The time has finally come. At last, the future greatest mage of Earthland is about to start his training...

Wow, really?

Well, I was just trying to imitate what was going on with a isekai protagonist's mind based on the light novel I've read in the past. All of them have this dream of climbing up from being a simple adventurer to an overpowered hero that will free the kingdom from the threats of the demon lord.

So, if I were to relate that to this current world, some of the elements I found here really fits that isekai trope. Zeref as the "demon lord", Fiore as the kingdom that needs to be saved, Fairy Tail as the adventurer's guild that the hero is a member of.

And... the protagonist and the main hero is...

Let's face it, it's Natsu Dragneel.

I mean, he's basically the very definition of a shounen manga protagonist. Somewhat unique hairstyle or color: check. Loves to fight: check. Eats too much: check.

And most importantly, he is way too involved with many major fights ever since I got here. He already fought two of Zeref's demons, although the last one is already dead by being trapped in the ice for so long. Not to mention that he already fought two wizard saints and came out alive.

Anyway, I'm fine with being a side character. Not like being a main character is important in real life.

Right now, as it is my day-off for this week, I'm currently with Olietta on our training session. Our chosen training ground was the flat grassland in front of the woods which is also where my house is located. I chose this location just for the simple reason that it's near my home and is vacant enough for a battle magic training.

"Okay, try taking down this last wooden dummy." Olietta instructed as she made a sculpture of a muscle man with a blank features.

And thus, I tried to imagine an object that is powerful enough to knock the dummy down but isn't taxing enough to my magic reserves. Well, that's easy. I can just make a wooden mace and swing it really hard.

As per her lessons, chanting in not actually necessary in doing molding magic. If that wasn't the case then Olietta would not have those silly "Love" title for her attacks. However, chanting kinda helps her control properly how much magic out she'll use. Whatever that means.

I swung the mace as hard as I could and it did manage to shatter the dummy. The same can be also said to my mace as it's head is completely removed from the hilt.

"Good, you can hit hard with your magic. Now let's move on to actual combat."

"You serious? I'm already kind of empty of magic from attacking your dummies, you know?" I complained.

In response, she just gave me a deadpanned look on her face. Well, my excuse is a actually that stupid that it deserves a reaction like that from her. "Just eat this shattered pieces."

Dejected that my excuse did not work against her, I opened my mouth and siphoned the scattered wood pieces from her magic and ate them. The wood pieces are just as replenishing as a normal tree but I still feel weird considering that these came from Olietta's own being. It was like I'm drinking her bodily fluids under her consent.

Weird thoughts aside, my magic reserves are now fully replenished. Now that I have no more excuses not to continue our training, I took whatever fighting stance I could muster. It's not a martial arts level but at least it keeps my balance well.

"Ready... Go!"

As soon as Olietta gave the signal, she instantly moved her hand and chanted whatever spell that was. As soon as she finished chanting, a spiked ball was sent flying towards me.

In response to this, I patheticly jumped to the side, thus avoiding the projectile. While rolling on the ground, I then made two wooden spears and launched them towards her. I made sure that the spears are blunt at the tip so that I won't accidentally stab her in case I manage to get a lucky hit.

I don't know if I should be thankful or not that my spears didn't hit Olietta. However, this did not stop her assault as she then erupted multiple hands and feet from the ground that I have to continuously run to avoid all of those.

Finally gaining a decent amount of distance from her, I then created a log of the same size as a normal tree. Yes, all of my attacks right now are just projectile-based because I have no confidence in my melee combat capabilities.

What I witnessed next just baffled me. Instead of my log hitting her, it just went straight to the ground as if she wasn't there. If I was in the Naruto universe, I would assume that she just used an Obito level of Kamui.

"Wait, time out!" I shouted, stopping her from casting whatever chuuni attack she's chanting.

"What? You tired already?" she mocked with an irritating smug look on her face.

"No. I'm asking about how did you do that?"

"I'm pretty sure I used different kinds of spells just now. You have to be little more specific." she replied as we walked towards each other to lessen our distance so that we won't be screaming each time we talk.

We then sat at the beautiful lawn that looked like they've been maintained.

"I'm taking about the way you evade my last attack. You're not secretly a ghost, aren't you?" I asked her.

"Who knows, maybe?" I just sent her an unamused look for her response. "Fine, it was my Wood Merge."

Upon her mention of the spell, I remembered the lessons she gave me about her wood make spells. This Wood Merge she's talking about allows her to, well, merge with any wooden object, hiding herself from sight. She's also able to move along the wooden object like an electric charge along a wire.

If I were to guess how she did that specific trick earlier, she just merged the part of her body where the log came in contact with. It looks cool but it's a totally useless technique if it is used on other mages that do not use wood magic.

