Author notes: I won't say I'll be able to make it perfect this time, but I hoped to take what I already had and improve on it. I'll be changing some details to make things more simplified, but the main brunt of things will stay the same.
If you enjoyed it the first time around, or are new here, give it a shot and let me know what you think.
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disc**d.(gg) / 2HxXRGY3Mw
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"Somebody speaking."
'Somebody thinking.'
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Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, or any other anime/novel/manga/fanfic that I may use.
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Chapter 1: A New World and New Experiences.
A ray of sunshine fell between the canopy of trees to shine down on Dante's face, stirring him from his peaceful slumber.
"Mn…, that was a great nap." He raised his arms above his head, stretching like a happy cat. 'I can't actually remember the last time I slept like that; it must have been ages.'
After that passing thought, he opened his eyes to look around and had to blink a few times. 'Am I still dreaming?'
Waking up to find himself in a forest was not what he expected or planned for. He seemed to be lying on soft grass by a small pond in a lush and vibrant forest. The sky was a beautiful blue, the trees shining a deep green, and the calm pond reflected the sky. Add in the strangely clear and melodious sound of birds and insects, and he felt like he had just entered a storybook fantasy.
Dante went to get up when he felt a weight on his legs and looked down to see a hard leather-covered journal. He picked it up and noticed his name was written across the top. A cursive 'Dante' in stylish writing.
Turning it over, he didn't notice the latch was locked with a small needle sticking out, and it pricked his finger, drawing a single drop of blood.
"Tch." He winced for a moment in surprise more than pain as the journal glowed slightly before his astonished eyes. His drop of blood sunk into the lock and a soft Click rang out as the cover swung open on its own.
Dante looked on with an intrigued look at the strange sight. The first thing he noticed were the three different colored pens on the back of the cover, but his eyes quickly slid over them to the first page of the journal which had writing on it.
[Dear Dante,
Congratulations! I granted your deeply desired wish! I killed you!]
Dante felt his eyebrow twitch involuntarily at that quip but kept reading. 'I don't remember having that wish but ok.'
[I have had many names, but I'm commonly referred to as 'Truck-Sama,' yes, you may worship me, but no, I rarely approach anyone twice in a few lifetimes, so I can't take back my blessing.]
His eyebrow twitch was joined by its twin.
[I was pretty bored when I heard your strongly desired wish. I set a filter on my senses to ignore the desperate ones who never first tried to live their current life, considering how they make up the majority of strong desires, so you were a rare find for me.
The world you get sent to and the ability I grant is random, but I made sure both were highly compatible with you; no need to thank me.]
His irritation vanished with those words as what he was reading was really processed and he realized this might not actually be a dream.
[The world chosen for you was Fairy Tail, and your ability is an ancient magic style. Specifically….. find out for yourself!]
'Fairy Tail huh? I can work with that. And Oi, be responsible and explain things better.' He wasn't sure what was going on but chose to flow with it for the moment.
[To be honest, the magic choice was new to me, but after taking a look, it's actually quite interesting. I can understand why it matched with your soul. It's an interesting magic that contains a great deal of knowledge stored inside it and slowly releases it in pieces as you grow more proficient in it.
Find out the limitations and rules for yourself, but don't be disappointed; it fits your wish for adventure and enjoyment well.]
Dante nodded at that, remembering one of his personal opinions about fantasy powers. 'There is no useless power, only useless users.' The wish, on the other hand, was accurate, he never wished to kill himself, but adventure and freedom were things he deeply desired.
[A few notes for you before I let you begin your new life.
You have been de-aged to twelve years old to give you time to grow used to your powers and have your body adapt to using magic, mana, or ethernano as it's called in that world. Your looks were randomized; I don't care much for specifics. I made sure that your body was well-conditioned, considering how much effort you put into your last one, so you're welcome.
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This journal is unique. Its blood bound to you now, so no matter where you go, it will follow you and always be by your side. Unless you give others permission, no one can open it aside from you, and only you will be able to read its contents. The pens have endless ink. The journal is indestructible and spatially expanded to have unlimited pages, but it's no brick, so you can't use it as a weapon. I give one guy an indestructible tablet, and he goes around breaking skulls and adamantium with it, sheesh. All the enchantments on it are things you can find in that world but overpowered versions since I made it. There's also an addition of a map of Fiore folded up with your current location on it, along with a small compass.
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Your current location is towards the center of Fiore, in a relatively safe mountain range, at least on the outer edges. Go east to reach Fairy Tail, north for Blue Pegasus, southeast for Lamia Scale, south for the magic council, southwest for Crocus, or anywhere else you want. You can join anyone or stay solo; it's up to you.
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DO NOT worry about all that fate crap. Sure, you can stick to canon like a bitch, but where's the fun in that? Do whatever the hell you want man. Just remember that actions have consequences, don't expect everything to happen like canon, and enjoy life. The canon story was ONE timeline; this one has you, so it's already different.
That's it for what I had to tell you. Enjoy your new life man.
P.S. The year is 772.
P.P.S This page will fade from the journal within thirty minutes of you reading it.]
'Huh, well this is something.'
As he read the last line, Dante decided to forestall anything else and pick up a pen to begin writing down all the keynotes in the message on the next page. 'I was never the neatest of writers, but I wasn't bad either. I just spent more time typing than writing, so my skills got rusty.'
Looking at the decent scribble, he sighed lightly. "At least I'll be getting in plenty of practice in the coming future."
