface alone spanned more than a hundred meters across, formed from a perfect circle carved with a precision that could only come from specially made artifacts. Etched across the center of the plaza was a colossal map, not a continental map, a world map, a full depiction of Pillomal from one edge of the world to the other, with the Cross Continent placed in its direct center!
Petra approached with light steps, her tiny boots tapping softly against the polished stone.
She whistled nonchalantly.
Compared to the grandness of the plaza, she looked no different than a small ant wandering through an endless mural. Above her, the Emerald Ghost Tree rose like a divine pillar. Its trunk had been lifted gently, its base split into four colossal root-formed arches that supported the structure like the legs of some ancient beast. Bundles of vines and roots curved around each 'pillar', twisting and tying, forming a natural ceiling of woven wood. Hidden in the hollow of the ceiling, a starry sky was formed from the shadow of the tree mixed with the firefly-like spirits native to the Emerald Ghost Tree. The effect created a midnight canopy that sparkled faintly over the entire plaza, regardless of the time of day.
Petra lifted her head, her eyes narrowing with satisfaction.
This was one of her favorite projects, no, this was her favorite project!
Her gaze swept across the plaza, taking in the carefully carved coastlines, the tiny mountains, river systems, the unexplored continents, archipelagos, and the strange little chains of islands that stretched across the outer rim of the world. The world map was based heavily on something she'd found in an old history book, which meant… she wasn't entirely sure about its accuracy—
But that didn't matter!
She placed her hands behind her head and interlocked her fingers, swaggering forward with a faint smile. Her toes tapped the map near the Cross Continent. There it was, the place she knew best, carved with the highest level of detail, with every mountain, valley, river and lake.
Petra had personally watched the ants carve it!
As the eye moved outwards…
The surrounding continents were far larger, with three massive carvings forming a vague ring around the Cross Continent.
Even further out—
Hundreds of scattered continents and islands dotted the carved ocean like scattered stars. It was beautiful, but incomplete. Almost all the continents outside the Cross Continent were barely filled, leaving them as empty outlines, hollow shapes just waiting to be completed.
Petra's lips curled into a small smile.
"We'll fill it in later," she hummed. "No rush~ no rush~~~"
Her emerald hair swayed as she stepped deeper into the plaza, already glancing upward.
Suspended in the center of the plaza, hovering above the ground, and concealed within the midnight canopy, was a massive crystal core, the one she had taken and refurbished from the ruins of the Void Walkers during the first calamity.
Petra stared for a moment—
Then moved on...
The world was huge, and soon, she planned to see it all!
This didn't contradict her sedentary lifestyle, or at least, it didn't need to, after all…
* * *
Petra appeared with a flicker of black light.
Her small body stepped down, landing inside a massive underground chamber. The air hummed faintly, and the stone beneath her feet vibrated like an industrial complex. From above, the ceiling shook ever so slightly with silent tremors, likely caused by the weight of the Emerald Ghost Tree. This place was directly below the Central Plaza, hidden between the largest of its intertwining roots, and excluded from the 'newly formed underground tunnel network' owned by the ants.
This was—
A huge underground vault!
Petra stepped forward.
As she walked, dozens of softly glowing lights drifted down from hidden runes concealed overhead, floating into place like orbital stars. The white walls and gray stone floor brightened slowly, revealing shelves, tables, racks, and sealed containers arranged in perfectly neat rows. For some reason, this place felt a bit futuristic, not matching the normal aesthetic of Pillomal's people.
It was a room overflowing with 'treasures.'
And naturally, by 'treasures', this meant Petra's distorted definition of 'treasures'.
Stacks of rare materials, piles of monster parts, special artifacts she'd ripped from the local ruins without hesitation, odd ingredients she had bullied Levy into identifying, and several items she collected simply because she felt like it at the time.
Petra's lips curled up proudly.
She nodded her head, unconsciously sticking her chest out.
Suddenly—
A soft ripple echoed from behind.
Petra turned her head slightly.
From the void, Elli appeared without a sound, her arrival so smooth it didn't even disturb the air. She drifted into existence like a ghost. She stepped forward like a windless wind.
