Petra had finally returned home.
She stood under the clear sky, her hands on her hips, laughing loudly like a maniac.
Behind her stood six maids, each unique in their own way.
The Twins, Lilly, and Luna.
Lilly was small and cute; her little eyepatch covered her missing left eye. When she was not helping her sister, she worked as the team's general tailor.
Luna was slightly smaller than Lilly. The little girl became a mute after an attack to the throat. She usually took care of cooking and cleaning in the household.
Mell, the common blacksmith's daughter. She had lost a foot in her tragic back story, but she was still lively and energetic despite the disability. Out of all the girls, Mell had the strongest big sister energy.
Wind was the 'work in progress, Tsundere'. She came from a noble background, but was sold into slavery after she accidentally offended a royal from the Hellion Empire. She was good at paperwork and negotiations.
Rose was the crossdressing cat boy. Although currently locked in the state of a 'female', this young man was violent and loved to fight. He was best at, uh... well, we will work on that.
Nebula was the tall, slender, and silent type of girl. If Petra allowed it, she would probably run around in a black hood and cloak, scaring anything that saw her during the night. Surprisingly, Petra discovered that this princess in a tower was actually very good at cleaning. After spending all her life in a library, it was understandable that she would pick up some tricks.
Today was the start of construction.
It was time for Petra to build her dream home.
Over the two months Petra was gone, the Ant Queen had been hard at work crafting the tens of thousands of components Petra needed to build the tower.
Petra wore a strange yellow hard hat that none of the girls could understand.
She skillfully organized the ants, commanding them through the connection with the Queen Ant to raise the foundation of the tower.
Petra planned for the first floor of the tower to be slightly special. She wanted it to be a normal two-story building that curved around the tree. This way, the front half of the tree would be shielded by the first floor of the tower, and the back half would be turned into a massive garden used to grow and research poisonous plants. Try to imagine Canada's Peace Tower, but only the front, and curved around a tree. Petra also planned to dig a lake around the inner border of the barrier. After that, she wanted to turn the remaining unused land into terrace farms for planting and growing fruits and vegetables.
Doing some math, the territory covered 1000 meters from the center outwards. The Emerald Ghost Tree had a radius of 85m, the house would take up another 50m, then the outer courtyard would circle another 25m. Then the terrace farms would take up 640m and the lake would take up the last 200m.
[Author's Note: I have no idea if these measurements are realistic.]
The lake would circle around the border, occasionally criss-crossing through the terrace farms, making an excellent spot for fishing. Simple bridges and stone pathways would make traversing the territory much easier, and a variety of beautiful trees and rare plants would be scattered around occasionally, livening up the somewhat flat landscape.
As for the 'tower'...
(The tower would have a 75m diameter, slightly bigger than the width of the house)
Petra planned for the five-story mage tower to intersect with the main hall on the first floor. Remember, the 'first floor' was actually a two-story mansion, so it was split into 'Lower First Floor' and 'Upper First Floor'.
The first floor of the tower was a series of large halls designed for gatherings, greetings, and meetings.
The east wing (first floor): Kitchen, Music Room, Painting Studio, Calligraphy Room, Tailors Studio, Storage Space. (Many Others)
The west wing (first floor): Armoury, Forge, Alchemy Hall, Medicinal Storage. (Many More)
The second floor of the tower was the common living quarters and the main dining room.
The third floor of the tower was the library.
The fourth floor of the tower was the laboratory.
The fifth floor of the tower was Petra's personal living quarters.
After everything was done, the cottage would be removed and the stone map would be destroyed. After the tower was completed, the stone map would be rebuilt directly in front of the tower. Unlike before, this map would go from the 12m diameter to a 35m diameter and cover the entire Cross Continent. Although the ants couldn't actively monitor the entire continent, they could recreate it as a massive stone map.
Petra swung her little hammer, standing on the big spider's back.
The structure would be built from a combination of wood and stone. Most of the specially made pieces had already been cut out by the ants, so Petra just had to oversee the assembly process. Magic materials were far stronger than normal materials. As for how to convert normal materials into magic materials? Petra had no clue. Fortunately, the abundant vitality provided by the forest had turned these regular trees into high-grade magic materials long ago. As for the stones, well... They were dug out from the side of a spirit stone mine, so their quality was innately high.
Day one of construction was very chaotic.
Large stones were moved from underground to form the massive foundation needed to build the tower. These stones were the equivalent of a concrete foundation on modern earth.
