《Elemental Cats》


 Chapter 1 Beginning Of A Journey

    ?In thete afternoon, a cart drawn by a pair of Armored Steel Boars had just passed through the city gates of the City of Growing Iron. Headed east, the carriage had the sun to the back. Aside from the coachman, there were four passengers, a couple with their child and bags full of items and a young dark-haired man.


    The young man looked back at the city they had just left with aplex look in his eyes. As their hometown was getting farther away, a couple of dots, one ck and one silver, that were right next to a paw print on his right hand lit up. At the same time, with a slight disturbance in the air, the rough outline of a cat took shape on the young man''sp, and a barely noticeable dark figure settled down on his head with a tail swinging down his neck. After only a moment, there was a solid mass of what looked like quicksilver in the shape of a cat. Ity down, looking in the same direction as the young man, with its tail hanging down to the side and its body taking on a light shimmering orange hue in thete, almost dusk sun.


    The silvery grey cat tilted its head to look at the young man''s face out of the corner of its eyes. "It''s finally time, huh?" it said with slight nostalgia in its voice.


    "Considering all the preparations we have made, I still feel way too nervous, but at the same time, incredibly excited just imagining all the things we''re going to discover," the young man said in response.


    "Yeaa, Toz, let''s get them...!" A tiny voice that sounded barely awake could be heard from the young man''s head.


    "Lucy... Didn''t you sleep the entirety of yesterday? Why are you still tired?"


    "I can''t help it. I am still growing!"


    "...you mean like how you''ve grown two millimeters in two years?" the shimmering cat said sarcastically.


    "You! Just! Wait!"


    The ck cat was about to jump down from Toz''s head and attack in anger. Only experience from previous bouts and soft head pats stopped him.


    While they traveled onward, the family asionally peeked at the young man and his spirit beasts, and after a short while, they reached the entrance to a forest just as the city disappeared on the horizon.


    The trees at the edge were a few meters in height and thin with droopy branches. The trees were copper colored with bright green shiny leaves. Deeper in the forest, the trees increased in size and had a darker color, almost as if the light didn''t work on them. Fortunately, the road curved around the deeper, darker parts and passed through the rtively sparse areas.


    As the carriage entered a slightly darker stretch of the road, the sound of branches snapping sounded. The boars grew restless and started huffing. The passengers felt eyes piercing the veil of darkness surrounding them, and a cold sweat began running down the family''s backs. The only one who was somewhat rxed was the ck-haired young man, though he had a slight frown.


    "Stop right there! It seems you have forgotten to pay for passage through here!"


    Arge bearded man jumped out of the forest, startling the boars and the passengers and stopping the carriage. As he indirectly started robbing the travelers, other bandits surrounded the carriage, about twenty of them, all dressed in ck clothes and most in leather armor.


    "Wha... What are you talking about?!" the coachman spluttered, not entirely realizing the danger he was in.


    "Haha! Hand over your valuables without resistance, and we won''t take your lives, is what I''m talking about," the lead bandit said.


    A deep sigh resounded out from the back, and some bandits with greater perception and fear of death felt a chill and started unconsciously backing off step by step.


    "Nil."


    "You got it, boss"


    As the bandits, who were already scared, to begin with, heard this voice, they knew their worst fears were confirmed, especially when they saw a figure of flowing silver appear beside the coachman. At this point, most bandits had dropped to their knees and bowed down. The leader and a few bandits closer to him looked around in confusion.


    "What are you doing?! It''s just a cat. Get up!"


    "''...Just a cat.'' He says..."


    "He doesn''t even know the main yers. Why did hee here?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    In response to the leader''s outburst, the other bandits sighed and grumbled about their bad luck.


    The cat seeing how not everyone bowed down and moved out of the way, tilted its head before a ferocious glint appeared in its eyes before gracefully leaping off the cart.


    "Gahack!"


    *Thud*


    The catnded on the chest of therge, bearded bandit leader and pushed him to the ground. The bandit,pletely overpowered, was left foaming at the mouth in a pit on the road.


    "Maxwell, what is this idiot?" the silver cat pointed to the fainted man and asked a nearby bandit.


    "We apologize, silver boss. He came to the area a couple of days ago and beat up a few guys so he could start his own gang," the nearby bandit answered with his forehead pressed to the ground.


    "He has a pretty strong spirit beast, so we were unable to stop him..." another bandit quickly followed up.


    After pondering for a little while, the cat seemed to have reached a decision.


    "I''m in a good mood today, so I''ll let you off, provided you know what to do next. I will also count on you guys to hold the fort while we are away. As long as you don''t go overboard, you can continue."


    ''"Yes, sir!''" The bandits said in chorus.


    Seeing the light of redemption shining on them, the kneeling bandits pounced on the bearded bandit''spanions, who were still in shock. With the number difference, it didn''t take long before there was a pile of tied-up men by the side of the road and arge pile of spatial rings gathered next to them. One of the original bandits took it upon himself to hand those rings over to the young man in the back of the carriage, who epted them and put them in one of the pockets on his jacket. Surprisingly the pocket didn''t seem to bulge or get any bigger.


    Seeing this, the cat nodded with satisfaction before smacking the bearded man under him and sauntering back to the carriage.


    While all the bandits stood beside the road and bowed to the person in the back, the coachman carefully hinted for the boars to start moving. Seeing no one oppose, he increased the speed to what it was before they were stopped by the bandits.


    While the coachman focused on driving the carriage to take his mind off what had just happened, the family inside looked at the cat and its master with mixed feelings. The child stared with wide-eyed admiration while the parents shifted around uneasily in their seats with slight fear in their eyes.


    The man in question, however, leaned back with closed eyes while petting the silvery ball of fur in hisp, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings.


    With the trouble out of the way and the carriage moving peacefully onwards, the two parents slowly rxed while the kid grew sleepy due to the carriage''s gentle rocking and the darkening sky.


    After dropping off the family at a farm, Toz realized they were getting closer and asked the driver,


    "How far?" with one hint of impatience and two hints of excitement in his voice.


    "We''re getting close. About forty minutes left. You don''t look like a merchant, so why are you headed to a flow city? Aiming to be a mercenary with that cat of yours?"


    "I see. No, or maybe if I run out of money and need some funds, but the n is to be an explorer."


    "Ipletely understand. Youngsters should have dreams, just don''t forget your roots, kid," the driver smiled fondly while thinking of his past self.


    As dawn broke, the City of Flowing Bronze could be seen on the horizon.

 Chapter 2 Flowing Bronze

    ?The City of Flowing Bronze had a much more diverse infrastructure than Growing Iron, with buildings made of other materials than metal and made by greater craftsmen, the city gave off a wilder impression. Not only the buildings but also the people were more varied. As a city with a Gate that granted ess to other nes, there were merchants and travelers with different physical appearances from the people native to a metal attribute ne. Not to mention the few spirit beasts of different attributes that could be seen here and there. Since a lot of spirit beasts were not small enough to easily travel through a cramped city or just didn''t like the hustle and bustle of the city they would usually stay inside the spiritual space belonging to their partner, if possible.


    After entering the city and paying for the ride, Toz began wandering the streets of the city while taking a look at the stalls and shops. Buying a few snacks for himself and the cats, one on his head and the other draped over his shoulders, he entered the deeper, less official parts of the city. When midday approached, he finally found what he was looking for, the strays. The stray cats had found a remote corner of the city next to a park with little traffic, to lounge, during the day. Passing out treats to the cats on his way to a bench, the cats slowly noticed him and approached where he sat.


    Just like Toz enjoyed being in the presence of cats, cats enjoyed his presence, and easily calmed down and rxed. Toz decided to bask in the sun for a few minutes before heading off to the Gate. It didn''t take long for the bench he was sitting on to get surrounded by sleeping cats. Although the presence of the ck and silver cat kept Toz from getting physically covered by the cats, it was a rxing atmosphere to make up for theparativelycking cart ride.


    The sun shining down on a young man surrounded by cats was like something out of a painting. Although pedestrians passing by noticed, it wasn''t until a middle-aged man in a light brown uniform came that the scene was disturbed.


    As the officer came closer, the cats woke up in a start and quickly dispersed, some with reluctance.


    "Kid, this is a privately owned park. There are several ces for homeless people to stay during the day that won''t get you in trouble," he said after tapping Toz on his shoulder to wake him up.


    "My bad, I didn''t see the sign."


    "Well, there is no sign really. It is just locally known that this park is owned by the mayor''s cousin."


    "I was about to get moving anyway. Thanks for waking me up"


    "No problem. Where are you headed to?"


    "The Gate"


    "I see...


    "The Gate!?"


    "Yeah, is there a problem?"


    "None at all! I apologize for my previous discourtesy!"


    After telling the patrolling officer to rx and saying goodbye, Toz moved toward the Gate at a rxed pace. With a rested mind, he could spend more time enjoying the surroundings.


    ''Thankfully he didn''t mind it, but if has two spirit beasts he should be pretty strong right? What is he doing taking a nap here?'' The officer thought while looking at the young mage''s back.


    He had noticed it when he entered the city as well, butpared to Growing Iron, there were a lot more shops and entertainment in the City of Flowing Bronze. Although personal transport through the Gate was not something everyone could afford, it still increased the traffic through the city significantly. The transport costs were almost nothing to arger merchantpany.


    Toz had been to the city before, so he only took a look around before reaching the Gate of Flowing Bronze. Lucy and Nil also grew bored and headed into the spiritual space located in Toz''s tattoo.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The Gate was located in the middle of arge za, its immediate surroundings were clear of people, but the stalls further away were crowded with people of varying shapes and sizes. Now and then, people or carts could be seen passing through the Gate, causing a few ripples in the blue vortex.


    Since gates were made from naturally urring tears in space, they varied in appearance and size, but the one in Flowing bronze had a near-perfect circr shape and a decent height of seven meters.


    After a few minutes, a loud voice announced,


    "Gate swap in 30..."


    "29"


    "28"


    "..."


    As the countdown continued, a few sections of the multyered golden rim surrounding the gate lit up and slowly began shifting around before finally settling in ce as the countdown finished, and the same voice announced thepletion of the gate swap.


    "Gate connected to the City of Yellow Sparks in the ne of First Ignition. The connection will remain for three hours," a new voice announced twice.


    Toz had decided to begin his journey in a pioneer town in a low-level ne since he wasn''t all that powerful or experienced yet. Since First Ignition was easily essed and of the same level as his own ne, the first level ne of Moving Metal, First Ignition was a natural choice. Although he could possibly move to a second level ne as well, the level of wild beasts could go up to two levels above the ne''s own with rtive ease as long as they stayed within the same division. Beasts at the fourth level could pose a significant threat to Toz and his spirit beasts.


    After the traffic died down a bit, Toz walked through the vortex as a feeling of vertigo and weightlessness quickly came and went.


    The first thing he noticed when his feetnded on the other side of the gate was the different climate. It wasn''t sweltering, but the air was dryer and more vibrant than the mellow air he had just left.


    The next thing Toz noticed was the materials all the houses were built of. In both Growing Iron and Flowing Bronze, almost all the houses were made from wood with a metal attribute that could be found locally. In Yellow Sparks, however, he noticed several houses made from a blue type of wood, and upon closer inspection, he noticed the water attribute in it. A bunch of other houses were made from different types of stone. Considering it was a town of pioneers and explorers, the different houses and buildings were made in consideration of people with attribute types other than the ones rted to fire and heat.


    Although in a first level ne, the suppression of attributes is hardly noticeable, for many low level mages, it is easier to rest and recuperate in an appropriate environment. Toz, other than noticing the difference had no trouble, so he decided to find an inn while taking a walk around town.


    Since the space rift was found and stabilized rtively recently and the town came into being after that, there was a lot of construction going on but not a lot of other activity. The marketce was almostpletely empty. Aside from a few kids ying and the elderly feeding the birds, almost no one else could be seen.


    It didn''t take long for Toz to figure out the reason. The town''s primary attraction was exploration since it was located in a previously undiscovered area of the ne. Most of its ordinary citizens were explorers. Looking for natural resources, treasures, and scenic spots were things most easily done during the day. With the explorersing back in droves during the evening, the businesses also picked up steam at that time.


    Deciding to quickly finish his business, Toz booked a one-night stay at a small inn owned by an old married couple before heading to the branch office of the Explorers Guild.

 Chapter 3 The Explorers Guild

    ?Every building affiliated with the Explorers Guild was marked by a rectangr map with a roundpass on it. The samepass was also used to identify explorers directly rted to the guild and their strength by using different colors and details in design. Because there are no benefits to faking or stealing them, lower levelpasses aren''t enchanted with anything special, but higher level ones are marked with a special identification that only the craftsmen at the guild''s headquarters are allowed to learn how to make.


    Since explorers tend to spend a lot of time in the wild, one of the guild''s objectives is to be the link between society and explorers but also to work as amunication system among explorers. Gathering andpiling reports, trading information about discoveries, and being the middleman for selling materials found in the wild. Aside from that, guild staff usually oversee new exploration areas and make danger assessments in order to protect the explorers. Or at least warn them about what they are heading into.


    Toz entered the almostpletely empty building. Aside from a few older men sitting at the bar to the left, drinking. There was only a red-haired receptionist to the right, at the desk for official guild business, doing some paperwork.


    Hearing a knock on the desk, the receptionist looked up only to get flustered when he met the emerald green eyes of the ck-haired man looking directly at him.


    "S-sorry! Didn''t see you there. What can I help you with?" he quicklyposed himself and said.


    "I came to get an explorers'' badge"


    "Okay, then I need you to fill in this formire before you show you are capable of defending yourself"


    Toz quickly filled in the details like his name, where he was from, and any specialization or profession.


    After looking it over, the receptionist stamped it and ced it on a pile of simr papers under his desk.


    "Then I''ll lead you to the sparring area for the livebat test."


    "Ok"


    "You only need to prove yourself capable of defending yourself, or any other skills that can be of significant assistance in the field."


    "You saw I wrotebat as my specialization, right?"


    "Well... yes, but honestly, most people do that because they do not have anything else to write and underestimate the level of skill needed to survive in the wild."


    "I see."


    The short walk to the back continued in silence.


    When they arrived at the open area, Toz saw a tall woman with her red hair in a ponytail practicing her sword on a wide slightly raised surface of solid stone. The entire area was surrounded by a fence, and sets of wooden sparring weapons were stationed next to the door.


    "Mom, I brought an applicant for the explorers'' badge"


    As the woman turned around, Toz could see a likeness between the receptionist''s and the sword-wielding woman''s face.


    Looking at Toz with a scrutinizing gaze, the woman said,


    "Are you ready to go at once, or do you want to warm up first? Since no one else is here, you can take your time."


    "No need. I''ll just take off my coat before we begin."


    Toz moved to the side and ced the coat on a half-empty weapon rack. The almost imperceptible creaking made the woman''s gaze flicker before her attention returned to the young man, who was at least a head taller than her son and slightly taller than her.


    His body, previously entirely hidden by therge coat was now only covered by a simple shirt, with its arms rolled up by hands that were now picking up a wooden sword.


    The woman, upon seeing the movements of his upper body more clearly and the defined muscles on his forearms, realized instinctively that this test might be unnecessary. That feeling intensified when he moved with silent but confident steps onto the arena.


    "I have a feeling this test might be redundant, but I can''t just not do it based on a feeling, so let''s quickly get it over with," she said to Toz.


    "Alright."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    They both got in their positions while Toz summoned three metal spikes in front of him as well.


    After the receptionist, now acting as judge, called for the test to begin, Toz moved the stakes forward while at the same time throwing a shadow at the examiner''s eyes with his free left hand.


    Since the examiner had to shield her eyes, she used her mana perception to track and dodge the flying needles without noticing Toz''s presence disappearing.


    As she opened her eyes to look for her opponent, she felt a dull de pressing on her neck from the side.


    When she was preupied with dodging and shielding her eyes, Toz had rushed in front of her and got past her guard without her noticing.


    Thanks to Toz''s surprise attack, the fight was over in an instant. His ability to hide his presence and his speed in crossing the distance of several meters between in a shpletely overwhelmed his opponent.


    "M...match over!"


    "Damn...!"


    After the judge''s bted reaction, the swordswoman also processed what had just happened.


    Using a fast casting speed and tantly disying his attribute to mislead his opponent to focus on reacting to spells while trying to get closer and nning how to deal with his melee capabilities while in reality, he has a high speed and another element to disrupt the senses to support a surprise attack.


    From start to finish, the match was in Toz''s hands.


    With a quizzical look, after she finished her analysis, the swordswoman asked Toz,


    "What is someone as strong as you doing here?


    "Oh, I don''t mean to pry. I am just curious. No need to answer if you do not want to"


    Toz looked thoughtful for a moment before answering.


    "Well, it''s my first time leaving home, so I decided to y it safe, but I might have overestimated the level of strength necessary to explore¡­."


    He ended the sentence with a continuously lowered voice while slightly averting his gaze.


    "Oh...


    "Well, never mind that then, you are definitely more than qualified to explore this region. Unfortunately, with my qualifications, I can not give you more than a first level badge," the swordswoman said as she invited Toz back inside.


    Toz''s home city was far from any unexplored areas, so he had not had any previous opportunities to get a badge. And although a first level badge was the lowest, it was enough to qualify him for exploration in all first level danger zones, such as the so-far discovered areas in the wilderness outside town.


    The receptionist had tried to give Toz his coat, but since he could not lift he quickly let Toz do it himself with an embarrassed smile.


    Seeing the receptionist''s struggles, Toz understood why the coat was unexpectedly cheap and that it most likely wouldn''t be stolen if he ever left it alone.


    It was a special coat with a bunch of pockets on the inside. The outer coat itself was made of a sturdy material that provided great defense, but the really special stuff was on the inside. A great fabric for enchanting made up the inside to provide temperature regtion, self-cleaning and additionalfort. Then there were the pockets made from a medium level spatial fabric, especially suitable for bending space. With a few enchantments, the avable storage space inside the pockets was greatly expanded and could store several cubic meters of items in total. Unfortunately, the weight of the items was not reduced, and time flowed as usual.


    Since Toz had put a lot of equipment and preserved food in his pockets, the coat naturally weighed a lot, not to mention the weight of coins and the spatial rings he collected from the bandits. Because the spatial rings were of the lowest level, they barely provided any extra space, but they slowed down time and reduced weight to a certain degree, so they were stillmonly used. They could at least be used as a wallet or to store a light snack.


    With his business finished Toz, headed back to the inn so he could organize his items onest time before officially starting his journey and getting an early sleep so he could get going first thing in the morning the next day.

 Chapter 4 Leaving Yellow Sparks

    ?After passing through the town gate before dawn even arrived, Toz summoned Lucy and Nil from their spiritual space, where they usually stayed when Toz was busy.


    Lucy looked around excitedly while Nilid down around Toz''s neck to continue sleeping.


    "Toz, Toz! Look, a burning tree!


    "Whoa, look at that, the ground is on fire! Cool!"


    Not caring that he didn''t get any answers, Lucy continued pointing at everything that caught his eyes while riding on Toz''s head.


    While walking at a rxed pace, they passed by several different things, the fields immediately surrounding the town, where farmers could be seen checking on their crops, and a couple of meadows and groves. That was about as far as the proper road went. After that, it split up into smaller ones connecting to farmer''s huts or a few paths leading into the wilderness in different directions. One went to a mountain barely visible on the horizon, another to a nearby forest, and a third followed a river snaking its way around that very forest.


    "Where do the two of you feel like heading?" Toz asked his cats.


    "Oh! How about the forest? I have never been inside a burning forest before!"


    "I want to see if the fish is any good."


    "Huh? I wanted to go to the mountain. though?" Since none of them was thepromising type, Toz was slightly stumped since he had hit the first roadblock on his journey. What direction he should take.


    After a few moments, with both cats looking at him pleadingly, Toz picked up a stick.


    "Okay, guys, we will go in the direction this stick falls in."


    "Hnng" Lucy did his best to look even more adorable, to try and make him change his mind. Unfortunately, Toz looked away before he got affected.


    Holding onto Lucy so he wouldn''t cheat, Toz ced the stick in front of him and let it fall. Despite Lucy trying to blow it in the direction of the forest, it fell toward the path leading to the river.


    "Noo...!"


    "Hehe, fish, here Ie!"


    ming the stick for being unlucky, Lucy stomped on it, breaking it into splinters before catching up to Toz and Nil and jumping on top of Toz''s head.


    The trio continued walking next to the river for a while, enjoying nature and the sound of sshing water.


    Since it was a nd, the river wasn''t rushing. It calmly flowed onwards, asionally bending. While looking at the forest on the other side of the several-meter-wide river, Toz grew curious about where they would end up if they just continued following the river for as long as possible.


    With the river''s sharp edges, clearly denoting the border between forest and river, and river and grasnds, they hadn''t found a suitable ce to have their breakfast yet, but up ahead, the river split around arge rock ced in the middle of the river and on either side was a riverbank with logs and old campfires ced.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    With a pre-arranged campsite, Toz decided it was a good opportunity to try their fishing luck and, if there was none to be found, at least have a snack.


    Upon reaching the campsite, Lucy immediately started inspecting every little thing he found in detail, his behavior looked more like something a dog might do, but both Toz and Nil were used to it as they did their own things.


    Toz pulled out a bit of firewood and prepared a fire to grill the fish or heat some preserved food, and Nil had rushed to the riverside, staring intently at the water with his tail waving from side to side. Toz joined him shortly after finishing the fire preparations since he had to make sure Lucy didn''t wander off and also fish out a fishing rod from one of his pockets.


    Ever since they decided to walk along the river, Toz had been on the lookout for insects that could be used as bait. And early dawn was a good time to find insects in a location with good amounts of fire attribute mana, but finding and catching were twopletely different things.


    Thankfully he had noticed a few green bugs with orange edges that looked like walking smooth rocks, in the grass, after stepping on a few and hearing a crunching sound from his otherwise silent footsteps.


    After throwing the hook with bait next to the huge rock, where the water was significantly calmer and a spot more likely for fish to appear, the only thing left for Toz to do was wait patiently.


    Usually, he would''ve stroked Nil next to him to pass the time, but since that would be distracting for Nil, he held himself back until Lucy, finished with his investigations, came up to him.


    Toz sat on the sandy riverbank with Lucy in hisp, and Nil next to them focused intently on grabbing any fish that passed close enough to the surface.


    The time passed like that, as the sun slowly rose above the horizon and it went from early morning to just morning both Nil and Toz had gathered an amount of fish while Lucy slept. The campfire had turned into a pile of glowing embers, perfect for roasting.


    Because they had forgotten sticks to put the fish on, Toz used his magic to create a bunch of long metal needles he pierced through the fish and ced next to the campfire.


    The fish were tiny things at the bottom of the food chain that could be easily eaten as they were, but Toz and Lucy preferred warm food. Nil, on the other hand, didn''t mind either way. He had eaten quite a few while fishing.


    Most fish and creatures were weak in a low level fire attribute ne due to the shing attributes and the amount of fire mana conflicting with their nature. That didn''t apply to nes of higher level since even the water would turn into fire attribute water and thus affecting the creatures living in it.


    The fish weren''t anything special since Toz didn''t bother seasoning them, but they made for a decent breakfast, and while eating, they met a few other explorers passing by in either direction.


    Some just walked or rode by without caring, others nodded and kept moving, and a few stopped to exchange greetings or news. Since Toz grilled a lot of fish, he offered it to some explorers who looked especially hungry.


    Although few had any useful news to share, either because they wanted to keep the resources to themselves or because they hadn''t found anything, there were several who had told Toz the same thing.


    There was an Ember Deer migration a few days walking away. Arge herd that moved a little here and there in search of food. That piece of news woke Lucy up from his after-breakfast nap, and he almost started pulling on Toz''s pants to start moving. Although he didn''t know what an ember deer was, a migration of an entire herd of them was bound to be amazing in Lucy''s eyes. Maybe he could even show off his might by catching one.


    That thought got a sparkle shining in his eyes as he redouble his efforts in getting both Toz and Nil moving.


    They had finished eating anyways, so after putting out the fire, they continued moving.

 Chapter 5 Ember Deer Migration

    ?The monotonous walking the past few days didn''t bother any of them, Nil and Toz had mostly calm personalities, and Lucy slept almost all the time.


    Although the river seemed to be almost brimming with fish, eating the same thing all the time would be boring, so they switched it up by eating some dried snacks because they were too tired to do anything else. Or if the river allowed it, they crossed over to the forest and picked some fruit or caught some game.


    Lucy had discovered a type of berry that, when paired with roasted rabbit, made for a delicious meal. Although Toz was curious as to why that was, neither Lucy nor Nil seemed to care much about it as long as it was delicious. Still, like most interesting things he found, Toz made a note of it in his exploration log.


    A couple of days had passed since they first heard about the ember deers, but Lucy hadn''t forgotten about it, and most of his time awake was spent standing on Toz''s head, looking around in anticipation before falling asleep with slight disappointment. Until finally, the trio noticed obvious traces of arge number of animals passing by. Where the grass was still there, it was significantly shorter, and clear bite marks indicated the reason why. The ground was trampled, and small hoofmarks were left on bare ground.


    The tracks had left a wide open area in the grasnds next to the river. Since there were no signs of them crossing the river here, there was a possibility of them still being on the ins.


    Lucy''s excitement was infectious as Toz also started moving more energetically in search of the deer herd. It seemed the herd had followed the river to the point where Toz and his group came upon the tracks before moving deeper into the ins.


    Since they didn''t have to worry about food and had filled a few containers with water, the group followed the deer in the direction of the mountain that could be vaguely seen in the distance.


    The ruckus caused by the herd had scared away almost every other living being in the area close to the path made by the moving deer. Since they didn''t have to worry very much about external threats, with the added calm of walking through a deserted road, both Toz and Nil took the opportunity to train their mana.


    Walking during the day and training their mana at night, the group continued walking in the herd''s footsteps. Although they hadn''t seen the herd yet, the tracks had steadily grown fresher. Lucy''s excitement that had cooled down during the monotonous walk had reignited, and he would have run on ahead with a smile on his face. If not for Toz stopping him, Lucy would be unable to contain himself and almost immediately, upon encountering the deer, would have thrown himself over them.


    A few days after parting ways with the river, Toz felt tremors in the ground. Since Nil and Lucy were riding on him they didn''t notice until the deer could be heard. Toz kept walking while trying to suppress a smile, wanting to surprise the two cats a little. Unfortunately, they both had good enough ears to hear the barks and grunts and stomping a bit before Toz. Nil and Lucy exchanged a look before staying silent, with the same idea as Toz, wanting to surprise the other party.


    If it weren''t for Lucy struggling and failing to suppress his giggles, Toz wouldn''t have realized the other two had also noticed the shrinking distance between themselves and the herd. Still, he didn''t say anything and only kept walking.


    As they followed the herd closer and closer to the mountain, the grassy ins slowly grew bumpier, with small hills popping up here and there, increasing in size until, finally, it finally became a mountain range. What from afar looked like a singrrge mountain was several peaks arranged in a row, with varying heights.


    As the evening came to a close, after reaching the top of a slightly bigger hill, just to the side of the path cleared by the deer, they finally saw it. At least Nil and Lucy saw it since Lucy insisted on covering Toz''s eyes for absolutely no reason. Lucy tried covering his ears with his hind legs as well, but with no luck since they were too short.


    "Tada!"


    "Wow..."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Nil had already realized Toz knew as soon as he let Lucy cover his eyes with a chuckle, so he merely enjoyed the sight.


    Spread out below the hill was a veritable ocean of deer, numbering in at least the tens of thousands.


    There were a lot of young and old deer thus far, all of them had the distinguishing embers on their foreheads, but it still made for a mystical sight. The setting sun at the horizon, bringing away the previously bright day, leaving only darkness. The swaying embers shine on varying shades of brown and ck fur. With the fur being darkest right where the embers sat, and gradually growing lighter along the body, the fur that could be seen due to the light of the embers was often of other deer. The body and ember moving irregrly turned the sight of the herd into something supernatural.


    Even though they had caught a glimpse right before the sunpletely went down, and all three of them knew it was all just a bunch of regr deer, it still sent a chill down the spines of Toz and Nil. Normally, their sight would hardly get worse during the night since two were cats and Toz was a second level twice refined mage with a natural inclination towards cats, but it seemed like the herd had absorbed any and all ambient light into their embers, turning them into the only source of light. The only one who seemed unbothered by the eerieness of the darkness was Lucy.


    If not for the size of the herd and Toz holding him back, Lucy would have definitely crawled closer and tried to hunt at least one deer. Although Toz was restraining Lucy, he also felt like taking a closer look at the deer and maybe even grabbing one for dinner.


    Since both Toz and Lucy wanted it, naturally, they would do it. The two of them slowly sneaked closer and Nil went back a bit to prepare a campsite while at the same time cing a few traps.


    With a herdrge as it was, it was impossible for all the deer to be asleep at the same time, and Toz had to rely on Lucy''s dark vision to find a deer that was separated from the rest and an easy target.


    It didn''t take long for Lucy to find one. Several meters away from the closest deer was one, carefully eating some of the grass left in the area. Signaling Toz, they started to prepare. Usually, against a single first level wild beast, no preparation was needed. But when failing meant having to go up against a herd of deer that numbered at least in the thousands, with a lot of second level and maybe even third level deer, it was best to seed. And all they had to do was take it down without making noise and without letting the deer make a sound to alert its herd.


    Both Toz and Lucy gathered their darkness mana around themselves in order to conceal their presence even further. Toz also gathered a bit of metal mana in his right hand as they got closer.


    Finally, after a few painfully slow moments, they were a step away from it,pletely undetectable in the dark of night. Toz slowly raised his hand and condensed the mana into a hair-thin needle. He also coated the needle with darkness mana so it wouldn''t reflect light from the embers on the deer''s forehead. Controlling his mana and the needle so the deer wouldn''t sense it, Toz moved the needle in front of the deer''s right eye before plunging it in and covering the hole by turning the point left outside into a coin-sized circle. If any blood leaked, it would possibly alert the other deer.


    With the prey killed, all that was left was to grab it and stealthily but speedily move away.


    Toz grabbed the deer and slung it over his shoulders and, with the help of Lucy, covered it in darkness as he started walking to where Nil had set up camp. He had learned from experience that now was the most likely time to be discovered, so he didn''t dare rx until he was more than a kilometer away from the herd. It would have been even longer if not for them being downwind from the herd. That was also one of the reasons why they had decided so quickly to go for it instead of circling around and scouting out the situation a bit more.


    Toz quickly found the campsite Nil had set up since it was the only source of light within sight. After arriving, the three quickly prepared the carcass. Lucy and Nil were responsible for cutting it up into appropriate pieces, and Toz seasoned and grilled it over the fire. A few spices were needed to suppress the charcoal taste that sometimes surfaced in the meat. But aside from that, the natural taste of the meat was surprisingly smooth, which,bined with the tender texture, provided for a satisfying meal. Although the taste was good, it wasn''t anything extraordinary, but the satisfaction it gave, having been the closest to real game during the journey, was noticeable.


    The three enjoyed the meal in rtive silence, as Lucy was eating so enthusiastically that Toz almost got worried the herd would hear it. After finishing almost the entire deer, they went to sleep with bulging bellies, at ease thanks to the traps that Nil had set up.

 Chapter 6 Heading To The Mountains

    ?Toz was the first to wake up, quickly followed by Nil. Aside from the fire they forgot to put out yesterday, Toz also noticed an overwhelming silence. He exchanged nces with Nil before heading up the nearest hill. Nil moved over to Lucy and started scanning their surroundings for anything abnormal. At first, he didn''t notice anything but after taking a few steps and hearing the grass crunching under his feet it struck him. The air was hotter and dryer thanst night, enough so to turn the grass that had previously been fine, into dried weeds. It was not thatrge of a difference in temperature, but since it covered everything it quickly dried out the grass and ground, it also kept the fire burning longer than it should have. All those observations led Nil to realize that it was because of something rted to mana. As he kept thinking about what it could entail, he picked up Lucy and started moving toward Toz


    While Nil pondered on the situation at the campsite, Toz had reached the top of the hill. Overlooking the hilly grasnds the sight he expected didn''t enter his eyes, instead of the massive herd of deer that was there justst night, was an empty in. And far away in the distance, a moving cloud of dust headed straight for the mountain range in the distance. Toz didn''t know if they had slept too deeply to notice the herd leaving or if it didn''t make as much noise as one could expect it to. Either way, the deer seemed to be moving in a hurry, considering how they had increased their pace. If Toz and his buddies continued walking at the same leisurely tempo as before, they would never catch up to the deer, they would also have to pick up the pace, especially if they wanted to see why the deer were in such a hurry.


    So that''s exactly what they did, or what Toz did at least. After listening to Nil''s observations he had them return to their spiritual space before heading off.


    Having refined his body twice at the second level, with one of the elements being metal, an element known for its durability and the endurance it could give to its users, Toz had no problem keeping up a light jog for half a day. Although it would be more taxing to his mental capacities and mana usage, he could also use magic to lighten his own weight a bit.


    Even if Toz didn''t catch up to the deer the same day, he wouldn''t be far behind, not to mention that most of the deer wouldn''t be able to keep that pace for more than a day before copsing in exhaustion. They were, after all, mostly level one beings.


    As he chased after the charging herd, Toz kept thinking about what Nil had told him earlier, he also made his own observations. He agreed with what Nil had said about it having to do with the mana, and with Toz''s sensitivity to mana, he could tell that the fire attribute mana in the air was growing denser the closer he got to the mountain. Even if it was only a minuscule difference, thebination of it being in a low level ne, and the considerable distance between Toz''s current location and the mountain, made it significant. Toz could think of several things that could increase the mana in the atmosphere, but things that could achieve what he was experiencing were rarer than rare.


    Toz also realized that if whatever was producing mana, continued doing so, it wouldn''t be long until the ne ascended from a level one to a level two ne. Although still low level, a ne ascending is still something that happens far from often.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The herd of deer''s movement had kept triggering Toz''s suspicions. Usually, an ember deer migration would move around wildly, without a set destination before scattering into smaller groups and spreading far away from each other. But this migration, although it hadn''t moved in a straight line, had moved in the same general direction for as long as Toz had followed them at the very least.


    If the deer had gathered and moved around with the mountain range, whererge amounts of mana were spewing from, as the target, whatever was happening was either uniquely rted to ember deer, or other wild beasts with good enough instinct might travel to the mountains as well.


    Considering how it was affecting all of nature with the amount of mana pouring from the mountain range, it was most likely not something exclusive to ember deer, and thus there will definitely be chaos around and inside the mountain range.


    A treasure that can push an entire ne to ascend would naturally be useful so Toz decided to at least try and grab it for himself, no matter how dangerous thepetition. Of course only if the treasure is easily taken and with the assumption it is all because of a treasure and not some other phenomenon. The only thing that concerned him slightly would be how hot the air was bing as the hills around him grew sparser and taller, and as he got closer to the actual mountains.


    Compared to all the native fire attribute beasts he was at a clear disadvantage in the uing tussle. But not even that would deter Toz as he kept steadily running toward the mountain range. No longer just trailing behind the deer herd, he decided to find a path into the mountains for himself. With anticipation building in his chest, Toz couldn''t wait to tell Nil and Lucy about his conjectures as soon as he arrived at the mountains.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 7 Impressive Mountains

    ?Toz arrived at the foot of the mountains two days after he started running. Up close it was an impressive sight and he understood why it had looked like a singrrge mountain when he was further away. Thirteen peaks, the seven smallest of them forming an outer ring, the next four creating a secondyer, and finally the tallest mountain in the middle. The tallest mountain was the most unique one as instead of having the approximately same shape as all the other peaks, it was instead curved, almost looking like it had been hollowed out.


    The mountains weren''t located urately enough to make it look deliberate, and thergest mountain''s shape looked natural enough to not need a more thorough examination, since what else could it be except nature''s coincidence. Toz would have most likely had the same thoughts, even after climbing one of the smaller peaks and looking at the center of it all, if not for the amount of mana he could feel climbing out of the hollow and into the air.


    With strange thoughts entering his mind he decided to turn his eyes outwards, away from the mountain and to the hills instead. At first, he didn''t see anything other than a bunch of hills and a forest far in the distance, but looking more closely he noticed that the hills followed the same pattern as the mountains, although not in as great detail. If he hadn''t realized the mountains wereyered in circles he definitely wouldn''t have noticed anything special with the hills, even with a bird''s eye view. But now that he had seen it it was impossible to unsee it.


    However, it didn''t matter if had noticed a pattern in the positions of the mountains and hills since there was nothing he could do with that information, even if it was rted to the possible treasure hidden in the center of it all.


    Deciding to focus on what''s in front of him instead Toz started moving closer to the highest mountain.


    Since a few of the mountains intersected with each other he could quickly pass through the inneryer, but as he got there he felt the presence of several other beings hiding close by, none of them getting too close to the hollowed-out mountain.


    Toz didn''t want to wait around unnecessarily in the sweltering heat, but if none of the wild beasts, who seemed to have an idea of what was going on, approached the source, something was up.


    Since he could only wait he decided to scout out eventual opponents. Several of them had hidden themselves pretty decently but few things could be kept hidden from Toz''s senses. Especially when most of them seemed extra heated due to the surging mana.


    Among the ones he could see clearly were a pair of wolves, standing on the second highest mountain, almost like statues, overlooking the valley inside. On a teau on another mountain arge houndy down, orange-glowing saliva dripping down as it stared hungrily at the same ce as everyone else.


    The most impressive beast, in Toz''s opinion, was a mammoth at the base of the mountains. With the height of several men, and more than half as wide, its sturdy muscr body was covered in a thick coat of zing fur. With four tusks, two on each side of its mouth, and six legs, it was by appearance, the most dangerous beast present.


    Although all four beasts were third level ones, the very peak of a low-level ne, there were clear differences in their abilities.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Aside from the four third level ones, there were also several second level beasts hiding in the surrounding area. And those were the strongest second level ones avable. The heat was far too oppressive for weaker beings to even think about getting closer.


    Toz only managed due to his sturdy physique and the heat-absorbing properties of the metal element, but even he was soaked in sweat. Looking at what all the wild beasts were looking at didn''t make it any better either since the air had begun to tremble due to the surging heat from inside thergest mountain.


    Toz was busy thinking about how to explore the hollow when three majestic deer showed up in an area between him and the mammoth, opposite the pair of wolves. He had gotten a good look at what an ember deer looked like a couple of days ago, so he easily determined what the three that showed up were. He wasn''t surprised that they showed up either since a herd of that size was bound to have at least one third level being at the top.


    What did surprise Toz was the deer in the lead. It was much bigger than the other two and its trademark embers had grown past being just short glowing nubs. They weren''t far from turning into proper antlers of fire. Although the deer couldn''t quite measure up to the mammoth in terms of raw power, whenparing mana, and how close they were to reaching the fourth level, the deer was superior.


    The lead deer looked around at all the other beasts in an arrogant manner before focusing its gaze on the hollow.


    Everyone''s gaze seemed to try and pierce through the dark soil covering the ground within the mountain''s curved base. Any grass had long since turned to ashes, leaving a burned scent that further enhanced the fiery atmosphere covering the mountain range.


    An atmosphere like the calm before the stormid over the gathered beasts and Toz as the temperature continued to rise. The mes on the mammoth grew, the antlers shone brighter, the wolves'' eyes struck sparks as they continued looking and the hound''s saliva pooled up below its chin as they all continued waiting with unbroken focus.


    The heat continued to grow, especially in the center of the hollow and soon it grew hot enough to soften and melt the ground. Following a rumble the ground burst up with a stter before gradually vanishing, in a sinkhole-like manner, revealing arge hole spanning the entire mountain hollow. The hole let out a dangerous orange light as it invited everyone inside and the previously immovable seven beasts were no longer immovable.


    The situation had changed.


    The previous calm was gone like the wind, and the storm had descended as the seven raced to establish dominance and any remaining beastspeted for a chance of their own.

 Chapter 8 Charge!

    ?Surprisingly none of the seven third level beasts were the first to enter the hole. A tiny, grey bird, that had been hiding inside, or beneath a nearby stone. As soon as the dust settled it pierced through the air like an arrow, quickly disappearing down below in the orange light.


    Toz didn''t know what was down there, he didn''t know if all the beastspletely knew either but there was amon consensus that the early bird gets the worm.


    All the other beasts were infuriated and stopped hesitating, now that someone had already entered there wouldn''t be any fights on the surface. But as soon as enough beasts enter and the treasure is confirmed by sight, all hell will break lose.


    Toz also hurried down the hole and got his share of odd looks as he breezed past the other beasts and, without hesitation, jumped down.


    The walls were smooth, with no visible handholds, not that Toz was close enough to the walls to grab any if they existed, to begin with. He had jumped as far into the center of the circr hole as he could, making it a third of the way across. Since the light was an indicator of where the treasure is located and is shining up from the center of the hole, getting closer to the center of the hole is a better way to get closer to the treasure.


    As he fell down all he could see was a bright orange light and a few shadows in the shape of the beasts that managed to enter before him. He managed to count to seventeen before he felt the ground rapidly approach him and he readied for impact.


    However, instead of the solid ground, he had expected hended on molten rock that sshed up on his boots and pant legs and started burning them away. Toz reacted quickly and shook and brushed his legs while finding a better ce to stand on, and at the same time assessing the situation around him.


    It seemed he hadnded in one of several streams of magma, flowing toward the center of the huge cylinder, presumably toward the treasure''s location.


    Quickly stepping on the solid ground next to him Toz continued looking for enemies. He saw a few puddles of squashed meat and blood from beasts that couldn''t handle the fall, and a few moving silhouettes a distance away.


    The overwhelming orange light made it difficult to discern distance with sight alone and using mana might be like lighting a beacon, alerting everyone where he is.


    Or it would have been if the air had still been filled to the brim with fire mana since his darkness covered mana pulse would have been even more easily noticeable in contrast to it. Now, although the air was still blisteringly hot, the mana that had brought that heat hadpletely disappeared.


    Without any interfering mana, he could without pressure send out a simple mana pulse and based on the feedback find any enemies.


    Thankfully Toznded in a rather empty area, with a few injured small fries that he disposed of before moving toward the center.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    As he approached he heard a lot of growling, howling, and barking. Each sound filled with an impressive wave of mana. Gradually the shadowy silhouettes turned clear and he saw the hound, the wolves, and the deer surrounding a pedestal ofva holding up an orb of orange light.


    The six noticed his arrival and ced part of their attention on him, since they were already in a stalemate things would only change if he did something to provoke them.


    Toz wondered both what the orb was, and what he should do to get it, without dying in the process.


    The standoff continued and several weaker beasts had gotten arrived within distance of the pedestal but didn''t approach as they felt the terrifying aura of the third level beasts.


    Something only changed when a rhythmic rumbling was heard. The rumbling was apanied by quaking ground and gradually grew louder. Toz quickly realized what it was and looked back to make sure he wasn''t in the way, unfortunately, he was smack dab in the path of a charging mammoth.


    Leaving glowing footsteps and a trail of crushed beasts behind the mammoth charged full speed at the pedestal, giving no heed to any of the other beasts. With its heavy weight, it hadnded right next to the cave wall, from there it had built up momentum, and anyone foolish to stand in its path would be crushed without mercy.


    The other six realized the mammoth would grab the orb and continue charging if not stopped. Sure there was no exit since they were all at the bottom of a circr hole made from the orb melting the ground, but if the mammoth got it and shoved it down its mouth there would be no way of getting it back.


    The third level existences had noticed one thing that they could get from the orb, especially the lead deer. And that was an opportunity to be level four. Since they were stuck in a low level ne, making the jump from third level to fourth level, from low level to medium level would require extreme talent, luck and resources. In a third level ne there might be enough precious materials and the like to partly make up for the other two aspects but in a first level one? There could be in the entire ne enough mana crystals and herbs and whatever treasure popped up for a single beast to ascend but it would be absolutely impossible to gather it all, and give it to a single being.


    With the orb, however, the seven beasts could tell, on an instinctual level, that consuming or using it would boost them to the fourth level. Toz felt no such need since he could use portals and go to a medium level ne and break through there, without the need to ascend.


    But he could still tell that the orb was a treasure better off in his hands than in the bellies of any of the beasts surrounding it, especially the huge mammoth charging right at it.


    The other six beasts also realized it and since they were the only ones with the power to stop the charge they quickly agreed to work together and stop the mammoth before refocusing on the orb. They naturally kept a part of their attention on it, so taking it would not be easy.


    If they stopped the charging mammoth, there would be seven third level beasts keeping watch, and several more second level ones. Snatching the orb would only grow more difficult with time until something happens. Realizing this Toz came up with a risky n, and started running.

 Chapter 9 Firefight!

    ?When the mammoth first charged, Toz had moved out of its way, but now with the n he had in mind, he moved back in its path, but behind it this time. He stayed as close to it as he could without being burned or trampled by the mammoth.


    It didn''t take long for the mammoth to reach the area where the other third level beasts were waiting for it, ready for battle. The hound had covered its fangs and ws in fire. The wolf had summoned a moon that sprinkled streams of fire on the other beasts, giving their mana a boost. The lead deer had filled the air in between the two parties with ming spikes of mana.


    Seeing the eager resistance in front of it, the mammoth showed signs of hesitation, slowing down just barely. Toz, upon noticing these signs, pulled out a short spear and sent it flying into the left nk of the mammoth, the same side the deer had ess to.


    Feeling the sharp pain, the mammoth grew infuriated. Just when it was about to slow down, someone had attacked it.


    ''If they''re that impatient, they need an extended beating to learn about patience!''


    Although the mammoth wasn''t observant or shrewd enough to notice the plots of a tiny human, jumping about behind it, it was smart enough to distinguish different means of attack and what they would feel like. What it felt just now seemed to be a spear, about the same size as the ones hovering in the air in front of the deer, that at a second nce, looked insufferably arrogant.


    The mammoth''s raging fury allowed for no further deliberation as it charged, even faster than before. But instead of heading toward the glowing orb, it changed directions and aimed for the deer.


    The lead deer, upon noticing this grew slightly angry itself, and sent the hovering spikes at the mammoth before stepping forward, preparing to face the charge. The other one, aware of its weakness, scampered away to a safer location.


    While the mammoth easily charged through the hail of ming spikes with only a few scratches, Toz did his best to dodge any that missed or hit the ground and sent up splinters or magma. The mammoth''s huge body gave him some cover, so he survived the shower of spikes with only a few burned areas on his clothes.


    And as the mammoth and deer closed in on each other, his n would require quick thinking and for him to adapt as the situation developed. Currently none of the beasts had noticed him since he was hiding behind the mammoth, but that could soon change as they continued forward.


    Fortunately, the deer, being positioned furthest to the right, allowed him to slink past several of the beasts. The wolf and the hound were on the other side of the fight between the mammoth and the deer. And the smaller deer, that had backed away, was fully focused on the brawl between its leader and the charging behemoth.


    Toz moved the moment the biggest deer and the mammoth collided. Although the deer was the biggest of the three that hade to the mountain, it was almostughably small whenpared to the mammoth. It was small enough to fit between the tusks, so the mammoth bent its neck and used its forehead to press down against the tiny antlers on the deer''s head.


    As the deer was the one closest to the fourth level, it was confident in its strength, but it was still no match as the mammoth collided with the deer and just kept on moving. Although the antlers pierced through the skin, they didn''t get any further than that and only forced a grunt out of the mammoth.


    The hooves left tracks in the ground as the mammoth continued pushing the deer back with almost no signs of stopping, at least until the hound entered the fray.


    Toz took this opportunity to sneak past the fight and moved toward the deer and wolf guarding the orb. The two beasts were busy keeping watch over the orb, the fight, and one another, so when covered in darkness and crawling close to the ground, none of them noticed Toz.


    Since they had to make sure the other wouldn''t take the orb before they could stop them, the wolf and deer stood close to each other, but without standing too close since they could be attacked without time to react. This subtle distance made it possible for Toz to put himself in between the two beasts.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Sweat dripping down his brows, either from the heat or from nervousness, Toz slowly, slowly gathered his mana and summoned three des. One of the wolf''s ears twitched.


    Toz got up in a sprinting position. The deer''s nostrils red.


    The mantle of darkness covering him disappeared as he struck down with the des on the deer and started running toward the orb. Since he had to attack without either of the two guarding beasts noticing, he did it from as close as possible, and fortunately his attacknded before either the deer or the wolf could react. However, after he revealed himself he was too close to them, and the wolf leaped at Toz with its ws stretched out, reaching for his fleeing back.


    As the deer barked at the pain, the other deer, who had previously stood behind the lead deer, noticed what was going on. Hearing a whine, it turned around to look at itspanion. Seeing the three gashes on its nk, it turns to the wolf in anger, only to find traces of glistening blood on its ws.


    Although it is angry, it knows it cannot deal with the wolf since of the two, this one is responsible for directbat and the other for support. But it can at least take revenge. Even if itspanion is injured, it should be able to protect itself or run away since the injury isn''t that deep.


    With those thoughts in mind, the lone deer wasted no time in charging toward the wolf that had summoned a moon.


    The wolf, busy supporting the hound and the big deer, doesn''t notice the attack until it''s toote, looking to the side, it takes a pair of hooves to its face. The summoned moon and the smoky, almost invisible tendrils of fire connecting to the hound and the lead deer dissipate.


    The wolf, after getting knocked to the ground, continues getting stomped on by the angry deer. It''s already getting dizzy and losing consciousness after the repeated blows to its head.


    The mammoth, which had almost been stopped by the hound and deer''s cooperation, could feel them losing a bit of strength, and although it had several impressive gashes on its legs it pressed forward with renewed vigor.


    The deer, having lost the boost that made it powerful enough to withstand the mammoth, gets pushed to the side, and the hound is forced to keep the mammoth''s attention.


    Both the deer and hound noticed the support from the wolf had disappeared, but with an angry mammoth trying to tear their faces off, they can''t afford to be distracted. They could only do their best and hope the wolf only took a short break. Since the second strongest deer was guarding the orb, they weren''t all too worried about it, but it still forced them to try and distract the mammoth for long enough to figure out the situation.


    At another ce, the wolf guarding the orb was left with a difficult choice, chase after the human that had attacked the deer and was currently headed straight for the orb, or protect its mate from the raging hooves of a crazy, impulsive deer.


    It didn''t take long to make a decision, it threw a bitter gaze toward the injured deer before heading toward its mate, leaving the deer to do as it pleases.


    The deer ended up in a simr dilemma, go after the orb or fight with its friend against the wolves.

 Chapter 10 Orb Get!

    ?After using three des to attack the deer with the intent to sow discord between the different beasts Toz was struck to the ground by the wolf''s attack. With the momentum from his dash, the attack had pushed him toward the pedestal with the glowing orb. Gritting his teeth through the pulsating pain from the gashes on his back Toz pushed himself off the ground before unsteadily walking thest bit toward the orb.


    As he approached the orb Toz unexpectedly felt the hot air gradually lose its heat, and the intense orange light nketing the entire hole didn''t get any stronger as he got closer to the source. The orange light shone with the same brightness wherever it shone. With the decreasing heat, disappearing mana, and even brightness, Toz had some idea about the function of the shining light but as he had finally reached within touching distance of the orb he was too busy to think any further about it.


    With the orb reflected in his eyes, Toz hesitatingly reached forward with his hands. As a fire attribute treasure it was likely very hot but with a raging fight just a stone''s throw away he didn''t have time to rummage through his pockets for gloves. Recing his hesitation with determination Toz decided to quickly grab the orb, put it in an empty pocket, run away and climb up a wall.


    With the intention of removing the orb, he ced his hands on it and tried to shove it down one of his many pockets. Forget moving the orb, after touching it, Toz couldn''t even move his own hands.


    Thankfully the heat he had been worried about wasn''t a problem, weirdly enough Toz didn''t feel anything touching his hands, as if he was holding a ball of emptiness.


    While he might not have felt anything touching his hands, he did feel his mana draining at an increasingly rapid pace, he also saw the magma flowing to the pedestal flow faster.


    The orb continued draining Toz''s mana and the mana from magma for several seconds before abruptly stopping when Toz only had a sliver left. As the drainage stopped the orange light covering the hole shook before condensing and creating an outeryer on the orb. At the same time, the tattoo on Toz''s hand grew searingly hot and lit up with an orange light that afterward traveled across his hand to enter the orb.


    After the orb stopped sucking his mana Toz could finally move it into his pocket.


    With the light from the orb gone the hole was sunk into pitch darkness. Or it would have been if not for every other wild beast being able to emit light with their ming bodies and body parts. Since the sun was above ground and on the other side of a huge mountain there was no way for daylight to enter the depths of the hole.


    A few beasts were especially bright, among those was the deer that had been attacked by Toz.


    While Toz had been busy losing his mana and both the wolf and deer had deliberated on what to do, the time spent being stuck was long enough for the deer to approach Toz and light up the immediate area around them. Toz realized he was in a sticky situation when he felt the gazes of several dozen beasts focusing on him.


    All the beasts had known where the orb was located so when the light disappeared they instinctively looked there, only to find a young, dark-haired, green-eyed man with an expression on his face that told a tale of how he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.


    The lead deer, mammoth, and hound slowly separated from each other without moving their gaze away from Toz. Thebat wolf pped the deer in its grasp one more time on its head before letting go and moving over to the other wolf.


    The deer responsible for shining a spotlight on the thief also felt the pressure gathering in the center of the hole and stopped moving.


    Toz could almost physically feel the tension mounting as everyone was waiting to take action.


    It was the same situation as previously, before the mammoth entered the scene with its charge. Everyone waiting for something to happen, since making the first move would gather the attention of everyone else.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Since everyone was watching Toz, to begin with, he decided he might as well make the first move and gain the initiative. Although he was far from having full mana, the stalemate had bought enough time for him to recover a little bit, hopefully enough to make it out of the hole.


    Toz looked around before focusing his gaze on something up in the air, some distance away, diagonally behind the deer in front of him. His eyes visibly widened and his jaw dropped before he shouted,


    "What is that?!" as he pointed at the area he was looking.


    Everyone watching him was too focused on making a move as soon as something happened so before they had time to think they all looked. The beasts behind Toz didn''t need to do much to look but the deer shining its light on him had to turn its entire head, the same head with the headlights lighting Toz.


    As the light shining on Toz moved away from him he was enveloped in darkness, both the natural shadows in the hole and his mana.


    The beasts that had returned their gazes after realizing they were looking at nothing but empty air were stunned to find not a human but a deer with a stunned look on its face. The other beasts realized the deer had been tricked to look away and then let the bounty slip into the shadows. The deer faced the same pressure that Toz had just been put under, but only for a moment as everyone began looking for the orb-thief.


    In reality, this was the perfect opportunity to get the orb safely. If they could find and take down the thief without anyone else discovering it, no one would know and they could sneak out with one treasure more than when they entered.


    Unfortunately for the beasts, but fortunately for Toz, with the help of Lucy no one would discover him in a ce filled with as much darkness as the hole they were currently in.


    Originally both cats had hidden in the familiar space due to the heat, but the orb had stolen all the fire mana that was responsible for the hot air, and eventually, the atmosphere had returned to almost bearable temperatures. So even if it was ufortable Lucy sprang forth and onto Toz''s head before helping him cover himself in darkness and sneak to the edge of the pit.


    Now it was time to add Nil to the mix. With Toz''s almost depleted mana reserves he needed Nil to create spikes for his hands and feet, as improvised rock climbing gear. Three short spikes attached to his boots and four to his knuckles.


    Nil was in charge of maintaining the gear, and Lucy for hiding Toz and dampening the sounds he was making as he punched and kicked himself stuck to the wall so he could climb upwards, step by step.


    Toz continued climbing at a steady pace. Although he was tired mentally he hadn''t used his body much during his endeavor and could almost rx as he with a one-track mind climbed his way up the straight and smooth wall.


    There were a few times stones had fallen down to the ground and almost struck a beast, causing them to look up but all they saw was darkness and a tiny bright spot far up, the entrance to the hole. Those that looked up and saw how far away the hole was realized they were in trouble, entering was easy but how in the ming breezes are they supposed to get out? Sure a few beasts might be able to fly or climb out but forget being able to, would they be willing? This worry started spreading at the bottom of the huge pit, almost taking over the chase for a certain thief.


    Not that it mattered to the thief in question as he heaved himself over the edge to the hole, panting. But since a lot of the beasts down there might have underlings waiting for them close by he stood up and escaped the scene. Toz would have preferred leaving the mountain rangepletely but had no energy left after the arduous climb so he settled for hiding in an empty cave, reinforced with traps from Nil.


    Toz pulled out a bright orange orb and looked at it before stuffing it back in his back and falling asleep with a satisfied smile on his face.

 Chapter 11 Its Not Just An Orb...

    ?Toz had slept like a baby in the dark and narrow cave, while Nil set up traps and Lucy kept watch. But all good thingse to an end and he eventually woke up. Nil and Lucy ran over to him with excited looks on their faces that said more than any words could, they wanted to look at the treasure as soon as possible, preferably at once.


    Toz couldn''t bear to make them wait so he obediently pulled out the orb. As the two cats saw the perfectly orange orb, slightly bigger than Toz''s head leaving one of his pockets and being ced on the ground in front of them they were confused, to say the least.


    Before they went into the familiar space Toz had mentioned that the changes in climate might be because of the appearance of treasure. And although they couldn''t yet see into the outside world when in there, they had a basic understanding of what happened anyways. Toz had gotten the treasure. So where was it? Why had he pulled a seemingly useless ball out of his pocket? Where was the chest of gold, the shining swords, and jewels?


    Although the two were dumbfounded, Lucy couldn''t sate his curiosity and approached the orb, seeing his reflection in it was fun but weird since it was all wrangled. He touched it as well but it only felt and looked like an orb made of orange ss. Surprise and curiosity quickly turned into disappointment. However after a few seconds hope reignited in Lucy''s eyes as he said,


    "Haha, real funny Tozzie, now bring out the real treasure now."


    "I am not being funny, the treasure I found in that pit over there is this ball of orange"


    "...I recall there being promises of treasure. I see no treasure, only junk! It''s a scam! Give! Me! Back! My! Money!"


    Although Toz didn''t know what the orb was he knew it couldn''t be junk since it had first emitted and then sucked away all the mana in the air, in addition to that it had absorbed a bunch of mana from both Toz, and the ground for who knows how long.


    Although Toz was only a second level mage his mana reserves were out of the ordinary thanks to being twice refined and using his cats as sources of mana. With the amplification of his natural inclination for cats, the benefits were numerous. Not only was he more effective in refining his body with mana and had an easier time manipting attributes of the same kind as his cats he also had a greater capacity for mana from his cats. Kind of like a second integrated storage room, exclusively for cat-sourced mana.


    Since different inclinations and people''s natural talents were difficult topare and ount for, Toz wasn''tpletely sure, but he knew he was stronger than most second level mages thanks to his inclination.


    An orb that could emit mana enough to cover a mountain range and the grassy hills and ins around it, before storing that same amount in itself, and then some, was definitely not useless junk.


    But since it was in a seemingly dormant state without any mana fluctuations whatsoever it did indeed lookcking for being called a treasure so Toz understood Lucy''s response.


    "I know what it looks like but that is indeed what drew all the wild beasts here, it''s also what emitted that terrifying fire mana and turned the mountains into a sauna. I think we just need to wait a bit for it to show its true value."


    "So we didn''t get scammed¡­?"


    "No"


    "And I didn''t waste my money...?" Lucy asked carefully with a pitiful look on his face as he stared up at Toz.


    "Not at all, some investments just take longer to bring profit" Toz answered while gently, lovingly, patting Lucy.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Although Lucy hadn''t used any money for this endeavor he still let out a sigh of relief and crawled into hisp after hearing Toz''s constions.


    As Lucy decided to take a nap, Nil investigated the orb closer and came to the same conclusion as Lucy, it looked like a useless piece of orange ss. But he wasn''t as obsessed with treasure as Lucy was and as a former street cat felt rather close to something others might consider garbage.


    With inspiration from Lucy''s go-to position whenying on Toz''s head, Nilid down on the orb in a star shape and rxed. Although the orb was solid it wasn''t ufortable and instead gave a soft hearty feeling, like rxing in front of a firece, on top of a nket in the favorite chair during fall.


    Nil continued enjoying the feeling before it slowly shifted to the feeling ofying in a stroke of sunlight. Then it was the spot on a table where a pot of tea had just stood. Different simr feelings were projected to Nil as hey on the orb. At first, he didn''t notice but one feeling stood out as it was extremely clear, almost like he was reliving a memory. During a cold winter, before he had met Toz, Nil and a few other street cats had borrowed several nkets before grouping up and cuddling to share body warmth, next to a chimney. The feeling had been so close to what he had personally experienced he came to, leaving his dreams of warm happiness.


    Nil looked around before looking down on the orb below him, perplexed. Was the orb responsible for making him feel so rxed, was it a trap to lull him into a false sense offort before eating him in his sleep? Although he might be overthinking he quickly jumped off the orb and the pleasant feelings immediately left him. His thoughts might be an exaggeration but his instincts telling him something was out of the ordinary were definitely not wrong.


    Nil''s rmed appearance had shocked Toz since the cat had gone fromying on the orb, drooling, to flying off it and staring at it with strong vignce. Toz personally didn''t feel any danger but he still readied himself before sending a questioning look toward Nil.


    "I don''t know what its purpose is, but that orb is way too rxing, suspiciously so in fact," Nil said without moving his eyes away from the orb.


    "Too rxing, huh? Maybe you''ve been working too hardtely?" Toz said jokingly but without actually joking.


    In preparation for their journey, all three, mostly Toz and Nil, had read up on all kinds of dangers to watch out for, one pretty obscure danger was rted to beings capable of making their prey fall asleep, without them even knowing they would never wake up again. They had found various simr methods and since it was so scary they had made it a point to remember it, and of the methods had been to put the unsuspecting prey into a rxed state, after which they would fall into a deep sleep and after that an eternal slumber.


    The orb was beginning to look a lot less like treasure and a lot more like a ticking time bomb as there seemed to be an ominous airing from it.


    Nil and Toz kept looking at it vigntly, waiting for something to happen, for it to try and make them rx, attack them, or run away, anything really. But even after a long while, long enough for Lucy to wake up, ask what happened, and fall asleep again, nothing happened.


    Since nothing seemed to be happening anytime soon, Toz decided to store it away again. But when he tried to shove it down his pockets it wouldn''t enter no matter what. It surprised both Toz and Nil on several levels, apart from it having already been stored in the pocket previously there were only a couple of reasons the pocket''s enchantments would block something from entering. Either the object wasrger in some way than the spatially expanded pocket, or it harbored a soul.


    Since the space between the outside and the inside of the pocket doesn''t match in their dimensions, when objects pass through they get temporarily stretched out and distorted. The distortion affects physical and immaterial things differently, and while inanimate objects can handle the distortion, souls tend to not withstand getting bent out of shape, like a balloon animal. If one is lucky the soul just get''s detached and floats away before  dissipating or getting reattached but in most cases the soul just shatters on the spot. To prevent any such idents most items with a pocket space have enchantments to prevent souls entering.


    Since the orb had already been inside the pocket earlier there was nothing wrong with the size and avable space. This meant it could only be because the orb had started containing a soul.


    With the ominous air around the orb Nil and Toz had felt earlier, and with the suspicion it contained a soul, there was an obvious conclusion. Toz reached the answer a moment faster than Nil and looked at the cat with an aghast expression before throwing the orb away from them.


    The orb was haunted!

 Chapter 12 Its Not A Ghost!

    ?After the orb rolled to a stop in a corner of the cave Nil and Toz slowly backed away, Toz carrying Lucy in his arms. They moved carefully, to let the haunting soul rest in peace and not provoke an existence that shouldn''t be provoked. Although ghost stories were usually fantasy, meant to scare children into bed in some ces with especially dense lingering wills of the dead something akin to ghosts can appear. A lot of schrs have hypothesized that mana, that usually reacts to a users will, reacts to wills strong enough to remain with a person even in their death, and then that remaining will gathers and uses mana to express itself. But since the gathered mana is only built on the intent itcks substance and sentience, merely looking like a soul with a grudge and without a body. However those theories all say that ghosts in the real world aren''t actual souls, they only look like they are.


    But since the egg wouldn''t enter Toz''s pocket it could only be because it has a soul, a soul that had entered the orb during the time it had been outside the pocket. The easiest reason for that happening, especially to a group that has read one too many ghost stories, is naturally a preexisting soul entering a suitable vessel it can use to interact with the physical world. As beings of the same physical world as the orb, Nil and Toz were especially careful since they didn''t know what kinds of tricks a ghost might have up their sleeve.


    The hustle and bustle of Nil and Toz being scared of the orb and moving to the edge of the cave had finally managed to wake up Lucy. Lucy, upon seeing the stiff faces of Nil and Toz got excited and jumped down from Toz''s arms before looking at the orb with expectant eyes. He had previously been sad that there was no real treasure but now that it had scared his two friends, especially the often stoic Toz, wasn''t it a better find than what he had previously expected.


    Unlike the two scaredy cats Lucy enjoyed ghost stories in a different way, he thrives on others fear and oftenughs when others suffer, all in good harmless fun.


    Toz and Nil were not surprised at Lucy''sck of respect for the dead as the tiny dark cat approached the orb. They wanted to stop him but they couldn''t just leave the orb there forever and Lucy was naturally the most suitable to deal with it since even if a ghost showed up he would smack it back down into the ground and let it know the meaning of eternal in eternal slumber.


    Although Lucy was unafraid he still knew some things need a tactful approach, as he slowly walked closer the orange ball. After reaching it he tapped it lightly. Nothing happened.


    He tapped it harder. Still nothing.


    Gathering some force in his paw he smacked it. The orb rolled a bit.


    The careful approach had an anti-climactic ending as nothing really happened.


    Seeing how the orb moved and the reflected light moved with it in a fancy disy, Lucy let go of any remaining apprehension toward the ball and started ying with the orb. Pushing it here and there, rolling around with it and even running on top of it as it rolled around, looking like a professional clown. The fancy light show continued as Lucy moved the orb around inside the caves shadows and any stray rays of light that entered through the opening, bypassing Toz and Nil as they watched Lucy y with what they thought was a possibly dangerous and haunted orb.


    However as Lucy continued ying wildly and nothing happened their wariness lessened. Maybe the orb wasn''t dangerous and only had a calming effect on those already about to fall asleep. Since Lucy had proved they didn''t need to worry about immediate danger they thought they might as well join the yful little cat in tossing around the orb.


    After a few minutes of ying with the orb Toz thought the orb felt a little colder to the touch than it had earlier during the day. Since it was getting darker and the evening chill began to settle in it wasn''t exactly weird for something simr to a ss orb to cool down. But as it grew even colder, and Toz remembered it had absorbed the warmth and mana in it''s surroundings before entering it''s current state, he realized that the orb wasn''t getting colder, it was absorbing the heat he was emitting. With that realization in mind he asked Nil,


    "Earlier when the orb tried to put you to sleep, what did it do exactly?"


    "Hmph, it used pleasant feelings and memories to try and make me rx, like a sneaky little rat."


    "Pleasant feelings rted to warmth maybe?"


    "Yeah, how didya know?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "What if it wasn''t a lure or attempt to trap you, what if it was a message? What if the orb wanted to tell you something with those feelings?"


    "What could it want to tell me by wanting me to rx?"


    "Maybe it was trying to tell you it wants warmth?"


    "No way, I don''t believe it."


    Since the orb had sent feelings about different heat rted experiences to Nil maybe it was expressing a desire to experience those things for itself, or a way to tell anyone close enough to hear that it needed warmth. Considering how it was rapidly stealing Toz''s body heat when he continued touching it Toz didn''t think he was far off the mark.


    The only question left was what kind only wanted to feel warm, was it a poor fellow that froze to death? Toz looked at the orb in his hands with a pitying expression.


    Since the orb was evidently harmless, and only wanted some warmth Toz decided to pull out a stack of firewood out of his pockets and got to work setting up a campfire. With Toz''s skills it didn''t long for a small but gradually growing me to begin flickering about and filling the cave with fluttering shadows.


    Toz ced the orb down next to the fire before sitting down next to it to begin heating some leftovers from their deer hunt for dinner. Lucy took his rightful ce in Toz''sp to take a short pre-dinner nap. Nilid down next to Toz, on the opposite side of the orb, with Toz left hand softly petting his silky fur in slow strokes.


    The meat didn''t actually need to be heated, but Toz liked it that way, especially since the air in the mountains had grown cooler after a certain nameless orb had absorbed all the heat and fire mana in the air. Unfortunately he was bound to be disappointed as all the heat that the campfire gave off was sucked away and absorbed by the orb before it could reach the meat.


    Not only that but the fire attribute mana that the campfire had begun to draw to itself was drained away by the orb as well.


    It didn''te as aplete surprise to Toz since it was because the orb seemed to want heat that he started a fire to begin with, but he was a little miffed that he had to eat his dinner cold. Nheless he still enjoyed sharing a small piece of jerky as an appetizer with Nil while watching the orb absorb all the heat as they waited for Lucy to wake up.


    Lucy didn''t disappoint as he woke up with a yawn, receiving a few pats from Toz before he cut the meat into several small pieces that he could put on bread and that the two cats could easily chew down. It wasn''t as juicy and tender as it had been the first time but it still had enough vor to eat with a smile on the face.


    Since the orb seemingly wasn''t satisfied with the small amount of heat generated by the fire Toz, under the encouraging gaze of Lucy piled on a bunch of firewood, turning the tiny campfire into a raging bonfire, lighting up the cave like a sun. But the only thing that changed was the brightness since every bit of heat generated was absorbed by the orb.


    The orb continued draining the heat like a bottomless pit for several hours, it was enough to make Toz worried that his supply would run out if continued for much longer but eventually the orb stopped absorbing it all and the temperature in the cave increased bit by bit. As Toz stopped piling on firewood, the fire gradually calmed down and turned into a pile of glowing red embers, reminiscent of the ones attached to a certain type of deer he was familiar with.


    As the orb stopped absorbing heatpletely apparently satisfied it''s surface had turned duller, no longer having that sheen that reflected light and made for an excellent toy for Lucy. The orange color had turned a shade darker and was no longer as vibrant. But the most remarkable change was the appearance of a murky shadow moving around inside the orb.

 Chapter 13 Its An Egg!

    ?Since both Nil and Lucy had fallen asleep Toz was the only one that noticed the orb held a creature inside it. The shape of the silhouette was impossible to determine as the dark shadowy figure constantly moved around, clumped together and spread out. Looking at the swirling mass was slightly hypnotic, but not in a magical way, it was more akin to a natural phenomenon, like a bird of prey sailing through the air, or the grass swaying in the wind.


    With irrefutable proof Toz was finally forced to admit that the orb was not haunted by a malicious ghost, or even a benevolent ghost for that matter. With the way it had absorbed mana and heat to condense a physical body shortly after the existence of a soul was confirmed it was looking more and more like an egg.


    After snatching the orb down in the pit it had actually begun to try and form a soul but it got put inside a the space pocket before the soul coulde into existence. Being put in Toz''s space pocket it was forced into a stasis to dy that process, a process that continued as soon as it left the pocket again. However since it all happened inside the orb none of them noticed it, not to mention they don''t currently have the capabilities to interfere with matters of the soul.


    Since he now knew it was an egg and not a haunted orb Toz was impressed instead of wary, like he had still been previously. He had heard stories of how spirit beastsid eggs and how the eggs would begin absorbing mana even at that point but he had always thought it was like using mana to condense the soul and body, an amount that wouldn''t even put most beasts at first level. However the egg in front of him had absorbed ridiculous amounts of mana.


    Although the egg didn''t look old there was no way it had just beenid. There were no signs of a powerful spirit beast passing by or passing away afterying the egg. The egg had been deep underground, enveloped in solid earth. What kind of weird spirit beast would go through all the trouble of hiding an egg that deep underground and then let someone else take it away? It sounded ridiculous to Toz as he thought about it.


    However if the egg had been there for a long time, soaking in the flowing magma and whatever mana it brought it would be impossible to tell how much mana it has absorbed, not to mention almost the entire mana pool of second level mage, and enough mana to affect the climate in an entire region.


    As Toz thought about how long the egg had been underground and about it''s mysterious origins something else he had simr questions about popped into his head. The mountains and hills in the area. Thinking about the two at the same time almost put a stop to any action inside his head since it was a perfect fit.


    In the middle of a perfectly circr hole in a mountain was where the egg had been found. Surrounding that mountain was several rings of progressively smaller mountains and rings.


    How it all was connected was another question in and of itself. Were the mountains and their patterned cement a freak natural ident or are they rted to the egg? Is the egg from the mountains or from somewhere else? Did it crashnd and create the mountains as it sent out shock waves through the ground. Did onerge mountain crash and create the mountain range with the egg already inside it?


    Although Toz couldn''t determine if or how the mountains and egg were rted, he knew that if they were, the egg had been absorbing mana for a much longer time that he had previously thought. Even if he didn''t know how old the mountains were, considering how they had settled in without any traces of not belonging and how the hills had gradually shifted away from each other over time and how the mountain peaks had lost their pointiness due to the corrosion of time, the mountains were pretty old.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    As Toz thought to here his brain stilled and his previous surprise turned intoplete shock. The hands that had been slowly petting Nil and Lucy froze and his jaw hit the cold dirt floor of the cave.


    If the egg had absorbed mana during all the time it had been underground, and used that to condense a soul and body wouldn''t it be aplete monster? But thinking about it deeper he realized that the mana that turned the entire mountain range and then some into a sauna was emitted by the egg, if that mana had already been gathered by the egg it wouldn''t increase the total amount of mana it had absorbed if it absorbed it again. But it was still incredible amounts of mana, all squeezed into one little egg. It left Toz wondering why the egg had emitted the mana to begin with. Maybe it had reached a saturation point after all that time and it is part of the process in condensing a soul?


    Since Toz had no way to answer all the questions floating through his mind he decided to not think that deeply and instead focused on what was in front of him; the egg, and a meat sandwich. Since the orb was no longer a possible threat but an egg he rolled it over to him, right next to his leg.


    Since he had freed up his right hand to roll over the egg he used his left hand to move the sandwich into his mouth. No longer preupied with keeping an eye on the egg, Toz rxed and enjoyed his dinner at peace. The risk he had taken when he went after the possible treasure had, after some ups and downs, resulted in an absolute profit. An egg with the mana capacity it had proved itself to have would certainly hatch a strong spirit beast. Even if it might not be suitable for Toz he could find a trustworthy merchant or auction it off for a pretty penny.


    And if the hatched spirit beast by some small miracle is suitable for Toz, with his rather specific inclination, even better!


    He couldn''t sell the egg for much just by saying it absorbed a lot of mana since there is no credibility to his words, and so Toz was left with waiting for the egg to hatch. He didn''t mind all that much, but it would be slightly inconvenient to move around with it.


    Since it would be annoying moving and carrying the egg at the same time Toz decided they might as well not move that much the uing days. Hopefully it wouldn''t take long for the creature within the egg to finish constructing it''s body and hatch. From what Toz could tell, based on the moving shadows inside the egg, the creature wouldn''t be too big and easily carried. As long as nothing goes wrong it should be fine.


    And while they had enough preserved food not to worry for some time, considering a lot of the big shot wild beasts that had gone after the treasure were leaders of their of species it was almost like an all-you-can-eat-buffet outside the cave. With a lot of the beasts stuck in the pit, therge groups would be less organized than usual as they waited for their leaders toe back.


    Having made ns for the group while the other two group members were asleep put a disgruntled look on Toz''s face. Here he was, working hard for their future and the two cats were justzing around without a care in the world. Although the look didn''tst long as Toz was happy just being with his dear friends.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 14 Aftermath

    ?Since Toz was the only one awake he kept a watch out, which was easy since the one direction enemies coulde from was the cave entrance. Since the mountains were surrounded and filled with heaps of wild beasts waiting around for leaders and partners to return, it wasn''tpletely safe for everyone to fall asleep, even if Nil had set up some traps around the entrance.


    The beasts'' cries could be heard all the time, although only weakly inside the cave. Sometimes an especially aggressive roar or a tragic death cry could be heard from somewhere in the mountains. The egg''s existence had lured countless beasts to gather in a single spot. Before the egg had been snatched by Toz, all the beasts had been too focused on the treasure, but now that it was gone and basically all the leaders were still stuck in the pit, the gathered beasts had turned into headless chickens. They didn''t know if they should stay, go home, or try to assist in some way.


    In the middle of all this indecisiveness and roving natural and unnatural enemies came into contact and seeds of conflict sprouted. Although none of thergest groups, like the deer herd or the wolf pack had taken significant action several of the smaller groups, like a pack of hyenas had gone wild and started hunting weaker beasts crazily. Arge me Tipped Eagle had begun preying on smaller birds and animals. Several more predators, that usually stayed quiet in fear of the stronger ones, down in the pit had begun settling grudges and starting new ones as well.


    The first few days had been nothing more than the asional tussle but as only a couple of beasts capable of flying or adept at climbing had made it out of the pit after those days, the aggressive behavior escted and the unease in most beasts grew.


    More and more beasts left, the ones that stayed behind were the fearless ones and those that  hoped for their leader to return safely, either in desperate need or due to confidence in their strength.


    However, many groups were bound to be disappointed. The situation down in the hole was even worse than on the surface. The panic of never being able to get back up hadpletely settled within all the beings still left down there. Not to mention theck of food. Theck of food especially had covered the ground in streams of blood, almostpeting with the still flowingva streams, all over the floor.


    Since none of the third level beasts were capable of flight or good enough at climbing to make it up the straight wall all of them were stuck. Well except one, the deer that had first gone after the support wolf had sumbed to it''s injuriesbined with a sneak attack from a lizard that had made it''s move in the chaos that followed Toz''s disappearance. After attacking the deer it quickly climbed up the wall and the two remaining deer could only cry out in anger.


    The deer dying set off a chain of fights that resulted in only a minority of the gathered beasts surviving. From the original several dozen only fifteen were left. Although there was no way up yet, a few beasts had begun cooperating to create a simple stairway by carving away parts of the wall, but since they were small and mad it their size it wouldn''t fit everyone.


    Another thing that none of the beasts had yet to notice was the changingva flow. Previously it had all flowed to the pedestal and the egg before returning deep underground through a hole inside the pedestal. After the egg was removed there was nothing left to control the streams ofva, and instead of flowing to the pedestal in an orderly manner the streams began to overflow.


    The flow had been slow enough that no one noticed it, until there were a decreasing amount of ces left to stand. Although the heat wouldn''t necessarily kill the third level beasts if they got stuck in theva as it cools off they would starve to death.


    The hound, in a stroke of ingenuity had begun to sweep theva to one side before siphoning of the heat so it hardened enough to stand on. The mammoth, upon noticing began to help. Even if the hound had stopped it from reaching the orb immediate dangers should be solved before settling grudges. And considering it''s size it wouldn''t be able to move enoughva by itself, to both stand after it cooled and to avoid drowning in it.


    With the mammothsrge body frame moving around frantically it was impossible for the other beasts to not notice and they also began either helping or doing it in their own corner if they were confident. Among the beasts that helped the hound and mammoth was a big and red bear with simr problems as the mammoth, it was too big for it''s own good. The mammoth looked a little disgruntled at helping another beast, but it didn''t slow down in the slightest. The hound on the other hand had hardly looked up after it began working.


    Gradually a pile of cooled off molten rock had grownrge enough to climb on top of in a corner of the pit. And of few of the cockier beasts had been trapped in growing prisons ofva. With the pile''s size it had be difficult to make it higher and a few beasts had taken it upon themselves to further built upwards, using theva the beasts down below sent up.


    It all looked like smooth process, and that they would make it out of the pit as long as they continued working efficiently. And it was a smooth process until an anxious boar shoveled theva a little too intensely, pushing it''s tusks down into the ground, bursting the spring wide open.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Although the tiny hole in the ground was made from a type of rock with enough heat resistance to withstand actual magma from the depths of the earth, it''s resistance against physical attacks provedcking, as evidenced by the increasing amounts ofva pushing up into the pit.


    Thankfully it had happened on the opposite side of the pit from the hound''s and mammoth''s work which gave them enough time to react. But having enough time to react and having a way to react were twopletely different things.


    The mammoth panicked as it used all of it''s six legs to push the magma before using it''s trunk to throw it up as fast as possible. The mammoth wasn''t the only one working extra hard, all of them were. A few of the lone beasts also realized they wouldn''t be able to do it alone and mover over to both help and get helped.


    The firstva burst seemed to have set off a chain reaction as one spring after another opened and increased theva flow even further. Even if the immediate pressure rxed a few seconds after all eight springs opened up the overflow was still faster than the beast''s working to build a ramp up to the surface.


    Eventually theva covered the floor and the beasts had to stand on the ramp itself when shovelingva upwards.


    The heat had started growing intense enough for most beasts to suffer and the weakest ones were the furthest up, responsible for building upwards.


    As the beasts built next to the wall they had to go to the side and build a spiral around the pit to get upwards. But if they just put looseva at the edge, to continue sideways, without being careful, and siphoning the heat away instantly, it could roll over and they wouldn''t get anywhere. It happened several times, inducing more panic into the already panicky animals.


    The distance between the top of the ramp and the bottom decreased as theva continued surging without end, seemingly wanting to fill up the pit, erasing any evidence of what had happened down there. Thankfully as the distance decreased the need to shovelva for a long distance lessened and the building got more effective, even if it was getting hotter and hotter inside the pit.


    When just about all the beasts could barely fit on the existing ramp the pace of building equaled the pace at which theva flowed. If theva had continued catching up to them the first to go, to make more space for the rest would have been, after a unanimous vote, the boar responsible for setting of theva springs. If it wasn''t for it working itself to the bone currently it would have already been tossed into the pool ofva. And after they got out probably no one would stop the hot-headed mammoth from targeting it.


    With a good pace going and with efficient teamwork the beasts continued making their way up the pit and eventually they got close enough that a few of them could try jumping and climbing their way out. A leopard was about to try when it felt a scorching gaze on itself as soon as it stopped scoopingva. The mammoth as unagile as it was didn''t want everyone else to leave it and was prepared to make sure the others stayed behind and helped out. With it''s size and the reach of it''s trunk it could reach and interfere as soon as anyone tried to jump.


    Since everyone would get out unhurt if they just continued, they didn''t even consider trying after seeing the leopard almost jump and the mammoth''s reaction.


    Despite everything that had happened and most of the beasts entering the hole dying, thanks to ingenuity and teamwork a lot of them had made their way out of the hole. Some wanted to go looking for friends, family and whatever as soon as they touched the surface, other hade to the mountains alone and wanted nothing more than to immediately leave.

 Chapter 15 Antics

    ?Nil and Lucy easily agreed to Toz''s suggestion of taking it easy for a few days, while waiting for the egg to hatch.


    After having gone through a pretty dangerous experience down in the pit the main objective for the trio was naturally to get stronger, thus arge part of their day was spent refining their mana. Although Lucy already did it all the time subconsciously in his sleep, he was much more efficient when doing it awake and consciously. Unfortunately he possesses unnatural amounts of mana, having to refine it all takes time and effort which puts him slightly behind Nil and Toz, who were both steadily approaching the third level.


    Aside from training they also yed around a bit, sometimes including the egg, although they were very careful with it since they didn''t want to disturb the spirit beast inside. Unfortunately the egg didn''t seem to make any further progress in it''s hatching.


    The group didn''t intend to wait for an eternity but they were patient enough to atleast wait several days without issue. The one that would have been the most restless was Lucy, although he slept most of the time he still found the opportunity to explore every piece of mountain in their surroundings. Although he hadn''t explored the entire mountain range he grew bored and used the excuse,


    "It all looks the same anyways," before sleeping or making trouble for the wild beasts.


    The groups of wild beasts still lingering in the mountain range were already at the edge of an uproar and with a little devil sneaking around, stirring up the pot in various, devious ways, things escted.


    Lucy originally just hunted some food with no malicious intentions but when he noticed how the group his prey belonged to reacted, a dangerous glint passed through his eyes. He had grabbed a pigeon and since he made it disappear without a trace the group didn''t know who did it, but the flock seemingly on guard against a group of crows started acting aggressively toward them after losing a member. The murder of crows was originally at a loss but since backing down or not reacting could be taken as a sign of weakness and lead to them getting attacked they got angry and started picking fights.


    But since the pigeons weren''tpletely sure and the crows held no previous grudge nothing really happened. Until one crow went missing. Sad, but with the state of the beasts in the mountains it wasn''t the first time and they would have only gotten more careful if not for an import find. A feather had been found at the crime scene, and not just any old dark crow feather, it was a pale feather, suspiciously akin to those from a pigeon. Since the crows and pigeons had tussled a few times already the crows were intimately familiar with what a pigeon feather looked like, and what kind of attitude the pigeons had towards the crows.


    With the conflict sessfully escted the squabbles had turned into full-on fights. It wasn''t to the extent of mutual destruction but the two groups were both getting more desperate and instead of fighting when spotting each other randomly while looking for food, they began actively searching for the other party,ying ambushes and using overwhelming numbers to take down small gatherings of the other kind of bird.


    With the two groups of birds going head to head, Lucy had a satisfied look on his face as he ate a roasted bird leg. Seeing the chaos wrought by his hand made him tremble in happiness. ying with food had never been this fun before.


    Since he had with great sess instigated a fight between two of the smallest groups in the mountain range, he decided to step it up a bit now, to try and see how much chaos he can create.


    Against weaker prey Lucy could easily make the victim disappear and then nt evidence, but against stronger, bigger and smarter beasts, other tactics were needed.


    To begin with he gathered and pushed down a bunch of rocks on several boar swimming in a pond right next to a mountain in the inneryer. Close to where he pushed the rocks from a bunch of badgers had made a nest.


    Although the falling rocks had only given them a few scratches and bruises it was still an open provocation. And they knew who hade seeking death so without further ado they charged up the mountain and started picking a fight with the badgers since they wanted it that badly. The boars had chosen this pond to take a swim because they knew the only ones close by were the badgers, and although the two groups weren''t on good terms, they weren''t on bad terms either. Or so the boars thought.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The boars were ready to brawl as soon as they came into contact with the badgers but things didn''t turn out as expected. The ground seemed to grab at their feet, making them trip repeatedly on the way up. When they finally reached the nest they only found a bunch of badgers taking a nap in the tunnels they had made.


    They were ready to face of against a group of ready-to-fight badgers, instead they were greeted with snores. Although they were suspicious the boars realized that rocks falling off a mountain maybe isn''t that strange and went back down to continue bathing.


    And not all that surprisingly rocks came tumbling down the mountain, into the pond and onto the bathing boars. Since it had already happened once without any obvious culprit they ignored it, it wasn''t even dangerous, just irritating. But as it happened again, and again, they got more annoyed and headed up the mountain to check where the stones came from, like before the ground seemed to want to hold onto their feet. They found nothing except a small teau, with perfect view straight down to the pond. They examined the ground around the teau but found no lose rocks or anything. If it happened again it was definitely deliberate.


    Looking back suspiciously at the mountain they started headed back, done with their bathing they wanted to rejoin the main herd, when they heard snorting noises from the tunnelsystem where the badgers had dug themselves into the mountain.


    When the ground grabbed at them again they knew they had been yed.


    This time they charged at the tunnels without letting themselves trip and when they saw the badgers fury zed in their eyes. A few of them kept huffing through their noses, suppressing sneezes, but to the boars, it looked like they were holding backughter. Unable to restrain themselves they charged at the badgers, leaving a trail of glowing footprints in their wake.


    The badgers were naturally awoken due to the ruckus, and very upset about being attacked when asleep. Although the first couple of badgers weren''t fast enough to react before being trampled by the rushing boars, the rest were and began using their surroundings to block and counterattack the boars.


    As an earth attribute beast the badgers suffered from a small disadvantage considering they were in a fire realm but since it is a low level one and they were in direct contact with the ground the disadvantage was negligible. However the battle took ce inside a tunnel that the badgers had made themselves, with that ring home field advantage the boars quickly lost the benefit of the surprise attack.


    Although aplete cave in would bring trouble to the badgers as well they moved further inside the tunnels before shutting the rest down,pletely crushing the boars and burying the remains of theirrades. After that they went back out by digging a new tunnel since there was a risk of the rest falling down on them in their sleep. It didn''t take long since the tunnels curved and were still close to the surface.


    When they came out they saw a slightly smaller boar running off in the distance. Unlike the others that had been strong enough to charge through the obstructing ground it had gottenpletely stuck, unable to move until the cave came crashing down, when the shadows holding onto it''s feet let go. It knew it''s friends had been killed and ran it''s fastest to alert the main herd.


    The badgers werepletely lost and had confused and angry expressions on their faces, even the ones that kept sneezing from the pepper dust that had somehow made it''s way into their very sensitive snouts.


    Nevertheless, they had been attacked and someone had seen them retaliate with overwhelming cruelty. The badgers quickly began making preparations. War was inevitable, if they can''t stop it, they might as well wee it.

 Chapter 16 Destroying A Mountain

    ?Since they had decided to prepare for war, the badgers wanted to prepare thoroughly. They cleared other smaller groups off the mountain, either by informing them that a singr of boars were about to charge over, probably not in the mood to take a detour around innocent bystanders, or by force. (*Fun fact: a group of boars are called a singr)


    The ones shoved off the mountain were naturally displeased since almost the entirety of the mountain range was upied by other beasts, and it was ridiculous for a single small group of badgers to take charge of an entire mountain. But what could they do, they were weak and the badgers with their earth magic had a tactical advantage on the mountain, even if they stayed and put up a fight they would just literally get shoved down and blocked from climbing up the mountain again.


    On the other hand those that epted the warning were grateful to the badgers for telling them and not using them as involuntary meat shields. Of course the badgers didn''t do it for a noble reason, they just wanted full control of the mountain and for no possible dangers to pop up from the inside.


    With the mountain cleared the badgers began working on reinforcing it. Building ramparts, digging pitfalls, arranging traps. With enough preparation and material to work with, earth magic could turn into a pain to deal with, especially when it came to sieges. Aside from the traps and defenses the badgers also turned the inside of the mountain into abyrinth of tunnels and made escape routes.


    Although they were confident in their defenses the gathered boars wouldn''t just be a few, like the ones that had attacked them earlier, it would be the entire singr. Even if the boars weren''t thergest group this time around they were definitely in the top five. If they disregarded their safety they could bulldoze over the mountain and running the badgers down with ease. And as the boars were known for their hotheadedness the badgers didn''t put it past them to go all out and try to destroy the mountain along with the badgers.


    As expected the boars arrived quickly at the mountain, and although the badgers wanted to do more there wasn''t any time.


    The singr slowed their charge and stopped below the mountain. Judging from the hostility in their eyes there was no room for discussion, but the badgers still wanted an exnation for being sneak attacked in their sleep. Unfortunately before they could say anything they heard a voice from down below,


    "Look how prepared they are, they really did kill them!"


    The voice was slightly higher than what one would expect from a boar but no one seemed to care about that as the boars stomped with their hooves and snorted, preparing to charge up the mountain.


    "Yeah, they must have nned it all! What a bunch of bastards!"


    Another voice quickly followed up, from another spot in the group, before the badgers could say anything in response. Although the voice sounded different from before it was still pretty light.


    "I won''t stand for this, let''s kill them and avenge our brothers!"


    If the boars had previously been angered, they were now fired up thanks to the third voice, that was also surprisingly light. The boars started chanting to kill the badgers, but since their leader was down in the pit they had no one to take the lead. Although there were several second level boars in the group, none of them stood out enough, only their leader, almost at the peak second level was strong enough to be a focal point for the whole singr.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Although no one took the lead, soon the word charge began to spread in the chants and when more than the majority of the boars chanted it in chorus they did just that, charged right up the mountain.


    Right from the start the badgers hadn''t done anything but the atmosphere surrounding the boars had changed drastically. The badger were at a loss and could only get ready to do their best.


    The boars charged with intense furor, with the feared disregard of theirrades, the ones in front ended up filling the pitfalls with their bodies, letting their friends use them as bridges. The second row and third row and however many it took became steps to climb the walls and ramparts. No matter what kind of trap they encountered they contiued charging until they physically couldn''t anymore.


    The reckless charge scared the breakfast out of the badgers and they began rolling huge boulders down the mountain. The boulders cleared a path through the boars before smashing through the walls and crushing the boars still in the pitfalls. Unfortunately the gap was quickly closed as more boars reced the fallen ones.


    As one of thergest groups, even if they didn''t have numbers in the several tens of thousands as the deer and wolves, or a strong third level leader, they still had hundreds of boars in their group, maybe even over a thousand. Although the badgers'' defenses had killed and maimed a lot of them it was still just more than a drop in the bucket as the boars swarmed the mountain.


    The badgers panicked and began retreating through the tunnels, trying to escape from the mountain range. With the boars stomping all over the practically hollowed out mountain it wasn''t surprising that a lot of the tunnels copsed, trapping the badgers.


    Blinded by their fury the boars continued their charge into the tunnels, wanting to hunt down everyst badger. The badgers panicked and having used a lot of their mana to put up defenses were incapable of resisting and a lot of them died. But they weren''t alone in their deaths, they used their remaining mana to copse the mountain, leavingrge parts of the singr of boars dead or injured, in arge pile of rubble that used to be a mountain.


    The battle ended at that point as the boars rummaged through the wreckage, trying to find friends and enemies. It didn''t leave them satisfied as they had incurred a lot of loss, but at least they had avenged theirrades.


    The results of the battle didn''t only affect the surviving badgers and boars but also almost everyone else in the surroundings were shocked and worried. In part because of the wild ferocity and recklessness of the boars and the badgers'' brutal defenses, but also because the battle had erupted out of thin air. One moment the boars had been sshing in a pond next to the sleeping badgers and in the next a battle to the death had happened for seemingly no reason at all.


    After the random mountain toppling battle the atmosphere among the beasts in the mountain range changed, although it had been like a pot of oil on the verge of boiling over before, now it was more like the calm before the storm. The beasts were more subdued and calm, fearing that something simr to the boars against badgers battle would happen again, but this time involving themselves. There were even rumors circting around, one of them being that there were remnants of ancient magic floating about that could turn even the closest of friends into enemies. There were even rumors of ghosts inciting taking over bodies and inciting conflict.


    The only ones not worried about the situation were Toz, Nil, and Lucy. Toz and Nil had a hunch that Lucy was somehow behind what was happening in the mountain range, mostly because he kept giggling in a corner all the time, except for when he went out for walks or slept. There was also the case of missing spices and an unexpected supply of birds, Lucy also came back hoarse after a very recent walk. Although Nil and Toz didn''t know exactly what Lucy was up to he was happy, happier than he had been in a long while even if it didn''t show, and even if it was because he was doing some strange things, they didn''t care.

 Chapter 17 Escalating Chaos

    ?After the battle between the boars and badgers, Lucy continued stirring up trouble between different groups of beasts, but instead of inciting direct conflicts between two parties like he had done previously, he stepped it up a bit. He went around suggesting creating alliances to different groups, he whispered in the ears of others that they might be the next target and should start preparing for battle. All the things he did led to beasts making various preparations in case they were attacked or needed to attack. Although Lucy didn''t get everyone to make some kind of move, there were enough groups to spread the fear of war with their battle preparations and he didn''t need to do everything by himself anymore.


    Different groups prepared in different ways. Although the majority of the beasts in the mountain range had the fire attribute, there were also those with wind, earth, wood, lightning and more. Since the suppression of attributes in a low level ne is moderate it is amon sight for there to be a lot of different attributes. But the ease of improvement and strength is generally greater for the fire attribute beasts in a fire ne, it''s just that the difference between different elements is tiny in most low level nes.


    The few beasts with the earth attribute made preparations simr to what the badgers had done, a few wind and lightning beasts cooperated to summon storm clouds, the wood attribute beasts started nting a forest after gathering together on a mountain in the outeryer.


    With the division of attributes and created alliances, the safety for individual beasts rose, but so did the tension between different groups.


    If they weren''t nning to fight a war, why are they preparing for it? What if they attack us? We should also start preparing. Many beasts thought in a simr manner as they started their own preparations.


    Despite all the beasts preparing for battle there were still many beasts that just wanted to wait for their leader and the result of the treasure hunt, but with the increasing amount of fighting intent filling the mountains it was impossible to stay still with no worries about any uing battles.


    Things proceeded ording to Lucy''s n, but he still hadn''t figured out how to really ignite the powder keg. The leader beasts could be approaching the surface at this very moment. Since the beasts would leave the mountains as soon as they confirmed the results of what happened in the pit, Lucy wanted them to fight before their leaders returned, especially the third level ones.


    Thankfully there was no need for Lucy to do anything special as the situation changed by itself.


    About a day after the situation calmed down following the battle between the boars and badgers, heat started spreading from the pit in the center of the mountain range. The temperature rose continuously and those that remember what had happened just a few days ago got excited. The same thing had happened before, when what seemed like a treasure had appeared. It might be a new treasure or something to do with the one that had already appeared. Either way it was an opportunity for the beasts on the surface to take part in some action and hopefully gain something for themselves.


    With this excitement spreading, the previous stalemate came to an end and before the treasure even appearedpetition between different groups and alliances sprouted. Rivaling storm-gathering alliances interfered with each other''s cloud summoning, a few earth beasts snuck over to the centermost mountain. Among them the badgers, that on Lucy''s instigation decided to take revenge on the leader of the boars that had entered the pit.


    They cooperated with the moles to take over the mountain and turn it into one hell of a fortress, filled with traps and defenses. But since they didn''t want anyone to know they had taken over the mountain directly next to the hole because it would pit them against virtually everyone else, they made their preparations below the surface. Condensing the earth to make space for tunnels and armaments, making some parts of the mountain sturdier so it could endure being hollowed out and more. With more time and with the moles and badgers cooperating the mountains defenses and fortifications would absolutely surpass what the badgers had built the other day.


    A few groups even started fighting directly, to try and eliminate anypetitors and obstacles. Since the boars were weakened after their battle they were attacked by an alliance of several beasts from the same area as the boars. The boars had ruled that ce for a long time and would often mistreat their neighbors, now that they had lost a great deal of strength after fighting the badgers it was an excellent opportunity to get rid of thempletely. Even if their leader returned stronger than any of their own leaders what could they do alone?<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However things didn''t go as nned, although the boars had lost a lot of strength they weren''t so weak as to get eradicated by a bunch of beasts that needed to create an alliance and ambush them and both sides ended up losing a lot of participants in the fight. The boars weren''t cleared out and the alliance was on the verge of breaking up.


    The boars, upset at having taken repeated beatings, went around attacking weaker groups in their anger. The groups that were by themselves couldn''t do anything to fight back but those that were part of an alliance or had some wits about them joined together and retaliated against the boars with a force much more impressive than what the boars had previously been attacked by.


    This coalition force was only gathered from a small part of the beasts in the mountain range but it was enough to suppress the boars. It went well until suspicious deaths appeared in the back of the attacking forces. With the huge number it wasn''t noticed if a few birds or rabbits went and died but as the number rose and old grudges were revealed the sturdy army, united in their revenge against the boars was no longer stable.


    Some med other members of the union, others med other alliances and groups. After the boars were routed and the alliance separated into different camps the assassinations still continued. It lead to a tense situation in a ce where there would at least be some festivities after getting rid of a strong enemy. Realizing this some of the acting leaders suspected it was an outside force behind the ever continuing murders. The only reason it wasn''t usible was because it kept happening in the middle of their camp, with only supposed allies around.


    If the alliances splintered due to fear it would only be lead to a quicker death. The only options left were to either flee the mountainspletely and miss the chance of treasure and helping their leader, or go on the offensive. With the amount of beasts angered by the deaths of friends and brothers it was an almost unanimous decision to begin targeting other groups until they found the culprit. Their actions stirred up a lot of anger and led to even more bloodshed.


    The whole situation within the mountain range continued to degrade and fights,rge and small, took ce everywhere.


    Overwhelming chaos and discord brought surprising amounts of joy to Lucy as he continued escting conflicts in various ways, although he hardly needed to do that anymore.


    The only thing that dissatisfied Lucy was the fact that the tworgest groups, the wolves and deer still stayed out of the fighting. Wouldn''t things get even more exciting if they joined in? Although they seemed perfectly content to wait outside the mountain range Lucy knew that a few of the younger ones were desperately aching for a rousing, hot-blooded battle.


    Lucy figured that getting the entire group to move would be difficult, until he remembered what had happened down in the pit. The leaders of the wolf pack had killed one of the third level deer. Although that wasn''t what happened exactly, and he wasn''t even sure the deer actually died it looked dead enough for him to proceed based on that assumption. If he could get a witness who had escaped the pit to tell the deer herd that one of their leaders had been killed by the wolves, couldn''t that lead to something?


    Naturally he couldn''t use any old random beast as a witness, there would be no way for the deer to believe that. At least one witness from the same area as the deer should be used. Even if the herd didn''t believe the witnesses it would at least sow some suspicion and Lucy could use the moment when the beasts manage to climb out of the hole, and only two deer emerge, to stir up even more chaos.

 Chapter 18 Lizards

    ?While going around the mountain, looking for someone to use as a witness, Lucy found a group of eight lizards hiding in a cave not far from their own. The lizards had actually tried hiding in the cave Toz and his gang was in but Lucy''s magic and Nil''s traps made it dangerous to approach and gave the impression that there was nothing inside except for a bottomless abyss.


    The lizards had originally wanted to leave the mountain range after their leader had returned but had been stopped by several other beasts that refused to let anyone leave. Ever since, they had been hiding in a tiny, obscure cave they had found, while waiting for an opportunity to leave. And that opportunity had now arrived in the shape of a small ck kitten.


    Lucy had just wanted to scare them away since they were a bit to close to Toz but when he got close he overheard their hushed whispering.


    "...lt, we know you want to leave, but forcing it is just gonna make that stupid lion even more suspicious of us."


    "I know, but if someone who saw me, makes it back up and tell the deer about me killing one of their leaders, before we get out of here, or if another leaderes back, we are all doomed!"


    "Still, there''s nothing we can do at the moment, the moles might be able to tunnel out of here but they and the badgers havepletely disappeared from the mountain range already, our best hope at the moment is to wait for someone else to catch the attention of those wanna be guards and use that opportunity to sneak out."


    It wasn''t the first time they had had this discussion but like always the lizards found no solution to their predicament. Even if they were in trouble they didn''t me their leader since he had exacted vengeance for something they all hated that third lead deer for. Any one of them would have made the same decision if ced in a simr situation and they didn''t regret ending up stuck and possibly in lethal danger. But it would be even better if they could get out of the mountain range and escape from the deer''s territory before the herd leaves the mountain range and returns to eradicate the lizards.


    Although Lucy wasn''t certain based on that short conversation that he coincidentally managed to overhear it sounded a bit like the leader of this group of lizards had finished off the deer that the two wolves had managed to beat up. He obviously wouldn''t have done that for no reason, maybe it was because of grudge established between neighbors? In that case the deer herd and the lizards should know each other, even if their rtionship is bad, with the way the lizards talked they were only worried about the deer in case they found out about what had happened in the pit, not because they were in danger otherwise. For Lucy it seemed like a dream situation.


    Even if the lizards hadn''t killed the third lead deer they were obviously familiar with the herd and could be used to sow discord between the deer herd and the wolf pack. With that in mind Lucy approached the group of lizards that were startled stiff upon discovering a ck kitten appearing from out of nowhere in their midst.


    Although the lizards were shocked that someone had sneaked up on them and they hadn''t noticed anything at all, one of them quickly reacted and asked in a flustered manner,


    "Y-you! Who, are you?! What do you want?!"


    SMACK


    Their leader, although one step behind also reacted and analyzed the situation before responding appropriately. He hit his subordinate to keep him from making too much noise and revealing their hideout, before turning to Lucy.


    "I am assuming you do not wish us harm since you showed yourself without any malice, am I correct?"


    "Yeah, the wind whispered in my ear and told me you were in trouble, as the good boy I am I decided to help you out a bit."


    Although the leader had his doubts about this supposed ''good boy'' and the help he offered he decided it wouldn''t hurt asking about what Lucy had in mind. What he heard in response shocked him, and it almost sounded too good to be true. Since he had put his group in trouble to begin with he epted Lucy''s deal both as a way to relieve his guilt and as an opportunity to screw over the deer herd even more.


    They hammered out the details together and with no time to lose proceeded with the n.


    With one night left before the beast in the pitplete their ramp the boiling pot of trouble was stirred even harder.


    The first step of the n was simple, sneak out the lizard group as a guarantee in case the Lucy would decide to back out after the leaderpletes his part of the agreement. After seeing off the seven lizards Lucy and Kolt, the leader of the lizard group circled around the mountains until they reached the deer herd.


    Now it was all up to Kolt toy down the finisher. He approached one of the sentries standing guard in a perimeter outside the herd, since it was the most peaceful and secure way to get in touch with the acting leadership of the herd without arousing suspicion.


    "Halt, who goes there?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Kolt, leader of the Firew Lizard n hase to seek and audience with anyone in a position of authority. Ie bearing an important message regarding the happenings in the hole in the center of the mountain range."


    "Hmph, how would you know anything about what''s happening down there?"


    "Because I climbed back up from the hole after i thought the matters regarding the treasure were finished."


    "Hmm, I see, I guess I''ll go inform someone then. Wait here."


    Kolt reinforced his conviction to bring trouble to the deer herd after once again having to suppress his anger in front of another arrogant deer. He almost couldn''t wait to hear about the herd getting on the bad side of the wolves. Although they were approximately as strong as each other, the wolves were a greater threat considering their natural habits and traits.


    The deer guard returned after a brief moment and told Kolt to follow him to the center of the herd. There he was greeted by several elderly deer and their condescending gazes.


    "We heard you came to report, quickly do so and leave. I don''t need to warn you about spouting nonsense and telling us about unimportant stuff."


    "Yes, of course. I will cut right to the chase, down in the hole, during the fight for the treasure, I witnessed the third Great Leader being attacked by the two leaders of the wolf-"


    "Hold it right there! Did I not say to not spout nonsense! What do you think you are doing right now!?"


    "I apologies for my discourtesy but I am merely rying what my weak self saw down there."


    "Hmph, continue then, but be warned that if the truth differs from what you have told us death will note easily. And tell us about the treasure."


    "Yes, as I was fighti-"


    "Did we ask about you?!"


    "My apologies. I saw the third Great Leader being attacked by the two leaders of the wolf pack, when Ist caught a glimpse of the third Great Leader he was unconscious with severe injuries."


    "Hmm, and what were the first and second Great Leaders doing? Are you saying they stood their watching the third Great Leader get attacked."


    "Not at all, the first and second Great Leaders fought valiantly against sir Nespeth, trying to stop him from getting the orange orb that seemed to be the treasure, when the two wolves ambushed third Great Leader."


    Kolt''s report had the gathered deer elders in a thoughtful silence. Since the two leaders were fighting against that monstrous mammoth it was reasonable for them to be too busy to stop the wolves from attacking the third leader, but why would the wolves do that to begin with? It was no secret the two hegemons didn''t agree on most points but they were not at the level of hostility where they would ambush each other like that.


    The elders considered asking the trembling lizard in front of them but it was probably meaningless so they just sent him away to be kept watch over. His story would be confirmed or renounced as soon as their leaders returned. Meanwhile they kept thinking and discussing about what could make the wolves make a move. One of them eventually came up with an idea.


    "What if the wolves got the treasure while all the other beasts were focusing on the fight between our leaders, and now with that treasure they n to take over the wilderness, starting with weakening their greatestpetition, us?"


    The suggestion left the elders in a stunned silence for several hours.

 Chapter 19 Iron Jaw Zapper

    ?Kolt was brought to a small clearing not too close to the edge of the herd. If what he said was false he needed to be punished for it and to keep him from escaping the consequences of his actions the easiest way would be to hold him prisoner. The deer naturally wouldn''t care about Kolt''s opinion regarding that. Kolt also knew that there was no point in resisting, besides it wasn''t like he was going to stay there forever.


    Lucy hadn''t bothered waiting outside the herd for Kolt to return since they both knew he wouldn''t, and the time wasn''t ripe for a prison break. Instead he continued roaming the mountains, increasing the hostility between different groups and generally doing his best in spreading chaos. Butpared to previously there wasn''t much he could do on short notice since most groups had already solidified their stance and position in the mountains, it would take something drastic to move any of the beasts at all. However Lucy didn''t have the time to n anything drastic and while waiting for all the leaders to return from the pit he himself returned to sleep in Toz''s embrace.


    As the beasts in the mountain continued rioting and fighting, both Toz and Nil gained a greater understanding of Lucy''s abilities and what his daily walks had been about. Although it might be considered wicked, how Lucy''s actions had led and would lead to a lot of deaths, neither of them were worried about any missing morals or thought what he did was wrong, just that he was a little too mischievous. However they were anxious about what would happen if someone caught wind of what he was doing or if Lucy would fail.


    Since neither would be good they decided they might as well help Lucy when needed. It was still unclear to them if Lucy enjoyed spectating chaos unfold or if the joy came from being personally responsible. If it was thetter he might not appreciate their help, and if the former it might turn into an interesting pastime for them, even if Toz and Nil weren''t as sadistic as Lucy, just nning and doing things all together could bring a smile to their faces.


    But all of that is matter for the future, this time rashly interfering could sabotage Lucy''s ns and even if they wanted to do something they didn''t know where to begin. While Lucy had been busy plotting, Nil and Toz had been training their mana, enjoyed some food, and further studied the egg to try and find out what kind of spirit beast would be born.


    The egg would obviously be a fire attribute spirit beast but the blurry shadows inside the egg kept changing shape making it impossible to discern anything from it. The egg itself also held no clues except it being perfectly clear, with no blemishes whatsoever. Although Toz hadn''t seen many eggs previously, all of them had had markings and coloration that came from the mixed mana of the parent''s union. Most spirit beasts had different ways to grow and utilize their mana so even if they were of the same element, the egg would show these differences in some way. The differences would usually be even clearer if the parents used different attributes. One of the cooler eggs Toz had seen was from an Iron Jaw Ant and a Zapper, a four winged lightning attribute bird, the size of a hand. Their egg had looked like an exploding star in the night sky.


    Although in almost all cases only one of the parent''s attributes were inherited there were exceptions, and those exceptions could sometimes be determined before the birth of the beast by looking at the egg. The Iron Jaw Zapper was one such case, where the attributes were not easily separated from one another. The Iron Jaw Zapper was also en extreme rarity in the way it''s physical form was a mix between it''s parents, bing a four winged ant, in addition to it''s ability to use both metal and lightning.


    However the egg Toz had picked up showed no such markings nor disyed any inheritance from it''s parents. It waspletely orange, the epitome of the color of fire. Toz wondered if maybe the long years below ground had somehow purified or washed away anything that might have been disyed by the egg when it was first conceived, turning it into pure fire with no outside influence.


    Toz continued thinking about it but he was sorelycking in any relevant knowledge and could only document it in his travel log and hug it in front of the campfire. There was no real need for the fire but since the egg might require some extreme heat to further condense it''s body Toz decided he might as well keep a small one going instead of trying to light one when the need arose. With Lucy''s magic blocking the entrance there wasn''t any need to worry about being spotted either.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Considering he had a constant campfire going on and having been in a fire ne for some time now, Toz thought that he would be used to the heat by now but he could still feel himself growing hotter than he would have liked. At first he thought that maybe the heat from the fire had gotten trapped in the cave and that was why but as he continued getting hotter without even adding fuel to the fire he suspected something strange might be going on. However it was in the middle of the night and the heat hadn''t grown to the extent he needed to worry, he had just grown sensitive enough to notice the small change in temperature.


    But the heat might continue to build and would probably get even worse during the day so Toz decided to scout things out a bit before rxing. First he removed Lucy from Nil''s back, then shook Nil awake to keep a watch over Lucy, the egg and the campsite, and then he removed the egg from hisp and left it next to the flickering mes.


    Toz stretched his slightly stiff legs before he left the cave and started investigating the mountain range, he hardly needed his instinct to tell him it was rted to the center of the mountain range again. Since their cave was located on a mountain in the inneryer, but facing outwards Toz only needed to walk around the mountain to find a weak, waving orange glow being emitted from the hole. Toz wasn''t the only one who had noticed it despite how weak the light was since a lot of beasts kept watch over the hole. Although some were worried about their leaders, most were anticipating the treasure that would probably soon make it''s appearance.


    Although a few beasts had escaped the pit earlier on none of them had spread the fact that Toz had gotten the treasure, mostly because no one would believe it but also because it might put them in danger. Not to mention redundant, even if Toz had gotten it, how would he escape from the pit alive? Most of the beasts had escaped soon after Toz got his hands on the egg and didn''t know about his disappearance. If that became widely known some beasts might actually scour the mountains for his tracks in a desperate attempt to find him.


    Thus at the moment practically only Toz knew that the glowing from the hole had nothing to do with the treasure. When he thought about how the earth surrounding the orb had melted down and left a hole after flowing down deep underground he had his suspicions about what the light source might be. But considering how the light seemed to grow closer there was no need to confirm those suspicions at the moment and he headed back into the cave to wait for morning.


    Toz told Nil and Lucy about the situation. Nil was mostly uninterested but Lucy was almost bursting at the seams. It seemed he couldn''t wait for tomorrow to happen and started jumping around in impatience. It was to the point where he couldn''t bear to sit still and decided to take a walk around the mountains leaving only a sentence behind.


    "Don''t wait up."


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 20 Leaving The Pit

    ?Toz stayed up for the rest of the night, waiting for dawn toe. Even if Lucy told him to not wait there was no way he wouldn''t worry when Lucy goes out alone in the wild. Although Toz trusted Lucy with all his heart the mountains were in a vtile state and the situation might explode at any moment, with Lucy''s childish behavior it was hard to sit around calmly. Thankfully when dawn came it brought Lucy back with it.


    After Lucy returned he convinced Toz and Nil toe outside and join him for a simple walk around the mountains, saying things like they had to be bored after acting like statues for so long.


    After exchanging a nce, neither Nil nor Toz objected and obediently were following Lucy to the mountain peak while anticipating what kind of trouble he had managed to stir up. Since he didn''t know what might happenter, Toz brought the orb with him. They quickly climbed the mountain and saw the range in all it''s glory, dyed in orange light from both the rising sun and from theva welling up from the hole. Along one part of the wall a few silhouettes building and moving a ramp could be seen as well, butpared to the diameter of the hole their size was almostughable. If not for the movements of different colors lit up by the orange glow fromva was so visible, Toz and the others wouldn''t have noticed them.


    Since Toz and those two had noticed all the way up the mountain, the beasts standing guard right next to the pit had also returned and most of the beasts still in the mountain range started gathering around the pit, both to support their leaders and in anticipation of the results regarding the treasure.


    What was most surprising was that arge part of the deer herd had arrived within the inner mountainyer. Since they had stayed outside all the time until now their change in attitude shocked a lot of beasts. The wolves were the only ones not all too surprised as they followed along and stepped into the mountain range. Since the deer had already arrived it wasn''t as shocking when the wolves did it.


    The mountains entered a strange stalemate as the deer herd and wolf pack upied the areas on and around two mountains each, leaving the remaining two mountains of the inneryer to the rest of the beasts in the range. All of them waiting for the beasts to leave the hole.


    The returning beasts didn''t take long to finish their ramp and leave the hole.


    As soon as they left the hole the mammoth, no longer able to suppress it''s anger targeted the boar, who in it''s eagerness to help had sped up the overflowingva.


    The boar, dripping with exhaustion from doing it''s absolute hardest in shufflingva knew it wouldn''t stand a chance against the mammoth but it wasn''t willing to just roll over and die.


    The boar and mammoth had simr characteristics and ways to fight butpared to the enormous and rtively clumsy mammoth, the boar had a clear advantage in mobility. Pulling up some dregs of energy from the depths of it''s bones, the boar started running up the mountain since the rough terrain would slow down and hopefully stop the mammoths charge long enough for him to recover and run away from the mountain range with his herd. Without a third level of their own there was no way for them to stand up against the mammoth.


    The mammoth, prepared for the boars attempt at escaping, immediately followed but shortly felt a tremor travel through the ground. The tremor gave the mammoth a bad feeling and it stopped to look around. The boar on the other hand didn''t notice anything and kept running at the mountain. In it''s flustered sprint it didn''t see arge hole opening up in the slope above him. It took a flood ofrge boulders pouring out for it to notice, but by then it was toote.


    With frantic dodging the boar managed to dodge some of the boulders but it didn''t take long for it to be hit once, and then again. The repeated hits on top of it''s previous exhaustion was enough to knock the boar out. Only faint hope of it still being alive kept the group of boars running, in a desperate bid to save their leader.


    Unfortunately their dreams were bound to be shattered by numerous defensive measures emerging from the mountain. The running boars were discouraged but their strong attitude wasn''t built on giving up, and they continued charging. Reinforced walls kept rising up out the ground, boulders rained down, pitfalls and other traps kept making their presence known by the squeals of defeated boars.


    The spectating beasts were slightly taken aback by the boars die hard rescue mission, but even more so because of therge mountain turning into an armed fortress in the blink of an eye. It also revealed the location of the previously missing badgers and moles, that several groups had been looking for to seek their help in making a base.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Some beasts who had been standing too close got struck by the boulders themselves or the sshingva from bouldersnding in the pond, filled withva.


    After theva had reached the brim of the hole and continued welling up, a certain herd of deer who had confirmed their suspicions started moving. The wolves responded ordingly and got in aggressive positions without leaving their high ground. However just their movements, as if they were prepared for this further got rid of most remaining doubts the herd had.


    The only thing that left the herd apprehensive was how their first and second great leader weren''t taking the initiative against the leaders of the wolf pack. Aside from moving away from each other the leaders of both sides didn''t do anything until they noticed the movements of their followers.


    The two deer moved over to their herd and asked them what was going on. When the two leaders heard their guesses that the wolf pack nned to take over the wilderness, starting with the deer herd they were dumbfounded. Their third leader had idiotically attacked one of the wolf leaders before getting beaten and then assassinated by some unknown beast. What were these conspiracy theories and where did theye from.


    The two wolf leaders heard that the deer herd had started making suspicious movements after finding out their third great leader died, and that they had started showing some signs of hostility against the wolves.


    The leaders of the two groups looked over at each other and aftering to a tacit agreement decided to call it even for now and eventually settle matters another day. The lead deer knew that the wolves weren''t directly responsible, and considering they had lost their advantage in numbers when counting third levels it wouldn''t be a wise choice to fight.


    Unfortunately they would get caught up in the fights of others.


    The charging boars had changed their target after their leader got crushed under a copsed wall. Their rescue mission had turned into one of revenge. Not even considering the fact that the badgers were responsible for a significant loss of theirs already, they had now allied with the moles and killed their leader. Although the mammoth had chased him up the mountain, if their leader could get out of the mountain range he would probably live since the mammoth was known for it''s strength and temper, not it''s way of holding onto grudges. Until the mountain transformed the leader of the boars actually had a pretty decent shot at survival.


    The singr of boars'' happiness at seeing their leader return alive afterpeting for a treasure even third levels wanted was transformed into a raging inferno of wrath. The inferno built upon the embers the badgers had previously lit and wouldn''t be put out by anything other than the blood of badgers.


    The boars lost all reason and once again initiated a reckless charge up a mountain in order to exterminate some badgers. The overwhelming feelings of anger united the boars as they charged together, creating a wave of muscles, rolling up the mountain. The spectators felt like they could see a huge phantom boar overtake the boars.


    In front of the charging phantom boar most resistance was meaningless, only by hiding deep underground could the badgers and moles escape, but even that was temporary as the boar shoved it''s tusks deep underground and ripped the mountain peak clean off. The peak fell off to the side as the mass of boars charged into the tunnels they could fit in and crashed into the rest. Their mindless abuse of the mountain copsed any remaining tunnels below as the almost hollowed out mountain came crashing down.


    Although the mountain was ttened, the rock and dirt it was made up of didn''t disappear and instead spread out in all directions with an overwhelming rumble that drowned out any other sounds. The rumble was apanied by a dust cloud, spread through the rest of the mountain range by a shock wave that would have blown Lucy away if not for Toz''s sturdy clothes.

 Chapter 21 Very Hot Hot Spring

    ?The shock wave knocked out the breathing and hearing of everyone in the mountain range. It was as if the world had been turned off, especially since the dust cloud was still blocking their vision, turning everything in sight into a dusty brown color.


    Despite no one personally experiencing it, the mountain still had rocks falling down in droves. But the thunderous copse had already obliterated or blown away anyone standing too close to the mountain so the straggling boulders didn''t hit anyone.


    A few momentster, as if on cue, when beasts began to gather their bearings, the gathered thunderclouds let loose. Rain poured down like a waterfall, pulling the dust with it to the ground, covering the mountains in mud.


    The barely recovered senses of everyone was once again assaulted by shing lightning and rumbling thunder. The mountains repeatedly trembled and looked like a shing light as the darkness brought by the falling rain was repeatedly chased away by the lightning strikes.


    In the middle of this chaos some beasts suffered more than others. The mammoth, who had been closest to the mountain at the time of it''s copse, narrowly escaped death as it, despite it''s size was sent flying like a temperamental child''s rag doll.


    The wolves and deer who had gathered close to the hole in case a fight between their leaders broke out were also struck hard by the explosive crumbling. They had a lot of weaker members, even if the weakest had been left outside the mountain, that had their internal organs ruptured. The ensuing thunderous chaos led to a stampede as an instinctual fear took over as the smell of death spread through the mountains.


    The crashed mountain and thunderstorm had disoriented most beasts and even if the stampede charged wildly with the goal of escaping the mountains there were a lot of casualties as the beasts ran around wildly, trying to find a single direction to follow. But eventually the stampede unified and left the mountain like water bursting through a broken dam, and the beasts spread in all directions as the stampede fizzled out.


    After almost all the beasts vacated the mountain range, the pouring rain and shing lightning filled the mountains with a serene sense of calm that had been nonexistent during thest week.


    Toz looked out at the blood covered ground before turning his gaze to Lucy hiding beneath his coat, water dripping from his hair. Nil had returned to the familiar space as soon as the rain started falling. While Lucy also wanted to avoid the rain, he wanted to see the chaos he had managed to inflict on the beasts gathered more.


    Toz could feel Lucy''s body trembling against his own, whether it was from shock or excitement was unknown.


    While they continued taking in the wreckage and various remains were flushed away a slight rumble echoed out from the ruined mountain. The rumble was followed by a small section of the rocks disappearing and being reced by drops ofva sshing up and smattering on the nearby stones before cooling down in the rain. As more and more rocks disappeared down in theva, the hole that had just been covered by the fallen mountain reopened but this time it was filled withva that despite being showered by the rain and the incessant sizzling noises, showed no signs of cooling down.


    Theva bubbled slowly and churned but without any signs of welling over. The rocks that had fallen in had pushed the surface level to be the same as the mountain''s remains around theva spring.


    The heat from theva spring started spreading and turned the damp atmosphere into a tropically humid one.


    After everything calmed down with no signs of further carnage Lucy sneaked back into the familiar space, leaving only Toz and the egg in the rain.


    Toz wondered if he should head back to the cave to wait out the rain and let the beast still roaming around outside the mountains leave, before leaving himself. But before he came up with a decision the egg in his arms started trembling slightly, and considering the egg''s previous habits Toz didn''t need much more to start heading toward the pool ofva.


    The egg''s trembling increased as they got closer to theva and Toz, unsure of what to do exactly just kind of tossed it in from a safe distance once the heat started bing unbearable.


    The eggnded and gently floated around on the surface, seemingly enjoying a very hot hot spring bath. It didn''t absorb the heat wildly like it had done the other night, instead it only gathered small amounts of mana and heat that it covered itself in before absorbing it through it''s shell.


    As the egg continued bathing, the rain unsurprisingly stopped not that long after it started and Toz removed the hood that had tried to shield his head from the rain.


    With the rain gone, Nil and Lucy came out and watched the egg from a safe distance together.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Toz-Toz, do you think it''s gonna hatch soon?"


    "Yeah, probably but you never know, maybe it''s gonna sink back down into the ground for another ten thousand years of incubation."


    Lucy looked shocked at that response, understandably so. One of the reasons he had stirred up so much chaos to begin with was so that they could escape any pursuers aiming for the treasure in Toz''s hands. Although Lucy got to have his fun as well, it would be extremely disheartening if all of their hard work was just to let the egg get some fresh air before disappearing for what might as well be another eternity.


    "Don''t worry, that''s not gonna happen," Nil said as heforted Lucy with a one-armed side hug.


    Nil mainly based his reassurance on the fact that the spirit beast in the egg had already started condensing it''s body and consciousness. If it tried to enter a dormant state like that it would probably not wake up ever again.


    Since nothing seemed to be happening any time soon, Lucy curled up to sleep on Toz''sp, although Nil shared it with him Nil didn''t go to sleep as he started discussing what to eat for dinner with Toz. With a lot of freshwater straight from the heavens they settled for a meat stew.


    As they argued about what ingredients to use, and what kind of meat to put in they mammoth rose up from the indentation in the mountain it had crashed into earlier. Toz and Nil didn''t even need their extraordinary senses to notice the massive creature''s movements.


    While the beast struggled to stand up, Toz woke Lucy up and Nil jumped down on the ground. Even if the beast was on the verge of death it was still a very strong third level beast, holding back could prove fatal. Toz and Nil were stillpletely focused on the mammoth''s actions but they both knew the main ingredient for today''s dinner had been decided.


    Toz, Nil and Lucy had worked together on many hunts and didn''t need muchmunication to decide on what to do. After Lucy woke up and learned of the situation he disappeared into a few nearby shadows. Nil went of to the side and started preparing.


    Lucy had spent a lot of his time focusing his magic on stealth and debuffs. Nil was an expert at making traps. Toz had been inspired by Lucy and used darkness as a support to his closebat adapted body reinforcement, and attack magic using summoned metal items.


    However he also spent a lot of time using both kinds of mana to create a permanent sword. Everyday using a bit of mana to condense it further, tightening the structure making it sturdier and sturdier. Thebination of metal and darkness had led a dark matte double edged long sword, the de as long as his legs. The one handed handle wrapped in ayer of billowy shadows. The sharpness and sturdiness it possessed was rarely needed Toz didn''t often bring it out, but against a foe that had proved it''s strength there was no need to keep it hidden.


    The mammoth had stood up, and despite it''s brain being rattled from the physical shock of being sted into a mountain it had still managed to identify Toz as the one who had taken the orb down in the pit. With a weak yowl it initiated an even weaker charge. It was a sad disy, but it''s pride wouldn''t let it walk away from a chance to reach the fourth level.


    The mammoth didn''t run a long distance before a shadow covered it''s eyes, directly after it lost it''s vision it felt something grab onto it''s legs. The hold on it''s legs wasn''t strong but before it could move to break freepletely it left front leg stepped on something and a sharp pain shot up it''s ankles. Bending a knee, the mammoth tilted to the side and with it''s vision still gone it didn''t notice Toz approaching at startling speeds.


    Toz weaved between the menacing tusks and dove under the huge and violently moving head. Even if the mammoth was halfway to the ground he still needed to stretch out his arms to reach it''s neck and slit open the throat.


    After slitting it''s throat Toz retreated before dashing back, up on it''s head and stabbing it''s brain through one of it''s eyes.


    With the kill secured Toz regrouped with the other two as they started preparing the beast for consumption. With it''s size it would be best to begin as fast as possible since it is a lot of work.


    With their wless cooperation it wasn''t difficult to bring down the mammoth but they all knew it was due to it''s severe injuries. In a healthy state the mammoth''s mes would have burned away the shadows almost instantly, any attempt tro try and immobilize it would have been ignored and it''s trunk would have swept Toz of his feet without him being able tond a proper strike. That was how terrifying the beast had been, as well as how severe it''s injuries were.

 Chapter 22 Boiled Egg

    ?Most low level ingredients could be prepared in the same way as mortal ones, but as with everything there are exceptions. The toughness of the mammoth''s meat wasn''t something that would go away with slow cooking it in normal water. As such the hungry trio either had to find a way to cook it properly in order to make stew out of it, or do something else with it. Toz eventually decided to mince it and turn it into minced meat soup, turning the meat into more of a backdrop in the food, that enhances the texture of the soup, along with some veggies. But the cats weren''t too keen on a veggie filled soup so they got a couple of patties instead.


    While nning and making the food the egg kept swirling around in the pool ofva. The shell that had previously had a feeling of indestructibility started showing signs of fragility. No longer apletely even and smooth surface. Turning slightly wobbly, as if slightly melting in the heat. Despite the shell weakening, there was no sign of the spirit beast inside, the previous shadowy figure had disappeared in the orange light.


    Disregarding the potential cash out disappearing, Toz was worried about the spirit beast''s well being, although the egg had only been in their possession for a few days, he had constantly kept watch over it and held it closely. Considering how it looked like the egg was about to copse without forming a body Toz wanted to save it at once. Unfortunately theva was too hot, and even if he managed to get it out of there it might affect the egg adversely instead. He could only trust in the little fellow.


    Nil and Lucy were also worried, Lucy mostly because Toz would be sad if the egg failed and died. Nil on the other hand held sentiments simr to Toz. While Lucy had been out and about creating chaos in the mountains he and Toz had spent time cradling the egg, watching it''s shadowy figure shift around, trying out all sorts of shapes. Although the egg didn''t interact with them they felt like a bond had been established between them.


    Since Toz and Nil were too busy watching the egg to eat properly, Lucy was also forced to control himself in order to not break the atmosphere. Although that just meant eating incredibly slowly while watching Toz out of the corner of his eye.


    The egg continued deforming, quicker and quicker while it''s shape transformed rapidly, as if it was bubbling from the inside out. The shell looked like it was on the verge ofpletely breaking and the sight had Toz clenching his fists.


    The trembling and wobbling increased in intensity and the original shape of an egg had beenpletely lost, the shell had turned soft enough to look like slime. While Toz was anxiously walking back and forth the trembling finally stopped and the egg froze, in the middle of the boilingva, for a moment.


    After that moment passed the shell burst into tiny pieces that hovered in the air a couple of meters away from it''s original location. In ce of the egg, barely visible in the midst of all theva was a tiny wisp of me floating calmly.


    As the pieces of the shell hang in the air they slowly melted, then after all the bits turned into liquid they began to evaporate. The evaporated bits and pieces created a floating translucent ball of white smoke around the flickering me, separating it from theva and the air around it. After the air inside therge ball was sucked out, turning the inside into a vacuum, aside from the me.


    The me started flickering more wildly, and spread out to cover the area inside the smoke. The fire was barely visible after it spread out and only a faint orange sheen could be seen in the part of the air.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After the me had spread out and calmed down the smoke started swirling and twisting, very much like the shell had done previously but in the opposite direction. At one point it looked like a vortex, trying to swallow the pool ofva beneath it, but only for a moment. The ball began shrinking and pulling the smoke into itself while at the same time condensing the fire withing, returning the look of actual fire, not the orange sheen it had be when expanded.


    As the ball kept shrinking, twisting and pulling on it self the smoke gradually seeped into the fire, and the fire began to lose it''s round shape, turning into something that looked like an animal more and more.


    The wildly flickering me started settling down as it reached a size slightly smaller than a human head. Although it was still very much a fire, with no physical body it had four legs, a couple of ears and sharp teeth. The fire had taken on the shape of a cat. The fire cat floated in the air above theva like a puppet for a few seconds after it''s final shape waspleted.


    The cat opened it''s eyes and the trance that had captured Toz, Nil and Lucy let go of them. Their ckened jaws pulled themselves back up and they remembered to breath and blink again. The magical disy had enraptured the trio and they werepletely frozen during the entire process.


    After the cat opened it''s eyes it slowly drifted over, through the air, toward the three of them.  It touched ground as it left the range of theva pool and carefully walked over.


    Despite being newborn it didn''t look like a kitten, nor was it''s walk unsteady.


    All three, Toz, Nil and Lucy, had witnessed the birth of a spirit beast previously, and it wasn''t very different from the birth of a normal eggying animal. The beast usually cracked open the shell and crawled out after condensing it''s soul and body. Sometimes apanied by some magic. This fire cat had not followed the script and instead done whatever it had just done.


    Since the cat was already abnormal since before birth the trio didn''t want to scare it by acting rashly as it familiarized itself with it''s surroundings. They stood and sat motionlessly, curiously spectating the cat as it made it''s rounds around the campsite they had made for food preparations.


    The cat went around sniffing most things, touching some of them, it even got close to Toz and sniffed him, it didn''t get close enough to touch him but it wasn''t far from it. And despite it''s closeness Toz didn''t feel any heating from the cat made of fire. After having observed and inspected Toz for a bit the cat finally stepped close and brushed against his right shin, standing with it''s forelegs on his foot.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 23 Not A Spirit Beast?

    ?The fire cat calmed down after inspecting everything in its vicinity. It seemed to have designated Toz''sp as a safe ce as it tentatively moved to crawl up on it. Toz had slowly sat down while the cat examined Nil, hoping for a simr situation. The cat kept a watchful eye out for Toz''s reactions as it climbed. Toz, not wanting to show his eagerness and scare the cat away acted nonchntly and aside from a sidelong nce didn''t do anything else, in regard to the cat''s movements. The cat closed its eyes on Toz''sp, letting the other three rx a bit.


    Toz looked slightly confused as he stared at the cat in hisp. Although Nil and Lucy''s elemental attributes were easily identifiable based on their physical body, the cat in hisp surpassed that. Instead of a body with a certain element affecting its outer characteristics, it was more like the element had be the body entirely. Like a condensed and organized clump of mes. The gathered me was under such great control that Toz hardly felt any heat from it at all. There wasn''t any real weight either, only a slight pressure, like a warm nket lying on his legs.


    Toz decided to hold off on petting it as he thought about what kind of strange spirit beast the cat in hisp was. An extraordinary birthing process and a body made of mes. The birthing process might be rted to the potential millennia spent underground absorbing heat and mana from streams of magma. But at the same time, what kind of spirit beast requires those conditions to be hatched? It didn''t exactly exin the cat''s body either.


    Spirit beasts used their physical body to interact with the physical world but they still possessed the ability to turn immaterial in special circumstances, like entering special spaces and hidden realms that don''t allow physical bodies. They also immaterialize themselves when mating with other spirit beasts, hence why different kinds of spirit beasts can produce babies together.


    Spirit beasts when born in the wilderness or to mortal animals also tend to be more individualistic and self-reliant than their animal and wild beast counterparts. Wild beasts that evolve to spirit beasts when ascending also tend to discard any family or group they previously belonged to. There is just a certain gap between their existences, as if they are different kinds of animals. Considering how spirit beasts mate it might be natural to separate. Spirit beasts also develop their magic more rapidly, while wild beasts tend to develop in a physical manner mostly.


    Their physical body is their contact with the world and the vessel containing their mana and soul for extended periods of time. Even dematerializing for a short moment may lead to damage to the soul or losing a lot of mana, hence spirit beasts are always in a physical form.


    However, the fiery cat disregarded all such notions. Although it had used its soul and mana to condense a shape to hold itself within, it wasn''t physical in the same way other spirit beasts were.


    Unable to hold back his curiosity Toz reached out with his left hand to touch the cat. The fur, which looked like small tongues of me softly waving in the wind, felt like small strips of material hot air. The fur''s soft, fluffy feeling deepened until his hands reached the actual "body". At that, the cat''s ear twitched slightly but it showed no other reactions and let Toz continue petting it.


    Toz touched the body and contrary to his expectations it was unexpectedly solid. Even though it looked like a swirling mass of mes, his finger that had begun brushing the scalp couldn''t move further into the fire. The fire had gathered together and created a surfaceyer of moving mes that didn''t extend a millimeter outside the designed body. Likewise, nothing else could prate thatyer, and enter inside the body. The physical sensation ofing into contact with the cat''s actual body felt slightly simr to what the egg had felt like when Toz was holding it.


    Toz still had no idea what kind of spirit beast it was, even after touching it. However when he looked closer at the cat''s body, and no longer defined it as a body, but instead a soul''s representation made of elemental mana a children''s bedtime story popped into his head.


    The story itself was of a great Hero defeating an evil chimera. What the story was about wasn''t important, but during the hero''s journey, he encountered different things, one of those being a creature madepletely out of mana. It had sentience, a soul, and could be considered alive, different from a ghost. Since no one knew the reality of spirits it was only a short encounter in the story with not much information revealed about spirits. However, the description of a being of purely mana, without a flesh and blood physical body, fits the description of the cat to a tee.


    There were a few other rumors about spirits. Such as them being immortal, born at the beginning of time, incredibly strong, and due to their strange lives, willful to an incredible degree. Although the interactions between humans and spirits were few and far in between, humans had recorded history stretching several thousand years back.


    To the supposed endless lifespan of a spirit that might not be a lot, but humans did their best to preserve most things for future generations. As such instances of spirits contacting humans had been recorded, but with the flow of time such records had been wrangled and weren''t exactly believable. However all records agreed on one thing, spirits are truly strong beings.


    Naturally, humans, spirit beasts, and wild beasts could also be strong, but there would also be innumerable weak ones inparison to the few strong ones.


    Something like a hero being on equal standing to a spirit, as the one in the bedtime story isn''t something that happens every day.


    Thinking of the rumored spirit''s incredible strength and immortality, Toz looked at the cat in hisp. The cat sure didn''t look transcendentally strong. But since spirits existed, maybe other beings made of purely mana also existed.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Regardless of the cat being a spirit, spirit beast, or something else, it was a cat first and foremost. With that being the case Toz could try and bond with it, using his inclination, and not just on the emotional level he had with the egg.


    His inclination, just like any human''s was the gateway between himself and the world of mana. Toz had a beast type inclination, meaning he uses beasts as a medium to mana. Even with an infinite amount of possible ways an inclination can take shape it wasn''t exactly a rare inclination, except for its specialization in cats. It was a rather specific inclination, althoughpared to some others it still wasn''t anything special.


    Beast type inclinations themselves are one of the moremon types, and among those that end up with that kind, there are other humans limited to a single type of beast.


    It is the same with weapon, elemental and mundane type inclinations, among others. However, the mystic and unique type inclinations are some of the types where individual inclinations are almost always extraordinary,plex, or nothing like any other inclination.


    Inclinations decide how humanse into contact, acquire, use and interact with mana. During the long history of humans, innumerable attempts at figuring out how they work, why only humans have them, and anything rted to them, have been made, with varied, and mostly limited, sess.


    A few general guidelines regarding inclinations had been established thanks to all the research, however.


    They are inherited to a certain degree, but not always, and not necessarily from the immediate parents.


    Two inclinations are never the exact same, even if the same or simr symbols appear.


    A symbol randomly appearing on the body shows what a person''s inclination is, even if the symbol''s meaning is unknown, the owner wille to understand the meaning eventually as they grow.


    The symbol appears before the baby is one year old. This has led to unsessful experiments rting to how the baby''s circumstances affect the development of the inclination.


    Toz hadn''t inherited the inclination from either of his parents, nor from anyone in his lineage as far as he knew, and it was easily determined by the obvious cat''s paw symbol that appeared on his right hand shortly after birth.


    ording to some research, how fast the inclination appeared was an indication of how well it suited the human it had appeared on. Considering it had shown itself with almost record-breaking speeds on Toz, he and his family suspected at least it suited him greatly. These suspicions were confirmed the moment his crib had been surrounded by cats a few days after he was brought home, and how the area he lived in noticed a significant rise in stray cats.


    Since his neighbors knew it was probably because of him they didn''t chase the cats away and instead guided them to Toz since it might be beneficial to his future development. Although it took a few years, it was thanks to his cat-friendly neighborhood that Toz and Nil eventually met for the first time.


    With Toz''s inclination and natural affinity with cat-like creatures, he didn''t think the cat of fire in his cat would refuse a bond with him, even if magical creatures like wild beasts, spirit beasts, and potentially spirits, showed stronger resistance to his cat-nip-like attraction.

 Chapter 24 Quartet

    ?Toz was reluctant to wake the cat to wake up and try and bond with it when it was so tranquilly purring in hisp. While Nil and Lucy finished their dinner and Toz slurped up his soup however the cat seemed to have rested enough.


    It opened it''s dark orange eyes, revealing yellow candlelight pupils. The pupils swayed ever so slightly as the cat turned around to look at Toz''s left hand moving across it''s back. Then the cat moved it''s gaze to Toz''s right hand, resting on his knee, next to the cat. More specifically it looked at the symbol on his hand.


    After confirming the existence of the symbol the cat looked questioningly at Toz as it slowly moved it''s paw toward the symbol.


    Upon contact between the hand and the paw, a familiar singing sensation rushed through the symbol on Toz''s hand.


    At first he couldn''t ce the feeling but when he looked into the cat''s eyes he remembered it was the same feeling that had appeared when he first touched the orb down in the pit. He hadn''t put any thought into it then, because he was preupied with other things, but what if that was the egg reacting to his inclination, or his inclination affecting the egg in some way.


    Maybe it was due to Toz''s interference the egg had hatched a cat, and not something else. Even if it was a hunch, just the idea that an inclination could affect the birth of another creature was almost revolutionary.


    No matter if Toz made the egg hatch into a cat or it was already going to do that without him affecting it, Toz was happy. Since he wouldn''t be able to bond with any other kind of beast it would be inconvenient to travel with it, and it would be difficult for it to keep up with the rate Toz, Nil and Lucy improved their strength.


    Instead of going through unnecessary troubles because of a fleeting affection it would be better to sever ties early on and make sure the beast gets a better home. Thankfully there was no need to even think about that anymore since the cat had even initiated the bond by itself.


    Regardless of whether Toz had turned the egg into a cat, his inclination hade into contact with it once, and at that time already briefly made the egg''s not yet developed consciousness aware of Toz. The mana itself was already familiar with his existence even if it wasn''t under control of a condensed soul yet.


    Then, during the time in the cave afterwards, Toz had spent a lot of time close to the egg and further imprinted his existential signature on the cat-to-be. With all of that the cat didn''t need any further prompting to bond with Toz.


    The bonding process began as soon as the cat touched the cat''s paw symbol on Toz''s hand, and their mana began connecting and linking to each other.


    Different types of creatures and beasts use magic in different ways, but most train their mana in simr ways. By absorbing the mana in the atmosphere and converting it into their own.


    Mana of the same element doesn''t need any real conversion, the magic user only needs to absorb it and make it theirs.


    Neutral, or no-attribute mana needs one conversion. A different element requires at least two conversions. Depending on the different elements, both of the user and of the absorbed mana these conversion can be more arduous sometimes, and easier during other circumstances.


    During the process of converting and absorbing mana the mana in the body is further condensed and strengthened. The strength and purity of mana is measured in several levels, where low, medium, and high level signify a significant transformation in the mana''s structure.


    Toz linking his mana with his cats'' mana gives him the ability to possess that element and also helps him in absorbing and controlling it. After bonding with Nil and Lucy he can absorb various elements, convert it into either metal or darkness and use that to wield magic. The mana he already owns is easily transformed between the elements he has ess to.


    And now that he has bonded with a fire attribute cat beast he has ess to the fire attribute as well.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Although the cat''s don''t get any direct benefits the same way Toz does, the inclination connects them and all of their magic rted talent is shared, making them better at controlling mana and magic in general. That''s what Toz has concluded in his observations of Nil and Lucy at least.


    One of the most noticeable increases in talent that all of them benefit from is the size of their mana pool increasing.


    As the bonding with the fire cat continued Toz could feel his body heating up and his mana begin trembling. The previous times he had bonded he had first turned shiny and then he had been totally covered in darkness. It seemed that every time he got ess to a new element his body would go through a quick baptism, and get acquainted with the element.


    After the baptism Toz felt his body begin to instinctively draw in the surrounding mana, filling up his recently expanded mana pool.


    With the ce he was in, right next to a pool ofva, in a fire attribute realm, there was no need to convert the fire attribute mana into any other element before he could absorb it properly.


    However there was no time to rest, with a new element he could refine his body once again, this time using fire attribute mana.


    There is no real need to do it, since the total strength of all elements is based on his level, and his level increases as long as he trains at least one of his attributes to the next level, if one attribute breaks through so do the rest since it''s all his mana just in different forms. Refining his body is basically just a way to strengthen himself and his control over the specific attribute.


    But refining his body with his mana also increases the amount his mana pool can fit to some degree.


    The moremon way to train for mages with several attributes is to rush one attribute as high as possible as fast as possible, since greater strength is better the sooner you get it. If they hit a wall when trying to reach the next level, they begin bringing other attributes up to the same level. If the fourth level is their first limit, they will first be a fourth level, once refined mage, then a fourth level, twice refined. All the way until they break through, or until they run out of elements. A new refinement is only counted when it reaches the same level as the highest attribute.


    With three cats of different elements, Toz can be a second level, thrice refined mage if he focuses on refining the fire attribute until it is at the same level as the other two elements, on it''s own, without relying on his already strengthened mana.


    Since having several attributes makes it easier to absorb a lot of mana quickly, no matter what element one has chosen to focus on it is a popr method. However Toz wouldn''t be able to chose one element over another since it would mean choosing one cat over another. There is also the fact that Toz uses a mostly close quartersbat style, which greatly makes use of his advantage in physical strength against opponents of simr levels.


    With the talent for fire mana Toz is now sharing with the other cats, as well as his previous experiences he didn''t need too long to reach the first level, which, fair enough, is only to get proper control over the mana as it is circted around the body once. The second level requires going into ces the first level doesn''t cover, and further strengthen the body and mana veins. It''s the same with the third level. Things change at the fourth level however.


    Since Toz had reached the first level he decided to stop there and begin informally interacting with his newpanion, as well as make sure the other two cats are doing okay with the increased talent and mana pool.


    Toz looked up to find the cat inspecting Nil and Lucy as they diligently absorb and convert mana whileying next to each other almost a couple of meters away from Toz.


    The burning cat seemed deeply interested in the way the two cats did their training, and especially in the way the mana surrounding them moved. But it was slightly hard to tell if that was what the cat was really looking at considering it''s out of the norm pupils, that moved on their own.

 Chapter 25 And Their Name Is...!

    ?Unlike Toz who just had to absorb some fire mana to fill out his expanded mana pool and refine his body once, Nil and Lucy had to first convert that mana before absorbing it. Even if they had more work to do, they finished shortly after Toz and were startled to find the orange cat right in front of their faces, staring intently at them.


    Then the orange cat also jumped back in response to the other two twitching. The two parties looked at each other with some wariness until Toz cleared his throat.


    "Ahem. Since it''s our first real meeting, how about some introductions? I''ll go first,


    "My name is Toz, I like cats and Ie from the City of Growing Iron, it''s nice to meet you and I hope we have an enjoyable time together."


    Then after a pointed gesture from Toz, Nil continued,


    "I''m Nil, I like fish."


    "Hi, I''m called Lucy. Do you have any thoughts on burning stuff down to the ground?"


    "..."


    The orange cat didn''t respond immediately, instead, it alternated between looking at the different members of the trio watching it with a moderate amount of expectations. Then after several seconds, with a crackling voice, fitting its fiery appearance, said,


    "Hello... I don''t have a name yet but it is very nice to meet you all. I have never tried burning down something so I don''t know, but it sounds kind of fun."


    Since hatched spirit beasts inherit part of the intelligence andnguage skills, as part of the mana passed down, it came as no surprise that the cat talked. But what the trio wasn''t all too ready for was the voice. It sounded slightly like crackling fire and the rustling of a pile of burning firewood copsing, the sounds were denser than how fire actually sounded. But it was unmistakenly the sounds of fire. Notpletely unexpected since the cat was made of fire. Why wouldn''t it sound like fire when it talked?


    Based on how the sounds changed, and the differing intonation it could be understood that words were spoken, but the meaning of them was intelligible. If not for the bond with Toz''s inclination none of them would have understood her.


    In addition to helping them understand each other, the bond also helped in revealing the orange cat''s gender. The bond didn''t just transfer the meaning of the words, it made the entire conversation understandable, including things such as the speaker''s mood and personality, including their gender, if applicable.


    Since nothing simr had ever happened before, Toz was a little shocked to discover a new function of his inclination. Did that mean they canmunicate with each other, without talking directly to each other?


    Toz quickly discarded any stay thoughts and focused back on the orange cat in front of him.


    "Since you weren''t born with a name, do you want us to give you one?"


    "Yes please."


    The cat didn''t even hesitate with its answer as it continued staring at Toz with anticipation. Toz''s use of "us" had turned into only Toz giving her a name, apparently. Since it was apparent she only wanted Toz to name her, he didn''t bother asking the other two. And the three cats let him think in silence.


    Toz wanted to give her a name that suited her, was unique, and maybe a name that had some special meaning. The most popr name for fire attribute beasts was, with arge margin, Ifrit, so he didn''t even think about that one. He kept pondering, buting up with names out of the blue is a difficult task.


    While Toz wanted some more time to think, he also didn''t want to betray the orange cat''s expectations and ask her to wait, especially when she was looking at him so adoringly.


    "How about Lany?"


    Toz didn''t need to hear her response as just her stiff smile was enough for him to discard that name entirely.


    "Nerry?"


    Since she had realized Toz didn''t mind her not liking the name she shook her head in response.


    "Harley?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Another head shake.


    "Queen?"


    This time she considered it for a few seconds before rejecting it. Although it sounded nice, it was a bit pretentious to allow herself to be named Queen.


    "Okay then,st chance! Not really, but...


    "What about Mindle?"


    "Hmm, yeah it''s better than the other ones. It sounds nice. I like it"


    Mindle gave a satisfied nod as she whispered it to herself a few times.


    Nil and Lucy also tried saying it a little bit. Although it was their first time meeting Mindle and their interactions are bound to be a little stiff in the beginning, they would have plenty of time and opportunities to get to know each other better as they continue traveling with Toz.


    After familiarizing herself with her newly acquired name she asked Toz for some food. Even if her body was made of mana she could eat and absorb the mana in the food while evaporating any non-mana parts. There was also the curiosity of eating, like she had seen the others do, as well as a feeling of sharing an experience with them. Doing the same things is the first step to bing closer.


    Toz understood her wants and gave her both a mammoth patty and a tiny bowl of soup.


    The soup evaporated as soon as it entered Mindle''s mouth, creating a cloud of vapor. The steam leaking from Mindle''s mouth, lit up from behind by her fiery body created a demonic scene that had Lucy''s eyes gleaming with excitement. He almost asked Toz to give her more soup just because it looked so cool.


    But Lucy knew himself that interrupting someone eating a delicious Toz-made meal is not easily pardonable, and giving Mindle more soup just because he thought it looked cool also wouldn''t be very polite.


    Mindle ate the rest of the soup, but since only the mammoth meat had a substantial amount of mana in it, the rest was turned into dust that blew away in the evening wind.


    The patty was different as Mindle devoured it whole, all the while making sure Toz knew it was tasty.


    Toz had learned his lesson. No more soup for the cats.


    After dinner was finished the sun had begun to set. Since Toz wanted an early start the next day they all agreed to go to sleep early as well.


    The quartet headed back to the cave they had stayed in previously.


    The shock wave from the copsing mountain had blown away any defenses they had set up so Toz and Mindle took first watch.


    While it should take at least a day until beasts start investigating the mountains, there is no reason not to be careful. Toz also saw it as an opportunity to talk at ease with Mindle, in a more rxed manner, than what it would be with an audience.


    However Mindle had literally just been born, and although she possessed a conscious mind, with intellect and somemon knowledge of the world, she didn''t actually know much and was considerably naive, so Toz did most of the talking.


    He talked about himself, Nil, and Lucy, his hometown, his family and friends, his journey to explore the universe, and on the way picking up a bunch of cats. He talked about what they had encountered on their journey so far, although not much, and how they had followed an Ember Deer herd migrating to the mountain range, where he had eventually picked up Mindle''s egg.


    While both Toz and his cats enjoyed sleeping, since Toz had refined his body twice at the second level he could endure not sleeping for a night. Which was very practical because Toz and Mindle ended up talking and listening almost the entire night. About an hour before dawn, Nil woke up and took over the watch, letting Toz get a bit of shuteye before the day officially begins.


    Mindle didn''t need to endure having been awake all night because she could jump into the familiar space and sleep while Toz did the walking during the day. While Toz would have enjoyed herpany during the mostly monotonous walk, he still had Nil, and sometimes Lucy, if he managed to stay awake.


    Eventually, everyone except Mindle gathered for a quick breakfast before they decided to head out.

 Chapter 26 Scouts

    ?Toz, Nil and Lucy hadn''t exactly nned their journey. Aside from a few must-sees they were basically winging it, walking in whatever direction they felt like, and taking things as theye. An irresponsible way of doing things, but also very free and without the possibility of any ns being disrupted. However if they couldn''t agree on where to go they wouldn''t get anywhere.


    If they had been smarter they could have used the downtime they had when waiting for Mindle to hatch to n their route in some way. But instead they had goofed off a bit, and focused on other things. Since they had done that, they were now in a situation where they suffered the consequences of their actions.


    Lucy wanted to go to the forest next. Nil wanted to go to another elemental ne. Mindle was asleep. And Toz wanted to continue moving in the opposite direction of Yellow Sparks.


    Just the Ember Deer migration would have the explorers guild send someone to investigate. Now that several mountains had copsed, a small beast stampede had urred and a lot of the beasts in the nearby wilderness had moved about crazily, the explorers guild won''t just sit still.


    If the investigators sent by the guild spot Toz leaving the mountains, they will naturally want to ask him some questions. Even if they just want to find out what happened in the mountains, he would have to lie or risk putting himself and Mindle in danger, since Mindle was obviously special enough to warrant them being targeted. It will also interrupt their journey indefinitely. It will be even worse if he lies, and is then discovered doing that.


    He can''t directly oppose the guild either since he has been granted the badge of permission. With the right to freely explore all first level danger zones alsoes the responsibility of reporting possible dangers to the guild. But, if he decides to walk in the opposite direction of the nearest branch, and no one knows he was there to begin with, there will be no bothersome debriefing.


    Even if the investigators question some of the beasts, if they can, and find out a young, ck-haired man got a hold of some weird orange orb, connecting it to him would only be them grasping for straws, and no one will aim straight for Toz due to greed.


    His surface level of strength also gives him some security. Who would believe a second level mage snatched something in front of seven third level beasts and hundreds of second level, then escaped a mountain range surrounded by several tens of thousands of beasts? No one capable of rational thought at least.


    Nil epted his reasoning but he had still grown slightly tired of the constant heat. Lucy agreed to apromise and they will head to the next forest they encounter, if the situation allows it. Mindle continued sleeping.


    With a n to follow, Toz started walking away from the mountain, in the opposite direction of the town they hade from. Like when they had entered the mountains, the area surrounding it was bumpy and covered in hills that gradually grew smaller, the further away they got, and eventually they got topletely t grasnds.


    After all the beasts had left the mountain, a lot of the grass had been trampled on and ttened, and it made for a smooth walk, during which Nil walked next to Toz. But a few hours into the walk the ins were left mostly untouched and Toz had grass up to his hips. Lucy was unbothered up on his spot on Toz''s head but Nil decided to enter the familiar space. While he could ride on Toz''s shoulders it wasn''t the mostfortable for long walks, for either of them.


    While Lucy was awake, he and Toz talked and bantered, and while he slept Toz walked on in silence, enjoying the freedom of being in the middle of absolute nowhere. No human trails, no sign of civilisation. Just the light snore from Lucy and the sound of grass rustled by the calm breeze apanied Toz''s footsteps.


    At noon Toz crouched down in the grass to take a small break, using the grass to hide him from the sun.


    Lucy woke up for a moment when Toz sat down but continued sleeping so Toz summoned Nil and Mindle. Mindle was still tired but epted the summons and came out to discover they were in the middle of a sea of grass. She yfully swept at the straws swaying around them while Toz exined their decision of walking this way. Nily in Toz''sp as they watched Mindle discover one part of the world at a time.


    Toz would have like a midday nap, but he wanted to put as much distance between himself and and the mountain as possible, before anyone caught up to him.


    Unfortunately he was too slow. Not that his small break made any difference, even if Toz had continued walking he would still have been found. After standing up Toz saw two figures at a distance, that turned in his direction after seeing him. They hade from the direction of the river so at least they hadn''t seen his tracks and were only scouting around the mountains a bit when they saw him.


    But if they are scouts from the explorers guild he won''t be able to outrun them. Scouts aren''t necessarily strong, but they are either very good at reconnaissance, or at traveling fast, or both. Not to mention the level of base strength required to be sent out for a mission by the guild itself.


    Now that Toz already had their attention it wouldn''t be easy for him to get away. At least not without injuries, if it would be him or them injured would be difficult to tell. There is an infinite amount of variables in a fight, especially between humans who don''t know each others inclinations.


    But since Toz was a bit away from the mountain he decided not to risk fighting, and instead wait for them, and see what they want.


    It didn''t take long for the two figures to approach Toz, and as they got closer he saw that one of the figures was a lithe man riding on a blue horse, and the other a young man with long air, gliding through the air with long strides. The two means of transport hinted at their inclination and possible battle methods, but there was nothing definite so far.


    Neither of them looked hostile when they looked at Toz, only some curiosity from the horse rider, and some boredom from the young man.


    Despite their deceptively slow, rhythmic movements, they traveled quickly and were soon withing talking distance of Toz.


    The horse rider initiated the conversation.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Hey there, mind if we chat for a bit?" He said as he pulled out a badge from a chest pocket.


    "I don''t mind," Toz replied. The badge was a badge of authority, proving their legitimacy and that they represented the explorers guild. Toz''s own badge was honestly speaking just a fancy permission slip.


    The badge the man on the horse held up contained a few enchantments and also showed he had a few rights when on mission. Although those rights only extended to those affiliated with the explorers guild, one of the enchantments was to sense nearby permission badges, possessing such a badge of permission directly makes one affiliated with the explorers guild, whether it''s acquired by one''s own capabilities, received peacefully, or stolen. That''s the kind of prestige the explorers guild has.


    The brown haired horse rider was well within his rights to stop Toz and ask him a few questions, with enough grounds for suspicion he could even drag Toz back to the nearest branch for a more thorough investigation. The reason scouts and other investigators worked in pairs was so no one would abuse this authority. The explorers guild had worked hard to earn their reputation and their privileges, if their grunts acted up, who would trust them?


    "We were sent out by the Explorers Guild to investigate a few things regarding the mountain range over there. Have you seen anything special?"


    "Anything special?! No kidding, I saw a herd of Ember Deer that surpassed ten thousand in number. They seemed to be headed toward that mountain range so I nned to take a detour around the mountain range, but when I reach the other side, thinking it''s all clear and I''m safe and all, guess what happens...!"


    "What happened?"


    "A huge beast stampede tried to run me over! Can you believe that? An entire stampede came charging out the mountain range, right at me, I almost thought that was it for me, you know? Luckily i reacted fast enough and hid deep underground til'' the tremors stopped."


    "...A beast stampede?"


    "Yeah, it was crazy, a bunch of beasts stampeding makes a beast stampede, right?"


    "Well yeah, that''s what a beast stampede is."


    "And that''s what I''m telling you it almost ran straight for me. I spent almost a week taking a detour and when i get back on track. BAM! From out of nowhere a beast stampede stampedes right at me!"


    "Okay, a bunch of stampeding beasts, I can see you''re fine enough. Anything else?"


    "I don''t know if it''s something special but the sun rose from the mountains a few times, and then i think a couple of the mountains copsed, but one can''t be so sure about these things. One time my cousin said a bird dropped a stone on his-"


    "I''m not interested in your cousin. What was that about the sun rising from the mountains?"


    "Yeah, I took to the east side of the mountain, so the sun should rise to the east of me, right? But instead, maybe I should say also? Anyway, after the sun rose in the east, it rose again, a couple of times inside the mountain range. A huge orange light covering the sky and all that. It was hot enough for me to feel like I was standing too close to the sun even."


    Finally hearing something that sounded important the horse rider seemed satisfied, based on the response, getting any further details would be like casting fire magic in the Deep Sea. He looked back at the young man, nowying on top of the barely bent grass, as if he weighed nothing. The young man only responded with a gaze and a tilt of his head, indicating to continue with their scouting. They wouldn''t find out much more from this young man in front of them.


    They thanked Toz for his time and bid him farewell, or at least the horse rider did, the wind riding young man merely nodded his head a bit in Toz''s direction. In response Toz said and waved goodbye, ying into his friendly, talkative, neighbor role.


    Unless he needed to, Toz rarely talked this much, but in situations like these having the advantage and directing the flow of the conversation can provide endless benefits. It also gave him the opportunity to dilute the truth of certain things, removing himself from anything that happened in the mountain, and misinform them. If they took his "hid in the ground"ment as truth they would get the wrong idea about what magic he can use, and what his inclination might be. If a fight erupts and their judgment is clouded, Toz gets the advantage at once.


    Thankfully a fight didn''t happen, and Toz only needed to tell them a few easily confirmed things about what had happened in the mountains. But since they were scouts he didn''t let down his guard, especially not with the young man still within distance. Using wind, and the vibrations of air, could be an incredible means of detecting sounds. If Toz sighed in relief, or began talking to an eventual aplice, the young man might overhear, get suspicious and return.


    Not risking it, Toz turned around and walked normally, like he had done before his break, he didn''t even summon Lucy back from the familiar space on to his head. As soon as he saw the figures off in the distance he called his cats into the space. And until Toz waspletely sure they were out of the woods, there they would stay.

 Chapter 27 Mindles Anguish

    ?With Toz and the scouts moving in different directions it didn''t take long for Toz to lose sight of them, and eventually even the mountains disappeared after a few days. With nondmark in sight, they could only rely on themselves, apass, and the stars to keep direction.


    When inspecting the stars, the quartet had found another activity they could enjoy together, stargazing. Laying on their backs the four of them had started spending a part of the night looking at the stars, rxing and appreciating the beauty of a clear night sky.


    There were a few times they managed to see a shooting star. The first time they saw it, Mindle was shocked to see the sky start falling down, even more so when the others closed their eyes. It looked like they were praying. She had no idea about what was going on. Were the others prepared and were only hoping for a better life next time?


    When Mindle was about to start panicking for real, Toz finally noticed her distress. After spending a few minutes calming her down and exining what a shooting star was, and that it ismon in many ces to make a wish when seeing it, Mindle though doubtful, waited a bit. A part from that one shooting star, nothing else happened, there were no further signs of the world ending.


    "Umm... Toz, is it toote to make a wish now?"


    "Not at all."


    Mindle seemed slightly embarrassed to have panicked over something so trivial but she still got attracted to the idea of a shooting star magically granting a wish.


    "Then I wish for-"


    "Wait! Part of the tradition is keeping the wish secret. Between you and the shooting star."


    "Oh, okay."


    Mindle shut her eyes tightly and concentrated hard.


    "When will the wishe true?"


    "When ites true, ites true."


    "What does that mean? How do I know if it wille true because of my wish or something else?"


    "If ites true, isn''t it because of your wish? There is excitement in not knowing, and even if the wish doesn''te true, the excitement was fun while itsted, right?"


    "So my wish might note true at all?"


    "There is no guarantee, but what if it does?"


    "Then I''m happy?"


    "And if it doesn''t?"


    "I get sad."


    "And after your sadness, you will have a new opportunity to be happy again."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "..."


    Mindle stayed silent, pondering on what Toz had said. You don''t make a wish for it toe true, you make a wish for the sake of making a wish, and if it doese true there''s some extra happiness in one''s life.


    Although Mindle really wanted her wish toe true. She had only spent a few days with Toz, Nil and Lucy, but she didn''t want to ever leave them. Thefort of their presence, Lucy''s yfulness, Nil''s passion for fish, Toz''s love for all of them. In the small amount of time she had spent with with them she had learned and experienced all she could need to be happy, even with her obvious physical differences.


    When Mindle noticed how different she was when eating, manipting mana, flying through the air, she initially started having some insecurities. Her newborn mind was worried she wouldn''t fit in, and that the others would distance themselves from her, despite Toz''s bond with her.


    And instead offorting her with empty words, they didn''t say anything, they only showed everyone was different, and has their own unique quirks, Lucy was unmatched in hide-and-seek. Nil could easily create small beautifully intricate trinkets. Toz kept showing off his cooking skills.


    Aside from Toz, who had noticed Mindle''s insecurities, thanks to his bond with her. The other two were just being themselves, getting to know Mindle, and letting her get to know them. Just their kindness had dissolved any doubts she had about having joined them as soon as she was born.


    She was different, weaker, less experienced. Except for giving Toz ess to fire mana, and boosting their overall talent a tiny bit, Mindle felt like she didn''t contribute anything to the group, that there was no reason for them to treat her well.


    But having felt their kindness Mindle knew she wouldn''t give it up for anything in the world, and her wish was to stay with them forever.


    Toz could feel her fluctuating emotions while they gazed at the stars one night. He was worried that his efforts in making Mindle feel loved had back fired. But when they settled down and he could feel Mindle''s happiness, he smiled contentedly and closed his eyes.


    Nilying next to Toz, picked up on his satisfaction and looked over at Mindle with a gentle smile.


    Before stargazing every night they made sure to designate at least one cat to stay awake and keep watch, with Toz walking every day, and the cats having ess to the familiar space, the cats decreed that Toz would sleep every night. This particr night it was Nil''s turn and he saw the other three gradually doze off and smile happily in their sleep. Lucy seemed to have subconsciously picked up on the good feelings everyone was having, and shared in them.


    The night passed without incident.


    Toz woke up, and for no discernible reason looked at his right hand. The symbol of a cat''s paw that had previously only been the outlines of the paw had changed a bit. Aside from an orange dot next to it, ced in a row with the grey and the ck dots, right below the paw, representing Mindle, the color had deepened and seemed to have flowed inwards. The dark brown lines had turned an even darker shade of brown, and almost like wet paint had started streaming inwards.


    It didn''t reallye as a surprise that his symbol had changed, his inclination had just developed a bit further. As a human grew, the inclination could also grow with them. It didn''t happen all that often and it was never in the same manner for different people. What surprised Toz was the most likely reason for it having happened at this moment.


    After Mindle joined them, they had all worked together to make her feel included, and at the same time, grown closer to each other. Last night had been like clearing a threshold. With Mindle''s feelings settled and her trust in them developing, Toz''s inclination had strengthened.


    He couldn''t tell if there were any immediate effects or benefits from the new version. But that didn''t matter, he didn''t need a "better" inclination and that wasn''t the reason he had supported Mindle.


    It was more like finding a coin on the street. Toz didn''t walk down that street to find the coin, the coin just happened to be there. It''s nice finding and picking up a coin, but it won''t bring enough change to significantly affect his life.


    Although it provided a clue in how he might further strengthen his inclination, there is no need for that at the moment. It would be better to just focus on his journey and his cats, letting things like that happen in the background.


    Toz also told the cats about the change, but they didn''t care that much. Lucy thought the new design looked cool. And although Mindle already knew her dot was on Toz''s hand, it made her happy just seeing it again.

 Chapter 28 New Area

    ?It had been more than a week since the human and his cats left the mountain range. Walking through an endless sea of grass wasn''t the most fun thing one could do, but they yed games, chatted, and hunted to pass the time while they walked.


    They counted the birds, and different kinds of grass, yed word games, invented new games, and yed them. When they grew tired of fooling around, they traveled in silence, or with the asional conversation. When they grew bored of walking, they either stayed in ce to train their mana a bit or went out to find prey.


    They had a lot of food stored in Toz''s pockets, but it''s nice to switch it up with newer game sometimes.


    Since Mindle had just been born, she wasn''t as strong or skilled as the others. But with her strength approaching the second level, andcking the proper way to use her firepower efficiently, she had set the grass on fire more than a couple of times.


    Thankfully, Toz, who decided to stay close to Mindle, controlled the wildfires and put them out before they grew out of control.


    Despite Mindle''s natural advantage when controlling fire and her closeness to fire mana, Toz had more experience using magic and mana overall. His pure firepower might not be as destructive as Mindle''s, but he had better control.


    While Mindle was busy practicing her magic on live targets and the grass, Lucy found a tunnel system belonging to some kind of rat, covered in ayer of dust. They weren''t that strong, barely strong enough to heat the dirt. The dried dirt was moved out of the way or applied to their fur like a protective coating. But Lucy continued bringing up an endless amount of them.


    They were tiny and suitable for both fire magic practice and as something light to snack on when walking. Lucy kept bringing them up out of the ground, Nil peeled the dirt off some of them and Toz and Mindle worked together to cook the rats.


    The ones with their coat of soil, still on when cooked had a softer more roasted kind of texture once the coating was removed, while the peeled rats had a crisp surface. Although they had a slightly earthy vor Toz didn''t have an infinite amount of spices and it would be a waste to use them on something so trivial so the four of them, mostly Toz since it was easy for him to eat while walking, at them without any extra voring.


    Shortly after Lucy discovered the swarming rats underground, the four realized they had reached the other side of the sea of grass they had been crossing.


    At first, the lush, green grass got shorter, sparser, and duller as ifcking nutrients and water. Then slowly, it began dyingpletely before the ground was cleared entirely of any nts, leaving only rocks and solid earth. The flourishing grassy ins had turned into a wastnd.


    While it would be easier for the cats to walk beside Toz, it was an abrupt change in the environment, and it didn''t seem to be because of a naturally urring reason.


    As Toz and his cats progressed further, Lucy still finding and picking up rats, they saw the ground change from t ins to a more chaotdscape. While it wouldn''t be incorrect to say it was uneven, that didn''t begin to describe it, as ravines, canyons, and hills, of all sizes spread out in front of them.


    Some of the ravines looked like old dried-up rivers, others like the earth had just copsed in on itself. With the ground not looking as solid as before, Toz asked Lucy to tone down the rat-hunting, down in their tunnels.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The rat hunting had lost its newness, and Lucy readily agreed. Instead, he wanted to explore therge scars on the ground. Toz wanted him to be careful with that, so after a short exchange, Nil agreed to follow Lucy. Safety in numbers and all that.


    While Nil and Lucy were busy exploring their immediate surroundings, Toz and Mindle focused on finding a way to get past all the ravines in an efficient manner.


    Most of the time, the ravines and furrows weren''t too long and could be circumvented, but at other times they had to climb down and then crawl back up or jump over. When they had to jump Toz would either throw Mindle over first or let her ride along in the familiar space when he jumped over himself.


    Nil and Lucy had no trouble keeping up with Toz as they moved around, down into the ravines, looking for something interesting. They didn''t find a lot, almost nothing in fact. No weeds, no corpses, or signs of any other wildlife.


    The four of them had unwittingly entered an area without an iota of life in it, except for the rats that Lucy still asionally brought back to Toz.


    Toz didn''t know what to think about it, but he didn''t sense any immediate danger, and his instincts had always been reliable. Aside from continuing to pass through the wastnd, the only other option was to turn back and find a way around it or take an entirely different route. Since they would have to agree on what direction to take if they decided to not continue straight ahead, it would be easier to just continue. Toz had his pockets full of water and food, and there are still rats to be found.


    Eventually, as the quartet traversed the wastnd they encountered a ravine that dwarfed almost all the others they had seen. They could barely see to the other side, and it stretched past the horizon both on the left and right.


    Their only option was to go down and cross it. Thankfully it wasn''t too deep and the climb was easy.


    When they were down in the ravine Toz noticed how it had be a perfect air funnel. At the bottom the wind was almost strong enough to lift Lucy off of his head.


    The strong windbined with various crevices and holes along the walls filled the ravine with a symphony of eery howls.


    It might have been nothing more than a hallucination created by the howls, but Toz got a feeling they were being watched as they crossed the bottom. He kept a watch out for any suspicious movements but didn''t see anything except for a lot of stone and soil. He saw gravel fall down the cliffs a few times, but that could have been the wind, not necessarily some lurking beast, eyeing them.


    Mindle didn''t have the same keen senses as the other three, but Lucy and Nil also felt ufortable. Aside from the howls they were also very exposed and in a vulnerable position. It was a great opportunity for an ambush.

 Chapter 29 Ratbush

    ?All four knew they weren''t in the best position should they be attacked, so they kept their guard up. The howling wind was making conversation difficult anyway. They focused on the holes and openings in the walls on either side of the canyon. If beasts were targeting them, those holes would be a perfect spot to ready an ambush.


    The group walked while carefully surveying their surroundings. Their caution slowed their walking speed, and it took longer than expected to reach the middle of the canyon.


    The sense of ill intent had covered the group ever since they entered the ravine, but as they reached the halfway point, it increased exponentially. It could no longer be chalked up as an active imagination boosted by the creepy howling wind. The gazes of the beasts targeting Toz and his cats were nearly tangible.


    Toz knew they were in trouble, but that was all he knew. He didn''t know what kind of enemy they were up against, their number, or their strength. Although the only living beings they had seen so far in the wastnd were the rats, they didn''t seem to have the required patience or wits to organize an ambush.


    But the rats were obviously a grander threat than previously assumed as waves of them came pouring out of both cliffs after the group passed the middle.


    With the size of the canyon, the rats wouldn''t cover the group instantly, but if the rats continued pouring out of the walls, it would almost be enough to flood the canyon, not to mention drown the group.


    If they didn''t do something and quickly at that, it would be the end of the road for them. Thankfully they had worked on their cooperation in the time since Mindle joined them. Although being swarmed by rats wasn''t within their consideration, they took action without interfering with each other and instead supported each other, especially Toz and Mindle.


    Toz and Mindle had the most effective tool in dealing withrge numbers of weak enemies. Fire.


    Although there wasn''t a lot of ambient fire mana, they used that and their own to gatherrge amounts of mes. The mes covered the skies before raining down on the rats, unleashing a furious hell of screams.


    Unlike the rats Lucy had caught, the ones caught in the rain of fire were being cooked alive by the heat.


    But the number of rats was too great, and the mes only covered the surface, sending down heat only a few meters of the dozens of meters tall tsunami of rats.


    The light of the fire shone down from above, filling the ground and the rats with shadows of theirpatriots. Lucy took advantage of the gorge itself being deep in the ground, limiting the amount of sunlight entering. The naturally dark ambiance further strengthened his magic as he used the shadows of the rat tsunami against itself. He stretched the shadows to cover and hold the rats down. Although the rats were already in a frenzy, Lucy disrupted their senses as much as possible.


    In the chaos of screaming, burning rats, and wildly moving shadows, the group of humans had disappeared, and the rats had lost their target. Lucy had taken advantage of the enemy focusing on his shadows to cover himself and the others in a veil of darkness. While hiding their presence, they moved along the gorge to escape the floundering mass of rats.


    Having lost their target, or maybe the onemanding had stopped, the rats were only left with base instinct and didn''t know what to do with their burning bodies and screaming rtives. It resulted in massive chaos, and there didn''t seem to be any attempts at finding their target again.


    But the amount of rats was still too much, so Toz and the others moved a safe distance away, still covered in darkness. Their situation didn''t look too bright.


    It would take a lot of mana to reach one of the walls without being discovered. And even if they reach the wall, they need to climb it too.


    With the way the rats had flowed out of the holes in the wall, there would, without a doubt, be many more hiding in there. If they are discovered, they won''t have the same leeway in counterattacking before making a run for it. They would be drowned instantly.


    As of now, their greatest hope might be scaring the rats away long enough for them to climb up the wall after reaching it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    While it would take a lot of mana to keep themselves hidden when covering the distance to the wall, with Toz and Lucy working together, they could make it.


    After a few hours of walking, they arrived at the wall, slightly further up the canyon than the ce they had descended and on the opposite side.


    Toz and Lucy were tired from having had to constantly use mana for several hours, and they decided to rest before proceeding with the n. While keeping themselves hidden with magic had been strenuous, it was because they were moving about and out in the open. Sitting still right next to the wall wouldn''t take nearly as much effort.


    The group, mainly Toz and Lucy, rested long enough for the sun to have finished setting. With the darkness of night aiding them, it was time to show those rats who''s boss.


    Lucy kept the group hidden while Toz and Nil began making tiny metal threads, and Mindle started slowly gathering the mana in the air and her body in front of her as she faced the walls.


    While Mindle did her best to keep the heat from escaping, she was still too inexperienced topletely control the amount of mana she had gathered, and the group had to start setting up for their n.


    Lucy had conserved enough mana for what he was about to do, but after that, he would have to retire to the familiar space or risk putting himself and the others in danger. Some of his mana had gone to cover the group and their activities, but most of what he had used had been when he investigated the tunnel system in the wall where they were.


    Now he was going to cast ayer of darkness over the metal threads piled high on the ground between Toz and Nil. It was mostly insurance to make sure they aren''t spotted in the moonlight, especially when covered in glistening blood.


    After he was done, he entered the familiar space, wishing the others luck before immediately falling asleep.


    Without Lucy''s cover, Toz and Nil had to move fast as they spread the threads over the wall. Weaving a that covered as many holes as possible. The thread was thin enough that the pile that was only a meter high covered arge part of the wall. They made sure the holes in the were denser where there were holes in the wall and sparser where there weren''t to use the thread as efficiently as possible.


    They didn''t have the range to reach the top of the wall, so they curved the upwards part of the to catch any rats that fell from above.


    Toz and Nil had just gotten the in ce when they heard rustling stones and chittering of rats getting closer.


    With the cue from Toz, Mindle, who was already struggling to contain the mana she had gathered, let it loose.


    She hadn''t only gathered the mana, but she had also prepared it for what she was going to do with it. Mindle had condensed and directed the eventual explosion to enter one of the holes in the wall in front of her.


    The condensed fire magic looked like aser beam as it pierced right into the mountain through the hole, leaving a st of air in its wake.


    Unlike Toz, Nil, and Mindle, who didn''t feel any of the heat from theser beam, the cliff was in bad shape. The area around the entrance had begun melting, and sts of air began leaving the nearby holes.


    Following the hot air was only one thing. Pandemonium.

 Chapter 30 Rivers (Gore)

    ?At first, the rats only came out one at a time, after which it drizzled rats before an endless amount poured out. It would have looked like it did earlier, during the ambush, if not for the covering the cliff wall. The hair-fine threads were practically invisible to the panicking rats as they charged right into them, getting sliced into pieces that rained down in a shower of blood.


    Although some rats had enough consciousness to realize theirpatriots were dying as soon as they left the hole, the heat, and more rats, chasing them from behind wouldn''t let them stop. The gory rain continued unabated.


    Mindle had been killing the odd rats that slipped through the, but the blood and flesh sttering her soon got too much, and she joined Lucy in the familiar space. Nil was envious, but he understood that he and Toz had to work together to hold up the.


    Nil hid behind Toz, climbing up on his back to take shelter from the blood raining down from above and the blood that had started covering the ground, streaming past Toz''s feet.


    Toz himself looked like a mad demon of ughter as he was covered head to toe in bits and pieces of flesh and blood. Nil, even with his cover, wasn''t much better off. Both of them wanted a couple of showers and baths with an amazing brush in hand and some soap.


    But they couldn''t leave yet. The rats were still pouring out, with no signs of stopping any time soon.


    The streaming blood had reached past Toz''s ankles.


    They had to close their eyes due to all the raining blood and only rely on their instinct to try and kill any rats slipping through with enough life to go after them.


    Still, no matter how many rats died, more rats fled from the nest every second. The tunnel system seemed to be more extensive than what the group previously thought if it could hold that many. Toz almost let his concentration falter as he wondered how they could survive in a wastnd so devoid of life when he realized that maybe the rats were the reason for that.


    Thankfully Nil noticed and tapped him on the head to get Toz to focus again. No matter how monotonous it was, holding up the took a lot of concentration since they needed to control their mana and keep the steady. Not to mention being on the lookout for surviving rats.


    But despite how much mana Mindle had gathered in her fireball, neither that nor the rats were infinite, and soon instead of rats fleeing from the heat, rats already touched by the fire reced them. The burned rats didn''t make as much of a mess when being sliced by the, but it didn''t matter since both Toz and Nil werepletely covered in gore.


    Eventually, only barely alive rats managed to crawl out of their nest, dropping down, dead before they hit the ground.


    Toz felt that no more rats wereing and opened his eyes. He was standing in a river of blood and scraps of flesh. Despite the small size of rats, with their numbers, they had managed to create a veritable spring of flowing blood.


    With blood dripping down his hair, all Toz could see, hear, and touch was the red blood.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Both he and Nil were not in a proper state of mind or body, having exhausted their mana, holding the up against the avnche of rats and getting drenched in their entrails.


    But now was not the time to rest or clean up since the rats had been chased out of the nearby cliff wall, and Toz had gotten himself an opportunity to escape the canyon.


    The heat from theserbeam still lingered inside, preventing the rats from reiming their territory, but with the size of the nest and with how spread out the heat would be, the stone would soon cool down enough for the rats toe back.


    Nil shook off as much blood as he could before entering the familiar space. Toz didn''t need to carry any extra weight when climbing the wall. The familiar space was easily cleaned, but Nil didn''t want to fall asleep when covered in blood, not to mention leaving Toz in thisnd of massacre alone, so Nil hesitated when entering the familiar space. But he trusted Toz, and in the end, Toz was left to climb the bloody wall alone.


    The heat had spread through the cliff, but only the area immediately surrounding the hole that Mindle had shot herser into was untouchably hot. The rest of the wall was moderately warm, but it could also have been the warm blood that wall was soaked in.


    The slippery wall was difficult to climb, but the many holes and crevices provided a lot of foot and handholds. Nevertheless, at some points, he was forced to use the remaining dregs of his mana to reinforce his fingers and shoes.


    It was an exhausting climb, something Toz never wanted to do again, but despite close shaves where he almost lost his grip and fell, he managed to reach the top and get over the ledge.


    Heid down panting, and the only reason he didn''t copse the moment he had solid ground below him was the sticky feeling of being covered in blood. Although he really didn''t want to continue moving at the moment, the difort kept him awake long enough to make him remember that the rats would eat him in his sleep if he stayed.


    As such, Toz could only falteringly get up and keep moving to get clear of the area he was in.


    He remembered the river they had first started following, and unless itpletely changed directions, he would eventually reach it if he went west instead of continuing straight ahead. Toz knew that the canyon he had just crossed stretched out west and east since it was almost straight in his journey south. Toz was thankful he didn''t need to rummage around his pockets, trying to find apass.


    Toz took onest nce down at the canyon. No matter how diforting, it was one hell of a ughter. Enough rats had died to create a stream of blood, now flowing through the canyon. Toz ced some distance between himself and the canyon before heading west, hoping to find a river of flowing water.


    He had considered stopping to try and scrape the blood off of him and change clothes to prevent anyone from following his scent, but without an extremely powerful rinsing, the stench of blood wouldn''t leave him.


    Leaving bloody footprints behind him, a man drenched in blood walked through the wastnd.

 Chapter 31 Revenge

    ?Toz walked as far as he could move his legs. Unfortunately, that wasn''t very far, and before long, Lucy and Mindle moved out and pulled Toz along after he copsed. They crawled under his chest and put his weight on them as they struggled to move him. Nil was still tired and in no position to help them pull.


    After trying and failing to move Toz, they settled for finding shelter and putting him under the rock sticking out of the ground they had found. The dried blood covering him and his coat made it difficult for them to get it off him, but as the sun began to rise, they managed to do it. They shook off as much of the crusty, dry blood as they could before pulling out snacks from the pockets on the coat. Thankfully since things needed to be brought in or out by someone, no blood had gotten inside and filled the coat.


    Lucy and Mindle couldn''t decide if they should try and wake Toz up to get him to eat something or if they should let him rest. They didn''t have the same hesitation when waking Nil up and pulling him out of his part of the familiar space.


    After grumbling, a bit Nil just told them to let both him and Toz rest, especially Toz. Although it was important to replenish energy, he had eaten a lot of grilled rats before they entered the canyon. He wasn''t injured or starving, only physically and mentally tired.


    While Nil went back to sleep, Lucy and Mindle shared the view of the rising sun as they watched over Toz and his gentle bloodstained sleeping face. But it was a very uninteresting thing to do, and after the sunrise, they made sure Toz was protected by Lucy''s magic before heading out to y.


    They explored the surroundings a bit, trying to find something to do. It was still the same wastnd they had been traveling through for several days, however. Thus, without straying too far from Toz, they began ying hide and seek.


    Lucy, the previously undefeated champion, had almost met his match. While Mindle wasn''t as good at hiding as he was, she could see heat signatures, a fatal w in Lucy''s stealth methods. They were stuck in a cycle of never being able to remain hidden from each other.


    Mindle tried her best when searching for good hiding spots, but when up against Lucy''s expertise in hiding and sneaking, she stood no chance.


    When ying around, they soon discovered a few entrances to the rats'' tunnel system, mainly due to the scent of cooked rats wafting out of the holes.


    Even if Toz had copsed rtively quickly, they were still a fair distance away from where they had attacked the rats'' nest. Either the heat had traveled really far, or it was only the scent. In any case, they should have some leeway over the next couple of days. Logically speaking, the rats should be too scared toe close, and if the smell of their deadpanions continues spreading through the tunnels, maybe the rats will stay even further away.


    Although it was good that Toz would be able to rest properly, it also meant no more snacks on the road.


    The smell of grilled rats got the two cats hungry, so they ran back to Toz''s shelter to pull out some jerky from his pockets.


    When they got back, they found Toz and Nil already eating snacks without them. Despite Toz being tired enough to sleep for days, the difort of sleeping on hard ground while covered by ayer of dry blood kept him from sleeping longer than absolutely needed.


    Although they were happy upon seeing Toz awake and well, eating delicious food without them requiredpensation. Toz was left with no choice but to appease Lucy and Mindle with abundant head pats.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Lucy and Mindle were considerate enough to squeeze together and let Toz pet them with one hand so he could eat with the other.


    While they were gone, Toz and Nil tried to brush off as much dried blood as possible, but they still looked like brutally murdered murder victims.


    After eating enough to keep themselves alive, they got moving again. Toz, despite his fatigue, was the most eager, with Nil a close second. They wanted to quickly find somece to properly wash themselves.


    Even if the direction they had started walking in was a long shot, it was still the best guess they had at reaching a source of water in the fastest way possible. There were no signs of how far the wastnd stretched out, and walking through it while covered in blood would only lead to them being hounded by rats day and night.


    That was one thing that Toz and the cats were still confused by, how could the rats survive and prosper in this deserted wastnd. The ambush and their own counterattack had shown them how flourishing their poption was. Any ordinary beast would not be able to reproduce to that degree without proper sustenance.


    Unless there was some hidden ecosystem deep underground that the rats were a part of, their continued prosperity almost seemed like a miracle.


    In any case, the rats were annoying and had formed an especially deep grudge with Toz and Nil. While walking, they continued attacking the holes and rats that popped up. Nil threw down tons of traps and caltrops that rolled down the holes and made it difficult for the rats to move around. Toz used the same move that Mindle had used and firedser beams down the holes at regr intervals.


    After Toz''s repeated attacks, the oppressive smell of blood that was still surrounding them began to be overwhelmed by the scent of grilled rats. It was a nice change for anyone who hadn''t almost drowned in the blood of the same kind of rat. Lucy happily received all the rats-turned-snacks and gave the ones that left the holes to Mindle to roast.


    Toz and Nil weren''t as enthusiastic about the ratsing up to the surface as the other two were, but they didn''t say or do anything to dissuade them either. They just concentrated their ire on the rats.


    Although the continued bursts of fire sent down the tunnels brought up a lot of rats, they were either killed by Lucy and Mindle or ran away. Toz didn''t care too much about the small number of rats that escaped he mostly wanted some kind of revenge for both the ambush and showering him in blood. And torching the rats'' home was a perfect way to do that.


    But Toz didn''t have an infinite amount of mana, and he was still tired from before, so they took regr breaks and focused on restoring stamina by eating some leftover mammoth meat.


    While Toz''s pockets didn''t have any kind of preservation ability, things that would usually spoil, like meat, when packed full of mana, took longer to go bad. Although the meat had started aging, it was still perfectly fine, especially the morsels Toz had put in marinade. The marinade had started breaking down the meat and softened it enough to eatfortably.


    After preparing a fire for the night with some of Toz''s firewood, they skewered and grilled the meat. The saucy marinadeplemented the mammoth''s natural vors and further enhanced the savory taste.

 Chapter 32 Strange Rats

    ?After eating their fill and taking a nap, the group continued moving in the darkness. All of them had excellent night vision and perception in the dark. The main reason they didn''t walk during the night before this was because of eventual predators and Toz''s human habits.


    Nil and Lucy had spent a lot of time with Toz and gotten used to being awake during the day and rxing during the night. Mindle had just been born and only ever lived with the other three, so to her, it was obvious to walk when the sun was up and sleep when it wasn''t.


    But Toz was getting really annoyed at being covered in dried blood. He had changed his clothes with some backup ones, but his coat and boots were still bloody. Nil had gotten a simple bath with some of their drinking water, but since they didn''t know how far away the eventual river was, they had to be frugal when using their water.


    Toz''s annoyance wasn''t easily noticed since he did his best to control his irritation and never let it out on his surroundings. Even if he wasn''t always too chatty, he liked joking around with the other three and telling stories, but the further they walked without a sign of water, the less he said, and the more he sighed.


    Lucy and the others tried to keep him in a good mood, but theck of sleep, the crusty dried blood in his hair and all over his body that chafed like a wet shoe two sizes too big made it difficult.


    Toz had tried scraping off the dried blood, but without peeling off his skin, it was impossible to get rid of it all. He had even started worrying about possible diseases, that the blood might give him if it stayed on him for too long and entered his body somehow.


    The atmosphere in the group inevitably grew tense, although it never quite reached a bursting point as, after a few days of walking, they reached the end of the canyon they had followed. Although they had followed the canyon, they had made sure to keep in the right direction with the help of apass.


    The end of the ravine indicated a change in scenery and sparked the hope that they will reach the edge of the wastnd, or at least a river.


    Unlike the other ravines they had encountered on their journey, which were more like cracks in the earth, the canyon they had been following got more and more shallow until it eventually almost reached ground level. The thought hadn''t struck the group before, but the canyon looked slightly like a dried-up riverbed.


    The canyon had been sorge that, despite its size, they didn''t consider it. But despite how grand the possible river might have been, now it was nothing more than an empty scar, running through the ground.


    After studying the possible riverbed for a bit, the group realized that the number of rats and their tunnel entrances had decreased.


    In his annoyance, Toz had tried to keep himself from thinking about his bloodstained self. One thought he had pondered on was the rats'' existence in the wastnd. So far, he had only managed to figure out a theory.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The rats started popping out when the grass began withering, and the deeper into the wastnds the group walked, the more rats there were. There seemed to be a suspicious connection between the two. Although it might be that the rats preferred the wastnd, it could also be that the rats were responsible for killing the ground and all life that relied on it.


    If the rats got their nourishment from the ground itself, it could exin their thriving poption.


    And if that was the case, the rats might just be one heck of a pest and one that is currently guing this ne.


    Then when Toz considered that they were approaching somewhere with a smaller rat poption, he got slightly worried. Either the rats hadn''t gotten here yet, or they had moved on from here, meaning they were entering aplete wastnd with no possibility of finding water.


    Toz was almost hoping he was wrong otherwise he would feel obligated to find someone and report this. Having an entire ne suffer because he didn''t want to go out of his way and warn people about some kind of rat consuming all the nourishment of the elemental ne they were on didn''t sit well with him.


    Even if he didn''t need to warn people about the rats, he was deathly curious about what kind of spirit beast they were. So far, all members of the poption he had encountered had been dumb-as-rock weak, barely first level rats. But there is no way those are capable of nning an ambush or procreating to that degree. There had to be stronger and smarter ones in control somewhere. Would the rats be unable to manage themselves if the stronger ones die, or will someone new rise up and take charge? Where do the ratse from? Are the stronger ones hiding so deep in the ground that neither Toz''s nor Mindle''s fire reach them? How do they create so many tunnels when they are so weak?


    Toz was thankful for all these questions since they kept his mind upied, but at the same time, the curiosity and eagerness to find out were almost as annoying as the dried blood.


    While Toz was lost in his thoughts as they walked, the three cats looked at him with concern more often than not. Toz had grown more and more reticent after the rat massacre, and they were worried about his mental state. They had picked up on his irritation, but what if it was more than just dried blood sticking on his skin?


    However, their worries were unnecessary.


    After a lot of tense walking, the group spotted a few birds flying above the horizon. It was a stark contrast to thepletely deserted wastnds they had spent more than a week in.


    Toz was so excited that he began running thanks to the hope of finding a proper source of water. The dark clouds surrounding him had instantly been reced by rays of sunshine, and his previous annoyance was gone like the wind.

 Chapter 33 Finally Clean

    ?The birds flying around above the horizon wererger than they looked, and the ground filled with vitality was further away than the group first assumed. Toz was panting by the time he got close enough to touch the grass.


    The area bordering the wastnd was a forest of tall trees. The trees, despite the thin mana in the air, looked vibrant. Several meters tall, with visible tree trunks and majestic crowns of leaves resembling flickers of fire.


    The forest in front of Toz was untouched and had a more feral impression than the forest bordering the ins outside Yellow Sparks.


    Although the cut-off between wastnd and forest had been just as abrupt as between the grassy ins and the wastnd, there were no signs of any rats nearby. It was something that Toz had barely noticed before, but with the clear division between wastnd and flourishing forest, he also noticed howcking the mana had been. Since it had lessened gradually, he hadn''t thought that deeply about it. The amount of mana in the air in a first level ne is low, to begin with.


    It wasn''t strange that there was so little mana in the wastnd since mana is an inherent part of nature, but if there is no nature to be a part of, there will not be any mana. Although it might just be a piece of barrennd, there was no feeling of life in it. Even deserts have creatures, nts, and weather. The wastnd only had the asional breeze and rats.


    If the rats really were responsible for turning the wastnd barren and draining away the mana, they posed an even greater threat than Toz previously thought. A ne without mana is just a piece of uninhabitable junk floating through the void.


    Instead of getting distracted by stray thoughts, Toz decided to put the rats on hold while he looked for water.


    When he stepped into the forest, he noticed some nces pass over him. Although they seemed watchful, there was no ill intent, and it didn''t seem the owners of those gazes would take action anytime soon as they ignored him after the first few moments.


    There was no need to needlessly stir up trouble by finding fault with the watchers, especially when Toz desperately needed a bath, and he could understand the reason for this area being under surveince. Most likely, the entire border between the desert and the forest was probably put under strict watch due to the rats.


    The cats soon caught up to him and were happy to finally get out of that wastnd. They spread out and helped look for a source of water Toz could use to wash himself.


    It only took a few hours until they found a small stream coursing through the forest. After refilling the pouches and containers they used for drinking water that had almost been emptied during their trip through the wastnd, Toz stripped and entered the stream. He brought with him his dirty clothes and a bar of soap.


    Toz looked satisfied despite the cool temperature of the water as he stood there in the nude, scrubbing himself like a madman.


    With the help of soap and water, the ky dried blood was washed off his body and out of his hair.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz felt reborn after finally being clean again, after spending several days with a blood-stained body. Although Nil had managed to clean himself a bit as well, with the help of Toz and his soap, he got even cleaner.


    Lucy and Mindle took the opportunity to get rid of umted dirt and take a bath with Toz and Nil. Although Mindle didn''t need it since she could shake off physical matter with ease, she didn''t want to be left out. Even considering water evaporated when it got past her fur and she didn''t particrly enjoy being in the water, it was nice sshing Toz when he tried to wash his clothes.


    After hanging up his wet clothes, Toz quickly took revenge, sending arge wave crashing down on Mindle. The wave ended up creating a cloud of hot steam that warmed Toz''s cold body up.


    The group yed around in the water for a bit, after which they dried themselves, using Mindle and some small towels Toz had in his coat. Enjoying the refreshed feeling after their bath, they took a well-needed rest after marching for several days, sprinting for a few hours, and running around like headless chickens in the forest.


    After a moment of united shut-eye, they started dinner preparations. Unsurprisingly Mindle had campfire duty while Lucy and Nil gathered firewood, and Toz readied the food. He asked the others to keep an eye out for berries and fruits when they looked for firewood. As usual, the main ingredient would be meat, but eating only meat all the time can get boring.


    Toz selected a piece from the mammoth that was especially fatty that he cut into thin strips. He rolled some of the strips around vegetables, fruits, and berries, before putting them all on skewers that he ced around the fire.


    Since the skewers weren''t thatrge, he continued preparing more while the first batch roasted. Lucy, in his hunger, volunteered to watch over the skewers sitting by the fire, and ensure they get an even surface.


    The smell of grilled meat and greens spread through the clearing they had chosen as a campsite and into the forest.


    They were worried about being attacked, but neither Lucy nor Nil had found habitats belonging to strong beasts anywhere nearby. It was slightly suspicious, but at the same time, there was nothing around here that would attract a beast to settle down. The forest was pretty uniform, with no suitable caves or the like to make a nest, only a lot of trees. Any beast who found the trees suitable for making a home could easily find better ces to use.


    But it turned out that neither of those reasons was the cause for the surrounding forest being so calm. The scent their dinner had spread out had attracted guests. Based on the familiar feeling that appeared soon after they started cooking, it was the same beasts who had witnessed and epted their entry into the forest.


    The guests came down from the treetops in pairs. It didn''t seem like every tree had beasts in them, and not every beast came down. But the group was still surprised at the number of beasts that had surrounded them, without them noticing anything. Thankfully the beasts didn''t disy any hostility and were only curious. They didn''t seem to be too strong either, so after the initial shock, Toz and the others calmed down and figured they might as well wee their guests.

 Chapter 34 Party Animals

    ?The guests were careful in their approach and did their best to show they weren''t hostile. They stopped a few meters away from the group.


    Toz was inspecting the troop of monkeys surrounding them. They had four arms each and were almost up to Toz''s knee in height. Their bodies were covered in mostly orange fur, except for a few spots on the torso and the head that were dark grey.


    After a few moments of both sides observing each other, the monkeys directly in front of the group cleared a path, and a slightly bigger monkey, with longer arms and more grey spots walked forward.


    It straightened its back and ced its two right hands in front of its chest and the two left ones behind its back as it cleared its throat.''


    "Ahem. Greetings, human traveler andpanions. Wee in peace and wish to offer a trade if you are willing to oblige us."


    "Right. Hello, it''s nice to meet you. And it depends on what that trade would consist of."


    "In exchange for asking your party to share some of that fragrant supper over there, we will give you some firestones and an invitation to speak with our elder."


    "Sure, it might take some time to make enough for you, but if you wait, I can continue cooking."


    "Excellent! I will tell my subordinates to bring over the firestones at once."


    Toz was surprised by the old-fashioned way the monkey spoke, but if he was willing to trade for his food instead of using force, he was indeed a decent chap. And he was very agreeable to the trade itself. Exchanging some skewers for firestones would usually be impossible, but it seemed the juicy mammoth meat was really enticing to these monkeys. Either they had an abundance of firestones, or they were hungry, but not to the point of forgoing politeness.


    Firestones were rare but not impossible to find, though difficult in a first level ne. Since it was mana condensed to a physical form, it took a long time and often happened underground, where the mana wouldn''t be disturbed and dispersed all the time. Useful for speeding up cultivation, enchantments, and alchemy, they are sought after by almost everyone with the fire attribute. But as people and beasts grow stronger, low level firestones, and potions and enchantments made from them, lose their effect.


    With a few firestones to help them, Toz could hopefully get his fire attribute caught up with the other two, officially bing a second level, thrice refined mage. And Mindle could also try and reach the second level, getting her into a more equal position to the rest of the group. Despite her best efforts and with them being on a fire attribute ne, she was noticeably worse at handling mana and quickly using magic than the other three.


    She knew it was a matter of experience, more than a matter of strength, as evidenced by herserbeam back in the canyon, but she still felt weaker than others since she was still at the first level and everyone else was at the second and approaching the third. Toz was even doing that with three different elements. Where is the fairness in that?


    With all her struggles, Mindle forgot she was only a few weeks old, and just possessing the strength she already has is admirable. Especially whenpared to Toz, who is an adult, Nil, who is also an adult, and Lucy, who is not an adult but still very talented and older than Mindle.


    While Mindle was busy with her thoughts when waiting for the firestones, Toz had started preparing a lot of meat for the monkeys, while Lucy and Nil started handing out skewers.


    The monkey who seemed to be a captain of some sort and Toz agreed to a firestone every five skewers. With the continued delivery from the monkeys, a small mound of firestones had piled up next to Toz.


    He considered stuffing the pile into his pockets, but he was busy, and it could wait until the monkeys stopped exchanging for the skewers.


    Despite their small size, the monkeys were surprisingly gluttonous, and just the skewers with strips of meat and berries weren''t enough. The monkeys helped bring fresh herbs and more berries to Toz so he could fry them with steaks in a pan.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    He considered making a quick soup, but he didn''t have enough bowls for all the monkeys, and it was simpler to make food that he could quickly fry before handing it out.


    Their peaceful dinner had turned into a full-on dinner rush. When it didn''t seem a single firece would be enough, he had the monkeys help him out in making another one. Toz also had another group of monkeys start mincing pieces of meat and making patties that he could fry.


    The gathering had gotten a festive atmosphere as everyone shared food andpany.


    A few monkeys even drummed up a rhythm on the ground and cleared some space for dancing. Although Toz was busy with cooking, and the cats didn''t feel like dancing, that didn''t stop the monkeys as they seemed to have the time of their life swinging around each other and disying moves that looked more like acrobatics than dance.


    But Toz wasn''t one to judge the culture of others, and the other three enjoyed the show. Eventually, Lucy couldn''t sit still anymore and joined the monkeys on the dance floor.


    The monkeys weed him with joy and started throwing him into the air. Lucy, prepared, started jumping around on the flying monkeys, doing cartwheels and whatnot in the air.


    Toz almost dropped the pan in his hand when he saw Lucy flying high above the treetops before returning to the ground, where he was caught safely by the monkeys. He actually dropped the spat in his other hand when the monkeys threw Lucy up again.


    If not for Lucy''sughter piercing the forest, Toz would have rushed out instantly and tried to put a stop to the craziness.


    Thankfully Lucy seemed to have fun, and the monkeys knew what they were doing. Even if Lucy fell from that height, he wouldn''t be too injured, and the eventual injuries would likely heal pretty fast as well. Still, Toz was worried about his dear friend being reckless.


    Eventually, Lucy was let back down to the ground, whereupon he immediately ran over to Toz.


    "Toz! Did you see? I almost caught a bird! That was so fun! I wanna go again! But the monkeys want to dance instead."


    "You''ve had your fun. Let them have theirs too. Besides, if you like it that much, I can throw you up in the air sometimes."


    "Really? Promise!"


    "Of course!"


    After the monkeys had loosened up enough for the evening, they retreated back into the forest one by one, and there was no need to cook anymore. The monkey captain said his goodbye and told him he would return the following morning with an invitation to meet their elder.


    The deathly silence came abruptly after the monkeys left and was slightly unsettling. But no one in Toz''s group was worried, and they decided to rest for the night. It had been an exhausting day and a lively night.


    Despite that, Toz offered to take the first watch, letting the cats sleep. Although the forest seemed safe, one could never be too cautious in the wild.

 Chapter 35 Ash Monkey Tribe

    ?When the group followed the monkey captain to meet with their elder, he introduced himself as Donk. Apparently, it was the sound his father made when he was born. His father had been so overwhelmed he fainted and collided with a tree on the way down, making that sound. It was too memorable to not be given as a name to their son, or so thought his mother.


    Since Toz and his group weren''t monkeys and had to walk on the ground, the captain led them along, telling them about the ce they were in, and some other mundane things. Donk also talked about why they were invited to meet with the elder.


    They were headed to the Ash Monkey Tribe, the group responsible for keeping watch over the border in the area, around where Toz had entered the forest.


    Donk confirmed Toz''s suspicions. The monkeys were indeed guarding against the rats. But they were also watching out for any of their returned messengers or someone arriving at the forest.


    Their elder would go into more detail about the entire situation. Donk just told them the basics everyone knew as part of their conversation. He also hinted that their meeting with the elder was about more than just informing Toz and his cats about the situation and that their trade from the day before wouldn''t be thest firestones they get.


    It didn''t take long for the group to reach the monkeys'' vige. It looked like a small vige, with huts both on the ground and up in the trees where the branches were braided together, creating bridges and awork connecting the trees.


    Beasts in the wild rarely established homes and buildings the same way these monkeys had, even if they were capable of it. Since buildings were susceptible to being destroyed by natural disasters and could be a hindrance when the beasts are threatened by limiting their vision and awareness of their surroundings. As well as unnecessarily exposing a hideout, it was easier to just find or make a suitable ce to stay. Maybe some cover, close to food and water.


    But the monkeys didn''t seem worried about any of that as they had established a proper vige in the middle of the forest. With their numbers they might not necessarily fear bestial threats, but how could they stand against nature?


    Toz hoped that he would find an answer during his conversation with the vige elder.


    After Donk brought them to the vige and they were received by a lot of monkeys when they entered. Most of the monkeys just stared at Toz and his cats. Some who had been part of the festivitiesst night cheered and extended greetings in various manners since not all of them were capable of talking the humannguage.


    Donk dispersed the crowd so they could move on to the center of the vige, where arge and more decorated hut was located. Thankfully, the hut was ced on the ground so Toz didn''t have to climb the trees.


    Toz, upon receiving Donks gesturing followed him inside.


    The ground was covered by an intricate mat made from the fur of several types of beasts.


    Further inside the hut, a slightlyrger monkey sat.


    Unlike the other monkeys, the elder had a robe draped around itself and its three pairs of arms holding a staffying on hisp. The elder also had a visiblyrger amount of grey fur.


    "Greetings, human traveler." Despite its apparent age, the monkey had a clear gaze as it looked upon Toz. He acknowledged the presence of the cats but his main focus was on the human that stood slightly stooped beneath the hut''s sloped ceiling.


    The elder gestured for Toz to sit, which he gratefully did. It would be utterly annoying having to hold a conversation when he was unable to stand properly. The cats lined up to his left in the order of Nil, Lucy, and Mindle, with Nil closest to Toz.


    Since the elder had invited him, Toz waited for him to start talking after saying hello. The elder seemed to deliberate on what to say for a little while, never looking away from Toz.


    Lucy was the only one who started getting impatient as the elder stayed silent.


    Donks, who stood guard by the door, seemed a little used to the elder''s behavior, but he looked at the elder with an imploring gaze.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Atst, the elder seemed to have had his fun as he smiled and began talking.


    "Mhm. My name is Raknaz, it is the sound my father made when sneezing as I was born, but the vigers only call me ''elder'' all the time. Verily rude of them, I must say, I might be older than them but I most certainly am not close enough to death to warrant such a title. If only they could call me Great Warrior or some moniker akin to that, like the names I was known by in my youth. Really, I ought to-


    "Ahem!"


    It seemed the old, but not-so-old monkey liked bbering and, if not for Donk''s interruption, would have likely continued chattering about nonsense for some time.


    After Donk looked at the elder sternly, it seemed he got the message and took on a more serious look.


    "Right, we have important business to talk about. First, as you might have noticed, our way of life differs from most wild beasts. It is in part due to our intellect and weak bodies, but also because a long time in the past, our ancestors received a human guest. That guest brought with him a lot of his culture and knowledge. Before he continued on his journey, he left behind several books.


    "Some of those books were about history and dictionaries. Others were about applications of magic and knowledge about beasts. The traditions that human passed down and the knowledge we gained from the books helped us develop into what we are now. We call ourselves the Ash Monkey Tribe, I don''t know if Donk told you that, but that doesn''t matter.


    "To honor that human, we have passed on the humannguage and even given ourselves a human name."


    Raknaz took a short break to breathe and allow Toz to ask questions, which he did.


    "What does this have to do with inviting us? I don''t know that human your ancestors met."


    "No, but you came from the wastnd. I don''t know how far it has spread, but years ago, there wasn''t any wastnd anywhere near here, only forest and proper wilderness. At first, we didn''t even notice it. But one day, the trees started dying, the ground dried up, and all the beasts in the south migrated north. It was chaotic, but with the help of everyone, it was settled pretty quickly.


    "Or so we thought, the destion continued spreading. We didn''t know what caused it or how to stop it."


    The elderly monkey seemed to age visibly as he continued talking.


    "Eventually, we noticed the rats were causing it. We tried talking to them, but when that didn''t work, we chased them away with overwhelming force, butchering them in droves. We were satisfied when they left. But they didn''t leave. They returned from another direction and started smothering us. The forest shrank, the food started running out, and if we hadn''t blocked off the river and captured the water within this piece of the forest, we would have died of thirst."


    The rats had apparently been busy and posed a more formidable threat than Toz thought. If they had managed to reduce a forest asrge as the wastnd to its current state in only a few years, they were certainly dangerous on an environmental level. Toz also began to understand why the monkeys wanted to talk with him.


    Toz had crossed the wastnd once and managed to reach their oasis. They wanted to know the state of the world outside, and if anyone else knew the danger these rats presented. They had sent several strong and smart warriors to try and send a message to the outside world, hopefully before it was toote, but they had never heard back.


    As time went on, and they knew the rats had continued spreading guing thend, the monkeys knew that if their previous warriors couldn''t make it then, their current warriors won''t be able to cross the wastnd now.


    But now that they had found Toz, who had already made it through the wastnd once, and can make it through again and make sure to properly warn everyone else and prepare a thorough resistance and root out these rats once and for all.

 Chapter 36 Forest Alliance

    ?Toz was understanding of their plight, and was already prepared to mount a resistance against the rats as soon as possible.


    If he told the explorers guild about the rats, they would surely not let them be. Toz might even expect a reward from them for making and sharing this discovery.


    But there was nothing wrong with some extra incentive from the monkeys, so he dly epted the firestones he got in exchange for hearing the monkeys out and being willing to cross the wastnd again.


    After Toz epted their request, Raznak asked if he wantedpany during his journey through the wastnd.


    All the beasts in the forest had united and created the Forest Alliance to maintain some sort of defense against the rats, as well as raise powerful fighters that could traverse the wastnd. Although, the monkeys didn''t have any suitable warriors currently, while the other beasts did.


    But since the monkeys were the beasts closest to humans, culture-wise, they were chosen as representatives. And considering Toz entered the forest in the area they were responsible for watching, it was natural for them to make contact first.


    Now that the monkeys had aplished their mission of encouraging Toz to cross the wastnd and get help against the rats, the other beasts in the alliance wanted to guarantee he crossed it safely by sending powerful fighters.


    No one in Toz''s gang wanted that. They enjoyed their ownpany and would preferably keep it that way. They expressed these thoughts to Raznak as well, but he was powerless when up against the entire Alliance. All he could do was mediate the situation when the fighters from the other members of the alliance showed up. They seemed to have coordinated it after hearing about Toz, as they arrived at almost the same time as one another.


    A brutish gori, a standoffish horse, two shining beetles, and a snake.


    Although all of them looked aggressive as they tantly eyed Toz and his group, none of them had a dangerous presence. To Toz and the cats, it looked more like silly posturing by some pompous, weak, good-for-nothings.


    The so-called powerful fighters noticed the disregard and got irritated. The horse, after loudly snorting, expressed her displeasure before anyone else could say anything.


    "This guy crossed the wastnd? And you think he can do it again? What a joke!"


    "Well if he didn''t, did you?" Donk retorted with a nonchnt look on his face. Although he was slightly weaker than the five beasts of the alliance, he was confident he had managed to judge Toz''s strength somewhat.


    Last night, when the monkeys had been throwing Lucy up into the air, Donk had seen Toz''s reaction. For a split second, he felt something take hold of his throat. As soon as Toz calmed down, the feeling disappeared into thin air. Donk was overjoyed he had managed to create a good rtionship with Toz by exchanging food and firestones with him.


    Donk was pretty confident no one else knew about Toz''s strength and that only Raznak could be a match for him. And that is without the cats joining the fight, although he hadn''t noticed any disys of strength from the cats, based on how difficult it was to sense their levels, at least the grey and ck ones were skilled at magic. The red one was noticeably special just based on how she looked, and how her mere presence had a vtile aura when she wasn''t ying with Toz.


    The horse was shocked by Donk''s response, and before she could continue, Toz gave Raznak a look, and the elder stepped up and began to deal with the situation.


    "Now, now. No need for you young''uns to be so angry. And regarding Toz...<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "If you have doubts regarding him traveling through the wastnd, do you think he just came into existence like a flower? Or maybe you doubt our Ash Monkey Tribe''s judgment?"


    "N-n-no, of course not." The horse looked away fearfully. Although he was strong, he couldn''tpare to Raznak, thest monkey warrior. The monkeys were arge group, and Raznak was the sole leader of that group. Of course, he wasn''t the only third level beast in the alliance, but he was crafty, and he could use borate magic.


    He was also a great contributor when making ns against the rats in the past, so arge part of the alliance would side with him in the case of a dispute, especially if it was with the honor of the Ash Monkey Tribe at stake. They had sacrificed a lot of warriors when trying to reach the world beyond the wastnd.


    After seeing the horse and the other alliance fighters calm down, Raznak offered an easy way to settle things so everyone would be satisfied. A spar. The spar would be between Toz and one of the beasts, and if that wasn''t enough to show Toz had enough strength to clear the wastnd by himself the cats could step forth or Toz could fight against the other beasts.


    The horse naturally volunteered to face off against Toz first.


    They used a clearing in front of the vige as the arena.


    The horse got into a ready stance, setting its mane and hooves on fire.


    Toz pulled out a sword. It was the same sword he had created with his mana, and reinforced and strengthened every night. The addition of fire mana had given the edges a slight orange hue, that looked slightly like light being reflected on the sharpness.


    "Begin!" Raznak''s shout had the horse setting off like a firework.


    Toz stood still without reacting, leading the horse and most other beasts into thinking he was too slow to react. But the cats, Donk, and Raznak knew better.


    As the horse approached him, Toz readied his sword, and when the horse was only a couple of meters away, he took a swift step to the side and swung his sword.


    The horse, who had been nning on ramming the puny human with its overwhelming speed, was unable to react to Toz''s movements and was instead struck by his sword. As she winced and prepared for the pain and sshing blood, Toz sheathed his sword. The horse was surprised, but when a feeling of lightness covered her head, she understood.


    Toz had shaved her head and her mane was on the ground. The feeling of lightness was her hairing off. For her race, their mane was their pride and joy, and Toz had sheared it all off in one swing. The horse almost felt like it had been better if he had taken her head instead. It would take years regrowing her mane, years she would have to spend living in shame.


    Toz''s disy ofbat awareness, skill, and precision had the other beasts hesitating about whether or not to spar with him. He had moved with absolute confidence during the entire fight, and it looked like he could have easily lopped off the horse''s head instead of her mane.


    Since none of the other beasts were significantly stronger than the horse, they would most likely end up in a simr, if not an even worse situation. The horse at least had a mane that Toz could chop off instead of a head. The beetles and the gori only had their other limbs, while the snake didn''t even have that. If Toz needed to perform a second disy of skill, he might set a more explicit example by mutting the next one who challenged him.

 Chapter 37 Magic Books

    ?After Toz defeated the horse and it ran off in shame, the surrounding spectators turned silent before all the monkeys burst into a cheer. Toz was on very friendly terms with them, having shared food and partied with them a bit, so the monkeys were happy when their new friend proved his strength in a domineering manner.


    Toz was ushered back into the vige in order to take part in a feast before his inevitable departure. The party wasn''t too intense, and after everyone had their fill and danced a bit, Toz was invited back to the elder''s hut. The monkeys had arranged a separate one for him to sleep in, but before he went to bed he wanted to talk with the elder a bit.


    The talk was mostly about asking the elder what the magic books were about and a way to counterattack the rats. Toz suggested routinely sending down fireballs into the tunnels and push away the rats. Although it was an effective method of killing and dispersing the rats, not every beast could cast fire magic that way, and even fewer with the delicacy needed to make it a truly effective method. But it provided the beasts a direction in which they could improve in the future if their situation didn''t get better anytime soon.


    After Toz and Raznak finished discussing attack strategies for the night, the talk shifted to the magic books.


    Basic magic came naturally, in some form, to almost everyone, simply using their mana to create a phenomenon, and that was it. However, that is not all there is to magic. Aside from applications of magic, like alchemy, smithing, enchantment, arrays, and cooking, anything that could be done with and without magic but that required skills when doing it with magic, there were spells and rituals.


    Both spells and rituals were an extension of basic magic instead of merely adding magic to something else. Rituals tend to beplex, requiring several mages, a lot of resources, and a lot of work. Since rituals also use what could be called a kind of spell, many mages see spells as an extension of basic magic, and rituals as an extension of spells.


    In short, spells are a way to arrange the mana when using it to cast magic in order to enhance the power, add effects or in some other way improve the magic. Most spells are learned through a chant that helps the mage learn the particr spell, but since spells can be hard to learn and difficult to master, which is needed for writing them down, they are hard to get a copy of.


    Toz was hoping that the magic books in the Ash Monkey Tribe''s storage were grimoires containing spells, and if not that, maybe something about smithing or another applicated magic.


    Unfortunately, the books only described some theories of mana and ways to utilize basic magic. Toz was left disappointed, but he wasn''t in a position to ask for the book either. It was a faint hope, to begin with since almost no one would leave behind a grimoire like that human in the past had left behind other books.


    Toz quickly got over his depression and headed to his designated hut, where he met up with his cats. While he had left the part earlier to talk with the elder, the cats had continued enjoying the feast a bit longer. When he got back, he told them about his conversation with the elder and that the books were, unfortunately, not useful to them.


    Mindle was quite sad. Ever since she had heard Toz talk about different applications of magic she had always wanted to try them out. After their first possibility of learning an application turned out to be a dud, Mindle was naturally dispirited.


    Lucy and Nil weren''t as bothered since they had already started developing their magic in ways suitable to them. While some spells might have been useful, they needed to have matching elements most of the time, and especially Lucy''s element could be considered quite rare. Finding a matching spell would be difficult.


    Toz didn''t care that much about the limitation of elements since he was bound to get ess to more elements in the future anyway, and he could just hold onto any spells he came into contact with while waiting or looking for a fitting cat with the right element. While waiting for the right element he could use the eventual grimoire to study and learn more about spells, so there was no way he wouldn''t ept a grimoire if he could get his hands on it.


    But that was a matter for the future. Now, it was time to rest before they set off, right back out into the wastnd. There is no time to waste when it''s a matter of life and death.


    The group left early the next morning. The monkey elder had helped them devise a route and given them a map to follow out of the forest.


    Toz had exined how the rats had used the canyon as an ambush spot and wanted to avoid that happening again. While they could cross it during its shallower parts it was easier to follow the forest until they were past it and from there retrace their steps, all the way back to Yellow Sparks since that was the nearest ce Toz knew of, with an Explorers Guild branch office.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    When Toz talked about the canyon that looked like a huge river, Raznak had indeed confirmed that before the rats took over there was a huge river coursing through the entire forest and that it had flowed through that canyon.


    After the rats turned the surrounding forest into a wastnd, Raznak and a few others realized that if they didn''t stop the river from flowing out into the wastnd they would lose all their water. They had cooperated in blocking the river and diverting the water into several streams that ran through what was left of the forest. Moving to and fro a smallke in the center of the forest.


    Since the running water stayed inside the forest and weather didn''t actually cross the wastnd they managed to maintain a rain cycle and a stable ecosystem.


    Unfortunately, Toz wouldn''t see any of those sights, not even the dried-up river since it had been overgrown by trees.


    Toz and his cats said goodbye to the few monkeys that were awake and started moving along the edge of the forest.


    They would pass through the area the monkeys were in charge of guarding, then into the beetles'' area, before leaving the forest. The part they had to walk through the forest wasparatively short, and nothing unexpected happened until they reached the zone the beetles were watching.


    Halfway through, Toz noticed a few presences begin to watch and follow them from a distance. It was different from the watchful eyes of the guarding beetles that only looked once before returning their gaze to the desert.


    There were four pretty obvious beasts following behind them. Toz didn''t even need to look to guess who they were. It was, without a doubt, the four beasts from the alliance who had originally been sent to escort Toz through the wastnd.


    But after Toz defeated the horse, they didn''t have anything to do. Toz thought they left the vige and went back to their homes but they had obviously waited for him. To make sure he didn''t notice them too early they asked the guarding beetles for help and only when they reported that Toz was almost outside the forest did the four beasts approach closer.


    Toz didn''t understand what they were thinking. Were they hoping he would help them through the wastnd if they refused to go back? Did they think they were strong enough without his help?


    In any case, it was none of his business so he picked up his pace bit by bit. Once the beasts noticed he was moving faster, he would already be too far away for them to easily follow him. None of them were beasts known for their speed either so Toz had no problem keeping his distance, even in the unfamiliar forest.


    It would be a different matter out in the open ins of the wastnd, but if the beasts followed him there, despite not being able to catch up, the only thing that would await them was death.


    They had a few skin bags of food and water, but not enough to make it through the wastnd. And if they get swarmed by rats they won''t be able to resist. Their only option was to stay behind in the forest.


    Naturally, the beasts were unwilling, they had spent their entire lives in that small clump of trees, they had been raised and trained to cross the wastnd. Now that their chance hade they refused to stay back and instead wanted to explore the world.

 Chapter 38 Crossing The Wasteland Again

    ?Toz had expected the beasts to stay in the forest, but he didn''t especially care when they didn''t, and foolishly chose to follow him.


    He didn''t bother to keep up the high pace he had in the forest. Since he was going to spend at least a week crossing the wastnd, he would need to be frugal with his stamina. It was impossible to tell when the rats might attack them. Even if Toz and Mindle kept sending down streams of fire down their tunnels, the rats might set up an ambush further ahead or even swarm them above ground with incredible numbers.


    If the rats did choose to swarm them, Toz would need as much of his stamina as possible to be able to run away.


    Toz and his group walked, following the canyon, at a safe distance for a few days without incident. The beasts trailing behind them had gotten further away because of their fatigue andcking preparation. Although had they paced themselves better, they wouldn''t have gotten tired so quickly, but they had tried to keep up with Toz.


    The beasts had also noticed what Toz and Mindle were doing, and even if they didn''tpletely understand the reason they tried to keep up while doing the same. But only the snake was capable of sending down fire into the tunnels by breathing fire. They did the same there. They overestimated themselves, and the snake was especially tired.


    Eventually, they reached the spot where Toz and the cats had crossed the canyon during their first trip. The rat blood had long since dried, but only after flowing through the canyon quite a bit, turning arge part of the bottom a brownish red.


    Though there were traces of the meat scraps and innards being eaten by other rats, and probably a lot of the blood had been consumed as well.


    The most obvious sign that showed them they were at the right spot was therge cliff still covered in dried blood.


    Despite the sun boring down on the scene of brutal massacre, there were no signs or smells of rot and the beasts from the alliance saw it before they noticed anything else. They were shocked, to say the least. They had killed a lot of rats during small excursions and knew how little blood they contained, so to kill enough to create a view like this was incredible.


    Although it wasn''t impossible for anyone else to have crossed through the wastnd in recent days the only one they knew of was Toz. And despite thecking signs of decay, the ughter had obviously happened a little bit more than a few days ago, approximately a week. Around the time Toz would have passed through this ce.


    They had also heard the rumors of how Toz had showed up to the forest covered in dried blood, frantically looking for water where he could wash himself.


    The gori almost grew ill at the sight, but the shock of realizing that Toz was responsible for the scenery in front of them stopped him from puking. The human they had ignorantly tried to challenge was apparently a lot stronger and more brutal than they assumed, even after he defeated the horse.


    The group of beasts hurried to catch up to Toz and the cats after trying to process what they had just seen and realized.


    When Toz had been following the canyon, there was no problem if theygged behind a bit, but now that Toz started crossing straight through the bare wastnd, the beasts would be in serious trouble if they lost track of him.


    The beasts considered asking him to slow down, but they had developed a deep fear of him after seeing the bloody disaster in the canyon. They also remembered theplete disregard he held for them when they said they wanted to escort him through the wastnd. It was obvious, even from a distance that Toz didn''t care very much, if at all, about them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz kept a steady pace and stayed ahead of the four beasts. While he didn''t care about he couldn''t help but notice them as he kept watch over his surroundings. Mindle was the only one who was slightly worried about them, but she remembered how they, especially the horse, looked at them and Toz. There was no need to show them pity.


    Even when the snake ran out of mana and they were unable to keep small clumps of rats away from them, Toz and his group had no reaction. It wasn''t until the rat began attacking on arger scale that Toz got worried.


    The rats were obviously preparing to wear them down and trying to halt their movement. If they could n that against the four beasts, they could also n that against Toz and his cats.


    They were most likely already gathering their numbers in preparation of attacking them. And if they remembered what Toz and the other three had done in the canyon, and that they were the ones who did it, the number of rats wouldn''t be something counted on a couple of hands. The rats would try and overwhelm them with iparable numbers to make up for their individual weakness.


    Since neither Mindle, Lucy, nor Nil had the same endurance as Toz, they entered the familiar space as he started running. Even if the rats had already surrounded them, it was better to break through the perimeter as fast as possible, before it could be reinforced further.


    The four beasts noticed Toz sprinting away, but they were helpless. They were already almost covered in rats. They were running out of stamina and mana. There was nothing they could do except try their best against the swarming rats.


    Soon after Toz started running, he encountered a small group of rats. He didn''t know if they were part of the ones surrounding him or a stray group that he hadn''t chased away since he couldn''t st fireballs into the tunnels while running. The most likely option, however, was it being a small group sent to alert the rest of his location. And no matter where he ran, he would encounter such small groups.


    If he wanted to kill them, he would have to slow down, but if he didn''t, the other rats would soon learn of his location and amass toward it. Toz would also have to face arger number of rats if he left the tiny scouting group alive.


    But even though it was just like plucking a leaf from a tree, Toz decided to trim their numbers as much as he could. He pulled out his sword and Mindle. With sword in hand and Mindle on his shoulders, heshed out with a fast attack. He swung his sword wildly, while running past, letting Mindle spew mes and cover the rats. A few might have gotten away, but it only took a little exertion from the two of them and they didn''t even slow down.


    Toz continued encountering smaller groups as he kept fleeing. They grew noticeably in size as he went on and he and Mindle could no longer almost clear them away as they had done in the beginning. They stopped trying altogether and Toz focused all his efforts on running.


    He felt the noose tighten around his neck as the encirclement grew tighter and the rats soon turned into an endless stream chasing behind him. They charged at him from all sides.


    The ratsing at him from the front were sliced through by his sword after being torched by Mindle''sser beam. Theser beam wasn''t as condensed or strong as when she sent one into the tunnels in the canyon, but it was enough to open up a gap in the rats.


    The window of opportunity was small but it allowed Toz to charge forth, getting one step closer to escaping.

 Chapter 39 Escaping The Rats

    ?The swarm of rats targeting Toz had turned into a figurative sea. It looked almost like a vortex with Toz in the center, consistently swinging his sword, casting magic with his cats. None of them holding back. If they didn''t go all out now, they wouldn''t have a chance to do soter either.


    Mindle acted like a methrower. Nil created and sent out various armaments and pieces of metal to block their advance. Lucy kept coveringrge parts of the sea of rats in shadows, distorting their senses and creating waves in their movement. Lucy held back and distracted arge part of the rats alone, alleviating a great deal of the pressure on them.


    Despite the dire situation, Toz and his cats pressed on, showing no signs of faltering or giving up, only leaving a trail of cut and charred rat corpses.


    Toz kept swinging his de like a whirlwind. He hadpletely given up on trying to focus enough to cast magic. He concentrated on keeping the rats off him and out of his clothes while the cats, sitting on his head and clinging onto his torso, cleared a path forward and killed as many of the rats as possible.


    But no matter how diligently he swung his sword, no matter how many rats he cut down, there were always more to take their ce. He couldn''t stop himself from getting scratches on his face, on his hands, on his legs. The coat was enchanted with enough enchantments to protect against the rats, so his torso was fine, but Nil and Mindle clinging onto him also suffered several wounds.


    If they crawled into the coat, they would be protected by it, but they wouldn¡§t be able to help Toz as much as they did when outside it, and Toz would be in even greater pain. Though every time Toz saw a rat wound any one of his cats, his heart ached a bit more, and he swung his sword a bit harder, faster, fiercer.


    Toz wouldn''t allow himself to fall, not when his family of cats worked their hardest to make sure they got out safely, when they suffered and bled for him. They had only explored for barely a month, there was no way their journey would end here.


    Toz had longed for this his entire life. Nil had done his best to support Toz. Lucy had always wanted to discover new things. Mindle had spent the majority of her short life in this wastnd without seeing the rest of the world.


    Refusing to let the rats overwhelm them, the group squeezed out everyst drop of mana, pushed their muscles past the breaking point, and wed until their paws bled. But no matter how much time passed, or how many rats they killed, it all seemed neverending.


    They had spent several days walking after leaving the canyon and then several hours sprinting. If they had kept the right direction, the group should have started approaching the grassy ins by now. But in the unending swirling mass of rats, it was hard to distinguish up from down, not to mention left from right, or north from south.


    The dark red trail of blood had indeed swerved a bit off course, but it was still in the same general direction, and the group was steadily nearing the end of the wastnd. In fact, if the wastnd hadn''t spread, they would have already passed by the edge of it.


    The grassy nds would have long since been in view if not for the rats welling up like a tsunami to swallow Toz and his group, and covering their vision of the outside world. By now maybe even the smell of grass would have made it to the group if not for the blood covering their faces. Or the stench of rats filling their surroundings.


    It wasn''t long until gusts of wind came sweeping into the wastnd from the ins, all of them blocked by the wall of rodents. The group was so close, yet so far, and they didn''t even know it. It was up to fate and the group''s determination if they would live to see another day.


    Despite their best efforts, every step Toz took was heavier than thest, every swing slower, every sweep of a paw weaker. They didn''t know how close or far away they were from safety. They didn''t even know if making it to the grassy ins would have the rats leave them alone.


    A feeling of despair began entering their minds, reinforced through themon bond of the inclination. When they had been filled with fighting spirit and the will to live, they had strengthened each other''s feelings, but now that fatigue clouded their minds, the opposite also happened.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It was impossible to tell if one of them started considering the thought of giving in first, or if they all had a feeling of hopelessness at the same time. With the inclination connecting them, it didn''t matter, and their minds and bodies were too tired to stop the thoughts from spiraling.


    They had already fought for so long in this swirling mass of rats, there was no way they hadn''t traveled far enough to reach the ins where they could leave the rats behind. Since they hadn''t reached, they must have lost their direction and strayed even further away from the nds.


    ''In that case, why not give up and save us the trouble, end our misery now, instead of prolonging it if we''re gonna die anyway.''


    If it weren''t for the pain and nightmarish reality of being eaten alive, they might really have copsed without fighting it any longer. Thankfully, the rats were strong enough that their bites and scratches hurt even a second level thrice refined mage, but weak enough that they didn''t leave serious wounds.


    The pain kept Toz''s mind awake enough to stop him from giving up. He had long since gotten numb to his muscles, screaming at him to stop. His arms barely moving as he tried to swing his sword. If he was lucky, he killed more than five rats in a single swing, when previously he had ughtered more than a dozen with each strike.


    He staggered forward, carrying Nil and Mindle inside his coat. After gathering remnants of mana and energy they pulled out of seemingly nowhere, they struck out, killing at least one more rat, with Lucy doing the same, from on top of Toz''s head.


    Although Toz hadn''t noticed it yet, the ground he stepped on had turned from the arid, hardpacked ground of the wastnd, to dry, grainy soil, it what was what remained of the grassy ins shortly after the rats had ruined the earth. The ground got gradually less and less dead.


    Toz and the cats could even have seen small sprouts of weed on the ground if they had been alert enough. But more rats killed themselves by hitting Toz''s sword than he killed them by swinging it. He used his almost falling body as a weight to move his legs.


    The cats had given up on trying to use magic and kept their ws out, waiting for the rats to kill themselves like they did on Toz''s sword. It wasn''t effective in the slightest, but they were too tired to do anything more. Mindle had even fainted with her legs stretched out, unable to hold out any longer. None of the others were far behind her. They had resorted to closing their eyes, saving every bit of energy they could to maintain consciousness.


    A thought about putting away his sword in case he lost it, briefly surfaced in Toz''s mind, but he didn''t even consider it. He was too tired to even unsp his cramping fingers, forget lifting and putting the entire sword into his coat.


    Gradually the overwhelming pressure from the rats seemed to lessen before slowly dissipating.


    Through his half-closed eyelids, Toz spotted some green. Although it might have been a hallucination, it looked like grass. Not the almost dead kind on the border of the wastnd, but a healthy, up-to-the-hip kind, with a flourishingly green color, it was the clearest sign they could get that they had reached the grasnds.


    Although the wastnd wasn''t too far away, it didn''t seem like the rats wanted to advance too much. For fear of being detected orcking the ability to leave their terrain, whatever it was, it kept the rats away from Toz and the cats.


    As soon as thest rat scurried back to the wastnd, leaving Toz alone, he copsed like a rotten tree.

 Chapter 40 Amanda, Din, And Charlie

    ?Although the rats had quickly retreated into the wastnd after failing to stop Toz and his cats, the ruckus they caused still didn''t go unnoticed. The vast mass of rats traveling along the horizon looked like a storm cloud on the ground from afar. It initially had nearby explorers start falling back when they saw it, but when it disappeared into thin air, the more adventurous people chose to investigate.


    There weren''t many who were that close to the wastnd, to begin with, and only a small group of three continued all the way to the edge of the grasnds, where they saw the vast wastnd stretch out.


    "Isn''t the grassy ins supposed to go on for much further than this, Din?" A red-haired young woman said. She was dressed in leather armor and had a sword strapped to her side. The other two in her group seemed to act differently toward her.


    "The map I got a hold of says it''s supposed to be a few more days before there''s a change in scenery. The merchant at the guild said it was updated less than a few weeks ago. Either he scammed me, we don''t know how to follow a map, or the wastnd moved."


    A tall, skinny man with long hair in a ponytail and with sses said in response to his leader''s question. His light robes indicated he didn''t get involved with closebat.


    "Hmm, do you think you got scammed?"


    "By a merchant trusted by the guild? No."


    "How long have we been able to read maps for?"


    "Long enough not to make rookie mistakes."


    "What about the wastnd? Do you think it moved by itself?"


    "Based on the deterioration of the ground and how the grass is dying as we speak, I don''t think it''s impossible."


    The two continued investigating the border between grass and death while they discussed their conclusion. Following behind them, a bulky, silent man with a nervous countenance nced around fitfully. Hisrades seemed used to the sight and let him be in charge of keeping watch over the surroundings.


    They hadn''t forgotten the grey cloud covering the horizon. If it could disappear that quickly, it might reappear even quicker. If that cloud turned out to be something troublesome and they were standing around right next to it without a care when it shows up again, it would be best to know as fast as possible in order to make a quick getaway.


    Amanda, Din, and Charlie had been exploring the area around Yellow Sparks almost since the portal was established and were familiar with the area and surrounding nature even if they hadn''t been in this particr spot before. They got along well despite meeting in the town, and they worked well together during their first exploration so they decided to stick together.


    Amanda had family in the town, Charlie was anxious most of the time, and Din was satisfied with following Amanda''s lead as she stayed in ce, at least for now, despite everyone being at the third level. Although they hadtely talked about either finding a new area to explore or going separate ways. Even if they got along well and all that, if they had different ambitions in life it would obviously lead to them disbanding their group.


    Charlie was working hard to ovee his nervousness and fear, and staying in one ce where he feltfortable didn''t suit that goal.


    Amanda wanted to stay close to her family and make sure they wouldn''t end up in trouble when so close to a mostly unexplored frontier.


    Din had started exploring this area since he was bored, and he enjoyed Amanda''s and Charlie''spany, but just like everyone who bes an explorer, he wanted to explore. And going around and around in the same ces for safety reasons wasn''t that explorative.


    Together they decided to assess their feelings after onest tour, and that''s when they discovered the wastnd, and how it didn''t fit with their map. They were farther out, in an area they hadn''t been in before topensate for always ying it safe earlier. And it seemed to have paid off as they discovered something worth exploring.


    Although the wastnd was on the map, it didn''t look too safe, especially when taking into ount that a lot of the explorers are first or second level.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Since their strength and experience in the nearby wilderness had made them into a group trusted by the other explorers in the branch, they also carried some responsibility. That was especially true for Amanda since her sister was the branch office manager. They cared for their own lives, especially Charlie, but they chose to honor that responsibility and properly investigate both the wastnd and the grey cloud.


    They walked back and forth along the boundary. They saw a few rats pop out of tunnels a few times but thought nothing of it since finding fearless critters in the wild was par for the course, and they had seen small rabbits and the like several times in the grass.


    Eventually, as it neared dusk and they got closer to the river flowing out into the wastnd they decided to set camp for the night and continue investigating tomorrow morning before returning to the guild and making a report.


    As they headed away from the wastnd to put some distance between it and themselves they saw a trail of blood in the grass,ing from the wastnd. The trail lead through arge area of trampled grass. They could see the grass had been pressed down, but not by what. They followed the trail of blood carefully to the other side of the squashed-down grass.


    Amanda had drawn her sword, Din''s eyes were glowing, and Charlie''s muscles were trembling. If the muscles were trembling from fear or because of something else, was impossible to tell.


    They realized that they might have discovered a clue to the grey cloud that vanished around here somewhere.


    At the tip of the cone-shaped depression in the grass, at the end of the bloody trail, they found a massive lead to their investigation. An entire body, riddled with wounds and covered in blood.


    When Amanda flipped over the corpse with her sword to get a better look at it, eight tiny legs flopped out of the coat''s front, and a ball of blood-matted hair fell off the head.


    She jumped back with her sword at the ready, anticipating a surprise attack from the beast who had hidden inside a human corpse. But after the legs dangled limply she realized they looked more like cat legs, and when the coat slid open and revealed two cats, nearly as badly injured as the human she put away her sword and got closer.


    It wasn''t a corpse taken over by some weird beast, it was an extremely injured explorer and his cats, that despite the massive blood loss somehow remained alive. His pulse was so weak it almost felt like a hope-induced hallucination more than the pulse of a living human.


    Amanda brought out one of her precious potions and sshed some of it on the young man''s wounds and the cats, and poured some onto their lips hoping they could swallow it down. Then she started carefully applying first aid and bandaging the wounds she could do that to, without them opening up and letting out what little blood remained in their bodies. Though that didn''t work so well on the orange cat since for some reason it didn''t bleed, its wounds shimmered and its body seemed almost on the verge of fading away.


    Din looked around the area with his shining eyes, especially in the direction of the wastnd while Charlie approached the tiny dark ball of matted hair that turned out to be a third cat.


    He cradled the tiny cat gently in his hands as he brought it to Amanda for a small ssh of her potion.


    Although none of them had beast-type inclinations they were aware of how dearly mages with beasts treated them, and based on the injuries on the young man and how the coat had protected the cats from the worst of it, he cared deeply for the cats. If they saved only him and neglected the cats he might resent them instead of being grateful.


    Although they save him as part of their responsibility and as fellow explorers, the young man in front of them was the only one who could tell them about the wastnd, and from what they had seen, the dangers lurking within.


    If the young man healed and woke up to find out his beloved cats were gone because the ones who saved him, let them die, he might lead them to their deaths.


    Although Charlie wanted to save the cats because of his kind heart, Amanda had a little bit more to think about when making decisions as the group leader.


    Since they didn''t know the full extent of the injuries they decided to set up camp right next to the injured man and cats, so they wouldn''t move him and inadvertently worsen his wounds. Charlie stayed behind while Amanda went to get more water to clean their injuries and Din started backtracking the trail Toz had left behind.

 Chapter 41 Waking Up!

    ?Amanda and Charlier were shocked at what Din told them after he returned. Even though he hadn''t ventured deep into the wastnd, he saw enough to make him sick. The ground was covered by dry blood and a few chewed-up rat corpses, with signs of other rats passing through and stirring up the blood before it dried up.


    The rats they had seen here and there during the day weren''t as ordinary as they seemed, apparently. If the signs and tracks paving a way through the wastnd were anything to go by, the rats were numerous, violent, cannibalistic, and a danger to other beings.


    Considering that the dusty rats were the only thing they had seen in the wastnd, a rising suspicion about the connection between the two grew in their hearts. But they still needed to wait for Toz to wake up and listen to what he had to say.


    Thankfully, upon further examination, they found that most of the injuries were surface-level ones, those that weren''t were torn muscles from overexertion and abused throats and lungs from breathing in dust and blood.


    Amanda and Charlie worked together to cleanse and dress the wounds. Then they waited for a day before moving closer to the river. It was a solidndmark to follow back to the town, and if the young man and his cats woke up or their bandages needed washing, it would be easier with the river next to them. They also took the initiative to get Toz out of clothes and into a pair of new ones.


    Everything except the coat was so torn up, that it wasn''t even worth washing the clothes. Even the shoes Toz was so fond of were worn out and barely usable.


    After two days by the river, the first proof of life from the group they had rescued, was made. The orange firey cat woke up. It was a slow and arduous awakening. Despite having healed the quickest and with a different physical body from the others, something the three were very curious about, the cat was still far frompletely healthy.


    After it awoke from its spot, lying next to Toz, it stood up and dazedly looked around before settling on Toz''s chest. Although the cat was awake, it looked more like sleepwalking when it moved instinctively like that.


    Charlie wanted to move the cat off the young man''s chest so it wouldn''t aggravate his wounds, but when he got close, the cat growled and despite its weakened state, began emitting mes with its fur standing up. Reluctantly, Charlie backed off.


    Even if the cat went right back to sleep, it was a sign that the rest were also about to wake up. And it indeed didn''t take long for the grey cat to wake up, only to proceed and do almost the exact same thing as the orange one. It looked around until it spotted the young man, after which it proceeded toy down on the young man''s stomach.


    Although the three humans wanted one of the injured explorers to wake up and talk to them, they knew better than rashly disturbing someone who required a lot of rest. They could only hope their patiencested long enough to wait for someone to heal enough to wake up.


    While Din and Amanda kept investigating to find other clues, Charlie volunteered to stay behind and care for the patients. In expectation of them being hungry when waking up, he thoughtfully prepared soup. Although he didn''t know if the cats ate soup, he could only hope since food wasn''t his strong suit. He had always managed with what he was capable of making, and none of the other two were that much better than him, so he was used to other people eating his food.


    Unfortunately, Charlie was bound to be disappointed when the ck cat woke up. Unlike the other two cats, after confirming the young man''s safety, it went toward the pot, and after sniffing the soup in it, retreated with an expressive look of distaste on its face. The cat''s strong reaction almost traumatized the already timid Charlie, and before he could try and talk to the cat, it went to sleep, lying over the man''s throat.


    When the other two got back and heard what Charlie said, they couldn''t help butugh a little. Amanda tried to suppress it, but it only got worse as Din chuckled loudly.


    But they were also looking forward to them finally waking uppletely. Based on how lively the ck cat had been just then, it was probably not long until they had rested enough. And their hopes came true, as, on the fourth day after being found, Toz woke up.


    He carefully shifted the cats down to hisp as he sat up. He looked around and was slightly startled to find three people staring at him from across a campfire, but seeing the bandaged wounds on him and the cats, he got a rough idea of the situation. Most likely, the trio had saved him and his cats.


    Before any of the three eagerly staring at him could say anything, Toz said,


    "First of all, thank you. My name is Toz, and I can tell you want to talk about something, but before that. Can I get some food? It feels like I haven''t eaten for months."


    "Yes, of course," Amanda said while nudging Charlie to hand over a bowl of soup.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Charlie reluctantlyplied. He remembered how the ck cat had reacted and was slightly afraid their master would respond in the same way.


    "Here you go."


    Toz didn''t even say thanks until after he devoured the soup in one go. His ims about not having eaten for several months didn''t seem like much of an exaggeration as he continued pouring bowl after bowl of soup down his mouth.


    After emptying the pot, Toz seemed to have sated his hunger enough for talking. After the three asked him about the wastnd, he told them that it was bad. Really bad.


    Toz exined about how the rats were destroying the earth from within and that the wastnd already stretched incredibly far, and housed an uncountable number of rats that pose a great threat to the entire ne.


    The three listened carefully, but Toz''s words were hard topletely take as the truth. It seemed like a very oundish story, but they agreed to head back to the branch and report the situation, bringing back a rat corpse as proof.


    While the story seemed unbelievable, they had seen Toz''s trail through the wastnd and had themselves already started suspecting that the wastnd was spreading. They had also seen rats, and nothing but rats, in the wastnd. It was enough material to make a substantial report and hopefully get some proper scouts to investigate. Or maybe even find out what kind of rat they were bringing back was.


    But considering it was night and Toz was still injured, they decided to wait until morning.


    Toz and Charlie shared the first watch. Toz took the opportunity to roast the remaining mammoth meat in his coat. Just picking up his coat made him realize how grateful he was to have been saved by nice people instead of being robbed and left for dead.


    While seasoning the meat, he said the names of the spices out loud so a certain cook, eager to learn, had something to note down. He also made sure to make clear movements and carefully inspecting the pieces of meat when roasting it.


    When Charlie handed his soup Toz had noticed the anxiety and the following sigh of relief as he continued drinking it. It was obvious Charlie didn''t have much confidence in his cooking, but Toz, who did, could share some of his knowledge and experience with him.


    The smell of cooking meat woke the cats up. Just like Toz, they were starving and could use the meat to replenish lost blood and for Mindle to recover mana.


    Although Mindle''s body is strictly made of mana, it can still be injured, and when it is, she loses the mana her body is made of. When she has plenty of mana to spare, it isn''t such a big issue, it would just take some effort and concentration to restore herself. But when she haspletely drained her mana, she can only rely on her natural recovery to regenerate herself. To Toz and the other two, it was a mystery how it all worked, but she healed faster when consuming food rich in mana, like the mammoth meat.


    The three cats went back to sleep after eating their fill.


    Toz and Charlie talked a bit about food and cooking before the subject changed to what the trio had been doingtely. General gossip really. Charlie was happy to have someone to talk to, and Toz wanted to find out more about the ones who had saved him.


    He was happily surprised, but not overly shocked, to find out that Amanda was the little sister of the branch office manager. She looked familiar despite him not having seen the manager for over a month, and at that time, only for a short while. They had the same hair, simr facial features, and the same sword-wielding habit.


    Since she was rted to the manager, it was more likely that their report would be forwarded to a higher level branch of the guild with more authority.

 Chapter 42 Baths Are Underrated

    ?Just like the cats, Toz was still tired, despite sleeping for several days straight. After having learned some tips when cooking, Charlie didn''t mind him going to sleep a little earlier.


    Toz slept like a baby with the cats huddled up on his tors until a couple of hours before dawn. He was a lot more energetic than he had been during the previous evening, and after saying good morning to Din started preparing breakfast for the entire group.


    He quickly made a pot of porridge, and after eating his portion, he left it next to the campfire. Din also ate some upon receiving Toz''s acknowledgment that he made enough for everyone. He couldn''t help butment on how it was better than what Charlie usually made.


    After breakfast, Toz woke up the cats and gathered a change of clothes. When Din asked him what he was doing, he answered,


    "I''m going for a swim."


    "In the river? At this time?"


    Din sounded doubtful. Rightfully so. Toz, without considering his injuries, was taking a bath when the night was coldest, it was still dark, and in a river with invisible currents.


    But Din was forced to acknowledge the truth when Toz walked away, leaving the cats behind next to the fire sleeping soundly. And soon after, he heard a soft ssh, different from the coursing river natural sounds it made when hitting a bend or rocks.


    The sshing sound was the noise Toz made as he walked into the river after undressing and removing the bandages. He was happy to see the wounds healing nicely. They were, after all, mostly scratches, even if they sometimes reached the bone. He had done his best to protect his face since his eyes and Lucy were there, so the wounds on his head weren''t as bad and would soon healpletely.


    Toz was even more thankful for the trio as they had done a good job cleaning his injuries, making sure there wouldn''t be any horrible scars covering his face. Only vague lines would be seen when looking closely.


    The wounds on his legs were worse and would probably leave more significant scars. Toz didn''t mind too much since it was proof of his experience, but it miffed him a little that a bunch of weak rats had managed to injure him so severely.


    After he was finished with inspecting his body, he started washing himself in the cold water, goosebumps covering him, clearing away old dried blood that came from both him and the rats. Although Amanda and Charlie had washed and dressed his wounds, they hadn''t crossed any explicit boundaries since, despite Toz''s state, there was nothing serious enough to necessitate that.


    Soon enough, he started swimming along the riverbank, having gotten used to the cold, he didn''t n on getting up any time soon as he enjoyed his bath. He had thought this during his wash in the stream after they left the wastnd the first time as well.


    ''Baths are seriously underrated.''


    It was even to the point he wondered if they should find a water element ne to go to next after they were done with their business with the rats. It wasn''t just making a report to the guild or relevant authorities anymore, it was personal, and Toz was sure he wasn''t the only one who wanted revenge.


    Toz and his group hadn''t provoked the rats in any way and only wanted to cross the wastnd. If the rats had just let them pass, they might not have reached that forest or discovered the reality of how bad the rats were for their surroundings. If the rats had just let them be, walking unknowingly, deeper into the endless wastnd, the group might just have died of thirst or something, and no one would be the wiser about the truth of the wastnd until it was toote.


    With the attitudes of most explorers, they might have walked into the wastnd due to their adventurous spirit and gotten swallowed by the rats, which would have further dyed someone with the power to stop them from finding out about how the rats were destroying the ne.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But now, the rats had chased Toz and the cats back into safety, forming a deep grudge at the same time. The rats had tried to kill them, so they would naturally do their best to return the favor and try and eradicate the rats.


    While his body had gotten cold from the chilling water, the fire in Toz''s heart burned as strong as ever.


    After finishing his swim and drying himself, Toz returned to camp and found Amanda and Charlie awake, happily eating porridge. They greeted Toz upon his return. They had heard from Din he was swimming so they weren''t surprised to see his wet hair, but they were a little shocked to find his wounds healing so quickly.


    After they had patched him up and the first time they cleaned and dressed his wounds they had mostly let him heal on his own since it didn''t look like the bandages needed changing.


    Although he was still visibly injured, it was nothingpared to the absolute mess he was just a few days before. When he was sleeping, they had also felt his mana stabilize at the second level, so they knew he didn''t have a level advantage that helped his body heal faster.


    The cats were also mostly healed, but as spirit beasts, that was much more understandable. Humans had their inclinations that gave them variety in their magic. Beasts had their physique. Spirit beasts had a slightly weaker body than most wild beasts, but it was still better than most humans. Different types of beings had different innate advantages in thepetition for survival known as life.


    And Toz was almost approaching a spirit beasts regeneration speed while still being human.


    The trio didn''t think much more of it other than it being slightly shocking, they settled for chalking it up to his inclination. They had seen his cats, so they already knew he had a beast type inclination, and it wasn''t unusual for the humans with those to gain some traits from the bonded beasts. Someone bonded with a lot ofrge beasts might start growing taller. Someone with a lot of furry beasts might start getting hairier.


    There were a lot of strange things happening to humans because of their inclinations. Healing a little faster was nothing special, just a little unexpected since it happened to someone with only cats. Although there were some notions and hierarchies in the beast world, they didn''t matter that much when it came to assessing the qualities beasts transferred to their bonded humans.


    Cats were mostly known for their agility, sharp ws, good senses, and slit pupils. None of those traits could be seen noticeably, so unless a mage was seen with cats, it wouldn''t be obvious. But seeing a mage with cats would, in most cases, mean that the mage was agile and perceptive. Toz seemed to be an oddball with his rapid healing.


    The trio might not know theplete truth behind things, but Toz did, and after noticing his rapid regeneration, he suspected Mindle. Although his thrice refined body also strengthened his physique a tiny bit, it wasn''t enough to exin the wounds fading like fog in the morning sun.


    Toz had noticed how Mindle healed quickly as long as she had mana, and during the first day of his shorta, Toz had indeed not healed that fast. But now that he was awake and actively absorbing mana he had started recovering much quicker. It was a pretty satisfying feeling, being able to heal at a noticeable pace.


    It also had Toz daydreaming about a situation far in the future where both he and Mindle are a lot stronger and can regenerate limbs from mana. It was just a fanciful dream based on his understanding of how Mindle healed herself, but it made for a nice goal. Toz decided to share the vision with Mindleter, when they were in private, without the three other humans nearby.


    Although the three cats weren''t shy, Mindle was so far physically incapable ofmunicating with beings other than Toz, Nil, and Lucy. And while Nil and Lucy had interacted a little with Charlie, they were still busy restoring themselves to their prime, absorbing mana, and resting like crazy, they even skipped breakfast in order to sleep in and further recover from their injuries.


    When the four humans started walking, they even opted to enter Toz''s familiar space to continue with their recovery. Mindle would have liked to spend some more time with Toz, but she felt slightly out of ce with the other three humans she couldn''tmunicate with there, so she also entered the familiar space.


    Amanda, Din, and Charlie had gotten an exnation from Toz who had personally witnessed the severity of the rats, and none of them wanted to waste time, so they got moving as soon as breakfast was finished.

 Chapter 43 Quick Spar

    ?The group of explorers didn''t encounter any problems on their return journey. Toz taught Charlie a bunch of things when it came to cooking. Amanda and Din hunted fresh beasts and animals the other two could cook. Toz would have assisted, but he was still recovering, so the others convinced him to rest properly. The cats slept and rxed in Toz''s familiar space most of the time, asionallying out to eat.


    Even if they were practically rushing back toward Yellow Spark, even if they ran, it would take several days. During evenings after they set up camp every night, they found themselves with a bit of free time.


    Charlie took the time to revise what Toz had taught him while Amanda and Toz sparred with Din watching them. When the three had saved Toz, they had noticed him holding a sword, and Amanda, as a sword-wielder herself, wanted to spar with him once he was strong enough.


    Since it was a spar between two swords and not a fight between enemies, they agreed to strictly use technique and skill to try and best each other.


    Although Toz had quick reflexes and agile movements, whenparing sword fighting technique alone he was a few steps worse than Amanda. It wasn''t too surprising since her inclination was a sword, considering her sister''s use of swords, it was probably inherited. Since it was inherited, it would be slightly simr to other sword inclinations, but it would still be unique in some way.


    No matter the specifics, Amanda had an advantage when it came to using swords. While wielding a sword, her physical strength is enhanced, and she can better see the enemy''s movements. And instead of converting mana into a specific attribute before absorbing it, the mana turns into something called sword energy, which is trained when using a sword. Other weapons and various fighting type inclinations, like fists or martial arts, all have their own type of energy. Someone with a fist inclination trains fist energy, someone with a bow inclination trains bow energy, and so on.


    That doesn''t mean everyone with an inclination symbolized by a weapon or something simr trains that type of energy instead of mana. There are magic swordsmen who can use magic of different attributes but need to hold and use a sword to absorb mana.


    Unlike mana, sword energy focuses more on improving the user''s physical strength, abilities, and their sword by covering it in ayer of energy that enhances sharpness and durability.


    Toz hadn''t fought anyone using sword energy, so after they had sparred a couple of times, he asked Amanda to use it. Toz wouldn''t be able to improve his technique by much, just from a light spar, and Amanda wouldn''t get much from sparring more with Toz either, so she agreed on the condition that Toz uses mana.


    Instead of using cheap tricks, as he had against Amanda''s sister, Toz focused his mana on reinforcing his body and sword. Although he threw some fireballs here and there, it was mostly to see how the sword energy would react to magic.


    And although it irritated Toz a tiny bit, Amanda cut through almost everything he threw at her with ease. The fireballs split into halves after a swing and went their separate ways to either side of Amanda. When Toz used shadows to bind her feet or cover her vision, she cut through that as well. The only thing she didn''t slice apart instantly was the metal needles he sent at her, those she needed to deflect or waste a lot of sword energy to cut through.


    While using his magic to keep Amanda upied, Toz took advantage of his superior agility to dart back and forth, harassing Amanda with quick stabs before retreating and blocking her chase with various kinds of magic.


    It was a boring way to fight, so after showing each other what level they were at, they focused on sword techniques, but this time supported by energy or mana.


    Toz had his magic sword and could go all out without fearing it getting damaged since it would regain its sharpness if he infused some mana into it, but Amanda used a very real, expensively smithed sword. Even if she coated it in sword energy, it was bound to take damage. Before it becamepletely dull and useless, they decided to call it even and go back to regr sparring.


    They finished their spar panting. And like usual, Toz took a bath before going to bed. The river had stronger currents at the ce they were nowpared to the first bath after he regained consciousness, and there was no need to wash his wounds or body of blood. After a quick dip, he returned to camp, showing off his body and almost healed wounds as he hugged Mindle to sleep.


    Amanda had spent several weeks with Charlie and Din, so she was used to the bodies of men, but Toz''s lean muscture and lithe movements were enthralling enough to make her blush a little. Thankfully for her, it was dark, and no one saw it. No human, at least. Nil saw and made sure to remember it so he could tease Toz in the future. Since Nil had been with Toz the longest he was familiar with Toz on a different level from the other two cats, and he used this advantage in ways that benefited no one except him. Like looking for ways to tease Toz on a personal level.


    Toz had rarely been interested in other humans, even if they were interested in him, and had never seen anyone in a romantic way. It had gotten to the point where just mentioning romance had Toz put on a dumbfounded face since he didn''t know what it was. Toz''s reactions naturally gave Nil a lot to tease him for, and now that Toz was going around shamelessly seducing women he had just met by showing off his body... There would be no end to it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But just like Toz wanted privacy to share his dream about near-immortality with Mindle, Nil didn''t want to tease Toz with the subject of the teasing in front of them.


    Nil went back into the familiar space since he couldn''t hide his smirk. After Nil disappeared, Toz had a bad premonition and wondered if there was an ambush. But there were no other presences nearby, and he didn''t sense any malintent nearby. It might have been that the rats were nning something.


    The next day they saw the infamous mountain range appear in the distance and knew that they were getting closer.


    However, Toz had a slightly different reaction from the others. He had seen the beasts fight against the rats in the small forest in the middle of the wastnd. The mountain reminded him of all the beasts that had congregated and died there.


    He initially thought it was slightly weird that the rats took several years to cross a distance that took him about a week, and when he considered Rasnak''s words about how fast the majority of the forest was devoured, something clicked.


    Maybe the reason so many beasts gathered in one spot, was that they were already aware of each other''s movements. A few had discovered something happening in the mountain range and moved to investigate, after which the information spread, and most, if not all the beasts guarding against the rats, left their positions.


    And then, after the chaos that took over the mountain range and several of the third level beasts being at odds with each other, no one started guarding again, or if they did, they were alone and died to the rats.


    Toz didn''t tell anyone about his suspicions. The trio of Amanda, Din, and Charlie didn''t know about what happened in the mountains except there were talks about a natural treasure appearing. If Toz told them about what he had just thought they would realize he knew a lot about the mountains, a little too much to not be suspicious. They would have to include this in their report to the guild, and from there the guild could figure out Toz''s involvement and talk to him.


    Like before, it would inevitably put him in an ufortable spot and Mindle in danger. He didn''t tell his cats. While Lucy wouldn''t care, and Nil would at most think it''s a shame, Mindle had a slightly more susceptible heart. Maybe she wouldn''t realize it herself, but it would be very possible for her to feel guilt about her birth leading to the rats'' invasion.


    When Mindle matured a little more, it would be fine to tell her and exin that the rats would have invaded no matter what and that it wasn''t her fault. Currently, however, Mindle would listen to what was being said, without fully grasping what Toz meant.


    For now, Toz and his group being partially responsible for speeding up the rats'' conquest would remain a secret. However, it also led Toz to wonder what would have happened if they didn''t enter the mountain range.


    Nil and Lucy wouldn''t have gotten a little sister, and one of the third level beasts would have tried to eat Mindle''s embryo in an attempt to ascend. Whether it seded or not it wouldn''t remain here.


    The beasts would have kept stalling the rats without knowing what they were up against, allowing the rats to spread out and build their forces before trying topletely take over the ne.


    Now, however, Toz was about to rally an extermination effort against the pesky rodents and make sure they''repletely gone before he leaves for somewhere else.


    It seemed Toz had a weird connection with the rats. First, almost letting them loose on the ne, then almost being killed by them twice, forming a grudge deep enough to warrant their extermination.

 Chapter 44 Returning To Yellow Sparks

    ?After seeing the mountain in the distance, it only took the group another few days to reach the town.


    Yellow Sparks had developed nicely in the time that Toz had been away. It no longer looked so nd and lifeless, even in the middle of the day. More houses had been built, and more non-explorers had settled down thanks to the cheapnd.


    Although there weren''t any things unique to Yellow Sparks that could be made into a local specialty, there was an overall pleasant atmosphere in the area surrounding the town.


    With the added attention that the excitement in the nearby mountain range had brought to the town, a lot of neers had arrived since Toz''sst visit.


    Not just an explorer outpost anymore, but a proper town with professions other than explorers and merchants.


    The tiny house that fit both the explorer guild''s branch office and a bar had beenpletely demolished and reced by tworger buildings. A proper guild office and an affiliated inn just next door. With more employees than the mother and son duo, the branch also possessed the capabilities needed to keep up with the increased influx of people.


    The group of four entered the building and sought a meeting with a higher-up. Thanks to Amanda''s rtionship to the manager and the entire group''s credibility, it was quickly granted. Although Toz was about to be left behind by the receptionist since no one knew him, but they were sure he wasn''t a part of Amanda''s trio previously. Thankfully the other three vouched for him.


    Since the trio had never done anything like it before, it brought some attention from the others nearby. Considering they were in the guild in the middle of the day, they were probably bored and looking for some way to pass the time. Gossipping about how the manager''s sister walked in with a handsome young man was fun enough.


    When Amanda''s nephew heard the rumors, he got curious and with the excuse of bringing refreshments, went to the meeting room to see it for himself.


    When he arrived at the room, he saw his mother carefully inspecting a rat. That alone was weird enough, but the entire atmosphere in the room was incredibly dark. And based on the way everyone stared at the rat corpse, it seemed to be because of that.


    When Nander, the receptionist, entered, only his mother and the ck-haired young man took notice of his presence. His mother was working and kept a professional attitude and moved the rat away from the table to let him put down the tray of biscuits and juice.


    Toz, on the other hand, greeted him with a nod before he got up and started looking around the room holding a biscuit.


    During their talk, the five of them had been seated on two sofas on either side of a small table that was in the middle of the room. With the back to the window and with perfect view over the entire room, including the door to the left and the bookshelf on the wall opposite, were a desk and a chair.


    It was the manager''s office. Either, there was no proper room for meetings alone, or meetings with the manager took ce in her office.


    The meeting paused naturally, after Toz finished telling all the details about what he had been through in the wastnd. After the trio saved him, he had given them a rough outline, but they had never heard the full story.


    Of course, now that they heard something unbelievable like that, they didn''t trust Toz''s story immediately, but after he swore and even guaranteed that the story wouldn''t change in the slightest if they questioned him with a truthseeker, they were bound to at least consider the reality of the situation.


    Although truthseekers weren''t absolute and could be fooled, since all of them had different inclinations, it would take different methods to fool every one of them, some used different ways to feel the emotions through the mage''s mana, and others could simply tell lie and truth apart based on how the mana in the surroundings reacted. It was impossible toe up with a method to counteract such mysterious methods on the spot, and there was no way Toz could know which truthseeker he would be up against, so it was very likely he wasn''t lying.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    None of them could find a reason for him to lie either. After a quick investigation, what Toz had said could be confirmed. Either trying to find some encyclopedia with information about the rat, or mobilize a couple of scouts to search for proof in the wastnd.


    The problem was that they needed to act fast. As a branch manager, Amber was used to dealing with stressful situations, but it was her first time encountering something that, ording to spection, threatened the wellbeing of all creatures on the ne.


    After a few minutes had passed since Nander left the room, Maber gathered her bearings and started writing a letter. She couldn''t tell Toz''s entire story in a single message, so she shortened it down. Although she only wrote that a few witnesses were warning the guild about a serious rat infestation with possibly fatal consequences, she did her best to make sure the emergency of the situation would be understood by the recipient. She also wrote what Toz had told her about the rats.


    Toz had started looking around the bookshelf for books detailing various beasts hoping to find a clue about the rats they were dealing with, in order to possibly find a weakness or a way to deal with them. He found a few interesting facts about other rodent type beasts but none of it relevant to the situation they were dealing with.


    Instead of wasting his time at the guild, he said goodbye to the others. Amber agreed but said that because he was an important eyewitness to a possible cmity, he had to stay within the town for the time being.


    Toz agreed and with the help of the guild booked a room at the affiliated inn for an indefinite stay. He had nned to hole up with the cats and focus on training for now.


    After their blood-paved escape through the wastnd, where they had overdrawn their mana and abused their mana pools a bit, they had gotten closer to the next level when they recovered. It was to the point where Mindle had already reached the second level.


    After Toz had brought his fire element to the second level, he had focused all his efforts on reaching the third level with it and was making rapid progress. Despite having focused on his third element, he wasn''t far behind Nil, with Lucy in the lead, almost having finished the second level.


    Although the mana wasn''t as dense in the middle of town as it was in the wilderness it wasn''t at a level it was impossible to gather enough for training. With some extra gold to the innkeeper, they even got an elemental room with stronger fire mana for Toz and Mindle. The other two were satisfied that it had more mana than a neutral room since there weren''t any metal or shadow rooms.


    It would be best for all three of them to reach the third level, but even if only one of them did, it would greatly boost their fighting capabilities. And if Toz was the one to break through it would be even better since he was already their main fighting force.


    Aside from the weakness they had felt during both times they had been attacked by the rats, they also felt the need to grow stronger quickly in order to have a say in the preparations against the rats. Toz had only managed to talk with the branch''s manager thanks to a fateful meeting with her sister.


    Without that, he would have needed to wait a lot longer and even if he guaranteed he was telling the truth by using a truthseekers reputation, there was a very low probability of the manager listening to him and requesting a truthseeker toe.


    Just fining Toz wouldn''t be enough topensate the truthseeker for their valuable time if it turned out to be some kind of weird joke. And if the truthseeker determined the truth by relying on the person''s reaction to questions, it could still be a hallucination that Toz believed was absolutely true.


    Since many truthseekers determined the truth based on the person and not the world surrounding them, even their acknowledgment of Toz''s story might not be enough to rush an investigation led by proper Scouts.


    Although an investigation will be made, no matter what, there''s a difference between scouts at the fourth level, at a minimum, with a sense of urgency and some low level explorer taking on a side gig from the guild.


    Although reaching the third level wouldn''t instantly make people listen to Toz, it would at least make people look in his direction, and hesitate beforepletely disregarding his thoughts.

 Chapter 45 Third Level

    ?Amber sent her letter using a magicmunication tool. Hopefully, she would get an answer soon, and a few days after that, reinforcements would arrive. Although the guild could mobilize the explorers under its jurisdiction, the ones close to Yellow Sparks were mostly first and second level ones.


    From what Toz had told Amber, using low level mages would at most halt the rats in their advance. To eradicate them, they needed greater levels of strength and possibly greater numbers.


    Amber stressed this point in her message, but she didn''t possess the qualifications and authority needed to make a mid level mage of the guild move by herself. She could only hope that even if they wanted to verify the truth before sending further reinforcements, they would send someone with adequate strength and skill to start nning countermeasures.


    While waiting anxiously, she started notifying the explorers to be careful of the wastnd to the south and if possible, stay close to town, in case they are needed for an emergency mobilization.


    Although no details were leaked, the atmosphere in the guild building turned more serious, than in the rest of the town. There wasn''t enough time for the entire town to get put on high alert, but some perceptive and quick-thinking merchants either left the townpletely or started bulk purchasing materials and resources that the guild and explorers would need inrge-scalebat.


    A few trustworthy explorers had also been asked to keep track of the wastnd''s expansion and report back to the guild at regr intervals.


    Amber did as much as she could while waiting for a response from her superiors in a nearby mid level ne.


    It took two days for the answer toe. It had Amber sighing in relief as she read the contents of the letter. The fifth level manager she had reported to had chosen to believe in her struggles. While he would investigate the rats and their origin personally, a squad that often worked closely with the guild woulde over and take charge.


    Although Amber didn''t like being shoved to the side like a chair in the way, she knew she wouldn''t be able to contribute more than a fifth level mage with experience in leading teams and subjugating beasts on arge scale.


    There wasn''t any mention of sending a truthseeker to interrogate Toz, so he was free to leave the town if he so wished, but Amber got the impression he wanted to stick around and help deal with the rats.


    Nander had been to Toz''s room to give him Amber''s message about the reinforcements but didn''t get an answer when knocking on the door. Inside the room, Toz and the cats sat in a square formation, concentrating intensely on training their mana.


    Even if they had noticed Nander knocking, none of them would have bothered breaking their focus to deal with him since it didn''t seem very important. If it had been about a serious matter, Nander wouldn''t have left after just a couple of knocks without even trying to see if Toz was in the room.


    After Mindle broke through to the second level, she had a hard time controlling her power since, despite only advancing a single level in the lower levels, her mana pool expanded by a lot. And unlike other beasts, her body was made from her mana, so when her mana exploded in capacity so did her body''s capabilities.


    The mana making up her body grew denser to keep her the same size,  and both her magical and physical output increased by arge margin. Her increased capacity for mana and magical output made it difficult to control her magic.


    Right after Mindle broke through, she wanted to conjure a small me topare with her previous self, but instead of a paw-sized me, a fireball bigger than herself appeared and almost torched the room. Thankfully they were in a room made of fire attribute materials, and Toz was quick to react and helped Mindle control the fireball.


    The first day in the inn was spent helping Mindle control her mana with more precision, then while she focused on that, the other three began absorbing the surrounding mana like crazy.


    Toz had no problem absorbing the mana directly, but Lucy and Nil had to convert it first, which made them a bit slower than Toz. However, during the time Toz spent refining his body a third time with the fire element, those two had pulled ahead and were already nearing the third level. Lucy was especially close.


    But with Toz focusing wholeheartedly on advancing his total level, it wouldn''t be long until he caught up and surpassed Lucy, not to mention Nil. And that''s exactly what he did. A few days after locking themselves in their room, Toz had reached approximately the same level as Lucy. Now, both of them only needed a slight push to reach the third level.


    Lucy sensed through the inclination and fluctuations in Toz''s mana that both of them were a single, tiny step away from breaking through. After exchanging a determined nce with each other, they restarted their training with renewed vigor.


    Mindle was busy trying to improve her mana control, and Nil ignored the two''spetition and focused on himself instead.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    A day after Amber received her response, and a day before the reinforcements were expected to arrive Toz''s room stirred.


    Although it was a small breakthrough to the third level, both Toz and Lucy hadrge mana pools and were talented, so there was a small ruckus in the room, barely noticeable on the other side of the door.


    The two reached the third level at the same time, creating two small whirlpools of mana as their newly expanded mana pools absorbed the surrounding mana to fill themselves up. Lucy worked hard to keep up with converting it, so his mana pool didn''t starve. Toz didn''t have the same problems, as he could just keep an eye on the process while feeling his body be more attuned to mana, and the bond between all of them strengthen through his inclination.


    Despite being able to rx and feeling refreshed, Toz didn''t ck off and started acquainting himself with his new magical capabilities. Seeing how much stronger his magic had gotten and how much his mana pool had expanded, Toz had a satisfied smile on his face.


    With the increase in level, his body had also gotten slightly stronger, and it would be even stronger as he refined his darkness and metal elements.


    The light show and blowing wind that came as a result of Toz and Lucy breaking through disrupted the other two''s concentration, and the rest of the day was spent celebrating.


    It was a joyous asion so they went out to eat in a proper restaurant instead of munching on snacks in the room.


    They couldn''t help but notice the slightly solemn atmosphere hovering around the town, but since the restaurant was empty they didn''t mind. They also probably knew why. There was no way the guild would sit still after Toz''s report, and if the guild moved on the necessary scale, the town that was almost built around the guild would notice those movements, and react ordingly.


    While eating a sumptuous meat buffet with the cats, Toz thought that he should check in with Amber the next day to see how it''s going with the preparations and make sure he can get a front-row seat to the rats'' eradication.


    Nil, unlike the others, wasn''t as happy. While Toz and Lucy had just broken through, he was still not at the threshold. Mindle had also broken through to the second level, despite her age.


    At this rate, it felt like he would be left behind. He knew Toz wouldn''t mind if Nil was weaker than the others, but his self-esteem wouldn''t allow it. Not after he and Toz had started on the journey of magic together. They had promised each other they would be next to each other forever, something that wouldn''t be possible with arge disparity in strength.


    Eventual weakness and differences in capability would limit what they could do together and put an inevitable strain on their rtionship.


    Nil didn''t want that to happen and vowed to work even harder to catch up to Toz.


    The good thing about Toz bing stronger than Nil was that as Toz got stronger, his inclination did too. More specifically, the familiar space that his bonded cats could ess through the inclination got better.


    Larger separate rooms, a more spaciousmon area, and higher mana density are what changes as a standard every time Toz gets stronger. Although the mana came partly from the cats and Toz, so they needed to put some of their own, into the familiar space, for there to be mana the cats could use to train. Usually, the inclination absorbs small amounts of mana constantly, to refill the space, but when the consumption is greater than the regeneration Toz or any of the cats can manually refill it.


    Since the familiar space had improved, Nil could spend more time there, training, while Toz is busy with other things or sleeping.


    Toz sensed Nil''s dejection despite him trying to y it cool, but even if Toz said something, it wouldn''t do much good, it might even have negative consequences. Instead, Toz chose to trust his longtimepanion, and wait for him to talk or deal with it on his own.


    After stuffing themselves with meat in an overall festive mood, the group headed back to the inn.

 Chapter 46 Guild Reinforcements

    ?Toz headed to the guild early in the morning.


    A few minutes after Toz entered the building, the portal in the central za trembled. Signs of someone passing through.


    The first person to leave the portal was a man with short brown hair and a fuzzy horseshoe mustache.  He seemed to be slightly shorter than average, but that could have been because of the two tall women following directly behind him. Based on how simr they looked they were at least sisters, but it was more likely for them twins. Their dark blue hair was gathered in several braids that stretched over their head down to the back.


    After those three, more and more people poured out of the portal. The first two dozen all had the same green jacket, with the first three having slightly more decorated ones, especially the man in the lead.


    After the man with the mustache stepped out of the portal, he had taken a deep breath, standing on the spot with his subordinates streaming past him and lining up in front of him, and not until every one of his subordinates was through, did he breathe out.


    After the Forest Janitors gathered in the central square of Yellow Sparks, other explorers, either alone or in smaller groups, started trickling through the portal.


    All the explorers that had passed through the portal headed toward the guild with the Forest Janitors in the lead. Considering they were headed by a fifth level mage, it was natural for them to go first. There was also the fact that the other explorers had been requested by the guild to provide help, not act up.


    After Amber sent the message to her direct superior, both she and him had started messaging other nearby low level branches, asking them to send help. Although it was a voluntary mission at the other branches, the guild was famous for its generous rewards, there was also the added benefit of building a closer rtionship with the guild by following their requests.


    Although, having a good rtionship with the guild was basically a rumor about how it gave them more benefits like better trade deals and more information. There wasn''t anything about it from the guild officially, but the ones who did a lot of guild requests seemed to be treated better by the guild employees. Of course, it could be the other way as well, because they are treated well by the guild they take on their requests more often.


    Either way, Amber had made sure there would be enough explorers to help deal with the rats. Based on what Toz had said and what her investigations had told her, the wastnd was enormous and spread out far. Even if they had someone at the fifth level, just strength at that level won''t be enough topensate for therge area that needed to be covered.


    Therge numbers of explorers passing through town caused quite a ruckus and many inhabitants popped their heads out of windows, or left the buildings they were in entirely to admire the spectacle. Whatever had had the resident guild branch in a knot thest few days would be solved it seemed.


    Although no one was strong enough to urately read the mustache man in the lead''s strength, he wasn''t hiding his mana fluctuations and they knew he was stronger than the third level at least.


    The Forest Janitors didn''t seem to be in a rush and leisurely walked to the guild building while disying their strength. One fifth level, two fourth level, and at least a dozen third level mages. It was an impressive sight for those who realized the green-d group''s real strength.


    When they reached the building, everyone except the mustache man and the two women following behind him, stayed outside the building. The Janitors had their boss to tell them what to do, and the other explorers had the Janitors who would lead themter on.


    The receptionists inside had been told that reinforcements would arrive, and when they heard the ruckus outside, they realized it was those reinforcements and prepared to wee them.


    Nander received the trio from the Janitors and brought them to Amber''s office, where she was currently finishing her talk with Toz. After congratting him, she told Toz about the situation. Although she didn''t have to, Toz was the reason they found out about the rats in time, and about the seriousness of the situation, so they could make ample preparations.


    Right when they were about to stand up and say goodbye, for now, someone opened the door without knocking and strode right in.


    The Janitor boss hadn''t bothered withdrawing his mana even after he entered the guild building so the two had long since felt him approaching. And, considering his status, it wasn''t weird for him to open the door without knocking, but it also showed how much he cared for and respected their opinion.


    Amber shot him a re before waiting for him to speak. Toz didn''t particrly react, but he was curious about what this guy with a tail on his face would do.


    "I read the report, but I''m gonna take a look at the situation. Prepare a supply line to the wastnd and begin gathering forces. After investigating, I will spare no time waiting for the grunts to gather before we exterminate those rats."


    The mustached man didn''t even bother introducing himself after dealing out his orders as he left for the wastnd immediately.


    He left a few of his janitors behind to coordinate the supplies with the guild and merchants but the main force left, along with many of the recruited explorers.


    Amber had read Hugh''s name in the letter, but it seemed he was either really inept at social interactions or very rude. If he was rude just because he was temporarily the strongest around it would be incredibly ridiculous and Amber even wondered how the cooperation would go.


    With a sigh, she left the office with Toz still inside. Hugh''s attitude had him thinking if it would be worth even trying to contribute and take on an important role, or if he should just stay back and enjoy the spectacle.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After conferring with the cats they all agreed that if they could personally kill the rats it would be nice, but as long as they die it''s all good.


    Since they had made that decision it would be better to get a good view. They moved to catch up with the Janitors and the group of explorers that had started crossing the ins to get to the wastnd.


    During the days, Toz and Amanda, Din, and Charlie had spent walking back to the down the rats had continued extending the wastnd, and they didn''t stop while the guild called for reinforcements. Now the wastnd was within sighting distance of the mountains, and steadily creeping closer.


    Most people when walking at a rxed pace would take a couple of days to reach the wastnd, but when the explorers led by the Janitors wanted to, it wouldn''t be difficult for most of them to cross that distance in a day.


    They set up arge camp in between the twondmarks, the wastnd and the mountains. It would be easy to scout and prepare for a fight against the rats, without the risk of being ambushed during the night.


    There wererge mess tents, individual sleeping tents, and torches here and there for light.


    In arge ostentatious tent in the middle of the camp, Hugh had gathered his closest subordinates.


    "This might seem like an ordinary beast subjugation in a weak low level ne, but the manager seemed pretty serious about it, so don''t ck off. If you mess this up I take the me, remember that. The manager said he would contact that local chick if he finds out more about the rats so keep an eye on her."


    ''"Yes, sir"''


    After everyone except the twins left the tent, one of them politely cleared her throat.


    "What about that dark-haired kid who was in the room with the manager?"


    "What kid?"


    The other twin answered,


    "The one who was in the branch manager''s office when you stormed in."


    "What about him?"


    "If he was having a one-on-one conversation with the branch manager wouldn''t he possibly be important?"


    "How important could a low level mage be when we are here? Just ignore him unless he tries to interfere.


    "Right, have you found out anything else about the rumors of some exotic treasure appearing in the mountains back there?"


    "No, sir."


    "Okay, take a rest then, we will start doing our job tomorrow, and I don''t want any sleeping beauties harming my reputation."


    "Yes, sir."


    After the twins left, Hugh started going through some papers and reports. Most of them rted to the investigations the guild had performed after a couple of the mountains copsed. One of the papers even had a drawing of an orange orb on it.


    There seemed to be more about the Forest Janitors epting the request than simply wanting to exterminate some rats.

 Chapter 47 The Janitors Plan

    ?It was an early start at the camp of explorers aiming to exterminate pests. Those who managed to get up early enough had at least some time to swallow down a light breakfast before the Janitors pushed everyone to get to work.


    Before they could establish an effective countermeasure for the rats, it was first necessary to find out more about them. How far did their range of operations stretch? Average strength? Communication methods? Motivation?


    During the uing days, everyone would focus on gathering as much information on the rats as possible. Some had a deadline of two days to try and find how far away the wastnd reached. Others would experiment with different ways to deal with the rats, how they reacted to different kinds of magic and why.


    As the results umte and effective methods of dealing with the rats are discovered, others would be in charge of developing efficient ways to use those methods on arge scale, as well as coordinate with merchants to acquire the proper tools and materials needed.


    A few methods simr to what Toz and his group had done in the canyon and when crossing the wastnd, were found to be effective. Some otherspletely different were also discovered, but the deadline wasn''t up yet, and there were plenty of opportunities to experiment wildly on the rats and their tunnel system.


    Although most methods reliant on a unique inclination would be impractical, there was no one who said they only needed to use a single method.


    They also used the times when the rats fled or moved around in the tunnels to discover how theymunicated and what made them move in certain ways. It was difficult to determine something concrete since the tunnels stretched deeper down in the ground than first expected, leaving the mages with excellent sensing capabilities at a loss.


    No matter how far down they tried reaching, the only things they could find were more tunnels and more rats. The one thing of note was how the tunnel system spread furthest at the surface, creating a cone-like shape of tunnels. But if the cone ended in a tip, it would stretch unbelievably far down, based on the angle of the descending tunnels, as well as the size of the wastnd.


    Hopefully, the tunnels would only go down a bit farther than they could sense, and then the system evens out since that would be somewhat easier to deal with but since they can''t base their n on some flimsy hope, they made contingencies for all conceivable possibilities.


    Another thing that had the explorers doubtful was theck of stronger rats. Except for spirits, as far as is known, all other living beings begin at most at the first level when they are born and then get progressively stronger. Some beings get stronger quicker and easier than others, but it''s generally the same for everyone.


    And for beings who live in groups, there are always stronger ones leading the groups, or at least not all members of the race are of the same strength at the first level. But so far, only first level rats had been discovered.


    Either there weren''t any rats of a higher level, or they are hiding so deep underground that they can''t be found, but in that case, what are they doing so deep down? Are they somehowmunicating with the beasts at a distance further than the mages greatest at perception can sense?


    The more they learned about the rats, the more mysteries they discovered.


    One of the greatest mysteries they had touched upon so far was the food. Rats had not for a moment stopped popping out of the ground like zits on a teenager, and there were no signs of them stopping any time soon either.


    The rats weren''t jumping out in a small area either. About a hundred people had spread out wide and were investigating while being assailed by endless rats. When they moved spots it only made rats sprout out from there as well. There seemed to be an infinite supply of rats hiding in the wastnd.


    With how vast the wastnd was, and how many rats there were in it, there was no way they could find enough food to feed themselves in the barren tunnels.


    The only reasonable exnation was that the rats were eating the nourishment in the ground, how it is possible for the weak dumb rats to do something like that was another mystery that showed no signs of letting itself be solved.


    Almost every one of the Forest Janitors actively participated in preparing against the rat extermination. Running experiments, investigating the wastnd, and preparing necessary supplies.


    The only exceptions were the leader of the Janitors, Hugh, and his two twin subordinates.


    The twins, while not directly interfering in the preparative work, oversaw the activities and made sure nothing went wrong. Keeping crazy people in line so they don''t go over the budget and things like that.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Hugh, however, was barely seen in the camp. Aside from a few times when he was seen walking through the camp once a day, his presence went unnoticed.


    Most of the stray explorers who had joined the campaign thought that he was busy drafting ns and concentrating on administrative duties only he could do as the leader of the extermination.


    Others suspected him of just not wanting or being able to do the same things everyone else was doing, because of some sort of inted ego. His little stunt at the manager''s office wasn''t exactly a secret.


    There were also a few ideas of him not having the right set of skills to help prepare during this very explorative stage of the rat extermination.


    Of course, none of them were right. When no one noticed, Hugh sneaked out of the camp and investigated the mountain range. The only ones who knew what he was doing were the twins.


    Hugh was searching for traces of the orb rumored to be discovered by the wild beasts in the surrounding areas. Apparently, the orb had been so precious it had stirred the beasts into starting a frenzied fight, wild enough to pull down two mountains.


    The ensuing worry and ruckus, caused by the mountains copsing had gotten the Explorers Guild personally involved. After the guild sent mid level mages to investigate, rumors started to spread among those in the know.


    Hugh, with his many years in the business, naturally heard a thing or two about a treasure appearing in a low level ne that was enough to entice several tens of thousands of wild beasts into fighting for it.


    Even if it appeared in a low level ne, a treasure that managed to create such a stir would be attractive to even mid level mages. If the rumors exploded, or the situation had been even more chaotic and outrageous, even high level mages might have shown interest.


    Although there were only rumors about what kind of treasure it might be, Hugh had gotten a hold of a drawing from one of the scouts that investigated the mountains. That scout had questioned a tiny bird who had entered the mountain range and spotted the treasure. After seeing the treasure, it realized it couldn''t bring it away and fled the scene before it got wrapped up in something it couldn''t get out of.


    The scout had gotten a description from the bird and based on that description, painted a drawing. Through some lucky chances, Hugh had gotten hold of that painting.


    He couldn''t determine what kind of treasure it was just from the painting, but it looked valuable, and if he could find it, or at least some traces of it, he could get a nice amount of money. Money he needed to settle some old debts and buy new gear for his Janitors.


    But Hugh couldn''t just leave his base and start a wild goose chase in a random low level ne without hispetitors finding out and joining him. He might be able to sneak away unnoticed alone, but that would put his Janitors at risk and possibly make them lose their position as the most explorer squad in their ne.


    But if he dragged the entire squad with him they would lose a lot of credibility and jobs for nothing more than guesswork, with no guarantee of getting paid. His squad might listen to him and join him this time, but what about the future. He was the strongest currently, which had greatly helped him be the leader and increase the repute of the janitors, but there were several fourth level mages who weren''t too far from breaking through.


    If Hugh pulled this stunt and they ended up getting nothing, he might lose his position as the head janitor.


    But right when Hugh was busy thinking about whether it was worth it, or if he should take the chance or give up, one of his two most trusted subordinates had brought in a request slip from the guild.


    At first, he wasn''t interested in a random extermination job in a low level ne since the pay might not be good enough for the effort required. However, as soon as he saw the name of the ne and the destination he instantly epted.


    It was a great opportunity to try and find that elusive treasure. He hardly even bothered reading the details of the mission, letting most of that fall onto his subordinates'' shoulders while he focused on treasure hunting.


    Hugh hoped for understanding as he ignored his duties as leader of the extermination and all the explorers who had gathered for the guild''s request.

 Chapter 48 Phase One

    ?After several days of fruitlessly searching for the orb by Hugh and tireless work from everyone else, it was time to actually begin exterminating the rats on arger scale, no longer small experiments that would at most take out a few hundred of the pests.


    Using the results of their investigations and the coboration of the smartest strategists of the gathered mages, they hade up with a somewhat decent n. It would be difficult topletely eradicate all the rats in one go, but it would drastically reduce their numbers.


    It was also the n with thergest chance of sess given the time frame and the resources avable. It was after all only a small, low level ne''s emergency. The forces gathered in response in just a few days would only be so much. Just getting a fifth level mage to help hadn''t been a guarantee, and until Hugh had shown his attitude, Amber, along with most residents of the ne had been overjoyed at the news.


    The n was made after only a few days of research and nning, with the resources gathered in almost the same amount of days. Despite that, the n showed promise and built on the experience of the janitors and simr tactics known to be effective against species that createdrge-scale nests. It was devised to be an efficient way to deal with the rats, both when counting money, and when counting human resources.


    It was also easy to move around the wastnd and repeat the same process to get rid of as many rats as possible with the n. Then while most mages and explorers are doing that, others will try and find a way to make sure the rats won''t make aeback by finding a way to kill everyst one of them.


    And so, in small groups of three or four, most mages spread out in arge circr area of the wastnd. Everyone was within sight of everyone else, but only barely for the ones on either side of the designated zone.  It was both a security measure and a way to control what was going to happen.


    Almost everyone in charge of nning had agreed that trying to get every singlest rat in one go would be close to impossible. Instead, it would be better to lure them in and gradually trim their numbers while at the same time trying to get all the rats in the same area.


    They didn''t know if there were more rats deeper in the center of the wastnd, but the border of it stretched far enough that all the rats wouldn''t fit in an area manageable by the gathered exterminators.


    The first phase of the n was to slowly gather rats and concentrate them within therge circr formation they had created. To do that they used the rats'' attraction to vitality and mana.


    Mages of all kinds of attributes sent down mana into the ground and those with particr attributes like wood, nature, life, or anything that could achieve the same thing, infused the ground with vitality.


    They made sure to spread out the mana and vitality evenly over the ground covered by the circle, to make sure the rats stay in the ground and focus on absorbing the nourishment, and note up to the surface to directly target the source. Although they were put into small teams made of abination of support andbat personnel that was merely an insurance in case the asional rat crawled up, they weren''t equipped in any way to deal with a full-on rat swarm.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Aside from Hugh, who made a show of appearing and overseeing the venture, and a few other mages, who were responsible for analyzing the rats'' behavior, and preparing for phase two, everyone else joined in. The twins were the only two who worked in a pair as they stood in the center, working together to spread their mana through the ground.


    As everyone started pumping the ground full of mana and nourishment, the ground started teeming with rat activity almost instantly, incessant chattering, the ground trembling slightly from the rodents rushing through the tunnels, from all over in excitement.


    Usually, if mana was infused into the ground like it was currently, it would slowly dissipate into the ground or seep into the air. Either way, it wouldn''t disappearpletely as soon as it entered the ground, like it was doing when it entered the rat-infested wastnd. The mages could feel the mana they sent into the ground vanish like friends during a personal crisis.


    With how fast the mana disappeared and how small a rat''s capacity for it was, it was a sign that innumerable rats had gathered below the surface already. The ones with great perceptive capabilities could sense how the ground was absolutely teeming with rats. When they perceived below ground previously, they would discern the hollowed-out tunnels and the skittering rats, but after phase one was initiated, the rats hadpletely taken over the tunnels, filling them up, leaving no empty space.


    It was a wonder how they were able to breathe, not to mention how even more rats were able to fit in andpete for the mana poured into the ground.


    The rate at which all the mana disappeared wasn''t the only shock. The mages with wood and life attribute magic who tried to nurture nts to boost the attraction of the rats were stunned to find the nts wither before they even sprouted.


    The rats'' ability to steal the nourishment was terrifying as they almost stole it directly from the mages, with them hardly being able to stop as soon as they began feeding the ground.


    If it weren''t for the mana and magic being dispersed throughout the circle so thoroughly the rats really might''ve swarmed up and tried to clean the bones of the humans until there was nothing left.


    There was also another of the rats'' traits that helped in the n. After they ate their fill they would doze off and sleep for a bit before returning to the depths of the tunnels.


    Phase one of the rat extermination n was to gather as many rats as they could manage in an area using bait and food. After eating that food, the rats would fall asleep for a little while. After as many rats as possible were gathered and put to sleep phase two would begin.

 Chapter 49 Phase Two

    ?After most mages had tried pumping the ground full of mana and nutrients, letting the rats eat their fill, it was time to initiate phase two of the n. While phase one was about gathering the rats, phase two would concentrate on keeping them in ce, either if they wake up or during phase three when the n reaches its final stages.


    Since the n is devised to eradicate as many of the rats as possible it would be troublesome if they can escape their extermination because of a mistake that even rookies won''t make when hunting or clearing nests.


    Mages with the earth attribute, fighters with piercing or prating skills, and anyone else who could copse and block off the tunnels deep into the ground, were gathered at the outer edge of the circle. Meanwhile, everyone else left the circr area and started grabbing buckets before heading to the redirected river. The buckets wererge enough to fit a decent amount of water and when filled with water, heavy enough that people would likely go to bed feeling like their arms are about to fall off.


    In order to not let all the water drain out into the wastnd, the river had been diverted away from the forest and toward the campsite, partially to make it easier for them to get water for cooking but also because it had proven effective against the rats when used in various ways. The river continued stretching along the wastnd without actually getting too close since while the humans are busy exterminating the rats in one area, rats in another might continue to extend the wastnd and drain away the water.


    A few earth and water attribute mages were working together on extending the river, so it could be used continually in phases two and four of the n.


    The ones responsible for blocking the rat''s escape path fulfilled their duties by sending down walls of earth, punching the ground with enough force to send down tremors that crashed the tunnels, or using other kinds of magic to make sure the rats don''t disperse before or when it''s time for phase three.


    The mages were worried that the trembling and noises they caused when closing up the tunnels would awaken the rats, but they couldn''t afford to waste extra energy on being unnecessarily careful. Instead, they made sure to do it as quickly and as thoroughly as possible. Even if some of the rats woke up, it would be toote for them to escape through the tunnels, and trying the way above ground would get them killed by mages waiting on standby.


    As the tunnels in the ground kept copsing, a ring-shaped indentation took shape around the area where the rats were gathered and sleeping peacefully. The indentation sloped gently since the mages and fighters concentrated their efforts in the center of the circle. The indentation was not unexpected but its size was, as it had both a diameter and a depth of several meters.


    While the mages responsible for walling in the rats kept doing just that, trying to go even further down into the ground, everyone else started transporting water buckets in a line, from the river to the circle.


    When the buckets filled with water reached the circle, the mages there started pouring it down into the closest intact tunnels, letting it flow downwards.


    Just like the rats didn''t wake up from the disturbance of the tunnels copsing, they didn''t stir from water being poured on them either, as it just rolled off their protective coats of dusty earth. A few unlucky rats instead got mud coats because theyy in a ce where the water gathered, but that wasn''t enough to wake them up either.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The explorers kept sending bucket after bucket, filled with water,pletely drenching the tunnels.


    Although it wasn''t enough water to radically lower the water level in the river, it was enough to notice a significant difference, as the dug-out furrow transporting the river past the camp had its edges clearly visible. Before, when the furrow had just been made, it barely contained the water as it was constructed shallowly due to time constraints. But, now, there was a clear gap between the ground and the water level in the furrow.


    When enough water seemed to have been used for the tunnels to be sufficiently wet for phase three, it was time for the next step.


    Instead of pure water, different kinds of explosives and vtile substances were poured down. Oil, gunpowder, and some magical resources like boom grass. On its own, a single stalk of boom grass isn''t dangerous it just lights up like a fuse before turning to ash after burning for a few moments.


    But when a mountain of the rtively easily found nt is dried, ground down into a powder, and mixed with water, things change. There is a reason the Merchant Guild controls the sale and distribution of it in low level nes where it can cause serious damage.


    It was only thanks to Hugh and the Forest Janitors'' connections that they could get enough for their n. But boom grass, alone wouldn''t be enough, so they added more kinds of simr nts and minerals that when put under pressure ore into contact with high heat, react in a vtile way.


    The first batch of water was primarily there to make way for the stickier substances and make sure as much of it as possible spreads as far down as possible.


    Now, instead of water, the explorers poured down dangerous things continuously into the tunnels, being careful not to use particrly fragrant or smelly items. Even if the rats didn''t wake up when they crashed down the tunnels or covered the rats in water, there was no need to push their luck and pour something that smells like food literally down their throats or something that reeks with a stench so vile it might cause them to faint after waking them up.


    After everyone emptied the containers with enough stuff to make sure all the gathered rats get exterminated during phase three, everyone except the mages who were participating in the next phase made sure to create distance between themselves and the circle spelling rat doom.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 50 Phase Three

    ?After everyone whose assistance wasn''t needed for phase three was cleared out of the circr area and had moved a great distance away from the entire wastnd, it was time for the part of the n some of the crazier types in the camp were looking forward to most. The first two phases were pretty inconspicuous inparison to the third phase. Especially since the amount of explosive and vtile materials for the first round is more guesswork and based on the explosion will be increased, or decreased next time.


    But there was a general consensus at the nning table that it''s better to use too much than too little, and really make sure the rats get sent flying to and past the afterlife. And it''s during the third phase the ridiculous amount of explosives are ignited. Compared to the first two phases it''s going to be a lot more action.


    The first part of phase three was waiting and preparing. To make sure as many of the tunnels get copsed as possible and to make sure as many of the rats they can reasonably expect to die, actually die, they had to wait for all the water and chemicals and whatnot they had poured into the ground to trickle down and reach as deep as it can before the rats start to wake up.


    Letting the water soak into the dirt and turn the earth that the rats have made tunnels in into mud will also help destabilize the entire construction and make sure that the tunnel system crashes even if it turns out the amount of explosives wasn''t enough.


    The mages needed for phase three weren''t waiting idly as they began to prepare in the ways they could. Previously wood and life attribute mages had gathered the rats, after that earth mages had walled in the rats, and now it was time for fire mages to pull the heavy load.


    Summoning balls and streams of fire, simr to what Toz and Mindle did when they counterattacked in the canyon, was one way many of the fire attribute mages prepared.


    Other mages with different but simr attributes started conjuring bubblingva or heating up materials that had very heat-conductive properties.


    Mages and fighters who could withstand high temperatures brought out special containers filled with preheated items and magma that were stored in those containers ahead of time in order to not waste as much mana and energy heating and conjuring enough at the moment.


    Although it might be overkill since the initial explosions will start a chain reaction, the nners had the same thought regarding the ignition of the explosives as the amount of explosive materials. It''s better to use more and make sure it''s enough than use too little and regret it.


    While the ruckus of copsing tunnels and being flushed with water and various substances might not wake the rats up, a lot of time had passed since they had fallen asleep, and the mages were currently working with tremendous amounts of mana, something the rats were very sensitive toward.


    The stirring mana on the surface might be enough to awaken and attract the rats. Since most of the mages had cleared out and the remaining were either preparing to pull back the exhausted ones who were the main offensive force of the all-out attack that was phase three, those attacking ones, or mages specializing in perception. None of them had the leeway or ability to fight off the rat''s inevitable attack if they were to wake up.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Everyone was doing their best to either get away but still stay within range of the trapped rats in case they escape and flood the ground so they can fight them back, or preparing the containers and fireballs and whatnots so everything can be sted down into the tunnels at once and everyone close can take cover before the explosions begin. While carefully preparing the one thing everyone was anxiously waiting for was the signal. The signal woulde from the mage who would first discover signs of the rats waking up.


    The rats will undoubtedly wake up and try to flee above ground as soon as phase three officially begins, but it''s a world''s difference between them fleeing above ground while being chased by an explosive hell, and innumerable rats charging because they sense delicious packets of mana and vitality swarming the ground.


    As soon as the rats begin to show signs of stirring, it will be the beginning of their end.


    The mages directly using magic to prepare various ways of attack were fully concentrated on controlling their mana, being careful not to leak anything, or letting any idents happen, while at the same time trying to create as much of an impact as possible.


    Some with more finesse and control created several powerful streams of flowing fire that after circling the mage would enter several different holes at the signal.


    Others had found arger hole they couldunch a singr impressive strike that would pierce through the flimsy tunnels, loaded with rats and explosives.


