Elemental Cats

After setting down the heavily strengthened version of Scrael's leg, Toz went to go check on his sword.

Seeing what happened to Scrael's leg made Toz curious about what would happen to his sword if he infused it with void mana. Maybe even space mana while he was at it. He could only hope that it wouldn't matter that the sword had already gradually become mostly wooden.

But Toz wasn't that lucky. It seemed like the sword wasn't interested in more mana while it was undergoing the wood transformation. But it might have been just as well since Toz could refine his space element as well before making yet another sword.

Even though Toz spent most of his time training his space mana, he spent the occasional breaks working with his void magic and figuring out how to combine it with other elements and how to combine other elements with the help of void magic.

Since he would figure out how to use the space element as he used it, Toz put void magic as his priority.

When Toz finally reached the fourth level with his space element, he didn't immediately begin creating a sword.

Although the other island-dwellers could also occupy themselves with training, it was getting pretty monotonous. So, after Toz officially became a fourth level mage at the sixth refinement, everyone except the still comatose Joshua gathered at the center of the island. Due to obvious limitations, Taienra was only there in spirit. Thanks to all the time given to her, she had gotten comfortable with the forest on her back. Taienra could easily spread her will throughout the entire forest, which made it easy for her to participate in the discussion.

If Taienra wanted to, she could exert her will with enough effort to make the others directly feel her presence instead of just listening to her voice.

Since they had used meal time as an opportunity to hold a meeting, they ate what was on their plates while exchanging small talk. Only when everyone finished did the mood turn more serious. The atmosphere was a side-effect of everyone waiting for someone else to talk.

While they could agree that they should decide on something now that they had a way to navigate and travel through the Void, it wasn't as if they knew much about the Void, to begin with. If anyone knew about a nearby amusement park, they would have already been on their way to it.

Hods and Stitches had only been pirates for a short while, and their combined knowledge amounted to Pirate Haven, Beltor's platform, the frontlines, and a few other places.

Taienra and Asilean had only been surfing through the Void without paying much attention to where they went or the names of what they encountered, but they had heard about Pirate Haven. Through their encounter with the Starsling Kingdom's void ships, they had an approximate idea of which direction the war was in.

No one was especially keen on barging in on a war between the demon and the human realm, especially not Stitches or Hods since those two were officially deserters. Taienra and Asilean disliked the idea of running into the Starsling people again. At least until they were strong enough to take revenge.

But what were they going to do at Pirate Haven when the only two with connections there were Stitches and Hods? Flimsy connections at that. They could greet their old captain before explaining how they didn't return because Toz killed one of the higher-ranking people in the pirate crew.

The captain would probably understand the situation if they explained it properly, but it wasn't enough of a reason to go to Pirate Haven.

"...pirate king."

"'Huh?'"

No one at the table heard Toz's words clearly, so there was a chorus of people wondering what he said.

Toz looked up and met everyone's gazes before answering the unasked question.

"I feel like taking over the place and becoming a Pirate King."

To several people around the table, Toz's statement came as a shock. It wasn't exactly a short amount of time they had spent with Toz on the island. However, during all that time, he had never displayed any signs of harboring such extreme ambition or lust for power.

The only ones who weren't shocked were Nil, Lucy, Mindle, and Scrael. Those four had known Toz for long enough to know that he wasn't saying it out of greed for power. And ambition was probably the last thing Toz felt at the moment.

If the four cats had to guess what Toz was thinking, it was probably something along the lines of, 'It would be fun becoming the King of Pirates.'

The four cats exchanged a knowing glance when Toz's next words confirmed their guess.

"Don't get me wrong. I just think it would be pretty exciting to experience the life of a Pirate King."

Toz had seen the way Joan, Stitches, Hods, Taienra, and Asilean looked at him. Since they had looked at him as if he had suddenly transformed into a power-hungry madman, he tried to appease them.

His words eased most of their doubts, but they still decided to keep an eye out in case power corrupted Toz.

Toz's wish was slightly childish, but it at least gave the island-dwellers an objective that would help stave off their boredom. Thanks to Toz, they had gotten something to do other than train. Toz was going to become a Pirate King, and the others would help him.

They would deal with what came after when they finished playing around.

It wasn't as if Toz was becoming a Pirate King anytime soon, either way. They still had quite a distance to travel before they reached Pirate Haven. And during that time, they would do as much as possible to prepare themselves for their arrival at Pirate Haven.

Training, enchanting, healing, growing.

Joan was worried about her son since he should be healthy enough to wake up but without showing signs of ever doing so. However, she was nearly finished with Toz's coat, so she wasn't going to stop working.

Toz had a bunch of magic to perfect. The cats wanted to grow stronger for several reasons. Hods as well. Stitches wanted to figure out why Joshua wasn't waking up. Taienra was working on becoming more synchronized with the forest on her back.