With that done, he closed the journal and looked back up at the scenery around him.
Dante took it all in and calmly processed his thoughts.
He was surprised and still not one hundred percent sure he didn't just fall asleep and hit his head on his desk at work. Still, as the seconds ticked by, the reality of the situation seemed to settle in. The chances of it being a dream seemed to decrease as the excitement began to build in him at the prospect of this being real.
'Did I really just get Isekai'd?' Dante thought back to his life, childhood, teenage years, military life with the marines, backpacking across third world countries, and finally, office work life. 'If I really did get Isekai'd, and I'm not one to reject reality in front of me, then this is the greatest gift I could have ever asked for.'
He felt no regrets. The old life, new life, it's all the same to him. Just a new chapter with new circumstances. It might sound simple, and in fact, it really is simple. He didn't need to freak out and have an identity crisis. In the end, this is what he always asked for, and he really meant it, knowing things would still be challenging and demanding.
'I always figured people freaked out in the fanfics and novels because they were either exaggerating their wish or had a hard time accepting reality.' Dante chuckled at the thought before squaring his shoulders. 'Ok. Let's say this is really the Fairy Tail world. What do I do now? I'm in the woods, and if the information is to be believed, I'm in a decently peaceful location deep away from human habilitation.
That makes my priorities simple for the moment. Water first, shelter second, then food. Water is in front of me, I can build a quick shelter at the tree line, and then I can scavenge for food. After that, I can decide where to go from there. It's nothing I haven't done before.'
Looking up, he saw the sun was showing around noon time. With his mind set, he got to work.
He checked the pond and swished some water in his mouth. Not seeing any issue, he took a small sip from the stream from which water flowed into the pond and decided to wait and see how he felt. When it came to finding safe water, a moving stream was much safer than a still pond, and the chances of parasites were smaller.
It was also then that he got his first look at his new body. 'Huh, I guess this is a clear sign I'm in an anime world.' With shoulder-length light green hair and cold azure blue eyes, he had to be in an anime world. Genes like that for his hair don't exist on earth, as far as he knew.
He wore a pair of dark green cargo pants, boots, a simple white cotton shirt, and a sweater. Considering it seemed to be spring, he was happy with it. Especially the dozen pockets in his pants. You can never have enough pockets.
His skin was slightly pale and delicate looking, but he knew he could toughen himself up in time. Knowing how to build up your physical qualities without injuring yourself was a delicate balance.
The trick was patience, technique, perseverance, and willpower.
You need the correct form in everything you do; doing it from the start will help build healthy habits the body will end up following without you consciously thinking about it. Improper form is an easy path to injury.
You need to be patient and not rush. Too many people hurt themselves on the path of training for whatever reason by thinking they have to push themselves to their limits day after day, but that's only good for two things. Boot camp and anime.
Boot camp has many reasons, but it's meant to mentally condition civilians and get them physically fit, among other things. And anime because that's the only place it really works for other things. 'Wait…I'm in an anime now aren't I?...deep thoughts.'
The human body was not meant to work that way. In basic terms, when you work out, the muscles and tissue are ripped and heal back twice as strong; that's common knowledge.
What many forget is that they heal by taking energy from your reserves as fuel. These reserves are built up from eating and rest. Proper rest and healthy eating give you much better fuel to store in your reserves and substantially impact your body when it burns that fuel. But when you push yourself to your limit day after day, the body is trying to do a job faster than your reserves can keep up, and it begins to eat away at other things in your body to fuel itself, like your muscles.
The correct and most efficient way to train is by pacing yourself, but that's easier said than done. You need patience, perseverance, and willpower to push yourself to keep going in the long term. Everyone wants to rush and get short-term results, but it doesn't work that way. As you pace yourself over time, your body's reserves will increase, and your body will become conditioned to higher levels for more advanced things.
Now, Dante didn't know how magic would affect everything; in fact, he was sure mages were bullshit existences, but that was no excuse to forget the basics. Satisfied with his thoughts, he moved on to begin working on a shelter.
After finding a suitable location, he walked through the woods and began dragging fallen branches over. For the heavier ones, he tied his sweater around the end of the logs and, after throwing the sleeves over his shoulder, began dragging them back.
It was heavy work, but it filled him with nostalgic satisfaction from his youthful bushcraft days. Once he got enough wood, he noticed he didn't feel any issues from the water. 'Looks like I'll have a stable water supply.' He would keep sips to smaller amounts as he gradually risked more.
He found a sharp rock and used it to help strip the bark from the branches before laying out a row of them on some padded down dirt with a couple standing trees to help function as support. Two larger logs were used to function as legs for the base to keep it slightly off the ground.
Using the stripped bark, he tore strips and used them to tie the logs together to create a nice sturdy base. After that, he set up the sides of the new platform with logs on an angle and tied them both to the base and the trees. Thinner branches were laid across to create a V-shaped shelter, with the open half facing away from the direction of the wind. Finally, large leaves and shrubbery were placed on the outside and tied down using bark strips.
Looking at the shelter after a few hours of work, he couldn't help but nod with a smile. It was simple, crude, and not meant to last long, but he was happy with it.
With the sun beginning to set, he finished things off by making a firepit close enough to his shelter and protected from the wind. Getting a flame going without a flint was annoying, but he managed to make it work before plopping down on his new shelter.
