Elemental Cats

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 available 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 plane 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 a large part of the day to walk around the city until they found themselves there, the building was relatively 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 glanced 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 recommended 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 just laze around doing nothing.

Although they said they would rest, none of them slacked 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 were completely 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 flat grass-covered land. There were a few herds of cattle roaming around on the plains, 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 flat 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 succeed.

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.