Greetings, people! One Half here!
While the story is still preparing for Edolas arc, let's continue the world building. For a change, this chapter may seem pretty dark (or not), and our protagonist is the cause of it. The story will progress here, but most of it is for the sake of explaining how the world works.
Now, answers for the reviewers:
JNDragneel: Thanks for the big review, such comments always remind me that time spent to write a chapter wasn't wasted, thanks a lot! As for your questions – you've really asked a lot, so I'll better answer via PM (soon, I promise). Now I'll just remind you that info about Natsu's attribute can be found in chapter 11 (see guild cards).
Goal be Quick: Thank you for the review, and yes – Natsu do has some interesting skills, not related to magic. Anyway, here's an update!
Rajo: Review's size is limited with 8000 symbols, I think, so no need to be modest – large review is always nice. Of course, other magical monsters will participate, in one way or another, I wouldn't have introduced them without reason. Artifacts will not be forgotten as well. And believe me – in situation between Haru and Nelliel – the most distressed one is Happy…
FanFictionHunter: Man, you're too hasty… it's not about Tower of Din yet, it's about one particular… room from there, which was mentioned in chapter 14. Tower of Din isn't to be trifled with – Natsu has to prepare properly. As for your other question – let's talk via PM.
porkchop123ww: Nice to see you, thanks for the review.
Guest: Ok. Remember – more reviews – more frequent updates.
I hope I haven't forgot anyone, if I did – my deepest apologies. Now, let's go to the chapter. This one isn't really big, but quite solid. Next one will probably be the last one before Edolas arc, and there we'll talk about golems. Good reading.
Chapter XXXVI – Alchemy of Monsters
…
The Tower of Din – the place where all hopes come to die… If you look at this place from aside – you will only see the unremarkable, lifeless, rocky valley. It is not possible to find the tower accidentally, one must know exactly what he's looking for – it doesn't matter how powerful the one is, and to which lineage he belongs to – tower will not reveal itself. Only those who knows what they're looking for and how to find it, have a chance to find that place. But even Natsu, who knew what he's looking for, who knew how to look for it, who has the advantage of his heavenly eyes, and who has the natural talent in treasure hunting – he spent a year looking for the tower.
Surrounded by a dense whirlwind of corrupted ethernano, three miles in radius and only heavens know how tall, made of enchanted black marble, Tower of Din stands, unaffected by weather, time and fate.
When Sin heard that Natsu wants to go back to the Tower of Din, he was so shocked that he again fell on the floor. No, of course he knew that ever since their meeting – both he and Natsu are bound by destiny to the tower and sooner or later they'll have to return there. But he definitely didn't expect that it will happen so soon. But what actually surprised the familiar – there was no treasure hunter's fire in Natsu's eyes, which he usually has when it comes to ancient places exploration. This time, God of Ruin seemed completely determined and focused.
And Sin's guess appeared to be correct – Natsu wanted quite a specific thing from the tower. When Natsu and Sin came, the tower seemed exactly as it was when they've left – impressive, dreadful… and completely silent, structure seemed completely abandoned and forgotten. No one tried to prevent unexpected visitors from entering or from leaving. But there were no wanderings inside of the tower and no explorations – they came in, packed the stuff Natsu wanted, and came out as soon as possible. That wasn't anything like the expedition – that was a raid, plain and simple. And what Natsu wanted – that was nothing else but monsters breeding laboratory he found during his first 'expedition' inside of the tower – Natsu wanted the Rippers Factory.
To be honest – there was a huge number of questions in Natsu's head now, regarding the tower, so he'd gladly dived into the tower's exploration. His wanderings inside of the tower during his first visit were completely unsystematic. He visited a couple rooms on the first floor, then on 13th, then on 29th, then on 42th, where he found Sin's chamber and had to leave shortly after. In total, he explored about 30 chambers, trying (sometimes fruitfully, sometimes not) to understand the purposes of those rooms. One thing is obvious though – saying that he explored about 0.01% of the tower's interior will be immensely presumptuous. Tower of Din seems huge when you look at it from the outside, but comparing to how it looks from inside… Comparing to the inside, the outside isn't even tiny, it's just microscopic.
One of the chambers that Natsu explored, the Valley of the Ashbornes, which looked like a common room from the outside, on the inside appeared to be a real valley, filled with volcanos and rivers of magma. By looking at this endless kingdom of flame, Natsu got a feeling that this 'chamber' actually has a size of a real kingdom. Natsu didn't go to explore it because he wasn't sure that he'll be able to survive here long enough (he had absolutely no desire to meet one of those ashbornes), and, most importantly, he wasn't sure that he'll be able to find that door again, through which he got inside.
By the way, let alone Natsu, even Sin didn't know how many floors Tower of Din actually has. Former god slayer spent two weeks inside of the tower, but those were two weeks in the outside world. Time inside of the tower runs faster, and seemingly it runs the faster the higher the floor is. By Natsu's internal sensation – he spent there at least ten weeks, yet he didn't even scratch the surface. Besides, even after he left the tower, the questions regarding it continued to pile up. For instance – why Procellion needed Jellal, why couldn't he just return to the Tower of Din and resurrect himself there? It is extremely unlikely that such a complex has no tools to resurrect one of its guardians, so why?
But now wasn't the time to explore the tower yet. Natsu felt that he's yet too weak and immature for that. Now he wanted to attend the more urgent matters – he wanted to lay a foundation to his own powerbase. Right now – he's a god with no followers, aside from his own wife and three girls from Shinryō no Setsuma. This is not enough to handle any more or less serious crisis, let alone crisis regarding the Tower of Din. The Nirvana's incident vividly demonstrated the real number of reliable supporters he can count on. And to prepare for the future that will definitely come, Natsu wanted to use this – what he considers to be the most fascinating chamber among all he has visited (aside from Sin's Chamber of the Damned, of course), or rather, the equipment he saw inside – the Rippers Factory.
December 25, X784, 1:45, Minstrel Republic's capital – Ivy Bush
The country of Minstrel, located to the southeast of Fiore, separated from it by a large gulf with an island in its center. This country is about eight times larger than Fiore, and this country prospers on trade. It has seven large port cities, but most of the country's wealth is gathered here, in the capital, Ivy Bush city. This is a real megapolis, as about 5 million of people live here. Due to its size, the local people actually got used to strange things constantly happening here and there, but right now, something really weird was happening under cover of the night.
The city of such size is bound to have several large graveyards. But this particular one was special – it was allocated for the criminals – those who died serving their sentences or were executed, and those killed by bounty hunters. Minstrel is a wealthy country, and it guards its wealth strictly, hiring a lot of bounty hunters to hunt for those who committed a crime against the state. Even Natsu, who usually operates in Fiore, has done a couple of jobs for the Minstrel Republic. Actually, one of those buried here has been sent into the grave by former god slayer's hand.
