It is now Monday, August 15th, X783. Our equipment should arrive in about three days.
Waking up with Levy next to me was as great as always, and I spent some time just enjoying her warmth before I managed to get up from the bed to clean up and prepare for the day.
First things first, I decided to spend a few relaxing hours in the garden, just taking care of all my plants while also using this chance to work on my Magic. My Archive has grown quite a bit, and I felt like I could do more things at the same time, so I wanted to also see how much I could push that.
I started off by using my Griffin transformation before lifting myself off the ground with my Flight Spell. The monster had a similar ability, so I thought this would make it easier for me to sustain it during my gardening time.
Then as I slowly drifted around, I began casting Growth on the plants, followed by low powered and controlled Water Bullet. I had to be careful with the latter, but my knowledge of Magic and my great control of my Mana allowed me to carefully water my plants.
Once I was done with my gardening, I dropped on the ground, taking a moment to ensure all of the plants were unhurt and fine. After ensuring they were all healthy and growing fast, I moved onto the next thing I wanted to do.
Now, I could've continued with trying to recreate high level Demon Magic, but I felt like there was something else I could quickly do before focusing on that. Namely, creating a few more Spells for my current Magic Schools. Two of my earliest ones–Conjuration and Enhancement–had only one Spell each! That just wouldn't do!
It was time to change that, and I decided to start with Conjuration.
There were many paths that I could've taken with this particular Magic School. For example, I felt like I could easily make a Spell that would form a type of armament for me, be it a weapon or even an armor. I could've also gone with another type of animal or monster as well, something like a bear or even a hawk for some aerial support.
All those options seemed viable and useful, but I wanted something more, something that could potentially double my power. I wanted to have another me that could use all my Skills and types of Magic on his own. That was my goal.
I started with controlling and shaping my Mana, using my knowledge of the human body and Conjuration, in an attempt to create a copy of myself. It took me a while, but I managed to accomplish something.
It was both a success and not at the same time. Those were my thoughts as I looked at the ethereal human figure in front of me. He was as weak as I was when I first started off, and he couldn't really use any of my Skills or Magic Schools yet, but that was fine. After all, I did start just as weak and look at how I turned out. I just needed some time and effort to make my Clone as good as I was.
Conjure Clone (0/50): Creates an ethereal human figure that has 10% of our Physique Stat. Currently is not intelligent and has to be manually controlled/commanded. Only one can be summoned, regardless of Conjuration Rank. Reserve 200 Mana when used.
With that done, I returned back inside to have a nice breakfast with Levy. I felt like I needed a couple of hours to relax after all the training I did, and she offered the perfect solution.
"Hey, would you mind helping out with some of the texts I have translated over the years?" Levy asked as she showed me her work. "I have a few I'm unsure I correctly translated."
"I'd love to do that," I said with a smile, and we sat down in my library to take a look at her work. Though… I looked around, seeing that all the books currently there were all hers, with not a single one of mine being on the bookshelves. I'd have to change that soon. "We can even translate some of the Scrolls I currently have."
"Oh, that sounds great!" Levy exclaimed with shining eyes.
We cuddled together, and we first started by checking out her works before we moved on to translating the various Scrolls I had on me. We noted how some of the languages were similar to each other, but not all of them. Levy spent a good amount of time thinking out loud where they could've possibly come from, but we couldn't figure it out with the current information that we had.
Once we finished with all of those texts, we left the house, making our way over to the Guild. Levy ended up taking a quick Job with her team while I checked the Job Board as well, just looking around to see if there was anything interesting. A Job about investigating a noble piqued my interest, and I couldn't help but notice how it didn't specify which noble it was about. I had to ask Makarov about it, and he pulled me to his office.
"This isn't for any single noble," Makarov explained with a serious look. "This is for every noble on the continent."
"All of them?" I asked in surprise. "But why?"
"Recently, the Alvarez continent severed diplomatic relations with us, and things have been dicey. The Magic Council sent this request to every single Guild, and they want every noble to be investigated to ensure none of them are collaborating with the people from Alvarez," Makarov informed me.
"How many have been checked?" I asked first before adding. "And how many has our Guild investigated?"
"Barely any at all," Makarov said with a snort. "Mystogan did it once before he moved on to other things."
"I guess I could try checking out a few," I said since I did have that Shadow Panther that would be extremely useful for this.
"Be my guest," Makarov replied with a gesture of his hand. "There are three nobles living in Magnolia so you can start from here."
"And no one had bothered investigating them?" I asked in clear surprise. This wouldn't take more than a few hours of work.
"You think any of our Guild members could do that?" Makarov asked before he burst laughing. "They'd break down the building and destroy any evidence that might've been there! No, I haven't even informed them of the contents of this particular Job."
"Oh…" I nodded in understanding before looking at him. "But you told me."
"Well, I trust you a lot more than them," Makarov replied with a kind smile.
"I… thank you, Master," I said as a large smile formed on my face.
"Nothing to thank me, boy! You are a wish come true! I don't know how Laxus found you, but I'm more than thankful to him for directing you to Fairy Tail."
Makarov words made me feel a pleasant warmth inside me, though I wasn't sure how to respond to them, so I changed the topic and we idly conversed about how the Guild was doing. He was extremely happy to inform me that he already formed a couple of contracts with merchants, and that I would be handsomely paid at the end of the month.
I left his office with a pep in my step and was almost immediately intercepted by Natsu and Happy. "Leon!"
"Hello," I greeted the two.
"When are we gonna go smash some monsters?!" Natsu asked excitedly.
"In a few days at least," I replied before explaining. "I'm waiting for some equipment to arrive before taking on Jobs like that."
"Oh…" He looked down like a kicked puppy, making me feel bad about delaying this for so long.
"How about we go and train together instead?" I offered.
"Hell yeah!" Natsu cheered with a pumped fist.
"Training?" I heard Elfman's voice come from beside me, and I turned to see the big guy looking at us with a grin. "Did I hear that right?"
"You did." I nodded and said. "You are free to join us as well."
"Oh, I'm getting all fired up for this!" Natsu seemed to be getting even more excited by the moment.
