"Hey! Our wondrous heroes have returned with a successful S-Class job!" Goldmine exclaimed with a happy grin and his whiskey glass raised as soon as Eric and Warcry walked through the doors, the young mage rolling his eyes & the S-Class mage chuckling as the mages in the Quatro Cerberus guild hall cheered and clapped.
"Thank you. Thank you, but I was not involved in this. Eric was the one who did the job perfectly and he even got a special gift from the princess for it. A sweet kiss of love."
"Wild!" Eric groaned as the guild exclaimed in unison, Goldmine & Guy chuckling at the young mage's strained expression as he sat down on the bar stool in front of the counter.
"Your very first S-Class and you get a kiss from a beautiful princess. I remember my first one. All I got was a slap to the back of my head from Makarov because we accidentally destroyed a church or two…or seven."
"Yeah, all I got was getting banned from the town I saved." Bacchus grumbled, to which Eric raised an eyebrow before turning to the other three.
"Don't ask. You'll just set him off." Goldmine muttered and Eric shrugged before he gave a sheepish chuckle as his stomach grumbled.
"Why don't you get something to eat while I give master the details?"
"Hey, less work to do for me. Melissa, can you get me a Wyvern steak and a bowl of vegetables on the side?"
"Sure thing, Eric!" The chef shouted back with a giggle, to which Eric just winked as Warcry followed Goldmine to his office.
"So, how did the job actually go?" Goldmine asked as soon as he and Warcry were seated in his office, the S-Class mage chuckling as he shrugged.
"I'm guessing you've already gotten the report from the Royal Family, then."
"They are pleased with your work and has made sure to tell all of their closest friends & allies about our 'exemplary performance on a mission of the utmost importance', but I'd rather hear everything from the mouth of one of my strongest & most trustworthy mages." Goldmine answered and Warcry chuckled as he nodded.
"Well, it's just like the report from the Royal Family said. We were attacked by a group of mages from the dark guild Carbuncle, but with some help, we managed to defeat four of the mages while Eric took care of their leader."
"And? How did he do?" He asked and Warcry sighed as he scratched the back of his head.
"A bit rash, laid-back, easy going, slightly overconfident and gets a bit flustered when his plans don't go his way, but he's good. Adaptable when needed, his mind is fast enough to figure out new plans as soon as his first plan doesn't work and if needed, he can go from laid-back to serious & efficient as soon as he's needed."
"And?"
"No, he's not S-Class. A few more months and I could give him another chance, but now, he doesn't have the power nor does he have the tactical skills needed to do so."
"Hmm, I see." Goldmine muttered as he stared at his desk where he had a file with Eric's information opened up before nodding.
"That's enough of him. Give me the report for how the job went."
'Day 30 of recreating my weird Sharingan-Byakugan-Six Eyes fusion and give myself godlike power. Compatibility of the Spell Absorption, Passive Ethernano Absorption and Sensory Enhancement have been stable at every test. However, adding the Maximum Spell Enhancement and Maximum Flesh Strengthening individually appears to affect the stability of the connection between the Spell Absorption & the Sensory Enhancement Jutsu Shiki, so now, I'm going to try something really stupid.' Eric thought with a sigh as he took out another of his many pure lacrima fragments that he had bought two weeks ago, his ethernano flowing to his new magic pen before taking a deep breath.
One stroke up with the top & bottom having a maelstrom pattern, three horizontal stripes in the middle of the first stroke that run parallel to each other.
The Passive Ethernano Absorption shiki lit up as soon as Eric lifted his pen, feeling his ethernano as well as the ambient ethernano of the atmosphere being pulled into the lacrima as it began to glow dimly.
'Okay, now for the stupid part.' Eric thought with a sigh as he activated his magic pen once more before slowly beginning with probably his last Jutsu Shiki if this goes wrong.
Two vertical strokes running parallel that are on both sides of the Absorption shiki, along with a horizontal stroke under both strokes that had a hook on the sides under the Absorption shiki. Finally, a single horizontal stroke above the Absorption Shiki that connected to the two vertical strokes & had a small dot under it.
'Combining half of Maximum Spell Enhancement with the Maximum Flesh Strengthening is either going to be a massive success or going to create a bomb powerful enough to blow my head off. …All for the pursuit of science.' Eric nodded with a determined frown as he removed the magic pen before leaning back as far as he could, clenching his eyes shut and crossing his arms in front of him for protection.
Waiting a few moments and realizing that his skin wasn't burning away, Eric opened one eye slightly and peeked through the gap in his arms before grinning happily at the sight of the lacrima growing brightly.