A lot of those buried here were mages, some others were using magical items, and the rest simply were so much of scums during their lives, that even in death local "inhabitants" were causing troubles from time to time. Due to this, the graveyard was located several miles away from the capital, surrounded by a thick, enchanted wall. A dozen of heavily armed patrols, each one being reinforced by at least two mages, were constantly watching the wall. However… right now all the patrolmen were sleeping soundly, while staves, carried by mages were all confiscated and installed around the graveyard's perimeter, as they were organized into some formation. After its activation, the formation will not allow anyone to feel (or notice in any other way) the commotion that will happen here in a few minutes.
And now, while all humans within this graveyard's vicinity were sleeping peacefully, two persons were wandering among the crypts and tombs. One was wearing the black coat, outlined with gold, and a huge sword behind his back. Another one looked like a small skeletal dragon, whose bones were burning with blue flames.
"Just for the record, you do realize that what you are attempting to do is essentially the same thing, for which you were constantly criticizing Zeref?" Sin inquired as he was riding on Natsu's shoulder. Though, there were no notes of accusation in his voice – he really seemed just curious.
"Oh, not this again," Natsu rolled his eyes. "Doesn't it obvious? I was criticizing him not for his work itself, I'm despising that fool for that he hasn't kept his so-called creations in check and allowed them to wander around the continent, thus making lives of countless people miserable. I am pretty sure that I can handle my stuff," God of ruin explained. "Besides," He added, "I am a real god, while he was just a human. Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi."
"I guess your first secondary domain will be 'arrogance'," Sin snorted. "I'd like to see how you're going to explain all of that to your spouse."
"Let me handle that," Natsu looked at his familiar with narrowed eyes.
"Whatever," Sin waved his boney claw.
"Alright, I guess we're on the right spot," Natsu said as he looked around, confirming that he and Sin have reached the middle of the graveyard. "Want to do the honors?" He asked his familiar.
"Nah," Sin waved his boney claw, "Negative energy is scarce here, I may accidentally drain all the cursed essence and make our trip here useless…" Sin actually can drain essence from cursed places, accelerating his own recovery (as he lost about 95% of his powers during his several thousand years long slumber in the Tower of Din), but he will need decades to recover completely, and even place like this will shorten that time just for a week or two. That fact displays the tremendous power of a tower's guardian. Usually, draining a cursed essence from a place like this graveyard would've been a good cause, since it not only would have accelerated Sin's recovery, it also would've made the job of local guards here much more peaceful for some time. However, right now the cursed energy is needed for something else…
"Alright," Natsu shrugged as he abruptly stood on one knee and smashed his palms to the ground, unleashing his domain and drawing a huge power seal on the ground. "Listen to me, you, who were useless trash in your lives! Obey the will of god! Rise up! I am, Natsu Bloodfallen, Lord of Ruin, command you! Serve me in death!" As Natsu finished his speech, a shockwave has been sent across the entire graveyard.
"Are you sure that all that pathos was necessary?" Sin wondered. Natsu's 'chant' was a simple show-off, it has nothing to do with magic.
"What's the point in living if you can't enjoy yourself from time to time?" Natsu shrugged.
This place, filled with negative energy, which is constantly emanated by corpses and accursed souls of those who were doing only evil in their lives, was like a barrel with powder, which only needs a spark to explode. And appearance of the dark god wasn't just a spark, it was like a torch, which was purposely put into the barrel with powder.
As shockwave passed through the graveyard, the ethernano, filled with negative energy, began to swirl, turning into a huge dark vortex that covered the entire graveyard. And the effect didn't make Natsu to wait for itself. Just a few minutes after all that chaos began, rotten corpses started to dig themselves up from the graves as lost souls and skeletons began to appear from crypts.
Natsu, who now was surrounded with thousands of undead, didn't seem even a bit worried, but he seemed disappointed. "Such a low-quality material…" He sighed. About 85% of those undead were just tier-1 creatures. Since Natsu was aiming at making at least tier-12 monster – all of this horde of undead will be barely enough to make one. Natsu was expecting something like that, but not to such extent…
"Should be enough for the test run," Sin shrugged, looking around.
"I guess…" Natsu said as he looked up. "At least weather is on our side today," He added, looking at heavy clouds, which were flowing to the north (i.e. towards Fiore), "Perfect to cover the delivery process."
While Sin and Natsu were casually talking, several thousands of living dead already left their graves, as that vortex of negative energy seemed exhausted. Now the entire graveyard was filled with dreadful wails of undead. Those creatures are mindless, but all undead bear unquenchable hatred towards living. And as they felt a living being among themselves, they all headed towards it, with desire to turn a living one into one of their own.
Natsu stomped his foot on the ground, and a power seal that he drew earlier began to glow. In the next moment, it shot several thousands of lightning-like tendrils, which began to pierce skeletons and zombies, and entangle lost souls. With skeletons and zombies impaled on them, and lost souls entangled, from aside this massive number of lightnings looked like a huge growing tree, with undead resembling its leaves. With all of the undead captured, the tree began to transform, detaching from the ground and turning into a sphere. Within a minute, all of the restless creatures were held captives inside of a majestic-looking sphere made of dark blue lightning.
"Well, I guess that's it," Natsu concluded. He waved his arm and sphere flew up, disappearing above the dark clouds. "C'mon, let's get out of here," God of ruin said to his familiar.
With bright flash, Sin assumed his true form, turning into a huge fleshless creature. Sinalledion made a deep breath, consuming all the remnants of cursed essence from this place. Natsu jumped up and landed on Sin's head. Familiar swung his fleshless wings and flew up. Skeletal creature looked down and exhaled a huge fireball made of blue accursed flames. The fireball fell to the middle of the graveyard and exploded, turning everything within the walls into a lake of bright blue flame. It will burn for about an hour, and when those patrolmen and watchers, who Natsu put to sleep, will wake up in the morning – they'll see no evidences of that here ever was a graveyard. After the entire graveyard was set aflame, the huge creature again swung its wings and disappeared above the clouds.
December 25, X784, 4:15, Galuna Island.
Deep beneath the Temple of the Moon, on the island in the middle of the underground lake, something was happening. Once this cave was a place to keep the legacy of the dragon from the unworthy. However, after the demon has been defeated and dragon queen's inheritance has been acquired by a certain red-haired girl, this cave became… just a cave. However, due to Galuna Island's remoteness, this cave beneath the island was a perfect place for Natsu's experiments. Of course, due to his improved power, god of ruin had no need to go through that underground passage full of traps to get into the cave. With his newfound power – he just made a new entrance for himself.
A sphere made of lightning-like energy was floating beneath the cave's roof, holding inside the gray mass of thousands of undead. Two huge vacuum flask-like things, connected by the complex machinery, was installed in the middle of the island – that was the Rippers Factory itself. Natsu spent entire yesterday to carefully reassemble the installation, and now everything was ready for the experiment.