"Ah~ this is nice. My bodies going to kill me tomorrow, but it was worth it." Sitting in his small shelter and looking at the sunset with the fire going brought a serene sense of peace to Dante's mind. He hadn't had a good bushcraft camping experience in years.
He didn't have food yet, but that was ok. Water and shelter were more critical; food could wait another night. 'Now that I have a minute to sit down, how about I try to access my magic?' It's not like he forgot about being in an anime world, but he had his priorities set on survival. And the work helped him settle into his new situation. 'Sometimes it's better to move than think.'
Sitting down crossed-legged on the ground, he leaned back against his log and closed his eyes to meditate. The soft sounds of wind, crickets, croaking frogs, and the fire crackling filled his ears.
Meditation wasn't new to him. It was a helpful skill for emotional control, deep thinking, or simply relaxing from stressful environments for me. It had no mystical form to his experience on earth, but he learned it at an early age from his mother before she passed, and it helped him throughout life.
Here, however, he was hoping things might be different. Dante would never tell anyone, but he did try this a few times in life. The idea of anime mixed with real-life examples of Chi and a few other spiritual practices got him into wanting to find energy inside of himself. Unfortunately, as far as he knew, it never worked. It's possible, but he never found anything and felt silly for trying.
Somewhat thankful for refreshing his memory of Fairy Tail in recent years, he tried to recall what he could from the world. A recent reddit debate he was part of sprung to mind. 'I believe it was said that magic is the physical embodiment of the spirit. When the physical spirit of an organism connects with the spiritual flow of nature, the spirit forms Magic as a product of the connection. Though magic goes beyond reason, it is still born of reason, and it takes an enormous amount of concentration and mental ability to use it.
Only 10% of the population has the potential to be a mage, but everyone and everything has ethernano in them. That's the basic parts I can recall from people who never actually had magic anyway. I'll take them with a grain of salt.'
His breaths grew longer, slowly letting go of random thoughts and beginning to focus on trying to look within. Every example of energy circulation he could think of flashed through his mind. Chakra veins from Naruto, ideas from Harry Potter fanfictions, the list went on, but nothing clicked. As time passed and his body began to ache and sweat from the effort, he finally felt something.
While going over the idea of yoga and its seven chakras, mentally picturing the concept of a swirling vortex of energy at each point, the heart chakra seemed to respond. Almost like a soft 'click' inside his body, unheard but more felt, struck through him before he inhaled sharply in slight shock as that soft click became the shattering of a glass plane.
As if acknowledging a sense organ he was never aware of, warmth poured through the space of his heart chakra like a flood and into his body, soothing encroaching aches and pains and almost making him groan in satisfaction.
Like seeing the sun in a clear blue sky, a core of energy blazed at the location of the heart chakra. 'My magic core.' With excitement shining through him, he grasped onto the feeling of his core and dove deeper.
It was so foreign to him, and yet so right. Something he had never experienced before but never wanted to live without again.
Dante's skin tingled as mana flowed through him. He could sense his core on an instinctual level once he recognized it was there. Its size, its depth, its reserves. It was crystal clear to his senses.
'It's like a tiny pond trapped in a crystal ball with barely a few buckets of water.' He was a fledgling mage, and his core reflected that.
From the edge of his new sense, he could feel streams of glittering gas-like particles floating toward his core before being absorbed and turned into liquid mana to refill his reserves.
The process fascinated him. He watched on for what felt like hours before focusing on the gas particles streaming into him. 'I can only assume the gas particles are the ethernano in the world.' He pushed his senses 'outward' rather than inward, tracing the path the gas was taking.
It was difficult, almost like there was a haze separating his perception, but Dante was undaunted. Fueled by a lifetime of desire for something 'more' to his existence, he pushed through the haze with nothing but ignorant will and pierced the veil between the two.
And then he 'saw' for the first time in his life. As if a blind man gained sight, he witnessed the world as it always was.
What was first processed as a thick cloud that blanketed the world was, in fact, pure ethernano, floating gently as hundreds of thousands of gas particles. Then as the gas parted before his 'eyes,' the world became something out of the Matrix movie but so much more.
Ethernano flowed into everything. Everything was alive, vibrant, and glowing with magic. The air, dirt, trees, grass, everything was absorbing it. Dante basked in the feeling, the high, the sheer innocent joy at seeing something so incredible.
How long he stared at the primal beauty he couldn't say, but almost unconsciously, his magic core began to mimic the world around him. Rather than wait for pieces of gas particles to touch his skin before absorbing, it began to actively pull from the air around him.
Just like the plant life around him. The very tree whose roots he set his temporary campsite over. His magic copied it. It acted as if a baby was learning how to do something by watching others.
Dante noticed it only when he saw the ethernano particles in the air around him begin to be pulled toward him at an increased pace. 'Hm?' Slightly breaking from his daze, he looked inward once more and was interested in how the liquid in his core refilled much quicker.
Experimentally, his interest peaked, he began to try to affect the process. Slowing down the rate of absorption or speeding it up to its max. It was almost simple in theory when he got a feel for it.
His core was still tiny, so the effect was limited as it could only absorb so many gas particles at a time, but if at the slowest, he absorbed and converted 1 unit of ethernano in a few seconds. He could absorb and convert up to 3 units in the same timeframe.
It felt less…wasteful would be the word that came to mind while observing the process.
Just from his observations, feelings, and prior knowledge, he felt he understood a little. 'The gas like ethernano becomes liquid mana inside my core. And then the mana from my core pours into my body.'
