Despite how I felt about the matter, considering bringing Lucy to the guild would inevitably result in a war with Phantom Lord, Cana was more than happy to let Lucy tag along while we made our way back to Magnolia when I couldn't give an actual reason as to why I didn't want her to join aside from insulting me.

I had contemplated telling her what I knew for a few seconds but decided against it, knowing she would either laugh it off or tell me I worry too much. All I could really do at this point was to make sure to keep my eye open to make sure nothing happened.

"You good over there Zeph?" Cana called to me and I gave a quick thumbs up before continuing what I was doing.

Metallurgy had truly turned out to be the gold mine I had thought it would be when I had purchased the book. A mainly technique-based magic, and considering all the swords I used, the ability to manipulate almost every property of metal would shoot me to greater heights and it all started with the basic exercises that were described in the grimoire.

Holding a metal spoon in my hand, I gave it the stink eye as it refused to follow my commands. The whole point of the training was to get down the most basic and important aspect of metallurgy, which was the manipulation of a metal's shape. Without completing this first step I wouldn't be able to move on to any of the other exercises listed and raise my mastery.

Unfortunately, the spoon had been unresponsive to my attempts at getting it to do my bidding so far, so deciding to take a break I put it away in my bag before listening in on the conversation.

"Yeah, Master's use of magic is pretty ironic when you think about it. The man isn't more than a few feet tall but he can become a giant at will. Oh, and he's a pervert too, so keep your eye open when he's around. Especially when he's been drinking."

"Really? They let someone like that become the guildmaster? What were they thinking?"

Sif caught onto my mood at that statement really quick and began to growl from where she was sitting by my feet, catching Lucy by surprise.

"Uh… why is she growling at me?"

"Because Master is a great man and I don't ever want to hear you say something like he doesn't deserve to be our master again. He may have his flaws, but he's a great man who deserves all the accolades he's been given."

"But Cana was just saying those things about him, why aren't you mad at her?"

"Because she wasn't saying anything untrue, but she also wasn't saying anything like he hasn't earned where he's gotten. Like I said, Master has his flaws but he's a great man. Don't judge him until you've gotten to know him."

The conversation quickly vanished from there as I quietly seethed in my seat, a combination of an inevitable guild war, my lack of success so far with new magic and Lucy questioning how Master got his rank all grinding on my nerves. A slight whine from Sif made me look down before she started rubbing her head against the palm of my hand in an affectionate manner, forcing a smile onto my face.

"Yeah, I know girl. Thank you."

The scenery flew by out the window, the horde of colors blending all together into a blur until we began to slow down and eventually pulled to a stop in Magnolia station.

"Attention all passengers, we ask that all rise and exit the train while making sure to bring your belongings with as you make your way out. We are not responsible for any lost items, thank you."

After hearing the conductor's voice from the intercom, the four of us all grabbed our things before walking towards the doors and making our way into the familiar scenery of our home city.

Making our way through, being jostled by people getting onto the train, we quickly left the station and began walking the streets next to the canal before a thought struck me and I motioned to Sif with my head that we were about to head into another direction.

"Hey Cana, I just remembered that I have something I need to do real quick. I'm going to head off and do that before going to the guild. Can you debrief Master for me?"

"Yeah no problem. I'll see you later?"

"Definitely."

I kissed her quickly before taking off down a side street and through town before finding myself in front of a shop I was deeply familiar with. I kicked the door in before politely announcing my presence to the owner.

"Hector my friend! I have got the greatest idea and you are going to help me with it!"

As per usual, there was muffled cursing after he had bashed his head on something in the back before making his way into the front of the shop and giving me the stink eye.

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop yelling to let me know you're here?"

"How many times do I have to tell you to get a bell for your door so I don't need to yell in order for you to leave the back of the shop?"

A brief silence ensued before Hector let out a harsh breath and pulled out a pad and pen from underneath the counter.

"Whatever, what type of sword you need this time? Spatial cutting? Darkness sealing? Time destroyer?"