God of ruin snapped his fingers and two zombies appeared inside of the flasks, one per each flask. Zombies were wailing and moaning, trying to break free, but those attempts seemed just laughable. Natsu clapped his palms, and fusion reaction began. The skin of a zombie inside of the left flask began to 'boil', while zombie in the right flask turned into a cloud of gray mist. Via the machinery, the gray mist from the right flask was processed and transferred into the left one. After that, the processed mist 'condensed' on the 'boiling' zombie, and it turned into a gray formless mass. In a few seconds, the mass began to acquire form, finally turning into a rotten zombie, tier-2 zombie-type undead, which looked even more disgusting than initial zombie. Natsu snapped his fingers and rotten zombie was teleported to another lightning-made cage-like installation, which Natsu prepared for the 'results'. Entire process of fusion took about 10 seconds.
Another two zombies appeared inside of the flask, and another rotten zombie was made. Then two newly made rotten zombies appeared inside of the flasks – one was sacrificed and second one turned into tier-3 zombie-type undead – ghoul. Then previous procedure was repeated again, and second ghoul was created. Then two of them were combined, resulting in tier-4 zombie-type undead – hungry ghoul. Then, after several repentance of the procedure, a tier-5 zombie-type undead was made – high ghoul. And finally, after another high ghoul was created and two were combined, the tier-6 zombie-type undead – ancient ghoul – has been created.
To create one ancient ghoul, Natsu spent 32 tier-1 zombies and about five minutes. This creature, half-rotten corpse with large canines and four flesh-colored tentacles instead of hands, is quite strong. It is very dangerous for non-mages due to its high resistance against physical attacks, and it also dangerous for weak mages, because that thing is quite fast, despite its appearance. Also it has high resistance against darkness magic. But of course, this mindless abomination was very far from Natsu's goal.
Another 32 zombies were spent to create another ancient ghoul, and both now were stored inside of secondary cage.
"You're actually enjoying it, are you?" Sin asked as he saw Narsu, who was rubbing his hands with satisfied looks.
"Not the worst way to spent some time," Natsu admitted as he again snapped his fingers. He spent four zombies to make another ghoul, but then the ghoul was transferred to the right flask, whilst a skeleton (tier-2 skeleton-type) appeared in the left. A ghoul was sacrificed, and hardened skeleton (tier-3 skeleton-type) appeared as a result (skeletons doesn't have tier-1).
Natsu's eyes flashed – he really was enjoying this, no matter what he says:
Hardened skeleton + hungry ghoul = chained skeleton (tier-4 skeleton);
Chained skeleton + high ghoul = skeleton warrior (tier-5 skeleton);
Skeleton warrior + ancient ghoul = skeleton lord (tier-6 skeleton).
Then process was repeated, and now two skeleton lords were prepared.
With bones as hard as steel, wearing a partial plate armor and long sword with magical properties, skeleton lords are even more dangerous than ancient zombies, because they're faster and their attacks are stronger. Their darkness resistance is higher and they're less vulnerable towards light-based attacks. But still – this is only the beginning as both skeletons appeared inside of the Rippers Factory.
This time process seemed a bit different as both of them were disassembled and turned into a mass of formless darkness. Then the mass from the right flask was processed and sent into a left one, and a new creature began to form. For the first time, the fusion reaction took more than five seconds – it lasted about half a minute. And finally, the creature appeared. It looked like a 12 feet tall warrior, clad in full, pitch black, plate armor, who was holding a two-handed sword. But of course – there were no body beneath the armor – just a dense mass of negative energy. Two red dots were glowing inside of the helmet, in place where a normal warrior would have eyes. Tier-7 undead golem-type – dullahan. Such a creature is strong enough to if not defeat then to stall two average mages fighting as a team (like Macao and Wakaba). The bounty for it would've been about 200 000 jewels. The sword that creature is holding actually a high-tier magical item, made of darkness-infused hardened steel.
"Huh, that's not so bad," Sin noted as he flew closer and examined the result of Natsu's work, "Just as I've expected…" To make this creature – 120 tier-1 zombies and two skeletons were spent. Using his current resources – Natsu could do about 50 of such creatures… but of course his ambitions were much higher.
December 25, X784, 4:40, Galuna Island.
Another ten minutes of work, and second dullahan was created. But Natsu was just heating up.
Lost soul (tier-2 ghost-type) + ghoul = ghost (tier-3 ghost-type);
Ghost + skeleton warrior = ghost warrior (tier-5 ghost-type);
Skeleton lord + ghost warrior = skeleton mage (tier-6 skeleton-type);
Ghost warrior + skeleton mage = greater ghost (tier-6 ghost-type);
Greater ghost + skeleton lord = void skeleton (tier-7 skeleton-type);
Dullahan + void skeleton = dullahan mage (tier-8 undead golem-type);
Greater ghost + dullahan = restless spirit (tier-7 ghost-type);
Restless spirit + dullahan = accursed spirit (tier-8 ghost-type);
Dullahan mage + accursed spirit = high dullahan (tier-9 undead golem-type);
Void skeleton + accursed spirit = Lich (tier-8 accursed mage);
Lich + lich = cursed lich (tier-9 accursed mage);
High dullahan + cursed lich = lord dullahan (tier-10 undead golem-type);
Cursed lich + lord dullahan = phantom warrior (tier-10 accursed warrior-type);
Lord dullahan + phantom warrior = King dullahan (tier-11 undead golem-type);
King dullahan + king dullahan = Deathforged dullahan (tier-12 undead golem-type);
December 25, X784, 10:05, Galuna Island.
"Phew!" Natsu wiped sweat form his forehead as he finally reached his goal after six hours of continuous work. Rippers Factory can process essences of monsters, but factory itself is powered by user's mana. When he completed two tier-11 monsters, Natsu's manapool was already half-empty, but when he finished fusing them into tier-12 monster, this operation drained almost everything that left, so now Natsu was almost dry.
He looked at the sphere made of lightning where he was keeping his 'materials' – only about a hundred of zombies and few skeletons and lost souls left inside. Those were barely enough to make a common tier-7 dullahan, and Natsu had no need for that. He clenched his left fist and sphere collapsed, annihilating all the undead, which were still inside.
Now only Natsu, Sin and deathforged dullahan have left in the cave. God of ruin raised his left arm and shot a charge of lightning-like energy at dullahan's forehead (at his helmet, to be more precise), leaving an imprint, through which he'll be able to control the monster. Of course – this imprint is only to send commands to the monster. Natsu was a cautious man – there was another imprint built-in into the monster, a failsafe of sort, which will disable the dullahan completely should it went out of control. When imprint was made – deathforged dullahan knelt in front of his master, awaiting orders.
"I bow to your will, master," Monster pronounced with low, hoarse voice.
