After a week of non-stop cultivating and learning, she had managed to create eleven constructs of knollgrass with the past two days being able to create two instead of just one. At this rate, Katrina would be able to create a new construct in a couple days.
However today, after forming her two constructs in the morning, she was told that Madam Grueska had delivered all the poisons she had gathered. Making her way to the parlour where it all was left, when she walked inside she was astonished at the amount of jars and boxes each meticulously labelled with whatever substance was in it, and their life span. There were about forty different items that she had managed to collect in such a short span of time, apparently access to knollgrass meant so much to her.
Surprisingly, she recognised all of them except a jar a quarter full of some silver liquid named venom of the silver-tongued serpent. Before she could wonder about its origins since it was definitely not native to her kingdom, her eyes were drawn to a leather bound book. Opening it, it was a record of all the poisons on the table as well as their properties, how to harvest and location.
Weirdly, the silver-tongued venom came from the far north, about a three week travel from her kingdom, and it was the only inherently magical poison which was probably why it had a shelf life of a couple of decades. The door opened to her left, turning towards it her father waltzed in.
"Ah I see you found the book I encouraged Madam Grueska to make you. She even left half of it blank so you could document any poisons you come across." The king spoke, satisfaction evident in his tone.
"What did you bribe her with? More knollgrass." She said answering her own question, turning her gaze back to the book as she scanned the pages. One thing attracting her notice, poisonous pollen.
'That could work as a spell.' She thought, creating a harmless looking plant which emitted poisonous pollen, it'd be unnoticeable in a fight.
"I promised she could have free reign instead of a one time harvest." He spoke softly.
"Thank you, Dad." The princess said sincerely.
"Anything for my daughter" Katrina hummed in response, still reading through the book to see if anything else stuck out to her. And one did, a harmless berry bush which grew near rivers until it was combined with fresh water. It could cause sleepiness and fainting. Maybe she could construct a lake which encompasses her knollgrass which was contaminated with the water. It was worth a try.
"Is that silver-tongued venom?" He asked her, his voice oddly subdued. She looked up from the book and raised her eyebrow at his reaction.
"Yes. You know it? She questioned, worried about his reaction. It did seem very dangerous, and he was prone to being overly protective.
"No." The grey-haired man hurriedly responded, lying through his teeth since he obviously knew what it is. Katrina decided to not pry in case he overreacts and takes it away as a consequence.
"Okay Dad." She retorted simply, flipping to its page in the book she stared in wonder at its properties.
It was a highly poisonous substance which would slowly kill someone if you even touched the slightest bit over the course of several months. However, those who were magically strong, noted as those of master level or above, the poisonous aspects would be null and it works as a wonder drug. With the ability to heal and nourish any wound. Its rarity was also exceptional, so for her to have a decent amount was great.
"Where am I going to put all this? The luggage I'm taking to the academy has doubled it seems." She sighed, already imagining the carriage buckling under its weight. She didn't want to bring so many clothes but as a princess if she wore something too many times rumours would spread about her kingdom being poor.
"That's why I brought this," he said with a smirk, pulling a small box out of his pocket which enlarged into the shape of a trunk. It was a spatial storage trunk, exceedingly rare and costly but useful. At least until she reached the novice rank and could begin to store things in her inner world.
"Oh my, Dad that must have cost a fortune. Did you empty our coffers?" She joked. Walking over to admire its beautiful rune craft on the top. He laughed in response, and gestured for her to open it. Lifting the lid up, she admired its organisation. It separated into three different sections. One with coat hangers, shoe racks and places to put jewellery. One covered with shelves, and the last being a single sword stand with a beautifully carved silver sword.
With a gasp, she picked it up and began admiring it. The sword was short and slender like how she preferred, since due to her short stature and lack of muscles when fighting in close combat, she chose to dodge then block when she could. The carvings detailed the story of her kingdom, an age old legend of their first ruler, Queen Victoria who was a refugee from another kingdom and built this one to help all in need of a home. Throwing herself at her dad, she hugged him.