The mana looked almost silverly to his senses, and he watched it flow like a funnel into his body chaotically, escaping out of his pours in a wisp-like fashion with nothing being retained. Dante's gaze watched its chaotic flow critically, his instincts telling him it was wrong to leave it as such.
Going outward again, he watched the flow of ethernano and mana in the plant life around him. Seeing how it traveled and flowed in patterns, he attempted to emulate them, trying to consciously guide the mana leaving his core.
It was unresponsive at first, like trying to flex a muscle he had never used before. But one attempt after another to nudge it along and it began to move to his will as he got used to the feeling. Drawing a vertical figure eight through his body, his mana began to filter out from chaotic rapids to a smooth stream following along gently and radiating warmth to all his limbs equally.
He pushed his will into the pattern to feed it along for dozens of cycles before feeling it settle and pulling back his will as it continued to circulate. Dante smiled tiredly at the sight. 'This was right. I don't know why, but it was right.'
Pulling back from his inner self, Dante's real eyes fluttered open as he winced, trying to blink the spots out of his sight. Bright rays of sunlight rested on his body as the world began to wake, and Dante belatedly realized how much time had passed.
'I meditated from sunset to sunrise. Incredible, it felt like minutes.' He chuckled at the absurdity of it all. From arriving in a world of fantasy in a new body, to experiencing a sort of enlightenment on the ways of the world. It hadn't even been a full day and Dante dove straight in with childlike wonder and excitement.
'What even is my life.' Shaking his head with an amused smile, he stretched his arms above his head and groaned in satisfaction hearing the pops from his joints.
Like he said before, he would face reality as it came. And this was his reality now. A reality he desperately wished for.
Getting up, he walked over to the water to wash his face and freshen up. The warm temperature mixed well with the cool water and worked fast to wake him up from his all-nighter. 'Hm, I don't actually feel that tired now that I washed up. Does mana help with that? Or maybe it's meditation?' Some excitement built at the prospect of experimenting and learning the in's and out's of this power.
A stray thought hit him when thinking of power. 'Wait, didn't the message say I was getting my own magic?'
Grabbing his journal, he saw the bullet points he noted and nodded his head. 'It did say that. So then… how do I actually use it?'
Nothing from his meta knowledge helped here. Dante couldn't recall anything from the anime that actually explained how an individual born with magic knows the magic their born with. All he could think of was how magic circles seemed to just light up when a mage was using a spell.
Dante tilted his head to the side in curiosity. 'So do I just…push mana out of my body or something?' He shrugged and decided to give it a go.
Holding up a hand in front of his eyes, Dante reached for the growing familiar feeling of mana flowing inside him and tried to guide a strand off the figure eight to flow through his arm. It didn't seem to want to leave his physical shell so easily, but after the night he went through, Dante knew it was just about finding the right feel for it.
Like trying to put a needle through a small hoop, he eventually seemed to get it and mana flowed freely. The moment the mana left his body, right before his eyes, a magic circle bloomed.
A plain greenish-violet circle hovered above his hand. It seemed material but touching it with his other hand proved it was immaterial. Pushing more mana out solidified the image, and pulling it back made the circle vanish.
It might have looked silly to any passing mage, but Dante was fascinated with the process. It wasn't a spell, but it was real, physical proof that he had magic.
'Mwuhahaha! Bow before me and my mighty glowing circle of doom.' His moment of internal megalomania and internal cackling passed quickly, and he was left with a slightly empty feeling. "Is that it?" There was no spell or magic performed. Just a glowing circle.
Dante brought a hand to his chin and thought hard about it. 'Maybe I'm missing something here.' He flared his magic circle again and studied it critically this time. 'Why is it greenish violet? Is that an indication of the magic I have?'
Deciding to look inward, Dante went over to lay down on his shelter just in case and closed his eyes, willing his new sense to look toward his core.
The figure eight of silvery mana stood out firmly to his senses. The ethernano gas particles still flowed into his core. His core still converted the gas to liquid. Nothing had changed.
Narrowing his eyes, he tried to think about what he had missed, and then it clicked. 'Can I still make a magic circle from in here?' He tried to focus his mana like he did before and pushed it out of his hand. It was more difficult like this, like balancing a plate on a tray rather than holding the plate itself in his hand, but he managed to do it.
And just as suddenly as the magic circle bloomed, he saw it. A thin sliver of a glow lit up like a dull star inside his core.
His attention focused on the core, and he looked inward, seeing the small pool of water, emptying and refilling as he watched.
But suppose he imagined his core like a snow globe, with the liquid being on the floor. What he was seeing now was a dull glimmering star of greenish violet hovering in the center of the globe and casting a light on the pool of liquid.
'Of course. Just like how dragon slayer magic was described as a seed being planted, internal magic must come from the core itself. Otherwise everyone has the same access to ethernano and internal mana. But everyone's core should be unique, so those born with internal magic would already have its 'seed' inside their core.' He theorized to himself as he played around with making a magic circle.
Letting go of the magic circle, he watched in interest as the dull star faded and blended with the background of his core. He wouldn't be able to see it if he didn't know it was there.
Metaphorically reaching out, Dante did what every curious scholar does best. He poked the unknown curiosity.
Later on, Dante would come to realize that this was a mistake.
Like a star going supernova, the greenish-violet star flared violently. Dante's mind reeled from the foreign sensation of spiritual and mental pain, and he was powerless to stop the star from pulling every drop of liquid mana in his core toward it like a black hole.
