The sun had yet to rise, but the northern region seemed to awaken in the same instant.
The next morning, Petra woke up to the explosive roars of sky-splitting thunder and the monumental gales of incomprehensibly strong wind. From within the darkness of the fifth floor, Petra almost felt like the world was ending.
Petra had slept with the windows closed, blocking them with the dark green curtains that hung beside each wall.
She staggered up and out of bed, her hair still messy, and walked from the bed to the forward most facing window.
When Petra retracted the curtain, she was greeted with an incredible sight.
The sky was split down the middle, an aurora leaking out from the divide. A sea of countless colours intertwined with the thunderous clouds, forming something like a sea of chaos. Rain fell like waves, wind blew like a tempest, thunder covered the sky, and spiralling green mist leaked from the earth. The forces of nature seemed to be competing with the unnatural light in the sky.
Ice and snow fell like sheets, covering the land in a deathly cold.
The winds picked up the freezing rain and falling snow to create a blinding snowstorm that covered the forest. Outside the territory of the Emerald Ghost Tree, visibility was reduced to only a few meters.
Petra's little eyes widened, peering deep into the split sky.
For a moment, she felt like she could see 'something' hidden deep within the aurora.
For a moment, that 'something' also seemed to look at her.
Boom!
There was a loud crack, and lightning filled the sky.
The sky darkened, and Petra lost sight of the crack in the sky, concealed behind spiraling clouds and violent storms.
She didn't see the shocked eyes of a certain high elf hidden deep within his ice castle.
'How can it be her!'
His body shook for a mere moment before calming down.
'It's impossible...'
The man peered back through the ice mirrors and looked for the familiar figure.
'Nobody... It's just my imagination. This was the place where that woman first appeared. I didn't think I still had nightmares from back then...'
A soft sigh disappeared in the wind.
Petra was unsure of what she had just seen, but for a moment, she felt like she had seen the face of a young elf.
She tilted her head, confused.
Petra decided to throw this to the back of her mind and head downstairs.
There, Petra discovered Lilly and Luna looking nervously out the second floor window.
She quickly reassured them before going to find the other girls. Aside from Rose, who seemed to be completely terrified of lightning, the other girls were all fine. Petra didn't know much about Beastmen, but she suspected that Rose had inherited many of the same traits that normal cats had.
Petra had something to eat before heading to her lab.
She didn't bother to get changed, just staying in her nightgown.
She cleared out an area and sat down.
Petra planned to start cultivating.
First, let's go over the five 'pure' paths. In the world of Pillomal, there were many ways to get stronger. The five pure paths refer to the five professions that focused on a single type of energy.
Immortal Cultivators absorb 'Natural Energy', or 'The Natural Energy of Heaven & Earth' to strengthen their bodies, minds, and will.
Mages absorbed 'Spiritual Energy' to develop a stronger control over the surrounding forces of nature.
Necromancers absorbed 'Soul Force' to strengthen their souls and improve the size, shape, and density of their souls.
Summoners absorb 'Elemental Energy' to better fuel their Summoning Pool and increase the range and count of what they can summon.
Controllers absorb 'Mystic Energy' to strengthen their minds and better utilise their minds to perform a variety of abilities, such as reading minds, controlling puppets, and sensing the surroundings.
These were the five most common paths.
But what many people didn't know was that there was a special profession that exceeded the Path of the Controller in the use of Mystic Energy.
At least, that was something that the old man's book specifically pointed out.
That was the 'Witch Pathway'.
At this time, the loud crack of thunder ripped through the sky...
The Witch pathway followed the path of the Controller, but their abilities stemmed from an ancient bloodline. One couldn't become a Witch just because they wanted to, or at least, they could, but they could only skim the surface. If they wanted to utilize the Witch Pathways full potential, they needed to be born as one.
According to the book, a Witch was indistinguishable from humans, only with a body that aged much more slowly than normal humans. In addition, the Witches were born with unmatched talent in terms of magic, only being contested by the 'Primordial Dragon Race'.
Petra didn't know what a 'Primordial Dragon' was, and she also didn't know that the 'Witch' that she was reading about actually referred to the 'Primordial Witch'. These two were different from common dragons and witches, but Petra was too dense to understand that right now.
The other day, when Petra saw the seed, she had a sudden inspiration.
Like all lazy people, Petra flipped directly to the back of the old man's book and started to read about the 'cool' and 'overpowered' races.
She knew her bloodline was something focused around magic. Combining that with her almost completely human-like appearance, Petra suspected that her mother was one of these Witches. It probably went without saying, but the Witches were an extremely Taboo Race. This referred to the common Witch, not the 'Primordial Witch'.
It was this misunderstanding that led to Petra opening a door that she shouldn't have.