Petra didn't even flinch, she was used to this…
As for why 'she was used to it', that was because Levy and Nebula did the same thing... Petra simply raised a hand, greeting her with a completely innocent smile, "Morning~"
It wasn't morning!
Elli nodded and followed her silently, acting as an unnecessary—almost unwanted—guide…
Time passed…
Petra wandered between the shelves at a casual pace, her fingers picking through magically reinforced jars and sealed boxes. Some items were neatly tagged with Bell's handwriting, while others had Dorthy's warning notes taped onto them. A good portion was marked with Petra's own chaotic scribbles, completely unreadable to anyone except her, maybe…
Time passed while Petra searched around.
Elli floated behind her the entire time, quiet as a shadow.
Petra glanced at her from the corner of her eye.
She still wasn't sure what Elli was…
She wasn't human, that was for sure, and she wasn't a beastman, obviously...
She wasn't a spirit, elf, or any race that Petra recognized.
She had the same 'feeling' as Nebula… but less human.
Or more?
Or something in between?
Who knows…
Petra squinted and turned back.
It didn't matter anyway. If she wanted to know, she'd just ask directly one day…
After checking the last row, Petra clapped her hands lightly.
She puffed out her chest and exclaimed in a rehearsed voice. "Everything's here. Good-good-good!"
Elli nodded her head slightly in acknowledgment, emotionless and quiet, eyes still locked on Petra. It was almost as if she was saying, 'Why did you really come here?'
Petra smiled back, giving an awkward smile.
She flicked her wrist, turning towards the exit.
"Alright! If that's all, I'll be on my way!"
Elli: "..."
Petra: "..."
Elli: "..."
Petra: "..."
Elli: "..."
There was a brief silence.
Then—
Before leaving, Petra casually reached over, nabbed something, then… her figure vanished in another flicker of black light, leaving the silent treasury behind.
Elli: "..."
Elli watched her go.
She didn't speak. She only turned her head towards the now-empty shelf.
Her eyelid twitched.
-
Seventh floor, Petras' room…
Petra appeared in her room, a strange black stick spinning lazily between her fingers. She hummed a little tune as she skipped forward, each step a tiny hop. Her hair bounced and her clothes fluttered. Then, without pause, she jumped, arms stretched wide like a squirrel, and landed face-first on her bed.
Poof~
Petra rolled once, twice, and then flopped onto her back, settling in the center of the bed.
She lifted the thing she had 'borrowed for inspection' above her head like a priceless treasure, and grinned like a mischievous imp, kicking her legs.
It was—
A piece of beef jerky! Dun-da-da-da!
Her grin stretched ear to ear.
"I got the goods. Hahaha! Come-come-come!" She erupted into childish laughter, kicking her legs in the air and rolling back and forth like a happy caterpillar.
The moment she announced the successful heist—
Eight tiny beast-dolls popped into existence around her, each no bigger than her head.
They all charged at her with a terrifying speed, or rather, they exploded violently towards the beef jerky.
Swoosh!
Caught off guard, Petra's eyes widened.
"Ah! Hey-hey! Wait your turn! Wait your turn! Wah!"
Woosh! BANG!
She vanished beneath a pile of fur, claws, and carapace, announcing the beginning of the battle…
-
[Insert the 'Comical Fight Cloud' <- Here]
Swoosh! Flickering fists flew as tiny teeth clicked!
Petra's voice pierced through the dust, "Stop biting my hair! No, that's my ear, get off! Off-off-off! Hey, who stole my sock! Eek! Tail-tail-tail! Tail—!"
[Insert another 'Comical Fight Cloud' <- Here]
One of the beast dolls, the frog, was tossed upwards out of the cloud like a shooting star, its tiny limbs flailing wildly before it fell back into the scuffle.
Fuoosh! "Noooo, not the foot, not the fooooot! Ahh—!"
A second later, Petra's leg poked out of the cloud, her toes curling in great distress as the sound of licking continued to slosh out. Her little toes wiggled before the leg was yanked back with so much force that the entire cloud rolled across the bed like an angry tumbleweed!
[Insert another 'Comical Fight Cloud' <- Here]
The noise grew louder! Insectoid cries clashed with roaring ribbits, and distressed howls competed with buzzing static. Shadow after shadow was shot out, just to return a moment later.