As every mage in the world would tell you, completely emptying your core is highly dangerous. In bad cases, you can damage your core and lose the ability to perform magic, and in extreme cases, even lose your life as your core pulls on your very life force to function as fuel.
But in the majority of cases, besides the obvious heavy strain on the body and backlash that will make a hangover feel heavenly, it results in an instant knockout, which is what happened here.
Dante fainted the second his mana pool was emptied. Unfortunately, the star wasn't done and began guzzling every trace of mana in his body, as well as the mana being rapidly converted from ethernano. Fortunately, he had sped up the absorption and conversion process, which just might have saved his life if not saved him from losing years of his lifespan.
The star took in the equivalent of hundreds of units of mana before finally settling. But whereas it wasn't easily seen before, now it stayed distinct, having the same dull glitter as it did when he forced it to be seen, sending out pulses that reverberated through his core and connected to his subconscious.
It wasn't until nightfall when Dante stirred from his slumber, only to groan in pain as his consciousness returned.
Pain from three sources.
His magic core, burning like an overheated engine.
His head, pounding like someone was striking a hammer to his skull.
And his head a second time, except like something was drilling through his brain.
Dante could do nothing more than groan incoherently before passing out once more. And as the sun began to rise again on his second morning in a new world, he woke and began to process what happened to him, as well as what he gained.
Leaning up against the wall of his shelter, he stared ahead with slightly blank eyes and tried to ignore the dull throbbing echo of pain. His core already healing and cooling down as he slept and mana refilled it.
Writing down on a new page of his journal, he made bulletin points.
'Observation #1: Pain sucks.
Observation #2: Don't poke things without prior knowledge to work on.
Observation #3: I now know how mages with internal magic just seem to know how their magic works without any actual studying.'
When Dante woke, his mind was filled with knowledge that wasn't there before. Knowledge of his personal magic.
Potions Magic.
It sounded strange and simplistic, but it was anything but. All he had was the very basics of his magic, and that alone was accompanied by a mountain of information. Primarily theory.
From the uses of potions, being used as medicine, antidotes, solutions, poisons, temporary enchantments, and more. Some could be applied topically instead of drunk. And Interestingly enough, even civilians could use potions as the potion itself holds the ethernano.
Next was the knowledge of how to craft potions and the necessary tools. From cauldrons, to scales, to wooden stirring spoons, to mortals and pestles, to vials, to special flames, and other various tools.
And each tool had dozens of varieties based on the material that makes them, resulting in different effects in the final potion produced.
For example, a few materials a cauldron could be made from are Pewter, Brass, or Copper. These were the basic ones.
All three were beginner-grade cauldrons, but Pewter, made mainly of tin, was the easiest to use with the weakest results. Brass, as an alloy of copper and zinc, performed more efficiently in time and result but required a more prepared hand. And Copper was the best for upper-grade beginners and beat out the other two.
As you moved up the cauldrons, the potions required an increased skill to come out right. And that was just for cauldrons, let alone the rest of the tools.
It was mind-boggling how much went into the process, some woods couldn't mix with some metals, and some ingredients reacted violently to certain materials. Dante was actually slightly thankful it was all just shoved in his head rather than having to study everything by the book, or it might have taken him years.
Although despite all the basics he now had, he only had three actual potion recipes.
Making a new note, he jotted down his thoughts. 'Hypothesis #1: a mage's internal magic, also known as Caster magic, feeds the user knowledge of how to use it instinctively but requires a deep enough mana pool to access the more advanced knowledge. Further requirements are unknown at this moment.'
It made sense to him.
Usually, children would only know how to use their magic once a catalyst awakened it. A child wouldn't have the focus, knowledge, or interest to meditate and look within. Not to mention Dante had yet to learn if people in the world of Fairy Tail already knew how to feel their mana from birth.
He only discovered it by meditating and having prior knowledge to experiment with. Everything was new to him, and the pure excitement filled him with a drive those born into the world wouldn't understand. 'And Fairy Tail made a large focus on how emotions affect magic. Hell, it was one of the key points of the show.'
So in usual cases, without an emotional stimulus or traumatic event, it was rare for a young child to awaken their internal magic because their mana pool wasn't deep enough. And if it weren't for both the fact that he was only awakening the fundamental parts of his magic, as well as how he conveniently managed to speed up his mana regeneration, he could have very well died if not crippled himself.
One thought did stick out to him however. 'I'm already 12 years old and almost died from just awakening my magic. Considering how many canon characters started off young… that leads to a lot of thoughts.'
He couldn't help wondering about the statistics. Do a lot of kids experience traumatic events? Was it just that the canon characters were the filtered .01% of the mage population that happened to start so young? Were there so many teen mages in canon because the dark guilds had been ramping up their activity in these years? Or maybe…. a possible thought hit him.
'Maybe I just have small reserves of mana….' The possibility was strong. Erza was 11 when she first used magic after all.
He grimaced at the thought but waved it off for the time being. Only making a note of it and underlining it to come back to.
Anyway, all of this taught him how internal magic worked in the world. 'Maybe I should stop calling it internal magic and use the canon terminology for it. Right, rather than internal magic, I'll call it Caster magic.'
Caster magic was internal magic. magic a mage is born with. The other classification was Holder magic, magic performed through a medium such as a ring, cards, puppets, etc.
There was also Lost Magic, but that's just specialized magic that can still be divided up between Caster and Holder.
