The next day couldn't come any sooner. I jumped from my bed, gathered it in my Inventory alongside everything else I owned and prepared to leave this stupid village. I had enough of this place as it is. It was time to explore the world and see what it had to offer.
However, before I left, I had one more thing to do. This place treated me like an outside despite me growing up here, and I couldn't understand why. It's not like I did anything bad here and did my best to stay out of trouble.
"What?" Goran stared at me with sleepy eyes when I asked him why I was treated like an outsider here, forcing me to repeat myself again.
"Some creepy guy with white hair dropped you here. Said something about being cursed by the world and unable to enjoy life's greatest gift. The Beast of the forest also appeared after you were left here." That's all the old man said before slamming the door shut.
That was it? That's why they treated me badly? Because someone said there's something wrong with me? It didn't make any sense? And because the monster appeared after some guy left me here? Was it possible that the Beast was formed due to my Magic? I didn't know and… I think I didn't care, to be honest.
Anger burned inside me, but I managed to calm myself with a few deep breaths. I was leaving. There was no point in thinking about this. Fuck those guys and fuck this village. Though… I could always do one more thing before leaving.
I conjured my wolf and jumped on top of it. It was kind of weird riding my summon, but it was better than me just running on my own to the next town. Plus, it's not like it ever got tired unlike me. Briefly I considered to leave the Zombie Bear's corpse or just its head behind, just to terrify the villagers, but I decided against. They weren't worth my time.
I ordered my wolf to run towards the nearby road. Merchants sometimes passed through here, but they rarely stopped by our village since we didn't have anything of worth. However, I was aware that one way led to a town while the other led to the borders of the Kingdom.
For now, I decided to explore Fiore and see what it had to offer. My wolf followed my commands as I told it to follow the road and run as quickly as possible while I took out the notes about Magic I got from the Beast. I might as well get something done since this would be quite a boring journey.
Halfway through the day, I noticed something in the distance. There were two large humanoid monsters running near the road, letting out weird, "Ooh, ooh!" sounds. They had some visible pink skin on their chest and face while everything was covered in green fur.
"Ooh, ohh, human!" One of them pointed at me, easily spotting me as I was riding in the middle of the road.
"My human!" The other yelled.
"No, my human!" The other shoved him as they both tried running towards me.
"No!" Then the one that was shoved pulled on the other's tail.
I was at a lost for words. Those two monsters? I thought they were monsters at least since they sure looked like it. Either way, they seemed… far stronger than the Zombie Bear I killed yesterday. So much that I wasn't sure I could take them on by myself.
Plus, they also seemed intelligent. I wondered if I could somehow use that to my advantage?
"I will become the human of whoever wins in a fight!" I yelled before they could come any closer.
Those two really looked dangerous, and I'd rather avoid fighting them at the same time if I could. Not that I wasn't prepared to do that if I had to, but that didn't mean I couldn't be smart about this.
The two paused, stopping in place as they looked at each other.
"Hahaha." Both of the monsters laughed at me.
"Human, stupid."
It seemed my plan to trick them into fighting each other failed.
"We beat Human first. Then we fight for Human!" They declared and charged, leaving me with no other option than to fight here. This would be dangerous, but I was more than prepared for this.
I jumped from my wolf and took out my sword from my Inventory while activating my Body Enhancement. Since I was forced to fight both, I used Boss Battle on them now as I had plenty of Mana to spare. Might as well get a reward from this.
He was taking a stroll, bobbing his head to the beat of the song blasting in his ears while making his way towards his next Job. Thankfully, he managed to escape before those three followed after him. He didn't mind their presence that much–they weren't that weak after all–but he'd never admit that out loud.
While passing through the forest near Clover Town, he spotted a bunch of Forest Vulcans. Bunch of weakling monsters that couldn't even survive a blast of his lightning. Though… two of them seemed to have escaped and were running away.
Oh, well, not his problem. They'd leave the forest and try to find another one. A wandering Mage would probably end up killing them. And if he caught up to them, he might spare a second to finish them off.
He continued, moving faster than before with small bursts of lightning under his feet, propelling him after the Vulcans. He wasn't chasing them. He was just trying to reach his destination faster, okay?
The two monsters couldn't compare with his speed and he soon caught up to them. They, however, seemed to have gotten into a fight with someone else.
The guy they were fighting had an ethereal wolf with him, some form of Magic, he deduced. It seemed pretty weak though as it was barely scratching the Vulcans, who were ignoring the wolf in favor of attacking the weakling Mage.
And he was definitely a weakling. Wearing leather armor and wielding a green sword as if he was pretending to be Erza. He scoffed, she wasn't as strong as him, but she earned her right to be called S class. This guy, however, couldn't even step on her pinky.
Pausing for a moment, he observed the fight. There was some skill there, he noted. The guy was clearly weaker than those two monsters, but he seemed capable of avoiding their attacks while hitting them back.
Then… why the fuck did that Vulcan start jerking off? What the fuck was going on? Was he using Charm Magic? That one was outlawed by the Magic Council a few years ago.
He observed for a moment to make sure, but this wasn't the case as the guy was just as confused, judging by his surprised look, which ended up being his downfall as the other Vulcan punched him hard in the chest, sending him tumbling on the ground. A rookie mistake getting caught like that.
The guy did get up pretty quickly, showing that he had some spunk. Still a weakling, but he wasn't running away at least. He got back onto the offensive, rushing at the Vulcan that was still fighting and hacking with his sword.
So pathetic. Erza was better than him when she was a twelve-year old kid! And his attacks lacked strength! They were barely leaving any marks on those monsters.
Haa, what a disappointment. It seemed he would have to intervene and save this weakling. Especially after the other Vulcan… finished with his business. What the fuck was wrong with those monsters? He knew they targeted fema… was that one he was calling a 'guy' been a female the entire time?
He shook his head. It didn't matter since it seemed he'd need to intervene here. The Mage clearly couldn't beat a pair of weak monsters. But then it happened. The person began moving almost like an expert. They dodged attacks while lashing out with strikes aimed at the weak points of the monsters, leaving lasting damage and severely injuring them.
Hoo? Interesting.
However, that didn't last for long as the person was punched one more time, taking a nasty blow to the chest. Still, they got up quickly, determination clear on their face. At least they weren't giving up and fighting till their last breath.
Their determination proved to be the reason for their win. And the fact that the monsters were badly injured from that previous display of skill. He shook his head. Erza could beat this person with a blindfold and one of her arms tied behind her back. And the wolf… it was so even bother sending it out? It was just a waste of Ethernano. If it cost any. He still wasn't sure what that was all about. Maybe it was some form of monster the person had tamed? Not that it really mattered to him.