"I must admit, I'm really impressed," Sin admitted as he landed on Natsu's shoulder. Deathforged dullahan was the pinnacle of its branch of undead, and the most powerful monster that can be created using only humans' undead material, tier-13 and higher monsters will require adding dead or alive magical beasts or elementals. Still, for the test run, this result can be considered as a complete success. Deathforged dullahan is among the top-grade tier-12 creatures – he's a massive monster, almost 100 feet tall, who looks like a warrior clad into a dark red, full plate armor, holding a massive sword. And, as its rank suggests – it is actually a lot more powerful than Deliora, who could be evaluated as an entry-level tier-12 monster.
The deathforged dullahan can, if not defeat, then at least stall a Nirvana-powered Midnight (in his clockwork mantis form). Currently, among Fairy Tail's wizards, only Makarov, Gildarts, Natsu, Erza and Laxus are capable of defeating the deathforged dullahan in one-on-one fight. Current Mirajane and Luciferona will defeat this monster if they'll join forces. Gajeel can also deal with it if he'll team up with Juvia and Gray. Outside of Fairy Tail, the rest of Ten Wizards Saints can deal with deathforged dullahan, as well as Nelliel, and, maybe, Haru (Natsu wasn't sure about his current progress). In other words – this monster is really powerful.
However, Natsu only created it to test the capabilities and requirements of Rippers Factory, he had no plans to make more deathforged dullahan, despite it is relatively easy to get materials for it. In the eyes of current him – this monster seems formidable, but he wanted to prepare for inevitable future, and for that purpose, even the deathforged dullahan is not strong enough. Pretty soon, probably within the next year (or two years, in worst case scenario), all core members of Fairy Tail will surpass this monster, as such, Natsu saw no reasons to vandalize graveyards across the entire continent to make common monsters…
"I can't believe they were keeping this just on 29th floor…" Natsu expressed his opinion. If Tower of Din system is like this: "the more valuable item – the higher the floor on which that item should have been kept", then Rippers Factory should've been kept at one of topmost floors.
Together with Rippers Factory Natsu also recovered a small part of factory's documentation – that contains only general specifications, but even those specifications were enough to really impress him. Rippers Factory can fuse monsters up to tier-17, as such, the maximum level of both sacrifice and recipient is tier-17, while maximum level of resulting monster is tier-18. And that is extremely impressive, because, for example, Acnologia can be considered (just barely) as a tier-18+ (half a step tier 19) monster. An installation that can create monsters just slightly less powerful than Acnologia is damn impressive.
That material, of which those two transparent flasks are made of – its anti-magical and anti-weave properties are extremely remarkable, since it can prevent a tier-17 being from using its power, and even keep tier-18 being at bay for a short time. Rippers Factory can combine any type of monsters – beasts, elementals, demons, etc., sentient or not. This is despicable, merciless, but definitely brilliant invention, and immensely powerful tool in the right hands. Only one exception – it is not compatible with humans – they cannot be neither sacrifices nor recipients. Natsu couldn't understand reasons for that decision, but surely Tower of Din's inhabitants had some.
And resources also are an issue, of course. To create tier-12 monster Natsu spent about 6000 lesser beings. If progression will remain the same, then it means that creation of a tier-18 monster will require… half a million of lesser creatures?! Besides, the fusion reaction requires Rippers Factory operator's mana, and to make a tier-12 monster Natsu spent all the ethernano from his manapool. That means that current him simply doesn't has enough mana to perform even just a tier-13 fusion, let alone a tier-13 fusion after completing all of the preparation stages. As such, all aforementioned facts only confirm the already mentioned idea – the Rippers Factory is a powerful tool only in right hands, and Natsu's hands are not right, yet…
By the way – the monsters "tier" system was also a part of recovered documentation for Rippers Factory, and Natsu really took liking of it. The criteria for assigning one or another tier to the monster seem clear and solid, and, by the way, can be used not only for monsters…
"Alright, Sin, watch over this place for me, I need to restore my mana," Natsu asked his familiar. "I'll leave this dullahan to guard the Rippers Factory, and we'll need to seal off this place for now, until I'll make a more proper place for this treasure. I consider test run as a complete success, but that's it for now. When we get back – I'll take a day off till tomorrow, and then… comes the boring part…" God of ruin sighed as he knelt and closed his eyes.
December 25, X784, 20:10, Natsu and Erza's house.
When Erza get to seclusion and began her re-origination, Natsu actually began to develop a bad habit of staying late and going to sleep after midnight. However, today he wanted to go to sleep earlier, so now he was just browsing some scroll to calm down his mind.
"What is it?" Sin wondered as he landed on the table near the scroll, which Natsu was looking at.
"Just one of those monsters' "recipes" we've recovered," Natsu shrugged.
Sin looked at the scroll – it definitely was severely damaged as many stages were missing and many sections unreadable, however, he managed to understand that this is a recipe for water (ice) elementals.
Tiene (tier-2 water elemental type) + Tiene = Undine (tier-3 water elemental type)
Undine + unreadable - Siren (tier-5 water elemental type)
…
Sea Siren (tier-6 water elemental type) + Rufalen (tier-6 wind elemental type) = Vuirini (tier-7 ice elemental type)
…
Unreadable + Toriesutaru (tier-9 rock elemental type) = Vuyuriteyun (tier-9 ice elemental type)
…
Vuyuriteshin (tier-11 ice elemental type) + Zafieru (tier-12 angel) = Renia Nui (tier-12 ice elemental)
After this stage – there was a fork, with first route being close-combat specialists whilst second route were long-range fighters with powerful area of effect abilities.
First route – rulers of the sea: Renia Nui * Renia Sela (tier-14 close combat) * Renia Virgo (tier-16 close combat) * Renia Vera (tier-18 close combat)
Second route – rulers of the lakes: Renia Nui * Lacus Renia (tier-14 long range) * Magna Renia (tier-16 long range) * Regina Renia (tier-18 long range)
"Not bad," Sin nodded as he examined the scroll. "Aside from the fact that for making one such monster you'll have to sacrifice about… 530 000 of lesser creatures, most of which are sentient… that does seem like a genocide…" Boney creature scratched his skull thoughtfully.
"No need to be so categorical," Natsu waved him off. "After all, only a core recipient must be sentient, the rest of material may well be just soulless, empty husks… I think I'm starting to realize the purpose of all those 'valleys' and 'ridges' in Tower of Din," God of ruin added.
"You think they are monsters breeding grounds?" Sin asked for Natsu's opinion.
"Some of them, at least," Natsu speculated, "It seems quite likely."
"I see," Sin nodded in sign that he understood Natsu's opinion. "By the way," He suddenly looked at god of ruin suspiciously, "Since you're examining this scroll… you're not thinking about using that former Phantom Lord girl, Juvia, as a core recipient in Rippers Factory?"
"Of course not, how could I think about such a thing?" Natsu replied, and that was so obvious lie that Sin couldn't resist it and facepalmed.
December 26, X784, 4:20, Fairy Tail.