'Heh, Caster magic is basically pay to play isn't it? Except it only gives out when you can afford to pay.'
Safe to say though, Dante wasn't planning on poking the bear again anytime in the near future. Every time he looked at the dull star in his core, he got a sensation of not being ready for more. Pain is a great teacher, and he wasn't looking to die anytime soon if he could help it.
But aside from the knowledge of potions and tools, came the actual spells of his magic style. Real spells. Dante's eyes broke through the haze to shine with inner joy at the idea.
A stab of internal pain from his core smashed through his excitement, and he grimaced. 'Ok fine, fine, no using mana right away. Might as well actually get some food in the meantime.'
It was easy to notice that mana, once it filled his body, enhanced his base self and increased his healing, but it didn't do anything for sustenance, and he was already going on two days of just water entering his system.
Getting up from his shelter with a creak, he waddled over to the water to dunk his head and greedily suck in water before shuffling into the tree line. Not going anywhere he couldn't see without plant life blocking his sight in case of predators.
On the bright side of things, his knowledge packet came with dozens of essential plants that were edible. And he found a good few in his immediate surroundings. Some might give him a slight stomachache, but they were readily able to be eaten raw for nutrients, so after washing off what he found in the water, he chewed quickly and swallowed what he could.
It wasn't great, but it would let him survive and eventually thrive.
By the afternoon, he was ready to look at his spells. The throbbing of his core had mostly faded, and he felt comfortable circling mana through his body in meditation.
Standing in the clearing, a greenish violet magic circle bloomed over Dante's hand, this time more detailed with symbols of what looked like potion vials on the outer rim.
With the flow of mana pouring into his hand, and the spell formula ingrained in his mind, he actualized the spell, and before his bare eyes, an empty crude glass vial dropped into his hand.
His hand grasped it tightly as his eyes stared at the result. It was ugly, and crude, and he wouldn't buy it if it sat on a shelf, but none of that mattered.
Throwing his arms up, Dante cheered. "I DID FUCKING MAGIC!" He didn't care if no one was around, what kind of spell it was, or if he sounded like an idiot. He did magic. One of his deepest wishes finally came true.
After laughing and cheering for a few moments of ecstasy, he calmed and looked at the vial once more. It was anticlimactic for his first spell, but he was happy with it.
"I think I'll keep you." He wanted to remember his first spell and the joy that came with it. It was only a few minutes later that he wondered if it was permanent or not, and as he noted down his thoughts, he decided to watch it for a day and then see.
Dante opened a new page in his journal dedicated to spells and wrote all that he had.
[Magic: Potions Magic.
Spells:
#1: Basic Vial Creation: Creates vials suitable for potion storage. Basic level spell that creates stone, glass, or crystal vials out of mana or appropriate raw materials. The vials are designed to trap the magical properties of liquids or gas and store them for as long as the material used allows. Using more mana during creation will allow for larger, thicker, and sturdier vials.
Currently available vials: {Stone} {Glass} {Quartz}
#2: Basic Cauldron Creation: Creates a cauldron from mana or suitable raw materials. The design of the cauldron can be adjusted to suit various needs but requires more mana and materials for larger sizes or higher-grade cauldrons.
Currently available cauldrons: {Stone} {Pewter} {Bronze} {Copper}
#3: Burner Flame: Summon and control burner flames.
#4: Pure Water: Summon and control purified water.
#5: Basic Telekinesis: Low powered telekinesis. Able to move lightweight items.
#6: Basic Herb Sense: Passive Intuition when in the vicinity of basic-grade herbs.]
These six spells were given to Dante with the awakening of his magic. One after another, he worked through each spell.
The same greenish-violet magic circle appeared each time as a different spell was actualized, and he noted down his findings. 'I was wondering why my magic had so much versatility….' It didn't take Dante long to find the issue. His magic was not combat-focused, and so his spells were not combat-focused.
Of course, with enough mana reserves, control, and proficiency, any spell can be taken to extremes. However, until then, his magic was very limited.
The spells for Vial and Cauldron Creation were more or less self-explanatory. They were spells to make precisely what they designated. Vial Creation could not be used to create a dagger or a sharp vial for combat. It makes vials for potions, and that's all.
Furthermore, Vial and Cauldron Creation had a limiting factor. Making them from nothing but mana was temporary and costly. But if the raw materials to make a specific Vial or Cauldron were available, the raw material was converted for a fraction of the mana cost and was made permanent.
The first glass vial Dante made was already losing form after only a few hours, while a second one made from stone taken from the ground was unaffected.
Stone Vials and Cauldrons make very low-quality potions, no matter how good the ingredients and skill are. But as stone is readily available in most cases, it's easy for quick access.
All he needed to make a permanent glass vial was a piece of raw glass, and for a Pewter Cauldron, just a piece of raw Tin was required. Of course, the larger the creation, the more raw material was needed.
Beyond that, all it took was mana and control to make a final product. The better the control and mental image, the more detailed and refined the result.
Dante wrote down a few notes for the two on assessing the limits of the created items. After all, a stone vial or cauldron could always be a weapon when necessary. But internally, he was quite happy with the limitation. After all, if he, a basic 2-day-old mage, could create infinite amounts of metallic Cauldrons without an actual cost, what could other people do?
Couldn't someone like Levy, with her Letter magic, just create pure gold endlessly? The economy of the world would never make sense if that were the case. If all creations required actual materials to be made, he felt saner for it.