    The ones who weren''t actively attacking with their magic had set up several containers that, with the pull of a string, would empty their contents into the tunnels. That, or preparing to grab everyone else so they can make a quick retreat.


    Sitting on their fastest beast with an arm outstretched, ready to grab their designated mage. Charging up wind and lightning magic to tackle and carry everyone in their way out of the danger zone. The rare space attribute mages were setting up their mana for bending space so everyone can travel a great distance instantaneously, almost like teleporting.


    The ones who weren''t directly involved in phase three were also waiting. If the rats left their holes alive and tried escaping into the wastnd, they would be the primary force in stopping the rats. Not to mention their desire to witness what would be an incredible explosion up close.


    No one counted the time, but mere moments turned into what felt like hours as nothing happened except the magic getting more powerful.

 Chapter 51 Explosion

    ?"I have signs of life! FIRE IN THE HOLE!"


    The shout seemed to stop time as everyone processed the meaning and what would follow after those words. After that instant of stillness, everyone let go of any inhibitions or control and poured their attacks into the tunnels.


    The charged fireballs andser beams. Bathtubs ofva. Grenades. Any and all ways they hade up with that were cheap and effective in setting off an explosion were used against the vtile materials down in the rats'' nest.


    Everything that had been prepared for phase three was sent into the holes where the rats were about to wake up. Many of the rats had fallen asleep at about the same time and would thus wake up at about the same time.


    They had used as much time as possible to guarantee the effectiveness of the extermination. Rather than rushing and doing sloppy work, it would be better to use as much firepower as possible. For that, it was necessary to use every moment to gather and generate as much as they could, even if they had to count the seconds.


    The mages who had been personally attacking were drained of all their energy after their efforts and could barely move. Others who had been concentrating on not spilling theva and setting off a premature explosion while withstanding the heat that easily surpassed what they were used to weren''t much better.


    The only ones who were still alert and ready to move were the designated saviors who were responsible for bringing everyone out of the danger zone immediately after the attacks were sent down to the rats. They were the only ones who weren''t focused on the iing explosion, but on getting out. They had no idea how massive the explosion would be, but they had been warned time and time again that if they were even a split second too slow they, and the mages they were responsible for would die.


    As soon as themand to let loose was given, they charged. While everyone else was fully concentrated on the ensuing eruption, they moved as fast as they could, grabbing hold of their designated targets to be brought out.


    The world seemed to have slowed down. The streams of fire entered the holes in the ground, moving through the tunnels, setting rats and explosives on fire, gradually igniting an inferno below ground.


    The sound of lightning crackling, hooves beating the ground, and wind storming around, all echoed out in a thunderous cacophony moments before it was all drowned out.


    At first, there was no sound. The shockwave had turned the world deaf before anyone could even process what had happened.


    Although it was only a single instantaneous shockwave, the explosion didn''t end nearly as quickly. As the fire ignited the first materials still close to the surface, a chain reaction started, but the heat expanded, igniting everything else further down so fast it seemed like a single extended explosion.


    If the humans had still had their hearing they might have heard a slight irregrity in the booming, but all they could see through their bleeding eyes was the sky being covered by dust and fragmented rats.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Despite having space mages to help them travel almost all the way back to camp, there wasn''t only one or two who started bleeding from their orifices as almost everyone had been struck hard by the moving wall of air traveling faster than any of them could have without the space mages.


    Hugh and his two twin subordinates had been standing a tiny distance beyond the camp and along with their strength, they managed to escape any injuries but the shockwave had still numbed their hearing, preventing them from listening to the rumbling booms.


    Thankfully the explosion itself was somewhat contained to the circr formation the rats were gathered in. The walls that had been blocked off during the second phase also acted to concentrate the st to expand upward and further downward. Although it still sted away horizontally in the ground the main force of the st was enough to create a spout of burning dirt, disintegrated rats, and steam almost reaching the clouds.


    Despite there not being any wind, the eruption sted everything in the circle and ground out with enough force to reach the camp and stter on the humans taking cover there.


    The explosion tore open the ground, leaving no traces of any tunnels or rats anywhere.


    The circr indentation had disappearedpletely as the shockwave copsed all the tunnels in the ground for several kilometers, lowering the ground level by a few meters on average.


    Steam and fumes were still rising from the hole as molten rock andva dripped down the edges of therge wound in the earth.


    The water that had originally been intended to be used as insurance in addition to lubrication had been redundant. Using explosive heat to instantly turn the water into steam would have both boiled the rats alive and after expanding would have torn open the tunnels and copsed the tunnel system. But the explosion had rendered the need for boiling the rats alive moot and hadpletely broken open the ground, creating a pitrge enough to fit a mountain.


    Needless to say, the explosion was a bit too strong, and the consequences could have been dire if they were a single step too slow when leaving the danger zone. Although no one died, thanks to the hasty retreat, there were several low level mages who would need pretty extensive care and rest before they can participate in phase four.


    There would also need to be a serious recalction and analysis of the n going forward. It was obviously a bit over the top if they had to risk their lives every time they wanted to exterminate some rats.


    With the size of the wastnd and the amount of rats still left it wouldn''t be only one or two more explosions either. Their work had just begun, and it could probably take several months before they can be sure the rats arepletely gone from the ne.

 Chapter 52 Phase Four: Rinse And Repeat

    ?It took almost an entire day for the dust to settle and the molten ground to cool down after the explosion, but there would still be a few more days before they could continue with phase four.


    Not to mention everyone that needed to recuperate after suffering internal injuries from the aftermath of the explosion, the measurements and details of the n needed to be revised with the data they had collected during the third phase.


    Since phase four was the final stage of the n, where the first three phases would be repeated all over the wastnd until not a single drop of rat blood is spilled, no matter how many explosions they set off, it requires proper nning. Unlike the first edition, where they just winged it while making sure not to let any rats live, every repeat will bring further results that will further enhance the n.


    The first time the three phases were performed, a sessful result was obtained, but at the cost of arge amount of wasted resources, and while risking the lives of those executing the n.


    The wasted resources and near-death experiences were only two areas of improvement.


    The third phase acted like arge-scale experiment to determine what methods and materials would be most effective when exterminating the rats. How do the different explosives act whenbined with other materials or down in the tunnels, surrounded on all sides by soil?


    The third phase had been too chaotic and dangerous for anyone to acquire concrete results, aside from there being too many explosive materials, not much else could be determined. Was the steam idea effective on arge scale, or did it just create a small rain cloud after the explosion?


    As they continued repeating the first three phases, all the tiny details would be worked out, and by the end, a perfect way of dealing with the rats would have been created.


    And that''s what would happen after a few days of recuperating, recalcting, and restocking supplies.


    All the injuries, despite being internal, were moderately light, and with the help of potions or mages with healing capabilities, most patients were no longer patients after a few days. But now, those mages would need to recover their mana and energy before they can participate in a repeat of the first phase which dyed the official start of phase four once again.


    A few merchants had also hit bumps when delivering explosives, either because they ran out of supplies or some other kind of logistic error. Although there was enough stuff in the camp for at least a few more rounds, if they want to cover the wastnd and ensure all the rats are gone, they''re going to need a lot more.


    The guild helped with funding and transportation duties, but they could only do so much since they are originally focused on exploring the wilderness and unexplored areas, despite their reputation of meddling in everything.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It was the same with most supplies really. The entire operation was rushed, and despite many merchants preparing in advance when they got wind of something big going down, they underestimated how much food and various supplies would be needed. Not to mention the incredible amount of explosives going up in smoke for only a tiny area of the wastnd to be cleared of rats.


    While the logistics team worked on securing further supplies using guild funds, the rest of the gathered exterminators continued working with what they had stored. With the days needed to rest after a single cycle of phases one to three, there would be plenty of time to secure resources while phase four is still in its initial stages.


    In the second iteration of the first three phases, the only two changes made were the amount of vtile materials poured in and the amount of firepower used to light it up, everything else proceeded in the same way, albeit slightly smoother.


    But if they reduced the amount of explosives too drastically, they might not be enough, so it was only a slight decrease, and the ensuing explosion was still enough to rock the socks off a few unlucky ones standing too close. Either they hadn''t learned from the previous explosion, or the rumors of it being weaker than the first were apparently overestimated.


    After the second iteration of the first three phases and the first part of phase four waspleted another few days were spent resting and fine-tuning the amount of explosives and trying to make the ne more effective.


    The third iteration had a much smaller explosion, but the rats were stillpletely disintegrated, and eardrums bled, but at least no one fainted. However, they discovered that only one person needed to light the whole thing up, which was an efficient way to reduce the risks to the workers'' lives and use resources less wastefully.


    The fourth iteration had an even lower degree of excessive explosives, but it was still a bit over the top.


    By now, new supplies had started entering the camp, enabling further development of the fourth phase, that with a few days of rest in between each time, was repeated.


    After the fifth iteration, the rat corpses were intact enough to be used as fertilizer for the first phase of the next iteration. Although it took a lot of work gathering the sttered blood and flesh, it didn''t take as much mana and could be used to gather rats in several ces over a longer time since it didn''t hold the same intense attraction that pure mana and vitality did.


    With the rat fertilizer, more iterations could be performed at the same time, drastically increasing the efficiency of the extermination. Now the only limiting factor was delivering the supplies and explosives to all the ces around the wastnd where groups of mages were setting up the first and second phases.


    The shifted workload and more efficient extermination had explosions going off almost around the clock in the wastnd. The ground, uneven from the copsed tunnels and colliding shockwaves trembled constantly.

 Chapter 53 Scorched Earth Rats

    ?Both Amber, back in the town of Yellow Sparks, and Hugh,zing around in the camp, got a letter from the fifth level branch manager responsible for sending the Forest Janitors and overseeing the situation from a distance.


    After Amber sent a message detailing the situation and the rat corpse, her sister''s group and Toz brought back the fifth level branch manager had a bad hunch that it was something serious. He didn''t doubt Amber''s request for help and immediately sent a team with a fifth level mage leading it to go and help her. Considering it was for a first level ne sending a squad with several mid level mages, it was definitely overkill, but the manager didn''t hesitate. His gut had always been trustworthy, and if it turned out to be nothing serious, the Forest Janitors get a paid vacation and then return to work well-rested.


    Sending someone unnecessary rather than not sending someone necessary is a thousand times better in the manager''s books, and based on the report he had gotten from the site, his intuition seemed to have struck true once again. The reports he got also gave him clues about what kind of beast they were up against and what to look for in the historical records and archives of different kinds of wild beasts.


    After he sent the reinforcements, he and some of his secretaries had been fully devoted to scouring documents and books for any leads. Sending requests for files and old reports from archives and libraries all over and eyeing through them while looking for something that resembles the cadaver in front of them or something simr at least.


    They had found something simr a few times. Rodents using protective coats of earth, or mice creating milewide nests with a poption of mainly stupid, low level members of their race.


    But those rodents were far toorge and lived in solitude. The mice didn''t have any sort of protection, and survived by creating a thriving ecosystem in cooperation with their surroundings. They were almost the opposite of the rats, that the Janitors were sent to exterminate.


    The days passed without any findings of importance, and the manager''s bad feeling continued to grow. They hadn''t cked off, to begin with, but sleepless nights once or twice a week eventually turned into sleepless nights filled with stamina potion-fuelled frantic investigating.


    Eventually, the sleep-deprived and stressed-out minds of the manager and the helpers he had gathered decided to loosen the restrictions and widen their search.


    As they continued looking without finding anything, the search broadened continuously, and eventually, they stumbled upon creatures that did the same thing to the ground the rats had done, leaving it apletely barren wastnd. The different beasts had different methods, but a group of them did it in a simr way bybining fire and earth magic.


    Since the beasts were on the verge of going extinct or were alreadypletely eradicated from all the known nes ages ago, most of the beasts were only referred to by a single moniker before the type of beast. A Scorched Earth Dragon could, in reality, be several different types of flying lizards that all brought death upon thend they passed through.


    All Scorched Earth Beasts were dangerous and extremely detrimental to practically all life except themselves. Because of that, many operations and missions had beenunched to eradicate them. Just chasing them away wouldn''t do anything except dy the inevitable, and all exterminations were carried out with the utmost brutality and decisiveness.


    The manager started writing a message warning both Amber and Hugh about what he had found out about the Scorched Earth Beasts and to tell them that if they can''t deal with it alone and guarantee a hundred percent extermination rate ask for help, the guild will send it. But since sending reinforcements immediately might not be needed and would also wound Hugh''s pride, straining their rtionship, the manager decided to wait for an answer.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The records he had found weren''t detailed about the specific characteristics of each beast, but the traits that were simr to almost all of them were clearly underlined.


    No matter if they lived in groups or alone, they were incredibly tenacious and wouldn''t stop killing the earth until they die, and even then, some of them continued stealing the nutrients and killing the nts in their surroundings after they had died.


    As long as the beasts were eradicated pretty quickly, the ground wouldn''t take too long to restore itself.


    Aside from the ones who lived in groups being generally weaker than other beasts of simr types, there were no definite weaknesses if one ignored the weakness of attracting the hate of most living beings.


    The manager sent the first message as soon as he finished writing the letter, after which he returned to looking for specific details regarding the rats the humans on the ne of First Ignition were up against.*


    It took some deep diving into obscure documents, but they finally found a few entries about something called Scorched Earth Rats. Most of the recorded information was general things, like how they were weak and numerous, and if even a single one was left alive, it wouldn''t take long until they pop back up again to continue spreading their barren terror.


    The few times in history they had been discovered ended in disaster almost every time. Not because of their survivability, strength, or numbers, or anything like that. Many rat type beasts possessed this trait as well, but it was two entirely different things whenparing Scorched Earth Rats to other types of rats.


    While other Scorched Earth Beasts tend to use the mana and nourishment they take from the ground, for themselves, regardless if they are herd animals, or lone wolves. The Scorched Earth Rats are different, the weak ones don''t use it for themselves, they merely store it for something else. All the rats in a Scorched Earth Rats'' nest are nothing more than containers of energy, disposable, and live with only one purpose. To bring that energy to the depths where they die handing it over.


    The being on the receiving end is what turns every encounter with the Scorched Earth Rats into disaster. The one time it didn''t happen was simply described as a fluke with no chance of it ever happening again, and no further details were given in the records the manager found.


    *First Ignition is the ne Yellow Sparks is located on,st mentioned in ch. 2 "Flowing Bronze".

 Chapter 54 Rat King

    ?Like most rat type beasts, the Scorched Earth Rats have the capability of somehow producing a Rat King. This king of rats takes different shapes andes into being in various ways depending on what species ites from. Sometimes a gathered clump of rats is controlled by a generated hive-mind that identifies itself as a rat king. A simr type of rat king is transformed from resurrected rat corpses that have fused together in death.


    A few more magic-inclined rat type beasts can innately use a sacrificial ritual to summon a rat king. There were a few times a rat king had been recorded to have been created by the rats. They first made arge face-less statue of strange materials that they then prayed to, infusing their wills into it, the specific rat king had even gotten the nickname of ''Rat God'' despite there not being any divine activity.


    Then there are the rats who, during the right circumstances, grow without inhibitions, at first only surpassing their peers, after that, their elders, and finally, the rat bes a giant unmatched beast with unequaled dominance over its origin species.


    With innumerable types of rat beasts, there will be at least as many types of different ways for a rat king to develop. The same species of rats might even have had several rat kings during history, who have developed in different ways.


    Every rat king is unique, and the circumstances of its birth differ from specie to specie and from case to case. But despite the overall differences, the rat king''s strength is reliant on and proportional to the entire mischief of rats'' strength.


    However, ording to the notes that the manager had found, the Scorched Earth Rat King was different, even from a series of beings who were all different from each other. Unlike most rat kings who grew stronger based on the number of members their subordinate species had thanks to the connection between them, the Scorched Earth one got stronger each time it consumed one of the energy packets in the shape of first level worker rats.


    Based on the short encounters humans had with the species and their king in the past, it seemed that it was possible for the king to grow without limit as well. All it needed to do was eat more of its people. During one encounter it was even hypothesized that it needn''t be only first level rats that were consumed either. After a prolonged campaign the first level rats were dying faster than they spread but the king''s strength continued growing uninhibited until there was no further hope.


    The theory said that the second level ones in charge of increasing the poption would be consumed when the first level ones couldn''t provide enough food, or the king got bored. It was the same with the third level ones, that were usually in charge of organizing and controlling the weaker ones.


    In front of the king, everyone else was nothing more than food. It was to the point where higher level rats had never been recorded because the rats all got eaten by the king before they could reach that level. In most other species, especially rat type ones, who were codependent with their king, that would be a huge w since it would lead to a seriousck of high levelbat strength.


    But that''s not the case for the Scorched Earth Rats since the King''s might is overwhelming enough to not need any strong subordinates to support it. With its special method of growing stronger that went against the norms of the universe, with how almost everyone progressed through the levels, one at a time, it was impossible to estimate the strength of the king.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Without any proper way to gauge its strength sending enough force to kill it was difficult, or devise effective measures of stalling it, and by the time someone strong enough to subdue the king had finally been brought out, the ne would be doomed.


    Since the value of a high level mage capable of surpassing the Scorched Earth Rat King can easily surpass that of a low level ne, not many of them will risk their lives or waste their time for something that can''t pay them their due.


    With internal strife and various organizations and guildspeting to escape the guild through all avable portals, it isn''t umon for there to not be enough influence from outside the ne to help out either.


    Besides, after the king''s appearance, the ne won''tst long enough for everyone to cooperate and pool their resources fighting against it, especially not since the king will die eventually of starvation if it gets stuck in a barren ne.


    On most asions that the rat king has appeared in history, it hadn''t even been defeated when still alive. Instead, while evacuating as many humans as possible, the portals connecting the struck ne to other ones were severed, and the rats would be trapped with eventual remaining creatures on the ne. Then after enough time to guarantee that the rats have died of starvation, someone is sent to investigate and see if the ne can be repopted, or if it''spletely destroyed with only a singlerge skeleton decorating it.


    None of the records that the branch manager found went into detail about the king''s arrival. If it happened every time the rats prospered, or at which stage it appeared. The manager had a rough idea about how far the rats had spread their influence on First Ignition thanks to the reports he got regrly, but he couldn''tpare it to the situations in the documents in front of him.


    Aside from the story of a Rat King mysteriously weakening and being defeated by a rag-tag group of mages and fighters, all the others only said that when the Rat King appeared, it was already toote, and the best possible solution was to abandon ship like shipwrecked sailors.


    While the manager was sitting in a tiny office dumbstruck, staring at pieces of paper in front of him, Hugh, his Forest Janitors, and all the other explorers continued turning the wastnd into something that could hardly use the wordnd to describe itself.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 55 Earthquake

    ?The explorers exterminating the Scorched Earth Rats had made their method effective enough to split up into smaller groups and spread out through the wastnd. Instead of gathering the rats densely, like they had done at first, they poured water and a light amount of explosives into the tunnels in a muchrger area.


    With enough experimentation, they had managed to create a liquid explosive that slowly began drying up in contact with air, leaving behind a highly mmable dusty substance that wouldn''t mix with other materials after drying.


    The explorers first poured down that mixture, and after it dried, leaving a trail of fuses, they poured various other explosives that were efficient at copsing the tunnels. Since the second round of explosives tended to be thicker and flowed slower, they were flushed down with water.


    After enough time for the explosives to run deep into the tunnel system, or at least as deep as it could spread, and everyone had left the area of the wastnd they were targeting, the fuses were lit by a few mages. The mages were then rushed away from the area while the fire rushed along the fuse and down into the tunnels, racing toward the spread-out mass of explosives.


    Although lighting only a single fuse would, in theory, set off all the explosives eventually, there was no way to determine how the materials had spread out down in the tunnels, so to be safe, a few mages would light the fuse at the edges of the designated area, and a few would ignite it further into it. The ones who went deeper inside the zone were partnered up with those who had the greatest movement speed, in return for the riskier job, they get more money than the others.


    After the fuse is lit, and everyone has moved a certain distance away to enjoy the spectacle, there is usually only a slight dy before the explosions happen. And this time was no exception.


    The slight dy had let everyone calm down and listen to the subtle hum that came from the fuse burning. The sound gathered and bounced on the tunnel walls, echoing and reverberating all the way to the surface.


    Then before the sound of the lit fuse stops, a tremble runs through the ground. The trembling is only the beginning as the holes in the ground turn into tiny geyzers, spouting out steam and boiled rats. Apanying that steam is the sound of the explosions that has been distorted when rising through the ground.


    After the initial release of steam and the trembling, the ground shakes, and with a rumble signifying the tunnels'' copse, the surface level of the ground sinks several meters, in an area evenrger than the initial one. In some ces, the ground bes even with areas that have already received their rat extermination treatment. With the chaotic tunnel building and the randomness of nature, the earth copses unevenly, leaving the ground looking like a warzone. Cracked, dry soil, covered in clumps and craters, with blood seeping up here and there. Not to mention the rat corpses all over.


    Since the dead rats no longer needed to be used as fertilizer, they were left where they were, especially the ones buried by the former tunnels. With the tunnels already copsed, preventing the rats from freely moving around in the areas with lots of fresh nourishment, and an ongoing extermination, the ones in charge of nning decided to use the corpses as a way to reinvigorate the barren wastnd.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Although leaving the rat corpses alone might open up for a quickeback from the rats if even a single couple remains, the explorers-turned-exterminators weren''t nning on being careless, and with their method, they could afford topletely go through the wastnd, at least once. After finishing with their work, they had also nned to ask the guild have someone regrly monitor the wastnd.


    With that area done, it was time for the group of exterminators to move to the next one.


    To maximize their efficiency the mages and fighters had split up into two groups, with an even distribution of manpower. The two groups went different ways and started circling the wastnd, exterminating the rats and copsing tunnels one segment at a time. And then, after meeting the other group, they would continue around and keep doing what they were doing but oneyer deeper into the wastnd.


    With supply lines and convoys of materials running through the wastnd at all times, it didn''t seem as barren as it once was.


    With the size of the wastnd, it would take a lot of time and supplies, despite the efficient method they had devised when exterminating the rats. In order to not waste extra time going back and forth between the camp all the time, extra merchants and mercenaries were hired to safely transport everything that was needed, between the town, the main camp, and the two groups somewhere in the wastnd.


    The convoys had encountered the small forest where the Ash Monkey tribe lived, but since the primary focus was on transporting goods and dys wouldn''t be tolerated, that matter was put on hold for the time being. Some of the Janitors had tried reporting it to Hugh, but the twins blocked his tent and merely said he was busy.


    Unsurprisingly Hugh was still busy chasing after leads for that orb. With no way to progress in his desperate treasure hunt, he was crazily looking under every rock and tuft of grass he could find in the wilderness.


    He only stopped when he needed to eat or to go back and ask his subordinates if they had found anything, only to go back out in disappointment.


    During one of his outings, where he had gone all the way to the forest, he felt the ground shake. At first, he thought arge beast of some kind was running crazy nearby, but as the earthquake continued, it felt less like the ground was being stomped on and more like the ground was shaking in pain.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 56 Rat Kings Appearance

    ?Hugh and the forest wasn''t the only ones who felt the earthquake. Even the windows in Yellow Sparks rattled when the ground shook. A few shacks and farmers'' huts copsed in a cloud of dust as the shockwave running through the ground spread outwards with the middle of the wastnd as the epicenter.


    Towns and cities even further away also felt the earthquake, but not nearly as much as Yellow Sparks did.


    The area that was struck the hardest was the wastnd and the ins and forests immediately surrounding it.


    The main camp had copsed entirely, and all tentsy crumpled on the ground. Thankfully the earthquake struck in the middle of the day when no campfires were lit, so there wasn''t any risk of fire spreading. However, there were a lot of tired mages and fighters taking a break in their tents, who were now stuck inside the tangled tent cloth.


    But even the ustrophobic mages were better off than everyone in the wastnd. The beasts in the forest were panicking and dodging copsing trees and fractures tearing through the ground, all over.


    The monkeys lost their precious huts and literature as the storage room tried to catch arge tree. Some of therger beasts used their size to avoid falling down, but it was difficult for them to avoid the toppling trees. The beasts closest to the edge left the forest and went into the wastnd, where they only needed to focus on the ground below their feet instead of trying to watch out for danger from above and below.


    The humans out in the wastnd didn''t need to dodge falling trees, but the ruptures wererger and spread faster in the dry, cracked earth. Several convoys had to dump their cargo lest it fall into the abyssal ravines, pulling them and their beasts with it. But with how sudden the ground had torn asunder, there were several casualties from both the convoys and the two groups of exterminators.


    The exterminating explorers had gradually gotten closer to the center of the wastnd, which was some distance beyond the tiny forest. As they were closest to the epicenter, they felt a low rumble right before the ground split up, but that wasn''t nearly enough of a warning, and several of them still fell into the depths of the earth, leaving echoing screams behind.


    Thankfully since they had been ying around with explosives more than an ordinary person should, they were constantly on alert and despite how fast the earth ruptured, quickly moved to avoid the spreading fractures.


    The cracks running through the ground covered the wastnd like a cobweb, making it impossible to transverse it smoothly. The caravans and exterminators were stuck in ce and wouldn''t be able to get out of the wastnd for the time being.


    Despite all the humans in the wastnd, however, there was no one close enough to the absolute epicenter that could see the cause of the earthquake. There was no one who could see the massive rift opened up in the middle of the ground. The rift made the canyon where the dried-up river had coursed through look like a simple furrow.


    The cliffs on either side were slightly angled and led down deep enough that sunlight didn''t reach the bottom.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After the earthquake, which was a result of the ground splitting apart to open up the rift, fizzled out, a certain calm covered the wastnd and its surroundings. The beasts and humans that had been panicking and jumping around crazily, trying to avoid death, were catching their breath while at the same time anxiously preparing for any aftershocks.


    However, even several minutes after the earthquake passed there were no signs of any further quakes. At least not outside and at the edge of the wastnd.


    The ones closest to the gigantic rift felt tiny tremors, barely rustling the loose gravel on the ground. The tremors, unlike the one hit of the earthquake, came rhythmically, with a few seconds gap between each one.


    If anyone had been close enough to the rift to sense it, they would have felt the tremors originating from one of the cliffs and that whatever was causing the tremors was gradually getting closer.


    The quivering got stronger and stronger, and eventually, a colossal shadow could be seen emerging from the depths of the rift.


    At first, nothing more than arge moving figure was visible, but as it got closer to the surface and the light of the sun, the contours were getting more clearly defined. If it hadn''t been for the tremendous size, it wouldn''t be an oundish guess to say it was a rat. The proportionally small paws, the pointed snout with its whiskers, and the round ears.


    But unlike other rats, aside from its incredible size, was the ferocious glint in its eyes and the rich vitality emanating from its dark brown fur, covered in bright red lines. The first level Scorched Earth Rats looked like dirty, normal rats. They didn''t have the same vicious eyes, the fanciful mix of brown and red on their backs, and they most definitely didn''t possess the sheer might and power that could be felt from the Rat King.


    Just the fact that it was easily pulling its own massive weight up the almost straight cliff walls and out of the rift was proof enough of its physical strength. But considering where it came from and how the rift appeared right before the Rat King started climbing, the Rat King could possibly tear open the earth and create an earthquake enough to rattle an entire ne.


    The Rat King finished its climb and stood up on its hindlegs, releasing a roar. An ordinary rat doing the same thing would have merely squeaked, but the Rat King, with its size and power, bellowed with enough force to rival the first explosion the exterminators had set off during phase one of their n. The shockwave traveled, unleashing a storm of dust in its path and alerting everyone of its presence.


    The Rat King had appeared.

 Chapter 57 Prelude To Carnage (1)

    ?After letting out a single ear-shattering roar, the Rat King went back down on all fours and started moving. It didn''t even look around before it headed in the direction of Yellow Sparks.


    An ordinary Rat King''s motivation and goal could be hard to determine, but what the Scorched Earth Rat King wanted was apparent from a nce. It wanted death and destruction as it practically covered the sky in bloodlust as it moved its colossal body forward, sending out small tremors with each step.


    It didn''t rush, and as it walked steadily, the ground moved under it, covering up any cracks and ravines before it put its feet down.


    Despite the bloodlust that the King emanated, there was no discernable rage or anger for its kin being ughtered in droves all over the wastnd. The malice in its gaze stemmed from nothing else but its instinct to devour and leave nothing but its own footsteps in its trail.


    The seemingly slow movements of the King''s legs still propelled it forward at an unbelievable speed, leaving gusts of wind and the tail pulling up dirt behind it. With its speed, the King soon came upon a small convoy that had been on its way back to the main camp when the earthquake struck.


    After the earthquake had passed, they had stopped in ce, both to treat the wounded and plot a route past the cracks in the ground. Thanks to the small size of the group, they had easily avoided losing anyone in the earthquake, but the leader of the convoy, an experienced merchant, started regretting bringing his kid with him.


    It wasn''t his first trip through the wastnd, and with the rtive safety, he decided to bring his son with him for some experience. He loved his son and knew he wanted to be a merchant as well in the future. Usually, during jobs that carried some risk, he would leave his kid with a friend he trusted. It didn''t happen that often but he still needed to put food on the table for himself and his son, even if it was dangerous sometimes.


    When he saw the great pay offered for the job of transporting various materials, he thought it would be dangerous and dropped off his son, but after doing it a few times, he found it was safe as long as he didn''t treat his goods poorly, which he never did. Since it was safe, he could bring his son with him and continue teaching him about the ins and outs of being a merchant.


    It was during an ordinary conversation about what to do when someone tries to sell an unidentified object to you that the earthquake struck.


    The merchant pulled his son off the carriage and hugged him close while they waited out the earthquake. Another merchant had gotten a leg crushed by a box that fell off another wagon, but the merchant leader and his son had been fine, aside from some shock.


    They had been busy inspecting their wares while the guides healed the injured merchant and started trying to find a way out of the wastnd as soon as possible. Ever since the earthquake struck, the merchant had gotten a bad feeling that only increased in intensity as time passed. He wanted to do as much as he could, so they could quickly get moving again. Unfortunately, his hopes would be short-lived as the bad feeling he had rapidly approached a peak.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    A lookout had noticed the approaching mass and cloud of dust, but from a distance, it kind of looked like a huge carriage blitzing through the cracked wastnd with the help of magic.


    The lookout brought it up to the guides, but by the time he convinced them to look, the shadow was close enough for them to determine it was most definitely not a charging carriage.


    The ground''s shaking grew more intense, and the person trying to add a splinter to the injured merchant''s leg slipped and bumped against the injury. But the only one that cared about that was the patient himself. Everyone else was busy looking at the enormous rat approaching them withrge strides.


    Although the tiny convoy wasn''t directly in the ginormous rat''s path from the beginning, it was only a short step to the side for the Rat King to reach the humans. The Rat King''s movements didn''t even seem deliberate as it shifted its direction slightly to pass right through the group of merchants and their guides and guards.


    The enormous rat''s movements were subtle enough that the humans didn''t notice it, but to them, the rat had headed straight toward them from the beginning. But the surreal shock of seeing such arge rat moving around had shocked their legs frozen, and it wasn''t until they could see the light reflected in the beady eyes that the thought of running urred to them.


    The merchant leader was one of the first to start running. He grabbed his kid and fled as fast as he could out of the rat''s path.


    The fractured ground made it hard for anyone to run around, not to mention a not-so-well-trained merchant carrying a young child in his arms, and the merchant was soon outrun by the lookout who had been spurred into action by the merchant.


    Almost everyone had left the wagons behind and started fleeing in various directions. But the wagons weren''t the only things left behind as the merchant with his injured leg couldn''t even walk, much less run.


    The injured merchant was the Rat King''s first official victim as the Rat King charged through the wagons without sparing even a nce toward the human ttened beneath its foot.


    The wagons filled with vtile materials that had miraculously survived the earthquake exploded as the impact with the Rat King''s body sent them flying into the air, after which the waves of heat pouring from the Rat King''s body ignited them. The red streaks on the King''s back weren''t just for show. They embodied the ''scorched'' part of Scorched Earth Rat King.

 Chapter 58 Prelude To Carnage (2)

    ?The exploding wagons sent shards of wood chasing after the fleeing members of the convoy. The cracked and ruptured ground made passage difficult, and the slowest runners were struck by the shards, either being seriously wounded or dying if they were unlucky.


    Those who weren''t struck by the shards of wood didn''t need to worry about feeling left out since the Rat King hadunched its own attacks. Pulling rocks out of the ground and sending them flying toward the fleeing humans with enough power to st through their bodies. The King also manipted the ground to trap and break their legs if they didn''t get hit by the first volley of projectiles.


    It didn''t take long for most of the members of the convoy to die.


    As the heat from the Rat King spread, the wagons and goods that hadn''t been flying too far started catching fire. That was only the beginning as the corpses and any other objects nearby also started burning.


    After everything was on fire, the Rat King continued on its path, no longer paying attention to what happened behind it. Not even when grey streams of smoke gathered from the burning piles and drifted in the direction of the King.


    The grey smoke didn''t pose a threat and was instead the essence of its victims and was absorbed by the King as soon as the smoke came into contact with its body.


    Only a few moments after the Rat King left the scene of carnage, the fire it had left in its wake stopped burning. Where there should have been charcoal or charred remains of skeletons, there was nothing more than the dry and barren ground. There were no signs of anything remaining after an entire convoy had been ughtered.


    Not even the tears of the father crying over his son''s pierced body had left a mark on the ground. The only thing that remained of the crushed merchant was the mark of the foot that had done the crushing.


    The colossal Scorched Earth Rat King continued on his way toward human civilization, where there would be the highest concentration of food and the greatest opportunity for ughter. The Rat King trampled on and obliterated anything that came in its way, just like it had done to the convoy led by the merchant with a son.


    Not a single person who got in the King''s way managed to escape.


    The only ones who managed to survive were the ones who weren''t in the way or moved before they even appeared in the King''s eyes.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    With how fast the Rat King traveled, it wouldn''t take long for it to leave the wastnd, but it would still take at least a few days to reach Yellow Sparks, as long as nothing unexpected happened.


    While the Rat King was crossing the wastnd and the exterminators and merchants were trying to leave it, the rest of the world didn''t stop.


    The fifth level manager of the Explorers'' Guild had sent messages like a regretful mother as soon as he found the records about the Scorched Earth Rats. He had sent messages to Amber, so she could begin evacuating. To all the other guilds and organizations with business in First Ignition so they could also begin clearing out the ne. The manager had also sent messages as far up thedder as he could, requesting help.


    While the organizations on the ne could quickly begin preparing a retreat, the ordinary unaffiliated citizens didn''t have the same ease and had to rely on either their personal connections or the help from various official institutions.


    Despite belonging to a sizeable kingdom, or maybe that was the reason why help wasn''t exactly viable for a single first level ne that didn''t even have thatrge of a poption or contribution to the kingdom''s wealth. A couple of officials and squads of knights were sent to help manage the process, butpared to the size of the entire ne and everyone that would need somewhere to go, it was aughable amount of reinforcements.


    With the short notice, there wasn''t any time to prepare a new ce to send people to either. And that was when counting on people wanting to leave their homes in order to escape the approaching cmity. The residents of Yellow Sparks didn''t have any special connections to their homes, and many of them had even recently fled their previous homes due to simr circumstances, so they easily agreed to begin evacuating.


    But others, who were living in their ancestral home, were doubtful. The full details of the imminent catastrophe weren''t disclosed. Except for a few with higher status who knew that an especially vicious and powerful Rat King was aiming for annihtion, everyone else only knew that something bad was going to happen.


    Organizations like the Explorers'' Guild had a significantly easier time since they frequently operated close to dangerous areas, where cmities often struck human territory. Their employees situated in those areas were often warned of the dangers and had the benefit of getting reassigned to a new location in the case of their workce getting destroyed by natural disasters or other kinds of life-endangering catastrophes.


    But while the organizations and residents of First Ignition could at least start the process of evacuating as soon as they got word of the approaching cmity, it wasn''t as easy getting the message across to the higher-ups. There were several verification processes that needed to be cleared before a message would be taken seriously. And then, the message itself would have to be read, and when the message contained the obscure documents of a bunch of near-extinct beasts, those documents would also need to be verified.


    The administrative process that was established in order to not unnecessarily waste resources and make sure only things of relevance were acted upon, while efficient, still dyed the fifth level manager''s message from reaching its intended recipient. Even after it was received, it would take several more days until reinforcements were sent to First Ignition. And the reinforcements might not be strong enough to lend effective help even if they manage to arrive in time.

 Chapter 59 Hugh (1)

    ?After a few days, the evacuation process had officially started, but only a small part of the inhabitants of First Ignition had been sessfully moved away. The request for aid from high level explorers or forces still hadn''t been approved, and by how things looked, there would be another few days until it was, most likely by the time Yellow Sparks would be gone from the next edition of maps.


    The Rat King had also reached the border of the wastnd, not leaving a single piece of evidence behind of its murder of several convoys and groups of merchants.


    With a flowing river and most of the rats gone from the wastnd, the grassy ins had started pushing back and returning some vitality to the previously barren ground. But as the Rat King approached, the grass started burning, turning into white smoke that was absorbed by the King. The river started evaporating, some of the steam being sucked into the King''s mouth and the rest disappearing into the wastnd, where it would linger for some time before condensing and falling down into the dry ground and getting absorbed by lower level rats.


    When the Rat King finally passed through the river, the water level didn''t even reach above its feet. Behind the river were the remains of the main camp of the exterminators.


    Since most people were in the wastnd when the earthquake struck, there weren''t a lot of people in the camp to begin with, and after the messenger sent by the guild, carrying information about the Scorched Earth Rats, came upon the sight of the copsed tents, she spared no time in warning those who were still there, trying to clean it up, leaving the camp empty. But the messenger''s job wasn''t over after that. She was told to ry the message directly to Hugh, the leader of the Forest Janitors.


    She had hoped to find him in the camp, but even after searching through it, there were no signs of him. It wasn''t until one of the twins caved and told the messenger that Hugh might be in the forest that some progress on her mission could be made. Although she wouldn''t be able to scour through the entire forest within the time limit of her mission, she hoped that Hugh wasn''t hiding and would return since an earthquake had struck and all. Still, she rushed in a zig-zag pattern through the parts of the forest closest to the wastnd and the camp.


    With the messenger shouting his name while crazily running around the forest, it didn''t take long for Hugh to find her.


    The messenger was panting hard, and before she could calm down, she rushed to try and tell Hugh about the Scorched Earth Rats, and more specifically about the Rat King, but with herbored breathing, it was impossible for Hugh to make out what she was talking about, especially since she was talking about something he didn''t know anything about.


    Eventually, he managed to calm her down and convince her to catch her breath before she continued rying the message. She had it written down as well, but the piece of paper didn''t hold as many details as she did, so Hugh read that while she rested. The paper let him know about the general situation and how the entire ne was in big trouble.


    After further questioning the messenger, Hugh almost panicked. While he had been busy chasing some odd treasure with almost no hopes of finding it, his Janitors had been ced in an incredibly dangerous situation and would possibly all die.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The earthquake from a few days ago had obviously been no ordinary quake and most likely meant that the Rat King had shown itself. Despite having felt the tremor himself, Hugh didn''t worry about his subordinates and instead obstinately chased after a lead to the mysterious orange orb.


    While he held trust in thepanions he had worked together with for several years, from what the messenger told him, the Scorched Earth Rat King wasn''t something a squad of their level could handle even with Hugh there. And if he was away and not even actively rushing to help his squad, there would be even less of a chance of all the members of his squad safely making it out of the wastnd.


    After the messenger recovered enough, she headed back to Yellow Sparks. She was done with her assignment and could join every non-essential personnel in evacuating to another ne.


    Hugh also wanted to leave the ne. Dealing with a Scorched Earth Rat King was way more than he was getting paid for. But leaving without his squad was not something that even crossed his mind as he started running toward the wastnd where his subordinates were possibly in fatal danger.


    Although he felt some lingering regret since he had been tracking a beast who could have a clue regarding who took the orb in the end, it couldn''t bepared to the importance of his squad members'' lives. The main reason he wanted the orb, to begin with, was to get some extra funds for the Forest Janitors.


    Although Hugh had been away from the camp a lot, he still knew what was going on and the details of the n, so he knew where most of the Janitors would be. Instead of heading directly from the camp where the twins would have been, he left the forest and followed the treeline all the way to the wastnd.


    The twins had used the messenger to tell Hugh they would be heading to the wastnd and start gathering everyone so they could quickly retreat. From what they had ryed, the Rat King was likely heading straight toward the nearby town, and the path between Yellow Sparks and the wastnd should be avoided with a great margin.


    The twins weren''t his trusted subordinates for nothing, and he wisely followed their advice, safely avoiding the Scorched Earth Rat King, whose aura had only grown more vicious after the continued annihtion of its surroundings.


    Unfortunately, while the twins had been correct in their assumption based on the quaking ground, things were bound to change when the Rat sensed Hugh''s presence and the amount of mana contained in his body.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 60 Hugh (2)

    ?The Rat King sensed Hugh and his, inparison to everything else on the ne, body filled with mana and rich vitality. Despite not even seeing the dust cloud that followed the Rat King, Hugh felt a chill run down his spine when the King looked in his direction. For some reason, Hugh instinctively knew that the Rat King was targeting him. Whether it was the weight of the gaze locked on to him or something else was irrelevant.


    When up against the Rat King, it would be better to ept the instinct as truth instead of disregarding it and luring the Rat King to his squad. While the Forest Janitors had excellent teamwork and would frequently subdue enemies with greater individual strength than themselves, they wouldn''t get the chance to properly prepare against the Rat King, an enemy described as making numbers meaningless, regardless of whatever type of teamwork was used.


    Hugh hadn''t heard much from the messenger, but one thing that she had been told to make certain Hugh understood was to not fight against the Rat King. Even if the situation worsens and he has no choice, drag out the fight as much as possible. Don''t try and go for the kill and needlessly waste energy. The Rat King won''t die, but Hugh will, and in death, help the Rat King grow stronger.


    Surrounded by a forest, Hugh was confident that even if he couldn''t defeat the Rat King, he could at least stall it and help his Janitors evacuate before fleeing. If Hugh were to group up with his Janitors and try to force a fight, he might instead lead them to their doom and give the Rat King enough strength to easily take him down as well.


    From his understanding of the Scorched Earth Rats, fighting the Rat King in the forest might also provide it with some form of nourishment, but Hugh didn''t have a choice as he would most likely need the buffs fighting among trees gave him.


    The symbol of his inclination shone on his right bicep as he summoned a lumberjack''s tree-felling axe with the same appearance as the symbol on his arm. Aside from the head being of wood instead of metal, it looked exactly like an ordinary axe with a slightly curved de and a handle almost a meter long.


    Hugh''s inclination could be said to be better suited for work as a lumberjack since he trained his mana by felling trees, but Hugh had seen it differently. Just swinging away at ordinary low level trees won''t help him reach higher levels, for that special trees are needed. And the best ce to find rare trees is in the wilderness. With that background, Hugh had started working as an explorer, and eventually, he ended up as the leader of a small squad calling themselves the Forest Janitors.


    There were a few ups and downs along the way, and while Hugh was currently in a slump as his mana training hadn''t proceeded smoothly in a while, overall, it had been one hell of a journey. He had found a few interesting trees that greatly strengthened the axe in his hands, but nothing really extraordinary, nothing that would shock everyone, not just a tree freak like him.


    Part of wanting to find special trees was to get stronger purely in terms of mana levels, but also because his axe absorbed the qualities of every tree he chopped down. Felling a really sturdy tree would make his axe slightly more rigid, and a softer tree would add some flexibility.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    In the beginning, a single tree could change almost his entire axe, but as time passed and he felled more trees, he needed to fell even more of a single type to acquire those qualities, unless the tree was a lot stronger than himself or possessed extraordinary abilities.


    Felling high level trees were difficult, not only because of the powers of the tree itself but also because of the area they could be found living in. Not a single high level tree would happily live in a low, or mid level ne where the density of mana is so low. But both Hugh and his squad were too weak to freely explore high level nes and danger areas, so he was forced to settle for quantity over quality for the time being.


    However, if Hugh could find and sell a valuable treasure, then use those funds to help strengthen his squad, he could reduce the time he needed to wait before he could continue growing stronger. That would have been optimal, but instead, Hugh was forced to give up the hunt for the treasure and would instead engage in a fight with a beast that had the middle names ''Cmity'' and ''Disastrous.''


    As an unofficial lumberjack, Hugh got his power from the trees, and as he stood in front of the forest tightly gripping his axe while awaiting the Rat King, he felt the support the forest gave him. He felt full of energy. His muscles were tightening as they filled with strength and he could more urately feel the flow of the world surrounding him. There was also intangible emotional support stemming from the trees'' wishing for his sess.


    While trees rooting for someone chopping them down on the regr might seem weird, a forest too dense won''t thrive, and if it can''t maintain itself, someone else needs to. As long as Hugh controlled himself, all he was doing was trimming the forest. Cutting a few trees down in order to let the remaining ones prosper.


    While the trees weren''t actively thinking, Hugh''s inclination interpreted the world through mana and, like magic, manifested it in various ways. The forest was part of the world and could, in some sense, despite not being conscious, know what would happen if the Rat King rampaged unchecked. The forest could also tell that Hugh was going to try and stop that Rat King.


    With the forest at his back and the axe in his hands, Hugh stood ready to face the Scorched Earth Rat King.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 61 Hugh Vs Rat King (1)

    ?After the Scorched Earth Rat King took notice of Hugh, it discarded its previously leisurely pace as it started running. Compared to the stationary town where a lot of humans would be even if the King didn''t rush over immediately, the lone human could easily escape and get out of the King''s reach if it didn''t hurry.


    While thousands of low level humans and beasts were attractive, there was nothing better for the Rat King to improve its strength than higher level food. Although Hugh was only a fifth level mage, the Rat King had so far only consumed mana from low level creatures. With the qualitative difference between low and mid level, Hugh alone would help the Rat King''s strength grow explosively.


    Although there was no limit to how strong the Rat King could grow even with low level nourishment, after some time, the efficiency would becking, and to actually grow significantly stronger, the Rat King would need higher level food.


    Hugh could feel the ground shake as the Rat King approached beyond the horizon, and it didn''t take long for the cloud of dust led by a massive figure to appear within view. While it was obvious that it would be a rat, the messenger had never been informed of any actual physical qualities. Not that there were any recorded. All the documents only talked about of bad it was for a Scorched Earth Rat King to appear, and none of them described its actual size, so when Hugh saw the behemoth charging straight toward him, he was a little shocked, but at the same time happy.


    Hugh preferred going up againstrger enemies, especially ones with legs that looked like trees.


    Due to his inclination, Hugh was limited in the ways he could use magic and mana. He officially had the wood attribute, but he couldn''t summon treants like some of his subordinates or even control existing trees. He was only able to reinforce his wooden axe and himself with his mana. But in return, both his axe and body could be incredibly strong under the right circumstances.


    For example, in forests where he could borrow strength and mana from the nearby trees and further enhance himself. Turning his axe extra solid and rooting himself to the ground while practically turning himself into a living tree.


    The semi-transformation provided ample strength and defense, but it would also limit his movement. Against an enemy that could use ranged attacks, it was a huge drawback since the only way he could attack someone was with his axe, but if Hugh either had a full squad working with him or was up against an enemy that only went for the close range the transformation was incredibly useful.


    Now, he didn''t know how the Scorched Earth Rat King would attack, but the n wasn''t to defeat it but to stall and tire it out. As long as the Rat King only focuses on Hugh when he has an entire forest to help him, it would be difficult for the Rat King to defeat him.


    With the power that the Rat King possessed, it didn''t take long for it to reach Hugh and begin spreading its influence over nature. It wasn''t for nothing that the creature was called Scorched Earth Rat King.


    Although the forest didn''t catch on fire, the grass surrounding the Rat King started withering away, turning into white streams that entered the Rat King''s body, leaving only barren ground behind.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Hugh realized that if the Rat King came closer to him and actively attacked him with its magic and powers, the forest behind him would suffer, and then he would lose one of the factors that made him confident enough to try and put up a fight against the Rat King.


    Hugh naturally couldn''t let that happen, so just like the Rat King released the mana around itself and passively destroyed nature, Hugh did something simr. He rallied the mana of the forest and created a wall of pressure to keep the vile effects of the Rat King away.


    In a frontal confrontation, that kind of pressure was only good for intimidating weaker opponents and held no actual effect onbat ability. Even now, the wall of mana was continuously eroded by the Rat King''s presence. But it at least stopped the forest from burning away and giving the Rat King its strength instead of helping Hugh.


    After the Rat King got within attacking distance of Hugh, it stopped and looked behind its prey at the forest. Deciding to go for this powerful human instead of the town it had sensed a distance away had been a good decision as it could eat a full course meal with the human and the forest behind.


    In the Rat King''s eyes, defeating the tiny creature in front of it wouldn''t take long, and it could easily start burning down the forest, despite the wall of mana that was blocking its aura from spreading.


    Since the human was obviously trying to stop the Rat King and was responsible for the wall of mana, the Rat King decided to prioritize removing the human in front of itself before it continued with the trees.


    Hugh sensed the Rat King''s determination to kill him and hefted his axe. While he might not need to go for the kill or actively try and injure the Rat King, Hugh could use the axe to block any attacks from the Rat King. If he managed tond a counterattack or it could even act as a deterrent.


    Purely based on physical appearances, the Rat King seemed to have an extremely powerful body and would thus hopefully not be as proficient in ranged attacks. If the Rat King nned to attack close range, Hugh could swing his axe and chop off a few whiskers or legs, and if that scared the King to attack from a distance, he could endure the attacks with the support from the forest and his own physical durability.


    That was as far as Hugh could n and strategize before the Scorched Earth Rat King attacked.


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 Chapter 62 Hugh Vs Rat King (2)

    ?Almost like Hugh had expected, the Rat King charged at him with a gaping mouth, aiming to eat and swallow him up like a piece of candy. Hugh didn''t hesitate even in the face of the gaping Rat King''s mouth as he swung his axe over his head.


    The axe struck right on the tworge front teeth. The impact had Hugh''s arms trembling, but thankfully he managed to at least momentarily push off the Rat King, which gave him a few precious moments to recover.


    Despite how hard the messenger had emphasized the Scorched Earth Rat King''s strength and how dangerous it would be to face it, Hugh still had some doubts. How could a being in a low level ne eat nothing more than first level rats and still grow to a level where it was practically unrivaled, vastly surpassing the strength that the tiny rats would have hadbined?


    Hugh was used to things making sense, and the Scorched Earth Rat King didn''t fit into that criteria, so he still held some hopes of actually being able to put up a decent fight against the Rat King. But after the first exchange, those hopes were quickly discarded, and Hugh sacrificed even more of his mobility for greater strength and defense.


    The Rat King was obviously more interested in him than in the forest. Hugh decided to take advantage of that and focus solely on defense. If given the opportunity, he would still try andnd a strike. With his strength, it wouldn''t be too surprising if the Rat King got injured. Although nothing had happened to its teeth after Hugh struck there, it wasn''t surprising since the teeth are usually one of the hardest parts on rat type beasts.


    The Rat King stepped back after its attempt to eat the human in front of it ended in failure, but only for a moment as it lunged at Hugh again. This time with its right paw reaching out to strike Hugh and tear him off the ground.


    Although Hugh was slower in general due to his wooden transformation, the slowness didn''t affect his dynamic vision, and he clearly saw the paw headed for his torso. He was already in a position where he was prepared to receive attacks, but he lowered his center of gravity and ced the shaft of his axe alongside his body to catch the blow.


    The Rat King struck Hugh with the palm of the paw, but unlike the expected oue where the human would be sent flying, and the Rat King could take that opportunity to snatch him out of the air and consume him, Hugh was only pushed to the side, practically creating a ditch in the ground.


    Hugh only grunted after being struck, but the impact would have resulted in serious injuries if not for him further transforming his body into a tree trunk. Thankfully the power of the strike wasn''t at a level he would be unable to endure for an extended period. Well, he was confident he could continue enduring as long as the Rat King wasn''t going easy on him.


    While the Rat King wasn''t going easy on anyone, it was still far from reaching a mature state and having sufficient strength to make its predecessors cower in shame. So instead of wasting its power and needlessly weakening itself, it saved energy by only using the amount of strength it deemed necessary to deal with the obstruction in its path.


    While the Scorched Earth Rat King was undoubtedly strong itself, it could also be because it was more like a vessel for strength. Instead of training or growing stronger by itself, the Rat King took the strength and mana of other beings and things and stuffed itself with it. If the Rat King recklessly wasted all of its energy, it would lower its maximum output for the time being unless he could refill or increase the storage.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    With the few historical appearances of the Scorched Earth Rat King, there had naturally not been any attempt to study it in acute detail to the point where the tiniest bit of information regarding its strength and habits were known. Thus only the Rat King itself was aware that if it continued dying and wasting its energy while still weak, without a way to get more, it could possibly suffer a defeat in the near future.


    The Rat King was well aware of what would happen if it did get defeated. Since it couldn''t allow that to happen for obvious reasons, it decided to go all out and annihte the human that had withstood two of its attacks already.


    Unlike the previous attacks where the Rat King had attacked Hugh from up-close, the Rat King backed away and started emittingrge amounts of earth and fire attribute mana. After a few short moments, arge clump of burning rock appeared in the air high above Hugh.


    Ever since the Rat King stepped back and started using magic instead of going for another swing, Hugh had been on high alert, and when he saw the meteor targeted at him, he knew it wasn''t time to stand still and try to endure another blow. He might be sturdy enough to withstand a full-on frontal attack from a historically disastrous beast, but headbutting a meteor wasn''t exactly something an ordinary mid level mage could do.


    Since the Rat King had deemed the human as mostly incapable and cowardly as Hugh defended passively, it concentrated more on the meteor than keeping its guard up against a possible counterattack.


    Hugh knew that he wouldn''t be able to dodge the meteor with his slowed-down movements. Even if he released the transformation, he wouldn''t survive the st and shockwave of the meteor striking the ground.


    With both retreat and defense not being an option, the only thing left for Hugh to do was to attack.


    He wasn''t sure he could close the distance between himself and the Rat King while still keeping the transformation before the Rat King either finishes its magic or notices him. And he needed the defenses and strength his transformation gave him if he wanted to attack the Rat King and either disrupt the castingpletely or at least severely injure the Rat King.


    Since he couldn''t directly approach the Rat King, Hugh figured out another way to attack it.


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 Chapter 63 Hugh Vs Rat King (3)

    ?Instead of trying to lumber forward to swing his axe at the Rat King''s body, Hugh swung his axe over his head and mmed it into the ground with the blunt side of the head first.


    The axe struck the ground with enough force to send a tiny earthquake over to the Rat King, destabilizing it and disrupting its concentration. Although it wasn''t enough to dispel the meteor, it forced the Rat King to choose between using its mana to continue attacking or repairing the ground it stood on.


    Hugh hadn''t seen the Rat King when it crossed the wastnd and how it skillfully repaired any cracks and fractures wherever it walked. But it was obvious that the Scorched Earth Rat King could wield the earth attribute with proficiency, and it would be better to assume the Rat King wouldn''t be stopped by something so simple as uneven ground.


    Nevertheless, the Rat King stumbled and hesitated about what to do. Hugh took advantage of the gap in the Rat King''s guard and lunged forward, using the incredible strength in his legs to cross the distance as quickly as possible. Usually, even that speed wouldn''t have been enough to take the Rat King by surprise andunch an attack. But since the Rat King was hesitatingly holding on to the meteor in the sky, instead of regaining its bnce and focusing on Hugh, the Rat King was simply too busy to react to Hugh''s attack.


    Hughnded with his right foot in front, and using the momentum of his lunge, he turned his body clockwise, swinging his ax like he wanted to fell a tree in a single strike. The tree-like texture on his body made cracking sounds as he twisted his torso with enough force to almost stir up a whirlwind.


    The axe let out a whistling sound as it headed straight for the Rat King''s bent right foreleg, the same limb that had attacked Hugh just moments before.


    The Rat King sensed danger and let go of the mana it used to create the meteor and instead focused on defending itself by reinforcing the leg that Hugh was about to strike. Although the Rat King reacted quickly, it only managed to send some mana into the leg to reinforce it.


    And Hugh''s axe struck true, as the Rat King''s leg was cleanly severed.


    After the leg was chopped right below the elbow, the world seemed to have paused for both the Rat King and Hugh due to the shock.


    Hugh was surprised at how easy it had been to cut off the Rat King''s limb. Despite using his full strength, he expected that he would at most break the bone and force the Rat King to limp around a bit but had insteadpletely taken everything below the elbow clean off.


    The Rat King was surprised due to a simr reason, but mainly because its innated superiorityplex wouldn''t let it believe a supposedly inferior creature had managed to injure it to such an extent.


    The pause onlysted for a brief moment. Hugh was experienced enough to know he couldn''t let this opportunity go to waste, and the Rat King had instincts to rival that experience. Continuing to revel in surprise would only let the other party gain the advantage in the next exchange.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Hugh knew he wouldn''t get another chance like this.


    Since the leg was still on the ground, he wanted to get rid of it before the Rat King could reattach it and recover, but with the leg''s size, it wasn''t viable, and the only thing he could do was distract the Rat King from picking up the leg. Although Hugh wasn''t even sure if the Rat King could actually do something like that, preparing for the worst possible sequence of events tended to save more lives, and he had made simr mistakes several times when he just started out as an explorer. Mistakes he was forced to suffer the consequences for making.


    So instead of trying to get rid of the severed leg, Hugh attacked the other. But this time, the Rat King was prepared and moved the leg away before Hugh''s strike couldnd.


    The Rat King jumped back a couple of paces to distance itself from Hugh, but that''s not all it did. The severed leg started burning before it quickly turned into white smoke that was sucked in by the Rat King.


    After the Rat King absorbed the white smoke, the bleeding stump that was what remained of its leg started wriggling. The bleeding stopped, and new flesh and bones sprouted out of the wound, quickly turning into a new leg and foot.


    The damage Hugh had managed to inflict on the Rat King had been nullified just like that, and after the Rat King''s previous mistake, he almost definitely wouldn''t get another chance to counterattack.


    Thankfully he hadn''t moved too far away from the forest and could still rely on its continued support to endure the attacks that the Rat King would throw at him now that Hugh had sessfully managed to enrage the viciously calm Rat King.


    The Rat King would no longer try to conserve its energy as it attacked. Instead, it would prioritize venting its rage on the vile creature that had actually injured it and forced it to expend a serious amount of mana to heal itself.


    The Rat King''s eyes burned as it jumped on Hugh, unleashing a flurry of strikes with its paws, focused on tearing him to shreds with its ws.


    Hugh tried to block as much of the damage as possible with his axe, but it didn''t take long for him to lose the grip on it as it was flung far away to the side. While he could bring it back to his hands thanks to his inclination, the axe wouldn''t help him with the situation he was in. Instead of foolishly trying to deflect the w strikes from the Rat King, Hugh curled up into a ball on the ground, doing his best to strengthen the transformation and endure the pain of having the ws rip and tear away at his now bark-like skin.

 Chapter 64 Hugh Vs Rat King (4)

    ?The Rat King''s series of attacks seemed unending as it frenziedly wed and pounced on Hugh. Trying to rip him to shreds. Smashing down into the ground.


    Despite the intense beating, Hugh managed to stay conscious and endure the pain. He didn''t know for how long the assault had been going on, nor for how much longer the Rat King would continue to attack him. But for every minute the Rat King spent venting its rage on his body, his Janitors got one more minute to escape.


    It was a far-reaching hope, but it helped Hugh keep resisting the Rat King''s attacks.


    Unfortunately, as soon as the Rat King pulled out all stops, Hugh lost the ability to resist, and before long, his consciousness started slipping. His body rxed and was about to release the fetal position he had curled up in to protect his head and face.


    However, before Hugh''s eyespletely lost their focus and his head was mere moments away from being chomped away at by a raging Rat King, he sensed somethinge flying at an incredible pace.


    Unbeknownst to both the Rat King and Hugh, a group of four had been spectating their entire fight. One human and three cats.


    Unlike what Hugh thought, his actions in constantly leaving the camp weren''t that stealthy, and it was practically an open secret that Hugh was usually out wandering. What exactly he was doing, no one knew, but at least he wasn''t selling state secrets or kidnapping little children, so everyone just let him be. However, the curiosity had been a little too much for a certain group of explorers, and neither Toz nor any of the cats could resist following him to try and find out what it was about.


    But since they had to be careful when following Hugh around it took some time to find out what he was doing. Despite Hugh''s clumsiness in sneaking around, he is still a fifth level mage and an experienced explorer. Trailing someone like that when still at the third level isn''t exactly done all willy-nilly. Thankfully with Toz and Lucy working together while being extremely careful and meticulous, they managed to stalk Hugh without him noticing anything. And eventually found out what he was looking for.


    That was the reason they continued trailing him. If Hugh really chased down the ends of every lead he could find, there was a very real chance of him eventually ending up in front of Toz.


    There were several beasts in that mountain range who had seen his face after all, and despite the mixed rtionship between humans and wild beasts, there weren''t many who would keep quiet in front of a fifth level mage. And then, if Hugh brought a decent description of either him or his cats and asked around for any clues, it wouldn''t take long until he discovered Toz''s traces.


    In front of a reputed fifth level mage who often works closely with the Explorer''s Guild, why would anyone hide or lie about having seen Toz?<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Naturally, they didn''t spend all hours of the day following Hugh around, despite him actively looking for Mindle''s egg. Sometimes they would inspect what the explorers were doing in the wastnd. At other times, they would rx back in town while listening to thetest gossip from Amber. That was how they found out about the Scorched Earth Rats and the Scorched Earth Rat King.


    Considering the situation and Toz''s deep involvement with the entire situation, Amber didn''t see a need to conceal the information that her superior had given her, especially since she was already telling everyone who could handle the information without panicking.


    Like Amber had expected after further getting acquainted with Toz, he didn''t panic and calmly assessed the situation.


    Toz naturally wanted the Scorched Earth Rats to die, but because they were actually killed, and not because they couldn''t be defeated and would have to be locked up and starved to death. The Scorched Earth Rat King really knew how to disrupt someone''s desires. Toz naturally couldn''t let the foul creature go unpunished for trying to survive after having provoked him and injured his cats.


    After listening and reading through all the information avable to Amber, Toz and the cats headed out. From what he could understand, it would be best to kill or weaken the Rat King as soon as possible, before it grew too strong for anyone who cared, to handle. After Toz made the decision, he immediately headed for the wastnd.


    Although there weren''t yet any signs of the Rat King, it would be better to stay close to the ce it woulde from and make eventual preparations.


    Unfortunately, those ns came crashing down as soon as the Rat King actually appeared. It was way beyond what Toz could handle at the moment. But Toz didn''t give up just because of that, and neither did any of the cats. If anything, they got more fired up. Especially Nil, since one of the best ways of dealing with enemies who possess greater raw power is using traps.


    However, in order to properly deal with the Rat King by setting up traps, the traps needed to be sufficiently powerful themselves, so they wouldn''t just get destroyed. Thus their work began.


    It didn''t take long to figure out the Rat King''s destination since it instantly turned in the direction of Yellow Sparks after it appeared. It became even more certain as it headed straight toward the town filled with humans, and it only veered off course to kill other humans. After which, it returned to heading straight for Yellow Sparks.


    With the Rat King''s speed and power, they didn''t have the leeway to dawdle, and Toz and Nil rushed ahead to start preparing traps, while Lucy and Mindle were responsible for keeping track of the Rat King. Although the Rat King''s destination was pretty much set in stone, in the case it changes directions, all their hard work would go down the drain, and they would eventually have to evacuate the ne without exacting their revenge on the Scorched Earth Rats.

 Chapter 65 Entering The Fray

    ?Thankfully they had put Lucy and Mindle on watch duty. If the Rat King had gone after Hugh with them still preparing traps in the path between the wastnd and Yellow Sparks in order to give the Rat King a warm wee, they wouldn''t know what hit them after the Rat King finished annihting the town.


    Since Lucy and Mindle rushed over to Toz and Nil as soon as the Rat King drastically changed its course, none of them knew what to expect. Although it wouldn''t be surprising if the Rat King decided to go for the forest first in order to get a quick boost to its strength before raiding the town, why wouldn''t it have gone for the forest from the beginning?


    However, as soon as they started getting closer to the forest so they could find out where the Rat King had gone, they noticed why it had changed direction. It had picked up on the scent of Hugh and his abundant mana. One delicious meal would naturally be preferred over thousands of tasteless ones.


    Since the Rat King and Hugh were facing off, Toz wanted to take the opportunity to determine the strength more urately of both the Rat King and Hugh. If the Rat King was overwhelmingly stronger than Hugh, none of their traps would be very effective against it. But if Hugh easily defeated the Rat King, Toz and his cats would have to skip town and be careful not to leave any traces in case Hugh figures out Toz got ahold of the treasure he even came to First Ignition for. Although Hugh might look gentlemanly, if he isn''t interested in a peaceful resolution to his treasure hunt, there won''t be much Toz can do if Hugh already has Toz in his grasp.


    If Toz could figure out the detailed level of strength and abilities of both the Rat King and Hugh possessed, it would be easier for him in the future, as simple as that.


    Of course, if the fight turned out to be rtively even, he could help Hugh get rid of the Rat King, hopefully, build a rtively good rtionship with him, and then live happily ever after as he continues exploring the universe with his cats.


    While anticipating the results of the battle, Toz hid with the cats a short distance away in the forest since it gave more protection.


    The fight between the Rat King and Hugh did look pretty decent during the initial exchanges, but after the Rat King healed its leg and unleashed its anger on Hugh, it became evident that Hugh even managing to chop off the Rat King''s leg was mostly thanks to a stroke of luck.


    Although Hugh couldn''t really put up a decent fight against the Rat King, Toz found another use for him and decided to rescue him.


    They had seen that the Rat King could easily heal itself, but there were several ways to deal with beasts with an incredible regeneration ability. And Toz with the cats could aplish at least two of them. Blocking off the damaged area with items or something could prevent it from healing. Burning the wound could also stop or at least slow down the regeneration.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The problem with the Rat King, however, was its ability to endlessly burn and absorb the things in its surroundings, which would most likely include objects lodged in its body. The Rat King also possessed control over the fire element, so trying to burn its body could prove to be a challenge.


    Nevertheless, with the situation ying out in front of them, where the Rat King was solely focused on beating Hugh to a pulp, there was an opportunity to first injure the Rat King and then use Hugh to further manipte it.


    Since Mindle had gotten pretty skillful at manipting her mana in recent days, she was responsible for the fire part of the attack they wouldunch. Nil built a makeshift cannon and an arrow-like projectile. And Lucy made sure to keep all of their actions secret so the Rat King wouldn''t notice both their preparations and the iing projectile.


    While Mindle was basically setting up a ball of explosive fire that would attach to the arrow after sting it in the direction of the Rat King, Toz made sure that the metal wouldn''t melt from the heat and that the fire would properly stick to the arrow, to make sure it burns the Rat King. Toz didn''t only add the fire element to the arrow. He also covered it in some darkness. Toz did the same with the mes that would burn the Rat King.


    Since Toz was the only one who could wield all three elements, he was the best suited to making them blend together.


    He didn''t mix the elements together in one attack only to keep the Rat King from noticing the attack itself but also to interfere when it tried to absorb the arrow and stop the wounds from being burned. Hopefully, the darkness would prevent the Rat King from grasping the arrow and the fire burning it with its senses. All it would feel would be physical pain.


    Although the group needed some time to properly prepare and power up the arrow, Hugh obviously wouldn''tst that long, and if he died to the Rat King''s attacks, the n Toz had in mind wouldn''t work. Even though the arrow could have been more powerful, they had to let it go when they saw Hugh about to faint and reveal every single weak point he had.


    Right before Mindle let her explosion lose, Lucy and Nil retreated back into the familiar space as Toz dashed out of their hiding spot. Since they needed Hugh alive for the n, they obviously needed to save him from the Rat King. While the arrow would hopefully injure the Rat King, its main intended purpose was to distract long enough for Toz to grab Hugh and start running.


    Mindle also positioned herself so she could use the st and catch up to Toz before entering the familiar space. The rest of the n would rely mostly on Toz.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 66 Angry Rat King

    ?Although Mindle didn''t have that long to prepare her explosive ball of fire, the arrow still flew out with enough power to bend the trees it passed by. The ming projectile, despite being coated in darkness, still left behind a bright orange light in the air. Proof of how adept Mindle had gotten at using her mes over the past few weeks.


    The arrow brushed past Toz with a whooshing sound, ruffling his hair and coat. Despite Toz already running fast, the arrow practically pulled him along with the force of the dragging wind.


    Barely more than a second after the arrow had beenunched, it struck the Rat King''s left shoulder before it could react. The arrow itself made a dull thud on impact, which was then followed by the sound of cracking bones and burning flesh. Although, the sizzling sound was immediately drowned out by the Rat King.


    The Rat King let out a piercing shriek that almost had Toz stumbling from the pain. Being as close to the origin of the sound with sensitive ears really isn''t good for the hearing. But thankfully, the shriek was only deafening right after the arrow struck.


    After the initial scream of pain, the Rat King backed away from Hugh while huffing and snorting in pain.


    Unlike when it had its leg sliced off, the Rat King seemed much more susceptible to being impaled or having its body pierced. Aside from getting angry after Hugh lobbed off the leg, it barely flinched in pain before it burned and reabsorbed the leg, letting it regrow. But now, with its shoulder pierced by a meter-long burning metal arrow, the Rat King could hardly stand.


    It continuously tried to back away from the arrow stuck in its flesh and grinding against its broken bones.


    Toz didn''t stop to admire the sight of the Rat King trembling in pain. He had a hard time believing that the arrow alone would be enough to severely incapacitate the Rat King for much longer. If it was that easy beating the Scorched Earth Rat King, it wouldn''t have such a terrifying reputation. In all likelihood, it was the first time that the Rat King was suffering from serious injuries, and the first experience of pain had momentarily shocked the Rat King. But, before long, it would regain its senses and deal with its injuries.


    Toz didn''t want to stick around and find out if the Rat King could easily recover or not. If it could, it would be better to have already put some distance between himself and the Rat King. And if it couldn''t recover, it wouldn''t matter if he was there or not. He could just returnter.


    As he ran past the location of the beatdown, he bent down to pick up Hugh''s limp body and slung it over his shoulders. Thankfully the transformation hade undone after Hugh fell unconscious so Toz could easily move him.


    That managed to attract the Rat King''s attention. Although it was still twisting around in pain, it hadn''t forgotten that the one initially responsible for injuring it was the human that had transformed into a tree. While it had been pummeling Hugh like there was no tomorrow, the Rat King knew that he wasn''t dead. And until the human had paid for its sins, there would be no reason for the Rat King to rest.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    There was also the case of another human appearing suspiciously at the same time the Rat King was inflicted with another injury.


    The Rat King had been injured twice in two different ways, and there were two separate humans in front of it. The Rat King was a lot smarter than its food packages, the first level rats, and it didn''t take much for it to make the connection that both the humans in front of it had injured it and were now a priority to kill.


    Although the Rat King was still struggling with the pain and the arrow lodged in its shoulder, when the two humans, one being carried by the other, started fleeing, it began regaining its sanity.


    It just barely managed to reach around and bite the arrow, pulling it out with its teeth. After the arrow was out, the Rat King used its own fire to get rid of the burn scars covering its shoulder as the bones realigned themselves with snapping sounds, and the wound closed up. Despite the darkness mana covering the bloody arrow on the ground, it didn''t take a whole lot of effort for the Rat King to melt, burn, and absorb it.


    The Rat King''s body trembled after it recovered. Although the arrow filled with mana had managed to restore some of the energy the Rat King had expended to heal itself after both injuries, it was still suffering from an overall loss. And that was not even considering all the mana that had been wasted after it failed to conjure a meteor and when reinforcing its body and ws to attack the curled-up Hugh.


    Although it could easily burn to the forest not even a stone''s throw away to recover and grow stronger, the Rat King''s anger clouded its judgment, and instead of doing the objectively smart thing, it listened to its feelings and started chasing after Toz and Hugh.


    Even though Toz had a slight headstart, there still wasn''t any significant distance between him and the huffing Rat King. And if Toz cked off in the slightest, the Rat King would catch up instantly.


    Toz had originally wanted some more leeway, but it was a good thing that the Rat King stuck so close to him since it would be easier to bait it into the traps that he and Nil had set up.


    But the traps that Toz and NIl had arranged were on the path directly between the wastnd and Yellow Sparks, so if they wanted to lure the Rat King through them, Toz would first have to bring the Rat King back to its original course. The distance between the Rat King''s original path and the forest wasn''t that great, but covering it at full speed while carrying a fully grown man would be difficult. But with the threat of being eaten by an angry overgrown rat, Toz was confident he could handle it.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 67 Obstacle Course

    ?Like Toz had expected, he easily made it back to where the Rat King had diverted from its set course. He had even managed to increase the distance between himself and the Rat King with the help of Mindle and Lucy attacking it.


    Since they barely weighed anything, especially Mindle, it didn''t matter if they rode on top of Hugh''s limp body while they threw out various attacks to try and stall the Rat King. Although the projectiles and hindrances of fire barely affected the Rat King despite the differences in the types of fire Mindle and the Rat King wielded.


    Lucy''s shadows also barely affected the Rat King. Blocking its senses didn''t do much since it only needed to continue straight ahead for at most a second until the darkness dissipated. Using the Rat King''s shadow to grab hold of its feet also didn''t do much since even with therge shadow, the Rat King was strong enough to almost instantly break free.


    But with Lucy and Mindle working together, they managed to slow it down a few times, giving Toz some more space to work with. They also managed to further irritate the Rat King.


    Nil would have helped, but after both setting up traps and building a cannon and the arrow, he was running low on mana and would need some time to recover. Although conjuring those things usually didn''t take much mana, since the arrow had to withstand Mindle''s explosion, he used more mana to make it extra durable. Since Lucy and Mindle could handle it, there wasn''t any desperate need for Nil to force himself either.


    The extra distance between Toz and the Rat King that Lucy and Mindle had managed to create was easily used up after he made an abrupt turn to the right as he discovered the Rat King''s old tracks on the path to Yellow Sparks. The Rat King naturally took the closest way instead of following in Toz''s footsteps.


    With the Rat King''s teeth snapping shut right behind him, Toz couldn''t wait until they reached the series of traps he and Nil had arranged.


    After the fight between the Rat King and Hugh, Toz was pretty sure that while not all of the traps would be effective against the Rat King, a few of them would be pretty devastating.


    The first trap was one of the traps that proved to be less effective. It was a bunched along the ground meant to tie up the Rat King''s feet and dy it in case Toz and Nil need more time to finish the more serious traps or escape if they have to.


    After the b, a few simr traps aimed at dying the Rat King followed. A pitfall with a trapdoor. Snares and gadgets meant to trap the Rat King''s feet or tail. Walls that when the Rat King got close mmed up out of the ground into its face.


    Most of the traps were hastily made, and not meant to severely injure the Rat King. That became apparent when the Rat King just burst right through the snares. The trapdoor got sent flying. And the wall was mmed back into the ground.


    Simple and rushed traps would obviously not do much to the Rat King except put it a few more meters behind Toz as he deftly avoided the triggers to the traps. Or Toz just didn''t weigh enough to set them off, and he ran right over them with the Rat King chasing from behind.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    All the traps Toz and Nil hadid out were spread out in a shape simr to a horseshoe but upside down and with the curve of the figure extremely thick.


    The Rat King would enter the semicircle, and if it tried to change directions, it would encounter more traps unless it retraced its steps quite some distance. But the first few traps were proven to have been pretty useless. And thus, the Rat King would continue on through the traps.


    After the firstyer of traps was where the real obstacle course started. Now it would be toote for the Rat King to turn back since it was surrounded by traps.


    Toz led the Rat King through the field of devices meant to maim and kill.


    A set of pirs shot out of the ground on both sides of the Rat King. Between the two pirs was a thin metal wire that, while it looked delicate, was strengthened with enough mana to not break even when the Rat King charged right through. Instead, the wire,bined with the force of the Rat King''s movements sliced off the Rat King''s front legs, making it tumble to the ground and burying its snout in the ground.


    Or it would have been the ground if it wasn''t because of the trap that was buried there. Simr to a bear trap, a couple of metal boards filled with spikes and a joint in the middle snapped shut over the Rat King''s face. Although the sheets wererge, they didn''t reach up to the Rat King''s eyes, unfortunately, but the spikes pierced the skin on its nose, and forced the mouth shut hard enough for the Rat King to bite its own tongue.


    The Rat King didn''t expect the traps to suddenly go from fragile enough to break with a nce to being so sturdy that the Rat King couldn''t even budge them without getting injured.


    Although thebination of traps easily disabled the Rat King and prevented it from moving, the legs were only sliced off because the Rat King wasn''t focused on reinforcing itself. And while the spikes pierced the skin on its snout, it was only enough to make the Rat King bleed.


    The legs burned and disappeared into the Rat King''s body after turning into smoke. With its forelimbs restored, it tore off the attraction on its face, leaving bloody gashes that looked gruesome but healed in a few moments.


    After suffering even more at the hands of the human it was chasing after, the Rat King somehow got even angrier. And while it would have hesitated to waste more mana chasing after Toz, it also realized that the traps it went through held mana in them that it could use. Although it wasn''t enough topensate for the expenditure of restoring two legs and a snout, it removed any hesitation the Rat King held in continuing the chase.

 Chapter 68 Rat Or Pin Cushion?

    ?Toz had slowed down slightly after the Rat King crashed into the ground in order to keep it right on his tail and make sure it steps into all the traps he leads it through. Since the Rat King might try and take shortcuts if the distance between them is too great and thus avoid one or more traps, Toz wanted the Rat King to not even have to think about finding a way to close the distance quicker.


    Thankfully the Rat King was so caught up in chasing Toz that it didn''t even think of trying to avoid the traps, especially when it couldn''t even sense them until after they had been triggered. The Rat King couldn''t understand how there were absolutely no mana fluctuations from the traps until after it had already been caught by them. Despite the attractions and devices clearly containing mana, there were no signs of them while they were still hidden underground.


    Any attempts that the Rat King made, trying to burn the ground and absorb the mana and nourishment contained in it, left the traps untouched.


    Of course, the traps weren''tpletely untouched, but until they were set off by the specific trigger, the traps were hidden by a coat of darkness, separating the devices from the outside world. The Rat King''s mana did start burning the coat, but not fast enough for it to be gone by the time the Rat King passed by the trap.


    If the Rat King hadn''t been busy crazily chasing after a fleeing human and instead taken the time to carefully sense and perceive the flow of mana underground, it would have noticed a lot of telling anomalies about where the traps were hidden. But, while the Scorched Earth Rat King could be described with a lot of words, calm and cautious weren''t ones that could be used sincerely, especially not when talking about an enraged Scorched Earth Rat King.


    And so the Rat King was stuck chasing after Toz, springing one trap after another. A few that would have been lethal for many other creatures, but that the Rat King, with the vitality from having drained an area of the nerge enough to be called a wastnd of its life, easily healed from. Although the Rat King was getting weaker and, while not exactly running low on energy and stockpiled resources, it would take more than Toz and Hugh to get back to its previous levels.


    The Rat King getting weaker didn''t escape Toz''s perceptive eyes as he continued leading it around like a tourist guide with a group of tourists.


    The lethal traps weren''t the only ones that Toz brought the Rat King to after he realized it was getting tired. Since it would need to expend energy to get free, it was just as useful as any other traps, especially since he could tire the Rat King with harmless traps, and then when it''s running out of energy and can''t heal itself as well as it has previously, Toz can bring it right into the worst traps he and Nil have set up.


    When the tired Rat King tore another made of metal wires, it cast a nce at Toz, that was obviously waiting for it to catch up and continue the chase. Toz was also panting and looked exhausted, as if he was about to copse at any moment, letting the Rat King have his drained self and the still unconscious Hugh on his shoulders. But the fatigue had started clearing away the anger clouding the Rat King''s mind, and it realized that Toz had been on the verge of copse for a fewps now. It didn''t take a genius that Toz obviously wasn''t going to fall down any second but was instead goading the Rat King into continuing its chase.


    Toz noticed the change in the Rat King''s eyes and decided to change tactics.


    "Huh. Youzy rat bastard, I thought you were scary. But you''re just a bum, aren''t you?<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Can you even do anything by yourself, you useless moronic piece of rat waste? Considering how you live at the bottom of those tunnels, that''s how you''re made right. All the shit is gathered at the bottom, and after a while, you pop out? Is that it? Wow, no wonder you smell like you do."


    Although the Rat King wasn''t yet strong or skilled enough to converse in a humannguage, it could understand the insults that Toz levied at it. And despite knowing Toz was only provoking it to lure it through more traps, it couldn''t help itself and its desire to maul the infuriating human.


    The Rat King let out a roar before resuming the chase. Although it also tried to fling a few stones at Toz, he nimbly avoided them every time, so instead of wasting even more mana, the Rat King wanted to figure out a way to either stop Toz in his tracks or catch up to him.


    Unfortunately for the Rat King, its grand ns were put on hold as Toz lured it to yet another trap.


    Aside from the first pitfall with a trapdoor over it, other traps of a simr type got filled in by the Rat King before it fell into them.


    However, the pitfall that the Rat King encountered this time didn''t allow it since even the walls of the pitfall were covered by loads of mana controlled by Toz and Nil, blocking any attempts the Rat King made to block the hole that opened up under its feet.


    Unlike the other pitfalls that had been roughly dug out holes only meant to dy the Rat King, the one currently in charge of swallowing the Rat King was filled with barbed spikes protruding from the ground. The Rat King, with its weight, easily got its body ran through by the spikes as it slid all the way down to the bottom of the hole.


    However, Toz and Nil weren''t merciful enough to let it end there, as the moment the Rat King''s feet touched the ground, the four walls surrounding the Rat King sent out their own barbed spikes that entered the Rat King''s body with enough force to stop it from sliding further down.


    The Rat King was filled with metal spikes piercing it from every single direction. A few even nicked the Rat King''s eyes. Blood started filling up the bottom of the pit as the Rat King twitched in pain. Unfortunately, every single spike piercing its body was covered in barbs, so every time the Rat King moved the wounds would be torn open even further, and the spikes would dig deeper inside.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 69 Pity

    ?Although the Rat King had been sessfully incapacitated, mauled, crippled, and brought to the brink of death, Toz didn''t rx. Despite having every piece of its body pierced by the metal spikes, the Rat King still wasn''t dead. Not even having its eyes and brain punctured instantly killed it.


    But even if it refused to die, it at least couldn''t move, and it didn''t seem to be able to use magic either as it just twitched and wriggled in the pitfall. However, even with its entire body torn open by the spikes, the Rat King didn''t bleed as much as one could expect. Thanks to the Rat King''s natural regeneration, its wounds were trying to close up around the spikes, keeping the blood inside.


    The Rat King definitely couldn''t move or think or get out of the current sticky situation it found itself in, but if it continued healing, there were no guarantees it wouldn''t be able to absorb the mana in the spikes as soon as it began recovering.


    If the Rat King recovered and escaped from the most powerful trap that Toz and Nil had made, they really wouldn''t have a way to deal with the Rat King at the moment. Despite Toz faking his exhaustion, he wasn''t in exactly a prime condition either.


    Since Toz couldn''t let the Rat King recover, he brought out the cats of the familiar space so they could begin trying to kill it for good. With the Rat King trapped and unable to react right in front of them, the only difficultyy in figuring out a way to actually permanently extinguish its life.


    Toz had noticed that the Rat King used up a lot of its energy and mana every time it healed, so he decided to go for that angle. Now the only question was in which way should he torture the Rat King first.


    Since the spikes were already at the ready and still filled with Toz and Nil''s mana, it was a pretty warm-up.


    Toz took control over the spikes embedded in the Rat King''s body, manually triggering and resetting the trap. He pulled all the spikes except the ones piercing the skull out of the Rat King in a spray of blood and flesh as the barbs tore away at the Rat King''s body.


    As soon as the thorns left the Rat King''s body, the wounds began closing up. Broken bones realigned. Bundles of muscles stitched together by veins. Fresh skin covering the regrown tissue.


    And then, right before the Rat King started moving and by instinct, trying to get away from the spikes littering its head, Toz sent the spikes right back into the Rat King''s healed body.


    Unlike the mess they made when they were retracted, the spikes entered the Rat King quite smoothly. It would have been even smoother if not for the Rat King twisting and whimpering in pain.


    After driving the spikes in as deep as they went, Toz pulled them out again. Then let the Rat King heal up a bit. Then sent the spikes right back in.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    While Toz, with the help of Nil, manipted the spikes to continuously let the Rat King use up all its mana to heal itself, Mindle and Lucy also attacked the Rat King.


    Mindle got to work trying to fry the Rat King''s brain from the inside out using the thorns that were lodged in its skull. She hadn''t forgotten that she almost died only a few weeks after being born. She vented the feelings of helplessness and frustration that had arisen then, and been suppressed until now, on the Rat King.


    The metal spikes piercing the Rat King''s brain turned red hot, and the sloshing and squishing sounds escaping from the pitfall were joined by the sizzling of fried rat meat.


    Lucy didn''t have any efficient ways to directly attack the Rat King, like the other three did, so instead, he experimented with the less physical aspects of darkness. Things like the darkness of the mind and hallucinations. Nightmares.


    Although the Rat King was already brain dead and as far away from conscious as a living being could get while still alive, Lucy still managed to stir its mind awake. The nearly copsed consciousness of the Rat King was easily molded and yed with by Lucy thanks to the state the Rat King was in.


    The Rat King repeatedly being pierced and healed. Having its brain roasted. The whimpers of horror, not pain, that escaped its mouth when it wasn''t burned or nailed shut. The sight of it all had Toz wondering if he should feel pity for it for being subjected to such inhuman acts. The pain and suffering the Rat King must be going through was practically unimaginable, not to mention the psychological torture of a tiny cat finding a new favorite toy to y with.


    But if the Rat King would just die already, it wouldn''t suffer as much. And it wouldn''t be fair to hold three beings that weren''t humans to the standards of what was humane or not. There was also the justifying feeling of every life that would have been lost in the hands of the Rat King if it hadn''t been stopped.


    Although, justification didn''t really matter to Toz since he didn''t feel guilty about tormenting the Rat King while trying to kill it. He was, however, slightly worried about how others would see it, and if maybe the Explorer''s guild would hold it against him or his cats in the future.


    Unlike with what had happened in the mountain range with Mindle''s egg, the Scorched Earth Rats and their King wouldn''t be so easily let go. Toz wouldn''t be able to ignore the consequences and the follow-up of him dealing with the Rat King.


    The mountains copsing had just been some strange event that didn''t really affect anything. The Scorched Earth Rat King was a cmity that if gone unchecked, could ruin at least an entire ne, and if not stopped, the Scorched Earth Rats would continue spreading like a gue to other nes connected through the portals.

 Chapter 70 Hugh Waking Up

    ?Thest thing Hugh had felt or experienced before he thought he died was the st of an incredibly fast projectile passing right above him. Despite having his eyes closed, he sensed the bright streak that the projectile left in the air it flew through. However, he didn''t even have time to think about what it could be as he lost consciousness to the pain and physical trauma of his injuries.


    However, despite believing otherwise when everything went dark, Hugh obviously didn''t die as he still felt like he was being beaten and tossed around. The pain momentarily awoke him before sending him back into unconsciousness. His brain was still too addled from all the blows the Rat King inflicted on him to think clearly.


    When Hugh finally woke up, having recovered enough to have coherent thoughts, he was no longer bouncing around, and the world didn''t feel like it was falling and rising all the time. The clearheadedness also helped him realize how badly injured he was.


    The entirety of his back was torn open, leaving only bloody rags of flesh to cover up his ribcage. Thankfully the Rat King had been more interested in ripping and tearing than in physically crushing Hugh, so although a few of his ribs were cracked and his spine was bruised and aching, he wasn''t crippled. With a few potions and enough rest, Hugh would be able to make a full recovery. Assuming he managed to first ess the potions stored in his spatial ring or wouldn''t be attacked by a wild beast before he recovered enough to defend himself.


    Since he was alive and no further injured after losing consciousness to the Rat King''s assault, obviously, something had happened to the Rat King that prevented it from finishing off Hugh. There were also some hazy memories of being bounced around during the period he was out like a light.


    But just those details wouldn''t tell Hugh about his current situation.


    However, as his brain started working again, and he opened his eyes and started perceiving the world around him, Hugh felt several other presences nearby, as well as some kind of activity that sounded somewhat like a fight.


    Although the tearing pain he had to endure to turn over and manage to get a look at what was going on made the process excruciatingly slow, when Hugh finally saw it, he didn''t know how to react.


    Hugh saw the back of a dark-haired man in a blood-spattered coat, standing in front of arge pitfall. Around the pitfall were three cats of different colors.


    Based on the movements of the cats and the man, they were obviously using magic, and it seemed they were torturing some kind of beast down in the hole.


    Since Hugh was still nursing a concussion and had just woken up, it took a few minutes for him to put the pieces together. He stared nkly at the pit as he thought.


    Right before he lost consciousness, something had attacked the Rat King that was busy mauling his back. He had slightly waken up a few times after that, and during those times, he had been shaken around, almost like he was carried by a running person. And when he finally came to entirely, he saw a group of beings attack a beast trapped in a pitfall. When he looked closer, the opening in the ground was even slightlyrger than what he remembered the Rat King to be.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The evidence all pointed to the man and his cats having rescued Hugh from the Rat King and then somehow trapped it in a hole in the ground, and they were now torturing it.


    At first, Hugh didn''t have any problem with that, he was only grateful, but as his brain continued waking up and he sensed the levels of mana disyed by the man and the cats, he got more than a little doubtful of the situation. Despite havingpletely drained his mana, he was still a fifth level mage and possessed the senses of one.


    With Toz, Lucy, Nil, and Mindle openly using their mana and not even trying to hide their levels, Huh sensed that there were two third level mages and two second level ones. Hugh had a hard time believing that such a line-up could do what he, an experienced fifth level mage, could not. Even if they had the numbers advantage, it wasn''t to such a degree that they could overpower a fifth level mage.


    Hugh wanted to look around more and try to figure out the actual situation, but when his gaze went to the tiny ck cat sitting by the pit, the cat''s head whipped around, and the yellow eyes seemed to pierce his gaze and freeze him on the spot.


    Hugh, in his prime, probably wouldn''t be affected too much by Lucy''s look, but weakened as he was, he couldn''t move a muscle as the tiny ck cat seemed to growrger andrger, covering up his entire view, until all he could see was darkness and the cat''s eyes staring down at him from up above.


    While Lucy didn''t exactly hold a grudge against Hugh, they all knew that Hugh was after the egg that Mindle had been in before she was born. And that Hugh was weirdly persistent in looking for it. Since Hugh was stronger than them at the moment and could pose a threat to them when he recovered, Lucy was of half a mind to get rid of trouble before it even sprouted. The reason they had saved Hugh from the Rat King, to begin with, was because he might be useful against the Rat King.


    With the Rat King pinned down and on the verge of death, Hugh had outlived his usefulness and could join the Rat King in leaving the world of the living.


    "...ats enough." Hugh only came to after he heard those words. The ck cat was still looking at him, but it had returned to its palm-sized figure and no longer covered the sky.


    "Now then. How do you feel, mister lumber-janitor?"


    Hugh looked in the direction of the young man who had turned around and was obviously addressing him. The dark-haired man smiled slightly, but the smile didn''t reach the cold, green eyes, and Hugh got shivers down his exposed spine.

 Chapter 71 Talking With Hugh

    ?"Maybe we should patch you up a bit before asking how you feel?"


    Hugh didn''t even answer the first question about how he felt before Toz realized that the gaping wounds on Hugh''s back were pretty telling. So he moved on without letting Hugh react.


    He looked over the remains of Hugh''s jacket and his fingers, where he found a spatial ring.


    "Hope you don''t mind if we use your potions?"


    "...Oh! No, not at all. I can hardly move right now, so just help ssh it on my back, please."


    Hugh realized that even if the young man and the cats didn''t exactly hold a lot of goodwill toward him, they weren''t going to kill him immediately, at least. If he could get more time to recover his strength by acting polite and thus increase his chances of surviving, Hugh didn''t mind at all, even though he often had a pretty rude and brusque attitude when dealing with others.


    Toz slipped the spatial ring off Hugh''s finger and retrieved a couple of medium grade potions, pretty extravagant ones for Toz, but not unexpected considering Hugh was the leader of a medium level squad.


    Toz sshed most of the contents of one of the potions on Hugh''s back and body and let him drink the rest of that bottle. He held the other potion in his hand as he looked at Hugh''s skin tremble as it began to regrow tissues and stop all the remaining blood from leaving Hugh''s body. The regeneration wasn''t as effective as the Rat King''s, and while the potion helped patch up Hugh, he was still far from recovered.


    Hugh looked expectantly at the potion in Toz''s hand as he waited for Toz to give him that one as well. While not even the second potion would heal Hughpletely, it would help him recover enough strength to give Hugh some confidence in surviving if the young man turns hostile.


    Hugh didn''t want to say anything to Toz since he was still trying to act polite, but he looked pointedly at the bottle in Toz''s hand. It was obvious he wanted Toz to pour it on him, or at least give it to him, so Hugh could use it himself.


    Toz only smiled as he looked calmly at Hugh, half-sitting on the ground.


    Eventually, Hugh couldn''t hold it in anymore.


    "Ehm... What about the second potion?"


    "This one?" Toz said as he held it up and shook it. "What about it?"


    "...Can you give it to me?" Hugh was gradually getting irritated and was about to drop the polite actpletely. Obviously, the young man in front of Hugh wanted something from him. Hugh had an idea about what that could be, but he wasn''t dumb enough to tell Toz about it just because it might be that.


    "Why should I?" Toz crouched down and locked gazes with the frowning Hugh.


    "Because it''s mine, and I need it."


    "Really? Does it have your name on it?"


    Hugh sighed.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "No. Just tell me what you want already."


    The conversation wasn''t progressing, and Hugh was the one at an obvious disadvantage, so he had to give up first. Although the first potion had begun healing his wounds, without another, his injuries could worsen and open up again. If Toz continued dying, the effects of the first potion could wear off entirely and put Hugh back on the deathbed.


    "Then... Will you answer a few of my questions? Truthfully, of course." Toz had kept his slight smile on the entire conversation, but it grew, just a bit, after Hugh caved.


    "Depends," was the only thing Hugh could say in response.


    "Sounds like a resounding yes to me.


    "First off. What are you doing here on First Ignition?" Although Toz already knew Hugh was chasing after Mindle''s egg, it was a good opportunity to find out how truthful Hugh would be.


    "Did you miss that whole rat extermination gig?" Hugh hadpletely discarded any feigned politeness as he red at Toz. Although he refrained from swearing, it was only barely that he managed to hold it in.


    However, his answer revealed to Toz that Hugh had no idea who he was. It wasn''t too surprising that he didn''t recognize Toz''s face after the few seconds in Amber''s office. But Toz was still a central figure in the whole situation with the Scorched Earth Rats, and if Hugh had been diligent, he would have recognized the facial features of the person responsible for first reporting and warning about the situation of the wastnd.


    Since Toz knew about Hugh, but Hugh didn''t know a thing about Toz, it was clear who had the advantage in the questioning. The injuries and possession of potions aside.


    Although Hugh had answered with the technical truth, it wasn''t enough to satisfy Toz.


    "Is that all? You aren''t looking for anything special, are you? Something round and orange, perhaps?"


    Thanks to his years of experience in the world, Hugh barely flinched. Unfortunately for him, that was still enough for Toz to notice.


    "Seems I am on the right track. Why don''t you tell me about that orange orb?"


    Hugh still wanted to pretend he didn''t know since he held a few remnant shreds of hope that he could get out of the situation he was in without giving up the treasure.


    "What orb?"


    The smile disappeared from Toz''s face as he pocketed the potion and the spatial ring and stood up. He didn''t exactly need to keep Hugh alive. He just wanted to find out who else knew about Mindle''s egg and who mighte for them in the future. But as long as they kept moving around and didn''t advertise their presence, it would take quite a while for even a more experienced tracker to find them. And by that point, it wouldn''t be unexpected if they had grown stronger than the ones chasing after them. Toz held the utmost confidence in both his and his cats'' talent.


    It would also help if Hugh was alive to take credit for the defeated Rat King since the consequences of that would definitely not be as easy to deal with. A cmity about to annihte an entire ne had been beaten just like that? The guild and everyone else who was forced to flee with their tails tucked between their legs would want to find out who did it.


    Toz wondered what he should do to dispose of Hugh''s corpse properly, so he wouldn''t be found out as the killer.

 Chapter 72 Agreement

    ?Toz pondered on how to dispose of Hugh and ensure that no matter what kind of specialist the Explorer''s Guild calls in, neither he nor his cats will get caught. While Toz stood there, looking at Hugh ring at him from the ground, Lucy climbed up on his shoulders and whispered in his ear.


    There was no real need for Lucy to whisper, but he liked the feeling of plotting in front of the victim. Especially when Hugh looked at Lucy with wariness instead of the nce of frustration he had directed toward Toz before that. Aside from Toz''s cold gaze, he didn''t look that scary. But Hugh still remembered what had happened when he locked eyes with Lucy, and his entire vision was overtaken by darkness. The feeling of being small and insignificant in front of a greater being still hadn''t left him.


    And when Lucy looked at him again, after having whispered a few things in Toz''s ear, Hugh averted his gaze. It was pretty obvious that the ck cat was giving suggestions on what to do with Hugh since the young man looked like he had given up on helping him. And if they weren''t going to help him, they would get rid of any evidence and future troubles. Before the duo could get any further with their conspiring, Hugh decided his life was more important than a possible treasure hunt.


    "Wait."


    "Wait? For what?" Although Toz responded sarcastically, his smile had returned.


    "The orb, what do you want to know?"


    "Well, what do you know about it? Begin with telling us that."


    "Then it won''t be much. I only know that it would be worth a lot. The orb appeared in that mountain range over there before disappearing into thin air. And that the mountains and surrounding wilderness were left chaotic for several days afterward. Based on everything that happened, it should be a very rare treasure."


    "So you''re desperately chasing a strange orb you don''t even know where to find because it might be sold for a lot of money?"


    "If you put it like that..."


    "Fine. How did you find out about it, to begin with?"


    "Rumours spread. And when the request came to exterminate rats in the same ce that the orb disappeared, I decided to take the chance and try my luck."


    Hugh''s exnation sounded somewhat reasonable to Toz, but he didn''t have a way to verify it, so he could only remain doubtful.


    "Are you in such desperate need of money?"


    "Maybe not THAT desperate, but I''ve hit a wall in my training, and it''s one that can be solved with money, so..."


    Although Toz hadn''t personally ever hit a wall in his training, he hadn''t gotten that far yet. But it was still prettymon for mages to not progress any further no matter what they did. Some only need to satisfy some weird condition for their inclination to allow them to grow stronger. Others need to work more on their mana control. Mages with several attributes like Toz usually refine their bodies several times with all their elements if they haven''t already to break through the wall blocking their path forward.


    Toz didn''t know what Hugh would do with the money he could get by selling the orb. But if he is limited by his inclination, then he can buy something. A specific material maybe, to help his inclination let go of the reins and allow him to reach the next level.


    Since there didn''t seem to be any desperation for the orb itself, merely for the money, Toz doubted that Hugh would pursue the orb to the ends of the world if there was another much more convenient solution a few meters away. But it was still up to if Hugh was speaking the truth or not, so Toz continued with his questions.


    "What would you do if I told you the orb is no more?"


    "I wouldn''t believe you," said Hugh almost immediately.


    "That''s unfortunate." Toz''s smile slowly left his face.


    "...but I would keep my mind open since I don''t even know what the orb really is." Hugh''s words put the smile back on Toz''s face.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "That''s good because the orb really is gone. But if you only want money, I might have another solution to your problem.


    "You see that pit over there? Can you guess what''s down there?"


    "No..."


    "It''s the Scorched Earth Rat King."


    "..."


    "The same overgrown rat that was about to kill you when we intervened."


    Since Hugh still doubted him, Toz pulled Hugh by the leg over to the pit so he could see for himself.


    Hugh had still been doubtful of Toz''s words, but the reality was difficult to ignore with the irrefutable proof in front of his face. He was still staring nkly at the barely breathing and badly tortured body of the Rat King when Toz continued.


    "While it might be slightly more damaged now than when youst saw it, it''s definitely the Rat King. Believe me now?"


    "...yeah. With that thing in front of me, I have no choice but to believe."


    "Great. It''s gonna be a hassle dealing with the guild, and about every single other organization, after killing it. I don''t want that. And you want some money. Money that you could easily get by selling the Rat King''s body to the guild."


    "Wait... So you want me to take credit for defeating it?"


    "Yeah."


    While Hugh''s limits for reasonability had already been stretched when he figured out two third level mages and two second level ones had defeated the Rat King even he couldn''t put a scratch on, what Toz wanted was about to break those limits.


    Just defeating the Rat King would grant immense honor and prestige with the Explorers Guild at least, possibly some other ces as well, depending on what happens with the body. A body that can be sold for a lot of money. With the versatility of money, who wouldn''t want more of it?


    Hugh finally turned his gaze away from the Rat King and looked at Toz.


    "Why?"


    "Didn''t I already tell you it''s going to be troublesome dealing with everything? Besides, it''s not exactly like I need money."


    "It sounds too good to be true, but I don''t really have that much of a choice, do I?


    "Not really."

 Chapter 73 Trusting Hugh

    ?Since Hugh had agreed to take credit for defeating the Rat King and make sure no one would know Toz was involved, Toz gave him another potion and helped bandage him. Although the potions healed the skin until its effects settled, Hugh''s newly recovered skin and muscles would still be very fragile. Both, to protect the injuries from opening up, and in case the wounds do tear open again, it would be better for Hugh to be wrapped in bandages until he recoverspletely.


    After Hugh started recovering properly, he and Toz began nning how to sessfully let Toz avoid the curious and troublesome gazes of the guild and all the other ces. Since not many of them would believe that Hugh singlehandedly defeated the Rat King, they wouldn''t believe Toz could have done much either. But if those two are the only known factors in the Rat King''s defeat, suspicion and curiosity, mostly suspicion, will fill the investigation.


    The more they talked about the various ways that the guild and everyone else would react, the more Hugh started understanding why Toz didn''t want to take credit for defeating the Rat King.


    While the Explorer''s Guild would most likely support Hugh since he is a part of them and acted kind of on their orders, the other guilds and organizations could possibly refuse to honor Hugh and his part in defeating the Rat King. Not acknowledging the worth of the carcass and underpaying for it. Dying those payments and so on.


    There would also be a lot of extensive questioning to try and get Hugh to spill the beans about what really happened. This was the part that Hugh and Toz were working on. If any of the guilds requested a Truthseeker or someone simr, it would be easy to find out if Hugh was lying or not.


    So, in order to work around that, Toz came up with the idea to tell the truth, but without actually telling them the whole story.


    Hugh agreed that keeping the story short, and sticking with it, would be the easiest way to get through the questioning. It will be easy for him to remember and easy to believe in since there are a few precedents in the history of the Explorers.


    The story they had decided to go with was that an expert unidentifiably stronger than Hugh had passed by, defeated the Rat King, and told Hugh to take care of the rest.


    The expert in Hugh''s tale was naturally Toz in reality. But since Hugh didn''t know how much better at fighting Toz was than him, he was unidentifiable stronger. And since he had indeed passed by, tortured the Rat King a bit, and then handed it over to Hugh, the rest of the story also matches with what happened, thus leaving Hugh with a mouth only speaking the truth but without actually telling his future interrogators anything of value.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ming the death of the Rat King would also exin the wounds and scars on its body that were vastly different from anything that Hugh could inflict on it.


    And if the ones who are questioning him were to ask if he could describe the physical appearances of the mysterious expert that helped him, Hugh could answer that the mysterious expert asked Hugh not to divulge anything about him. Or, if they only ask for a name, Hugh can give up the fake name Toz gave Hugh to confuse them. Hugh knew that Toz hadn''t given him his real name for this exact reason.


    If the interrogators press on and ask why he would listen so carefully to some random person just because they helped Hugh defeat the Rat King, Hugh could answer that it''s because they were very scary. Which they, mainly Lucy, were.


    The two of them continued hammering out the details and what to do in certain situations that might arise. Something that had Toz worried would be the promise of even more money from the organizations that wanted to find the mysterious expert. But Hugh said that as long as he was given his proper due for the Rat King''s corpse, he wouldn''t need any more money for quite some time. Toz had no choice but to believe in Hugh since there was no way to guarantee that he wouldn''t hold a grudge for Toz''s treatment and just ke out on holding his end of the deal.


    Hopefully, there would still be some kind of restrictions on what they can do to Hugh to make him spit out the truth as well. Although finding out the truth about the Rat King and the mysterious expert would be important to a lot of people, who either wanted to recruit him or make himpensate for the losses they incurred due to the evacuation panic, it wouldn''t be to such a degree that the Explorer''s Guild would let one of their own be subjected to torture. Most likely, the Explorer''s Guild would be forced to pay somepensation to every part struck by the rat-induced panic.


    After they felt Hugh was somewhat ready to deal with everything that would being his way as soon as he brought the dead Rat King to Yellow Sparks, it was time to actually kill the already almost dead creature.


    Toz had been right about tounch the final blows when Hugh woke up and distracted him. And although some time had been spent handling that, the Rat King hadn''t recovered enough mana to even begin healing its injuries, and it was on the verge of dying from blood loss, even if they left it alone. But both Hugh and Toz knew that the Rat King wouldn''t necessarily stay dead if it was mere blood loss that killed it. There was a reason the vitality of the beast was underlined and emphasized several times, and neither Toz nor Hugh had any intention of finding out why exactly that was. It would be better to guarantee its death once and for all, the first time it''s killled.


    The only problem was how Toz was going to go about killing the Rat King. Hugh would be happier and more likely to follow through on their agreement if he could get as much money as possible from the Rat King''s corpse. But at the same time, the corpse needed to be deader than dead for both of them to be satisfied. What to do?


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 74 Crisis Averted

    ?Toz wondered if he should simply smash the Rat King''s brain but decided not to be rash since it could be worth a lot to alchemists or schrs intent on studying the Scorched Earth Rat King or using its body for some funky experiment.


    However, killing it in an borate way would ce further suspicion on Hugh''s story. Sure the mysterious expert might have helped him kill it. But intentionally killing it in such a way that Hugh could make as much profit off of its dead body? Far-fetched. There was also the option of intentionally killing it in a gruesome but simple way to further coborate the story, but that would risk upsetting Hugh.


    Eventually, Toz looked at Hugh and asked,


    "Hey, can I borrow your axe?"


    Hugh could almost guess what Toz needed it for and summoned the axe that, upon him losing consciousness, had returned to the inclination''s storage.


    "Here, but be careful. It should be pretty heavy."


    Although Hugh knew Toz was indeed pretty capable, he held pride in the weight of his axe that he wielded as an extension of his body. Unfortunately, that pride was pretty bruised after Toz easily received the axe and then proceeded to y around with it a bit.


    After acquainting himself with the axe for a few moments, Toz jumped down into the pit where the Rat King was continuously losing its blood. A few slicing and squelching soundster, Toz left the pit with more than a dozen spatial rings in his hand. He had used Hugh''s axe to chop the Rat King apart and store the different parts in a bunch of spatial rings he had lying around in his coat. Some of them were empty, some of them filled with small stuff that was easily gathered in other spatial rings or pockets.


    Since Hugh was still pretty injured andpletely drained of mana and energy, Toz had to do it himself. Although there might be some differences in how they used the axe, it wasn''t something that could be noticed by the marks left on the pieces of the Rat King''s body.


    "Here you go. I also put in a few liters of blood just in case," Toz said as he handed the rings and axe over to Hugh. Hugh''s original ring that Toz had taken earlier was included in the pile.


    When Toz handed over the axe, both of them saw that the symbol on Toz''s right hand shed for a second before the color deepened. It wasn''t the first time his symbol had done something like that, so although it was unexpected, it wasn''t a reason for Toz to panic. Hugh had also seen simr things several times.


    But the timing was a little weird. Why would handing an axe back to its rightful owner a few moments after it was lent out strengthen the inclination that was obviously cat rted?<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The cats also felt the inclination getting stronger, but unlike the two humans, they looked first toward the bloody pit and then toward the bunch of rings in Hugh''s right hand. It felt like it made more sense for the inclination to have grown stronger because Toz killed a Rat King. The king of a species that is often seen as a cat''s primary prey.


    When Toz noticed how the cats were looking back and forth between him, his inclination, the blood-spattered pit, and the spatial rings filled with the Rat King''s body, he also made the connection.


    The inclination reacting when he handed over the axe was most likely a coincidence. At the same moment Hugh got his axe back, the Rat King officially died due to the wounds and dissection it suffered at Toz''s hands. That made a lot more sense to Toz than what he first thought had happened to his inclination.


    But if the inclination reacted to the Rat King''s death, and at the same moment that the Rat King died, it meant that the Rat King would still have been somehow alive even after being diced apart and stuffed into separate spatial rings.


    Spatial rings worked differently from Toz''s coat pockets in that the object shoved inside didn''t need to be smaller than the hole. The object only needed to fit inside the space within the ring. Most spatial rings, however, blocked the entry of living things and things containing a soul. Something that went for almost every kind of spatial transportation object.


    The Rat King, despite being inside the spatial rings, had still somehow managed to retain a spark of life for a few moments. If not for the state the Rat King was in, it probably wouldn''t have died or been that adversely affected by the distortion that happened to things entering a magical space like the ones in a spatial ring.


    Toz let out a sigh of relief at how fortunate his decision had ended up being. If he had just smashed the Rat King until no signs of life were left and then let Hugh deal with the rest as he took off, the Rat King would very possibly have resurrected and continued wreaking havoc.


    Aside from it ending with the Rat King''s death, the fact that Toz killed the Rat King at all even strengthened his inclination. While the strengthening wasn''t anything over the top, Toz could feel the bond between him and his cats growing more solid and tangible. Although he couldn''t sense it in the same manner, there was also the sensation that the talent, that the inclination gathered and shared, had grown stronger.


    Even if the more talented ones in the group of four didn''t get as much benefit from that change as the others, it was a way to equalize the standing between all the different parties while at the same time helping everyone grow stronger. The inclination didn''t just take the talent from one cat and give it to another. It shared that talent and resonated it with everyone else''s talents, leading to everyone getting better at converting, absorbing, using, and controlling mana.


    Although some bad feelings of jealousy could arise from the fact that they had to rely on someone else''s talent to progress, it would be fine as long as Toz was the one held responsible. Instead of jealousy, it would be gratitude.

 Chapter 75 Dissasembly

    ?After the smallmotion surrounding Toz''s inclination growing died down, it was about time for Toz to begin heading out. He had nothing left to do, and it would be better to leave Yellow Sparks as a part of the still ongoing evacuation instead of waiting for the chaos that would follow Hugh bringing the Rat King''s dead body back. If he left some time before Hugh could bring back the Rat King''s body, there would be less suspicion around his involvement even if something else points in his direction.


    There were also very few people who knew Toz and that he was still on First Ignition. Amber, who had frequently talked to him about everything regarding the rat extermination progress, was, of course, aware of what Toz was doing. But as long as he told Amber that he had noticed the Rat King''s power from a distance and decided it was out of his reach and that he would evacuate, there wouldn''t be any rising suspicions from her end.


    But before he returned to Yellow Sparks, there was some cleaning up that needed to be done.


    Toz and Nil had left a bunch of traps all over the ce. Although they would eventually dissipate by themselves, they wouldn''tpletely disappear before Hugh would have already recovered enough to make it back to either his squad or to Yellow Sparks, and an investigation would beunched.


    It was obvious from the traces spread out over the ground in a prettyrge area that the traps had been used against the Rat King. In other words, evidence that countered Hugh''s story.


    It didn''t matter a whole lot that the Rat King''s blood was spread out here and there. Mostly in the pit where it had died since it burned and absorbed almost every other drop of blood it spilled. It was just further proof that the Rat King had been defeated on the way to Yellow Sparks. And if there was one scene where there were signs of overwhelming force being used topletely destroy the Rat King, even better. Proof that it wasn''t one long, drawn-out fight.


    If anyone discovered the traces of Hugh fighting the Rat King by the forest, he could answer that by saying he lured the Rat King away from the forest so it wouldn''t get stronger or destroy the forest.


    As long as Toz removed the traps, covered up the traces of his low level mana, and cleaned up the surrounding ins a bit, there wouldn''t be anything that could be traced back to him.


    Toz and Nil dispersed the mana that made up their traps, letting it return to nature since their pools were already full of mana. It was a slight waste, but what could they do about it?


    The smaller traps that barely did anything against the Rat King only took a few moments to dissolve. But therge ones that were almost as good as the final trap they had used against the Rat King took a lot of work since they were reinforced with extra mana to make sure the Rat King doesn''t take the mana for itself and gets stronger before escaping the trap and killing them.


    Nil sighed regretfully as they were forced to remove a trap they hadn''t gotten to use but would have been pretty epic had the Rat King triggered it. When triggered, arge pointy cone-shaped pir would shoot out of the ground and pierce the target, and if the target was too small, it would have been split apart.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ''The Rat King would have made such a nice skewer.''


    Unfortunately, that trap had been located further down the line, and the Rat King got defeated before they got to it.


    Nil wasn''t the only one who was slightly regretful about it since all four of them had slightly been anticipating what the Rat King would taste.


    Unlike the four of them, however, Hugh wasn''t regretful that the trap hadn''t been used. Instead, he was slightly thankful that he hadn''t seen such a monstrous spike prate anything. Since they triggered the traps to reveal them before uninstalling them, Hugh saw the spike in its full pointy glory and gulped when he realized its purpose. And sighed in relief when it was dispelled and turned into mana.


    There weren''t too many traps after that one, and Toz and Nil quickly finished up before returning to where Hugh was resting and recovering.


    Although Hugh had used two potions and been patched up, he was still pretty far from being in a fighting condition, and although the Rat King had been killed, it wasn''t like the Rat King was the only beast in the wilderness. And despite being a fifth level mage, in Hugh''s weakened state where he wouldn''t even be able to swing his axe, he would be an easy target. An attractive one as well since he smelled like blood due to his injuries.


    Instead of leaving Hugh to fend for himself, Toz decided to stick around at least until he could make back it back to town in one piece.


    Since none of them had eaten a proper meal in a few days, and it was growing darker, Toz decided to go ahead and cook a sumptuous dinner for all five of them. He didn''t have any precious mammoth meat left. But Hugh noticed what he was doing, and since he often spent time in the wild or outside without a proper kitchen, he wasn''t a stranger to always carrying provisions with him. And because he was a fifth level mage that used a city in a fifth level ne as headquarters, he had ample amounts of meat from fifth level beasts in spatial rings Hugh usually kept in his pockets, that he willingly shared.


    It was the first time Toz cooked with such extravagant ingredients, so he decided to do something simple, and after dicing the bs of meat, then thering them with sauce and putting them onto skewers, he roasted over the campfire, it turned into a pretty decent dinner after a day''s hard work.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 76 Saying Goodbye To Hugh

    ?Toz decided to leave early in the morning after their mini-barbeque. Hugh had recovered enough that as long as not another Rat King showed up, he would be fine.


    Hugh sent him off with a smile. Despite the way Toz had gone about doing things when dealing with Hugh, there seemed to be pretty significant goodwill directed toward Toz from him. Toz suspected that it was because of the Rat King''s corpse and only because of that.


    To Hugh, Toz was pretty fresh off of his mother''sp and was new to the business of dealing with materials and resources that were acquired from exploring. Since that was the case, even if Toz was capable and knew that the Rat King was valuable, he wouldn''t know exactly how valuable a corpse as intact as it could be, was. Hugh, however, could quickly realize from the information he had gotten from the messenger that had told him about the Scorched Earth Rats and the Scorched Earth Rat King that he had practically been handed a fortune.


    The Scorched Earth Rat King had only been defeated by human hands once in the past. Although it hadn''t appeared that often, every single other time the Scorched Earth Rat King''s remains had only been salvaged several decades after its estimated death from natural causes.


    And during the one time the Scorched Earth Rat King had been bested, no one knew what had happened to its body. Almost the entire story had been covered up, and only a few details were known to the higher-ups in the various guilds. Those who searched frantically, like the fifth level manager Amber had contacted, could find out that some kind of fluke had led to the Rat King''s defeat. But that was it. That was where the story ended.


    There were no mentions of what happened to its body or what the fluke was. Of course, those that were ranked high in their organizations and had enough authority knew that the fluke was actually a very special person, not a mere fluke. An individual who has long since surpassed the transcendent level, whose current aplishments couldn''t be heard by people who were still mortals, had in his youth bested the Scorched Earth Rat King.


    Although none of the ones directly involved with the current Scorched Earth Rat infestation knew about all that, especially not Hugh since he had been given a brief version so he could quickly take action, that didn''t stop Hugh from figuring out the how valuable that the Rat King''s body would be to a lot of people.


    The Scorched Earth Rat King wasn''t constrained to the levels of power as practically every other being was. It could grow to astounding levels of power incredibly quickly. It possessed an extraordinary amount of vitality and tenacity, almost making it immortal as long as it had enough resources to feed on. All those things made the Scorched Earth Rat King something every schr who knew of it desperate to figure out how it worked. While a live specimen would fetch a price several times higher than a mangled corpse, even pieces of the body would be more than human history had ever officially seen.


    What he could get in exchange for the orange orb he had initially been looking for wasn''t even like pocket changepared to the Rat King''s value. He did his best to keep the smile off his face ever since he realized that Toz was serious about handing over the body and credit to him. Hugh was worried that if Toz understood exactly how happy he was and that the Rat King''s body was extremely pricey, Toz would renege on the agreement they had made, no matter how troublesome things would get for him. Hugh only rxed when he finally parted ways with Toz.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz, even if he had known about the actual price that the Rat King would fetch, wouldn''t be able to get it for full price. He himself was only a third level mage, and the only one who could be considered as a backer to him was Amber, a first level branch manager of the Explorers'' Guild.


    Even the higher-ups in the Explorers Guild would probably prioritize benefits over satisfying a single low level mage, so Amber wouldn''t be able to do much if Toz was pressured by even just a medium level mage or someone with simr authority into handing over the Rat King''s corpse practically for free.


    And after getting robbed of all his rewards, Toz would most likely be interrogated. He was the first one to make a report on the Scorched Earth Rats. He also seemed pretty convinced they were a considerable threat even from the beginning. Then only a few days after it''s revealed that it''s a type of beast known as the Scorched Earth Rats, Tozes back with the body of the Scorched Earth Rat King. Something that would give Toz a heavy purse if he sold it. Incredibly convenient.


    Even if a truthseeker was used and Toz answered truthfully, that he didn''t n the whole thing, that it was all a coincidence, he would still end up waist-deep in shit, with no money and not anywhere close to his next adventure.


    On the other hand, Hugh was a fifth level mage with a good reputation, strong connections to the guild, and a promising future. Although he might get an offer slightly lower than the Rat King''s actual value, it wouldn''t be much, and after settling any suspicions or curiosity, he would get rich, then use that money to get both him and his squad stronger, and then continue on with his life.


    Compared to doing something that would almost inevitably end up with a bad result for himself, Toz didn''t mind not getting a bunch of money that would only sit and rot in his pockets while he''s exploring. Unlike Hugh, he didn''t have an acute need for money in order to progress further, there were also no supplies or tools or any other item he needed but couldn''t afford. Toz held no regrets in giving up the Rat King''s body to Hugh.


    Toz started walking to Yellow Sparks without looking back. Lucy on his usual ce atop Toz''s head. Nil and Mindle walking on either side of Toz.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 77 Epilogue Of Fire (1)

    ?The group had, in total, spent several months on First Ignition. in Yellow Sparks and the adjacent wilderness. Not a long time, but it felt longer with everything that had happened, yet some things remained the same. Not the mountain range, though. That one had changed. But the feeling of walking through a sea of grass. The sound of a rushing river a short distance over to the side. A lush forest on the other side of the river, that looked the exact same as the first day Toz walked along the flowing water.


    Toz was the only one with any deep reflecting thoughts. Lucy had already seen the view several times by now, and was tired from tormenting the Scorched Earth Rat King in itsst moments. so he was sleeping without a care in the world.


    Nil had entered the familiar space so he could train in peace.


    And while Mindle looked like she was deep in thought, she was mostly mimicking Toz while thinking about how they hadn''t had any breakfast before leaving for Yellow Sparks.


    It took the group two days to reach the town. After they reached the town and Toz talked with Amber, they bid farewell to Yellow Sparks.


    However, not everyone could just pack up and leave when they felt like it.


    Only a few days after Toz left the town, Hugh entered it. And he brought shock with him as he contacted the fifth level manager first before doing anything else. It didn''t take long for all evacuation processes to be halted, and messengers from almost every single organization arrived at the Explorers'' Guild branch office in Yellow Sparks. It was where the news that the Scorched Earth Rat King had been defeated, and that its body would be sold to the highest bidder as soon as possible originated from.


    Like Toz had expected, there were several investigations about how, where, and when the Rat King had been defeated, and it took a while for that to settle down. Then there were a lot of people who wanted to pressure Hugh into giving up the pieces of the Rat King''s body for research, the greater good, and several other selfish reasons. All in hopes of not wanting to pay a veritable fortune and to get their hands on valuable materials.


    Thankfully the Explorers'' Guild had Hugh''s back as they sent reinforcements strong enough to not want the corpse for themselves and to hold an impartial auction without interference from the other organizations. Although there were a few attempts at either stealing the body or first killing Hugh and stealing the body, Hugh eventually sold the pieces of the Rat King''s body to several different guilds.


    The Alchemists'' Guild got the eyes, brains, and a few obscure internal organs. A research-driven organization got a few other organs and some parts of the skeleton. Most of the bones, teeth, pelt, and ws went to the Craftmanship''s Guild. And the muscles and whatever remained went to the Gathering of Gourmets, an unofficial subsidiary of the Merchant''s Guild that only focused on food and all food-rted businesses. The alchemists and crafters were especially sad to see the precious pieces of the Rat King''s body get bought by a bunch of foodies, who would wastefully consume those pieces for a moment''s satisfaction.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After the sales of the Rat King''s body finished, Hugh went back into the wild, where he met up with the rest of the Forest Janitors. He had been hiding in the branch office all that time in order to protect himself and his fortune. But after selling the pieces and depositing the wealth with the Merchants'' Guild, he headed back out into the wild.


    Although the Scorched Earth Rat King had been defeated, and Hugh technically didn''t need to finish the job since he already had as much money he could ever want, Hugh was in such a good mood that he didn''t mind joining all the other exterminators in the monotonous work of eradicating everyst rat.


    The messenger that had told Hugh about the Scorched Earth Rats and the Scorched Earth Rat King had done a good job of spreading the warning all throughout the ins and the wastnd so a lot of people had either evacuated to the town, or fled in the closest direction away from the center of the wastnd after it became obvious that was where the Scorched Earth Rat King wasing from.


    Although the wastnd and the wilderness had been pretty empty by the time Hugh returned to Yellow Sparks to bring news of the Scorched Earth Rat King''s death, by the time Hugh left the town again, a lot of people ready to continue exterminating returned. With an appropriate dangerpensation fee, of course.


    But not everyone returned, and although there weren''t any traces of their deaths or any bodies to bury, those who didn''t return were eventually all presumed dead. Almost everyone who didn''t return should, ording to their schedules and routes, have been in the path between the center of the wastnd and Yellow Sparks. From that, any further investigations would be unnecessary as their fates were obvious.


    All the merchants, mages, and fighters who had died when the Scorched Earth Rat King knew that operating in the wilderness was neverpletely safe, but both the Forest Janitors and the Explorers'' Guild, who had hired everyonepensated the families and honored the ones who lost their lives. The request had been marketed as a rtively safe and risk-free one. A request suitable for beginners or people wanting to rx a bit. But several of the ones who were only looking for a quick buck doing easybor died tragically, without leaving any remains.


    But death was amon part of everyone''s lives, and although there weren''t any bodies to bury, the memories of smiling faces would be buried in the hearts of those who remembered. Or those who were left of a family or rtionship to remember at least. Some who died, died together with their near and dear, leaving only names on a paper and a trustworthy friend''s tears as proof of their existence.


    After giving their dead their due respect it was time to celebrate the defeat of the Scorched Earth Rat King. And then get back to work to make sure another one isn''t born from the Scorched Earth Rats'' next generation.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 78 Epilogue Of Fire (2)

    ?But just getting rid of the few remaining Scorched Earth Rats wasn''t all that needed to be done. The area that had been turned into a wastnd needed to be restored and cared for. While it would gradually recover by itself, the area had been turned into a wastnd so quickly that the effects on the ecosystem hadn''t been noticeable yet. But even if the wastnd didn''t spread any further, it would still maintain its barrenness and destion for some time, and all the beings who had fled from the spread of the wastnd would stir up a lot of trouble as they looked for new ces to settle down.


    With the chaos that had been stirred up by themotion in the mountain range as well as all the migrating beasts, the situation in the wilderness surrounding Yellow Sparks would grow tense and turbulent.


    That would be bad for business, and it would also be dangerous for farmers, explorers, and even the residents of the town if the beasts got restless and started acting out.


    Thankfully the humans didn''t need to settle it all and recover the wastnd on their own. To their help, they had the cooperation of the Forest Alliance that Toz had been in contact with.


    Since no one knew how to deal with the small forest in the wastnd that had been put on hold while the more pressing issue of the rat extermination progressed, but now that the rat extermination was finishing up it was time to begin thinking about the future, and diplomatic rtions were initiated between the humans and the beasts that were a part of the Forest Alliance.


    Since the Ash Monkey Tribe had the greatest understanding of human culture, they represented the Forest Alliance, and the Forest Janitors represented the humans of First Ignition.


    Despite any disputes that might arise between humans and beasts, while they were working together, they would hold a ceasefire. The ceasefire wouldst until the wastnd can be unanimously deemed gone, and then it''s back to normal where they might kill or cuddle each other like they''re mortal enemies or best friends. Like it usually was between beasts and humans due to their natural differences and the variety of human inclinations.


    Both wanted a thriving forest full of natural resources before they started fighting for it though, so the peace was easily agreed on by both parties. The Ash Monkey Tribe especially since they felt rather close to humans thanks to their heritage.


    Although they had lost parts of their inheritance in the earthquake that struck First Ignition when the Rat King tore the ground apart so it could appear, they had copies of everything, that managed to survive.


    With the help of humans, their vige was rebuilt and the monkeys got a chance to further their understanding of architecture. The humans also got an opportunity to see what tits like building houses and homes as a part of nature in a way different from what they had seen previously.


    The Ash Monkey Tribe got the cooperation and friendly rtionship with humans that many of them wanted, and they didn''t forget to expand their library with literature and documents about that rtionship. Although it was uncertain how the cooperation between the monkey tribe and humans would continue in the future after the wastnd was restored, Raknaz, the leader of the tribe was hopeful.


    Since Raknaz was, against his own wishes, growing older, he took it upon himself to record his life''s experiences and anything else he figured was important to future generations.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    He wrote a lot, and while he might have embellished some of the stories of his youth, he didn''t need to do that with the more recent years. The fight against the Scorched Earth Rats, as he had learned the pests were called, was epic and bloody.


    And although Raknaz hadn''t been present himself, he wrote about the wild part thatsted through the night thanks to an exceptional cook and his delicious food. But the cook wasn''t alone as he brought with him a few friends. Then after visiting their vige, that human set out on a journey that lead to the Forest Alliance''s and the Ash Monkey Tribe''s salvation as he initiated the extermination of the rats that had been guing their forest for several years.


    Toz''s existence was written down, and his aplishments of bringing the joy of cooked food to the Ash Monkey Tribe and saving them from the rats would be forever remembered by the Ask Monkey tribe.


    Raknaz also wrote down his hopeful wishes for the future of his tribe and how much he looked forward to how it would develop.


    Then before he left his hut so he could find his son and hand over the mantle of being tribe leader, Raknaz closed the book he was writing in and ced it on a shelf already filled with books.


    He left the tribe with a smile on his face.


    Raknaz wasn''t the only one with a smile on his face after finishing his writing. Toz, ever since he began his journey with Lucy and Nil, had brought a journal with him where he detailed the events he experienced and the food he cooked. Drew pictures of the sights he saw and the beasts and humans he encountered. During their time on First Ignition, he had managed to fill up an entire journal with his words and drawings. As he flipped through the pages he realized that if First Ignition hid both Mindle''s egg and the Scorched Earth Rats, it might hide more treasures. But that isn''t something he can look for at the moment.


    Toz was sitting on arge wagon drawn by four impressive steeds. He had all three cats stacked on top of each other on hisp, peacefully resting. Toz looked at the path behind him and the path ahead of him as he couldn''t wait to go on another adventure alongside his cats. What would they experience, what would they see? Would they maybe find another cat somewhere? Hopefully.


    Toz wasn''t alone in his anticipation. Although Lucy was almost always excited or sleeping, after what they had experienced on First Ignition, he looked forward to even more chaotic events.


    Mindle, who was still technically a baby, looked forward to experiencing even more of the world she lived in with Toz, Lucy, and Nil.


    Since Nil had only gotten to spend the first few days of their time on the road fishing and eating fish, he hoped that their next destination would have more of that.

 Chapter 79 Interlude - Windsurfing

    ?After Toz talked to Amber and they were shuffled through the portal with every other evacuee, they ended up in a second level wind element ne called Gusty Gales. They arrived in arge tourist-friendly port city whose main attraction was windsurfing on the ocean that stretched beyond the horizon.


    But the evacuated residents of Yellow Sparks and other ces on First Ignition weren''t there for vacation and were instead gathered in a refugee camp outside the city. That was where those who couldn''t afford or didn''t want to pay for lodging in the city ended up at least.


    Toz had hired a room in a smaller inn as soon as they had arrived in the City of Rising Winds. He wasn''t the only one who had left for Rising Winds, and he was far from being the only one who didn''t want to settle down, even momentarily, in a refugee camp outside town when he could afford better. Because of that, the prices were pretty high, and there weren''t a lot of avable rooms. And Toz ended up choosing an inn on the outskirts, a bit too close to the ocean, so they woke up to the spray of the waves hitting the shore.


    But since they were staying there for a few days at most, so Toz didn''t bother finding another alternative. And theplementary fish buffet breakfast kept them satisfied.


    While Lucy seemed pretty interested in trying windsurfing he wasn''t as keen when it came to falling into the cold water. Toz was the only other one who seemed to want to do it as well. Mindle and Nil were content either staying in the familiar space or roaming around the city. Since Mindle had a pretty conspicuous appearance, they promised to be careful when they went out.


    And Toz and Lucy went to find a ce where they could rent a board and equipment.


    Toz got offered some help on how to do it when he told the store owner that he was aplete beginner.


    The store owner told Toz to prepare for getting wet and that the hardest part was getting started.


    "Get up on the board with the wind to your back and the rig in front of you. Then carefully pull up the rig. The rest takes more than a few words to understand, but keep trying, and you will learn how to, eventually."


    Toz remembered the store owner''s word as he swam out with the kit. Lucy hid in the familiar space while Toz was in the water, but as Toz crawled onto the board, he appeared on Toz''s head.


    After he followed the instructions and pulled up the rig, Toz began feeling the wind pull on the sail attached to the board he was standing on. But despite the strong winds that were enough to create small waves further into the ocean, Toz didn''t fly across the water like the other windsurfers currently on the ocean were doing.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Eventually, as he kept fiddling around with the rig, he managed to turn it and angle it to catch the wind better, but he lost bnce and ended up in the water. Lucy was prepared and escaped into the familiar space as soon as Toz began fumbling.


    Toz tried again a couple of times with the same result before he eventually managed to glide around on the water a bit. After his first small sess, he advanced with leaps and bounds and got better by the minute.


    Although he was still ying pretty close to the shores where the waves didn''t get higher than a meter, and the wind wasn''t too strong. As he got morefortable, Toz started surfing further from the shore.


    He began surfing and gliding across the water so fast that Lucy held onto his scalp with his ws. Lucy''s reaction was almost subconscious as he was too busy enjoying the ride and the excitement that came every time Toz hit a wave and flew through the air instead of on top of the water. The rush kept Lucy from noticing how wet he got from the sshing water.


    Toz also enjoyed the feeling of flying through the air and water and rode atop a towering wave before making a sharp turn off it so he could surf through the air for almost twenty seconds. Toz felt his stomach tightening as they approached the water again, where theynded with a mighty ssh.


    After that, both Toz and Lucy were getting pretty tired from all the excitement so they decided to call it a day and went back to shore, where they found Nil and Mindle watching them. It seemed like they had grown bored of the city and wanted to see Toz windsurf, and that it seemed a lot more fun than they had first thought.


    Toz only sighed joyfully before he went back out, this time with all three of the cats joining him. They held onto Toz''s torso as they flew around on top of the ocean outside the city.


    After they finished and returned the stuff to the store they rented it from they enjoyed the sight of the setting sun across the ocean, turning the water into a deep red color that rippled with the constant waves. They continued watching the sun disappear into the ocean, and after it became more night than evening, they headed to the city where the nightlife was thriving and activity different from during the day prospered.


    But the only thing that Toz and the cats were interested in was the street food they could find all over the city''s main streets. They walked around the city, talking about nonsense while eating the food in their hands before they went around to find the next dish.


    Skewers, meat buns, grilled cheese sandwiches, bread bowls packed with fruits and berries with some kind of honey or syrup drizzled on top. All food they ate was delicious, like food tended to be when after exercise and when enjoyed in pleasantpany.

 Chapter 80 Next Destination

    ?After their vacation, it was time for the group to actually begin seriously nning their next move.


    They had just been in a fire attribute ne, so all nes of the same or simr attributes were struck off the list. Considering they were in the Firebelt Kingdom, that drastically decreased the number of alternatives they had. But that wasn''t everything. Since several of them were at or nearing the third level, going to a low level ne would be pretty useless as well, so all the low level nes were also no longer options.


    However, the group was far from having the required strength to visit high level nes if they wanted to explore and adventure, so that only left medium level nes of all attributes except fire. Since Toz, Nil, and Lucy had juste from a metal attribute ne, they were reluctant to go to one like that unless it seemed especially interesting.


    Although the Firebelt Kingdom was famous more for its gathering of fire attribute mages and how it was mainlyposed of fire attribute nes, there were still several dozens of nes avable for the group to choose from for their next destination.


    None of them wanted to visit a rtively boring ne, so they divided the task of finding out more information about their possible alternatives.


    Although Mindle could speak the universalnguage currently popr in most ces in the universe, and it had beenmonly used for as long as most people knew history, she couldn''t read the text made for it. So Toz took the opportunity to begin teaching her the alphabet and how to read and write. Even without opposable thumbs, Mindle could use mana to write.


    They used the documents rting to the different nes as study material and progressed through them slower than Nil and Lucy did. Lucy was especially fast since he skimmed through everything that didn''t catch his interest, but what did capture his attention had him reading it thoroughly at least a couple of times until he started daydreaming about what it would be like to visit that ce. Those documents ended up in a separate pile for the rest of the group to also go through so they could voice their opinion.


    Nil also put the ones he found interesting in a pile in the middle. Toz and Mindle, despite being significantly slower than the other two, also found a few nes that sounded pretty exciting and added them to the pile.


    Lucy, who finished first, started going through the pile, and unlike the first stack of papers he went through, where a bunch of nes'' most attractive feature was sightseeing or an over-the-top fancy restaurant, they had all agreed that the exciting nes were the ones with an element of danger mixed in. So while Lucy read the pile the group had gathered together, Nil caught up to him and also went through the second round, where they further sorted through the more interesting and the less interesting destinations.


    Although the ones deemed less interesting weren''tpletely removed like the other nes were during the first round of selection, it was obvious that they wouldn''t be chosen in the end.


    Since Nil and Lucy were going through the documents detailing the more interesting and adventurous nes, more suitable for those who were seeking a thrill or looking to explore and discover previously unknown territory, they were too busy to notice the smiles and hushed whispers of Toz and Mindle.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz and Mindle had been talking in a low volume the entire time, so even if Nil and Lucy had noticed a difference, they would have at most assumed it was a joke or something funny written and then paid the two no further attention. Lucy might have wanted to see it or join in on the joke if it seemed more interesting than what he was currently going through, but Toz was prepared to divert him so he and Mindle could do the final revealter when they couldn''t find anything that really stood out.


    Although if they found another ne or rather a destination that could rival what Toz and Mindle had found, it might be a little difficult to choose only one ce to go to.


    After Toz and Mindle had finished going through their pile and Mindle had started getting a grasp of the writtennguage, they started looking through what Lucy and Nil had deemed rtively interesting. Although, Toz hid the information regarding what he thought the best ce was, behind his back.


    The group continued going through everything a couple of times, looking for something that really stood out, and if nothing did, at least gather the most exciting ces and then decide between them.


    They had spent almost an entire day going through the papers and documents they had gathered in the morning, and they were getting hungry, so they decided to take a quick break before continuing with their search.


    They had a quick dinner and a walk around the block to get some fresh air before they returned to the room in the inn where all the papersy.


    Lucy was the first into the room since he had begun liking reading about all the different things in the world that seemed interesting or exciting. Although he couldn''t personally experience it, some of the papers were based on other people''s experiences of the ne and how they felt about it. After the dinner, he was looking forward to finding more interesting destinations to read and visualize about.


    But when Lucy walked back into the room and was about to jump onto the bed where he had been reading the papers, he noticed that a lot of the papers had been turned upside down. In fact, everything but one document had been turned upside down or moved so that there was only one paper with visible text on it.


    Lucy''s curiosity forced him to read it, and the more he read, the more stuck he got as his eyes were transfixed to the paper. The paper was rtively short, so he read through it pretty quickly, but he didn''t stop there as he read it again and again, his jaw dropping lower each time.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 81 Treblor Forest

    ?Seeing Lucy''s obsessed gaze, Nil also got curious and stood next to Lucy to read the paper as well. Nil didn''t get as enraptured as Lucy did, but he also seemed to look forward to going to the ce described on the paper in front of them.


    When they finally snapped out of the daze they were in, they realized that despite having read through all the papers and documents in their room several times, they had never seen this one about the Treblor Forest. Nil realized practically instantly when he saw Toz and Mindle still standing in the doorway looking at them, without the slightest intention of finding out what the paper was about. Added to how Toz was thest one out of the room since he needed to lock the door, it was pretty obvious that he and Mindle had found the paper when going through their stack of documents and then hid it to surprise them after dinner.


    Nil found it a little silly but cute that Toz and Mindle wanted to surprise them when they would have gotten just as happy even if they just showed the paper when they found it.


    Lucy''s brain was still filled with vivid imaginations of forests and lightning, and it took a little bit longer for him to realize it was Toz who had turned all the other papers upside down and left the one with Treblor Forest right side up, on the bed.


    It didn''t take much deliberation and discussion for the group to settle for Treblor Forest.


    Most of the other things they had found that seemed interesting were only interesting in theory. Old ruins, mysterious disappearances and reappearances, ghost hauntings, sightings of previously thought extinct wild beasts. The ruins would have been exciting and possibly dangerous if not for them already having been scoured by uncountable explorers for several years. Going for one of them would be like going for a rxing walk with an interesting view. There might even be food stalls selling overpriced food there with how safe and boring it would be.


    Ghosts were already an established no, at least for everyone except Mindle. She seemed curious about another kind of being without a material form.


    Mysteriously vanishing also seemed pretty interesting, but none of the witnesses that returned remembered what had happened to them, and if that was the case, there would be no need for the group to intentionally go there just to get memory loss.


    The only thing that came close to Treblor Forest was the Deep Sea. It was a unique ce in the Void, and they wanted to visit it at least once, but if they wanted to actually explore it, they would need to get a bit stronger if they didn''t want to disappear. Risks and thrills are fun, but dying? Probably not as fun.


    Treblor Forest, on the other hand, was filled with potential danger that, if handled correctly, would only force Toz and the others to exert themselves, and keep them on their toes. They would only die if they made a few critical mistakes in a row.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Although that was only true for the first part of the forest, the part they would be entering from.


    One of the reasons that Treblor Forest was so special was that it wasn''t limited to a single ne. It stretched between two different ones. Two nes of different levels at that. Considering that most nes were so far apart that one needed portals to travel between them, even if one could travel in the Void safely, it was an extremely rare urrence.


    Since the nes were of different levels there wasn''t even the alternative that it had been only a singlerge one that had split apart.


    It was a mystery how it had happened, if the forest had spread from one ne to another, or maybe if a special existence in the void had connected the two nes with the forest, since the Treblor Forest was considerably ancient. And with the difficulty most humans had in exploring and navigating through the forest consistently, it was a tough challenge to find out the secrets of the forest, a challenge that many had taken on but where few had seded.


    Since there was no way to tell where the forest began, which of the three parts was its beginning or end, it was just assumed that it originated from the forest and, thanks to the two neighboring nes, grew as it had done. And thus that the third part, the part of the forest that bridged the two nes in the Void, was the original forest, and that the other two parts located on the two nes, were like a non-void extension of the forest.


    The third part of the forest was located on an earth attribute ne of the seventh level, and the first part was located at a fifth level ne of lightning. The fifth level ne was where Toz and the cats would be headed to begin the next stage of their journey. It was a medium level ne, so beasts up to the sixth level, while not everywhere, could be found pretty often, just like how there had been a bunch of third level beasts on First Ignition, a first level ne.


    But the group''s strongest fighting forces were Toz and Lucy, both merely at the third level. Although Toz had more mana and better control of it than he noticed during their encounters with other humans and other third level mages had, and Lucy used a pretty rare element in a way not many were prepared to deal with, the group wasn''t ready to tackle the Treblor Forest just yet.


    While focusing on their training, they would travel from one part of the ne to another, more specifically, the ce where the entrance to the forest was located. And during their travels, they would mostly focus on training to try and reach at least the fourth level.


    And then, after reaching, at minimum, the fourth level, they would begin their journey through the Treblor Forest.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 82 Roaring Skies

    ?Although they wouldn''t reach the Treblor Forest for probably another couple of months, the group was too excited to sleep for an entire night, and as soon as the portal in the middle of the city began operating for the day, they left the inn.


    Since there were no other travelers at the moment, Toz only needed to go up to the operator and pay a small fee for the destination to be changed to somewhere in Roaring Skies, the fifth level lightning attribute ne the Treblor Forest was connected to. And with the help of the operator, they found a prosperous city that was quite a distance away from the City of Dormant Thunder, thest city before the Treblor Forest.


    They were going to a city called Sleepless Brights, known for how the lightning hung in the air, filling the sky and giving off a constant bright light.


    Between Sleepless Brights and Dormant Thunder, there were several cities and already established roads and civilization, so even with the group''s rtive weakness, they wouldn''t be in any extreme danger. Hopefully.


    After the destination was set and the portal was connected, the group of Toz and the cats went through the shimmering blue vortex. It wasn''t their first time experiencing the short feeling of vertigo, and when they got their bearings, they were already in the portal area of Sleepless Brights.


    Like most teleportation, it was a drastic change in atmosphere and sensory stimtion. From the weather-worn cobblestone of Rising Winds and the partially cloudy skies and sunshine to matte walls and ground of different darker colors. Dark grey walkways and roads, houses in various shades of red, blue, purple, and green. All of them on the darker side of things.


    There were a few lighter decorations by the windows or enchantments on walls that shone with yellowish light, but not much.


    However, despite all the darkness in the city, it was still as bright as the sunniest days in another city.


    The sun hadn''t even begun to show itself in Rising Winds when Toz and the cats left through the portal, so it was practically pitch ck outside. And then, when they arrived in Sleepless Brights, it was like someone was directing several suns right in their faces. They had to close their eyes for several moments and let them slowly adjust to the brightness before they could open them up and look around properly.


    Although few nes operated on the exact same day-night schedule, even being the middle of the day wouldn''t exin how bright Sleepless Brights was.


    When they nced toward the sky, they saw that there wasn''t even a sun in the sky.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It was all lightning, slowly streaking across the heavens, clinging to the sky and stretching out like spreading cracks, like a shattered window.


    It was a weird sight whenpared to how lightning usually struck once andsted merely an instant before disappearing. Toz didn''t know if the lightning was slow, on repeat, or continuous. It was impossible to tell from the ground, at least with hiscking knowledge of lightning. He could probably find a local who knew, though.


    But at least he understood why the city was called the City of Sleepless Brights. It would indeed be hard to sleep with how bright it was. It was to the point where Toz wasn''t the only one who wondered why someone would even build a city right beneath the ocean of lightning.


    Lucy was a little annoyed at almost everything being covered in light, despite the dark colors. But the shadows where the light didn''t reach were proportionally stronger as well, which would have made Lucy happy, if there were more shadows. With the way the lightning epassed the heavens, the light didn''te from only a single direction and let the shadows grow in the opposite of whatever object was struck. Instead, the shadows grew where no light would reach, like beneath the feet of people walking, or within houses and buildings. And where the shadows actually were, they were a lot stronger than ordinary shadows. That at least partially cated Lucy.


    Aside from how bright it was, the other two weren''t as bothered as Lucy. Nil didn''t really know how to react since he was shining like a sun of his own when his glistening fur reflected all the light.


    Mindle wasn''t affected by the light as much as the mana. Compared to the first level ne she was born on, and then the second level ne they had just left, the amount and density of mana on Roaring Skies was like a different thing entirely. And it wasn''tpletely wrong since there was a difference between how the mana worked in low level and medium level nes.


    On low level nes, no matter how dense the mana gathered together, it would eventually disperse and return to the atmosphere.


    If enough mana gathers in one ce on a medium level ne, the mana bes dense enough to be seen with the naked eye and turns into a mist covering the ground. Although depending on the ne and what level it is, the mist can disappear quickly since mana rarely stays stagnant or because it''s getting absorbed by beasts or humans. Then depending on the elements and structure of the fog, it can look differently. A fire element mist can look orange or red in various shades. A water element mist can be different colors of blue. And so on.


    High level nes are the same as medium level ones. If the mist condenses and gathers even further, and if there is some kind of depression in the ground, the mana will turn into a liquid and form a puddle or pond of pure mana. And if it''s mana of a certain attribute, the pond will take on a matching color.


    The quality and capability of mana are what marks the difference between the different levels of nes, and while slightly different from the different levels of power for humans and beasts, it''s mostly simr. As soon as beasts have mana within their pools, it''s already the mist-like state. Medium level mages have a more fluid mana, and high level ones have an almost solid mana.

 Chapter 83 Nil Breaking Through

    ?After epting how bright their next couple of days would be, the group, well, not Mindle since she had already noticed it, but the other three paid attention to how full of mana each breath they took was. It was addictivelyfortable for them to absorb so much mana without even actively drawing it to themselves. Although, the pleasant feeling disappeared as they quickly got used to the mana-rich atmosphere in a fifth level ne. Going back to a low level ne would probably be the opposite, diforting for a few minutes at first, and then one gets used to the difference in mana density.


    With the considerable leap in quality and density of the mana in the air surrounding them, Toz''s confidence that they would all reach the medium level before they got to the Treblor Forest soared.


    Toz''s confidence boost wasn''t unfounded since only a few minutes after the group got used to the atmosphere in Sleepless Brights, Nil started showing signs of reaching the next level.


    With the talent of everyone in the group increasing and Nil already being on the verge of reaching the third level, it didn''te as a surprise that he would break through soon. Since he was about to break through, Nil entered the familiar space. Both to not disturb their surroundings and to not get interrupted during the process.


    Although there weren''t a lot of people around that could distract Nil to the point he failed his advancement, it was better to go through it safely in the familiar space.


    Also, since the light constantly shining down from the sea of lightning above them made it difficult to tell the time, it wouldn''t be possible to predict if it was early morning and everyone would rush to their jobs or the market or whatever they had nned for the day. Or if it waste night and everyone was doing their best to sleep. If Nil took a little longer than expected to break through to the third level and people begin to flood the streets, it might be enough of a disturbance to disrupt his concentration and make him fail.


    After Nil entered the familiar space, the other three started looking around for a clock, and almost as they had expected, it showed that it was early morning, and that was the reason the streets were so empty. Since shops would start opening soon, the trio decided to walk around town and find ces where they could buy stuff they might need for their journey through Roaring Skies. Things like maps and sunsses. Although, it might be more urate to consider them eye gear to protect their eyes from lightning instead of the sun.


    They also found a branch office of the Explorers'' Guild when they were looking around the city. Toz wondered if he should upgrade his Explorer Rank, but he rejected that idea. He was still third level, and he would only need it after they reached Dormant Thunder and Treblor Forest. Even if he could get the fourth level badge as he was now, he would need a fifth level at the minimum to obtain official permission to enter the forest.


    Although he could enter the forest without permission as well, the guild wouldn''t know if he died and wouldn''t be able to tell his parents. He also wouldn''t be able to sell any of the items and materials he recovered from the forest directly to the guild. Although, he might be able to sell apletely unknown item that has never before been seen or discovered in the forest to the guild. The most ways explorers make a living is to explore dangerous areas and find things to bring back and sell.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    In an ancient ce like the Treblor Forest, most materials that are useful and can fetch a good price are already known to the guild, so the guild will know if Toz entered the forest without permission as soon as he tries to sell what he finds there. The guild won''t really care, but they won''t buy the items and resources from him.


    The system of acquiring an appropriate badge before entering a dangerous area is to protect the explorers, to begin with. Make sure they aren''t delusional, have the wrong information, or are just simply overestimating themselves. Since a lot of explorers understand that, there are few who ignore the process. Especially since the higher level badge one has, the more prestigious one is. A fourth level mage with a sixth level Explorers Badge is usually considered better than a fourth level mage with a fourth level badge.


    And if you have a higher level badge and a good rtionship with the Explorers'' Guild, the guild might even act as a backer if one ends up in trouble or getting suppressed by other organizations.


    Since the process is usually pretty quick and only makes sure the explorer has the ability to survive in the level of danger zone they are headed into, and with the numerous advantages the badge brings, most just get it and keep it actual without hesitating.


    But Toz felt a little hesitant about hanging on the guild''s doors first thing in the morning, so if he was going to upgrade his badge, it would beter during the day after they were finished with their other errands.


    As Toz, Lucy, and Mindle kept looking around the town, searching for shops that would have some fun or useful things the group might want, the rest of the city started waking up and filtering out into the streets. From appearances alone, it was pretty easy to tell who was new or only visiting to the city and who was used to the brightness of the lightning. The visitors or newer residents all flinched as they stepped out of their houses or had covered their eyes with incredibly dark-tinted ss, while the experienced residents merely squinted their eyes before moving around like usual.


    In tandem with the awakening residents, the sun began to rise, giving the whitishly bright light a softer hue, making it look more like daylight than innumerable bolts of lightning trapped in a sky-epassing bottle.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 84 Shopping Spree

    ?It didn''t take much time for Nil to break through to the third level. No one could see him since he was in his part of the familiar space, but he had shone beautifully as the breakthrough had his mana swirling and fur surging with a radiant shine.


    Lucy has the darkness attribute, so his breakthrough wasn''t as shy as Nil''s was, and while Toz had the metal attribute like Nil, he also had fire and darkness, making it slightly more chaotic than Nil''s breakthrough.


    Nil''s shiny fur calmed down and returned to its original polished silver hue. Although it was still reflective and shone in the dazzling light of the lightning, it was a lot more matte than it had been during his breakthrough.


    After Nil''s breakthrough, everyone except Mindle was at the third level. Although Mindle was fully aware she had ate start since she had been born several years after the others, she still didn''t like the feeling of being left behind. Shepletely ignored that she had reached the second level after only a few weeks and that she was already strong and skilled at using magic.


    Although Mindle had trouble controlling her power in the beginning, regr training had improved her skill at maneuvering mana and casting magic. With her entire body being a mana pool, she also had ridiculous reserves of mana that she could use efficiently to power her magic, and while she couldn''t exactly surpass the low level of magic currently, she was already on par with Toz in using fire magic. At least in how powerful the magic she could cast was.


    Toz also had an impressive mana pool, but he had to dedicate some of his mana to the other attributes he had, so while he could surpass Mindle, that was only in the case that Toz gave up on using the other darkness and metal, which would mean he wouldn''t be able to continue his refinement. Although he was at the third refinement now, if he broke through to the fourth level with fire mana, he would not even be at the second refinement. Toz would simply be a fire mage at the fourth level.


    Since refining the mana get more efficient, and the benefits grow stronger the higher the level one does it in, and the more a mage has refined, it would be pretty foolish for Toz to stop using the other attributes he had ess to, just to be stronger than Mindle.


    But Mindle didn''t really analyze that far as she was more interested in catching up to the other three officially by reaching the third level herself. Thankfully since Toz had thepany of Nil and Lucy, it wouldn''t be a problem if she spent more time in the familiar space where she could focus on training her mana.


    Mindle didn''t enter the familiar space immediately but soon after Nil rejoined the group after his breakthrough, she said something about being tired from not having slept for so long and entered the familiar space where she could supposedly rest without forcing the group to get a room in an inn or take a break.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Even without the bond of the inclination, it was obvious to the others that Mindle was going to dedicate herself to catching up to them. She just didn''t want to be honest with her feelings. Nil had practically done the same, so none of them were surprised. Although, Nil was a little embarrassed when Toz and Lucy looked at him with gazes, practically telling Nil that he inspired Mindle to give a ridiculous excuse instead of simply training, even with how obvious it was.


    Well, now that the day in Sleepless Brights had officially begun, even if Mindle stayed in the familiar space, the group still had things to do.


    During their walk before dawn, they had found a few stores that might sell what they could need. Things like maps over the areas they would encounter on their journey to Dormant Thunder and bestiaries over the different types of beastsmonly sighted in those areas.


    Another thing Toz felt like they needed to buy was spices and seasonings. After they had killed that third level mammoth and spent a lot of time eating its meat, Toz had noticed how he needed to use more spices to influence and enhance the natural taste of the meat. It had both started depleting the storage of spice he had in his coat. But if the group would be traveling through a fifth level ne where they would encounter a lot of beasts of an even higher level than that mammoth, to prepare the most delicious food for himself and the cats, Toz would need better spices. Not necessarily spicier or having a stronger taste themselves, just made from better raw materials that wouldn''t get overpowered by the food it was used for.


    While just meat alone can be pretty delicious, especially if it''s from a higher level beast, it can get boring eating the same thing all the time. That''s where seasingse in. Aside from enhancing the vor of the dish, it also provides the option of making two simr dishes taste differently, alleviating the boredom of repeatedly eating the same food constantly.


    Toz had also prepared a surprise for the cats that he was pretty sure the basic seasonings wouldn''t be enough to handle. Although, since it was a surprise, he used the other reasons about making varied, delicious food to convince the cats to let him go buy some spices, herbs, condiments, and other things he could use to make delicious food. However, it wasn''t like the cats needed convincing, to begin with. As soon as Toz said he needed things to make the food even more delicious, Nil and Lucy were already pushing him toward the store that looked like it would sell things like that.


    Once inside, Toz didn''t want to leave. It was a pretty small shop that seemed dedicated to spices since every wall and shelf was stocked with different spices and herbs. Toz recognized a few things from his own storage, but that was only a fractionpared to what existed in the store. In the end, he couldn''t hold himself back and bought a bunch of different things to try out and experiment with.


    Since they had found a map, information regarding the types of beasts they would encounter, and spices, the shopping spree would end after they looked for one more thing.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 85 Lindas Bookstore

    ?The thing they were looking for was something that Toz at least had been interested in since they visited the Ash Monkey tribe. Magic books, or grimoires as they were also known.


    Toz had known about spells before he read the books in the Ash Monkey tribe''s vige, but the descriptions he found there were more detailed and had piqued his interest and curiosity. Even if he couldn''t get his hands on one right now, in a higher level ne, there could be more and better easily essible information about how to get and acquire a grimoire.


    Although Sleepless Brights might not be the grandest and most prosperous of cities in a fifth level ne, it was still above any other city, Toz and the cats had been to, when it came to affluence. Compared to towns and cities like Yellow Sparks and Rising Winds, Sleepless Brights would have a much higher chance of at least having information on how and where to get a grimoire.


    That was the first part. Then, finding a grimoire of the right attribute would be the next challenge. Toz didn''t need to be that picky about a grimoire''s attribute since he technically doesn''t have any limit on the various attributes he can have as long as he bonds with a cat of the specific element. Although it would be for the best if they could find a grimoire with the spell of either metal, darkness, or fire, so Toz and one of the cats can then begin learning the spell as soon as the grimoire is in their hands.


    But before any one of them could actually learn a proper spell from a grimoire, they would first need to actually get one. And before they can buy a grimoire, they need to find out where to buy a grimoire from, which is why the group had stopped in front of a small bookstore hidden away in an alley.


    Usually, any type of shop, except illegal ones, would have trouble finding business in ces like those, hidden away from potential customers. But the bookstore with the name Linda''s Books didn''t seem to be about to dere bankruptcy. And upon closer inspection, there were loads of intricate enchantments on the storefront and the part of the building that the bookstore was in.


    While having many enchantments didn''t necessarily mean that the owner was wealthy since they could be useless low level ones only meant for decoration. But if the enchantments had been for decoration, they would have been at least slightly shier. And from what Toz could sense, the enchantments covering the bookstore were well made and packed with mana. The enchantments were either expensive and useless or expensive and useful, from what Toz could tell. The safest bet would be expensive and useful.


    The type of store located in a back alley and covered in intricate enchantments was obviously one not overly worried about attracting a lot of customers, and focused more on quality than quantity. Toz hoped that this kind of inconspicuous store would have information on how to get a grimoire. And considering all the enchantments that were most likely there to protect the store and its wares, it might even be possible the store had a grimoire itself.


    Since Mindle was still in the familiar space, Toz entered the store with Lucy on his head and Nil draped over his shoulders.


    The wooden door opened and closed with the tinkling of a bell.


    "Wee! I''ll be right there."


    A woman''s voice came from the back of the store.


    While Toz waited for the owner toe to the front desk, he looked around the shop.


    While it looked like the building was two stories from the outside, only one floor was dedicated to books. The upper floor was probably the owner''s bed and living room.


    Toz suspected that some of the enchantments covering the store were of the spatial attribute since the store seemed to berger on the inside than on the outside. But not by much, so the store still wasn''t that big, and it had a cozy feeling with its dark brown wooden walls, lit by soft yellowmps hanging from the roof. Four walls and two shelves in the middle, all covered in books, except for the door and the front desk where a door into a storage room and stairs were. Like most buildings in Sleepless Brights, there weren''t any windows, and the almost searing light that Toz and the cats had gotten used to by now, was blocked off as soon as the door closed.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Like what you see?" The owner hade out of the back room with a stack of books in her arms that she ced next to the open space on the desk. She had mahogany brown hair that went down to her shoulders and a pair of circr sses resting on her nose. As he put down the stack of books, the arm on her robe that had been drawn up slipped down to cover the symbol of an open book on her forearm. Somehow she fit the description of book owner perfectly as she turned her kind gaze toward Toz as she waited for his response.


    "Yeah, it''s cozy."


    "Great! What can I help you with today, sir?" Linda''s face broke up into a smile as she replied to Toz.


    "Well... I was actually looking for a grimoire. Do you have any of those?"


    "Of course! What a coincidence, though. I got in a couple of new ones just yesterday. Looking for a specific attribute?"


    Toz was overjoyed at the positive response. They had found a ce that sold grimoires during their first try. It also seemed to be several grimoires of different types of attributes.


    Toz tried his best to contain his happiness as he replied,


    "Fire, darkness, or metal works, but if you don''t have any of those, I would happily look at others as well."


    "What kind of bookkeeper do you take me for? While I might not have darkness, I have several fire grimoires and one or two metal ones. Wait here, and I will be right back with them," Linda said as she went into the backroom she had been in when Toz entered the store.


    She came back shortly after with three books, two red and one grey.


    "I only had one metal, and while I have a few more fire ones, I was a little presumptuous and chose a couple of beginner-friendly ones. Hope you don''t mind."


    "Not at all. Thank you for your consideration. How much for this one?" Toz asked as he pointed toward a red bookbeled Fireball.


    "That one was...


    "Eight thousand gold."

 Chapter 86 Money

    ?Eight thousand gold was slightly more than what he had expected. So far, during his journey, he had, in total, maybe spent the worth of a few golds but using silver and copper coins. And the things that had cost the most were using the portal and the things they had bought in Sleepless Brights, especially the spices. But in total, he had barely spent more than a dozen out of the several tens of gold coins he had gathered before he, Nil, and Lucy set out on the journey.


    And while he had gotten a decent reward for reporting the Scorched Earth Rats to the Explorers'' Guild, it wasn''t more than a hundred gold coins. With his current finances, Toz was far from being able to buy a grimoire. It was to the point he temporarily regretted giving up the Rat King''s body. Although he didn''t know how much that would have given him, disregarding if he would even be able to sell it properly, it should at least have been in the tens of thousands of gold.


    With his current funds, there was no way that Toz could buy a grimoire. And considering his slightly frozen state, Linda noticed it pretty quickly and moved the grimoires to the side.


    "I am gonna assume it is your first time purchasing a grimoire?"


    "...Yeah, that''s right. I was not expecting that price. Sorry for needlessly taking up your time."


    "Don''t worry. Grimoires are seldom bought, so by the time you get enough money, they might still be here," Linda said with a smile. With her experience, it wasn''t difficult to tell if her customer was an explorer or not. And while exploring might be dangerous and unprofitable work, it was also one where sudden riches tended to fall into peoples''ps.


    However, she could also tell that Toz was low level, so she told him to be careful and that it didn''t really matter how long it took before saying goodbye as he left the shop. He can''t use a grimoire if he''s dead after all.


    Outside the shop, Toz wondered what they should do. But before deciding on anything, he wanted to find a ce to take a nap and rest a bit since no one except Lucy had slept recently. Probably an inn since being outside would make it impossible to rx.


    After getting a room, Toz gathered the cats, including Mindle, on the bed so they could discuss what to do. All of them wanted to go to Treblor Forest as soon as possible, but they also wanted to experience Roaring Skies, and it wouldn''t be fun using a portal to get closer. And they were also low level, so even if they entered the Treblor Forest, they would only end up dying.


    However, they had found several grimoires in Sleepless Brights that they couldn''t afford at the moment. But if they stayed close to Sleepless Brights, clearing beasts and exploring to find resources and materials to sell to the guild in order to get enough gold to buy at least one grimoire, they would be dyed on their journey to Treblor Forest.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    There weren''t any grimoires for darkness, so the one grimoire they would buy wouldn''t be of that attribute, and since Nil mainly used magic to create traps, he wasn''t that interested in a spell that would be something other than creating traps. And so the grimoire would either be one useful for Mindle and Toz or one not useful for any of them except possibly Toz and a futurepanion.


    Toz didn''t mind staying a little while in Sleepless Brights if it meant he could acquire a grimoire, but he didn''t want to force the others to stay if they didn''t wish to. However, his worries were needless.


    To get enough gold, they would most likely have to harvest rare resources and subjugate beasts, and if they wanted enough gold in a speedy manner, they would have to kill stronger beasts. Killing powerful beasts is always challenging in a fun way.


    But to really make the big bucks, they need to get stronger themselves so they can take on even stronger enemies, so until that happens, they will have to settle for doing slightly easier things. While doing easier tasks to start gathering money, they will train hard and try to reach the fourth level. Even Mindle, who has yet to reach the third level, will try to reach the medium level as soon as possible. Repeatedly using mana in dangerous situations and forcing oneself to exceed one''s limits tend to elerate the speed at which one can train their mana, so going around epting dangerous requests while training their mana was something that didn''t sound that bad to the group.


    Reaching the next level will also make their travels to Dormant Thunder and Treblor Forest a safer journey. While the start of the journey gets dyed slightly, the speed with which they will be able to move will be slightly faster. Although not enough to make up for the dy, it will at least shorten the travel time slightly. And fighting and exploring is just a bit more enjoyable than walking or riding a carriage monotonously.


    Before the group gets to work and properly begins gathering gold to much a grimoire from Linda''s Bookstore, there were a few things they needed to do. First, find out information about what makes the most money in a short time while still being enjoyable enough for the group to do repeatedly. Even if it isn''t safe, that can be solved if the group breaks through to the next level. Unless it''s too dangerous, then it might be more worth finding something else to do instead of waiting until they get strong enough.


    The second thing they needed to do was get their Explorers'' Badge upgraded so they can officially explore the danger zones and sell the materials they obtain to the guild.


    Since they had already bought some information regarding the areas on the path to Dormant Thunder, the group decided to begin with finding out what they could about the things closest to Sleepless Brights.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 87 Fourth Level Explorer (1)

    ?The group had found a few ces that looked like they could earn them a decent sum. One forest had been especially livelytely, and a lot of people had gone missing after entering it. Although Toz and the cats were too weak right now to explore it, if it still wasn''t solved by the time the group reached the fourth level, the money they could receive frompleting it as a request would be even greater.


    They had also found a few other areas surrounding Sleepless Brights that, while slightly troublesome, could boost the group''s economy a bit. But the ces that seemed profitable enough to venture into were all at least fourth level danger zones. The forest would also be promoted to a fifth level one if people kept disappearing there.


    After the group decided on the first thing they should do, they headed to the Explorers'' Guild so Toz could get his fourth level badge.


    Just like in Yellow Sparks, early mornings were the busiest times of the day for explorers since they wanted to get out of the city and get to work as soon as possible and many explorers tended to stop by the guild before heading out. Most did it out of habit and to socialize and create connections. In case they wanted to find a part or squad to join. Others do it to make sure they''re the first to know if a new request has appeared or if the guild has a message, warning, or news of any kind that can be important for explorers heading out.


    An important part of exploring isn''t just finding things. Finding things before anyone else and making sure one can stay alive while doing that is at least as important as actually exploring and discovering things. That''s why explorers with outstanding information-gathering skills have a better survival rate than ones who only excel at fighting.


    After dropping by the guild, many explorers left pretty quickly unless there was something stopping them. But there are also many explorers who tend to rx at the guild if they have just returned from the wilderness. Since the guild is often connected to an affiliated bar or tavern, it isn''t unusual to see explorers drinking at all times of the day.


    And when Toz entered the buildingte in the morning, that was what he saw. Explorers, rxing, drinking, chatting, or all three. He didn''t see many explorers actively looking for information or talking with guild employees about any requests.


    Since there weren''t many explorers during this time of the day only two of the front desks were open for business, and one of them, was busy with a young woman. So Toz ended up in front of the desk that had an old gentleman behind it. Although the man was old and had grey air, his eyes were still full of life, and he greeted Toz with a friendly smile.


    "What can I help you with?"


    "I was looking to upgrade my Explorers the Badge to fourth level."


    "Oho, new to Sleepless then?"


    "Yeah, just arrived this morning."


    The conversation continued naturally as the older man, Rick, as the nametag on his chest read, guided Toz to a door next to the reception.


    "The Lightning Cloud can be pretty surprising at first, but how do you find the city otherwise so far?"


    "It''s pleasant. There are some nice shops."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Rick opened the door to reveal a cubical room several meters high and more than ten meters in width and length. There were traces of magic and weapons all over the walls and floor, though none of them too deep. There was even damage on the ceiling somehow.


    "Although the room looks like this, it''s sturdy and can handle most beatings.


    "The promotion examination will be handled by me, Rick Besre, and will test if exam taker by the name Toz is eligible for the fourth level Explorers'' Badge."


    Unlike the examination that Toz had undergone in Yellow Sparks, the one he was about to take was a lot more formal. Although, it could also be due to Rick since he seemed to take formal procedures seriously.


    The two men, one examiner, and one examinee, stood on opposing sides of the room.


    Although Toz had only needed to show he was capable of actually surviving in some way during his test for the first level exploration badge, higher levels had higher demands on the explorer''s capabilities. Mostly, in the general direction of, the best way to guarantee survival is to get rid of whatever threatens the explorer''s life. As in, kill, or you will eventually end up killed, no matter how good at stealth or defense you are.


    Although an explorer taking the promotion examination didn''t need to kill the examiner to pass, they at least needed to show that they could survive in a sustainable manner, not just temporarily, during a single encounter with danger.


    Since danger zones get progressively more dangerous the higher the level they are naturally, the demands for an explorer entering the zones rise correspondingly.


    The exam also shows the explorer what amount of strength they can expect from the beasts they might encounter in the danger zones. Every examiner with the right to promote someone has to have been to several different danger zones of the level they want to be able to promote explorers to.


    Since Rick has been to several fourth level danger zones and is familiar with the level of strength beasts in those zones can possess, he can adjust the strength he disys to match those beasts. And if the explorer taking the examination can survive against the skills that Rick disys, they get the promotion. Even if the explorer can only manage by the skin of their teeth, as long as they don''t copse, they pass.


    Although the guild officially wants explorers to stay safe since they rely on those explorers. If the requirements for higher levels are too strict, no one is going to want to go through the exam. And no danger zone is the same, not even ones of the same level, so even if an explorer barely passes the exam, as long as they are careful and prudent in the exploration, they won''t be in any danger.


    So even if Toz won''t be able to beat Rick, he can still get the fourth level badge.


    Heforted himself with that fact as he brought out his sword and prepared to face off against Rick.

 Chapter 88 Fourth Level Explorer (2)

    ?Rick''s atmosphere had changed the moment he entered the examination room. Although he still had a gentle smile on his face as he walked to the one spot in the room that was clear of damage, that smile didn''t seem quite as friendly as it did when Rick greeted Toz. Instead, a great danger seemed to be hiding behind the facade of a gentle old man.


    Even if Toz couldn''t sense Rick''s level of power, he didn''t need to, to realize that Rick was strong. A lot stronger than Toz. Probably stronger than the Scorched Earth Rat King had been. Thankfully, Rick wouldn''t be going all out to defeat Toz as soon as possible. He would test Toz and make sure he can survive in a fourth level danger zone.


    During the short walk to the examination room, they had agreed that the test would be a spar where Toz tries to match Rick''s attacks and offensive.


    After both had gotten into position and Toz revealed his dark matte grey sword with orange edges, Rick also revealed his weapon.


    Although it couldn''t be seen since he was wearing a shirt and a vest, a symbol on the right side of his stomach lit up, and a mace''s handle appeared in his right hand. Attached to the handle was a chain connecting the handle and the fist-sized spike ball that was the mainponent of the mace.


    Since he was merely simting the strength of a fourth level beast, it didn''t matter if Rick used a mace or not. And since beasts tend to be stronger than humans, it wouldn''t be out of the line for Rick to use his mace energy as well.


    The mace energy, like mana, could also create phenomena that if made by mana, would be called magic. However, what mace energy and all types of weapon energy can do, isn''t simr to ordinary elemental magic. Instead, it focuses more on the weapon and the wielder, or fighter, what people who use different types of energy are called instead of mages.


    Low level fighters can use weapon, fist, or any other kind of energy to strengthen themselves, or their weapon to make it sharper and more durable.


    Medium level fighters can upgrade their energy to something called Aura, which is more potent than ordinary energy, and in addition to strengthening the weapons and themselves, Aura can also be used to put a protective coat over themselves or their weapon.


    That is what Rick did as a transparent light covered his mace as he started walking toward Toz.


    Although mana wasn''t as effective at strengthening the body when used the same way as weapon energy or aura, it could still be used to boost a mage''s physical ability temporarily.


    And in response to Rick''s advance, Toz filled his legs with mana as he dashed toward Rick, aiming to sh horizontally to the left.


    Toz used the sparks that appeared when his sword shed with the chain of the mace to send a few small fireballs into Rick''s face, giving him time to disengage and prevent his sword from being trapped by the chain.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Rick brushed away the fireballs with his left hand and let Toz back away a couple of steps before he lunged at him, swinging his mace backhanded, aiming for Toz''s sword that was still within his reach.


    Despite Toz''s two-handed grip on the sword, after the fierce sh that Rick''s strike resulted in, the sword was sent flying to the side of the twobatants. And with Rick''s continuous assault as he swung his mace, barely missing Toz, they got further and further away from the sword.


    Since it was Toz''s first fight at this level, he was a little destabilized when he lost his sword, but the mace aiming to tear him apart wouldn''t allow him to be distracted so while he tried to think of a way to fight back, he continued dodging.


    The difference in experience became even more evident when Toz still hadn''t found a way to get out of the continuous retreat and was even about to get cornered.


    Toz was getting so close to the wall that when he dodged one of Rick''s swings, the mace hit the wall, leaving a serious dent and a few cracks.


    While it showed Toz how terrifying it would be if the swings hit, it also became apparent that Rick was holding back in order to let Toz show what he was capable of. But more than that it also gave Toz a way out of getting cornered. And it wasn''t making use of the opening Rick revealed from getting his mace stuck in the wall since it was pulled out and swung with barely any dy.


    What had triggered Toz''s inspiration was the mark the mace had left on the wall.


    That mark wasn''t the only unevenness on the walls that were covered in scars and wounds. All things that looked like footholds for an athletic and flexible young man with a lithe physique.


    Toz sent a few quickly conjured fireballs at Rick to give him enough breathing room before he turned and started running up the wall. He kept exploding small balls of fire next to him, using the shockwave to keep him on the wall as he ran toward where the sword had ended up.


    Rick easily avoided and brushed away the fireballs and was quick to chase after Toz again. Although he was inwardly surprised at Toz''s stunt, he didn''t let it stall him, but he still only caught up after Toz picked up his sword and was ready to fight back.


    During the next wave of attacks that Rick unleashed, Toz fought back more properly instead of barely dodging.


    As Rick unleashed a sideways swing, Toz didn''t strike back at the head of the mace as it came flying toward him, instead, he used the t of the de to intercept the chain and let it glide off the sword, putting Rick off bnce as Toz tried to counterattack.

 Chapter 89 Fourth Level Explorer (3)

    ?Toz did not know if Rick lost his bnce as a feint, or if just regained it quickly, but he blocked Toz''s sword using the handle of his mace he was holding both ends of.


    Since Rick had blocked Toz''s overhead strike early in its path, it was easy for Rick to push Toz back and make him stumble.


    Unlike the other times when Rick got the advantage and could press the assault, Toz reacted quickly and fell into the stumble, rolling backward on the ground, increasing the distance between him and Rick.


    Although Rick didn''t need to catch his breath, Toz''s counterattack after making him stumble had increased his alertness, and while he was being cautious and reevaluating Toz, Toz was regaining his calm and trying to figure out a way tost longer in the battle against Rick. It was bing pretty evident that even if Rick only limited his strength to the same as a fourth level beast, he was an experienced fighter and adept at using his mace.


    Toz had also noticed that Rick, even if he was limiting his speed and strength, he still had his reflexes, so trying to surprise attack or overwhelm him would be difficult, and Toz would only have one chance with each strategy he could try. And for every time he failed, even if he changed tactic, next time would be that more likely to fail as well.


    After the momentary lull in the battle, Rickunched another flurry of attacks at Toz. It was still the same movements from Rick, but Toz found them easier to deal with now that he was more familiar with how the mace and chain worked and how they acted when they got in contact with his sword.


    Rick noticed that Toz was getting used to his swings that had mainly targeted his torso so far, so he decided to switch things up a bit and go for Toz''s legs as well.


    The first sweep at Toz''s legs made him jump back, revealing an opening that Rick took advantage of as he stepped forward and kicked Toz in the stomach, sending him flying.


    After the seconds of airtime and sliding on the ground, Toz rushed to get back up despite his aching stomach, only to get met with the head of a mace swinging down on his head. His quick reflexes helped him dodge the strike as the macended on the ground, sending up a spray of rocky shards.


    Toz quickly got to his feet and tried to gain put some distance between the two using the same trick with fireballs that he had already used a few times, so he wasn''t too surprised when Rick wasn''t affected and rushed through the fireballs holding a hand in front of him.


    Toz took advantage of Rick blocking his own sight as he stayed low to the ground and moved a bit to the side so he could use his leg to trip Rick and make him fall.


    Rick had been caught unprepared as he was used to Toz moving away after throwing fireballs at his face. Right when he was about to lift his foot and stop himself from falling, he felt something grab onto both his feet and keep them stuck to the ground. Rick, who was already about to fall, could only catch himself with his hands and try to get whatever was holding his feet off as soon as possible.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But when hended on the ground face first, several bands of metal shot out of the ground, wrapping around his body and binding his arms and mace tightly with his torso.


    The binding was hastily made, and if given some time, even if he suppressed his strength, Rick could break free. But not before the sword resting on his neck moved. Rick could only sigh and admit defeat. As soon as he did, Toz breathed out in relief as he sat down to rest. Facing off against Rick''s aggressive assaults had been physically exhausting. And trying to devise a n to either stall Rick long enough or defeat him while fighting had been mentally taxing.


    Though Toz had quickly realized that he would certainly get beaten in a way that his pride wouldn''t allow if he aimed for a battle of attrition.


    After admitting his defeat Rick didn''t stay down as he, with a shrug, dispelled his mace and turned the shackles binding his body into fine dust that dispersed into the air.


    From a nce, it was obvious that Toz wouldn''t even stand a breathing chance against Rick unless rick held back.


    "Well done, young man. Follow me back to the reception, and you will get the badge."


    After the spar ended, the feeling of danger lurking behind Rick''s friendly countenance disappeared and he turned back into an amicable old gentleman. After heading back to the front desk Rick retrieved an explorer''s badge that he imprinted with Toz''s mana signature. After Toz asked some questions regarding the most profitable resources in fourth level danger zones surrounding Sleepless Brights, they bid each other farewell.


    Since it was the guild that wanted the explorers to get an appropriate badge and permission before entering a danger zone, there was no need for the explorers to pay for the badge or examination. Especially considering it might even deter explorers from taking the exam. There were somepassionate guild employees who even wanted to pay explorers to get an Explorers Badge, but since the explorers got paid by being able to sell their resources, there was technically no need for that.


    Rick touched his neck and rolled his shoulder while muttering things about how he was getting too old for things like this.


    Toz put the badge in one of his pockets and left the guild building. With the fourth level Explorers'' Badge, he could finally begin gathering resources to sell and earn enough money to buy his first grimoire. And he knew where to begin doing just that. One of the ces he and the cats had found earlier had also been given a good evaluation by Rick. Although Toz had just met Rick, he gave off a trustworthy feeling, as long as he wasn''t preparing to fight, so Toz decided to listen to his advice.

 Chapter 90 Quarry (1)

    ?The danger zone where a lot of precious resources could be gathered, which, ording to both the group''s research and Rick, was profitable, was a ce known as the Quarry. Although it was called a quarry, it wasn''t exactly a dig site, and the name referred to the type of beasts residing there.


    Now that Toz had his badge, he didn''t have a reason to dy as he set out. Lucy and Nil, who had entered the familiar space to let Toz fight against Rick alone, popped out and retook their ces on his head and shoulders, respectively.


    Spirit beasts bonded with a human are, ording to the rules of the guild, part of that explorer''s strength and ability to survive so they can participate in an examination. But since Toz had very little experience in fighting against other humans, especially skilled and strong ones, the examination spar with Rick was a great opportunity for him to practice and get more used to fighting different enemies. And because the badge would still only belong to Toz, even if the cats participated, they both felt that Toz should get it himself. And that he did.


    Mindle was still busy training. If they were heading out into a fourth level danger zone in the wilderness, she felt as if she wouldn''t be able to contribute much with her second level of power.


    None of the other three minded since the ce they were going to wasn''t known for its danger but for how tedious harvesting the resources there is.


    The Quarry wasn''t far from the city, and it didn''t take long enough for the group to arrive. Unfortunately, the Quarry wasn''t far enough from the city to escape the Lightning Clouds, and without the light-absorbing materials of the city, the brightness was overwhelming. Thankfully the eye gear that the group had bought during the shopping spree worked and made it bearable without obstructing their vision too much.


    The gear looked like tiny circr white holes embedded in a strap of ck cloth that was tied around the head. The shop also sold gear fit to put on beasts since a lot of people had beast type inclination, and their beasts would also need to protect their eyes.


    The gear only looked like a smaller version of what was on Toz, but on Nil and Mindle when they put it on. But on Lucy, the ck strap disappeared into his fur, and it looked like he had gotten a pair of oversized new special eyes. Lucy looked even more ridiculous when he twirled his head and looked around as he got ustomed to wearing the goggles and how they affected his vision.


    Mindle couldn''t hold back herughter after Lucy jumped down to the ground and tried to walk around but stumbled instead and crashed into a rock he couldn''t see. Toz and Nil also chuckled lightly as Toz bent down to help Lucy up and get him used to wearing the goggles. Toz used some darkness magic to change how the goggles reflected the light entering them, making it easier for Lucy to see clearly and not feel as ufortable with the goggles on.


    With Toz''s guidance, Lucy covered his goggles in a thin veil of shadow to help him adjust how much light entered his eyes and how much he could see.


    Considering how much time he had spent asleep, and with closed eyes and his element being darkness, it wasn''t too strange for Lucy to be affected more than the others by the goggles and the general brightness of where they were.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After the short episode of destressing with Lucy''s goggles, the group continued and headed into the area that would be their first time in a fourth level danger zone.


    The road the group had been walking on so far had been a monotonous t dirt road leading away from Sleepless Brigths through a field. But as soon as they entered the designated danger zone, the environment underwent a drastic change. The smooth ground turned rocky and uneven, even taking on a light grey color.


    The road was still traversable, but as they continued deeper, the rocks and stones on either side of it grewrger, and eventually, they were passing through a forest of cliffs.


    Deeper into the forest of rocks, the ground started bing more uneven, and the group had to follow the road as it went up and down all over the ce. It was unclear if the road had been naturally formed for it to be so annoying to follow as it twisted and curved like a snake with a bad spine. Or, based on some cracks and scrape marks on the ground, it looked slightly like the ground had moved after the road was carved out.


    Eventually, the group came to arge valley dotted with trees of stone that were even lighter in color than the rocks they had passed by on the way there.


    Seeing that they had arrived, Toz and Nil began preparing the things they would need in order to harvest tree sap from the trees in the valley. Because, unlike the rocks that had started looking like trees on their way to the valley, the trees in the valley were actual trees that looked like they were rocks imitating trees.


    A few shops in Sleepless Brights sold the tools necessary for the harvesting of the sap, but they were all very expensive. And since Toz and Nil had the metal attribute that was well suited for creating things, they didn''t have to spend money unnecessarily when they were saving for a grimoire.


    They made a closed container connected to a pipe that ended with a sharpened point. Since Toz and Nil focused more on functionality than design, it looked like a metal cube with a tentacle attached to it. But that didn''t matter as long as it worked.


    Toz went to the nearest tree to begin harvesting with Lucy, while Mindle stayed next to Nil who continued creating containers.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 91 Quarry (2)

    ?Toz began by scraping away a thinyer of bark from the tree. Since the tree didn''t just look like it was made from stone and the surface also had the characteristics of stone, he used his sword. While creating a spot on the tree of thin bark, he was extremely careful not to prate the bark all the way. He needed to thin the bark down so he could force the pipe through and into the tree and drain the sap, but if he scratched away too much and the bare trunk came into contact with light, there would be no way for him to get sap from that tree since it would all petrify.


    The insides of the trees were extremely sensitive to all light since their primary weakness was being struck by lightning. And so, every time a part of the tree not already covered by the protectiveyer of stone came in contact with light, that part and then some would petrify almost instantaneously.


    If Toz opened up all the way to the tree trunk, the spot he had just scratched clear would petrify several centimeters deep into the trunk around the tree. Although the tree would eventually undo the petrification naturally in order to growrger, that could take anywhere between several days and a few months.


    Unfortunately, since Toz had only read how to perform the method of harvesting the tree sap and had no idea how thick the stonelike bark was, he failed on his first try as dark purple, almost ck sap oozed out of the tree before instantly turning to stone. Toz heard a few barely audible creaking sounds as the petrification spread through the rest of the tree.


    Toz was slightly dejected at having failed, but he moved on to the tree next to one he had just been working on to try again.


    This time, with the experience of how thick the bark was, Toz didn''t fail as he stopped peeling the bark before he reached the trunk beneath it. And then he sessfully sent the pipe into the tree through the thinyer of bark that acted as protection against the light.


    He was slightly worried that the light would reach through the hole he had opened up with the pipe, so he used darkness magic to cover the edges as insurance. While trying to use darkness and shadows in the middle of the bright light would be difficult without having a shadow to borrow, if he was only making a thin circle to block out the light from the sun and the lightning, he could make itst until he filled the container with sap.


    The question, however, was if he could swap containers and continue draining the same tree without the light reaching the sap or bare wood of the tree. With the help of Lucy''s magic, he at least wanted to try it, so after the first container was nearly filled and Mindle had dropped off the next one, they got ready.


    Lucy used the shadows Toz''s body created as he leaned over to create a spot ofplete darkness over the connection between the pipe and the first container. The spot stretched over to the second container as Toz used metal magic to detach the pipe and seal the first container before attaching the pipe to the second container.


    Unlike Toz''s attempt at thinning the bark, they seeded during their first try.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Afterward, Lucy, and Mindle, who had stayed back to watch, got back into their position so they could continue keeping watch. The Quarry wasn''t a danger zone for nothing after all, and while it looked peaceful in the valley of stone trees, it was merely because the danger was good at hiding itself.


    After filling the second container, Toz did the same with another three containers before switching trees. Although there was still sap left, if they drained the treepletely it could die, and a resource valuable to Sleepless Brights would be damaged. Although a new tree could grow again, it would take several decades for it to be harvestable, and even longer for the sap to be most effective, and for the product it was used for tost as long as possible.


    If it was discovered that Toz killed one of the trees, he would be forced to pay a heftypensation to the city. All the money he had on him probably wouldn''t be enough, and he would be forced to work off the debt, greatly dying his grimoire purchasing.


    Toz stopped the five containers in his coat pockets before he went to the next tree that was several meters away from the second one.


    Toz repeated the process on a few trees and had gathered a huge pile of containers filled with sap. But since he was running out of free space in his coat pockets, it was about time to begin heading back to Sleepless Brights, where he could sell the collected sap. And hopefully, earn a decent sum that would bring him closer to getting his first grimoire and spell.


    However, things didn''t go as nned, and the group would be able to experience the difficulty of a fourth level danger zone for themselves right when they were about to leave it.


    Toz and the cats weren''tpletely unprepared when the beasts that made the Quarry known for its tediousness made their appearance right when the group was about to pack up and leave the valley.


    A pile of rocks that had been lying around next to some trees, looking exactly like the ordinary stones that could be found everywhere in the designated danger zone that was marked by the different soil and environment. The one exception that slightly set the beasts apart from ordinary stones was their shape. Although it wasn''t as obvious when they were half-hidden in the ground, the beasts were rounder than ordinary rocks. Which obviously helped them as they rolled over, surrounding Toz and the cats.


    After the encirclement waspleted, crooked stony legs sprang out from the sides of the rocks with a cking sound. Thanks to the hard ground, the Stone Balls didn''t pierce the ground with their pointy legs, despite their weight.


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 Chapter 92 Stone Balls (1)

    ?Despite the menacing appearance of the Stone Balls surrounding them, no one in the group was especially worried. There was a reason that the Quarry was known for being tedious and troublesome, not lethal, despite its fourth level danger zone designation. The fourth level designation was because the Stone Balls currently encircling Toz and the cats were indeed fourth level beasts. Pretty stupid and useless beasts, but fourth level nheless.


    The Quarry was known for being a troublesome ce to earn money from because it happened very easily that the tap collection went wrong, and the entire tree would petrify itself, limiting the amount of tree sap an explorer could collect in one go. But the most annoying thing to deal with when entering the Quarry was the Stone Balls.


    The Stone Balls had gotten their name because of how simple they were. Not only in skill and physical appearance but also because of their intelligence. The Stone Balls were practically moving balls of stone. They couldn''t use magic or any other special abilities aside from their camouge. They were only decently fast when rolling, but doing that, limited their means of attack. But when they ran using their six legs, they were slow and easy to avoid.


    In exchange for all that, the Stone Balls were ridiculously sturdy, and their attacks were simple yet frightening as one of their legs shattering was enough to almost crack open one of theirpatriots. One such strike backed by the full weight of a charging Stone Ball could evene close to felling one of the stone trees.


    Although they were easily avoided since they were pretty slow, the Quarry wasn''t tedious to earn money from just because of their existence. It was because they were worth a lot. The Quarry was a ce annoying to get a value out of because a lot of the value was contained in balls of stone, up to a person''s waist in height, that were nearly indestructible. While the sap gathered from the trees was still worth a decent amount, if an explorer really wanted to make their journey worthwhile, they would have to defeat the Stone Balls.


    The only recorded ce that Stone Balls had ever appeared was in the Quarry, most likely because it was the only recorded ce with the Stone Trees that made up their menu. The Stone Balls ate the bark that the trees shed when they molt and growrger. Since the bark is made from the same stuff as the sap, and the Stone Balls eat the bark, eventually, the Stone Balls begin containing a substance simr to the sap harvested from the trees but a lot more concentrated and stable.


    The liquid that the Stone Balls have is called Stone Blood and is arge reason why Sleepless Brights has such dark and light-absorbing surfaces since it can be turned into paint and used to cover the surfaces of the buildings in the city. The tree sap can be used simrly, but after a more strenuous process and the product it bes isn''t as efficient as the one made of Stone Blood.


    Since the tree sap also turns into stone at first contact with light, it''s a lot harder to work with as well, unlike the Stone Blood, which only slightly thickens when exposed to direct light.


    But since the light-absorbing coat can onlyst so long until it stops working, both materials are greatly sought after in Sleepless Brights.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    When Toz had finished filling up his coat with containers of blood, he was even prepared to return another day in the hopes of encountering enough Stone Balls to take a great step closer to their goal of gathering eight thousand gold.


    The Stone Balls tightened their encirclement and prepared to rush at Toz and the cats as Toz pulled out his sword. The cats, perched on Toz''s head and shoulders, prepared their magic. Mindle conjured a swarm of fireballs in the air around them that she began charging with mana.


    Lucy, although their surroundings were covered in light, used what small shadows he could find to strengthen his magic and bind the legs of the Stone Balls. Since the Stone Balls weren''t conscious the way other wild beasts were, the psychological torture and scare tactics he had used on the Scorched Earth Rat King and a tiny bit on Hugh wouldn''t work.


    Nil had just spent a lot of his mana on making containers, and since he was more specialized in setting up traps he started making preparations with what mana he had left. He didn''t have enough mana to set up a trap that could be used effectively against the Stone Balls. Not even pitfalls would work since they could just climb up. The Stone Balls were earth attribute beasts, after all, despite not being able to use magic, they are good at traveling on the ground, and with their powerful legs, they could crawl straight up.


    However, instead of focusing on the directbat against the Stone Balls, Nil trusted that the other three would be able to handle their foes, and he started crafting a club. His mana didn''t allow for a lot of leeway in design, so he made it simple. A ramrod straight unadorned handle that ended in a slightly uneven lump of metal. The club looked very crude, but since it would go up against the shell of the infamously hard-to-destroy Stone Balls, its durability was of greater import.


    While Nil focused on making the club, perched on Toz''s shoulder, the other three started their attack against the Stone Balls. While Toz wanted to be careful and not distract Nil too much, with the amount of Stone Balls swarming them, Toz had to be careful not to get struck by the stone legs wildly crashing down into the ground where he was just standing.


    If Toz tried standing on top of a rock that wasn''t a Stone Ball in disguise the Stone Balls would smash it to pieces forcing him to move again, and dodge the iing strikes. And if it was a Stone Ball he stood on, it would flip upside down to get him off, and then turn its legs around to match.


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 Chapter 93 Stone Balls (2)

    ?After Toz had skipped around enough and gathered all the Stone Balls in onerge clump instead of having them all spread out as they charged back and forth, trying to catch him. Now the Stone Balls would onlye from a single direction, and Toz wouldn''t need to twist his neck several times just to see where all the attacks woulde from.


    Having all the Stone Balls in one ce would also make it easier for Toz to counterattack. And that''s just what he did.


    He met the swarm of Stone Balls'' charge head-on. But right before the collision, he dashed to the side, and with the help of Lucy holding the Stone Balls'' feet down, he swung his sword right at the ce where the legs were attached to the bodies. He brushed past several Stone Balls outermost of the cluster, severing their right legs.


    But the attack didn''t end there. Right when the Stone Balls were about to use their Stone Blood to regenerate their limbs, balls of fire were sent directly to the ce where the legs had been attached. With how hard Mindle had been training and working on controlling her mana, it was a breeze for her to strike precisely where Toz had and prevent the legs from regenerating.


    If Stone Balls could be incapacitated that easily, just by cutting off their legs, there would have been no way they could have earned their reputation for being so troublesome to deal with. In a simr way to how the Stone Trees used their sap welling out to create a protectiveyer, the Stone Balls could use Stone Blood to create new legs. Sending a stream out of the leg hole and then manually controlling it to partially petrify and allow the Stone Ball to walk and run again. As long as there is still Stone Blood in the Stone Ball, it can continue creating new legs.


    And on the flip side, if there is no Stone Blood, the Stone Ball bes a sitting duck. However, without Stone Blood, there is no value to the Stone Ball. Someone aiming to collect Stone Blood could go about it two ways. Smash the bodies to kill the Stone Balls instantly. Or sever the legs and stop the Stone Balls from regenerating them to incapacitate them and then, when they can''t do anything to defend themselves, break them apart and collect as much Stone Blood as possible.


    Since Toz didn''t possess enough power to handle instantly smashing all the Stone Balls, he had to go for the second option of removing the Stone Balls'' mobility. Thankfully, while the Stone Blood didn''t petrify when subjected to ordinary daylight, when exposed to strong enough heat and brightness, such as one from direct fire, the Stone Blood stiffens, effectively preventing the Stone Balls from regrowing their legs.


    Even with only half of their legs cut off, the Stone Balls were practically put out ofmission, and the number of them that could continue charging at Toz decreased.


    Toz, Lucy, and Mindle repeated theirbo several times, and eventually, they managed to have all the Stone Balls struggling on the ground with either both sides of legs removed from their bodies or only a single one. While it wouldn''t be strange if the Stone Balls started rolling away, for some reason, after their legs were removed, or if they were provoked enough, they didn''t flee. In fact, their defense capabilities were so outstanding that if theysted long enough, the Stone Blood within them could force away the spot of petrified Stone Blood that was blocking their legs from regrowing.


    Since it would be annoying having to knock down the Stone Balls again, and even more so considering they would use up that precious Stone Blood if they regenerate their legs, Toz got to work smashing them apart.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Although the club Nil had made couldn''t measure up to his sword in terms of density, durability, and amount of mana, a blunt weapon would be more suitable for breaking apart the round stones.


    And so, like a kid with a stick and a vendetta against eggs, Toz clobbered away at the pitiful Stone Balls lying on the ground.


    The Stone Balls were certainly sturdy, but Toz, as a thrice refined mage with a beast type inclination, was pretty strong just by himself. Adding the reinforcement filling his body with metal attribute mana, and how he controlled the club with magic at the same time he swung the club, it didn''t take many hits to break open a Stone Ball.


    While Toz continued breaking up the next Stone Ball, the cats gathered the spilled Stone Blood and pieces of Stone Ball that were covered in it within a bunch of spatial rings that Toz had in his coat.


    It looked like thest Stone Balls alive were ready to push out new legs and spring back to life and attack Toz right when he got to them. He rushed to finish the one he was currently attacking before showering the ones that were left in mes, cauterizing their wounds again, and charring their surface ck. And then he proceeded to break them as well.


    After Toz finished smashing thest Stone Ball, he helped the cats gather all the Stone Blood in the spatial rings. Since he didn''t know if the shell was worth anything, he brought most of it with them as well. But the empty spatial rings and pockets in his coat were running out. So, after selling as much as he could to the guild, they would need to clear out unnecessary junk from his coat.


    Since they had gathered the sap from the Stone Trees and the Stone Blood from the Stone Balls and they didn''t have any more avable space to store more materials, the group headed back to Sleepless Brights.


    On their way back, nothing unexpected happened. Although it was slightly surprising that they hadn''t met another human, considering how lucrative harvesting Stone Blood could be.


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 Chapter 94 To The Brink Of Extinction

    ?Toz and the cats safely got back to Sleepless Brights, where the light dimmed slightly, and they could remove their goggles. Since it was constantly brighter than a day with clear skies in the area covered by the Lightning Clouds, the group had lost track of time, and it was prettyte when they arrived at the guild building. The cats took the opportunity to snag some rest while Toz went inside to deal with their haul.


    Thankfully the guild was still open. With exploring being a lifestyle more than a job, the Explorers'' Guild worked in a way that suited that lifestyle, and the opening hours of most branches stretchedte into the evening after beginning early in the morning.


    And it wasn''t for no reason since Toz wasn''t the only explorer returningte at night with things to sell. Although Toz wasn''t the only one, it wasn''t like the guild was packed, and he quickly got to the front of the line, where he coincidentally encountered Rick.


    Rick received Toz with a smile. Their spar earlier during the day had made it easy for Rick to remember Toz.


    However, Rick''s smile trembled as he unloaded all the containers of tree sap and then began retrieving spatial ring after spatial ring from his pocket while exining that they were filled with Stone Blood and Stone Ball remains. Toz also took the opportunity to exin that the containers wouldn''tst forever and would dissipate within a few days at most.


    Listening to Toz''s calm voice brought Rick''s alertness back, and he began counting and weighing the materials Toz had brought. In exchange for taking the spatial rings containing Stone Blood from Toz, Rick handed over a bunch of new ones to rece them since it would be simpler, logistically speaking.


    After Rick finished measuring and storing all the tree sap and Stone Blood, it was time to determine the price, and after Rick finished calcting, he started putting gold coins in a bag that he got from who knows where. Even while Toz was looking at Rick working, he couldn''t figure out where both the bag and the coins had appeared and continued appearing from.


    Rick noticed Toz''s star but didn''t say anything.


    Eventually, the stream of gold coins ended, and after a few silvers, the bag was handed over to Toz.


    "Slightly more than a hundred gold, one hundred and three gold coins, and thirty-seven silver coins."


    After saying thanks and goodbye, Toz returned to the inn where he had rented a room. There he slept deeply through the night.


    The next morning the group headed directly to the Quarry as soon as they woke up.


    While the group was still pretty far from reaching their goal of eight thousand gold, the haul from yesterday''s resource gathering had pushed their funds quite a bit closer to the cost of purchasing a grimoire.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    If the group continued amassing funds at the same speed, it wouldn''t take long for the group to be on their way toward Treblor Forest, the ce where things more exciting than gathering tree sap would happen.


    But despite how boring it would be to spend all their time draining trees and abusing rocks, Toz and the cats left the city fully motivated to get another great harvest.


    And so, the group continued their routine for a few days, gathering several hundred gold coins in total. But eventually, they couldn''t find as many Stone Balls to harvest Stone Blood from. Although there were still a lot of untapped trees, what really gave a lot of gold was the Stone Blood.


    And when there weren''t enough Stone Balls, the group''s ie naturally decreased. It got to the point they weren''t even earning more than ten gold per day. Although it wasn''t by much, the group had even put a dent in the market price of the Stone Blood.


    In their zeal and eagerness, the group had almost hunted all the Stone Balls in the Quarry. It was also possible that the Stone Balls had learned to stay away from Toz and the cats by now and hid as soon as they got close to the valley of Stone Trees.


    Although the group had approached their goal with great leaps, now that they were barely budging the limit of their funds with each day, they had to find another way to get money.


    There were a few more mundane things they could do, like pest eradication for the fields or gathering herbs. But it was all smaller stuff, and the rewards couldn''t really bepared to the profit they had made from the Quarry.


    Although the reward for the investigation and eventual solving of the problem urring in a nearby forest had been increased, it sounded a little bit too risky for Toz and the cats to handle at the moment. It was the forest where a lot of people had disappeared after all. And unlike the mysterious ce they had read about before they decided on Roaring Skies and the Treblor forest, the ones who disappeared in the forest didn''te back with only memory loss. If anything more than their tracks were found, it was their torn bodies.


    While not as important to the city as the Quarry, the Tumbling Thunder Forest also held several resources that were practically essential to the city''s continued prosperity and growth.


    If the deaths of those harvesting those resources continued and the rate at which people died increased, an important factor of the city''s economy would be severely affected.


    So far, several explorers had been assigned to deal with it since it was in the wilderness, and because it was officially ssified as a fourth level danger zone, fourth level explorers had been sent to deal with it. The reward hadn''t been quite enough to move fifth level explorers.


    But when more than a week had gone by without any results from the first group of explorers, the reward was increased to the point a few of the more desperate fifth level explorers headed into the forest. Although there were still no results yet.

 Chapter 95 Resting And Training

    ?Although the Tumbling Thunder Forest situation sounded way too dangerous for their group, for some inexplicable reason, Toz felt drawn toward the forest. As if something there was calling for him. But it was a very slight feeling, and with how dangerous entering the forest would be for them, Toz decided to ignore it. At least for now.


    Since there didn''t seem to be anything worthwhile for the group to do without it being extremely dangerous, they decided to take a break and rest after their frantic hunting of Stone Balls.


    Mostly staying inside the city or the inn but asionally going outside and epting a few of the smaller requests, just so they don''t get further away from their goal by spending money on food and lodging. They also spent a lot of time training.


    While the cats could train whenever tanks to Toz carrying them with him, either on his body or in the familiar space, Toz didn''t have anyone to do that for him. Toz needed to be still and concentrate in order to train his mana. He did feel slightly jealous that the cats could train while he walked. And then it hit him, why shouldn''t he be able to train while he walked?


    Although converting and absorbing mana required a lot of focus and also that the body was ready to receive the mana from its surroundings. While walking, Toz had to dedicate some thought to how and where he walked so that he didn''t fall and stumble. When walking, the body also tenses and rxes, affecting the mana flowing naturally in his body when he isn''t actively controlling it. This, in turn, affects how the absorbed mana enters his body since the mana already in Toz''s body helps with the absorption part of training.


    Trying to actively convert and absorb mana, walking, and having the mana in his body allow the still foreign mana inside was too difficult for Toz to achieve. But at the same time, it didn''t feel like it was impossible. Nevertheless, the attempts at training his mana while on the move were put on ice as he wholeheartedly focused on pushing his metal element to the fourth level.


    It was the element he had the most experience with and had the greatest understanding of, so it was easier for him to convert other elements into it and control the metal attribute mana to better cycle it through his body, increasing his affinity with mana. He had also been using his sword a lot recently. Since the mainponent of the sword was metal, breaking through with his metal attribute first would give him the quickest powerup.


    Although he included darkness and fire mana when he reinforced his sword every day, their effects weren''t as noticeable. Darkness mostly kept the light from reflecting off of the sword and made it more difficult for Toz''s opponents to notice the sword. The fire mana lined on its edges kept the sword sharp. Toz could also control how hot the sword grew in case he needed to either cauterize the wounds he inflicted or cut through something where ordinary sharpness wouldn''t be enough.


    Though, the sword hadn''t been bright enough to cauterize the wounds on the Stone Balls when they had been fighting them. Since the Stone Blood and tree sap react to light more than heat, Mindle had been in charge of keeping the holes blocked after Toz cut off the legs.


    Aside from training and their asional trip outside town they made to earn some gold when they waited for the Stone Balls to forget them and increase their numbers, the group didn''t do much. They took the opportunity when they left the city to walk around a bunch and see if there was anything interesting going on, but aside from Tumbling Thunder Forest and whatever was going on in there, nothing else caught their attention.


    During one excursion, they got closer to the forest to get a feel of what was happening there. But all they could sense was an ominous air as the trees that gave the forest its name blocked off the Lightning Clouds, granting darkness to the area around the forest.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The trees attracted thunderclouds that had the sky shaking with their rumbling. But despite all the thunder, within the Tumbling Thunder Forest''s reach, there was not a single sign of lightninging from the dark grey thunder clouds. The only lightning within the forest came from the trees themselves or the beasts living there.


    Although the sunlight pierced through the outermost parts of the forest, deeper in, below the slowly swirling vortex of clouds so dark they were practically pitch ck, the only light was from the asional fight between the resident beasts.


    With the contrast of lightning piercing the dark sky from within the forest, it was easy to tell that it was practically chaos in there.


    Toz and the cats didn''t know what the Tumbling Thunder Forest had been like before, but currently, lightning was going off almost every hour. Sometimes close to the edge of the forest, and sometimes much closer to the center.


    From the power of the lightning, it was obvious that it wasn''t just small skirmishes either.


    The four of them even witnessed a lightning bolt that seemed to havee from the Lightning Clouds above the Thunderclouds strike the ground. That one lightning bolt had the rest of the forest quiet down for the rest of the day.


    Toz and the cats exchanged a nce and agreed that it was a wise choice that they didn''t enter the forest just because it was a lot of gold if they could figure out what was happening.


    However, when they had been that close, the feeling Toz had about there being something in that forest that called for him got more distinct. It was the first time he had had such a feeling, and he didn''t know where it came from. Although it wasn''t strong enough to reach the cats through their bond, they could sense that Toz was drawn to the forest. He wasn''t the only one since they were also curious about what had called forth that incredible lightning bolt.


    But they were too weak to enter the forest, and after enjoying the view of all the lightning bolts shing like a firework show, they went back to the city and continued their training.


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 Chapter 96 Repeated Breakthroughs

    ?Since they had spent several days, and even more than a week, intently focused on their training, it wasn''t a surprise that they made some progress.


    The only shock brought by Mindle''s breakthrough was how strong she got. She was the group''s greatest direct firepower.


    Her breakthrough to the third level happened inside their room at the inn, and it looked like the entire room would catch fire as Mindle bathed everything around her in mes that surrounded her body. Though, it was merely her converting the surrounding lightning attribute and neutral mana into fire attribute so powerfully that it looked like mes.


    Although, the mes disappeared when Mindle stabilized her third level of power.


    However, things didn''t end there, as only a couple of dayster, it was Lucy''s turn to reach the next level. And unlike Mindle, who broke through to the next level but stayed within the same division, Lucy was crossing through to bing a medium level spirit beast.


    In order to reach the fourth level, a greater amount of mana and mana affinity wasn''t enough. One had to have great enough control and manage to condense their mana. Turning the floaty gaseous substance circling their body into something simr to a liquid state. That was the requirement and way to reach the fourth level.


    Lucy didn''t have any trouble doing that and smoothly condensed his mana while converting and absorbing the mana in his surroundings to keep his mana pool full. Since he tried to shove in as much mana as he could and kept condensing it tighter and tighter when he finallypleted his breakthrough, the mana in his pool was almost like tar. However, the mana, despite being thick and viscous, moved through Lucy''s body with incredible speed and exploded outwards, enveloping their room inplete darkness.


    Despite all four of them having great vision in dark or poorly lit circumstances, Lucy was the only one who could see after he used his mana to cover everything in darkness. Even when Toz and Mindle conjured mes to see how they affected the darkness, the light from those mes didn''t even spread throughout the room. The fire itself could be seen, but no matter how close it was held to other things in the room, nothing except the me was visible.


    After a few minutes, Lucy retracted his shadows, revealing the room and hispanions again.


    "Impressive," was all Toz had to say since, despite being speechless, he wanted topliment Lucy for his breakthrough. Lucy was the only one not picking up their jaw from the floor as Toz wasn''t the only one speechless. Mindle, who had recently broken through and was proud of her power, felt like her ce in the spotlight was short-lived and got back to training. Although Nil didn''t need any further motivation to keep training, what Lucy had just disyed made him even more eager to reach the fourth level as well.


    The group had known that crossing into the next division would bring a great leap to one''s power, but what Lucy had disyed still shocked them. While still being in the third level, the group had confidently fought and won against several fourth level beasts, but as Lucy was now, he would hardly need to fight before he defeated his opponent.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    That was how powerfully he managed to condense his mana thanks to the increased talent and size of his mana pool he got from the bond through Toz''s inclination.


    Things didn''t end simply with Lucy breaking through since his new level of power reverberated through the bond, reaching the other three as well. Although it wasn''t anything concrete, Lucy''s new level made him more sensitive to the flow and functions of mana, making it easier to control. That improved sense was partially shared with the other three, making it easier for them to properly convert, absorb, and control their mana.


    It was especially so for Toz, who also possessed the darkness element. It wasn''t as if Lucy''s understanding of the element was passed to Toz, but his sensitivity to the element was.


    Although Toz''s control of the darkness mana had increased, he still prioritized breaking through with the metal element first. Partially for his own sake and because he was already getting close to reaching the fourth level with it, but Lucy''s breakthrough had made him realize that he could help Nil reach the fourth level quicker if Toz got there first, thanks to their bond.


    However, it would still take some time before Toz, Nil, and Mindle caught up to Lucy, so until then, they continued training and looking for things to do while passing the time. And simultaneously finding ways to earn money. Toz almost wondered if he should start a food stall and sell food just because he could earn money doing something he enjoyed doing. But he discarded the idea since he would have to invest a lot of money before turning a profit, and that was if he was sessful.


    Instead, the group, with the help of Lucy, carefully started investigating the forest. Just the edge, though. But since almost no one dared to go into the forest anymore. Fifth level mages more proficient at stealth snuck in sometimes, but with practically every beast going crazy, there was a significant risk of dying even if one was good at avoiding detection.


    However, without the incessant light of the Lightning Clouds obliterating every shadow, the dark forest turned into a ce where Lucy and his darkness magic thrived. With Lucy keeping them hidden the group could harvest the resources that recently had spiked in price since few dared to enter the forest and harvest them.


    Although the group could only harvest the simplest and mostmon materials right at the edge of the forest without putting themselves in unnecessary danger, they still earned a lot of money. More than they had when they were practically idling and passing their time by training.


    Unlike the Stone Balls and their Stone Blood, it didn''t look like the nts and beasts they killed to harvest materials from, would go extinct anytime soon. And so the group had secured a pretty steady source of ie that pushed them ever so much closer to the goal of eight thousand gold that would buy them their first grimoire.


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 Chapter 97 Tozs Turn (1)

    ?The group could continue harvesting resources from the outer edges of the forest since that was still officially a fourth level danger zone, while the depths of the forest were a fifth level danger zone. But there was no telling when the entire forest would be deemed a fifth level danger zone. So without holding anything back, the group continued training and harvesting resources like crazy.


    There were a few asions when they went to the guild where people wondered how a third level mage could consistently bring back materials from the forest where not even fifth level mages could guarantee their safety. But as long as the materials they brought back were from the fourth level danger zone of the forest, it would be fine as long as the danger zone isn''t upgraded. And it looked like that would happen sooner rather thanter.


    The city had also asked for reinforcements from other cities. Not to enter the forest but to stand by within the city in case there is a stampede. Although stampedes happened very rarely, with how frenzied the beasts in the Tumbling Thunder Forest were acting, it wouldn''t be too strange if they welled out of the forest in the direction of Sleepless Brights.


    Since Sleepless Brights was a city located pretty centrally on Roaring Skies, with a lot of other cities and towns around it, and because the highest level danger zone close to the city was a fifth level one, there was practically not a single sixth level mage or higher in the city. The few who were in the city couldn''t easily leave their positions just for some trouble in the forest that the fifth level mages had trouble dealing with.


    If the sixth level mages within the city were to leave Sleepless Brights and try to deal with the Tumbling Thunder Forest, the city wouldn''t have any real defense if a stampede were to really ur. It wasn''t even a guarantee they could deal with the stampede even if every mage stayed in the city since the forest, despite being a fifth level danger zone, would still have a few sixth level beasts.


    However, despite how much of a ruckus there was in the forest, there weren''t any signs of beasts moving from their territory and inciting a stampede. So while the request for investigation continued getting its reward increased, Toz and the cats kept doing what they had been doing for a few days after Lucy broke through. And eventually, it was Toz''s turn.


    His breakthrough didn''te as a surprise since he had reached the third level at the same time as Lucy, and while Lucy could spend most of the day training, Toz didn''t have the same opportunities, Which led to Toz wanting to find a way to walk and train his mana at the same time even more. However, that would have to wait since he still couldn''t figure out a way to do it without losing control of his limbs and falling to the ground every time he tried.


    Even just moving his arms while he was training made it difficult to keep his concentration up, and either the mana he tried to convert and absorb would get dispelled, or his hand would fly into his face or not move at all.


    Though, Toz didn''t have the leeway to make such attempts when he was making his breakthrough since he needed to be fully focused on controlling his mana. The metal attribute mana, to be specific.


    Since he had ess to several different elements, his mana would also have different elements, and when he trained his mana, he would use one element at a time to increase his body''s affinity to and his control over that type first. In order to break through to the fourth level, Toz prioritized his metal attribute mana, and in order toplete his breakthrough, he would have to go through the same process as Lucy did with his darkness mana.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Controlling and condensing the mana into a form more akin to liquid than its current misty shape.


    Toz gathered the silvery grey fog in the center of his mana pool, pushing the other elements to the side. Although they would have their use, that would be after he condensed the metal mana fog into tiny droplets that formed a thick lump of shiny fluid metal mana.


    Toz condensed all the metal mana in his mana pool, and technically he could finish things there, but that would make it more difficult for him to reach the next level, even more so the next division.


    So when the metal mana in his pool was finished condensing, he converted the other elements in his mana pool into metal and condensed that as well, forming a slightlyrge lump of metallic goo in the center of his mana pool. But Toz didn''t stop there as he did like Lucy had done and absorbed the mana in their surroundings frantically to further increase the size of his shiny lump of mana.


    He didn''t stop even when the size of the lump rivaled his entire pool. Instead, he kept pushing more and more mana into his pool, simultaneously thickening the liquid metal and forcefully expanding his pool, and increasing his mana storage capabilities.


    He only stopped when it felt like his mana pool would shatter if he stretched it any further. And with a sigh, he let go of the control he had over his mana. The lumpy metal in his mana pool that had been restless and trembling eagerly calmed down, bing smooth like a marble.


    Just like Lucy, Toz also used his mana as soon as he finished his breakthrough. But unlike Lucy, who covered the room in shadows, Toz conjured a dozen couple of small trinkets that he changed and modified the shape of continuously before merging them to create arge de.


    Toz pushed the newly conjured de against his old sword, and despite how much mana he had poured into the sword over the months since he first made it, it didn''t take long for the de to begin cutting through the sword''s edge.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 98 Tozs Turn (2)

    ?When the newly conjured de cut through more than a finger''s thickness in the sword, Toz stopped pushing it and separated the two weapons.


    Although the old sword was a lot weaker than the newly created de, that wasn''t a reason to totally scrap it. Instead, Toz dissipated the de''s figure and poured the mana from the silvery de into the matte grey sword, repairing the dent in the de and enhancing the quality of the mana in it, giving the sword a slight radiance, despite the darkness mana coating it.


    The reason that the de had been so overwhelmingly superior to the sword was the difference in the quality of mana that made them. While the sword had a greater volume of mana packed into it, the sword still couldn''tpare to the de since the de was made of mana, which was a lot purer, denser, and more efficient in its use.


    If the mana that made up the de was transformed back into a misty state, it would be about as much as what was put in the sword but a lot better at what it did. Like using five people each capable of doing what another five people were, and thenparing them to five people only capable of doing what a single other person can do.


    Although part of the drastic change and increase in power of Toz''s mana was because he had managed topress his mana as much as he had, and he only did that thanks to his outstanding control and understanding of mana.


    But even if Toz and Lucy hadn''t been extraordinary, the difference between divisions has always been known to be greater than the difference in levels.


    After Toz finished shallowly trying out the power his breakthrough brought him, the cats pushed him down on the bed and made sure to congratte him properly by having him pet them.


    Although Lucy didn''t get as much attention when he broke through, he didn''t mind. Instead, he made sure to get a lot of attention from Toz when the other two weren''t looking, which with his new level, was considerably easy.


    The group didn''t celebrate for too long. Now that Toz had reached the fourth level, he could most likely measure up against fifth level dangers and get a fifth level Explorers'' Badge, which would allow them to either get materials from deeper inside Tumbling Thunder Forest or evenplete the investigation request.


    Although Nil and Mindle were still at the third level, with both Toz and Lucy being fourth level, especially Toz, it wouldn''t be a problem for them to enter deeper into the forest. That was how much trust the cats had in Toz.


    Since there was no need to dy needlessly, the group headed to the guild so Toz could get the fifth level badge.


    It was just before noon, so the guild was quiet, and Toz could immediately ask Rick for a promotion examination to get a fifth level badge.


    Rick led him to the same room asst time with his typical gentle smile.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The results of the fight weren''t that unexpected. Toz had gotten the fourth level badge when he was a lower division. Now that he was at the fourth level, it wasn''t a problem for him to pass the promotion exam with ease. The powerup crossing divisions had given him was more than enough to pressure Rick as long as he limited himself to a strength of the fifth level.


    However, the spar with Rick was a great opportunity for Toz to acquaint himself with the power his breakthrough had given him. Although only his metal attribute had reached the fourth level, and he technically wasn''tplete, the magic he used with metal when reinforcing his body or attacking was enough to practically overwhelm Rick.


    It was obvious that Toz''s breakthrough had been performed with extreme sess since even Rick, with his wealth of experience, was surprised at the jump Toz had made in power.


    After Toz had proved himself enough to get the fifth level Explorers'' Badge, Rick gradually stopped holding back, letting Toz experience his limits.


    The two sparred for some time, exchanging blows. Toz was the only one who gained from it since he got more experience wielding his sword and using magic while fighting at the same time. It was helpful for Toz''s future growth since, despite having great raw power, he wasn''t that efficient in using it.


    Thanks to his bond with three cats and his beast type inclination that had showcased growth several times, Toz had astounding physical capabilities and great amounts of mana. In addition, he had always been pretty talented at using mana, which was evident based on how much he had managed topress his liquid mana when breaking through to the fourth level.


    But despite how great he was at controlling mana and how strong and fast he was, he didn''t have enough experience with fighting to use his magic as efficiently as possible. And aside from using his fast reflexes and agility to overpower his opponent with his sword, Toz wasn''t especially skilled at sword-fighting.


    If Toz could get better at using magic in battles and learn a more proper way of swinging his sword that wasn''t just shing at his opponent with the sharp edge, he would experience drastic growth without needing to reach the next level.


    That was one of the reasons that Toz so greatly wanted a grimoire. Although it wouldn''t instantly make him great at fighting, it could give him a clue on how to use magic more efficiently and in a way more suited for fighting directly.


    Toz wasn''t the only one who wanted to get better at fighting. While Lucy had started pioneering a path of stealth and defeating someone by defeating their mind, and Nil was more interested in traps and preparation than direct battle, Mindle didn''t feel like she was doing so great. So far, she had basically been charging and throwing fireballs while riding on Toz.


    It was a pretty decent way to fight together. Mindle handles attacking with magic while Toz fights with his sword, but Mindle wouldn''t be satisfied with that. She wanted more.

 Chapter 99 Entering Tumbling Thunder Forest

    ?Both Toz and Mindle looked forward to getting the fire attribute grimoire they had set their sights on so they could gain a better understanding of mana and magic and figure out more diverse and creative ways to deal with enemies using magic.


    But in order to afford the grimoire, the group still needed a lot more money, which was why they were headed into the forest once again. And this time, with Toz''s fifth level badge, they could bring back materials from deeper inside the forest that, due to the current market, were worth a lot more gold than most other things Toz and the cats could bring from other danger zones.


    The previous times the group had been in the forest, they had only barely gone past the tree line where the most basic herbs, nts, mushrooms, low level beasts, and other materials could be harvested. Since Lucy was the only one who could protect them against the dangers inside the forest, they didn''t want to risk it.


    But this time, the group had both Toz and Lucy at the fourth level, so they didn''t stop just a few trees past the edge of the forest.


    Although the overwhelming brightness from the Lightning Clouds was already dampened before the forest began, it was still bright as long as the sun was up. That didn''t extend to within the forest.


    The tall, wide, dark, bushy trees with their crowns that looked like thunderclouds blocked off almost all light. And as the group continued deeper inside, it got progressively darker.


    Though that only made them more confident in their endeavor. All four of them had great sight even in darkness, and two of them possessed the darkness attribute. Lucy, with his fourth level of power, was practically brimming with confidence since the group was entering a singlerge shadow he could easily use to their advantage.


    After having been suppressed, when beneath the Lightning Clouds, Lucy finally got the chance to really let loose and experience the limits of what he could do now that he had reached the next division.


    Toz was also looking forward to a wilder type of battle than the calcted spars he had fought against Rick back at the guild.


    Not only that, he dearly wished to find the source of the feeling that was drawing him to the forest. Especially when the feeling got stronger the deeper into the forest they went. But even as they entered the fifth level danger zone that was marked by a ring of treesrger than normal, there were no signs of the source of that feeling.


    Instead of cluelessly searching for a feeling when it might put them in danger, the group focused on gathering the materials they were there for.


    A set of glowing leaves growing on top of blue stones here and there that could be used for various types of potions.


    A kind of low level snail whose shell was most often used as an ingredient in whetstones for weapons with the lightning attribute.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Several simr things, that after the chaos spread in the forest, were hard to get in Sleepless Brights.


    Many of those things were now in Toz''s pockets, ready to be sold to the guild in exchange for a grand sum of money. Although most likely not enough to afford a grimoire at once, a few more trips would be all it would take for the group to buy one.


    And with how easily Toz and Lucy had avoided and hidden the group from any medium level beasts they encountered, it wouldn''t be much of a challenge for them to return a few times and gather even more materials.


    Toz and the cats returned to the city where they could empty their full pockets and spatial rings and receive their marypensation. Like the group had expected, the prices of the materials they had brought back had soared during recent times, and it would only take at most ten more trips to the forest before they had eight thousand gold, and that was if they were unlucky and encountered a fight or something that forced them to retreat.


    The past weeks had allowed most nts and animals to thrive and procreate, so there wasn''t really a risk of the group not finding anything of value. Although if the group found out what was creating the disturbance and whipping the beasts into a frenzy in the forest, they would only need one more trip.


    When the group pulled out their haul and handed it over to Rick at the front desk, everyone except Rick was understandably surprised. Although the other employees and explorers could somehow get used to the group repeatedly returning with materials from the edge of the forest, the things that Toz had brought back this time were from a lot deeper into the forest.


    Other explorers with great stealth andbat abilities had also gone to the outer reaches of the forest and returned with valuable materials. But as soon as they got greedy at the repeated windfalls and delved deeper into the forest, they tended to not return.


    Although there were a few explorers who were confident they could pull off what Toz had just done, they didn''t feel a need to put themselves in unnecessary danger. But now that Toz had done something they didn''t dare to do, a spark of inferiority was lit in some, and some feltpetitive.


    The ones who felt inferior were the ones overconfident in their strength but felt like they still lost against someone at a lower level of power than them.


    Thepetitive ones were people who sought thrills in their life as explorers.


    Then there were those who had their own lives and didn''t particrly care about Toz.


    But aside from all those, there were two rough-looking people hidden away in a corner of the tavern that, upon seeing Toz and his haul, exchanged a nce before leaving the building. In the same direction that Toz needed to go to reach the inn where his room was.

 Chapter 100 Ruffians (1)

    ?Toz, with his perception, noticed how two people left the guild with less than happy faces but didn''t think anything of it. Jealousy was a natural feeling, and people exiting a building was even more natural.


    After getting his money from Rick, he also left the building, and the cats, who usually were in the familiar space when he was in the city, left it and climbed on top of him, taking their usual ces on his head and both his shoulders.


    They had just made significant progress in their quest to umte enough gold to purchase a grimoire, so it was naturally time to celebrate, and the cats didn''t want to wait until they reached the room. During their time in the city, they had also noticed other people with very strange spirit beasts so they weren''t that worried about Mindle catching the attention of someone with nefarious purposes due to her appearance.


    The group decided to find a ce to buy some delicious food they could bring back to the inn and feast on. Thankfully, their inn was located close to several reputed restaurants and food stalls that had open evente into the night on most evenings.


    However, when the group entered an alley they had discovered acted as a shortcut to the street their inn was located on, they were interrupted. Toz recognized the two men that stepped out from the door in the wall as the two explorers who had left the guild earlier. They stood on either side of Toz and, with the walls, effectively surrounded him.


    In almost any other city, the features of the two men would have been difficult to make out in the dark alley. But in Sleepless Brights, there was no such thing as a dark alley, and Toz could clearly see the two thug-looking men ring at him.


    He turned to the side in order to not get attacked from behind and could have his back protected by the wall while keeping half an eye on both of them at the same time.


    The one to the left of Toz was a skinny guy with short brown hair and a nasty re as he eyed Toz while pulling out a knife.


    The person to the right was practically the opposite of the other guy. He was tall, bulky, bordering on fat, and had long unkempt hair, as well as a scruffy beard that hid arge part of his face.


    The hairy guy with a potato nose was the first to speak.


    "You''re using a treasure, right? Hand it over."


    The duo obviously assumed that Toz only managed to enter the forest due to external items. It wasn''t an unreasonable assumption, but the way the guy said it sounded a little forced as if he was repeating a line or being told what to say. It was a little suspicious. Even if the guy just talked like that normally, Toz wanted to test him out.


    "What if I don''t want to?" Toz asked back with a smile.


    "Then we''ll kill you and your beasts, then take it from your corpse."


    The words alone didn''t confirm Toz''s suspicions, but the raging killing intent emitted from both of them did. If the two ruffians only wanted the treasure, they would at most threaten to kill him before trying to beat him up and force him to hand it over or take it forcefully.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    If the two thugs wanted to kill him that quickly, it was obviously their main goal with their ambush.


    Toz couldn''t tell if the demand was a diversion or insurance in case they couldn''t kill him, but it didn''t matter since after the words were uttered, the two charged at him.


    The dagger-wielding thug had covered his dagger in a whirlwind and dashed at Toz with his arm poised to stab Toz in the gut.


    The bearded thug had coated his fists and forearms in a flimsyyer of aura that was iparable to what Rick had disyed. Based on how he moved, Toz could tell that he was aiming for his head.


    One going for his torso and the other gunning for his head. It could be tricky to deal with without getting hurt or killing the thugs.


    He could use his sword, but in the alley, it would be difficult to sh without striking a wall and damaging private property. Besides, Toz didn''t really need to use his sword to deal with the two thugs.


    The guy with a dagger was only at the fourth level. And while the fist fighter was at the fifth level, considering his aura, he wasn''t particrly proficient or outstanding at training his energy and wouldn''t pose that much of a threat if he wasing at Toz alone.


    But the synchronized attack forced Toz to make his first move a defensive one as he jumped up and pushed off the wall behind him and then used the other wall as adder as he avoided the attack by escaping their reach.


    Toz had enough speed and momentum to reach the rooftop of the three-story building he was running on. After getting that high up, he turned around to look down, meeting the confused gazes of the two thugs. And then gravity pulled him down.


    He used the extra weight his coat filled with all kinds of stuff to descend on the bearded man foot first. Toznded foot first on the guy''s right shoulder, intentionally avoiding the head.


    And with a satisfying crunch, one person was incapacitated, but to make sure he didn''t run away, Toz smashed a kneecap as he walked over the man who had fallen to his back after Toz''snding.


    The dagger-wielding thug was too stunned to react properly, and by the time he was about to turn around and flee, Toz was already in his face, sending a heavy fist into the skinny man''s gut, punching the air and consciousness out of him.


    Toz looked at the man with froth at the mouth before he turned his gaze toward the thug, who was desperately struggling to hold his screams back as he used his left arm and leg to try and crawl out of the alley. He wanted to scream for help, but that would only direct Toz''s attention toward him again.


    Toz stopped the crawling waste by turning the body around. He put his hand right next to the dislocated and crushed shoulder and then, with a smile, said...

 Chapter 101 Ruffians (2)

    ?"Who sent you?"


    The thug was struggling to deal with his pain and, with his muddled mind, didn''t really hear Toz ask the question. He was also wondering if he should scream and try to get help or if that would only lead to his death.


    After Toz pushed down on the area around the thug''s shoulder to push him out of his daze and asked the question again, the bearded man''s gaze cleared, and he looked at Toz crouching next to him.


    "N-no one," he whimpered.


    Toz naturally didn''t believe him and pressed down harder on his injured shoulder, eliciting a groan muffled by the cloth Toz put over the injured thug''s mouth.


    The thug looked pleadingly at Toz to make him stop, and when it finally seemed like the thug would pass out from the pain, Toz lifted his hand.


    "Ready to talk now?"


    "Do you have a grudge against muggers?!"


    The thug couldn''t hold back his outrage at the pain he was experiencing due to Toz, and it cost him dearly as Toz pushed down again.


    "Fine! Fine! I''ll talk!"


    Eventually, the thug caved in. It wasn''t unexpected, and Toz''s expression didn''t change.


    "I''m waiting."


    "Ugh. Okay.


    "A few days ago. Ugh, me and my friend, someone beat the daylights out of, over there. Mhm, we were approached by some weirdos in hoods and capes."


    The pain made it difficult to talk, and the thug had to constantly take deep breaths as he answered Toz''s question.


    "And..? What did they want?"


    "This was after you starteding back from that forest with all those materials, by the way.


    "Their voice was distorted but from what we could tell, they told us to find an opportunity as soon as possible to kill you."


    Toz wasn''t surprised at that.


    "And you two usually listen to people in weird attire like it''s your hobby, I presume?"


    "?? No, not at all. They gave us five thousand gold and said there would be more if we killed you."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Okay, and where is that money now?"


    "We split it, I don''t know where he hid his share, but I have mine on me."


    It seemed like it had be easier for the thug to talk, and he easily answered every one of Toz''s questions. After finding out that the two thugs had gotten five thousand gold, Toz eagerly rummaged through their pockets and found a bunch of spatial rings whose contents he emptied out on the ground.


    After looking through the contents of everything on the ground, aside from discovering the weird hobbies of the skinny thug, he soon found two bags that looked like the only thing that could contain money.


    And the bearded thug''s poorly hidden look of reluctance as Toz grabbed them was further evidence that they were indeed what the thugs thought was the money. When Toz grabbed the bags, there were no clinking sounds that were a necessity for all money pouches, and the contents of the bag felt more like sand than coins of gold.


    And when he opened both bags, that was what he found in them. T.wo piles of sand.


    Toz didn''t know if the thug was an idiot for trying to trick him or an idiot for falling for the hooded weirdos'' trick.


    When Toz pulled out a fist of sand and let it fall through his fingers as he red at the bearded man, the thug didn''t know how to respond, and he simply stared at the bag of sand in shock.


    Based on how the thug reacted, it was thetter. The duo had been fooled into trying to kill Toz with sand disguised as money.


    The thug had probably said everything he knew and would be of value to Toz, so there was no need for him to remain in the alley, and he headed for the inn where he could gather his thoughts.


    As he left, he didn''t bother telling the thug, that was still awake, that the two of them would most likely be in danger from now on. They had failed their task and possessed information on who had hired them.


    Mysterious groups, like the one the hooded individuals seemed to be a part of, most likely wouldn''t hesitate when tying up loose ends. And rough-looking explorers that took banditry and assassination as side gigs wouldn''t exactly be missed by a lot of people.


    Although the duo had been fooled and taken advantage of by the group of people in hoods, they had tried to kill Toz, and while killing them himself, right in the middle of the city could be risky, he didn''t mind if someone else took care of it.


    The cats had let Toz do the questioning, they also let him have a moment of silence as he pondered a bit.


    Finding out someone wanted to kill Toz was pretty rming. But based on what the ruffian had said, it wasn''t personal. It was because of his sess in entering the forest anding back out repeatedly.


    It seemed like there was more to what was going on in Tumbling Thunder Forest than most people thought.


    Maybe the reason so few had made it back alive wasn''t that they were killed by the rampant beasts. They could have been murdered either by the group of hooded people who had hired the thugs or someone else who had been hired.


    But then, why had they used some weak ruffians to try and kill him instead of doing it themselves? Did they really think he used some kind of treasure to evade their detection?


    In any case, Toz and the cats would have to be a lot more careful whenever they moved around. Although, if they stopped going to the forest, it would take a lot longer for them to buy their grimoire.


    So they pretty quickly agreed that they would get as much money and do it as fast as possible before skipping town and leaving whatever trouble the Tumbling Thunder forest entailed behind them.

 Chapter 102 Secret Message

    ?Toz was worried that he was still being watched, and since he didn''t know if more people at the guild were involved, like the two thugs who had attacked him, he decided to proceed as usual and head directly for the forest without stopping by the guild in the morning.


    If people hadn''t tried to kill him in the forest yet, or if they had tried but couldn''t find him, there wasn''t much of a reason to suspect he would be in more danger now than before. Except maybe because those two thugs failed to kill him.


    In any case, if someone desperately wanted to kill him just because he entered the forest, that was almost more of a reason to enter it. Finding out what was going on and putting a stop to those nefarious ns just because the ones who nned it wanted him dead seemed like a good idea to Toz. The group would also get a lot of money since the request reward for investigating Tumbling Thunder Forest continued rising.


    When Toz and the cats entered the forest, they didn''t just look for valuable materials since they kept their eyes open for traces of any human meddling. But with how intensely the beasts fought and how they kept disrupting the ground and environment in the forest, it wasn''t easy to tell if there had been someone else in the forest aside from the explorers looking for money.


    Although the group managed to get a lot of materials, they didn''t find a single sign of anyone actively interfering with the beasts and the forest. But they hadn''t gone that deep into the forest either, just enough to harvest enough materials that were worth more than what the group could find at the edge of the forest.


    But if they wanted to get more money, and at a faster pace, the four of them would have to go deeper to harvest materials with even greater value.


    But since they had already collected enough to fill most of Toz''s pockets, they returned for the day.


    Back at the guild, Toz handed over the spatial rings, and everything as per usual and, in return got one step closer to his goal of eight thousand gold.


    When Rick saw the piece of paper tucked into one of the rings as he sorted through everything, he didn''t even react as it disappeared without anyone else seeing it.


    Like Toz had expected. Rick was probably not just another guild employee and would respond ordingly if Toz slipped in a paperclip that was very likely to be a secret message.


    And although the message was secret, it didn''t contain any suspicious conspiracies or secrets, merely what Toz had experienced and the conclusions he had drawn from what he found out from the bearded thug. Although the discovery that someone was intentionally sowing trouble for Sleepless Brights was pretty disturbing, it couldn''t be ascertained if that was true purely based on the interrogation of a pretty foolish thug.


    The next day, in the pouch of money Toz got back from Rick, a piece of paper was added into the mix of gold coins. Since Toz only opened the bag after he got back into the room at the inn and, with the help of Lucy, made sure there was no one listening in or spying on them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The contents of the message were more of a formality thanking Toz for his message. That the guild would secretly investigate the situation, but that they might spook eventual perpetrators if they acted too openly, so the guild wouldn''t be able to take a lot of action until they had something concrete to work with.


    But, in exchange for letting Toz act alone in a potentially dangerous situation, there would be a significant reward if Toz discovered something that could give the guild something to bite onto.


    The message ended with a wish for Toz to stay safe and was signed with a smiley face from Rick.


    The next time the group entered the forest they didn''t just pass by the marking for the fight level danger zone where they could harvest the more valuable materials. They continued even deeper inside. Toz and the cats had resolved themselves to figure things out as quickly as possible so they could get their grimoire and then get the hell out of Sleepless Brights.


    If even Rick was hesitating to make a move despite his apparent strength, there had to be a pretty good reason for it.


    Toz even put forth the suggestion of leaving the city directly and looking for grimoires somewhere else. But the group''s curiosity had been piqued, and they had already invested a lot of effort in training and working to gather as enough money as it was.


    Giving up just because it could be more dangerous than they had initially expected would leave a sour taste in all of their mouths.


    Within the fifth level danger zone there wasn''t even a hint of daylight piercing through the treetops, and any light in the forest was either from the magic of some wild or spirit beast, or from fluorescent nts and beasts of various kinds.


    Despite being eye-catching those nts and beasts were seldom things to be provoked. Aside from the few exceptions that the group could easily harvest materials from, they steered clear of most light sources in the forest.


    Since they were mostly aiming to go deeper into the forest and investigate, they didn''t spend as much effort on reaping materials from all over the ce and they quickly got to a ce that seemed mostly untouched. It wasn''t just that ce either, after a certain point arger part of the forest was practically untouched from all the fighting that the beasts in the forest had been doing.


    But it was for a pretty understandable reason since the air in that area got a lot heavier and pressed down on Toz''s lungs. But he didn''t back down or turn back. While the air pressed down on them and the atmosphere was heavy, and it seemed like it was because danger lurked deep inside, the group didn''t feel anything dangerous directly targeting them.

 Chapter 103 Ritual (1)

    ?Toz and the cats continued carefully into the untouched ce in the forest. Despite the heavy air giving off a dark atmosphere, the area they were in seemed to have more ambient light than what the forest should have in its depths. Although it wasn''t even bright enough topare it to how bright it was during the day, it was almost like a starlit night, barely enough light to see contours and silhouettes.


    But unlike the previous parts of the forest, there were no beasts or nts giving off light. Aside from the trees and regr vegetation on the ground, there was barely even traces of anything else. It was like the group had entered a different forest.


    Eventually, after walking for some time in the deathly silent area, the group sensed intense mana fluctuations from what could very likely be the absolute center of the strange part of the forest they were in.


    Along with those mana fluctuations, the constant feeling drawing Toz to the forest spiked in intensity. If it weren''t for that feeling having grown steadily stronger the deeper the group continued into the forest, the strength of it would have almost made him stumble.


    The feeling Toz felt made him more anxious to find out what was happening in the forest since, with the spike in intensity, there was a hint of fear added to the feeling, aside from the usual attraction.


    Soon enough, the group arrived at the edge of arge clearing.


    The clearing was easily more than forty meters across, and unlike the rest of the forest, it was properly lit up. But the light didn''te from torches or ordinary sources of light. It came from all the beasts and nts gathered in the center of the clearing.


    All the beasts were trapped in cages and stacked on top of each other, creating a ring around the clearing. The cages of beasts were surrounded byrge piles of various lightning attribute nts and materials.


    Beneath the beasts and materials, the group could faintly see the ground glowing irregrly. If Toz wasn''tpletely wrong, it looked like a magic circle that spread throughout the de, almost the entire way to the forest.


    Based on the way the beasts and nts were arranged on the magic circle, it looked as if the beasts were sacrifices for a magic ritual.


    Though Toz didn''t know enough to be sure if he was right or not, but from what he knew about advanced magic, appropriate materials, apanied by some way to channel their energy and at least one spell, would make a ritual.


    The only thingcking for the ritual in the clearing was one or several mages chanting to initiate and control the ritual. But if Toz''s guess that the robed weirdos who had hired the thugs were responsible for the frenzied beasts in the forest, the ritual most likely didn''tck any mages. It had just not begun yet.


    However, that didn''tst long. Shortly after Toz and the group arrived at the clearing, they heard the rustling of leaves and cracking branches that signified someone was walking through the forest. And based on the sounds, it wasn''t just one person either.


    At another ce in the clearing, three figures dressed in dark red, like the sky during a blood moon, robes stepped out of the forest.


    "That Rage Powder you found works like a charm on those stupid beasts. Where did you get it from?"


    "Oh, you know. I have my sources."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Stop being ridiculous. It was your sister, right?"


    "..."


    Despite the distance between them, Toz easily heard the conversation between them. But it was hard to figure out who said what since the voices were all raspy and sounded distorted as if they had a serious throat illness. The hoods covering their faces also prevented Toz from seeing their faces and whose mouth moved when one of them talked.


    It was the shitty bastards who had hired the thugs to try and kill Toz, that was for sure at least.


    Toz didn''t expect to find them directly after deciding to enter the depths of the forest. But now, he was wondering what to do, if he should quickly retreat and inform Rick or try and deal with the situation on his own. It probably wouldn''t be too hard to interfere with a magic ritual since it should have stringent requirements during its execution. But if he fucked up, and the robed figures he couldn''t tell the strength of noticed him, he could be in deep shit.


    However, it seemed like the choice was made for him. If the robed figures had juste to inspect the beasts, he wouldn''t have the chance to interfere with the ritual, and he could only try and back away unnoticeably. But the robed figures'' words forced him to stick around.


    "Since those two apes failed to kill that sneaky rat, we have to move up the schedule a bit."


    "Doesn''t matter. We have enough materials to summon the Demonic Spark Bear anyways, even if it''s not a high level one."


    "Though it sucks that we couldn''t find that rat and kill him."


    "Let''s just get it over with."


    As the three robed figures finished their short discussion, they took their ces an equal distance between themselves around the magic circle, separating the clearing into three thirds.


    After the figures got into their position they started chanting. At first, nothing happened and they just repeated the same unintelligible words and sounds for a few minutes.


    Despite not understanding what they said or anything really happening, Toz and the group found the words increasingly ominous.


    Even if nothing else had happened yet, the heavy atmosphere that had stretched out in the forest surrounding the clearing seemed to have gathered together in the clearing alone, pressing down on the grass, making it lie t against the ground.


    That was only the first part since after the heavy air gathered together, it started swirling around in the clearing, bing the tip of a tornado, that as the chanting continued started stretching toward the sky.

 Chapter 104 Ritual (2)

    ?After the tornado started taking shape and arge vortex was formed in the thunderclouds, immense waves of mana started gathering within the magic circle.


    Not only were the waves more powerful than anything Toz had felt before, but it was also unimaginably moreplex than anything he had seen. And a way to use mana Toz had never encountered before.


    The waves of mana seemed to have blown away a damn holding back the three figures'' own mana, if it could even be called that. Although the energy flowing from the figures covered by the robes radiated with a level of power at about the sixth level from what Toz could tell, it didn''t feel like anything, or any attribute of mana Toz had ever felt before. It didn''t seem like any kind of martial energy either. It also didn''t seem likely that martial energy would be used for this very magical magic ritual.


    Aside from the power of the energy Toz could feel from the figures. He could also feel a deep innate malevolence that waspletely unlike the natural and calm flow of mana he was used to.


    However, Toz couldn''t keep his attention on that since after the robed figures started pouring their energy into the magic circle, the beasts in the cage started rampaging. It almost looked like they would tear the gates of the heavily reinforced cages, of their hinges.


    But shortly after the energy from the robed figures entered the magic circle and the beasts turned violent, another change happened as the circle started glowing. And after the circle''s light spread to the beasts and materials surrounding them, the roaring beasts started squealing in agony.


    The feeling Toz got from his inclination changed, and Toz himself was also feeling pain. Although not nearly as much as the beasts in the circle. He could stay still and quiet, so the figures didn''t notice him. But he still wanted to desperately stop the ritual since it was obvious that the source of the feeling was one of the beasts being sacrificed to the ritual.


    And if it was a beast capable of connecting to his inclination even from a great distance, it could be nothing else except a cat type spirit beast.


    But Toz knew that if he acted recklessly and did something without thinking first he would only put himself, Nil, Lucy, and Mindle at risk. If he tried attacking one of the figures to try and interrupt the ritual, all that would happen was that he would give them a break and expose himself.


    Based on the fluctuations emitted by the robed figures, Toz wasn''t even sure he could handle one of them in apletely fair fight, let alone three, even if he had the tactical advantage with a surprise attack and in the dark forest.


    While the group circled the clearing, trying to find a way to stop the ritual and save the cat type spirit beast that Toz could sense in the magic circle, the ritual continued.


    After the light of the magic circle took over the materials surrounding the beasts, those nts and various things and materials ced on the magic circle, all with the lightning attribute, disintegrated into fine dust.


    The dust mimicked the tornado as it started swirling around the beasts triggering the beast''s lightning attribute mana and pulling it out of them.


    The power of lightning from the mana and from the nts fused on their way up into the air, where the concentrated power of lightning entered the tornado. The lightning flowed through the tornado, climbing higher up into the vortex in the sky.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz got a bad feeling as the lightning disappeared into the rippling mass of dark thunderclouds.


    The feeling wasn''t unfounded since only a few secondster, the center of the vortex opened like an eye, showing off the brilliance of the Lightning Clouds.


    The spectacle didn''t end with the radiant lightning lighting up the forest as one of the lightning bolts that were usually swimming through the sky above Sleepless Bright and its surroundings drilled through the center of the tornado. A sh of light covered the forest, chasing away all shadows.


    Striking the middle of the magic circle with an incredible st and shockwave, the lightning bolt almost uprooted the trees around the clearing.


    But despite the st, the beasts in the circle and the three robed figures around it were untouched as all the energy in the lightning bolt was swallowed up by the ritual''s magic and disappeared into the circle.


    In the air, above the spot where the lightning bolt struck, the air distorted and twisted in on itself.


    Toz still hadn''t found any traces of the cat. And more lightning was sucked out of the beasts and nts, dragging down yet another lightning bolt from the heavens. Once again, lighting up the forest and sting the magic circle with even more energy.


    As the lightning bolts continued being pulled down into the magic circle, the air grew more and more twisted.


    The ritual didn''t seem like it would be going on for much longer as the distorted spot in the air where the lightning bolts had repeatedly struck finally twisted enough to tear apart the air, opening up a spatial vortex.


    The feeling Toz got from his inclination, after peaking, started growing weaker. Just looking at all the beasts in the cages, it was obvious they were squeezed dry of all their energy. With the beasts no longer rampaging and the light show calming down, it was easier for the group to identify the individual beasts, but they still couldn''t find the cat they were looking for.


    Since the group couldn''t find the cat before the ritual ended, their only chance at saving the cat before it was toote, would be to interrupt the ritual.


    Thankfully, they had started making preparations, in case they would be dragged into battle, and the area around the circle was covered in Toz''s, Nil''s, and Lucy''s magic. Although Lucy had trouble nketing the area they passed through in shadows with the lightning bolts raining down, they had still managed to set up traps and prepare devices that could hopefully help them deal with the robed figures.

 Chapter 105 Ritual (3)

    ?After Toz and the cats decided they would interfere and try to stop the ritual from finishing, the only thing left to do was choose how.


    Toz and Mindle didn''t think long before they pulled out their trademark charged fireball.


    They didn''t have a lot of time until the spatial vortex finished stabilizing and formed a spatial tunnel to who knows where. And, from what the robed figures had said, teleporting over a Demonic Spark Bear. Just based on its name, it was probably a beast, but while Toz had heard of beasts with the ''Spark'' prefix before, he had never heard of a beast with ''Demon'' in its name.


    He could almost guess where it might being from though, but now was definitely not the time to guess where the Demonic Spark Bear woulde from.


    Even if the two pyromaniacs couldn''t fill the fireball with as much power and mana as they would like, it would still pack quite a punch, especially when they worked together on a single one.


    Hopefully, taking out only one of the robed figures would be enough to destabilize the ritual and stop the spatial tunnel from forming.


    Although the robed figures were busy with the ritual and they had Lucy to help cover them, Toz and Mindle were still extremely careful so as to not let their target notice what they were doing.


    They couldn''t afford to dy too long since the robed figures might notice the umting mana and because the ritual couldn''t be allowed to be dragged on for much longer.


    Although the fireball wasn''t as powerful as Toz and Mindle wanted it to be, they still sent it flying into the back of one of the robed figures that they had ended up behind when circling the clearing.


    The result was slightly less than satisfying. Toz didn''t know if the robes were enchanted with extreme defensive measure, if it was the ritual protecting its casters or if the robed figures were just that sturdy, but the fireball had close to no effect on its target. The robed figure stumbled, and they did manage to interrupt their casting, but it didn''t seem to have struck with enough power to injure the figure.


    However, the robed figure''s chanting had been interrupted, and their channeling of that menacing energy into the magic circle had been disrupted, which could be considered a partial sess at least.


    The other two robed figures reacted quickly and increased their output of energy to try and stabilize the ritual and cover for the robed figure that had been targeted. Although the ritual hadn''t beenpletely disrupted by the Toz and Mindle''s attack, they had at least managed to destabilize it, which would make it easier to cancel the ritualpletely with another attack.


    Unfortunately, based on how little effect Toz and Mindle''s attack had on the robed figure, it would be difficult to survive if they actually managed to disrupt the ritual by attacking its casters.


    And to dy the figure who was no longer casting and prevent it from going after the group immediately, giving them time to hide, Lucy was forced to attack the same target as Toz and Mindle instead of another figure that was still performing the ritual.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Lucy first rooted the figure to the ground using its shadow. Hopefully, that would further enrage it and make its mental state even more fragile since that was where Lucy''s main attack would be directed.


    Ever since breaking through, Lucy hadn''t gotten a suitable opportunity to experiment with his control over shadows of the mind. But now that he had a target that didn''t seem to have too many mental defenses but was still perfectly rational, unlike the Rat King, Lucy couldn''t miss out.


    He controlled the shadows in the figure''s mind. Lucy was surprised since it was nothing like he had ever seen before.


    Even if he couldn''t experiment on other people, he could see how much darkness they were filled with. Ordinary people mostly had somewhere between a speck of darkness to an entire corner of their mind filled with darkness. The Scorched Earth Rat King''s mind had been dotted and covered in darkness, amounting to more than a majority of its mind being dark. So far, despite the Rat King''s strength, thanks to the fact its mind was so freckled with darkness, it was easy to manipte and torment.


    Compared to the figures in the clearing, the Rat King was practically a saint.


    While Lucy couldn''t be sure about the other two figures, at least the one he targeted had a mind made of darkness. Not darkness as in ordinary shadows or simply ces where the sun didn''t shine. But frustrations against life. Dark feelings of violence and malice.


    It wasn''t weird for living and breathing creatures to possess such feelings. Which living being has never been frustrated or upset in some way? Even babies cry, after all.


    But so far, that darkness had never been a part of the original structure, merely covering it or corroding it.


    The robed figure was different. Darkness had eitherpletely eroded their mind. Or their mind and existence were naturally inclined to violence and brutality to an unbelievable degree.


    Although Lucy was happy that he had a lot of shadows to y with when looking into the figure''s mind, he was still stumped about how to do it. When torturing the Rat King, he had stretched the shadows containing fear over the rest of the Rat King''s mind. He had done something simr, but not as intense, with Hugh.


    However, the entirety of the figure''s mind was already covered in shadows and darkness. What good would moving it around do?


    Although Lucy was uncertain of what to do, the figure was looking in their direction. First, the fireball, and now someone was poking around in its head. It would obviously not be difficult to sense where they were, even if they couldn''t physically be seen, thanks to Lucy''s and Toz''s darkness magic.


    Before the figure attacked them Lucy attacked it first.

 Chapter 106 Demonic Spark Bear (1)

    ?Since Lucy didn''t know what to do, he just started tearing at the darkness that was the figure''s mind. And the effects were immediate as the figure stumbled and started falling before standing upright, leaning backward, and letting out an anguished howl.


    It seemed like having its mind torn apart and stretched beyond its limits was far fromfortable and prevented the figure from taking any action against Toz and the cats.


    The two other hooded figures also noticed what was going on but focused on finishing the ritual as soon as possible instead of canceling it to help theirpanion. They redoubled their efforts, pouring their energy into the magic circle at an even greater pace, drawing more lightning out of the beasts gathered. Although only from the two thirds of the magic circle they were in charge of.


    The vortex trembled on the verge of breaking down from the unstable flow of energy, but despite the shakiness, it continued swirling, establishing the spatial tunnel.


    Lucy didn''t know if the figure would rampage wildly if hepletely destroyed its mind. If it did and charged forward in the direction it was facing, even if it was currently kneeling on the ground clutching its head in pain, it would be heading straight toward Toz and the other cats.


    Instead ofpletely setting its body free from the constraints of the controlling mind, Lucy stopped his assault on the figure''s mind when it was obvious he wouldn''t be able to move or do anything due to the pain. The remaining shreds of rationality were enough to feel pain but not anything else.


    Since one figure was dealt with, only two were left, but Lucy had used up arge part of his mana to incapacitate even a single one. The remaining two had to be dealt with another way.


    Thankfully, they didn''t seem to be capable of doing anything but focus on the ritual. Since that was the case, Toz could rush forward and lop the head off one of the figures.


    After he started moving and right as he was about to charge into the clearing and through the rushing wind to attack one of the figures, the ritual reached the point of no return.


    The spatial vortex stabilized. The space in the rift no longer swirling. Instead, a solid ethereal mass hanging in the air, shining in sparkling red colors.


    The spatial tunnel was vastly different from any portal Toz had seen so far, as tiny bright red crystals slowly floated around in the depths of the sanguine hole through the universe.


    When the spatial tunnel settled, a tremble ran through the clearing, instantly calming the wind and silencing everything for a short moment. The tremble stretched into the forest, and even the leaves on the trees stopped shaking and stilled.


    That was only the beginning as a heavy pressure followed that tremble, enforcing a menacing atmosphere on the clearing. The feeling of the atmosphere and the emotions it invoked in the ones who experienced it were simr to the energy emitted by the robed figures when they performed the ritual. Just a lot purer.


    Mindle and Nil were especially affected by the atmosphere due to their weak level of power and found it difficult to even move. However, the pressure on them lessened thanks to Toz and Lucy''s help.


    Eventually, as the pressure dissipated and spread out through the forest, the effect on Toz and the cats wasn''t as noticeable. Aside from the tangy smell and sticky feeling when moving, the pressure barely had anysting effects. At least for the human and the beasts in the forest.


    The three robed figures, even the one who could barely move before, inhaled a seemingly euphoric breath. Since the ritual wasplete, the two who had been too busy to help theirpanion or attack Toz and the cats were finally free to move around.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz, who had just shown himself was in a precarious spot and was quick to retreat back into the forest.


    One of the figures wanted to chase after him but was held back by the other.


    "Don''t. We have to hurry through and get out of here. Grab Chid."


    The previously raspy and distorted voice sounded domineering as it resonated through the atmosphere brought by the portal.


    Although the other figure hadn''t spoken, with how much more character the voice had, Toz guessed he would be able to tell them apart based on their voices alone if both of them had said something.


    Toz was careful as he moved through the forest.


    Although the figures had said they were leaving and wouldn''t be going after him, it was better to not remain in the same spot.


    And so he went back to the third of the magic circle where he had sensed the feelinging from his inclination the strongest.


    Although the feeling was weak, it was still there, which meant that the cat was fortunately alive. Unlike most other beasts on the magic circle who had been killed by the forceful extraction of their mana and essence, bing mummified husks.


    After the two robed figures brought their buddy through the portal, leaving only a few ripples in the mystical red mass, Toz went forward and began searching through all the cages looking for a sign of the cat type spirit beast. A tail. A whisker. Anything that could bring him to the cat that needed help.


    After tearing through the cages of beasts, inadvertently helping the other ones still alive, and still not finding anything started making the group desperate. However, just when they went to thest group of cages and discovered real hope of finding the cat, the situation turned for the worse.


    They had heard the robed figures mentioning they would summon a Demonic Spark Bear with the portal, which was why they had been stressing so much to find the cat.


    And right when they were about to find it, the red portal trembled and ripples appeared on its surface.


    Apanied by an overwhelming sense of malice and pressure, arge ckish red paw pierced through the portal.

 Chapter 107 Demonic Spark Bear (2)

    ?The right front paw was joined by the left one, and together they tore open the red portal, forcefully expanding it to allow the bear''s passage.


    The ck ws sparkled deviously in the light that shone through from the not-yet recovered thunderclouds.


    After the portal wasrge enough, the rest of the Demonic Spark Bear started passing through the portal. The ck forelimbs covered in what looked like blood-red cracks.


    Before the head showed itself, a pair of glowing red horns appeared, sparks of lightning shing between them.


    After the horns was therge grisly head that the horns were growing out of.


    Surrounding the bright red eyes was a dense web of the bloody veins that stretched down onto its forelimbs and spread throughout the bear''s entire body.


    After the entirety of the bear''s lumbering body passed through the portal, the spatial tunnel that had already been destabilized from the bear''s travel through it and its subsequent tearing of the exit copsed in on itself. A fleeting gust of wind leaving the clearing was the only trace left of the portal, and even that disappeared quickly into nature.


    The Demonic Spark Bear snarled as it looked around the clearing, revealing a set of sharp, glistening teeth. It took in the sight of the caged beasts, both of the husks that were all that remained of the beasts that couldn''t endure the entire ritual, as well as the weak but still very much alive beasts, either trapped in cages or about the leave the clearing after being freed by Toz.


    The dead beasts didn''t even hold its attention for a second as it focused on the living and breathing ones. Toz and his group were especially attractive as they shone with vibrant life in the bear''s eyes.


    After taking in its surroundings, the Demonic Spark Bear opened its jaws, unleashing a roar to the sky. It was a deep rumbling roar, fitting for the forest they were in.


    The roar was also spectacr. Unlike the roars of lions trying to assert dominance by showing off their might and pride, the bear''s roar was a pure deration of strength and power. None of the lions'' arrogance could be found. It was purely confidence in the bear''s own abilities to squash its prey like a foal.


    The roar had the air trembling in its wake, and the sky stirred. The thunderclouds that had been about to close up after the ritual stopped moving with a ripple, and the Lightning Clouds showed themselves again.


    Although no lightning bolts descended upon the clearing again, the Demonic Spark Bear''s body trembled, and the horns on its forehead shone with even brighter light as the lightning sparks on them intensified.


    Toz had already drawn his sword when the bear looked at him again. The bear''s gaze sent shivers down his spine.


    He was pretty sure he had heard the robed figures say they wouldn''t be able to summon a high level bear. That meant the Demonic Spark Bear in front of him should at most be at the sixth level. Then why was it so frighteningly powerful?


    Toz had been confident that he was strong within the same division and that even sixth level opponents wouldn''t be able to demolish him. But the Demonic Spark Bear had him reconsidering his preconceived notions of what strength really meant.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Nheless, even if Toz wanted to retreat strategically as soon as possible, he had to at least try and distract the bear while the other three tried to find and free the trapped cat.


    Risking all of their lives for a cat they had never seemed before, but even if it wasn''t because Toz unconditionally loved cats, willingly letting a cat die when he could at least try to save it would go against his inclination. Cause if Toz and the three cats he had bonded with didn''t interfere, there was no doubt that the remaining beasts within the clearing would die to the summoned bear.


    Depending on how grave his transgression, going against his inclination could either not give much trouble to Toz at all, or it could even cripple him and his magic.


    And saving the cat might help strengthen his inclination even further, just like when he had bonded with Mindle or killed the Scorched Earth Rat King.


    Toz had only gotten a moment topose himself before the bear charged at him with incredible speed.


    The bear''s paws pped against the ground producing rumbling sounds reminiscent of thunder. And at the front of the bear were the horns charged with red lightning, ready to turn Toz into a crisp.


    Toz tried dodging to the side but was met with arge paw tearing through the air, stirring up a gale at the same time.


    Although Toz braced against the blow with his sword, he was sent flying. He crashed into a tree at the edge of the clearing, almost snapping the imposing tree that was as wide as Toz was tall.


    Toz''s groan ensured the bear''s continued attention on him, distracting it from the cats rummaging through the cages and beasts.


    Seeing Toz get up, the Demonic Spark Bear charged the lightning on its horns even further as it bent down and lowered its head, directing the horns directly at the feeble-looking human.


    It only took a few short moments for the bear to gather its mana at its forehead. But as it did so, the red veins all over its fur sparkled like lightning in pulses going toward the bear''s forehead.


    The bear''s red eyes shone ominously because of the light from the bloody cracks around its eyes.


    Toz knew that even if he had enough time to catch his breath that he lost after the impacts with the bear paw and the tree. Even if he had enough time to recover from the injuries that prevented his body from moving as he wished. Even if he had time to dodge, Toz wouldn''t be able to dodge the beam of lightning the bear was directing toward him.


    Since it would be useless to try and dodge, all he could do was defend against the bolt of red lightning that rivaled the power of the bolts from the Lightning Clouds that had been drawn down by the ritual.


    The bolt didn''t make a sound as it was fired. Instead, the world went quiet for the instant it took the red lightning to travel between Toz and the bear.

 Chapter 108 Demonic Spark Bear (3)

    ?The red lightning bolt tore open the ground in its path, clouding the clearing in dust.


    Although, the dust and dirt was immediately blown away by the ensuing thunderp, revealing the bear''s ferocious appearance as it returned to its rxed posture after firing the lightning bolt.


    The three cats had almost been paralyzed by the static and the shockwave, but the bear''s snorting forced them to pull the ragged and dirty purple cat out of the pile of beasts and cages.


    The weakened beasts hadn''t been able to withstand the repeated shocks and waves of pressure, so the dark purple cat had to be dragged and carried away by Lucy and the other two.


    Although the bear was confident that not many beings that were lower level than itself could withstand its charged lightning bolt, a gut feeling prevented it from turning its gaze away from the only remaining cloud of smoke.


    The bear''s instinct proved correct since, on the other side of the smoke, a silhouette''s outlines started bing defined as the smoke dissipated.


    However, the silhouette''s appearance was irregr and nothing at all like a human figure. The bear was confused since its lightning bolt usually reduced the size of its targets when it struck, not make themrger.


    When the smoke finally clearedpletely, Toz''s figure was revealed. He had been blown back into the tree again, and both him and the tree were covered in scorch marks and traces of having been struck by lightning.


    But next to the tree, protruding diagonally out of the ground, was a pair of metal rods, half melted, charred, twisted, and bent beyond recognition.


    Using the small window where the bear charged its lightning, Toz made use of one of the several preparations he and Nil had made while they were running around the clearing, trying to find the cat and a way to interrupt the ritual.


    With them being in the middle of a forest filled with the lightning element, it wouldn''t be weird to be attacked with actual lightning. In order to prepare for something simr, Toz and Nil had prepared several sets of lightning rods to direct the lightning into the ground.


    Since the lightning rods were made and reinforced by Toz''s fourth level mana, they had been enough to redirect most of the lightning bolt fired by the bear, but not all of it, so Toz had still gotten hit pretty badly. Not badly enough to knock him out, but bad enough to make it difficult to move, and when he did move, his limbs and eyelids twitched from the remnant electricity lingering in his body.


    The Demonic Spark Bear merely raised an eyebrow at Toz''s survival before it trudged over to deal the finishing blow. It was slightly surprising that a weak fourth level human had survived its attack twice, but by the looks of it, making it a third time would be outside the range of the human''s capability.


    However, Toz would only be dead if the Demonic Spark Bear did attack a third time.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Taking advantage of the thunderclouds doing their best to repair the hole and sinking the forest back into darkness once again, Lucy covered Nil and Mindle, carrying the purple cat in a veil of shadows, and sent them into the forest where they could take cover.


    After the three cats entered the forest, Lucy turned his gaze toward the bear leisurely approaching Toz. Although the bear had charged blindingly fast whenunching its first attack, now that Toz was incapacitated, the bear didn''t feel a need to rush and took its time while surveying the depths of the forest beyond the clearing.


    The bear was in apletely new ce, so it was only natural it would be moderately cautious, even if the ce for its transportation didn''t hold any immediate danger and seemed like a great spot to grow stronger using all the nearby lightning.


    But when the Demonic Spark Bear only had six meters left to reach its target, slightly more than its body length, the bear felt someone target it. It felt like someone was peering directly into its mind and poking around its brain. It didn''t hurt, but it was extremely annoying and viting.


    The bear looked around with zing eyes looking for the culprit but couldn''t instantly find Lucy, who had hidden himself deeply within the shadows outside the clearing. Even if the bear couldn''t find Lucy, it could sense the general direction, which was to the opposite side of the clearing from Toz.


    Having found the approximate location of the one foolishly attacking it, the bear didn''t hesitate to turn around. In any case, the human it temporarily ignored was in no shape to move anywhere. At most, it could crawl a little bit into the forest. There was no way the human could escape its pursuit, even if it spent a few moments rampaging through the area the culprit was in.


    But right before the bear could begin attacking the area with all its might, the feeling of its mind being invaded with tendrils caressing and poking at its brain disappeared.


    Then a few momentster, it appeared again, this time originating from deeper within the forest, and it wasn''t only touching his mind, it was padding it with slightly more force, enough to send a feeling of difort through the Demonic Spark Bear''s spine, further irritating the bear.


    And right when the bear got to the spot where the culprit should be, the feeling disappeared.


    Then once again, from even further into the forest, it reappeared with even greater force, almost causing the bear pain.


    Each time the bear sensed the location of the one troubling it, it rushed over but right before the bear could find the annoyance causing its difort and pain, the feeling vanished. And before the bear could rx or decide whether to go back to its initial prey or continue chasing, the prodding of its mind was continued.


    The Demonic Spark Bear, in its rage, started feeling like it had been a bad choiceing through the portal. It had been promised a tremendous amount of lightning that wouldn''t be easilye across back home. And it had indeed discovered a veritable cloud of lightning, right there for the taking. But along with it, he had been targeted by some nefarious creature intent on tormenting it until it lost all reason.

 Chapter 109 Demonic Spark Bear (4)

    ?Lucy was running through the forest panting. He didn''t know how far away from the clearing he had managed to lure the bear, but he was running out of mana and stamina. Just peeking into the Demonic Spark Bear''s mind was troublesome, and since Lucy had to keep its attention away from Toz, he didn''t just stop there as he started pulling and dragging on the darkness that was the Demonic Spark Bear''s mind.


    Lucy also had to hide from the bear while sprinting as fast as he could, further away from the pursuing bear. Eventually, he only had enough mana to either provoke the bear onest time or hide and escape, not both.


    It didn''t take much deliberation for Lucy to stop attacking the Demonic Spark Bear angrily chasing after him, demanding his life, which would have led to his death. Instead, he disappeared into the depths of the forest''s shadows so he could circle back to the others and help Toz get out of the woods and to safety.


    The Demonic Spark Bear, to its relief, noticed there were no further attacks on its mind. But during its frustration-driven chase, it had left the clearing where it was first summoned to, far behind. The bear was lost in a ce it had never been before. Although that had always been a part of the deal, the clearing had been the most suitable spot for absorbing as much lightning it could handle.


    Although the bear was worried the pest that had persistently annoyed and tormented it would interrupt the bear in the middle of the process, the bear was also worried stronger opponents would sense the summoning and appear.


    With its mind set, the bear roared to the sky just like it had done when it was first summoned. But this time, the roar stretched on for longer.


    The first time the thunderclouds had already been cleared. And the bear wanted them to stay that way while it removed any distractions. Now that the Lightning Clouds were fully blocked, the Demonic Spark Bear first had to clear a path with its roar and use enough power to keep the thunderclouds away while it devoured the lightning.


    After about a minute, the Demonic Spark Bear ended its roar since a gaping wound had been opened up in the thunderclouds, revealing the bright Lightning Clouds above and lighting up the forest like a spotlight.


    The Demonic Spark Bear pointed its horns toward the lightning-filled sky, and with a hum, they began lighting up. With a buzz, the red zigzagging lines on the bear''s body started glowing.


    It looked simr to what the bear had done when attacking Toz, but instead of a mass of lightning gathering at the tip of its horns, the lightning waspletely drained away from the horns and into the red lines covering the bear''s body.


    The clouds of lightning trapped in the sky started trembling in response to the bear''s actions. And when it looked like the sky was about to shatter, a tremendous lightning bolt broke through the air, striking the Demonic Spark Bear''s horns.


    The thunder rumbled out, but before even the traces of light in the air from the first bolt faded, the second one struck.


    Despite grunting and snorting each time the lightning struck it, the Demonic Spark Bear received every bolt happily.


    The Demonic Spark Bear hadn''t been summoned just because the robed figures had been bored and wanted a convoluted way of getting home. The Demonic Spark Bear was a rare demonic beast that could quickly and efficiently enhance its strength by devouring the power of lightning.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The bear had been summoned by the robed figures so it could devour the Lightning Clouds above Sleepless Brights before wreaking havoc on Roaring Skies. With the incredible boost in strength it could achieve, it wouldn''t be a problem for the bear to escape the ne, enter the void and just quietly disappear into the Human Realm without any human experts finding and killing it.


    The Demonic Spark Bear had faith that even if it couldn''t leave the Human Realm with the strength it got from the Lightning Clouds it was currently devouring, it could find other sources of lightning and grow strong enough to get back home to the Demon Realm. A ce where not every single being it encountered would want to kill it due to its origin.


    Although the Demonic Spark Bear wasn''t sure how widespread information about demons was in the lower levels of the Human Realm. Since there was a pretty intense feud between the two realms in the higher levels and above, most who recognized the demonic energy tended to at least show some signs of being angry or upset.


    Although the bear had only encountered a single human so far, that one had only calmly given up and faced it head-on without disying any killing intent or rage.


    But none of that mattered. The human was dead or on the verge of death. There didn''t seem to be any further distractions, and the bear had already broken through to the next division, reaching the seventh level of power.


    Considering Roaring Skies was a fifth level ne, there shouldn''t be many individuals who could pose a threat to it, but the Demonic Spark Bear continued devouring lightning like there was no tomorrow.


    If it devoured all the lightning in the Lightning Clouds, the bear felt like it would easily reach the peak of the ninth level. With that much power, it would be easy to wreck the ne and get away before any human expert strong enough to defeat it was sent its way.


    Unfortunately, the Demonic Spark Bear''s dreams were bound to be crushed.


    The tornado created initially by the ritual. The permanent thunderclouds tearing open to light up the forest that had been covered in darkness for ages. The repeated bolts of lightning striking down as if the Lightning Clouds were cleaning house.


    All of it, signs that pointed to something extraordinary and possibly nefarious happening.


    And all of it visible from Sleepless Brights.


    Even if it wasn''t visible, the demonic energy that had sprung forth from the portal spread through the forest and beyond. Despite being extremely diluted by the time it reached the city, people who were sensitive enough and familiar with the feeling recognized it.


    And then, when the Lightning Clouds began emptying its trash can again, something not that good was probably happening.

 Chapter 110 Sleepless Powerhouses

    ?The phenomena caused by the summoning ritual put the higher-ups in the city on high alert. But they still had to be careful in case it was a deliberate lure to attract the powerhouses out of the city.


    So after a discussion involving all the top dogs in the city, they agreed that they would send one of them to investigate no matter what. The only problem was with who. However, before they could agree on which individual to send out into the forest, the wave of demonic energy spread to the city, instantly rming the gathered powerhouses.


    Although far from everyone there had personally experienced the feeling of demonic energy directly, they had both read and heard descriptions of it, letting them guess what it was. Their guess was confirmed by those who hade into contact with it.


    Since the appearance of demonic energy had been confirmed, there was no longer any reason to hesitate. But there was still the possibility of it being bait to lure the powerhouses out of the city. Since nothing else had worked, demonic energy had been used. Since it was infamous and notoriously dangerous, demonic energy would practically guarantee that the city would move.


    The discussion of what-ifs, although short, had dyed the group of powerful individuals of the city.


    The group of powerful mages and fighters had only just arrived at the edge of the forest when the second bout of lightning started falling through the torn thunderclouds.


    But they still arrived before it was toote. And when they saw the Demonic Spark Bear and felt the demonic energy surrounding it, the group didn''t hesitate when attacking.


    An olderdy in a cardigan waved a walking stick of metal adorned with decorations and a dragon''s head figure as the handle. Each swing of hers redirected the lightning falling from the sky and onto the bear, effectively stopping it from getting stronger or devouring even more lightning.


    Although several of the mages were of the lightning attribute, they didn''t attack the bear directly since they had just seen it devour the lightning bolts from the Lightning Clouds. Instead, they made sure the bear wouldn''t have any ess to lightning and prepared to block eventual counterattacks that would be lightning-based.


    On the way over, a middle-aged man with a rugged look who had personally fought against several demons and demonic beasts exined what he knew about them. Like how although demons mostly used pure demonic energy, a lot of demonic beasts could have an attribute to their demonic energy. And although it worked differently, human mages of the same attribute as the beast could interfere with the magic, just like how they would against a spirit beast or wild beast.


    Thus, if they were prepared against the Demonic Spark Bear''s obviously lightning-attributed attacks with their own lightning magic, the bear wouldn''t be able to do anything against them.


    That same middle-aged man was now shooting arrows imbued with aura at the Demonic Spark Bear, that despite the bear''s tough hide, prated its body.


    A couple of other mages fired balls of fire or tied the bear down using vines and tree roots that sprouted from the ground.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Since the Demonic Spark Bear''s body looked powerful and well-suited for closebat, most of the ones attacking it did so from a distance. However, there was one exception. Rick.


    He swung his mace overhead as he charged straight at the bear, struggling to break free from its bindings of wood.


    With an impressive crunch, Rick sent the bear''s head crashing down into the ground with a strike right between its horns.


    The bear''s head caved in, and the collision broke off several of its teeth. Although the Demonic Spark Bear was still alive. After Rick''s attack, it would find it difficult to mount a resistance to the continuing onught of attacks. Although most mages and fighters attacking it were sixth level, the asional seventh level, or Rick, the eight level branch manager of the Explorer''s Guild, were enough to keep the eight level bear suppressed.


    Eventually, the Demonic Spark Bear was confirmed dead. Its corpse was brought back to the city by most of the participants in the outing. While they went back to Sleepless Brights to tell the ones who remained about the demonic beast and begin splitting up the rewards from the corpse, two people stayed behind.


    Rick stayed behind because he felt responsible for Toz. They had exchanged messages about what Toz thought was happening, and since Rick wasn''t sure he could leave the city unprotected, he had asked Toz to investigate. However, if Rick had known that there would be high level demonic beasts involved, he wouldn''t have asked Toz so lightheartedly and would have instead asked someone else or gone himself.


    The other person who stayed in the forest was the rugged-looking middle-aged man. Since he had the most experience among everyone from the city when it came to demons and demonic beasts, he took it upon himself to investigate and look for their traces.


    If the Demonic Spark Bear wasn''t the only demonic beast summoned to Roaring Skies and was only used as a distraction for something else to sneak away, the entire ne could be in serious trouble.


    Mond, as the middle-aged man was called, had experienced how devious the demons could be several times. He wasn''t keen on experiencing it once again due to simple negligence on his part.


    With Rick working together with him, Mond wasn''t worried they would be unable to deal with another demonic beast, and they began by heading to the site of the summoning ritual.


    Aside from looking for traces of other demonic beasts, the duo would also be looking for the identities of the ones responsible for summoning the Demonic Spark Bear. Or any evidence of coborators within the city. Since summoning demons and demonic beasts was strictly prohibited and difficult, a single person doing it by themselves would be next to impossible.


    Especially considering the knowledge required to perform a ritual. Gathering the proper materials, drawing a magic circle or enchanting or creating another medium, and then devising or using an appropriate spell were all things difficult to do individually, not to mention one person doing it all.

 Chapter 111 Signs Of Destruction

    ?Rick and Mond followed the Demonic Spark Bear''s tracks back to the clearing. On the way, they noticed that a few areas at an irregr interval showed more signs of destruction from the bear passing through. Though they couldn''t judge anything from that alone, especially when they couldn''t find any tracks of anything else causing the bear''s deviating behavior.


    Although Rick was at a higher level as an eighth level fighterpared to Mond who was at the seventh level, as an archer, Mond had no trouble keeping up with Rick and they arrived at the clearing shortly after they left the ce where they had killed the Demonic Spark Bear.


    When they approached the clearing, the first thing that the duo noticed were the traps and devices spread around the clearing. Although the traps were quite skillfully hidden, it was far from enough to hide from the perceptive senses of a couple of high level fighters.


    Rick, although he was almost alwaysposed, started fidgeting while he and Mond investigated the traps that the bear had blown through. He had recognized the familiar feeling of Toz''s mana behind the traps. That further confirmed that Rick had, due to a moment of reluctance to leave the city, put Toz in a situation he likely couldn''t handle by himself.


    Mond, who had known Rick for years, noticed thetter''s reaction, and although he didn''t ask outright, with enough heavy gazes on Rick, he prompted Rick to tell him.


    While Rick told Mond about what Toz had told him and the request he made in response, the duo entered the clearing. Within the clearing, the view didn''t surprise them that much.


    They knew there had been a ritual performed here so the sight of the dried-out husks that had previously been beasts, and the ashy remains of various nts, didn''te as a surprise.


    What was slightly weird however was the fact that a third of the magic circle wasn''t covered in corpses like the rest of it. Instead, there were a bunch of empty cages and several signs of battle.


    Tracks in the ground fromrge ws scraping and charging, tearing open the ground. Scorch marks in a few ces. Arge scar in the ground stretched, from the magic circle to where arge tree had obvious traces of someone colliding with it at a high speed. As well as signs that someone had been trying to set it on fire.


    The lightning rods Toz had used to protect himself had been destroyed by the Demonic Spark Bear''s lightning and had since dissipatedpletely, leaving only two charred spots on the ground they had protruded from.


    However, there were no signs of Toz himself. Moreover, while there were various traces and drag marks leading away from the clearing and magic circle, there was no way to tell if Toz had been dragged away or if he had been eaten by another beast, or straight up killed by the Demonic Spark Bear during their encounter. Both Rick and Mond could tell by the signs of destruction left in the clearing that after the Demonic Spark Bear had been summoned, it had attacked someone not strong enough to fight against it, but just barely enough to withstand several blows and survive.


    With Rick''s knowledge of Toz''s strength and how his mana signature could be felt all around the clearing, it wasn''t a stretch to guess that Toz had been right there in the clearing when the ritual had ended, possibly even before that.


    Although the duo had no idea whether Toz had even survived or where his corpse might be in that case, if he was still alive he would be their best bet at telling them what happened and if there were any more demonic beasts summoned.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After finding out as much as possible, which wasn''t much, from the magic circle and the clearing, Rick and Mond entered the forest in the direction of the broken tree and started searching for any traces of Toz.


    They found a set ofrger drag-marks, that, while they didn''t look like they were from a human they didn''t look like a single beast either.


    Rick and Mond split up as they looked for Toz, with Rick following the drag-marks they found and Mond continuing in another direction.


    Eventually, the traces Rick was following started growing fresher. The dirt on the surface wasn''t as dry, and faintly swaying branches in the wind-less forest.


    The traces led Rick to an old, uprooted tree lying down. Right to the roots, where the entrance to a burrow was neatly hidden away, behind some natural-looking roots caked in dirt.


    The burrow looked like it was properly maintained, like it was the nest of some wild beast. It didn''t really make sense that Toz would be hiding there if he was alive. It was beginning to look like Toz had been turned into food for the beast who was in charge of the burrow.


    Maybe the beast needed some energy to recover after being kidnapped and drained for the magic ritual.


    Although Rick didn''t want to draw hasty conclusions, he found it difficult to retain hisposure. He bent down to enter the burrow that was made for a beast that was barely to the chest of an adult human.


    Rick had his mace out as he followed the drag marks leading through the cramped tunnels.


    He couldn''t tell if the wet stains on the ground were Toz''s blood, the blood of a beast or if it was some other liquid. And the bitter smell permeating the burrow didn''t help.


    Eventually, Rick heard mumbling and chatteringing from a lit-up cavern at the end of the tunnel he was creeping through.


    Rick made sure to hide his presence as much as possible so he could get a grasp of the situation and see if Toz was inside. If not, he would just leave. No need to further worsen the state of the forest''s wild beasts. If he was there and alive, Rick could simply say hello and bring Toz back to the guild for treatment. And if Toz''s body was there, Rick would do what he would do.

 Chapter 112 Within The Burrow

    ?Rick had been prepared to be saddened by the sight within the cavern. He regretted having put such a promising youth in such a dangerous position.


    However, the cave lit up by the glowing moss covering the ceiling didn''t have the scene of tragedy Rick had been expecting. Instead, it looked like a field hospital.


    All over the floor were tforms, a dozen rectangr tables of dirt carved out of the ground. And while most of those tables were empty except for bloodstains, some had a bed of leaves and branches with beasts on them.


    It looked like several of the beasts that had been kidnapped for the magic ritual had gathered for treatment here. The bitter smell permeating the tunnels was probably the smell of medicinal herbs. Although most such herbs were a lot more effective when used for potions, they were still helpful in their raw state or simply dried and turned into powder or paste to apply to wounds.


    Since the burrow was simply a camp for injured beasts to recover, Rick was about to leave and see if Mond had found anything. But right as he turned around, he saw something that wasn''t a beast out of the corner of his eye.


    In a corner of therge cavern, practically hidden behind a resting table and a bunch of other beasts, Toz''s body was lying motionlessly.


    Rick made sure to put away his mace and look friendly as he entered the cave. The beasts, tired from their injuries or tired from caring for the injured, merely looked up and, upon noticing theck of ill intent,id back down.


    As he got closer to Toz, despite not seeing any signs of life knew that he was alive. But as Rick approached within touching distance, he was stopped by a couple of cats, one with grey fur and onepletely orange and on fire.


    Since they had apanied Toz into the guild a few times, Rick hoped that the cats would recognize him as he recognized them.


    Rick didn''t know if they recognized him. Or just didn''t trust him, but the two cats stood in front of Toz''s motionless body, growling and hissing at Rick.


    Right as Rick was considering forcing his way past and giving Toz some potions, the cats stopped and turned around.


    "That''s enough." Although hoarse, the voice was unmistakably Toz''s.


    Despite sleeping soundly, so he could recover as quickly as possible, Toz woke up when Nil and Mindle got restless and started making noise.


    They knew he needed as much rest as possible and wouldn''t recklessly disturb him, but since they did, it had to be because of something serious.


    Though Toz hadn''t expected to see Rick standing there in front of them, looking a little worried and confused.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz had vague memories of being dragged with several other beasts by the cats and other wild beasts who were still healthy enough to help theirpatriots of the Tumbling Thunder Forest. He also knew that they ended up in a cavern where the beasts gathered to get treated. It was a ce without any grudges or disputes due to the agreement of several sixth level beasts, especially so after many beasts had died in the ritual.


    Although humans might not be epted even considering there wasn''t supposed to be any fighting, it was thanks to Toz and his cats that so many beasts had managed to escape from the clearing alive. The cats even got help dragging Toz to the burrow.


    While the cats wouldn''t carelessly let other beasts get close to the unconscious Toz, they gratefully epted the medicinal herbs and stered them all over Toz and the purple cat they had rescued.


    Toz had been nning on resting until he was fit enough to walk back to town where he could get some proper potions. However, now that Rick had shown up and was happily handing Toz a high level healing potion, there wasn''t any need to wait longer before heading back to town.


    While Rick went back out into the forest to talk with Mond, Toz shared some of the high level potion with the purple cat. The cat, despite appearing sick and malnourished, looked intimidating. Although most of its muscles had dried up and thinned out during the ritual, there was still some left.


    The fur was mainly dark purple but with tiny white markings, that looked like sparks, here and there. And the scars on several parts of its body gave the cat a menacing appearance. Especially the scar crossing its right eye vertically.


    All of them had been taken aback at that since it was challenging for spirit beasts to develop scars, even if they were gravely injured. For the purple cat to have so many scars and for them to be so apparent, the injuries had to have been life-threatening and extremely grueling for the cat to recover from.


    That a cat with such a tough life, even if unconsciously, called for help, proved how dire the situation had been for the beasts used as sacrificial material for the magic ritual.


    Even with the high level potion, it took a few minutes for the purple cat to begin showing signs of it getting revitalized. Restoring its muscle mass would take either more potions or more food and time. But healing any internal injuries that had arisen from the ritual''s draining didn''t take much, and the purple cat soon snorted and took a deep breath.


    After living a solitary life where it fought and recovered alone, the cat was surprised to find three other beasts and a human watching it as soon as it opened its eyes.


    The purple cat was understandably panicked as it, despite its lingering injuries, backed away from Toz and the other three cats.


    With a cave wall to its back, it felt a lot more secure. But it knew it was still injured and didn''t have any mana to fight its way out.


    With the feeling of security that having all foes in one ce gave it, the purple cat calmed down enough to properly assess its enemies. Even if it didn''t have much of a chance considering its current state and having the numbers disadvantage, the purple cat wouldn''t give up. The scars on its body were proof enough of that.

 Chapter 113 Purple Cat

    ?But unlike the encirclement and aggressiveness the purple cat expected from the human and the beasts in front of it, none of them moved. It was then that the purple cat btedly noticed that it woke up to being watched, not attacked.


    And then, after taking another moment to get its bearings, it also noticed that the wounds from its capture had been taken care of. The purple cat also magically felt all of its injuries healing. The rapid improvement in its health was visible as the previously malnourished cat was looking at least slightly better.


    The purple cat eyed the group of four opposite to it before, in a raspy voice asking,


    "What do you want?"


    The cat''s natural wariness against others wasn''t lessened, in the slightest, despite the medicine and healing potions it had received.


    Nil, Lucy, and Mindle all looked at Toz in unison. Since he was the acknowledged leader of their small group, it was up to him to answer the purple cat''s questions. Without him, the group would have nevere into contact with each other, or the purple cat, after all.


    Toz looked a little hesitant as he answered the purple cat, but eventually, he responded.


    "Now that you are awake, I would like to invite you to join us in our travels."


    "Why?" The purple cat was suspicious in response to Toz''s invitation.


    "No reason. Ah, well, my inclination is rted to cat type spirit beasts, so if it makes more sense for you, it is for personal gain."


    "Just to make things clear, I am absolutely not interested. But... What''s in it for me?"


    "Aside from a new family, the connection with my inclination will help your talent at controlling mana grow stronger. There are some smaller things that aren''t as important, but in short, it will help you get stronger."


    "So both you and I get more power by bonding with your inclination?"


    "Yeah, that''s basically it."


    "Hmm... Let me think about it."


    "Of course."


    Since they had talked with the purple cat and reached an agreement, Toz and the cats left the burrow so they could head back to Sleepless Brights. And meet up with Rick and Mond.


    Rick had only briefly told Toz that he was working with the captain of the city guards to investigate the traces in the forest and look for Toz. So when he saw the rugged man next to Rick, he was slightly surprised. There were a lot of battle-hardened veterans in these parts, first the purple cat and now Mond.


    Since Toz was running low on mana and still recovering, Rick and Mond slowed down to match his pace. Although it dyed them from quickly getting back to town, there wasn''t really any need to rush that, and it also gave time to let Toz tell the duo what had happened.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Mond hadn''t found any other traces or evidence that could tell him what happened, so he eagerly listened to Toz''s story.


    Rick and Mond had initially wanted to bring Toz with them to the conference hall, where they would gather with the other influential powerhouses of the city. But after hearing Toz say he was tired and needed to rest, they let him go back to the inn.


    Rick already had an understanding of Toz and suspected he didn''t like being in the spotlight, so he easily let him go. And after hearing about how Toz bravely stood up to the demonic bear, Mond was as easily convinced as Rick.


    Although the story seemed a little exaggerated, Rick and Mond had seen the evidence supporting it, and it also seemed like Toz was downying his contribution.


    After reaching the gates of Sleepless Brights, the temporary trio split up. Toz headed to the inn where he could continue sleeping. Rick and Mond left for their meeting with the others, leaving a promise to get Toz a reward asvish as possible.


    Although Toz''s storytelling had taken up most of their walk back to the city, he had gleaned a little information about what he had been up against. Rick and Mond also exchanged a grave look after Toz told them about the three robed figures.


    The situation was slightly more severe than Toz thought. The other two also realized that it was good they acted quickly. Toz had told them that the Demonic Spark Bear had only been at the sixth level, and both based on the signs of destruction and that Toz was alive, it made sense.


    But in the span of only a couple of hours, it had shot straight to the eighth level. If the bear had continued devouring the bolts floating through the sky in the Lightning Clouds, it would likely have even reached the ninth level. At that point, the Demonic Spark Bear would be unrivaled on Roaring Skies.


    Although there might be one or two hidden powerhouses somewhere on the ne, the odds of them defeating the Demonic Spark Bear weren''t that great.


    The Demonic Spark Bear was a demonic beast confident enough to take on an entire ne. Hidden powerhouses often hid for a reason. Even if they are strongpared to other individuals of lower levels, they won''t carelessly expose their location.


    Thankfully, Toz and the cats had been there to dy the bear from devouring the lightning. When Rick heard about Lucy''s contribution, it looked like he wanted to give him his own Explorer''s Badge.


    Nevertheless, from what Toz could tell, they had done something worth a lot more than simply investigating a turbulent forest on the outskirts of a medium-sized city.


    In anticipation of the abundant rewards they were about to receive, Toz walked to the inn with spring in his steps and a satisfied smile on his face.


    And then, without anyone noticing, a light snuck into the city over the city walls. It easily sped past the guards right as they revealed a blind spot.


    After entering the city, the quiet bundle of purple lightning disappeared.


    Then, after some time, it reappeared on the rooftop of a building next to the inn where Toz and the cats were staying. Beneath the Lightning Clouds, no one was foolish enough to look upward, and no one saw the purple lightning.


    The quietly buzzing lightning vanished and revealed the purple cat. Carefully, watching the inn.

 Chapter 114 Rewards

    ?The purple cat stayed on the rooftop all night. Only moving when Toz''s group headed for the guild early in the morning.


    While the purple cat followed Toz and the three cats from a distance, it watched how they joked and yed with each other on the practically empty streets. The sight invoked feelings the purple cat didn''t know the name of and didn''t want to acknowledge.


    After Toz entered the guild building, the purple cat turned its eyes away and looked off into the distance.


    Toz had been told by Rick the day before toe to the guild for his rewards. The marypensation for investigating the forest alone would have been enough for him to buy a grimoire.


    But now that Toz and the cats had practically saved the entire ne from thunderous doom, the reward they would get was probably more than investigating a fifth level danger zone acting like a sixth level one.


    Rick, like always, stood at one of the front desks and beamed a smile at Toz when he came in. After exchanging greetings, Rick led Toz to an office upstairs so they could get a little more privacy.


    Snacks waited for them in the room, on a table between twofy-looking armchairs. Rick had anticipated Toz''s arrival and prepared for it.


    After both were sitting down, Rick didn''t tarry and handed over two spatial rings to Toz.


    "Twenty-five thousand gold. Although Mond and I wanted to give you more, those greedy old codgers in the council refused."


    That was what Rick said, but he didn''t mention how the others, except him and Mond, barely wanted to give Toz a single copper. Most of them didn''t believe anything of what Toz had done. Others simply didn''t want to hand over such a sum of money when they themselves weren''t even getting that much from their share of the Demonic Spark Bear''s corpse.


    After Rick gave Toz the spatial rings full of gold, he looked a little hesitant, but with Toz''s inviting gaze, he revealed a tiny badge. It was an intricately decorated fifth level Explorer''s Badge. It was simr to Toz''s one but smaller, as if it wasn''t made for a human.


    "I made this as well. It isn''t official, but Lucy deserves a reward as well. It magically attaches to any surface as long as it''s provided minuscule amounts of mana. It can even change color to either match the surface it''s attached to or back to its original color."


    Rick shyly demonstrated the badge''s extra functions on his green vest, showing how it blended perfectly with the vest. Rick had carefully considered Lucy hiding without having to remove the badge, despite barely knowing Lucy''s name for less than a day.


    After hearing that he was receiving a gift, Lucy stopped napping in the familiar space and appeared on Toz''sp before gently jumping over to Rick''s side of the table, where he sat down with his chest puffed out.


    Rick was happy that his gift was appreciated as he gently ced the badge on Lucy''s chest.


    Since Lucy wasn''t nning on hiding anytime soon, he had the badge retain its silvery texture with thepass design matching thepass part of the Explorer''s Guild''s symbol.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After seeing the proud look on Lucy''s face, both Rick and Toz smiled.


    While Lucy was admiring himself in the reflective surface of a decorative vase in the room, Rick looked at Toz again.


    "I know you''re going to buy a grimoire with the reward money. Unfortunately, I am a mace-wielding fighter, so I don''t have any grimoires or sword manuals that can help you, but if you ever need help in the future, or if you need something, go to the Besre Family in the capital and show them this letter."


    Rick handed over a white envelope stamped with a sigil that looked either like a sun or the head of a mace.


    Toz felt slightly shocked that Rick came from a family that managed to hold an estate in the capital.


    He didn''t know much except that the capital of the Firebelt Kingdom, Capital of Ruling Fire, was enormous, located on a ninth level ne, and that it was where the kingdom''s rulers, the king and queen lived. But having an estate or a family actually within the capital was extremely prestigious and proof of that family''s power.


    It was the capital of a kingdom that ruled over tens of thousands habitable nes and all the humans that lived on them. Living there wasn''t something ordinary people could afford.


    The way Toz looked at Rick changed subtly. Rick noticed since he had been worried about it. Power changes rtionships, and he was worried that Toz would either distance himself or try and ingratiate himself with Rick because of that letter and what it meant.


    But Rick still wanted to help Toz in return for not being able to give him more money or a grimoire, even if it meant potentially changing the friendly rtionship they had established.


    Thankfully, his worries didn''te true as the only thing that changed was that Toz looked at Rick with more respect than before. Toz had known that Rick was good-natured. But knowing that Rick was so humble despiteing from a family in the capital was almost a different thing entirely.


    But Toz didn''t think much further as he carefully stored the letter within a spatial ring within one of the pockets in his coat that was designed to be extra secure. Even if the coat would tear, that pocket wouldn''t since it was meant to protect the more valuable items the owner of the coat owned.


    Even after the official business was over, the two stayed in their chairs, enjoying the snacks on the table and chatting in a rxed manner. Toz asked Rick what the letter said, upon which thetter said "not much" and refused to borate. Since he would find out if he ever visited the Besre family, Toz didn''t press much.


    When the snacks ran out, and Toz could be sure that Linda''s Bookstore was open, he said goodbye to Rick and promised to stop by before he left the city.


    On their way out of the guild and on the way to the bookstore, Lucy made sure to properly show off his badge.


    While not many people they passed by cared about the tiny ck cat with a decoration on its chest, a certain purple cat was slightly interested in it.

 Chapter 115 Grimoire Acquisition

    ?Like Toz had expected, Linda''s Bookstore was open when he got to the alley where it was located. And likest time, it was empty except for Linda sorting through a few books and cing them on one of the shelves in the store.


    Hearing the tinkling of the bell that signaled the door opening, Linda gave a weing greeting as she ced another book on the shelf before turning around to look at Toz standing by the front desk.


    "It''s you again. Wee back!"


    "Indeed. And this time, I have enough money to buy at least one grimoire."


    After greeting Toz, Linda had already started walking to the front desk, but hearing Toz''s words, she continued to the back of the store so she could bring out the grimoires she had shown Tozst time.


    "Business has been slow these past few days, so the same selection asst time is still avable. What budget are you working on?"


    "Thirty thousand gold."


    Although Linda was slightly shocked that Toz had managed to get so much money in such a short time, she didn''t lose herposure.


    "Then... Do you wish to purchase all three right now? If you do, I can wrap them up for you."


    "Yes, please, but there''s no need to wrap them.


    "Right! Before I forget to ask, is there a limit to how many times a single grimoire can be used?"


    It was something Toz had wondered ever since he heard the price of a grimoire. Why was the grimoire so pricy? Even if it was a book containing advanced magic, would it really cost that much? Eventually, he realized that if a grimoire needed someone who mastered the spell to create it and it wasn''t written like an ordinary book, maybe the knowledge of the spell was copied and transferred using the book as a medium.


    "Yeah. I guess that''s so obvious in the grimoire dealing business I forgot to mention it. Sorry about that.


    "Every time a grimoire is used, you could say a little bit less of the spell remains. If you understand it quickly enough without needing to read it several times, the grimoire can be used several times. But otherwise, not even one grimoire might be enough. It depends on how great talent the reader possesses, and how deeply the one who mastered the spell really understood, and how much of their knowledge the grimoire contains.


    "It only happens very rarely that someone finishes an entire grimoire without learning the spell, so you shouldn''t worry too much about that."


    Linda''s answer confirmed Toz''s conclusion that the magic spell in a grimoire wasn''t unlimited.


    Thankfully, he had enough money to buy a grimoire each for him, Nil, and Mindle. Although, it was unfortunate that there wasn''t anything for Lucy. However, Toz wouldn''t be too overwhelmed by surprise if Lucy developed his mind interference magic into a spell.


    After listening to Lucy''s exnation of how he did it and attempting it himself, Toz realized that Lucy was abnormally talented in how well he used darkness magic.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz didn''t hesitate as he spent twenty-eight thousand gold to purchase all the grimoires Linda had brought out from the back of the store. While the Fireball spell was only eight thousand, the other two cost slightly more, with the metal one at nine thousand and the other fire attribute spell costing eleven thousand gold.


    Reading the descriptions of the grimoires, Toz wasn''t surprised by the different prices since it only made sense that a more advanced and difficult spell would cost more.


    After getting the grimoires, Toz could hardly move his gaze away from them, but he still looked up at Linda when she told him that she bought grimoires at a higher price than what she sold them for. Even if he was far from mastering the spells he had just bought since he had literally just bought them, it was good to know if he ever needed money.


    Toz made sure to secure the three grimoires tightly in the same safe pocket as Rick''s letter before almost rushing back to the room at the inn.


    It was the long sought-after grimoires he and the cats had worked so hard to buy. Since Lucy was the only one without a grimoire, he was the only one not overly excited. Though, he was still pretty interested in what a grimoire could do and why it was so expensive.


    While Toz, Nil, and Mindle started inspecting the grimoires, Lucy made sure to secure the room. Both from external interference and in case something went awry when learning the spells. Even if shadows and darkness weren''t the best at defending, with Lucy''s strength, it shouldn''t be a problem to keep both the group and the room safe.


    There was no need to consider who would get the metal attribute grimoire. Even if Toz could use metal mana, he could also use fire which there were two grimoires of.


    The problem came when deciding which grimoire should go to Toz and which one should go to Mindle.


    Even if they were confident in their talent and could possibly learn the spell before the grimoire runs out of magic, neither of them wanted to be careless and just assume they would be able to use both grimoires.


    But the problem was that both Toz and Mindle gave the other priority when choosing the grimoire. They wanted the other to choose first so they could get what they wanted.


    Nil wanted to begin reading the grimoire he got at once, but with the endless stalling and shifting of grimoires by Toz and Mindle, he couldn''t concentrate.


    Eventually, he convinced them to flip a coin. And the one who wins is forced to choose first.


    Mindle hadn''t flipped a coin before, but with Toz calling out king as the coin was in the air, she epted that she would win if the side with the pce face-up when the coinnded.


    Nil was responsible for the coin-flipping, and he made sure Toz didn''t interfere and gave Mindle the win.


    After the coinnded tly on the bed, the engraving of a grown man with a regal expression and a crown was the one visible.


    Toz had won the coin-flipping and was forced to choose a grimoire first.

 Chapter 116 Reading Grimoires

    ?Even if he was first, Toz didn''t choose the more expensive spell. He picked the grimoire containing a spellbeled Fireball.


    The grimoire itself didn''t look that extraordinary. A thumb-thick book bound with brown leather and with a few golden decorations on the spine and the front. The decorations looked like golden thread snaking around the surface of the cover.


    Toz ran his hand over the front cover before carefully opening it, revealing a sturdy page of paper thicker than what was used in ordinary books.


    At first, the page was empty, but strange symbols began appearing as if they were burned into the page.


    Weirdly enough, only Mindle and Toz could see those figures. Though Mindle quickly looked away, and after satisfying his curiosity, Nil began reading his own grimoire, where a simr phenomenon happened. He was the only one who could see the symbols appearing as if liquid metal was poured into set shapes.