"Hahaha! Let's see who's the biggest man among us!" Elfman cheered just as excitedly.
"What's this about?" Gray appeared from behind Natsu, and he was surprisingly dressed, wearing all of his clothes.
"We are going to punch each other like true men," Elfman explained with his own words.
Gray scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I'm not interested in that."
"Because you are a chicken, ice princess" Natsu said, flapping his arms as if they were wings. "Cluck-cluck-cluck!"
"You wanna go, flame brain!" Gray barked, his shirts suddenly gone in an instant as he charged up to Natsu's face.
"Come at me, droopy eyes!" Natsu bared his teeth right in his face.
"I'm gonna fuck you up, squinty eyes!" Gray didn't back down.
I just stared at them speechlessly before coughing, trying to stop them. "We can just go spar over at the place I fought with Natsu. No need to fight here and break the furniture."
"That sounds like a plan." Elfman nodded, and we left the Guild while Natsu and Gray stood awfully close to each other, butting heads along the way. I wasn't sure what to think about that, so I ignored them and pretended not to see them.
After just a few minutes of sparring with the rest of the boys, I noticed that I was actually better than all of them when fighting with my hands. That came off as a surprise at first, especially since I barely knew how to throw a punch a month ago. Then again, I did notice that Natsu relied more on his superior physical abilities than actual skills during my fight with him.
Elfman was doing great, and he had taken to my Beast Style like a fish to water. I'd say he was the closest to me in terms of skill while Gray was the worst out of all of us. Though he made that up with how versatile his Ice-Make Magic was. Like, he could create anything he could imagine with it, though he seemed to favor solid structures more than anything else.
I took a deep breath before saying, "Alright, guys. How about I give you a few lessons for Unarmed fighting?"
I was surprised when they all agreed, eagerly nodding their heads at my offer. Happiness filled me due to how quickly they agreed, and I ended up offering to cook just for them after the training. Their heads began nodding even faster if that was even possible.
The next few hours were spent in me giving them all a lesson. For Elfman, I just gave him a few tips about my Beast Style and left him to his own devices. Gray, I taught some of the things I learned from Laxus, which he picked on extremely quickly, just like I did during the training trip.
Natsu… Natsu surprised me. He really did. Because while I was helping Gray, he had started mimicking Elfman, copying the Beast Style and somehow making it work for himself. It wasn't an exact replica, and he was relying on his fire a lot, but it seemed to work for him.
"Haha! Fear my Fire Style!" He even named it after his Magic.
"Your Fire Style stands no chance against my Happy Style!" Happy flew circles around him as they both laughed loudly.
"Leon!" Natsu then turned to me with a pointed finger. "Next time we fight, I will win!"
"As if," Gray scoffed. "You can't even beat me!"
"Wanna go right now!" Fire danced around Natsu as he prepared to charge the Ice-Make Mage.
"And here I considered cooking for all of us," I said with a shake of my head.
"We can fight later," both said at the same time, immediately coming to an agreement.
'I should use this more often in the future,' I thought to myself after seeing how effective this was. Then I sat down and took out some meat to grill while Natsu started a fire for me.
We spent the next few hours just talking with each other, and I got to know the three of them better. One of the most interesting things I learned was that Happy was born out of an egg. That went against anything I learned about biology since he was supposed to be a type of cat, and they were mammals.
Even more interesting was how both Elfman and Natsu's mood dropped after they talked about Happy hatching from an egg. I quickly changed the topic after that and started talking about some of the various Jobs we had done. It was when I mentioned the one in Bosco and how we had captured a couple of Dark Mages that things turned interesting.
"Yoset?" Gray asked in surprise. "I saw in the papers that he had killed over ten Nobles in the past few weeks."
"What?" I asked, eyes wide open in shock after hearing that. I knew he had escaped after the capture, but to think that he had gone on such a killing spree after that…
"Yeah. He's part of a Dark Guild called Daylight and is currently one of the most wanted men on the continent," Gray explained while I just stood there in deep thought, wondering if this was somehow my fault.
'Should we have ended his life just like he expected us to do?' Could we have prevented all of this if we had killed him back then? I didn't know the answer to that, but I was starting to consider a trip to Bosco. I wouldn't leave immediately, and I definitely won't go on my own. I had gotten strong, but I didn't wish to test my luck against an entire Dark Guild. I would definitely need help if I wanted to go after Yoset and this Daylight Guild he was part of.
We ended up talking a bit longer before we all departed. I looked at the sky, noticing how the sun was almost down. There was still some light left, but it was fairly dark at this point, and it was the perfect time for me to go and investigate some of those nobles in Magnolia.
There were three of them here, a Baron, a Viscount, and the mayor of the town, who was an Earl. I planned to go investigate all of them, but I wondered who to start with.
Earl Jaidwet, the mayor, was the one I decided to start with. The other two might be more easily swayed due to their lower positions, but he was the most dangerous. Thought I wasn't sure exactly what he could do with his position.
Finding his house was pretty easy since it was one of the most luxurious ones around. The thing was an absolutely massive structure with a small fountain at the front, and there seemed to a large garden in the back.
The place also had a few guards walking around, but they weren't as many as I expected to find here. I still had to be careful though, so I transformed into my hybrid Panther form as it was the obvious thing to do. The monster did have incredible stealth abilities, after all.
Now, it was time to sneak pass those guards and get inside the manor.
After studying the pattern of the guards for a bit, I took my chance, using the moment that none of paying attention rush to the building. Then I quickly ran up the wall, using my physical abilities to keep going until I reached an open window. I succeeded in getting there without even making a sound, thanks to the natural abilities of the panther.
Now that I was inside, I could use my Shadow Spell, Meld, to merge with any shadows and hide myself if someone was near me. Now, I just had to see if I can find anything suspicious lying around.
I wasn't sure where exactly I would find incriminating evidence, so I just began checking every room while making sure I stayed hidden whenever some servants were near me.
The Stealth part was going smoothly since no one even knew I was there, but I wasn't having much luck at first with finding anything of note. Then again, there was a high chance the mayor was clean.