Just as he was prepared to continue on his way, he noticed something strange. The moment the monsters were killed, a flash of light appeared right next to the corpses of the Vulcans, forming into something he couldn't quite see from where he stood. Now that seemed slightly interesting. Maybe he should take a look?
Woah! I couldn't believe my eyes. I got five different rewards for this! Was it because the monsters were stronger than me? My Magic was hard to understand, but I was so excited for this.
"Argh." I flinched, my chest pulsating in pain from the two punches I took. Those monster hit so damn hard!
However, I pushed through, using my excitement to distract myself from the pain. There was a Book there, and I couldn't stop wondering that this one would do. The last one gave me the ability to speak and read any language in existence. There were also two fruits, an apple and a peach, both looking bigger and juicer than the ones I received from creatures in the forest. And then there was the Bow. It looked so much nicer than one I had in my Inventory.
My wolf suddenly growled and I turned around to see it jumping towards a tall blonde guy that wore some nice clothes and had some weird thing covering his ears. He just kicked my conjured companion and… the poor thing got dissolved into Mana…
"Hey!" I called out before I could stop myself. My wolf could take a hit or two normally, but this guy destroyed it without even trying.
"Huh…" He stared at the spot my wolf used to before shaking his head. He stepped closer, trying to look at my rightfully earned rewards. "What do you have there? Hmm?"
I never moved faster in my life. One second, the items were on the ground, the next, I had already shoved them in my inventory. There was no way I'd allow someone to steal what I earned through my own effort.
Though… this guy was dangerous. And I didn't think that just because he destroyed my conjured companion with a lackluster kick. It was in his aura, his presence just made me feel on edge, like in the middle of a storm.
"Huh? What?" My actions caught me by surprise.
"Who are you?" I asked, slowly inching away from him.
"Me? I'm Laxus Dreyar!" He declared proudly, pumping his chest and expectantly looking at me.
"And what do you want from me?" I asked.
"Just… curious," Laxus replied, and I thought he looked slightly disappointed or maybe irritated even, though that look lasted for a moment at most. "You got some intriguing Magic."
"So what?" I asked.
"Hahaha, if I wanted to rob you…" lightning suddenly surged, dancing around his body. "You'd already be twitching on the ground like the weakling you are."
His words hurt, but they were the truth. I was still weak as this fight just proved. I got a big head after dealing with the weak monsters in the forest. If one of those ugly creatures hadn't begun stroking itself, I would've had a much harder time. Possibly even losing the fight.
"Yeah, well, you're not wrong, but I've had my Magic for only a few days!" I was proud of that at least. A few days ago I nearly died to a weak Grass Wolf of all things! Now I beat two of those ugly creatures on my own.
"What are you? Some overgrown baby? People don't randomly get their Magic at your age!" Laxus said with a mocking grin.
"But that's the truth." It really was.
"Yeah, and what does your Magic do then?" He asked.
"Why don't you show me your Magic, then I'll show you mine?" I asked back, to at least see what I was dealing with here. This Laxus guy seemed really strong, but maybe I could take him on?
"Hahaha." He laughed at me, a full on belly laughter.
"Really now? Well, why don't you take a look." A savage grin grew on his face as he pointed his hand to the side of us. "Take a look at what real power is!"
Then there was an ear-rupturing boom followed by light. He didn't just fire a lightning bolt from his hand. No, no, what erupted what an entire fucking lightning pillar. What was a nice even piece of ground moments ago was now a massive crater that could fill dozens of the monsters I just killed.
"That's true power right there! Now let me see what you can do," Laxus said, but I was barely paying attention to his words.
He wasn't wrong though. That was true power, true Magic. All I had done so far was nothing more than some fancy tricks. Except my Boss Battle ability. I wouldn't never call that a fancy trick since it's what even got me so far in the first place.
However, what I just saw was… as mesmerizing as it was terrifying. Laxus just… created a massive hole in the ground without even trying. Just flicked his hand and sent a pillar of lightning as if it was nothing special.
I wanted that. I wanted that so fucking much. My mind went into overdrive, trying to analyze what I just saw. The notes I read about Magic from earlier came to me at that moment, and I understood.
"My Magic…" There were a lot of things I could explain about it, but at that moment, one specifically came to my mind. "Does quite a bit, but most importantly, it lets me learn anything I want."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Laxus asked with a growl, tone getting aggressive.
"This," I said, allowing my actions to speak for me. I pointed my hand to the side, just like he did a moment ago, and… a lightning bolt flew out, striking the ground next to us. My Spell had nothing in comparison to his, but I did it. I copied it just by seeing it once.
"Bull fucking shit!" Laxus cursed. "I don't believe you. You definitely knew the Spell before that!"
"Why don't you show me another one?" I challenged, dearly hoping he would so I could copy something else as well. Surely, someone who could create a massive pillar of lightning could do more, right?
"Yeah? Alright then," Laxus said, shaking his head and rolling his sleeves. "But if you fail to copy my next Spell, you better prepare for the beating of your lifetime."
He truly meant that. I could see this asshole beating me to an inch of my life if I somehow failed to copy another Spell. I gulped, but I didn't back down now. I couldn't with something like this on line.
Then Laxus did something I never even knew was possible. He turned his entire fucking body into lightning and zapped around, moving faster than my eyes could tracking him. No, seriously, how was this even possible? I knew one could do the impossible with Magic, but this…
"Come on then," Laxus said as he appeared in front of me. "Do your thing."
Shit… this was harder than it looked since I barely knew where to even start with.
"What are you waiting for? Show me!" Laxus demanded, stepping closer and towering above me. Damn, he was really tall.
'How do I do this and avoid getting my ass handed to me?' I kept thinking, when it came to me. This was somewhat similar to my Body Enhancement. Or at least I thought it was. Though it was obviously a step further than that since he was somehow turning his entire body into lightning and not just powering himself with his Magic.
I… could use that! I saw the way to do it. I started with Body Enhancement, empowering my body and flushing it with Mana. I then followed that by trying to change my Mana into lightning, just like I did for the Spell earlier.
"Ugh." I groaned in pain as lightning danced around my body, but I pushed through.
Laxus froze in place, stopping right in front of me but paused whatever he was about to do. That was perfect, and it allowed me to fix whatever I was doing because I was only hurting myself with it.
It took me a moment, and I first managed to improve my Body Enhancement by infusing the lightning energy, making the spell overall better without further hurting myself. But that wasn't what I was trying to accomplish here. I wanted to copy exactly what he did.
So I pushed even more Mana, trying to turn my entire body into lightning, and the I was suddenly flying across the ground, unable to even control myself. I panicked, my Spell getting undone, and I nearly crashed, but a rough hand picked me up by neck, holding me like a misbehaving dog.