While Petra worked on the foundation, there was a large group of ants that began the terraforming project. They were specifically bred to change the environment. In this case, they began removing mountains of earth from the surrounding grassy plane. They began carving out the terrace farms, a large lake, and the many intertwining water channels. The excess dirt became small decorative mountains dotted around the farmland. This process would take many days, if not weeks, but with the army of ants, it wouldn't be too bad.
Petra had not decided how she was going to fill the lake. Because she couldn't connect it to the outside world, she would probably have to fill it herself using magic runes.
Time passed, and the construction continued.
The six maid girls were all doing their part.
Lilly and Luna worked in the kitchen, Mell worked with the ants to create some more intricate pieces, Wind and Rose oversaw the changes to the surrounding landscape. Nebu just seemed to disappear. When Petra looked for her, she could never find her, but if she called out, Nebu would always appear.
Even with the thousands of well coordinated hands, this project was going to take a long time.
-
When the first day came to an end, the girls all gathered around a campfire, eating food and complaining about the ridiculous size of the building.
"Who's going to clean! This place is massive!"
Wind raised her hand. "I nominate Rose."
"What! Why do I have to do the cleaning!"
Mell agreed. "You have the most energy!"
"But Nebula is the best at it! Why can't she do it!"
Wind looked at her in disdain. "Then you ask her, she scares me!"
"Pfft, what's wrong with big sister Nebu?" Lilly asked, her head tilted.
"What do you know! She's like a ghost, she's scary as hell!" Rose roared.
Lilly blinked. "But isn't she right behind you?"
Rose jumped in fright. She spun around only to find nothing.
"Pfft, hahaha!"
The girls all laughed.
Even Nebula, who was in the dark, couldn't help but smile.
* * *
As the days passed under the Emerald Ghost Tree and the Green Mansion slowly formed, many things on the continent began to change.
In the eastern region, City of Tera, Night.
In the capital of the eastern region, a tall tower stood in the center of the city. At the top of this tower was an enormous observatory. Its semi-circular glass ceiling opened to the stars. Its walls were filled with books and paintings. The furnishings were warm and cozy, looking more like a living room than a research facility.
Dorothy stood under the night sky, peering into the ethereal void of space. An enormous divination was being done by this young sorcerer. Unlike the method Elena used, this was a more common and less conspicuous method. She paid a huge price, just to look into something that was bothering her. She had long brown hair that was tied into a messy bun. Her simple mage's robe reflected her standing as a citizen of Terra. She had three magic tomes hanging from her waist and a glowing green gem tied around her neck. Her sharp eyes were transformed by her glasses into those of a shy and submissive little bookworm.
She was alone in the room. Any of the guards given to her by the Luton Castle were forced to wait outside. They existed to monitor her, not protect her. Although she really didn't care, she still didn't want anyone knowing what she was doing.
As a 'suspected' Heavens Chosen, Dorothy was 'taken in' by the Lonton Castle after her enormous talent was 'accidentally' discovered.
What bothered her was that the same thing happened to the guys from the south and west. Dorothy felt like this wasn't a coincidence.
Something inside her told her that she needed to know why.
She had learned that the central region also had a Heavens Chosen, only she didn't hide her abilities, so she wasn't thrust into the public eye like the other three.
This gave Dorothy the feeling that something was wrong.
It was almost like they were pieces of a chess game. Those who refused to enter the board were punished. She had lost her freedom, Kilemin disappeared into secluded training, and Arthur had been separated from his loved ones and forced into an arranged marriage by the Hellion Empire.
All of this happened in the course of a day.
What Dorthy was divining was the identity of the Northern Hero. Doing this was considered a taboo by the world, but she hoped that her identity as a Heaven's Chosen would protect her life at least.
As the divination continued, the violent winds of the Howling Planes seemed to want to interfere. As the divination neared its end, Dorothy watched as the sky slowly closed in real time, covering Tera, and wanting to conceal 'something', confirming her suspicions.
Dorthy gritted her teeth and cut her palms.
Blood flowed like rivers as it pooled at her feet.
She slammed her hands together, overlapping the wounds and chanting in an unknown language.
Strange runes formed in the air.
Unlike Elena's divination method, Dorothy's divination method was very unique. It wouldn't attract the attention of those old monsters, because the foundation was the common method used by everyday diviners. The difference was that Dorthy could 'extend' the divination using her blood. This was a unique bloodline power that only her direct bloodline knew about
Her mind was pulled into the ethereal, and she stood amidst a sea of black.