"Can you really make those? Because if you can, yes to all of that. But for once I'm not here for you to make me a sword… I want you to teach me how to be a blacksmith."

"…"

"…"

"I'm sorry, you want me to what?"

Taking the book on metallurgy from my bag, I placed it on the counter in front of him before going on to explain my mad genius.

"I'm trying to learn this type of magic, but I'm having trouble and I realized that I don't have an in depth understanding of metal, which is why it's not working so I thought of who does before realizing you were the answer. Your entire livelihood is based around making metal ingots, heating it, shaping it, cooling it, your livelihood is metallurgy with less magic. So, if I really want to get this quickly, I need you to teach me how to blacksmith instead of doing the whole 'there is no spoon' schtick."

He thought about it for a few minutes, rubbing his chin in concentration, before finally coming to a conclusion about my proposal/favor.

"I'm really not sure…"

"I won't come in and ask you for swords for the next two months and I'll pay you for any materials I waste."

"Did I say I'm not sure? I meant welcome apprentice! I'm going to torture the shit out of you!"

"You meant work me to the bone, right?"

"I said what I said! Now start hammering those iron ingots I got in back. I don't want you to stop until your hands bleed!"

I may or may not have made a huge mistake coming to Hector for help.

~x~x~

I had started my torture-by-smithing at around eight in the morning, but my hands hadn't started bleeding until about five in the evening. Yeah, Hector hadn't been lying when he said I couldn't stop until my hands bleed. Hammering iron, working bellows, making ingots, there had even been a point he made me punch the metal. But for all the pain, I felt just a little closer to understanding metal and I had to repeat the process until I was able to do all the metallurgy exercises in the grimoire. Sometimes I hated my ideas.

Trudging through the streets I eventually found myself in front of the guildhall and made my way inside, looking forward to a nice hot meal and ice cold drink of ale.

"Zeph, fight me!" Natsu's voice rang out, but when he lunged I simply sidestepped and watched as he flew out the door before kicking it shut.

"I'm tired, so don't have any brawls or I'll set everyone straight, kapeesh?"

"Aye!"

After that exuberant response from everyone, I continued my march to the bar before plopping into one of the seats and flagging down a waitress and placing an order for myself and Sif.

"I was wondering were you had gotten to Zeph. What was it that ended up taking you so long?"

"Oh, you know how it is Master. I found a type of magic that I thought would fit my style and in order to better understand it I've been working at Hector's smithy pounding metal for the last nine or so hours."

"Sounds interesting," Master rubbed his beard as he thought, "I'd like to see this magic if you don't mind. Maybe we have some books in the library that might help you get it down."

"Maybe." I got the grimoire from where I ad been keeping it and slid it over to Master who began flipping through the pages, skimming the contents.

"Hmmm… While it certainly isn't like any other magic I've studied. I think you really hit gold with what you've got here my boy. Once you're done with it, I would appreciate it if we could make copies and place them in our collection."

"Yeah no problem Master. I don't mind."

"Good, good! Now what is this I hear about you terrifying our newest family member on the train ride to Magnolia?" Master asked with a quirk of his eyebrow.

I groaned before dropping my head onto the counter and closing my eyes before sitting up and downing the ale that had been placed in front of me during some point in the conversation.

"Not much to say Master. She said it sounded like you shouldn't be the master because of some of your flaws and I corrected her. Not much else to it."

Master gave me a look before sipping his own drink, nursing it and examining its contents before placing it back on the bar counter and turning to look at me with a stern look.

"I appreciate you defending me like that Zeph, but I'm a grown man and if I got mad at everyone throwing insults around than I'd have had a heart attack years ago. You've got to learn to let these things go or you'll go gray before you turn twenty-two."

"I'll never go Gray Master. I would never strip at random."

"You know what I mean! I don't know why I bother giving advice to you brats if all you're going to do is ignore it."

Pretty soon the two of us were drinking and laughing about the stupid shit that happened when people ignored his advice, but all the same I was thankful. Master was always able to tell me exactly what I needed to hear.