'I did it!' I fucking did it! I copied that awesome Spell in just a few tries!
"Go to Magnolia Town." That caught me by surprise and also reminded me I was being held in the air. Though not for long since he dropped me on the ground after he said that.
"Go to Magnolia Town and join Fairy Tail. Tell them I recommended you personally," Laxus stated, giving me one last look before turning away.
"What?" I asked, not really understanding what was going on here.
"I will be expecting to find you there when I return. You still have too much to learn," Laxus said without even looking at me, then he paused for a moment. "You better show me some improvements when I see you again."
A flash of yellow light, and he was gone.
The asshole just left after leaving me some cryptic words. "Go to Magnolia Town and join Fairy Tail?"
What did that even mean? Did he really expect me to listen whatever he said? Well… he did seem pretty damn strong. The crater he created was still there, and he moved so fast I couldn't even see him. Maybe I should listen to him if I didn't want get beat up in the future. Or I could just go as far away as possible from this Magnolia place. Though I'd have to know where it was in the first place.
"Ugh." I winced as I made my way over the scene of the battle with the intelligent monsters. Calling them intelligent might be a bit too much, but they capable of basic speech. Now, the only issue was that I wasn't sure if they were speaking in their own language or the one everyone else used. Allspeak helped me understand them perfectly fine, but it didn't exactly inform me if what language they were using.
Nevertheless, that didn't change the fact that the monsters were intelligent. Now that was a scary thought. I always that monsters were, well, monsters! Just mindless creatures that had more power than they should have. Realizing that they might be just like humans… made me feel weird, made me question my decision of killing them.
On a second thought, I didn't mind killing those two in particular. They wanted me for some reason, and I definitely didn't like how one of them looked at me. 'Why the fuck did it stop and begin jerking off in the middle of the fight?!'
It's not even been a day since I left that little village, and I've already discovered that the world is a very, very dangerous place. I thought I was crazy strong after defeating all the monsters in the forest, easily I might add, but I almost ended up losing the second I left. Thankfully, I had that weird experience, feeling one with the world and suddenly began fighting that much better.
My Status even indicated as much, showing that I was now considered an experienced One-Handed user. That's what the Skill being at Rank 1 meant. Hey, even my Magic Theory was already at Rank 1 as well! I really got a talent about this, didn't I? I just started my journey into Magic and I was already considered experienced!
Finally, I got back to those ugly monsters and quickly stored them in my Inventory while being careful of where I touched that horny one. Having them there allowed me to read exactly what their names were, and I discovered they were called Forest Vulcans. That was good to know. Because if I hear of those monsters being sighted anywhere, I would go and exterminate them myself!
"Gah." I shuddered every time I remembered what that one was doing in the middle of the fight! Sure, it playing with itself was a huge reason of why I had a chance of winning, but it still managed to scar me for life!
Now with that done, I had to make a decision. There were still a few more hours of daytime, but I didn't think I could reach the next city or town within that time. I'd definitely be forced to travel during the night, but my other option was to sleep out in the open.
Traveling now seemed like a bad idea since I didn't have that much time before the sun set. It was better to find a place to settle for the night. Plus, my chest was still aching from pain, and I had a bit of a hard time breathing. Better to just heal up and not risk being attacked by another monster.
After bringing out my wolf–I'd need to train this Spell if I want it be actually useful, it proved to be good enough for the forest, but out here it's… weak to say the least. Still, it was good enough to keep watch while I sleep, but I did have to find a place to do that first.
It took me just a few minutes, maybe even not that much. I just had to walk a bit until I found the perfect place to rest for the night. Sure, it was a big hole underneath three large trees, but… it might've been more comfier than my own shack. Damn, remembering that place made me annoyed. That excuse of a home barely stopped the rain, and I was sick every winter due to it not keeping the cold away.
Bah, it was a waste of time thinking about it. Might as well use what little reaming daylight I had to study a bit. Though… I did have that Root Manipulation Spell, the one which I still was yet to use. Perhaps I could try it out here? It was worth a shot.
With a few more hours of daytime left, I took out the Scroll for Take Over:Beast Soul. My Magic asked me if I wanted to absorb the Scroll and learn the Spell instantly, but I quickly denied that. That was the easy way out while I wanted to try and figure it out on my own.
It's not like the Scroll didn't describe exactly how to learn and utilize the Spell on my own. I might've had a problem before since I couldn't read, but Allspeak fixed that for me! Now it was just a matter of time. How hard could it be?
Apparently, not that hard, I figured out. It was extremely simple to understand even for someone like me, and I wasn't the smartest guy out there, I knew that much at least. However, this was just simple. Take control of your Mana, envelop a still living monster that's considered a Beast with it, and dominate it. Then I could use that monster to transform my body or just parts of it into the monster to add to my strength.
The hardest part was when you'd have to fight against the will of the monster. Now, I wasn't sure how that would go, but I was fairly confident in my will to survive and win. I proved as much when I defeated a monster without having any advantages. Sure, I nearly died, but I still won in the end!
Actually, that wasn't even the hardest part. It was the fact that the monster still had to be alive for me to use the Spell on it. That meant I wouldn't be able to cast it after killing it with Boss Battle, my one ability seemed to give me with better rewards depending on the strength of my enemy, after all.
Ahh, what a problem to have. To use Beast Soul on a monster that could provide me with a good strength increase or to use Boss Battle to earn rewards for killing it.
Disregarding that for the moment, I might just some Magical genius or whatever. I cupped my chin in thought. I learned the Spells of some crazy strong guy just by seeing them once. Then I figured this Spell extremely quick. And hey, didn't I also create my own Magic with the Body Enhancement Spell? I really just might be a genius, huh.
Unlocked Take Over Magic. Learned the Beast Soul Spell without consuming the Scroll.
Beast Soul rank 5 (0/600) - Take over a living monster dubbed as Beast and store it in your Soul. Can store Soul/10 number of Beats in Soul. When used, add 60% of Monster Physique Stat to your own. Costs 50 Mana per turn to keep active. Will have to roll with Soul + Spell rank against the monster's Soul to not get dominated by it when used.
I inspected my chest as soon I woke up, finding it perfectly healed up. Good, my healing wasn't a one time thing, and I could expect to heal faster every time I went to bed.
That looked over, I gathered my belongings and jumped on my conjured wolf. It was time to continue on my way to the nearest location, I just had to follow the road. That's how it worked, right? I sure hoped it did.
This would normally be boring since there was nothing much to see around me, only grass and trees wherever I looked, but I had a way to have some fun. Namely, using my enhancement Spell, keeping it active and trying to improve it while making sure I didn't run out of Mana.
