Toz and the cats weren't the only ones who motivated Hods to train. Stitches was incredibly vital to the success of Toz's plan. Even Joshua, a first level mage, saved all of their lives with his magic. Hods felt like he was useless in comparison.
But his pride getting bruised wasn't the only thing that made Hods want to train harder. It was the feeling of imminent death and the realization that he couldn't do anything to stop it. If Hods wanted to continue with his current way of life, he had to make sure he was powerful enough to withstand the trials and tribulations coming his way due to it.
While everyone else focused on training to pass the time, Toz and Nil managed to design a sleek, durable, and functional model of Scrael's leg. The springs were integrated into the leg and hidden by a flexible, plated surface layer of several metallic rings.
It was the best the two of them could make at the moment, so they were satisfied with it. Nil went to go train like the others, and Toz went to check on his sword.
The sword that he had squeezed as much of his mana as possible into took a long time for the trees to digest and replace, and they still weren't finished. But at least the sword had started showing change.
It still looked mostly the same, dark metallic blade and grip with orange and purple lights decorating the blade. But there was a subtle difference in the feel of the sword. The mana felt more subdued and controlled. The sword also had a more physical presence now that it was technically made of wood and wasn't just a mana construct.
Toz could hardly wait to try out the finished product. Investing all his hard work of creating the sword seemed to have been more than worth it. Even before the sword completely finished growing, it had a sturdier and more durable blade than the replacement Toz made.
After checking out the sword, Toz only had time to train his mana for a little while before the first wooden leg finished. Nil told him and led him to where everyone was waiting. Even though it was Scrael's leg, and she was already there, they had waited for Toz's arrival before testing the leg.
Scrael had already put on the leg. It was grown from the first prototype, it had the same physical functionality, but Scrael was already used to the latest model Toz and Nil made. However, the objective of this round of testing wasn't to see how well Scrael could walk with the leg. It was regarding whether she could use magic with the leg or not.
She had learned from the first time she injected the prosthetic with magic, so Scrael gently ran the mana through the rest of her body before carefully injecting small amounts into the wooden leg.
The island dwellers watched on with hope as Scrael concentrated in order to sense the efficiency of the leg's mana circulation.
The hope quickly died down as Scrael's face scrunched together, and she threw off the leg.
Scrael discarded the leg out of frustration and not out of pain, to Toz's relief. But it was understandably frustrating that the leg they had waited several days for was useless.
According to Scrael, the leg was even worse than the simple metal prosthetics. When the leg was still only metal, Scrael could still force her lightning past the blockade of metal. But after it turned into wood, it became nearly impossible since the mana solidified and refused to move.
If Scrael still tried to force her mana to pass through the wooden leg, it would only end up blasting the leg to pieces.
However, after thinking about the sensation more deeply, Scrael added that it was only the metal mana that hindered her mana's progress. If they made the leg with neutral mana or without the influence of outside mana, Scrael felt like it would work.
However, that was easier said than done. Disregarding the fact that it was nearly impossible to make constructs out of neutral mana, there were only two people on the island with neutral mana. And neither of them used neutral mana as it was. Joan only used magic when enchanting, and Joshua only had neutral mana as a resource when creating or manipulating bubbles. He didn't manipulate neutral mana itself.
And if they wanted to create the leg without mana, they would have to carve it out of a block of wood. Even if they ignored the fact that none of them knew how to carve wood and how it would take ages until they were proficient enough to create a leg, the wood they carved wouldn't have the necessary properties. The springs wouldn't have the right flexibility, and the leg wouldn't be as durable if they didn't make it out of wood grown from metal.
However, since it was their best bet, Toz began trying to carve a lag out of a branch he cut off from a nearby tree. Even if it wasn't as good as the metal prosthetic could have been, it would be fine as long as Scrael could use magic with the leg.
Since no one believed they would do a better job at carving the wood than Toz, they left him to it while they went to train. Though, Scrael stayed close to Toz while she trained.
Joan and Stitches went to check on, and heal, Joshua while the cats and Hods trained like usual. There was one exception, however.
Asilean had been in deep thought ever since Scrael mentioned how it could probably work if the metal mana didn't interfere with her own mana passing through the leg.
Toz just assumed he was thinking about possible solutions. But after everyone except Scrael had moved some distance away to find peace, Asilean approached Toz.
"I think I may have a solution."
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