"Hey! Don't use the pillow as a weapon! That's cheating! How can you even hold—"
Wack! The sound of someone slapping something with a pillow echoed.
A tiny beast-doll rolled out of the cloud, dizzy, its eight glowing eyes spinning in circles before it wobbled to its feet, shook its tiny head, and bravely charged back into the cloud with a squeaky battle cry.
[Insert the last 'Comical Fight Cloud' <- Here]
-
A few minutes later, the fight finally concluded…
Petra stood triumphantly on the bed, her small arms planted firmly on her small waist, and her tiny chest pushed out in a very non-threatening pose.
Below, the eight little guys sat obediently in a seiza.
"Tsk-tsk-tsk! I told you I'd share. When did you all get so greedy!"
The frog snapped its head away and clicked its tongue.
She huffed dramatically, the piece of jerky sticking out of her mouth like a cigar, while she rolled her hips around smugly. This had been a team heist, after all! Before Petra 'sneaked' into the treasury, the beasts had 'scouted it out' in advance! They had been eyeing this 'succulent snack' for a while, but they betrayed her, trying to take all the goods for themselves!
How naughty!
How naive!
Ultimately, their target was this single piece of dried meat, a treasure that Levy had personally added to the treasury!
Levy had said it was 'good shit', and Petra would have to agree—
So, Petra took that personally! And after tasting it, she agreed wholeheartedly!
Petra broke the stiff, dehydrated strip into nine pieces and handed them out to the tiny beast dolls. One piece for each of them, and one for herself.
Nom-nom-nom-nom-nom!
They gathered in a small circle and nibbled happily, chewing in unison like adorable animals enjoying gourmet dog food made from a seventh-order beast.
To this, Petra was no exception! She hummed contentedly as she nibbled and nommed. As she ate, her thoughts drifted to the true bodies of her beasts—
And the evolutions they had all undergone!
* * *
Each of the beasts had evolved in a different way...
The only thing they all shared was the absolutely absurd amount of energy needed to evolve. Normally, supplying that much 'life force' would be impossible. Fortunately, Petra just happened to be sitting on an unbelievably massive stockpile.
The Poison Sea she had absorbed was composed of pure 'vitality', and it was dense enough to drown an empire if she felt like it. This 'vitality' was not the same thing as the Natural Energy of Heaven and Earth, no, it was closer to a compressed 'seed' that could 'grow' when exposed to the right 'environment', then expand like a parasite until everything was transformed into whatever was initially chosen. In this case, the Poison Sea, which was a 'terraforming substance', needed anything, so Petra just passed it a bunch of Spirit Stones to kickstart its division and growth, then converted this into pure energy instead of allowing it to target the environment.
It was easier said than done, just not for Petra! Cough-cough-cough! Anyways—
So… she measured it carefully and gave each of her beasts a 'whale's worth' of the Poison Sea. Just one was enough to fuel each of their evolutions.
This was then mixed with a fusion of drugs...
The core of each evolution came from a unique blend of Beast King blood, the silver-blue evolutionary medicine, and a single drop of Void Leviathan blood.
That final drop alone was enough to violently mutate most things, so Petra had spent weeks coming up with a way to reinforce their bodies and dull the unpredictable reactions caused by the Void Leviathan blood, and in the end, she succeeded with a perfect result!
- Insert Party Shakers!!
* * *
The 'Sky Strike' Dart Frog—
This little blob kept its name, but it mutated in a way Petra found both hilarious and terrifying.
It was also very useful—
For getting rid of bodies!
Its 'hood-sized' body stayed the same, but its stomach had become massively disproportionate to its actual appearance, developing an ability Petra called the 'Void Belly'. It didn't look that special from the outside, but inside was a different world entirely, almost literally! Perhaps one day…
Mm, the frog could now swallow basically anything!
If Petra was being honest, she was pretty sure that this thing could literally swallow an entire whale without blinking. Perhaps, one day, she would have to test it…
-
The 'Nine Turns Sapphire' Demon Snake—
Unlike the fat frog, this one had changed so much that keeping the original name was basically impossible, so, using her legendary naming sense, Petra had renamed it to the 'Nine Nights Leviathan'. Unfortunately, instead of turning into a dragon like all the old legends implied would happen, this idiot seemed to be heading in the wrong direction entirely!!