And reading the papers about Magic Theory, of course! I couldn't forget about them. They were so fascinating to read, and I learned so much from them. Hell, they were one of the reasons why I managed to accomplish everything I did yesterday!
Now, I wasn't sure if my Magic somehow created them specifically to teach me. Probably not since they seemed to have been written by someone that was experimenting with creating different types of Magic. There's even a few lines of how successful that person was, developing a lot of new types on their own. Either way, I had a good time reading while riding my wolf.
We made some good time, and soon enough, we reached a forest. I ordered my companion to slow down here since I didn't know what lived in this area.
The journey through the forest was relaxing, with not a single monster in sight. I spotted a few tracks that were from animals–I assumed they were from animals, at least–but I didn't recognize them. They weren't from boars, rabbits, or wolves, that was for sure.
Maybe I could try looking around here after finding the reaching the nearest city or town, to see what this place had to offer. I surely wouldn't mind finding a new monster to use my Boss Battle ability on. And checking up on the ability, I even noticed I could use it three times per day now.
While riding along the road, I kept checking up on my Status, just trying to get a better sense of the numbers there as I watched my Mana go up and down. As great as Allspeak was for teaching me how to read, it sadly didn't make me any better at numbers. I'd have to fix that at some point…
'What's that?' Then I noticed something odd and new. Right under my Magic Theory Skill, which was now rank two, I noticed that there was another section underneath it called Perks. There was only one thing there at the moment, but it was called Magical Genius.
"Hah!" I snorted. Even my own Magic was now calling me a genius! Either I could somehow influence it with my thoughts, or I really was a genius!
"Stop!" I told my wolf a moment later, ordering it to pause due to what was in front of us just as we exited a part of the forest.
"Woah." This was definitely not another village, I was sure of that. There were so many buildings everywhere I looked, all nestled between large trees, and they were all more than two floors big! The only house that had more than one floor in Loya was the Elder's place. Here, I couldn't even see anything that small.
And it was so beautiful. The road seemed clean and even. The buildings were neatly build and looked secure, nothing like my shack that could've been destroyed by a stronger wind. This… I honestly wouldn't mind spending my life here. The place is even surrounded by a forest, so I could easily go and hunt every day, steadily growing in strength from the experience and the rewards from Boss Battle.
Unfortunately, the sun was going down, and I didn't have that much time to explore today. Though… as I made my way to the city, I noticed there's lights on the streets! They were built onto of tall metal polls, and I couldn't understand how they work.
Does someone light them up every day? I squinted my eyes as I looked at them closer. Nope, there seemed to be some odd crystals that was enclosed by a glass.
Man, the city life was amazing! I could really see myself settling here. Though… that asshole Laxus did tell me to go to Magnolia. Was this Magnolia? I didn't know yet, and if he was from there, was that place even more amazing than this? I honestly couldn't wait to find out.
"How do I do this?" I asked myself, growing more and more nervous the closer I got to the city. Once I was what I assumed to be the entrance of this place, I jumped off my wolf and dismissed the Spell, so no one panics thinking its a monster.
That done, I began patting my leather armor, trying to clean it up a bit. It was honestly quite dirty, and I could do only so much with my hands. Sadly, I wouldn't be giving anyone a great first impression.
I stepped proper into the town and felt my heart racing almost as bad as the time I entered a forest with nothing but a hunting knife I didn't even know how to use. Why was this so difficult? Because I wanted to be treated fairly by the people here. Stupid question.
Taking a deep breath, I began walking deeper into the town, trying my best to look I knew what I was doing, but my head constantly kept swiveling left and right, staring at every new thing I saw. And there was so much of it. I saw a few places where people seemed to be selling stuff, or so it looked to me.
I was hesitant to enter since I didn't know if they'd kick me out or not. No point in risking it. Maybe they wouldn't allow me back if I did something wrong. The other people here were dressed much better than me, and I might need to wear something like that as well.
"Gah!" There were so many things I needed, and I had to man up and enter one of those places at some point, even if I ended up getting kicked out.
"Are you okay, young man?" An older man, dressed in some nice, clean clothes, asked me.
"Ah, hello," I said, a bit surprised since I didn't expect anyone to talk to me. "I'm okay!"
He chuckled at me, but not in the mocking kind of way. "Do you perhaps need some help?"
"Yes!" I said a bit too fast for my liking. "I mean, yes, please. I'm new around here and looking for some things."
"I can see that." He chuckled again. "I can be of some help if you are looking for anything specific. Been living in Clover Town for the past twenty years, so I know a thing or two about this town."
Ah, so the place was called Clover Town. Good to know.
"I'm looking for a place where I can find a map or just directions," I started with that while considering what else I should prioritize.
"Maybe a place that deals with monster corpses?" I could try selling the ones in my Inventory for some more cash. Or at least figure out if there's any way I could use them myself.
"And a place with books?" I added in the end. Had to make use of my Allspeak ability and learn as much as possible.
"Hmm, I suppose you can find a map in the general store. Just have to continue walking on this street and turn left before the center of the Town. You'll definitely spot it there. The place is open until 10 PM, so you have plenty of time."
"Got it," I said with a nod, remembering the instructions.
"As for the monster corpses, we have a few butchers in town that will take them, but they close at 6 PM. You'll have to visit them tomorrow. The same is for the library. It's free to visit but it closes at 6 PM," he said after looking at an object wrapped around his wrist.
"Thank you so much!" It was disappointing that I wouldn't be able to do everything right now, but he was of great help!
"It was a pleasure, but one last thing," he said before I could run off to find the general store. "You should look into finding a place to stay the night if you haven't already. There's a nice hotel for travelers near the general store. I'd suggest that since it's quite cheap to stay the night."
"Thank you so much, sir!" That was some good advice since I hadn't planned that far ahead. Then again, I could always just sleep out in the open with my wolf guarding me. Or I could try finding another hole like the previous night.
"It was a pleasure. Have a good evening, young man," he said, smiling gently and waving at me.
"Have a good evening as well!" I waved back at him and rushed towards the general store, hoping to reach there before it closed since I had no idea what time it was. My cheeks hurt a bit as I ran since the smile on my face was fighting me, refusing to go down no matter how much I tried.
After following the instructions of the nice man, I easily found the general store, and indeed, it was easy to spot, considering it had a large sign with its name. I entered inside and was met by another older man who was dressed in some fancy-looking clothes.
"Welcome, welcome. How can I help you today?"
"Well…"
I ended up getting a map of Fiore, a book about plants that can be found around the Kingdom, a simple watch–the object that other man had that apparently tells time–and most importantly, a set of nice clean clothes!