While I was searching around, I ended up finding a massive library, and I may have spent a good amount of time quickly reading through some of the books. Surprisingly enough, I even found a book about Fire Magic, but I left it where it was for the moment.
Then I continued my search until I ended up in an office room, where I skimmed through the various documents with my glasses. There was nothing suspicious there, though I made sure to remember them all and show them to Makarov in case I missed something.
Just as I was leaving the room, I stopped on a floor board that seemed a bit off to me. After inspecting it for a moment, I managed to get it off and found some messages underneath it.
I quickly grabbed and read through them, finding that the mayor was in contact with a personal named Zalty, someone who was greatly interested in me. So much so that he had sent four Dark Mages to act as the mayor's guards until they had a prime opportunity of attacking and capturing me. There was even a mention that Zalty would personally arrive in a few days if they hadn't succeeded with their mission to ensure that they would capture me.
I wasn't sure how to react to that. Like, I had been a Mage and part of Fairy Tail for just two months and someone wanted to capture me? What was I even supposed to do here? Should I try taking those Dark Mages out on my own? Or should I quickly get out to inform the Master first and seek his guidance?
'Well, fuck this guy.' I thought to myself. Working with Dark Mages that were sent to capture me? 'Yeah, fuck this guy.'
I stored the messages in my Inventory before turning around, grabbing the paperwork on his desk alongside the desk and storing those as well. The furniture was of a much higher quality than mine, and it would look really nice in my own study room. In fact, I also grabbed his luxurious and soft chair as well since mine weren't that great.
I didn't stop there and next passed through his library, taking his entire collection for myself, including the bookshelves since they were better than mine. Right, I also needed some more furniture for the house, so visited the guest bedrooms in the manor, taking everything that wasn't nailed down.
I mean, it didn't hurt to have some extra beds and wardrobes just in case. I might need them in the future for some reason.
A sort of living room was my next stop to grab some more furniture. I had more than enough now, but I could also make my tent better for when I got to travel around with my friends. Might as well make our journey as comfortable as possible while we were away from the comforts of society.
I also wanted to grab some more equipment for my kitchen, but the place had a few staff members there, and I decided to not risk being caught.
Now with all the evidence safely stored in my Inventory, it was time to sneak out of the manor. For a moment, I considered attacking the Dark Mages and taking them down, but I decided against that. It was too much of a risk considering I had no idea what they were capable of. It would be better to inform the Master and go after them with the Guild.
I hadn't spent that much time in the manor since I was that quick, but it was already fairly dark outside. Sneaking out was super easy, barely an inconvenience for my Shadow Panther form. My steps didn't make any sounds and the shadows naturally tried to hide my presence. Not to mention that I could use my Meld Spell to merge wit the shadows on the ground even if there wasn't that many of them due to the various lights near the manor.
Nevertheless, I managed to get out without anyone suspecting a thing. Though they would surely panic once they find out exactly how many things were missing. In fact, I even heard some noises from the manor already, making me think I shouldn't have stopped for those large fancy bathtubs… Yeah, no, those would surely be amazing to enjoy with Levy.
Due to how quickly I finished with the mayor's place, I had enough time to go after the other two nobles to see if they were up to no good just like Jaidwet. Or I could just return to the Guild and see if the Master was still there to inform him about what I found.
I figured I might as well go after the other two tonight before they realize that someone was breaking in their houses. I could always inform Makarov tomorrow since those Dark Mages were waiting for a perfect opportunity before making their attempt, and I wasn't planning on giving them that chance.
Or…. I could be smart about this and send one of my wolf over to him. Sure, I'd be taking one of them from their hunts, but that was fine since this was important.
After moving a good distance away from the manor, I summoned a wolf and sent it off to run to the Guild. The people of Magnolia were already aware of my Spell, so they wouldn't be alarmed if they saw it running around.
While that was happening, I made my way over to the houses of the next two nobles.
Viscount Murcaster was the next on my list. He lived in quite the place as well, though it was obviously less luxurious than the mayor. He did, however, have even more guards, but none of them seemed like they were Mages, so I easily sneaked in without being seen.
I scoured the place just like I did with the manor, but I found nothing suspicious there. I even checked the floorboards and looked behind paintings to ensure I didn't miss anything. However, the viscount seemed to be squeaky clean.
My wolf arrived at the Guild while I was still there, and I quickly ordered it to go to Makarov. The Master seemed confused at first, wondering what my companion was doing there until I used Telepathy through it.
'Master, I found out that the mayor is working with Dark Mages,' I informed him through the mental connection.
'He is?' Makarov hopped from his seat in surprise.
'Yes, there are four of them currently acting as his guards. They were sent by some Zalty guy specifically to capture me,' I explained what I had found out and even took out the messages to show him the proof. 'I made sure to make it look like a robbery so they don't get too suspicious.'
Makarov was tightly clutching the papers as he stared at them intensely before snapped to attention, looking at my wolf with a raised eyebrow. 'What do you mean you made it look like a robbery?'
'I… might have stolen almost everything that wasn't nailed down?' I replied with a weak chuckle. Makarov just gaped at the wolf, staring at it with wide eyes.
'I made sure to grab you a nice desk and chair as well,' I said after, not minding giving away one of those since I now had plenty.
'You…' Makarov shook his head and sighed. 'Never mind. Where are you right now? Are you still there?'
'No, I'm at Viscount's place. Couldn't find anything wrong here, so I'm moving on to the Baron next,' I told him just as I left the place.
'Hmm.' Makarov hummed for a moment before saying. 'Check the Baron and see what you find first. If there is nothing wrong there, we will storm the mayor's place tonight!'
'Got it, Master,' I replied and rushed over to my next destination.
Sneaking into the Baron's place was even easier, and since it was smaller, it took me no time at all to check everything there. The people there were already fast asleep, so I had an even easier time. The only incriminating evidence I found was that the Baron was lying about how much money his businesses were making, and he was hiding the money in a safe behind one of his paintings. There were a hundred thousand Jewels stashed there, and I wondered if I should try and break the thing to steal the money for myself.