Since the number of Fairy Tail members were slowly but certainly growing towards 200, even at this early hour, a few dozens of guild's wizards were here (Natsu actually got suspicion that some of them are using guildhall as a doss-house, because they're homeless). Actually, it seemed as if Fairy Tail was turning into a cheap pub for local beggars…
A certain shadow has entered the guildhall. No one even noticed how exactly he managed to get in as the 'shadow' quickly walked up, to the second floor, and appeared in front of the S-rank mission board, just for a few seconds. Then he walked down, performed a few manipulations with requests registration book, and silently left the guildhall. No one among drunk 'mages' haven't paid any attention to those actions, most likely they didn't even notice anything.
December 26, X784, 9:35, Fairy Tail.
"Huh?! One of S-rang requests has disappeared!" Someone exclaimed from the second floor. Since the guild's reconstruction, when the second floor has been opened for everyone, the S-rang board turned into some sort of an attraction for guildmates as quantity of S-rang missions was a pride of Fiore's number one guild. Of course, the fact that number of available S-rang requests have been reduced by one was noticed as soon as more or less active guildmembers began to gather in the guildhall.
"WHAT?!" A lot of voices screamed at the same time.
"When?!" "Which one?!" "Someone accepted it?!" A lot of questions arose immediately as curious voices could be heard here and there.
"Let's check the registration book!" Levy suggested as Jet and Droy have readily agreed. No matter how big or small the job is – each one must be registered in requests registration book, and an official notification must be sent to the client about that mission has been taken. Usually, a guild master or one of senior mages should handle the job registration, but in Fairy Tail, ever since Mirajane returned to active duty, no one wanted to bother with it anymore, so now guildmates must register their jobs themselves – as such, anyone could look into the registration book and learn about other jobs taken and about people who took them.
Levy took the book and opened it. "Huh? It was Natsu…" Levy mumbled, as she was reading the record, "He took the mission… Wanted! Capture Argus for dinosaurs' park! …for 9 000 000 jewels?!"
"HAAA!?" Many voices screamed again.
"The request from that madman from the capital?!" Max exclaimed.
"But Arguses have gone extinct several hundred years ago!" Alzack shouted.
"Wait! If it's Natsu… he's not the one to act rashly. Maybe he actually knows where to get one?!" Warren speculated.
"But didn't Natsu say that it's too ineffective to do S-rang missions?" Jet reminded.
"Yeah, he even won a bet…" Droy nodded uncertainly.
"But he and Erza also have completed an S-rang job several months ago, remember?" Bisca inquired.
"Yeah…" Alzack agreed, "Maybe he's learned about some good opportunity?"
Speculations and guesses continued for some time, slowly turning into admiring but envious mumbling, as people were spouting about how cool it is to be able to just take an S-class mission if some convenient opportunity arises. When master learned about Natsu's mission he seemed just a bit surprised, but not concerned or worried – he knew that among all of the guildmembers, Natsu probably is the most cautious one.
But of course, no one could imagine that Natsu actually had no intentions to look for 'Argus'… he was intending to create one, or something that would look like one. He wanted to use a Doscadon – one of enormous, carnivorous dinosaur-like creatures covered in scales that reside on a couple of islands in the sea between Fiore, Minstrel and Bosco. And for that task – of course he's going to use the Rippers Factory.
December 30, X784, 10:50, Fairy Tail.
"Everyone, look at that!" Macao shouted as he suddenly barged into the guild, holding some paper, that appeared to be a morning newspaper.
"What are you blabbering about, old man?" Wakaba lazily asked his fellow wizard as almost no one paid any attention to Macao.
"How did you call me, you, piece of shit?! We're of the same age!" Macao shouted angrily, but then he shook his head, regaining his wits, "Look at that!" He shook the newspaper in the air, "The S-class mission has been completed!"
"WHAT!?" A lot of people exclaimed at the same time as they jumped on their feet and rushed towards Macao. The purple fire user unrolled the newspaper and showed its first page to the others – there was a large photo. On the foreground was none other but Natsu, dressed into his usual clothes, with huge sword behind his back and very conceited expression on his face. Behind him, there was an enormous cage, with some gigantic, T-Rex-like creature inside. Above the photo was a promotion, that was inviting everyone to visit the dinosaurs' park whilst below was an article about 'brave mage', who helped to complete the exposition of Fiore's Dyno park, though, the article itself was quite unremarkable, however, journalist didn't forget to mention that Natsu represents the Fairy Tail wizards' guild.
"I can't believe it!" Nab shouted in frustration.
""S-class mission for 9 000 000 jewels completed within just four days?!"" Jet and Droy exclaimed simultaneously.
"I told you people that he probably found a good opportunity!" Alzack announced proudly, as if it was him who completed an S-class mission.
"Natsu-san is amazing!" Wendy exclaimed with sparkling eyes, as her face expression was showing admiration and dreaminess at the same time – she probably was imagining herself being able to do an S-class mission.
"Dreams won't get you anywhere," Carla scolded her, trying to get Wendy back to reality.
"What's the commotion so early in the morning?" Makarov asked as he came out from his office, the loud voices from guildhall seemingly woke him up.
"Master! Natsu completed the S-class mission!" Vijeeter informed, he still seemed shocked, as most of the guildmates. Everyone knew that Natsu is powerful and competent, so of course he's capable of doing an S-rang job, but within four days – it's a completely different story. When Erza took an S-class mission, trying to win a bet with Natsu, she traveled for four weeks! …Of course, there was a Galuna Island mission… but that was rather special case.
"I know," Master said calmly. "The notification about job being completed arrived just a few hours ago. No need to make a ruckus because of it," Old man added casually. However, his casual tone didn't fool anyone as Makarov couldn't hide a very satisfied look on his face – a completed S-class mission, without any collateral damage, it is a thick "+" to guild's reputation.
The discussion of Natsu's achievement continued for several hours, however, the one responsible for all that commotion didn't come to the guild today.
December 30, X784, 20:35, Natsu and Erza's house.
"That went pretty well, if I can say so myself," Natsu noted to himself, as he was looking into the mirror.
"I agree," Sin nodded to god of ruin, "But that mission went so smoothly mostly because no one knew how the actual Argus looks like, so of course everyone believed that the substitute you've created is the real one. There will be no such a convenient way around on other missions…"
"Doesn't matter," Natsu shook his head. "During last half a year we were constantly getting into troubles. And as our days became more or less peaceful, I must make use of this time and prepare all I need for the Sphere of Inverted Reflections. A dozen or so years is not enough to prepare for her return, not to mention that others are also may be lurking there somewhere. As such, we must buy more time for ourselves…"
"I know…" Sin replied darkly. He was aware of that there will be a lot of work ahead, but of course he didn't complain like he was doing back then, when Natsu worked to win a bet. Current situation is quite dire – countdown has started when Amentiana escaped, and who knows what Procellion and others are doing?...
