Elemental Cats

Without further delay, Toz opened the grimoire and began reading the imprinted mana that described, conveyed, and explained the spell stored within it. He could tell at once that it would be quite the challenge to learn the spell in the same amount of time as he learned Dissolution. Or, it would have been if he didn't have mana vision.

It would be tricky for Toz to learn the spell even with mana vision, especially since it worked in a way that made it difficult for him to use mana vision while practicing the spell. But Toz looked forward to the challenge.

Toz dove into the world inside the grimoire as he began absorbing the information stored in the mana. As he slowly began realizing the spell's potential, the flames of his motivation soared.

However, something poured a bucket of ice water on those flames, startling Toz and pulling him back to reality.

Toz's head snapped up and swiveled back and forth as he analyzed the room.

He had been in the middle of reading the grimoire when something alerted his senses and triggered his reflexes. Toz's mana surged without him doing anything, and he was ready to face danger from whatever direction.

However, Toz couldn't identify the source of whatever triggered his senses, even after several moments. And he definitely couldn't sense any danger or malicious intent anywhere. It could be possible that a potential perpetrator could hide their bloodthirst or killing intent if they wanted to attack Toz. But his senses were so delicate that he could still pick up a premonition of danger.

Toz looked around in confusion. He didn't drop his guard in the slightest, but his vigilance faded, and he began observing his surroundings in more detail, this time with mana vision active.

Toz thought that he had to incorporate activating mana vision into his reflexive response since it would make it a lot easier for him to discover traces of people or magic.

And, lo and behold, only moments after activating mana vision, Toz found a clue.

However, the trace was so minuscule that Toz couldn't be sure what it was at first, but after he confirmed that it was the only thing he found in the entire tent, he investigated it in more detail.

Toz carefully approached the tiny trace of mana hanging in the air. Unlike wild mana, it was mana that belonged to a mage, and Toz could sense that it was around the eighth or ninth level. However, the mana was quickly dispersing and becoming part of nature again, and Toz only barely had time to identify the attribute.

Now, he only had to find out why someone had used a small amount of space magic in the middle of his tent.

Fortunately, that wasn't very difficult since he found the reason on the ground, below where the space magic had taken place.

A letter that hadn't been there before the space magic triggered Toz's senses now lay on the ground.

Toz cautiously confirmed that the letter wasn't boobytrapped before he bent down to pick it up, not lowering his guard at any point. After that, he unfolded the piece of paper and read its contents. There were only a few words, so it didn't take long for him to read it. It also didn't take much time for Toz to figure out who had sent the letter. Or at least from who it came. Toz doubted the general himself had written and sent the letter.

After reading and memorizing the contents of the letter, Toz burned it so that there weren't even ashes left. And following the instructions in the letter, he laid down on the bed to pretend to sleep.

A while later, he disappeared from his tent. And another while later, Toz's cloaked figure appeared in the spot the letter had told him to go to unnoticed. He hadn't sensed anyone observing his tent or staying close to it, but Toz still made sure to completely vanish from perception with a combination of darkness, void, and space magic.

Toz removed his presence from visual, magical, and physical perception with the magic, so that should have been enough for the general to approve of his stealth capabilities. But it was the first time he tried doing something like that to such an extent while also maintaining it for a prolonged time, so Toz wasn't sure if there had been any gaps or slip-ups in his magic.

However, if there had been any, Toz hadn't noticed anyone noticing or paying attention to him.

While he waited for a signal or for someone to show, Toz wondered why the general had asked him to leave the bracelet behind. The bracelets came from the military, and the general oversaw the military, so shouldn't the bracelets be free of problems? Especially when considering how advanced the magical engineering behind the bracelets was.

Toz wasn't an expert at magical engineering and enchanting, so he couldn't say for sure, but shouldn't there be a way or two to secure the bracelets?

Well, he would find out soon enough, so it didn't really matter what kind of guessing Toz did.

Shortly after Toz concluded his amble thinking and focused on maintaining his combination stealth magic, the signal he waited for appeared.

To anyone not waiting for the signal, it would, at most, look like the glint of light from a lantern or maybe some magic or an inclination. It could also be light reflected from afar. The battle was in full swing at all times on the battlefield, and it wouldn't be weird if a spell were powerful enough to show its effects in the depths of the Alliance of Kingdom's base.

However, Toz could sense the invitation coming from the spot of light that flashed in his direction for an instant before disappearing.

It was both a sign of approval regarding his stealth magic and a way for them to show that he hadn't escaped their detection. The last part spooked Toz a little, but not enough to deter him from following the light.