Elemental Cats

There were several things with his idea of shrinking the string of mana that failed or dissatisfied Toz. The first was the effort it took. Not only shaping the mana into a string, to begin with but also how much he had to strain himself to make it thin enough to make a difference. But that wasn't so bad, really. If he improved and got more used to it, it wouldn't take so much time and wouldn't be so exhausting.

What made his idea a total failure was that it didn't work. At all. Instead of decreasing the speed at which he absorbed the mana around him, it increased the speed. His body drew in and absorbed the string so quickly that the rate at which he absorbed the surrounding mana was unchanged from before.

He got the same overall result, despite putting in more effort and taking more time to do it. Feeling disappointed at such a failure was nothing unusual, but it at least pointed out the wrong direction to Toz, so he quickly shook off the negative feelings and began thinking.

Since making the string thinner didn't work, it probably wouldn't matter if he tried making it thicker.

After a few moments, Toz was almost a little thankful that it had been a failure since it meant he had to come up with something else. While he was making the string thinner, Toz realized how much time and effort he had to put in for just a few meters of string. If he wanted to do the same for enough mana to last him longer than a couple of minutes, he would have to waste more time preparing the mana than he would gain by training automatically.

Not to mention how much focus it would require if he wanted to force the mana to retain the string shape while he trained. The concentration required was practically exponential to the amount of mana. And the stronger he got, the more mana he would need when training.

Toz concluded that the string method was a good starting point, but it wouldn't take him very far in the development of the automatic training. But until he came up with a new method, he would have to use the string method if he wanted to train while doing something else, like thinking of a new way to train.

However, before he could begin another session of shaping the mana into a string, Toz sensed someone approach his bed. The person walked with confidence straight toward Toz, so there was no mistaking their destination. And the nasty expression on the thug-like man gave Toz a hint as to what he wanted to do.

Toz stopped shaping the mana into string as he faced the guy who could easily be mistaken for a crook, even if he did nothing. The sharp eyes, wild hair, and rogue-like way he wore the standard military uniform were all things that thugs would have. The nasty grin was like the cherry on top. But there was one exception to the man's thug-like appearance.

"Move."

The thug stopped in front of Toz and glared down at him while trying to look intimidating. Needless to say, Toz wasn't intimidated.

But since the thing around the thug's neck caught Toz's attention, his answer was delayed enough for the thug to think his intimidation was successful.

"Too scared to move, pretty boy? Let me help you."

The thug reached out with a grizzly arm to grab Toz and fling him to the floor.

But before the thug realized something had happened, he was the one kneeling on the floor with his arm bent and pushed against his back.

The thug's instinctive reaction to the situation was to flare up in anger. But before he could even try to get anywhere, the threatening pressure at his elbow and shoulder disappeared with a crack. In its place was a pain intense and shocking enough to make the thug scream.

But he couldn't scream, so all that came out was a gurgling choking sound.

After the thug reached out with an arm toward Toz, it took Toz barely a second to subdue the thug by grabbing that arm and twisting it behind the thug's back while pushing him down on the ground. The thug, who was embarrassingly weak for a seventh level fighter, couldn't resist.

And when the thug realized that something had happened and tried to resist, Toz didn't hesitate to snap his arm and grab the collar around his neck. Toz's grip on the black and red collar prevented the thug from screaming and breathing. However, the cracking sound of his arm breaking would have been enough to alert the people in their surroundings if the people had been mentally aware enough to notice or care about those kinds of things.

A few people looked in their direction with disinterest before turning away again or simply deciding to enjoy the show.

Toz bent down next to the thug and forced the thug to look at him. Toz's glare seemed to scare the thug into calming down.

As a seventh level fighter, the thug was used to pain. It was just that it had surprised him. And the collar choking him had momentarily made him feel like he was dying. After taking a few moments to gather his bearings, the thug realized that he had stepped in shit, but it wasn't too late to take a step back and clean his shoe.

If there was one thing thugs or crooks had to be good at if they wanted to survive, it was to be able to recognize when people were stronger than them. And Toz was most definitely stronger than himself, so the thug quickly softened his brow and stopped glaring. He was even about to try and offer a smile before he remembered that he wasn't good at smiling in a way that didn't result in a menacing grin. But he still ended up with something akin to a nervous smirk.