Burner Flame and Pure Water were supplementary spells.
Burner Flame, at its current stage, created a simple burner flame like a stovetop that could be placed wherever he desired and would continue burning until it ran out of mana. The intensity of the flames could also be remotely adjusted based on the mana put into it.
Pure Water, at its current stage, created a simple ball of floating water that could only be controlled within a few feet at slow speeds. The water was pure and free of any minerals. Most potions require purified water and those that don't require other liquids to be used. But impure water would always result in a faulty potion.
A fun fact about Pure Water was that it was impossible to create on earth. Magic was making it possible in the current world.
Neither were directly combat-orientated spells, but Dante was sure he could work with them. Holding out a hand, he cast Pure Water and then focused on a mental image. Instead of being summoned as a beach ball-sized water ball, it shrunk to a softball size. Guiding it with his thoughts, Dante smiled at seeing the ball move faster than before and reach a bit farther away from his body before collapsing.
'This has a lot of potential.'
Basic Telekinesis was also self-explanatory. It's not incredibly powerful like Erza's use of it, but it's something to be used for potion creation, as there are dozens of highly delicate potions that require more than two hands to be made. There was both a distance limitation and weight limitation that relied heavily on mana reserves and control to be used.
Finally, Basic Herb Sense was the only passive spell Dante gained. Its effect was strange to his senses as the keyword in its description was 'basic.' The passive spell was like the height of an 'Ooh Shiny' obsession. All around him, he had this niggling sensation pointing out various herbs he either knew of or didn't know of in the forest around him.
The basic information pack didn't involve every basic herb, but simply a large handful of ingredients and herbs to make specific potions.
Thankfully, through a quick focus, Dante was able to see that if he had a specific herb he wanted to find, it seemed to focus more on that specific one. At the same time, if he ignored the sensation, it seemed to fade. Always there, but not as attention-grabbing. The more mana he pushed into the spell formula, the further his range and the more significant the drain.
He wrote all his findings down, making sure to add points and questions about possible ways to experiment with his spells. By the time he finished up, the sun was setting, and his little camp was just a tad homier than before.
Dante hummed a happy tune while stirring a stone cauldron over a burner flame, making a soup out of the raw vegetables and herbs he found earlier. He staved off hunger with his first meal, but his stomach didn't appreciate it. The forest might have appreciated it for the fertilizer at least.
Sitting down with a happy groan, he waved his hand over the cauldron and lifted a sphere of the brothy liquid down into a small bowl-sized cauldron. 'A bowls a bowl.' He wasn't really drowning with options, so it was either a stone cauldron or nothing. Although the thought of Professor Snape seeing someone eat soup out of a cauldron was greatly amusing.
Thankfully, he could make them smaller without issue. Making them bigger wasn't so easily accomplished. The mana requirement seemed to double for every few feet of size for whatever reason.
One pleasant thing he discovered while making soup was that as long as he added Pure Water to a concoction, he retained the ability to manipulate the liquid even after it mixed with other things. The side benefit of the water tasting incredibly fresh was left unsaid.
Taking a soup of the hearty broth full of forest flavors, he sighed in pleasure. "Ahh, this is the life. When's the last time I even went camping? Let alone had something so exciting to research?" Dante was always like that. Whenever he found something that grabbed his interest, he would give it his full attention for as long as it took or until he got bored.
It made things like studying easier, while making things like gaming harder as he refused to leave the game till he won and played every side quest.
Chuckling at the memories of his Skyrim playthroughs, Dante sipped his soup and looked over his notes for the day. "At the current stage, my magic is simple but very versatile and interesting. I have so much to play with and discover."
He turned a few pages from his spells to land on a new one.
[Potion Recipes:
Restore Health – Minor – Combine any two of the following ingredients in a cauldron…..
Ingredients:
~Blisterwort, ~Blue Dartwing, ~Blue Mountain Flower, ~Butterfly Wing, ~Corkbulb Root, ~Flame Stalk, ~Marshmerrow, ~Rock Warbler Egg, ~Saltrice, ~Swamp Fungal Pod
Restore Mana – Minor – Combine any two of the following ingredients in a cauldron….
Ingredients:
~Comberry, ~Elves Ear, ~Fire Salts, ~Frost Salts, ~Fungus Stalk, ~Giant Lichen, ~Grass Pod, ~Green Butterfly Wing, ~Mora Tapinella, ~Pearl, ~Red Mountain Flower, ~Taproot, ~White Cap, ~Wild Grass Pod
Restore Stamina – Minor – Combine any two of the following ingredients in a cauldron….
Ingredients:
~Chokeweed, ~Hackle-Lo Leaf, ~Hawk Beak, ~Large Antlers, ~Mudcrab Chitin, ~Orange Dartwing, ~Pearl, ~Pine Thrush Egg, ~Purple Mountain Flower, ~Salmon Roe, ~Saltrice, ~Silverside Perch.]
Each of the recipes had specific ratios and instructions for how to prep the ingredient with or without a scale and mortar, what order in which to add them to the cauldron, the temperature and time to boil at, and even the specific amount of stirring to use.
When Dante first thought of potions, he thought it would be a straightforward process like in games, but as soon as he gained the info packet, he knew complicated things could be.
It was like a mix of various worlds from Harry Potter to Skyrim, to even wuxia pill crafting. Potions required various steps, tools, ingredients, and all the more.
