Although Joan had recently woken up, after eating and feeding her son, she fell back asleep. Toz didn't mind and let her rest alone since he had gotten a few things to think about.
Although a realm war sounded like something out of a storybook since it had been several ages since one last appeared, it did explain the reason Toz had encountered several demon attacks that could have been devastating for the human realm. With another perspective, he also realized that the Scorched Earth Rat infestation might have been started by demons.
The rats had seemingly appeared from out of nowhere, and until Toz stumbled upon them, no one had noticed or paid extra attention to them. If they had been allowed to spread unchecked, wouldn't they have gotten too strong to stop by the time the war officially started?
With the chaos from the war, the rats wouldn't have any trouble spreading to other planes by sneaking through the portals or onto ships. Toz wasn't sure about how the Scorched Earth Rats worked, but if they managed to create several Rat Kings, each with the power gained from an entire plane, or if they managed to create a Rat King on a high level plane, Toz suspected that the human realm would have suffered a tremendous blow.
As he thought about the situation back at First Ignition, Toz realized another thing. Maybe Mindle's egg sensed the impending doom and was awoken from its slumber deep in the earth, hoping to find a way out.
Toz was happy that he averted such a disaster since it would mean that the human realm would lose a lot of manpower in the war but also because he found Mindle during that situation. At the same time, he was worried about what other tricks or cards the demons had played on the human realm. And why they had succeeded or almost succeeded with so many attacks on the human realm.
It was the same with the Demonic Spark Bear in Tumbling Thunder Forest. Although Toz didn't know much about the bear, if he and Lucy hadn't stalled it, the entire plane would have been in danger, and after that, a powerful demonic beast would have been roaming around in the backlines of the human realm.
Did the upper echelons of humanity not know, or did they just not care? Did they focus on launching a counter-attack instead of protecting their subjects and fellow humans?
Based on what Joan had told Toz about the Starsling Kingdom, the rulers of humanity didn't seem the most trustworthy. Toz didn't know enough about either kingdom to make a judgment, but he still had some doubts.
Although Toz held faith in his parents, he couldn't help but worry about them if they were caught up in the middle of a realm war with the demons.
It was difficult for Toz to forget that he was stuck in the Void without a way to control his journey. Worrying about others wasn't a luxury he could afford. Hopefully, things would work out.
Thankfully, hoping wasn't the only thing Toz could do. As long as he had food and mana, there would come opportunities in the future. He didn't have enough strength to travel through the Void or control the island's trajectory, but soon enough, things like that would change. None of them had been slacking off after all.
There wasn't much to do on the island, and for a certain cat with an unfair advantage of being able to train even in his sleep, the next level wasn't far away. The other cats weren't far behind. The only one lagging after was Toz since he used four different elements. Getting them all to the fourth level, becoming a fourth level mage at the fourth refinement, had taken some time.
But it wasn't for nothing. Toz's mana control and capacity were both outstanding. If Toz didn't have adequate control over his mana, he wouldn't be able to control four attributes, each with its own properties. And each time Toz refined his mana, his mana pool expanded as much as he could make it.
Controlling four elemental attributes gave Toz a variety of options when fighting, and coupled with his sword, Toz could fight close, medium, and long-range without issue. The physical enhancement it gave his body made him strong and fast. Each swing of his sword was swift and powerful. He could easily distance himself and close the gap between himself and his opponent, making medium-range combat a done deal when combined with a variety of magic. And if necessary, Toz also had his final trump card, the fireball spell.
So despite being slower in increasing his overall level of power, Toz didn't fall behind when comparing combat prowess.
But being good at fighting wouldn't give them control over the island or get them out of the Void, so Toz still needed to train his mana and reach a higher level if he wanted to change his fate.
The next time Joan woke up, while still stiff and sore, she was healthy enough to untangle herself from her son and walk around a bit. Though she wondered if she should just go back to bed when she saw Toz and the cats sitting around a sword on the ground, training their mana.
Joan hadn't been able to tell how powerful Toz had been when she had been talking to him, which was a solid indicator he either had superior mana control or was at a higher level than her. Toz hadn't bothered hiding the mana fluctuations that rolled off of him when he was training, so Joan sensed how powerful both he and the cats were. She once again thanked her lucky stars that she had been saved by someone with a decent heart.
Since it seemed like Toz and the cats had been fired up by the mention of war, Joan didn't disturb them and after watching them for a few more minutes went back inside to care for her son.
Toz and the cats hadn't gathered around only because they wanted to train their mana together. The trees had finally started moving toward Toz's sword, growing onto it. Though the trees had barely begun moving toward the sword. A few small strands of wood had begun reaching for the sword, and that was it. Toz still had no idea why the process was so different for his sword when compared to everything else, but at least it meant his sword was special.
