Elemental Cats

The danger zone where a lot of precious resources could be gathered, which, according to both the group's research and Rick, was profitable, was a place known as the Quarry. Although it was called a quarry, it wasn't exactly a dig site, and the name referred to the type of beasts residing there.

Now that Toz had his badge, he didn't have a reason to delay as he set out. Lucy and Nil, who had entered the familiar space to let Toz fight against Rick alone, popped out and retook their places on his head and shoulders, respectively.

Spirit beasts bonded with a human are, according to the rules of the guild, part of that explorer's strength and ability to survive so they can participate in an examination. But since Toz had very little experience in fighting against other humans, especially skilled and strong ones, the examination spar with Rick was a great opportunity for him to practice and get more used to fighting different enemies. And because the badge would still only belong to Toz, even if the cats participated, they both felt that Toz should get it himself. And that he did.

Mindle was still busy training. If they were heading out into a fourth level danger zone in the wilderness, she felt as if she wouldn't be able to contribute much with her second level of power.

None of the other three minded since the place they were going to wasn't known for its danger but for how tedious harvesting the resources there is.

The Quarry wasn't far from the city, and it didn't take long enough for the group to arrive. Unfortunately, the Quarry wasn't far enough from the city to escape the Lightning Clouds, and without the light-absorbing materials of the city, the brightness was overwhelming. Thankfully the eye gear that the group had bought during the shopping spree worked and made it bearable without obstructing their vision too much.

The gear looked like tiny circular white holes embedded in a strap of black cloth that was tied around the head. The shop also sold gear fit to put on beasts since a lot of people had beast type inclination, and their beasts would also need to protect their eyes.

The gear only looked like a smaller version of what was on Toz, but on Nil and Mindle when they put it on. But on Lucy, the black strap disappeared into his fur, and it looked like he had gotten a pair of oversized new special eyes. Lucy looked even more ridiculous when he twirled his head and looked around as he got accustomed to wearing the goggles and how they affected his vision.

Mindle couldn't hold back her laughter after Lucy jumped down to the ground and tried to walk around but stumbled instead and crashed into a rock he couldn't see. Toz and Nil also chuckled lightly as Toz bent down to help Lucy up and get him used to wearing the goggles. Toz used some darkness magic to change how the goggles reflected the light entering them, making it easier for Lucy to see clearly and not feel as uncomfortable with the goggles on.

With Toz's guidance, Lucy covered his goggles in a thin veil of shadow to help him adjust how much light entered his eyes and how much he could see.

Considering how much time he had spent asleep, and with closed eyes and his element being darkness, it wasn't too strange for Lucy to be affected more than the others by the goggles and the general brightness of where they were.

After the short episode of destressing with Lucy's goggles, the group continued and headed into the area that would be their first time in a fourth level danger zone.

The road the group had been walking on so far had been a monotonous flat dirt road leading away from Sleepless Brigths through a field. But as soon as they entered the designated danger zone, the environment underwent a drastic change. The smooth ground turned rocky and uneven, even taking on a light grey color.

The road was still traversable, but as they continued deeper, the rocks and stones on either side of it grew larger, and eventually, they were passing through a forest of cliffs.

Deeper into the forest of rocks, the ground started becoming more uneven, and the group had to follow the road as it went up and down all over the place. It was unclear if the road had been naturally formed for it to be so annoying to follow as it twisted and curved like a snake with a bad spine. Or, based on some cracks and scrape marks on the ground, it looked slightly like the ground had moved after the road was carved out.

Eventually, the group came to a large valley dotted with trees of stone that were even lighter in color than the rocks they had passed by on the way there.

Seeing that they had arrived, Toz and Nil began preparing the things they would need in order to harvest tree sap from the trees in the valley. Because, unlike the rocks that had started looking like trees on their way to the valley, the trees in the valley were actual trees that looked like they were rocks imitating trees.

A few shops in Sleepless Brights sold the tools necessary for the harvesting of the sap, but they were all very expensive. And since Toz and Nil had the metal attribute that was well suited for creating things, they didn't have to spend money unnecessarily when they were saving for a grimoire.

They made a closed container connected to a pipe that ended with a sharpened point. Since Toz and Nil focused more on functionality than design, it looked like a metal cube with a tentacle attached to it. But that didn't matter as long as it worked.

Toz went to the nearest tree to begin harvesting with Lucy, while Mindle stayed next to Nil who continued creating containers.