'Master, the Baron is only lying about how much money he is making. From what I found, he has about a hundred thousand Jewels he hasn't reported, and they are stored in a safe behind the painting of a woman in his office,' I informed Makarov while leaving the Baron's place.
'Not that bad…' Makarov replied back. 'I'll have him reported, and someone will come to openly investigate him in the next few days. But for now…'
"Fairy Tail!" Makarov yelled as he grew massively in size. "The mayor is colluding with Dark Mages to capture one of our own!"
The members of the Guild that were present were laughing and having fun until they heard his words. Then they all went deadly silent, all staring back at him with serious looks on their faces.
"What will we do in response?" Makarov roared.
"WE FIGHT!" They all roared back as they got up from their seats.
"WE FIGHT!" Makarov repeated before leading the charge as they all rushed out of the Guild.
'Try to not miss out on the fun.' The Master told me over the connection as he led everyone towards the mayor's house.
Shadow Panther
Physique: 170
Soul: 110
Sets Stealth to rank 5 if lower when used. Gives Night vision. Adds +50 to battle rolls and +25 to attack rolls when fighting unarmed,
Can use Shadow Magic: Meld - Can merge with a shadow and move around as far as the shadow extends. Shadow Claws: Deal 4d250+200 Shadow Damage at melee. Costs 150 Mana per use.
Lord'oran
Physique: 190
Soul: 250
Abilities: Set Seduction to 7 when used. Set Persuasion to 5 when used. +100 Magic Resistance when used. Gain Flight through bat wings.
Can perform Charm and Illusion Magic.
Illusion Clone: Create up to 10 fake clones that will confuse the enemy. Reduce enemy battle rolls by 300 as long as they are active. Costs 100 Mana per turn to keep active.
Sweet Dreams: Forcefully put someone through sleep by using an elaborate illusion. DC to beat 200. Costs 100 Mana per use.
Charm: Charm the target into joining our side. It's twice as effective against the opposite gender. DC to beat for men 200. DC to beat for women 400. Costs 200 Mana per use.
One more evolution before acquiring Devil Slayer Magic.
Metal Mole - Name yet to be decided
Physique: 240
Soul: 180
Abilities: Tremor Sense. +50 armor to physical and magical attacks. +500 Health when used. +200 to battle rolls and +100 to damage rolls when Unarmed. Immune to most Lightning and Poison attacks.
Metal Magic
Metal Claws: Deals 6d300+150 melee damage. Costs 200 Mana to use.
Liquid Metal: Cover ourselves in liquid metal. +200 to Armor against physical attacks. Costs 80 Mana per turn to keep active.
Fully summited and won't ever fight against us even when it evolves.
My Soul filled up with power on my way to the mayor's manor, and I felt three of my Take Over Souls start absorbing the excess energy. I froze on the spot, wondering where that came from while preparing for the worst. Thankfully, there was nothing to worry about as even though the Shadow Panther became stronger, it didn't try to fight against my will.
Lord'oran began laughing maniacally, and I was somehow capable of hearing him despite the fact that I wasn't using his form. "I really made the right choice."
He didn't say anything else and continued laughing on his own. Lord'oran seemed to be doing fine, so I checked on the Metal Mole as it seemed it was the one absorbing the most of the energy, greedily consuming as much as it could while growing stronger by the second. It quickly grew to surpass even the Earth Shaker and let out a roar.
I changed into the Mole, just so I could communicate with it, finding out that it was as intelligent as a human now. After a brief discussion with it, mostly relying on sending thoughts with each other since it didn't have a language of its own, it informed me that it wanted a name for its own. We talked it over and ended up choosing Kamina.
It was satisfied with its name and wanted to fight strong opponents to test its current might. The Guild was about to attack the mayor's manor, so I figured that would be the perfect opportunity to show off. Kamina agreed with me, sending me thoughts of how it would slice up our enemies. I agreed with it, though I changed back to my Panther form to reach there and ensure I wasn't seen by anyone.
I didn't have to wait for too long before I saw the Master leading the charge while sitting on top of the head of my wolf, the rest of the Guild that was present following after him, all prepared for a big fight.
"Let's teach everyone a lesson tonight!" Makarov hopped from his spot, growing to the size of a building as he landed in the front. "Let's show them that Fairy Tail isn't to be messed with!"
He cocked his massive arm back and punched, destroying the entire front gate. The rest of the Guild roared as we charged in, ready to take down the Dark Mages and the mayor.
"Shit!" One of the fake guards cursed. "Fairy Tail is here!"
"Fuck!" Another of the fake guards yelled before clapping his hands. "Maze!"
A spike of energy surged from him before enveloping us all. One moment, we were all in the front yard of the mayor. The next, I found myself in a weird dark dimension, surrounded by walls on all sides.
"We have to be fast!" I heard someone yell. "My Magic can hold so many people for only so long!"
"We grab the brat and run!" Another called, and I was surrounded by three people as they walked through the walls as if they weren't there. The same one then pointed at me with a glowing finger. "I'll slow him down, you guys capture him as quickly as possible."
Suddenly, I felt sluggish, feeling like I barely had the strength to move forward. Instantly, I transformed into Kamina while using my Enhancement Spells, and I was filled with energy. However, that wasn't enough to shake off the weird sluggish feeling.
It almost seemed like I was in a tough spot, considering I was surrounded by three Dark Mages with another one lurking around. Not to mention the Spell that made me feel sluggish. Unfortunately, for them, Kamina just evolved and wished to tests its claws.
Before they could even take action against me, I summoned three Wolves right on top of the guy that slowed me down while activating Boss Battle on all three of them.
"Help!" He yelled as the three conjured animals jumped on him, slashing and clawing, opening large wounds on his body. "Gahhh!"
The two others turned around for a brief second. A huge mistake on their part as I turned into lightning and blitzed them. Using Kamina's new ability, I formed six massive metal claws, slashing the two Dark Mages in the back, blood splurging out from the large wounds I caused.