I could barely recognize myself after seeing myself in the mirror that the owner of the general store offered to me. The guy was also real nice and understanding, helping me out with my money situation, though I still had to pay with half of what I had. Hopefully, I could make some more tomorrow after finding one of the butchers in town.
According to my new watch, it was supposed to be 9 PM. I could use what little time I had to search for a place to sleep in the forest, though I ran the risk of getting attacked in the middle of the night. Or I could check out this Hotel place and see about staying there.
Jewles now at 84.
Since I had wasted half of my Jewels, I decided against spending more of them just to sleep in a nice place. I survived for sixteen years in an awful shack, and I even spend the entire previous night in a hole in the tree! What was more night like that? Absolutely free, that's what it was.
Finding another hole in a tree took me no time at all. I was becoming a bit of an expert with this. Then I proceed with setting up my makeshift bed and ordered my wolf to guard the entrance, ensuring nothing attacked me while I slept. Ah, and I didn't forget to switch to my old clothes. No need to dirty my new clean ones.
With everything taken care off, I went to sleep. Though I couldn't help from wondering if I should've at least got a bedroll from the general store. Maybe it would've been more comfortable than what I had right now.
It is now July 4th, X783. 14 days before ?.
Sleeping in a forest wasn't the greatest thing. There was a lot more noise than I expected, and I woke up a couple of times during the night. I still felt energetic in the morning, but I would probably avoid doing that again.
Nevertheless, a new day awaited me, and I had so many things to do. Clover Town was just so much bigger than that stinky village, and I couldn't wait to see what more it has.
First thing's first, I tried to find one of the butcher places. That turned out to be harder than I envisioned since Clover Town was so big. Thankfully, I mustered up some courage to ask a pretty lady for the direction, and she was nice enough to point me towards the right place.Like any other building in this city, the butcher place looked impressive. I opened the door, seeing that there was a nice little sign that said "Open" figuring that it was okay to do that. The place was far cleaner than I imagined it would be, considering it was supposed to deal with monsters corpses.
"Welcome," I was greeted by a lady behind a glass counter. There were all kinds of different meat types displayed in front of her, some of them were even for normal animals. "Looking to buy some meat? We are the best butcher shop and provide the highest meat quality in all of Clover Town, no matter what the Rickard family says!"
"Ah, well, I was looking to sell some monster corpses actually," I replied, though I felt my mouth water at the thought of eating meat again. I had just a few fruits left in my Inventory, and they won't last me for too long.
"We do have our own suppliers, but we'll never say to no to some more as long as the meat hasn't been ruined."
"I have some boars and monster corpses with me," I informed the lady.
"With you?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.
"Ah, I have a Magic that lets me store things in it," I told her, deciding to not hide my Inventory. For one, that Laxus guy saw me using it and didn't say anything. And for two, I didn't want to spend half my day just pretending to drag corpses from somewhere else.
Sure, that meant I couldn't try my hand at stealing since I'd be the first to be blamed for it, but did I really need to steal? I could earn money on my own since I was a Mage! Just a few jobs here and there, like hunting down some monsters, and I'd have enough to Jewels to buy anything I wanted.
"Oh!" The lady tapped her head with a finger. "You use Requip? Haven't seen one of you in a while."
I had no idea what Requip was. Maybe it was something like my Inventory, but since I wasn't sure, it took me a moment to respond. Not that it was needed as the woman made her own assumptions.
"Most rarely use their limited space for carrying a few corpses, which is a shame, I tell you. It's not the best for preservation, but it keeps everything nice and clean, you know?" She continued, not even giving me a chance to talk, which I was fine with.
"Well, come then. Let's see what you have before Griselda arrives. I can't wait to hear what she'll be making today," she said before leading me through a door that led deeper into the building. I just kept quiet as I followed after her, marveling at how all the buildings were so large here.
"George!" She yelled. "We got a delivery!"
"Why are you yelling so early in the morning, you crazy woman!" A man yelled back before stepping out of a room wearing clothes stained with blood. "And what's this about a delivery, we aren't expecting one for another two weeks."
The woman, his wife I assumed, explained the situation before George ushered me in the place he was working in.
"Alright, show me what you got," George said and showed me where to drop my corpses. I started off with the boars first, and he immediately went to inspect them.
"Hmmm. I can spot some wounds by arrows, but what caused those bites and scratches? Could've contaminated the meat depending on what kind of beast made them." George hummed as he observed them.
"I got a wolf, um, here." I quickly showed off my Conjured Wolf, and he nodded after inspecting him for a bit.
"Good enough." George turned back to the corpses. "Well, they are in relatively good condition. The hides are damaged, but we can still use them. Hmm."
"I, uh, have more things to drop," I said, and he waved me to go on, though he immediately stopped me after I took out the first Grass Wolf.
"Why ain't this interesting. Haven't seen one of those in some time. Their meat is a bit leathery and not the best, but the green color does make it more exotic. All in all, they'd sell for about as much as the boars."
That was good? I did have plenty of those so I should make some good money for this. And so I began taking more and more of them while George just stared at me with wide eyes. "How much can you store with you?"
"A lot? I have about…" I looked at my Inventory to confirm the number. "Fifteen more of them. And two Forest Vulcans."
"Damn! Come, we better store those in the freezer then. Take those with you as well. As for the Vulcans. I can't help you with those. Their meat is hard and unsavory. Could try selling them to some crafters, though I'm not sure if they'll want them."
That was good to know, but I'd have to find some crafters first. And, hey, maybe I could even learn a thing or two from them. My Magic did seem to allow me to learn anything as long as I put in the effort.
After inspecting everything I dropped off, George turned to me with a serious face. "I don't know what your job is right now, but you should consider becoming some form of courier or transporter if you already aren't one. You can make some good money while staying safe. Especially because they seemed to be perfectly preserved as if they were killed just moments ago."
"I will think about it," I replied, considering his words carefully. It did sound like a nice option, but I wasn't sure if that's what I wanted to do with my life.
"Do so," George told me and clasped my shoulder, giving it a squeeze. It felt really weird how a complete stranger cared so much. "No point in risking your life when you have an option like this."
"Anyway, now, some of those weren't in perfect condition, but I think we can pay you pretty well for this."
I was paid five hundred and sixty-three Jewels for the corpses. Numbers were still hard for me to understand, but I knew a hundred was a lot, so I got five lots for this, definitely a lot more for dealing with monsters in the first place. I wasn't sure if the villagers had cheated me, though then again, Jewels weren't really common in the village.
Before I left, I did grab some jerky and raw meat to store in my Inventory. My food was nearly out, so it was better to have some just in case. Thankfully, it didn't cost me anything since I just traded them for the corpses I provided the butcher shop.
