Elemental Cats

Since the thug had calmed down enough to look like he was coherent, Toz decided to ask the thug about something he had been curious about since he first saw the thug. The collar around his neck.

The sausage-thick black and red stone collar around the thug's neck stood out like a sore thumb, so it was impossible not to notice. However, Toz wasn't curious about the man's status as a slave. He was interested in the source of the slave collar.

He knew from Stitches' story and the Alliance of Kingdom's attempt to enslave Pirate Haven that slaves would be common on the battlefield. What he didn't expect was that he would find the slave collars familiar. And it wasn't due to having seen another slave on the battlefield.

"Who did you get this from?"

While asking, Toz tugged on the collar.

"What do you think? Beltor."

After getting an answer, Toz lifted the thug to his feet before sending him on his way. The thug's words had given him a slight nudge, and he wasn't far from cementing his realization of an undercurrent in the war.

Since it was a proxy war, it probably wouldn't matter much in the long run or in the scale of the Transcendent Realm. But Toz hadn't forgotten that he still had friends and family in the Mortal Realm. If he just let things play out, disastrous things might happen. Dyra's and Yill's attitudes made it quite apparent what the factions of the Transcendent Realm thought of the inhabitants of the Mortal Realm, after all.

The four kingdoms might disregard or mistreat their citizens to some degree. But Toz didn't think that they would willingly offer up all of their citizens as cannon fodder in a war that had no relation to them.

However, Toz had been presented with a chance to prevent something worse from happening to the Mortal Realm. He was still only scratching the surface of this undercurrent of the war he had stumbled upon, but if his hunches were even somewhat accurate, the Alliance of Kingdoms didn't stand a chance.

Now, Toz only had to figure out how to stop it. But before doing that, he also had to figure out what was going on in more detail, which was going to be difficult since he had to do it without raising any suspicions. Even more so since he didn't know who he could trust and who he couldn't even look at without alarming them that he was onto something.

After informing the cats, all of whom were resting inside the familiar space, of his discovery, Toz got back to his training. He wasn't in a position to do anything just yet, so he earnestly begged the cats, especially Lucy, to stay still until he got more of his elements to the sixth level.

But since the mention of a conspiracy had gotten Lucy and Mindle all fired up, they couldn't go back to resting.

Due to his discovery, Toz changed his plans, and since the cats wanted to do something anyways, he asked them to keep watch while he brought his fire element to the sixth level. He might not know where to begin with his investigation or what to do, but there was one thing that would always hold true. It would be easier if he were stronger. So that was what Toz would be focusing on for a little while.

He would prefer to reach the seventh level before attempting to tussle with the things and people he would encounter in the future. But that was a far-fetched wish. He didn't have a clue about when the results of the conspiracy would hit the Alliance of Kingdoms.

And he still had to keep in mind the one-year time limit that Dyra gave him. If the people behind the conspiracy didn't have any plans on revealing their fangs during that year, Toz would have to tear open their jaws himself. He could at least be assured that doing so would net him the achievement he needed to accompany Dyra to the Transcendent Realm as long as he was successful and could claim the credit for it.

But even if he couldn't claim credit for it, he would still have to find a way to accompany Dyra while still throwing a wrench or two in the conspiracy. There was one way he could do that. By contacting Dyra about his discovery.

Unfortunately, he couldn't trust Dyra or the ways he could use to communicate with her. There were a couple of ways he could send a message to or even talk with Dyra despite the distance. But talking or writing about his discovery when he didn't know who had access to the messages or could be listening was nothing more than putting a target in the middle of his forehead while also telling the conspirators that he knew about them.

Doing that might be effective in interfering with the plan, but only if Dyra gets the message. And it probably wouldn't put a complete stop to it.

If the conspiracy were as grand as Toz thought it to be, one whistle-blower would be like trying to topple a mountain by kicking it barefoot.

Even if he could bypass all those possibly compromised communication methods and get his message to Dyra and Dyra alone, there was no guarantee that Dyra wouldn't try to make a move on her own. If she did, Toz had no idea what would happen to him, the Mortal Realm, and the war, so he wasn't going to do that unless he really had to.

Instead, he was going to take a careful approach while strengthening himself as much as possible. Thankfully, he wasn't far from reaching the sixth level with the fire element, which would give his magic and body a reliable boost. Especially his magic, thanks to his experience with fire during his prison break. If refining his fire mana increased his control over fire magic even in the slightest, he was sure he could replicate what he had done to melt the cell walls.