"Gah!" Both stumbled, and I continued my assault, attacking them with the back of my claws to safely knock them out before moving onto the Dark Mage held by my Wolves. He was bleeding profusely on the ground, and I hit him on the head to stop his screaming.
"Fuck this shit! I'm out!" I heard the last one say, and I looked around, trying to figure out where he was. I couldn't pinpoint his location, but perhaps I could figure out a way to break out of the Spell before he runs away.
I flexed my Mana after taking a moment to study the Spell, quickly finding out the way to break out of it. The weird dark dimension dissolved, and the rest of the Guild appeared near me as we were back in the front yard of the mayor's manor. The Dark Mage was just about to run away as he saw all break out of his Spell, and his face paled.
"Please," he started begging, but I was in front of him in a second, appearing in front of him with my lightning body. "Oh, God…"
I quickly used Boss Battle, my last one for the day, on him. He stood no chance against me, especially without his buddies to support him, and he fell down just as quickly as the other three.
"Damn," I heard Natsu curse. "I wanted to fight too."
Makarov coughed, still in his giant form. "There's a perfectly sized building right over there. Go wild, just don't kill any of the servants and make sure to grab the mayor!"
"Hell yeah!" Natsu erupted into a burst of fire, before slamming into the building with a loud crash.
While that was going on, I focused on the rewards forming from the Boss Battle ability. Makarov stepped beside me, shrinking down to his usual size.
"I'm covering up the evidence," he whispered quietly. "I expect to see my new desk and chair tomorrow."
"That's really curious," Makarov said as my rewards formed. "How does your Magic decide what to form?"
"I have no idea," I said as I picked up two Spell Scrolls for Enhancement Magic, alongside two books about Enchanting and Physics. "But they follow a theme of sorts. The rewards are always somehow connected to the enemies I had defeated. This book is about how space works, for example."
"And this one trapped us with some weird Space Magic." Makarov nodded, looking at the other two objects on the ground. "The chains because they tried capturing you, but what about the cards?"
I stored the Adamantium Chains in my Inventory and looked at the deck of cards. There were a bunch of monsters drawn on most of the cards, each having a different name. The most impressive seemed to be three called Sanga, Suijin, and Kazejin that had a special combination named Gate Guardian. There was also a card named Labyrinth Wall, which was somehow considered a monster as well.
"I think it's due to this?" I showed it to Makarov. "Because they trapped us in a maze."
"It seems likely." He looked at the cards. "Do you think they do something?"
"I think they should," I replied while studying them, feeling a sort of energy inside them. "Might be better to give them to Cana and see what she thinks."
"Up to you." Makarov shrugged. "Your Magic was the one that formed them, after all."
"I'll think about it," I replied and looked at the manor which was already falling apart.
"You can go. You did enough today. Go rest up. I can handle the rest here since you already handed me the documents," Makarov replied, and I nodded, returning back to my house after that.
My garden was starting to shape up after spending a few hours on it every morning. Some of the herbs were nearly ready to be picked, and the three trees had grown up to my torso. In a few weeks, I might even be able to pick my first few Apples and Peaches as long as I continue using my Spell on them to speed up their growth.
My research into Devil Magic, on the other hand, was going at a snail's pace, to the point that I thought I wasn't even making progress. Lord'oran thought otherwise, saying that I was actually doing a good job and might figure it out in a couple of weeks at most as long as I continued with what I was doing.
To distract myself from all of that, I studied a bit of Mathematics, chuckling as I recalled the time I could barely count to ten and when I considered the numbers to be one of my greatest enemies. Now… well, now I could do complicated calculations in seconds, though Archive greatly helped in that regard. In fact, it was the sole reason I was so good with mathematics, and it opened so many options for me. Plus, Archive itself got better the more knowledge I gathered, greatly improving all of my knowledge-based Skills while also benefiting from everything I learned.
The Guild seemed pretty happy at having the chance to blow some stuff up, even if they didn't get the opportunity to fight against the Dark Mages since I ended up taking them down so quickly. I still couldn't believe that Kamina, that little monster I used Take Over on a whim, turned out to be so powerful, to the point that it was currently my strongest Beast Soul when it started off as the weakest.
Makarov was also happy after seeing his new desk and chair, and he happily spun around after throwing away his old one. Well, he wanted me to throw it away, but I stored it in my Inventory in case I happened to need it for something in the future.
"Oh, someone from the Magic Council is coming to speak with you later today," Makarov said after he stopped spinning around.
"Gran Doma?" I asked, trying to guess who it was. Though it wasn't like I knew anyone else from the Magic Council.
"Nah, his assistant, I think," Makarov replied. "Either way, they'll be here later today."
"Got it, Master." I nodded at him before saying. "I think I'll go prepare a worthy feast for the Guild after they all marched over yesterday."
Makarov scoffed and rolled his eyes. "As if you weren't going to do that anyway."
"Perhaps," I replied with a grin. "But now at least I have another reason for it. Plus, I do have so much meat in my Inventory, I don't even know what to do with it."
"You do you," Makarov shrugged before he started spinning around again. "And leave me to have my fun!"
I bid him goodbye and went downstairs before entering the kitchen, giving Mira a hug when I saw her.
"If it isn't the gallant Cooking Wizard," Mira chuckled as she stared at me with a grin. "I heard how you took out four Dark Mages in a couple of minutes at most."
"Well…" I scratched my head. "They weren't that strong…" At least not when compared to Kamina.
"My, oh, my, you are turning into quite the man, aren't you?" Mira chuckled as she squeezed my arm before shooting me a grin. She spun around and bumped me with her hip before saying, "So, what do you say we do some cooking together?"
"I'd love that," I replied, using my Telepathy on instinct and connecting mentally with her. She obviously didn't refuse the mental communication, and the two of us began cooking while enjoying the presence of the other.
"You know…" Mira had a mischievous look as she played with her hair. "I thought we were friends… good friends at that."
"We are," I replied, titling my head in confusion. I thought it was pretty obvious she was one of the people I cared about.
"Are we?" Mira asked with a grin. "You bought a house and didn't even invite me for a housewarming party."
"A what now?" I asked in surprise. "I didn't know I had to throw a party for buying a house."