Now, the next place I visited was the library, which I easily found after asking for some direction. You know, I was getting really good at this talking with strangers thing. At least, that's what I thought until I reached the library and had to speak with a beautiful girl with long brown hair and sparkling green eyes. She wore some glasses and was listing through the book she was reading way too fast. So much that I wasn't sure she was actually reading it.
"Um, hi, I, uh." Why was talking with her so much harder than anyone else before this?
"Hmm? Do you need any help? Looking for a specific book perhaps?" My stomach felt weird, and I couldn't help but wonder if she was using some kind of Magic on me.
"Magic Books?" I asked first, I already had quite a few different types of Magic, but that didn't mean I couldn't learn more.
"I wish we had those," she said with a longing look. "But only Guilds and the Magic Council have those. I've heard of some people selling them before, but they usually get picked up quite fast."
That was disappointing to hear, but it wasn't the only reason I came here. "What about something to teach me numbers?"
"Now that we have, from beginner to advanced books about mathematics. I can show you where they are?"
"Yes, please."
The girl led me to the mathematics books, and I couldn't help but notice that she had some pretty legs on the way.
A Magical Genius I might be, but mathematics were hard and… scary. There were so many numbers and so many things you could do with them. Subtraction and addition already terrified me on their own, but then there were even more things like multiplication and division. How were numbers so scary?! It made no sense! How could I understand Magic but fail so hard at this?
Mathematics 140 out of 500 until unlocked.
I left the library in frustration after suffering a major loss to the numbers. I swore I be back for my revenge, but now wasn't the time for that. I needed to mentally prepare myself before I could fight against the dreaded numbers. Plus, I wanted to explore a bit more today while I still had the time.
'The book in the library didn't give me the option to absorb it.' I paused as I realized that. Either the book just wasn't good enough or that option was only offered for ones that I'd earned by using Boss Battle. That was something I had to figure out because if the book just had faulty information… I didn't know what I'd do, but I'd do something!
This also reminded me that I had a Skill Book in my Inventory, one about Seduction of all things. How was that even a Skill? Why was it even a Skill? I should probably learn it soon, not because I wanted to seduce women, but just to have the Skill. Yeah, just to have the Skill.
After aimlessly wandering around, I spotted an interesting shop, one that claimed to sell Magical Items. Now that was something I couldn't not visit, so I quickly entered inside. There were so many interesting things there, but I noticed something really quick. Most of them were super expensive. I still had trouble with numbers, but now I knew that a thousand and up was way more than what I currently had. Still, there were a few things I could purchase even with my current funds.
The first thing I picked was the Gale-Force Reading glasses. There were two types that I could afford, and I chose the one that allowed me to read four times faster than normal. With this, I could defeat the numbers! I was sure of that.
I added the Sorcerer Magazine to my list of purchases, and it wasn't because of the woman, I swear! Yes, she was… very beautiful, but the shopkeeper informed me that the magazine talked about the various Guilds and their Mages. Like, what they had gotten up to lately and their accomplishments.
Laxus seemed really strong, so I might find something about him in the magazine. Or even Fairy Tail since he told me to go join that Guild. And yes, I found out it's a Guild by asking the shopkeeper, who informed me it was one of the strongest ones out there, with a total of five S-class Mages, whatever that meant.
He also did mention that the girl on the front page, one Mirajane Straus, was part of Fairy Tail. I was a bit hesitant of going there due to Laxus being an asshole, but maybe I could check the place out first.
There was an interesting rope that could magically extend itself, and I grabbed it as well. It might end up being useful for something, or I could even try figuring out how it works.
"That totals to four hundred and fifty-five Jewels," the shopkeeper informed me. It took me a moment, but I counted that I'd have just under two hundred Jewels left after buying this.
"Now, I see you have some interest in Magic, young man, so how about this potion over here?" He asked, showing me a vial filled with murky green color. He then leaned in closer and whispered as if afraid someone else would hear him. "Just between you and me, I heard it can unlock the Magic of whoever drinks it. You can have this for just one hundred Jewels."
It would unlock the Magic of whoever drank it? That… didn't sound right. Especially since it cost just a hundred Jewels. I still didn't know much about the world, but I was sure that Magic users weren't that common.
Still, this was hard for me to miss out on. Maybe I could get another type of Magic School, potentially even something strong like Lightning Magic, which I should definitely practice some when I get the time.
"Alright then," I said and handed him five hundred and fifty-five Jewels. I just earned all that money earlier today, and it was already gone. Damn, Magic sure was expensive.
After getting my items, I began throwing them in my Inventory since there was no point in keeping it hidden. Then I heard the shopkeeper quietly mutter, "Oh."
I was confused for a moment, until I looked at the name of the potion. Hair Color Changing Potion. That was no Magic Awakening Potion!
"You lied to me," I immediately accused him, heat boiling in my stomach.
"No, no, no, sir! Nothing like that!" He slowly backed away from the counter.
"You did! This is a Hair Color Changing Potion!" I was getting angrier, but I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do here.
"Is it now? Hehe," he laughed weakly. "I didn't know. I swear! How about this? You can have that tent that comes with a heater. It has a Lacrima you need to charge with your Magic, and it will keep you warm through the night. You can have it for free, just don't tell anyone about the Potion, alright?"
"I'll take the tent," I grumbled, watching him let out a sigh of relief, "but I will be back if I hear you doing this to other people!"
"Of course not, sir! I didn't even know that's what it did, I swear! In fact, I was swindled into buying it myself! I will definitely be reporting the person that sold it to me!" He promised, but I wasn't sure how much I believed his words.
I still might mention this to someone–not that I knew who'd be interested in knowing this–but I left the store for now. It was getting kind of dark, and I was feeling hungry, the sounds coming from my stomach could attest to that. There were a few places that I saw selling food, so I could try some of those, eat the jerky I bought from the butcher place earlier, or I could try my hand at cooking. I mean, how hard could it be?
Acquired, Gale-Force Reading Glasses x4, 1x Magically Extending Rope, Sorcerer Magazine(Mirajane front page), Hair Color Changing Potion, and Self-Heating Tent(big enough for five people to comfortably sleep in). And because I forgot to add this earlier, we did buy some meat from the butcher place, whoops. We got 5x Jerky and 5x Raw Meat.
Current funds, 92 Jewels.
Snacking on some of the jerky, I walked around, wondering what I should do next. My Jewels were nearly gone after buying all the things from that shop. I still couldn't believe that guy tried to cheat me with that potion!
Anyway, I still needed a way to earn some more Jewels because people used money for everything out here. I couldn't just go by with trading for some stuff or doing odd jobs here and there.
