Elemental Cats

Toz cheered in happiness. Although he wasn't quite at the point where he could train endlessly without lifting a figurative finger, he wasn't far from it either. Aside from pulling the lightning mana into his body, Toz hadn't done anything else, but he had still trained his lightning mana. Due to the minimal amount of mana, it could hardly be said that he trained his mana, but it was undeniable that he had indeed improved it, even if only marginally.

The success made Toz incredibly happy, enough to ease his worries regarding his companions. But it was only temporary. And as soon as the rush of joy calmed down, Toz focused on his training again.

He figured that his mana could naturally absorb and convert wild mana as soon as it entered his body, even slightly. The problem was making the mana enter his body by itself. Using his clone to control the mana would be even less efficient than training regularly, even if he only needed to bring the mana to himself.

While training regularly, Toz could just absorb all the mana around him and then use his mana to convert it into the attribute he desired. However, with his clone, he could only target a fraction of the mana around him and bring it inside his body.

Wait. Toz realized something as soon as those thoughts flashed through his head. Why couldn't he focus on more than a tiny fraction of mana with his mana vision? The limitation was set by himself and for seemingly no reason. He had started with absorbing a single string of fire mana or a swarm of lightning mana because it seemed like it was what he could handle.

When working with an ability that he had no idea about how it worked, the last thing Toz wanted to do was decide what worked or didn't work before he even tried anything. Toz decided to keep an open mind and only set limitations regarding what he knew. And since he didn't know anything about his clone and the mana vision other than how it let him see the mana around him with his naked eyes, Toz didn't set any limitations.

Toz blinked, once again activating the mana vision. Since he didn't want to waste any time when he was on the brink of learning how to train automatically, Toz began controlling his consciousness and the clone at once.

Unlike when he absorbed the string of fire or the swarm of lightning, Toz didn't target a specific lump or gathering of a certain attribute. Toz looked around the cell and all the mana within.

He used the inspiration and realizations he got from the last two times he absorbed mana using his clone. As long as the mana entered his body, his own mana would do the rest, and it didn't matter if the mana wasn't fully inside his body. His mana could follow the foreign mana outside and bring it into his body.

As soon as he got it started, his mana should do the rest. The problem lay in connecting all the outside mana with itself so that his mana could envelop it. Toz was pretty certain that the reason his mana didn't spread from the swarm of lightning to the rest was that the swarm was clearly separated from the rest due to his interference. It was the same with the string of fire.

Following the inspiration Toz got from the string of fire, Toz decided to make it relatively simple for himself.

The outside mana didn't have much of an issue following the clone's guidance as long as it wasn't to bring the mana inside Toz's body. Toz used the clone and the mana's willingness to follow to visualize and shape the mana into a haphazard mess of something similar to a ball of yarn. The ball was more squarish in nature since the mana still wanted to be evenly spread out around the cell, even with Toz's clone pushing it around. But it at least let it be shaped into string.

Toz looked at the multicolored string taking up most of the room. He was thankful he decided not to set any limits on what he could do using the clone. He could feel his mana control skills soar thanks to not holding himself back. But he didn't have time to think anymore since the yarn was rapidly unwinding, and the mana was quickly transforming back into its original shape as wild mana.

Before it transformed any further and before his headache worsened, Toz led the end of the string into his body. Supported by the rest of the mana in the room, the string was incredibly stubborn, and the clone's hands were once again about to fall apart, despite being reinforced by metal, the same element as the part of the string it was grabbing.

Although it would threaten the clone's integrity and stability, Toz dispersed some of the damage to its hands to the rest of its body. He avoided the head since it seemed like a central part, but the rest of the body gradually grew more translucent. But at least the hands held out until the first part of the string was touching Toz's chest and piercing through the border.

As soon as the tip of the string entered his body, Toz's metal mana responded and rushed to absorb it. The metal mana spread out, and as soon as it reached the next part of the string, a blue-colored water attribute part, the rest of Toz's mana reacted and began helping the metal mana to absorb and convert the mana.

Toz's six attributes worked together to continue drawing the string into Toz's body, absorbing and converting the mana into fifth level metal mana since it was the attribute that took the lead this time while bringing it to his mana pool.

Aside from keeping the yarn of mana from unraveling and retaking its original shape, Toz didn't do anything else. His mana was training automatically.

It had come about in an unexpected manner, but Toz had finally learned how to train and do something else. To confirm it, he stood up and cheered. He couldn't fully dedicate himself to the cheer since he still had to convince the outside mana to stay in the string shape. But his mana absorption and conversion went on unhindered.