"Must have been convenient that you're fighting against me, eh?" I replied.

"Yeah, I know that it's useless on other people. But admit it, I looked pretty cool back there." she boasted.

Well, she's right that she looked pretty cool with how she executed the technique. It's also a convenient way of simulating a fight with an opponent with ghostlike abilities. But that was it, only for training purposes between us, unless there are also enemies we'll encounter that uses wood magic or something.

"Yeah."

"So that it's out of the way, can we continue the training?" she asked as we stood up from the ground.

I also stood up and moved backwards to gain some distance from her. "Yeah, let's go."

We went with our training until the sky turned orange, only stopping at noon for lunch and when I had to cure my drained magic reserves by eating a tree. Along the duration, I managed to drain my magic reserves a total of five times until Olietta also ran out of hers.

The goal was to go at it until she exhausted her own reserves because she also needs to gain something from our training. Basically, one's magic reserves and capabilities also increase by constantly using it, with bigger bonuses if it was drained. A zenkai boost, if you will.

So in that sense, I'm practically just farming this increase by repeatedly draining and regaining ethernano in my body. Olietta also wanted to benefit from this by draining her own, thus increasing hers but not at the same rate as mine.

The sad but expected thing is that I haven't managed to win a single match against her for the simple reason that she's a more experienced mage than me.

"Well, that was fun, although it's kinda weird to see you eat wood from time to time."

"If you think about it, I basically just widened my choice of vegetables to eat. But yeah, I'm still weirded by that fact even now." I wonder if this trait of mine can help me with my unhealthy hate for tomatoes... Probably not.

"Right, you did mentioned that you are not picky with the food you eat. So, how about tomatoes, do you find them tasty now?"

"I'm not about to find out anytime soon." I replied while still trying to remove the thought of eating those slimy abominations out of my head.

After lying on the ground for a decent period of time, she stood up and stretched her arms upward, granting me a sight of her beautiful curves that are highlighted by the bright orange rays of the setting sun. Yup, even with the damages from our training earlier, I can definitely see that Olietta is indeed a beautiful girl.

"It's kinda your fault that I'm this exhausted so would you be so kind to walk me back to Fairy Hills?" she asked me.

"That's fair, I basically asked for a free tutoring session so I can do that much for you." I replied as I catched up to her and walked beside her.

I actually wanted to asked her why she didn't just made her own house and avoid the insanely high rental fee of Fairy Hills. However, knowing that this is a Fairy Tail wizard we're talking about here, it's not surprising if her reason is just about being close with her nakamas.

And so, I brought her to the Fairy Tail women's dormitory, hoping that no one saw us and misunderstood our relationship.

...

It's been more than a month ever since that whole Harvest festival fiasco which almost endangered the whole Magnolia. The younger Dreyar was expelled, saving me the trouble of seeing him being a prick at the guild. Unlike the other guild members, I didn't know him very well so I didn't feel whatever they're feeling from his departure, be it happiness or sadness. It was just a pure relief for me.

However, if I did get something from that experience, it's that I have to be stronger.

With that, I trained myself and even attempted the One Punch Man training regimen. To bad I don't really have the motivation and resolve to go bald so I just gave up on it and stuck to Olietta's lessons.

During the past few weeks, I managed to learn the basics of fighting using magic, thanks to Olietta's lessons. The training was kinda weird, or in a masochist's opinion, sexy. That is because she always threatens me to be used a guinea pig for her torture devices whenever I did something wrong during training. Thankfully, my mistakes were too minor for her to give me those punishments.

Also, the names of her spells are Zaimokuza levels of chuuni-ness, but at least they get the job done. Two of my favorite spells from her wood make are Wood Merge and Sculpture. I think it's very self explanatory why I chose the latter. But for the former, I think it is to make my pseudo-magic "Stealth Hikki" a real one.

And finally on this day, it is now my schedule to take on mission by myself as a rite of passage or whatever. Yes, I have no prior experience on going to a mission even with the company of another person just because I'm not comfortable enough to ask them.

What I only brought for myself for this whole trip are just just pocket money, change of clothes, water container and travel guide magazine all stored inside my backpack. As for food, I don't really have a problem with just eating wood during this whole mission.

By the way, the mission is about looking for a strange artifact which is rumored to be located at a deep forest at the outskirts of Acalypha town, which is actually just near Magnolia. The artifact in question is rumored to be a magic device though the functionality is unknown.

Basically, this is a somewhat treasure hunting quest as there's no stated reward for completion other than the artifact itself. Normally, I wouldn't accept this mission because there's nothing for me to gain from it but Master Dreyar was the one who chose it as a test for me.