The seed reminded Petra of an old myth that she had read in a book.
In Sevensen, on the third floor of the library…
'The first Witch was born from a SEED that fell from the void'
'The Witch built a forest'
'The forest bore a single SEED'
'The SEED destroyed the forest'
'The SEED walked away'
This meant that a child was born in the land of no man, grew and created, finding only destruction in its creation, and watching as its creation obtained freedom. This was only one of the many useless interpretations that existed on the third floor of the Old Owls Library.
The reason that this stuck with Petra was because it reflected her previous life very closely.
Before she was Petra...
'The first Witch was born from a SEED that fell from the void'. The 'seed' represents an unfair life, and the 'first Witch represents a soul born from unfairness.
'The Witch built a forest'. This meant that the soul grew up tall and strong.
'The forest bore a single SEED'. The soul created something.
'The SEED destroyed the forest'. The soul was destroyed by her creation.
'The SEED walked away'. The creation gained independence.
This reminded Petra of her previous life.
She grew up in a difficult environment, beat the odds, and then created a poison that was uncontrollable. After it caused a calamity, she was hunted down and killed.
This poison was called the 'King's Hand'.
Without going into detail, it was a self-perpetuating poison that could evolve infinitely. It was meant to be her ultimate assistant, but…
Even if you looked at it the other way around and went back to the beginning, 'The first Witch was born from a seed'. Petras erratic behaviour, her fatal curiosity, her extreme caution, her unpredictable paranoia, and her childlike persona, all of this was caused by her creation, by the 'seed' she herself had created. Looking at it this way, it almost looped around.
It was only right for her to be one of these 'Witches'.
Petra's eyes drooped as she thought back to those dark days.
She regretted making that thing.
After a sigh, she continued.
The story about the 'Curse and the Seed' reminded Petra to test herself for the taboo bloodlines. Not just the witch Bloodline, but all of them.
The test was easy, and Petra confirmed that she was a 'Witch' within minutes. What she didn't know was that the Witch and the Primordial Witch were tested the same way. This was because the Witch was a very distant descendant of the Primordial Witch.
Petra was half Emerald Dragon, and half Witch. (That's what she thought)
So now the question was, how did the Witch train, and could she combine it with the Cultivation and Magic Pathways?
Let's start with Cultivation…
Cultivators absorbed the natural energy of heaven and earth to strengthen their bodies. They absorb this energy through their pores, then stored it in their dantian using a second circulatory system called the meridians. Meridians were like a second set of veins, and the dantian was like a little pocket around the navel. This energy would cycle, constantly washing the body, strengthening it. As for Spirit Roots, the spirit roots dictated what type of elemental energy you were compatible with, like a filter. Depending on the cultivation technique, you could store this energy alongside the natural energy in your dantian. They stored, washed, refined, and perfected their bodies.
That was the foundation of cultivation.
Mages were slightly different. Instead of using meridians and a dantian, Mages used the mana channels that ran through the bones. This mana was directed, stored, and compressed into a Mana Core inside the heart. This mana core was formed from Elemental Energy, strengthened by Natural Energy, and used to store Spiritual Energy. Mages did not use natural energy to strengthen their bodies, instead, they used it to strengthen their mana cores to an extreme level, increasing its capacity so that they could store more spiritual energy. This spiritual energy became their source of influence over the surrounding world and its laws.
That was the foundation of a mage.
The Witch followed the initial path of the Controllers.
Controllers absorbed Mystic Energy to form a Sea of Consciousness. Cultivators called this Mental Cultivation. The idea was to continuously absorb Mystic Energy to expand your Sea of Consciousness. After the first stage, your Sea of Consciousness would start to produce Mental Energy. This mental energy could be used to do a lot of things. Cultivators and Mages usually just used this as a radar, but Controllers could use this for a variety of things. Controllers could connect and control a target, they could move objects with their mind, they could invade dreams, manipulate illusions, and of course, they could also use it like a massive radar.
The difference between a Controller and a Witch is that they form something called an 'Inner Library'.
This was another misunderstanding caused by Petra not knowing about the Primordial Witches. A normal Witch would just follow the Controller's Pathway. The creation of an Inner Library was unique to the Primordial Witches.
A Witch focused on creating an Inner Library within their Sea of Consciousness. Unlike Controllers who just use their Sea of Consciousness like a massive battery, the Witch created an inner world, similar to a dream, but capable of interacting with the outside world.
They usually use this to collect information throughout their long lives and turn it into an inheritance.
Petra suspected that the black seed was actually an inheritance left behind by a Witch. This was a misunderstanding caused by pure coincidence.
If she wanted to use the seed, then she would have to open an Inner Library first, or at least, open up her Sea of Consciousness, she wasn't sure. The old man's book didn't cover everything.
