Elemental Cats

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 could come into existence. Being put in Toz's space pocket it was forced into a stasis to delay 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 beasts laid 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 been laid. There were no signs of a powerful spirit beast passing by or passing away after laying 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 similar 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 circular 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 placement a freak natural accident or are they related to the egg? Is the egg from the mountains or from somewhere else? Did it crash land and create the mountains as it sent out shock waves through the ground. Did one large 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 related, 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.

As Toz thought to here his brain stilled and his previous surprise turned into complete 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 a complete 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 preoccupied with keeping an eye on the egg, Toz relaxed 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 upcoming 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, the large groups would be less organized than usual as they waited for their leaders to come back.

Having made plans 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 just lazing around without a care in the world. Although the look didn't last long as Toz was happy just being with his dear friends.