    Lucy watched over the other three as they concentrated on their grimoires, losing any awareness they had of their surroundings.


    Toz looked at the symbols appearing on the nk page. Despite them beingpletely unfamiliar and unlike any writtennguage he had ever seen, Toz felt like the more he looked at them, the closer he got to understanding what they meant.


    It was a magically strange feeling that he was still learning something from it despite looking at something he reasonably shouldn''t be able to understand. Though in the beginning, he only got the feeling that he understood something without actually obtaining any new knowledge.


    Although nothing really happened, and Toz didn''t feel like he was suddenly able to use the Fireball spell, he felt like he had gotten a slightly better understanding of the fire element.


    All three kept reading the grimoires deep into the night before finally copsing, with each of them having their own severe headache. Trying to read andprehend the grimoires without taking a break was unexpectedly taxing on their minds. But all of them felt like it was worth it.


    Mindle had gotten a better grasp of what fire was, despite not even knowing how to begin using the spell Tongues of me that her grimoire contained. It was mostly the same with Nil. Even if the spell his grimoire had, Sharp Rain, didn''t really suit his preferred method of engaging enemies, he got slightly better acquainted with how to quickly give the things he created their shape.


    Toz was the one who got the most benefits from their time spent reading grimoires since he was getting close to the fourth level with his fire attribute. Mindle was already practically on the doorstep to the fourth level and was just waiting for an opportune moment before taking thest step. Merely reading the grimoire a bit wouldn''t make her try and break through since she wanted the breakthrough to be as perfect as possible.


    Although Toz, Nil, and Mindle wanted to continue reading their grimoires the next day, they couldn''t neglect Lucy. And Lucy wasn''t the only one who wanted to get going and begin heading for Treblor Forest. That had been their goal when traveling to Roaring Skies, after all.


    The only reason they had stayed so long in Sleepless Brights was that they wanted to buy a grimoire as soon as possible and begin learning magic for real. While their time in the city and the nearby areas had been fun and enjoyable, it was time to get moving.


    Treblor Forest is quite a distance away from Sleepless Brights, after all.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But before leaving, there were a couple of things that the group needed to do.


    It barely needed even to be mentioned, but they needed to stock up on supplies, especially potions since they had realized how dangerous things could get and how easy it was to be injured.


    Then they had to say goodbye to Rick.


    Andstly, they had to talk with the purple cat that they saved from the demonic summoning ritual in the forest.


    While it had expressed its disinterest, it had also said it would think about it. And neither Toz nor Lucy had missed the gazes concentrated on them most hours of the day. With the robed figures responsible for the previous assassination attempt gone. And theck of malicious intent in the gaze pointed to it being the purple cat watching them.


    The watching had begun before Rick and Mond told the other powerhouses of the city, so there wasn''t any way it could be someone from the city, either.


    Bidding farewell to Rick didn''t take long and wasn''t overly dramatic. Mages and fighters, when they started reaching higher levels of power, didn''t only get stronger. There is an added bonus of healthiness and, although not by much, the lifespan of people of higher levels is noticeably longer than those of lower levels.


    With Rick being at the eighth level, despite already looking like an old man, he still has a lot of time left to live, so even if Toz disappears into the universe on an adventure, as long as he makes it back, there will be opportunities to meet Rick again.


    With fresh supplies stored in a batch of shiny spatial rings within his coat pockets, and having said goodbye to the only person he was obliged to say goodbye to, Toz and the cats only had one thing left.


    Finding the purple cat and convincing it to join them.


    While the three cats were worried that they would lose some of Toz''s attention with another addition, they weren''t worried that Toz would stop loving them. In addition, the purple cat''s badass appearance had already charmed Lucy and Mindle. Nil was still slightly hesitant but was also eagerly anticipating arger family.


    However, none of that would matter if the purple cat didn''t want to join them and bond with Toz. If the cat didn''t want toe with them, even if they wanted to, there was nothing they could do. Forcing it would only incur a punishment on Toz due to his inclination.


    But before they could get the purple cat''s eptance or rejection, they first needed to talk with it.

 Chapter 117 Nils Turn

    ?Toz and the cats left Sleepless Brights, hoping that the purple cat would show up eventually.


    But aside from a few short moments where the gaze following them vanished, like when they passed through the city gates, there were no signs of the purple cat.


    Since the purple cat didn''t want to approach them yet, even if they left the city, the group could only be patient. Forcing things by tracking the purple cat down could have the opposite effect, after all.


    However, to the group, the purple cat following them even after they left Sleeless Brights and the surrounding areas was a good sign. Although, they couldn''t be certain that the purple cat would really follow them beyond the Tumbling Thunder Forest and the Lightning Clouds until that actually happened.


    When the grouppletely escaped the Lightning Clouds'' overbearing light and came to the wilderness where darkness existed, the group was finally able to rx their eyes and store away the protective eyewear.


    They were also happy because the purple cat was still trailing behind them from a significant distance. It didn''t look like the cat was trying to hide, but it also didn''t look like it wanted Toz and the other three to notice it. It was slightly contradictory. But as long as the purple cat followed the group, there would be a chance to recruit it.


    After a few days of travel, Toz decided they could charm the purple cat into joining them by leaving it delicious food. Even if he didn''t know what the purple cat would like or if it would ept the food, he decided to give it a shot anyway.


    The first thing he did was to make patties, as he had done for Nil, Lucy, and Mindle with the mammoth meat back on First Ignition. It was an effective way of breaking down higher level meat and making it both easy to eat and tasty. Following the patties, he made several types of food, like skewers and steaks with various seasonings.


    Despite leaving a trail of food behind them, Toz and the cats had no idea if the purple cat ate it. While they could sometimes see the cat off in the distance, it was never so close they could see it clearly. At most, it was a tiny silhouette right by the horizon.


    However, the food seemed to have brought some sess in charming the cat since it appeared more frequently and closer to the group.


    Toz and the cats kept walking, gradually closing the distance between themselves and the purple cat. But no matter how much food they gave it, it didn''t seem to be willing to get too close to the group.


    Though the group wasn''t especially worried as there was quite a distance between Sleepless Brights and Treblor Forest. There would be enough time to get it toe around and join them properly.


    So aside from asionally leaving food for the purple cat, the group focused on enjoying the sights all around them and reading their grimoires.


    They didn''t make much progress with their reading and learning the spells, but as long as they felt like they were making progress, they were satisfied.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    And since they were walking through the wilderness, even if there were roads on some parts, there were bound to be wild beasts around. Although the group rarely had to go all out when attacked by the wild beasts, Toz and Lucy were the only ones at the fourth level in their group. Against sixth level wild beasts attacking them, the group often struggled a fair bit before defeating the beasts.


    Thankfully, none of the beasts that attacked them wereparable to the sixth level Demonic Spark Bear, even if they were at the same level.


    And their struggles lessened quite a bit when Nil also finally broke through to the fourth level, leaving only Mindle at the third level.


    Nil''s breakthrough was, like most breakthroughs to the next division, quite the spectacle. During the breakthrough, he practically turned into a radiant ball of polished silver as he hovered slightly in the air due to the mana fluctuations pushing him off the ground.


    Lucy and Toz made sure to keep the light shining from Nil contained so it wouldn''t attract wild beasts to attack them and disturb Nil.


    Nil focused on condensing his mana as much as possible, forming a lump of liquid metal in his mana pool and squeezing his talent to its limits as he forced the mana pool to expand and fit more mana.


    While Nil broke through and Toz and Lucy were hiding the group from the outside world, Toz was pretty sure he heard sounds of fighting pretty close to where the group had taken cover.


    Nil, while reading the grimoire, had abruptly felt like he should break through, so the group had rushed to find arge rock and its shadow to use as natural cover from their surroundings.


    Toz couldn''t be sure since the shadows containing the light radiating from Nil also hindered their sight, but he was pretty sure that there were sounds of lightning andbat on the other side of therge rock that towered above them.


    Nil finished his breakthrough with ir as he spread tendrils of metal through the ground that grew and transformed into a tiny forest of silver trees. By chance, a beast who had been attracted by the initialmotion Nil had stirred up, that Toz and Lucy hadn''t been quick enough to block, was close to the forest.


    The beast was a tiny fourth level desert lizard that was unprepared for the silver forest that sprouted around it. As it tried to flee in panic, its movements alerted the trees. The leaves on the trees started falling down and, like knives, cut open the lizard. And then, when a tree ran out of leaves, it copsed and fell on top of the lizard.


    Although what Nil had just done wasn''t quite at the level of a spell, it was certainly beyond what ordinary magic could create in such a short period of time.

 Chapter 118 Thunderstorm (1)

    ?Nil looked at the lizard''s shredded corpse and the forest of silver trees around it with satisfaction.


    During his breakthrough, he had understood a lot more of what the spell Sharp Rain was, and Nil had even managed to incorporate it with his own magic. Although the silver forest wasn''t yet as powerful as thepleted spell would be, the ease with which he created it wasn''t easily aplished without using the foundations of the spell.


    Since the forest drained a lot of mana, Nil dispelled it after having tried it out. He happily received the congrattions and adoration of the others. And his already shiny fur that had gotten even glossier after the breakthrough shone with pride.


    With another one in their group at the fourth level, their travels grew slightly easier as they didn''t have to rely on only Toz and Lucy to deal with the dangers that popped out.


    After a few days of walking through a rtively stale in, Mindle also felt like it was enough and decided she wanted to reach the fourth level. Ever since Nil had broken through, she hadn''t been able to do anything to help the group when fighting. By the time she charged a fireball or conjured an attack powerful enough to damage the beast, it was already defeated.


    Even with the increased understanding of fire and how that helped her increase the power of her magic, Mindle still wasn''t satisfied and felt like the only way to begin helping the group was to break through to the fourth level. And it wasn''t like she was rushed needlessly either. She was confident that she could reach the fourth level andpress her mana enough so she won''t have to worry about improving in the future.


    After conveying her wishes to the group, they found a ce where they could let Mindle break through without having to worry about distractions.


    While breaking through in Toz''s familiar space wouldn''t necessarily create anyplications, if they were unlucky, the mana could run out, forcing the breakthrough to end prematurely.


    Eventually, the group found a group of rocks where they could set up camp and protect and cover Mindle to make sure she gets as much time as she wants to gather andpress as much mana as possible.


    Based on Mindle''s previous breakthroughs, which tended to be shier than when the others broke through within the same division, it wouldn''t be surprising if her breaking through to the medium level was ever more extreme. In case Mindle unleashed some eye-catching phenomenon while she broke through, attracting the attention of any nearby beasts or possible rogues, the other three had to be prepared to defend with all their might and make sure Mindle isn''t disturbed.


    If she is lucky, the breakthrough will just end early, reducing the effects her breakthrough would have gotten her and lowering her future potential. But if Mindle is unlucky, her mana pool might shatter. For an ordinary human or beast, that would merely mean they be crippled without being able to use mana.


    But for Mindle, whose existence and body rely on her mana, that might mean death.


    She started her breakthrough just like the other three had done, carefully gathering her mana in the center of her mana pool and condensing it, creating a flowing firey substance to rece the previous orange mist.


    It proceeded smoothly up until the point where she absorbed and converted the surrounding mana to furtherpress the mana in her mana pool while at the same time forcing the mana pool to expand.


    It had nothing to do with Mindlecking in any way. It was simply an unlucky time to break through.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The ne they were on wasn''t called Roaring Skies because it was thest name of the person who first discovered the ne. The name Roaring Skies came from the thunderstorms that sometimes appeared.


    Right when Mindle was nearing the end of her breakthrough, one such thunderstorm showed itself on the horizon, and within a few moments, it was hanging in the sky above Toz and the others.


    One of the reasons the group had looked forward to their travels through Roaring Skies was because they were hoping to experience the rumored magical sight of such a thunderstorm.


    But when it finally appeared above them, none of them were happy.


    Mindle was in the middle of her breakthrough. Although the thunderstorm hadn''t unleashed its merciless violence upon the ne yet, the group could feel the air trembling, and the mana wasn''t excluded.


    Mana that Mindle needed to convert and absorb to further progress in her breakthrough. Something that had gotten a lot more difficult following the lightning attribute mana''s response to the thunderstorm''s arrival.


    And that was only the beginning. When the thunderstorm actually began making itself known, the shing lightning and rumbling thunder would be enough to severely affect Mindle''s concentration, even with the other three working to keep as much outside interference away from her.


    Lucy could use darkness to keep the brightness of the lightning and the noise of the thunder away from Mindle, but against the might of the thunderstorm, it wouldn''t be that effective.


    Toz and Nil could use lightning rods to make sure none of the lightning bolts will strike their group, but there is no way to guarantee how much lightning will fall and how much of a ruckus it will cause.


    And that is only for the parts of the thunderstorm itself that will affect Mindle in her breakthrough.


    With the spectacle that each and every such thunderstorm creates and how much lightning attribute mana there is in one, most beasts with the lightning attribute are drawn to them.


    If they are unlucky, and several beasts stumble upon their group taking cover from the thunderstorm, it wouldn''t be strange if the Toz, Nil, and Lucy are unable to handle everything. Keeping Mindle safe from both beasts and the distractions of the thunderstorm would prove to be one extreme challenge. A challenge that they couldn''t avoid even if they wanted to.


    Mindle had noticed the ruckus and the agitated mana, but she felt the other three working hard to keep her surroundings calm. She trusted them and focused even harder onpleting her breakthrough. Although she wanted to rush, doing that might harm her and make the group''s efforts meaningless.

 Chapter 119 Thunderstorm (2)

    ?Before the thunderstorm got into the full swing of things and started pouring down lightning, Toz, Nil, and Lucy had managed to create a space around Mindle that should keep her safe and as much of the noise and light from the lightning and thunder as possible, away from her.


    Toz and Nil had erected lightning rods several meters high in arge circle around the rock formation they used as camp. Hopefully, they would attract any lightning that would have otherwise struck close to Mindle.


    Lucy had used the rocks and the darkness that had followed the thunderclouds blotting out the sun to create a concentrated dome of darkness around Mindle. It would keep the disturbance from the thunderstorm away from Mindle. It would hide Mindle''s bright and firey breakthrough from any other beings in their surroundings. The dome of darkness would also help keep the mana within it steady and help Mindle absorb and convert it.


    Although Toz was impressed with the dome and wanted topliment Lucy, this wasn''t the time.


    The first lightning bolt had shed down to the ground, and the thunder had begun roiling.


    The thunderstorm had a soft start, but it didn''tst. It didn''t take long for lightning bolts, rivaling those from the Lightning Clouds above Sleepless Brights, to rain down on the ground like toys of a spoiled child throwing a tantrum.


    The lightning bolts caused both the sky and the ground to shake with each impact.


    And the thunder from each ovepping lightning strike stacked together, mounting into enormous rumbling that shook the sky.


    As the thunder continued building, it didn''t just sound like thunder anymore. Saying that it sounded like the sky itself was roaring like some primordial beast was more urate.


    Despite all the heavy noise and disturbance, Toz and Lucy worked hard to keep the dome intact. And Mindle retained her focus as shepressed her mana.


    But with each lightning bolt hitting the lightning rods, one of them went down. And with the safety of lightning rods no longer drawing the lightning away from the group, the lightning boltsnded closer and closer to them.


    Thankfully the rain wasn''t heavy, but that was only inparison to the lightning and thunder. As soon as Nil left the cover of the rocks to set up more lightning rods and try to at least dy the inevitable, he got soaked, and his wet fur stuck close to his body.


    The water sshed and rained down from atop the rocks Toz and Lucy were using as cover. Cold water ran down Toz''s wet hair and down his back.


    The only one not affected by the water was Mindle. The dome blocked everything except mana. And the few times it cracked, letting water slip in, due to the sky shaking or the extreme fluctuations that followed when a lightning bolt struck slightly too close to the group, the water evaporated.


    Although it couldn''t be seen from outside the dome of darkness, Mindle''s breakthrough was reaching its climax. And the heat she emitted as she focused onpressing the mana instead of controlling the heat it gave off was enough to make the air around her shimmer.


    Unlike the time during her birth when the heat had been enough to even melt the air around her egg, this time, it was happening on a fifth level ne.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Humans and beasts weren''t the only ones who got stronger at higher levels. nes did too. Otherwise, they wouldn''t be able to withstand the shing of the creatures living on it.


    Compared to the first level ne, First Ignition, Roaring Skies, was much more durable. The ground would require a greater impact to st apart, and a much higher temperature would be needed for the air to twist and shimmer merely due to heat.


    But despite nearing the end of her breakthrough, Mindle wasn''t in the clear yet. And the worst the thunderstorm had to offer was yet toe.


    During the few seconds of margin Toz got while working to keep the dome intact, he saw more and more beasts appearing in the clouds and on the ground.


    The number of beasts grew in tandem with the thunderstorm. It was impossible to determine where the lightning manifested by the beasts ended and where the thunderstorm began.


    But as the thunderstorm stepped up its intensity, it soon grew too much for the lightning rods that Nil was setting up, to handle. During the time it took Nil to set one rod up, two would be destroyed by the ferocious lightning.


    The lightning strikesnded closer and closer to Toz and the cats. The dome cracked more often due to the increased turbulence of mana that the thunderstorm caused.


    All three of Mindle''s helpers could feel how her mana fluctuated unstably and was on the verge of escaping Mindle''s control.


    Though Mindle could hold on for the moment, if the situation got any worse, the breakthrough could fail.


    And the lightning continued creeping closer to the group, forcing Toz and Lucy to focus more on repairing the dome than on reinforcing it. Nil did his best to draw the lightning away from the rock formation. But despite his newly acquired fourth level of power, there was only so much he could do.


    It didn''t take long for a lightning bolt to find its way right next to the group, cracking open the dome of darkness like an egg. Mindle''s entire body trembled, and her mana was a hair away from slipping out of her control. But thanks to Toz and Lucy instantly fixing the dome and restoring the calm within it, Mindle surpassed that incident.


    Toz was thankful that the lightning strike had been a weak one that only cracked the dome.


    However, he seemed to have jinxed it as he saw a much more powerful lightning bolt coalesce in the clouds right above them. Toz felt the lightning attribute mana gather together and begin streaming downward, pointing out the path that the bolt would travel.


    Toz was prepared for the worst and aimed to intercept the lightning bolt headed directly for Lucy''s dome using a chain connecting two lumps of metal, one of which he threw into the sky to catch the lightning bolt. And with the other lump of metal at the opposite end of the chain resting on the ground some distance away from their camp, hopefully, the lightning strike wouldn''t affect Mindle too much.


    However, the power loaded within the lightning bolt was too much for the hastily made chain, and when the lightning bolt was half the way across it, the chain burst apart, freeing the lightning that headed directly to the ground.

 Chapter 120 Thunderstorm (3)

    ?From the time that the signs of a lightning bolt first appeared in clouds above the group, only a second had passed. Toz had just enough time to throw his improvised lightning-catching trinket before the lightning would strike.


    And while Toz could perceive that the chain snapped and the lightning would continue straight down and strike at, or close to, the dome of darkness shielding Mindle, he couldn''t stop it in time.


    Lucy and Nil also saw the lightning reaching down toward where Mindle was as the world slowed down.


    The lightning crawled through the air, and Toz felt like he was moving through mud as he tried to redirect the bolt using his sword, despite knowing in his heart he wouldn''t make it in time.


    They could only hope that Mindle pushes through and won''t get too seriously injured when her breakthrough ends up failing.


    However, the moment before the lightning bolt hit the dome, it was redirected and flew off into the distance before striking the ground.


    Toz sensed that someone had manually steered the lightning strike away, but he couldn''t afford to spend any thought on who or why as he still needed to keep the dome steady from the rest of the thunderstorm.


    But after the incident where a powerful lightning bolt almostnded right on the dome of darkness, no more lightning bolts struck the ground close to them.


    Toz couldn''t be sure if it was just a coincidence or if it was rted to what had happened with the lightning bolt that could have doomed Mindle.


    Although the thunderstorm continued raging without any signs of calming down any time soon, a tiny area surrounding the group was calmer than its surroundings. It gave the three working hard to support Mindle a chance to rest and recover slightly.


    Finally, after what felt like days of lightning and thunder, things calmed down, and the sun peeked through the scattering clouds.


    Toz had gotten so used to the endless rumbling and roiling thunder that he felt like he had gone deaf when the world returned to silence again. Although his ears only stayed numb for a short while, letting him focus on more important things, such as Mindle finishing her breakthrough.


    Lucy had been too tired to retain the dome, and as soon as things quietened down enough for it to not be needed, he let the dome fade away. The dome''s disappearance revealed the glowing and burning mass of fire and mana that hovered slightly above the ground.


    After things calmed down enough, Mindle sensed that if she took her time, she could push her breakthrough even further, letting her mana and power grow stronger. If Toz and the others had still been pushing their limits trying to keep her protected, she might not have been able to focus so wholeheartedly on her breakthrough.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But when the lightning stayed away from her breakthrough, it gave her the opportunity to notice how malleable her mana pool was. Unlike the other three, whose mana pools couldn''t withstand being forcibly expanded too much without the risk of cracking, Mindle''s just kept expanding the more mana she squeezed into it.


    And since the mana pool needed slightly more force to expand than her mana needed to bepressed, Mindle managed to condense her mana as well.


    However, despite being more malleable than others, Mindle''s mana pool also had a limit and couldn''t stand being pushed too far, so when Mindle felt like it would shatter if she tried squeezing in more mana, she started finishing off her breakthrough.


    It had taken a long time, but it was definitely worth it based on the power of the inferno that formed around her as she retook her feline shape. The heat of the mes that flowed like waves, with her in the center, was enough to melt the ground into a puddle.


    But with Mindle''s excellent control, despite the leap in power, the mes and heat didn''t touch Toz and the other two cats, and the sea of mes parted ways for those three.


    The amount of fire that spread out was testament to how greatly Mindle''s capacity for mana had increased. In that way, the thunderstorm had helped her since it had caused the amount of mana in its surroundings to increase. Although the mana was more vtile, it was also more abundant. Mindle had to work harder when converting and absorbing it, but it was also easier to absorb more mana at once and inrger quantities, forcing her mana pool to ept more mana andpress it into a denser mass.


    Mindle drew in the mes to herself like a bottomless pit, finally revealing herself to the others.


    Although there wasn''t a difference in her appearance, the mes her fur was made of flickered with slightly more vitality and seemed more corporeal than before.


    Mindle epted the heartfelt congrattions of the other three with pride. She had finally caught up to the others after all her hard work, and she would finally be able to contribute on an equal level. She would no longer have to be coddled and supported as soon as something happened.


    And she was more grateful for all the help she received during her breakthrough than apologetic. The next time something happened, she would be the one to help the others, not the other way around.


    The group had been too busy to celebrate and huddle around the ecstatic Mindle to pay much attention to their surroundings. Aside from the awareness of malicious or killing intent toward them, they didn''t care much. They were tired from protecting Mindle during the thunderstorm and let down their guard slightly.


    Mindle was busy reveling in the fact that she was no longer clearly the weakest of the group and was also slow to catch the presence that had appeared next to the group in a sh.


    When the group first noticed it, they didn''t have the leeway to carefully analyze the presence and quickly became wary as they grouped together, preparing to attack or defend.

 Chapter 121 Celebratory Dinner (1)

    ?But when the group faced the presence that had appeared and surprised them, their vignce died down. It wasn''t some vicious beast attempting to ambush them when they were rxed. It was the purple cat they had med back in Tumbling Thunder Forest and who had been following them from a distance for some time now.


    However, it had been some time since theyst saw it up close. The purple cat had regained all the strength it lost from the ritual and it was obvious from a nce its body was filled with explosive power, ready to surge forth at a moment''s notice. The scars were still there, but on the muscle-bound body, they looked like they fit perfectly. The hidden ferocity and power were what had gotten Toz and the others to react so intensely.


    But looking at the calm, and slightly anxious expression of the purple cat all those impressions disappeared.


    Toz was the only one who noticed the reversed positions the two parties had this timepared to the first meeting with each other. Although the wariness and preparation to fight a way out weren''t there, all of them just looked at each other, waiting for someone else to talk first.


    Eventually, the purple cat mumbled out,


    "I-Is she okay?"


    That was all the confirmation the group needed that the dark purple cat had helped them avoid the worst of the thunderstorm. It was also a sign that the purple cat was ready to get morefortable with their group.


    Unless the purple cat had passed out and missed the show that Mindle put on when she broke through, it would be impossible for it to be unaware that Mindle broke through with great sess.


    But simply asking that question showed the purple cat''s willingness to interact with the group.


    Although both Toz and the three cats already bonded with him and the purple cat knew that the question was only a way for the purple cat to begin getting closer to them, Mindle still replied politely to keep up appearances and not put the purple cat on the spot.


    Since asking the purple cat to officially join them as soon as it talked to them wouldn''t be nice, Toz invited it to join them for a celebratory dinner.


    The dinner was to celebrate a lot of things the group had done so far on their journey. Defeating the Scorched Eart Rat King and taking revenge on the rats, they hadn''t ever gotten around to really taking a moment and appreciating themselves for that, despite knowing how threatening the Rat King had been.


    Then it was all the things they had done so far in Roaring Skies. Stalling the Demonic Spark Bear and possibly saving an entire ne yet again, saving up enough money to buy three grimoires.


    And during both those events, meeting Mindle and the purple cat, who was still slightly awkward with their group and became embarrassed at the attention it got. As Toz lightly recounted what they had experienced and included the purple cat''s existence and their encounter with the purple cat, he almost made it sound like the purple cat had already officially joined them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But since Toz breezed through that part, focusing more on the other things they had done, the purple cat didn''t get the opportunity to even try and deny it. Not that it wanted to begin with. Instead, it joined the other three cats as they watched Toz begin preparing the dinner itself.


    The four cats watched eagerly, as Toz pulled a container big enough to fit a head inside out of arger pocket from within his coat.


    The container wasn''t anything borate or beautiful, but it had several enchantments on it. Even the cats who had been following him from the beginning didn''t know where Toz got it from or what was inside it.


    Toz flipped open the lid of the dark brown wooden box. The container released a small cloud of fog, revealing a chilled inside.


    The cats craned their necks, dying with curiosity to see what was inside. They were slightly disappointed when the box wasn''t filled to the brim with delicious meat. It only had a few pieces and strips of reddish-brown meat.


    Although a vorful scent was set free alongside the fog that escaped, the cats were a little doubtful that what looked like a few scraps would be enough for the five of them.


    The purple cat, still notpletely feeling like it was a part of the group, was about to say it didn''t need anything, but that would show its assumption it was being offered food, in addition to the invite to only physically be in their presence.


    Though, its worries were for naught, as Toz told them all not to worry. Seeing that the other three epted Toz''s words and indeed stopped worrying, the purple cat also didn''t do anything seemingly unnecessary. If the food really ran out, it could just quickly chase down a nearby beast.


    Toz had already prepared a campfire. During their endeavors with material gathering around Sleepless Brights, Toz had been forced to reorganize his coat pockets, and a lot of the umted firewood in his coat had been forced to go. It didn''t burn with enough heat to cook higher level ingredients.


    Instead, they had begun sourcing the firewood they needed for campfires from their surroundings. With both Mindle around, they didn''t need to worry about wet wood after all.


    Ever since he acquired the meat he was currently skewering, Toz had been uncertain of what to do with it. But after much deliberation, he decided it would be best to do something simple that he could handle, instead of trying somethingplex and ruining such a precious ingredient Toz went for something simple but extravagant.


    He had used pricy seasonings to match the meat''s rarity, both spices and marinade had been ufortably expensive until they got their rewards for the Demonic Spark Bear event.


    But after preparing the meat, and as the meat began heating up on the fire, almost the smell alone was worth the price it had cost.

 Chapter 122 Celebratory Dinner (2)

    ?Toz managed to show some restraint, but he fully understood the cats as they began drooling, their eyes filled with the sight of the pieces of meat roasting over the campfire.


    It wasn''t often that the group worried about the scent of their cooking attracting others and the beasts in their surroundings. But despite only having the mouthwatering aroma of the skewers on their minds, the cats worked together to make sure that the scent didn''t take off with the wind into the wilderness.


    While the meat continued roasting over the fire, the cats inched closer and closer. They knew that the meat would be the most delicious when it was finished cooking, and all the seasonings had reached their full potential due to the heat, but the glistening pieces of meat were practically irresistible.


    The only two who managed to show some restraint were Toz, and the purple cat, who stayed back slightly.


    Since the meat was far from ordinary, it took some time to fully cook it, despite using firewood from a fifth level ne, but eventually, it was finished.


    There had been enough meat to prepare a few morsels per skewer for all five of them.


    They all took the first bite at the same time. And the anticipation that the smell had built up wasn''t for nothing. The meat had a rich, deep, earthy taste filled with hints of smokiness. And each bite filled the mouth with juices.


    At first, they were worried that the meat would melt away since it was so soft and tender. But despite feeling like it would fall apart the moment they bit down, one piece stayed in the mouth for some time, allowing them to savor the taste fully before moving on to the next piece.


    And before they knew it, all the skewers had been licked clean.


    Although there was some dissatisfaction that the meat was no more, all of them felt full to the point where they weren''t sure they would have been able to handle another piece. But even if they hadn''t been able to fit it, they would have still eaten more of the meat if it were ced in front of them.


    With full bellies and sated hunger, the groupy down in silence to digest the food and look at the night sky or simply fall asleep.


    The purple cat settled down nicely next to Toz, fitting right in with the group, despite only having spent a single dinner with them.


    They knew that falling asleep in the middle of the wilderness wasn''t the wisest thing to do, but the drowsiness had already imed Lucy, and it was about to take down Nil and Mindle as well.


    Toz was slightly more at ease since he had arger stomach as a human, and the purple cat also managed to hold out, despite being curled up with its eyes closed.


    Eventually, after Nil and Mindle joined Lucy in thend of dreams about delicious meat, only Toz and the purple cat was left awake.


    The purple cat carefully opened one of its eyes to look at Toz and, despite seeing the closed eyes, could tell he was awake.


    Noticing that the others had fallen asleep, the purple cat thought that it might not have any other opportunities as good as this one to officially ept Toz''s offer.


    But uncertain of how to broach the topic of bonding with Toz, the purple cat decided to make small talk until Toz repeated his invitation.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "So... Delicious dinner, huh?"


    Toz opened one of his eyes and looked at the purple cat sideways.


    "Thank you for thepliment."


    "Umm, I noticed the meat was delicious. What beast was it from?"


    "I got a few pieces from the Scorched Earth Rat King that I and the others defeated some time back. Almost a shame they are so rare. Its meat was exquisite."


    The purple cat had heard Toz and the others mentioning the Scorched Eart Rats and their Rat King before but didn''t really know what kind of beast it was since it had lived most of its life on Roaring Skies.


    Upon the purple cat''s gentle continued questioning, Toz settled in and told it what the Scorched Earth Rats were, and after that, he told it about their journey so far. Simr to what he had done with Mindle when she first joined them.


    After Toz''s general storytelling, the purple cat also talked a little bit about itself. Though it seemed reluctant to talk about much or in detail, it at least told Toz its name. Scrael.


    Toz had a little difficulty in pronouncing it at first, but it lightened the mood as he was slightly off, allowing Scrael to interact more naturally with Toz as she corrected him.


    Eventually, even the conversation seemed to fall asleep and join the other cats, allowing Toz and Scrael to enjoy the night together. And then, without saying anything, Toz ced his right hand next to where Scrael was lying, with the symbol of his inclination upward.


    After seeing Toz''s hand next to her, and the symbol on it, Scrael knew that Toz had invited her to officially join them on their adventure. Though she didn''t want to appear too desperate by immediately reaching for the symbol, so she stretched and seemingly by ident came into contact with the symbol. And then, seemingly by ident, let her mana resonate with Toz''s mana, officially establishing their bond.


    Although nothing changed outwardly for them, they both felt the difference.


    Scrael could feel her vision better, and her sensitivity and affinity for mana in general spiked. There weren''t any unique or extraordinary differences, but she could clearly tell that it would be easier for her to train her mana and use magic in the future.


    Toz, on the other hand, had a more interesting experience as he felt a surge of electricity from his inclination. It was simr to the heat he had felt when he bonded with Mindle or the darkness he experienced with Lucy. Or the stability with Nil.


    After the numbing sensation faded, Toz could sense his affinity for the lightning attribute taking shape as he felt the surrounding mana begin moving toward him. And after trying it out, he could absorb the lightning mana in the air without trouble.


    Sparks shed in his slightly vertical pupils as he started practicing lightning magic at once.

 Chapter 123 Traveling To Treblor Forest (1)

    ?Toz was happy that he had established a bond with another cat type spirit beast, but he was also conflicted about having another elemental attribute that he needed to train. And considering his lightning attribute was at the first level, it would take some time to get it to the fourth level, even if he already had the experience with the three other attributes.


    With the time he needed to spend reading the grimoire and learning the spell in it, and with how much time he would spend walking, there wouldn''t be much time left for him to train his mana, which once again prompted him to try and find a way to train it while walking.


    Compared to the time in Sleepless Brights, before he reached the fourth level, he had an easier time controlling mana, especially the lightning mana still at the first level. Although it was apletely new element with its own unique behavior, it was still much more easily controlledpared to fourth level mana.


    And as soon as he got slightly more used to the quirks of the lightning mana, he began trying to use it to absorb the ambient lightning mana. Toz figured it would be easier if he didn''t need to convert the mana as well before absorbing it during his training-when-walking practice.


    Toz, while not sessful, managed to achieve something at least. He had just started figuring out a new way to train, so he wasn''t surprised that he didn''t seed on the first try, but when Toz expelled his own mana instead of absorbing the surrounding mana, he felt like it might be impossible after all.


    Toz couldn''t figure out a reason as to why the lightning mana in his bodypletely left him as soon as he released his iron grip on it so he could walk at the same time as he trained. While he didn''t fall when it happened, he did stumble, not to the cats'' surprise since everyone except Scrael had gotten used to it during his earlier attempts.


    Since he had just emptied out his lightning manapletely, even if he could convert some of his other mana into lightning, Toz took it as a sign that he should focus on walking for the time being. And instead of recklessly guessing and trying something that doesn''t have any basis for working, Toz would try to figure out why things don''t work.


    When Toz had moments that he wasn''t spending chatting with the cats or doing something that required his active thinking, he would spend them trying to figure out a way to convert and absorb mana while walking. He tried out the few ways and methods he came up with, to no sess.


    Trying to move the mana in a specific pattern matching his walk was disrupted as soon as there was the slightest deviation in his movements. If he stepped on a slightlyrger rock that made his foot tilt, his mana flow would disturb his body''s movements causing him to fall.


    Most other attempts ended in simr failure, and the only thing that Toz could determine was that he couldn''t move his mana in a way that would train it while walking at the same time. He could move mana in other ways, such as using magic while fighting, but since he needed to move it in a way that would train his mana, there wasn''t any purpose in doing anything else.


    While the group of five traveled together, getting to know Scrael better and letting Scrael get to know them better, they soon arrived at the first city on their way to Treblor Forest.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The City of Tiny Rumbling suited its name since it was more like a tiny town than a proper city. Though it didn''t need to be that big to cater to Toz and the cats'' needs since they only wanted to spend a night in the city, so they could get off the ground and clean themselves up a bit before continuing on their way.


    The group had managed to defeat a lot of beasts and harvest materials from them and the wilderness on the road between Sleepless Brights and Tiny Rumbling. After selling all of that, the group managed to make a decent amount, but not enough to purchase another grimoire. Although there probably weren''t any grimoires in Tiny Rumbling, to begin with.


    Since grimoires and eventual emergency supplies were the only things that the group wanted to spend their money on, they didn''t want to waste time needlessly on some interesting shopping in town. Toz, Nil, and Mindle, who had grimoires already, spent their free time while resting, reading them, and letting Lucy and Scrael hang out on their own.


    None of them minded, but Scrael found it a little difficult to interact with the ck kitten, who she was sure looked up to her for some weird reason. Lucy didn''t have any inhibitions in expressing how cool he thought Scrael''s scars and muscles were, but Scrael wasn''t used to interacting with others in ways that weren''t rted to fighting, so she merely grunted in response and tried to get Lucy focused on other things.


    So while Toz, Nil, and Mindle stayed in the room they rented, reading their grimoires, Lucy dragged Scrael around town. They found a nice spot on a roof where they could look at and judge people from.


    After spending enough time in Tiny Rumbling to recover from their time on the road, the group continued on to their next stop on the way toward Treblor Forest.


    Although they had reached the first checkpoint in their journey through Roaring Skies, there was still a fair bit left.


    While the idea was to walk most of the distance and take it slow, when there the opportunity arose, the group didn''t hesitate to hitch a ride or two. It didn''t happen often since they were mostly traveling straight through the wilderness, but when there were roads and a carriage passed by offering to give them a ride they would ept.


    It gave them, mostly Toz, a break from the monotonous walking and provided him with a chance to train his mana so he wouldn''t fall behind everyone else.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 124 Traveling To Treblor Forest (2)

    ?The group continued their travel toward Treblor Forest at a leisurely pace. If they wanted to take a detour and go for a swim in a nearbyke, they did that. And if something interesting was going on, like a wildfire or a battle, they would go watch, even if it would take them longer to reach Treblor Forest in the end.


    While the group aimed for Treblor Forest, at least half the point of the journey was the time spent traveling to the destination. If they spent time rushing and stressing to reach Treblor as soon as possible, they would only grow bored and no longer enjoy their journey.


    And so Toz didn''t stop Lucy from disappearing whenever he found something that caught his attention. A lot of the time, either Mindle or Scrael made sure to apany him. While Mindle openly joined Lucy when it was something that she also might find interesting, like a nest of ants that sizzled funnily on the tongue when eaten.


    However, Scrael tended to leave shortly after Lucy or Mindle did, using some excuse to not make it obvious she wasn''t secretly keeping watch over the cats who were still one level below her and not as experienced with the wilderness. But just like the others weren''t as experienced with the wilderness in Roaring Skies, Scrael didn''t have that much experience in deception. And she was quickly found out by Toz, who noticed Scrael only left on her own adventures whenever someone else had already left.


    Nil tended to stay close to Toz, but almost every time they got close to some kind ofrger gathering of water, he went off trying to catch some fish.


    Most of the time, Toz just kept walking in the same direction, but he also made some time for himself to enjoy his own interests or spend some time training his mana or reading his grimoire.


    Although nothing extreme or dangerous happened to any of the cats during their outings, there were more than a few times that they returned to Toz with some type of harvest. Either parts of a beast they had recently hunted that they wanted to share with Toz or have him cook it.


    But during parts of their travel that were more popr and where other travelers also frequently passed through, Lucy especially tended toe back with spatial rings and other storage treasures.


    Every time that happened, Scrael always came back slightly absent-minded. She also gradually stopped fussing each time Lucy went out for a private adventure and instead waited for him toe back.


    Staying behind more often gave Scrael more of a chance to get closer to Nil and Toz as well, so she didn''t mind trusting in Lucy''s andter also Mindle''s capabilities. Rather she feltforted having such reliablepanions having her previously lonesome back.


    Although the distance between Tiny Rumbling and Cerulean shes, their next checkpoint, wasn''t as great as the distance between Sleepless Brights and Tiny Rumbling, it still took a couple of weeks for them to reach Cerulean shes after leaving Tiny Rumbling.


    The city was markedly bigger than Tiny Rumbling, but despite the much more pleasant ambiance, it wasn''t asrge as Sleepless Brights, and it didn''t even take a day for the group to cross through the entire city. Although they were still going to stay in the city for a night, they wanted to see thergeke that stretched out on the other side of the city.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    And it was worth it since the clearkewater being lit up by the cerulean-colored lightning constantly shing above theke, and only above theke was a sight to see. As soon as a bolt of lightning strayed away from the light blue clouds directly above theke, it turned into a regr white lightning bolt.


    Since the phenomenon had begun before people settled next to theke, the mostmon theory was that it was the remnants of some weather-changing ritual.


    Aside from the special color, there was nothing different about the lightning, so while some explorers and researchers wanted to find out the truth and reality of the matter, they weren''t allowed, in case they disrupted the thunderclouds and caused them to disperse.


    It was also an important site for local beliefs and folklore that had grown forth over the years. With the azure color, some suspected that it might have been the burial site of a lightning dragon or some other type of mythical beast ages ago.


    Within the city, the shing lightning wasn''t that noticeable, but the clouds and the light the entire ce emitted gave the evening a soft blue glow.


    After doing the standard sightseeing and having rested enough, the group headed off, once again, toward their next checkpoint, which would also be the second tost they would stop at before reaching Treblor Forest.


    Their journey continued in a simr manner, but since they had already reached more than halfway, all of them felt satisfied since it meant it wouldn''t be long until they were at Treblor Forest.


    Although they were still making two stops before officially entering the forest, it still meant there were only two stops left before the real adventure began.


    Aside from the reckless wild beasts who attacked the group, or the asional bandit that slipped past Lucy, or that Lucy couldn''t be bothered to deal with during his outings, the group''s travels were mostly peaceful.


    They encountered one other thunderstorm like the one that had appeared during Mindle''s breakthrough. It wasn''t quite as powerful and intimidating, and no one was busy breaking through so the group got the opportunity to freely admire the sights of the various flying beasts soaring through the roaring skies, creatingrge images and webs of lightning in the skies.


    Thanks to the lingering lightning mana in the air Toz''s lightning attribute reached the second level. Compared to his other attributes, especially metal, and considering how long it had taken, it wasn''t noteworthy, but it gave Toz somefort. Even if he was busy traveling the world, he was still growing.

 Chapter 125 Dormant Thunder (1)

    ?City of Clear Skies was the group''s second tost checkpoint before they reached Treblor Forest. The city was a notch bigger than Cerulean shes, despite being located so close to two otherrge cities, Cerulean shes and the City of Dormant Thunder.


    Though considering how much traffic Treblor Forest attracted, there were a lot of cities on the way there that grew continuously, even if they popped up like weeds.


    Just like the other cities they passed through on their way, they didn''t stay for long.


    They could practically smell the scent of the forest beyond the horizon and feel how close they were getting. Scrael might be the one least restless since she hadn''t had enough time to build up anticipation regarding the forest, but the others wanted to keep moving even through the night, at least until they reached Dormant Thunder.


    But with Scrael''s insistence, the group stayed and rested for a few hours and then set off before dawn broke.


    Although they were practically at the finish line, it would still take a couple of days to cross the distance between Clear Skies and Dormant Thunder. Thankfully they were more focused on reaching Dormant Thunder than having fun along the way. Since they didn''t experience any dys or take any detours, the group arrived at Dormant Thunder in what felt like a sh.


    As thest city between human civilization and Treblor Forest, Dormant Thunder naturally had a lot of inhabitants at every moment, even if many who came to the city left shortly after for the forest.


    Still, Toz was incredibly surprised since the city was the most massive one they had encountered on their journey so far. At least in terms of the size of the city walls and the area it spanned.


    From afar, the city looked like someone had cut apart a mountain, only leaving the base and then evening it out. Though it had to have been one oversized mountain since, even from a distance, it was clear how imposing the walls were as they stretched toward the sky.


    The towering walls were made of a grey smooth stony material. And when Toz got close enough to take a proper look at them up close, he got the feeling that they were indestructible and hid a tremendous amount of power within.


    Toz closed Lucy''s mouth for him as he wouldn''t stop gaping at the walls, even when they entered the tunnel that led to within the city after passing through the security check. Toz only had to make use of his Explorer''s Badge and demonstrate it was his before they were let through to the tunnel, which wasrge enough to allow at least one Scorched Earth Rat King to pass through with a wide margin.


    Still, the tunnel was not much more than the size of a nostril on a humanpared to the rest of the wall.


    The tunnel stretched, and it would take at least half an hour for the group to walk through it. Since the outside light didn''t reach the depths of the tunnel, it was lit up by magicalmps. There were four rows ofmps glowing with soft yellow light, two on each side of the tunnel. One row followed the tunnel on the ceiling, and there was one row ofmposts in the center of the tunnel, dividing iing and outgoing traffic.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    On the opposite side of the walls, at the end of the tunnel, there was arge open area without any stationary buildings, only a lot of stalls. The vendors on each side of the street that led to the proper establishments of the city hollered and tried to sell their wares with energetical voices and movements.


    But since Toz and the cats were more interested in finding a ce to rest rather than anything they could find on the side of the street so congested, it looked like there was an audience to a popr street show crowding it.


    After leaving the close-to-empty boundary between the city walls and the city itself, the group found themself wandering aroundrge houses made of a simr material as the walls.


    It was everyone''s first time in Dormant Thunder, and in an attempt to find a ce quieter than the bottleneck entrance of the city, they had gotten lost. And the area they were currently in didn''t seem too densely popted, so they could only continue walking around until they found a ce that looked like an inn or a ce where they could ask for the location of an inn.


    After walking for a bit, the group left the area of boring grey two-story houses and arrived at a ce that looked like a residential area, where there were a lot more people around. Since it was a sign that the group was closer to where people lived, they didn''t bother asking for directions and continued enjoying their aimless walk through the city.


    As they walked around, Toz got a few weird looks, probably because he was surrounded by three colorful cats. Since Lucy was small and practically hidden within Toz''s ck hair, not many saw him, especially not since most of their attention was on the dark purple beast that walked right next to Toz.


    Although Scrael was clearly a cat type beast, she was tall enough that her back reached Toz''s knees. And her menacing eyes, as she looked around, had some people on guard.


    Toz had said they didn''t need to ask for directions, but with Scrael intimidating anyone who got too close, it would be difficult to ask someone without it looking like a mugging or bullying.


    The group had only covered a fraction of the city as they walked the entire day before finally finding a ce that looked like an inn with avable rooms.


    It was a tiny building with merely five rooms. With its location and how all but one room was avable, it was unclear how it was still running and whether or not the inn was the owner''s main business.


    But since they would have the entire next day to find another inn, they didn''t mind but made sure to sleep with one eye open.

 Chapter 126 Dormant Thunder (2)

    ?Although Dormant Thunder was a huge city, and it would probably be interesting to look around, the group''s main target was Treblor Forest, and Dormant Thunder was only a stop they would make on the way there.


    But Toz at least wanted to find a less suspicious inn and get proper rest before entering the forest. They also needed to visit the local Explorer''s Guild branch office. They had read up on the Treblor Forest before they left for Roaring Skies, but there was no feasible way their information could rival the information avable at the guild branch located directly next to the forest.


    And, with the group''s current strength, they wouldn''t make the crossing through the forest to reach the seventh level ne on the other side. With Toz''s fifth level badge, getting official permission and reaping the rewards of their harvests during their journey through the forest would also be impossible.


    Toz found the way back to the main street, and as he had expected, he found the guild building along it. Since it had taken them arge part of the day to walk around the city until they found themselves there, the building was rtively empty.


    But that was only in consideration of the building''s total size. Toz couldn''t determine how tall it was in detail, but it was wider than several of the shops around the street put together. So even with more than twenty people milling about, there weren''t any signs of hustling and bustling. Several of the desks were even empty since there wasn''t any need for them to be open for business.


    Toz didn''t attract as much attention when he entered the building as when he walked around town since the cats had retreated back into the familiar space. And only a few people nced at his entry before they ignored him.


    The exception was the receptionist who watched him approach her.


    Toz asked for information on nearby inns and whatever he might need for an expedition into the Treblor Forest. The receptionist pointed out a few inns in the surrounding part of town without issue, but when it came to information regarding the forest, Toz was limited in what he could receive due to his fifth level badge.


    A sixth level badge would be needed for most of the information on the part of the forest located on Roaring Skies, and if Toz wanted information on the two other parts of the forest, he would need at least a seventh level badge. But as Toz was now, he was far from being eligible to earn a sixth level Explorer''s Badge, so he made do with the information he could get.


    With the way things had developed, it looked like Toz and the cats, would return to Dormant Thunder a couple of times at least. They would explore fifth level danger zones of the forest for a while, and when they feel like it or Toz is strong enough for the sixth level badge, they will return to the city.


    The group spent the rest of the day in the inn the receptionist had rmended them. They made sure to get proper rest and to train and read grimoires. They were finally heading into the Treblor Forest the next day, so they were too restless to justze around doing nothing.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Although they said they would rest, none of them cked off and were instead doing as much as they could to prepare themselves for their adventure.


    Despite not having slept as much as they maybe ought to have, the group set off practically almost in the middle of the night.


    Since they would have to walk through more than half the city before reaching the side closest to the forest, they wanted to get an early start, so they didn''t enter the forest directly at sunset. None of them had a problem seeing in the darkness, but when in someone else''s territory that they werepletely unfamiliar with, walking around in the darkness would attract unnecessary danger, and doing that the first night in the forest seemed like a waste.


    The tunnel leading out of the city wasn''t nearly as big as the one leading into it from the other direction. But since it was pointed directly at the forest and would be the first target of an eventual stampede or attack, having a small tunnel would be easier to block off and defend. And after being blocked off, the tunnel would be easier to clear since not a lot of material was needed to fortify it.


    The constantly yawning guard let Toz through without any issue as soon as he showed his badge.


    After they cleared the tunnel, the group could finally see the forest off in the distance, stretching far to each side of the horizon, so far they couldn''t even see where it ended as the trees looked so small due to the distance.


    And between the city and the forest was a whole lot of nothing. Aside from a single road that went straight almost directly to the forest, everything else in sight was t grass-coverednd. There were a few herds of cattle roaming around on the ins, grazing and keeping the grass trimmed short.


    Toz didn''t know if the cattle belonged to the city or not, but in any case, they helped the city with its defensive preparations. With the short grass and the t ground, as long as the beasts don''t dig tunnels, there wouldn''t be any way they could sneak up on the city. And as soon as the watchers on top of the walls saw approaching beasts, they would alert the city defenses, making it impossible for an attack to seed.


    Toz and the cats enjoyed the breeze filled with the scent of grass as they started walking toward the Treblor Forest that they had so eagerly anticipated arriving at.


    The size of the forest made it difficult to judge how far away it was, but eventually the group stood right in front of the first line of trees.

 Chapter 127 First Expedition Into The Forest

    ?Toz and the others had started thinking about Treblor Forest''s name as they got close enough to identify specific details. They had known since the beginning that the trees would berge, but they had expected a forest to be something more like the Tumbling Thunder Forest or the forest in First Ignition.


    Treblor Forest was more like a jungle as therge trees didn''t grow straight to the sky and instead snaked and curved around themselves and each other. The only branches and leaves were those at the very top of the tree, and they drooped down like ears, some almost reaching the ground.


    Although the trees weren''t covered in their own leaves, various nts and different types of vegetation grew on and between the trees. Green-blue moss covered the underside of the trunks, and vines stretched like ropes between the crooked trees.


    Toz knew from the information he had received from the guild that the forest right outside the city didn''t have that much lightning attribute mana in it. And as the group crossed the line between the nds and the forest, they felt the difference in the air. The barely noticeable static that had constantly surrounded them turned into a soft feeling of being in the middle of a forest. The feeling was barely noticeable and disappeared as they adjusted to the different mana.


    The group entered the forest. Despite the vegetation and theck of easily traversable paths hindering their efficiency of travel, they didn''t mind. Especially not Lucy, who hitched a ride on Toz''s head whenever he felt like it.


    Sometimes the ground was covered in such a denseyer of nts that instead of forcing their way through, the group climbed up on the trees and walked and jumped across them instead of walking on the ground.


    It would be easy to get lost in such aplex maze that had paths both vertically and horizontally, but unlike in Sleepless Brights and Tumbling Thunder, they could use the sun and stars as help when navigating and trying to find their way back to Dormant Thunder.


    They weren''t looking for anything specific as they strolled and climbed through the forest, but a city the size of Dormant Thunder was bound to have grimoires of various attributes flowing through it. If they could harvest a bunch of materials during their expeditions in the beginner-friendly areas they would begin with, they could begin earning money to purchase another grimoire.


    But there wasn''t a need to rush, so the group took their time enjoying the scenery and inspecting anything that caught their attention. They also spent a lot of time hunting whatever beasts seemed interesting. Since they were performing strenuous exercise whenever they traveled the slightest distance, they quickly grew hungry.


    With both Mindle and Toz in their group, they didn''t have to worry about starting any forest fires, no matter how many times they lit a fire to cook their prey. And if the scent attracted any interested beasts that seemed too keen to feast for their own good, they would have arger meal than expected.


    Despite not actively looking for resources, with Toz harvesting the parts of the beasts they caught that weren''t edible and the group plucking various nts that looked valuable, Toz quickly found his empty spatial rings and coat pockets running out.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Since they had noticed that, they started heading back so they could offload their harvest and maybe get a night''s rest that wasn''t interrupted by the howling and screeching of wild beasts fighting and dying in the forest somewhere around them.


    Taking a breather in Dormant Thunder would also allow them to explore the city, which at first nce, seemed pretty boring and single-faceted. But a ce called Dormant Thunder was bound to sit on some secrets.


    Between their expeditions, it would be fun to switch up the forest exploration with urban exploration.


    The results of the group''s first expedition into Treblor Forest were slightlyckluster, but they still had fun as they went around the area they first encountered. Even if they hadn''t encountered anything that stood out, it wasn''t a weird or unexpected urrence. They went into Tumbling Thunder Forest several dozens of times before something extraordinary happened.


    It was just that Treblor Forest had greater potential and greater odds of something like an extremely rare beast or treasure appearingpared to most other ces. And its main attraction was the second part of the forest that connected the two nes through the Void.


    And with the size of Treblor and all the various regions within, there were bound to be a bunch of exciting things that the group could stumble upon while walking around aimlessly in the jungle. Even if they walked and explored the same ce several times, they could find something new every time since it wasmon knowledge that the forest changed, grew, and moved around.


    The group hadn''t noticed any of that during their first trip into the forest, which wasn''t weird since most people only noticed the forest''s movements after it had moved and the familiar environment had changed. It had led to many people going missing because they weren''t able to use the sky to navigate or didn''t remember in which direction Dormant Thunder or the closest exit to the forest was located. Then before they noticed, they had wandered into the territory of some beast they couldn''t afford to provoke.


    Toz''s group had been careful to take note of where the sun was at which point of the day and when it would be able to point them toward Dormant Thunder, but they couldn''t exclude wild beasts possessing strange abilities in a ce such as the Treblor Forest. If they fell into an illusion without noticing, they might be heading deeper into the forest instead of leaving it.


    As the group discussed what kinds of creatures might target them and what might happen to them, they only got more and more excited at figuring out ways to deal with it in the moment.


    Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, the group didn''t experience any mishaps on their way back to the city and the guild.

 Chapter 128 Second Expedition Into The Forest

    ?Toz and the cats hadn''t ventured that deep into the forest, nor had they harvested any truly precious or rare materials, so they didn''t get that much money when they sold everything. Compared to the time when they had exclusive ess to the bountiful rewards in Tumbling Thunder Forest, there were also a lot of other explorers entering and exiting the forest that brought with them materials each and every time, driving down the market price.


    But, the group didn''t care that much since their goal wasn''t money, but just in case they did manage to get enough to buy something expensive like a grimoire, it would be convenient to know where they were sold. While rxing after their first trip into Treblor Forest, they walked around the city, this time with a map.


    As they walked around town, they came across the inn they had stayed at during the first night. They had expected the same empty establishment. But unlike during their stay, several figures entered the building. Toz wouldn''t have thought much of it if it wasn''t for the figures beingpletely covered, with not a single spot of their skin or appearance showing.


    They wore ordinary traveling clothes, durable, but their hands were wrapped in bandages, and their heads were covered in dark hoods and cloths hanging over their faces.


    But since they merely looked strange, Toz and the cats didn''t think much further about it.


    The map they had bought was of pretty low quality and not big enough to fit the names of all the shops in the city, so they were forced to look around a lot in order to try and find some ce that looked like it sold grimoires. But they didn''t find anything during their first attempt, and they didn''t want to waste time finding something they couldn''t even currently purchase. Instead, they left for Treblor Forest again.


    This time they decided to go deeper into the forest at the beginning of their trip instead of drifting wherever they felt like going. Stronger beasts and more interesting things were bound to be found deeper inside the forest, where not as many explorers ventured after all.


    Their theory that stronger beasts hid deeper into the forest was proven right by a monkey type spirit beast with two pairs of thin membranous wings that attacked them.


    The monkey traveled through the forest at an incredible speed but without making a single noise as itbined its swinging through the trees with the flutter of its wings.


    Right before arriving at the group tounch its attack, the monkey stripped the bark of thest tree it touched, wrapping it around its arms and fists.


    The monkey aimed at Toz who was the biggest target, and more specifically at the head. The monkey''s tactic was usually to build up momentum beforeunching a single strike that was enough to either kill or incapacitate its target in one strike.


    Unfortunately, it was bound to fail since Toz had noticed the monkey''s arrival and read the trajectory of its fist. While the monkey was fast, probably faster than Toz at its fastest since it was a fifth level spirit beast, it wasn''t so fast that Toz didn''t have enough time to duck.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    And as Toz ducked, what looked like a tuft of his hair at first, jumped. Toz wasn''t the only one who had noticed the monkey and its attack. All the cats had as well, which included Lucy, who was rxing on Toz''s head.


    Lucy jumped and avoided the monkey''s strike, but he didn''tnd on Toz again. Before the monkey flew by and escaped, Lucynded on its shoulder, after which he easily stretched a paw to the monkey''s head.


    While his magic worked perfectly fine from a distance, Lucy had noticed that if he had direct contact with his target, he could easier and quicker gain control over their mental shadows. Against demonic creatures like the three robed figures and the Demonic Spark Bear in Tumbling Thunder Forest, that hadn''t mattered since their minds had been made of pure darkness. But Lucy noticed it wasn''t quite as effective against humans and beasts who usually only had a fragment of their mind veiled in darkness.


    However, if Lucy was in direct contact with his prey, he could fill the target''s mind with his own shadows and do the same thing he had done toward the demonic creatures.


    With a jolt and a whine, the flying monkey lost control of its body and crashed through a couple of trees head first. Lucy had taken cover behind the head and climbed off the monkey''s spasming body after it stopped at the end of a track plowed through the vegetation.


    Lucy looked at the others with pride as he finished off a fifth level spirit beast all alone in an instant. Toz naturally gave him his duepliments before proceeding to roughly dismantle the spirit monkey. The materials from a spirit beast, especially a spirit beast who was obviously a cross between two different types, could be worth a lot.


    If the wings were inherited from a parent whose wings were valuable but usually came in much smaller sizes, they would fetch a decent amount. But they could also be from a prettymon spirit beast variant of a wild beast. In that case, they wouldn''t be very valuable. However, the only way the group had of finding out would be to go to the guild and ask them for an evaluation.


    Toz and the cats looked around for a few more materials before heading back to Dormant Thunder.


    Their second expedition had ended earlier, but the spirit monkey''s body had taken up a lot of storage, and it was about time they went to another region of the forest to explore.


    The materials they harvested from the monkey, while not extremely valuable, were worth more than everything they had harvested during their first expedition. Going deeper into the forest had paid off, in addition to being slightly more exciting since they had been attacked by a spirit beast.

 Chapter 129 Third Expedition Into The Forest

    ?Like they had done during their break between the first and second trip to the jungle, Toz and the cats strolled around Dormant Thunder, letting their minds wander and rx. Walking through the jungle where an ambush coulde anytime from any ce, the group needed to stay alert and on guard all the time. Doing that would eventually begin straining them, so they appreciated the short time in the city where they didn''t have to be as careful constantly.


    However, even if Toz rxed and pondered on the contents of his grimoire, trying to understand it, he wasn''t distracted enough so that he wouldn''t notice the atmosphere in the city.


    They had only been in the forest for about a week during their second expedition, but during that time, the city had grown somber. The pedestrians still around hurried from ce to ce, regrly looking over their shoulders. It felt like more people traveled using carriages and with guards.


    Toz and the cats walked around like usual, but the mood in the city kept them on edge. It wasn''t until they asked at the guild before heading out for their third expedition that they found out a string of gruesome murders had taken ce all over the city.


    Violence in a city filled with explorers who took pride in their strength wasn''t umon. And while people rarely died, even if fights broke out, those were mostly idents or singr urrences.


    The gruesome killings that had taken ce in thest few days had been too extreme to be ruled idents, and the locations of the victims and murders made it clear that some psychopath was doing it for fun. The victims that had no simrities except being in Dormant Thunder were all tortured and almost torn to shreds in an alley before being dumped in the middle of a trafficked street or a square.


    Hearing that made Toz reconsider their strolls through the city. If even the city guards, who were filled with people at the sixth level and with several unique inclinations suitable for hunting down criminals, had trouble catching the culprit, Toz wasn''t confident he could guarantee his safety.


    Though, being the target of a renowned serial killer, or maybe even catching that serial killer, did sound pretty interesting. But since they were already on their way out of the city and headed for their third expedition into the forest, they might as well wait and see.


    If the serial killer is still on the loose after their next trip, they can try and catch it.


    The region of the forest they were headed for began deeper inside Treblor than the Crooked Branch region. It took the group a couple of days to reach the Rainforest region.


    Since the Rainforest region was a lot bigger and deeper within Treblor Forest than Crooked Branch, it wouldn''t be unreasonable to expect some pretty interesting dangers.


    Unlike the abrupt change in atmosphere between the area outside Treblor and the Treblor Forest itself, the environment and climate transition gradually between the two regions.


    The trees slowly straightened out and reached up to the sky, forming a dense cover of foliage that began blocking out the sunlight.


    The vines didn''t stretch between the trees and instead hung down the trunks of them.


    But the most significant change was the humidity in the air. Simply touching the trees left Toz with damp hands.


    Fighting on slippery trees would definitely prove a challenge, even if their foes turn out to be weaker than expected.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The group''s first opponent didn''t turn out to be dangerous in directbat. And while Toz struggled to retain his footing without adding spikes to his shoes with magic, the cats didn''t find any difficulties running and jumping on the trees as they spread out to avoid the first attack.


    The swarm of frogs was only at the fourth level, so they didn''t have a chance at trying to sneak up on the group and were noticed long before they arrived in front of Toz and the others.


    But their method of attack was devious, and the group only avoided the poison that came flying because they wanted to dodge the tongues that preceded that poison.


    Toz noticed the sizzling remains on the ground and was happy that the cats had been careful and evaded the attack.


    After the cats spread out, they encircled the swarm of frogs.


    With the humidity and how wet the surroundings were, Mindle didn''t have to worry about a forest fire even if she attacked at full st.


    Lucy and Nil stopped the frogs from fleeing, and Scrael chased down the ones that got through Lucy and Nil''s barricade or escaped the moment the first attack failed.


    Mindle continued spraying mes at the trapped frogs, eliciting panicked croaks as the frogs died.


    After some time, when most of the hundred or so fruit-sized frogs had died and turned into a poisonous crisp, the group was forced to back away due to the toxic green smoke that began wafting up and spreading through the air.


    The poison-filled frogs seemed to have started haunting the group as the poisonous smoke that was noticeably worse than the poison the frogs had spit out began drifting through the air in the direction of the Toz and the others.


    The poisonous fog didn''t dissipate and spread through the forest like a cloud, leaving a trail of poisoned and dying trees and vegetation.


    The group tried burning or sting away the poisonous fog with fire or lightning, but the attacks flew straight through the cloud, not having much effect.


    Thankfully the cloud didn''t move too fast, so the group had room to try different things and stop the fog. But even trapping it in a huge metal box dyed it. And that only shortly as the poisonous fog eroded the walls of the box and continued on its quest through the forest.


    When the group tried moving in a different direction to lose the fog following them, they noticed that it wasn''t actually the frogs'' remnants haunting them. The fog drifted in a set direction, probably due to outside interference.


    Seeing no reason to rein in their curiosity, Toz and the others switched ces with the cloud of poison and followed it as it drifted calmly through the forest. Though they made sure to stay clear of the remnant poison on the trees and the ground.

 Chapter 130 Expedition Into The Fog

    ?Toz and the cats followed the poison cloud deeper into the Rainforest region of Treblor Forest. The cloud sped up and slowed down a few times, but it didn''t stray from its path and continued straight ahead.


    Along the way, the group felt the humidity in the air rising, which shouldn''t be considered weird since they were heading deeper into the forest and further away from the edge of the Rainforest. But despite it being warm in the air, it was humid enough to start forming a slight mist that clung to the ground.


    Tiny droplets of water began gathering on the group member''s fur and clothes.


    But despite the ominous feeling that came with the increasing amounts of fog in the forest, the group continued following the poison cloud.


    That the cloud of poison was headed for this area of limited visibility due to the fog in the air was proof enough that something suspicious was going on.


    The information Toz had gotten from the guild had been superficial and didn''t contain a lot of details about each region, but he felt like something of the scale they were encountering now should have been mentioned.


    Though if it hadn''t been mentioned, it could mean something new had appeared in the forest. Or maybe something old had reappeared.


    In any case, it was an opportunity for Toz to live up to his work as an Explorer and explore the area of fog.


    The group continued deeper into the mist. Nil, Lucy, and Mindle had taken to riding on Toz''s shoulders and head since the mist had started reaching past Toz''s shins. Scrael, who was significantlyrger than the other three cats, was still tall enough to see over the mist with ease.


    It would also be slightly more difficult for her to climb up and ride on Toz as the other three had done.


    Despite barely having dissipated at all when it floated through the forest, the poison cloud was slowly assimted by the fog, and the further the cloud got, the less dense it got.


    But even without the cloud to guide their way, the group would only have to follow the direction set by thepass. They also noticed that the poison cloud they had inadvertently created wasn''t the only thing drawn into the mist by some mysterious power. Simr clouds and bits of fog came flying over from different directions now and then.


    Toz had no idea what the different clouds of different colors were, but some of them sent a chill down his spine as they passed by in the distance.


    But no matter how dangerous they looked or what effects they might have before they could reach the depths of the fog, all the clouds dissipated and were assimted to the light grey, almost white mist that had even started obscuring Toz''s vision further away than a few trees ahead.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Since the green cloud of poison that had led Toz and the cats to the fog, and partly through it, had dissipated into the mist, they could only rely on themselves and thepass to keep the right direction.


    Toz was slightly worried that they would get lost since it was bing nearly impossible to see the sun''s position through the mist and the foliage of the tree tops.


    One way to solve that would have been to climb the trees, but ever since they entered the area with the fog, the trees had started looking feeble and shorter than the trees outside the fog. It would be fine if they were wet and slippery due to the humidity since the cats had ws sharp enough to dig into the trees, and Toz could use magic to climb.


    But if the trees weren''t tall enough to leave the range of the mist or reached high enough for Toz to see past the other trees, it wouldn''t matter, even if he could climb them.


    But the attraction of the fog''s mystery was too alluring for the group to retreat in fear of getting lost. Instead, they made sure to keep constant track of thepass and left traces on the ground and trees they passed through.


    Every few minutes, they would look back andpare thepass''s direction with how straight their traces were. If their tracks curved while thepass remained unchanged, or thepass had changed direction while the tracks remained straight, they would know if they were lost or not.


    Though they wouldn''t be able to tell if their traces had been curved and then made to look straight or fit with the direction shown by thepass.


    Eventually, the fog was bing so thick and dense that Toz could barely see the tip of his own nose, and he had to hold thepass right in front of his eye to look at it. Not that it did much since they couldn''t see their tracks andpare. The group walked deeper into the fog with barely more than their gut feeling to guide them.


    The worry of getting lost was more than a worry since Toz was pretty sure that they already had no idea where they were.


    But unless the fog contained some kind of magic that disoriented their senses or muddled their minds, they shouldn''t be too far off from their initial direction. Toz considered climbing up a tree to look around, but if they were unlucky, they might lose their directionpletely when they climb back down. Even if they made markings on the tree, it wouldn''t help them since as soon as they were in the fog, any direction they had managed to point out from climbing the tree would be useless.


    Toz hadn''t forgotten that the forest was known to change in real time either. Trying to backtrack and find their traces they had left might lead the group even further from their goal and away from the edge of the fog.


    But after walking for an indistinguishable amount of time, Scrael felt like she could hear something through the otherwise muted fog.

 Chapter 131 Hidden Mystery

    ?Traveling through the fog, the only sound that Toz and the cats had heard were Toz''s footsteps as he stepped on fallen branches and the rustling of leaves as he passed through the vegetation.


    Not even the sounds of birds and insects existed in the silent world of istion that was the fog. And every little sound that Toz and the cats made quickly died in the dense mist surrounding them.


    So when Scrael carefully asked the others to be quiet because she heard something, they obliged. Any sound, no matter how quiet it might appear in the fog, would be far from quiet outside the fog. It also meant that the group was very close to something that might or might not be rted to the source of the fog.


    Being close to the next step in the mystery had the group carefully and silently follow Scrael as she led them through the fog, using her better hearing as a spirit beast at the fifth level.


    And after a little while, it was clear Scrael wasn''t having any auditory hallucinations as the others also began hearing the same sound. Though none of them could determine what exactly it was that they were hearing.


    They had no way to determine how far away the sound was, but it was evident that only part of the sound had managed to travel all the way through the fog, reaching them. But from what they could hear, there was a lot of rumbling going on, not the kind that came after lightning, but as if someone was moving a lot ofrge objects or rocks and doing it haphazardly, throwing the objects all over the ce.


    Eventually, the group arrived close enough to where the sound originated from so that they could, with more certainty, say that it sounded like a construction site, with shouts and orders flying around, apanied by the sounds of shing materials.


    But they still couldn''t catch even a single glimpse through the fog, and it felt like they were in the middle of the sound as it echoed all around them and traveled through the fog in weird ways.


    However, despite the thickness of the fog, they eventually noticed that some ces were even denser than their surroundings, making it look like a solid wall of light grey fog.


    Toz carefully approached one such ce with his hand stretched out. And unlike the rest of the fog where his hand easily sailed through the damp air, he felt something solid resist the force of his hand.


    The wall of fog budged as Toz applied more pressure on his hand, and he felt like he could push through if he tried. But he had no idea what was happening on the other side of the fog. And if it turned out to be the secret base or hideout of some criminals, he would be in big trouble if he just showed up from out of nowhere.


    So instead of recklessly pushing through the barrier of fog, he asked Scrael for help since she was the strongest and had the sharpest ws. She opened a small tear in the barrier, just barely enough for Toz to peek through the barrier.


    He didn''t see much since the fog kept away by the barrier started streaming through the tear, filling up his view. But Toz still managed to make outrge hills of dirt, rocks, and roots. He also saw a fewrger wild beasts dragging carts of stones and stuff to those piles and dumping it there.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    One of the beasts, that, from a distance, looked like a six-legged horse, walked close enough to the barrier for Toz to see the heavy metal cor attached to its neck, and although slight, Toz could see the glimmer of enchantments on the cor.


    After Toz got a grasp of the situation, he let the others look as well. Though not for long since the tear regenerated and closed up.


    From what Toz and the others had seen, they had stumbled upon a hidden excavation site manned by enved beasts. It didn''t take a genius to guess that the beasts with thick, weighty enchanted metal cors and dead eyes weren''t there of their own free will.


    Toz didn''t know how to proceed with the situation. An excavation of the scale they had witnessed was definitely not led or overseen by some weakling, and with the area of fog surrounding the site, it was obvious they wanted to keep things a secret. The fog was probably not the only countermeasure in ce, or they hadn''t seen what the fog was fully capable of.


    It was highly likely that the effects from the various clouds and smokes gathered from all over the forest were stored within the fog and could be used against intruders when the disorientation wasn''t enough.


    Maybe trying to leave or getting close to leaving the fog would unleash its full capabilities in order to stop any witnesses from getting away and spilling the beans or revealing the excavation.


    Not that Toz and the cats had any ns on retreating unless they were forced to.


    With an excavation site asrge as they had managed to glimpse through the tear, and with how much effort it would have taken to set up the fog barrier, there was bound to be something extremely valuable. Otherwise, why would someone go through all the trouble?


    Maybe someone had discovered the traces or a map to an ancient ruin with enough proof to warrant the effort. In that case, Toz couldn''t miss out on a chance to witness the ruins and whatever valuable artifacts or treasures were dug out from it.


    And if the opportunity presented itself, and those treasures needed someone to take care of them properly, Toz could anonymously volunteer and relieve the person in charge of their responsibility.


    Just thinking about how they had stumbled upon the possible excavation site of an ancient ruin after following a green cloud of smoke had Toz in awe at the power of coincidence.


    With nothing better to do, the group settled down close enough to the barrier controlling the fog that they could take a peek at the operation of the digging whenever they wanted, and keep track of the progress.

 Chapter 132 Suspicious Excavation

    ?Toz had stored up on supplies, so the only problem with waiting around within the fog was the boredom. And the only pastime he and the cats had was watching the beasts drag more and more dirt and rocks over to the mountains of the same stuff.


    But that quickly got boring, and the excavation showed no signs of digging up anything rted to ruins or artifacts anytime soon. However, the piles of dirt that had been dug up continued increasing both in size and number. Toz almost worried that they would reach the underside of the ne if they continued straight down.


    Although if there was a ruin down there, it would be a relic from several ancient ages ago. If even one thing within was left intact, it would be worth a fortune iparable to anything Toz had seen before. It might even be enough to buy an entire ne, depending on the item.


    Well, nothing except dirt was being dug up, so Toz had started doubting whether or not there really was a ruin or if it was the random guesswork of someone with too much time and money on their hands.


    Eventually, the boredom got too much, and in order to not reveal their presence by opening the barrier, they took inspiration from where they were headed and dug a tunnel through the ground.


    During their free time thest few days, they inspected and tried to find any other countermeasures and defenses against invaders. But aside from the fog barrier, they hadn''t discovered anything else. Maybe the one in charge wasn''t that worried about people leaving the fog or wasn''t as wasteful with their money as Toz and the cats had thought.


    But since they hadn''t discovered anything, Toz and the cats began to carefully dig and open up a tunnel through the soft and wet soil and enter the excavation site without going through the barrier. Though if they didn''t want a stream of fog to reveal their entrance, they would have to block the tunnel entrance before creating the exit, leaving Toz inplete darkness, only surrounded by wet soil.


    The cats were smart enough toe up with the reasoning that the tunnel would need to be bigger and it would take more time if they were to follow Toz through the tunnel. When instead, they could merely jump into the familiar space and let Toz do the tunnel crawling.


    Even if they had scouted the location of where they would dig the tunnel, Toz made sure to pierce through the ground as gently as possible in case there were any beasts or overseers around. But even after opening a holerge enough for his head to stick out, he didn''t see anyone around.


    Possibly thanks to the reliance on the fog, there weren''t any guards stationed nor anyone who cared about obvious weak points in the excavation site''s surveince.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Although they hadn''t any trouble seeing the excavation site through the minuscule tears they had opened in the barrier, being within the barrier gave Toz a whole new perspective.


    They had tried using the tears to determine the time of the day, but no matter when they looked, it would always be bright as day within the entire barrier. It wasn''t until Toz was on the other side of the barrier he could see it emit a light bright enough to light up the entire dig site. And that the barrier covered the site like a dome, preventing any sunlight from entering.


    Toz also got a greater view of the area within the dome and howrge it was. Through the tears, their vision had quickly been blocked byrge mounds of dirt, but now that Toz could see the entire dome, he could see that it spanned arger area than they had first assumed. It wasn''t asrge as Dormant Thunder, but it wasrger than Tiny Rumblings. And the entire area was covered byrge mounds of dirt, rocks, and roots.


    After making sure he wouldn''t be discovered and gotten rid of, he let the cats know they had arrived. When they were all gathered, they started investigating the excavation site. Now that they could see all the dirt that had been dug up from seemingly a single hole, it was obvious something suspicious was going on. Though that had been clear even from the beginning, what with the barrier of fog and all.


    Therge hills of dirt provided ample cover and shadow for the group as they sneaked around, avoiding enved beasts as they approached the location of the actual digging.


    The density of the beasts increased as they got closer to the center of the spherical barrier, but they still managed to avoid being detected even when they were forced to hide close enough to a beast for them to reach out a hand or paw and touch it.


    A few close shavester and the group arrived at the center of the barrier. The first thing they saw was therge abyss opening like a pair of jaws in the ground. One side of the gaping hole was nting, creating a shallow ramp providing easy travel for the enved beasts as they pulled cart after cart of dirt and stone.


    On the other side of the hole, on top of what could be considered the roof of the tunnel, was arge white marble, slightlyrger than the head of a human. The marble rested on a pedestal and as Toz looked closer he could see the white mass swirling inside it, looking almost like fog trapped in a ss ball. The ss ball looked like the reason for the strange fog gathered outside the barrier, even from just a nce at the swirling mass within.


    Toz and the cats continued watching the ramp leading into the depths of the ground and the white marble for a while, but they found no signs of anyone who was in charge. The only sentient beings they saw were the enved beasts moving robotically.


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 Chapter 133 Sneaking Into The Excavation

    ?It was bing more and more evident that Toz and the cats hadn''t stumbled upon a secret ruin excavation. It looked more like the activities of someone up to no good. Or maybe there was a need to take a diagonal path through the ground to reach the ruins. Digging straight down and building stairs or a spiraling ramp might not be feasible due to the conditions of the ground or something.


    But the amount of enved beasts and therge amount of dirt and rocks being dug up with no signs of ever stopping, in addition to the mysterious fog and the barrier surrounding the ce, gave Toz a bad feeling about it all.


    If he could have, Toz would even consider going back to the city and reporting it to the guild since it was so suspicious. But he had no way to leave the fog. He hadn''t tried leaving it, so he couldn''t be sure if there were any means to keep people trapped other than the disorientation andck ofndmarks. But even if the fog waspletely safe, rtively speaking, he couldn''t be sure he would be able to leave it at all. Or at least before it''s toote.


    Since the way back wasn''t suitable, Toz and the cats could only continue forward. And the way forward was the tunnel.


    Thankfully the tunnel, despite being lit up by magic torches, was mostly filled with darkness, making it easy for Lucy to hide the group as they traveled downward.


    After aplishing the hardest part of getting past the entrance undetected, they walked along the tunnel wall. Although hitching a ride on one of the carts being pulled might be faster and more convenient, it might also put the group at risk since they didn''t know when or what would happen to the carts. It would simply be better for them to rely on themselves instead of the carts drawn by the enved beasts whose master is unknown.


    And in case they were discovered, it would be better for the group if they weren''t surrounded by beasts when that happens, although deep in the ground, it won''t matter much if the beasts are merelying from one or two directions instead of all around them. Though, the cors might only force the beasts to work and won''t have any directives for what to do against intruders.


    But Toz didn''t want to risk exposing them on such a flimsy hope as the cors being limited, especially not when they looked expensive and full of enchantments.


    There were so many of the cors and beasts that Toz wondered how the owner had gotten hold of them within the reaches of the Firebelt Kingdom, where very was mostly ouwed, at least officially. Criminals being used as vebor and small-scale ve trade wasn''t anything new or strange to Toz, but the number of ve cors needed to enve all the beasts streaming through the humongous tunnel wasn''t something a person could get simply because they wanted to.


    It was already a fact that the entire operation had taken a lot of resources and nning, but considering the effort needed to acquire all the ve cors and enve all the beasts, it could have taken several years before the digging even started. While Toz had no idea about how long it had taken them to dig this huge tunnel, it should have been enough time for someone to discover or stumble into the fog.


    But there still wasn''t any official knowledge about it in the guild, as far as Toz knew at least. Either the fog really was inescapable, and anyone who entered too deep within it wouldn''t be able to get out. That thoughtforted Toz''s decision in having continued forward and entering the tunnel instead of trying to escape.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But the fog could still be seen and discovered even if one didn''t enter it. And the clouds of mist and smoke gathered from all over the forest weren''t exactly stealthy as they flew through the air likerge balls of color.


    Toz refused to believe he and his group were the first to encounter something like the clouds of poison or other substances flying through the forest, and the huge mass of fog and mist.


    And while not everyone might report it to the guild, some would. And if enough people mentioned it, it would either lead to an investigation request or the guild personally investigating. In both those cases, there would be information avable to anyone entering the relevant region of the forest.


    Toz might not have searched to the point of exhaustion for every bit of information regarding the dangers of the Rainforest region since it would be more fun discovering them himself.


    But the guild employees should have been obligated to tell him something or at least warn him about the fog-filled area that no one had sessfully returned from.


    It left a bitter taste in Toz''s mouth. Either the digging operation he and the cats were sneaking through and the mist cloaking it had sprung up overnight, or the guild was hiding their knowledge about it. And currently, thetter situation seemed far more likely.


    The Explorer''s Guild that Toz hade to trust due to his encounters in First Ignition and Sleepless Brights didn''t seem as trustworthy anymore.


    But there was nothing he could do about that as he and the other cats, hidden by Lucy''s magic, continued deeper into the ground.


    It was difficult to measure how far they had traveled since the magic torches were put up at irregr distances, but eventually, the slope leveled out, turning into t ground. It didn''t feel like they had traveled for too long, which meant that the goal of the tunnel wasn''t to go deep into the ground. It was to create a way of transport hidden from the surface.


    Toz looked forward at the neverending darkness, decorated with sparsely ced torches that shone like stars in the night sky.

 Chapter 134 Underground

    ?Even after looking into the depths of the tunnel, Toz couldn''t see a single trace of someone in charge or someone overseeing the enved beasts. Not that it was necessary with all the enchantments on the ve cors. And considering they nned on sneaking through to the other end of the tunnel to see where it leads, it was a good thing that they wouldn''t encounter anyone with enough power to hold the responsibility of overseeing the stream of beasts.


    Toz and the cats crept along the wall of the tunnel for what felt like days without the scenery changing. The only thing that happened was one of the enved beasts copsing. The cart was kicked to the side, and the copsed beast was eventually trampled into a sludge, bing one with the damp ground. Sometime after the beast copsed, another one, not dragging a cart, entered the tunnel and grabbed the cart full of dirt, and started pulling it to the surface.


    Toz had no idea how the beasts managed to do that so seamlessly withoutmunicating, but he didn''t pay it that much attention. They had only witnessed it happening because they took a break to let Lucy recover some mana.


    Eventually, Toz and the cats had almost caught up to the end of the tunnel. Although calling it the end wasn''t entirely correct since it was still being dug, but they had at least gotten as far as the tunnel could currently take them.


    Although they had aplished their goal of discovering the source of the tunnel, it wasn''t helpful since they didn''t know what they were looking at.


    At the end of the tunnel, several creatures worked in a row to dig out the tunnel, beginning at the end of a slight upwards slope. They dug out the ground below and in front of them and shuffled the dirt behind them, letting the beasts dragging carts remove all the dirt and at the same time ttening the ground and making it level with the rest of the tunnel.


    That part was easy to understand. The weird things were the creatures doing the digging. They looked like an enormousbination of naked molerats and maggots, resulting in a weird abomination with only forelimbs and its lower body looking like a saggy cone of baggy flesh.


    The forelimbs wererger than their heads and perfect for digging through the ground as they scooped through the dirt and rocks with ease, dumping it behind themselves.


    The digging creatures invoked a feeling of disgust as the sagging, wrinkled skin rippled and twisted with each of the forelimbs'' joint-breaking movements.


    In the middle of the row of creatures leading the charge through the ground was one noticeablyrger creature. And on top of that creature''s back, Toz could, across the distance and through the darkness, faintly discern the figure of a humanoid creature.


    From the ce Toz was watching, it would have been easy to mistake it for a regr human, but something about the ominous atmosphere surrounding both the humanoid and the digging creatures gave Toz the feeling that they weren''t ordinary creatures. Something about the air looking more oppressing.


    Toz was too far away to sense it and couldn''t quite put his finger on the feeling he got from the creatures.


    But as he kept watching the humanoid, trying to get a better look, which he did, when the humanoid figure turned around and looked in his direction.


    Toz reacted quickly and hid inside an indentation in the tunnel wall where either a rock or a root had been. The power behind the humanoid creature''s gaze had brought forth Toz''s memories of the ritual in Tumbling Thunder Forest. Both the demonic creatures digging the tunnel and the humanoid creature supervising them were surrounded by demonic energy. And when the humanoid figure turned to look in Toz''s direction, the same feelings of malice present in the demonic energy spread where the demonic figure looked.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    If it could spread and invoke such intense feelings merely through a gaze, it was evidently a strong creature.


    And the ssy ck eyes were proof of its identity as a demon.


    Toz had heard of the general description of demons from Mond back at Sleepless Brights and based on how the three robed figures performing the ritual back then were dressed, they were most likely demons. If not in order to hide their red skin and ck eyes, why would they need topletely cover themselves inrge robes and hoods, not revealing even a glimpse of their appearance?


    Butpared to those three robed figures, whom Toz dared to fight, the demon controlling the digging demonic beasts was far more terrifying.


    Toz didn''t even dare to look at that demon.


    And it took several hours of waiting for it to let its guard back down before he and the cats dared to try and sneak out of their hiding spot and slowly back away.


    That the demon had looked in their direction was all Toz and the cats needed as a reason to retreat. If they lingered, they would only put themselves in unnecessary danger.


    Although they might not have seen where the end of the tunnel would be, with the appearance of the demon and the demonic beasts, Toz could guess what they were aiming for.


    The attack that the demons he encountered in Tumbling Thunder Forest had been nning was aimed at Sleepless Brights and the entire ne. But with how shy that endeavor had been, it wouldn''t be weird for the demons to expect a failure. Maybe they were even counting on it since it seemed like they had invested far more resources in their current project.


    If their target was Dormant Thunder, maybe setting up an attack far away from the city would either draw manpower away from Dormant Thunder. Or the reports of demon attacks being sessfully impeded would lull the City of Dormant Thunder into a false sense of security.


    Toz had no idea what the demons'' ns were. All he knew was that he needed to get as far away as possible, and doing it faster would only make him safer.


    After getting far enough to make sure the demon wouldn''t notice them even if they ran, Toz and the cats prioritized getting out of the tunnel, only barely hiding themselves.

 Chapter 135 Hiding

    ?The enved wild beasts either didn''t notice them or didn''t care about them. Toz and the cats left the tunnel without causing a disturbance. But after leaving the tunnel, they didn''t know what to do. Even if they found the ce where they had entered the barrier, they still wouldn''t be able to leave the fog.


    Since that was the case, they could only hide. Sticking close to the barrier as they had done before entering it could be one option, but they would still be exposed to the fog at all times. Knowing that demons were behind it, doing that seemed risky.


    Instead, they decided to take advantage of therge mounds of dirt and rocks and create a ce to hide. And then, hopefully, before they run out of food, the fog barrier is removed, and Toz and the cats can leave and try to find somece safe.


    Toz had only nned to be in the forest for a while before they filled up his pockets and spatial rings with harvested materials, so they didn''t have much food left after already having spent several days idling around in the fog.


    Though from what Toz could tell, the tunnel stretched for quite a while, and if it was in the direction of Dormant Thunder, Toz wouldn''t be surprised if it was getting close to the city. Most likely, the demons wouldn''t dy their attack for too long after arriving below the city in case they were discovered.


    Toz didn''t know what to think about the city''s eventual doom being his chance to get to safety. But there was nothing he could do about it anyway, and instead of twisting and turning at night, he decided to make sure he would survive and get as far away from the high level demon he had seen in the tunnel.


    Time passed, and Toz was beginning to wonder if anyone would notice the disappearance of one or two enved wild beasts. He didn''t know if the cor could detect the difference between being killed by a human or by exhaustion and trampling.


    Toz still had food left in his pockets, but if they had to hide for much longer, those reserves wouldn''t be enough. And if they had to flee or run at the first opportunity they get, they won''t have time to stop and fill their bellies and will have to escape while feeling the pangs of hunger assaulting them.


    Even if they conserve a lot of energy by not moving, they would still grow hungry if they kept training or reading grimoires to pass the time while waiting for something to happen.


    Since they were hiding, breaking through would attract a lot more attention than what hiding entailed, so Toz had pulled his attributes to the limit of their current level. Though, not metal since getting close to the fifth level would take a lot more time than what they had spent hiding.


    But his fire and darkness attributes had reached the limits of the third level, and his lightning attribute was standing on the edge of the third level. As soon as they got somewhere safe enough for Toz to break through, he would be in for an incredible spike in his power.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    With two more attributes reaching the fourth level, Toz would be able to refine his body and mana pool and make them even stronger than before. He would also have more means of attack viable against medium level enemies.


    However, all of those hopes and dreams would be meaningless if they were caught and killed by a demon before they could get anywhere.


    But they still needed to rest and eat properly to stay in their prime and ensure as great a chance of sessfully escaping alive as possible.


    In order to secure their food supply for a few days, Toz and the cats had nned to grab one of the beasts on the verge of dying from exhaustion and bring it back to their hideout. Although the meat wouldn''t be the greatest considering the treatment of the enved beasts, Toz and the cats didn''t have the leeway to be picky about their food. And they had discovered that making patties were an excellent way to make delicious food from subpar ingredients.


    However, right when they were about to make sure the coast was clear and leave their hideout and go look for a suitable beast, an ominous air spread from the tunnel. All the beasts affected by the dreadful atmosphere trembled and found it difficult to continue moving. It was only the glowing cors that kept them from copsing to the ground.


    Toz and the cats had hidden several heaps of dirt away from the tunnel entrance, but they could still see what happened to the beasts and instantly retreated into their hideout, making sure to hide their presence as much as possible. Nil, Mindle, and Scrael did that by stealthily entering Toz''s familiar space, leaving Lucy and Toz in the tiny cave they had made.


    Toz and Lucy were the only ones with the darkness attribute, and they both had an affinity for concealing themselves. Though, Toz''s darkness attribute was still at the third level, which wouldn''t have been enough to hide him from the senses of a high level being. But with Lucy''s help and the fact that they were inside a hole in one of the piles of dirt and rock where no light entered, Toz and Lucy were hidden perfectly. Even looking directly at them wouldn''t be enough to tell they were hiding there.


    But even if Lucy''s skills at wielding the darkness attribute were amazing, and the two were next to impossible to find, they didn''t dare to breathe or open their eyes for fear of alerting the demon who had appeared on the surface after leaving the tunnel.


    With how focused they were on concealing themselves, Toz and Lucy had no idea about what was going on outside their hideout, but even if they didn''t sense the demon they didn''t open their eyes or rx for more than several hours. Only when they were absolutely certain that the demon hadn''t found them or wasn''t looking for them and had left the area of the barrier did Toz and Lucy open their eyes and look at each other, breathing out a sigh of relief.


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 Chapter 136 Impending Doom

    ?Toz and Lucy might have rxed just a moment too early. As soon as they sighed in relief, the ground started trembling. It was only light trembling, and the two of them didn''t feel any danger, so they decided to take a careful peek and see what was causing the shaking.


    But their vision was quickly impeded by the billowing fog. The barrier holding it back had disappeared, and with nothing stopping it, the fog surged inwards, drawn towards the white orb.


    But the fog didn''t stop at the ce where Toz hadst seen the orb. It disappeared into the tunnel with incredible speed. Despite how quickly the fog was devoured by the tunnel, it still took several moments for it to clear enough for Toz, Lucy, and the other cats that had left the familiar space, to see their surroundings.


    During the time that the fog had been sucked into the tunnel, the trembling had only intensified, and after the fog finally cleared, the cause of the trembling was revealed. Chasing after the fog was a horde of beasts.


    Unlike the enved beasts that had empty eyes, the ones hounding after the remains of the fog had a crazed gaze and were frothing at their mouths. Their jaws snapped shut at every wisp of fog thatgged behind. Though the fog merely dissipated and continued drifting into the tunnel without being affected by the crazed beasts.


    The beasts disappeared into the tunnel, following the fog. When Toz looked closer at the tunnel entrance, he saw that the orb had disappeared from the pedestal it had been resting on.


    But now that the fog had disappeared, the stampede of crazy beasts had passed, the trembling had grown weaker, and it didn''t look like the demon would being for them Toz and the cats could start moving.


    Since they couldn''t head to Dormant Thunder which was most likely undergoing a crisis, their only other option was to travel through the forest, either along the ne and head for another city on Roaring Skies. Or to try and cross through to the other side of the forest.


    But trying to cross through the entire forest, which was connected to a seventh level ne and was officially ssified as a seventh level danger zone in most regions outside Roaring Skies, would be barely more than a suicide attempt considering the group''s current strength.


    With no other option, Toz and the cats started heading away from the tunnel and into the depths of the forest, nning to travel through the outer reaches of the part of the forest on Roaring Skies.


    At the same time, chaos had begun taking over Dormant Thunder.


    The city''s defenses had been alerted of movements underground by the enchantments on the walls that stretched below ground as deep as they were tall. The city walls that should have been working perfectly and stopped any invasion, even from underground, crumbled after only a few attacks. The walls broke down, revealing an opening underground that the demonic digging creatures passed through, opening up the path for the crazed and the enved beasts.


    But the beasts weren''t noticed until it was toote due to the light grey fog that welled up out of the ground and covered the city. Both the enved and the crazed beasts attacked anything and everything in sight.


    The city hadn''t been prepared for the attack to so easily pass through their defenses, and the rms only started ring after the blood of the citizens started streaming down the streets.


    The fog, the beasts, and the ensuing chaos prevented anyone from finding safety even after the rms went off, and the people in the city continued dying. The few exceptions were the city guard and explorers or skilledbatants. But they also had their limits, and with the fog limiting the vision and senses, the defenders were susceptible to sneak attacks, and they also started falling one by one.


    In the sky above the city, the demon Toz and the cats had seen, enjoyed the sight as he held the white marble of fog, manipting it with his demonic energy. After some time, the demon was joined by someone else. Although the other person''s appearance was concealed by dark clothes and bandages and cloths, the demon didn''t seem to care and continued concentrating on the orb in his hands.


    After the figure hiding its appearance removed the cloth covering its face, revealing the skin and eyes of a demon, the first demon asked,<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Finished with your enjoyment?"


    "Yes, sir. Although this sight is incredible, I prefer seeing the pain of humans up close."


    "What about the others?"


    "They''re waiting outside the fog."


    "I am nearly finished here. Go ahead and join them. I''ll be there shortly."


    The second demon flew down andnded outside the city where a few demons with simr clothing were waiting.


    On the way, its descent caught the attention of a human dressed in fancy clothes.


    "This wasn''t the deal! Get me out of here!"


    The human was surrounded by the corpses of his guards and the beasts attacking them. After seeing the demon fly past above him, the human was outraged. He had been promised safety and power in exchange for helping the demons infiltrate the city and the city''s defenses, but now he was left to die.


    The demon didn''t even nce at the human jumping and shouting like a madman.


    After the other demon left, the demon wielding the marble of fog infused even greater amounts of demonic energy in it. Although the effects weren''t noticeable at once, beasts and humans both started copsing.


    Stronger fighters and beasts managed tost longer than others but eventually, the chaos in the city died down. The screams and roars gradually grew quiet. Even the fires that had started spreading didn''t gain traction due to the blood and humidity brought by the fog.


    The blood spilled by the attacking beasts and the resisting humans started flowing throughout the city. Every corpse or body the streams of blood touched melted down and joined the streams.


    The blood levels rose and covered the ground and streets of Dormant Thunder.


    With a ripple, the pool of blood started swirling with enough force to begin tearing at the already beaten buildings. The rubble joined the swirling blood and helped tear down the rest of the buildings, creating a gruesome vortex of blood and blood-covered remnants of the city''s buildings.

 Chapter 137 Doomed Thunder

    ?The vortex swirled faster and faster, turning into a blurry red mass. The few pieces of rubble that hadsted through the destruction of the city and the vortex were finally disintegrated into pieces smaller than dust.


    A sparkling light spread out from the center of the vortex. The vortex turned into a glittering red gxy and stabilized,pleting the creation of the portal with a sky-rending tremble and the spread of incredible amounts of demonic energy.


    The imposing city walls that had stood steady for ages crumbled in front of the energy emanating from the portal. It was a portal created through the sacrifice of an entire city and a horde of beasts. All of them were at the minimum of the fourth level. There were even several high level humans and beasts in the mix.


    All of the sacrifices were used to generate a single portal. The ritual and creation of the portal alone had been enough to demolish and eradicate the city. The reason that the portal was created was almost too terrifying to think about. Or it would have been if there had been anyone left aside from the demons to think about it.


    The demon manipting the marble of fog had already joined up with hispatriots and dived into the portal to escape from the iing power and the devastation that would strike the ce that had been Dormant Thunder, as well as Roaring Skies.


    Shortly after, the demons disappeared into the portal, the glittering vortex rippled, and demonic energy cascaded outwards. A few momentster, fingertips protruded from the center of the portal.


    The nails on the fingers shone with a crimson glint as the rest of the dust-red hand exited the portal. The arm came after the hand, but after that, nothing more came through.


    The size of the demonic arm that came through the portal couldn''t be judged without something topare it to. But even the portal wasn''t enough to fit the rest of the muscr demon''s body as the upper arm and shoulder were already enough to fill the space upied by the portal.


    The portal that took up the entirety of Dormant Thunder was only enough to amodate a single arm of the demon on the other side.


    But just the power emanating from the arm showed that it would be enough. The rubble that was all that was left of the city walls trembled in the wake of the arm and turned into fine powder that nketed the ground before being sucked in and swallowed by the portal.


    The fingers on the arm wriggled after as much of the arm that could fit through the portal passed through. Although the fingers were only feeling around in the air, shockwaves enough to st ravines into the ground struck the area around Dormant Thunder.


    The shockwaves were even more powerful as the entire hand curled into a fist and back.


    Eventually, the hand and entire armpletely straightened out, and the arm surged with power as the demonic energy welling from the portal gathered along the arm. The arm turned into a towering mass of surging demonic energy.


    Without further fanfare, the arm mmed into the ground palm-first. The area of the arm closest to the portal made contact with the ground of Roaring Skies first, and the rest of the arm followed, like toppled building.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Continuous shockwaves and earthquakes stretched out along the arm''s path of destruction as it fell down in the direction of Treblor Forest. The arm itself wasn''t long enough to reach the forest all the way from Dormant Thunder, but the physical power and the demonic energy propelled the arm into the ground with enough force to shatter the earth between the previous city and the forest.


    The shockwaves of the impact spread through the forest, and the st uprooted all the trees in its path, turning them into smithereens.


    The arm didn''t stop after making contact with the ground as it tore through the earth of Roaring Skies, shattering the part of the ne that was holding onto Treblor Forest.


    The damage spread through both the forest and the rest of Roaring Skies.


    Although the damage was too concentrated topletely uproot the forest or immediately make the ne uninhabitable, it was a disaster for all living beings in the area, and as the cracks in the earth continued spreading, eventually, even the entire ne would fall apart.


    But so far, the ne''s disintegration had only spread to the area around Dormant Thunder and Treblor Forest. However, the Treblor Forest was struck hard by the aftereffects of the demonic arm''s strike.


    The ground that the trees of the forest were rooted to continued splitting apart, and the edge of the ne started falling into the Void and drifting away.


    And when the edge and outer rim of the ne started copsing, the part of Treblor Forest growing from it followed along.


    The trees that hadn''t already been blown away or disintegrated by the st from the demonic arm got flung into the Void, bringing with them the parts and regions of the forest they were attached to. The entire part of Treblor Forest growing on Roaring Skies starteding undone like frayed cloth, one strip of the forest at a time.


    The tearing of the forest stretched through the Roaring Skies part of the forest and into the Void Forest part, pulling it into pieces, sending chunks and groups of trees drifting through the Void.


    The devastation didn''t end there. The roots of the trees were old and had grown together tightly during the long years of Treblor Forest''s existence. It wouldn''t be weird to say that the roots have stretched between the two nes. When the trees in one part of the forest are affected, the trees in the other parts are as well. And when the first two parts of the forest are torn asunder, naturally, the damage will spread to the third part as well.


    The part of Treblor Forest growing on the seventh level ne also started getting pulled off into the Void in groups. Although, it would be too soon to tell if the damage would spread to the rest of the ne as well.


    Several simr attacks wereunched at the same time all over the Human Realm, officially dering the start of the war between humans and demons.

 Chapter 138 Knocked Out

    ?It wasn''t the first war between humans and demons, and if history was anything to go by, it wouldn''t be thest, either.


    But for some, the fact that a war had started wasn''t of utmost importance. Toz and the cats didn''t even know that a war had begun.


    They had sensed a tremendous surge of demonic energying from Dormant Thunder. There wasn''t even a need to specte about how well it would go for the city and its inhabitants. But even after the demonic energy abruptly disappeared, the group didn''t feel safe. Instead, they felt a surge of danger tingling their minds, and they started rushing through the forest, away from the city and the source of the dangerous feeling.


    But they didn''t get far before they were thrown into the air by the earthquake and the waves in the ground. They did, however, get sent flying by the shockwave in the air as it blew them straight away from the city.


    Toz and the cats spun like ragdolls in the air, barely maintaining enough of a grip on their awareness to summon and ept the summons into Toz''s familiar space.


    But that still left Toz tumbling through the air with no way to control where he was headed. The asional glimpses he got of his surroundings, despite the mosaic the spinning had turned his vision into, didn''t give him much information. But the small pieces he could put together didn''t give Toz much hope.


    Toz could see the ground and trees fracture and split apart. Closer to the edge of the ne, it wouldn''t be weird for the cracked earth to reveal the Void on the other side, but it was impossible to make heads or tails of anything, much less differentiate between the Void he could see in the sky and the Void he could see on the other side of the ne''s remnants.


    Every time Toz collided with a piece of wood or another beast, he would try and grab hold of it so he had something to weigh him down and protect him. But since there was no way to see the object he would collide with in advance, he could only rely on his reflexes and reach out for it as soon as he felt the object. However, even with Toz''s extraordinary reflexes, both he and the objects he collided with flew through the air with too much force and speed for him to catch them.


    The tumultuous spinning through the air and the repeated collisions with everything else struck by the st from the demonic arm''s impact on the ground left Toz beaten and bruised. And despite trying to protect his head with his arms, arge tree trunk struck Toz''s head with enough force to knock him out.


    Toz only felt a thud before everything went ck, and his body rxed. Toz''s unconscious body continued flying through the air, tumbling around and drifting further away from the direction of Dormant Thunder and the rest of Roaring Skies.


    Just because Toz had been knocked out once, it didn''t stop the rest of the uprooted trees and rocks from hitting him as they also flew through the air uncontrobly.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But the force of the st that had sent him flying wasn''t infinite, and eventually, Toz''s trajectory began shifting downward in rtion to the ne he had been sent flying from, which would have been a positive development if not for there being nothing tond on. As far as Toz would have been able to see if he was awake, there wasplete emptiness in front of him.


    Unless Toz or something else changed directions, he would drift into the Void and disappear. Since he wasn''t yet at the level where he could survive without breathing, he would suffocate before anything else.


    But right as he was about to pass by thest line of rubble and pieces of the ne hanging in the air between the gravity of the ne and the Void, his already worn and weathered coat snagged on a branch. Toz''s coat was made of mostly medium level materials and had several enchantments to increase its durability, and it had performed more than well during his journey.


    But after repeated collisions with materials and beasts also at the medium level, there was only so much left of the coat''s ability to hold out. Instead of gliding off the branch that had hooked onto the coat, the fabric tore. The strip of the coat created a string between the branch and the rest of the coat and Toz.


    The branch and tree it grew out of was part of arge clump of trees still attached together with their roots and some dirt from Roaring Skies. Even if Toz came tumbling through the air, he wouldn''t be able to move it.


    With a tearing sound, the coat continued being pulled apart, destroying some of the pockets within along the way. Although the coat pockets were mostly empty, the remaining food reserves and several spatial rings were sent tumbling into the Void.


    Despite the coat tearing, Toz showed no signs of slowing down and was still headed straight for the Void. Until, with a thump, the strip of fabric tying Toz and the tree together stopped growing longer. The tearing had reached a seam on Toz''s coat, preventing it from continuing along the coat.


    Toz was hanging by slightly more than thread right on the edge of the Void. Although he had temporarily stopped floating away and was hanging in the air like almost everything else, only a slight push was needed for that thread to snap. Even without a push, the strip of fabric was frayed and untwining, just from Toz hanging in it. The branch the coat had snagged onto was also bent out of shape, seemingly on the verge of snapping and freeing Toz.


    Toz''s motionless body hade to a standstill. Most things that had been sent flying from the demonic arm''s strike had either started slowing down or had already drifted into the Void. But, like with everything, there were exceptions.


    A group of trees, slightlyrger than the one holding on to Toz, came flying right at him from behind. They were floating through the air in the direction of the Void, with Toz being in their way.

 Chapter 139 Into The Void

    ?Toz woke up with a splitting headache. His vision was still blurry, and everywhere he looked swirled, but after a few moments with closed eyes, things settled down enough for him to gather his bearings. His head wasn''t the only thing that was painful, his entire body was covered in bruises, and it felt like he had at least several broken bones and ribs.


    Just looking around was painful, and Toz could forget about sitting or standing up. But finding out what kind of situation he was in and where he was held more importance to Toz than some trifling pain that would pass eventually.


    However, what Toz found when he looked around made him wish he had stayed with his eyes shut for a few more minutes.


    Although Toz only twisted his head a bit, it was enough to see everything he needed. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see the tform of roots he wasying on, and that made up the base of the entire clump of trees he was on.


    The roots created something like a, connecting the trees that were focal points in the. There were holes here and there in the, allowing Toz to peek through and gaze into the Void on the other side.


    A canopy of shimmering dark blue leaves and branches that grew from even darker trees filled Toz''s vision when he looked straight up.


    Although his vision was partly filled with the trees and roots, in another direction, he had a clear view of the Void as it stretched beyond what Toz couldprehend. The ck emptiness was dotted with lights of various colors, shapes, and sizes. But no matter how thoroughly Toz searched the sky in front of him, he couldn''t find something even remotely close to him, not even a trace of Roaring Skies.


    However, there was still hope of it merely being on the other side of the forest, and as soon as Toz recovered enough to look, he would find out if he was really lost in the Void or merely sailing around Roaring Skies.


    His brain had still been addled by the blow that knocked him out, so he forgot about the cats since they weren''t in his immediate field of view. But when heid his head back down, he remembered them and summoned them.


    Since the cats had quickly hidden within Toz''s familiar space, they were barely injured to begin with, and after being in the familiar space for so long, they had already recovered. But their faces turned ghastly upon noticing Toz''s injured state. They had known he was injured but alive due to their connection with him and that he wasn''t in immediate danger. But if they left the familiar space without knowing the exact situation outside, they could end up struck by debris and get separated from Toz. Although they might be able to reenter the familiar space if they were fast enough, it wasn''t worth the risk.


    Instead, it would be better to wait for Toz and let him call them forth when it was safe enough. In the meantime, the cats could only anxiously wait.


    All of them instantly began searching through the remains of Toz''s coat, trying to find potions, but all they found was the letter from Rick Besre. But not even that pocket waspletely intact, and the letter was the only thing they found aside from the spatial rings with the grimoires.


    Without their supplies, Toz would have to rely on his natural healing to recover. He didn''t mind, but the cats didn''t like seeing him so bruised and beaten.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz finally calmed the cats down and managed to ask Scrael and Lucy to investigate the ind of floating trees while Nil and Mindle started preparing a camp and safety measures. Though, the camp consisted of arranging broken branches into a morefortable bed for Toz. Trying to light a campfire could easily destroy the group''s refuge from the Void''s dangers.


    While Mindle gathered leaves and branches from their surroundings to make Toz a nice soft ce toy down on, Nil began setting up traps and defenses that would keep any eventual threats away from Toz.


    Although Toz hadn''t been attacked by anything while unconscious, that didn''t mean they were alone on the ind of floating trees.


    Toz''s body was beaten and bruised beyond recognition, and although it affected his magic slightly since the mana had to travel through that broken body, Toz could still use some magic to help Nil and Mindle. Though not more than they would allow him to do when he was so injured.


    Toz was still injured and tired, so after helping Nil and Mindle a bit, he fell asleep. If he had been alone, he would have never dared to fall asleep without securing a safe ce to sleep. Thankfully, he had trustworthypanions whom he could entrust his life and safety to.


    Nil and Mindle noticed Toz falling asleep and made sure to continue their work silently to make sure he got peaceful rest.


    Lucy and Scrael noticed Nil and Mindle working in silence and didn''t immediately rush over to Toz to report their findings. But they did walk over carefully and noticed he was sleeping.


    While waiting for Toz to wake up, Lucy and Scrael talked to the other two, who were surprised Lucy and Scrael had returned so quickly.


    The two cats sent to explore the ind of trees and roots didn''t mind exining to Nil and Mindle first, even if they had to repeat it for Tozter.


    Nil and Mindle didn''t like what they heard from Lucy and Scrael, but at the same time, there was nothing they could do except prepare for the future and look for the positives.


    After Nil finished his preparations, there wasn''t much to do for the cats, so they sat around admiring the scenery and listening to Toz snoring as they waited for him to wake up. With the situation they were in, they didn''t really feel like training.

 Chapter 140 Sticky Situation

    ?Toz was slightly disoriented as he hadn''t quite gotten used to being surrounded by the dark trees and roots, and he felt lost as he opened his eyes. Though as soon as Lucy pounced on him, he remembered what had happened thest time he was awake and what had happened before he lost consciousness.


    During his sleep, Toz had recovered enough to sit up and lean against a tree as he listened to what Lucy and Scrael found out. Unlike Nil and Mindle, he had been asleep when they returned and didn''t know how quickly they had explored the ind of trees.


    But when he heard their report, Toz realized they were in an awfully sticky situation. Even if they hadn''t ended up floating through the Void directly and were protected by the small ind of trees woven together and the atmosphere it provided, their situation was barely a notch above floating through the Void without the trees.


    The ind of trees was, aside from Toz and the cats, empty. The ind had about the same surface as a couple of ordinary residential houses. And during their trip around it, Lucy and Scrael hadn''t found any signs of other beasts or nts other than the trees. Considering the trees were from the part of Treblor Forest that grew in the Void, something not a lot of other nts could do, it wasn''t weird that were no other nts on the ind of trees that Toz and the cats had ended up on.


    Other kinds of nts might not even grow if the ind had been big enough to amodate other beasts.


    But the ind being tiny and without any kind of food wasn''t the worst of it. There were no signs of Roaring Skies or Solid Ground, where the third part of Treblor Grew, anywhere. There weren''t any signs of other remnants of the forest or either ne for that matter. Somehow, the tiny ind of trees that had scooped up Toz had drifted far away from other trees and debris.


    Although the ind had saved Toz from dying from suffocation in the Void, as it was currently, it was nothing more than dying the inevitable.


    Mages at a high enough level could rece food and air with mana and wouldn''t die from traveling through the Void without any help. But Toz and the cats were far from reaching that level of power.


    As they were now, the most they could do was swim around for a few moments in the Void and, if they were lucky, manage to get back to the ind of trees without help.


    Toz couldn''t but sigh after Lucy and Scrael finished their report. They were stuck in the Void with no food and no chance of getting out.


    The mood grew somber in the tiny camp that Nil had set up.


    While the Void might not have much else, considering how much empty space there was, it did have a lot of mana. Unlike the mana on a ne, where it was evenly distributed and the elements were clearly separate, the mana in the Void was a chaotic mix of various elements that had grouped up or spread out.


    And thankfully, the Void Trees that were sheltering Toz and the cats grew by absorbing the mana in the Void. If the group only relied on their own abilities to gather mana, they would only be able to do that when they encountered an area with dense mana. But with the trees drawing the Void''s mana to them, the group only needed to focus on absorbing the mana that came to them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Even without food, Toz and the cats would still be able tost for some time.


    Even if they are in trouble, doing nothing won''t solve it. And the only thing they can do is train or read grimoires. The group, although dissatisfied with their fate, decided to conserve their energy while practically waiting for death as they trained.


    Toz was on the verge of reaching the next level with several of his attributes, and doing that might strengthen his body and lower his need for food, making sure he couldst as long as possible.


    There wasn''t much focus on reading the grimoires and learning the spells within since what good would learning a spell do when there wouldn''t be an opportunity to use it before they died? At least training their mana could prolong their lives and give them some smidge of hope.


    However, the group''s peaceful training was interrupted after only a couple of days by a rumble and a crack. All of them were startled and surveyed their surroundings for the source of the sound. Maybe the drifting ind of trees had collided with something.


    But after carefully investigating the ind''s surroundings, they realized their hope was wrong. Instead of something joining their ind, a tree that had suffered damage during the cataclysmic strike that had sent Treblor into the Void couldn''t hold on any longer and separated from the rest of the ind.


    Seeing a piece of their temporary home drift away like that had Toz worrying that the rest of the trees might also be suffering from strain or damage the group couldn''t notice and would break away, leaving Toz and the cats in the Void without protection.


    Although none of them had the wood attribute and could heal or reinforce the trees themselves, Nil and Toz had an attribute very suited for creating.


    To prevent more trees from separating from the ind of Void Trees, Toz and Nil started filling in the gaps between the roots with metal and basically creating ayer of metal on the edge of the ind to keep all the trees tied together.


    Although it would hinder the trees'' ability to absorb mana a tiny bit, it would at least stop the ind from splitting apart.


    Toz and Nil would asionally have to reinforce their construct and refill it with mana, but since the ind was so tiny, they wouldn''t have to waste a lot of time and mana once it was finallypleted.

 Chapter 141 Shifting Hope

    ?Toz and Nil had, in their boredom, almost turned the entire ind into a fortress of metal before finally being satisfied. It was a nice distraction from the hunger that had begun assailing Toz and the cats.


    Keeping track of time was difficult without a watch or a sun, but Toz estimated that they had been drifting through the Void for more than a week since he first woke up. And they had not seen a single sign of anything else.


    The dark sky, dotted with various colorful lights, all of them an incredible distance away, was an objectively amazing sight, but it would be even better if it was apanied by some food.


    Toz and the cats, while not on the verge of starving to death just yet, were incredibly hungry. Toz had tried preparing the leaves and roots of the trees, but no matter what he did, the taste was practically vomit-inducing and only made them sick.


    So instead of torturing themselves with inedible food, the group tried to endure their hunger.


    Although the Void was mostly empty space, there were still creatures and things in it that could provide salvation to the group. But Toz had no idea if it was even possible for them to encounter anything other than mana before they died.


    But there was nothing they could do about their current situation. And Toz was unable to break through to the hunger and howcking his body was in energy, so he was stuck reading his grimoire. At least the desperation helped him concentrate on learning the spell, and he made some progress with that.


    Though he was only left with feelings of resignation, what good woulde from learning how to cast a fireball in their current situation?


    They had managed to secure a barely sustainable water source by squeezing the barely stomachable liquid from the leaves, but learning spells and training was the only distraction the group had from the hunger.


    Thankfully, the hunger made it difficult for them to fully concentrate on their training, and they held some awareness of their surroundings.


    Otherwise, the group would have easily missed what might very well be their salvation.


    From a distance, it looked like a tiny glittering blue spot of light, just like any of the other infinite light spots sprinkled throughout the Void. But as the fortified ind of trees continued floating through the Void in the direction of the dot of light, the dot grew in size and radiance, something no other star or light had done so far during their journey through the Void.


    Although it still looked like there was quite a distance between the source of light and the ind carrying Toz and the cats.


    The one who first noticed the object in the distance was Scrael, who had taken a short break in her training. She saw it off in the distance and noticed how muchrger it waspared to every other source of light around it. And as they continued drifting closer to it, the source of light grew in size.


    Scrael alerted the others when it was finally close enough to begin determining the true nature of the object. And from the distance the group watched, the object looked like a globe of water floating through the Void.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But eventually, as the group drifted closer, it became clear that it was a school of fish. Since they swam freely through the Void, the fish had to be some kind of void beast. Although Toz and the cats knew that void beasts existed and lived naturally in the Void, they didn''t know much about them.


    However, the fact that they were living beings was all the hope the group needed to try and fish for them. The only problem was how. Even if Toz and the group had some kind of bait, they didn''t even know if it would be something that would lure the void fish to them. It made sense for void beasts to be far from ustomed to the fooding from a ne. And it wasn''t like they lived in an environment where they survived by eating all the time.


    In any case, there was still quite a distance between the fish and Toz''s group, so Toz and Nil started weaving a they could throw outside the trees to catch the fish.


    It had originally looked like the school of fish swimming in a globr pattern would pass by the ind of trees, and Toz would have to throw the far away, hoping to catch at least some of the fish. But as the distance between the fish and the ind shrunk, the messily swimming fish stilled and turned in the direction of the ind.


    The fish spread out in a circle and swam, each of their movements synchronized with the others.


    Toz and the cats were finally close enough to see the fish up close. The fish, which had looked mostly blue from a distance, were almost see-through and didn''t seem to be much other than eyes and sharp teeth.


    The ghostly fish brought up some scary thoughts in Toz, Nil, and Lucy, but only temporarily. Their hunger won over their fear, and they knew rationally that the fish were void beasts. It wasn''t strange for them to look strange.


    Toz and the cats prepared to face the void fish that were swimming toward the ind of trees aggressively with their piercing eyes and puncturing teeth.


    As the fish got closer, Toz and the cats could sense the void attribute surrounding them and encroaching upon the ind of trees and the reinforcements Toz and Nil had made.


    Thankfully, the fish didn''t seem to be too powerful, and their void magic only eroded the surface of the metal. But as soon as the fish were close enough to practically touch the sphere of protection the trees had erected around the ind, the erosion and nullification of the mana grew more intense.


    The fish continued in their advance and targeted the trees, going for the leaves first.


    As the fish surrounded the ind and began chewing on whatever they could fit their jaws around, the leaves started disintegrating and disappearing into the weird bodies of the fish.


    Seeing their safe haven in the Void being turned into the part of the void beasts Toz and the cats couldn''t sit still andunched a counterattack.

 Chapter 142 Fishing

    ?Toz had lost his sword, so he had to conjure a new one that, while not as good as his previous one, would do for now. He used the sword to sh at the fish that got close to them while using whips of metal wire to attack those further away.


    Nil used his understanding of the spell that he was in the middle of learning and sent sharp metal spikes raining down on the fish.


    Lucy covered the trees and leaves, protecting them from the fish''s attacks.


    Mindle had to be careful of lighting the trees on fire even if Lucy was protecting them, so she attacked by targetingrger clumps of fish that were a little bit further away from the trees. She also used her control of heat to help Lucy keep the fish away from the trees by heating the air around them.


    Scrael was covered in purple sparks and zapped around the ind and the trees swiping at the fish with her ws. Scrael left a trail of purple light in her wake as she flitted around the battlefield and attacked the void fish left and right.


    However, even after everyone had attacked the fish several times, only a few had fallen down to the ground, no longer alive. Almost all the attacks passed right through the fish, barely even leaving a ripple in their translucent bodies.


    The only thing that managed to halt the fish in their advance was Lucy''s barrier covering the trees, but even that was quickly growing useless. The fish wriggled and forced themselves through nonexistent gaps, and the void magic surrounding them eroded the barrier, making it easier for the fishing after to squeeze through.


    Seeing the situation turn for the worse in an instant, Toz turned his gaze on the few fish that had died and fallen to the ground. They all had one thing inmon. Both eyes were gone.


    Since that was apparently their weakness, Toz told the others to try and target their attacks on the eyes of the fish surrounding them and the ind. As long as they struck both eyes, the fish kept dropping like flies.


    But if given enough time after losing only one eye, the fish began generating the eye. Although they got slower and weaker each time, they didn''t die if both eyes weren''t destroyed at the same time.


    It took some time, and a lot of the group''s attacks missed their targets, but eventually, they got the hang of things. Toz focused on swinging horizontally. Scrael''s paws were just wide enough to take both eyes even if she swung straight down.


    Nil tried various things as he figured out the most efficient way to kill the fish. Either sending two spikes at the same target or use a broader spike to try and hit both eyes at once.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Mindle, who started getting more used to using fire the way her grimoire was teaching her, also controlled her fire more delicately and targeted the eyes of the fish, and made sure she didn''t turn its entire body to ash, which had happened a couple of times when she was frustrated about not being able to kill the fish by only destroying the eyes. Magic weak enough to only damage the eyes wasn''t powerful enough to target both eyes at once, and magic powerful enough to destroy both eyes also sted the body.


    Controlling two instances of magic to target each fish''s two eyes was cumbersome with the battlefield''s distraction, but even if Mindle got used to it, it would be an inefficient way of dealing with the fish.


    But as she continued to target the fish and honed her delicacy and fine control over her mes, Mindle started forming her first Tongue of me.


    Although it was a barely finished formed me, it disyed vastly more powerpared to Mindle''s other magic, and she controlled it and the heat it emitted as the hand-sized flicker of me drifted around the battlefield, popping the fish''s eyes left and right.


    Unlike Nil''s magic which merely resembled the spell in shape, Mindle''s me was the first step to mastering the Tongues of me. Although she was far away frompletely mastering the spell, just bringing out the true nature of fire and shaping it into a me was confirmation that Mindle had seeded in learning the spell. Now she only needed to practice it further to bring out more tongues of me and more power and dig out the true meaning of the spell and of fire.


    After Mindle cast her spell, the fish started dying much quicker, and soon enough, the entire school of fish had been killed. Living without a brain didn''t leave much room for rational thought. Even when almost all the fish had died, the remaining ones never looked like they were about to retreat.


    The fish continued doggedly targeting the trees and barely reacting to theirpanions being attacked all around them. Although weird, it worked out in favor of Toz and the cats since they got more to eat than they would have if the fish had been scared away.


    The event had also shown that the void trees worked as an efficient lure for at least one type of void beast and possibly other types as well. Although they would still have to drift close enough for the beasts to sense the trees, it gave the group some hope about having a sustainable food supply.


    However, it would only be food if it was edible, and the weird translucent, semi-corporeal bodies of the fish didn''t look the most appetizing. But it was their only hope of survival, so Toz and the cats, supported by hunger, did their best in trying to eat the fish bodies that looked more like jellyfish than ordinary fish.


    The meat didn''t seem to be affected in any way by the fire Mindle conjured, aside from when it was burned and turned to ash, but Toz wanted to be on the safe side and heated it until right before it destabilized.


    There was nothing they could do about theck of taste and the weird sensation in the mouth since Toz had lost all the spices and seasonings when he was sent into the Void, but it was still edible. And so far, it didn''t seem like it was poisonous either.

 Chapter 143 Progress (1)

    ?Toz and the cats wanted to take it slow while eating the fish just in case they were bad or would make them sick and so they wouldn''t eat everything at once. But each fish gave very little satisfaction to their hunger, and before they knew it, all of them had already eaten several.


    Thankfully, it had been a rtivelyrge group of fish that attacked them. Even if they gorged themselves and satiated their hunger, they would still have enough tost some time, hopefully until their next encounter with void beasts or something else they can eat.


    After eating their fill, the group could finally rest peacefully without being disturbed by the pangs of hunger.


    The much-needed food and rest had Toz full of energy, and after waiting for the cats to wake up so he wouldn''t interrupt their dream, he was ready to begin his second refinement.


    All the elements he had ess to, except metal, which was at the fourth level already, were on the verge of reaching the next level. Fire and darkness were close to catching up to metal and lightning about to reach the third level.


    Although he had gotten the elements to those levels some time back, he had never gotten the opportunity to reach the next level with any of them. When the first element had reached the limit, Toz and the cats had been stuck in the fog, and when the elements began catching up, they were stuck in their hideout in the dig site for the tunnel the demons used to attack Dormant Thunder.


    After the fog was sucked away, Toz and the cats had been running for their lives before they were swept up into the aftermath of the attack on Dormant Thunder and Treblor Forest. Toz had been blown into the Void and suffered several serious injuries that prevented him from breaking through. And when he recovered, he was too hungry andcking in energy to properly refine his mana with another element or to catch up with lightning.


    But Toz was finally ready to be stronger.


    After informing the cats that he was going to refine his body and lift up another element to the fourth level, the cats ced some distance between themselves and Toz.


    Although a refinement wouldn''t be as shy as a breakthrough, the cats could unknowingly disturb Toz''s concentration if they were too close. And since there were no threats on the ind aside from hunger and loneliness, they didn''t need to guard him vigntly until Toz was finished.


    And since they didn''t need to keep strict watch over their surroundings, the cats could watch Toz refining his mana and try to guess what element he would begin with. Though it was only Lucy and Mindle interested in which he would choose since Nil and Scrael already knew it wasn''t going to be with their elements.


    Nil knew since Toz was already at the fourth level with his metal element. And Scrael because refining mana was only done when reaching the same level as the highest level one attribute had reached. Toz''s lightning was still not at the third level, and if Toz was going to reach the next level with lightning, he wouldn''t be refining his mana.


    Toz could only refine his mana with either fire or darkness, and Lucy and Mindle were eagerly awaiting what element Toz would choose to begin with.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Though, Toz had decided which element to begin with ever since their battle against the fishst night. Though since there wasn''t any sun around, maybe it was always night.


    The sight of Mindle easily decimating the fish with her spell had gotten Toz pumped to finally learn his own spell and bring out a simr firepower. So Lucy was, unfortunately, going to be disappointed.


    Although the refining process was different from the breakthrough process, it was still mostly simr. All Toz needed to do waspress his fire mana and form a liquid substance in his mana pool, and thenpress it as much as possible while forcing the mana pool to expand.


    And since it wasn''t a breakthrough to the next level, it wasn''t as dangerous or risky, and Toz finished the process with ease. He finished with a ir as he surrounded himself with a cloud of mes before quickly retracting them so he didn''t identally burn the roots he was sitting on.


    Toz could see Mindle celebrating while nudging Lucy yfully, but he didn''t want to get distracted. Bringing his fire attribute to the fourth level had given him a deeper understanding of and greater affinity for the element. And Toz felt especially close to the fire attribute right after the refinement with how his body was surging with fire attribute mana.


    Toz didn''t dawdle as he brought out the grimoire, and with the remaining focus he gathered for the refining and the power of fire burning through him started learning the Fireball spell like there was no tomorrow.


    Although Toz didn''t have the same talent for fire magic that Mindle had, he was still very talented at controlling mana, and with the bonus he got from his inclination, it didn''t take long for him to start making progress in learning the spell. But the more he understood, the more there was to understand. The further Toz read in the grimoire, the less he felt like he knew about fire. But at the same time, he got closer and closer to understanding how to cast a fireball properly.


    Toz''s focus deepened as he peered into the secrets of the spell and the true nature of the fire attribute, and what casting a fire spell really meant.


    Casting a fireball wasn''t simply gathering a lump of fire mana and then sending it flying. A proper fireball utilized the full destructive properties of fire, and after awakening the fire mana gave it a target. The power of mana with its true nature brought out was something basic magic couldn''tpare to.


    It was the same with Mindle''s Tongues of me. Each tongue was made of awakened fire mana. Even if it looked like a simple flicker of me, it still held much more power than what something simr created by ordinary magic could hold.


    It was also the reason why Nil''s spell wasn''t that much more powerful than ordinary magic. He hadn''t managed to bring out the true nature of the metal mana he was using.


    Toz''s hard work finally paid off when he looked up from his grimoire and sent a fireball flying into the Void.

 Chapter 144 Progress (2)

    ?Despite all the mana and firepower being concentrated within the spherical lump of fire, Toz and the cats could feel the tremendous explosive power the fireball contained. It left waves of heat in the air it passed through before disappearing into the Void.


    Toz felt it was a shame that there wasn''t anything that he could target since he wouldn''t be able to see the full effects of the spell if it didn''t hit anything. And he didn''t dare use a part of the ind as a practice target either since, based on the power the spell disyed, it would be one-time use and would result in Toz and the cats ending up without shelter from the Void.


    Still, Toz wasn''t quite satisfied with the spell, despite the power it had disyed before entering the Void, and he continued sending them out and getting morefortable and proficient with the spell each time. Compared to the first fireball he cast due to a burst of inspiration, the following ones were more refined. They didn''t leak as much of their power and were more concentrated.


    The fireballs didn''t affect their surroundings as much, but there was no way topare the explosive power of each fireball as they merely disappeared into the darkness of the Void.


    Toz yed around a bit more with the fireballs but eventually settled down and started talking about fire with Mindle. Since both of them had learned their own fire attribute spells, they had a lot they could learn from each other. And since neither of them had worn out their grimoires entirely, they could learn from each other before reading from the grimoire to make sure theyprehend the spell before the grimoire is empty.


    While Toz and Mindle got caught up in their ramblings about fire, Nil and Scraelforted Lucy with some fish. Although, Lucy didn''t need that muchfort since he had also seen Mindle''s spell and the havoc it wreaked against the swarm of void fish. While he was slightly dejected that Toz had chosen fire over darkness, Lucy couldn''t say he would have done differently in Toz''s position.


    So after telling Nil and Scrael that he was fine and that he understood Toz''s decision, Lucy started training by himself. There wasn''t much Nil and Scrael could do if Lucy was adamant about not being bothered, so after taking one more fish each, they also went off and trained on their own.


    After spending some time talking, both Toz and Mindle decided to try out what they had talked about and see if the other''s understanding of fire held any value to themselves.


    Toz found Mindle''s understanding of the fire attribute insightful but also very intuitive and instinctive, something he couldn''t really imitate, so after pondering for a bit, he decided to rest up before his next refinement.


    Reaching the fourth level with his fire attribute hadn''t been as taxing as Toz had first expected, so after eating and sleeping a bit, he prepared to do the same with darkness.


    Even if darkness was another attribute, it was still the same general process, and having already done it twice, with metal and fire, Toz finished refining his mana before any of the cats barely had time to notice what he was doing. Though this time, he didn''t have any shy spells to show off with, so after epting a snuggle from Lucy, he merely made sure to rest before preparing to get his lightning attribute to the third level.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    With the affinity and control over mana Toz''s three attributes at the fourth level gave him, reaching the third level with lightning was like talking a walk in the park for him, and it barely caused amotion.


    Since it wasn''t an actual refinement or crossing divisions, Toz didn''t have to do much more than increase his mana pool''s capacity for lightning mana and make the gaseous mana slightly denser.


    A mage refining their mana several times didn''t only increase their magical abilities, it also enhanced their bodies. Toz, who had just beenzing around aside from when he was actually refining his body, hadn''t gotten the opportunity to test his newfound strength out.


    And after the repeated strain he had put his mana pool under, it was starting to feel a little sore. Toz decided to let it rest by not using his mana for a little bit and instead get used to the physical power his body was now capable of wielding.


    Since the roots he was sitting on creaked as he stood up, Toz felt like he should learn how to control his strength and relearn the silent footsteps he had worked so hard to perfect. And, of course, so he wouldn''t identally harm any of the cats while petting them. Even if they were at the fourth and fifth level, Toz didn''t want to take any chances. And even if he doesn''t actually hurt or injure them, he can still unintentionally inflict pain on them if he isn''t careful.


    So until Toz learned to fully control his power, the roles would be switched. It was the cats'' turn to pat Toz all over while he wasn''t able to retaliate.


    Though, it didn''t take too long for Toz to get used to his newly strengthened body. And since he was able to control his strength with enough delicacy to peel a grape, he could exact vengeance on the cats without worrying about identally hurting them.


    Though even with his powerful body, Toz couldn''t catch up to Scrael when she honestly tried to escape his hands aiming to pet and tickle them all. Scrael only joined the other three on the ground next to Toz when she felt like receiving Toz''s attention, which was happening more and more as she was getting closer to the other members of their tiny group.


    The swarm of fish had relieved the group''s hunger and temporarily secured their future survival, allowing the group to rx and enjoy each other''spany. Constantly looking for resources and gold and grimoires had been boring and slightly more taxing than they had noticed.


    And hadn''t their goal always been to see and do interesting things? What could be more awesome than floating through the Void on a deserted ind of magical trees?

 Chapter 145 Gardening (1)

    ?Having food to eat greatly helped Toz and the cats rx as they continued drifting around the Void. Although they had no control over where they were going or how far they were going to travel, they decided to enjoy the trip instead of worrying if it would ever end.


    And after encountering another group of fish, it was beginning to look like the Void wasn''t as empty as the group had feared before they ran into the first group of fish. Without needing to worry about food, Toz and the cats spent their days idling around and training mostly. There wasn''t much else to do after all.


    Though when Toz or Nil got bored, they started ying around with expanding their ind of trees using metal. Even though it required regr resupplying of mana, it was nice having some more space to y around on and get some privacy.


    Eventually, as the group continued floating in the Void and time passed without any signs of existence other than void beasts, the trees started growing.


    The void trees used the mana in the Void to nurture themselves, but that didn''t mean they couldn''t use other mana as well. The tree roots began sapping away the metal mana that Toz and Nil had used to reinforce and expand the ind. But instead of merely draining away the mana, the trees stretched and grew to rece the metal reinforcements that Toz and Nil had made.


    Although Toz had at first been worried that the trees would only eat at the reinforcements and destabilize, the worry was quickly reced with happiness when he saw the trees reinforcing themselves using the metal as a guide. After the treespletely reced the metal, there wouldn''t be any need for Toz and Nil to continue wasting mana on keeping the ind stable and secure.


    And since the trees seemingly followed the mana wherever it went, it also meant that they could create beautiful decorations or expand the tiny ind of trees into a floating forest if given enough time.


    Seeing the trees grow in the direction of where there was most mana, the other cats also started experimenting. Although it was beyond difficult for them to make permanent constructs like Toz and Nil could do, they could still do some things that simrly attracted the trees.


    As long as Mindle didn''t use too much power, she could sustain a tongue of me for long periods of time, and if she made it really weak, she could, in theory, do it forever since it took as much mana as she could regenerate passively.


    Lucy didn''t have a spell or anything that he could use, but since the Void was filled with darkness, and the few sources of light generated several shadows on the ind of trees, he could minimize his mana expenditure as he made tiny figurines of himself and the others.


    Just like Mindle, he could keep the magic going for long since it used barely more than he regenerated. The only time Lucy was about to run out of mana and let the magic dissipate before the tree had finished growing over it was when he made his own figurine. Since it was significantly bigger than the others, it required a lot more mana and took longer to grow. But Lucy was very satisfied with being the biggest, even if it only was when looking at the figurines he had made.


    Scrael was the one experiencing the greatest difficulty in creating something by letting the trees grow, where she was using magic. Lightning was inherently fickle and short-lived. The LIghtning Clouds over Sleepless Brights is an exception that''s hard to replicate.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    And Scrael was more used to enhancing herself with magic rather than actively using it to conjure lightning bolts.


    When she couldn''t find a way to make the trees grow, Scrael couldn''t but feel excluded as she looked at the others. Toz and Nil were creating decorations, building houses, and expanding their ind like crazy. Mindle was trying to grow the trees by feeding them with fire. Lucy had disappeared into a swarm of shadows he had gathered to increase the darkness and lessen the burden on his mana.


    Meanwhile, Scrael was stuck trying to make unmoving lightning, which she had little to no sess in doing.


    It seemed like a futile attempt and for something that wouldn''t be worth it, so Scrael wondered if she should just find a corner and focus on training instead. But beforepletely giving up, she wanted to try onest time.


    Instead of trying to create a lightning bolt hanging in the air somewhere that the trees could grow on, Scrael sent lightning mana into the wood itself, hoping that maybe the influx of mana would stimte the tree''s growth.


    The result wasn''t quite what she had expected, but a tiny branch did sprout. The branch looked different from its surroundings with its darker, more purplish color and its thin, crooked structure.


    Scrael figured that the only reason the branch had be different from the ce it grew out of was due to her mana''s attribute, but instead of showing off her finding to Toz and the others, she decided to inspect the ces Toz and Nil had reinforced but that had be overgrown with the trees'' roots and branches.


    The ces didn''t exhibit such a clear color difference, but when she looked closer, she noticed that the wood had a slightly shinier surface. Further testing also proved that the tree that had grown from the metal was slightly sturdier and more resistant to Scrael''s ws.


    Although Lucy and Mindle were too busy with their own magic toe check, Toz and Nil found it interesting. Especially Toz since he could use several elements at once. Knowing that the wood was affected by the mana it used to grow opened up a whole new avenue of things Toz wanted to try out.


    Toz had already been nning on trying to make a sword of wood by letting the trees grow around a wood of metal he had strengthened with extreme amounts of mana. It would also serve as a way to test how the trees'' growth was affected by the density of mana.

 Chapter 146 Gardening (2)

    ?ying around and experimenting with the trees was fun and all, but eventually, it got boring. The trees grew slowly, and Lucy and Mindle needed to have a lot of patience whenever they did something. Scrael also hadn''t found much else she could do except make tiny dark purple branches sprout all over the ce.


    Toz and Nil could create something, and if they left it with enough mana, it wouldn''t dissipate before the tree finished growing and recing it. Lucy and Mindle had to constantly continue supplying mana and keeping their magic active if they wanted to direct the trees'' growth.


    So after they finished with what they had first set out to do, they didn''t continue.


    Lucy had created a figurine of dark, almost ck, wood for every member of their group.


    Mindle had, despite the flickering of the mes, managed to create a tiny reddish lump of wood in the shape of the tongue of me she had used. The tree had created a tiny branch, and the little wooden me grew at the end of the branch, where it emitted weak heat and soft light.


    Considering it had been created from fire mana, it wasn''t weird. But it wasn''t enough heat or light for the wooden me to be used for anything other than decoration. Nevertheless, Mindle was still proud she managed to do it without setting the trees on fire more than a few times.


    Lucy''s figurines were beautiful to look at as long as they didn''t fade into the shadows when nobody was watching. But looking closer at them would bring them back into view again, so aside from the fun it was when they disappeared, the figurines weren''t anything special.


    After Lucy finished appreciating his work creating arger-than-life imitation of himself and tiny little replicas of the others, he stored them inside the simple wooden house Toz had made.


    Since Toz had made it while experimenting with fire mana, it was automatically heated and generated a cozy atmosphere. While they weren''t training or frolicking, Toz and the cats would sleep in thefortable warmth together.


    Toz and the cats drifted through the Void, seemingly with no end in sight on their ever-expanding ind of trees. After the tform of trees had begun growingrger, the group''s encounters with void beasts had increased in frequency.


    Most of the void beasts they ran into were swarms of fish that they had already encountered several times. But there were several instances of other types of void beasts targeting their ind.


    However, even if jellyfishrger than a single tree attacked them, the group solved it without issue. Though, unlike the tiny fish with easily identified weak spots like their eyes, the jellyfish didn''t have anything like that. Every single jellyfish was arge soft translucent balloon with tens or hundreds of meter-long strings attached to it.


    The jellyfish attacked in a very straightforward manner as it simply collided with the forest and let its tentacles surrounded by magic get entangled with the trees, eroding them with the void magic.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The void trees, despite being from the Void, were, for some reason, pretty sensitive to the magicing from the void beasts and quickly started destabilizing. But before any permanent harm could be done, the tentacles started burning.


    Mindle''s practice in growing trees by feeding it fire without setting the wood aze had practically made her an expert in not burning wood. She easily restricted her mes to the jellyfish tentacles, not even the jellyfish''s main body was harmed.


    Although the group had been encountering void beasts more frequently recently, they weren''t yet living in abundance. Any piece of edible food was valuable. Especially the jellyfish, that,pared to the fish they had gotten used to, had some taste.


    However, since they hadn''t found a way to kill the jellyfish without reducing its value as food, they were left with no choice but to eat it alive. It was a little strange eating something that technically was alive. But since it had been trying to kill them while it was alive, it made sense for the jellyfish to pay for its crimes while alive as well.


    Toz sliced pieces of therge unmoving jellyfish body like servings of gtinous cake. Just like the void fish, it left a weird sensation in the mouth, and it wasn''t exactly fulfilling eating the jellyfish. But at least it kept them alive, and unlike the dull taste of the fish, the jellyfish had a more zesty vor that almost made it enjoyable to eat.


    Aside from the eye-teeth void fish and the jellyfish, the group continued encountering several different void beasts as they continued drifting through the Void. But since all of them were important sources of food, Toz still hadn''t found an opportunity to test out the power of his fireball.


    While he could use a weakened version with minimal amounts of mana just to try hitting something with it, that wouldpletely miss the point of casting the fireball. Using a fireball without power would be like trying to eat without food. The point of casting a fireball had always been to blow stuff up. Without power, that wouldn''t be possible.


    Toz wasn''t the only one interested in the power of the fireball spell. The cats had felt the pressure during Toz''s first go at casting it, and since then, Toz had only gotten a better hang of the spell.


    While Mindle''s spell had given them a sample of what they could expect from a spell, Tongues of me worked differently from Fireball. Tongues of me was more a matter of finesse and fine control and would grow stronger and more powerful the more tongues Mindle gained control over.


    Fireball, on the other hand, is straightforward in its use. It is simply a spell of concentrated firepower. With Toz''s mana capacity and control, his magic already packed quite a punch. Adding in a spell to that would definitely be a spectacle.


    However, it seemed like their forest wasn''t big enough to attract void beasts powerful enough to withstand Toz''s fireball, so they were left with annoying weak void beasts until the forest was attractive to more threatening beasts.

 Chapter 147 Fruits Of Their Labor (1)

    ?Toz had no idea how long he and the cats had been drifting around aimlessly in the Void. The only way they had to measure how much time had passed was by how many times they had eaten. But even that wasn''t reliable since they ate at infrequent intervals.


    At the very least, Toz was certain they had been stuck in the Void with only themselves, trees, and void beasts aspany for several months. It had been long enough for Toz to get all his elements to the fourth level.


    Their tiny ind of trees had also started getting pretty luxurious. While not quiterge enough for a vige, the avable space was definitelyparable to a mansion and thend the mansion was built on.


    Therge forest was effective bait as it attracted more void beasts. But all the void beasts drawn to the forest were hostile and not interested in creating an ecosystem on the ind. Toz and the cats didn''t mind since they enjoyed the peace and quiet. But they were worried that the only existences in the Void would be ill-intentioned and destroy their ind if given the opportunity.


    While the trees hadn''t lured in any truly strong beasts, Toz did not doubt that there were high level void beasts in the Void. He and the cats had simply been lucky that they hadn''t yet met one.


    With their strength now that two, almost three, of them had learned spells, Toz and the cats were confident that they could deal with most beasts at the medium level as long as they didn''t have strange abilities that rendered the group''s attacks useless.


    But a high level void beast could be the thing that would end Toz and the cats'' journey through the Void. However, it would be useless to do nothing but worry about it when they had all the time in the world to grow stronger and reach the point where even high level beasts won''t pose a threat to them.


    And aside from training, there wasn''t much else to do on their ind. Toz and Nil were still constantly expanding the ind and reinforcing it in various ways to make sure it could hold up against the beasts they encountered. Toz was also doing various experiments by mixing his mana as he made different objects.


    A chair grown from mostly shadow mana tended to lose its solidity, putting the one using the chair on the ground. Branches made from abination of fire and lightning and metal were effective sources of light. A branch made from lightning and metal was too bright and not soft enough for anyone to enjoy its glow. Only lightning didn''t have the power or stability to function as lighting.


    Toz was still pumping his sword full of mana,pressing and making it as dense as possible, so he hadn''t gotten the opportunity to try that out yet. Although, he was beginning to wonder if he even should feed it to the trees. The ck metallic surface with flickering lights of orange and purplish-white was beginning to look impressively stunning. Thebination of four types of fourth level mana being squeezed into a shape slightly more than a meter with two edges and a handle had created a stunning weapon. And every time Toz repeated the process and reinforced the sword with even more mana, the depths of the colors and the de deepened.


    Since it was made of mana that Toz was inplete control of, he didn''t need to sharpen or maintain it. No matter how much he used it or how worn it got, Toz only needed to use his magic, and it was good as new.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz didn''t really want to sacrifice such a good and sharp sword to the trees when he couldn''t be certain of the result. But the time he spent reinforcing the sword left him with a lot of time to think about it in detail. Eventually, he concluded that even if the trees created something useless by absorbing the sword, it didn''t matter. He could just make another one.


    Creating the sword didn''t require rare materials or difficult techniques, only mana and time, the two things Toz couldn''t run out of. But he still wasn''tpletely satisfied with the sword''s strength. If he was going to do it, he would do it properly and give the trees a masterpiece, not some half-finished overgrown kitchen knife.


    With Toz focusing on his sword, Nil on reinforcing the ind, and the other three on training or mastering a spell, no one noticed the small change that had begun affecting the ind of trees. More specifically, the areas where Toz and the cats had yed around experimenting with how the trees reacted to their mana.


    The tiny branches that Scrael had made were the first to exhibit signs of independent growth, that wasn''t because of someone injecting mana into the wood.


    At first, a single light purple leaf sprouted halfway up the branch, and then sometimeter, a bud slowly began growing at the end of the branch. The bud was originally dark purple leaves, but as it slowly grew and began blooming, the bright inneryer was exposed, revealing a tiny fruit. The tiny white ball looked more like a berry, but without anyone noticing, it grewrger and deepened in color, gradually turning into a purple fruit the size of an ordinary apple.


    The color of the fruit darkened, and the surface smoothened, turning into a glistening purple. And as time passed and the fruit continued growing, tiny white sparks, barely more noticeable than a hair, began flitting around the fruit''s surface.


    Since the fruit had been growing at a corner of the original forest where Scrael had been experimenting out of sight from the others so they wouldn''t see how badly she felt she was doing, none of the cats nor Toz noticed its growth.


    However, during one of Lucy''s patrols he had started doing to keep watch over everything and see if anything had approached their ind, he felt a disturbance in the surrounding mana. Since it was about as much of a disturbance as the wind from a bird pping its wings, he didn''t bother informing the others and started looking for the source at once.


    With Lucy''s sensitive perception, it didn''t take long for him to find the purple fruit.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 148 Fruits Of Their Labor (2)

    ?With how Lucy usually acted, it wasn''t strange for him to disappear for short periods of time. He could be hidden by shadows that asionally wrapped him up when he was training. Andtely, Lucy had begun talking walks with his head held high and an expression that was supposed to be strict but was barely anything else other than cute when Lucy did it.


    Lucy, not always being in sight, wasn''t the surprising part, and Toz wasn''t worried since there was nowhere Lucy could go and get lost on their ind. Eventually, he would return to where everyone else was.


    However, when Lucy came back with his fur all standing up like he had been electrified and with a dazed expression, Toz got surprised and worried. As far as they knew, there was nothing on the wooden ind besides themselves and all the trees. And they hadn''t noticed any void beasts approaching them either.


    Although Toz was more concerned about Lucy''s wellbeing, he also had to wonder how Lucy had ended up in his current state.


    Feeling the static and buzzing lightning from Lucy as he picked him up, Toz looked toward Scrael with a raised eyebrow.


    Scrael had been confused ever since she first sensed the remnant lightning manaing from Lucy after he came back. And when Toz looked at her, Scrael got too flustered to answer properly. But unlike the questioning she expected, Toz didn''t even seem to have the slightest suspicions against her.


    "Let''s go check it out. Lucy, can you lead the way?"


    "Mhm..."


    Toz had managed to get rid of Lucy''s puffed-up fur and smoothened it down, but he was still slightly dazed. Toz couldn''t tell if it was from some injury or just because he was caught up in strange thoughts.


    But despite being slightly distraught, he led Toz and the others to the ce where the tiny purple fruit grew. Toz and Scrael sensed the fruit before they saw it due to the rich lightning manaing from it.


    When Lucy saw the fruit again, his previous dazed state was gone like the wind. Instead, he looked at the fruit, vengeance zing in his eyes. But Lucy didn''t pounce on or attack the fruit. Probably, because despite whatever grudge he held against the fruit, Lucy knew it was special. After all, it was the only change to the ind of trees not directly rted to Toz and the other cats.


    While Scrael had created the tiny branch, it wasn''t with the intention of eventually growing fruit from it.


    And since fruits had a tendency to be edible, it was also a possible recement for the void beast diet they had been following for quite some time.


    Though, based on how Lucy had looked when he first got back to the others, the fruit might not be that easily approached or touched.


    After cing Lucy on the ground beside him, Toz shared a look with Scrael before he walked closer to the fruit. Scrael got in between Toz and the other cats in case something were to happen.


    Since the fruit was of the lightning attribute, Toz and Scrael were most suited to deal with what would happen when touching it. Although Lucy seemed reluctant to talk about what had happened, if it had been anything that would pose a threat to Toz or could harm him in any way, he would have never stayed quiet.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Trusting Lucy, Toz gently reached out with a finger to touch the fruit. Grabbing it with the entire hand would have been more effective if he wanted to pluck it, but because he was simply testing the waters, it would be easier to pull back with only a single fingertip touching the fruit.


    Toz saw the flitting sparks on the fruit''s surface and how they slowly began gathering on the area of the fruit closest to Toz''s finger, but he didn''t falter. The only way to know more about the fruit would be to properly inspect it, and the easiest way to do that would be to hold it.


    When Toz''s finger finally got close enough, the sparks gathered together and sent a jolt of lightning into Toz before he could touch the fruit. Toz jerked back his arm instinctually, but he didn''t feel any pain, only small amounts of lightning mana traveling through his arm and body.


    After inspecting his finger, he reached for the fruit again, this time not backing away at the shock he got.


    The fruit had a soft, springy surface, and since it looked like what a ripe lightning fruit would look like, Toz tried plucking it. With a gentle tug, the fruit came loose, and a tiny shower of sparks from where it had been connected to the branch rained down.


    The sparks had Toz drawing back his arm in a start again, but the few sparks that did fall on his hand didn''t cause any pain.


    Toz could feel the fruit tickling his hand slightly with faint electricity as he held it.


    Since the purple fruit didn''t seem dangerous or like it would explode in a few seconds, Toz brought it back to the others so they could also look at it closely.


    Both Toz and Scrael looked at the fruit closely. Both to make sure it would start sending lightning bolts everywhere and because they found it looking very delicious.


    Aside from Lucy, who was ring at the fruit, Nil and Mindle weren''t that interested in the fruit after satisfying their curiosity.


    After everyone finished inspecting the fruit and they had reached the conclusion that it was most likely not poisonous, there was only one thing left to do. Taste it.


    But with its obvious lightning attribute, the only two who were interested in it were Toz and Scrael. Though, since Lucy had been the first to find it, he also wanted a share of the bounty.


    Toz used his sword to get the fruit into three pieces, two that were almost half the fruit and a tiny slice for Lucy.


    The thin purple peel hid a pure white mass of fruit pulp. There weren''t any seeds or cores they had to watch out for as they each gently took a bite.

 Chapter 149 Fruits Of Their Labor (3)

    ?Toz felt the juices and sparks that squirted from the fruit tickle his mouth as he bit down on the fruit. The sparks were a shock to Toz, and he was about to reflexively spit out the fruit. But before he could do that, mana welled into his body through his mouth. The fruit pulp melted in his mouth and turned into lightning attribute mana that surged through his body and mana pool.


    The fruit was gone before Toz had time to savor the feeling of his mana being refined. Although his lightning mana was only improved by a fraction, it had happened by eating a fruit. Toz felt it was a shame that there was only one fruit and that it was so small, but there was nothing he could do about it except maybe use lightning magic to grow a branch as Scrael had done.


    Toz looked at the reactions of Scrael and Lucy after he finished sensing how much his mana had progressed. It looked like Scrael had experienced a simr sensation as Toz but less effective. Considering she was at the fifth level while Toz''s lightning mana was at the fourth level, it wasn''t strange. For every new level, more training is required to make the same amount of progress.


    Lucy, on the other hand, was coughing and spitting out the slice of the fruit he had tried eating. Unlike what had happened with Toz and Scrael''s pieces, Lucy''s slice didn''t melt in his mouth and came out in chewed-up pieces drenched in saliva.


    Toz was slightly worried when he saw the sparks travel between Lucy''s whiskers and his fur, which had once again gotten puffed up due to the electricity. But it didn''t seem like Lucy was in pain, only ufortable, so Toz got rid of the static and lingering lightning mana for him.


    After getting rid of thest remaining bits of the fruit in his mouth and the source of the lightning mana, Lucy looked a little better. Though, he red at the fruit scraps with anger before attacking them and tearing them to shreds that ended up scattered over the ground.


    Since Lucy was in a bad mood, the others carefully took their distance and scattered.


    Toz and Scrael started looking for fruits in the other ces Scrael had made branches sprout with her lightning mana. Nil and Mindle started looking around where they had used magic to create stuff, to see if a simr phenomenon had happened anywhere else.


    When Lucy finished stomping on the fruit scraps and calmed down, he left to check on his shadow figurines.


    While he was walking around, seeing if any of the other branches Scrael had made was about to grow fruit, Toz wondered about the phenomenon they had just encountered. Even if the fruit only marginally improved his mana, any object or material that could improve mana without needing any training was extremely precious. And if the Void Forest part of Treblor Forest had the capability of producing fruits like the one they had just eaten, there would be way more people interested in it.


    While Toz might not have been given ess to it because the level of his Explorer''s Badge wascking, it still felt like most people that entered Treblor Forest did so because there were lots of things to find, not because of the guaranteed payday that bringing back a magical fruit as Toz and Scrael had eaten, would give the explorer that brought it back.


    As far as Toz knew, the only differences between the ind of void trees he and the cats were on and the Void Forest of Treblor were the size and the wildlife.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But Toz didn''t know enough about the forest or the trees to draw any kind of conclusion. All he had were guesses. Maybe the Void Forest did grow such fruits, but they were just more valuable than he thought, and people paid good money to keep it a secret so they could keep the fruits for themselves.


    After looking around almost the entire ind, Toz and Scrael each found one branch growing a leaf.


    However,pared to the other three, they had found greater sess.


    Nil hadn''t found anything different with the things he had made. Lucy imed that the shadow figurine of him had grownrger, but none of the others could tell if there was a difference.


    Though, Mindle was pretty sure that the mes on her wooden me had changed slightly.


    With the discovery of the trees growing in strange ways due to the influence of the mana from Toz and the cats, another item was added to the group''s daily routine. Aside from training, defending the ind against void beasts, reinforcing the ind, and eating, they regrly checked the products of feeding the trees with their mana.


    But even after several approximate days, the tiny branches that Toz and Scrael had found barely changed. They tried giving one of the branches even more lightning mana, but that just led to another branch sprouting nearby.


    Since most of the branches had been created at almost the same time, Toz found it weird that there was such a discrepancy in how fast they grew. But like with most things on the ind, there wasn''t a need to rush since they had practically all the time in the world.


    After waiting some time, the next thing that grew wasn''t the lightning fruit. The tiny wooden me that Mindle had created had really changed slightly, and as time passed, those changes became more and more apparent.


    The tiny individual mes had slowly started getting a more refined shape and had begun resembling leaves wrapped around each other in a flower bud. Although slight, the air around the wooden me had also started being filled with fire attribute mana. The heat and lighting from the tiny lump of fire-shaped tree had also gotten stronger.


    More leaves in the shape of mes grew, and the bud got slightly bigger, but there were still no signs of the bud blossoming just yet.

 Chapter 150 Fruits Of Their Labor (4)

    ?After the slow transformation into a flower bud, Mindle''s wooden me didn''t look like it would change any more. Or if it did, it was doing so at an unnoticeable pace. But since both Scrael''s and Mindle''s experiments with the trees had shown almost incredible results, Toz and the cats didn''t mind waiting to see if the flower would change.


    Scrael''s purple lightning fruit was certainly spectacr, but it was too early to determine if Mindle''s wooden me would turn into anything special if it continued to grow or if it would stay as a flower bud with leaves shaped as mes. And while none of the other trials and experiments of growing objects by giving the trees mana had born fruit, maybe it was merely a matter of time.


    But seeing the void trees'' nearly magical reaction with mana in different ways gave Toz a better feeling about giving his sword to the trees when it was finally reinforced to the point where it practically didn''t change, no matter how much mana Toz poured into it.


    Since it was his first experiment giving something so dense with mana, Toz didn''t know what to expect would happen, and he thought he was prepared for almost anything. But he was still stumped when nothing happened, even after several days.


    Even when Mindle had been using fire, the trees had pretty quickly started absorbing the mana and started growing in its direction. But the trees didn''t show a noticeable reaction to Toz''s sword after heid it on the ground. Toz didn''t let that bring him down, and he spent most of his time sitting close to the sword and while training, asionally ncing at the sword to see if anything had changed.


    The cats were a little worried about Toz''s obsession with the sword, but since they were all also incredibly curious about what would happen, they didn''t do much to dissuade him from constantly monitoring it.


    Nil didn''t mind being the only one working on the ind, even if it got a little boring at times since, if he felt lonely, Toz would still take a break and spend some time with him. And if Toz didn''te to him, Nil would go to Toz.


    Toz, spending so much time sitting still, training and watching his sword and the trees, had somehow managed to calm down the cats. After the discovery of the void trees'' reaction to mana and with the purple fruit that had grown, the cats had been eagerly hoping for something simr to grow.


    Lucy had proved that only those with the lightning attribute could eat the purple fruit. And after Toz and Scrael had admitted that it tasted heavenly inparison to the void beasts that they were stuck with, the other cats also wanted a fruit of their own.


    So far, Mindle''s wooden me had shown the most promise. She had even made a few more despite the tedious work it required. But when it stopped growing or changing, the cats started getting worried that the purple lightning fruit was something like a one-time event and that there wouldn''t be any change to their meals any time soon.


    But when Toz barely did anything for several days straight, the cats were forced to slow down their anxiety and take things as they came. Even if they stress out, the trees won''t grow any faster. They had already tried feeding the wood with more mana and even the remnants of whatever void beast they killed.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The parts that were so unappetizing that they were impossible to stomach were dug into the roots of the void trees or buried by ayer of metal and then consumed by the trees'' growth. Hopefully, the remaining void mana in the beast corpses would act as a boost to the void trees. But even if it didn''t, it was a quick and easy way for them to give the ind more mana without having to expend their own.


    Even more time progressed as Toz and the cats waited for the nts and objects they had made from the trees to grow and show some type of change. But they didn''t spend the time onlyzing around and counting leaves or looking into the Void and daydreaming, even if Toz was beginning to find the darkness of the Void pretty alluring.


    Since the most surefire way of controlling their travels and ensuring their continued safety in the Void was strength, arge part of their days on the ind of trees was spent on training.


    Although none of them were at the point of reaching the next level just yet, they made constant progress. Especially Nil, who was onlycking a final piece of understanding topletely learn the spell in his grimoire.


    Nil wanted to learn the spell properly and catch up to Mindle and Toz, who had already learned theirs. But at the same time, he felt like he wouldn''t understand if he rushed it, so he spent his days doing simple work as he reinforced the forest and trained his mana.


    After Toz and Nil had expanded the ind a bit, they had noticed the change in how often void beasts attacked the ind. They also noticed that the void beasts that attacked them were usually stronger than the beasts that had attacked the ind when it was smaller.


    If the pattern continued and Toz and Nil kept on adding onto the ind, the ind might eventually berge enough to attract a beast Toz and the cats wouldn''t be able to handle it.


    Although the ind had yet to attract a beast that required Toz''s fireball, it was only a matter of time. And while expanding the ind might be fun, the same thing with stronger beasts, Toz and the cats know nothing about what kind of void beasts might show up.


    Considering they are already in a grave position, Toz and Nil didn''t need to consider much before they decided to stop expanding the forest and instead focus on strengthening it. Also, there is no real reason to make the ind bigger aside from attracting enough beasts to feed them, and when they have already aplished that, there is no need for them to continue expanding.


    Instead, whenever Nil and Toz felt like it, they would add a fewyers or fill in the gaps between the tree roots with metal. Or if they didn''t want to add metal they would pour metal mana directly into the trees.

 Chapter 151 Sharp Rain

    ?The trees that had grown to rece the metal constructs Toz and Nil had set up or had metal mana poured into them didn''t disy apparent changes like the wood affected by the other attributes. The wood got sturdier and wasn''t as easily damaged. It also got a slightly smoother and shinier surface, but overall it still looked mostly like the void trees had done without the influence of concentrated elemental mana.


    Compared to the trees affected by lightning and fire mana, the trees affected by metal mana also hadn''t shown any independent change or growth. Though aside from the first round of inspection after the purple fruit was discovered, neither Toz nor Nil had bothered to check the trees too thoroughly.


    Toz had gotten absorbed into training and monitoring his sword, and Nil had taken it slow and gradually deepened his understanding of metal, trying to learn Sharp Rain.


    When Nil used what he had alreadyprehended from the grimoire, his magic spiked in how powerful it was, but he still felt like there was a gap between that and the real power of a spell. Somehow, the power of the mana wasn''t reaching the potential required to unleash the full might of the spell.


    After training a bunch, Nil decided to take a break, so heid down on a branch of one of the trees he had been reinforcing with metal mana. Compared to the other trees, it was the tree most obviously affected by the metal mana he had been giving it. The smooth and sturdy surface of the branch made it a perfect ce to rest. And if it weren''t for the blue color of the trees, Nil would have almost been indistinguishable from the branch he was lying on.


    Despite dosing off, Nil still stayed aware of his surroundings, so he felt the branch swaying in tandem with his breathing. Although the branch''s movements were only noticeable to Nil, who felt them directly, they were still there.


    With the size of the ind of trees that Toz and the cats were on, it was practically impossible for wind to arise naturally. But despite there not being even the tiniest hint of a breeze, Nil still felt the branch holding him up sway.


    At first, he didn''t pay any attention to it, but after he realized it, he quickly discarded it as the result of the branch responding to his breathing.


    It wasn''t the first time Nil napped on a branch, and it wasn''t the first time he slept on a branch that swayed slightly. But it was the first time he slept on a piece of metal that moved so gently and due to close to no pressure being applied to it.


    After realizing that the branch he was lying on was almost more simr to metal than wood, Nil''s eyes shot open. Despite being made of metal known for its sturdiness, it was still soft enough to amodate Nil''s weight and movement.


    With that realization, Nil finally figured out what he was missing toplete his spell. Hecked an understanding of metal''s flexibility.


    If the daggers conjured by Sharp Rain were too rigid, they would shatter on impact. But if they can absorb and receive damage, the daggers will be able to disy their full power and continue forward, despite encountering resistance.


    Unable to stop the spark of inspiration from lighting his productivity, Nil immediately set out to try casting his spell with the new understanding of metal he had just gained.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Since he had been dozing off in a tree that wasn''t too far from the house, Toz had made, Toz and Mindle, who were close by, noticed Nil''s energetic movements as he ran off to the edge of the ind.


    Although he wanted to try out his spell, Nil wasn''t sure whether or not it would be a good idea to do it so close to the others, even if his spell wasn''t supposed to be as explosive and destructive as Toz''s Fireball.


    Nil only wanted to cast the spell and make sure he understood it properly. He didn''t feel a need to try out its effectiveness at once, so he didn''t mind even if he only had the Void as a target.


    When he reached the edge, Nil could clearly sense the thin atmospheric barriering from the trees, protecting the group against the Void''s suffocation. If they hadn''t already made sure that the air disappeared into the Void even if the barrier broke or if the ind was under attack, Nil wouldn''t have decided tounch his spell into the Void.


    Nil gazed into the starry Void for a second before closing his eyes and concentrating onmunicating his will to his mana, stimting it and bringing it forth in the way he had learned from the grimoire.


    Nil''s eyes were still closed as tens of metal daggers began taking shape in the air above and around him. When he opened his eyes again, those daggers flew through the sky as naturally as if they were part of ordinary rain.


    Although Nil couldn''t determine how effective the daggers would be as an attack, just the feeling that the daggers had given off when they entered the Void was enough to confirm that Nil had sessfully learned the spell Sharp Rain.


    The lingering exaltation of finally being able to cast a spell made Nil cast it several times more.


    Now there were officially three in their group that could use spells. Although, so far, Mindle had been the only one to use it in actualbat and proven how powerful spells were.


    Nil first celebrated with Toz and Mindle, who had been behind him, spectating his casting, and then they all gathered together and celebrated after telling Lucy and Scrael.


    But as it turned out, celebrating Nil''s sess in learning the spell wouldn''t be the only reason Toz and the cats had to group up, since only moments after all five of them started celebrating, something other than void beasts appeared within their perception.

 Chapter 152 Boat

    ?Toz and the cats sensed the object approaching the ind at almost the same time. The difference between when each of them noticed was so small it wasn''t even noticed by them.


    Although they had been busy celebrating Nil and having as much of a party as they could with their limited supplies, the object they sensed took priority as they rushed over to the edge of the ind where the trees weren''t blocking their view.


    Standing on the edge of their ind, Toz got a better look at the object drifting around in the Void only a dozen meters away from them.


    Although it was difficult to tell its exact size with the distance between them and the object, it couldn''t be more than a few meters long and slightly more than a single meter wide.


    The tiny wooden rowboat was covered by a white cloth, so it was impossible to identify the contents of the boat. But a boat was a sign of civilization, even if the boat was empty. Upon identifying the boat, Toz and the cats almost cheered. The boat had to havee from somewhere, maybe even a ne, where they could finally find something other than void beasts to eat.


    But before they began hoping to find a nearby ne, the boat was an incredible opportunity of acquiring supplies that Toz and the cats wouldn''t let slip past them.


    After calming down, Toz and Nil started creating a fishing rod and line they could use to haul in the rowboat before it started drifting away from the ind. Encountering the boat in the vast Void was an extremely unlikely urrence, and Toz wouldn''t let the boat get away.


    If the boat had been uncovered and empty, Toz and the cats might not have been that interested in it, but the cover indicated it at least held something within it.


    Toz threw the weight at the end of the wire at the boat and controlled it to wrap around the boat. Controlling conjured mana in various directions at a distance was difficult, much more so than simply propelling projectiles, even more so through the chaotic mana in the Void, but with the help of Nil, Toz managed to grab the boat.


    Toz gently pulled back the boat in case the wire would slip off and send the boat spinning away somehow. Since the boat wasn''t too far away, it didn''t take long for it to bump against the roots of the wooden ind.


    Toz pulled up the boat further onto the ground, where ity tightly secured so it wouldn''t fly away if the ind was attacked. And in case it contained something dangerous, Toz didn''t bring it all the way to their house in the center of the ind.


    If it was booby-trapped with powerful explosives, opening up at the edge of the ind would at least save some of their refuge from the Void, while uncovering it right in the center might shatter the entire ind.


    Although the odds of something like that actually being the case were almost slimmer than a knife''s edge, Toz didn''t want to take unnecessary risks when they were already in a generally bad situation.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz and the cats stood at a distance, the cats and most of Toz''s body protected by a tree. Toz used a long metal stick to prod the boat''s cover and gently began pushing it off the rim. Since they were taking precautions and hiding a few meters away from the boat, Toz and the cats couldn''t see what was inside.


    But after confirming that there weren''t any dangers included, they got closer.


    Toz and Lucy had the advantage of height as they got closer and could see their haul first. Since the other cats couldn''t with clear conscience take Lucy''s ce on Toz''s head and were walking beside him instead, they only saw the contents when they got to the other side of the tilting boat.


    Though even Toz and Lucy couldn''t see the objects clearly until they tumbled out of the boat, startling all of them.


    When they saw that the bundle of cloths wasn''t moving after falling out of the boat, Toz and the cats closed in with gentle steps.


    Toz wondered if he should have brought the stick with him, but the curiosity was too strong to go back and get it. And he was too busy to think about how he could create one himself as he bent down and started untangling the heap of cloth that came from the boat.


    Aside from Lucy, the other cats looked on from the side, their face full of curiosity. Despite not needing to lean forward to get a better look at therge bundle that had filled most of the space in the boat, the cats did just that as Toz pulled at the cloth, trying to find an opening.


    While touching the beige and white cloth, Toz sensed a few patterns with his fingers, but they didn''t seem to be more than a part of the cloth, so he didn''t pay any more attention to it. Especially not when the things hidden within the cloth were finally about to be revealed.


    Though, it wasn''t quite what he had expected.


    Since the cloths were so airy and loosely packed together, the shape of the contents had been impossible to determine before unwrapping the bundle. However, since it had been wrapped in so much protection, it should be something fragile. And while fragile could be both good and bad, it at least meant it was something valuable if it needed protection. And valuable things could sometimes be useful things.


    Toz didn''t know what to hope for when he realized it wasn''t a food storage that had gotten loose or been dropped into the Void. But even if it was something valuable but currently useless, Toz held confidence in one day being able to return to human civilization where he could sell it and get some funds.


    Though, all thoughts of selling it or using it disappeared when he actually saw the contents after removing severalyers of fabric.

 Chapter 153 Boats Contents

    ?Toz almost threw away the bundle in his hands when a woman''s haggard face appeared beneath theyers of fabric. Though, since he could hear her shallow breathing and sensed she wasn''t dead, he continued removing the fabric, bringing the woman and a young kid out into the light.


    Both of them looked gravely malnourished and gaunt. The poor kid was hardly more than skin and bones. And neither of them hardly weighed a thing as Toz carried them to the house, where he ced them on a warm bed made of leaves. Though, now with the swathes of cloth, maybe they could prepare a proper mattress for even greaterfort.


    The woman and what Toz assumed was her child held onto each other so tightly, despite not having any muscles, that Toz carried them together in his arms and ced them on the bed together. After wrapping them in a nket from the pile of fabric by the boat, he started preparing an easy to eat meal they could consume even if they were stiff and starved.


    After chopping the body of a void fish into tooth-sized pieces and cing them in a bowl, Toz got started with making the mattress. Although, it turned into more of arge cushion than a mattress since Toz sewed arge enough cloth together with metal wire and then filled it with leaves.


    It was at leastfier than lying directly on the leaves, so Toz moved the mother and her child over to it.


    During Toz''s cushion making, the cats had scoured through the boat as they hoped to find food. Since humans needed food to survive, it wouldn''t be unreasonable to expect there to have been food along with the pair who had been in the boat. However, with how gaunt the two were, it would be weird for any food to be left. And it wasn''t a surprise when the cats only found a bunch of empty storage bags.


    Toz had expected storage rings since they were the mostmon small-size storage items he was familiar with, but he didn''t pay too much attention to the storage bags. Maybe it was just personal preference.


    Toz didn''t know what to do now that he had ced the two people from the boat on the cushion, so while waiting for them to wake up, he and the cats continued with what they had been doing before the boat showed up.


    Although the mood wasn''t quite the same since all of them were curious about the first people they met in what felt like a year. But after taking guesses at their story or what could have happened to them, Toz and the cats got back to training, with a rotating schedule where one of them would check in on the two in the house regrly.


    Toz had tried giving them some of the liquid they had squeezed out of the leaves, and a piece of the fish he had cut up, but it seemed like their tastebuds were too stubborn. Although they looked severely starved, it wasn''t to the point where they would die before they woke up and could force the food down.


    The two people Toz had saved from the boat had trembled asionally right after they had been brought into the house, but that grew more infrequent, and the fretful expression on the mother''s face also rxed. But there were still no signs of them stirring.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    At least the food didn''t spoil quickly, so even if the two kept sleeping for several days, they would still have something to eat as soon as they woke up.


    Although the cats had been watching and checking in on the two humans frequently since they were so curious, eventually, it became more boring than training or watching the nts grow.


    After some time, Toz decided that letting them rest for much longer would only increase their risk of dying, so he gave another shot at trying to force-feed the mother with the soft morsels of void meat.


    Toz took one piece at a time and brought the jiggling, translucent meat to the mother''s head that he was raising with his other hand. After setting the piece of meat down in her mouth, he washed it down with some leaf water. He could see the woman''s eyebrow set in a slight frown, but unlike the previous time, the food entered her throat, and it didn''t look like she was about to throw up either. Her condition was probably so bad and malnourished that her body swallowed the food despite the ufortable and unfamiliar taste.


    The kid, whose age was impossible to determine since he was so skinny, put up more resistance against the food, but after a few tries, Toz managed to squeeze down a morsel there as well.


    But even after epting some food, the two didn''t seem too keen on waking up. And instead, Toz had another thing to add to his daily routine aside from training and inspecting how the trees wereing along with the absorption of his sword. A few times every day, Toz would feed the two a little void beast meat from different beasts.


    Although it was mostly the meat from the void fish with sensitive eyes and sharp teeth since that was the beast that Toz and the cats encountered most often, it was the worst of the meat they had deemed edible, but it was the only thing they had enough off to live on.


    While Toz wanted to save the woman and her child, that didn''t mean spoiling them with the most ptable void meat that they themselves couldn''t satiate their hunger with. And the main reason he wanted to save the woman and her child was that he was curious about their story and if there were any nearby nes that they would soon encounter. Though, it would also be nice with some new and variedpany.


    While Toz and the cats enjoyed each other''spany and wouldn''t grow bored of one another that easily, some variation would be nice. Though, it remained to be seen if the woman and her child would be pleasantpany. Thankfully, it finally seemed as if the two were about to recover enough to wake up.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 154 Mother And Child

    ?Each time he did it, it grew increasingly easy for Toz to feed the woman and the kid with the meat he and the cats got from the void beasts that attacked their ind of trees. And soon enough, color began returning to their cheeks. Their faces were still hollow and gaunt, but at least they didn''t seem to be deathly ill anymore.


    Although the kid didn''t show much of a change aside from getting a slightly healthier look on his face, the mother had started showing signs of waking up. Slight coughing and clearing her throat and more vivid facial expressions as if she was dreaming. The woman had also started shifting around and rxing her grip on the boy in her arms.


    After they noticed that at least one of the two people they had rescued from the boat was about to wake up, Toz and the cats were almost constantly watching. If it had taken much longer, the cats might even have started betting on the story that sent the two people into the Void on a small rowboat with nothing more than cloth and a few bags of food.


    Though just because they hadn''t started betting yet didn''t mean they didn''t have their own theories. So far, Toz was most inclined to believe Nil''s guess that the woman had been the mistress to a local lord of some type, and when it was discovered that she had given birth to a son that could threaten the legitimate inheritors'' session, she was thrown into the Void under the guise of an ident.


    None of them had any real basis for their guesswork. It just made the day pass quicker when they had something to do and specte about. And if their theories were refuted by the woman''s story after she woke up, that would be it.


    But the building anticipation as the woman started showing more signs of waking up had the cats restless. After all, they might be about to meet the protagonist of an exciting real-life story as soon as the woman wakes up. Their own lives might also be exciting, but that didn''t cross the cats'' minds as they almost stirred up a storm when the woman''s eyelids trembled.


    The woman''s face scrunched up as she opened her eyes for the first time in quite a while. She covered her face with a bony hand to shield her eyes from the blinding light. Eventually, after a few moments and a heavy sigh, she opened her eyes enough to look around and see the warmly lit wooden interior of a small, simple house.


    Thest time she had closed her eyes had been inplete darkness beneath severalyers of different fabrics tightly wrapped around her and her son, so the change definitely shocked her. But then she remembered her son and sat up and looked around frantically.


    Even in her weakened state, the mother had no problem sitting up, and right as she was about to flip off the nket and stand up, she felt the mass of skin and bones hugging her tightly. After securing and holding her son tightly, she started crying. Both because of how weak and malnourished her son had be and because he was still alive.


    Toz and the cats had been standing outside or sitting in the hole in the wall that served as a window. They had been about to enter the house when they saw the woman wake up but felt like it wouldn''t be proper to intrude on the crying mother hugging her son.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Although spirit beasts might not have the greatest of rtionships with what could be considered their family in most cases, they still felt empathy and understood a mother''s affection for their kid. Toz, who wasn''t a spirit beast, on the other hand, started reminiscing about his own parents and mother. It was a lie to say he didn''t miss them every now and then, but he knew what he had gotten himself into when he first set out for his journey.


    After some time, when the woman had calmed down, and her tears had stopped falling, Toz knocked on the doorframe and entered. At the same time, the cats jumped down from the window, though Lucy jumped up to the shelf where he had ced his shadow figurines.


    The mother looked at Toz with vignce while asionally ncing at the cats who were at various ces around the only room in the house.


    Toz had been trying to keep himself somewhat clean with various types of magic. Shaving and trimming his beard with metal and burning away the smell that started lingering around him if he wasn''t careful. That didn''t help when his only clothes were a pair of worn, torn, and dirty pants and a coat that wasn''t in better shape, and he gave off a rather rugged impression, especially with his height as he practically loomed above the mother and the child.


    Toz tried to put on a gentle smile, but that only made the shape of his vertical pupils protrude more. For some reason, eyes with vertical pupils weren''t the eyes that garnered the greatest amount of trust. Something Toz could tell based on the woman''s expression as she held her son tight. He was almost envious of how gentle and bright the mother''s brown eyes were, despite the mixed impression of caution and dried tears on her face.


    In order to not spook the woman further, Toz stayed right by the door, where he conjured a simple chair of metal and sat down.


    Since he wasn''t really sure how to begin the conversation, and since the woman didn''t seem too keen on talking, Toz and the woman ended up just staring at each other in silence.


    When the cats couldn''t stand the awkwardness anymore, Nil, after an exchange of looks, cleared his throat and tapped Toz on the leg. That finally got Toz to react and open his mouth as he tried to find the right words.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 155 Refugees (1)

    ?Toz began by introducing himself and the cats. The woman was surprised when Lucy said hello from the shelf he was lying on since she hadn''t noticed him before. But after Toz started talking, she understood that he didn''t have any bad intentions, for now at least, so she was surprised but not scared.


    The woman''s voice was hoarse and weak after having been out of use for so long and because she was still recovering from starvation and dehydration. She introduced herself as Joan and her still unconscious son as Joshua.


    Toz told her about the ind of trees they were on and how he and the cats saved Joan and her son after discovering the boat drifting through the Void. Joan almost burst into tears again as she thanked Toz.


    "Do you need some more rest?" Although Joan had woken up, she was still weak and recovering, so after letting her know about their current situation, Toz felt like she might need to rest and recuperate some more before he started asking her about what sent her into the Void.


    Joan wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes as she answered,


    "No need. I have slept enough for now." Joan could tell that Toz was lingering and hesitating about what to say because he was interested in hearing about her situation but didn''t want to be too impolite.


    "How about I tell you our story in exchange for saving our lives?"


    "If you don''t mind." Toz had a feeling he had been seen through, but he epted Joan''s offer with a smile.


    "Both me and my husbande from a small town with a poption of fewer than a thousand people. Childhood sweethearts. Loved each other. Got married. Had Joshua. He got his name from mixing Joan and his father''s Tasha. An ordinary story. But I would have loved to spend the rest of my life enchanting fabric, raising Joshua, and loving Tasha.


    "But our town was struck by the first wave of attacks in the war. My family and I had been out of town for a vacation, so we survived, but our families didn''t, and we were forced to flee. But beasts rampaged everywhere we went. The few cities and towns we found were nothing more than ruins.


    "Tasha worked as a guard, so he was used to fighting and managed to protect us until we found a safe ce.


    "However, like every refuge we found, it was only temporary. This time the entire ne was about to copse. In order to save as many as possible, the kingdom sent a few void ships to help us.


    "But there is no way they would send enough ships to save everyone from an entire ne when the mes of war are spreading all over. After noblemen and the ones with heavy purses got on, there wasn''t any room for everyone else.


    "In the middle of the chaos and mutiny, my husband said he had found a solution and came back with the boat and a few bags of food. He nned to hitch a ride by tying the boat to the ship before they left. And it worked. We managed to leave the ne before it crumbled. Several other families did the same as us, but tens of thousands of people were left to die because the admiral didn''t want to help anyone.


    "However, after we were in the Void, despite us not burdening the ships, they began cutting the ropes tying us to the ship. My husband tried to stop it, but he got blown away by a mage on the ship.


    "I tried to hold on to him! But it all happened so quickly." This time, Joan couldn''t hold back her tears and began sobbing as she continued caressing Joshua''s light brown hair with an empty gaze.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Sorry." Both for her loss and for making her relieve her experiences. Toz and the cats left the house without disturbing Joan since she needed some peace and quiet to process what she had been through.


    A few hourster, Joan fell asleep again. Toz used the opportunity to refill the bowl of void meat.


    Toz was there again the next time Joan woke up. While she looked slightly healthier physically speaking, Toz could see she was in emotional pain. However, even if they didn''t talk about her feelings, Toz felt it would be better for her if she wasn''t alone with only her sleeping kid.


    Although he wasn''t sure he should ask about it, considering Joan''s state of mind, it didn''t look like she would mind talking about it.


    "What war?" Ever since he had first heard about it, Toz had been worried. From what Joan said, it sounded like nes being destroyed in the war was amon urrence. But Toz would have at least heard rumors about a war on that scale.


    Joan looked at Toz with a confused expression before answering,


    "The realm war between our human realm and the demon realm."


    "Hmm. When did it begin?"


    "Maybe a year or so ago? Wait! Have you been here for so long that you didn''t even know about the war?"


    "I''m pretty sure I ended up in the Void due to an attack by the demons. Have you heard of what happened at Treblor Forest?" Toz knew it was a long shot asking about Treblor since he hadn''t known about it before he researched interesting ces in Firebelt Kingdom.


    "You were there!? I didn''t think there were survivors of any of the demon lords'' appearances. But wait, that means you are from the Firebelt Kingdom?"


    Toz was a little confused about the mention of demon lords, but he felt reasonable that an entity capable of shattering Roaring Skies and Treblor was called a demon lord. Still, the talk of war had him slightly absentminded as he replied to Joan.


    "Yeah.


    "...Wait, where are you from?"


    "I could be considered a resident of Starsling Kingdom." Joan frowned when she said the name. With how the kingdom''s soldiers and men had acted when on a rescue mission and how they had even killed her husband, it was understandable that Joan didn''t think fondly of the kingdom.

 Chapter 156 Refugees (2)

    ?Although Joan had recently woken up, after eating and feeding her son, she fell back asleep. Toz didn''t mind and let her rest alone since he had gotten a few things to think about.


    Although a realm war sounded like something out of a storybook since it had been several ages since onest appeared, it did exin the reason Toz had encountered several demon attacks that could have been devastating for the human realm. With another perspective, he also realized that the Scorched Earth Rat infestation might have been started by demons.


    The rats had seemingly appeared from out of nowhere, and until Toz stumbled upon them, no one had noticed or paid extra attention to them. If they had been allowed to spread unchecked, wouldn''t they have gotten too strong to stop by the time the war officially started?


    With the chaos from the war, the rats wouldn''t have any trouble spreading to other nes by sneaking through the portals or onto ships. Toz wasn''t sure about how the Scorched Earth Rats worked, but if they managed to create several Rat Kings, each with the power gained from an entire ne, or if they managed to create a Rat King on a high level ne, Toz suspected that the human realm would have suffered a tremendous blow.


    As he thought about the situation back at First Ignition, Toz realized another thing. Maybe Mindle''s egg sensed the impending doom and was awoken from its slumber deep in the earth, hoping to find a way out.


    Toz was happy that he averted such a disaster since it would mean that the human realm would lose a lot of manpower in the war but also because he found Mindle during that situation. At the same time, he was worried about what other tricks or cards the demons had yed on the human realm. And why they had seeded or almost seeded with so many attacks on the human realm.


    It was the same with the Demonic Spark Bear in Tumbling Thunder Forest. Although Toz didn''t know much about the bear, if he and Lucy hadn''t stalled it, the entire ne would have been in danger, and after that, a powerful demonic beast would have been roaming around in the backlines of the human realm.


    Did the upper echelons of humanity not know, or did they just not care? Did they focus onunching a counter-attack instead of protecting their subjects and fellow humans?


    Based on what Joan had told Toz about the Starsling Kingdom, the rulers of humanity didn''t seem the most trustworthy. Toz didn''t know enough about either kingdom to make a judgment, but he still had some doubts.


    Although Toz held faith in his parents, he couldn''t help but worry about them if they were caught up in the middle of a realm war with the demons.


    It was difficult for Toz to forget that he was stuck in the Void without a way to control his journey. Worrying about others wasn''t a luxury he could afford. Hopefully, things would work out.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Thankfully, hoping wasn''t the only thing Toz could do. As long as he had food and mana, there woulde opportunities in the future. He didn''t have enough strength to travel through the Void or control the ind''s trajectory, but soon enough, things like that would change. None of them had been cking off after all.


    There wasn''t much to do on the ind, and for a certain cat with an unfair advantage of being able to train even in his sleep, the next level wasn''t far away. The other cats weren''t far behind. The only onegging after was Toz since he used four different elements. Getting them all to the fourth level, bing a fourth level mage at the fourth refinement, had taken some time.


    But it wasn''t for nothing. Toz''s mana control and capacity were both outstanding. If Toz didn''t have adequate control over his mana, he wouldn''t be able to control four attributes, each with its own properties. And each time Toz refined his mana, his mana pool expanded as much as he could make it.


    Controlling four elemental attributes gave Toz a variety of options when fighting, and coupled with his sword, Toz could fight close, medium, and long-range without issue. The physical enhancement it gave his body made him strong and fast. Each swing of his sword was swift and powerful. He could easily distance himself and close the gap between himself and his opponent, making medium-rangebat a done deal whenbined with a variety of magic. And if necessary, Toz also had his final trump card, the fireball spell.


    So despite being slower in increasing his overall level of power, Toz didn''t fall behind whenparingbat prowess.


    But being good at fighting wouldn''t give them control over the ind or get them out of the Void, so Toz still needed to train his mana and reach a higher level if he wanted to change his fate.


    The next time Joan woke up, while still stiff and sore, she was healthy enough to untangle herself from her son and walk around a bit. Though she wondered if she should just go back to bed when she saw Toz and the cats sitting around a sword on the ground, training their mana.


    Joan hadn''t been able to tell how powerful Toz had been when she had been talking to him, which was a solid indicator he either had superior mana control or was at a higher level than her. Toz hadn''t bothered hiding the mana fluctuations that rolled off of him when he was training, so Joan sensed how powerful both he and the cats were. She once again thanked her lucky stars that she had been saved by someone with a decent heart.


    Since it seemed like Toz and the cats had been fired up by the mention of war, Joan didn''t disturb them and after watching them for a few more minutes went back inside to care for her son.


    Toz and the cats hadn''t gathered around only because they wanted to train their mana together. The trees had finally started moving toward Toz''s sword, growing onto it. Though the trees had barely begun moving toward the sword. A few small strands of wood had begun reaching for the sword, and that was it. Toz still had no idea why the process was so different for his sword whenpared to everything else, but at least it meant his sword was special.

 Chapter 157 Joshua

    ?A few days after Joan woke up for the first time, her son Joshua also started looking healthy enough to wake up. After his body got used to the taste of the void meat and started epting more of it, Joshua started recovering extremely quickly. Although he was still skin and bones, he wasn''t deathly pale anymore, and his gaunt face wasn''t as hollow as it had been when the two of them were first saved from the boat.


    Joan didn''t want to leave Joshua''s side after he started showing signs of waking up, so Toz brought food and water to them and talked with Joan when he felt like it. The cats also regrly checked in on Joan in case she felt lonely.


    Eventually, Joshua recovered enough to open his eyes and squint as he looked around. Though, it was only temporary as he closed them and fell back asleep after feeling his mother caressing his head and hugging him.


    A short whileter, Joshua regained enough consciousness to do more than open his eyes. And thanks to his previous glimpse into the waking world, he didn''t have as much trouble with the light as his mother had when she first woke up.


    Toz let the two be alone as Joshua woke up and only checked in on themter. He could see traces of tears on both of them, and Joshua hid behind his mother when Toz entered the house, but he looked more shy than scared. Toz only dropped off some food and greeted Joshua before leaving again.


    It had been several days since theirst encounter with any void beasts, so Toz and the cats had been keeping their eyes open in case they saw something off in the distance that they could lure to the ind and hunt. Although, if the beasts were close enough for them to see, they were probably already on their way toward them. But since the amount of food stored away had been dwindling quickly thest few days, Toz didn''t want to miss a chance to refill their supplies.


    Since it had been a few days since thest time any type of beast had appeared, Toz wasn''t surprised when a jellyfish finally showed up. Though, based on its size, it was slightly stronger than what they had faced before, and Toz estimated it to be at the sixth level.


    But as long as it wasn''t a high level beast, it wouldn''t be a problem for Toz and the cats. Lucy protected the trees and the ind against the void mana''s erosion and the tentacles'' attacks. Mindle burned the tentacles that had gotten wrapped around and entangled in the ind. And Toz, Nil, and Scrael got busy slicing and dicing the main body of the jellyfish.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    For Toz and the cats, the process wasn''t any different from what they were used to doing, and they hunted the jellyfish with ease. But it was the first time Joan and Joshua saw a void beast. Therge jellyfish looked like something out of a nightmare as the body several meters tall towered in front of the ind, and its tentacles, dozens of meters long, wrapped around the ind. But that nightmarish beast didn''t stand a chance against Toz and the cats. The jellyfish had turned into dinner only a few minutes after arriving at the ind.


    Joan knew that Toz and the cats were strong purely in terms of mana, but the degree ofbat prowess and cooperation they had shown was still surprising. Joshua, on the other hand, didn''t know as much about strength and levels of power, but he had read stories about heroes and mighty warriors vanquishing threats and subduing beasts. To him, Toz was no different from one of those warriors, and Joshua received the bowl of freshly served jellyfish meat with awe in his eyes.


    While Joshua was still too shy to talk with Toz properly, he made an effort to greet him and be as polite as he could. Both Toz and the cats found it adorable. Though, Lucy was slightly jealous that he wasn''t adored as much as Toz was. But heforted himself by saying things about how a great person doesn''t seek another''s validation, and true heroes go unnoticed. It was unclear if his selffort helped since he was trying to convince Joshua that Toz was only their figurehead and that Lucy was the true hero and leader of their group.


    Joshua didn''t buy it. At least not until Lucy began telling him stories about their adventures so far. But Joshua''s doubts were only temporary. As soon as another beast came to attack their ind, he saw Toz facing it directly while Lucy disappeared somewhere else. Lucy lost his credibility each time that happened, but there wasn''t much he could do since that was the way he fought. Lucy tried convincing Joshua that real heroes are the ones who can defeat enemies without being noticed. Butpared to Toz''s shy disy, Lucy''s words didn''t hold much weight.


    Eventually, Nil intervened. Nil had overheard Lucy''s ridiculous retellings and started telling Joshua about what really happened and that Lucy hadn''t done everything by himself all the time, no matter the situation. And that the others weren''t there only because they adored and idolized Lucy and were willing to follow him to the ends of the universe.


    After the other cats verified Nil''s side of the story, Joshua began treating Lucy''s stories more like fairytales. They were fun to listen to and would sometimes have a message about friendship being great, but it would be naive to believe in them as the absolute truth. Lucy didn''t care about what the other cats had told Joshua since he was convinced he had sessfully converted Joshua into one of his followers. Caught up in his daydream, Lucy didn''t notice the other cats'' giggling or how the adoration in Joshua''s eyes was from recing Lucy in Lucy''s stories with Toz instead.


    Joan looked at Joshua getting along with the cats with a gentle smile on her face. She wasn''t sure Joshua understood their current situation, but she knew he at least understood his father was gone. Despite how sad Joshua had been after waking up, he found joy in the time spent with the cats.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 158 Enchanting (1)

    ?While Joshua kept ying with Lucy and the other cats, Joan decided to talk a little with Toz. Toz had only been sitting around, and inspecting his sword''s progress, so he didn''t mind Joan''s interruption.


    "What''s up?" Toz hadn''t even turned around until after he asked his question. Joan thought she had walked pretty quietly in case she would disturb Toz, but her presence was still easily picked up by Toz''s perception.


    "Oh! Uhm. It''s just that we have been relying on your kindness so much, and I was wondering if there''s anything I can do to help." Since she was startled by Toz''s question, she stuttered at first before she managed to tell Toz what she wanted.


    "Well, what can you do? You mentioned enchanting the other day, didn''t you?"


    "That''s right. I have a production type inclination that''s suited for enchanting fabric and clothes." A lot of people usually hesitated when telling other people about their inclination, but Joan seemingly didn''t have any such inhibitions.


    "Though, I can only do basic self-repair andfort enchantments. However, I have also learned how to work with clothes a little bit. How about I fix your coat using the fabrics in the boat?"


    Toz looked up at Joan.


    "Yeah. You can go ahead and give it a try." He didn''t know how well a third level enchanter would do when trying to fix his coat made of several different medium level materials and that had received severalplex spatial enchantments. But after removing Rick''s letter and the grimoires, he still took off the coat and handed it over to Joan.


    Joan also got her own doubts when she held the coat. She wasn''t an expert on fabric, so she wasn''t surprised she couldn''t tell what the materials were. But her professional expertise told her it was high-quality material. Since the coat had been so worn out, she had been unable to discern its true value.


    For a moment, she wondered how Toz had survived the beating that the coat he wore had endured, but only for a moment. She remembered that Toz had mentioned Treblor Forest before and used that as a guideline for his unwilling departure into the Void.


    Joan had never heard of Treblor Forest before the war broke out. But no matter what situation humans were in, gossip and information spread like wildfire. And during the war, one of the most whispered-about topics were the appearances of beings, both humans and demons, referred to as demon lords.


    Although every time a demon lord appeared, it was only partially. An arm, an eye, or a leg popped out of a portal and caused overwhelming devastation. At least an entire ne was destroyed each time a demon lord showed itself. One of the more famous instances was the demon lord who smashed Treblor Forest since it caused the copse of two nes and a rare phenomenon. There were even rumors that the forest had been an important resource to the human realm.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    There was no wonder that Toz''s jacket was so torn if he had managed to survive an attack Joan had heard about in another kingdom.


    Joan didn''t let her thoughts wander anymore as she started focusing on her work instead. She didn''t have much experience with actually making clothes, but she was used to working with them. And while Joan hadn''t ever worked with something of Toz''s coat''s level, she would do her best since she had promised Toz she would fix it.


    The first thing to do would be to investigate the enchantments and make sure that no problems arise as she goes to work on the coat.


    However, Joan was unfamiliar with several of the enchantments on the coat and didn''t know if they werepletely broken or rtively intact but inactive. Simpler runes like automatic mana absorption and distribution were basics that every enchanter knew. A few more advanced enchantments looked familiar but moreplex versions of what Joan had made before, so those she understood to some degree.


    But even if some of the enchantments looked familiar, there could still be differences in the craft since almost every enchanter works their magic in different ways. While most enchanters use runes or some other type of script as a way to make the magic effects permanent, some enchanters with suitable inclinations don''t need that and can enchant things with merely their will.


    While Joan had an inclination fit for enchanting, it wasn''t anything extravagant. She could draw runes using a stylus and her mana to enchant fabric and cloth. She couldn''t enchant things that weren''t made of fabric, and since she didn''t have her own attribute, she had to learn runes for the different elements if she wanted to create an enchantment with an elemental attribute.


    But on the flip side, those limitations made Joan''s enchantments more specific and efficient as long as the right conditions were fulfilled. Her enchantments were better than another enchanter of the same skill but who could enchant everything. And since she has neutral mana, she isn''t limited to making enchantments of a single attribute, even if she has to spend more time and effort learning elemental versions of each enchantment she wants to create.


    Joan continued inspecting Toz''s coat and making mental notes of the various enchantments she found and the state of them. Since she didn''t have a proper workshop or the right tools, she was limited in what she could do. The recement materials for Toz''s coat couldn''t quite measure up to the original.


    Although Joan didn''t know where Toz had gotten the coat from or where the materials were from, she could tell they were medium level. The fabrics she had used to cover and warm herself and her son were low level materials that she had brought with them when they fled. During their search for safety, Joan had stopped and given people fabric enchanted with rudimentary stealth and warmth capabilities. Just thinking about how Tasha had said that they might need them in the Void had Joan tearing up.


    Joan hoped Toz would be understanding if the results of her work were less satisfactory than what the original coat had been.

 Chapter 159 Enchanting (2)

    ?Enchanting (2)


    Toz saw Joan fiddling around with his coat on the ground outside the house. He could tell she didn''t want to burden him with creating a worktable or any tools. But since she needed those to make a good coat, Toz persuaded Joan into telling him what she needed.


    And after setting up a table wide enough to fit the coat and all the materials, he made a scissor, a knife, a needle, and wire so thin it could act as thread. Though, the wire was partly an experiment to see what would happen if the tree grew to rece something so small. If it only became a long and slender stick, Joan would add some mana absorption enchantments to keep the coat together. It wouldn''t be the greatest solution, but it was the best they could do considering their circumstances.


    After Toz finished making the table and the tools, he sat down and watched Joan as she got to work. Toz didn''t know much more about enchanting than anyone else, but he was sensitive to the movements of mana, and he could sense what Joan was doing. Even if it looked like she was only touching and fiddling with the coat and pointing at it with her stylus, Toz could tell that she was testing and inspecting the various enchantments on the coat and then copying them to a nk piece of fabric. Joan used the empty fabric and the enchantments there as a way to try and figure out how to fix the broken ones and see if the others wereplete.


    Although Joan was familiar with a lot of low level runes and enchantments, and even several medium level ones, most of the enchantments on Toz''s coat were new to her. If she wanted to repair or replicate Toz''s coat, she would first have to at least learn how to mimic the enchantments. And if she wanted to create a coat of simr quality as Toz''s original, she would have to understand the enchantments in great detail since only then could she use her inclination to its full potential and draw out the entire utility of the enchantments.


    Since Joan''s inclination and enchanting abilities were limited to fabrics and clothes, she could make the enchantments better if she fulfilled the proper conditions. And some of those conditions relied on Joan''s understanding of the enchantment she inscribed in the fabric.


    If Joan wanted to create as good a coat as possible, she would first have to memorize the enchantments on Toz''s coat and understand as much of them as possible. While she could probably fix the enchantments and make them functional again and then repair the coat''s fabric using the materials from the boat, the results would be far from satisfactory.


    It would take more time and effort for Joan to make the coat in the way she intended, but based on what she knew about Toz''s situation, there wasn''t exactly a shortage of time. And the more she worked on the coat, the more her confidence about reaching the next level grew.


    Although she wasn''t quite at the edge of the third level, each stroke of her stylus trained her mana. Working with medium level materials and enchantments moreplex than anything she had touched before was working wonders for her mana. She almost wondered if she should focus on training for a while until she reached the fourth level so she could make Toz''s coat even better.


    But Joan decided to focus on her work instead of thinking unnecessary thoughts. It didn''t matter if she was at the third or the fourth level. She would still make a coat she could be proud of.


    Joan lost herself in the fabrics and enchantments and forgot about her surroundings. She had noticed Toz take a seat close by after finishing the tools she needed. But Joanpletely missed it when her son and the cats also gathered around and watched her work. It had been a long time since she could work without worrying about anything else. After the war broke out, she could only asionally enchant while keeping a watch over her surroundings and staying alert. Both bandits and wild beasts ravaged thends, and if Joan got stuck in a trance when they attacked, she would put herself and her family in danger.


    But on the ind protected by Toz and the cats, Joan didn''t have to worry about being attacked since any threat would be dealt with before it could deal damage to the ind.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    While Joan worked on Toz''s coat, Joshua sat down a short distance away from Toz. And then, with utmost care, started scooting closer. If Toz looked in his direction, Joshua would look away and pretend like nothing was going on before sneaking a nce to make sure Toz wasn''t looking and then continue getting closer to him.


    The cats had intentionally sat so they wouldn''t block Joshua''s approach.


    Eventually, Joshua was only a meter away from Toz.


    "Y''know, my dad also used a sword."


    "Is that so?"


    "Yeah. He protected the town against beasts. And after we left the town to visit Uncle Jerry, he fought against bandits as well." Joshua kept looking at his mother when he talked, but that didn''t stop him from sidling up next to Toz.


    "I miss my dad. Do you think I''ll get to see him again?"


    Toz didn''t know what to answer, so he said nothing. But he did put an arm around Joshua, who was now sitting right next to him. Toz didn''t look at Joshua, but the next time Joshua spoke, his voice trembled slightly.


    "My dad could watch mom for hours when she worked. He would always tell me stories when I caught him. And then I would fall asleep in hisp. And I would always wake up in my bed. But I can still remember those stories. It was the stories mom would tell me when I was small."


    Joshua''s voice grew weaker, and hisst few words were barely more than a whisper. Toz couldn''t sit still after listening to Joshua, so he lifted him onto hisp, where he fell asleep only a few momentster.

 Chapter 160 Joshuas Inclination

    ?Joan wanted to continue working. But she had to take a break since she was running out of mana and was quickly growing hungry. Joan looked up and stretched her back, which had been hunched over for several hours. She was slightly startled when she saw Joshua sleeping like a prince in Toz''sp, but she was happy to see it. Even if Joshua got along well with the cats, it wouldn''t necessarily mean he would be friendly with Toz as well. Joan had noticed how Joshua had started looking up to Toz and was happy that Toz had epted Joshua''s dreams.


    Joshua had already slept for a while, so when Joan shook him, he woke up immediately. And after eating together, Joan was right about to get back to work. And Joshua was about to ask Toz for some advice about his inclination.


    It wasn''t strange for kids not to have started training their mana even after their inclination has manifested itself since it usually takes a special condition to activate it. Toz only started training his mana after establishing a bond with the first cat type spirit beast he encountered, Nil. Many inclinations had simr conditions that required the mage to achieve orplete something.


    Joan''s inclination had activated the first time she studied runes and enchantments. Tasha''s inclination had been triggered when he protected his sister against a couple of neighborhood bullies.


    Until humans figured out what would trigger their inclination, they only had their instinct and the symbol to help them. Toz had the symbol of a cat''s paw, with an ink-like texture spreading inwards from the outline. Joan had a symbol of her stylus on the inside of her elbow. Joshua''s symbol was a circle. A single thin line, slightly darker than his skin color, on his chest. It took some time before anyone noticed it was the symbol of his inclination, so it was unknown how quickly Joshua had manifested it.


    Ever since Joshua had been old enough to begin longing for his inclination and mana, he had been trying out countless things rted to circles and rings in hopes of awakening his inclination. But as evidenced by hisck of mana, without sess.


    Since Toz seemed experienced, knowledgable, and trustworthy, Joshua was nning on asking him about what the symbol on his chest could mean. However, before he could open his mouth, Toz got up and looked into the distance with an intense gaze.


    "Bring your mom inside and stay there."


    Joshua was a little startled since it was the first time Toz looked so serious, but he listened to Toz. Joan, who had heard Toz, went into the house with Joshua after looking at Toz worriedly.


    Although Joan and her son had only been on the ind of trees for a short while, it was the first time they had seen such a grave look on Toz''s face. While Toz might not be the most expressive person they had met, and his facial expressions weren''t that vivid, he almost always had a rxed face, even when dealing with the void beasts that targeted the ind.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    And it was the first time Toz had asked them to take cover or hide, so Joan sensed that something more serious than the regr beast attack was happening. But Joan had no way to predict what would happen since there was so much unknown about the Void. The only thing she coulde up with was that a beast more powerful than usual had shown up. In order to see what was happening, Joan and her son crouched by the window, with only their eyes showing.


    "Lucy, stay behind and keep an eye on those two. Scrael, hide but stay close. Nil and Mindle, you two are with me."


    Since the cats had also sensed the same thing Toz had, they didn''t hesitate to follow his orders. Lucy vanished into a nearby shadow, and Scrael went off to the side before disappearing up into the trees while Toz, Nil, and Mindle prepared to receive their visitors.


    During their time on the ind of trees, Toz and the cats had gotten used to the void beasts that attacked the ind. They had also grown sensitive to when things approached their ind, which was why all of them noticed when several beings carried by two objects arrived in the Void outside their ind. And that none of those beings were void beasts. Based on what Toz could perceive, there were about a dozen people approaching them on a couple of boats. And the boats were obviously not the same kind as the one Joan and Joshua had shown up in.


    Toz saw the sails first since the mast towered above the treetops. He didn''t want to leave the cover of the woods and expose himself, but he still managed to peer through the trees and see the sailboats. Although Toz couldn''t see much of the boat, it wasn''t like there was much to see. Aside from the sail, mast, and the boat''s wooden body, there was only a tiny cabin.


    One of the boats sailed slightly ahead of the other. The presence that made Toz and cats react so gravely was on that one. Though, Toz''s reaction was also because the entire group carried a violent aura around them. It wasn''t like the malevolent aura that demons and demonic power had. The impression the atmosphere around the people on the boats gave Toz and the cats were that the people on the boats were used to violence and murder.


    If a bunch of like-minded people like that gathered together on the boats, it was probably not because they were interested in the same tourist spots. Toz didn''t even feel like he had to guess to say that they had encountered bandits. Or maybe pirates since they were using boats. Toz didn''t really care about the terminology, but he had a feeling that Lucy would be nitpicky about it.


    Toz stayed in the forest, masking his and the cat''s presence while the boats approached the ind. Since he didn''t know if the pirates were aiming for the people on the ind or the ind itself, it would give them the advantage if they stayed hidden.


    While Toz didn''t mind fighting the pirates and taking the boats for his own group, fighting on the ind could be unnecessarily risky.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 161 Pirates (1)

    ?The two boatsid their sterns against the edge of the ind''s roots before dropping an anchor on the ground. When the boats stilled, all the pirates began appearing on deck, leaving the cabin and the area below deck one after the other. Most of them looked understandably rugged, but thest one to appear on the first boat had an especially rude face.


    The pirate''s short, greasy hair was pulled back, fully revealing his face. The scrunched-up forehead and the eyes locked in a constant re did more than scare children since they also pulled attention away from the crooked nose and scarred chin. The scars messed up the beard, making it look like a dead and dried-up rat.


    All of them had pretty rough and sturdy leather clothes, but the pirate with a face meant to give children nightmares had clothes that were a little more refined and looked like they were worth something. Though, Toz didn''t need to look at the clothes to guess the pirate''s status since it was the one whose presence Toz and the cats had sensed from a distance away and were wary of.


    One by one, the pirates jumped off the boats andnded on the strip of roots that served as a border between the forest and the Void. Although Toz and Nil had expanded the ind, they hadn''t grown new trees, only made arger base for the ind.


    The pirate with the mean re, who was in charge, tapped the ground a couple of times with his foot and muttered something. Toz was too far away to hear what exactly, but since none of the other pirates cared about what he said, it shouldn''t have been important.


    After all the pirates had left the boats and were on the ind, the pirate in charge started shouting orders.


    "Hods, you''re on guard duty!"


    "Again?!"


    "You four, take the long way around. The rest of you pair up and spread out. Stitch said there was life on this pile of firewood. Life means food, but don''t think I won''t notice if you steal what''s mine. Thieving shitsticks take the g punishment on the way back."


    "Ahem! What about me?"


    "What about you, Stitches?"


    "Well, there''s an uneven number of people here, and I don''t have anyone to pair up with."


    "And?"


    "You told us to pair up¡­"


    "And!? Pair up with the fishes if you have to. I. Don''t. Care."


    After Stitches voiced his doubts, the pirate leader had slowly approached him and somehow managed to re with even greater intensity, scaring the eye-patch pirate into submission. Though, since the mean pirate had said he didn''t care, Stitches stayed behind with Hods. Not because he was afraid of being med for stealing. Not at all. He just felt that Hods might be lonely.


    Two pirates stayed with the boats. Four pirates split into two pairs and followed the edge of the ind in either direction. The remaining four pirates also paired up before entering the forest with the ring pirate leader.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz had guessed from the pirate leader''s attitude that he wouldn''t be willing toe up with a peaceful resolution, even if his opponents were fellow humans.


    "I''ll deal with that leader. You three take care of the rest. Make sure to leave some of them alive." With the help of the bond that the inclination gave him and his cats, Toz also ryed the orders to Scrael, who was further away from them.


    Nil and Mindle left Toz''s side and went to catch up to the two pairs of pirates, who had been tasked with going the long way around, leaving Toz, Scrael, and five pirates in the forest to duke it out.


    After the pirates had been given orders, Toz had retreated deeper into the forest to allow them to walk farther apart before heunched his attack on the leader. Toz wasn''tpletely confident in beating him, and if he got help, Toz might have to fall back and regroup with the cats.


    However, if the pirates had time to walk far enough apart, Toz would have more time to defeat the leader. Or maybe the pair who wasn''t attacked by Scrael would have reached the other side of the woods by then. And if they saw the house where Joan and Joshua were hiding, Toz wouldn''t have to worry about theming to disturb him in his fight with the leader.


    Toz had been nning to hide for a few more moments beforeunching a surprise attack against the pirate leader. Considering it was the first ever high level opponent he would be fighting against, Toz thought he might need the strategic advantage the element of surprise gave him.


    But almost as if he had known from the beginning, the pirate leader called out,


    "Stop hiding, you cowardly rat!"


    Toz wasn''t about to leave his hiding spot just because the pirate called out. Maybe he had sensed that someone was watching but didn''t know where Toz was. If Toz exposed himself due to such a breezy bluff, he might need to reconsider any confidence he had in himself.


    However, the pirate didn''t even look around the trees after calling out. His re was fixed on the tree that Toz was standing behind.


    Since he was exposed, Toz didn''t bother staying hidden anymore. Refusing to ept the reality of the situation would only give the pirate a chance to attack him instead.


    Toz walked out from behind the tree, dispelling the darkness he had used to strengthen his stealth. He held a sword in his right hand. After giving up his other one to the trees, he had started making a new one. It wasn''t quite as mighty as the one he had sacrificed, but it was far from being a weak sword.


    "Hand over everything you have, and I''ll spare your life."


    "Not interested."


    Toz didn''t have much to hand over, to begin with. After he refused toply with the pirate''s threat, the two ended up in a staringpetition. Although, the pirate might consider it a ringpetition with how deeply furrowed his brows were.

 Chapter 162 Pirates (2)

    ?"Well then."


    Although it hadn''t looked like the pirate was interested in talking, to begin with, the two machetes he pulled out of the sheathes on his legs made it clear he wasn''t interested in negotiating.


    Although the pirate had discovered Toz, he had trouble urately measuring his strength, so the two looked for openings and weak points in the other''s defense for a few long moments.


    The fight started abruptly, but not due to Toz or the pirate. Thunder echoed out from deep into the forest. The thunder was quickly followed by shouting, but the pirate couldn''t afford to pay attention to anything else, and thest sound he processed was the thunder.


    Right when the sound of thunder rumbled through the ind, Toz took advantage of the pirate''s eyes flickering to the side and dashed forward. His sword had a slightly longer range than the pirate''s machetes. But if the pirate got the advantage and pressed the attack, it would be easy for him to begin overwhelming Toz with a flurry of attacks.


    Since Toz had no way of knowing what the pirate''s inclination was or what magic he used, he decided to test the water with physical attacks using his swords. Although he could use his sword and magic, at the same time, just like how he was reinforcing his body with mana while fighting, he wasn''t confident enough doing that without revealing an opening. The pirate was, after all, probably at the seventh level, from what Toz could sense.


    It was an opponent in the next division, and aside from Rick, it was the first being at that level Toz had encountered. But every time he and Rick sparred, Rick held back, so Toz didn''t know what a mage or a fighter at a high level could do. Revealing an opening, no matter how small, was a risk Toz didn''t feel like taking.


    The pirate''s eyes had flicked to Toz''s left, so he went right and swung his sword at an upwards diagonal angle. The pirate noticed Toz''s movements and dodged before the sword could get further than the hem of his shirt.


    Toz didn''t lose the opportunity and used his momentum and the sword''s overhead position to swing downward. With the speed he had built up during his dash, he was faster than the retreating pirate, and the pirate was forced to block the blow with his machetes before he was cleaved in two.


    Toz pressed down with his sword on the machetes held up like an X, but before he could force the sword any further, he had to dodge a kick to his midsection. He sidestepped to the left to avoid the kick and brought his sword into a sideways sh, aiming at the pirate''s stomach.


    The sh was blocked by the machetes. The pirate growled and pushed away Toz''s sword before swinging the machete in his left hand down on Toz. Toz managed to parry the first strike, but he couldn''t move his sword enough to block the follow-up from the second machete, and although he tried to dodge, he still suffered a slight scratch on his chest.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    If he had still had his coat, such a light touch would have never made it past his clothes, but now that he only had a simple undershirt, Toz had to be extra careful. But at least he was on equal grounds with the pirate whenparing protective clothing. Despite being fancier d than his fellow pirates, the pirate Toz was fighting didn''t have any enchanted clothing to protect him.


    But it wouldn''t matter if the pirate didn''t have protection if Toz couldn''tnd a blow on him. After the pirate managed to push Toz back, he hadn''t let up his assault and continued swinging his machetes like crazy. Toz guessed that the pirate was trying to use his advantage in physical abilities and overpower Toz.


    And it would have worked if it weren''t for Toz possessing extraordinary physical prowesspared to his mana, which was at the fourth level. Both a beast type inclination and being a mage at the fourth refinement had strengthened Toz''s body by a lot.


    The pirate had only managed to gain his advantage using his dual machetes and taking advantage of the moment he pushed Toz out of bnce. But after Toz regained his bnce and had some time to get used to the speed required to deal with a dual-wielder, Toz started retaking control of the flow of their fight.


    Each time Toz blocked and parried a machete, he sent it flying, not out of the pirate''s hand, but away from the fight, dying the time it took for the pirate to attack each time. Toz used the extra time gained to begin nning how to deal with the pirate once and for all.


    The pirate hadn''t lost his cool despite the growling and ring and the muttered curses, and he wasn''t showing signs of getting tired any time soon either, so Toz was slightly at a loss.


    The tiny gaps between each sh weren''t enough for Toz to use magic powerful enough tond a blow on the pirate. Worst case scenario, it would open up for the pirate tond a significant attack on Toz.


    However, Toz had the advantage of having spent every day, for more than a year, on the ind of trees. While the ind wasn''t thatrge, he was confident he could maneuver around on it with his eyes and ears closed without crashing into a single tree.


    Toz still had no idea about the pirate''s inclination, but if it was something that could be used with only a small opening, the pirate would have already used it to take down Toz. Unless there was some severe drawback or bacsh that the pirate didn''t deem necessary just to defeat Toz.


    But it could also mean that it wasn''t abat-specialized inclination, which made it possible that the pirate would be able to see through Toz''s thoughts since a production-type inclination would most likely not be out in the Void looting from wooden inds and that meant either a unique or a knowledge type inclination. However, only a very specific or limited inclination would be able to help the pirate to avoid what Toz was nning.

 Chapter 163 Pirates (3)

    ?Toz and the pirate fought like diators as their weapons shed repeatedly. The fighting was so intense that neither of them had time to look around and watch out for obstacles. Considering how familiar he was with the ind, it would have been an advantage to Toz if it weren''t for how smooth he and Nil had made the ground when they reinforced the ind.


    Though, as long as Toz continued directing the battle and using the times he shoved the pirate''s machetes to steer the direction they were headed in, Toz didn''t mind if the pirate didn''t stumble and fall over a root. Although getting a lucky thrust in due to the pirate''s bad luck would end the fight. Toz was almost hoping he would get to see more of the pirate''s capabilities since it was the first time he fought against a high level being.


    However, aside from the skill with his machetes, the pirate didn''t disy any other abilities. There was not a hint of aura or magic aside from him reinforcing his body with mana. Toz was beginning to wonder if maybe that was all there was to the pirate since they were about to reach their destination. And if the pirate didn''t do anything special, and soon at that, he wouldn''t be a pirate for much longer.


    Although Toz was curious, the battle was too frenzied to allow even the slightest distraction, as was evidenced by several shallow nicks and cuts on both him and the pirate. The cuts were light enough that, after only some light bleeding, Toz''s injuries had already started healing. The pirate couldn''tpete with Toz''s regenerative capabilities and was dripping blood here and there on the ground.


    Blood ran down the pirate''s arms, but he still held a solid grip on his machetes. However, he could feel that grip asionally slipping when Toz struck his machetes and pushed them away. And although he wasn''t sure what, the pirate had noticed that Toz was nning something. But he could tell that in one way or another, the fight was approaching its end. Fortunately for the pirate, his opponent didn''t have a clue about his inclination.


    Toz and the pirate continued fighting without pause, and they both started showing signs of fatigue. The swings of their weapons were apanied by heavy panting, and their movements were a notch slower, barely noticeable, but still slower. Toz felt his arms, hands, and shoulders aching after blocking and shing with the pirate''s machetes repeatedly, but he didn''t let that hinder him, and he kept up the pace.


    However, as he gradually got into position and started preparing for the fight''s climax, a bad feeling started growing and nagging at him. Toz had no idea what the source of the bad feeling was, but he could at least tell it wasn''t one of the cats in trouble. It was directly rted to his situation. And although he couldn''t afford to be distracted, he had to stay alert to his surroundings in case another pirate had gotten close and was nning on helping the leader.


    But in that case, why wait? If another pirate had decided to join, why hadn''t they already attacked? Although Toz couldn''tpletely rule out the situation where another pirate joined the fight, it didn''t seem like the most likely option.


    Instead, Toz started suspecting that the bad feeling was due to the pirate he was fighting. Maybe the pirate had decided to use his inclination or was nning something else. But until the bad feeling bore fruit, there was nothing Toz could do to deal with it since he was busy fighting for his life against the pirate. Though, not for much longer.


    Toz could finally see the scene where thest act of their fight would y out. He was worried that the pirate would notice what he was nning, but there wasn''t anything to do about that. Despite Toz approaching the final stages of his n, he didn''t let it show on his face. And he didn''t let it distract him from the fight either.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The n hinged on the pirate not being able to react until it was toote. To aplish that, Toz had painstakingly pushed and pulled the pirate around the ind to a part of the forest that the pirate shouldn''t have been familiar with. If Toz had just taken the shortest route directly to the edge of the ind, the pirate could have noticed his intentions by recognizing his surroundings since that would take them to the ce where the pirates had anchored their boats.


    If the pirate had more time to figure out where Toz was leading him, it would increase the odds of him figuring out Toz''s n.


    However, now, Toz only needed to keep the pirate''s attention on himself and stop him from turning around and seeing how close they were to the edge of the ind and the Void. But the closer they got to the edge, the worse Toz''s bad feeling got.


    Toz tried reading the pirate''s thoughts based on his facial expression, but the pirate seemed to have been cursed with never being able to stop ring. Toz didn''t even know if the pirate was more frustrated than he had been after first arriving at the ind since the pirate''s face had always been steeped in a deep frown.


    Toz couldn''t determine what the pirate was thinking, but that didn''t stop him from continuing his n, and he kept pushing the pirate closer and closer to the edge. There were only a few meters left, and the bad feeling was worse than ever. Toz almost started panicking due to the rm bells ringing in his mind. He managed to create enough leeway to take a quick nce at his surroundings, but he didn''t see anything that could cause his bad premonition.


    Since it wasn''t anything outside the fight, it had to be due to the pirate. But Toz wasn''t in a position where he could retreat all willy-nilly. Either he went through with his n, or he kept fighting until one of them slipped up. And since the pirate was at a higher level and division, it would be riskier for Toz to continue the melee.


    And finally, Toz had the pirate right where he wanted him. Toz sharpened his focus even further, preparing to dodge or counter whatever trick the pirate had up his sleeve. Toz also started preparing his finisher.


    Toz stumbled to the side due to a horizontal swing from the pirate''s machete. The pirate followed along and tried to drive home the next blow. Only to miss when Toz, who hadn''t lost his bnce, righted himself and stepped back. Toz pushed off the ground with his right foot, aiming to kick the pirate right into the Void.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 164 Pirates (4)

    ?Right as Toz was about to lunge forward and shove the pirate leader into the Void with his foot, a chill ran down his spine. Toz froze up for an instant before retracting his leg and leaping back a couple of steps. This time the pirate didn''t follow, and a lull appeared in their battle as the two of them stood still after Toz put some distance between them.


    "Ahh, so close!"


    Considering how the pirate didn''t chase after him, Toz wasn''t surprised that the pirate was stalling and recovering by talking. However, the pirate''s face startled him slightly. The ever-frowning eyes emanating anger wereplemented by a grinning mouth. Thebination gave the pirate a wicked expression as he kept panting through his open mouth.


    Toz wanted to wait and see what the pirate would do. If he would continue talking, stay quiet and recover as much as possible, or if it was a feint to bait Toz into attacking. Toz didn''t mind either way. He was confident he recovered quicker than the pirate. And the moments of breathing room also allowed him to realize that the pirate had figured out his n and was intending to use it against him. If Toz had really tried to kick the pirate off the ind, it was very likely he himself would have been thrown off instead.


    "When did you figure it out?"


    Since the pirate wasn''t doing anything, Toz wanted to see if he could figure out the pirate''s inclination.


    "And why should I tell you, you shitstick?"


    Though, he wasn''t sessful.


    Instead of waiting for the pirate to recover enough and retake the advantage, Toz started preparing his next move. With the distance he had put between them, he would be able to use magic before the pirate could react. The only problem was if it would be enough to deal with the pirate.


    However, there was only one way to find out, and that was by using magic to attack the pirate. Since the pirate had discovered Toz when he was hiding his presence with darkness magic, Toz assumed that the pirate was already wary of that type of magic. However, it should be impossible for the pirate to know Toz''s other attributes.


    Although Toz still hadn''t figured out the pirate''s inclination, he still had at least something to rely on to defeat the pirate now that his n to shove him into the Void wasn''t going to work.


    Toz couldn''t let the pirate have all the time he needed to recover, so he attacked first again. Though this time, he didn''t close the gap at once and instead gathered the nearby shadows and darkness to cloud the pirate''s senses and judgment.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After refining his mana four times, bringing all his elements to the fourth level, Toz hadn''t just been sitting on his hands and smelling the imaginary flowers. Despite having four elements, Toz tried to get more than a surface-level understanding of each of them. The Fireball spell had helped a lot when he was practicing his proficiency with the fire element.


    But Toz had to exert some more effort with the other elements and use his surroundings. With metal and lightning, he could easilypare notes with Nil and Scrael. But since Lucy had such an intuitive and advanced understanding of darkness, Toz had difficulty learning from him. Especially after Lucy had started ying with people''s minds, no matter how much Toz tried, he couldn''t see into people''s psyches and begin manipting them. So instead, Toz had taken a different approach.


    Toz''s approach and inspiration for his darkness magic were thanks to them being stuck in the Void. It was easy to focus on the stars and sources of light when staring into the Void. However, after some time, Toz started noticing all the darkness instead. No matter how brightly the lights shone, they weren''t even close to being a match to the infinite and overwhelming darkness.


    With his understanding and affinity for darkness, Toz felt at home with the realization that it didn''t matter how far one looked since his gaze would always look at darkness. However, what would happen if it was someone who didn''t have an affinity for darkness or if the experience was used as an attack? Those thoughts had helped Toz develop his own means to suppress people using darkness magic.


    Although he couldn''t replicate the entire Void with basic magic, he could fill up someone''s senses with darkness. Cover their entire being with darkness. And that was what he did with the pirate while he was still panting and trying to stop the bleeding from his wounds.


    With the focus it took from Toz to arrange the mana, the pirate could have easily stopped it if he had been closer and reacted fast enough. However, when the pirate was about to move and attack Toz, who was busy concentrating on controlling his mana, it was already toote. When his footstepnded on the ground, everything around him disappeared.


    Though the pirate soon realized that he wasn''t surrounded by emptiness. He wasn''t looking at nothing. He wasn''t touching nothing. His nose was inhaling something. His mouth felt sticky and heavy as the air passed through his mouth on the way out. Rubbing his eyes didn''t clear his sight because there wasn''t anything blocking it. The pirate''s surroundings were simply an infinite amount of darkness that clung to every single piece of him and covered him head to toe.


    The pirate could retain his calm for a few seconds. But then he realized how deeply the darkness had affected him. He couldn''t tell up from down, left from right. He didn''t know if he had fallen to the ground or if he was still standing. The only thing the pirate could rely on was his mind, but when he couldn''t tell how much time passed, even that began failing, and the pirate was soon panicking. How could he be certain that he hadn''t died yet? What if this was the result of that swordsman using his inclination?


    Maybe the reason the swordsman hadn''t used his inclination was that it came with a severe drawback. But then, why had he sensed the swordsman hiding with magic? Maybe the swordsman had apanion? But then, had he suffered an ambush by the mage? Was this infinite hell of darkness the result of a spell that the mage had cast while the swordsman stalled for time? Wha-


    The pirate''s thoughts ended, along with every other sign of life.

 Chapter 165 Pirates (5)

    ?What had felt like almost an hour for the pirate as his thoughts sped up and he lost all connection to reality was no more than at most a few minutes.


    After confirming how effective his magic had been by calling out to the pirate, Toz had wanted to see how long he could hold it for or if the pirate would escape his control. But even when leveraging the surrounding darkness and shadows, Toz couldn''t hold on longer than a few minutes withoutpletely draining his mana. However, it wasn''t for nothing that the magic cost so much mana.


    The pirate had beenpletely swallowed by the darkness and didn''t react no matter what Toz did. The pirate''s body froze in shock after the pirate was covered by a film ofplete darkness, and he had lost connection with his body and senses. Aside from a few trembles and shakes, the body stayed in the position it had been in when Toz first enveloped the pirate in magic.


    And the pirate''s body stayed in the same position, in a partiallypleted lunge forward, even after Toz cut off the pirate''s head. When Toz felt like he wouldn''t be able to sustain his mana consumption any longer, he decided to finish the fight once and for all. And when the pirate couldn''t muster any resistance, Toz''s sword swept through the pirate''s neck with ease, lopping his head clean off.


    Toz only looked at the corpse for a few moments before dashing off to check on the situation with the other pirates and, more specifically, how it was going for the cats. Although he wanted to take a minute and go through how strong and effective his magic had been, it wasn''t the time for that. All of the cats were up against two pirates each, and Toz hadn''t sensed anyone below the medium levels on either ship.


    While Toz was confident that the cats would be more than fine, he couldn''t help but worry a little bit. But since there were two people who couldn''t defend themselves against the pirates, Toz decided to go there first and check on them. He had asked Lucy to watch over them, so they would most likely be physically fine.


    And putting Joan''s and Joshua''s well-being aside, the house would serve as a great ce to regroup and share the results of the pirate confrontation.


    On the way to the center of the ind where Lucy, Joan, Joshua, and possibly the remains of a few pirates should be, Toz pondered on the magic he had used against the pirate leader. The mana cost had been sky high, which wasn''t weird considering Toz was effectively turning the pirate leader''s world into darkness. There was also the fact that the pirate leader was at the seventh level and had a great natural resistance to magic, so Toz had to use more mana to make up for the difference in levels.


    However, even if the magic drained all of Toz''s mana, it shouldn''t have been that easy for him to put the pirate in a state where he didn''t even notice a sword prodding his belly or someone shouting in his ear.


    The only reasonable exnation that Toz could reach was that he had somehow inadvertently brought forth and awakened the real power of darkness, even if only partially. Although it couldn''t quite be called a spell, in his attempt to replicate the infinite darkness of the Void, Toz had managed to stir the darkness mana he used into a more powerful version of itself.


    With his experience from learning the Fireball spell, Toz knew that he hadn''t awoken the mana entirely, but if he continued developing his magic, he was sure that he would be able to rouse the darkness mana from its dormancy.


    But that would have to wait. Even if Toz ignored the ongoing pirate invasion, he didn''t have enough mana to use any magic.


    While it had taken Toz some time to move the pirate leader around and make sure he wouldn''t notice that they were headed to the edge of the forest, it only took a few moments for him to reach the center of the ind where the house was located.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    And the first thing Toz saw when he arrived at the clearing with the house, worktable, and food storage was a couple of unconscious, possibly dead pirates. Their eyes were rolled back, showing only the whites, and there were traces of froth around their mouths. Since there weren''t any external injuries, Toz could easily determine that they were victims of Lucy''s mind magic.


    Toz sensed the presence of Joan and Joshua inside the house, chatting with Lucy, so he entered.


    "No problems here?"


    Joan hadn''t noticed Toz''s arrival or him entering the house, but since Lucy and Joshua were busy being praised and praising, she answered Toz''s question.


    "No. After the pirates appeared, Lucy told us to cover our eyes and then settled everything after only a few moments."


    "That''s good. I''m gonna go ahead and check on the others, but the situation is over now if you want to leave the house."


    Although Toz didn''t know if every pirate had been defeated, he knew that they wouldn''t be able to do anything to Joan and Joshua even if they were alive.


    After Toz checked up on Lucy and Joshua as well, the three of them left the house.


    Joan had spent almost a year fleeing from the mes of war, so she wasn''t affected by the pirate''s attack and calmly went back to her work at the worktable full of enchantments and fabric.


    Although Joshua didn''t have the same mental fortitude as Joan, he looked at things differently. The two viins had been defeated only a few seconds after their appearance. Any previous doubts Joshua had held about Lucy''s power were gone in a sh.


    Toz went back into the forest. While he could wait for Nil, Mindle, and Scrael to return and tell him what happened, Toz wanted to see the state of the pirates for himself.

 Chapter 166 Pirates (6)

    ?Toz first met up with Scrael, who was on her way back to the house. Scrael led the way through the forest to her two victims. Toz could smell the blood in the air even before they got close to the corpses. The pirates who had encountered Scrael had suffered a fatepletely different from the ones who encountered Lucy. The two pirates had been torn to shreds. Although there were several scorch marks and signs of lightning strikes on the bodies, it wasn''t enough to stem the bleeding, and the two pirates had bled to death.


    Since it was the first time Toz witnessed the aftermath of Scrael''s fighting style, Scrael was worried he would be shocked at how gruesome and brutal it was. After Scrael had met and joined up with Toz and the other cats, there hadn''t been any asion where Scrael had to fight so intensely and where someone had seen it.


    During Mindle''s breakthrough, Toz and the other cats had been busy, so they hadn''t seen Scrael dash around beyond their range of vision and tearing approaching beasts to pieces. And in Treblor, Scrael hadn''t been forced to attack more than once per target. Then when they were in the Void, they had only been fighting against void beasts, who didn''t bleed.


    However, against two pirates of the same level as her, Scrael had to engage in a more brutal fight. A single attack hadn''t been enough to bring them one. Scrael charged her body with lightning, and then with the speed she got as she nearly became lightning herself, dashed and flitted back and forth.


    Scrael passed by the pirates andshed out with her ws, tearing through skin and flesh. But since she risked breaking her leg if she pushed too deep or wanted to strike harder, Scrael had to make several shallowcerations to bring down her enemy. Very few beasts couldpare to her speed and sharp turns, so it was a battle style very well suited to her. But it tended to leave her prey in bits and pieces spread out over arge area.


    Scrael was worried that Toz might be repulsed by how badly she tore apart her prey since it didn''t match her notion of how refined Toz''s battles were.


    Though, Scrael''s worries were for naught since Toz only left behind apliment and a head pat before heading to the next cat. Toz didn''t mind at all that Scrael had turned the pirates into fish food.


    Scrael had a hard time hiding her joy at Toz''s eptance and recognition, so she didn''t follow him and instead went back to the house, where she joined Lucy and Joshua.


    Toz didn''t get far before he saw Nil and Mindle. They had been speaking to each other, and it seemed like they were arguing. But as soon as they noticed Toz, they got awkwardly silent.


    "Heey, boss-man."


    "Hi. Toz."


    Nil tried to y it cool, despite the awkwardness. And Mindle was so stiff she had practically turned into a golem. Toz didn''t need to be a mastermind to figure out they were hiding something.


    "Alright, spill it." Seeing their behavior, Toz was way too curious about what they were hiding.


    The two cats looked at each other, none of them willing to answer and motioning for the other to talk.


    Eventually, when it looked like Mindle was about to cry, Nil caved and started talking.


    "Ahem. Toz, you remember how you told us to leave some alive?"


    "Yeah." Toz could begin seeing where Nil was going with this, but he still let him talk.


    "We kind of thought that the other would spare the pirates they encountered, so we sort of killed them all. Sorry."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Nil and Mindle expressed their apology by bowing their heads to Toz. And they anxiously awaited his response with drooping tails.


    "Don''t worry about it." Although Toz''s words sounded like he disregarded their apology, his tone made it clear there really was nothing to worry about.


    The two cats had worried for nothing. There was no way Toz would be angry at them for killing some pirates who had bad intentions.


    "So, you killed two each?"


    "Yep."


    "Yeah."


    Especially not when they hadn''t killed all of the pirates. Eleven pirates had arrived with the boats. Each cat had killed two, and Toz had killed one as well. That meant nine dead and two survivors. And Toz knew where to find those survivors.


    Toz had been watching when the pirates arrived andunched their invasion. And he had heard the orders and conversations of the pirates before they spread out over the ind. He had also seen one of them get reprimanded by the pirate he killed. The reprimanded pirate stayed behind with the one in charge of guarding the boats. And if Toz was right, those two would still be at the boats, guarding them.


    If Toz hadn''t still been able to see the boat masts through the trees, he would have worried that they had fled, though. As long as the boats were anchored to the ind, there was no way they wouldn''t find the two surviving pirates. If the pirates tried hiding on the ind, they would be found in no time, considering they had several experts on hide-and-seek with them.


    Lucy knew all the best hiding spots, and Mindle was an expert at detecting sources of heat.


    But it would be a waste to ask them to search the ind for the pirates before checking if they were still by the boats.


    Toz was apanied by Nil and Mindle as he went to the ce where the pirates had anchored their sailboats. On the way, he asked the two of them how it had gone with their pirate hunt.


    The two cats had been wary that it might have been a trap and that Toz might hold a grudge against them for killing the pirates. But they forgot that wariness as they startedpeting over who had done the best job.


    Nil, who had finally gotten a chance to try out his spell, was proud of how powerful he had gotten since a single spell had torn through both pirates, turning them into what would happen to pincushions if the needles were pushed all the way through.


    And Mindle was boasting about how she was about to form the second Tongue of me.


    Though, their enthusiasm was slightly dulled when Toz told them how he had practically created a new spell by ident.

 Chapter 167 Hods & Stitches (1)

    ?Toz, Nil, and Mindle were already used to how small their wooden ind was, so they weren''t surprised when they arrived at the boats before their conversation ended.


    As Toz had expected, the two pirates who had survived the invasion were by the boats. Though, Toz hadn''t expected them to have pulled out a table, a couple of chairs, and a set of ying cards.


    They hadn''t noticed Toz and the two cats'' arrival as they continued ying with the cards. It wasn''t until Toz stood behind one of them that they noticed. One saw him directly, and the other noticed the shadow. The one who saw Toz was too stunned to speak, but the other one, the one with the eyepatch, began turning around while deftly hiding his cards somewhere.


    "You''re back already? Didn'' I say t''was a small raft? I was just telling Hods that¨C


    "Wait, yer not Kart?!"


    The eyepatch pirate had been too busy shoving away his hiding cards to notice he wasn''t talking to another one of the pirates that had returned to the boats.


    The eyepatch pirate fell off his chair and scrambled backward in panic as soon as he realized he was talking to a stranger. After putting some distance between himself and Toz and realizing that Toz wasn''t about to kill him on the spot, the eyepatch pirate stood up and brushed off his pants. Although he had scrambled around on roots without an ounce of dirt on them, the pirate did it out of reflex. Toz almost felt pity for the pirate if he was so used to crawling on the ground he dusted his clean pants.


    Toz waited for the two pirates to gather their bearings since it would be pointless trying to hold a conversation with them when they couldn''t think straight. But he wasn''t the first one to open his mouth. It seemed like the eyepatch pirate was the type to talk when startled or was just someone who liked their own voice a little too much.


    "Ahem. So, what happened to the others?"


    "Dead."


    The eyepatch pirate reacted more strongly to that than Toz had expected since he was shocked enough to steady himself by cing a hand on the should of his still seated friend.


    "Even Kart?"


    "I don''t know who that is, but yes."


    "He''s the strongest guy on our team. Fuck, that''s not good."


    By now, Toz was getting slightly curious as to why the pirate reacted so strongly to Kart''s death. He also quite disliked the feeling of the pirate taking the lead in the conversation.


    "What''s the issue with a dead pirate, if I may ask?" Although Toz smiled, the smile was cold enough to send a chill down the eyepatch pirate''s spine.


    The pirate answered more nervously this time as he fiddled with his hands and avoided locking eyes with Toz.


    "Well¡­Nothing per se. I, personally, didn''t like the shitstick. But, he was our map. Without him, we can''t make it back to port."


    "He was your map?"


    "Mhm. He had some kind of exploration-rted inclination. Could remember everywhere he''d been. Got benefits by exploring and being in ces he hadn'' explored before, was supposed t'' get strong an'' all bu'' between you an'' me, he was a pretty weak bastard. Cap''n wanted him to make a map over the Void with his skills an'' all."


    "So without him, you can''t find your way back? And he was bad at frontalbat?"


    "Exactly!"


    "Damn. That''s too bad." Toz''s deadpan tone made it more than clear he didn''t care about the trouble the two pirates found themselves. Personally, Toz thought it was pretty clear that getting back to their port should be lower on the pirate''s list of priorities. If he was in their situation, being the only survivor of a failed raid, he would have tried to ensure his survival first.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The revtion that the pirate leader he fought was considered weak was slightly off-putting, but Toz didn''t pay it any further attention since the pirate was dead. Toz refocused on the two live pirates on hand and how much trouble he should put them through.


    It seemed like the seated pirate also thought that surviving was more important than getting back to the port since he was gently nudging the eyepatch pirate who was thoughtfully gazing into the Void.


    "Mate, we won''t ever make it back if we die y''know?"


    "Oh¡­ OH! Damn! That''s right!"


    At that, the eyepatch pirate looked cautiously at Toz before whispering back,


    "You don''t suppose he''ll let us go?"


    "..."


    "Nah, I s''pose not. Looks way too grumpy."


    Toz''s eyebrow twitched, and he wondered if he only had to spare one pirate to get the information he wanted. It seemed like the eyepatch pirate sensed the killing intent since he stopped whispering and faced Toz directly with a ttering smile.


    "It seems like we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Stitches, or Stitch for short, and for various reasons, I am working as a pirate or rather a healer for a gang of pirates. It must be fate that we met in this deste Void. How about we be friends?"


    Toz didn''t ept Stitches'' handshake and turned his gaze toward the pirate who had stood up during his friend''s introduction.


    "You?"


    "Ah, My name is Hods. I am a pirate by choice, but only because I like the freedom. I am mostly stuck guarding the boats during raids since I refuse to kill. Nice to meet you."


    It seemed like Hods was more polite than his friend, and since he hadn''t previously said rude things, Toz epted Hods'' bow with a nod.


    "Alright. I am Toz, and I will spare your lives for now."


    "For now."


    "Don''t take it for granted."


    Nil and Mindle made sure to look frightening as they reinforced Toz''s statement.


    Toz wasn''t quite sure where to begin asking the pirates questions. Although he hid it well, it meant quite a lot for him that there was an entire gang of pirates casually roaming through the Void. Both the fact that he and the cats wouldn''t be stuck on the ind of trees forever and that it was pretty cool with Void-pirates. He was also happy that he had acquired boats he could use to control their travels through the Void.


    "Come with me."


    Since Toz couldn''t decide what to do with the pirates at the moment, he decided to bring them back with him to the house.

 Chapter 168 Hods & Stitches (2)

    ?Hods and Stitches trailed behind Toz, Nil, and Mindle as the five of them headed to the tiny house at the center of the ind where the rest of the ind''s inhabitants were waiting.


    Toz could hear the two pirates whispering, but since it seemed like pointless and one-sided prattling, he ignored it. Toz was about to warn Stitches when he tried to encourage Hods into creating a diversion so they could try and flee. But it turned out Toz didn''t have to intervene since Hods smacked Stitches, and it looked like he would have continued pummeling him if it weren''t for them trying not to anger Toz.


    But despite how conformable Hods seemed to be, Toz didn''t drop his guard. It might just be an act to get him to do just that, after all.


    Toz had already confirmed it several times in less than a day already, but with the size of the ind, it didn''t take long for Toz, the cats, and the two pirates to reach the house. Scrael and Lucy had already noticed the pirates, and the two cats made sure to look extra threatening when they caught the pirates looking at them. Though, since Joshua peeked out curiously from in between the two cats, their aggressive demeanor wasn''t as frightening. At least not Lucy''s. However, Scrael alone was enough to make the two pirates straighten their spines and disy their best behavior.


    Toz wondered if he should have made the pirates carry the table and chairs back to the house as he looked around at the rtively empty clearing. But those could be brought back when Toz inspected the boats.


    For now, simple stools would be enough for the pirates, and he spent some more time and mana on creating actual chairs for himself, Joan, and Joshua. They borrowed some fabric from Joan to make the metal seating morefortable, though the pirates didn''t get anything. The cats spread out around the clearing. Lucy wanted toy down on Toz''s head like he used to, but since Scrael convinced him that doing so would make Toz less imposing, Lucy settled onto the window frame.


    During their walk, Toz had managed to more urately figure out what he wanted to know from the two pirates.


    "Was Kart the only one with that kind of ability, or will someone simre looking for you?"


    Since the two pirates had talked about a captain, Toz had guessed that they were part of arger pirate crew. And from what Toz could determine, Kart was important due to his inclination, not due to his strength. That meant that a seventh level mage or fighter wasn''t too high up in the ranks of the pirate crew. Toz was worried that reinforcements woulde and investigate what happened to their fellow pirates. And if those reinforcements were stronger than Kart, Toz wasn''t confident in being able to defeat them and get off scot-free.


    Toz had thought that it wouldn''t take long before Stitches opened his mouth and answered his question. Unfortunately, the pirate with an eyepatch over his left eye asked a question of his own.


    "Just out of curiosity. What happens if we don'' wanna answer?"


    Toz''s mood dipped, and he answered in a cold voice,


    "Do you wanna find out?"


    The chilly voice and the threatening undertone were enough to put Stitches back on track.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I''m good. Just curious, ''s all. Then to answer your question. There are others with simr inclinations, but I dunno the details. And only important people or guys carrying valuable treasure get rescue parties. The Void''s a dangerous ce. People die, that''s it mostly."


    Although Toz didn''t have a way of knowing whether or not Stitches was telling the truth, he watched Hods'' expression carefully while Stitches talked. And based on that, it didn''t look like Stitches was lying. Though, maybe Hods was so used to Stitches'' nonsense that he didn''t show a reaction even if Stitches lied.


    Toz would find out eventually if Stitches lied anyways.


    "Do you know how far Kart had gotten in his map-making?"


    "That''s¡­Kart had barely started. He thought he would be reced, so he refused the cap''ns orders."


    Toz wanted to ask the pirates some more questions, but he was interrupted by a swarm of jellyfish. The jellyfish usually attacked one and one or two and two, but this time a group of six of them came flying through the Void in the direction of the ind.


    "The boats!"


    To Toz''s surprise, Stitches was the first to react as he sprang to his feet and headed toward the boats, dragging Hods with him. Toz was worried his precious packets of information about the Void would try and flee while they dealt with the jellyfish, so he followed them while he asked the cats to defend the ind.


    However, it turned out that Toz didn''t have to worry about the two pirates trying to flee since the jellyfish had already surrounded the ind. The jellyfish had made it impossible to escape by creating a ney from their tentacles. Trying to use a boat to pass through it would be suicidal.


    The reason Stitches reacted so strongly, was because he was afraid the boats would be destroyed. And since he was a healer, his means of attacking and defending were limited, so he had to have Hods'' help.


    Although Stitches couldn''t attack the jellyfish effectively by himself, he could boost Hods'' physical capabilities with his life attribute magic. With Stitches channeling magic into him, Hods pulled out a sledgehammer from his inclination and, after coating it in aura, sent the sledgehammer flying right into a jellyfish.


    The sledgehammer struck the jellyfish with enough force to pierce through it. But the sledgehammer didn''t continue flying through the Void. Instead, it returned to Hods'' hands after finishing its job before being sent flying into the jellyfish again.


    Toz saw Hod''s arms and shoulders swell with the power Stitches gave him. But even with all that power, the jellyfish didn''t seem to care about the holes that appeared in them. Hods and Stitches could at most hold off the jellyfish, but killing them would take a lot more effort. Effort they might not be capable of since they would eventually run out of mana and martial energy.

 Chapter 169 Jellyfish Attack

    ?Toz could sense that the cats were handling the jellyfish on the other parts of the ind just fine. Relieved, he decided to help Hods and Stitches. Not for their sake but because he also wanted the boats intact. And because the void magic spread by the jellyfish was starting to wear on the ind.


    Although Toz and Nil had reinforced the trees and the ind by filling it out with constructs of metal magic, the void magic''s erosion was beginning to dissolve the mana and weaken the ind. If Toz allowed the jellyfish to continue, he would put the ind and all of their lives at risk.


    Since he couldn''t rely on the cats or the two pirates helping him, Toz was prepared to fight off the jellyfish alone. Thankfully he had ess to an assortment of elements that could fulfill various purposes. But he couldn''t use them as deftly as the cats could, so he was forced to improvise.


    Toz used abination of fire and lightning to burn and singe off the jellyfish''s tentacles. He didn''t cast a fireball since he was afraid he would destroy the jellyfishpletely and possibly damage the boats as well.


    The bombardment of mes and lightning bolts was enough to get rid of most tentacles. After disarming the jellyfish as much as possible, he createdrge fish hooks that he threw into the jellyfish, where they expanded and grabbed hold of the slimy jellyfish bodies. And then, while pulling the jellyfish away from the boats and to the ground, Toz covered the nearby area with ayer of darkness to stop the remaining tentacles from eroding the trees and their roots.


    While Toz burned the remaining tentacles and sliced up the jellyfish, he also kept an eye out for Hods and Stitches in case they tried to escape. But it was a needless worry since they had been staring ckjawed in his direction after he started attacking the jellyfish. And when they finally mped their jaws shut, it was toote to make an attempt at escaping since Toz was done with thest jellyfish. Toz would have more than enough time to stop them if the two pirates wanted to flee.


    The only reason they had arrived by the boats before Toz did, was because Toz sensed that the jellyfish had already surrounded the ind, and he wanted to see what the two pirates would do. There was no way they were faster than Toz, even if Stitches enhanced their physical abilities, making them faster.


    Toz looked at the two pirates, who were flustered since it looked like they had wanted to escape as soon as an opportunity appeared. Stitches acted quickly and, before Toz could do anything, opened his mouth.


    "I know what it looks like, but we only wanted to protect the boats. Promise."


    Toz didn''t have any intentions of squabbling over what the two pirates had wanted to do.


    "Start bringing the remains to the storage."


    ''"Yes!"''


    Hods and Stitches reacted in tandem before they began hauling the translucent pieces of jellyfish to the tiny square hut a short walk away from the house.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz was beginning to think it was a great idea to spare the two pirates'' lives since it meant he didn''t have to do bothersome chores anymore. Any time something cumbersome or annoying had to be dealt with, Toz had been the one that had to do it since he was the only one with hands and opposable thumbs.


    Joan and Joshua had recently joined their ind, but some things weren''t suitable for a tiny kid or a mother who had spent most of her life enchanting clothes, especially when that mother could still be traumatized from losing her husband or surviving the war.


    Toz himself didn''t like cleaning up the mess that urred each time they defended against a void beast attack since it was so slimy. And now he didn''t have to since Hods and Stitches could do that for him.


    While Hods and Stitches began lifting the pieces of meatrge enough that a single piece filled up their arms, Toz headed back to the house in advance to check on the cats.


    Considering the two pirates'' attitude, it honestly didn''t look like they had any intentions of fleeing. Either they realized they didn''t have a chance against Toz or that they would only die alone and hungry or in the belly of some void beast if they tried to flee with the boats.


    Toz arrived at the center of the ind and noticed that the cats were about to finish up. They had done the same tactic they usually use against jellyfish, but without Toz and with more jellyfish than usual, it had taken more time and effort.


    Lucy had made sure to protect the ind from the void magic from the tentacles. But since there were so many tentacles, a few trees had lost some of their leaves. And Toz could sense that the underside of the ind was feeling a little less stable. He made a mental note to fix thatter when everything calmed down.


    Mindle had done a great job burning away the tentacles with her two tongues of me, and if it weren''t for the amount, Lucy wouldn''t have struggled when protecting the ind.


    And Nil and Scrael had worked together to make Toz''s absence less noteworthy as they tore through the jellyfish and covered the ground in pieces of meat of various sizes. Toz felt like they would have to upgrade their food storage due to this incident. Toz also noticed that there were very few jellyfish with holes. Since Nil had just learned his spell, Toz thought he would be casting it as much as possible. Though Toz quickly realized that the spikes conjured by the spell were practically useless against the jellyfish since the spikes simply pierced through the body without doing any real damage.


    The cats were done with theirst jellyfish, so while they started resting, Toz started creating arger warehouse. Making arge box with only a door wasn''t soplex, and Toz only had to make sure to put in enough mana to hold it until the trees had finished growing and recing the metal.


    Hods and Stitches almost fell over when they saw how much jellyfish meat they would have to clean up.

 Chapter 170 Lucys Advice

    ?Toz, the cats, and Joshua sat back and rxed as Hods and Stitches tried to convince themselves that doing the dirty work and hauling tons of jellyfish remains were better conditions than death. The cats'' routine hadn''t been affected by the addition of the two pirates, but since they got more time with Toz, they appreciated the pirates'' sacrifice.


    But they didn''t ck off for too long. Since Joan was already working on Toz''s coat again, the others didn''t feel likezing around. Toz didn''t, at least. The cats were more ambivalent. The main reason that Toz had been lying around was so he could recover his mana.


    Toz had used almost all his mana when he defeated Kart. The little he recovered after that was used to defeat the jellyfish and then to expand their storage building. Toz wanted to recover as much mana as possible so he could experiment with the darkness magic he had cast on Kart. If it really was an approximation of a spell, nothing was stopping him from developing it into aplete spell.


    Thankfully, he had a resident expert and genius at darkness magic that he could ask for advice. When Toz had finally recovered enough mana to use the magic again, he asked Lucy for help. Although Lucy could sense his pride soar and his nose began turning toward the sky, he happily epted. Since Lucy''s use of magic was mostly instinctive, he had difficulty helping others use it. And Toz knew that, but he had still asked Lucy for help. The only way for Lucy to interpret it was that Toz was having so much trouble that despite how difficult it was to understand Lucy, Toz had still asked him for help.


    While Toz and Lucy started talking magic, the other cats and Joshua began roaming around the ind, trying to find a clue to his inclination and also to show Joshua around.


    Toz began by telling Lucy about his inspiration for the magic and what his purpose behind it was, and then the various ways he could tell that the pirate had been affected. However, Lucy tilted his head and said,


    "Dunno. Sounds messy. Just use it on me."


    "Are you sure?"


    "Hmph. Who do you think I am? Darkness magic won''t hurt me."


    Since Lucy made the promation with so much confidence and bravado, Toz either had to trust Lucy or prove him wrong. But that didn''t mean he would go all out as he had done against the pirate. After a few moments of preparation, Toz used his magic against Lucy, although slightly weaker than the first time he had used it. However, since Toz was morefortable with how to arrange the mana and cast the specific magic, it could still spell trouble for Lucy if he wasn''t prepared.


    Just like the magic had done to the pirate, it swallowed Lucy in shadows before wrapping him in a thin film of darkness. Though since Lucy already looked like he was made of darkness was the difference in his eyes. His ck pupils remained unchanged, but his yellow irises and white sclera were both covered in pitch ck darkness. Lucy''s fur looked more ttened and smoother.


    Since Lucy''s body also stopped moving as the pirate''s had done, Toz was worried that Lucy would be unable tomunicate his possible distress with Toz. But Toz could still tell that Lucy wasn''t panicking or feeling ufortable through his inclination.


    Although Toz hadn''t been able to tell how bad the pirate had felt during his experience with the magic, afterward, when the magic ended and the pirate''s heady on the ground, Toz had seen it. The pirate''s eyes, even in death, looked like the eyes of a madman. It wasn''t quite as bad as the victims of Lucy''s magic, but it was close.


    Since Toz hadn''t put as much effort into casting the magic as he did the first time, it didn''t take long before the darkness faded away from Lucy''s eyes, and Lucy''s fur regained its fluffiness.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But Lucy didn''t immediately begin giving Toz advice. Lucy closed his eyes and seemed to revel in the feeling that the magic had given him. Toz also realized that for someone who had such a strong affinity for and loved darkness like Lucy, Toz''s magic would be more like paradise than torture.


    After a minute, Lucy opened his eyes and looked at Toz with the same pride a mother bird might have when her fledgling babies left the nest. Although Toz didn''t quite know what to think about Lucy''s expression, it at least showed that he had made something even Lucy found impressive. Knowing that he had impressed Lucy with his darkness magic naturally thrilled Toz.


    That was until Lucy realized that too much pride and arrogance could lead toziness and acking motivation to improve. So Lucy changed his expression to one of neutrality.


    "I guess it''s a passing grade."


    Though, since Toz had already seen Lucy''s initial reaction, he didn''t pay much heed to Lucy''s attempt at being a stern teacher and responded with a smile.


    "Thanks! So, what do you think?"


    "You said it was inspired by the void, right?"


    "Yeah."


    "Then it''s pretty bad. Compare your stuff to the actual Void. Do I need to say more than that?"


    Toz had no idea what aspect topare. He had been thinking and looking into the Void for so long he had almost memorized the locations of the stars. And when casting the magic, Toz thought of nothing else but the Void and its infinite darkness. But Toz knew that even if he asked Lucy for rification, he wouldn''t get it. The only thing he could do was ponder on Lucy''s words as hepared the idea he had in his mind to the Void all around them.


    "What happens if we don'' do this?"


    Toz''s thinking was interrupted by Stitches, who was lying on the ground panting. As a healer, he wasn''t as well trained as his fighterpanion and, despite being at a level higher, was quickly exhausted by moving therge chunks of jellyfish meat.


    Toz had intended to respond by repeating answering as he had done thest time Stitches asked such a stupid question. But the sight beyond Stitches and the ind distracted him.

 Chapter 171 Partial Success

    ?Stitches took Toz''s stare as the precursor of something unpleasant and quickly pulled himself together and continued moving the jellyfish meat. Since Stitches moved around and avoided catching Toz''s attention, he didn''t notice that Toz wasn''t staring at him or about to cut him to pieces. The only thing in Toz''s eyes were the stars whose light had been blocked by Stitches'' head and everything else in the way.


    It wasn''t important what had blocked the starlight. What Toz found important was the fact that the stars still shone in the darkness of the Void. His magic was based on the fact that darkness covered everything. Despite the brightness of the stars, they couldn''t match the depth of the darkness surrounding them. But Toz had forgotten that it went both ways. Just like the stars couldn''t outshine the darkness, the darkness couldn''t erase the light.


    And that was exactly what Toz had tried doing. He tried to imitate the Void''s darkness, but erasing the stars wouldn''t imitate the Void. That was more like designing his own version of the Void. No wonder it took so much mana.


    Although the darkness would obscure, hide, and cover the stars and their light, it didn''t erase them directly. When the stars died, the darkness would bury them, but until then, the light of the stars was unstoppable. And the darkness was inevitable.


    Toz stared into the Void as if he had turned dumb from the repeated shocks of enlightenment and realization. He lost track of time as he simply pondered on his new insights and thought of how to develop his basic magic into a proper spell. The newfound inspiration of the Void and its darkness was great by itself, but it would only be useful if Toz could incorporate it into his magic.


    Despite how enlightening it had been and how much it had helped him, Toz didn''t consider asking Lucy for more advice. Although it might help him finish the spell faster, thepleted spell wouldn''t be the same as if Toz had made it himself. Maybe Lucy''s advice had been so vague because Lucy didn''t want to interfere too much with the spell-creating process.


    And despite not knowing how to progress, Toz was sure he wouldn''t be stuck forever. The only reason he wasn''t advancing the spell was that he was still busyprehending the full meaning of his new insights. As soon as his mind calmed down enough to process all the new information in his brain, Toz felt like he would know in which direction to develop his spell and also how to do it.


    Without changing his posture or position, Toz spent several hours processing and thinking about what he had just gained and what to do with his magic in the future. But not much changed due to only a few hours of pondering. Toz would have to devote some more effort if he wanted to improve his magic to the point it could actually be called a spell.


    After Toz woke up from his dazed state, he found Lucy in hisp. Deciding that dealing with other matters could wait, Tozid down to take a nap while petting Lucy''s head and scratching behind Lucy''s ears.


    Stitches, who had been walking with a needle pressing into his back despite realizing that Toz wasn''t staring him down, finally rxed enough to take a breather. He and Hods had already moved almost everything into the enormous storage house, filling up a corner of it. Since it had looked like Toz was staring at them, Stitches especially hadn''t dared to rx. And although he could refresh his body and alleviate his fatigue somewhat with magic, he wasn''t used to such strenuous exercise and was panting as he rested against the side of the building.


    Unfortunately, Stitches closed his eyes for a few moments too many. By the time he opened them again, it was night. At first, Stitches didn''t react to it, but then he remembered that there wasn''t a proper day and night cycle in the Void. He stopped looking for any nearbynterns or sources of light and began panicking instead.


    If it wasn''t night, the only other reason Stitches could think of was that he had gone blind. He couldn''t sense something covering his eyes aside from the eye patch that would exin the darkness he was experiencing.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But before Stitches could begin shouting for Hods or anyone to help him, the darkness vanished as if it had never existed, and Stitches found himself back on the wooden ind resting against the storage building. The only difference from when he sat down was the young ck-haired man standing in front of him.


    "Am I paying you to sleep?"


    "Uhm, I didn'' know I was getting paid?"


    "Why would you get paid for napping?"


    "I meant for moving the pieces o'' jellyfish. Sorry, sir."


    "Aren''t you getting paid in number of days you''re allowed to continue living?"


    "..."


    Stitches scurried away and helped Hods with thest few bits of jellyfish meat.


    Toz inspected the progress of the warehouse turning into wood and how well the two pirates had stacked the jellyfish remains in the warehouse. At the same time, he pondered over the efficiency of his magic. Toz''s magic had managed to remove Stitches'' connection with the surrounding world to some degree but not fully since Stitches could still touch and move around a little bit.


    Toz had tried to tone the power down and remove the suppressive and absolute nature he had added to the darkness of his magic. He wanted the inevitable but unnoticeable part of darkness to be in charge since that would hopefully lower the demands on his mana.


    The drain on his mana had indeed lowered, but all it led to was an extremely weakened version of the magic. An experienced mage or fighter wouldn''t have any trouble breaking free from it. Toz''s experiment at least showed him that the problem wasn''t directly rted to how much power he used. The only thing left to do was to continue experimenting and trying out various ways to use the magic. Eventually, it would lead somewhere.

 Chapter 172 New Inhabitants

    ?After Hods and Stitches finished moving all the jellyfish into the warehouse, Toz gathered everyone at the table he had made. Although the pirates had one by the boats, that table was too small to use as a gathering ce for everyone. It had been some time and some tumultuous action since thest time everyone ate. Toz decided it was a great opportunity to introduce everyone properly and make sure how they were going to proceed in the future.


    Especially the two pirates. Toz didn''t mind having an extra couple of hands on the ind to do the dirty work. The addedpany was also a pleasant bonus. But that was only if the pirates weren''t nning on taking revenge or acting in a way Toz or the others couldn''t tolerate. Toz was willing to let the two pirates go using one boat if they wanted to leave. But since they didn''t have a way to navigate the Void, Toz doubted they would choose that option.


    The dinner itself was boring since it consisted of a pile of jellyfish for everyone. But the food was thest on people''s minds. Maybe not for Lucy since he had already started eating. But it was the first proper asion for Joan and Joshua to talk with the two pirates. And the two pirates could sense that their future would be decided in theing minutes.


    Toz wasn''t one for idle chatter, so he immediately asked the two pirates after everyone was seated.


    "What do you two think of your current situation?"


    "..."


    The two exchanged nces, and like usual, Stitches seemed like the one who would answer. But he hesitated and looked like he was too scared or nervous to respond to Toz''s question.


    "Speak your mind. I won''t kill you."


    "Alrighty then. Aside from the looming threat o'' death, it''s pretty decent. But the danger to one''s life ismon in our business. And that Kart guy would always hound us and punish us for stupid shit."


    "Like the g punishment?"


    "Yes! That was his favorite. Said it built charact- Wait, how do you know about it?"


    "I don''t. I just overheard you all when you first arrived."


    "Hah, that''s great. I was afraid you-"


    "''I'' What?"


    "No, it''s nothing. A slip of the tongue."


    Toz remained suspicious of what Stitches had been about to say, but since the two pirates seemed to want to stay, forcing Stitches to say something stupid when he already realized his wrong wouldn''t be great for future cohabitation. Though, Toz made a mental note to remind him to ask Hods what the g punishment was. Who knows? It mighte in handy in the future.


    "Then I take it you''ll stick around?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "S'' that alright?"


    "Well, even if the rest of your crew invaded first, I am responsible for you having no way back to your port. Having a healer and a pair of extra hands around doesn''t hurt, either.


    "Right. Do you have any objections, Joan, Joshua?"


    "We are already living here thanks to your graciousness. We don''t mind at all."


    "I don''t mind either."


    Lucy added his opinion through a mouth full of jellyfish. The other cats also didn''t seem to have anything against the two pirates taking up residence on the ind. They had been bored more than a couple of times, and more people could help alleviate that boredom at least a little.


    After a round of introductions, the ind had officially gained a couple of new inhabitants. A couple of hairy pirates. One sledgehammer-wielding muscr pirate with short blonde hair and one stockier pirate with an eyepatch over his left eye and neck-length dark green hair tied in a bun on the back of his head.


    The food and atmosphere were a littlecking to call the gathering a dinner party, but at least everyone was interested in getting to know each other better. Although the pirates had ended up handing Toz a couple of boats, they were little more than useless without a way to navigate the Void. And since they didn''t have a way to navigate their way through the Void or control the ind they were on, all of them would be spending a lot of time close to one another, whether they wanted to or not.


    If they were going to spend a lot of time together no matter what, it would be easier if they knew each other and werefortable with talking and hanging out. Toz and the cats already knew each other, and they had gotten a small headstart on getting to know Joan and Joshua, especially the cats since they had spent a lot of time ying with Joshua.


    But it took time getting to know a person, and the pirates who had just been introduced to them had already started getting to know about Joan and Joshua. Considering the ce they were in, one of the first things they talked about was how they had ended up there.


    Since a lot of Joan''s story was sensitive, she skipped the still sore parts of it, though she couldn''t not mention how the Starsling Kingdom had sted her husband into the Void.


    And her mention of the Starsling Kingdom easily gave Hods and Stitches a way to exin how they had ended up like pirates.


    Hods had been forcefully conscripted to fight against the demons. But with his strength, he would be nothing more than cannon fodder. And he preferred living a free life, free from ughter and war, which had eventually made him desert, and after some stuff happened, he joined the same pirate crew that Stitches was in.


    Stitches'' story was a little more interesting, but maybe it was because he was a better storyteller. In any case, just like most people who had awakened their inclination and were above a certain age, Stitches had also been conscripted to join the war efforts.


    Although he was a healer and didn''t need to join the fighting directly, the worst injuries were on the frontline and close to the ces where the demons had attacked. So that was where Stitches had been stationed.

 Chapter 173 Stitches Story (1)

    ?Stitches was part of arge group of healers and people of simr capabilities who had been conscripted from the same area. Since Stitches'' ne was located pretty far from the border between the human and the demon realms, his hometown wasn''t in any danger. But that also meant he had a long way to travel by boat.


    A lot of the demons'' initial attacks had been executed thanks to the widespread portals in the human realm, and until the people in charge figured out how the demons had infiltrated the portals, they would be shut down. Without portals, the only way to travel was through the Void using ships and boats. Since not everyone used or could afford to use portals, it wasn''t a new means of transport, and there were a lot of void boats, but not enough for the entire army to go around.


    But since healers were a highly requested type of personnel, Stitches didn''t have to wait long before a boat came and picked up the group he was in. The boat was given an armed escort as it passed through the Void on the way to the Starsling Kingdom''s area of the border. The healers didn''t have to be right where the action happened, but they had to be close enough that the wounded fighters and mages didn''t die on the way to the healers.


    During the transport, the only thing special that happened was the raid of a group of pirates. The raid failed miserably, and the pirates that survived were forcefully enlisted and joined the crew as criminal soldiers. The encounter with the pirates and the subsequent time Stitches spent talking with the captured ones was what set him on the eventual path of piracy.


    Though, Stitches didn''t have any intentions of deserting at the time. Even when he listened to the pirates who had either ended up as pirates because they fled the war or were pirates even before the war broke out, Stitches still nned on serving his country. As a healer, he wouldn''t be on the front lines. And when else would he be able to train his inclination as much as he could during a war? While he didn''t like the war, it wasn''t like he had a choice, so he decided to make the best of it.


    And for a couple of months, it worked out great for Stitches and most of his patients. He had gone from a fourth level mage to one at the sixth level in that time. However, his straightforward attitude and loose mouth tended tond him in trouble from time to time. Most of the time, the trouble was made to go away or ignored since Stitches was a great healer and he had umted a lot of merit.


    But as always, there were exceptions, and that was what eventually led him to choose his current life.


    Stitches had pretty quickly garnered a reputation as one of the best healers below the high levels. And since the high level healers were busy and not as numerous as the healers at lower levels, most people wanted to be healed by Stitches. He did a good job, and as long as you brought the limb that got cut off, it could be reattached. Internal injuries weren''t a problem, either.


    However, just because people wanted to end up at Stitches when they were injured, that didn''t mean they got to choose who healed them. For most people, it was only wishful thinking. That was where the exceptions starteding in.


    Saying that people couldn''t choose who healed them or patched them up after returning from battle, only applied tomon people. High-ranking people in the military or nobles and royals naturally didn''t have to follow the same rules as everyone else.


    Stitches didn''t particrly like that since he was also amoner, but there wasn''t much he could do about it, and most of those who could choose him tended to give him some extra money. However, what Stitches really found issues with were the shitty bastards who ignored the queue. Even when Stitches was busy healing someone, those bastards woulde right in, push his patient off the table, and force Stitches to heal them instead.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    More often than not, it would end with the so-called patient being in a more dire need of healing after visiting Stitches than before. Considering they were healthy enough to force their way through to Stitches and try to force him to heal them, Stitches didn''t see an issue with showing them what actual injuries looked like.


    Although the pompous and ignorant bastards who ended up beaten by Stitchesined to people higher up in the military''s food chain, most of them were ignored. Stitches'' merits and reputation weren''t for nothing, and if the military indulged spoiled brats who treated the main force of the army like dogshit, no one would want to serve anymore. Rebellion and mutiny were two of thest things the ruling ss wanted to happen in the middle of a war with the demon realm.


    However, the incidents kept happening, and dissatisfaction regarding Stitches kept building among the higher-ups. It was their kids and rtives who were beaten and injured at the doctor''s office after all.


    And then thest straw came.


    Stitches was working on a patient in absolutely emergent need of healing. The fact that the person was even alive long enough to reach Stitches was a miracle, and as soon as Stitches stopped pumping life force into them, they would die.


    Stitches was tense and worked with absolute focus. The entire tent and the people waiting could tell that it was serious. Even some people who would pester Stitches to hurry up or to heal them first were dead silent.


    That was when one of Stitches'' repeat offenders swung by.


    Stitches was pretty sure he heard someone say they had cut their arm fighting a heinous demon. It was onlyter he found out that it was an ident from when the rude bastard was showing off his nonexistent sword fighting skills.


    However, that rude bastard showed no hesitation as he shoved Stitches'' patient off the table and down on the blood-soaked ground.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 174 Stitches Story (2)

    ?Stitches'' snapped. He saw red. The patient he had been working on was a decorated soldier and had given more than his life several times, fighting for the Starsling Kingdom and the humans in their war against the demons. And it wasn''t the first time the soldier ended up in Stitches'' healing room.


    As soon as their previous injuries healed, they would already be out on the battlefield, fighting and killing demons. Stitches had naturally gotten a lot of opportunities to know the soldier. But despite his insistence, the soldier refused to rest and stay at the camp to make full use of the allotted rest time. Before Stitches knew it, the soldier said something like, "Every day I rest more than I need it, is another dead family at the hands of the demons," before sprinting into battle while tearing off any remaining bandages.


    However, the prince, one of the descendants of those who only had power thanks to the sacrifice of people like the patient on the table, ignored the soldier''s life. The soldier''s entire body and internal organs had been in a delicate bnce, where the slightest disruption could lead to the soldier''s death. Stitches might have been able to save the soldier''s life if all the prince did was cancel the healing. But, now that the soldier hadn been dumped on the ground like a sack of potatoes, it didn''t matter how quickly Stitches acted. There was no way he would be able to save the soldier.


    One of the princes of the kingdom that the soldier served had killed the soldier for nothing more than a scrape on his arm. A scrape that didn''t even require a healer. A simple towel would have been more than enough.


    There were no way Stitches, who had just lost a friend, could remain rational. Only an insane person would stay calm when forced to heal the murderer of a dear friend, no matter the circumstances.


    The only thing Stitches remembered after that was the prince''s bloody face. Although it only took a few moments before guards came in and stopped Stitches from continuing his pummeling on the prince''s head, the prince was already within an inch of his life. And it wasn''t due to the injuries he had sustained before stomping into Stitches'' tent.


    Later, during a hearing, when asked if he regretted it, Stitches had a simple answer.


    "The only thing I regret is notnding a few more blows."


    Everyone present knew that a few more blows would have almost definitely killed the prince. Even those who wanted to save Stitches in consideration of how many lives he had saved and how great his potential as a healer was couldn''t do much when he basically confessed to the attempted murder of a royal descendant. Not that there were many who wanted to help him to begin with. The rampant nepotism and aristocratic favoritism had already made sure that most of the people Stitches had beaten were rted to the people who could weigh in on his sentence.


    Given the severity of his crime, there were a few who wanted him executed. But since the problem was with Stitches'' unruliness andck of obedience, the general consensus leaned toward making him a criminal ve. With the war burning through people and manpower like a ughterhouse, Stitches was a valuable resource.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But it wasn''t as if they had a bunch of ve cors lying around. The cors had already been used up or gone missing. However, there was a solution only a short boat ride away.


    Since there were a lot of criminals and deserters brought to the battlefield from all over the ce, the easiest way to make all of them submit would be to have what could make them submit next to the battlefield.


    Thest stop before entering battle for most criminals or forcefully enlisted manpower, who, at least during the war, were nothing more than ves, was arge floating tform. Aside from having the ability to move freely through the Void, the tform wasn''t anything special, and the only thing on the hunk of rock and metal was a house and a garden. However, despite its appearance, the tform was far from simple. And during peacetime, it had only been rumored to exist, even in the higher echelons of the kingdom.


    The owner of the tform was a mage whose name had exploded in notoriety since the military began bringing in forced manpower. Beltor had quickly grown infamous due to his strength and what he was capable of doing with it.


    Beltor was a mage at the eighth level. He was far from being the only one in the war, and there were people in the kingdom stronger than him. But what made him scary was his inclination. Beltor''s inclination gave him curse attribute mana. Mages who used curses were rare, but not to the point where Beltor was the only one in the entirety of Starsling Kingdom.


    People feared Beltor because of the kind of curse he specialized in. Subordination curses. Beltor could enve almost anyone at a lower level than him. Even people at the same level as him or higher have been known to fall under his curses, even if temporary.


    And the kingdom had found a way to fully utilize Beltor''s abilities by having him curse anyone who showed signs of not wanting to fight in the war.


    Stitches was going to be sent to Beltor''s tform along with a few other rebellious individuals.


    With Beltor''s infamy, and the rumors going around, Stitches knew what was going to happen to him even if he hadn''t been told his sentence. However, Stitches didn''t have any intentions of allowing himself to be a ve and be forced to heal arrogant pricks for the rest of his life. So as soon as he found out, Stitches began nning his escape, and that was when he thought of the pirates he had encountered on the way to the front lines.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 175 Stitches Story (3)

    ?The pirates that Stitches encountered during his transport had already been enved and died in battle, but that didn''t mean there wouldn''t be any pirates this time. There was no way he would be able to escape from the military while at the war camp. The only possible option for escape would be during the transport to Beltor''s tform. But Stitches couldn''t pull off the escape alone, so he started gathering like-minded people.


    Considering the circumstances and what would happen to the people on the boat headed for Beltor, few refused Stitches'' suggestion of a prison break.


    There were a couple of seventh level guards on the boat, primarily due to Stitches since he was a valuable asset. But they were utterly unprepared for the mutiny and the chaos caused by the dozens of prisoners rioting at the same time. While they tried to calm down the disorder, a few mages with special abilities forced their way into the cabin and took over the ship. Although they were supposed to have had their mana suppressed, one person specialized in being untouchable, so the restraints didn''t work on him, and he could free everyone else.


    With control of the ship taken from them, the two guards realized they were in trouble, and before they wereunched into the Void and left behind as the ship disappeared, they unleashed a couple of attacks at full strength. The ship was still holding together enough to keep the prisoners alive, but there was no way they would be able to outrun the iing help reinforcements from the kingdom. Or avoid the tracking methods.


    However, aside from Stitches, there weren''t any other high-value targets, so the one being chased down, in the end, would be Stitches. Stitches and the ones familiar with him knew it, and he volunteered to split off from the others. Stitches took one of the escape boats and fled. The others also split up and started fleeing in different directions.


    Stitches didn''t have anything to help him navigate through the Void, but they had timed their mutiny so they would end up in an area of the Void frequented by pirates by the time it ended.


    After Stitches was so far away he couldn''t see the ship he had fled from, he let the boat drift without him feeding it any more mana to power it. And then heid down and hid any signs of himself using his control over life force.


    With his inclination giving him life attribute mana, Stitches had an affinity for all things rted to life and life force. Although he was more suited to healing and recovering life force, that didn''t mean it was the only thing he could do.


    In preparation for the escape, Stitches had started experimenting with how he could control his own life force, and so far, he had learned how to hide it and suppress any signs of life. It left him half awake and drifting in and out of consciousness. But his unmoving body would appear lifeless to anyone who saw him. Stitches also hoped it would hide him or show him as dead to anyone who tried to track him. And either it did, or the military didn''te after him. Whatever happened, Stitches was free from the kingdom''s oppression of free-spirited and strong-willed people.


    The only problem Stitches had left was the fact that he was stuck in the Void without a way to navigate or food. Thankfully he could survive for a long time as long as he continued suppressing his life force and keeping it within his body.


    However, luckily, Stitches didn''t have to wait too long until the boat he was on was picked up by a pirate crew. Although he almost scared the crew to death when, to them, it seemed like he had returned from the dead, he convinced them to bring him with them. And eventually, Stitches ended up in his current situation, on an ind of trees drifting through the Void.


    Stitches leaned back and was prepared to receive recognition and admiration after he finished his story. However, things didn''t quite go as nned.


    "''What!?''"


    Lucy, Joshua, and Hods eximed at the same time.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "What about your eyepatch?!"


    Lucy wondered about the aspect that made Stitches look cool.


    "What about your name!?"


    Hods wondered about Stitches'' name. And it seemed like Joshua wondered the same thing as the other two as he nodded in agreement. After Lucy and Hods asked their questions, the rest of the gathering looked questioningly at Stitches. If asked what Stitches'' backstory would be about, almost anyone who had looked at him would guess that it would be about the eyepatch. And anyone who had heard his name would doubt if it was his real name.


    However, Stitches'' answer was simple.


    "Oh, this? I use it to hide my symbol."


    Stitches lifted the eyepatch and revealed a green drop of liquid on his eyelid. And as he blinked his eyes, he showed off his fully functional deep green eye.


    "..."


    "And the name?"


    "That''s a longer story. But when I was young, I was headed for a swim with a few pals. Before we could even get to the water, I fell and cut my face and arms. It was before I awakened my inclination, and the only thing we had on hand to patch me up was some string and a broken needle. That bastard left me looking like tied-up pork belly for weeks.


    "Even after the wounds healed, the nickname I got stuck around. I even removed the scars, but people still kept calling Stitches. Rude bastards. Eventually, I gave up an'' epted it."


    "Wow. That''s sad."


    Lucy was the only one who said anything in response to Stitches'' story. But Stitches almost wished he had said anything. Unlike the awe he had expected when he first told his story, he was instead given pity, and from a cat at that. Even if only marginally, the others were slightly better since they only looked at Stitches with various expressions on their faces.

 Chapter 176 Pirate Haven

    ?After dinner was finished and everyone had gotten to know each other, Toz and Nil began expanding and increasing the avable sleeping spaces. When it had just been Toz and the cats, they didn''t care too much about how and where they slept. But now, there was both a mother and her child, and two grown men added to the mix.


    Since Joan and Joshua had already made the first house theirs, Toz made another one for himself and the cats, and Nil began making a building with two rooms next to the warehouse. While Toz and Nil were doing that, Joan began using some leftover cloth to make simple beddings, creating a morefortable ce to sleep. Hods and Stitches were used to sleeping withoutfort, especially Stitches, who had once fallen asleep during the g punishment, but the two still appreciated the raised beds and the simple mattresses.


    Hods and Stitches easily joined the group and after gettingfortable, started pulling their weight. Though, since there wasn''t much to do around the ind, the two were mostly in charge of cleaning up the jellyfish and other void beasts, or rather what remained of them after they failed when attacking the ind.


    When they weren''t busy doing that, they would either spend time with the others, sleep, or train. However, since Stitches needed to heal people or manipte life force to train his mana, he saw limited sess. Hods, who only had to swing his sledgehammer, had itparatively easier.


    Joan continued working on Toz''s coat. Sometimes making progress, and other times realizing things she had missed previously.


    Joshua and the cats yed around most of the time, often bothering Joan or one of the pirates, not that anyone minded. They spent a lot of time trying to figure out Joshua''s inclination but had no sess. But since they spent more time with Joshua than on training their mana, Toz had started catching up to them in how far he had trained his mana.


    Though, Toz wasn''t training all the time. He had started rummaging through the sailboats, looking for anything of interest. He did find a few things that could be called food and a few bottles of liquor in the boat that Kart hadn''t been on.


    Toz found out that the various crew members worked together so that they would be able to have some fun when they weren''t on the same boat as Kart. Hods and Stitches were pretty new to the crew, and they hadn''t been going out that many times but it was apparentlymon practice in the entire crew, and not only in the group overseen by Kart.


    When Stitches started talking, there didn''t seem to be any stopping him, especially not after he had gotten morefortable with Toz and wasn''t afraid of being killed all the time. Without even being prompted, he started telling Toz all he knew about the pirates and their business in the Void.


    Toz didn''t mind listening since it was pretty interesting, and it helped alleviate some boredom. And even if there was a lot of rambling and nonsense in Stitches'' storytelling, it was a lot of information about what Toz might eventually encounter in the future. Especially the port, Pirate Haven.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Even if it was simply referred to as a port, it was more like a massive city built from debris and materials found in the Void. Pirate Haven didn''t have a single ruler but was instead controlled by different pirate leagues and crews. The crew Hods and Stitches came from wasn''t one of the crews with power. Their crew was simply a small one located in the outer reaches of the city, living day to day. ording to Stitches, their captain wasn''t ruthless enough to amass power in the city, but it was also that trait of his that had attracted friendly people like Hods and Stitches to the crew.


    If Toz got the opportunity, he would like to see what a city in the Void was like, even more so if it was a city of pirates and general lowlifes.


    However, they still hadn''t solved the problem of being unable to navigate through the Void. Even if they could travel freely through the Void without fear of getting lost, they didn''t have a way of doing so while bringing the ind with them. With how special and unique the trees were and how attached Toz had gotten to the ind, he was reluctant to leave it behind. His sword wasn''t even finished yet.


    But they weren''tcking food, and even if they felt like they would die of boredom, it wasn''t too bad. Both Hods and Stitches appreciated getting away from the intensity of battle and took to the calm of the ind with happy hearts.


    And with a kid and several rowdy cats, the boredom wasn''t that heavy. Toz and Hods had started giving Joshua some tips on how to use swords and sledgehammers. Even if the kid couldn''t awaken his inclination, or it wasn''t suitable for him to learn weapons, it didn''t hurt learning about them.


    Stitches and Lucy had startedpeting in telling stories to anyone who was bored enough to listen. Most of the time, it would be Joshua or one of the cats who bothered hearing the oundish stories the two came up with.


    Joan was eager to finish Toz''s cloak as a disy of her gratitude toward him for saving her and her son''s life. But she was having difficulty understanding and fixing the various runes and enchantments on the remains of Toz''s original coat. In her anxiety to finish, Joan considered rushing the job. But both her wish to do a good job and Toz telling her it wasn''t a hurry made sure she took her time and did it properly.


    Things on the ind of trees settled into a simple routine once again. The cats or Toz, or all of them would defeat iing void beasts, securing food. Hods and Stitches would clean up the resulting mess. Joan worked on the coat. And in their free time, people trained, rested, or yed around.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 177 Fifth Level Lucy

    ?With how much time everyone had on their hands and how much of it they spent on training their mana, it wasn''t strange that some of the ind''s inhabitants showed signs of progress. And the first one to show signs of reaching the next level was Lucy, despite being the one who yed around and cked off the most.


    Breaking through to the fifth level from the fourth wasn''t as drastic a breakthrough as one from the third to the fourth. And it doesn''t require any changes in the mana. The only thing Lucy needs to do toplete his breakthrough ispress his mana and expand his mana pool, sort of like a continuation of his previous breakthrough.


    Lucy finished his otherwise rather discreet breakthrough with ir as he enveloped all of his spectators in a cloud of darkness that dissipated shortly afterward.


    Sometimeter, after Lucy was done, it was Joan''s turn. Although she hadn''t been as sessful recreating Toz''s coat as she would have liked, Joan''s deepened understanding of enchantments had helped train her mana. And it was time for her to break through to the fourth level.


    Since she was crossing divisions and reaching the medium level, Joan had topress her mana enough to liquify the misty, colorless mana in her mana pool. Because she had already started learning andprehending enchantments at higher levels than her own, Joan''s inclination helped herpress her mana and expand her mana pool as much as it could. Her mana didn''t be quite as thick as what Toz''s and the cats had be, but it was a great leap from the quality of her mana before her breakthrough.


    With her new level, Joan was confident she was going to take great strides in her work on Toz''s coat, and she didn''t waste a second as she almost immediately went back to her workbench. Joan''s breakthrough and transformed mana helped her learn and use enchantments that she couldn''t before. And the ones she already knew got more efficient and better as she remade them with her upgraded mana.


    That wasn''t all. Since Joan had pushed her limits in what kind of enchantments she was learning and understanding, she had also grown her inclination slightly. Instead of sticking to what she knew and gradually going from there, Joan had jumped from simple third level enchantments toplex enchantments at various levels of the medium levels. It would have been fruitless unless she had actually learned and understood the enchantments.


    But Joan hadn''t taken arger bite than she could swallow, she had pushed her limits, and due to that, her inclination had also grown with her. However, it wasn''t that easy to grow an inclination, and the change was marginal. The most notable difference was that Joan''s grey and dull stylus, which was a part of her inclination, had gotten a few hints of texture on its surface. Maybe the texture would grow into aplete decoration in the future if Joan managed to continue growing her inclination. The only way to find out would be to actually do that, however.


    Joan didn''t have an intense mana attribute or inclination, so even if she broke through and crossed divisions, her breakthrough didn''t create much of a stir. And even after Joan finished, there wasn''t much of a ruckus. She didn''t want to be disturbed while working, and while the rest were also approaching the next level, they weren''t quite there yet.


    It was also difficult to tell who would be the next one to break through.


    Tozgged behind since he had four attributes that he had to train, so he wasn''t anyone''s bet to be the next one. It wasn''t likely for Stitches to reach the next level anytime soon. Hods also wasn''t anywhere near breaking through, either. So the prevailingpetitors were the remaining cats.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    A subtlepetitive atmosphere began spreading on the ind after it became clear that either Nil, Mindle, or Scrael would be the next to break through.


    Nil was already displeased that he had fallen behind Lucy, and both Nil and Mindle were worried that they would be the only cat at the fourth level. Lucy and Scrael were now at the fifth level. If either Nil or Mindle broke through, that would leave the other behind as the only cat at the fourth level.


    Although Toz was also still at the fourth level and would most likely be thest one to break through, it was bing more obvious with each fight Toz fought that hisbat abilities and strength weren''t confined to his actual level.


    While Nil and Mindle trained zealously so they wouldn''t be the weakest cat, Scrael also got more eager to train. While she didn''t have any experience of friendlypetitions and yful rivalry, Scrael enjoyed being able to make something rtively boring more enjoyable. She also saw it as her responsibility as the most experienced cat to have an edge over the others and be in a position where she could oversee and take care of the other cats.


    After Lucy and Joan''s breakthroughs, the ind got slightly calmer as Toz and the remaining cats focused more on training to try and catch or to maintain their lead. Though, the tranquil atmosphere didn''t stop Lucy and Joshua from ying around to their hearts'' content.


    Lucy respected hispanions'' wish to train, so he didn''t needlessly bother them even while bored. And Joshua didn''t want to disturb his hardworking mother. Especially since she was working so hard to show her gratitude toward Toz for saving both of their lives.


    That left the duo to either y with themselves only or with Hods and Stitches.


    Although Hods and Stitches both had a lot of free time. Stitches since he couldn''t quite train his mana without anyone to heal or someone''s life force to manipte. He could use his own but only so much. And Hods didn''t have that much motivation to grow stronger since he didn''t like violence and murder that much. However, there wasn''t a lot that two kids and two grown pirates had inmon while ying around.


    So it was mostly Lucy and Joshua running wild on the ind. And it was during a game of tag that Joshua had an ident.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 178 Joshuas Accident

    ?Since it had been a while, Joshua and Lucy decided to y tag. They considered asking the others if they wanted to join, but everyone seemed busy, so they decided to y by themselves.


    The difference between Lucy at the fifth level and Joshua, who was still a mortal, was far from something Joshua could bridge by running a little faster. Thankfully, Lucy knew how to hold back when ying, and he made sure he gave Joshua a fighting chance. Joshua knew that if he was the one who began chasing, it would take a lot of time before he caught Lucy.


    And so the two began running all over the ind. After some time, Lucy would willingly catch up to Joshua and give him the chance at chasing him through the trees before letting himself be tagged again. It was a pretty boring and monotonous game, and sometimes it transformed into hide and seek before turning into tag again.


    The two of them had been ying for quite a while, and even if Joshua had rested during the breaks they took, he was still tired.


    Maybe that was why he tripped. Or maybe a small root had protruded out of the smooth ground. However, the reason why Joshua tripped didn''t matter. What mattered was that he was running full speed and not looking where he was going until it was toote. When running from Lucy, Joshua had identally ended up at the edge of the ind.


    That, by itself, wasn''t so bad, and since the ind was so small, it happened almost all the time. However, because Joshua tripped while running as fast as he could, he was sent tumbling through the air and rolled to the ground, where he continued forward, scraping his hands and bruising his knees and elbows.


    The ground, which had been so even that a single root or bump was enough to topple Joshua, was also the reason that Joshua didn''t have anything to hold on to. And his fall was about to send him tumbling off the edge of the ind and into the Void.


    Joshua realized the direness of the situation, and he desperately reached and tried to grab hold of the ground, but it was toote.


    Lucy had seen Joshua fall and instantly saw in his mind how Joshua was about to leave the ind. But since Lucy had been intentionally giving Joshua a headstart, he was too far away to catch up to him. And he didn''t have enough time to conjure a barrier of darkness to stop Joshua''s fall. Darkness wasn''t known for its speed after all.


    Lucy desperately rushed to the edge of the ind. His paw barely scraped against the tip of Joshua''s fingernail. And the shadows Lucy conjured didn''t have enough time to create a solid wall to catch Joshua.


    Joshua fell off the ind and, through Lucy''s conjured cloud of darkness, into the Void.


    It was the first time Lucy lost someone, and he didn''t know how to react. He could feel his heart in turmoil, but he felt instinctively that there was nothing he could do to calm it down. Lucy was lost, and he stared emptily at where Joshua had disappeared. He didn''t dare to remove the darkness he had conjured since he was afraid of seeing Joshua''s lifeless body drifting through the Void, getting further away.


    It was the first time Lucy ever felt such an aversion to death. And how fragile life was.


    Eventually, Lucy decided he had to tell someone, so he went to get Toz.


    However, before he could get anywhere, he heard something.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Lucy? You there?"


    Lucy, who heard Joshua''s voice got more scared than excited since his first thought that Joshua hade back as a ghost.


    "Joshua?! Did you be a ghost? Even if you did, I won''t be scared of you. I promise!"


    Lucy began tearfully promising friendship even in death to what he thought was Joshua''s ghost.


    "Stop messing around and get rid of this dark stuff. I can''t see anything!"


    Lucy''s tirade was cut short by Joshua''s shout, and Lucy calmed down enough to dispel the darkness. Unlike the dead body or ghost Lucy had expected to find on the other side of the darkness, he saw Joshua. Almost as healthy as he had been before his fall.


    Although Joshua was pale from fright and had a few scrapes and bruises on his arms, he was very much alive.


    Joshua was lying on the thin barrier surrounding the ind of trees. The barrier that was keeping the air contained to the ind and let Toz and the others survive in the Void. The same barrier that everyone else passed through without making a dent was supporting Joshua''s entire body.


    The barrier swayed slightly as Joshua moved around and inspected himself to make sure he was alive. After confirming his body was intact, Joshua looked at his chest.


    During his fall and when he had firste into contact with the ind''s barrier, Joshua had been too panicked and scared out of his mind to notice it. But now that he was safe and unharmed he sensed a tingling sensation on his chest, right where the symbol for his inclination was.


    The tiny, light brown circle emitted a weak light only visible after Joshua opened his shirt. Almost by instinct, Joshua reached up and touched the circle with his hand. When he pulled away again, his hand held a colorless, translucent, and faintly shimmering circle. The circle was just enough to fit his hand and was as thick as one of his fingers.


    Both Lucy and Joshua stared at the circle with awe. However, Lucy quickly pulled himself together before he created tendrils of shadows and pulled Joshua away from the barrier. Although the ind''s barrier looked stable, Lucy didn''t want to risk it.


    The barrier''s reaction was obviously due to Joshua''s freshly awakened inclination. And if Joshua didn''t have control over it, he could identally send himself into the Void.

 Chapter 179 Joshuas Inclination (1)

    ?Even after Lucy brought Joshua back to the ind, Joshua didn''t take his eyes away from the circle in his hand. Joshua had finally awakened his inclination, so there was no way he was just going to continue on with his day as if nothing had happened. But aside from the ring''s appearance, there didn''t seem to be anything magical or special about it, and nothing happened when Joshua waved it around.


    And after some time, against Joshua''s will, the ring disappeared back into his symbol, and no matter what he did, Joshua couldn''t bring it back out. Joshua began panicking since it almost looked like the inclination had gone back into dormancy. He almost began scratching his chest to try and forcefully dig the circle back out. Fortunately, Lucy was there and stopped him.


    While Lucy wasn''t an expert on all things rted to inclinations, he was at least more experienced than Joshua. And he knew that inclinations didn''t fall asleep after having already awoken. The only way an inclination became inactive was if the human actively went against it or if the human died, and even then, there could be some unique inclinations that were still active after death.


    The reason that Joshua''s magic circle disappeared again was most likely because Joshua didn''t have any mana. While he had awakened his inclination, he had still not be a mage or a fighter at the first level. It was like a baby standing up before taking its first steps.


    Until Joshua learned how to convert mana and absorb it into his mana pool, he would have to put a hold on using his magic circle. Unless he could find another way to fill his body with mana. But until Joshua became a proper mage, his body wouldn''t have a capacity for more mana than what would allow him to hold the ring for a few minutes. It was probably due to that Joshua had managed to solidify the ind''s barrier and generate the ring.


    If Joshua didn''t already have mana in his body, it wouldn''t have mattered if he awakened his inclination or not. Without mana, he wouldn''t be able to interfere with his surroundings. Lucy didn''t think too much about where Joshua had gotten his man from since Toz would figure it out. Lucy''s main focus wasforting Joshua and helping him get started with training his mana.


    Thankfully, Lucy quickly got over his shock at Joshua''s death and could easily calm both himself and Joshua. Joshua was a bundle of various emotions. Fear of death, exaltation at surviving and awakening his inclination, and then the onset of despair after the circle disappeared. It wasn''t good to be so caught up in tumultuous emotions if he wanted to train his mana.


    Since it required a clear will to exert one''s influence over mana, it would make it difficult for Joshua if he didn''t calm down first.


    Lucy knew he wasn''t the greatest instructor, so afterforting Joshua, Lucy asked him if they should find Toz and ask him for help. But Joshua refused, stating that he wanted to surprise everyone when he finally figured out how to use magic. Lucy could understand that reason since he also liked surprising people.


    However, Lucy didn''t know where to begin teaching Joshua. Magic hade as naturally as breathing to Lucy. And he was a spirit beast, not a human, so he didn''t know that much about how inclinations worked and how to proceed with magic after the inclination was awakened.


    The advice Lucy could give Joshua was limited. Their perspectives were so wildly different, and Lucy didn''t even know where to begin. If Lucy had known Joshua''s element, he might have been able to help more. But Lucy was limited to telling Joshua to simply do it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Joshua didn''t find Lucy helpful at all, so he started tuning out his surroundings and focused on what he knew about magic and training mana. Everyone he had asked in his search for a way to awaken his inclination and in his curiosity about magic had told him simr things.


    To use magic a mage needs to convert the mana in the air around them into a suitable attribute. If the attribute is already suitable, it can be absorbed at once. And absorbing mana is basically what actually trains one''s mana. The mage draws the surrounding mana of the suitable attribute into their body. And, as the mana courses through the body on its way to the mana pool, the mana already in the mage''s body and mana pool gets reinforced and strengthened. And at a few points, there are thresholds in the mage''s mana. Those thresholds mark the different levels of power.


    Then when the mage wants to use magic, they simply make the mana in their body follow their will, which creates a phenomenon ording to the mage''s will. That is basic magic, and then there is advanced magic, where the mage uses a spell to bring forth the true power of mana.


    Not a lot of people knew about spells and grimoires, but Toz had told him about it since it might help Joshua awaken his mana.


    Joshua began by trying to convert or absorb the mana around him since that was what everyone had told him was the first step. However, he quickly realized something. He had no idea how to do that. He couldn''t see or touch or sense the mana, much less bend it to his will.


    Joshua scratched his head in frustration since he wasn''t having any luck in training his mana. Since he longed for his inclination and to be able to use it, he wondered if he should go and ask someone for advice. If he asked Toz, he could still surprise his mom.


    However, he had already decided to seed by himself and surprise all of them. Not to mention, it would be rude to Lucy if he immediately went to ask someone else for help.


    Joshua squeezed out as much as he could of his brain power and tried his best to figure out how to train his mana.


    Lucy had realized his advice was more of a distraction than a help to Joshua, so he sat quietly and watched Joshua take the first steps on the endless path of magic.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 180 Joshuas Inclination (2)

    ?Just sitting there and trying to do something that felt like it was impossible made every minute feel like an eternity for Joshua. And considering how Lucy had fallen asleep, it wasn''t only Joshua who felt like there wasn''t any progress.


    But Joshua didn''t know what to do. None of the people or cats he had spoken to had mentioned anything about having trouble taking the first step and bing a first level mage. However, now that he had already wasted so much time trying to figure it out himself, Joshua would be damned before he gave up.


    All the hard thinking and frustration was giving Joshua a headache, so he decided to take a small break and just look at Lucy napping. If nothing changed by forcing it, Joshua might as well try and find a gentle way to do it.


    As soon as Joshua rxed his mind, he realized something. It would be impossible to change something if he couldn''t even sense it. So that should be the first step. Bing aware and sensing the mana all around him. And that was what Joshua began doing.


    Previously he had simply tried to make something he couldn''t perceive or understand follow his directions. But now, he was only trying to sense the mana surrounding him.


    Joshua closed his eyes so he wouldn''t see anything. Took shallow breaths with his mouth so he wouldn''t smell anything. Thankfully he was in a secluded part of the ind, and there wasn''t any need to block his ears since it was already so quiet.


    Joshua became acutely aware of the sensation of his tongue moving in his mouth and his clothes brushing against his skin, but soon enough, he managed to filter away those sensations as well. He didn''t do it on the first try, but he did it. All he could sense was himself and the awareness of the world around him.


    He wasn''t using his bodily senses to perceive the surroundings any more. He was using his mind. Although Joshua had been forced to take a few extra steps, he was finally at the same point most people were before they could begin using magic and training their mana. Joshua could control his mind, which was a necessity to control mana.


    As soon as Joshua reached that point, the world around him exploded in color and vitality. He could delicately sense the mana all around him, filling the air with magic.


    And after that, it was like a walk in the park for him to control the mana and convert it into a suitable attribute. Joshua could instinctively tell that his inclination didn''t have a specific attribute, so all he had to do was convert the mana around him into neutral mana before absorbing it.


    Joshua gently guided the mana through his body and into his mana pool, officially bing a first level mage. He wanted to try out his inclination as soon as he had enough mana in his mana pool to take out his ring. But it would be a waste if he could only spend a few minutes ying around before he had to absorb more mana, so he spent some time filling his mana pool.


    Lucy had sensed Joshua seeding, so he eagerly awaited the moment he would take out his ring and show what his inclination was capable of. It was the first time Lucy saw anything like the ring that Joshua had brought out, so he didn''t even know what to expect.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, Joshua didn''t know what to do after taking out the ring. His inclination told him that the ring was an essential part of the way Joshua would be able to use magic. However, it didn''t tell him how to use it.


    Joshua looked at Lucy almost with tears in his eyes. He had awakened his inclination and be a first level mage, but he had no idea how to do magic.


    Lucy''s only direct experience with inclination was Toz''s inclination, and his was pretty straightforward. But that didn''t mean Lucy hadn''t heard stories about how tricky some inclinations could be. While most helped the human in understanding magic and using mana, there were also some who were so iprehensible and weird that it had taken years for their owners to finally use magic. Though, those kinds tended to be extremely,, rare cases of unique inclinations that were a mess to go against in a fight when they finally saw proper use.


    Lucy didn''t mention any of that to Joshua, though. And instead only told him to send mana into the ring. Joshua was slightly embarrassed since he had panicked at once before even trying something so basic.


    The ring began glowing slightly brighter, spreading from where Joshua''s hand was, and when the entire ring glowed in a colorless light, the area inside the circle rippled. After the ripples calmed down, Joshua could sense and see that an extremely thin and gleaming film of apletely translucent material had formed.


    Joshua held up the ring between himself and Lucy and saw Lucy''s face bing distorted by the ripples that appeared in the film. He had managed to do something, but Joshua didn''t know what to do next.


    However, he was too curious to do nothing, and since it didn''t seem dangerous, he touched the lustrous membrane with the hand that wasn''t holding onto the rim.


    Joshua''s hand pushed into the thin film, distorting it. Joshua only felt a slight resistance from the weird material, and he continued pushing his hand further through the ring. Eventually, the film detached from the circle and enveloped Joshua''s hand.


    Joshua''s hand was now stuck inside a translucent and gleaming magical bubble. The bubble swayed when Joshua waved his hand, and it squeezed together when he pulled his hand back out of the ring.


    Neither Joshua nor Lucy knew how to react. The bubble didn''t seem to be harmful or constraining in any way, but Joshua couldn''t use his left hand.


    Lucy tried popping the bubble, but until he applied a significant amount of force, the bubble only budged and let Lucy''s paw make an indentation. However, when Lucy pushed hard enough the bubble burst with a satisfying pop.

 Chapter 181 Bubbles

    ?Although Lucy hadn''t actively reinforced his body with mana or used magic, he was still a fifth level spirit beast. He shouldn''t have to exert any effort to deal with something like a bubble made by a first level mage who had only awakened their inclination hours ago. Joshua didn''t think much of it since he wasn''t as aware of the discrepancy in strength between the two of them, nor did he know how hard Lucy had pushed against the bubble.