Another loud crack of thunder ripped through the sky.
Back to the initial question of 'Do these three methods conflict?' The answer was no. Although the cultivation system had some problems with the mage system, Petra believed she had a way to solve them.
As for the actual 'manuals', Petra had no idea that they existed, much less needed them.
The silly little green haired lolita sat down in her laboratory, surrounded herself with spirit stones, and began cultivating.
Petra's mind sank into darkness, while Nebula guarded her from behind.
Petra first needed to filter out only mystic energy from the atmosphere.
As Petra fell further and further into darkness, she finally felt it.
A cloud of colors, impossibly small, and an endless number of uncountable 'dots'.
Petra spent only five minutes discovering that these small dots could each be categorized into one of the five energy groups. She focused on the similarities and soon discovered another pattern.
After fifteen minutes had passed, Petra had managed to isolate pure mystic energy from the surrounding void. This was a feat that few could do, unfortunately, only the silent Nebula was here to witness it.
Petra then turned inwards, looking to her own mind.
She needed to open her Sea of Consciousness.
Without an instructor, the young girl could only go off her instincts and slowly scan her inner mind for any abnormalities.
Soon, she discovered something.
Petra discovered an ethereal door that seemed to only exist within her subconscious.
She felt it, the 'door' that needed to be opened.
It was like a dam ready to burst.
Petra directed the surrounding Mystic Energy to bombard this door. She was unaware that this door represented her inner mind. Using the most forceful method possible, Petra pushed open the door to her mind. The world was filled with light, and Petra felt as if she had come to a different world.
Her consciousness materialized, and an ethereal version of her appeared, flickering like a candle.
Petra found herself standing in a sea of countless colors. She quickly recognized these clouds as the gaseous forms of the many poisons stored in her body.
Petra looked around, amazed by the sight.
She was slow to look down, but when she did, her whole body froze in fear.
Terror spread through the little girl's mind for the first time.
What terrified Petra, was the endless sea of energy that stood beneath her feet.
This was not Mystic Energy, it was not even energy. Petra instantly recognized this colossal sea of 'black water'. This was the King's Hand, the apocalyptic poison that drew the curtains to her past life. An all-devouring sentient poison that will forever stand at the top of all poisons.
It sat there, unlike the lively and energetic clouds of poison that spun around her like wind.
It was as docile as a cat.
Unmoving In the face of its master.
It showed no signs of the ferocity that it had once displayed.
Petras' frozen state only lasted a moment.
She felt the connection between her and the King's Hand for the first time.
The intimacy calmed her heart and made her question if this was the same creation that once brought down a country.
After a careful check, Petra was sure that the King's Hand was in a dormant state.
She split her attention, turning the majority of it towards the surrounding Sea of Consciousness.
Petra needed to build an Inner Library.
Petra looked around.
She felt like this was different from a normal Sea of Consciousness. Since the poisons were here, then didn't that mean that this place was connected to her constitution? Also, wasn't it too big?
The normal process was to open the Sea of Consciousness and slowly expand it. Petra gazed at the endless sea and doubted what she knew.
She decided to end her meditation.
When Petra opened her eyes, she saw Nebula standing in front of her, one hand raised, forming a transparent black barrier that surrounded her.
Petra's eyebrows wrinkled. "What's wrong?"
Nebu was silent, her gaze looking deeply at Petra.
She lowered her hand, allowing the barrier to disappear.
"Nothing, how was your cultivation?"
Petra looked around to find nothing out of the ordinary. She turned her gaze to Nebula and shook her head. "I'm not sure. I need to test something." Petra jumped up, running out of the laboratory to go get the little black seed.
While Petra ran out, Nebula remained silent.
'As expected of my father... He really has an eye for people.'
Nebula turned her gaze away.
'If I hadn't acted, the whole tower would have probably blown up. No, not only that, but...'
Nebula thought back to that terrifying aura that leaked out from Petra's Sea of Consciousness.
'I don't know what's hidden in her body, but why do I feel like that thing is far more terrifying than those five troublesome guys?'
Nebula fell silent.
A few minutes later, Petra returned with the small box containing the black seed.
Petra tilted her head. "Now... how do I use this thing?"
Woosh!
The moment Petra opened the box, the small black seed emitted a 'blinding' black light. The surrounding energy all became chaotic, and the many experiments around the room were raised off the ground in a wave of antigravity. In the surroundings, a few objects seemed to resonate with the glowing black seed. Packed within Petra's satchel, the old man's book also began to glow. From the top of Petra's head, the black butterfly on Petra's head lit up with a purple light.
The light from the three glowing objects became brighter and brighter, until they all transformed into streams of light and shot into Petra's glabella.
Petra was suddenly overwhelmed by an onslaught of Information.
Her little world turned black.