Elemental Cats

Unlike Toz who just had to absorb some fire mana to fill out his expanded mana pool and refine his body once, Nil and Lucy had to first convert that mana before absorbing it. Even if they had more work to do, they finished shortly after Toz and were startled to find the orange cat right in front of their faces, staring intently at them.

Then the orange cat also jumped back in response to the other two twitching. The two parties looked at each other with some wariness until Toz cleared his throat.

"Ahem. Since it's our first real meeting, how about some introductions? I'll go first,

"My name is Toz, I like cats and I come from the City of Growing Iron, it's nice to meet you and I hope we have an enjoyable time together."

Then after a pointed gesture from Toz, Nil continued,

"I'm Nil, I like fish."

"Hi, I'm called Lucy. Do you have any thoughts on burning stuff down to the ground?"

"..."

The orange cat didn't respond immediately, instead, it alternated between looking at the different members of the trio watching it with a moderate amount of expectations. Then after several seconds, with a crackling voice, fitting its fiery appearance, said,

"Hello... I don't have a name yet but it is very nice to meet you all. I have never tried burning down something so I don't know, but it sounds kind of fun."

Since hatched spirit beasts inherit part of the intelligence and language skills, as part of the mana passed down, it came as no surprise that the cat talked. But what the trio wasn't all too ready for was the voice. It sounded slightly like crackling fire and the rustling of a pile of burning firewood collapsing, the sounds were denser than how fire actually sounded. But it was unmistakenly the sounds of fire. Not completely unexpected since the cat was made of fire. Why wouldn't it sound like fire when it talked?

Based on how the sounds changed, and the differing intonation it could be understood that words were spoken, but the meaning of them was intelligible. If not for the bond with Toz's inclination none of them would have understood her.

In addition to helping them understand each other, the bond also helped in revealing the orange cat's gender. The bond didn't just transfer the meaning of the words, it made the entire conversation understandable, including things such as the speaker's mood and personality, including their gender, if applicable.

Since nothing similar had ever happened before, Toz was a little shocked to discover a new function of his inclination. Did that mean they can communicate with each other, without talking directly to each other?

Toz quickly discarded any stay thoughts and focused back on the orange cat in front of him.

"Since you weren't born with a name, do you want us to give you one?"

"Yes please."

The cat didn't even hesitate with its answer as it continued staring at Toz with anticipation. Toz's use of "us" had turned into only Toz giving her a name, apparently. Since it was apparent she only wanted Toz to name her, he didn't bother asking the other two. And the three cats let him think in silence.

Toz wanted to give her a name that suited her, was unique, and maybe a name that had some special meaning. The most popular name for fire attribute beasts was, with a large margin, Ifrit, so he didn't even think about that one. He kept pondering, but coming up with names out of the blue is a difficult task.

While Toz wanted some more time to think, he also didn't want to betray the orange cat's expectations and ask her to wait, especially when she was looking at him so adoringly.

"How about Lany?"

Toz didn't need to hear her response as just her stiff smile was enough for him to discard that name entirely.

"Nerry?"

Since she had realized Toz didn't mind her not liking the name she shook her head in response.

"Harley?"

Another head shake.

"Queen?"

This time she considered it for a few seconds before rejecting it. Although it sounded nice, it was a bit pretentious to allow herself to be named Queen.

"Okay then, last chance! Not really, but...

"What about Mindle?"

"Hmm, yeah it's better than the other ones. It sounds nice. I like it"

Mindle gave a satisfied nod as she whispered it to herself a few times.

Nil and Lucy also tried saying it a little bit. Although it was their first time meeting Mindle and their interactions are bound to be a little stiff in the beginning, they would have plenty of time and opportunities to get to know each other better as they continue traveling with Toz.

After familiarizing herself with her newly acquired name she asked Toz for some food. Even if her body was made of mana she could eat and absorb the mana in the food while evaporating any non-mana parts. There was also the curiosity of eating, like she had seen the others do, as well as a feeling of sharing an experience with them. Doing the same things is the first step to becoming closer.

Toz understood her wants and gave her both a mammoth patty and a tiny bowl of soup.

The soup evaporated as soon as it entered Mindle's mouth, creating a cloud of vapor. The steam leaking from Mindle's mouth, lit up from behind by her fiery body created a demonic scene that had Lucy's eyes gleaming with excitement. He almost asked Toz to give her more soup just because it looked so cool.

But Lucy knew himself that interrupting someone eating a delicious Toz-made meal is not easily pardonable, and giving Mindle more soup just because he thought it looked cool also wouldn't be very polite.

Mindle ate the rest of the soup, but since only the mammoth meat had a substantial amount of mana in it, the rest was turned into dust that blew away in the evening wind.

The patty was different as Mindle devoured it whole, all the while making sure Toz knew it was tasty.

Toz had learned his lesson. No more soup for the cats.

After dinner was finished the sun had begun to set. Since Toz wanted an early start the next day they all agreed to go to sleep early as well.

The quartet headed back to the cave they had stayed in previously.

The shock wave from the collapsing mountain had blown away any defenses they had set up so Toz and Mindle took first watch.

While it should take at least a day until beasts start investigating the mountains, there is no reason not to be careful. Toz also saw it as an opportunity to talk at ease with Mindle, in a more relaxed manner, than what it would be with an audience.

However Mindle had literally just been born, and although she possessed a conscious mind, with intellect and some common knowledge of the world, she didn't actually know much and was considerably naive, so Toz did most of the talking.

He talked about himself, Nil, and Lucy, his hometown, his family and friends, his journey to explore the universe, and on the way picking up a bunch of cats. He talked about what they had encountered on their journey so far, although not much, and how they had followed an Ember Deer herd migrating to the mountain range, where he had eventually picked up Mindle's egg.

While both Toz and his cats enjoyed sleeping, since Toz had refined his body twice at the second level he could endure not sleeping for a night. Which was very practical because Toz and Mindle ended up talking and listening almost the entire night. About an hour before dawn, Nil woke up and took over the watch, letting Toz get a bit of shuteye before the day officially begins.

Mindle didn't need to endure having been awake all night because she could jump into the familiar space and sleep while Toz did the walking during the day. While Toz would have enjoyed her company during the mostly monotonous walk, he still had Nil, and sometimes Lucy, if he managed to stay awake.

Eventually, everyone except Mindle gathered for a quick breakfast before they decided to head out.