In the sky, a single star shone brightly.
Dorothy's eyes widened in ecstasy.
She reached out to investigate the 'Green Star'.
When her hand extended, unlike what she expected, Dorothy realised that the star was way too far for her hand to touch. Her eyes widened, flashing with confusion. Her mind spun, then turned to horror as something in the unseen world seemed to turn and look at her.
This oppressive 'gaze' was like being looked at by 'everything'.
The biggest difference between Elena and Dorothy's divination method was that Dorothy had to risk her soul if she failed.
She was just that desperate…
She didn't want to be controlled.
She would rather die than be someone else's chess piece.
At least, that's what she originally thought.
The 'black' that covered the night sky suddenly became extremely chaotic. Silhouettes of indescribable existences were outlined in the black. Dorthy realised that it wasn't that the sky was black, instead, these unfathomable monsters blotted out the sky. The green star stood alone, existing untouched by the indefinable chaos.
Dorothy watched as the manifestation of madness crashed down on her.
Despair flashed in her eyes, and a moment seemed to distort into an eternity.
Time disconnected from space, torturing her mind with an eternal instant of fear and despair.
It was only after 'something' stretched out from the green star and pulled her in that she was saved from the [?].
-
Dorothy opened her eyes.
She found that she was sitting in a massive library.
The surrounding walls were made of simple wood, but the carvings were mystical, and countless formations and runes could be seen etched into their designs. The circular walls seemed to extend upwards indefinitely, but the few floors she could see were ring-like balconies, with the center cut out, leaving an unimpeded view through the center to the top.
In the center of the room, sitting on a chair and reading a book, sat a woman dressed as a maid.
When Dorothy looked at her, she was shocked.
She and the woman shared a face.
The woman looked at her and chuckled. "I remember now, so it's my turn, huh?" She adjusted herself and leaned her face on one hand. "Your divination technique, seal it."
Dorthy was confused. "Who are you?"
The woman smiled. "You want to know why the northern chosen didn't appear, right?"
Dorothy's eyes widened.
The woman continued. "You're here to see if she did something special, or if you can learn something from her, yes? To escape the 'game', yes?"
Dorthy took a step back.
Who was this woman?
"Fate is a strange thing. Even for a monster like our master, it's impossible to completely avoid. After you reach a certain level, you can move around unimpeded, but you can never truly escape its flow."
The woman tapped her book against the armrest of her chair a few times.
"As for you, you're lucky." She looked at Dorthy with deep meaning. "Seal your divination, pretend to follow those fools from the four towers, and when the first calamity is delt with, sell yourself to the black market."
"What..?"
Dorthy was confused.
She suddenly remembered that she was in a divination. The instant of fear from before made her think that this was all real.
She regained her composure, only to be terrified by the woman's next words.
"Since you divined this place, then it means that you invited those chaos manifestations to Tera. Make sure to clean them up, and it's best if nobody knows that you're the one who summoned them." The woman suddenly got up and stretched. "If I remember correctly, now was the time to run."
Dorthy suddenly had a bad feeling.
Before she had a chance to ask any further, a sudden and cheerful childish voice sounded through the library.
"Dorthy, you stole my homework again, didn't you! Levy is going to kill me!!"
'Dorthy', the one performing the divination, suddenly turned around in shock.
A black blur tore through the divination scene and distorted reality like crumpling a page.
The last thing the young sorcerer heard was, "Huh, two Dorothy's? Ah, so it's here! No wait! You tricked me! You said you never gave your---"
Rizzzap-
The world was broken.
Dorthy woke up, returning to the observatory.
She stood there, like waking from a dream,
There was a sudden knock on the door.
"What is it?"
"Lady Quella, strange monsters have appeared in the city. Some went on a rampage, while others disappeared as soon as they arrived. The Wind Whisperer has ordered that the city is to be put under martial law. I have received orders to ask for your assistance in cleaning up the unknown threat."
Dorothy's face was slightly pale.
Although she suffered a small backlash from the divination, it was nothing compared to the woman's previous words.
The woman's words echoed in her head.
'Was I the one who summoned them?'
'How is that possible?!'
'Can a divination even do that?'
Dorthy gritted her teeth.
Since that woman had chosen to give her advice, she felt like she should take it. She was told to seal her divination and help exterminate the monsters.
Since she was here, she might as well do it.
As for selling herself to the black market...