"I'm taking the next mission tomorrow," Natsu announced.
"Not going for a new year party?" Sin wondered.
"New year is a family holiday, but my wife is busy with her re-origination, and I don't think that okā-sama will come, so that only leaves you and me…" Natsu shrugged.
"Yeah, and we can only bring the party down," Sin snorted.
"Besides, those people are constantly partying anyway – I can hardly see any difference," Natsu added, before going to sleep.
December 31, X784, 8:50, Fairy Tail guildhall.
"Haaaaah?!" A scream again could be heard from the second floor. "Everyone, another S-class job is gone from the board!"
"WHAAAT!?" A loud scream, accompanied by the sound of breaking tableware, shook almost the entire guild as many people screamed at the same time.
Without asking anything, Warren rushed to the guild's job registration book, as many other mages followed him. He opened the book and saw a string: I want to live in deep, an S-class job for 8 100 000 Jewels. Someone wanted to live as a hermit, together with his entire village, inside of a 3000 feet deep cleft, but before he could do so – the cleft must be cleared of monsters infesting it. And of course, the job was taken by none other than Natsu.
"What is going on?!" Max exclaimed.
"Another S-class mission!?" Jet seemed shocked.
"And right before new year's party!?" Droy couldn't believe his eyes.
The ruckus continued for some time as people were trying (unsuccessfully) to find any explanation to Natsu's actions.
January 4, X785, 3:20, Salanka cleft.
Normally, even in the middle of the day, the 3000 feet deep and 6 miles long Salanka cleft would've been dark due to its depth, not to mention the night. However, right now it was lit up by a storm of bright blue flame of the damned. Horrible monsters, which seemed as if they came straight from nightmares, now looked like scared rabbits as they were running from immense skeletal creature, that was breathing out those blue flames. However, there was nowhere to run, as at the other side of the cleft, only peals of raging thunder were waiting for them.
"It is so convenient…" Natsu said as dark blue lightning-like energy was swirling around him. He definitely wasn't intending to hold back, "The weak will die, and strong ones… will grow even stronger, thanks to the Reapers Factory. Retsujin no Shinraimon!" [Ruin God's Thunder Gate] Natsu smashed his palms to the ground, sending his power through it, and thousands of swords-like, dark blue lightnings appeared from the cleft's walls and crashed down on approaching monsters. That was an S-rank spell, which still requires Natsu to become an Incarnation to use its full power, but even without it, the spell created an unforgettable light show.
January 6, X785, 11:00, Fairy Tail.
The guild again was buzzing about Natsu. Two hours ago, Fairy Tail received a notification about job completion – the very same S-class job that Wizard Saint took right before the new year.
"What is going on?!" Macao couldn't understand why Natsu suddenly began to do S-class missions, one after another.
"That's just insane…" Wakaba shook his head as he also was puzzled about what's gotten into Natsu.
"I wonder what Magister's planning to do, since he need so much money…" Luciferona pronounced thoughtfully.
"No idea," Mirajane replied, "But I have to admit – doing an S-rang missions like that is quite impressive… I guess I must put more efforts to catch up, huh?"
"Me neither," Tiger-girl agreed.
"If that's the case," She-devil looked at Lucferona, "I have a question: what for we're wasting time here?"
"Not a slightest idea," Black-haired girl shook her head. In the next moment, both girls simultaneously stood up and headed to the guild's exit. Mirajane was preparing to use the 'Magical Avatar Physique' recipe, so she can attempt her re-origination at any time, but she wasn't quite ready yet – she still needs to gather some stuff. Rona, on the other hand, as a bloodline inheritor, must wait for her re-origination to come naturally, but it will come much faster if she'll train properly.
Gray seemed a bit puzzled when two girls suddenly stood up and left, but Juvia's voice attracted his attention. "Juvia now can see why Natsu-san was given a title of Wizard Saint," Water witch expressed her opinion.
"Yeah, I guess that title isn't just for show, huh?" Ice wizard agreed. "But to think that he's already so powerful that he can do S-class jobs just like that," Gray snapped his fingers to demonstrate.
"Yes…" Cana nodded. For some reason, at the moment she was sober and seemed pretty uncomfortable, even sad.
Gajeel didn't join the conversation, but right now he seemed unusually thoughtful.
Within last two weeks Natsu completed the two remaining S-class missions. And despite that his actions were causing quite a stir, Mirajane and Luciferona successfully managed to prevent any aberrative behavior of Fairy Tail guildmates… more aberrative than usual, at least, and Natsu couldn't care less about how they've done it.
There appeared an issue, however. Within last four weeks Natsu completed all four S-class missions, which were available, but he still needed more money. The only mission that left was an SS-class mission. It had a huge reward – 22 000 000 jewels, but the task wasn't small either – to bring a sunken town back to the surface, no less. That was a pretty unremarkable town that sunk during an earthquake, about 310 years ago. As such, this town wasn't of any value for mages, but very valuable for Fiore's historians and archeologists.
While he was busy with other S-rang missions, Natsu was constantly thinking about possibilities for that SS-class job. And after about a month of thinking, he actually came up with the plan. But that plan couldn't be performed just by him and Sin – that plan requires four wizards. As such, Natsu recruited Mirajane and Luciferona to assist him. He didn't promise to share a reward, however, instead he promised some assistance with resources and special place for Mirajane to perform her re-origination, and a special training ground for Luciferona. And since both girls have agreed – obviously Natsu's offer was fair enough.
January 19, X785, 21:15, Northwestern shore of Fiore.
"We'll begin at 1 AM, when the night is darkest," Natsu announced as he, Sin and two girls have arrived to their destination. Right now, they've installed a camp in about one mile away from where town's border once was. The evening was completely unremarkable. Natsu was busy with dinner – since he asked others for help, he could do at least that. Sin was simply staring into nowhere, Mira was submerged into her own thoughts, but Luciferona actually had something on her mind. She was aware that she knows almost nothing about the world she lives in, as such, she was asking Natsu about it at every convenient occasion, like this one.
"Magister, can you please explain something to me?" Tiger-girl asked politely.
"Ask away," Natsu shrugged, they still have a lot of time.
"Thank you," She nodded, "So, my question is: how exactly dragons are getting their domains?"
In reply, Natsu just gave her a strange look, as if he didn't understand what exactly she's asking.
"Have I asked something strange?" Luciferona said uncertainly. Did she ask something especially stupid?
"No, you're just mixed up the definitions," Sin replied as he nodded to Natsu, meaning that he'll answer Luciferona's question. "Only god can have a domain. When it's about dragons, like 'wind dragon' or 'sea dragon' – that's not a definition of domain, that's, roughly speaking, the type of impurity that this dragon has…"
"Huh?" Mirajane blinked. When Luciferona sked her question, she-devil wasn't really interested in that stuff, but Sin's answer actually picked her interest.