~x~x~

After spending a week and a half at Hector's forge, my wallet a whole lot lighter from paying for the materials I used, I made my way to my usual clearing I used whenever I wanted to train and set my bg down before searching through it and pulling out another metal spoon.

I realized where I had gone wrong previously when I was trying to bend the metal earlier and it made me feel like a total fool that I would forget the sort of basic science that I needed. Metal was solid, it wasn't made to bend because the molecules that made it were packed so tightly together and how did you smith? You heat it up.

Concentrating, I focused on the want, no the need, to have the metal heat up enough before trying to make it bend with my magic. It was almost like trying to look in two directions at once and I could feel a headache begin to form before the spoon finally bent at a ninety degree angle, snapping back into place as I eased up my control.

A smile made its way onto my face at the progress I had made, as well as the fact that my hunch on how to get a better grasp on my new magic. For the next few hours, I continued to do this until I was sure I had a decent grasp on the exercise before checking the time.

Twelve in the afternoon, which meant I had been there for about three hours. Packing up all my things, I made my way through the woods and to the guild, walking with a bit of pep in my step at my success and opening the doors.

"…"

"What's wrong Zeph?" Wakaba asked me from where he was sitting, smoking his pipe.

"I've been in the guildhall for about three seconds and I haven't been challenged to a fight. Is Natsu on a job or something?"

"When was the last time you were here man? Natsu left on a job like a week ago."

"Oh really? I've busy training some new magic so I had no idea he was gone."

"Oh yeah, him, Lisanna and Happy took that new girls on a mission to steal a book for like, two million jewels. Can you believe it?!"

"I mean, that's on the lower end for some of the jobs I take so I don't really see what the big deal is that they're earning that much." I tried to joke, but Wakaba started shaking me by my shoulders, the veins in his head bulging in anger.

"You really know how to make a guy feel inadequate, you know that? Not everyone goes on super high paying S-class mission like you!"

"I was kidding. Two million is a large sum and I was trying to make a joke! Stop shaking me before I stab you!"

He did as I said before quickly backing off at my threat. Having satiated my curiosity, I made my way to where my two favorite girls were sitting and plopped down in the seat next to them, grabbing a mug and sipping the ale it held.

"So, going to Hector's for the week help you out any?"

"Yep. I have mastered the first step of metallurgy and can now move on to the next one."

The conversation continued like that for the next few minutes before the doors slammed open and Natsu and his group walked in, the pinkette and his cat being the only ones who looked excited about completing their mission.

"Oi, who's dog died? You look like something went horribly wrong."

"Natsu decided to turn down the reward from our job because we technically didn't do what the client wanted."

"Well, what were you supposed to do?" Cana asked from beside me.

"We were originally supposed to burn the book we got, but Lucy solved a code within it and returned it to the client, who was delighted so see the hidden message, which turned out to be a letter from his father. Natsu than declined the money they offered."

Oh right. That was a thing, with that Duke guy who had horrible taste in women.

"Well, don't get too down. You can always take another job to make up for the cash you lost this time. Although, that sounds just like you to get swept up into Natsu's crazy plans Lisanna."

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

~x~x~

Another chapter down, although the last two have been more slice of life than anything else. Don't worry though, we'll be getting into more action next chapter when Erza shows up and we get to the first canon arc Zeph will be taking part in (I'm not considering Zeph and Cana meeting Lucy as canon because… well there was no Bora or slave thing going on}. We'll also be seeing some of what Zeph can do with metallurgy next chapter, although it won't be anything big. I also want to shout out to ProminentDawn. Their review really helped me come up with some ideas on Zeph's original set of spells, more specifically, Ultimate Moves. I won't spoil too much, but I will say that each ultimate move he comes up with will be based on a mythological weapon, god/goddess or monster and we won't be seeing any of them until at least the guild war with Phantom Lord. Thanks for reading and remember to favorite, follow and review with constructive criticism.