While the ethernano being absorbed by the lacrima was a bit concerning and it looking like a glowing grenade made him want to turn around & run, the constant pulsing from the Maximum Flesh Strengthening made him grin as he saw how it reinforced the crystal with the ambient ethernano being absorbed.
'Okay, now this brain is starting to work overtime.' Eric thought to himself with an excited grin as he spun his pen in his grasp, the ideas rushing through his head as ethernano flowed towards the magic pen.
"So, all the time you were stuck in your room for the past month and that pulse of ethernano you gave off a month ago…you were performing surgery on yourself?" Goldmine asked with a frown as he stared at Eric, who had a wide grin on his head as he nodded while his eyes were hidden behind a black blindfold.
Behind the blindfold, a pair of crimson orbs looked back at him and he could feel the ethernano of his body & around him in the air being drawn to the eyes under the blindfold.
"Not exactly surgery but more like tracing minuscule jutsu shiki on my eyeballs with a micro-magi pen for an hour. However, I may have botched parts of the Jutsu Shiki in my excitement and may have forced my resting period to be stretched to a month instead of just the week I thought it to be, but you'll be glad to know that the shiki had been boosted so the results are a bit stronger than they were supposed to be."
"And how much ethernano are they draining right now?" Guy asked with an amused smirk, Goldmine shaking his head as Eric grumbled.
"Fine, they take about a tenth of my ethernano as soon as I take the blindfold off, but if I keep it on, I can still use their abilities, but they're weaker in exchange for the drain being near nearly nothing."
"Ah, I see. So, what spells did you use as a basis?" Guy asked and Eric shrugged.
"Hoteye's Heaven's Eye and the Archive magic you taught me. The Heaven's Eye can let me see vast distances as well as giving me night vision, X-ray vision & thermal vision. Archive lets me see the world as a program, with it giving me the ability to calculate at high speeds, monitor everyone that I can see as well as transfer information from person to person with naught but a thought and some form of telepathy. Like so." And Goldmine blinked as Eric sent him information about the spells & Jutsu Shiki that he used, shaking his head as the transfer completed before smirking at the young mage.
"Huh, not bad. Okay, but remember to take it easy or else you're stuck doing normal delivery jobs for the next month."
"Sure thing, master. So, what job do you have for me now?"
"I ain't your butler. The board's right there, so go find one." Eric snickered at Goldmine's frown, to which the master just rolled his eyes as Guy shook his head and Bacchus smirked.
"Fine, fine. I'll go find one." Eric said as he stood up and walked towards the missions board, stifling his laughter at Goldmine's grumbling before shaking his head with a chuckle as he stopped in front of the board.
'Monster extermination…nope. Beast Subjucation…nah, too much work on trying not to kill it. Escorting…no, one was enough to teach me that protection missions are not my forte. Ooh, deliver a package to a village near the Ikebana Mountains.' Eric thought with a smirk as he took the pamphlet off the board and walked back to the counter, Goldmine taking the pamphlet handed to him before nodding as he tapped it against the binder & it quickly moved to the section where the original request was in.
"And you're good to go. Good luck and this time, try not to fight another Dark Mage if you could."
"No promises." Eric shrugged with a grin as he turned and started walking towards the door to go buy supplies, Goldmine sighing before he glared at the snickering Guy and Bacchus, both S-Class mages quickly shutting up as their master just sighed.
'I really owe Makarov an apology for all the times I made fun of him when he complained about his guild.'
"…I'm supposed to deliver all of this?" Eric asked with wide eyes and a shocked expression as he stared at the gigantic pile of assorted meats in front of him, the middle-aged man dressed in a white shirt, jeans and a black apron chuckling as he wiped a drop of blood from his cheek.
"Yes. Normally, Bacchus or Warcry would be the ones who deliver this to the village, but Warcry is currently on a mission and a drunk Bacchus would either eat it all up on the way or forget where he supposed to take it. So, Master Goldmine told me that you would be able to take it there for us."
"How…How am I even going to transport this?" Eric asked before blinking as a large backpack was handed to him.
"That is like the expansion pack, but a lot more space in exchange for it only being able to transport meats & anything similar to it."
"…Okay, great." Eric muttered as he walked forward, placing the backpack on the ground before reaching to pick up the first steak.
"Wait! You're not touching the meat with your bare hands! Here, use these." Eric gave a sheepish chuckle as he caught the pair of leather gloves thrown at him, the butcher shaking his head with a sigh before the young mage put the gloves back on & got back to his work.
It took Eric six hours before he finally finished packing the pile of meats into the backpack and that was with using his Gravity Magic to help him.
"So, where is this village near the Ikebana Mountains?" Eric asked as he adjusted the straps of the backpack, the butcher just grinning as he handed him a large poster that was rolled up.
