Elemental Cats

After trying out how the different elements mixed with void, it was time to begin combing 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 and completely understand a combination 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 collapse 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, his latest 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 the largest on the island, including Taienra and the island. 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 becoming rounder than any human should be.

But Toz's stupidly large 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 the larger the mana pool and the greater the mage's control over mana, the quicker they regenerate it.

When the sword was finally satisfied, Toz placed 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.

Placing the construct that Toz wanted to become a permanent object on the ground and letting the trees take charge was a natural item on the list. However, Toz's latest 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 blankly 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."

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 explain 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 place 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 island.

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 another competition of who could make the greatest progress.

Toz decided to join the competition since he had nothing else to do. Although it might have been unfair since he still hadn't broken through after the last competition 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 similar, the island grew tranquil.