Petra continued walking into the stands.
The upper sections were far calmer than the lower seating area, and most of the noisy crowd had gathered closer to the stage. The elevated booths near the back were either sparsely occupied or left completely unused and just right for the taking.
Mell led them along a curved walkway built directly into the pale stone wall.
Eventually, they found an empty booth tucked beneath a canopy of hanging flowers and silver lanterns.
The booth itself was surprisingly cozy—
Each booth was shaped like a bell that had been stretched tall, and in the center of each room was a circular table where the occupants could gather around and sit. Unlike the lower seating, this area resembled a small, enclosed, open-air lounge built directly into the amphitheater wall—a little like a decorative pillar, only larger and completely hollow. Soft couches and a series of short wooden stools surrounded a recessed sitting area, which was layered with woven cushions and decorated blankets. Thin curtains swayed gently in the breeze, occasionally carrying traces of flowers and food, and the open front overlooked the entire stage below, while the roof remained exposed to the bright morning sky that freely shone from overhead.
Petra, arriving behind Mell, immediately belly-flopped onto one of the oversized cushions and sank into it like a big cat discovering the joys of sunlight for the first time.
"…Soft~!"
Shortly after Petra jumped down, Rose followed and dropped heavily onto the long couch beside her, while Lira aggressively stole an entire pile of pillows before curling up possessively beside her big sister.
Wind adjusted her silver hair with a face full of annoyance, before elegantly sitting down near Petra.
Mell glanced around, then nodded.
"Stay here for a bit," she said, her words directed at Wind, who was responsible for keeping Petra contained. "I'm going to grab some snacks before the lines get long…." Without waiting for a response, she disappeared back the way they came.
For a moment, the booth became quiet.
The music below continued in the background while sunlight drifted lazily across the open seating area.
Wind crossed one leg over the other before slightly turning towards Petra.
"…You noticed it too, didn't you?" she asked with a somewhat strange voice.
Petra's black eyes lifted from the pillow and slowly shifted toward her.
With a mumbling voice, "Mm, you mean the Shadow Clan girl, right?"
Wind nodded.
"You don't need to worry," Petra calmly yawned. "Although she was targeting us, she's already been tagged by a very difficult-to-detect light-element spell. If I'm not wrong, she should already be being hunted by the Church of Light. Even if she can come back, she won't have much of a chance..."
Rose and Lira finally relaxed slightly after hearing those words.
Ever since that strange Shadow Clan girl had bumped into Petra earlier, the two red-haired beastmen had remained unusually tense. The reason was simple, and that was they had both felt it—that girl had truly tried to kill Petra! Back then, the instant she collided with Petra's small body, the hidden dagger concealed beneath her sleeve had already moved. It had been quick, concise, and was completely concealed beneath the chaos of the crowd.
Fortunately, before the blade could even pierce Petra's clothes, it had crumbled into dust.
Petra had retracted the poisonous aura that normally surrounded her body so that she would not kill the girl directly, but that didn't mean she was defenseless. If anything, Petra was strangely more attentive whenever she lowered her guard. Her situational awareness was terrible, yet the moment genuine danger actually arrived, her body reacted almost instinctively.
Rose crossed her arms tightly. "Tch! That annoying little rat… I really wanted to attack her at that time!"
Lira's tail flicked aggressively into the shape of a '!' behind her. "Tch! If you didn't stop me, I definitely would have shot her on the spot! There was lots of time! Lots-of-time!"
Wind ignored the two mussel heads and continued speaking to Petra, "Since she's already been marked by the Church of Light, what do you think we should do?"
Petra lazily blinked from the oversized cushion.
"Mm, what do you meannn~?"
Wind's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Since she recognized you and even attempted to assassinate you, that clearly means she could see through your concealment spell to some extent. If that's the case, then there should be others capable of the same thing. It's even possible that all the dark races can see through your spell."
She briefly paused.
"No, now that I think about it, it probably isn't limited to just the dark races... The Church of Light should also possess some methods capable of seeing through your spell…."
Petra rolled over on the spot, landed belly up, then shrugged carelessly.
"I thought you were talking about revenge? How dare she attack me! About the blinky boys, I'm not scared of the Church of Light. Besides being a little annoying, those guys can't really do much to me."
Wind faintly frowned.
"Isn't the Light-element supposed to heavily counter people with the dark-element? Why do you make it sound like that doesn't apply to you?"
Petra giggled.
"It does hurt~! It does, it really does~!" She stretched lazily across the cushion before continuing, "But my body is a bit special, so it doesn't work the same way it normally works against other dark-type creatures." This was naturally referring to a quirk within her witch bloodline.
The witch bloodline had a special trait that allowed Petra's body to store certain energies in a way that even Petra didn't fully understand.
Because Petra only had a dark-type spirit root, she couldn't store elemental energy other than dark-type elemental energy in her body. This didn't mean that she couldn't control elemental energy, nor did it mean that she couldn't absorb small impurities by accident, it just meant that she couldn't target it and store it intentionally in her dantian.
Petra: 'Control' Elemental Energy in the air (Yes!)
Petra: 'Store' Elemental Energy in the body (No!)
