"What do you mean I can't do any jobs!?"

"Exactly that, Eris-chan. You're too young."

"Bullshit!"

"Language!" Riko said, interrupting my conversation with Master Bob. It had been around a week since I arrived in this world and became an official member of Blue Pegasus. Well, "official," considering I wasn't allowed on jobs apparently.

"But I'm sooooo boooooooooooooored." Yeah, okay, I may be eight right now, but weren't there some smaller, tame jobs I could go on? Like the D-Rank quests? Fairy Tail had ranks, right? I mean, I knew S, SS, 10 Year, and 100 Year quests were a thing, so regular quests are probably divided up, right?

I peeked back at the request board again but didn't see any obvious signs of ranking. Just the amount of Jewel a request was worth.

"Aw, come on, Master Bob. Why not let the little lady go find some rabbits or something?" A random bar patron said. The Blue Pegasus guildhall was a pretty famous haunt around Bluebell, and seeing as the request board is in the bar area itself, I of course was whining in front of all the civilians.

I was not ashamed… Much.

Master Bob just shook his head. "Even on a simple job like that, something could go wrong. I won't send little Eris out until she's older and able to take care of herself."

It made a lot of sense and were I in another position, I would agree with him. The only issue was there was nothing to do. No TVs, no internet, everyone around me was older than me, and I didn't have the money to buy interesting books.

"What am I supposed to do then?" I complained once more. Hopefully annoying him into submission would work. "Come ooooooooon! What do I doooooooooooo!"

I, unfortunately, underestimated Master Bob's patience, as he just smiled and handed me a book. "Why not read that?"

"Hm?" I looked down at it. It was a dusty old thing, clearly multiple decades old at least. It was pretty hefty as well, around the size of my old high school textbooks. The title read, "Properties of Magic: Ethernano, the Building Block of The World."

"I asked one of my old friends to bring me that book. It should help you with figuring out your magic." He said. That was something we had been working on this past week. Master Bob was quite interested in seeing what Planetary Magic could do, so he was helping me unlock it. It hasn't been going well.

I certainly couldn't say I wasn't interested. I have been wondering about the properties of magic for a while. The issue was, unlike Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus didn't have a full archive. That wasn't to say there were no books or anything, but it was rather lacking. I suppose it made sense, what with the young age of the Guild, but still, it was rather disappointing. With a nod, I accepted the book and started heading toward my room.

When I passed through the lounge, some familiar faces greeted me. Some I had met on the first day, such as DeZille and Jun, while others I only met later, such as Gil Rutas, an illusion mage who uses his magic to appear hotter, or Jasmine Pitch, a paper mage who hates reading.

Jasmine was actually the one to point out the book I had. "Why would you ever choose to read that?" She asked me, tossing her dirty blond hair over her shoulder.

"Seems interesting," I replied easily. "I've always been curious how magic works, so I'm pretty excited."

Jasmine pulled a face, looking as if what I said physically disgusted her. "Man, you genius types are weird." Everyone just chuckled.

That was another thing. Just because I could read and write better than some of the adults, liked to solve brain teasers, and tended to try and think about things instead of acting, I was considered something of a child prodigy. I probably should have hidden it better, thinking back, but there wasn't much I could do about it now. As long as nothing bad came from it, I was pretty fine with it. Plus, it fed my ego quite nicely.

Laughing off her comments, I continued until I reached my room. I looked around to make sure no one was there, before quickly jumping in, and locking the door behind me.

Failing to hide my advanced smarts was one thing, but I knew I couldn't let this get out. Hidden behind a room divider I snuck in was a piece of paper I had hung up that had a timeline of events. Hanging right beside it was a calendar, where I had made a few marks.

The first mark was today, July 7, X767. Ten years before the Dragon Slayers arrive through the Eclipse Gate. I'm far from a Fairy Tail aficionado, but I do know the dates of many major events—at least the years—so I attempted to create a decent timeline. Of course, there were still many places in which I had to play it by ear, seeing as the series wasn't clear on all of it.

For instance, I knew Cana joined Fairy Tail in X772, and everything in Gray's childhood was in X774, but other important stuff like when Erza and the rest were brought to the Tower of Heaven, I only had a range. I knew it was after Yukino was born, but obviously, before Erza joined Fairy Tail. That placed the capture somewhere within some time in X773 to around mid-X776.