    However, Lucy knew, and he felt like the bubbles Joshua would create in the future wouldn''t be something an ordinary individual could destroy. Lucy didn''t contemte much more than that. Joshua had awakened a unique type inclination, so it wasn''t weird for it to be strange and powerful during the right circumstances.


    After Lucy popped the first bubble, Joshua didn''t dy, and he made another two, this time on his feet. He had felt how bouncy and sturdy the bubble was when on his hand, and after seeing his feet out of the corner of his eyes, Joshua couldn''t wait to try it out. It was slightly troublesome trying to stand up with the bubbles on his feet, but maybe due to his inclination, Joshua had an easy time getting used to it.


    Joshua stood up and gently began bending his knees and swaying where he stood. The bubbles bent and deformed with each movement he made, but they didn''t burst. And after Joshua got used to how the bubbles on his feet reacted to his movement, he carefully started walking. It felt like he was walking on clouds as each time he took a step, his feet were pushed off the ground due to the rebound of the bubbles springing back to their original shape. Joshua literally walked with a bounce in his steps.


    Even without Joshua''s giggling, Lucy could tell that it was an amazing experience and asked for bubbles for his own feet. Lucy also quickly got used to controlling his movements and joined Joshua in bouncing around the forest like a pair of pumped-up rabbits.


    With how much time the two had spent ying together, they only needed to exchange a nce before they turned in the direction of the center of the ind and raced to see who could reach there first. They needed to maintain a gentle bnce in their leaps since jumping too high would slow them down and send them crashing into trees, but it wasn''t any fun if they stayed too close to the ground, either.


    Eventually, the pair reached the center of the ind, and as soon as there weren''t any trees blocking them, Joshua and Lucy soared into the sky, with Joshua shouting,


    "Mom! I''m a bubble mage!"


    Joan was naturally shocked and terrified when she saw her son flying through the air like a kite with its string cut. And her first reaction was to try and catch him as she dropped everything in her hands and dashed toward Joshua.


    However, Joshua''s tinklingughter and words made Joan hesitate enough to realize that Joshua wasn''t in danger. Seeing Lucy apany Joshua through the air also reassured Joan about her son''s safety.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The ruckus caused by Joshua''s shout and Joan''s reaction made everyone else on the ind gather next to the mother, who still hugged her child to confirm his safety. But after his mother was reassured, Joshua received a slew of congrattions from everyone.


    It wasn''t exactly a secret that he had longed for his inclination and finally being able to use magic. And since the bubbles were still attached to his ankles and he was still holding the circle that matched the symbol on his chest, it was obvious that he had awakened his inclination. Although they didn''t know what his inclination was other than the bubbles on his and Lucy''s feet, it was still cause for celebration.


    Since it was the best reason the group would have to set up a party for quite some time, they didn''t hesitate to bring out some of the stuff found in the boats. It wasn''t a lot, and it wasn''t even better than the jellyfish, but the rations were a needed disruption from the unending stream of jellyfish meat.


    And apanied by some almost decent liquor, the food went down like a stone in water. Joshua managed to convince Joan to let him taste the liquor since he was almost a grown-up now that he could use magic. Joan tasted it first before allowing Joshua to taste it.


    Stitches couldn''t hold back hisughter after Joshua spit it out and his face turned into a raisin due to how much he was frowning. Joan also had trouble suppressing herughter since the only reason she allowed Joshua''s sip was because she knew how badly alcohol tasted to people who weren''t used to it. She had struggled to keep it from showing on her face, but she also found the liquor''s taste quite extreme.


    Lucy was the only one out of the cats interested in the liquor, and only because he wanted to show he was better than Joshua out of some foolish spirit ofpetitiveness. And through sheer force of will, he managed to swallow a gulp of it. Though, his face twisted and turned as if he was possessed during the process. That was enough to convince the other cats that it wasn''t worth trying, and Mindle, who had been about to taste, moved away from the alcohol and pretended as if she had never been interested.


    Toz drank a little and built up a gentle buzz before he decided he couldn''t down another gulp of it.


    And it didn''te as a surprise when Hods and Stitches, the two pirates, drank the liquor like water and ended up crashing on top of each other next to a tree. But only after telling a bunch of embarrassing stories of themselves, each other, and other pirates they had met during their time as pirates.


    Although the party was thrown to celebrate Joshua, he was more interested in ying with magic. So, after trying the alcohol, he made some distance and began experimenting with his bubbles and the ring.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 182 Sixth Level Scrael

    ?After Joshua, the main source of activity on the ind, awakened his inclination and began training rigorously, the entire ind became calmer. The cats who lost their reason to y around spent more time training. However, it had mostly been Lucy who fooled around since the other cats were already trying to either catch up to Lucy or maintain their lead.


    Seeing Lucy settle down and focus on training, the other cats grew slightly nervous. They had trouble matching Lucy when he didn''t dedicate himself to training. What would happen now that he was training as much as them? Lucy''s hardworking attitude fanned the mes of motivation for the other cats. Toz also got more motivated to work harder after seeing the cats'' motivation. However, since he was atst ce in their nonsensical race, Toz was already training his mana most of the time.


    Nheless, despite Toz''s hard work and dedication, he was still bound to be left in the dust by the cats, which only had to focus on a single attribute. Even if Toz''s inclination gathered and amplified his and the cats'' talent and affinity for mana, with Toz as the centerpiece, Toz still couldn''t catch up to the cats since their talents also received a boost.


    Nil, Mindle, and Scrael, on the other hand, were showing great signs of progress. Ever since Mindle joined their group and caught up to Toz, Nil, and Lucy like a sandstorm, Nil especially had put in some effort in order to not fall behind the others since he could tell his innate talent wasckingpared to theirs.


    And it seemed like Nil''s effort wouldn''t be for nothing since he was the first cat to follow in Lucy''s footsteps and break through to the fifth level. Thanks to Nil''s delicate control over his mana, and since it didn''t cross any divisions, hepleted the breakthrough without a stir.


    Although Nil was proud he beat Mindle and Scrael, he was still slowpared to Lucy, so he didn''t bask in the glory for too long. But he didn''t go right back to training as he instead went to bolster the ind''s defenses with his newly improved strength. It was only a single level, but it was still enough for Nil to be able to make some improvements and increase the ind''s stability. And since the overallbat strength of the ind was steadily increasing, there weren''t any severe worries that they would attract any beasts that could destroy them without giving them a fighting chance.


    Next up was Scrael. It usually took more training to reach a higher level, and if Scrael had reached the fifth level shortly before joining Toz and the other cats, she would still have quite a bit left before breaking through to the sixth level. However, Scrael had already progressed in her training while at the fifth level, so she wasn''t too far from the sixth level. And after all the training she did while on the ind, Scrael finally reached the sixth level.


    Unlike Nil and Lucy, Scrael didn''t focus on delicate control of her magic. She focused on output and maximizing efficiency. Scrael didn''t need to practice fine control over her magic since her primary use of magic was to supercharge her physical abilities and especially her speed.


    Scrael was satisfied that she could keep her lead over the others. And since Stitches was a healer, she was also the highest levelbat force on the ind. Scrael felt good knowing that the others would rely on her and her power. After her slightly shy breakthrough, she checked in on the lightning fruits, and after confirming none of them were ripe, Scrael went back to training.


    It seemed like Scrael''s breakthrough was thest push of motivation Mindle needed as she broke through just after Scrael did.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Although Mindle also had excellent control of her mana and could easily suppress the effects of her breakthrough as Nil and Lucy had done, she intentionally let some sparks fly to show her frustration ating inst.


    Toz wasn''t bothered that he wasn''t even considered part of thepetition. Not at all. And the fact that he didn''t talk to the others and focused on training was simply because he also wanted to break through and improve as quickly as possible.


    Although it was for different reasons, Mindle also focused on her training after trying tofort Toz and make sure he didn''t feel left out. However, since Toz reacted the way he did, he effectively prevented Mindle from feeling anything other than frustration at breaking through after the others.


    Mindle''s history of being slightly anxious regarding hercking strength wasn''t really a secret among Toz and the other cats, even if it wasn''t something they talked about. And there wasn''t any need to talk about it after she had gotten over it and especially after she caught up to everyone else''s level and also learned a spell. Mindle was far from being the weakest of the group, but if she fell behind again, it wouldn''t be weird if she started feeling anxious regarding her position in the group again.


    But after Mindle talked to Toz, she didn''t worry about anything and focused on her training.


    The atmosphere of the ind wasn''t as tense withpetitive spirit and got even more tranquil. Aside from Joan and Nil going about their business, Hods and Stitches were also taking it easy. Hods had found some books in the boats he was reading, and Stitches was trying to figure out more ways to control life force so he could train and progress his mana.


    Stitches didn''t train his mana quite as easily as Toz and the others. He couldn''t simply convert and absorb the surrounding mana. Stitches could only train his mana by manipting life force, and the way most efficient for him was to use life force to heal other people. However,pared to the war between the human and demon realm, there was a significantck of patients on the ind of void trees.


    In order to make it easier for his future progress, Stitches was trying to figure out a way to train his mana so that he didn''t have to heal someone since, in his current situation, he would first have to cause the injuries before healing them.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 183 Fireball (1)

    ?Since they had run into the pirate group that Hods and Stitches came from, Toz had expected there to be more pirates around. But the only thing they encountered as the ind continued drifting through the Void was the strange void beasts'' relentless assault. And thanks to Nil''s continued work on the ind, expanding it and making it more attractive to the beasts, the void beasts who attacked them were getting stronger.


    It was only seldom that a high level beast appeared. However, with the group''s increased strength and the ind''s fortifications, the group took down even high level beasts with ease before they could cause any damage.


    The ind only suffered when several high level beasts attacked together, but those damages were repaired and reinforced by Nil. Toz was almost beginning to wonder if every part of the ind had been strengthened or covered by wood grown from metal mana.


    The ind''s improvements weren''t only good for attracting stronger beasts. They drew more beasts in total to the ind as well. And with more beasts to eat, Toz and the others didn''t have to worry about starving, and they ended up with an abundance of food, even if it was merely more of the same almost tasteless void meat.


    And since they didn''t have to worry about running out of food any time soon, Toz was free to unleash fireballs on the void beasts whose bodies they didn''t need to conserve.


    Toz was ted at finally getting a chance to attack something with his fireballs. Ever since he had learned the spell, he had never gotten the right opportunity. But now that they were constantly attacked by more beasts than they could eat, Toz was able tounch his fireball spell almost as much as he wanted.


    The first beast Toz turned into smithereens was a seventh level jellyfish that attacked by itself. The jellyfish arrived at the ind right after another swarm had just been cleaned up. The warehouse was almost bursting, and Hods and Stitches, while not quite tired, didn''t feel like cleaning up anymore.


    Toz got the okay and, after just a short moment, cast the spell at the jellyfish.


    The ball of fire was slightlyrger than the head of an average human, and it flew toward the jellyfish at a notable speed, but it wasn''t too fast either. If Toz had seen iting, he would have been able to dodge it, but the jellyfish was too big and slow. Even if it had been capable of reason and thought, the jellyfish wouldn''t have had enough time to dodge.


    However, since the jellyfish didn''t even show signs of registering the fireball as a threat, Toz didn''t have to worry about the fireball missing its target.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz had practiced the spell on numerous asions. But since he didn''t have a way of telling how effective it was, it was difficult to improve it. However, Toz could still see and sense the fireball''s power while it flew. And based on those observations, he had managed to condense and contain all the power of the spell within the radiant ball of mes. The fireball flew through the air until it reached the jellyfish, upon which it released the full brunt of the concentrated power of Toz''s magic.


    The moment the fireball made contact with the surface of the jellyfish, it exploded and unleashed an inferno. While there wasn''t a proper sky on the ind or in the Void, the fireball unleashed a shower of mes that would have covered the sky if there had been one. Thankfully, the mes rained in the same direction the fireball had been flying in and dispersed shortly after, leaving the ind and its inhabitants untouched, aside from a wave of heat that washed over them.


    Eventually, the mes dissipated and revealed an empty spot in the air above the ind. It was the ce where the jellyfish had been prior to Toz''s attack. However, there was not a single trace of the jellyfish following the fireball''s explosion.


    Everyone on the ind had grouped up when it was decided that Toz was going to attack something with his fireball for the first time. And all of them stared ckjawed at the empty space where the jellyfish had been. Hods and Stitches were especially shocked but at the same time relieved that Toz wasn''t a vtile person.


    If Toz hadn''t decided to wait and see what the pirates were up to, or if he didn''t want any visitors and blown up the two boats before theynded on the ind, the pirates wouldn''t have even known what hit them. Even if Kart hadn''t been specialized forbat, he had still been a seventh level mage. However, there was no way he could have survived that st.


    Toz hadn''t made any drastic progress or broken through during the time that Hods and Stitches had been on the ind. So the fireball would have had about the same power back then as it did when Toz attacked the jellyfish.


    Hods and Stitches turned to look at the fourth level mage, who, thanks to his extraordinary mana pool, affinity for mana, magic, and fire, and singr use of a recently learned spell, was able to ignore the difference of an entire division and obliterate his enemy.


    There was, of course, a difference between an insentient jellyfishrge enough that it was more difficult to miss it than hit it and a seventh level mage or fighter withbat experience and one or two spells of their own. However, as long as Toznded his fireball, most fights would already be won, depending on his opponent''s inclination.


    While some of the ind''s inhabitants reeled in shock at Toz''s disy of power, others weren''t that affected and kept working on Toz''s coat. And the cats took the disy for granted but, at the same time, became motivated to work harder. Toz had several elements and the extra strength that it garnered, so the only way the cats could maintain an equal footing power-wise would be to be at least one level higher than him. Preferably several since Toz would grow exponentially stronger each time he reached a new level and refined his mana even further.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 184 Fireball (2)

    ?Toz couldn''t wait until the next jellyfish appeared. After he had finally gotten to see the results of his fireball striking something, he received a burst of inspiration on how to improve it the next time. The explosion was powerful but also unnecessarily shy. The width of the fireball''s explosion could be handy when dealing with a bunch of enemies. However, if Toz attacked a single enemy, mightier than anything he had faced previously, the rain of mes would do more harm than good since it blocked his view of his opponent.


    There was also the aspect of the fireball''s slow flight. Although Toz had other means of attacking which were more suited to high-speedbat, none of them were as powerful as his fireball. The darkness spell he was working on was in second ce, but it was stillcking in usabilitypared to the fireball.


    The darkness spell was a nightmare for Toz''s mana pool. And it also didn''t inflict physical damage to its target, so if Toz couldn''t harm his opponent after using the darkness spell, he would be in trouble since he would be out of mana.


    That was why he was trying to figure out how to improve the spell and make it less of a mana devourer. However, he wasn''t finding any progress with that, and now he had his fireball spell to work on, so he decided to prioritize that temporarily.


    But modifying a spell that Toz had just learned wasn''t so easy. Even if he knew what he wanted to aplish, he didn''t know how to reach the point where he had aplished it.


    If it had been basic magic, Toz could have just willed the mana to follow his instructions. However, things were different with advanced magic. Toz followed the grimoire''s instructions and the form it provided for awakening the mana. When doing it like that, the mana would go along with the instructions provided in the awakening process.


    When casting a spell, only a small part of the true nature of mana is brought to the surface, and the one or few aspects of the element are what go into the spell. So, when the spell is cast, the mana follows its nature andpletes the spell in the way described in the awakening process.


    If Toz wanted to change the spells'' effects in detail, he would have to change the spell itself.


    Considering Toz had only rtively recently learned the spell, it wasn''t much more than a fool''s errand.


    The power Toz showed while casting the fireball didn''te from his understanding of the spell. It came from his affinity for fire, as well as his capacity for mana and magic. Toz was, at most, a novice regarding the spell itself. And usually, people would have to have mastered the spell before they tried to change it to suit their needs.


    Toz knew that. But he still decided to try different ways of casting the spell, just like when he had done some funing on how he used his mana after the first few fireballs he fired. Though, that was more like learning the proper way to use the spellpared to how he was trying to change it now. And in the end, Toz wasn''t someone who would let preconceived notions limit his progress on the path of magic. Or sword-fighting for that manner.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    At another ce on the ind, not far from Toz, Mindle sat, working on her own spell. While she wasn''t nning on doing any modifications or anything like Toz was doing, she was still eager to improve. It had been some time since she managed to conjure the second Tongue of the Tongues of me. But she wasn''t nning on trying to conjure another.


    Toz''s fireball showed Mindle an aspect of her spell she had unintentionally ignored. While using her spell, she had always made it her priority to reduce the heat and control the power so the void beasts she used the spell against weren''t incinerated. While that had made her adept at controlling the exact temperature and power of her mes, it had also limited how powerful they could be.


    Mindle had never tried out how much heat and mes the tongues could emit. The weak mes were useful since they were an efficient way of killing the void fish without destroying their bodiespletely. However, Mindle''s pride as the group''s greatest firepower was on the line. If her tongues of me were known for being weak, her reputation would be sullied.


    Unfortunately, it was challenging for Mindle to experiment with the power of her tongues on the ind and without any targets. She could crank up the heat and limit the area to the mes'' immediate surroundings, so she didn''t light the ind on fire, but that didn''t tell her anything about the power of the mes.


    After confirming that Toz didn''t have an immediate need to try out his spell again, Mindle volunteered to take care of the next time a void beast attacked them. No one had an issue with that since it would mean no clean-up for Hods and Stitches, and the warehouse was still filled to the brim with void meat.


    However, it seemed like Mindle was out of luck. After the seventh level jellyfish that Toz turned into dust, there weren''t any signs of other void beasts anywhere close to them.


    After Nil''s upgrades, they had seen swarms of lower level void beasts pass by without attacking them. The ind''s improvements scared away weak beasts just as it attracted stronger beasts. Those swarms were a good indication of how many beasts there were in the area. And now that there wasn''t a single void beast in sight, it became clear that they had arrived at a ce in the Void that wasn''t as densely popted with void beasts as other parts of the Void.


    Although Hods and Stitches had lived in amunity of Void dwellers, they didn''t know much about the Void. And since the two with the most knowledge of the Void didn''t suspect anything, neither did anyone else.


    However, it might have been too early for them to dismiss the absence of the Void Beasts as something ordinary.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 185 Dieting

    ?The ind of trees had been a lot smaller when Toz and the cats first entered the Void. And it wasn''t weird that such a small piece of unnoticeable wood didn''t attract a lot of void beasts. At that point, the group also hadn''t learned how to discern what the various spots of light in the distance were. So it was very likely that they had been drifting close to swarms of void beasts who just weren''t interested in the ind.


    However, now that they had spent a lot of time in the Void and gotten used to the environment, Toz and the cats could tell that every single source of light in their surroundings was a star.


    No one noticed it at first, or if they thought about it once, they didn''t think about it twice. They had entered an area of the Void without void beasts. And since they still had an abundant storage of food, they didn''t have to worry about it. But as time passed and the food dwindled, Mindle wasn''t the only one wondering where all the void beasts were.


    There was still a heap of food left which wouldst some time, hopefully until the next time void beasts attacked them. But they still decided to begin rationing what was left. The Void was notoriously unpredictable, and it would be a shame if they starved because they were confident they would be attacked by void beasts again.


    Since most of the ind''s inhabitants weren''t doing any strenuous exercise, the smaller portions each time they ate didn''t leave them any hungrier than usual. The one exception was Joan, who was working with vigor on Toz''s coat as much as she could.


    The others understood her situation. And how she didn''t exactly have anything else to do, so she still got almost a regr size portion. If they had been on the verge of running out of food, Joan wouldn''t have gotten that much, but since they had a lot and Joan was the only one, no one minded the preferential treatment aside from Joan herself.


    The only reason Joan epted and ate the te of void meat was that she knew she needed it to do her best while trying to figure out how to fix or make Toz''s coat. The repeated reaffirmations and the addition that Joshua would get to eat his fill also made it easier for her to ept the decision. Since Joshua was a growing boy, no one minded that either. The suggestion to eat less was just a precaution in case they don''t encounter any void beasts for quite some time.


    Toz and the others didn''t have a solution or know the reason why there weren''t any void beasts close to them. So the only thing they could do was continue what they were doing while keeping a vignt watch over their surroundings.


    None of them were overly familiar with the nature of the void beasts and life in the Void in general, but Toz, the cats, and the two pirates were all at least slightly familiar with the habits of wild beasts.


    And from what they knew, there were only a few reasons that could make beastspletely vacate arger area.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The ce was inhospitable, and most beasts weren''t able to survive there. But there were usually stubborn or rare beasts who could survive even the harshest of conditions that could be found in ces where other beasts didn''t even think of stepping foot. Toz and the others hadn''t noticed anything different with the region of the Void they were drifting through, but it might be something that only affects void beasts.


    Another situation was something that Toz and the cats encountered a while ago when Mindle''s egg began showing signs of waking up. Most likely due to sensing the iing disaster, that was the Scorched Earth Rats. Mindle''s egg had been so rich and full of pure fire mana. It would have served as a great tonic for any beast that managed to get its hands on it. Her egg''s attraction had been enough to draw away a multitude of beasts and leave the other regions of First Ignition mostly empty of wild beasts.


    And then there was the case where the area wasn''t amodating to beasts, not because of the environment itself, but due to another factor. A predator was scaring all the other beasts away. And if the predator was scary enough to intimidate even the high level brainless jellyfish, the ind might be in a pickle.


    Although Toz and the rest of the ind''s inhabitants might not be enough to take down something frightening enough to empty out an entire area of the Void even if they see it in advance, maintaining vignce was all they could do in their current situation.


    The anxiety on the ind was on the rise as the food dwindled, and there were still no signs of any replenishmentsing to visit the ind. They weren''t in a state of emergency just yet. Andpared to when Toz and the cats first entered the Void, they had a lot of time left before they began starving for real.


    However, Joan and Joshua began eating just as little as the others.


    Toz focused more on training his mana than on improving his mastery over the fireball spell. He didn''t get hungry as quickly while training, so it made it easier for him to eat less and increase how long their supply of food wouldst. Joan also wasn''t working quite as hard anymore and, aside from asionally fiddling with the enchantments and fabric, spent most of her time watching Joshua y and train with his bubbles.


    While Joshua could convert and absorb mana to train, he had discovered that it wasn''t quite as effective as when Toz or one of the cats did it. At first, he wondered if it was due to the difference in talent, but when Toz watched him train for a few moments, that option was ruled out. Toz could sense that Joshua was far from reaching his potential in how quickly he could train his mana, and he wasn''t just a few notches slower than Toz and the cats. If Joshua continued at the same pace as he had trained with since he first awakened his inclination, it could take almost several years for him to reach the next level, and it would only take more time for each level.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 186 Big Bubble

    ?After Toz helped him figure out that there should be a more effective way for him to train, Joshua had been trying out the few things he coulde up with. Such as trying to convert the mana he absorbed into bubbles instead of neutral mana. However, that didn''t do much other than give him a headache. After that, he tried to train his mana while swinging his bubble ring around, like someone with a martial type inclination might do.


    But Joshua did notice a slight improvement when he tried training while holding the ring. His discovery was an ident since he was resting with his ring in hand after swinging it around like a madman trying to get his body to absorb the mana in the surroundings. However, with each swing, it became increasingly apparent that it wouldn''t work.


    Mages and fighters who train their mana by doing the task, like Hods with his sledgehammer swinging, or Joan with her enchanting, don''t convert and absorb the mana by themselves. Their inclination does it for them. And without a suitable inclination, any attempt to imitate it would be meaningless. That was also why Toz hadn''t tried looking into other people''s inclinations while he was trying to figure out a way to walk and train his mana at the same time. Though Toz hadn''t had any need for that ever since entering the Void, so those efforts had been put on ice.


    And most people with those sorts of inclinations were often limited to that way of training. They couldn''t train by converting and absorbing the mana themselves. However, Joshua couldn''t know for certain how he could train the most efficiently since he had a unique type inclination. Even if he searched through an entire ne, there wasn''t a guarantee he would find someone with a simr inclination.


    Although it was great that no one would easily be able to figure out how his inclination worked and how to counteract it, it also meant Joshua himself would struggle while trying to figure out the ins and outs of his own inclination.


    The only thing Joshua knew about his inclination so far was that his ring could make bubbles that were flexible, resilient, and springy. And then, if he changed the size of the ring, he could also change howrge the bubbles got.


    However, after some further experimentation, Joshua figured out that he didn''t have to put something through the ring to make a bubble. It was another idental discovery from his swinging practice. If he filled the ring with mana and readied it for bubble creation, he could send the bubble flying and attach it to the ground or another surface. The bubble was far from fast as it wobbled through the air before settling into the ce that Joshua designated.


    The bubbles Joshua made by swinging his ring weren''t any different from the ones he put on his hands when he got bored. But since they weren''t directly attached to him, they were easy toy down and rest on.


    Since he wasn''t having much progress with his training, Joshua had taken to lying down on a singlerge or several smaller bubbles while staring off into the Void, letting his mind wander. He was often joined by the other inhabitants of the ind. Compared to the ground or the simplistic mattresses, the bubbles were like paradise.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Joshua had begun spending so much time on the bubbles that he had the thought to start training while sitting on them. Compared to Joshua''s usual degree of activity and yfulness, it was an unexpected bout ofziness and addiction tofort. But it led to Joshua''s first major breakthrough, so the feelings of indulgence were more than wee.


    Joshua experienced a significant increase in the amount of mana he could convert and absorb while he was sitting on the bubble. He almost facepalmed since the solution was so apparent in hindsight. His inclination revolved around him creating bubbles. Wasn''t it obvious that the bubbles would also be involved in his training? He was literally sitting on the answer.


    After Joshua discovered the increased efficiency of his training while sitting on a bubble, he didn''t stop there. Since he had found a lead on how his inclination worked, he naturally had to follow it as far as he could.


    He tried touching as many bubbles as possible at once. But touching only one of them and having the rest nearby were as effective as touching all of them.


    Then he remembered that he could makerger bubbles by expanding the ring. But he had never tried out howrge he could make the ring. And while trying to see if the size of the bubble he sat on affected his training, Joshua ended up inside one. The bubble had been made while the ring had the same diameter as Joshua''s height, and the bubble ended up being slightlyrger than that when it was made.


    Joshua was lying on the bubble face-up while fiddling with his ring and trying to see if it could do anything else. While Joshua manipted the ring, he somehow ended up falling through the surface of the bubble. The bubble didn''t burst or anything. Joshua had simply passed right through it.


    The pain from falling to the ground from more than one and a half meters up in the air was overshadowed by Joshua''s discovery that he could pass through the bubbles he made. Which also meant that he had the ability to interact with the bubbles he had already made. That line of thinking reminded him of the moment he had awakened his inclination. The barrier covering the ind had caught him and saved him from dying in the Void. But what if his inclination regarded the barrier as a bubble and solidified it, so it caught Joshua?


    Joshua wasn''t simply limited to creating his bubbles. He could interact with and change them. Not only that, but he could also influence bubbles that weren''t his. Although it was difficult for Joshua to understand the full scope of his inclination, he at least knew that he could affect the ind''s barrier when he got proficient enough at using his magic. That meant he could help Lucy defend the ind against the void beasts'' attacks.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 187 Counting Stars

    ?Joshua''s discovery regarding what he was capable of, thanks to his inclination, was pretty startling. And Toz almost immediately thought that if Joshua was strong enough, he might be able to steer the entire ind by taking control of the ind''s barrier bubble. However, those thoughts only led to the realization that it would take a lot of time for Joshua to reach that level, and they would still have to be stuck on the ind of trees for it to be of any use.


    After Joshua figured out the workings of his inclination in more detail, he told the others on the ind about it because he found it neat and wanted to share his discovery. The only thing that slowed him down was leaving the bubble he had unintentionally trapped himself inside. However, once he got the hang of it, he could easily make himself pass through the bubble again. And just to make sure he actually had it figured out, he tried going back in and out of the bubble several times.


    Since he had pridefully shared his progress with everyone who listened, Joshua decided to get back to training. This time he decided to train while inside therge bubble. And it seemed like Joshua had finally solved it. At first, Joshua couldn''t even understand what was happening as the mana practically surged into him like a river. And the intense flurry of detailed sensory stimtion from everything within the bubble overwhelmed his mind, making it even more difficult for him to process and guide the mana to his mana pool.


    The shock brought him out of his training state, and Joshuay down on the ground. As he rxed, he realized what had happened, and he sighed. After confirming that the ind''s barrier was also a bubble that he could interact with, he had identally connected to it with his inclination somehow. And using that connection tried to funnel as much mana as possible into himself while at the same time having everyst detail of the area enshrouded by the bubble sent directly into his mind. Overwhelming was an understatement.


    The influx of mana made him feel bloated, and despite being such a mess he couldn''t make sense of it, the tsunami of information left him with a throbbing headache. The only reason he figured out what happened so quickly was that his inclination made him aware of how far he had reached beyond his capabilities. Joshua''s inclination also helped him stop his training before he overloaded his brain and permanently injured himself.


    Joshua decided to take a break from training until he could figure out how not to do the same thing next time. Though, the pain in his mind didn''t exactly make him excited about thinking up a solution, so he took it upon himself to stand watch and keep a lookout for void beasts.


    It was a boring task, but it let him rx his brain since there was nothing that strained his mind as he only looked into the almost empty Void. In order to alleviate some boredom, Joshua began counting the stars. He wasn''t expecting himself to actually count them all or keep track of all the stars in the Void. It was only to pass the time and let his mind be distracted by something simple.


    And Joshua managed to get pretty far in his counting before he lost track, but after he began counting anew, he noticed that one of the stars looked slightly bigger than it had thest time he gave it a number. At the same time, Toz sensed something in the direction of the growing star and turned his head in that direction.


    Joshua didn''t immediately go and look for anyone else to tell them about the star since he wasn''t sure it was really growing bigger with each moment.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, he didn''t need to tell anyone after Toz appeared next to him. Toz hadn''t sensed something with his ordinary senses. It was a vague feeling of distress, reminiscent of what he had felt when in Tumbling Thunder Forest. A feeling simr to what he had felt when Scrael was in trouble due to the demonic ritual.


    That was also why he had sensed anything before anyone else. Although the cats hadn''t noticed anything, they noticed Toz''s movements and joined him at the edge of the ind. And after Joshua, Toz, and the cats were all gathered, the rest of the ind''s inhabitants joined them. And by the time everyone stood at the ind''s edge, what Joshua thought was a star, was evidently not a star.


    But it didn''t seem like it was a simple swarm of void beasts either. However, it was too far away to determine the identity of the object since it was so far away, despite its apparent size. They could tell it wasn''t a star because it wasn''t bright enough and because of how it came closer and closer to the ind.


    Toz and the others would have already been able to tell what kind of beasts they were if a swarm of void beasts had been close enough to appear to have the same size.


    However, even after several moments passed and the thing far off in the distance kept increasing in apparent size, it was still so far away that it was impossible to determine if it was a single beast or several clumped together.


    The group''s main worries were naturally that it was the predator that had scared off all the other void beasts in the area. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do aside from having their magic prepare for when the beast came within range. Based on how quickly the object came closer, there was no way they would be able to flee on an ind they couldn''t even control.


    Using the boats might give them some more hope, but at the same time, it would also reduce their chances of surviving in the Void. Stitches had confirmed that the boats weren''t enough to attract void beasts frequently enough for them to survive on eating them. There also wasn''t a guarantee that the boats were faster than what they would have been fleeing from.


    Staying on the ind and taking a stand was the option with the highest likelihood of ensuring everyone''s continued survival.


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 Chapter 188 Starry Sky Whale (1)

    ?The potential threat was still quite a distance away, so no one on the ind got prepared for battle immediately. The opposite, actually. To make sure they were able to bring out theirplete strength, everyone who was going to fight made sure to rest and get in the proper mindset in preparation for the battle. If it really was like they feared, and they were being chased down by the same beast they suspected was behind the disappearance of every other void beast in the area, everyst bit of preparation and readiness would help, even if all they could do was rest.


    It was challenging rxing and resting while anxiously awaiting the potential predator''s arrival. Thankfully, they didn''t have to force themselves to recover since they hadn''t wasted any energy or gotten injured recently. And they didn''t have to wait too long before the beast or beasts in the distance became visible.


    Toz, the cats, and the two pirates were in the middle of eating a light meal to recover some energy when Joshua came and interrupted them. He was too flustered to tell them what he had seen, and it would be easier to show them, so Toz and the others left their unfinished tes of void meat on the table as they followed Joshua back to the edge of the ind where he and Joan had been keeping watch.


    Toz and the others didn''t know what to expect and were prepared for anything, or so they thought, but the scene still shocked them.


    Although it was still far away and the details were quite fuzzy, it looked like a huge swarm of void beasts, far greater than anything they had ever encountered, were following behind a singr, outstandinglyrge beast. Though, it was still unclear what the beast in the lead was and whether it was leading the beasts behind it or being chased by them.


    The feelings of distress that Toz could sense in the direction of the horde of void beasts didn''t help. Since the impression was simr to what Toz had felt before they saved Scrael, Toz guessed that they had encountered a simr situation. There was a cat in trouble, and it was headed toward them. Either because they had sensed Toz or because of the ind.


    But that didn''t tell Toz anything about the rtionship between the different beasts. Maybe the cat was being chased by the massive beast, and the beast had a slew of lesser void beasts following behind in order to feast on the scraps.


    While everyone waited for the horde of beasts to get closer so they could get a better grasp of what they were dealing with, Stitches'' brows furrowed. However, Stitches didn''t move or say anything and just sank deeper into thought as he tilted his head slightly.


    Toz was concentrating on the feeling from his inclination, so he didn''t pay attention to what Stitches was doing. Maybe if Toz could strengthen the feeling by concentrating on it, he could find out what situation the cat was in. And Toz did manage to more clearly discern the feelings.


    It wasn''t a sense of dread and imminent doom or fear like what he had felt with Scrael. It was a certain sense of budding despair and resignation, but there were no feelings of epting or bracing for death. The feelings confused Toz since why would there be despair but no fear of death if the cat was being chased by the horde of beasts led by the colossal beast?


    Toz''s ponderings were interrupted by Stitches, who nudged his arm. Toz looked at Stitches with a raised eyebrow. Seeing that he had gotten Toz''s attention, Stitches began talking.


    "I think I know what that big one is. But I''m not certain, so don''t hold it against me if I''m wrong."


    "Then, what do you think it is?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "A Starry Sky Whale."


    "What''s that?"


    Stitches had said the name while lowering his voice as if it was something extraordinary, and he needed to emphasize how special. However, his words meant nothing to Toz.


    Toz''s nonplussed expression and question made Stitches remember that Toz had been stuck on the ind for the entire time he had spent in the Void. Although Stitches didn''t know what Toz had done before entering the Void, it wasn''t weird that he didn''t know about something that Stitches had only heard about once during his time as a pirate.


    ording to what Stitches knew, Starry Sky Whales was a nearly extinct race of star beasts. Considering how many different star beasts had gone missing in the annals of history, it wasn''t weird that the Starry Sky Whales were about to join them. However, the reason for the whales'' doom was no mystery.


    Every star beast used the star attribute, which was exceedingly rare among humans, but the Starry Sky Whales were even more special. As the whales grew and trained their mana, starlight crystals began appearing on their dark blue backs, turning their backs into what looked like a miniature starry sky.


    The starlight crystals appeared to be like ordinary mana crystals, like a rock of solidified mana. But they were almost priceless due to three reasons alone. The starlight attribute was as rare as the moonlight or sunlight attribute, which only a few people on each ne had. Starry Sky Whales were innately powerful, with a body that could survive the Void from birth. The scarcity and difficulty of finding and harvesting the star crystals from a Starry Sky Whale were close to unimaginable. And the starlight crystals were of much higher quality than any other mana crystal at the same level.


    A single starlight crystal harvested from a Starry Sky Whale was as effective as at least ten ordinary mana crystals of the same level.


    Stitches had also heard some rumors of how the Starry Sky Whales could swallow entire stars and how they became stars when they died.


    But Toz was more focused on the description of the whales ording to Stitches, and the appearance of the beast headed toward them.


    "Shouldn''t the back be covered in starlight crystals then?"


    "I also thought that. But what if its crystals have been harvested?"

 Chapter 189 Starry Sky Whale (2)

    ?Toz thought about what Stitches had told him about Starry Sky Whales. Although the whales'' appearances weren''t described in detail, they generally seemed to match the beast heading the horde of void beasts. A colossal body with a dark blue underside that gradually fades to a deep shade of midnight blue on the back. Large fins on either side that push the whale forward with incredible momentum.


    The closer the massive beast got to the ind, the more Toz found it reasonable to call it a Starry Sky Whale. Toz wouldn''t have had any reason to doubt it if only the beast''s back was dotted with starlight crystals. And nothing Stitches had said exined why the void beasts were chasing it or where the feeling of distress wasing from.


    The beast steadily approached the ind, and the details that Toz and the others could discern grew clearer. Although they couldn''t see the whale''s facial expression, they could sense that the void beasts were chasing the whale, not following its lead.


    And that the tsunami of void beasts was more massive than they had initially thought. It was a lot further away than the whale, so it had been difficult to tell how many void beasts there were. But as the whale got close enough, they could see how significant the distance between the whale and the void beasts was. And the trail of blood that the whale left in a trail behind.


    Stitches'' assumption that the starlight crystals had been correct. The Starry Sky Whale''s back was covered in deep pits and groves where the starlight crystals had been. The harvesting process had been incredibly brutal and left the Starry Sky Whale''s back looking like a minefield. Toz almost doubted his eyes as he saw how the whale could even survive and flee with such vigor, with its back covered in grievous wounds that spewed fountains of blood behind it.


    Toz quickly realized that the leaking blood and the mana were what kept the void beasts chasing after the whale.


    Shortly after the whale was close enough for the people on the ind to see the horrendous injuries on its back, Toz also saw the source of the feeling he received from his inclination.


    Toz identified a small blue cat on top of the whale''s head. The cat was looking in the direction of the mass of void beasts and wasunching magic at it. Toz was too far away to sense what kind of magic it was, but it left scars in the Void that bisected, devoured, or tore apart the void beasts that came into contact with them.


    It was unlike anything he had seen, and he wanted to see more, but when Toz saw the cat, the cat turned around and looked right at him. After looking down at the whale and speaking a few words, the blue cat dashed ahead of the whale.


    Toz lost track of the cat as it seemed to disappear short distances before reappearing further ahead at an incredible speed. It didn''t take long for the cat to arrive in front of Toz on the others. And while the others were stunned to see a cat appear in the middle of the air right in front of them, from seemingly out of nowhere, and gaped at its arrival, the cat only had eyes for Toz.


    The cat floating in mid-air right outside the ind''s barrier locked eyes with Toz for a few short moments, and when Toz blinked, it spoke.


    "Please help us."


    "Sure."


    Toz didn''t have a reason to refuse since the void beasts were already headed in their direction. Not to mention, it was a cat asking for help. There was no way Toz wouldn''t ept the cry for help. There was also the risk that the whale would drag the ind down with it if they didn''t help.


    The blue cat sighed in relief before turning to look at the whale. But before it could go back and continue helping the whale, Toz stopped it.


    "What do you need us to do?"


    The cat had been so caught up in the moment, and all it could think about was getting help before returning to the whale, so it didn''t respond immediately.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "...Um. What can you do?"


    Toz turned to look at Stitches. The void beasts were chasing the whale due to the blood and mana leaking from the wounds on its back. In order to stop the void beasts from following the whale, they would need to get rid of the reason they were following it, to begin with.


    "Can you heal the wounds on its back?"


    Stitches scratched his chin before answering.


    "Not before the void beasts run us down. The wounds are toorge and too many for me to stop the bleeding. Maybe if I had a few shiploads of bandage and a dozen helpers."


    Stitches naturally didn''t have ess to any of those things, so he was basically telling them that he couldn''t heal the whale before it was toote.


    The cat looked despondent at that, but it turned back to Toz with a hopeful gaze. However, the next one to speak was Mindle.


    "Then we only need to get rid of the void beasts until the whale recovers, right? We can do that."


    Toz nodded his head.


    "That''s the only thing we can do for now." Toz looked at the blue cat. "Do you think your friend can push us along in their current state?"


    "If you help us get rid of the void beasts, it''s no trouble."


    The blue cat flickered through the Void back to the whale. Presumably, to tell the whale what it had agreed to and about the help, it had gotten.


    The whale was already swimming in the ind''s direction, so it didn''t need to change course. However, if it didn''t slow down, it would crash into the ind and shatter it to pieces. Since it hadn''t stopped while the blue cat visited the ind, it only took a few minutes for the whale to reach the ind, where it slowed down and gently put the tip of its mouth against the ind before it began pushing to regain the speed it lost.


    The whale''s massive size was even more impressive up close, but Toz and the others didn''t have time to waste being impressed.


    Toz, the cats, and Hods joined the blue cat inunching attacks on the horde of void beasts that had begun catching up while Stitches began healing the whale''s back.

 Chapter 190 Third Tongue Of Flame

    ?As Toz wanted, he got a close-up experience of the fascinating attacks from the blue cat. But he didn''t have time to do anything other than guess that it was probably the space element. The current situation didn''t allow Toz to leisurely inspect the magic attacks of others since he was busyunching fireballs like a pyromaniac.


    The majority of the void beasts in the swarm were low and medium level ones, so they died from only the waves of heat that the fireballs'' explosions created. High level ones, on the other hand, needed to either be close to the explosions or receive a direct hit for them to die. However, the mes and power of the fireballs were buried under the incredible mass of a seemingly endless amount of void beasts.


    Thankfully, Toz had a lot of mana and could afford to unleash fireball after fireball. And he wasn''t alone either. Although Nil, Lucy, and Scrael weren''t having an easy time attacking the void beasts, Mindle''s attacks were extremely effective.


    Mindle''s tongues of me didn''t even have toe close to the void beasts before the heat they gave off turned the void beasts into ash. And the tongues grew hotter with each passing moment as Mindle kept turning up the heat and testing the limits of her spell.


    The blue cat''s attacks were also effective as it tore apart the fabric of space, leavingrge wrinkles and scars in the air that distorted and tore apart the void beasts until they were repaired.


    But despite Toz, Mindle, and the blue cat attacking the horde of void beasts and killing innumerable beasts, there didn''t seem to be an end to it. Toz had no idea for how long the whale had been running around and gathering the horde, but he could understand why there hadn''t been any void beasts near the ind for quite some time.


    Their attacks couldn''t even slow down the void beasts'' advance. At least not until Mindle managed to conjure a third me. The third me, aside from creating another source of heat that burned the void beasts, also helped Mindle strengthen the two other mes.


    With Mindle''s third me added to the mix, they finally managed to stop the void beasts from narrowing the distance. But they still showed no signs of stopping, even when the heat grew so intense that all the blood evaporated and turned to ash before it could reach the void beasts.


    Toz could only assume that the void beasts were following the trail of pure and concentrated starlight mana that seeped out of the whale''s back. Considering the wounds were dug where the whale stored mana, Toz wasn''t surprised that mana left the wounds that were made in the process of digging out the crystals. However, that also meant that they wouldn''t be able to stop the void beasts'' chase until Stitches patched up the whale enough for it to stop leaking.


    But Toz doubted that would be possible before the group in charge of attacking ran out of mana. He, Mindle, and the blue cat was burning through mana just to barely keep the void beasts from narrowing the distance now that the whale was pushing the ind of trees and couldn''t reach the same top speed it had before it slowed down. It was also bing increasingly clear that the whale was exhausted.


    Toz could hear the heavy panting from where he was standing, and he could feel the whale''sbored breathing through his feet.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The whale wouldn''t be able to flee for much longer. And Toz and the other two in charge of keeping the void beasts at bay wouldn''t be able to stop the void beasts from devouring them all.


    The only thing Toz had to do, wasunch fireballs like there was no tomorrow, and he could let his mind wander slightly. He still had his eyes on the swarm of void beasts to make sure that the fireballsnd where the highest concentration of beasts was. But he began thinking of a solution to their utterly problematic situation. He had an instinctual feeling that there should be a way to solve it, but he just couldn''t figure it out.


    A whale leaking mana attracts incredible numbers of void beasts. The swarm of void beasts is too big and aggressive for a few medium level mages and beasts to take down by themselves since their mana will run out. Even while not pushing the ind of trees, the whale is too slow to outrun the void beasts. The whale is also growing increasingly exhausted, and the situation grows worse with each passing moment.


    The most obvious way to stop the bleeding is to have Stitches give the whale''s back emergency treatment and cover the holes enough for the whale to contain its mana. And then, hopefully, the void beasts will stop hounding after the whale. But everything Toz could think of wasn''t viable. Stitches needed time to do his work. By the time he would finish, they would all already be devoured by the void beasts. Toz might like experiencing new and interesting things. Dying to a horde of rampaging void beasts was not something he was interested in.


    Toz felt like a bolt of lightning had struck his mind as he figured out a possible solution.


    Toz nced at the blue cat out of the corner of his eyes and asked,


    "What does your friend think of trees?"


    The question that came from out of nowhere and its seemingly nonsensical contents almost caused the blue cat to fumble its magic.


    Toz didn''t have enough time to tell the blue cat everything he needed to, but even a shortened version was enough to give the blue cat hope. The blue cat gave an even shorter version to the whale, who grunted an oaky through heavy breaths.


    Although it might lead to other problems down the line, it was the only viable solution for their current situation. And it seemed like an outrageous idea, but Toz at least thought it might really work.

 Chapter 191 Problem Solved (1)

    ?After the blue cat and the whale agreed to Toz''s suggestion, he exined his n in more detail and made sure that Nil and Stitches heard everyst bit since their cooperation was a must for it to work. After confirming that they understood Toz''s n correctly, the two of them got to work, Stitches still amazed at what Toz hade up with.


    Nil dashed to the other side of the ind, where he created two long bands that stretched down to below the underside of the ind. He made sure they were sturdy and wouldn''t get torn off the ind before running off to the side of the ind.


    Stitches had taken up a position in the center of the ind and was stretching his perception down through the roots to the bottom of the ind. Since Stitches didn''t possess any detection capabilities other than being able to sense life force, he wouldn''t have been able to extend his senses all the way to the other side of the ind if it weren''t for the trees. Because the trees were alive, he could hitch a ride on their life force to perceive the situation on the other side.


    After Nil finished creating the two bands of metal at the front of the ind, the whale stopped pushing the ind and dove down below it before catching up to it and pressing itself against the metal bands. Although the bands were attached to the ind with a lot of mana, they wouldn''t hold forever as the whale dragged the ind along.


    Nil rushed to finish the metal bands on the sides of the ind that would reach down next to the whale''s fins and relieve some of the pressure on the whale''s snout. The sidebands would help the bands at the front from tearing and from digging into the whale''s skin. But the makeshift harness Nil created after connecting all the bands under the whale''s belly wasn''t the entire solution.


    That was where Stitches came in. Although he didn''t have a wood or nature attribute that would have been more suitable for controlling the trees, he could still influence and speed up their growth. Coupled with his ability to control the whale''s life force and how it healed, Stitches could grow the trees and the whale together.


    It seemed like a crazy idea. Trying to use a forest as a way to stop the whale''s from bleeding out and leaking mana. But Stitches had gotten to know the forest''s characteristics during his stay on it, and while it was an outrageous n, he couldn''t say it wouldn''t work. Though, he was beginning to wonder if Toz''s lunacy had started to affect him since he was curious if it really would work. And not because he wanted to survive. Stitches'' curiosity stemmed from the maniption of life force required to connect a star beast to a nt.


    Stitches was in position and ready to begin the final stage of the n. The cats delivered his signal to Toz, who told the blue cat, who, in turn, told the whale.


    The whale had only dove under the ind and pressed itself against the harness that Nil had made without touching the underside of the ind. However, after receiving the signal from the blue cat, it braced itself and rose upward.


    Everyone on the ind could hear the whale grunting in pain as it pressed its back, riddled with deep holes and wounds, against the underside of the ind. They could only imagine the pain the whale felt as the numerous injuries came into contact with the rough surface at once.


    Stitches, who had worked as a healer for the army and could sense the whale''s life force tremble on top of that, winced at the grunts. But he was the only one who definitely couldn''t afford to be distracted as he immediately got to work.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The whale struggled to keep up the same speed while fleeing, so the blue cat was forced to focus on keeping the void beasts at bay, despite desperately wanting tofort the whale.


    Toz and Mindle didn''t ck off either, as they used as much of their mana they could at once to burn even more void beasts. It was all or nothing. If Stitches didn''t seed, they wouldn''t need to save their mana either way.


    Toz, Mindle, and the blue cat attacked the void beasts with relentless zeal. Nil ran back and forth across the ind, reinforcing the bands and the harness since it was imperative that the whale and the ind moves synchronized while Stitches performed his magic.


    Stitches felt the pressure from everyone else on the ind, but he had learned several things working as a healer. And one of them is that rushing or panicking is the worst thing to do while working with a patient suffering from incredible pain. There was no way Stitches would let the pressure and the knowledge that everyone''s continued survival relied on him affect his magic.


    Only a few precious moments had passed since the whale pressed its back against the ind. Stitches hadn''t been idle during those moments. He had made sure to sense and grasp the situation carefully. If he made any rash movements and rushed to connect the whale and the ind, he could very well doom them all. If he made a wrong move, he could identally kill the whale.


    Stitches began, with utmost gentility and care, to stir his, the ind''s, and the whale''s life force. He sensed the minute differences between the ind and the whale and reacted ordingly as he began coaxing the trees to absorb the star attribute mana leaking from the whale''s wounds.


    Small tendrils began stretching from the wood and gently connected to the whale''s bare flesh. Stitches made sure the tendrils didn''t rush to devour the whale and prevented the whale''s tissues from rejecting the roots'' advance.


    Under Stitches'' thorough supervision, the whale''s muscles and the trees'' roots began weaving together. Though since the whale had already lost a lot of blood and energy, it was mostly the trees that nestled into the injuries on the whale''s back.


    The whale felt the numerous roots and tendrils of wood worm their way into its flesh. And it felt like a thousand bugs were digging into its back. But the whale knew that it was only wood and that it was the only way they had to solve their problem.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 192 Problem Solved (2)

    ?The whale and Stitches were the only ones who could tell how well the procedure wasing along. But the whale was preupied with the pain of the trees burrowing into its wounds and couldn''t determine whether it was going well or not.


    Stitches, on the other hand, was surprised at the ease with which the trees had gotten limated to the situation. Stitches only needed to coax the trees into absorbing the mana at the beginning. After that, Stitches worked hard to control the trees'' advance and foster a symbiotic rtionship between the whale''s body and the trees.


    It was promising that the trees took to rooting inside the whale so easily, but it also meant that the trees might enjoy draining the whale''s body of all its mana and nutrientspletely. Stitches controlled the trees, so they wouldn''t do that. However, if he stopped the trees too early, they might not take root properly and would instead tear off the whale''s back if they were unlucky. There was also the risk that the starlight mana would leak out through the gaps if the trees didn''t attach themselves properly and block off every single hole the mana leaked out of.


    Stitches had to make sure that the trees grew evenly and covered the whale''s back, and took root properly, but without harming the whale further. Stitches'' perception was stretched taut as he micromanaged the entire forest and the whale''s back.


    Sweat ran down Stitches'' wrinkled forehead and back due to the exertion of delicately controllingrge amounts of life force and keeping his senses spread out. However, Things were progressing steadily, and it looked like it would finish soon. At that time, Stitches could let himself fall unconscious.


    The whale had gotten slightly used to the pain of its wounds pressing against the ind and the trees burrowing into its flesh, so it managed to increase its speed slightly. After the whale picked up the pace, Toz and the other two managed to take a few breaths and recover slightly from the exertion of going all out without stopping for several minutes.


    Nil kept the harness intact, and as the trees dug into the whale''s back in search of mana, it decreased the pressure on Nil and the metal bands.


    It looked like they only needed to hold on for a few more minutes until the whale''s back waspletely covered. Although there was a lot less mana leaking from the whale''s wounds, it was still enough to keep the void beasts hounding after them with the same intensity as before. Toz was beginning to worry if just blocking the leaking mana would be enough since the void beasts already had the whale in their sights.


    Toz expressed his concerns to Lucy. Lucy nodded before sinking deep into thought and concentrating on his mana.


    It wouldn''t affect anything if he used magic to cover them while the whale and the trees were still fusing, but Lucy could prepare his magic for the moment that the whale stopped leaving a trail of mana for the void beasts to follow.


    Things were going perfectly fine for everyone. Even the whale was dealing with the pain without grunting and twisting. At least until the trees spontaneously drilled more than a meter into the whale.


    While twisting and shouting due to the excruciating pain, the whale slowed down to a crawl. The whale''s thrashing prevented Toz, Mindle, and the blue cat from fully concentrating on the void beasts. Toz did his best to keep as many of the void beasts at bay while he secured his bnce. Hods and Scrael dashed to support Lucy and Mindle, who were about to fall. The whale had bucked and sent the ones who weighed less into the air, including the blue cat.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But since Scrael knew Mindle personally, and because Mindle was killing more void beasts, Scrael prioritized stabilizing her instead of the blue cat, who was almostpletely out of mana.


    Hods had chosen to help Lucy since he would secure their escape from the void beasts after Stitches finished fusing the whale and the ind. Hods had reacted almost instinctively since he had been on high alert. While he couldn''t help any other way, he could at least be ready for anything.


    But after he put down Lucy, Hods looked toward the center of the ind where Stitches was.


    Stitches stared dazedly at his hands glowing with a green light, but he snapped out of it as the whale continued thrashing and twisting. He had identally made a mistake. He hoped that the others would be understanding of what had happened.


    However, now wasn''t the time to worry about whether or not the whale would hold a grudge.


    Stitches had broken through to the seventh level while in the middle of adjusting the trees'' growth. The sudden surge of power and mana had made Stitches lose his control, and the trees got a river of life attribute mana into them. The burst of mana made the trees experience explosive growth, and the roots drilled into the whale.


    While it was toote to fix his mistake, Stitches could at least try and rectify it.


    Stitches hadn''t yet learned how to control his explosive leap in power, and it would most likely take some time, considering he entered a new division. But he didn''t need to be careful with how he used his power now.


    The burst had gotten the roots as deep as Stitches needed them to go, and the whale''s back waspletely covered, blocking any mana from leaking. The only thing left was to soothe the whale''s pain and heal its wounds.


    Stitches sent wave after wave of life force into the whale, rapidly regenerating its wounds and healing the tissue pierced by the roots. Thankfully there wasn''t much to regenerate since the wounds were already filled with wood. Even if Stitches had been at the seventh level from the beginning, there was no way he could have healed the whale. He would have still needed a lot of bandages and at least half a dozen helpers to stop the bleeding.


    The green light spread from Stitches'' hands, through the ind, and into the whale.

 Chapter 193 Sphere Of Darkness

    ?The procedure was a sess, and although Stitches hadn''tpletely healed the whale yet, there wasn''t any longer a trail of mana for the void beasts to chase after. However, Toz''s fears came true.


    The frenzied void beasts weren''t about to let the prey they had chased through half the Void escape just because there wasn''t a trail of mana to follow any longer, not to mention the juicy ind on top of the whale.


    The void beasts had never needed a trail of mana leading from the ind to find it. While the trail of mana leading the void beasts on was gone, they had instead gotten a beacon to show them the way.


    Thankfully, Toz''s worries had allowed Lucy to prepare.


    As soon as Lucy sensed that the mana leaking from the whale stopped, Lucy told Toz and the others to stop firing magic like maniacs. Lucy was going to try and hide them and the ind from the void beasts. Spells and magic attacks would both disrupt Lucy''s magic and reveal their position to the void beasts'' detection.


    Without the three of them attacking the void beasts, the void beasts would easily catch up to the ind with, so Lucy had to work fast.


    Lucy gathered his own mana, as well as the inherent mana in the shadows and darkness all around them. After gathering and assuming control over the mana, Lucy began spreading it around the ind and the whale. The sticky darkness spread like ink, enshrouding everything in a sphere of darkness.


    The sphere didn''t only block all light entering and leaving the ind. It also kept the ind''s shining presence from escaping. That was the idea, at least. But Lucy didn''t know how effective it was until the whale changed course and made a hard left.


    The void beasts following the whale and the ind''s presence slowed down slightly when their target abruptly disappeared. The void beasts continued forward and spread out in the area where the ind had disappeared. Even if most of them couldn''t think coherently, they could still use their instinct to chase down prey.


    However, there were exceptions. Almost every void beast had lost track of the ind. There were a few void beasts who possessed extraordinary senses and managed to stay on the ind''s tail.


    A shark and a couple of catfish, all three at the ninth level, sneakily left the other void beasts behind and continued following the ind.


    Since the sphere of darkness blocked everyone''s vision, Lucy was the only one who could tell they were still being followed. Despite not knowing how the three beasts could sense the ind, Lucy tried to increase the sphere''s effectiveness even further. But to no sess. The three beasts chased after the ind without losing track of it for even a second.


    When Lucy realized that he couldn''t evade the beasts'' detection abilities, he reluctantly told Toz about their followers. Lucy having to admit that he couldn''t even stop the pursuit of three stupid void beasts, bruised his pride. But an intact pride wouldn''t save them from the beasts. Especially not since the beasts were so close that Lucy could sense that they were at the ninth level.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The whale was tired, injured, drained, and exhausted. But it wouldn''t have been able to outrun the three beasts while carrying the ind, even if it had been perfectly fine.


    If it hadn''t been for the blue cat attacking the swarm of void beasts, there was no way that the whale would have made it as far as it had. And now that it was barely able to stay awake and was burdened with the ind, the whale was even slower.


    Without the onught of attacks that had been keeping the void beasts at bay, the shark and the two catfish closed the distance between themselves and the ind at a furious pace.


    Lucy grew increasingly worried since he still couldn''t stop the three void beasts from sensing the ind. But Toz and the others wouldn''t be able to retaliate until they were further away from the swarm of void beasts still searching for the whale.


    If Lucy opened a hole through the sphere and allowed Toz to st a fireball, the other void beasts would sense it and swim in their direction, which would increase the amount of time needed to escape the void beasts. However, the whale didn''t have enough energy to keep running for that long.


    Even if Lucy didn''t open a hole and Toz sent a fireball through the sphere, the void beasts would still sense the fireball''s explosion and chase after it. And if there was even half a brain amongst all of the void beasts, they would know to follow the shark and the two catfish.


    While Lucy was talking to Toz and questioning about what to do since everything he tried was useless, Joshua and Joan came by.


    After the whale''s thrashing and the ind was covered in darkness, the mother and son figured that it might be slightly safer, so they left the house. Although they couldn''t see anything, they knew the ind like the back of their hands and easily traveled to where Toz and the others were. The asional ray of green light from the center of the ind also helped them find their way.


    When they arrived next to Toz and the others, Joshua heard Lucy worry about his sphere being insufficient. It was like a dreame true to Joshua. He finally had an opportunity to try and help his friend. Considering he was only at the first level, there probably wasn''t much he could do when Lucy at the fifth level couldn''t do it.


    But unique type inclinations were, almost per definition, not limited to what was reasonable.


    Joshua spread his senses like he had learned to do when converting and absorbing mana. But this time, he wasn''t looking for the mana around him. His senses searched for the barrier surrounding the ind. And Joshua found the barrier soon enough. However, the barrier didn''t only surround the ind.


    After the trees and the whale fused together, the barrier expanded to include the whale within itself as well. The new barrier was greater and more powerful than it had been previously, and Joshua wasn''t sure he would be able to control it. But after he heard of the three ninth level void beasts chasing them, he knew that he had to try.

 Chapter 194 Joshuas Strength

    ?Joshua noticed that even just maintaining his connection with the barrier bubble drained his mana at incredible speed. But he could understand why. Joshua could sense everything inside the bubble. It was hard for him to maintain the connection due to the influx of overwhelming amounts of information, but he managed to ignore most of it and only focus on what he needed to. The barrier and the mana.


    It would be impossible for him to sustain his connection with the barrier much longer with only his own mana, much less change it so he could help Lucy. Joshua remembered how he had almost drowned in mana when he trained training after identally making a subconscious connection with the barrier.


    It might have been because he had been inspired by Toz''s craziness in pathing up a whale by using a forest, but Joshua nned to use himself as a funnel. After he hardened the barrier, if he could, it would almost definitely devour his mana, unlike anything he could think of. But if Joshua could replenish his mana as quickly as it was drained, he wouldn''t have to worry about his magic losing its effect.


    Since the flow of mana would overwhelm Joshua and affect his concentration, he began by spreading his will to the barrier around the ind.


    Joshua didn''t know why Lucy''s barrier didn''t work, but the only way he knew how to change the barrier was to make it sturdy and imprable like he had done when his inclination awoke.


    Joshua''s mana began disappearing even faster as soon as he began solidifying the barrier bubble. He could only hope that it wouldst until he could begin directing all the mana within the bubble to himself.


    As soon as the barrier''s transformation finished, Joshua''s mana was down to thest few wisps. Since the bubble magic would disappear when Joshua could no longer sustain it, he had to quickly guide as much mana as possible into his body. He wasn''t sure he would be capable of exerting enough willpower to harden the barrier again if he failed.


    Toz and the others had sensed that Joshua was using magic and that his mana was rapidly disappearing. Toz had an inkling of an idea of what Joshua was trying to do since Joshua had told him about what he could do with his magic. However, he was still amazed at how much mana Joshua could expend at once.


    But the mana Joshua expended was only the beginning.


    Lucy had been concentrating on his sphere of darkness and the three void beasts, so he didn''t pay attention to Joshua until he sensed the ind''s natural bubble of a barrier be stronger. The sphere of darknessy directly upon the ind''s barrier, so Lucy sensed the changes as soon as they happened, and he afforded himself to take a nce in Joshua''s direction. However, the nce turned into a dazed stare. Toz had to remind him to keep track of the outside in case the void beasts came too close.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Lucy''s eyes had be so transfixed to Joshua because of the maelstrom of mana swirling above Joshua. The vortex moved with enough force to generate a wind that swept through the ind and rustled the leaves. And the mana was concentrated enough to be visible to the naked eye in the form of a misty tornado of varying colors.


    The mana vortex was an amazing sight by itself, but Lucy was stunned because Joshua was kind of controlling it. Joshua channeled the mana through himself and into the barrier around the ind, hardening it and helping Lucy hide their presence from the void beasts.


    The three void beasts were close enough that Lucy could sense the impact that Joshua''s magic had. The three void beasts lost their track almost instantly after Joshua''s magic took effect, and he became antern with his eyes and mouth glowing due to the mana rushing through his body.


    Lucy happily told Toz about the results as they gradually left the three void beasts behind. After the shark and the two catfish lost track of whatever helped them chase the ind, they copied the other void beasts and slowed down while spreading out and looking for something to follow.


    But they weren''t quite in the clear yet. Until they put a significant distance between themselves and the void beasts, they still had to keep up the sphere of darkness and Joshua''s barrier. If they rxed too quickly, they would only be found again, and most likely before they recovered enough to repeat their vanishing trick. Especially Joshua. The massive flow of mana coursing through his body was bound to take a toll on it, and even if he didn''t pass out after pushing so far beyond his limits, he would most likely need to take a break from magic and mana for some time.


    Joshua wasn''t the only one who would need to rest after they escaped from the void beasts. The whale, the blue cat, Toz, Mindle, and Stitches all needed to rest and recover as soon as they could. Although Stitches had healed the whale, it was still dead tired andpletely out of mana. The little mana it had left after leaving a trail through the Void had been used to fuse with the roots of the ind.


    The whale, who was on the verge of falling asleep, couldn''t swim as fast as when it was only moderately exhausted. They were still within distance of the three void beasts, even after several minutes passed from the time they lost the void beasts'' chase.


    Lucy wasn''t having much trouble maintaining the sphere. But Joshua had gone beyond his limits from the very beginning. Now, several minutes after he began, his face had turned a sickly pale. His head had started tilting and was wobbling back and forth as if he was only barely managing to stay awake. His back was slouching. His arms were dangling loosely at his sides, and his legs looked like they were about to buckle at any moment.


    Joshua fought the mental and physical exhaustion as hard as he could, but it was a losing battle since he was growing more and more tired every moment the river of mana coursed through him.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 195 Three Void Beasts (1)

    ?It didn''t take long for the mana to wear down Joshua''s body, and Joshua copsed on the ground like a marite with its strings cut. After Joshua fell down unconscious, the maelstrom of mana slowly dispersed as Joshua could no longer sustain his magic and mana absorption. The light from his eyes and mouth went out like a candle in the wind.


    Joan shrieked and rushed to catch Joshua, but Toz was faster. Joan had been biting her nails ever since Joshua''s body began trembling and deteriorating, and she wanted to stop him immediately. But she knew that it would only end with the void beasts catching up to them, so she trusted her son.


    Toz handed over Joshua to Joan, who carried him in a tight embrace back to the house while crying softly.


    After Joan walked away with Joshua, Toz turned to look at Lucy, who was naturally distressed at Joshua''s copse. But Lucy still managed to keep the sphere of darkness up despite his emotional state. Moreover, it wasn''t the first time Lucy witnessed Joshua in a less-than-optimal situation. Compared to the time Lucy thought Joshua died, only copsing from overexertion was pretty good.


    However, the sphere of darkness hadn''t been enough to hide the ind and its inhabitants from the three void beasts.


    Toz couldn''t be sure since he wasn''t an expert on void beasts, and he didn''t know exactly what Joshua had done, but whatever Joshua had done when he solidified the barrier bubble had blocked the void beasts from detecting them. Maybe the improved barrier contained their scent, stopping the shark from smelling them. And it would probably be something simr with the two catfish. The barrier blocked whatever caused the catfish''s whiskers to react.


    It would be impossible for the void beasts to pick up their tracks if they were far enough away, even without Joshua''s barrier. But due to the whale''s exhaustion, their speed had dropped, and they hadn''t managed to escape the three void beasts'' detection range.


    Their only sce was that the endless horde of void beasts was no longer on their tail.


    But thefort was short-lived as the three void beasts picked up the chase and began targeting the ind again.


    During the time Joshua channeled mana into the barrier, they had managed to put some distance between themselves and the void beasts. However, the whale was so exhausted it could barely move, and the void beasts were quickly catching up.


    Thankfully it was only the three void beasts and not the entire swarm. But they were still at the ninth level. And the fighting power of the ind was limited. The one at the highest level was at the seventh level, but after healing the whale, Stitches didn''t have too much mana.


    Toz and Mindle had blown through most of their mana as well, and the blue cat waspletely empty. Nil was in a slightly better state since he had time to recover after he made the harness. Lucy had a talent for manipting shadows and nearby darkness, so even if he was low on mana, it wouldn''t put him out ofmission.


    That left Scrael and Hods as the only two fully preparedbatants. Scrael was at the sixth level and Hods was at the fifth. Against three void beasts at the ninth level, it looked like a futile fight.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Thankfully, void beasts were generally weaker than other beast counterparts, especially spirit beasts benefitting from Toz''s inclination.


    And even if Scrael and Hods were the only two in good condition, that didn''t mean the others would sit and watch. The blue cat and the whale didn''t have much choice since they were nearly paralyzed with exhaustion, but the others could still provide assistance.


    Aside from Scrael and Hods, who were already prepared to fight, the others did as much as they could in the small amount of time they had to recover their mana. Though the mana on the ind was a little thinner in density than usual after Joshua''s stunt, so they didn''t recover much. But there wasn''t anything they could do except their best.


    Lucy dispelled the sphere of darkness since it was no longer of use. Stitches came by shortly after. Stitches had been busy healing the whale and making sure it and the ind connect well without leaving the possibility of harming the whale in the future, so when the sphere of darkness disappeared, he figured they were in the clear.


    Stitches quickly realized they were very far from safety when his celebratory mood was met with a somber atmosphere. He didn''t need an exnation for that since he saw the three void beasts rapidly closing the distance to the ind. The shark in the lead with the two catfish, rivaling the shark in size, nking it on either side.


    The shark was a murky light grey color, the majority of its body the same gooey substance as any other void beast, the exception being its jaws and teeth.


    The two catfish swam next to the shark, their beady eyes staring straight at the ind with a gluttonous gaze.


    The smile on Stitches'' face that showed his relief at surviving a cmity and at sessfully helping a patient was wiped clean off his face at the sight of the three void beasts.


    Void beasts weren''t that good at controlling their mana, so even beasts and mages at lower levels could sense how strong they were. When Stitches felt the ninth level of power from the beasts, his face sank. But it quickly hardened into an expression of resolve.


    Although the situation might be dire, it wasn''t totally hopeless, and Stitches would definitely not give up. And since he was at the seventh level, his help would be invaluable to the others, who were preparing to give the void beasts a warm wee.


    The inhabitants of the ind lined up and prepared to face what would hopefully not be theirst opponents. The blue cat watched on with slightly remorseful eyes. It and the whale were responsible for endangering the lives of everyone on the ind. The man in charge had epted their cry for help and was facing death because of it. But the blue cat would at least watch and witness what it believed would be the final moments of everyone on the ind.

 Chapter 196 Three Void Beasts (2)

    ?Nil was the first one to attack the three iing void beasts. His spell wasn''t very effective against void beasts since the spikes he conjured only pierced their bodies without doing any actual damage. Unless he hit an area of the void beasts'' body that was solid and susceptible to his strikes. Nil couldn''t see any such areas on the two catfish, so he concentrated the shower of spikes on the shark and its jaws. However, the beast wasn''t a ninth level beast for nothing. Due to the shark''s agile movements, most of the spikes missed or flew through its body, leaving tiny holes that healed in seconds. The few spikes that struck the shark''s jaw chipped it. Or at most managed to dislodge a tooth.


    But since it took some damage, Nil''s attack wasn''t useless, and he kept casting his spell, sending shower after shower of Sharp Rain on the shark.


    The shark slowed down slightly due to Nil''s assault, and the catfish took the lead and arrived within a few meters of the ind.


    Unlike the jellyfish, the three void beasts currently attacking the ind would have to get close to use their magic or attack the defenders. Toz and the others couldn''t fight freely in the Void, so the fact that the three void beasts had to enter the ind was the silver lining of their current situation.


    The shark was still slightly behind the two catfish, so the others, aside from Nil, prepared to deal with them first.


    Toz, Scrael, and Hods worked together in the front while Lucy, Mindle, and Stitches prepared to give support from behind. Neither Toz nor Mindle had a lot of mana. But Toz could use his sword and fight in close quarters, which Mindle couldn''t. But that didn''t mean Mindle would just sit back and spectate.


    During the minutes they had to prepare, the ind''s defenders came up with a short strategy on how toe out alive after defeating the three void beasts.


    Hods and Lucy, who were the mostcking in direct firepower when facing the void beasts, would stall one of them while the rest took down another void beast as quickly as possible. Stitches would support whoever needed it by amplifying their life force and strengthening their bodies, and if anyone got injured, he would heal them so they could continue fighting.


    Hods, supported by Lucy, targeted the catfish on the left. He swung his sledgehammer against its head and kept it focused on him so it couldn''t help itsrade. But just because Hods swung his sledgehammer at the catfish, it didn''t mean he hit it. Despite the void beast''srge and unwieldy body, it was surprisingly fast.


    Lucy kept it wrapped in shadows to tie it down, but the catfish easily broke through them before charging at Hods. Hods saw the catfish open its mouth wide enough to swallow him whole as it swam toward him through the air. He wasn''t swift enough to dodge, but he could at least swing his sledgehammer. He swung it upward, striking the catfish in its lower jaw, mming its mouth shut. Lucy took advantage of that and bound the void beast''s mouth shut with more shadows.


    Hods sensed the catfish''s mounting frustration, despite the empty beady eyes, but he firmed his resolve and prepared to face another charge as soon as it tore through the shadows around its mouth again.


    However, the catfish didn''t open its mouth to swallow Hods the next time it darted through the air. It swam past Hods and jerked its head to whip him with its whiskers.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The whiskers only had enough impact to force him back a step, but they left several deep red gashes on his arm that began bleeding. Hods winced at the searing pain, but he refocused and gripped his sledgehammer firm. The gashes had already been covered in green light and begun healing.


    After healing and strengthening Hods, Stitches looked back at the others. They didn''t have a lot of time until Nil couldn''t hold back the shark any longer. And Toz, Scrael, and Mindle weren''t wasting it.


    The catfish was fast. But not as fast as Scrael. Toz could also match its pace when he reinforced his body with lightning mana.


    Toz and Scrael shed around the catfish, tearing into it and looking for weak spots. But even if they didn''t find any, the beast would die after they cut its body into pieces enough times, and it couldn''t reconnect its flesh anymore.


    While Toz and Scrael wore down the catfish, Mindle waited for the perfect opportunity to finish it. Since she didn''t have any other way of attacking other than using her spell, she had to be very conservative with her mana. If she blew it all on the first void beast, she wouldn''t be able to help take down the other two.


    And the moment finally came. Toz slowed down, just barely, but it was enough for the catfish to try and swallow him, so it dove after Toz with its mouth gaping wide open.


    Right as the mouth was about to close down on Toz, three tongues of me flickered to life between its jaws. Toz quickly backed away, supported by his lightning reinforcement and Stitches'' body strengthening.


    Although he reacted quickly and pulled away as fast as he could, Toz wasn''t quite fast enough to avoid the shower of burnt void meat that was the result of Mindle''s three tongues of me incinerating the catfish''s insides.


    It was impossible to know if Mindle had managed to strike the catfish''s weak point or if it had been enough to get her three mes of tongue into the catfish''s mouth and sh boil it from within, but at least the catfish was dead. And they hadn''t needed to use too much mana during the fight.


    However, it didn''t look like things were over just yet. The shark had caught up with the two catfish and was aiming for Nil.


    And only a few meters away from Nil and the shark was Hods, standing in the catfish''s mouth, holding its jaws wide open.

 Chapter 197 Three Void Beasts (3)

    ?Toz saw the catfish struggling to close its jaws around Hods and the shark fervently chasing after Nil through a rain of daggers. He exchanged a nce with Scrael before dashing to the catfish and cutting off the front of its head, removing the upper jaw and freeing Hods.


    But after regenerating its mouth, the catfish charged at Toz. Toz met the charge with a vertical sh of his sword that split half the catfish''s body in two. Mindle used the gap in the two halves to insert her mes within the catfish so she could incinerate it. Like she had done with the first catfish.


    However, the void magic that repaired the catfish''s body also dispersed the mana Mindle gathered to conjure her tongues of me. Although Mindle could use more mana to brute force her way into conjuring the mes and burning the catfish, she wouldn''t have enough mana left to use magic again if she did that. Mindle clicked her tongue at her failure, but she didn''t let it disparage her as she kept looking for opportunities to finish off the catfish. Hopefully, that opportunity woulde before Nil and Scrael sumbed to the shark.


    The shark was faster and more vicious than the two catfish. And unlike the catfish who tried to swallow their prey, the shark was satisfied with tearing them apart with its jaws lined with razor-sharp teeth. At least the shark had an easily identified weak point. Its jaws. Not that it was weak enough to actually be called a weak point, though. Nil had proven that by unleashing a flurry of Sharp Rain on the shark and its jaws.


    But, the shark at least had something that Toz and the others could attack that would remain destroyed to make up for its greater physical capabilitiespared to the catfish.


    Even with the clear target in its mouth, the shark was still a tougher opponent than the catfish, so they nned to use the same strategy, but after switching up the positions a bit. Scrael and Nil would divert the shark''s attention and keep it busy while Toz, Lucy, Mindle, and Hods killed the catfish. Stitches'' assignment remained unchanged, and he supported anyone who needed it, be it with heals or life force amplification.


    Nil and Scrael cooperated to dy the shark as much as possible. Scrael would zip back and forth, swiping at the shark''s jaws, leaving scratches and aggravating the shark. Then when the shark turned to chase after Scrael, Nil would cast his spell, once again targeting the jaws. The shark''s main method of attack, which had looked wless and pristine before it arrived at the ind, was beginning to look worn and battered. Unfortunately, all the damage was superficial.


    Even if the two cats had been more focused on damaging the jaws and not on ying around with the shark, there wouldn''t have been more substantial damage. While it looked like the shark''s jaws had taken a beating, it was nothing more than scratches and nicks that would heal if given time. Even the teeth they managed to knock out regrew quickly.


    While Scrael and Nil worked on driving the shark to madness, Toz and the others were steadily chipping away at the remaining catfish. Its regeneration had started slowing down, which was evidence that it was growing tired and running out of mana. But it wasn''t dead yet, and if they continued at the same pace, Scrael and Nil would only end up in more danger.


    Toz wanted to make an opening for Mindle to incinerate the catfish, but after Mindle''s failed attempt, it had been cautious enough to avoid situations where Mindle could easily burn it with her tongues of me. She had gotten one more opportunity aside from the first due to Toz and Lucy''s cooperation, but that had ended with the catfish dispelling her mes again.


    Things were getting desperate. Mindle only had enough mana for two rounds of her mes. Toz was running on fumes since he used what little mana he could regenerate to reinforce his body and match the catfish. Hods was bing increasingly fatigued, despite Stitches'' support. Lucy didn''t have enough mana to make shadow bindings strong enough to hold the catfish for more than a few moments.


    With the high pace of thebat, those moments were vital, but they weren''t enough.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    When both Toz and Mindle were out of mana, the groupcked significant firepower. Lucy''s restraints would have been of great help against the ninth level void beast. But even when Lucy was in prime condition, restraints weren''t his specialty. Mindless void beasts were a horrible matchup for Lucy, but he still contributed as much as he could.


    However, since Lucy couldn''t help much against the void beast, Toz wondered if he should ask Lucy to help Nil and Scrael contain the shark. While it would split up their forces, it would give Toz and the others attacking the catfish some more time to finish it. And after killing the catfish, all of the ind''s residents in fighting condition could unite and attack the shark.


    Toz didn''t need more than a few nces to convey his thoughts to Lucy, thanks to his inclination and bond with the cats. Lucy looked over at Scrael and Nil, struggling to keep the shark preupied.


    Scrael was faster than the shark, but only when she used her full power. Doing that exhausted both her body and mana, so even if she was still able to outrun the shark after grabbing its attention with a swipe of her paw at its jaws, she wouldn''t be able tost much longer.


    Nil was also running low on mana after unleashing wave after wave of Sharp Rain.


    Thankfully, the catfish was rapidly weakening so much that it could hardly move. With Lucy helping Scrael and Nil slow down the shark, even if it was for a single moment, Toz and the others could finish off the catfish.


    Toz shed and sliced the catfish like there was no tomorrow until he could be certain it would remain in pieces before turning toward the shark. Toz turned his eyes toward the shark right as Scrael went in for another attack on its jaws to divert its attention from Lucy.


    It was the same thing they had done several times already. However, even if the shark was dumb as rocks, it would still be able to figure out something so simple after it was repeated enough times. And Toz saw the moment the shark had been waiting for.


    Usually, the shark would be so tunnel-visioned on its target that it would only notice Scrael after she attacked and darted away. However, when Toz looked, the shark wasn''t focused on Lucy. It was anticipating Scrael''s attack. And to devastating effect.


    The shark''s jaws closed around Scrael''s leg.

 Chapter 198 Three Void Beasts (4)

    ?The shark snapped its jaws shut around Scrael''s right forelimb. The jaws closed with an ominous crunch, eliciting a pained yelp from Scrael. The shark didn''t stop just because its jaws were locked around Scrael''s limb. It pressed down even harder, forcing its teeth to connect through Scrael''s limb. Scrael screamed at the pain of having her leg bit down on by a ninth level beast. She could feel the bones in her leg breaking and shattering. Her skin and flesh tore to make way for the shark''s lethally sharp teeth.


    Toz and the others rushed to help Scrael as soon as they saw the shark close its jaws around her leg, but they weren''t fast enough. When they arrived in front of the shark, it shook its head and body furiously, tearing apart Scraels leg.


    The remaining strings of tendons and skin snapped as Scrael and the shark separated. The shark swallowed Scrael''s paw with a ferocious glint in its eyes as its teeth still glistened with Scrael''s blood.


    The shark''s shakes threw Scrael to the ground. Scrael only whimpered slightly before standing up on her three intact legs, despite the pain.


    The shark reveled in the taste of Scrael''s blood, and it watched her hobble away, her ragged and bloody stump of a right leg dripping blood. The shark also had to be wary of the other beasts and people that surrounded it, so it couldn''t rashly attack Scrael again.


    However, since the shark wasn''t capable of rational thought more than what a stone was, it was its instincts that told it not to make rash decisions.


    The beings around the shark were allced with bloody murder, and their killing intent soared after Scrael lost her leg. They hadn''t attacked the shark because Scrael wasn''t yet in safety and because theirst thread of rationality warned them that the shark was a ninth level beast, and everyone else was exhausted and running out of mana.


    But as soon as Scrael got far enough away from the shark, everyone else moved.


    Stitches rushed to take care of Scrael''s leg. Although he couldn''t regenerate it, despite being a seventh level healer, he could at least mend the broken stump to stop the bleeding and hopefully lessen the pain.


    While Stitches helped Scrael, the rest attacked the shark in unison. Their exhaustion andck of mana wouldn''t stop them from tearing the shark to shreds.


    Lucy began by using almost all the mana he could muster, both from himself and from the surroundings, to tie down the shark and limits its movements.


    After Lucy bound the shark to the ground, Nil unleashed his spell from directly above the shark, nailing the shark to the ground. The shark would be able to swim upwards to get free of the spikes after it broke Lucy''s shadows with its void magic. But Hods and Nil stopped that.


    Although it took incredible amounts of mana, Nil didn''t worry about that as he changed the remains of his spell. The spikes usually dissipated shortly after the spell finished, but Nil kept supplying them with mana, keeping them lodged within the shark''s body. He had also ced some around the shark''s jaws so it wouldn''t be able to tear its body and free itself from the crucifixion. Unlike the rest of the shark''s body, its jaws would be able to move through the spikes freely.


    While Nil kept the spikes in ce, Hods used his sledgehammer to bend the spikes around the shark''s body, imprisoning it in a tight-fitting cage.


    Even when the shark eventually wore down Lucy''s magic, it would still have to wear down Nil''s as well before it could break free and counterattack.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But Toz and the others wouldn''t let the shark struggle itself to freedom just because they had trapped it. As soon as Hods began bending the nails and locking the shark in ce, Toz and Mindle started attacking the shark.


    Toz hacked at the shark''s jaws with his sword, chipping away teeth and fragments of bone. The shark panicked and tried to wriggle free, but that only served to entangle it further on the crooked spikes.


    Mindle used the rest of her mana to conjure her three mes and burn the shark''s head so Toz would have an easier time chopping away at its jaws.


    The only thing Toz kept in mind while mindlessly swinging his sword was Scrael''s injured leg.


    Toz attacked the shark''s jaws frenziedly, and despite the five-level difference, he managed to damage them. But not without damage to his sword. But the sword was only a magic construct. Even if it got blunted and chipped, it would recover with some mana.


    Temporarily damaging a sword he was only using until his real sword finished growing in exchange for cracking the shark''s jaws was a trade, Toz was willing to make.


    Mindle''s mes burning away the shark''s head and neck kept the jaws still so that Toz could unleash a flurry of attacks without having to worry about his strikes missing.


    Eventually, the cracks Toz had inflicted grew and spread throughout the entirety of both jaws. Toz and the shark could sense the shark''s inevitable demise. But while the shark panicked and struggled to break free from its restraints with enough force to break through Lucy''s shadow bindings, Toz had a wicked smile on his face.


    The shark was still tightly locked in ce by Nil and Hods'' handiwork, so even after Lucy''s restraints were broken through, Toz could attack without worrying about the shark retaliating or fleeing.


    Toz had seen the way the shark looked at Scrael after eating her paw, and now he could direct a simr gaze toward the shark. The difference was that his gaze was filled with cold murderous rage.


    If it weren''t for its brain being set on fire, the shark would have trembled at the intensity of the killing intent Toz held against it.


    But even if its brain had been intact, maybe the shark would have been more preupied with its jaws that were on the verge of breaking since the shark''s existence would end along with its jaws.


    However, the shark was trapped, on fire, and under assault. There was nothing it could do to stop Toz from shattering its jaws, and eventually, it happened. The jaws burst into fragments. The teeth were sent flying in a small area around the shark. The shark''s body became lifeless mush and copsed on the ground.


    Thest void beast was dead.

 Chapter 199 Three Void Beasts Aftermath

    ?There was no one who celebrated after the shark died. At most, a couple of sighs of relief. They had won, but the victory didn''te cheap. Joshua had pushed himself into aa, and Scrael had lost her right paw and a small part of her leg. And unlike void beasts, Scrael couldn''t just regenerate her leg. It would take some pretty incredible magic to fix that since even Stitches, a high level mage, couldn''t do it.


    Stitches couldn''t heal Scraelpletely, but he could stop the bleeding and make Scrael grow skin over the stump. Scrael kept up a brave face as she hobbled around and got used to moving with three legs instead of the usual four. But Toz and the other cats could tell that she was hurting.


    Scrael had always been proud of her speed, agility, and athleticism. It would be near impossible for her to reach the power she was so confident in having with only three legs. It wasn''t easy getting over something like that, and even if Scrael tried to ept reality and adapt to the change in her body, it wouldn''te easy.


    It wasn''t the time tofort her while everyone was standing around and looking at Scrael with pity in their eyes. For now, Scrael would need some peace and process what it meant to live with one leg left than she was used to having.


    The others epted that and left her at the edge of the ind where she could stare into the Void and let her mind wander.


    While Scrael stayed behind with her thoughts as the onlypany, the others went back to the center of the ind and the house to check on Joshua.


    Stitches hadn''t gotten the opportunity to check on Joshua since Joan brought the copsed Joshua back to the house before Stitches finished healing the whale. And Stitches just went directly to the edge where the rest had gathered.


    And the situation with the three void beasts was much too urgent for Stitches to haphazardly leave and check in on Joshua way back at the house.


    But now that the three void beasts were dead, and there wasn''t anything urgent taking up Stitches'' attention, he could take a look at Joshua''s condition.


    When Toz and the others, apanied by the blue cat, arrived at the house, they heard soft sobs. Joan hugged Joshua''s body while crying. She had ced Joshua on the bed and sat on the floor next to him, draped over his body.


    They, who hade to check in on Joshua, naturally assumed the worst at Joan''s muffled sobs. Stitches rushed in but stopped mid-step a few steps inside the door. He wasn''t a seventh level mage for nothing, and he could sense Joshua''s life force pulsating weakly.


    In his panic, he had missed checking with his senses before he rushed in. But after he calmed down, Stitches could sense that even if barely, Joshua was alive. That meant Stitches would be able to heal him, even if his life hung by a thread.


    Although Stitches couldn''t regenerate limbs, he was at least capable enough to nurse Joshua back to health. After doing a proper and more thorough inspection of Joshua, Stitches found that Joshua''s body was simply worn out. It wasn''t a degree of wear that a young boy should ever have. It was more simr to what a lifetime ve''s body would look like after being driven to exhaustion every day for years, up to the point the ve died from overwork.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It was horrible, and it proved how much Joshua had pushed himself in order to aid Lucy and the others on the ind in their escape from the void beasts.


    But it wasn''t untreatable, especially since Joshua was only a first level mage. As mages and fighters grew stronger and reached higher levels, their bodies developed a natural resistance toward outside influences. The degree of resistance might change due to special inclinations, but it was the same for practically everyone.


    The resistance wasn''t anything grand or particrly effective inbat. But it made it more difficult for negative and positive influences to affect the individual''s body. Which meant that, higher level beings needed healers of appropriate levels to heal them.


    It also meant that beings with high enough levels couldpletely ignore whatever beings of lower levels did to them if the difference was big enough.


    The resistance came from a difference in the quality and quantity of mana. The body constantly exposed to quality mana at all times will naturally be affected, so even if the being has run out of mana, the resistance is still in effect.


    But, just like the phenomenon makes it difficult for lower level beings to interfere with higher level beings, it makes it easier for higher level beings to influence lower level beings.


    With the six level difference between himself and Joshua, Stitches would have an even easier time manipting Joshua''s life force and helping his body in its natural recovery. But even with that extra help, it would still take time and effort for Joshua to recoverpletely. And until then, he would stayatose.


    Joan almost cried tears of joy after Stitches told her that her son would make a full recovery. Though, he neglected to tell her just how bad Joshua''s situation was, just in case it would cause her further worries.


    Even if Joshua wasatose for a while, Joan was happy just knowing her son would live. She had lost her husband not too long ago. Joan couldn''t handle the thought of losing her son as well. When she had seen Joshua copse, she almost fainted and joined him on the ground. The only thing that kept her going was her instinctive reaction of helping her son as much as she could. She hardly even remembered how she had gotten back to the house while carrying Joshua.


    Stitches stayed behind with Joan and Joshua as he began healing Joshua, and the others left the house again.


    The two most emergent situations were dealt with somehow. But they weren''t quite at the point where everyone could rest. Even if most of them really wanted to take a long visit to thend of dreams, they had a couple of things to deal with first.

 Chapter 200 Asilean And Taienra (1)

    ?It wasn''t as urgent as checking on Scrael and Joshua''s health, but Toz still wanted to rify the situation before everyone rxed. Considering their ind was now tied to the whale, it would be best if everyone could get along with the whale and the blue cat. Though, Toz didn''t think there would be any discord. It was more of a formality and how things would be in the future.


    They also hadn''t gotten the chance to introduce themselves to each other properly. Toz and the others had called on each other using their names, so the blue cat might have picked up the names of a few of them, but it would still be proper if they actually told the blue cat their names, and the blue cat told the rest of the ind its name. The blue cat would also have to speak for the whale since the whale had fallen asleep soon after Stitches finished healing it and connecting the ind to its back.


    The blue cat was still stunned and out of sorts after seeing Toz and the others defeat three ninth level void beasts while exhausted, so it diligently followed them to clearing on the ground. They sat down on the ground since no one could be bothered to bring out tables and chairs and cushions.


    Toz, Hods, Nil, Lucy, and Mindle sat down in a half-circle facing the blue cat. Toz sat in the middle with Nil and Hods to his left and Lucy and Mindle to his right.


    The blue cat seemed toe back to his senses when it saw everyone sit down and look at it. There was no hostility or resentment in anyone''s eyes, so the blue cat could let go of some of its worries, but it still bent down its head and expressed its sincerest apologies. If it weren''t for it and the whale going for the ind and asking them for help, Scrael wouldn''t have lost her paw, and Joshua wouldn''t have ended upatose. And that was aside from the fact that they had put everyone''s life on the line due to the endless swarm of void beasts they had amassed before asking for help.


    Toz looked at the blue cat for a couple of seconds while it apologized. With it bending its head, Toz couldn''t see the blue eyes with dark as night and deep as the abyss pupils, but Toz had already seen those, so this time he looked more at the cat''s body.


    The different colors and patterns of blue reminded Toz of the spatial vortexes he had seen in portals. The mostly deep blue fur had small crystal shapes of white or light blue, and there wererge patches of darker shades of blue spread out over the cat''s body.


    But as Toz looked closer, he noticed stripes of fur that were a dull colorless grey, as if the color had left the fur, or maybe as if there had never been any color there, to begin with.


    Toz found the cat and the grey streaks interesting. He could understand how the Starry Sky Whale traveled freely through the Void, but until they were powerful enough, ordinary humans and spirit beasts weren''t capable of the same. Yet the blue cat, despite being at the sixth level, still moved around in the Void as if it was second nature to it. And Toz didn''t think it was thanks to the way it used the space element to blink short distances. But if things proceeded the way Toz hoped they would, he would find out the answer to his wonderings soon enough.


    "You don''t need to be that apologetic. You didn''t force us to help. It was our decision, and we can take responsibility for our actions. Don''t worry yourself too much."


    Toz interrupted the blue cat right before it was about to unleash another tirade of apologies.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The blue cat looked up at Toz, and although slightly doubtful at first, its gaze filled with gratitude after realizing Toz''s sincerity.


    "How about we begin with simple introductions?"


    Since the cat wasn''t forced to apologize, it looked slightly curious as to why they had gathered. Toz got rid of the blue cat''s confusion by talking. He introduced himself and the others. He didn''t tell any life stories or anything since that could wait until they had rested and recovered.


    The blue cat looked at everyone sitting in front of it and repeated their names to make sure he got it right. Since they were introducing themselves and all that, it meant they wanted a civilized conversation, further removing the blue cat''s fears about any possible resentment it and the whale had incurred.


    "It is my utmost pleasure to meet you all. My name is Asilean. And my sleepingpanion''s name is Taienra. You have our deepest gratitude for saving our lives."


    Asilean expressed his thankfulness with another bow of his head.


    "I''m sure I''m not the only one itching for sleep. So now that the danger''s passed, let''s leave the rest for when we wake up. Asilean, the ind isn''t too big, but it should be enough for you to find a ce to sleep infort. Let me know if you need help with anything."


    Toz finished his sentence with a yawn before he rose and headed for the ce where he usually slept with the cats.


    Before entering the house, Toz saw Asilean headed to the front of the ind, close to where Taienra''s head was. Considering she was the only one Asilean knew, it made sense for him to want to be close to her.


    Toz was too tired to think more about it, and he went straight to bed, joined by Nil, Lucy, and Mindle, who eitherid down next to him or curled up on top of him. Later, he also noticed that Scrael jumped onto the bed and squeezed herself close to Toz. He wrapped his arm around her.

 Chapter 201 Asilean And Taienra (2)

    ?When Toz woke up, Scrael had already left the bed. At least the other cats were still there. Toz rose, mostly recovered from the previous day''s fatigue. The cats stirred and followed Toz out of the house to go check in on the others and look for the blue cat. Nil and Mindle walked next to him while Lucy continued sleeping on his head.


    They found Stitches sleeping on the floor next to Joan and Joshua''s bed. Joshua had a betterplexion thanst night, and while Joan''s eyes looked puffy from all the crying, she also looked more stable. Since all three of them were resting, Toz didn''t interrupt their sleep. Instead, he went to the front of the ind where the blue cat had gone to sleep.


    While walking, Toz noticed a minute difference in the atmosphere on the ind. Joshua had used a lot of the mana on the ind to power the barrier. The trees usually kept an even and consistent amount of mana on the ind by pulling in the mana from the Void. After Joshua''s stunt, the mana density had lowered, which proved how much mana he had used for his magic. Considering Joshua''s inefficient use of mana in his magic, Toz wasn''t surprised he needed so much to strengthen the barrier bubble.


    However, Toz''s observations weren''t about the mana''s density. That had quickly recovered while everyone was sleeping. Toz felt like the trees had grown more vibrant and that the density was increasing to levels greater than before.


    Considering what had happened with the trees, Toz didn''t need to think too hard before realizing it must be a side effect of the connection between Taienra and the ind.


    Toz quickly arrived at the edge of the ind, where he found Asilean looking into the Void.


    Asilean noticed their arrival and turned around to greet them. At the same time, Toz and the cats also heard a voice transmitted through mana. It was Taienra. She found it easier tomunicate that way since her physical voice was loud and sometimes cumbersome to listen to during conversations.


    Toz didn''t think it was that shocking. The only way Toz and the other cats understood Mindle was through his inclination at first. She still couldn''t talk to others using her physical voice since everyone who heard it only heard crackling fire. So Mindle had also learned how to talk using mana instead.


    Toz and the cats returned Asilean''s and Taienra''s greetings with their own before asking how Taienra felt.


    Taienra pondered in silence for a while before answering.


    "It feels weird. I can feel the roots digging into my flesh when I move around, but it isn''t ufortable. And I can also sense the mana moving through the trees, both into me and out of me. As if I have and the trees have be one."


    "I''m sorry we couldn''t help you any other way."


    "Don''t be. It''s not your fault that we asked you for help. Help we are very grateful for, even if I am now part forest."


    Toz was happy knowing that Taienra didn''t seem too upset about having fused with trees.


    "So, do you two have any ns for the future that were disrupted due to this whole situation?"


    Asilean looked at the top of Taienra''s head before answering.


    "Not really. We have always been traveling through the Void, enjoying our time together without thinking much about the future. Maybe that''s why we got caught."


    Due to Asilean''s self-reprimanding tone, Taienra interjected.


    "It''s not your fault I got captured."


    Toz could tell that there was more to the story than what Asilean mentioned, but since neither of them seemed eager to talk about it, Toz didn''t probe about it.


    "Then you wouldn''t mind joining us?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "''Join you?"


    Asilean and Tainera answered in tandem at Toz''s seemingly out-of-the-blue suggestion.


    "Yeah. Now that this ind is fused with Taienra''s back, we are bound together as long as we stay on here. Even if we want to leave, there''s nowhere for us to go. We have a couple of boats, but we can''t navigate through the Void on our own."


    "That''s true. Although it was your idea to use the ind to save me, it isn''t fair if we just take your home and leave you stranded in the Void. Especially not after you all saved our lives."


    "There''s something else, isn''t there?"


    Unlike Taienra''s almost instant approval, Asilean was a little more suspicious.


    "When we fled through the Void, it wasn''t only the ind I sensed. I felt something else coax me here. And that something was you, Toz. What''s up with that? I won''t be able to give you my response without a clear answer."


    Asilean could feel a judging presence in Taienra''s direction, but he didn''t budge as he stared at Toz, waiting for an answer.


    "How much do you know about human inclinations?"


    Since Asilean and Taienra were from the Void, they might not have interacted with humans enough to get a good grasp on what an inclination was.


    Asilean furrowed his brows.


    "Not enough for that to be your answer."


    "I''ll take it from the beginning, then.


    "Generally, inclinations are what allows humans to use mana and magic. It is also what decides how they use magic. You saw Joshuast night, right? His inclination allows him to create and manipte bubbles."


    Toz wasn''t sure about exposing Joshua''s inclination to strangers, but Asilean had already seen Joshua in action, and it would be easier to tell him about inclinations using an example.


    "Joshua has a unique type inclination, so you probably won''t see someone with a simr one for a very long time. I have a beast type inclination. As you can tell from the name, it''s rted to beasts."


    Toz held up his hand, showing the outline of a cat''s paw with ink-like patterns about to fill up the area inside the outline, before continuing,


    "More specifically, cats. I can establish a bond with cat type spirit beasts. The bond shares and amplifies the talent for mana and magic for me and all the cats I am bonded with. I also get ess to the same attributes as the cats."


    Toz looked expectantly at Asilean. He had pitched his idea, and now he only had to wait for the response.

 Chapter 202 Asilean And Taienra (3)

    ?Asilean took his time answering, so Toz continued talking.


    "I might also need to mention that inclinations can grow with the human. If the right conditions are fulfilled, the inclination can evolve and be stronger. But if I do something that goes against my inclination. It can instead lead to the inclination cutting off my ess to mana and essentially crippling me."


    "Go against your inclination?"


    "This is just an example, and I would never think of doing it. But if I were to intentionally inflict harm on any of the cats I have bonded with, my inclination could sever that bond and give me a bacsh depending on the severity."


    "So if we were to join you all on this ind, and I bond with you, only good things await."


    "That''s basically it."


    Asilean had seen the rtionship between Toz and the cats, so he knew that Toz wasn''t lying. But he still thought about it a bit more until Taienra spoke.


    "What are you even thinking about? What else were you nning on doing? Tell the people who saved our lives, ''Thanks for your home. Have a happy life.''?"


    Asilean stuttered before eventually conceding and epting Toz''s suggestion. Although, he decided to wait a bit before establishing the bond with Toz. As far as Asilean could understand from what Toz had told him, the bond was semi-permanent.


    Toz understood Asilean''s doubts. Unlike the other cats, who didn''t have anyone else close enough to make them hesitate at the time Toz bonded with them, Asilean had Taienra. Establishing the bond would tie Asilean to Toz, but if something happened and Asilean and Taienra wanted to go their way, they would be limited by the bond between Toz and Asilean.


    Since Toz hadn''t tried it out, he wasn''t sure what would happen if he got separated from one of the cats.


    Even with the possibility that nothing might happen if Asilean left, he didn''t want to take that risk if it might incur a bacsh on Toz or limit his future movements.


    Before he feltfortable enough with Toz and what it meant to be tied to him permanently, Asilean didn''t want to establish the bond.


    Toz understood since it was perfectly reasonable. His inclination only made it easier for cats to notice and begin liking him. It didn''t magically make every cat he came in contact with into a pushover that would drool at the opportunity to bond with him.


    Even if Asilean hesitated to bond with Toz, he and Taienra had still decided to officially join their group. Taienra didn''t think it was anything else than fair to tell their saviors about what hadnded the two of them in that situation.


    Since it had just happened and had led to severe injuries, Toz worried that Taienra wouldn''t like talking about it. But since she affirmed that it was alright, Toz and the cats couldn''t do anything but listen to what had happened to them.


    It was obvious from a nce that Taienra had gotten her star crystals forcefully harvested. But it wasn''t like she woke up with her back torn to shreds.


    She and Asilean had been traveling through the Void like they were used to doing, enjoying each other''spany and admiring the atmosphere.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    They had noticed that there was a lot more traffic in the general area of the Void they were in, so they had been looking for a more peaceful ce to hang around in until things calmed down. However, they had been stopped by a fleet of ships where the smallest ones rivaled Taienra''s size.


    Since they had apparently been flying through areas controlled by the Starsling Kingdom, they didn''t take offense at being stopped. Especially when the officer talking to them exined that they were in the middle of a war and were wary about demons and demonic beasts infiltrating the human realm.


    Things were going well right up until the end of the conversation. Taienra and Asilean said that they were leaving, but right as they were about to, another officer stopped them. The officer spouted some bullshit about paying tolls or taxes or some simr bullshit.


    Taienra and Asilean didn''t even have time to react before several high level mages and fighters used their skills to knock them out and capture them.


    The next thing Taienra remembered was pangs of unbearable pain sending her back and forth between consciousness and unconsciousness. Taienra couldn''t see or sense what was happening since they had restrained her body and mana. The only thing she could use to tell what was going on was the feeling of sharp des digging through her flesh to remove the star crystals.


    She didn''t go into that much detail, but Toz felt like he could see what was happening due to Taienra''s emotional voice.


    Eventually, after turning Taienra''s back into a bloody rag, they let her and the still unconscious Asilean go. Asilean showed an expression of shame when Taienra mentioned that part.


    The fleet quickly continued on their way, leaving Asilean and the bleed Taienra behind. With Taienra''s massive body, she wouldn''t bleed out so quickly, even if the wounds were gruesome, so she and Asilean nned to find a ce where they could let her recover before they continued on their way.


    But it didn''t take long until their search was first interrupted by a couple of void beasts attracted by the smell of blood and the mana.


    Asilean easily took care of them, and the ones that came after them, and even the ones after that. But as time passed and Taienra kept losing blood, the number of void beastsing after them kept rising. It soon got out of hand, and Asilean couldn''t deal with them all.


    And after that, it quickly snowballed into the colossal swarm chasing them that Toz and the cats helped them evade.


    Asilean looked frustrated after hearing Taienra talk about how they were incapable of taking care of themselves. But it was frustration toward his own weakness more than anything else.


    After they listened to Taienra''s story, Toz and the cats repaid the favor by telling them about what their adventure had been so far, as they had done to everyone else on the ind.


    It was quickly bing a tradition to exchange stories when people joined the ind.


    While Lucy was busy bragging about his awesomeness, Toz thought back to what Taienra had told them. More specifically, about who was responsible for their suffering.


    It might be because they were within the Starsling Kingdom''s supervised area of the Void, but it seemed like everyone they encountered had a bone to pick with the kingdom.

 Chapter 203 Scraels Leg (1)

    ?While Nil, Lucy, and Mindle talked to Asilean and Taienra, exchanging stories and getting to know each other better, Toz went to look for Scrael.


    Toz understood and empathized with her need to be alone. But he could also tell her need forfort. And since a group of peopleing and telling her it''s gonna be all right might be overwhelming to Scrael, who had lived a lonely and hard life, he decided to talk to her privately.


    Not to mention how he wasn''t going to only give Scrael empty words offort. The situation with Taienra and the ind had inspired him, and he hade up with something that might help Scrael. But he would only proceed if Scrael agreed, and for that, he needed to talk to her.


    Toz found Scrael looking at Hods clear up the remains of the three void beasts. Although the catfish that died first hadn''t left much behind, its remains sttered around the small clearing at the edge of the ind where the battle had taken ce.


    It was a hassle to clean up, but Hods did it seriously, even if it looked like his mind was wandering.


    Scrael sat far away enough that Hods didn''t notice her presence. Hods didn''t catch Toz''s arrival either and just kept cleaning and gathering all the void meat in piles.


    Toz sat down next to Scrael without saying a word. It wasn''t until Hods started carrying the clumps of void meat to the storage that Toz opened his mouth.


    "How''re you holding up?"


    "I''ve had worse."


    Scrael put up a brave front. But Toz knew that even if she had experienced more threatening injuries and gotten closer to death, those injuries only left behind scars. Scrael''s missing leg was something that wouldn''t recover on its own and only leave behind a mark of it happening.


    "I know it''s not exactly a perfect solution, but how about a prosthetic leg?"


    Toz didn''t know how to gently bring up the idea, and since Scrael preferred being told things straight, even if she might not know it herself, Toz simply told her his suggestion.


    Scrael was still too down to immediately jump around with hope at the idea, but her ear twitched, and she looked at the stump at the end of her right leg.


    "What did you have in mind?"


    "Several things. Taienra''s situation got me thinking that we can try something simr, and then there''s also the option of creating something of metal."


    "Taienra?"


    Scrael had been busy confronting reality, so she had missed the introductions. Toz went on a quick tangent as he briefly told her about Taienra and Asilean, as well as his proposal for the two to join their group of ind-dwellers.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Scrael listened half-heartedly to Toz''s short topic change as she pondered on his suggestion and visualized what it would look like with a wooden or metal leg. However, the only thing she could think was that Lucy would make a fuss about how cool it was.


    Imagining Lucy''s reaction brought a slight smile to Scrael''s face, and she decided there wasn''t a need to create much of a stir for something as small as losing a single paw. It wasn''t even the entire leg.


    After it had happened and she lost her leg, Scrael had been too caught up in her emotions to think about things rationally. If it had been before she joined Toz''s group, she would have almost instantly begun thinking about the next steps she needed to take to survive. There was no way she would have let half a missing leg incapacitate her so much if it had been her previous self.


    But her new self, where she allowed herself to feel things other than her survival instinct, wasn''t someone Scrael disliked. Instead, it made her happy. She had people helping her in times of need. And the thought of the ones close to her was enough to bring a smile to her face. That alone was enough reason for Scrael to be happy about the change in herself she had experienced ever since joining Toz and the cats on their adventure through the universe.


    "Let''s do it."


    Scrael looked at Toz with an eager and resolved expression. She looked forward to trying out various ways to create prosthetic legs. And even if the legs didn''t work as well as she hoped, she wouldn''t give up. Even if her body was crippled, she still had her magic.


    Although she had spent her life honing her physical reinforcement abilities, it wasn''t toote to begin practicing casting magic instead. Conjuring lightning bolts with enough power to st the void shark to smithereens didn''t seem like a useless skill to possess.


    What helped Scrael further her resolve was that she was surrounded by talents at fine controlling mana, which she could trust would help her if she asked for advice on how to improve her delicacy regarding mana and magic.


    "Great!"


    Toz could feel that Scrael was no longer saddened by her lost paw. She had regained her spark and was ready for the next challenge that life would throw at her.


    Toz began creating several sets of paws with a tiny part of the leg to rece the part that Scrael had lost.


    The first ones he created were only to get the shape and the details to match. The functionality woulde when they could be sure the leg would match.


    It took Toz a few tries until he made one simr enough to what Scrael was used to, but he finally made a silvery grey leg. The leg looked like a mirrored version of her left leg but made of metal.


    The leg Toz constructed was longer than the part Scrael had lost. In order to attach it to Scrael''s leg, Toz had made the upper part hollow so she could ce the stump there.


    The leg fit decently enough for Scrael to use it temporarily, and she moved around smoother than without it. But the stiffness of the metal still made it ufortable to use for longer periods of time.


    "Try using magic."

 Chapter 204 Scraels Leg (2)

    ?The prosthetic leg was good enough for everyday use. But Scrael wouldn''t be able to stay away from fighting in the future. It was in her nature. So the leg would be useless if it couldn''t withstand her magic and the speeds she moved at when fighting.


    Following Toz''s suggestion, Scrael carefully roused her mana and filled her body with it. Fly-sized sparks of lightning traveled through her fur as she surged with lightning.


    Scrael included the prosthetic leg in the process and sent some mana to it. There weren''t any problems at first. The mana flowed through the leg, not as smoothly as her real leg, but since it was only the first prototype, it couldn''t be helped.


    However, as Scrael pushed more mana into the leg, it burst. The metal couldn''t handle the pressure of Scrael''s mana when the cirction was so poor.


    The burst startled Toz and Scrael. But after making sure that it didn''t harm Scrael, they started working on the next prototype. Since the first had been unable to withstand Scrael''s power, Toz tried making one using more mana.


    The second prototype looked exactly the same as the first, but Toz had spent a significant amount more effort into creating a sturdy leg that should be able to hold up against more of Scrael''s power.


    But this time, the leg was even worse. The abundance of metal mana shed with Scrael''s lightning mana, making the leg even more difficult to use. Unless the leg could ept Scrael''s mana, it would be nothing more than a decoration.


    Thankfully, Scrael noticed the leg''s nonexistent mana efficiency and stopped the mana flowing into it before it was toote.


    Since using more mana didn''t make the leg any better, Toz was slightly stumped at what to do, but he tried making different versions of the leg with varying amounts of mana. Those legs weren''t for Scrael to try out. Toz was going to make wooden legs using the properties of the trees.


    While the wooden legs grew, he triedbining his lightning element with the metal legs he made to see if that would make the legs easier for Scrael to use.


    However, Toz couldn''t make the two elements blend seamlessly. No matter how tightly he wove the lightning into the metal, they were still two distinctly separate elements. And it didn''t end with that. Toz''s lightning was slightly different from Scrael''s since he had trained it differently. Although the conflict between the two different lightning manas wasn''t as fierce as the battle between the metal and the lightning mana, it still prevented Scrael from using the leg.


    But Scrael restored her fighting spirit thanks to the hope Toz gave her, so she wasn''t dejected even by the repeated failures. It only made her want to work harder toe up with different ways to solve her missing leg problem.


    While she couldn''t create her own leg using lightning magic and the trees. She could help Toz by infusing the prosthetics he made with her lightning before the trees grew to rece them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Hods had finished cleaning up and sat down next to Toz and Scrael, sometimesing up with his own suggestions on what to do. Shortly after Hods sat down, the rest of the cats, including Asilean, came as well. Since Taienra was connected with the forest, she could urately sense what was happening and partake in the discussion and brainstorming of Scrael''s new leg.


    Unfortunately, her connection with the trees wasn''t deep enough that she could control the entire ind with a thought. But she could still speed up the process of the trees recing the mana constructs slightly to help them perform their experiments faster.


    The other cats also tried various things to help. Either by infusing the constructs Toz and Nil made with their magic to see if it was morepatible with Scrael''s lightning oring up with other designs for the leg.


    The first prototypes had only been made to resemble Scrael''s original leg, and they weren''tcking only in mana efficiency. Their functionality was alsocking. The metal didn''t have the same flexibility and feeling as the bone and muscle of Scrael''s leg. The wrist joint and the toes'' mobility were alsopletely nonexistent on the prosthetic legs Toz first made.


    The legs without functional joints worked, but Scrael''s movements were stiff and would limit herbat ability in the future, even if they got the magic to work properly.


    However, making a fully functional model with the right flexibility that would also be able to withstand Scraels magic and physical strength wasn''t exactly as easy as napping.


    They tried making various joints at the wrist. But, even if the joint could withstand the force it would be put through, it still left the paw dangling. Some joints had the paw dangling back and forth only, while others had the paw swinging in all directions, like a kite caught in turbulent wind.


    Eventually, Toz made a ball joint that connected the paw and the wrist. The paw had a tiny ball attached at the top that sat inside a socket at the end of the leg part. With Toz''s control over his magic, he managed to polish the metal surface smooth enough that it didn''t need any lubrication to move freely.


    But that still left the paw dangling loosely. If Scrael wanted to walk with the leg, she had to drag her leg backward so that the underside of the paw came into contact with the ground. It would be impossible to do that while running at full speed or fighting.


    Toz was sure that creating a joint was the way to do it, but he couldn''t figure out how to stabilize the paw. He also couldn''t figure out a way to soften the paw without making it massive or structurally insecure.


    At least they saw hope in making a functional leg for Scrael. Even if they couldn''t figure out how to let her use magic with it, she would at least be able to walk and run, almost like before.

 Chapter 205 Scraels Leg (3)

    ?Since they had hit a roadblock in their development of Scrael''s prosthetic leg Toz and the others decided to take a break. They also needed to wait for the wooden legs to grow to see if that would improve the mana flow through the leg.


    And Toz knew just what they had to do.


    Hods had already cleaned up the catfish and the shark that they had killed the day before. And since no one had eaten for quite a while, it was naturally time to have a feast. Though, it wasn''t a full-blown party since Joshua was stitose. But since they had no idea when he would wake up, it wasn''t possible to wait for him.


    Toz wasn''t the only one who was hungry. It had been quite some time since theyst ate, after all. And when they hadst eaten, it had been very small portions. Not to mention how they had exhausted themselves fighting the three void beasts.


    Thankfully they still had a lot of food stored, even without the impressive amounts of void meat that the massive bodies of the catfish and the shark had granted them.


    Everyone aside from Joshua gathered in the center of the ind and feasted on the void meat of the ninth level beasts.


    Although the meat was a far cry from being delicious, it was significantly better than the meat they got from the lower level jellyfish and void fish, which they encountered most often.


    Toz savored the springy feeling of the shark''s meat when enlightenment struck him.


    "Springs!"


    At first, no one understood what he said since he shouted with his mouth full of void meat. But even when they figured out what he said, they still couldn''t make heads or tails of it.


    The others around the clearing looked at Toz, waiting for him to exin what he meant. But he didn''t say anything else. He continued chewing the meat in his mouth as he roused his mana and began using his magic.


    Toz made thetest prototype of the prosthetic leg they had designed for Scrael. It was the one with the ball joint that left the paw dangling loosely. However, even after he finished making the model, he continued modifying it.


    Toz added minuscule spiral springs around the joint, connecting the paw and the leg. The springs made the leg slightly bulkier, and the joint would have looked inmed if Toz were to cover it with ayer of metal, but Toz didn''t let the aesthetic aspects bother him.


    He fine-tuned the strength of the springs until they kept the paw steady in a t position with the underside facing the ground so long as the leg was upright.


    Toz tested the prosthetic by pressing it against the ground, and he felt the paw and the springs push back, giving the leg the flexibility and stability that they had sought after.


    But he didn''t stop there. Toz continued modifying the paw by removing the toes and then connecting them to the paw using even more springs. This time the springs were shorter and slightly sturdier since there was only one spring per toe and because the springs would have to be able to withstand the impact of Scrael wing at her prey.


    Toz held up the finished construct with pride. He immediately asked Scrael to try it on.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The leg connected to Scrael''s stump just like every other leg had done. It wasn''t until Scrael took a few steps that she felt the difference in what Toz had done.


    Although the springs didn''t adapt to the surface of what she walked on and always sprung back with the exact same strength, she could almost walk normally with the leg Toz made.


    Scrael tried jogging a little bit as well, and while the paw swung back and forth a bit due to the springs getting pushed as far as the joint would let them and then springing back, Scrael still managed to pick up the pace and run ap around the ind at a decent speed.


    There was a limit to how fast Scrael could run without using magic, and she wasn''t quite as fast as she was with her original leg. But if she got used to her prosthetic, Scrael could possibly run almost as fast as she did previously.


    But it was definitely the best prototype Toz had made so far, even if Scrael couldn''t use magic. After she finished trying the prototype, Scrael dashed and jumped into Toz''s arms.


    Scrael hugged Toz, but she soon found the public disy of affection slightly embarrassing, so she calmed down and reced the hug by saying thanks.


    She was still overjoyed at the prosthetic, however.


    But they weren''t yet done since she couldn''t use mana with it. And if she tried using mana on the rest of her body, the prosthetic couldn''t withstand the impact of hitting the ground when Scrael ran around.


    Toz and Nil worked together to enhance the prosthetic even further and make it better in all the ways they could think of improving.


    Aside from Stitches, who looked over and helped Joshua recover, the rest of the ind''s inhabitants started training while waiting for Scrael''s prosthetics to finish growing.


    The first prototypes wouldn''t take too long to develop since they weren''t made with extensive care and abundant mana, but it still wouldn''t be so fast that they could simply sit around and watch them grow.


    Especially not after everyone was burning with motivation to grow stronger.


    Taienra and Asilean because if they had been strong enough, they wouldn''t have been captured and gotten their star crystals harvested or beenpletely powerless to stop their friend''s suffering.


    The cats'' reason for wanting to be stronger didn''t even need to be discussed. They had all felt powerless during the moment that Scrael lost her leg.


    Even Hods, who had never been very motivated to train, got an urge to grow stronger. he felt like he had been more useless than anyone else during their encounter with Taienra, Asilean, and the void beasts chasing them. He had been the only one who could only dy one of the catfish for a few minutes. And even that was with the help of one of the cats.


    Everyone else had done something else aside from dying the catfish. Toz and Mindle kept the swarm of void beasts at bay. Lucy restrained the void beasts several times, and he also hid the entire ind from almost every single void beast in the swarm. There was no need to mention Nil and Scrael''s feats since they kept the most powerful of the three void beasts at bay.

 Chapter 206 Scraels Leg (4)

    ?Toz and the cats weren''t the only ones who motivated Hods to train. Stitches was incredibly vital to the sess of Toz''s n. Even Joshua, a first level mage, saved all of their lives with his magic. Hods felt like he was useless inparison.


    But his pride getting bruised wasn''t the only thing that made Hods want to train harder. It was the feeling of imminent death and the realization that he couldn''t do anything to stop it. If Hods wanted to continue with his current way of life, he had to make sure he was powerful enough to withstand the trials and tribtionsing his way due to it.


    While everyone else focused on training to pass the time, Toz and Nil managed to design a sleek, durable, and functional model of Scrael''s leg. The springs were integrated into the leg and hidden by a flexible, ted surfaceyer of several metallic rings.


    It was the best the two of them could make at the moment, so they were satisfied with it. Nil went to go train like the others, and Toz went to check on his sword.


    The sword that he had squeezed as much of his mana as possible into took a long time for the trees to digest and rece, and they still weren''t finished. But at least the sword had started showing change.


    It still looked mostly the same, dark metallic de and grip with orange and purple lights decorating the de. But there was a subtle difference in the feel of the sword. The mana felt more subdued and controlled. The sword also had a more physical presence now that it was technically made of wood and wasn''t just a mana construct.


    Toz could hardly wait to try out the finished product. Investing all his hard work of creating the sword seemed to have been more than worth it. Even before the swordpletely finished growing, it had a sturdier and more durable de than the recement Toz made.


    After checking out the sword, Toz only had time to train his mana for a little while before the first wooden leg finished. Nil told him and led him to where everyone was waiting. Even though it was Scrael''s leg, and she was already there, they had waited for Toz''s arrival before testing the leg.


    Scrael had already put on the leg. It was grown from the first prototype, it had the same physical functionality, but Scrael was already used to thetest model Toz and Nil made. However, the objective of this round of testing wasn''t to see how well Scrael could walk with the leg. It was regarding whether she could use magic with the leg or not.


    She had learned from the first time she injected the prosthetic with magic, so Scrael gently ran the mana through the rest of her body before carefully injecting small amounts into the wooden leg.


    The ind dwellers watched on with hope as Scrael concentrated in order to sense the efficiency of the leg''s mana cirction.


    The hope quickly died down as Scrael''s face scrunched together, and she threw off the leg.


    Scrael discarded the leg out of frustration and not out of pain, to Toz''s relief. But it was understandably frustrating that the leg they had waited several days for was useless.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ording to Scrael, the leg was even worse than the simple metal prosthetics. When the leg was still only metal, Scrael could still force her lightning past the blockade of metal. But after it turned into wood, it became nearly impossible since the mana solidified and refused to move.


    If Scrael still tried to force her mana to pass through the wooden leg, it would only end up sting the leg to pieces.


    However, after thinking about the sensation more deeply, Scrael added that it was only the metal mana that hindered her mana''s progress. If they made the leg with neutral mana or without the influence of outside mana, Scrael felt like it would work.


    However, that was easier said than done. Disregarding the fact that it was nearly impossible to make constructs out of neutral mana, there were only two people on the ind with neutral mana. And neither of them used neutral mana as it was. Joan only used magic when enchanting, and Joshua only had neutral mana as a resource when creating or manipting bubbles. He didn''t manipte neutral mana itself.


    And if they wanted to create the leg without mana, they would have to carve it out of a block of wood. Even if they ignored the fact that none of them knew how to carve wood and how it would take ages until they were proficient enough to create a leg, the wood they carved wouldn''t have the necessary properties. The springs wouldn''t have the right flexibility, and the leg wouldn''t be as durable if they didn''t make it out of wood grown from metal.


    However, since it was their best bet, Toz began trying to carve ag out of a branch he cut off from a nearby tree. Even if it wasn''t as good as the metal prosthetic could have been, it would be fine as long as Scrael could use magic with the leg.


    Since no one believed they would do a better job at carving the wood than Toz, they left him to it while they went to train. Though, Scrael stayed close to Toz while she trained.


    Joan and Stitches went to check on, and heal, Joshua while the cats and Hods trained like usual. There was one exception, however.


    Asilean had been in deep thought ever since Scrael mentioned how it could probably work if the metal mana didn''t interfere with her own mana passing through the leg.


    Toz just assumed he was thinking about possible solutions. But after everyone except Scrael had moved some distance away to find peace, Asilean approached Toz.


    "I think I may have a solution."

 Chapter 207 Scraels Leg (5)

    ?Although Toz was overjoyed at Asilean telling him he might have a solution, Toz wondered why he couldn''t bring it up when everyone was still around.


    "Great! Let''s hear it."


    "Well¡­ It''s kind of¨C"


    Since Asilean hesitated so much, Taienra interrupted and spoke for him.


    "He thinks bonding with you might help you create a leg that will work. But since he just said he didn''t want to establish the bond, he''s embarrassed."


    "How would that work? Don''t you have the spatial element?"


    "I do. But I also have the void element. And I don''t know how much you know about the void element, but it kind of acts as an antithesis of every other element. Void magic usually works on the principle of breaking apart and dispelling other kinds of magic and objects, turning them into nothingness."


    Toz was beginning to see what Azilean was getting at. If he could create a leg whilebining metal and void magic, he could possibly reduce or remove the lingering metal mana that interfered with Scrael''s magic.


    "Are you sure?"


    Since Asilean had been far from keen on establishing the bond, Toz didn''t know if Asilean really wanted to go through with it for such a meager possibility.


    "I''m sitting on a possible way to give Scrael a new leg. Considering she lost her leg due to us, opening up that possibility is the least I can do."


    Asilean didn''t mention it, but he had seen how Toz and the cats interacted over thest few days and how dedicated Toz had been to helping Scrael. Those aspects helped alleviate some of Asilean''s doubts and made it easier for him to choose to establish a bond with Toz.


    Most of the time he spent in deep thought was more about whether it would really work using void magic or not. Asilean realized that his previous reasons for rejecting the bond were flimsy and unfair toward Taienra.


    Asilean saying that he couldn''t ept the bond because of Taienra would be like ming her for both Toz and all the cats, Asilean included, losing an opportunity to increase their talent.


    Since Asilean had resolved himself to ept the bond, Toz didn''t try to persuade him otherwise.


    Toz reached out with his hand, his palm facing downward. The cat''s paw symbol on the topside of his hand waited for Asilean''s paw to make contact.


    As soon as Toz disyed the symbol, Asilean instinctively knew what to do. All he had to do was reach for the symbol with his paw, touch it and if he felt like it, connect with the symbol using his mana.


    Although Asilean knew what to do and that nothing special would happen to him, he still looked skeptical as he ced his paw on top of Toz''s hand. However, his skepticism didn''t sprout into anything, as he only felt a tingling sensation when he touched the symbol.


    Asilean also felt the bond between Toz and himself, as well as the other cats. Rather than a bond, it felt like his mind had gained an awareness of Toz''s existence that acted separately from what Asilean perceived with his senses. And when he tried it out, Asilean could feel the mana following his will more smoothly. It was like Toz had said, nothing truly special about it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz, on the other hand, was caught up in a whirlwind of sensation.


    When he bonded with Nil, a feeling of stiffness and rigidity overtook his body. With Lucy, darkness enveloped his senses.


    Mindle''s bond made it feel like fire spread through his body.


    A current of electricity ran through Toz''s body when he bonded with Scrael.


    Those four elements had aspects that Toz could experience with his physical senses. They also came one at a time.


    The bond with Asileand invited both the spatial element and the void element into his body at once. At first, the two elements took turns riding through his body.


    Toz would feel as if his body was distorted and twisted with the space around it. He was also overwhelmed by vertigo as distance lost all meaning to him. He couldn''t tell if Asilean was right in front of him or on the other side of the ind, despite the picture his eyes received being the same throughout the entire experience.


    Then it was as if those sensations were a distant memory, and Toz turned into nothingness. He was nothing. He was everything. He was part of everything around him.


    Eventually, those sensations ovepped, and it was no longer only his body that was distorted and twisted. It was everything he could perceive. And some indistinguishable parts of his existence were impossible distances away from other parts.


    Since he had been overwhelmed by those sensations, Toz had no idea how long it had taken for his body to gain an affinity to the spatial and the void elements. But it finished soon enough.


    Toz spent more time recovering from the experience than he actually spent experiencing having his body adapted to the elemental attributes.


    Asilean and Scrael were naturally worried when they saw Toz lie down after scrunching up his face. But he was awake enough to tell them he was fine and that he only needed a few minutes to recover.


    Toz felt okay after a few moments, but he was forced to lie back down as a feeling of vertigo swept over him when he tried to sit up again.


    Since none of the cats, or anyone else on the ind for that matter, had experienced having their body made suitable to another couple of elements at the same time, they didn''t know how to support Toz.


    But their bond and Toz was telling them that he was fine, so Asileanid down next to Toz. The other cats had felt something happen through the bond, so they went to check on Toz.


    They knew it wasn''t anything bad since their talent had increased, and that could only mean that Asilean had joined them. However, they still wanted to see it for themselves.


    When they came upon the scene of Toz sleeping with Scrael and Asilean next to him, the only one not stunned was Lucy, who immediately joined them.

 Chapter 208 Void And Space (1)

    ?Toz woke up surrounded and covered by a bunch of cats. Thest thing he remembered was Scrael and Asilean lying next to him. But when he woke up, he found the other three sleeping on his torso.


    He didn''t want to disturb anyone''s sleep, so he closed his eyes again. Despite sensing that Toz had awoken, the cats also continued sleeping. Since Toz was tired enough to fall asleep just like that, he obviously needed his rest, and if the cats showed signs of being awake, he would continue working non-stop until he fixed Scrael''s leg.


    But despite wanting to let the cats stay sleeping, Toz was too anxious to try out his new elements to continue lying down.


    He didn''t know much about either element. The void beasts had exposed the ind to void magic innumerable times, but Toz had a feeling that the void magic disyed by the beasts was as basic as the void magic could get. It was nothing more than a result of pushing void mana onto the surroundings. Trying to ignite something only by moving fire attribute mana close to it was probably simr. Without creating a phenomenon with the mana, it was simply the mana''s nature doing all the work.


    Otherwise, it would have been a lot more difficult for a bunch of fourth level beings to resist the magic of a high level void beast.


    The most advanced void magic he had seen was the shark concentrating the void mana in its teeth in order to make its attacks even deadlier. It was like hoping a higher concentration of natural fire attribute mana would light a fire faster.


    Toz opened his eyes again and lightly shook his body to wake up the cats on him.


    Nil and Mindle, who realized Toz was determined to get to work, begrudgingly got up. But Lucy stubbornly persisted and shut his eyes hard enough to crease his brow.


    When Toz moved his arms to lift Lucy off of him, he also roused Asilean and Scrael.


    Asilean felt slightly embarrassed after getting caught fitting in so naturally with Toz and the other cats, but he didn''t let it bother him too long.


    The cats sat in a half-circle in front of Toz as they waited for him to try the new elements he had gotten. Even without training and specifically absorbing void and space mana, Toz was able to use them at once, thanks to his pre-existing mana. However, since he hadn''t gotten his body used to the attributes at all, the magic would be even worse than magic cast using first level mana. The only difference would be in the amount of mana Toz could use.


    Although Toz had seen more void magic, he had gotten a better look into what space magic was, thanks to Asilean when they tried to fight off the swarm of void beasts. So that was what he was going to try first.


    Asilean had torn and twisted space itself so that the void beasts ripped apart when they passed through the area that he used his magic to change.


    Even if it would be simpler with mana of a higher level, Toz wanted to try something simr, so he channeled space attribute mana into his hand and fingers. Toz dragged his hand through the air, and he could feel space brush against his fingertips. When he pushed harder against that sensation, he managed to create a few ripples in the air.


    Toz wanted to continue experimenting, but Asilean had bonded with him so he could use void magic to try and create a leg that would work with Scrael''s magic. Learning how to use the void attribute would naturally be his first priority.


    However, unlike with space, the only guide Toz had regarding the use of void magic was what he had seen the void beasts do.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    So that was where he started.


    Asilean was about to help Toz, but the other cats signaled him to let him be. If Toz couldn''t stand on his own legs, there wouldn''t be a reason for him to have them. For Toz to really learn void magic, he would have to discover the fundamentals of the magic by himself first.


    Toz started with a simr approach to how he had used the space mana, he channeled it to his hand and fingers, but he didn''t stop there. Toz projected the mana outside his body to see what he could do with it.


    The first challenge was that he couldn''t see the effects of the mana with his eyes like he could see metal, darkness, fire, or lightning. Toz could only vaguely sense the void mana drifting around in the air above his hand.


    Since his eyes weren''t of use and only limited what he could perceive, Toz closed them and focused on his mana sense.


    The second challenge was that even when he focused his perception on the void mana, he didn''t know what it could do.


    The other attributes all had clear possibilities of what they could be used to aplish. Metal could be made and shaped into things. Darkness hid, covered, and devoured. Fire burned and heated. Lightning was fast and powerful. Even space''s possibilities were clearer. Toz had seen Asilean blink through space. Toz had also touched on space himself.


    However, he didn''t know what void magic did other than disperse other magic. And even that was only what void mana did in its natural state.


    But at least it was a starting point, so Toz began strictly watching the mana above his hand''s interactions with the mana around it. The mana he controlled was so low in qualitypared to the mana in the surroundings that it took a few moments of monitoring for Toz to notice.


    And when he did, he realized why Asilean had been so sure he would be able to create the perfect leg for Scrael with the help of void magic.


    The void mana had begun dissolving the various elements of mana in the air. It didn''t break down or change the mana itself. Only how it moved in the air.


    Mana of the same element usually clumped together and stayed together in groups. Currently, the mana in the air on the ind was a mix of everything the trees gathered from the void, so almost any kind of mana was gathered in small groups of their own attribute.


    However, Toz''s void mana was slowly changing that rigid structure.


    The void mana stopped the other elements from sticking so tightly together. The various attributes began spreading out and mixing around.

 Chapter 209 Void And Space (2)

    ?While nothing extraordinary happened when the void mana interacted with the natural mana in the atmosphere, Toz realized how the void magic broke down magic. Since magic relied on the mana it wasposed of, the magic would destabilize and copse if that mana mixed with mana of other attributes that the mage didn''t have control over.


    Even if the void magic mixed the mage''s magic with another attribute that the mage had, it would still copse. The mage wouldn''t be prepared for the abrupt change in the structure of mana. The mage also wouldn''t be able to control the mixed mana since they won''t have any experience with blending two different elements so intricately.


    Before he got his hands on the void attribute, Toz had thought it was impossible to fuse several elements perfectly. Using two or more elements at once wasn''t impossible, but trying to create one instance of magic with two different elements wasn''t something doable. It only resulted in two separate magics, even if it looked like one.


    However, Toz would need to gain some proficiency with the void element before he tried mixing elements.


    After trying out and confirming what the baseline of void magic was, or at least what he could find, Toz began training. If he wanted to create a prosthetic leg for Scrael using his newly acquired void attribute, Toz suspected he would need it to be a simr level to his metal attribute if he wanted it to go as smoothly as possible.


    Since he had refined his body four times already, Toz''s affinity for mana was outstanding, and it wouldn''t take too long for him to refine his body a fifth time. But it also wasn''t fast enough for the others to sit around and wait for him to finish.


    After each new level he reached with his void element, Toz would take a break and experiment with mixing void and metal magic. After his void mana reached the third level, he managed to create a half-decentbination and shaped it into a prosthetic leg ording to the most developed prototype.


    By the time he reached the fourth level several weekster, the first leg made bybining metal and void had finished growing.


    Toz wanted to see how well it worked before he tried creating another.


    Scrael put on the prosthetic with anticipation. Each new leg she had tried had shown more promise than thest, but she still couldn''t help but hope Toz had finally managed to make a fully functional recement leg.


    The leg itself had a softer and more epting feel to it as Scrael''s stump rested against the surface. Scrael couldn''t put her finger on it, but it also felt like the leg moved smoother through the air than the other prototypes.


    After confirming that the leg fit just as well as the others, Scrael began pushing her mana into it. And unlike with the other prototypes she had tested, her lightning wasn''t rejected and repulsed as soon as it came into contact with the leg. Her lightning mana entered the mix of metal and the inherent wood mana of the leg.


    However, she gradually lost control over her mana as it got drawn into the leg itself.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    If Scrael used enough mana at once, she could properly use the leg, but it seemed like the void mana dispelled and made the tree eat her mana. Disregarding the ludicrous amount of mana needed to use magic with the leg, it was a sess!


    But Scrael wasn''t sure if she should celebrate since the leg devoured so much mana it was mostly impossible to use for an extended fight.


    Toz, on the other hand, was amazed at the effect that void mana had on the void trees. Maybe it was because it wasbined with metal. Maybe it was because it was a higher concentration of void mana than the trees were used to, but the wood''s ability to absorb mana improved after it digested a lump of void mana.


    Toz wasn''t concerned with the fact that the leg devoured Scrael''s mana as much as it did. It only made him happy. The more mana that the leg ate, the greater its affinity for lightning would be. It would also grow strong enough to match the amount of mana it devoured.


    After hearing Toz''s theory that the leg had only undergone a primary transformation after the wood grew to rece it, Scrael''s only hope was that it would have a limit. While Toz began ying around with void magic, Scrael went to work, trying to fill the leg up with her mana.


    In case his theory wasn''t urate, Toz also started preparing another wooden leg, but this time he would squeeze in as much mana as possible before letting the trees grow and rece it.


    Toz''s mana pool had grown even further after his fifth refinement, so it didn''t take too long until he felt all his mana bounce off the leg.


    Scrael also felt her leg begin slowing down in the absorption of mana. The previously bluish-grey wood had turned into a shining dark purple. And it seemed like Toz''s theory was somewhat urate. The more the mana devouring slowed down, the easier it became for Scrael to use magic with the leg.


    Although it wasn''t quite as good as her original leg, Scrael could fill the leg with mana and run around with it, simrly to how she had fought before she lost her leg. Though, she hadn''t gotten the opportunity to try it out in actualbat yet.


    But just in case her leg wouldn''t work well when fighting or if something simr happened again, Scrael had also continued training her delicacy when controlling her magic. She was still far from summoning divine lightning bolts thick as trees, but she could at least attack from a distance.


    Although Scrael said she was satisfied with her leg after it stopped taking all her mana, Toz was curious about what would happen with a leg made from as much mana he could stuff into it. But it would probably take a while until it was finished. Both because the trees had to consume all the mana and grow in ce of the leg and because Scrael would have to fill the wooden leg with her mana after that. And it would probably take more mana to satisfy that leg than her current one.

 Chapter 210 Destination Acquired

    ?After setting down the heavily strengthened version of Scrael''s leg, Toz went to go check on his sword.


    Seeing what happened to Scrael''s leg made Toz curious about what would happen to his sword if he infused it with void mana. Maybe even space mana while he was at it. He could only hope that it wouldn''t matter that the sword had already gradually be mostly wooden.


    But Toz wasn''t that lucky. It seemed like the sword wasn''t interested in more mana while it was undergoing the wood transformation. But it might have been just as well since Toz could refine his space element as well before making yet another sword.


    Even though Toz spent most of his time training his space mana, he spent the asional breaks working with his void magic and figuring out how tobine it with other elements and how tobine other elements with the help of void magic.


    Since he would figure out how to use the space element as he used it, Toz put void magic as his priority.


    When Toz finally reached the fourth level with his space element, he didn''t immediately begin creating a sword.


    Although the other ind-dwellers could also upy themselves with training, it was getting pretty monotonous. So, after Toz officially became a fourth level mage at the sixth refinement, everyone except the stitose Joshua gathered at the center of the ind. Due to obvious limitations, Taienra was only there in spirit. Thanks to all the time given to her, she had gottenfortable with the forest on her back. Taienra could easily spread her will throughout the entire forest, which made it easy for her to participate in the discussion.


    If Taienra wanted to, she could exert her will with enough effort to make the others directly feel her presence instead of just listening to her voice.


    Since they had used meal time as an opportunity to hold a meeting, they ate what was on their tes while exchanging small talk. Only when everyone finished did the mood turn more serious. The atmosphere was a side-effect of everyone waiting for someone else to talk.


    While they could agree that they should decide on something now that they had a way to navigate and travel through the Void, it wasn''t as if they knew much about the Void, to begin with. If anyone knew about a nearby amusement park, they would have already been on their way to it.


    Hods and Stitches had only been pirates for a short while, and theirbined knowledge amounted to Pirate Haven, Beltor''s tform, the frontlines, and a few other ces.


    Taienra and Asilean had only been surfing through the Void without paying much attention to where they went or the names of what they encountered, but they had heard about Pirate Haven. Through their encounter with the Starsling Kingdom''s void ships, they had an approximate idea of which direction the war was in.


    No one was especially keen on barging in on a war between the demon and the human realm, especially not Stitches or Hods since those two were officially deserters. Taienra and Asilean disliked the idea of running into the Starsling people again. At least until they were strong enough to take revenge.


    But what were they going to do at Pirate Haven when the only two with connections there were Stitches and Hods? Flimsy connections at that. They could greet their old captain before exining how they didn''t return because Toz killed one of the higher-ranking people in the pirate crew.


    The captain would probably understand the situation if they exined it properly, but it wasn''t enough of a reason to go to Pirate Haven.


    "...pirate king."


    "''Huh?''"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    No one at the table heard Toz''s words clearly, so there was a chorus of people wondering what he said.


    Toz looked up and met everyone''s gazes before answering the unasked question.


    "I feel like taking over the ce and bing a Pirate King."


    To several people around the table, Toz''s statement came as a shock. It wasn''t exactly a short amount of time they had spent with Toz on the ind. However, during all that time, he had never disyed any signs of harboring such extreme ambition or lust for power.


    The only ones who weren''t shocked were Nil, Lucy, Mindle, and Scrael. Those four had known Toz for long enough to know that he wasn''t saying it out of greed for power. And ambition was probably thest thing Toz felt at the moment.


    If the four cats had to guess what Toz was thinking, it was probably something along the lines of, ''It would be fun bing the King of Pirates.''


    The four cats exchanged a knowing nce when Toz''s next words confirmed their guess.


    "Don''t get me wrong. I just think it would be pretty exciting to experience the life of a Pirate King."


    Toz had seen the way Joan, Stitches, Hods, Taienra, and Asilean looked at him. Since they had looked at him as if he had suddenly transformed into a power-hungry madman, he tried to appease them.


    His words eased most of their doubts, but they still decided to keep an eye out in case power corrupted Toz.


    Toz''s wish was slightly childish, but it at least gave the ind-dwellers an objective that would help stave off their boredom. Thanks to Toz, they had gotten something to do other than train. Toz was going to be a Pirate King, and the others would help him.


    They would deal with what came after when they finished ying around.


    It wasn''t as if Toz was bing a Pirate King anytime soon, either way. They still had quite a distance to travel before they reached Pirate Haven. And during that time, they would do as much as possible to prepare themselves for their arrival at Pirate Haven.


    Training, enchanting, healing, growing.


    Joan was worried about her son since he should be healthy enough to wake up but without showing signs of ever doing so. However, she was nearly finished with Toz''s coat, so she wasn''t going to stop working.


    Toz had a bunch of magic to perfect. The cats wanted to grow stronger for several reasons. Hods as well. Stitches wanted to figure out why Joshua wasn''t waking up. Taienra was working on bing more synchronized with the forest on her back.

 Chapter 211 On The Way To Pirate Haven (1)

    ?Taienra was the only one who knew exactly how far away they were from Pirate Haven. But since that knowledge was more like instinct due to her nature as a Starry Sky Whale, it was difficult for the others to understand what she meant when she tried to exin how far away it was. Taienra resigned herself with a sigh and just told everyone to be patient instead of trying to exin further.


    Since it was so far away, Taienra didn''t feel like rushing and tiring herself out when she could take it easy and enjoy the trip while at the same time deepening her connection with the trees.


    After the battle with the three void beasts ended, and after everyone had recovered, Toz told Taienra what he knew about the trees and what he had found out during his stay on the ind. From that, Taienra expected the trees to absorb her mana and be filled with the star attribute.


    The trees did ept the mana from Taienra''s body, and it almost looked like they absorbed the mana as well. But Taienra could tell that the trees didn''t take the mana for themselves. They only let the mana circte the ind.


    It took a while until Taienra figured out that the trees were using the purity and strength of Taienra''s mana to enhance the mana they actually absorbed. She didn''t understand how she did it, and she didn''t mind it either. She could still control the star mana around the ind, and the quality of the other types of mana increased, making it easier for the other ind dwellers to train.


    Since Taienra could use the mana in the trees for her own magic, she had gotten an incredible leap in strength after fusing with the trees. Although the mana stored in the trees wasn''t quite as dense and pure as the mana in her body and mana pool, there was so much mana it was like having a secondary mana pool.


    The only thing Taienra was worried about was how the ind would change when she grew or reached a new level. Since she was at the sixth level, her next breakthrough would put her in a new division, which always came with significant change. She could only hope that it wouldn''t be too extreme.


    Taienra wasn''t the only one worried about breaking through to the next level.


    Although Toz wasn''t about to cross into a new division, he was falling further and further behind everyone else on the ind. While he had refined his mana a fifth and a sixth time, the cats had made steady progress toward the next level.


    Toz wanted to catch up, but he also wanted to further develop his skills and proficiency with the various elements under his control. Toz was sure that mastering void magic and how tobine his different attributes would bring his strength to incredible heights.


    However, he needed to be more imposing if he wanted to be a proper Pirate King, and being at the fourth level was quite far from what one would describe as imposing.


    Eventually, two realizations made him prioritize honing his control over his magic instead of training his mana.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It would be easier for Toz to train his mana if he had greater control over his attributes.


    And it didn''t matter, even if he became a Pirate King while he was at the fourth level. The only thing that mattered was that he had the strength to back up his position. And bing something along the lines of ''the weakest but strongest Pirate King'' sounded like something that would be fun.


    With his mind set, Toz began practicing the use of all his attributes, and his first item on the list was sessfully mixing one element with void magic.


    Toz had alreadye pretty far in that aspect while creating Scrael''s leg, so he continuedbining void and metal.


    Even after several tries, the only thing that changed was the metal''s color and rigidity. The metal became a dull, colorless grey that was slightly softer than ordinary metal constructs. However, Toz noticed that it was a lot more epting of foreign mana.


    He hadn''t been bothered by it before since he used swords of his own mana that didn''t interfere too much with his magic. But after he tried making a simple swordbining only void and metal, he realized how smoothly his mana flowed through the sword while he sued magic.


    Toz became more and more excited for the moment his sword wasplete with every discovery. Since he wanted to maximize its potential, Toz had put off creating it until he had a better grasp of his attributes and the variousbinations of them.


    After metal, Toz continued with darkness. It was a natural choice, both because he acquired darkness thanks to Lucy shortly after bonding with Nil. But also because it was the element he had put the most effort into trainingtely. Since Toz wantedplete his spell, he trained his darkness mana first. Though, his progress had been put on hold with everything that happened.


    Toz wasn''t going to make much progress in training his mana while experimenting either, but he hoped mixing darkness with void would help deepen his understanding of darkness magic so that he could improve his spell further.


    Unlike with metal, Toz didn''t create a construct whilebining the two elements. Toz began experimenting by adding void mana to his own shadow since he was more interested in the interactions between void and darkness rather than the interactions between void magic and darkness magic. His spell was inspired by naturally existing darkness, after all.


    The change to his shadow was subtle at first, but Toz quickly saw how his shadow seemed to have melted after being infused with void mana. The outline turned soft before copsing and spreading out like ink over the ground. A few strips also disappeared into the ground. As Toz looked closer, he realized that it would be more urate to say that the shadow passed through the ground rather than into it.

 Chapter 212 On The Way To Pirate Haven (2)

    ?The shadows that didn''t pass through the ground or begin floating in the air continued slowly spreading like a curse, covering the ground they crawled over in inky darkness.


    Toz was incredibly excited over the discoveries regarding the darkness and voidbination. The thing with passing through solid matter was one thing. But Toz was pretty sure that the aspect where the darkness spread like ink could be a clue to improving his spell.


    As Toz continued trying things out, he learned how to control the various aspects of the elementalbination.


    He wanted to dive into creating his spell as soon as possible, but he also wanted to create his sword as quickly as possible. And arge part of the sword creation would be waiting for the trees toplete the sword. Toz would have enough time to create his spell during that part.


    After reaching a decision, Toz continued on with the next elementalbination. Void and fire.


    Toz conjured a ball of me above his hand before adding void mana to the mix.


    The orange me gradually lost its color, starting from the bottom of the me, and eventually, the entire ball of fire turned grey. The me didn''t only lose its color. It also lost its temperature, but it didn''t grow cold, either. It simply wasn''t warm, as if it didn''t exist. The only thing that proved the me''s existence other than the ball of grey me in his hand was the mana it used to continue burning.


    The amount of light the me gave out was incredibly limited, barely strong enough to reach the surface of his palm.


    Toz wasn''t sure he wanted to try the me out on just anything since it gave off a slightly ominous feeling, despite not having a temperature. Or maybe because it didn''t have a temperature.


    Thankfully, a swarm of void beasts headed their way. Right after they escaped the swarm chasing Taienra and Asilean, they had either encountered enormous swarms or no beasts at all, but the state of the void beasts had long since returned to normal.


    Toz wasn''t sure how much of the me he would need in order to defeat the jellyfish, but he started off small with the me in his hand.


    The grey me flew through the air at a moderate speed until it reached the first jellyfish, which ittched onto like a leech. Toz noticed instantly how the me no longer drained his mana.


    Only a few short moments after it stopped consuming Toz''s mana, the grey me burst out and covered every inch of the jellyfish in grey fire.


    Toz saw the area covered by grey fire gradually shrink as it drained all the mana in the jellyfish''s body, turning the jellyfish into a husk that shriveled and turned into dust as the me leaped toward the next jellyfish, where it repeated the process.


    The only thing Toz could do was look on in awe at the power of the mana-devouring me. It even had the ability to automatically seek out new sources of mana when the thing ittched onto ran out.


    Toz let the me clear out the swarm before making sure everyst ember stopped burning. If the grey me was left alone in an environment where it had ess to a continuous flow of mana, only disaster waited. The me fed on mana, and since everything in the universe contained mana, it fed on everything in the universe.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz would have to try out the limits of the me before determining how dangerous the me is. Maybe it was so effective against the void beasts due to the void attribute or the beasts'' poor control over mana.


    After confirming he could control the me, Toz moved on to the next element. Lightning.


    Toz was excited to see what would happen to lightningbined with void since he had just seen the potential of fire and voidbined.


    However, unlike the previous elements he had tried out, he didn''t have a natural way to try the lightning and voidbination. Reinforcing his body with void-infused lightning magic seemed like taking an unnecessary risk.


    Toz could only hope that the lightning wouldn''t be as dangerous as the fire as he decided to target the Void with a lightning bolt.


    He built up a charge of lightning mana, and right before discharging it into the Void, he added void mana to it. Right before the lightning bolt took off, Toz sensed the erratic and flickering lightning mana settle down. However, the straight beam of lightning that shot into the Void captured any further thoughts.


    Since lightning bolts almost zigzagged through the air, Toz had expected something simr, but maybe grey instead of purple. The lightning did turn grey, but it also stopped zigzagging. His lightning bolt had turned into a straight line of grey lightning that disappeared into the Void.


    Toz sent out a few more lightning bolts before deciding that he wasn''t going to try it out any further until he had a suitable target.


    With lightning done, the only thing left was space.


    Toz didn''t have as much experience with the space attribute as he did with his other elements, so he didn''t know what to expect.


    But, like with everything else, he wouldn''t learn unless he did something first.


    The only thing Toz knew how to do well enough to dare mix with void magic was open a tear in the fabric of space with his hand. Toz wrapped a mix of void and space mana around his hand before reaching out and grabbing hold of the air in front of him.


    Usually, when he opened a tear in the fabric of space, it was like tearing a piece of cloth. Space tore at the seams, creating an elliptical hole through which he could see the swirling blue vortex of space.


    However, with void mana added to his space magic, space only tore where he dragged his fingers, creating four glittering grey rifts, each the width of its respective finger.


    When Toz asked Asilean about it, he only got the answer that it was a different way to tear through space. Toz couldn''t help but suspect there was something else that even Asilean didn''t know. But if Asilean didn''t know, it would take quite some time before Toz figured out what it was.

 Chapter 213 On The Way To Pirate Haven (3)

    ?After trying out how the different elements mixed with void, it was time to beginbing the elements that weren''t void with each other with the help of his void element.


    Since he wasn''t confident in being able to control andpletely understand abination of all his elements, Toz simply added them together before beginning to create his sword.


    Toz had to be careful and precise when making his sword. If he didn''t adjust the different elements to the perfect ratios, the sword would just copse before dissipating and forcing Toz to start over.


    Eventually, after stabilizing the mixture of six different elements, Toz finished the first step of his sword. Unlike his previous sword, where the different attributes were clearly discernable, histest creation was a single color, and anyone other than Toz would find it impossible to tell how or from what elements it was made.


    The dark grey sword only had a slight color variation on its edges that were a misty grey rather than the thundercloud dark grey of the rest of the sword.


    After Toz made the sword, it was time to fill it with as much mana as possible. Toz had expected it would take a lot until the sword was satisfied, but he was still surprised since he had it took several rounds of emptying his mana pool into it. And Toz''s mana pool was thergest on the ind, including Taienra and the ind. Six refinements where Toz pushed his mana to the limit each time wasn''t for nothing.


    Each new element he learned improved his mana control and allowed Toz to push his mana pool even further each time he refined and expanded it. Toz was thankful that the mana pool wasn''t a physical organ actually existing in his body since that would have led to him bing rounder than any human should be.


    But Toz''s stupidlyrge mana pool was still emptied several times in the process of satiating his sword. Thankfully mana regeneration speed is proportional to other aspects of mana, so therger the mana pool and the greater the mage''s control over mana, the quicker they regenerate it.


    When the sword was finally satisfied, Toz ced it on the ground for the final part, where the trees would take over and make the sword even better. Toz had already confirmed several times that constructs turned into wood and made of physical matter instead of purely mana were a lot more durable and better at handling mana than before turning into wood. Scrael''s leg had also shown that constructs with void opened up the possibility for further strengthening by allowing another round of mana to be pumped in.


    cing the construct that Toz wanted to be a permanent object on the ground and letting the trees take charge was a natural item on the list. However, Toz''stest sword acted differently from everything else he had made.


    A few moments after being put on the ground, the sword was swallowed by the trees.


    Toz could only stare nkly as the trees opened a hole beneath the sword before covering the sword entirely. He could still sense the sword''s existence since it was made out of his mana, but he couldn''t control it. He would have to break open the ground and dig the sword out if he wanted to check on it or regain control over it. But he didn''t see a reason to go that far when he could simply trust the trees and be patient.


    "Toz. You''re abnormal."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz was brought out of his daze by Taienra''s words.


    "What do you mean?"


    However, no matter how much he asked, Taienra didn''t want to exin herself. Since Toz could tell that she didn''t mean anything bad by it, he didn''t take it to heart. But he was still curious about what she had sensed.


    Since she was directly connected to the trees that had swallowed the sword, Taienra might be able to sense things even Toz, the sword''s maker, wouldn''t be able to. It also made sense if she didn''t answer because she had to inspect and maybe control the trees and the sword.


    With the sword in a ce where Toz couldn''t do anything, both because he didn''t need to and because he only needed to wait for it to finish, Toz could finally begin training his mana. But he wanted to check on Joshua before doing anything else.


    Joshua looked physically perfect thanks to Stitches'' magic, but he didn''t yet show any signs of waking up. Stitches assumed that it was because controlling all that mana had put unreasonable pressure on Joshua''s mind, and until it recovered naturally, they could only wait.


    Toz also found out that Joan was in the finishing stages of his coat, but she didn''t let her see it since she wanted it to be a surprise.


    While he was at it, Toz also checked in on the other inhabitants of the ind.


    Though there wasn''t much to check since the cats and Hods were mostly training. At least they were making steady progress. Hods was about to reach the sixth level, and the cats were holding anotherpetition of who could make the greatest progress.


    Toz decided to join thepetition since he had nothing else to do. Although it might have been unfair since he still hadn''t broken through after thestpetition and had a lead, it didn''t matter since the cats had made up for that during the time when Toz experimented with void magic and created his sword.


    Toz sat down not too far from the rest of the cats and began training his darkness mana. It was the attribute he had trained the most since he wanted to finish his spell, and it was the spell that he would be able to break through with the quickest.


    With everyone except Stitches, Joan, and Joshua focusing on training or something simr, the ind grew tranquil.

 Chapter 214 On The Way To Pirate Haven (4)

    ?Despite targeting most of her concentration on Toz''s sword, Taienra kept the ind going in the direction of Pirate Haven.


    The ind''s inhabitants might have found a way to navigate and control their travels through the Void in Taienra, but they could only guess how much time they spent floating through the Void.


    The only way they had to measure time was through the progress they made. And the first significant sign of progress was Toz''s breakthrough to the fifth level. Toz naturally wanted to be hailed as the winner of the unofficialpetition among the ind dwellers. However, his ims weren''t supported by the others since they wanted to be first and because Toz was already a step behind. He hadn''t won thepetition. He had merely joined the race.


    When Toz tried to rationalize his difficulties in advancing through the levels due to his multiple elements, all the cats shot him down by saying it wasn''t a valid reason. Toz could only sigh and ept his fate as the group''s slowpoke before getting to work on bringing the next element to the fifth level.


    Toz considered getting to work on his spells right after his darkness mana reached the fifth level, but he decided to refine all the other attributes first. It wasn''t like his spell was going anywhere.


    Toz chose to refine his void attribute first, but it wasn''t like it mattered much since he was going to do them all in one go. And it became easier with each sessive refinement, so Toz didn''t spend too much time on bing a fifth level mage at the sixth refinement. During thest few elements, the thing that had taken the most time was waiting for his mana pool to recover and get ready for another round of expansion.


    By the time Toz finished his sixth refinement, the other cats also started showing signs of progress.


    Without his friend to y with, Lucy had put serious effort into his training. Maybe because he felt it was his fault Joshua had pushed himself and was currentlyatose. But Lucy was in the lead, with Asilean in second ce, followed by Nil, Mindle, and Scrael.


    However, since Asilean was at the sixth level and would cross divisions during his next breakthrough, it was very unlikely for him to catch up to Lucy. It was the same with Scrael.


    It almost looked like it would be a repeat ofst time between the three of Nil, Lucy, and Mindle. Though, Nil and Mindle were more focused on beating each other than catching up to Lucy. One wanted to make things right by winning, and the other wanted to keep their win streak. It was a tight race between Nil and Mindle.


    However, there was an unexpected im to the second ce. Since Hods required more space for his training, he had been training a little off to the side, so no one noticed his progress until he suddenly disyed the power of a sixth level fighter.


    Nil and Mindle still didn''t want to lose to one another, so they continued their fight, even after both of them had already lost to Hods.


    It didn''t take long for the results toe. It was Mindle''s victory. She got revenge for her previous loss.


    Nil epted the defeat with some grace despite attributing the loss to how he had been busy reinforcing the ind with magic. Though, since he didn''t have to do that now that the ind was part of Taienra, he vowed to win the next time.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    On another part of the ind, Joan was also making steady progress. Both toward finishing Toz''s coat and toward bing a fifth level enchanter. The study, reparation, and improvement of the enchantments from Toz''s previous coat kept helping Joan train her mana, especially when she used the enchantments she learned together when creating Toz''s new coat.


    But even when the coat was almostplete, Toz still had no idea what it looked like since Joan stopped him from looking. He could only await itspletion eagerly.


    But Toz didn''t spend his time waiting idling around. He was working on his spell where he trapped his target''s mind and body in inescapable and infinite darkness. He had made some progress with the void magic, but it had also led to setbacks in another area.


    When Tozbined the different attributes, it was nigh impossible to awaken the darkness mana and bring out its full potential, which he needed for the spell''spletion. Since it became even harder to create a spell when using several elements, Toz held off on that and decided to focus only on using darkness mana in his spell.


    However, mixing darkness with other elements had still given Toz an insight into the nature of workings which gave him a push in the right direction.


    Tozbined the new insights with his original thoughts and began ying around with his darkness mana while staring into the Void.


    The original idea was to simte the darkness of the Void and concentrate it around a single person, isting them from the rest of the universe. With the help of his visualization of the Void, Toz managed to partially awaken the true nature of darkness mana. However, the spell drained his mana at incredible speeds, making it unfit for extendedbat, especially if Toz was up against multiple opponents.


    With the help of Lucy, Toz realized that the darkness of the Void wasn''t absolute in the way he first expressed it in his spell. But Toz hadn''t found a way to properly convey that understanding without drastically limiting the spell''s power.


    However, Toz''s experiments whilebing darkness with other elemental attributes had given him an even deeper understanding of darkness. Unlessbined with void mana, darkness acted in the background while mixed with the other elements.


    It turned constructs of metal into a matte ck color. The orange mes turned ck and lost their light. Lightning bolts also epted the color of darkness. Spatial tears turned almost invisible since a veil of darkness covered the space vortex.


    No matter what attribute darkness was mixed in with, the element retained its original shape. But the darkness'' influence was still noticeable, even if not immediately apparent.


    The problem came when adding the understanding into his spell.

 Chapter 215 On The Way To Pirate Haven (5)

    ?Toz''s recently gained insights didn''t help him make his spell more mana efficient or restructure it to be better.


    The more he thought about it, the closer Toz felt to the answer. But it also felt like the closer he got, the further he would have to go to finish his spell.


    Unless darkness waspletely alone, it always took the shape of other things. Even shadows took the form of what they shadowed. Toz wondered if maybe that was why his spell cost so much mana. He was trying to mold and shape an imitation of the entirety of the Void to fit a single being. Even if it was just an imitation, and one Toz created at that, the Void wasn''t something a person could control.


    Toz realized he could go the other way. Instead of enveloping his target in an imitation of the Void, bringing the Void to the target, why not bring the target to the Void?


    While that was the general train of thought in Toz''s head, it wasn''t as if he was actually going to send his target''s mind and body into the Void. Toz would stop designing and adapting his darkness to suit each specific target and make do with a single straightforward copy of the Void that he ces around the target.


    Unfortunately, it wasn''t like he could try out his spell on anyone on the ind, and casting it on the void beasts only let him know how much mana it used up.


    Toz''stest try did use less mana, but not enough to make the spell efficient enough for use. He also didn''t know how well it worked since it was fruitless trying to submerge a void beast in the Void.


    But at least he was making progress. Every failure brought Toz one step closer to sess.


    Toz was dawdling and ying around with an old sword when the next burst of insight hit him. He had been practicingbining his sword fighting with magic and various elementalbinations when he realized another truth regarding how darkness worked. Darkness didn''t create or destroy. In every elementalbination he tried with darkness, the darkness covered the other element''s appearance.


    Darkness covered the metal construct with ayer of shadows. It did the same with all the other elements.


    During Toz''s first attempts with his spell, he had tried to create an imitation of the Void and destroy his target''s connection with their surroundings. However, that wasn''t the most optimal way to use darkness.


    What if instead of recing the target''s senses with darkness, Toz merely covered them?


    Toz couldn''t stand still with his new inspiration rushing through his mind. Thankfully, a swarm of void beasts wasn''t too far away.


    Unfortunately, Toz wouldn''t be able to tell how effective the spell was other than its mana consumption. But it was still better than nothing. Especially since it only drained a fraction of how much his first attempt had used.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The only thing Toz needed to do to finish his spell was verifying its efficacy and find out how to awaken as much of the darkness mana''s true nature as possible. However, that would have to wait until he had someone to test the spell.


    The sess with the development of his darkness spell inspired Toz to work on something he had put on hold for a long time, training passively.


    Thest time Toz had tried to figure out how to do it was when he and the cats were on the way to Treblor Forest. He hadn''t had any sess back then, and he hadn''t had any need to try and solve his problems with it since he ended up stuck on a piece of wood drifting through the Void, where the only pastime was training.


    However, since he was falling further and further behind the cats in level, he figured it would be a good opportunity to try and figure out a way to counteract his overall slowness.


    And thanks to the wondrous void magic, Toz had a clue on how to proceed. More specifically, thebination of void and fire magic. The grey me devoured other sources of mana without Toz''s interference or continued maniption. While the part where the me consumed the mes wasn''t something he desired, Toz appreciated the aspect where he only needed to get the ball rolling before the magic took care of itself.


    Toz hoped he coulde up with something simr. He had moved on from the idea of training personally while walking at the same time. It would be easier if he could devise some kind of magic that automatically converted, absorbed, and led the mana through his body to his mana pool.


    Since Toz based his idea on the functions of the grey me, he took a few risks as he experimented with the me and his own body. He worried that the grey me wouldtch onto him and burn through his mana.


    However, he quickly realized that it was nothing to worry about as long as he stayed calm and controlled the me which he created.''


    Toz was happy that his magic wouldn''t harm him, but he didn''t know how to proceed after covering his body in ayer of grey mes. He initially tried to reinforce his body with the grey mes, but the mes ended up on the outside for some reason.


    Toz waved his arm through the air and watched the grey mes bend and twist in ordance with his motions. Even if he didn''t know what the grey mes did, it looked cool in a sort of ghostly fire sort of way.


    Since he didn''t know what it did and because it didn''t look like it was the right way, Toz put out the mes and tried something else.


    If only fire and void weren''t enough, maybe adding a third element to the mix would do it. The question was which element to try first.


    Toz decided that it would be easier to follow the same order he did with most other things and begin with metal.

 Chapter 216 On The Way To Pirate Haven (6)

    ?Toz gathered a mix of metal, fire, and void magic in the air above his hand. The mix created a lump of liquid grey metal that seemed like it was about to drip down to the ground. He tried poking the slimy lump with his finger. Toz''s finger easily disappeared into the lump of magic. When it came out again, the magic had covered it in a thinyer of the molten dull grey metal.


    Toz felt the metal harden around his finger, but he could still move and bend it as if the metal was part of his body. He temporarily wondered if he should make another version of Scrael''s leg, but he discarded the thought when he realized that Scrael wouldn''t be able to control it. It was too much of a variable to rece the fully functional prosthetic she was using.


    Toz tried reinforcing his body with the molten metal mana, but just like with the grey mes, it ended up on the outside of his body, creating a skintight suit of soft armor. He wondered if maybe that was going to happen to everybination he made, but that didn''t stop him from continuing with his experiments.


    Next up was the ck me that appeared when Tozbined darkness with fire and void. The ck mes looked like a darker version of the grey mes, but Toz could at least tell they reduced his presence when they covered his body. However, the me was so simr to when hebined darkness and fire with the help of void magic without adding void directly to the mix that Toz couldn''t tell if there was any difference between the two ck mes.


    Toz was about to continue with the next element, but he was interrupted. Toz was about to follow Joan back to the hut Nil had built her so she could hide her progress from Toz, but Stitches interrupted Joan''s interruption. And there was only one reason that would make Stitches run to find Joan with a smile on his face.


    Joshua was awake or about to wake up.


    Joan and Toz ran after Stitches back to the house and picked up the others along the way. The house got a little crowded after everyone on the ind crammed into it.


    However, being a little snug with the others was a small price to pay in order to wee Joshua back to the waking world.


    Joshua coughed a little and sat up as he opened his eyes. He looked around the room dazedly before saying in a raspy voice,


    "Is it my birthday?"


    ''"Joshua!"''


    Lucy and Joan answered Joshua''s question with a shout of joy before lunging at him. Lucy pounced on Joshua while Joan threw herself around him.


    The others also congratted Joshua on his recovery, but in a slightly calmer way than Lucy and Joan since they were worried he would be disoriented and get ufortable by all the ruckus.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After being awake for a little while and eating, Joshua fell asleep, but this time he wasn''tatose, just sleepy. Though, before falling asleep, Joshua bragged about reaching the third level. Joan yfully smacked him since he almost died, and it wasn''t something to be so proud of, even if he became stronger. However, she couldn''t hide her smile, no matter how hard she tried.


    Joan stayed behind with Joshua for a few minutes after he fell asleep, but she eventually stood up and brought Toz to her workshop. It was finally time to reveal Toz''spleted cloak.


    In order to fully utilize the element of surprise, Joan asked Toz to close his eyes so he would see the entire cloak at once when he opened them. Toz epted Joan''s request and stepped into her workshop with closed eyes.


    Toz opened his eyes again after receiving Joan''s okay.


    The coat hung from a hanger attached to a rod running parallel with the ceiling from wall to wall.


    Since Toz''s previous coat had been mostly ck and blue, he had expected something simr. He knew that Joan was using the remains of his old coat to make the new one, but there was apparently less usable material on it than he had expected since the coat was mostly white.


    The coat was long enough to reach the middle of Toz''s thighs, and Joan had made it from mostly white fabrics. However, Toz could see the remnants of his old coat in the coat''s seams, where stripes of ck cloth framed the coat around the shoulders and up and down the front and back. Two stripes ran along his legs up to his shoulders, meeting two simr stripesing from the back of the coat.


    A line of several ck patches, slightlyrger than a coin each, decorated the middle of the front of the coat, imitating a row of buttons. When Toz looked closer, he realized that the ck patches of cloth contained several enchantments that would hold the coat together.


    Joan anxiously waited by the side until Toz finished inspecting the coat. She wanted to exin every little detail, but she didn''t want to disturb Toz while he checked out the coat. She was also worried about what Toz thought of it.


    Toz continued inspecting the coat, and his hand reached out to feel the two pockets on either side of the coat''s front. The pockets had the stripes of ck fabric run straight through their openings, so the ck seam of the coat and the pockets intersected, creating a couple of ck crosses in the otherwise white fabric.


    The coat was overall very simple in appearance, even with the ck crosses on the front. Toz rather appreciated the design, and he opened up the coat to reveal its insides.


    The inside of the coat carried an almost opposite design, but with mostly blue fabric with white stripes of cloth covering the seams. There was also one other difference from the coat''s outsides. There were a lot more pockets. The white seams of the inner pockets intersected with the white stripes of the seams, creating two lines of stars on the coat''s insides.

 Chapter 217 On The Way To Pirate Haven (7)

    ?Toz put on the white coat with a smile forming on his face. The buttons closed up the front automatically, and the coat enveloped Toz in a feeling offort.


    "What do you think?"


    "...It''s awesome."


    Toz responded to Joan''s question with a smile. The ck and white coat contrasted andplemented Toz''s pale face and ck hair. Coupled with his radiant smile and bright eyes, Toz looked even more handsome than usual. If Joan had been able to see anyone other than her husband as a man, she might even have blushed.


    "That''s great! I was a little worried since it''s so different from your old one.


    "I did what I could to use as much of the scraps, but any more than this would havepromised the coat''s defenses and the enchantments'' effects."


    In a burst of relief after knowing that Toz liked the coat, Joan went on to describe the coat''s various functions. The coat had the same spatial storage pockets and temperature-stabilizing functions as his old one. Joan had improved the self-cleaning function since it was white, and Toz fought in a way that usually led to blood sttering on him unless he faced void beasts.


    Since the avable materials limited what Joan could do, she hadn''t been able to improve the coat''s defenses. Instead, she added a self-repairing function that used excess material stored between the coat''s outside and insideyers.


    The main use of the coat was still the pockets, and those were what Toz was the happiest about the coat having.


    Toz was happy with the coat, and Joan was happy that Toz was happy. It was an overall joyous atmosphere. But it didn''t stop there.


    When the cats came in to celebrate and shower Toz inpliments, Joan brought out another surprise. Five of them, to be exact. She had made tiny half-coats for the cats from the leftovers of Toz''s coat.


    The cats'' coats weren''t as exquisitely made as Toz''s and were more for appearance than usefulness, but they still had self-cleaning and storage functions.


    The cats didn''t bother too much about the coats'' functionality. They were overjoyed just matching with Toz. And if they ever ran out of storage space, they only needed to ask Toz, so they didn''t mind that their spatial pocket wasn''t very spacious.


    Toz and the cats left the workshop and lined up outside to the apuse of Hods and Stitches. The six of them gave off a surprisingly majestic and imposing air with their matching uniform-like outfits.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After showing off their coats and doing various poses for a few minutes, Toz and the cats started getting embarrassed since it was obvious that Stitches'' pping had gotten increasingly sarcastic.


    With a few coughs of embarrassment, they dispersed and went back to what they had been doing before Joshua woke up. Except for Asilean. After hearing Taienra''spliment directly in his head, he headed for the front of the ind so he could be as close to her as possible.


    Ever since Toz had made his sword, Taienra had been busy, forcing Asilean to spend most of his time training or hanging out with the other cats. He wasn''t too bothered, but he hadn''t been able to talk much to hertely. It was only natural that he missed her.


    Hopefully, she had managed to control Toz''s sword or whatever it was that kept her busy.


    After he asked her, Asilean found out that Taienra had indeed been managing Toz''s sword. That was the reason she hadn''t been so talkativetely. Asilean was naturally confused since even if he expected it, it was still unreasonable for a single sword to require Taienra''s entire concentration to control.


    Taienra herself didn''t fully understand Toz''s sword. The only thing she knew was that unless she controlled the ind''s mana flow, the sword would ravenously devour it all in one go, which would leave the ind dry, Taienra tired, and the sword unsatisfied. With Taienra managing the mana flowing into the sword, she could limit the intake and regte it. Instead of devouring it all in one go and emptying the forest, the sword got a little mana, bit by bit. It would take longer for the sword to finish transforming into wood, but it also meant that the process wouldplete evenly.


    The sword''s hunger for mana was all that Taienra had figured out regarding the sword''s capabilities. Since she had to use most of her concentration to control the ind''s mana flow, she realized of ravenous the sword was. But that told her nothing about the sword''s actual power or how powerful it would be when its transformation finished. She could onlyment that Toz had created something monstrous. But so far, Taienra and Asilean were the only ones who knew about it.


    Toz suspected he had made something outrageous due to the trees swallowing the sword and Taienra''s remark, but he didn''t have anything to confirm those suspicions. However, his gut feeling told him that the sword, oncepleted, would be pretty neat.


    But Toz had no way to tell, or when to expect, the sword to finish, so he busied himself with training and practicing his magic. He wanted to continue trying to figure out a way to train passively, but since he couldn''t find a clue on how to proceed, he decided to spend his time more productively by training his mana.


    During the breaks he took, Toz pondered and tried things he thought might work or simply practiced his elements.


    While Toz didn''t make any progress with his passive training technique, he learned how to use histest elements more proficiently. Although he couldn''t use it quite as well as Asilean, Toz had learned how to ignore the constraints of space and shrink the space between himself and the ce he was moving toward.


    Toz had also gotten more used to dispelling other magic with his void magic. He wanted to brag by saying he was better than the void beasts, but when he thought of how the void beasts were and how they used magic, he realized it wasn''t worth using them as aparison.

 Chapter 218 Strategy Meeting

    ?Time passed, and the ind, the whale carrying it, and the people on it steadily got closer to their target. Taienra still couldn''t tell them exactly how close they were, but she did know that Pirate Haven wasn''t far away.


    Toz wasn''t interested in pursuing the extremes of efficiency while taking over Pirate Haven and bing the Pirate King, but he still wanted to be prepared. Although the information Hods and Stitches knew was outdated, it would be enough to serve as an introduction to the power structure of Pirate Haven. It would also help Toz and the others prepare for what they needed to do in order to put Toz on the throne of a Pirate King.


    Since it was an important meeting meant to inform everyone about what Hods and Stitches knew about Pirate Haven, everyone gathered together during meal time. Like they usually did when they had important meetings.


    Although Joshua was still recovering and couldn''t use magic as much as he wanted, he still wanted to be part of the n and was almost the one who looked forward to their strategy meeting the most. He hoped that Pirate Haven was far away enough for him to recover and maybe even reach the medium levels before they arrived. Taienra was sure that Joshua wouldn''t make it in time, but she didn''t have the heart to tell him that.


    Since Stitches was the more sociable between him and Hods, he had a better grasp of the situation in Pirate Haven, so he led the conversation around the table by recounting everything he knew about the ce.


    Stitches had several short anecdotes exining how he met the people and what he knew about each pirate crew he had heard about from various sources. Though, he also said that many of the people he met were from the lowest and weakest pirate crews. Pirate crews that appeared and disappeared like weeds locked in a fierce struggle with a farmer.


    Since the pirate crews that Stitches talked about most of the time were weak, it wasn''t weird if they didn''t exist anymore when the group arrived at Pirate Haven.


    However, there were also a few pirate crews that reigned almost like hegemons over Pirate Haven, and if Toz wanted to be the King of Pirates, those crews would put up the most resistance. But that also meant that if Toz subdued those crews, his reign would be confirmed.


    ording to Stitches''test information, three crews each ruled over slightly less than a third of Pirate Haven in addition to having their own bases.


    The Red Hook Pirate Crew. Led by a bloodthirsty pirate who used a pair of grapplehooks to fight and plunder. The pirate leader, aptly nicknamed Red Hook, was rumored to be at the eighth or ninth level, just like the other three bigwigs.


    The Cult of Nihiltas. A self-proimed branch of the Church of Nihiltas, the church worshipping one of the twelve origin gods. Their leader was rumored to be a disgraced bishop of the church who established his own following that was more epting of his murder-friendly attitude. Although they were more of a religion than a pirate crew, considering the ce they stayed at and their way of life, they were more than worthy of the title of pirate.


    The third crew that Stitches said shared the ruling echelon of Pirate Haven was the Blue Lounge League of Pirates. They were significantly more friendly than the other two crews. But that only meant they weren''t quite as violent, and the protection fee they took from the shops in their part of the city was slightly lowerpared to the other crews.


    However, thest thing Stitches knew was that it was the pirate crew showing the most promise since it was made from the union of several other smaller pirate crews. Due to the Blue Lounge''s friendly attitude, smaller crews on the verge of being destroyed frequently joined them and increased their numbers. Stitches didn''t know much about the leader or leaders of the crew since there hadn''t been only one leader when Stitchesst left Pirate Haven.


    Due to Blue Lounge League''s power structure and its origin, the former leaders of the dissolved pirate crews worked together to decide on issues that required their leadership.


    After talking about the three big pirate crews, Stitches went on to talk about the pirate crew he and Hods had been a part of before. He had already talked about it several times before, but it seemed like their imminent arrival at Pirate Haven had built up some anticipation to meet old friends and acquaintances.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, it was the first time Stitches mentioned the name of his old pirate crew.


    "Bunglehoppers? Isn''t that an insect?"


    "Insect? I thought it was a bird."


    "I''m sure it''s a nt, though?"


    Toz, Joan, and Scrael all responded to the name of Hods and Stitches'' old pirate crew with confusion that built after each person asked.


    "..." Stitches stared nkly at the three of them before answering their confusion.


    "It''s an animal. A six-legged ferocious beast with spiky magic-resistant fur. I don''t know what you had in mind, but a bunglehopper isn''t something to joke about. A single careless moment is enough for a bunglehopper to take your life."


    Stitches looked deathly serious when he exined the dangers of bunglehoppers. But seeing Stitches say bunglehopper with such absolute solemnity made it difficult for the others to restrain theirughter.


    Toz and Joan were polite enough to hide theirughter with a hand and slight coughing.


    Scrael, on the other hand, wasn''t nearly as serious as she almost copsed inughter when Stitches told them how the captain had seen the bunglehopper as a kid, and it was the scariest thing the captain knew. Scrael couldn''t see the corrtion between bunglehoppers and fear, and she couldn''t stopughing.


    The others also found the name hrious, and it didn''t take long for Scrael''s infectiousughter to spread and she was soon apanied by Lucy and Mindle, who rolled on the floorughing.


    "You shouldn''tugh so much. What if the bunglehopperes and eats you all?"


    Toz''s mockingment only made the catsugh harder.


    Stitches could only sigh and regret his life choices while staring into the sky.

 Chapter 219 Arriving At Pirate Haven

    ?Taienra had said not too long ago that Pirate Haven wasn''t very far away. But she had said practically the same thing ever since they first decided to head for Pirate Haven, so the people on the ind were quite surprised when Taienra said they had arrived.


    Everyone rushed to the edges of the ind in order to try and spot the city of pirates, Pirate Haven.


    Taienra let them look and point at the various stars and spots in the distance, guessing which one might be Pirate Haven for a while before she cleared her throat.


    "We''re not that close. I stopped before we got in range since you all wanted to investigate before doing anything. And in case you didn''t notice, I''m not exactly made for sneaking around."


    The others gently avoided looking into each other''s eyes as they scratched their heads and looked embarrassed. However, instead of being ovee by the shame of how excited he had gotten, Toz asked Taienra how they would get to Pirate Haven if they couldn''t even see it.


    "Asilean can do at least that much. Maybe you can also manage that much now that you have the void element."


    Without further ado, Toz brought Stitches and all the cats with him onboard one of the sailboats that had been left by the Bunglehoppers'' raid.


    Hods and Joshua also wanted toe, but since it was an investigative mission and because they didn''t want to leave the ind with only Taienra defending it, those two stayed behind with Joan.


    With Asilean spreading his senses throughout the Void, they managed to find their way to Pirate Haven. Asilean also took the opportunity to teach Toz how to use void magic and the natural existence of the Void together. It was simr to how darkness magic was strengthened in dark ces, so Toz easily understood how to use void magic to sense what happened in the Void.


    Toz didn''t be skilled enough just like that topete with how well Asilean did it, but he also sensed Pirate Haven''s existence with his void magic. However, his detection was nothing more than a simple response to his magic, so he still had to wait until they arrived before he could tell how Pirate Haven was built.


    Thankfully the boat ride passed quickly with the cats and Toz fishing for details from Stitches on how the city looked, even with Stitches not saying a word, probably because he was still upset about how the others had mocked the Bunglehoppers.


    The city floating freely through the Void appeared in view soon enough, and it didn''t disappoint the group''s anticipation.


    At first, the city only looked like a pile of garbage since it was so far away, but as they got closer, Toz and the others realized it was, in fact, arge pile of repurposed garbage. The inhabitants of the city used scraps of various things to build houses and connect them with other houses and buildings, eventually creating something simr to a city.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    When Toz got close enough, he saw that the bottom of the city was made of a teau of crushed wreckage, and the houses were stacked on top of each other, creating something simr to a high-rise building, but due to the poor architecture, looked like something a child might make.


    However, the city''s aesthetic perfectly suited what Toz and the cats had in mind when they heard that a bunch of pirates had built a city. For people who lived by robbing, piging, and plundering, it was almost expected they didn''t possess the skills necessary to create a proper city. And it was even more fitting that the city was built from scraps of destroyed ships and various wreckage to be found around the Void.


    For Toz and the cats, a pirate wasn''t a real pirate unless they lived in a dump. If they lived somece else, they were the Starsling Kingdom''s navy.


    The city itself looked like a mishmash of different materials and techniques used to connect everything, with a few areas being more clearly connected than others. However, things were different outside the city.


    Threerge inds orbited the city that,pared to the city, looked a lot more impressive and organized. It was still obvious from a nce that the inds were pirate strongholds, but they were at least somewhat structured. Two of them even had an overall matching color scheme.


    If what Stitches had told them was still true, and the names of the pirate crews were anything to go by, the three inds belonged to the three pirate crews. The red ind belonged to the Red Hook Pirate Crew. The blue ind belonged to the Blue Lounge League of Pirates. And by process of elimination, the ind with mixed colors belonged to the Cult of Nihiltas.


    When they got close enough to see the city, Stitches began directing them to the ce where the Bunglehoppers'' base was. He also took the time to exin how the higher up a crew had a base in the city, the greater their power. Even the three big crews shared the top of the city.


    Stitches looked a little proud when he pointed to where he remembered the base to be, which was around the middleyers of the city.


    When they got close enough to where Stitches pointed, Toz anchored the boat to one of the many bridges pointing out of the ind, which were made for anchoring boats. However, only boats small enough. Larger ships were left further away from the city, and people on board those ships had to use smaller vessels to enter the city.


    Since they were in a city of pirates, it wouldn''t be weird if someone tried to steal their boat, so Toz tied the boat down with a couple of chains he made.


    Stitches had already started looking for the Bunglehoppers, so Toz and the cats went to catch up with him. However, the eager Stitches had turned into an utterly confused version of himself. He found therge mansion-like building the Bunglehoppers had used as their base, but it was dpidated andpletely empty.

 Chapter 220 The Bunglehoppers (1)

    ?Stitches was in obvious distress due to the Bunglehoppers'' absence. Toz ced a hand on his shoulder.


    "Let''s go look for them. Stitches and I will go look for the Bunglehoppers. The five of you can do what you want as long as you stay out of trouble and stick together."


    Toz didn''t see a reason why they should all stay together when the cats were itching to go explore the city. Not to mention how it would be easier to gather information if they spread out.


    Stitches started leading Toz around the narrow and convoluted streets built on top of the roofs of buildings beneath their feet. There was surprisingly little trash and littered garbage around, but Toz''s attention was more focused on the hostile nces the inhabitants gave him and Stitches. Few people walked around in the streets, and most of the looks came from gaps between shutters and behind corners.


    Toz pretty quickly realized that he stood out like a bloody knife in a kitchen with his sparklingly clean, white coat. Stitches looked more appropriate since he wore the clothes he had with him during the raid on the ind, but he received the same hostility as Toz since it was obvious they were together.


    Most of the nces were ones of wariness and hostility that pirates and thugs had against foreigners, but no one looked at Toz with outright malice, so Toz kept his guard up but didn''t actually expect anyone to approach them.


    However, his expectations were bound to be subverted.


    Since Stitches was leading Toz through a more densely popted area on the way to one of the marketces, the two encountered more people on the streets. Everyone looked at Toz with eyes revealing their distaste for the obvious outsider. Tozpared the clothes of the city''s inhabitants with his own. He alsopared his clean and admittedly above-average face with their dirty and around-average faces. Toz decided that it was at least equal amounts of jealousy and wariness that caused people to look at him the way they did.


    It happened when Toz was about to ask Stitches what he thought about his impressive reasoning.


    One of the bandit-looking residents decided to reach for Toz''s pocket when passing by.


    The bandit wanted to identally bump shoulders with Toz, and while Toz was startled, slip a hand or two into his pockets and pick them clean. However, the pickpocket failed at the first step of his n. Despite being at the fourth level, his target didn''t budge or even flinch, and instead, it was the pickpocket that suffered. But it was far from something as simple as a stumble. Toz sent the attempted thief crashing into the ground when he met the thief''s shoulder bump with a move of his own that he called superior strength.


    The thief ended up passing out due to the crash that etched him into the ground.


    Stitches looked back at themotion, but since Toz had already dealt with it, he continued moving. Toz was almost getting concerned since it looked like Stitches was a little too anxious to meet an old pirate crew that he shouldn''t have been that close to, ording to what he told the others.


    Toz wanted to ask Stitches about it, but he was once again interrupted.


    "Hey! Where do you think you''re going, you bastard?!"


    The shout came from a burly man crouched on the ground next to the half-buried bandit. It was obvious he was shouting after Toz, so Toz didn''t even bother pretending not to notice the man. Instead, he turned around and faced the burly guy.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "We''re looking for a pirate crew. The Bunglehoppers. Why? Do you wannae with us?"


    A chill ran down the muscr guy''s spine at Toz''s chilly smile, but he wasn''t smart enough to listen to his instincts, and he opened his mouth again.


    "What bullshit are you spouting now?! Take responsibility for injuring my brother!"


    When Toz looked closer at the bandit lying in the ground, he noticed that their noses were slightly simr.


    The burly man noticed Toz''s rxed attitude and red up. He stood up and prepared to charge at Toz with fury blinding his eyes.


    However, even if he wasn''t affected by rage, he would have still missed Toz''s movements.


    Even just Toz''s base physical prowess was extraordinary due to having refined his mana six times. Although it strengthened his mana more than his body, his body was still improved to a point where it could withstand the incredible amounts of mana that Toz yed around with.


    But the burly man was at the sixth level, and with his body enhanced by aura, he would have been able to notice and almost follow Toz''s movements.


    However, when Toz reinforced his body with magic made by mixing lightning and space mana, the only one who could rival his speed was Scrael.


    Toz hadn''t even disappeared from the burly man''s vision before he reappeared behind him in the process ofnding a strike on the man''s head.


    Toz wasn''t interested in killing anyone in case it stirred up too much trouble, but he sent the guy halfway through the ground. If they had still been in the residential area where houses were stacked on top of each other, the guy''s feet would have been poking through the ceiling of some innocent fellow.


    However, since they were almost at the market, the guy only ended up sticking into solid ground made from ship debris.


    The marketce was one of several built onrge protruding tforms located around the pile of structured wreckage. Without the tforms, the pirates would have had to squeeze the markets into the damp and narrow insides of the city or tried to spread it out over the sloping outsides of the city.


    Since Toz had caused such amotion, Stitches wanted to disappear into the crowds of the marketce and look for clues about where the Bunglehoppers had gone.


    Toz and Stitches got a lot of looks as Stitches pulled Toz with him past all the ogling spectators who were still stunned by the burly man''s quick defeat.

 Chapter 221 The Bunglehoppers (2)

    ?Even with Toz''s appearance that stood out in the crowd, Stitches managed to lose most of the attention they had.


    Toz and Stitches ended up in a lively bazaar with loads of stalls and people selling their goods. Toz was sure that the cats would love it since there were tons of fun stuff picked up from all over the Void, but he and Stitches were on a mission, so taking a look would have to wait.


    Something that didn''t have to wait, however, was Toz''s question. He finally got the opportunity to ask Stitches why he was so anxious.


    "Stitch, there''s something else. Isn''t there?"


    "Huh?"


    Toz was unsure if Stitches was just ying dumb or didn''t hear due to the ruckus of the people milling about all around them, so he rified his question.


    "Why are you so anxious?"


    "Am I?"


    "Yeah. You''ve been in a panic ever since we found the Bunglehoppers'' old and deserted base. They were more than a simple pirate crew to you, weren''t they?"


    "Well¡­"


    Since Toz had already mostly realized it and wanted to know, Stitches told him more about his rtionship with the crew members.


    The group he was with during the raid on the ind was a gathering of several neers deemed trustworthy enough to send out on a mission alone. Stitches was supposed to survey their behavior when they weren''t directly supervised by a more senior pirate to see if the neers really were worthy of fully joining the Bunglehoppers.


    Stitches had been given the mission by Captain Wulf and his right-hand pirate, Hayar, after gaining their trust. It would have been impossible to gain enough trust to be sent out on such a mission if he wasn''t sufficiently close to the two of them. Stitches was naturally close to the rest of the crew as well.


    Stitches didn''t know why he hadn''t told anyone about it. Maybe he was afraid of what Hods would think if he knew Stitches acted like a spy. Or maybe Toz and the others would worry that he would spy on them or something. Stitches didn''t know, and he had already gone too far without telling them, and it would only be weird if he told the others something like that out of the blue after so much time had passed.


    However, he was left without a choice due to the situation. Stitches was worried that Toz might be mad at or disappointed with him, so he looked nervous and frightened while bracing himself for Toz''s answer.


    "The past is in the past, don''t worry about it. I''m more curious about the future. Are you gonna go back to the crew, or are you gonna stay with us?"


    Stitches wasforted by Toz''s words, but he didn''t know how to answer immediately.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Think about it. Don''t make a hasty decision."


    Toz signaled for Stitches to continue leading the way through the marketce. With the Bunglehoppers'' careful attitude, it was very likely that they would sumb and suffer an unexpected defeat. If Captain Wulf was careful enough to investigate the personalities of each pirate trying to join their crew, Toz was pretty sure he would be meticulous enough to prepare a safe house or a secondary base for emergencies.


    There also hadn''t been any signs of destruction or battle at the old base, nor had anyone else taken over it, despite it being a nice ce left all alone. If the Bunglehopeprs were still around, it would make sense that others wouldn''t be interested in offending them and taking their old house. Stronger pirate crews had fancier ces, so they wouldn''t need to go after the Bunglehoppers'' ce.


    Stitches was looking for someone who usually knew everything that went on around Pirate Haven. But considering that person''s business, it wouldn''t be weird if some of the stronger pirates wanted to silence them, so Stitches wasn''t sure he would be able to find them. If he didn''t, they would have to rely on themselves and scour through Pirate Haven and look for leads.


    While leading Toz through the marketce again, Stitches told him about the information peddler, Retsy. Though, there wasn''t much to say since not much was known about them.


    They were currently headed for one of Retsy''s three bases of operation, the middle market. Compared to the upper and lower market, it was the closest, and it also meant the quickest way to get a hold of Retsy.


    However, since Retsy moved around a lot, there wasn''t any guarantee they would be able to meet them, but they would be able to request some information or maybe even set up a meeting with them.


    Eventually, Stitches led Toz through an obscure back alley hidden behind some tilted wooden poles and torn fabric. Stitches sighed in relief since it was the way he remembered it from the time Captain Wulf brought him along. Retsy was still around, and that meant they would be able to find out what happened to the Bunglehoppers.


    Stitches followed the alley all the way to the end, which led out to apletely deserted courtyard, where he carefully looked around.


    Toz kept his guard up since he could sense someone''s presence somewhere close by, but he couldn''t pinpoint their exact location.


    After surveying their surroundings, Stitches and Toz walked on the gravel path that ran straight to the house at the back of the courtyard.


    The house stood out from the rest of the courtyard. While the courtyard was overgrown with weeds and had a couple of sheds on the verge of copse, the house looked properly maintained and cared for. It was far from sparklingly clean, but it looked like it could handle someone living in it.


    The house was a simple, one-story building with a door and a couple of windows, though there was probably a loft or something right beneath the roof. All the windows were covered by aged pink curtains, so Toz and Stitches couldn''t see inside.


    Stitches walked up the stairs and onto the wooden porch before knocking on the door.


    A gruff voice responded almost instantly after Stitches'' knock.


    "Come in."

 Chapter 222 The Bunglehoppers (3)

    ?Since they had been weed inside, Toz and Stitches opened the door and stepped into the house. The gruff voice hade directly from the opposite side of the door, so the two had expected some type of bodyguard standing in the doorway, but the house lookedpletely devoid of people.


    Toz looked around to see if there was anyone around. His feeling that someone was nearby had gotten stronger, but all he saw were various paintings hung up and covering the walls or standing on the floor resting against furniture. He saw a few who hadn''t been framed yet that were draped over sofas. The ce looked cluttered, and Toz couldn''t tell if there was a living room or kitchen anywhere, but he noticed that everything had been arranged with care.


    The paintings on the walls weren''t tilting or about to fall down, and none of the other paintings ovepped and covered one another. The ones without frames were also put so they wouldn''t be damaged by how theyy.


    The realization that someone cared deeply for all the art in the house immediately changed Toz''s thoughts about the house. It wasn''t cluttered, just too small to fit all the love within. He looked at what the paintings depicted since it might tell him more about Retsy, the person they were about to meet, but every painting was a portrait of a different person.


    Maybe Retsy was more interested in the artist than the art itself.


    "Over here!"


    Toz and Stitches looked up at the voice. After taking a few more steps deeper into the house, they saw a door leading into what looked like an office. There was arge oak desk in the middle, with a window on the wall opposite the door. Behind the desk was a leather chair. Toz saw the source of the voice sitting with his arms resting on the desk in that chair.


    When they entered the room, Toz looked around and noticed there weren''t any paintings or any art anywhere in the office. Aside from the desk, the leather chair, and a couple of armchairs, the room waspletely bare.


    The young woman in the chair gestured for Toz and Stitches to take a seat in the armchairs.


    Toz looked questioningly at Stitches while they sat down since he was curious if they were talking to Retsy. Stitches noticed Toz''s gaze but could only shrug lightly in response since he didn''t know either.


    "Are you Retsy?"


    Toz decided to ask what he wanted to know. However, his question was ignored.


    "Wee! To what do I owe the pleasure of receiving Pirate Haven''stest trouble-seeking neer?"


    The mysterious young woman smiled at Toz but turned her gaze to Stitches before Toz could answer and continued,


    "And if I''m not wrong, aren''t you one of the missing Bunglehoppers?"


    This time it looked like the woman actually wanted an answer, so Stitches answered her rhetorical question.


    "That''s why we''re here, actually. The Bunglehoppers aren''t staying where they did thest time I was at Pirate Haven. I was wondering where they are and if something has happened to them."


    Stitches tried to look calm while indirectly asking about the Bunglehoppers, but it was clear that the woman noticed how much he wanted the information since she leaned back and smiled cunningly.


    "Who knows? That information''s pretty valuable due to the people involved."


    Stitches knew that Retsy wouldn''t sell information about powerful pirates without an adequate price, but thest time Stitches checked, the Bunglehoppers were only worthy of the middle tier. However, the woman in front of them made it sound like one of the big three, the only pirate crews worthy of the upper tier, were involved, either directly or indirectly.


    Stitches audibly gulped since he realized the Bunglehoppers might have ended up shing with one of the big three. However, he forced his mouth to move.


    "I-is there anything you can tell us?"


    "For the right price, I can tell you everything."


    The woman leaned forward and looked at Toz this time. Toz answered Stitches'' pleading eyes.


    "What do you wanna know?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Your strength, for starters."


    "Why?"


    "It''s highly sought-after information."


    "By who?"


    "Tell me how strong you are and where youe from, and I''ll tell you what you wanna know, including a few details about the Bunglehoppers."


    Toz looked at Stitches while he pondered. He could see that Stitches dearly wanted to know what happened to the Bunglehoppers, but he didn''t want to pressure Toz into giving up personal details. Toz respected Stitches'' struggles and appreciated how he let Toz make the decision.


    Toz turned to look at the brown-haired woman again.


    "If you tell me your name, I''ll also let you know whether I''m a mage or a fighter."


    "Deal."


    "Fifth level mage from the Firebelt Kingdom."


    Toz revealed the promised information without hesitation.


    "You aren''t lying?"


    The power Toz disyed while beating the burly man, who was also at the medium levels, wasn''t something a mage at the fifth level should have unless they had a unique type inclination, so the woman had been slightly startled. She quickly, almost instantly, hid her surprise. Stitches didn''t notice, but it didn''t escape Toz''s keen eyes.


    Toz smiled at her.


    "You don''t believe me?"


    "Would you?"


    "Does that matter?"


    "I guess not, but I run a business, so I need to confirm that information. In exchange for appeasing my doubts, I''ll let you know one more thing regarding the people looking for you."


    "Okay."


    Toz eased up the control on his mana a little bit so that the woman would be able to sense his mana. Usually, mages couldn''t hide their level from beings at higher levels. However, that changed if the mage had sufficient control of their mana and if their mana was of good enough quality. Toz had also discovered he could use his void and shadow attributes topletely hide his identity as a mage, not that he needed to since he had excellent control over his mana. His mana was also refined six times, making it of extremely high quality.


    The woman had expected Toz to admit to lying or maybe try and trick her, but it was almost impossible for Toz to fool her since he let her sense his fifth level mana. He didn''t let her sense of vast his mana pool was, but she didn''t even attempt to since that would be a breach of their agreement.


    The woman smiled at Toz.


    "Sorry about that. My name is Retsy, and it''s a pleasure doing business with you."

 Chapter 223 The Bunglehoppers (4)

    ?Retsy was just about to continue talking and fulfill her end of the agreement. But she was interrupted by the arrival of someone outside the house. The new arrival had no intention of hiding their presence, so even Stitches sensed it. Stitches thought it was slightly familiar, but he couldn''t ce it. And before he could think further, the person''s footsteps up the stairs could be heard right before the door burst open.


    Urgent shouting apanied the door mming into the wall.


    "Mosshead, don''t say a word to that sneaky fucker!"


    The new arrival turned out to be a woman, and her footsteps rang out through the house before she became visible at the end of the short hallway leading to the office. The woman was slightly shorter than average, but her imposing demeanor, coupled with her rough clothes, made her seem bigger.


    The woman with vibrant green hair marched into the office and red at Retsy with ferocity. Stitches looked like he wanted to say something, but the green-haired woman talked first.


    "You zip it! I don''t wanna hear anything."


    The green-haired woman turned to Retsy and spoke again.


    "Didn''t I request you to tell me as soon as you caught wind of Mosshead''s location? What the fuck do you think you''re doing, sniffing around for information like a dog before telling me he''s back?"


    Retsy looked unperturbed at the green-haired woman''s outburst as she smiled and responded.


    "Then how did you find out he was here?"


    "I heard some rumors about a green-haired fucker going around letting his buddy beat up the Red Hook''s underlings. And that they were on their way to your base. I''ve got ears, y''know."


    Retsy only smiled in response.


    "What?"


    "Who do you think spread those rumors to your favorite cafe, specifically?"


    "...Fuck! I still don''t appreciate you trying to trick one of the Bunglehoppers. I''m telling Cap''n about this."


    "You do that. But you should know I''m not interested in Stitches. It''s his friend I''m intrigued by."


    Retsy''s words made the green-haired woman turn to look at Toz.


    "Hey, what''re you doing hanging around my Mosshead?"


    "Do you want me to answer that now?"


    Toz asked his question while ncing in Retsy''s direction.


    "Fair point. Follow me. You too, Mosshead."


    "Is it fine if I listen to Retsy first?"


    "What? You don''t trust me?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Is there a reason I should? I don''t know you."


    The green-haired woman red at Toz for a few moments before grunting an acknowledgment and leaving the office while dragging Stitches by the cor.


    Toz turned to look at Retsy.


    "Seems like the security is slightlycking around here?"


    "People capable of stopping her don''t work as security."


    Retsy looked slightly annoyed when she answered while thinking of the green-haired woman''s intrusion. But she quickly regained her calm and cunning look and turned to Toz. Since the green-haired woman waited outside for Toz, Retsy didn''t dawdle and told Toz what he wanted to know. Retsy seemed quite eager to send Toz on his way to make the green-haired woman leave her property.


    Retsy summarized the information in a few sentences.


    The people Toz had beaten into the ground were part of the upper echelons of a pirate crew called the Sanguine de. The extra information Toz got was that the Sanguine de was a subsidiary of the Red Hook Pirate Crew. An extension of one of the big three, and possibly a small part of the Red Hook Pirate Crew itself, was after Toz. It was certainly important information.


    Retsy didn''t have as much to say about the Bunglehoppers. After telling Toz that the Bunglehoppers were doing more than fine and that he would find out whatever he wanted, she started shooing him out the door.


    Toz closed the door behind himself at Retsy''s request. Retsy leaned back in her chair and sighed while covering her eyes with a hand.


    "If that''s a fifth level, what has everyone else been doing with their lives."


    Retsy stood up and started walking around the desk toward the door after Toz and Stitches were led away by the green-haired woman. Retsy''s body slowly morphed and transformed into a tall man with deep brows. A man that one could tell had a gruff voice solely based on his appearance.


    When Toz exited the house, he found Stitches with his forehead and toes against the ground, his body forming an arch, and he had his arms behind his back.


    The green-haired woman stood nearby, ring at Stitches with crossed arms. She turned to look at Toz as he came out of the house.


    "Finally. Let''s go. I''m not done with you yet, Mosshead. Just wait until we get to the base."


    "Yes, Mossboss!"


    The green-haired woman turned around and started walking rapidly away from the courtyard. Stitches scrambled to stand up and follow, not caring about his red forehead.


    Toz followed behind, slightly curious about the rtionship between the two pirates. Stitches had a grin on his face, even after being punished and reprimanded. And the green-haired woman used a punishment barely effective on even low level mages on someone at the seventh level. It was obvious she was upset but didn''t wish to inflict actual harm on Stitches.


    The green-haired woman led Stitches and Toz away from the marketce and in the direction of the upper tier of the city. They followed a road that snaked around the outside of the city since it was the cleanest and fastest route.


    Toz was curious about what it looked like within the pile of wreckage-turned-city since the road made him realize how the city was simr to a conical fortress or a dug-out mountain. But he had finally made contact with the Bunglehoppers, and until he settled that matter, exploration would have to wait. Toz was almost beginning to regret taking on all of these responsibilities. However, he wouldn''t give up until he officially became Pirate King.


    The green-haired woman finally stopped in front of severalrge vis on top of a small outcropping on the city.

 Chapter 224 The Bunglehoppers (5)

    ?Toz looked at the three simr vis surrounding arge greenhouse. The vis were all elegant three-story houses made from proper materials. It was vastly differentpared to the city that Toz had seen so far.


    The green-haired woman that Stitches called Mossboss let Toz and Stitches admire the luxurious sight of the buildings for a few moments before continuing toward the greenhouse.


    "Come, I''ll take you to the cap''n."


    Stitches looked increasingly nervous as he trailed behind the green-haireddy like a downcast puppy.


    Toz was slightly worried about walking into the middle of a pirate''s nest belonging to a pirate crew powerful enough to have a base right between the upper and middle tier. However, he decided to trust the people that Stitches trusted. Even if Stitches currently didn''t look like the most trustworthy friend since he was busy trying and failing to talk to his Mossboss. Every attempt was stopped either by Stitches himself since he didn''t know what to say or by the green-haired woman who smacked him in the head when he finally managed to open his mouth.


    Thankfully, Toz didn''t have to look at their one-sided quarrel for much longer since they arrived at the greenhouse.


    The green-haired woman stopped right in front of the brass-framed ss doors.


    "Most nts in there are poisonous, so don''t touch anything. If you do, not even Mosshead here would be of help."


    The green-haired woman opened the doors and followed the cobblestone path to the center of the greenhouse.


    "Ah! Hayar, you''re back. How''d it go?"


    "Retsy wasn''t interested in what Mosshead''s been up to, and there were no signs of Hammerface, only this guy."


    "Hello."


    Toz said hi to the middle-aged man with steel-grey hair down to his shoulders in response to Hayar pointing at him. Stitches also stuttered out a greeting.


    "H-hey, Cap''n."


    Captain Wulf looked at Toz for a second before turning a sharp gaze toward Stitches.


    "''Hey?'' That''s the first thing you say after disappearing for over a year. And you say it while standing up?"


    "I''m sorry, Cap''n!"


    Stitches immediately assumed the same position that Hayar had put him in outside Retsy''s house.


    "That''s better."


    Wulf harrumphed at Stitches before his head turned to face Toz again.


    "So, who''re you, and what''s your rtionship with Stitch?"


    Wulf seemed to have a more cordial attitude than Hayar, who had taken a seat next to her captain, but Toz could tell that Wulf''s gaze was cold as steel.


    Toz gave Wulf the same introduction he had given Retsy before he thought of how to exin his rtionship with Stitches.


    "Hurry up!"


    Though Hayar''s impatience prevented him from thinking too much, and Toz simply told them a brief version of how he met Stitches, Hods, and the other pirates and what happened after their raid failed totally.


    "You killed Frowny? Why?"


    Toz responded to Hayar''s question with a raised eyebrow.


    "What do you mean ''Why?'' An angry-looking pirate tried to raid my home and wanted to kill me. Last time I checked, rational people don''t let themselves get killed by strangers.


    "Anyway, that''s what happened. If you have any problems with it, I won''t stop you from trying to take revenge."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Hayar looked like was about to burst due to Toz''s nonchnt and disregarding attitude, but Wulf held her back by stretching out his hand.


    "Can you take responsibility for your words?"


    "I can. Can you take responsibility for the actions my words trigger?"


    Hayar looked like she immediately wanted to tear Toz to pieces due to his arrogance and disrespect.


    Stitches felt like he was about to turn green from stress and worry. He felt like he knew approximately how strong Toz was, and if the Bunglehoppers were strong enough to have a base at the border between the upper and middle tier, they possessed sufficient strength. A fight between the two parties would be far from simple and easily fixed. Stitches didn''t want to see any of them get needlessly hurt. But since he felt like the Bunglehoppers had the advantage, he was about to tell Toz to calm down and show a morepromising attitude.


    "Toz-"


    However, Stitches was interrupted by Wulf.


    "I see. As long as Stitch and Hods are alright, it doesn''t matter too much. The rest of the pirates you killed were kicked out of their previous crews before trying to join the Bunglehoppers, so they were probably rotten to the core."


    "But cap''n! What about his map-making? Wasn''t Frowny useful enough despite his shitty attitude?"


    At that, Wulf turned to look at Stitches again.


    "What do you say, Stitch? Would Kart have been a great addition to our crew?"


    "Honestly, sir?"


    "Yeah."


    "He was the worst! He didn''t make a single map. He didn''t even try to begin charting one. All he did was abuse everyone else. He even gave me the g punishment for winning over him at cards!"


    "No way! He was that bad?"


    Hayar burst out in surprise, her anger gone like a fleeting memory.


    "I''m telling you! He was so mean!"


    "Not that. Did you actually win over him in cards without cheating?"


    "..."


    Stitches'' enthusiasm at having someone sympathize with his pain dimmed like a candlelight in a storm. He looked down and resumed his position with only his forehead and feet touching the ground with a downcast expression.


    "Well, if he''s bad enough at cards that even Stitch won against him, he was probably brain dead. No use in a useless pirate. It might be an exaggeration to say ''good riddance,'' but at least it looks like we won''t have to settle any grudges, Toz."


    Wulf stood up and reached for a handshake with Toz.


    Toz epted it and grasped Wulf''s calloused hands while answering.


    "Seems like it."


    Hayar still looked slightly dissatisfied, but she wasn''t going to protest her captain''s decision without a good reason. And although stubborn, she could admit that it wouldn''t be any good having a pirate around that bullied her Mosshead.


    Wulf was about to invite Toz to partake in the snacks and tea on the table, but their meeting was interrupted by a loud shout.


    "Stitch! Do you have my money?!"

 Chapter 225 The Bunglehoppers (6)

    ?The doors to the greenhouse burst open with a bang at the same time as the shout. Toz saw a bulky hairy man charge in through the doors, headed straight for Stitches.


    "You fucking bastard! Ready to pay me back yet?"


    Stitches looked around, panicked, but neither Wulf nor Hayar seemed interested in helping him. Eventually, Stitches hid behind Toz.


    "Are you sure you remember it correctly? Wasn''t it Hods who owes you money?"


    Stitches trembled like a leaf in the wind while betraying his friend without any hesitation. Stitches poked his head out from behind Toz''s shoulder to see if Vaner had bought his excuse. However, Stitches came face to face with the man''s bearded face grinning wickedly a few decimeters in front of him.


    Stitches yelped and crouched down while clinging to Toz''s arm


    "T-Toz, we''re friends, right? You''ll help me, right?"


    "I don''t know, man. Isn''t it better to pay off your debt?"


    Since it looked like Vaner would let him exin, Stitches did just that.


    "I would obviously do that if I could. But I can''t since I don''t have any fucking money."


    "Maybe if you stopped losing at cards all the time, you wouldn''t be broke, Mosshead."


    "What''s it gonna be, Stitch? You coughing up that money? Or do you wanna follow me to my room for a few moments?"


    Stitches looked pleadingly at Toz, but since Stitches was clearly suffering from the consequences of his own actions at the hands of something simr to a friend, Toz didn''t interfere. He just stepped aside and let Vaner grab Stitch and carry him away.


    Stitches began crying while screaming and punching Vaner''s back.


    However, Hayar still wasn''tpletely satisfied with just that.


    "He hasn''t cleaned his room since we moved here, by the way?"


    Stitches calmed down and looked up in abject horror as he tremblingly looked at Hayar.


    "...When did you move here?"


    "A few months after you disappeared!"


    Hayarughed as she finished her sentence, and Stitches'' face turned sheet white. He struggled even harder to free himself from Vaner''s grasp, but with no sess.


    Vaner trudged off with Stitches on his shoulder, but he stopped right at the entrance to the greenhouse and turned around to face Toz.


    "Nice to meet ya, by the way. Name''s Vaner."


    After nodding to Toz, Vaner continued on his way. Toz understood that Vaner would force Stitches to do something involving his room in exchange for forgetting the debt, but Toz wasn''t sure he wanted to know the details.


    "You don''t have to worry about Stitch. He''ll be fine. Probably."


    Wulf invited Toz to take a seat at the table after the almost reassuring words.


    "What brings you to Pirate Haven, Toz?"


    "Business."


    Wulf''s gaze had gotten noticeably less chilly as he struck up a conversation with Toz. Unfortunately, Hayar''s ring dispelled the amicable atmosphere.


    "Do you have something to say, Hayar?"


    "No."


    Hayar answered Wulf''s question with denial and a snort.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Then why do you look like you do?"


    "I don''t."


    Wulf sighed at Hayar''s stubbornness and turned to Toz again.


    "Don''t mind her. That''s just the way she is."


    Toz understood that Wulf was used to Hayar''s attitude, but he found it a little difficult to have a friendly chat when it looked like she wanted to pluck his eyes out.


    Despite Hayar''s incessant staring, Toz tried to converse with Wulf. But it was mostly Wulf asking questions about random things. Though, he tried to figure out Toz''s real intention ining to Pirate Haven several times.


    Wulf didn''t really buy Toz''s reason or that they came all the way to Pirate Haven for Stitches and Hods'' sakes. Wulf didn''t believe in the tourism reason either.


    Toz knew that Wulf didn''t believe in any of the reasons he told him, but he didn''t care too much about it since it didn''t matter. However, he was worried about what the grey-haired pirate would think if Toz said he wanted to be the king of all the pirates based in Pirate Haven.


    "Aha! I''ve got it! Snake eyes!"


    Toz and Wulf turned to look at Hayar after her outburst. She slowly sat back down after realizing her overenthusiastic reaction had interrupted her captain''s conversation.


    Hayar looked like she was letting the two continue their conversation as she sat in silence without the slightest intention of exining her outburst.


    However, Wulf''s gaze forced her to talk. Toz was also curious, but Hayar didn''t care about that.


    "Look at his eyes. That makes him Snake Eyes."


    Hayar pointed at Toz''s face while stating what she thought was the obvious.


    "Oh, you mean my pupils? I guess they''ve gotten a little vertical due to my inclination.


    "Do you wanna know what''s funny, though?"


    Toz leaned forward as if he was sharing a great secret. Wulf and Hayar responded in kind and huddled to the edge of their seats while moving their heads closer to Toz.


    Toz looked around to make sure no one was listening in and made sure he had Wulf''s and Hayar''s full attention. It seemed like the atmosphere had intrigued Hayar enough that she no longer red at Toz. But maybe that had been because she was thinking so hard about Toz''s nickname.


    "These eyes of mine aren''t rted to snakes at all."


    Hayar gasped at Toz''s revtion, but he wasn''t done quite yet.


    "I''m only telling you because you''re friends with Stitch, so don''t go around spreading this anywhere."


    After Wulf and Hayar nodded solemnly, Toz continued.


    "Cat eyes. That''s what they are. It''s a side-effect of the bonds I have with my cats. Look at these as well."


    Toz pulled up his lips and showed off his teeth. At first, Wulf and Hayar only saw regr teeth, but when Toz moved his thumb to his canine and pressed it against the tooth, his skin broke. Toz''s teeth were incredibly sharp.


    "So I was wrong?!"


    "Yep!"


    Toz responded to Hayar''s doubts with a smile.


    "Wait a minute. You said your cats?"


    "Yeah, why?"


    "There aren''t only rumors about you and Stitches floating around."

 Chapter 226 The Bunglehoppers (7)

    ?Toz looked bewildered at Wulf''s words. But when he gave it some thought, he realized it was perfectly understandable if the cats had done something. Although he had asked them to stay unnoticed while investigating Pirate Haven, Lucy especially wasn''t someone who didn''t follow his whims. Toz nodded in understanding, but he still prompted Wulf to tell him the details.


    "Well, I said cats, but so far, the only thing that''s confirmed are several cat''s paw prints found at the scenes of various ''events''"


    "''Events?''"


    "A few thefts, a couple of burned-down warehouses-"


    "A few of the Blue bastards were found with a dozen holes in them.."


    Toz simply nodded at Wulf and Hayar''s words.


    "That does sound like them. I did tell them toy low, but I guess they''re having a st. Sorry if any of your business is affected."


    "No worries, we''repletely fine. The paw prints have only been found at ces in the territories of the cultist crazies and the Blue bastards and only at a few businesses. If it weren''t for the paw prints, it wouldn''t have even been worthy of Retsy''s informationwork. Stuff blowing and people dying is the norm around here."


    "That''s a relief."


    Wulf looked slightly confused at Toz''s rxed and nonchnt attitude.


    "You aren''t worried about them being captured or killed?"


    "Hah! As long as they stick together, I have nothing to worry about."


    Wulf and Hayar were a little surprised at Toz''s confident attitude since most beast type mages tended to be slightly overprotective of their bonded beasts. If the beast died, the mage would suffer an incredible bacsh, after all.


    Toz was beginning to wonder if it was time to go back to their ind since the cats had enjoyed their fun or if maybe they should find a ce to stay within the city. However, his thoughts were interrupted by a sensation brought to him by his inclination.


    It wasn''t a distress signal like when he found Scrael and Asilean. Instead, it was a simple feeling of where the cats he was bonded with were. And that feeling was telling Toz that the cats were on their way toward him.


    Toz was about to inform Wulf about it, but the doors to the greenhouse burst open, interrupting him.


    "Cap''n! Five iing intruders. They''reing in fast, and they''reing from Blue''s middle tier."


    "They never learn! Frank, get Vaner and Stitch. Hayar, you''re with me."


    "Stitch is back?!"


    "Go! Toz, you can just watch if you want."


    "No need-"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Okay then. Hayar, Let''s go."


    Toz wanted to exin that it was his cats that were the supposed intruders. He was slightly curious about how they had been detected by Frank, but he had to follow behind Wulf and Hayar and stop them from attacking the cats. He was pretty sure that they would realize the cats were his as soon as they saw them. But the cats wouldn''t know and might respond to the Bunglehoppers'' aggression with violence.


    Toz followed Wulf and Hayar out of the greenhouse and toward the edge of the city''s middle tier. It was like he expected. They were heading in the direction of the cats.


    However, what Toz hadn''t expected was that people would already be fighting before a single Bunglehopper had arrived.


    Toz had been keeping even steps with Wulf and Hayar while exining that his cats were on the way. But when he sensed the battle going down, he sped up and left the two pirates in the dust.


    Toz arrived at arge intersection only a few secondster.


    The cats were there, and so were five pirates, either dressed almostpletely in blue or with a blue insignia somewhere on their clothes. Since the cats had it under control, Toz took his time studying the insignia that looked like a circle of connected leaves or stars. It didn''t take much for Toz to realize that the cats were fighting against a bunch of pirates from the Blue Lounge League of Pirates.


    Frank hadn''t noticed the cats'' arrival. It was just that a bunch of pirates from another crew had decided tounch a sneak attack at the same time that the cats went to find Toz.


    The cats were mostly ying around with the pirates, even though several of them were at the higher levels, and Toz let them have their fun. While he watched them fight, Wulf and Hayar came to join him.


    "I''m beginning to see why you weren''t worried."


    It only took a few moments for Wulf to realize that the cats weren''t serious and were just tormenting the desperate pirates in blue.


    The pirates were also beginning to realize that they were in a mess they couldn''t get out of that easily.


    The blue pirate, who looked like the one in charge, began looking around, trying to figure out a way to get away from the cats. That was when he saw the three people standing on the rooftops not too far away from them.


    "Fuck! Retreat! We were too slow. The Poison Witch is already back!"


    However, even if the pirates wanted to run away, there were a bunch of cats who didn''t let them.


    Not even the fastest of the pirates could catch a glimpse of Scrael and Asilean. The strongest pirates were no match for Mindle and Nil''s firepower. And the sneakiest pirate got scared half to death when their shadows crept up along their legs and into their orifices.


    Wulf and Hayar watched with slight surprise as the pirates, who had been resisting fiercely, were destroyed in almost an instant as soon as the cats stopped holding back.


    Frank, Vaner, and Stitches caught up to Toz, Wulf, and Hayar right when the cats finished up.


    "Woah¡­"


    Frank and Vaner were impressed by the cats'' disy of power. They were also slightly wary, but since the cats fought against the pirates from Blue Lounge, and neither Wulf nor Hayar were doing anything, Frank and Vaner also decided not to take any rash actions.

 Chapter 227 The Bunglehoppers (8)

    ?After finishing up, the cats turned to Toz and ran toward him. Frank and Vaner were shocked and prepared for battle. Frank encased his fists in an icy aura, and Vaner conjured several orbs of water in the air around him.


    However, before the two pirates could do something that they woulde to regret, Stitches smacked their heads from behind.


    "They''re friends! Calm down, for fucks sake. Can''t you see the Cap''n and Mossboss not doing anything?"


    "Oh, I''ll show you calm, alright!"


    Frank and Vaner listened to Stitches'' words and dispelled their aura and magic. Though while Frank went to talk with Wulf and Hayar, Vaner decided to educate Stitches on why he shouldn''t smack someone on the head from behind by demonstrating it against Stitches. Vaner wrestled Stitches down to the ground and sat down on his back while poking his head.


    The cats were about to run to Toz and share their adventures in Pirate Haven with him when they saw Stitches being thrown to the ground and bullied. For the cats, who hadn''t experienced the two''s rtionship dynamic, it looked like the big, hairy man was mistreating their friend. And if the cats knew one thing, it was that they were the only ones who could mistreat others. Others couldn''t be bad to one of them.


    Toz saw what the cats were about to do, but he didn''t stop them. He only told them not to be too harsh on Vaner since he was still Stitches'' friend using their bond. Stitches was his friend as well, and it would do Vaner some good to know that Stitches had someone backing him.


    Scrael wasn''t proud of her speed for nothing, and she was the first to reach Vaner. Vaner felt something rapidly approaching him, but by the time he sensed it, Scrael had already arrived. Scrael rammed into Vaner''s body, tackling him off of Stitches and sending him flying.


    Since Toz had asked them to hold back, she had used her shoulder to tackle Vaner instead of tearing into him with her ws like she usually did with her prey.


    Lucy''s attack came after Vaner stopped bouncing on the ground. Lucy tied him to the road with shadows, rendering him immobile and preparing him for Nil and Mindle''s attacks.


    Nil sent a rain of spikes toward Vaner. Not a single one of Nil''s conjured weapons actually hit him, but they did pierce the edges of his clothes as they created an outline of metal around his body.


    The first three attacks had happened so quickly that Vaner didn''t have time to react. But Mindle''s fire was slow enough that he had time to react. Though, even if he had time to react, there was nothing he could do except conjure some water to try and counter-attack since his body was locked down.


    Mindle''s mes hovered above Vaner. Since she held back, they didn''t do much more than singe his eyebrows and beard, but any attempt at conjuring water quickly turned into steam.


    Asilean didn''t really know what he should do in order to scare Vaner into submission, but he used void magic to help Mindle nullify any magic that Vaner tried to use.


    The cats only let Vaner go when it looked like he was about to cry out for his mother. They went back to Toz, who was busy keeping the other pirates from interfering.


    Wulf and Hayar, who knew the situation regarding Toz, the cats, and Stitches, were a little less insistent on stopping the cats, especially since the cats weren''t actually doing any harm to Vaner. However, Frank wasn''t calm enough to listen to reason, and Toz had to stop him by threatening force.


    Frank encased his fists in an icy aura again and looked like he was about to try and fight his way past Toz so he could help Vaner. However, Hayar''s hand on his shoulder stopped him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Frank followed Hayar''s pointing and looked at the cats stepping away from the mostly intact Vaner. Frank realized he had missed something and calmed down enough to listen to Hayar and Stitches'' exnation.


    After making sure that Frank wasn''t going to do something foolish, Stitches went to check on Vaner and, if needed, heal him. However, the cats had controlled their strength, so the only thing hurting was Vaner''s pride and facial hair.


    The cats strutted arrogantly in a row over to Toz. It was almost enough to make Toz suspect that they had practiced their coordination, especially when Lucy broke formation and darted up Toz''s body onto his head.


    Lucy ced his paws on either side of Toz''s head and bent forward, looking at Toz upside down with a wide grin on his face.


    "Tozzie! This ce rules! I haven''t seen this much action since the Brunsen incident!"


    However, Toz didn''t respond in kind to Lucy''s enthusiasm.


    "Lucy. Remember what I told you when we first arrived?"


    "!"


    Lucy''s grin turned into a stunned expression.


    "...Have as much fun as we want and create mayhem?"


    "..."


    Lucy looked downcast since he realized he hadn''t followed Toz''s request to investigate Pirate Haven before stirring up trouble. He was afraid that Toz was disappointed in him since it was pretty evident that Lucy was the main instigator for everything they had done in the short time since Toz left the cats.


    However, Toz''s words flipped Lucy''s mood again.


    "Close enough. Now, get out of my face. I can''t see anything."


    Lucy backed up on top of Toz''s head with a wide smile since Toz wasn''t disappointed with his actions. Lucy also took it to mean that Toz wouldn''t mind if he did something simr again. Before there had even been enough time for his first string of misdeeds to calm down, Lucy was already preparing for his next row of antics.


    While Lucy chuckled evilly, hidden in Toz''s ck hair, the other cats answered Toz''s question about why they had been fighting with the Blue Lounge pirates.

 Chapter 228 The Bunglehoppers (9)

    ?Unlike most of the other things the cats had done during their short trip around the city, their attack on the Blue Lounge pirates actually had justification. The cats had coincidentally encountered the pirates while looking for Toz. At first, they didn''t n on doing anything toward them since they wanted to find Toz and convince him to stay longer in Pirate Haven.


    However, that was before they overheard the pirates'' n to sneak attack the Bunglehoppers'' base while one of their strongest fighters was away. The Blue Lounge pirates weren''t aiming to kill any of the Bunglehoppers. They just wanted to get a feel for the captain''s actual strength and possibly destroy some things in the process. With Hayar temporarily away, they were confident in being able to escape and ry the information back to the council that controlled the Blue Lounge League.


    The pirates'' n wasn''t bad per se. It was just horrendously executed. They were too slow, they were unfortunate enough to run into the cats, and they overestimated their capabilities. Even if the Blue Lounge pirates arrived before Hayar returned with Toz and Stitches, they still wouldn''t have been able to escape from Wulf, Frank, and Vaner. Though even that would be information about how strong the Bunglehoppers were, so maybe that was part of the council''s calctions.


    Toz had intentionally asked the cats so that Wulf could hear why the Blue Lounge pirates wereing toward them. He hoped that it would alleviate some of the bad feelings that might have arisen when he stopped the pirates from interfering with the cats teaching Vaner a lesson.


    Toz saw Wulf''s eyes grow chilly as he rubbed the stubble on his chin. Wulf and Hayar exchanged a look.


    "The timing seems like something Retsy would pull."


    "I always tell you we can''t trust sneaky bastards like them."


    Wulf looked thoughtfully at Hayar. He knew her personality better than anyone else. He had also interacted with Retsy a fair bit.


    "You should thank Retsy if you ask me."


    Wulf and Hayar looked at Toz with confused expressions. Retsy had sent them a group of annoying flies, and although they hadn''t had to deal with them, it was still bothersome. And Toz wanted them to thank Retsy?


    "It might seem like Retsy gave the Blue Lounge pirates some information because they were petty about how Hayar acted. But remove that from the equation, and you get an unprovoked attack from the Blue Lounge League of Pirates."


    Since the two pirates still seemed confused about what Toz was getting at, he had to exin it even more clearly.


    "I''m talking about revenge. You are obviously not afraid of the Blue Lounge, but they are wary of your strength, which means they don''t think they can take you on without significant loss. This moment right now is a perfect opportunity to make the Blue Lounge Pirates back off."


    The faces of Wulf and Hayar brightened as if someone had turned on a light inside their heads. Wulf responded as he realized what Toz was saying.


    "If we act quick enough, they won''t have time to figure out their subordinates are dead already."


    "Exactly."


    "Then what are we waiting for?! Let''s go spill some of the Blue bastards'' red blood!"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Hayar got rmingly fired up since she realized they were about to engage in a bloody fight with people constantly being annoying.


    Wulf looked at Toz.


    "Are you going to join us?"


    "Of course. The catsnded the first blow. It''s only natural I help them strike thest one as well."


    Although Toz didn''t say it, beating up one of the big three pirate crews would also be a great start for his future coronation as Pirate King. The ensuing battle for power would open up a gap in the city''s power structure, allowing Toz to climb to the top of the city and reign as Pirate King.


    Since they had to move fast before information regarding the Blue Lounge pirates'' defeat spread to the Blue Lounge League of Pirates, they didn''t have time toe up with any ns or anything. However, Toz was pretty sure that sticking to a n would only limit what he and the cats were capable of doing, especially if the n would have required precise coordination with the Bunglehoppers.


    Toz''s thoughts were confirmed when the cats got too excited to calmly listen to what they were going to do as soon as they heard they were attacking one of the big three.


    The Bunglehoppers were already prepared for battle thanks to Frank''s warning about intruders, so they were ready to go to the Blue Lounge League of Pirates'' headquarters.


    As the biggest pirate crew within Pirate Haven, the Blue Lounge had several bases spread out all over the city. But if Toz and the Bunglehoppers wanted to really deal some damage to their crew, they would have to target their main base of operations, where the council and its members were.


    After confirming everyone''s participation and readiness, they headed to the Blue Lounge, one of the three livingplexes in the upper tier of the city.


    Since Toz and the cats were new to the city, the Bunglehoppers led the way, despite being slower.


    Lucy couldn''t contain his excitement and ran ahead a couple of times, but he took a wrong turn each time and had to follow the Bunglehoppers'' lead. Thankfully, they didn''t have to run far since the Bunglehoppers'' base was on the border to the upper tier.


    Soon enough, they arrived in front of the Blue Lounge.


    It was obvious, even from a distance, that the Blue Lounge base was far more luxurious and extravagant than the Bunglehoppers'' base. Toz couldn''t tell if it was because it was located on the city''s upper tier or if it was due to the different natures of the two pirate crews.


    The Blue Lounge needed to berge to amodate all the pirates in the crew, but the Blue Lounge League also had bases in other ces of the city where the pirates lived.


    Toz was beginning to think he had underestimated the size of the biggest of the big three pirate crews when he stood in front of the array of enough houses to make a vige.

 Chapter 229 Attacking Blue Lounge (1)

    ?The houses spread out in the Blue Lounge were all luxurious mansions and vis, but the building in the center was so extravagant that Toz wondered if it should be called a pce instead of a house.


    Toz and the others stayed just out of sight from the guards around the Blue Lounge, which wasn''t difficult since the guards weren''t alert. They probably didn''t think anyone would be dumb enough to attack the headquarters of one of the big three pirate crews of Pirate Haven. Unfortunately, they were wrong.


    Toz and the others had a short strategy meeting to ensure they did as much damage as possible without anyone dying.


    They decided on a n of action, and Hayar stepped forward to begin the attack. She started leaking a green mist, the same color as her air, through her hands. The green mist thickened and spread out, creating arge wave of fog that billowed toward the Blue Lounge.


    The green fog was both an attack and a smokescreen for the other pirates.


    Hayar spread the green smoke widely, so it wasn''t very destructive. But since she was a high level mage at the eighth level, it was still more than enough to corrode the guards'' skin and clothes.


    A piercing rm began ring throughout the Blue Lounge in response to the tsunami of green, poisonous fog that began covering the base.


    Hayar''s attack wasn''t fatal. But the other Bunglehoppers'' attacks were.


    Toz had enough time to see Wulf pull out a double-edged great-axe taller than himself before he and the cats set off. And while they ran through the green fog, they heard the sounds of the other Bunglehoppers entering the base, attacking any pirate they encountered.


    Wulf''s axe shed and mmed into the pirates and the nearby buildings, wreaking massive havoc.


    Vaner''s streams and projectiles of water pierced through the bodies of anyone caught in the way before eventually falling to the ground with a ssh and leaving a puddle.


    Frank''s attacks weren''t audible, but Toz sensed the temperature in the air go down as more and more thuds and thumps of something hard hitting bodies rang out.


    Toz had his sword out, not thetest version since it wasn''tplete yet, and he swung it at any pirate that got too close. But he didn''t go out of his way to find the pirates and attack them, unlike the Bunglehoppers. Neither did the cats, though Lucy had encouraged Mindle to set fire to as many buildings as she could, so she ignited every house they passed.


    The trail of burning houses led straight from the edge of the base to the fancy pce in the middle since that was Toz''s target.


    The Blue Lounge League of Pirates had countermeasures in ce for the members of the Bunglehoppers, so even if one of them tried to sneak to the center of the base and attack the council members, they would experience limited sess. However, there was no way they would expect Toz and the five cats to target the council.


    Even if Retsy told them about Toz, they still wouldn''t be prepared to face him since Retsy''s information was that he was at the fifth level. And there was nothing about the cats or Toz''s strengths and attributes in Retsy''s information.


    Toz and the cats were faster than the green smoke, so after catching up to where it was, Toz and Lucy covered everyone in shadowy darkness. Toz used a mix of darkness and void to reduce their presence to nothingness, making it even harder for the pirates and their defensive enchantments and measures to notice them.


    They had to lower their speed a little so that Toz and Lucy could keep them hidden, but they still ended up at the pce before the green smoke. However, they didn''t stop and wait for Hayar''s poison gas to catch up to them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "What in the fuck is going on out there!?"


    Even before they entered the building, Toz and the cats heard someone yell.


    Therge engraved wooden doors mmed open, and an entourage of people swarmed out. It looked like a mother hen and her chickens with how the ones behind the man in the lead followed behind like mindless chickens.


    "Tell the other councilors to stay hidden in the basement and not toe out until I''m back."


    Toz recognized the uniformed man as the one who shouted before the doors opened.


    Toz and the cats were interested in how strong the Blue Lounge council member was, but his words made it easy for them to decide on doing something else. They could leave the man that looked more like a person from the navy than a pirate to Wulf and the other Bunglehoppers.


    Toz and the cats followed a group of the uniformed man''s followers who stayed behind in the pce after letting the contingent pass them by and enter the green smoke.


    With Toz and Lucy''s magic, no one noticed their arrival or presence as they tagged behind the group of four secretary-looking individuals.


    Since the uniformed man ordered the other councilors to stay in the basement, that was where the four secretaries were going.


    Toz and the cats expected a basement since that was what they heard. However, when they arrived, they saw an enormous underground fortress.


    The four secretaries had led them down several flights of stairs before they arrived at arge cave hidden within Pirate Haven''s foundations.


    The fortress took up most of the cave''s space, but there was still enough room left for a moat and a drawbridge.


    Maybe due to the crisis outside the cave, but the walls of the fortress were lined with guards armed to the teeth, and the moat growled and stirred, releasing air bubbles that would drag down anything that passed over it.


    Toz wondered what the four secretaries would do. He hoped the fortress would lower its drawbridge and let them in. But he was disappointed to see them stop outside and shout their message.


    "Chairman Stris politely asks the remaining members of the council to take care of their own well-being within the fortress while he deals with the troublemakers outside."


    The four secretaries weren''t expecting an answer and immediately left since they weren''t authorized to seek shelter within the fortress.

 Chapter 230 Attacking Blue Lounge (2)

    ?Toz hid in the shadows of the cave with the cats while trying to figure out how to best attack the fortress.


    The first thing that popped into Toz''s head was to copse the entire cave since that would also destroy the entire base above ground. However, he wasn''t sure they would be able to do that in the short amount of time they had left.


    The Bunglehoppers would only be able to fight for so long, and while the pirates within the base weren''t endless, they had reinforcements all over Pirate Haven. If Toz and the cats were too slow, a veritable sea of pirates would form and surround the Blue Lounge.


    Toz decided that sneaking into the fortress and trying to find the councilors and the storage room was going to be the most efficient way for them to deal damage to the Blue Lounge League of Pirates. Kill their leaders and take all their valuables and money.


    However, the problem came with how to pass the moat. Toz felt the powerful suction of the roiling water, even from where they were hiding. He had no idea what kind of water it was or where the pirates got it from, but that didn''t matter.


    Toz wasn''t especially worried about the water affecting him since he could use his space element to blink across the moat. It was the same for Asilean. But neither Toz nor Asilean was confident in bringing another cat with them while blinking. If they messed up, the magic might shrink and tear at the cat and its soul since it didn''t have an affinity for the space element.


    Toz was wondering if maybe he and Asilean could lower the drawbridge or turn off the water after sneaking into the fortress by themselves first. However, his thoughts were interrupted by Asilean''s musing.


    "If only we were stronger."


    At first, Toz thought it was obvious. If Toz and the cats were stronger, they could have just brute forced their way into the fortress or maybe even destroyed the cave like they first intended.


    But it didn''t sound like that was what Asilean meant, so Toz turned to him.


    "What would happen if we were stronger?"


    Asilean looked shocked since he had unintentionally spoken his thoughts out loud, but he answered Toz''s question.


    "We could teleport across the moat. Maybe even directly into the fortress if it doesn''t have any anti-teleportation enchantments."


    "Teleport? Not blink or shrink space?"


    "Yeah. I only know how to do it in theory since I''m not strong enough to open a spatial tunnel."


    "In what way are youcking?"


    "In everything mana-rted. As soon as I break through, I''ll be able to do it."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz looked thoughtful at Asilean''s words for a few moments before opening his mouth again.


    "Can you describe the process to me?"


    It didn''t take long for Asilean to exin to Toz how to teleport in the most basic way achievable by someone with the space element.


    Toz was closer to being able to create a spatial tunnel than Asilean since he had so much high-quality mana, but he was stillcking in his spatial affinity and control of the space element.


    However, it was enough.


    After confirming the feasibility of his idea with Asilean, Toz exined his n to the cats before dashing away.


    Toz was practically invisible as he arrived in front of the moat and flickered through the air to the other side. He stopped right before the wall. The guards wouldn''t see him, and he didn''t touch the wall in case the wall had protective enchantments that would sense it.


    Toz sat down so it would be easier for him to concentrate while still maintaining some degree of invisibility based on his void and shadow magic.


    Asilean had exined the process, which was evidence of how familiar he was with what they were going to do. At least in theory. However, it was the first time Toz attempted anything like it.


    Toz focused on his space magic and stretched his awareness, which with the help of the space magic, wasn''t constrained by distance. He had discovered how to detect things further away, but he put that discovery aside since his objective was to establish two focal points where he would gather the space mana. Asilean would be in charge of one of those points, though.


    The reason teleportation required a greater affinity for the space attribute was that teleportation required the magic to work at two separate locations without any magic that connected those two locations. Since space mana isn''t limited by the physical aspect of space, space mages didn''t have to worry about the travel time of sending mana to a location farther away.


    It takes a space mage more mana to cast magic the further away it is from oneself. But it also requires an increase in control and affinity for the spatial element since the space mana won''t listen to someone who''s too far away unless it wants to or unless the mage is good enough at controlling the mana.


    Asilean and Toz weren''t able to teleport because the mana in the ce they would teleport to would refuse to obey them, and their magic would just dissipate. It might''ve been possible if they only had to control mana at one location. But using magicplex enough to teleport a living being in two separate locations was difficult enough. It only got worse when the mana at the location furthest away would refuse to obey the mage''s will.


    However, Toz and the cats were fortunate in that regard. They had two beings capable of using space magic.


    Creating a spatial tunnel was difficult for the mage because controlling the secondary location was so challenging. But what if the mage didn''t have to control the magic at the secondary location? It would be a lot easier. At least, that was what Toz hoped.


    Toz might not have to control the magic where the cats were, but he did have to coordinate and synchronize his magic with Azilean so that the two locations connected properly.

 Chapter 231 Attacking Blue Lounge (3)

    ?Shortly after Toz created a focal point of space mana in a ce close to where the cats were hiding, he felt Asilean assume control over the magic. Toz relinquished his grasp over the focal point of magic, but he didn''t cut his connection to it.


    Toz gathered more and more space mana in the focal point right in front of him while visualizing a connection between his and Asilean''s magic.


    It took a lot of mana but not a lot of time, and soon enough, Toz felt something change in the air in front of him. The gathering of magic, which had previously been invisible to the naked eye, had transformed and created a shimmering spiral in the middle of the air.


    The spiral of magic spun and tore the fabric of space, creating a spatial vortex simr to the portals Toz had used a couple of times. Toz worried that the guards would sense themotion, so he hid the vortex with abination of shadow, void, and space magic. If he hadn''t included the space attribute in the mix, he would''ve severed the vortex''s connection with Asilean''s vortex.


    Toz sensed the vortex stabilize. And if Toz felt it, so did Asilean.


    Asilean had to be thest one through to keep the portal steady, but he was also the only one who could enter the portal and ensure it was fully functional. However, they didn''t have to spend a lot of time deciding on a test subject. As soon as Asilean confirmed the portal''spletion, Lucy jumped straight through it and into Toz''sp with a wide grin. He was way too excited about breaking into the fortress to care about something so trivial about the dangers of traveling through a spatial tunnel.


    Lucy was a little sad that the teleportation was so fast that he couldn''t experience what it was like traveling through the spatial tunnel. But there was nothing that could worsen his mood when he thought of taking over a pirate fortress.


    The other cats followed Lucy in a row, plopping down in Toz''sp.


    After Toz and all the cats gathered in one ce in front of the fortress wall, the only thing left to do was to enter the fortress.


    The greatest way to do it would be to pass by the guards without them noticing and target the depths of the fortress where the councilors were most likely to be. However, doing that would be tricky, especially if the wall had a bunch of enchantments to protect it and discover invaders.


    Though, when Toz thought about it more, the fortress was like a stronghold made for ast defensive stand. It didn''t have a need for detection enchantments. That meant their only hurdle was the guards'' sensitivity. And as long as they were humans, Toz and the cats would be able to sneak past rtively easily.


    Toz used the same trick he had used back in First Ignition after he snatched Mindle''s egg and added metal studs to his shoes and hands as he began scaling the fortress wall.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz could have let the cats hide in their familiar space inside his inclination, but they didn''t want to be left out and joined him in climbing the wall. Mindle used her control over heat to melt holes so small they only fit her ws as she climbed next to Toz. Nil used a simr tactic to Toz and enhanced his ws with metal extensions sharp enough to prate the rock for his ws.


    Asilean solidified the space beneath his paws and walked in an invisible spiral staircase next to the wall. If Toz had thought of doing that, he would have also tried doing it, but he was already halfway up the wall, and it would be useless to change his method.


    Scrael stayed behind on the ground and waited until the others were almost at the top of the wall, at which point she reinforced her body with lightning and sprinted up the wall. She wasn''t worried about alerting the guards since Lucy and Toz helped her hide the disturbance she caused during her sprint.


    Lucy chose the simplest and most effective method since he piggybacked on top of Toz''s head.


    Toz and the cats arrived and hung onto the edge of the wall. They slowly lifted their heads and peeked over the ledge to make sure the coast was clear.


    Shadows filled most of the cave, so Toz''s and Lucy''s cover was pretty solid, and they would have gone unnoticed if they hadn''t popped their heads up right next to a brightly shining torch at the same time a guard looked in their direction.


    The armored guard was stunned, but only for a split second before he turned around and took a deep breath so he could shout out a warning. However, the guard stopped in the middle of the turn and slumped to the ground.


    Toz reacted quickly and encased the guard in his darkness spell. It worked better than he thought it would. He had only used it since it was the least shy way of attacking he had, but he almost expected it would take some time for the spell to take effect since he was roughly lowering the target''s mind in a simtion of the Void.


    Toz didn''t have to ponder on the details of his spell since it was only a matter of time until their intrusion into the fortress was discovered, so he and the cats mbered over the wall, put an end to the guard''s misery, and looked for a way away from the guard routes.


    Since the fortress walls blocked the insides of the fortress, Toz and the cats didn''t have an opportunity to check it out, but now that they were on the walls, they saw clearly how much wealth had gone into the Blue Lounge League of Pirates'' pockets.


    It was to the point that Toz wondered if there was a camouge function on the fortress walls since the castle was so extravagant.

 Chapter 232 Attacking Blue Lounge (4)

    ?The fortress wall created a fortified circle around a castle-like stronghold, and six spires connected the walls and the castle with small stone bridges. Trying to siege the castle would be extremely difficult without a significant difference in the number or strength of forces between attacker and defender. In addition to limiting how many attackers could charge at the same time, the bridges also looked like they would be easy to destroy.


    There was still the ground that people could use to get to the castle, but Toz didn''t see any viable entrances into the castle other than the gates leading to the bridges and spires. And if Toz had to guess, there were probably countermeasures in ce to prevent attackers from flooding the ground with numbers. He didn''t know, but it might be fun to find out if they get the chance.


    Toz and the cats sneaked over to the nearest stone bridge, disposing of any guards they encountered on the way. Since killing the first one had already exposed them, they might as well get rid of any further hindrances in advance. Any guard they killed now would mean one less to try and stop them on their way out.


    Toz worried that someone in the spire would notice them as they jogged over the bridge. However, they arrived in front of the spire without anyone raising any rms.


    The bridge continued straight through the spire. Toz saw the bottom tips of an iron portcullis point out of the ceiling at the entrance to the tunnel, but it didn''t look like the gate had seen any use for a long time since rust covered most of the visible iron.


    Toz and the cats entered the tunnel, it was short enough that there wasn''t any need for light within it, but there was still a lit torch sitting on the wall. However, it became clear that the torch''s purpose wasn''t to light up the tunnel. The torch sat right in between two stairways, one leading up to the watchtower part of the spire, and the second leading down to what Toz assumed, was the mechanism that would disassemble the bridge.


    Darkness covered both stairways, making it difficult for most humans to peer into their depths. However, Toz wasn''t a normal human. He had excellent vision, even in darkness, thanks to his inclination, so he saw whaty beyond the stairs. The one leading upward ended in a simple wooden door whose outline he saw clearly due to the lighting from the other side.


    The stairway leading downward was crooked, so Toz had to enter the doorway and bend his head to see the stairs lead to beneath the bridge, which confirmed his suspicions.


    However, Toz hadn''t expected therge storage space that was the tower''s center. Since it waspletely ck, he thought it was empty at first. But after a few seconds, he picked up a vague scent that told him otherwise. The scent also told him what the fortress''st defensive measure against attackers was.


    Toz backed up out of the stairway with a wicked grin. The cats were naturally curious about what he had discovered. They had also smelled something, but they couldn''t determine what it was. Unfortunately for them, Toz refused to exin his discovery, only promising a grand surprise after they finished looting the castle.


    Since Toz had discovered what was in the spire, and most likely the other five as well, there wasn''t any need to directly target everyone within the castle. They only had to do whatever they wanted. And most of the cats agreed that they should most definitely look for treasure if they were going to raid a pirate stronghold.


    Toz quickly sneaked up the stairway and snuffed out the guards in the room before he and the cats continued on to the castle.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz realized they had been lucky to have their intrusion go undetected so far since they had left a dozen corpses in their wake. However, his thoughts might have jinxed it since a tooting rm began resounding throughout the fortress by the time Toz and the cats reached the castle.


    Thankfully, Toz and the cats managed to enter right before the iron gate mmed into the bridge.


    Toz and the cats heard the shuffling and nking sounds of fully armored guards running through therge hallway toward the iron gate. The hallway was wider than the bridge, but it waspletely bare, and there weren''t any ces for Toz and the others to hide.


    The squad of guards had rushed to put on their armor and make their way over to the gate they were assigned to as quickly as possible since it was very likely the intruder had chosen the bridge connected to it to enter the castle.


    Only a few moments had passed since the rm rang out, and there shouldn''t have been enough time for the intruder to enter the castle''s depths and to have passed by the hallway where the first few doors were the barracks.


    However, when the guards arrived in front of the gate, they hadn''t seen a single trace of the intruder. And since other guards wereing from the other side of the bridge, there wasn''t any way for the intruder to have retreated as soon as the rm red either.


    The guards looked around at the empty hallway and bridge with confusion.


    "Spread out! First unit, take the castle''s insides but make sure not to disturb the councilors. Second unit, cover every inch of the walls, the spires, the ground, and the cave. If the intruders are still here, I want them found! If they aren''t, I want to know where they went."


    The leader of the group of guards was easily distinguishable thanks to his armor being more decorative than the ordinary guards. The guard captain took off into the castle with the first unit after giving out his orders.


    The second unit, led by the vice-captain, opened the gate until they were all outside, after which it closed, leaving an empty hallway once again.


    In the silent and empty hallway, Toz and the cats left their hiding spot in the ceiling andnded on the stone floor without making a sound.

 Chapter 233 Attacking Blue Lounge (5)

    ?The hallway''s ceiling had been high enough that the light from the torches lining the walls was too weak to reveal Toz and the cats'' hiding spot. A few of the guards had looked up, but they could only see the shadows.


    Toz waited a few moments to make sure the guards had time to get further away before sticking his head past the corner. The cats joined him one by one, starting with Lucy, whose head popped out next to the ground. Mindle put her head on top of Lucy''s, after which Nil got squeezed in between Asilean and Mindle. And Scrael rested her head on top of all the other cats'' heads.


    Toz and the cats followed the hallway to the left since it was the only way to go, despite it being the same way the guards went.


    Simple and robust doors lined the corridor until the end, where it split up into two hallways that went left and right. The doors were pretty obviously where the guards slept, so Toz and the cats didn''t bother searching through them.


    Toz and the cats walked soundlessly over to the crossing and, after confirming they couldn''t hear the guards, gently sneaked a peek again.


    The two hallways looked identical to each other and went on for a short distance before turning. Toz was beginning to feel like the inside of the castle was abyrinth.


    Toz and the cats held a quick vote on where to go, left or right. However, they didn''t go anywhere since the vote finished with three votes for left and three votes for right.


    Since being democratic didn''t work, they decided to be practical. The guards'' footsteps went down the right hallway. That could mean several things. It was the right way to enter the depths of the castle, and the guards wouldn''t being back from that direction. For those reasons, the right hallway seemed like the safer option.


    However, the guard captain had told the guards to avoid the councilors, and the councilors were more likely to be closer to their wealth, so the left might be the hallway the guards didn''t choose because it led straight to the center of the castle, where the important ces of the castle are.


    Since being practical didn''t give them an easy choice either, Toz grabbed one of the torches on the walls and put it out before cing it on the ground.


    Toz let go of the torch and let it fall to the ground ording to an old trustworthy trick that usually helped when Toz and the cats had difficulty deciding which way to go.


    To the dismay of three cats, the torch fell to the right. But since the decision made by the torch was absolute, everyone agreed to go right.


    Considering how much sound the guards made when walking, Toz and the cats chanced on noticing the guards before they noticed them, so they decided to save time and run through the hallway.


    They encountered the asional door on the way, but most of them led to small empty rooms with nothing inside. They also encountered a bunch of crossroads. Thankfully, Toz brought the torch and used it to continue deciding their path forward until they no longer needed it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Eventually, they followed a smaller corridor into arge hallway with decorations and portraits of people along the wall and a red carpet in the middle of the floor.


    Therge and exquisite hallway led to a set of wooden, decoratively carved double doors.


    Sounds ofughter and conversation spilled out through the closed doors. Toz and the cats sneaked over to the door after deciding that the upants would be too busy to notice if they cracked the door open enough to catch a glimpse of what was going on.


    The door didn''t show any signs of locks or enchantments. It just relied on its weight to stay closed, so Toz applied just enough pressure to open the door so that he and the cats could see the other side.


    The slit was so small they could only use a single eye and saw only a limited part of the room. But from the little they saw, it looked like arge ballroom filled with light, decorations, and people. Since the door was far away from the activities, it was difficult for Toz and the cats to make out the details of the ballroom.


    Toz and the cats wanted to get a better look at what was going on inside the ballroom, and they leaned forward into the gap in the doors so they could see better. However, they forgot that they couldn''t lean on the doors or each other. After pushing closer to the door, the six of them ended up losing their bnce. They quickly regained it, but not after identally shoving the door open. The door didn''t open all the way since there were a couple of guards directly on the other side that stood in the way.


    However, their little ident had irrevocably exposed Toz and the cats.


    At least they got a better view of the ballroom. However, Toz wasn''t sure if it was worth it since there wasn''t anything special, just a bunch of well-dressed arrogant types that looked to be the higher-ups of the Blue Lounge League of Pirates. It would have been different if they were doing something interesting, but they were only mingling, eating, and drinking, pretending to be the nobles of some kingdom or something. The people in the ballroom were about as far away from what Toz and the cats expected pirates to be.


    Toz straightened his legs and entered the ballroom with the cats, closing the door behind them. Despite having borately decorated armor, the two guards were useless since they didn''t even try to stop the intruders.


    Toz didn''t know if it was because of shock or because they were too stupid to react to an unknown situation where they didn''t know what to do or anyone telling them what to do, but the guards kept backing as Toz stepped deeper into the ballroom.


    One of the guards foolishly tried to grab his sword, but he ended up copsing to the ground with a thud.


    "Who are you!?"

 Chapter 234 Attacking Blue Lounge (6)

    ?Toz looked at the fat man who shouted at them before turning to Lucy, clearly disregarding the man. Lucy understood Toz''s attention, and shadows burst out of the ground to cover the entire ballroom in a dome of darkness. The dome of darkness would prevent anyone from escaping and alerting the guards and prevent the guards from sensing themotion that Toz and the cats were about to stir up.


    After Lucy''s dome went up, Toz and the cats turned toward all the noble-wannabes, who were slowly recovering from their shock. Some looked frightened after Lucy put up his dome, but most of them looked like they were about to burst from all the suppressed outrage. However, they couldn''t suppress their rage at Toz''s rudeness for much longer, and the people gathered in the ballroom soon began shouting and hollering at Toz.


    Toz naturally got annoyed at that and sent a fireball into the air. The fireball exploded into a shower of sparks that rained down on the ball attendees and the servants. The fire was more for show than attack, but it still scared everyone to silence, especially when their clothes began catching on fire.


    After everyone had put out the fires, they looked at Toz in fear. Most people in the ballroom had enough sense to realize that Toz was powerful. They had all, at least, started as bottom-rung pirates, even if their current standing was something like executives in apany. They were also acutely aware that any pirate powerful enough to contend with Toz was part of the proper guards. Not the ornamental guards with pretty faces and shiny armor that were part of the ballroom''s decorations.


    However, not everyone was part of the crowd, smart enough to keep quiet. The obese man who demanded Toz''s identity still hadn''t realized the gravity of the situation. One of hisrades was about to stop him from speaking up, but he was toote.


    "I didn''t ask for fireworks! I asked for who you are!"


    The obese man was tackled to the ground by a tall,nky guy with sses, who ced a hand on the round man''s mouth to shut him up. The obese man struggled to free himself, but his outeryer of fat only hid a few moreyers of fat. There wasn''t a hint of muscle anywhere on his body. Thenky guy with sses soon rxed his grip on the big guy''s body since he became incapable of struggling anymore. He still had his hand on the fatty''s mouth to keep him from talking, but he loosened it enough to allow the fat guy to breathe as heavily as he needed due to his exertion of flopping around on the ground while trying to shove thenky guy off him.


    Toz and the cats looked at the spectacle with humor in their eyes.


    "To answer that person''s question since it will save some time, we are-"


    "The Paw Print Pirates!"


    Lucy''s interruption made Toz and the other cats look at him.


    Toz had been about to tell everyone he and the cats were raiding the ce and would spare anyone who handed over all their storage items and valuables. However, Lucy stopped him mid-sentence.


    Questioning Lucy would not give off the fearful effect that Toz wanted in order to make the robbery go smoothly. But he was left with no choice since the other cats also wanted to know when Lucy decided on the group''s name.


    "Since when?"


    "Since we arrived?"


    Lucy answered Toz''s question as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and Toz was the dumb one for not knowing.


    "At Pirate Haven?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Hmm. Maybe since we decided to be pirates?"


    Toz''s question made Lucy think deeply enough to realize he didn''t know the answer himself.


    "Never mind that, then."


    Toz turned to face the rest of the ballroom before continuing.


    "In any case. We''re here to rob all of you of everything you own. Hand over any storage items and everything of value on your person. If you do that, you might get out of here alive."


    The people in the ballroom began stirring and mumbling to each other, but no one seemed like they were about to give Toz what he wanted.


    To demonstrate his sincerity, Toz gathered lightning in his hand and threatened them,


    "I might not have been clear enough. Comply, or die."


    Since no one immediately handed over everything, Toz decided to make an example out of the fat man, still held down by the man in sses.


    The lightning bolt pierced through the air directly at the fat man''s thick head.


    It happened too fast for the people to react. After the purple-white sh faded, the next thing people reacted to was the scream from the sses guy. At first, they thought it was because of the lightning that barely missed him.


    But when they looked closer, they noticed that the lightning didn''t miss. It had hit its mark, and that was exactly why the guy on top of the fatty''s corpse screamed.


    The fatty''s head had turned into burnt mush sttered outwards on the floor.


    Toz found it ridiculous that people whose background was piracy had be so sheltered they were squeamish enough to faint at the sight of a smashed and sshed head when it is one of the mostmon ways to kill people.


    Toz scoffed at the sight. Although he hadn''t intended it, it was enough to trigger everyone to shakingly empty their pockets and fingers and gently, while bowing, creep forward to Toz and put everything at his feet. The man with sses was first and quickly helped the people who fainted give up their belongings when he finished handing over the rings and bags he owned.


    It didn''t take long for a pile of storage rings, bags, and pockets, ripped off of the clothes of some of the executives, to gather in front of Toz and the cats.

 Chapter 235 Attacking Blue Lounge (7)

    ?Toz stored the spatial storage items within themselves to decrease the amount of space they took up before putting them in his pockets. He then turned to the guy in sses, who had proved quite adept at reading the situation.


    "You."


    "M-me?"


    The guy in sses trembled in fright as Toz pointed at him.


    "Yes, you. Where''s the treasury or storage room or whatever?"


    "R-right. U-um. If you leave through the door behind you, it''s two lefts, one right, then another left, then down a flight of stairs, then right, then left again-"


    "Just lead us there, instead. I don''t have time for all of this."


    "A-alright."


    The guy in sses looked like his legs were about to tremble enough to make him lose his kneecaps, but he still tremblingly began walking toward the door. He was careful not to get too close to Toz and the cats and moved toward the opening in the dome Lucy made.


    The other people heaved a sigh of relief at Toz and the cats leaving with the man in sses. However, they soon regained their bearings and realized things weren''t as great as they thought. The guy in sses was leading Toz and the cats right to where they stored their real treasures. And the dome of darkness was still keeping them within the ballroom.


    The people who realized their situation more quickly began pounding on the dome and screaming for the guards. However, it was useless. Lucy''s dome wasn''t something administrative mages and people without special inclinations could do something about unless they were at a lot higher level than Lucy. And considering Lucy''s frightening proficiency with the darkness element, even a high level mage might not be able to do it unless they''re strong for their level and adept at breaking down barriers.


    While the ruckus caused by the people trapped in the dome continued, Toz and the cats followed the sses guy''s lead around the castle''s insides.


    "Even if you lead us directly to the guard captain, we''ll still have enough time to kill you before you can escape."


    "Hih! Y-yes, sir!"


    Toz didn''t know if the sses guy was nning to lead them somewhere other than the treasury, but threatening somebody never hurt anyone.


    Either Toz''s threat was effective, or the guy in sses was smart enough to avoid the guards on his own. Toz noticed how he would stop before certain intersections and look at the ground for a few seconds before continuing to lead Toz and the cats forward. If Toz and the cats weren''t already walking soundlessly, he would have also motioned them to be quiet during those times since there were guards not too far away.


    Toz decided to make use of a window when there weren''t any guards nearby to ask their guide about something he had been curious about for a while now.


    "Is the Blue Lounge really a league of pirates?"


    The sses guy trembled as soon as Toz began talking, but when he realized that Toz was just striking up conversation to get rid of the awkward atmosphere, he calmed down enough to answer.


    "W-well¡­ As far as I know, the Blue Lounge isn''t exactly led by pirates."


    "What do you mean?"


    "I''m not sure, but there are rumors that the chairman used to be some kind of officer from the Starsling Kingdom. And that he and his original crew are soldiers. Not pirates."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz looked at their guide in surprise at that tidbit of information. He hadn''t gotten time to investigate, but Stitches had told them what he knew, and there wasn''t a single mention of them being anything but pirates.


    "Howe he''s the leader of a pirate crew, then?"


    "Apparently, they acted like pirates in the beginning but stopped doing that when chairman Stris took up his position."


    "I guess that exins this ce and all the guards."


    The sses guy didn''t know what to answer to that, so he just kept leading them in silence.


    Toz didn''t bother to continue questioning. If he wanted to know more, he could always ask Retsy or investigate things on his own. Though, it was possible he wouldn''t need to dig deep into the affairs of the Blue Lounge League of Pirates after they left the cave.


    Under the direction of the guy in sses, Toz and the cats soon arrived in arge underground hallway. It wasn''t as extravagant as the hallway leading to the ballroom, but it was at least as robust.


    Toz could sense that they were approaching the treasure. However, their guide stopped them shortly before they arrived. Toz looked questioningly at the sses guy.


    But before Toz could say anything, the man with sses held up a finger to his mouth before motioning Toz and the cats to move backward.


    When they were far enough away to ease the sses guy''s concerns, their guide began exining.


    "At least three guards. Possibly at the high levels. There is another way to the treasury, but it will take a lot of time. What do you want to do?"


    "First of all. How do you know that?"


    Toz hadn''t sensed anything. He hadn''t used any magic, but his ordinary senses were incredibly acute, and considering the guards and their clunky armor, he should''ve heard them.


    The sses guy looked hesitant, but he still exined how he knew.


    "I can analyze everything I see, including the ground. And there are three sets of footprints on the floor that match the strength of high level fighters."


    The sses guy lowered his sses slightly, revealing his swirling irises and bottomless pupils. Toz found it pretty interesting but, at the same time, slightly unsettling.


    "Cool!"


    Lucy only found it cool, however, which startled the sses guy since it was obvious he was self-conscious about his eyes, and not prepared forpliments regarding them.


    "T-thank you."


    After awkwardly avoiding Lucy''s gaze, the sses guy turned to Toz again, waiting for his answer.


    "It doesn''t matter if you''re right or not. We''ll just press forward and deal with the guards in the way. We don''t have a lot of time to spare, after all."

 Chapter 236 Attacking Blue Lounge (8)

    ?Since Toz had decided to go through the guards, there was nothing the sses guy could do to change his mind.


    "Can you pinpoint the guards'' locations? Right! What''s your name?"


    "With enough time, yes. And my name''s Brunswick."


    "Great. Let''s go."


    Brunswick led Toz and the cats back to where he had stopped advancing previously.


    Since the guards might notice them if they talked or sued magic, even if they tried to hide it, Brunswick used hand gestures to point in three different directions. Toz understood enough to maintain confidence about defeating the guards before they managed to rm the other guards. Toz ryed Brunswick''s information to the cats with the help of his inclination before they teamed up two and two to take down one guard per pairing.


    Asilean and Mindle targeted the one on the left, Nil and Scrael went for the one in the middle, and Toz and Lucy attacked the guard to the right.


    Asilean shrank the space between him and the guard so that Mindle''s mes flew over to the guard in an instant. Mindle used all three of her mes, and she cranked up the heat as high as she could while keeping it under control so that she didn''t melt the stone walls. The guard barely had enough time to yelp before he began melting along with his suit of armor.


    The other guards didn''t even notice theirrades also getting attacked and killed almost instantly.


    Scrael stunned the guard she and Nil were responsible for so that the guard couldn''t react when Nil pierced his body with a dozen spikes. The guard let out a few gurgling sounds as his lungs filled with blood before dying.


    The third guard had the most peaceful death seen from outside. However, Toz and Lucy''sbination was worse than any nightmare. Toz''s spell submerged the guard in an infinite darkness where he quickly lost all senses and perception of time and self. Lucy''s magic grabbed hold of the feelings of fear and insecurity and amplified those feelings explosively. They practically filled the guard''s mind with waking nightmares scary enough to put the guard into cardiac arrest.


    Though, some high level fighters and mages would be able to recover from their hearts stopping by flooding their body with mana. The high levels weren''t thest division before reaching the transcendent level for no reason, after all.


    However, even disregarding the terror-filled mind of the guard, he didn''t get the chance to try and recover since Toz blinked forward and twisted his neck an entire turn, stopping just short of tearing the head off and unleashing a spray of blood.


    Brunswick stared at the scene with enough shock to make his jaw hit the floor. His sses had also dropped to the tip of his nose. His eyes didn''t allow him to see everything that happened all at once, partially because he wasn''t able to understand what happened, especially with the guard that Toz attacked. But what he did see was enough to make him doubt the eyes that had always shown him the truth.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Since it all happened so quickly, Brunswick didn''t have enough time for an in-depth analysis, but what he did see was still shocking. Toz and all the cats had incredibly dense mana, which they controlled with finesse greater than he had seen any medium level pirate possess.


    There were also a total of three spells used in the ambush. Spells might not have been rare for Toz and the cats who picked up a bunch of grimoires from Linda''s Bookstore, but they were incredibly rare in Pirate Haven. Anyone rumored to possess one was hunted down and killed before the rumor even had time to spread to the next tier. Yet there were three people who used spells right in front of him. Brunswick couldn''t believe it.


    Brunswick didn''t know if the pirates in front of him didn''t know about the value of grimoires, even almost empty ones, or simply didn''t care. Considering Toz and the cats'' strength, Brunswick was inclined to believe thetter.


    However, Brunswick didn''t get any more time to stare in awe at the skills of Toz and the cats since they had to move. It wasn''t the first time his eyes told him the way to survive. They had done it in the ballroom after Toz''s fireworks. And now more than ever, they let Brunswick know that Toz wouldn''t need to exert any effort into killing him. In order to stay alive, Brunswick had to be on his best behavior. Though, he was still scared that Toz would silence him in order to keep the fact about the spells a secret.


    But even if Brunswick was scared of getting silenced, he still wanted to try and survive by doing his best to lead Toz to the treasury while showing off his usefulness at the same time. The Blue Lounge Councilors and most other people Brunswick met didn''t like his eyes and what he could see with them. However, Brunswick had a feeling that Toz was a practical person and wouldn''t mind Brunswick telling him what he noticed.


    While resolving himself to survive, Brunswick led Toz and the cats through the final turns of the corridor that ended in arge vault door.


    Before the ambush of the guards, Brunswick was worried that Toz and the cats would take out their frustration of being unable to open the heavily fortified and enchanted door at him. But the strength they disyed resolved any such misgivings.


    Toz looked at Nil.


    "Wanna give it a go?"


    "Yeah, sure. Why not?"


    Nil went forward and touched the vault door that was as wide and tall as the hallway and was without any visible handles or opening mechanisms. Nil ced his paw on the door so it would be easier to fill it with mana and wrest control over the metal away from the enchantments keeping the door in ce.


    As the enchantments couldn''t withstand Nil''s onught of mana, they began lighting up before shortcircuiting and fading away. After purging most of the enchantments, Nil smiled and began prying open the door.

 Chapter 237 Attacking Blue Lounge (9)

    ?Therge, wall-looking door cracked open in the middle as the two halves began swinging open due to Nil''s magic. The opening widened as the doors moved inward into the room.


    It didn''t take long for the light from within the treasury to spill out.


    Nil opened the doors wide enough for all of them to enter with ease, revealing the insides of the Blue Lounge Treasury.


    The room was tall enough that Toz understood why they had to go down several flights of stairs before they arrived. However, he also began wondering how extensive the insides of Pirate Haven were, considering the city could fit therge cave and the underground treasury within itself.


    But Toz''s thoughts were soon led astray by the objects within the treasury. There were a lot of simr chests that were probably spatial storage items, but there were also a plethora of things not hidden away within storage items. Considering everything on disy looked magnificent or extravagant, Toz guessed that the items left in the air were there for the vanity of the leaders of the Blue Lounge League.


    With all the time they had spent infiltrating the fortress and then walking through the corridors and hallway to reach the treasury, Toz wanted to shove everything into spatial storage items as soon as possible.


    Brunswick and the other cats understood Toz''s reasoning and began helping him. However, Lucy had trouble letting go of the shiny treasures he picked up, and he stared with gleaming and pleading eyes every time Toz forced him to do so.


    Toz and the others used a bunch of nearly empty chests to store the treasures on the shelves and pedestals before using empty storage bags and rings to store the chests. They then stuffed Toz''s pockets to the brim with the spatial storage items.


    The multipleyers of spatial distortion and storage probably weren''t too good for some of the items, so Toz and the others began moving to leave the fortress and the Blue Lounge headquarters.


    "Is there anyone you want to save? Or someone you don''t wish to see dead?"


    Toz''s question caught Brunswick slightly off guard, but he answered after pondering for a few moments.


    "No, not really. All the people here are those who climbed on the corpses of others to get where they are. Even the servants are people like that. People like them don''t have time for friends."


    "Great. What''s the closest spire?"


    Brunswick stared off into the distance with a nk gaze before answering.


    "We are pretty much right beneath the center of the fortress right now."


    "Even better. Lead us to the highest point."


    Brunswick got slightly worried at Toz''s grin, but he obediently led the way to the castle''s centermost tower.


    The tower was the castle''s central wing and, based on the decorations, Stris'' personal ce within the castle.


    However, Toz didn''t pay any attention to whose bedroom they ran through to ess the stairs to the loft at the top of the castle.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz and the cats used a small window to climb onto the roof. Toz bent down and heaved Brunswick onto the roof.


    Toz gazed around and reveled in the feeling of standing on top of the castle as he looked around at the spires.


    "Everyone except Mindle and Scrael, begin breaking the spires."


    The cats looked up in confusion at Toz, especially Mindle and Scrael, who Toz explicitly excluded. However, the only answer they got was Toz sendingnces of metal through the air that vanished with a flicker before reappearing in the wall of one of the spires.


    Deciding that they would get their answer as long as they followed Toz''s directions, the cats did just that.


    Nil sent bout after bout of his spell onto another spire. Asilean twisted and tore the fabric of space at the same ce the spire was. The fabric of space recovered, but the spire didn''t, and it began copsing as its walls fell apart.


    Lucy had a slightly more difficult time tearing down the spire he chose, but he covered one part of the wall in darkness before pulling away that darkness like gum, bringing some of the cobblestones that made the wall with it.


    Despite the distance, all three of them managed to take down a spire each. But they looked over to see Toz finish his second spire and felt a surge ofpetitive spirit as they all rushed to take down thest spire.


    The four of them eachunched an attack on the spire, almostpletely blowing it apart.


    In their rush to destroy thest spire, Nil, Lucy, and Asilean missed the results of the other spires'' destruction. But Toz, Mindle, Scrael, and Brunswick noticed the thick, sticky, ck liquid pouring out of the ruins of each spire.


    Brunswick stared at Toz in horror as he realized what Toz was nning to do. Brunswick was almost too confused to remember that Toz had asked him if there was someone he wanted to save. Toz only needed to ask Brunswick that if Brunswick would have the opportunity to get out of the cave himself. Brunswick''s horror turned to shock and then confused joy. From what he could tell, he would survive.


    Toz didn''t pay much attention to Brunswick, but he still noticed thetter''s drastic change in mood. Toz focused on the stairway outside the fortress.


    "Asilean, do you wanna do the honors?"


    At the same time as Toz asked Asilean, guards ran out of the castle and onto the bridges. There were also some guards on the ground who began climbing up the castle to escape the ck liquid. It was those guards who had their gazes pointed upward that saw Toz standing on top of the castle.


    Toz''s white coat made a stark contrast to the cave''s dark ceiling, so it wasn''t very difficult to spot him.


    The guards pretty quickly realized he was the intruder and began shouting at him. Some guards who were confident in their agility began climbing up the castle''s outsides. However, they were stopped by the castle''s defensive enchantments.


    The guard captain and the other people with enough authority to exercise some degree of control over the enchantments were nowhere to be seen.

 Chapter 238 Attacking Blue Lounge (10)

    ?After noticing how the guards wouldn''t be able to touch them, Toz didn''t care too much about them. He looked at Asilean again. Asilean looked at the stairway leading out of the cave for a few seconds before he disappeared and began flickering through the air toward it.


    After arriving at the bottom of the staircase, he sat down and began concentrating. It didn''t take long for Toz to sense the build-up of space mana right in front of them, and when he did, he smoothly took control of it.


    Toz and Asilean worked together to create a portal between the castle and the staircase. It wouldn''t take long for them to cross the distance by themselves. But a few others in their group didn''t quite possess the same speed. Nil, Lucy, Mindle, and Brunswick would all be left behind by Toz, Scrael, and Asilean if they decided to sprint to the staircase.


    With the experience from the previous time, Toz and Asilean quickly created and stabilized the portal. Brunswick''s sses were once again resting on the tip of his nose due to the shock at how Toz and Asilean had just created a fully functional portal in only a few moments.


    Toz didn''t care about Brunswick''s shock as he grabbed him by the neck of his clothes and threw him into the portal. Brunswick thudded to the ground, barely able to react to what happened. However, when he regained his bearings and was about to stand up, he was pushed to the ground by the arrival of the cats. Each catnded on his back before beginning to climb the staircase.


    Since Brunswick realized what Toz''s ns were, he hurried to follow the cats. He considered looking back to make sure Toz would make it out, but he didn''t have a reason to doubt Toz''s capabilities, so he turned forward and hurried his way up the stairs.


    While the cats returned to the surface, Tozunched his fireball spell and stepped through the portal. He had widened the space across the distance that the fireball would have to travel to reach the oil nketing the ground within the fortress.


    The oil''s original purpose was most likely for the defenders to haul it up, bring it to a boil, and then pour it on the invaders after destroying the stone bridges. It might also have been ast resort for when the invaders are about to conquer the fortress.


    However, Toz had found another use for the ridiculous amounts of oil stored within the spires.


    After widening the space, firing the fireball, and stepping through the portal, Toz grabbed Asilean and began running up the stairways. With thebination of lightning and space, he quickly caught up to the other cats. He had intentionally slowed down the fireball''s advance, so they might have enough time to escape.


    Toz threw a nce down at the castle, and when he saw the fireball approaching the incredible amount of ck oil, he decided it wasn''t worth the risk.


    Toz asked the cats to enter the inclination, though Asilean and Scrael stayed with Toz since they were capable of keeping up, especially since Toz had to carry Brunswick.


    Toz didn''t have to save Brunswick, but he decided that Brunswick''s potential was definitely worth it. He had also promised to spare Brunswick''s life for his assistance, and he had proven himself to be very helpful. Depending on how things turned out, it might even be worth recruiting Brunswick to the Paw Print Pirates.


    Since Toz carried Brunswick, he couldn''t flicker through the fabric of space all willy-nilly, but bybining lightning and space, he could reinforce his body while at the same time reducing the restraints space ced on his body.


    Toz buzzed up the stairway, barely touching the steps. It didn''t take long for him to reach the cave ceiling. But Toz didn''t stop there as he burst through the remaining stairs andpletely left the cavern.


    Toz felt the ground shake as he ced his feet on it. However, it wasn''t because of him. The fireball had finally made contact with the sea of oil.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Shortly after the tremor, a gust of hot wind blew out of the hole in the ground that was the entry to the cave. The temperature of the air in the Blue Lounge''s central mansion quickly rose.


    Toz didn''t stay behind and began rushing to warn the Bunglehoppers. However, he still heard a couple of screams from the hole. Screams that soon turned into bodies flying into the sky, straight through the pce-like mansion.


    Toz guessed that the people soaring through the air as ifunched out of a cannon were probably the guards with enough foresight to begin fleeing as soon as the oil spilled out of the spires. The explosion of burning oil had most likely sent them flying while they ran up the stairway.


    Toz didn''t care about them since it looked like they were about to die anyway. Instead, he focused on finding the Bunglehoppers so they could leave the Blue Lounge headquarters before it copsed.


    Thankfully, it wasn''t difficult to notice Wulf.


    He and Chairman Stris had created arge clearing surrounded by rubble as they shed. Both of them looked a little worn and bruised as they stared in the direction Toz came from.


    Stris looked like he wanted to stop Toz and question him about what was going on, clearly unaware of Toz''s identity. However, Wulf saw the intensity of Toz''s gaze and turned around while storing his great-axe.


    "Bunglehoppers! Retreat!"


    Wulf''s voice boomed across the Blue Lounge headquarters.


    Hayar retracted the poison mist as she began running in the direction of their base. The green fog disappeared, leaving behind a sea of corroded bodies.


    Frank stopped smashing ice sculptures and joined up with Vaner, who let the orbs of water he used to attack fall to the ground.


    Hayar, Frank, and Vaner joined up with Stitches on the outskirts of the Blue Lounge base before regrouping with Wulf and Toz.


    "Mosshead, you''re so fucking slow!"


    Stitches was about to retort to Hayar''sment on himgging behind everyone else. However, he was interrupted by arge rumble, and the noise drowned out his words.

 Chapter 239 Blue Lounge Collapse

    ?The rumbling was in part due to the central ptial mansion getting enveloped in a burst of explosive fire. However, that was merely an appetizer to the true destructive aftermath of Toz lighting a fortress filled with oil on fire.


    The sea of oil bubbled, boiled, and burned due to the fireball. The burning oil sttered all over the cavern and, after the initial explosion, devoured all the air. The explosion, followed by the vacuum of all the air burning up, put more pressure on the cave walls than they could handle.


    The initial explosion had long since reduced the fortress to nothing more than burning rubble. However, an avnche of rubble buried the fortress''s remains as the surface of Pirate Haven came tumbling down on top.


    The Blue Lounge headquarters disappeared in a fiery copse, revealing the hollow ground that had served as the Blue Lounge League''sst defense.


    Toz and the others managed to escape the radius of the copse itself, but they couldn''t escape the scorching shockwave that ruffled their clothes and hair.


    Toz turned around and looked at the massive pit of screams, fire, and burning rubble. Since they were in the clear, he let out the cats so they could also admire the view, especially Lucy. The other cats weren''t as entranced as the starry-eyed Lucy, but they also looked at what they had caused with some pride in their hearts. Not just anyone could copse the headquarters of one of the big three pirate crews of Pirate Haven.


    Their aplishment was mostly due to luck since the Blue Lounge had stocked up on oil for some reason. However, without their skills and strength, they wouldn''t have been able to enter the fortress and sneak through it undetected. They also wouldn''t have been able to escape the st radius in time if it weren''t for the cooperation between Toz and Asilean.


    While Toz and the cats admired their handiwork, Brunswick and the Bunglehoppers stared at Toz and the cats and the destruction they caused with mouths gaping from the shock. Brunswick knew what was going to happen before Toz actuallyunched the fireball, but he was still amazed at how disastrous it had been for the Blue Lounge League.


    The Bunglehoppers were even more shocked. The n had been for Toz and the cats to enter the center of the Blue Lounge headquarters to find and assassinate the councilors, which would paralyze the Blue Lounge''s organization at least for a little while. However, Toz''s mission ended with the entirety of the Blue Lounge''s headquarters copsing.


    The Bunglehoppers appreciated the end result, but it was still incredibly shocking.


    Stitches stuttered as he looked at Toz and seemed as if he wanted to ask something. However, Toz answered before he could say anything.


    "I''ll exinter. Let''s get out of here first."


    With themotion caused by the explosion and copse, it wouldn''t take long for the other pirates of Pirate Haven to gather. The Bunglehoppers were famous and would naturally attract a lot of attention, attention that might turn into hostility from the Blue Lounge League''s reinforcements.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The Bunglehoppers didn''t fear anyone who wasn''t capable of staying within the Blue Lounge League''s headquarters, but they had just gone through a draining fight and didn''t have the strength to go against the entirety of the Blue Lounge League of Pirates. As the unofficiallyrgest crew, the Blue Lounge League had thousands of pirates all over the city. Considering the headquarters was under attack, most of those pirates would probably be swarming toward the upper tier as fast as they could to make sure the attackers didn''t get away.


    Toz and the others ran back to the Bunglehoppers'' base, avoiding any groups of pirates they encountered on the way. Fighting would only draw unnecessary attention. And with the standard behavior of pirates, it was almost an obligation to fight other pirates when excitement ran hot throughout Pirate Haven, especially when the Bunglehoppers looked like easy targets due to their worn and battered clothes and their ruffled hairstyles.


    In case the Blue Lounge decided to get revenge, the Bunglehoppers wanted to rest and recover as much as possible at their base before the Ble Lounge pirates came for them. Fighting in their base would also give them a strategic advantage since Hayar could use the poison from the poisonous nts in the greenhouse to amply her power.


    They arrived at the gathering of vis built in a circle around the greenhouse without incident. Most of the Bunglehoppers were tired, but they weren''t so exhausted they couldn''t stay and listen to what Toz and the cats did. They also wanted to know who Brunswick was since he had seemingly been rescued from the Blue Lounge based on how Toz carried him while they ran from the Blue Lounge''s central mansion.


    Toz quickly and briefly exined how what happened. He also revealed the discovery that the Blue Lounge League of Pirates was possibly working for the Starsling Kingdom. It didn''te as a surprise to Wulf and Hayar, the captain and vice-captain of the Bunglehoppers. But the other pirates were shocked, especially Stitches.


    The Blue Lounge League of Pirates being part of the Starsling Kingdom was probably an open secret known to those with enough power and authority in Pirate Haven. Toz didn''t know if Wulf and Hayar had a reason not to tell the other Bunglehoppers, but he didn''t mind their shock as he continued exining how he and the cats found loads of oil that they set on fire after ransacking the treasury.


    Since the explosion was more because of the Blue Lounge League''s wartime preparations than Toz and the cats, the Bunglehoppers were more interested in the treasure they brought.


    "Do you have a ce where we can store everything?"


    Wulf looked slightly expectant as he answered since it became clear from Toz''s tone that there was a lot of treasure.


    "How much do you need?"


    "As much as possible."

 Chapter 240 Wulfs Greed

    ?Wulf led everyone to the backside of the greenhouse. The ground was smooth, and there weren''t even any weeds around, much less something that looked like storage where Toz could empty his pockets and show off all the treasure they grabbed from the Blue Lounge League of Pirates.


    However, that changed when Wulf brought out a wooden token with the engraving of a bunglehopper on it. As Wulf held the token in the air in front of them, a thinyer on the ground shifted and revealed a downward-spiraling stair in the ground.


    "Cap''n, ''this your liquor storage?"


    Frank asked Wulf with a nk stare.


    "Nonsens. It''s our treasury."


    "And why didn''t anyone know about it?"


    "Well, have any of you brought back treasure worthy of being put into storage?"


    Before Frank could answer, Wulf did it for him.


    "No. You only bring back baubles and junk from every raid you do."


    Frank looked a little embarrassed since Wulf exposed him as a useless pirate to outsiders. At least he hadfort in not being alone. Or so he thought until he noticed how no one else was shocked by the existence of a hidden storage room beneath the greenhouse.


    Frank looked at Vaner and was about to ask him if he knew, but Vaner avoided his gaze and followed Wulf and the others down the stairs. Frank was stunned at the unexpected revtion and betrayal and was left behind at the top of the stairs. He was about to go down but was stopped by the te sliding back into ce.


    Frank pounded on the ground where the stairway was and shouted for Wulf and the other Bunglehoppers to let him in. However, the only response he got was Wulf''s voice telling him to be on the lookout for enemies.


    The others, who entered the stairway with Wulf at the lead, ignored Frank''s shouts and pleas as they descended. Torches lining the wall lit up every few steps Wulf took, slowly bathing the rest of the stairs in light.


    It didn''t take long for the line of torches to end as the stairway reached its end and the treasury began.


    The light from the torches was only enough to brighten the stairs and did nothing to illuminate the treasury itself. But when Wulf reached the bottom of the stairs, he took out the wooden bunglehopper token again. Beams of light rained down from the ceiling of the treasury in response to the bunglehopper carving shining.


    The beams of light stopped turning off after a certain point. But Toz could tell that the treasury expanded further into the darkness. He could also sense how it was possible for such arge treasury to exist so close to the surface of the city. Extreme skill had gone into making the enchantments, so Toz and Asilean only noticed when they stepped foot into the actual treasury.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The room within the treasury was expanded by quite a lot using space attribute enchantments, high level ones at that. It was incredible handiwork, and it most likely didn''t end with only spatial expansion. Toz and Asilean could sense those enchantments because of their sensitivity to the space element. But they wouldn''t be able to detect enchantments made to protect and safekeep the contents of the treasury by deterring the would-be thief or intruder.


    Wulf turned around and stood with his arms at his hips in pride, which was understandable considering the grandness of his treasury. But it would have been even better if there actually was something within the treasury other than empty or not-yet-assembled shelves.


    Wulf noticed everyone''s silence, and he opened half an eyelid, giving up his disy of pride as he exined why a pirate didn''t have any treasure.


    "A treasury like this doesn''te cheap, and I''m still paying it off. But think of the future, when every shelf is filled to the brim with valuables, treasures, weapons, grimoires, martial manuals, and everything else someone might desire!"


    Wulf ended his monologue, slightly panting due to his feverish excitement.


    Toz had been worried about what drove Wulf to piracy since the chilly great-axe fighter didn''t seem like one. He was more like an experienced general than a pirate. Even Hods was a better pirate than Wulf.


    However, Wulf had just made it abundantly clear that his greed was something beyond what a normal person possessed and made him the perfect fit for piracy.


    Toz didn''t know about the other Bunglehoppers, but Stitches and Hods had be pirates mostly because of circumstances. And if he had to guess, Wulf became a pirate because it was the greatest way to satisfy his greed. But he wasn''t blinded by his greed, either.


    Without amazing foresight and ambition, Wulf wouldn''t have been able to give up all his previously umted wealth to invest in a treasury asrge as the one they were standing within. The treasury itself also served as proof of how adept Wulf was at satisfying his greed.


    Even if he paid it off in installments, it would be impossible to order such a grand treasury without sufficient capital. Toz didn''t know how much it would cost to build a treasury using high level enchantments at the level he saw used in the Bunglehopper treasury. But it probably wasn''t an amount people not directly involved could imagine.


    A person blinded by greed wouldn''t dump all their hard-earned wealth into a lump of empty storage room.


    Toz looked at Wulf with slight admiration as he realized the depth of the Bunglehoppers'' captain''s greed. However, he didn''t stall any longer, and he began emptying his pockets.


    Ring after ring and bag after bag left Toz''s pockets, all of them storage items containing even more storage items within.


    The light in Wulf''s eyes grew brighter with each spatial storage item Toz pulled out since it meant at least one more item added to his treasury. Wulf had a passing thought that since it was Toz and the cats who raided the Blue Lounge''s treasury and all that, the bounty was theirs. But Wulf''s thought was quickly shoved out of his head as the sight of his treasury and its shelves filled with shiny treasures once again took over his mind.

 Chapter 241 Brunswicks Eyes (1)

    ?The others began snatching and emptying the storage items before Toz even ced them on the ground after they got over their shock. Arge portion of the rings and bags only held more rings and bags or items that Toz and the cats took from the executives of the Blue Lounge League in the ballroom. However, there were still many rings and bags that contained the Blue Lounge League''s treasure chests.


    Even if he was overwhelmed by the prospect of filling his treasury with valuables, Wulf still maintained reason as he began sorting and organizing everything that the cats, Brunswick, and the Bunglehoppers pulled out of all the storage items.


    Thergest pile was one of the things Wulf deemed worthless trash since it was food, fake, or clothes from the Blue Lounge executives.


    The next pile was the chests filled to the brim with mostly gold coins from various kingdoms.


    Wulf just piled the remaining treasures together and nned to sort through them after they emptied or checked every spatial storage item in Toz''s pockets. Eventually, Toz stopped pulling rings and bags out of his pockets, and he began helping the others go through the treasure within the spatial storage items.


    Toz realized that Brunswick had taken off his sses since the Bunglehoppers got shocked at his eyes.


    "Is that why you wear sses? And not because you have bad eyesight?"


    Stitches asked Brunswick since he had been wondering if it was something he could help with or heal.


    Brunswick looked a little awkward at the question and at the attention he got just from removing his sses, but he answered Stitches'' question since he had seen how well Stitches and Toz got along during their walk down the stairs.


    "Yes, that''s right. A lot of people find my eyes unnerving, so I had these special sses made that make my eyes look normal while I wear them."


    "That''s good, then.


    "Ah! Not that you had to hide your eyes, but that there''s nothing wrong with them."


    "I-I guess."


    Toz didn''t know if it was rted to Brunswick''s mood or what it was, but it seemed like his swirling irises could change color. And Toz wasn''t the only one who noticed. Lucy, who had been looking at a shining ne made from some rare metal and jewels, looked up just in time to find Brunswick''s light blue eyes slowly shifting to a light pink hue.


    "Woah! Can you control that?"


    Lucy stood up and stepped closer to Brunswick since he wanted to get a closer look at Brunswick''s eyes after he asked.


    "C-control what?"


    Lucy''s approach flustered Brunswick, and he didn''t know what Lucy meant.


    "Your eyes. Can you change their color at will?"


    "W-wait. My eyes change color?"


    Stitches picked up a nearby diamond-encrusted handheld mirror and held it in front of Brunswick''s face so he could see for himself as his eyes changed colors and switched between blue and pink.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "What the fuck¡­?"


    Brunswick''s exmation was enough of an answer to Lucy''s question.


    Brunswick grabbed the mirror and took a closer look as he inspected his eyes, as they turned into a deeper shade of blue.


    "You didn''t know about it?"


    "No, not at all. My eyes have been mostly blue every time I''ve used a mirror."


    Brunswick responded unconsciously to Toz''s question, so he was slightly startled when Toz asked him something else.


    "Mostly blue?"


    "Well, there''s also usually some white mixed into them."


    Brunswick stared at his reflection in the mirror for a while, but it didn''t seem like he could control the color of his eyes and that their color was most likely affected by what he looked at or by his mood.


    Lucy, who sat on Toz''s shoulder across a pile of storage items, got dizzy after staring into Brunswick''s eyes for a little while and went back to going through the treasure.


    Lucy''s movements also got everyone else to go back to sorting through the treasure. Even if they were curious about Brunswick''s eyes, it was evident he didn''t know much about them. It would also be rude to ask someone about their inclination, especially when it''s someone they''ve known for less than a day.


    The cats and the Bunglehoppers continued sorting through the spatial storage items while asionally casting curious nces at Brunswick, who also returned to the treasure after determining he couldn''t control the color of his eyes.


    Most of the things they pulled out were pretty useless and thrown into the trash pile. Money and coins were easy to sort since they just put gold coins with gold coins and silver coins with silver coins, and so on.


    However, things got slightly trickier when it came to determining the authenticity and value of other treasures. The only one with enough expertise and knowledge to urately determine if a sword was as good as it seemed or if it was made from poor materials and crudely enchanted was Wulf.


    But there was a limit to how fast Wulf could go through every item that the others piled next to him, especially since he had to carefully inspect most of the items the others weren''t sure were real or not. There probably weren''t a lot of fakes or bad items, to begin with, but Wulf wanted to be sure and store only actual treasure within his treasury. It also wouldn''t be weird if they found a bunch of replicas the Blue Lounge League used to show off.


    Wulf was going through the pile of possible trash when he realized something.


    The others all ced the items they weren''t sure about in their separate ces. Hayar ced the things she thought weren''t worth anything in one pile. The cats handed over most stuff to Toz, who piled those things in one ce.


    There was usually one fake or useless item every now and then in each pile. Except for one.


    Wulf realized that every item that Brunswick was unsure about was an actual treasure. He also saw how Brunswick threw a lot of items into the trash pile with close to no hesitation. Brunswick''s ability to urately sort away trash and treasure couldn''t be a coincidence.


    Brunswick soon noticed Wulf''s intense stare and looked up.

 Chapter 242 Brunswicks Eyes (2)

    ?Brunswick met Wulf''s eyes for an instant before averting his gaze and looking around and behind himself to see if Wulf was looking at someone else. However, it was abundantly clear that Wulf was watching Brunswick and no one else.


    Wulf stood up and picked up one of the items from the trash pile that Brunswick had thrown away.


    "You discarded this one, right? Mind telling me why?"


    Brunswick''s naturally nervous disposition was already giving him a hard time due to the hectic day he had experienced and due to being surrounded by people he had never met before. Brunswick felt as if Wulf''s stare pierced through his body and nailed him to the ground.


    Even with his eyes telling him that there wasn''t any aggression in Wulf''s movements, Brunswick couldn''t stop himself from freezing up. But Brunswick also knew that staying silent to a question directly targeted at him might encourage Wulf to use more forceful methods, so he stuttered out an answer.


    "B-because it is of low quality, sir."


    "Hmm? In what way?"


    "T-the de is unbnced, sir."


    Brunswick remembered the sword he chose to discard, but even if he didn''t remember, he saw the faults as soon as heid eyes on it after Wulf picked it up.


    Wulf swung the sword a few times before asking his next question.


    "Are you a weaponsmith? Or a swordsman, maybe?"


    "N-no, sir."


    Brunswick wanted to tell Wulf that his eyes allowed him to analyze things, but it didn''t look like he would get the opportunity. Brunswick felt like opening his mouth without first being spoken to would end poorly for him. He couldn''t use his eyes to plead for help from Toz, either, since he was too scared to move his eyes away from the floor.


    However, Brunswick didn''t have to endure Wulf''s pressure for much longer since Hayar smacked his arm.


    "Cap''n, you''re about to make Swirles piss himself. Chill out a bit."


    Wulf looked startled and took a step back before regaining a calm andposed expression,pletely hiding his intense stare behind a facade of tranquility. Though, he immediately exposed his awkwardness when he opened his mouth again.


    "Oh, right. Sorry about that. Got a little too curious about your appraisal ability."


    Brunswick shed a grateful look at Hayar while answering.


    "I-I don''t mind at all, sir."


    Though even without Wulf''s eyes boring down on him and with his apology, Brunswick was still too nervous to rxpletely.


    "Anyway, why are you handing me stuff that''spletely fine when you''re better at discerning an item''s true value than me?"


    Brunswick was shocked enough at Wulf''s question that he stopped looking at the floor and faced Wulf again.


    "What do you mean?"


    "Exactly what I said. I don''t know what your inclination is or what you did for the Blue bastards, but your swirly eyes are better at discovering fakes than mine. I didn''t even notice the sword was unbnced until I swung it a few times."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "R-really?"


    Brunswick had a difficult time believing he was better than the captain of the Bunglehoppers at identifying treasure, and he looked quite skeptical at Wulf''s ims.


    "So that pile over there aren''t items I couldn''t see the ws with? They are actual treasures?"


    Brunswick asked while pointing at the pile of items he had handed over to Wulf for a secondary review since he couldn''t find anything wrong with them.


    "You tell me. I don''t sense anything wrong with those items."


    Brunswick was still shocked and busy trying to grasp how he, a fourth level mage, was better at something than Wulf, who was almost at the ninth level.


    "Great! With that settled, let''s run every item we''re uncertain about through Swirles from now on."


    Wulf pped his hands and began shoveling the piles around him over to Brunswick with a smile.


    The nging and rustling roused Brunswick from his daze and forced him to get to work again.


    With Brunswick speeding through the piles of items, urately determining their approximate worth, the sorting progressed at an incredible pace. However, there were some things that took longer to determine the worth of.


    Though, since Brunswick couldn''t see through them in just a few moments like he could with practically everything else, those items probably weren''t useless, and Brunswick ced them to the side so he could go through themter when he finished with everything else.


    The pile of books, odd treasures, and what looked like scrap naturally garnered the interest of the others, but since they wanted toplete the sorting, they put a lid on their curiosity.


    However, even if they focused on going through everything Toz and the cats brought back from the Blue Lounge Treasury, outside circumstances wouldn''t let them finish in peace.


    Everyone heard Frank''s voice echo down through the stairway.


    "Cap''n! I think we pissed off a couple of wasps'' nests with our stunt!"


    It didn''t take any thinking for the people going through all the loot to realize that the Blue Lounge League of Pirates wasing to take revenge and reim that loot.


    Toz and everyone else stood up and began heading toward the stairs. Brunswick trailed slightly behind, but no one thought much about it since he was, after all, the weakest physically.


    The Bunglehoppers and the Paw Print Pirates came out of the hole in the ground to find Frank on the verge of a mental breakdown. Frank looked like he was about to burst into tears as he saw everyone else.


    "Cap''n! There are so many of them! What do we do?!"


    Wulf chopped Frank''s head without flinching as he began moving toward where he could sense a whole bunch of peopleing from.


    "What do we do? We show them how fearsome bunglehoppers are."


    Toz and the cats had trouble keeping themselves fromughing despite the serious situation after hearing Wulf''s statement.


    However, that didn''t stop them from walking next to Wulf directly toward the Blue Lounge League of Pirates, who hade to take revenge.

 Chapter 243 Blue Lounges Counterattack (1)

    ?Toz and the others stopped at the edge of the Bunglehoppers'' base and looked at the open area in front of them, quickly being filled by the Blue Lounge League''s henchmen.


    "Wulf! Get the fuck over here!"


    The crowd split open to make way for Stris. Stris had obviously spent thest few hours tidying himself, so he looked a lot more decentpared to Wulf and the other Bunglehoppers, who weren''t as obsessed with their appearance.


    "I''m already here, you bastard. What do you want?"


    Wulf didn''t let Stris and his pirates intimidate him as he red at Stris.


    "What do ''I'' want!? What the fuck do you want?! If you don''t give at least three good reasons and amplepensation for your attack on my base, I''ll show you how much I want the Bunglehoppers gone."


    "I could have given you five reasons if their corpses had been intact, but why should I? If you want a fight, let''s fight!"


    Wulf grinned and took out his great-axe. Stris clenched his teeth so hard that Toz thought he heard them crack. Stris responded to Wulf''s provocation after two deep breaths.


    "You razed my base to the ground because I sent a couple of scouts?"


    Stris looked like he could barely restrain his anger as he red at Wulf.


    "Oh! That wasn''t me. I only wanted to smack you in the face a bit. Destroying your base was all this guy''s doing."


    Wulf seemed totally unbothered as he unhesitatingly gave up the culprit for the Blue Lounge headquarters'' destruction.


    "You! What kind of grudge do you have against the Blue Lounge to have done something like that?!"


    It seemed like Stris recognized Toz from when he ran past him.


    "Who knows? Maybe the stars drove me crazy on the way here."


    Toz smiled when he realized Stris understood the hint. Toz hadn''t attacked the Ble Lounge for any specific reason. It was just a way for him to pave the way to be the Pirate King. The Blue Lounge League of Pirates just happened toe knocking at the wrong moment. However, after he learned that the Blue Lounge League was associated with the Starsling Kingdom, Toz didn''t mind the opportunity to take revenge for Joan and her family. Stitches could do it for himself.


    Since it was supposed to be a secret that the Blue Lounge worked for the Starsling Kingdom, Stris flinched when Toz mentioned stars, but he tried his best to act like nothing.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Great, looks like another lunatic joined the Bunglehoppers. Well, since we won''t solve this with words, let''s duke it out."


    Stris pulled out a spear from thin air as he prepared himself to attack. The Blue Lounge pirates behind him also pulled out their weapons or roused their magic as they got ready to bring down the Bunglehoppers.


    Wulf looked at Hayar as the pirates streamed past Stris like an avnche. Wulf didn''t even have to say anything before Hayar conjured a green mist.


    The charging Blue Lounge pirates flinched and looked hesitant to continue charging, but mages from the opposing side used several different means to protect the Ble Lounge pirates. Wind to disperse the mist, fire to burn it, and some unique magics to destroy or invalidate it. There were also mages who directly protected the fighters and themselves, using barriers to shield everyone from the green poison mist.


    Some defensive methods were less effective than others, and Hayar''s magic began corroding through the magic and reaching the pirates. But it was far from enough to halt the Blue Lounge pirates'' advance, so she used her trump card.


    The doors to the greenhouse swung open, and dense green fog with faint purple traces swirled out to cover the Bunglehopper base. The pirates, who had quickly started relying on the mages'' protection, soon realized that the purple-lined fog was in another league.


    The gusts of wind barely made the fog budge, the fog didn''t catch on fire, and it refused to get affected by magic.


    The new poison fog quickly spread out to cover the swarming pirates, and the pirates began dropping like flies. However, the pirates made more noise than flies. The poison burned through their skin, and each breath they took brought the fog directly into their lungs. Hoarse screams rang out from the dense fog. Since it was impossible to see through the mist, the pirates quickly lost their sense of direction, and even when they tried to escape, they only ran in circles until they died.


    The first wave of Blue Lounge pirates was easily defeated singlehandedly by Hayar, and it left the still-amassing pirates behind Stris doubting whether they really could take down the Bunglehoppers, despite their numbers.


    However, the fog returned to the greenhouse to reveal an exhausted and panting Hayar. Hayar''s forehead dripped with sweat, and she sat down to rest. The Blue Lounge pirates, who hesitated, soon rallied each other to begin another attack, despite the corroded bodies of theirrades littering the ground.


    There wasn''t much camaraderie in a pirate crew as big as the Blue Lounge League of Pirates, but there would still be some resentment when so many fellow pirates died, and the second charge looked like it would be even more intense than the first one.


    While the Blue Lounge pirates raised their spirits and began charging toward the Bunglehoppers again, Stris stood in the back and looked on coldly as several hundreds of his subordinates died in one go.


    Since Hayar was temporarily not in a state where she could kill everyone with poison, the Blue Lounge pirates charged without as much preparation. But they were still vignt when two of the Bunglehoppers stepped forward.


    The big and hairy water mage, Vaner, and the average-looking dude with short hair and ice-cold fists, Frank.


    Stris''s eyes trembled as he saw Frank and Vaner step up to defend against the wave of low and medium level pirates. Hayar''s strength as a high level mage wasn''t a secret, so Stris wasn''t especially surprised when she cleared away the first charge all by herself.


    However, Frank and Vaner standing out like that could only mean they were going to do something simr.

 Chapter 244 Blue Lounges Counterattack (2)

    ?The only way Frank and Vaner would be able to stop the Blue Lounge Pirates'' advance was if they were both at least at the seventh level. However, that would mean there are at least four high level mages and fighters in a pirate crew that has maybe one or two more regr members.