Or maybe I could? I stopped a man–they were easier to talk with compared to women–and asked if there was anything I could do around Clover Town for some cash.
"A job, you say? Hmm, I think there's a restaurant looking for some waiters. Oh, and I heard there's a construction firm that needs a few helping hands since one of theirs got injured on the job," the man explained.
"Ah, I was looking for something I could do in a day or two at most," I said, scratching my head in embarrassment. A permanent job wasn't something I was ready for yet, I think. "I'm a Mage, and I thought I could go take down a monster or something like that?"
"Oh? Well, Clover Town's pretty safe all year round. Not many monsters around here since the Guild Masters tend to gather here around this time of the year," he informed me and cupped his chin. "There was something about a group of Vulcans moving in the forest, but I haven't heard anything about them in the past few days. Might've been taken out by now."
"I see, thanks for that," I thanked the man and made my way out of the town. Vulcans were tough enemies, but I already took out a couple of them on my own. I wouldn't be paid for their corpses, which wasn't ideal. However, I could use my Boss Battle ability on them. As long as I found them, that is.
And the information about the Guild Masters gathering here was interesting, making me wonder if I could meet one of them around the town. Though I didn't know how they looked. Hopefully, there will be a picture of them in the Sorcerer Magazine. My face flushed, just remembering the picture on the front page. That girl was really pretty.
In my frustration, I took out the Skill Book for Seduction and quickly absorb the thing, hoping that it would make me better at talking with girls. It burst into light that flew into me, forcing knowledge into my head. It stung a bit, but it was nothing compared to the time I learned Allspeak. Still, I felt like I could now easily talk with girls without stuttering, which was a great thing.
Now with that taken care off, let's see if I could find some monsters to hunt. If I found some big and edible ones, I could get some good amount of Jewels for selling them to one of the butchers.
The forest was a bit harder to traverse since I wasn't used to it. Tracks weren't as easy to follow as I wasn't very familiar with the creatures living here, so it took me a while to actually find something. Unfortunately, it wasn't anything magical–like the Vulcans that apparently were around here.
It was a bunny borrow, and I hid behind a tree waiting near the animal's home since I was sure it wasn't hiding there yet. And sure enough, I soon saw the little bugger hopping towards the burrow. I never got the chance to use my Boss Battle on a rabbit when I was still in Loya, so it was time to find out what I could get from one. I even put on my Lucky Charm–as it was called according to my Inventory–and wore it around my neck in the hopes of me getting a good reward.
I hopped from behind my hiding place and used my ability on it, forcing it to fight me. Not that it had a chance of escaping in the first place since I was much faster than it, and I proved as much when I took it down with a single strike of my sword, easily beheading the creature.
Two things formed from the light, but… they didn't look that impressive. At least, the first one didn't. Well, the pair of underwear certainly looked more comfortable than my own, but I expected something more.
I wasn't sure if my Magic was calling me a playboy–I only knew what the word meant thanks to Allspeak–due to absorbing the Skill Book, but it felt odd getting this thing as my reward. At least the other object seemed like it could be worth some Jewels. Or I could give them as a gift to a girl.
Acquired Playboy Underwear and Silver Rabbit Earrings, discovering that enemies weaker than us won't give us great rewards for Boss Battle.
It is now July 5th, X783. 13 days before ?.
Sleeping in my new tent was an actual experience! I didn't test out the heating function since the whether was warm enough, but it felt nice having an actual home. It wasn't that impressive compared to the houses in the city, but it was mine, and that's all that mattered.
Now, if only I had a more comfortable bed… Either way, it was a new day, and I had a lot to do.
The library awaited me, and I returned just as I swore I would to defeat the numbers. Now I even had Gale-Force Reading Glasses with me–like the ones the girl there was using–which would allow me to read that much faster. There was no way I wasn't earning that Skill today.
I marched through the library like a man on a mission and plopped myself down on a desk with my vaunted enemy in front of me.
"I will defeat you," I whispered quietly and opened up the book.
I planned on spending half my day here, just figuring this mathematics thing out, but I ended up learning the basics in half the time! The glasses were truly worth the Jewels I spent on them, even though they only helped me read faster. I still had to understand and learn what I was actually reading.
I still had some more time left, and I decided to spend it on learning how to cook. That seemed important since I planned on traveling towards Magnolia next. Laxus did tell me to go there, but I wasn't doing it because of him! I was doing it because of Mirajane, err, I meant because I wanted to.
Anyway, cooking was surprisingly easy to get the hang off. Just had to follow the recipes for most types of foods, but I could also heat something over a fire. Though I was missing a pan and some other things like oil and plates. However, I could always get them in the general store if I was willing to spend a bit more of my cash.
Nevertheless, those were some productive hours since I noticed both Mathematics and Cooking appear on my Status as fully unlocked.
Now it was time to leave Clover Town, but was there anything quick I wanted to do here before that?
Mathematics fully unlocked! Now we won't get scammed by some shady people! Mathematics (194/1000)
Cooking fully unlocked. Now at (54/1000).
Well, since I knew how to cook, I felt it necessarily to grab the tools I needed for that. That didn't take me more than a few minutes since I just needed to pass by the general goods store, grabbing a pan, some utensils, a plate, and some oil for fifty Jewels. That didn't leave me with much cash, but I still had enough to grab a bedroll.
Then I asked a nice lady–to get a bit more used to my Seduction Skill–which was the correct direction, ensuring I didn't somehow take the wrong turn and end up back in Loya. Now that would've been an embarrassing moment.
I looked back at Clover Town one last time before hopping on my wolf and directing it to run on the road. Meanwhile, I had some notes to study and a Spell to work on.
The journey was fairly boring with nothing out of the ordinary happening. Still, that meant I could focus entirely on improving myself, so that wasn't bad, though I was missing out on getting rewards with Boss Battle. Oh, well, plenty of monsters out there for me to find. I would surely get something good in my next fight.
The barking of my wolf awoke me in the middle of the night, and I quickly jumped out of my new bedroll. Damn it! I was having just a nice dream as well.
I cursed out loud as I rushed out of the tent, my eyes scanning the surroundings and noticing a shadow moving around, my wolf doing its best to follow it around without much success. Not that I had much of my own since the moonlight was barely enough for me to see in front of my feet. If only I had that magical lamp, I could've had a better idea of what was jumping around.
Still, it didn't seem friendly, so I took out my sword. Unfortunately, I couldn't put on my armor since I couldn't risk getting attacked while doing that.
Something moved, and my instincts took over, allowing me to avoid whatever was jumping at me. The creature was more than surprised by that and I got a free strike in, though it was still fairly fast so I barely grazed it with my sword.
