Chapter 04: You Are (NOT) Alone.

"I still think Mikhail is a good one…"

"Rejected…" a good one… my ass. No offense to you with that name but, that sound like a name for a religious person… and I'm not one.

"Don't you think Ferdinand is pretty good?"

It's good, to be honest… but, "how about no?" what even am I? Price charming?

"How about Buster?"

"I can't even tell if that was an actual name or not…"

"King?"

"A card?"

"Mom, do you have any good idea?"

"Well, I have some, but I'll wait for you children to come up with something first…"

"Then something like Blast? Isn't that sound cool?"

"Seriously don't open your mouth if you don't have a proper suggestion…"

Yeah, I feel the tiredness build up just from hearing your suggestion.

"Even though I was serious…"

"You serious?!"

"People said that everyone has their own taste, but… what a horrible taste you have…"

"The hell you just say, silver hair!"

"You need to put more effort into your insult if you expecting something from me…"

Fuming, Gray jumped from his seat and proceeded to fight with Leon, rolling back and forth on the floor, while I and the Milkovich mother and daughter duo watched as if it were routine.

"Elias?" The children, including the two who were still arguing, turn their heads to stare at the only adult in the room.

"How about it?"

Not terrible, however, I'm curious as to why... There's a part of me that refuses to accept it.

Why?

Because I still have a lingering feeling about my prior life? Maybe I want to know my first name first before I receive a name in this world... my second name, that is.

It's like I want to know what happened in the prior chapter of a book before reading the latest chapter. That's the kinda vague reason if you ask me, but you must understand what I mean, right?

"Well, it was not bad, but where it is coming from?" Ultear asked.

"It would be your name if you were a boy…"

"Hoo…" Ultear's eyes light up at the new information, and she turns to face me. "What do you think?" With me as her target, the light in her eyes seems brighter than before, and I know if I answer honestly about how I'm feeling right now, she'll scowl at me for at least a week.

And for some reason, I feel like she has an ulterior motive behind her smile.

"It's a good name…" I answered honestly with a candid smile. I did not lie when I said that; it was my impression of that name; what I have trouble with is my own problem from my prior life, and it would be unjust of me to judge their efforts to help me based on a problem they are unaware of. "If you don't mind, I don't mind using it as my name for the time being."

When she heard this, her smile grew even more, if that was even possible, and she began to cling to my body. I swear that smile will be my undoing one day.

On another subject, when did her character transform into such a ray of sunshine? Wasn't Ultear meant to be a calm, cool character? And yet, here she is, all smiles and causing so much skinship… to me at least. What led her to change so drastically?

You.

Oh, you mean because of me?

"It's settled then," I have a feeling there's something concealed behind her remarks, but I opt to keep my curiosity to myself.

I can see Ur sending me a soothing smile from the corner of my eye. She must be aware of my feelings about this to some extent.

And then we process it a few weeks later. That's all there is to it, Elias Milkovich. It's been a long, but I can finally introduce myself with a proud chest, pleased to meet you.

Ignoring the strange melancholy sense I had when I first heard the name, I'm glad I'm no longer nameless.

Like Gray, I, too, ended up living in the Milkovich household ever since I woke up, and I'm not sure when or how it happened, but for some reason, everyone began acting as if I were the eldest child in the house. Even if I understand why they did it, I'm the oldest child in here, but it still left me baffled… with a pleasant feeling.

Isn't having a family a nice thing?

Now here I am, sitting on the terrace with a sweet aroma of chocolate from a mug lingering in the air while watching Ur training Gray and Lyon's ass off.

You're probably wondering why I'm not joining them right now, aren't you?

In a reincarnation situation with future knowledge like this one, isn't it rational to spend the majority of my time training and gathering power in anticipation of what will happen in the future?

As corny as it may sound, I wholeheartedly support such growth.

Even though the character was normally a neet who barely moved their body except when they played a console game, for some reason, they suddenly got the urge to train until their body gave out the instant they were reincarnated.

That was one way of using future knowledge, after all.

But the thing is I did not meet any requirements to use my future knowledge to the fullest. From the information aspect, from the full story I only knew about 1/10 of the story and even if we exclude that aspect there are still a lot of things that bother me, too.

Limit, method, and compatibility were some of the many things that hinder me in my endeavor of pursuing strength.

Before I begin, do you recall why Ultear and I were confined in that godforsaken place in the first place? It was due to our body's unusual magical capacity. According to Ur, an average trained mage in Magic Council has a magic capacity of roughly 10 to 20, which would put Ultear around 100 or even higher for me.

Fact first, the numbers were not supposed to be taken literally; they were only examples to help us grasp our predicament.

I don't recall my state before coming to the facility, but it's no surprise Ultear nearly died previously. It was simply too big for her small child body. Like you keep blowing a balloon over its breaking point, it will explode, that was our case before.

Get it? Even as children, we had enough magical strength to easily overpower an average wizard, and that was the first issue.

Limit.

The thing is, Ur certain that I and Ultear have reached our limit in growing, or at least close to it. The fact that even Ur herself hard to accept, but you know… when you think about it, it would be making less sense if we didn't reach this stage yet, considering everything we have been through in that hell.

