Elemental Cats

Even if he was first, Toz didn't choose the more expensive spell. He picked the grimoire containing a spell labeled 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 similar 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 blank page. Despite them being completely unfamiliar and unlike any written language 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 collapsing, with each of them having their own severe headache. Trying to read and comprehend 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 Flame 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 the last step. Merely reading the grimoire a bit wouldn't make her try and break through since she wanted the breakthrough to become 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.

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.

And lastly, 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 the lack 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 a larger 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 to come 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 acceptance or rejection, they first needed to talk with it.