    The big three pirate crews also had several high level mages and fighters, most likely more than the Bunglehoppers, but medium levels were still their main fighting force. The Bunglehoppers were also famous for their outstanding individualbat ability, so if all of them were high level, they would naturally be able to pose a threat to the other pirate crews.


    Stris realized he might have picked a fight he shouldn''t have when he understood how much strength the Bunglehoppers had. However, it was toote to take a step back and save his subordinates'' lives, so Stris decided to let things y out.


    While Stris surveyed the battlefield, Vaner and Frank got to work and started clearing out the Blue Lounge pirates stupid enough to charge directly at them only moments after Hayar''s massacre.


    Frank covered his body in ayer of icy blue aura, and Vaner conjuredrge spheres of water that he sent flying through the air. The water balls weren''t very fast and didn''t pose much of a threat to the pirates, despite Vaner being at a higher level.


    However, before the water couldnd on the pirates, Frank struck out with his hands and sentpact aura in the shape of a fist directly at the water. Being able to control aura outside the body or not on a weapon was a definite sign that Frank was a high level fighter, and there was no longer any doubt that Frank and Vaner were going to smash the Blue Lounge pirates'' second attempt.


    Frank''s fists of freezing aura struck the balls of water. While Frank didn''t handle ice and cold as well as an ice mage, and he couldn''t reach the same cold temperatures that a mage might, his fists packed quite a punch instead. His aura struck the water balls with enough force to send the water sshing over the pirates. But aftering in contact with his aura, the water began to freeze.


    The water turned into ice, and the drops of water turned into sharp icicles, powered by the force of Frank''s punches as they pierced through the hastily made defenses of the pirates.


    Frank''s icy aura remained on the ice that struck the pirates and continued spreading ice and cold all over the ground and the swarm of pirates.


    Vaner and Frank worked together to cover the pirates in water and ice, slowly turning them into an army of ice sculptures. A few of the sculptures shattered due to the impacts of Vaner''s water attacks and Frank''s aura, but even if they didn''t break, the pirates were as good as dead.


    But Wulf swung his axe, creating arge phantom axe of aura, and cleaved through the sea of sculptures for good measure and to taunt Stris.


    Stris red at Wulf at the tant disrespect. If he had known how strong the Bunglehoppers were, he would have dealt with them a lot sooner and done it ruthlessly. However, it was useless to think such thoughts since the Bunglehoppers were already in a position to threaten the sovereignty of the big three.


    While the Bunglehoppers couldn''t match the firepower of any of the big three, they were strong enough to make sure they didn''t go down without making the other party suffer severe loss. And any drop in one of the big three''s strength would leave an opening for the other two to removepetition.


    So while Stris wanted to get rid of the Bunglehoppers, he had to prepare himself for facing the Red Hook Pirate Crew and Cult of Nihiltas after doing so.


    Stris gritted his teeth and ordered a retreat.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The Bunglehoppers had enough power to continue ughtering the Blue Lounge pirates. Continuing to stubbornly persist in their attack on the Bunglehoppers would make Stris lose valuable assets. And it wasn''t a wise choice to leave their ruined headquarters unattended for too long lest scavengers want to make use of the Blue Lounge League''s fight with the Bunglehoppers.


    The ordinary pirates were unwilling to ept that they lost twice, and overwhelmingly at that, but they also knew that repeating the same actions and expecting a different oue was no different from insanity, so they retreated while swearing bloody vengeance.


    Wulf looked on gloatingly as Stris had to cut his losses and retreated with barely a second nce at all the corpses of the pirates sent to die.


    "Ha! Get fucked, suckers!"


    A few of the Blue Lounge pirates wanted to respond to Frank''s taunts, but they were pulled along by theirrades, and Frank ended up practically talking to himself.


    Wulf smacked the backside of Frank''s head as he turned around and headed back to the treasury so they could continue sorting through the treasure. That was when Wulf realized something.


    Stris only made noise about wrecking their base, but he didn''t say anything about returning all the things Toz had stolen. Wulf didn''t know what Stris had done in thest few hours, but he probably hadn''t searched through the burning rubble. Stris himself was probably strong enough to ignore the mes and heat, but Wulf was convinced that Stris would never do something so lowly. And the other high level mages would also find it beneath themselves to search through the rubble without enoughpensation.


    Wulf''s smile widened into a grin as he imagined Stris'' reaction at discovering an empty treasury.


    Stris felt a chill run down his spine as he arrived back at the ruined headquarters, and he stared down the pit of still-burning rubbles. He had been too busy and too enraged to properly analyze the situation.


    But after venting his emotion by sending his subordinates to die, Stris regained some rationality and realized that things were pretty bad.


    The only reason there would be so much fire without any obvious signs of magic being in use was that there was something else keeping the fire, something like oil.


    Stris felt an itch in his brain as he slowly pieced together the events that led his base to ruins.


    "Fuck!"

 Chapter 245 Hidden Dagger

    ?Down in the Bunglehoppers'' treasury, there wasn''t much left to go over, so Brunswick began inspecting the items he couldn''t see through as easily as everything else.


    There was a significant pile of them gathered in the same chest, probably because the Blue Lounge pirates knew they were special but couldn''t find a use for them. There were also some who looked like ordinary treasures at first nce but that Brunswick noticed had hidden functions.


    One of the swords Brunswick picked up was about to go into the pile for decent but ordinary swords. However, after looking at it for a few more seconds, he noticed enchantments hidden inside the sword. Brunswick wasn''t too curious, but he had to spend some time figuring out what those enchantments did so he could evaluate the weapon properly.


    After some time, Brunswick managed to activate the enchantments by infusing the sword with his mana in a very particr way. Since he practically never had to use his mana, Brunswick wasn''t very adept at controlling it, and it took more time learning how to control his mana than it took figuring out what to do with it. However, since Brunswick had an easy time seeing the flow of his mana, he quickly got the hang of how to control it so that it followed his will.


    Brunswick infused the insides of the sword following the enchantments. The connection between the hilt and the de lit up, after which the de detached and dropped to the floor with a nging sound.


    Brunswick''s attention followed the de to the ground, so he wasn''t prepared for the sight that greeted him when he looked back at the weapon in his hand. The short-sword''s de hadn''t been very long, but it had looked sturdy and solid to Brunswick''s eyes. However, when it dropped to the ground, it revealed a hollow interior.


    But the sword had still been solid, despite the de itself being hollow, and it was thanks to the dagger hidden within the sword. The dagger was about half the length of the sword and about as long as two hands. The dagger''s de was bloodred, as if it was freshly pulled out of a person''s body, and not as if it had been hiding within the sword for who knows how long.


    The hilt was still the same, but to Brunswick''s eyes, it looked as if the dagger''s bloody atmosphere had dyed the hilt crimson.


    Brunswick was startled to suddenly hold an ominous weapon like that, especially when it looked like the bloodthirsty aura was about to extend to his hand and creep up his arm. Brunswick dropped the knife.


    The dagger fell de first, and the red de pierced through the floor like a warm knife through butter. The dagger sank into the ground all the way up to its hilt with only the force of being dropped from the height of Brunswick''s sitting position.


    The sword''s nking as it dropped to the ground had directed everyone''s attention to Brunswick, so they all saw the bloody knife''s de fall to and through the floor. The dagger''s sharpness stunned everyone, especially Wulf, who knew how sturdy and littered with enchantments the treasury was.


    No one moved to pick up the dagger since Brunswick dropped it with a frightened expression. They all kind of just waited for Brunswick to calm down and exin what happened.


    However, Brunswick didn''t waste time talking since he could see a blood-colored energy spread through the air from the knife.


    Brunswick took a deep breath before he grabbed the sword de and the dagger before reconnecting them and hiding the dagger within the sword again.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Brunswick sighed with relief as he saw the hilt and de fuse back together with a sh of light. He had been worried that it would be impossible to restrain the dagger''s murderous intent after it was released, but it seemed like the sword wasn''t a single-use thing.


    The others looked at Brunswick with questions in their eyes. After the dagger dropped into the floor, they had sensed something prickle their minds, at least Toz, the cats, Wulf, and Hayar had. So they hadn''t pressed Brunswick into exining what the dagger was. However, now that the possible danger had passed, and Brunswick sighed in relief, they were interested in what he had to say regarding the knife that was sharp enough to cut through solid stone like nothing.


    Brunswick looked up while still holding the sword.


    "Where do we ce possibly haunted weapons?"


    Toz, who sat next to Brunswick, immediately scooched away upon hearing that the sword was haunted. Nil, Lucy, and Mindle joined him, which earned curious gazes from the other cats and humans in the treasury. But everyone soon focused on Brunswick again.


    "Is it actually haunted?"


    "I can''t be sure since I don''t want to look at it for too long, but there''s an ominous bloodthirst surrounding the dagger that seemed to have a will of its own."


    Brunswick answered Wulf''s question with some hesitation while he looked at the sword again. Even after he knew that there was a dagger hidden within the sword, he couldn''t see anything beyond theyer of enchantments hiding it.


    "It might also be a trap or something. There are enchantments that hide the digger itself, but the enchantments themselves are visible to detailed inspection. Maybe the creator wanted to bait people into using the dagger or something."


    "Well. It doesn''t really matter. It''s an awesome treasure, even if it is dangerous. Let''s ce it on that shelf and make that a shelf for potentially dangerous items."


    Brunswick followed Wulf''s directives and ced the sword on a shelf much too simple for the weapon it held.


    Since Brunswick was the only one who saw the bloody mist, he was also the one most afraid of the knife. But the others easily moved on to continue sorting and storing the treasure without caring much about the sword and dagger. Brunswick also continued inspecting the other items, asionally throwing a nce at the sword to make sure it hadn''t disappeared or something.

 Chapter 246 Grimoires And Manuals

    ?Aside from the bloody dagger, Brunswick also discovered some other powerful weapons that ended up on the same shelf. However, most of the items he found were items he couldn''t figure out the use of if they still had one. But those items were still pieces of incredible craftsmanship and most likely made using valuable materials. After putting those kinds of items on their own separate shelf, Brunswick moved on to the next category of loot.


    Books.


    Books were usually stored in libraries. However, the books Toz and the cats brought back from the Blue Lounge treasury were looted from just that, a treasury. If it had been someone who loved books, it wouldn''t be weird to want to store them safely. However, the treasury would have been overrun by books in that case. Not to mention how Stris didn''t exactly seem like a book lover. The books could only be considered valuable enough to be stored in the treasury if they were actual treasures, which meant they contained valuable information or were magic books.


    And from the looks of it, most of the books were indeed grimoires and martial manuals. Although martial manuals technically weren''t books regarding magic the same way grimoires were, it was close enough for the two types of books to get the same categorization.


    Brunswick didn''t have to check the authenticity of the books since it would require more effort to imitate a grimoire than it took to actually make one. However, he had to check the remaining magic in the grimoires.


    The other mages could check the grimoires of the same attribute, and anyone could inspect the manuals. Doing so risked using up the magic or martial energy imprinted into the books. However, Brunswick could use his eyes to inspect all the grimoires, despite having only neutral attribute mana, and he could do so without consuming the stored spell. Without the right element, it was impossible to learn the spells, so Brunswick could inspect the grimoires as much as he wanted without caring about whether or not he would deplete the magic.


    Brunswick had to be slightly more careful when looking through the martial manuals. But since he didn''t have any familiarity with fighting, the martial energy didn''t seem very inclined to teach him the skills and techniques within the manuals.


    After Brunswick finished going through all the books, he sorted them into four piles. Two piles for unused or barely used grimoires and manuals, and two piles for almost depleted grimoires and martial manuals.


    The others looked at the three books that made up the two most important piles. Two grimoires and one manual looked weak inparison to the more than a dozen each of the other grimoires and manuals.


    However, Brunswick didn''t think it was an oue to pout about due to the contents of one of the grimoires and the manual.


    Brunswick smiled as he handed over one of the grimoires to Hayar and the manual to Wulf.


    A poison spell for Hayar, and a great-axe technique for Wulf.


    The Blue Lounge League of Pirates, who controlled thergest part of the markets in Pirate Haven, had probably snatched the magic books as soon as they arrived at Pirate Haven, possibly even before that. All to make sure that they didn''t end up in the hands of the infamous captain and vice-captain of the Bunglehoppers.


    The two strongest members of the Bunglehoppers were notoriously powerful even without spells and techniques, so if they got a hold of something that suited them perfectly, they would be able to cause a lot of trouble.


    However, the magic book business wasn''t exactly booming in the Void and Pirate Haven, and most of the loot passed through the big three crews, so it was easy to keep suitable magic books from reaching the Bunglehoppers. Poison and great-axes aren''t exactly among the moremon attributes and weapons either, so it wasn''t as if the Blue Lounge had to put in a lot of effort to snatch the magic books before they could reach the Bunglehoppers.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The Bunglehoppers weren''t exactly an ancient crew, but they had been around for a while and steadily built their reputation. So the Blue Lounge, and possibly the other big two crews, had probably kept an eye out for grimoires suitable for the Bunglehoppers for a while. However, even after all that, the Blue Lounge still only ended up with one poison grimoire and one great-axe manual.


    Wulf and Hayar epted the magic books with confusion at first since there weren''t any obvious markings that told them what they were. However, as soon as the book was in their hands, they sensed thepatibility.


    After a moment of stunned silence, Wulf and Hayar gave Brunswick arge hug of gratitude. Just saying thanks wouldn''t be enough, and since Wulf had used all of the Bunglehoppers'' funds to invest in a treasury, there wasn''t anything material to thank Brunswick with either.


    A hug would have to do until they found a way to repay the debt to Brunswick. And Toz and the cats. After hugging Brunswick, the two pirates realized that it was Toz and the cats who looted the Blue Lounge treasury and found the magic books.


    Unlike Brunswick, Toz easily avoided the two pirates'' hugs.


    "It was teamwork. You guys upied the slightly less weak blue bastards, and I looted their treasury using that distraction."


    The two pirates reluctantly gave up on expressing their gratitude after Toz''s reasoning, but they swore to each other and to themselves that they would find a way to properly express their gratitude.


    After staving off the two pirates, Toz looked through the nearly depleted manuals, hoping to find one he could learn.


    Since thest unused grimoire was blood attribute, no one was interested in it.


    Toz put down thest manual with a sigh. There wasn''t a single sword manual that he could learn a technique from.


    Although manuals were made using martial energy, martial energy was still originally mana, so even mages could learn techniques. And fighters are also capable of learning spells, depending on their control over aura and their inclination.


    The techniques and spells might not exert their full power when used by the wrong hands, but they were still a way for a mage or a fighter to grow more powerful.


    Unfortunately, Toz hadn''t found any suitable sword manuals in the pile of manuals he looted from the Blue Lounge treasury.


    The only one with some sess, aside from Wulf and Hayar, was Vaner, who found a spell to make it rain. The grimoire was nearly depleted, and making it rain wasn''t a direct increase in hisbat strength, so Vaner found it hard to celebrate.

 Chapter 247 Stris Inclination

    ?At first, no one paid attention to Toz''s disappointment, partly because it wasn''t all too obvious he was disappointed. But when Wulf noticed Toz was looking through the martial manuals, he had to ask,


    "Aren''t you a mage? Why are you looking through the manuals?"


    "Oh, right. I use a sword as well."


    Toz pulled out his four-element sword from a spatial ring on his finger.


    "But it''s mostly a hobby since my magic is stronger than my sword. At least until I find a suitable manual."


    Wulf looked at Hayar, and Hayar looked at Wulf, their eyes shing. It looked like they wanted to turn their idea into a surprise, but since Toz had already noticed them realizing something, they didn''t hold back and told him.


    "Stris, that blue leader bastard¡­."


    "You know what his inclination is?"


    Toz looked at the two pirates waiting for them to finish since it was pretty obvious he didn''t know what a person he had known about for less than a day and seen a total of two minutes had as an inclination.


    "''He''s a sword fighter!''"


    Wulf and Hayar told Toz Stris'' inclination at the same time.


    "Even if he''s an earth attribute, he would still hog every single sword manual for himself."


    "If we can kill him and take his storage items, there is bound to be something suitable for you!"


    Toz smiled as he answered the two pirates'' excitement.


    "Then I guess I know what we have to do next."


    "Yeah. The only problem is that bastard''s strength."


    "He''s that strong?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz doubted Wulf''s words since, from what he saw before the Blue Lounge headquarters copse, the fight between Wulf and Stris had been pretty even.


    "I didn''t say he takes all sword manuals for himself for nothing. He has at least two techniques that match his attribute and one that doesn''t. I can barely beat him as long as he doesn''t use those, but he''s still pretty fucking strong for a bastard."


    Toz sank into contemtion at Wulf''s words. Toz was pretty confident in his strength since he had defeated high level beings before, such as the guards in the Blue Lounge fortress and the high level void beasts. But beings who can use spells and manuals are in another league. Toz himself was proof of that. His two spells helped him easily defeat opponents at levels higher than himself. Not only that. Spells also helped in mastering control over mana.


    Simrly, mastering techniques helped fighters improve their control and mastery over martial energy. And Stris, who had learned at least three techniques, was bound to have incredible sword energy. Wulf, who couldpare to him, probably relied on hard work and talent to catch up to the discrepancy in resources, but even if their martial energy was of simr quality, a single technique could reduce that simrity to worthlessness.


    If Toz wanted to kill Stris and take the manuals, he had to either overpower him or make sure that Stris doesn''t get an opportunity to use his techniques. However, even without being able to use techniques, Stris'' raw martial energy could still protect him from the interference of magic and aura.


    Toz''s darkness spell would probably have limited effectiveness, and Toz would still have to find a perfect opportunity to use it since Stris probably won''t go around the city looking for assassination attempts.


    However, if Toz couldn''t find an opportunity, he could make one himself. He was good at sneaking around and unleashing arge amount of mana at once, after all. All he needs is one good window to assassinate Stris and take what he wants before disappearing.


    Toz wasn''t the best at nning assassination attempts, but he knew someone who was good at plots. He also had the means to employ Lucy''s ns with ease.


    Toz and Lucy began scheming properly in order to both kill Stris and to put Toz on the throne of Pirate Haven as the King of pirates. However, before they began putting their ns in motion, they decided they should bring the rest of their group to Pirate Haven. Since the Bunglehoppers had officially established their position as practically equals to the big three, Toz was sure that they could even bring Taienra over without having to worry about it causing too much of a ruckus.


    As long as people knew that Taienra was with the Bunglehoppers, no one would dare rashly approach her, and if they did, they would have to face thebined wrath of the Bunglehoppers, Toz and his crew, and Taienra herself.


    Toz and Asilean got up to head over to where Taienra was waiting. Toz left the other cats behind since they wanted to stay in the city. Nil wanted to explore the architecture, and Lucy wanted to continue nning while asionally causing some mischief. Mindle and Scrael tagged along with Lucy, Mindle because she had started sharing Lucy''s joy of watching the world burn, and Scrael to make sure they didn''t get into too much trouble.


    However, Toz also decided to go alone with Asilean because it would be easier and quicker for the two of them to travel through the Void than to take the boat.


    The two of them had both the void and the space element. The space element allowed them to cross great distances at incredible speeds, and the void element allowed them to survive in the Void without being void beasts or being powerful enough to survive the Void''s pressure.


    Toz suspected he might be able to handle it without using the void attribute when he reached the next division. However, the cats would probably have to reach the transcendent level until they could traverse the Void with only their bodies.


    As he thought about it, Toz realized that Taienra''s physique, which allowed her to swim freely in the Void from birth, was probably outrageous inparison to the strength of the other beings in their group. And such a powerful being had beenpletely outmatched by those people from the Starsling Kingdom.

 Chapter 248 Taienras Arrival

    ?Toz and Asilean used one of the docks as a springboard to leap out of the city''s gravity and protective barrier. Their actions would have attracted the attention of the people nearby if Toz hadn''t used abination of darkness and void magic to conceal their presence. However, since it was his first time traveling through the Void directly, Toz didn''t dare y around withbination magic, so he stuck only to using void magic.


    Toz and Asilean used void magic to push themselves through the Void while using space magic to shrink the distance, and they disappeared from sight in a few moments. However, there were still several people who saw Toz enter the Void with nothing but the clothes on him. And unless made from priceless treasure, clothes couldn''t withstand the burden of the necessary enchantments to protect their wearer from the Void.


    Only someone with more money and resources than air to breathe would acquire something like clothes to protect them from the Void, while a vessel would do the same job but would also allow the person to actually move around in the Void. A person that rich probably wouldn''t travel without an entourage or protection, so it was unlikely to be due to the clothes.


    However, there were other ways a person could enter the Void freely. Sufficient strength or the Void attribute were the two most obvious reasons for someone being able to enter the Void. There might also be unique inclinations capable of allowing the human to travel through the Void without them having the void attribute. But such an inclination was more than exceedingly rare.


    Since approximately transcendent level strength was necessary to travel through the Void without help or the void attribute, the people who saw Toz quickly guessed that he had the void attribute to help him. The existence of a certain human in the city helped convince them that it was possible to have the void attribute. However, it also made them assume that Toz was part of the same faction as that person, or rted to the cult leader''s rumored origin, the Church of Nihiltas.


    Toz had inadvertently managed to spread even further rumors about his existence in Pirate Haven. Although, no one linked the neer who beat a couple of thugs from Sanguine de to the void mage who appeared for a few moments a the outskirts of the city''s middle tier.


    Toz and Asilean flitted through the Void toward Taienra and the others on her back, unaware of the rumors they had started.


    It was a mystical feeling, having the Void press down on his body, threatening to destroy it while also shielding it from destruction, and Toz was slightly scared that the pressure would win out. However, as he got more used to it, the feeling slowly started to disappear, and he felt like he belonged to the Void, as if it was natural for him to travel through it.


    Since Toz was more at ease in the Void, he and Asilean picked up their pace and shed through the Void until they arrived in front of Taienra.


    "You''re back already?"


    Taienra''s voice questioning voice greeted them.


    "Yeah. A bunch of stuff happened almost the moment we set foot on Pirate Haven. But the result''s good since you can get close to the city without having to worry about a bunch of pirates attacking you."


    Asilean gave Taienra a rundown of what happened during the time they had been in Pirate Haven while Toz went to the center of the ind to quickly exin to Joan, Joshua, and Hods what was going on.


    Joshua was a little sad that he didn''t get to see Lucy, but he was immediately overjoyed when he found out he got to go to Pirate Haven.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It didn''t take long for Taienra to get the gist of what happened and head toward Pirate Haven. Toz and Asilean exined what they thought the others might need to know on the way to the city.


    Toz was thinking about how to exin the Blue Lounge''s connection with the Starsling Kingdom to Joan and Joshua when they returned to the city.


    Toz hadn''t noticed it while they were traveling through the empty Void since he didn''t have anything topare to when he couldn''t properly measure distance. However, now that he could make aparison between how quickly he and Asilean and Taienra made the same trip, Toz realized that Taienra was almost dizzyingly fast. And she was capable of such speeds without affecting the people riding on her back which meant that she also had excellent control over her strength.


    "Were you that eager?"


    "Maybe a little. You made it seem like there was going to be a lot of fun here."


    "Still, it''s pretty incredible you reached that speed with the forest on your back."


    "Right, Toz''s sword kept me busy, so I never told you, but this forest is way too mysterious, and it''s thanks to it that we got here so fast, you know?"


    Contrary to Toz''s thoughts, the speed Taienra disyed wasn''t her usual speed. It was her starlight magic. Though, even if it wasn''t Taienra''s regr traveling velocity, it was still incredible.


    Taienra wanted to tell Asilean all about the forest on her back now that she got an opportunity. However, that still had to wait since her arrival had startled almost every single pirate on Pirate Haven. The sole exceptions were Stitches and the cats, but even they were a little surprised since Taienra had appeared seemingly from out of nowhere.


    Most of the pirates quickly distanced themselves from Taienra since it was obvious just from her arrival that they weren''t a match for her. However, many others were a little more rash and decided they didn''t like their city being intruded upon by a massive beast, so they began surrounding Taienra with boats and ships while giving off threatening atmospheres. Though there wasn''t anyone who took action, and before anyone did something, a voice rang out through the city and the nearby Void.


    "Bunglehopper business. Stay out!"


    Wulf''s shout was enough to quell any brewing trouble. Those who recognized and knew Wulf knew it wasn''t wise to make an enemy of him, and those who didn''t know Wulf still knew about the Bunglehoppers and how they had just smacked the Blue Lounge League in the face without suffering any repercussions.


    And since Taienra was just an unidentified sixth level beast, despite the power she emanated, the big three crews didn''t see a reason to unnecessarily pick a fight with the Bunglehoppers. Stris really wanted to interfere, but he wasn''t sure he could withstand another loss just for the sake of being petty.

 Chapter 249 Stirring The Pot

    ?After Taienra arrived at Pirate Haven, the cats, Brunswick, and the Bunglehoppers took a smaller boat to visit her. The Bunglehoppers were curious about how Stitches and Hods had lived, and Lucy led the cats to bring Joshua into their ns. Brunswick didn''t have much of a choice where to go, so he just tagged along.


    Wulf eyed Taienra''s body carefully as their boat moved closer, and he and the others boarded the forest.


    Toz and the others already on the ind greeted the visitors. After everyone got introduced to each other, Toz, the cats, Joshua, Brunswick, Wulf, and Hayar began nning Blue Lounge''s demise.


    Joan and Hods followed Frank, Vaner, and Stitch on a guided tour around the city. It was a little dangerous considering the Blue Lounge''s current hostility, but since their base was empty, they didn''t stray too far from it.


    Brunswick and the Bunglehoppers were surprised at Toz''s ambition to be Pirate King when he revealed that, but they weren''t resistant to it. If they helped him be the king of pirates, their crew would naturally be in a position worthy of their assistance. And to Wulf, it didn''t matter if he was officially below Toz in the hierarchy as long as he got ess to all the wealth flowing through Pirate Haven.


    There also wasn''t much reason for the Bunglehoppers to resist Toz''s ns to be Pirate King. Toz and the cats didn''t need their help, and technically, all of the wealth in Bunglehoppers'' treasury was thanks to Toz, and if he wanted, he could easily find somece else to store everything. Though, taking such measures would put a strain on the rtionship between the two groups. Something that no one wanted.


    There were more profits in helping Toz, and there would only be loss if they didn''t help, so the Bunglehoppers decided to do as much as possible in order to reap as many benefits as possible from Toz''s reign.


    It didn''t take long for Toz and the others to draw up the outline of a n that they could develop further as the situation progressed.


    With a couple of first steps ready, they got to action.


    Toz and the others'' identities and appearances were revealed during Blue Lounge''s attempt to counterattack, so if they wanted to get something done, they had to either be prepared to have their ns exposed or get someone else to do it.


    Thankfully, that was something money could solve.


    Their first stop would be the Bunglehopper treasury to secure enough gold to make their ns flow smoothly. Hayar had to stay back for their second stop of the first step of their n, which she reluctantly agreed to.


    Afterpleting the first step of their n, what they first had to do was wait before contacting the Red Hook Pirate Crew.


    It didn''t take long for the effects of the first step to show as the atmosphere in Pirate Haven quickly grew more heated.


    It wasn''t anything extraordinary. Toz and the others had used Retsy''s informationwork to find people willing to attack various shops and ships affiliated with the big three crews and their subsidiary crews in exchange for gold coins. Considering Pirate Haven was a ce where money could be exchanged for almost anything, a lot of people were willing to act out a bit for pouches of gold coins.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The pirates indirectly hired by Toz and the others went around smashing shops and raiding ships while intentionally leaving symbols to incriminate the crew they impersonated. Thugs who pretended to be part of the Blue Lounge League of Pirates left behind blue gs and pieces of fabric.


    Not many wanted to act as part of the Red Hook Pirate Crew, but those that did made sure to leave the scene as bloody as possible.


    The people impersonating the Cult of Nihiltas only had to make sure to kill everyone by dumping them directly into the Void.


    The higher-ups and the smarter pirates quickly realized someone was intentionally stirring the pot and sowing discord between the three strongest pirate crews. But since they couldn''t find the people responsible, they were left with increasing their defenses, which in turn helped heat up the already hot atmosphere.


    Not to mention the ordinary pirates who weren''t inmanding positions, who only knew they were getting attacked all the time. Everyone who didn''t know what was going on behind the scenes kept intensifying the atmosphere in Pirate Haven.


    Toz and the others were about to try and arrange a meeting with the higher-ups of the Red Hook Pirate Crew to try and really get the ball rolling. The only thing known about the leader of the Red Hook Crew was that they fought in a manner that shed a lot of blood. In order to try and strike an alliance with them, Toz and the others would have to meet and figure out what they want.


    Toz was already sure he had something that would convince the Red Hook leader to work together, at least for a little bit. But he still had to meet with them ande to an agreement.


    However, before Toz could decide how to approach the Red Hook Crew''s leader, another group approached him first.


    Toz had been keeping Brunswickpany in the treasury. While Brunswick read through the grimoires and manuals to train his eyes, Toz trained or honed his magic. He also stepped out and made sure the cats weren''t too wild sometimes.


    Frank interrupted Toz and Brunswick''s peace by knocking on the hatch to the treasury.


    "Cateyes, some cultists are looking for you!"


    Toz looked up the stairs in confusion. He knew that ''cultists'' referred to the members of the Cult of Nihiltas, but he had no clue as to why they were looking for him. However, the only way to find out was to ask them. At least Frank didn''t make it sound like they wereing with malicious intent.


    Toz left the treasury and followed Frank to the edge of the base where three people, whose appearances were fully hidden by dark grey robes, waited for him.

 Chapter 250 Cult Of Nihiltas (1)

    ?The three figures in dark grey robes bowed at Toz when they saw him arrive, but it seemed like they weren''t interested in any other pleasantries.


    "The Representative wishes to meet you."


    "The Representative is the cult leader, by the way."


    Frank''s whisper telling Toz about who wanted to meet him didn''t do much more than that. Toz still had no idea why the leader of the Cult of Nihiltas wanted to meet him. The only thing they had inmon was the Void. However, there shouldn''t be anyone who knew Toz had the void attribute.


    Toz looked at the three figures for a few moments as he thought about it. Eventually, he decided to follow them back to meet with the Representative of the Void. But he wasn''t going to take any unnecessary risks. After telling Frank to inform the others about his departure, he transmitted a message to the cats through his inclination.


    The cats were in various ces around the Bunglehoppers'' base and the city, but after Toz called for them, they ran over to follow him from a distance, making sure that the cultists didn''t notice them.


    The cultists didn''t seem to be in too much of a hurry, but they still kept up their pace, and despite being further away, it didn''t take long until they reached the cultists'' base.


    Since they were an unofficial branch of the Church of Nihiltas, Toz expected something like an actual church to be their base. Granted, Toz didn''t know if the Church of Nihts had churches, but the cult didn''t, at least.


    The Cult of Nihiltas'' base was a singlerge cubical building that seemed to house every cultist. Aside from a singlerge door, there wasn''t a single opening in the grey cube. There also weren''t any embellishments or decorations, and Toz began to wonder if it was a wise decision to follow the cultists to their base. Unfortunately, it was toote for Toz to change his mind, and the only thing he could do was follow the three cultists into the cube.


    They met several other cultists on the way. Since they all covered their faces and bodies withrge hoods and robes, Toz couldn''t get a good look at them, but he still sensed how their gazes followed him into the building.


    As he entered the cubical building, Toz felt dense void mana in the air. It was a paradise for people with the void attribute. However, Toz hadn''t met a single other person who could use the void attribute, so he wasn''t sure how many would get to enjoy the benefit of training in the base of the Cult of Nihiltas.


    Toz followed the three cultists through a hallway, but he stopped for a second at the first room they passed by. There wasn''t a door, so Toz had a clear view into the simple room with nothing but a bed and a mat in the center. However, what caught Toz''s attention wasn''t the bare, grey walls. It was the cultist sitting on the mat and training their void mana.


    Toz kept moving, but he couldn''t stop thinking about how there was a void mage as soon as he entered the building when he hadn''t seen a single one before that in his life.


    Toz''s thoughts about it being a coincidence were blown away after he saw how almost every room had a void mage training their mana in it.


    Toz trailed behind the three cultists with a weird feeling. There was no way that everyone in the building was born with the void attribute. It just wasn''t reasonable for there to be so many void mages gathered in one spot by coincidence.


    Toz hadn''t had much experience with the twelve great religions, or any other religion for that matter, but he could tell that Nihiltas was most likely the reason behind there being so many void mages.


    Eventually, the three cultists stopped in front of a door, the first one Toz had seen in the building. They made way for Toz as they bowed and directed Toz into the room.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz pushed open the door, not knowing what to expect.


    The room wasn''t really any different from the rooms Toz saw earlier, just slightly bigger and with a table and two chairs instead of a mat and a bed.


    The chair opposite the door was upied by another figure in dark grey robes. However, their robes were slightly different from the other cultists'' since they had a light grey lining. But the clearest difference from the other cultists was the fact that the person didn''t hide their head beneath a hood.


    The representative''spletely hairless face looked up at Toz as he entered the room.


    Toz didn''t sense any ill will from the grey eyes. But he didn''t sense any other emotions, either, so he didn''t immediately rx.


    Toz epted the Representative''s offer and took a seat on the avable chair.


    Toz looked at the Representative, waiting for him to speak. Fortunately, it didn''t seem like he had any intentions of ying mind games or being annoying, and pretty quickly opened his mouth.


    "The believers of Nihiltas greet you, Toz, Traveler of the Void."


    Toz wasn''t quite sure what to think of the greeting or the title he had been granted by the cult of Nihiltas, but at least it didn''t seem like they were going to take an aggressive stance against him.


    "Likewise."


    Toz nodded his head in respect as he greeted the Representative.


    Toz was about to ask the Representative a question, but he was interrupted before he could speak.


    "I sense your curiosity, Traveler. Fear not. The Void holds all answers. However, this isn''t the time for questions. I asked to meet you in order to greet a brother of the Void. And now that I have met you, I must first extend an invitation to you.


    "Do you wish to join our brotherhood?"


    The representative had spoken with a neutral and emotionless tone all throughout his speech. However, he looked at Toz with an intense gaze as he asked his question.

 Chapter 251 Cult Of Nihiltas (2)

    ?Toz was worried that the Representative might attack him if he refused, so while he thought about how he could tactfully decline the offer, Toz asked the cats to be ready.


    "Since you aren''t yet familiar with our teachings, maybe you need an incentive?"


    The Representative smiled as he reached into a pocket inside his robes and retrieved a book. Toz looked on with curiosity and confusion. However, his feelings of confusion soon turned into ones of astonishment. When the Representative put down the book on the table, Toz sensed faint fluctuations of void mana. The book was a grimoire containing a spell of the void attribute.


    "From my understanding, you possess several attributes, including the great void attribute. As soon as you dere your belief in the Great and Epassing Nihiltas, this book will be yours. No need for any conversion rituals."


    "Conversion rituals?"


    Since Toz didn''t want to make a rash decision, he decided to dy answering by asking a question instead.


    "Yes. In order to be a true believer of Nihiltas, one must be able to connect with his greatness through the void attribute. However, not everyone is graced with Nihiltas'' power from birth. But Nihiltas epts all. To be one of us, one must first ept Nihiltas in their body."


    The Representative didn''t exin what the ritual actually was, but Toz could guess that it was the reason every cultist was a void mage.


    "How do you know I won''t lie just to take the grimoire?"


    "There are no lies in front of the Void."


    "I guess I won''t bother trying then. Sorry, but I''m not interested in joining you."


    "I understand."


    Though, even after saying that, the Representative didn''t seem to have any intentions of taking back the grimoire.


    The two sat in silence for a bit since Toz didn''t know if he should leave or not. However, the representative broke the silence first.


    "What is the reason you epted my request to meet, if not to join our brotherhood?"


    "I was curious about why you wanted to meet me."


    "Nothing else?"


    Toz wasn''t sure how much he should reveal to the representative, but since it seemed like he didn''t hold a grudge despite Toz''s refusal, Toz decided he could make a bold move and improvise his ns a bit.


    "Well, now that you mention it, I have to ask. What kind of ambition do you have?"


    A twisted glint shed through the representative''s eyes so fast that Toz barely noticed anything.


    "Could you borate?"


    Toz realized that the representative wasn''t as emotionless and empty as he pretended to be. Even if he asked Toz to borate, it was obvious he already knew what Toz had in mind.


    Like any religious leader or fanatic, as it was clear the Representative was, expansion and getting more followers was a natural goal.


    Toz wasn''t willing to give up the void attribute spell just like that, and he began convincing the Representative to give it up in exchange for something that should be more valuable to the Cult of Nihiltas than a single follower.


    Eventually, Toz left the cubical building with a satisfied smile on his face. He hadn''t gotten the grimoire just yet, but it wouldn''t be long until he got his hands on it. He didn''t know if the Representative could lie or not, considering his previous words, but if he tried to get out of the agreement he made with Toz, Toz would simply have to prove what happened when one lies in front of him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz was slightly worried that the Representative would be able to tell if he lied or not, which was why he intentionally avoided outright lies. Toz used hints and half-finished sentences to conspire with the Representative. If it worked, it worked. If it didn''t, Toz would simply have to use the backup n.


    The cats joined up with Toz on the way back to the Bunglehoppers'' base, curious about what had happened. Toz told them, which immediately prompted Lucy to give Toz apuse.


    Toz only stopped at the Bunglehopper base shortly to let the others know he was alright before he turned around and headed to the middle market.


    The Cult of Nihiltas and their Representative of the Void knew that Toz had the void attribute, and Toz wanted to know how they knew. He had used the void attribute in public, but he still wanted to make sure that was the reason and not something else.


    Thankfully, he was acquainted with the resident expert on information in Pirate Haven.


    Toz and the cats knocked on the door to Retsy''s middle base. The same gruff voice Toz heard the first time he visited Retsy weed them in. However, the person who greeted them was a young man with a mellow voice, and there were no signs of the source of the gruff one.


    Toz didn''t care too much since he was pretty sure that Retsy couldpletely change his appearance. The young woman he met the first time, the middle-aged woman he met when he went with Wulf to initiate the first step of their n, and the young man in front of him were all Retsy.


    The cats looked around at the paintings as they followed Toz into the office, where Retsy greeted them.


    "Wee, Toz andpany. What can I do for you today?"


    Toz didn''t bother wasting time and immediately cut to the chase.


    "I want to know how the cultists knew one of my attributes."


    "And what can you offer in exchange?"


    "Take a look around you."


    Retsy looked at the cats, not quite understanding what Toz meant at first. However, Retsy''s thoughts clicked together when Toz put his right hand on the table and showed his symbol.


    Retsy looked at Toz with wide eyes.


    "You mean¡­?"


    "Yeah."


    "I see."


    Retsy regained theirposure as fast as they could and looked at Toz with a gaze that wanted to pry every secret out of him.


    "I guess I don''t have a choice. That information will be more than enough to give you what you want, so I guess I''ll owe you.


    "The Representative is extremely sensitive to the fluctuations of void magic. He probably sensed you as soon as you left the docks the other day. Do you want to ask anything else, or do you want to hold on to that debt?"


    "I''lle back another time."


    Toz was satisfied with the answer since it told him more than just how they knew about his attribute. It also revealed some of the Representative''s abilities, which further helped Toz grasp the strength of the leaders of the big three pirate crews.

 Chapter 252 Red Hook Pirate Crew (1)

    ?After leaving Retsy''s ce, Toz went back to the Bunglehopper base to begin executing the modified second step of their n to plunge Pirate Haven into chaos and eventually put Toz on the throne as king of pirates.


    The original n had been to entice the Red Hook Pirate Crew to cooperate with Toz''s group and the Bunglehoppers. It wasn''t the most optimal solution, but it had to be enough considering the strength of the leaders of each crew.


    However, the Cult of Nihiltas'' invitation and meeting with Toz had opened up a whole new world of opportunities for Toz and the others to overturn Pirate Haven. Though unless Toz made the right moves, it might also lead toplications that could turn the entire city against him.


    After Toz returned to the base, he drafted a message to the Red Hook Pirate Crew before disappearing once again. The cats, who had already explored Pirate Haven a few times, guided Toz to the Red Hook Pirate Crew''s headquarters in the city.


    The Red Hook Pirate Crew''s headquarters was more like an encampment of simple huts simr to the slums rather than a proper pirate base. The sole exception was a singlerge house that looked like it could withstand someone sneezing on it. Toz assumed that it was the most important building and headed there while hiding himself as much as possible.


    Toz was confident that not a lot of people would be able to sense his presence, even if they looked right at his location, but the Representative of the Void had proven that it was better to overestimate the leaders'' capabilities. Toz gently moved around the base as he looked for an opportunity to deliver his message to the central building without anyone noticing.


    However, on the way, Toz noticed that there weren''t even close to as many pirates at the Red Hook Pirate Crew''s headquarters as there were at the other two headquarters he had visited. He also couldn''t sense anyone above the seventh level, which either meant there wasn''t anyone at a higher level at the base or that they were skilled enough to avoid his detection.


    Considering the state of the base, Toz guessed the former and moved closer to the central building.


    When he got close to the building, Toz sensed two pairs of footsteps approach from the opposite direction. Toz stood still as he waited for the two pirates to walk past him.


    "This shit fucking sucks!"


    "I know, but we need the extra money guard duty gives, so keep it together for a few more hours and shut up!"


    "But why do we need to guard a bunch of empty houses?"


    "Even if they''re empty houses, this is still our base, y''know?"


    "Why do we even have a base here when the ind is much fucking better?"


    The pirate didn''t seem to have an answer to that and only smacked hispanion on the head before he continued to patrol.


    Toz looked up in the direction of the Void and at the Red Hook Pirate Crew''s ind. He only thought the inds were a ce for the crews to house the pirates and their families, and to store all the ships and boats, so he hadn''t paid much attention to them. However, it seemed like his thinking had been too shallow.


    Toz wondered if he had to go there instead of the base he was already at in order to deliver his message. However, that would be a lot riskier than simply sneaking into their almost empty base, and since he wasn''t out to pick a fight, he decided he would have to hand over the message to the person inside the central building.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz sneaked to the front door and ced the roll of paper on the ground before knocking on the door and disappearing into thin air.


    It only took a few seconds for the door to open and reveal a grey-haired man with burn scars on his face and arm. The scarred man reached out and grabbed the letter after looking around and not seeing anyone.


    His eyes shed after reading through the paper, and he instantly headed to the closest dock, where he boarded a small boat and sailed toward the ind.


    Toz looked at the grey-haired man set off.


    "Toz, why didn''t you want them to see you if they''re still gonna send a message to the Bunglehoppers."


    "Do I even need to answer that, Asilean? Of course, it''s because it''s more mysterious. We''re hatching plots and scheming like crazy. Sneaking around is a must!"


    "Indeed."


    Lucy nodded sagely in approval at Toz''s response to Asilean''s question.


    "I see¡­."


    After making sure that the Red Hook Pirate Crew had received the message, Toz and the cats made their way back to the Bunglehopper base.


    Toz and the others entered another waiting period as they awaited the Red Hook Pirate Crew''s response. Hopefully, it wouldn''t take too long for the Red Hook pirates to decide that it was an agreeable deal that Toz had proposed.


    While waiting, the Bunglehoppers decided to spar and prepare for the uing battles. Since leaving the base was risky, considering all the pirates the Blue Lounge League had watching them, the only thing they could do was stay cooped up in the base.


    Fortunately, it wasn''t so easy to get bored with so many individuals around. It also provided a lot of different ways to fight.


    Since Stris was a sword fighter, the Bunglehoppers, and especially Wulf and Hayar, wanted to spar with Toz as much as possible. Toz was limited to using his sword and magic that imitated the sword techniques Stris knew.


    Although Toz did benefit a little, Wulf was too weak for Toz to urately prepare against the potential battle against Stris. However, as Wulf slowly became more and more used to the technique, his strength grew almost explosively, and Toz found it challenging to match him with only his skill in wielding the sword. Toz conveniently didn''t think about how he was three levels below Wulf and that it was already incredible that he could fight evenly with Wulf.

 Chapter 253 Red Hook Pirate Crew (2)

    ?The Red Hook Pirate Crew''s response to Toz''s message came during one of Toz and Wulf''s sparring sessions. Both of them stopped swinging their weapons at the same time as a raven swooped down and dropped off a piece of paper.


    Toz caught the paper and read through it, revealing a devious smile afterward. The smile was all Wulf needed in order to understand that the Red Hook Pirate Crew had epted Toz''s invitation to a talk.


    The others also sensed the raven''s arrival and appeared in the yard where Toz and Wulf were.


    The Red Hook Pirate Crew''s response was short and only contained three things. Their leader and a few of her subordinates were waiting in Retsy''s middle base since it was a neutral meeting location. A demand for Toz to bring the object he offered, or at least proof of it. And to ensure no one noticed that they were meeting with each other.


    Everything the Red Hook Crew asked for was reasonable, and since the Red Hook leader was already waiting, Toz didn''t dawdle and immediately began preparing for the meeting. First, by getting the object that they would trade for the cooperation with the Red Hook Pirate Crew, and then by preparing for how they would get everyone who wanted toe out of the base without the Blue Lounge pirates noticing.


    Since Toz would be the primary negotiator, Wulf handed over the item that the Red Hook wanted.


    After the item was in his hands, Toz disappeared from view and left the base, leaving everyone except Lucy behind. Toz and Lucy weaved through the city until they were close to Retsy''s courtyard. Not so close that the Red Hook Pirates would notice what they were doing, but close enough that they wouldn''t have a problem sneaking thest bit.


    Toz found and chose a secluded corner that would help Lucy cover up what he was doing, and he began concentrating on his mana, more specifically, his space mana. Although he and Asilean had already created a portal twice, it was their first attempt to do it over such a great distance.


    Toz struggled to stretch his senses across such a great distance, despitebining his void and space elements. Thankfully, he only had to have an image of the ce he wanted his space magic to appear. It consumed more mana than it took to create a portal within the range of his perception, but Toz was confident that his mana wouldst.


    Due to the distance and Toz''s inexperience, the space magic ended up a little spread out and not exactly where he wanted it to go, but it was enough for Asilean to take control and get it in order. And after Asilean took charge of the concentration of space magic in the Bunglehopper base, it was only a matter of time before the portal formed.


    Since Toz didn''t have to concentrate on maintaining the portal with Asilean''s help, he supported Lucy in covering up their activities.


    After the portal took shape, Wulf, Hayar, Stitches, and the cats immediately walked through. The cats were already used to it, but the other three came out on the other side with wide eyes and ck jaws. Their only previous experience with portals was the ne-crossing ones which were massive undertakings for anyone not skilled enough. But even if one was skilled enough, it was hardly something two individuals could pull off. Not to mention how most portals relied on preexisting weaknesses in the fabric of space.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz and Asilean had just created a portal in a few seconds without caring about how solid the space was. The portal''s range wasn''t as far as a ne-crossing one, but it was still a wondrous achievement to the three pirates who went through and to the rest who remained at the base but could still see the portal.


    However, one person wasn''t as stunned by the portal as the others.


    At the veryst moment, before the portal closed due to Asilean stepping through it and relinquishing control, Joshua''s body plopped through.


    Joshua''s arrival caught the others off guard. Stitches wanted to send him back, but the portal had closed, so they either had to open a new one or send Joshua back with someone else or by himself.


    Wulf and Hayar were also dubious of Joshuaing with them, but no one wanted to give up on the meeting just to go back with Joshua. And they were already few in number, any less, and it would be easy for the Red Hook Pirate Crew to pressure them. Since Stitches was the weakest in directbat, he was about to volunteer to bring Joshua back to the base.


    However, Stitches was a known member of the Bunglehoppers. Despite being high level, he would be an easy target to kidnap or assassinate for the Blue Lounge League, so letting him and the third level Joshua go on their own wasn''t wise.


    And although obvious, Joshua wasn''t willing to go back when he had managed to tag along to what would be a historic meeting between two of the four strongest pirate crews in Pirate Haven.


    Eventually, Toz settled it by allowing Joshua to join them as long as he promised to be as unnoticeable as he could. If the Red Hook Pirate Crew objected strongly to Joshua''s participation, Toz could just cash in on his favor with Retsy and ask them to take care of Joshua during their meeting.


    Joshua happily epted the terms and high-fived Lucy.


    Although things had gone a little off n right from the beginning, Toz and the others started walking to Retsy''s courtyard, with Toz and Lucy keeping them hidden from their surroundings. Though, with the size of their group, it was difficult to avoid people sensing that something was off if they got too close.


    The Red Hook Pirate Crew noticed Toz and the others'' arrival, despite Toz and Lucy''s cover, which wasn''t surprising considering they were one of the strongest pirate crews, if not the strongest.

 Chapter 254 Perverts

    ?Toz and Lucy removed their cover as they stepped into the courtyard. Unlike the previous times Toz visited Retsy, the courtyard was in surprisingly good condition. Someone had swept the ground and gotten rid of the leaves.


    However, Toz couldn''t tell if it was Retsy or one of the four pirates sitting at the newly added table who had done it. Three of the pirates stood behind the crimson-haired woman who sat on one of the three chairs at the table.


    The crimson-haired woman was, without a doubt, the leader of the Red Hook Pirate Crew and the reason behind the crew''s name, Red Hook. Wulf and Hayar recognized the three pirates behind her as some of her most loyal followers.


    The pirate to the left was Avian, a bird type beast mage with two darkness attribute ravens, one of which had delivered the Red Hook Crew''s response.


    In the middle was a short and stocky pirate with a bald head, Teddy, who was famous for his defense as a shield type fighter.


    And to the right of Red Hook was a tall, brown-haired woman who had only looked at Hayar as soon as she arrived. Metra, an old acquaintance of Hayar''s. Toz couldn''t tell what the gaze meant, but as long as it wasn''t hatred strong enough to disrupt the meeting, he didn''t care.


    "You got here pretty quickly."


    Red Hook looked at Toz as he and Wulf sat down at the two avable chairs while the others spread out behind them. Joshua hid behind Stitches, only revealing a curious face.


    "Since you were already here, I thought, ''why dawdle?''"


    Toz reached out a hand to greet Red Hook. She only looked at it before returning her gaze to Toz.


    "Well?"


    Toz knew what she meant, but he only squinted and smiled faintly without moving a muscle to bring out the object. If Red Hook could disrespect Toz, Toz could show the same attitude toward her. The three pirates behind her didn''t like that, but the cats and the Bunglehoppers didn''t appreciate how Red Hook disregarded Toz''s handshake.


    After a few moments, Red Hook sighed when she realized that Toz was the one with the advantage. He had something she wanted, after all. She reached out and grasped Toz''s hand.


    "Red. Hook. Now, do you have what you promised?"


    Toz ignored how Red Hook futilely tried to squeeze his hand as he smiled and responded.


    "Toz. I do."


    Toz used his free hand to pull the blood attribute grimoire out of one of his pockets. Red Hook immediately let go of Toz''s hand as she reached to grab it. She had sensed the authenticity of the grimoire as soon as the edge peeked out of Toz''s pockets, and she reacted instantly. Considering her strength, she was confident she would be faster than some medium level mage, even if it was a beast mage.


    However, Red Hook was left grasping nothing but air as Toz easily moved the grimoire out of her reach.


    Red Hook wasn''t the only one who was shocked. The three pirates behind her couldn''t quite believe how easily Toz had avoided Red Hook''s hand. Avian looked at Retsy, who was sitting on the stairs leading into their house with a rxed posture. Retsy simply shrugged in response to Avian''s stare. It was clear that Avian doubted the information Retsy had given them regarding Toz''s strength. Avian couldn''t understand how a fifth level mage was faster than Red Hook, a ninth level mage, even if their specialties differed.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, even if Avian couldn''t understand, there was no point in denying reality, and he returned his attention to Toz and the Bunglehoppers on the opposite side of the table. Considering Red Hook''s attempt to steal right out of Toz''s hand, it wouldn''t be surprising if one of them got upset and reacted violently. Of course, Avian didn''t doubt that he and hispanions would win against Toz and the Bunglehoppers. But they wouldn''t be able to do that without causing enough of a ruckus to alert the entire city that the Red Hook Pirate Crew was fighting with the Bunglehoppers.


    Red Hook clicked her tongue as she leaned back in her chair.


    "Fine. What do you want for it?"


    Since Red Hook wasn''t able to take the grimoire that easily from Toz, she decided she would at least listen to what he wanted before trying to use force to get it.


    Toz hadn''t mentioned what he wanted in the message he delivered, only that he had a blood attribute grimoire and that he was interested in making a deal.


    Toz looked at Red Hook for a few seconds in contemtion before responding.


    "What are you willing to do for it?"


    "Kid, watch it."


    Red Hook, who had looked pretty rxed and unserious, red at Toz with sudden ferocity. Her eyes started shining bright red, and the three pirates behind her also looked angry.


    It wasn''t until after a few seconds passed that Toz realized the pirates had misunderstood his words. He looked at them in disgust after disying visible confusion and realization.


    "Perverts."


    Toz was pretty sure he heard Hayar and Wulf stifle theirughter, but he didn''t turn around to check since he was busy watching Red Hook and her followers.


    Avian, Teddy, and Red Hook looked even angrier than before at Toz''s words, but it seemed like Metra had looked at Hayar at the wrong moment and had to hold back an untimely bout ofughter.


    Before Red Hook decided it would be easier to snatch the grimoire, Toz decided to talk and calm them down.


    "What I meant was more like, ''How much violence are you willing to do?'' Not whatever it was you thought I meant."


    Red Hook took a deep breath as she controlled her anger and looked at Toz. His question still didn''t really tell her much about what he wanted her to actually do, so she just stared at him.


    "Right, pirates. Stupid question, sorry. Then how about this, what do you think about the Blue Lounge League of Pirates?"


    "Shittiest excuse of a pirate crew in the history of pirates."

 Chapter 255 Tasha (1)

    ?Red Hook''s response was about as much as Toz needed to know. It was clear that Red Hook wouldn''t mind teaming up with Toz and the Bunglehoppers to interfere with the Blue Lounge and their business.


    Toz was just about to exin what he had in mind when he sensed someone approaching Retsy''s courtyard.


    There was no way Red Hook didn''t notice it as well, but she didn''t show any signs of caring about the person''s arrival, which meant that they were one of her followers. However, Toz couldn''t understand why the person would show up after everyone else.


    Toz looked at Red Hook again to see if she was nning an ambush, but she looked rxed and curious about why Toz had stopped right before speaking.


    "Right. Tasha made sure the people who aren''t supposed to be here aren''t here."


    Red Hook noticed Toz''s questioning gaze and looked at the courtyard''s opening before exining.


    Wulf and Hayar''s expressions became more serious after hearing that name, and they looked at Tasha as he entered the courtyard. The dark grey hair, the burn scars, and the empty eyes confirmed Tasha''s identity. Despite being a recent addition to the Red Hook Pirate Crew, Tasha was already one of the higher-ups. And he was famous for fitting in perfectly with the notoriously violent and bloodthirsty pirate crew, especially regarding incidents rted to executives of the Blue Lounge League of Pirates.


    Toz recognized him as the person who had been in the Red Hook''s base the other day when he delivered the message, but he didn''t pay much more attention to the man after he stood next to Avian.


    However, there was someone who couldn''t stop staring at Tasha.


    Toz began exining what he wanted Red Hook and her crew to do. It wasn''t anything special. He wanted them to put more pressure on the Blue Lounge League and wear down their resources and strength. And then, when it was time, they would help him set up a Pirate Meet to purge the Blue Lounge League from Pirate Haven.


    Toz also revealed how he had gotten the Cult of Nihiltas to agree to a simr deal, after which he hinted at teaming up with the Red Hook Pirate Crew to take down the Cult of Nihiltas after they had purged the Blue Lounge League.


    With both the Cult and the Blue Lounge gone, the entirety of Pirate Haven would be theirs to share.


    Red Hook ignored the part about sharing as she began thinking about how to take down Toz and the Bunglehoppers after they got rid of the Cult. She was about to agree to Toz''s deal and take the grimoire.


    Toz could guess what Red Hook was thinking since it was practically written all over her face that she wasn''t nning on honoring their agreement to the end. But he didn''t stop her from grabbing the grimoire this time since he also had simr ns.


    Red Hook happily took the grimoire and was about to begin reading it on the spot due to her eagerness. But Avian stopped her, and the leader of the Red Hook Pirate Crew and her followers left Retsy''s courtyard.


    There wouldn''t be a need for Toz and Red Hook to have much contact until it was time for them to arrange the Pirate Meet, so Toz didn''t bother setting up another meeting.


    Toz and the others also got ready to leave, with the exception of Joshua, who looked to be in a daze. Joshua stood and stared at where Tasha had been standing with a confused look in his eyes. The others noticed Joshua''s state when they were about to leave, and he didn''te with them.


    At first, they thought something might have happened, but Joshua shook his head and regained the rity in his eyes. The others were curious about what happened, but Joshua dismissed their questions as the gaze filled withplex emotions returned to his eyes.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Since Joshua wouldn''t tell them anything, there wasn''t much they could do, and Toz and the others began leaving Retsy''s courtyard.


    However, Toz asked the others to go on ahead since he had something to ask of Retsy. With their meeting with the Red Hook Pirate Crew done, there wasn''t any reason to fear the Blue Lounge''s interference or discovery of their activities. And with Wulf and Hayar in the group, it would take a lot of preparation for the Blue Lounge to take on the group. But when the Blue Lounge finished their preparations, the Bunglehoppers would already be back at their base.


    The others didn''t object and left the courtyard while Toz stayed behind.


    Toz knew from their reactions that Wulf and Hayar were familiar with Tasha, but they probably didn''t know as much as Retsy did.


    Retsy led Toz into the office, where they always conducted her deals.


    "Already interested in iming that debt?"


    "Yeah."


    "Do you want me to guess, or what?"


    "What can you tell me about Tasha?"


    "Hmm."


    Retsy thought for a few moments before responding.


    "Since he''s one of Red Hook''s most loyal followers, information about him is pretty valuable. Your debt is enough to cover that, don''t worry. But even considering that, there''s not much to tell you."


    "Tell me everything you know then."


    "Alright."


    ording to Retsy, Tasha first appeared in Pirate Haven less than a year ago. No one knew where he came from. He just appeared one day. No one paid attention to him at first, but he soon built a reputation for only targeting ships belonging to the Starsling Kingdom, and he left every boat and member of the crew in states beyond recognition.


    He was pretty soon recruited by Red Hook herself, after which his activities lessened significantly for a period. But he came back a lot stronger after the period of inactivity, and he began targeting the executives of the Blue Lounge League in addition to regrly taking down the Starsling Kingdom''s vessels.


    Considering the Red Hook Crew''s ruthlessness and the rtionship between the two crews, no one thought much about how Tasha targeted the Blue Lounge. However, those in the know realized that Tasha carried a deep grudge against the Starsling Kingdom since every executive he targeted was rted to the Starsling Kingdom in some way.

 Chapter 256 Tasha (2)

    ?There wasn''t much Retsy could tell Toz other than what they had already told him. Tasha was a man with an extreme grudge against the Starsling Kingdom who left his victims nothing more than a bloody sludge on the ground.


    But what Retsy revealed about Tasha was enough for Toz''s suspicions to grow. The way Joshua reacted, the timeframe of Tasha''s arrival at Pirate Haven, and the grudge against the Starsling Kingdom all pointed to Tasha being the person Toz suspected he was. The things that made him doubt it were Tasha''s appearance and temperament.


    Thest thing Toz heard about Tasha was that he had blonde or light brown hair and was a joyful and peace-loving man. Tasha, Red Hook''s follower, was theplete opposite of the Tasha Toz knew.


    While Toz wasn''t entirely sure about Tasha''s identity, he decided to ask Tasha the next time he saw him, or if the opportunity arose, let Tasha visit the Bunglehopper base while Joan and Joshua were out and about.


    Joshua had been in Retsy''s courtyard at the same time as Tasha, but he had hidden behind Stitches, and the Red Hook pirates couldn''t see anything other than his hair and sometimes his face. Considering Tasha''s unseeing gaze, Toz wouldn''t be surprised if he wasn''t looking at anything other than his targets. Even if his eyes saw Joshua, his mind might not process anything special about it due to the despair-induced trauma clouding his mind.


    Toz thanked Retsy for the information after gathering his thoughts and set off to catch up with the others.


    Wulf and the others were already right outside their base when Toz caught up to them. Toz was happy that they made it back without trouble, but he also regretted not having more time to think about what he should tell Joan.


    However, Toz pretty quickly realized that he only needed to tell Joan what he knew, so when they got back and, the ones who stayed at the base came out to meet them, Toz asked Joan to follow him. Toz thought about it for a few moments before he decided to bring Joshua with them.


    Joshua still looked out of sorts as he followed behind Toz and Joan while they headed toward Taienra.


    It wouldn''t really matter where they were, but Toz figured that Joan and Joshua would be morefortable on the ind of trees than at the Bunglehopper base surrounded by pirates.


    Joan had gotten worried after Joshua disappeared into the portal right before it closed, but since she knew Toz and the cats were on the other side, she calmed down. However, her worries increased when Joshua came back a little distraught. And she only got more anxious when Toz asked her to follow him with a solemn look on his face. She wanted to know what was going on, but she was also too scared to ask outright, and before she knew it, they were already at the house on the ind on Taienra''s back.


    Toz motioned for Joan to sit down. Joan sat down with Joshua in herp as she waited for Toz to begin exining what was going on.


    He began byforting Joan and telling her that it wasn''t directly dire news, just something that might be a serious matter.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz first gave Joan an abridged version of the times he had seen Tasha, and then he told her what he knew about the Red Hook Pirate, Tasha.


    Joan looked distraught at Toz''s words and refused to believe that her husband had be a revenge-driven murderer. She hadn''t even gotten over his death, but he was supposedly alive and taking revenge on the entire Starsling Kingdom, or at least as much as he could.


    However, the burn scars matched where the Starsling Kingdom''s mage had attacked Tasha. The image of herst moments with her husband shed past her eyes each time she closed them. Joan couldn''t forget it, even if she tried.


    Joshua simply nodded in silence as he appeared to be deep in thought.


    Toz let Joan and Joshua process and ept that Tasha was still alive but mentally and physically scarred to the point where he was an entirely different person. Joan hugged Joshua tightly until she calmed down.


    "Can we meet him?"


    Toz only nodded in response to the question Joan asked while on the verge of tearing up. Whether Tasha had changed beyond recognition or not, he was still her husband and Joshua''s father. No matter what happened, Joan would still love him. And maybe seeing his wife and son still alive would bring back at least some shadows of his past self.


    The thing Joan was still worried about was Tasha''s inclination. He had always thrived in protecting his family and the townspeople. Even during their attempt to escape from the mes of war, Tasha still did his best to help and protect the people they encountered. He didn''t even kill bandits who took advantage of the situation.


    For a person with such a caring and protective inclination to wreak havoc and destruction against other people was almost unthinkable. However, Joan, who was familiar with Tasha''s inclination, knew it wasn''t outside the realm of possibilities.


    Joan had spent most of her life in the vige she came from, but she wasn''tpletely sheltered and, like most people, knew aboutmon characteristics among inclinations. Inclinations grew with their human. If a sword fighter grew to love teaching the art of fencing to others, simply teaching sword skills would be enough for them to train their martial energy. And a baker would progress more easily when baking bread they liked baking.


    However, if something happened that affected the person deeply enough to make them never want to teach another person or touch another dough again, their inclination could change with them. Simply refusing to bake or teach again wouldn''t be enough. But if it was to the point where even just looking at the dough was enough to make the person tremble in fear or anger or sadness, the inclination would turn into something that would align with those feelings. But the inclination could also give up and cripple the person instead.


    Tasha''s murderous intent and bloodthirst were enough proof that his inclination had changed and be the opposite of what it once was.

 Chapter 257 Tasha (3)

    ?After telling Joan and Joshua about what he found out regarding Tasha, Toz began looking for an opportunity to set up a meeting between them. However, the Red Hook Pirate Crew and their strongest pirates had gotten incredibly busy due to the deal they made with Toz and the Bunglehoppers.


    Tasha was especially busy since he was one of the strongest pirates in the Red Hook Pirate Crew. After Red Hook got the grimoire, she immediately started learning the Blood Spear spell, leaving her subordinates to suppress and harass the Blue Lounge pirates. Considering Tasha''s grudge against the Starsling Kingdom and, by extension, the Blue Lounge League of Pirates, there was no way he could sit still.


    Tasha was constantly out on missions to raid and attack the Blue Lounge''s ships and pirates, and Tasha spent the few times he was back at Pirate Haven attacking the Blue Lounge pirates and their bases. And by the time Toz got information on Tasha''s whereabouts and tracked him down, Tasha had already left to raid the Blue Lounge''s ships again.


    If he really wanted to, Toz would have been able to talk to the higher-ups or directly interfere with the Red Hook pirates in order to get a hold of Tasha. However, acting against the Red Hook Pirate Crew could severely harm the future of his ns. And talking to the other pirates of the crew would lead to him giving a suitable reason for talking to Tasha alone. If Toz told the truth, he might expose a weakness in his group that it wouldn''t be weird for an opposing crew to take advantage of, especially not considering the way Toz had set up the n.


    Not to mention how it would be difficult to make Tasha believe Joan and Joshua were still alive without letting him actually meet them. If someone told Tasha about Joan and Joshua''s survival without solid proof, there was no guarantee he wouldn''t go berserk. And Toz felt like asking Tasha to meet without giving a reason would just end with Tasha ignoring the request and going out to attack some Blue Lounge pirates.


    Toz kept trying to find an opportunity where he could get Tasha to meet with Joan and Joshua. But Toz didn''t spend all his time doing that.


    He participated in attacks on the Blue Lounge''s bases and ces of business, cooperating with the Red Hook Pirate Crew and the Cult of Nihiltas to corner the Blue Lounge League of Pirates. They made steady progress, despite the Blue Lounge having greater depths of resources than most people thought.


    Themon knowledge regarding the Blue Lounge League of Pirates was that it was initially a coalition of a few middle-sized pirate crews that eventually united under Chairman Stris'' lead. The Blue Lounge League of Pirates was also the numericallyrgest and fastest growing crew since it attracted weaker pirate crews to join using various benefits.


    Stronger and more experienced pirates and inhabitants of Pirate Haven knew that the Blue Lounge League of Pirates was somehow connected to the Starsling Kingdom. However, most people thought it was something like Stris sent on an impossible mission to unite all pirates as a punishment.


    Even Retsy couldn''t find out the true depth of the Blue Lounge''s connection to the Starsling Kingdom.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, the recent ongoings between the big three crews and the Bunglehoppers had shown that the Blue Lounge had hidden their strength and resources incredibly well.


    Despite being assailed on multiple fronts by forces everyone thought equal to the Blue Lounge League of Pirates, the Blue Lounge still had enough strength and resources to control the pace at which they retreated.


    The Blue Lounge was still forced into a retreat, but it happened on their terms, and they made sure that the ones who attacked them suffered considerable losses. There was also seemingly no end to the Blue Lounge''s ships pouring out from and into their ind, no matter how many of them the pirates of the other crews destroyed.


    Toz looked on at the situation with slight unease. ording to his original n, he would have already started setting up the Pirate Meet by now. However, the Blue Lounge''s strength and persistence forced him to dy his ns. If he rushed and called for a Pirate Meet too soon, it would only set the stage for the Blue Lounge League toe out victorious.


    The Pirate Meet had to be the finishing move for when the Blue Lounge had already exhausted most of their strength. If they couldn''t use the Pirate Meet to get rid of the Blue Lounge League once and for all, it would only backfire, especially if they don''t know the true depths of the Blue Lounge League''s forces.


    The only good thing with the situation was that the Red Hook Pirate Crew and the Cult of Nihiltas were also experiencing significant losses since it would make it easier for Toz to have them submit to him in the future.


    And since the Bunglehoppers and Toz and his cats were all powerful elites, they didn''t have to worry about any losses. They only had to avoid making any grave mistakes or getting caught by people whose strength approached Stris.


    Thanks to Stitches, it would also be fine as long as they didn''t die. Severed limbs could be reattached or remade using the void trees on Taienra''s back, and torn-out guts could be stuffed back inside. As long as they made it back with most of the pieces they left with, Stitches would be able to patch them back up, whether those pieces were intact or not.


    When they weren''t fighting with the Blue Lounge League of Pirates or recovering from those fights, Toz, the cats, and the Bunglehoppers spent their time training and preparing for what would possibly be a battle against the entire Pirate Haven. Although Toz and the others'' n was for them to basically end out on top without having to do anything, they still prepared for the worst.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 258 Pirate Meet (1)

    ?Toz didn''t know how, but word about an uing Pirate Meet had somehow begun to spread through Pirate Haven. It wasn''t necessarily a bad thing since it meant a lot of pirates would partake in it. But Toz wasn''t entirely satisfied with how much strength the Blue Lounge still had left.


    However, now that things had alreadye to the point where pirates were moring for the Pirate Meet to actually take ce so that the big three could stop fighting, Toz had to seize the initiative. Finding out the source of the rumor would be near impossible and meaningless since the Pirate Meet was already about to happen.


    Toz wanted to take charge of the Pirate Meet before Stris, and the Blue Lounge, could find an opportunity to make use of the Pirate Meet and turn the situation in their favor. After contacting Retsy, the Red Hook Pirate Crew, and the Cult of Nihiltas, Toz and the Bunglehoppers began overseeing the production of a fourth ind.


    Since the big three pirate crews were the only pirate crews with enough capital and resources to create arge enough ind to host the Pirate Meet, one or more of them had to make the ind. However, everyone knew that the Pirate Meet was taking ce because those three pirate crews had trouble getting along. Getting the three of them to cooperate would be next to impossible since the pirates of each crew fought as soon as they saw each other.


    The rtionship between the Red Hook Pirate Crew and the Cult of Nihiltas was amicable enough for them to create the ind together. However, that would leave an opening for the two of them to team up against the Blue Lounge League of Pirates. Such tant unfairness made even the meanest pirates hesitate to support the ind''s construction.


    And so, popr opinion assigned a supposedly neutral party to oversee the construction''s progress and make sure the Red Hook Pirate Crew and the Cult of Nihiltas didn''t pull any tricks. However, there was only one crew suitable for monitoring two of the three big pirate crews of Pirate Haven.


    The Bunglehoppers. As the crew closest in strength to the big three crews, they had enough authority to oversee the construction. They were also powerful enough not to be intimidated or coerced into submission by the crews they were to supervise.


    Of course, to the Bunglehoppers and the big three crews, it was nothing more than a farce. Everyone with some brains inside their skulls knew that the Bunglehoppers were also deeply involved in the feuding against the Blue Lounge League of Pirates. However, due to their numbers and limited range of operations, no one else knew how much damage the Bunglehoppers had put on the Blue Lounge''s business.


    Even if the Blue Lounge wanted to expose how unfit the Bunglehoppers were, it wouldn''t change anything. The Bunglehoppers, the Red Hook Pirate Crew, and the Cult of Nihiltas had the advantage in information, so even if Stris wanted to, he wouldn''t be able to convince the other pirates of Pirate Haven.


    Besides, dismissing the Bunglehoppers from their position as overseers wouldn''t change anything. Any other crew would just get beaten into submission by the two big crews.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, Stris wasn''t all too upset about the situation. The Red Hook Pirate Crew and the Cult of Nihiltas would have to expend some resources and manpower to construct the ind for the Pirate Meet, which would lessen the burden on the Blue Lounge League of Pirates. It would also allow Stris to reorganize and prepare for the Pirate Meet. It didn''t take a genius to realize that the other pirates were teaming up against him and the Blue Lounge League.


    Stris didn''t falter at the hurdle he had to face in order to seed with his mission and didn''t stop preparing for the Pirate Meet for even a second.


    The Bunglehoppers only pretended to monitor and oversee the creation of the ind. As long as the Red Hook Pirate Crew and the Cult of Nihiltas didn''t go overboard or do things that would harm the Bunglehoppers as well, they could do what they wanted.


    However, Toz, who knew that Red Hook, at least, didn''t have any intention of fulfilling their agreement to the end, kept an eye on the ind''s creation. He and the cats made sure to investigate the materials and the construction techniques so that they would be able to prepare for anything that the two big crews might throw around when the fighting breaks out.


    Although the Pirate Meet ind needed to be big enough to host all the pirates that would attend, as well as strong enough to maintain the enchantments that would create a life-sustaining barrier, the ind didn''t have any other requirements. The Red Hook Pirate Crew and the Cult of Nihiltas gathered materials and scraps they had lying around in their storages. They also used things they looted from the Blue Lounge to build the ind, which was a p in the face to Stris, who hoped he would at least be able to save some resources by not contributing to the ind''s creation.


    Despite the mountainous undertaking, with hundreds of pirates working around the clock, it didn''t take long until the ind began taking shape. Although it looked like a monstrous amalgamation of random scraps found in the Void, it was still an ind that would serve its intended purpose as being the location where the Pirate Meet would be held.


    Although there had been a few Pirate Meets in the history of Pirate Haven, pirates weren''t exactly the greatest at keeping history books, so the details regarding how those Pirate Meets had gone down were practically nonexistent.


    The pirates creating the ind didn''t really have anything to go on while building the ind, so they just designed it ording to what they thought was enough.


    Arge, almost circr, tform hovering in the Void outside Pirate Haven with a raised stage where speakers would be allowed to hold their speeches and bring up whatever issue they wanted. No one was really sure what would happen, but most pirates in Pirate Haven thought that the big three crews would argue, maybe fight, beforeing to an agreement regarding resource distribution.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 259 Pirate Meet (2)

    ?Before anyone noticed, the Pirate Meet ind was already on the verge ofpletion. Even the barrier was up. The only thing missing was the actual pirates, but they slowly trickled onto the ind as soon as it opened. The pirates either followed the bridge or, if they could, used boats to get to the ind.


    However, the ind didn''t have enough room to amodate the number of boats required to deliver all the pirates who would participate in the meet. In addition to the boats on standby from the big three crews, ships with various designs and sizes took up most of the avable space in the Void around the ind and Pirate Haven.


    After enough pirates crawled out of the woodworks and gathered on the ind, the Pirate Meet onlycked someone to proim it had begun.


    Wulf, the leader of the Bunglehoppers, the crew in charge of overseeing the ind''s construction, took it upon himself to also oversee the Pirate Meet itself.


    The pirates on the ind were anxious about the big three and their rtionship, but Wulf knew it wouldn''t be as simple as setting the stage for the three of them to talk, so he began the Pirate Meet by inviting everyone to sit down and eat and drink. The stage was also open to anyone who wanted to perform or lift any subject unrted to the main issue that would be brought upter on.


    After a fewedy skits and a few trivial issues like the price of spices skyrocketing getting brought up, a pirate who had drunk a little too much and a little too soon raised his voice.


    "Where are the big three?! I didn''te here to party! I wanna know when I can go back to my business without worrying about some stupid shit like getting rammed in the ass by a cultist!"


    The drunken man''s shout caused those around him to move away while avoiding eye contact with anyone who turned to look at the source. However, there were some who didn''t only just look at the person who openly ignored the silent agreement to not mention the situation regarding the big three until they did it themselves.


    The drunken man''s words had ndered the members of the Cult of Nihiltas, who, despite their attempt to achieve nihility through emptiness, weren''t empty of emotion. If anything, they were more emotional than others since they didn''t oveplicate things.


    The three cultists pulled down their hoods and roused their mana as they moved toward the drunkard, who had barely begun to realize he had made a mistake. However, before he could back away from the cultists, someone stood up and patted the drunk pirate on his shoulder.


    When the drunk pirate turned around, he saw a tall pirate in blue clothes re at the cultists.


    "Don''t worry. You only spoke the truth. Take a seat and enjoy the show."


    After pushing the drunk pirate to sit down, the Blue Lounge pirate and hispanions moved to meet the cultists.


    Despite both parties looking like powder kegs about to explode with their mana and martial energy surging wildly, no oneunched an attack since it would mean total anarchy. It would also lead to an escting conflict that would render the Pirate Meet either useless or turn it into an opportunity for all the pirates to rightfully target one of the big three crews.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    As more and more pirates gathered and joined the spectacle, the atmosphere grew intense enough to distort the air. It was a wonder that no one failed to restrain themselves. However, it wouldn''t be long until someone couldn''t hold back anymore and let a punch or a jeer slip.


    Fortunately, Wulf intervened before things became irreversible. He pped with enough force to send a shockwave across the ind that swept through and cut apart the tense atmosphere. Wulf had sessfully calmed down the stirring pirates with nothing more than a p, and he smiled as he noticed everyone turned to watch him.


    Wulf''s steely smile made the initial instigators shiver, and they avoided meeting Wulf''s cold eyes.


    "I guess it''s about time we settle things regarding the current worries of Pirate Haven. If the big three continue fighting, there might not be a Pirate Haven tomorrow, after all."


    Wulf''s voice rang out, just like his p had done. Wulf''s words caused the pirates to stir as everyone looked at the members of the big three crews and at the ships belonging to those three crews that were resting around the ind.


    Wulf''s words also invited the higher-ups, executives, and strongest of each of the big three to the ind. Red Hook, Stris, and the Representative all showed themselves on the boats that they were watching the spectacle from. Wulf''s words beckoned them toe down to the ind and settle their matters with a peaceful discussion that would unite the pirates against the armies andws of the kingdoms.


    At least, that was what the ordinary pirates thought would happen.


    While the three leaders of the big crews did indeed leave their boats and step foot on the ind, it wasn''t to hold a peaceful discussion. It was so they could bring out as much of their strength as possible.


    However, before any fighting could take ce, it was time for Wulf to set the record straight and begin the Blue Lounge League of Pirates'' execution.


    Wulf waited for the stir that the three leaders'' appearance caused to die down before opening his mouth.


    "Unfortunately, the threat to Pirate Haven''s continued existence lies right among us. This whole debacle wouldn''t have escted if it wasn''t for the true identity of the Blue Lounge League and their chairman being exposed. As members of the Starsling Kingdom''s military, Chairman Stris and his followers are undeserving of being pirates. As such, they have no right to exist within Pirate Haven!"


    Wulf''s words caused many gasps and exmations among the lower level pirates who had only heard rumors about Stris'' affiliation with the Starsling Kingdom. However, rumors from a stranger on the street, high on drugs or drunk up to their nose, were different from a promation from the leader of the fourth strongest pirate crew. Especially considering how Wulf said it during the climax of the Pirate Meet.

 Chapter 260 Pirate Meet (3)

    ?Stris gritted his teeth at how every pirate looked at him with suspicion, but he didn''t say anything. If he said something without proof, it wouldn''t only backfire. Stris could only send a signal using the magic item in his hand as he waited for the ruckus to die down and for the other big crews to take action against the Blue Lounge.


    Since Stris didn''t deny Wulf''s usations, a lot of the pirates at the Pirate Meet started believing that Stris and the Blue Lounge League of Pirates had connections with the Starsling Kingdom.


    Stris noticed the shifting atmosphere, but he didn''t care. Stris only cared about the leaders of the other big crews, the Bunglehoppers and Toz. He was wary of Red Hook and the Representative since they rivaled him in strength, but he kept an eye out for the Bunglehoppers and Toz because he wanted to personally take revenge for them raiding his base and openly mocking him.


    Wulf wasn''t too hard to keep track of since he stood on top of the stage without moving a muscle as he waited for Stris to admit his guilt.


    However, there were no signs of Toz anywhere which frustrated Stris, but it didn''t interfere with his ns. Toz wouldn''t be able to get away. The only difference was whether Stris or someone else would get to him.


    "I know what this looks like, but I can guarantee you all on my pirate''s honor that neither I nor any of the executives of Blue Lounge are rted to the Starsling Kingdom in any way."


    Since his reinforcements were taking a little longer than expected, Stris decided to stall by trying to talk and keep the pirates from attacking him.


    "Bullshit! Do you have any proof?!"


    "Do we even need any proof? He speaks just like any other noble bastard!"


    "''Pirate''s honor''?! Only someone pretending to be a pirate would think that pirates have honor!"


    "Death to the blue bastards!"


    "''Death to the blue bastards!"


    However, Stris'' words irritated the pirates further instead of managing to dy the outburst of aggression.


    Shortly after the pirates began chanting, they started attacking the members of the Blue Lounge League.


    The Blue Lounge Pirates, who had been about to confront the cultists due to a drunkard''s rude remark, found themselves surrounded on all sides by angry and violent pirates.


    The ships in the Void turned and pointed their cannons toward the Blue Lounge''s ships. Several booms rang out as the Blue Lounge came under heavy and concentrated fire by the other pirates'' ships.


    The Blue Lounge pirates, who were too weak to know about the Blue Lounge''s affiliations with the Starsling Kingdom, tried to exin to theirrades from other crews how they were innocent. Some tried to rip off all the blue on their clothing and pretend to be rogue pirates. However, few were sessful, and the Blue Lounge pirates were forced to act in self-defense.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The Blue Lounge pirates on the ind grouped up as they tried to flee to the boats and get away from the encirclement. However, the boats, despite being generally better than the boats from other crews, were outnumbered and under heavy fire. Just surviving the onught gave the Blue Lounge pirates a feeling of futility. Not to mention trying to save theirrades stuck on the ind.


    Stris looked on at the mayhem his words helped unleash. However, Stris wasn''t in a position where he could leisurely spectate others fighting. He pulled out his greatsword as Red Hook, the Representative, and Wulf approached him in a triangr formation.


    "If you enter the Void by yourself, you will at least die peacefully, heathen."


    "Though, I don''t mind if you''re stubborn. I''ll appreciate the help in trying out my new spell."


    "Same here. I want to demonstrate my gratitude for the technique you saved for me."


    The Representative, Red Hook, and Wulf all threatened Stris as they closed in on him. Stris was annoyed to find out that the spells and techniques he painstakingly gathered and kept out of reach for hispetitors still ended up in the hands of Wulf and Red Hook. But he didn''t show it on his face as he smiled and responded.


    "Come at me. I have no intention of dying here. Though, I can''t say you three will make it out alive as well."


    Stris didn''t hold back as he held his greatsword horizontally with both hands and prepared to strike. Dusty brown earth attribute sword energy gathered around his sword, forming arge, three-meter-long extension on top of it. Stris swung out with therge earth sword, striking in a half-circle in front of him, right at the Representative and Red Hook.


    Red Hook nimbly avoided the sword by jumping back. However, the sword continued unobstructed toward the unmoving Representative. Stris didn''t continue paying attention since he knew his strike was useless against the Representative and instead turned around to face Wulf.


    Wulf was busy watching how the earth sword disintegrated upon contact with the Representative''s outstretched hand, so he was slow to react to Stris'' upward strike.


    However, he reacted quickly enough to m down with his axe using the Heavy Downward sh he learned from the manual.


    Wulf''s technique would have been enough to destroy any ordinary strike. Even his ordinary downward sh would have been enough to overpower most attacks.


    However, Wulf had sensed the building earth energy in the ground following the path Stris'' sword drew. Wulf realized he had to respond in kind to Stris'' Crust Breaker.


    Wulf''s great-axe met Stris'' sword head-on in a resounding sh. Unfortunately for Wulf, Stris'' technique wasn''t meant to empower his strike.


    The earth attribute martial energy flowing through Stris'' sword path entered the ground they stood on and tore it open with explosive force that sent Wulf flying into the air.


    Wulf tumbled around in the air and tried to regain his bearings. However, Stris wouldn''t let go of the opportunity he had made by sending Wulf into the air. Wulf wouldn''t be able to defend himself against Stris'' attack until hended on the ground again. But Stris didn''t wait for that to happen as he dashed along Wulf''s trajectory and prepared tond a fatal blow on Wulf''s defenseless body.

 Chapter 261 Pirate Meet (4)

    ?Wulf managed to stabilize his body somewhat, but he was still up in the air without a way to defend himself against Stris'' iing attack.


    Stris'' sword shone with a brown light as it cut through the air toward Wulf, leaving a streak of light in its path.


    Wulf saw the shine on Stris'' sword and braced himself as much as he could by holding up his axe in front of him. Wulf hadn''t personally experienced the technique Stris was currently using. However, he had had more than enough time to investigate Stris and his strengths.


    The technique Stris used to attack Wulf in the air was a technique called Armor Slice, a technique suited for any ded weapon and without any attribute requirements. Using it with the earth attribute limited its power somewhat since the technique focused on extreme sharpness, which doesn''t match the properties of the earth attribute. However, Stris still managed to draw out enough of the technique''s power to cut through fully armored soldiers.


    Wulf held up his axe to defend against the technique, but only because he couldn''t avoid it. Wulf wasn''t confident his sword could withstand a fully powered blow backed by Stris'' technique. However, he could rece his axe. He couldn''te back from the dead.


    However, before Stris'' sword came into contact with Wulf and his axe, Stris flinched and backed away, barely avoiding the spear of blood that surged through the air.


    The Blood Spear missed Stris, but it continued flying and only stopped after tunneling through almost a dozen pirates that were caught in the crossfire. The spear didn''t stop because it didn''t have enough power. It ran out of mana since Red Hook stopped caring about it after she saw Stris avoid it.


    Red Hook walked toward Stris as the pair of blood-red grapple hooks in her hands began spinning. Red Hook''s trademark and self-made spell surged with power as the pair of red hooks shone with a bloodthirsty gleam.


    Red Hook smiled as she loosened the grip on the rope in her right hand. The red hook flew forward with unnerving uracy as it headed straight for Stris'' stomach.


    Stris knew about Red Hook''s infamous tendencies, so he was prepared to defend his torso against her attack as soon as he noticed her intention to attack. However, he wasn''t prepared for the power behind Red Hook''s attack.


    Red Hook was famous for her gruesome way of disemboweling her targets using her pair of red hooks. The sharp tips easily dug into the flesh, and with a jerk of her hand, Red Hook viciously pulled the hook and her victim''s guts out of their body.


    Red Hook rarely attacked in another way since that was the only way she needed. Thanks to her strength and the speed of her hooks. She only needed a single strike to end her victims, which was why no one knew how hard her hooks hit.


    However, Stris, who blocked her strike head-on with his sword, felt his hands tremble from the impact. His confidence in being able tost against his three opponents was gradually chipped away. Stris already knew he wouldn''t be able to defeat the three of them, which was why he wanted to get rid of Wulf, the weakest one, while he could. Doing that would make it easier on him.


    However, Red Hook easily saw through his n and used her recently learned spell, Blood Spear, to stop him.


    "You owe me one now, Bunglehopper."


    "Skinny Boar, two years ago."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "...Fuck! Alright."


    Wulf got to his feet as Red Hook kept Stris upied.


    Stris had missed his window to eliminate one of his opponents. He had also missed the opportunity to escape. Stris had broken out of the encirclement when attacking Stris, but while he kept watch on Red Hook, the Representative had sneaked around behind him.


    The three crew leaders once again surrounded Stris in a triangr formation. Using his previous scheme to try and kill one of his opponents or escape wouldn''t work. However, Stris didn''t falter. He gripped his sword tightly as he blocked another one of Red Hook''s attacks.


    Red Hook''s strike was aimed at Stris'' stomach. Stris was prepared and fended it off with ease.


    Red Hook targeted Stris'' head with her follow-up. Stris knew that he wouldn''t be able to dodge or tank the attack, so he rushed to block the grapple hook with his sword.


    However, in his rush to defend against the strike, Stris forgot to take note of where his other opponents were. Fighting against people of equal strength was a rare opportunity, and Stris didn''t have much experience fighting against several people whose strength rivaled his at the same time.


    Stris was an experienced fighter. And he had mentally prepared himself for the situation he faced. Unfortunately, preparations didn''t always withstand the test of reality.


    Stris used his sword to block the hook aiming for his head. He sessfully blocked the hook, but he blocked his vision at the same time.


    Although Stris could still sense his surroundings using the perception of a fighter, he still relied on his eyes most of the time. Stris barely noticed Wulf''s attack due to his senses alerting him, but since he hadn''t seen Wulf approach, his response waste.


    Stris raised his sword above his head, imbuing it with the power of Armor Slice and barely managing to defend against Stris'' Heavy Downward sh.


    If Wulf stubbornly persisted, he would cut his axe using Stris'' de, so he reluctantly let go and lifted his axe. However, he wasn''t too dissatisfied with his strike. He had aplished what he needed to with his strike, after all.


    Red Hook''s second attack had served as a distraction for Wulf''s attack. But it didn''t end there. Wulf''s attack also served as a distraction and opened up a window for the Representative to attack.


    Although Stris had blocked Wulf''s attack and forced Wulf to back down using Armor Slice, his arms were still reeling from the initial impact. However, he forced them to move as he prepared to face the next strike, whether it be a red hook targeting his stomach or an axe aiming to cleave him in two.


    Unfortunately, Stris, in his rush, forgot the person who had yet to even try to attack him. He only remembered the Representative''s existence when he sensed thetter''s approach and the attack that he was too slow to dodge.

 Chapter 262 Pirate Meet (5)

    ?Stris twisted his body to avoid the Representative''s hand, but he only managed to lessen the effect of the Representative''s touch. The hand shrouded in grey void magic brushed against Stris'' side. Although it barely touched, that was all it took for the void attribute spell to take effect.


    The defensive enchantments on Stris'' clothes werepletely unable to withstand the spell, and the clothes faded into dust that spread with the nonexistent wind. However, the spell''s effects didn''t end there as the magic spread to Stris'' body.


    Stris felt a haunting pain as his skin and flesh followed in the footsteps of his clothes. He rushed his martial energy to the area affected by the spell in order to purge it from his body. Despite Stris'' quick reflexes, the spell still had time to dig out a fist-sized hole in Stris'' sides.


    While the spell still clung to his body, all the blood turned into nothingness, but as soon as the spell''s effects faded, blood poured out of Stris'' wound like a fountain. Stris tried using his martial energy to seal the wound while distancing himself from his three opponents. But they wouldn''t let him focus enough to close the wound, especially not Red Hook, who constantly tore open the wound with her blood magic.


    Due to Stris'' level and solid martial energy, Red Hook couldn''t do much more than affect the already gaping wound, but just that put enough pressure on Stris to allow his three opponents to corner him.


    However, Stris learned from his previous mistake and didn''t let them coordinate andnd another injury on him again. The most they could do was nick him here or there with an axe or a hook. And since the Representative''s spell required physical touch, he mostly worked on dissolving Stris'' energy and depleting his martial energy reserves.


    With his gaping wound and the Representative''s interference, Stris headed for a slippery slope of exhaustion, and if things progressed too far, it would be difficult for him to survive.


    Thankfully for Stris, he wouldn''t have topete with the three crew leaders by himself anymore.


    Stris used another Crust Breaker to distance himself from his opponents. During that window, all four of them noticed the imminent change in the Void around Pirate Haven.


    The change made Stris smile triumphantly while the other three frowned.


    It was practicallymon knowledge that Stris had connections with the Starsling Kingdom. However, no one knew how deep those connections ran until now.


    An entire fleet of Starsling Kingdom vessels surrounded Pirate Haven.


    It wasn''t the first time a kingdom tried to subdue the rampant pirates. However, any such attempt had only resulted in the pirates uniting and sessfully fending off the kingdom''s navy.


    But with the current situation where the pirates were caught in the middle of an internal argument, the Starsling Kingdom''s navy''s arrival had devastating effects.


    The ships unloaded barrage after barrage of attacks on the city, the pirate inds, and the pirate ships.


    The pirates who were caught with their pants down suffered tremendous losses due to the surprise attack. The Starsling Kingdom even attacked the Blue Lounge League of Pirates, their supposed allies. The only ce that remained rtively intact was the Pirate Meet ind, where Stris was.


    The navy''s deliberate avoidance of the Pirate Meet ind made it clear that the Starsling Kingdom valued Stris and didn''t want to harm him by ident.


    After the first few rounds of attacks, the navy''s ships stopped firing. None of the remaining pirate ships were in a state where they could even think about retaliating.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The three biggest ships approached the Pirate Meet ind, after which the three captains hopped off the ships onto the ind. The captain of thergest ship was dressed in an exquisite uniform, and the other two captains followed a step behind them as the trio walked toward Stris and the three crew leaders.


    The admiral smiled as he closed in on Stris,pletely disregarding the three pirates.


    "Brother! Have you been well?"


    The admiral, who, upon closer look, shared simr features with Stris, embraced his brother in a hug.


    The Starsling Kingdom''s arrival had bought enough time for Stris to seal his wound. Red Hook also stopped interfering since she was more worried about the fleet of ships surrounding Pirate Haven.


    "Well, I''ve suffered worse, but this shit still stings."


    The admiral backed away as he looked at the gaping hole on Stris'' right side.


    "True. I still remember when we were young, and you came home after trying and failing to court the princess."


    "Oh, shut up."


    Although the admiral acted yfully with his brother, his gaze was filled with fury as he turned to look at the three pirates responsible for his brother''s injury.


    Wulf, Red Hook, and the Representative all felt a chill run down their spine as the Starsling Kingdom''s admiral eyed them. One nce was all they needed in order to realize that the admiral was stronger than any one of them. And the two captains behind him weren''t any weaker than Stris.


    They didn''t know when things had gone so wrong or why the Starsling Kingdom deemed it necessary to use one ninth level and three eighth levels just to take down a void pirate city. And they felt like sitting ducks as the admiral pondered on what to do with them.


    Eventually, the admiral opened his mouth.


    "Who did this?"


    Dristel, the admiral, pointed at the wound on his brother''s body as he looked at the three pirates in turn. Naturally, none of them were fearful enough to answer the admiral''s question just like that.


    Part of being a pirate was loathingw and order. An admiral was a representative of order. There was no way the three would just bow down and admit defeat just because he was a little stronger.


    Dristel sensed their rebellious attitude and their stirring mana. He pitied his brother, who had willingly consorted with such brainless fools. Dristel was about to show them the meaning of discipline when the world around him disappeared and was reced by an infinite expanse of darkness.

 Chapter 263 Pirate Meet (6)

    ?Dristel looked around in confusion. He hadn''t sensed anyone attack him. He didn''t sense anything even while he was suspended in the infinite expanse of darkness.


    After an unknown amount of time, Dristel began feeling a little frightened. He couldn''t sense what had happened to his body or how much time had passed since he was first submerged in the darkness. However, he realized someone had used a spell against him. After making that realization, Dristel pushed his martial energy through his body to try and push the spell out of him.


    Although he couldn''t sense his martial energy or the foreign mana clinging to him, he didn''t have to. As a ninth level fighter, Dristel had more than enough experience wielding his energy to do it even without being able to sense it.


    Dristel''s martial energy scattered the darkness mana that clouded his mind and body. As soon as the spell faded, he realized only a few short moments had passed.


    However, in that short time, the three pirate leaders had disappeared into thin air, and his brother was also quickly disappearing.


    Dristel stepped forward instinctively to chase after his brother and the ck-haired man that was dragging him by the cor. However, the hole in the ground right in front of his feet made him stumble and helped him maintain a cool head.


    The ck-haired man could have just as easily killed Stris if he could kidnap him. At least Stris wouldn''t die immediately.


    Dristel ordered his navy to split up. Half would stay and take care of Pirate Haven, and the other half would follow him and chase after the kidnapper and Stris.


    Dristel cast a second nce at the hole in the ground teeming with fluctuations of space magic before he jumped to his ship.


    Either someone used a treasure to teleport away the three pirates, or a space mage was involved. However, if they could teleport the three pirates, why didn''t they take Stris as well? Maybe the item was riddled with limitations, or maybe there were different parties involved.


    Dristel''s eyes narrowed in suspicion at the ck-haired lightning mage zipping to the other end of the ind. He had expected someone to picke and pick up the kidnapper and Stris. Dristel was confident that his fleet wouldn''t lose to any other ship in the Void, which was why he wasn''t too concerned about not being able to catch up to the kidnapper himself.


    However, unlike what he expected, the ck-haired mage darted right into the Void without a boat ready to catch him.


    Dristel was about to throw himself off his ship and catch Stris since Stris'' body wouldn''t be able to hold out against the pressure of the Void for more than a few moments.


    Dristel''s expectations were subverted yet again. The ck-haired mage wasn''t jumping into the Void to kill Stris using some fanaticism or worship of the god of the Void.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz entered the Void as he coated himself and the unconscious Stris in ayer of void mana. He used both void magic and lightning magic to breeze through the Void, further increasing the distance between himself and the Starsling Kingdom''s navy.


    Dristel''s eyes zed in fury as he ordered his navy to move. Due to Stris'' reports and previous investigations about Pirate Haven, Dristel knew about the Cult of Nihiltas and the cultists'' void magic. However, the ck-haired man had used lightning magic to escape from Dristel''s grasp, so Dristel hadn''t suspected anything. Even if a cultist had shown up to help the kidnapper travel through the Void without a ship, Dristel wasn''t worried. There was no way even a high level void mage would be able to outrun his ship.


    However, things were different if the kidnapper could use both the lightning attribute and the void attribute. The kidnapper wouldn''t have much difficulty trying to escape if they could use an attribute renowned for its speed while also being able to survive in the Void without worries.


    And since it was at least a dual attribute mage, they would also have enough mana to run for quite a while.


    Dristel egged on his crew to move faster, even if they had to handle the ship roughly.


    Dristel''s ship creaked due to the pressure that Dristel''s crew put it under, but he didn''t care. All that he cared about was getting his brother back and putting the kidnapper through excruciatingly painful torture.


    Despite being the biggest, Dristel''s ship began pulling away from the rest of the navy in order to catch up to Toz and Stris.


    Toz looked back now and then to see how well Dristel and the rest of the navy followed him. He was a little dissatisfied that the biggest ship was putting distance between itself and the rest of the navy, but it wouldn''t change even if Toz slowed down.


    Toz kept the same pace. He moved just fast enough to narrowly keep the Starsling Kingdom''s ships from catching up, but he also made sure he didn''t move too fast so that the ships would lose their zeal. Part of the n was to push the ships to their limit, after all.


    The ships chasing after him and Dristel''s zing fury that Toz could sense burn into the back of his head despite the distance made him slightly nostalgic. Although the situations werepletely different, being chased by an angry being that was a lot stronger than he was reminded Toz of the time with the Scorched Earth Rat King.


    A lot had changed since then, and Toz and the cats were iparably strongerpared to how weak they were back then. Yet, there were still some things that didn''t change. There would always be someone stronger than them. And there would also always be a way to defeat people more powerful than themselves.


    Toz looked at the ships, who had, one by one, begun to drop off the chase and slow down to a stop in the middle of the Void. He smiled at the sight.

 Chapter 264 Pirate Meet (7)

    ?The Starsling Kingdom''s navy''s ships slowed down because the mana crystals powering the enchantments that drive and protect the ships were running out of mana. Unless the soldiers stop and swap the mana crystals, they''ll end up having to withstand the Void''s pressure without the ship''s help.


    Due to the automatic mana-absorbing enchantments, they rarely have to swap out the mana crystals. Usually, that is only a good thing, but when they put in new crystals, the soldiers have to put the ship on standby so that it doesn''t burn through all the mana before the new crystals are in ce.


    While several of the ships began dropping out of the race, the two ships in the lead, Dristel''s and his captain''s, remained unbothered as they kept chasing Toz.


    Toz looked on in satisfaction as the Starsling Kingdom''s navy''s arrival had made their contingency n a booming sess.


    Since the Blue Lounge League of Pirates had steadily shown they had more resources than anyone previously thought, Toz and the Bunglehoppers came up with a n to deal with eventual reinforcements that would show up during the Pirate Meet. They had expected something along the lines of a bunch of more pirates that Stris had hidden away somewhere.


    But the entire navy showing up, especially one led by Stris'' brother, made their n a lot more effective.


    Ordinary pirates might not have chased after the kidnapped Stris with the same zeal that Dristel did. Half the fleet stayed behind at Dristel''s orders, and such organization wouldn''t have happened with a bunch of unruly pirates, so the goal to lure as many enemies with them as possible failed.


    Not as many enemies followed after Toz and Stris, but instead, the enemies chased after Toz with incredible ardor.


    However, Dristel wasn''t foolish enough to abandon his own fleet just to try and catch up to his brother and his brother''s kidnapper, especially when he was already suspicious regarding the kidnapping and the chase. Dristel had a feeling that he had missed something, but he couldn''t figure out what. He looked back and forth between his brother and the ships, which were gradually falling so far behind he could barely see them.


    Dristel could choose to continue chasing the kidnapper, who somehow managed to narrowly outrun his ship. Dristel''s hunch was telling him it was a trap, but he was unwilling to give up on his brother just like that. If he did, his only hope of saving his brother would be if the kidnapper came with demands he could fulfill.


    However, Dristel didn''t have to make a decision. Toz did it for him.


    After he noticed how spread out the fleet was and how the ships still on his tail were gradually losing speed, Toz decided it was time to execute the rest of the n and pull out the ultimate trump card.


    Toz signaled the cats using his inclination. The cats ryed Toz''s message to Taienra, and she began moving toward Toz''s location.


    Taienra didn''t have to move at top speed since she was already pretty close, and she arrived before Dristel had time to choose whether to continue chasing or not.


    Dristel realized what he had forgotten. Stris had sent him reports regarding the situation leading up to the Pirate Meet. Several of those reports mentioned the Bunglehoppers, their new ally, as well as the arrival of arge tree-covered whale.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, when he arrived at Pirate Haven with his fleet, the whale was nowhere to be seen.


    The whale wasn''t quite as big as one of the inds around Pirate Haven, but it was mountainouspared to the ship Dristel was on.


    The whale took up most of Dristel''s attention, but he still noticed two smaller ships depart from the whale''s back. The smaller sailboats quickly left the whale before circling around and bypassing the fleet.


    Dristel looked at the two ships flying past on either side with confusion. They were too far away for him to see the faces of the pirates on the ships, but he had a feeling that they were going to target the ships that hadgged behind due to having run out of mana.


    Dristel was about to order his ships to turn around and support therades who couldn''t defend themselves. He assumed that the whale hade to support the kidnapper and help him escape with his brother. Dristel chose to save his fleet before waiting to hear the kidnapper''smands. The whale''s speedy arrival showed that the Starsling Kingdom''s ships were no match for it.


    However, Dristel assumed wrongly. Though, it wouldn''t have mattered what Dristel chose to do. If he had kept chasing Toz and Stris, he would have simply gotten closer to Taienra.


    Dristel had just finished ordering his men about when he sensed an abnormality from behind.


    After turning around and looking in the direction of the whale, the first thing Dristel noticed was how the starlight had weakened. Since the dim stars and the darkness reminded him of the spell cast on him back at the Pirate Meet, Dristel''s first thought was that the same mage had attacked him again. However, the whale in front of him and the ship below his feet told him otherwise.


    Dristel sharpened his senses in order to try and figure out where his feeling of danger came from, and he noticed the incredible amount of mana amassed in front of the whale.


    The amount of mana sent chills down Dristel''s spine, and he immediately ordered his men to raise the ships'' barriers to maximum output.


    Dristel took out his spear and covered it in wind attribute martial energy at the same time as the whale opened its mouth, and radiant starlight spilled out like a flood wave.


    Dristel barely had time to manifest arge wind spear the size of the boat''s mast before the beam of starlight eclipsed the ship.


    The beam of starlight was big enough to entirely envelop the biggest ship of the Starsling Kingdom''s navy. And it didn''t stop there. The power of the beam spread out to the neighboring vessels while the beam itself continued piercing through the Void.

 Chapter 265 Pirate Meet (8)

    ?Tainera''s mouth stood open as she unloaded a torrent of starlight unto the Starsling Kingdom''s navy. But she couldn''t use her attack for too long since it took incredible amounts of mana and stamina, so the light eventually died down, revealing what remained of the Starsling Kingdom''s ships.


    The ships that hadn''t been struck directly by the light were more or less intact. But their barriers flickered, showing how little it would take to finish them off.


    Out of the ships that faced the beam of starlight head-on, the only one rtively intact was Dristel''s ship. The other ships were mostly wreckage orpletely disintegrated. Taienra hadn''t held back against the Starsling Kingdom at all when using her strongest attack. Her grudge might not have been as harsh as Tasha''s, but she and Asilean still hated the Starsling Kingdom with a burning fury.


    When the Starlight faded and the Void returned to its usual ambiance, Dristel''s ship still had most of its barrier up and ready to go, which caught Toz and the others by surprise. Taienra might still be a sixth level beast, but the power of her attack far exceeded her level with how powerful it was, especially when backed by the mana stored in the trees on her back.


    The two sailboats carrying some of the Bunglehoppers, a couple of cats, and the pirate leaders, didn''t stop just because the biggest ship had survived. They carried out their n and targeted the ships that survived Taienra''s attack. The pirate leaders could guess why the ship remained intact, and while they weren''t sure Toz would be able to deal with it on his own, Toz didn''t actually have to fight Dristel.


    Dristel''s phantom spear of aura that he used to defend against Taienra''s beam shattered shortly after the starlight faded. And it showed on Dristel''s face that it had taken a lot of energy to maintain that spear and defend the ship against the beam. However, Dristel was still far from being so exhausted that he would just keel over and die at the hands of the people who kidnapped his brother and baited him into a trap.


    Dristel only took a few moments'' rest before he conjured an almost solid spear of wind in his hand as he let go of his ordinary spear.


    Dristel took aim andunched the spear at Taienra since she was the one responsible for the devastation of his fleet. Dristel watched, almost red-eyed, as his Piercing Gale tore through the air and the Void straight at Taienra.


    However, his eyes widened in surprise and confusion as the spear stopped moving in the middle of its journey. No, it hadn''t stopped movingpletely. It just moved so slowly that it looked like the spear had frozen in the middle of the air.


    Dristel had enough experience to realize instantly that the space mage had joined the battle, so he looked around while still keeping an eye on Taienra, Stris, and Toz. However, no matter where he looked, he only saw the two sailboats in the distance rummaging through the wreckage in search of survivors and treasure.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Dristel turned his gaze toward Toz, who had dumped Stris on Taienra''s back. The ck-haired man was a mage with multiple attributes. There could be several reasons for a mage to have several attributes, and a lot of inclinations that granted their mage those attributes didn''t limit the amount or variety. It was just that mages rarely had enough skill with each element to use it proficiently inbat.


    However, if Dristel''s suspicions were true, the ck-haired man used at least four different attributes with enough skill to contend against him, a ninth level fighter. Although Dristel had easily shaken off the first spell that was likely to be of the darkness attribute, he had no way to tell if it was because he was stronger or because Toz had held back.


    Toz was also good enough at lightning and void magic to outrun one of the main fleets of the Starsling Kingdom. And that was without using the space attribute to try and actually flee. Though, as far as Dristel knew, using more attributes at the same time put a tremendous burden on the mage''s mind, so maybe Toz was limited to using two attributes at once. However, Dristel didn''t assume his guess was true as he prepared to face Toz, who slowly drifted through the Void to the ship.


    Dristel held off onunching the Piercing Gale in his hand. He had dispelled the first one since it needlessly consumed his martial energy, but it would be useless trying to throw another if it would simply get stuck in space again.


    Toz looked at Dristel and the ship, not really sure what to do.


    Though he and Dristel would probably be irreconcble enemies, so Toz''s worries were mostly about how to kill him. It had taken a lot of effort to stop the wind spear by widening the space in its path. Toz could do it again and again if he needed to, but he wouldn''t be able to do much else. Using basic magic to block a martial technique only worked because he wasn''t blocking it. He was only extending its flight path.


    Toz also wasn''t confident in directly facing Dristel. The difference was four levels, and Dristel held an overwhelming advantage regarding techniques and fighting experience. Although Toz had his multiple elements and his body and mana at the sixth refinement, he wasn''t sure he could match up to a fighter at the ninth level who had trained his martial energy rigorously by honing it with several techniques. The density of the Piercing Gale was enough proof of the quality of Dristel''s martial energy.


    Toz kept an eye on the spear of wind in Dristel''s hand so that he could impede its advance as soon as it flew out of Dristel''s hand. While doing that, Toz also began rousing his fire mana.


    Dristel had easily blocked Taienra''s beam of starlight due to its size and how spread out the power was. However, it wouldn''t be as easy blocking a fireball the size of a human head.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 266 Pirate Meet (9)

    ?Toz''s mana surged out and clumped together, creating a ball of fire in the air in front of him. However, before Toz couldunch his fireball, he first had to intercept the spear of wind that Dristel threw at him.


    Dristel took the opportunity to throw the spear while Toz concentrated on his spell.


    But Dristel underestimated Toz''s ability to multitask as Toz easily stopped the spear while maintaining his fireball.


    Before Dristel could throw the next javelin of wind, Tozunched his fireball. The spell struck the ship''s barrier with enough force to send tremors through the entire barrier. But that was all it did. The ship''s enchantments didn''t show any signs of breaking down in front of Toz''s magic.


    But Toz didn''t let that dissuade him as he prepared another fireball, stopping Dristel''s next Piercing Gale at the same time.


    Dristel was surprised that Toz wielded five attributes and was adept enough to have learned at least two spells of different attributes as well. But he didn''t let that stop him from trying to defeat Toz. However, Dristel didn''t see much hope in beating Toz and saving his brother and the fleet.


    Dristel tried aiming at Toz''s fireballs so that Toz couldn''t wear down the remaining barrier. However, Toz thickened the space in the wind spear''s path before diverting his fireball to strike the ship''s barrier.


    After looking around and confirming that his crew was still reeling from the aftermath of Taienra''s attack, Dristel turned his gaze toward the second biggest ship that had narrowly avoided Taienra''s beam of starlight.


    Taienra''s attack had brushed against the ship''s stern, tearing through the barrier and leaving the deck with sectioned emergency protection. The protection would shield the people on board against the Void but nothing else. However, Dristel didn''t look at the ship because he was worried about the crew''s survival. He already knew that he didn''t have the leeway to care about others until he could stop Toz from tearing down the barrier protecting his ship.


    Dristel looked at his second lieutenant''s ship because he hoped that his lieutenant had survived and woulde to help him.


    However, Dristel was too busy blocking Toz''s fireballs, so he couldn''t carefully inspect the ship. He could only hope that his lieutenant had survived and woulde to his senses soon.


    Dristel used the same move as he used against Tainera''s beam to block as many of Toz''s attacks as possible. The giant phantom spear of wind energy wasn''t a spell or technique, and it used a lot of energy. But it was at least better than the almost totally useless wind spears that only wasted his energy without blocking the fireballs.


    The only reason the wind javelins weren''t useless was that they forced Toz to divert his attention to stop them from interfering with him or his magic. It wasn''t much, but it decreased the rate at which Tozunched his fireballs.


    Toz didn''t fire his fireballs too often, but each strike burned through either the energy Dristel used to maintain hisrge phantom spear or the remaining mana fueling the ship''s barrier.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Dristel had used a lot of his energy to defend against Taienra''s st, and he felt the continuous drain to his reserve. It wouldn''t matter much if his crew could snap out of their dizziness and rece the mana crystals supplying the ship. It would be risky, but if Dristel went all out, he would be able to defend against all of Toz''s attacks until the ship got back to full power. At that time, Dristel could rest and let his crew use the ship''s offensive measures to chase off the whale and the pirates attacking the rest of the fleet.


    Thankfully, it didn''t seem like it would be too long until the crew regained consciousness and took their positions, so Dristel kept holding Toz at bay.


    Toz noticed Dristel''s expression changing from slight worry and concentration to a more rxed one after looking around. Toz copied Dristel and looked at the crew members. He only did it for a moment since he still had to keep a watchful eye on Dristel''s free hand in case another wind javelin appeared.


    That moment was enough for Toz to notice that the previously passed-out crew members were starting to stir and wake up.


    Toz decided to take a risk. He had been ying it safe since he would inevitably win if he continued sting the ship with fireballs. However, if he wanted to bring the fight to a quick end, Toz would have to use one of the tricks up his sleeve, even if it required him to use more of his concentration.


    Getting distracted would put Toz at more risk to receive one of Dristel''s wind javelins with his body. However, Toz decided it was worth it, and he chose a moment right after Dristel had already fired a Piercing Gale.


    As soon as he stopped the wind javelin, Toz dispelled his fireball spell. He kept the fire mana around, but he didn''t do anything with it until after he mixed it with his void mana.


    Toz had to use a lot of concentration and willpower to perfectly fuse the two elements, but it was well worth it since the mana-devouring grey mes appeared without a problem.


    Toz hadn''t intended to use the grey mes since he wasn''t sure he could control them and because they might spoil any possible loot that might exist on the ship, but destroying everything would be better than dying, so Toz sent a lump of the grey mes toward the ship''s barrier.


    Dristel looked on in confusion since he didn''t understand the grey mes, but the closer they got, the worse his feeling got. Dristel sent a Piercing Gale at the me. He expected Toz to impede its advance again, so he also swung with his phantom spear.


    However, contrary to Dristel''s expectations, Toz only stood back and watched as the wind javelin pierced into the lump of grey me.


    Toz was curious about what would happen when an attack of concentrated martial energy condensed using a technique came into contact with his grey mes, which was why he didn''t interfere with Dristel''s attack. However, before he could see how the collision unfolded, he felt an attacking his way from another direction.

 Chapter 267 Pirate Meet (10)

    ?After concentrating on his battle with Dristel and making sure not to get impaled by the wind javelins, Toz then focused on fusing the two elements. So he had inadvertently rxed his mind a little too much afterunching his grey mes at Dristel''s ship, which was why the attack arrived right when he noticed it.


    Toz hadn''t expected anyone to interfere in his battle just yet since all the crew members were half-dazedly, barely managing to sit up, much less contribute to a battle on the level of the one between him and Dristel. Their fight had been overwhelmingly simple from an outside perspective, with spells and techniques flying back and forth with no apparent immediate danger to either party.


    However, the force and control behind every attack weren''t something ordinary or weak mages and fighters couldpare to. If Toz cked off a little too much or missed the wind javelins, he would get pierced by one before he knew it. And if Dristel didn''t perfectly manage his martial energy expenditure, he would run out and end up defenseless without being able to do anything until the ship''s barrier breaks.


    For someone to interfere in a battle where a single mistake could lead to an eventual defeat, they had to possess the required skill.


    And the person who attacked Toz proved their worth by sessfullynding their attack.


    The person who attacked Toz was Dristel''s second lieutenant, the second strongest person in the fleet that pursued Toz, and the third strongest person in the entirety of Dristel''s fleet. Although he wasn''t as strong as the first lieutenant, Nester was still a mage at the eighth level. And in the current situation, he could be of greater help to Dristel than the first lieutenant, thanks to his inclination.


    The attack had taken him by surprise, but Toz''s fast reflexes alerted him quickly enough, and Toz dodged the pair of chains flying in his direction, stretching out to reach around him.


    However, he couldn''t rx because he avoided the chains just once. The chains curved and followed his trajectory, racing to catch up to him.


    Toz used space magic to blink away from the pair of chains fervently chasing after him. Unfortunately, he hadn''t noticed how chains had already spread out through the surrounding Void. The grey mes and Dristel had upied Toz''s attention up until the moment the chains tried to wrap around him, so Toz had been too busy to properly inspect his surroundings which had been empty and clear of obstacles just moments ago.


    Toz noticed the chains around him as soon as he blinked through space, and he tried to avoid them. However, he wasn''t quite fast enough, and a small piece of the chain wrapped around his ankle.


    Toz instantly felt how the chain suppressed his mana and some of the strength of his body. Though, since only such a small piece of the chain had wrapped around such a small part of him, Toz''s magic and strength were mostly unaffected. However, it was enough to startle Toz and reveal an opening.


    If Toz focused and put in some effort, he would easily be able to break free from the chain around his ankle, but the opening he revealed led to a follow-up from his attacker.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Before Toz could break free from the chain, Nester swung his arms, flicking the chain like a whip and sending Toz crashing into the Starsling Kingdom''s navy''s gship, the Dristel''s ship.


    Toz crashed into the deck with enough force to crack the boards and make him grunt in pain and lose his breath. The impact sent the nearby crew members flying. It didn''t harm them, but they scrambled to get out of the way since they couldn''t withstand the aftermath of their admiral''s battle.


    The crash didn''t injure Toz, and he instantly got up to try and break free from the chain. However, despite appearances, the chain wasn''t metal, and Toz''s metal magic was useless on it.


    Feeling slightly panicked since Dristel was on the other side of the ship, ready to attack him, Toz brought out his sword and swung it at the chain while filling it to the brim with fire mana, turning it into ance of orange mes. His sword cut through the chain, and the part still attached to his ankle gradually dissipated.


    Toz looked up toward Dristel, who had just blown away the remnants of the grey mes using his wind energy. Toz hadn''t seen the collision between the two forces, so he didn''t know how it happened, and he didn''t have time to ponder it either as Dristel turned toward him.


    Dristel didn''t stop for even a second as he conjured a wind javelin and threw it at Toz.


    Toz only had enough time to see that it would be futile trying to escape the ship into the Void due to the of chains surrounding the boat before he had to defend against the Piercing Gale.


    Although he was stuck on the ship, Toz could still use his magic like usual. However, the distance between himself and the source of the wind javelins was a lot shorter than it was when Toz was in the Void, and Toz only managed to obstruct the Piercing Gale''s path when it was less than an arm''s length away from sting through his head.


    Toz didn''t know why the chain user didn''t directly interfere with the fight, but he was grateful for it since even the slightest distraction or interference with his ability to wield magic would end badly for Toz.


    Toz barely hadn any time to gather his bearings before the next wind javelin arrived in front of him, but he managed to block that one as well. However, the two javelins had served their purpose as Dristel had managed to close the gap between himself and Toz. Shortening the distance was usually the only thing a fighter specialized in close-quartersbat would have to do in order to defeat a mage suited for battles of greater reach.

 Chapter 268 Pirate Meet (11)

    ?Not all fighters were better at close-rangebat than long-range, and not all mages were more proficient at medium or long-range battles.


    However, Dristel was a spear fighter and focused on the battles that took ce within reach of his spear. And from what he had seen, Toz was better at long-range battles since he had learned two spells suitable for that. Toz''s lightning and space magic also made it easy for Toz to keep the distance between himself and his target.


    Dristel was confident in his assessment of Toz and in being able to strike him down before Toz could escape as long as he made an opening, which was why he used the two Piercing Gales to grab Toz''s attention.


    Dristel''s spear shed through the air. Since Dristel didn''t know what Toz had done with Stris, he decided to maim Toz. Maiming Toz wouldn''t instantly render him victorious since Toz would still be able to use magic, but it would be enough for Nester to wrap his chains around Toz.


    Due to Nester having to wrap his chains around a target for them to disy their full potential, Nester and Dristel couldn''t really attack the same target at the same time. Nester''s chains got in the way of Dristel''s spear, and Dristel''s spear blew away the chains.


    That was why Dristel would first incapacitate and cripple Toz so Nester could easily wrap Toz in chains to seal his magic. After doing that, it would be a walk in the park to torture Toz about Stris''s location or since they knew Stris was on Taienra, make Toz hand Stris over to them.


    The spear headed straight toward Toz''s legs. Dristel''s eyes shed with a triumphant glint. A single strike would be enough for him to get his brother back. Dristel only looked at his target as he swung his spear, which was why he noticed the sword crashing down on his spear only after the impact.


    Toz drove Dristel''s spear into the deck with his swing, narrowly avoiding having his legs cut off above the knees. He wanted to counterattack andunch a fireball at Dristel. At such close range, the damage would be devastating.


    However, Dristel wasn''t a ninth level fighter for nothing, and he easily recovered his spear. The momentum of his strike had offset most of the force from Toz''s parry, and he pulled the spear out of the deck the instant after it went down.


    Dristel continued the movement of lifting his spear, turning it into an upward diagonal sh that forced Toz to step back and cancel his magic.


    Dristel pressed the attack and thrust forward with his spear, forcing Toz back yet another couple of steps.


    Toz knew he couldn''t back away endlessly since the space on the boat was limited, but he had felt from parrying Dristel''s attack, that he wasn''t quite at the same level of physical strength, especially not when he hadn''t had the time to reinforce his body with his mana.


    Toz made use of the opening he got by jumping as far back as he could to strengthen his body with mana. He then flooded his sword with metal magic, maximizing its sharpness and durability.


    Since the sword he made using all of his six elements wasn''t quite done yet, Toz used the sword he made when he still had four elements. The sword was durable, and his mana easily flowed through it, as long as it wasn''t mana of the void or space attributes, which also meant he couldn''t usebination magic to strengthen the sword''s abilities even further.


    However, if Toz only needed to withstand Dristel''s spear, simple metal would be more than enough, and he held it up to defend against Dristel''s charge.


    Dristel had quickly covered the gap Toz made and thrust forth with his spear, using the momentum those extra steps gave him. The spear tore through the air and, empowered by Dristel''s wind attribute martial energy, stirred up a gust that ruffled Toz''s hair.


    Toz didn''t face the spear head-on as he sidestepped and held up his sword to block the spear after Dristel redirected his strike and shed to the side.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz''s sword scraped against Dristel''s spear as he pushed closer, trying to narrow the distance. His arms trembled from the pressure, but as soon as there was an opportunity, Toz let go of one hand to grab hold of the spear shaft and pull Dristel closer so that he couldn''t escape.


    The streams of wind energy swirling around the spear were unexpectedly sharp, and the wind tore through Toz''s hand before he could even grab the spear.


    However, Toz saw the intention to create distance in Dristel''s eyes, so he encased his hand in metal and void magic as fast as he could and pushed through the wind.


    Usually, Toz wouldn''t have been able to fuse the elements and activate thebination magic so quickly. However, his brain and instincts were roaring and rampaging wildly due to the intensity and thrill of battle.


    The soft, dull grey metal covered his hand, protecting him from the wind energy. If Toz had the leeway, he could''ve seen how it seemed like the wind energy barely noticed the metal glove. The wind parted around the metal like a coursing river parted around a rock.


    However, Toz''s brain was too upied with fighting against Dristel to care about the interactions of hisbination magic and Dristel''s wind energy. The only thing on his mind was the opponent in front of him. A small part kept watch over the surroundings in case the chain wielder decided to interfere, but all of Toz''s thoughts were regarding how to defeat Dristel.


    It wasn''t Toz''s first battle with an opponent stronger than him. But he also didn''t have that much experience actually fighting beings stronger than him.


    The Scorched Earth Rat King on First Ignition was a simple-minded and easily baited beat. After luring it to a death pit, Toz and the cats bombarded it with magic until it died.


    The difference in power between Toz and the demons in the Tumbling Thunder Forest had been too great for Toz to enter an actual battle with them. He hadn''t even been intending to fight them since his goal was to distract them while the cats saved Scrael.


    The void beasts, such as the two catfish and the shark, were even more simple-minded than the Scorched Earth Rat King. A simple strategy and cooperation with the others were enough for Toz to defeat them.


    Toz had sparred and scuffled with the Bunglehoppers and other pirates in Pirate Haven, but none of them were actual life-and-death fights where he would die if he blinked at the wrong moment.


    The battle with Dristel spurred Toz''s senses and mind into overdrive. Each move either of them made had endless possible follow-ups.


    If Toz wanted to throw a lightning bolt at Dristel''s feet, he would have to prepare for the ensuing sidestep and roundhouse kick that led to a wide sh of the spear if it missed.


    If Toz swung his sword with just a grain of too much strength, Dristel would take advantage of it and intentionally shift Toz out of bnce, forcing Toz to roll on the ground to dodge the overhead spear strike that almost shattered the wooden deck.


    However, despite the spear brushing against the hem of his coat, Toz still used fire magic to try and light the ship on fire. The risk was well worth it since Dristel had to put out the fire or risk the entire boat burning and stranding him in the Void.

 Chapter 269 Pirate Meet (12)

    ?Dristel putting out the fire Toz left in his wake gave Toz enough of an opening tounch a fireball straight at Dristel. However, Toz wasn''t the only one with good reflexes, and Dristel ducked under the spell. Usually, Toz would have been able to redirect the fireball to crash down on Dristel''s back. But Dristel''s attack forced him to dodge, and the fireball flew forward and collided with the of chains.


    Dristel had used mostly basic attacks, reinforced by martial energy, asionally extending his spear with aura or throwing a PIercing Gale at Toz''s face.


    However, the attack he used after ducking under Toz''s spell was a technique TOz hadn''t seen before.


    Dristel slipped the spear through his hands so that he held it at the end of the shaft with only one hand. He began dragging the spear just above the ground in a wide circle from almost right behind him, umting extraordinary amounts of martial energy and aura at the same time.


    The spear built speed and momentum as it continued on its trajectory, with the gathered aura gradually obscuring the spear. And as it neared the peak of its arc, the spear, even the afterimages, transformed into a green, translucent reptilian tail.


    The tail whipped out and flicked its tip as the spear reached the end of its path.


    Toz had jumped up to avoid the strike since he thought Dristel was trying to sweep away his legs. And he managed to avoid the spear. But he couldn''t avoid the Dragon''s Tail Sweep.


    The force released by the tail flick tore off the surface of the deck like a hand brushing away sand.


    Despite dodging the spear strike, Toz couldn''t avoid the effects of the technique, and the force hit his body. Toz, who was still in the air, was sent flying like a kite with its string cut. Suffering the blow would have almost been worth it if it had sent Toz flying out of the ship and into the Void.


    However, before he could escape the range of the ship, Toz collided with the ship''s main mast.


    Toz hit the mast like a sack of potatoes. After cracking the mast, he sunk to the ground with a groan.


    Dristel had exhausted a lot of his martial energy and stamina in order to sessfully execute that strike. But he couldn''t let go of the advantage he made just because his body ached a little more than wasfortable. However, he couldn''t move with the same vigor as he did at the beginning of the battle.


    Dristel walked over to Toz with newfound admiration and respect in his eyes. It wasn''t until their head-on sh that Dristel noticed Toz''s level.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    A fifth level mage capable of rivaling a ninth level fighter was admirable, no matter how many elements they possessed and refinements they had gone through.


    The difference in quality between the mana of a fifth level mage and the energy of a ninth level fighter wasn''t something that talent in mana control could make up for.


    Even if Toz pushed his mana to the limit each time he broke through, he would still be limited in what he could achieve. It would make him stronger than peers at the same level who only pushed their mana as far as they needed to break through. Since it didn''t carry as much risk and didn''t actually lessen their future potential, most people finished their breakthroughs as soon as they could. Trying too hard could easily put too much strain on the mana pool or the mage''s body. Both were things that could lead to a mage''s magic getting crippled.


    However, Toz ignored such risks as he pushed his mana as much as he could with every breakthrough and refinement, each time pushing the quality and control of his mana a little further. The increase in his mana quality wasn''t as significant as the improvements his body underwent in order to handle the increased size of his mana pool and the amount of mana that flowed through his system. But each increment, no matter how small, made it easier for Toz to push himself even further during the next breakthrough.


    That was why, despite being a fifth level mage, he was capable of withstanding a ninth level fighter in directbat. Another significant reason for Toz''s ability to fight on somewhat equal footing with someone technically stronger than him was his inclination.


    As a beast type inclination, Toz''s physical abilities were enhanced ordingly with the cats. And even if they weren''t physically strong, Toz got a lot of agility and nimbleness through his bonds with the cats. Not only that, thanks to most beasts'' superior regenerative capabilities, Toz also healed faster than most mages and fighters, especially since it was the trait that Toz got the strongest effects from.


    Mages and fighters with extraordinary senses, flexibility, and physical speed weren''t out of the ordinary. However, elemental mages without an attribute to heal them using magic that could recover from serious injuries with nothing but their passive regeneration were a little rarer.


    Dristel, who was already surprised at Toz''s capabilities and strength, naturally wasn''t prepared for Toz also being able to recover from his injuries faster than mages usually would.


    The Dragon''s Tail Sweep and the ensuing collision with the ship''s mast injured Toz pretty badly. Toz had at least a few bruised internal organs and several cracked ribs. It would be difficult to move, but not impossible. However, he wouldn''t be able to fight back against Dristel in that state. Toz could maybe withstand one or two blows, but he would eventually be rendered helpless against Dristel''s assault.


    However, that would only happen if Toz''s injuries remained.


    Since Dristel took his sweet time walking over to Toz on the other side of the boat, Toz had enough time to partly recover from his injuries. It wasn''t aplete recovery, but it wouldn''t affect his movements too much as long as he gritted his teeth and pushed through the pain.


    Toz carefully paid attention to Dristel''s leisurely approach as he made use of everyst second to recover and prepare for the moment Dristel got close enough.

 Chapter 270 Pirate Meet (13)

    ?Toz had personally felt the might of Dristel''sst attack, so he knew how much effort Dristel had put into unleashing it. Combined with how much he had expended blocking Taienra''s and Toz''s attacks, Dristel shouldn''t have too much left. Dristel used the Dragon''s Tail Sweep as a finisher to knock Toz off his feet, but it came at a cost. Dristel''s body was fatigued from expending such arge amount of energy at once and shaping it into such aplex technique.


    Dristel''s slow walk wasn''t only because he was confident in his victory. It was also a precaution in case Toz would make ast stand. Or in case someone else interfered, despite Nester''s chains.


    Dristel knew that Toz had saved the three pirate leaders. And since there wasn''t anyone in the rest of his fleet that could stand up against those three, it was highly possible they coulde and help Toz. Nester would be able to hold off one of the pirate leaders. Maybe two for a few minutes. However, if the three of them worked together, it would be impossible for Nester to stop them.


    Dristel''s pace allowed Toz to gouge Dristel''s condition and prepare a counterattack.


    Toz slumped together on the ground, barely conscious until Dristel was close enough. Toz had a difficult time restraining himself in order to recover as much as possible beforeshing out. He also had to make sure Dristel wouldn''t be able to react to the attack until it was toote.


    Dristel might have walked slowly, but he was still a ninth level fighter and didn''t have to walk very far. It didn''t take long for him to get close to Toz. Dristel lifted his spear as if he was going to poke Toz after taking a few more steps to get within range.


    However, before he could do that, his surroundings disappeared. An infinite darkness covered his vision, hearing, touch, smell, and taste before veiling his perception of time and weight and the sensation of his own limbs.


    After casting his Void''s Embrace on Dristel, Toz didn''t just sit around and wait. Abination of lightning and space magic brought Toz right in front of Dristel with his sword ready to sever Dristel''s head.


    Toz knew that Dristel had already broken out of his spell once, and it probably wouldn''t take much time for him to do it again. But he hoped that the element of surprise and his speed would be enough to secure victory over Dristel. He had intentionally avoided using thebination magic that gave him the greatest speed for the single purpose of grabbing an opening that could end the fight in one strike.


    However, Toz had overestimated Dristel''s fatigue and underestimated his reflexes.


    Dristel hadn''t forgotten the spell Toz used before grabbing Stris for even a second since it was so impactful. He was prepared during their entire fight since he knew how devastating it could be to lose contact with one''s senses and the surroundings, even for a split second during battle.


    Dristel hadn''t be the admiral of the Starsling Kingdom''s Navy by sitting around and ying with ducks. He had enough experience to know he should never let down his guard until he could confirm his opponent''s death or absolute incapacitation. The only thing that surprised Dristel was how marvelous the spell was. However, that was it. Dristel broke out of Toz''s spell during the moment Toz blinked across the distance between them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz saw Dristel''s eyes clear up and the muscles on his hand and forearm tense as Dristel gripped his spear tight. Time slowed down in Toz''s perception as he tried to find a way out of the predicament he had put himself in.


    He was moving too fast to stop or retreat, but he wasn''t fast enough to sever Dristel''s head or block his spear until it was toote. The best he could do was go for mutual destruction. Toz was confident in enduring and recovering from pretty severe injuries, but he didn''t feel like he would survive a spear of wind aura blowing him up from inside.


    Toz twisted his body to avoid the spear pointed at his midsection. His mana raced like crazy and poured out of every part of his body, enveloping him in a suit of soft, dull grey metal. The void and metalbination magic helped Toz offset some of the aura, but he couldn''t block the entire strike, even with his twisting. Dristel''s spear pushed Toz''s side, slightly adding to his spin.


    But Toz couldn''t be thankful for the help in turning around a full circle since the spear also tore into his side, leaving arge gaping wound, not much unlike the injury Stris suffered at the hands of the Representative.


    Toz pushed past the pain and continued forward. He didn''t stop in his path, and he shed forward, past Dristel, leaving only a streak of orange light where he had drawn his sword. The orange light lingered long enough for Dristel to see it ovep with his shoulder.


    As soon as his mind processed the near-instantaneous collision and what the light passing through his arm meant, Dristel felt a burning pain sprout, and at the same time, his arm fell down. After his arm hit the ground, the only thing left of it was the bone.


    The singed stump fared a little better thanks to Dristel''s martial energy keeping the fire in check.


    The fire mana filling Toz''s sword hadn''t only cauterized to wound to prevent Dristel from being able to reattach the arm, but it had also set whatever it could on fire.


    The pain of both having his arm cut off and fire invading his body, burning his skin, muscles, and nerves, made Dristel unconsciously scream out in pain as he dropped his spear and clutched the stump.


    Dristel sank to his knees while barely putting out the fire. Controlling his martial energy while enduring pain like nothing he had felt before was extremely challenging. Since it took longer for him to put out the fire, his stump only got even more destroyed by the embers attached to his shoulder.


    Toz only had enough time to see the sess of his attack before crashing to the ground. He closed his eyes as he tried to purge the wind aura blowing through his body. If he didn''t do it before passing out, he didn''t know if he would ever wake up. However, the rustling of chains forced him to open his eyes.

 Chapter 271 Pirate Meet (14)

    ?Toz still had enough mana left to use magic, so even if he couldn''t move due to the wound in his abdomen, he would still be able to defend himself. However, that was if only he could get rid of the wind aura surging through his body and interfering with his mana.


    His suit of void metal had softened the aura as it entered his body, turning it from a zing storm to a moderate breeze. It was a lot better than it could have been. But it was still the martial energy of a ninth level fighter that Toz didn''t have any control over.


    Toz opened his eyes, expecting to see chains flying over in his direction. However, the rustling of chains wasn''t because Nester was attacking Toz or supporting Dristel.


    Nester didn''t have any leeway to pay attention to what happened within the cage of chains. He was confident Dristel would win, so he only spared some attention to what happened on the ship and dedicated the rest of his attention to the rest of the fleet.


    Unlike Dristel, Nester didn''t know that the three pirate leaders were on the two sailboats sailing around and looting or destroying the remnants of the fleet, so he didn''t have any inhibitions to stop him from attacking the two sailboats.


    Doing that would naturally spread Nester''s power thin. Neither his attacks nor his would be very effective, but he didn''t care. He had to contain the mage Dristel was fighting with, and he also had to save hisrades.


    However, he pretty quickly realized he had kicked an iron door with a bare foot when one of his chains turned into nothingness instead of demolishing one of the sailboats. When Nester''s chains got severed, the part not connected directly to him got dispelled since it didn''t have any mana maintaining it.


    But this time, his chains weren''t cut into pieces, yet they still gradually disappeared, starting from the link closest to the sailboat.


    Nester didn''t know what was happening with his chains, but he felt his mana disappearing like water in the desert, so he cut his losses and severed the chain himself.


    Nester realized it wouldn''t be as easy to capsize the sailboats as he first thought, but he had at least saved some of hisrades by grabbing the attention of the people on the sailboats. He wasn''t sure that it was a good thing, though.


    He couldn''t damage either of the boats with his chains. The chains either got destroyed like the first one or shed, burned, and torn to pieces. Nester couldn''t use his full power since he was helping his admiral, but he felt like it wouldn''t have mattered even if he wasn''t maintaining the. In fact, dispelling the might make the situation even worse.


    Nester hadn''t seen what Toz was fully capable of, but if he was someone even the admiral had trouble defeating, it would be bad news to let him escape Dristel''s clutches. Considering the battlefield, the side with Toz, who could move freely through the Void, would have an overwhelming advantage.


    Nester was confident in his admiral''s strength, but he also knew that Dristel had blocked the beam of starlight that knocked him unconscious with nothing more than the tremors of power from its passing.


    If Nester let Toz escape and turned the two separate battles into a single, slightlyrger one, he and Dristel would be on the losing side. Nester gritted his teeth as he maintained the cage and resolved to hold off the two sailboats for as long as he could, hopefully until Dristel was finished and could help him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, Nester quickly lost hope.


    When the two sailboats came close, Nester saw who was on them. As the fleet''s second lieutenant, Nester had ess to enough information that the leaders of two of the three big pirate crews of Pirate Haven, the Bunglehoppers, and some cats were on the two boats. He didn''t think much about the cats since most of his attention was on the crew leaders and the Poison Witch, Hayar.


    Nester gulped in dread, but he had no intentions of giving up. His loyalty to Dristel wouldn''t let him.


    As Nester''s attention was solely focused on the two sailboats, he missed two things.


    After he woke up, Nester almost instantly helped Dristel. However, after throwing Toz onto the ship and setting up the, Nester looked around and confirmed that the whale responsible for the beam of starlight didn''t have the means to attack again. He wasn''t surprised. Such a powerful and consuming attack was bound to leave its user drained and exhausted afterward.


    However, that was several moments ago. Usually, those moments wouldn''t have mattered. But whales rarely had forests of void trees on their backs.


    One of the discoveries Taienra had made regarding the void trees was that they acted like an extension of her body, and the mana that would have gone into her starlight crystals entered the trees instead.


    Taienra had used the mana in her body tounch the beam. Her body was still too tired tounch another attack like that. But the mana entering her body from the trees allowed her to continue using magic, even if it was weaker than usual. It wasn''t powerful enough to interfere with the ship''s barrier or Toz''s fight with Dristel. However, it was more than enough to coordinate an attack with Asilean.


    The other cats had to stay on the sailboats like the others, but Asilean could travel freely through the Void. That was the other thing Nester wasn''t prepared for.


    Nester''s only looked at the pirates and cats in front of him,pletely missing Asilean sneaking up on him from behind and Taienra slowly but surely taking control over and amplifying the passive starlight in the surroundings.


    Nester was an eighth level mage, while Asilean and Taienra were only at the sixth level. He wasn''t a match for the eighth and ninth level pirates, but they were too far away to attack him just yet.


    Asilean, who wasn''t limited by the speed of the sailboat, snuck through the Void and, using the Taienra''s starlight magic, arrived unnoticed right next to Nester.

 Chapter 272 Pirate Meet (15)

    ?Taienra sent an array of weak starlight straight at Nester''s eyes. It wasn''t powerful enough to cause damage, but it was enough to make Nester flinch and close his eyes. That was when Asilean blinked forward and stretched out his paw, tearing through space in the same ce as Nester''s throat.


    Nester still had his senses as an eighth-level mage, but Taienra''s attack dyed his reaction. He only managed to react after Asilean had already begun separating his head and body.


    Nester drew back to escape from Asilean''s ws while throwing all the chains he had everywhere around him in panic. Nester managed to avoid having his entire head separated, but it was left hanging by little more than the spinal cord.


    Nester felt his life rapidly draining away, and he panicked. All rational thought left him. All he wanted was to do as much as possible before he could never do anything again, even if it meant giving up on keeping Toz restrained.


    Nester withdrew all the chains sustaining the and, in a death-fearing panic, created a tornado of chains that swirled around him. He used everyst drop of mana at once and subconsciously created a spell using his death as inspiration.


    The spiraling chains struck andshed out.


    Asilean, who was right next to Nester, didn''t manage to escape the range before the force of Nester''s spell struck him. The chain strike sent Asilean flying into the Void, which fortunately saved him from taking any more hits.


    The blow knocked Asilean unconscious, and he didn''t seem to show any signs of waking up. But before he could drift further into the Void, a surprisingly soft cradle of starlight scooped him up and carried him over to Taienra.


    Asilean couldn''t participate in the battle, and Taienra was still too weak to interfere with Nester''s tornado of chains.


    However, the pirate leaders, Hayar, Stitches, Frank, Vaner, Nil, Lucy, Mindle, and Scrael, were all still able to fight, and in order to help Toz, they had to either defeat or circumvent Nester. Trying to circle Nester came with the risk of getting attacked from behind, so the crews of both sailboats came together to take down Nester as quickly as possible.


    With the strength of the people gathered on the two sailboats, it didn''t take long despite Nester burning through his mana and life force in ast-ditch effort to help his admiral.


    Since the Representative could travel freely through the Void, he took the lead, though not as fast as Toz and Asilean because he didn''t have the space element.


    The Representative opened a path through the tornado of chains, disintegrating as much as he could. And the remaining chains were left for the others to handle.


    The chains got denser the closer they got to the center of the storm, so the Representative had to slow down and cooperate with the others to hold off the chains. He could only use his spell to get rid of so many chains at a time, so the others worked together to hold off the chains the Representative couldn''t get rid of.


    Red Hook used her Blood Spears and blood red grapple hooks to st away or take control of the chains. Wulf used his axe to cleave or smack away the chains that got close enough to the sailboats. Using aura wasn''t enough to damage the chains when they were too far away, and hitting chains that were that far away didn''t necessarily force them away from their path toward the boats.


    Frank and Vanerbined their strengths to freeze the chains and turn them into icicles instead of flexible, rock-solid whips of death. The pirate leaders easily destroyed the frozen chains.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The cats didn''t have it as easy as the pirates since they were at the medium level, and there was a significant gap between them and Nester, especially when he was using all the fuel in his body to power a spell as he was on the verge of death. But that didn''t mean they were totally useless.


    Nil used his magic to ce ayer of metal on the chains that helped Mindle and Scrael spread the heat and lightning of their magic directly to Nester. The magic didn''t do much to damage Nester since his unconscious state automatically protected him against outside interference by creating a dense whirlpool of chains immediately around him. The three cats forced Nester to consume his mana even faster than before.


    Lucy''s magic wasn''t strong enough or suited to interfere directly with the chains, but he could start picking at Nester''s mind. Nester quickly headed toward his inevitable death due to the wound on his throat. And feelings of fear, rage, and panic clouded and filled his mind.


    Nester subconsciously protected his mind by filling it with mana that made it difficult for Lucy to interfere. However, unless they were better at ying with minds than Lucy, such simple tricks wouldn''t be able to stop Lucy for long, even if they were two levels higher than him.


    Lucy began eroding the remnants of Nester''s mind, speeding up his breakdown and the copse of his mind.


    While the pirates and the cats attacked Nester and his chains, Stitches did all he could by boosting everyone''s life force and enhancing their strength.


    With the cats steadily weakening Nester, it didn''t take long until they got close enough to Nester.


    The Representative disintegrated as many chains as he could in one go. Wulf used arge phantom axe made from aura to sweep out and clear away as many chains of the central whirlpool as possible.


    The Representative''s and Wulf''s efforts opened up a path through the dense mass of swirling magic chains. However, the tornado didn''t stop spinning, and the gap was rapidly closing. They had enough strength to make another opening, but any dys could possibly lead to Toz getting injured or dying, so they wanted to make use of the opening that had already shrunk to a size smaller than a person.


    The Representative wasn''t proficient at long-range attacks. Wulf''s axe was too slow and unwieldy. Neither the cats nor Frank and Vaner would be able to reach Nester before the chains would mince their attacks into dust.


    Red Hook took aim and reached back with her hand, materializing a glistening blood-red spear in her hand. She stepped forward, cing her foot on the edge of the boat, and, like a catapult,unched the Blood Spear through the air.


    Powered by both Red Hook''s magic and physical strength, the Blood Spear only left a bright red afterimage in the air as it torpedoed through the Void, straight at the center of the tornado of chains, Nester.


    The Blood Spear cleared the first gaps between the chains with ease. But as it got closer to Nester, the distance between the chains narrowed and was steadily getting closer topletely removing any possibility the Blood Spear had of striking Nester.


    The Blood Spear was fast, but it wasn''t fast enough to arrive before a chain that had a fraction of the distance to travel and had started moving before Red Hook even threw the spear.


    A chain blocked the Blood Spear''s trajectory less than an arm''s length away from Nester''s head.

 Chapter 273 Pirate Meet (16)

    ?Nester''s chain blocked Red Hook''s Blood Spear. But only for a moment. Red Hook might not be as strong as Dristel was, but she was still a mage at the ninth level, and when she used a spell, it would understandably be more powerful than when an eighth level mage used a spell, even if that mage was burning through all their mana and life force to power that spell.


    Nester''s spell was also wide-range, sopared to the concentrated power of Red Hook''s Blood Spear, the power of a single chain link was nothing.


    The Blood Spear tore through the chain before finally reaching Nester and exploding his brain in bloody gore.


    After Nester died, his tornado of swirling chains quickly slowed down to aplete stop, after which theypletely dissipated, leaving Nester''s headless corpse to fall back down onto the ship.


    With the chains and Nester no longer blocking the path forward, the two sailboats got a view of the Starsling Kingdom''s gship. The deck was pretty torn and bruised with scorch marks and shes all over. There was also a mast on the verge of breaking. However, none of them cared about the structural integrity of the boat.


    The cats and the Bunglehoppers were mostly worried about Toz and his wellbeing. And the Representative and Red Hook looked for Dristel.


    The Representative and Red Hook had no reason to trust Toz''s strength and didn''t think he would actually be able to fight against Dristel, so they were ready to team up and finish Dristel. They had sensed the power of Taienra''s attack and knew that they had a chance against Dristel if he took that blow head-on.


    However, their eyes widened in surprise when they saw the scene on the ship. The Representative managed to keep his jaw from dropping, but Red Hook''s reaction made her surprise evident.


    "What the fuck?"


    The Bunglehoppers and the cats ignored the two pirate leader''s surprise since they saw Toz state and steered the boats toward the ship even faster than before.


    Stitches and the other pirates had jumped off the boats before they even bumped against the ship. The barrier that Toz struggled to break apart melted in front of the Representative''s outstretched hand.


    Stitches didn''t care about whether or not Dristel was alive and dashed forward to help Toz. Even if Dristel had been totally fine and on the verge of attacking the down and injured Toz, Stitches believed that Wulf and the other Bunglehoppers would have his back.


    Stitches slid to his knees next to Toz''s body, but he didn''t rashly begin ying around with Toz''s life force. If he did something without knowing what caused the injury or if there were any hidden ailments, Stitches could worsen the situation.


    Toz had been ready to defend against Nester when the chains rattled and moved, but when the Bunglehoppers and the cats came to his rescue, relief washed over him, threatening to put him to sleep. However, he forced himself to stay awake and help Stitches drive the wind aura out of his body.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    With Toz and Stitches working together, it didn''t take long to push and pull the wind aura Dristel left in Toz''s body out of Toz. Since there wasn''t much to do for Toz after that, he sat back and let Stitches begin to regenerate the emptiness in his abdomen.


    It was a significant injury, but there wasn''t anything that was missing, just a bunch of damaged tissue and organs.


    Stitches would have usually found it challenging to work on someone with so much and such dense mana as Toz. However, since Toz was awake and had excellent control over his mana, he could reduce his body''s natural resistance to outside influence and let Stitches do his job without obstruction.


    The cats tipped around anxiously at first, but when they saw how quickly Toz''s wound was regenerating, their worry for Toz turned into rage toward Dristel. Toz would have happily let them finish him if it weren''t for the two pirate leaders, who seemed pretty keen on the same thing. He also had something he wanted to ask Dristel, but if that didn''t work out, he still had Stris, so it was whatever.


    After everyone''s arrival, Dristel had somehow managed to get his pain partly under control, but he wasn''t in a state where he could fight back, and he looked like he had resigned himself to his fate. Thanks to Toz''s fire magic cauterizing his wound shut, he wouldn''t die anytime soon. At least not from blood loss rted to his missing arm. So Toz and the others could take their time deciding what to do.


    The Representative and Red Hook looked hesitantly at each other, Dristel and Toz, alternatingly. Neither of them knew Toz before their individual meetings with him, and both had thought or nned to betray him as soon as their agreements were no longer beneficial to them. But Toz had still saved their lives by pulling the ground out from under them and teleporting them to the back of the giant forest-covered whale. He had also saved Pirate Haven and their subordinates by splitting up the Starsling Kingdom''s fleet.


    Toz had also managed to defeat Dristel, something the Representative and Red Hook were ready to team up to do. It was with a fine margin if they used the scene of battle to judge, but he had still done it, proving his strength and allowing him to stand on equal footing with them, despite his level.


    The Representative and Red Hook might not have spent so much time in contemtion if Toz had been alone since it would be easy to get rid of Toz, who would surely be apetitor for the resources of Pirate Haven in the future.


    The Bunglehoppers'' presence forced the two pirate leaders to reconsider. If they still decided to try and get rid of any and allpetition and share Pirate Haven between themselves, they would have to first fight and defeat all the Bunglehoppers, the cats, and Taienra, who had destroyed half a fleet on her own.


    Taienra wouldn''t be able to interfere much in the battle, but she could easily escape ande back another day to take revenge. But even without that, if the Representative and Red Hook took too long when defeating the Bunglehoppers, they might be too slow ande back to a Pirate Haven conquered by the other half of the Starsling Kingdom''s navy.


    The Representative and Red Hook agreed that it would be better to foster a positive rtionship with Toz and the Bunglehoppers. So they decided to let them deal with Dristel and the spoils of war before borrowing one of the sailboats and turning toward Pirate Haven to help their subordinates.


    Toz and the others happily saw them off since the two pirate leaders were dangerous to keep close. They were powerful and couldn''t be trusted, and Toz was injured.


    As leaders of their own pirate crews, both the Representative and Red Hook had magic items to help guide them through the Void, so finding their way back to Pirate Haven was not an issue for them.

 Chapter 274 Pirate Meet (17)

    ?Stitches continued healing Toz''s injury. It was a serious wound, but not something that would take more than one session. While they waited, Wulf and Hayar kept watch over Dristel, just in case, and Frank and Vaner decided to scour through the ship and tie up all the crewmembers they found. Frank and Vaner also went on a treasure hunt as they searched through the entire ship.


    Frank and Vaner''s trip had bountiful results, but it wasn''t noteworthy whenpared to the haul Toz brought back from the Blue Lounge League''s treasury. The two Bunglehoppers realized that they had missed the greatest treasure when they came back to the deck and found Wulf and Hayar rummaging through Dristel''s storage rings and bags.


    Dristel could only look on with a vacant gaze as Wulf and Hayar pulled his most prized possessions out of his storage rings. A spear he was nning to fuse with his inclination to strengthen his own spear. Wulf took his backup clothes that were even better than the officially administered Starsling Naval Admiral Uniform and stuffed them into a spatial ring of his own.


    Wulf also took currency, mana crystals, and anything else of value in order to add it to the Bunglehopper treasury. There were also a few spear type martial manuals, including the one for the Dragon''s Tail Sweep technique that had blown Toz into the mast. There was also an almost empty manual for the Piercing Gale technique that Dristel used frequently. In total, there were three spear type manuals, but Toz had only seen Dristel use two techniques.


    Toz and the others were naturally worried that Dristel had hidden a trump card up his sleeve, but they quickly realized that thest technique, Tornado Thrust wasn''t suitable for small-scale and directbat.


    However, they were still surprised that Dristel only had three techniques and manuals when his brother, who wasn''t even an admiral, had at least four. Not only that, Dristel didn''t have very many other possessions that were something one would expect of one of the people in one of the highest positions in the kingdom.


    Toz and the others looked at Dristel''s unexpected poverty with some confusion and pity, but Dristel''s mind was on the verge of breaking down due to the pain of his missing arm and the despair of losing everything, including his life. Thest thing he cared about was what the people who defeated him thought about the contents of storage items that were nowpletely meaningless to him.


    Dristel''s state of mind wasn''t a concern of any of the people around him, so after not getting any kind of response, they just got back to going through his items. Not unexpectedly, they didn''t find anything more of significant value, so they just stored away everything and ensured that Dristel wasn''t hiding anything.


    By the time the Bunglehoppers finished patting Dristel down, Stitches had healed enough of Toz''s injury to let him stand up.


    Toz walked over to Dristel, still with Stitches attached to his side. Stitches was a little annoyed that Toz didn''t sit still until the woundpletely recovered, but he was understanding in that Toz wanted to deal with the one who inflicted the wound personally.


    However, Stitches and the others had their expectations subverted when Toz didn''t pull out his sword to lop Dristel''s head off. Toz sat down in front of Dristel and patted his cheek in order to get his attention.


    Dristel''s vacant eyes trembled a bit, but he didn''t move his eyes nor show any signs of being willing to interact with the world around him.


    Toz turned to Lucy.


    "Do you think you can do anything?"


    "I can do lots of things!"


    Lucy happily answered, but when he realized what Toz meant, he quickly followed up.


    "But not the right things."


    Lucy looked a little sad that he couldn''t help Toz. All the cats were a little sensitive to those feelings since they all felt like they hadn''t been of any help to Toz recently. Tozforted Lucy a little, but it wasn''t the greatest time to sit down and make sure all the cats felt validated and loved, so Toz turned back to Dristel.


    "Don''t you wanna save your brother?"


    Dristel''s eyes twitched, and he turned to face Toz. He still didn''t say anything, but this time it was more out of stubbornness and unwillingness to submitpletely. Toz didn''t care and kept talking.


    "If you tell me what I want to know, you and your brother might survive. As simple as that. Give and take."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Dristel''s empty gaze cleared a little, and it looked like he sank into deep thought. Eventually, he sighed and opened his mouth.


    "As long as you guarantee mine and my brother''s survival, I''ll tell you anything you want to know?"


    "Anything?"


    "Anything."


    "Even state secrets?"


    "Even state secrets."


    "Why?"


    "Isn''t it obvious? The kingdom is nothingpared to my brother."


    Dristel had seemed a little unsure when he first opened his mouth, but his resolve got stronger with each word. His only remaining worry was if Toz could still keep his life intact against the other pirates.


    Toz smiled in response to Dristel''s readiness to abandon the Starsling Kingdom. It was a little unexpected since an Admiral ought to have some loyalty to the kingdom they served. But it didn''t seem like Dristel hesitated because of loyalty. He was only worried that Toz wouldn''t keep his promise.


    Toz didn''t mind Dristel''s attitude since it only made things easier for him. As a sign of goodwill to make sure Dristel could at least hold a smidgen of trust in his promise, Toz asked Stitches to help Dristel.


    Stitches wasn''t quite done with Toz''s injury, but Toz could handle what was left of it with his own ability.


    Stitches begrudgingly went over to Dristel and knelt down next to him so he could get a better angle to inspect the gruesome wound Toz had left him on his left shoulder. Stitches wouldn''t be able to regenerate or recover thest arm, but he could get rid of the worst of the burn scars and the pain.


    Dristel closed his eyes and involuntarily sighed in relief as the pain of his singed nerve endings melted away like snow in spring.


    Toz didn''t mind waiting while Stitches did some minimalistic treatment of Dristel''s injury. It was the bare minimum, but to Dristel, it felt incredible since he could finally think straight again. He hadn''t spent too long with the pain, but he already felt like it had be part of him.


    Stitches had to concentrate and move slowly due to the nature of the wound, but even after Stitches finished, Dristel left his eyes closed and reveled in the feeling of relief.


    Toz wasn''t impatient by nature, but he had things to do since the rest of the fleet was still surrounding Pirate Haven, and without Pirate Haven, there wouldn''t be any way for him to be Pirate King. There''s no such thing as a King of Pirates without any actual pirates to be king over.


    However, right as Toz was about to encourage Dristel to talk, Dristel opened his eyes and looked at Toz again.


    "So, what do you want to know?"

 Chapter 275 Pirate Meet (18)

    ?Toz looked at Dristel for a few seconds in order to try and judge Dristel''s mental state before answering.


    "Aren''t the human and demon realms at war? How does the Starsling Kingdom have the leeway to try and get rid of Pirate Haven at this time?"


    Toz''s question was the reason he hadn''t expected an actual fleet toe and help Stris. Things worked out in the end, but ording to what most people knew, the human realm was at a slight disadvantage in the war against the demons. The Starsling Kingdom sending one of their fleets to get rid of a bunch of pirates in such a situation wasn''t reasonable. There was no way the other kingdoms would allow it.


    The Bunglehoppers'' eyes widened in response to Toz''s question as they also realized something was off, and they turned to look at Dristel. Since if he didn''t have the answer, they would probably have to go and find the Starsling King or someone of equal position to get an answer.


    Dristel didn''t seem too shocked at Toz''s question, and he answered after thinking for a few minutes.


    "The war is indeed still ongoing, and it''s worse than ever. Most of the kingdoms have already exhausted their poptions, trying to get more soldiers, cannon fodder."


    Dristel looked a little despondent as he stared into space before continuing.


    "That was when we realized there was an untapped mine of powerhouses in Pirate Haven. I won''t bore you with the details, but there''s a cursemaster in the kingdom, and, using his powers, we made a bunch of ve cors.


    "The n was, in short, to enve all the pirates of Pirate Haven and use them in the war."


    Dristel''s words revealed a lot, and Toz and the others sank into silence as they pondered on them.


    Most kingdoms ouwed very even against beasts, but the war was apparently so dire that they resorted to enving other humans. And the enved pirates were probably not going to be sent to the safest battlefields. The kingdoms nned to enve and dispose of the pirates just because they couldn''t hold up against the demons on their own.


    Toz didn''t know why the war had started, to begin with, but considering the general attitude of the Starsling Kingdom and possibly the other kingdoms as well, he wouldn''t be surprised if the demons'' attacks weren''t unprovoked.


    "Beltor?"


    Everyone''s thoughts were interrupted by Stitches'' questioning mumble.


    Dristel turned to look at Stitches. Beltor''s name wasn''t as widespread as his reputation. Even if many knew about the Starsling Kingdom''s cursemaster, not many knew his name.


    "Yeah. How did you know?"


    "I almost met him."


    Stitches'' words made Toz remember the story Stitches told when he first joined the ind. About how he managed to avoid bing a ve due to his insubordination.


    Toz didn''t know much about Beltor, but from what Stitches had told him, Beltor was far from a nice person. And as he thought more about it, it felt like he was on the verge of remembering or realizing something. But the thought slipped out of his grasp before he could catch it, so he turned to Dristel and focused on his interrogation instead.


    However, before Toz could ask his next question, Wulf beat him to it.


    "But Stris has been in Pirate Haven for way longer than the war?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "That''s true. Pirate Haven has long been a thorn in the eyes of the kingdoms, especially the Starsling Kingdom since it''s so close. Stris was sent as preparation for a future mission to clean up all the pirates in the area."


    Dristel looked a little thoughtful after he spoke.


    "Though, now that I say it out loud, I don''t think that''s the real reason. The war only officially broke out less than a couple of years ago, but I''m pretty sure things have been happening below the surface for more than a decade. It''s highly likely the pirate envement n was the objective from the beginning."


    "I see. Then it makes sense you didn''t even try asking the pirates for help."


    Toz''s question surprised Dristel.


    "Ask them for help?"


    Dristel asked it with such intensity that Toz wondered if he had somehow gotten the wrong information. He had asked Retsy about the pirate''s involvement in the war, and ording to them, the pirates didn''t touch the war, and the war didn''t touch them. Aside from robbing or demanding toll fees from the ships they encountered, the pirates didn''t do much to the fleets and armies. They mostly targeted unlucky fugitives or merchants.


    There hadn''t been a single mention of the kingdoms trying to recruit Pirate Haven to join the war efforts. However, if the kingdoms were nning on enving the pirates from the beginning, it made sense they didn''t ask the pirates to help. Or even try to hire the pirates.


    "Do I need to spell it out for you? The pirates are humans and make their living by looting from other humans. If the demons win the war, what do you think would happen to the pirates?"


    Toz''s words seemed to have lit something up in Dristel as his eyes shed with understanding and realization. It seemed like it hadn''t even been an option to ask for help.


    That reaction told Toz practically everything he needed to know about the kingdom''s attitude toward people.


    Toz had mostly satisfied his curiosity, so he and everyone else left the ship and used the sailboat to go over to Taienra. They were nning on sparing Dristel and Stris'' lives, at least for now, so if Toz or anyone else wanted to ask them something, they could easily do so at ater time.


    Toz and the others packed up and squeezed together onto the sailboat before meeting up with Taienra, who waited not far away from the wreckage of the fleet.


    Dristel was devastated when he saw what remained of his fleet. The one sce was that Wulf and the other pirates hadn''t indiscriminately killed everyone they found. But even with that, only a fraction of the fleet remained, and Dristel wasn''t in a position where he could help himself, much less his crew.


    The crew members who saw their one-armed admiral get hauled away felt despair at their uselessness since they knew that they couldn''t help Dristel when he had already lost.


    Dristel and the remaining members of his fleet looked at each other until they could no longer see each other.


    Toz and the others still had some humanity and didn''t pester Dristel when he was obviously deeply depressed. Even if they were enemies and represented opposing sides, it didn''t mean theypletely disregarded Dristel as a fellow human. Despite the Starsling Kingdom''s apparent disregard for the pirates'' humanity.


    Brunswick, Hods, Joan, and Joshua greeted Toz and the others upon their return to Taienra''s back. Taienra also greeted them, but barely since she was busy. Asilean was still unconscious, so she kept watch over him. But she also monitored Stris. If he woke up and broke free from his restraints, it wouldn''t be difficult for him to kill everyone on Taienra and Taienra herself before fleeing.


    Stitches already knew Asilean was injured, so he moved to help as soon as he stepped foot on the wooden ground.

 Chapter 276 Pirate Meet (19)

    ?Asilean''s injury was a simple blow to the head, so after Stitches worked his magic, Asilean woke up and joined the others.


    After Asilean woke up, Taienra sighed in relief and turned her attention to Dristel.


    Toz and Wulf had brought Dristel to the same ce Stris was since it would be more convenient to store both prisoners in the same ce. However, no one had built a prison to house Stris and Dristel, so their confinement was a little unorthodox, and Taienra had to use her control over the trees on her back to make it work.


    Dristel seemed reluctant since it was a very crude and ufortable way to hold a prisoner, but he wasn''t in a position where he could object. He would at least be next to his brother.


    Dristel walked over to his brother after confirming that Stris was only unconscious and not permanently injured or dead. Dristel stood a couple of meters away from Stris'' head since the ground hid the rest of his body.


    When Dristel was in ce and stood rxed without raising any defenses, the ground disappeared from under him,pletely burying everything up to his neck. Dristel could look around, breathe, and eat, but he couldn''t move the rest of his body. And sleeping would probably give an incredibly stiff neck.


    However, for eighth and ninth level fighters, merely being submerged in wood wouldn''t be enough to keep them restrained unless it was wood of a suitable toughness. The void trees were, without a doubt, special, but they weren''t durable enough in their original condition.


    Growing wood with metal magic might work if the metal mana was of a high enough level, but their only sources of metal magic were Nil at the sixth level and Toz at the fifth level. Even if there was anyone who was at a suitable level, it would take too long to make the wooden constraints.


    Toz and the others didn''t bury Dristel and Stris in the wood because of its ability to forcefully constrain them. It was because the void trees, under Taienra''s control, could sap the martial energy out of Dristel and Stris. It required their cooperation or for them to be unconscious, butpared to dying, it was a lot easier to live without martial energy for a little while.


    Without Toz''s sword and having to control it, Taienra wouldn''t have been able to drain Dristel and Stris of their martial energy. That discoveryforted Taienra in her choice to ept the forest on her back. And she looked forward to making more discoveries regarding what the trees were capable of doing.


    With Dristel and Stris tucked in, Taienra headed to Pirate Haven. The n was only half-finished, and everyone was beginning to look forward to the end result where Toz ruled over Pirate Haven. At least Toz and the cats were eager about that. The Bunglehoppers were worried about the city and, more specifically, their treasury. Joan and Joshua were worried about Tasha, who had stayed and defended Pirate Haven against the Starsling Navy.


    Joan had been too scared to approach Red Hook to ask about Tasha after Toz and Asilean teleported her and the other two pirate leaders to Taienra. Joshua, on the other hand, was courageous enough to ask Red Hook about Tasha.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Red Hook was unexpectedly helpful when she found out why Joan and Joshua wanted to know. Unfortunately, there wasn''t much she could tell them about him since she herself didn''t know more than Retsy did, despite being Tasha''s direct superior.


    ording to Red Hook, she and Tasha were more in a cooperative rtionship rather than a leader-and-subordinate rtionship. Tasha didn''t tell Red Hook more than she needed to know, and Red Hook didn''t ask for more than that since she was interested in Tasha''s strength, not his personal life or what he did before arriving at Pirate Haven.


    The only reason Tasha even followed Red Hook in the way he did was that it was the easiest way for him to get revenge on the Starsling Kingdom. Without Red Hook''s help, it would have been impossible for him to have improved as quickly as he did or find out that the Blue Lounge League was secretly affiliated with the Starsling Kingdom.


    Red Hook might not have been able to tell Joan or Joshua more than they already knew about Tasha, but she could, at the very least, help them meet each other as soon as things calmed down.


    Joan and Joshua were naturally worried about how it would go for Tasha since he would probably go wild and try to take down as much of the Starsling Kingdom''s navy as possible, even if it meant he had to risk his life to do it. Hopefully, Tasha would realize that a single fleet would be nothing in the eyes of the entire Starsling Kingdom, and if he wanted to take proper revenge on the entire kingdom, he would have to live longer and grow more powerful.


    Joan, who had initially been conflicted about Tasha''s newfound violent tendencies, was slowlying to terms with how much he would have changed. But she still didn''t want Tasha to needlessly risk his life just because he thought she and Joshua were dead.


    Most of the people on Taienra''s back were feeling strong emotions in anticipation of what awaited them back at Pirate Haven. Toz and the cats were worried about Toz''s ambition. The Bunglehoppers were worried about their base and treasury. Joan and Joshua were worried about their husband and father.


    The one exception was Brunswick. Brunswick was forcefully adopted into the group by Toz and the cats because they saw the potential of his inclination. And because he seemed like a nice addition to their rag-tag bunch of drifters. However, to Brunswick, it seemed like they only took him in to use his eyes. The working conditions were a little better than the Blue Lounge, and no one yelled at him if he forgot to put on the sses solely made to hide his eyes. But the pay was a little less regr, and there also seemed to be a few more working hazards connected to hanging out with Toz and the others.


    Brunswick also didn''t feel entitled to the treasure, so he had nothing to worry about in there. And he had never met Tasha before, and he had learned during his time in Pirate Haven that there was nothing more meaningless than worrying about a person you didn''t know.


    Brunswick sat a little off to the side, staring into the Void and contemting his present and future life.


    However, he didn''t reach any conclusions before Taienra had brought them all to Pirate Haven and the devastation that surrounded it.

 Chapter 277 Pirate Meet (20)

    ?None of them knew what to expect except some fighting between the pirates and the Starsling Kingdom''s navy. The half of the fleet that stayed behind to surround and attack Pirate Haven wasrger than the half thatDristel brought with him to chase Toz.


    Dristel brought the ships and members of the fleet that had the greatest hope of being able to catch up to Toz, and since he didn''t know what to expect, he made sure to bring enough forces in case they encountered an ambush. That had, of course, backfired due to Taienra''s attack.


    ording to reason, the majority of the fleet''s ships should have been able to put up an even fight against the pirates of Pirate Haven. And a battle on that scale wouldn''t end as quickly as the chase and showdown between Toz and Dristel.


    However, aside from a few skirmishes and scuffles, Pirate Haven and the Void around it were already peaceful again.


    Taienra''s speed made sure that Toz and the others caught up to the Representative before he and Red Hook could participate in the battle, so the devastation of the Starsling Kingdom''s fleet was all due to the pirates of Pirate Haven. Not a single of the strongest leaders had contributed to the battle, but it had still been an overwhelming victory for Pirate Haven.


    Out of the group of humans and beasts gathered outside the perimeter of wreckage, Red Hook was the only one not noticeably stunned in absolute surprise due to the shocking result of the battle between Pirate Haven and the Starsling Kingdom''s fleet.


    As everyone else regained their bearings, they noticed Red Hook''scking surprise. However, Red Hook answered their curiosity with nothing but a mysterious smirk.


    Before they could press further, the pirates of Pirate Haven and the two surviving big pirate crews noticed the Red Hook''s and the Representative''s return. Taienra''s arrival was impossible to miss, but she didn''t have the same reputation in Pirate Haven, and no one really knew her part in what happened. And the Bunglehoppers were hidden due to Taienra''s size and the trees on her back, so the pirates only cheered for the two pirate leaders'' return.


    The Representative and Red Hooking back alive and well meant that they had won over Stris and Dristel, the enemies of all of Pirate Haven. If they hadn''t won, Pirate Haven''s overwhelming victory wouldn''t have mattered since Dristel, and the half of the fleet that followed him, would be enough to raze the city to the ground. If that wasn''t worthy of celebration, nothing was.


    However, before they could begin partying, they first had to clean up and loot whatever they could from the wrecked ships surrounding the city.


    And Toz and the others wanted to find out what happened to the Starsling Kingdom''s fleet while they were away from the city. Red Hook was already confident she knew most of what had happened, but she also wanted a detailed report.


    Thankfully, her subordinates noticed her arrival, and Avian came to greet her.


    Avian stood on a small boat with his two pitch-nk ravens on either shoulder as he came to pick up Red Hook. Toz realized that it was one of those two ravens which had delivered Red Hook''s agreement to meet and most likely what had alerted them of their arrival at Retsy''s courtyard.


    And now that no one bothered concealing everyst bit of their strength, Toz and Avian noticed that the other had the darkness attribute. After making the realization, Toz realized that Lucy had probably discovered that as soon as he saw the raven drop off the message. However, Toz couldn''t figure out what was running through Lucy''s mind as Lucy simply eyed the two birds and Avian.


    Avian''s thoughts were almost written on his face as he clearly disyed some surprise at finding out that Toz had the darkness attribute. However, Red Hook snatched his attention back by snapping her fingers in front of his eyes.


    Red Hook and Avian turned away and began moving toward the Red Hook Pirate Crew ind. Avian looked like he was about to exin to Red Hook what had happened at Pirate Haven when Joan interrupted him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Wait!"


    Joan sessfully grabbed the attention of Red Hook, Avian, and the others nearby, and she grew nervous due to everyone looking at her. Joan turned toward Avian as she continued. From what she had been told by the others, Avian was Red Hook''s subordinate and worked closely with Tasha. His ck hair, ravens, and dark full-body coat were everything she needed to identify him, even if she had never seen him before.


    "I-is Tasha alright?"


    Avian looked at Red Hook with questioning eyes. Red Hook only nodded and waited for Avian''s answer.


    "Yes."


    Despite the short and curt answer, Joan sighed in relief.


    "Thank you."


    Joan stepped back and was about to head deeper into the forest so that the others could do what they needed without having to worry about two of the three weakest members of their group.


    However, Red Hook caught her eyes before she could turn around.


    "Things are a bit messy right now, but I''ll tell Tasha to go look for you at the Bunglehoppers as soon as possible."


    Avian looked at his leader in surprise before turning to look at Joan, who once again expressed her gratitude.  With a nudge from Red Hook, Avian continued steering the boat toward their ind.


    Red Hook turned around, showing off her back as her blood-red hair glistened in the glow of the stars and burning wreckage. To Joan, it looked incredibly majestic and the perfect image of a stoic but distant rogue pirate who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, drank until sunrise, and charmed everyone around them.


    Joan was so emotional that she didn''t even notice how much she had begun idolizing Red Hook.


    The others also noticed Red Hook''s attempt to look cool and suave. However, unlike Joan, they saw how her attempt failed miserably as she almost stumbled and fell when Avian identally collided against a piece of wreckage drifting through the Void.

 Chapter 278 Pirate Meet (21)

    ?The Representative left at the same time as Red Hook and Avian. Both leaders went back to their ind to get their affairs in order, at least until it was time to settle what couldn''t be done by a single crew. However, things like dividing the assets left by the Blue Lounge League of Pirates would probably be messy and most likely dealt with after the festivities.


    Toz and the others headed straight for the Bunglehopper base and checked to make sure the treasury was intact. Strack attacks from the battle and debris had struck the mansions and the greenhouse, but the treasury itself was more than fine.


    Most of the wreckage was stored away and was probably going to be used in future construction projects of Pirate Haven. Though, it was impossible to tell who had taken what and how much had ended up in the pockets of individuals or specific crews.


    After almost everything was cleaned up and the city had been restored to some degree, the general festivities began. Pirate Haven had suffered many losses at the hands of the Starsling Kingdom''s fleet, despite the overwhelming victory and many pirates lost their lives.


    However, pirates were no strangers to death, and it didn''t stop them from opening secret stashes of alcohol and food. Almost every pirate in Pirate Haven took part in the festivities and celebrations.


    Unfortunately for some, they had a bunch of annoying responsibilities that wouldn''t let them rx and take the necessary amount of days off.


    Toz didn''t mind not joining the party since he was satisfied with only watching every pirate stroll around town and exchanging drinks and shouts of happiness without caring about what crew anyone belonged to or whatever past grudges they had.


    There''s no brother like a brother in arms.


    The fight with the Starsling Kingdom had been short, but it had still nted a seed of unity among the pirates of Pirate Haven, and with the magic of alcohol, that seed sprouted and grew into a sense of camaraderie.


    Things would probably go back to usual as soon as things calmed down and everyone had gotten tired of partying and celebrating. But there was still the possibility of uniting Pirate Haven by using the feelings of friendship blossoming all around Pirate Haven.


    Toz returned his attention to the table in front of him. He had been staring out into the city long enough for the others at the table to consider his actions rude. But after defeating Dristel, not even Red Hook or the Representative minded Toz''s behavior. There wasn''t anything Avian, Metra, or the two hairless individuals behind Red Hook and the Representative could say.


    "You don''t think Tasha needs Stitch''s help, then?"


    The meeting between the Bunglehoppers, the Red Hook Pirate Crew, and the Cult of Nihiltas was to decide how they would divide Pirate Haven in the future and how they would rule it together.


    But Red Hook had taken the opportunity to let Toz, Joan, and Joshua know about how Tasha was doing. ording to her, he was physically fine, but like everyone had found out after returning to Pirate Haven, Tasha was responsible for the overwhelming victory against the Starsling Kingdom''s navy.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Sure, the other pirates had helped, but none of them came close to destroying as many ships or killing as many soldiers as Tasha. After singlehandedly taking down the first lieutenant, Tasha had gone on to tear apart the rest of the fleet.


    ording to those who saw him, Tasha looked like an enraged devil as his light grey hair fluttered without wind, and grey veins stretched from hispletely murky grey eyes. Mana fluttered wildly around Tasha as he went around the Void outside Pirate Haven on a small boat, barelyrger than himself.


    The size of the boat didn''t matter. Tasha only needed something to stand on and protect him against the omnipresent force of the Void. He didn''t even need something to defend against the attacks of the fleet since he took care of that himself.


    Any attack sent Tasha''s way, whether it be magic or aura, was torn apart and destroyed before it could even approach within several meters of him. He didn''t even turn around and look at the attacksing from behind him.


    Tasha didn''t only defend. As soon as he got close enough, the ships and crewmembers of the fleet met the same end as the attacks. The ships splintered and got torn apart like a napkin in the hands of a toddler. Tasha kept tearing the ship apart until it was practically nothing more than wooden chips left. He left the soldiers stranded in the Void without protection, but he didn''t leave them alone, and Tasha gave them the same treatment as the ships.


    The debris left behind in the wake of Tasha''s destruction was gathered and stored under the categorization of blood-soaked sawdust and bone dust.


    However, as soon as thest navy ship got destroyed, Tasha copsed and lost consciousness. His endless rage didn''t have a target anymore, and without his wrath fueling his magic, Tasha''s body couldn''t hold out anymore. Tasha fell down on his tiny wooden boat with bloody tears streaking down his cheeks.


    Avian and Teddy brought him back to Red Hook Pirate Crew''s ind, where he had since slept without waking up or stirring for even a moment.


    Tasha hadn''t gotten injured. He had just overexerted himself beyond reason, just like Joshua did while reinforcing the ind''s protective bubble. Unreasonable passion seemed to run in the family.


    Red Hook insisted that Tasha was fine and would let Joan and Joshua visit as soon as he woke up, but she was a little hesitant to bring a defenseless mother and her child to a den of wild pirates. And any trustworthy protection would be too strong and would be able to detect a bunch of stuff outsiders weren''t supposed to know.


    Joan and Joshua didn''t stubbornly insist on meeting Tasha since it would cause trouble to Red Hook, who had disyed such a well-meaning attitude.


    After rejecting Toz''s offer, Red Hook wanted to get back to business.

 Chapter 279 Pirate Meet (22)

    ?Toz, Wulf, Red Hook, and the Representative sat around a round table outside the greenhouse at the Bunglehopper base.  Each of them had one or two followers standing behind them. Wulf had Hayar and Stitches. Avian and Metra stood behind Red Hook. Toz didn''t know their names, but two cultists stood behind the Representative.


    Since Toz didn''t have a lot of actual human followers, he only had Brunswick standing behind him. But that was enough to show he acted independently from Wulf and the Bunglehoppers. Toz had mostly done stuff alongside the Bunglehoppers ever since he arrived at Pirate Haven. It was inevitable, considering his rtionship with Hods and Stitches, but it wouldn''t work if he wanted to achieve his goal of traveling to Pirate Haven.


    For Red Hook and the Representative to ept his position as King of Pirates, they had to be sure they wouldn''t suffer from unfair treatment due to Toz''s closeness to the Bunglehoppers.


    Wulf waited for Toz to bring up his objective of holding the meeting anding to Pirate Haven, so he wasn''t saying anything, and neither was the Representative, who wasn''t talkative unless it concerned the Void or Nihiltas. And Toz waited for a suitable opportunity since it wouldn''t be easy convincing the two crew leaders to support him in bing the Pirate King, so Red Hook was the only one who talked.


    Red Hook didn''t mind taking the initiative since it allowed her to propose things that suited her and her crew. However, she was gradually growing frustrated due to the reactions of the others. None of them seemed interested in whatever suggestion she came up with and shared with them.


    The Representative t-out refused anything that wasn''t unfairly beneficial to him, and Wulf and Toz used half-hearted excuses to reject her suggestions. Eventually, Red Hook couldn''t take it anymore.


    "What do you want, you stubborn bastards?! You''re like a bunch of children, expecting me to solve everything without doing anything yourselves! Is this a meeting or a y where you are acting as brick walls?!"


    The Representative was as nonchnt as ever and practically ignored Red Hook''s outburst. Wulf avoided Red Hook''s gaze awkwardly since he was only following Toz''s lead and couldn''t refute what she said.


    Toz let Red Hook take a deep breath and sit back down to calm herself slightly before he said anything.


    "I know what I want, but I don''t think you''ll agree to it."


    Red Hook looked at Toz and sighed.


    "Whatever. Just let me hear it."


    "I want to be the Pirate King of Pirate Haven."


    "..."


    Red Hook stared nkly at Toz. His words even managed to surprise the Representative enough to make him look up.


    Red Hook didn''t address Toz the next time she spoke. She looked at Wulf and noticed hisck of surprise.


    "You knew? Are you lot in on this together? Is that why we''re having the meeting here? So you can use force to try and convince us? I agreed for Tasha and his family''s sake, but if this is how you''re going to y it, don''t me me if things go sideways."


    Red Hook was about to stand up and leave.


    "I think you''ve misunderstood something here. We''re not meeting here for our sake. It''s in consideration of you."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Red Hook was confused at Toz''s words and involuntarily looked at him.


    "What the fuck are you on about?"


    "Would you be able to go all out if we fought at one of your inds or somece else, like Retsy''s or something? Here you don''t have to worry about destroying your property or businesses. On the other hand, Wulf and I have to worry and limit the damage if we fight here."


    "So you willingly gave us the advantage so you could try and convince us with your words instead of letting a fight break out?"


    "Is that what it sounded like I meant? I wanted to convey that even with that handicap, I''m confident I''lle out victorious. However, I can''t guarantee your survival."


    Red Hook and her followers looked slightly shocked but mostly angry at Toz''s words.


    Red Hook said through gritted teeth,


    "Wanna put that to the test?"


    Avian''s birds returned from flying around the city, and the mana around all three pirates from the Red Hook Pirate Crew stirred. All three of them were a fly buzzing too close to them from exploding and attacking Toz.


    Toz was still seated as he looked at Red Hook for a second before making his move.


    Red Hook''s eyes grew vacant as if she was lost in a daydream. Her mana, which was on the verge of boiling over, cooled down. Her tightly clenched jaw rxed.


    Avian and Metra noticed the abrupt change in Red Hook, but before they could catch herpletely ck body, Toz moved.


    With a barely noticeable sh of light, Toz blinked past Red Hook and her two subordinates. In the same movement, he also pulled out his sword.


    Avian and Metra barely had time to react before Toz was behind them with a sword pointing at Avian and a ball of fire ready to set Metra on fire.


    Before anyone could do anything further, Red Hook straightened her body which had been about to fall. She instinctively turned to look at where Toz had been seated before she sensed the situation and turned around to see Toz hold her two subordinates'' lives hostage.


    Red Hook had been slightly slower than Dristel in breaking free from Toz''s spell, but it still hadn''t been more than a few moments. Yet those few moments had been enough for Toz to surprise attack and overwhelm her two subordinates.


    Red Hook could only sigh and admit defeat. It was obvious Toz didn''t want to kill them, but he would do it if he had to. If it weren''t for Toz needing Red Hook to control her crew, he could have easily slit her throat during the few moments she was trapped in the infinite darkness.

 Chapter 280 Pirate Meet (23)

    ?Avian and Metra were frustrated that Toz used them as hostages to persuade Red Hook, but just like her, they quickly realized that their presence didn''t affect the oue, only the process. If they hadn''t been there, Toz could have just as easily put his sword against Red Hook.


    Red Hook and the Representative knew Toz defeated Dristel. They had also sensed that Dristel was stronger than them, but they didn''t think Toz would be able to beat them so quickly, considering he almost died in his battle against Dristel. And unless Toz attacked first, he probably wouldn''t have an easy time defeating them, but they didn''t know that since they hadn''t seen anything of his fight with Dristel.


    If Red Hook and the Representative had teamed up and ambushed him, the battle wouldn''t have ended after a single exchange. But now that Toz had already defeated Red Hook by taking her subordinates hostage, it was toote. Toz had already proved his strength and prowess enough for Red Hook to ept her defeat and listen to what Toz wanted.


    Having already been defeated once by Toz also made it difficult for her to refute his wish. If he really wanted to go through with bing Pirate King and didn''t care about the hassle, there wasn''t anything stopping him from assassinating those who stood in his way.


    Toz wasn''t very interested in the material benefits of being Pirate King, and that''s what he led with, not that there was much to say. Toz was only interested in being the Pirate King for the sake of being it. He would naturally take a share of whatever treasures and stuff as long as it was reasonable during his stay in Pirate Haven.


    However, Toz wouldn''ty a personal im to a specific area of the city. He would let the other three divide it for themselves.


    Looking only at the benefits, it wasn''t a bad deal for Red Hook and her crew. Like Toz had intended, she noticed how Toz had intentionally taken a separate position from Wulf and the Bunglehoppers during this meeting. With Toz''s strength, he was more than qualified to upy a fourth of the city by himself.


    But instead of dividing the city into four, they could split Pirate Haven into three parts, and Toz would mostly be like a figurehead for the city.


    The gains of having a third of the city instead of a fourth of it more than made up for Toz asionally grabbing what he wanted.


    If it had been before, Red Hook would have never agreed to be in an officially lower position than Toz. In her heart, it still didn''t make sense that a fifth level mage was stronger than her, but her brain knew it was true, and she could make a rational decision thanks to it.


    Red Hook still didn''t like it, but as a pirate, she was more concerned with benefits rather than her ego. And when Toz said he would happily prove anyone who doubted him that they were wrong, Red Hook agreed to support Toz in bing the Pirate King. However, Toz could only rely on himself to maintain that position.


    Red Hook smirked a little when they finished their deal. None of them had mentioned anything about the leaders who supported Toz in bing Pirate King being prohibited from seizing the position for themselves.


    Though by the time Red Hook would be confident enough to attempt a coup, such an agreement probably wouldn''t matter much. It would have been different if they had used a notary or someone specialized in contracts to make a binding agreement. However, people with such skills and abilities weren''t suited to be pirates, so Toz and Red Hook only had each other''s word.


    Only the Representative remained after Red Hook agreed since Wulf and the Bunglehoppers already supported Toz.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The Representative had only spectated everything that had gone on so far, and it didn''t seem like he would be the first to say anything. Toz didn''t mind since he was already nning on settling previous business with the Representative.


    "Things didn''t quite go ording to n, but I say you still owe me a spell."


    "I guess I can understand your point of view. Do you mean to trade in that debt for my support?"


    "Not at all. That''s a separate matter. Hand over the spell, and then we''ll talk business."


    None of the cultists showed any expression, but Toz could sense a building frustration at being ordered to hand over a spell exclusive to the cult to an outsider.


    "What? It''s not like I even need to convince you to support me. As things are currently, I''ll be Pirate King with or without your support. The only things that will change are how messy the city''s going to be afterward. And what the first item on my agenda''s going to be."


    Toz thought that the Representative really should practice his poker face since anyone could see his eyebrow twitch like a stranded fish.


    "Is that a threat?"


    Toz responded to the words the Representative squeezed out through gritted teeth.


    "Only if you feel threatened by it. I don''t make agreements with people who can''t be trusted, and until you hand over that book, you won''t be trusted enough to be part of my Pirate Haven."


    Toz could tell how his words further angered the Representative, but his followers maintained their calm, so it was obvious he was better at preaching than following. Toz wondered if maybe he should rece the Representative with someone more focused on the teachings of the cult instead of worldly affairs and greed.


    The Representative felt a chill run down his spine as Toz looked at him with scrutinizing eyes. The chill snapped him out of his anger, and the Representative realized that Toz had the strength to back up his words.


    The Representative was confident he could defeat Red Hook and Wulf even if they worked together. But he wouldn''t be able to overwhelm Red Hook as Toz had done. And if all three of them worked together, the Representative felt like it would only be a matter of time until he lost either the fight or his life.

 Chapter 281 Pirate Meet (24)

    ?The Representative realized that the other three had no real reason to keep him around. Unlike the Bunglehoppers and the Red Hook Pirate Crew, the Cult of Nihiltas didn''t dedicate themselves to their leader based on feelings of loyalty and camaraderie. The Representative was what his title said he was, a representative of the Void and the Cult. There was nothing that tied the cultists to the Representative. However, the Representative was nothing without the Cult. It probably wouldn''t be difficult for Toz and the others to kill and rece him with someone more willing to fall in line.


    The Representative erased his frown and reced it with a smile as he took out a grimoire from his robes.


    "Here is the grimoire I promised you. With you being one of the Void, it is our honor to support you in bing the Pirate King. Your prestige is the prestige of the Void."


    Toz looked at the grimoirebeled Dissolution and confirmed its authenticity before looking at the Representative again.


    "Pleasure doing business with you."


    Everyone''s support guaranteed that Toz would be the official king of Pirate Haven. However, their meeting wasn''t over yet. There were still a bunch of details and issues to figure out.


    For simplicity''s sake, the Bunglehoppers would take over the Blue Lounge Ind and the majority of their businesses in the city. Since the Blue Lounge was thergest pirate crew in terms of members and area controlled, the Red Hook Pirate Crew and the Cult of Nihiltas would take over some of it instead of handing over everything to the Bunglehoppers.


    Wulf was a little dissatisfied at having to give up profit that would help him pay off the debt of his treasury, but he also realized he and his crew weren''t equipped to handle such arge part of the city by themselves. Even if they hired a bunch of smaller and weaker crews to work for them, they didn''t have enough resources to oversee everything, and they would likely lose more than they gained.


    However, Toz was pretty sure Wulf only appeared to be unsatisfied with the distribution to hide how happy he was about the ind he and the Bunglehoppers got.


    One of the main reasons people looked down on the Bunglehoppers was that they didn''t have their own ind, but that wasn''t why Wulf was happy. Their treasury was stuffed inside the city, and while it had a bunch of defensive measures to protect it and its contents, the treasury would naturally be a lot safer if it was put inside the ind.


    The only problem was that it would take a lot of resources to move the treasury to the ind. It had taken all of the Bunglehoppers'' and then some to build it, and Wulf had no way to estimate what it would take to uproot it and then put it on the ind instead.


    With the major details like business and area distribution settled, there wasn''t much left for Toz and the others to do other than n a new Pirate Meet where they could announce the results of their efforts and discussions to the general public. It would also serve as an opportunity for Toz to disy his power to everyone who doubted him.


    The only ones who had seen how strong Toz was were the strongest of the strong in Pirate Haven. While their words held a lot of sway, pirates weren''t generally people who listened to the words of others.


    The second Pirate Meet would also be an opportunity for the pirates to unite.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    No matter what Toz said or did, despite being the Pirate King, he wouldn''t be able to establish a proper and orderly kingdom of pirates. But, he would at least be able to dissuade the pirates from fighting each other andpeting with one another all the time.


    During ordinary times, such an attempt would probably be futile and meaningless. However, the Starsling Kingdom''s attack and attempt to take over Pirate Haven and enve all the pirates was proof that Pirate Haven was vulnerable.


    That vulnerability stemmed from the chaos and discord of Pirate Haven, which allowed Stris to build up the Blue Lounge League and cooperate with his brother to almostpletely take down Pirate Haven.


    Toz had no ns of infringing on the nature and activities that defined pirates or preventing smaller crews from growing. But in a haven for pirates, only pirates should seed. And if the pirates of Pirate Haven worked together in some manner, it would be a lot harder for someone to infiltrate and only pretend to be a pirate.


    It probably wouldn''t mean much, but it would hopefully prevent another Stris from appearing.


    However, Toz didn''t want the pirates to have a sense of unity only to prevent another infiltration mission. It was also because they would need it in order to prepare for the ramifications of defeating the Starsling Kingdom''s navy.


    Considering the Starsling Kingdom''s arrogant attitude and the way they looked down on the pirates, Toz would be surprised if they could withstand the slight of having their fleet demolished by the very same pirates they tried to enve.


    And if what Dristel had said was true, that the other kingdoms were in on it, it wouldn''t be strange for them to help the Starsling Kingdom in taking down Pirate Haven.


    One of the fleets of the Starsling Kingdom would have been enough to conquer Pirate Haven if Toz hadn''t been there.


    If another one of the Starsling Kingdom''s fleet came, and it was supported by the fleet of some other kingdom, Toz wasn''t sure that Pirate Haven wouldst.


    However, the reason the kingdoms gave for wanting to subjugate Pirate Haven was that they needed morebat strength due to the ongoing war with the demon realm.


    Toz hoped the kingdoms would be smart enough to realize that failing to take down Pirate Haven would only lead to more losses on their side and would eventually weaken the human realm''s standing in the war even further.


    If there hadn''t been a realm war going on with the demon realm, the situation would have been very different, and Toz wouldn''t have ended up in the Void. But now that he was the King of Pirate Haven, he would do his best to make sure he and his city don''t lose to anyone, whether it be humans or demons.

 Chapter 282 Pirate Meet (25)

    ?The ind specifically set up for the original Pirate Meet was a little roughed up and damaged during the battle between the pirates and the Starsling Kingdom''s fleet. But it was mostly superficial damage, and the ind was quickly restored and prepared for another Pirate meet.


    Themotion of repairing the Pirate Meet ind was enough to alert everyone in the city of the uing second Pirate Meet. However, no one knew what the Pirate Meet would be about or why it was held. Most people guessed it would be about the aftermath of the Blue Lounge League of Pirates'' disbandment and what would happen to the city.


    They weren''t wrong, and most people guessed correctly that the Bunglehoppers would take their ce.


    However, Toz bing the Pirate King came as a surprise to almost everyone in the city.


    The leaders and the most loyal followers of the Red Hook Pirate Crew, the Cult of Nihiltas, and the Bunglehoppers were on top of the stage to show their faces while another unaffiliated pirate announced everything. Toz and Brunswick stood next to them, and while several people took note of those two and wondered about their identity, those who cared enough to guess just thought they were new members of one of the crews or something like that.


    So when the announcer told everyone that Pirate Haven would celebrate their new Pirate King and Toz stepped forward, the ind devolved into chaos.


    However, the moring pirates quickly shut up when Wulf stepped forward and cleaved through the air right above everyone''s heads with arge phantom axe made of aura.


    Only a few people in Pirate Haven knew who Toz was, which wasn''t weird since he had only recently arrived. He didn''t exactly have a flourishing reputation supporting him, and he expected the reaction, but that didn''t mean he would tolerate it.


    Wulf had stepped in to silence everyone, and Toz appreciated the gesture, but it also made it look like he couldn''t handle it himself. Wulf only realized it after Hayar smacked the back of his head.


    Toz looked at the pirates, who would have objected to him bing the Pirate King if it wasn''t because of the three pirate leaders and their followers behind him.


    "If you have any objections or if you consider yourselves capable of defeating me, say so, and I''ll prove you wrong."


    Toz''s words were met with confused silence by the pirates. A few of them looked like they were considering whether or not to test Toz. However, there was one pirate more eager to fight with Toz than any other pirate.


    The burly pirate pushed himself to the front of the crowd while shouting.


    "Don''t think I''ve forgotten you for a second, you bastard. I hope you''re ready for what''sing. I won''t let you off easy now that I''ve broken through."


    Toz looked at the burly pirate in confusion. The pirate hadn''t forgotten him, but he had forgotten the pirate, so he wasn''t sure how to respond.


    However, Toz wouldn''t reject the challenge just because he couldn''t remember his opponent or what grudge they had against him, so he invited the pirate onto the stage.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The stage wasn''t quite big enough to make a proper dueling arena, but it wasrge enough for a fight between two long-distance mages, and it would be more than enough for any challenge Toz fought.


    "Cark, leader of the Sanguine de and a seventh level fighter, has challenged the newly enthroned Pirate King, Toz, a fifth level mage."


    The announcer''s voice helped everyone understand what was going on. However, the announcer''s words spread more confusion than they answered questions.


    Due to the variety and possibilities of inclinations, the levels of power of mages and fighters were more like guidelines rather than strict measurements of actualbat strength. A third level sword wielder could defeat a seventh level alchemist in directbat, depending on the circumstances of the individuals and their inclinations. However, the opposite could also happen if the alchemist was proficient in creating potions or items suited for battle that countered the sword wielder.


    Due to the unpredictability ofbat, it was impossible to determine thebat ability and strength of individuals in an urate manner. But since the levels of power were something everything and everyone had to follow as they grew stronger, it was the easiest and simplest way to determine strength universally.


    While it happened that there was arge discrepancy in the levels of two fighters where the one with the lowest level won, it was still pretty rare, so a lot of people trusted in the strength of the designated level when they didn''t know anything else.


    The reason why everyone on the Pirate Meet ind was shocked was that Toz, as a fifth level mage, had somehow garnered the support of two mages at the ninth level and one fighter at the eighth level.


    Using wealth and connections to acquire that support would have been possible if they lived in a civilized society, but Pirate Haven was a ce where anything could be done with force if money didn''t aplish it. And the three pirate leaders weren''t people who could be bought with money. A few people looked at Wulf and decided that one of them could be bought, but it wouldn''t be enough to convince only Wulf since he was the weakest of the three pirate leaders.


    However, it still didn''t make sense that a fifth level mage convinced the three pirate leaders using force.


    It happened that people crossed divisions to beat opponents when their matchup was good, but it was extremely rare that someone was just better than everyone else, no matter the level of power. Counters and bad matchups were natural and could ovee the gap between different divisions and the difference in the quality of mana.


    A being at a higher level was more resistant to the attacks of someone at a lower level due to the innate difference in the mana quality between levels and divisions. That was an inescapable fact, no matter what kind of inclination one had. Even Toz couldn''t ovee the difference in mana quality between medium or high level mana, no matter how many elements he had or how many times he refined it. However, he coulde infinitely close, and make up for the difference using the quantity as well as his control over mana.


    The pirates slowly began to realize that Toz was special in some way for him to crown himself Pirate King and so confidently stand on the stage and face every pirate of Pirate Haven.


    Needless to say, the pirates were beginning to look forward to the confrontation between Toz and Cark after their shock faded.


    The spectators weren''t the only ones eager for the fight. Cark was as well. He had trained hard and pushed himself to the limit to try and seek revenge. He could only hope his efforts weren''t toote.


    Toz was still looking at Cark, trying to figure out who he was. Cark noticed Toz''s rxed attitude, and he remembered theirst encounter. A chill ran down his spine, but his anger far outweighed the shakes he got each time he looked at Toz''s feline eyes.

 Chapter 283 Pirate Meet (26)

    ?Cark shook his head to clear it of the images of when Toz smacked him into the ground right after doing the same with his brother. He convinced himself the oue would be different now that he had broken through to the seventh level.


    However, Cark struggled to keep his calm as Toz looked as calm as ever, just like he had done when Cark tried to seek retribution for his brother that Toz sent crashing into the ground just because he tried to pick a pocket.


    After convincing himself that he was going to win and beat Toz until his face was no longer recognizable, Cark summoned his weapon. The handle was attached to a square de barely longer than his forearm. The thick de''s only edge ended with a curved tip that would tear Cark''s victims apart.


    Toz hadn''t seen such a weapon before, but he still didn''t know who Cark was, and it was only a weapon, so it didn''t matter.


    Cark had jumped up on the stage at an appropriate distance from Toz. While he wanted to use every dirty trick in the book to defeat Toz, he wasn''t shameless enough to do that on top of the stage and in front of a crowd.


    He was a fighter at the seventh level, and like any high level fighter, he could control aura not directly connected to him or his weapon. However, Cark was still more used to fighting at close range and directly with his weapon since his younger years of cking off during training had left him with martial energy that wasn''t particrly outstanding.


    Cark''s martial energy wasn''t below average, but it also wasn''t something Cark felt was boastworthy. He could only me his past,zy and indulgent self before moving on and concentrating on the opponent in front of him.


    Cark held his cleaver like a butcher and had his other arm next to his body as he swung downward, unleashing an aura strike straight at Toz.


    The burst of aura cleaved down through the air, vaguely resembling Cark''s weapon in shape.


    No one had rung a bell or officially started the match, and some thought that Cark used a headstart. But they were still pirates, and no one cared about it.


    Not even Toz, who had been busy trying to remember Cark, thought much of it, and he sidestepped the sh with overwhelming ease. Compared to Dristel''s strikes, which threatened to tear Toz''s skin off, Cark''s cleave was like a gentle spring breeze.


    Toz didn''t immediately end the fight for two reasons. He wanted to remember who Cark was first. And if he defeated Cark without anyone noticing how he did it, people wouldn''t ept his reign as easily. The truth would get out sooner orter as long as Toz continued demonstrating his strength, but he wanted it over with as quickly as possible so he could get back to the more important things.


    Carl looked a little frustrated and embarrassed that his surprise attack failed, but he didn''t let it stop him as he sent another simr attack, this time slightly diagonal.


    Toz dodged the first attack mostly due to reflex since he wanted to see if the attack could make him remember where he had met Cark. However, he didn''t mother moving anything other than his arm and mana when the second attack came.


    Toz covered his hand in ayer of void metal as he met the aura sh with his palm.


    The sh left behind a gust of wind that barely ruffled Toz''s hair before dissipating.


    Cark and the spectators were stunned at the sight of Toz blocking Cark''s strike without even flinching. There weren''t even any signs of Cark attacking Toz since there wasn''t a single scratch on the metal that covered his hand.


    However, when people saw the metal, they didn''t think it waspletely unreasonable that Toz was unharmed by the attack of a fighter two levels above him.


    Toz looked at his hand before getting rid of the metal. He turned to Cark.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Again."


    Cark felt various emotions after his strike proved its uselessness against Toz and at Toz''s arrogant attitude. He was beginning to realize that it wouldn''t be easy to defeat Toz just because he had broken through to the seventh level.


    But Cark wasn''t going to let his emotions interfere with his battle, and heunched another strike. And not because Toz told him to.


    Cark held his cleaver horizontally as he stretched backward. He swung it and unleashed a horizontal sh in the height of Toz''s midsection.


    Toz looked at the iing aura strike with calm eyes as he lifted his hand and met the strike with his palm again.


    The strike didn''t immediately dissipate as it had done thest time. It instead dug into the skin of Toz''s palm. Or it tried to, but it didn''t reach far before Toz closed his hand into a fist, and the aura copsed.


    Toz almost scoffed at how weak the aura was. It was obvious Cark hadn''t honed his martial energy or aura control and instead focused on breaking through to the next level. It was the opposite of what Toz prioritized during training. Granted, Toz experienced greater benefits due to his multiple elements, but every mage and fighter gained by taking it slow and strengthening their foundation.


    Reaching the seventh level with as weak martial energy as Cark had was a feat in and of itself, and if he had put more effort into training, he might have reached Wulf''s toes when he broke through to the eighth level.


    However, Cark had fucked up with his training, and it would take a lot of time to try and rectify it.


    Toz didn''t see a reason to continue the fight.


    He held up his intact and bare hand and showed the palm to the spectators to show Cark''s attack was useless even without him using magic.


    Toz''s hand hadn''t left the confrontation with Cark''s aura strikepletely intact, but by the time he opened his fist, the wound had recovered, and any blood had been burned away with fire magic.


    Red Hook was the only one who noticed Toz began bleeding due to her inclination, but she also noticed how quickly he stopped bleeding. She suppressed her surprise. It seemed like Toz only had more to reveal each time he showed some of his strength. She already knew how strong his body and magic were due to their previous encounters. And now it turned out he also regenerated incredibly quickly.


    Red Hook was forced to take a step back and try to analyze why Toz was so strong since she couldn''t figure it out. She only realized it when she looked at the cats who were sitting not far away and spectating the fight with some snacks.


    She hadn''t thought much of it since the cats hadn''t done much in her presence, but one of her subordinates was a beast mage, so she quickly pieced it together.


    Toz''s strength could be somewhat exined if she used the five cats as a reason. But she still found it difficult to believe that Toz had somehow encountered five beasts suitable for his inclination, each of them with different elements.


    Red Hook noticed the cats noticed her staring, and she turned back to the fight, still lost in thought.

 Chapter 284 Pirate Meet (27)

    ?After getting rid of Cark''s attack with his bare hand, Toz walked up to Cark. Cark was too stunned and overwhelmed with hopelessness at Toz''s might, so Toz didn''t even have to use magic to close the gap between them.


    Cark also realized he didn''t stand a chance against Toz and lowered his arms to ept his fate.


    Toz pped Cark off the stage, marking the end of the first challenge to his reign.


    Toz''s eyes lit up in recognition as he remembered the sensation of striking Cark. he finally realized who he was. However, Cark was already lying unconscious on the ground off the stage, so it didn''t matter. It just provided some closure to Toz.


    Toz looked at the crowd of wide-eyed pirates. He had intentionally held back so that everyone could see how much he outssed Cark and that someone needed to be able to do the same in order to challenge him. And the only ones capable of something simr were already on the stage, on the other side of Toz.


    However, the three pirate leaders had no intention of challenging Toz. It was one thing to be defeated in private. But getting overpowered by Toz in public and in front of a crowd would drastically lower their prestige.


    Pirates weren''t necessarily too concerned about their reputation, but getting defeated by a fifth level mage in front of the entirety of Pirate Haven was bound to affect their business and operations, whether they cared about their reputation or not.


    After confirming that there were no more challenges, Toz decided to drop a few words about how the other kingdoms might try and take revenge for what happened to the Starsling Kingdom''s navy as soon as they heard what happened.


    The pirates didn''t exactly see it as a surprise since they understood grudges and taking revenge better than most. Toz''s words sounded troubling, but since he promised he wouldn''t abandon Pirate Haven now that he was their king, people prepared instead of panicking.


    After making everyone ept him as Pirate King and saying what he wanted, Toz disappeared.


    Abination of space, void, shadow, and lightning magic made Toz vanish from everyone''s sight before they noticed. Red Hook turned to look and saw that the cats were also gone.


    After Toz disappeared, the pirate leaders wrapped the Pirate Meet up and encouraged the pirates toy low and prepare for an uing war with either the human kingdoms or the demon realm.


    The pirates weren''t ready for a war with the demon realm, but the announcerforted them by saying that it would happen on their terms and after they settled things with the human kingdoms. Toz''s reasoning that the pirates would be doomed along the human realm if the humans lost the war seemed to convince a lot of the pirates that fighting against the demons wasn''t so bad.


    What convinced most pirates, though, was the promise of looting the demons who had repeatedly defeated the humans. If the humans lost in their fights against the demons, they would inevitably leave behind a bunch of treasures, weapons, items, and whatever else was useful in a war.


    If the pirates joined the fight and helped push back the demons, a lot of those things would end up in the pirates'' pockets.


    Since the war wasrge enough to involve the two realms of humans and demons, the treasures and items probably weren''t something that the pirates could pick up by looting refugees and merchants, no matter how long they worked.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Pirates usually weren''t the most hardworking and diligent individuals in matters other than robbing, stealing, looting, and general piracy. However, the promise of treasures beyond what they had seen before encouraged most pirates to train and hone their skills.


    No one knew how far away or how long it would be until they had to fight, but the sooner they started training, the stronger they would get and the more loot they would be able to pick up.


    After ending the second Pirate Meet with a party to celebrate the victory over the Starsling Kingdom''s navy and the election of a new Pirate King, Pirate Haven buzzed with activity.


    The pirates and crews cooperated toplete trades and deals to help other pirates train and grow their strength. Resources and assets that were hidden away to prevent other pirates from growing and oveingpetition were exchanged.


    The pirates brought out manuals, grimoires, treasures, and weapons that helped everyone grow stronger.


    The Bunglehopper exchanged much of the loot in their treasury for things that helped everyone grow stronger. Wulf got a couple of great axes he could use to reinforce and strengthen his inclination. Hayar got several poisonous objects to increase the toxicity of her poison mist. Stitches and the other Bunglehoppers also got items to help them raise their strength.


    Aside from Tasha still not waking up, things were looking great for the pirates of Pirate Haven. Even Red Hook was satisfied with what was happening, and her previous annoyance at Toz bing the Pirate King was gone like the wind.


    However, what made Red Hook the happiest was the weapon she traded from the Bunglehoppers. In exchange for a great axe and a couple of poisonous fruits and objects, Red Hook got the Hidden Blood Dagger.


    The Bunglehoppers had no use for it, but after Red Hook saw it during one of the Bunglehoppers'' demonstrations of their inventory, she didn''t want anything else.


    Wulf had only quickly revealed the dagger hidden within a sword since he and the others still didn''t feelfortable in its presence. But while the others felt difort, Red Hook only felt drawn to it.


    Brunswick was there to confirm the goods and trades, and he confirmed that the red air only he could see didn''t have any intent to harm Red Hook. It actually looked like the red misty air was integrating with Red Hook. Unfortunately, Brunswick''s eyes couldn''t see more than that, and he was forced to close them due to the stinging pain that appeared whenever he looked at something he couldn''t figure out.


    Brunswick wasn''t too affected by the zing atmosphere of motivation and fighting spirit filling Pirate Haven since he wasn''t abatant, but he still wanted to improve and be stronger. He had more recently begun thinking that he could only control his fate, which had alwaysin in the hands of others if he had sufficient strength.


    He wasn''t too motivated since he knew that no matter how much he grew, he wouldn''t be stronger than those around him, especially not Toz. But being less weak was better than beingpletely useless. What had just happened with Red Hook and the Hidden Blood Dagger was proof that his eyes, his only useful trait, were falling behind his surroundings.


    It was a wonder he could even see what he saw at his current level, but it would only take him so far, and if he couldn''t keep up with Toz and the others, who knew when he would be dumped and left behind or outright killed.


    Brunswick sighed before picking up the trinkets he couldn''t decipher in order to train his mana ording to what suited his inclination.

 Chapter 285 Reunion (1)

    ?Joan and Joshua''s worries built without end as Tasha still showed no signs of waking up. Joshua was on the verge of asking Lucy and the other cats, maybe even Toz, for help since Red Hook still didn''t want Stitches to check up on him.


    Brunswick confirmed that Red Hook was telling the truth, but he was a lot weaker than her, and he couldn''t tell if she had been lied to by whoever was in charge of taking care of Tasha''s health.


    Joshua and Lucy had suggested asking Toz to step in to Joan a couple of times since Joshua didn''t want to do anything like that without his mother''s approval. However, Joan rejected that idea each time. She chose to trust in Red Hook. And asking Toz for help, while it might not put Toz in much trouble, could interfere with Tasha''s rtionship with the Red Hook Pirate Crew.


    It could also interfere with the rtively harmonious atmosphere of Pirate Haven if Toz and the Red Hook Pirate Crew began fighting.


    But Joan wasn''t just sitting on her hands and looking at the stars. She repeatedly sent letters to Red Hook, vaguely hinting about Joshua''s impatience and how a child, who''s missing their father, might ask a certain person they look up to for help.


    Red Hook scratched her head in frustration since there really wasn''t much she could do.


    Tasha slept as soundly as a teenager in his room, but it was impossible to approach him or move him due to the fluctuations of destructive magic surrounding him.


    Several pirates had already died due to Tasha''s passive magic, and Red Hook didn''t want to expose Joan and her child to the sight of Tasha since they would, without a doubt, want to touch him or at least go close to him.


    Showing a healthy Tasha but locked behind a door naturally wouldn''t do much good for Joan and Joshua.


    And it was toote to tell them about how Tasha surrounded himself with destructive magic in his sleep. Since she had said he was fine but asleep and stuck to it, Red Hook couldn''t just change her story without reason. Her only hope was that Tasha would manage to pull himself out of whatever kept him asleep.


    Based on what Joan had told her about what happened, Red Hook could guess that Tasha was hiding from reality by willingly staying in aa where he could dream of his family as much as he wanted.


    Red Hook knew from Avian that a skilled darkness mage could interfere with an opponent''s mind, and if she had to guess, Toz or his cat was probably skilled enough to do that. However, there was no guarantee that they would be able to help Tasha since the way darkness magic worked with minds was pretty limited. Moreover, if it didn''t work, she would have invited Toz into the ce where she hid her greatest trump card.


    Ordinary pirates might not sense it, and she wasn''t worried about her subordinates since they were loyal to her or trustworthy enough to let them know, like Tasha. But Toz would be able to pick it up as soon as he stepped foot on the ind, and Red Hook didn''t trust Toz enough to sleep safely at night if he knew about it.


    Red Hook wrote back to Joan, asking for her understanding, patience, and trust before going down to take a look at her trump card tofort herself. She could look at it for hours on end, but she usually forced herself out of her daze in order to train her mana.


    However, before Red Hook could begin training, she was interrupted by a subordinate.


    After going down to where she stored her trump card, the pirates of the Red Hook Pirate Crew only disturbed her if there was something only she could do or if she had to be present for something like the Pirate Meet.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Since Red Hook had just read a letter from Joan with vague threats about Toz interfering with Tasha''s situation, Red Hook feared the worst and dashed up the stairs to the surface of the ind.


    Red Hook was slightly surprised when Teddy greeted her with happiness in his eyes since it was the opposite of what she expected.


    Teddy was the one who had gotten closest to Tasha and had taken it upon himself to keep watch over Tasha as he slept. If he had willingly gone to Red Hook when she was busy in her private room and with a happy expression, it could only mean one thing.


    "He''s awake?"


    "No!"


    Red Hook was stumped when Teddy answered her question with a rare smile and denial of what she thought was the reason for his interruption.


    Teddy btedly noticed that Red Hook was quickly moving on from being stumped to being irritated by Teddy''s interruption, and he hurried to continue.


    "But he should wake up soon! His magic is calming down, and his eyelids have been fluttering for a while now."


    Teddy''s words lifted Red Hook''s mood, and the two went to visit Tasha.


    The door to Tasha''s room was already open, and a couple of pirates from the crew were testing the range of Tasha''s magic using sticks.


    Red Hook looked at the piles of splinters on the ground before turning a chilly gaze to the two pirates.


    "Get out."


    The two pirates had been busy checking out the range of Tasha''s destructive magic, but if they dyed just because Red Hook startled them, they were in for a bone-crushing punishment, so they took off before they even had time to feel fear.


    Teddy looked at the two pirates, etching their appearances into his memory before he followed Red Hook into the room.


    The two pirates looked at Tasha with anticipation. He had been sleeping soundly for several weeks. He more than earned it, considering what he did to the Starsling Kingdom''s fleet, but Teddy worried for and missed his friend, and Red Hook was finding Joan''s vague threats weighing on her shoulders.

 Chapter 286 Reunion (2)

    ?Red Hook and Teddy watched as Tasha groaned, tossed, and turned in bed. Eventually, his eyes shot open. Red Hook instinctively grabbed Teddy and darted out of the room to avoid the wave of magic headed their way.


    After the magic passed, Red Hook and Teddy poked their heads in to see how Tasha was faring. Tasha was in the middle of sitting up when he saw their heads.


    "Hey."


    "Tasha!"


    Teddy couldn''t hold himself back and ran forward to hug Tasha. Tasha epted the hug with a slight but empty smile on his face. He wasn''t injured, but his body was stiff after not moving for several weeks straight, so he groaned a little when Teddy''s sturdy arms squeezed his body in a bear-sized hug.


    Red Hook leaned against the doorframe as she watched Tasha console Teddy by patting his back.


    "Wee back to thend of the living, Tasha."


    "Thanks."


    "How''re you feeling?"


    "Been better."


    "Who hasn''t?"


    Red Hook looked at Tasha for a few seconds before continuing.


    "I have something to tell you or show you. Yeah, showing you might be easier."


    "Right now?"


    "The sooner, the better."


    Red Hook rarely asked things of Tasha with such urgency. She mostly let him know where he could find and attack someone rted to the Starsling Kingdom. And since those targets werepetition to her crew, Red Hook didn''t ask for more.


    Tasha felt indebted to Red Hook for several reasons, so when she asked him toe with her, he got ready and followed her. However, he was still curious about where they were going, especially when they boarded one of the smaller ships the crew used to go between the ind and the city.


    He would have asked Red Hook if he didn''t feel that something was going on. Red Hook''s face didn''t look as rxed and open as it usually did, so Tasha stayed quiet. He would find out where they were going and why they were going there eventually.


    Tasha''s first suspicion had been Retsy since they often went there for information. Maybe Red Hook had asked Retsy to hold on to something.


    However, Tasha could only look on in confusion as they sailed right past the docks closest to Retsy''s ces. Red Hook didn''t even look at them.


    Eventually, Tasha figured out their destination. There was only one ce they would arrive if they continued in the same direction they had gone in during the entire trip.


    Tasha looked at Red Hook with even more confusion and wanted to ask why they were going to the Bunglehopper base. However, something stopped him. He didn''t know what it was other than a feeling in his gut. Tasha sat down in silence as he waited until they arrived.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    They eventually docked at the bridge closest to the Bunglehopper base.


    Since it was the dock closest to their base, the Bunglehoppers naturally had defensive systems that would alert them of any intruders. Stitches and Hayar were already waiting for them before they could disembark.


    Tasha had been asleep for the past weeks, so he had no idea what had happened or the rtionship between the different crews. But he thought that things couldn''t be too different from how they had been in the past. And in the past, a pirate leader going to the base of one of the other bigger crews was rarely met with something other than threats or violence, especially when they came uninvited or unannounced, as Red Hook had just done.


    However, if they could tell it was Red Hook who came, Stitches and Hayar wouldn''t be the only ones toe, and they would wait around patiently. As far as Tasha knew, Hayar was rude to everyone, even the pirate leaders of the big crews in Pirate Haven. But here she was, waiting for Red Hook and Tasha without cussing like a sailor.


    Tasha was too confused to think too much, especially when Red Hook went up to Stitches and ruffled his hair, much to Hayar''s irritation. Hayar didn''t hold back as she pped red Hook''s hand away and began cursing Red Hook. Red Hook onlyughed it off before turning to look at Tasha.


    Tasha waspletely shocked. He felt his thoughts slowing down to a standstill as he tried to process what had happened during the time he slept. He didn''t think he had been out for that long. But maybe he still wasn''t awake.


    Tasha was about to fall down and try to continue sleeping. Maybe this weird dream that only got weirder and weirder would end, and he could go back to dreaming about his wife and son.


    The only reason he had decided to wake up was that the dream version of his wife had asked him to. Tasha also knew he couldn''t sleep forever. But dreaming about his family was better than dreaming about some twisted reality.


    However, before Tasha could fall, Red Hook stopped him.


    "What are you doing? Right¡­."


    Red Hook looked at her interaction with Stitches and Hayar.


    "I''ll tell you what happened when you were asleepter. For now, just follow us."


    Tasha decided to at least see what Red Hook wanted to show him before going back to sleep, so he followed Red Hook, Stitches, and Hayar to the center of the Bunglehopper base.


    Tasha looked around at the mansions and the greenhouse in wonder. He couldn''t help but think about how incredible a human''s sleeping mind was since it could so realistically replicate something he had never seen before.


    Red Hook smacked Tasha''s head lightly since he didn''t stop staring, even after they arrived.


    While Stitches and Hayar went to meet Red Hook, Frank and Vaner set up a table and some chairs outside the greenhouse. It wasn''t the first time Red Hook visited after the war since she liked toe over and talk with Joan while bringing Metra with her since Metra and Hayar were friends.


    That was why Hayar had been so calm when she and Stitches greeted Red Hook and Tasha. It was because she was happy to see Metra again. It had been some time since theirst visit, after all. It wasn''t surprising, considering Red Hook''s and Joan''s conversations died out quicker each time Red Hook visited.


    Joan only got more anxious with each passing day, and since Red Hook couldn''t give her any good news, Joan found it hard to hold a conversation with anyone. And Red Hook felt too much guilt about keeping Joan from visiting Tasha to keep seeing her.


    Hayar and the Bunglehoppers were surprised that Red Hook decided to visit unannounced, but it wasn''t the first time, so they just prepared things while Hayar and Stitches went to greet them.


    However, Stitches and Hayar had barely been able to keep calm since Red Hook hadn''t brought Metra. She had brought Tasha. Hayar was disappointed at first, but when she realized the rtionship between the two crews would get even better and she could visit Metra anytime she liked, she became happy again. At least until Red Hook took it too far and touched her Mosshead.


    Stitches and Hayar also realized that Red Hook hadn''t told Tasha anything, so they kept their mouths shut along the way.

 Chapter 287 Reunion (3)

    ?Red Hook, Tasha, and Hayar sat down at the table. Tasha was still a little out of it and only followed Red Hook''s lead.


    Stitches, Frank, and Vaner didn''t sit down with the others. Frank and Vaner were busy with training and usually didn''t bother partaking in the social gatherings.


    Stitches, on the other hand, left to go and get Joan and Joshua.


    Joan knitted to pass the time like usual, and Joshua was practicing with his bubbles not far away. Both of them looked up at Stitches as he burst through the door and, with a smile on his face, asked them toe with him.


    Stitches had spent a lot of time with both Joan and Joshua, so he was naturally happy that they would get to meet Tasha. Stitches couldn''t contain his enthusiasm, and he pulled the confused Joan out of her chair and pushed her and Joshua in front of him toward the table.


    Joan only half-heartedly tried to push against and get Stitches to exin since his smile and bodynguage were more than enough to tell her a surprise waited for them where they were going.


    It didn''t take much for Joan to guess what could have Stitches in such a mood, but it was hard to believe it at the same time.


    However, when she saw the broad shoulders and the sturdy back sticking out from the back of the chair, it didn''t matter whether she believed it was true or not. Not even the gray hair and the slight slump could convince her it was someone else.


    It was the same person she had grown up with, fallen in love with, and married. Nothing could convince her otherwise.


    Joan knew it was Tasha, her husband, but she still didn''t rush forward. Just like she recognized her husband from nothing more than his body, she could also tell how much he had been through by how unkempt his hair was and how frayed his clothes were.


    However, Joan began moving again when Joshua squeezed her hand and cautiously pulled her forward with him.


    Tasha was still a little out of it, so he didn''t think too much when he sensed other people approach, but he still unconsciously turned around at the familiar presences.


    Joshua let go of Joan''s hand before Tasha could even turn his head enough to see them. The outline of Tasha''s face was all Joshua needed to dash forward. Joshua had seen that same face more times than he could count. Every time Joan workedte into the night, Tasha would stand in the doorway and watch her without end. In turn, Joshua came to look at his dad''s love-filled face from the side almost every night.


    Even if Tasha''s face was more haggardly and paler than before, and his eyes were unfocused, Joshua would still recognize it. The only reason he hadn''t during the meeting with the Red Hook Pirate Crew was that he thought his dad was dead and didn''t see his face that well from behind Stitches. Joshua also knew it wasn''t the right time to stare at the face of one of the opposing pirates when it looked like a fight could break out at any time.


    When he found out it really might have been his dad, Joshua regretted not reaching out to him back then, but those regrets vanished into thin air now that he could reunite with his dad without anyone interrupting.


    "Dad!"


    Tasha had just begun turning his head when he heard the shout that sounded exactly like what he had dreamed of just a few hours ago. His ears perked up, and he stopped turning since he couldn''t believe it. Had he really woken up, or was he still dreaming?


    "Tash!"


    However, the following cry forced him to continue turning around.


    Unlike the loving voice he heard in his dreams, heartache filled this one. Joan''s voice was on the verge of cracking due to the flood of emotions that overwhelmed her.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Tasha stood up and turned around fully right when Joshua arrived in front of him.


    Before Tasha could react, Joshua dove straight into his embrace like a cannonball, almost knocking the dazed Tasha off his feet.


    Joshua hadn''t been able to jump higher than Tasha''s thighs before, but now when he was a mage, he had enough force to jump up and reach Tasha''s chest.


    Joshua hugged Tasha and clung to him like a bear cub. A tiny droplet slipped out of Joshua''s tightly closed eyes as he held Tasha as tightly as he could, refusing to even think of ever letting go.


    Tasha''s eyes trembled, and he looked at Joshua. But before he could regain his bnce and return the embrace, Joan came over as well.


    Just like Joshua, Joan charged right into Tasha.


    Tasha let it happen and dly fell over while hugging Joan and Joshua.


    He didn''t even have the capacity to worry about crashing into the table. But he didn''t have to since Red Hook moved it out of the way as soon as she saw what was going to happen.


    Tasha closed his eyes and cried happily as he hugged Joan and Joshua even tighter while they burrowed into his chest.


    When he first heard Joshua''s voice, he thought he might still be dreaming. But not once had his dreams about Joan and Joshua felt so real. When he first fell asleep, Joan and Joshua greeted him outside a simple house in the countryside. It was something Tasha and Joan talked about sometimes. Getting arger house and a farm before giving Joshua a sibling.


    Unfortunately, they never got the chance.


    When Tasha saw Joan and Joshua standing on the farm, waiting for him, he was so happy. They had been separated too soon in life, but they could at least be reunited in the afterlife.


    Tasha ran over to them in his dream, but he was stopped halfway by an invisible wall. Joan and Joshua also came and stood on the opposite side of the wall.


    Tasha felt like he could break the wall as soon as he wanted to, but something in the way Joan and Joshua talked with him made him hesitate. He soon realized that they weren''t real, but he couldn''t force himself to leave. He wanted to stay forever, but to do that, he had to break the wall.


    Tasha was on the way to break the wall when Joan gently shook her head and told him to wake up.


    Tasha tearfully obeyed, and he couldn''t be more thankful he did since it let him be reunited with his family in life.


    Red Hook and the others didn''t want to intrude on Tasha''s, Joan''s, and Joshua''s reunion, so they silently backed away and let them have their moment together. Red Hook didn''t want to leave Tasha, so she followed Hayar and Stitches into the greenhouse where they waited for things to settle.


    It wouldn''t be a problem to leave Tasha behind, but Red Hook also wanted to know what he would do, now that he found his family.

 Chapter 288 Rainbow Swirl

    ?Lucy told Toz about Tasha''s return, but after acknowledging it, Toz didn''t do more. He knew Joshua and his family would be busy with their reunion, and Toz was busy with the sword technique he got from Stris.


    After kidnapping Stris and taking his things, Toz had only had enough time to nce over them since the state of Pirate Haven and his intention to be Pirate King didn''t allow him any free time. He only had enough time to train his mana now and then, so his void mana was steadily approaching the sixth level, but he didn''t have any spare time to begin learning the techniques he saw in Stris'' spatial items.


    However, now that Toz had be the Pirate King and things in Pirate Haven were in control, no one could fault Toz for grabbing some time to train and grow stronger.


    During the weeks following the Starsling Kingdom''s navy''s defeat, Toz had spared enough time to go through the things he found in Stris'' storage items. To some surprise, Stris was more affluent than his brother, and he had a lot of things that Wulf wanted to store in the treasury.


    Toz was only interested in the sword techniques he found. Stris had practically empty manuals for the three techniques he disyed against the three other pirate leaders, Crust Breaker, Rubble Smash, Armor Slice, and two more.


    The first of the two manuals Stris hadn''t shown was a technique called Pommel Strike, which, based on the manual''s use, Stris had only recently learned. Unlike the Crust Breaker technique that was on the verge of filling back up since Stris had mastered it and was infusing his mastery back into the manual, the manual for Pommel Strike was half-empty due to use.


    Stris probably wasn''t confident enough to use the technique in a fight against the three pirate leaders.


    The second martial manual, not from Stris'' three main techniques, was starkly different from the other four.


    The first four were simple soft-cover books with a supple leather cover with a title of the technique the papers contained. The martial manuals Toz found in Dristel''s possession were the same. The only difference was the Dragon''s Tail Sweep manual which was noticeably thicker than the others.


    All the manuals were made with the same kind of materials and in a simr way, just like most grimoires.


    However, Stris'' fifth martial manual was different. The bundle of aged, yellow paper didn''t have a cover, and it looked like someone had torn them out of the original book before trying to glue them together. The pages also looked like they were from a different material than the ones in the other manuals, but Toz couldn''t be sure since they seemed to be a lot older and might just be age.


    Toz was naturally interested in the bundle of pages. However, the first half contained regr text, not a martial energy maniption method or a technique. The letters seemed vaguely simr to the alphabet currently used as the standard universalnguage, but Toz couldn''t quite figure out what the text said.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Fortunately, the second half contained a technique. And from what Toz could tell, it was an incredibly advanced and intricate way of using either mana or martial energy, so it wasn''t weird for Stris to hang on the nearly useless scraps of paper.


    Toz could tell it was a way for sword users to utilize mana and martial energy of different attributes, but he wasn''t sure he should spend time on it when he couldn''t read the text or be sure that the bundle contained the entire technique. From what he could sense, Stris hadn''t either begun learning the technique, probably out of simr concerns.


    But Toz also wasn''t willing to give up on the technique, so he investigated and looked through the pages several times, and the only thing that stood out was the symbol of a rainbow swirl in the corner of some of the pages.


    Toz figured he could ask Retsy for help, but that would have to wait since that technique wasn''t the only one he had gotten hold of in the wake of the battle.


    The earth attribute techniques didn''t hold much of Toz''s interest, but Armor Slice did. There was also the grimoire he got from the Representative, Dissolution.


    Toz hadn''t seen it for himself since he restrained his perception while hiding in the ground during the battle between Stris and the three pirate leaders. And he had been preupied when the Representative forcibly dissipated Nester''s chains. But he had heard from the others about how the Representative basically turned things into nothing with only a touch.


    The title of the grimoire and a quick nce at its contents was enough to tell Toz that it was the Representative''s trademark spell. Toz was surprised that the Representative so willingly handed it over. But at the same time, it was probably the only one the Representative could reliably reproduce if he was as adept with the spell as the others described.


    The spell piqued Toz''s interest, and he decided to learn it first. His other option would be Armor Slice, but that wouldn''t give Toz as much of a boost inbat strength as Dissolution when he could already cut through almost everything with his sword and some kind ofbination magic.


    Toz stored away every other grimoire and manual and the other items he had taken out to look at to see if Stris had anything else with the rainbow swirl marking on it. Since he hadn''t found a clue about the technique he wanted to learn, Toz decided to focus on what he could learn without worry.


    Toz flipped open the first page of Dissolution and sank his consciousness into the book.


    Since he had safely hidden away on Taienra''s back, he didn''t have to worry about interruptions. And after letting the cats know about how he was going to concentrate on training for some time, no one woulde and disturb him.

 Chapter 289 Dissolution

    ?Toz had only rtively recently acquired the void and space elements. But since he used void magic every time he usedbination magic, he was getting quite proficient in the attribute.


    However, Toz''s proficiency in the void element was mostly limited to when he used it inbination with the other elements. It didn''t help much when he tried to learn Dissolution, a spell digging into the true nature of void magic.


    Most of Toz''s experience with void magic was pretty useless when he tried to learn the spell. Since the Void inspired his darkness spell, Void''s Embrace, it could provide some guidance. But it was inspired by the Void''s properties of omnipresence, all-epassing, and containment, so it couldn''t help Toz much, not to mention how it was still a darkness spell and built on the nature of darkness magic.


    However, Toz wasn''t bothered by the fact that he didn''t have a proper starting point to learn the spell since learning Dissolution without previous knowledge would allow him to learn it directly without having tobine it with his previous knowledge. It would also provide him fresh insights into the workings of void mana, and Toz eagerly dove into the grimoire with his entire concentration.


    Dissolution was a pretty straightforward spell. It built on the Void''s indifference to everything else and the way everything was nothing in front of the Void.


    Toz quickly pretty grasped the concept of Dissolution thanks to what he heard the Representative do with the spell. That understanding also helped him learn the spell quickly, even if it was a lot more challenging to put it into practice than it was to understand the idea behind the spell.


    The first step of the spell was to infuse the target with void mana, which wasn''t difficult as long as the target was weaker than Toz and without sentience. Thankfully, Toz had a bunch of items and things stuffed into his spatial storage items in his pockets that he could use to train the next step.


    After infusing his mana into the target, Toz had to bring out the void mana''s true nature ording to the way used in the grimoire. The difficulty varied depending on the item''s quality and how it was made, and it would probably be a lot harder if Toz tried to use it against an opponent simr to him in strength. But Toz focused on what was in front of him as he grasped a low level wooden spear he picked up from somewhere and infused it with void mana.


    After having practiced several times, Toz was already bing quite proficient in stuffing his void mana into items, but he still couldn''tplete the second step with the same amount of sess.


    Toz closed his eyes and focused on the mana inside the spear. If he didn''t maintain control over it, the mana would only dissipate and escape the spear.


    In his mind, the spear and the mana inside it were the only things Toz sensed as he began delicately willing the mana into action. It was at this point he usually failed.


    Instead of dissolving the weapon, the mana tried to move around and inevitably escaped the spear.


    But this time, Toz didn''t make the mana dissolve the weapon. He held the manapletely still as he carefully, slowly, gently began to stir it and awaken a part of its true nature.


    Toz felt like the mana was about to escape his grasp and leave the spear again, so he stopped for a few seconds before trying again.


    As he continued, Toz could tell that he managed to bring out more of the mana''s true nature without making it escape the spear. But he still had to stop after a certain point since the mana was growing too vtile to handle.


    After the third attempt, Toz felt the spear in his hands lose a little weight as a few fragments of wood fell off the handle.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz smiled in sess, but only for a split second since the mana was too sensitive for him to do anything other than focus on controlling it. Unfortunately, his reaction was still enough, and the mana slipped out of his grasp and left the spear again.


    Toz considered continuing with the spear since he had already had minor sess with it, but he chose not to for the same reason. Trying to dissolve the spear again might seed, but the spell was supposed to be able to do it in one go and almost instantaneously.


    Dissolving a half-broken and worn spear also wouldn''t give Toz much practice, and it would be better to just move on to the next practice spear.


    This time, Toz achieved simr sess right on his second attempt as the spear shed pieces of its outeryer like a husk.


    Toz was happy that he saw such rapid improvement, but he was still far from being able to use the spell inbat the same way the Representative did, so he continued destroying training spears left and right.


    When he finally managed to turn a wooden spear into nothing more than a pile of splinters of various sizes in one go, Toz moved on to items of better quality.


    Since he had moved most things into Wulf''s treasury, Toz didn''t actually have a lot of items on hand. He only moved on from the wooden spears, despite not being satisfied with how quickly he destroyed one because he didn''t have any left.


    Toz didn''t think about fetching more items since he was so caught up in training. He wasn''t willing to give up his focus just because he wanted to save some money by not destroying all his treasures.


    Thankfully, Toz wasn''t alone. He was still training on Taienra''s back, after all. And while Taienra wasn''t constantly monitoring Toz since he would be able to sense her perception and might get disturbed, she still checked in on him sometimes when the cats asked her to.


    Taienra had seen what Toz''s training was, and when she saw the pile of destroyed spears, she asked the cats to find something to help Toz in his training.


    Taienra correctly guessed that Toz needed some sturdier treasures to use as practice, so the cats ended up bringing things that were a lot better than the wooden spears he used. The cats didn''t have a need for treasures or magic items since their bodies and magic were all they needed. The only reason they gathered or hoarded items and valuables was for vanity and because Toz might need them in the future.


    The cats brought a bunch of different weapons and items like enchanted trinkets and clothes to help Toz in his practice. The quality varied, but since Taienra had asked for the things on Toz''s behalf, the cats didn''t hold back and brought out some of their sturdier things. If they didn''t have anything of suitable quality, they would either steal or make something.


    Lucy mostly collected shiny things and money, so he ended up robbing most of the crews in Pirate Haven of at least one item. He only held back because everyone was technically Toz''s subordinates.


    Nil, on the other hand, could make things with his metal magic. Nil''s constructs provided invaluable help to Toz since they helped him practice dissolving actual magic that someone else was responsible for instead of just inanimate objects.

 Chapter 290 Sixth Level

    ?With Taienra''s and the cats'' help, Toz showed steady progress in learning the Dissolution spell, even if he was still limited to dissolving items.


    Toz continued practicing his magic without a care, wanting to attain enough proficiency with Dissolution to use it in actualbat. Even if the spell itself didn''t add much to Toz''s fighting capabilities, simply learning the spell increased Toz''s understanding of void magic, which, in turn, would improve the might and efficacy of hisbination magic.


    It seemed like Toz''s practice with void magic and training with void mana together brought Toz to the brink of a breakthrough. Since he spent the free time he got after the battle with Dristel training his void mana, Toz was already nearing the boundary between the fifth and the sixth level with his void attribute. He wasn''t surprised that his practice with void magic ended up pushing him to the brink of breaking through to the next level.


    Toz wasn''t sure what to feel about how learning a spell had progressed his mana, but he didn''t mind. He didn''t want to needlessly hold off on breaking through when he was already falling behind the cats, despite being the focal point of the talent sharing his inclination did.


    Dying the breakthrough might allow a mage to hone their magic and mana control further to increase the sess and effect of their breakthrough, which would make them stronger and let them progress further without hitting a wall.


    However, Toz felt like he had already reached the limit of what he could achieve in regard to the quality of his mana while still at the fifth level. And his mana control was already at a level where he wouldn''t progress without breaking through to the next level.


    With the approaching breakthrough, Toz took a break from practicing the spell and calmed and restored his mind. Reading a grimoire and learning a spell sapped a lot of mental strength. And if Toz''s brain was too tired, his breakthrough might not be as sessful as he would like.


    Like his previous breakthroughs, Toz nned to push his mana and mana pool to the absolute limit while condensing his mana as densely as possible. If he was too tired, he might be unable to sense how far he could push his mana pool and might eitherplete the breakthrough too soon, leaving him with untapped potential. Or if he''s unlucky, Toz, while not sensing the state of his mana pool, will push it too far and overexert or damage it.


    A simple sprained mana pool will recover in time as long as Toz doesn''t use too much magic. But depending on the damage, Toz might never recover. In a best-case scenario, a damaged mana pool won''t cripple him, but it will still freeze Toz''s path forward, and he will stay at the sixth level until he dies or encounters a miracle.


    However, the spell wasn''tplex enough to force Toz to drain his brainpletely, and he was ready to go after only a little rest.


    Since it was his first breakthrough to the sixth level, it was very likely Toz wouldn''t be able to control his mana perfectly during it, so he warned Taienra and the cats just in case.


    The cats, especially Lucy and Mindle, took his words of caution a little more seriously than Toz intended and became his self-designated guards as he began his breakthrough.


    Since it was a breakthrough within the same division, the procedure wasn''t needlesslyplex.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz began by mentally grasping the void mana in his mana pool. In order to achieve as much efficiency as possible, Toz performed the three main parts of breaking through simultaneously.


    He condensed the lump of void mana, converted the other elements in his mana pool into void to fuel and expand the chunk of void mana, and converted and absorbed the surrounding mana to expand the gathering of void mana even further.


    To increase the size of his mana pool, Toz had to continuously pressure it by squeezing more and more mana into it.


    The pressure from the mana forced the mana pool to expand, and the mana pool''s resistance helped Toz condense his mana into an increasingly thick, dull grey liquid.


    As Toz progressed in his breakthrough, the shell of his mana pool expanded, but it grew thinner and thinner in exchange. Toz didn''t stop, and he continued to push mana into his mana pool. However, he slowed down so he could make sure that his mana condensed and became as thick as it could be.


    Eventually, when he felt like his mana pool wouldn''t be able to handle any further expansion, Toz stopped absorbing more mana and focused on getting the ball of void mana under control. Toz managed to condense the ball just a little more, which allowed him to push in another drop or two of the mana he absorbed.


    Since he was breaking through to the sixth level, he converted the mana in his surroundings into mana of suitable quality and attribute.


    Toz finished the breakthrough as beads of sweat appeared on his forehead due to the concentration required to control and keep his mana in check. Until hepleted, the mana might break free from his control and shatter the mana pool on its way out.


    But as soon as Toz was satisfied, the mana epted it and calmed down. His mana pool began hardening and regaining the strength it expended to amodate Toz''s breakthrough.


    However, the overflowing mana still affected Toz''s surroundings as a wave of void mana spread out around Toz when he finished.


    Thanks to Toz''s practice with the Dissolution spell, the void mana used Toz''s experience with void magic and carefully began to dissolve Toz''s surroundings.


    Thankfully, it wasn''t strong enough to do more than peel off ayer or two of the tree''s bark, and the wave dissipated before it could even reach the two cats who stood on guard a few meters away.

 Chapter 291 Toz Left In The Dust

    ?Toz stood up with a smile radiating pride at finally having caught up to the cats. Now that he was also at the sixth level, the cats wouldn''t be able to boast about their level in front of him.


    Toz walked over to Lucy and Mindle, ready to begin asking them how it felt to be caught up to by someone with six elements. However, his smile and stride faltered when he sensed the teasing and yfulness from the two cats and their grins.


    He entirely stopped walking as he got a bad feeling, and as Lucy and Mindle''s grins widened, Toz began backing away and turning around, but he was toote.


    Toz couldn''t stop his senses from perceiving it when Lucy and Mindle intentionally loosened their control over their mana.


    More time had passed than Toz first thought, and while he had holed up on Taienra, Lucy and Mindle had already broken through to the seventh level, bing high level spirit beasts. And if those two had broken through, it was very likely that the other three also had.


    Ever since arriving at Pirate Haven, the cats enjoyed a lot of free time, and while a lot of it went to exploring the city and fooling around after the extended boredom in the Void, there was still room for the cats to train their mana.


    After the first incident with the Blue Lounge League of Pirates, the cats hadn''t taken part in most of the action, but powerful individuals filled their surroundings, which sparked the cats'' motivation and urged them to grow stronger.


    The cats, who had alreadye some way in their training, went into hardcore training when Toz secluded himself to focus on Dissolution, and before they knew it, they began breaking through, one after the other.


    Asilean was first since he had been in the sixth level for the longest, but he also had two elements, so it wasn''t surprising he had spent so long at the sixth level. But even if he only broke through with his space element, he was still the first of the cats to be a seventh level beast.


    After Asilean, Scrael broke through, continuing her lead over the other four, much to the dismay of Lucy, who hoped to surpass everyone.


    But at least Lucy got the constion prize since he came in at third ce.


    After Lucy broke through, Nil and Mindle were left to fight overing secondst and deadst. However, by now, neither of them cared about whether or not the others had broken through since they were only interested inpeting with each other. It was their third fight of the same kind, but they still hadn''t gotten tired of it.


    With each of them having one win from breaking through to the fifth and sixth levels, neither was willing to let up and let the other win. It probably wouldn''t be theirstpetition to break through, but losing once meant it was possible to lose again. And losing twice would be a disgrace. At least, that seemed to be what they thought, as they ignored everything else and used their rooms in the pce at the top of the city that the pirates were building on the cats'' orders.


    Nil helped design and construct it to make sure it would be a pce worthy of Toz, but only before thepetition took off and after it ended since he was too focused on beating Mindle to spare time for something that the Bunglehoppers could oversee.


    Although the pce wasn''tplete, the cats prioritized the construction of the most important facilities, like the suites for the cats and for Toz. Toz''s room wasn''t finished yet since the King had to have the most luxurious one, but the cats'' rooms were enough for them to use as training rooms as long as they were willing to dy the pce''s construction.


    Andpared to training and beating the other cats, the pce was of much less importance.


    Nil and Mindle, the only two cats left, couldn''t care less about some pce they only wanted to construct because a king should have one.


    The pirates building the pce didn''t daree close to the wing where Nil''s and Mindle''s rooms were due to the zing fighting spirit and the pressure weighing in the air. Since the cats might sense and get disturbed by the slightest distraction, the other cats and the Bunglehoppers made sure no one got close for everyone''s safety.


    If either of the cats got upset, only destruction awaited.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    And with how intense thepetition was, it wouldn''t be surprising if one of the cats got enraged by their defeat and decided to me whatever poor soul was too close.


    While Nil might not be specialized in strength or had several powerful spells, the majority of Pirate Haven was made of metal scraps. And metal scraps without enchantments or under the control of another mage were nothing more than toys in the eyes of a metal mage.


    If Nil decided to go on a rampage for whatever reason, Pirate Haven might not bepletely safe, even if the three pirate leaders stepped in. And it was the same with Mindle.


    With her Tongues of me and mastery over the fire element, she could easilyy waste to her surroundings.


    Despite both cats being at the sixth level, both of them enjoyed the effects of the talent-sharing properties of Toz''s inclination. It was difficult topare the talents for different elements and of different beings. But Nil and Mindle''s skills with their respective attributes were significant enough for even the pirate leaders to be somewhat careful if the two cats went all out.


    Thankfully, nothing like that happened.


    Although the temperature spiked in the pce''s surroundings, it was typical for a fire mage breaking through to the next level to affect their surroundings, so no one was rmed except Nil, who realized he had lost again.


    Nil shoved any distracting thoughts aside as he focused on his own breakthrough. Nil finished without incident as he stered his surroundings with metal and metal spikes. Nil was frustrated at losing against Mindle twice in a row, but he tried not to let it bother him as he distracted himself by building the pce alongside the pirates.


    Mindle had initially been waiting for Nil to finish so that she could gloat, but when she saw how disheartened NIl was, she held off and joined Lucy in waiting for Toz.


    Toz listened to Lucy and Mindle telling him about what he missed, but he was so taken by the fact that everyone had broken through and left him behind once again that he barely noticed them mentioning a pce.


    Toz looked up after a few seconds when he realized something.


    "Wait, I''m still notst. Taienra is still at the sixth level!"


    Toz said it with unexpected joy. Unfortunately, Taienra''s response crushed his happiness like it was a bug.


    "About that¡­. I was actually waiting for you to finish so that I could break through without disturbing you."


    "...


    "Fine! I won''t stop you."


    Toz sulked a little as he stood up again and began walking off.

 Chapter 292 Seventh Level Taienra (1)

    ?Although Toz was a little upset that the cats had broken through and that Taienra was also going to leave him behind, he only pouted a little before epting reality.


    Since Taienra wanted to break through with privacy, she was going to put some distance between her and Pirate Haven. However, Toz stopped her before she could leave.


    "Wait for a few minutes before you leave. I''ll fetch Brunswick and Stitch."


    "Why?"


    "Have you broken through with a forest on your back before?"


    Toz answered Taienra''s question with one of his own before continuing.


    "Stitch helped you and the forest fuse. And if anything happens, it will be better to have him nearby."


    "Ok. And Brunswick?"


    "I thought that seeing a Starry Sky Whale with a forest on her back break through to the next division might be beneficial for his inclination. He might also see if something bad happens. And since we kidnapped him, he''s part of our group, isn''t he? A Paw Print Pirate?"


    "Yeah! Let''s go and get ''Wick. He can''t miss this!"


    Toz ignored Lucy''s enthusiastic interjection and spoke to Taienra again.


    "We don''t have to bring him if you don''t want to."


    "Just bring him along. You need your support, don''t you? Since you''re going to be the only two in the medium division and all."


    Toz ignored Taienra''s teasing remark as he brought Lucy along to the Bunglehopper base.


    Since he was bringing Lucy along with him, Toz didn''t use space magic to travel. He used abination of shadow and lightning magic, rendering them mostly unnoticeable without lowering their speed too much.


    Lucy, who enjoyed the ride, was a little disappointed it ended so quickly, but he jumped down from Lucy''s arms to find Brunswick while Toz went to get Stitches withoutining.


    Toz had nned to ask the first person he saw where Stitches was, but the first individual he encountered was Tasha.


    Since Toz had been busy training ever since he became the Pirate King, he hadn''t met Tasha yet, and he was a little surprised that Tasha came out in response to his arrival.


    Based on Tasha''s wary expression, Toz could guess that Tasha noticed his arrival and was ready to meet an intruder. Toz hadn''t bothered concealing his presence since he wasn''t sneaking around, and as the Pirate King, he didn''t have a need to hide while running through his own backyard.


    It wasn''t the first time Toz appeared from out of nowhere, and the Bunglehoppers could recognize him by now.


    However, it was the first time Toz stopped by after Tasha woke up and began spending every waking and sleeping moment with his family. Tasha, who hadn''t been told of Toz arriving as he did, wasn''t sure what to do when he had just disyed hostility toward the Pirate King.


    Thankfully, Joan came to his aid. Tasha had just burst out of the house as soon as Toz arrived, so Joan rushed to catch up before anything happened. Fortunately, Tasha recognized Toz before he identally attacked.


    "Toz! We were just talking about you. This rude man is my husband, Tasha. Tasha, this is Toz, the one who saved Joshua and me in the Void."


    Toz wasn''t bothered about Tasha''s previous attitude and reached out a hand.


    "Nice to meet you. It would be nice to talk, but I''m currently busy, so you will have to wait for a little bit."


    "Likewise. And thank you for saving my family."


    Tasha didn''t sound very emotional, but he refused Toz''s handshake and bowed instead to show his sincerity.


    Toz was about to dart away and find Stitches when he realized he could just ask Joan and Tasha about Stitches'' whereabouts.


    "He''s in the greenhouse with Hayar."


    Toz darted off again after saying thanks.


    Toz found Stitches and Hayar in the greenhouse, enjoying each other''spany.


    "Stitch, business!"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz didn''t care whether he interrupted them or not since Taienra was waiting for him. However, Hayar was less than pleased and turned to Toz with an angry frown.


    "Huh?"


    "Oh, hey, Hayar. I''m borrowing Stitch for a little bit."


    "And what makes you think you can just grab and elope with Mosshead like that?"


    "I don''t have to think. I can just do it."


    To prove his point, Toz grabbed Stitches by his cor and hoisted him up in a princess carry before turning around.


    Hayar interrupted them right before Toz could leave.


    "W-wait! C-can Ie?"


    Her anger hadpletely disappeared and been reced by some embarrassment as she realized that Toz probably asked for Stitches for his healing abilities. And she hadshed out for no reason other than irritation at having her private time with Stitches interrupted.


    Toz sent a quick message with his inclination to Asilean so he could ask Taienra and responded after getting her approval.


    "I guess. We''re going to Taienra."


    "Hear that, Mosshead. You''re not leaving my sight for even a moment!"


    Although Hayar''s words sounded ominous, she smiled brightly after getting Toz''s answer.


    Toz let down Stitches so that he and Hayar could move outside the greenhouse while he went to pick up Lucy and Brunswick.


    Toz didn''t have to look for long since Lucy showed up shortly after, dragging an exhausted Brunswick with a rope of shadows.


    "Are you okay?"


    Brunswick responded to Toz''s question after suppressing a yawn.


    "I am fine, just a little tired. Thank you for asking."


    Since Brunswick imed to be alright, and Stitches wasn''t making a fuss, Toz dropped the matter and began making a portal.


    With all their practice and Asilean bing a seventh level spirit beast, Toz barely had to do anything when creating the portal. As soon as Asilean practiced some more and got used to his new level of power, Toz probably wouldn''t have to do anything other than possibly point Asilean in the right direction.


    Asilean finished creating the portal, and Toz and the others went right through it, appearing on top of Taienra, who had already begun moving even before they made the portal since she realized distance wasn''t really an issue when they had both Toz and Asilean in their group.


    Hayar was a little surprised since it was her first time traveling through a portal, but she quickly regained herposure, and she looked at Pirate Haven shrinking in the distance before she whispered to Stitches.


    "Mosshead, where are we going?"


    Hayar didn''t want to cause a fuss since she was surrounded by people and beasts she wasn''t very familiar with, and the only one she knew was Stitches. Unfortunately, Stitches didn''t really understand why she whispered, and he just turned to look at the drowsy Brunswick.


    "Hey, Brunswick. Do you know what''s going on?"


    This time, Brunswick didn''t suppress his yawn and yawned before answering.


    "Not a clue, but wake me up when we''re there."


    Hayar was already smacking Stitches'' arm at hisck of subtlety, and to stop him from asking someone else. But she didn''t need to ask someone else since Lucy crawled up on Brunswick''sp while answering.


    "Taienra''s breaking through. Stitch and ''Wick are here because they are valuable members of our group, the Paw Print Pirates."


    After answering, Lucy curled together and closed his eyes, turning into a pitch-ck ball of darkness on Brunswick''sp.

 Chapter 293 Seventh Level Taienra (2)

    ?"Are we there yet?"


    Brunswick''s dazed voice startled Stitches, and he turned to look at Lucy to see if he knew. But without anyone noticing, Lucy had already disappeared from Brunswick''sp and sat on Toz''s head instead.


    Stitches didn''t have an answer to Brunswick''s question, but Toz''s activities were more than enough for them to know that they had indeed arrived at their destination.


    After Taienra stopped in the middle of nowhere, Toz began hauling Dristel and Stris onto a boat so that they wouldn''t be trapped in the wood while Taienra broke through.


    Dristel and Stris didn''t have any martial energy in their bodies, and they were severely fatigued and malnourished, so they couldn''t put up a fight or try to resist. But since Toz didn''t know how long Taienra''s breakthrough would take, he still decided to prevent them from recovering their martial energy by sending some of his void mana into their bodies.


    Toz''s mana wouldn''t do any harm to their bodies, but it would dispel their martial energy and prevent them from recovering. If the brothers hadn''t already been emptied of their martial energy, Toz''s sixth level mana wouldn''t have done much, but now, it would be more than enough to dispel any martial energy they recovered as soon as it recovered.


    After Toz ced Dristel and Stris in one corner of the boat, the cats, Brunswick, Stitches, and Hayar joined him on it as they sailed away a short distance so that Taienra could break through in peace.


    "Is this enough?"


    Since Taienra had only said that they should put some distance between them while she broke through, Toz asked Asilean if they were far enough away.


    "Maybe a little more."


    Toz followed Asilean''s advice, and they moved further away and only stopped when they could sense Taienra beginning her breakthrough.


    Taienra''s reserves of mana dwarfed even Toz''s since her mana pool was proportionate to her body and because she had ess to the mana stored in the void trees. And when she began moving all that mana around, condensing it, she gave rise to powerful fluctuations that reached Toz and the others before continuing further into the Void.


    Due to the forest on her back being part of her body and mana circtory system, Taienra took it slow during her breakthrough so that she would have time to respond to any troubles that might ur.


    After a while, Taienra began absorbing the mana in her surroundings to help her condense her mana.


    Although it was a breakthrough across divisions, the procedure was still mostly the same.


    Taienra had to condense her mana while expanding her mana pool. However, this time, she couldn''t end it at having made the mana in her mana pool into a thicker liquid. In order toplete the breakthrough to the seventh level, Taienra had to transform her liquid mana into a solid block of mana.


    Of course, the mana would only be solid while within the mana pool. As soon as a seventh level mage tried to use the mana, it would burst forth with unprecedented speed and power.


    Taienra brought the mana from her surroundings into her mana pool alongside the mana from the trees. However, the mana from the trees didn''t mix with the mana from the surroundings.


    Taienra was stumped, but she only had a moment to decide what to do, and she decided to only take in the mana from the trees. She could sense that the mana from the trees was of a higher quality and purity than the surrounding mana, which wasn''t too surprising when she realized it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Just like the trees used her mana to strengthen themselves, they strengthened the mana in return.


    It was a good thing that the trees improved the quality of the mana since it would make it easier during her breakthrough, but the trees didn''t contain enough mana for her toe very far. At best, it would be enough for her to barely reach the threshold of the seventh level, turning her mana into a brittle orb of mana.


    At worst, she would fail her breakthrough. Her mana pool, already transformed and ready to amodate the solid mana, wouldn''t be suitable for her still liquid mana, and she wouldn''t be able to store mana in it anymore.


    However, Taienra remembered something that Toz had told her about the trees soon after they met.


    The void trees absorbed the mana in their surroundings to sustain themselves and the atmosphere on the ind of trees. As well as keep the air filled with mana so that Toz and the others could train. She hadn''t noticed much of it after the trees attached to her back since they used her mana to do those things instead.


    Aside from the mana the trees absorbed to keep a bnce of different attributes on the ind, they hadn''t absorbed anything to strengthen themselves, which meant they hadn''t brought foreign mana into Taienra''s system. Taienra could understand it since her mana would be better than most of the mana found loosely drifting around the Void.


    However, now that she needed more mana toplete her breakthrough with as much sess as possible, the trees would have to change their operation a little.


    Taienra stretched her already sparse consciousness into the trees. Controlling the mana from the trees and the mana in her mana pool was already straining her mind. And when she also began trying to control the trees, the strain turned into a headache. But Taienra pressed on as shemanded the trees.


    Taienra wasn''t sure what the trees were capable of, but she didn''t want to take any risks.


    She couldn''t be sure the trees would be able to convert other elements in time for her breakthrough, or at all, so she used the trees to begin absorbing the starlight mana in the surroundings.


    Beginning from the roots attached to Taienra, the trees slowly began lighting up with a cold, white light. The light spread up the trees, to the branches, and even into the leaves. The exceptions were the fire flowers Mindle made, the shadow dolls Lucy made, the budding lightning fruits Scrael made, some of the highly concentrated constructs Nil made, and Toz''s sword.


    The forest of faintly shining white trees began affecting Taienra''s surroundings when thest leaf changed color and began glowing.


    The thinly but evenly spread starlight mana in the Void began moving toward Taienra. The starlight mana turned into streaks of light visible to the naked eye as it streaked toward the forest on Taienra''s back, where it was devoured and guided toward Taienra''s mana pool.


    Taienra hadn''t expected such an astounding result since not even she could separate and absorb the starlight mana in the surroundings with such effect.


    Since they were in the Void and there were a lot of stars there, there was naturally a lot of star attribute mana in the Void. But outside of areas in the stars'' immediate surroundings, the starlight mana was too thin for Taienra to bother absorbing only that. It was more efficient to absorb all the mana and convert it into starlight mana instead of only targeting and absorbing the star mana around her.


    However, the trees didn''t seem to have that same problem as they easily only absorbed the starlight mana, bringing it straight to Taienra''s mana pool.


    The new flood of mana wasn''t of the same quality as the mana previously stored within the trees, but it was good enough to help Taienra with her breakthrough. The rushing impact of the mana even helped her further condense the mana in her mana pool.

 Chapter 294 Intruder

    ?Taienra continued condensing her mana with the help of the trees on her back. Eventually, her liquid, sloshing mana calmed down and slowly solidified, bing a block of malleable mana inside her mana pool, simr to soft y.


    However, she still couldn''t calm down. Not all of her mana had transformed, and she could still condense her mana and expand her mana pool. With the help of the trees, Taienra wouldn''t have any trouble pushing herself and her mana pool to the limit.


    Taienra was so caught up in her breakthrough that she didn''t notice the arrival of a rapidly approaching ship.


    The ship was sleek and clearly designed for speed, no matter the cost. It didn''t even have a sail to act as a passive mana absorption device. It instead relied solely on mana crystals and enchantments to fly through the Void.


    Taienra might not have noticed the ze-red ship''s approach, but Toz and the others certainly did due to the streams of concentrated fire from the thrusters lit up the air behind it, and they moved to intercept it before it could get too close.


    Toz even decided to stop it where it was by conveying a message using mana to reach the ship across the Void.


    "We''ll take your approach as an act of hostility and attack if you get even a horse-length closer."


    Toz wasn''t sure if the message had arrived or not. It wouldn''t be weird if the ship had shields to block foreign sources of mana from entering oring in contact with the ship. But it didn''t matter. When the ship didn''t slow down, even after passing the designated distance, Tozunched a fireball straight at it.


    The ship tried to avoid it by veering to the side, but since both the ship and the fireball were traveling so fast, Toz''s attack hit the ship''s barrier.


    The fireball was just a quickly conjured spell meant to scare the ship''s pilot rather than actually destroy the boat, so Toz didn''t pour a lot of mana into it. But the barrier still took some damage, and the ship shook.


    The thrusters didn''t calm down or stop spouting mes, but the ship stopped in its path before quickly trying to turn around and escape. However, before it could get anywhere, Toz and Asilean thickened the space around it so it could hardly move, much less flee.


    After locking the ship in ce, Toz shed over to the small torpedo-like vessel.


    Toz felt how filled to the brim with enchantments and mana crystals the vessel was as soon as he stepped foot on the ship''s body. In order to neutralize and turn off the boat, Toz sent a stream of void mana into it.


    The enchantments fizzled before cking out and inactivating.


    When most of the enchantments stopped working, a section of the otherwise smooth top slid open and revealed a red-haired young man lying down.


    The young man''s eyes flicked up and met Toz''s scrutinizing gaze.


    Panic filled the young man as he tried to shrink down deeper into the cockpit, frantically pressing one of the controls at his side.


    "P-please don''t kill me."


    The young man stuttered out a plea for his life, barely holding back tears.


    "Don''t worry."


    Toz smiled widely, revealing his shiny, and glisteningly sharp teeth, before bending down and hoisting the young man up with a single hand.


    The others had brought their ship over, and after grabbing the young pilot, Toz jumped over to the ship so everyone could partake in the interrogation, and he wouldn''t have to repeat anything.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz put the fear-stricken pilot in a chair of metal and restrained his legs and arms.


    The chair was hastily made and probably wouldn''t have bound a proper enemy for long. But the red-haired man was only at the fourth level and so panicked he could hardly see. He didn''t have the strength to break through Nil''s chair, and even if he had the strength, he wasn''t in a state to use it properly, so Toz and the others didn''t have to worry.


    Though, even if he could break free from the chair, he obviously wasn''t strong enough to fight and escape from Toz, the cats, and Hayar.


    Toz and the others didn''t want to wait until their captive calmed down, so they held his crying and shaking head still and scared him into submission. However, their intimidation tactics were a little too good, thanks to Lucy''s participation, so their captive passed out due to fear.


    Since he didn''t pass out due to an injury or take any actual damage, there wasn''t anything Stitches could do. They could only try to wake him up by pping his cheeks a little or wait until he woke up naturally.


    pping his cheeks didn''t work, and they were worried doing anything else might be too excessive and would actually injure the poor guy. But they didn''t have to wait for the red-haired captive to wake up.


    Dristel coughed a little to clear his throat since he hadn''t talked for quite a while. Both he and his brother were too tired to speak. And after catching up with each other spent most of their captivity together in silence.


    Dristel''s coughing caught the attention of the others, and he didn''t have to waste any time to try and make them listen to him.


    "That''s a scouting vessel from the Firebelt Kingdom. Probably sent to investigate the path to Pirate Haven in advance for whatever the Alliance of Kingdoms had nned. Since it doesn''t take much skill and is rtively safe, the pilots are usuallyplete newbies."


    Toz and the others looked at Dristel with some surprise.


    "What? I was an admiral, you know. I recognize most types of ships and vessels."


    "That''s not it. Why are you willingly helping us?"


    "Oh. Can we get a couple of pillows or something? I haven''t had this bad of a stiff neck since that time someone dared me to fight while walking on my hands."


    Dristel nodded to his brother as he requested for some kind of way to relieve the pain of having to sleep without being able to rest their heads against anything.


    "Sure."


    Toz easily agreed to Dristel''s request. They were hostages and powerful ones at that, but they didn''t have to suffer more than necessary now that their business was settled and Dristel had helped them figure out the identity of the vessel. And it would be easier to hand them over to the Starsling Kingdom in exchange for a ransom if they were cooperative.


    After giving Dristel and Stris some water, Toz asked him another question.


    "What do you think the different kingdoms are nning to do? What''s their goal in sending a scouting vessel when they already know where Pirate Haven is?"


    Dristel didn''t seem very surprised at Toz''s question, but he thought a little before answering. Toz didn''t rush him since he didn''t have a pressing need to know. They were still waiting for Taienra to finish her breakthrough and for the red-haired youngster to wake up, after all.


    Eventually, Dristel opened his mouth and began exining what he thought about the situation.

 Chapter 295 Delegation (1)

    ?Dristel asked a question before he actually began exining.


    "First of all. How badly did we lose?"


    It didn''t take a genius to figure out that the Starsling Kingdom''s fleet lost against Pirate Haven and the pirates. But Dristel had no way to get an actual battle report, so he had no idea how the battle had gone. And in order to make a proper guess as to what the kingdoms were going to do, he needed to know the results of the battle in more detail.


    Toz and the others looked at each other before answering. It felt a little strange having to exin to Dristel how his fleet gotpletely demolished now that he was willingly helping them.


    However, there wasn''t a lot they could do about that, and Toz answered Dristel''s question.


    "Total defeat."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Really?"


    "Yep."


    "Can I ask what happened?"


    "I guess you could say it''s the power of grudges."


    Toz gave a vague answer to the question Dristel asked with some heartache. But Dristel understood what Toz meant, even if he didn''t get a detailed answer.


    The attitude of most individuals of power in the Starsling Kingdom was no secret to Dristel, and he wouldn''t be surprised if one or two pirates didn''t like the kingdom. And if they finally got a chance to take revenge, there was no way they would hold back. The Starsling Kingdom and everyone involved in the operation had underestimated the pirates of Pirate Haven. It was as simple as that.


    Dristel looked at Toz again as he continued talking.


    "Honestly, that sucks. But I can''t say I me you."


    "Eh, it''s the kind of thing that happens. But deal with whatever sadness you feel right nowter. I want to know what the kingdoms are nning."


    Dristel suppressed his emotions and began exining.


    "Although I was an admiral, I wasn''t in a position to weigh in on decisions. I just followed orders. So my knowledge is limited. But considering my fleet''s overwhelming defeat, the kingdoms are probably nning to first investigate the situation in more detail before possibly sending a delegation to try and pacify Pirate Haven."


    "Why would they want to pacify us?"


    "The goal of the mission was to obtain more fighting resources because we''re on the losing side. The kingdoms won''t have the leeway to fight against you and the demons at the same time."


    "So, no attempts to try and hire us?"


    "I wouldn''t think so. Some might think about trying to bring you into the war using more friendly methods, but most decision-makers are elitists. They won''t consider allying with pirates as a viable option."


    "Hmm. So after keeping us satisfied during the war, the kingdoms will immediately turn on us with a force greater than your fleet since they won''t have to worry about the demons anymore?"


    "Probably. The other kingdoms might not interfere too much after the war, but the Starsling Kingdom definitely won''t let this go until they''ve defeated you. The war is the only thing that''s stopping them, but as soon as it''s over, they''lle for Pirate Haven."


    "But is that such a big deal, though? We defeated you. Won''t we be able to defeat whatever other army or fleet they can send?"


    "Do you have any transcendents?"


    The others looked a little shocked at Dristel''s response to Toz''s question. Asking if they had any transcendents indicated that the Starsling Kingdom would likely send one out to get rid of Pirate Haven after the war.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "From your reactions, I''m going to guess you don''t. The Starsling Kingdom has three transcendents, but the King or the Grand Guardian almost definitely won''t move just to get rid of some pirates, so it''ll be the First Admiral. He''s every bit the selfish, arrogant noble as every other person in the Starsling Kingdom, but his strength is the real deal."


    "Alright, that doesn''t sound too good. What''s stopping this First Admiral from moving at once to get rid of us instead of letting the other kingdoms pacify us?"


    Dristel hesitated a little before answering Toz''s question.


    "I don''t know."


    "borate."


    Toz didn''t have the patience to try and coax the answer out of Dristel. And Dristel noticed Toz''s change in attitude, so he tried to do his best when answering.


    "I don''t know what''s stopping him, but if I had to guess, he''s probably on the frontlines, ready to respond in case one of the Demon Lords or their direct subordinates attack. But the war is ever-changing, and if it enters a lull, there might be an opening for him to slink away ande to Pirate Haven."


    "..."


    Toz decided to separate Dristel and Stris from thetest captive and wait until the red-haired man woke up to see if there was any truth to Dristel''s words. Since he couldn''t trust Dristel, Toz didn''t want him to message the young man secretly.


    Thankfully, Toz didn''t have to wait long until the red-haired man woke up after he moved Dristel and Stris to a corner and gagged and tied them up.


    The young captive''s head was leaning forward, and his fiery bangs hid his eyes, but he couldn''t escape Toz and the others'' perception. Though, it wasn''t like he was trying to hide he had woken up or anything.


    "I-I''m alive?"


    "Yep!"


    Lucy responded to the red-haired young man''s expression of disbelief with an enthusiastic smile. However, to the captive, who had fainted in response to Lucy''s jumpscare, the smile was far from as endearing and cute as Toz found it to be.


    Lucy startled the young man, and it looked like he was on the verge of fainting again, so Toz grabbed Lucy before he could jump toward the young man and scare him again.


    "Rx. We''re not going to kill you. We just want some answers."


    The young man barely reacted to Toz''s words as his panicked gaze was still stuck on Lucy. Toz didn''t mind and grabbed a chair of his own as he sat down in front of the young man while letting Lucy go somewhere else so that the young man could rx a little.


    Toz wasn''t sure if it was because Lucy had disappeared from view or because he sat down right in front of him, but the young man finally looked at Toz.


    "How about some introductions?"


    "Y-y-y-y-e¡­ O-o-okay."


    The young man was still barely able to talk due to the fear he felt, but he managed to stutter out an answer.


    "I am Toz. The little rascal who greeted you earlier was Lucy. Everyone here has their own names, but I won''t bore you with all that. How about you? What''s your name?"


    "A-a-andar. Sir."


    Andar seemed to have calmed down slightly as he got his jaw under control halfway through his answer. He even managed to show some respect by adding a ''Sir'' to the end of his sentence.


    "Andar, right. Mind telling us what you were up to?"


    "Y-yes, of course, sir. I was following my lieutenant''s orders to investigate the area, and then I noticed an abnormality in the mana flow, so I came here to find out what it was. My deepest apologies. I haven''t seen anything, so please spare my life."

 Chapter 296 Delegation (2)

    ?Toz only looked at Andar, begging for his life in tears.


    "I won''t make any promises since it depends on what you can tell us about your superiors and their intentions."


    "M-my superiors?"


    Andar sensed a faint hope in Toz''s words since they hinted that there was a way for him to survive.


    "Yeah. Your superiors. Why did your lieutenant want you to investigate the area?"


    "Oh, oh! I know that! I''m supposed to check and see if there are any traps or ambushes around here in order to secure a route for the delegation."


    "The delegation?"


    Toz pretended to be clueless in order to get Andar to give up as much information as possible.


    "Yeah!"


    Andar seemed to have regained some liveliness after he realized that he had discovered something that Toz wanted to know more about. Unfortunately, that spark of hope made him forget the details in his exnation.


    The sound of Toz''s tongue clicking startled Andar into hastily continuing his exnation.


    "I-I don''t know why, but the Alliance of Kingdoms created at the beginning of the war has sent some sort of peace treaty or something. T-that''s all I know. I''m really sorry!"


    Considering Andar''s position and that he was only a scout, Toz wasn''t exactly surprised that he didn''t know more, and he stopped asking questions.


    "Well, you won''t die, for now, at least."


    Toz gagged Andara so he would stop crying and whining while they waited for Taienra toplete her breakthrough.


    Thankfully, there didn''t seem to be anything wrong, and Taienra progressed steadily. Neither Stitches nor Brunswick could sense any trouble with Taienra and the forest.


    Eventually, the lighting from the trees on Taienra''s back slowly dimmed, and the streaks of starlight rushing toward her faded. A final burst of white light signaled the end of her breakthrough, and Taienra was officially a Starry Sky Whale at the seventh level.


    The breakthrough had gone rtively smoothly, but both Taienra and the trees on her back looked worn and exhausted. Asilean wasn''t sure he wanted Taienra to go with them to Pirate Haven if they were expecting a delegation from the four kingdoms'' alliance.


    Although the trees had helped Taienra during her breakthrough and made it more sessful, it had also taken a toll on her body and on the trees, so it would likely take a while until she was in perfect shape again.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    And since the humans of the four kingdoms, at least not the Starsling Kingdom, weren''t very trustworthy, Asilean didn''t want to risk it and expose Taienra to them in case they decided she was valuable.


    The delegation mighte in peace, but it wouldn''t be without sufficient force. They might not have brought an entire fleet to subdue Pirate Haven, but they would at least make sure they won''t get defeated by Pirate Haven.


    Taienra was an easy target due to her size if she couldn''t use her magic properly.


    However, Asilean and Taienra wouldn''t be alone in front of the delegation. They would have Toz and the other cats with them, not to mention the rest of Pirate Haven. As part of the Pirate King''s crew, Taienra naturally deserved the full support of Pirate Haven if the kingdoms tried something stupid.


    Things would be fine as long as the First Admiral didn''t show up.


    After convincing Taienra and Asilean to follow them back to Pirate Haven, Toz and the others anchored their ship and Andar''s scouting vessel to Taienra again before she made her way back to the city.


    Since she was tired after her breakthrough, Taienra was slower than usual, but she was still faster than the sailboat, so they made it back to the city pretty quickly.


    Wulf had barely noticed Stitches'' and Hayar''s absence before they showed back up, this time with a young, red-haired man in tow.


    Toz didn''t want to have Andar on Taienra''s back since he wouldn''t stop sniffling and sobbing. The only time he stopped was when he was unconscious, but Toz didn''t feel like knocking him out just like that since the delegation that sent him was supposedlying in peace.


    Instead, he sent him to hang out with the Bunglehoppers until the delegation showed up.


    Hopefully, it wouldn''t be too long. And since Andar had appeared not too far from Pirate Haven, the delegation probably wasn''t that far away.


    After making sure the three big crews knew about the iing delegation, Toz decided to train and improve his magic as much as he could until it arrived. The cats decided to get used to their level of power since the jump from the sixth to the seventh level was noticeably significant. And even more so since Toz''s inclination''s talent share made it easier for all of them to push their mana and mana pool further than they could without it.


    After helping Hayar exin to Wulf about the delegation, Stitches went to check on Taienra and help her recover faster so that she could be in fighting condition when the delegation showed up. Since she wasn''t injured, there wasn''t much Stitches could do, but he could at least stimte her life force and make her recover from her fatigue quicker.


    With rumors spreading regarding the delegation''s arrival, Pirate Haven, which had just calmed down after a frenzied burst of hardcore training, started buzzing with activity again.


    Reinforcements and armaments were secured and prepared.


    The battle with the Starsling Kingdom''s fleet had shown Pirate Haven that they were securelycking in not only individual strength but also in security. The pirates hadn''t only been busy training. They had also fortified the city itself, adding defenses and attack cannons.


    The city alone wasn''t good enough to get rid of a fleet on its own, butbined with the pirates, it would certainly be a great addition tobat.


    And in order to make sure the delegation didn''t have time to prepare for the city''s improved defenses, the pirates of Pirate Haven followed their King in taking any scout that came within range hostage. Since the delegation was supposedly peaceful, they refrained from killing anyone. However, those who resisted got a little bruised. And the scouting vessels were seized aspensation for the stalking behavior of the scouts.

 Chapter 297 Delegation (3)

    ?After several scouting ships disappeared at the hands of the pirates, they eventually stopped showing up in the area close to Pirate Haven. The delegation or the individuals in charge of it had probably realized that the scouts around Pirate Haven couldn''t escape the pirates'' ws, and it wouldn''t matter even if they sent more of them.


    The pirates didn''t care since it only meant they had more time to prepare for the delegation''s arrival. ording to the scouts, it wasn''t far away, after all.


    Only a few days after thest scout was captured, interrogated, and thrown in the dungeons of the city, the long-distance detection gadgets finally picked up the delegation''s tracks.


    However, the delegation progressed slowly and safely, so it took yet another day for the armada of ships to appear in sight.


    Even from a distance, the ships from the four kingdoms were easily discernable.


    The white and blue ships of the Starsling Kingdom were familiar to every pirate and citizen of Pirate Haven.


    To the right of the left-most Starsling Kingdom''s ships were the vessels belonging to the Redire Kingdom. Traditionalrge sailboats with dark red wooden bodies and sails that were slightly lighter in color than the ships'' main bodies.


    After the Redire Kingdom''s ships came the Firebelt Kingdom''s ships, which looked likerger and clumsier versions of the scouting ships but with a proper deck.


    Finally, next to the red-orange Firebelt ships were the vessels belonging to the Obsidian Inheritance Kingdom.


    The glossy ck ships didn''t outnumber their peers. But they carried an imposing might that the other ships couldn''t match. And despite blending in with the darkness of the Void, it was the Obsidian Inheritance Kingdom''s ships everyone in Pirate Haven watched.


    Most of the ships following the delegation stopped advancing when they were a certain distance from Pirate Haven. They weren''t so far away that they were barely visible, but they were still far outside the range of Pirate Haven.


    However, a few ships from each kingdom didn''t stop moving and continued to advance toward Pirate Haven.


    Pirate Haven had enough ships to match the Alliance of Kingdoms, but it would be meaningless to bring more than two ships from each of the three big crews, and in addition to the grand vessel Toz, his cats, and Brunswick used, there were seven ships in total.


    The seven ships from Pirate Haven met the eight ships from the Alliance halfway between Pirate Haven and the fleet.


    A person appeared on deck on one of the Obsidian ships with a box in hand. The person stepped to the fore of the ship and threw the box forward.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The pirates from the three big crews instinctively reacted and put up defensive measures and strengthened the barriers on their ships, even if they didn''t sense any malicious intent or danger from either the box or the person who threw it.


    However, thanks to Brunswick''s quick analysis, Toz only watched calmly as the box stopped in the middle of the air between the two parties before quickly unfolding and expanding into a circr tform with a rectangr conference table and eight chairs, four on either side.


    Seemingly following the instructions of the person who threw the box out, the outer rim of the tform shifted until eight ports aligned perfectly with each ship. Eight bridges shot out toward the ships they were pointing at. The bridges stopped upon making contact with the ships, after which a translucent barrier defending against the Void''s pressure sprung up around the tform and over the bridges.


    Toz was the first to step on one of the bridges. He was the most confident and fearless of the pirates, and he didn''t show much fear even when up against the four kingdoms. The other pirates were a little more cautious and ended up walking at the same time as the representatives from the four kingdoms.


    Brunswick followed behind Toz. The cats were nowhere to be seen since they had hidden themselves inside the familiar space in Toz''s inclination. It had been a while since they were in therest. Asilean hadn''t even been there before. But now that they didn''t know what they were going to face, Toz and the cats agreed that it would be better to keep the cats hidden as a trump card in case something went wrong.


    Avian apanied Red Hook.


    Wulf had debated taking someone else since Hayar was easily irritated, but he trusted her, and she followed behind him as they walked across the bridge toward the conference table.


    The Representative had an eighth level follower with barely any features other than eyes, nose, and mouth following behind him as they also walked toward the table in the center of the tform.


    The people sent by the kingdoms walked at a moderate pace toward the conference table opposite the pirates.


    The Starsling Kingdom sent a white-haired young-looking man with stars in his eyes. The literally starry-eyed man had a spectacled aide with a ponytail in tow.


    A couple of skinny, pale, vicious-looking men with red-tinted hair walked across the bridge leading from the Redire Kingdom''s ships. The slightly shorter one was in the lead and carried a toothy grin.


    The pair from the Firebelt Kingdom was the most mismatched since it was one brutish-looking man almost two meters tall and a sleek, red-haired woman with a sword strapped to her side.


    The final pairing was the two from the Obsidian Inheritance Kingdom. The ck-haired woman in the lead had eyes like ck ss. Although it was difficult to tell what she looked at, it was obvious nothing could enter her eyes, and it was the elderly woman behind her who looked around and inspected the pirates and the surroundings.


    The young, dark-haired woman''s arrogance was even greater than Toz''s, and since she had started walking after him, she was already beginning to show hints of a frown on her brow, which made the elder focus more on her than their surroundings.

 Chapter 298 Delegation (4)

    ?The sixteen individuals approached the conference table without much fanfare.


    Since Toz had started walking across the bridge first, he was also the first to arrive, despite the young woman from the Obsidian Inheritance Kingdom subtly increasing her speed.


    Toz didn''t wait for anyone and sat down, much to the displeasure of the delegates from the kingdoms. The Obsidian Inheritance delegate''s eyebrow twitched, and she huffed as she sat down opposite Toz.


    The other participants of the peace talks also sat down.


    No one said anything, and the pirates and delegates just sat in silence, watching each other, though most of the delegates'' attention was focused on Toz, thanks to his attitude and actions.


    Toz stared at each of them in turn before looking mostly at the duo from the Firebelt Kingdom. The tall, short-haired, and burly man stood behind the well-trained but rather slim woman with hair like fire.


    The man wasn''t very intriguing to Toz''s eyes, but the emblem sewn into the chest of his leather armor was. A circle with triangr spikes made it look like a symbol of a sun. It wasn''t the first time Toz saw that symbol, and he was curious what the rtionship was.


    Toz was also curious about the fire-haired swordswoman since she reminded him of two other people who shared the same traits.


    Since no one had any intentions of talking or taking the lead in the meeting, Toz didn''t bother restraining his curiosity and faced the Firebelt duo. Toz looked at the tall man with the symbol on his chest.


    "Hey, what''s your rtionship with Rick?"


    The symbol simr to a sun was the same as the stamp on the letter that Toz got from Rick, the branch manager of the Explorer''s Guild in Sleepless Brights, Toz and the cats'' first stop on their journey toward Treblor Forest.


    Rick had told Toz that he could bring that letter to the Besre estate in the capital if he ever visited there. Unfortunately, a bunch of stuff happened, and Toz hadn''t gotten the opportunity to visit the capital of the Firebelt Kingdom yet.


    But Toz still held onto that letter since it mighte in handy in the future or if he ever decided to stop by the capital.


    However, now that he met a person with the same symbol as the one on the letter as the symbol on their armor, Toz couldn''t just sit still.


    Reinar looked a little confused since, ording to what he knew, he was just there to support Avarin. He wasn''t actually supposed to say or do anything during the meeting. He noticed Toz looking at him and had nned to ignore whatever he said and just focus on his duties. That was until he heard Toz''s words.


    Reinar''s eyes widened in surprise, and he was about to answer Toz. However, Avarin was faster.


    Avarin, the red-haired woman, locked a sharp gaze on Toz.


    "Is that relevant to this meeting?"


    "Maybe not, but my mood is. And don''t you think easing up this tense atmosphere with some small talk is a good thing?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Avarin didn''t show any change in expression, but she didn''t press the issue.


    "Fine. It doesn''t seem like anyone has any objections or willingness to talk anyway."


    Avarin gestured for Reinar to talk if he wanted, which he did.


    Reinar recognized he was probably lower in social standing than Toz, even if Toz was a pirate. Toz was sitting down, and Reinar was standing up, after all.


    "Hello. My name is Reinar Besre, and if your question is about Rick Besre, he is my father and also the current patriarch of the Besre marquis family of the Firebelt Kingdom."


    Toz''s eyebrows rose in surprise at Reinar''s exnation. He had expected Rick to hold some sort of political or financial power due to his strength and the fact that his family had an estate in the capital. But he hadn''t thought that Rick was actually the head of one of the highest-ranking households of the Firebelt Kingdom.


    Reinar looked a little hesitant as he continued since he wasn''t sure it was okay for him to ask Toz a question, but he did it anyways.


    "May I ask you how you know him?"


    "Yeah, sure."


    Toz began rummaging through his pockets as he answered.


    "I met him during my trip to the City of Sleepless Brights on Roaring Skies. Long story short, things happened, and we got along well. I think he exins it better in this letter."


    Toz reached out and handed over the letter to Reinar while he finished speaking.


    Reinar hesitantly epted the letter while thoroughly inspecting it. The letter showed some signs of aging and was kind of dirty and roughed up. But the stamp sealing it was indeed the Besre family patriarch''s seal, so it was undoubtedly a letter sealed by Rick Besre.


    Nothing pointed to it being a trap or forgery, but Reinar didn''t open it at once since it was definitely the wrong asion for it. Reinar slipped the letter into a spatial ring.


    Avarin looked a little surprised. As a member of the zede family and one with significant achievements at that, she knew about the patriarch of the Besre family. Even Reinar, the patriarch''s son, couldn''t im to be too close to his father due to Rick''s habit of doing whatever he wanted.


    But now, one of the most powerful pirates of Pirate Haven somehow had a connection to that Rick Besre. Avarin wasn''t sure what to think of such a coincidence. But she didn''t have the time to ponder much on the odds of someone knowing Rick Besre and Reinar Besre meeting in such a ce since she wanted to get on with the meeting.


    The sooner the meeting concluded, the sooner she could get back to the battlefield. Her superiors had decided she needed a break from the war and gave her this mission. But her gut instinct told her the geezers and nepotists were just wary of her racking up achievements like an apple farmer harvests apples.

 Chapter 299 Delegation (5)

    ?Since no one seemed intent on actually starting the official meeting, Toz continued pursuing his curiosity. And he set his sights on Avarin this time.


    "You, do the names Amber and Amanda mean something to you?"


    Avarin frowned a little at the rude behavior, but she didn''t bother too much about it since she didn''t have high expectations of a pirate from the beginning.


    "Why do you ask?"


    "Just curious about whether all the red-haireddies with swords have anything inmon."


    "Not all sword wielders with red hair are rted, you know?"


    "My bad, then."


    "But if it''s within our kingdom, it''s likely they''re part of the zede family in some way or another. Unfortunately, the family''s too big, so I haven''t memorized the names of all my distant rtives."


    "I see. How about Andar, then?"


    Avarin''s eyes twitched, and she looked at Toz with eyes threatening to fill up with fire.


    "Yeah. I know Andar. He''s my cousin. He''s also a scout for the delegation that disappeared a few days ago."


    "What a coincidence! That''s when I kidnapped him!"


    Toz''s jovial admittance to having kidnapped the cousin of the Firebelt Kingdom''s delegate surprised not only the other delegates but also the other pirates.


    However, Toz didn''t stop there. He grinned widely, revealing a few sharp teeth as he continued.


    "How about we finally get this fucking joke on the way with some hostage negotiation."


    The kingdoms'' attitude had irritated Toz more than he thought it would. First, showing up with a fleetrge enough to threaten the Pirate King, and then when the pirates meet the delegates, they pull that stunt with the box.


    And then, when everyone''s seated, the delegates, who came to Pirate Haven with an objective, refuse to talk. Everything screamed acts of intimidation and psychological warfare stemming from insecurity and fear.


    Toz appreciated the opportunity toe in contact with Rick''s family, but he didn''t like being looked down on by people who were too afraid to take any kind of action. They could choose to be scared, or they could choose to be overconfident and look down on Pirate Haven and Toz. Not both.


    Toz looked coldly at the four delegates and theirpanions, each of them ring at him after his words.


    "I''m guessing you know better how many scouts have gone missing in thest few days than us. There are also a few hostages from the Starsling Kingdom''s humiliating defeat."


    Toz could see the starry-eyed delegate''s prince twitch in anger at openly being ridiculed, but Toz only smiled in response.


    "Well, maybe you aren''t interested in hostages since human lives are worthless to you all. In that case, I''ll happily tell them all that you have abandoned them. The scouts aren''t very strong, sure. But a certain admiral and his brother would make a couple of fine pirates."


    "Wha-"


    Avarin was about to speak up since she couldn''t stand the disrespect anymore. She was surprised that the delegate from the Starsling Kingdom hadn''t done so yet, considering his usual attitude, but now wasn''t the time to think about that.


    However, Toz interrupted her as he looked at the delegate from the starry-eyed kingdom.


    "What do you think? I''m pretty sure I could convince Dristel to join our side. A ninth level fighter with extensive knowledge regarding the Starsling Kingdom''s operations would be pretty annoying to face in the middle of a war with the demons."


    Toz and the Starsling Kingdom delegate stared at each other, with Toz smiling coldly and the delegate openly ring. But the delegate still didn''t say anything. Avarin wasn''t the only one surprised at that.


    Even the delegate from the Redire Kingdom, who had been pretty nonchnt and just enjoyed the spectacle so far, looked at Hama Steris, the third prince of the Starsling Kingdom, with surprise.


    The only one not looking at Hama in surprise or waiting for an answer was the delegate from the Obsidian Inheritance Kingdom, who looked at Toz with cold irritation.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Eventually, the Starsling Kingdom''s prince spoke.


    "Fine. Let''s assume you speak the truth, you filthy pirate, and that you indeed have the Second Admiral and his brother in custody. What do you want from them?"


    Toz could see that the Starsling Kingdom''s delegate was barely holding back his anger as he spoke. The sight of it made Toz smile as he responded.


    "What are you willing to give for them?"


    Hama gritted his teeth in anger. Not only was Toz speaking rudely to him, a prince of the Starsling Kingdom. He was also making hime with an offer as if begging Toz to free Dristel and Stris.


    Toz tilted his head back slightly so he could look down on the Starsling Kingdom''s delegate, further infuriating him.


    Toz''s rxed and condescending attitude served their purpose and made the insecure but hubris-filled prince stand up and m his palms on the table.


    The delegate from the Redire Kingdom and hispanion moved a little to the side so that they wouldn''t be caught in the crossfire. But unlike their expectations, Hama didn''t resort to violence.


    During their journey together, all the other delegates had seen for themself how temperamental the Starsling Kingdom''s third prince was, so when he brushed his hair back with his hands and sat down again, they all gaped in surprise.


    "Two million."


    "What''s that?"


    Hama could feel his anger surge at Toz''s taunting and at having to say it again, but he kept his cool as he exined.


    "Two million gold for Dristel and Stris. That should be more than enough for mongrels like you."


    Toz''s smile faded away as he looked at Hama with a frosty gaze. Hama felt a chill run down his spine when he met Toz''s eyes for a second before he looked away.


    Hama blushed a little in shame when he realized what he had just done. He had felt fear and openly admitted it by not even daring to face Toz''s eyes for more than a second. He was about to let his anger re up again when Toz spoke.


    "I guess there''s no deal then. I''ll keep Dristel and Stris for myself."


    Toz turned to the other delegates.


    "How about you all? Do you want the scouts back?"


    Avarin and the delegate from the Redire Kingdom didn''t answer as they instead turned to look at Dyra, the young delegate from the Obsidian Inheritance Kingdom. Dyra didn''t look like she had any intentions of answering Toz''s question, so Avarin took it upon herself to answer.


    "Yes, we would. But we haven''t prepared for any hostage negotiations, so we might not be able to meet your demands."


    "Then what did youe here for, if not to retrieve Dristel and Stris or any other hostages we might have taken?"


    Avarin once again looked at Dyra before answering. And Dyra once again didn''t have any intentions of bothering with the proceedings of the meeting, so Avarin responded.


    "We came here to negotiate peace on behalf of the Starsling Kingdom."


    Avarin looked hesitantly toward Dyra and her protector before continuing.


    "To be honest, the four kingdoms can''t afford to fight with both Pirate Haven and the demon realm at the same time."


    "Yet you still showed up with an entire fleet. You''re sending mixed signals here, you know."


    "T-that''s¡­."

 Chapter 300 Delegation (6)

    ?Avarin wasn''t quite sure how she should respond to Toz''s unwillingness to cooperate, but while she hesitated to say anything, someone else decided to speak up.


    "Who the fuck do you think you are?"


    "Miss¡­!"


    Dyra, who had been irritated with Toz from the beginning due to him walking across the bridge, arriving at the table, and sitting down first, couldn''t stand it anymore andshed out. Her words caused the elder behind her to gasp in slight shock. But Dyra didn''t care, and she continued.


    "Who gave you the balls to strut around and think you own this ce? Without my item, you wouldn''t even be able to put a foot outside your beggars'' boat. And you act like you''re better than everyone else? You aren''t even a high level mage, for fuck''s sake."


    Toz looked at the ck-eyed woman in surprise at her feistiness and at how she managed to see through his level of power. With Toz''s mana control, it was like a walk in the park for him to hide his strength from people at higher levels than him. Even Brunswick had to concentrate in order to see what level Toz was at, and Toz would notice Brunswick doing that, no matter how sneaky he tried to be.


    However, Toz hadn''t noticed Dyra doing anything like that, but she had still seen through him. Toz didn''t like the feeling.


    Before Toz could respond to Dyra''s outburst, someone else reacted first.


    "You''re that weak?!"


    Hama looked like someone had broken his jaw since it hung so low. But only for a moment before he clenched his teeth in anger.


    "A weak, low-life, fucking beggar dares to humiliate me?!"


    Hama stirred his mana, and his eyes and hair began glowing with white light. Toz sensed the power of a seventh level mage pour out of Hama, but he didn''t bother to respond.


    Hama''s bespectacled aide put a hand on Hama''s shoulder, instantly calming him and his magic.


    "Lester¡­"


    Hama growled his aide''s name. But he couldn''t muster his magic and sat down.


    "My apologies, your highness. Only following orders."


    Hama didn''t respond and simply continued ring at Toz.


    "Seems like the kingdom is keeping you on a strict leash, Dog Prince."


    Toz didn''t know who Hama was or if he had had that nickname since before, but Lester''s words revealed that he was a prince, and that was enough for Toz to decide what to call the guy who repeatedly insulted him. And based on Hama''s reaction, the nickname worked wonders.


    Hama''s eyes red open, but he couldn''t move due to Lester''s hand on his shoulder, and after snorting, Hama turned his head away.


    Lester pushed his sses up his nose as he shed a chilly smile at Toz.


    "I suggest you rein in your tongue, pirate."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Or what? Are you going to unleash the rabid dog on me?"


    Lester didn''t have time to respond, not that he wanted to engage in further argumentation with Toz since Dyra was tired of getting ignored.


    "Are you fucking kidding me?! Who in this puke-stained shithole gave you all the guts to keep on fucking ignoring me?!"


    "You two have been awfully quiet. Do you have any hostages among the scouts?"


    Toz couldn''t resist the temptation upon seeing Dyra''s anger, and he turned toward the duo from the Redire Kingdom.


    They looked slightly panic-stricken since Toz was obviously pulling them into the crossfire with a smile on his face. The two guys from the Redire Kingdom exchanged a look, trying to figure out what to do before something went wrong.


    However, before they could do anything, Dyra stood up and mmed her fist into the table, shattering it.


    Dyra''s ck eyes shone with anger as she lifted her handed and pointed a trembling finger toward Toz.


    "Since your asking for a fight, I''m giving you one. Right here. Right now. I''m going to drag your face across the ground like a mutt''s ass, you bastard."


    Everyone rushed to stand up when Dyra smashed the table, but now everyone stood still, waiting for Toz''s answer. Dyra had obviously disyed the power of someone at the higher levels when she attacked the table, but ording to her, Toz was at most at the medium levels. But, on the other hand, there was no way Dyra was going to let Toz go.


    Reinar and the pirates looked worriedly at Toz. Reinar because Toz was apparently a friend of his father''s and the pirates because there would be a lot of trouble when Toz eventually beat Dyra.


    Red Hook, Wulf, and the others didn''t doubt that Toz would win since he beat Dristel, a ninth level fighter. And that was before his breakthrough to the sixth level, not to mention the grimoires and manuals he had time to learn. He might not have had enough time to master the spells and techniques, but it would be more than enough to strengthen the quality and control of his mana.


    Toz was currently stronger than he had been when he defeated Dristel, and Dyra didn''t seem quite as threatening as Dristel, despite her show of force.


    Toz chuckled before responding, further ticking Dyra off. Hama looked on with glee. As a prince, he knew of Dyra''s background, and he was confident she would smash the medium level Toz into the ground. And even if she couldn''t do it by herself, she still had her protector with her who could finish the job.


    Due to Toz''s arrogant attitude, practically everyone thought he would happily ept Dyra''s challenge.


    However, Toz failed to live up to those expectations.


    "No, thank you."


    Toz''s response killed all of Dyra''s momentum, and she wasn''t the only one who almost stumbled out of surprise.


    At least the pirates sighed in relief since they wouldn''t have to deal with the aftermath of Toz beating one of the delegates into hiding out of shame.


    However, to the delegates, the pirates'' sighing seemed to be out of relief since they didn''t have to see one of them lose. It was fuel for Hama, who saw an opportunity to get some kind of revenge.

 Chapter 301 Delegation (7)

    ?"You scared? You weak-legged chicken? Are you trembling, cowardly mongrel pirate?"


    "Thank you for your consideration, Dog Prince, but I am perfectly fine. I can even stand on my own."


    Wulf knew the situation was tense, but he couldn''t help butugh at Hama, who hadn''t even gotten down from Lester''s arms before mocking Toz. Red Hook, Avan, and Brunswick also chuckled a little at Hama.


    The only ones who didn''t find the situation amusing at all were Dyra, Hama, and Lester. Toz could''ve sworn he saw Dyra''s protector''s lips twitch in amusement.


    Hama felt like everyone wasughing at him, so while blushing in shame, he left Lester''s embrace and shoved Lester away from him in frustrated anger.


    Lester willingly let himself get pushed away before he stepped closer so he could be ready to stop another one of Hama''s outbursts.


    After Hama stopped embarrassing himself, everyone turned to look at Dyra to see what she would do after Toz''s rejection.


    "Why?"


    Dyra pushed her question through her gritted teeth. She clenched her fists in anger as dark-colored mana began surging out of her body.


    Toz didn''t show if he paid any attention to Dyra''s infuriated state as he stood rxed while answering.


    "''Why?'' That''s my question. Why should I let myself get beaten by you? Why should I even fight you? I lose if you win. And if I win, I still lose since you have your protector and your fleet to back you up."


    "..."


    "What? Does the young miss feel useless since it doesn''t matter if you lose or not? You still win without trying."


    Toz guessed from how the others looked at Dyra during the conversation and how the elder called out to her when Dyra first spoke that she was an important young miss of some family. And considering her obviously obsidian eyes, she was clearly rted to the royal family in some way.


    Such a person was bound to have gotten coddled most of their life, whether they were aware of it or not. If the person was aware of their preferential treatment, Toz''s words would surely strike a few insecurities. And if they weren''t, they wouldn''t care about fighting Toz without getting some help.


    "Alright. Fine. As you wish. If you lose, you''ll simply be paying for the sin of having a disgustingly annoying mouth. And if you, by some miracle, happen to scrape out something that could be called a victory against me, I swear on my name as Dyra Obsidiris that no one present or in some way rted to me shall take revenge on my behalf."


    Dyra''s words were enough to make Toz agree to the fight, even if they didn''tpletely guarantee he wouldn''t suffer in the future for offending Dyra Obsidiris.


    With a signal from Dyra, the person who threw out the box controlled the tform so that the table scraps and chairs disappeared into the ground, and a circr tform appeared instead.


    A separate barrier appeared around the tform after Toz and Dyra stepped on it, ensuring the spectators'' safety and preventing any outside interference.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The circr stage wasn''t veryrge, only a few meters in diameter. Toz would have liked something slightlyrger to make full use of his magic, but at the same time, he didn''t need something like that in order to win. It would just make it easier.


    Toz and Dyra stood on opposite sides of the circle. Toz grabbed his sword, and Dyra roused her magic in response.


    "A sword fighter?"


    Toz shrugged


    "Something like that."


    The dark-colored mana around Dyra solidified into gauntlets around her fists and forearms, encasing them in obsidian. Dyra raised her guard, giving the first strike to Toz. Despite being angry and irritated at Toz, Dyra was still smart and experienced enough to know that there had to be a reason for Toz''s arrogance.


    If there wasn''t a reason for Toz''s attitude, he would have been killed by someone long ago. There was no way he would have ended up in the meeting meant to negotiate peace between the kingdoms and Pirate Haven if he didn''t have something that allowed him.


    Dyra knew level wasn''t always an urate measurement of someone''s fighting capability, and Toz''s strength would be the most obvious reason for his attitude. Not willing to risk anything aftershing out in anger, Dyra took a slightly more cautious approach since she had no idea what Toz was capable of.


    Toz analyzed Dyra''s posture as he held up his sword. He hadn''t expected her to be so cautious, but it didn''t matter.


    Toz dashed forward, using only his physical body. He was curious about how much Dyra had seen and wanted to find out if she only knew his level of power or if she even knew how many elements he had. There should be a reason for her caution. But if there wasn''t, Toz would simply have to prove her right.


    Dyra met Toz''s swing with an outstretched gauntlet. The collision sent sparks flying, despite the sword technically being wood.


    Although sparks had appeared, Toz''s sword hadn''t left a mark on Dyra''s gauntlet.


    Toz hadn''t infused his sword with any magic, but it was still sharp enough to cut through stone. Dyra''s magic gauntlets weren''t just basic magic if they could withstand his sword without a single mark left behind.


    Dyra''s words, pride, arrogance, and everything Toz knew about her were more than enough for him to figure out that the gauntlets were probably a spell. And a pretty good one at that. But a simple pair of gauntlets wouldn''t be enough to defeat Toz.


    Toz used the rebound from the strike to redirect his sword and sh in an upward diagonal.


    Dyra''s obsidian-d fist struck the sword''s edge before he could reach her body.


    The impact of Dyra''s fist left a dent in the de and sent it into the tform. The sword left behind a shallow furrow as Toz pulled it out and prepared to block Dyra''s fist flying straight toward his face.

 Chapter 302 Fighting Dyra

    ?After Toz''s two attacks, Dyra stopped hesitating. She still couldn''t figure out why Toz was so arrogant or why the other pirates let him run his mouth like that. Maybe he was simply a disposable pawn or something. In that case, Dyra would have to dispose of him.


    Dyra threw out her fist after blocking Toz''s upward sh. Since Toz would be struggling to keep his bnce after getting his sword knocked down, there shouldn''t be any problem when trying to bash his face.


    However, Toz was unexpectedly able to dodge Dyra''s blow by following his sword and ducking under her arm.


    Dyra, who wasn''t ready for her strike to miss, had put all her weight behind her fist. And when her attack didn''t reach its target, she revealed an opening. Dyra quickly corrected her loss of bnce by taking a step forward. But that brought her straight into Toz''s fist rocketing into her abdomen.


    She noticed the fist and tried to use her other arm to block Toz''s attack, but she was too slow, and Toz knocked the air out of her with enough force to lift her from the ground.