Right now, I'm currently resting under a small tree while chipping a bit of its bark for snacks. It's still mid noon but inside of this forest looks like the sun is already about to set. Maybe because it's already autumn that these orange leaves made the sunlight always look that of a sunset.

I read my travel guide for some important info to know about this specific area of the forest. Well, the forest itself wasn't all that special. There hasn't been a rumor about this place being somewhat involved with Zeref, unlike the forest where I spawned.

And as expected, there are a reported sightings of Vulcans here, just like any biomes here on Earthland. Yeah, those perverted monkeys who were always looking for someone to rape are everywhere on this planet. Though I wonder what would they look like if they're living near a volcano.

I continue reading the guide until I heard some people talking. Without any delay, I immediately blended to the tree behind me and waited for those two person to pass by. Maybe these people also took the same mission as me for the same purpose.

"Seriously child, why did you try to leave me behind for this mission?" an ojou type of voice from a cat like Happy talked.

"I'm very sorry, Carla. I didn't really mean to leave you. It's just that maybe this artifact isn't actually an artifact but Grandeeney's hiding spot." a young girl, probably a middle schooler age, replied.

Well, at least now I know that they aren't some sort of goons from a dark guild that is trying to ambush anyone who took the mission. However, I'm kinda concerned why did they even sent a young girl and a cat to a forest where a simian rapist lives.

"You do know that dragons are way too large to be considered as a mere artifact, right." the cat continued to ask.

"Um yes, but I can't just avoid thinking that someone might have sealed her inside that artifact."

Then suddenly, the blue-haired girl sniffed around her surroundings. Maybe her magic is her sense of smell... Wait, she's smelling me? Wow, so much for hiding.

"W-Who's there?" the girl asked.

"What's wrong, child?" her cat companion soon followed.

"There's someone here hiding."

I didn't wait to make my appearance seem more suspicious than it already it. With that instant, I stepped out of the tree and raised both my arms like I'm surrendering or something.

"Okay, you found me." I said, startling the two.

As expected, the two immediately took their fighting stance upon seeing me. Although for some reason, the blue-haired girl who I expected to be more powerful of them is now shivering in fear. Come on, I'm not that scary-looking, right? I get it, it's my eyes again.

"P-Please d-dont hurt u-us!" the girl said.

"Oi, cut it out. I'm just as scared when I heard you two."

The two looked at each other, probably surprised of my response. Well, it is to be expected as I literally looked like that from a dark guild with my appearance. No, I'm not insulting my high-quality looks. It's just that it's been more or less five months since I last had a haircut. Combine it with my infamous eyes and this black long coat I'm wearing, I really look like your generic dark guild goon.

"Why should we trust you? For all we know, you're just trying to gain our trust and then do something nefarious against us." the cat asked.

Sighing, I decided to show them the evidence that I'm sure they'll accept. I rolled the left sleeve of my coat. I then showed to them my guild insignia which is very famous all throughout Fiore.

"Here, is this good enough?" I asked both of them.

Upon seeing my green tattoo, the two girls noticeably relaxed a bit.

"You're from Fairy Tail? Thank goodness."

"You're too quick to trust, child. What if his insignia is fake?" asked the skeptic cat.

Upon hearing her, I decided not to involve myself to them anymore. I know when I'm not welcome, a feeling I'm very familiar with. Well, it's not like I really need to be on good terms with them as I just wanted to clear up the misunderstanding. But because this Yukinoshita-like cat is way too incessant on removing me from her sight, it's better to just leave them alone.

I turned my back to them to continue my search for the artifact, only to be blocked by a sturdy fellow with an orange fur... Damn it! Of all the times, why does this vulcan have to show up when there's a girl nearby? Wow, I feel like an idiot for asking that.

With that, I immediately jumped back a few times to gain distance from the perverted monkey. And with a quick gesture of my hand, I made wooden wall in front of us. One that I think is thick enough to resist few of its attacks and is wide enough so that it won't see the two girls behind me in case they want to escape.

I then turned towards the two girls who just freaked out upon the sight of the vulcan. I need to snap them out of their daze right now or else I'll unfortunately fail to prevent a child rape.

"Hey, you two! Help me drive this vulcan away or leave! I don't care which!"

It fortunately snap the two out of it. And with the best course of action in mind, the cat immediately grabbed the child and flew away while I'm holding off the vulcan with my now cracking wooden wall.

Not long after they left hiding to who knows where, my wooden wall finally broke, revealing an enraged vulcan. Angered from all that sexual frustration, the vulcan immediately launched its punch towards me, which I easily dodged by leaping backwards.

Never once in my life that I've been disgusted by an animal before on a level that I'm feeling right now. Sure, it's on a vulcan's instinct to rape women but as a human, I can't just tolerate this kind of behavior. I mean, I already hate tomatoes so there will be no problem if I add vulcans to the list of my most hated life forms.