Unfurling the poster, Eric frowned as he saw that it was a map, Oak Town along with somewhere near a group of mountains on the edge of Fiore being encircled in red along with notes all along a red line that connected the two circles.
"…Yep, Bacchus would have definitely forgotten where to go. So, how long will the meat last in here?"
"About two weeks, but the village needs that meat urgent so I'd say you have about a week at most."
"Okay, then." Eric nodded as he rolled up the map once more before sending it to his Requip dimension and nodded at the butcher with a grin.
"I'll get this meat to the village, then. Save me a steak when I come back."
"You've already gotten five on your tab! Pay them first!"
"Can't hear ya, old timer!" Eric exclaimed with a wave over his shoulder and a wide grin as he jogged down the road that led out of Oak Town, heading for the first destination on the map.
'First Stop: Malba City.'
'Two days of riding on trains and walking through dirt roads, but finally, we're here.' Eric thought with a sigh as he finally climbed off of the last train on his journey, stretching with a groan before shaking his head to wake himself up as he took out the map from his pocket dimension.
"Okay, I'm in Tuly Village and while the urge to go to the south to see Lamia Scale is really big, the mission comes forth. However, why did this village have to be near the mountains where Desert Wyverns like to live?" Eric groaned as he put the map away and sighed as he started making his way back to the village, frowning as the further he got away from Tuly Village, the more it began to look like a desert.
Alas, it was only just moments after the village disappeared from his view that he heard a deafening screech, turning to look to his side at the sight of a small wyvern screeching in challenge whilst crawling across the sand towards him.
'Well, at least it gives me a chance to test out these guys.' Eric thought with an excited grin as he reached upwards before pulling the blindfold down, his eyes slowly opening to reveal crimson orbs with slitted pupils and an azure glow coating the pupils.
Desert Wyvern
Health: Optimal
Scales Density: 34% mature
Height: 5 meters(from head to tail); 4,3 meters(from ground to head)
Weight: 249 kg
Size: Small
'It was a damn good idea to base it off of a system.' Eric grinned as a dark violet aura coated his body before it shifted to a light blue.
"Attract." In an instant, Eric was gone from his position and floating above the wyvern's skull, the beast slowing down as it was confused about his disappearance. However, Eric smirked as he pulled his arm back, the wyvern choking as it was forced to look up at him and its eyes widened as Eric grinned down with his other fist pulled back.
"Gravity Shift." A dark violet magic crest coated his fist before he growled as he swung it downwards, the wyvern's challenging screech silenced immediately as its skull was caved in & blood painted the ground red.
'Yep. Using Archive to calculate the perfect amount of force and ethernano needed to cave its skull in is so awesome.' Eric thought with a grin as he landed next to the wyvern's corpse, watching as its twitching body slowly began to still before groaning as he heard the sound of multiple screeches echoing throughout the air.
Turning around, he frowned at the multitude of wyverns surrounding him as they roared/ screeched at him and Eric's frown was replaced by an excited smirk as he rolled his shoulders.
'Time to kill some time, I suppose.'
"Hngh! Hngh! Hngh!" Eric grunted as he slowly walked step by step through the desert around him, five Wyvern tails in his grasp as he pulled their corpses behind him and the backpack didn't help as while the weight of the meat was drastically reduced, it still felt as if he was carrying a wyvern on his back.
'God damnit. Why am I dragging the corpses with me? Oh, right because overachieving could lead to more cash, which means getting closer to my own little fortune.' Eric grumbled mentally as he continued pulling the weights before groaning as he felt the ground shifting, dropping the wyvern tails back onto the ground as he reached for his blindfold.
However, he froze as his eyebrows rose to his forehead, staring in shock at the giant human beings and the giant dogs walking towards him.
'…Ain't no way this is happening.' Eric groaned as he saw the giants walking towards him, paying attention to the biggest one at the front of the group who was carrying a giant battle-axe & also had the biggest beard of the group.
"You must be Eric, the mage with our order? I am Druwat, leader of the Sun Village Giants."
'Yep, I am officially the unluckiest son of a bitch in this world.'
"Hello there, friends! That is me and it is a pleasure to meet you all." Eric greeted with a bow before standing upright as the giants laughed.
"Hahahaha! No, we don't do that bowing stuff. Here, we just nod." Druwat said, the other giants nodding in agreement as Eric hummed.
"So, why do you have corpses of the lizard beasts?" Druwat asked whilst gesturing towards the dead wyverns with his axe, to which Eric turned back to stare at the corpses before shrugging as he turned back.
"One attacked me, so I killed it and that brought more…which I also killed." That brought more laughter from the group, Eric joining in before he blinked as he caught something on the edge of his vision.