After all, those pieces of wasted garbage had done everything they could do to amp our magic to the limit. So it wasn't strange if we already have the power of a true wizard. That is why we would struggle to develop and get stronger in our current form.

According to her we better find a way to unlock our "Second Origin" instead of doing the same training as Gray and Lyon.

When she said that, a flash of bunch images flashed through my mind.

Natsu and his team groaned in pain as strange tattoos lingered on their body… yeah, not much information, not even a useful one because the images didn't give me any information regarding the tattoo, how or why they got those, or even how those tattoos worked.

Images of a bunch of guys and females squirming in pain cannot be useful. Well, the silver lining is at least I'd remember a part of another episode.

Or to make it simpler for you to understand my situation.

Imagine you pilling plates, in the end, you will reach the limit of how high your hand can reach, that's why instead of wasting so much effort tip going to add one plate to your already high tower, why not make a new one beside it and back to pill the first tower when you get taller.

I feel like that analogy was a bad one, but whatever, as long you get the point.

And the last reason is that that garbage already taught me the principle of Molding magic and in Ultear's case, she was already mastering Ice Molding magic from a long time ago.

Talk all you want, but let's be honest here, you just wanted to ogle Ur in her undies.

So, here I am, comfortably relaxing while watching the chaotic scene before me.

It was calming and plain day, just simple times where we enjoyed our days, but I can't stop this dreading feeling in my heart to grow bigger as time passing.

As I lived with them, one question after another popped into my thoughts, and the one that bothered me the most was, "When will the story begin?" I've already made up my mind about Gray; I'm going to stop him with force, and I don't care if he hates me in the end.

However, as I watched him during our cohabitation, I couldn't help but wonder if what I'm about to do is the right decision. Of course, I knew it was the proper thing to do, but from the perspective of the story... I had a feeling something horrible would happen if I did it.

Don't worry about it, just follow what your heart told you.

Please arrive quickly, before my resolve dries out.

Mentally exhaled... honestly, why is everything so complicated... Dammit, I don't want to deal with this confusing stuff.

I can hear stepping feet and a faint humming from within the house... It relieves some of the tension and conflict in my thoughts.

It didn't take long for the source to arrive where I am and take a seat next to me.

"Food's ready…" with sing a song tone she informed me, smiling cheekily while her chin rested on her hands. "Today's a special day, I put a lot of effort this time."

"So today is Tuesday?"

An adorable pout formed on her cheek at my response.

"Every day is a special day, you know," her hands rocking my body.

"I know, I know…" her pouts remain on her adorable face.

Really, I understand what you meant, after experiencing the hell of that place, days like this are truly the most cherished days.

After a chit-chat about the weather and what I want for dinner, we finally told each other before the foods get cold… also, just want to tell you that eating with everyone will make your food a hundred times better.

Ahh, times like this make me wonder, can I just ditch all the responsibility and live a normal life? It's not like I have the obligation to bear them… but of course, I know, that was a foolish thing to ask.

It's not like I want to, but I have to.

So, time passed, days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and finally the day I'd been waiting for all this time.

The air was tense, we unconsciously held our breath as we, the children, silently watch the scene unfold, with anxious faces… no, we can only watch the scene before us.

"Stop! There's no way that you could beat Deliora! You will only kill yourself, Gray!" Ur tries her best to reason and stop Gray from his suicidal action.

Now is my chance, prepare my resolving once more, I take a deep breath… here I come, come and get me, butterfly effect, I'll take you face on.

Tightening my fist, I move my leg... sorry, Gray, it's for your own good.

Wait… let him be.

…

It's been bothering me all along, but I've decided to ignore it because I had a bigger problem to deal with first, but fuck it, the tumult and my worry get the best of me, so let me ask it straight... What the hell are you? Stop talking from my head!

Hmm… rude much.

Is it possible that I have Schizophrenia? After what I went through in that place, it's not surprising that I have one or two mental diseases.

Sorry, but no.

-TBC-

Goddammit, where this story going is really different from what I had my mind. In my first draft, his name was meant to be Nikolai, not Elias, and I stated that dragon slayer was not his primary magic, but this is no longer the case.

The review about requesting Erza to be a part of his harem also changed a lot of what I had planned for him... sorry, but Erza will not be in the harem, but well, just wait, what I want to tell you is that everything will be different from what I had previously.

I just can't think of anything for her to love him, everything will feel forced on me.

After some thought, I believe he will have four (or more) members in his harem: three are already confirmed, and you know two of them; I have an idea of how and why the fourth member loves him, but I'm not sure about the third; it will feel little forced for the story.

Just try to guess who are the two, the third and fourth will appear in GMG and last arc.

But, even if I did say that the third and fourth members will not appear until later in the story, so I'm sure there will be some changes as the plot progresses.

Current Elias' knowledge of the show:

Prologue arc (not remember)

Galuna arc (remember a little)

Phantom lord (barely remember anything)

Tower of Heaven (remember a little)

Battle of Fairy Tail (not remember)

Oricion Seis (most of his knowledge came from this arc)

Edolas (forgot everything)

Tenrou (remember most of it)

Just like in "Second Origin," a trigger is needed for him to recall something.