The group continued their travel toward Treblor Forest at a leisurely pace. If they wanted to take a detour and go for a swim in a nearby lake, they did that. And if something interesting was going on, like a wildfire or a battle, they would go watch, even if it would take them longer to reach Treblor Forest in the end.
While the group aimed for Treblor Forest, at least half the point of the journey was the time spent traveling to the destination. If they spent time rushing and stressing to reach Treblor as soon as possible, they would only grow bored and no longer enjoy their journey.
And so Toz didn't stop Lucy from disappearing whenever he found something that caught his attention. A lot of the time, either Mindle or Scrael made sure to accompany him. While Mindle openly joined Lucy when it was something that she also might find interesting, like a nest of ants that sizzled funnily on the tongue when eaten.
However, Scrael tended to leave shortly after Lucy or Mindle did, using some excuse to not make it obvious she wasn't secretly keeping watch over the cats who were still one level below her and not as experienced with the wilderness. But just like the others weren't as experienced with the wilderness in Roaring Skies, Scrael didn't have that much experience in deception. And she was quickly found out by Toz, who noticed Scrael only left on her own adventures whenever someone else had already left.
Nil tended to stay close to Toz, but almost every time they got close to some kind of larger gathering of water, he went off trying to catch some fish.
Most of the time, Toz just kept walking in the same direction, but he also made some time for himself to enjoy his own interests or spend some time training his mana or reading his grimoire.
Although nothing extreme or dangerous happened to any of the cats during their outings, there were more than a few times that they returned to Toz with some type of harvest. Either parts of a beast they had recently hunted that they wanted to share with Toz or have him cook it.
But during parts of their travel that were more popular and where other travelers also frequently passed through, Lucy especially tended to come back with spatial rings and other storage treasures.
Every time that happened, Scrael always came back slightly absent-minded. She also gradually stopped fussing each time Lucy went out for a private adventure and instead waited for him to come back.
Staying behind more often gave Scrael more of a chance to get closer to Nil and Toz as well, so she didn't mind trusting in Lucy's and later also Mindle's capabilities. Rather she felt comforted having such reliable companions having her previously lonesome back.
Although the distance between Tiny Rumbling and Cerulean Flashes, their next checkpoint, wasn't as great as the distance between Sleepless Brights and Tiny Rumbling, it still took a couple of weeks for them to reach Cerulean Flashes after leaving Tiny Rumbling.
The city was markedly bigger than Tiny Rumbling, but despite the much more pleasant ambiance, it wasn't as large as Sleepless Brights, and it didn't even take a day for the group to cross through the entire city. Although they were still going to stay in the city for a night, they wanted to see the large lake that stretched out on the other side of the city.
And it was worth it since the clear lakewater being lit up by the cerulean-colored lightning constantly flashing above the lake, and only above the lake was a sight to see. As soon as a bolt of lightning strayed away from the light blue clouds directly above the lake, it turned into a regular white lightning bolt.
Since the phenomenon had begun before people settled next to the lake, the most common theory was that it was the remnants of some weather-changing ritual.
Aside from the special color, there was nothing different about the lightning, so while some explorers and researchers wanted to find out the truth and reality of the matter, they weren't allowed, in case they disrupted the thunderclouds and caused them to disperse.
It was also an important site for local beliefs and folklore that had grown forth over the years. With the azure color, some suspected that it might have been the burial site of a lightning dragon or some other type of mythical beast ages ago.
Within the city, the flashing lightning wasn't that noticeable, but the clouds and the light the entire place emitted gave the evening a soft blue glow.
After doing the standard sightseeing and having rested enough, the group headed off, once again, toward their next checkpoint, which would also be the second to last they would stop at before reaching Treblor Forest.
Their journey continued in a similar manner, but since they had already reached more than halfway, all of them felt satisfied since it meant it wouldn't be long until they were at Treblor Forest.
Although they were still making two stops before officially entering the forest, it still meant there were only two stops left before the real adventure began.
Aside from the reckless wild beasts who attacked the group, or the occasional bandit that slipped past Lucy, or that Lucy couldn't be bothered to deal with during his outings, the group's travels were mostly peaceful.
They encountered one other thunderstorm like the one that had appeared during Mindle's breakthrough. It wasn't quite as powerful and intimidating, and no one was busy breaking through so the group got the opportunity to freely admire the sights of the various flying beasts soaring through the roaring skies, creating large images and webs of lightning in the skies.
Thanks to the lingering lightning mana in the air Toz's lightning attribute reached the second level. Compared to his other attributes, especially metal, and considering how long it had taken, it wasn't noteworthy, but it gave Toz some comfort. Even if he was busy traveling the world, he was still growing.
