Fairy Tail held a big party to celebrate their friend's safe return. It lasted for a whole day and they still celebrate it even after a week by drinking and feasting every day. They also held a strength contest to show off their progress in these last 3 years to the Tenrou Island team.

The strength contest they chose was arm wrestling which they held on the training ground. The Tenrou Island boys plus Erza were dominating the contest, they were S-Class candidates for a reason. However, they were all defeated when they faced Mira. There was no need for them to face Ben if they can't even defeat Mira in arm wrestling.

The only one who could defeat Mira in arm wrestling is Gildarts. Even Laxus lost by a small margin after holding his ground for 5 minutes. Erza could put up a fight against Mira but she lost after a minute. No one used magic in this contest so Mira was physically stronger than all of them.

Before Gildarts faces Ben, the Tenrou Island boys and even the girls want to try first. As expected, none of them even managed to move Ben's arm an inch. Even after Ben allowed them to use their magic power, only Laxus was strong enough to push Ben's arm, and it was only 3 inches.

Ben only used a little bit of his magic power so it showed how ridiculous his magic power is. Physical strength is one thing that Ben has always trained since he arrived in this world. If he has a strong physique, he will be able to fight even if his magic power is depleted.

Also, a stronger physique can increase the maximum capacity of a mage's magic power. But increasing physical strength to Ben's level is very difficult. Not everyone can achieve what Ben did because most people would give up before obtaining results considering how hard his training is.

Anyway, Ben's arm wrestling match with Gildarts finally started. Everyone had distanced themselves from the two which was the right choice. When the match started, their clash generated a big shock wave.

Just them pushing each other's arms has the same effect as two mages attacking each other with strong spells. Some people even take a few steps back because of the clash's effect.

"Heh, not bad old man." Ben said with a smirk.

"I should be the one saying that, kid." Gildarts said as he exerted more power.

Ben's arm was pushed a little but didn't move any further than that.

"Well, I have my reasons for saying that. It's because you really aren't bad." Ben replied as he exerted more power.

When Ben used more power, Gildarts' arm was pushed back a lot. Gildarts tried to use more power but he can't push Ben back at all. He just slowed Ben's push and destroyed the table so now they need to do some arm wrestling without a table.

"It seems I can't play around anymore." Gildarts said as he uses all of his power.

Ben also went all out because he would lose if he doesn't. Their immense magic power clashed with each other, creating a big impact. Almost everyone fell on their knees because of the pressure of the clash.

Only Makarov and the S-Class mages can stand under the strong pressure. They immediately use their magic to block the pressure to protect the others. The young ones who were still weak will be injured if they didn't do that.

*BOOM*

A massive explosion appeared on the spot where Ben and Gildarts fought. The magic power pressure also disappeared so the arm wrestling match must've come to an end. Dust scattered everywhere, blocking everyone's view.

Wendy used her Sky Dragon Slayer Magic to blow the dust away per Mira's instruction. After the dust was gone, the jaws of almost all mages dropped. They all see Gildarts lying on the ground while Ben was standing with a grin.

"G-Gildarts lost?!" Natsu exclaimed in shock.

The others were shocked too, even the ones who had seen Ben's progress over the last 3 years. Only Mira and Bella weren't surprised by this result. The two were the ones who knew Ben's power the best.

Ben smirked as he looked at Gildarts. "You don't have that much strength in your muscle do you, old man?"

Gildarts smiled bitterly after hearing that, "You are the one with ridiculous physical strength. My physical strength is on par with a high-level beast you know. Your physical strength is enough to make you an S-Class fighter. If you add your strong magic power, then I can only say that you'll be a monster."

"Oi oi, calling me a monster is too much. Just because I became stronger than you doesn't mean that I am a monster. It just showed that I worked really hard over the last 3 years." Ben said.

Well, Ben had worked really hard to reach this level in only 3 years. He has trained every day, collecting data and knowledge from some libraries and even the data from other mages' magic.

The high amount of magic power that he obtained from the Anima had made his magic power increase really fast. His magic power had almost doubled over the last 3 years. But without proper knowledge and training, he won't be able to use his strong magic power.

[Name: Ben Cooper

Moniker: Karna (The Sun's Child)

Title: Youngest Wizard Saint

Age: 20

Status: Alive

MP: 856,173/856,173

STR: 562

AGI: 523

STA: 652

INT: 1,142]

Ben's overall stats have surpassed Gildarts who didn't grow at all over the last 3 years due to being trapped in Fairy Sphere. This was possible thanks to the Anima that provide him a lot of magic power to grow fast.

By almost doubling his overall stats means that he gets the same result training for 7 years in 3 years. If he kept doing this, he would definitely be able to reach Acnologia's level one day.

He doesn't know when though because even with his current power, he knows that there is still a big gap between him and Acnologia. He hasn't even reached God Serena's power yet, not to mention Acnologia.

Last year, he met God Serena personally so he knows God Serena's rough power after he scanned the man with A.I Chip and his magic sense. God Serena's magic power is almost twice as much as Ben, so around 1.5 million points.

The gap between God Serena and the 2nd strongest Draculos is high too. Draculos had around 1 million points. Wolfheim and Warrod who are the 3rd and 4th strongest have similar magic power to Draculos.

Ben was confident he could win a 1 one 1 battle with Draculos, Wolfheim and Warrod because the amount of magic power isn't everything. But it would be a different if he faced God Serena.

That guy is arrogant, but that arrogance can be backed up by his power. Furthermore, Ben doesn't know how tough God Serena is in a fight. But by being the strongest of all Ten Wizard Saints, God Serena must be a tough combatant, so it will be very difficult to fight him even if Ben had similar raw power.

Fighting experience is a big factor in battles, even more so than raw power. Even with lower raw power, a mage can still win a battle if they have more fighting experience. That's why human mages can defeat a stronger magical creature who has lower intelligence with their strategy and skills.

Gildarts had been in that situation before so he knew a lot about it. He knew Ben had stronger physical and magical power. But he didn't know Ben's current fighting experience now.

That's why he said this, "Kid, you have grown a lot stronger these last 3 years. But can you wield that power well enough? A lot of power without good control is just a waste."

Ben looked at Gildarts before saying, "Just say that you want to challenge me to a fight, old man.