In addition, the witch bloodline, or at least 'Petra's witch bloodline', just like what happened the first time she absorbed too much energy from a spirit stone and almost exploded, had the passive effect of neutralizing excess energy that would normally be harmful to the body. Because she could not absorb most of the elements, any excessive amount of elemental energy—or any energy for that matter, that isn't compatible with her body will automatically be neutralized and absorbed into the witch bloodline, then stored in an unknown place.
Petra had no idea where it went or how it was stored, and she also didn't know how to awaken her witch bloodline, but she did know that exploding from an excess of energy was virtually impossible for her, no, not only was it virtually impossible for her, but because of her dragon bloodline, her body was ridiculously durable, making it even more difficult for unseen events to occur when cultivating.
As long as she didn't intentionally destroy herself, it was nearly impossible for her to make a mistake when cultivating, regardless of the pathway!
For many practitioners, absorbing conflicting types of energy could easily cripple or kill them, not to mention causing their cultivation base to implode, or worse, explode!
This was referring to the conflict between 'wood and fire', 'metal and water', or even 'dark and light'.
But Petra was different…
She didn't have this problem…
Because of that, the light-element elemental energy lost much of the overwhelming lethality it normally possessed against dark-type creatures. When exposed, Petras bloodline would continuously smooth out and neutralize the conflict between 'light and dark' before it could spiral out of control.
Of course, this didn't mean that the Light-element was any less irritating.
Petra still hated it very, very much!
It felt a bit like being pinched, but all over her body, and everywhere at the same time, ahem! If you think about it, you could probably imagine it…
If you really can't imagine it, then just go up to the nearest woman and try it out, see what happens…
Author: "Please don't do this…!"
At the same time, it should also be noted here that being a witch didn't actually lock someone into a dark-element elemental affinity. In fact, although the dark element was less rare among the witches, it was still considered a more uncommon elemental affinity.
Just look at Bell, who had an earth, wood, and light element spirit root!
In addition!
According to Levy, witches didn't cultivate the five pure energies (Natural, Spiritual, Elemental, Soul, and Mystic Energy), instead, they focused on something entirely different, a new type of power system: 'Rules', 'Laws', and 'Concepts'...
One's affinity with the elements still mattered, sure, but this was more of an innate understanding rather than a physical requirement born from an organ.
In other words, even if Petra's dark-type spirit root were to be gouged out, it didn't matter! As she slowly awakened her witch bloodline, the innate understanding she had from birth mattered more than the spirit root's ability to filter elemental energy through her body.
As for 'Rules', 'Laws', and 'Concepts'...
They were high-level forces that went far beyond the scope of simple visualisation and control.
Although some of these were touched upon by higher-level practitioners, there was still a large difference between a being who reached towards them, and a race born to control them.
Unfortunately, Levy also immediately smacked Petra on the head after explaining that, then told her to stop overestimating herself! "You're still weak enough to die from tripping down stairs," Levy had scoffed. "Focus on your cultivation first before trying to understand the meaning of a concept!"
Remembering that conversation, Petra suddenly felt a little depressed...
She shook her head, then changed the subject.
While sitting idly within the booth, the music from below drifted through the air as Petra and Wind quietly continued discussing their plans surrounding the upcoming calamity, or more specifically, their plans for what to do after they leave the Cross Continent.
Petra, still rolling, lay belly-down across the oversized cushions lazily kicking her legs through the air.
Meanwhile, Wind sat beside her with one hand supporting her cheek, her silver hair gently swaying in the morning breeze that was faintly filtering through the booth.
Compared to the noise below, this place felt strangely peaceful.
Petra's big black eyes blinked.
"…So what exactly is the sea like?" she asked curiously.
Wind looked slightly surprised by the question.
It wasn't that Petra didn't know, she had been there before, but she felt as if the seas of Earth should be very different than the seas of Pillomal.
"…The sea?"
"Mm!" Petra nodded vigorously. "I've only ever seen bits and pieces of it from far away. Is it really as endless as they all say?" Although it was a bit cliché, Petra had indeed only seen a few images in books about the sea surrounding the Cross Continent. She had never actually gone to the coast, even when she went to the hot springs not too long ago, she had only taken a glance from afar."
Wind chuckled after hearing this.
"It definitely feels endless. Without the proper people, it's possible to never find land after leaving, so in a sense, it can indeed be called endless, because for those people, they never did find an end."
As she spoke, her expression gradually became interesting.
Petra even felt as if she could see a faint blush?
No, it was just her imagination…
"I've already acquired several relatively updated maps from the overseas merchants and a few old friends from the Gallon Family. Now that they seem to want to bring me back, they've become a lot more cooperative. Oh, I also spent the last few days mapping out a rough route." Wind lightly waved her hand, causing a small map to form from wind and dust above the table.
Petra's eyes instantly sparkled.
Several floating islands and routes gradually formed across the table, creating a vague diagram.
"After we finish our matters in the Secret Realm, we'll leave early so we can gain a head start before the Third Calamity fully descends," Wind explained. "We still don't know whether the Sea Calamity will resemble the First Calamity, which took time to escalate, or the Second Calamity, which descended almost instantly and literally blotted out the sky of the western region, but regardless, we need to be ready for the worst, so I've chosen a route that will give us many options to run if necessary…"
She scratched her ear, then continued, "After that, we will—"