"No harm done," Mira replied with a glint in her eyes. "You can rectify this now that you know."
"I guess so." I scratched my head. "Though do I have to invite everyone from the Guild?"
"If you want to lose your house, then go ahead and invite everyone," Mira replied with a chuckle, and images of my destroyed home flashed through my mind. Yeah, inviting everyone didn't seem like a good idea.
"Or you can invite just a few people, like Levy, me…" Mira trailed off as she stared at me with a big grin. "Perhaps Erza or even Cana. Maybe even my brother, though he wouldn't mind if he missed out on it."
"I'll see what I can do," I replied to her, thinking it over. "Levy is still out on a Job and so is Erza, so it will have to wait until they come back. And I promised to go on a Job with Cana once my equipment arrives."
"There's no rush." Mira patted my shoulder. "Just make sure to invite us all."
We returned back to cooking while I started planning on how to do this party. Of course, I would have to prepare the food, which would have to include something sweet for Erza. Cana would need alcohol and that… that might cost a lot considering how much she could drink. Levy and Mira were the easiest since they weren't too picky, though I could always try making their favorite desserts as well.
Yeah, that sounded like a plan. I could even decorate my house with my new furniture now and make it even better. Right, I thought I figured out how to do it.
I decided to spend my time productively while waiting for the Magic Council member to arrive since I wasn't sure when exactly to expect them. That's why I approached Cana.
"Hey, pretty girl," I greeted her with a grin, and her eyes lit up as a large smile formed her face.
"Hey, pretty boy," Cana replied back with a grin of her own. "Here to share a drink with this pretty girl?"
"I wouldn't mind that," I said at first before taking out the pack of cards I got as a reward. "But how about we check those out and see what they can do?"
"Oh?" That piqued her interest, and she got up. "Let me see."
"Here, take a look." I handed her the cards. "Apparently, they are called Shadow Cards, whatever that means."
"I haven't heard of anything like that," Cana replied while her eyes stayed focused on the cards, slowly inspecting them all with an intense look. She then grabbed my arm and began dragging me out of the building. "Come, pretty boy. Let's see what those things can actually do."
We arrived at the place I usually trained with the Guild, and she began inspecting the cards again, quietly mumbling something to herself.
It took her a while, and she seemed stumped at first, but Cana's main Magic was Card Magic, so she figured it out.
"Aha!" She exclaimed and picked one of the cards. "I think I got it!"
"You did?" I asked, eager to see what they did.
"Yep." Cana nodded proudly and grinned. "Now bring out that wolf of yours."
"Alright," I replied as I summoned a wolf beside me.
"Now, I summon Giga-Tech Wolf!" Cana declared while holding onto a card. A burst of energy erupted from her before the monster on the card materialized in front of her.
"Now let's see who's wolf is better!" Cana laughed as she ordered that mechanical wolf to attack mine.
The mechanical wolf dashed forward, but my own conjured companion beat it to the punch. Before it could even react, my own monster clawed right through its metal body before biting its neck and crushing it to bits and pieces.
"Oof," Cana huffed, releasing a deep breath. "That was unpleasant."
"What happened?" I asked in concern, worrying that I might've hurt her somehow.
"Just wasn't expecting blowback from the monster dying," Cana replied and shook her head before looking back at the card. "It seems I can't resummon it back since it's recovering from the defeat as well. How interesting."
"Do you want to continue testing them out?" I asked, receiving a grin in response.
"You bet I do!" Cana declared and brought out another of the cards. "Let's try this one. I summon Canon Soldier!"
A humanoid metal figure with a large gun on its back materialized in front of her before she ordered it to attack my wolf.
I should've figured it would attack using its gun. It was its only visible weapon, after all. My wolf was smart enough to know dodge attacks, but the metal monster's beam of light was too fast. Thankfully, I reacted on time and used Data-Shield through the wolf, materializing eight shields in front of my companion. The attack struck my defenses, though it failed to break through even the first shield.
"Hmm, this is a good one," Cana said while cupping her chin. "It's attack is pretty fast, but it doesn't pack that much of a punch."
"Or maybe my shields are just that good?" I cheekily replied.
"Or that," Cana agreed with me while playing around with the card, finding a way to return the monster back. She then tried to summon it again, figuring out that it wasn't locked out like the wolf from earlier.
We ended up testing out a few more of the monsters, though Cana couldn't quite figure out how to summon the stronger ones. Then we moved onto the other cards, and she stared at one in particular before saying. "Hey, shoot a weak Spell at me."
"Are you sure?" I asked as I prepared to fire off a low-powered Water Bullet.
"I am." She nodded confidently, and I fired off the Spell.
"Negate Attack." Cana raised the card in response, and a barrier materialized in front of her. My Water Bullet slammed against it, doing absolutely nothing to it.
"That's a good one," I said with a nod.
"It is, though I don't know its limits," she replied, staring at the card before letting out a sigh. "Hopefully it's really strong since it seems it can't be used more than once before it has to recharge."
We ended up sitting down and discussing what the other cards could potentially do. She seemed to think that they were supposed to be combined with the other cards somehow, and I agreed with her.
I tried testing out the cards myself and discovered they were pretty expensive to use. That Canon Soldier, for example, reserved one thousand and two hundred Mana when summoned. That was more than six times the cost of my wolf, and they were pretty much on the same level.
Nevertheless, I could still figure out a way to use them myself. Or… I could give them to Cana, who was still excitedly studying them. She would probably use them much better than me as well.
"Hey, Cana," I said, and she looked up with a questioning look. "Do you want to keep the cards?"
"You would give them to me?" Cana asked, to which I nodded in response. Obviously she could use them better than me, so it made sense for her to keep them.
"Thanks a lot, pretty boy!" Cana said after as she wrapped me in a big hug. She grabbed me by the neck, placing a kiss on each of my cheeks before… ending it by kissing me on the lips. I stared at her with wide eyes as she stared back with a large smile on her face.
"Am I interrupting something," someone spoke from behind us, conveniently interrupting the moment with a cough. It was a good thing they did since I wasn't sure how I was supposed to respond here.