    Despite losing her breath, Dyra used the force of Toz''s blow to jump back and distance herself again. She was still an eighth level fighter. Toz knocking the air out of her was slightly troublesome, but it wouldn''tpletely impede her movements.


    After backing away and making sure Toz wasn''t pursuing, Dyra inspected where Toz had struck her. Toz had hit her with significant force, and Dyra had felt the blow. But it hadn''t left any real damage. Despite knocking the wind out of her and lifting her up off the ground, there might not even be any bruising left behind after the blow.


    Dyra felt some incongruity between how Toz fought and his strength. He was obviously fast and quick-headed enough to battle with someone at her level. He could evennd critical blows. But his blows didn''t deal any damage.


    Dyra wondered if he had a unique inclination and praised herself for being cautious. Toz had admitted to being something like a sword fighter, which meant he might only be using a sword on the side as a support to his actual inclination.


    After deciding to analyze Toz''s attacks and patterns, Dyra rushed forward, aiming tounch an assault and prevent Toz from attacking her again.


    Before Dyra could reach Toz with her assault, Toz decided it would be easier to ask Dyra directly rather than try to figure out through fighting her why she knew his level.


    "Before we continue, I''m curious about something."


    Dyra hesitantly stopped charging toward Toz, but she didn''t drop her guard since it might just be a ploy for Toz to ambush her. But if she yed it correctly, she could turn the situation around and counter-attack Toz, so she didn''t refuse the invitation to talk in the middle of battle.


    "What?"


    But she still made sure that Toz knew she didn''t have much patience for needless chatter by growling her question.


    "What makes you so sure I''m not high level?"


    "Why should I tell you?"


    "You don''t have to. It''s just that no one else in your party could tell, so I was curious about how you could."


    While talking, Toz signaled Brunswick to ask him to analyze the situation and the truth of whatever words Dyra said.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, Dyra''s look toward her protector told Toz how she knew his level.


    "That olddy told you?"


    Dyra tried not to show any reaction, but by staying silent, she silently affirmed Toz''s question.


    Toz looked at Brunswick, just in case, to see if he had anything to add. He was surprised to see a couple of tears of blood streak down Brunswick''s eyes.


    Brunswick flinched, and his head jerked back. He crouched down, clenching his eyes shut, trying to ignore the jarring pain that appeared as soon as he tried to peek at Dyra''s follower.


    Toz turned a ferocious gaze toward the olddy and pointed his sword at her.


    Dyra felt shivers as Toz''sidback attitude disappeared. A stone-cold re reced his half-hearted smile. Dyra had been keeping her eyes on Toz, even when he looked away. But she sensed something had happened, so she threw a quick nce in the direction Toz looked before pointing his sword at her protector.


    She only saw the man with swirling eyes crouching on the ground, with the grey-haired and green-haired pirates tending to him and the other three taking up aggressive or defensive stances toward the other delegates.


    The situation was quickly devolving into a full-on conflict, but before Dyra could do anything to get the meeting or her fight with Toz back on track, the entire tform trembled as mana spread out and pressed down on everything.


    The pressurizing mana was only the teaser, as instantly after it spread out, a cloud of mana swirled around Toz.


    The mana condensed into a dark blue lightning bolt oveid with Toz''s outstretched arm and sword.


    Orange sparks sizzle off the lightning bolt of a condensed mountain of mana.


    The light around the bolt grew in intensity. In only an instant, it was bright enough to force Dyra to squint. But before she knew it, the light disappeared. She could still sense the amalgamation of mana around Toz''s arm, but there was no light or anything there aside from blurry and unstable tremors in the fabric of space.


    Dyra''s eyes had a hard time processing what they saw, and she blinked.


    When she reopened her eyes, only the emptiness that happens when there''s no mana was left. The lightning bolt was nowhere to be seen or felt.


    Dyra instinctively looked in the direction Toz pointed before creating the lightning bolt. She had a feeling the barrier put in ce to prevent spells from reaching the spectators wouldn''t be very efficient against Toz''s magic.


    However, unlike her expectations, the barrier waspletely intact. But the same couldn''t be said for the other side of the barrier.

 Chapter 303 Yill

    ?Toz''s lightning bolt hadn''t left a trace of its passing within the arena he and Dyra fought on.


    With the element of space added to the lightning bolt, it didn''t need to travel, and it appeared in front of its target almost instantly.


    The element of darkness covered most of the lightning bolt''s presence, but the explosive force of lightning and fire, reinforced by the weight and sharpness of metal, couldn''t be perfectly concealed.


    Orange, blue, and purple light burst out before the lightning bolt could strike its target, alerting everyone of its location. But even if they noticed the light, no one present would be able to react confidently to the lightning bolt.


    The lightning bolt contained force and speed even Toz didn''t know he was capable of conjuring. And seeing Brunswick hurt had triggered unexpectedly strong feelings of protectiveness in Toz.


    Toz was already annoyed at the whole delegation due to their posturing and general attitude. But upon seeing how they even hurt his subordinate, his emotions took the lead over his magic,bining all six of his elements and creating the lightning bolt.


    His emotional burst had sped up the conjuring process, but it had still taken some time for him to cast, which left him open for an attack. And the only time he would need such powerful magic would be against an opponent capable of taking full advantage of that opening, rendering the magic inefficient and without use.


    Even Dyra might have been able to attack Toz during the moments he spent casting his magic if she had been prepared for it and not busy trying to get a grasp on the situation.


    However, she wouldn''t be able to withstand the bolt that caused the atmosphere to tremble just by existing. The other delegates were most likely simr in strength or weaker than Dyra, so they also would have suffered at the hands of Toz if he were to fire that bolt at them instead.


    Unfortunately, Tozunched his lightning bolt at the one person who could actually take the bolt head-on.


    Toz''s target was Dyra''s protector, Yill. The same person Brunswick looked at before his eyes started to bleed. It was clear from Brunswick''s reaction that Yill was the person responsible for injuring him.


    Toz barely had time to notice his fluctuating emotions before he sent the lightning bolt flying toward Yill.


    However, Dyra''s family wouldn''t send someone who couldn''t even protect Dyra as her protector.


    While everyone else was too stunned or incapable of reacting, Yill''s eyes widened in some surprise at the lightning bolt, but there wasn''t a hint of rm in them as she calmly raised her hand in the lightning bolt''s direction.


    The instant it took for the lightning bolt to blink across space and arrive in front of Yill and the instant left before the lightning struck her was enough time for Yill to lift an open palm and create a shield of ice. Yill''s movements looked slow andposed. But they were still faster than Toz''s lightning bolt.


    The shield of ice expanded and enveloped the lightning bolt upon collision, containing the thunderous explosion of fire and preventing Toz''s attack from affecting the surroundings.


    Even the grey mes Toz had made sure were part of the attack were useless against Yill''s ice.


    The oue of Toz''s attack was surprisingly anti-climatic as all the mana he gathered and sent at Yill only ended up creating a lightbulb that shed before fading out in a dim light.


    "My apologies, miss. But it seems like I''ll have to interfere with your battle."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Yill''s words prompted Dyra to leave her daze.


    "B-but I gave my word¡­!"


    "Don''t worry, miss. This feisty brat hasn''t won over you, so your word will remain unbroken."


    Dyra stomped her foot and pouted in an unexpected bout of childishness.


    "Fine! Do whatever you want!"


    Yill gave an apologetic look toward Dyra before turning her eyes toward Toz. The previously gentle and worried gaze that she had during the meeting when looking at Dyra was gone and reced by a strict expression.


    "Now then, you brat. I only responded in kind to that other kid''s intrusive peeking. He tried to look at something he shouldn''t have. It''s admirable of you to stand up for him, your strength even more so. But now that you''ve attacked me, I''m officially allowed to defend myself without having to worry about the Transcendent''s Pledge."


    Toz got a bad feeling, and he slowly began backing away with a wary expression on his face. Even Dristel, a ninth level fighter, would have remained uninjured after Toz''s lightning bolt. But Yill waved it away like it was nothing more than a fly.


    Toz didn''t quite believe his guess at first, but it was the only reasonable exnation he could find. Yill, Dyra''s protector, was at the transcendent level. Her words even confirmed it. And the pressure and danger Toz felt from her built with each passing moment.


    But Toz didn''t let his fear consume him as he tried to find a way out while also asking the cats to stay put. If he couldn''t put a scratch on her, they also wouldn''t be able to do much and would instead just put themselves in danger.


    "So, looking at someone makes him deserve that?"


    Toz decided to try and stall by putting the me on Yill for harming Brunswick.


    "If you can''t handle what you see, that''s what you get. I hardly even did anything. I just let him take a peek at what he wanted to find out. Or should I say, what you wanted him to find out."


    Yill took a look at Brunswick. She squinted before continuing.


    "You don''t have to worry, or fear, for that matter. He''ll be fine, and I''m not nning to harm you. You''re far too valuable."


    Yill didn''t seem to have any especially nefarious intents as she spoke, but Toz still felt chills rise up his spine.


    Toz tried to take another step back and put more distance between himself and Yill, only to realize he couldn''t move his feet. Without him noticing, ice had started creeping up his boots and legs.

 Chapter 304 Agreement

    ?The ice rapidly expanded and covered Toz''s legs, firmly freezing him in ce before it stopped. Toz felt the ice''s chill creep into his legs and spread to the rest of his body, forcing his mana to slow down to a crawl.


    Toz couldn''t move, and he could hardly use magic. But the ice was only locking him and his mana in ce. It wasn''t actually injuring or harming him in any way.


    Toz looked at Yill.


    "What do you want?"


    Yill chuckled before answering.


    "A lot of things, but if you''re wondering what I''m going to do to you, you''ll just have to wait and see. Now shut up and stay still."


    With a wave of her hand, Yill sealed Toz''s mouth shut with a gag of ice. She then turned toward Dyra.


    "Excuse me, miss. But now that things havee to this, I think it would be best to get it over and done with."


    Dyra sighed as she answered.


    "Alright. I''ll tell father and the others that your intervention is necessary and that you have my permission."


    After getting Dyra''s official acknowledgment, Yill turned to face the other delegates and the pirates, who were supposed to reach a peaceful agreement together. The attitudes of Toz and the others had, however, prevented that and eventually resulted in the current situation.


    But now that things and the meeting had taken this turn, there was nothing they could do about it.


    Although, it wasn''t like the delegates wanted to do anything about it. With a transcendent on their side taking control of things, the meeting was bound to be in their favor. Hama, especially, was grinning with glee at Toz''s misfortune.


    The pirates, on the other hand, were filled with worry. Their strongestbatant, Toz, was defeated before he could do anything against Yill. And Yill was now going to be deciding the results and conditions of the cease-fire.


    Everyone naturally expected Yill to make the pirates hand over all the hostages before agreeing not to attack the kingdoms while the war was still ongoing. Hama even hoped Yill would destroy Pirate Haven outright.


    However, Yill''s words turned Hama''s grin into a ck jaw and Wulf''s angry frown into a slightly less angry frown.


    "Since I am originally not supposed to interfere in the affairs of the Mortal Realm, I will remain as neutral and impartial as possible."


    Yill deciding to be neutral sounded like it was good for both parties, but Pirate Haven was the side that would gain more since they were in a naturally disadvantageous statepared to the four kingdoms.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    If Pirate Haven acted out during the war, the humans might lose against the demons, which would also lead to the death of Pirate Haven. But if the humans won, they would naturally seek retribution against Pirate Haven for their interference.


    Even if Pirate Haven didn''t do anything, the Starsling Kingdom would stille for them as soon as the war ended. At least Yill''s words made it sound like they wouldn''t be able to send their transcendent First Admiral all willy-nilly.


    The four kingdoms, on the other hand, only wanted their scouts back and for the pirates not to attack them, at least while the war was still ongoing.


    No matter what happened, Pirate Haven would still suffer. But the four kingdoms would probably survive the war, even if they''re defeated. Defeating the human realm would be a lot easier than actually eradicating or conquering it.


    Yill continued talking.


    "In order to make the process as smooth as possible, I ask for everyone''s cooperation."


    Yill started listing the terms of the agreement, which, although they sounded neutral, naturally favored Pirate Haven slightly, especially thest one.


    "In exchange for taking those two, who seem quite important to Pirate Haven, I''ll even throw in a grace period of three years after the war ends. As long as Pirate Haven doesn''t attack any of the kingdoms directly, none of the kingdoms are allowed to attack Pirate Haven. If one of the kingdoms is targeted, the others are not allowed to interfere."


    After Yill stopped talking, the pirates and delegates naturally began to fulfill the conditions.


    The hostages were exchanged for suitable ransom. Everyone present signed an agreement drafted by an eighth level notary that the Obsidian Inheritance Kingdom brought. Signing the agreement bound their mana to the agreement, and if they neglected it, their mana or martial energy would suffer.


    There are several ways to get out of the agreement without suffering bacsh, but most of those methods, such as asking a transcendent for help, will alert the notary responsible for the agreement. And the notary will, in turn, alert the Obsidian Inheritance Kingdom, who will, in turn, take matters into their own hands.


    Due to the Obsidian Inheritance''s Kingdom position in the human realm and Dyra''s status, they were less likely to break the agreement. And even if they did, there wasn''t anyone who could hold them responsible. The agreement only taking effect for everyone but the Obsidian Inheritance Kingdom might seem unfair, but no one made any protests with Yill there.


    Wulf and Hayar reluctantly signed the agreement. Even if it was beneficial for Pirate Haven, it was still at the cost of Yill taking Toz and Brunswick with them. While she had said she wouldn''t harm them, there was no way to confirm the truth of her words.


    But since even Toz was powerless in front of Yill, Wulf and Hayar couldn''t really question her or demand her to leave Toz and Brunswick alone. They couldn''t even ask her what she was going to do to Toz and Brunswick.


    Wulf wanted to immediately take out his axe and hack away at the ice binding Toz before grabbing him and the still recovering Brunswick and fleeing. But Yill kept a constant watchful eye on everyone on the tform. And there was no opportunity for anyone to do anything other than follow her instructions.


    Red Hook also signed the agreement with mixed feelings. She didn''t quite like Toz and his attitude as he made himself Pirate King, but he had brought many good things to Pirate Haven, whether he knew it or not.


    The Representative almost signed the agreement with some hope. Toz leaving would open up for a new king to take his ce. He was almost thankful for making all the pirates ept the idea of having a king. It was a shame he had to give away a grimoire to someone, not of the cult, but it was well worth it if he could take control over the entirety of Pirate Haven.

 Chapter 305 Escape

    ?All the pirates and delegates signed the agreement one by one.


    Toz had stopped struggling to break out of Yill''s bindings as soon as he realized his struggles were futile, but that didn''t mean he had given up. He couldn''t move his body, and the ice covering his body impaired his mana with the chill it spread into him.


    But he hadn''t lost all hope just yet.


    The cats had listened to Toz and stayed inside the familiar space. Even if they left it, they wouldn''t be able to do anything against Yill, so it was better to wait for an opportunity they could use to try and escape. They could decide what to do after that when they had sessfully managed to flee. Their first priority was to get out and their second priority was to bring Brunswick with them.


    Thankfully, Toz hade up with a simple n during the time Yill stated the terms, and the pirates and delegates signed the written agreement.


    ''Asilean, are you ready?''


    Tozmunicated with Asilean using the bond between them when Dyra began signing. She was thest one to sign, and if they didn''t get an opening by then, they wouldn''t get one and would have to resort to their backup n.


    Thankfully, Toz''s prediction turned out to be true.


    Yill, who watched everyone like a hawk at first, gradually stopped monitoring everyone''s movements, and she becamex in the way she watched the situation. Since everyone had signed already, there wasn''t a need for her to be so strict anymore.


    Her watchfulness increased a little while Dyra signed the document, but as soon as she finished, Yill let down her guard. Maybe not entirely, but enough for Toz to make use of it.


    ''Now!''


    Following Toz''s order, his inclination shone dimly, and Asilean popped out. Asilean didn''t sit still when he appeared. He started moving before he even touched the ground and immediately started blinking toward the edge of the tform.


    Despite dropping her guard slightly, Yill reacted instantly and sent a stream of snowkes in Asilean''s direction.


    Asilean noticed and thickened the space between himself and the snowkes, barely managing to lower their speed.


    However, that also caused Asilean to lose his speed, and before he knew it, a wall of ice appeared in front of him, blocking his escape.


    At the same time as Asilean''s path forward was blocked, the second cat made its appearance.


    And along with Mindle came three tiny tongues of me and an immense wave of heat.


    The heat wasn''t quite enough to melt the wall of ice that was quickly growing to cover the entire tform, but the mes were enough to contend with the streams of snowkes sent in Mindle''s and Asilean''s directions. One me protected Mindle, and another protected Asilean.


    Yill reacted mostly on instinct when she noticed the cat of fire appear since fire was an element that countered her own. Since ice also countered fire, Yill would still have the advantage since she was significantly stronger. But when the three mes showed up, and the air continued growing hotter without signs of stopping, Yill worried slightly, and when she looked closer at the cat of fire, she gasped in shock.


    Toz didn''t know why Yill was shocked, but he didn''t let go of that opportunity, and it was Nil''s time to make an appearance.


    Nil also made his move as soon as he left the familiar space. He instantly started casting his spell at the chunk of the wall closest to Asilean. It would be the shortest route for Asilean to escape. It was also closest to one of Mindle''s mes. If there was one part of the wall that would break, it was that one.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Sharp Raine sent a torrent of metal daggers and spikes at the wall. Thanks to Nil''s level of power and increased mana control, he had an easier time concentrating all the spikes in one ce, and a crack appeared after a single volley.


    Nilunched a second volley, prompting Yill out of her daze, and she threw another stream of snowkes in Nil''s direction.


    Nil noticed the snowkes, but he didn''t stop what he was doing. He trusted Mindle to have his back, which she did. Mindle used her third me to shield Nil from the stream of snowkes. Thanks to their proximity, Mindle could also use the same me to begin to wear down the block of ice restraining Toz.


    After Mindle blocked the attack, Toz prompted Scrael toe out.


    Yill was already spread thin with Asilean, Mindle, and Nil, and while she still had enough leeway to deal with Scrael, her reaction was slower than usual.


    Scrael started moving as soon as she left the familiar space. Mindle already had her paws full, and Scrael didn''t want to bother her, so she started running to avoid Yill''s snowkes.


    If Scrael had been the only target, Yill wouldn''t have had any trouble dealing with her since she could just cut off Scrael''s path. But forget being the only target, there were a bunch of bystanders that Yill couldn''t recklessly attack, so she had to carefully calcte Scrael''s trajectory before casting her magic.


    However, Scrael''s movements were erratic, and she darted back and forth while steadily building up a cloud of lightning around her.


    Yill''s snowkes missed Scrael repeatedly. And thanks to Scrael attracting most of the attention, the other cats had an easier time, especially Mindle, since she managed to melt most of the snowkes targeting her and the other two, which allowed her to begin defrosting Toz''s legs.


    Yill noticed what Mindle was doing, but she wanted to stop the cat of lightning from continuing to build up momentum and lightning.


    Yill was getting slightly frustrated since what was supposed to be an easy mission of simply watching over the young miss had somehow turned into a troublesome deal of trying to deal with a bunch of cats. And since the pirates and delegates were mortals and unrted to Toz the way the cats were, she couldn''t rashly involve them in her business with Toz.


    Thankfully Dyra caught on quickly, and despite no more than a few moments having passed since Asilean first appeared, she had already started telling the pirates and other delegates to get off the tform.


    However, before thest delegate and pirate could leave the tform, which would have allowed Yill to let loose, Scrael disappeared. The cat of shing, purple lightning vanished from sight.


    Yill looked around in a panic, trying to find her. She didn''t have to look for long before she sensed Scrael again.


    Scrael was gunning straight for the ce where Nil was aiming his third volley of Sharp Rain. The wall of ice was already cracking, and when it finally got hit by Nil and Scrael''sbined attack, several shards of ice broke free, revealing an opening through which Asilean could get out.


    Yill tried to restore the wall, but Asilean was ready and blinked through the opening as soon as it appeared.


    Right after Asilean blinked into the Void on the other side of the wall, the cultist apanying the Representative stepped onto the bridge. And Dyra sealed off the tform from the bridges.


    Thest thing Toz heard was Yill''s voice.


    "Gotta admit. You were pretty close."

 Chapter 306 Taienra Coming To The Rescue

    ?As soon as the tform was clear of innocent bystanders, Yill stopped holding back. With the bridges sealed off, she only had to limit her strength slightly to make sure no one got swept up in the avnche of ice magic she unleashed.


    Toz and every cat except Asilean got covered by the wave of ice magic, turning into ice sculptures. Even Lucy, who snuck out of the familiar space without Yill noticing in order to hide Scrael''s tracks as she dashed toward the ice wall, was struck by the magic.


    Yill threw a nce around the tform, ensuring she had frozen and immobilized everyone. She was slightly surprised at the appearance of a ck cat hiding in the shadows behind Toz, but she didn''t pay it any further heed. It was frozen and couldn''t do anything. And she had a more pressing issue to deal with.


    While she had sessfully frozen and captured Toz, Brunswick, and the cats within the range of the tform, Asilean had managed to slink out through the hole in the wall before she could get to him.


    And with the cat of space''s magic, even she might not be able to catch up if he got too much of a headstart, so Yill set out as fast as she could.


    Yill followed Asilean and stepped out into the Void after widening the hole in the wall so that she would fit through it.


    Despite not having the void element, Yill easily endured the pressure of the Void.


    Yill looked into the distance and began flying toward her target instantly.


    Asilean was blinking and darting through the fabric of space as quickly as he could, but he could barely keep Yill from catching up. And he felt his hope of escape dying when Yill started sending magic his way.


    Yill''s ice magic created a river of snowkes that surged forward.


    Asilean tried to stop it in its tracks by condensing space. But the river of snow broke through the barricade without even stopping for a second. The avnche quickly rushed forward to swallow Asilean and turn him into a block of ice to go along with hisrades.


    Asilean''s eyes were filled with despair when he sensed something and turned to look ahead again. His eyes widened in pleasant surprise and rm.


    Asilean used arge chunk of his magic and willpower to teleport straight to the side. His instantaneous movement allowed him to avoid the avnche, but he didn''t get too far away from Yill, and she might still easily catch up to him.


    Since he became a seventh level spirit beast, Asilean had trained hard to learn how to create portals by himself but also how to improve his short-distance movement by removing the need to move while blinking. Instead of shrinking space to shorten the time needed to travel, Asilean had started moving himself through space instantly. It took a lot more concentration and mana than just blinking, and Asilean wasn''t as good at it as he wanted. But the short-range teleportation was effective and had incredible potential. Unfortunately, since he wascking in proficiency, Asilean could only move out of the river''s way. Not any further away than that.


    However, Asilean didn''t want to avoid the river of snow with his teleportation. Asilean wanted to avoid the attacking from the river''s opposite direction.


    Asilean might not be able to outrun Yill on his own, but he knew someone who could.


    Taienra was still fatigued from her breakthrough, but she had made steady progress with her recovery, and she would be more than energetic enough to grab Asilean and rush into the Void, away from Yill.


    Asilean had run in Taienra''s direction as soon as he left Toz''s familiar space in the hopes of getting to Taienra before Yill could get to him. Thankfully, Taienra''s impressive perception reached all the way to the tform, and she began moving as soon as she sensed something was wrong.


    She had deliberately hidden in case the delegation became interested in a Starry Sky Whale with a forest on its back. The Starsling Kingdom''s treatment of her during their previous encounter had left behind some trauma, and Taienra chose to be careful.


    However, she was silently regretting it now that she sensed Asilean fleeing for his life. She had no idea who the person chasing him was or what had happened to the others, but she could tell that Yill was powerful enough to make the leaves on the trees on her back tremble.


    Even if both she and the trees were still worn out and exhausted, it wasn''t time to care about such trivial matters.


    Taienra had already decided to ignore whatever trivial pain she might experience as soon as she saw Asilean being chased down by Yill.


    She managed to convey her intentions to Asilean while she prepared her attack.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Taienra had other means of attack, but against an opponent Asilean, and most likely the others as well were powerless to face, only one thing would have hope of making an impact.


    Taienra ignored the strain in her back and the unwillingness she sensed from the trees as she roused her mana.


    The trees began glowing lightly as they helped alleviate some of Taienra''s burden despite their reluctance.


    White starlight umted in front of Taienra''s gaping mouth as she readied her attack. The orb of white light grew until it was eventuallyrger than Taienra''s mouth.


    Taienra wanted to squeeze more mana into her attack, but the pain in her body got too much for her to handle without risking having the entire attack dissipate.


    Taienra was left with no choice but to fire the beam of starlight straight at the river of snow rocketing forward toward Asilean.


    Thanks to her warning, Asilean moved out of the way.


    But Yill, who didn''t get a warning, only noticed the beam of starlight right before it struck her magic.


    The collision sent snow and light flying in all directions as the power of Taienra''s attack forced the river backward.


    Asilean saw hope as he continued moving toward Taienra, who was still a fair distance away.


    However, his hopes came crumbling down as the situation changed.


    Taienra only managed to push Yill''s river of snow back, thanks to her surprise attack.


    Yill only frowned before she put more mana into her magic, which easily reverted the flow again.


    The growing river of snow quickly drowned Taienra''s beam of starlight before continuing forward and spreading out.


    Yill''s ice magic filled the Void with ice as it swallowed Asilean and everything around him.


    Taienra could only look on in despair as Asilean was transformed into an ice sculpture.


    She roused thest dregs of her mana as she tried to conjure another beam and attack Yill.


    Her desperation helped her drown out the cries of her rapidly copsing body and the trees.


    Taienra charged forward, wanting to grab Asilean and flee.


    But with no mana left, there was no way she could escape Yill.


    Yill looked with pity at Taienra, who had almost gone crazy from the pain and Asilean''s fate.


    "Don''t worry, he''s not dead. He''ll be fine, but you should take better care of yourself."

 Chapter 307 Imprisoned (1)

    ?Toz didn''t know what had happened or how long it had been since he lost consciousness. After Yill''s words, everything went ck, and before Toz knew it, he was already waking up.


    He was a little surprised, considering it felt like he was dying when the wave of ice swept over him.


    Toz shook away the surprise and the remaining dullness of having his mind and body frozen as he tried to wake up and rouse his mana.


    His eyes shed open, and he tried to get a look at his surroundings before doing anything.


    At first nce, t didn''t seem like he was in a dangerous ce. It was just a little dull.


    Toz sat up while looking around at thepletely empty room. Empty walls, bare ceiling a couple of meters above the cold, hard floor. It felt like someone had trapped him in a cube. Toz was about to stand up to stretch his stiff legs and thoroughly investigate the cell when he noticed the rustling of the chains attached to his wrists, ankles, and the floor.


    The chains severely limited how far he could move. Toz could hardly stand up without crouching and holding his hands close to the ground. Toz grabbed the chains and pulled hard.


    Unfortunately, no matter how hard he pulled at the chains, whether he tried to get them off him or get them out of the floor, they didn''t budge. Toz sat down and sighed at the unbreakable chains.


    They might not have been unbreakable if he could use his magic, but either the room itself or something else suppressed his mana. Trying to control his mana was like trying to eat soup with a needle.


    With nothing to do, Toz''s mind wandered to questions he knew he wouldn''t be able to answer. He intentionally tried to distract himself so that the endless questions wouldn''t pain him. But he couldn''t resist the boredom.


    Toz''s primary worry was the cats and what had happened to them.


    Usually, his inclination would allow him to check up on them even from a distance, but whatever suppressed his mana also blocked off his inclination. Toz was left trying to answer the questions he came up with on his own.


    But the only things he had to go on were Yill''s words that she didn''t want to harm him and that he was too valuable. However, she said those things before Toz revealed the cats and tried to escape, so he had no idea if the cats were unharmed. He didn''t even know if Asilean had escaped.


    But with Yill''s strength and due to her words of it them being close to escaping, Toz guessed that it wasn''t very likely. As a transcendent, Asilean''s advantage in the Void wasn''t very noticeable. And although he still had the space element, which was quite useful when escaping, enough strength could bridge even the gap between attributes.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz didn''t even need to guess that Yill possessed the required strength to make up for the different properties of her ice attribute and Asilean''s space attribute.


    For all he knew, Yill might have only disyed a fraction of her strength when dealing with them. When Scrael ran around the tform, Toz noticed how Yill distinctly avoided hitting any of the others, even if her attacks wouldn''t have injured them.


    Considering she had also talked about how she wasn''t supposed to interfere with the affairs of the Mortal Realm and something called the Transcendent''s Pledge, Toz hazarded a guess that Yill couldn''t act however she wanted.


    Toz felt a little despondent at the realization that Yill held back, and Toz and the cats struggled to even escape from her when they had the advantage in numbers and a surprise attack.


    He also realized that Yill had probably caught up to Asilean before he could escape. There was nothing holding her back while she was in the Void. Asilean, who couldn''t escape when she restrained herself, probably couldn''t escape if she fully unleashed her strength.


    Toz was curious about the extent of the Mortal Realm, whaty beyond it, and what the Transcendent''s Pledge was. But due to his current circumstances, there was nothing he could do to satisfy that curiosity. Not that he wanted to satisfy his curiosity before he could find the cats and Brunswick.


    The thought of Brunswick also made Toz remember the other pirates, Pirate Haven and Taienra. He knew Pirate Haven would probably be fine, even without him, thanks to the agreement the pirates and delegates signed. He also didn''t mind leaving Pirate Haven since he had fulfilled his mission there. But he had wanted to leave on his own terms and after settling his gains.


    But now that Yill had kidnapped him, Toz could hardly expect to retain his grimoires and martial manuals. He already had several spells, and he could probably figure out the rest of Dissolution and Armor Slice on his own, but he really didn''t want to give up on the old, scrappy manual marked with the rainbow swirl.


    The manual that had withstood the test of time but was in pieces and ripped out from something greater was filled with the promise of secrets and adventure. Toz''s desire to explore and discover had waned a little after his faith in the Explorer''s Guild dropped following the Treblor Forest incident.


    He had spent a lot of time discovering interesting creatures in the Void, and then he found the different things in Pirate Haven, such as the weird knick-knacks Brunswick worked on or the Hidden Blood Dagger that entranced Red Hook. Whenbined with the revtion he got from Yill that the universe was a lotrger than it seemed, Toz''s excitement for exploration was reignited. And one of the things he was most interested in was the source of the rainbow swirl manual.


    However, Toz''s budding excitement was quickly smothered by the reality of his situation. He was imprisoned in the most boring cell he had ever seen. He couldn''t even move around.


    Tozy down on his back and stared up at the empty ceiling as he began trying to figure out the blockage of his mana.

 Chapter 308 Imprisoned (2)

    ?After looking at the empty ceiling for a few moments, Toz closed his eyes. Since he couldn''t use his mana, most of his strength as a mage was gone. Since he couldn''t use mana at all, he couldn''t tell if his surroundings were enchanted or whether his chains were purely restraining his body. He still had his physical senses, but in the isted cube, he only heard the sound of his clothes brushing against the ground, his breath, and his beating heart.


    Toz had only tried to move his mana as usual while trying to get rid of the chains. But now that he had already distracted his own thoughts as much as possible, he had to find a way to avoid thinking about the more ominous oues of the meeting with the delegation from the Alliance of Kingdoms.


    Toz didn''t want to think about it, and he quickly reined in his thoughts. But simply wondering about what had happened to the cats made his stomach clench. He could only use his unchanged symbol tofort himself that the cats were fine. If any of them had been harmed, his inclination would have sensed it and let him know. But it was fleetingfort since the inclination also seemed to be isted by the cube.


    Toz pushed any thoughts he didn''t like out of his head and focused only on himself. He sent his consciousness to within him, toward his mana pool. He didn''t have any issue sensing it or the mana within. In fact, since all the mana usually dispersed around his body as a passive defense was forced into the mana pool, it was slightly easier to iste the mana pool''s presence. It was a barely noticeable change, but Toz was slightly concerned that even the mana passively spread out through his body was affected.


    Toz wasn''t sure what was going to happen to him. But that slight amount of mana amplified his natural strength and recovery greatly, so losing it affected how easily he would get tired or how quickly he healed from injuries.


    Toz kept inspecting his mana pool and ignored whatever stray thoughts popped up.


    His mana pool looked and felt like usual, an incorporeal orb filled with rtively equal parts of mana of each of his attributes. The six colors swirled around each other, a dull grey for his strongest element, his void attribute, the only one at the sixth level, a smooth silvery grey for his metal element, a pitch-ck, sticky darkness for his darkness element, a lively orange for his fire element, a flickering purple for his lightning element, and a shimmering blue for his space element.


    All six elements and his mana pool looked like they usually did, and Toz felt like he could easily bring out his mana from any of the attributes. But as soon as he tried, that feeling disappeared no matter what he did. The mana refused to respond to his call.


    It was almost as if an invisibleyer separated the mana pool and Toz.


    No matter how hard Toz tried to force his willpower into his mana pool, it never made direct contact with the mana, which prevented him from taking control of it.


    But Toz didn''t give up. At first, he didn''t even know what prevented him from using magic, but now that he had a clue, he only needed to figure out how to break that invisibleyer.


    Without any outside distractions, thanks to the istion of his cell, Toz had an easy time concentrating on the task he assigned himself. Even if he didn''t make any progress, he easily lost track of time as he poked, prodded, and pulled at the invisibleyer using imaginary teeth made of his consciousness.


    It happened a few times that Toz felt like he was on the verge of breaking through theyer, but right at those moments, a splitting headache that shook his concentration overcame his mind. He quickly realized that theyer wasn''t only preventing him from using mana. The magic responsible for the restriction also prevented him from breaking free of it.


    After the fifth headache, Toz stopped attacking the rubbery shell around his mana pool. If he couldn''t find a way to get rid of theyer by attacking it directly, he would have to find another way. From the headaches he got, Toz felt like breaking theyer through brute force might also break his mind, rendering him a brain-dead cripple. Toz didn''t want that.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz thought about what he could and couldn''t do due to the restriction as he tried to figure out a solution. He couldn''t reach the mana inside his mana pool in any way because of the invisibleyer around his mana pool, which meant he couldn''t use his own mana.


    But he hadn''t noticed anything limiting his actual mind or willpower, so he decided to try and use the mana around him.


    With his bodypletely stripped of any mana, he was practically worse and a mortal with an unawakened inclination in that regard. Thanks to his training and the refinements, his body was significantly stronger, but even mortals had mana passively in their bodies from breathing air filled with mana or eating food with mana in it.


    That kind of mana was practically useless and quickly left the body since there wasn''t anything holding it in ce. But when a mortal first awakened, that barely noticeable amount of mana was what helped them take the first step toward the first level.


    And for mages that improved by converting and absorbing the mana around them, that small amount of mana was what helped them take control over the mana in their surroundings. The mana in the surroundings simply followed the lead of the mana already under the mage''s control and entered the mage''s body.


    However, Toz was in a position even worse than a newly awakened mage since he didn''t have a single drop of mana to use as leverage and make the mana around him enter his body.


    The only thing he could rely on was his willpower and consciousness.


    But the difference between controlling mana that was already his and wild mana was like the difference between blowing out a candle using one''s breath and putting out a campfire by blowing on the leaves of a nearby tree in the hopes that the fluttering of the leaves would blow out the fire.


    Just the idea seemed ridiculous. Unlike the mana that was part of him and existed in his body, the mana in his surroundings didn''t have any reason to follow his wishes. The mana might even do the opposite of what he wanted and move further away from him.


    But without an alternative, trying to force the mana around him to follow his lead using only his willpower was the only hope Toz had of breaking free from the restriction or using mana.


    However, Toz encountered a hurdle as soon as he began trying.


    He could move his consciousness around his body at lightning speeds without issue. But that was limited to within his body. As soon as he tried to leave his body with part of his consciousness, he felt a great resistance hindering his attempt.

 Chapter 309 Imprisoned (3)

    ?Toz almost groaned in frustration at the restriction that constrained his consciousness before he realized it wasn''t the restriction''s fault he couldn''t leave his body with his mind. It was a defensive measure to prevent himself from injuring his mind by exposing it to the outside world without the support of mana.


    Toz had no trouble expanding his consciousness to absorb and convert mana when he trained. But trying to do the same thing without the support of his own mana proved a lot more challenging.


    However, he could feel that the resistance hindering his consciousness from leaving his body wasn''t as stubborn as theyer covering his mana pool. Toz felt as if he could pierce through the resistance as long as he tried hard enough. But he wasn''t sure if he should.


    Bringing his bare consciousness outside his body without the support and protection of his mana could very well lead to it getting injured or his mind suffering harm.


    Toz only thought about it for a few moments before deciding to go through with it.


    Being imprisoned in an isted cell practically guaranteed that there wouldn''t be any outside interference, and his mind would be at minimal risk. And he had to do something to try and break through theyer around his mana pool so he could use magic and break free.


    Going through with his idea would be risky, but it was worth taking the risk if it meant bringing him one step closer to freedom and finding out what happened to the cats and Brunswick. And then, after that, he could begin thinking of revenge. It would probably take a while until he could defeat Yill, but as long as he dedicated himself to growing stronger, Toz was sure he would eventually be strong enough to beat her. He hadn''t experienced a single hurdle or wall during his training, and every time he broke through to the next level, he did so with overwhelming sess.


    And if Toz wanted to grow stronger faster, he couldn''t be scared of taking a few risks.


    Toz resolved himself and put away any distracting thoughts, focusing entirely on controlling his mind and the stream of consciousness, moving it to the border between his inner self and the outside world.


    Toz stopped for a moment as he braced himself before pushing through. With the feeling of tearing through a nket, Toz''s consciousness left his body.


    Feelings of being exposed and vulnerable overcame Toz. His body also rapidly paled, and he felt his thoughts slow down.


    Before anything else happened that would lead to permanent damage, Toz stopped forcing his consciousness to stay outside his body. As soon as he let go of his control, his body sucked his consciousness back inside again, repairing the tear he made at the same time.


    Toz involuntarily gasped as he returned to his body. He hadn''t technically left it. He had just sent a part of his mind outside his body, but it still felt like he had be two separate entities, his body, and his mind, when they were usually joined together as one.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It was an unnerving and eerie feeling that Toz would prefer not to experience ever again. He hadn''t even stopped shivering, and his face was only gradually recovering its color.


    But when he ignored the sense of difort and the unpleasant aspects of it, Toz realized he had gotten a new perspective on mana. Usually, when he interacted with the mana around him, he did it using his own mana as an intermediate.


    But when he sent his consciousness out of his body, he came in direct contact with the wild and free mana of the universe. It was a lot more lively than the subdued mana in his mana pool, but it also seemed like it was more varied.


    Every bit of mana of the same attribute in his mana pool was practically the same. And when Toz used that mana to look at the outside world, that was what he sensed. But now that he looked at the world around him with senses unaffected by his mana, he realized that not all fire mana was the same.


    Some of it was bright orange, lively, and hot like his and Mindle''s. But there were also gatherings of dark red fire mana or light blue fire mana. And it was the same for every other element he sensed, not only the six elements he had.


    Since some of the elements looked like what he could create withbination magic, Toz first thought thatbination magic was a natural aspect of the universe and that wild mana could also spontaneouslybine. But he quickly realized that it wasn''t like that.


    Elements weren''t so simple they could be defined or characterized using only a single representation or aspect of it. Fire was more than the fire that came from lighting some wood on fire.


    It could be fire that came about from something special burning or even the changes wrought by a mage controlling the fire.


    Tozpared his fire magic with Mindle''s. Due to learning the Fireball spell, his fire magic was more explosive and shy, while Mindle''s fire magic focused more on the extreme heat she could produce.


    If simr developments stacked on top of each other, it wasn''t impossible for the two of them to develop their fire magic in different directions, eventually creating their own fire magic, separate from one another.


    Despite having the same starting point due to Toz getting his fire attribute from Mindle, he might eventually end up with an almost entirely different kind of magic. The realization left Toz in awe as he pondered on the possibilities of his magic in the future.


    He couldn''t force his consciousness to leave his body again until he recoveredpletely, so he happily epted the break where he could daydream about what his magic would develop into in the future. His fire magic was only the beginning. Toz couldn''t help but wonder about all his other elements as well.

 Chapter 310 Imprisoned (4)

    ?Toz couldn''t quite begin to imagine what would happen to his magic in the future since the only attributes that had already begun diverging from their source, the cats, were the fire and void attributes.


    However, after thinking about it a little more, Toz realized that his other elements had also gradually begun taking their own shape, separate from the cats he got them from, thanks to his inclination.


    Lucy''s offensive darkness magic focused on manipting a target''s mind. He was also extremely proficient in concealing his presence using shadows. Toz''s darkness magic, on the other hand, had developed into severing the physical and bodily sensations of his target due to the development of his own darkness spell, Void''s Embrace.


    Nil''s metal magic focused on sharpness and detailed creation due to his spell and his natural affinity for creating things rather than attacking with his magic. Toz''s metal magic was more directed toward increasing the strength, sharpness, and durability of his sword and body.


    The elements Toz got from Scrael and Asilean hadn''t had time to develop in their own direction, except for the void attribute. Due to his many elements and his liking forbination magic, Toz''s void magic was already developing in a direction suitable for that. It had also taken on some properties from the Dissolution spell he learned.


    Despite not being able to use his magic, Toz felt like he had progressed slightly, thanks to his self-reflection. Maybe not in terms of level, but his reflection and deepened understanding of mana had helped him improve his own magic, which he felt would stagnate if he didn''t break through.


    Toz had previously thought that he was nearing the limits of what he could achieve at the sixth level, but it was obviously nothing more than delusions caused by his arrogance. There were more ways to improve other than breaking through to the next level. His multiple refinements were proof enough of that. And now, he had discovered another way. By deepening his understanding of mana, he could improve his magic. The only rtively minor problem with the method he found was that he had to risk injuring his mind to do it.


    But since it was not only his sole hope in breaking free from the restriction on his mana pool but also a way to improve his magic, Toz didn''t shy away from it.


    As soon as he recovered enough to try again, Toz gathered his willpower and consciousness, once again bringing it to the border between his body and the outside world.


    Toz had an easier time forcing himself through the resistance this time, but he didn''t know if it was because he had done it once or if the nket-like cover had weakened after his previous trip. It wasn''t like it mattered.


    As soon as Toz left the protection of his body with his mind, he felt the outside world wear down on the piece of his consciousness he sent out. After the first time, Toz had gotten slightly more used to the feelings of being exposed, so he had an easier time perceiving the world around him using only his mind.


    However, he couldn''t spend too long doing that since he felt the outside world''s pressure wear away at his consciousness. It was almost simr to the pressure of the Void. But instead of the Void''s indifferent power that was too great for mortal bodies, the pressure of the world around him felt like he was being overwhelmed by the universe''s abundance.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz wanted to stay outside of his body longer, but he could sense that his mind was quickly reaching its limit. Toz instinctively knew that if his mind reached its limit, he would die.


    Left with no choice since he really didn''t want to die, Toz retracted his consciousness back into his body, after which he waited for it to recover so that he could try again.


    While waiting for his mind to recover, Toz thought about his experience and tried to understand as much of mana as possible. But since his stay outside his body was too short, it was hard to get anything more than what he got from his first try. It also didn''t seem like he was going to manipte the outside mana with only his willpower anytime soon.


    But since he didn''t have anything else to do, Toz simply continued recovering and then sent his consciousness outside as soon as it recovered.


    Time passed. Toz had no idea how much since he had no way to measure it, and his mind was too preupied to take note of the passing of time.


    Toz sometimes wondered what the purpose of his imprisonment was and if anyone was watching him, but he couldn''t find an answer to those questions. He could only hope that he could get as much time as he needed to break free of the restriction on his mana pool before anyone came to bring him out.


    If he was imprisoned in apletely bare istion cell, he probably wasn''t going to be treated as a guest when Yill or whoever finally decided to do something with him.


    Yill had imed he was ''too valuable,'' but Toz had no idea what she meant. But considering she said it after he demonstrated his strength, he could only guess it was rted to that. She also hadn''t said or shown any reaction toward him before that.


    Toz could kind of understand why Yill would want someone strong for their level since she couldn''t recklessly interfere with the affairs of the Mortal Realm. Toz was strong enough to contend against most people of the Mortal Realm before even reaching the high levels, so if Yill wanted him for that reason, he could understand.


    Maybe keeping him isted was a way to wear down his mind, and theck of afortable sleeping ce and food would wear down his body.


    Toz wasn''t confident in his conjecture, but he didn''t think it waspletely unreasonable.

 Chapter 311 Imprisoned (5)

    ?Toz continued pushing his consciousness out of his body to the point where he feared it might break. He spent the time his mind was recovering, either reflecting on his use of magic or on what he experienced when he sent out his consciousness.


    Before he knew it, Toz had already done it several times, with each try allowing him to spend more time outside his body. He also began recovering quicker each time he did it. Soon enough, Toz spent more time with his mind outside his body than he did recovering.


    The resistance blocking his mind from leaving his body was practically nonexistent in front of Toz''s consciousness. And since Toz didn''t feel difort while exposing his mind anymore, he guessed it was because his mind had gotten stronger. Repeatedly exhausting and wearing down his mind and then letting it recover had strengthened it, allowing him to tolerate the outside world''s pressure better.


    Toz tried breaking through the invisibleyer covering his mana pool, but it only ended the same way it did before. After recovering from the headache, Toz decided it was finally time to try to aplish what he had initially wanted to do by sending his consciousness outside his body.


    The previous times, when Toz only wanted to train and get his mind ustomed to the outside world, he had mainly looked around at the nuggets and swirls of mana moving around and interacting to deepen his understanding of mana at the same time. He tried moving further away from his body a couple of times, quickly realizing it increased the strain on his mind exponentially the further away he got.


    Since he had been keeping most of his focus on checking on the state of his mind, Toz hadn''t been able to really do anything else except look around. But now that he was going to try and manipte the mana around him, Toz had to change his focus. He wouldn''t be able to control the mana of the outside world if he tried to do it half-heartedly.


    Ignoring the state of his mind to focus solely on the mana would be risky, but Toz had already confirmed that he needed to take risks if he wanted to be stronger and break out of his cell.


    Once again firming his resolve, Toz prepared for another outing with his mind.


    Toz dove out of his body with the fist-sized wisp of consciousness. He created an imaginary hand and tried to grasp some of the mana around him as soon as he left his body.


    The mana was spread out, mixed with the air, and only separated by different elements. No matter where Toz''s imaginary hand reached, it brushed through the mana, so he hoped he would be able to grasp some and bring it back with him into his body. Toz closed his imaginary hand, not knowing whether his attempt had been sessful or not, and he rushed back into his body.


    A splitting headache greeted him upon his return. Toz had realized it as soon as he created the imaginary hand, but doing that put an extreme toll on his mind. Far more than simply leaving his body had done. When he realized it, Toz wanted to retreat back to his body at once. But he also didn''t want to give up without even trying to get some mana.


    Unfortunately, his attempt was in vain. His imaginary hand had been unsessful in grabbing any mana.


    The headache Toz got from his attempt was so bad that after confirming his attempt failed, Toz passed out. More because of the injury to his mind than the actual pain.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz woke up again with a groan. The headache wasn''tpletely gone, but it was enough for him to ponder on why he hadn''t been able to grab any mana. But no matter how much he thought about it, Toz couldn''t reach a conclusion or even a solid guess.


    With nothing else to do, Toz decided to try again as soon as he recovered.


    However, the results of his second attempt weren''t any different, aside from how Toz felt like he wasn''t unconscious for quite as long.


    Toz was a little discouraged at theck of sess in breaking free from the restriction on his mana pool. But the constant improvement of his mind and not knowing what was happening with the cats forced Toz to continue following the only path that seemed to lead to some kind of a solution.


    After some time, Toz was already able to create an imaginary hand without having to rush back inside his body at once. He couldn''t maintain it for long, but it was enough for him to notice how the mana slipped through his fingers and refused to be grabbed by him.


    The imaginary hand managed to touch and almost move the mana around, but it was unpleasantly useless. Toz wondered if he should try a different method or if he should stick to using his hand.


    His consciousness was capable of touching and interacting with the outside mana as long as he condensed it to a certain degree. But condensing his consciousness into the shape of a hand was already stretching his limits.


    Toz decided to continue practicing with the hand method until his mind was strong enough to try something else.


    As he continued practicing, his mind became stronger, and it was easier for him to condense the hand. The mana also reacted more to his hand the denser it became. But as soon as Toz tried to move the mana, his imaginary hand became practically useless.


    Toz was a little discouraged a gain, but since he saw some hope in his idea showing some sess, he didn''t give up.


    After some time, Toz''s mind was strong enough to create two imaginary hands to try and catch some mana. They were smaller than when he only created one. It also strained his mind a lot more to create and control the two hands at the same time. But when he used both hands to try and scoop through the mana, it almost looked like the mana was about to follow along.

 Chapter 312 Imprisoned (6)

    ?Since creating two hands made it easier to interact with the mana, Toz continued pushing his consciousness to its breaking point so that it became stronger each time it recovered. It took a lot of time to improve significantly, but it didn''t look like he was leaving his cell anytime soon, so it didn''t matter. Toz almost wanted to stay longer in the cell since it provided such an excellent atmosphere for concentrated training.


    The absolute silence, the dull walls, and the otherwise boring room ensured there was not a single distraction anywhere. However, there were five distractions that Toz didn''t want to spend a minute longer without being able to reach. The cats weren''t the only thing urging Toz to continue training. But they were what made him focus on breaking the restriction as soon as possible instead of only getting stronger.


    Toz continued training and practicing. The only breaks he took were the ones his body forced upon him when he couldn''tst longer or when he inadvertently harmed his mind a little too much. There were a few times when Toz felt like he had taken a step or two too close to death, and he tried to be more cautious after that, but incidents like those were also what caused his mind to grow the quickest. But if he died, he would be abandoning the cats, so he only inched as close to death as he could while still staying safe.


    Eventually, Toz managed to elongate the imaginary hands he condensed from his consciousness with a pair of arms. The arms added strength and force to the hands, which made it even easier to try and grab the mana. The mana allowed the arms to push it around a little, but Toz still couldn''t grasp the mana or convince it to enter his body and obey his will.


    Toz didn''t let the minimal progress affect him since he realized he was onto something. Instead of trying to interact with the mana as soon as he made some progress, he set another goal to reach before he tried to achieve sess with the mana.


    Each time his mind recovered, he exhausted it again by continuing to add to the imaginary hands. The forearms turned intoplete arms, which, after a while, got attached to a pair of shoulders. The next step took a little longer since it was a lot of progress at once, but Toz connected the shoulders with a chest that eventually extended into aplete torso.


    After the torso came the hips, legs, and feet. Before Toz knew it, the only thing remaining of his miniature illusory clone was the head. Toz had considered adding it after he added the torso, but something told him he should wait until he finished the rest of the body before doing that.


    When he began condensing his head, Toz partly understood why. Without the practice of creating the rest of his body, he wouldn''t have been able to create theplexities of the head.


    Although he could sense the outside world with only his consciousness, it was limited to barely more than being able to perceive the mana. But during the process of creating the head, Toz gradually began seeing the rest. There wasn''t much in the cell, but he could see the walls and even his own rapidly paling body.


    At the sight of his body that looked like it was on the verge of dying, Toz realized he was pushing his mind to the limits, and if he didn''t finish his head as soon as possible, he wasn''t ever going to finish it unless he managed toe back from the dead.


    Unfortunately, condensing his consciousness wasn''t something he could rush, especially if he wanted it to seed.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz pushed his anxiety to the side as he concentrated onpleting the head of his miniature clone.


    Time quickly passed, and the soft blob of consciousness gradually transformed into something resembling an egg. The egg gradually changed and morphed until it looked like Toz''s own head. The only difference was that it looked more like a ghost than a human. The translucent miniature Toz didn''t even have time to look at itself or its body before it was sucked back into Toz''s body. Toz didn''t have any time to reflect on what he had done or what it meant before he passed out.


    Unlike the other times Toz passed out, he didn''t even feel the headache. Toz felt like his senses, and even his sense of self, scatter into darkness. Thest thing Toz felt was an overwhelming fear of death.


    Toz didn''t even have time to think about how he might have cut it a little close when creating the head. Not that he was actually able to think with his mind on the brink of destruction.


    Toz sank into darkness, and his mind tried its best to prevent itself from falling apart and leaving Toz''s body an empty, lifeless husk.


    The miniature clone of Toz''s also closed its eyes after entering Toz''s body again and being dragged back to Toz''s head, where the center of his mind and consciousness was. When the clone returned to its rightful ce, it instinctively sat down cross-legged. When the clone took its position, fluctuations of will spread out from it.


    The fluctuations spread like the rings on a pond and targeted the shattered pieces of the rest of Toz''s mind. Despite being drawn to each other by an unknown force of attraction, the pieces had been on the verge of slipping further away into the darkness.


    The fluctuations continued and stopped Toz''s broken mind from scattering. In exchange for repairing and restoring Toz''s mind, the fluctuations and the clone weakened until they were barely noticeable anymore.


    The clone had been slightly translucent from the beginning, but after doing as much as it could to help Toz''s recovery, it was barely more than a see-through doll. The clone was forced to stop sending out the fluctuations since it wouldpletely dissipate if it continued. Thankfully, Toz''s mind was restored to the point it could heal on its own if given time.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 313 Ghost?

    ?Toz woke up. He was a little surprised himself since it felt like he had overexerted himself a little more than he should have while finishing his clone. His headache wasn''tpletely gone, and when he opened his eyes and tried to sit up, Toz felt like someone had smashed his head against the floor a couple of hundred times. It also felt like his body didn''t quite fit him, but Toz didn''t know what to make of that sensation, and before he could do anything, he was overwhelmed by what greeted his open eyes.


    The headache threatening to split his skull apart had been so bad Toz thought the colors he saw were due to that, especially when he moved his head around. But when he sat still for an extended period of time and let the headache settle enough for him to use his brain again, Toz realized that the colors weren''t due to a concussion or an injury. It was due to the mana filling the air.


    Toz hadn''t been able to actually see mana with his naked eyes before, except during Taienra''s breakthrough when she used the trees to draw in all the nearby star mana to her. But that had been one attribute and only for a limited time. Aside from that, Toz had only been able to sense mana using his perception and sixth sense while supported by his own mana.


    The sight of all the different attributes and elements filling the air dazzled and entranced Toz so much that it took several minutes for him to even think about doing anything. And it took several more minutes for him to actually do something since he was afraid his actions would interfere with the magical sight of all the different elements existing in harmony.


    Eventually, Toz snapped himself out of the daze by realizing that if he could experience it once, he would most likely be able to experience it again. The view also began fading from his eyes, so Toz decided to try and figure out why he saw it while he still could. Unfortunately, that meant he had to close his eyes and inspect his consciousness since that was the most likely reason.


    As soon as he did that, Toz noticed the source of his headache. The fractures in the nk emptiness that was his mind were still repairing themselves. No wonder his head hurt. After inspecting the state of his mind and confirming that it probably wasn''t his injured mind that let him see the mana, Toz shifted his gaze to the center.


    After looking at it once, Toz''s eyes snapped open, and he almost jumped back in fright. The only thing that stopped him from getting up and running was the chains binding him to the floor.


    After realizing he tried to run away from something that was within himself, Toz tried to calm his galloping heart and take another look. Considering what he had been doing up until he copsed, Toz was pretty sure he knew what it was he had seen within his mind. But the other times when he condensed the hands and body, he had been forced to redo it from the beginning with each new attempt.


    Toz knew, rationally, that what he had seen had a logical exnation, but even after convincing himself, the sight of a translucent humanoid figure still startled him.


    The figure was so faint its features were barely discernable, and it looked like a textbook example of a ghost. But after reining in his heart and controlling himself, Toz took a more thorough look at the figure. It helped that the figure looked like it was on the verge of dissipating and was as still as a rock.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz eventually managed to push down his fears and confirm that the figure wasn''t a ghost. It was the miniature clone of himself that he had condensed from his consciousness in an attempt to use the outside mana and break free from the restriction on his mana pool. Toz realized it wasn''t such a good thing that the clone was about to dissipate. He was about to do something about it when he realized that he didn''t know what to do.


    The clone was different from the other body parts since it remained intact even within his mind.


    Toz had tried to condense the hands inside his mind before but without sess. He eventually realized that the pressure of the outside world didn''t only wear away at his consciousness. It also helped Toz control it and shape it as he wanted. Without the help of the outside world''s pressure, Toz could only move around his consciousness without actually being able to affect its shape.


    However, the clone was obviously different from the shapes and body parts he created before he finished the entire body. Toz couldn''t be sure his active interference wouldn''t actively dispel the clone instead of helping it recover.


    He could probably create another one as soon as his mind recovered, but something told Toz that it wasn''t as simple as just creating another body in his image with his consciousness. He didn''t even know if there would be any negative effects of the clone dissipating.


    Since the clone was most likely the source of him being able to see mana, Toz didn''t dare make any rash movements, and he watched the clone as carefully as he could, lest he disturbs it with his mere attention.


    Toz shifted his consciousness between the insides of his mind and his body so that he could look at the clone and the mana alternatingly. He wanted to try using magic while he could still see mana, but unfortunately, his mana pool was still sealed.


    At least he figured out that the mana sight and the clone were rted. The more Toz tried to focus and look at the mana and its movements, the closer the clone got to dissipating.


    Satisfied at knowing the clone would probably recover as soon as he stopped looking, which would allow him to look as much as he wanted, Toz closed his eyes and let the mana fade from his vision.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 314 Tug O War

    ?Toz took a nap once he realized there was nothing he could do to help his clone recover faster. And since he needed his clone to be as healthy as possible for his idea to show the most chance of sess, he decided to let it recover in peace. Not to mention how resting would also help restore his broken mind quicker and alleviate the fatigue he built up during his suicidal and senseless training.


    Constantly wearing down his mind and condensing his consciousness without a single moment''s rest beyond the asional ckouts had left Toz''s body and brain in exhausted shambles. Sleeping would helpfully prevent Toz from copsing.


    Toz slept like a baby, a baby sleeping on a cold hard floor, tied down with chains, and with a splitting headache. Since he had been too tired to tell how bad he felt before, Toz felt worse after waking up, so he went right back to sleep. The exhaustion of his still-recovering mind helped him greatly in making him sleep again.


    Eventually, Toz had slept so much he couldn''t even blink. He checked on his mind and the clone the first thing he did. His mind had almost fully repaired itself. The other times Toz had overexerted himself and injured his mind, it had been mostly fine after a ckout, but it still wasn''t fully recovered yet. It showed how bad his injury had been after he created his clone.


    Although his mind hadn''tpletely restored itself yet, his clone seemed to have regained some strength as it looked a little more solid than before, and the features on its face were more easily discernable.


    Since the clone looked to be healthy, Toz decided to try and prompt it into making him able to see the mana in the air again.


    He wasn''t quite sure what to actually do, but it seemed like the clone followed Toz''s thoughts. After Toz thought deeply about activating his mana vision again, he could see the mana the next time he opened his eyes.


    With a refreshed mind and body, Toz sensed that keeping the mana vision active strained his eyes and mind, so he didn''t waste any time. He began by practically ring at a string of fire mana floating through the air amidst the veritable ocean of elements filing his view.


    The fire mana became clearer, and everything else slowly faded into the background. When the string of fire was the only thing in Toz''s vision, the clone inside his mind opened its eyes and reached out a hand.


    The clone beckoned with its hand in the direction of the mana. Toz felt his head begin throbbing. His mind hadn''tpletely recovered yet, and whatever it was that he was doing required immense concentration, which forced him to put pressure on his mind again.


    Toz would have considered stopping and letting his mind healpletely before trying again if it wasn''t for the feeling of being on the verge of sess.


    Toz did his best to ignore the budding headache and focus solely on the string of fire taking up his vision.


    With the clone''s continued beckoning, Toz''s headache grew, but so did the string of fire mana appear to do, but only because it was inching closer to Toz.


    Eventually, the string of fire was within Toz''s reach, but he didn''t try to grab it. Instead, he controlled his clone.


    The clone reached out with both hands and wrapped them firmly around an invisible rope as if it was about to y tug of war. The clone didn''t hesitate and pulled backward, jerking on the invisible rope.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The string of fire mana jerked along with the clone''s movements. At the second tug, the string was already in front of Toz''s chest. The string struggled to free itself, and Toz saw the fingers on his clone weaken and grow translucent. But he didn''t show any hesitation, and the clone pulled a third time.


    The string of fire mana couldn''t resist and flew into Toz''s chest. Since it was pure mana and not magic, Toz''s body easily epted its entry, even without his own mana guiding it.


    However, after the mana entered Toz''s body, the mana didn''t know where to go.


    The clone''s hands and arms were about to dissipate, and it couldn''t guide the fire mana anywhere.


    The fire mana was about to wreak havoc on Toz''s defenseless body. Although it was simple mana that usually didn''t affect its surroundings since there was so little of it, being trapped inside Toz''s body triggered the mana.


    Toz''s body, which didn''t have any mana due to the restriction, couldn''t stop the fire mana''s impending rampage, and Toz also couldn''t manipte it himself. Even after entering his body, it still wasn''t under his control. It would have to go through his mana pool and transform into fifth level mana under Toz''s control before he could do anything with it directly.


    Toz managed to calm down the fire mana somewhat using all of his remaining concentration, but he was at his wits'' end.


    However, a tiny bit away from where Toz was concentrating, his mana pool was surging. The invisibleyer bulged and stretched as if something was trying to break free.


    Since Toz was busy trying to control the string of fire mana, he didn''t notice. But the mana in his mana pool was acting on its own, trying to leave the mana pool and subdue the string of fire mana.


    The struggle from within Toz''s mana pool raged on, but the invisibleyer held on. All the while, the string of fire mana snaked around Toz''s body, heating his body to feverish temperatures.


    It was impossible to tell if the mana inside Toz''s mana pool could tell the state of Toz''s body. But it seemed like the closer Toz got to losing control over the fire mana and losing his consciousness again, the harder the mana struggled to break free from the restriction.


    Toz was on the edge of cking out again due to the pain from his headache and from his body that felt like it was on fire. He only had time to think about how surprising it was that such a small amount of mana could wreak so much havoc on his body before darkness overcame him. But before he copsed, he heard a resounding pop ring out from what seemed to be his insides.


    First his mind and now his body. A vague thought of it being his body exploding from the heat appeared was on the verge of taking shape inside Toz''s head. But before it could fully form, he lost consciousness.

 Chapter 315 Mana Vision (1)

    ?For the second time in an rmingly short period, Toz surprised himself by waking up. But the surprise at waking up was quickly reced by his surprise at the restriction disappearing and freeing his mana pool.


    Toz noticed almost as soon as he woke up that his body was brimming with power as the mana that had been locked inside his mana pool was now free to circte around his body.


    It took a few more moments for Toz to snap out of his shock and realize that the sound of something popping he barely registered before passing out was the sound of the restriction bursting. It was most likely due to how his mana surged in response to the foreign mana inside his body.


    It wasn''t quite how Toz expected things to go down. He had originally intended to use the string of fire mana he brought inside himself to attack the seal. The n went sideways halfway through, but he discovered that his mana could act on his own if there were mana inside his body, which surprised him. But it also made him happy.


    Toz hadn''t had much time or reason to think about ittely, but it was something he had been trying to achieve ever since the beginning of his journey after he picked up Scrael on Roaring Skies.


    After Scrael joined their group, before that even, Toz had started getting jealous over how the cats could train whenever they wanted and leave the actual traveling to him. That was what had prompted his idea to try and learn how to train while moving. Unfortunately, all his attempts ended in embarrassing failure.


    Toz could at least conclude something from the failures, however. And that was that he couldn''t actively train his mana while doing something else. He didn''t know what to do with that conclusion until now. If his mana moved by itself, he wouldn''t need to do anything.


    Although he had been unconscious when it happened, Toz was convinced that the presence of foreign but still wild mana, not under anyone''s control, inside his body had prompted the mana inside his mana pool to act.


    Considering what had happened with the martial energy that got stuck inside his body after his fight with Dristel, Toz could guess that someone else''s mana would get expelled. It would get forced out since Toz''s mana couldn''t im it and turn it into his. Toz hadn''t noticed his mana acting on its own back then because he had done it manually. Even if his mana did act on its own, Toz doubted it would be as effective as if he did it himself since he knew how to counteract the martial energy and didn''t only follow something simr to instinct.


    Toz turned his attention back to his body and mana pool. Now that he had freed himself from the seal, he was able to use magic again, but he didn''t do anything rash until he could properly assess the situation and any other defensive measures of his cell. For all he knew, the chains and the room might be enchanted to react to any use of magic. Just like they were enchanted to iste the inside and the outside of the cell.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Now that he had his magic back, Toz could tell that the cell''s walls, floor, and ceiling were enchanted in a way that prevented him from trying to perceive what was on the other side. However, since he didn''t know much about enchantments, he couldn''t tell what they did in detail. He only noticed what they prevented him from doing when he tried to do it.


    Toz also noticed that the cell was partly responsible for his inclination not working properly, but after the seal came undone, he could at least tell that the cats were alive, even if he couldn''tmunicate with them.


    After confirming the cats'' safety, a weight lifted from Toz''s shoulders, and he could focus on his personal improvement before rushing to try and escape from his cell.


    The first thing Toz wanted to do, even if he was curious about using magic while activating his mana vision, was to learn how to train his mana automatically. Now that he finally had a clue on how to proceed, he couldn''t just let it go. And his mind and clone had recovered to the point where the strain would do them some good instead of threatening to break them down again.


    His mind was still a little unstable, but the fractures were mostly gone, even if they left some scars behind. However, straining and forcing his mind to make up for itsck of stability would help prevent the scars from turning into significant weak spots in the future. Or so Toz hoped.


    And it seemed like as long as the entire clone didn''t dissipate, it would eventually recover. Toz was a little unnerved at the abilities that seemed like something a ghost would have, but since it was beneficial for him, Toz vowed to ovee his fears eventually. Maybe a littleter. There wasn''t really a need to rush it.


    Toz activated his mana vision. This time, he didn''t instantly try to attract mana into his body as he wanted to be more familiar with the ability before doing anything else.


    He used the mana vision to take a look at the chains and the cell. It would have been an exceptional sight if he could understand what he was looking at, but since he didn''t know much of anything about enchantments, it just looked like a tangled mess of mana. The one useful thing he gleamed was that the enchantments were high level, possibly ninth level, which was the limit of what Toz could fight against. And when dealing with enchantments, which a skillful enchanter could transform into an endless source of strength, Toz wasn''t sure he would be able to break free, even if he wanted to.


    Temporarily giving up on breaking through the manaden chains, Toz went back to focusing on the mana in the air.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 316 Mana Vision (2)

    ?Although he didn''t actively use magic, mana still filled Toz''s body, and since his eyes were part of his body, they also enjoyed the benefits of being passively strengthened by mana. The mana vision, which had previously strained Toz''s eyes and mind, could now be active for longer, thanks to his mana supporting his body.


    Not only that, since the mana filling his body and supporting the mana vision was a mixture of his six elements, Toz had an easier time separating the elements in the air into those he didn''t have ess to and those he did have. His own mana supporting the mana vision also allowed him to more easily discern between all the elements since it seemed like the mana vision had be stronger.


    Thanks to being able to separate the different elements more clearly, Toz realized that he could try and deduce where he was or what the circumstances outside the cell were. At least what they were or where he was when he was thrown into the cell and isted within.


    The mana vision also let Toz see that no new mana came into the cell. It waspletely isted. He also noticed how the enchantments were slowly absorbing the mana in the air to power and sustain themselves. It happened so slowly that Toz only noticed after looking carefully at the mana closest to the enchantments.


    Toz looked closely at the mana around the cell to see if he could tell anything from it. He did notice how different enchantments preferred different attributes, so the mana in the room had probably been intentionally mixed to create a suitable environment for the enchantments to power themselves for as long as needed.


    The elements in the room were an even mix of most elements, but Toz noticed two obvious exceptions. The first was the absence of void attribute mana. With the properties of void mana and how it dissolved the boundaries between different attributes, and how it could probably interfere with the workings of enchantments if they weren''t specifically designed to handle void mana, it wasn''t weird for void mana to be excluded from the room. Toz''s identity as a void mage might have also affected the decision since void magic, if anything, could probably undo the seal on his mana pool. Not that he needed it anymore.


    The second exception was the ice attribute''s absence. Toz''s thoughts instantly went toward Yill. If she had been present during his imprisonment, he could understand that the ice mana would rather stick close to her than stay inside the cell. Toz couldn''t be sure since he didn''t know anything other than the clues Yill had left behind. But a transcendent was probably like a ma for mana in the Mortal Realm, and without something simr to mana vision, it would be impossible to know.


    The thought of Yill made Toz remember Brunswick and his eyes. Toz wondered what the difference between his mana vision and Brunswick''s sight was. But he did know that Brunswick could see more than the surface-level information of items and happenings, and he could see magic differently from others. Toz''s mana vision and Brunswick''s sight were probably different, but Toz was pretty sure that Brunswick would one day be able to see mana just like Toz was doing. And he probably wouldn''t have to torture his mind in order to do it.


    As he thought about Brunswick, Toz realized that he didn''t know what had happened to him and got slightly worried. But since the cats were doing alright, hopefully, Brunswick would be too. Since he wasn''t sure he would be able to break out of his cell or if doing that would even help him find Brunswick, Toz decided to set aside any distracting thoughts and focus on himself.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz closed his eyes to let them rest before he started working on his automatic training. Although his mana lessened the strain on his eyes and mind, he would still get tired, especially with how hard he stared at everyst speck of mana.


    Before he tried doing something that would require putting even more strain on his mind, Toz wanted to be fully rested. Injuring his mind yet again in such a short period of time would probably do more bad than good. Strengthening it by pushing it to its limits and then letting it recover was one thing. But overexerting himself before his mind could recoverpletely and letting the mind rest would only harm it.


    When he felt like he was ready again, Toz opened his eyes and, like when he dragged the string of fire mana into his body, focused only on a tiny swarm of lightning mana until it was the only thing he saw. He had to concentrate harder than thest time during this part to prevent himself from subconsciously using his own mana in the process.


    While he couldn''t use his own mana to draw in the swarm of lightning, he could use it to aid his clone in its tug-of-war. Toz wasn''t sure how he should use mana to support the clone at first, but he took inspiration from the way hisbination magic reinforced his body byyering his body to create a suit of lightning mana around the clone.


    The lightning-d clone had an easier time grabbing and pulling the swarm of lightning into Toz''s body. And before he knew it, the swarm of lightning was already getting dragged inside his body.


    Toz was ready to use the clone to try and control the lightning as soon as it began acting up. But without him even doing anything, his own lightning mana rushed to where the swarm of lightning mana was crossing the border between Toz''s insides and the outside world.


    Toz''s lightning mana rushed toward the foreign lightning mana and covered it, even the parts that were still stuck on the other side of the border. Afterpletely covering the foreign mana, Toz''s lightning mana assimted it with itself on the way toward the mana pool. When it reached the mana pool, the foreign mana had transformed into mana he could control with his will, and after entering his mana pool, it got purified and transformed into fifth level mana. All without Toz doing anything except attracting the foreign lightning mana to his body.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 317 Mana Vision (3)

    ?Toz cheered in happiness. Although he wasn''t quite at the point where he could train endlessly without lifting a figurative finger, he wasn''t far from it either. Aside from pulling the lightning mana into his body, Toz hadn''t done anything else, but he had still trained his lightning mana. Due to the minimal amount of mana, it could hardly be said that he trained his mana, but it was undeniable that he had indeed improved it, even if only marginally.


    The sess made Toz incredibly happy, enough to ease his worries regarding hispanions. But it was only temporary. And as soon as the rush of joy calmed down, Toz focused on his training again.


    He figured that his mana could naturally absorb and convert wild mana as soon as it entered his body, even slightly. The problem was making the mana enter his body by itself. Using his clone to control the mana would be even less efficient than training regrly, even if he only needed to bring the mana to himself.


    While training regrly, Toz could just absorb all the mana around him and then use his mana to convert it into the attribute he desired. However, with his clone, he could only target a fraction of the mana around him and bring it inside his body.


    Wait. Toz realized something as soon as those thoughts shed through his head. Why couldn''t he focus on more than a tiny fraction of mana with his mana vision? The limitation was set by himself and for seemingly no reason. He had started with absorbing a single string of fire mana or a swarm of lightning mana because it seemed like it was what he could handle.


    When working with an ability that he had no idea about how it worked, thest thing Toz wanted to do was decide what worked or didn''t work before he even tried anything. Toz decided to keep an open mind and only set limitations regarding what he knew. And since he didn''t know anything about his clone and the mana vision other than how it let him see the mana around him with his naked eyes, Toz didn''t set any limitations.


    Toz blinked, once again activating the mana vision. Since he didn''t want to waste any time when he was on the brink of learning how to train automatically, Toz began controlling his consciousness and the clone at once.


    Unlike when he absorbed the string of fire or the swarm of lightning, Toz didn''t target a specific lump or gathering of a certain attribute. Toz looked around the cell and all the mana within.


    He used the inspiration and realizations he got from thest two times he absorbed mana using his clone. As long as the mana entered his body, his own mana would do the rest, and it didn''t matter if the mana wasn''t fully inside his body. His mana could follow the foreign mana outside and bring it into his body.


    As soon as he got it started, his mana should do the rest. The problemy in connecting all the outside mana with itself so that his mana could envelop it. Toz was pretty certain that the reason his mana didn''t spread from the swarm of lightning to the rest was that the swarm was clearly separated from the rest due to his interference. It was the same with the string of fire.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Following the inspiration Toz got from the string of fire, Toz decided to make it rtively simple for himself.


    The outside mana didn''t have much of an issue following the clone''s guidance as long as it wasn''t to bring the mana inside Toz''s body. Toz used the clone and the mana''s willingness to follow to visualize and shape the mana into a haphazard mess of something simr to a ball of yarn. The ball was more squarish in nature since the mana still wanted to be evenly spread out around the cell, even with Toz''s clone pushing it around. But it at least let it be shaped into string.


    Toz looked at the multicolored string taking up most of the room. He was thankful he decided not to set any limits on what he could do using the clone. He could feel his mana control skills soar thanks to not holding himself back. But he didn''t have time to think anymore since the yarn was rapidly unwinding, and the mana was quickly transforming back into its original shape as wild mana.


    Before it transformed any further and before his headache worsened, Toz led the end of the string into his body. Supported by the rest of the mana in the room, the string was incredibly stubborn, and the clone''s hands were once again about to fall apart, despite being reinforced by metal, the same element as the part of the string it was grabbing.


    Although it would threaten the clone''s integrity and stability, Toz dispersed some of the damage to its hands to the rest of its body. He avoided the head since it seemed like a central part, but the rest of the body gradually grew more translucent. But at least the hands held out until the first part of the string was touching Toz''s chest and piercing through the border.


    As soon as the tip of the string entered his body, Toz''s metal mana responded and rushed to absorb it. The metal mana spread out, and as soon as it reached the next part of the string, a blue-colored water attribute part, the rest of Toz''s mana reacted and began helping the metal mana to absorb and convert the mana.


    Toz''s six attributes worked together to continue drawing the string into Toz''s body, absorbing and converting the mana into fifth level metal mana since it was the attribute that took the lead this time while bringing it to his mana pool.


    Aside from keeping the yarn of mana from unraveling and retaking its original shape, Toz didn''t do anything else. His mana was training automatically.


    It hade about in an unexpected manner, but Toz had finally learned how to train and do something else. To confirm it, he stood up and cheered. He couldn''t fully dedicate himself to the cheer since he still had to convince the outside mana to stay in the string shape. But his mana absorption and conversion went on unhindered.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 318 Breaking The Chains

    ?Keeping the mana in the cell in a string-like shape put an extreme toll on Toz''s mind and the clone inside his consciousness, but the feeling of being able to stand up and move around while training his mana at the same time was exhrating, and Toz couldn''t help himself.


    Toz wanted to continue training, but he quickly realized a problem. The mana in the cell wasn''t infinite. Since the cell was isted from the world outside, there was no way for the mana to increase. And because there was only enough mana to sustain the enchantments, there wasn''t a lot of mana within the cell.


    Toz wanted to continue training, but he quickly realized that he didn''t need to since he had already aplished what he wanted and then some.


    Toz didn''t stop his mana until it drew in everyst bit of mana in the cell, effectively removing what powered the enchantments. Since the cell wasn''t designed as a training room, Toz wasn''t surprised that there wasn''t a lot of mana in it. He also realized that the ones who constructed and designed the cell didn''t count with anyone being able to break the seal on the mana pool.


    He felt proud that he had managed to do something that his captors hadn''t prepared for since it probably meant they wouldn''t be able to handle him once he finally freed himself. Hopefully, Yill wouldn''t still be around. If she were close to Toz''s cell, it wouldn''t matter, even if Toz had learned mana vision or broken out of his imprisonment. He still wouldn''t be able to fight or escape from Yill.


    Toz shook his head to get rid of distracting thoughts as he decided to speed up the process of emptying the cell of mana by absorbing all the mana manually. Automatic training was useful and surprisingly efficient as long as Toz maintained some degree of focus, but doing it himself was still faster.


    It didn''t take long until the room didn''t have any mana left. Now, it was only a matter of time until the enchantments on the chains and the walls stopped working.


    Toz was slightly worried that there would be enchantments to alert his captors if magic appeared inside the cell, so he decided to wait, which took a surprisingly long time. Toz would have lost his mind from boredom if he didn''t realize he could continue training his clone by exposing it to the pressure of the outside world. He could train it by making it exert itself while still inside his mind, but it wasn''t as efficient as using the outside world.


    And since he didn''t know how much longer or when he would be able to use such a peaceful training environment again, Toz dly took the opportunity to strengthen his clone as much as he could.


    Before he realized it, the enchantments were rapidly losing their sheen, one at a time. Toz used his mana vision to confirm that the enchantments were burning through their remaining dregs of mana. Without more mana to continue sustaining themselves, the enchantments quickly became useless.


    It was probably a result of the cell''s istion. Otherwise, there would have been no way that the enchantments would run out of mana. It wasn''t even a faulty design since the mana that was inside the cell would have been enough to power the enchantments for as long as needed. Only in a case where the prisoner managed to break free from the seal on their mana pool and drained the room of its mana would it prove to be a problem.


    After confirming that the enchantments were rapidly losing their effect, the first thing did was to use his inclination to try and reach the cats. Unfortunately, there was either a secondyer of istion or the cats were also isted in a simr manner to Toz. Toz could barely get a slightly better feeling that they were alright.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz sighed angrily before he turned his mana vision toward the chains around his wrists and ankles. It was thest ce where the enchantments remained, and until they also died down, Toz didn''t want to make a move.


    But as soon as thest enchantment used up all its mana, Toz didn''t hesitate. Anticipating that there would be mana hidden away under some concealment enchantments simr to the Hidden Blood Dagger Brunswick discovered seemed like excessive worry.


    Toz grabbed the chains with his hands and, with mana vision still filling his eyes, activated his void spell, Dissolution.


    Void mana flooded out of Toz''s hands and into the chains. The chains were sturdier than most treasures Toz had worked with, which exined why he couldn''t break them with only his physical strength, even after the enchantments lost effect. But without enchantments to protect them against Toz''s invading void mana, the chains were defenseless.


    The chains melted away under Toz''s hands, and Toz could finally stand upright and stretch.


    Toz let his void mana continue traveling through the remnant enchantments, permanently destroying them and also opening up a path for his senses to travel through to the other side of the walls.


    After stretching his body to satisfaction, Toz sighed deeply, happy about getting a taste of freedom again.


    Prepared for anything, Toz reached out with his senses. Supported by void and space magic, they had no problem going through the walls, which turned out to be several meters thick and made of a material that hindered mana from passing through. Other than the innermostyer with enchantments, the rest was of a material Toz didn''t know about that even managed to stop his space magic from reaching the other side.


    Left with no other choice, Toz would have to brute force his way to the other side while preparing for a hostile celebration of him regaining his freedom.


    Toz only pondered for a moment before deciding on how to break through the walls. They might be resistant to magic and mana, but they would probably have lowered resistance against other, more physical, effects.

 Chapter 319 Molten Rock

    ?It was only natural that materials with special effects would also suffer drawbacks. The universe might not be fair, but it strived to maintain some semnce of bnce.


    Since the innermostyer of the cell was already mostly destroyed by Dissolution, Toz didn''t bother getting rid of the rest. There wasn''t enough left to impede the progress of his n, anyway.


    Toz stood in the middle of the room as he began concentrating. He didn''t know how much he would have to focus, but since he wasn''t as adept at turning up the temperature as Mindle, he couldn''t leisurely hold back.


    With his mana vision still active, Toz roused his fire mana as he filled the room with his fire magic. At first, since it was nothing more than his fire mana, there were no noticeable changes.


    Toz took it slow as he observed every step of the process with his mana vision. Although it was his attempt to break out of jail, it was also a vital opportunity to learn and improve his magic.


    At first, the only difference between Toz''s mana and the wild fire mana was their quality. Since Toz had transformed, processed, and purified his fire mana, it was obviously of better quality than the wild mana.


    As Toz continued controlling his fire mana, gradually manifesting the phenomenon that would transform his mana into magic, it became more and more active. The evenly spread out mana began glowing brighter in Toz''s mana vision and seemed to be on the verge of transforming into real fire.


    With Toz''s regr eyes, the mana actually began creating mes and generating heat. But no matter how much Toz increased the intensity or the temperature, his mana vision still only showed him fire mana on the verge of transforming into fire. Toz quickly realized that the mana would finish transforming if he managed to awaken its true nature.


    In order to test out his theory, Toz conjured and cast a Fireball on one of the walls. He held back since the explosion would affect him as well if he went all out. Since it was his magic, the fire itself wouldn''t affect him, but the shockwave and explosion would since they weren''t purely magical.


    The Fireball confirmed his theory. His mana vision saw a sphere of pure fire flying and exploding. Seeing it like that, Toz got inspiration on how he could improve his spell, but now wasn''t the time for that, and he redirected that inspiration to try and make his fire mana around the room awaken its true nature.


    Even with his fire magic zing at close to the maximum temperature he could create, the walls only got slightly charred. At least, the trembling and wavy air reminded him that without enchantments, the cell would run out of breathable air, even if he didn''t unleash his fire.


    He had already started feeling short of breath. But even if he retracted his mes, he would still run out of air to breathe sooner rather thanter. Toz decided to stick with it, even if the walls didn''t show signs of melting.


    He kept his eyes open so that he could continue using his mana vision as he manipted his fire mana, but his head was almost empty as he put away all distracting thoughts and filled his mind with fire.


    The nk space housing his clone mirrored the outside world in response to Toz''s absolute focus on fire. The fire mana didn''t burn the mind space or the clone, but they also didn''t seem to be doing anything useful.


    At least not until the clone opened his eyes.


    The clone''s eyes shone with a faint light as it instinctively looked around at the fire mana that was on the verge of transforming into real fire.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The clone closed its eyes again as it reached out with its hands. The clone slowly copied Toz''s stance, and when it finally stood exactly like Toz, with the exception of its eyes, the clone disappeared in a sh of light, which stretched out in all directions.


    Toz didn''t notice the clone''s actions since he was so busy trying to push the fire to greater temperatures. The heat andck of air were beginning to affect him, but it was toote to stop, so he continued controlling the mes.


    However, as the clone disappeared from the mind space, Toz felt a strange but familiar feeling fill his body. He couldn''t quite ce it as he was busy and distracted by the fire, but he didn''t try to resist it as it felt quitefortable.


    While he let the feeling overtake his body, Toz didn''t stop manipting his me, but when the feelingpletely overtook him, he felt his control over magic stutter for a moment.


    Toz quickly noticed how the fire magic around the room was about to slip out of his control and die down without his constant supply of mana, so he didn''t think about how his mana control was canceled for a second before he returned to manipting the magic around the room.


    However, he was almost stunned at how easy it was to regain control and increase the temperature of the mes after the short, almost instantaneous, break. He was confused, but he didn''t let it stop him.


    Toz continued manipting his fire magic. After the short stutter, it seemed like the previous ceiling of the fire''s maximal temperature was blown away.


    Before long, the heat umted at the cell''s ceiling slowly began to soften and melt the rock-like material.


    Toz dodged the drops of molten rock by instinct as he continued increasing the temperature and even directed it toward the walls.


    Toz looked on happily as the boring and dreary walls melted away like sandcastles under the rain. He had been stuck with them for who knows how long, and now he would never have to see them again.


    He was slightly worried that his actions would alert and allow any guards or captors to react and prepare for his breakout, but he didn''t care. If he could keep up this sudden boost in his control over fire, he was confident only someone at Yill''s level would be able to fight him.


    Eventually, due to Toz''s continued fire, the walls began melting even quicker, and it didn''t take long for the several meters thick walls to buckle under the weight of the remaining ceiling. Toz stood in one of the ces where there was practically nothing left of the ceiling as the rest came sshing down in a shower of molten rock all around him.


    The thin sheet of rock above him didn''t even remain intact long enough to begin dropping before it melted. Since Toz was the source of the fire magic, the air and fire would naturally be hotter the closer to him it was.


    As the walls to his cell finally came crumbling down around him, Toz could look around and see what kind of situation he was in. And since he didn''t sense any danger targeting him, he guessed that the cell might have been even more isted than he first thought.


    The sight of the world outside confirmed Toz''s guess.

 Chapter 320 Kicking Down A Door

    ?The area outside the cell''s molten walls wasn''t quite what Toz expected. But when he thought more deeply about it, he realized that it made more sense than keeping armed guards at the ready. With the security of the cell, it was pretty unlikely for anyone to break out, so having guards constantly on standby would only be a waste of resources. Instead, it would be a lot more efficient to increase the cell''s defenses to prevent the prisoner from breaking out by themselves or with help from the outside.


    The cell Toz was in when apanied by the seal on his mana pool, would prevent the prisoner from escaping by themselves. And the area outside the cell prevented or slowed down anyone else from helping Toz break out.


    The cell floated in the middle of arge empty space, only connected to the nextyer of walls with a single stone bridge.


    The stone walls and floor of his cell were continuously melting and dripping down to the bottom of therge space, even after he stopped channeling his magic. Toz jumped over to the bridge right as a feeling of fatigue overcame his body and mind.


    Since he wasn''t under immediate threat, despite breaking out of his cell, Toz spent a few moments figuring out why and recovering from the burst of fatigue. Because the fatigue also affected his mind, Toz naturally began by looking inside it, where he found a faint clone.


    Piecing together what happened after noticing the clone''s look and the quickly retreating remnants of fire mana inside his mind, Toz realized that the clone was the reason why he had managed to increase the temperature of his mes, seemingly without limit. He had been dedicating all his concentration toward his fire magic, so he couldn''t be sure what happened in detail, but Toz began thinking that the clone was probably one of the best things to happen to him during his path of magic.


    After he rested up and recovered slightly, Toz stood up and began crossing the bridge. As he walked, he looked around at therge room that housed his cell. There wasn''t originally any source of light inside the room, but the molten rock from Toz''s cell helped him see the room.


    Not that there was a lot to see, even with the red light from the molten rock. It was arge, dark cube that stretched ten meters beyond his cell in every direction. The only exception to the dark grey, almost ck, walls was the light grey door at the end of the bridge.


    Toz tried attacking the walls with a lightning bolt and a javelin of metal, but neither of them left even a hint of a scratch on the wall. It seemed like the dark grey walls focused on absolute defense while the cell walls prioritized suppressing mana and magic.


    It was an extravagant andborious design. Toz got a little curious as to why he had been put in such a maximum security prison when it seemed like Yill wanted him for something. Did she think it was necessary to go to such lengths in order to suppress his spirit and make him more willing to submit? And did she think so highly of his abilities that security measures at this level were necessary?


    Toz shrugged since he couldn''t figure out an answer, and he would either find out sooner orter, so it didn''t matter, especially when he had more pressing concerns. If the cats were trapped in simr cells, he would naturally have to get them out of there. And while he was on it, he would also have to find Brunswick, all the while hoping not to stumble on Yill.


    Toz didn''t rush across the bridge since he hoped to recover as much as possible of his mind''s energy before he left the room. But he also couldn''t take it too slow in case reinforcements were already on their way. He eventually reached the door.


    The single stone door wasrge enough to be misunderstood as a double door.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz didn''t immediately reach out to open it. There hadn''t been traps or any other defensive measures along the bridge, but that didn''t mean that the door wouldn''t be different. Toz blinked, activating the mana vision as he looked at the door.


    Although his clone was still slightly weak, it seemed like it became easier to use mana vision each time he activated it.


    Toz looked at the door with his mana vision and was slightly surprised, not because it didn''t have any mana or enchantments. But because all of them were on the other side of the door.


    His mana vision couldn''t see through objects if they were too thick or dense, but the door was just thin enough that the mana pervading it on the other side leaked through, showing Toz how heavily enchanted it was.


    But if the enchantments were concentrated on the other side, it was evident they were meant to defend against attacks or intrusions from outside, not an escapee from within. Considering the cell''s structure and the design of the imprisonment, Toz realized it was pretty reasonable.


    The cell to contain the prisoner, the dark grey walls, and the door to keep out intruders aiming to break the prisoner out. Considering Toz ruled Pirate Haven, it wasn''tpletely unexpected for Yill, or whoever it was, to expect someone toe and help him. Unfortunately, they didn''t count on Toz surpassing their expectations and breaking out on his own.


    Since the door was only meant to keep people out, It wouldn''t be able to stop Toz.


    Toz held up his hand to the door and used the spell he wasing to like more and more, Dissolution.


    The enchantments probably would have been able to block the spell if he had tried to use it against the door from the other side, but now that his hand was already behind the enchantments, they weren''t able to defend against the attacking from the wrong direction.


    Dissolution''s effects quickly spread through the enchantments, tearing them apart by dissolving the mana and the door''s surface. Unfortunately, the door was too sturdy and filled with mana for Toz to dissolve itpletely with his spell.


    As soon as enough enchantments were destroyed, Toz lifted a leg and kicked the door that was twice as tall as him and as wide as three men off its hinges.

 Chapter 321 Prison Break (1)

    ?The door flew off its hinges and mmed down on the floor with a resounding crash.


    Toz looked out through the open doorway at therge area outside the dark gray stone cube. He wasn''t quite sure what to think since it seemed like the ones who made his jail weren''t very creative.


    After the secondyer that blocked Toz''s cell from outside attacks was another thirdyer. But unlike the gray stone cube that only had a single cell inside, the white cube wasrge enough to hold several tens of the individual cells. Toz didn''t know if he could call it a room since it was so spacious. Aside from the cells dotting the ground like ck eggs on a white ground, there wasn''t anything inside it.


    Toz looked around the room after he stepped out of his cell.


    After jumping on top of his grey cube, he saw the four walls clearly. But he didn''t see a doorway anywhere. However, he wasn''t going to look for a way out until he found the cats. Since they were in a simr state of istion as Toz had been and were also captured at the same time as him, it would be weird if they weren''t in one of the neighboring grey cells.


    Therge white space had enough space to fit more than ten cubes within, but since they were rtively far apart, there were only nine cubes in total. Toz''s cube was in the center, so he didn''t have a clear direction in which to begin, so he just picked a random cube and headed toward it. He hoped that his inclination would react if he got closer to the cubes, but it seemed like the istion managed to prevent that.


    Since he couldn''t tell if the cats and Brunswick were in any of the cells, Toz began thinking that they might be in another cell with simr istion but with less security. Toz didn''t think it was likely, considering they had disyed strength simr to his during their short tussle with Yill. But he had to be prepared for the reality that he wouldn''t find the cats, even after cracking open the other eight cells in the white room.


    Well, that was a matter for when he actually managed to open the cells. Opening the grey cubes from within wasn''t much of an issue since the enchantments were directed to defend against attacks from the outside. Unfortunately, Toz was outside the cubes, so if he wanted to open them and look for the cats, he would have to exert a great deal of effort.


    Toz carefully approached the cube since he didn''t know if the defensive measures would activate on presence alone or if they only reacted to attacks. But since his cube hadn''t reacted in any way, he figured the cubes most likely only responded if someone tried to attack them directly.


    The cube and door looked exactly the same as the one that Toz had been in, but he used his mana vision to confirm the effects of the enchantments. After confirming that it would be near impossible to break through the door, Toz raised a hand while his mana vision was still activated.


    He wanted to repeat what had happened when he used fire to escape his own cell. However, since he had tunnel-visioned on his magic during that time, he wasn''t sure what he had done. He could only try and replicate it by following a simr process.


    But this time, he wasn''t going to use fire.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Fire magic would be effective if all he wanted was the destruction of the enchantments, but it would only work if he had sufficient firepower, which he wasn''t sure he did. However, there was another way to render the enchantments useless. And that was to attack them from the cube''s inside.


    The problem came with attacking the enchantments from the other side.


    A simple test proved Toz''s guess that the enchantments could defend against Dissolution. They also prevented space magic from crossing, so trying to activate space magic on the other side of the door and attack the enchantments would also prove to be a strenuous task.


    But just because it would be challenging didn''t mean Toz wouldn''t be able to do it, especially with the support of his mana vision.


    He was still discovering what the mana vision could do, so Toz didn''t set any limits on what was possible, and one of the things he wanted to try out was tobine it with his elements. And the first element he got the opportunity to do that with was the space element.


    Toz didn''t know what to do, so he did as usual and followed his instincts.


    He roused his space mana, filling his body and mind with it, just like he noticed what had happened when he used fire magic.


    After filling his body, the space mana spilled out of Toz before disappearing. The space mana appeared again in front of the door to the cube. The enchantments'' light proved that they did indeed prevent space magic from crossing into the cube. But it seemed like the cube''s enchantments were focused solely on defense since there didn''t seem to be any enchantments on the verge of retaliating or counter-attacking.


    Since all of the cube''s enchantments were concentrated on defense, it would probably be a little tougher to reach the other side. It would be harder, but it would also help Toz discover the limits of his mana vision.


    Toz looked at the cloud of space mana floating in front of the door and, like he had done with his fire magic, dedicated all his focus to it, ignoring his surroundings. It was a little risky, considering he was in the middle of a prison break, but there didn''t seem to be any guards on the way yet. And if they were on the way, just a little slow, Toz hoped his instincts would react in his stead and alert him if there was any danger.

 Chapter 322 Prison Break (2)

    ?Toz looked at the cloud of space mana floating in front of the door, but since it was difficult to see what would happen if he brought out the mana''s true nature, he had a hard time tunnel-visioning on it as he did with the fire in his cell. Unlike fire which has a clear and distinct nature and existence and is represented by its mes, space was more esoteric and not really something to be seen or noticed. It just was.


    Tearing space opened up a rift in seemingly thin air, but was the air itself, space, was it the rift, or was it whatever was on the other side of the rift? Maybe space was the glittering blue vortex of a portal that could be considered space.


    Since he couldn''t focus solely on his space magic, his eyes drifted, and Toz noticed that not all enchantments had been triggered by his attempt to move space mana inside the grey cube. Only a few of them glowed in response to his magic.


    Toz felt it was a little unfortunate, but it seemed like he wouldn''t have an opportunity to do with space magic what he did with fire magic. It wasn''t like he was sure it would have worked. He was only vaguely following his instincts and trying to make a miracle happen.


    After deciding not to dwell on it anymore, Toz discarded his initial n of trying to awaken the true nature of space mana and overpower the enchantment. Instead, he would use his space magic to identify the enchantments hindering his magic from appearing on the other side of the door.


    While still keeping his mana vision active, Toz looked at the door and the walls around it as he controlled his space mana to try and teleport to the other side. Likest time, the space mana stopped in front of the door. But Toz expected and prepared for it. He didn''t even look at the results of his magic. His eyes were fully upied with looking at the enchantments on the grey cube.


    Toz remembered where a few of the enchantments had lit upst time, but he was surprised to find that several enchantments that didn''t light up in obvious response to his magic also showed a response when he looked with his mana vision.


    If he tried to do the same thing, but without his mana vision and only by relying on identifying the enchantments that lit up, his n would have failed and probably triggered a failsafe or defensive measure.


    Toz sent out his space mana again to ensure he got all the enchantments that he would need to target.


    After memorizing them all, Toz got to work.


    Since the enchantments blocked space magic, they were probably space attribute, but Toz wasn''t going to use space magic to attack them since that would be like attacking somethingbeled ''stone-repent'' with a stone. Instead, he was going to use his void magic.


    The enchantments probably had defensive measures to prevent anyone from destroying them. They might even have repairing functions.


    However, Toz wasn''t going to target the enchantments themselves. Just like most things rted to magic, the enchantments used mana as a power source, which meant that they would be useless without mana.


    When he escaped his cell, Toz had deprived the enchantments in it of mana, which rendered them useless. But doing the same with the enchantments on the grey cube''s outside would probably take more time if it was even viable. The entirerge white room was filled with mana. Toz hadn''t been to a high level ne, but he felt like the density might be simr between one and the white room.


    He would eventually be able to drain the room since it wasn''t asrge as an entire ne, but it would take a lot of time, time he didn''t have. And that was only if the mana didn''t recover on its own.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz wouldn''t be able to get rid of all the mana inside the room and deprive the enchantments of their fuel. But with his void magic, he would be able to either render the mana useless or iste the enchantments that hindered his path forward.


    After identifying the enchantments, Toz got to work.


    He ced his hand on the wall. He did it carefully in case it reacted to touch. Thankfully, it seemed like the enchantments only reacted to a certain amount of force or to magic.


    With his hand on the wall, Toz activated his mana vision again to locate the right enchantments. And to see if the enchantments were about to respond to his actions.


    Toz gently began sending out a stream of void magic along the door and the walls. The enchantments hindered him from sending it directly toward his targets. But after some time, when he had ced a small amount of mana right next to each target, he began wearing down those defenses using the natural properties of void mana.


    The enchantments would react to the active use of magic, but there was nothing they could do against void mana that naturally dispelled magic and other types of mana. But usually, in ces other than the void, void mana was practically nonexistent, so the enchantments didn''t have to take the possibility of void mana flooding the enchantments into consideration.


    However, thatck of consideration made it possible for Toz''s void mana to breach the enchantment''s passive defenses and target the enchantments that hindered his space magic from working.


    When the defenses were worn down and revealed a few gaps and holes, Toz sent his void mana into the enchantments, after which he dispelled the mana inside the enchantments. He also isted the enchantments by surrounding them with void mana so that they couldn''t be refueled.


    Toz didn''t rx since he wasn''tpletely done. Even after the enchantments were deactivated, he still had to send his space magic to the other side and tear open the door. And he had to be quick about it.


    With his mana vision, he could tell that the enchantments were quickly reacting to something, and mana was building up at the blockage he had set up. If he had tried to disable all the defensive enchantments and break through the door from outside, the enchantments probably would have set off an rm. Thankfully, since he had only deactivated a few enchantments, he had enough time to open the door from inside.


    Toz sent his mana to the other side, after which he expanded space right next to the other side of the door. It followed the same principles as when he thickened space to slow something down. But he let the space stretch out instead of keeping it in the same ce.


    Expanding space didn''t have much use inbat since it was a cumbersome way of moving someone around or giving something a push. But it worked wonders against the door since it took the force of the expanded space and caved to it.


    After getting pushed off its hinges, the door fell to the ground, revealing the insides of the grey cube.


    With his goal aplished, Toz stopped interfering with the enchantments and let them restore themselves. Now that the door was open, the enchantments couldn''t stop him.

 Chapter 323 Prison Break (3)

    ?Toz stepped onto the bridge leading to the brown stone cube. While he walked, he deactivated his mana vision to let it recover, and when he arrived in front of the cube, he conjured a chisel and a hammer of metal. Since they were magic, their effects would be reduced against the anti-magic properties of the stone, and they would also quickly get eroded. But it would still be more efficient than trying to melt the rock again, especially since the effects of the stone were concentrated inward.


    Toz also didn''t have the patience to wait for the stone to melt. Not to mention how the cats might suffer if they were chained to the floor like he had been and molten rock began dripping on and around them.


    Since the stone was rtively soft, it didn''t take long for Toz to begin making a sizable dent in it. He had to rece his chisel several times, and since the walls were so thick, he had to make a prettyrge hole, but it was still the most efficient way if he wanted to save time and mana.


    Eventually, after chipping away enough stone to cover the ground in gravel, Toz got through to the finalyer of the cell, where the enchantments to iste and suppress the prisoner were.


    Those enchantments or the material they were inscribed on seemed to be a little sturdier than the stone, but it wasn''t a problem, and Toz finally opened up the cell.


    The cell looked exactly like his had done, but there were no chains in the middle of the floor. The reason for there being no chains was pretty obvious. There was no need for chains if there wasn''t a prisoner to keep chained.


    Toz was a little disappointed he found an empty cell instead of the cats, but there were more cells than there were cats, so he didn''t give up and moved on to the next gray cube, where he repeated the process.


    Unfortunately, the same process also led to the same result. The second cell Toz cracked open was just as empty as the first one. It was the same with the third cell.


    Toz had opened four cells in total if he included his own. That meant there were still five left. He could have just been unlucky and managed to open the empty cells first before getting to the cats'' cells. But in any case, there weren''t enough cells for all the cats and Brunswick, so someone, several of them, or all of them had to be somewhere else if they were all imprisoned in separate cells.


    But Toz didn''t begin looking for a way out of the white room, and he wouldn''t do that until he smashed everyst cell open for the minuscule chance that one of the cats might be in one of them. If they were, and he left without checking, he would never be able to forgive himself since if he left, he probably wouldn''t be in a position to make it back for quite a while.


    Toz continued smashing open the cells until only one was left. He had all but confirmed that there were no cats or other prisoners in the white room, but he still decided to open thest cell as well.


    With the practice of opening the eight previous cells, Toz barely had to concentrate in order to open thest grey cube or smash apart the stone of the inner cell. And before he knew it, he was already at thestyer. The enchantments keeping the insides isted against magic were thest thing preventing Toz from confirming that the cats were somewhere else.


    Toz sighed before lifting a fist and smashing it against theyer of whatever it was that the enchantments were inscribed on, and after hitting it twice, theyer cracked open and fell to the ground, revealing what Toz thought would have been an empty cell.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz was so ready to see an empty cell and be disappointed at the sight. So he barely looked before he turned around. However, as he turned around, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. His inclination reacted at the same time, and Toz jerked his head back to look inside the cell.


    Toz''s eyes met the gaze of a fluffy orange, partially incorporeal furball.


    Both Toz''s and Mindle''s eyes and faces brightened in joy. Toz widened the opening he made to Mindle''s cell before diving in and hugging Mindle.


    While hugging her tightly, Toz dissolved the chains restraining her and sent some mana into her to break the seal on her mana pool. He didn''t care if breaking the chains set off any rms since he cared more about freeing Mindle and making sure she was unharmed.


    Mindle didn''t say anything, either. She just snuggled close to Toz and burrowed into his neck as she began purring. She didn''t even need to say anything since her feelings were transmitted through the inclination.


    Eventually, after they calmed down and remembered the situation they were in, they left the cell and began looking for an exit to the white room.


    Toz and Mindle wanted to continue their reunion, but it would have to wait until they had saved the others as well and after they were in a more secure ce.


    The middle of a high-security prison wasn''t exactly the best ce to host a party.


    Toz and Mindle didn''t want to split up, and Mindle continued riding in Toz''s arms as they scoured through the white room, looking for a way out.


    Even when he used his mana vision, it still took quite a while until Toz found something that stood out.


    A section of one of the walls about the same size as the doors to the gray cubes was outlined with a stream of mana. It was the way out, and Toz and Mindle beamed at the hope of escaping and finding the others. Hopefully, they wouldn''t be too far away.

 Chapter 324 Prison Break (4)

    ?Mindle was curious about how Toz had found the door when she couldn''t sense anything, even after Toz pointed it out. But he just answered that he would exinter. The clone and the mana vision it granted him wasn''t something that Mindle would understand with just a few words.


    Mindle understood it was somethingplicated and that now wasn''t the time for something like that, so she restrained her curiosity and prepared her magic. After opening the door, they might run into guards or something, so they had to be ready. And since Toz had broken out of his cell all on his own and then smashed open eight others, Mindle decided it was her turn to contribute.


    Toz had used up some of his mana and mental strength, but he was far from being too weak to participate in any fighting, but he didn''t refuse Mindle''s consideration and happily let her take the lead while he pushed open the door.


    Unlike the doors to the gray cubes, this one wasn''t reinforced in any way. It was just operated using mana. The door was practically unnoticeable because it fit seamlessly into the rest of the wall.


    Toz sent a minimal amount of mana into the door, just enough to crack it open and allow his senses to reach the other side.


    Unlike the army of guards he and Mindle expected since it was a high-security prison, the door only led to an empty hallway.


    Toz opened the door the rest of the way, revealing a nk white hallway matching the aesthetic of the room where the gray cubes were.


    Toz used his mana vision to inspect the hallway, but all he found were a couple of doors simr to the one he and Mindle stepped through. The doors were pretty far, so Toz and Mindle began walking as soon as they left their room. The door slid shut with a soft thump behind them.


    Toz made sure to hide his and Mindle''s presence with darkness and void magic as they walked, just in case someone came. But no one arrived, and Toz and Mindle stood in front of the first door they encountered.


    Toz was about to open the door when two pairs of footsteps silently echoed out from behind a corner in the hallway. The footsteps were apanied by two voices.


    "Do you really think he''ll listen to us?"


    "He should have woken up quite a while ago. Enough time should have passed for him to reflect and calm down. But if he won''t cooperate, we''ll just have to put a ve cor on him."


    "Argh! I can''t agree with that."


    "I know, miss. I don''t want to enve that brat. He has way too much potential for that. But we''re running out of time. There''s not much time left before we need to go back, and your window to make contributions to the war is shrinking."


    "Fine. But let me do the talking. I have a feeling he won''t listen to you, no matter what you say."


    "Funny. For some reason, I agree."


    Thest words ended in a slight chuckle, after which the two speakers grew silent.


    But Toz didn''t need them to say anything else in order to know who they were.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz was a little stunned that they appeared right when he and Mindle were making their prison break, but he reacted quickly and ensured his and Mindle''s presences were unnoticeable.


    Toz put down Mindle so that his arms were free before he snuck to the edge of the hallway and hid behind the corner from where Dyra and Yill wereing.


    He was worried that Yill would sense his presence, but he used his mana vision to check and help control that the mana around him stayed still and made sure nothing leaked.


    Toz took a shallow breath and waited patiently for the footsteps toe closer. Since spreading his perception would alert Yill and possibly Dyra, he could only wait until they were close enough for him to act.


    Eventually, the footsteps stopped echoing, and Dyra and Yill were so close he could hear the rustling of their clothes. Unfortunately, he couldn''t tell who was closest. He hoped it was Dyra since it would make things easier, but if Yill was the one who ended up closest to the wall, he would simply have to move faster.


    Toz waited without even breathing or making a noise until Dyra and Yill were finally only a single step away from turning the corner.


    As soon as the first foot came into view, Toz dashed out, quickly identifying Dyra and reaching out to grab her. Dyra was on the farther side, but it didn''t matter. Toz''sck of presence and surprise appearance shocked them both.


    Yill''s eyes widened before Dyra could even react, and she almost instantly sent an ice spear toward Toz.


    However, Toz saw the ice mana move and take shape before it became visible to the naked eye, thanks to his mana vision. He could tell the ice spear''s target, and since he knew when it was fired, he managed to just barely avoid the spear.


    After dodging the ice spear, Toz was already in range, and he reached out to put a finger against Dyra''s forehead.


    "You have one second to remove your finger."


    Yill''s voice trembled with suppressed rage.


    "You have half a second to remove your ice."


    Toz retorted with a surprisingly calm voice as he flicked the ice spear resting against his chest with his free hand.


    Yill didn''t move her ice spear after half a second passed, and Toz didn''t remove his finger after a second passed. The two just stared silently at each other.


    Toz didn''t want to injure or kill Dyra since that would remove the only thing stopping Yill from piercing him with the ice spear.


    On the other hand, Yill wanted to kill or at least remove Toz as a threat instantly, but she couldn''t since Toz would still be able to harm or even kill Dyra before he died or was removed from her.

 Chapter 325 Proxy War

    ?Eventually, before Toz or Yill could do something drastic, Dyra, who had been too stunned to react, opened her mouth.


    "Granny, take a step back, please."


    Dyra looked a little conflicted as she spoke, and Yill could see that, so she unwillingly followed Dyra''s request after letting out a reluctant sigh.


    "That''s right. If you want me to listen to you, you need to do at least this much."


    Since Yill was a transcendent, trying to negotiate with them would immediately put Toz at a  disadvantage. If Dyra or Yill were dissatisfied with something, they could just do what they wanted and put a ve cor on Toz.


    But if Toz had Dyra as a hostage, they would have to reach an agreement both parties could agree to before moving on. Otherwise, both parties would only suffer. Dyra seemed to have realized this as she willingly let herself be Toz''s hostage.


    Toz changed his position so that he stood behind Dyra, with her between him and Yill, before he started conveying his demands.


    "Where are my cats? And where is Brunswick?"


    "In a few different cellblocks in this prison."


    Dyra answered Toz''s question before she continued.


    "I can use a token to call a servant and bring them here if you want."


    "If you''re prepared to die if you lie, I can''t really say no. I will cut off a limb or two as soon as I suspect something. And if you call reinforcements, I am taking you down with me."


    Toz could hear Dyra gulp in response to his threats, but she stayed calm, and her voice didn''t even tremble as she gave her assent. Dyra slowly pulled out a wooden token from a spatial bracelet. The token was marked with a cube in the corner and had the words ''Overseer'' written on it. It seemed like a token given to an overseer of the prison. Considering Dyra''s supposed status, Toz didn''t think it weird for her to have such a token, but he was still ready to react.


    After Toz nodded, Dyra injected some mana into the token. The enchantments on it glowed slightly. Toz used his mana vision to see that the token was indeed amunication token and that Dyra had sent a message. However, he couldn''t tell what the message was, so he didn''t rx just yet.


    Toz met Yill''s hatred-filled gaze before he turned back to Dyra.


    "While we wait, how about you tell me what I want to know?"


    "Alright. I might not be able to tell you some things, but ask away."


    It seemed like having her life threatened made Dyra quite cooperative. Toz was a little suspicious, but it wasn''t enough for him to cut off a finger, so he only maintained his vignce.


    "First off, what is this ce?"


    "It is a prison."


    "You don''t say. Where the fuck is it, and why am I and the others here?"


    Tozshing out in irritation at Dyra''s basic answer seemed to have intimidated her slightly, and she rushed to give a better exnation.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "It''s a prison for political hostages, and it''s located not far away from the high level battlefield. You and the others are here to be morepliant and willing to participate in the war."


    Dyra''s exnation seemed like it had revealed a lot, but it only made Toz more confused. Toz stopped his face from showing his confusion, but his mouth moved before he could do anything about it.


    "Why is there a prison for political hostages right next to a realm war?"


    "Well¡­ It''s for political hostages from the war."


    Dyra answered Toz''s question as if it was obvious, to which he could only sigh.


    "Miss, did you forget that you''re talking to a country bumpkin?"


    Dyra looked a little confused before she looked at Toz in surprise.


    "Right! I did forget about that. It seems I''ll have to take it from the beginning, then."


    Toz''s eyebrow twitched a little.


    "Keep it short."


    Dyra noticed that Toz had gotten even more irritated, so she exined as best as she could while still not drawing it out.


    "Ahem. What you call a ''realm war'' is, in reality, a proxy war between the Obsidian Empire and the Tribe of Death. Instead of those transcendent factions waging war, the Dragonss Mortal Realm''s factions fight on their behalf."


    Toz was reeling at the shock of Dyra''s revtion, and he did his best not to let it show on his face. But he had limited sess. However, his mouth didn''t stop, and he reflexively asked what was on his mind.


    "And the political hostages?"


    "Descendants, disciples, or members of different transcendent factions fighting in the proxy war in order to gain experience, make achievements, or because they''re hired to increase one side''s chance of winning. They''re taken as hostages instead of being killed in order not to incur the wrath of those factions, but they are usually worth a pretty ransom, so it works out well for everyone."


    "Okay, I think I''m catching up. But why the fuck am I here. I''m not part of any transcendent faction. Why should I take part in this stupid proxy war?"


    "You should have guessed it already, but I am part of the Obsidian imperial family. I was sent here as punishment, but it''s also a way for me to make contributions. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to participate in the battle directly since I am part of one of the opposing factions. If the Tribe of Death captures me, they''re practically guaranteed victory."


    "What''s that got to do with me?"


    "Well¡­ I can get contribution by recruiting strongbatants to fight in my ce. And honestly, you''re one of the strongest people I have seen below the transcendent level."


    "So your n was to kidnap me, put me in prison to soften my attitude, make me fight in the war, and if that didn''t work, put a ve cor on me? And do the same with my cats and friend?"

 Chapter 326 Spirit (1)

    ?Dyra was a little flustered due to Toz''s tant hostility. Yill''s hatred-filled gaze also turned into one of wariness due to Toz''s shing murderous intent. It wasn''t as if they couldn''t understand why Toz was angry. It was just that they hadn''t needed to pay attention to Toz''s feelings when they acted. However, things change when the person whose will they disregarded controlled whether Dyra lived or not.


    If Toz was sufficiently angry at them, he might ignore the consequences and just make sure to inflict as much pain or take as much revenge as possible.


    Dyra and Yill urgentlymunicated with each other using their eyes and mana. As long as Toz was reasonable, it wouldn''t matter much if they negotiated with him. But if anger consumed him, Yill would have to save Dyra as quickly as possible. However, they had miscalcted one thing.


    Their manamunication might be secret and unnoticeable to others, even people with the same capabilities, since the minute amount of mana only traveled between them. A mage would have to stand in the middle of the mana and have sufficient mana sensitivity to notice something going on.


    But Toz was different. His mana vision let him see mana as clearly as he saw Dyra and Yill. And he naturally saw the streams of glossy ck and icy blue mana passing between Dyra and Yill.


    Toz showed no hesitation as he grabbed Dyra''s hand and cut off her pinky finger with a de he conjured almost instantly.


    The finger fell to the floor with a soft thud.


    "You..!"


    Toz ignored Yill''s shout as he red at her and Dyra, who still hadn''t quite realized what had happened.


    "What the fuck did I say? If you want to try anything funny, pay for it with a limb or two."


    Dyra turned to look at Toz and then her four-fingered hand.


    "Ah! What the shit? We were onlymunicating because it looked like you were about to kill me, you bastard!"


    Dyra regained the liveliness she disyed during the negotiation between the Alliance of Kingdoms and Pirate Haven. Unfortunately, showing off her temper lost her another finger as Toz cut off her ring finger without even blinking.


    "Shut it lose or lose the rest. Your choice."


    Toz was already irritated that everything he knew, and even himself was nothing more than pawns in the eyes of Dyra, her empire, and seemingly the rest of the universe. Finding that out right after he almost became enved at the hands of an old hag was just like icing on the cake. Thest thing he needed was an unruly hostage.


    Thankfully, it seemed like Dyra realized she wasn''t in a position where she could carefreely curse and show off herck of manners.


    Yill, on the other hand, looked like she was about to snap from anger, but Toz didn''t care.


    "That goes for you, too, hag. One wrong move, and I turn your young miss into a ''young missing a few limbs.''"


    Yill forced herself to retract the mana she subconsciously roused, but she kept ring at Toz without saying anything.


    "How long until mypanions get here?"


    Since Dyra was afraid she would lose another finger if she dallied, she hurried to answer.


    "I-it shouldn''t be long. They were put in the same cell block not far from here."


    "Why?"


    "Why what?"


    "Why were Mindle and I separated from the rest?"


    "Security reasons."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz red at Dyra since she had gone back to giving short, uninformative answers. Dyra realized her mistake and hurried to rectify it.


    "You two were the highest security risks, so you two were put in one of the cell blocks with the tightest security. Not that it worked."


    It seemed like Dyra''s words made her realize something.


    "How did you two break out, anyways?"


    Toz ignored her question as he asked his own.


    "Why me and Mindle, specifically?"


    Dyra was a little miffed that Toz ignored her question, but she knew she wasn''t in a ce where she could ask him that.


    "What do you mean? Isn''t it obvious? The strength you disyed back at that pirate ce, and your cat''s identity, are the reasons."


    "Are you dumb or what?"


    Dyra looked affronted at Toz''s sudden insult, but before she couldin, Toz interrupted her.


    "I''m asking what''s so special about Mindle."


    Toz was already pretty sure he knew the answer, but he wanted confirmation. And it seemed like Mindle also did since she climbed up Toz''s back and rested her head on his shoulder as she looked at Dyra.


    Dyra asked Toz with a stupefied expression on her face.


    "You mean you don''t know?"


    Toz didn''t say anything. He just grabbed Dyra''s hand again and brought the de to her middle finger.


    "Ah, fuck wait! She''s a spirit!"


    Toz let go of Dyra''s hand after she answered, but he maintained his group on her shoulder so that she couldn''t try and escape.


    He looked at Mindle, who was deep in thought. Toz didn''t disturb her since his mind was also brimming with questions. Questions that Dyra also wanted answers to. Despite having lost two fingers and being Toz''s hostage, she didn''t really know when to keep quiet.


    "How did you even encounter a spirit? And a mortal one at that?"


    "Do you know a lot about spirits, then?"


    "I wouldn''t say ''a lot,'' but I have the knowledge required of my position, so I know more than the average person. Yill probably knows a little more than me, but I don''t think she''s in a cooperative mood."


    Dyra was happy to talk and show off her knowledge. It also seemed like she didn''t hold a grudge against Toz cutting off two of her fingers. Toz didn''t know why she changed her attitude so suddenly, but he didn''t mind.


    "Alright, tell me what you know, then."


    "Okay. But in exchange, can I pet her? It''s my first time ever seeing a spirit in real life."

 Chapter 327 Spirit (2)

    ?"No. Tell me what you know. In exchange, I won''t cut off another finger."


    Toz didn''t even need to think about his answer or ask Mindle what she wanted before he refused Dyra''s request to pet Mindle.


    Dyra pouted a little before she started telling Toz and Mindle what she knew about spirits. Though, she looked a little embarrassed when she first began speaking.


    "I did say I know more than the average person. But, in reality, that only means I know more than nothing."


    At Toz''s raised eyebrow, Dyra continued exining.


    "Most of those who know what a spirit is have heard about them in rumors or fairytales. I assume it''s the same even in the mortal realm?"


    "..."


    "Anyways, as a direct descendant of the Obsidian imperial family, I have ess to a little more information. Emphasis on ''a little''"


    "So, you don''t know anything?"


    "I do. Just don''t get your hopes up."


    Toz was quickly getting impatient at Dyra''s dawdling.


    "Don''t worry. I have no expectations of you."


    Toz''s words struck Dyra unexpectedly hard, but she could only me herself. She wanted to curse Toz, but she decided to grant his request and tell him what she knew about spirits.


    Both Toz and Mindle eagerly anticipated what she had to say, especially Mindle. Her semi-corporeal body and mysterious origins had long since stopped being an insecurity of hers, but that didn''t mean she wasn''t curious about her birth or why her egg had been hidden deep underground in a first level ne.


    Toz had told her about his initial suspicions about her being a spirit, but that didn''t mean much since neither of them really knew what a spirit was or where proper information about them could be found. But they had finally encountered someone who imed to know something about spirits. And Mindle couldn''t wait to hear what Dyra was going to say, even if she wasn''t the most trustworthy or reliable individual.


    Dyra could see the anticipation in Mindle''s eyes, and she gently began telling Toz and Mindle what she knew about spirits.


    "First off, spirits are the beings closest to the elements. And as such, magices as naturally as breathing to them, which also means they have an easier time improving and bing stronger than most other beings. ording to rumors, they''re also naturally long-lived.


    "However, their innate advantages are bnced out by the fact they almost can''t reproduce."


    Toz looked at Mindle after that. She had recently been born. If it was true that spirits weren''t very good at increasing their numbers, it didn''t really make sense for them to leave one of their own alone as they had done to Mindle. Unable to piece it together, Toz continued listening to Dyra.


    "Due to the spirits'' different lives to the rest of the known universe, they spend most of their time in their realm. Only asionally leaving and exploring the universe. Those times are when most of the rumors and information regarding spirits have been obtained. But it''s been years since a spiritst left the Spirit Realm."


    Dyra didn''t hide her curiosity as she looked at Mindle. Although it was a while since spirits werest seen outside the Spirit Realm, that didn''t mean they hadn''t left. They could have done it and simply avoided alerting the other races. To Dyra, Mindle was proof that the spirits were willing tomunicate with humans, and she naturally longed to meet one of her own, even if she didn''t have a suitable inclination.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, the increasing pressure from Toz''s hand on her shoulder stopped Dyra from staring, and she moved her gaze away from Mindle.


    "Is that all?"


    "I already told you there isn''t much to know about spirits."


    Toz ignored Dyra''s response and turned to Mindle. He could tell that although there was some interesting information about spirits, it was only superficial and things that could be deduced from the stories where spirits appeared. He turned back to Dyra.


    "Alright, so where is this Spirit Realm?"


    Dyra looked a little conflicted, but she eventually decided to answer Toz''s question.


    "Don''t tell him!"


    However, Yill interrupted her before she could say anything.


    "That''s a strictly guarded secret of the imperial family, miss. You can''t reveal it to random brats, especially not ones who have chopped off two of your fingers!"


    "Oh, granny, please. I can just take a Bone Regeneration Elixir when we get back. And do you really think someone with a spiritpanion is a random brat?"


    Yill looked like she didn''t have an answer to Dyra''s retort.


    "That doesn''t matter. You still shouldn''t tell him!"


    But she still told Dyra not to reveal the location of the Spirit Realm to Toz.


    Toz couldn''t stand it anymore and interjected.


    "Is that secret worth more than Dyra''s life?"


    "Ugh¡­! It''s not like that. The empire and the Spirit Realm have an agreement, and one of the conditions is for the empire to keep the Spirit Realm''s location hidden."


    "Wait, howe I don''t know about this agreement?"


    "Because it is also supposed to be a secret. But if it concerns your life, it should be okay to reveal at least this much. And since you found out the Spirit Realm''s location due to the empire''s knowledge, you''re technically forbidden from telling outsiders about it. My apologies, miss. I never thought there woulde a moment when you would have to talk about spirits and their realm with outsiders."


    Dyra looked a little confused and sad as she faced Yill, and it seemed like she wanted to say something, but the words refused to leave her mouth.


    Toz and Mindle only spectated the drama, but before anything more exciting than the revtion of Yill keeping a secret from Dyra could happen, a set of footsteps echoed out from further down the hallway. The rustling of chains and a few other noises apanied the sound of footsteps. Toz and Mindle quickly realized what the source of the sound was. Toz, with Mindle still clinging to his shoulder, dashed forward, almost forgetting about his hostage.

 Chapter 328 Taienra Missing

    ?In his excitement to reunite with the cats, Toz was about to forget the only thing keeping Yill from turning him into an ice cube. Thankfully, both Dyra and Yill seemed a little distraught, so neither of them took the opportunity to try and get Dyra out of his grasp when he was distracted.


    Yill didn''t seem to mind as she stayed behind when Toz pulled Dyra along with him to faster reunite with the rest of the cats.


    Toz turned around the corner, a budding smile on his face. However, his face twisted in confusion at the unexpected sight, and he stopped walking.


    A young spectacle-wearing man was walking while carrying four boxes, from which the sound of chains came. The boxes isted the cats and Toz''s inclination. Toz didn''t know how such small boxes could have such a powerful effect, but his mind was upied by something else entirely.


    The person carrying the boxes was none other than Brunswick. Not only that, he was even wearing a ck uniform, suspiciously simr to the uniform worn by the person on the Obsidian Kingdom''s delegation, who threw out the tform in the Void.


    Brunswick didn''t look very surprised at the sight of Toz, but it seemed like he was also trying to keep a neutral face as he ced the boxes on the ground.


    Toz didn''t say anything to Brunswick. Since he had taken on that uniform, he had made his choice. Brunswick took a step back after cing the boxes on the ground, and he was about to use a token to open them up, but Toz was quicker.


    Toz dissolved the boxes and the chains restraining the cats with Dissolution while Mindle took on the hostage.


    Nil, Lucy, Scrael, and Asilean were stunned when their prisons melted away into nothingness in front of them. They only had a second to be worried before they sensed the restored connection with Toz. And when the chains followed in the boxes'' footsteps, the four cats dove onto Toz, burying him in a happy reunion.


    Toz felt slightly regretful as he asked the cats to stop. Thankfully, the cats understood since they quickly figured out the situation all of them were in and jumped down from Toz.


    Toz and Mindle switched ces to let the cats greet each other as well. However, one cat was a little less happy than the others.


    Lucy looked at Brunswick with eyes that first showed a confused look and then a sad one as Brunswick intentionally ignored Lucy. Scrael hugged Lucy and brought him back to the others. She turned around and threw Brunswick a re before continuing to ignore his existence.


    The cats and Brunswick hadn''t known each other for long, and there was nothing special tying them together, but the cats had still liked and gotten along well with Brunswick, especially Lucy.


    Seeing him distance himself and side with the people who kidnapped and imprisoned them naturally hurt Lucy and the others'' feelings. But they weren''t angry or free enough to beat him up about it. They were still friends in some way, after all. And it wasn''t like they couldn''t understand why Brunswick made the choice he did. They just couldn''t ept it. They were also busy with Dyra and Yill and the situation on that front, which, since it concerned their freedom, took priority.


    The cats calmed down as Yill caught up to Toz and Dyra. Well, most of them did. Asilean didn''t.


    "You! What did you do to Taienra!?"


    Asilean got in a ready position as he questioned Yill while rousing his magic.


    Toz and the others had no idea about what happened after Yill knocked them unconscious, and they also hadn''t had time to share their experiences, so Asilean was the only one who knew that Taienra had tried to fight against Yill. But he lost consciousness before he could see what happened. However, he knew that Taienra wouldn''t simply retreat in the face of him in danger, which meant she would certainly have tried to defeat Yill.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Taienra might be strong, but after experiencing Yill''s strength directly, Asilean knew that Taienra wouldn''t be a match for her, even when she was at her best, much less when she was still recovering from the effects of her breakthrough.


    Asilean naturally suspected the worst since he couldn''t sense Taienra anywhere nearby. He knew he couldn''t beat the answer out of Yill, but he couldn''t stop himself from demanding an answer.


    However, Yill only smirked.


    "Oh, that whale? I guess you could say that she''s far from here."


    Toz was a little confused, but he realized that Taienra must havee to help Asilean when they tried to escape from Yill''s grasp during the peace talks between Pirate Haven and the Alliance of Kingdoms. Since she was a friend and a valued member of their group, Toz didn''t need to know anything more. He held up Dyra''s hand again.


    "Spill it."


    "I would if I could. But I don''t know where that whale is."


    "Attitude."


    Following Toz''s word, a third finger dropped on the floor. Dyra was almost used to it by now, so she instantly sealed the wound with magic before it could bleed and cover the floor in blood. It also seemed like she had done it subconsciously since her gaze was focused on Yill.


    "Granny, are they talking about that mutated Starry Sky Whale? The one you said you found swimming nearby?"


    Yill had been ring at Toz in frustration after he cut off another one of Dyra''s fingers, but a pang of guilt shed across her face as she looked at Dyra. Her expression changed into one of neutrality almost instantly, but it wasn''t fast enough to escape Dyra''s notice.


    "Toz, was it? It seems I have to thank you for unveiling another one of Protector Yill''s lies today."


    Dyra changing the way she addressed yill from ''granny'' to ''Protector Yill'' seemed to have had an impact on Yill as she looked at Dyra with slightly sad eyes.


    "Sorry, miss. I didn''t mean to lie to you, but a mutated Starry Sky Whale isn''t something that belongs to country bumpkin brats-"


    "Her name is Taienra! And she belongs to no one!"


    Asilean had enough of Yill and interrupted her whileshing out with his ws.

 Chapter 329 To Find Taienra

    ?Toz managed to calm down Asilean and, by threatening Dyra''s life, made Yill exin what she had done to Taienra. Dyra was surprisingly cooperative during the process, probably due to Yill''s lies being revealed.


    Apparently, Starry Sky Whales were valuable outside the Mortal Realm as well. Starry Sky Whales, who had been hunted to near extinction, weren''t faring much better in the Transcendent Realm. The only reason they hadn''t died out was that people were preserving their lives in order to harvest as many starlight crystals as possible.


    Although Yill didn''t know if the forest on Taienra''s back was beneficial or not, she knew that she was a Starry Sky Whale with incredible value. So, Yill had sent a message to the empire, after which a servant came and picked Taienra up.


    Yill had been rewarded handsomely for her contribution, but she didn''t know what happened to Taienra after that.


    Asilean trembled with rage even before Yill finished talking. Once again, shitty bastards were exploiting Taienra''s natural constitution for their greed, and he was once again powerless to stop it. Toz and the other cats were also livid, but since Yill was a transcendent, there wasn''t anything they could do, even if they had Dyra as a hostage.


    Toz was thinking about what to do. But he felt powerless in front of the Transcendent Realm and the Obsidian Empire. The only thing he could think of was bing a transcendent himself. But that would take time, and who knew what would happen to Taienra during that time? Not to mention if that level would be enough.


    Although Yill didn''t exin it clearly, and Toz didn''t have any prior knowledge of the Transcendent Realm, it seemed like the Transcendent Realm was more like a border between the mortal levels and whaty beyond. And if there was only a single level beyond the mortal levels, it didn''t make sense to separate the mortals and transcendents, even if transcendents were unimaginably stronger than mortals.


    And if Taienra, as a Starry Sky Whale, were as valuable as Yill made her sound to be, the security around her probably wouldn''t be something a simple transcendent could break through.


    Toz was about to ask Yill and Dyra about the levels of power above the transcendent level, when Dyra spoke.


    "U-um, I''m sorry about Taienra. I might not be able to help you save her."


    She winked stealthily before continuing.


    "But I can help you get to the Transcendent Realm."


    Toz turned a questioning gaze toward Dyra. Considering how she had been treated as a hostage, thest thing Toz expected was for her to help them, but since it didn''t seem like she was lying, he didn''t t-out refuse her.


    "What did you have in mind?"


    "I am supposed to stay here for up to another year, and if you make enough contributions during the war in my stead, I ought to be able to bring you with me to the Transcendent Realm when I return."


    Following the orders of the ones who kidnapped and imprisoned them didn''t sit right with Toz, but if it was the quickest way to find and free Taienra, he would be willing. However, it wasn''t only his choice, so he turned to the cats.


    "I-if it''s the fastest way to get to Taienra, let''s do it."


    Asilean spoke what the others thought as they nodded in agreement to his words.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Alright, but let''s put it in writing since we aren''t in a position to trust you."


    To prove hisck of trust, Toz still didn''t let go of Dyra until the notary who wrote the peace agreement between Pirate Haven and the Alliance of Kingdoms arrived, even if it didn''t look like Dyra or Yill was going to cause a ruckus.


    The mood was somber, and no one was keen on talking anymore after everything that had been done and revealed. And Toz and the cats were worrying about Taienra, so although they were happy about escaping prison, they couldn''t find it in themselves to celebrate.


    Thankfully, it didn''t take too long for the notary to arrive. After he did, he quickly drafted an agreement that Toz and Dyra signed. While signing it, Dyra admitted that her empire had methods to get out of the agreement''s binding but that she would have to go back to the Transcendent Realm for those methods. Since the agreement was going to get nullified after some time anyways, Dyra asked the notary to increase the strength in exchange for shortening its duration.


    Finally acquiring a way to trust Dyra, he let her go, but she didn''t immediately go to Yill''s side as she stood slightly off to the side while Toz signed the agreement.


    Dyra would bring Toz and the cats to the Transcendent Realm after they made enough contributions, and neither Toz nor the cats would threaten Dyra''s life again. The agreement would be nullified if Toz couldn''t rack up enough achievements.


    Both Dyra and Toz were moderately satisfied with the agreement''s terms, and they shook hands to conclude it.


    Now, the only thing left was for Toz and the cats to partake in the fighting on the high level battlefield to make achievements enough for Dyra to be able to legitimately bring them to the Transcendent Realm.


    Although Toz was still a medium level mage, the cats were all at the seventh level, one of the higher levels. And the high level battlefield was where it would be easiest for them to make enough contributions.


    There were a bunch of bureaucratic things and official procedures to go through before Toz, and the cats, would actually be able to fight on Dyra''s behalf, but Dyra would handle all that while Toz and the cats could spend their time training and prepare for battle.


    Dyra led Toz and the cats away from the prison to a ce where they could stay while she arranged for their presence on the battlefield. Lucy harrumphed loudly as they passed Brunswick.


    Toz and the cats had fought before, but the only thing close to arge-scale battle was the time with the Scorched Earth Rat King, but back then, he didn''t participate in therge-scale part of the battle. He watched the other explorers, merchants, and whoever helped prepare for the battle, but the battle itself was more of a sweeping strategy for clearing out all the Scorched Earth Rats.


    There was also the encounter with the void beast swarm when they met Taienra and Asilean, but the void beasts weren''t intelligent enough to be considered opponents. They only had overwhelming numbers. And that eventually devolved into a fight with only three of the beasts.


    So Toz and the cats had more experience fighting in directbat on a rtively small scale than they had with fightingrge amounts of enemies together withrge amounts of allies.


    There was also the fact that the war was among high levelbatants, which was another thing Toz and the others didn''t have too much experience fighting. Toz had sparred with Wulf and fought Dristel, but the cats hadn''t done that, so they were even worse off than Toz.


    Toz was going to tell the cats as much as possible about what he learned when fighting Dristel, and like he promised Mindle, he was also going to tell them about his mana vision.

 Chapter 330 High Level Battlefield (1)

    ?After leaving the prison, Dyra guided Toz and the cats to an apartmentplex not far away. The prison was on a ne that acted as an intermediary location between the Mortal Realm and the war. Aside from the prison, there were several other facilities, such as apartments and housing for people preparing to enter the battlefield or hospitals and recovery centers for people leaving the battlefield, temporarily or permanently.


    There was also a logistics division where military business was conducted, which was where Dyra went after handing over a token to Toz and the cats.


    Toz used the token to unlock the room Dyra had assigned them.


    After entering the room, Toz and the cats took a few minutes simply to hug each other and rejoice at being safe and sound. However, no one had any intentions of rxing or cking off, not when Taienra was still in trouble.


    Toz began teaching the cats what to watch out for in a battle with a high levelbatant.


    High level mages weren''t much different from their weaker counterparts. They were generally better in almost every aspect, with greater mana reserves, quicker casting speed, and more powerful magic. They also had a greater chance of having learned several spells.


    High level fighters, on the other hand, developed the ability to control martial energy independently of their body. Melee fighters were no longer limited to short-rangebat, and archers and the like didn''t have to use physical arrows or projectiles to attack after bing high level fighters. And just like mages, fighters would have had more opportunities to learn techniques.


    That was all the information he could give to the cats to help them prepare. They would have to figure things out as they go while on the battlefield. Thankfully, Toz and the cats were confident in their abilities. Instead of worrying about what they would face on the battlefield and what they would be up against, it would be better to train.


    But before that, Toz told them about what he had done and how he had broken out of prison.


    Unfortunately, since spirit beasts used magic mainly by instinct and innate ability, they didn''t quite understand what Toz had done or why he had done it. And they were only more confused when he started talking about a miniature clone that helped him use stronger magic. The cats tried copying him and using only their consciousness to use magic, but without their mana pools sealed, it was impossible for them not to use their mana.


    The only one who still seemed interested in what Toz was talking about, even after failing, was Mindle. And that was because of what he mentioned happened to his fire magic. As a fellow fire user, Mindle was keen on learning how to improve her magic, and it seemed like Toz''s words and actions had inadvertently guided her in that regard.


    After listening to Toz talk about how he almost transformed the fire mana itself into actual fire instead of only using the fire mana to generate fire, Mindle seemed like she had caught the tail of an epiphany of sorts. She barely remembered to thank Toz for his help before sinking deep into thought while training her magic.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The other cats had already started training their magic while Toz talked with Mindle.


    Toz wanted to figure out how to permanently enter the state where he could bring his elements to the brink of transforming into their true nature. It would certainly increase his strength significantly, but if he didn''t seed, he would have wasted time he got to train his elements and refine his mana and body. Unlike the clone and its functions, which didn''t have a guarantee of sess before they were shipped to the frontlines, refining his mana would grant him a lesser but more reliable increase in strength.


    Since they would be fighting with their lives on the line, Toz decided to y it safe and began refining his fire mana. Since his fire magic was the one that had seeded in bringing out the effects of the clone, Toz decided to strengthen it first. It was also the same element as his strongest purely offensive spell, Fireball. In order to increase his strength as much as possible, Toz prioritized his fire attribute.


    However, right before he could bring it to the same level as his void attribute, the sixth level, Dyra came and told them they were going to the frontlines of the war.


    Toz was worried that Dyra''s interruption had caused Mindle some trouble. Fortunately, it seemed like she had gained something before Dyra came. But she entered Toz''s familiar space to continue thinking about her magic while Toz and the others followed Dyra to the hangar.


    Dyra wouldn''t be going to the battlefield herself, but she guided Toz and the cats to a transport ship that would be deliveringbatants and supplies to the frontlines.


    Although the war had been ongoing for at least a couple of years already, there was still a constant supply of newbatantsing from across the kingdoms of the Mortal Realm. But not everyone was a fresh recruit. Several of the people entering the same transport ship as Toz and the cats were veterans at the seventh level who had been transferred to the high level battlefield.


    Since it was a proxy war, it followed strict rules, and one of them was thatbatants fought on an appropriate battlefield. Low level mages and fighters battled on the low level battlefield, and so on.


    Toz was one of the rare exceptions. Fighting at battlefields at a higher than oneself technically wasn''t forbidden. Since it didn''t add an element of unfairness, as the opposite did, there was no reason to put a restriction on medium level mages or fighters entering the high level battlefield. However, in most such cases, the medium level mage or fighter was only charging straight toward their death, so it only happened rarely that a medium levelbatant entered the high level battlefield.


    Even Dyra, who could push past most administrative difficulties with her authority and status, had to go through the proper procedures because a medium level fighter would be of more use on the medium level battlefield than the high level one.

 Chapter 331 High Level Battlefield (2)

    ?Toz and the cats boarded the ship. They stayed on deck and admired the view as the ship filled up and took off.


    Although Toz suppressed his mana so that others couldn''t sense his level, he and the cats still stood out, not only because of the four cats sitting on the railing next to Toz. Mindle, the most eye-catching cat, hadn''t even left the familiar space. The others on the ship paid notice to them because of their attitudes.


    They weren''t as giddy or nervous as the fresh recruits, and they weren''t as depressing or traumatized as the veterans, so people naturally began paying attention to them.


    However, it didn''t take long until the sounds of explosions and battle upied people''s minds. A single man and four cats weren''t much inparison.


    Since the prison where Toz and the cats had been held wasn''t very far from the battlefield, it didn''t take long for them to arrive. And before they knew it, the battlefield was already within sight.


    From afar, it only looked like an ordinary ne, but as the ship got closer, it was clearly the sign of a battle. Magic and aura flew up into the air above the ne, lighting up the Void with various colors.


    Since they were so far away, it was impossible to gauge the might of the attacks that soared into the sky, but since they could stand out even whenpared to the size of the ne, the attacks andbatants were undoubtedly powerful.


    And as they got closer, the tremors and shockwaves even reached the ship.


    The ship had some barriers to protect it, but it couldn''t withstand the attacks and headed to a rtively calm area. But it was only calm whenpared to the fiercest hotspots of battle.


    The ship arrived at the Alliance of Kingdom''s base camp on the high level battlefield without issue. Maybe it was a rule not to attack supply ships. Toz didn''t think too much about it since it didn''t matter. He would rather focus on his present circumstances and surroundings.


    Since the transport ships only epted one-way tickets, he would be staying on the battlefield for some time, maybe even for the entire year he and the cats had to umte enough achievements to apany Dyra to the Transcendent Realm and the Obsidian Empire.


    Since it was an opportunity to leave the Mortal Realm, something that not even a fraction of the Mortal Realm''s inhabitants would get for their entire lives, it only made sense that it would require an incredible achievement or contribution.


    Toz suppressed his blood that had begun boiling due to the fighting and battle as he followed the rest of the ship''s passengers to leave the ship.


    Toz took a look around the camp as he followed everyone to line up in front of a military officer. The only thing that it reminded Toz of was the supply camp that the Forest Janitors set up during the Scorched Earth Rat extermination. But it was a lot bigger and more suitable for battle.


    All the tents were strictly organized, with signs pointing to various areas like the mess and medic tents. However, the medic tents didn''t really need signs for people to find since the screams of the injured soldiers were more than enough for people to find them.


    Toz turned his attention to the military officer that started speaking.


    "I''m keeping this short, and I''m not repeating myself. If you don''t know what to do, just run straight outside the camp and begin fighting. It doesn''t matter whether you have fought in a war before. You haven''t experienced anything like this. You fight until you make it back, or you fight until you die.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Now, you have a day''s reprieve before you have to leave the camp to kill at least one enemy before you make it back. If youe back, eat and head right back out.


    "It might sound like something a masochist would like, but this is worse. It''s almostparable to childbirth. However, in order to motivate you, we have prepared rewards suitable for your aplishments.


    "Grab two of these bracelets. They''ll monitor and measure your achievements. Any questions?"


    Although the military officer asked if anyone had any questions, it was clear from his tone that he didn''t actually want anyone to ask anything.


    However, a naive-looking guy still reached up with his hand. The military officer sighed and rubbed his eyes before pointing at him.


    "U-um, why do we need two?"


    As the military officer expected, it was a useless, redundant, and unnecessary question, but he still fulfilled his duty and answered.


    "In case you lose an arm, you have a backup."


    Fear was visible on the naive-looking man''s face as he slowly put down his arm.


    If Dyra hadn''t told him about the bracelets already, Toz would have wondered if the cats would also have to use them. But since they were bonded to him, their aplishments counted as his.


    Toz grabbed two bracelets and put them on before he started walking toward the battlefield.


    A single day''s rest would be nice, but it was unnecessary, and since umting enough achievements seemed nearly impossible, Toz didn''t want to waste time dawdling and fooling around. And the sooner they gathered enough achievements, the sooner Dyra would be able to leave and bring them to the Transcendent Realm, which meant they would be able to find and help Taienra faster.


    The cats also didn''t have any intentions of cking off. Mindle, who had spent the transport to the battlefield inside the familiar space, came out. After ruminating and theoretically developing her magic, she was eager to test it out. Toz''s words and inspiration had helped give her an idea on how to improve, but just like the other cats, she used magic by instinct, by actually doing it. Not by merely thinking about it.


    And if the chaos caused by the battlefield was any indication, Mindle would have ample opportunity to try out various things.


    Mindle wasn''t the only one excited to let loose. All the cats had been chained with their movements and magic restricted. The only thing they could do to avoid going insane was to spend all their time asleep.

 Chapter 332 High Level Battlefield (3)

    ?The road to the battlefield led through the camp like a highway. And people ran along and across it in a flurry. Toz was the only one from the same ship as him that went straight to the battlefield, but he wasn''t the only one in the camp heading out. He saw several grizzly veterans with grim faces walking to the edge of the base before stepping into the scarred wastnd.


    Even the ground right outside the camp was covered with signs of fighting and damage. Although it was rtively tranquil around the camp, the sounds of battle reached Toz''s ears before he even entered the battlefield.


    Along with giving them some rudimentary information about the battlefield, Dyra had also given Toz his things back. Toz was happy to get everything back, especially the rainbow swirl manual and his sword. However, the coat that Joan had made him was damaged by Yill''s ice. But even if it weren''t, it wouldn''t be able to face off against the opponents Toz would fight against during the war.


    Dyra called itpensation for Yill ruining his coat as she handed him a glossy ck outfit that clearly came from the Obsidian Empire. Toz didn''t know the details of what it was capable of, but Dyra said it would be able to keep him safe as long as he didn''t willingly jump straight into the midst of a battle between several ninth level mages and fighters.


    Toz took her words with a grain of salt, but since it was made in a ce that probably had transcendent enchanters, he didn''t doubt thebat outfit''s capabilities too much. Unfortunately, the cats didn''t get anything, so they could only stare at Toz''sbat suit with envy.


    Toz grabbed his sword, and he and the cats left the camp and headed for the battlefield.


    Although it was calm outside the camp, Dyra had warned Toz that there were all kinds of demons and beings in the demon realm of the Mortal Realm, so it was best to always stay on guard.


    Toz and the cats decided to listen to her advice and act with prudence, at least in the beginning. They might be eager to make a lot of contributions so they could go to Taienra as soon as possible. But if they acted rashly and got themselves injured or killed, they would dy or lose their opportunity to help Taienra.


    The other soldiers andbatants that were more used to the battle didn''t dally as Toz did. Instead, they dashed away in different directions almost as soon as they left the camp.


    Toz and the cats looked on as the various fighters and mages went to fight at different parts of the battlefield. It didn''t seem like they were interested in working together, which Toz found slightly interesting.


    Toz had nned to keep walking until they encountered an enemy. However, they didn''t get very far until they heard a scream from one of the fighters who left the camp when they did.


    They didn''t even bother trying to hide their curiosity as they dashed toward the fighter to see what the fuss was about.


    At first, it only looked like the guy had stepped in a pit and snapped his leg, but the shifting ground and the gurgling sounds told them it was something else.


    The archer seemed to snap out of their pain. They summoned a bow in their hands and pulled the string without even loading an arrow. As the archer moved their arm back, an arrow of colorless aura slowly materialized. Due to the archer''s awkward stance, they couldn''t pull the string back all the way, but the arrow still flew out with significant force as it pierced into the ground.


    A screech rang out from the ground after the arrow sank into it, right next to the archer''s bloody, mangled mess of a foot.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz stopped watching at the same time as the ground trembled.


    Whatever held onto the archer''s foot let go, and they hobbled away as fast as they could while preparing another shot.


    The archer seemed to have barely made it when the ground trembled even more, and the dirt began slipping deeper into the ground like a spiraling sinkhole. The spiral was small at first, and it began from where the archer had been attacked, but it rapidly expanded, forcing Toz to halt his advance.


    The archer also felt the ground under his foot begin to soften and slip away, so he used all his might to throw himself forward while turning around andunching his arrow into the center of the vortex.


    However, unlikest time, the arrow simply disappeared into the swirling ground. But at least the sinkhole stopped expanding after reaching a certain point.


    The archery on his back as he began crawling away. His focus was only on the vortex, and he didn''t notice Toz and the cats off to the side.


    After the archer was clear of the immediate danger, Toz stopped to look at the vortex. He didn''t sense anything more than barely threatening from it, so he decided to use it as a learning opportunity in order to prepare for the battlefield and whatever it could offer.


    After a while, the dirt stopped moving.


    A spout of sand shot into the sky. It drew a parab in the air while taking the shape of a raindrop as it rushed toward the archer, still crawling on the ground.


    The archer took up his bow again and fired a volley of arrows at the projectile of condensed sand. It seemed like the archer knew what he was up against, as he didn''t aim to destroy the drop. He only aimed to steer the sand off course, which he managed, albeit barely.


    The sand struck down next to the archer with an impressive collision that created a crater and sent a wave of dirt washing over the archer.


    After the sand drop''s impact, the ground, where the vortex had been, began moving again. But this time, instead of the ground sinking, it started rising.


    Since so much dirt covered the cause, it was difficult for Toz to see what it was, but it kept rising into the air, with the dirt running off it like water all the while.

 Chapter 333 Earthworm

    ?Even before all the dirt could fall from the creature''s body, Toz could already begin to tell what kind of demonic beast it was. It was an oversized worm with a circr maw filled with teeth that could easily shred through the ground and whatever rocks came in its path. Something like a human leg wouldn''t even serve as an appetizer for the beast or its meter-wide gaping mouth.


    But as it rose, Toz could see an appendage retract into the center of its maw. It looked like a tongue but with teeth all over it. If that thing hid right beneath the surface and waited for someone to step right on it, Toz wouldn''t be surprised if the one who fell for the trap lost their leg.


    Fortunately, the archer had reacted quickly and shot an arrow at the tongue before it could tear off his legpletely. However, the archer was still immobilized and couldn''t escape the Earth Worm as it continued climbing up and bending its body in a curve simr to the path that its sand attack traveled. But unlike the lump of sand, the Earthworm wasn''t affected by the arrows the archer shot. Its teeth, moving like a maelstrom of destruction, shredded all the arrows before they could barely hit it.


    The Earthworm''s enormous and lengthy body made its movements look slow, but it closed in on the immobilized archer with frightening speed, its maw spinning, its teeth grinding, and its skin twitching.


    The archer didn''t have enough time or space tounch an attack powerful enough to pierce through the swirling jaws of doom, but he could attack its sides in hopes of making it reconsider its meal choice. Heunched several arrows that curved around the Earthworm''s maw and struck its sides. Some of them elicited screeching from the Earthworm, but none of them were quite enough to make the Earthworm stop its movements. If anything, they only infuriated it and made it move even faster toward the archer.


    The archer didn''t stop attacking, but despair was evident on his face. Although he thought he was ready to face death when he stepped onto the battlefield, he didn''t expect it to be at the hands, or maw, of a demonic beast lurking below ground right outside the camp. The only thing he could do other than continue firing useless attacks was regret that he wasn''t more cautious.


    The Earthworm was so close that the archer could smell the stench of its previous meal reeking out of its maw. Since there was nothing he could do, and since it was futile even to attempt to resist, the archer epted his fate and closed his eyes.


    However, he hadn''t expected death at the hands of the Earthworm to be so hot, painless, and noisy. The archer opened his eyes again to see what was going on.


    His eyes opened wide, and his jaw inadvertently dropped at the sight of the Earthworm curdling and twitching like a stranded fish with smoke rising from its mouth. The archer saw its charred teeth and mouth and could only stare at the dying Earthworm in awe as another attack came flying, once again washing the surroundings in heat.


    The Fireball hit the Earthworm''s mouth again, scorching its mouth and its insides.


    But Toz wasn''t done. Since the Earthworm was still moving, it could obviously still handle a few more attacks, which would let Toz modify his Fireball a couple of more times.


    Toz used the inspiration he got from when he broke out of prison to improve his Fireball, which improved its damage. Toz hadn''t expected the demonic beast to be able to handle so many of his attacks, so he was slightly surprised. But he was also happy, and he continued sting Fireball after Fireball onto the Earthworm''s scorched corpse long after it had seemingly died.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Since they knew that Toz was practicing his Fireball while using his mana vision, the cats only watched with patience. Mindle watched a little more closely since she also used fire, but the other cats quickly grew disinterested. After a while, Toz noticed that he wouldn''t be able to improve his Fireball much further, so he stopped torturing the poor Earthworm''s ash.


    The cats knew what Toz was doing, so they didn''t think much of it, but to the archer, it looked like Toz was someone with an incredible vendetta against Earthworms or a maniacal fire mage. In either case, it might be best not to be too close, so the archer bowed in thanks before cautiously hobbling back to the camp.


    When he noticed that Toz wasn''t caring about him, the archer rxed and hobbled back more quickly. During the battle, adrenaline had kept him from feeling the pain. But when the fear of death subsided, the torn muscles, bones, and nerves in his mangled leg and foot wouldn''t stop screaming. And each hop only worsened the pain, but the archer gritted his teeth and jumped back to the camp so that he could get help. Hopefully, his leg wouldn''t be too far gone.


    Toz looked at the archer and admired his iron-willed attitude. Of course, he would have been more admirable if he had avoided the Earthworm instead of getting injured.


    After looking at the ashes that remained after the Earthworm, Toz and the cats moved deeper into the battlefield. Killing a demonic beast and saving a fellowbatant of the Alliance of Kingdoms was only the start of their umtion of merit. If they want more, they''ll have to do more.


    While walking, all of them thought about how the Earthworm had withstood several of Toz''s Fireballs and began thinking about ways to improve their strength.


    Mindle, with her Tongues of me, and Nil, with his Sharp Rain, didn''t have too much to worry about since they had their offensive spells. Lucy did have his mind maniption magic that worked exceptionally well against demons and demonic beasts, so he had easy to attack the enemies, but he didn''t have a way to actually damage or kill them without depleting his mana since that was what it took to kill someone by only destroying their mind.


    Scrael, while strong, wasn''t necessarily strong enough to tear through the enemies they would face on the battlefield. But she had ample experience with fights of life and death, and it was during such fights that she grew the most, so she would probably do alright, even without a spell to support her.


    Asilean was the one in the worst position. He and Taienra had mostly drifted through the Void, so he wasn''t as used tobat as the others. He didn''t have any spells to increase his fighting power, and his only offensive move was shing through space at the same ce as his opponent, which could be difficult if the opponent had a lot of mana that could resist his magic.


    Thankfully, none of them were alone. Toz and the cats would work together to ovee each other''s weaknesses and disy a strength that far surpassed what each of them could aplish on their own.


    With that mindset, the six of them walked deeper into the battlefield, and the symbol on Toz''s hand began to imperceptibly fill out.

 Chapter 334 Demonic Bull (1)

    ?Since they had already started moving in a specific direction to due running to the archer who got attacked by an Earthworm, Toz and the cats continued on in that very direction, following the sounds of battle.


    It didn''t take long until they came upon a fight between a trio of humans and a demonic beast that looked like an oversized bull. The demonic energy surrounding the demonic beast tinted the air red with malice. Toz could tell the bull was significantly stronger than the Earthworm, even from a distance.


    But the three humans fighting it were stronger than the archer who lost his leg against the Earthworm, so the fight was still even. However,pared to the Demonic Bull''s inexhaustible stamina, it seemed like the three humans were trying to leave the battlefield. One had a bandaged arm, and the other two looked exhausted and worn out.


    They still had enough mana and martial energy to attack and defend against the bull''s attacks. But they were quickly running out. And they couldn''t dodge the bull''s rampaging hooves as it charged back and forth across the ground, trying to stomp on the fly-like humans.


    Eventually, the shieldbearer couldn''t handle it anymore and got sent flying by the Demonic Bull''s kick. The shield of aura in the air in front of him cracked in less than a second. The hoofnded on the shield unobstructed. The shieldbearer''s armored body crumpled and crashed on the ground several meters away, not showing any signs of getting back up.


    The two mages shouted after the shieldbearer, but if they lost focus, the bull''s hooves would strike them as well. And without armor, defensive magic, or the sturdy body of a fighter, their fate would be worse than their crumpledpanion.


    One of the mages seemed to be specialized in closebat as she enveloped her fists and feet in fire and dashed around the Demonic Bull, keeping its attention away from the water mage and the shieldbearer''s body.


    She flitted around, narrowly dodging the hooves that mmed into the ground and left behind pits and craters everywhere. But she couldn''t dodge the shockwaves, and she burned through mana to keep her body protected.


    In order to stop the Demonic Bull from ignoring her and targeting the others, the fire mage began flinging out fist-shaped mes at the bull''s legs and body. And when she got the opportunity, she evennded strikes directly with her me-enveloped hands.


    However, her attacks had minimal effect and only served to infuriate the bull.


    The bull seemed to have realized that it couldn''t catch the fire mage, so it decided to take its anger out on an easier target, the water mage.


    Both the mages noticed the bull''s intentions, and the fire mage screamed at the water mage to get away as she began to unleash a flurry of ming fists onto the bull''s leg. But the bull ignored her efforts and charged at the water mage with furious momentum.


    The water mage wouldn''t be able to escape even if he wanted to, so he didn''t even try. Instead, he unleashed the magic he had been conjuring while the fire mage kept the bull''s attention.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The fire mage noticed what the water mage was doing and quickly distanced herself from the bull. The fire mage moved away just in time since a tsunami came crashing down onto the Demonic Bull. If she had stayed in ce, the mass of water would have crushed her and washed away her remains without her being able to resist.


    Unfortunately, the bull wasn''t as weak.


    The water tore off skin in some ces and maybe broke a few bones. It even managed to push the bull away as the enormous amount of water swept it off its feet. But the bull stood up, almost unharmed, with its strength barely affected by the water mage''s full-power attack.


    However, the fire mage and water mage weren''t around to check on how it was doing since they had already started fleeing, the fire mage picking up the shieldbearer on the way.


    The fire mage left behind scorch marks on the ground as she ran with her feet and legs fully enveloped in mes. After picking up the shieldbearer, she caught up to the water mage and threw him atop the shieldbearer''s unmoving body.


    The fire mage didn''t even think about looking back, not that she had to since the bull''s footsteps rang through the ground. She could feel the tremors travel up her legs as she fled. And running as fast as she could, the tremors were growing in intensity.


    The Demonic Bull was catching up to the fire mage carrying her twopanions.


    However, the fire mage noticed something else, maybe due to her element. But the temperature in the air was rising, and it wasn''t due to her own mes. It was a clear difference in the entire surroundings. She wanted to look around and find out what was going on since it was clearly the magic of someone powerful, but even without the two people in her arms, she wasn''t in a position to leisurely inspect the surroundings. It was impossible to forget the bull huffing and puffing as it chased after her.


    The temperature continued to rise. The fire mage managed to hold on due to her own attribute being fire. But the water mage and the shieldbearer had sweat dripping off of them as if they were fresh out of the shower. The water mage used a little magic to keep themselves cool as they tried to flee from the bull. But it seemed like both the bull and the heat were intent on chasing them all the way back to the base.


    Since it would cost merit to bring a demonic beast back to the camp, the trio had originally not wanted to do it. But losing merit was a lot better than losing a life or three.


    But the temperature was rising so much that even the fire mage was beginning to have difficulty breathing.

 Chapter 335 Demonic Bull (2)

    ?Although the fire mage was beginning to have trouble breathing, the temperature and the air bustling with fire mana strengthened the mes on her legs and increased her speed, and she burst out with power, leaving ming footsteps in her wake.


    The fire mage went from losing out in speed to the Demonic Bull to equalling it and then surpassing it. The Demonic Bull noticed the fire mage increasing the distance between them and, with a snort, increased its own speed to its limit, despite the feeling of danger that amodated the rise in temperature.


    The bull-headed Demonic Bull didn''t have any intentions of giving up on its targets and ignored the heat by expanding even more demonic energy to shield and reinforce its body.


    However, by ignoring the heat, the Demonic Bull failed to realize that the temperature continued rising without end. The fire mage was getting farther and farther away, despite the bull''s efforts to catch up, and the bull knew they were running in the direction of the humans'' base camp, so it decided to stop chasing.


    The Demonic Bull slowed down and stopped with a snort before turning around. It could sense the heat still eating away at its protective cover of demonic energy, so it began running away.


    But it didn''t get very far.


    The demonic energy surrounding and reinforcing its body began rapidly dissipating into thin air. The Demonic Bull lost control of its demonic energy and was thus exposed directly to the heat.


    It didn''t take long for the Demonic Bull to suffer. And it only got worse when four wisps of me appeared around it, each me increasing the temperature to unbearable levels. The air itself was on the verge of catching fire.


    The injuries from the water mage''s attacks had begun healing, but the heat put a stop to that. The torn skin melted and dripped off the Demonic Bull andnded on the ground with a sizzling noise. The rest of the bull''s hide soon apanied the skin.


    Before the Demonic Bull could even properly understand what was happening, it had already turned into cooked beef. And with a final popping sound, its brain and eyes ruptured. Combined with the bull''s boiling insides, there was no way for the Demonic Bull to survive.


    The Demonic Bull that prided itself on its strength and physical prowess had been rendered nothing more than a steaming pile of charred meat at the hands of Mindle''s mes and Asilean''s void magic.


    Toz and Mindle went forward to inspect the bull''s remains, just to see what kind of devastation Mindle''s heat had wreaked upon the Demonic Bull. Since the extreme heat prevented the other cats from approaching, they stayed back and waited.


    The bull''s skin and flesh had melted, but its bones were rtively intact. It had died and turned into something less than a pile of burned meat. But Mindle wasn''t satisfied. She hadn''t been able to incinerate the bullpletely by only heating it. And the ground was also practically untouched by her heat. Mindle realized that she had a long way to go in her mastery of fire magic, even after sessfully conjuring the fourth Tongue of me.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After inspecting the results of Mindle''s magic, she and Toz rejoined with the other cats as they headed deeper into the battlefield, searching for more opponents.


    Although Mindle''smagic was the one that had actually dealt damage to the Demonic Bull, Asilean''s assistance made it a lot easier for her. Asilean used his void magic that he brought to the seventh level during the time they waited for Dyra to dispel the Demonic Bull''s demonic energy.


    Since it was Asilean''s first time interacting with demonic energy, he was a little ufortable during the process. But he quickly realized that demonic energy was simr to other attributes, even if its nature differed slightly, in that the owner lost control of it if he softened its borders and mixed it with the mana in the air.


    And after making the demonic energy unusable for the Demonic Bull, there was nothing stopping Mindle''s magic from reaching the bull.


    Asilean still hadn''t found a way to attack enemies and kill them on his own, but he had discovered how he could help the others disy their true strength. Learning how to use his magic more offensively would take a while, but Asilean was constantly making progress and thinking about how to improve. And using void magic to reduce or remove an opponent''s defenses was certainly one way that Asilean could use to improve his offensive might.


    Asilean wasn''t the only one thinking about how to improve and remove weaknesses. The other cats were doing that as well. Toz, Mindle, and Asilean had all gotten opportunities to try out their magic against strong opponents, even if they hadn''t been quite strong enough to really put up a fight. And the others were itching for an opportunity for themselves.


    But while they walked and waited for their next encounter with the enemy forces, the cats prepared themselves and their magic so that they would be able to show off their might, defeat the enemies, and umte merit.


    Not all of their attention was on how to improve their magic since they were in the middle of a battlefield where danger could strike from anywhere and at any time. But by working together, they could share the burden of keeping a watch on their surroundings and making sure they didn''t unknowingly step headfirst into any ambushes.


    But simply thinking about how to improve their magic wouldn''t do much, so rather than avoiding enemies and ambushes, they sought them out so that they could find targets and opponents to help them temper their magic and fighting experience.


    So far, they had only encountered a pair of demonic beasts that couldn''t really put up a fight and were easily killed by them. They hadn''t even needed to exert any effort against the Earthworm and the Demonic Bull since they were too weak and unskilled to put up proper resistance. What Toz and the cats really wanted was to face enemies like the demons they met in Tumbling Thunder Forest, or at least enemies like them that could force them to go all out and make them push themselves to the limit while experiencing the threat of death.


    Fighting enemies like those would both earn them more merits, but it would also help them temper and improve their magic.

 Chapter 336 Stone Demon

    ?Since the battlefield was so chaotic and filled with rampant fighting, Toz and the cats expected every step they took to leave their boots and paws dripping with blood. But it seemed as if the ground absorbed the blood before it could even dry. The battlefield was also bigger than it first appeared to be since they walked for a while before they encountered their next opponent.


    And this time, it wasn''t another demonic beast. But Toz and the cats weren''t quite sure what it was either. But the gushing demonic energy and the humanoid figure strongly hinted that it was a demon. But unlike the demons that Toz and the cats had seen previously, the one off in the distance had grey skin.


    The stone-grey figure, with nothing but a leather skirt, showed off its bare, hairless body as it trudged across the wastnd.


    Toz and the cats looked at each other before deciding to attack the demon. They were in a rtively tranquil part of the battlefield, so it wasn''t likely that the demon would get reinforcements. And demons were probably worth more merit than the demonic beasts they had already defeated. Not to mention how it would be a more suitable opponent if they wanted to improve their skills through experience.


    The only problem was deciding who should go first. Since they wanted to hone their individual strengths, Toz and the cats weren''t interested in ambushing and grouping up on the demon to kill it as fast as possible. It might give them more merit in the short run if they followed such a tactic. But it would eventually reach its limits. However, if everyone could defeat powerful opponents by themselves, they would be able to amass merit rapidly.


    Spending some time training and improving their strengths would dy their umtion of merit and achievements in the beginning, but in the long run, it would lead to them having aplished more in the end. And since they had an entire year to get as much merit as possible, it would be more worth it for them to improve themselves and hone their skills.


    It would also help further down the line after they have entered the Transcendent Realm. Toz and the cats will most likely require sufficient strength andbat ability if they want to rescue Taienra from the grasp of the Obsidian Empire. Taking every measure possible to increase their strength would be the least they were willing to do to save Taienra.


    Although cooperating would allow them to disy great fighting power, that strength still relied on their individual capabilities. So if each of the cats and Toz grew stronger, the might they disyed while working together would soar exponentially.


    Things might have been different if they had been up against a horde of demonic beasts or an entire group of demons. But now that they were up against a lone demon, it was the perfect opportunity for one of them to experience directbat with an intelligent high level enemy while betting their life. Of course, the others wouldn''t just stand by in case the chosen one was in danger, but they would make sure to remain out of sight so that their presence wouldn''t interfere in the fight, which might lead to some close calls.


    Eventually, after careful deliberation, thoughtful consideration, and heated discussion, Scrael became the one who would fight against the demon that had stopped walking and started looking around as if it could sense someone looking at it. Considering Toz and the cats were practically piercing it with their gazes, it wasn''t weird that the demon sensed them, even if its skin was tough. But the demon didn''t have any intentions of retreating or reacting, and it just waited until Scrael stepped out of their hiding ce.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Lucy pouted a little as he walked Scrael walk forward. He had been suspiciously keen on fighting the demon. Toz had sensed something regarding Lucy''s smile, and after some cajoling, Lucy admitted that higher level demons also had more intense darkness in their minds. Their minds were also tougher and more resistant to his maniption as the demons got stronger. But as long as Lucy got in, there was nothing the demon could do against him.


    Calling what Lucy would have done to the demon a fight would have been a disgrace to anyone that''s ever been in a fight, and it wouldn''t help him actually hone his abilities, except maybe make him slightly more adept at intruding in the minds of demons. Something he already had a knack for doing. So the others unanimously voted him ineligible for the fight with the demon and possibly even future fights with simr opponents since it would even be any fighting. It would simply be Lucy toying with his targets.


    Thankfully, Lucy was easily consoled by Nil, who had actually been fairly beaten by Scrael in a game of guessing the falling stick''s direction. Nil and Scrael had been the only ones participating in the game, so Nil was a little upset that he lost, but he wasn''t very surprised that Scrael won.


    Toz and Mindle had already had their opportunities to fight or at least practice their magic, so they were automatically excluded from the draw. Although they were different situations, Toz had unleashed and experimented with his fireballs on the Earthworm, and Mindle had charred the Demonic Bull.


    Asilean had helped Mindle with the bull-scorching, but it was not enough to actually count as using magic or participating in battle, so he would have had a chance to fight against the grey demon. But he willingly withdrew since he wasn''t confident about being able to defeat the demon. He could run circles around it or escape from it without even needing to think, but Asilean didn''t feel like he had a way to defeat it, so he willingly let go of the opportunity.


    And until he figured out a way to use his magic more offensively, Asilean wouldn''t participate in the games for the opportunities to fight individual battles. The others respected his decision since it couldn''t have been an easy one to make. He was, after all, still closest to Taienra and the one most desperate to find and free her. The feelings of powerlessness and uselessness gnawed at him. But even if he forced himself to fight, it wouldn''t lead anywhere. It would just dy the others'' progress. Asilean might be desperate to grow stronger, but he wasn''t stupid. He had realized that the others were with him. Even if he didn''t immediately be strong enough, Toz and the other cats would pick up the ck until he caught up.


    Since he had almost always traveled through the Void with Taienra, the feeling of having someone on his side wasn''t exactly new. But it was the first time he felt such a sense of belonging. Asilean''s heart filled with love and trust as he watched Scrael approach the demon that looked like a stone statue as it stood practically motionless in the middle of the battle-scarred wastnd.


    Scrael didn''t hide her approach, and the Stone Demon''s head flicked around as her presence appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Scrael stopped walking. The two of them looked at each other, neither moving as much as an eysh.


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 Chapter 337 Scrael Vs. Stone Demon (1)

    ?Scrael and the Stone Demon stared at each other. Purple lightning began flickering around Scrael''s body, and sparks flew off her fur.


    The Stone Demon was doing the opposite of Scrael as it retracted the demonic energy that swirled around it. After withdrawing all its energy, the Stone Demon really looked like nothing more than a stone statue. Even its eyes looked as if they were carved from stone, despite the feeling of lifeing from them.


    The mana around Scrael kept building, and the Stone Demon''s body grew more rigid as it slowly took a defensive stance. It seemed as if it wasn''t the Stone Demon''s first time facing someone with the lightning element. Or maybe it was just a cautious demon.


    But to Scrael, it didn''t matter what kind of stance the demon took. None of her previous targets hadn''t been able to defend themselves merely by holding their arms upright in front of their bodies and widening their legs. Even if her previous targets had managed to defend themselves before she could attack them, they hadn''t been able to resist her attacks.


    Although the Stone Demon''s imposing calm and sturdy, muscled body spoke of its toughness, Scrael didn''t have a reason to think that the Stone Demon would be impervious to her attacks. But she still yed it safe and charged her body with more lightning than usual.


    Eventually, Scrael decided it was enough. The Stone Demon looked like it could wait forever, but Scrael was getting impatient and eager to unleash the lightning surging around her body, filling her with energy and urging her to attack the Stone Demon.


    Her body, almost aze with white-tinted purple lightning, twitched. Scrael flew forward like a beam of light, increasing her speed with each step she took. But due to the distance between herself and the Stone Demon, she only managed tond twice before she reached her target. An afterimage of a lightning bolt hung in the air in the path that Scrael traveled.


    But the thunderp that rang out when she arrived sted away the afterimage.


    Scrael hugged the ground closely as she zipped past the Stone Demon,shing out with her prosthetic leg and swiping it against the Stone Demon''s calf.


    Scrael stopped a few meters behind the Stone Demon and looked down at her prosthetic paw. She flexed it to make sure it wasn''t damaged by controlling the mana inside, and then she turned her gaze to her throbbing shoulder.


    She couldn''t feel things with her prosthetic leg directly, but the sensation of impact traveled up to where her real leg ended. And her attack didn''t feel like it had seeded. At all.


    Scrael was confused since it was the first time she felt so unsatisfied after attacking someone with close to her full strength.


    However, the momentary burst of confusion was interrupted by pellet-sized gravel piercing through the air straight toward Scrael''s head. Scrael heard the air whistling and instinctively dodged, only to see another burst of stones out of the corner of her eye.


    Scrael stopped focusing on useless things and roused her lightning to dodge the repeated bursts of gravel targeted at her head.


    Since her first attack had been useless, Scrael wanted to try again, but when she tried to get close, a dense shower covered the Stone Demon''s surroundings, preventing anything from approaching it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Scrael and the Stone Demon were in a stalemate. Scrael couldn''t approach the demon, and even if she could, she couldn''t injure it. But the Stone Demon couldn''t hit Scrael with its gravel. Scrael was at a loss for what to do, but she didn''t stop moving. She continued to dodge the Stone Demon''s attacks while looking for an opening. Unfortunately, every opening was too small for her to make use of, and even if she could get through an opening in the Stone Demon''s curtain of gravel, she didn''t have the confidence to do more than scratch its skin.


    However, Scrael quickly realized that the Stone Demon prevented her from approaching, even when it took a lot of its stone attribute demonic energy to do it, so she guessed that it had to have some kind of weakness. Thinking that maybe it couldn''t attack and defend at the same time, Scrael kept looking for an opening she could use.


    Thinking that she had found a way to beat the demon, Scrael grew more confident, and her aimless dodging changed. Instead of simply avoiding the next hail of gravel that came her way right before it struck her, Scrael continuously increased her speed and ran around the demon.


    As she increased her speed, Scrael also began building a trail of lightning behind her, filling the area with the hum of electricity and the purple light of her magic.


    Running made it easier for her to control the magic, and Scrael almost ended up entering a trance as she solely focused on increasing the power of her magic and her speed in order to make use of one of the openings that the Stone Demon habitually revealed.


    As she continued building her magic, it eventually stopped expanding. The sparks and bolts of lightning escaping her control and striking the ground lessened in number. Instead, her fur started glistening, and her eyes began glowing with a purple light.


    Scrael turned into a cat of lightning as she continued concentrating andpressing her magic into her body, focusing all of its power on enhancing her speed.


    However, she began losing control of herself. It was hard to keep up, and she started moving faster than she could handle. The lightning buzzing through her eyes reinforced her sight as well, but she still moved so fast that everything she saw turned into blurry lines. The only thing still clear was the Stone Demon, who continued flinging gravel around itself. It had given up trying to hit Scrael directly since she moved faster than it could see.


    It seemed like the Stone Demon didn''t have any intentions of changing its means of attack. Probably since if it let up on the storm of stone around itself, it would open up for Scrael to attack it. But it didn''t mean that the Stone Demon didn''t have any other ways of attacking or defending itself, so Scrael didn''t let down her guard, even if her mind was consumed with the exhration of running faster than she could see.


    But since she was gradually losing control of herself, Scrael decided it was time to make use of the lightning she had umted inside herself and do more than simply run around.


    However, now that the Stone Demon was more intent on defending itself rather than attacking, it had decreased both the number and the duration of the openings it revealed.


    As Scrael focused all her attention on the Stone Demon''s every move, time seemed to slow down, herself being the only exception. The gravel flew through the air like dandelion seeds. Scrael even felt like she could see the air itself move.


    It was a mystifying feeling, and Scrael was about to lose herself in it when she remembered the Stone Demon. With how she saw the world now,nding an attack with all her might wouldn''t be a problem.

 Chapter 338 Scrael Vs. Stone Demon (2)

    ?With the world moving so fast that the gravel moved at a snail''s pace, Scrael closed the distance between herself and the Stone Demon. Despite the storm of gravel surrounding the demon, Scrael didn''t have any trouble finding the almost nonexistent gaps between the clusters of stones and inching closer to her target.


    Scrael swam through the air, asionally stepping on the stones to reposition and redirect herself and squeeze through the narrow gaps in the Stone Demon''s defense.


    Eventually, she managed to enter the storm''s eye of the whirling gravel around the Stone Demon. Inside the finalyer of defense, only a slight wind rustled the Stone Demon''s leather skirt.


    The Stone Demon stood wide-legged and with its arms stretched out to either side. It had its eyes closed as it focused on maintaining the near-imprable wall of gravel that spiraled around it. The demonic energy surrounding the Stone Demon was so oppressive and malevolent that Scrael flinched, and she almost snapped out of her trance.


    But she regained her momentum, and the world didn''t stop moving in slow motion.


    Now that Scrael had breached the Stone Demon''s defensive magic, the only thing left was to attack it. Since her attack on the demon''s leg had been useless, Scrael hesitated since she wasn''t sure she would actually manage to injure the demon. But the magic empowering her body didn''t ept her hesitation. She could either continue forward or give up entirely, which would, considering the magic''s drain, leave her weakened and exposed to the demon''s counterattack.


    Scrael shook her head to get rid of the hesitation, and she gathered all of the magic in her body to unleash a final burst of power. Her body roared at the magic surpassing what it could handle, but Scrael didn''t stop, and she directed all that power toward the Stone Demon, using her body as a catalyst.


    The Stone Demon opened its eyes after hearing thunder ring out right next to it. Its eyes flitted around in panic, but all it could see was the bright sh of purple lightning that filled its entire vision.


    The Stone Demon''s eyes throbbed in pain due to the bright light and its ears rang after the thunderp that exploded outside its ears. The demon rushed to tighten its defenses and began rearranging the gravel to create a dome. However, the soft thump of its arm falling to the ground, which it barely managed to hear through the ringing of its ears, preluded the burning pain of the dismemberment.


    The pain and the lost arm prevented the demon from concentrating enough to control the mass of stones it used to defend and attack. Most of the gravel dropped to the ground when the demon first felt the pain, and the rest followed as the demon knelt down and clutched its bleeding shoulder. Thick grey blood began trickling down from the Stone Demon''s injury, hardening as it hit the ground.


    As a demon excelling in defense and that only rarely got injured, the Stone Demon wasn''t used to grievous injuries and the pain that apanied them. But it was still a demon used to battle, and it quickly realized that its opponent wasn''t done yet. The demon picked up its arm and quickly put it back, using a bandage of stone to keep it in ce.


    The arm still hurt, and it wouldn''t work properly until it fully healed, including using magic with it, but it was better than losing the arm forever. It might not even function even after healing, at least not without help, since the arm had been torn off with brute force and damaged a lot of tissue and nerves.


    After reattaching the arm, the Stone Demon stood up and looked around, trying to find the cat that had burst out with speed faster than the demon couldprehend.


    Since the cat hadn''t used that speed from the beginning, the demon guessed that it couldn''t use it all the time. But before it could even turn its head to look around and try to find the cat, the demon saw another sh of light.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    There wasn''t as much thunder this time, but pain once again apanied the lightning strike, and the demon instinctively looked at its shoulder. Pain-fueled wrath began bubbling up inside the Stone Demon, who had otherwise managed to retain a semnce of calm.


    But the Stone Demon didn''t have time to process that he had lost his arm again before another streak of lightning passed him by and brushed against his stomach, leaving behind four deep scratches.


    The Stone Demon stopped trying to find Scrael and instead focused on defending. Since the arm had flown away after the attack, the demon regretfully gave up on it. After firming its resolve, the Stone Demon roused all of its demonic energy and reinforced its body as much as it could.


    Trying to counterattack had proven impossible, so the Stone Demon hoped that it could at least oust its opponent.


    The Stone Demon''s skin grew darker and thickened, its wounds closing up just in time for Scrael''s next attack.


    Scrael''s three previous attacks had all managed to injure the Stone Demon in some way. The first attack tore off its arm, the second tore it off again and flung it away, and the third left several long wounds on the demon''s stomach. The third attack was admittedly not Scrael''s best work. She had grown overconfident after managing to blow away the demon''s arm using all her strength.


    Scrael realized her mistake and decided to wear down the demon slowly, one piece at a time, instead of trying tond a serious injury in one go.


    However, even after changing her mindset, Scrael''s attack didn''t seed. Just like her first attack on the demon''s calf, Scrael barely managed to scratch the Stone Demon''s remaining arm.


    Scrael grew frustrated since she could feel her body lose to the power of her magic. She wouldn''t be able to handle running around with her body fully powered up for much longer. She only had a limited time to defeat the Stone Demon. But if even her most powerful attacks didn''t work, there wasn''t much she could do.


    She considered giving up and asking Toz and the others for help when the world stopped moving in slow motion, and a sluggish feeling overcame her. But then she thought of what would have happened if she didn''t have Toz and the others to rely on. Before she met them, she had only had herself. There was no one to ask for help. She didn''t miss being alone, but always relying on Toz and the other cats had given Scrael a sense ofcency. She liked not having to fight for her life every day, but she could feel her senses and fighting instinct deteriorate.


    Scrael threw away whatever hesitation she felt. Shepletely ignored everything other than herself, her magic, and her opponent. She wouldn''t rely on Toz and the others for the fight. But she could at least enjoy the luxury of having them watch her back and make sure no one interfered in the battle.


    If the Stone Demon''s defenses are stronger than her attacks, she only needs to attack with more power.


    Scrael gritted her teeth and readied her next attack.

 Chapter 339 Scrael Vs Stone Demon (3)

    ?Scrael''s body was already nearing its limits due to almost all of her mana surging through it wildly, empowering it and forcing her to move at speeds faster than she could handle. But it was the bare minimum necessary to scratch the Stone Demon, so Scrael couldn''t stop or change methods. Not that she had any other way of attacking that would actually damage the demon.


    Her body was burning with aching pain due to the pressure put on it by her magic. But there was one exception.


    Her prosthetic leg.


    The leg was slightlycking in finesse and delicacy but could handle magic and mana just fine. And since she couldn''t feel anything in it, she wouldn''t be burdened with pain or cramps if she overloaded it with mana. Although she didn''t have a way to rece it if it broke, it wouldn''t be the first time she lost her leg, so it didn''t even matter if it couldn''t handle what she was going to put the prosthetic through.


    With an idea, resolve, and an opponent only defending passively, Scrael started channeling all her magic into her leg.


    The magic coursing through her body flowed into the leg, and Scrael started dragging up all the mana in her mana pool to further strengthen the magic inside her leg. It almost felt like she was making a breakthrough since she continuouslypressed and strengthened the magic in her leg. But it was nothing more than a superficial simrity since the power inside her leg wasn''t something that a breakthrough created.


    The overflowing amounts of lightning mana struggled to break free from the constraints of the leg, but Scrael suppressed it and reigned it in. However, she couldn''t endlessly keep strengthening the magic in her leg.


    The wooden leg might be resilient and sturdy, but it had its limits. Scrael was also limited in the amount of mana and magic she could use and control at once, not to mention the amount of mana she had left in her mana pool.


    Eventually, when the leg fizzled and crackled with sparks of lightning to the point where it looked like Scrael had stuffed an entire thunderstorm into her leg, she decided it was enough.


    Her leg was filled with so much rampant lightning that she didn''t even dare touch the ground with it since she was afraid it would disperse. And since most of her mana was concentrated on the leg, she wasn''t reinforcing her body more than the bare minimum. Hopping on three legs and with no mana to strengthen her body, Scrael''s speed had dropped to less than a fraction of what it was earlier.


    However, the Stone Demon was still locked in a defensive position and didn''t seem to be about to make a move to attack Scrael. She still kept her guard up as she approached, but she wouldn''t let excessive caution prevent her from attacking the Stone Demon.


    With a final burst of physical strength, Scrael shot off the ground toward the Stone Demon. She reached out with her lightning-packed prosthetic leg and directed it toward her target''s chest.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The lightning began escaping her control before she even touched the demon, and electricity sparked between her wooden paw and the demon.


    A sizzling hum filled the air as more and more lightning left Scrael''s paw and entered the demon. The lightning continued building until the bright light obscured the sight of Scrael''s paw and the Stone Demon''s chest.


    However, when Scrael''s paw finally came in contact with the demon, all the lightning went straight into the demon, none of it escaping into the air.


    The concentrated power of the lightning forced the demon to grunt in pain at first, and the demon struggled to keep its demonic energy in control and keep up its defenses.


    But as time passed and the overwhelming amount of lightning flowed into its body, the Stone Demon''s body started burning and twitching. Smoke poured out of its ears, and its remaining limbs twitched around like stranded fish. But no matter how much the demon struggled, the point on his chest in contact with Scrael''s paw didn''t budge, and neither did Scrael herself.


    The electrical tension and discharge kept her suspended in midair as she continued unloading all the lightning she had built up in her leg into the demon.


    Despite not having a sense of touch in her prosthetic leg, Scrael could still sense the incredible pressure she was putting her leg under. Thankfully, it seemed like the leg would hold out long enough for all the lightning she conjured to enter the demon''s body.


    However, it wasn''t without a cost. Using so much magic strained her mind, body, and mana pool, even if she used her leg as a catalyst instead of her body. Combined with the fatigue she built when she ran so fast that the world slowed down, Scrael could feel her body turning off. Her eyes returned to normal, and her fur stopped shining. But her leg still glowed with an electric light as it continued emptying all the lightning magic into the demon.


    But it was clear that the power was gradually lessening. And with the decreasing might of Scrael''s attack, the effects suffered by the Stone Demon also decreased. Its insides were heavily damaged by the lightning that had surged through its body. But it could still use demonic energy to control its body in ast-ditch attempt to counterattack now that the electrical currents were no longer forcing his limbs to twitch uncontrobly.


    Scrael, who didn''t have much mana left and was exhausted, noticed the demon''s arm heading toward her, but her eyelids were so heavy she could barely keep them up, much less move her body away from the Stone Demon and dodge its attack. But she could use the remaining dregs of power in her leg to shoot herself off of and away from the demon, which she did. Or at least she tried to.

 Chapter 340 Scrael Vs Stone Demon (4)

    ?Before Scrael could push herself off the Stone Demon and distance herself from it, and wait for it to die, the Stone Demon used thest of its power to grab her wooden paw. Since it was her prosthetic leg, she wouldn''t feel pain if she lost it at the hands of the Stone Demon, but without Taienra and the void trees, there wasn''t a way to make a new one.


    However, it seemed like the demon didn''t have enough strength left to shatter the leg. It just grabbed it and held it tight so that Scrael couldn''t move unless she discarded her leg. But before she could muster enough mana to let the leg disconnect from her, thest light behind the demon''s eyes went out. The demon had died, but it still held Scrael''s leg in a deadman''s grip, so she still couldn''t escape its grapes just yet.


    Since it was dead, Scrael considered asking Toz and the others for help to dislodge her leg, but before she could, the dead Stone Demon moved again.


    After losing an arm and reaching out with the other to hold onto Scrael, the Stone Demon''s body was unbnced and tipped over. The Stone Demon fell face-first with its rock-solid arm still stretched out, and the demon pinned Scrael to the ground.


    With her feet on the ground, Scrael began struggling to pull herself free from the demon.


    But she didn''t have to do much. Now that the fight was over and Scrael hade out victorious, there was nothing holding Toz and the others back, so they ran over to help Scrael.


    A quick swing from Toz''s sword removed the demon''s hand from its body, and a little Dissolution removed it from Scrael''s paw.


    After making sure she was okay, the others quickly began praising her for her victory. Scrael felt a little conflicted since she knew she had made a couple of mistakes, but she still happily epted the others'' thoughts before letting them know that she was tired.


    Since Toz and the others had watched the fight, they could understand why. The air had trembled all the way to their hiding spot from the powerful impacts and magic. And to make sure that Scrael recovered as quickly as possible, Toz and the other cats told Scrael to enter the familiar space and rest. Now that she had fought well and exhausted herself, she didn''t have to worry about the others until she recovered enough to fight again.


    Having another set of eyes to keep watch over their surroundings could help them avoid ambushes, but only if the owner of that pair of eyes wasn''t dead-tired.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After Scrael hopped into the familiar space to rest, the others rummaged through the Stone Demon''s remains to see if it had anything of value. But it seemed like the Stone Demon lived aparatively tragic life since the only thing that it had was the leather skirt.


    Toz and the others left the body as it was before they left to continue further into the battlefield. After watching Scrael fight the Stone Demon, the others had gotten fired up and eager to fight such an intense battle themselves. Not only because it looked exciting but also because they had seen Scrael grow during the fight. She disyed power and magic she hadn''t shown before. And it might in part be due to reaching the seventh level, but merely breaking through to the next level or division wouldn''t let her show such might while also controlling it wlessly.


    Fighting with the Stone Demon had helped Scrael reign in all her thunderous lightning and also made her learn a new way to attack. Even the way she moved faster than what the others could perceive seemed to be a new trick. As it was, Scrael might currently be the strongest in their group, solely thanks to her battle with the Stone Demon.


    The others also wanted to have such a glorious fight with a worthy opponent so that they could improve just as rapidly as Scrael. Of course, simply fighting a battle of life and death wouldn''t be enough to make them stronger or help them temper their magic. In fact, Scrael might be the only one that could do it so well.


    Scrael had fought to survive most of her life. She didn''t talk much about her past. But her scars were more than enough evidence of how rough her life had been. If she didn''t have the right constitution and mentality, she wouldn''t have survived as long as she had. And she wouldn''t have survived so many fights with wounds grievous enough to leave incredible scars like the ones she had if she didn''t have the capability to rapidly improve while fighting.


    The others vaguely understood that Scrael was more suited to battle than them due to her previous lifestyle, but that didn''t mean they couldn''t or wouldn''t improve inbat. Pushing oneself past their limits using the threat of death was something anyone could do. And since the bond between Toz, Scrael, and the other cats shared their talent in magic, it might also be possible for it to share talents other than ones rted to magic. It was a baseless guess, but it wouldn''t be too strange. It was just that that part of Toz''s inclination had never gotten an opportunity to shine.


    In any case, whether they would be as good at it as Scrael or not, Toz and the other cats still wanted to fight. Even if they didn''t disy rapid improvement the same way Scrael did, they might still find clues or leads on how to train in the future. And even if they didn''t, umting fighting experience was always a good thing, especially if they wanted to possibly stand up against an empire in the future when they''re rescuing Taienra.


    Toz and the cats'' eagerness to find their next target might have been the reason why they moved on from the scene of Scrael''s battle so quickly. It might also have been because Scrael''s battle didn''tst very long. But Toz and the cats left the Stone Demon''s corpse behind, and soon after, several figures appeared nearby, when Toz and the cats were already far away.


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 Chapter 341 Buffalo Massacre (1)

    ?After Scrael defeated the Stone Demon, Toz and the others moved on to find their next opponent, and it didn''t take long until they did. Unfortunately, it wasn''t a singr opponent they could use as a sparring partner. They had stumbled upon a small group of demonic beasts. Most of them seemed to be something resembling ordinary buffalos, but there were a couple ofrger ones that looked like they could pose a threat to their group.


    The group of buffalos trudged on with seemingly no clear goal in mind. Toz and the cats didn''t watch them for long, so they couldn''t be sure, but it looked like the demonic beasts were doing what they themselves were doing, roaming the battlefield and looking for opponents.


    Since they encountered the buffalos not long after Scrael finished her fight, she was still tired, but after Toz asked her, she left the familiar space and prepared for battle. Even if she wasn''t in an optimal state, Scrael could still contribute to the fight with the buffalos. She might be too weak to fight with the strongest two, but since they were dealing with an entire horde, she could help by decreasing their numbers and keeping the weaker ones upied.


    And Scrael wasn''t the only one targeting the weaker ones. Although they had stumbled upon a horde instead of a singr enemy, they could still make use of this opportunity.


    However, it would take more skill and nning than the fight between Scrael and the Stone Demon. But at least they didn''t need to go through a bothersome process and designate their champions, the two who would fight against the couple of strongest buffalos. Since Asilean still didn''t want to fight in individualbat, there were only two cats who hadn''t yet fought since they arrived at the battlefield. Nil and Lucy.


    Lucy could still use his mind magic against the demonic beasts, but it wasn''t necessarily a good thing since it wasn''t quite as effective as it was against demons and would more than likely aggravate the demonic beasts until they died. And fighting rampaging beasts who didn''t care about getting injured would be more difficult than fighting demonic beasts who led a herd of buffalos. But Lucy didn''t put too much thought into it as he eagerly listened to Toz exin his n.


    Nil, on the other hand, was a little more anxious. The demonic beasts were too far away for Toz and the cats to urately sense their levels, but just the atmosphere surrounding them made it clear that the buffalos weren''t something to y with. They were lethal, murderous, demonic beasts who wouldn''t hesitate to kill, especially the strongest two.


    It wasn''t Nil''s first fight with beasts stronger than him who wouldn''t hesitate to kill him. But it was his first time willingly diving into individualbat with an opponent clearly stronger than himself. He would still have Toz and the others close by, so he wouldn''t be in extreme danger. But no one could guarantee anything in the middle of battle, so Nil couldn''t help but worry.


    However, he knew that worrying wouldn''t solve anything, and he did his best to suppress his anxiety and focus on Toz''s n and what he could do to achieve victory over the buffalo.


    Mincle, Scrael, and Asilean also got ready to put Toz''s n to work as soon as he finished talking.


    Since they first saw the herd of buffalo, only a few minutes had passed, but Toz and the others had alreadye up with a n thanks to their eagerness to fight. That same eagerness was also the reason why they didn''t hesitate to put the n in motion.


    Following Toz''s n, Scrael and Asilean moved out while Toz and the remaining cats got in position.


    Scrael might still be tired, but she had more than enough energy to outrun a buffalo, so she happily epted Toz''s idea.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Scrael and Asilean appeared in front of the buffalos with a nonchnt swagger. At first, the buffalos only watched warily. They had been on the battlefield for some time, and they knew that anyone and everyone could be an enemy that far surpassed themselves in strength.


    Scrael and Asilean didn''t disy any demonic energy, so the buffalos thought that they might be enemies, but they also didn''t disy any hostility, so the buffalos hesitated.


    But that hesitation left them open to Scrael and Asilean''s attacks.


    Scrael and Asilean attacked the leader buffalos, one each.


    The buffalos panicked and were about to grunt in pain when they realized that the lightning and the scratch that traveled through space were barely more than harmless.


    Their attacks hadn''t injured the buffalos, but they had pissed them off. Not to the point that they lost all reason, but it was enough to make them chase Scrael and Asilean.


    And the two cats'' continued cocky attitude as they stayed just out of reach for the buffalos while continuing tounch inconsequential attacks further enraged the two buffalos.


    Scrael and Asilean yed it safe at first, in case the buffalos were effective at long-distance attacks. But they soon began to gradually decrease the distance between themselves and their targets, which confirmed that the buffalos seemed to be limited to their bodies'' physical capabilities.


    Scrael and Asilean weren''t only there to enrage and bait the buffalos. They also scouted the buffalos'' abilities.


    After confirming that the buffalos only fought in melee range, Scrael and Asilean practically rode on their heads due to how close they were to the buffalos. Having the two cats so close to them but still being unable to reach them continued to enrage the buffalos, especially when the two cats kept teasing them with their attacks that could hardly be called attacks.


    Eventually, Scrael and Asilean looked back and saw that they had aplished the first part of the n and, afterunching a couple of attacks, darted in separate directions. The buffalos were too angry to hesitate and chased after the closest cat.

 Chapter 342 Buffalo Massacre (2)

    ?Since both buffalos chased the cat closest to them, they ended up going in separate directions. One followed Scrael, and the other followed Asilean.


    It might have been because they were too angry. But the buffalos didn''t notice they had been separated from each other and the rest of the herd. Scrael and Asilean''s baiting and teasing had goaded the two strongest buffalos into giving their all in chasing them. And the two leaders weren''t leaders for nothing. The rest of the herd couldn''t quite catch up and, as the chase continued, only fell further and further behind.


    After sessfully separating the leaders from their herd, Scrael and Asilean separated the leaders from each other so that Nil and Lucy could fight them with as little disturbance as possible.


    Fighting a strong individual in the midst of a group battle might have been better training forbat and would put more pressure on Nil and Lucy. But when the opponents were already stronger than them, it would only put them at unnecessary risk that would be more destructive than rewarding.


    Scrael and Asilean had the two buffalos chase them until they were so far apart that they wouldn''t identally interfere in the other''s fight.


    After doing that, Scrael and Asilean practically disappeared from the buffalos'' view. But before the buffalos could react or clear their minds, Nil and Lucy took their ce. And Scrael and Asilean went back to help Toz and Mindle with the remaining herd.


    When the leaders had put enough distance between themselves and their herd, Toz and Mindle interfered and grabbed ahold of the herd''s attention so that they would stop pursuing the leaders.


    Since the members of the herd seemed almost mindless and chased after the leaders blindly, Toz thought it might be more challenging than he had nned. But it turned out to be a needless worry. The buffalos'' empty eyes turned toward Toz and Mindle as soon as they appeared, and they changed targets. Toz and Mindle didn''t even have to do anything toplete their part of the n to let Lucy and Nil have a fight without distractions.


    Toz and Mindle braced for the iing battle while they waited for Scrael and Asilean. With their speed, it shouldn''t take long until they came to help.


    The members of the herd might be weaker and appear to be less intelligent, but they were still high level demonic beasts at the seventh and eighth levels. And there were at least twenty of them, all charging with incredible momentum at Toz and Mindle since she rode on his shoulders.


    Since Scrael and Asilean lured the two lead buffalos away, the herd would arrive at Toz and Mindle before they did, but Toz didn''t let the herd''s unstoppable charge deter him from his n.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz began byunching several Fireballs at the front of the herd to impede the charge, but it didn''t seem to have a noticeable effect. The roaring demonic energy built up by the charge umted at the front and shielded the buffalos from the sts. The buffalos charged through the dust clouds Toz stirred up with barely a decrease in their speed.


    Toz quickly changed the properties on his Fireball. Instead of creating arge explosion that would disperse its destructive force in exchange for reaching more enemies, he concentrated the power. The ball of fire, asrge as a dog, shrunk until it was barelyrger than a fist.


    The reduced size and increased concentration of power made it easier for Toz to control the Fireball''s trajectory and flight. The Fireball flew forward, turning into an orange streak before arriving at the herd that was already rmingly close to Toz and Mindle.


    The Fireball pierced through the demonic energy''s defenses and struck the buffalo furthest to the front, after which it exploded in a small burst of mes that enveloped the buffalo in fire. It was enough to kill the buffalo, but the rest of the herd remained untouched, and the charge continued unimpeded.


    Toz gave up on stopping the herd since it was already in front of him. He threw two more piercing Fireballs before grabbing his sword and jumping.


    The buffalos were so intent on chasing him that they also jumped without thinking, trying to ram him. However, they couldn''t jump as high as Toz and fell back to the ground with a stream of heavy thumps. Toz solidified the space under his feet so that he stayed in the air until the herd of buffalos finished jumping. Hended at the end of the arc of buffalos.


    He had been worried that the buffalos would head to their leaders when they lost sight of him, but it seemed like he was close enough to trigger their sense of smell as they turned around their charge to target him again.


    Toz had greatly decreased their momentum with his jump and positioning, and he wouldn''t let them get it back before he could do anything.


    Since the buffalos were already so close, Toz decided to take advantage of that and their temporary disorder. Mindle also got to work at the same time.


    After Toznded, she conjured her four Tongues of me and sent them out to surround the herd and keep it in ce by creating a boundary of heat and fire. Since she was fighting alongside Scrael and Asilean, she wouldn''t be able to go wild and unleash as much heat as possible, so she took on a supporting role while Toz and the other two were in charge of ughtering the buffalos. It would also let Asilean experiment with ways to attack while Toz and Scrael kept the herd in check. Fighting strong opponents that weren''t too strong was the perfect situation for Asilean to try out different methods since the buffalos would put up enough resistance to show whether or not his attacks were effective. But they wouldn''t be impossible to attack or injure no matter what he did so Asilean would still be able to figure out what worked and what didn''t.

 Chapter 343 Buffalo Massacre (3)

    ?Scrael and Asilean arrived next to Mindle soon after Toz left her on the ground, and she conjured her mes. Scrael and Asilean nodded at her before diving through the opening in the fire magic containing the herd of buffalo.


    Since Scrael could still feel the aftereffects of her battle with the Stone Demon, she didn''t let loosepletely and stayed close to Toz. But Asilean realized the opportunity he had been handed and decided to take full advantage of it.


    With Mindle''s mes limiting the buffalo herd''s movements, practically trapping them in an arena, Asilean got stuck in the middle of several buffalos aiming for his life. The constant threat to his life and having to maintain perfect awareness of his surroundings almost immediately pointed Asilean in a direction he could improve, even if it wasn''t offensively.


    So far, he had only dodged or avoided opponents by running in a straight line away from them. However, dodging while in the middle of rampaging demonic beasts wasn''t as simple as merely shrinking space and dashing forward. Asilean had to meticulously analyze and watch out for every stray leg, hoof, or head aiming for his life.


    The trick he tried to use against Yill, spatial shifting, was incredibly useful since it allowed him to move instantaneously in any direction. However, he wasn''t adept at using it at first, so he identally moved himself closer to danger several times. Shifting space like that also drained his mana, so Asilean had to use it sparingly.


    Instead of avoiding the strikes that were already about to reach him, Asilean began using his void and space magic to extend and enhance his senses. With his space magic, he could sense the movements in space. However, sensing the movements of matter or life in space was different from only perceiving the movements of space itself, so it took a few attempts until Asilean could rely on it.


    After figuring that out, he decided to use the leeway he got himself to try out attacks.


    Reinforcing his ws with space magic and tearing space had devastating potential since it would sever or tear through whatever was in the part of space Asilean wed. But the buffalos'' oppressive demonic energy resisted the effects of Asilean''s space magic, and his ws left nothing more than superficial scratches.


    He had found a way to dodge and survive in the midst of the stomping hooves, but it would be useless if he couldn''t injure or kill the buffalos since the more than twenty demonic beasts would certainly oust him. Asilean could escape or rely on Toz and the other cats, he could even jump up and take a breather to rest and recover before diving back in, but before entering the circle of fire, he had already decided to give it his all.


    And if he gave up now, he couldn''t be satisfied with himself.


    Eventually, Asilean noticed one thing regarding the buffalos. They were mindlessly stomping him and weren''t very careful or attentive to each other. It seemed like the members of the herd weren''t the intelligent type and were more suited to following the leaders'' orders. But when there were no leaders or orders, they just followed their instincts. Instincts powered by demonic energy that told them to rampage and attack anything and everything in sight.


    After analyzing their movements by sensing how they affected the space around them before they even moved, Asilean didn''t have much trouble avoiding their attacks. It took some mental strength to maintain such vignce, but it wasn''t enough to strain Asilean unreasonably. He could even decrease the precision, which would lower the time he had to dodge, but it would also not require as much mental exertion.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Instead of sensing the buffalos'' movements to the tiniest muscle twitch, he simply looked out for when their limbs actually began moving, something he couldn''t do with only his eyes in the middle of such a hectic battle.


    However, the buffalos could barely tell what they were doing themselves, much less what any other buffalo was doing.


    Since he couldn''t attack them by himself, Asilean began using their attacks against themselves.


    He positioned himself so that when he dodged, one buffalo''s strike wouldnd on another one''s leg. Since the buffalos'' bodies were sturdy from the beginning and reinforced with demonic energy on top of that, a few strikes didn''t do much. It took several clean hits for a buffalo to break another buffalo''s leg, and it would recover after only a few minutes at most.


    Things hadn''t gone quite ording to Asilean''s n, especially since they grew more agitated after attacking or being attacked by each other.


    That wasn''t the only thing that worked against Asilean. As they grew more frenzied, they also spurred and strengthened the demonic energy surrounding them, which made it harder for Asilean''s space magic to detect their movements.


    The increased intensity of the buffalos'' rampage and the sudden spike in difficulty of sensing their movements had Asilean dodging and darting around frantically and on the verge of panic.


    He could only persevere and try to figure out a way to solve his situation. it wasn''t dire enough for him to give up just yet. More importantly, he didn''t want to give up. Although he hadn''t figured out a way to increase his offensive power, he had still managed to learn something by sensing the buffalos'' movements using his space magic.


    Increasing his personal strength would be good, but getting stronger in any way he could would still put him and the others closer to finding and saving Taienra.


    And sensing the buffalos'' movements almost let him see their moves five steps ahead, even when there were more than five buffalos attacking him at the same time. Asilean realized that it would be even more useful if there were fewer opponents since he could dedicate all his concentration to a single target. He might even be able to figure out what the target would be doing before they themselves knew.


    That realization sparked Asilean''s wish to grow stronger, and he started fighting back. Even if his ws only scratched the buffalos, if he scratched them enough times, the buffalos would still go down in the end.

 Chapter 344 Buffalo Massacre (4)

    ?Asilean let himself follow his instincts as he fought doggedly with the buffalos around him. He could hear the sounds of battle from Toz and Scrael''s fighting, but it went in one ear and out the other. Asilean began feeling the rhythm of battle. Even if he couldn''t sense the buffalos'' movements, he started getting a feel for how they would move and attack.


    But he didn''t use the extra time he got by getting used to their movements and dodging faster to think about how to improve his situation. He did the opposite. Asilean stopped thinking and let the previously dormant battle instincts take over. Instead of thinking another thought, he attacked one more time.


    His attacks still didn''t do much. But after a while, the scratches got a little deeper and lingered a little longer due to the space mana sticking to the wounds. It still wasn''t enough to severely injure the buffalos, but he targeted the same buffalo over and over again, steadily umting superficial scratches on it.


    And after piercing the surface, his attacks continued digging deeper. Asilean''s attacks were barely enough to tear through the buffalo''s rough hide. And after they did, solid muscle awaited his ws.


    The rock-hard mass of muscle was even harder to dig through than theparatively thinyer of skin. But eventually, Asilean got deep enough that the buffalo started panicking, and its frenzy was more due to pain and fear than due to mindless anger.


    The smell of blood filled Asilean''s nose as he continued to hound the buffalo he had selected as a target. He dodged the other buffalos'' attacks more by instinct than by sensing them as he kept peeling awayyer afteryer of the buffalo''s body.


    The injured buffalo''s panicked bleating seemed to awaken some kind of protective instinct, and the others rallied to it, trying to strike down Asilean with even more vigor than before.


    However, since Asilean clung so closely to his target, the other buffalos did more harm than good since their attacks, more often than not,nded on the already injured buffalo.


    The buffalos'' angry stomping devolved into a frenzied panic that stirred up dust and sttered blood.


    Thanks to the other buffalos'' assistance and his own persistence, Asilean managed to injure the buffalo seriously enough to make it kneel.


    At the same time as his target kneeled, Asilean had to dodge a slew of attacks from the other buffalos, and he dodged by jumping up.


    While atop the kneeling buffalos head, Asilean saw, through a gap between the herd of buffalos, Mindle''s me. He saw her magic out of the corner of his eye. And he wouldn''t even have thought much of it if he had been thinking. But he had stopped doing that when he sank into the rhythm of battle. Maybe that was why he instinctively realized that he was an idiot.


    He had been staring at the answer to all his troubles for a while without even realizing it.


    Aside from traversing the Void and asionally dispelling enemy magic, Asilean rarely used his void magic. He didn''t ck off in training it since it still strengthened his mana and body if he refined it. But he never really practiced or used it. And unlike Toz, he couldn''t reallybine it with a bunch of other elements and create amazingbination magic.


    Asilean had treated his void magic as more of a necessary chore rather than an asset that actually improved hisbat ability, which was why his thoughts of improvement were limited to what he could do with the space element.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    He had barely even considered using void magic to increase his fighting strength since he mostly considered it useless.


    However, he had already proven to himself barely more than a day ago that it was far from useless.


    When Mindle defeated the Demonic Bull, Asilean helped her by using his void magic to dispel its demonic energy and rendering it practically defenseless.


    Asilean felt ashamed and unbearably stupid as he realized that the answer to his question about improving his offensive capabilities didn''ty in learning some incredible spell or mastering his control over the space element. It was literally just a matter of broadening his perspective and opening his mind. He had been sitting on the answer without even considering looking under himself when he looked for it.


    Now that Asilean knew what to do, it was only a matter of putting it to practice.


    He had realized that he could use void magic to ignore and remove his targets'' defenses, but the problem came when he had to do that at the same time as he avoided the frantic stomping and prepared an attack.


    He consideredbining his void and space magic. But Asilean didn''t have as much experiencebining magic as Toz did. And since he used his space magic to keep track of the buffalos'' movements, he didn''t dare rashly mix his two attributes.


    Since he could lose his life or get severely injured if he made a mistake, Asilean had to be cautious. And he decided to be cautious, despite fighting wildly with a rampaging herd of buffalo at the same level of power as himself. Asilean realized the irony, but he showed it out of his mind as he focused on his magic.


    He analyzed the buffalos'' attacks and chose a moment where he would have the greatest gap between two attacks to use his magic.


    Since his first target was already torn to shreds, Asilean chose another healthy buffalo.


    After confirming his target and waiting for the right moment, Asilean hurried to cast his void magic.


    He didn''t have much time to attack the buffalo before he would find a hoof or leg disfiguring his head, so he concentrated his magic on where he would strike.


    Asilean used his void magic to dispel the cloud of demonic energy hanging around the buffalo''s shoulder. He then coated his ws with space mana and finally used his spatial shift to move next to his target in an instant. After arriving next to his target, heshed out with his paw.

 Chapter 345 Buffalo Massacre (5)

    ?Asilean could already feel his mind buckle as he used magic to check on his surroundings and the buffalos'' movements, dispel his target''s demonic energy, and coat his ws, all at the same time.


    But if he only endured for a moment, it would be over, and he might even have a solution to hisckingbat strength. So he endured.


    After getting rid of the demonic energy that hindered his space magic from tearing through the space that ovepped with his target, Asilean struck out with his reinforced ws.


    Asilean didn''t even feel a speck of resistance until he reached the buffalo''s hide, and by then, it was already toote. He had already torn through space, and his paw moved with enough force and momentum to continue through the buffalo''s shoulder.


    His four ws opened up four half-a-meter-long sparklingly blue tears in space in the same ce as the buffalo''s shoulder. Asilean hadn''t managed to amputate the buffalo''s shoulderpletely, but the wound was deep enough that it lost control over its leg.


    The buffalo stumbled back in panic, pain, and fear. As it left the spatial tears behind, it showed off its injuries with a fountain of dark red blood. Four deep wounds, gouged out of its shoulder, revealed how much meat had disappeared into the hole in space and how difficult it would be for the buffalo to recover.


    However, it might not even get the chance to recover.


    His sess had made Asilean eager to give it another try, and the buffalo was barely in a state where it could move properly, much less defend itself against Asilean''s attacks.


    Asilean could feel a budding headache, though, so he took a few moments to distance himself from the buffalos and let his mind recover before going for another attack. Since he had done it once, he could do it again. And each time he did it, it would grow easier on his mind. Even if the first time he used magic in three different ways at the same time strained his mind, it wouldn''t be as bad the second time, and the third time might not even be a challenge.


    With his mind aired out and his mana in order, Asilean got ready for another round with the buffalos. He dove back into the fight with the herd that had be even more frenzied after two of their members had gotten gravely injured.


    Since he heard the sounds of Toz and Scrael''s fighting due to the buffalos'' bellowing and bleating, Asilean wondered how they were doing. But he was busy with his own battle, so he didn''t think more about it. If he was doing fine on his own, there was no way they would be in trouble.


    And Asilean was mostly right. Toz and Scrael weren''t having much trouble with their fighting.


    In order to let Asilean get as much practice as he needed, Toz decided to take a slower approach to kill the buffalos. It was slower, but it would also let Toz practice his swordsmanship.


    Since Taienra had been kidnapped before Toz''s final sword waspleted, Toz still only had his four-attribute sword. It was fine as long as he didn''t use his void or space magic with it directly. But that was what he wanted to do. Toz wanted to use his void magic andbination magic and mix it with his swordsmanship.


    But since he couldn''t do that at the moment, he could only hone his swordsmanship and prepare for when he got ahold of a sword that could handle all his magic.


    Although he was decent, maybe even pretty skilled, at controlling and using his magic, the sword skills he used to supplement his magic werecking inparison. Toz basically used his reflexes, dexterity, and raw physical abilities to swing his sword in the way he thought by nothing more than habit and instinct would be best.


    Toz hadn''t had any proper training, but he had sparred with people more used to armedbat a couple of times and had learned a lot about how to wield a weapon. He had also learned Stris'' Armor Slice sword technique which gave him some hints on how to use a sword.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But he was still far from being as skilled with the sword as a sword fighter. And Toz had a feeling he wasn''t yet ready to mix his magic with his swordy until he got better at wielding a sword.


    However, while fighting the buffalo herd, he could practice swinging and striking enemies with his sword. He didn''t know how beneficial it would be for him, but if he put all his effort and thought into every swing and strike he made, he was bound to learn something sooner orter.


    He also limited the magic he used to move around and dodge the buffalos'' attacks and charges.


    Aside from using metal magic to reinforce himself and the sword, Toz only used his mana vision to help him fight the buffalos, nothing else. He used his sword and reflexes to block, parry, intercept, or dodge the buffalos'' attacks, and when he could, he counterattacked.


    Activating mana vision was more to train his mind than to have it actually help him. But when he had it active, he noticed he could more clearly see his sword''s trajectory. He also saw the mana flowing through his sword in ways he hadn''t noticed before.


    While it was just a hint as to how he couldbine his magic and swordy in the future, Toz noticed that he could affect his sword''s path by controlling the magic in it. He also figured out how to more urately replicate Armor Slice with his mana.


    Armor Slice was a martial technique that used martial energy to create ayer of aura on top of a de-type weapon that would be sharp enough to even cut through armor.


    It was possible to use it with mana. Some attributes would be more suitable than others, and the efficiency varied depending on how skilled the mage was. Thankfully, Toz had the metal attribute, which was very suitable when it came to properties of sharpness. He was also skilled at controlling his mana, so he could imitate Armor Slice to a great extent.


    But when he used his mana vision on his sword filled with metal mana, he noticed how he could improve and correct his magic when using Armor Slice.


    It was an unexpected boon. But Toz happily epted it since it would help him develop his magic swordsmanship in the future.


    However, he was quickly brought out of his temporary joy-filled reverie by the onught of the herd of buffalos.


    He dodged the attacks with only a couple of bruises, thanks to thebat suit.


    After realizing that he wasn''t in a position to daydream, Toz refocused on the battle and decided to try out his newly acquired proficiency with Armor Slice.


    Due to the buffalos'' rough hide, sturdy muscles, and overbearing demonic energy, he had only managed to barely incapacitate one buffalo so far. And the others quickly prevented him from finishing it.


    However, things changed almost as soon as he began using Armor Slice.

 Chapter 346 Buffalo Massacre (6)

    ?After he began using Armor Slice, Toz''s sword cut through the buffalos'' demonic energy, and when he improved it using his mana vision, he cut through their bodies as well.


    His sword shone as he swung it through the air. Blood sprayed as he chopped off legs left and right and shed open buffalos.


    The bloody and fierce battle made Toz''s own blood boil, and he excitedly hacked away at the buffalos.


    However, he quickly realized that he was too excited. Using Armor Slice made it easy for him to defend and counterattack the buffalos'' attacks. Too easy, in fact.


    If he wanted to kill all the buffalos as quickly and smoothly as possible, Toz would have used his magic from the start. But he didn''t because he wanted to train his swordsmanship skills. After realizing that he was wasting valuable sparring partners, Toz stopped using Armor Slice and went back to only reinforcing his sword to increase its durability.


    Unfortunately, there weren''t very many buffalos left. Toz had killed and maimed a bunch. Scrael killed a few and finished the ones Toz injured but didn''t kill, and Asilean was wreaking havoc in another corner of Mindle''s me arena with his newfound offensive capabilities. He was even spurring the buffalos into such a frenzy they tried to escape the enclosure. But due to Mindle''s magic, they burned to death before they could even fully enter the fire.


    Once a few buffalos got picked off and died, it became progressively easier to kill the rest as well.


    Since there weren''t a lot of buffalos left of the herd, Mindle helped clean them up, and before they knew it, Toz, Mindle, Scrael, and Asilean finished with their part of the n. Standing in the middle of several heaps of buffalo corpses in varied states of destruction really imprinted the fact that they were on a battlefield into Toz and the cats.


    But since Nil and Lucy were still busy fighting their opponents, Toz and the other cats didn''t just stay still and ponder about the reality of war. They split up into two groups and ran over to Nil and Lucy in case they needed help. But also because they were curious about how Nil and Lucy were doing.


    Toz and Scrael went to Nil, and Asilean and Mindle headed for Lucy.


    Toz felt a little dissatisfied that his tussle with the buffalo herd hadn''t given him much other than the improved Armor Slice and some experience fighting with only his sword. But he realized that he wouldn''t have been able to learn much from fighting simple-minded demonic beasts in the first ce.


    And since they finished pretty quickly, they would be able to support Nil and Lucy faster if they needed it. If they didn''t need it, they could simply watch their fight and get a better understanding of theirpanions''bat abilities, which would help them cooperate better in the future.


    Toz and the cats already held incredible trust in each other, so leaving their backs to each other wasn''t a problem. But they could only bring out their own and each other''s full potential and strength if they knew what the others were capable of doing. Since everyone trained and improved constantly, it was hard to keep track of how strong everyone was at all times.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The fights they would be having wouldn''t only serve as training. They would also help Toz and the cats to understand how strong the others were.


    Although Toz and the three cats that helped him exterminate the herd did their part at a decent pace, Toz worried that they had still been too slow and would miss the fight. He would have also worried that Nil and Lucy weren''t able to take care of the buffalo leaders if he hadn''t trusted their strength. And if they had been in any kind of serious, life-threatening trouble, Toz would have sensed it through his inclination.


    Thankfully, it didn''t seem like Toz had missed the fight''s climax, as Nil and the buffalo leader looked to be in the middle of their battle.


    Since Nil had always been more interested in traps and constructing things to hunt his prey with before actually initiating a battle with his target, Toz had been curious about how he was going to fight against the buffalo leader when he wouldn''t have had enough time to set up anything. He did have his spell, Sharp Rain. But Nil wasn''t as boring or one-track-minded to only spam his spell until the buffalo died.


    If anything, Nil would be reluctant to use Sharp Rain since it didn''t really align with the way he wanted to use magic. Sharp Rain was a decent spell that greatly increased his offensive power. But it wascking in versatility and creativity. Nil learned it since he needed something to increase his strength, but it was the only thing he could learn at the time.


    If he''d had a choice, he would have likely chosen something different.


    But even if it didn''t suit the way Nil used magic, Sharp Rain had still taught him a lot about metal magic and its various properties. The way metal could be sharp, soft, rigid, and flexible, all at the same time, had greatly improved Nil''s other magic.


    Even if Nil couldn''t use another spell, he could use the effects and properties of Sharp Rain when he used his other magic to begin imitating the effects of spells and true magic. He was still quite a distance away from actually creating a new spell, but as long as he could increase the power of his magic, Nil was happy.


    However, it remained to be seen if that would be enough for Nil to emerge victorious against the buffalo leader he was fighting. And the only way to find out was to continue fighting against the rampaging buffalo without faltering.


    A single moment of weakness, a single mistake could spell doom for Nil.


    A demonic beast that seemed to be at the ninth level wasn''t something a seventh level being fought carelessly.

 Chapter 347 Buffalo Massacre (7)

    ?After Scrael and Asilean led the two buffalo leaders away from each other, Nil swapped with Scrael and took the buffalo''s attention.


    Since the buffalo was enraged, it didn''t care about what cat was in front of it. It only cared about stomping on the pesky flies that annoyed it. So, even when Scrael disappeared and when Nil showed himself, the buffalo didn''t stop or hesitate for a moment and just continued charging, its eyes zing with determination.


    Nil didn''t stand still to admire the view. Since the bull was charging at him, he would face it wholeheartedly.


    He began by throwing out a volley of Sharp Rain. Even if he preferred other ways to use magic, he couldn''t deny the spell''s effectiveness. However, the spell that had always served him well and never failed to prate its targets didn''t do much more than whittle away some demonic energy and inflict a few cuts on the buffalo''s skin.


    Nil was a little disappointed, but he could also feel his inspiration take off. If Sharp Rain barely did anything, he would have toe up with other, more creative ways to defeat the buffalo leader.


    After oveing his surprise, Nil began conjuring magic like never before. Sharp Rain was his most powerful singr attack, but since it didn''t work, he would have to make up for thecking quality with quantity.


    He began by paving the way in front of the buffalo with spikes and traps.


    Nil expected it, but he couldn''t help but realize once again that the buffalo was a lot stronger than him when it pushed the spikes into the ground and burst through the traps without even a single hint of slowing down. Fortunately, Nil conjured the spikes and traps to wear away at the buffalo''s demonic energy.


    Every step it took on a spike and every trap it burst through required the buffalo to expend some demonic energy to reinforce its body and protect and strengthen itself. The amount of demonic energy consumed was barely a fraction. And no matter how many spikes and traps Nil used, they would never be enough to take down the buffalo. But only if he didn''t use anything else.


    Before the buffalo could recover the minimal amount of demonic energy it lost while protecting itself, Nil prepared a slightly stronger attack.


    Due to thecking time to prepare and the buffalo''s speed, Nil didn''t have much to show off, but he still managed to create a spring-loaded pole trap. After stepping on a metal te, a sharpened metal pole, the thickness of an arm, shot out of the ground with an upwards diagonal angle toward the buffalo''s chest.


    Nil could feel the buffalo''s demonic energy surge and protect it even from where he was. But the pole still managed to reach the buffalo''s skin and draw blood before it stopped.


    The trap had also managed to halt the buffalo''s movements. Since the pole exited the ground in the opposite direction of the buffalo, it would have pierced the beast if it had continued charging.


    After using demonic energy to recover and reinforce its body with more defensive might, the buffalo snorted before stepping forward, despite the metal pole poking into its ribcage.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, without the trap''s and the buffalo''s momentum, the pole was nothing more than a pointy and shiny stick that bent and crumbled in front of the buffalo''s strength.


    The pole ended up mostly useless, but it served its purpose in dying the buffalo. And it let Nil continue casting magic, both to attack the demonic bull and prepare his finisher.


    The buffalo was about to start charging toward Nil again. But before it could, it stepped on another metal te. However, this time, the pole didn''te from in front of the buffalo. It came from beneath it.


    The buffalo had increased its demonic energy''s defensive reinforcement all over its body after the first pole. But it had concentrated the demonic energy in its chest since it was wary about another poleing out of the ground.


    The increased reinforcement and the buffalo''scking momentum stopped the pole from doing any damage. But it did force the buffalo to consume even more demonic energy to raise its defenses even further. Unlike the members of its herd, it was capable of learning and understanding things. Simply concentrating its defenses toward its chest wouldn''t protect it from harm. But increasing its defenses would lower its speed, so it would take longer for the buffalo to catch up with Nil.


    The buffalo red up at Nil with increasing anger and began moving once again after trampling the pole into the ground with an angry kick and stomp.


    Nil was happy that his traps were so effective in reducing the buffalo''s momentum, but he didn''t let down his guard. He still hadn''t dealt any real damage. And if things progressed as they were, he would end up t as a pancake under the buffalo''s hooves or shamefully admitting defeat and calling for aid. Both were oues he didn''t want. Fortunately, he had devised a n that might work against the buffalo during the moments it stopped moving.


    Nil began by creating a situation that would be as favorable and advantageous to him as possible.


    Since the buffalo was smart enough to figure out how Nil''s traps worked to some degree, it would also be cautious of whatever he did in the future. At least until it figured out that Nil''s traps weren''t dealing any damage to it.


    At that point, it would once again charge forward recklessly, not caring about inconsequential traps that didn''t even tickle its skin.


    Thankfully, the first pole drawing blood seemed to have made the buffalo cautious enough to keep a moderate and calcted pace toward Nil, even with anger threatening to make its blood boil over.


    After determining the buffalo''s speed, Nil adapted and made the traps in its path of appropriate strength as he continued preparing what he was going to use to defeat the buffalo.

 Chapter 348 Buffalo Massacre (8)

    ?Nilyered the buffalo''s path with traps that progressively increased in strength so that the buffalo would keep moving forward at a careful pace. There were a few times when the traps couldn''t even budge a single hair on the buffalo, and the buffalo started regaining its confidence. But before it could build momentum, another trap sprung up and threatened to trip it, stable it, or chop off a foot or two.


    Slowing down the buffalo gave Nil a lot more time to finish his preparations, but it still wasn''t enough, and he used his magic to move around on top of therge t sheet of metal. The sheet was alreadyrger than the ship Toz, and the cats rode when they traveled to the battlefield, but it kept expanding. Nil absentmindedly shifted his body away from the buffalo by moving the metal under him.


    He sat motionlessly with closed eyes, but he still made sure that he stayed within the buffalo''s sight while he kept strengthening his magic.


    Eventually, when he felt that he had prepared enough, Nil removed the traps in the buffalo''s way and invited it on top of the metal sheet covering the ground with a provocative smile.


    The buffalo was cautious enough to approach slowly but not cautious enough not to step on the metal. Nothing happened at first.


    But after the buffalo''s entire body was on the metal sheet, metal walls shot up in front of it, behind it, and to its right.


    The buffalo panicked and turned around. But after making its demonic energy surge and barging through the metal wall behind it, the buffalo stopped in shock.


    The ground and the battlefield that had previously been right behind it had disappeared and been reced by a room of metal, very simr to the one that had sprung up around the buffalo after its entire body stepped on the metal sheet.


    The buffalo turned around again to return to the first room, but the hole in the wall was gone.


    The buffalo looked around with mounting panic, hoping that maybe it was looking at the wrong wall. But everywhere it turned its eyes, the buffalo only saw shiny metal reflecting its image.


    The only exception was the hallway that led a few steps away before turning a corner.


    The buffalo burst out with a surge of demonic energy as it broke through the wall that it thought had been the one it broke through the first time. The buffalo didn''t need to be a genius to guess that the hallway would be riddled with traps, and instead, chose to go straight through the wall.


    It didn''t only want to avoid the traps. The buffalo also wanted to find a way out of the metal encapsting it on all sides. So it tried to go to where there should have been traces of its passing.


    But the metal on the other side was spotless. And there wasn''t even a hint of the buffalo having walked there with its dust-caked feet.


    The buffalo began realizing that it was out of its depth.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But instead of letting fear of the unknown overtake it, the buffalo roused the cooling embers of its anger toward the cats that had pestered it. With its anger as a source of motivation, the buffalo quickly realized that the metal was due to the same cat that used traps of metal to irritate it.


    The buffalo also realized that its opponent couldn''t be very strong since it relied on such weak traps to try and injure it, which meant that the magic it used wouldn''t be of much significance, either.


    The buffalo brought its demonic energy to a boil and bellowed loud enough to make the air and the walls tremble, though the walls'' trembling might also have been caused by the bellow startling Nil, who controlled the walls.


    After bellowing, the buffalo''s body surged with power, and its muscles rippled, making the air shake with their might.


    The buffalo lowered its head as it began charging. Its horned head hit the wall with enough force to send fragments of it flying to the next one right before the buffalo struck that one as well.


    Since there should be a limit to the magic created by Nil, the buffalo thought that if it ran straight ahead and charged forward without a care in the world, it would eventually reach the other side and break out of the metal maze.


    After putting its head down and breaking through wall after wall, the buffalo''s energy dwindled at a pace iparable to when it had walked on the road of traps. Considering it left solid metal walls in splinters behind it, it wasn''t weird for its consumption to spike.


    Since the buffalo was making steady progress in breaking through the walls, it didn''t care about whether it used a little more demonic energy. After it got out of the maze and regrouped with its herd,cking demonic energy wouldn''t be a problem.


    However, after breaking through walls non-stop for several minutes, the buffalo began realizing that it wasn''t making as much progress as it thought it was. Or it had underestimated its opponent.


    With how many walls the bull had broken through, it should have reached the other side of the maze or at least worn out the cat''s mana reserves some time ago. If its own nigh-inexhaustible supply of demonic energy was showing signs of faltering, how was the individual responsible for setting up the maze of metal managing?


    Each wall possessed a noticeable amount of mana, and creating so many had to use up a lot of it. If the being responsible for that had enough mana to sustain such magic, they had to be powerful. Powerful enough not to need such paltry tricks to defeat the buffalo.


    The buffalo stopped moving for a few moments to recover, and it couldn''t help but be confused.


    Was it being tormented by someone who didn''t dislike buffalos?

 Chapter 349 Buffalo Massacre (9)

    ?What Nil was doing might indeed look like torture. But it wasn''t as extensive as the buffalo thought. He was just executing the idea he thought would have the highest chance of sess when it came to killing the buffalo.


    The idea he hade up with was a little convoluted, but it wasn''t as extensive and costly as the buffalo thought. Because unlike what the buffalo was experiencing, the maze wasn''t thatrge, and it didn''t take Nil too much mana to maintain it since he could recycle the mana in the broken walls and the walls that the buffalo thought it moved past.


    Nil had originally intended to create a maze on top of the entirety of the metal sheet so that he could keep the buffalo upied while preparing what would actually lead to the buffalo''s death.


    But when the buffalo decided to burst through every door instead of following the impossible maze, Nil realized that he didn''t need to maintain the entire construct as long as he yed his cards right.


    After shrinking the maze down to a single row of three rooms, Nil got a lot more breathing room to use his magic, and his pace of constructing and conjuring could easily keep up with the buffalo''s speed.


    With his casting speed matching the buffalo''s charging speed, Nil moved the metal below the buffalo''s feet and the walls around the buffalo to make it feel like it was charging through the walls. And after helping the buffalo break through one wall, he was already setting up the next room.


    It consumed a significant amount of mana to keep such a scheme going. It also required a lot of focus from Nil, especially since he had to do it all while simultaneously raising the maze high into the air. And in order to save mana, he had to stay as close to the buffalo as possible.


    Nil and the buffalo were alone on the tform-like lump of metal that seemed to be convulsing from an outside perspective. But Nil wasn''t worried. As long as he didn''t make any mistakes, there wouldn''t be a reason to worry.


    However, he quickly realized a significant problem with his n.


    In order to raise the trapped buffalo into the air, he was continuously expanding a pir upon which the tform rested. That in itself was not a problem.


    The dissipating mana at the bottom and the increasing weight of the growing pir was quickly leading to the pir''s inevitable copse.


    Since the pir was quickly approaching the limit of what it could hold, Nil considered dropping the buffalo. But after looking down, he noticed that he wasn''t quite as high up as he wanted.


    The buffalo was a sturdy beast. Even if he dropped it, it might not die. And Nil was quickly running out of mana.


    He was betting it all on his n. And if it didn''t work, he would be defenseless against the buffalo. If the buffalo didn''t die on impact, it might still be strong enough to kill the exhausted Nil.


    Not to mention how Nil wanted to be sessful on his first attempt. Dropping the buffalo and not killing it would be a shame since Nil would have to rely on Toz and the other cats to finish it.


    After resolving himself, Nil gathered up as much mana he could spare while still keeping the buffalo trapped and sent it in a burst into the pir, rocketing the tform into the air.


    The change was enough to make the buffalo notice, but it didn''t matter. It was already toote.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But the buffalo wasn''t the only one in trouble.


    The final burst of magic had been enough to destabilize the pir, and it began crumbling at the bottom.


    Nil detached the tform and dispelled it while in midair. The walls and floor disappeared from around and beneath the buffalo, and its eyes widened in absolute confusion. Without the tform''s momentum to carry it further upwards, the buffalo''s ascent stalled before transforming into a descent, and the buffalo plummeted toward the ground with panicked bleating.


    Since Nil weighed less than a fraction of the buffalo, he wasn''t in as much trouble as his target. But he would still die if he didn''t do anything.


    He noticed Toz on standby and knew that he could be rescued at any moment if he so wished. But his n would only be a sess if he could pull it off by himself. And that meant sticking thending as well.


    Nil used thest of his mana to create a wire and pull himself toward the pir that was beginning to fall.


    He sat atop the pir as it made its way toward the ground. But he wasn''t safe yet. When the pir hit the ground, Nil would be smashed as well. The impact of his fall might even be worsened due to the rebounding force of the pir hitting the ground.


    The pir had been falling slowly at first. Slower than how fast Nil would have fallen without any support. But after a certain point, it picked up its speed ridiculously quickly. The air began putting pressure on Nil''s head due to how fast it was going, and Nil had to hold on with all of his ws not to be blown off.


    Falling alongside the pir would lead to more damage than falling by himself, but Nil would die either way, so it didn''t matter much.


    The only difference was that the pir was made of his mana, and as long as he didn''t panic. Everything would be alright. He didn''t have to worry about a thing.


    Nil kept telling himself that he would be just fine, almost hypnotizing himself.


    He even shut out the sound of the buffalo''s panicked screeching as it plummeted toward its death. It seemed like it would hit the ground shortly before the pir did. Nil was a little upset since he wouldn''t even get to see how effective his idea would be. But surviving was obviously more important, and Nil spread his senses into the pir.


    It was, at most, only a couple of moments left until the buffalo hit the ground. And after that, it would be Nil and his pir''s turn.


    Nil closed his eyes so he could concentrate on his mana and magic. And before he knew it, it was already time.


    A resounding thump rang out that silenced the piercing screech. The buffalo had hit the ground.

 Chapter 350 Buffalo Massacre (10)

    ?After the buffalonded, it wasn''t even a matter of time before it was the pir''s turn.


    As soon as he heard the thumping sound of the buffalo''snding, Nil activated the tiny amount of mana he had gotten control over during the fall. He used the mana to control the metal right under him andunched himself off the pir.


    In theory, if he did it fast enough, he could offset the speed of his descent and arrive at the ground with low enough momentum to survive thending.


    It was just that he needed tounch himself with incredible speed in order to reach a speed simr to the falling pir. It was just that Nil wasn''t very specialized in making his magic move quickly. His traps relied on mechanical functions to exert the force and velocity they did. And Nil didn''t have enough time or mana to try and imitate Sharp Rain''s speed on a t surface.


    The only thing he could do was take inspiration from the explosive speed with which Scrael could use her magic.


    Nil didn''t know if he was sessful or not until he opened his eyes when the wind stopped blowing all around him. He had at least seeded in offsetting the pir''s falling speed. The only question left was whether he would survive the rest of the fall, so Nil turned his gaze downward.


    Nil wanted to curse.


    He had overestimated the pir''s speed slightly, and it was more time left until it hit the ground than he thought. So Nil was still pretty high up in the air.


    Nil gritted his teeth and epted his situation. He would still suffer a broken bone or two afternding, but he would survive, which was a lot better than what would have happened if he had underestimated the pir''s speed.


    After confirming his position, Nil began inspecting the ground where he wouldnd in order to guarantee as safe anding as possible.


    However, his preparations were unnecessary. Not because he wasn''t going tond. That was going to happen no matter what.


    The pir''s impact on the ground would be enough to send tremors through the ground and maybe even stir up a small earthquake. The ground would be destroyed and changed before Nil couldnd. So trying to secure a safending spot before the pirnded would be like trying to find a nice tree to sleep in before a forest fire.


    Not only that, it turned out that Nil didn''t have to worry about controlling hisnding in any way. The shockwave caused by the oversized pir was enough to send Nil''s feathery body flying.


    Even if he wanted to control where he was going, he couldn''t. But at least it minimized the downward trajectory as it pushed him up and back.


    Nil fumbled and tumbled through the air like a bird caught in a storm, and he struggled to straighten himself. The only thing he could use to try and orient himself were the glimpses of the sky and the ground he caught.


    But even they were quickly obscured by the dust cloud sent up by the pir''s collision with the ground.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Nil rolled through the air and could only use his instincts to feel around and sense how far he had left, but even that wasn''t of much help, and before he knew it, Nil''s world shook.


    Pain shot up all over his body as he struck the ground like a tiny meteor and plowed a trench.


    Nil''s mind was all jumbled from the impact and the pain, but he could still make out that he was still alive, even if he didn''t want to be at the moment. But his thoughts cleared with every passing second, and he gradually realized that while his pain was warranted, his injuries weren''t as severe as he first thought they would be after hended.


    His back and shoulders had taken the most damage since that was what hit the ground first, and then the damage stretched to his side, neck, and head as he plowed through the dirt.


    There was a lot of torn fur and skin, several broken ribs, and fractured bones. But it was far from as bad as it could have been. Compared to dying, it was a lot better to get some injuries that would all recover without issue.


    After confirming the state of his body, Nil managed to push through the pain, and he stood up to crawl out of the hole he had dug himself into when hended. But he didn''t need to walk anymore since he was swept up into Toz''s embrace.


    Toz had sensed Nil''s wish to at least see through things to the end by himself, and he respected it. But now that Nil hadnded, he didn''t need to sit still anymore.


    As soon as Nil stopped moving, Toz was already on his way over, apanied by Scrael. He had held himself back for Nil''s sake, but he couldn''t do it anymore, especially not after he could sense Nil''s pain through their bond.


    Toz''s heart ached as he cradled Nil in his arms and soothed him. Unfortunately, he didn''t have a way to heal Nil or even relieve his pain. Toz was at a loss for what to do. And he felt like he was beginning to panic due to the gruesome wounds on Nil and the blood flowing from them.


    But before he could be hysteric, both Nil and Scrael calmed him down andforted him.


    Nil knew that his injuries only looked bad, and although he was in pain, Toz panicking wouldn''t help in any way.


    Scrael, who had been injured several times in her life, often even worse than how badly injured Nil was currently, could tell at a nce that his injuries weren''t lethal. He would show a full recovery in a couple of weeks at most.


    With the two cat''sfort, Toz managed to calm down slightly, but he still held Nil tightly and helped him stem the bleeding.


    Although Nil was injured and out of mana, he was safe, and he had sessfully killed the buffalo leader. And staying in ce wouldn''t help him recover any faster, so Toz, still carrying Nil, walked with Scrael to where Lucy was fighting the other buffalo leader.

 Chapter 351 Finding A Place To Hide

    ?Though, it seemed slightly inappropriate to say that Lucy was fighting the buffalo leader.


    Toz, Nil, and Scrael headed toward where the others were, fully thinking that Lucy was still busy and entangled with the other buffalo leader. Since, as far as they knew, Lucy wasn''t as good at offensive magic as he was with mind maniption and stealth. He was also pretty decent at making barriers, but that wouldn''t help him end the fight with the buffalo leader any quicker.


    No one expected Lucy to lose, even if he did stick to his promise of not using mind maniption to kill the buffalo.


    However, Lucy didn''t even fight an extended battle.


    Toz, carrying Nil, and Scrael, barely started walking before Lucy, Mindle, and Asilean appeared in front of them. The one thing that dyed them was dispelling Nil''s magic.


    Far from being stuck in a fight with the buffalo leader, Lucy finished his fight far earlier than Nil.


    Nil ended his battle with his opponent shortly after Toz and Scrael arrived at where he was fighting. Mindle and Asilean probably hadn''t walked much faster than Toz and Scrael, and based on their expressions, they hadn''t seen much of Lucy''s battle, if any.


    Toz was curious about what Lucy had done, but he didn''t look guilty, so Toz didn''t think he had broken his promise regarding his mind maniption magic. But there wasn''t time for questions.


    Before anything else, they had to get to somewhere that was safe, at least temporarily, so that they could rest, recover, and ponder their gains and growth. But most importantly, they also had to let Nil heal before they did anything else.


    And Nil''s state also prevented the others from needlessly chattering since they were busy worrying about him and checking their surroundings. They put leisurely conversations on hold until they were safe.


    The only problem with that was that they didn''t know when they would find a ce to stay safe andy low. Or if they even would find such a ce in the middle of the battlefield.


    With how wreaked with destruction the ne was, Toz would be surprised if there was a single intact building outside the base camp. And even if there were, there wouldn''t be any guarantee of it remaining that way, which meant that Toz and the others would have to find some kind of natural cover.


    However, natural cover probably wouldn''t be very likely to exist, so it was more like cover built by the aftereffects of battle.


    Eventually, they found something that they could use as a foundation to hide themselves while recuperating and resting.


    They were worried that it would be some kind of ambush or trap, but nothing happened even after inspecting and entering the rock formation.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After confirming it was safe, they suspected that it would be too conspicuous to use as a ce to hide, but that was before they noticed how wide the forest of stones spread out. As long as they hid properly, nothing would be able to find them amidst the several meters tall stones that poked out of the ground at infrequent intervals.


    Toz, Nil, Lucy, and Mindle feltfortable staying in the forest of stones since it reminded them of the Quarry outside Sleepless Brights, where they had ughtered Stone Balls in order to get money.


    After entering the forest of stone pirs, Toz and the cats found a ce that seemed to beparatively quiet. It didn''t have quite as many signs of battle as the other areas they went through. There were still demolished pirs and their fragments scattered here and there, but it was still not as bad as some ces where there was barely a single stone still standing upright.


    They would have chosen such a ce since the fighting should be over and would thus have been safer. But they noticed that the signs of battle didn''t all ur at the same time.


    The ces in the forest of stone that were demolished and turned into a forest of stone fragments weren''t the results of singr battles. It had happened over the duration of several battles at different points in time.


    Toz and the cats didn''t know why it was like that, but there had to be a reason. And if it had already happened several times, it could happen again. So an intact location seemed safer, which was why they chose it.


    After settling on a location, they backtracked and hid their traces so that no one would stumble upon them and follow them to Toz and the cats'' hiding spot.


    With their tracks covered, Toz and the cats could almost rest easy. Even if they had found a ce to hide and rest, they were still in the middle of a battlefield swarming with high level beings and enemies that possessed all kinds of mysterious abilities.


    Only hiding their tracks might hide them from discovery by ordinary means, but Toz and the cats knew that there existed weird abilities and talents in the universe. So it wouldn''t be strange if they were still discovered and dragged into a fight.


    Even if they weren''t found because someone discovered their tracks, it was still possible someone would stumble upon them while in the middle of a fight.


    A chaotic battle could easily affect the cover Toz and Lucy set up. And even if it wasn''t destroyed, if someonended a stray attack on where they had hidden, they would notice the abnormality.


    In the moderately unlikely scenario where someone found or stumbled upon their hideout, Toz and the cats stayed alert. But since Toz and Lucy''s magic hid them and their presences, they only had one person spare some attention to their surroundings at a time.


    Toz or one of the cats would make sure to be ready in case someone got close or discovered them while the rest could recover from their fatigue and injuries or process what they had learned during their battles.

 Chapter 352 Telling Stories While Hiding

    ?After securing their hideout, Toz and the cats didn''t immediately begin training. Nil fell asleep since he had to recover from his injuries. But the others, while tired, weren''t going to do boring things immediately.


    Toz, Nil, Lucy, and Mindle talking about their adventure around Sleepless Brights before Scrael joined them sounded a little interesting. Toz and the others had given each cat a rundown of what had happened up to the point that they joined them, but never in thorough detail.


    So when Toz and the first three cats talked about it, the other two instantly grew interested. Toz and the cats greatly appreciated the chance to take a break from the intense atmosphere of the battlefield and happily delved into story-telling.


    They still kept some attention on their surroundings, but Toz talking about their exciting adventures was inevitably more interesting. Even after he finished embellishing the story of them eradicating an entire species just for money, like some kind ofwless, money-hungry rogues, he kept telling other stories of their previous adventures.


    Nil and Lucy had been a part of everything since they first set out on their adventure, but they still enjoyed Toz''s stories. Nil had said he was going to sleep when they first started to hide, and he did have his eyes closed, but it was evident he was still paying attention to Toz''s words.


    After telling the story of the Stone Balls, Toz recounted their entire adventure from the beginning.


    Toz told them about Mindle''s birth, the Scorched Earth Rats, the Forest Janitors, their windsurfing before Roaring Skies, and then their adventures there on Roaring Skies. After that, he also what they did while stuck in the Void, not that their experience in the Void was very exciting.


    The first half of Toz''s storytelling was a little more interesting since Toz was a little distracted by his thoughts after talking about their trips into Treblor Forest.


    Remembering the enved wild beasts that the demons used to infiltrate the City of Dormant Thunder made Toz think about Beltor, the ve master of Starsling Kingdom. He felt like he was on the verge of discovering something that he shouldn''t know. But his first thought that the Starsling Kingdom was involved with the demon realm didn''t sound quite right. He didn''t know what it was, but he instinctually felt that that wasn''t it.


    His thoughts distracted him from the storytelling a little, but the cats still listened intently to his rambling retelling.


    Eventually, since he couldn''t confirm anything, Toz stopped thinking about it. The mood grew a little somber when they came to the point where they met Asilean and Taienra since it reminded them of what had happened with Yill and that Taienra was in trouble.


    But Toz quickly restored the suspenseful mood by telling the cats about his life before he even met Nil, the first cat Toz bonded.


    However, before Toz could tell them anything truly interesting or juicy, he changed the topic again. The cats'' disappointment was immeasurable, and even Nil opened his eyes and red at Toz.


    Nil came from the same city as Toz, and Lucy had been there since Toz picked him up until the three of them left for their adventure. They had met his parents several times, but they still didn''t know much about Toz''s life before them.


    They knew where he had lived and some of the people around Toz. They also knew what he usually did day-to-day. They were even involved with his side business. But there were still a lot of things to be curious about regarding Toz''s past.


    All the cats looked forward to finally finding out what he had done as a kid. What he had been like, and so on. So when Toz stopped talking and instead changed the subject to Lucy and his fight with the buffalo leader, the cats didn''t hide their disappointment.


    The only thing that stopped them from jumping on Toz was the more recent curiosity about what Lucy had done to so quickly emerge victorious over his opponent.


    Toz yed the part of a brick wall and refused to answer any of their questions about his past. And the cats eventually gave up.


    They were curious, but if Toz was adamant about not telling them, there was nothing they could do about it. They could, however, try to persuade Lucy to exin to them what he had done to his buffalo opponent.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Lucy was giddy about the attention and that he managed to do something outside the other cats'' expectations. He did want to keep it a secret for a little longer. But if he dyed telling them for too long, they would lose interest and wouldn''t be eager to hear what he had to say.


    In order to build tension and excitement, Lucy began from the beginning. Not when the fight started, but from when he first came up with how to proceed, which was during Toz''s nning.


    Lucy did his best to ignore the pointed looks Toz gave him during that part of the story. A few beads of nervous sweat dripped down. Lucy ignored those as well.


    Since he told the cats about what led to his idea, which was a pebble next to him, it was obvious how little attention he actually paid to Toz''s nning. The others were more surprised that Lucy managed to follow along with the n''s steps than they were that he defeated the buffalo so quickly.


    "There were several steps?"


    However, Lucy''s question to them pointing out that he had still followed the n, despite not listening to Toz, rmed them. It was practically a miracle that disaster didn''t strike them in the middle of their fighting with the buffalos.


    "H-how?"


    Lucy tilted his head in response to Asilean''s confusion.


    "How what?"


    "How did you know what to do?"


    "What do you mean? Wasn''t it obvious?"


    Asilean was about to continue questioning Lucy when he noticed the others'' exasperated sighs.


    Since Asilean was the most recent addition to their group, he hadn''t had quite as much time with Lucy as the others, so he didn''t quite understand the entricities that Lucy had. However, the others were a little more used to Lucy''s antics.


    He was smart, but he sometimes didn''t rely on his thoughts to exhibit his intelligence. He was intuitively smart and did things by instinct that others would take months or years of training to do. And since he just did things by doing them, he didn''t have a way to exin them to others.


    He couldn''t understand why others couldn''t understand obvious things and concepts, but he also couldn''t understand the way others thought and acted, so it was pretty even in the end. But it was just that his way of being was clearly pronounced sometimes and made itself especially noticeable when someone questioned his behavior.


    Asilean wanted to try and get some understanding of how Lucy couldmit to the n wlessly without barely even listening to a word of Toz''s n, but he eventually decided to give up. The gazes the others gave him told him that it was futile.


    And it wasn''t like he had to know how he had done it, especially not when it was finally time for Lucy to exin how he took down the buffalo.

 Chapter 353 Discovered

    ?After Asilean''s interruption ended and he stopped causing a disturbance, it was finally time for Lucy to exin how he defeated the buffalo leader.


    He had just told them about the pebble and how that triggered an idea. Now he only had to tell them why it triggered an idea and what it reminded him of, as well as how he thought about how to do it before he could finally begin exining his magic. It was a rare moment where Lucy''s magic actually had some thought behind it, and he didn''t juste up with it on the spot, so he wanted to brag about his superior intellect and insightfulness.


    However, before Lucy could begin, Toz held up a finger and shushed him.


    "Be quiet for a moment."


    Lucy pouted at Toz''s interruption, but he obediently listened and stayed quiet. He let go of his pout after a few seconds as he grew curious about what Toz was doing.


    Toz closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate on sharpening his senses. The other cats realized what he was doing and also turned their attention to the world outside the ck-tinted translucent shield covering them like a tent.


    The cozy atmosphere under the shield gradually grew tense as Toz and the cats, stayed silent and concentrated on perceiving whatever it was that had caused Toz to shush Lucy.


    However, neither Toz nor any of the cats sensed anything, even after several minutes of absolute silence and concentration. In a silence where not even their breathing could be heard, there was nothing to exin why they couldn''t hear anything.


    The only reasonable reason for why they didn''t hear anything was that Toz had sensed wrong.


    After the minutes of concentration, that thought popped up in the cats'' heads. But only for a moment before they discarded it. Toz wouldn''t make such a mistake, and if he did, he would notice it before he told them to stay quiet.


    Since the cats didn''t sense anything, they waited for Toz to either sense something or to give up.


    A few of the cats with greater perception abilities, like Asilean and Mindle, didn''t stop looking.


    Mindle could use her mastery of heat to sense if there were any living beings giving off heat in their surroundings. But she didn''t sense anything even after looking around them several times.


    Asilean used void and space magic to stretch his senses far and wide, but he also didn''t sense anything.


    Eventually, Toz also realized that no matter how much he looked, he couldn''t find anything, so he signaled to the cats that it was fine to talk again. But he didn''t lower his vignce in the slightest.


    Following Toz''s signal, Lucy began talking again. Carefully, in case he disturbed Toz''s concentration.


    The other cats listened just as carefully since it was obvious that Toz had sensed something, even if he couldn''t pinpoint it. However, it also seemed like it wouldn''t make a change if they just kept turning their ears and shaking their whiskers in absolute concentration since they still couldn''t find it. And Toz knew that the cats needed to rx a little, so he let them continue with their story moment.


    After making sure that Toz didn''t mind them talking, Lucy began exining again.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But he didn''t continue where he left off. Because there had been a few minutes where the cats did something else, the anticipation and suspense that Lucy thought he had built up with his story was gone. Naturally, he had to restart from the very beginning.


    Asilean couldn''t help but groan since it would take ages for Lucy to reach the exciting part, which was what they really wanted to hear. If they were unlucky, Lucy might even go on a tangent and begin his story from before he was born. If that happened, Asilean swore he would find a way to teach Lucy a lesson.


    But despite, Asilean''s groaning and the other cats'' more than apparent displeasure, Lucy began his story from the beginning and once again exined how he noticed a pebble next to him during Toz''s quick strategy meeting.


    The cats didn''t have anything else to do, so they still listened to Lucy talk, although haphazardly. Lucy ignored their half-hearted attention and continued talking in a clear, attention-grabbing voice.


    And when he finally got to the part where Toz interrupted himst time, he managed to regain the other cats'' attention. Nil even opened an eye and turned to look at Lucy, like the others were already doing.


    "And that was when I realized that¨C"


    "Wait."


    However, after only a few more words thanst time, Toz once again interrupted Lucy. But this time, it wasn''t without cause. Toz had cause when he did it before as well. But now, the cats also sensed that something was wrong outside the shield covering them.


    Ever since they entered the battlefield, they had been able to sense the battles others fought, even far away, since the magic and the attacks were so powerful.


    But now, only a deathly stillness hovered around the forest of stones they had sought refuge in, though they didn''t know how far that silence stretched since their perception was blocked some distance away.


    Whatever it was that covered their surroundings had descended as silently as the night. And even Toz, who was fully concentrated on watching their surroundings, didn''t notice it until it happened.


    The cats stopped talking and got up while rousing their magic. They position themselves in a circle. However, Nil was still injured, and before he knew it, Toz had already swept him into the familiar space.


    Toz and the remaining four cats stood in a pentagonal shape as they warily watched their surroundings.


    Based on the magic that covered them, it was clear that they were being targeted.


    Since the shield hiding them wasn''t doing its job properly and wouldn''t be very helpful if battle broke out, Toz and Lucy got rid of it without even discussing it beforehand. Their seamless synergy was especially helpful in situations like these, where the distraction of talking would reveal an opening.


    Eventually, a few silent moments after they got rid of the shield, a couple of hooded figures appeared from within the darkness.

 Chapter 354 The Death In Tribe Of Death (1)

    ?The robed figures stopped walking about twenty meters away from Toz and the cats, who were staring warily at them.


    Toz felt that something was off regarding the figures, but he couldn''t put his finger on it since they were entirely hidden by dark robes. Not even their feet or hands were visible.


    But since they weren''t attacking them directly, Toz decided to wait until they could figure out what was going on. Thankfully, it looked like they would exin their intentions without much dy.


    "State your identity!"


    "..."


    Toz''s hopes were shattered. The figures didn''t seem to be allies of the Alliance of Kingdoms. And they didn''t exin their intentions clearly enough for Toz to make sense of them at once. Toz would have liked to me theck of understanding on the voice''s ethereal and hollow sound. But he understood the words perfectly. So he couldn''t do that.


    "Do you think they''re looking for someone?"


    "Dunno. Maybe they''rew enforcers?"


    Although Lucy and Mindle joked around, they still roused their mana and were ready to react at a moment''s notice in case something happened.


    "If your background is powerful enough, we''ll bring you in without excessive force, even if you resist."


    "Wait, are they really cops?"


    Considering their demand and the potential leniency, Toz was beginning to understand what the figures were doing.


    He and the cats had been in the Alliance of Kingdom''s prison constructed for political hostages. A ce where mercenaries or participants of the proxy war fought for honor, wealth, achievements, acknowledgment, boredom, and so on. But that prison was for the individuals captured from the side of the Tribe of Death.


    However, what of the people who fought on the Obsidian Empire''s behalf? They would naturally suffer a simr fate but at the hands of the Tribe of Death instead. The details might differ, but it would probably be simr in the end, depending on the status of whatever background one had.


    Unfortunately, Toz and the cats didn''t have a single background among them. They were all from various parts of the mortal realm.


    Nil was from the City of Growing Iron, same as Toz. He was born there and lived as a street cat until he found Toz.


    And then, after a while, the two of them picked up Lucy from a carriage passing through the town. He wasn''t from Growing Iron like them, but there was no way he ended up there if he was from somece far away, much less a ce in the Transcendent Realm.


    Toz, Nil, and Lucy had witnessed Mindle''s birth, so they could confirm that no one knew her identity as a spirit. And if they chose to reveal it, it would only put them in danger. Mindle might be fine since she was so valuable alive. But the others? Highly unlikely unless the Spirit Realm chooses to intervene. But considering their seclusion, they wouldn''t make it in time if they did. And even then, they might prioritize Mindle, and Mindle alone.


    Scrael was born in Tumbling Thunder Forest and fought for her survival in it until she joined Toz and the others. She might have a reputation with the wild beasts there, but that would be useless anywhere else.


    And Asilean had spent his life drifting around the Void. He knew even fewer people than Mindle.


    Since neither Toz nor any of the cats had a background to rely on to save themselves trouble, the only thing they could do was fight. Though they would have resisted in either case, at least now, their opponents wouldn''t be holding back. However, it remained to be seen whether that was a good or a bad thing since their opponents seemed to be awfully confident when they demanded Toz tell them his identity.


    But, for the sake of it, and because they had one injured member and one tired member, Toz decided to try something.


    "We''re friends of the princess!"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "We are?"


    "You are?"


    The Tribe of Death member''s and Lucy''s questions sounded simr, but the intonation was different. Lucy doubted Toz''s im, and the cloaked figure wanted to know their identity in detail.


    "Toz, I am a personal acquaintance of Dyra Obsidiris of the Obsidian Empire."


    The hooded figure in charge of talking turned to hispanion, and they whispered in their hollow-sounding voices. But Toz, with his excellent hearing, heard them talking about being on a list of some kind, so he spoke up again.


    "I just joined the war, so I might not be on there."


    The first hooded figure seemed to look up. Toz only sensed the gaze since he couldn''t see anything under the hood, not even if they were surprised he overheard them talking or not.


    "You said we could do this peacefully even if we did resist?"


    "That is if you have the proper status to warrant such a treatment. And only if we can confirm that status."


    "Well, since it probably hasn''t been long enough for your list to be updated, how are you going to confirm it?"


    They didn''t say anything for a while, but Toz could tell that they were silentlymunicating with each other and didn''t interrupt them.


    As Toz started talking, he realized it would be the perfect way to gain contributions and make achievements. Who else could sessfully infiltrate the enemies'' base and even the depths of it by getting captured? And who, capable of doing so, would be willing to take such a risk?


    Anyone with a powerful enough background would just wait until they were rescued. But Toz and the cats were different. They didn''t actually have anyone to rescue them, and when the Tribe of Death realized that, it would already be by the time they broke out of their jail.


    There was no guarantee that they used a simr imprisonment system, but Toz was still confident that he would be able to break out. Even if they put him in a cell worthy of the personal acquaintance of one of the descendants of the Obsidian imperial family, he doubted it would be significantly more secure than the highest security level prison that Dyra and Yill put him in.


    And with the first time''s experience, Toz was confident he could pull it off again. This time, he would also have the opportunity to hide the cats inside the familiar space before getting captured and sealed.


    Eventually, the robed figure in charge of speaking with them continued doing that as it started talking.


    "Since your conjecture about the registry not being up to date seems to be true, we''ll verify your status at the fortress. And in case you possess the status you im to do, we''ll allow you to resist to your greatest ability, and we''ll make sure you aren''t harmed in the process."


    "Excellent! I thank you for the hospitality."


    Although they might be captured, Toz was even nning on it. It would still be great if they could experience the abilities of the Tribe of Death directly.


    Dyra hadn''t exined that part to them, so Toz and the cats didn''t know what to expect. But if they were going to infiltrate their base, that much would be the bare minimum they would need to know.


    In response to the robed figure''s words, Toz and the cats got ready to fight.

 Chapter 355 The Death In Tribe Of Death (2)

    ?In order to keep up his act as someone who knew what they were doing, Toz kept his cool and faced the robed figure that had spoken to them.


    "Just to make sure we''re on the same page here. We, me and you two, will engage in a light-hearted fight before you bring me back to ensure my status and value as a hostage, after which you demand a ransom, and then I''m free to go?"


    The robed figure turned back and gave hispanion a look before turning back to Toz.


    "That does sound about right. Though we won''t be fighting directly."


    Toz was a little curious about what the robed figure meant, but he was more curious about something else. The robed figures'' confidence.


    "What makes you so sure you will be able to defeat me without issue? Just asking since I''ve always been curious about the abilities of the Tribe of Death."


    The robed figure didn''t seem too keen on exining all the details and stepped back next to hispanion.


    "You''ll see."


    For some reason, the figure''s ethereal voice sent a shiver down Toz''s spine. And for some reason, it had nothing to do with the voice itself. He just had a bad premonition regarding the words. And it felt like he would find out why in just a few moments.


    The dark air surrounding them, creating a separate world of darkness, trembled, and several silhouettes became visible.


    At the same time, one of the figures said something.


    "These guys should exin whatever you wish to know."


    Following those words, the first figure fully showed itself.


    "Toz."


    "Yeah, Lucy?"


    "I wanna cry."


    "Me too, buddy."


    Toz''s voice wasn''t as tearful as Lucy''s, but he wasn''t far from it. His gaze was locked on the figure and the silhouettes behind it, and the only thing Toz foundfort in was that Nil was asleep in the familiar space. However, that did nothing to assuage their feelings of terror, at least Toz''s and Lucy''s. Mindle was also slightly frightened, but it was more due to being affected by Toz and Lucy and the ghost stories they had told her rather than actually being afraid due to her own fear.


    Scrael and Asilean were focused on their opponent, who had stepped out of the curtain of darkness. But Toz and Lucy''s reactions were distracting them. They were worried in case something happened, but they had enough trust in Toz to direct that worry to Lucy.


    "Lucy, what''s the issue? Now isn''t the time for you to get your fur in a swirl."


    "Asil, how are you standing right now? Don''t you see what''s in front of us?"


    "An enemy?"


    "A twitnipping zombie!"


    That got Scrael to frown.


    "A zombie?"


    "An existence that goes against the providence of the universe! Something that shouldn''t exist! Can''t you see that!?"


    "Lucy, Lucy. Lucy¡­!"


    "You killed that bastard a few days ago. You killed that bastard dead! And now it''s moving and walking. On its own!"


    "Lucy!"


    "Things don''t work like that!"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Calm down!"


    Scrael''s shout startled Lucy into shrinking back and at least calming down enough to stop shouting. After Lucy quietened down, Toz bent down and patted Lucy.


    "Lucy. I think that this might be our moment."


    "Our moment?"


    "Yeah. This moment right here is an opportunity for us to grow and be better than our previous selves. This moment can be the fuel for our future development. Lucy, do you understand?"


    "B-but¡­?"


    "Lucy."


    "Y-yeah."


    "I don''t even think that''s a real zombie."


    "It''s not?"


    "Think about it. Does it make sense for zombies to exist? No, right?"


    "That''s true. But then what is that?"


    While asking, Lucy pointed toward the zombie Stone Demon, who politely waited while Toz and the cats sorted themselves out. That was something that supported Toz''s next words.


    "I think it might be a puppet."


    "Like a marite or something?"


    "Exactly. Doesn''t it make sense if people from the Tribe of Death control people suffering from death?"


    "Yeah! That does make sense."


    "Right."


    "But how do we defeat them? It?"


    Toz responded with silence.


    Lucy waited with wide, eager eyes. But Toz didn''t answer even after a while. Toz and Lucy stared at each other with an audience consisting of the other cats, the two robed figures, the Zombie Stone Demon, and the ghoulish remains of the buffalos that appeared behind them.


    Toz and Lucy did their best to ignore the half-desated buffalo corpses that stood up and walked around next to the Zombie Stone Demon as they did their best to brainwash themselves to believe that they weren''t dealing with proper undead.


    They were only facing puppets made from corpses. It would be even better if they could make themselves believe that they were only up against puppets made to look like corpses.


    Eventually, after several moments of shared hypnosis, Toz''s and Lucy''s eyes zed over. They stood up and turned to face their opponents with stiff movements.


    Mindle, Scrael, and Asilean were still worried, but since Toz and Lucy were moving and almost responding to their words of concern, they didn''t do anything other than keep an extra eye on the two.


    The three cats exchanged nces before standing next to Toz and Lucy, who were slowly beginning to look more like puppets than the zombies they were facing.


    Sensing Toz and the cats finally getting ready to try and resist, the robed figures motioned for the Zombie Stone Demon with a reattached arm and a cat''s paw patterned scorch mark on its chest to move. The buffalo corpses also started moving and spread out next to the Stone Demon.


    All their opponents had clear signs of the attacks that killed them, which made facing them even scarier. But Toz and Lucy had managed to clear their minds enough to forget that they were facing opponents that they had already killed, so Toz and the cats were practically as ready to fight as ever.


    Toz and the cats faced the Zombie Stone Demon and the zombie buffalo herd fighting on behalf of the tribesmen of Death.

 Chapter 356 The Death In Tribe Of Death (3)

    ?Toz was still curious about what made the tribespeople of the Tribe of Death so convinced of their victory, and he used that to retain sanity as he prepared to face off against the Zombie Stone Demon and the herd of zombie buffalo. They had defeated them once, which the tribespeople already seemed to know.


    After defeating them once, they would be able to defeat them again. And Toz doubted that the zombies would be stronger than when they had been alive. Otherwise, he would advise Dyra to give up. How was the Obsidian Empire supposed to win if they were up against opponents that could use the corpses of the in and even strengthen them?


    However, Toz didn''t rule anything out as he warily analyzed their opponents.


    The tribespeople hopefully couldn''t strengthen their puppets, but they could most certainly alter them. The death attribute oozing from the demon and the buffalos were more than enough proof of that. The only question was if it was an addition or substitution.


    In any case, the demon''s and the buffalo''s abilities had been changed, and probably drastically at that.


    Analyzing the situation and their opponents rationally helped Toz calm down. And seeing the zombie demon and its four-leggedpanions act ording to the figures from the Tribe of Death helped Lucy calm down enough to begin working on the darkness covering them and their surroundings.


    Even if it was nothing more than arge cover to keep Toz and the cats in ce, Toz wanted a confirmation of that. Working under assumptions would only put them in danger.


    Although they had the robed figures¡§promise that they would be brought in without excessive violence, that might still include killing them. They were, after all, from the Tribe of Death.


    Not to mention how Toz didn''t have any intentions of going willingly.


    The appearance of the undead had spooked him, but he hadn''t forgotten his n of getting captured and infiltrating the Tribe of Death''s base. And included in that n was them getting as much experience as possible fighting people from the Tribe and getting an understanding of their magic by resisting their kidnapping.


    However, since Toz was nning on causing a ruckus inside their base, he wasn''t going to reveal all of his cards. He would still put forward a great fight since he wanted to know the limits of the Tribe of Death''s magic, but only if he could do it without revealing everything he and the cats were capable of doing.


    Even without showing off their entire strength, Toz would still be able to figure out the basics of death attribute magic, despite it being his first time experiencing it. Or so he hoped. He was set to find out whether that was true or not in theing moments since the figures from the Tribe of Death had waited long enough.


    The Zombie Stone Demon and the zombie buffalo herd started moving at the same time.


    Toz had informed the cats of the general gist of his n, and they knew that they shouldn''t go all out just because they were scared. Thatst part was directed at Lucy. But they shouldn''t hold back if they felt threatened or like they were in danger.


    If worst came to worst, they would simply have to escape and find another way to gain an equivalent amount of achievements. Though before they could escape, they had to do something about the sticky darkness covering the sky.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Lucy could sense that it was partly darkness magic from a ninth level mage. But it was based on demonic energy and interwoven with death attribute magic. Death and darkness attribute magic cast with demonic energy wasn''t something Lucy was used to handling.


    However, anything with darkness in it was Lucy''s toy. And it didn''t take long for him to sneak his way inside the cover without any of the robed figures noticing. He didn''t have enough control to get rid of itpletely, but if he wanted, he could easily open a path out for Toz and the other cats.


    After securing an escape route, Toz and the cats felt a lot more secure, and they started battling the zombie horde.


    Toz stepped up to face the zombified Stone Demon. Scrael and Asilean were still slightly fatigued from their fights. They had recovered quite a bit while listening to Toz''s stories and then some more while listening to Lucy. But they still weren''t fully rested, so Toz took it upon himself to face the opponent that seemed the most dangerous.


    Mindle could have also handled it, but her abilities were better suited to dealing with several enemies. And her building up enough heat to get through the Stone Demon''s defenses would affect the entire fight.


    Until they figured out how to let Mindle let loose without having to worry about the other cats, she would have to rein her magic in a little. Thankfully, it seemed like she didn''t have to go all out in order to damage the zombies since they started sizzling and smoking soon after she sent out three Tongues of me.


    Mindle, Scrael, and Asilean dashed out to handle the buffalos. Lucy disappeared into the shadows of the battlefield as he prepared himself to support whoever needed it, and Toz braced himself against the Zombie Stone Demon''s fist.


    Toz had worried that the Stone Demon would spew out death magic with its attacks after being turned into a zombie. But it seemed like his worries were a little exaggerated.


    Death mana hung around every zombie like a bad perfume, but it was most likely a side effect of whatever magic caused the reanimation.


    The Stone Demon''s attacks weren''t very different from what they would have been before it died.


    Unfortunately, Toz and the others didn''t get a chance to experience what those attacks would have been like due to the nature of Scrael''s battle with it.


    But now that he was facing it himself, Toz realized that the Stone Demon fought with its bare hands. It threw heavy punches that collided with the edge of his sword without even getting scratched.


    Toz realized after the first attack, which he quickly backed away from using the force of the punch, that dodging the demon''s fists would be easier than blocking them all.


    So that was what he started doing.

 Chapter 357 The Death In Tribe Of Death (4)

    ?The Zombie Stone Demon''s punches weren''t heavy enough to make Toz falter, but if he kept taking them head-on, his arms would quickly tire. But he remembered soon after he started dodging that the Stone Demon didn''t only attack with its fists. It also knew how to use gravel and the stone around it in its attacks.


    The Stone Demon''s attacks seemed a little less refined after transforming into a zombie, and the bursts of gravel that apanied each of the demon''s fists didn''t even scratch Toz. But they did make it more difficult for him to fight back, though only marginally.


    After dodging both the fist and the ensuing hail of stones, Toz straightened his arm, his sword an extension of his body. With the length of his arm and the sword, Toz had no trouble reaching the demon, even after dodging its attacks.


    The sword, reinforced with metal and coated with fire, cut through and singed the demon''s skin. The wound wasn''t deep enough to cause any real damage. But it proved that the demon still took damage. However, Toz couldn''t be sure if the demon didn''t bleed because it was dead, the wound was shallow, or because of the fire. So he attacked again, this time without fire.


    Since he had already gottenfortable with the demon''s simplistic attack pattern, Toznded a graver injury this time. And he could confirm that the Zombie Stone Demon still bled, but the grey, thick blood like liquid grey stone had gotten a ck sheen and was filled with the death attribute.


    Toz became increasingly curious about the functions of death magic. But he concentrated on the fight and the robed figures in case they were up to something since that was a lot more important than fleeting curiosity.


    The robed figures seemed like they were only watching Toz and the cats fight, but Toz didn''t let down his guard. Instead, he started taking things more seriously.


    He still hadn''t figured out what the source of the Tribe of Death''s confidence came from, but until he did, he would have to keep being careful. At least it looked like they were making steady progress with their opponents.


    Toz was gradually chipping away at the Stone Demon.


    Mindle and Asilean were cleaning up the weaker buffalos, with Lucy giving them support when they got stuck deep in the thick of it. They didn''t need Lucy''s aid, but it was a way for them to keep their true strength hidden while still decreasing the buffalo herd''s numbers.


    And while the three other cats dealt with the herd, Scrael fought with the leader.


    That was when Toz realized something. There was only one buffalo leader among the zombies. However, there had been two when they fought them and their herd.


    Toz was so confused by the discovery that he instinctively blocked the Stone Demon''s attack instead of dodging it.


    After getting his mind back on track and retaliating against the Stone Demon by punching it in the face, Toz looked at the zombie buffalo leader.


    The zombie buffalo was almost intact on one side, while the other was gruesomely destroyed. The only thing that had been restored following the effects of the death magic was the skeleton. The flesh hung in rags, clearly showing off the smashed internal organs.


    The damage on the zombie buffalo leader was all the evidence Toz needed to confirm that it was the one that Nil killed, which meant that the one Lucy killed was missing. After figuring that out, Toz turned to the cats, who had to have already noticed it.


    "What happened to the other one?"


    Despite thecking rity in Toz''s question, the cats understood what he meant, and Lucy answered.


    "I didn''t leave a corpse they could use."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "You''re gonna finish your story after this, Lucy."


    Toz was curious about what Lucy did so that there wasn''t even a corpse left behind. But they didn''t have the time for stories at the moment.


    Although the zombies had simr capabilities to their living selves, there was one distinct difference. They didn''t feel pain. Despite the injuries that the Stone Demon and the buffalos incurred, their movements or actions weren''t hindered in the slightest.


    But there were some things that even the zombies couldn''t ignore.


    The Stone Demon might not have felt pain when it once again lost its arm, but that didn''t mean it could ignore the consequences of losing that arm. It had one less fist to try and punch Toz with, and its body became unbnced.


    It was the same with the buffalos. Once their legs were cut off, they couldn''t move around and became sitting ducks for Mindle and Asilean to finish off.


    The Zombie Stone Demon and the zombie buffalos weren''t stronger than when they were alive, and after a while, they died again at the hands of Toz and the cats.


    Toz cut off the demon''s head, which seemed to have made it useless.


    Scrael and Asilean gave the buffalos simr treatments.


    Lucy and Mindle were the only ones not killing the zombies. Lucy''s magic wasn''t quite suitable. And while Mindle''s magic was perfect for extermination and getting rid of corpses, she held back for several reasons. One of those reasons being her identity as a spirit.


    The figures from the Tribe of Death didn''t seem to have noticed Mindle''s identity, but it would be a lot harder for her to hide it if she freely showed off her magic and strength. But if she painted herself as the weakest in the group, the robed figures wouldn''t pay much attention to her.


    Mindle was restraining herself so much that her magic left the buffalo''s dead skin dry and helped weaken the buffalos without actually dealing a lot of damage to them. She only used three of her Tongues of me since that was all she needed. She controlled them and had them fly around the battlefield, heating the buffalos, making steam rise from their moving corpses, and helping the others defeat them.


    After killing the Stone Demon, Toz helped the cats clear out the zombie buffalos, and just like that, they had killed their opponents a second time.


    Toz and the cats turned to the robed figures with a questioning and expectant look. He refused to believe that the robed figures thought that would be enough to defeat them. Since their bodies and faces were hidden by the robes, Toz couldn''t use their expressions to tell if they were surprised or not. But they didn''t seem affected by Toz and the cats breezing through their reanimated corpses.


    The robed figures were already facing them before Toz and the cats even finished, and they didn''t move after the Stone Demon and the buffalos fell. But after a few moments, the one who hadn''t spoken as much as the other waved a hand and sent a wave of death attribute mana toward the corpses strewn across the ground.


    Toz and the cats each had at least one chill run down their spines following that magic. Even if they weren''t familiar with death magic, they could tell that it was a bona fide spell. And considering its destination, its purpose was evident.


    Toz started to realize why they were so confident in bringing Toz and the cats back to their fortress without having to use excessive force.

 Chapter 358 The Death In Tribe Of Death (5)

    ?Toz and the cats followed the wave of death magic and turned toward the zombies they had killed once when they were alive and once when they were already dead.


    The Tribe of Death''s death magic quickly made its effects known.


    The buffalo''s amputated limbs flew together and reattached. The heads rolled across the ground and flew up,nding on the buffalo''s necks. The Stone Demon''s limbs returned to its body, and the cuts and damage Toz had inflicted on it recovered.


    After all limbs were reattached and injuries restored to the state of their original death, the Stone Demon and the buffalos stood up again.


    Toz sighed. He had managed to ovee his fear of the supernatural and the undead, at least temporarily, thanks to the death magic. Lucy hadn''t ovee his fear, but he realized that Toz''s conjecture about the zombies being more like puppets was pretty urate.


    However, not being hindered by their fear wouldn''t change much. Toz''s mind had cleared up since he hadn''t brainwashed himself, but he still didn''t see a way to defeat the zombies and the robed figures.


    The reticent robed figure had used a significant amount of mana, but only if it wasn''tpared to the total amount of mana a ninth level mage had. And that was the baseline for every ninth level mage. If the mage had another attribute, which was unlikely but not impossible, the robed figure would have more than enough mana to cast the same spell over and over again. Not to mention how the figure will probably recover mana between casts.


    But even if they only have the death attribute, it is very likely that the robed figure, as a member of the Tribe of Death, will still have a noteworthy amount of mana. As a renowned faction of the Transcendent Realm, its members were bound to be elites iparable to the people of the mortal realm that Toz was ustomed to and knew.


    However, if it was one thing that Toz was confident in, it was his mana pool.


    He might still be at the sixth level and with only one of his elements, but he had still refined his body and mana with each of his attributes each time he broke through to the next level. And each time he broke through or refined his mana, he did it to his utmost limit, pushing himself as far as he could.


    Toz''s mana was already beyond anything he had seen others have. So even if the robed figure had more mana than an ordinary ninth level mage of the mortal realm, Toz was confident he didn''t necessarily fall behind, even if he was three levels below.


    But the question was if that would be enough to defeat the zombie horde and the robed figures, especially when only one of them had shown their capabilities. And even that might only be a fraction of their true skills.


    When he thought about it, Toz got eager to try it out, but he quickly restrained himself.


    Defeating and fighting against the robed figures wasn''t their objective. If they hadn''t been in desperate need of achievements so that they could save Taienra, or if there was another way to gain those achievements, Toz would have liked to go all out against the robed figures from the Tribe of Death. But with the current situation, holding back and letting themselves get captured was the best option for Toz and the cats'' future.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The momentary satisfaction of releasing all their power in a battle to the death against the robed figures was tempting, and Toz and the cats were all a little fickle, preferring to follow their whims instead of carefullyid out ns. But since they cared for Taienra and wanted to save her as soon as possible, they couldn''t indulge in their desires.


    Toz knew it. The cats knew it. But none of them liked it. Yet they still held back and faced off against the zombie horde again. They defeated the zombies without any obvious signs of struggle.


    They would have taken all the zombies down in a sh if they weren''t holding back, but since they were, it took several moments.


    But it didn''t even take a fraction of the time it took for them to defeat the zombies for the zombies to regenerate and stand up again, ready to fight Toz and the cats.


    The frustration of the seemingly endless battle with the zombies and of having to hold back was quickly building, and Toz could sense the cats'' worsening mood. But the only thing he could do was quietly soothe them and convince them to stay calm. Mentioning Taienra helped a little, but it also roused their emotions in another way.


    Since continuing to fight wouldn''t do, Toz persuaded them to hold out a fourth time since they at least needed to find some kind of weakness in the magic or the zombies.


    Having an objective helped them endure the senseless fighting. They also noticed that holding back helped them micromanage their mana control.


    After defeating the zombies a third time, Toz and the cats resolved themselves to find out each and every weakness of the zombies during the fourth round before pretending to cave and submit while fighting the zombies a fifth time.


    But so far, they only had a single lead. Lucy''s magic that prevented the robed figures from using the second buffalo leader''s corpse.


    Toz and the cats wanted to listen to the story since it would be more exciting, but in their current situation, they didn''t have time for that. Unfortunately, Lucy''s magic didn''t make much sense to the others. The only useful thing they got was that he didn''t leave a corpse behind.


    It made sense.


    The robed figures couldn''t reanimate the corpses of the dead if there weren''t any corpses.


    Since it was the only lead they had, Toz and the cats decided to test it out to see if it worked on the already reanimated corpses.

 Chapter 359 The Death In Tribe Of Death (6)

    ?The zombies rose for the fourth time, and Toz and the cats reorganized themselves a little.


    Since Toz and the cats were pretending to be weaker than they actually were, they couldn''t just reveal some of their full strength just because they wanted to try something out. In order to keep up their act, Toz and the cats were going tobine their weak selves'' efforts.


    It barely required any consideration for them to figure out that Mindle''s and Toz''s magic would be the most effective. Lucy could somehow make corpses disappear with his recently developed magic, but that was different and required Lucy to show off his mastery of darkness, something a weakling couldn''tpare to.


    Mindle moved her three mes, concentrating them on one buffalo while Toz ran over to the same buffalo. While they did that, the other three cats took on the rest of the zombies, keeping them from interfering.


    Mindle''s mes hovered around their designated target, slowly heating it. Its skin started drying and cracking, bing charred at the edges. But the burn damage wasn''t yet severe enough to interfere with the buffalo''s movements, and it started running toward Toz with ckish blood dripping to the ground from its bursting skin.


    Toz met its charge with a zing sword. He sidestepped the buffalo before thrusting his weapon into its body. After that, he empowered the mes on his sword, scorching the buffalo''s insides.


    Fire spilled out of the buffalo''s mouth, nose, and eyes before itpletely caught fire.


    After catching fire, the buffalo soon copsed, leaving Toz and Mindle to focus on the remaining zombies. However, they didn''t put out the mes on the buffalo. They let them continue burning while they moved on to the rest of the horde.


    If they continued to concentrate their attention on the buffalo, they would eventually reveal their intentions to the robed figures. But if they quickly moved on, the robed figures would hopefully think that it was simply a change in tactic.


    While the buffalo continued burning, Toz and the cats cleared away the rest of the zombies, temporarily putting them down again.


    It took a while, but not much longer than the previous times, and before they knew it, anotheryer of dark grey or ck blood covered the ground.


    Toz wondered if they had been too conspicuous when they burned the buffalo to ash. Unfortunately, it was impossible to read the robed figures'' thoughts and feelings. Since they took a little longer than the previous times before they sent the wave of death magic, Toz got a little worried. But the dy was barely noticeable, and there didn''t seem to be any differences in the robed figures'' movements as they continued watching Toz and the cats fight against the zombies a fifth time.


    Toz and the cats were still pretending to be rtively weak, and although the zombies were weaker and dumber than they had been while still alive, it was about time for Toz and the cats to begin getting tired.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz and the cats had already agreed that the fifth time would be thest, and after the fourth, they had already started showing visible signs of exhaustion so that it wouldn''t look like they suddenly gave up while fighting the zombies. They might act weak, but they didn''t like it. They only did it because it was necessary.


    Making it look like they gave up on top of that was something that none of Toz and the cats would agree to do. Thest thing they could do before giving in was make it look like they were the kind that didn''t know the meaning of giving up.


    Toz and the cats fought the zombies, carefully controlling their strength so that it looked like they were barely running on fumes. Thankfully the zombies didn''t have any intentions ofnding any kind of serious blow on them.


    The robed figures'' promise of not using excessive force, even if Toz and the cats resisted, seemed to hold true as even when the zombies were about to strike them when they revealed an opening, their movements stopped.


    After a while, it became clear that Toz and the cats would have already taken damage several times if the zombies hadn''t halted their attacks. But even so, Toz and the cats kept fighting. Eventually, it became a challenge between them of who could hold on the longest while still putting on an act of utter desperation.


    Scrael had the most experience fighting desperate battles, but it seemed like that experience didn''t transfer, and she only barely managed to make it look realistic.


    On the other hand, Lucy, despite focusing mainly on support, put on an act that made the others wonder if maybe Lucy was really in trouble. He called out desperately for hisrades as he continued slinging shadows around to hinder the buffalos'' movements. He cried out when it looked like one of the others would take a blow and cried tears of joy when they survived.


    However, the dedication to his acting distracted Lucy so much that he didn''t notice the cover of darkness separating them and the robed figures from the outside world trembling. The robed figures noticed that and looked around. But before the one that brought out a tiny ck ball could do anything about it, it was already toote.


    It only took a few moments after the cover started trembling before it broke down. It cracked like ss before copsing to the ground in a cloud of dust that transformed into a cloud of darkness before disappearing into the robed figure''s ck orb.


    The zombies'' movements stopped for a few moments before they transformed into a few streams of grey light that flew into the robed figure that had been in charge of repeatedly reanimating them.


    Toz and the cats looked around in confusion and caution as they noticed the abrupt change.


    They turned a questioning look to the two robed figures, but they were looking in another direction where four humans had appeared.

 Chapter 360 Lightning Rascals (1)

    ?"See? I told you something funky was going on."


    One of the four humans, a tall, short-haired woman, spoke as the deathly ck cover copsed and revealed the scene of Toz and the cats fighting against the Tribe of Death''s undead.


    Compared to the desperate appearances of Toz and the cats, the four humans had a surprisingly rxed appearance.


    "Yeah. Great call, Kaler. Saving those guys and capturing those other guys might get us enough contribution to buy that bracelet you were looking at."


    "Really?!"


    The short-haired woman, Kaler, looked at the green-haired young-looking boy that answered her, with a radiant smile.


    "Great! I''ll take the lead. Hassandra, back me up, please."


    "Like usual?"


    "Like usual."


    The blue-haired man sprung forth with a light-hearted smile on his face as he brought out a lightning-d spear. The curly-headed woman he spoke with also started moving. But unlike the blue-haired man, she kept her distance from the two robed figures as she started using her magic. However, it only looked like she was waving her hands around while rousing her mana, so it was impossible to tell what her magic did.


    "Piercing-!"


    "Shut up, Vatel! I told youst time, didn''t I? Shout out the names of your techniques one more time, and I''ll leave this party!"


    While Hassandra used her magic, Vatel closed the gap between him and the robed figures from the Tribe of Death while light blue lightning covered him and his spear. When he got close enough, Vatel used a technique. Hassandra did stop him from shouting its name out loud, but that didn''t stop the technique from activating.


    Vatel''s lightning concentrated at the tip of his spear before shooting out. The lightning bolt flew forward, leaving a blue streak of light in its path as it struck the robed figure that had been in charge of reanimating the Stone Demon''s and the buffalos'' corpses.


    The only sound resulting from the instantaneous lightning bolt was the sound of the robed figure crashing into the ground.


    "Did you get ''em?"


    "Nope. Not even close. We stumbled upon quite the tough pair of demons."


    Although Vatel''s answer to Hassandra''s question was slightly ominous, his light-hearted, mischievous smile didn''t even tremble.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Do you need help?"


    "Maybe. But check on those guys first. It''s only a rescue mission if we rescue someone, Hullie."


    The green-haired boy, Hullie, followed Vatel''s instructions, and he and Kaler headed toward Toz and the cats while Vatel and Hassandra started fighting against the two robed figures.


    Toz had been a little stunned when the four humans appeared and started attacking the robed figures, but when they approached him, he quickly snapped out of it and began thinking.


    Now that it hade to this, it would be very unlikely for them to execute their n sessfully.


    The blue-haired lightning attribute spear-wilder, Vatel, had made it sound like he didn''t even scratch the robed figure. But Toz had sensed the power behind that lightning bolt. If the other three humans possessed simr strength, the robed figures would eventually lose, even if they could reanimate a bunch of corpses as much as they wanted.


    While Hullie and Kaler walked toward them, Toz and the cats shared a few nces before quickly agreeing that they had to scrap their n. It was unfortunate. But they had to make the best of the situation.


    Toz and the cats stood up, dusting off themselves. Their transformation from desperately surviving and barely clinging to life against the robed figures'' undead to a mage and beasts in near-perfect condition was striking. Kaler and Hullie halted their movements in shock for a moment. They exchanged a nce before they carefully approached Toz and the cats.


    However, Toz and the cats weren''t interested in them. They were busy looking at the fight between Vatel and Hassandra and the two robed figures.


    After getting hit by the lightning bolt, the robed figure hadn''t waited until Vatel arrived before summoning a seemingly endless swarm of undead using a dark grey ssy orb that hovered in the air in front of it.


    Grey streaks of light, like the ones that appeared when the figure summoned the Stone Demon and the buffalos flew out of the orb, rapidly increasing the number ofbatants on the battlefield. Reanimated corpses of all kinds of beings, humans, demons, and beasts, started moving toward Vatel with death mana nketing their bodies.


    Vatel faced the army of undead without faltering while Hassandra began dealing with the other robed figure. Unlike the robed figure that could reanimate and control corpses, Hassandra''s opponent seemed to be more specialized in directbat as it attacked Hassandra with streams of death attribute demonic energy.


    However, none of the robed figure''s attacksnded on their target. Most of them seemed to encounter something mid-air that sliced them apart and sent them crashing to the ground. The ground that had been hit by the death magic quickly turned grey and died. There weren''t any nts or life in the ground, to begin with, due to the war and battle. But after the death magic, it became clear that nothing would grow, even after the war.


    Hassandra didn''t seem too bothered by the attacks, almost as if she was used to fighting against death magic, and she kept slicing the magic apart without faltering.


    Toz was curious about what her magic was since he couldn''t sense any elemental fluctuations. But if he wanted to gather enough contributions to apany Dyra back to the Transcendent Realm, he couldn''t just stand around and spectate. He and the cats had to take part in defeating and capturing the robed figures of the Tribe of Death.


    It was especially important that they contributed now that the four intruding humans had interrupted and destroyed any chances their n had of seeding. Betting on having another opportunity like the one they had gotten was bound to end in failure. And Toz and the cats would rather rely on themselves than chance.

 Chapter 361 Lightning Rascals (2)

    ?Although Vatel had undead swarming him like hos after stirring their nest, none of them managed to put a scratch on him. And from hisid-back attitude, it was clear that he wasn''t struggling in the slightest. Hassandra''s situation was the same. She wasn''t actively beating her opponent to smithereens, but she also wasn''t losing.


    If things continued like this, it wouldn''t take long before the two robed figures from the Tribe of Death were beaten and captured without Toz and the cats contributing anything. And it would take even less time if Kaler and Hullie started participating in the battles.


    Toz threw a nce at Kaler and Hullie, who seemed like they wanted to confirm his and the cats'' state. But since time was quickly running out, that was all he did before wrapping himself and the cats in ayer of darkness and voidbination magic that effectively made them disappear.


    After vanishing from sight, Toz and the cats headed for their targets.


    In order to do as much as possible to both robed figures, Toz and the cats split up after agreeing to a n of action. Mindle and Lucy headed toward the robed figure in charge of summoning and controlling the undead, and Toz, Scrael, and Asilean sneaked their way over to the robed figure covering its surroundings in waves of death magic.


    Since the necromancer seemed to be the stationary type, letting his zombies and summoned undead do everything for them mage, they were apatible target with Mindle, who excelled at dealing with a lot of weaker enemies at once and enemies who stayed in ce. However, in case the necromancer could either move around quickly themselves or could summon undead with incredible mobility, Lucy apanied her so that he could tie them down in that case. Or if anything else happened and Mindle needed some support.


    The other robed figure, on the other hand, seemed like an opponent one would have to dodge all attacks from since even one could cripple or kill. And Toz, Scrael, and Asilean were the three in their group that were best at dodging attacks, so they were in charge of defeating the death attribute demonic mage.


    Mindle conjured her four mes as soon as she got in position. Lucy stayed hidden, but he was ready to help at less than a moment''s notice. The four Tongues of me flew out and surrounded the necromancer, rapidly bringing the surroundings to boiling temperatures. Since their aim was to capture, not kill, Mindle held back a little and concentrated most of her heat on the undead swarming out of the dark grey orb, not the necromancer.


    The zombies quickly started catching fire and bursting into mes due to the heat that was enough to cause the air to tremble. The unexpected bouts of fire surprised Vatel, but after looking around and finding Mindle, he kept fighting like before, gradually decreasing the amount of undead by scorching them into oblivion with his blue lightning.


    Almost at the same time as Mindle started burning the necromancer''s summons, Toz and the other two revealed themselves while attacking the death mage.


    Since Toz had a sword and didn''t use his actual body to attack, he took the lead. If the cats were to engage directly with the mage, it might be toote for them to retreat in case their target has some kind of defensive magic that afflicts them the same way the demon''s attacks affected the ground.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Scrael had her prosthetic leg, so she wasn''t too worried, but it would be better if Toz, who could more easily find a recement or make do without his sword, sacrificed it to find out if it would be alright to attack the death mage.


    And in order to really test it out, Toz used nothing but a small amount of metal mana to enchant his sword as he reached out to stab into the robed figure''s upper body.


    However, before his sword reached, he felt its movements stalling as if something was killing its momentum. Toz sensed that the magic around the death mage reacted to Toz''s sword, so that was probably the cause. Fortunately, it seemed like the magic didn''t do any noteworthy damage to the weapon itself, so Toz and the cats could attack freely. They only had to worry about their attacks reaching the death mage.


    Unwilling to give up the advantage of his surprise attack, Toz pulled back his sword before thrusting again. But this time, he filled his sword with darkness mana.


    Due to the properties of darkness, Toz''s pitch-ck sword had an easier time slinking through the transparentyer shielding the death mage.


    Toz sensed the death mage begin to panic as the sword neared their body, but even while panicking, the mage concentrated its magic on the spot where Toz''s sword pierced through theyer of defensive magic. After passing through only halfway, the magic gripped Toz''s sword like a vice, preventing him from both pushing it further inside and pulling it out again.


    His sword was just about to reach the death mage, but after confirming that it refused to budge, Toz didn''t hesitate for even a moment as he let go of the sword and instead used magic to attack and defend himself in one go. He threw out a Fireball before the death magic could reach him.


    Toz''s Fireball and the death mage''s lump of dark grey death magic collided in the air. Toz had made his spell with a concentration on how shy the explosion would be, so when the two magics crashed into each other, the ensuing burst of fire and light filled their surroundings. It barely did any damage, and Toz only had to make sure he avoided the fragments of death magic falling around them to ensure his own safety.


    At first, it only looked like Toz''s magic was to allow him to back away and get to safety. At least until Scrael and Asilean appeared.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 362 Lightning Rascals (3)

    ?When they blocked Toz''s sword, the death mage concentrated the power of its defenses on where the sword was, which meant that the rest was weakened instead. Since they had just attacked Hassandra with a swarm of death magic, they weren''t worried about getting counterattacked while its defenses were down.


    However, Scrael and Asilean were outside of the death mage''s calctions, and when the two cats appeared, it was already toote for the death mage. The two cats were already right next to the death mage when the mage noticed them.


    The death mage was startled but not startled enough to panic and let go of Toz''s sword. Instead, they expended more mana to reinforce the entire barrier. But for some reason, their mana refused to follow their instructions when it came to where the two cats were. The barrier weakened instead of growing sturdier.


    Asilean used the skill he honed when fighting against the buffalos for the very first time to weaken the death mage''s defenses, letting his and Scrael''s attacks reach the death mage''s robes with barely any resistance.


    But after bypassing the defense andnding a blow on the robes, Scrael and Asilean had to quickly retreat to avoid the deluge of death magic that rained down on them. Fortunately, they were quick enough to escape unscathed.


    Although their attacks hadn''t done any damage to the death mage due to the unexpected resilience of the robes, their efforts weren''t for naught. With the time Scrael and Asilean bought him, Toz found a gap to send a Fireball straight at the death mage.


    Due to the increased sturdiness of the death mage''s defensive barrier, the Fireball didn''t do much, despite Toz focusing on its firepower. But it did weaken the barrier enough for a secondary Fireball, focused on piercing, to reach the death mage.


    The death mage felt the impending sense of danger and concentrated all of its defensive power in front of the Fireball. Whenbined with the defensive power of the death mage''s robes, the dark grey shield was enough to prevent the Fireball from piercing its body.


    However, Toz had also made sure to cram in a lot of force behind the Fireball, which pushed the death mage backward. The death mage lost their bnce and allowed Scrael tond a blow from beneath. Scrael''s blow didn''t face any defensive magic, and she shot up straight into the death mage''s back. Scrael''s movements were like a lightning bolt, and she sted the death mage into the sky.


    After striking the death mage, Scrael cast a nce at her paw. Since she had done it with her intact paw, she felt the sensation of the impact with the death mage''s body clearly. She cast a worried nce in Toz''s and Lucy''s directions before throwing her worries to the back of her head. Although she had blown the death mage into the air, that would be far from enough to defeat it.


    Even without being able to regain their bnce while fumbling through the air, the death mage was already preparing magic on a different level from their previous attacks.


    However, before they couldunch their attack, Scrael was already upon it with another lightning-charged punch. Scrael pushed down on the death mage''s chest with her sparking paw and sent the death mage crashing to the ground.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Crashing to the ground with the force of Scrael''s punch behind them might be enough to injure the death mage. But it would also allow them to regain control over their body, so before theynded, Toz intercepted them with another attack.


    Toz jumped up and threw an upwards diagonal blow to the death mage''s ribs which sent the mage flying once again. While descending and watching the death mage fly away, Toz thought that the death mage would have been a more ferocious opponent if they were to eat more.


    However, Toz knew that he shouldn''t ever let down his guard until the opponent was defeated. It might not be enough then, either since his experience with the people from the Tribe of Death had shown him that not even death was enough to stop some enemies.


    So, Toz kept a watchful eye on the death mage as they flew through the air in the direction of Hassandra before abruptly stopping in the middle of its flight.


    The same something that stopped the death mage in mid-air quickly bound their limbs together, restraining its movements. And most likely their demonic energy as well since each of the death mage''s attempts to use magic failed.


    But it didn''t look like it waspletely safe yet. Although the death mage''s magic was temporarily sealed, its body was merely constrained. They could still try and struggle free, which, based on their movements, wasn''t apletely futile endeavor.


    It almost looked like the death mage was about to free itself with nothing more than its physical body.


    However, before they could, rope shot out of Hassandra''s hands and bound the death mage even tighter. It became evident that Hassandra was also the one who had caught and constrained the death mage in midair. But her previous magic had been invisible, so she threw a stunned look at Toz after sessfully capturing the death mage.


    She had barely managed to keep her magic under control until shepletely restrained the death mage due to what Toz and the cats had done.


    Intervening in her fight with the death mage and sessfully surprise attacking it was one thing, but it wasn''t very surprising. On the battlefield, ambushes were more numerous than hair on a dog.


    What caught her by surprise was that Toz sent the death mage flying into the center of her invisible string. String that could only be sensed by someone at a higher level than her. Toz sent the death mage to where her string was the most dense and where it would be the easiest for her to capture and restrain the death mage.

 Chapter 363 Lightning Rascals (4)

    ?As far as Hassandra could tell, neither Toz nor his cats were overwhelmingly strong. Even if they held back in order not to kill the death mage with their strikes, none of them emitted the pressure of someone that was more powerful than her. If anything, it was the opposite.


    The ck-haired young man and the couple of cats that apanied him were numerically weaker than the death mage and, by extension, herself. Their attacks on the death mage looked fierce, but they had only seeded by taking advantage of minimal gaps in the mage''s defenses. So, they were weaker, but they were still incredibly skilled and knew how to use their strength to its full potential.


    However, none of that exined how Toz could so confidently send the death mage straight into the center of her string. Hassandra could only look at Toz with confusion before turning her gaze to where Vatel was since he should still be fighting the necromancer. She wasn''t worried about him, but if she could lend a hand and end the fight before anything untoward happened, she ought to do that, especially if it would let her question Toz a moment faster.


    Fortunately, Vatel wasn''t having any trouble and was already trying to incapacitate the necromancer using shackles of lightning. Seeing that Vatel wasn''t having any trouble, Hassandra didn''t spare another thought as to why he finished so quickly and turned to Toz with an intense stare.


    Toz sensed the gaze, and he could guess the reason behind it. Even with his delicate senses, he hadn''t been able to perceive what Hassandra used to sh apart the death mage''s attacks. He could tell that she was using magic, not martial energy, but that didn''t say much, and he could only sense her mana fluctuate around her body, not where she sliced apart the death mage''s attacks.


    But Toz had recently acquired a new skill that let him see things he couldn''t perceive with his ordinary senses, his mana vision.


    With his mana vision active, Toz saw an increasing amount of invisible, unnoticeable string surround Hassandra. He noticed how Hassandra used a couple of strings to slice apart and defend against the death mage''s attacks.


    The strings she defended with easily cut apart the demonic energy of the death magic, but they also sliced through the mana in the air. Toz realized that he couldn''t sense them because of their anti-mana properties, which also helped him figure out what she was going to do with the rest that she didn''t use to fight against the death mage.


    After figuring out what Hassandra was nning to do with the string, Toz decided to take advantage of her magic. If he wanted to capture and restrain the death mage, Toz would have to put in a lot of effort. But if Hassandra''s strings worked like he thought they would, he would only have to throw the death mage to her, and it would be over.


    Thankfully, his conjecture had been right. The invisible string''s properties prevented the death mage from using magic. And after that, Hassandra even had another kind of magic, a more physically resilient type of string that restrained the death mage''s physical strength.


    Considering the invisible string''s properties, Toz probably wasn''t supposed to be able to sense or perceive it. And based on how Hassandra used it, she wasn''t used to others doing it, so her shock was probably a result of Toz identifying the spot where her string was the densest. Toz winked at her before regrouping with the cats as he waited for the four neers to finish up.


    After Vatel closed the distance between himself and the necromancerpletely, Mindle didn''t have much left to do, so she and Lucy went back to Toz''s side as they watched Vatel wrestle with his opponent. But Vatel was a fighter, and the necromancer was a mage with a naturally weak body, so the only reason that Vatel struggled was that he didn''t want to injure the necromancer while still making sure that they couldn''t escape.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It also seemed like the technique Vatel used to restrain the necromancer required aplicated application process. But it seemed worth the trouble, since when he finished, the necromancer couldn''t use magic without having to worry about being zapped by the lightning shackles.


    Toz grew curious about it when he noticed the lightning reacting to the necromancer''s magic without Vatel actively doing anything. However, it didn''t seem very likely that he would get an opportunity to learn such a technique.


    Toz didn''t know much regarding the status of the battlefield, but he knew more than enough to realize that the group of four humans was from the Transcendent Realm. They might not be from a force or faction that could rival the Obsidian Empire or the Tribe of Death, but they were still elites unlike any Toz had seen in the Mortal Realm.


    The way they handled their magic and martial energy was incredibly refined, and it wasn''t only due to their innate talent, at least Vatel and Hassandra, since they were the only two he had seen in action. They used their magic and martial energy in a way that showed that they had been taught how to use it by someone more experienced and powerful. Toz noticed that they didn''t quite grasp why they did certain things. They just knew that doing it like that was better. As if someone had told them.


    And the only ones that could teach and show high level mages and fighters how it''s done are transcendent mages and fighters.


    Since Toz relied on nothing but his talent to improve, he could tell what Vatel and Hassandra had learned on their own and what they did because they knew it was better. However, he wouldn''t have been able to sense that without his mana vision. And the only thing it gave him was an understanding of the way they used mana. It didn''t exactly show him an opening in their defenses.