"Uh, I know you guys are giants, but do you guys have a normal human as well?" I asked as I stared at the really hot woman hiding behind the group, her curvaceous & voluptuous body hidden behind a conservative lilac dress that had a black band loosely tied around the middle.
"Oh, that's Flare. She's been with us since she was a young girl, but she's a bit shy when meeting others not from the village. Flare! Come over here and greet our new guest!" Druwat exclaimed and I blinked as Flare slowly walked forward, noticing the other giants giving her encouraging nods & smiles while Druwat rolled his eyes with an exasperated smirk as she hid half behind him.
"Um, hello." She waved with a shy smile, to which I smiled back as I nodded.
"Hello. I'm Eric Creed."
"Flare Corona. So, um, why are you here?" She asked softly and I chuckled before pulling the backpack off.
"Here to deliver five tons of meat to the village hidden in the Ikebana Mountains."
"Also, you are here because the great elder spoke of you coming and wishes to meet you." Druwat spoke and I blinked before watching as the giant turned and started walking back, Flare already walking behind him while the rest of the giants followed after him.
"…So, no one is going to help with carrying the wyverns?…Cool I'll bring them, then."
"So, what's this about a great elder that wishes to see me?" Eric asked as he followed Druwat and Flare through the village, the tons of meat & the wyverns having been taking off from his hands by the other giants while he had just slung the backpack into his Requip dimension.
He took note of how there were human-sized stairs at every building as well as how there was a small human-sized table at a giant-sized restaurant and how Flare took quick glances at him before blushing and looking away as soon as he looked at her.
'I guess her being shy makes sense when I'm the only human she hasn't see and she hasn't been fucked up by Raven Tail. Also, if she's that hot, then I fear for my health in this world.' Eric thought with a shake of his head before he looked at Druwat as the giant answered his question.
"The great elder foresaw you coming here through some form of magic and told us to be on the lookout for a blindfolded boy with long black hair. A scout of ours found you walking out from the human village not too far from here and informed us of you walking towards the village, so we decided to meet you on the last part of your journey."
"And if I may ask, who exactly is this elder?" The young mage asked and Druwat smirked as Flare giggled.
"A dragon." '
Yep, it's definitely Atlas Flame, but…what does he want with me?' Eric thought to himself whilst making sure to look shocked & a bit excited for the other two, though he didn't have to fake the excitement as who wouldn't want to meet one of the strongest dragons of the franchise.
Following Druwat out of the village's outskirts and up the mountain behind it, his eyes widened at the sight of a giant infero of blazing reddish-orange flames roaring at the top of the small mountain whilst a pair of giant guards stood in front of it.
"Chief!" The giants exclaimed with a salute as Druwat walked closer, to which the man chuckled as he nodded at them while they smiled as Flare waved happily.
"Is this him, Chief?" One of the giants asked as he looked at Eric, who had ignored them for favour at staring in awe at the beautiful radiance of pure ethernano flowing off of the flames & into the atmosphere.
"Yes, this is the mage that the great elder spoke of." Druwat spoke and the giants nodded as they moved to the sides, Druwat nodding at Eric to follow him before chuckling as Flare tried to come with.
"Unfortunately, not today, Flare. Why don't you wait for us in your house and I'll send him your way as soon as we're finished?"
"Um, okay. Bye."
"Bye, Flare." Eric waved with a smile, smirking at how she giggled & rushing off before sighing as he heard the giants stifled laughter, looking up with a deadpan to see them snorting as they tried to hide it.
"Let's just get this over with." He grumbled and Druwat chuckled as they walked up towards the flames, stopping just a few meters away from it as Eric felt the heat rushing over him. Surprisingly, it didn't feel like it was going to turn him to ash.
Instead, it felt as if the flames were caressing his form. Soon, the flames contorted & morphed into a new form. Ash rose from the ground and formed the skeleton of a four-legged behemoth with a pair of massive wings spread wide, the blazing flames quickly coating the skeleton before it formed into that of a dragon as a pair of dark crimson flames stared down at Eric.
However, Eric's eyes widened as he reached up for his blindfold and took it off, the screen that appeared in front of him taking his breath away.
Atlas Flame, the Hell Flame Dragon King
Health: Deceased
Scales Density: 0%(Deceased)
Height: 33 meters(From head to tail); 10 meters(From ground to head)
Weight: 1 394 kg(Ashes)
Size: Giant
'…How is that even possible?'
"It's been four hundred years and I see you're still as noisy as ever, huh Eric?" Atlas' words knocked Eric out of his shock as he blinked and looked up only to see an amused smirk on the dragon's face.
"How…How do you know my name?"
"Oh, how would I not know your name considering I raised you for the first five years of your life, my son?"
'…You have got to be fucking kidding me.'