"You are, but I'll let it slide this time," Cana replied, and I looked back to see a beautiful woman with dark-purple hair and brown eyes that wore a simple white dress.
"Apologies," the woman said with a slight bow of her head. "But I am here to meet with Leon and question him about the events from last night."
"Oh, you must be the Magic Council member," I said with a nod of understanding.
"I am," she confirmed. "My name is Ultear."
"It's nice to meet you," I said and introduced myself as well even though she knew who I was. "And I'm Leon."
"I'll leave you two alone," Cana said as she stored the deck of cards before giving my waist a pinch. "Don't keep me waiting for too long, pretty boy."
"Now, I wouldn't want to take too much of your time, but could you please tell me how you figured out that the mayor was colluding with a group of Dark Mages?" Ultear asked with a pleasant smile on her face.
"Oh, yeah, of course," I replied, not really caring about keeping everything a secret. The Magic Council was aware I had taken and completed the Job, even if I hadn't discovered exactly what they were looking for.
"But would you like to discuss this over a meal?" I offered. "Unless, of course, you've already eaten."
"Oh, no, I haven't, and I had to spend hours traveling from Era to here, so I'm a bit peckish after the ride," Ultear replied with a warm smile. "And I admit I'm very interested in tasting food prepared with Cooking Magic."
I rolled my eyes at that. "I don't actually know Cooking Magic despite the title that the Sorcerer Magazine gave me."
"Truly?" Ultear asked with a raised eyebrow. "Well, I'll be the judge of that."
"Shall we move to a more comfortable place?" I asked and added. "Maybe the Guild?"
"That would be great, but the Guild is a bit too noisy for my tastes," Ultear replied with an offer of her own. "Perhaps we can share a meal and discuss the Job over at your place?"
"That should be fine," I agreed with a nod and began leading the way. Ultear stepped beside, linking her arms around mine as if it was natural.
On the way to my house, we idly discussed some simple matters, and she asked about my past. The fact that I had been a Mage for such a short time shocked her, and I wasn't that surprised by her reaction since I felt like I was growing alarmingly fast as a Mage.
"I truly find that hard to believe," Ultear replied, staring at me with a glint in her eyes. "I wonder what your secret is?"
"There's no real secret," I replied, thinking about my own unique Magic. Well, maybe there was a bit of a secret to my growth, but for the most part, I earned my power on my own. "Mostly a lot of effort, hard work, and a bit of luck."
Ultear hummed in response, and I wasn't sure if she believed me, but she changed the topic afterwards. "And what about your parents?"
"I don't have parents," I answered with a deep breath. "Never knew them. Don't even know if they are still alive. All I really know is that someone abandoned me in the village and everyone thought I was cursed for some reason."
"That…" The air around us shook for the briefest of moments as I felt Ultear's absolutely massive Magic Power surge around us. It was suffocating, frightening, and somewhat enlightening.
"Are you alright?" I asked in concern. I hoped I hadn't said anything to offend her as I really didn't want to be on the receiving end of that much power.
"Apologies," Ultear said with a bow of her head after she regained her composure. "I was just reminded of a bad memory."
"It's fine," I told her with a smile, gently placing a hand over hers. "The past is the past. Whatever happened, happened. We can only work towards making a better future for ourselves."
"That, I can agree with," she replied with a blinding smile. "We can only work towards making a better future for ourselves."
"That's the spirit," I said with a nod. "I don't know what happened to you, but look at where we are now. I'm a Fairy Tail Mage and making a good life for myself. And you are a respectable member of the Magic Council. In spite of our pasts, we made it. And it will only get better for us."
"It will only get better," Ultear whispered, showing me a beautiful smile as her eyes filled with warmth.
"And here we are," I said as we stopped in front of the house. "But before we go inside, would you mind waiting for just a moment?"
"Not at all." Ultear shook her head.
"Thank you, I'll be quick about it," I replied and quickly entered inside before I began switching out the old furniture for the new better ones I got from the mayor. Once done, I returned outside and allowed her to enter.
"This way please," I said, directing her towards the living room, but she shook her head.
"I would like to watch you cook and judge whether you use Cooking Magic or not," she said, and I nodded in acceptance since I didn't have anything to hide.
"That's fine with me," I replied and led her to the kitchen before I started preparing the food right in front of her eyes.
Ultear sat on the table, hands supporting her head as she stared at me, somewhat reminding me of Mira with the way she watched me cook. I tried not to compare the two and instead began telling her exactly what I was doing to prove that I wasn't using any Magic here.
"And as you just saw, I didn't have to use any Magic," I said as I served Ultear her dish.
"I admit, I didn't sense anything, but let's see how good it is," she replied and picked her utensils, carefully taking a small bite.
I was a bit nervous at first, and the feeling became even worse when I saw her tear up. Awkwardly, I asked, "Is the food bad?"
"No." She shook her head with a little sniff. "It's… the best thing I have ever tasted in a very long time."
"Thank you for the compliment," I said, and we continued eating in silence as I wasn't sure what else to say. Plus, she didn't seem like she was in the mood for talking, judging by how focused she was on the food.
"Leon…" Ultear trailed off as she stood up. "Thank you for the meal. It was… incredible."
"It was my pleasure." I smiled at her.
"I hope you don't mind, but I will visit you in the future again, just to have the chance of tasting your food." Ultear said, looking down at her feet and avoiding eye contact with me.
"Not at all. You are free to visit whenever you feel like it," I replied.
"Thank you." She bowed in gratitude. "I will be going on my way now, but I was glad to have met you."
Ultear then left, thanking me one more time for the food just before she exited the house. I stood there watching her walk away, only remembering that we didn't get to talk about my Job of investigating the mayor after she disappeared from my sight. Well, she did say she would return in the future, so maybe we can discuss it then.
I would be leaving on a few Jobs soon, one with Natsu and another with Cana… I had to talk with her about the kiss and later discuss it with Levy as well once she returned.
Either way, I felt it was wise to improve some of the Spell I most commonly used. Beast Soul has been doing an incredible job as of late, but it wouldn't be as good without my Enhancement Magic backing it up. Improving those would only make me that much stronger.
