Elemental Cats

Since creating two hands made it easier to interact with the mana, Toz continued pushing his consciousness to its breaking point so that it became stronger each time it recovered. It took a lot of time to improve significantly, but it didn't look like he was leaving his cell anytime soon, so it didn't matter. Toz almost wanted to stay longer in the cell since it provided such an excellent atmosphere for concentrated training.

The absolute silence, the dull walls, and the otherwise boring room ensured there was not a single distraction anywhere. However, there were five distractions that Toz didn't want to spend a minute longer without being able to reach. The cats weren't the only thing urging Toz to continue training. But they were what made him focus on breaking the restriction as soon as possible instead of only getting stronger.

Toz continued training and practicing. The only breaks he took were the ones his body forced upon him when he couldn't last longer or when he inadvertently harmed his mind a little too much. There were a few times when Toz felt like he had taken a step or two too close to death, and he tried to be more cautious after that, but incidents like those were also what caused his mind to grow the quickest. But if he died, he would be abandoning the cats, so he only inched as close to death as he could while still staying safe.

Eventually, Toz managed to elongate the imaginary hands he condensed from his consciousness with a pair of arms. The arms added strength and force to the hands, which made it even easier to try and grab the mana. The mana allowed the arms to push it around a little, but Toz still couldn't grasp the mana or convince it to enter his body and obey his will.

Toz didn't let the minimal progress affect him since he realized he was onto something. Instead of trying to interact with the mana as soon as he made some progress, he set another goal to reach before he tried to achieve success with the mana.

Each time his mind recovered, he exhausted it again by continuing to add to the imaginary hands. The forearms turned into complete arms, which, after a while, got attached to a pair of shoulders. The next step took a little longer since it was a lot of progress at once, but Toz connected the shoulders with a chest that eventually extended into a complete torso.

After the torso came the hips, legs, and feet. Before Toz knew it, the only thing remaining of his miniature illusory clone was the head. Toz had considered adding it after he added the torso, but something told him he should wait until he finished the rest of the body before doing that.

When he began condensing his head, Toz partly understood why. Without the practice of creating the rest of his body, he wouldn't have been able to create the complexities of the head.

Although he could sense the outside world with only his consciousness, it was limited to barely more than being able to perceive the mana. But during the process of creating the head, Toz gradually began seeing the rest. There wasn't much in the cell, but he could see the walls and even his own rapidly paling body.

At the sight of his body that looked like it was on the verge of dying, Toz realized he was pushing his mind to the limits, and if he didn't finish his head as soon as possible, he wasn't ever going to finish it unless he managed to come back from the dead.

Unfortunately, condensing his consciousness wasn't something he could rush, especially if he wanted it to succeed.

Toz pushed his anxiety to the side as he concentrated on completing the head of his miniature clone.

Time quickly passed, and the soft blob of consciousness gradually transformed into something resembling an egg. The egg gradually changed and morphed until it looked like Toz's own head. The only difference was that it looked more like a ghost than a human. The translucent miniature Toz didn't even have time to look at itself or its body before it was sucked back into Toz's body. Toz didn't have any time to reflect on what he had done or what it meant before he passed out.

Unlike the other times Toz passed out, he didn't even feel the headache. Toz felt like his senses, and even his sense of self, scatter into darkness. The last thing Toz felt was an overwhelming fear of death.

Toz didn't even have time to think about how he might have cut it a little close when creating the head. Not that he was actually able to think with his mind on the brink of destruction.

Toz sank into darkness, and his mind tried its best to prevent itself from falling apart and leaving Toz's body an empty, lifeless husk.

The miniature clone of Toz's also closed its eyes after entering Toz's body again and being dragged back to Toz's head, where the center of his mind and consciousness was. When the clone returned to its rightful place, it instinctively sat down cross-legged. When the clone took its position, fluctuations of will spread out from it.

The fluctuations spread like the rings on a pond and targeted the shattered pieces of the rest of Toz's mind. Despite being drawn to each other by an unknown force of attraction, the pieces had been on the verge of slipping further away into the darkness.

The fluctuations continued and stopped Toz's broken mind from scattering. In exchange for repairing and restoring Toz's mind, the fluctuations and the clone weakened until they were barely noticeable anymore.

The clone had been slightly translucent from the beginning, but after doing as much as it could to help Toz's recovery, it was barely more than a see-through doll. The clone was forced to stop sending out the fluctuations since it would completely dissipate if it continued. Thankfully, Toz's mind was restored to the point it could heal on its own if given time.