    But after realizing that Vatel and Hassandra were from the Transcendent Realm, Toz quickly figured out that the technique Vatel used to restrain the necromancer was from his faction. And if the faction valued its position and strength, it wouldn''t just hand out its martial techniques to random people just because they asked for it.


    While Toz watched Vatel finish restraining the necromancer, he also paid attention to the technique, and while he was busy with his thoughts, Vatel was already done.


    The other three seemed to have agreed to wait until Vatel finished before they approached Toz. Even Hassandra, who could barely restrain her curiosity, realized that Toz wasn''t someone they should antagonize needlessly. At least not without all four of them together and after securing their capture targets.


    Toz looked at the three humans who stood not far away and waited for Vatel to arrive. None of them seemed to be the aggressive type, but Toz didn''t let down his guard. It might just be an act to make him drop his guard, after all.


    Well, Toz was going to find out the attitudes of Vatel, Hassandra, and the other two soon.

 Chapter 364 Lightning Rascals (5)

    ?Toz looked on as Vatel dragged the necromancer behind him while walking toward hisrades, where he dumped his prisoner next to the death mage. Vatel exchanged a few words and nces with hispanions after he let go of the necromancer.


    Toz was curious about what they talked about, but they realized that Toz was close enough to hear, and one of them isted their surroundings with magic, which prevented Toz from hearing anything. With his mana vision, Toz saw that it was the boy whose hair had white highlights that used wind magic to prevent any sound from leaking.


    Thankfully, it didn''t seem like Vatel and his friends were nning on dragging things out, and they soon got rid of the magic, after which they walked over toward Toz. Vatel carried a lighthearted smile on his face, which seemed to be his default expression, while the others looked a little more serious or neutral.


    Toz held up a hand and stopped them from getting any closer when they were three meters away. Although he knew what two of them could do and what kind of magic a third used, he still didn''t know what the fourth person, Kaler, could do. Not to mention how all of his understanding of them was based on a few minutes ofbat, which meant that his knowledge of Vatel and the others were barely more than scratching the surface of what they were really capable of.


    Neither of them emitted any kind of malicious intent or showed any ill will with their expression. But there is more than one way to mask that kind of thing, so Toz didn''t let down his guard as he waited for them to talk, though it almost looked like Vatel at least had a favorable impression of Toz as his smile showed off his good intentions.


    Vatel and the others were understanding of Toz''s wariness as they stopped where he asked them. None of them started speaking at once since they were busy looking at Mindle, Scrael, and Asilean. The three cats had already shown themselves during the fight against the two people from the tribe of death, so they might as well stay visible.


    It was possible that Vatel and the others had noticed Lucy when they brought down the cover of deathly darkness. But it wasn''t likely since Lucy had reacted almost instantly and hidden himself. And his assistance hadn''t been required during the fight against the necromancer, so he hadn''t shown himself then.


    Vatel and the others were a little curious about the cats, but they quickly realized that it was rude to stare and turned their gaze to Toz, who red at them coldly after they looked at the cats like that.


    "How about introductions?"


    "..."


    Toz responded to Vatel''s question with silence, but since he didn''t refuse or say anything, Vatel continued.


    "My name is Vatel. And this is¨C"


    "Hassandra."


    "I''m Kaler."


    "And I am Hullie."


    Following the blue-haired, blue-eyed Vatel, a conventionally attractive woman with shoulder-length, wavy chestnut hair spoke her name, after she was the woman with short, yellow-tinted but mostly dark brown hair. Kaler was as tall as Vatel, but her sinewy body made her look taller. Last and least was the boy with mostly green hair that used wind magic.


    After everyone had said their names, Vatel spoke again.


    "And together, we form the squad known throughout the Obsidian Empire''s side of the war as the Lightning Rascals!"


    "Temporarily."


    Hassandra''sment at the end of Vatel''s deration deted him, but he quickly picked himself back up as he waited for Toz to introduce himself.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Toz."


    "Toss?"


    "Toz."


    "Toz?"


    "Toz."


    Toz''s frown deepened with each of Vatel''s questions since it felt like he was being mocked. He heard Kaler whisper to Hullie about it being fake since they had never heard of anyone named Toz before, but he didn''t care as he waited for Vatel to exin what they wanted.


    "Great! It''s nice to meet you, Toz."


    "..."


    Toz''s cold attitude stumped Vatel a little, especially since he couldn''t figure out why Toz was acting the way he did. However, he wouldn''t be a rascal if something like a chilly reception would be enough to dampen his spirit, so Vatel continued as if nothing had happened.


    "So, youe here often?"


    "..."


    "Vatel. Dumbass."


    Vatel looked aggrieved when Toz once again responded with silence and due to Hassandra''s name-calling. But only for a moment. Vatel returned to a more jovial expression as he turned to Toz, ready to try and strike up a conversation again.


    However, Hassandra grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back before he could embarrass himself again.


    "Sorry about that buffoon pretending to be a person. Despite being the official leader of this little squad, he''s useless for things outside of fighting."


    Unlike Vatel, Hassandra seemed a lot more used to dealing with other people as she put on a polite smile while apologizing on Vatel''s behalf. She also differed in that her smile didn''t reach her eyes the same way Vatel''s did. Not that Toz cared. He only wanted to get this over and done with so that he and the cats could move on.


    First, the Lightning Rascals interrupted his n and prevented them from infiltrating the enemy base, and now they were taking up their time with needless idiocy. Toz was losing his patience. It wouldn''t have mattered much if they hadn''t needed an incredible amount of achievements in order to go to the Transcendent Realm. But they did. And the Lightning Rascals'' actions put a stop to a n that would haveted them a significant portion of contributions.


    However, the Lightning Rascals naturally didn''t know what they had done other than interfere in a battle where it looked like Toz and the cats were on the verge of defeat and possibly even death.


    Hassandra found Toz''s attitude unreasonable, and Toz didn''t like the Lightning Rascals. It wasn''t a very good start to their rtionship.

 Chapter 365 Returning To Base (1)

    ?Vatel, Kaler, and Hullie spectated Hassandra and Toz as they had a silent stare-off. But Hassandra soon opened her mouth, breaking it off.


    "Did we do something to upset you? You seem a little ungrateful for someone who just got saved."


    Toz realized that the Lightning Rascals didn''t have any ill intentions when they interfered and started fighting the two robed figures. They simply didn''t know that Toz and the cats were acting since they wanted to be underestimated and captured. Toz was still upset at the chain of events, but he couldn''t exactly hold their ignorance against them.


    "I guess you could say that. But I won''t hold it against you since there''s no way any of you could know that we didn''t need saving."


    "Are you serious?"


    "Yes. Is there anything else?"


    Toz raised an eyebrow at Hassandra''s reaction since she seemed to have taken offense at his nonchnt but still generous dismissal of their transgressions.


    "...Alright, fine! I don''t care about that. I just want to know how you figured out my magic."


    Toz stared nkly at Hassandra until sweat began showing on her forehead from the intensity of her pleading gaze.


    "I didn''t figure anything out. If you want to hide your wires, hide them properly. That''s all there is to it."


    Hassandra naturally wasn''t satisfied by Toz''s answer.


    "What¨C!"


    But before she could question Toz, he held up a finger and interrupted her.


    "Why should I exin anything to you?"


    "Because we saved you from those two!"


    While talking, Hassandra gestured in the robed figures'' general direction in a slightly frantic manner.


    "Didn''t I just tell you we didn''t need any saving?"


    "Urgh! And we''re supposed to believe that? I''m sorry we wounded your pride, but it looked like you and your cats were on the verge of getting clobbered by a few rotten corpses!"


    Toz was a little amused at how it looked like Hassandra was so frustrated she wanted to pull her hair out due to Toz''s obstinacy. But he didn''t show it on his face as he continued to re at Hassandra.


    "Ever heard of deception? All of that was a part of our n. A n that you four ruined, by the way."


    Toz looked at the other three in turn after he finished speaking. Vatel and Hullie were respectable to feel at least a little shame. But Kaler met his gaze with a defiant attitude.


    "And? What was your grand n that hinged on you dying?"


    "Does it matter?"


    "No. Just curious. If you''re willing to die for it, it has to be quite the n."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "We weren''t going to die."


    As he spoke, Toz realized that the robed figures were merely restrained, not unconscious, so they could still hear what Toz and the others were saying. Before he continued, he isted them with a tiny bit of darkness magic that prevented sound from reaching them.


    The Lightning Rascals noticed Toz use magic and got ready. And when two bubbles of darkness covered the robed figures'' heads, they almost dove at Toz since it looked like he had killed their prisoners. If he did, he would have lost them a significant amount of contributions. And considering what he had just told them, it wouldn''t be unreasonable for him to seek revenge of some kind.


    However, Hullie stopped hispanions before they could attack Toz.


    "Don''t. He''s not doing anything to them, just putting a bag on their heads."


    Toz was a little surprised at how quickly Hullie figured out what he was doing, but he chalked it up to Hullie being a skilled and experienced mage, despite his looks.


    The others listened to Hullie''s words and quickly calmed down. Though it looked like Kaler was less than satisfied with Toz''s actions as she frowned while looking at him. Toz ignored her feelings as he spoke again.


    "As I was saying, we weren''t nning on dying. Those two thought we were worth a pretty ransom, so they wanted to capture us after wearing us out with the horde of zombies."


    "Really? Where are you from?"


    Since none of them would recognize where he was from, Toz didn''t bothering up with a lie.


    "City of Growing Iron, Firebelt Kingdom."


    "At first, they looked at each other, confused since none of them had heard of a City of Growing Iron in the Transcendent Realm. But Hullie quickly realized what the second part of Toz''s sentence meant.


    "You''re from the Mortal Realm?!"


    Toz knew that they would be surprised, but not as much as they actually got. Toz didn''t think his identity as a native of the Mortal Realm was anything to be shocked about since the proxy war should be filled with people like him.


    However, the Lightning Rascals weren''t surprised about only his origin. They were shocked by the strength he disyed without having a transcendent faction backing him. They couldn''t tell what level he was, but they were certain he wasn''t at the ninth level. Maybe he wasn''t even at the eighth level. Yet he still disyed incredible skill and power with his magic, especially how he was able to see through Hassandra''s invisible string. That was something neither of them could do.


    The Lightning Rascals were self-aware enough to know that they had a lot to thank their birth for when it came to the strength they had reached. But in front of them stood someone who equaled them or maybe even surpassed them in some areas. But without the same kind of support they had gotten during their lives.


    After oveing most of their shock, the Lightning Rascals realized something else.


    "But then you''re not worth anything!"


    Hassandra, Kaler, and Hullie stared at Vatel with scorn when they heard what he said. Even if it was technically true, it was so incredibly poorly worded they couldn''t help but be embarrassed to be close to him.


    "S-sorry. That''s not what I meant."


    Vatel realized his mistake and earnestly apologized so Toz couldn''t stay mad at him.


    "You''re right, though. But they didn''t know, and I was nning on breaking free before they found out."

 Chapter 366 Returning To Base (2)

    ?"But why?"


    Vatel voiced what the other three also thought, and they all looked at Toz with confused gazes as they waited for him to answer.


    Toz didn''t really have a reason to answer them or exin his n in any more detail. If anything, he wanted to do the opposite since he didn''t appreciate how they had interfered in his fight. Eventually, he settled for apromise and decided to tell the Lightning Rascals a summary.


    "An impromptu infiltration mission should be worth a lot of contribution."


    Vatel and his friends looked at Toz in stunned silence. The answer was reasonable, but at the same time, not quite. Sure, an infiltration mission sounded good, and it did make sense that his bracelet would attribute him an incredible achievement for it. But that would only be good if he came out alive. Even before surviving, Toz had to sessfully infiltrate the base of enemies who surpassed him in strength and numbers.


    The Lightning Rascals briefly thought about what they knew about the Fortress of Death before looking at Toz as if he was crazy.


    "Are you crazy?"


    Vatel even spoke his thoughts out loud, which once again earned him stern looks from hisrades. Thankfully, Toz didn''t take any more offense than he usually did when Vatel talked.


    Eventually, after several moments of tense silence, Hullie spoke up.


    "Not to be rude, but you do know that there are other ways to get achievements, right?"


    "Yeah. And I would have chosen something safer if I had the time."


    Since Toz had been so obliging with answering their questions, Hassandra and the others wanted to continue. For some reason, Toz was interesting, especially in the way he thought. However, at the mention of the time limit, Toz''s mood shifted. Even Vatel sensed that something was off and decided to stay quiet.


    Since everyone was just staying awkwardly silent, Toz ended up being the one to break the silence.


    "If there''s nothing else, I should get going. Oh, and don''t forget to give me my share for those two."


    Although Toz and the cats had been first to fight against the two robed figures from the Tribe of Death and the Lightning Rascals had rudely interfered in the fight, they had still yed a big part in taking down and restraining them. He couldn''t ignore their contribution, especially in the capturing part. Toz would have likely used a primitive method if he were to capture them, which could have led to them escaping.


    But the Lightning Rascals seemed rtively reliable despite Vatel''s presence, so Toz thought it would be easier to let them deal with the robed figures. He and the cats also wouldn''t have to spend a bunch of time and effort lugging them back to the base where someone else could take them to prison.


    Since their n had flopped, Toz and the cats would need to save as much time as possible so that they could rack up more achievements in the year they had.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After saying his piece, Toz started walking away from the Lightning Rascals with the cats in tow.


    "Wait!"


    However, he didn''t get very far before Hassandra shouted after him. Toz considered ignoring her and disappearing with either darkness or space magic, but something told him that it wouldn''t hurt to hear her out. Toz decided to listen to his gut since it had never failed him before. If anything, his gut had saved him multiple times.


    Toz turned around with a raised eyebrow as he waited for Hassandra to exin why she asked him to stop.


    Hassandra looked hesitant, and she looked down, avoiding Toz''s gaze for a few moments before she looked up with gritted teeth and resolved eyes. As if she had decided to say something that she shouldn''t talk about openly. And the way she wrapped the two robed figures in a cocoon of invisible string further strengthened that impression.


    Hullie understood what she wanted and quickly enveloped their surroundings in a gentle breeze that prevented sound from escaping. The wind also distorted the air, so it would be incredibly difficult to read their lips.


    With the necessary preparations in ce, Hassandra started speaking, but she didn''t tackle the main issue right away.


    "Do you have someone to vouch for you? Your identity and presence on the battlefield?"


    Hassandra''s words piqued Toz''s curiosity and the others'' rm. But neither Toz nor Hassandra cared what the others thought. Hassandra continued talking, and Toz continued listening.


    Vatel and the others seemed a little unsure about letting Hassandra continue, but eventually, they decided not to interfere. Even if they hadn''t known Hassandra for long, they had fought together. They were brothers-in-arms. They trusted her.


    After getting confirmation to her question, which was a nod from Toz, Hassandra continued.


    "We''re not supposed to talk about this. It''s top-secret information to the point where making a vow or signing a contract could expose it, which is why I can talk about it without worry. However, if ites out that I revealed this, not even the Spider''s Web can save me."


    Those words really caught Toz''s interest, and he waited for her to continue while wondering why she was telling him about it. Not that he minded, of course. He was just curious, especially since the grave faces on the other three confirmed what Hassandra said.


    "I am telling you this as a sign of my sincerity and as a way of apologizing. I don''t wish to pry into your matters, but it seems like our interference caused you trouble. On top of that, we practically interrogated you with our questions. For that, I apologize. But I won''t apologize for asking about how you saw through my magic. I sincerely wish to know how you did that, and what I say next is proof of that."


    Toz was beginning to wonder if Hassandra had any ns of bing a storyteller with how eloquently she drummed up the dramatic atmosphere with a few sentences and a couple of facial expressions. However, her following words made Toz realize that there was a reason for her severity, even if she was a little dramatic.

 Chapter 367 Returning To Base (3)

    ?As Hassandra paused to take a breath while talking, she realized that there would be no going back if she continued. She subconsciously looked around to ensure that their surroundings were safe. She doubted herself for a second, but now that she hade so far, there was no going back. Herpanions were also worried, but they had already resolved themeselves to trust in Hassandra''s decision. And they patiently waited for her to finish what she was saying.


    "Since I don''t know that much, I''ll keep what I''m going to say short."


    "Okay."


    Although it seemed like Hassandra was dragging it out more than necessary, Toz couldn''t help but appreciate the building anticipation he felt about what she was going to reveal to him.


    "The general is nning some incredible operation that, if sessful, will end the war."


    "..."


    For some reason, despite Hassandra stating it clearly, Toz wasn''t quite sure that he followed. Wasn''t it the general''s job to n and find a way to end the war? He wondered if maybe Hassandra was the real reason for their group name since it seemed like she knew how to joke around. All that posturing and drama to reveal that the general is nning to end the war.


    Hassandra sensed Toz''s disappointment and realized that she had left out too many details in her attempt to keep it short, so she hurried to borate.


    "The general''s n is so risky that if the Tribe of Death even senses or thinks that something might potentially be wrong, it will fail. From what I have gathered, it''s going to be at least two parts. One where arge part of the Alliance of Kingdom''s forces are gathered in an offensive, and another part consisting of an infiltration unit piercing the depths of the Fortress of Death."


    Toz was beginning to understand why Hassandra was so cautious when revealing it to him. If it was true that the n could fail if the Tribe of Death and their proxies even suspected something was off, it made sense that it required utmost secrecy. However, Toz wasn''t sure what to do with the information Hassandra had shared with him.


    Thankfully, it looked like she would exin that, too, without him having to ask.


    "Therge-scale offensive is probably going to be an all-out brawl. It won''t give you much in terms of contribution. But the infiltration part is another story. If you have enough skill and strength, and the person backing you is influential enough, taking part in that mission should be more than enough to make up for the losses incurred by our interference."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz pondered on Hassandra''s words for a few moments.


    If what Hassandra said was true, and it seemed like it was, Toz almost like it was fortunate that they had foiled his n. If they hadn''t, he wouldn''t have gotten a chance to even what about the mission until afterward. If it even happened in the first ce. Toz''s attempt at infiltrating, whether sessful or not, would surely raise some kind of wariness at the demons'' headquarters, which would have made any subsequent attempts that much more difficult.


    But now that his attempt at infiltrating the enemy base had failed, Toz might get an opportunity to partake in a mission that, if sessful, would lead to the war''s conclusion, which would definitely be a greater achievement than merely sneaking inside the base and causing a ruckus. Even if he didn''t y an active role, merely being part of the mission should be enough for Dyra to use as a basis to give him a ride to the Transcendent Realm.


    Toz turned to Hassandra with gratitude in his eyes.


    "Thanks. I''ll exin how I discovered your string on the way back."


    As soon as Hassandra processed what Toz said, she beamed in joy. She had sessfully conveyed her sincerity and convinced Toz to tell her how he saw through her magic. Although, it was more Toz repaying a debt of gratitude than epting her sincere wishes.


    Vatel, Kaler, and Hullie were a little surprised at how Toz invited himself to apany them back to the base. But they didn''t mind. None of them were close-minded enough to care about the difference in origin. If anything, they were curious to know more about how Toz got so strong while from the Mortal Realm. Traveling alongside him would allow them to fish for clues. Toz could also help keep watch over the two figures from the Tribe of Death while they transported them to the base.


    The battlefield had danger lurking anywhere, and an extra set of eyes was wee, whether it be to watch the two robed figures or their surroundings, especially when the owner of that pair of eyes was a skilled fighter. Since they were transporting two high-value hostages, another person would be a great help. Two people directly rted to the Tribe of Death wasn''t something any of them wanted to lose the achievement of capturing.


    Since the power structure and organization of the Obsidian Empire and the Tribe of Death were different, capturing the two robed figures wasn''t quite the same as capturing someone like Dyra. But it was still simr to capturing a distant rtive of the imperial family, just from a promiscuous branch family. Their value was lowered by their number, but a gem is still a gem, even if there are more of them.


    The Lightning Rascals and Toz and the cats introduced themselves to each other once again, a little more rxed this time, tomemorate their cooperation. After which, Hassandra revealed that one of the reasons she rmended Toz join the infiltration group was the stealth ability he and Lucy disyed. There wasn''t any need for Lucy to stay hidden anymore since they had still seen him during that small gap when the robed figures'' cover broke down, so he also got to know the Lightning Rascals.


    After Toz and the Lightning Rascals properly introduced themselves to each other, they first decided on a watch order and how they would act during their trek back to base before they started moving.

 Chapter 368 Returning To Base (4)

    ?With the Lightning Rascals, Toz, and the cats working together to keep watch over their surroundings and the two prisoners, it was highly unlikely anyone would be able to sneak up on them or that the two robed figures would be able to escape.


    Since they didn''t have to worry about things like that, Toz started thinking about how to fulfill his promise to Hassandra regarding how he saw her invisible string. He didn''t want to lie, but he also didn''t want to tell her everything regarding the miniature clone in his mind and the ability to see mana it gave him.


    Eventually, Toz settled for telling her that he had recently acquired the ability to see mana. He didn''t say anything about how he got it, how it worked, or if there was anything more to it. But he did tell her that it had nothing to do with his inclination, which meant that it should be possible for others to get it as well.


    Hullie''s eyes widened at Toz''s words, but he hurried to suppress his reaction as he sank into thought. Since he was normally quiet, no one noticed.


    Hassandra frowned as she pondered what Toz had said. She didn''t forget to thank him, but she couldn''t but be a little concerned.


    Toz had said that it should be possible for others to have the same ability. But she hadn''t encountered anyone that could see her invisible string, with the exception of people who could use their advantage in levels to sense her magic forcibly. And, when she caught up or surpassed, those who had seen her magic wouldn''t be able to do that anymore.


    High level mages could see her string when she was medium level, but as soon as she broke through to the fifth level, they were as clueless as other mages.


    However, Toz, despite being at a lower level than her, if his ims to be at the sixth level were to be believed, could still see her string as clear as day. He was the first of an uncountable number of people Hassandra had met who could do that without relying on a unique or mystic inclination.


    Toz had exined his inclination in order to convince her of that point, that his inclination was something else entirely. But it didn''t make Hassandra any happier since it meant she had to be aware of one more thing that her opponents could use against her inbat in the future. It was a good thing that she discovered something like it before it was toote, but she couldn''t figure out an effective countermeasure.


    After mustering up her courage, Hassandra asked Toz for help.


    Since it had taken the information regarding the general''s n for Toz to reveal that ability of his, Hassandra didn''t think it was likely that he would help her devise a countermeasure or improve her magic.


    "You want to make a trade?"


    "Yeah. We''ve already traded once, right? Then we can do it again."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But, to Hassandra''s surprise, Toz was willing to help her as long as he got something out of it. That made her realize that it wasn''t her sincerity that moved Toz. It was the value of the information she gave him and Toz''s character that made him repay her. When she realized that, Hassandra was a little conflicted at first, but then she realized that it was a good thing since it would make it easy for her to get what she wanted.


    "I''m all out of secrets that I can divulge, but you can ask for whatever you want, and I''ll see what I can do."


    It didn''t take long for Toz to reach a decision on what he wanted, so he quickly answered Hassandra''s request.


    "Grimoires of the lightning or the space attribute would be greatly appreciated."


    Toz already had a spell for the darkness, fire, and void elements. While he didn''t have a spell matching the metal attribute, he did have Armor Slice, which he was in the process of gradually transforming into a spell. That left the lightning and space elements.


    And it was the same for the cats. Nil already had a spell, even if it didn''t quite suit him. Mindle had her Tongues of me. Although Lucy hadn''t said anything about it, Toz was pretty certain that he had already developed at least one spell on his own. Even if he hadn''t, Lucy''s magic, especially his mind magic, could easily rival the power of a basic spell.


    Scrael and Asilean were the only cats without a spell of their attribute. And since Asilean had started using void magic in a way simr to Dissolution, Toz had handed him what was left of the grimoire. Toz had used it quite a bit before he picked up Dissolution enough to learn it further without the grimoire''s assistance, but there should be more than enough for Asilean to learn the spell as well. However, he didn''t have a spell that belonged to the space attribute.


    Scrael mainly used her lightning to reinforce her body and used the physical speed it gave her when she fought. But her battle against the Stone Demon proved that she had room for improvement when it came to absolute destructive power, which was something that could be solved with a spell.


    Grimoires of the lightning and space elements would help both Toz and the cats to improve their strength.


    Even if they only got a single grimoire per element or in total, it wouldn''t be too much of a setback since Toz was confident in learning any spell a lot faster than before, thanks to his mana vision.


    Spells relied on awakening the true nature of mana and bringing out its true power. Thanks to his mana vision, Toz had almost done that without the help of a spell when he broke out of prison.


    With that experience, Toz''s confidence in learning a spell had soared. Since he could directly see and study the mana he used, it would be a lot easier for him to awaken it when he began practicing the spell. So, hopefully, the cats wouldn''t have to wait too long to get the grimoire in case they only got a single one.

 Chapter 369 Returning To Base (5)

    ?Hassandra turned to Vatel almost as soon as she heard Toz ask for a lightning attribute grimoire, but then she realized that Vatel was a fighter, not a mage. So the odds of him having a grimoire was low, though he might have several martial manuals. But Hassandra didn''t know if Toz would appreciate them. And that was if Vatel was even willing to give them up. It was at that point she realized what else Toz said.


    "Wait! Space?! You''re a space mage?"


    Toz had exined his inclination previously, but not in detail. So Hassandra and the others knew that he was technically a spirit cat beast mage with a penchant for the various elements. But they didn''t know what attributes he and the cats had. However, if he wanted to get grimoires of the right attribute, Toz had to divulge that, which he was more than willing to do if it could help them increase their strength.


    "Well, yeah. Is there anything special with that?"


    Hassandra realized that she had reacted a little strongly and calmed down.


    "No, not really. It''s just a rare element, so I was a little surprised."


    Toz thought that he shouldn''t tell them that he also had the void element since he was sure that it was even rarer among human mages. Though, if the Church of Nihiltas worked the same way the Cult of Nihiltas in Pirate Haven did, maybe it was moremon than he thought. While thinking about nonsense, Toz realized that Hassandra was talking again, so he turned his focus on her.


    "I know Vatel has lightning attribute manuals he doesn''t need anymore, but I''m not sure about grimoires. If he doesn''t, I''m sure there''s something in the base that I can get with the contribution we get for these two."


    Toz realized that maybe leaving the base as soon as he stepped foot in it might have been a slightly hasty move. Hassandra continued talking, so Toz couldn''t spend all day thinking about what else he missed.


    "However, you probably won''t find space attribute grimoires anywhere. They don''t end up in the hands of people who aren''t famous space mages for a plethora of reasons, none of them important."


    "Okay."


    After telling Toz all that, Hassandra quickly asked Vatel about any lightning attribute grimoires and martial manuals. Since he had overheard their conversation, she didn''t need to say much before he answered.


    Unfortunately, he didn''t give a satisfactory answer. He didn''t have any grimoires. And the martial manuals he wasn''t using contained spear techniques. One of them could probably be repurposed into a sword technique. But Toz wasn''t interested in that since he wanted something that both he and Scrael could use.


    After hearing Vatel''s negative answer, Hassandra turned an anxious look to Kaler and Hullie. They had also overheard Toz''s and Hassandra''s conversation and Vatel''s answer, so they only shook their heads in response to Hassandra''s gaze.


    Finally, Hassandra looked at Toz again.


    "D-do you think you can help me after we reach the base? Or is there anything else you want since I don''t have suitable grimoires on me?"


    Hassandra was naturally worried that Toz wouldn''t help her either figure out a countermeasure for his mana vision or improve the strings'' capabilities if they couldn''tplete their trade first. It wasn''t an unfounded worry since Toz had only shown a friendly attitude after Hassandra told him about the general''s n.


    "Are you nning to break your word if I help you before I get a grimoire?"


    "Well, no. But I assumed you wouldn''t trust me if I said that I''ll pay you backter."


    "..."


    "Does that mean you trust me?!"


    Hassandra smiled since it looked like Toz was willing to help her without the need for her to pay him with grimoires first. However, Toz''s next words froze that smile.


    "Did I ever tell you who can vouch for my identity? My presence on the battlefield?"


    When he spoke, Toz smiled slightly. There was no warmth in the smile, but it also wasn''t cold. It was just an expression of confidence. And it sent shivers down Hassandra''s spine.


    "No. You didn''t¡­."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Honestly, we aren''t that close, my backer and I, so she probably wouldn''t give me grimoires if I asked. But I''m pretty sure I could use her influence to do a whole bunch of stuff."


    "W-who is it?"


    The things Toz said weren''t inherently scary, but the way he spoke forced the Lightning Rascals to reconsider who they had teamed up with.


    "Dyra Obsidiris."


    "Dyra Obsidiris? Who''s¨C"


    "The youngest princess!?"


    Hullie, who had stayed calm and mostly quiet for the entire time Toz had been in the same ce as him, burst out and interrupted Hassandra. It was unclear whether it was due to his outburst, his interrupting of Hassandra, or the target of discussion, but what Hullie had done seemed to have upset Kaler as she crossed her arms before looking away, disgruntled.


    "The one and only, I guess."


    Toz was a little surprised at Hullie''s unexpected liveliness, but he responded calmly.


    "The princess is on on the battlefield!?"


    "Obviously not. The princess is behind the backlines, where it''s safe."


    "Oh, that''s good."


    Hullie sighed in relief. Kaler snorted in displeasure. Toz found it a little funny how two people who had been so in sync showed such different reactions to mentions of the same person. Though it could be that Kaler reacted more to Hullie than to Dyra. Toz eyed Kaler with some suspicion, but he was looked at Hassandra since the talk about grimoires was more important than the rtionship between Kaler and Hullie.


    At the mention of Dyra, Hassandra had first been shocked, then pleasantly surprised, and then she sank into deep thought before finally looking up at Toz again.


    "I see. I''m curious about how you met Miss Dyra, but if you''re here on her behalf, it doesn''t matter if I go back on my word. I look forward to your cooperation."


    Hassandra reached out a hand to seal the deal with Toz, and he epted.


    While taking a break from brainstorming with Hassandra, Vatel approached Toz.


    "The bunch of stuff that you would do if Hassandra broke her word. What would that be?"


    "Are you sure you want to know?"


    "Yes."


    Vatel didn''t have any reason other than curiosity for asking, so Toz happily obliged.


    "g punishment."


    "?"

 Chapter 370 Returning To Base (6)

    ?After finishing the deal with Toz, hassandra spared no time in getting him to help her. The first thing that they needed to agree on was whether to devise an effective countermeasure against the ability Toz called ''mana vision'' or if they should figure out a way to make it so that mana vision or simr abilities couldn''t see her strings.


    Devising a countermeasure was more likeing up with a n of action for an asion where Hassandra knowingly or unknowingly encountered a person that could do what Toz did. It could be changing the way she moved her strings or whatever. It might be the easier option, but it was also the weaker one since there would probably be a limit to what that kind of preparation could aplish.


    However, improving Hassandra''s magic would change and strengthen the strings on a more fundamental level, which would be better for her long-term development, even if it might be more challenging to do.


    Hassandra naturally wanted Toz''s help ining up with a way to make her strings undetectable, no matter what. But she didn''t quite dare ask Toz since she was already relying on his kindness by dying her payment.


    Thankfully for Hassandra, Toz didn''t have any intentions of doing the bare minimum, and Hassandra didn''t have to ask him for help with how to develop her magic so that his mana vision didn''t see her strings.


    But there were two things they needed to rify before they could proceed. How Hassandra''s magic worked, and how mana vision saw the invisible wire.


    Since the workings of a human''s inclination could be the foundation of their strength, revealing that would easily expose weaknesses in that human''s fighting strength. If Hassandra didn''t want to tell Toz how her inclination worked, he would be more than understanding, especially since it didn''t seem like her magic was ordinary.


    Toz''s inclination wasn''t anything truly special. Even if he revealed how it worked, it wouldn''t expose any weaknesses in hisbat. All it would do is reveal how he bes stronger.


    However, Hassandra decided to take the plunge and trust Toz as she willingly exined what her inclination did.


    The fact that her inclination was of the mundane type didn''t surprise Toz since she handled rope and string. Though, the fact that a mundane type inclination could produce string capable of working against mana was a little out of the ordinary.


    After expressing his passing curiosity, Hassandra didn''t hesitate to tell him that it wasn''t originally capable of that. It was a consequence of a dramatic event in her childhood. That event had changed her inclination from creating and controlling a single rope to a rope and a string with varied properties.


    Hassandra''s inclination had originally been a single, sturdy, neutral attribute rope that she could use and control however she liked. But after that event, she got her string that she could turn invisible and use against mana and magic and the thick and sturdy rope that couldn''t interact with mana at all. It couldn''t even block it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The string only worked against people and beasts when they strengthened themselves with mana. Otherwise, it waspletely ineffective. And the sturdy rope only worked against physical matter. The invisibility aspect of the string was due to how people use their physical eyes and senses to perceive things. And since it cuts through mana, mana-based senses can''t pick it up either, which should make the string invisible and undetectable. But mages with stronger mana than Hassandra can still sense it.


    However, Toz, despite not having stronger or mana of greater quality, could still identify Hassandra''s supposedly undetectable string, all thanks to his mana vision. That part was a conundrum, especially. Toz''s mana vision let him see mana, so how could he use it to identify Hassandra''s string that was practically the opposite of mana?


    Although it was technically made of mana, it was in a way that reflected outside mana and concentrated the string''s mana within. It should be impossible to perceive or see the mana that made the string, and until Toz could confirm whether or not that was what he was doing, he and Hassandra continued experimenting.


    Since they were still in the middle of the battlefield and could be attacked from anywhere at any time, Toz and Hassandra didn''t go overboard. But thanks to the other Lightning Rascals'' understanding and the cats'' help, Toz and Hassandra could still focus most of their attention on what they were doing.


    Even when demonic beasts attacked them, Toz and Hassandra could still focus on trying to figure out how Toz''s mana vision caught Hassandra''s strings. With the three other members of the Lightning Rascals squad working with the cats, their attackers had to be quite formidable to make Toz and Hassandra move as well.


    Though, there were times when Toz and Hassandra had to take a break to watch over the two hostages when the others were swarmed with a veritable ocean of goats. But Nil had already recovered at that time. The five cats and the three Lightning Rascals formed a powerful team as they worked together.


    However, there did seem to be some dissatisfaction from Kaler and Hullie''s end since Hassandra and Toz still hadn''t made any progress, despite all their preferential treatment.


    But, thankfully, they made some progress before that dissatisfaction grew.


    Toz gained a sh of inspiration while watching Asilean sleep and realized that he wasn''t looking at Hassandra''s strings. He saw the emptiness they created in the mana. Since they couldn''t exist in the same space as the mana around them, it looked like there was a string-shaped mana-empty gap in the air.


    What Toz thought was the string was actually the absence of mana where the string was.


    Hassandra was relieved to know that Toz wasn''t really seeing her string since it affirmed her confidence in its abilities, but it still didn''t change the fact that the results of what he was doing weren''t very different.

 Chapter 371 Returning To Base (7)

    ?Toz and Hassandra finally made some progress in improving her magic string. But figuring out that Toz''s mana vision saw the emptiness in the mana was merely putting them on the starting line. They still had to use that to render Hassandra''s string undetectable for simr abilities in the future.


    But at least now that they were done with that part, the others could help them. Sinceing up with ideas only required a little creativity, the other Lightning Rascals and the cats could voice any thoughts or ideas they had that would help Hassandra change her string. That meant it was up to Toz and Hassandra to try out the ideas so that not even Toz''s mana vision could pick up any abnormalities.


    Though reaching the level where Toz''s mana vision didn''t notice anything amiss would probably take more time than they had, so their goal was to at least change the way Toz saw the string instead of aiming to make itpletely undetectable in one go.


    Hassandra didn''t have much experience changing the foundation of her strings and ropes, so she was a little ufortable while modifying it. At first, her strings only got weaker and became so apparent that the others could vaguely sense them.


    The failure was disheartening, but Hassandra didn''t give up. She owed Toz at least one grimoire already, so she had to make use of the opportunity she had gotten for herself and get as much of his help as possible.


    Thankfully, Toz was indeed as helpful as he promised. With his mana vision, he could clearly tell that when Hassandra tried modifying her strings, she didn''t know what she was doing.


    The strings'' structure was delicate, and when Hassandra changed it thoughtlessly, she only destabilized and ruined it. It was like trying to rebuild a chair by taking it apart and throwing it all in a pile and then wondering why it wasn''t asfortable as before.


    But with Toz''s guidance, Hassandra began reassembling the metaphorical chair into something one could actually sit on. It still wasn''t as good as when she let the string create itself, but her newfound understanding of the way her inclination shaped and put together her mana to create the string showed her the way to how she could reach greater heights.


    After all their hard work, it wasn''t surprising that Hassandra''s manually created strings could rival the strings her inclination made on its own. But they had reached that level by replicating the original strings'' structure. And considering how it took Hassandra more time and effort to create the strings on her own, it could hardly be called an improvement.


    And taking that next step, improving the strings'' structure so that the ones Hassandra made surpassed the original would be several times more difficult than what they had achieved so far.


    But Hassandra wasn''t dissatisfied since she knew that she was on the right path to bing stronger.


    In order to get more used to the new way she made her strings, Hassandra took a break from training with Toz and participated in the battles with the others. Actively creating and manipting the strings in livebat gave Hassandra a better feel for how they worked.


    Now that she could delicately sense the strings'' structure and construction, Hassandra could also tell which parts of the string worked better than others. She didn''t know how to improve it just yet, but identifying the weak spots of her magic showed her where she should put her focus.


    After pointing out the parts of the strings that were structurally weaker than others to Toz, he also began focusing on them. But since he couldn''t actually see the strings, only the vacuum they left behind in the mana, he couldn''t contribute much in that department aside from pointing out whenever Hassandra made a mistake or when she made some kind of sess.


    Toz and Hassandra had made progress with her strings, as promised. They hadn''t been able to bring the strings to a greater level of undetectability than before just yet. Though if things continued progressing as they had been, it wouldn''t take long until Hassandra surpassed her previous self. And the potential danger presented by Toz''s mana vision would be naught but a faint memory.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Even without reaching that point, Hassandra was still more than satisfied. She controlled her strings like never before. And although they weren''t technically stronger or better in any tangible way, Hassandra still felt like she had gotten stronger. She had also received a stairway for her continued future development, so how couldn''t she be happy? Her decision to ask Toz for help was one of the greatest she had made in a long time.


    Hassandra wasn''t the only one satisfied with the results of their deal. Although Toz hadn''t gotten his grimoire yet, he had gotten extensive practice with his mana vision. Just like Hassandra''s strings, there wasn''t a tangible improvement. But that was more because he didn''t know whether he had actually improved the mana vision or if he had just learned how to use it better. In any case, he could see more details with mana vision, and he could also use it for longer periods of time than before.


    However, Hassandra''s happiness wasn''t long-lived. Before they knew it, they were already back at the base, which meant that their deal was about to end. As soon as Hassandra got and handed over a suitable grimoire, her business with Toz would be finished.


    The progress she had made with her string was unlike anything she could do on her own, so she naturally wanted to extend her interactions with Toz. But she couldn''t just dy orpletely give up onpleting her end of the bargain just so that she could keep Toz around. That would sour their rtionship and ruin any future dealings.


    Hassandra considered inviting him to her faction, Spider''s Web. But she knew that they wouldn''t allow his entry. Not to mention how Toz probably wasn''t interested in joining.


    Hassandra wracked her brain frantically before she eventually got an idea. She subtly asked Hullie to silence their surroundings, just as a precaution.


    "I''ll rmend you to the general, so you won''t have to do anything. Keep that in mind for the future."


    Toz saw through Hassandra''s intentions at once, but he didn''t mind and just epted it. Making allies was better than making enemies, after all.


    Shortly after Hassandra said that she would rmend Toz to the general, they arrived at the base.


    This time, there weren''t any Earthworms lurking around. Not that it mattered since they wouldn''t have stood a chance against anyone in their party.


    When they arrived at the wide-spread mass of tents and simple buildings, Hassandra took off toward the Resource Center as soon as they crossed the defensive barrier.


    Toz was a little worried about how she would find himter on after she got the grimoire, but he didn''t let it bother him as he shook hands and bid farewell to the rest of the Lightning Rascals.


    They weren''t quite friends, but after their cooperation on the way back to the base, Toz could confidently im that they weren''t enemies. And if fate allowed, he would see them again, whether it be on the battlefield or the Transcendent Realm.

 Chapter 372 Returning To Base (8)

    ?After splitting from the Lightning Rascals, Toz decided to find a ce to rest, train, and wait for Hassandra to bring his grimoire and the bracelet he handed over to the Lightning Rascals so they could share the achievement of capturing the two robed figures from the Tribe of Death.


    Although Toz was technically a single human, the cats had evened it out. And the Lightning Rascals thought that since they had cooperated in capturing and transporting the figures, they would share the achievement equally. Toz could have followed them to where they were going, but it seemed like it would be a bother. Instead, it would be a lot easier for him if he just handed over one of his bracelets that the Lightning Rascals could use to give him his share of contribution points.


    And since Hassandra was going to look for him soon enough, she could hand it back to him at that time. Toz was still curious about how she would find him or if she would even return to her group after getting her hands on a grimoire before going to look for him.


    Well, even if Hassandra didn''t return his bracelet, he still had another one, so he would still get his contributions. Since things would be fine either way, Toz stopped thinking about it as he instead started looking for where he could take a proper break.


    The military officer had told him that killing an enemy and returning would grant them a single day to rest before they had to return to the battlefield. But Toz was sure that it was a matter of how many contribution points one had.


    And with the achievements that Toz had racked up, he should have more than enough to stay for several days. He didn''t want to waste his contributions needlessly when everyst bit could help them reach the amount required to apany Dyra back to the Transcendent Realm. But Toz and the cats needed to recover.


    Their physical injuries had all recovered. But they were both in body and mind. Ever since they first stepped foot on the battlefield, none of them had rxed for even a moment. They were constantly wary of their surroundings, even when it wasn''t their turn to keep watch. On top of that, they were constantly worrying about Taienra and what they could do to help her. Toz and the cats also had their heads full of different ways to improve and grow stronger.


    The mental stresspounded with the physical stress of constantly being alert. Toz and the cats were tired and in need of rest.


    Although they couldn''tpletely let down their guard, even after returning to the base camp, they would at least be able to recover. And if Hassandra was quick to get her hands on one or two grimoires, they might even take the opportunity to train.


    Just the thought of training had Toz and the cats burning with motivation, especially Toz since he was still at the sixth level. He hadn''t even refined his mana a single time due to how busy they had been.


    Toz had learned how to train automatically, thanks to his mana vision. But he wasn''t yet proficient in it to the point where he could do it in the middle of the battlefield. He was also worried that his rampant absorption of mana would cause amotion if he did it in the middle of the base, so he put a hold on that.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    He hadn''t encountered anyone with mana vision. But that didn''t mean that there weren''t people with simr abilities. Brunswick was one such person. His eyes let him see things that ordinary people couldn''t, and he could even see the movement of mana. ording to Toz''s understanding of Brunswick''s inclination, there should be a few differences between mana vision and Brunswick''s eyes. But Brunswick, people with simr abilities, or even mages sensitive enough to mana, would be able to tell that Toz was absorbing mana while doing something else at the same time.


    When Toz had firste up with the idea, he did it in a fit of childish jealousy. But now that he had explored a little more of the universe, he realized that it wasn''t something ordinary people could do. And extraordinary people were bound to catch the attention of those around them, which Toz didn''t mind per se. But only when it happened on his terms and when he could control it.


    Toz didn''t want some weird fes stronger than him to target him just because he was better at multitasking than others.


    His encounter with Yill, a transcendent, had made Toz realize that the universe extended further than the ninth level. And until he figured out how far and was in a position where he didn''t end up in a simr position as during the fight against Yill, Toz had no ns of putting himself in unnecessary danger by inviting the attention of others.


    However, that didn''t mean that Toz was giving up on his automatic training just because he might attract attention. He was just going to do it in a way that didn''t invite trouble or bothersome things.


    And he already knew how to do that. In theory.


    The mana in the air was constantly moving around, like the water currents in seas. But the mana moved so gently and holistically that mages didn''t notice it. Or if they did notice it, they quickly got used to it and didn''t pay any attention to it.


    This meant that as long as Toz controlled the amount of mana that he absorbed and how fast he did it, there wouldn''t be a problem, even if he automatically trained all the time.


    People like Brunswick or with mana vision might notice if they looked closely enough. But those probably wouldn''t bring the spotlight on themselves by pointing out that mana moved strangely around Toz. Maybe not.


    Toz decided to drop the thought when he arrived at a gathering of tents that looked like they were made forbatants to rest in when they came back from the battlefield without serious injuries.

 Chapter 373 Taking The Best Bed In A Place Of Only Bad Beds

    ?The ce Toz found showed how little the Alliance of Kingdom''s military cared for the unaffiliatedbatants participating in battle. Or maybe how little they could afford to care for them.


    Therge tents were barely enough to protect the inhabitants from the outside weather, and there was no way it could dampen the ruckus outside to let anyone get a semnce of rest. The bunks were rickety, hard, and only a few had drapes around them for privacy.


    But it didn''t look like the poor sleeping conditions troubled thebatants as much as their memories of the battlefield. Those who could sleep slept, whether it be peacefully or wracked with nightmares. But those who couldn''t sleep were trapped with their consciousness fully alert, vividly going through scenes ofrades, new and old, getting torn to pieces in front of them.


    Looking around, Toz had a fleeting thought that not everyone was suited for battle, but when he found an empty bunk that seemed to be rtively decent, he stopped wasting his brainpower on useless things. Toz didn''t know why no one had imed the slightly better bed, but since everyone in the tent appeared to be too traumatized to think even, it wasn''t too weird.


    Toz sat down on the bunk and, after confirming that no one had imed it in any way, began practicing his automatic training. Although training wholeheartedly would probably help him refine his mana a second time before he had to return to the battlefield, he didn''t feel safe enough to upy the majority of his concentration.


    He was in a ce made for rest, but he was still on the battlefield, and there were a lot of people around him. Even if everyone looked preupied with their own things, Toz couldn''t be sure nothing would happen after he started training. And if something did happen, he didn''t want to be caught by surprise.


    Instead, it would be much better if he could improve his automatic training so that he could do it all the time without having to worry about anything. If he could do that, he would never have to think about training ever again. However, it would likely take a while until he reached that level, but Toz was hopeful.


    But as with most things, he had to take it one step at a time. He was already at the point where he could absorb and convert the mana around him at the same time as he did something else. But that required him to assume control over the mana and then shape it into something he could more easily take into his body. And while doing that, he would easily stop his training if he lost concentration or couldn''t keep his mana vision active.


    When he helped Hassandra, Toz got more used to mana vision and could keep it active for longer, so he wasn''t as worried about that as he was about the part where he would stop training if he lost concentration. The whole idea was that he didn''t have to concentrate when training.


    He had firste up with the idea because he wanted to walk and train at the same time. But after his sess, Toz realized that something as simple as that was merely the beginning. The endless possibilities of the automatic training had Toz''s motivation soar through the roof. However, all the things that might be possible would be nothing to Toz if he couldn''t improve the way he trained automatically.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But before he started aiming to be able to train no matter what else he was doing, Toz first wanted to learn how to moderate the amount of mana he absorbed. Who knows. Maybe doing that would make it easier both on his eyes and his concentration.


    Thankfully, he might have figured out a way to achieve his goal, thanks to Hassandra.


    When he first seeded, Toz shaped the mana around him into an incredibly long wire that his own mana automatically sucked in like a noodle. After hanging around Hassandra and her strings and ropes for a while, Toz realized that he could change the wire''s thickness. Doing that should, in theory, change how much mana he absorbed in one go.


    Although he was in the middle of a bunch of people, it didn''t look like any of them would care if he disturbed the mana in the air a little. And since he was sitting in a meditative position, they would only think that he was training as usual, so it didn''t really matter, even if they noticed or cared.


    The only thing that might make people think twice about it was that Toz had to have his eyes open while grouping and shaping the mana into a hair-thin string. Hopefully, people would only think it was his inclination at work or something.


    With his eyes practically wide open and mana vision active, Toz spread his will to the mana around him. While doing that, he also realized that he could limit the amount of mana he absorbed by changing the amount of mana he shaped into yarn. Though, that probably wouldn''t change how quickly he absorbed it, only the total amount before he had to begin anew.


    With the experience fromst time and the improvement of his mana vision, Toz had a moderately easy time shaping the mana in his immediate surroundings into an unraveled ball of yarn. However, it was a lot more difficult to make the string thinner thanst time, so that was something he had to do gradually while straining his eyes and mind.


    But eventually, Toz had made the string thin enough to be satisfied, so he began absorbing it. With a bit of gentle force, Toz squeezed the end of the string into his body. After that, he didn''t have to do anything but observe as his body and mana did the rest.


    However, it didn''t take long until Toz realized that his idea was a total failure.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 374 Someone Else Wants Tozs Bed

    ?There were several things with his idea of shrinking the string of mana that failed or dissatisfied Toz. The first was the effort it took. Not only shaping the mana into a string, to begin with but also how much he had to strain himself to make it thin enough to make a difference. But that wasn''t so bad, really. If he improved and got more used to it, it wouldn''t take so much time and wouldn''t be so exhausting.


    What made his idea a total failure was that it didn''t work. At all. Instead of decreasing the speed at which he absorbed the mana around him, it increased the speed. His body drew in and absorbed the string so quickly that the rate at which he absorbed the surrounding mana was unchanged from before.


    He got the same overall result, despite putting in more effort and taking more time to do it. Feeling disappointed at such a failure was nothing unusual, but it at least pointed out the wrong direction to Toz, so he quickly shook off the negative feelings and began thinking.


    Since making the string thinner didn''t work, it probably wouldn''t matter if he tried making it thicker.


    After a few moments, Toz was almost a little thankful that it had been a failure since it meant he had toe up with something else. While he was making the string thinner, Toz realized how much time and effort he had to put in for just a few meters of string. If he wanted to do the same for enough mana tost him longer than a couple of minutes, he would have to waste more time preparing the mana than he would gain by training automatically.


    Not to mention how much focus it would require if he wanted to force the mana to retain the string shape while he trained. The concentration required was practically exponential to the amount of mana. And the stronger he got, the more mana he would need when training.


    Toz concluded that the string method was a good starting point, but it wouldn''t take him very far in the development of the automatic training. But until he came up with a new method, he would have to use the string method if he wanted to train while doing something else, like thinking of a new way to train.


    However, before he could begin another session of shaping the mana into a string, Toz sensed someone approach his bed. The person walked with confidence straight toward Toz, so there was no mistaking their destination. And the nasty expression on the thug-like man gave Toz a hint as to what he wanted to do.


    Toz stopped shaping the mana into string as he faced the guy who could easily be mistaken for a crook, even if he did nothing. The sharp eyes, wild hair, and rogue-like way he wore the standard military uniform were all things that thugs would have. The nasty grin was like the cherry on top. But there was one exception to the man''s thug-like appearance.


    "Move."


    The thug stopped in front of Toz and red down at him while trying to look intimidating. Needless to say, Toz wasn''t intimidated.


    But since the thing around the thug''s neck caught Toz''s attention, his answer was dyed enough for the thug to think his intimidation was sessful.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Too scared to move, pretty boy? Let me help you."


    The thug reached out with a grizzly arm to grab Toz and fling him to the floor.


    But before the thug realized something had happened, he was the one kneeling on the floor with his arm bent and pushed against his back.


    The thug''s instinctive reaction to the situation was to re up in anger. But before he could even try to get anywhere, the threatening pressure at his elbow and shoulder disappeared with a crack. In its ce was a pain intense and shocking enough to make the thug scream.


    But he couldn''t scream, so all that came out was a gurgling choking sound.


    After the thug reached out with an arm toward Toz, it took Toz barely a second to subdue the thug by grabbing that arm and twisting it behind the thug''s back while pushing him down on the ground. The thug, who was embarrassingly weak for a seventh level fighter, couldn''t resist.


    And when the thug realized that something had happened and tried to resist, Toz didn''t hesitate to snap his arm and grab the cor around his neck. Toz''s grip on the ck and red cor prevented the thug from screaming and breathing. However, the cracking sound of his arm breaking would have been enough to alert the people in their surroundings if the people had been mentally aware enough to notice or care about those kinds of things.


    A few people looked in their direction with disinterest before turning away again or simply deciding to enjoy the show.


    Toz bent down next to the thug and forced the thug to look at him. Toz''s re seemed to scare the thug into calming down.


    As a seventh level fighter, the thug was used to pain. It was just that it had surprised him. And the cor choking him had momentarily made him feel like he was dying. After taking a few moments to gather his bearings, the thug realized that he had stepped in shit, but it wasn''t toote to take a step back and clean his shoe.


    If there was one thing thugs or crooks had to be good at if they wanted to survive, it was to be able to recognize when people were stronger than them. And Toz was most definitely stronger than himself, so the thug quickly softened his brow and stopped ring. He was even about to try and offer a smile before he remembered that he wasn''t good at smiling in a way that didn''t result in a menacing grin. But he still ended up with something akin to a nervous smirk.

 Chapter 375 Undercurrent

    ?Since the thug had calmed down enough to look like he was coherent, Toz decided to ask the thug about something he had been curious about since he first saw the thug. The cor around his neck.


    The sausage-thick ck and red stone cor around the thug''s neck stood out like a sore thumb, so it was impossible not to notice. However, Toz wasn''t curious about the man''s status as a ve. He was interested in the source of the ve cor.


    He knew from Stitches'' story and the Alliance of Kingdom''s attempt to enve Pirate Haven that ves would bemon on the battlefield. What he didn''t expect was that he would find the ve cors familiar. And it wasn''t due to having seen another ve on the battlefield.


    "Who did you get this from?"


    While asking, Toz tugged on the cor.


    "What do you think? Beltor."


    After getting an answer, Toz lifted the thug to his feet before sending him on his way. The thug''s words had given him a slight nudge, and he wasn''t far from cementing his realization of an undercurrent in the war.


    Since it was a proxy war, it probably wouldn''t matter much in the long run or in the scale of the Transcendent Realm. But Toz hadn''t forgotten that he still had friends and family in the Mortal Realm. If he just let things y out, disastrous things might happen. Dyra''s and Yill''s attitudes made it quite apparent what the factions of the Transcendent Realm thought of the inhabitants of the Mortal Realm, after all.


    The four kingdoms might disregard or mistreat their citizens to some degree. But Toz didn''t think that they would willingly offer up all of their citizens as cannon fodder in a war that had no rtion to them.


    However, Toz had been presented with a chance to prevent something worse from happening to the Mortal Realm. He was still only scratching the surface of this undercurrent of the war he had stumbled upon, but if his hunches were even somewhat urate, the Alliance of Kingdoms didn''t stand a chance.


    Now, Toz only had to figure out how to stop it. But before doing that, he also had to figure out what was going on in more detail, which was going to be difficult since he had to do it without raising any suspicions. Even more so since he didn''t know who he could trust and who he couldn''t even look at without rming them that he was onto something.


    After informing the cats, all of whom were resting inside the familiar space, of his discovery, Toz got back to his training. He wasn''t in a position to do anything just yet, so he earnestly begged the cats, especially Lucy, to stay still until he got more of his elements to the sixth level.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But since the mention of a conspiracy had gotten Lucy and Mindle all fired up, they couldn''t go back to resting.


    Due to his discovery, Toz changed his ns, and since the cats wanted to do something anyways, he asked them to keep watch while he brought his fire element to the sixth level. He might not know where to begin with his investigation or what to do, but there was one thing that would always hold true. It would be easier if he were stronger. So that was what Toz would be focusing on for a little while.


    He would prefer to reach the seventh level before attempting to tussle with the things and people he would encounter in the future. But that was a far-fetched wish. He didn''t have a  clue about when the results of the conspiracy would hit the Alliance of Kingdoms.


    And he still had to keep in mind the one-year time limit that Dyra gave him. If the people behind the conspiracy didn''t have any ns on revealing their fangs during that year, Toz would have to tear open their jaws himself. He could at least be assured that doing so would him the achievement he needed to apany Dyra to the Transcendent Realm as long as he was sessful and could im the credit for it.


    But even if he couldn''t im credit for it, he would still have to find a way to apany Dyra while still throwing a wrench or two in the conspiracy. There was one way he could do that. By contacting Dyra about his discovery.


    Unfortunately, he couldn''t trust Dyra or the ways he could use tomunicate with her. There were a couple of ways he could send a message to or even talk with Dyra despite the distance. But talking or writing about his discovery when he didn''t know who had ess to the messages or could be listening was nothing more than putting a target in the middle of his forehead while also telling the conspirators that he knew about them.


    Doing that might be effective in interfering with the n, but only if Dyra gets the message. And it probably wouldn''t put aplete stop to it.


    If the conspiracy were as grand as Toz thought it to be, one whistle-blower would be like trying to topple a mountain by kicking it barefoot.


    Even if he could bypass all those possiblypromisedmunication methods and get his message to Dyra and Dyra alone, there was no guarantee that Dyra wouldn''t try to make a move on her own. If she did, Toz had no idea what would happen to him, the Mortal Realm, and the war, so he wasn''t going to do that unless he really had to.


    Instead, he was going to take a careful approach while strengthening himself as much as possible. Thankfully, he wasn''t far from reaching the sixth level with the fire element, which would give his magic and body a reliable boost. Especially his magic, thanks to his experience with fire during his prison break. If refining his fire mana increased his control over fire magic even in the slightest, he was sure he could replicate what he had done to melt the cell walls.

 Chapter 376 Why Is Hassandra Nervous?

    ?With the cats watching their already peaceful surroundings, Toz didn''t have to worry about being disturbed while he brought his fire attribute to the sixth level.


    Toz was at the edge of reaching the sixth level with his fire mana before they even set foot on the battlefield, so it didn''t take long before he could begin condensing and refining it.


    The temperature surged in Toz''s immediate surroundings during the refinement, but Mindle kept that in check so that it wouldn''t cause a stir. And just like that, Toz only had four elements left at the fifth level. Toz wondered if he should continue with the next element and which one it would be in that case.


    Since he had asked for a lightning attribute grimoire from Hassandra, perhaps he should refine his lightning mana.


    However, that was as far as Toz could get before his bracelet blinked, letting him know that Hassandra was on her way to him. Apparently, one could use one bracelet to find the other of the same pair in case it got lost. While waiting for Hassandra, Toz thought that the bracelets really should havee with a manual of sorts.


    Although the base was the headquarters of the Alliance of Kingdoms on the high level battlefield, it wasn''t sorge that it would take Hassandra a long time to find Toz. After a few minutes, she entered the tent Toz had chosen. She took a quick nce around the tent, seemingly unbothered by the traumatized veterans on their beds.


    Toz stood out thanks to his striking appearance and the atmosphere around him, so Hassandra found him at once. She headed over with a nervous smile while rubbing the spatial ring around her finger. However, Toz doubted she would have that look on her face if she failed to get her hands on a lightning grimoire, so he wondered what she had to be anxious about. But, like most questions, time held the answer.


    Before Toz could even ask her anything, Hassandra started speaking while taking out a blue-tinted leather-bound book. She didn''t reach out with it for Toz to grab. Instead, she held it close to her with a nervous grip.


    "There were two suitable grimoires at the Resource Center, but since I helped Vatel buy a new spear, I could only afford one of them. I hope I chose the right one, but I can go back and change it if you want. The other one was the spell version of Vatel''s Piercing Bolt. Did you see him use that, by the way? It was the first thing he did when we interrupted your battle with-"


    "Hey. Calm down!"


    Toz didn''t know why Hassandra was so nervous that she began rambling, but he stopped her before she could continue any further.


    "Just let me take a look at it. And while I''m doing that, you can tell me why I wouldn''t like it and why you''re so nervous."


    "O-okay."


    Hassandra handed over the grimoire to Toz. Though, it seemed like she was a little hesitant since Toz had to pry it out of her stiff fingers.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Scrael hopped up on Toz''sp, and the two began inspecting the grimoire while Hassanra exined the source of her nervousness.


    "Right. So I didn''t have any problems getting the grimoire. I asked for the avable lightning attribute ones, and the receptionist showed me this one and the Piercing Bolt grimoire. I asked why the one in your hands was so pricey because it was more than twice the price of the other. The receptionist told me that it was because of its quality and how good it was. I naturally believed him and bought it without even haggling. With how much you helped me, I wanted to get you the best I could in return.


    "But after that, I was stopped by a lightning mage, who overheard my conversation with the receptionist. Apparently, she wanted to prevent someone from suffering the same fate as her. I asked her what she meant, and she pointed to the grimoire.


    "The receptionist tried to stop her, so she pulled me out of the Center before exining that the grimoire was technically worth its price because it was incredibly good. In theory. It was just that it was practically impossible to actually learn and use it to its full potential."


    Toz understood Hassandra''s half-frantic exnation. She was worried that she had gotten him a useless grimoire that would only cause him trouble. It was naturally incredibly shameful to repay his help by doing that. Unfortunately, by the time Hassandra returned to the Resource Center, the receptionist had already put up a ''no refund''-sign. The only thing Hassandra could do was give the grimoire to Toz and hope for his understanding.


    But Toz wasn''t only understanding. He was happy with the oue.


    While Hassandra had exined her situation, Toz had read through the note attached to the grimoire that exined the spell''s supposed functionality. He even read through it several times so that he could make sure he had understood what he read the first time.


    He could somewhat acknowledge the reason for Hassandra''s worries since the spell would indeed be tricky for most other people to bring to its full potential. But the things that would prevent others from mastering the spell were what Toz excelled at, at least inparison to most other mages and fighters. There should be others with simr capabilities as him, purely speaking of possibilities and the vastness of the universe.


    However, Toz was confident that he was one of the few who could bring out the grimoire''s full potential. Scrael might have a little trouble reaching the same heights as him, but for some reason, Toz didn''t think that she would fall far behind.


    "Hassandra."


    Hassandra stopped looking down at her fiddling fingers, and she nervously met Toz''s gaze.


    "Thank you."


    Hassandra was taken aback by the heavy sincerity she felt behind Toz''s words. He wasn''t saying it just because. He truly appreciated the grimoire.

 Chapter 377 Splitting Up

    ?Hassandra''s eyes shone as she realized that she hadn''t made a mistake. Although it was by ident and not by her own ability, she had still managed to satisfy Toz''s request. Since Toz had helped her so much with the development of her magic, she naturally wanted to give him at least an equal repayment. With Toz''s satisfaction, Hassandra''s anxiety faded away like snow during summer.


    "So, what are you doing in this ce?"


    Without any worries weighing on her anymore, Hassandra noticed where Toz was and asked him in a low voice.


    Toz tilted his head in confusion.


    "I just chose the first ce that looked like it was made to let people rest. Why?"


    "Well, the tents around here are for people who are¡­."


    Hassandra looked around conspicuously before she continued.


    "...Useless and liable to die as soon as they step foot on the battlefield."


    If anyone heard her, they didn''t show it.


    "The military can''t exactly throw people out of the base since that''s no different from killing them. But if these people don''t at least contribute something once a week, that''s what will happen to them either way. The Alliance of Kingdoms can''t afford the dead weight."


    "I see."


    Toz nodded and stood up. Hassandra followed his motioning, and they left the tent together.


    "So, where do I find a ce where I can train for a bit?"


    Considering how he had just gotten a new grimoire, it was understandable that Toz wanted to train immediately, so Hassandra didn''t even think about asking why.


    Hassandra led him to a gathering of tents that were clearly more luxurious than the one Toz had been in just minutes earlier.


    Everyone on the battlefield risked their lives almost daily. But those who did so while also sessfully defeating their enemies naturally deserved some luxury. A more pleasant ce to sleep, good food, some privacy, and enchantments that helped concentrate the mana in the air were all things that people with enough contributions could get.


    Not for free or for however long they wanted, of course. One couldn''t just rack up a bunch of achievements in one go and then spend the rest of the war cking off. One had to continually contribute to the war efforts to enjoy the benefits offered.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz didn''t have any ns on taking advantage of all the luxuries he had ess to due to the achievements stored in his bracelet. He just wanted a peaceful ce so that he could concentrate fully on bringing his lightning element to the sixth level and studying the grimoire he got from Hassandra.


    But Toz wasn''t going to hole up and only train until he was satisfied. And he wouldn''t force the cats to do that, either. Toz''s main focus was naturally on training his mana and the grimoire. Scrael was also interested in the grimoire. So she would spend a lot of time with Toz, but the other cats would get bored and restless.


    They could train as well, but their time would be better spent doing something productive instead of trying to reach the eighth level. There was one thing especially that Lucy could do. Investigate.


    With Lucy''s hide-and-seek skills and his natural instinct for scheming, he was the perfect candidate to look for clues regarding the conspiracy Toz stumbled upon. And while he was at it, Lucy could also try and find some information regarding the general''s n to defeat the Tribe of Death''s proxies.


    The other cats didn''t have the same stealth skills, but they could do something else that would help them, even if Lucy couldn''t find any information.


    Mindle, Nil, Asilean, and sometimes Scrael could leave the base and go hunt demonic beasts and demons while Toz prioritized enhancing his strength. Toz would benefit more from training and learning the spell from the grimoire than he would from fighting. But the cats, on the other hand, had already shown progress in developing their abilities through battle.


    And since the cats were bonded with Toz, they could gather achievements and contributions in his stead. But since they were splitting up, they had to take one of his bracelets with them to make sure that it really worked.


    With a rudimentary n of action in ce, Toz and the cats did what they had decided to do.


    Lucy disappeared into the shadows with a grin. Thest thing Toz saw was Lucy''s yellow eyes, but they disappeared with a blink, and Lucy''s presence vanished.


    Toz took a seat on the mostfortable bed he had touched in several years with the grimoire in hisp. He hadn''t decided whether to begin with the spell or his mana training yet, but he was considering that, Scrael took the initiative. Scrael grabbed and flipped open the grimoire. Toz had the decision made for him, so he focused on training his lightning mana in order to bring it to the sixth level, like his void and fire attributes.


    While he was eager to learn the spell, it might be easier to understand it if his lightning attribute was at a higher level, albeit marginally. Toz also understood Scrael wanting to take a look at the spell, so he didn''t mind her going first.


    Toz saw Nil, Mindle, and Asilean out of the tent as he handed them the bracelet he got back from Hassandra.


    Since they had first formed their group, they hadn''t really taken any time apart from each other, so Toz and the cats were a little nervous. After all, they would be heading into a danger-filled battlefield, unlike Lucy, who would be roaming about the camp.


    If any one of them got in trouble, they would only have each other to rely on. And if all of them encountered danger at the same time, they could only rely on themselves.


    Nil, Mindle, and Asilean all knew what they were doing. But none of them showed as much as a hint of fear on their faces. They hadn''t forgotten about Taienra, and after Toz told them about the conspiracy and his worries regarding it, they felt a certain sense of responsibility hanging on them since they couldn''t let Toz down.

 Chapter 378 Training Manually

    ?After Nil, Lucy, Mindle, and Asilean left the tent, only Toz and Scrael remained. Toz looked at Scrael after he sent the others away, but she was too absorbed in the grimoire to care much about her surroundings.


    Thankfully, the tent had privacy and security enchantments. They weren''tpletely imprable, but it was enough for Toz and Scrael to concentrate on their training without worrying about any interruptions. Though even if they supposedly didn''t have to worry about anyone intruding on their tent without their permission, they still wouldn''tpletely let down their guard.


    Scrael, especially, didn''t let down her guard. She had spent her whole life facing constant threats to her life, so she couldn''t rx enough to be caught by surprise even if she wanted to. However, her instincts didn''t quite reach Toz, so she wouldn''t be able to warn him if he was attacked first.


    Fortunately, Toz had impable reflexes and acute senses, so it would be difficult to surprise him as well.


    Relying on each other and on themselves, Toz and Scrael let themselves be absorbed in their training and studying.


    Since it didn''t look like Scrael had any intentions of even moving her sight away from the grimoire, Toz wholeheartedly sank into the world of mana as he focused on refining his lightning mana in order to bring it to the sixth level as soon as possible.


    His mana vision had done a lot of things that improved Toz''s magical capabilities. Most notable was how it helped him train automatically. But that wasn''t the only thing regarding training it did.


    Toz usually trained with his eyes closed, so he hadn''t noticed it before. But following the thought that it might be easier to train with his mana vision active, Toz did just that. He left his eyes open as he spread his mana sense to the world around him and began absorbing and converting the mana around him.


    He was worried that he wouldn''t be able to keep the mana vision active while training since both things required some degree of concentration. He had failed to walk and train at the same time previously, after all.


    But possibly because both things were mind and mana rted, unlike one being mana and the other being his physical body, Toz could have his mana vision active while training.


    However, it still came at a cost. Toz couldn''t see the mana in as much detail as before, and it also put a more significant strain on his mind to use it to do two things. Toz wouldn''t be able to maintain the mana vision constantly while training. But he didn''t mind.


    As soon as he began training with his mana vision active, Toz noticed an incredible difference.


    Toz would usually rely on his mana sense and mana to select, gather, and absorb the mana in the air around him, and he would then proceed to convert it into the desired attribute.


    But with mana vision active, the first two steps, the selection and gathering parts of his training, were improved immensely. Mana vision reced and bolstered his mana sense and made it easier for him to use his own mana to control and absorb the mana in the surroundings.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The process wasn''t very different from when he trained automatically. The difference was that he did it manually and used his own mana to bring the surrounding mana into his body instead of coaxing the mana inside his body after creating a string, which would make his body pull the mana in on its own.


    But the effects of manually doing it were iparable to having his body do it automatically. He didn''t have to shape the mana into a string before he could absorb it, which removed the limit on how much he could draw into his body in one go. And he also didn''t have to gently coax it with nothing but his mind since he used his own mana to control the mana in the air around him.


    Those two things turned Toz into a mana-devouring monster as he almostpletely drained all the mana in their tent before he reached out beyond it.


    The amount of mana rushing its way into Toz''s body made him hazy, and it almost felt like he was about to explode. However, before anything so drastic could happen, Scrael tapped his forehead and snapped him out of the mana-hungry trance he had inadvertently entered.


    As soon as he stopped absorbing mana, Toz keeled over.


    The rush of mana taking up all of his senses prevented Toz from sensing the state of his body, so when it finally calmed down, the pain came all at once.


    His head, body, and mana pool ached and throbbed with fist-clenching and teeth-grinding pain.


    Gathering and directing that stupid amount of mana put a tremendous pressure on his mana vision and mind, so it felt like his mind was on the verge of turning into porridge. The same amount of mana had rushed through his body like a tsunami. And his body was almost torn to shreds.


    Finally, his mana pool felt like it was about to shatter since it had dutifully fulfilled its purpose by converting and epting all that mana in one go.


    Tozid down on the bed with the backside of his hand against his forehead. After apologizing to himself and his body and thanking Scrael, he fell asleep like a baby after throwing a tantrum.


    Scrael was worried about Toz since he had done something like that and, before he could exin what happened, fell asleep. But she could tell through their bond that he wasn''t in any serious danger.


    However, since his stunt had drained their tent of mana, they no longer had any enchantments guarding them. And if someone wanted to investigate what had happened, the tent wouldn''t stop them.


    So while Toz slept without a care, Scrael guarded him until the tent recovered enough mana to reactivate the enchantments.

 Chapter 379 Scrael Also Heading To The Battlefield

    ?When Toz woke up, his eyes were a little foggy, and his body and mana pool still ached, but his mind had stopped hurting. Considering how much he put his mind through when he sat in jail, it was likely a lot more resilient than the rest of his body and existence. Toz half-heartedly wondered if he should repeat what he had done with his manual training so that the rest of his body could catch up to his mind.


    But he realized that if it weren''t for Scrael helping him snap out of it, he would have continued absorbing mana until he popped like a balloon. Cold sweat beaded the small of his back at that realization.


    Toz wasn''t giving up on manual training. He just wasn''t going to go about it in the same extreme way when he did it next time.


    Although his body was sore, his mind was clear, and Toz figured that it wouldn''t be wise to train until his body and mana pool recovered, so he sat up and looked for Scrael. But he found her before he could even sit up. She was lying at the very top of his chest. Scraelid a hair away from putting her weight on his throat.


    She noticed that Toz had awoken, but she didn''t move and just continued half-sleeping on him. Since Toz didn''t have any intentions of doing anything productive at the moment due to his botched training, he didn''t mind. After petting Scrael a little, Toz closed his eyes again and joined Scrael in a state of touching the surface of sleep.


    Although reluctantly, Toz woke up a little whileter. His body didn''t ache as much, and Scrael also seemed like she wanted to do something other than ck off, even if it was corrupting pleasant toy down and shut out the rest of the world.


    But the time they had taken to rx was precious. So Toz and Scrael didn''t waste any more of it.


    Since he wasn''t sure his mana pool was ready yet, Toz held off on training after checking on it. However, seeing how much his mana had progressed almost made him reconsider that decision.


    It had almost killed him in the process. But by wantonly absorbing all the mana around him, Toz forced his lightning mana close to the limit of the fifth level. However, the damage it did to his mana pool and body showed how extreme such a method was. And doing it too often probably wouldn''t be good for his mana control and his magic in general.


    Thankfully, he had something else he could do while he waited for his mana pool to recover and restore itself. The grimoire!


    Scrael had looked at it and begun learning it, so now it was Toz''s turn to use it. He wanted to know what Scrael thought of it, but he didn''t want her opinion to affect his understanding of it, so he silently began reading it.


    Scrael didn''t mind that Toz took the grimoire. After she began reading it, she understood why Hassandra had wanted to return it. The grimoire wasn''t easy to understand, and it involved aplex way of using magic, which wasn''t something that Scrael specialized in. But that only made her more eager to learn it. However, it would probably take quite some time before she couldprehend the spell enough for it to enhance herbat prowess.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Training and trying to reach the eighth level might be quicker for Scrael to improve her strength rather than learning the spell. But even training might take more time than they had, so Scrael was left with one viable option.


    After making sure that Toz wouldn''t try and do what he did with his manual training again, Scrael left for the battlefield to join up with the other cats.


    Considering her natural and nurtured talent forbat, the quickest way for Scrael to grow stronger was to push herself by fighting powerful enemies. Since it would also rack up achievements at the same time, it was like killing two mice with one paw.


    After Scrael left, Toz turned his gaze back to the grimoire.


    He was worried about the cats since he wouldn''t be able to help them while they were fighting for their lives on the battlefield. But he also knew that they wouldn''t be able to grow and reach their full potential if he coddled them, so the only thing he could do was trust them and their abilities. Hopefully, they wouldn''t end up in too much trouble. And if they did, Toz hoped they would run away rather than stay and fight till they died.


    Toz didn''t think about it, but his sincere feelings reached the cats through their bond. And for Toz, rather than for their own sake, they resolved to stay alive, no matter what. It didn''t take much for them to figure out how much Toz cared for them and how much pain it would cause him if one of them were to die or get seriously injured.


    Lucy, who wasn''t even on the battlefield since he was still in the camp, investigating, was also a target of Toz''s sentiment. Since he was digging through everything and looking for clues everywhere, he was so cautious that not even Toz could sense where he was. And while it would be easier for Toz to get to Lucy if Lucy was in trouble, those who could cause trouble for Lucy could also cause trouble for Toz.


    If Lucy did get caught by someone he shouldn''t get caught by, Toz might not be able to save him until it''s toote.


    After organizing and keeping his worries in check, Toz concluded that he would only be able to do something to save the cats if he was stronger. And there was one clear way he could get stronger in hisp.


    Toz decided to focus on the grimoire and the spell inside since that would be the fastest way for him to be more powerful enough.

 Chapter 380 Invitation (1)

    ?Without further dy, Toz opened the grimoire and began reading the imprinted mana that described, conveyed, and exined the spell stored within it. He could tell at once that it would be quite the challenge to learn the spell in the same amount of time as he learned Dissolution. Or, it would have been if he didn''t have mana vision.


    It would be tricky for Toz to learn the spell even with mana vision, especially since it worked in a way that made it difficult for him to use mana vision while practicing the spell. But Toz looked forward to the challenge.


    Toz dove into the world inside the grimoire as he began absorbing the information stored in the mana. As he slowly began realizing the spell''s potential, the mes of his motivation soared.


    However, something poured a bucket of ice water on those mes, startling Toz and pulling him back to reality.


    Toz''s head snapped up and swiveled back and forth as he analyzed the room.


    He had been in the middle of reading the grimoire when something alerted his senses and triggered his reflexes. Toz''s mana surged without him doing anything, and he was ready to face danger from whatever direction.


    However, Toz couldn''t identify the source of whatever triggered his senses, even after several moments. And he definitely couldn''t sense any danger or malicious intent anywhere. It could be possible that a potential perpetrator could hide their bloodthirst or killing intent if they wanted to attack Toz. But his senses were so delicate that he could still pick up a premonition of danger.


    Toz looked around in confusion. He didn''t drop his guard in the slightest, but his vignce faded, and he began observing his surroundings in more detail, this time with mana vision active.


    Toz thought that he had to incorporate activating mana vision into his reflexive response since it would make it a lot easier for him to discover traces of people or magic.


    And, lo and behold, only moments after activating mana vision, Toz found a clue.


    However, the trace was so minuscule that Toz couldn''t be sure what it was at first, but after he confirmed that it was the only thing he found in the entire tent, he investigated it in more detail.


    Toz carefully approached the tiny trace of mana hanging in the air. Unlike wild mana, it was mana that belonged to a mage, and Toz could sense that it was around the eighth or ninth level. However, the mana was quickly dispersing and bing part of nature again, and Toz only barely had time to identify the attribute.


    Now, he only had to find out why someone had used a small amount of space magic in the middle of his tent.


    Fortunately, that wasn''t very difficult since he found the reason on the ground, below where the space magic had taken ce.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    A letter that hadn''t been there before the space magic triggered Toz''s senses nowy on the ground.


    Toz cautiously confirmed that the letter wasn''t boobytrapped before he bent down to pick it up, not lowering his guard at any point. After that, he unfolded the piece of paper and read its contents. There were only a few words, so it didn''t take long for him to read it. It also didn''t take much time for Toz to figure out who had sent the letter. Or at least from who it came. Toz doubted the general himself had written and sent the letter.


    After reading and memorizing the contents of the letter, Toz burned it so that there weren''t even ashes left. And following the instructions in the letter, heid down on the bed to pretend to sleep.


    A whileter, he disappeared from his tent. And another whileter, Toz''s cloaked figure appeared in the spot the letter had told him to go to unnoticed. He hadn''t sensed anyone observing his tent or staying close to it, but Toz still made sure topletely vanish from perception with abination of darkness, void, and space magic.


    Toz removed his presence from visual, magical, and physical perception with the magic, so that should have been enough for the general to approve of his stealth capabilities. But it was the first time he tried doing something like that to such an extent while also maintaining it for a prolonged time, so Toz wasn''t sure if there had been any gaps or slip-ups in his magic.


    However, if there had been any, Toz hadn''t noticed anyone noticing or paying attention to him.


    While he waited for a signal or for someone to show, Toz wondered why the general had asked him to leave the bracelet behind. The bracelets came from the military, and the general oversaw the military, so shouldn''t the bracelets be free of problems? Especially when considering how advanced the magical engineering behind the bracelets was.


    Toz wasn''t an expert at magical engineering and enchanting, so he couldn''t say for sure, but shouldn''t there be a way or two to secure the bracelets?


    Well, he would find out soon enough, so it didn''t really matter what kind of guessing Toz did.


    Shortly after Toz concluded his amble thinking and focused on maintaining hisbination stealth magic, the signal he waited for appeared.


    To anyone not waiting for the signal, it would, at most, look like the glint of light from antern or maybe some magic or an inclination. It could also be light reflected from afar. The battle was in full swing at all times on the battlefield, and it wouldn''t be weird if a spell were powerful enough to show its effects in the depths of the Alliance of Kingdom''s base.


    However, Toz could sense the invitationing from the spot of light that shed in his direction for an instant before disappearing.


    It was both a sign of approval regarding his stealth magic and a way for them to show that he hadn''t escaped their detection. Thest part spooked Toz a little, but not enough to deter him from following the light.

 Chapter 381 Invitation (2)

    ?Toz followed the tiny speck of light as it shed and disappeared continuously. He quickly realized that it was leading him in circles around the military base. He understood that it might be to lose track of any possible tails Toz might have picked up. But after a while, he started getting annoyed since it was obvious that if it hadn''t worked by now, it never would. He even considered giving up and either catching the light and whoever was behind it or simply finding another way to gain achievements.


    However, Taienra and the cats relied on him, and if his surrender were to lead to them being unable to save Taienra, Toz wouldn''t be able to forgive himself. Toz stuck it out and patiently continued to follow the shing light, despite the unpleasant feeling of being led around by the nose.


    Eventually, after circling the base several times, the light stopped in a secluded corner that seemed to have been forgotten by even insects. That seemed to be because of a magic barrier of some kind that subconsciously made people avoid the ce. Toz hardly even noticed it with his mana vision activated.


    Toz stood on the spot indicated by the speck of light with his guard fully raised. He could sense the enchantments on and in the ground, but he couldn''t tell what their function was. And unlike living beings, they wouldn''t emit malicious intent if they sought to harm him. So if he had walked into a trap, Toz only had himself and his reflexes to rely on if it sprung.


    It seemed like he had to wait for a little while before finding out whether he had walked into a trap or not, though. Even after he had stood on the ring of enchantments for several minutes, nothing of note happened.


    Toz looked around cautiously. Maybe the dy was to make him let his guard down, but he couldn''t sense anything off in his surroundings, so he turned his mana vision-empowered gaze back to the enchantments under his feet.


    Since the enchantments were subtly made, inactive, and hidden behind a couple ofyers of stealth, Toz would never have been able to sense them without mana vision. Even with mana vision active, he could only tell that there were enchantments there, not what kind or if there were any attributes to them. The only way he would be able to figure out what they did was to see them in action, which was a little worrying since Toz stood on top of the mysterious enchantments.


    Now that he was patiently waiting for something to happen, instead of blindly chasing a light, Toz wasn''t as impatient as earlier. But he still didn''t feel like standing in ce and using taxing triplebination magic until he was out of mana.


    Fortunately, the people in charge of inviting and leading him to the magic circle didn''t seem intent on wearing him down to his bones.


    When Toz was at about half his mana capacity, the enchantments slowly and gently activated. If Toz hadn''t been watching them with his mana vision, he wouldn''t have noticed it until they fully lit up. But since he was doing that, he could tell that they weren''t dangerous in any way.


    The enchantments were, in fact, so harmless that Toz almostughed at how silly he felt after mentally preparing himself for an attack or a short-distance teleportation into the middle of a group of mages and fighters ready to tear him apart.


    However, what would happen after the enchantments activated and uncovered the tunnel in the ground might not be as harmless as the enchantments themselves.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But now that things had gotten this far and revealed how borate the general''s n and caution were, Toz was getting just a little bit too curious even to consider not entering the tunnel. So he willingly let himself be devoured by the ground and dropped into the tubr slide with a slight grin on his face.


    When the ground closed again behind him, the tunnel was filled with darkness. But only a momentter, soft light spilled from the tunnel walls and lit up the slide. However, the tunnel wasn''t straight, and the lights didn''t reach the end. They only lit up right in front of Toz and then went out again after he slid past. It seemed like they were more tofort whoever used the tunnel rather than provide actual lighting.


    After several moments of going down the slide, Toz sighed. It had been fun and exciting at first, but he wasn''t even going fast enough to make his hair flutter. He even had to scoot forward himself several times since the slide curved in stupid and unnecessary ways.


    Eventually, he resorted to using magic to propel himself forward.


    ''The tunnel is sturdy, and the entrance was blocked offpletely, so it should be fine, right?''


    With that thought, Toz directed his palm behind himself and concentrated a suitable amount of fire magic in it. He also threw in a little space magic to control the direction of the force that would follow when he began casting for real.


    With preparations in order, Toz stopped wasting time. Before his boredom couldpletely overtake his curiosity and eagerness to discover whaty at the end of the tunnel, mes burst out of Toz''s hand.


    The mes weren''t wild or uproariously hot. But they were fierce and packed with explosive power.


    Toz perfectly controlled the explosive power of the fire as he began pushing himself through the tunnel. He looked forward to what he would find at the end, but he had to do something before that.


    Since the tunnel was smooth but not smooth enough, Toz armored himself with thebination magic of void and metal. The silvery suit of armor made sure the ground didn''t tear at his clothes, and it would also protect him from any bumps or pebbles. Not that anything like that would be able to hurt him. It would just be an inconvenience while he built up his speed.

 Chapter 382 General Scoll (1)

    ?Toz sensed the tunnel straighten out after almost a couple of minutes of racing past the string of soft lights. Thankfully, the fire propelling him forward was bright enough to shed some light on the tunnel. But since he figured that he was nearing the end of the tunnel, he canceled his fire magic and let himself slow down while dispelling the armor.


    It was fun going so fast, but it wouldn''t be appropriate to leave the tunnel like a cannonball if he were to have a serious meeting with the general, so Toz reluctantly slowed down. And with the speed he was going, he might shoot straight into a wall and tten himself, bing one with the nature of a pancake if he''s unlucky.


    Toz''s guess that he was reaching the end of the tunnel seemed to be correct since he could sense the tunnel open into a wide space. He could also feel the dense presence of several high level mages pressuring the ambient mana with their existence alone. Not only that, Toz heard voices travel through the tunnel. They were too indistinct at first, but they gradually became clearer.


    "...should be here in a couple of minutes, right? Seich, how did he do with your test?"


    "Dunno. Ask Cooper."


    "About that, Sir. I think there''s been some kind of mistake or error since-"


    The third voice, Cooper, didn''t have time to finish since the sounds of Toz''s sliding through the tunnel entered the room. Shortly after which, Toz himself exited the tunnel and appeared inside the same room as the seven people who waited for him. However, although they were waiting for Toz, his appearance still took them by surprise, and when he stopped his slide by standing up, five of the seven looked like they were ready to attack him.


    Toz had been prepared to slide into an ambush and face the attacks of several high level enemies, but when he could sense their presence before he even left the tunnel, he realized that it wasn''t any kind of ambush. And when he heard the voices, he knew that he was actually invited to a proper meeting with the general. Maybe not proper, but it was at least an actual meeting, not a set-up or ambush.


    But that didn''t mean he wasn''t ready to face the attacks of the five who looked poised to attack him. He had kept his mana at the ready since he first got the letter, and it would take less than a thought for him tosh out with everything he had and escape.


    "Calm down."


    However, the words of the pepper-haired man behind a desk on the other side of the room instantly made the fivebatants fall back and assume defensive or rxed positions instead of the hostile and aggressive one they had shown Toz. But Toz didn''t care very much about that since his attention was fully trained on the man who had spoken.


    His voice had even made Toz want to follow his order and calm down. If it weren''t for his strong mind and the miniature clone, he really would have turned as docile as a sheep. The fact that his entire body surged with mana, something that could protect him against another mage interfering with his body, was practically useless against man''s voice. Toz couldn''t help but tremble slightly in both anxiety and excitement.


    It was the first time Toz encountered someone that could control others with nothing more than their voice, so he was excited about discovering something he hadn''t seen before. But since it was something that was incredibly effective, and he was surrounded by potentially hostile mages, he was also incredibly wary.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Thankfully, it didn''t seem like the man, who was probably the general, had any intentions of forcing Toz''s obedience. After seeing Tozpletely resist hismand, he only smiled slightly while a glint shed through his clear eyes. He turned to the auburn-haired woman with a ponytail next to him. She was the only one, aside from the general, who hadn''t reacted offensively in response to Toz''s premature arrival.


    "Rie, increase Miss Hassandra''s contribution points by a suitable amount. Valuable wartime information."


    "Yes, General."


    After that, the general turned back to Toz and looked at him with an analyzing gaze. Toz felt a little ufortable being scrutinized so clearly, but he didn''t protest. He had a feeling that the fivebatants, who seemed to be the general''s personal guard, wouldn''t appreciate that.


    "Wee, Toz, leader of the Paw Print Pirates. Do I need to inform you about why you are here?"


    "I''m pretty sure I know already."


    "Yes, Miss Hassandra did tell you about it, I suppose. Rie, deduct a few contribution points from Miss Hassandra. Minor disobedience."


    Toz felt a little bad since it seemed as if he had inadvertently caused Hassandra to lose some contribution points. But then he remembered that the general had added some after his arrival, so it was probably fine if he got rid of his guilt.


    "Alright. It seems like you will be good enough. Merr will send you a messageter, filling you in on the necessary details or when it''s time. That will be all."


    The general''s dismissal was abrupt, and Toz just stared nkly at him. He didn''t know what he had expected while he was on the way to the meeting, but it certainly wasn''t this. Toz was first led around the camp in an unpleasant manner and for longer than necessary. He was then forced to wait on top of a potential trap for a boring amount of time, and then he had to slide through a stuffy and dull tunnel, all of that for the general to dismiss him after taking a look and saying a few words.


    Considering the general''s position, he was probably suitably busy. But if he was so busy, why waste so much time with the needless posturing and the deliberately slow method of guiding Toz to the secret room?

 Chapter 383 General Scoll (2)

    ?"Is that it?"


    The general only raised an eyebrow in response to Toz''s impudent question. His guard took it a little more personally, but they didn''t do more than show off their hostility.


    "First, you lead me around the camp. Then you have me stand on suspicious enchantments and send me tumbling down a dirt tunnel. And all so you can take a look at me before sending me back like some piece of meat?"


    The displeasure in Toz''s voice grew with every word he spoke, which elicited an equal response from the general''s guards. Though none of them actually made any intentions to move, probably because the general didn''t react to Toz''s rant.


    "So?"


    The general''s uncaring attitude further irked Toz. All his anticipation and curiosity that helped him stave off the boredom and displeasure of the process that took him to the secret room were for nothing. Toz couldn''t help but get a little upset. However, he also realized that he was a little childish. And he didn''t actually want to get in a fight with the five high levelbatants standing next to the general.


    Toz just sighed, and he got his frustration under control.


    "Okay."


    If the general didn''t want to be cooperative, neither would Toz. He went back to the tunnel and gracefully lowered himself to the ground to enter it. When he was inside the tunnel, he covered his body in the same smooth, silvery armor as before. And then he ejected explosive mes out of the sole of his feet to push himself up through the tunnel.


    Since they hadn''t seen how Toz sped through the tunnel on the way down, the general and his subordinates were caught by surprise. And even the general, known for hisposure, openly showed his surprise by widening his eyes.


    "Was that in the report?"


    "No, General."


    The only one who maintained somewhat of a straight face was the general''s secretary, Rie. Not that anyone noticed the sh in her eyes hidden by sses since everyone else was taken aback by Toz''s stunt.


    The general quickly put on a calm expression as he looked at the second-tallest person in the room.


    "Brax, can you redirect him back here?"


    Although Braxton wasn''t as tall as Merr, he was a lot bulkier, so he looked like a mountain whenpared to Cooper, who spoke up with nothing but a gaze from Brax.


    "Right. That guy should be around a third of the way up. But as I was about to say earlier. Something''s off. I can''t tell his exact location¨C Ah, wait!"


    Cooper closed his eyes and concentrated, and everyone but Braxton, who focused on the wall, impatiently waited for Cooper to talk again.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I lost him! How does that make sense? Wasn''t he supposed to bebat specialized and at the sixth level to boot?"


    Cooper directed a confused and questioning look at Rie, who nonchntly ignored the small and skinny scout.


    "I guess we have another irregr on our hands. He shouldn''t have had any mana left, either, after the test. Let''s give him the respect he deserves when he gets back here. How''s it going with that, Brax?"


    "I think I missed him at first, so I''m going for the entrance before he gets out. It should be a couple of minutes, sir."


    After Braxton spoke, the secret room fell into silence. The only thing that filled everyone''s minds was how the general''s intentionally provocative and trying attitude might have caused a potential ally to be something other than an ally. It wasn''t the first time the general did that when they brought in a new recruit, but it was the first time that recruit just left.


    Though, it was very likely that Toz was one of the few who could actually leave with confidence after passing the first test since the first test was supposed to drain most or all of the recruit''s mana. Not to mention how there weren''t any visible exits in the room, so if one wanted to leave, they had to have the general''s permission.


    But Toz didn''t need to ask where the door was since he could jet himself through the tunnel with his magic.


    The general wanted to get a feel for what Toz would do in a situation where his hand was forced and find out what personality he disyed when upset. But his n had obviously backfired a little. And since that was what filled his and his guard''s minds, no one dared say anything because the only thing that woulde out of their mouths if they opened them would be an inappropriatement.


    Thankfully, they didn''t have to bear the awkward silence for too long before Braxton sessfully redirected the tunnel to lead back to the secret room.


    As long as Toz wasn''t stupid or directionally challenged, he would notice it as soon as he began sliding down instead of up. But even if he noticed it, there wasn''t much he could do unless he were an earth mage superior to Braxton.


    And since Toz wasn''t an earth mage superior to Braxton, he could only acquiesce and continue sliding through the tunnel. Though, as a final act of defiance, he intentionally decreased his speed to a crawl in order to make the general and his subordinates wait.


    Toz could also use void magic to try and break free from the earth, but that might be going a bit too far. But when Braxton tried to push him forward, that''s what he did.


    If the general wanted to fool around, he would also have to find out, and Toz wouldn''t allow the general''s subordinates to bully him without good reason. Not that there was a reason good enough for Toz to let himself get bullied.


    Eventually, despite all his stalling, Toz left the tunnel head-first. Since he slid through the tunnel on his back, he stopped sliding by rolling backward and standing up while simultaneously turning around so that he faced the general.


    "Enough testing?"


    The general sighed and answered.


    "Enough testing."

 Chapter 384 General Scoll (3)

    ?Toz had been frustrated and irritated with how the general and his subordinates had led him to the secret room and what they, especially the general, had done when he finally arrived at the secret room. But emotions didn''t cloud his judgment enough to make him miss how obvious it was that they were testing him and his capabilities.


    The shing light went right past the alleyway where the tunnel was several times. If they noticed that Toz''s magic was faltering or that he was about to run out of mana, they would have directed him straight to the magic circle instead of continuing to lead him around the base.


    And forcing him to wait on the circle and slide through the unnecessarily long tunnel was probably a test of his character and mental abilities. They had to see if he could withstand psychological pressure and whether or not he was ustrophobic.


    And the general''s dismissal was probably to see how good Toz was at thinking for himself and how he reacted in unexpected but enraging situations. If he had just blindly obeyed and asked for the way out, it was very likely that Merr wouldn''t ever send a message with the details.


    But the general likely hadn''t expected that Toz would slip into the tunnel and slide back to the surface. So Toz now held a slight advantage over the general in their conversation.


    After several moments of silence, where the general and Toz looked at each other, the general finally spoke.


    "I''m General Scoll. Nice to have you on board, Toz. I won''t apologize since it is a necessary procedure to verify the abilities of those we are recruiting. But I hope you can be understanding."


    "Sure."


    "Great. For security reasons, there''s not much I can tell you at this moment. Miss Hassandra has already told you the gist of my n. I will spare you the repetition. But I can tell you that you should focus on increasing your strength until you get another letter from Merr. Is there anything you would like to know?"


    "Yeah, why did you tell me not to bring the bracelet?"


    Toz''s question seemed to take the general by surprise since he took a few seconds before answering. Not that it showed on his face. Aside from the moment where he raised his eyebrows when Toz tried to leave, the general''s face hadn''t so much as twitched.


    "In short, it is because of security reasons. Our enemies can breach them and use them to steal information."


    "Isn''t it bad that Hassandra told me about your n, then? Since she, her friends, and I were all wearing our bracelets at that time?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "It''s fine as long as there aren''t too many of them in one ce. If there''s nothing else, it is time to send you back."


    Since the general seemed busy, Toz satisfied himself with what he had found out and agreed to leave. There was something he had noticed but wasn''t able to understand, but since it was probably part of the general''s n, he didn''t notice it and just let himself get pushed to the surface through a hole in the ceiling by Braxton''s magic.


    Surprisingly, by going straight up, he arrived at the same ce where the entrance to the tunnel was. It really was unnecessarily convoluted.


    Toz reactivated his stealthbination magic before he even got to the surface, and he kept it up all the way back to the bed in the tent he rented.


    Toz spent a few minutes sitting in silence with his thoughts after he returned. The general''s invitation had been fruitful but not as promising as he would have liked. The only thing it really did was let him know that the general was watching him. At least it had let him notice that he was being tracked by one of the general''s subordinates.


    He hadn''t noticed anything, even with his mana vision, until he stood in the same room as Cooper. But after leaving the tunnel the first time, Toz saw a faint, barely perceptible string of mana connecting him and Cooper.


    If it hadn''t been for his mana vision, he would have never sensed it. Even with mana vision, the string was almost impossible to see. The only reason he first noticed it was that it was a single uniform shade of green in a sea of color. And when he looked closer, Toz noticed that it connected him and Cooper. After sensing the connection, Toz felt like Cooper could tell his existence and location with it.


    Toz was naturally curious about it, but he wasn''t going to ask Cooper or the general about it. Fortunately, he figured out a way to sever the connection, thanks to his void and metalbination magic that covered his body in ayer of silvery armor.


    Toz had confirmed previously that the suit of armor shielded him against magic. It didn''tpletely block Cooper''s tracking magic, but it blocked some of it out. When Toz noticed that, he only needed to add a bit of fire magic to the mix to burn away the connection.


    Toz could have probably used another attribute to achieve the same or something simr, but he was kind of hoping that the magic would follow the string and punish Cooper for his trick. Unfortunately, thebination of metal, fire, and void wasn''t as aggressive as thebination of only fire and void. Toz''s magic severed the connection, but before he could attack a tiny spark of grey me to Cooper''s string, it had already dissipated into thin air.


    When Toz thought back to how domineering the grey me could be, he realized that it might have been for the best that he didn''t attack Cooper with it. Toz didn''t know how powerful the grey me was, but if it were as strong as he felt it could be, it wouldn''t be good if he revealed it to the general. And even more so if he did it and identally burned one of the general''s men to ashes in the process.

 Chapter 385 Lucys Discovery

    ?Eventually, there was nothing more Toz could gain from just sitting around and thinking about his meeting with the general. The one thing he could do instead was to take the general''s advice to heart and dedicate himself to training as much as possible.


    After confirming that no one was in his surroundings and Cooper hadn''t attached another piece of tracking magic, Toz pulled out his grimoire.


    Since he had used his mana without restraint after he epted the general''s invitation, he had identally dyed his mana pool''splete recovery. So while he wanted to bring his lightning mana to the sixth level, that would have to wait. Thankfully, he could still study the grimoire without worrying about his injuries.


    Merr had interrupted Toz in the middle of a studious trance when he sent the invitation letter, which was another thing that displeased Toz now that he thought about it. But he quickly regained his flow and sank into the grimoire, hungrily devouring the information within it.


    It was an excruciatingly slow progress, but each and every minuscule step forward brought Toz closer to learning the spell. And each step also revealed the spell''s potential, which only further pushed Toz into the world of learning.


    Unfortunately, he couldn''t study without a single break until he learned the spell. His mind needed rest, after all. But thanks to his miniature mind clone and the mind training he did in prison, Toz could go on for longer periods of time than before, and he recovered quickly as well.


    After resting his mind a little, Toz noticed that his mana pool was already about to bepletely healed, so he decided to read the grimoire for a little before switching to focus on his mana training.


    However, when he finished reading the grimoire for the moment, he looked up and noticed that when he had been stuck in the grimoire, Lucy had snuck inside the tent and climbed up onto his head.


    Although Lucy was bonded with Toz, and Toz would never be wary of him, Toz was still surprised that Lucy had managed to sneak into the tent and nestled into his hair without him noticing.


    "Hey, buddy."


    Toz grabbed Lucy and moved him from his head to his arms as heid down to take a quick nap.


    He hadn''t noticed when Lucy arrived, but as soon as he felt Lucy, he could tell how exhausted he was. He had pushed himself quite a bit following Toz''s request. Toz was thankful that he came back safe and sound, and he happily indulged the ck kitten in a solid nap.


    But they couldn''t sleep forever, and Lucy seemed to have discovered something. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have needed to push himself like that.


    Toz and Lucy woke up after a while, and any sign of Lucy''s exhaustion was gone like the wind, and before Toz could even open his eyes, he had already started talking.


    "Tozzie, I have discovered who is behind the conspiracy. It''s the fes from the Redire Kingdom. I didn''t notice it at first since they''re using some pretty advanced disguise magic and because I don''t know what they looked like originally. But those kinds of things are nothing in front of the Mighty Lucy. One quick peek was all it took to figure out they weren''t human. Like not at all. So they have to be responsible!"


    "Okay. That''s great, Lucy. But how do you know they are the ones doing the plotting, and if they aren''t human, what are they?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Excellent question, my dear Toz! Because it''s obvious! And I don''t know what they are!"


    Toz wasn''t surprised by Lucy''s confidence when he proimed that he didn''t know the true identities of the people he had discovered. But he could trust in Lucy''s intuition that they were indeed responsible for the conspiracy they had uncovered.


    It also matched with the rest of Toz''s theory. Now he only had to figure out why, who, and when.


    "Can you tell me more about the non-human guys you found, Lucy?"


    "Of course!"


    Lucy noticed that Tos trusted his words about the Redire Kingdom being responsible, despite being unable to expand on his reasoning, so he happily obliged to Toz''s request.


    "Their original shape should be humanoid. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have been able to disguise themselves as humans. Oh! They also smelled like that rusty old knife Brunswick, ptui, found."


    Lucy''s expression soured, and he spat when mentioning Brunswick, but he went back to his previously excited expression as he waited for Toz to express his thoughts.


    Toz thought back to the Hidden Blood Dagger that Brunswick discovered and unsheathed after Toz and the cats looted the Blue Lounge League''s treasury. Brunswick had told them that a red misty mana flowed from the dagger, and itter turned out that the dagger had excellentpatibility with Red Hook, a blood attribute mage.


    If the individuals that Lucy discovered had a presence vaguely reminiscent of that dagger, it was very likely that it was the feeling of blood magic. Though maybe it was something more nefarious since they resembled the dagger and not Red Hook''s magic.


    "Do you think there''s such a thing as Blood Demons?"


    "That! That sounds like a perfect description of what they smelled like. The same nasty stench as the demons from the sparkly forest, the leafy forest, and that pile of boulders from the other day, but filled with the smell of blood. You are almost as smart as me now, Toz!"


    Toz happily epted Lucy''s praise with a smile as he wondered about the origins of that knife. If it was a demonic artifact or magic tool, what was it doing in the hands of Stris? But considering how it was thrown into a corner of the treasury, maybe Stris didn''t know about it.


    It didn''t matter now since it was in the hands of Red Hook and Stris was somewhere else.


    Although Toz and Red Hook didn''t have the most amicable rtionship for a couple of reasons, they were still allies and had several friends inmon, so he couldn''t help but worry about her now that he had found out that dagger''s potential origins. But there was nothing he could do at the moment. He could only hope that Red Hook wasn''t in any danger. If she was, she might also put the others in danger, after all.

 Chapter 386 Refinement At The Sixth Level

    ?After Lucy finished his report, he took a quick nap before disappearing again. Although he had found the most likely suspects, he hadn''t uncovered their n or discovered any information that would be useful in stopping them.


    Now that Lucy had found a clue, it would at least be a little easier to unravel the rest of the mysterious conspiracy. Toz was only worried that Lucy would be too eager and take unnecessary risks and put himself in danger. And while there might not be much Toz can do to prevent that, he can prepare himself in case something untoward happens by bing stronger.


    So after Lucy left the tent again, Toz began training.


    Thest time he trained, he had pushed his lightning mana to the limit of the fifth level. The way he had gone about doing it had also injured his mana pool a little since it was a recklessly stupid method. But now that he had recovered, Toz was more than ready to bring his lightning mana to the sixth level.


    Toz put away the grimoire and sat down on the bed so that he could concentrate on his training. If he had the grimoire next to him, it would be too easy to follow a whim and try to learn the spell instead of refine his mana. The grimoire was a lot more interesting than simply training his mana, after all.


    With a mind mostly free of distractions, Toz began absorbing and converting the mana around him in order to strengthen and refine the lightning mana inside his mana pool. Since he was already close, it didn''t take long until he surpassed an intangible threshold and reached the sixth level with his lightning mana.


    Toz breathed out a sigh of relief. Now that he was done with lightning, he only had metal, darkness, and space left. And since each sessive refinement was easier than thest, it wouldn''t take nearly as much time.


    Toz wanted to dive into the grimoire again after refining his lightning mana to the sixth level. But his sess with learning the spell, or ratherck of, told him it would be more beneficial if he finished refining all his attributes to the sixth level.


    Since his mana control, sensitivity, capacity, and the power of his magic all increased each time he refined one of his attributes, Toz would get a more base but reliable increase in strength if he prioritized that instead of the grimoire. If he could sessfully learn the spell in time, he would naturally be more powerful than if he only refined his attributes. But he didn''t want to take that chance when his and the cats'' lives were at stake.


    And whether or not he learned the spell, Toz would still have to refine all his attributes before he would even think about breaking through to the seventh level. Technically, he didn''t have to refine all his elements before breaking through to the seventh level. But Toz had personally experienced the benefits ofying a solid foundation by doing that.


    Toz, as a sixth level mage, had mana reserves that could easily rival a high level mage. And the quality of his repeatedly refined mana allowed him to easily ignore the difference in levels.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Breaking through to the next level, especially if it was the next division, would definitely grant him a quick and easy boost in strength that a simple refinement couldn''t quitepare to in terms of immediate improvement. But if he didn''t reach his full potential at each level by refining his mana, Toz would lose out in the long run, and there would be no way to recoup those kinds of losses.


    After refining his lightning mana, Toz only had to decide what element to do next. But since it seemed like he was going to be hiding his presence and sneaking around a lot in the future, he quickly chose darkness.


    He would have to bring space to the seventh level if he wanted to make any kind of real, useful progress with that element. And Toz was mostly using his metal element as a supplement to his other magic andbat, so even if he wasn''t going to focus on his stealth capabilities, darkness was still the most obvious choice. One of his most effective spells was his darkness spell, Void''s Embrace, after all.


    Well, it didn''t really matter much in which order he refined his elements since he was nning to do them all as quickly as possible. He wasn''t going to refine his attributes half-heartedly. He just wanted to be done with them quickly. So he wasn''t wasting as much time on resting.


    Refining his darkness mana took Toz a little while, and when he was done, his shadow flickered. It was nothingpared to the rain of sparks that fell when he refined his lightning or the surge of heat when he refined his fire. But it was still proof that Toz had rushed it a little instead of taking his time and graspingplete control over his refined element.


    Next up was his metal mana. Toz was more used to metal, considering it was his first element, and he had more experience with it, so it would likely take less time than space, even if he did metal before space.


    After refining his metal mana, nothing of note happened to his body and surroundings, and Toz began refining space with confidence.


    His guess that space would take more time, even while being thest element he refined, came true. But thankfully, it wasn''t that much of a difference, and before he knew it, Toz had already refined all his six elements, sessfully bing a sixth level mage at the sixth refinement.


    A feeling of power surged through Toz''s body and mana pool, and he stretched his body as if he had just woken up from a deep sleep.


    Toz was eager to learn the spell he got from Hassandra now that he didn''t have to worry about his mana training. But he had already been cooped up in his tent for too long. It was time to stretch his legs and get some exercise.

 Chapter 387 Joining The Cats

    ?Toz''s body was brimming with power after refining all his attributes and sitting still for so long, and he practically burst out of the camp as he rushed to join up with the other cats, all except Lucy. Toz had asked Lucy if he wanted to take a break ande along since he was worried about leaving Lucy all alone in the camp. But Lucy didn''t even hesitate before refusing and saying that he was onto something.


    Lucy had already proven that he knew when to fall back and when to advance, so Toz felt almost at ease leaving the camp. He shouldn''t shake off all of his worries, but there wasn''t much he could do since Lucy wanted to stay back. He would have felt more secure if Lucy were to maintain some form ofmunication through their bond. But Lucy was worried that someone would sense that and track it back to either himself or Toz, so he isted himself.


    Since that was Lucy''s choice, Toz couldn''t interfere. He just told himself that it would be alright, and he focused on the lightning surging through his body as he sped out of the camp and through the battlefield on his way toward Nil, Mindle, Scrael, and Asilean.


    Although he had taken a break from learning the spell that he got from Hassandra, Toz hadn''tpletely put it aside. It was a lightning attribute spell, and it would naturally be easier to learn the spell if he was morefortable with the lightning element. That was why Toz had decided to focus on using lightning magic until he grasped at least some of the grimoire''s contents.


    Toz didn''t want to focus on lightning magic only because of the spell. Just as he did with his metal magic, Toz used lightning mostly as support duringbat. He only used it to increase his movement speed, something he might as well do with space magic. Toz could feel how much he underutilized his magic each time he fought. But there wasn''t much he could do about it. It was simply one of the struggles of having too many elements.


    Toz had too much to do and too many things to learn and master. Considering how little time he had spent treading the path of magic, it was astonishing how far he had already gotten. But he was still far from bing a real powerhouse. And it would only take more and more time as he continued onward.


    The more he scraped the surface of one of his elements, the more he realized how thick the surface was and how deep the mystery of magic really ran.


    He didn''t regret any of his choices that led to him possessing six elements. If he got the chance, he would do it all over again. But he had to ept the fact that he wouldn''t be able to specialize as much with each element or understand it as deeply as other mages could. At least not as quickly.


    With the cats'' help, Toz was confident he could catch up to and surpass any mage that had the same elements as him. It was only a matter of time and effort. And as soon as they saved Taienra, Toz and the cats would have all the time they could ever need to travel through the universe, explore, and grow stronger. At least as long as nothing else happened.


    Toz wondered if maybe he had jinxed himself with that thought, and he quickly dispelled it from his mind as he focused on sting apart the Earthworm in front of him with a lightning bolt powerful enough to dye the sky purple.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But by the time thunder rang out, Toz was already long gone. He only left a trail of purple-tinted afterimages behind him as he shed through the battlefield, slicing and sting enemies apart whenever he came across them.


    Most of the enemies he came across were of simr strength to the Earthworms or the Demonic Bull, weaker demonic beasts who mostly served as cannon fodder and to exhaust the human forces. But he also stumbled upon groups of beasts like the herd of buffalos that were a little more challenging to face when alone. But when Toz didn''t hold back to focus on his sword skills, he sted through them like a rock thrown into a pile of rice.


    And while he was at it, Toz also used his fire to burn any corpse he left behind into nothing but ashes. Just in case someone from the Tribe of Death came by and wanted to increase their reserve of zombies.


    Although the fight he and the cats had with the two robed figures flopped and ended the way it did, he still confirmed that they couldn''t reanimate ashes, at least not in the same amount of time they did with mostly intact corpses.


    When Vatel fought against the necromancer, Toz saw how many zombies they summoned. He had a feeling that the only reason they came out victorious was that the necromancer couldn''t summon and reanimate the zombies as quickly as Vatel and Mindle got rid of them.


    If a necromancer was allowed to gather all the corpses that piled up on the battlefield and add them to their collection, the human realm could probably give up on winning the proxy war. Overwhelming might could surpass the numbers that reanimating all the corpses gave the Tribe of Death. But from what Toz had seen, the humans possessed neither the strength nor the numbers toe out victorious.


    They would have to rely on their ingenuity and the endless possibilities their inclinations provided them if they wanted to win. Toz was slowly looking forward to what the general had nned, but he didn''t waste too much time thinking about it.


    He was quickly approaching the cats, and he could tell that they were locked in a fierce battle against a worthy opponent.


    His body surged with power, his mana pool roared, ready to unleash magic, and his blood boiled. Toz dashed forward with a grin as he got ready to join the cats in their fight.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 388 Adaptation Trees (1)

    ?The cats were locked in a battle so fierce it shook the ground. But not fierce enough to make Toz lose his footing. And the cats didn''t seem to be in immediate danger, so Toz took a moment to assess the situation when he arrived atop a small hill, behind which was the battle.


    Although the cats didn''t look like they were struggling or fighting for their survival, Toz didn''t see them make any kind of progress when it came to defeating their opponents.


    The two who seemed to be having the most sess were Nil and Asilean. But even when they cut apart the trunks and branches of the gnarled and desated trees, their targets just regrew and regenerated the damage at once.


    Scrael and Mindle were even worse off. Scrael was in a position simr to Nil and Asilean. But she was in an even more desperate situation since she usually relied on dealing a slightly smaller amount of damage over a longer period of time when killing prey. That tactic waspletely useless against the trees that they were facing.


    Mindle, who should have had not a single problem considering their opponent, was the one who did the least. She couldn''t fathom how a grove of dead trees could ardently refuse to catch fire, but that was what was happening. No matter how many times she steeped the trees in fire, the mes died out before they could deal any damage.


    The only thing that changed was that their surface became slightly charred, but that only seemed to increase their fire resistance.


    Toz could tell that the only thing causing the cats to suffer was their bruised egos. After fighting like crazy on the battlefield and bing stronger with each battle. But never once faltering, the cats were stopped dead in their tracks by a bunch of stupid trees.


    With his mana vision andbination magic, Toz already knew how to defeat the trees. But he couldn''t do it with only lightning magic, so he decided to sit back and wait until he either figured it out or until the cats defeated the trees on their own. There was not a speck of doubt in his mind that the trees would win over the cats.


    No matter how resilient the trees were or how inmmable and how great their regeneration was, their offensive means wereckluster inparison. The only way of attack that Toz had seen the trees use was to fling out and reach for the cats with innumerable branches.


    Againstrger or less nimble opponents, that kind of attack might have worked. But the cats avoided the branches with ease. They even goaded and directed the trees to ensnare and tie knots on themselves. And if there ever came a moment where they were incapable of dodging a branch, they would work together to ovee it in a different way.


    If Nil and Asilean weren''t already busy with their own attacks or defenses, they would help the cat in trouble by slicing the branch before it could reach its target. If it were the other way around, Scrael would use her speed and momentum to redirect the branch''s path.


    Mincle didn''t quite have the same possibilities as the others when it came to saving them or helping them avoid being attacked by the trees, so she instead controlled her five Tongues of me to try and burn the trees.


    Considering how hard the cats had fought and how much time they had spent on the battlefield, Toz wasn''t surprised that Mindle had already conjured the fifth me. However, he was surprised to see that it still wasn''t enough to light the trees on fire.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The heat was sweltering enough for the air to tremble even where he was, but the trees only surrounded themselves by a denseyer of bark that refused to catch fire. Thankfully, Mindle had learned how to delicately control the heat so that the other cats remained unaffected.


    After using her mes to create a barrier of heat and fire around the trees, Mindle gathered them all in one spot, around a single tree. The other cats supported her by making sure the trees'' attacks didn''t reach her, and she concentrated all of her firepower on that single tree.


    It caught fire at once. Usually, when that happened, it would put out the fire at once. But since Mindle kept adding more fire to the already burning tree, it couldn''t put out the mes, and it kept burning.


    It took a lot of concentration and mana on Mindle''s part to increase the power of her five Tongues of me to that degree while still limiting the area of effect to the single tree that she had chosen. But she did it without even as much of a grunt.


    Eventually, it seemed like Mindle''s efforts would bear fruit since the tree no longer fought to put out the fires consuming it.


    However, the tree didn''t stop fighting the mes because it had grown incapable of resisting. It stopped fighting against Mindle''s fire because it didn''t have to anymore.


    The mes had stopped consuming it.


    Although Mindle still controlled her five Tongues of me, she had lost control over the fire raging across the tree''s trunk and branches.


    The cats weren''t prepared for that turn of events and let a few branches slip through their defenses. Mindle, who was more shocked than anyone else, was too stunned by the fact that the tree had taken control of her mes to react to the branches.


    Thankfully, before the sharp branches could pierce Mindle, a purple light shed by and swept Mindle and the other cats away from the iing cascade of wood.


    Toz had noticed how the situation would turn out ever since Mindle first tried to incinerate the tree, but he decided to wait until thest second before intervening since he wanted the cats to see what happened.


    Mindle probably wouldn''t have died if the branches hit her, but she still would have been injured. That was something Toz wasn''t willing to witness. He wanted them to use the failure with the trees as a learning experience. But that didn''t mean he wanted to see them suffer.

 Chapter 389 Adaptation Trees (2)

    ?After grabbing the cats, Toz set them down outside the array of fire that Mindle arranged to keep the trees contained. It didn''t work very well since the trees weren''t afraid of fire. But since the trees weren''t very quick or agile, it didn''t matter. If the cats were outside their grasp, there was no way the trees would catch up.


    However, neither Toz nor the cats had any intentions of retreating. There was no way they could let the tree that had taken Mindle''s mes and threatened her life leave intact.


    The cats had already regained their senses by the time Toz put them down. But it seemed like Toz wanted to deal with the trees on his own, so they let him. After being on the battlefield and fighting for so long, sitting back and watching someone else do the fighting was incredibly rxing. And the cats relished in the break that Toz offered them.


    That didn''t mean the cats weren''t ready to intervene at a moment''s notice should Toz need it. They just grabbed every second they had to rest and recover as much stamina and mana as possible.


    Toz started off his fight with the burning tree by getting rid of any distractions. Compared to the ordinary trees, the one that had absorbed Mindle''s magic was the most dangerous. It still used the same means of attack,shing out with its branches. But its branches were far quicker, more powerful, and they also came with the incredible effect of setting fire to whatever they touched that wasn''t the other trees. Though it looked like the burning tree was trying to spread its fire to its kin.


    Thankfully, Toz''s n slowed that down.


    Toz used the speed, agility, and force he got from reinforcing himself with lightning magic to do something simr to what the cats had done when they dodged the branches.


    But unlike the cats, who had to be mindful of each other, Toz could move as freely as he wanted. Toz used that freedom to direct and bait the trees to tangle together far more severely than the cats had managed. And when he had done that, he used his hands to tie the trees and their canopies together.


    It was only a stopgap measure and wouldn''t hold for long. But Toz had sessfully separated the burning tree from the rest of the thicket. Hopefully, the small clearing would be enough for Toz to defeat the tree that had adapted to and taken Mindle''s mes as its own.


    Toz didn''t doubt that he could win over the tree if he went all out. But he had set a restriction on himself to control and improve his growth in a certain area, namely, his lightning magic. He wanted to try and beat the tree using only his lightning magic.


    He didn''t stop himself from using his sword. But Toz had a feeling that using the sword wouldn''t amount to much from what he had seen of the cats'' fight with the trees.


    Nil and Asilean had demonstrated plenty that the trees only regenerated from simple cuts andcerations. And Toz didn''t think he would be able to do something the cats couldn''t with only his sword and lightning magic in that regard. Maybe he could do something if he used other elements as well.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But Toz didn''t let his thoughts go in that direction as he instead focused solely on lightning.


    He reinforced his body to its limit, after which lightning began spilling out of his eyes and hands. Purple sparks fell from his hand like a shower of lightning rain. And his eyes shone in a zing purple light. The amount of electricity flowing around and from Toz made the air buzz with a static hum.


    With his mana vision active, Toz was pushing his lightning magic as far as he could. He wasn''t quite at the level he was when he used fire to break out of prison. But he was getting closer. He could feel it.


    And with lightning filling his entire being, he could also feel the world slow down. It felt like what Scrael had described had happened to her during her fight with the Stone Demon. Unfortunately, Toz wasn''t at quite the same level as her. He had only reached the level where the world slowed down in his eyes, letting him see things in slow motion. He couldn''t move as freely in the world of slow motion as Scrael had. And Toz doubted that things were as slowed down for him as they were for Scrael.


    But all Toz needed was for the world to grind to a halt. With his mana vision active, sight was half of Toz''s strength.


    And with the world seemingly not moving, Toz had all the time in the world to look around as much as he wanted. He could see the tree''s mes move like seaweed. He could also see beyond that how the tree was absorbing and adapting to the mana around it. A quick nce toward the other trees let Toz know that the burning tree was done with its adaptation and the other trees were like clean tes, ready to absorb and adapt as soon as they came into contact with mana.


    It was the first time Toz had encountered something like it, and he couldn''t hold back a grin. This was exactly the reason why he wanted to explore the universe. To encounter, find, and discover things he hadn''t even read about and figure out how they work and how to pick them apart.


    Doing it while only using lightning magic was simply adding some spice to an already delicious meal.


    After taking in the situation and realizing how the trees worked, Toz was pretty sure he could defeat them in an instant as soon as he used void magic. Something as powerful as the Adaptation Trees'' magic was bound to have a weakness, and if it worked like Toz thought it did, void magic was that weakness.


    He was eager to test it out since he wanted to know if he was so lucky that he possessed the trees'' weakness, just like that. Though that woulde after he proved to himself that he could defeat the Fire Tree with nothing but lightning.

 Chapter 390 Adaptation Trees (3)

    ?Toz had figured out from nothing but a nce what could be the trees'' weakness. But that was only valid if he used his void magic. If he only used lightning, Toz would have to do more than look at the trees with mana vision if he wanted to find a way to defeat them, especially the Fire Tree that he had separated from the others.


    Only a rain of purple lightning sparks remained where Toz had stood after he shot off like a lightning bolt toward the fire tree. One of the greatest advantages of lightning magic was its speed, and even more than that was the instantaneous eleration.


    Toz felt like he was running through syrup in the slowed-down world, but in reality, he barely even left behind a single afterimage as he shed forward in a blur.


    With that speed, it took less than an instant for Toz to cross the short distance between himself and the Fire Tree. When he arrived in front of his target, Toz stopped running, and he transferred all of his momentum to his fist as he smashed it into the trunk of the Fire Tree.


    His fist, enveloped in purple lightning, collided with the tree''s trunk, which was covered with orange mes. The collision sent a shower of purple and orange mes scattering all over the clearing.


    The coat of lightning across his body shielded Toz from the damage. And the magic reinforcing his hand and arm helped him withstand the impact of his fist piercing into the sturdy bark and shattering the trunk.


    Toz could tell that the tree was already beginning to regenerate the hole in its trunk, even before Toz could retract his hand. If he didn''t pull it out before the tree finished, he might get stuck with his fist inside the tree, which would undoubtedly make it a lot more challenging to beat the tree.


    But instead of pulling his hand out, Toz showed it in deeper, all the way to his elbow. He pushed his hand as far inside as he could. Thankfully, his strike had destroyed some of the tree''s insides and allowed him to go as deep as he did.


    When he couldn''t move anymore, Toz noticed that the tree was already about to close up on his arm, trapping it inside. If he wasn''t careful, he could possibly lose his arm.


    But Toz was pretty sure he had figured out how to take down the trees. It was risky betting his arm on it. But even if he didn''t defeat the tree, he would at least be able to free his arm.


    Not willing to wait anymore, Toz channeled all his magic toward the fist that was inside the tree''s center. It left most of his body exposed to the tree''s branches and the leaves of fire that came with them. But he had refined his fire mana, which made his body ustomed to fire. It definitely wouldn''t be enough to ignore fire magic, especially not from an opponent at a higher level than himself, like the Fire Tree.


    But it would be enough for Toz to hold out until he discharged all the magic inside his fist.


    With the light from the tree''s fire reflected in his eyes, Toz grinned and let loose.


    It was unnoticeable from the outside at first, but it didn''t take long for the amount of magic Toz poured into the tree to show its effects. Purple sparks jumped out of the hole Toz opened up. And right after that, lightning struck the tree with incredible force.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It wasn''t a lightning bolt from the sky. It was an explosion of all the lightning Toz pushed into the tree. The tree couldn''t handle it and started showing cracks all over its trunk and branches after the initial shockwave that took out its fire.


    It was still a Fire Tree, and it could have reignited them since it was finished with its adaptation. But only if its insides had been intact.


    With a final rain of purple sparks, the cracks grew, and the tree copsed in a pile of splinters, revealing its charred insides.


    Toz shook his hand and pushed back his hair as he turned to the cats with a smile on his face.


    Toz''s fight with the Fire Tree had been short, almost instantaneous. The thing that took the most time was tangling the other trees and pushing them away from the Fire Tree so that they didn''t also adapt to fire. Dealing with the Fire Tree itself barely took a moment for Toz, so he couldn''t help but gloat to the cats.


    The cats, who hadn''t taken down a single tree, were both awed at Toz''s disy and a little irritated at how he showed up out of nowhere and took their prey. Though most of all, they were motivated, and their spirits zed as they charged toward the Adaptation Trees, who were slowly untangling themselves.


    Toz had shown them how to defeat the trees. It was surprisingly simple, in theory. Asilean was the only one somewhat confident he could defeat a tree. But he had no ns on doing it the same way Toz did.


    Toz had used overwhelming force and an incredible amount of mana to bypass the tree''s bark, the thing that made magic useless against them, and then st it apart with more power than it could withstand. The damage was too severe for the tree to regenerate, and it died.


    Thankfully, they hadn''t fully adapted to the death mana that hung around them. Toz wasn''t sure what would happen then. But he was sure it was a good thing that there was only enough death mana to put the trees halfway between Adaptation Trees and Death Trees. That was probably also the reason that the Fire Tree needed such a ridiculous amount of Mindle''s mana before it adapted.


    If it hadn''t already been on the way to adapting to death, the tree would have likely transformed into a Fire Tree much quicker, along with the rest of the thicket. Maybe the partly finished death adaptation was the reason behind the trees'' resiliency.


    Toz was curious about the trees and began injecting the remaining ones with the different attributes he had.


    He began with void mana to see if his guess had been correct.

 Chapter 391 The Blanket Method (1)

    ?Unfortunately for Toz and Asilean, void magic wasn''t as absolute a counter to the Adaptation Trees as Toz thought. It was a shame, especially for Asilean, who noticed it when his two-pronged attack on one of the trees failed.


    The void magic only prevented the Adaptation Trees from absorbing the nearby mana. And with enough force, it could also expunge the previously absorbed mana as long as the tree wasn''t already finished adapting.


    As soon as he pushed the death attribute out of the tree he had chosen, Toz saw leaves begin sprouting almost at once, but there wasn''t any other significant difference. Though after a while, the tree stopped rampaging, and it looked like it settled down to absorb the surrounding mana.


    Toz snapped a few branches and showed them inside a spatial ring before he helped the cats destroy or pacify the trees. With how difficult it was to destroy them faster than they could regenerate or adapt, it was easier to let Toz and Asilean get rid of the death attribute mana and demonic energy inside in order to put them in their passive state.


    After that, Toz experimented a little while the cats rested. But when the cats were recovered enough to continue moving and find a suitable resting spot, Toz sent magic into all the trees before unleashing them upon the battlefield. The only thing he felt regretful about was the fact that they couldn''t handle or adapt tobination magic. The trees either rejected or just couldn''t adapt to the different types ofbination magic Toz tested on them.


    But the other trees who adapted to his ordinary elements were powerful in their own regard, so it probably didn''t matter too much. It might even be a good thing that the trees didn''t adapt to hisbination elements.


    The battlefield was slowly but surely, being overrun by the Tribe of Death and thebatants fighting on their side. The trees were more likely to encounter the enemies of the human realm rather than the Alliance of Kingdoms. But that didn''t mean the trees didn''t still pose a danger to the humans.


    If the trees adapted to something like his grey mes, Toz was worried that they would bathe the entire battlefield in mana-eating fire that eradicated anything and everything in its path. If that happened and it could be traced back to him due to the bracelet or something, Toz was sure he would get more bad credit than recognition of his achievement.


    He wasn''t sure if Dyra would still agree to bring him along to the Transcendent Realm if something like that happened, so it was for the best that the trees were limited in what they could adapt to.


    Toz and the cats trailed behind the trees while taking it nice and slow. Since the trees cleared the path in front of them from most enemies, they didn''t have to search long and hard to find a ce they could use to rest. They didn''t even need to find a ce to rest since they could rx and recover while walking.


    Toz had barely done enough to make him pant and was filled with energy, so he kept walking while the cats took turns resting on him or inside the familiar space.


    The only reason the cats all didn''t rest at once was so that Toz could practice his mana vision and passive training without having to worry too much about their surroundings.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The trees of various elements used their roots to cross the battlefield, so they rooted out things that even hid below ground. But that didn'' mean they took care of everything, and there could still be enemies lying in wait to ambush any unsuspecting people.


    Toz trusted his senses and reflexes, but the cats didn''t want to leave it all to him when it came to surveying their surroundings.


    Since it let Toz focus more on his training, he was nothing by grateful.


    And he happily indulged in practicing his passive training. He didn''t ignore the world around him, quite the opposite, actually, since he wanted to absorb the mana hanging freely in the surroundings. But he was so focused on the mana and nothing but the mana that it would be easy to forget or miss other things, such as enemies setting up one or two ambushes.


    But with the cats'' help, Toz didn''t have to worry, and he carefully began wondering how to go about his passive training.


    He had already concluded that using the string method was useful at the moment, but it didn''t have enough future potential for him to use it or try to improve it. However, Toz didn''t know what method to use instead. The only other feasible way was to try something simr to when he hadbined his passive training with his manual training and absorbed all the mana in his surroundings in one go.


    Now that his mind was stronger, he might be able to achieve something simr by coercing the surrounding mana. But it only took one attempt for him to realize that it was an impossible method.


    Toz''s mind was nowhere far from strong enough to control all the mana in his surroundings. If he used his own mana, it wouldn''t be a problem to get the mana to move. But he had already tried that once and almost exploded himself. Doing that also prevented him from doing something else, like walking, at the same time.


    Toz came up with a few new ways to train passively, but they were all simr to the string method and took too much effort for the mana it gave him. Some of them were exactly the same as the string method, just with a different shape to the mana. Toz naively thought that maybe changing the way he shaped the mana would affect how easily he could manipte and absorb it. Unfortunately, most attempts were useless.


    But there was one exception. The nket method.

 Chapter 392 The Blanket Method (2)

    ?The original nket method that Toz came up with wasn''t extraordinary or useful. It was the potential in the nket method and what he derived from it that was what made it stand out.


    Toz began by shaping the mana into a nket-like sheet that he then wrapped around himself. He would then push on one area of the nket until it entered his body, and after that, the rest of the nket was sucked in as well. Aside from the added coziness of being wrapped in a nket, the method didn''t differ that much from the string method.


    But right before Toz was about to give up on the nket method, he absentmindedly looked at the Adaptation Trees crossing the battlefield some distance ahead of them.


    The nket method was obviously very different in terms of how it functioned whenpared to the Adaptation Trees'' bark. But they looked quite simr, which was why Toz remembered the bark and realized that it was quite simr to what Toz wanted to do.


    The Adaptation Trees quite passively took in the mana in their surroundings. And if there was enough of one element, they adapted to that element and absorbed only mana of that attribute afterward.


    Toz wasn''t interested in the adapting. He was interested in how the trees only absorbed the mana that came into contact with their bark without them actively doing anything. Of course, as trees, maybe they couldn''t do anything requiring coherent thought in the same way Toz could. It might even be why they could use their own mana to absorb the mana in their surroundings while doing other things at the same time, which was something Toz couldn''t do.


    Toz couldn''t replicate their bark method perfectly, but he could use it as inspiration for his own method of passively absorbing the mana around him. Substituting theyer of mana that created the bark with ayer of his consciousness might work, so that was what Toz tried first.


    When Toz first began experimenting with moving his consciousness outside his body and using it to control the mana in the surroundings, he had to shape his consciousness into hands for there to be some kind of progress. But after Toz sessfully created his miniature clone of consciousness, he could easily manipte the mana with a formless heap of his consciousness.


    However, he was once again trying to create and maintain a solid shape, so Toz sharpened his concentration. He slowly moved his consciousness out of his body. Doing it with so much care and concentration was incredibly stupid, considering he was in the middle of a chaotic battlefield. But Toz was caught up in his surge of inspiration, and he trusted the cats to take care of him and indulged in his trial.


    The shapeless stream of consciousness slipped out of his mind, just like when he trained passively. But unlike when he used it for training, his consciousness coiled around his body. And since he didn''t attempt to touch the mana, the mana around him remained unaffected.


    But when his consciousness wrapped around his physical body, Toz sensed how the mana was pushed away. He had seeded in isting his body from the surrounding mana.


    Keeping his entire body covered in ayer of consciousness was strenuous, but it wasn''t as difficult as Toz thought it would be. He saw hope for sess, so he dly moved on to the next step.


    After covering his body in ayer of consciousness, Toz now had to somehow make that consciousness ept, instead of reject, the mana in his surroundings and then guide it into his body.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The Adaptation Trees could use their own mana to do that, but Toz only had his consciousness, which made things a lot more difficult if he wanted to train and move around at the same time.


    Thankfully, his experience with all the passive training he had already done made Toz quitefortable with manipting mana with only his mind.


    Unfortunately, he wasn''t simply using his consciousness to move his mana around. He wanted to be able to put theyer of consciousness in ce and then forget about it while still being able to train mana.


    Toz felt that instead of using his mind to control the mana around him, he had to change his mind. Or at least the stream of consciousness wrapped around his body.


    The only lead he had was that he had to change it in a way that the mana absorbed was converted into the attribute he wanted to train. Thankfully, he already knew which element he was going to use to break through to the seventh level.


    After deciding on an element, Toz retracted most of the consciousness he hadyered atop his body. It didn''t take as much of his mental strength as he thought it would, but it was still draining his stamina unnecessarily. And since it would probably take a while before he achieved sess with his experimenting, it would save a lot of effort if he limited the amount of consciousness he used.


    Toz only used a sliver of consciousness and wrapped his hand with it. He could easily see and move around the consciousness with his mana vision. And he could also see how the mana and his consciousness interacted with each other.


    Toz quickly realized what the first roadblock was.


    When he first began moving his consciousness outside his body and using it to manipte mana, Toz trained it in a way that increased its resilience and ability to grasp mana firmly. Mana had an extraordinarily tough time moving through his consciousness because of that.


    What Toz wanted to achieve now was the opposite of how he had trained his consciousness. He wanted the mana to pass through the consciousness around his body as easily as birds flying through the sky.


    Changing the structure of his consciousness wouldn''t be very easy, but Toz was sure that he would be able to do it before long.

 Chapter 393 The Blanket Method (3)

    ?After he limited its coverage to only his hand, Toz found it a lot easier to control and change the structure of his consciousness, but he still didn''t seem to be able to achieve what he wanted. Since he made minimal progress, Toz had a hard time maintaining his absolute focus and his thoughts wandered.


    He absent-mindedly wondered if he could use his consciousness inbat. Not by having it absorb mana at the same time as he fought, but as a way to attack his enemies. After getting that idea, Toz almost wanted to try it out immediately. But there weren''t any suitable targets around. If it worked as a means of attack, Toz doubted that it would work against the Adaptation Trees.


    Toz also had to mind the fact that the cats were dying their rest to let him practice his passive training, not for him to y around.


    With a new bout of motivation, since he didn''t want to push the cats'' patience too far, Toz started working on the film of consciousness wrapped around his hand again. He also realized that maybe he should take it one step further.


    The trees actively absorbed the bark, but so far, he had only tried making the mana flow through the consciousness and into his body. Maybe he needed some initiative to prompt the mana to enter the consciousness and his body.


    Toz tried various things, but it didn''t seem like simply changing the structure of his mind would be enough. Or he didn''t do it well enough. But if he could seed by doing that, he might as well try something else.


    So instead of trying to change the stream of consciousness on a fundamental level, he began changing it in a more general way. Since the most obvious way to increase the consciousness'' activity was to move it actively, that was what Toz began doing.


    He shifted it around his hand to try and stir the mana into getting absorbed. Since it seemed like it might work, Toz also moved his hand in sync with his consciousness, and he made it look like he physically grabbed the mana and absorbed it.


    It was surprisingly sessful, but it was also mostly useless. Toz quickly and efficiently absorbed the mana his hand grasped. But he would look like a fool if he did that all the time. But even if he did it all the time, it would hardly be worth it since his hand couldn''t grasp enough mana to make it worthwhile.


    However, it was still a sess since Toz could use it to figure out a more effective method of absorbing the mana that came in contact with his consciousness. And after doing that, he only had to apply it to his entire body, which was something that would be difficult with the grasping method he had just devised.


    The grasping method itself might be rtively useless, but it had shown him that it was a lot easier to absorb the mana, or rather make the mana enter his body, if he could envelop the mana. With Toz''s consciousness surrounding it on all sides, the mana only had one option when it came to moving, and that was through the consciousness, after which it would inevitably end up inside Toz''s body. When inside, Toz''s mana would move on its own to take care of the foreign mana and convert it to the element Toz had in mind.


    The concept of enveloping the mana led Toz toe up with the new and improved nket method. Instead of swathing himself in a nket of mana and absorbing it directly, Toz would cover the mana in a nket of his consciousness.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz separated the already thinyer of consciousness on his hand into two separateyers.


    Since the mana still had to bypass the outeryer, it had several small openings to let the mana inside. And then, when the small space between the twoyers filled with mana, Toz would close the holes. After that, he would use the outeryer to push the mana inside his body.


    It worked about as well as Toz hoped it would. Most of the mana between the twoyers of his consciousness entered his body. And unlike the grasping method, it could be applied to his entire body.


    But unfortunately, it required a lot of concentration, especially if he wanted to do it repeatedly in order to make up for the minuscule amounts of mana he got each time he opened up the outeryer to ept more mana.


    Toz tried it with his entire body just to see if it was feasible, which it was. But it wasn''t sustainable. The amount of mana he got wasn''t worth the effort he put in, so he decided to try and find other methods that would be more effective.


    For the sake of it, Toz began trying out various ways he could envelop or cover the mana. After a while, he realized that he didn''t have to seal the mana on all sides. As long as he could get a grip on the mana with his consciousness, he could push or pull it inside his body.


    That discovery led him to add a couple of creases to theyer of consciousness in his hand.


    And then, with movements like those of a horse eating or maggots squirming, the creases moved and twisted to drag and push the mana that caught onto them into Toz''s body.


    It looked a little strange when Toz used his mana vision to observe the creases in action. But since he barely moved his consciousness when doing it, it took him hardly any effort to absorb the mana.


    He wasn''t quite satisfied since the mana he absorbed with the crease method wascking, but Toz could sense that he was on the right path. If he developed the method further and perfected it, increasing its effectiveness while maintaining the effort it took, Toz would have achieved his goal of creating a stable and easily adjustable passive mana training method.

 Chapter 394 The Blanket Method (4)

    ?Toz was ted abouting up with such an ingenious method of passively absorbing mana in a controlled and measured way. But he didn''t let his happiness rise to his head, and he maintained a razor-sharp focus as he began developing the crease method even further.


    The first thing Toz did was increase the number of creases covering the surface of the consciousness he had on his hand. He added creases so that his entire hand looked like a scrunched-up molerat.


    Instead of two creases working together to swallow the mana they came into contact with, his entire hand wriggled like something out of a nightmare. Thankfully, his consciousness was invisible to everyone else. Even Toz had difficulty seeing the wrinkles'' movements through the mana they absorbed.


    As long as he disregarded the visual effect, Toz could consider his experiment a sess. The only setback was that the wrinkles didn''t all work together, and they moved in different directions, which led to them working against each other and decreasing the effectiveness.


    Toz considered manually synchronizing the wrinkles and forcing them to work in tandem. But that would take too much effort and defeat the purpose of the method.


    However, he quickly realized that there was a way to prevent the wrinkles from working against each other. By only using a single crease, Toz could prevent the different creases from interfering with each other''s movements.


    Toz facepalmed as soon as he tried it out. He couldn''t help but feel stupid.


    If the crease moved and pushed the mana down on one side, it would push the mana up on the other. No matter how Toz arranged the crease or how many creases there were, he still ended up with the same problem.


    Reluctant to give up just like that, Toz tried to arrange one or two creases in some way that was at least noticeably better than just randomly creating them. And on thest attempt, when he created a spiral, Toz realized something.


    He didn''t have to push the mana downwards from the beginning. If he could direct it to a single spot and then direct it into his body from that point, he could use the creases to move the same way.


    Toz created a spiral as if he had grabbed a point in the nket of consciousness and twisted it. And after setting up the creases in that way, he put them to work and made them grab and push the mana into the center, where it entered a hole and was sucked into his body.


    Toz cheered in joy, startling the cats. He had seeded, and by the looks of it, he could even maintain it without actively concentrating since nothing happened even when he lost focus. The method also seemed to be quite effective, so Toz tried it out with his entire body.


    After covering his entire body in a thinyer of his consciousness, Toz creased thatyer the same way he had done with the tiny piece on his hand. But this time, he created a muchrger spiral. It had its center on Toz''s chest, but its creases stretched out and covered his entire body.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    With that kind of coverage, Toz''s training would surely rocket to the next level, even without him doing anything.


    Positively trembling with nervous excitement, Toz tentatively began making the creases move and push the mana in the folds to the center.


    Since Toz moved so slowly, it took a while until he began feeling the effects of his creased nket method.


    However, it quickly changed once the first wave waspleted, and the spiral pushed the first bit of mana into his body. It wasn''t an incredible amount purelypared to how much mana Toz had and how much he needed to train to reach the next level. But if he disregarded how much effort it had taken for him to reach and arrive at the creased nket method and only focused on how much effort it took to maintain the method, it was amazing.


    It had taken Toz several years. Not of actively trying, but since he first came up with the idea. And it still wasn''t perfect. But he had finally devised a way to train while still being able to walk and do other things at the same time.


    He could even do it without keeping his mana vision active, which significantly lessened the strain on his mind.


    Toz still had to see if he could do it while fighting, but he was sure he could. And if it didn''t work, he would simply make it work. Although Toz might expend more mana than he gained when he used the creased nket method if he fought, he would still be able to extend for how long he could fight. And if hebined it with his already impressive mana pool and capacity, Toz would be an unstoppable fighting machine.


    Toz felt all giddy after sessfully creating a near-perfect nket method for his passive training. He was sure that he could improve it some more, but Toz wasn''t sure if he should do that now or if he should wait. One of the reasons he had developed his passive training method was that he didn''t wantonly absorb the mana all around him in a way that alerted other mages with sensitive mana perception.


    And with the creased nket method, Toz could adjust the amount of mana he absorbed by decreasing or increasing the size of the folds and creases. Technically, that was all Toz needed at the moment.


    If he ever needed a more effective method in the future, he could deal with that then. For now, Toz would be satisfied with what he had achieved and simply revel in the feeling of never having to worry about falling behind the cats.


    If anything, they had to worry about falling behind him now. It had gone from the cats being able to train while Toz walked to Toz being able to train all the time, no matter what. The cats couldn''t train their mana while they walked alongside Toz, when they ate, or when they fought.

 Chapter 395 The Blanket Method (5)

    ?After sessfully developing his nket method for passive training, Toz couldn''t help but gloat in front of the cats. However, he didn''t get to boast and brag for long. As soon as the cats realized that Toz had aplished what he wanted and that they didn''t need to keep watch anymore, they decided that they didn''t want to listen to him for a second more and quickly headed into the space within Toz''s inclination.


    When the cats were in there, Toz couldn''t force them to listen to him even if he wanted to since they could shut down the connection between him and them and focus on their resting.


    Toz did want to brag a little more and get some recognition, but he knew that the cats had held out and endured their built-up fatigue for his sake, so he happily let them go to sleep while he trailed behind the Adaption Trees.


    However, he quickly stumbled upon a slight problem. The differently elementally adapted trees were beginning to split up, and Toz didn''t know which group to follow or if he should even continue following the trees.


    As he watched the trees split up and go off in their own separate directions, Toz wondered from where the trees came. Since they had been absorbing abundant death attribute mana and demonic energy, Toz had first assumed they were from the Tribe of Death. But why would they unleash such wild things that indiscriminately attacked everything they encountered when they were already taking the lead in the war?


    Toz''s curiosity regarding the trees only grew when they began disying their full might as soon as they split up.


    When the different elemental trees were all grouped up, their different elements and magic interfered with each other. But after separating, the different trees and their magic practically took over their surroundings.


    The Fire Trees left a trail of scorched earth behind, and their canopies blossomed into majestic crowns of leaves and flowers of fire.


    The Darkness Trees hid themselves and their surroundings in a cloud of darkness that crossed the battlefield with ominous silence.


    The Lightning Trees began building up a thunderstorm as they slowly generated dark clouds that shed with lightning and thunder far above them.


    The Space Trees bent and twisted the space around them, and their branches left spatial tears in their wake.


    The Metal Trees turned into waking armories as their branches and leaves grew sharp and deadly. The metallic rustling that came from their movements scratched the brains of anyone who heard it.


    The magic of the different trees hadn''t been very noticeable at first, but it continued growing mightier the more they separated and no longer interfered with each other.


    The cats were still sleeping, and it looked like following any of the trees would end up with something troublesome to deal with, so Toz decided they could just head back to the military base.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The cats didn''t have anything against the idea. If anything, they supported it since Toz wouldn''t have much of an opportunity to show off his recently developed passive training if they were all cooped up in the tent training or resting.


    The cats were also curious about what Lucy had been up to and what he had discovered. If they were lucky, they might even get to listen to another story or two, hopefully without any interruptions.


    Toz went through a lot of enemies to join up with the cats when they were fighting against the trees. And the cats had been on the battlefield for quite some time at that point. But they hadn''t ventured too deep into the battlefield, and with Toz prioritizing their return to the base, it didn''t take long for them to arrive at the camp.


    However, Toz wasn''t sure they had arrived at the same camp that they were used to.


    When they left, only the soldiers serving the kingdoms loyally and faithfully worked diligently like ants. Aside from them, everyone else had mostly beenzing around with depressed or vacant expressions on their faces. There was no one that intentionally caused trouble due to the threats of very, but there were many who didn''t do anything more than the bare minimum required of them.


    But the camp Toz and the cats returned to was entirely different. The paths were cleaned, and there was not a single bum loafing around. Everyone was walking around hurriedly and with clear goals. The camp was as active as a beehive, and military discipline and strictness served as guidelines as everyone obeyed their superiors'' orders with enthusiasm.


    Aside from the new atmosphere and the improved attitudes of everyone in the camp, it was still technically the same camp as the one Toz left, so even if he was stunned by the sudden change, he still found his way back to his tent.


    The cats hadn''t paid as much attention to the base''s circumstances as Toz, but they still noticed the change and were just as curious as Toz about what had caused it. They wondered if they should ask someone, but seeing everyone act so properly and diligently, Toz and the cats were very keen on walking up to someone and stopping them just to ask them why.


    And their few acquaintances, the Lightning Rascals, didn''t seem to be in the camp at the moment. So they couldn''t ask them either.


    Thankfully, they had an inside man that they could ask for answers. They might even get some interesting information while doing so. As soon as Lucy came back and regrouped with them, Toz and the cats would be able to find out what had happened with the camp.


    While they waited, the Nil, Mindle, and Asilean rested and thought about their trip into the battlefield and how it had gone. And Toz and Scrael shared the lightning grimoire and studied it together.


    Toz tried reaching out to Lucy a few times, but he didn''t get an answer, so he assumed that Lucy was just busy and fully focused on his task. But Toz couldn''t help but get worried. Lucy had been gone without contacting them for quite a while now.

 Chapter 396 Toz Worrying About Lucy A Little

    ?Since Lucy seemed to have gone missing, Toz naturally wanted to go and find him. But he knew that Lucy was busy, and Toz stomping around, flipping stones, and rummaging through the ground was bound to put Lucy in more trouble rather than help him.


    Toz didn''t even know where to begin if he were to go looking for Lucy. The only clue he had was that Lucy had gone to investigate the people from the Redire Kingdom. He could easily find where they were staying. But he couldn''t just go sniffing around every soldier, servant, or noble from that kingdom when there were so many of them.


    Not to mention how doing that would easily tip them off about his and possibly Lucy''s activities. If Toz recklessly went looking for Lucy just because he was worried, he could endanger both Lucy and everyone else. His actions might even force the conspirators to put their n into action before Toz is ready to stop it.


    Although he at least wanted to make sure Lucy was okay, Toz held himself back and focused on the grimoire. There probably wasn''t much reason to worry anyways. Lucy was a master of stealth, and even if he did get caught by the ones he and Toz decided to call Blood Demons, he wouldn''t go down without a fight. And if his opponents are demons or something simr, Lucy won''t lose.


    If there was anything Toz was confident about, it was Lucy''s abilities. And that was even without knowing the full extent of what Lucy was capable of. He never did get a chance to exin what he did to that demonic buffalo leader he disposed of.


    After they were interrupted during Lucy''s storytelling, Toz and the cats kind of forgot about it. And then things happened, which led to Lucy also forgetting about continuing the rest of his story. Even if they asked him, he might have already put it behind himself and forgotten the details since they weren''t that important.


    With how Lucy worked, it was very likely that he wouldn''t want to exin, even if Toz and the cats asked him. They hadn''t listened when he told his story, and then they had quickly forgotten about it afterward, so it didn''t matter that they wanted to hear it now. It was toote. It didn''t matter that Lucy had also forgotten about it. The only thing that mattered was that Toz and the cats were selfish and only wanted to hear what Lucy had to say when they wanted to hear it, not when Lucy wanted to say it.


    Toz could almost hear Lucy pouting as he imagined how he would act.


    He had a hard time focusing on the grimoire and just let his mind wander. Toz realized that it was the first time he had been separated from Lucy for so long ever since he picked him up. It was likely good from a neutral point of view that they could build some independence. But he couldn''t help but miss him, just like how he missed the other cats and rushed blindly through the battlefield to join them as soon as he could.


    But Toz eventually snapped himself back into order. No matter how much he worried, it wouldn''t bring Lucy any more into his hair orp. He decided to force any stray thoughts out of his head by filling it with the contents of the spell instead.


    After reaching the sixth refinement and then going wild with his lightning magic, Toz began understanding at least some of the spell. He wasn''t at a level of understanding where he could begin to use it, partly because it was a lot risker to use it and fail whenpared to most other spells.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    When he learned Dissolution, the only thing that happened if Toz failed was that he would lose some mana, and his practice target would remain undamaged. But the lightning spell he got from Hassandra wasn''t only a lot more difficult to learn. It also carried some risk in the learning process. Even after mastering it, the mage using it could still injure themselves quite severely if they didn''t know what they were doing.


    But all that risk and possibility of injury wasn''t for nothing. If anything, it solidified Toz''s opinion of how much potential the spell had. But he wouldn''t try to use it before he was somewhat confident that he could control it. Until then, it would remain a strictly theoretical practice.


    Hopefully, that would still be enough for Toz to learn the spell before things started happening. The general''s n and the conspiracy hiding itself behind the ve cors and the Redire Kingdom were both putting pressure on Toz, especially since he didn''t know the timeframe for either of them.


    It was understandable that he didn''t know what the Blood Demons were scheming since they were obviously nning something nefarious that would undoubtedly spell trouble for the human realm.


    But Toz found it a little unreasonable that the general only told him to wait for Merr''s letter. What if he decided to take a stroll when that happened, and when he returned to his tent, it was already toote?


    Toz knew that the general was worried about information leaking and someone interfering with the n, whatever it may be. But he still wanted something to go on.


    He didn''t mind staying cooped up in the tent too much since he had the grimoire. But he had to share that with Scrael. And the other cats didn''t have anything to do other than train and half-heartedly try to reach the eighth level. After they recovered from the fatigue of being on the battlefield for an extended period of time, they naturally wanted to go back out and fight and use their magic as much as possible so that they could hone their skills.


    Toz didn''t me them. If he didn''t have the grimoire, he would be the first one out the tent.


    He liked excitement and exploring, and since there was neither excitement nor any possibilities of exploring inside the tent, he at least wanted to go for the excitement of the battlefield.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 397 Resource Center (1)

    ?Eventually, the cats had all recovered from the fatigue they built up during their continued fighting on the battlefield. Since Toz was busy with the grimoire, he didn''t notice it at first, but the cats were quickly growing restless. But because of the changed atmosphere in the base camp and the impending deadline for the execution of the general''s n, they didn''t want to leave the camp and Toz.


    But the cats didn''t really try to hide their boredom, and Toz noticed before long. So, because he understood their feelings, Toz agreed to at least leave the tent with them and take a walk around the camp.


    It would allow them to stretch their legs, but they could also take the opportunity to try and eavesdrop and find the reason why everyone in the camp had be so diligent.


    Toz and the cats didn''t just wander around the camp without a goal. Although they stayed in the base because they didn''t want to miss the opportunity to participate in the general''s n, that didn''t mean there was nothing to do at the camp.


    There were a couple of recreational facilities, but they were to motivate or help the traumatized soldiers. They weren''t really ces that Toz wanted to bring the cats to, and they weren''t designed for beasts, so Toz ignored them.


    Instead, he went to the ce that wasn''t that different from a market or shopping center.


    The Resource Center.


    As its name said, the Resource Center was a center for resources. It was the ce where Hassandra got the grimoire she used toplete her end of the deal with Toz. But grimoires weren''t the only thing one could get from there.


    Food and weapons, like Vatel''s spear, were alsomon goods. There were also leisurely items like toys and books. But one of the most appreciated wares one could exchange contribution points for from the Resource Center was training materials.


    Toz and the cats hadn''t used any during their training and travels while together, mostly because they couldn''t be bothered to spend money on things that weren''t strictly necessary or that they really wanted. Scrael and Asilean had gotten ahold of suitable materials to use for their training before they met Toz. But afterward, there hadn''t been a need for it.


    With Toz''s inclination sharing and amplifying their talent for magic, he and the cats didn''t need to rely on mana crystals or potions to speed up their training or increase their mana control.


    Instead of scrounging around for money and wasting time looking for the right attribute on the mana crystals or potions effective enough to make a difference, it was more worth it for Toz and the cats to train if they wanted to progress.


    Not to mention how none of them wanted to rely on external means to progress. That would get rid of all fun in progressing or seeding.


    But other than materials that helped mages increase their level quicker, there were also natural treasures that could help deepen the mage''s understanding of their attributes. Compared to mana crystals and potions, those kinds of natural treasures were a lot rarer, so Toz and the cats hadn''t stumbled upon any. Unfortunately, they weren''t so rare that they would be precious enough to end up in the Blue Lounge League''s treasury.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Though, Mindle''s egg could probably have been used as a consumable for a fire mage if she had ended up with a different fate. Thankfully, that didn''t happen.


    Toz and the cats were going to the Resource Center mostly because it seemed like the only ce in the camp that would have anything interesting yet easily essible. The other interesting ces were hidden away or under strict surveince. Toz and the cats looking for something fun in those kinds of ces would only spell trouble.


    Going to the Resource Center was the best option. And if they were lucky, they might even find some kind of natural treasure that suited one of them.


    Toz told himself and the cats that they shouldn''t get their hopes up. With how active the camp was, the valuable items that people wanted were bound to sell like hotcakes. And if they were still avable, it was probably because of their price, which meant that Toz and the cats might not be able to afford them.


    However, as they headed toward the Resource Center, Toz and the cats couldn''t help but walk with steps filled with expectation. It wouldn''t be weird if there were one or two things that they wanted and could afford, right?


    Toz didn''t know if it was the beginning of their luck or simply a coincidence. Maybe it was even a sign of bad luck. But the way to the Resource Center was only sparsely trafficked with people going to and fro with shiny spatial rings or bulging spatial bags.


    Hopefully, people were too busy diligently following military orders to spend their contribution points on items in the Resource Center.


    Though it could just as well be the opposite. After picking theirzy asses up off the ground, people started getting more and more contribution points. And since there was no real value to those points, everyone went to the Resource Center to get something useful instead of contribution points that would lose all value as soon as the war ended.


    Hopefully, people were only buying smaller things that should be equivalent to the value of simply doing menial tasks and chores. That would leave all the good stuff to people who had more contribution points, like Toz.


    After capturing two tribespeople from the Tribe of Death, Toz''s contribution points skyrocketed. He and the cats had also defeated and killed a lot of demons and demonic beasts, which helped bring up his score to a significant value.


    Renting the tent had brought it down a bit. And Toz would certainly have had more if he and the cats had spent all their time on the battlefield instead of trying to follow the general''s whim.


    But the only way they could find out if there was anything Toz could use his contributions points on, or if they were enough, was to actually enter the Resource Center.

 Chapter 398 Resource Center (2)

    ?The military base was big, but Toz''s tent wasn''t far from the Resource Center, and Toz and the cats arrived before long. The cats were looking forward to everything they might find. Though, there were two things that dampened the mood, Lucy''s absence and the fact that they hadn''t heard anyone talk about the sudden shift in overall attitude within the camp.


    They were curious about what had happened to evoke the change in atmosphere, but not knowing that wasn''t as upsetting as Lucy not being able to join them in their tour around the field of tents. Lucy''s excitement over even the most trivial things would definitely have lit up their tiny adventure. And his uncanny sense for the weird and mysterious might even have helped them find the truly intriguing items. Unfortunately, he was so caught up in his own business that he didn''t even reach out to contact them now and then.


    Toz and the cats weren''t interested in everything that the Resource Center had to offer, but they still leisurely strolled as they looked around the field of tents filled with various wares being sold by all the vendors.


    Some tents wererger than others and were not that different whenpared to ordinary shops in that one had to enter them to see the avable products. Other tents were so small that the vendor could barely fit and the goods spilled out the front of them.


    The smaller tents were mostly independent sellers and traders who were better at striking deals and getting people to buy stuff than fighting on the battlefield. Therger tents seemed to be sponsored by prominent factions from either one of the kingdoms or the Transcendent Realm.


    It went without saying that the bigger tents and the factions backing them had better products and sold more items. But that also meant that they were more popr and had arger amount of customers to buy all their goods.


    So therge tents were more likely to have what Toz and the cats wanted. But they were also more likely to have already sold those items.


    Unsure of where to begin, Toz and the cats decided to look in the grimoire section. But they looked at all the tents they passed by.


    Toz stopped by the food section to pick up some proper food and seasoning. After he lost the supply he bought in Sleepless Brights, he hadn''t gotten another opportunity to get a hold of everything he wanted. It wasn''t surprising, but Pirate Haven and the pirates that lived there were only moderately interested in delicious food. Not to mention how spices and ingredients other than void fish meat were exceedingly rare.


    Since they were in the middle of a war and on a battlefield, Toz hadn''t expected much when he entered the food section. But he quickly changed his mind since the smellsing from all the tentspeted to overwhelm his nose.


    Deep aromas of cooked food and the subtle smell of the ingredients that were sold alongside made Toz''s and the cats'' mouths water, and they happily splurged a little. Since the food was made from medium or high level beasts, some even from the battlefield, it was a little pricier than Toz thought it would be. But delicious food was a luxury when fighting a war, so it also wasn''t very weird.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    After getting the things that Toz wanted to get, Toz and the cats enjoyed the mystery meat skewers while they continued to browse the tents along the way to the grimoire section.


    There were a bunch of tents selling misceneous items that seemed interesting, but none that really piqued Toz and the cats'' curiosity enough to make them purchase it.


    And since the tents selling higher-valued goods were further into the Resource Center than the grimoire section Toz and the cats would pass by the grimoire section first. Their secondary reason for going to the Resource Center would have to wait.


    Though probably not for long. Grimoires were one of the most sought-after items since they allowed a mage to disy might beyond what their level implied. And on a battlefield where mostbatants were of simr levels, grimoires and the spells they contained could save lives and kill enemies.


    When it came to surviving, few people would hesitate to spend some paltry contribution points. Toz wouldn''t be surprised if the grimoires were practically sold out.


    His only hope was that people had mastered spells and made grimoires to sell so that there would constantly be new grimoires avable for sale. Considering how much practice people could get on the battlefield, it wasn''t an unlikely scenario. And the military of the Alliance of Kingdoms, backed by the four kingdoms'' finances and the Obsidian Empire, was probably doing its best to gather grimoires and martial manuals from outside the war.


    Overall, there were good chances of there being grimoires in some of the tents, but they probably didn''t stay on the shelves for long. But Toz and the cats weren''t desperately searching for the grimoires. The one most keen on finding a suitable grimoire was Nil since everyone else already had spells or grimoires that suited them.


    Nil only had his Sharp Rain, and that spell didn''t really align with how Nil used or wanted to use magic.


    However, that didn''t mean he was dissatisfied with the spell. The properties of the spell and how it shaped metal had helped Nil a great deal. It was just that it didn''t have much future potential unless Nil could go beyond the realm of mastery andpletely make the spell his own, which probably wouldn''t happen. If Nil did anything with the spell, it would be to change itpletely.


    But it would be a lot easier for Nil if he simply found another spell that worked better with his magic, so he kept a keen eye out for any metal attribute grimoires lying around in the tents.

 Chapter 399 Resource Center (3)

    ?The first few tents in the officially designated grimoire section of the Resource Center had resorted to selling other training materials alongside their grimoires since their tents looked so empty otherwise. Having to sort through all the misceneous rubbish made it more difficult to spot the grimoires. It seemed to be a tactic intentionally employed by the sellers.


    The peddlers could get people interested in their other goods by making people stop and look through their items in search of a grimoire. It might work on people who were actually interested in things like ''The Basics of the Elements by Rando.''


    Unfortunately for the sellers, Toz and the cats only wanted to buy stuff that piqued their interest or would help them get better at magic. And they were already quite knowledgeable about the basics of their attributes, maybe not so much about other attributes. But they didn''t need to know in-depth how an element worked for them to beat it or its user.


    But unlike the smaller tents that had resorted to selling most things rted to magic and books, therger, more established tents still sold mostly grimoires. It was just that, following thews of supply and demand, the prices of the grimoires had shot through the roof.


    Even the most basic and boring spells like Waterball cost as much as a more advanced andplex spell cost at the beginning of the war. And the grimoires containing spells suitable to be called weapons of mass destruction were so expensive that even Toz shied away from them. Not that there were any spells that they really wanted.


    Metal, fire, and lightning were all rtivelymon elements, so the grimoires of those elements were all mostly taken. Darkness, space, and void were significantly rarer, especially void and space. Though space grimoires were so rare because of their value and how fast they were picked up by others who weren''t even space mages.


    There actually were a couple of darkness grimoires, but none that seemed like anything Lucy would like. He had already made a couple of spells on his own, and while the grimoires might provide some inspiration for Lucy, Lucy was the type to find inspiration when shadows covered a pebble on the roadside.


    Toz considered buying them anyways, but he had realized that his contribution points wouldn''t cover everything they wanted in that case. The darkness grimoires weren''t that cheap, after all.


    But if they didn''t find anything else, he would buy them. A couple of grimoires for Lucy would be better than returningpletely empty-handed, especially since Lucy missed their outing.


    However, Toz and the cats had only begun looking through the various tents in the grimoire section of the Resource Center. They hadn''t even gotten to the good tents yet, so it was too early to say that there would be nothing good in store for them.


    A little disappointed that they hadn''t found anything but still not discouraged, Toz and the cats went deeper into the grimoire section and started entering the bigger, more luxurious tents.


    They began finding grimoires with their elements, but the spells themselves weren''t anything extraordinary. At least not enough to make them worth what they cost.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Unfortunately, Toz and the cats couldn''t just call dibs on the grimoires they found interesting but weren''t sure they wanted to buy at the moment. They had to either waste all of Toz''s contribution points on grimoires that weren''t special or wait and hope that they would find something better.


    Since they had only begun to scratch the surface of what the Resource Section had to offer, Toz and the cats decided to keep looking instead of settling for something they didn''t really want. Even if they didn''t find anythingter on, they could still hopefully return fast enough to snag the Firewall spell or the Piercing Bolt grimoire.


    Eventually, Toz and the cats stopped in front of one of the tents that seemed to be backed by a considerably influential faction from the Transcendent Realm. There was no way they would have the number of grimoires and manuals they did if that weren''t the case.


    The price was suitably high, so Toz wasn''t sure he even wanted to enter. But he would regret it if they missed out on something just because he didn''t even want to look at things that would dig into his contribution points.


    Toz noticed the different feel to the tent as soon as he entered.


    The other tents they had stopped by were just that, tents. But this one, with a signboard that read ''Dexter''s Den,'' was no different from a real shop. The walls were still the tent''s cloth hanging down. But shelves sparsely decorated with grimoires lined the tent''s outer edge. And the ground was covered in wooden nk and self-cleaning carpet.


    And as soon as they stepped inside, most of the sound outside disappeared. The tent even had silencing enchantment to allow the customers to shop and browse in peace. It was quite luxurious for a tent made for a temporary setup in the middle of a battlefield. But the profits that they owned from what they sold were probably more than enough to make up for it.


    The disy goods stationed outside the tent were only a hint as to what the things inside cost. It seemed like the cheapest things were put outside, almost like an afterthought, while the actual wares sold by Dexter were on disy inside. And it seemed like the grade of the items rose the further inside the tent they were ced.


    The grimoires on the shelves were better than what others sold, but they weren''t as good as the grimoires put in the disy cases. And the very most expensive and valuable grimoires and manuals were locked behind the front desk. Either behind the employee or behind the ss front of the desk itself.


    Though it seemed like a few of the grimoires had been squeezed together to make space for a sign hanging on the desk that said ''No refunds.''

 Chapter 400 Resource Center (4)

    ?Seeing that sign made Toz realize they were in the same shop where Hassandra bought his lightning attribute grimoire. Although the receptionist seemed to have had a doubtful attitude with Hassandra, Toz couldn''t help but look forward to what Dexter''s Den would have. If they had something like what Hassandra got him, they could probably return satisfied. Though it was unlikely that there would be anything simr since that grimoire seemed to be pretty out of the ordinary, and not only in a good way.


    However, Toz and the cats were still interested in looking around. Even if there wasn''t a grimoire that was crazy in the same way as the one that Hassandra gave Toz, there might still be other grimoires.


    Toz and the cats started looking around the tent.


    The receptionist noticed them when they entered, but he quickly looked returned his attention to the book in front of him upon seeing Toz''s slightly dusty and wornbat suit. It was an unmorous model that didn''t seem like something abatant with enough contribution points to shop at Dexter''s Den would wear.


    But it wasn''t the first time there were visitors who were only interested in browsing and looking around. The receptionist had already talked politely to those kinds of people several times. And when he finally got them to admit that they couldn''t afford or weren''t going to buy any grimoires, they all said something with the same general meaning as ''broadening their horizons.''


    Instead of futilely trying to get a poor cheapskate to buy something and embarrass them in the process, the receptionist would much rather read his book. It was a little contradictory to the service offered by high-ss shops on the same level as Dexter''s Den. But the receptionist would have made sure to treat any valuable customers with utmost care. Letting one or two customers do their own shopping wouldn''t hurt, as long as they didn''t bother him.


    Unfortunately for the receptionist, Toz didn''t have any intentions of not being annoying.


    The receptionist''s decision to set up the no-refund sign had, in the end, led to Toz getting a great grimoire that suited him. But it was still rude to do that and intentionally mislead Hassandra.


    Toz wasn''t best buddies with the Lightning Rascals and Hassandra, but he was almost close enough to call them friends. And while he was shopping at Dexter''s Den, he might as well get some retribution for Hassandra. Though since she probably wouldn''t find out about it, it was more for his own sake than her.


    Well, in reality, he was just feeling bored and thought it would be funny to annoy someone intentionally. He wouldn''t feel guilty even if he had a reason. But it would be more satisfying with one, even if it was a fragile reason such as taking revenge for an acquaintance.


    Toz was kind of looking forward to seeing the receptionist''s eyebrows scrunch up in frustration while trying to read his book. In addition to taking revenge for Hassandra, taking revenge for how he had been so clearly looked down on also seemed like a valid reason to make the receptionist''s day take a turn for the worse.


    Since it seemed like it would be pretty easy to annoy the receptionist by doing the bare minimum and because the tent was otherwise empty, Toz chose a simple method of annoying the receptionist.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    He shouted questions about the grimoires across the tent. At first, most of the questions were reasonable since they were mostly about what grimoires with weird names did or from where the grimoires came.


    A fire attribute spell called ''Sneeze'' turned out to be a spell that used the motions of a sneeze to send out a powerful burst of mes from the mage''s mouth. Although it was an obscure and a little underhanded spell, it was supposedly powerful and could save one''s life in the right situations. But its ce was on a bottom shelf in the corner of the tent, which Toz understood.


    Even if it was a decently powerful spell, it wasn''t a spell that warranted a disy case or a position where it was intentionally highlighted.


    And in the same corner was another spell called ''Hugo''s Dance,'' which was a water attribute spell that let one walk on water. It could certainly be useful in some situations. But withrge enough spatial rings, it was easy to fit at least a raft. Not to mention all the different kinds of magical items and tools to help people traverse water. But there was one other thing that rendered the spell a little unappreciated.


    It was a water attribute spell, which meant it was for water mages. Water mages could innately manipte water. They didn''t need a spell to walk on water. Hugo''s Dance would only make it easier, but it wasn''t necessary.


    While not as strange as Sneeze, Hugo''s Dance wasn''t as powerful or useful, and that was what warranted its pce in the corner. The only reason it was inside the tent and not on disy outside was that Dexter was worried such ackluster grimoire would taint his business''s reputation. But he couldn''t not put out a grimoire for sale.


    Toz found out all those details by asking the receptionist questions. And since the receptionist only gave short, few-word answers, it took a whole heap of questions to get all that information he didn''t even really need.


    Toz acted like he didn''t notice the receptionist''s continuously souring attitude, but the cats giggled as the answers grew shorter and the receptionist''s voice practically turned into a growl.


    Toz continued browsing through the tent while asking increasingly nonsensical questions that put both the receptionist''s patience and knowledge to the test. Some questions, such as which sock the creator of a certain grimoire puts on first, had the receptionist trembling.


    Although he suppressed his happiness so that the receptionist wouldn''t notice that he was intentionally pranking him, the questions were ridiculous enough that the receptionist noticed before long. And since Toz didn''t seem like he was going to buy anything, there was no real reason to continue treating him like a customer.

 Chapter 401 Resource Center (5)

    ?"Excuse me, my good sir. Is there anything specific you are looking for that I can help you find?"


    The receptionist''s words would have sounded polite if it weren''t for the poorly veiled bucket-load of sarcasm and anger filling his voice.


    However, despite the receptionist''s clearly hostile attitude, Toz was still unbothered.


    "Not really. I''m just browsing, but thank you for asking."


    "Then, if you are not looking to purchase anything, may I ask to limit the frankly ludicrous questions you keep asking?"


    Toz looked up at the receptionist, his mouth agape in shock. His expression looked so serious and fake at the same time that the cats had to stifleughter.


    "My deepest apologies! I didn''t know I was causing you trouble. Can you give me an example of such a question, so I know what I shan''t ask?"


    The receptionist was too angry to notice that Toz was mocking him, and he sighed before obliging with the faint hope that it would get Toz to stop being so annoying.


    "You know, questions like ''What color was the shirt of the third person to touch this grimoire?'' How am I supposed to know those things? And how are they relevant to you and your purchase?"


    "Oh! That was just fleeting curiosity. I''ll make sure to restrain myself from now."


    "Thank you."


    The receptionist thanked Toz with sincerity and almostid his head down on the desk to sleep in relief, blissfully unaware that Toz had lied.


    Toz went back to browsing through the grimoires, looking for grimoires interesting enough to warrant a second look. He did it long enough that the receptionist''s frown had time to melt away.


    However, he didn''t actually want the receptionist to fall asleep, so Toz opened his mouth again.


    "Excuse me¡­."


    Just that was enough to make the receptionist''s head jerk up and show his face already scrunched up in irritation.


    "What¨C"


    "Is this grimoire from the same mage as ''Sneeze?''"


    Toz''s words interrupted the receptionist before he could burst out. Being stopped from showing a disgraceful side of himself would have ordinarily made the receptionist thankful. But he was as far from thankful as possible because the would-be object of his gratitude was also the trigger for hisck of grace.


    Thankfully, Toz at least asked a somewhat reasonable question this time.


    "What grimoire is it?"


    Toz held up a grimoire and showed it to the receptionist across the tent.


    "This one. ''Handshake.''"


    The receptionist quickly flipped through a catalog to his right before answering.


    "Yes. Theye from the same mage. Though he has chosen to remain anonymous, so I can not tell you his name."


    "That''s alright. I only wanted to know if the same person made them."


    "Great. Is there anything else I can help you with?"


    "No, not at the moment, thank you."


    Toz went back to looking through the grimoires on the shelves and inside the disy cases. But it only took a couple of minutes before he found another thing he could ask.


    "Excuse me¡­."


    The receptionist was on the verge of blowing his top by now, but since Toz had promised not to ask any unreasonably stupid questions, the receptionist pulled himself together and put on a fake smile as he answered.


    "Yes?"


    "How old is this one?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    As he asked, Toz held up a slightly worn grimoire and showed it to the receptionist.


    The receptionist squinted to get a look at the name on its front.


    "One second."


    The receptionist began flipping through the catalog to his right, so Toz had to wait. Fortunately, it didn''t take long until the receptionist found the answer to Toz''s question.


    "It has been two weeks since that grimoire was written. But the book itself is a couple of years old. However, you can rest assured that the spell is untouched and that the grimoire is fresh. Our shop proudly boasts about only putting recent additions to our shop on the shelves."


    The receptionist said thest bit with pride as his nose began pointing toward the sky. But his words made Toz realize something.


    If only recent additions were put on the shelves, did that mean that there were older grimoires somewhere else? Those grimoires probably hadn''t been sold for a reason, and if Toz had to guess, they were probably simr to the Sneeze, Handshake, and Hug''s Dance spells he had found.


    But there might also be grimoires simr to the one Hassandra gave him. If the receptionist hadn''t put up a no-refund sign, it was very likely that Hassandra would have returned the grimoire. The grimoire would have then continued to go unsold until it ended up in that storage.


    Before Toz could get his hopes too much, he looked directly at the receptionist with a clear gaze.


    "Then, where do the older grimoires end up?"


    The receptionist was a little stunned at Toz''s question since it didn''t seem to be asked with the same mocking intent as all his other questions. But then he realized that Toz had assumed that there were grimoires he couldn''t sell. Although he was offended by Toz''s question, and it showed on his face, the receptionist still answered Toz''s question.


    "Grimoires that regrettably don''t catch the interest of our customers either end up in front or, if they''re generally unwanted, end up in the back."


    Toz almost licked his lips in anticipation. His instincts were telling him that the good stuff was in the back that the receptionist had just revealed to him.


    Toz restrained himself and asked the receptionist.


    "Ahem. And would it be possible to take a look at the grimoires in the back?"


    "You want to look at the grimoires that no one else wanted to buy?"


    "Yes."


    "Why?"


    "I''m curious."


    "Unfortunately, we''re understaffed at the moment. I have to watch you at all times, but I can''t leave the store unattended, so you''ll have toe back another time."


    Toz could almost taste the receptionist''s glee at possibly getting rid of him. But he wasn''t going to give up.


    "You need to watch this ce that has dozens of security and surveince enchantments?"


    "Y-yes, I¨C"


    The receptionist was a little surprised that Toz had noticed all the defensive enchantments that most customers didn''t notice. But before he could exin himself, Toz continued with the finisher.


    "There aren''t even any other customers here."


    "B-but we are still open, and there mighte someone."


    "Then, those enchantments connected to the token at your waist will tell you that, right?"


    The receptionist had gone from a little surprised at how Toz noticed all the defensive enchantments to scared at how Toz identified something like the token at his waist when he had been sitting behind a desk at all times.


    In order to get to the back, where he could feel his instincts leading him, Toz pulled out all stops. He happily revealed that he knew about the tent''s defensive enchantments. And when that didn''t work, he used the first thing he picked up after entering the tent.


    Since he had his mana vision active at almost all times, nowadays, Toz saw the burst of mana that flew through the air toward the receptionist directly following his entry into the tent. His mana vision also revealed a tight bundle of enchantments hanging at the receptionist''s waist. It was clearly a token used to control andmunicate with the tent.


    With that, Toz sessfully convinced the receptionist to show him the back room.

 Chapter 402 Garden (1)

    ?The receptionist of Dexter''s Den, the grimoire-selling tent, had to ept and realize that Toz wasn''t some ordinary bottom-rungbatant of the war that had stumbled into the tent by ident and started looking around. The customer in front of him was a little weird, very annoying. But seemingly just as capable as he seemed to be entric.


    The precision with which Toz pointed at the token hanging at his waist rmed the receptionist, which lessened his frustration toward Toz, though he felt a little fear instead. But it didn''t make him any more willing to ept his request and show him the back room. Both out of unwillingness to give in to Toz and because he dreaded all the ridiculous questions that woulde pouring in as soon as Tozid eyes on the stacks of grimoires.


    However, the receptionist was a proud employee of Dexter''s Den. And he couldn''t refuse to ept a customer''s request as long as it was reasonable. Looking or asking for permission to look in the back where the older grimoires were stored was a perfectly reasonable request.


    It was so reasonable of a request that the receptionist would almost jump for joy whenever someone else asked for it since it usually meant that they would be able to decrease the ever-increasing number of grimoires stored there.


    But the one who had made that request this time was a customer who asked the most annoying and nonsensical questions a still sane person could understand. And the customer always asked those questions when he found the odder grimoires.


    The back room was filled with grimoires who had ended up there because no one had bought them. And grimoires were left unpurchased because no one could find a use for them, which meant they were certainly worthy of the title oddities.


    It was like paradise for Toz, who appeared to be looking for stranger grimoires. But since he was always asked those strange questions, it was like being repeatedly tapped on the head as soon as he was on the verge of falling asleep for the receptionist.


    The receptionist wavered between refusing Toz''s request and hoping it wouldn''t lead to trouble further down the line or epting the request and hoping his sanity would remain intact at the end of the day.


    Sweat beaded on the receptionist''s forehead as Toz continued staring at him with a piercing gaze.


    Eventually, it became too much for the poor receptionist. His mind was already weary from holding back all the frustration he had built up during Toz''s browsing and curious questioning. Toz''s gaze and his pride as Dexter''s employee made the receptionist cave, and he sighed heavily before guiding Toz to the tent p that led to the back room where the unsold grimoires were stored.


    Such a heavy sigh would have been enough to get most people to gape at the impoliteness. But Toz was too excited to see all the grimoires that everyone else had decided they didn''t want. Even if he had paid attention to the receptionist''s behavior, he wouldn''t have cared too much about his rudeness.


    Toz wasn''t much of a stickler for manners and proper etiquette. Not to mention how he was the one responsible for making the receptionist sigh. He couldn''t really make ament on it.


    After finally making the decision to lead Toz to the back room, the receptionist didn''t waste time intentionally dawdling. The quicker Toz could finish, the quicker the receptionist could take medicine for his headache and goy down on a soft bed. Hopefully, there wouldn''t be any nightmares. But with the day he had had, the receptionist wasn''t so sure he would be able to sleep well. Maybe he should add a sleeping potion to the headache medicine.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The receptionist led Toz through the tent p and into the back room without exchanging even the slightest small talk. Toz''s voice had already done enough. And the receptionist wanted to rest his ears as much as possible.


    Thankfully, it seemed like Toz wasn''t nning on being annoying from the get-go.


    Toz stopped at the entrance. It had barely been noticeable in the previous part of the tent. But it became a lot more obvious in the back room how extravagant the tent was.


    The main tent itself was slightly bigger on the inside than on the outside. Considering how most tents didn''t clearly separate themselves from the outside world in the same way, for example, rooms did, it was definitely harder to incorporate spatial expansion enchantments.


    But the back room, which was its own room inside the tent, didn''t suffer the same limitations, and it took up more space than there should logically be inside the tent when based on how it appeared from the outside.


    The back room wasn''t that much bigger than the official shop, but it was more densely packed with shelves. And the grimoires and manuals on the shelves weren''tid face up with the names on full disy. They were crammed in next to each other, like books in a bookstore, not valuables in showcases.


    The shelves and the room weren''t as brightly lit as the other part of the tent, and the room felt like it was dusty and old, without there actually being any dust or dirt around due to self-cleaning enchantments in the tent.


    The receptionist waved Toz into the room before sitting down at a desk right next to the entrance, already rubbing his temples.


    Toz spent a few more moments admiring the rows upon rows of unwanted grimoires, just waiting for someone to pick them up and be confused about why someone would want such a grimoire.


    That wasn''t the only thing Toz admired. Upon seeing the collection, Toz also began admiring Dexter. While others were struggling to even find and sell the most basic grimoires, Dexter had an entire shop full of grimoires that ranged from weird and mostly useless to nearly priceless treasures. And behind that, he had another collection of grimoires that, while probably mostly weird, were stillplete grimoires containing actual spells.


    In order to be capable of such a feat, Dexter was surely an amazing person in at least one way.


    When he was finished with his admiring, Toz began looking through the shelves.

 Chapter 403 Garden (2)

    ?The back room that felt and looked older than it really was wasn''t as brightly lit as the store, but it was still bright enough for Toz to make out thebels on the grimoires and read their descriptions without trouble. Though thanks to his refinement and the bond with the cats, Toz had excellent vision even in the dark, so it would have mattered even if there weren''t any lights in the room.


    The cats apanied Toz as he walked among the shelves, slowly grazing all the grimoires with his eyes.


    He quickly realized that a lot of the grimoires were duplicates and contained spells that were about as useful as Hugo''s Dance. But he wasn''t dissuaded. He knew even before they entered the back room that it was very unlikely they would find something like the grimoire Hassandra got for him at once. If anything, they would probably have to rummage through all the grimoires before they found something interesting.


    However, Toz''s instincts were telling him that there really was something hidden within the back room, so even if it took a little longer, he looked at each and every grimoire. The grimoire he got from Hassandra didn''t sound that amazing just by reading its name. Even after reading its description, it still didn''t sound that incredible. It wasn''t until after Toz had read what the spell did and understood what it could mean that he realized the spell''s potential.


    And since what they were looking for and hoping to discover might be simr, Toz read the description attached to every grimoire in case the spell''s potential was hidden behind a weird name.


    Although being so thorough took more than expected, Toz didn''t mind it at all. The cats didn''t, either, since it was entertaining reading about grimoires with weird names and spells and then guessing what kind of mage had created them.


    However, Toz only partook in the cats'' guessing game now and then since he was focused on the grimoires. The reason he didn''t care about the time it took was that all the spells, no matter how obscure or seemingly useless, were all examples of how one could use advanced magic.


    A fire spell didn''t only have to be how to create and conjure fire in a certain way before sing it on a target. It could also be how to steal fire from someone else or get rid of fire. There were also several spells that focused on beauty. One didn''t have to use fire to attack or defend since it could also be used for disys of exceptional control or as entertainment.


    However, spells that didn''t increase a mage''s offensive power were more than useless in the middle of a war since it would take time from practicing useful spells, which would put the mage further behind the enemies or allies they fought against or alongside in the war.


    Learning a new spell, especially one that concentrated on the intricacies of wielding fire, would undoubtedly increase a mage''s control over mana and fire. But not enough to increase their offensive might whenpared to an attack spell.


    So the back room was filled with grimoires that were generally useless, but also those who were useless when it came to the ways ofbat. Toz wouldn''t usually consider buying such spells since his life was filled with a lot of action and fighting, but they used mana and magic in a way that differed from offensive spells.


    And that solving that difference could help Toz cross the wall that he encountered while he burned down his jail cell.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    When Toz melted the walls of his cell using fire magic, he used his mana vision toe close to bringing out the true nature of fire mana, which was something he could only do with a spell, usually. However, no matter how hard he tried, he hadn''t seeded, possibly because he didn''t have a deep enough understanding of fire.


    However, he could deepen his understanding of fire magic by inspecting the various uses of fire, of which the grimoires filling up the back room were examples.


    Toz naturally couldn''t open or read the grimoires since that would use up the magic stored in them. But reading the names and descriptions told him the end goal in the spell and mana usage. With enough experience and practice, he could probably reverse engineer some of the simpler spells, even without knowing the proper method.


    Perhaps not at the moment, even with fire, the element he knew best, but Toz was quite confident that even just trying to do that would help him deepen his understanding of how fire worked.


    After a while, the cats also realized the benefits of what Toz were doing, and they also began inspecting each and every grimoire of the same attribute as themselves. Since Toz had six elements, he had more to look through than the cats. Though, there were only grimoires of metal, darkness, fire, and lightning.


    But Toz didn''t consider it fortunate that he didn''t have even more grimoires that he could inspect. If anything, it was a shame since it was space and void that he wanted to find a more varied usage for when it came to his attributes and magic.


    However, since there weren''t any space and void grimoires, there was one cat that was a little left out. Asilean. But since Lucy wasn''t with them, he worked with Toz topile a record of what the darkness grimoires were and what kind of spells they contained.


    Lucy might not need it, but it was the least they could do for him since he was working hard while the others were taking it easy and shopping. And, for Toz, at least, writing down what the darkness spells were and their descriptions helped him understand them further.


    Although Toz and the four cats had originally entered the back room in the search of one or more grimoires simr to the one Hassandra gave Toz, they had instead begun inspecting each and every grimoire to deepen their understanding and knowledge of magic. But since finding a special grimoire like that wasn''t even a guarantee, none of them minded the dy.


    Not even the receptionist since it allowed him to take a blissful break. After he got absorbed in the grimoires on the shelves, Tozpletely forgot about the receptionist and annoying him.

 Chapter 404 Garden (3)

    ?Although Toz and the cats dived into the descriptions andbels of the grimoire to try and understand the base of how they used mana, the descriptions were rarely more than a few sentences. And since the names of the spells were also quite simple, Toz and the cats didn''t waste much time on each grimoire.


    Toz and the cats mostly read each grimoire''s description until they understood the spell and the spell''s use and purpose. They would try andprehend the workings of the spell''s manater, when they had more time and freedom. Toz and the cats were still trying to find at least one exceptional grimoire, after all.


    The receptionist hadn''t mentioned a time limit of any kind, but Toz doubted that the tent was open for business without stopping. Well, the receptionist did sleep on the job, so maybe it was open for business more than Toz thought. But in that case, it meant that there would be another customer before long, which would wake up the sleeping receptionist.


    That in itself wasn''t necessarily a bad thing, but Toz didn''t think that the receptionist would appreciate them spending so much time in the back room if there was another customer waiting for him inside the shop.


    Toz also wanted to find what they came looking for as quickly as possible. If they really did find a grimoire on the same level as the one Hassandra him, it would be better to begin studying it as soon as possible in the hopes that the one who got it could use it during the uing battles.


    And the sooner they were done reading through all the grimoires'' descriptions, the sooner they could begin experimenting with their own magic. Toz was especially keen on trying to reach the level of fire magic he couldn''t reach during his prison break. If he could, it was sure to bring hisbat strength and offensive might to incredible heights that his rtively low level would hide.


    If he could learn the spell hassandra got him in addition to that, Toz was almost sure he could at leastnd a hit on Yill. Or perhaps another transcendent that was weaker. Yeah, that would be easier.


    However, as soon as that thought struck him, Toz realized he was letting his progress get to his head. He was still at the sixth level. And he was already thinking about sessfullynding a blow on a transcendent, someone four levels above him. And that was without taking into consideration the nigh-unfathomable divide between the mortal levels and the transcendent level.


    He had indeed gotten stronger than he was when Yill turned him and the cats into icicles, but Toz hadn''t grown so far that he could confidentlypete with the power Yill had shown. Not to mention how she had likely held back a lot of her strength so that she didn''t injure anyone or trigger the effects of the Transcendent''s Pledge.


    Even if Toz mastered the spell and made a breakthrough in his understanding of fire, enough so that his standard use of fire magic was on the same level as a spell, Toz didn''t think he could win against Yill. He had to break through to the high levels, at least. But even that probably wasn''t enough.


    Toz shook his head to try and get rid of the final dregs of overinted confidence and any stray thoughts as he refocused on the grimoires in front of and around him.


    Making progress with his magic was good, but progressing too fast and too much could easily lead to a skewed perception of his strength whenpared to the rest of the universe.


    Toz was worried that he was still misjudging his strength, but he was relieved that he had realized it when he was reading about grimoires and thinking about his future. And not when he was fighting or right about to initiate a fight.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    If he thought he could beat someone that he could barely even touch the shins of and acted upon that belief, he would only put himself and the cats in harm''s way.


    Thankfully, he had realized it before something bad happened, and Toz promised himself that he would stay neutral regarding his future advancements in magic. He wouldn''t underestimate himself since that could lead to just as much trouble, and he wouldn''t get rid of his confidence in himself. That was one of the things that made him Toz, after all.


    However, he would try and keep an eye out for how his self-perception changed. If he got overconfident once, it could happen again.


    After getting his thoughts in order, Toz returned his focus to the grimoires.


    He and the cats had gone through the names and descriptions of a lot of the books, but there was still an incredible number of them left. And all of them were beginning to get a little mentally tired from reading and actively trying to understand the spells'' purpose and function.


    But Toz and the cats weren''t going to take any breaks until they were done or until they found something extraordinary that wasn''t just weird but useful as well.


    Fortunately, the odds of them finding something rose with each shelf they went through. At least as long as they worked under the assumption that there was something to find. However, Toz''s intuition told him that there was something within the back room, and his intuition was rarely wrong, if ever.


    Toz and the cats continued looking through the grimoires. At first, since they drew inspiration from the strange and obscure spells they found, they didn''t lose much motivation. But as time went on and they still didn''t find anything, they slowly became demoralized.


    That was when Toz noticed something.


    Nil hadn''t moved on from the grimoire in front of him for quite a while. Since his head was lowered and Toz could see his eyes, he first thought that Nil had fallen asleep. He had personally felt the urge to close his eyes and rest his eyelids for a few minutes, so he didn''t me Nil.


    But when Toz looked closer, he noticed that Nil was wide awake, and his eyes zed as he read and re-read the description on the grimoire on the floor in front of him.


    And above the description was one word. Garden.

 Chapter 405 Garden (4)

    ?Toz shuffled and weaved through the piles of grimoires he and the cats had lined up on the floor. Mindle, Scrael, and Asilean noticed what he was doing, and they followed his trajectory to see Nil locked on the grimoire in front of him. Nil was so focused on the grimoire that he was the only one who didn''t notice Toz''s movements.


    The three cats looked on curiously as Toz went over and bent down next to Nil so that he could read the description on the grimoire.


    After reading it once, Toz understood why Nil read it again, but he didn''t understand Nil''s entranced look.


    However, as Toz read the description a couple of more times, he began to understand why Nil had gotten caught by it. It only seemed like a useless grimoire at first, but as he started to understand what the spell did and how it was supposed to work, Toz realized that it was what they were looking for in the back room. Probably.


    If an ordinary grimoire was like a recipe for a dish, in that it told the mage what they needed and exactly how to prepare and use it, Garden, the grimoire in front of Nil, was nothing more than a piece of paper. It was up to the mage to write the recipe on their own, as long as they followed the most basic requirement, metal mana.


    Since a grimoire told the mage how to arrange and use their mana in order to awaken their mana''s true nature, a grimoire that didn''t tell them anything like that was definitely useless. At least, that was what the description sounded like it did.


    However, it wasn''t that useless. It was probably hard to use it to do more than the bare minimum that the grimoire itself showed the mage how to do. But it also provided a medium for the mage to try creating spells on their own, or rather the effects of spells. It was slightly different from spells directly.


    But Garden was undoubtedly an incredible tool if one could use it correctly. It was just that it took insight, experience, talent, skill, and a deep understanding of metal for anyone to begin even trying to learn Garden.


    Nil didn''t think that he could learn Garden just yet or even in the near future. But he could see how much it would help him in mastering metal magic. First, he had to snap himself out of the daydreams he had where he stood in a world of metal and obliterated any foe before they could even think about resisting. He also daydreamed about creating majestical traps and constructs using the power of Garden.


    Nil wasn''t even sure that Garden would be as powerful as he thought it was, but he could hope. And based on that hope, he resolved to ask Toz for the grimoire. He hoped that Toz would understand what he saw in the grimoire''s description.


    But since the description basically told the one who read it to figure it out by themselves, Nil was a little worried, even if he trusted Toz.


    Toz had been quite vocal about how expensive everything was and might not want to buy something if it didn''t seem useful.


    However, Nil''s worries were for naught. Since it was Nil''s heartfelt request, Toz would have happily obliged, even if he didn''t understand the potential of the grimoire. But after reading the description enough times, Toz had started to realize some of the spell''s potential, even if his thoughts didn''t run as deep as Nil''s.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Nil didn''t even have to ask.


    He looked up as soon as he noticed Toz hanging over his shoulder, and when Toz saw that Nil was no longer entranced with the grimoire, he took it and went to the sleeping receptionist.


    Since the receptionist was asleep, mostly due to how much Toz traumatized him, Toz didn''t bother waking him up. He just left a note and paid for the grimoire before they returned to the remaining grimoires.


    They could have waited to buy the grimoire until they left, but Nil wanted to read it at once, and for that, he had to buy it to loosen the enchantment binding it shut.


    Nil immediately went to a corner to read the grimoire while Toz and the other cats continued scouring through the shelves. Although they had found one grimoire that seemed to be filled with hidden potential, there was nothing that said they couldn''t find another. There was also the fact that there were still bundles of inspiration to be found in the grimoires whose descriptions they hadn''t read yet.


    There wasn''t much for Toz and the cats to gain when they had already read through more than half the grimoires, especially since a lot of them were duplicates, but they didn''t want to miss anything just because they werezy. And since Nil had found something that he at least thought was incredible, the other cats also wanted something.


    Well, Scrael and Toz had the grimoire that Toz got from Hassandra, so they weren''t as desperate in their search for something. And Asilean had gained newfound hope about maybe being able to find a suitable grimoire hidden away in some deep corner. Mindle also wanted something so that she didn''t fall behind the others.


    Unfortunately, Nil''s Garden was the only thing the group found aside from inspiration within the back room of Dexter''s Den. They checked through everyst shelf and grimoire, but nothing seemed to be worth the contribution points they cost.


    So, Toz and the cats left after wishing the receptionist a restful sleep.


    Though, Toz handled a customer on the way out. Since the customer seemed to know what they wanted, Toz didn''t have to do much, just make sure the price was right and then show them where to touch their bracelet.


    After doing that, he left another note for the receptionist telling him about it. He signed it with a tongue-out smiley.

 Chapter 406 The Calm Before The Storm

    ?While writing the note, Toz figured he might as well y onest prank, so he doodled a little on the receptionist''s face as he slept on the desk in the back room. When he finished, he and the cats left the Resource Center and returned to their tent.


    Nil wanted to start reading his grimoire as soon as possible. And Toz and the others, mainly Mindle and Scrael, wanted to go back and deepen their understanding of the ways of magic by thinking about the weird ways to use magic they had found in the grimoires. Since Asilean never found any grimoires of his elements, he felt a little left out, but he just turned his focus to improving his magic in the way he had started doing since they got to the battlefield.


    Nil focused on his grimoire. Mindle sank into her own mind as she began reflecting on the knowledge they obtained while reading about the grimoires, and Toz and Scrael did the same while alternatingly going through the grimoire.


    They still hadn''t found out what was going on in the tent, but they could tell that people were preparing and making sure things were ready. And considering they were in the middle of a battlefield and it was war, Toz could guess that it had to do with some offensive action.


    And if he could figure that out, Toz could also realize that it was probably the official and aboveboard part of the general''s grand n to end the war. And when his thoughts hade that far, it didn''t take much for him to conclude that it probably wasn''t long until it was time for the secret and covert part of the general''s n.


    It was the part of the n that would hopefully give Toz the opportunity to earn enough contribution points for Dyra to be able to justify him tagging along to the Transcendent Realm. Based on the general''s behavior and reaction when he invited Toz to the secret room, Toz felt it was likely that he would be part of the n.


    But even if it wasn''t, Toz still had to make sure they earned enough contributions to follow Dyra. So, in addition to studying the grimoire and deepening his understanding of fire, Toz also spent some time sneaking around the camp and listening to the various conversations people had about the uing battle.


    If he wasn''t added to the infiltration part of the n, Toz had to be ready to do as much as possible with the other part since it seemed like anyone could join that one.


    After spending contribution points on their tent and Garden, his total amount had decreased. The tent and Garden were rtively cheap, but Toz was still far from having enough to justify apanying Dyra to the Transcendent Realm. And if the general''s n was a sess and the war ended following its execution, Toz wouldn''t have another chance to gather contribution points.


    Without enough contribution points, he and the cats wouldn''t be able to follow Dyra to the Transcendent Realm, where Taienra had been taken by Yill''s associate. If that happened, they would have to either find another method or rely on their own capabilities to reach the Transcendent Realm.


    But relying on their own capabilities meant that they probably had to reach the transcendent level before they could go to the Transcendent Realm. They weren''t even at the eighth level yet. Breaking through to the Transcendent Level would surely take a lot of time. Time they couldn''t afford to waste since Taienra was in trouble.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    And the only other people Toz and the cats knew from the Transcendent Realm were the Lightning Rascals, but Toz didn''t think they were close enough for him to ask something like that of them.


    Dyra hadn''t intentionally made it seem like a big deal. But considering Toz had never heard of the Transcendent Realm before and that he had to have arge number of achievements under his belt for her to bring him along, it probably wasn''t a minor thing to bring a native of the Mortal Realm to the Transcendent Realm.


    Although it might not be as friendly, Toz still had a deeper rtionship with Dyra than the Lightning Rascals. And Dyra also felt guilty over how things had transpired between them and what had happened to Taienra, so she had more of a reason to bring Toz and the cats to the Transcendent Realm than the Lightning Rascals did.


    Of course, Toz could ask the Lightning Rascals and see how they responded. If things worked out, even without Toz and the cats gathering enough achievements, it would be great, and they could proceed to finding and saving Taienra.


    But since they weren''t in a position where they could rely on things working out well in the end. They had to take precautions and make preparations in case things went awry.


    And one of those preparations Toz was making was to have as good a grasp of what was going on as possible. His information-gathering skills weren''t as great as Lucy''s, but they were still good enough for him to find out what was happening in the base camp.


    It took him a little while and some piecing together various clues. But Toz found out that the general was nning tounch a full-on offensive maneuver against the Fortress of Death with almost all the Alliance of Kingdoms'' forces.


    But the reason people were doing their best to follow orders and looking like they were contributing wasn''t because of some newfound sense of duty. There was apparently a multitude of rumors going around that one could use contribution points to buy a safer spot in the army that would march on the Tribe of Death''s base.


    Since people realized how dangerous the general''s n would be, they naturally wanted to increase their odds of survival. However small they might be.


    Toz really wanted Lucy to return. He could sense dangerous undercurrents below the supposedly simple military maneuver, but he couldn''t tell what they were without Lucy''s help.

 Chapter 407 Its Getting Kinda Windy (1)

    ?However, the time for the general''s n was rapidly creeping closer, and Lucy still showed no signs of returning to Toz and the other cats. Toz managed to suppress his worries at first, but he couldn''t help but be filled with anxiety as he couldn''t even contact Lucy. And he hadn''t gotten a word from Lucy for quite a while.


    The only thing thatforted Toz was that he could tell that Lucy was still alive. But he couldn''t tell what state Lucy was in wherever he was. Toz didn''t know whether Lucy was thriving and didn''t return because he didn''t need to or if he was hanging on to his life by a thread and didn''t return because he physically couldn''t. And he didn''tmunicate because some kind of magic blocked the bond''s connection.


    Their imprisonment in the maximum-level security prison that Dyra and Yill put them in proved that it was possible to hinder an inclination''s magic. If it could happen once, it could happen again.


    However, it would take a transcendent or extremely skilled mage or fighter to capture and imprison Lucy. An borate enough trap might also suffice, but only because it would pique Lucy''s curiosity. And if it were an opponent skilled enough to capture Lucy, Toz would have to risk his life to save Lucy. Toz didn''t mind doing that.


    But what if Lucy wasn''t even in danger, and Toz just poked a ho''s nest because he couldn''t contain his worries and trust Lucy? However, those kinds of thoughts only exacerbated Toz''s worries since he flipped them around.


    What if something happened to Lucy because Toz didn''te and save him?


    The other cats had to hold down Toz and force him to calm down and think things through before he did anything drastic.


    "Toz. It''s great that you worry so much. But you don''t have to. Lucy might seem childish and impulsive, but there is no way he would put himself at unnecessary risk, especially not when he is alone. If anything, he will be so cautious and secretive that not even someone like Yill would notice him."


    Scrael''s words calmed Toz down, and he managed to think rationally. But then Nil spoke up and made Toz worried about something else.


    "That''s right, Toz. Since he never shows that side to you, you don''t know. But as soon as he''s alone, his smile disappears, and he turns into a cold-blooded killer. You have nothing to worry about except maybe not getting any achievements since Lucy has done everything, and the war will end without us needing to do anything."


    "Nil, be serious. Lucy definitely wouldn''t end the war. We should almost worry about what''s going to happen since it feels like Lucy is doing something to stir up even more trouble."


    "Maybe he''s plotting to weaken the kingdoms'' army or strengthen the Tribe of Death so that Toz can get a moment to shine and get more contribution points?"


    Asilean''s retort to Nil''s assumption about Lucy''s ns didn''t seem very farfetched. But before anyone could consider it, Mindle added her thoughts, which seemed a little ridiculous at first.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But then they remembered that they were dealing with Lucy. If he found an opportunity and got a whim to do it, it waspletely possible that he would intentionally create even more chaos in the middle of the war. He might do it even if he wasn''t sure that it would lead to Toz getting an opportunity to rack up contribution points.


    And considering that Lucy had left to figure out what the third party''s secret ns were, it was also likely that he would find some kind of ammunition to fan the mes of war.


    If there really were people plotting against the Alliance of Kingdoms in secrecy, using means that didn''t align with the Tribe of Death, it was possible that the group of plotters wasn''t necessarily working with the Tribe of Death or their proxies.


    Lucy hadn''t revealed all of his findings, but if the Tribe of Death really had spies on the inside of the Alliance of Kingdoms, winning the war should be done deal for them. However, what if the spies belonged to someone else, someone who wanted the war to drag on?


    There might be another reason that the spies within the Redire Kingdom''sbatants and members of the army didn''t act to end the war at once. But considering the other part of the conspiracy that Toz and Lucy had realized, it was more likely that the spies and the ones behind the conspiracy weren''t rted to either the alliance or the Tribe of Death.


    If Lucy caught the tails of whoever those plotters were and brought them into the light, it was very likely that a three-way war would unfold instead of the current war between the Obsidian Empire and Tribe of Death proxy war.


    And a threefold proxy war, if it stays a proxy war, is bound to be more chaotic than a war between two parties, especially if the third party shows its face at the end of the war. Right when the Alliance of Kingdoms and the Tribe of Death are gathering all their forces for a final sprint to the finish line.


    The full force of the Alliance of Kingdoms, the entire might of Tribe of Death''s proxies, and the hidden power behind the conspiracy. If those three collided, it would certainly be a sight that Lucy would enjoy.


    As Toz and the cats realized that, they stopped worrying about Lucy''s safety and started worrying about their own instead.


    Lucy would be fine as long as he stayed hidden and orchestrated things from behind the scene. But Toz and the other cats had to dive into the thick of it if they wanted to gather enough contribution points to follow Dyra to the Transcendent Realm, where they would hopefully find and rescue Taienra.


    Toz and the other cats couldn''t confirm anything, but after they agreed that Lucy wasn''t the type to get himself in trouble, only others, they rxed and focused on themselves. If they wanted to survive the uing sh, they had to have sufficient strength.

 Chapter 408 Its Getting Kinda Windy (2)

    ?Toz and the cats, especially Nil, wanted more time to learn their new spells and improve their magic. But it didn''t seem like they would get that as the atmosphere in the camp was growing increasingly vtile. And from what Toz heard, the situation outside the base, on the battlefield, was the same.


    People were desperate. They didn''t want to die. But to increase their chances of survival, they had to risk their lives and get contribution points. No matter what, it seemed like incredible numbers of people were going to die in the uing sh. And this fear continued growing.


    The atmosphere would eventually reach a bursting point. Even now, the only thing keeping people calm was the threat of ve cors. But since people who acted out did get enved, it was more of a promise than a threat. Not that there were many who tried to do something they shouldn''t. Practically everyone knew that the only way to leave the battlefield was to die ore close enough that no one with a conscience could send you back to the battlefield.


    Unlike the camp, which was like a powder keg just waiting to be lit, the state of the battlefield fluctuated violently. There would sometimes be action andbat more explosive than a volcanic eruption, only for a deceptive tranquility to lower itself over the entire battlefield only momentster.


    Traversing that kind of battlefield added more stress and risk than usual. But people who were desperate for contribution points still braved the battlefield in the hopes that it would increase their odds of survivalter on.


    Since manybatants died doing that, Toz almost expected the army to limit who could leave, but if anything, it seemed like they supported those actions. Toz didn''t know what to think of it, but he almost wondered if it was one of the general''s machinations.


    However, Toz couldn''t understand why the general would n for, or even allow, thebatants to hand over their lives to the Tribe of Death, who literally used the corpses of their enemies to battle.


    Toz had seen how sharp the general''s gaze was during their meeting, and the general undoubtedly knew about what was happening. And there had to be a reason why he didn''t stop it. But Toz barely even knew the general''s name, much less what tricks he had up his sleeves.


    And his investigations were giving him less and less information due to the rapidly intensifying state of the camp. Trying to find information about the general, who controlled everything in the camp, like a puppeteer with his dolls, would be next to impossible.


    So instead of wasting more time trying to find out what was going on and when things were finally happening, Toz dedicated himself wholeheartedly to studying the grimoire he got from Hassandra. It would be tight, but if he tried hard enough, maybe he would learn the spell before the fighting broke out or the general called for him.


    It would be close, but Toz didn''t put all his eggs into that one basket.


    Toz had kept the creased nket method active at all times since he created and learned it. If he was lucky and the general''s n dragged out long enough, Toz might be able to both break through to the seventh level and learn the spell that would push his offensive might to another teau.


    Thankfully, Scrael didn''t mind giving Toz the grimoire to let him use it all the time. She would have been more reluctant if she had thought she would be able to use it before things went down. But even if she was close to learning it, she didn''t delude herself into thinking there actually was enough time for her to learn it.


    So Scrael began practicing the state where the world slowed to a near stop in her eyes. If she could control it wlessly, it would be a lot easier for her to fight and survive on the battlefield. If things really became as chaotic as they feared they might, having a trump card like it up her sleeves could save her life. It could also save one of herpanions if it came to it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Mindle delved into her own understanding of fire. The tidbits of inspiration she had gotten from the sea of grimoires melted into her mind and body and became part of her strength. The new pieces of understanding and knowledge of fire sublimated into her already existing understanding and created ripples that spread through her body and filled her with fire.


    Although she hadn''t read any of the grimoires, it felt like the essence of the fire within them spoke to her and told her how to use really fire and bring out its true potential. It was the first time Mindle experienced anything like it, but it came so naturally that she didn''t even notice it.


    Mindle used that newfound ability and deepened understanding to improve her magic and change it to suit her. And the only thing that she could really call her magic was her Tongues of me.


    Nil buried himself in the grimoire he had found in the back room of Dexter''s Den. Although it was more than unlikely for him to learn the spell itself in the time they had left before it was time for the execution of the general''s n, he could still deepen his understanding of metal with it. And that deepened understanding would help him improve his magic. It might be marginal at first. But each improvement he made led to another ounce of power that could either kill an enemy or save apanion.


    Asilean had felt a little left behind at first since he didn''t find any grimoires that suited him in Dexter''s Den. He didn''t even find any useless ones that could give him inspiration and help him deepen his understanding of magic.


    However, he quickly realized that he didn''t need any fancy grimoire or some fleeting source of inspiration. He should just stick to what he already knew and improve it as far as he could. His spatial shift and spatial tear supported by void magic were all he needed. Those two magics covered his offensive and evasive abilities to the point that he didn''t need anything else.


    If he could move around freely, Asilean didn''t have to worry about being hit or his enemies escaping his reach. And if he perfected his spatial tear and void nullificationbination, no defense would be able to stop his attack. At least, that was what Asilean used to motivate himself.


    Although Toz and the cats all worked on their own things and trained separately, they were still in the same tent and could feel the others burning with motivation. Their bonds strengthened, and their zing spirits of motivation resonated with each other, which made them all work even harder.


    However, it didn''t seem like things would be going in their favor. It was possible that they had used up their luck in getting the grimoire from Hassandra and Garden.


    Although most of them had made at least some kind of progress, none of them had made any real progress.


    And they were out of time.


    The general''s subordinate, Merr, had sent a message.

 Chapter 409 The First Winds Of A Brewing Storm (1)

    ?The piece of paper appeared in the middle of the air, right in front of Toz, with minimal spatial fluctuations. Since Toz was so deeply absorbed in his grimoire, he almost reacted instinctively and blew apart the letter with a Fireball. But he caught himself in time and snatched the letter out of the air before it couldnd on the ground.


    There were so few words in the letter that it was almost empty, and if it weren''t for Toz understanding what the words ''Same circle'' meant, he would have been at a loss for what to do. But the letter''s message was probably intentional and made in such a way that only someone who knew what they meant would understand.


    If it were a stranger, or maybe even a spy, who received the letter without knowing about the magic circle that led to the secret room beneath the base, the letter wouldn''t mean anything, even if it ended up in their hands.


    After reading the letter, Toz burned it, and not even ash remained, just like he did with thest one.


    The cats knew what the letter meant, and they also stopped what they were doing and lined up in front of Toz with resolute expressions. It was finally time.


    They didn''t know what they were getting themselves into, whether it was a suicide mission or an achievement freebie. But they were in the middle of war. Things weren''t going to be peaceful no matter what happened, and if they were unlucky, they might even be dragged into something beyond the proxy war between the Obsidian Empire and the Tribe of Death.


    However, no matter what happened, it was almost a guarantee that they would risk their lives. It was nothing more than natural to fear death, and none of them wanted to die.


    If they didn''t have to do something so dangerous, they wouldn''t necessarily do it unless it sounded fun enough. However, Taienra''s life was at stake.


    It wasn''t the most optimal route or solution, but it was a step they had to take if they wanted to find a rescue Taienra. Neither Toz nor the cats held any kind of hesitation as they set out.


    If it were to save one of their dearpanions, family, they would willingly risk their lives several times over.


    The cats slipped into the familiar space of Toz''s inclination as he covered himself in stealth and left the tent.


    Thebination of darkness, void, and space magic rendered Tozpletely undetectable by almost all means. Things like Cooper''s unique magic were rare. And after the experience of Cooper''s tracking mark, Toz had gotten more sensitive to simr magics and spells, so he would hopefully be able to notice if something simr happened again.


    Not to mention how his magic vision let him see the mana of the world around him. He could see it if someone noticed his presence, maybe someone like a spy, and reported it. At least as long as they used mana. He wasn''t so sure when it came to demonic energy, even if it was simr to mana. If it were obvious enough, he would notice the fluctuations. But spies prided themselves on being unnoticeable.


    Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, considering the situation, Toz didn''t get to discover anyone spying on him. If they did, he didn''t notice it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But Toz arrived at the same spot with the same magic circle without noticing anyone noticing him. He had focused on stealth. But he had also made sure not to dy too much, so he arrived after only a few moments. With the size of the camp and Toz''s speed, he could cross it in only a couple of seconds if he wanted. But since it was more important that he did it undetected, he had lost a few seconds.


    After only a couple of moments of waiting, the magic circle opened, and Toz disappeared into the ground through a smooth tunnel. Toz hadn''t been in the right state of mindst time, but this time, he noticed that the magic circle detected him despite hisyers of stealth.


    He wondered how since he hid his magical and physical body. And since he did something simr to walking on air, the magic circle shouldn''t have sensed his weight either.


    But Toz didn''t get much time to ponder on it since, unlikest time, the tunnel went straight down. It didn''t wind or twist around in unnecessary and time-consuming pathing.


    Toz plummeted through the ground and reached the same speeds he didst time, but without having to use magic to propel himself forward, and he arrived at the secret room after a third round of moments.


    Toznded gracefully without making a single sound, despite the speed he had as he flew through the tunnel. And since he still had his magic active, he would almost have gone unnoticed by the people in the room if it weren''t for the fact that the tunnel opened up in the same ce where they looked.


    Escaping the detection of high leveled mages and fighters while they looked directly at him was something even Toz couldn''t do, at least not in a brightly lit room.


    The room was filled with a tense atmosphere that, while it didn''t bother, didn''t make anyone else in the room any more chatty thanst time.


    Since no one seemed to want to talk or exin anything just yet, Toz moved to the side and waited for the rest of thebatants that the general had chosen.


    However, as he waited, Toz looked around the room leisurely.


    General Scoll sat in the same ce as before, and he had his five bodyguards and assistant next to him. But there was also one other person hiding in a corner behind them.


    Just the fact that Toz hadn''t sensed their presence at first was proof of their eligibility to join the mission. Toz was a little curious about the person since their appearance was hidden by a dark blue cloak. But now obviously wasn''t the time to indulge in idle curiosity, so he patiently waited for the next person to arrive.

 Chapter 410 The First Winds Of A Brewing Storm (2)

    ?While he waited, Toz idly wondered how the secondbatant, aside from himself, had arrived so quickly. Toz thought he had been fast since he stepped onto the magic circle, barely moments after he got the message.


    However, he soon got his answer.


    The third person to arrive outside of General Scoll''s party tumbled through the tunnel.


    It seemed like Braxton, the earth mage in control of the tunnel, had intentionally sloped the tunnel when the new visitor slid through it since her exit speed was significantly lower than Toz''s. However, that only served to limit how far she ground her face against the ground.


    The young woman hurriedly stood up after tumbling and rolling on the ground face first. She quickly brushed off her clothes and fixed the shoulder-length hair so that it looked at least somewhat sorted.


    "My apologies. I hurried over as soon as I got the message."


    Toz almost felt admiration at how she didn''t show a hint of embarrassment or acknowledgment of her ident. She looked at the general with a stalwart expression that showed her seriousness as she spoke.


    The general nodded at her words before waving her in Toz''s direction. Right in time, it seemed.


    Before the young woman could even begin to try and strike up a conversation with Toz, the only one who didn''t seem to have a stick up his ass, another person exited the tunnel and entered the room.


    Unlike Toz and the young woman who were unceremoniously dumped into the room, Braxton, General Scoll''s earth mage, carefully lifted the elderly gentleman down to the floor on a tform of stone.


    Toz felt like he could sense the feelings of injustice radiating from the young woman next to him. But when he looked, she had the same strict expression as before as she simply observed the earth mage in action.


    After Brax put down the elderly gentleman on the ground, General Scoll put his hands together and leaned forward in his armchair. He cleared his throat and looked at each of the four people he had gathered before speaking.


    "Now then. I hope you all are ready. If you are not, it would be better to speak up now and leave this room."


    Toz didn''t have any intentions of backing out. And it didn''t seem like any of the others did, either. Though since General Scoll continued speaking almost instantly after, it seemed like he hadn''t expected that anyone would be unprepared.


    "I will give you a quick rundown of your mission. We don''t have a lot of time, so Braxton and Seich here will give you any necessary details on the way. With Hal''s help, there shouldn''t be any worries about your voices leaking, so ask any questions that you need answered in order to fulfill your mission."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    When General Scoll said he was giving them a quick rundown, he wasn''t joking. It only took him a couple of minutes to say what he wanted before he had Braxton send him, his assistant, and his three remaining bodyguards to the surface. The pepper-haired general didn''t seem worried, despite sending away two of his subordinates, even when the three that remained by his side didn''t look very trustworthy.


    The short Cooper, whose eyes flitted around and hands fiddled with a hunting knife. The tall andnky Merr. And thest, Derada, whose name Toz hadn''t heard, who hid most of their appearance behind a cloak.


    There was also the assistant, and while she seemed more trustworthy than the three bodyguards, Toz didn''t think she would be as good atbatant as the bodyguards, so she also wasn''t very reliable. At least not in his eyes. But the general trusted them, and he moved to the surface with a calm gaze.


    After the general left with his subordinates, Braxton immediately started casting his magic.


    Braxton''srge body made it look like he specialized in physical close-quartersbat, but he was exceptionally skilled at manipting the earth around him. He created a hole in one of the walls that was justrge enough for the six in the room to fit inside while still havingfortable space to move.


    "I''ll bring up the rear, so get a move on."


    Seich, the blond bodyguard that stayed behind on General Scoll''s orders, unfurled his crossed arms as he motioned for Toz and the others to follow Braxton into the newly made tunnel. He tapped the pommels of one of his two des as he waited for all four of them to enter the tunnel before he began to move himself.


    After a final look around the room, Seich tapped the wall right next to where Braxton opened up the tunnel. After Seich left the room, it copsed behind him with a cloud of dust. The gust that came afterward swept through the tunnel and would have ruffled everyone''s clothes before settling. But the cloaked mage, who muddled his presence at all times, subdued the wind before it got a meter into the tunnel.


    That revealed what one of the people going on the mission could do. Toz was curious about what the young woman, the elderly gentleman, and Seich could do.


    The young woman and the elderly gentleman would probably exin some of their capabilities if someone asked. The man seemed rtively easygoing, despite the situation why were in. And despite her stalwart expression, Toz was sure the young woman would also share what she could do.


    However, Seich seemed a lit more stuck-up.


    The general had said that they could ask whatever they wanted, but Braxton was busy creating a tunnel leading to who knows where. And Seich had a slight scowl that seemed to spell out that he didn''t want to talk to anyone.


    Thankfully, Braxton wasn''t as busy as he seemed to be. Although he was doing a lot by pushing aside andpressing the earth around them in order to create a path through the ground, it was pretty basic magic. For a high level earth mage like him, it barely drained his mana.


    After a few moments of silence where no one spoke up, Braxton began exining the n in more detail.

 Chapter 411 The First Winds Of A Brewing Storm (3)

    ?Braxton told Toz and the others about the n in more detail. But it wasn''t an overlyplicated n, and it didn''t take long before he finished exining. However, from what he told them, they would be walking in the tunnel for quite a while. And with only thentern in the elderly gentleman''s hands to light up the tunnel, it wouldn''t be weird for someone to get ustrophobic.


    "How about introductions? Right! Seich, did you remember the cloaks?"


    Thankfully, Braxton spoke up again before the flickering shadows could begin haunting them. Not that anyone seemed especially susceptible to fear. But one could never be too sure.


    Switch sighed and shook his head. He didn''t say anything, but he reached into a spatial storage pouch attached to his waist and pulled out six matte ck cloaks that blended into the shadows on the tunnel walls.


    The cloaks themselves almost looked like shadows sewn together in the shape of cloaks.


    For curiosity''s sake, Toz looked at them with mana vision and noticed that they redirected the mana around them. If he had only used his mana sense, Toz wouldn''t have been able to tell the cloaks were there. It would have, at most, felt like a weird current that wasn''t even worth a second look.


    The cloaks stretched and fitted their wearers, and the colorful group of Toz, Braxton, Seich, and the three people the general had recruited turned into six shadows moving through Braxton''s tunnel.


    Thentern hadn''t lost its light or gotten any weaker, but it couldn''t even reveal the faces of anyone in the group after they wore the cloaks.


    After he took on the cloak, Toz noticed all the enchantments lining its insides, and he also noticed that some of them could be activated if he inserted some of his mana into them. He was curious about what they did and wanted to try it out.


    "Stop!"


    But Braxton''s voice stopped him. Toz looked up, confused at how Braxton had noticed what he was thinking about it. But then he saw the young woman standing with her cloak wide open and her hand against the enchantments, ready to activate them.


    When the young woman noticed Braxton looking back at her with slight admonition in his gaze, she closed the cloak and pulled up the hood so that no one could see her face momentarily blush red.


    She pulled down her hood a few momentster, the same stalwart look on her face, and she began speaking as if nothing had happened.


    "Introductions, was it? My name is Wyrie, and I can amplify the effects of magic and spells, including the stealth effects of these cloaks. So just let me know when we get close, and I''ll do that."


    "Great. Nice to meet you, Wyrie. As the general said, I''m Braxton, and I''m in charge of leading you all to the Fortress. As you might have noticed, I''m an earth mage. I''ll also be responsible for evacuation if things go awry, so keep a close eye on me at all times if you want to get out alive."


    Braxton smiled as he said thest few words. He then directed his gaze at Seich. Thankfully, he pulled down his hood so that Seich and the others could see his face.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Seich sighed before talking as if he felt like it was a bother.


    "If you aren''tplete idiots, you should know my name by now. I will be in charge of firepower and frontalbat. Don''t get in my way."


    After Wyrie, Braxton, and Seich, only Toz, the elderly gentleman, and the shrouded individual, who put up their hood as soon as they got the cloak, remained. But Seich''s words put a damper on the atmosphere, and none of them seemed really intent on talking.


    Toz considered giving a light introduction to get the other two to speak, but Seich''s rude attitude made him stubbornly reluctant to speak up for some reason. And the shrouded individual seemed reticent, so there wasn''t much hope of him introducing himself, either.


    Thankfully, the elderly gentleman seemed jovial enough to talk in their ce.


    "I guess I''m next, then. My name is Hal, and I can control sound waves. I started doing it as soon as we entered the tunnel, actually. So, you guys can go ahead and be as loud as you want. The enemies will never hear it."


    Toz wasn''t surprised since he had kept his mana vision active since he left the tent, so he had seen Hal use his magic. But the others were taken aback since they hadn''t noticed Hal doing anything at all. They couldn''t sense his magic, even after they were made aware of it.


    "That''s also the reason why this guy isn''t speaking. I could tell his voice was going to be annoying, so I muted him."


    Everyone looked at Hal in shock at that, especially the shrouded person, who seemed to be quite offended by his words.


    "Did you-"


    However, the person spoke, and the others heard his voice without a problem.


    Seeing the stunned faces on most of them had Hal bending over as he let out a burst of guffawingughter.


    The elderly gentleman''s heartyughter was infectious, and Wyrie also began giggling. Braxton held backughter. Or at least he tried to, but he failed and tried to cover it up with a cough.


    Toz only smiled, and he used the opportunity to get rid of the shrouded person''s magic with some of his void magic. He also grabbed the hood with some space magic so that when they turned their head and continued walking, the hood fell down and revealed their face.


    Since the others were too busy enjoying Hal''s sess at lightening the mood, Seich was the only one who caught a whim of Toz''s actions. But he didn''t let it show on his face, and he just looked at the young man who was almost too handsome to be called just a man. Even the anger filling his face did nothing to lower the impression of his beauty.

 Chapter 412 The First Winds Of A Brewing Storm (4)

    ?The handsome man got incredibly flustered when he noticed that his magic had disappeared and hurriedly restored the magic and pulled his hood back as he looked around in anger and suspicion.


    He hid his appearance as quickly as he could, but it was already toote. Everyone else had already seen his appearance, which had been enough to make everyone stopughing as they instead stared at him with wide eyes.


    The handsome man turned away from the others and would have probably also walked ahead of them if it weren''t for there only being a few meters to walk. Braxton only made the tunnel asrge as it had to be. And as they walked on, he copsed it behind them.


    Everyone except Toz looked at the handsome man in curiosity. And it seemed like Braxton and Wyrie wanted to get him to tell them his name, at least. But before they could ask, Toz sniggered and spoke up, which practically exposed him as the one who revealed the handsome fellow''s face. No one knew how he did it, but all suspicion fell on him.


    "I''m Toz, T.O.Z. I''m quite well-rounded in terms of attack, stealth, defense, and movement. And I look forward to our sess. But I think that we all need to cooperate for that. Right?"


    Toz looked pointedly in the direction of the handsome man in regard to thest sentences he said. Toz wasn''t the greatest at cooperating with others himself. But he was willing to suck it up for the sake of the mission since it had to seed, after all. That also meant that the others had to cooperate.


    Seich was a little rude and standoffish, but he told the others his role and that they should watch out when he began attacking. And the others also revealed their positions and what they would do during the mission. However, the uncooperative, handsome man didn''t seem like he would do anything other than the bare minimum, which had to change if they wanted to ensure as great a chance of sess as possible.


    Toz knew he used wind magic thanks to his mana vision. And Braxton and Seich might also know something since they were the subordinates of the one who organized the mission. But them revealing the handsome man''s identity and skills might have the opposite reaction.


    Toz and Hal stirring up his emotions might also have a negative impact, but it wasn''t the same as telling everyone about what he could do. However, it would at least show everyone that he was human and thus easier to trust.


    And if the others began to trust him, he might be more willing to tell them at least his name.


    Thankfully, it seemed like it had worked. Flustering and angering the handsome man and then letting him cool down had softened his attitude.


    "Mifter."


    But he didn''t say anything more than his name. But since everyone sensed the gust of wind as it wrapped around Mifter''s body and shrouded his presence, he had also told them that he was a wind mage. He just didn''t use his words. That was proof that Mifter was willing to cooperate for the mission.


    Although the atmosphere in the tunnel didn''t go back toughter, Mifter showing his willingness to cooperate, despite his personality, had everyone in a good mood. Well, as good as it could be, considering they were literally marching toward death.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Caught up in the silence of the tunnel, where not even footsteps could be heard due to the cloak, it was easy to get entrenched in a jumble of worries and thoughts. Whether or not they would make it out alive. Whether they would seed or not.


    The general hadn''t told them about it, and it didn''t seem like Braxton or Seich would know or be willing to answer the question. But Toz and the others didn''t even how the sess or failure would affect the war.


    They might win the war, even if they fail. But the opposite might also be true. What do they do if they seed in their sneak attack but still lose the war?


    The worry that their efforts, maybe even their lives, wouldn''t be enough to change the oue of the war weighed on their minds.


    Toz''s wasn''t quite as affected as the others were. He knew from Dyra that it was a proxy war. It was very likely that the others, at least Braxton and Seich, knew. But he also knew that it was fought over resources, like most wars. But the Mortal Realm was nothing more than the battlefield.


    The Tribe of Death and the Obsidian Empire fought using the powers of the mortal realm to even the ying field and limit the cost of waging the war.


    To those two transcendent factions, the war between the human realm and the demon realm of the Mortal Realm was just a proxy battle to settle a dispute that had reached a degree of severity that required more than a discussion to settle.


    Even if the humans lost the war, nothing much would change within the mortal realm. Maybe the demon realm would expand. And the four kingdoms would lose some territory and have to pay tribute to the demon realm for some time.


    Well, that was what would probably happen if there weren''t others scheming to interfere.


    The others were worried about what would happen if the humans lost the war against the Tribe of Death.


    Toz was worried about what was actually going to happen. But he didn''t waste time upying his mind with useless anxiety. Toz was analyzing his surroundings with mana vision at all times, carefully investigating the flow of mana. And he was also trying to use the meager few details he picked up from the general''s words and Braxton''s exnation of the n.


    Unfortunately, he couldn''t see very far with his mana vision due to the thickyer of earth surrounding them. But he still noticed how the mana in the tiny opening Braxton created was too thin.

 Chapter 413 The First Winds Of A Brewing Storm (5)

    ?The ce they were in wasmonly referred to as the high-level battlefield by thebatants and the military personnel. And it wasn''t without reason. It was a high-level ne, after all. And it was one that should be able to withstand the battles that broke out on it, so it was of decent quality as well, which meant that the ne''s natural mana levels should be quite good.


    After the war broke out, numerousbatants had entered the battlefield and fired off magic and aura with their mana before dying and letting all the mana in their bodies escape into the air. If the mana on the ne exceeded the ne''s capacity to retain it, the mana would leak into the Void.


    But it wouldn''t drain the ne''s mana reserve to the point where the mana below ground was weaker than that on a medium level ne. It wouldn''t be noticeably strange if only the amount of mana were slightly different below ground than it was on the surface, but it was too stark a difference to im it was natural.


    And the war hadn''t been going on long enough, nor had the battles been destructive enough to force the ne to use all its mana to begin healing itself. While it looked devastating, the damage on the surface was only slightly more than superficial. The ne would recover to its original state or even surpass it in time. It would take a while since all naturally existing life had been exterminated. But the mana that it had gained in the process of the war would be enough to more than enough to make up for the damage.


    However, far from flourishing with abundant mana, the ne was suffering from a mana deficiency.


    Toz was surprised and suspicious about the reason. There hadn''t been any hints of the surfacecking mana, no matter where he looked. Toz quickly figured out that it wasn''t natural, despite not being an expert on nes. Now he only had to figure out the exact reason.


    If there were something sapping away half the mana from an entire high level ne, it would undoubtedly create a vtile variable in the war. The only questions were what it was and who it was that was responsible.


    If it killed the ne, it might be something to do with the Tribe of Death. But if they were killing the ne like that, why not do it openly? Was it something that could easily be interrupted? Or was there another reason they didn''t reveal it or use it on the entire ne, not just the surface?


    Maybe the Tribe of Death wasn''t responsible at all.


    That meant there were two other parties that could be behind it, the Alliance of Kingdoms and the unknown group lurking behind the scenes with their plotting.


    And between the humans who owned the ne and would stand to lose by draining it of its mana and the group, whose ns Toz was sure were nefarious, Toz was inclined to believe it was the mysterious group who was responsible.


    As the thought struck Toz, he once again worried about Lucy.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    If the ones plotting behind the scenes were doing something so monumental that it drained the ne of its mana, something really dangerous was bound to happen. But Toz also wondered why they had to go to such lengths. There had to be a reason why they used such an borate and demanding scheme that even required the mana of half a ne.


    It might be nothing more than a precaution in case some other ne fails. But considering the lengths they must have gone to in order to proceed and keep it a secret from everyone on the surface, there had to be a reason or a demand for the amount of mana stolen from the ne.


    Unfortunately, Toz wasn''t able to figure out what it was with the few clues he had.


    And that wasn''t the only unfortunate thing. Due to the thin mana in the surroundings, Toz''s passive training barely did anything except needlessly tiring his mind.


    Without sufficient mana being pushed around by the moving wrinkles and creases of theyer of consciousness around his body, his mind was moving without doing anything. The empty actions strained his mind more than when he had more than enough mana around him.


    It was an unexpected discovery, and Toz directed his thoughts to why it was like that instead of worrying endlessly about Lucy and the conspirators and their conspiracy.


    However, he didn''t achieve much progress on that front. And he didn''t want to waste too much effort or sink too deep into thought at the moment. He was still in the middle of a top-secret mission with a maximum risk of death. Exhausting himself or getting distracted could get him, the cats, and his allies killed.


    Toz could get over the guilt of getting his allies killed after some time. But it would be a lot harder to get over getting himself, or even worse, the cats killed.


    So after letting his thoughts wander as they wanted for a little while, Toz resharpened his focus and concentrated on keeping an eye out on their surroundings and having his mana at the surface of his body, ready tosh out at less than a moment''s notice.


    His mana vision didn'' prate far into the thick walls of earth, barely a meter. Braxton could probably detect at a far greater range than that. But Toz didn''t want to take any chances, especially since he had already proven on several asions that his mana vision was far more sensitive and urate than most others'' senses. At least regarding magic and mana. Mana vision only worked on physical objects because Toz also used his eyes when mana vision was active.


    There was also the fact that seeing something with mana vision for himself would be more reliable than listening to Braxton, especially if the situation devolved into chaos, something that could easily happen, considering the nature of their business.

 Chapter 414 The Second Winds Of A Brewing Storm (1)

    ?Despite the tense situation and having to walk in poorly lit darkness, several kilometers below ground, Braxton, Hal, and Wyrie tried to lighten the mood a little. Everyone was understandably feeling anxious due to their mission and the risks involved, so their efforts were appreciated even if they weren''t that sessful.


    The efforts to keep the mood light and at least somewhat cheery were most effective during the first half of their walk. But the further along and the closer to their destination they came, the more somber everyone became.


    Toz and the others weren''t needlessly ovee with anxiety. But since the mission was so dangerous and vital to the war, everyone wanted to get in the right headspace. They went over the details of the n several times in their heads and prepared themselves mentally for whatever they might face.


    Toz, Braxton, and Seich also stayed vignt about their surroundings.


    They had chosen the method of having Braxton dig a tunnel as the approach since there shouldn''t be any traps or defenses. They were almost at the ne''s underside, after all. Even if their enemies suspected that there might be someone capable enough to do that, there was no way they had enough resources to secure and guard the entire underbelly of the ne.


    However, on the off chance that they ran into someone or were noticed and attacked, Toz and the others still kept their guards up. And the closer to their destination they were, the more likely it was for someone to notice them.


    So after walking halfway to their destination, no one was intent on talking. Both because of the impending realness of the mission''s danger and because of where they were. Although they were deep underground, they were still within Tribe of Death territory.


    Who knew what kind of traps or demonic beasts lurked there? Maybe there was some kind of beast that liked building nests deep in the ground that Toz and the others could stumble upon if they weren''t careful.


    Just imagining and preparing for everything upied everyone''s mind so much that they didn''t have time for needless chit-chat.


    Hal was a slight exception. He had tempered nerves of steel with his age and was a little more calm and collected than the others. But he was also sensitive to their moods and knew that trying to strike up a conversation could stress them even further.


    Toz would have been doing fine if it wasn''t for the bad feeling he got. The mana levels in the air fluctuated between high and medium, and the mana kept moving around as if something was pulling it in different directions. And the closer they were to their destination, the worse it got.


    However, he couldn''t see farther than a couple of meters due to the dirt all around them. Toz could only hope that Braxton would be able to sense and detect if anything was happening or if there was anything in their path.


    And so, the group of six people sent on a mission to infiltrate the Fortress of Death walked in the path Braxton made and destroyed. They walked in silence with nothing but the flickering light from Hal''sntern to entertain them, though there were also the shadows that crept along the walls and jumped around in tandem with the light. Fortunately, none of them were scared of the dark.


    "Wait."


    The six of them would have probably continued walking like that until they arrived if Toz hadn''t stopped them.


    The others looked curiously at him. Braxton even stopped expanding the hollow that was their tunnel.


    "There''s something here."


    Toz knocked on the wall to indicate where he meant. Toz didn''t know what it was on the other side. He just knew that it wasn''t solid ground. It was another tunnel or opening of some sort. Since his mana vision was only slightly hindered by a thin wall of dirt, there had to be some open air on the other side.


    Toz was curious about what was on the other side of the earthen wall. But he was also curious about why Braxton hadn''t said anything.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Considering Braxton''s attitude so far, he should have at least informed them about being so close to an irregrity in the ground unless there was nothing irregr about it. Maybe it was a natural formation of the ground, and that was why Braxton hadn''t said anything.


    "I''m pretty sure I heard an echo from the other side of the wall."


    Toz threw out a few words to try and bait Braxton into revealing something. And since everyone looked at Braxton due to him being an earth mage and also the leader of the mission, he had to answer.


    "Really? I don''t sense anything. Are you sure you didn''t mishear?"


    Toz only smiled and winded up a punch.


    "Wai-"


    Before Braxton could stop him, Toz had already punched out and broken through the wall of dirt, creating a fist-sized hole.


    The sound of pebbles and rocks dripping down on the ground rang out in the surprised silence, bringing everyone back to their senses.


    Toz ignored the others and aligned his head so that he could peek through the hole.


    "Looks like an empty hallway. There are a few torches lighting the way. But there''s a thinyer of dust on the floor, so it doesn''t look like it''s used a lot."


    Toz stepped back and let the others have a look as well.


    "That was impulsive. But good find."


    Seich stepped back after peeking. He had a thoughtful look on his face and held his chin.


    The only one who didn''t take a look was Braxton. Technically, Hal didn''t either since he put his ear through the hole and closed his eyes.


    "I hear something, but it''s too far away to make it out."


    Hal shook his head and stood up. He turned around to face the others.


    Seich cleared his throat.


    "We don''t know where the tunnel leads. It could lead to the Fortress or somewhere else. There could also be a lot of enemies. It''s too risky. I say we patch that hole up and continue as we were. Braxton?"

 Chapter 415 The Second Winds Of A Brewing Storm (2)

    ?Seich''s words made sense. And although Toz wanted to explore the tunnel since he could tell that it was rted to the instability in the mana, he knew that the mission should take priority. So Toz didn''t say anything.


    "I agree."


    Braxton found Seich''s words just as reasonable as the others. He quickly covered the hole and turned away.


    "Seich, do you know how much time we have?"


    "No."


    "Neither do I. So I don''t think we should indulge in time-wasting activities. Let''s just head toward the Fortress andplete the mission."


    Braxton''s behavior seemed to be a little off. But it could be chalked up to stress and the fact that he, the earth mage in charge of leading them, hadn''t sensed the tunnel. He had probably been a little affected by having his pride or self-confidence blown to bits.


    Braxton iming not to sense the tunnel naturally made the others worried about his abilities. But since he seemingly effortlessly dug out the ground and created a space for them to move, they only doubted his sensory skills.


    And since he had probably had his ego bruised by some nameless stranger, no one spoke up or questioned him about it. The awkward silence wasn''t much better, but it was still not as bad as asking Braxton about his failure. Something like that might break the fragile trust they had in each other, which would, in turn, make the mission that much more difficult toplete sessfully.


    Eventually, the awkwardness of Braxton''s failure died down, and everyone just kept thinking and walking in silence.


    Toz kept an eye out, but it didn''t seem like there were any other tunnels or hallways. Or maybe, they just weren''t close enough for his mana vision to reach that far. Toz cast a suspicious nce in Braxton''s direction before he continued wondering what might be on the other side of the tunnel.


    As they walked in silence and mostly darkness, it felt like they had walked for an eternity already. But it wasn''t for nothing.


    The mana in the air had started turning sticky and mmy enough that even the others, who didn''t have mana vision, could tell that they weren''t far from the Fortress of Death. The death attribute demonic power surging from the Tribe of Death''s base was overwhelming and domineering enough that it had begun corroding the ne''s mana.


    Of course, the mana corruption was a slow process, and the war hadn''t been going on for long enough that it had spread far. So, if Toz and the others could sense it so clearly, they were certainly getting closer to their destination.


    A few pearls of nervous sweat popped up on Wyrie''s forehead, even though her stoic expression didn''t allude to any nervousness. She wasn''t the only one who was anxious. They all were.


    They had agreed to the mission, somewhat knowing what the objective was. But it was a different thing being told that they were risking their livespared to directly facing Death. It wasn''t something mental preparation could prepare them for, no matter how much they did.


    No matter how many times they told themself it would be alright and that they would make it out alive, it wasn''t enough to keep their backs from soaking in cold sweat. Their attempts at rxing their tense nerves went as well as trying to calm a child by asking them to calm down.


    After entering what seemed like a domain of Death, everyone froze up. The second wave of death attribute demonic energy came like a burst of rain on a sunny day.


    However, there were two exceptions.


    Toz''s mind was strong enough to withstand the overpowering feelings of fear that so much contact with death attribute demonic energy inspired.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    As long as literal ghosts didn''t pop up, Toz would be fine. The emotions and sensations passively conveyed by demonic energy, even if it was of the death attribute, wouldn''t be enough to trigger Toz into feeling fear.


    But openly showing that off might make the others form weird thoughts about him, so Toz stayed still. He yed along with the others until the second person who could handle the shock showed themselves.


    But Hal didn''t just show that he wasn''t affected by the powerful and fear-inducing death attribute demonic energy.


    Hal began humming.


    A soft melody that the others could barely hear over the thumping of their own hearts.


    It slowly grew in volume.


    Hal''s humming caught up to the sound of their heartbeats and echoed around the tiny space below ground.


    The humming itself wasn''t as regr or repetitive as the sound of their heartbeats. It rose and fell. But it stayed soft and soothing.


    Eventually, as the echoes of his humming built up, the sound overtook the heartbeats.


    Hal''s humming resonated within the cave and inside everyone''s minds and bodies.


    Eventually, Hal''s humming was the only thing on everyone''s minds. They didn''t think or feel anything else. And under the soft melody, their heartbeats gradually slowed down.


    Wyrie and the others could feel themselves calming down, all their fear and anxiety slipping away.


    And when everyone rxed, Hal''s humming slowly began dying down, getting softer and softer with each breath everyone took until it gotpletely quiet.


    Everyone opened their eyes,pletely unaware of when they even closed them. They looked around in surprise before they turned their gazes toward Hal in awe.


    It took a few moments before they properly put together what happened, but when they did, it almost looked like they wanted topete in who could say thank you first.


    But before anyone could express their gratitude, Hal spoke up.


    "Instead of thanking me, let''s just make sure we seed, alright?"


    it still looked like they wanted to say something, especially Wyrie. But Hal turned to Braxton and pointedly looked straight forward. He made it clear that they should continue instead of standing around with needless posturing. Braxton did say that they shouldn''t indulge in time-consuming activities, after all.


    Braxton epted the cue and continued moving forward. But since they had gotten so close to the Fortress of Death, he slowed his pace.

 Chapter 416 The Second Winds Of A Brewing Storm (3)

    ?Toz and the others were getting close to their destination, the Fortress of Death. And the increasing density of death attribute demonic energy was proof of that. Usually, they would have wanted to get through it as quickly as possible. But Hals¡ä''s humming calmed them down, and they realized that they had to take it slow to reduce the risk of discovery.


    If they were found before they could even enter the fortress, the n would be bust, and they would have failed their mission. Even if they wanted to get it done quickly, rushing would lead to nothing but their deaths and the mission''s subsequent failure.


    But at the same time, no one could guarantee that they wouldn''t be discovered if they moved forward slowly, even if they had the cloaks active. If anything, advancing too slowly would lead to more moments for the enemies to discover them. Toz and the others would also have to endure the death attribute demonic energy and its corrosion of their mana longer, which naturally was far from ideal.


    Thankfully, they were already so close that Toz and the others didn''t have to advance through the demonic energy for too long.


    Eventually, despite Braxton''s snail-like pace, they arrived right below the coordinates they had gotten. Supposedly, the only thing left to do was to go straight up, and they would find themselves inside the Fortress.


    However, no one of them had anything against being cautious, so Braxton gently lifted Hal up so that he could touch the roof before he proceeded to expand the tunnel upwards while elevating them all.


    Hal stayed in contact with the ever-rising wall at all times while the tform of earth slowly rose through the tunnel like an elevator.


    Since the sound of moving dirt and rocks interfered with Hal''s detection ability, he couldn''t sense as clearly as he wanted. But he still tried to reach all the way to the surface.


    However, there was one w in Hal''s detection ability that might prove fatal, especially if Braxton was as bad at sensing as he was regarding the tunnel incident.


    Hal couldn''t detect magic or enchantments with his ability. He could only pick up sounds. So, he would know if there were enemies there since they would make noise as soon as they walked or moved around. But Hal wouldn''t be able to detect if there were any enchantments or defenses in the way of their ascent.


    Since Hal couldn''t detect mana or magic, it fell on the others to sharpen their mana sense.


    Braxton was an earth mage, and he shouldn''t be hindered by the thickyer of dirt and rock all around them the same way the others were. But since he hadn''t sensed the tunnel, he wasn''t very reliable.


    Thankfully, there was a way to make up for theck of detection ability.


    Wyrie''s magic amplified the effects of other magic and so on. With her help, the others received a boost in their sensitivity and could stretch their perception longer.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz didn''t want to reveal his mana vision, but he asked Wyrie to concentrate her magic in his eyes anyway. He didn''t know what to expect, but he was shocked when he felt the effects of her magic.


    He immediately understood why she was part of the mission. She hadn''t used any magic yet since there hadn''t been a need for it. While her magic was impressively useful, it also drained a lot of mana, depending on what she amplified. And her mana pool was in the regr range for a person with a single or no attribute. So she couldn''t be like someone else and waste mana all willy-nilly.


    But despite all that, her magic was astounding. If she used it on their cloaks, which were already doing a good job concealing them and their presences, Toz suspected that they might vanish in front of each other''s eyes.


    And that was while it merely increased the power and effects of the magic Wyrie amplified.


    Wyrie didn''t improve or change the way Toz''s mana vision worked. She just made it stronger. But that let Toz see farther and in more detail, even when looking through solid earth.


    The way Toz looked at the earth above them seemed a little weird to the others.


    It wasn''t weird for people with sight-rted inclinations to be able to see through even solid earth. But Toz had imed to be an all-rounder who was good at most things rted tobat. Unless it was a special inclination, there was something that didn''t add up.


    But it didn''t look like Toz was simply posturing as he stared into the ground, and no one spoke up about it.


    Since Hal used his ears and hearing to listen after sounds of activity, the others didn''t talk. They even held their breath and tried to make as little noise as possible. If Hal couldn''t hear anything because of them, and they ended up in the middle of a bunch of demons, it would already be toote to be quiet.


    However, despite all their preparations and careful sensing, Toz and the others didn''t encounter anything or discover anyone lying in wait, even when they were at the surface.


    There was no way to tell if they had tripped any secret rms or if there were anyone capable of hiding from Hal''s hearing on the other side of theyer of rock above them. But it didn''t matter. They hade too far to back down, especially without reason. And since there was no real reason to back down, the only thing they could do was advance.


    Toz and Mifter extended their stealth magic to everyone in the group. Hal''s isted the soundsing from everyone. Breathing, heartbeats, clothes rustling, footsteps, gulping. All of it disappeared. And finally, Wyrie amplified the effects of the stealth magic and the cloaks. Although they were nigh-undetectable with the cloaks and the twoyers of magic already, there was no such thing as too much caution when entering the depths of the enemy''s base.

 Chapter 417 The Third Winds Of A Brewing Storm (1)

    ?With the multipleyers of magic on top of the stealth cloaks, Toz even had a hard time sensing himself. He was reminded slightly of his magic, Void''s Embrace. If someone experienced the sensation of being hidden from themselves for too long, it wasn''t impossible for them to lose themselves and go at least slightly crazy.


    However, the effort needed to replicate it wasn''t something that would make it worth the effort. Four mages, one with a unique inclination on top of a heavily enchanted cloak, allbined to hide Toz and the others away so that they could only rely on their sense of self to know where they were.


    Toz and the others couldn''t even tell where the others were. They could only rely on and trust each other. Thankfully, they had already gone over the n together with the information Braxton had told them several times. As long as everyone remembered everything correctly and followed the n, there shouldn''t be any issues.


    Ten seconds after everyone disappeared, Braxton melted the earth that separated them from the Fortress of Death and the ce where their missiony. After that, the ground slowly rose up to fill in the hole they had been in, and Toz and the others were officially inside the Fortress.


    Toz and the others had been subjected to the overwhelming death attribute demonic energy ever since they entered the territory of the Fortress of Death. But it was nothingpared to the density inside the Fortress. However, no one was affected by the demonic energy. And it wasn''t due to Hal this time.


    Toz''s stealth magic was abination of void, darkness, and space. And void part of his magic served to separate the people affected by the stealth from the effects of magic. The others were surprised but mostly relieved since it meant they didn''t have to endure the pressure with nothing but already frayed nerves.


    After the hole was filled in and the ground restored to its original state, it was time to move.


    Theyers of stealth magic on them could keep them undetected even if they stood right in front of someone. But they, especially Wyrie, didn''t have infinite mana, and because she amplified several instances of magic at once, she was quickly running out. They had to reach their target before they lost the effects of the amplified stealth.


    There was no way they would be able toplete the mission without fighting, but they could still do as much as possible to make sure that the fighting came after they were finished. It was unlikely, but the ideal mission was for them to sneak in, do what they came for, and then sneak back out again.


    However, that seemed to approach the realm of impossibility more and more with each step they took.


    Toz and the others couldn''t see each other, and Hal had muted their sounds. But before they entered the Fortress, Hal had told them that if they had to say something, he could arrange that.


    Naturally, no one was in the mood for chit-chat while inside the depths of the enemy''s base.


    But when Toz heard Hal''s voice inside his ear, he realized he had to speak up.


    "There''s something down the right that''s emitting powerful mana fluctuations."


    There were a few meters left until they reached the hallway that Toz indicated. And since time was precious, no one stopped walking.


    "Is it our target?"


    Seich had already picked up that Toz was perceptive and sensitive to mana, so he didn''t bother asking how Toz knew.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "No. There are massive fluctuations of space instead of death. And I can sense our target where it''s supposed to be."


    "Space? Could it be a portal, perhaps?"


    "No way. Space is supposed to be locked."


    Toz was curious about Seich''s answer to Hal''s guess. But he didn''t indulge. Instead, he asked what was actually important.


    "Do we investigate and find out, or do we head to our target?"


    It took a few moments of silence before Braxton answered in a tense voice.


    "The mission takes precedence. If we have time or the opportunity afterward, we can check it out. But before we lose our stealth, let''s go."


    Hal was still muting the sounds, so no one heard Braxton begin walking. But his tone made it more than clear that he took the lead and continued toward their target.


    He was right and also the leader of the mission, so no one objected. They came here for the mission, after all. The sooner they were done, the sooner they could get out. And the quicker they moved, the greater their odds of survival, something everyone wanted.


    Although they wanted to get it done quickly, no one rushed. Since they couldn''t see each other, they didn''t know where the one in front of them or the one behind was. To avoid bumping into each other or leaving someone behind, they all agreed on a set pace.


    The pace should be fast enough that they should be able to reach their target before Wyrie loses all her mana and the stealth slips. But they couldn''t guarantee the details of the Fortress'' floor n before the mission. And if it was longer between where they entered the Fortress and their target, they simply had to use force to breach thest bit in case they were discovered.


    But it might also be shorter than the estimation. Not that anyone was foolish enough to hope that they would be so lucky.


    No one worried that they wouldn''t be able to find their target.


    It had been quite weak at first, but it became almost impossible not to notice after they stepped deeper into the Fortress. And if they couldn''t sense it, they could always use the ghastly blue mes on the torches on the walls to guide them. The ghost fire reacted quite clearly to the death attribute mana, after all.


    Thankfully, the map wasn''t too inurate, and Toz and the others arrived at their target with only a minor dy.

 Chapter 418 The Third Winds Of A Brewing Storm (2)

    ?Toz and the others could feel the effects of Wyrie''s amplification magic begin dying down. But they were already in front of the stone archway leading into the room where their target was. Besides, at this point, there would be no sneaking past, no matter how advanced their stealth was.


    The line of armored soldiers standing in front of the wall was one thing. The thickyer of enchantments and death magic painting the archway in a faint ghastly light was another thing that prevented them from getting into the room. But thest and most unavoidable thing was the fact that they were alive.


    ording to the information that the general had obtained somehow, it was impossible to step into the Fountain of Death unnoticed if one had a beating heart, which was something all of the six partaking in the mission did. Even if they could pause their heart from beating for a few moments, they would still be detected.


    Rather than sensing the actual heartbeats of a living person, the Fountain of Death shed with the life force of living beings. The general hadn''t gotten any more information than that. But they didn''t need to know any more than that since knowing the reason why or how it worked wouldn''t change anything. They would still have to barge into the room and destroy the Fountain of Death.


    That was their mission. And if they aplished it, they would have to try and get out of the Fortress alive.


    With the mission''s objective on the opposite side of a line of armed soldiers, Toz and the others were tense. They couldn''t help but, even if they knew they didn''t have time to dally. Wyrie wasn''t out of mana yet, and they could use what she had left to remain cloaked and n their attack, or they could attack at once and use Wyrie''s magic to increase the power of their attacks.


    Since they didn''t need to n their attack, they went with the second option. Wyrie would focus on amplifying the power of the others'' attacks. And if she had some mana to spare, she would strengthen the defenses Braxton put up to give them more time to defeat the knights and destroy the Fountain of Death.


    With a n of action at the ready, Toz and the others didn''t waste any time and immediately dispelled the stealth.


    The knights with full te armor were visibly stunned as the six appeared from seemingly out of thin air. Toz and the others took advantage of their surprised state andunched their attacks.


    Since getting into the room was the priority, Seich took the lead in an arrow formation.


    Seich drew the two swords at his hip and reinforced the straight, hair-thin des with ayer of bright yellow light. With one glowing sword in each hand, Seich bent forward and dashed toward the knights while reinforcing his body with his light attribute magic as well.


    Although Seich clearly had the capabilities to cross the distance between their group and the knights at once, he intentionally slowed down so that he wouldn''t be separated from the others. And the yellow streak of light was quickly followed by Mifter, surrounded by ayer of translucent wind that blew around him and cut even the air apart.


    After Mifter came Wyrie, who, the moment Seich''s swords made contact with the enemy, amplified the magic Seich put into his des. Even while struggling to keep up with Seich and Mifter, Wyrie timed her magic so that she only used it when she really had to, which kept her mana usage to a minimum.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Seich''s yellow des of light expanded due to the apparent influx of mana and cut through the metal of the knights'' full te armor.


    Seich''s reach was enough to slice apart the two knights in front of him and graze a third and fourth on either side. He used the opening he created and jumped over the knights who hadn''t even had time to copse yet and burst through the archway, right into the mist of death attribute demonic energy.


    Mifter was tight on Seich''s tail, and he conjured a gale of wind on either arm that he thrust out and sent into the two lines of knights. He hadn''t had enough time to create powerful enough wind to put the knights intoplete disarray. But he pushed them far apart enough to make an opening that would let Wyrie pass through without having to worry about losing her head to the knights'' swords.


    With the first three through the archway, only Toz, Hal, and Braxton remained. Braxton and Hal brought up the rear.


    Hal isted their surroundings and kept any sound of their sneak attack from escaping, which would dy the reinforcements for as long as possible. And Braxton was creating arge wall of earth that would fill in the archway and block the reinforcements from entering the room.


    But neither Hal nor Braxton could deal with all the knights at the same time.


    Thankfully Toz was there to cover them as they backed into the room where the target for their mission was.


    Toz''s sword zed with orange mes, and he used the incredible heat packed into his de to cut into the knights that came too close. At the same time, he used his space magic to keep the other knights restrained and stop them from ringing the rm or attacking the other two. And if he got an opportunity, he used his lightning bolts to destroy those armors that were out of reach for his sword.


    While disassembling the knights, Toz noticed that the armors were hollow. There wasn''t anybody inside. The realization that he was fighting the armors themselves made Toz stumble, and his face paled.


    No one told him he was going to fight haunted armors! However, he drew upon what he had learned while fighting the zombies and cleared his mind. At least they didn''t get back up after they were cut or blown apart.


    "Watch out!"

 Chapter 419 The Third Winds Of A Brewing Storm (3)

    ?"Watch out!"


    Toz didn''t even have time to sigh in relief before Hal shouted. Toz had already sensed the attack. But he wasn''t ready for the fact that it came from one of the armors Seich had already cut apart.


    Seich''s cut had been clean, like a surgeon''s incision. Maybe that was why the armor got back up and repaired itself so quickly.


    Toz could still see where Seich had cut the armor, and he focused on the obvious weak spot as he avoided an array of swordsing his way. He pierced his zing sword into the armor''s chest and filled it with roaring fire from inside.


    Toz had to draw out his sword and dodge a second array of swords, so he didn''t have time to pump a second round of fire into the armor. But he had still done enough to soften the armor and make it buckle to the ground in a reddish glow.


    The other armors, unafraid of death, ignored their temporarily fallenrade and charged toward Toz, the ghastly light in their helmets shining menacingly.


    Toz shed horizontally with his sword and unleashed a stream of fire on the armors.


    "Toz, now!"


    Toz was sure that he could defeat the armors if he had enough time. But the death attribute demonic energy leaking out of the Fountain of Death past the archway seeped into the armors and restored them at unbelievable speeds. If he wanted to win, he would have to destroy the armors beyond what they could recover. But doing so would take time or overwhelming firepower.


    Toz and the others didn''t infiltrate the depths of the Fortress of Death so that they could waste all their efforts in taking down a bunch of rusty armors right before theypleted their mission.


    So, Toz didn''t hesitate.


    He had intentionally drawn the armors away from the archway so that Hal and Braxton could enter the Fountain of Death and prepare. When they were ready, Hal shouted.


    Following Hal''s shout, Toz distanced himself from the armors and vanished from the spot, quickly reappearing by the archway.


    The soldiers noticed him when he reappeared and rushed to catch up and prevent Toz from entering the Fountain of Death. But the armors were too slow.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    As soon as Toz passed through the archway, a solid earth wall shot up out of the ground and filled the entrance to the Fountain of Death. The wall of earth and stone blocked the armors from entering the Fountain and Death and chasing after Toz and the others. But it wouldn''t hold forever. Toz and the others would be lucky if it held long enough for them to destroy the actual Fountain of Death.


    With no time to lose, Toz, Braxton, and Hal turned around to catch up to the other three, who had already located the Fountain. Not that it was very difficult.


    Inside the chamber thaty behind the archway, there was nothing of note aside from the stone pedestal in the center with a misty grey orb the size of a person curled up in a fetal position resting on it. The chamber''s high, domed ceiling made it lookrger than it was. But none of the humans who had entered the chamber cared about the architecture of the room. Their gazes were all focused on the Fountain of Death.


    It was impossible to tell if the foggy, grey water trickling out of the pedestal''s four corner spouts came from the orb itself or below it. The water ran down the outside of the pedestal and into four furrows in the ground before flowing along those furrows to the chamber''s walls. At that point, the water entered four separate holes, and Toz and the others couldn''t tell where it would end up.


    As the water continued trickling down the Fountain and ran away through the holes in the walls, mist rose from the Fountain and the four streams.


    Toz and the others didn''t need the mist to tell them that the water wasn''t just water. It was death attribute demonic energy of such purity and density that it formed a liquid, and the mist was death attribute demonic energy that couldn''t hold on to the water''s density and filled the chamber instead.


    The mist of demonic energy swirled around their ankles, trying to eat away at the mana protecting their bodies. The demonic energy battled furiously with their mana. Toz and the others could tell that it wouldn''t have mattered if they had kept up the stealth until they entered the room or not since the demonic energy would have reacted as strongly to the mana hiding them.


    The mist wasn''t powerful enough to damage them in any other way than revealing them, but it was still wearing away at their mana. And Wyrie, who was especially low on mana, began urging the others to get to work. She didn''t have much mana left, so if they didn''t hurry, she wouldn''t be able to amplify their attacks against the Fountain of Death.


    The others understood her worries. They could also tell how dangerous it would be to get exposed to the thick death attribute demonic energy filling the chamber. It was purer than the demonic energy they encountered below ground and within the fortress, so the sensation of fear wasn''t as overpowering, but that just made it scarier.


    It was almost like the Fountain of Death and the demonic energy spewing forth from it wasn''t that bad. Indulging in curiosity and touching the water wouldn''t be so bad. The worst that could happen was that they didn''t have to worry about failing their mission. That''s nothing, right? Why not dip a finger or two in, maybe even take a sip?


    Those kinds of thoughts rose in the minds of everyone.


    Fortunately, no one in the mission was so weak-willed that they would fall for the Fountain of Death''s lure. It sounded very tempting as long as one ignored the fact that they would die if they drank the water. And if they even just touched the water, they would probably lose a finger or two, depending on how much they could defend themselves against the demonic energy.

 Chapter 420 The Third Winds Of A Brewing Storm (4)

    ?Toz and the others looked around a second time and confirmed that there were no enemies stationed within the chamber, probably because they would absorb and steal the demonic energy from the Fountain. And since they didn''t have any more time to waste, they prepared to destroy the Fountain of Death.


    It was just that destroying the Fountain was easier said than done. It was aplete artifact, and considering how much demonic energy surged out of it, it was of an unbelievably high grade. Even if it weren''t geared toward defense and were nothing more than a source of death attribute demonic energy, the Fountain would still be sturdy to the degree that was akin to the materials that had gone into making it.


    The stone pedestal looked like ordinary granite smoothened to an even, grey surface. But based on the air of death and the faint markings that looked more like the faces of wraiths the longer one looked, the pedestal wasn''t made from ordinary stone.


    And that was only the pedestal and how the base material looked. It was impossible to tell how the orb had been made or what kinds of enchantments and magic filled the Fountain.


    But Toz and the others hadn''te this far to back down in the face of their target just because its atmosphere was daunting.


    If anything, Toz almost looked forward to cracking the orb open. For some reason that he couldn''t tell, Toz hadn''t been able to move his gaze away from the orb after putting his eyes on it. He didn''t know if it was his instincts or simply the overwhelming amount of demonic energy taking over his mana vision that locked his eyes in ce. But he was sure to find out why he was drawn to the orb if he could get his hands on it.


    Unfortunately, he couldn''t really exin this peculiar desire to the others. If they smashed the orb before him, they might get a rightful im to whatever it was inside. Or they might even break the orb if it was the orb itself that Toz wanted.


    "The base of the pedestal looks to be the structurally weakest point. Let''s focus our attacks there."


    Toz was a little uncertain if the others would listen to him. But it seemed like his disy of skill and power, both with the stealth magic and during his bout with the armors, had inspired the others to trust him enough to listen to him. Toz had been more doubtful about Seich''s attitude.


    But Toz''s words were reasonable, and no one had any other suggestions. Seich even agreed with Toz''s point of view. He was just about to attack that point when Toz said they should attack together.


    It was a little risky attacking all at once since their magic could interfere with each other. Thankfully, no one had any contrasting elements. If anything, their elements synergized quite well.


    Mifter''s wind could help strengthen Toz''s fire and lightning, and Toz''s fire and lightning would strengthen Seich''s light attribute. And on top of all that came Wyrie''s amplification magic.


    There were also Toz''s other attributes andbination magic, but they didn''t possess the same explosively destructive properties or the same ease of use, so Toz held back on using them for now.


    Toz and the others roused their mana to the limit as they prepared the strongest attacks they could.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Seich''s des started trembling from all the light that Seich concentrated into them, and the more he condensed the mana, the brighter the lights grew.


    Mifter conjured a line of needles of wind that spun through the air so fast that it was impossible to follow their movements.


    Toz used the most powerful attack he could, his Fireball spell. And he focused on strengthening the explosive properties of the spell. He also made sure that the explosion would face away from them and that all the force would turn toward the pedestal. His Fireball was powerful, but it would be useless if the power wasn''t concentrated on one spot. And it would be even worse if the Fireball backfired and affected the others.


    As the three attackers were getting ready to unleash their attacks, Wyrie also got ready to step in. Since she was running out of mana and barely had enough left to defend herself against the death attribute demonic energy, she was prepared to do the same she had done when Seich broke through the line of knights. Wyrie was only going to amplify the effects of their magic at the moment of impact. Any more, and she might not be able to endure the demonic energy eating away at her ankles.


    Toz, Seich, Mifter, and Wyrie exchanged nces and got ready to attack, while Hal and Braxton got ready to contain the damage and sound of the attack.


    Toz''s fist-sized ball of orange inferno started twisting the air around it due to the heat that managed to escape Toz''s control.


    Mifter''s finger-sized needles lined up and created a cone, inside which Toz guided his fireball. The currents of air helped guide and control the power of Toz''s fire. It would also help direct the explosion toward one point on the Fountain.


    Mifter''s cone and Toz''s Fireball would lead the assault.


    Since Seich''s attack would get stronger the brighter its surroundings were, he wouldunch it the moment Toz''s Fireball made contact with the pedestal. Thankfully, light magic was fast enough to make it to the pedestal after Toz''s Fireball made contact but before it fully exploded.


    As he felt the power of the three instances of magic, Braxton prepared a shelter for them to take cover behind after the three maniacs unleashed their attacks.


    Hal and Braxton were already hiding behind the sloped and curved wall. Hal was ready to iste the noise, and Braxton still didn''t feel safe, so he continued reinforcing the earthen shield.


    With one final exchange of nces between the four responsible for the attack, they unleashed their magic upon the Fountain of Death.

 Chapter 421 The Third Winds Of A Brewing Storm (5)

    ?zing heat filled the Fountain of Death''s chamber as soon as Toz let go of his Fireball and sent it toward their target. The explosive heat was enough to make them flinch. But there were two who under no circumstances could blink or look away. Wyrie and Seich.


    For the attack to reach its maximum potential, both of them had to time their magic down to a single moment. Seich had to send out the magic in his swords as soon as Toz''s Fireball began exploding. And right after that, Wyrie had to add her magic to thebined attack.


    Mifter''s spinning cone of needles enveloped Toz''s ball of mes and turned into a zing drill that burned the air it passed through. The scattered heat was enough to make the water pouring from the Fountain of Death bubble and the mist of demonic energy dissipate.


    Although the heat was a sign of the Fireball''s effects escaping the spell, Toz wasn''t worried. If anything, the leaking heat was proof of how much mana he had crammed into the spell rather than a sign that he failed to control his magic properly.


    Toz had increased the power of the Fireball as much as he could while still maintaining the spell. Unfortunately, he wasn''t yet at the point where he could freely modify and awaken the true power of fire without sticking to the spell''s constraints. He had long since mastered the Fireball as it was recorded in his grimoire, but not the entirety of the fire element or the properties of fire necessary to create a fireball.


    But even if Toz wasn''t as adept at fire magic as he wanted, he had still managed to increase the power of his spell far beyond what another fire mage would ordinarily be capable of at the sixth level.


    Now it only remained to be seen if it would be enough to break the Fountain of Death.


    Since Wyrie didn''t have enough mana for a second round of amplification, it would be best if it only took one attack. The reinforcements hadn''t even breached Braxton''s wall yet. So, if their attack broke the pedestal, they might even be able toplete their mission and escape without even having to partake in any fighting. The short tussle with the armors didn''t count.


    Thankfully, Toz and the others didn''t have to wait long until they could discover the result of their attack.


    Since Toz had prioritized explosive force, his Fireball wasn''t fast. But Mifter''s magic pulled it forward, and their magic wooshed through the air, finally arriving at the Fountain.


    Seich''s eyes had been wide open ever since theyunched the magic, waiting for the moment that came. And while holding back the trembling in his arms, he released the magic he had built up in his swords.


    Two beams of light appeared, connecting Seich''s swords with the Fountain right when Mifter''s cone struck the pedestal, and Toz''s Fireball exploded. The beams of light lingered in the air, resonating with each other and basking in the budding glow of Toz''s explosion.


    That was only the beginning.


    Before the light beams faded and Toz''s explosion fully bloomed, it was Wyrie''s turn.


    Wyrie''s eyes were wide open in concentration, and she held her hands in front of her as she used her magic and amplified the magic attack as it hit the pedestal''s base.


    Seich''s light beams regained their initial light and grew even brighter.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Mifter''s cone of air needles spun out of control and turned into a small tornado, drilling away at the pedestal.


    However, the light beams and the tornado were both overshadowed by the infernal explosion that followed Wyrie''s amplification of Toz''s Fireball.


    Mifter''s magic was swallowed by the mes and turned into a tornado of fire that enveloped the Fountain. And Seich''s beams took on a reddish hue as they pierced into the pedestal.


    That was all they had time to see before Toz grabbed everyone and dragged them behind the shield Braxton built.


    Since it was the first time Toz had the opportunity to witness such an attack, he naturally wanted to look at it with his mana vision active. Since it felt like his eyes were about to melt, he would have regretted it if it wasn''t the reason that he knew Braxton''s shield wasn''t enough.


    The colorful explosion of mana lingered in Toz''s eyes even after he closed them. So, he acted mostly on feeling as he grabbed the others who cooperated in the attack and hid them behind the shelter Braxton set up.


    The shelter itself wouldn''t be enough, but it would serve as a good foundation. And it would be easier for Toz to reinforce it instead of trying to build a defense sturdy enough to withstand the st in the few meager moments they had left before the explosion reached them.


    Toz instinctively used lightning magic and activated the state where his cognition and sight reached new heights of speed. It wouldn''t allow him to move faster, but since magic relied on his mind, he would hopefully be able to make it in time.


    Toz didn''t waste any time worrying and instantly got to work.


    And since he didn''t have any time to deliberate over what would be most effective, Toz followed his instincts and put up the defenses he thought would be most useful against the magical explosion.


    He dug into his mana pool and roused it to its limit as he pulled out void and metal mana in incredible amounts.


    Toz felt the cold sweat on his back begin to dry up to the waves of heat crashing toward them. He wanted to use more mana to fortify their defense even further, but he would have to settle for the amount he had already drawn out.


    He wanted to take a deep breath and concentrate on his magic, but even just that wishful thought wasted the precious few snowkes of time he had left.


    Toz didn''t even have time to doubt his efforts, and he used his mana to envelop him and the others in a sphere of void metal.

 Chapter 422 The Fourth Winds Of A Brewing Storm (1)

    ?Toz felt a few wisps of me sneak inside the orb right before he closed it. Thankfully, he managed to control and put them out before they could touch anyone and cause damage. However, he couldn''t get rid of the heat that easily, and the orb turned into a makeshift sauna.


    But even when the inside of the orb was dizzyingly warm, Toz and the others could still tell that it was worse outside. The others didn''t know that Toz''s void metal was even better at shielding them from the heat caused by the magical explosion than most other metals, so they only thought the heat was dangerous, but not shockingly so.


    However, Toz knew how effective his void metal was when it came to blocking magic. He could also sense how much the explosion had worn away on the orb. But even if Toz was the only one who knew exactly how powerful the explosion was, it didn''t mean the others weren''t thankful for the orb.


    The tornado of mes raged on outside the orb for a couple of minutes. And the temperature within the orb rose to almost unbearable levels. It was enough to make them want to get out of it. But they knew that the temperature within was like tea whenpared to theva that was the temperature outside, so they stubbornly held out and focused on not dying. At least there wasn''t any death attribute demonic energy water within the orb.


    Eventually, the firestorm began calming down due to ack of mana and fuel. But Toz still didn''t take down the orb. Instead, he made sure it isted the temperature even more.


    The others looked at him questioningly. With the firestorm gone, shouldn''t it be alright to leave the orb?


    "The explosion may have passed, and the mes may have mostly died out, but it''s still hotter than a Spark Skunk''s ass. I can handle it, but you five will turn into five pieces of burnt meat. So, sit still and wait patiently."


    Toz words were spoken calmly, but they still made the others listen to them obediently.


    Since no one felt like talking, the six of them sat in silence and waited until Toz judged the temperature had cooled down to temperatures bearable for the others.


    Toz warned them that it would still be hot before he lowered the orb. He would have wanted to wait longer since the others would have to waste a lot of mana to protect themselves. But they had to get out of the Fortress as quickly as possible before they were surrounded by legions of soldiers of Death. They also had to make sure that the Fountain was broken and could no longer continue supplying the Tribe of Death with unending amounts of demonic energy.


    The others took a deep breath and prepared themselves, even if they didn''t think it would be as hot as Toz said it would be. The one who seemed to take Toz''s words most seriously was Wyrie, and she mustered most of her mana to reinforce her body to protect herself against the heat.


    Toz sighed and helped her by shielding her with his own mana. It was partly his fault that she didn''t have enough mana to protect herself. Although some of the explosion''s power was due to Wyrie''s amplification magic, most of it was due to how much power Toz had used to fill his Fireball.


    The others noticed Toz''s actions and added some more protection to themselves.


    Seeing that everyone imed to be ready, Toz dispelled the orb of void metal and removed the only thing separating them all from the aftermath of thebined efforts of Toz, mifter, Seich, and Wyrie.


    Several pairs of eyebrows were burned off almost instantly. Braxton''s, Seich''s, Mifter''s, and Hal''s skin began drying out, and their throats were parched after less than half a breath. They hurried to strengthen their mana protection, silently ming themselves for not listening to Toz.


    Seeing how badly affected the others were by the heat, Wyrie hurried to thank Toz. When she did, she noticed Toz''s gaze and followed it with her eyes.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The others alsoposed themselves and looked around at what had once been the Fountain of Death''s chamber.


    The stone the pedestal was made from might have been an incredible material. But the rest of the room wasn''t nearly as special. The attack had been concentrated on the Fountain of Death, but the rest of the room was far from intact.


    The floor was still half-molten and showed how intense the explosion had been since waves had formed on the stone''s surface.


    The walls were in a slightly better state since they were merely scorched instead of melted. However, the earthen wall that Braxton had put up was gone. There were traces of it getting blown away to the other side of the hallway before dissipating.


    However, no one cared about the open entrance to the chamber since the glowing red pedestal in the center of the chamber took their attention.


    The pedestal stood in a pool of molten stone and was slowly tipping to one side. But the pedestal itself was mostly intact. The stone was scorched and glowing red, but it wasn''t on the verge of breaking down.


    But it wasn''t continuously spouting liquid demonic energy anymore, so even if they hadn''t destroyed it, they had still partly seeded.


    Unfortunately, they weren''t done just yet. They could hear wailing and nking armoring from further down the hall.


    "We can''t leave it here."


    Toz''s words made the others, who had already started retreating to the archway, look back at him.


    "What?"


    "Damn it. He''s right, Hal. The pedestal isn''t broken. What if they repair it?"


    Seich didn''t think of the same thing as Toz. Toz wanted to take the Fountain since it was a treasure. But Seich was worried about what would happen if they repaired the chamber and it began spewing demonic energy again. If that happened, their mission would have been for nothing.


    The sound of armored footsteps rapidly approaching rang in their ears.

 Chapter 423 The Fourth Winds Of A Brewing Storm (2)

    ?Toz and the others looked at each other anxiously, the footsteps rapidly approaching. They obviously couldn''t leave the pedestal behind as it was. They had to either destroy it or take it with them, which was possible now that it wasn''t part of the floor. However, if they stayed behind, they would have to face the innumerable soldiers andbatants of the Fortress of Death. Not to mention how difficult it would be to destroy or retrieve the Fountain, considering the pool ofva around it.


    But they had to reach a decision quickly.


    Eventually, much to the guilty relief of the others, Toz spoke up.


    "I''ll stay behind and make sure they can''t use it. You guys go on ahead. I''ll meet you back at the camp."


    Toz turned around and began walking toward the Fountain of Death. Now wasn''t the time to stand around and wait for their agreement.


    "Toz!"


    Toz turned around and looked at Seich.


    "...If you get in trouble, activate the cloak and throw it at the enemy. If you can, hide inside one of those orbs."


    Toz nodded resolutely and continued toward the Fountain of Death. He heard the others'' footsteps disappear as they activated the cloaks'' stealth and used magic to hide their presence as they slipped out of the room.


    Toz grinned as he walked toward the Fountain. Now that the others were gone, he didn''t have to pretend or anything. He could openly reveal his desire to snatch the Fountain for himself. Thankfully, the magic attack hadn''t damaged it, at least not the orb. The pedestal was a little scarred, but the orb was untouched by the mes.


    He had been worried that their attack would have ruined any chance of finding out why he was drawn to the orb, but it was a needless worry. Now, however, he had to worry about retrieving the Fountain and getting out of the Fortress alive.


    The heat around the Fountain and theva pool wasn''t lethal, and Toz quickly lowered it while he approached the Fountain.


    He solidified theva under his feet by draining away the heat, but he let theva around the pedestal''s base remain soft so that he could more easily lift it out of the ground.


    Toz was finally in front of the Fountain of Death, and he reinforced his body with metal mana, which would give his body the greatest boost to physical strength and endurance. He barely had to bend down as he reached out to grab the underbelly of the pedestal''s head.


    His hands sizzled as they came in contact with the stone that had yet to lose the orange color that came from being submitted to the infernal explosion at close range. The pedestal had endured the damage and hadn''t melted, which was a lot better than the stone around it. But the pedestal hadn''t escaped the heat.


    The pedestal had taken the explosion head-on and had absorbed astounding amounts of heat. It was to the point where even Toz''s hands stung from the burning pain. Thankfully, it was manageable as long as he added a few moreyers of mana to his hand and wrapped them in void metal.


    With a firm grasp on the fountain, Toz took a shallow breath. Although he could withstand it, the hot air still dried his throat more than wasfortable.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz tugged on the Fountain and yanked the pedestal out of the pool ofva it stood in.


    Lava sprayed across the floor following Toz''s yanking, but it quickly cooled down.


    The Fountain of Death wasn''t as heavy as Toz had expected it to be, but it was still too heavy for him to lug it around as he escaped from the Fortress. And it was definitely too heavy for him to carry it while he fought against the knights pouring through the archway.


    Thankfully, they couldn''t approach him due to the heat surging from the center of the chamber. But that didn''t mean there were no enemies capable of approaching him, and the heat would die down eventually. Toz could fan the mes, but that would only be a temporary measure that would keep the enemies from getting close to him. And it would only work as long as he had mana.


    He could use his creased nket method to restore his mana. But not as fast as he would have to use his mana if he wanted to hold high level enemies at bay, especially when he had to convert the demonic energy to neutral mana and then to mana of a suitable attribute.


    He had tried absorbing demonic energy when they were below ground. And it took significantly more time and effort for a simr amount of mana, and that was when the air was filled with part mana and part demonic energy. Now that he stood in nothing but demonic energy, there was no way he would be able to replenish his mana as quickly as he would have to if he wanted to fight against the entire Fortress of Death.


    Thankfully, Toz wasn''t left without options.


    If he couldn''t carry the Fountain of Death in his hand, he could use a spatial storage item.


    Ordinary rings that he had grown up with might not be enough. But rings that could be found on the officers of the Alliance of Kingdom''s military were more than enough. And they weren''t even enchanted for exclusivity so that it would be easy to transport supplies.


    Toz and Lucy had grabbed a few when they passed through the camp and the Resource Center, and one of the officers came too close. Most of the goods inside were useless, so those ended up somewhere else, and Toz ended up with some spatial rings of excellent quality.


    Toz threw a nce at the armors who had taken to surrounding him and the Fountain of Death before he tried to put the Fountain of Death away.


    "Haha! If your heads weren''t empty, you might have been able to stop me!"


    "..."


    "..."


    Toz ignored the armors'' silence and looked at the Fountain of Death in his hands. He lifted the Fountain above his head so that he could see the ring on his finger. However, he only saw the metal scraps that fell to the ground after he moved his finger.

 Chapter 424 The Fourth Winds Of A Brewing Storm (3)

    ?While denying reality, Toz tried to put the Fountain of Death into another ring. After doing that three more times, he groaned in agony. He had ruined all his rings, and it was all for nothing. The Fountain of Death couldn''t be put into a spatial storage item. It was infuriating and annoying, but it wouldn''t be the end of Toz.


    Toz put down the Fountain of Death after draining the heat from right below it. After that, he spread the mes and heat of theva pool even further so that he could get some time to think about what to do.


    Since he didn''t know if the Fountain of Death resisted all kinds of spatial maniption or just storage items, Toz didn''t dare to try and teleport it. Doing that would also require Asilean''s assistance. And asking him for help when he and the other cats were busy wasn''t something Toz wanted to do unless absolutely necessary.


    At the thought of the cats, Toz grew curious about how it was going for them since they had been radio silent after he dropped them off. But he quickly told himself to sharpen his mind. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, he was in a considerably sticky situation. And if he didn''t take it seriously, he would have to leave the Fountain of Death behind.


    Theva pool and the ring of fire had given him some time to think, but it wouldn''t take long until reinforcements other than the armors came. And it was very likely that they would be able to deal with some puny mes that Toz didn''t put his heart into conjuring. Before then, Toz had toe up with a way out of the encirclement and the Fortress of Death.


    Toz looked around the room to see if there was anything that could help. Unfortunately, there was nothing but half-molten and scorched stone.


    Toz heard the sounds of more reinforcements arriving, and it wasn''t only a bunch of empty-headed armors this time since he could faintly hear voices. He sighed and resigned himself.


    Since there weren''t any ways out, Toz would simply have to carve one himself.


    Though rather than carving a way out, it might be more appropriate to say that Toz was nning to remove the need for a way to escape.


    With no enemies to escape from, he didn''t have to escape.


    It was the simplest way Toz came up with that would allow him to keep both his life and the Fountain of Death. And now that the Fountain of Death was out of order, he didn''t have to worry about the armors resurrecting endlessly, no matter the damage they took.


    Toz grabbed his sword and covered it in orange fire. He looked at the armors all around him and at the archway where more were steadily pouring into the chamber.


    Toz roused his mana. Balls of fire, bolts of lightning, javelins of metal, and spatial tears appeared in the air around him while tendrils of darkness stretched out below him and invisible waves of void magic spread through the chamber.


    Conjuring and manipting all his elements at once put a toll on Toz''s mind, but if he couldn''t handle even this much, he could forget about reaching his full potential. He hadn''t even startedbining them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Thankfully, the miniature clone within his consciousness added some strength to his mind, which gave Toz some confidence that he would be able to pull through.


    After deciding on what to do, now Toz only had to figure out how to do it.


    Coming out victorious against the entire Fortress of Death was a lot simpler as words instead of actions. Toz almost wondered if he had gone insane since he had bothe up with the idea and decided to go through with it.


    However, maybe that insanity would help him see a path to victory that a sane person wouldn''t.


    With a grin on his face, Toz began thinning the numbers before the next wave could arrive. Although it might be easier to deal withrge numbers at once if he saved up and prepared destructive magic, it would be for naught if the second wave of reinforcements had someone that could block that kind of magic.


    Instead, it would be better to free up as much space as possible so that he didn''t have to worry about a hundred swords flying at him at once.


    And since he was determined to stay in ce since that was where the Fountain of Death was, Toz wouldn''t have the same ease of movement that he was used to. If he avoided an attack by escaping to the other side of the Fortress, someone mighte and grab the Fountain while he wasn''t there to watch it.


    And now that it wasn''t continuously spewing forth demonic energy, it was a lot more difficult to detect the Fountain with his mana vision. The death attribute energy filling the Fortress hid the Fountain''s signature. There were also the spatial fluctuations rippling through the Fortress and obscuring his ability to see through the mana for long distances.


    The easiest and simplest way for Toz to seed with his n and keep the Fountain of Death would be to stay inside the chamber, which would limit the number of enemies that could attack him at once. He would then proceed to slowly whittle away at those who came at him until there were no more reinforcements.


    With a n that gave him some meager confidence, Toz got to work.


    The chamber wasn''t veryrge, but it could still fit a significant amount of enemies that could potentially swarm him with their sheer number. Toz didn''t think he would be able to block a tsunami of armors if they came for him with that sort of tactic.


    But handling lesser squalls and waves should be doable.


    And the first wave was already in front of him, so Toz unleashed the magic at his sides.

 Chapter 425 The Fourth Winds Of A Brewing Storm (4)

    ?The tendrils of darkness growing from Toz''s shadow stretched out and bound the feet of the knight armors, making them easy targets for the balls of fire, bolts of lightning, and javelins of metal.


    The magic hanging in the air around Toz flew out and burned, sted, and pierced the armors standing around theva pool. The sturdy armors didn''t always break in a single attack, but the shadows holding them still prevented them from escaping a second volley.


    But Toz didn''t stop after merely damaging the armors. Although they weren''t aided by the endless supply of ridiculously fine and dense demonic energy from the Fountain of Death anymore, the armors still had their own supply of demonic energy that let them regenerate.


    However, Toz had spread his void magic throughout the chamber. In addition to reducing the enemies'' defenses, the void magic also helped erode the armors and make them use up their demonic energy.


    Those weren''t the only two things that the void magic did for Toz.


    The second wave of troops and reinforcements came right as Toz semi-permanently put the first wave of armors out of order. As he had expected, the second wave came with another swarm of hollow knights. But there were also robed mages who were capable of thought and conversation.


    However, the robed mages didn''t have any intentions of talking with Toz, and they instantly beganunching various forms of death magic toward him.


    That was where his void magic once again proved its usefulness and versatility. It both made it difficult for the mages to target Toz and decreased the effectiveness of their magic so that it was easier for Toz to avoid or block the magic.


    Since the death magic was mostly invisible to the naked eyes of a living person, Toz would have ordinarily had to use his mana vision constantly in order to see and prevent the magic from hitting him. But with the field of void magic aplishing something simr and acting as a primary detection, Toz could reduce how much he strained his mind by not using mana vision all the time.


    And with how rapidly his mind was spinning just to conjure and manipte his elements and stop the enemies'' advance, not using mana vision was a much-needed relief.


    Unfortunately, it seemed like he would have to exert more effort to deal with the second wave since there were at least a couple of darkness attribute mages in the mix who interfered with his shadows. And when he couldn''t use his shadow magic to bind the enemies in ce, Toz missed his attacks more and more often.


    Each attack didn''t cost a lot of mana to cast, but the amount of wasted mana built up in the long run and could be one of the factors that would decide Toz''s survival.


    However, Toz wasn''t sure if it would be more effective to switch over to massive area-of-effect attacks that weren''t dodgeable. It would reduce the strain on his mind since he wouldn''t have to use pinpoint precision and such a varied array of magic. He also wouldn''t have to use shadows to restrain the enemies. But it would most likely cost more mana.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Since the only advantage the enemies had was their number, Toz spared himself a few moments to think about it while he continued clearing out the armors. He wanted to get rid of the mages as well, but they stood in the back and hid behind the hollow knight armors and magic barriers that killed whatever came their way.


    Eventually, Toz realized something. The reason why he hadn''t had to face any of the armors in directbat wasn''t only due to his incessant magic. It was also due to the slowly coolingva pool surrounding the cauldron-sized ind he and the Fountain of Death were on top of.


    Since he already had a natural advantage in his surroundings that would help defend against the enemies'' onught, Toz figured that he might as well make use of it.


    With his mind made up, Toz didn''t hesitate, and he grinned a little as he was kind of looking forward to what he was about to do.


    Toz immediately got rid of all of his magic except the balls of fire swirling around him. It was a little unfortunate that he had to dispel the field of void magic since it was so useful. But Toz feared that it would only interfere with what he was going to do. And if he wanted to achieve maximum sess, Toz would have to devote all of his concentration to the fire he was currently filling the air around him with.


    Since he was only going to use one element and in a very simple way, he could afford to use mana vision at the same time.


    Toz thought back to his experience in the prison cell and started raising the temperature of the mes around him.


    He had to move around and dodge the magicing from the mages at the same time, so he couldn''t fully devote himself to the fire magic at first. But as the temperature rose and the mes grew, his magic gradually started hindering the death mages'' attacks.


    Toz didn''t have to worry about losing the field of void magic''s protection since his field of fire started doing something simr. But instead of merely interfering with the magic, his field of fire started burning everything it touched, whether it be stone, armor, or magic.


    Unfortunately, it wasn''t at a level where it could burn mana itself as his grey void mes could. But Toz wasn''t sure those mes would be enough to defeat the armors'' physical form. But if they were, they might eventch on to the Fountain and destroy it, which was something he desperately didn''t want to happen.


    And instead of thinking unnecessary thoughts about whether he should switch to an element he wasn''t used to using, Toz just focused all his efforts on increasing the might of the raging inferno around him.

 Chapter 426 The Fourth Winds Of A Brewing Storm (5)

    ?Back in the cell that Dyra and Yill put him in after they kidnapped him and the cats, Toz hadn''t had any outside interference when he melted the cell walls. He had been allowed topletely block out everything else and freely sink into his fire magic using his mana vision.


    But now, Toz was in a muchrger room. One that wasn''t cut off from the rest of the world. There were also boatloads of enemies trying to attack him with their weapons or with magic that he didn''t know how it worked. The conditions were far less optimal than they had been in his cell.


    However, Toz had after he broke out of his cell. His understanding of fire had deepened, his mana had reached a new level, and his mind and mana vision had improved and grown stronger.


    There was also the fact that Toz was more desperate in his current situation. Although he desperately wanted to get out of his cell back then, he wasn''t in a position where he would absolutely end up dead if he failed.


    The situation Toz was in now was a little different. There were uncountable ways that Toz could die from if he made even the slightest misstep.


    A sword could nick his Achilles tendon and force him to the ground, after which he would be left unable to defend himself against the onught of attacks and magic that would follow. Or maybe he would be so overwhelmed by the shower of magic attacks that he missed a spell that disrupted his casting and left him vulnerable. He could also end up with no mana before the enemies die.


    However, nothing good woulde from worrying and building up reckless amounts of anxiety, so Toz cleared his mind and focused on the fire surrounding him.


    The mes and heat hade be a solid defense since they even disrupted the magic attacks that came his way. But it was unfortunately not enough.


    The fire wasn''t aggressive or fast enough to catch the armors and mages, who could just step back and attack Toz from beyond his reach. Even if they didn''t attack him, they could just step back and wait until Toz ran out of mana, which he was sure to do.


    Toz managed to replenish some mana with the creased nket method. But not enough to make up for how much keeping the sea of fire alive drained. The only sce he had was that it took less mana to maintain the fire after he increased the temperature enough to melt the metal scraps on the floor that remained from the first wave.


    However, he would still run out of mana sooner orter. And since he couldn''t decrease the number of enemies waiting for him to do just that, he would be swarmed by more followers of Death than he could count.


    After thinking about it, Toz came up with two ways he could go about it if he wanted to defeat all his enemies using only fire magic. Or maybe he had to do both things.


    As Toz thought more about it, he realized that either of the two things he came up with wouldn''t be enough. He would have to do both if he wanted to get out alive by defeating all his enemies.


    Both ideas Toz came up with carried risks, especially the second one. But they were also the only two ways he felt would seed, and only if hebined them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The only problem came with figuring out the details. How much fire should he use? And how much mana could he and his mana core withstand? Toz once again realized that he wasn''t entirely sane as he started to execute his ideas.


    There were too many variables on the battlefield and within the Fortress of Death for him to calcte everything. And Toz would much rather follow his instincts and feeling instead of trying to oveplicate things.


    Toz was still a little anxious even after he cleared his mind and started spreading his mes like wildfire. But he held onto that anxiety. It was what would hopefully save his life, after all.


    Under Toz''s control and urging, the mes and fires grew and surged furiously. The sea of mes became a raging storm of fire that gradually began threatening to spread to the entire Fortress of Death.


    The chamber was still sturdy enough to contain most of the mes and heat, at least for now. With how quickly the temperature and range of Toz''s mes grew, not even the chamber would be safe for much longer.


    But before the chamber fell to the mes, there was still one way out that the fire could follow.


    Toz''s wildfire spilled out of the archway and into the hallway like a tsunami and burned the armors and mages until not even ash remained.


    Toz felt the Fortress of Death begin to fight back and try to subdue the mes. But Toz didn''t buckle. He had already decided to go all in. He had already used stupendous amounts of mana to fuel his fire. What would the Fortress''s defenses matter if he used even more?


    Toz''s fire swept through the hallways of the Fortress, burning enemies and walls all the same. It also burned through his mana far beyond what he could hope to recover using the creased nket method, but Toz didn''t care. He was counting on it.


    Eventually, the Fortress'' walls began melting and dripping to the floor. It was a sturdy building made for defense, but it wasn''t prepared for the eruption of fire from within. And it was also a building made for the proxy war. It wasn''t meant to be indestructible and tost forever. It just had to be good enough for the duration of the war. However, that wasn''t enough to block Toz''s fires, and they continued to ravage through the Fortress.


    Eventually, the death mages, hollow knights, zombies, and every other servant of Death stopped heading toward the Fountain of Death. It was entirely useless to even try and reach it. But that wasn''t why they changed direction.


    Although the mages and some other servants of Death had will and consciousness, they weren''t all at the same level, and if someone of a higher rank ordered them, they had to obey. That was why they headed toward another location of the Fortress instead.


    The legions of undead swarmed toward the location where Toz had sensed the spatial fluctuationse from. Not that Toz was aware since all he heard and saw were the mes raging around him.

 Chapter 427 The Fifth Winds Of A Brewing Storm (1)

    ?Toz''s fire spread through the fortress and climbed its walls to reach the ceiling. And if the Fortress of Death was caught up in mes, there was no way that the chamber Toz was in would remain intact. If anything, it was the opposite.


    As the center of Toz''s inferno, the Fountain of Death''s chamber was almost entirely melted. Only a few beams of stone held out and kept remnants of the ceiling afloat, but they were quickly dripping to the ground and joining the pool of molten rock surrounding Toz and the Fountain of Death.


    Toz was nearing his goal, but he wasn''t quite yet satisfied, and he continued fanning the mes and pushing them to roar even more furiously. The mes avariciously devoured his mana, but Toz didn''t care. He singlemindedly forced himself and his fire even further.


    Eventually, Toz stopped thinking too much about what he was doing. He simply indulged in the world of fire that he had created. It didn''t matter whether he had his eyes closed or open or if mana vision was active or not. All Toz saw, felt, and heard was fire.


    He knew deep at the back of his head that there was something he had to do. He had set the world aze for a reason. But as he stopped thinking, that reason didn''t seem as important as the mes.


    The only thing that mattered in Toz''s head and heart was the fire around him. He could feel it calling to him, and he could feel an urge to call back. So he did.


    Toz tilted his head back with closed eyes and spread his arms wide as he used what remained of his mana to talk to the mes burning the world around him.


    Immediately, the mes shook in tandem before abruptly calming down. The fire that had raged like a bear mother after losing its child stilled and came to an eerie silence. The mes clung to the remnants of the Fortress, only asionally shifting around and licking the air.


    The rampaging wildfire had turned as docile as the me of a candle within a cottage.


    Toz felt the fire await his request. It was like a dog patiently looking at its master. However, Toz had used thest of his mana to awaken the fire. Even if he wanted to order the fire to go wild, he couldn''t do it. He could only helplessly watch the fire with his mana vision and try to learn as much as possible while it returned to its original state.


    Toz was so busy trying to understand what he had done with the fire that he barely even recognized that it might be lucky that he couldn''t urge the awakened fire to do anything. If he unleashed it upon the world, there was no guarantee he would be able to calm it down again or stop it from burning everything, including himself and the Fountain of Death.


    Before Toz called out to the mes and woke them up, they had been in his control and would never hurt him. But after they woke up, Toz felt like they got a life of their own, and while they wouldn''t harm Toz intentionally, there was no telling what would happen. The mes were wild and untamed. But they were also stunningly beautiful and alluring.


    The mes caught and held Toz''s attention in such a tight grip that he almost forgot what he needed to do.


    Spreading the raging inferno through the Fortress of Death and razing it to the ground was only one part of his n. And it had been a sess. But as he expected, it wasn''t enough.


    The inferno had killed most, if not all, of the weaker servants of Death within and around the Fortress of Death. However, Toz sensed the existence of several powerful entities beyond the mes.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Although the fire still zed throughout the Fortress and obscured his senses, Toz could still feel how much stronger those existences werepared to the hollow knight armors and robed death mages he had incinerated inside the Fountain of Death''s chamber. The fact that they survived the inferno was more than enough proof of that, especially the inferno''s finale, where Toz managed to awaken and bring out the me''s true nature.


    When Toz seeded in that, the mes calmed down and acted docile, but they did nothing to mask the soaring heat that was enough to make the molten stone boil.


    The fact that there were some who survived that surprised Toz, but he was still prepared for it. He was almost counting on it. He would prefer if that burst of fire and heat killed every enemy within the Fortress since it meant he could take his time to recover before carrying away the Fountain of Death and finding a way to store it.


    But since there were survivors, Toz had to go through with the second part of his slightly insane idea. And he probably had to do it soon.


    The mes were quickly dying down, and the heat was escaping into the air. They would still be more than enough to make the likes of the hollow knight armors stay away. But they wouldn''tst long against the remaining existences.


    However, that was another thing that Toz was counting on. Unfortunately, he couldn''t tell how strong the remaining enemies were or what their attributes were, which made it a little more difficult to calcte the timing.


    But he didn''t want to think too much when his brain was already starting to feel like mashed potatoes. Awakening the true nature of an element was taxing in a different way from simply using a lot of magic, especially the part where he felt the fire call to him and when he felt like he had to respond to that calling. It didn''t so much strain his brain rather than simply exhaust it to its absolute limit.


    Toz felt like a days-long nap would be perfect at the moment. But he also knew that indulging in that desire would lead to his death.


    So, he decided to do something else that would hopefully not have the same odds of dying.


    Toz sat down cross-legged and calmed down. He could tell instinctively that he should do it before the mes fully return to slumber, but he didn''t know why. And instead of trying to understand his instincts, Toz just listened to them as he cleared his mind and opened his eyes with mana vision active.


    He looked out at the world around him. At the mana and demonic energy swirling and shing due to the overwhelming amounts of fire mana and fire magic stirring the atmosphere.


    Since the mana was already moving around in such a manner, Toz didn''t have to put the same effort he would have had to had the mana been mostly motionless. But with his tired mind, any amount of effort would still lead to a budding headache, so it didn''t really matter.


    The only thing that mattered was whether he would do it and survive, or not do it and die. Even if he did it, Toz might still die. But Toz didn''t hesitate, and he spread his perception to the mana and demonic energy as far as he could see with his mana vision.

 Chapter 428 The Fifth Winds Of A Brewing Storm (2)

    ?With mana vision supporting his mana sense, Toz quickly spread the remaining dregs of his mana through the air and captured the mana all around him. Thanks to getting rid of the Fortress'' walls and ceilings, nothing obstructed Toz''s view, and he could almost freely control all the mana in the Fortress'' vicinity. The demonic energy was a little more stubborn and didn''t follow Toz''smand as obediently as the mana.


    But with Toz using his mind and mana vision to control the demonic energy, it eventually submitted and fell in line with the mana.


    With the initial preparations ready, Toz took a deep breath and began.


    He was going to train his mana by absorbing all the mana around him in one go like he had done in the tent when he and Scrael shared the grimoire.


    Back then, Tozbined what he learned through his passive training with his manual training and managed to absorb an overwhelming amount of mana at once. Doing that almost ruptured his body, shattered his mana pool, and tore apart his mind, despite Scrael interrupting him before it could get really bad.


    Toz thought that he had learned his lesson since it was incredibly painful and forced him to sleep and rest for several days. But since he was nning to do it again, and with even more mana this time, he had obviously not learned a thing. Not to mention how Scrael wasn''t even there to stop him and help him snap out of the trance that the surging rush of mana would put him in.


    There were other options avable for Toz if he merely wanted to survive, but that wasn''t the only thing he wanted since he felt a desire to bring the Fountain of Death with him. Toz didn''t think he could escape with the Fountain of Death in his current state, at least not as long as he couldn''t store away the Fountain.


    So, if Toz wanted to survive while keeping the Fountain of Death, he had to get rid of whatever tried to kill him. But after using all of his mana to get rid of the small fries, he wouldn''t be able to put up any kind of fight against the remaining enemies.


    He might not be able toe out victorious while keeping the Fountain of Death in his possession, even if his mana pool was full again.


    Thankfully, things had aligned for Toz, and he saw a way through which he could seed with what he wanted.


    After refining all of his elements, Toz had started passively training his fire attribute so that it had started approaching the seventh level. Toz had wanted to make some kind of progress with his fire element ever since the prison break. And although he also wanted to train his lightning element due to the spell, Toz realized that the fire element was a better option.


    Training lightning instead of fire might help him learn a single spell a little quicker. But training his fire element to the seventh level could very likely lead to him awakening the true nature of fire without the aid of a spell, which would undoubtedly increase his strength more than learning a single spell would.


    Well, now he had awakened the true nature of fire without the help of a spell before he reached the seventh level. But he couldn''t rule out the fact that the training he had done so far helped.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    And with his sess on top of his training, Toz''s mana had reached thest stretch before he could break through to the seventh level, which gave him even more confidence about breaking through using the recklessly stupid method he had concocted.


    Being close to the threshold of the seventh level and the experience of awakening fire magic itself fresh in his mind was an opportunity Toz might not get again. So, although he had nned to use this method from the beginning, he felt like he would actually have more than a grain of sand in the desert''s chance of survival.


    Another thing that gave Toz confidence was the fact that a lot of the mana in the air was of the fire attribute. Due to Toz emptying out all of his mana pool to create the inferno that wracked the Fortress, the demonic energy and mana in the air also gradually started to shift and convert into fire mana.


    And then, when he awakened the fire, the mana in the air trembled. Demonic energy and mana in the surroundings started to change into fire mana, and fire mana from further away rushed closer to the mes.


