Elemental Cats

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 village 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 be complex, 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 particular 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 access 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 accept 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 wasteland. 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 explained 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 place Toz knew of, with an Explorers Guild branch office.

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 wasteland, Raznak and a few others realized that if they didn't stop the river from flowing out into the wasteland 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 small lake in the center of the forest.

Since the running water stayed inside the forest and weather didn't actually cross the wasteland 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 was comparatively 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 wasteland.

But after Toz defeated the horse, they didn't have anything to do. Toz thought they left the village 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 wasteland 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 plains of the wasteland, 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 wasteland. 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 wasteland. Now that their chance had come they refused to stay back and instead wanted to explore the world.