When Green first heard the news, his immediate reaction was much the same as Penny's. But he knew the Human City-State could not have survived the last Terminal Stage without resources beyond imagining. If he wanted to move against it, he would have to be careful.
So Green did not act at once. He sent ghosts and ravens across the border tacitly observed by both sides to investigate what had happened in the Human City-State.
Once the scouts were dispatched, Green left the matter to Penny.
Penny had grown over the years. She was no longer the reckless little girl she had once been. Since taking command of an army, she had matured even faster, and her own strength had reached Peak Formal Rank. With a little more experience, her advancement to Legendary Rank would follow naturally.
Penny now ran a tight ship. Stern and decisive, she never hesitated when force was needed. Sometimes even Green found it hard to believe she was the same impulsive, thoughtless girl he had known before.
People often said that a person was shaped by her surroundings, and Penny proved the point. Green had complete confidence in her ability to handle the matter. Leaving it in her hands, he returned to researching improvements to dragon bone manufacturing.
While making the Dragon Bone Skeleton Warriors, an idea had struck Green. If Princess Mulesina's technique could turn the bones of ordinary giant beasts into dragon bone, could the same technique be applied to human bones to produce smaller dragon bones?
Green began testing it at once. Sure enough, it worked!
The technique had one limitation when applied to human bones: an ordinary person's skeleton would not do. The donor had to be at least a Formal-Rank Transcendent, or the bones could not withstand the flood of