    The conditions were almost optimal for Toz to break through to the seventh level with his fire attribute. And since his mana pool was empty, to begin with, he would have more space to fit in all the mana he was pulling toward himself.


    Toz couldn''t help but feel a little fear as the mounting pressure of the iing tsunami of mana started building. But the remaining embers of awakened fireforted him and inspired him.


    He calmed himself down, but he still held on to just a tiny piece of anxiety, just like before.


    Toz was almost confident that he would seed in breaking through to the seventh level using the all-devouring method. But that wouldn''t necessarily make his body stop absorbing the mana in his surroundings.


    In a perfect world, he had chosen the exact amount of mana he needed to reach a perfect breakthrough, where he pushed his mana and mana pool to their limits.


    But he didn''t live in a perfect world, and doing something like that was impossible.


    But breaking through perfectly was another thing Toz didn''t want to give up on, even in his current circumstances. So, instead of absorbing a moderate amount that would let him break through without making him explode, Toz decided to absorb a lot more mana than he actually needed to break through to the seventh level.

 Chapter 429 A Well-Brewed Storm Picking Up Speed (1)

    ?Toz took a final deep breath before he began absorbing. He wanted to close his eyes, but that would deactivate his mana vision, the very thing that made his idea possible. Since he couldn''t close his eyes, Toz had to look at the tsunami of mana he was about to pull into himself. He couldn''t help but be nervous in front of it. But he didn''t let that nervousness dissuade him, and hemenced his breakthrough.


    The mana began entering Toz''s body, where all attributes other than fire got converted to fire while rushing toward his mana pool. Fire mana headed straight toward his mana pool, and demonic energy moved slower since it resisted both the absorption and the conversion. But the demonic energy couldn''t refuse, and it eventually transformed into fire mana as well.


    Toz''s mind was already starting to be hazy, but he could barely manage to discern that the mix of fire mana, mana of other attributes, and demonic energy helped him endure the rush of mana. Since all three types of mana moved through his body at different speeds, it wasn''t overwhelmed by too much mana entering and flowing through it at once.


    However, he could feel the strain, and the only reasons he could withstand it was the fact that he had undergone six refinements and that his bonds with the cats naturally strengthened his body''s endurance, regeneration, and physical capabilities.


    Toz could also tell that his bond with Mindle helped him handle the fire mana better, whether it be as it rushed through his body or when it came to converting other attributes to fire.


    But it remained to be seen if it would be enough. Toz hoped it would be. Unfortunately, there wasn''t much he could do to change his fate now that he had begun.


    He had some degree of control in the beginning, but as more and more mana poured into him, Toz felt his control slip out of his hands. He felt like a tiny rowboat trapped at sea in the middle of a storm as the mana swept through him and into his mana pool.


    Toz could feel the damage begin building in his body, and he could tell that if it continued, he might not survive. But he didn''t resist the flow of mana. If he tried to, he would only put even more pressure on his body, which would almost definitely break it. It was toote to back out.


    The only way Toz could survive was by enduring and keeping his mind in ce so that it didn''t float away in the midst of mana rushing through every nook and cranny in his body.


    Eventually, Toz became so lost in the mana that he started losing his sense of self. He realized what was going on as the mana began filling his mind. But the only thing he could do was endure. So, that''s what he did. However, as he locked his mind in ce, he lost all sense of what was happening to his body. He became unable to tell what was going on outside as soon as the mana started pouring into him.


    While Toz closed his mind, hoping that he and his body would be able to endure, the world outside him was gradually changing.


    The mana that Toz had targeted and started absorbing didn''t all enter Toz''s body at once. But it did group together. And the mix of fire mana, other types of mana, and demonic energy shed and swirled under the cover of Toz''s mana which guided it toward his body.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    As the mana continued to swirl around, waiting to plummet into Toz''s body, it gradually formed a giant vortex that nketed the sky. The collision of mana and the increasing density had made the mana visible to the naked eye.


    The maelstrom of various hues of orange, the deathly greyish ck of death attribute demonic energy, and the sprinkling colors of other attributes spun slowly.


    Although the Fortress was located pretty far from the frontlines, the Alliance of Kingdom''s recent offensives had pushed the frontlines closer, and both armies could see the vortex as it grew and trapped even more mana inside it.


    The vortex''s abrupt appearance and the pressure it exuded put a temporary stop to the fighting.


    Thebatants fighting on the side of the Alliance of Kingdoms feared what they thought was the ultimate attack of the Tribe of Death.


    And thebatants fighting on the side of the Tribe of Death feared the devastating surprise ambush that the humans hadunched. The Tribe of Death''s army was trapped between the humans and the vortex of mana. And if the vortex was as dangerous as it seemed, the Tribe of Death had already lost.


    However, the quick-wittedmanders of both armies noticed the others'' attitude and their spiking fear and realized that neither side was behind the vortex.


    General Scoll, themander of the Alliance of Kingdoms'' army, was suspicious enough to make it show on his face. But he didn''t have enough information to make a decision or determine what was going on. However, he did know enough to discern that it wasn''t the Tribe of Death''s ultimate attack, so he faced the soldiers fighting in front of the raised dais where he stood with his secretary and remaining bodyguards.


    "Continue the attack!"


    Scoll didn''t bother with encouraging or motivating words to make thebatants fight harder. His voice alone was enough. He used his mundane type inclination and the magic it gave him to strengthen his voice and make it reach the entire battlefield. He filled his voice with hismand. And before thebatants even knew what was going on, the battle had already restarted.


    Spells, magic, martial techniques, weapons, and attacks flew through the air and across the battlefield as the humans took the advantage andunched a joint attack against the demons, demonic beasts, and whoever else fought on the side of the Tribe of Death.

 Chapter 430 A Well-Brewed Storm Picking Up Speed (2)

    ?Thanks to General Scoll''s quick thinking and hismand that made thebatants subconsciously follow his orders, the Alliance of Kingdoms managed tond a powerfulbined attack on the Tribe of Death''s forces. Scoll wanted to push the advantage, but he knew that it wouldn''t be possible, and he simply watched as the Tribe of Death''s forces reacted and responded in kind, either by defending or counter-attacking.


    With the waves of attacks going back and forth, the war devolved intoplete chaos as all inhibitions were off.


    The battle had just begun, and most people were trying to conserve their strength and protect themselves. However, Scoll''smand put an end to that as everyone used their full strength during the surprise attack. The Tribe of Death''s forces naturally had to do the same if they wanted to defend and survive the attack. And when they counterattacked, it was only obvious that they would use their full strength.


    As the cycle continued, the situation quickly escted, and humans and beasts dropped like birds during a gue.


    But themanders of both armies weren''t unprepared. It had just happened a little earlier than the initial calctions due to the vortex of mana that appeared over the Fortress of Death.


    And one of the things that both sides had prepared for when the battle broke out was ritual magic. Naturally, since they were in the middle of a battlefield, they couldn''t use the most borate and time and resource-consuming rituals. But even smaller and quicker rituals were usually one step above spells in terms of power.


    Scoll didn''t even have to give the order before smaller groups of mages spread out behind the backline started chanting and amassing mana in order to cast their joint spell. Most of the spells were simple spells that had been modified so that several mages could join together and exponentially increase the power of the magic.


    It didn''t take long before the first salvo on either side was ready. The humans had more variety and sent spells of the mostmon elements. Fireballs the size of tables, trees and roots sprouted from the middle of the battle and entangled the enemies, showers of icicles rained down from the sky, and meter-wide des of wind swept through the battlefield and cleaved apart everything in their paths.


    The humans'' volley of ritual magic was met by the Tribe of Death''s ritual magic. Bone spurs jutted out of the ground and impaled whoever was in their paths, giant phantom skulls spewing ck mes that ate away at all living things, and contagious curses that crept through the battlefield, eating away the life force of everyone on it.


    General Scoll''s gaze shifted between the battlefield and the slowly swirling vortex of orange mana and ck demonic attribute. It almost looked like the center of the vortex had started gradually drooping downwards toward the ground.


    "Do you guys think that thing might be a mana storm?"


    General Scoll looked at Cooper, Merr, Derada, and his secretary, Rie, after he asked his question.


    Although Derada''s appearance was hidden behind a cloak and hood, her disinterest was more than obvious, and she continued fiddling with a mechanical device, unbothered by the general''s question.


    The other looked to be in thought, and eventually, Cooper was the first to tentatively answer the general.


    "Um, no. I don''t think so, sir."


    "Why not?"


    The short-haired scout looked toward the Fortress of Death before answering.


    "Because mana storms are rare natural phenomena that ur after intense and drastic changes in nature. And there haven''t been any such changes. Sir."


    General Scoll kept looking toward the vortex with a thoughtful look.


    "It doesn''t have to be changes in thendscape, you know?"


    "Sir?"


    "It can be in the mana as well."


    "O-oh?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Although Cooper still looked like he didn''t quite understand, General Scoll didn''t have any intentions of giving a further exnation.


    "Let''s assume the worst and say that the vortex that showed up shortly after Braxton and Seich should have arrived is a mana storm. Will it affect our ns, Derada?"


    "No."


    Derada didn''t even look up or hesitate as she answered, but neither the general nor any of his other subordinates cared.


    The general''s gaze was still trained on the vortex as he spoke again.


    "How''s it going on that front, by the way, Derada?"


    This time, Derada hesitated a few moments before answering.


    "Meh."


    Her answer was vague, despite the time she spent giving it. But the general understood what she meant, and he turned toward the battlefield with a graver look than usual.


    The people and beasts dying en masse was an ufortable sight, especially when everyone who died, died so violently. But that wasn''t why the general was so grim. Unfortunately, there wasn''t much he could do about it if he wanted to win the war.


    "Cooper, can you tell the status of Braxton and Seich?"


    Cooper closed his eyes for a few moments before answering.


    "No, sir. The signal got a little fuzzy when they got halfway across the battlefield. And now it''spletely gone."


    "Gone as in cut off, or as in you can''t sense them?"


    Cooper answered the general''s question with a grave face.


    "Cut off. Sir."


    Cooper''s words made the other bodyguards'' and Rie''s expressions sink. But they maintained theirposure.


    Cooper''s magic getting cut off either meant that the target he had marked had managed to sever the marking by themselves. That was what Toz had done. But it wasn''t something most people could do, and Braxton and Seich couldn''t do it.


    That meant that the other, the moremon method of severing his tracking magic, had been put to use, which meant that Braxton and Seich were probably dead.


    It wasn''t impossible that someone else had interfered and severed the tracking magic, but it was highly unlikely, especially whenpared to what could happen to them during their mission. They infiltrated the Fortress of Death, after all.


    "let''s make sure their sacrifice wasn''t in vain."


    The general''s words didn''t console the others, but they helped them push their feelings to the side as they focused on the war.

 Chapter 431 A Well-Brewed Storm Picking Up Speed (3)

    ?The general and his subordinates looked out over the battlefield as the humans, demons, beasts, and demonic beasts died in droves and dropped like flies. Since it was war, the sight wasn''t unexpected or shocking. But their opponent was the Tribe of Death. People and beasts dying would only serve to strengthen their enemies.


    However, the looks on the general and his subordinates weren''t ones of worry. They were just grave.


    The Tribe of Death weren''t using their magic to control the corpses of the fallen. Granted, a lot of the corpses were mangled and destroyed beyond what their magic could restore. But many corpses were also more than intact enough for the Tribe of Death to use as weapons against the Alliance of Kingdoms and their allies.


    Unfortunately, it wasn''t a good thing.


    General Scoll had obtained a piece of information from the Obsidian Empire in preparation for the war regarding the Tribe of Death''s war methods. Due to the time and effort most of them took, General Scoll didn''t want to believe that they would go through with several of those methods. He still began thinking up possible countermeasures. But he didn''t want to have to put them to use.


    However, as the battle progressed, General Scoll began seeing what the Tribe of Death was nning to do. And he didn''t like it, even if he had prepared a countermeasure.


    "Denebra, they''re going with option three."


    "Mhmm."


    Denebra''s short reply managed to put General Scoll''s heart at ease. But only until she opened her mouth again.


    "It''s fine as long as the Fountain is out of y."


    General Scoll held back a sigh and looked toward the Fortress of Death, where the mana storm was gradually dropping further and further down. The center was still far above the ground, but the vortex was still expanding, and there were no signs of the storm dissipating prematurely.


    As the suprememander of the Alliance of Kingdom''s army, General Scoll would have known if they or their allies were behind the mana storm in some way. But his infiltration n was the only thing that was rted to any activities close to the Fortress. But Cooper''s tracking magic getting cut off indicated that the n had failed.


    Besides, there was no way that his infiltration n could have caused a mana storm unless there was something or someone else within the Fortress capable of causing a mana storm with their actions.


    Someone like a transcendent or stronger might be able to cause the necessary change in the atmosphere or nature if they went all out, which might lead to a mana storm urring. But not even someone like that would be able to guarantee a mana storm, especially not without making it obvious that they had done something.


    General Scoll entertained the thought, nheless. But he couldn''t figure out the motive of someone doing something like that.


    And none of the people who had gone on the mission seemed to have a  good enough background to carry a defensive item capable of unleashing a transcendent''s strength. Besides, when a transcendent themselves shouldn''t be able to hide their interference, a simple item would be even less capable of doing that.


    There was an item within the Fortress of Death that surpassed the mortal levels, the Fountain of Death. But as far as Scoll knew, that artifact wasn''t capable of something like that. It was merely a seemingly endless source of death attribute demonic energy.


    But maybe destroying it had unleashed something that had been enough to upset the atmospherical mana. That hopefully meant that the mission had been a partial sess.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    General Scoll followed that line of thought, but he couldn''t figure out the mana storm''sposition. The darkness was ominous enough to make out even from a distance as death attribute demonic energy. But where did the orange manae from?


    That was the main thing that made General Scoll suspect someone''s interference.


    His thoughts briefly thought to one person he noticed used fire before quickly moving on. There was no way a sixth level mage would be capable of something like that, so General Scoll immediately disregarded the thought.


    The mana storm perplexed and annoyed General Scoll since he didn''t like variables showing up on his battlefields, especially not variablesrge enough to affect the battle''s oue. But there was nothing he could do about it except prepare to adjust his ns.


    General Scoll looked on as the vortex''s center continued toward the ground as if being pulled downwards. It wouldn''t be long until the mana storm fully formed and began wreaking havoc.


    With the chaos and the turbulent mana around the battlefield, it wouldn''t be strange if the mana storm started moving their way when it formed. It would be good if they could end the war before then. But if they couldn''t, it would be good if they could use the mana storm against the Tribe of Death.


    "Let''s proceed on the assumption that the Fountain of Death is still in y. But when the mana stormnds, it won''t be useable anyways."


    "Yes, General."


    "Yes, sir."


    "Sounds good, sir."


    "Mmm."


    General Scoll looked away from the vortex and toward the raging battlefield. It was time to put some reins on the chaos and start controlling the war properly. That was how he had trained his inclination, after all.


    General Scoll took one step forward on his tform and took a deep breath after analyzing the flow of the battle. Since the mana storm had popped up, he would have to y a more active role in the battle or risk losing the war. General Scoll had nned and predicted many oues for the war, but he never once thought that he would lose.


    Even if things he hadn''t predicted or nned for happened, General Scoll was still confident in his abilities and the abilities of the people around him.


    After his deep breath, the general shouted. Magic filled his voice as it rang out across the battlefield and touched everybatant''s ears.


    "Barriers all around!"

 Chapter 432 A Well-Brewed Storm Picking Up Speed (4)

    ?General Scoll''s voice reached the mage squads stationed in the backlines, and magic barriers protecting thebatants in front of them flew up only momentster.


    The battle was aplete mess, and there was no way to separate the two forces. So, the mages cast their barriers so that they aligned in front of the middle of the fighting, on the side of the Alliance of Kingdoms. The barriers were simple and hung in the air above thebatants and shielded the people below from iing projectiles and magic, the type of attacks that were the most dangerous and the hardest to defend against as a meleebatant.


    The barriers made a clear separation between the two forces. The humans and their allies stepped back and under the barriers'' shadows. And the demons rushed to escape the numerical disadvantage they found themselves in as their enemies reorganized themselves beneath the barriers.


    As the humans reorganized themselves and took control over the battlefield, the demons naturally had to do the same. Since they were the ones with the barriers, the humans would take the lead in the battle. They could attack with impunity without having to worry about defending. But the demons had to defend against the humans'' attacks, their own attacks reflected by the barriers and the trampling of raging demonic beasts.


    Upon seeing that the demons were about to break ranks and almost initiate a retreat, thebatants on the Alliance of Kingdoms'' side wanted to hunt them down. After all, there was no easier target than one fleeing with an exposed back.


    With the fierce fighting and all the blood that had been shed and sttered, everyone was so crazed by the battle that no one even thought that it could be a trap. It might not even be a trap at all.


    But the sight of the enemies gradually backing away made the Alliance of Kingdoms forget about the barriers that had allowed the humans to take the advantage in the battle.


    "Hold! Your! Lines!"


    General Scoll''s voice rang across the battlefield before any human could begin to chase after the demons and demonic beasts who were gradually increasing the distance between the two sides, bit by bit. While thebatants deeply entrenched in the fighting might not have noticed, General Scoll had a decent vantage point and outlook over the battlefield. He saw through the enemies'' n as soon as they started moving.


    Although the demons were still flinging magic across the battlefield and toward the humans, it was only basic magic. They had stopped casting advanced spells that decimated and cut down the humans like flies.


    But the war was only in its beginning stages. There was no way they were out of demonic energy and resources just yet. And the barriers would easily be broken if they kept levying attacks on them. It might be a small waste of demonic energy. But it was war. That kind of sacrifice isn''t even worth considering unless there''s something better to do.


    It wasn''t an overlyplicated n, but it was the best move to make in that kind of situation. The enemymander knew what they were doing and could read the flow of battle quite well. General Scoll would have almost admired them if they had seeded. Unfortunately, the execution was too obvious. Even Cooper noticed what was happening.


    The Tribe of Death held back on casting their powerful ritual magic shortly after the barriers flew up. They also began to draw back and provoke the humans to chase after them and leave the barriers'' protection.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But rather than pausing their casting, the Tribe of Death had just put a hold on theunching. They had prepared a salvo of magic that would decimate the humans who had been baited to chase the retreating demons.


    The humans would then lose morale and a significant number of troops, which would then lead to the Tribe of Death taking the lead in the war.


    Unfortunately for them, General Scoll saw through their n and reined in his troops.


    The Alliance of Kingdom''sbatants were initially dissatisfied with Scoll''s order, but his voicepelled them to obey. Only those with incredible resistance and willpower could resist it. But there was also the fact that General Scoll was the suprememander of the war, and disobedience during battle was punishable by death.


    "Reinforce the barriers!"


    General Scoll had seen through the enemymander''s tactic, but that didn''t mean it was over. They had prepared an incredible number of spells. Just because the humans hadn''t left the barriers'' protection didn''t mean that the demons would let the spells fade away. The magic would stille flying, but on the barriers instead.


    The Alliance of Kingdoms'' losses would still be quite significant since the barriers wouldn''t have been able to hold up against the assault. But it wouldn''t have been as bad as if the humans had chased after the demons.


    And now that General Scoll had ordered everyone, including those whose hands were freed from directbat by the retreating demons, to reinforce the barriers with their magic and aura, their side would take even fewer losses. And the Tribe of Death had wasted a significant amount of demonic energy and resources, as well as dropped the morale of their troops, only to kill a few humans.


    The rain of ck phantoms from the Tribe of Death''s backlines blotted out the sun as it flew through the air toward the domed wall of magic barriers. But despite the terrifying spell and the pressure they emitted, only a few barriers broke.


    The phantoms entered the holes and spread terror through the human ranks as they drained the life force of anyone they touched. The agonized screams echoed within the barriers, which made the damage seem worse than it actually was.


    The phantoms were quickly subdued and dispelled before they caused any real damage to the human troops.


    General Scoll''s abrupt interference in the war had instantly changed the tides of the war, and he wasn''t done yet.

 Chapter 433 A Well-Brewed Storm Picking Up Speed (5)

    ?General Scoll ordering his troops to cast the barrier had led to the Alliance of Kingdoms taking out a significant lead over the Tribe of Death. And if he wanted, he could press the attack and make the most out of the lead he had just gained. It is what he would have done had it been an ordinary war between two human forces.


    But he was currently up against the Tribe of Death. Even if it was just their mortal forces, it was still a transcendent faction with innumerable methods to win wars. Thankfully, he had already figured out the most likely method his opponent had chosen to secure victory, which meant he also knew how to use his own cards to beat the enemy.


    And since General Scoll knew what he had to do to increase the chances of victory, he also knew that pressing the attack and charging toward the Tribe of Death now that they had fired their magic was one of the worst things he could do.


    If the Tribe of Death was nning what General Scoll thought they were nning, and if Braxton and Seich had failed their mission, the best thing General Scoll could do was make use of the mana storm that had shown up out of nowhere.


    There were a few other methods to eke out a victory against the Tribe of Death, and using the mana storm carried plenty of risk on its own since it was unpredictable. But General Scoll was confident he could make use of the mana storm''s destructive and chaotic properties to make up for the risk it carried. If he seeded, it would be a much better option than anything else he could do, especially since the Fountain of Death was most likely still supporting the Tribe of Death with demonic energy.


    If the mana stormnded and struck the Fortress of Death with all its might, the disturbance it caused would be more than enough to interfere with the Tribe of Death''s use of the Fountain and stop it from supplying them with near-endless amounts of demonic energy. When that happened, the Tribe of Death wouldn''t be able to freely cast their magic in a mana-saturated atmosphere without being able to worry about their demonic energy running out. Their artifacts would also start bing unusable, which would decrease their fighting force by enough to make the humans capable of victory.


    Losing the Fountain of Death would also make it possible for the Alliance of Kingdoms to beat the Tribe of Death''s trump card, which otherwise wouldn''t be possible. It would, of course, still be a difficult task that would undoubtedly result in the deaths of numerous soldiers andbatants. But it was a necessary sacrifice in order to win the war.


    General Scoll''s thoughts shed, and he began seeing the path to victory as hemanded the troops to stay in ce and continue reinforcing the barriers.


    He risked losing the troops burning fighting spirit and morale by making them go on the defensive after the enemies'' trap had already failed.


    "Don''t forget the ck phantoms! We have the advantage. Let''s make use of it!"


    General Scoll usually didn''t have to bother with motivation while in the middle of battle since he had already made sure that the troops would already be more than motivated enough during the nning. But now that things had changed and he had to step in himself, he also had to make sure that the troops wanted to follow his orders.


    So, in addition to strengthening his voice and making the listeners more eager to obey, Scoll also added some magic that made the ones who heard him more passionate. It was usually so subtle that it barely had any effect.


    But the troops were in the middle of a gruesome war, and their minds were weak from the ck phantoms'' terrorizing attack. General Scoll''s words were effective and made the troops redouble their efforts as they hunkered down and put up even more barriers to defend against the Tribe of Death''s attacks.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    With everyone on the Alliance of Kingdoms'' side focusing on defense, the Tribe of Death and their allies were naturally free to attack as much as they wanted. Just like that, the war turned into apletely one-directional assault and defense.


    The humans, at least the ones with a high enough rank to know about the Fountain of Death, were concerned about General Scoll''s n. If it were a war of attrition, it would be difficult to win against the Tribe of Death, no matter the numbers. And when they had the Fountain of Death supporting them? Nothing but a pipe dream.


    However, no one could rashly approach and question the suprememander of the Alliance of Kingdom''s army, General Scoll. And the general was famous for winning even the most dire battles. There were some who didn''t believe in the general, but they were too busy or too low-ranked to do anything about it.


    But the troops knew what they were up against, and the rumors of the Tribe of Death having endless stamina didn''t feel like just a rumor when they continued flinging magic toward the barriers without pause.


    Thebatants had already fought for quite a while, and keeping up the barriers was rigorous work, no matter how simple the process was. Against the untiringbatants of the Tribe of Death, no one held any hope of winning the defensive, one-sided war of attrition.


    However, General Scoll''s eyes shone as he looked at the battlefield.


    It was nearly impossible to tell without special sight, even more so when one was close to the battlefield. But General Scoll stood on a raised tform behind the backlines and had a great view over the battle. Combined with his experiencemanding battles and winning wars, he noticed something.


    There was a pattern to the way the enemy mages used magic. It was a pattern that revealed something that would change the current flow of the war.


    General Scoll spared a nce toward the vortex that was only halfway between sky and ground.


    That was only the visible part, so the mana, still invisible to the naked eye, had probably reached the ground. But it would take a while until the mana storm picked up speed and grew enough to obstruct the Fountain of Death.


    However, if General Scoll''s observation was true, he might not need to wait that long.

 Chapter 434 A Well-Brewed Storm Picking Up Speed (6)

    ?It wasn''t obvious at first, probably because the Tribe of Death was trying to hide it, but there was a pattern to the way their mages used magic. And it would have been impossible to notice if the battle was any more chaotic. But since it was a simple game of attacking and defending, where the Tribe of Death attacked and the Alliance of Kingdoms defended, General Scoll saw the pattern.


    At first, he only sensed that something was a little off with how the Tribe of Death used magic. He couldn''t put his finger on it, but his instincts were telling him that something strange was happening.


    But General Scoll eventually noticed what it was.


    The more powerful spells and magic all came from the same points. There were about five spots around the battlefield, and they moved around constantly, which made it harder to notice. However, every time a significantly powerful magical attack came flying, the others that followed it came from nearly the same ce.


    It could have been because the Tribe of Death''s skilled mages were grouping up and moving through the ranks to avoid getting targeted and counterattacked. Since powerful mages capable of casting spells destructive enough to decimate the enemy are a must-eliminate type of threat, it made sense to keep them safe by obscuring their positioning.


    However, the Alliance of Kingdoms and their allies were all focused on defense. It would be a lot more worth it if the Tribe of Death unted their mages and let them concentrate on showing off their firepower instead of shuffling them around like ying cards. It would allow them to disy their full offensive capabilities while also baiting the humans into initiating an attack, which was what the Tribe of Death wanted and would gain the most from doing.


    There was also the fact that the spells themselves weren''t rare or something that required a capable mage. They were just strong. As if they had been strengthened or improved by something.


    So rather than powerful mages moving around, it could be some kind of power source that supplied the demons with demonic energy. The power sources allowed a few demons at a time to strengthen their spells and magic as they attacked the humans'' barriers.


    That in itself wasn''t weird. The humans also had items to help them cast magic or mana potions to help them restore their mana.


    But there was one key difference between the human forces and the Tribe of Death''s forces. At least the ones with the death attribute.


    The Fountain of Death that supplied them with near-endless demonic energy.


    With the Fountain of Death on their side, the Tribe of Death didn''t have to worry about running out of demonic energy, no matter how much magic they used. It might not inherently strengthen their magic the same way the power sources being passed around did.


    But the death mages had to hold back on how much demonic energy they used if they didn''t have the Fountain''s supply, which would end up with them using weaker attacks to conserve their demonic energy. So the power sources that General Scoll guessed were Chalices of Death didn''t do much except restore the power of the Tribe of Death''s spells to the same level as what they would have unleashed if the Fountain of Death had been active.


    However, the Chalices of Death did something else as well, something not directly rted to theirbat ability. They made it look like the Tribe of Death was still using the Fountain of Death.


    General Scoll rubbed his chin with his thumb as he looked at their enemies with a thoughtful expression. It could be a trap. The Tribe of Death could be counting on them noticing this abnormality and assuming that the mission aiming to destroy the Fountain had been a sess, even if the people executing the mission didn''t return.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    General Scoll would have ced such a trap if he had been in that position, especially with the looming mana storm. If it was a trap and they fell for it, the Alliance of Kingdoms could potentially be running face-first into their demise and the end of the war.


    But General Scoll couldn''t decide whether he had seen through the Chalices of Death because he was meant to see through it. Or because it was a hasty solution to the problem that was the loss of the Fountain of Death.


    It could either be a trap or a way for General Scoll to increase the chances of winning and with fewer sacrifices to boot.


    However, he didn''t have enough information to make a decision just yet. And although the human troops were beginning to reach the end of their ropes, they could hold out for a while longer with a little help, which might give General Scoll enough time toe to a decision.


    "Potion run!"


    With a short-term n of action, General Scoll barked out an order. And following that order, a group of sprinters armed to the teeth with spatial storage items took off.


    As they ran through the battlefield at incredible speeds, the sprinters shoved mana, stamina, and health potions into the mouths of everyone they came across.


    Thebatants had their own spatial storage items and carried their own potions in case of emergency. But they also had to have backup equipment in case their weapons or armors broke. And in the middle of a battle, it was easy to lose or break a ring or bag.


    However, there would be no risk of losing the potions if they were protected behind the backlines. And when it was time to use them, people who perfected the art of speed were tasked with delivering the potions.


    With the supply of potions, thebatants reinforcing the barriers could restore some mana while also relieving some fatigue and nursing their wounds. They still had to be careful of shields breaking and attacksing their way. But no one was stupid enough to let down their guard just because they got a few potions. If anything, the opposite happened.


    Thanks to the potions, the frontlinebatants were sharper than ever.


    General Scoll didn''t even look at his own troops as his gaze was focused on the enemy.


    "Come on. What do you do now?"

 Chapter 435 A Well-Brewed Storm Picking Up Speed (7)

    ?After the potion run and the obvious revitalization of the Alliance of Kingdom''s troops, the Tribe of Death''s forces halted in their assault for a moment. It was only for barely more than an instant. But the fact that the Tribe of Death''s forces showed any reaction at all to the Alliance of Kingdoms defenses improving was all General Scoll needed as confirmation. That reaction wasn''t nned. If it was, the Tribe of Death should have gone into theater instead of war.


    It was actually still too early to confirm if his hopes hade true. But General Scoll trusted his ability to read the flow ofbat. And he also trusted his knowledge. Though it was practicallymon knowledge for everyone on the battlefield that nothing daunted the Tribe of Death. They were immovable in front of death, and yet they never stopped moving. That was the kind of enemy the Tribe of Death was.


    But that kind of enemy had shown a reaction to the Alliance of Kingdoms boasting about their endurance. It was a battle of attrition where the Alliance and their allies were doing nothing but defending. If the Tribe of Death showed any kind of reaction, it should be a celebration since their victory would be guaranteed as long as the Alliance continued what they were doing.


    However, the Tribe of Death didn''t cheer. It was impossible to tell what their reaction was since they were so far away, and the reaction was so short. But they were probably facing the fact that they weren''t invincible. The Alliance of Kingdoms hunkering down and fortifying their defenses made the Tribe of Death flinch and take a step back to realize that they weren''t undefeatable.


    And the only reason the Tribe of Death feared a war of attrition would be if they couldn''t win it, which they should have been able to if the Fountain of Death was still in y. But if they were scared of losing, it could only mean that the Tribe of Death couldn''t use the Fountain of Death at the moment.


    General Scoll nced at the descending mana storm.


    Granted, it could be an borate ploy due to the mana storm pressuring the Fortress of Death, and that put the Tribe of Death''s main forces behind their enemy and a natural disaster.


    But the threat of the mana storm was only so great. Sure, it would disrupt the battle and tear apart numerousbatants. But if the Tribe of Death yed their cards well, they could use it against the Alliance of Kingdoms, just like General Scoll nned to use it against them.


    If anything, the Tribe of Death would be better at enduring the mana storm and winning the war by forcing the humans to stay in ce and face the mana storm during the battle. It would lead to a pyrrhic victory for the Tribe of Death, which was their favorite.


    But that idea would once again only be a viable option if the Tribe of Death could rely on their Fountain and the demonic energy it supplied.


    General Scoll ran through the possible scenarios in his mind and confirmed that the infiltration mission had been a sess. It might be due to Braxton and Seich, or it might be thanks to whatever caused the mana storm. But the goal of the mission was to destroy or disrupt the Fountain of Death. And that goal had been achieved, so the mission was a sess.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    That was the only thing that would exin the Tribe of Death''s actions. Otherwise, there would be no reason for the Tribe of Death to change their tactics. The Tribe of Death didn''t need to act or set a trap for their victory, even if it might make things easier for them.


    Unfortunately, the Fountain of Death wasn''t the only card that the Tribe of Death had, and before General Scoll made any moves, he had to be prepared for that as well.


    He levied a deep gaze toward the battlefield.


    The Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops wouldn''t be able tost that much longer, even with the potions. And the Tribe of Death still had their Chalices, despite losing the Fountain, so victory wasn''t in his grasp yet. And that was still only the initial battle. The true fight hadn''t even begun yet.


    However, what they were doing now would set the stage for the next part of the battle, and if he yed it correctly, General Scoll might be able to crush the Tribe of Death. But that was only if he could time it perfectly.


    He couldn''t let his troops get too tired, but he also had to wear out the enemies so that they would be easier to charge and kill. The Chalices were powerful, but they were like droplets of waterpared to the Fountain. With the number that the Tribe of Death was using, it wouldn''t be enough to sustain the entire army. Although the Chalices could only be used by those with the death attribute, not everyone fighting on the side of the Tribe of Death used death magic.


    It would be difficult to find the bnce during such arge-scale battle. Thankfully, it had devolved into a simple attack and defense y.


    With his experience and ability to read the flow of battle, General Scoll was confident he could tell the states of both sides using the power behind the attacks and the sturdiness of the barriers. The reflexes and reactions of the Alliance''s troops when their barriers were breached were also excellent clues.


    General Scoll also had to take into ount the waning morale that would most likely surge and fill the troops with adrenaline when it was time to push the offensive. And while doing that, he had to start preparing, nning for, and anticipating what woulde next.


    The war wouldn''t simply end after the Alliance chased after and cut down a bunch of the Tribe of Death''s forces. It would only be the end of the war''s prologue.

 Chapter 436 Sprouting Tornado (1)

    ?The Alliance of Kingdoms'' military had stocked up on enough potions to make several potion runs under the assumption that most, if not all,batants were alive. Now that many of them had already died, there were more than enough potions to go around. And with the barriers shielding the troops from the Tribe of Death''s attacks, the runners also didn''t have to sacrifice themselves to get through the battlefield.


    However, potions could only do so much. They could help restore mana, but not as quickly as the troops expended it. And they could help patch up wounds and alleviate fatigue, but only physical harm and exhaustion. Ordinary potions couldn''t deal with tired minds or psychological scars.


    Surging motivation and morale could help the troops power through their mental fatigue, but they could still make mistakes.


    So, before the state of the troops got too bad, General Scoll had to step in and change the flow of the battle.


    The Tribe of Death and their forces were ceaselessly attacking the Alliance of Kingdoms''batants and troops, who had hunkered down beneath their multipleyers of barriers. Abruptly changing the situation in a way that would favor the Alliance of Kingdoms would take a little finesse. Simply casting aside the barriers and sprinting toward the Tribe of Death wouldn''t work.


    General Scoll looked at the two sides of the battlefield as he devised a n. He discarded the idea of keeping the barriers up while charging as soon as he thought of it. Doing that would burn through the troops'' mana quicker than the potions could even hope to restore.


    The general saw how the Tribe of Death''s forces were singlemindedly focused on slinging spells. Not everyone on the enemy side concentrated wholeheartedly on casting magic and attacking the Alliance of Kingdoms. But most of them were, which would significantly dy their mobility in case of a sudden change in the battle. And it would be even worse if there was a diversion at the same time.


    A n gradually began taking shape in General Scoll''s mind as he went over the avable resources andbatants as well as the Tribe of Death''s most likely response for when things changed.


    After taking a final look at the condition of his troops, General Scoll ryed his n to his subordinates. Rie, Cooper, and Merr took off and began carrying out his orders while Derada stayed behind.


    Although there was an entire army between him and the enemy, there was no guarantee that there wouldn''t be any assassins trying to kill General Scoll. He could have asked someone else to carry out his orders since there were many messengers and the like stationed nearby. However, sending away all but one of his bodyguards could bait any potential assassins and lure them into attacking the general.


    If they did that, General Scoll could get an idea of how well-prepared the enemy is and what kind of cards they have up their sleeves. He wasn''t the least bit worried about his life as long as he had Derada by his side. After all, Derada was one of, if not the most, reliable of all his bodyguards despite her attitude.


    However, no assassins showed themselves, and Rie and the others had time to return. All of them reported a sessful execution of their orders, which elicited a slight smile from the general.


    The fact that no assassins had tried tounch a strike against him meant that they either didn''t even want to try while Derada was there or that there weren''t any assassins. General Scoll was more inclined to believe the second option. If an opportunity to kill the suprememander came along, an assassin would take it, even if it could be a trap.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Not to mention how the Tribe of Death wasn''t known for its borate preparations and schemes when it came to winning battles. They probably hadn''t nted any assassins deep enough to try and reach the general. That meant that they had been confident that they would win, which only solidified General Scoll''s conjecture that the Tribe of Death had lost their Fountain and were trying to hide that fact by using Chalices.


    Since the Tribe of Death hadn''tid a trap using their movements, General Scoll didn''t have anything to worry about when it came to the execution of his n.


    And now that the initial preparations for the end of the war''s beginning were ready, General Scoll only had to put them into y.


    General Scoll couldn''t guarantee the sess of his n since there were too many variables on the battlefield. And he didn''t know what thebatants he would be using were exactly capable of or how far they were willing to go in a proxy battle when they weren''t used to risking their lives. ''


    It was one of the disadvantages of using thebatants from the factions of the Transcendent Realm. They were only here to experience battle and y around a little. They weren''t fighting for their lives or the continued existence of entire kingdoms.


    However, General Scoll didn''t have the leeway toin about the quality of the troops hemanded. It was up to him, themander, to make the best use of whatever means he had avable, even if they weren''t as good as he would like.


    Thankfully, his n didn''t require the same self-sacrificial willingness that his infiltration mission had required. It was a regr military maneuver that would allow the Alliance of Kingdoms to press the attack and force the Tribe of Death to take action.


    It would hopefully be enough to cement the Alliance of Kingdoms'' victory over the Tribe of Death. General Scoll''s mind spun rapidly to get rid of the ''hopefully.''


    With a final assessment, General Scoll took a deep breath and readied his voice magic.


    The Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops were losing morale and getting more tired with every passing moment. However, General Scoll could see that it was the same for the enemy.


    So, before his own troops fell too far, it was time to execute the n.

 Chapter 437 Sprouting Tornado (2)

    ?"Everyone at the ready!"


    General Scoll''s voice rang out across the battlefield and stirred the troops. But since there weren''t any orders, no one did anything. They just waited for him to continue talking. They could hopefully stop defending and finally go on the offensive. However, the troops hiding beneath the magic barriers were bound to be disappointed by General Scoll''s next words.


    "Puppeteer, defensive formation forward!"


    General Scoll''s words were directed toward a person who had, so far, been conserving their strength behind the backlines. Both the fact that only a single person was ordered forward and that it was to increase the defenses was disappointing to the troops, who were getting sick and tired of only defending. But no one objected to the general''s order, and a man in golden robes stepped forward while carrying a pillow-sized golden chest.


    The golden-haired man had a few fully armored knights of gold apany him as he left the safety of the war camp behind the backlines and stepped closer to the fray. When he deemed he was close enough, the Golden Puppeteer opened his chest as it faced forward.


    The lid barely had time to open before several golden shadows flew out and into the battle. The golden shadows grew mid-air until they expanded to a height of several meters. The hulking golden puppets looked like ornate goris of pure gold. The golden gori puppets formed a line between the Alliance of Kingdoms'' defending troops and the Tribe of Death''s attacking forces.


    The golden gori puppets locked their arms together, which prompted their bodies to emit a golden sheen that swiftly formed a golden-hued magic barrier. The golden barrier bathed the battlefield in a radiant golden light, which momentarily put a stop to the Tribe of Death''s attack. But only momentarily, and they quickly resumed their casting.


    However, the golden barrier didn''t even tremble in front of the attacks. It did shine stronger with each blow it defended against, which obscured the target that the Tribe of Death was aiming to hit.


    But, even if there was another barrier to block the Tribe of Death''s attacks, the Tribe of Death couldn''t stop attacking. Doing that and waiting for the barrier to go down would be equivalent to admitting that they couldn''t rely on their Fountain of Death anymore. If anything, the Tribe of Death panicked a little and started using the Chalices of Death even more to hide the fact that they didn''t want to engage in a battle of attrition.


    Usually, the situation they were in would be the dream for the Tribe of Death, their enemy exhausting themselves by defending. And the Tribe of Death''s forces, with the Fountain of Death''s endless supply of demonic energy, were free to attack as much as they wanted.


    But with the Golden Puppeteers Golden Gori Legion and its defensive formation joining the fray, the Tribe of Death didn''t feel confident about winning a drawn-out battle, even with the Chalices.


    General Scoll could almost sense the rapidly spinning minds of the enemymanders as they worried about what to do. Whether they should call in the allies from other transcendent factions or if they should continue using the Chalices as they were until another change urred. But it might already be toote when they decide what to do.


    General Scoll was at least confident that they wouldn''t be able to use their ultimate trump card just yet. ording to his calctions, there weren''t enough deaths and corpses for that.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, that would soon change. It would be for the best if the Alliance of Kingdoms could win the war without letting the Tribe of Death y their trump card. But General Scoll knew that it would be impossible to prevent. What he could prevent, however, was that they used the Alliance of Kingdoms'' corpses as material.


    The Tribe of Death would have to use the corpses of their own allies andrades, which might have been upsetting to any other force. But to the Tribe of Death, it was barely more than business as usual. The Tribe of Death didn''t care too much about where a corpse came from, only whether it was useful or could be restored and reanimated.


    But even if the Tribe of Death wasn''t affected by what could have been an excellent psychological attack, General Scoll still preferred that they didn''t use his fallen troops as material for their heinous magic.


    General Scoll braced himself for the iing battle, the real fight between the Obsidian Empire''s proxy and the Tribe of Death.


    He looked at the golden wall that had gradually transformed from a translucent barrier shining faintly with a golden light to apletely opaque wall of gold. It was about time.


    It was a little unfortunate that the mana storm was just about to reach the ground and couldn''t help pincer the Tribe of Death''s forces. But it might as well be for the best that General Scoll only yed with things and beings he could affect, not with natural disasters.


    General Scoll decided to keep half an eye on the mana storm just in case something happened and he would have to respond instantly, but his main focus would be on the battle that he was about to let unfold in front of him.


    Since it was impossible to see through the golden barrier covering the Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops, General Scoll knew it was time tounch the attack.


    "Division one to four, group left. Division five to eight, group right. Special attack division nine, spearhead left. Special attack division ten, spearhead right."


    General Scoll''s voice reached the ears of every one of his troops, but it didn''t reach anyone else, so the Tribe of Death had no idea what he had said or that he had even given an order.


    And since his order hadn''t rung out across the battlefield like the other times he interfered personally in the battle, the Tribe of Death didn''t suspect anything was amiss.

 Chapter 438 Sprouting Tornado (3)

    ?Hidden away from the Tribe of Death''s unsuspecting gaze behind the golden barrier, the Alliance of Kingdoms and their allies began to move. The human troops split in half and squeezed together at the sides of the barrier, making sure not to show themselves past the golden wall.


    Two groupsprised of powerfulbatants stepped forth from behind the backlines and sneaked through the military support camp, where the potion runners, medics, and the like were stationed. The two groups were rtively small, a handful of people each, so their movements didn''t grab the attention of the few enemies who saw over the golden wall from their raised tforms.


    The military support camp was always bustling with activity as supplies and injuredbatants were shuffled back and forth from the fighting. A few more people moving around wouldn''t raise any suspicions, especially not when they were blending in perfectly with the rest of the people milling about the camp.


    However, when the two groups were covered by the golden wall, they discarded their disguises. They headed toward the two groups waiting at the edges of the golden wall and took their positions as spearheads. The group with the Lightning Rascals as the core had a literal spearhead leading the charge as Vatel''s body and spear surged with lightning.


    When everyone had assumed their positions, the golden barrier put up by the Golden Puppeteers Golden Gori Legion also reached its limit. The barrier cracking became the starting signal of the Alliance of Kingdoms'' mad charge toward the surprised forces of the Tribe of Death.


    The two spring-like parts of the army raced to catch up to their two spearheads, one of silver and the other of lightning. Since the golden wall''s fragments prevented them from charging straight forward, the two halves of the army ran in a curved path and created two crescent charges. The arched paths led the two parts of the army to wrap around to the Tribe of Death''s side and create an unexpected pincer attack.


    The Tribe of Death''s forces hurried to defend themselves against the attack by putting up barriers andunching magic simultaneously.


    But the curved cone of silver pierced through the defenses and deflected all the magic attacks, protecting the body of the charge and allowing all the troops easy ess to the tribe of Death''s forces.


    On the other side, the Lightning Rascals and the few otherbatants from other Transcendent Factions also swept away the magicing toward them so that Vatel''s lightning spear could pierce through the defenses trying to block their advance. Hassandra was frantically moving her hands around to manipte the of invisible threat to protect both her, the Lightning Rascals, and the rest of the chargingbatants from the cascade of magic flying toward them.


    Sweat dripped down her brow as she furrowed it in concentration, but she didn''t falter for even a moment as she supported herrades inpleting the mission that was a little more than they had signed up for when they first came to the battlefield. But it was toote to regret it now. And based on the looks of Vatel, Hullie, and Kaler, they also knew that the only way out was through the Tribe of Death, though Vatel looked more excited and happy about fighting like a madman rather than resolved to do his best to survive.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Hassandra almost let out a sigh at Vatel''s attitude. Thankfully, Kaler and Hullie were fully concentrated on supporting Vatel''s charge. Hullie used his wind magic to extend the reach of Vatel''s lightning, and Kaler controlled and redirected the impacts on their enemies so that they flew into other enemies.


    Kaler''s unique magic was subtle, but it helped in creating chaos within enemy ranks as she redirected and strengthened the impacts of various attacks. It almost looked like she was pulling strings attached to the enemies as she made them fall in weird directions and collide with their allies in the middle of casting magic or trying to pull their weapons.


    The Lightning Rascals led the charge as deep as they could into the ranks of the Tribe of Death''s forces. With the support of their allies and half an army, they neared the center of their enemies before they began to lose speed.


    However, that was only the beginning of the battle, and Vatel released the lightning he had charged up in his spear in arge bolt that flew straight forward. The tree-sized lightning bolt tore through the Tribe of Death. Sparks flew from it and burned nearby enemies.


    But the lightning bolt didn''t go far before it reached the curved silver cone of the other spearhead charge, just as General Scoll had nned. Hassandra spared a moment to admire the view as the lightning bolt hit the cone and scattered into the thick of the Tribe of Death''s forces.


    And with that, the two halves of the Alliance''s army had created a line to separate the Tribe of Death''s forces in half as well. Naturally, since the Alliance''s troops were now surrounded by enemies on all sides, they were at an absolute disadvantage. The charge had been tremendously effective and led the army straight to the Tribe of Death''s forces with barely any casualties. But that was quickly changing.


    Without the momentum of the charge, the human forces could withstand the Tribe of Death''s counterattack. As soon as they regained theirposure, the Tribe of Death would beginunching wave upon wave of terrifying magic toward the Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops that had willingly charged straight into the middle of the enemy forces.


    But General Scoll wasn''t so short-sighted that he hadn''t looked so far ahead. Separating the Tribe of Death like that and creating a line using the Alliance''s troops was all part of his n. And it was all because of the Golden Puppeteer''s willingness to contribute as much as possible to the war against the Tribe of death.


    The Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops were caught between two groups of their enemies, but the same could be said for the Tribe of Death''s forces.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 439 Sprouting Tornado (4)

    ?The Golden Puppeteer''s Golden Gori Legion''s golden barrier had absorbed too much damage and broken apart. However, the golden barrier wasn''t the goris'' only ability. If it were, it would have been simpler to use lessplicated items to deploy the barriers. The golden barrier was only the Golden Gori Legion''s first move. The golden wall breaking was only a sign that the goris had finished absorbing all the magic and force behind the attacks thatnded on the defensive formation.


    Powering dozens of bulky gori puppets required a lot of mana, naturally. And if the Golden Puppeteer didn''t have enough himself or didn''t want to waste ridiculous amounts of money on mana crystals, there was another method avable. To use the soft and shock-absorbing properties of gold to steal the mana from the attacks thatnded on the goris.


    The golden barrier bing more and more opaque with golden light was an indicator of how much mana the gori legion had absorbed and how ready they were to unleash their true strength. The barrierpletely breaking was a sign that the goris were fully charged.


    And after taking a couple of minutes to change modes from defense to offense, the goris were ready to show off their fully charged strength.


    Right when the Alliance of Kingdoms'' forces were about to be squeezed to death by the Tribe of Death surrounding them, the Golden Gori Legion woke up. The goris, although puppets, roared and beat their chests like drums before charging toward the half of the Tribe of Death''s forces thaty in between them and the Alliance''s troops.


    The goris'' heavy golden fists pounded the ground and sent tremors all the way to their targets.


    The Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops heard the signal that was the Golden Gori Legion''s advance and began their own offensive. Slightly more than half of the troops focused on attacking and cutting down the same half of the Tribe of Death as the golden goris, while the rest prioritized defending against and keeping back the other half of the Tribe of Death''s forces.


    One half of the Tribe of Death''s forces were stuck between the Golden Gori Legion''s reckless rampage and the relentless assault of the Alliance''s troops. And the other half was trying to get through the stubborn defenses of the Alliance''s line of defenders.


    Although the golden gori puppets were vastly outnumbered by the Tribe of Death, they were all ninth level puppets filled to the brim with enchantments that increased their strength and durability. They required as much mana as they did for a reason, after all, and the Tribe of Death''s forces were individually incapable of defeating a single gori.


    The golden goris burned through their umted mana and smashed through the ranks of the Tribe of Death with ease, their heavy fists smashing skulls and sttering blood all over the battlefield.


    The Alliance''s troops weren''t quite as ferocious or sessful in their endeavor. But thanks to the goris sowing chaos and disorder amongst the Tribe of Death''s ranks, the humans also pushed through and cut apart their enemies with building momentum.


    The Tribe of Death wasn''tpletely defenseless, but they were at an absolute disadvantage, and the Alliance''s losses were iparable to the deaths of the Tribe of Death. Caught between two powerful groups of attackers and without the endless stream of the Fountain to rely on, there wasn''t much the Tribe of Death could do other than panic and unleash as much demonic energy and magic as possible.


    However, without the Fountain and without anything simr to the humans'' mana potions, the Tribe of Death''s forces didn''t have much demonic energy left in their bodies. And there weren''t enough Chalices of Death to go around, especially when several Chalices'' holders had already fallen at the hands of the goris or the humans. The ones holding the Chalices might be stronger than their otherrades, thanks to the increased demonic energy, but they still weren''t a match for the rampaging goris or the attack squads of the spearhead divisions of the charge.


    With more and more of the Tribe of Death sumbing to the goris and the Alliance''s troops and several of the Chalices ending up at the hands of the humans, the targeted half of the Tribe of Death''s army was quickly sumbing.


    The Alliance of Kingdoms lost a lot of troops as well, but not nearly as much as the Tribe of Death. It was war. Just that so many had survived was already great fortune.


    But it would be difficult to maintain that kind of statistic in the uing battle.


    Eventually, the Golden Gori Legion and the Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops met on the battlefield, which meant that there wasn''t a lot of that half of the Tribe of Death left.


    But the goris and the humans didn''t chase after the stragglers.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Fall back!"


    General Scoll''s voice ordered them to leave the scene of ughter and retreat to the original defensive line. The harshness in his tone even prevented the troops from striking and ending any injured enemies they encountered along the way.


    The goris and the humans fled like water streamed as they left the corpses of their enemies behind. Even the ones still alive since the surviving half of the Tribe of Death''s army didn''t chase.


    Since the goris were running out of mana and the human troops were on the verge of exhaustion, now would be the perfect time to chase after and kill as many of them as possible. But the Tribe of Death didn''t move forward. If anything, they even took several steps backward and away from the scene of ughter.


    When they returned to their original positions, the humans turned around and were surprised by the Tribe of Death''s decision. The Golden Gori Legion had done its work and would have to be restored before they could be used like that again, so the Golden Puppeteer sucked them back into his storage case.


    General Scoll''s gaze shifted between three ces, his troops, the mana storm reaching the ground, and the scene of ughter that he had orchestrated. Eventually, his eyes stopped on the scene of ughter as it and the Tribe of Death''s movements confirmed his im.


    The Tribe of Death began moving after the humans were back in their original positions. And two skeletons stepped forward.


    One of the skeletons was arge death knight more than two meters tall. It was covered in jet-ck armor and held a greatswordrger than an ordinary man in one hand. The death knight apanied a slightly smaller skeleton covered in fluttering dark grey robes that covered all of its body except for the bony hands and the shiny skull with its ghastly blue ming eye sockets.


    The two skeletons stopped in front of the scene of ughter, and the lich pulled out a ssy ck orb from its sleeves. The orb wasrger than its head and brimmed with ominous demonic energy that made the ghost mes in the lich''s and the death knight''s eye sockets flicker.


    The lich roused its own demonic energy and injected it into the orb. Shortly after, a billowing cloud of ck fog escaped the orb and shrouded the scene of ughter before sinking into the corpses and remains of the dead.


    After absorbing the ck fog, the bones, flesh, and skin of all the corpses trembled, and it looked like they began melting like rubber as everything began moving around.


    The sight of all the remains moving around like maggots was vomit-inducing. Thankfully, the human troops were too far away to get a proper look. But General Scoll and his subordinates stood on the raised tform. They saw clearly how all the flesh and bones wriggled and clumped together in the center of the scene of ughter.


    Although General Scoll and his subordinates knew what their enemies were nning, it didn''t mean that they were prepared for the sight. At least it happened to the remains of the enemies and not their troops.


    General Scoll and his subordinates looked on as the remains continued wriggling even after forming a huge pile. More and more flesh gathered, and the pile grew.


    Eventually, the pile reached a suitable size considering it used the remains of half an army.


    After all the remains had been gathered in one spot, the pile gradually transformed and began taking on a slightly humanoid shape.


    Then, with a burst of ck fog apanied by a ground-shaking roar, the Flesh Golem wasplete.

 Chapter 440 Blossoming Tornado (1)

    ?Toz had lost all sensation and perception of the world around him as he closed his mind to shield it from the deluge of mana ravaging his body. He even lost any cognition of how much time had passed. Toz''s thoughts alternated between spinning like a carousel and trudging forward at a snail''s pace. He sometimes felt hopeful about his sess, and other times he wondered if he had already died and was hovering between life and death like some sort of disembodied spirit.


    However, his mental defense wasn''t airtight, especially after his clone began fading and weakening again. The asional pangs of pain that shot through his body and reached his mind denied any thoughts about being dead.


    The moments when the damage to his body leaked through the mental defense and prodded his mind also sometimes let Toz know about the state of his body. And the progress of his breakthrough. But his mind wasn''t clear enough to tell the reality from what he felt was happening.


    Toz didn''t know if he should believe the feeling that his body was on fire or that he was nearing the end of his breakthrough. It did feel like his mana was gradually thickening andpressing due to the mana surging through his body. But was it just an illusion brought by the overwhelming amount of mana flowing through his body and into his mana pool, or was it reality?


    Toz''s mind was too hazy to tell clearly. But since mana and magic relied on his mind and mental imagery, he decided to stay positive. It didn''t matter what was true or not or if his sess was nothing more than a delusion. Toz would make it all irrelevant by turning the false sess into reality.


    He still locked his mind so that it wouldn''t be swept away by the mana rushing through his body. But Toz used the gaps in his defense that let him experience pain to send out signals.


    Toz was tired, and his mind was nearing copse, so he missed a few opportunities to make use of his owncking defense. And he ended up only feeling the pain of having his body torn apart without being able to influence the breakthrough''s progress.


    He eventually seeded, but he quickly realized that each attempt would further erode his defense and put him at risk of losing his life and mind to the flood of mana. But Toz didn''t give up since he could also sense that he had to interfere or his body would burn to ash.


    Toz didn''t know what had happened since he had closed his mind, but during that time, the mana rushing to enter his body had increased beyond what he had initially targeted. And that wasn''t the only thing that had happened.


    The fire that lingered on the Fortress'' remains had been swept up by the swirling mana and started entering his body.


    Since it was the remains of Toz''s fire magic, it shouldn''t have been able to injure him. But after awakening to its true nature and being given ess to an entire maelstrom of mana, the fire had gone wild. It was still partially Toz''s, but it wasn''t enough to leave him uninjured as it ran rampant around and within his body.


    Toz had trouble keeping track of everything happening to his body, especially the fire wreaking havoc inside him. But he still noticed how the magical fire didn''t leave any permanent damage as ordinary fire would have.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The magical fire and the apparent storm of mana ate away at his body. But his body, fuelled by the same storm of mana flooding it, rushed to recover and heal itself. Toz''s natural regeneration was boosted and strengthened by the overflowing mana inside his mana and mana pool.


    Toz recklessly spared a thought about how simr it was to how Mindle''s regeneration and body structuring process looked. But his mind wasn''t clear enough to hold onto or reflect on the thought, and he quickly returned to trying to control his breakthrough.


    As he gradually loosened his mind, Toz noticed that the mana he had initially wanted to absorb and break through with had roped in the nearby mana and created a vortex of mana that surged toward him.


    The vortex of mana was a lotrger and had more mana than he had wanted. And he was in the center of the tornado formed by the vortex. The tornado of mana drilled into him, and it felt like all the mana wanted to enter his body and mana pool.


    But just as his initial vortex had taken control over the surrounding mana, the surrounding mana had loosened Toz''s control over the mana vortex. His own mana grabbing and leading the cluster of mana he had first gathered had gotten swept away.


    Right now, he was undergoing a process simr to the passive training where he didn''t have to do anything. The mana was entering and getting dragged into his body on its own.


    As he realized that, Toz struggled to restrain himself from cheering.


    Since it was happening on its own, Toz didn''t have to worry about immersing himself in the mana to guide it to his mana pool. He still had to worry about the mana tearing apart his body and flooding his mind. But he could lower his defenses to the point where he could interfere directly with the breakthrough. He didn''t have to rely on his luck and good fortune anymore.


    However, it looked like it would be difficult to break awaypletely from the cascade of mana flooding into his body. Not to mention the fire clinging to and eating away at him.


    But Toz was beginning to think that maybe the fire wasn''t so bad as long as he could urge his natural recovery to keep up with it. Based on what Toz could tell, the parts of his body that had burned and recovered felt a little better than before.


    Unfortunately, he was having trouble convincing his sense of pain of that.

 Chapter 441 Blossoming Tornado (2)

    ?Toz had lowered the defenses on his mind. He had thus managed to regain some control of his breakthrough and his body and the mana ravaging it. But that did nothing to alleviate the sensation of having his body filled past the point of exploding with mana. There was also the fact that his body was on fire. And after that came the feeling of having his mana pool expanded to the verge of shattering.


    The more Toz lowered his mental defenses, the greater rity he had when it came to the outside world and the state of his body, which allowed him to contribute more easily to his breakthrough. But it also meant that he felt his pain that much more clearly.


    The pain of his body repeatedly burning and recovering was especially excruciating. And if it weren''t for the breakthrough and the mana storm locking his body in ce, Toz was sure he would have screamed himself hoarse. But he couldn''t even open his mouth, much less scream, despite the pain assailing his body.


    And without an outlet, the pain only felt worse.


    But there was nothing Toz could do. If he blocked out the pain again by sealing his mind and shutting out everything else, he would lose the ability to control his breakthrough. He would also lose the opportunity to break free from the mana storm spinning like a drill in order to burrow into his body.


    However,pared to dying, enduring pain was significantly easier since it didn''te with the guilt of leaving the cats behind. As long as it didn''t directly interfere with his actions, enduring and ignoring the pain was almost manageable.


    So, while doing his best to ignore the pain and still retain the presence and rity of his mind, Toz started controlling his breakthrough. In order to ignore the pain, he also ignored the source of the most intense pain, the fire burning his body from within and on the surface. He had retained just enough awareness of the mes to keep his body supplied with mana so that it could fight the fire and restore itself.


    While doing that, Toz also began directing his breakthrough.


    The mana surging through his body was too wild, and any attempts Toz made to control it failed. But the mana was forced to calm down when it entered his mana pool due to the size andck of space to thrash around. However, that didn''t mean Toz was in control.


    Toz''s body used the mana inside his mana pool to sustain itself and fight against the fire and mana wreaking havoc across his body.


    But the mana that rushed into the mana pool was still greater than the amount that flowed out. While bncing the flow of mana, Toz also had to beginpressing the mana.


    Breaking through while using his mana was quite stupid and nearly impossible. But thanks to the mana storm providing him with an infinite amount of mana, Toz felt that it might just be possible. It would just take longer than usual since he would have to slowly and gradually increase the quality and density of his mana while it was being used.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But, thanks to the mana storm, he didn''t have to worry about not having enough mana to pressurize and condense the mana while also expanding his mana pool. And, thanks to the fire and his body using mana to recover from it, Toz didn''t have to worry about his mana pool being unable to handle the amount of mana filling it and shattering.


    The process sounded doable in theory, at least to Toz''s exhausted and pain-addled mind. But even if he was clear-headed, Toz didn''t have another choice. His body had already started the process, after all. And now, it was up to him toplete it and stay alive.


    Toz began by controlling the mana in his mana pool, which was about the only thing he could do since the mana ravaging his body had wrestled control over it away from him.


    Like with other breakthroughs, Toz only had to condense his mana until it turned from a thick orange liquid state into a more solid, y-like state. The only catch was that he had to do it while letting enough slip out to sustain his body and keep it from exploding or burning up.


    Toz shaped the mana into a funnel-like shape where the exit would let out just enough to keep his body afloat. And then, he would use the overflowing cone to restrain, suppress, and condense the mana that entered his body.


    Since more mana entered his mana pool than he had to let out, Toz felt that he would seed eventually. It was just a matter of time. He only had to endure the pain of his body tearing and burning for a little while longer.


    As more and more mana entered his mana pool and the funnel, the density and quality gradually increased. It was much slower than if he had broken through using ordinary means. But it was proof that it worked. Well, it wouldn''t have worked without a mana storm or something simr that gave Toz an endless amount of mana to work with during his breakthrough. It would have also been impossible without the fire burning his body since it forced his body to drain mana away from the mana pool.


    Toz continued enduring the pain andpressing his mana using the funnel. He had expected it to be slow. But it was even slower than he imagined. The only sce he found was that the higher the quality of the mana he managed to condense, the less he had to use tobat the fire and restore his body.


    That meant that the process of condensing the mana entering his mana pool would be easier and smoother since there wouldn''t be as much leaving his mana pool. But that also meant he wouldn''t have as much leeway when it came to the avable space within his mana pool.


    Toz had to expand his mana pool either way, but if he failed to control andpress the mana entering his body quickly enough, his mana pool would inevitably shatter. If he couldn''t condense his mana as quickly as it entered his mana pool, the volume of it would rapidly grow beyond what would fit inside his mana pool.


    Toz had to find the bnce between the influx of mana, his speed in condensing it, as well as how malleable his mana pool was. While his body was on fire.

 Chapter 442 Blossoming Tornado (3)

    ?Toz''s mana pool was quickly getting filled to the brim due to the ever-increasing mana. Toz did his best to condense it as quickly as possible, but with a small amount trickling out at all times, it was difficult to cross the threshold to the next level.


    So far, Toz''s mana had only gone from a very thick liquid to an extremely thick liquid. And he would have to condense it to a fraction of its size and turn it into a solid before he could even begin thinking about calling himself a mage at the seventh level.


    With the fire still ravaging his body, Toz forced himself to put even more pressure on the mana within his mana pool in an attempt to speed up the condensation process. But no matter what he did, his mana didn''t transform and solidify.


    It wasn''t until his mana pool waspletely full and had started expanding that there was enough pressure on the mana to begin solidifying the mana. It came at the cost of expanding his mana pool before it was ready. And as soon as the mana wasn''t dense enough to put pressure on the mana pool, Toz had to wait until the pressure rose again before he could continue solidifying his mana.


    Things were progressing even slower than Toz had feared. And with the fire and mana wreaking havoc across his body, he could feel his consciousness slipping. And along with it, his control over the mana inside his mana pool.


    Toz had barely managed to wrestle back the control over his mana pool from the mana coursing wildly through his body. And with his already exhausted mind from the previous fight and the destruction of the Fortress of Death, it was a tall order just to retain his control. With the damage to his body and the pain that apanied it, the strain on Toz''s mind was even worse.


    But at the same time, the pain and sensation of his body, overloaded with mana repairing itself, were the things that kept Toz awake. The fire that burned away at his body and the impurities within made Toz conflicted in several ways, but he didn''t have enough mental freedom to give it any thought when he was already busy with his breakthrough.


    However, he still spared a moment to decide to thoroughly investigate the effects of the fire after he was done. Assuming he survived, that is.


    Toz lessened how much he ignored the pain from the damage to his body in order to use it to sharpen his mind and keep his consciousness while he finished his breakthrough. It helped him stay awake, but Toz could feel the pain eat away at his rationality, and if he didn''t break through soon, he wasn''t sure what would happen. But he didn''t want to risk it and instead began concentrating the entirety of his sharpened mind on condensing the mana in his mana pool.


    As he regained some rity, it became easier for Toz to condense, and he didn''t have to rely on the pressure that came from filling his mana pool to the brim anymore. At least not during the first part of his breakthrough.


    Toz eventually managed to condense his mana to the point that it transformed into a small lump of y-like mana at the center of his mana pool. Not having his mana pool filled to the point of bursting came as a great relief to Toz.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, the relief didn''tst long as more mana instantly flooded his mana pool and raced around in it, waiting to bepressed and added to the lump of orange y in the middle. The avnche of viscousva-like sixth level mana formed a sphere around the soft marble of mana in the center of his mana pool. And under Toz''s control, the mana gradually shrank and condensed until a qualitative change urred.


    Theva-like mana hardened and became anotheryer on top of the first marble of seventh level fire mana inside Toz''s mana pool.


    But each sessiveyer that Toz made only required more and more pressure. And eventually, he could no longer keep up with the influx of mana. He was forced to rely on the added pressure of the overflowing mana pool in order to keep up with how much mana entered his mana pool.


    Thankfully, his mana pool had gotten a few moments'' reprieve to recover from thest bout of expansion. But that didn''t mean Toz''s mana pool wouldst until his breakthrough wasplete. Toz could endure the pain of his body burning through sheer force of will, but he couldn''t endure his mana pool shattering. That would leave him crippled without a shadow of a doubt.


    Toz had to find a solution to the forced expansion of his mana pool and hiscking ability to condense the mana inside his mana pool. And he had to do it before it was toote.


    Toz knew that he couldn''t condense his mana quickly enough because the amount of mana streaming into him was too great and because he and his mind were on the verge of copse. So he couldn''t do anything about that.


    Eventually, Toz felt an urge to sigh that he couldn''t fulfill due to the immobilized state of his body. He hade up with a solution. It was a solution he was sure that he wouldn''t even consider had his mind and rationality been intact. He might not have evene up with the idea if he had been in a prime state.


    But now that he had a solution, nothing else seemed toe to mind, regardless of how little Toz actually wanted to go through with it.


    Unfortunately, Toz didn''t have any time to convince his brain toe up with something else either, especially since he had to execute his idea as quickly as possible if he wanted to increase the odds of it seeding.


    Toz promised that he would beat himself up in the future. If he survived.

 Chapter 443 Blossoming Tornado (4)

    ?Toz''s idea that would hopefully solve his problem of not being able to condense his mana quickly enough stemmed from the thought that if he couldn''t apply enough pressure on his own, he could use an outside influence. However, that was where the foolishness of the idea came in. Since Toz''s body was immobilized by the mana surging through it, and because there was a limit to how much he could interfere with what was happening to his body, there was only one outside influence he could rope in to help him.


    The mana storm, and more specifically, the rushing avnche of mana, eagerly pushing its way into and through Toz''s body so it could enter his mana pool. After Toz managed to get his mana pool back under his control, he had also been able to bnce the influx of mana somewhat and restrain it. But he had already done as much as he could on that end. He couldn''t do any more without risking his body exploding.


    However, if he reversed what he had done and let up on the restraint, and on top of that, began actively supporting the mana''s entry into his mana pool, the force and speed of the mana might be enough to increase the rate at which it condensed.


    It was a stupidly farfetched idea that a rational mind would have never thought of doing. To solve the problem of too much mana entering Toz''s mana pool by increasing the amount of mana that entered his mana pool.


    Just thinking about it again made Toz worried that he had gone insane. But considering that he was insane was a sign that he wasn''t that far gone yet, so Toz decided to just go through with it before its toote.


    With the fire still raging across his body, slowly eating away at it, and the trickles of mana that escaped his mana pool, Toz began. His mind wasn''t clear enough to focus as much as he would have liked, but he still began changing the way he controlled his mana pool and mana.


    Since he had to make sure that the pressure would be enough as soon as he opened the floodgates, he couldn''t do a gradual increase. If he let in a little more mana bit by bit, he wouldn''t be able to condense it fast enough, and his mana pool would eventually shatter.


    So, the first thing Toz did was to make sure that the mana surging around his body was ready to enter. Surprisingly, it was a lot easier to control the mana when it came to ordering it to do what it wanted instead of trying to block it and keep it away from his mana pool.


    The fact that the mana was so readily helpful and conformableforted Toz, and he briefly thought that his idea might not be so insane if the mana was on board with it. But mana wasn''t sentient. It just followed thews of its nature as it traveled into and through him due to the connections with the mana that came before it.


    The mana wouldn''t care whether Toz blew up or not. It just wanted to go where it wanted to go. Weirdly enough, knowing that the mana didn''t have any ill intentions, it just passed through the world and him like nothing matteredforted Toz, and he began preparing with a little more ease.


    Toz was still pretty much an anxious, half-mad wreck. But he managed to calm down a little as he started to admire the mana''s attitude of how nothing really matters.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    With a newfound respect for mana, Toz finished up his preparation and began executing his stupidly crazy idea. He couldn''t help but hesitate a little since if he failed, which was more than likely, he wouldn''t get another opportunity to do anything else in life. It was a little daunting to be so close to the face of death. And also be forced to take the next step over the ledge on his own.


    But if he didn''t do it by himself, he would only get pushed. Besides, it wasn''t the first time he had made such a decision. Just during the mission and what hade after it, Toz had made several seemingly suicidal decisions because he wanted to and because he wanted the Fountain of Death. Making another such choice wouldn''t matter much. Or so, Toz hoped as he opened the floodgates and invited the mana into his mana pool while doing his best to increase the pressure and condense it into a solid state.


    The mana forcing its way through his body and into his mana pool would have made Toz wince from pain and exertion if his body had been able to move. But since it couldn''t, his outward expression remained stony.


    At least the mana entering his mana pool as if devoured by a ck hole let up the strain on his mind and body, and he could delegate even more concentration on increasing the pressure within the mana pool. But Toz didn''t have leeway to think about those kinds of things.


    As soon as he invited all the mana inside his mana pool, all he could see and hear again was the rush of orange fire mana. Despite that, he still did his best to concentrate all of his efforts on solidifying the mana andpleting his breakthrough to the seventh level.


    The orangeva-like avnche of mana barely had time to roil and bubble after entering Toz''s mana pool before another wave came and pushed it deeper inside toward the marble-like lump of mana in the center.


    The force of each sessive wave pushed the mana deeper and harder into the center. Combined with Toz''s own pressure, the mana quickly shrank in volume and began solidifying. But the mana still filled the mana pool to the brim and began pushing it outward, although minimally.


    Feeling the tension on his mana pool''s shell, Toz somehow redoubled his efforts. If his body hadn''t been immobilized, he would have gritted his teeth until they cracked. Thankfully, only the mana''s passage and the fire damaged his body, and his teeth remained mostly intact.


    Well, if Toz died, there wouldn''t be any mana protecting his teeth in the ensuing explosion of mana. So, they might not remain intact for much longer.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 444 Blossoming Tornado (5)

    ?Orange mana bubbled through Toz''s body and into his mana pool likeva and forced its way inside with enough might to make Toz feel like he had a volcano inside his chest. The fierce waves of fire mana were only strengthened by the mes across his body that flickered in tandem with his loudly beating heart.


    The rush of mana, the heartbeats ringing in his ears, and the fire enveloping his body clouded Toz''s mind, and his sense of self grew hazy.


    But Toz still held on to his consciousness as he used even his heartbeats to put more pressure on the mana inside his mana pool that threatened to overflow and shatter his mana pool as soon as Toz fainted.


    Toz was so out of it that he was slowly losing his sense of pain, which meant that he could no longer use the pain of his body and flesh burning to keep himself awake. However, he found ast smidgen of energy to mber onto thest piece of consciousness, threatening to be swept away by the fire of the mana inside him and the fire of the mes burning him.


    However, he was quickly losing his ability to control his mana pool. But that was the one thing he couldn''t afford to do. Instead, Toz gave up on trying to suppress and resist the mes eating away at him.


    In order to increase the pressure and speed up the rate at which he condensed his mana, he had to stop it from leaking out of his mana pool. Just like when he invited all the mana into his mana pool at once, it would lead to his mana pool risking to flow over even more. But Toz didn''t even have enough mental rity to care about stopping the fire ravaging his body. What was plugin his mana pool to try and break through to the seventh levelpared to that?


    With his mana pool sealed tightly, the pressure rose even further, and the waves ofva didn''t even have a chance to rebel before they were squeezed into the solid ball of orange mana in the center of Toz''s mana pool.


    The mana quickly threatened to begin filling up the mana pool again. But thankfully, not faster than Toz''s mana pool could handle. Toz had finally found a bnce between the surging mana and his ability to condense it into the solid mana that signified a high level mage. He almost wanted to breathe a sigh of relief.


    But just the thought of rxing almost had Toz falling asleep. And since he wasn''t anywhere done yet, he would probably die if that happened. If anything, he had just begun.


    Now that he had found a decent bnce between how fast he could condense his mana and how quickly the mana storm pumped more into him, Toz figured that he might as well use that bnce to make a perfect breakthrough. When his ball of solid mana reached the same size as his mana pool, he would condense the mana as quickly and tightly as he could before letting his mana pool take some of the pressure and expand before he did another round of condensation.


    Just because he had achieved bnce didn''t mean that Toz could spare any thoughts for the rest of his body. If anything, he had to maintain his concentration solely on his mana pool, which meant that he was oblivious to the mes that had grown to devour and cover his entire body.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Ignorant of his body''s fate, Toz continued condensing and controlling theva flooding his mana pool. When he becamefortable enough in the process, Toz quickly realized something.


    He had found bnce and could do it for quite a while, most likely until his mana pool couldn''t handle it anymore. But he had temporarily forgotten one thing due to the state of his mind and how hazy it had been. He wasn''t in control of the mana entering his body and mana pool. That was in the hands of the mana storm.


    Toz didn''t know much about mana storms, and he didn''t know how they worked. But he was pretty sure he was to me for its appearance. Toz was also the reason that it was drawn into him since he had used his mana vision to create a cloud of mana that his body would continue absorbing even after losing focus.


    Unfortunately, the mana had spiraled out of his control. Even after regaining focus, Toz didn''t have any confidence in stopping the mana storm. But that was a matter for another minute. Toz had to focus on solidifying his mana before his thoughts also spiraled out of control, and he lost his focus again.


    Toz wholeheartedly focused on condensing his mana by using the pressure of the iing waves and his own remaining crumbs of willpower. Eventually, his mana pool filled up with solid mana, which meant that Toz was moving on to the voluntary part of breaking through to the seventh level.


    He didn''t have to expand his mana pool by increasing how much mana he forced into it. But doing so would lead to arger mana pool to could hold more mana, which meant Toz could use more magic without running out. The added pressure of the process would also force his mana to be even denser, which would increase the power and quality of his mana. It would also make it easier to break through to the next level if he had arge mana pool filled with high-quality mana.


    Toz naturally didn''t have any intentions of having a mediocre mana pool, especially when he had six attributes, all of which helped expand the mana pool and increase the quality of his mana each time he refined his attributes.


    Making a perfect breakthrough where he pushed himself and his mana pool to its limit wouldpound each time he refined his mana as much as he could. And as Toz walked further along the path of magic, he would continue growing exponentially stronger.


    There was also the fact that Toz still hadn''t figured out how to escape the mana storm. So, he couldn''t stop his breakthrough even if he wanted to.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 445 Blossoming Tornado (6)

    ?Toz''s mana pool neared its limits, and Toz had to quickly find a way to break free from the stream of mana that the mana storm forced into him. Since his breakthrough was nearlyplete, Toz finally had some leeway, and he spared a few moments to try and investigate the mana storm. Hopefully, he would find a way to escape its grasp. But since the mana storm prevented him from properly using magic and moving his body, it would probably be difficult.


    However, before Toz could even begin to take a look at the mana storm and its effects on his body, his consciousness red up in pain as the sensation of his entire body being aze filled his mind. Toz had temporarily forgotten the fire rampaging all over his body since he was so caught up in his breakthrough, but when he spread his perception, the fire and all the pain it brought returned to Toz.


    Seemingly ted at Toz noticing them again, the mes jumped in joy and ate into his body even more energetically. Toz felt like there were millions of wasps burrowing into his skin and flesh and stinging him from within. The pain was so intense and searing that he couldn''t even faint.


    The pain prevented Toz from sensing or noticing anything else, and he quickly lost control over his mana pool. Thankfully, he had already practically reached a perfect breakthrough. Though it was hard to find sce in that in the infernal prison of pain that Toz had found himself in.


    However, since Toz lost control over his mana pool, he also missed how his orange y-like mana began trembling and almost boiling. And it was also impossible for Toz to notice how his mana moved in tandem with the mes burning across his body.


    The fire mana inside his mana pool and the magical fire all over Toz''s body resonated and began working together to bring Toz''s body to incredible temperatures that were finally enough to make him pass out.


    As soon as he fainted, Toz lost thest subconscious defense he had put up against both the fire mana from the mana storm and the magical fire. His mana pool naturally began to overflow past its bursting point. But the explosive wave-like movements of the mana inside the mana pool its resonation with the magical fire eventually spread to the untamed fire mana raging through Toz''s body.


    With the untamed fire mana joining in the dance of mes orchestrated by the magical fire, it no longer rushed to prate Toz''s mana pool. Toz''s mana pool was safe and wouldn''t shatter. Not at the moment, at least.


    But his body still wasn''t safe. If anything, it was in even more trouble after the untamed fire mana joined in the magical fire''s wicked dance of burning Toz''s body.


    With the still wild fire mana aiding the magical fire from within Toz''s body, there was nothing stopping the fire from burning Toz''s body, and the wildly flickering mes grew to envelop Tozpletely in a shimmering ball of bright orange fire.


    Toz''s cocoon of fire lit up the ruins of the Fortress of Death, where all the other mes had gone out, been put out, or been drawn into Toz through the mana storm. Although the mana storm was also partly bright orange, it didn''t give off as much light as Toz''s cocoon and didn''t help light up the Fortress. If anything, the darkness of the death attribute demonic energy subdued the little brightness of the fire.


    After all, a lot of the fire mana in the mana storm had been absorbed by Toz. Toz hadn''t been clearheaded enough to notice or think about it. But the magical mes covering his body eventually started blocking the demonic energy from entering him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    At first, the demonic energy just swirled along and continued hanging around Toz in the eye of the storm. However, the sphere of fire encapstion Toz was too bright, too hot, and too resistant to the demonic energy to allow its presence close to it.


    Chased away by the mes of the cocoon, the demonic energy returned to the air and rejoined the swirling mass of demonic energy that was more than half the mana storm. But only temporarily.


    Not far from where Toz ended up inside the cocoon, another target attracted the demonic energy. It probably wouldn''t have happened if the mana storm''s center wasn''t right above it, and some of the demonic energy began slipping inside purely by coincidence.


    But after getting a taste for the pure death attribute within the demonic energy, the Fountain of Death released a small suction of its own. The death attribute demonic energy happily epted that attraction and willingly began tunneling into the Fountain instead of simply swiveling around in the air.


    The twisting maelstrom of fire and death, of orange and ck, split up a few meters off the ground. And as more and more fire mana entered Toz and death attribute demonic energy entered the Fountain, the split between the two attributes grew.


    However, both tornados kept their original size. The sh between the two elements and types of mana had helped create the mana storm. But now that the storm was fully formed, it didn''t need any help to continue growing. If anything, getting released from each other made it easier for the two different attributes to grow on their own.


    The death storm had an easier time absorbing nearby demonic energy and mana that suited itself, and it was the same for the firestorm.


    Of course, since both storms were funneling a lot of their demonic energy and mana into their designated targets, neither of them grew noticeably apart from how they retained the mana storm''s original size even after they split.


    Eventually, the divide between the two tornados grew sorge that it was visible even from across the battlefield.


    General Scoll felt shivers creep down his spine, and it wasn''t because of the Flesh Golem''s movements. He flicked his gaze toward the two tornados sprouting from the Fortress of Death''s location.

 Chapter 446 Flesh Golem (1)

    ?It hadn''t been long until the Flesh Golem waspleted, but the Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops were still frozen by fear due to the piercing roar unleashed by the monstrosity when it appeared. The cloud of ck fog also seemed to have had an effect after it reached the troops. But General Scoll couldn''t tell what it was. Not that he paid it much mind since the ck fog was iparable to the Flesh Golem itself.


    The hulking grey mass of flesh and bones towered over twelve meters, and its body of twisted muscles rippled with power that surpassed the high levels.


    General Scoll had seen transcendents in action, and he knew that there weren''t any ways of forcing a transformation of something mortal to something transcendent, no matter how much mortal materials were used. But the ck orb had contained an incredible amount of mana of indiscernible quality that had fused with the thousands of high level corpses on the battlefield.


    The Flesh Golem might not be at the transcendent level proper, but it wasn''t far from it. And due to the power surpassing what the materials its body was made of could withstand, the Flesh Golem probably wouldn''tst long. But it would still be able to endure the weight of its own might long enough to finish the war.


    In front of the Flesh Golem, General Scoll began having doubts about whether he could eke out a victory, even with the methods he had devised.


    He knew that the Flesh Golem would be one of the things that might appear on the battlefield even at the beginning of the war, and he had made preparations in case that happened. But he couldn''t concentrate all his efforts on preparing for a Flesh Golem when there were several other methods avable to the Tribe of Death. He couldn''t put all his eggs in one basket.


    And now that the Flesh Golem was in front of him, he began to think that he hadn''t used enough metaphorical eggs to prepare for its appearance.


    However, General Scoll didn''t let his doubts bring him down, and he used the effect of the double trouble tornados to help his troops snap out of their fear-induced shock.


    "Earth mages, ready!"


    General Scoll''s voice reached the troops, and even those he didn''t target directly reacted. The threatening atmosphere surrounding the Flesh Golem still made them shiver in their boots, but the troops managed to get some movement back.


    Thankfully, the Flesh Golem was breathing in the ck fog and seemingly preparing its body. The lich controlling the Flesh Golem was also reinforcing the Flesh Golem with its demonic energy. That gave the Alliance of Kingdoms a few precious moments to restore discipline and prepare. They even had time tounch their first attack following General Scoll''s order.


    "Get rid of its footing!"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    General Scoll''s order might be a little too vague for disciplined soldiers trained to follow each word to the letter. But the army hemanded wasn''t made of strictly trained soldiers. It was a mix of high levelbat able people from all over the four kingdoms. Some were used to fighting since before the war broke out. And others were seeing battle for the first time in their lives.


    The various backgrounds and identities of everyone meant that there was no way everyone, even if they used the same element, used magic in simr ways.


    So, following General Scoll''s order, the earth mages began interfering with the Flesh Golem''s movements however they could. The earth mages turned the ground below the Golem to mud and let it sink down. They also hollowed out the ground around it so that it would be able to take a single step forward without breaking through up to its knees. There were also mages who covered the Flesh Golem''s body in ayer of solid earth to restrain its movements.


    Mages with other attributes might be able to do simr things. However, the Flesh Golem''s body and surroundings were covered in ayer of demonic energy that was close to reaching the transcendent level. Its natural defense against magic of lesser quality was already more than enough trouble for the earth mages. They didn''t need interference from other attributes when they were having trouble coordinating with each other.


    If it weren''t for the training all the mages and fighters had done that helped them work together with people of simr attributes, even what they were doing right now would be a lot more difficult.


    But it remained to be seen if their cooperation would be enough to keep the Flesh Golem in ce. The magic applied directly to the Flesh Golem''s body was almost instantly shrugged off and dispelled. Even the mud pool below its feet was quickly losing its fluidity and returning to normal hard ground.


    The things that were most effective were the magics that changed the surroundings more permanently by hollowing out the ground rather than simply melting it by using a continuous flow of mana.


    As it became more obvious that the Flesh Golem couldn''t resist the physical effects of earth magic as well as it resisted pure magic, the earth mages voluntarily began changing tactics without General Scoll prompting them.


    Instead of conjuring blocks of earth or temporarily changing the structure of the ground around the Flesh Golem, the earth mages began taking chunks and pieces of the ground as it were and burying the Flesh Golem beneath a mountain of rubble. They also dug out the ground from below it, which led to the Flesh Golem being buried both in the ground and by a mound of boulders.


    Since the Flesh Golem''s near-transcendent level demonic energy blocked the effects of the magic, the boulders didn''t strike the Golem with enough force to damage it. The Golem dispelled the magic propelling the rocks.


    However, gravity wasn''t magic. And when the earth mages realized that the Flesh Golem only stopped the stones flying horizontally, they began using the power of gravity and started dropping boulders like raindrops from above the Flesh Golem.

 Chapter 447 Flesh Golem (2)

    ?The earth mages continued pelting the Flesh Golem with a rain of boulders while at the same time expanding the pit below the Flesh Golem''s feet. The Flesh Golem didn''t put up any noticeable resistance in response to the earth mages'' attacks and let itself sink into the ground while it endured the meteor shower with nothing but a few grunts.


    As the Flesh Golem appeared to be unable to resist, the earth mages naturally grew confident that their endeavor had been sessful.


    General Scoll noticed the mages and troops'' growing hope. He knew that it was false hope, but he didn''t say anything since it would only needlessly bring down morale and make the troops subconsciously direct their ill feelings toward him. It would be better for the battle''s progress if the troops turned all their fear and hatred toward the Flesh Golem instead of theirmander.


    And by the looks of it, General Scoll didn''t have to wait long until the troops realized on their own that their attacks had been mostly useless.


    The earth mages were quickly running out of mana, and their attack ground to a halt. And it looked like some of them were ready to receive praise and des for how they had contributed to taking down suck a fearsome enemy. Those mages were thest ones to see the pile of rubble covering the Flesh Golem move.


    At first, only a few stones and boulders shifted. But only after a few moments, more and more rocks started tumbling down.


    It didn''t take long until the Flesh Golem stretched out its arms upwards and unleashed a rain of stones that flew in all directions. And with a few simple movements, all of the rocks on the Flesh Golem''s body had been sent flying across the battlefield.


    The cascade of stones was apanied and empowered by a guttural earth-shaking roar that made the ground tremble enough to make severalbatants lose their bnce.


    General Scoll found it hard to enjoy the fact that the Flesh Golem''s counterattack had been indiscriminate and struck the Tribe of Death as well as the Alliance of Kingdoms. The damage to his troops was quite severe since the stones pierced through the air and the troops'' bodies.


    Some of the earth mages with enough mana left and with quick enough reflexes averted some of the damage. Other mages and fighters also defended themself if they had time to react.


    However, very few were able to defend themselves against the stones powered by the Flesh Golem''s near-transcendent level mana.


    But the flying stones weren''t the end of it. The Flesh Golem was still stuck inside a pit. Although its torso and upper body were visible above the pit due to the Golem''s size, the rest of its body was still below the surface of the ground.


    Unfortunately, no one held any hope that the pit would be enough to restrain the Flesh Golem after the way it handled the boulders.


    And they were right.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The Flesh Golem raised his two monstrous arms and smashed them down on the edge of the pit right in front of him.


    The impact sent another tremor through the ground that knocked down even morebatants, despite them being ready for it this time.


    The Flesh Golem didn''t stop after merely smashing its hands against the ground. It dug its greyish fingers into the ground and tore away at it. The Flesh Golem dug out the ground from the edge of the pit. And, after making enough space to take a step, the Flesh Golem put a horrid foot in the opening.


    The muscles on the Flesh Golem''s leg trembled and rippled with unfathomable power as it pushed its body upwards and out of the pit with enough force to leave a small crater behind. However, the crater disappeared quickly after.


    After jumping into the air, the Flesh Golem would eventually fall back to the ground again. And with its massive weight and size, it was a matter of sooner rather thanter, especially since it only jumped a few meters into the air.


    The Flesh Golem intentionallynded as hard as it could while also mming a fist into the ground while itnded. The power of the Golem''s fist, powered by the force of its own bodyweight''s descent, hit the ground with enough strength to send multiple shockwaves through the battlefield. One shockwave rushed through the air and made the orifices of the weaker troops bleed. And another shockwave traveled through the ground, turning it upside down as a meter-high wave of dirt assaulted both the Alliance of Kingdoms and Tribe of Death.


    General Scoll fixed an intense stare at the Flesh Golem and the lich controlling it while a barrier sprung up to defend his tform.


    The Flesh Golem was a little more powerful than he had expected, and the simplest of moves it made was enough to cripple the majority of his troops. The only sce was that it was a double-edged de, and the Tribe of Death, who had already lost half their army, also suffered significant losses at the hands of the Flesh Golem.


    However, the maliciously flickering ghost mes in the lich''s eyes told General Scoll that the Tribe of Death wasn''t worried about their losses. If the lich had cared about their losses, he wouldn''t have intentionally held back the Flesh Golem and let the earth mages cast their magic. But he did, and the morale and hopes of the Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops were sessfully destroyed.


    The self-harming method of reading the Alliance''s morale was a little unexpected, and it had cost General Scoll a lot of lives that he had managed to save with his previous orders.


    But General Scoll didn''t let the losses affect his mind, and he reorganized his thoughts quickly as he began nning orders. One of the few advantages the Alliance of Kingdoms had over the Tribe of Death was their connection to the Obsidian Empire and other human factions in the Transcendent Realm.


    The Tribe of Death might also have a fewbatants from the Transcendent Realm, but not as many as the Alliance did. And General Scoll nned to use that advantage to wear down the Flesh Golem as much as possible.


    "Special attack divisions! Ready!"

 Chapter 448 Flesh Golem (3)

    ?Following General Scoll''s order, the two groupsprised ofbatants from the Transcendent Realm stepped forward. They had retreated and ended up on either side Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops. But now, they walked forward and put themselves between the Alliance''s troops and the Flesh Golem.


    The group led by the Lightning Rascals stepped in front of the group led by Silver Knight. The Lightning Rascals'' group roused their magic and prepared tounch an offensive maneuver. Silver Knight''s group took up defensive and supportive positions around Silver Knight as the person, whose appearance was entirely hidden by a suit of metal armor, transformed theirnce into a ballista.


    The Lightning Rascals would lead the charge against the Flesh Golem, and the Silver Knight''s squad would provide supportive fire from afar.


    "Puppeteer, offensive formation!"


    The two special attack divisions weren''t the only ones going up against the Flesh Golem. The Golden Puppeteer also obeyed General Scoll''s order and stepped forward with his golden box in his arms. After a few steps, the Golden Puppeteer opened the box and let out a slew of golden phantoms that gradually took the shape of wolves as they appeared on the battlefield.


    The Golden Wolf Legion wasn''t as mana-hungry as the Golden Gori Legion due to its much simpler construction and design. But that didn''t mean it was any weaker. The Golden Wolf Legion just wasn''t asplicated as the Golden Goris. It was just that the Golden Wolves were more specialized. They didn''t do both defense and offense. And their offense wasn''t as wild and rampaging as the goris''.


    The Golden Wolf Legion moved like a real wolf pack as it hunted its target using numbers and cooperation. The Golden Wolf Legion was capable of taking down targets more powerful than the Golden Gori Legion, thanks to theirbined might and cooperation. Now it only remained to be seen if they could deal with the Flesh Golem.


    The Golden Wolf Legion split up and nked the Lightning Rascals'' group on either side. With everyone in position, only one thing remained. The order to move.


    "Attack!"


    As soon as General Scoll''s voice rang out, the battle began.


    The Flesh Golem and the Lightning Rascal''s group, nked on either side by the Golden Wolf Legion, charge toward each other.


    The mages and fighters capable ofunching attacks from a distance initiated the attack on the Flesh Golem. The mages from both special attack divisions attacked and cast their magic. The magic didn''t do much damage due to the Flesh Golem''s sturdy defenses, but it cleared a path and obscured the view of the Flesh Golem. That allowed the real opening attack to strike true. That was the thought, at least.


    The Flesh Golem noticed the silver ballista bolt right before it struck and managed to twist its body. However, it couldn''t avoid the boltpletely, and it pierced its shoulder with enough force to decrease the momentum of the Flesh Golem''s charge.


    The Flesh Golem reached up and pulled out the bolt, not showing any pain as the barbs on the bolt tore through the grey, bloodless flesh. The Flesh Golem drew back the arm holding the bolt and prepared to throw it. However, before the bolt left the Flesh Golem''s hand, it disappeared.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Silver Knight dispelled the silver bolt right before the Flesh Golem could throw it at the iingbatants. Since the bolt disappeared right when the Flesh Golem was about to release it, the Flesh Golem lost its bnce and stumbled slightly.


    The Flesh Golem hurried to fix its bnce and stand upright again. But its massive body was powerful and filled with strength. It didn''t have enough agility to recover before Vatel''s charge arrived in front of it.


    Vatel flew through the air, carried by his spear, and he pushed into the Flesh Golem''s shin, his spear zing with blue lightning. The spear pierced through the Flesh Golem''s thick hide and lodged itself between the shin bone and the solid mass of muscle.


    Vatel felt the back of his neck tingle, and he hurried to retreat, leaving his spear behind. His spear was stuck, and trying to pull it out would take too much time.


    Vatel was lucky enough to avoid the Flesh Golem''s iing fist with slightly more than a hair. But his spear wasn''t as lucky.


    "My spear! It was brand new, you ugly shitstain!"


    "Vatel! Focus on the battle!"


    Vatel didn''t need Hassandra''s voice to remind him since he already held a new spear in his hand that he used to poke the Flesh Golem''s wrist. The Flesh Golem hurried to retract its fist from the ground it had punched when it missed Vatel and snapped his spear instead.


    Vatel ignored the crumbled remains of his spear, and he unleashed a flurry of stabs into the hole he had opened up before he was forced to roll to the side to avoid the Flesh Golem''s foot.


    While the Flesh Golem''s foot was still in the air, Vatel stood up and joined the golden wolves as they dove toward the back of the Flesh Golem''s other leg.


    Thanks to the Flesh Golem''s size, there was nock of space for Vatel and two of the wolves to attack. Since Vatel had the greatest singr damage between the three of them, he went for the Flesh Golem''s heel. By severing the Flesh Golem''s tendon while it stood on one leg, they might be able to bring it to the ground, even if it didn''t feel any pain.


    While Vatel reached out with his spear toward the Flesh Golem''s heel, the two wolves jumped up toward the Flesh Golem''s knee and back thigh. Their aim was undoubtedly simr To Vatel''s.


    Vatel and the two golden wolvesunched their attack while the Flesh Golem, who noticed their movements, hurried to put down his other leg. However, Vatel wasn''t alone, and neither were the two wolves. There was an entire special attack division and a wolf pack supporting them.

 Chapter 449 Flesh Golem (4)

    ?The Flesh Golem wanted to put the leg that was in the air back on the ground and reach around back to its other leg and grab Vatel and the two golden wolves. However, the special attack divisions and the Golden Wolf Legion made use of the opportunity that Vatel and the two wolves had gotten them.


    Melee mages and fighters rushed forward in unison and attacked the Flesh Golem''s airborne leg to keep it in the air. Naturally, since the Flesh Golem didn''t feel pain, their endeavor was mostly useless. But each second they managed to dy the Flesh Golem regaining its footing was another second that the mages and long-distance mages could use to attack the Flesh Golem''s torso and head. At the same time, the Golden Wolf Legion targeted the Flesh Golem''s arms to prevent it from defending itself or attacking Vatel and the two wolves.


    And the meleebatants did manage to dy the Flesh Golem''s foot descending long enough for Vatel and the two golden wolves tond their attacks.


    A thunderp rang out as Vatel used a martial technique to enhance the force of the aura in his blow. He shed sideways across the Flesh Golem''s heel, and a shockwave apanied the thunderp on the other side of the tendon that Vatel tried to cut.


    At the same time, the golden wolves'' shiny ws dug into the rtively thin hide at the back of the Flesh Golem''s knee.


    With a soft groan, the Flesh Golem, assailed on all sides, lost its bnce. The knee that the two wolves attacked buckled and sank to the ground. The Flesh Golem put its other foot on the ground with a tremor and ced a hand next to itself to steady itself.


    The special attack divisions felt some hope since Vatel''s and the two wolves'' attacks had been sessful. They had managed to bring the Flesh Golem down to a kneeling position. As long as they kept it up and continued wearing away at the Flesh Golem, victory would be theirs.


    However, the Flesh Golem wouldn''t be known as one of the Tribe of Death''s ultimate cards if it went down that easily.


    The Flesh Golem used the moment the attack divisions inadvertently let down their guards and used its kneeling position tounch a sneak attack. It straightened its legs and shot forward while reaching out with a hand.


    The Flesh Golem might not have been made for speed and agility and was even slower than many high level mages and fighters who were confident in their speed. However, it was a being that approached the transcendent level. The bursts of power it could unleash were more than enough to catch the group of melee attackers by surprise.


    Some were quick enough to save themselves and one or two of theirrades. But few of them managed to escape unscathed from the Flesh Golem''s hand that came swatting down on them. Most of them were directly turned into a sticky bloody mess that clung to the Flesh Golem''s palm. There were also several who dodged the strike but couldn''t evade the aftershock and had their orifices and internal organs injured or ruptured.


    The Flesh Golem''s surprise attack had done more than merely overwhelm the special attack division. It had also shown how cutting its tendons to incapacitate it wouldn''t work.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Fear seeped into thebatants'' minds, especially the ones who barely made it out alive from the Flesh Golem''s palm strike. But the Lightning Rascals, led by Vatel, and the Golden Wolf Legion didn''t show any fear as they once again attacked the Flesh Golem.


    Before the Flesh Golem could retract its arm, Vatel rushed to jump up on and run atop it toward the Flesh Golem''s head. While running, Vatel dragged his spear against the Flesh Golem''s arm and split open its skin in a long line.


    Several of the golden wolves joined Vatel''s efforts and jumped up totch on and gnaw away at the skin ps that Vatel peeled off for them. They sessfully managed to tear away several chunks of grey, bloodless flesh that fell to the ground.


    However, the Flesh Golem stood up and shook its arm lightly, which threw off the golden wolves and sent them crashing to the ground. And without the wolves holding its wound open, the flesh on the Flesh Golem''s arm wriggled and repaired itself until it looked like nothing had happened.


    Vatel saw out of the corner of his eye that his attack had been rendered useless. But he didn''t care about that. He was busy pushing himself through the stench that surrounded the Flesh Golem''s body, especially its mouth, in order to find an opening to attack. He also had to avoid the Flesh Golem''s hands, both of them now that he had reached the shoulder and headed toward the neck.


    Thankfully, Vatel wasn''t the only pest that buzzed around the Flesh Golem. There were the golden wolves and the other members of the special attack division. The other Lightning Rascals were especially zealous as theyunched attack after attack toward the Flesh Golem.


    Hassandra used her invisible string to chip away at the Flesh Golem''s body and make it use as much demonic energy as possible to restore itself. It would both distract the Flesh Golem and reduce how long it wouldst.


    Hullie and Kaler worked together to keep the Flesh Golem''s arms away from Vatel. Either by directly attacking and forcefully redirecting the arms or by making the Flesh Golem defend itself by targeting the ces that would require a lot of demonic energy to restore, such as the eyes.


    The Flesh Golem could blink to defend against the attacks targeting its eyes, but that would leave it momentarily blind and vulnerable, so it didn''t do it unless absolutely necessary.


    However, even if it only did it when it couldn''t use its hands to defend or move its body to avoid the attack, there was still someone who noticed the Flesh Golem''s tendency. There were probably several who noticed, but there was one person who could do something with that knowledge.


    And General Scoll used his voice magic to ry the information to Silver Knight.

 Chapter 450 Flesh Golem (5)

    ?With General Scoll''s guidance, Silver Knight quickly grasped the timing and what they needed to do, so they took aim with their recently reloaded ballista and waited. While they waited, they silently ordered the mages around them to help reinforce and strengthen the ballista bolt. Silver Knight didn''t want to make their actions too tantly obvious in case the Flesh Golem or the lich controlling it noticed anything amiss.


    Thankfully, most of the Flesh Golem''s attention was on Vatel, who was running circles around the Flesh Golem''s head. d in lightning, Vatel zipped across the Flesh Golem''s upper body, dragging his spear around and creatingrge tears in the Flesh Golem''s skin.


    The Flesh Golem''s skin was too thick for Vatel to do any real damage, not to mention how most of it recovered almost instantly. But the wounds acted as footholds for him as he dodged the Flesh Golem''s hands. And if the wounds were open long enough, the mages would have time tond a deeper blow that would take more demonic energy to restore.


    After he got a little more used to the Flesh Golem''s movements, Vatel also started using his martial techniques to attack it and deal even more damage. Unfortunately, he couldn''t get close enough to its head to deal a blow to its more vulnerable areas. The most he could do was poke the Flesh Golem''s neck and throat.


    Thankfully, Vatel wasn''t alone in his assault against the Flesh Golem. And with the other Lightning Rascals helping him, Vatel didn''t worry about the Flesh Golem eventually catching him. He just focused on what he set out to do and kept the majority of the Flesh Golem''s attention locked on him. Vatel knew that he wasn''t the one who would deal the finishing move.


    He didn''t know what General Scoll had nned exactly. But Vatel could at least understand Hassandra''s guess that the special attack divisions and the Golden Wolf Legion were only the setup for whatever General Scoll had in store.


    And since General Scoll had proved to be a capable and trustworthymander, Vatel simply continued fighting while waiting for General Scoll''smand. And because Vatel continued fighting without showing any fear or anxiety, the troops he led could do the same.


    The fear that came when the meleebatants got squashed like bugs was gradually eradicated, and thebatants of the special attack divisions regained some confidence that they would be able to survive their encounter with the Flesh Golem.


    Eventually, Vatel''s, the Lightning Rascals'', the golden wolves,'' and the special attack divisionbatants'' efforts converged and grabbed the entirety of the Flesh Golem''s attention.


    The Flesh Golem had to use its arms to try and grab Vatel and stop him from piercing the back of its head with the bundle of electricity he had built up around his spear. The golden wolves and Hassandra had worn away at the Flesh Golem''s legs and prevented the Flesh Golem from moving by binding and clinging to the legs and feet.


    The other attackers worked together tounch magic and projectiles onto the Flesh Golem''s head and body. Most attacks were blocked by the Flesh Golem''s wildly swinging arms. But some of them slipped through the gaps in its defense and reached its body.


    Thanks to thebined assault, some of the attacks even reached the Flesh Golem''s face. And in order to defend its eyes and minimize the amount of demonic energy required to restore itself, the Flesh Golem closed its eyes.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It was only for one or two seconds at most. But it was more than enough.


    The moment that Silver Knight had waited for came, and without missing a beat, Silver Knightunched the ballista bolt, strengthened and reinforced by several kinds of magic that propelled the bolt through the air. The bolt weaved through the other attacks that weren''t as fast. The bolt also wove through the gap between the Flesh Golem''s arms before finally arriving less than a meter away from its target.


    The Flesh Golem sensed that it had deflected the attacks that forced it to close its eyes and started opening them again. The tingling sensation in his eye also made the Flesh Golem instinctively want to look at what was in front of its face.


    However, that was a dire mistake on the Flesh Golem''s end as the silver ballista bolt pierced into its eye, unleashing a rain of pieces of the Flesh Golem''s exploded eye that sttered on the ground.


    The Flesh Golem didn''t scream from the pain, but it did take a slight step back from the force of the ballista bolt.


    The Flesh Golem tilted its head back as it quickly reached up and pulled out the ballista bolt before roaring to the skies in anger.


    Vatel, who clung to the Flesh Golem''s neck, endured the roar from up close, and he could feel his eardrums begin to copse as he struggled not to fall to the ground. He pushed his spear as deep as he could into the Flesh Golem''s thick hide and held on to it by curling his body while he raised his hands to his ears to try and shield his ears from the Flesh Golem''s roar. Thankfully, the Flesh Golem roared in the opposite direction of where Vatel was, and he was on the other side of the Golem''s thick head, so the situation wasn''t as bad as it could have been.


    But the roar was still loud enough to make the otherbatants who were further away also shield their ears as soon as they could, which led to thebatants using weapons or hand-held items to drop them.


    Since the Flesh Golem''s roar disrupted the special attack division''s movements, Silver Knight didn''t have time to dispel his bolt before the Flesh Golem sent it flying toward the cluster of mages and fighters with the ballista as the center.


    Silver Knight reacted as soon as he saw the bolt fly towards them and tried to dispel, or at least divert it before it was toote.

 Chapter 451 Flesh Golem (6)

    ?Silver Knight managed to reduce some of the bolt''s power. But the demonic energy put on it by the Flesh Golem was too much, and Silver Knight couldn''t do enough to save everyone around them. The best she could do was reduce the casualties by plunging the bolt into the ground and halting its advance as much as she could. However, that still left several of the people in the front dead since they took on the brunt of the attack when the bolt pushed through the ground and into their formation.


    The force and shockwave of the bolt were enough to push Silver Knight and their division backward. And the ones that survived fell to the ground or held onto the ballista for bnce. Most of Silver Knight''s special attack division survived. But the bolt had ruptured the ground where the ballista stood. So, Silver Knight had to move it to a better ce before they could begin shooting again.


    However, it remained to be seen if the other special attack division and the Golden Wolf Legion wouldst that long.


    After the roar, it seemed like the Flesh Golem decided to stop holding back and saving demonic energy. Its body noticeably surged with power as its skin and flesh rippled before all the damage that Hassandra and the others managed to inflict disappeared as if it had never been there.


    With Hassandra leading the assault, she had managed to outpace the Flesh Golem''s regenerative speed, thanks to thebined efforts of her invisible string and the other mages. But after the surge of demonic power, all of the Flesh Golem''s specs rose, and its regenerative speed became several times what it was before.


    And its improved strength and regenerative speed weren''t the only things that posed a threat to the special attack divisions and the Golden Wolf Legion. After the Flesh Golem stopped conserving its demonic energy, its entire body oozed a grey, nearly translucent fog.


    The fog of condensed death attribute demonic energy spread out across the battlefield and quickly began eroding everything living that it touched. Vatel was the first to retreat.


    "Fall back!"


    And as soon as Vatel dashed out of the grey fog, General Scoll''s voice reminded the others to also step outside the fog''s range.


    Thankfully, the Flesh Golem seemed content with letting the fog chase away the pests buzzing around it without doing anything itself. Or maybe it couldn''t rashly move while using up so much of its demonic energy. Whatever the case, the special attack divisions and the Golden Wolf Legion sessfully retreated from their battle with the Flesh Golem.


    However, that retreat came with the acknowledgment that they couldn''t defeat the Flesh Golem. It stung their pride. The Flesh Golem wasn''t even properly at the transcendent level, yet it had still trounced less than a hundred high levelbatants.


    Thebatants were mostly from transcendent factions. And while their factions might not be as powerful as the Tribe of Death, they hadn''t expected to be so soundly beaten during a battle between high level beings. Some of them hadn''t even just been beaten. Several of them died.


    What was supposed to be a simple excursion to a proxy war taking ce in a mortal realm had turned into a battlefield they weren''t even sure they would be able to leave with their lives intact.


    Well, the battle had been deathly serious from the beginning for the natives of the mortal realm. But most of the people from the transcendent faction didn''t really care about that. They weren''t forcefully conscripted or dutybound to fight in the war. Most of them had participated because it was an opportunity to gain real-life battle experience, make some achievements, and pass the time.


    Some of thebatants from various transcendent factions even started stepping even further back and moring to be let through the Alliance''s troops so they could leave the battlefield.


    The Alliance''s troops, which were made up of mostly Mortal Realm natives, didn''t have a choice in whether to participate in the battle or not. Even if they wanted to flee, they couldn''t. The people with ve cors were proof of what would happen if they tried. And dying a free man was better than dying a ve.


    Thebatants from the Transcendent Realm and their attitude naturally pissed off the Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops. And they had no intentions of letting anyone pass through their ranks without explicit orders from their superiors. And since most of the officers in the military were also from the Mortal Realm, the resistance toward the transcendent factions''batants'' shameless retreat rose through the ranks. Eventually, it reached the point where General Scoll had to step in personally to dispel the brewing conflict.


    If General Scoll didn''t do anything soon, the transcendent factions''batants, who were filled with fear from their encounter with the Flesh Golem, would quickly begin to panic and act irrationally. If they did that, it wouldn''t take long until internal strife broke out within the army. And although the Alliance''s troops outnumbered thebatants, thebatants were stronger, and it would lead to losses on both sides.


    General Scoll didn''t want his army to sink into internal strife, and he definitely didn''t want his troops to die because some brats, who weren''t ready for war, had stepped onto the battlefield.


    However, he still dyed giving an order. Just like the other natives of the Mortal Realm, thebatants'' attitude irked him. Besides, he was busy thinking of a solution to the Flesh Golem and the Tribe of War. And he had to find that solution before the two mana storms decided to move.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Eventually, General Scoll sighed and used his voice magic tomunicate with someone so that only they heard his voice.


    "Kahglia, it looks like I have to ask you for a favor."


    "Great, you''reing with me to meet the old man after this, then."


    "I''ll ask my superiors to let me go."


    "Who?"


    "During this four, the four kings. Afterward, I''ll probably go back to the Obsidian Kingdom."


    "Kingdom? Not Empire?"


    "Yes."


    "Then it doesn''t matter. You''reing with me."


    The woman''s voice didn''t allow for any discussion, and General Scoll could only sigh again.


    "Can I bring along my subordinates?"


    "We''ll see."


    General Scoll sighed again and cut his connection with the person he asked a favor from.


    "Sir?"


    Rie noticed General Scoll sigh three times in a row and naturally wondered if he was alright. She was even more worried after he closed his eyes, despite the brewing internal strife at the frontlines.


    But General Scoll just shook his head to signal that nothing was wrong. Rie, unable to do anything else, just waited along with Cooper and Denebra. If the general wanted them to do something, he would order them to.


    And since he wasn''t saying anything, there was nothing to do but wait. The general had obviously talked with someone when he sighed. And although the general didn''t seem very happy, since he didn''t do anything else, the situation would resolve itself.


    Now it only remained to be seen in what way and if the general''s preparations had been enough. Not that any of his subordinates doubted him.

 Chapter 452 Kahglia (1)

    ?True to what General Scoll''s subordinates thought would happen, the situation on the battlefield changed shortly after his three sighs, though the change didn''t ur directly among the troops on either side of the war. And it took a little while until people noticed what was going on since it happened quite a bit away from the immediate battlefield where the special attack divisions and the Flesh Golem traded blows.


    But as time passed, more and more people noticed the hill, off in the distance, began to distort. A pile of dirt that looked like nothing more than a shift in the ground that appeared as a consequence of a powerful attack''s impact or something scrunched together gradually. At first, it merely looked like the hill crumbled. But as it distorted more and more, it became obvious that someone was wrapping up the hill.


    It sounded and looked weird, but it was the easiest way to describe it, especially when arge humanoid figure picked up the scrunched-together hill and put it away inside a spatial storage item.


    And when the hillpletely disappeared, the figure, who had hidden inside the hill, was revealed.


    A giant woman around nine meters tall started walking toward the battlefield. As she came closer, the defined muscles on her legs, arms, and stomach hinted toward the strength the giantess possessed. However, Kahglia was unbothered by the stares of the people around her. She only looked at the Flesh Golem, which she had to defeat in order to bring General Scoll back to the Transcendent Realm with her as her father asked.


    While walking forward withrge strides, Kahglia put on a pair of spiked brass knuckles that,bined with her side cut, gave her a fierce look. After putting on the brass knuckles, Kahglia was still quite a bit away from the battlefield. But with her long legs, it wouldn''t take long until she arrived.


    However, she had no intentions of walking the rest. After putting on the brass knuckles, Kahglia gradually picked up her speed until she started sprinting toward the Flesh Golem with steps that shook the ground.


    Due to Kahglia charging toward them like a freight train, the Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops began moving to the sides to open a path for her. Thebatants from the transcendent factions naturally took it as an opportunity to get past the Alliance''s troops. Although Kahglia looked intimidating as she charged forward, she wasn''t as scary as the twelve-meter-tall Flesh Golem with its grey hide and the ominous fog surrounding it.


    Instead of staying to watch another person get defeated by the Flesh Golem, the cowards chose to flee as soon as an opening appeared.


    But it quickly became evident that the Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops wouldn''t be able to move out of the way fast enough. Kahglia''s size made it deceptively hard to predict how fast she moved over the ground.


    The Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops and the cowardlybatants from the transcendent factions scrambled to get out of the way, pulling at each other''s ankles as they tried to get out of Kahglia''s path.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, they weren''t quick enough, and Kahglia arrived before they could get out of the way. But their struggles and worries were for naught.


    When Kahglia was one step away from the troops andbatants, she pushed down hard on the ground and leaped over the troops. She even flew over the special attack division andnded in front of them. But she didn''t stop.


    Kahglia used the momentum from her leap to maintain her charge toward the Flesh Golem, and without taking a break, Kahglia took two more strides toward the Flesh Golem. The two strides, which were almost like tiny leaps on their own, brought Kahglia straight to the Flesh Golem. Shepletely ignored the fog of death around her target. Not that the fog appeared to do anything to her or her armored clothes.


    The Flesh Golem, who had leisurely waited for Kahglia to arrive, was caught by surprise due to her burst forward after her leap. The Flesh Golem barely had time to react before Kahglia''s brass knuckle-covered fist flew toward its face. Since the Flesh Golem wasn''t fast enough, it didn''t manage to defend itself, despite seeing Kahglia''s attack.


    The Flesh Golem''s half-raised arms flew out to its sides as it took a step back and tried to regain its bnce after Kahglia''s fist blew its head backward. The spikes on Kahglia''s knuckles left four deep holes in the Flesh Golem''s fist, but they were already on the verge of recovering when her second fist arrived.


    The Flesh Golem had been able to almost react to Kahglia''s first attack since it had been prepared to face her charge. However, when Kahglia sent forward her other fist, the Flesh Golem was busy trying to regain its bnce while also wondering where the power of the blow hade from.


    The Flesh Golem didn''t even see Kahglia''s other fist before it was already right in front of its face. The Flesh Golem reflexively raised its arms to try and defend itself. Since it already had its arms to its sides, it wasn''t very far. But it was still too far, and the arms were too slow to make it in time.


    Kahglianded another undefended strike on the Flesh Golem''s face. This time, her attack hit a little harder since the Flesh Golem didn''t even have time to try and avoid her strike. But the wounds left by her brass knuckles still healed almost instantly.


    The Flesh Golem didn''t feel any pain, and the damage from Kahglia''s attacks healed instantly. Kahglia might look like she had the advantage, but so far, she hadn''t done anything to the Flesh Golem. It almost looked like the Flesh Golem grinned mockingly as it used the force of Kahglia''s blow to jump backward and finally regain its bnce.


    However, Kahglia''s expression was unchanged and she just charged toward the Flesh Golem again, ready to unleash another round of fists toward the Flesh Golem''s head.

 Chapter 453 Kahglia (2)

    ?When the Flesh Golem stepped backward to try and put some distance between itself and Kahglia, Kahglia immediately chased after it, not giving the Flesh Golem a single chance to take control over the flow of the battle. Kahglia unleashed a storm of fists toward the Flesh Golem. It managed to defend against some of the attacks with its arms. Others struck its head with enough force to make its head begin to crack.


    However, no matter what damage Kahglia inflicted on the Flesh Golem, it was all restored after a couple of seconds. The Flesh Golem defended its head because it would take a lot of demonic energy to repair its brain and eyes. If the Flesh Golem let Kahglia go to town on his head without defending or being able to retaliate, it would eventually be unable to keep up with its consumption of demonic energy.


    But, if it could trade blows with Kahglia, the Flesh Golem would undoubtedlye out victorious. Kahglia''s blows might be more powerful and ferocious than the Flesh Golem''s attacks, but she didn''t have the same regenerative powers as the Flesh Golem. So, if the two traded blow for blow and turned it into a dogfight, the Flesh Golem should win.


    And it seemed like it would get the chance since Kahglia didn''t bother about her defense. She unleashed fist after fist with dogged determination toward the Flesh Golem''s head. The Flesh Golem eventually stopped bothering to defend and rose to its full length so that Kahglia would have to swing upward in order to hit it. Kahglia''s fists repeatedly hit and broke the Flesh Golem''s jaws and neck, but she didn''t reach the eyes or the upper parts of the skull with the same ease as when the Flesh Golem tried to bend down and shield its head with its arms.


    And that wasn''t the only thing. Since the Flesh Golem stopped trying to defend itself, it freed its arms and could start returning Kahglia''s blows.


    Since Kahglia''s arms and fists flew forward in a trajectory from her shoulders and up toward the Flesh Golem''s face, the Flesh Golem couldn''t get a clean shot to her head. But with its longer arms, the Flesh Golem could bend them down slightly and unleash a torrent of sucker punches toward Kahglia''s torso.


    The Flesh Golem''s punches were a little tentative and were more to test Kahglia''s reactions and defenses and what she would do when the Flesh Golem gave up its defense in order to return her blows.


    Unlike what the Flesh Golem thought, but as it hoped, Kahglia practically ignored the Flesh Golem''s heavy fists as they started flying into her stomach. However, the Flesh Golem quickly understood why Kahglia wasn''t worried about defending her body. It was rock-solid. The Flesh Golem''s punches didn''t even make Kahglia stumble or lose her rhythm as she continued mangling the Flesh Golem''s jaw and face with her spiked brass knuckles.


    But the Flesh Golem didn''t give up. It was confident that it would eventually prevail as long as Kahglia was alive. The demonic energy powering its fists and surrounding them both in the fog would eventually wear away at Kaghlia''s life force and weaken her until she could no longer put up a defense.


    In the first ce, the fact that Kahglia was even strong enough topete with the Flesh Golem while at the ninth level was nothing less than a miracle. Even if she were close to the transcendent level, she wouldn''t have the same amount of mana and strength as the Flesh Golem, who had been created from the remains of several thousand corpses of high level beings.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But unlike what the Flesh Golem and its master, the lich, thought. Kahglia didn''t show any signs of growing weakness in the face of the death attribute demonic energy assailing her. The only signs of her battle with the Flesh Golem were the bruises that had started showing on her torso. But a tranquil energying from the leather armor on her chest and upper legs was quickly working away those bruises.


    If anything, Kahglia''s fists were growing heavier and heavier the longer the slugfest continued.


    With her spiked brass knuckles increasing the damage she dealt with each blow, Kahglia gradually began to wear away at the Flesh Golem''s face as she slowly began to catch up to its regenerative powers.


    The Flesh Golem''s jaw was gone, and its chin was a mangled mess of flesh, sinews, and bone. And with Kahglia''s fists reaching further and further with every blow, she eventually started pushing the Flesh Golem backward. The Flesh Golem could tell how close Kahglia was to sting open its skull and reflexively began moving its head back to avoid her blows.


    However, when the Flesh Golem started doing it, it had already begun losing the dogfight. Moving its head back was a sign it feared Kahglia''s blows. And that fear hindered its movements. The Flesh Golem''s punches lost some of their power, and the Flesh Golem continued to be pushed back by Kahglia as she once again took control of the flow of the battle.


    Although, Kahglia hadn''t taken a single step backward during the entire fight, so maybe she had always been in control of the flow. Now, she was just beginning to dominate the Flesh Golem. Just like she did with her first round of fists before the Flesh Golem tried to retaliate.


    Unfortunately for the Flesh Golem, its attempt at winning a dogfight was less than sessful. Kahglia was stronger and sturdier than expected, and its punches were almostpletely futile.


    When the Flesh Golem began to fall under Kahglia''s relentless assault, it was already toote for it to make aeback. The fury zing in the lich''s ghost me eyes was nearly tangible. But if The Flesh Golem couldn''t win over Kahglia, there was nothing they could do. The lich almost wanted to im that it was unfair that the Alliance of Kingdoms brought in someone so close to the transcendent level when it was supposed to be a high level battle. But the lich was smart enough to know that it would only backfire. Their side had been the first to do that, after all.


    However, the battle wasn''t over yet. The lich looked at the orb in its hands with a painfully determined expression.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 454 Baptism Of Fire (1)

    ?After passing out from the fire, dancing wildly on and within his body, resonating and turning him into a living torch, Toz was enveloped by a sphere of fire. Since he had lost consciousness, Toz was naturally unable to tell what was happening to him or his body. But, hisst thought before he passed out was that it was a shame to fail and die when he was so close to the finishing line.


    So, he was understandably surprised when he regained consciousness in the middle of his body melting and reforming itself. At first, his mind was so hazy that he couldn''t even tell what was going on. But he eventually managed to figure it out, despite his mind not regaining any rity.


    Well, Toz didn''t know if he had figured it out since his mind was a mess. But he also didn''t think he would have been able to make sense of it if he had been able to think straight. It was just too weird and nonsensical.


    The magical fire and the fire mana inside his body had resonated and made the temperatures within and around Toz soar to unimaginable levels. Shortly after that, the magical fire had somehow created a crystal-like sphere that shielded his body from the mana storm. However, the sphere didn''t protect his body from the heat of the fire. If anything, the sphere continued increasing the temperatures and mes wrecking Toz''s body.


    Toz couldn''t understand why his mana and the fire started resonating or why that created a cocoon of fire. Maybe it was due to the remnant will within the fire he awakened, or maybe it was a chance urrence that relied on the power of the mana storm. Considering how much mana the cocoon drained from the mana storm, it wasn''t impossible that it was rted to the eye of the storm and how it had basically been like a wall of fire mana swirling around him.


    The cocoon was slowly flickering and swirling around in the same direction as the storm, so maybe they were rted. The mana storm''s eye responded to the resonation of fire that Toz was in the middle of experiencing or something. Toz didn''t know. He could only try and piece together what had happened in order to distract himself from the sight of his body melting and turning into goo.


    Thankfully, his mind wasn''t clear enough to actively obsess over the fact that he would die without a body. He was more curious about why his body didn''t burn and turned to ash or charcoal and instead started melting like rubber.


    However, the realization that he wasn''t inside his body as it melted made Toz take a look at himself. He saw a pair of translucent, colorless hands and the half-dissipated body they were attached to.


    When his body got enveloped by the cocoon and started melting, it seemed like his consciousness escaped into the miniature clone and left the body. However, without his body, it had only pushed up the inevitable by a few moments.


    The clone could somehow withstand the power of fire within the orb since the mes were connected loosely to Toz. That got Toz wondering how the fire was melting his body. But maybe that was why the fire melted his body instead of turning it into ash.


    In any case, the clone could withstand the power of fire within the cocoon. But as soon as the cocoon died, the clone would be exposed to the outside world, where it would quickly begin to get eroded by the outside world''s pressure. Even if Toz''s clone had been strong enough to withstand the outside world, it wouldn''t be strong enough to survive the mana storm or the magic and attacks from the Tribe of Death''sbatants that might still be holed up in the Fortress next to the source of spatial fluctuations.


    And without his body, Toz''s clone wouldn''t have any way to restore itself. The clone was already on the verge of dissipating due to how far beyond their limits Toz pushed his body and mind.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    His consciousness using his clone to escape had indeed saved Toz''s life. But what next? Could he find a vessel to inhabit and be a haunted weapon or something? He wasn''t sure that the spatial storage items he took off and ced next to the Fountain had survived. Even if they did, Toz didn''t think he had anything that was suitable to use as a vessel to store his consciousness.


    Toz had a sword, but that was the only thing other than some food and the grimoires, which he hoped would be intact. And considering the sword only had the metal, darkness, fire, and lightning elements, it might not be suitable to contain Toz''s consciousness since it could use those four attributes as well as space and void.


    The only thing that Toz felt like it might be able to store his consciousness perfectly was the six-attribute sword still inside the forest on Taienra''s back. But even before that, the one thing that could really take care of his mind and the clone was his body.


    Toz looked at the molten reddish goop slowly bubbling on the bottom of the cocoon. It almost looked like molten metal.


    At that point, Toz realized something. Maybe hisparison to molten metal was more urate than he thought.


    Maybe his fire magic had reached a level his body couldn''t handle, and in response, initiated a process that could rectify it. His body couldn''t handle his fire magic, so his fire magic had created an opportunity for Toz to transform his body into something that could.


    It sounded weirdly lucky and optimistic, even his Toz''s muddled mind. But it also kind of made sense if one followed the same logic as Toz''s previous decision regarding his method of breaking through. And even before that, his choice to demolish the Fortress of Death and stay behind just so that he could keep the Fountain.


    As he looked back real quick, Toz realized that things didn''t have to be reasonable or make sense. Magic and the way the universe worked didn''t have any constraints. If stuff happened, stuff happened, however weird it might be.


    With a newfound realization of the universe, inspired by his owncking sanity, Toz looked toward the bubbling liquid that was his body.


    Nothing more seemed to be happening. And if his guess was right, now would be the time for Toz to dive into the liquid and use his consciousness and clone to act as the cast for the molten sludge that would be his body once again.

 Chapter 455 Baptism Of Fire (2)

    ?The bubbling liquid at the bottom of the cocoon was what came after the heat rose until his body melted. So, it was undoubtedly hot. If Toz''s guess was wrong, and he wasn''t supposed to dive into the liquid with his consciousness and reform his body, it was very likely that he would perish. His clone would disintegrate fully, and his consciousness would disperse. There wouldn''t be any hope of evering back to life and ying with the cats again.


    However, when Toz made a decision inspired by his rtive insanity, he knew better than to think too deeply about it. It would be better for his mental well-being if he stopped questioning each and every one of his decisions.


    Besides, diving into the bubbling liquid with his clone would only change when he died. Toz didn''t think he wouldst long enough in the outside world to find a vessel he could haunt. And if he was going to die anyways, it would be better to go through with the option most likely to seed in saving his life.


    Toz mentally held his breath by instinct and reflex. And he controlled his clone to dive headfirst into the bubbling liquid. He didn''t even create a ssh as his clone broke through the surface and entered the bubbling liquid.


    As soon as he entered the liquid, Toz lost control of the clone as it was dragged by some invisible force to the center of the liquid. Toz haphazardly wondered what had happened with his mana pool when he started drifting toward the middle of the liquid. But he quickly got his answer when he sensed his mana pool resting at the absolute bottom of the cocoon.


    Toz wondered what his mana pool was doing there before he hurriedly started to concentrate on his clone and the liquid around it. If anything killed Toz, it would be his own careless and exhausted mind.


    Shortly after his clone stopped moving, the bubbling liquid started swirling and bubbling with even more intensity. The liquid also started moving toward the clone andyering itself on top of it.


    That confirmed Toz''s guess. His clone was going to act as a mold or a design for the liquid to copy as it reformed Toz''s body. That made Toz realize that he wouldn''t have survived or even gotten this opportunity if he hadn''t managed to create the clone during his time in prison.


    More things than Toz thought had aligned and created this opportunity for him. Now, it only remained to be seen if he would survive this Baptism of Fire as well as what woulde afterward.


    As more and more liquid gathered around the clone, Toz gradually began losing consciousness again. But he couldn''t tell if he had to resist the allure of sleep in order to seed.


    But eventually, the pull on his consciousness became so strong that he couldn''t resist it anymore and fainted. And when he did, Toz''s miniature clone curled up in a fetal position and closed its eyes, which was a sign that Toz''s consciousness had left the clone.


    As more and more liquid beganyering itself around the clone, Toz''s consciousness seeped into the liquid, and it gradually began to lose its liquid state while also beginning to take shape.


    Eventually, when barely anything of Toz''s molten body was left, and only liquid fire mana remained, Toz''s mana pool began moving. It spun and sucked in the liquid fire mana before floating through the air to where Toz''s curled-up body hovered.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz''s mana pool didn''t stop moving even after it made contact with Toz''s body. It slipped through Toz''s body as if it were an illusion and entered it.


    Aside from Toz''s fully reformed body, the fire cocoon was empty. And since Toz''s mana pool and fire mana had both calmed down and looked like they had joined Toz in sleeping, nothing was keeping the cocoon going anymore. The mana storm was still sending mana into the cocoon, but there was nothing maintaining the cocoon''s structure. And due to the influx of uncontroble mana from the mana storm, the sphere of seemingly crystalized fire exploded outwards in a shower of sparks and flickers of me.


    After the cocoon exploded, Toz''s body was exposed to the outside world and its coldness. The Fortress of Death was still hot as a furnace due to the storm of fire mana and the remaining heat of Toz''s inferno. But it was like an autumn breezepared to thefortable campfire that Toz had bathed in inside the cocoon.


    Toz''s eyes shed open, and he instinctively used fire magic to warm himself as he fell to the ground, naked as the day he was born.


    Toz didn''t know if it was because his body had undergone the metamorphosis or because he had gotten some shut-eye, but his mind felt clearer than before, and he stood up from the crouch he subconsciouslynded in.


    Due to the breeze sweeping unhindered through his entire body, Toz hurried over to where he put his spatial rings. Thankfully, due to the Fountain of Death absorbing the demonic energy from the death storm, his spatial rings were mostly intact.


    When he picked them up, Toz couldn''t help but check the grimoires and confirm their safety even before he found another set of clothes to put on. He quickly grabbed the lightning grimoire he got from Hassandra and flipped through it to ensure its contents were untouched.


    He also checked through his other rings and grimoires to see if they were okay, which they were. Otherwise, Nil would have gotten severely depressed.


    The breeze stirred up by the two storms rustled Toz''s hair, and he hurried to find a pair of clothes. Thankfully, the death storm was locked on the Fountain, and the fire storm was having trouble concentrating due to the remnants of the cocoon''s explosion.


    None of them seemed like they would start creating trouble for Toz at the moment.


    "Are you about done yet? Or do you want to borrow a pair of pants?"


    But just because the storms looked like they were leaving him alone didn''t mean that Toz was in the safe just yet.

 Chapter 456 Anaster (1)

    ?Toz turned around fast like lightning to see who had managed to sneak up on him without him noticing.


    Only a dozen meters away, on the other side of the eye of the storm, a demon stood and leaned against empty air with crossed arms like it was a wall there. The pale red-skinned demon had a vest and a pair of loose-fitting pants on him. And two small horns poked out of the top of his forehead, right at where his grey hair started growing.


    Since the vest only covered the sides of the demon''s torso, Toz saw how well-defined his muscles were. And when the demon moved, Toz also saw how in control of his body the demon was.


    Toz had undoubtedly encountered a formidable foe. Toz didn''t think it was a fluke that he didn''t sense the demon before he spoke. It was obvious that the demon had impable control over both his body and demonic energy. Suppressing his presence until Toz, who had just gone through everything he had gone through, probably wasn''t even a challenge.


    "Well?"


    Fortunately, the demon had some manners and seemed like it would wait for Toz to get dressed first.


    "Right. One sec."


    Toz rummaged through his spatial rings quickly in order to find some clothes. However, he looked up with a slightly embarrassed expression after several moments.


    "Does your offer still stand?"


    "About the pants? Yeah sure. I have more pairs than I know what to do with."


    Toz had never bothered much about his clothes. And he hadn''t expected that thebat suit he got from Dyra would break that quickly, so he hadn''t put any spare clothes inside his spatial rings aside from the overcoat he got from Joan. The white coat might be nice and have good pockets, but it wouldn''t be able to endure the battle Toz would fight. And it also didn''t cover the most important parts.


    Thankfully, the demon seemed to be quite the gentleman and dly gave Toz a pair of pants to use.


    "Thanks."


    Toz caught the pants that the demon threw over and put them on. It felt just the tiniest bit weird to be wearing the same kind of pants as his foe, but they were quitefortable and easily allowed him to move as he wanted, so Toz didn''t mind.


    "I''m Anaster, the Champion of Strength. You?"


    "Toz, the captain of the Paw Print Pirates."


    "Sorry. I have never heard of you before. Are you perhaps not famous?"


    "Well, I haven''t heard of you before either, so I guess it''s even."


    Anaster rubbed the back of his head a little with a slightly apologetic face.


    "I didn''t mean to be rude. It''s just that you''re strong enough to make my blood boil. Literally and figuratively. I thought I would at least know your name."


    While he spoke, Anaster held up his hands to show the burn marks that climbed up his forearms.


    Toz thought for a few moments while looking at the burn marks before answering.


    "Well, I''m also the Pirate King of Pirate Haven, if that helps?"


    "No way! You''re that guy?"


    Toz was confused.


    "You know me from that?"


    "Of course! You fucked our ns!"


    "I did?"


    However, a light went off in Toz''s mind, and he quickly realized what Anaster meant.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I knew it!"


    "You did?"


    "Well, I was pretty sure before this as well, but your words helped me confirm it."


    "So you''re telling me that what happened with Pirate Haven wasn''t intentional?"


    "Not at all. I just wanted to be the Pirate King while I was in the area."


    Anaster sighed and held his forehead as he crouched to the ground.


    "What the fuck. No wonder those Tribe of Blood bastards were so angry."


    It seemed like Toz had stumbled upon a treasure trove of information as Anaster''s words revealed another important piece of information that helped him clue things together. However, he couldn''t quite understand everything just yet, so he prodded Anaster for more information.


    "Tribe of Blood? I thought I was fighting the Tribe of Death."


    "Right, that was supposed to be a secret! I keep telling those fogeys not to ask this stuff from me."


    Anaster rubbed his head with both hands in frustration.


    "Well, the cat''s out of the bag anyway, so I might as well tell you what you want to know."


    "Great, then-"


    "If you beat me first, of course."


    Anaster stood up and began stretching his neck and cracking his knuckles. The atmosphere around him immediately went from friendly to violent, bloodthirsty warrior. Toz was a little astonished by how quickly Anaster changed tunes. But he wasn''t drawn into the conversation deeply enough to drop his guard, and he took out his sword as soon as Anaster changed.


    Toz moved to put himself between Anaster and the Fountain of Death before Anaster could approach him or it. Although it looked like Anaster was only interested in Toz, it could be a ploy to make him drop his guard before going after the Fountain and using it to attack Toz with innumerable unkible zombies.


    Anaster looked at Toz with a surprised face.


    "You want the Fountain?"


    "No."


    Although Toz denied it, it was more than obvious he, in fact, did want it. Anaster chuckled lightly, slightly letting go of his burning fighting spirit.


    "You know what? If you make this a fun fight, I''ll help you take it away. Deal?"


    "Even if I don''t beat you?"


    "Yeah."


    "Sounds too good to be true. But sure. Deal."


    Toz gripped his sword and enveloped it in zing mes. He also roused the mana in his body and was ready to fight at a moment''s notice. It seemed like the Baptism of Fire had helped him recover at least some stamina, which would undoubtedly be a great help if he was going to fight against someone who made his neck hair stand.


    Since he had just undergone the Baptism of Fire and remade his body, Toz wanted to test out the power of his fire magic. But his foe probably wouldn''t let him do something so lighthearted.


    Anaster sounded like he was generally friendly. But his muscles and well-trained fists spoke volumes of how powerful he was. And the surging fighting intent showed how eager he was to duke it out with Toz.


    Anaster raised his fists and faced off against Toz.

 Chapter 457 Anaster (2)

    ?The half-naked Toz and Anaster, who was only a vest from being in the same state, stood only a few meters away from each other. The two stood like statues in a painting as they waited for an opening. With each second that passed, the situation grew more tense.


    However, both of them had obligations and things to do after the fight was done. And Toz also wanted to get ahold of the information that Anaster promised him.


    So, before long, they eventually just decided to attack. While it would be safer and might give them a lead if they waited for the other to show an opening, neither of the two was the type to rely on that kind of thing when they fought.


    Anaster was a true-blue battle junkie, and Toz used his reflexes and agility to respond to his opponent''s movements duringbat unless they were so weak that he could overwhelm them with his strength and magic. But Anaster was too strong for Toz to be able to overpower him.


    And when Anaster began moving, Toz realized he would have trouble just defending himself, much less winning against him. Anaster didn''t have any weapons or use magic. He relied on his body and its physical prowess, reinforced by his demonic energy, to get close to Toz and stick to him like a leech.


    Toz had been confident in his body and its strength and agility, even more so after he noticed how the Baptism of Fire had refined his body further. However, Anaster showed him what it really meant to be strong as his fists unleashed torrents of wind that blew past Toz''s head, which he only narrowly managed to move out of the way.


    The bursts of wind unleashed by Anaster''s fists as they flew through the air pierced into the Fortress'' ruins on the other side and ruined whatever was left behind after Toz''s inferno.


    Toz was only able to narrowly dodge Anaster''s fists, and he shouldn''t waste any effort thinking about other things. But he couldn''t help but notice how Anaster held back whenever he punched in a certain direction. And when he looked in that direction with his mana vision, Toz saw the spatial fluctuations.


    It seemed like Anaster had earned his burn scars from defending whatever caused those spatial fluctuations from Toz''s mes. However, Toz couldn''t figure out why. The final battle had already started, and reinforcements might not be of any help even if they came through what was most likely a portal.


    Toz''s thoughts were interrupted by a kick toward his thigh. Since his sword was in his hand on the same side, he flipped it around and held it in a reverse grip so that he could stab it into Anaster''s leg. However, Anaster''s leg, which had been moving forward like a log in a rushing river, stopped before it could reach Toz, which made Toz miss and left him open to an iing fist.


    Anaster''s fist pierced through the air, straight toward Toz''s arm that hung in the air after his sword missed.  Anaster''s fist would probably be more than enough to break the bone in Toz''s arm. But only if it hit.


    Toz let go of his sword. And before Anaster could pull back, Toz reached for Anaster''s arm with both hands. Anaster realized what Toz had nned and hurried to resume his leg and kick Toz to make him let go of his arm.


    But after Toz let go of his sword, Anaster put it out of his immediate concern and focused his attention on Toz''s hands since they were the primary threat. Unfortunately, that proved to be a costly mistake.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Although Toz might look like a fire attribute swordsman since he fought with a burning sword, he was, inf act, a mage who used a sword when he fought. And he had five other attributes in addition to his fire element. Sure, his fire mana was the only one at the seventh level and would be the only one that was useful against Anaster.


    But that didn''t mean Toz couldn''t use his other elements to create favorable circumstances for him. Toz could, for example, use metal magic to freely manipte his sword however he wished.


    So, when Anaster kicked, Toz''s sword didn''t lie on the ground as he thought. It was hovering in the air, blocked from his sight by Toz''s arms.


    And since he didn''t see it, Anaster naturally kicked it with as much force as he could muster from that short distance. He canceled his movements as soon as he felt an obstruction earlier than he should have. But that was enough to destabilize his rhythm temporarily.


    And that destabilization was enough for Toz to grasp Anaster''s arm with a vice-like grip as he tugged on Anaster''s arm and brought it downward at the same time as he brought his knee upward.


    Anaster stopped resisting. Now that Toz already had such a firm hold of his arm and was using all of his strength, Anaster wasn''t sure he would be able to avoid taking damage. However, he could make sure that he wasn''t the only one who took damage.


    Instead of futilely trying to get out of Toz''s grasp, Anaster swung his other arm toward Toz''s head. Toz would either go through with breaking Anaster''s arm and receive a full-powered punch to his head. Or he would let go of Anaster''s arm and dodge his punch. Those were the two oues Anaster envisioned.


    However, contrary to Anaster''s expectations, there was another third option that Toz decided to use.


    "Achoo!"


    Toz, who had seemed as healthy as a bull, sneezed from seemingly out of nowhere. And that wasn''t the only thing. Instead of saliva or snot, Toz spewed mes straight into Anaster''s face.


    With the experience of Toz''s mes ravaging the Fortress of Death still fresh in his memories, Anaster reflexively moved his free hand to shield his face and eyes. The mes weren''t powerful enough to hurt Anaster. But Toz''s knee strike certainly was.

 Chapter 458 Anaster (3)

    ?Since Anaster wouldn''t be able to punch Toz before he could strike Anaster''s arm, Anaster changed tactics and tried to minimize the damage to his arm.


    But there was only so much he could do before Toz''s knee connected with his forearm. And with a snapping sound, Toz had sessfully broken Anaster''s arm. After seeding, Toz hurried to back away and dodged Anaster''s question mark kick. However, since he leaned back to avoid the horizontal strike toward his head, Anaster instead used his other leg to push forward and kick Toz in the chest.


    Although Anaster hadn''t had much distance to build up speed in his kick, he still managed to strike Toz hard enough to push him several strides backward. And before Toz could regain his bnce, Anaster chased after him, ready to unleash a flurry of kicks and punches. Now that he had lost the use of an arm, he had to press the attack and take advantage of his strengths to force Toz''s defeat.


    Even with only one arm, Anaster didn''t have any trouble dominating Toz. Toz had willingly let go of his sword, and Anaster was doing his best to punish that by intercepting the sword every time Toz tried to recall it.


    Without his sword, Toz only had his magic and physical body to rely on as he fought. But he wasn''t as used to fighting with his bare hands as he was with his sword, and Anaster, despitecking the use of an arm, quickly overwhelmed him with nothing more than technique.


    Anaster''s intricate footwork,bined with the low and high kicks he flung out in between his punches, made sure that Toz never regained enough bnce to take a proper stance and defend himself. Fortunately, it seemed like the dangling arm limited how much force Anaster could use, and even while taking the blows, Toz managed to remain standing.


    Toz''s arms, shoulders, legs, and torso all hurt from the blows, but he endured. Compared to the pain of his fire ravaging the insides of his body and his mana pool getting expanded forcibly, a few bruises were nothing. The one thing that made Toz unsure of whether he would be able to survive was if he had enough stamina tost long enough to find an opportunity to turn the tide.


    Toz didn''t even think about trying to oust the seemingly untiring fighting machine that was Anaster. After unleashing a tornado of kicks and punches, Anaster wasn''t even breathing any deeper than before. He might not be using his full strength in every strike, but he was certainly exerting himself by making sure that Toz didn''t get to restore his bnce. However, Anaster showed no signs of exhaustion, while Toz was already feeling tired.


    Toz had to find a way to flip the situation before he grew too tired to fight back. As long as he could get an opportunity to cast some magic, he could probably do that. However, even a moment''s distraction was more than enough for Anaster tond one or two blows that would disrupt his casting.


    However, as Toz gradually got a little more used to how Anaster moved, he began seeing glimpses of openings. It wouldn''t be enough to change the tides of the battle, but it might be enough for Toz to cast magic and create an evenrger opening.


    And before he became too tired, Toz cast a tiny me that was just enough to make Anaster''s eyes flicker. Toz used that tiny gap to cast a mini Fireball. He didn''t have enough time to increase its power to the point where it would injure Anaster no matter what. But Anaster still had to be careful. He could choose to tank the Fireball and suffer some damage and keep Toz in check or spare a move to block the Fireball before trying to continue pressuring Toz.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    With one arm broken and mostly useless already, Anaster wasn''t willing to suffer any more damage, and he quickly deflected the Fireball by waving a hand coated in demonic energy.


    However, that gave Toz enough of an opening to put some distance between them and finally stand on the ground with steady feet. Anaster had kept him on his heels all this time, so Toz hadn''t even been able to properly defend himself or redirect the force of Anaster''s punches.


    And, with the distance between them, Toz would finally have enough time to do more with his magic than simply reinforce his body. It was a little unfortunate that his fire mana was the only one at the seventh level and, thus, the only magic that would be effective in a fight with Anaster. But at the same time, after undergoing the Baptism of Fire, Toz noticed a considerable increase in the efficiency and ease of use when he used fire magic.


    He barely had to do anything when he cast his magic. And the effects of reinforcing his body with fire mana were also greater than before. Well, it could also be because he broke through to another division. But Toz wanted to believe that it was because of the suffering he endured.


    After discovering how smoothly he could use his magic, Toz hurried to cast before Anaster closed the distance again.


    He used the magic he was mostfortable with and cast a Fireball, this time slightly more powerful than the small one he used to distance himself from Anaster.


    Anaster noticed that the Fireball was more powerful thanst time, but that didn''t affect what he chose to do, and he deflected it, just like the previous one. But he was forced to quickly raise his hand again and deflect another Fireball that came right after.


    The third Fireball that Toz cast during their fight was more geared toward size and blocked most of Anaster''s view. And thanks to the disturbance in the mana it left behind in its path, it also prevented Anaster from properly sensing Toz''s approach.


    Anaster only saw Toz''s zing fist when it pierced through the Fireball.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 459 Anaster (4)

    ?Toz''s fist unleashed a torrent of mes toward Anaster. Both from the Fireball and the fire that Toz added to his fist.


    Anaster hurriedly bent back so that his torso was parallel with the ground before twisting it and stepping to the side to dodge Toz''s follow-up.


    Due to Anaster''s quick reactions, Toz missed his wave of mes, and it just struck the ground and rushed forward without even touching Anaster. However, it had given Toz another opportunity to attack since Anaster was in the middle of restoring his bnce after twisting his body like a snake.


    Toz unleashed another Fireball. He concentrated on the properties of speed and vtility as he sent the Fireball toward where Anaaster stood. Even if it didn''t hit him, the shockwave would reach him. The shockwave alone wouldn''t be able to do much to Anaster''s sturdy body, but it would let Toz continue pressing the attack.


    So when Anaster dodged the Fireball and got affected by the explosion''s shockwave, which was a lot stronger than the other Fireballs'' shockwaves, Toz closed the gap between them. Considering how much better Anaster was at close-quartersbat, Toz was setting himself up for a loss by closing the distance.


    But that would only happen if Anaster was allowed free ess to Toz''s body. Anaster''s punches and kicks would only be effective if they hit Toz''s body without anything blocking them.


    That was why Toz coated his body in fire before he bridged the gap between them. With the mes interfering with Anaster''s view of his body, it would be harder for Anaster tond impable strikes on Toz.


    Besides, the mes would burn Anaster if he touched them for too long, and the heat they emitted would make it difficult for Anaster in the long run. Of course, Toz was tired already and wasn''t sure that he would be able tost long enough to defeat Anaster.


    But since his mana pool had been refilled during his breakthrough to the seventh level, Toz decided to make use of the advantage he had in that department and continuously attacked Anaster with mes. The bodysuit of mes was only the first part.


    "I hope you''re not burning those pants. I might have given them to you, but it would be rude if you got rid of them as soon as you get them, man."


    Before Toz could fully close the distance between himself and Anaster, Anaster spoke up.


    "Don''t worry. The pants arepletely fine. And I hope you''re not trying to stall because you don''t want to fight me."


    Toz smirked as he briefly revealed the untouched pants before covering them in mes again as he continued toward Anaster.


    Anaster only chuckled before he also started toward Toz.


    With another surge of mana, Toz increased the power of his mes and turned himself into a walking bonfire. Since Toz was pretty sure that his mana reserve was the only advantage he had over Anaster, especially since he was still continuing to block his sword retrieval after all this time, Toz decided to try and overwhelm Anaster with a cascade of mes.


    Toz created two jetstreams of fire that spewed out of his hands and toward Anaster.


    Anaster quickly dodged them while taking cautious steps around Toz. Since Toz was covered in a thickyer of mes, Anaster wasn''t sure that he wanted to approach him so rashly, and he decided to see if this was ast-ditch effort of Toz''s to try and end the battle quickly. Or if Toz had something in mind when he started emptying out his mana pool like it was a sinking boat.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    However, after Anaster dodged the two streams of concentrated fire, he had to quickly move away again since the two streams of fire turned around and followed his movements.


    Anaster confirmed that not approaching Toz right now had been the right moment since if Toz had used the snakes of fire to pincer him, Anaster would almost have been forced to take at least one blow.


    However, without Toz himself chasing after Anaster alongside the snakes, they weren''t any more than hindrances that forced Anaster to stay on his toes. But as time passed, Toz made more and more snakes of fire that dove after Anaster and forced him to do acrobatic stunts that seemed to defy logic.


    Anaster threaded his body through melon-sized gaps between the of snakes and somehow managed to reposition himself without losing bnce before continuing to jump around and escape Toz''s grasp.


    Toz was burning through his mana, but since he wasn''t evennding any blows on Anaster, it was practically for nothing. Sure, getting him to move like that was probably more exhausting than simply engaging in a dogfight with him. But the drops of sweat on his forehead were from the heat, not the exertion.


    Toz realized that he had underestimated Anaster. He probably wouldn''t be able to defeat the demon who had such a strong body without taking drastic measures. Toz had been worried that he wouldn''t get any answers if he killed Anaster by ident. But based on how Anaster moved, his reflexes, and the general physical prowess of his body, Toz decided to stop ying it safe.


    Besides, the burn scars had probablye from when he managed to awaken the true nature of fire. Without doing that again, Toz didn''t have to worry about killing Anaster.


    "You should be able to survive this, right?!"


    Anaster looked like he was concentrating entirely on evading Toz''s snakes of fire. But it was obviously just a ploy to make Toz underestimate him even more as he quite leisurely responded.


    "Survive what? Are you bringing out a crocodile this time? If I may rmend-"


    Anaster swallowed the rest of his words as he sensed the blossoming powering from Toz. It seemed like Toz had turned himself into a volcano about to erupt. Anaster briefly wondered how much mana Toz had if he could do something like that after torching the Fortress of Death. However, before he could wonder if it was rted to the cocoon of fire, Anaster, and Toz both sensed something.


    They looked in the same direction. Up.


    It seemed like Toz''s fire magic had provoked the fire mana storm and made it lock onto him again.


    "Fucking shit."


    "Haha! That''s incredible!"

 Chapter 460 Stormbringer (1)

    ?"Can you stopughing?"


    Toz asked Anaster as he looked into the sky after dispersing the mes and his magic. Unfortunately, it was already toote. The mana storm had once again concentrated around Toz.


    "Sorry. Pfft-"


    At Toz''s request, Anaster did stopughing. But he only managed to keep a straight face for a second before he coughed out a suppressedughter.


    Toz clicked his tongue.


    "I don''t even get what''s so funny."


    "I''m sure you don''t. Haha!"


    Toz red at Anaster for a moment before he returned his gaze to the tornado of orange mana. He could feel its power building around him and begin tearing at him. Unlike when the mana storm appeared as a result of the mana he tried to absorb, the mana storm waspletely wild now. It didn''t want to pour its mana into Toz. It just resonated with the power of fire that Toz emitted and used it to anchor itself to the ground.


    However, after the mana stormtched on to him, Toz felt it begin tearing at him, his mana, and his items. Toz felt that he might be able to protect himself, at least for a little while, if he used magic. But he probably wouldn''t be able to keep his items, more specifically, the grimoires, intact under the mana storm''s assault.


    And since Toz could sense it, Anaster could as well. Anaster looked at Toz, finally withoutughing, and spoke.


    "It looks like we''ll have to postpone our fight."


    "What? Not funny anymore?"


    "It is. But I want to fight and win against you fair and square. If you''re targeted by the mana storm, I can just sit back and wait before tapping you with a finger to defeat you. That''s no fun."


    "Urgh, fine!"


    Anaster could sense that Toz was upset about missing out on the information rather than not being able to continue to fight with him, but he didn''t mind. Anaster knew that his desire for battle was usually one-sided.


    "You know what? If you promise me you''ll fight me again sometime, I''ll help you move the Fountain of Death."


    "What about the information?"


    "You didn''t defeat me, did you?"


    "Tch."


    "Well?"


    "Yeah, yeah. If we meet in the future, let''s fight again so that I can show you something really funny."


    Anaster chuckled and walked toward the Fountain of Death before pulling out a grey nket that looked like it was woven from fog. The nket emanated an ominous death attribute aura, but when he used his mana vision, Toz saw a few spatial fluctuations as well.


    Anaster unfurled the nket and spread it over the Fountain of Death that had finished absorbing the death storm sometime during their fight. The nketpletely covered the Fountain. And, with a flick of his wrist, Anaster swept the Fountain off the ground like a magic trick. With another flick, the nket shrunk to the size of an ordinary pouch.


    "That''s pretty cool."


    "I know, right."


    With a smile, Anaster chuckled and threw over the pouch with the Fountain of Death to Toz. He didn''t want to get closer to the rapidly strengthening mana storm''s center. It seemed like the mana storm had gotten revitalized bytching onto Toz, and Anaster didn''t want to get roped in as well, so he kept his distance.


    "Thanks. Then, I''ll see you around, I guess."


    With those words, Toz began moving. The mana storm was stilltched on to him, but if he exerted enough effort, Toz hoped he would be able to run away from it before using some void magic to shield himself from it. And while he was at it, Toz figured that he might as well make use of the mana storm and bring it to the battlefield and let it wreak havoc on the Tribe of Death''s troops.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Anaster saw where Toz was headed and realized what he was going to do, but he didn''t say anything about it.


    "Right. Before you go."


    "Yeah?"


    "That over there is a portal."


    "So?"


    "For obvious reasons, space was supposed to be locked around this ne."


    "But it''s not."


    "If you figure out who was responsible for that on your side, you''ll get a little closer to the answers you wanted."


    "Let me guess. Redire Kingdom?"


    Since Lucy had already identified the spies within the Redire Kingdom''s troops, Toz quickly realized what Anaster hinted toward with his words.


    "Oh. If you already know that much, then there''s not much more information to give."


    "Really? You can''t tell me what they''re nning? Or why they''re nning it when it looks like the Tribe of Death will win? Or wouldn''t they have won if they still had this thing?"


    "Toz. Do I look like I belong to the Tribe of Death?"


    "No."


    "So¡­?"


    "You don''t have to be working only with the Tribe of Death. Got it."


    With ast nce toward the sky and the rapidly swiveling tornado, Toz spoke again.


    "I need to go now. But thanks for the information. See you around. Again."


    "Seeya, Stormbringer."


    Toz threw a nce backward as he started running.


    "Don''t go around giving me weird nicknames."


    Anaster only chuckled and waved before he returned to the portal.


    "I guess it''s time to leave. I hope he survives."


    With those words, Anaster stepped through the spatial tunnel, which closed shortly afterward.


    Meanwhile, Toz started running while reinforcing his body with lightning mana. He quickly realized that he could outrun the tornado if he went all out. So, after making sure that he was just outside its range, Toz maintained a steady pace as he ran toward the battlefield off in the distance.


    The battle was still quite far away, so Toz couldn''t see what was going on in detail, but he figured that the three gigantic humanoid figures that looked like they were fighting probably weren''t signs of good fortune.


    He also hadn''t gotten a word from the cats, yet, which was certainly more of a priority than the battle. Toz decided to go look for them after dumping the firestorm in the middle of the battle.

 Chapter 461 Stormbringer (2)

    ?Toz ran across the ground for only a bit before sensing something that made him smile. He didn''t have to go far before he found a trace of the cats. Unfortunately, they were too far down for him to be able to do anything to reach them at the moment.


    At least, Toz couldn''t break through the ground on his own. But now that the tunnel system was close enough that the interference it had on their bond didn''t work, Toz could coordinate with the cats to break through the ground. But they had to be fast since the storm was quickly closing the distance to Toz.


    So, without any intentions of dying, Toz immediately began levying attacks of fire, lightning, metal, space, and void toward the ground. Darkness wasn''t very efficient at destroying the ground, especially not whenpared to the effects of Dissolution. Combined with the efforts of the cats, Toz quickly pierced through the ground and reached hispanions.


    However, the cats weren''t alone. They were apanied by a few humans and a heap of corpses. And Toz recognized some of them. Nil, Mindle, Scrael, and Asilean had stationed themselves around four people who looked like they were on the verge of apanying the fifth person in the infiltration mission.


    Hal, Seich, Mifter, and Wyrie were haphazardly piled atop each other on the ground in the middle of the tunnel. And Braxton had joined the pile of red-robed corpses encircling the cats and the infiltration squad.


    "Heya!"


    Toznded on the ground, a little confused about the situation. But mostly happy about regrouping with the cats again. They hadn''t been apart for too long, But Toz had nearly died on several asions, and he couldn''t have missed the cats more. Besides, the mana storm didn''t really have time to focus on what had happened since he had to continue moving.


    "''Toz!''"


    "Did you find any traces of Lucy?"


    While he spoke, Toz began moving toward Hal and the others, and he started picking them up and stacking them on his shoulder like sacks of potatoes.


    "Nope. This ce''splete maze. But we confirmed that Braxton was a traitor and working together with the red-robed guys. We found him leading those guys into an ambush."


    Nil pointed to the pile of people on Toz''s shoulder while he spoke.


    "And since saving them would surely give us contribution points, we did just that! Good job, right?"


    "Yeah, you did great, Mindle. By the way, I have a storm chasing me, so I have to move quickly. Do you guys wannae with me to the battle or continue looking for Lucy?"


    "I wanna see the storm!"


    Mindle shouted excitedly before leaping up to Toz''s free shoulder with an eager jump.


    The other three cats looked at each other quickly before answering.


    "We''ll look for Lucy."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "That kid''s causing too much trouble. We''ll go bring him back real quick."


    "I''ll go with them in case we need to teleport out of here."


    Nil, Scrael, and Asilean decided to stay in the tunnels and look for Lucy.


    "Does your space magic work through these tunnels?"


    "Yeah, as long as they''re weakened with a little void magic first."


    Asilean grinned as he answered Toz''s question before he and the others set off through the tunnels. Toz watched them leave for a second before jumping up through the hole in the ground he and the cats made. He jumped from one side of the wall to the other as he propelled himself and the four people stacked on his shoulder with him.


    Mindle held on tightly to his shoulder, excited to see the fire mana storm. And based on the wide eyes she had when they returned to the surface, she wasn''t disappointed.


    "Toz, can I keep it?"


    Toz chuckled.


    "Yeah, sure."


    He didn''t think Mindle meant what she said and that she was just enamored by the sight of the swirling mass of fire mana. However, when he felt her jump off his shoulder and dive into the storm, he realized that she was serious.


    Toz looked back, slightly worried. But he quickly noticed that there was nothing to worry about when it came to Mindle''s well-being. Unlike Toz, who was a human with the fire attribute, Mindle was a fire spirit. She was a being of pure fire. While the mana storm would tear apart or pummel Toz, it epted Mindle as its own. Mindle was like a fish in water as she swam through the tornado of fire mana.


    Toz almost grew a little envious as he saw how easily Mindle handled the firestorm that almost shattered his mana pool and killed him. But a good thing for Mindle was a good thing for him, so he shook off his jealousy as he continued toward the battlefield.


    Now that he had picked up the infiltration squad, he couldn''t run quite as quickly as before without risking injury to them. They would have been able to handle his speed if they werepletely healthy. But all of them looked worn and injured, so Toz didn''t want to take any chances. He had to bring them back alive so that they could give a statement and support him in getting stupid amounts of contribution points.


    It would be a little risky bringing the four of them through the battlefield. But if he could survive Anaster, Toz felt as if he would be able to handle most other things as well. Toz hadn''t had time to think about it when they fought, but he realized something afterward. When his mind had time to rx as he just ran away from the storm, Toz remembered that he had fought a couple of other high level fighters and mages, even a couple of ninth level ones.


    Anaster was undoubtedly a demon at the ninth level. But he far surpassed the strength that Red Hook and Dristel had when Toz fought them. He was nearing the threshold to the transcendent level. He was still far from crossing it, but he was still not at a level of strength that wasmon, especially not in the Mortal Realm. So, if Toz managed to fight him, he should be able to pass through the battle ahead rtively easily.

 Chapter 462 Stormbringer (3)

    ?As Toz got closer to the battle, he realized that he had been ridiculously wrong. He sensed the powerful auras of two or three individuals on the same level as, or even stronger, than Anaster. So, before he could even get into the heat of battle, Toz decided that he had to dump the mana storm at the outskirts of the battlefield. He was a little worried about what would happen with Mindle, but he couldn''t convince her to leave the tornado, so there wasn''t much he could do except make sure that she would be alright.


    Eventually, when Toz was in range and began being noticed by the backline of the Tribe of Death, he decided it was time to sever the connection with the storm. Since they were already facing the mana storm, the Tribe of Death quickly noticed the individual running in front of it and seemingly leading it straight to them.


    However, whenpared to the mana storm, Toz''s existence was a trifling matter, at least until he came close enough to the Tribe of Death''s troops that he could touch them. When Toz broke through their ranks, carrying four people on his shoulder and unleashing magic all around him, the Tribe of Death got a little more concerned about him. But only temporarily. The approaching mana storm quickly took priority as it began tearing away at them.


    Unfortunately, only death awaited them in the opposite direction of the mana storm.


    The battle between the gigantified death knight and the Flesh Golem and Kahglia was fierce enough to st the ones who got too close to smithereens. So, the few remaining troops of the Tribe of Death, those who had luckily survived the Alliance''s maneuver and the Death Knight absorbing and stealing the demonic energy of his subordinates, were ground to dust inside the tornado. A few lucky ones managed to escape to the sides before the storm dragged them into the vortex.


    After sting his way through the few lines of Tribe of Death troops, Toz came in front of the battle between the three gigantic humanoid figures he had seen from afar. All three of them seemed to be at least as strong as Anaster. And when they fought together and against each other, they unleashed shockwaves that tore through the ground and made the air tremble. No one could get close and interfere in the battle, with one exception.


    Toz looked at the battle and decided to push through it while lending the human giantess some help. It didn''t look like she would lose, but it also didn''t look like she had an easy time fighting against the giant great sword-wielding Death Knight and the monstrous Flesh Golem with seemingly unfair regenerative powers.


    Since she was clearly fighting on the side of the Alliance of Kingdoms, helping her would mean that he was contributing to the Obsidian Empire''s victory over the Tribe of Death in the proxy war. And since the mana storm was no longer chasing him, Toz had enough time and leeway to cast a Fireball powerful enough to affect the Flesh Golem and the Death Knight.


    The battle between the three giants was so fierce that the ground shattered beneath them. But as Toz''s Fireball continued gathering power, the three eventually noticed the iing threat and reacted. Since, unlike the mana storm, the Fireball would actually hurt.


    However, Toz stood on the Tribe of Death''s side. So, Kahglia thought it was another one of the Tribe of Death''sbatants joining the fight. And the Death Knight and Flesh Golem thought that it was the lich who had pulled out a magic item or something to help them finish the fight faster.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    That was why Toz''s Fireball flew through the air and toward the fight, with Kahglia being the only one actively trying to avoid it.


    When it finally noticed that it was a human casting the Fireball, the lich hurried to intervene and kill Toz. But the mana storm had started interfering with any and all magic, but especially magic that wasn''t of the fire attribute. So, the lich''s efforts were easily ignored with the help of Toz''s void magic.


    The Fireball went unhindered and flew through the air at an easily dodgeable speed. But Toz noticed the Death Knight''s and Flesh Golem''s attitudes, so he took the liberty of concentrating on firepower instead of speed.


    The Fireball''sck of speed let Kahglia catch a glimpse of its trajectory, as well as of Toz on the other side of the battlefield, and she subconsciously let out a grin. She didn''t know who Toz was or what was going on, but she could tell that her opponents had been yed. Refusing to let the opportunity slip past her, Kahglia redoubled her efforts and dove toward the Knight and the Golem.


    The two, slightly unprepared for her sudden burst forward, got caught off guard. And, due to theircking cooperation, suffered the fate of being smashed together when Kahglia grabbed their arms and tugged them together so that their shoulders collided.


    The Death Knight and Flesh Golem hurried to separate before Kahglia could unleash a flurry of fists that she had made the two wary about. However, unlike what they expected, Kahliga hurriedly stepped back and put distance between herself and the servants of Death.


    That was when the two remembered the Fireball and that they were right in its path. Their memory was quickly reinforced by the Fireball itself as it collided with the Flesh Golem. mes burst outward in an explosion of searing heat. The fire even spread to the Death Knight, who tried to get rid of it by covering itself in a mistyyer of dark fog that seeped out of its ck armor.


    After some time, the Death Knight finally managed to shed the mes burning its armor by expanding incredible amounts of ck fog. However, the Flesh Golem wasn''t as sessful or capable. It didn''t have any armor or mist that could help defend against the mes and was forced to endure with nothing but its body.


    With the power Toz packed into the Fireball, the Flesh Golem was in for an excruciating round of suffering. Well, it would have been if it could feel pain. It was just panicking since it could feel the mes eat away at its flesh and demonic energy.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 463 Clash Of Giants And Toz (1)

    ?The fire continued ravaging the Flesh Golem for a little while, but it eventually died out after making the Golem use incredible amounts of demonic energy to restore its flesh. Toz wanted to continue with the fight by taking advantage of when the Flesh Golem had been upied with the mes, but he had to do something else first. He had to lose the baggage that was limiting his movement.


    After setting the Flesh Golem on fire, it and the Death Knight were naturally interested in killing him. However, they weren''t so free that they could freely chase after Toz as he skirted around the edge of the battle to catch up with the retreating Alliance of Kingdoms.


    Since the mana storm had started nearing their battle, the Alliance of Kingdoms knew that they wouldn''t be able to do anything. And instead of needlessly trying to endure the storm just to see the three giants fight, it would be better to fall back and see if the mana storm continued their way.


    But there was no way an entire army was faster than Toz, even if he carried four people on his shoulder, and he quickly caught up to the Alliance of Kingdoms. Of course, a few people tried to bar his entry and questioned him on his identity. But he had left his bracelet behind and wasn''t famous enough for others to know his name or face. However, he was carrying four people that appeared to be injured but alive. He didn''t face that much resistance, and when he forced his way through to the backline, where both General Scoll and the field hospitals were, no one stopped him.


    The ones who didn''t stop him thought that he would go to the medics and healers. But Toz''s target was General Scoll. If there was one person who wasn''t a traitor or a spy for the people Anaster talked about, it was him. That meant that he would be able to make full use of the information Toz was about to give him while also keeping the members of the infiltration squad alive so that they could testify toward Toz''s greatness and well-deserved contributions.


    Thankfully, General Scoll was visible even from a distance as he stood atop his now-moving tform with his four subordinates.


    Toz hurried toward the general but was quickly stopped by a legion of armored soldiers. This time, Toz didn''t force his way through. He was moving toward the most valuable person on the battlefield, after all. Trying to force it would look like a reckless assassination attempt. But he didn''t have time to wait for time-consuming identity verifying procedures to take ce. He was still tired, but since the cats were fine, Toz was eager to participate in the fight between the three giants again. It looked like fun.


    "Let him through."


    Fortunately, General Scoll noticed themotion and who the source of it was. He had even seen how Toz came charging across the battlefield after running ahead of the mana storm. And when Toz arrived, General Scoll also saw how many people he was carrying.


    Following General Scoll''smand, the guards parted ways for Toz and let him approach General Scoll. They naturally thought that Toz would stay on the ground and state his business. But Toz jumped up to the tform without hesitation and put the four members of the infiltration squad on it.


    Merr and Cooper instinctively got ready to take action at Toz''s actions. But it became clear that Toz didn''t have any ill intentions.


    "Where''s Braxton?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    General Scoll questioned Toz as soon as he put down thest person.


    "Dead. Braxton betrayed these guys while I stayed behind to deal with the Fountain of Death. And then I picked them up on my way back here. Braxton had allied with a bunch of red-robed guys who also infiltrated the Redire Kingdom and the Alliance. They''re also the ones who removed the lock on this ne''s space, so the Tribe of Death and those red-robed fes both had portals supporting them."


    "..."


    "Right! Those red-robed guys are probably going to win the war if you don''t do something. Good luck!"


    Toz smiled and bid General Scoll farewell before turning around and leaping off the tform toward the battle again. But he turned around in mid-air and spoke again.


    "Ask those four for the full story when they wake up. And remember my contribution!"


    With those words, Toz dashed off toward the battle between the human giant and the two undead giants.


    Surprisingly enough, his body had gotten an opportunity to rest and recover slightly while he just ran at a leisurely pace, unlike when he pushed it to and beyond its limits. Recovering while outrunning a mana storm seemed like something not really feasible, but the mana storm was of fire mana, and after Toz''s Baptism of Fire, his body had certainly improved in some ways. Maybe being in close proximity to a lot of fire mana like that helped him recover.


    However, Toz didn''t really care if the reason he felt so energetic was due to the firestorm, his body, or if he was simply excited at getting to fight after the unsatisfactory ending of his battle with Anaster. And now that he didn''t have to worry about himself or the cats, he could finally let loose and go wild.


    Besides, if he wanted to find and save Taienra in the future, he would have to go up against opponents stronger than him on multiple asions. So, fighting against two such opponents while fighting alongside a third individual who was also technically stronger than him would surely be a great experience for Toz.


    Slightly excited about the battle, Toz unsheathed his sword and dashed back through the Alliance of Kingdoms toward the three giants who had kept up their battle even after Toz torched the Golem and disappeared. However, Toz could tell that the human giantess had taken a slight beating, probably to stop either or both of her opponents from chasing after him. And the best way to show gratitude was naturally to help her take down the two undead giants.

 Chapter 464 Clash Of Giants And Toz (2)

    ?With his burning sword and raging mana, the three giants quickly noticed him. However, none of them was happy about his return. Kahglia acknowledged that his Fireball had been powerful, but she could sense that Toz wasn''t at such a high level. So, if he joined the fight, it was likely that he would get in the way rather than help her fight against the two undead giants.


    And the undead giants were naturally pissed at Toz due to how he had tricked them into tanking the Fireball head-on. It was their fault since they were careless, but it was Toz''s Fireball, so they med it all on him. And as soon as Toz stepped close, the Death Knight went after him while the Flesh Golem tried to hold on to Kahglia and force her to fight it instead of helping Toz or stopping the Death Knight.


    The Flesh Golem got what he wanted and then some. Kahglia appreciated Toz''s Fireball and the damage it did, but she didn''t hold many expectations for Toz. So, instead of wasting time trying to help him, it would be better if she simply did as much damage to the Flesh Golem as possible.


    The Flesh Golem wouldn''t be able tost much longer, considering how much demonic energy it had already used so far. But after the Death Knight joined the battle, Kahglia had a much harder time damaging the Flesh Golem, and most of her efforts were wasted. But, now that Toz had joined the battle and lured away the Death Knight, Kahglia got an opportunity to inflict as much damage as possible on the Flesh Golem. And she wouldn''t let that opportunity get to waste.


    With renewed vigor, Kahglia unleashed a series of blows onto the Flesh Golem''s face and body. Although her brass knuckles had started taking some damage after the extended fight, they were still more than good enough to tear away at the Flesh Golem''s skin, muscle, and bone.


    Kahglia unleashed a flurry of nearly unblockable fists toward the Flesh Golem. But she still had half a mind on the Death Knight since her assault on the Flesh Golem would be meaningless if the Death Knight returned and surprise attacked her by stabbing his greatsword through her back. So, when she noticed how the Death Knight hadn''t evennded a single strike on the fleet-footed Toz, she was a little surprised.


    She realized that she had underestimated Toz a little and began considering helping him out now that the Flesh Golem couldn''t stop her. But she spent a few more moments watching Toz''s and the Death Knight''s battle. Kahglia noticed that Toz didn''t need her help as long as he didn''t try to kill the Death Knight. When it came to surviving and dodging the Death Knight''s greatsword, Toz was more than capable of doing that on his own.


    Since she could rest assured that the Death Knight wouldn''t be able to interfere with her beatdown on the Flesh Golem, Kahglia concentrated her efforts on taking down the Flesh Golem so that she could smash its head in.


    Since the Flesh Golem was undead, didn''t feel pain, and had incredible strength and regenerative powers, taking it down wasn''t easy since tricks like knicking its wind out or snapping its legs didn''t work that well. But Kahglia didn''t need to rely on those kinds of tricks when fighting someone who wasn''t even as strong as her.


    The Flesh Golem might have other advantages, such as its regeneration andck of pain. But Kahglia was sturdy enough not to need the regeneration, and pain was something that could be endured. So, Kahglia began unleashing full-power swings toward the Flesh Golem''s body, shoulders, and head in order to make the Flesh Golem stumble and lose its bnce.


    With her unending barrage of punches, Kahglia made steady progress as she forced the Flesh Golem to stumble backward, step by faltering step. She could tell that it wouldn''t be long until she could send the Flesh Golem falling to the ground, and she got so eager and caught up in her pummeling that she forgot about the Death Knight.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Watch out!"


    However, Toz''s shout startled her out of her battle frenzy, and she quickly sensed the greatsword cleaving through the air toward her torso. With a quick shove, Kahglia pushed the Flesh Golem a few steps back. She faced the greatsword swing with two brass knuckle-protected fists since it was too close for her to dodge it.


    The sword dug into the rim in between the spikes, and Kahglia hurriedly twisted her fists to lock it in ce with the spikes. If it went through the brass knuckles, the sword would both injure her hands and render her primary means of attack mostly useless.


    Kahglia grunted as she wrenched the greatsword away from her.


    "Switch!"


    Without even waiting for a response, Kahglia charged toward the Death Knight, who had yet to regain his sword posture after Kahglia wrenched his sword away and nearly made the Knight lose its grasp on their sword.


    And since Kahglia didn''t bother waiting for a response, Toz didn''t bother responding to her order that was clearly meant for him. He let Kahglia and the Death Knight engage in their battle while he hurried to get in the Flesh Golem''s way before it could interfere.


    Toz hadn''t been able to do anything to the Death Knight due to its ck armor and the mist that seeped out of it. Not to mention the greatsword cleaving the air and unleashing gusts of wind merely by passing through.


    However, Toz had already confirmed that his magic was useful against the Flesh Golem, at least his fire magic. So, he happily began fighting the Flesh Golem, who was also happy to get a chance to fight against the person who subjected it to those devastating mes.


    But the Flesh Golem either forgot or was too stupid to realize that if Toz had done it once, he could do it again. He already had a Fireball ready.

 Chapter 465 Clash Of Giants And Toz (3)

    ?Toz threw the Fireball at the Flesh Ggolem before it could get too close to him. But unlikest time when the Flesh Golem was caught by surprise, the Flesh GOlem intercepted the Fireball with arge hand d in demonic energy. The hand pped the Fireball to deflect it. But Toz, after learning from Anaster, made it so that the Fireball exploded on impact and scattered a rain of mes onto the Flesh Golem''s arms.


    Most of the fire was blocked by the Flesh Golem''s demonic energy, but some of it reached and burned the Flesh Golem''s flesh. However, the Flesh Golem''s regeneration wasn''t impeded by some lousy mes, and the injuries quickly disappeared. But Toz wasn''t discouraged.


    He grabbed his sword, enveloped in mes and burning red-hot like heated iron, despite being wood. Toz dashed forward to the Flesh Golem, who, unlike the Death Knight, actually took damage. Toz''s sword wasn''t good enough to cut through the Death Knight''s armor. He couldn''t even scratch it.


    But the Flesh Golem was a lot more susceptible to damage. It was just that the Flesh Golem recovered almost instantly.


    But Toz was satisfied as long as he could deal damage and quickly approached the Flesh Golem while dodging its massive fist that came flying toward him. It was a little more difficult to dodge the wind that the fist left in its wake, but Toz pushed through until he reached the Flesh Golem''s leg.


    Toz made use of the Flesh Golem''s attempt at kicking him to jump onto the foot andunch himself upward to the Flesh Golem''s torso. He didn''t forget to stab the Flesh Golem in the foot during the upswing and st a torrent of mes inside the Flesh Golem''s foot.


    And when the Flesh Golem''s kick had gone far enough, Toz jumped andnded on its raised thigh, which he used as another springboard to reach the Flesh Golem''s upper arm.


    Coincidentally, Toz began doing what Vatel had done with a sword on fire instead of a spear of lightning. He began running across the Flesh Golem''s upper body and dragging his sword across the Flesh Golem''s thick hide.


    However, Toz made sure to pump in as many mes into the Flesh Golem''s body as possible so that they could wreak havoc and destroy its insides.


    The Flesh Golem felt the damage Toz wrought on its body and covered its body in a fog of death attribute demonic energy that should have been enough to drive away Toz as soon as possible. It had worked wonders against the lightning-using pest from before, after all. So, even if it was costly, the Flesh Golem deemed it a necessary and worthy expenditure.


    However, Toz covered his own body in ayer of mes that kept the fog of death at bay. And while dodging the Flesh Golem''s frantic pping, Toz ran across its shoulders and climbed around its neck, constantly dragging his weapon along the Flesh Golem''s skin.


    It didn''t take long for the Flesh Golem to begin to realize that it couldn''t do anything to Toz. And if that continued, it was only a matter of time until Toz seeded in draining the Flesh Golem of its demonic energy.


    So, before that happened, the Flesh Golem called out for help. Both to the lich and the Death Knight.


    The lich saw what was happening to the Flesh Golem. And it was already working on a way to help by gathering the straybatants and servants of death that had managed to escape the mana storm.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The mana storm was still wreaking havoc on the troops, but the lich moved to the side to avoid the worst of it as it gathered the troops. But the lich couldn''t quite exert perfect control over its mana, and it took a while and a lot of effort and concentration for the lich to be able to pull off its spell. But it eventually seeded.


    The troops forcefully gathered by the lich were sacrificed and turned into a fog of pure death that flew over to the Flesh Golem.


    Toz noticed the approaching spell and quickly jumped off the Flesh Golem. He could withstand the Golem''s magic since it was more like a concentration of demonic energy rather than proper magic. But the lich''s spell was a concentration of death, and touching it would severely weaken his mes, maybe even to the point where he died.


    "Oi! Wanna switch?"


    And since Toz wouldn''t be able to fight the Flesh Golem while the cloud of concentrated death hung around it, he asked Kahglia to switch.


    Upon hearing Toz''s voice, Kahglia spared a nce at the Flesh Golem.


    "Sure, get over here."


    Toz found Kahglia a little rude, but he didn''t bother and dashed over to the Death Knight so that Kahglia could fight the Flesh Golem without worry. Thankfully, she had managed to wear down the Death Knight enough to make it easier for Toz to keep it upied. It would have been meaningless if they switched, and Toz couldn''t hold back the Death Knight while Kahglia fought with the Flesh Golem.


    Toz ran toward the Death Knight andunched Fireball after Fireball toward its face.


    The Death Knight blocked Toz''s cascade of spells with its hand since the fires could slink through the gaps in its visor if it wasn''t careful. That was something Toz hadn''t noticed before, but now that the Death Knight had revealed such a ring weakness, Toz figured out how to keep the Death Knight away from Kahglia and the Flesh Golem''s fight.


    So, now that he had discovered the Death Knight''s potential weakness, Toz turned the battle into a medium-range one. And since the Death Knight didn''t have any means of attacking from afar, Toz dominated the battle as he led the Death Knight around the battlefield while sending an unending stream of fire to its helm.


    The Death Knight knew what Toz was doing. But there was nothing it could do about it. If it tried to look away, Toz would slip a Fireball past its defenses and into its armor.

 Chapter 466 Clash Of Giants And Toz (4)

    ?Kahglia wasn''t impervious to the cloud of death lingering around the Flesh Golem, but she was a lot more resistant to it than Toz. Not to mention how she didn''t have to subject her entire body to the cloud of death when fighting the Flesh Golem. Since the cloud formed a fluffyyer around the Flesh Golem, she only had to push her hands and forearms through the spell to hit the Flesh Golem.


    But since the cloud boosted the Flesh Golem''s strength and, most of all, its regenerative capacity, Kahglia felt that it was a little futile even trying to attack the Flesh Golem. She would have considered attacking the lich since it was the one who had made the cloud. But after casting the spell, the lich didn''t control it anymore. So, removing the lich would only prevent anything simr from happening again. And it wasn''t even certain that the lich had any more tricks up its sleeves.


    Attacking the lich just to make sure nothing simr happened in the future woulde at the risk of the Flesh Golem grouping up again and either taking out Toz or attacking her together. And with the Flesh Golem already covered in the cloud of death, Kahglia didn''t think it was worth the risk, especially when the mana storm was already doing its best to prevent any mages from using magic.


    The battle turned into a stalemate pretty quickly. The Flesh Golem and Kaghlia traded blows, but nothing happened. And Toz kept bombarding the Death Knight, who kept defending without taking much if any, damage. The mana storm seemed to have found a spot it enjoyed as it stayed in ce in what had been the Tribe of Death''s war camp without interfering with the sh of giants and Toz.


    However, after a while, a change urred in the battle and on the battlefield. And it wasn''t just the battlefield where Toz and the others fought. The change spread out and covered the entire ne.


    Toz felt his spine tingle as if hit by lightning, and he quickly shed away from the Death Knight so that he could survey the area. However, the Death Knight, Kahglia, and Flesh Golem also sensed that something was wrong and halted their movements.


    It was impossible to tell what had happened at first. It almost felt as if the air had been changed all at once without anyone noticing. But that wasn''t it, and as more and more time passed in tense silence, the ominous feeling covering the entire ne grew stronger.


    All the troops,batants, beasts, and whatever else was still alive felt the pressure and grew silent in fear.


    Eventually, trickles of light seeped through the ground, where the craters and scars ofbat were deep enough. And from a bird''s eye view, it would have been possible to see that the traces of red light formed what looked like a magic circle that spanned the entire ne.


    As the light grew stronger, it began pulsating in waves that moved toward the center of the battlefield, which wasn''t far from where Toz and the others fought.


    The light in the center of the ne deepened in color and grew stronger, but it also became more concentrated. Eventually, it looked like the ground itself in the center had be a crimson red.


    While the magic circle continued converging in the center of the battlefield, the pressure of the mana it used rendered everyone on the battlefield incapable of moving. Of course, Toz and the three giants were among the exceptions. But so was Derada, General Scoll''s subordinate.


    However, none of them made a move, despite being able to. Their fight had been put on hold until the magic circle finished whatever it was doing. And they would decide what to do after the magic''s effects were revealed.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But based on how ominous the magic looked and felt, they would probably have to put an indefinite hold on their battle.


    And as the magic became clearer, it was obvious, even if it wasn''t necessary due to both sides'' reactions, that neither the Alliance of Kingdoms nor the Tribe of Death was behind it. The magic that covered the entire ne carried a tangy, iron-like, and bloody feel that,bined with the malice, pointed toward the fact that it was blood magic using demonic energy as the base.


    The Alliance of Kingdoms didn''t use demonic energy. They used pure mana of various attributes. And while the Tribe of Death used demonic energy, they didn''t use blood magic. But there was one transcendent faction of demons renowned for their blood magic.


    "The Tribe of Blood."


    Kahglia''s subconscious whisper helped Toz put a rtively obvious name to the people responsible for the secret plotting he had discovered. However, he didn''t know what to think about the extreme way they had chosen to join the battle. There were also a few pieces that didn''t quite align, and Toz''s curious mind was eager to put them together with the first clue he had, at the time unknowingly, stumbled upon inside the Treblor Forest.


    The fact that the demons used the same ve cors as the humans inside the Alliance of Kingdoms.


    If it had been a standardized model of ve cors, it could have checked out. But the models were exactly the same. The only difference was that the cors in Treblor were fitted for beasts while the ones in the war were made for humans, but Toz could tell that they were made by the same person. Beltor, the cursemaster.


    Since Beltor was officially affiliated with the Starsling Kingdom, Toz first suspected that they had betrayed the human realm and started cooperating with the demons. But their attitude and pride, however unlikeable, made that a very unlikely scenario.


    Then, Toz found out that the Redire Kingdom was located next to the Starsling Kingdom, and the ce where Beltor''s tform was, wasn''t far from the border. That was the thing that first made Toz suspect the Redire Kingdom.


    And then, when Lucy revealed the spies within the Redire Kingdom''s troops, Toz''s suspicions were all but confirmed.


    But how, why, and who were all questions left unanswered.

 Chapter 467 Clash Of Giants And Toz (5)

    ?The spies in the Redire Kingdom''s ranks weren''t from the Tribe of Death. But it seemed like the Redire Kingdom, or at least the people from it, had cooperated with Beltor to betray the human realm in the war with the Tribe of Death.


    But the demon that Toz saw in Treblor Forest was neither from the Tribe of Death nor the Tribe of Blood. To Toz, it looked like there was a fourth party. One that Anaster was part of. And that acted like a middleman between the Tribe of Blood and Beltor and the Tribe of Death. But without the Tribe of Death knowing about the Tribe of Blood''s intentions.


    It was messy, unnecessarily so, in Toz''s opinion. But at least it didn''t look like Anaster''s faction didn''t have any intentions of joining the battle. They had done what they were supposed to or whatever. That was why Anaster had retreated through the portal after his fight with Toz. There was nothing left for him to do on the battlefield.


    Toz looked at the cloth pouch attached to his waist. That was probably Anaster''s goal. But whether Toz or Anaster took it didn''t really matter. It was fine as long as the Tribe of Death couldn''t use it anymore. Without the Fountain of Death, the Tribe of Death wouldn''t be able to put up any resistance against the Blood of Death''s intervention in the war.


    Toz was sure he had missed a few details, and he still didn''t know why the Tribe of Blood had decided to intervene in a proxy war between the Obsidian Empire and the Tribe of Death. But those questions sank in importance as the magic circle nearedpletion.


    The pulsating waves of red light grew in frequency until they turned into a steady stream of light, growing denser and darker by the second. The light converged in the center of the battlefield and created arge pool of dark red glistening light so condensed it looked like a fluid. It looked like blood, which was very fitting since it seemed like the Tribe of Blood''s ultimate magic.


    But Toz couldn''t understand why they would go to such lengths just to summon a pool of blood.


    However, it looked like he would get his answer soon enough. But before he could, chaos broke out in the ranks of the Alliance of Kingdoms.


    It took a few moments for General Scoll to figure out what was going on, but when he did, hundreds of people had already died. The ves rampaged like enraged beasts and killed everyone around them before finally killing themselves with an explosion when they were finally caught.


    "Derada."


    Following General Scoll''s order, Derada''s hand twitched, and everyone with ve cors twitched before falling to the ground, unconscious.


    "Full retreat!"


    General Scoll''s voice helped his troops endure the overwhelmingly ominous pressure of the blood magic and helped them slowly back away from the battlefield. But he couldn''t help but worry since he had no idea what was going toe out of the blood pool conjured by the Tribe of Blood.


    He knew there were spies among the Redire Kingdom and that the ves were most likelypromised, but he had thought that it was just insurance or the like by the Tribe of Death. Or that another faction had subtly begun to take over the Redire Kingdom from within before the war even began and was going to pretend all was fine for the duration of the war. Maybe it was a faction that simply wanted to get some inside information on the war.


    General Scoll had still prepared countermeasures in case it wasn''t something as harmless as that. But he hadn''t expected the Tribe of Blood to be behind it all.


    "Derada, get rid of the spies with maximum efficiency."


    "Mmm."


    Since it was just a proxy war between the Obsidian Empire and the Tribe of Death, the Tribe of Blood shouldn''t have had a reason for intervening in the war since they would catch the ire of both the Obsidian Empire and the Tribe of Death.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Rie, contact miss Dyra."


    Rie fished an obsidian toke out of one of her pockets and injected her mana into it. She waited a few precious moments before speaking.


    "She''s not answering."


    General Scoll frowned.


    "Try again."


    "..."


    Rie simply shook her head with a worried look on her face. General Scoll frowning so deeply was never a good sign.


    "Fuck. They sold us."


    General Scoll cursed and rammed his hand against the railing. He didn''t know what was going on or what had changed since the beginning of the war. But it was obvious that the Obsidian Empire and the transcendent Tribe of Death knew about and epted the Tribe of Blood''s participation in battle.


    The only sce they had was that Derada was sessful, and all the spies wearing the bracelets made by Derada were killed.


    The Obsidian Empire might have abandoned them, but General Scoll had no intentions of dying, and he was about to order Kahglia and Toz to retreat. Considering how much they had done for the war and the humans of the Mortal Realm, General Scoll refused to leave them behind.


    If they could make it to the base, they might be able to use Merr''s ability to get off the ne. And hopefully, there would still be a few ships left to take all the troops.


    However, before General Scoll could issue his order to retreat to Kahglia and Toz, magic surged toward the center of the battlefield and the blood pool started bubbling. The ominous feeling across the ne grew in intensity as the bubbling spiraled out of control before abruptly calming down.


    The bubbling and calming down were repeated several times before it became obvious that the amount of blood had decreased dramatically.


    It looked like the pool of blood started bubbling again, but it was an illusion caused by how the blood moved and twisted to gather in the center of the pool. The blood rose up and condensed into a humanoid figure.


    The Blood Fiend stood tall at over twenty meters tall and overwhelmed its surroundings with an overwhelming pressure that was beyond the ninth level.

 Chapter 468 Clash Of Giants And Toz (6)

    ?The Blood Fiend was an amalgamation of all the blood that had been spilled on the battlefield over the years that the war had been fought. That was what the Tribe of Blood had been doing deep below ground. They had gathered all the blood and the ne''s mana to conjure the Blood Fiend and make sure that it ended the battle with the Tribe of Blood as the final victors.


    With the mana of half a ne and the blood of all the fallenbatants, the Blood Fiend''s power naturally surpassed the Flesh Golem that had only been made from the remains of a single battle. So, it was understandable that the Blood Fiend had reached the same strength as a transcendent. It stillcked a certain qualitative change to its demonic energy. But the Blood Fiend was undeniably as strong as a mage at the transcendent level due to how much demonic energy it had. There was also how easy it was for the Blood Fiend to use it due to how its body was magic.


    The Blood Fiend was entirelyposed of blood, so even if it had a face, the face was merely three holes, and it was impossible to tell what its facial expressions meant. But the overwhelming malice pouring out of it was more than enough for anyone to tell that the Blood Fiend was about to kill everything and everyone in its sight. And it wouldn''t let anyone escape.


    Kahglia looked at the Flesh Golem and Death Knight.


    "Truce?"


    The two servants of death exchanged a nce before nodding.


    "You''re not retreating yet, are you?"


    "No way. Things are just getting exciting."


    "Toz responded confidently to Kahglia''s taunt. But he couldn''t help but feel a little worried. Thest time he went up against a transcendent, he had beenpletely trounced by Yill. Of course, he didn''t know the strength difference between the Blood Fiend and Yill, so the Blood Fiend could actually be weaker. It was just that Yill had hidden her strength. So, it could just as well be the opposite. The Blood Fiend was stronger than Yill.


    If the Blood Fiend actually were stronger than Yill, it wouldn''t matter that Toz had broken through to the seventh level.


    But while his spine tingled in rm, Toz didn''t feel like the Blood Fiend was stronger than Yill. If it were, it wouldn''t be leaking so much blood attribute demonic energy just by existing. It also didn''t feel like he was in mortal danger. Though, his senses regarding that might have grown dull after dancing with death several times in less than a day.


    "All right, you three grapple with it, and I''lly down cover fire. It''s leaking demonic energy like a broken ship. If we can oust it, we''ll win. Probably."


    The Flesh Golem and Death Knight were a little ufortable taking orders from Toz. But it wasn''t as if they could do anything about it since they didn''t have any better ideas. And it would be better to move as quickly as possible before the Blood Fiend could snag the initiative.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Kahglia was curious about Toz''s remark that the Blood Fiend was leaking, but they were in the middle of charging toward the Blood Fiend. Questions could and woulde after they win.


    Kahglia, the Flesh Golem, and the Death Knight led the charge toward the Blood Fiend while Toz stayed slightly behind them and began building up an array of Fireballs that hovered in the air behind him as he filled them with mana. He activated his nket method so that he wouldn''t run out of mana as quickly as he continued charging the Fireballs.


    Right before Kahglia and the other two struck the Blood Fiend, Toz sent his first volley toward the Blood Fiend''s upper body, the shoulders, and head, primarily.


    As a being made solely from blood, the Blood Fiend probably didn''t suffer the same fatal weaknesses as other humanoids did, in that the head and heart were fragile and would kill most people if either were destroyed. However, since the three giants attacked the Fiend''s lower body, toz didn''t want to identally get them caught up in the rain of fire that his Fireballs unleashed.


    However, it turned out to be a mostly needless worry. Despite being Fireballs that Toz had put quite a bit of effort into making, the Blood Fiend''s body quenched almost all of them as soon as they came in contact with and entered its body.


    The giants'' attacks weren''t any different. Kahglia''s and the Flesh Golem''s fists hit the Blood Fiend''s legs and sent a few drops of blood sttering without dealing any significant amount of damage. The Death Knight''s sword cut through the surface of the Blood Fiend''s leg like a knife through water, and it did as much damage as the knife did to the water.


    All of their attacks were basically useless against the Blood Fiend. And the battle looked like a lost cause before it hardly even began. But they didn''t have a choice. It was either fight and die or try to flee and die.


    The answer was obvious for Toz, Kahglia, the Death Knight, and the Flesh Golem. The Flesh Golem had a limited lifespan from the beginning, so it might as well do its best in the fight against the Blood Fiend. It was a killing machine, after all. And it didn''t want to admit defeat in front of the Tribe of Blood''s conjured killing machine.


    So, even though it looked futile, the three giants and Toz fought against the fourth giant with all they had.


    Toz continued amassing power and mana in his Fireballs as he focused on impeding the Blood Fiend''s fists that swung down toward Kahglia, the Flesh Golem, and the Death Knight so that they could chip away at the Blood Fiend''s foundation.


    Toz''s fireballs didn''t do much in the way of leavingsting damage on the Blood Fiend, but after a while, they became powerful enough to explode the Blood Fiend''s fists and make them useless while the others dodged and continued levying attacks on the Fiend''s legs.


    But the Blood Fiend didn''t even look like it was taking any damage since it regenerated even faster than the Flesh Golem.

 Chapter 469 Clash Of Giants And Toz (7)

    ?The Blood Fiend''s superior regeneration wasn''t the only thing that made it better than the Flesh Golem. Unlike the Flesh Golem, who could only use its physical body to attack and defend, the Blood Fiend could use magic. It was a rudimentary usage where it just extended its arm with swords and des of hardened blood. Those attacks weren''t as easy to defend against or block, and it happened on several asions that the Flesh Golem lost its arms or legs.


    The Blood Fiend also started using shields of blood to block Toz''s Fireballs, even if it didn''t look like they did much damage to the Blood Fiend.


    But the most annoying piece of magic that the Blood Fiend started using was the blood pool it spread out beneath itself. The Blood Fiend naturally didn''t have any trouble moving around, but the sticky blood held onto Kahlia''s and the other''s legs. If they had been any weaker, they wouldn''t have even been able to resist getting pulled down into the swamp of blood.


    Kahglia and the other two retreated outside of the pool since it was impossible to defend against the Blood Fiend''s attacks while their feet were stuck. Instead, they made sure to let Toz focus on attack while they tried to impede the Blood Fiend''s advance.


    The Flesh Golem and the Death Knight might have agreed to cooperate with Kahglia and Toz to save themselves and whatever troops remained of the Tribe of Death. However, they weren''t very keen on stopping the Blood Fiend as it headed toward the Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops.


    But as a Blood Fiend, it was obvious that the creature would thrive and gain even more power if it could revel in the blood of all the human and beast troops as well asbatants from transcendent factions. And if the Blood Fiend became stronger, it would get even more impossible to try and defeat it. So, the Flesh Golem and Death Knight did their best to stop the Blood Fiend in its tracks.


    Thankfully, the Blood Fiend moved faster than it could move the blood pool, so it was within reach of their attacks as it stood in the forefront of the pool. But since their attacks barely did any damage to it, their attempts at impeding the Blood Fiend weren''t very sessful. It just continued taking bloody strides across the battlefield.


    The only thing that seemed to be some kind of annoyance to it was the fireid down by Toz. Although he wasn''t confident in casting fire as powerful as his Fireballs, he still cast a wall of fire around the Blood Fiend.


    The Blood Fiend did its best to extinguish the mes with its torrent of blood. But Toz had turned all of his focus from casting Fireballs to maintaining and strengthening the wall of fire. So, when the Blood Fiend realized that it couldn''t put out the fire and began attacking Toz by shooting cannonballs of blood, Toz couldn''t defend himself. But he didn''t need to do it himself. Kahglia, the Flesh Golem, and the Death Knight cooperated to make sure that the blood didn''t evene close enough to stter on Toz.


    It stung their prideful souls a little, but all three had realized that Toz was the only one with any effective means of attacking the Blood Fiend. And it was in all of their best interests to try and support Toz as much as possible, even if the only thing they could do was make sure the Blood Fiend''s attacks didn''t reach him.


    "How are you holding up on mana?"


    "Well enough."


    "Here."


    Kahglia took out a mana potion that was, surprisingly enough, made for people of ordinary size and handed it to Toz.


    "It''s quite concentrated since my father custom ordered it for me, so only take a few sips at a time."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz didn''t even bother saying thanks. He just grabbed the bottle and showed in his mouth, downing it all in one go. With his mana vision, he saw how densely filled the bottle was with mana. And if he had been an ordinary mage, he would have exploded from overconsumption of mana.


    "Hey!"


    But Toz was far from ordinary. And he was more used than anyone to consuming too much mana at once. Besides, there wasn''t even enough mana in it to fill up his mana pool, so Toz didn''t have anything to worry about, and he spat out the empty bottle.


    Toz used the mana he got from the mana potion to up the power of his mes even further. He wasn''t yet strong enough where he could awaken the true nature of the mes at will. But the mes around the Blood Fiend were already hotter and stronger than the ones he used to melt his cell.


    "Got any more?"


    "Only a couple. I don''t use that much mana. They''re only in case of emergencies."


    "Then, what would you call this if not an emergency?"


    "Fine."


    Kahglia handed over three mana potions without further protest and got back to defending Toz against the blood bombs that the Blood Fiendunched over the wall of me.


    Toz''s ring of fire might be hotter than the mes he created during his prison break. But it was also muchrger since it had to contain the Blood Fiend, which meant that they drained incredible amounts of mana. Even with his nket method, Toz couldn''t keep up with how quickly he burned through his mana, so it was quite fortuitous that Kahglia had those mana potions.


    But the mana potions weren''t unlimited. And at the moment, all Toz was doing was restraining the Blood Fiend and keeping it from going after the Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops. He was doing more than anyone else on the battlefield. But it wasn''t enough. The Blood Fiend wasn''t going to die just from getting a little hot.


    If Toz could awaken the true nature of the fire, he might be able to do some real damage to the Blood Fiend. But those mes had only singed Anaster a little. Toz didn''t think they would be enough to kill the Blood Fiend, even if it stood in the middle of them.


    Besides, Toz could feel how tired his mind and the miniature clone were. He would have to go beyond his limits for the umpteenth time today if he really wanted to awaken the true nature of his fire.

 Chapter 470 Clash Of Giants And Toz (8)

    ?Toz wasn''t confident that he would be able to awaken the true nature of mes again in such a short period before his mind could even get a chance to recover. But there was one significant difference between his current fight with the Blood Fiend and his stunt in the Fortress of Death.


    He wasn''t alone. He had Kahglia, the Flesh Golem, and the Death Knight by his side to protect him. But most importantly, Mindle wasn''t far away.


    Unlike Toz, who mostly suffered due to the firestorm of mana, Mindle was like a fish in the water or a bird in the sky as soon as she came close to it. So, after a while, when she had gotten used to the tornado of mana and when Toz asked for help, Mindle was ready to assist.


    Mindle was enlightened and thankful when she heard Toz''s idea of trying to control the mana storm. If he hadn''t said anything or asked for help, Mindle would have probably just stayed inside the mana storm and swum around leisurely, enjoying the fire mana. But now, she was excited. Both to try out what Toz had inspired her to do and to finally get an opportunity to help Toz, who never seemed like he needed help.


    Just like that, the mana storm slowly began moving toward the Blood Fiend. Kahglia, the Flesh Golem, and the Death Knight naturally got a little worried. The firestorm hadn''t been powerful enough to interfere too much in their battle since it would make both sides fight in unfavorable conditions.


    But now, they were already at a huge disadvantage against the Blood Fiend, so if nature came and interfered, it would be even harder for them to fight. None of them had any intentions of giving up, but it all seemed a little hopeless when everything was going against them.


    But the firestorm took a slight detour around Toz and the other three. Kahglia, the Flesh Golem, and the Death Knight whipped their heads around to look at Toz, the fire-wielding mage. They then looked at the mass of fire mana that moved as if controlled by someone. Puzzle pieces seemed to fall into ce in their minds, and they looked at Toz with slight awe. What kind of natural disaster was this seventh level mage?


    Toz didn''t say anything. What was he supposed to tell them, anyways? That hispanion, a living, breathing spirit, is controlling the tornado, not him? It would be better to just concentrate on setting the stage for Mindle instead.


    Toz drank the remaining potions and filled his mana pool to the brim so that he could help Mindle as much as possible when she finally moved the tornado into position. He also concentrated the power of the ring of fire so that the firestorm would have something to anchor to. And if the firestorm anchored to the ring of fire, the Blood Fiend would be caught inside a vortex of swirling fire mana, who, under Mindle''s support, would eat away at the already leaking Blood Fiend.


    It didn''t take long for Mindle to pilot the firestorm into ce above the Blood Fiend with the help of Toz''s ring of fire guiding her. When the firestorm was locked in ce, it began eroding the Blood Fiend at once. But the mana storm wasn''t powerful enough topare to the transcendent Blood Fiend.


    Since Mindle didn''t have to move the mana storm around anymore, she instead began turning her attention toward strengthening it. She spread her influence over the tornado and helped it spin even faster, gather even more mana from the surroundings, and grow evenrger.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz also did what he could from the ground to feed the fire tornado and help it grow powerful enough to kill the Blood Fiend. But the stronger it got and the more demonic energy it wore away from the Blood Fiend, the more demonic energy entered the firestorm and threatened to interfere with its momentum.


    Since the demonic energy inside the Blood Fiend was made from all the blood spilled on the battlefield for the duration of the war, the Blood Fiend had more than enough demonic energy topete with the amount of mana in the firestorm.


    The orange storm of fire mana began to take on a slightly reddish hue that spread from the bottom up.


    Toz saw the demonic energy infiltrate the firestorm and start spreading to Mindle, and he couldn''t help but worry. Since he could tell that Mindle had practically be one with the firestorm, he was worried that the demonic energy would corrupt her or injure her.


    However, the only thing he could do was strengthen the fire of the firestorm, so that''s what he did.


    Eventually, the storm of mostly fire but partly blood grew to such an extent that the Blood Fiend was mostly obscured. It also began taking over the surroundings and stirring up a natural storm of wind that rustled clothes and even threatened to take Toz to the air. But he quickly conjured a pair of metal arches and put them over his feet to keep him grounded.


    The firestorm fought against the demonic energy invading it, and the sh threatened to dispel the entire storm at times. While at other times, it looked like the storm was fiercer than ever.


    The storm fluctuated and trembled as it sent bursts of fire and blood away and into the air. Eventually, with the help of the ever-growing mes at the bottom of the tornado, the firestorm managed to grab hold of an advantage.


    The mes and the firestorm worked together to push the red demonic energy into a thin twister in the center of the tornado. The fire tornado controlled and guided the top of the demonic energy twister upward and into the sky, where it lost control and spun until it dispersed itself.


    The fire tornado continued funneling away the demonic energy as much as it could, but the demonic energy constantly threatened to corrupt the firestorm again. And Mindle wasn''t sure she could keep the firestorm in control long enough to oust the seemingly bottomless source of demonic energy that was the Blood Fiend.

 Chapter 471 Clash Of Giants And Toz (9)

    ?But there was one way Mindle could make sure that the demonic energy didn''t corrode the firestorm. By making the firestorm hers instead of something that she was merely controlling. It would be difficult, but not as difficult as keeping the demonic energy away from her. Besides, she had also noticed how the firestorm happily followed her lead. Now, she only had to see how far it was willing to go or adjust to suit her wishes.


    Mindlemunicated her n to Toz, and although he was a little surprised, he dly helped her proceed as he used his mes to restrain the leaking demonic energy as much as possible. If Mindle wanted to seed with what she was going to do, even the slightest amount of demonic energy would interfere and likely ruin her n.


    Mindle needed Toz''s help to make sure that didn''t happen. And as soon as Toz had somehow managed to get the Blood Fiend''s leaking demonic energy under control, Mindle began contorting the tornado of fire mana. It bent and twisted like an old tree.


    But as time passed, the tornado grew smaller, more condensed, and the fire mana grew tighter before gradually taking on a recognizable shape.


    Mindle had taken control of the firestorm and turned it into a huge cat in her image. Mindle had gone from a cut cat that fit snugly in Toz''s arms to a giant behemoth that was at least twice as tall as the Blood Fiend. And the first thing Mindle did when she became the big cat was to stomp on the Blood Fiend with all her might.


    The cat''s paw of fire zed down through the air and struck the Blood Fiend with enough force to shake the ground and crack the earth. Mindle''s strike created a shockwave of blood and fire that spread out in a circle across the battlefield.


    Mindle''s strike sessfully ttened the Blood Fiend and turned the humanoid into a puddle of blood. The troops of the Alliance of Kingdoms wanted to cheer at the sight of that. But Toz, Mindle, Kahglia, the Flesh Golem, and the Death Knight, who were close enough to sense it, knew that it wasn''t the end. Not by a long shot.


    Just like when they struck the Blood Fiend and managed to disrupt its body, even by a little, the Blood Fiend didn''t really take any damage. With a surge of magic from the magic circle spread out across the ne, the Blood Fiend got a quick restoration, and its body returned to its previous state.


    It seemed like there was an inexhaustible tank of blood and demonic energy supporting the Blood Fiend from behind. Even after Mindle squashed it and sttered its previous body across the battlefield, the Blood Fiend''s size remained unchanged, and its power was as great as ever as it met Mindle''s next stomp with a push upward.


    The Blood Fiend stretched its body and shot toward Mindle''s feet with fierce momentum. But with the power of an entire mana storm concentrated in her paw, Mindle still squashed the Blood Fiend.


    It wasn''t noticeable yet. But with his mana vision, Toz saw it. Each strike that Mindlended on the Blood Fiend consumed an incredible amount of mana. And unlike the Blood Fiend, the fire storm wasn''t backed by an endless source of power. When Mindle turned the tornado into a cat, it lost the ability to grow by ensnaring the nearby mana.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    But even if the firestorm lost mana with each strike Mindle unleashed, it wasn''t as if Mindle could just stop hitting the Blood Fiend. Not doing anything would damage the Blood Fiend even less. Besides, the firestorm would eventually dissipate on its own when Mindle couldn''t maintain it anymore. So, it would be best to use it to do as much damage as possible to the Blood Fiend.


    And if not the Blood Fiend, Mindle could target the center of the magic circle that was below the Blood Fiend. Each strike she unleashed was powerful enough to power through the Blood Fiend and pummel the ground. She created a crater, and she continued digging it deeper every time the magic circle surged and restored the Blood Fiend.


    But the phantom cat of fire was rapidly losing strength. It wasn''t long before it started shrinking. It went from twice the Blood Fiend''s height to one and a half times its size. Her strikes were still powerful enough to one-shot the Blood Fiend. But it was clear from the weakening intensity of the earthquakes that Mindle was losing strength.


    But as far as Toz could tell, the Blood Fiend remained mostly unweakened, despite all the blood that Mindle had burned or sent flying. The situation wasn''t looking good. If things continued this way, things might really be over for them.


    However, Toz didn''t give up hope yet. Since he had his void and space magic, he was confident that he could grab the cats and flee. It would be difficult to save everyone else, but he should be able to save the most important people like Kahglia, General Scoll, and his remaining subordinates.


    But before it came to that, he had to see what Lucy had in store or what he had done during the time he was separated from the others. Maybe Lucy had managed to achieve something that would lead to a different result than them having to flee the ne. However, Toz kept his wishes in moderation. Based on what the other cats told him, Lucy might have just as well made things even more difficult and chaotic.


    Eventually, Mindle''s gigantic phantom cat of fire was only slightly taller than the blood Fiend. And her strikes no longer smashed the Blood Fiend in one go. She needed to hit it at least twice before it sttered over the ground.


    And when Mindle shrunk to below the Blood Fiend''s height, she needed three strikes. But she was relentless and didn''t stop attacking for even a second, despite the Blood Fiend''s endless resurrections.


    However, a change urred after Mindle sttered apart the Blood Fiend for the umpteenth time.


    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 472 Clash Of Giants And Toz (10)

    ?The magic circle backing the Blood Fiend came like a circr wave of reddish light each time the Blood Fiend went from puddle to humanoid giant. However, after Mindle shrank to below the Blood Fiend''s height, the magic circle''s light wasn''t solely red. Tendrils of magic that looked like cracks in the red light had infiltrated the magic circle.


    Mindle noticed what was going on, but the tendrils didn''t seem to have any obvious effect on the Blood Fiend, so she continuedmbasting it with her paws. But she wasn''t sttering the Blood Fiend as easily anymore since it became capable of putting up resistance when Mindle shrank to a small enough size.


    The Blood Fiend still lost ten out of ten times. But each time it lost, Mindle lost a significant amount of strength, and it went from three attacks to four, then to seven before the Blood Fiend fell.


    And each time, the tendrils deepened and spread throughout the magic circle. It was impossible to tell if the ominous tendrils were a sign that something was broken or if they were a sign that the Blood Fiend was about to transform into something even stronger after dying so many times.


    But eventually, when it looked like Mindle and the Blood Fiend were evenly matched in strength, the source of the dark, creeping tendrils revealed itself.


    "There we go¡­ And now a little like this, before¡­, Finally!"


    Toz sighed at the voiceing from the Blood Fiend.


    "Oh, mighty feline beast of fire! You have done well to push me this far. But now, it''s toote for you and yourrades! You have awakened me from eternal slumber! I, the Blood Ancestor, will show you the true meaning of despair!"


    The Blood Fiend that had apparently transformed into the embodiment of the Blood Ancestor turned toward the skies and roared in a show of dominance. But since the person talking had a cute and small voice, it looked and sounded as if a baby was throwing an angry tantrum.


    "Come, Fire Cat, and face me in gloriousbat!"


    The Blood Ancestor pointed at Mindle and waited for her to charge. Mindle shook her head and sighed slightly, but she obliged the Blood Ancestor and charged forward.


    And so, the glorious battle that the Blood Ancestor wanted unfolded in front of Toz and everyone else on the battlefield. Of course, to Toz, who knew who the ''Blood Ancestor'' was, it became an interesting show. But the others like Kahglia, the Flesh Golem, the Death Knight, and all the troops of the Alliance of Kingdoms were on the brink of despair. Some had even started contemting suicide to at least get a painless death.


    However, people quickly realized that Mindle still had the advantage. Despite the Blood Ancestor''s confident promations, it turned into a mostly one-sided beatdown, with Mindle doing the beating.


    It barely even looked like the Blood Ancestor was capable of defending itself.


    "Ahh! How do you even control this thing? How does Toz even walk around with a body like this? What a madman!"


    The ''Blood Ancestor'' probably hadn''t meant for those words to slip out through the Blood Fiend''s body so that everyone on the battlefield could hear them. But it happened, and those who knew Toz''s name naturally looked at him with shock. Why did his namee out of the Blood Ancestor''s mouth?


    But considering that only ten people knew his name, it didn''t cause much of a stir. Well, thirteen if he counted the members of the infiltration squad who were still knocked out.


    However, Kahglia, who hadn''t heard Toz''s name, looked at him with suspicion.


    "What''s your name?"


    "..."


    "It doesn''t happen to be ''Toz,'' does it?"


    "Noment."


    Toz felt sweat start pearling on his forehead as he avoided Kahglia''s gaze. Just the fact that she asked him that question showed how much she suspected it.


    "Looking at you now, you''re pretty rxed, huh?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Not at all. I just look like this no matter what happens."


    Kahglia took a few steps toward Toz and bent down slightly to stare at him closely. She unclenched and clenched her fist.


    "I''m going to ask you this once. Okay?"


    "Mmhmm."


    Although Toz had done more toward the Blood Fiend than Kahglia, that didn''t mean he was stronger than her. It was a matter of what they were up against and how the Blood Fiend was resistant to physical damage. However, Toz was highly susceptible to physical damage.


    And after helping Mindle feed and strengthen the firestorm after already using incredible amounts of mana to restrain and burn the Blood Fiend, Toz didn''t have much mana left. He might be able to escape, but he didn''t want to run away without the cats, even though it looked like it would be fine since Lucy had taken control of the Blood Fiend and started using it to y with Mindle.


    "What are you up to?"


    Unfortunately, Kahglia asked a question Toz didn''t know how to answer.


    "Just waiting for my cats to finish following around."


    "You heard me when I said I was only going to ask this once, yeah?"


    "Yeah."


    "So, what are you thinking to spout such stupid nonsense?"


    Kahglia looked like she was about to start using violence, so Toz hurried to back away from her, using space magic.


    "You have no right to question me!"


    Kahglia''s eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Toz using space magic. But since he had survived against the Death Knight, it wasn''t that surprising. She sighed since her intimidation tactic hadn''t worked.


    "Fine. I won''t question you. Just tell me what''s going on and if we''re going to die or not."


    Toz shrugged from far enough away that Kahglia wouldn''t pose a threat.


    "Probably not."


    "Good. You''reing with me after we''re done here, by the way."


    "Hey! I just told you that you can''t question me, and now you''re trying to kidnap me?"


    "Kidnap you? I invited you? Where are you from, anyway?"


    Toz was reluctant to answer this apparent kidnapper''s question. Thankfully it didn''t look like he had to since the battle between Mindle and the ''Blood Ancestor took a weird turn.


    "Ah! Ah. Wait a little Min- I mean Fire Cat. Some pests showed up. I''ll be right back, so don''t go anywhere!"

 Chapter 473 Clash Of Giants And Toz (11)

    ?The voiceing from the Blood Fiend died out, and the Blood Fiend hung its head and arms like a puppet with its strings cut.


    The Blood Ancestor disappeared, leaving a few strange words behind, and the Blood Fiend remained unmoving. The battlefield sank into a confused silence as everyone waited, barely daring to breathe, afraid it would rouse the Blood Fiend from its slumber.


    For that same reason, Mindle didn''t attack the Blood Fiend again, and Toz helped her maintain the fire mana making up her giant transformation. Since she wasn''t wasting her mana attacking the Blood Fiend, she could stay huge for a while longer.


    Since the Blood Fiend was still on the battlefield, it still posed a threat to everyone on the ne. And so far, Mindle had been the only to able to do anything to it. So, if the Blood Fiend, and not the Blood Ancestor, came back and started wreaking havoc, Mindle would be the only one able to restrain it. But only if she had enough of the firestorm''s mana left to empower her giant phantom self.


    While Toz and Mindle did their best to maintain the giant cat of fire, Kahglia and the others took the opportunity to rest and restore themselves as much as possible in case the Blood Fiend woke up again. The Blood Ancestor obviously wasn''t as much of a threat, but it didn''t seem like they were very reliable, either. And it would be better to be prepared for the worst when dealing with threats at the transcendent level.


    So, while everyone prepared for the worst and hoped for the best, the Blood Fiend stood motionlessly in the middle of the battle, blood dripping slowly from its body.


    Not knowing when the Blood Fiend would awaken or when the supposed Blood Ancestor woulde back had everyone''s nerves tightened to the limit.


    The Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops, led by General Scoll, were still slowly retreating toward the edge of the ne in the hopes of using ships to get off.


    Although they had just been embroiled in a deadly war, the few remnants of the Tribe of Death had surrendered and were trying to join the Alliance in the hopes of also being able to get off the ne and escape the Blood Fiend.


    General Scoll knew better than to create strife at this juncture, and he allowed them to trail behind while they moved toward the camp. Since both sides had been discarded by their transcendent superiors, there was a slight sense of understanding and sympathy between the two sides. Of course, some people had lost friends and close ones to the war, but rather than anger, most people felt sadness and frustration.


    Not everyone knew what the Blood Fiend''s appearance meant at first, but information quickly spread through the troops. And soon, most knew that the Obsidian Empire and transcendent Tribe of Death had sold out their mortal subordinated factions. They had fought for years, shedding countless liters of blood, and seen innumerablerades die in battle. Each time they woke up, they feared they would be next. And all for what? To find out it was for nothing?


    That information hollowed out the troops'' hearts.


    The Tribe of Death had different norms and hierarchical rtionships, but being treated like less than disposable pawns was still something most unpleasant.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The troops andmanders kept an eye on the battle that had taken a brief pause following the Blood Ancestor''s abrupt leave. But with how tense it was, it was as if the battle was still ongoing.


    Eventually, the Blood Fiend trembled, and the magic circle unleashed another wave of light toward the center of the battlefield.


    However, the dark tendrils that infiltrated the magic circle were almost gone this time.


    "Luc- I mean, Blood Ancestor. Have you returned to end this epic battle, once and for all?"


    Mindle tried speaking in a mighty and domineering voice to y along with Lucy''s antics. However, the Blood Ancestor didn''t respond. Instead, the Blood Fiend jerked and turned toward Mindle with organized movements. Just the fact that the Blood Fiend moved properly was evidence that Lucy wasn''t controlling it anymore.


    And then the Blood Fiendunching balls of blood toward Mindle was another piece of evidence that it was moving on its own again.


    Toz had expected it when he saw the dark tendrils disappear from the magic circle, but seeing it in action made Toz sigh hopelessly. He didn''t know if Lucy had ended up in trouble, but since the Blood Fiend and Mindle started fighting again, he didn''t have time to think about it. He had to support Mindle in her fight with the Blood Fiend and give the Alliance as much time as possible to retreat.


    After that, he could spare some time and effort to try and find the other cats. Hopefully, nothing untoward would have happened to them. Toz had troubleing up with something that would distract Lucy from fighting with giants against Mindle like he had done while roleying the Blood Ancestor.


    Although Lucy hadn''t had very fun in the fight since he couldn''t control the Blood Fiend''s body as he wished, so maybe doing something else would be a little more entertaining. Toz hoped he hadn''t ended up in any trouble more troublesome than he could handle. With the sudden appearance of droves of people surpassing the strength of the ninth level, Toz wouldn''t be surprised if there was at least one such individual on the Tribe of Blood''s team.


    And where would they be, in that case? At the center of the magic circle controlling and supporting the Blood Fiend was the most likely ce. Unsurprisingly, the same ce as Lucy.


    Toz didn''t doubt Lucy''s capabilities, but people and beings approaching the transcendent level weren''t those just anyone could fight against however they wanted. And Lucy was probably still at the seventh level, which meant that there were at least two levels of difference between him and this potential opponent.


    As he thought about it, Toz realized that Lucy would probably be fine. Two levels weren''t that much, after all.

 Chapter 474 Clash Of Giants And Toz (12)

    ?After deciding to assume that Lucy was okay and to stop worrying about him, Toz had an easier time focusing on the fight with the Blood Fiend. Since they had changed goals from beating the Blood Fiend to stalling for as long as possible, Mindle just kept the Blood Fiend from moving around instead of wasting all of her energy on sttering it.


    Mindle still had to expend some mana when defending against the waves of blood that rushed from the Blood Fiend or to smack it and stop it from advancing toward the Alliance of Kingdoms. But with Toz and the other three supporting her, Mindle had quite an easy time, at least for the moment. She was still shrinking with each passing second, and the Alliance was still far from their destination.


    However, if nothing happens or no one does anything soon, the battle''s oue wouldn''t have changed, despite all their efforts.


    Well, Toz had managed to restore enough mana to make sure that he would be able to flee the ne after bringing the cats along with him. Although, he hadn''t quite figured out how to reach Lucy and the three who entered the tunnel system below ground to look for him.


    So, while heunched Fireballs at the Blood Fiend to help Mindle restrain it, he subtly started using his void magic to create a way down to the tunnels deep underground. He could try and reach Asilean through their bond and cooperate with him to create a portal. But the tunnels were still interfering with Toz''s inclination due to the material it was made of, so it wasn''t a guarantee.


    Besides, Asilean might have ended up in battle with a near-transcendent and might be too busy to construct a portal. So, it would be better if Toz found a way below ground on his own. Since everyone else was so busy with the battle, no one except Mindle noticed what he was doing.


    However, it wasn''t exactly smooth work, digging through several tens of meters of dirt on a high level ne while also fighting the Blood Fiend and regting how much mana he used. Like most magic, void magic consumed more mana the further away the mage tried to use it. So, after a while, Toz couldn''t keep up the digging any longer without having to risk running out of mana.


    So, while waiting for his mana to recover, he began dropping down constructs of metal into the hole he had made to see if they would be enough to reach the tunnels deep underground.


    There was the possibility of there not being any tunnels at all at the spot where Toz had dug his hole. But since they were so close to the center of the battlefield, Toz willingly wagered that the odds of him striking a tunnel were pretty good.


    Mindle had shrunk to a size between Kahglia and the Blood Fiend. She was still taller than the Flesh Golem and Death Knight, but not by much. And by the looks of it, she wasn''t the only one running on fumes.


    The Flesh Golem was a war machine made by forcefullybining the remains of dead troops on the battlefield. The spell created a powerful being that surpassed the dead materials'' individual strength. But in exchange, the Flesh Golem was a consumable. It would naturally fall apart after some time. Depleting its demonic energy would naturally bring that time closer.


    With how much demonic energy the Flesh Golem had already used up, it was a wonder it could still fight.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The Death Knight was in a simr position. It had used a spell to absorb its subordinates and reach levels of strength that rivaled the Flesh Golem and Kahglia. It was strong from the beginning, so it hadn''t needed as many sacrifices to reach that power, and it also wouldn''t die afterward. But it would grow weak and return to its original state as a strong ninth level death knight. It would probably also suffer a bacsh from the spell and be even weaker than most high level beings for a while.


    Kahglia was still in rtively decent shape, but like any mortal, she was also getting exhausted after fighting for so long without a break.


    The Flesh Golem and the Death Knight knew each other''s states better than anyone else, and they exchanged several nces before the Flesh Golem eventually nodded with a resolved expression on its face.


    Kahglia could tell something was up, but it was difficult tomunicate with beings that were more the product of spells rather than living beings.


    "Step. Back."


    However, the Death Knight managed to push out a couple of words through its helmet with a voice that sounded as if it belonged to a grim reaper. Mindle and Kahglia instinctively followed its order and stepped back. Toz wasn''t as affected and didn''t react on instinct. But he was also quite far away already since he was only in charge of casting Fireballs.


    While Mindle, Kahglia, and the Death Knight stepped back, the Flesh Golem charged toward the Blood Fiend and forcefully moved its body past its limits until it was in the middle of the pool of blood around the Blood Fiend''s feet.


    The Blood Fiend wasn''t rational enough to have anyplicated thoughts. But it was good enough at fighting not to let such an opportunity go, and it mmed its arms of blood together to create onerge pir of blood.


    The Blood Fiend raised the pir of blood above its head and mmed it down toward the Flesh Golem like a sledgehammer. Its strike fell unhindered onto the Flesh Golem, which had closed its eyes.


    The Flesh Golem epted the Blood Fiend''s strike and activated ast-ditch trump card that was only used in emergencies when the Flesh Golem wasn''t strong enough to defeat its opponent. It was a trick that most mages and fighters with enough resolve could pull off. But it was something special when the Flesh Golem did it.

 Chapter 475 Clash Of Giants And Toz (13)

    ?The Flesh Golem made use of the Blood Fiend''s strike to pulverize everyst bit of itself in an explosion of death attribute demonic energy as it self-destructed. All of the demonic energy locked into its flesh, keeping the Golem together, was released in a cloud of ck smoke that filled the pool of blood supporting the Blood Fiend. The cloud of death also seeped into the Blood Fiend''s body and started shing with the blood attribute demonic energy.


    Toz and the others stepped back even further when the Flesh Golem self-destructed out of fear that the explosion of ck fog would be indiscriminate in its attack. However, it turned out that they didn''t have to be so cautious. All the Flesh Golem''s demonic energy targeted the Blood Fiend and only the Blood Fiend. The mist of death attribute demonic energy swirled around the Blood Fiend and fought to corrode it, simrly to how the blood attribute demonic energy tried to corrode the firestorm.


    And, because some of the death attribute demonic energy seeped into the pool of blood, the Blood Fiend seemed to lose a significant amount of strength as it fought off the Flesh Golem''sst-ditch effort.


    But the death attribute demonic energy created during a single battle wasn''t enough topare to the blood spilled during an entire war. The ck fog eventually started losing against the Blood Fiend''s puddle of blood and the neverending surge of demonic energying from the magic circle.


    But the two different attributes still shed and waged war inside the Blood Fiend''s body. The Flesh Golem''s lingering resentment powered the demonic energy and dyed the Blood Fiend''s recovery for as long as possible. However, it was impossible for the death attribute demonic energy to defeat the Blood Fiend and make itst.


    The Flesh Golem''s sacrifice had bought the others a few precious moments of rest. But it wasn''t enough for the Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops to reach the base camp where the ships were.


    Even thebined forces of Toz, Mindle, Kahglia, and the Death Knight wouldn''t be enough to stall the Blood Fiend long enough to let the Alliance escape. But there wasn''t much they could do except their best.


    There was the option of trying to flee and outrun the Blood Fiend before they werepletely exhausted. However, there was still no way to get off the battlefield. Since the Obsidian Empire had decided to sell out the Alliance of Kingdoms, it was entirely possible that they sabotaged their means of escape.


    The Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops were only relying on the faint hope that there would still be a way to escape, despite knowing about the Obsidian Empire''s betrayal.


    But in the midst of the despairing battle against the Blood Fiend, Toz didn''t show any of that despair. That was something Kahglia couldn''t help but notice as she waited for the Blood Fiend to get rid of all the death attribute demonic energy.


    "Hey. You have a way out, right?"


    Kahglia didn''t bother whispering just so that she could get the Death Knight on her side. And as she expected, the Death Knight turned its helmed head to look at Toz. But Toz didn''t feel pressured by the two gazes of the giants. Both of them were tired and too drained to be able to fight him, much less catch up to him if he wanted to flee. But Toz wasn''t going to do that just yet.


    Although the Obisidan Empire had sold out the Alliance of Kingdoms in favor of the Tribe of Blood and Toz probably wouldn''t be able to tag along to the Transcendent Realm with Dyra and Yill anymore, he didn''t want to give up against the Blood Fiend. Since he wasn''t at risk of getting caught and dying at the hands of the Blood Fiend, he could, at the very least, help General Scoll, the Lightning Rascals, and the other members of the infiltration squad make it out alive.


    "And if I do?"


    Kahglia''s expression perked up at that. She already knew that forcing Toz wouldn''t work, so she changed to a different tactic. She looked with a gaze that was clearly hinting toward something as she scanned his half-naked body and the baggy pants covering his legs.


    "You don''t have a lot of money, right?"


    "Don''t really need it, either."


    Kahglia clicked her tongue. But she wasn''t giving in that easily.


    "You like women, then?"


    "I appreciate the offer, but no thanks."


    "Fucker. You know that''s not what I meant."


    Toz just shrugged.


    "What about men?"


    "Are you trying to convince me to help you out or to leave you behind?"


    Kahglia shrugged.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "What do you want then."


    "A ride to the Transcendent Realm, for starters."


    "And¡­?"


    "Information, I guess."


    "What kind of information do you want?"


    "Oh, and some help in rescuing a family member from the Obsidian Empire."


    "..."


    "Deal?"


    "I can bring you to the Transcendent Realm, sure. And depending on the information, I can help you with that as well. But if you want help against the Obsidian Empire, you''ll have to talk to my dad."


    "Sounds risky. Not really worth it. I can probably find another way, and I am pretty decent at gathering information."


    "Dude. It will be a proper audience. I''m not asking you to talk to my dad so that he can take revenge for how you have mistreated me."


    "When did I mistreat you?"


    "Dunno. I haven''t decided yet."


    Toz sighed.


    "Who even is your father?"


    Kahglia''s annoying smirk was reced by an astonished gasp. She looked up and down her body and made sure that she was, in fact, over nine meters tall.


    "Are you fucking around right now?"


    "No, but I am about to fuck off right out of here. Without you."


    "Fucker. My dad''s the Mountain King. I am the Mountain King''s daughter. Have you lived under a rock, or what? How have you not heard of my father?"


    "Well, have you heard of my parents?"


    "No."


    "Exactly."


    Toz had a smug face as he crossed his arms.

 Chapter 476 Clash Of Giants And Toz (14)

    ?Kahglia sighed, crossed her arms, and rested her head in one hand.


    "Where did you say you were from, again?"


    "City of Growing Iron, but what does that have to do with anything?"


    "And where is that city located?"


    "The Firebelt Kingdom."


    Kahglia stared wide-eyed at Toz after hearing and processing his answer.


    "You''re from the Mortal Realm?"


    "Yeah."


    Kahglia closed her eyes, furrowed her brows, and tilted her head around in confusion.


    "What the fuck? Do you have a master or something?"


    "Nope. And again, what are you getting at?"


    "I''m just trying to understand you."


    "You don''t wanna do that some other time? That thing''s starting to move again."


    Kahglia looked at the Blood Fiend after Toz pointed out that it was almost free from the death attribute demonic energy.


    "Urgh. Anyway, do we have a deal? You''ll help me get out of this ce, preferably bringing along General Scoll as well, and I''ll guide you to the Transcendent Relm, give you information, and let you hold an audience with my father, the Mountain King."


    "Sure."


    After some consideration, Toz agreed. And since Kahglia asked him to bring along General Scoll, he could save the Lightning Rascals and the infiltration squad members while he was at it. The Lightning Rascals could be sturdy allies in the future, considering their talents and future potential. And since they were most likely elite members of their factions, Toz could even possibly get some help if he wanted to save Taienra. And at least Wyrie and Hal possessed useful skills.


    After hearing Toz''s answer, even if there was no way to guarantee that he would stick to his word, Kahglia faced the Blood Fiend and got ready to intercept its advance again. However, the Death Knight, who had begun shrinking, still looked at Toz.


    "Take. Me. As Well."


    As the Death Knight lost the power it got from the spell, its voice grew a little less harrowing, but it was still slightly intimidating. Not that Toz minded.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Since Toz only stared at the Death Knight for a few seconds without answering, the Death Knight began reaching for the handle of the sword attached to its back.


    "I. Give. You. Sword."


    "I already have a sword."


    "Then¡­"


    The Death Knight looked a little flustered as it fumbled with its hands and looked around itself, trying to find something to convince Toz to bring it along.


    "You know what? Since I''m already bringing her and a few others along, I might as well take you too."


    "Really. ?"


    "Yeah. Why not? But first, let''s give those guys as good a chance at fleeing as possible."


    The Death Knight nodded and joined Kahglia as they stood in front of the Blood Fiend.


    The Death Knight had returned to its original size of just above two meters, and it was probably much weaker than it was only a few minutes ago. But it didn''t show any signs of retreating or making use of its apparent weakness as an excuse not to fight. The Death Knight''s attitude was a little inspiring, and Toz started preparing for how to bring everyone away from the battlefield.


    Thankfully, he had managed to hit the tunnel system with his magic. And after breaching through the tunnel, he could suddenly establish contact with Nil, Scrael, and Asilean, at least. When he discovered that he couldn''t reach Lucy, Toz couldn''t help but get worried again. But since the other three cats were doing their best to find him, he concentrated on firing Fireballs at the Blood Fiend to stop it from smashing Kahglia and the Death Knight.


    Toz alsomunicated his ns to the other cats so that they would be ready to help him when they found Lucy. Since he was nning to take the others and flee into the Void, especially Asilean''s help would be necessary. Now that he was at the seventh level, he didn''t even require Toz''s help in creating a portal. It would help and make it easier, but it wasn''t a necessity. That would certainly help if they wanted to flee the ne.


    And then, before they stepped into the Void, Toz and Asilean would have to protect everyone with void magic. But that should be rtively easy.


    Now they only had to find Lucy and dy the Blood Fiend for as long as possible.


    Toz would be able to save a few people from the Blood Fiend by bringing them along to the Void. But he wouldn''t be able to save the entirety of the Alliance of Kingdoms. The life and death of the Alliance''s troops didn''t have anything to do with Toz, especially now that the matter of contribution points had gone up in smoke. But the Blood Fiend would grow even more powerful if it absorbed the blood of all thebatants in the army. It could grow powerful enough to step into the Void and chase after them. While towing a bunch of other people, Toz wasn''t confident he could escape the Blood Fiend, at least not while keeping the others safe.


    So, the best oue would be if the general found a bunch of still intact ships at the camp and brought the troops away while Toz and the others stalled the Blood Fiend.


    However, with the waning fighting power of Kahglia and the Death Knight, it was bing increasingly difficult just to slow down the Blood Fiend''s advance. Even Mindle wasn''t doing much to stop it in its tracks anymore.


    It also seemed like the Blood Fiend realized that the Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops were more important than the four pests buzzing around it and trying to grab its ankles. The Blood Fiend only did the bare minimum to stop Mindle and the others from destroying it as it marched onward toward the Alliance''s troops.


    Thankfully, the Alliance had gotten so far ahead that they were barely visible. But they didn''t move as quickly as the Blood Fiend did. And as soon as Toz and the others were unable to restrain it anymore, the Blood Fiend would quickly catch up.

 Chapter 477 Clash Of Giants And Toz (15)

    Although Kahglia''s fists, the Death Knight''s shes, Mindle''s strikes, and Toz''s Fireballs didn''t do much to the Blood Fiend, it still seemed to find it mildly annoying and started expending some more effort to try and get rid of the four of them while it charged toward the Alliance.


    However, Toz and the others did their best to stall the Blood Fiend for as long as possible, despite barely being able to slow it down.


    Since the Alliances'' troops should be getting close to their target, Toz spread his perception all the way over using space magic. He wanted to know if it was even worth trying to save everyone.


    With how fast the Blood Fiend was, it wouldn''t take much for it to catch up. And rather than trying to dy the inevitable, Toz might as well do his best to make sure he and the people he wanted to save could get a headstart on the Blood Fiend into the Void.


    And what he sensed made him thankful that he decided to check ahead of time.


    It was too far away to sense in detail if there were any ships or not. But, Toz could detect scoutsing back from the camp. Or rather, scouts had been sent to the camp, and some of them returned to the main army. Others broke down in despair. That was all Toz needed to perceive to know that the Obsidian Empire had sealed all ways of retreat.


    "Hey! Time to move!"


    Toz shouted at Kahglia and the Death Knight to get their attention. The two, without hesitation, moved toward him. Mindle also controlled all of the remaining fire mana of the firestorm and sent it toward the Blood Fiend in a single burst to make it stop in ce long enough for them to withdraw.


    The giant fire cat transformed into a stream of fire and left behind only a single, exhausted orange cat. Toz jumped up and caught Mindle before letting her into the familiar space.


    When hended, Toz enveloped Kahglia and the Death Knight in space magic so that he could bring them along as he dashed toward the Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops.


    Enveloped in Toz''s space magic, Kahglia and the Death Knight did their best to apany Toz as he shrank space and rushed toward the Alliance to pick up General Scoll and the others that Toz wanted to bring.


    Without Toz and the others obstructing it, the Blood Fiend was making steady progress as well. Toz wouldn''t have much time to bring General Scoll and the others away. It was ruthless, but he would have to use the troops to buy him time. He also wouldn''t have much time for exnations.


    Toz gritted his teeth and rushed forward while checking how it was going for Asilean and the others. They had found traces of Lucy. But unfortunately, they also found traces of a demon who had reached the threshold of the transcendent level, just as Toz feared. So, Toz would have to do all the hard work himself.


    However, before he even got too close to the army, Toz noticed someone approaching him from that direction. And they were closing the distance rapidly. Toz quickly sensed the spatial fluctuationsing from the person and realized that it was General Scoll''s subordinate, the space mage, Merr.


    Toz didn''t stop moving toward the army, and Merr didn''t have any intentions of stopping him. He just wanted to get information from Toz about what happened with the Blood Fiend.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "We couldn''t stop it. I''m taking the general, you guys, Wyrie, Mifter, Hal, and the Lightning Rascals with me. Go ahead and get them ready."


    Unlike Toz, who didn''t have much mana left and was practically running on fumes, Merr was a fully rested space mage at the eighth level. He returned to the army in the blink of an eye to get things ready. He knew how dire the situation was and didn''t bother asking Toz how he was nning to save those he mentioned. But if it meant the general would get out alive, Merr didn''t want to waste time with bothersome questions. He also didn''t bother asking about the Death Knight, struggling to keep up with Toz and Kahglia.


    Toz and the others quickly arrived at the Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops. It seemed like their and Merr''s movements had caused a slight ruckus in the ranks. But Toz didn''t care. He quickly located the general, who had grouped up with the Lightning Rascals and the other members of the infiltration squad.


    Toz, the giant Kahglia, and the Death Knight''s arrival caused an incredible stir, even more so since people could still see the Blood Fiend in the distance. It was obvious they had retread because they couldn''t defeat it.


    Despair began setting in among the troops. There were nos hips or ways to get off the battlefield, and the only ones who had hopes of stopping the Blood Fiend were unsessful.


    Toz pointed at Kahglia and the Death Knight.


    "You two areing with me at once. Merr, you stay here and prepare a portal right here."


    Toz set a lump of space mana in the air so that he could connect to itter.


    "I''ll go ahead and create a portal in the Void."


    Toz grabbed Kahglia and the Death Knight and started flitting through the air toward the Void. Kahglia was toorge to fit through the portal. And Toz didn''t trust the troops not to cause a ruckus when one of the leaders of the ones who killed their allies was in the middle of them. A ruckus was thest thing he wanted, especially when he was about to leave everyone behind for dead. All of the troops might be enough to interfere with his n to save the general and the others before the Blood Fiend caught up to them.


    It wouldn''t be the end of him. But there was a lot to gain by bringing along the General, and he also wanted to save the ones he was close enough to call acquaintances. He was still thankful for the grimoire Hassandra got him as well. So, if he didn''t seed in bringing along the ones he wanted to bring along, Toz might feel a little down, which he didn''t want.


    "Wait!"


    General Scoll''s voice stopped Toz before he got too far.

 Chapter 478 Fleeing The Battlefield (1)

    Toz reluctantly stopped and made footholds for himself and the other two by solidifying the space beneath their feet. He looked at General Scoll.


    "We don''t have time for this, General. Be quick."


    "Is there no way to save everyone?"


    "There is."


    "Then¡­!"


    "Convince that big red fe to stop."


    "..."


    "I can bring along and shelter a few people in the Void. But too many, and we won''t be able to outrun that bloodstain. Even now, it''s taking it slow because the army has stopped moving."


    "Is there really no other way?"


    Toz pondered for a few short moments before looking at Merr and Derada.


    "Depends. How useful are those two?"


    "Very."


    "Okay. Give me all the mana potions and grimoires."


    "I don''t have any grimoires on me, but the mana potions are on their way."


    "General."


    Toz looked at General Scoll with a stern re. He hadn''t meant the grimoires that General Scoll had.


    "I''ll see what I can do."


    General Scoll sighed and began rying orders as Toz jumped upward by stepping on pieces of solidified space.


    Toz, Kahglia, and the Death Knight neared the atmosphere. Kahglia and the Death Knight were naturally worried since they thought Toz would bring out a vessel or something that they could use while traveling through the Void. But Toz didn''t even change his expression or lower his speed as they neared the end of the ne''s atmospheric barrier.


    "Hey¡­! What are-!"


    Kahglia tried to get Toz to stop before he entered the Void. They might be strong and close to the transcendent level. But Kahglia, and especially the Death Knight, were still beings at the ninth level. They couldn''t withstand the Void with only their bodies.


    However, Toz burst into the Void without a care in the world. Kahglia instinctively tried to protect herself against the Void''s pressure before it ate away her body. However, she quickly realized that Void''s pressure didn''t touch her. As she sensed more closely, she noticed a thin, nearly undetectableyer of magic was protecting her from the Void.


    "Void magic?!"


    "Yep. Now be quiet and let me concentrate. Oh, and if you have any more mana potions, hand them over."


    "Tch."


    In the Void, with Toz''s magic the only thing protecting her, Kahglia didn''t really have a choice, and she handed over two mana potions with a click of her tongue.


    Toz grabbed the mana potions and downed them in two gulps before sitting down crosslegged with closed eyes. Since he had agreed to save everyone in exchange for all the grimoires in the camp and the army, he should at least try his best.


    The first thing he needed to do wasplete the portal so that he could get even more mana potions as quickly as possible. And while he was setting up the portal, he also had to prepare the thing that would protect everyone against the Void''s pressure.


    A thin silvery metal sheet spread out beneath Toz and gave Kahglia and the Death Knight something to stand on before they drifted away.


    Toz used his space magic to connect to the space mana he had left behind next to Merr and triggered it. With Merr''s active cooperation, a pair of portals quickly linked the ne''s surface with the metal sheet that continued to grow and spread even further.


    Cooper was the first one through the portal, and he stepped on the sheet with a wary expression. However, when he noticed that there wasn''t any danger to his life, he quickly located Toz and walked over to him with several spatial rings containing mana potions. It was part of what was left after the Alliance''s battle with the Tribe of Death.


    "General Scoll asked me to tell you that those who don''t have grimoires are willing to pay you in items, treasures, and everything valuable. Is that okay?"


    "As long as I still get all the grimoires."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "The General guessed as much. Umm, by the way, are we moving?"


    "No. Don''t bother me. Kahglia, if you handle the treasures and stuff, I''ll give you a share."


    "Twenty percent."


    "Ten."


    "Eighteen."


    "Ten."


    "Fifteen.


    "Nine."


    "Hey! Come on! Twelve."


    "Eight. Final offer or I''ll ask Sir Death Knight to do it."


    "Do you really think they can?"


    "..."


    "Fine, ten percent."


    "Seven."


    "Tch."


    Kahglia finally epted and started preparing to ept the treasure of those who would pass through the portal.


    General Scoll, Rie, Seich, Derada, Merr, Wyrie, Mifter, Hal, and the Lightning Rascals walked through the portal one after the other.


    Since Merr was a high level space mage, he could maintain the portal even from the other side. And that wasn''t the only thing he could do. He could also maintain the portals'' connection while moving one of them further away.


    While Merr made sure that the portals remained connected, Derada started getting to work.


    For the first time since the war started, she showed a lively expression as she walked to Toz.


    "What material is this?"


    Toz didn''t want to be disturbed, but he could tell that Derada would be responsible for moving them, and for that, she probably needed to know what she was working with.


    "Void metal. Abination of void magic and metal magic. Just metal, no specific ore."


    "Combination magic?"


    "How durable is it?"


    "Depends. It resists magic but is pretty weak against physical force."


    "Give me a piece."


    Toz didn''t bother answering. He just made a face-sized square sheet of void metal in the air in front of Derada. Derada snatched the sheet out of the air and started investigating the metal.


    After a little while, she began scribbling on it with her finger. Well, she tried. Her scribbling didn''t stick to the metal and just fell off.


    But Derada just hummed. And it was impossible to tell if it was from frustration or joy. However, Toz was too busy to even try to care, and he continued expanding the sheet so that more of the troops could fit. The only other thing he cared about was how it was going for Kahglia in her collecting of spatial storage items.


    The mana potions went directly to Toz, and he gulped them down endlessly. But he didn''t have the leeway to care about the storage items with grimoires and treasures at the moment. So, he left it to Kahglia to ept and organize everything.


    And the Death knight took it upon themselves to guard Toz and ensure his safety while he was defenseless. Only an idiot or a spy would attempt to disrupt Toz at this juncture. But if there was anything the world would neverck, it was idiots. And spies were asmon as weed, especially during war.

 Chapter 479 Fleeing The Battlefield (2)

    ?


    Toz focused on expanding the sheet of void metal while covering it in a thickyer of void magic that shielded the passengers from the Void. Since he was creating such arge magic construct and using so much mana at once, Toz burned through the mana potions like wildfire on a grassy in during a drought.


    But there were enough mana potions for an entire army, and it looked like it would be enough for Toz to make arge enough sheet to fit all the troops. And when he finished, he wouldn''t have to expend as much mana as before. He would only have to maintain the sheet and the void magic to keep everyone safe.


    However, there was one thing they had to do before that. They had to start moving. Since Toz was so busy creating the sheet and making itrge enough to fit an entire army, he didn''t have enough mental leeway or mana to move it around as well.


    That was what Derada and Merr were for. Merr would keep the portal intact so that the troops could continue escaping the battlefield. And Derada would use enchantments to make the sheet self-propelling. However, the void metal wasn''t easy to work with.


    Derada couldn''t get her enchantments to stick to the metal or make them work, but she didn''t care and frenziedly continued trying different ways. But it seemed like she was more interested in the void metal itself rather than desperate to get the tform going.


    But whether it was because she wanted to figure out the void metal or if it was because she wanted to get the tform to start moving, Derada eventually started to make her enchantments work. It was evident from her clicking tongue she wasn''t satisfied yet, but Derada started applying the enchantments to therge sheet.


    Derada stood up and pulled out something that looked like a head-sized piece of mechanical trinkets fused together. Derada injected her mana into it, and magic enchantments flew through the air from the device to the sheet. The enchantments integrated into the continuously expanding metal sheet. And after a little while, therge metal sheet began flying through the Void under Derada''s control.


    It moved so slowly that it was barely detectable and wouldn''t be nearly enough to get away from the Blood Fiend. But with each enchantment Derada added, the sheet continued building speed.


    Merr was prepared for it, and he managed to maintain the portal, despite the stream of troops andbatants straining the portal to its limits. Thankfully, Kahglia making sure that everyone paid what they were supposed to slowed down the passage of the troops and made it easier for both Merr and Toz.


    Toz was beginning to feel sick from all of the mana potions he gulped down, but the thought of getting all of the grimoires he could ever read did make him want to endure it, and he continued expanding the sheet and theyer of void magic.


    However, Toz couldn''t help but worry that the Blood Fiend was going to catch up due to how slowly they were moving through the Void.


    "If the blood clot is about to catch up, I''ll dump everyone and flee with only the ones I want to take. Make sure the General knows that."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Toz spoke to Cooper so that he could ry the message to General Scoll. But he said it loud enough so that Derada, the one in charge of movement, knew what would happen if she didn''t speed up. It didn''t really look like she cared, but she still increased the output on her device so that it spat out more and more enchantments. It also seemed like the enchantments got more effective in working together with the void metal, but Toz was too absorbed in his creating of the metal sheet and maintaining the magic to really care about much else.


    He didn''t even care about the ruckus that someone tried to stir because of how slowly the troops were able to get through the portal because of Kahglia shaking down everyone to make them give up everyst crumb of value. Since she had inadvertently lowered her share by trying to negotiate with Toz, she had to get as much as possible from the ones who passed through.


    She wasn''t necessarily poor, but she wasn''t as spoiled as some believed she was, and she knew how to take advantage of an opportunity to get as much as possible.


    The ordinary troops of the Alliance of Kingdoms'' army were mostly soldiers recruited from the mortal realm, and they didn''t have much on them in terms of valuables. At least not to the point where it would catch Kahglia''s interest.


    But the descendants andbatants of the various transcendent factions were like walking treasure troves.


    Since transcendent bodyguards were forbidden from entering the battlefield, most of them stacked up on items and treasures that would increase their strength and survivability.


    So, in addition to taking all the grimoires everyone handed over, Kahglia also made sure to fleece the rich of everything worth more than a gold coin. Of course, the value of a gold coin in the Mortal Realm. Some of Kahglia''s targets barely left with the clothes they had on them.


    But no one could really say no. If they were that stubborn, Kahglia could either send them back or just throw them off the sheet of void metal. There were a few transcendent factionbatants who had defensive treasures that would help them survive against the Void''s pressure. But they didn''t have any vessels capable of surpassing the transcendent Blood Fiend when it came to speed.


    It was only inevitable that Kahglia''s work would make other people upset. Naturally, people got overconfident after telling themselves that Kahglia was weak since she couldn''t defeat the Blood Fiend. But they forgot none of them stood a chance against even the Flesh Golem, and the ruckus was quickly quelled by Kahglia before anything untoward happened with the portal.


    But the sheet of void metal wasn''t moving fast enough, and worry began spreading among the troops, both on the sheet and on the ground.

 Chapter 480 Fleeing The Battlefield (3)

    ?


    Toz ignored the atmosphere among the troops andbatants on the void metal sheet and concentrated on expanding it so that the troops still on the ground would have a ce to stand when they arrived through the portal. The Death Knight, while weak, was still intimidating enough to make sure no one rashly approached him.


    However, Toz got a bad feeling. The Blood Fiend should be getting quite close to the troops on the ground. It had taken it pretty slow in the beginning since it was confident that it would catch up, especially when the Alliance of Kingdoms'' army stopped moving. But it should have realized that they were escaping and picked up its pace.


    The others on the sheet also knew that the Blood Fiend wasn''t far from the troops on the ground. And since barely half the army was through, it was inevitable that they would be worried about how it was going to go. That was one of the reasons so many were upset with Kahglia and how she closely inspected everyone for the valuables and grimoires they needed to pay in order to get a chance at living.


    Fortunately for Toz, he had gotten most of the grimoires at the beginning of the escape. So, he didn''t have to worry about any of that being left behind.


    With the stress on the void metal sheet in the Void building continuously, the troops continued streaming through the portal with increasingly anxious faces. It was obvious that the Blood Fiend wasn''t far from the army.


    Eventually, it became that the Blood Fiend had closed the distance. The troops pushed each other through the portal while screaming like strangled cats.


    However, it didn''t take long until the troops were reced by a wave of sticky blood, led by a soldier''s lifeless torso.


    At that, Merr promptly closed the portal before the Blood Fiend could try and attack them through it. The Blood Fiend probably wouldn''t be able to fit through the portal, but its attacks could certainly pass through and affect Toz''s magic, which could lead to everyone except Toz dying. Only a few drops of blood passed through the portal before Merr closed it, and they apanied the dead body into the Void through a hole in the sheet that Toz made and unmade.


    Merr breathed a sigh of relief. But Merr couldn''t rx for long before Kahglia lightly tapped his head.


    "Get a move on. That fucker isn''t going to stay down there."


    Merr realized what Kahglia meant and started helping Derada transport the void metal sheet by shrinking space. It was just that the metal sheet wasrge enough to fit more than half an army. He had to shrink a lot of space just to move the sheet a little bit.


    However, the smallest amount helped. And now that Toz didn''t need to expand the metal sheet anymore, he could soon begin helping Merr. he just had to secure the lives of everyone by sealing the sheet and turning it into something that looked like a gigantic shiny biscuit of shiny metal.


    When he had done that, Toz didn''t need to maintain the magic protecting everyone from the pressure of the Void anymore. And since everyone, almost everyone at least, had some sort of way to light up their surroundings, they weren''t trapped in darkness for more than a moment.


    Of course, sealing the void metal sheet like that prevented them from looking around them. The void metal even prevented them from sensing unless they were noticeably capable or had some special means.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Thankfully, since there weren''t very many like that, panic regarding the Blood Fiend''s rapid approach didn''t spread very far. However, people couldn''t help but notice how those who were famous for their detection abilities curled up in fetal positions and started sucking their thumbs.


    Even with Toz, Derada, and Merr working together, it was impossible to outrun a transcendent being using only the powers of high level mages when transporting several thousand people.


    Derada was doing her best to fill the void metal shuttle with enchantments and propel it forward, while Toz and Merr did their best to use their magic to increase how quickly it traveled. But there was a limit to how much they could do.


    A few of the troops andbatants tried to help, but there was a limit to what mages and fighters withcking skills could contribute, and the Blood Fiend was steadily gaining on them.


    Toz was beginning to get ready to dump everyone he didn''t want to save since it would be a lot easier bringing along less than twenty people instead of an army. And based on the Lightning Rascals'' and the others'' movements, they were also getting ready. General Scoll and most of the people who knew Toz would save them had sour expressions. But they knew that they would rather live than die because of a bunch of strangers they didn''t even know.


    It was callous, but it was also an understandable choice.


    However, it was still possible that they would be able to escape the Blood Fiend since it should be tied to the magic circle on the battlefield. Not that it showed any signs of slowing down or losing strength, even after leaving the battlefield behind. If anything, the chances of the Blood Ancestor returning seemed to disappear because of the increasing distance between the battlefield and the Blood Fiend.


    At the same time, it would probably be difficult for the Blood Fiend to regenerate if they managed to destroy it. But there was no one capable of that.


    General Scoll sighed.


    The Blood Fiend was so close that even the ones at the back of the void metal biscuit could sense the ominous aura emanating from it. In their fear, they couldn''t help but try and scramble to the front. It was useless since they would die in the end. Thankfully, the fear of the wolves that were Kahglia and the Death Knight prevented the sheep-like mentality from taking over, and the three mages could concentrate on their flight.


    However, if the Blood Fiend got much closer, it would be able to grab hold of Toz and the others, even if they dumped the army.


    Toz was right about to cut off the majority of the biscuit and save only the people clustered around him when his eyes shed.

 Chapter 481 Dagger

    ?


    With the enhanced senses from his bond with the cats, his void and space magic, and the fact that the void metal shuttle was his, Toz had a much easier time sensing things outside the shuttle than others. And he was the first to notice something approaching from another direction than the Blood Fiend.


    It was still too far to make out in detail what it was that he had sensed, but Toz could tell it was something powerful. So, he squeezed down another couple of mana potions, pumped out a wave of space mana that shrank space, andunched the shuttle forward. The sudden charge caught Merr a little by surprise, but he wiped the sweat on his forehead with a sleeve before doing his best to aid Toz, even if it seemed futile since the Blood Fiend was still tight on their heels.


    However, if Toz went the extra mile to save all the troops, Merr wouldn''tin, even if it took some extra effort. Even if Toz would save him by protecting him from the Void, Merr wasn''t so callous he could willingly abandon all the troops relying on them for their survival. They were people he had been on the battlefield with, dined with, and joked around with during the war.


    General Scoll''s subordinates hadn''t been actively involved in the directbat against the Tribe of Death. But they had still contributed greatly to the war efforts, and in doing so, Merr, at least, had gotten closer to the troops of the Alliance of Kingdoms. There was also the fact that he sympathized and rted to the mostly humble backgrounds of all the soldiers.


    So, even if General Scoll hadn''t brought it up, Merr would have still asked for a way to save everyone. Though he probably wouldn''t have been very sessful.


    But now that there was a chance to save everyone, Merr wasn''t going to hold back, and he pushed his space magic to the limit as he helped Toz and Derada speed the shuttle through the Void to try and escape the Blood Fiend.


    However, Merr couldn''t help but be a little surprised when Toz suddenly changed direction, and he inadvertently let his magic slip for a moment, which let the Blood Fiend narrow the gap even further. Merr could feel himself begin to panic and hurried to rectify his mistake.


    Merr was so caught up in focusing on his magic that he didn''t even think about sensing why Toz changed directions.


    But many others inside the void metal shuttle were shocked by the sudden change in direction and hurried to sense what was going on. However, when they couldn''t find anything, they assumed that it was simply a foolish tactic to try and dodge the Blood Fiend.


    It wasn''t until a whileter that a few began sensing powerful fluctuations from afar. And shortly after that, the more sensitive ones could tell that something, or someone, was approaching the shuttle even faster than the Blood Fiend.


    Toz was a little surprised when he saw what the object flying toward the shuttle was. But he was also worried since it was flying straight toward the shuttle. And with the power propelling it, he wasn''t sure the void metal could even slow it down.


    Toz decided to hope that the shuttle wasn''t the target and opened two holes the size of a fist at either end of the shuttle to let the dagger pass through the shuttle.


    The dagger flew so quickly that only a fraction of the troops witnessed it. But no one had time to even think about reacting before it was on the other side of the shuttle and on its way toward the Blood Fiend.


    Toz sighed in slight relief.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Since he recognized the dagger, there was only one option to who was spearheading the fleet of ships that Toz had changed directions to meet.


    Toz doubted anyone would be able to steal the dagger from her, and if they could, they wouldn''t be able to use it. The only thing that worried him was the power behind the dagger. It was greater than what the owner had disyed thest time Toz met them.


    And if their personality was the same, he might have left the frying pan just to end up in the fire, the metaphorical kind. If it were literal fire, Toz wouldn''t worry.


    At least there was hope things wouldn''t be too troublesome since the dagger targeted the Blood Fiend first. Maybe its owner hade with friendly intentions.


    At this point, it wasn''t long until he would find out, and Toz continued steering the void metal shuttle forward to meet the armada of ships. Thankfully, the dagger had slowed the Blood Fiend''s movements down to aplete stop. Toz was curious about what was happening.


    He could sense that the Blood Fiend was rapidly losing strength and that the Hidden Blood Dagger had lodged itself in the middle of the Blood Fiend''s chest. But since the Blood Fiend was struggling for its life, he couldn''t tell whether the dagger or the Blood Fiend was winning.


    But he soon had to redirect his attention to the figure rapidly approaching from the direction of the fleet.


    Toz had suspected it when he sensed how powerful the dagger had been. But that didn''t mean he wanted to believe it. However, when the figure approached the void metal shuttle without the help of a vessel or an item, Toz didn''t have much choice.


    Toz sighed and stood up while motioning for Derada and Merr to stop the shuttle. Even if they rammed the figure, it wouldn''t do anything. And since the Blood Fiend had been stopped, they didn''t need to run anymore, at least not from the Blood Fiend.


    Toz moved to the edge of the void metal biscuit and made a hole in the metal before stepping out and resealing the hole. He shed forward and met the figure in front of the void metal biscuit.


    "You look like shit, great Pirate King."


    "I would say the same, but that''s an insult to shit, so I''ll refrain. Red Hook."

 Chapter 482 Pirates To The Rescue

    ?


    Toz and Red Hook stared at each other in silence for several tense moments.


    Toz had used force to suppress Red Hook and be the Pirate King of Pirate Haven. But those kinds of methods only worked as long as the power bnce remained intact. And at the moment, Toz was exhausted, fatigued, and tired. He was mostly clear from physical injuries, but he had pushed his mana, body, and mind to the limit, seemingly non-stop, for at least a day.


    But he would still be weaker than Red Hook, even if he had been in his best state. After all, Red Hook had somehow managed to break through to the transcendent level.


    "Is it thanks to the dagger?"


    Toz couldn''t restrain his curiosity anymore and asked what was on his mind.


    "Partly. The trump card on my ind also helped. Now that I don''t need to hide it anymore, I can tell you that I umted and concentrated all the blood of the people I defeated."


    Red Hook answered with a slightly smug face as she reveled in being stronger than Toz.


    "So, you want to be Pirate King? Queen, maybe?"


    "Well, yeah."


    "Here you go, then."


    Toz took off an imaginary crown and handed it to Red Hook. Red Hook just snorted.


    "Hmph. It''s no fun if you''re just handing it over. Why not fight for it a little? Even if you look like shit, it''s not like you''re injured, right?"


    Toz sighed.


    "Help me settle this, and after I tell you what I''ve been through, I''ll fight you as much as you want."


    "Really? I only need one round to beat you, though. But sure. We have a deal."


    With that agreement, Toz and Red Hook decided to deal with personal matterster. Red Hook went to finish the Blood Fiend while Toz directed the void metal shuttle over to the fleet of pirate ships so that they could hold all the fugitives instead of him.


    Toz saw a few of his old friends like the Bunglehoppers and Tasha, but since they were all busy taking care of sorting the troops and keeping them from causing trouble, reunions would have to wait. But he made sure to wave to them when he got their eyes.


    While overseeing it all, he informed General Scoll, the Lightning Rascals, and the others of who were his friends so that they knew who to stick close to on the ships to avoid trouble. While doing that, he also exined to General Scoll that the pirates of Pirate Haven hade to the rescue since Red Hook had sensed that the two delegates of the Redire Kingdom were suspicious. It took a while to gather information and unite all the pirates. But when Red Hook broke through to the transcendent level, things like that weren''t a problem.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    General Scoll was a little surprised that the pirates understood that they would also be in trouble if the Alliance of Kingdoms lost the war. But he was even more surprised that the pirates willingly came to help, despite the ploy the kingdoms had nned against Pirate Haven.


    But Toz didn''t find it surprising at all. The pirates knew better than most how fragile life was and how their piracy and continued existence relied on the kingdoms. They were parasites, and parasites without hosts would usually die.


    There was naturally bound to be some friction when those parasites, the symbols ofwlessness, and the military met. But thankfully, there were powerhouses on both sides that made sure no fighting broke out.


    So, even if the army, which was mostlyprised of high level mages and fighters, was technically stronger, the pirates had both numbers and stamina. The army was almostpletely exhausted, after all. And the strongest of the pirates, like Wulf, Tasha, the various members of the Bunglehoppers, Red Hook''s crew, and the Cult of Nihiltas, were more than enough to suppress the soldiers andbatants.


    The only ones who could match the pirates were the Lightning Rascals'' joint efforts and Derada. But none of them were interested in causing strife. If anything, they, at least the Lightning Rascals, were busy suppressing the troops so that they didn''t try and fight against the pirates. Derada was busy fiddling with the piece of void metal Toz gave her.


    Now that the Blood Fiend was suppressed and defeated by Red Hook.


    The Alliance of Kingdoms'' troops quickly forgot their fear. Or maybe because they remembered it so clearly, they were easily angered and provoked.


    And the pirates weren''t exactly saints of tolerance either. When the troops red at them instead of thanking them for saving their lives, the pirates happily incited the troops into taking action first.


    With powerhouses like Tasha, who reduced his opponents to unrecognizable smithereens, the pirates were fearless.


    Thankfully not everyone was stupid enough to try and cause fights, and nothing happened, even after Red Hook returned to the ships after defeating the Blood Fiend. Kahglia was a little miffed that the enemy that had given her and the others so much trouble was defeated so easily, but she didn''t say anything. The Death Knight also didn''t show any signs of displeasure as the two of them stuck next to Toz.


    Red Hook came up to Toz and the other two, a little curious about the giantess and the servant of Death. She was rude to Toz, but she wasn''t rude or stupid enough to directly ask them who they were.


    "It''s not over yet, right?"


    Red Hook nodded in response to Toz''s question.


    "I need to go to the source and take it for myself- I mean, get rid of it. So, can you fix up a portal, or should I drag you along?"


    Red Hook smiled mischievously after she spoke, as if she wanted Toz to choose the second option.


    Toz looked in the direction of the battlefield for a few moments. Since they were so far away, he had trouble establishing a clear connection with the cats. But it seemed like Asilean was prepared for Toz to get further away and had already started preparing.


    Toz shed a fake smile at Red Hook before he started creating a portalrge enough to fit Kahglia. Since she didn''t want to stay on the pirate ships that could barely hold her, which was understandable, Toz brought her and the Death Knight along.

 Chapter 483 Into The Tunnels

    ?


    Kahglia and the Death Knight followed Toz and Red Hook through therge portal Toz made with Asilean''s help. The four of them reappeared on the battlefield where Toz and the other two had fought against the Blood Fiend. It wasn''t much different from before. Even the Blood Fiend was there, and it charged toward Toz and the others as soon as it noticed them.


    Red Hook just sent out her dagger and inserted it into the Blood Fiend''s chest, just like she had done before.


    "Below ground?"


    "Yep, I made a hole over here."


    Toz nodded in response to Red Hook''s question and led her to the hole he dug so that he could get through to the cats. And next to the hole was Asilean, who was waiting for them.


    Asilean didn''t say anything and just jumped down the hole. Toz sensed that while it wasn''t urgent, Asilean didn''t want to waste time.


    Toz turned to Kahglia.


    "I don''t think you will fit down there."


    "Yeah. I can see that. Do I just wait here?"


    "I need to bring the dagger with me, so the Blood Fiend will keep respawning until I''m done with the magic circle. If you can handle it, it should be fine. Otherwise, you should consider taking a few thousand steps back."


    Toz spoke after Red Hook warned Kahglia. He also pointed toward where the Blood Fiend had caught up with the army.


    "The Blood Fiend did decimate more than half the army, so there''s probably a bunch of free stuff over there and in the camp."


    "Hey! I was nning to take that as payment for saving all your sorry asses!"


    Toz didn''t miss a beat after Red Hook spoke.


    "Three-way split?"


    "''Three-way?''"


    Kahglia and Red Hook spoke in unison after Toz''s suggestion and stared at him with judgemental expressions.


    "Right, we can''t forget mister Death Knight. Four-way split?"


    "No, no. Why should either of the two of you get any?"


    "What do you mean? Sure, you might have saved us in the end with your dagger. But without me, we wouldn''t even have gotten that far."


    "Yeah. And without your overwhelming generosity, there would have been an entire army''s worth of stuff to loot."


    "What are you talking about when you''ve already shoved the other half in your giant pockets?"


    "You know what? I''m stronger than the two of you, and I saved your lives. Shouldn''t you consider giving my men and me everything?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    As she spoke, Red Hook made sure to pressure Toz and Kahglia with her transcendent level mana. Thanks to his strong mind and the miniature clone, Toz managed to shake most of it off with only slight effort, despite his weak and tired state. Kahglia also didn''t show any signs of being subdued by the pressure.


    "Freaks."


    Red Hook snorted, but she didn''t back down.


    "Can you stop fooling around? You too, Toz."


    Their argument was interrupted by Asilean, who reappeared in the middle of them with a stern gaze.


    "Alright. Sorry about that. Lead the way."


    Toz started walking after Asilean. He pushed along Red Hook as well, who thankfully didn''t resist. She did shrug off his hands after a few steps, though.


    Right before they joined Asilean and jumped down the hole, Toz and Red Hook looked back at Kahglia.


    "''Three-way split.''"


    Kahglia held up her hands helplessly before she started turning around and running to get away from the Blood Fiend that would soon resurrect now that Red Hook''s dagger had drained it. With nothing else to do, the Death Knight followed Kahglia. It didn''t think it could do much underground since Red Hook, a transcendent, would be there. But it could help go through all the corpses for loot.


    Kahglia looked at the Death Knight and winked. Unsure of how to respond, the Death Knight just nodded. Kahglia wasn''t satisfied with that answer.


    "Hey. I won''t say anything if you don''t say anything. Catch my drift?"


    The Death Knight nodded again. This time, Kahglia seemed satisfied, and she continued running toward the smashed and drained corpses. Since the Blood Fiend had drained everyone of their blood, only mummified bodies remained, which made the process of looking for magic items and treasure a lot easier than it could have been.


    So, while Kahglia and the Death Knight rummaged through the corpses and the remains of the Alliance of Kingdoms'' camp, Toz and Red Hook followed Asilean as he led them through a winding maze of tunnels.


    Asilean kept up a fast pace, but Toz and Red Hook didn''t have any problems following. If anything, they could go even faster. But the tunnels were too crooked and took too many abrupt sharp turns. And it only got worse the closer they got to the center of it all.


    "So, what happened with the others? Did you find Lucy?"


    Asilean sighed before answering Toz''s question.


    "You''ll understand when you see. But they aren''t in any danger at the moment, at least."


    Those words only made Toz even more curious, especially since he still couldn''t sense the other cats. However, the only way to really find out what had happened and what was going on was to see it for himself, just like Asilean said. So, Toz followed along without asking any more questions.


    Red Hook was also curious about what was going on, but if Toz didn''t get a proper answer or know, Red Hook doubted she would get anything from asking. So, instead, she spread her senses and tried to detect whaty at the end of the tunnels. But since the tunnels suppressed their senses, and because whatever it was at the end of the tunnel overwhelmed her senses with blood attribute demonic energy, Red Hook couldn''t tell any details.


    Eventually, Asilean and the other two, bursting with curiosity, finally arrived at the center of it all. They had reached the end of the tunnels. And as Asilean said, it was easiest to understand by seeing.

 Chapter 484 Caught In A Trap

    ?


    The tunnel led to arge open space that seemed like a central hub. The room looked like it wasrge enough to fit Kahglia, but since she wouldn''t have gotten through the tunnels, it wasn''t worth regretting the decision to leave her behind. More importantly, the magic filling the room made it seem like it wouldn''t be easy to move around in it.


    The cages around Nil, Lucy, and Scrael were more than enough evidence that the room was covered in defensive measures. Toz saw with his mana vision how the cages of wires of blood drew power from the thick demonic energy in the room and from the condensed ball of blood that hovered in the center of a raised dais.


    So, even if the cats managed to snap or break their cage, they couldn''t get out since it would get repaired instantly. Even if they destroyed the entire cage, it would just get reced before they could even take a step. And the thick, oppressive demonic energy made it difficult to use magic for anything other than strengthening their bodies.


    Asilean could negate some of it with his void magic, but not enough to get them all out.


    But what was more surprising than the cats and the cages they had somehow gotten themself inside was the sickly pale man on the other end of the room, who was in a simr cage, just adjusted to his size. Since the cage around Lucy and Scrael looked a little tight, Toz wondered if the cages came in one size, but it seemed they were adapted to fit their target.


    It was a weird consideration since the Tribe of Blood didn''t seem like the type of people who cared about whether any captives or intruders suffered. But Toz didn''t pay it any mind, and he looked at Red Hook, waiting for her to get to work.


    After taking in the room, Red Hook whipped out her dagger again.


    The pale man, who had looked at them warily ever since he noticed them, furrowed his brow in confusion and thoughtfulness as he saw the dagger. But after only a few moments, he dropped his jaw.


    "H-how do you have that!?"


    Toz looked at the man while also asking Asilean a question.


    "Who is that guy, anyway?"


    "It''s the leader of the Tribe of Blood guys. He''s apparently some bigshot or something. I didn''t really listen."


    "Okay. But why is he stuck in his own trap?"


    The pale man heard Toz''s question, and since he was also getting ignored, he couldn''t help but get angry.


    "You lowly human! As soon as I get out of here, all of you are dead! Especially you!"


    The pale demon looked and pointed at Lucy with an enraged expression.


    "Ah."


    Toz got an expression of enlightenment as he heard and saw the demon''s movements.


    "Yeah, when Lucy messed with the magic and took control of the Blood Fiend, he also got rid of this guy''s means of control. Well, it ended in all of them getting stuck in their cages."


    Asilean shrugged. But Toz could tell he was gloating a little over the other cats'' miserable fates.


    "Hey! Old man, do you know what this dagger is?"


    "Tch. Disgusting human, hand over the Blood Ancestor''s knife right now, and I will give you a painless death."


    Toz looked at Asilean again with a raised eyebrow.


    "Wasn''t Lucy the Blood Ancestor?"


    "No, he just used it because he thought it sounded cool after overhearing it from a few demons before we ambushed them."


    "Huh. What were they talking about?"


    "Uh¡­ I was busy with other things at the moment, but I think Nil got a pretty understanding."


    Asilean avoided Toz''s gaze with a guilty expression. He hadn''t been busy with other things. He just hadn''t paid attention. Toz noticed, but he didn''t say anything about it since it wasn''t necessary, at least as long as Nil actually knew something.


    "So, that guy''s a transcendent, right?"


    Asilean nodded.


    "He a match for you, Red Hook?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Nope."


    "Awfully confident for someone who just broke through, no?"


    "Awfully cocky for someone still at the seventh level, no?"


    "Still fought and lived against a transcendent at the seventh level, though."


    "You would have been dead without me. Is the exhaustion finally getting to you? How many fingers am I holding up?"


    "Twelve."


    Toz''s confident answer without even looking at her made Red Hook subconsciously begin counting the fingers on her hands. Though she only got to two before ring at Toz.


    "I don''t know everything-"


    "No kidding."


    "But! You said that guy was from the Tribe of Blood, right?"


    Asilean nodded.


    "And if he''s a big shot in that tribe, it''s reasonable to guess that he uses blood magic, right?"


    "Yeah, that he does. He tried to break out of the cage using that magic several times. Stupid idiot didn''t even realize that he was only strengthening the trap."


    Asilean looked at the man from the Tribe of Blood with a condescending expression.


    Red Hook folded her arms confidently.


    "Yeah, then there''s no need to worry. Thanks to this little dagger, I practically rule blood magic."


    Toz looked at her with raised eyebrows, and he couldn''t contain his curiosity.


    "Really? Can you awaken it as well?"


    "Awaken it?"


    "You know. Bring out its true nature as if you''re using a spell. But instead of a spell, it''s just using magic."


    "What the fu-"


    Red Hook first looked at Toz as if she couldn''t even understand what he was saying, as if he was speaking anothernguage. But a light shed through her eyes.


    "Wait! If that''s possible..! Hold on-!"


    Red Hook looked at Toz with wide eyes.


    "Since you asked that¡­."


    It was obvious what Red Hook wanted to know as she stared at him, question marks filling her eyes with intensity. But Toz just winked.


    Before Red Hook could continue prying, Toz pointed at the room.


    "So, how''s it going?"


    "Tch."

 Chapter 485 Bloodletter

    ?


    "There''s a lot of demonic energy, so it''s gonna take a while, especially when dealing with that thing."


    Red Hook pointed at the sphere of condensed blood attribute demonic energy that looked like an oversized and polished marble. She still held her dagger, and Toz could see it draining all the demonic energy with his mana vision.


    "So, we just wait, then?"


    "Well, if you massage my shoulders, I might be able to do it faster."


    Red Hook rubbed her shoulder while looking at Toz.


    "Really? Let''s get to it then."


    Toz showed a surprised expression first before grinning as he rubbed his hands together. Red Hook was surprised that he epted it so easily. But when she saw his hands begin glowing with an orange light, Red Hook gulped.


    "Hey, why are your hands glowing?"


    "Oh, this? You''ve heard of hot stone massages, right?"


    "You know what? On second thought, I don''t think a massage will help."


    "It won''t hurt, though."


    Red Hook wanted to retort and say that his hands that were hot enough to make the air around them blurry certainly looked like they would hurt. But she gave a polite smile instead.


    "Some other time, maybe. I am busy at the moment."


    Red Hook thought she heard Toz click his tongue, but since she started concentrating on the dagger and what it was doing, she pretended not to notice.


    Since Red Hook was busy, Toz took the opportunity to check on the cats stuck in their cages. Although Lucy and Scrael had somehow managed to get stuck in the same cage that was clearly made for only a single cat, it didn''t look like they were suffering from anything other than boredom.


    Unfortunately, the cats couldn''t escape the cages'' restrictions the same way the Blood Demon had done, so they couldn''t speak with Toz or the others while he was still outside the room. But they knew each other so well that they could practicallymunicate just by exchanging nces, and Toz could rest assured that the three trapped cats were alright.


    Since Red Hook was still draining and weakening the blood attribute demonic energy after Toz checked on the cats and made sure they were alright, Toz sat down to let his body rest and recover some mana.


    The nket method had been running non-stop for a while now, so he wasn''t about to run out, but he still wanted to be prepared in case something happened. He also had to deal with the effects of drinking so many mana potions in one go. Since they were concentrations of mana extracted from various materials, it was inevitable that they would contain impurities.


    Usually, such minuscule amounts of impurities wouldn''t do anything unless one drank mana potions regrly. But Toz had consumed so many potions that he could feel the impurities clogging his body and mana pool. So, before they set or became trouble, Toz used his flourishing fire mana to burn them all away.


    Despite all the umted fatigue from staying awake, fighting, and pushing his body to the limits for so long, Toz felt refreshed. He opened his eyes and stretched to take a look at how Red Hook was progressing. But his eyes locked onto the pale Blood Demon before he could check.


    "Hey, you knew what this Hidden Blood Dagger was, right?"


    Toz wasn''t sure Red Hook knew the dagger''s origins. But even if she did, Toz wasn''t sure she would tell him just like that. In that case, it would be worth a shot to try and satisfy his curiosity by asking the Blood Demon.


    The Blood Demon spat on the ground.


    "Hidden Blood Dagger? Is that what you think it''s called? Lowly, disgusting humans. You don''t even know the true name or worth of what you have."


    "You called it the Blood Ancestor''s dagger. So is its name something like Blood Ancestor Junior or Darling?"


    "I can tell what you''re trying to do, human."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The Blood Demon red at Toz. And Toz shrugged.


    "And what am I trying to do?"


    "You''re fishing for information."


    "No way! You figured it out that quickly?!"


    Toz feigned shock so painstakingly obvious that Red Hook had to suppress a grin.


    "And now you''re trying to agitate me and make me talk without thinking?"


    Toz looked at Red Hook for dramatic effect as he spoke.


    "Wow! We''re dealing with a real genius here!"


    Red Hook did her best to suppress herughter and concentrate on controlling the dagger.


    The Blood Demon was about to burst from contained rage. But he did his best not to explode, despite the anger filling his body at Toz''s disrespect.


    "Bloodletter, the Siphon''s de."


    "Huh? Is that its name?"


    Toz tilted his head at the Blood Demon''s unexpected cooperation.


    "Yes. Now, revel in the greatness that is the Sanguine Monarch''s weapon!"


    "Okay. But why did you tell us so easily?"


    Toz looked a little dissatisfied.


    "Since you have uncovered the Blood Ancestor''s weapon, you shall at least be granted the honor of being the first victims of the dagger to hear its name in several millennia!"


    Toz and Red Hook looked at each other before Toz faced the Blood Demon again.


    "We have no intentions of dying, though?"


    "That''s not up to you to decide. The moment you touched the dagger, your friend there was doomed. I don''t know how you''ve managed to retain sanity for so long, but the more you use the dagger, the more it will corrode your mind. And when you fall to nothing but a mindless Blood Berserker, you will mine to control!"


    At those words, Toz carefully shuffled to the side and away from Red Hook while throwing a few cautious nces in her direction.


    "Hey!"


    Red Hook kicked after him with enough force to stir the wind and rustle his hair. Thankfully, she didn''t actually have any intentions of attacking him and only kicked the air.


    "I don''t know what this bastard''s talking about. I''m as sane as ever!"


    "It''s toote already?!"

 Chapter 486 My Hero!

    ?


    "Do you think I should get a haircut?"


    Toz''s attempt to deescte the situation after Red Hook threw a Blood Spear right above his head seemed to have worked as she snorted and turned back to the gradually thinning fog of blood attribute demonic energy.


    The Blood Demon looked on with a smug expression as more and more demonic energy entered the dagger and Red Hook.


    "Oh, wow! Despite being demonic energy, this is kind of refreshing."


    However, Red Hook''s remark made the Blood Demon''s face stiffen. And his expression only grew worse as Red Hook continued weakening the magic in the room without showing any signs of bing a Blood Berserker as he thought she would.


    "You! Why aren''t you affected by the dagger?!"


    Red Hook raised an eyebrow at the Blood Demon''s outburst of disbelief.


    "Eh? Because I''m a blood mage?"


    Red Hook and the Blood Demon looked at each other. Both with expressions that said they couldn''t believe how stupid the other was.


    "Do you think just anyone with the right attribute could use the Sanguine Monarch''s weapon?"


    "Well, I''m not just anyone, though."


    "No way! The Blood Ancestor had human descendants?!"


    "Idiot. I am the Pirate King of Pirate Haven!"


    Red Hook puffed out her chest and pointed her nose upward proudly.


    "Pirate Haven?"


    The Blood Demon was at aplete loss.


    While the Blood Demon tried to understand what was going on and the mystery behind Red Hook being able to use Bloodletter, Red Hook finished weakening the magic in the room enough for them to enter. Blood attribute demonic energy still suffused the room, but with Red Hook leading the way, they didn''t have to worry about getting trapped in the cages as the cats had been.


    As they stepped inside the room, more and more demonic energy swirled into Bloodletter under Red Hook''s control. Eventually, the pressure of the demonic energy lessened enough for Toz and Asilean to move on their own without having to rely on Red Hook. So, while Red Hook proceeded onward to the marble of blood in the middle, Toz and Asilean went to save the cats.


    Since Nil was closest, they began undoing the cage of blood around him first. With Toz and Asileanbining their efforts and use of Dissolution, the cage quickly faded, despite the continuous stream of demonic energy strengthening it and trying to restore it.


    "Thanks a bunch, you two."


    Nil jumped out of the cage and into Toz''s arms as soon as he could and thanked Toz and Asilean.


    "I''m gonna take a quick nap while you finish up."


    Nil was apparently quite tuckered out, and Toz only gave him a gentle head pat before sending him into the familiar space.


    "He did work hard after all."


    Asilean spoke as he and Toz walked over to the cage with Lucy and Scrael.


    "I am sure you all did."


    "Well¡­."


    Even while looking as if he didn''t quite agree, Asilean joined Toz in using void magic on the cage.


    Before they could even get rid of the wires of blood, Lucy spoke.


    "Tozzie! My hero, you''vee to save me!"


    Toz looked at Asilean.


    "T-that''s not my fault!


    Toz didn''t say anything and looked at Lucy instead.


    "How''s it hanging, Lucy?"


    Toz''s words managed to get the expression of an enamored princess off of Lucy. The tiny ck kitten instantly switched to his standard cheerfulness as he answered.


    "Like a bat!"


    "Really? With or without a hat?"


    "With, of course!"


    "Ah, because of your battle with Mindle?"


    "No way! You figured out it was me?"


    Toz leaned down close and whispered sneakily.


    "It was just a guess. You confirmed it just now."


    Toz couldn''t suppress a grin.


    "Argh! You got me!"


    "I wasn''t the only one. How did you get trapped? And both of you in the same cage like this?"


    As he spoke, Toz looked between Lucy and Scrael. The cage was a little stronger than the one around Nil, probably because of its proximity to the blood marble but also because the magic sensed a greater threat from Lucy and Scrael than it did from Nil.


    Scrael avoided Toz''s gaze while answering.


    "I tried to save Lucy, but it didn''t work so well."


    "Huh. Let''s get you out of here first. And then, when Red Hook''s done, I want a full rundown on everything that''s happened."


    "Okie dokie."


    "Okay."


    "Alright."


    The three cats responded, and only moments after that, Toz and Asilean finally got rid of the cage. Lucy and Scrael were free. Lucy instantly jumped up and hugged Toz''s head.


    "Toz!"


    "Didn''t we already go through this once?"


    "No!"


    Toz patted Lucy and moved him from his face to his head so that he could see.


    And before walking to Red Hook, Toz bent down and patted Scrael''s muscr body as she walked up next to his legs.


    Toz felt his heart finally settle down after confirming the safety of all the cats. He hadn''t felt this at ease ever since Lucy disappeared and went radio silent. But now, he was back, and all of them were together again.


    While Toz walked toward Red Hook, the cat''s paw pattern on his head grew. The ink-like color spread and deepened even further than it did before the war.


    The pattern went from the outline of a cat''s paw with ink seeping from the edges toward the center of the toes and foot pad to a ck filled-in cat''s paw.


    Toz sensed the change and looked at his hand, slightly puzzled. He couldn''t quite understand what had happened or what induced the growth of his inclination. He also couldn''t tell if there were any obvious changes.


    However, he could think about those things at ater time when he wasn''t as mentally fatigued. But he could at least tell that the bond between him and the cats had grown stronger. For some reason, Toz felt like he wouldn''t as easily lose his connection with the cats as had happened when the cats were inside the tunnels and Toz was too far away on the outside.


    After epting the change and sharing the discovery with the cats, Toz simply shrugged and walked to Red Hook.

 Chapter 487 Bloodletters Recognition

    ?


    Since Red Hook was draining the demonic energy from the room and the marble using the abilities of Bloodletter, the cage around the Blood Demon was also gradually weakening. But it didn''t look as if it would be weak enough for him to escape anytime soon.


    "You know you''ll have to save me if that guy slips out of his cage, right?"


    Red Hook looked at Toz in surprise.


    "Huh? Really?"


    "Yep. I was worried you wouldn''t have understood that, and it seems I was right."


    Toz grinned cheekily at how Red Hook''s backfired.


    "Tch."


    Red Hook clicked her tongue and pressed the dagger closer to the red marble in an attempt to speed up the process. As she did so, the slightly curved de shone with a red light, eerily simr to the sheen of glossy blood.


    "Oh yeah, that''s the good stuff!"


    Toz looked with curiosity at the dagger''s light and at Red Hook''s exhrated expression.


    "What''s going on?"


    "Nothing much. The dagger just regained some of its former might."


    "That''s pretty neat. So are you going to turn into a Blood Berserker now?"


    "Huh? Why would I?"


    "Dunno. You looked crazy there, even more than usual."


    "Shut your trap, you rude former Pirate King. I might as well tell you now. There''s no way this dagger would do something like that to me unless the Blood Ancestor guy actuallyes along and takes back control."


    "I-impossible!"


    Toz and Red Hook looked at the Blood Demon''s pale face, overflowing with disbelief and shock.


    "H-have you really obtained Bloodletter''s recognition?"


    "Of course!"


    Red Hook shed a smile at the Blood Demon while waving the glowing dagger around.


    "Right!"


    Toz thumped his fist against his hand and looked at the Blood Demon.


    "You asked if she was a descendant of that Blood Ancestor fellow. But wasn''t he a demon? Shouldn''t it be impossible for her to be his spawn?"


    "Oi. Who are you calling spawn?"


    "You."


    The Blood Demon did his best topose himself while Toz and Red Hook bickered.


    "Haah~ No one knows if he was a demon or a human, or maybe a mix of both. Maybe he was something else entirely."


    Toz tilted his head.


    "Aren''t you way too rude to humans, then? What if your precious Blood Ancestor was a human, and hees back or whatever only to find out his worshippers are like¡­ this."


    Toz gestured to the Blood Demon with a condescending expression on his face.


    "I would dly receive the honorable Blood Ancestor''s great judgment should that happen. But the dagger in her hands is proof that the Blood Ancestor, unfortunately, seems to have perished long ago. Besides, it wasn''t like the Blood Ancestor cared much for humans when he roamed the universe."


    "When was that, by the way?"


    Toz didn''t know why the Blood Demon had be so chatty all of a sudden, but he continued sating his curiosity.


    "The most recent records of the Blood Ancestor''s activities are from five thousand years ago."


    ''"Five thousand-?"''


    Toz and Red Hook had trouble epting the Blood Demon''s words. for them, five thousand years was an incredibly long time.


    "And if it weren''t for the betrayal of his rival, he would still be alive!"


    The Blood Demon grew a little emotional as he continued.


    "Wait a moment there."


    Toz held up a hand to stop the Blood Demon from speaking further as he rubbed his forehead in disbelief.


    "He would still be alive today if he hadn''t died five thousand years ago?"


    "Of course! A thousand years is a small matter for someone at the Blood Ancesotr''s level."


    The Blood Demon spoke with reverence in his voice.


    "By the way, what level was the Blood Ancestor at?"


    The Blood Demon avoided Red Hook''s gaze with embarrassment creeping up his face.


    "Ahem. That''s ssified. So, not even I know."


    "Tch."


    Toz and Red Hook didn''t say anything for a while as they thought about what level the Blood Ancestor must have reached.


    It wasmon knowledge that training and reaching higher levels would improve a person or being''s health and extend their lifespan. But the mortal levels from first to ninth allowed a human to go from a hundred-year lifespan to a two-hundred-year lifespan. It wasn''t even close to five thousand.


    Breaking through to the transcendent level would probably lead to a greater jump in how much lifespan one gets. But the Blood Demon spoke as if five thousand wasn''t even the limit, as if it was only a small part of what could have been the Blood Ancestor''s legacy.


    Toz and Red Hook looked at each other with wide eyes.


    Red Hook had somehow obtained the famed weapon of such a great person. She had even received that weapon''s recognition.


    "What the fuck? Are you secretly the universe''s lovechild or something?"


    "Huh? What are you talking about? I''m just better than a certain someone."


    Red Hook smiled like a child, despite Toz''s rude question since she could tell how envious he was.


    "I think I''ve been scammed."


    "What do you mean?"


    "The greatest treasure in the Mortal Realm was in my hands, and you got it from Wulf for what? An Axe?"


    Red Hook giggled.


    "I told you, didn''t I? I''m just better. Besides, you wouldn''t have even been able to use this cutie. So, it''s much better if it''s in my hands."


    "Tch."


    "Alright, you know what? Since I''m such a great and generous person, I''ll return the favor someday. How about that?"


    Toz stopped pouting and looked at Red Hook out of the corner of his eye.


    "Really?"


    "Of course! Are you doubting the Blood Ancestor''s Inheritor?"


    "Since when did you be his Inheritor?"


    "Just now!"


    "Oh wow! Congrattions!"


    Although Toz might have been sarcastic, Red Hook epted his praise with a prideful expression as she ced her hands on her hips and tilted her head back so that her nose pointed up.


    When Toz didn''t say anything more, she looked at him with a gaze that said, ''Praise me more!''

 Chapter 488 Blood Ancestor鈥檚 Inheritor

    <h4>Chapter 488 Blood Ancestor''s Inheritor</h4>


    "You- Do you really wish to be the Blood Ancestor''s Inheritor?"


    Red Hook was a little upset that she didn''t get any morepliments for being so lucky to have gotten the Bloodletter. She turned to the Blood Demon kneeling on the floor with a skeptical gaze.


    "What do you mean?"


    "The Blood Ancestor is the founder of the Tribe of Blood. Naturally, the best ce to receive his legacy would be at the Tribe of Blood."


    "Huh. Isn''t it just a ploy to take the Bloodletter from me since you can''t defeat me on my own?"


    "No. Since you have received the Bloodletter''s recognition, taking from you wouldn''t do anyone any good since it''s impossible to know if someone else will also be able to get it. And I would prefer not to go into too much detail until I hear your answer. But the original n with this whole debacle was to find the Blood Ancestor''s legacy or inheritance and bring it back to the Tribe to find a suitable Inheritor from any of the different factions."


    "That''s too few details. So, even if you would prefer not to, exin more."


    Red Hook used the dagger to manipte the demonic energy in the room and reinforce the cage around the Blood Demon in a threatening manner. She was still draining the orb, but that didn''t interfere with the cage anymore.


    The Blood Demon looked hesitant.


    "Is it alright to assume that you are at least slightly interested in my proposal?"


    "Don''t say proposal. It sounds like marriage."


    Red Hook red at the Blood Demon and controlled the cage so that it shrank and began restraining the Blood Demon''s movements.


    The Blood Demon gulped and realized that he should just talk and try to save his life instead of wasting time.


    "Ahem. I told you the Blood Ancestor was betrayed, right?"


    "Yeah."


    "Rtively recently, the Tribe of Blood got some information that thest location the Blood Ancestor went to before or when he died was this Dragonss Mortal Realm."


    "''Huh?!''"


    Toz and Red Hook were both shocked at the Blood Demon''s words.


    "Do you mean there are multiple Mortal Realms?"


    The Blood Demon looked at Toz in surprise.


    "Of course. Anyways, the Tribe of Blood''s wish has always been to find thest traces of the Blood Ancestor and, if possible, revive his legacy. And if necessary, choose a suitable Inheritor from amongst the younger generations.


    "But now that you have already appeared and received the Bloodletter''s recognition, you''re already the Blood Ancestor''s Inheritor in the eyes of most of the Tribe of Blood. Of course, some will try to kill you and take the dagger for themselves since bing the Blood Ancestor''s Inheritor is the first step to taking over the Tribe of Blood."


    "Wouldn''t most want to kill me, though? This thing is pretty great, after all."


    "Well, as I said before, there are multiple factions within the Tribe of Blood. The faction I''m with, as you might have noticed, is more favorable to demons than humans."


    "No shit."


    "But there are multiple other factions who care more about one''s abilities rather than race. As long as you can use blood magic or something close enough, you''re more than wee. And if you excel at it, even better. Granted, not all of them are as invested in finding the Blood Ancestor''s legacy and Inherhitor as my faction, but they will at least not try to kill you at any given opportunity."


    "So? You just said that you''re in the faction that will kill me as soon as they can. You''re not making a good impression here."


    Red Hook shrunk the cage a little more.


    "T-that''s understandable. But look at it like this. I Either suck it up and guide you to the Tribe of Blood so that you can be the Blood Ancestor''s Inheritor. Or I remain stubborn and die. You go on with your life and go to the Transcendent Realm until ites out that you have Bloodletter and get assassins after you."


    "Are you threatening me?"


    "I am merely stating facts. You might be powerful. But that''s only within the Mortal Realm, where outside transcendents can''t act and where there are no aspects. Someone at the transcendent level is only bottom feed in the Transcendent Realm. Without the Tribe of Blood backing you, it will be impossible for you to live long enough to be the second Blood Ancestor."


    "..."


    "Well, as long as you y it safer than safe and be so cautious you don''t meet anyone that can tell what the Bloodletter is, you could stay alive. Though it might be better not to use Bloodletter at all."


    Red Hook sank into deep thought, but the Blood Demon didn''t push her for an answer and waited patiently, despite the difort of the cage.


    "Oi, Pirate King. Don''t make a decision now. Kahglia is apparently the daughter of some bigshot in the Transcendent Realm. Let''s ask her what she thinks."


    "Really? Okay."


    The furrow in Red Hook''s brows disappeared as if it was never there. She put the matter of joining the Tribe of Blood aside and focused on draining thest of the blood attribute demonic energy in the orb hovering in the middle of the room. But the cage around the Blood Demon remained unaffected, even when all the demonic energy in the room had been drained.


    "That should be all, right?"


    "Yeah, let''s get out of here and find Kahglia."


    Toz stretched his arms as he, the cats, and Red Hook walked out of the room. Red Hook carried the Blood Demon inside the cage with magic.


    When they left, Toz and the cats threw some magic at it to destroy everything and make sure that there is nothing left to cause trouble in the future. Not that there should be anything since the Tribe of Blood''s objective has already been cleared.


    However, the Blood Fiend still had some demonic energy left since Red Hook had only drained the energy of the ritual.

 Chapter 489 It鈥檚 Kinda Cute

    <h4>Chapter 489 It''s Kinda Cute</h4>


    Toz, the cats, and Red Hook returned to the surface through the tunnel he had made. The first thing they saw was the Blood Fiend.


    "T-that is the Blood Fiend, right?"


    Toz looked and pointed at the Blood Fiend with a doubtful expression.


    "What else would it be? Besides, I don''t see any twenty-meter-tall giants of blood around here. Do you?"


    "What about that over there?"


    Toz pointed in a random direction in response to Red Hook''s sarcasticment.


    "What? Where-"


    "Ouch!"


    Toz yelped in pain after Red Hook smacked his head.


    "That''s not fair!"


    "So? I''m the Pirate King. I''ll do what I want. Especially to annoying pricks like you."


    Toz rubbed his head and clicked his tongue.


    "I''ll remember this."


    "Hah? Remember what?"


    Red Hook stared at Toz threateningly while cracking her knuckles.


    "''Remember what?'' What are you talking about? I don''t think there''s anything to remember, right?"


    Toz hurriedly stepped back.


    "Yeah. That''s what I thought."


    Toz hummed after appeasing Red Hook and looked at the Blood Fiend in front of them again. Red Hook had restrained it with her magic while she and Toz bantered. But they still had to do something with the shin-height miniature Fiend that looked at them with a menacing re.


    "It''s kinda cute, don''t you think?"


    Toz looked at Red Hook with a worried expression after she said that.


    "I call dibs!"


    But Lucy talked before Toz could say anything.


    "No way, kitty! This bad boy''s mine!"


    "No! I called dibs! It''s mine."


    Lucy stood up on Toz''s head and hissed. It looked as if Lucy was about to attack Red Hook. And Red Hook responded in kind as she took up an offensive position and red at Lucy.


    "Kitty. This is my toy. You can''t even control it!"


    "I can!"


    "Really?"


    Lucy calmed down and avoided Red Hook''s gaze as he mumbled an answer.


    "Well¡­ Not without the magic circle¡­."


    "Hah! Bad luck, kitty! If you can''t control it, it will only be a mindless thing that will attack you all the time."


    "Toz¡­!"


    Lucy bent down and looked Toz in the eyes while looking as if he was on the verge of crying.


    "T-that''s¡­."


    "Hnng!"


    Toz hurriedly closed his eyes to escape Lucy''s teary pleading. A moment longer, and he would have sumbed to Lucy''s widened pupils and yearning gaze. Toz steeled his heart and finally answered Lucy''s pleading.


    "I-I''m sorry, Lucy."


    Toz felt his gut wrench as he rejected Lucy. But he knew he had to do it. Even if they somehow managed to make Red Hook acquiesce and give up the mini Blood Fiend, they didn''t have a way to control it.


    Without the magic circle, the Blood Fiend had lost most of its power. The demonic energy that leaked left its body until only enough remained to sustain its shape, which left the Blood Fiend at a few decimeters tall.


    But it was still a transcendent being. If they weren''t careful, Toz and the others could get hurt. All in all, the Blood Fiend wasn''t something Toz thought they could handle without unnecessary amounts of stress. Besides, Toz kind of wanted to get as far away as possible from the tiny humanoid of blood. He couldn''t understand what Red Hook and Lucy found so appealing about it. And based on the expressions of Asilean and Scrael, they also weren''t very interested in the Blood Fiend.


    "You understand, right, Lucy?"


    "..."


    Lucy curled up in Toz''s hair.


    "You know, we already got a lot of toys a little while ago."


    "...!"


    Lucy didn''t say anything, but Toz noticed he got the tiny ck cat''s attention.


    "Besides, you wanted the Blood Fiend so you could y with Mindle like that again, right? But you know, Mindle can''t be that big whenever she wants."


    "Really?"


    "Yeah. So, instead of getting hung up on the Blood Fiend, let''s find another way. Alright?"


    "Mmm¡­ Okay."


    Toz''s soothing voice as he persuaded Lucy seemed to have worked as Lucy hesitantly relented. But he held out a paw in Red Hook''s direction.


    Red Hook was unsure of what to do at first. But Toz gestured at her before she could shake hands with Lucy. After quickly realizing what Toz meant, Red Hook rummaged through her pockets and storage items until she found something she could give to Lucy in exchange for him letting her have the Blood Fiend.


    Eventually, Red Hook found something, but she hesitated to pull it out. Lucy seemed to have noticed that hesitation as he gestured with his paw by curling it.


    Red Hook chewed her lip slightly before sighing and taking out what looked like a fruit.


    Lucy epted it, even if it was too big for his paw, and inspected it with a curious gaze. Neither of the two said anything, but Toz did.


    "What is it?"


    "I don''t want to tell you."


    "Then don''t. I''m not that interested anyways."


    "Tch. I''ll tell you if you give me a massage."


    "Huh? Didn''t I just say I''m not interested?"


    "Fine! You strike a hard bargain. Just give me something, and I''ll tell you what it is."


    Red Hook obviously wanted to brag or something about what it was that she had given to Lucy, so Toz obliged and gave her something. He gave her a head pat.


    Red Hook was too stunned to react and let Toz''s handnd on her blood-red hair. However, it didn''t stay there for long before she pped it away with an angry scowl on her face.


    "What do you think you''re doing?"


    "I gave you a head pat. Now tell me what you gave Lucy."


    "You!"


    "Don''t tell me! Are you going back on your word as the Pirate King?"


    "Grr! NO!"


    "Then tell us!"


    "Argh!"


    Red Hook seemed to calm down a few moments after unleashing a shout of frustration. She looked at Toz and the cat on his head cradling a reddish-orange fruit.


    "It''s some kind of weapon."


    "..."


    "..."


    "That''s all?"


    "Yeah."


    "How disappointing."


    "Hmph."


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