Passive Bonuses—Shadow Panther: +20 to Stealth. Griffin: +20 to Observation. Earth Shaker: +20 Armor against magical and physical attacks. Metal Mole: +20 damage to Unarmed attacks.
My improvements for Body Enhancement weren't as notable as the ones for Beast Soul. For one, I managed to improve how much I benefited from all the Beasts I had in my possession. This was great since I could grow stronger by simply using Take Over on more monsters.
However, and more importantly,I believed I had figured out a way to improve my Beasts without relying on pills. Now, this seemed a bit trickier to do as I had to sacrifice one of my current Souls to increase the power of another. This had a high chance of failing if the Beasts didn't share similar qualities, so I couldn't just feed all of my current Souls to Kamina, for example.
The Earth Shaker, however, was a different story. I still hadn't used it even once, but the Beast was strong and shared some similar qualities with the Metal Mole. The question was whether I wanted to sacrifice it to increase Kamina's powers even more.
I made up my mind, deciding to improve Kamina even further. The Mole had become my friend, after all, and was willingly offering its power to help him. The Earth Shaker, on the other hand, clearly viewed me with hostility and was just waiting for its chance to fight back against me. It proved as much when I tried pulling on its power to feed it to Kamina, roaring with unrestrained fury.
It was a truly tough opponent, but I was so much stronger than when I beat it last time. So even though it was in perfect condition now, I managed to easily beat it down before I began pulling on its power, directing it all towards Kamina, allowing my Mole Beast to absorb it all.
Kamina, Earth Scion.
Physique: 270
Soul: 240
Abilities: Tremor Sense. +100 armor to physical and magical attacks. +800 Health when used. +300 to battle rolls and +100 to damage rolls when Unarmed. Immune to most Lightning and Poison attacks.
Metal Magic
Metal Claws: Deals 6d300+150 melee damage. Costs 200 Mana to use.
Liquid Metal: Cover ourselves in liquid metal. +200 to Armor against physical attacks. +100 to Armor against magical attacks. Costs 80 Mana per turn.
Earth Magic
Earth Manipulation. Costs varies depending on the action.
Earth Shards: Fire shards of earth at the enemy. Deals 5d150+75. 100 Mana per cast.
Passive Bonus
Earth Scion: +20 damage to Unarmed attacks, and +20 Armor against magical and physical attacks.
With the Earth Shaker beaten down, Kamina had no issues taking all of its power for its own, absorbing all the best qualities of the bear as it turned from a Metal Mole into an Earth Scion. I wasn't sure what that was since its appearance stayed the same as it just grew a bit in size, but Kamina was clearly more powerful now.
I nodded in satisfaction, not regretting my choice since this meant that I was also more powerful due to this. After ensuring that Kamina was fine, I went back inside to cook a lovely dinner. While I was doing that, I also checked out the Enchanting book I recently got, translating it while I read through it, so my girlfriend could study it when she came back.
It was a fairly interesting read and it didn't seem that hard to use, though I wasn't sure if I would ever pick up Enchanting for myself. The only issue with it was a certain part describing how the power of Souls needed to be used when enchanting objects. However, it did also mention that it wasn't a strict requirement and that it could be replaced with a different source of energy. I thought the Lacrimas most people used would work for that, and I could even fill up some of the blank ones I had in my Inventory to see if my Mana would be a good replacement.
Levy returned while I was in the midst of preparing dinner. She entered the house with a few large packages, and I had an inkling of what they were since I was expecting my equipment to arrive any day now. I figured I could wait for a bit, no matter how much I wanted to check them out.
After a quick greeting, we sat down to share a lovely meal that somehow tasted even better than ever. I wasn't sure how I did, but I sure as hell would try to replicate this in the future.
"Oh, God, I won't ever want to leave this house if you keep feeding me like this," Levy moaned as she devoured the food.
"What if I also show you this?" I said as I took out both Enchanting books, the original and the translated version.
Levy paused her eating for a second, taking a closer look at the two. She then quickly flipped through the pages of the translated one, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes as she read through it with her Gale-Force glasses. She closed the book in a moment and stared at me intensely.
"Alright…" Levy said as she wiped her mouth with a napkin. "Bedroom. Now!"
"Ah, before that," I said, slightly nervous about what I was going to inform her about. "I do have to tell you about what happened earlier."
"I'm listening," Levy replied, deciding to finish her meal while she had the chance.
"So… I got the book after fighting some Dark Mages, and I also happened to get a deck of cards. Since they aren't really my type of Magic, I figured I could give them to Cana. She really loved them and… might've ended up kissing me after that," I said, taking a gulp after informing her of this. Levy meant a lot to me, and I really didn't want to ruin what we had going on. However, I felt like she needed to know about this.
"She did, huh?" Levy muttered, to which I nodded, still waiting to see what she would say about this.
"Don't worry about that," she said after thinking it over. "Let me handle this."
"Are you sure?" I asked, releasing a sigh of relief.
"Yeah, I'll take care of this," Levy confirmed with a nod before brightly smiling at me. "Now…bedroom."
And off we went to the bedroom, only stopping a few times on the way as she looked in surprise at all the new fancy furniture I had placed around the house. The large bookshelves filled with books in the library made her drool a little bit, and she pulled me even harder as we marched over to have an enjoyable time together before falling asleep.
Surprisingly, Levy woke up almost as early as I did in the morning. We had a quick breakfast together, and she left to visit Fairy Hills, presumably to talk with Cana. I stayed back in the house, waiting to see what would happen. I had promised to go on a Job with Cana, but that might change depending on the outcome of their talk.
Still, to take my mind off of that, I continued with my normal morning routine, namely taking care of my garden.
Farming gains 479. Now at rank 2 (1758/3000)
Spells gain 649.
Conjure Clone now at rank 8 (29/450).
Growth now at rank 23 (539/1200)
Flight now at rank 11 (444/600)
Water Bullet now at rank 11 (201/600)
Satan Soul now at rank 13 (596/700)