No, even literally…
It was turning into a fish… perhaps it was directionally challenged?
But in a cute way!
Yep!
Yep?
Mm…
Yep-yep-yep! Cute-cute-cute! Definitely! Hopefully…
It kept the same length and frame, but two fin-shaped wings had sprouted beside its head. That tiny change somehow gave it the ability to swim through the air, and that alone launched it through Petra's personal rankings from 'annoying and useless' to 'kinda cool'.
Its poison had changed too, although Petra wasn't sure how… at least, not yet.
The original name of 'nine sapphires' was a reference to the nine cycles its venom needed to go through before it turned a victim into a Soul Sapphire statue. With its evolution, this ability had changed…
She would have to investigate more.
Finally, for some reason, its shade of blue shifted every nine nights—
This was where the 'nine nights' in its new name had come from…
-
The 'River Winding' Centipede—
This big guy had always been one of Petra's favorites, but it had been away for so long that Petra missed it a lot. After its first evolution, it barely had time to rest before being tossed into the second one. Now, after it had finished, it was unrecognizable. If Levy hadn't stepped in to teach the beasts the projection technique, then with its new size, it could have become a disaster!
Its body was blue and black, with twelve navy blue joints running down the length of its body. Its innate ability had skyrocketed, turning the '5x multiplier' into a '10x multiplier'.
In addition, its normal length was now '60 meters'. Even in its contracted state, it could only shrink down to six meters at best, which was a little over three men tall!
But that was just the start…
Each one of its twelve joints could now extend independently, stretching up to ten times independently. If the centipede fully extended every segment, it could reach '600 meters' in length.
That was more than half the territory! Petra had accidentally created another 'new species' that she would later name the 'Sea Spearing Centipede'…
-
The' Ethereal Echo' Silverwing Butterfly—
Last but not least, at least for now, was the transparent black butterfly that preferred to live in Petra's Sea of Consciousness.
This one—
Was a strange one…
It had changed slightly, because before, its wings were shaped like a normal butterfly, but now they were closer to four petals pointing out, a little like a cross. In addition, its 'abilities' had exploded in quality. Its control over space and illusions skyrocketed, and because its comprehension was directly linked to Petra's, she received a terrifying boost as well. She already had a high level of dimensional sense, but now it had climbed to an even higher level.
Petra had become so 'sensitive' that she could almost see the layers of space folding on top of each other. Sometimes she swore she could even see holes in the world, like thin cracks where reality wasn't stitched together properly.
If she wasn't careful, she felt like she might accidentally step through one and fall into the 'Void'. There were strange distortions in certain places too, places where spatial layers rubbed against each other and weakened over time.
It was an incomprehensible thing, an incomprehensible feeling…
Around the Emerald Ghost Tree especially, the space 'felt thin and unstable', but not fragile. It was closer to a mouldable substance than a piece of glass. Looking around, even Petra had to admit it was a little unsettling…
* * *
Poof! Petra fell back onto the bed, her eyes drifting towards the ceiling.
After activating 'that thing' tomorrow, everything would be done. Soon, she'd finally get a long period to relax and laze around! A full year, yeah? It should be around that…
Who's ready for the first time skip! Wooooo~!
Just thinking about it made her shoulders relax.
The tension that had been weighing on her for months finally began to melt away. The ceiling blurred slightly as her eyelids drooped lower and lower.
Time slipped away quietly…
She shifted down, her small feet slipping beneath the covers. The blankets swallowed her tiny body, as a warm and soft wave, pulling her deeper like a gentle cocoon.
A refreshing chill swept over her body, and soon—
Her breathing slowed…
One by one, the beast dolls crowded around her like fluffy pillows. A 'stuffed' head landed in her arms, and another curled up near her stomach. Someone flopped across her legs, and another plopped down onto her head. The centipede became a bod pillow, and the spider.
Petra didn't fight, but a faint smile tugged at her lips.
Within moments, the little witch drifted into a peaceful sleep, surrounded by her tiny beasts, bundled together beneath the soft sheets like a small nest of silent sheep.
'Zzzzzzz'
She fell asleep…
-
The next day…
* * *
The next day…