Despite that challenge though, Dante was looking forward to it more than bothered by it. 'If it were simple, this would be boring. It's more fun when I have to put in the effort. Plus, if it were so easy, everyone would be doing it. I don't think I saw more than a handful of potions in the entire anime. And the ones that were introduced were faulty and dangerous.'
He had three ways to gain more recipes. Make his own, find others, or unlock more knowledge from his magic.
Going over his notes a final time, he nodded with satisfaction. It was always nice to see things listed out clearly, even if some of it was ingrained in his memory.
He was about to shut the journal when a thought occurred to him. 'I can't hope to recall everything from the anime forever. Maybe I should write down everything I remember about this world and keep updating it whenever I remember something else.'
Dante knew his meta-knowledge was a considerable advantage, but his memory could have been better. The longer he waited, the more details he would forget. Not to mention that there was no guarantee things would match canon. He could be in an AU version of Fairy Tail. Or, even more likely, his actions would change something. The message he got when he arrived all but confirmed that, as it said just his existing would change things.
Hopping to the back of the journal, or at least what he thought was the end since it seemed to be able to create new pages endlessly, he started writing out an outline of the timeline for this world and everything he could recall.
His work continued well into the night as the clearing was lit only by moonlight and the soft glow of a crackling fire. The shadows were pushed back by the flames as the ambiance of a nighttime forest filled the air.
By the time he finally put the pen down, he had pages written in red pen to mark out important dates and events. He knew the year was 772 from the message, meaning there were a lot of events that had yet to happen.
Snapping the journal shut for the final time that night, Dante stretched and laid down on his shelter. Despite all the activity of the few days, his body wasn't all that sore. 'Circulating mana must be the secret behind durability in this world. Some of those mages took hits that would smash normal humans into paste and walked them off like nothing. I feel stronger than any 12 year old has any right to be with mana filling my limbs, and I'm sure my recovery rate had improved.'
He wasn't sure while he was recovering from his awakening, but he was convinced by now, having gotten several minor cuts on his hands while experimenting and seeing them close up and recover within hours.
'I can get used to this world; in fact, I hope I never have to go back.' Humming at that thought, Dante confirmed his feelings with it and truly began to feel like he was casting away parts of his old self. It might seem sudden, but he honestly had no anchors on Earth. No family, few casual friends, an empty apartment, and a desk job were all that awaited him day in and day out. He lived more in three days than he did in the three years since he stopped traveling.
Looking up at the star-filled sky free of pollution, gazing at the constellations so clearly lit up, his heart and mind were filled with excitement and adventure.
"So, what now?" The bulk of everything he had to sort through since arriving was over with, and now it was time to figure out his plans beyond the forest clearing.
"Hm... I want to travel, but I also want to get stronger and enjoy life. I want to get stronger since it will give me the freedom to explore more places, the means to do it, to protect myself from the crazy dangers in this world, and frankly because I just enjoy learning and growing.
This body is twelve at the moment. If I follow the timeline, with the year being 772, I should be around the same age as Laxus.
My current location is somewhere in the center of Fiore, in a mountain range west of magnolia, closer to the capital, Crocus.
Putting that all together, I should set a short-term goal rather than a long-term one. Something to focus on while I get my bearings a bit more."
Dante pondered on what to do, many thoughts running across his mind. He could go to any of the guilds, be a bounty hunter, join a merchant caravan, travel by foot across the continent, or head to other continents. The world of possibilities was open to him. But after a few minutes, he decided to be realistic.
"I'm too weak at the moment." It was a basic fact. He probably wasn't even a match for a D-grade mage. Fiore was littered with dark mages wanting to use kids for assorted reasons.
"I think I should dedicate a few years to training somewhere away from humans, and luckily, I'm already in a nice, secluded forest. Let's say… two to three years should be spent on that before I decide to take my next step. Yeah, I like that." Simple, short, and to the point.
"Now, let's break that down.
If I'm going to spend that long around here, I need a few things. Mainly tools and books. I need some essential gear to survive comfortably out here and build a nice camp or home. And some books, specifically on magic, potions, and whatever else I can get my hands on.
But I have no money…." Being broke is hard, and he didn't have everything he needed to make potions or find the ingredients. And he sure as hell wasn't going to try and make a deal with someone to help him. The less the crazies of the world knew about him before he was stronger, the better.
Just then, as he gazed up at the constellations lighting the sky, a fleeting thought flashed by, and his eyes widened slightly. 'Wait. What's the closest town to my current location?' Opening the journal back up, Dante opened it to the map and checked where he was in detail. He had actually forgotten he had the map in all his thinking, but now he could study it.
"From where I am, the closest town would be Shirotsume. That sounds incredibly familiar for some reason…." Dante tried to think back on the memory, something niggling at him, an opportunity he could use to help with his problems. Starting from the beginning of canon with Natsu in Hargeon, he worked his way through the events and quickly came to his answer.
"It's the city where Lucy met Virgo. The one with the rich scumbag named Everlue, that's why I felt a connection to my problem. The guy holds a huge private library full of things he just collects for fun." The big fight scene in canon occurred in a giant library.
Playing around with the idea, a mischievous smile grew on his lips. "I think I found the solution to most of my short-term problems."
Chapter End.
AN: Thoughts?
AN's Removed from the chapter:
1: I am not a personal trainer or expert in bushcraft. All my knowledge comes from personal experience and YouTube videos.
2: If you want to see a map of Ishgar or Fiore, google it. Or look it up somewhere else.