"Ah, you're about that…" Natsu nodded as he realized what tiger-girl meant, "How should I put it?... You see, local dragons actually not the real dragons, including those who raised Gajeel and Wendy as their foster children."
"Really?! Can you please explain?!" Luciferona asked, much louder than needed. "Um… I'm sorry…" She quickly apologized for her sudden outburst of emotions.
"No need to apologize," God of ruin waved his arm, "I can imagine that, for not versed people, those huge creatures actually look dragon enough." None of two girls felt herself offended when Natsu called them 'not versed', because that was just the truth, so god of ruin began to explain.
"Do you remember? When I was explaining about re-origination, I've mentioned that this is the "right" way to evolve human's body into something more powerful. Then, if there's a "right" way, there should be the "wrong" one, right?"
Two girls nodded simultaneously. No, they actually didn't think about that, both of them just didn't want to go off from the topic.
"The "wrong" way to accept the magical beast's inheritance, dragon's inheritance, in our case, is called a 'seed'," Sin informed as he landed on Luciferona's shoulder. "When a human learns dragon's magic, no matter how – from a book or from a real dragon, he'll become a dragon slayer. At that time, the so-called 'dragon seed' will be formed inside of his body. It is a plant-like organism that simply forms inside one's body and begins the process of his or her dragonization, starting with host's body producing dragon-like features. The more dragon slayer uses his magic – the faster he or she transforms. However, that transformation is incomplete, defective. Lifespan increases not as much, strength will be slightly inferior comparing to the original dragon, some features of original human's body will remain."
"Dragon seed actually can be removed, but that's a dangerous solution, and not a permanent one – new seed will form and process of dragonization will be resumed," Natsu explained. "The only permanent way to get rid of that seed is to perform a re-origination. However… as I've also mentioned – only humans can perform the re-origination. On the other hand, the 'dragon seed' is not human-exclusive. Do you understand what it means?"
"Ah?!" Luciferona suddenly realized what Natsu was saying.
"You mean… all those dragons… haven't born as dragons?!" Mirajane's eyes widened.
"Yes…" Sin's eyes flashed, "At least when it comes to their predecessors. Millenia ago, a few primordial, true dragons, died on this continent. But even their corpses contained immense power. Less powerful and less intelligent creatures were drawn by that power – some were eating flesh of the dead dragons, some were gnawing their bones, others used their remains as a shelter. Do not underestimate the power of primordial dragons – let alone eating their flesh, even a prolonged stay near the corpse is enough for 'dragon seed' to form."
"Those 'seed infested' creatures' intelligence has increased, they've got dragon-like appearance and their magical power grew considerably… but of course their transformation was flawed. For example, they didn't even get primordial dragon's power – instead their own, inborn magic was empowered (those creatures got dragon's bloodline but they didn't become dragon slayers, obviously). Humans are week from birth, but they can acquire the true power if they'll do everything properly. Other creatures don't have this privilege. Those beasts, dragonized by their seeds, had offspring, which inherited not only dragon's bloodline, but also their parent's impurities. On the other hand, when 'first generation' of dragonized creatures began to pass away, another wave of lesser beasts was drawn by their corpses, and cycle continued. In the end, after several thousands of years, everything turned into a complete mess. Dragon's bloodline became so diluted that it became impossible to recognize – how the primordial dragon actually looked like. The density of true dragon's blood seemingly reached some sort of equilibrium, when it cannot become more diluted in further generations, but even like that – both newborn dragons and newly dragonized creatures began to look alike… alike anything but dragons," Natsu concluded his explanation.
"The purity of bloodline is very important for magical beasts' tribes," Sin noted.
"It is pretty difficult to say – which creature was dragonized, but we can try," Natsu shrugged, he actually asked all dragon slayers he met to describe the appearance of their foster parents. "For example, I think that Grandeeney, the 'dragon' who raised Wendy – her predecessor, who first acquired the dragon's bloodline, was a silver windgust sparrow. Metallicana, the dragon who raised Gajeel, possibly was a descendant of black iron-plated armadillo, which was dragonized at some point. Somniara, Nelliel foster mother – I'm pretty sure that she was a seven-colored crystalline salvia… yes, she once was a flower, magical flower, but still. Now you realize the power of primordial dragon's bloodline? As for Haru's foster father, Igneel, I think that he once was a crimson volcanic japalura, and I mean that he himself was a magical beast, which was dragonized after he somehow contracted fourth or even third generation dragon's bloodline – his appearance actually resembles that of a primordial dragon quite a bit."
As he said that, Natsu focused on cooking the dinner – he probably said everything he wanted about the matter. Of course – all those descriptions of dragon slayers' foster parents were just guessing and speculations. Sin, however, decided to clarify one thing. "Since those who were dragonized weren't humans (who doesn't have an inborn magic) but magical beasts, less powerful and intelligent then dragons, but still pretty strong and with inborn magic – they didn't get the primordial dragon's power but instead their own magic was also 'dragonized'. It got some traits of primordial dragon's powers – like anti magic-resistance, but elemental nature of that dragonized magic remained the same as it was before dragonization. In time, for convenience, humans began to call those pseudo-dragons by the magic type they're using – this is how fire dragons and dark dragons came to be," Skeletal creature explained.
"Amazing…" Luciferona could say only that about what she just heard.
"Yeah…" Mirajane nodded. Both girls seemed awestruck, partly because they both once again got a reminder about how little they actually know about this huge world.
By the way, Natsu intentionally didn't mention Erza's dragon when he was speculating about foster parents of other dragon slayers. Andromeda is a completely different story – she was a true, primordial dragon and her magic (actually, mystic weave) – Covenant of Stars – the power that only descendants of Avalon can use. She was called a 'Star Dragon' due to ignorance and lack of knowledge of locals about her origins. Erza's current Sei no Metsuryū Mahō [Star Dragon Slayer Magic] will completely transform into Covenant of Stars mystic weave after she'll complete all three re-origination stages.
The Natsu's plan to bring back the sunken town was successful, nothing particularly interesting has happened during the process, aside from that he, Luciferona and Mirajane had to participate in a photo session for Sorcerer's weekly. There will be an article about successful completion of SS-class job in the next issue. Natsu got 22 000 000 jewels for completing the mission, while two girls got quite a lot of troubles calming down the uproar in Fairy Tail.
With reward successfully acquired, Natsu got just enough money to buy all the resources he needs to execute his plan, however, before he could start, he also completed two more normal jobs with biggest rewards he could find, because he actually went broke after he bought everything he needed – a lot of intercontinental merchants got their stocks emptied.
