Elemental Cats

When Toz woke up, his eyes were a little foggy, and his body and mana pool still ached, but his mind had stopped hurting. Considering how much he put his mind through when he sat in jail, it was likely a lot more resilient than the rest of his body and existence. Toz half-heartedly wondered if he should repeat what he had done with his manual training so that the rest of his body could catch up to his mind.

But he realized that if it weren't for Scrael helping him snap out of it, he would have continued absorbing mana until he popped like a balloon. Cold sweat beaded the small of his back at that realization.

Toz wasn't giving up on manual training. He just wasn't going to go about it in the same extreme way when he did it next time.

Although his body was sore, his mind was clear, and Toz figured that it wouldn't be wise to train until his body and mana pool recovered, so he sat up and looked for Scrael. But he found her before he could even sit up. She was lying at the very top of his chest. Scrael laid a hair away from putting her weight on his throat.

She noticed that Toz had awoken, but she didn't move and just continued half-sleeping on him. Since Toz didn't have any intentions of doing anything productive at the moment due to his botched training, he didn't mind. After petting Scrael a little, Toz closed his eyes again and joined Scrael in a state of touching the surface of sleep.

Although reluctantly, Toz woke up a little while later. His body didn't ache as much, and Scrael also seemed like she wanted to do something other than slack off, even if it was corrupting pleasant to lay down and shut out the rest of the world.

But the time they had taken to relax was precious. So Toz and Scrael didn't waste any more of it.

Since he wasn't sure his mana pool was ready yet, Toz held off on training after checking on it. However, seeing how much his mana had progressed almost made him reconsider that decision.

It had almost killed him in the process. But by wantonly absorbing all the mana around him, Toz forced his lightning mana close to the limit of the fifth level. However, the damage it did to his mana pool and body showed how extreme such a method was. And doing it too often probably wouldn't be good for his mana control and his magic in general.

Thankfully, he had something else he could do while he waited for his mana pool to recover and restore itself. The grimoire!

Scrael had looked at it and begun learning it, so now it was Toz's turn to use it. He wanted to know what Scrael thought of it, but he didn't want her opinion to affect his understanding of it, so he silently began reading it.

Scrael didn't mind that Toz took the grimoire. After she began reading it, she understood why Hassandra had wanted to return it. The grimoire wasn't easy to understand, and it involved a complex way of using magic, which wasn't something that Scrael specialized in. But that only made her more eager to learn it. However, it would probably take quite some time before she could comprehend the spell enough for it to enhance her combat prowess.

Training and trying to reach the eighth level might be quicker for Scrael to improve her strength rather than learning the spell. But even training might take more time than they had, so Scrael was left with one viable option.

After making sure that Toz wouldn't try and do what he did with his manual training again, Scrael left for the battlefield to join up with the other cats.

Considering her natural and nurtured talent for combat, the quickest way for Scrael to grow stronger was to push herself by fighting powerful enemies. Since it would also rack up achievements at the same time, it was like killing two mice with one paw.

After Scrael left, Toz turned his gaze back to the grimoire.

He was worried about the cats since he wouldn't be able to help them while they were fighting for their lives on the battlefield. But he also knew that they wouldn't be able to grow and reach their full potential if he coddled them, so the only thing he could do was trust them and their abilities. Hopefully, they wouldn't end up in too much trouble. And if they did, Toz hoped they would run away rather than stay and fight till they died.

Toz didn't think about it, but his sincere feelings reached the cats through their bond. And for Toz, rather than for their own sake, they resolved to stay alive, no matter what. It didn't take much for them to figure out how much Toz cared for them and how much pain it would cause him if one of them were to die or get seriously injured.

Lucy, who wasn't even on the battlefield since he was still in the camp, investigating, was also a target of Toz's sentiment. Since he was digging through everything and looking for clues everywhere, he was so cautious that not even Toz could sense where he was. And while it would be easier for Toz to get to Lucy if Lucy was in trouble, those who could cause trouble for Lucy could also cause trouble for Toz.

If Lucy did get caught by someone he shouldn't get caught by, Toz might not be able to save him until it's too late.

After organizing and keeping his worries in check, Toz concluded that he would only be able to do something to save the cats if he was stronger. And there was one clear way he could get stronger in his lap.

Toz decided to focus on the grimoire and the spell inside since that would be the fastest way for him to become more powerful enough.