Elemental Cats

The guests were careful in their approach and did their best to show they weren't hostile. They stopped a few meters away from the group.

Toz was inspecting the troop of monkeys surrounding them. They had four arms each and were almost up to Toz's knee in height. Their bodies were covered in mostly orange fur, except for a few spots on the torso and the head that were dark grey.

After a few moments of both sides observing each other, the monkeys directly in front of the group cleared a path, and a slightly bigger monkey, with longer arms and more grey spots walked forward.

It straightened its back and placed its two right hands in front of its chest and the two left ones behind its back as it cleared its throat.'

"Ahem. Greetings, human traveler and companions. We come in peace and wish to offer a trade if you are willing to oblige us."

"Right. Hello, it's nice to meet you. And it depends on what that trade would consist of."

"In exchange for asking your party to share some of that fragrant supper over there, we will give you some firestones and an invitation to speak with our elder."

"Sure, it might take some time to make enough for you, but if you wait, I can continue cooking."

"Excellent! I will tell my subordinates to bring over the firestones at once."

Toz was surprised by the old-fashioned way the monkey spoke, but if he was willing to trade for his food instead of using force, he was indeed a decent chap. And he was very agreeable to the trade itself. Exchanging some skewers for firestones would usually be impossible, but it seemed the juicy mammoth meat was really enticing to these monkeys. Either they had an abundance of firestones, or they were hungry, but not to the point of forgoing politeness.

Firestones were rare but not impossible to find, though difficult in a first level plane. Since it was mana condensed to a physical form, it took a long time and often happened underground, where the mana wouldn't be disturbed and dispersed all the time. Useful for speeding up cultivation, enchantments, and alchemy, they are sought after by almost everyone with the fire attribute. But as people and beasts grow stronger, low level firestones, and potions and enchantments made from them, lose their effect.

With a few firestones to help them, Toz could hopefully get his fire attribute caught up with the other two, officially becoming a second level, thrice refined mage. And Mindle could also try and reach the second level, getting her into a more equal position to the rest of the group. Despite her best efforts and with them being on a fire attribute plane, she was noticeably worse at handling mana and quickly using magic than the other three.

She knew it was a matter of experience, more than a matter of strength, as evidenced by her laserbeam back in the canyon, but she still felt weaker than others since she was still at the first level and everyone else was at the second and approaching the third. Toz was even doing that with three different elements. Where is the fairness in that?

With all her struggles, Mindle forgot she was only a few weeks old, and just possessing the strength she already has is admirable. Especially when compared to Toz, who is an adult, Nil, who is also an adult, and Lucy, who is not an adult but still very talented and older than Mindle.

While Mindle was busy with her thoughts when waiting for the firestones, Toz had started preparing a lot of meat for the monkeys, while Lucy and Nil started handing out skewers.

The monkey who seemed to be a captain of some sort and Toz agreed to a firestone every five skewers. With the continued delivery from the monkeys, a small mound of firestones had piled up next to Toz.

He considered stuffing the pile into his pockets, but he was busy, and it could wait until the monkeys stopped exchanging for the skewers.

Despite their small size, the monkeys were surprisingly gluttonous, and just the skewers with strips of meat and berries weren't enough. The monkeys helped bring fresh herbs and more berries to Toz so he could fry them with steaks in a pan.

He considered making a quick soup, but he didn't have enough bowls for all the monkeys, and it was simpler to make food that he could quickly fry before handing it out.

Their peaceful dinner had turned into a full-on dinner rush. When it didn't seem a single fireplace would be enough, he had the monkeys help him out in making another one. Toz also had another group of monkeys start mincing pieces of meat and making patties that he could fry.

The gathering had gotten a festive atmosphere as everyone shared food and company.

A few monkeys even drummed up a rhythm on the ground and cleared some space for dancing. Although Toz was busy with cooking, and the cats didn't feel like dancing, that didn't stop the monkeys as they seemed to have the time of their life swinging around each other and displaying moves that looked more like acrobatics than dance.

But Toz wasn't one to judge the culture of others, and the other three enjoyed the show. Eventually, Lucy couldn't sit still anymore and joined the monkeys on the dance floor.

The monkeys welcomed him with joy and started throwing him into the air. Lucy, prepared, started jumping around on the flying monkeys, doing cartwheels and whatnot in the air.

Toz almost dropped the pan in his hand when he saw Lucy flying high above the treetops before returning to the ground, where he was caught safely by the monkeys. He actually dropped the spatula in his other hand when the monkeys threw Lucy up again.

If not for Lucy's laughter piercing the forest, Toz would have rushed out instantly and tried to put a stop to the craziness.

Thankfully Lucy seemed to have fun, and the monkeys knew what they were doing. Even if Lucy fell from that height, he wouldn't be too injured, and the eventual injuries would likely heal pretty fast as well. Still, Toz was worried about his dear friend being reckless.

Eventually, Lucy was let back down to the ground, whereupon he immediately ran over to Toz.

"Toz! Did you see? I almost caught a bird! That was so fun! I wanna go again! But the monkeys want to dance instead."

"You've had your fun. Let them have theirs too. Besides, if you like it that much, I can throw you up in the air sometimes."

"Really? Promise!"

"Of course!"

After the monkeys had loosened up enough for the evening, they retreated back into the forest one by one, and there was no need to cook anymore. The monkey captain said his goodbye and told him he would return the following morning with an invitation to meet their elder.

The deathly silence came abruptly after the monkeys left and was slightly unsettling. But no one in Toz's group was worried, and they decided to rest for the night. It had been an exhausting day and a lively night.

Despite that, Toz offered to take the first watch, letting the cats sleep. Although the forest seemed safe, one could never be too cautious in the wild.