There was another issue. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't sure how much I wanted to interfere in these events. Pretty much nothing big that I would interfere with wouldn't be for at least six years, so it wasn't an issue of not being able to. The reason I wasn't sure was that, while these tragedies really sucked for the characters involved, they also made them who they were, and gave them a purpose. If I rescue them from that pain, will they be strong enough in the future against Tartaros or the Alvarez Empire?

I really wasn't sure.

Either way, I figured that I still had a few years yet to figure that out. Pushing that out of my mind, I glanced down at the book I was given once again, "Properties of Magic: Ethernano, the Building Block of The World." Figuring it was time to buckle up and read, I opened it up.

Chapter 1: An Introduction to Ethernano: What it is and Why it's Important.

Let's get cracking.

The book was simultaneously supremely fascinating and boring as sin. While Chapter 1 was profoundly interesting, as it went into the make-up and uses of ethernano, and by extension magic, most of the later chapters were less so. "Chapter 2: Ethernano in the Body," was a glorified biology lesson. One of the only cool things about it was the explanation about the Magic Containers.

The coolest thing, I'd say, was that apparently, Magic Containers take the place of the appendix in this universe. While the appendix does have use in Earth humans as a reservoir for bacteria in the gut, such bacteria don't live in Earthland humans. Instead, the function those bacteria serve, breaking down foods into acids and synthesizing vitamins, is instead handled by ethernano inside the body. That's how substances such as food and herbs are able to affect the amount of magic people have in their bodies.

That also is why Magic Deficiency Disease is such a big deal. When someone is that dangerously low on magic, the body goes into a shutdown mode to preserve energy, hopefully allowing the skin to absorb enough ethernano to restore proper intestinal movement and processes. Whether that makes it a microorganism or not is a topic that is hotly debated, according to the book.

Other things include ethernano flooding the body in response to adrenaline, increasing durability and strength in stressful situations, as well as ethernano being able to remove waste products from the body entirely. It made sense why it was called magic now.

No mention was made of Dragon Slayers or the Second Origin, so how they work is still a mystery to me. For now.

"Chapter 3: Ethernano in our Cities," went into how ethernano is used in the construction of buildings and structures. I guess people figured out they could reinforce walls and such with magic, so that could be why metal buildings were never made in this world. That, and the fact that there was no need for monumental buildings like that with so much of the world still untapped, and population density not bad enough to warrant it. A somewhat interesting, but ultimately dry read.

"Chapter 4: Ethernano in Transit," and, "Chapter 5: Ethernano in Flight," were both about how magic is used for transportation. Most of it was pretty simple. Raw ethernano is taken from the driver and is converted into Wind Magic through use of a Wind Lacrima inside the vehicle itself. While learning about the development of the Lacrima itself may be interesting sometime in the future, the contents of the chapters themselves were ultimately boring.

Luckily, those dry chapters were made up for in the final chapter of the book, "Chapter 6: Ethernano in Spells." This chapter was all about how ethernano is converted into magic able to be used in spells. Most of the other chapters did touch on this somewhat, but this was where we got into the nitty-gritty.

As expressed in chapter 2, magic and ethernano are necessary for human life in this world, yet, only 10% of the population can use Magic. Why is that? Well, that's because that statistic is somewhat of a lie.

See, almost anyone can use any magic, the only reason why people don't use every type is that certain people are predisposed to certain types. For instance, Laxus was genetically predisposed to Lightning Magic, which is likely why he was able to survive getting the Lightning Dragon Slayer Lacrima implanted into him. If Laxus learned magic normally, he probably still would have had Lightning Magic, just a different type.

So is magic just a game of being born correctly?

No.

While predisposition is usually seen as necessary to becoming a mage, it isn't true. Magic and spells are done through a process of thoughts, emotions, intent, and muscles interacting in a way to blend ethernano into specific shapes and forms. It acts as a process inside the body that some people can do from birth, and others can't.

However, while many are unable to do it from birth, they can still learn to do it. In the same way, someone can struggle with language comprehension as a child and then go on to be a linguist if they try hard enough, people can learn to be Mages if they put in the effort. In fact, they can be just as strong as people born with predispositions. If someone practices certain magic enough, they will basically gain a predisposition towards that magic.

As far as I can tell, that's what happened in canon with Elfman. Lisanna and Mirajane had predispositions toward Take Over Magic, but Elfman didn't. After enough time spent practicing, however, Elfman became just as strong as his sisters.

