Elemental Cats

Although the Tumbling Thunder Forest situation sounded way too dangerous for their group, for some inexplicable reason, Toz felt drawn toward the forest. As if something there was calling for him. But it was a very slight feeling, and with how dangerous entering the forest would be for them, Toz decided to ignore it. At least for now.

Since there didn't seem to be anything worthwhile for the group to do without it being extremely dangerous, they decided to take a break and rest after their frantic hunting of Stone Balls.

Mostly staying inside the city or the inn but occasionally going outside and accepting a few of the smaller requests, just so they don't get further away from their goal by spending money on food and lodging. They also spent a lot of time training.

While the cats could train whenever tanks to Toz carrying them with him, either on his body or in the familiar space, Toz didn't have anyone to do that for him. Toz needed to be still and concentrate in order to train his mana. He did feel slightly jealous that the cats could train while he walked. And then it hit him, why shouldn't he be able to train while he walked?

Although converting and absorbing mana required a lot of focus and also that the body was ready to receive the mana from its surroundings. While walking, Toz had to dedicate some thought to how and where he walked so that he didn't fall and stumble. When walking, the body also tenses and relaxes, affecting the mana flowing naturally in his body when he isn't actively controlling it. This, in turn, affects how the absorbed mana enters his body since the mana already in Toz's body helps with the absorption part of training.

Trying to actively convert and absorb mana, walking, and having the mana in his body allow the still foreign mana inside was too difficult for Toz to achieve. But at the same time, it didn't feel like it was impossible. Nevertheless, the attempts at training his mana while on the move were put on ice as he wholeheartedly focused on pushing his metal element to the fourth level.

It was the element he had the most experience with and had the greatest understanding of, so it was easier for him to convert other elements into it and control the metal attribute mana to better cycle it through his body, increasing his affinity with mana. He had also been using his sword a lot recently. Since the main component of the sword was metal, breaking through with his metal attribute first would give him the quickest powerup.

Although he included darkness and fire mana when he reinforced his sword every day, their effects weren't as noticeable. Darkness mostly kept the light from reflecting off of the sword and made it more difficult for Toz's opponents to notice the sword. The fire mana lined on its edges kept the sword sharp. Toz could also control how hot the sword grew in case he needed to either cauterize the wounds he inflicted or cut through something where ordinary sharpness wouldn't be enough.

Though, the sword hadn't been bright enough to cauterize the wounds on the Stone Balls when they had been fighting them. Since the Stone Blood and tree sap react to light more than heat, Mindle had been in charge of keeping the holes blocked after Toz cut off the legs.

Aside from training and their occasional trip outside town they made to earn some gold when they waited for the Stone Balls to forget them and increase their numbers, the group didn't do much. They took the opportunity when they left the city to walk around a bunch and see if there was anything interesting going on, but aside from Tumbling Thunder Forest and whatever was going on in there, nothing else caught their attention.

During one excursion, they got closer to the forest to get a feel of what was happening there. But all they could sense was an ominous air as the trees that gave the forest its name blocked off the Lightning Clouds, granting darkness to the area around the forest.

The trees attracted thunderclouds that had the sky shaking with their rumbling. But despite all the thunder, within the Tumbling Thunder Forest's reach, there was not a single sign of lightning coming from the dark grey thunder clouds. The only lightning within the forest came from the trees themselves or the beasts living there.

Although the sunlight pierced through the outermost parts of the forest, deeper in, below the slowly swirling vortex of clouds so dark they were practically pitch black, the only light was from the occasional fight between the resident beasts.

With the contrast of lightning piercing the dark sky from within the forest, it was easy to tell that it was practically chaos in there.

Toz and the cats didn't know what the Tumbling Thunder Forest had been like before, but currently, lightning was going off almost every hour. Sometimes close to the edge of the forest, and sometimes much closer to the center.

From the power of the lightning, it was obvious that it wasn't just small skirmishes either.

The four of them even witnessed a lightning bolt that seemed to have come from the Lightning Clouds above the Thunderclouds strike the ground. That one lightning bolt had the rest of the forest quiet down for the rest of the day.

Toz and the cats exchanged a glance and agreed that it was a wise choice that they didn't enter the forest just because it was a lot of gold if they could figure out what was happening.

However, when they had been that close, the feeling Toz had about there being something in that forest that called for him got more distinct. It was the first time he had had such a feeling, and he didn't know where it came from. Although it wasn't strong enough to reach the cats through their bond, they could sense that Toz was drawn to the forest. He wasn't the only one since they were also curious about what had called forth that incredible lightning bolt.

But they were too weak to enter the forest, and after enjoying the view of all the lightning bolts flashing like a firework show, they went back to the city and continued their training.