But right now, I was actually interested in recreating some of my video game fantasies. Because I'm fighting a monster, there's only one thing I have in mind for this. Yes, it's Monster Hunter.

With that, I used my wood molding magic to create a wooden gunlance, one of my favorite weapons from the game. I choose this because this one gives me both the offense and defense that I need. Also, with them created from my magic, they seem to be weightless where in fact they're as dense as a tree can get.

The vulcan once again launched its fist on me, which I easily blocked with my shield. I then launched counterattack of mine by thrusting my gunlance towards its torso. It evaded my attack but what it didn't know is that I can still launch a projectile.

And that's what I did. The two wooden projectiles went straight to its torso like a 1-2 combination punch. The vulcan winced in pain upon receiving my attack.

This continued for a few minutes until I remembered a vital thing about real life monsters. Unlike in the games, the beast have no pattern in his movements. It's a sign that I should stop playing around and end this quickly before I run out of magic.

With that, I backed off for a decent distance away from it. I then did the proper hand posture of molding magic.

"Wood Make: Violent Approach!"

Using one of Olietta's offensive spells, I launched a spiked ball on the vulcan's head while standing firm on the ground. Yes, one of my fantasies is just standing still while commanding magic elements to fight the enemy like I'm some sort an overpowered anime side character whose powers haven't seen on full capacity all throughout the series.

The force of the impact made the vulcan fall to the ground like it just received a straight punch from a boxer. Seeing it on the ground, I then bound its limbs to the ground using a hardened wooden staples. By forcing a lot of magic power on it, they somehow grew leaves on them which is kinda cool to look at. Commanding the nature, isn't that just badass? It's kinda lame when I'm the one doing it.

At first, the vulcan struggled but it just can't break out of my bindings. If only I didn't know that these creatures are known to take over a human or other beings, I would have killed this asshole here with my unknown breath attack. Yes, I haven't got a name for that attack yet.

Dealing with a single vulcan isn't that much of a problem as it only pose a significant threat when they're on a pack.

Just to make sure that this one haven't took over a person, I once again hit it with a spiky wooden ball strong enough to make it fall unconscious. And indeed, the vulcan just fell unconscious, saving me the trouble of carrying an unconscious person back to the civilization.

The two girls finally came out of their hiding spot and went towards me.

"Are you hurt from fighting, mister? I can heal you if you want." the blue haired girl offered.

But before I could state my refusal, the white cat interjected. "Hey, don't just offer your help to some stranger!" she scolded.

"He saved us from the vulcan. That's a good enough reason right?" the girl retorted. At least the child is grateful.

Clearing my throat, I finally decided to voice out my opinion about this whole thing.

"Ahem. Thank you for your offer, kid. But I'm not hurt in any manner so we can just forget that this whole thing happened and just part ways." I said as I turned towards a tree to pluck some branches for snacks.

As soon as I bit the branch, I immediately knew that I blew up my secret to these strangers. Well, not like there's any harm on letting a stranger know, unless it's from either a dark guild or from the magic council. And as expected, both of them have a surprised expression on their faces, probably recognizing the similarity of this trait to that of a very rare yet famous magic type.

"Y-You're a d-dragon slayer?" Wow, this child really have some confidence issues with her excessive stuttering.

"I get that a lot. Maybe, but I don't think so." I replied.

"What do you mean by that?" her cat companion asked back. At least she now stopped driving me away.

"Two of the dragon slayers at the guild were raised by a dragon while the other one who's now excommunicated from the guild has been implanted with a dragon lacrima. Those two things didn't happen to me so I'm still not sure if I am one of those dragon slayers." I explained.

Before, I was really adamant on denying the possibility of being a dragon slayer but I changed my mind after hearing that there's still other way to be such other than being trained by a dragon. However, I'm still leaning to the idea that I'm not, just because I don't want to be challenged for a fight by the two dragon slayers.

"Oh, I-I thought you can help me find Grandeeney. Wait, where are my m-manners? I'm Wendy Marvell and this is Carla." she introduced herself and the cat.

"I'm Hachiman Hikigaya." I still feel weird introducing my name like that.

Wait! If she's too eager to know about dragon slayers, does that mean this "Grandeeney" she's talking about is a dragon? I've also seen her sniffing around just a while ago, a trait I've seen both on Dragneel and Redfox. I get it, she's a dragon slayer, and just like the two back at the guild, she's also looking for her parent.

"I take it you're a dragon slayer, yes?"

"Yes."

...

A/N: I know that I just uploaded my other fanfic just less than two days ago. However, I can assure you that this chapter wasn't rushed whatsoever.