January 23, X785, 19:30, Natsu and Erza's house
Tomorrow will be six full weeks since Erza began her re-origination. A good day to prepare a present for Natsu's beloved consort. At this evening Natsu was just resting, and reviewing his plan for the last time. Natsu walked down the stairs and entered the meditation chamber, where Erza was performing her first re-origination. The whirlwind of ethernano became much less chaotic – a definite sign of that she's almost done with DNA creation and is about to begin to make new bones for herself, according to that new DNA. Actually, Natsu was expecting that process to begin about two weeks ago, but, since everything about Erza's re-origination was weird, Natsu wasn't too worried – who knows why she needed an additional time? It played in Natsu's favor in the end, giving him some additional time… "Do your best, my love," Natsu said quietly, encouraging his beloved. "At this stage, I finally can help you, and I'll do everything I can to do so," God of ruin promised.
Omake – That's Elementary
A/N: Let's continue the world building. This omake is written from my (author's) point of view. In previous chapter we've talked about magical beasts – now it's time to say a few words about elementals.
In this world – ethernano is everywhere. At places where a certain element was accumulating ethernano for a long enough time – elementals will begin to born. Here are ten elements, as such – there are ten types of elementals. If there is a volcano – in time it becomes a cradle for fire elementals (Famal, Garamal, Merute Nai); if there's a lake – it will become a home for water elementals (Tiene, Undine, Siren); if there's a cavern with ethernano-susceptible stones – rock elementals will start to appear (Toryayu, Toriesutaru, Balsutaru); in the ancient forest – there are wood elementals (Yuichiri, Nemiru Yuichiri, Daichiri); and so on and so forth.
There are two important things about elementals to remember:
First – all elementals are anthropomorphic – they do look similar to humans.
Second – all elementals have one type of internal energy – yin or yang. Darkness, water, rock, void and wood – those elements are yin-based, as such – all elementals of those types are females. Light, fire, wind, thunder and metal – those elementals are yang-based, and so – they are all males.
Due to lack of experience, some people have wrong thoughts about some beings, mistaken them as elementals, for example:
- Dendroid and Treant are not wood elementals, they are magical plants;
- Efreets are not fire elementals – they are advanced fire golems, artificially created by powerful mages;
- Genies, in contrary, are elementals – mid-grade void elementals;
- Undead have absolutely nothing to do with elementals in general and darkness elementals in particular – undead are undead and darkness elementals are darkness elementals;
- Large, anthropomorphic, metallic beings, sometimes called 'titans', are high-tier metal elementals.
Light, water, wood and metal elementals have branching routes of evolution. For example, Fakushi Narui, a tier-13 light elemental, can continue to evolve as a light elemental (i.e. use a visible part of spectrum) or evolve into so-called energy elemental, who uses x-ray and UV energy. And no, there are no "infra-red-based elementals".
Also, wood and metal elementals have another peculiarity – they do not use kihō (pure weave), like other elementals do – their attacks are Saikō – killshots, as those two types of elementals use their own bodies instead of artifacts to perform a killshot.
That's basics about elementals – more info will be revealed when elementals begin to take part in the story.
Oh, one more thing. Elementals are born by nature, obviously, they cannot have children. Elementals cannot have children with their own kind because they're all of the same gender (i.e. yin or yang based). And they cannot have children with other kinds of elementals because… well, because they have different elements. However…
There are three things one should never do in this world. Never underestimate the power of magic, never underestimate the power of life… and never underestimate humans. The actual circumstances, which allows two completely different beings (humans and elementals) to have children, is poorly understood, but ajins (half-humans) like Juvia is quite a proof that it is possible. Only humans can have children with elementals, other races cannot. Ajin, unlike normal human, do has an inborn magic, and he or she will always be of the same gender as his or her elemental parent, and always will have one-element attribute of his or her parent. But, as if to compensate for that, ajin has a choice – one can find a powerful source of his element and perform the re-origination, discarding his human's part and becoming a genuine elemental, or one can gather resources and use the Magical Avatar Physique recipe, discard his or her elemental part, choose a new attribute (or keep the old one) and become a magical avatar, just like normal human wizards can. Also, ajins usually have high magical talent.
The only real drawback of being an ajin is that they usually have difficulties adapting to the society – no matter what society it is – humans' country or elementals' tribe. For instance – elementals don't need food, but ajins do. On the other hand, when they are young, ajins have difficulties with control over their powers, and accidentally caused local cataclysms usually not welcome in humans' society…
Omake – Tierful
The 'monster tiers' system was developed in Tower of Din, but can easily be applied to anyone. As an example, I'll assign a tier to notable characters in my story (at current date):
Natsu: tier-13;
Erza: tier-12+ (half-a-step tier 13), will become a tier 13 as soon as she'll complete her first re-origination;
Laxus: tier-12+ (half-a-step tier 13), expected to reach tier 13 within the next two or three months if he'll be training properly. After that his progress will slow down significantly if he won't pass re-origination (of any type – inheritance or magical avatar);
Makarov: tier-14, and, sadly, there are no ways for him to improve further due to his age;
Gildarts: tier-14. He probably still can improve just a bit and reach the pinnacle of tier-14, but that's it for the old man – even the most talented humans cannot go over tier-14, without discarding their humanity;
Luciferona: tier-12;
Mirajane: tier-12. With her talent and current human's body, Mira can reach tier-12+ within half a year, tier-13 within next five years, and then stuck at tier-14 after fifteen more years (she'll be 40 years old at that time). Thanks to re-origination, for which she's preparing now, time needed to for her to reach tier 14 will be reduced by an order;
Gajeel: tier-12. If he won't be slacking (and he probably won't), tier 12+ is expected pretty soon;
Gray: tier-11 (slightly not enough to be counted as 11+). He really has to think about changing his training methods;
Juvia: tier-11. Relatively soon she'll have to decide how to live further – to become an elemental or not… but before that, of course, she first has to somehow learn that she's an ajin;
Nelliel: tier-12+ (half-a-step tier 13);
Haru: tier-12 (currently). He was tier 11+ during Galuna Island arc. Will be counted as 12+ as soon as he'll learn to use his Dragon Force at will.
Note: tier is not a fixed value but a span, so some differences in strength are allowed within the same tier, i.e. strength of the same-tier fighters may vary to some extent;
Note: the tier estimation is subjective;
Note: powers that cannot be used at will should not be taken into consideration during tier estimation.
Note: the difference between tiers increases at high tiers. For example, tier-13 fighter usually can barely hold on against two tier-12+ fighters, whilst tier-18 can hold defense quite confidently against three tier-17+ fighters.
And, just for the reference, estimated power of other characters:
Sin (in his current state): tier-13;
Amentiana (one of ten shards, 10% of her full power): tier-13+;
Metallicana (and Grandeeney): tier-17;
Igneel: tier-18 (entry level);
Acnologia: tier-18+ (entry-level);
Great Kings of Hell (Beleth, Asmodeus, and others): tier 19;
Top-ranked angels (Uriel, Seraphiel): tier 19;
Morrigan (and Thor, and other top-ranked gods of their respective pantheons): tier 19+;
Any one of seven guardians (when at full power): tier 20… … … …
And that's it for now! See you soon people!