What makes certain babies born with predispositions and some not is still unclear, however, I assume it's probably just genetics. Despite how strangely advanced Earthland seems at times, it's still not as scientifically advanced as Earth was.

After I finally finished the last page of the book, I looked up and out the window and noticed that it was nighttime. I could also feel the Moon hanging high up in the sky right now, meaning it was probably pretty late.

Seems like I forgot to eat too…

With a groan, I crawled off my bed, unlocked my door, and left in search of snacks.

The bar was completely empty, and there was a plate of spaghetti with a note on it. 'Hope you enjoyed the book, sweetie!' It read. It was perhaps a bit embarrassing that Master Bob already knew me well enough to know I would read the book all the way through, but that thought was overshadowed by food.

I tossed the plate into the kitchen's firebox (Earthland's microwave equivalent) and heated it back up. Thinking a bit more on it, it was hard to find anything that didn't involve magic here. That book really opened my eyes.

Magic was everywhere, from the buildings to the people. I knew that, of course, because the Edolas arc made that clear, but even still. From a world with no magic, where everything had to be done through the use of electricity, gas, or other limited resources, to a world where everything's renewable, efficient, and clean. A world with no energy crisis, no pollution, and no uncertain future. A world where even death can be undone.

A world that I was reborn into.

Why?

Why was I the one chosen for this? Couldn't it have been like Martin Luther King Jr.? Or Gandhi?

I was hoping that book would give me at least a clue, but all it told me is the reason I don't have my original body. Though, it still didn't explain why I arrived as an eight-year-old, or how anything that's happened to me happened.

My spaghetti was done heating, so I sat down glumly at the empty bar with it. To be honest, I'm probably the last person who deserves this. This world is too good for me.

Maybe it would be better if I just-

A hand on my shoulder interrupted me. "Huh?"

"Eris-san!" I turned to see Ichiya standing there, a concerned expression on him. "You have a rather dour parfum, what is the matter?"

"Ichiya…" Something about this made me laugh humorlessly. "This is the second time you caught me like this." Something told me it wouldn't be the last. "Uh, to answer your question, I guess I'm just wondering why I'm here."

Ichiya took a seat next to me as he asked, "Whatever do you mean?"

God, how would I even go about explaining it? I'm from another world and am questioning my life's worth? Ha! Yeah right. If I answer it at all honestly, he'll think I'm crazy. Or worse, he'll be concerned. Instead of tempting fate, I decided to say, "Don't worry about it. Just some late-night thoughts."

Luckily that seemed to appease him, as he nodded and hummed. We just sat in silence after that, me eating my meal and him checking his perfumes. I was surprised he wasn't tired with how late it was. Actually, that was weird. "Why are you even here, it's," I looked at the clock. "2:30." God, really?

"Ah!" Ichiya nearly jumped out of his seat as he excitedly showed me multiple perfume vials. "Master lets me stay late in order to develop my new parfums." The first one he handed me was labeled Pain Relieving Parfum ver. 2.0. He then showed me others, including the Fleet-Foot Parfum and Poison Parfum. There were plenty that weren't labeled as well, and when I asked he explained, "Those are my experimental parfums. They still need to be safely tested."

That sounded interesting. "How do you test them?"

"It takes many steps to ensure proper safety. If you are interested, perhaps you should come with me next time."

"I can!?"

"Depending on the effect, sometimes I end up taking improper notes, so having someone there is quite beneficial."

"Awesome!" Maybe others would be upset that they'd be sitting around taking notes, but I certainly wasn't. Research and the pursuit of knowledge are what I lived for.

Huh. Maybe that's why I'm in this world?

"Very well!" Ichiya said. "We shall begin tomorrow afternoon! Better rest up, men!"

"Yes sir, Ichiya sir!" I stood ramrod straight and saluted. It was only after Ichiya left that I realized I was basically acting like I was part of the Trimens. Maybe Ichiya just inspired that kind of devotion.

Pushing it out of my mind, I quickly finished my meal, ran back to my room, and laid down.

Tomorrow, it was research time.

Yet another chapter complete (that may or may not have just been an excuse to write out my headcanons)! Motivation was sorta low these past few days, due to an announcement on July 11th that some of you may know about (#20DaysofSana), so it's a good thing I'm writing these in advance.

Either way, this is the start of the first proper arc, so I hope you're ready!