"Rawr!" It let out a growling sound and seemed ready to bolt out of there now that it's attack failed.
As if I would allow that! It woke me up in the middle of the night and now it wanted to run away? No fucking way!
Immediately, I activated Boss Battle on it, forcing the monster to keep fighting. That took it by surprise, and I used that chance to fire off a lightning bolt in its face.
"Graa!" A pained howl escaped its mouth, shocking it for a moment. That was all I needed to try to use my root Spell on him. One of the burst through the ground, wrapping tightly against the monster.
The monster struggled to escape my root Spell, giving me and my wolf the perfect opportunity to attack.
"Attack it from behind," I ordered my companion while I took the front, aiming my strikes at its limbs to limit its maneuverability. This thing was fast, and I could only keep with my overcharged enhancement.
I got a few good hits in, but the monster managed to burst out of the single root that had wrapped around it. If there were more, I could've held it down for longer and killed it while it was trapped.
Still, it was injured now and didn't have the option of escaping. Not to mention that it lost the advantage of being hidden in the darkness.
It was still really fast, I had to give it that, but I managed to follow its movements, dancing out of the way of its attack while pinning it down with my sword.
"Grawr!" It roared in pain, knowing that it was done for. It had no way to fight back any longer, and I decided to use my newest Spell. I wasn't entirely sure if it counted as a beast, but it didn't hurt to try.
"Stop attacking!" I had to quickly order my wolf as it was about to jump on the monster before I could make my attempt. That was a close one. Sure, I would've ended up getting rewards for this, but I wanted to see what would happen if I defeated the monster with my Spell instead of killing it.
Then I activated my Spell on it, causing me to black out for a moment before finding myself in some empty space with the monster–looking whole and healthy–standing in front of me. It immediately jumped to attack me, but I avoided it.
Now, I wasn't sure what was going on here, but I had already defeated this creature, and I knew I could do it again. Though it seemed it would be harder than I expected since I lacked my equipment here, and my sword was one of the biggest reasons I could beat it so easily.
The monster managed to strike me as I was getting adjusted to fighting without my weapon, but then my blade appeared in my hands, just by me thinking about it. Ha! Now it stood no chance, and I attacked, firing off my lightning Spell as well. Beating it over and over until the creature dispersed into light. It was still there, I could feel it, but for the moment, I was the victor.
I blacked out for a moment after that before I found myself back in the real world, now standing on all fours and with the ability to perfectly see in the dark. Now that was one good ability to have.
Though I had to admit that it felt really weird moving on all fours. Ugh, this would take some time getting used to. I began moving around a bit, finding out that I was more than two times stronger like this, and I instinctively knew how to hide myself in the perfect spots so others wouldn't see me.
Well, this certainly was a useful ability to have, but I knew I had to fight the Shadow Panther again when I tried transforming later down the line. Wait… how did I know its name? Never mind, that wasn't important as I noticed a flash of light in front of me.
The light caught me by surprise since I hadn't expected to see it as I didn't really kill the monster. It flickered in and out of existence as if it didn't have enough power to turn into my reward.
I sighed, a weird sound coming out of my mouth since I was still in the form of the panther. I shouldn't have expected to get anything, but I had some hope after seeing the light.
Then out of nowhere, it burned brighter and turned into a pair of black boots! I was overcome with and hopped around, purring in satisfaction.
This was awesome! Amazing even! I didn't need to kill my enemies to get a reward, and I checked my Status just to confirm this. There, it said finishing blow, not killing blow.
Maybe just knocking out my enemies would count. Though the light seemed very weak doing it this way. I would have to consider my options in the future, but this was good to know.
Now, one more test. I tried picking up the boots with my paws, but it was really hard to do that without my thumbs. Hmm, I tried lifting them with my mouth and succeeded in pushing them in my Inventory. That was good to know if I ever end up doing something sneaky in the future since this form seemed perfect for that.
Acquired Boots of Sneaking. +10 to Stealth when worn.
I went to sleep and had no more interruptions for the rest of the night. My Conjured Wolf really saved me there. Without it, I might've been attacked while still sleeping. Hell, my tent could've been destroyed in the process! It cost over three hundred Jewels, and I earned it by exposing that guy's scheme. Though… maybe I should've still reported him to someone.
There was no point in spending any time here since I doubted I'd find anything interesting. Plus, I wanted to see what a town with a Magic Guild looked like, you know? Not mention that I wished to continue studying those papers. Seriously, whoever wrote those things knew what they were doing as I felt my knowledge about Magic soaring the more time I spent looking at them.
I was, however, getting a bit antsy on my journey. I wasn't a very violent person, but knowing that I could earn amazing rewards by fighting against others sure made me rethink that.
My traveling was uneventful, which should've been a good thing, but I was kind of hoping to get attacked by a monster on the day. Sadly, no such thing happened. Though I did get to spend my entire time reading the note, so it wasn't that bad, and I even got to practice some of my Magic. Come to think of it, I might've scared away some monsters with the few lightning bolts I threw out. Whoops.
The sun was already down by the time I reached Kunugi Station, and boy was I surprised. It was my first time seeing something smaller than the village I used to live in. There was sadly nothing of interest here, though I found out I could get a ticked for ten Jewels if I wanted to get to Magnolia quicker.
It is now July 7th, X783. 11 days before ?.
That night I dreamed of Magic and everything I could do with it. From making my wolf into a creature that trampled on mountains to raining down lightning on the world like some God. I felt utterly amazing, though there was one slight issue. I felt starved! I was too absorbed into the notes that I forgot eating yesterday.
I wolfed down some of that jerky I had, leaving me with only a couple left. I'd have to try my hand at cooking something soon enough, though I think I'd continue on my journey for the moment. Now, the question was how should I go about traveling from here?
I figured I could try this train out since I had enough money for a ticket. The thing scared the crap out of me the first time I saw it on the road, making me think it's some massive metal monster. Turned out it was just a method of traveling quickly from place to place.
According to the people here, it wouldn't take more than a few hours to get to Magnolia, and that's mostly due to it stopping once on the way for a short break.
Anyway, I bought my ticket and boarded the train when it arrived. I was then directed to a small room where I'd have to sit during the ride. There I found… An orange-haired guy with some fancy blue eyeglasses and two girls hanging from his arms, both lovingly hugging him and kissing his cheeks.
"Ladies, ladies," he said, a large smile on his face as his eyes bore at me. "We have an audience, and we don't give away free shows."
They giggled at his words, somehow finding what he said funny. I didn't get it though. Was that some kind of joke?
I awkwardly went ahead and sat down in front of them since that was the only open space for me. The girls pouted at me as if I had somehow done something wrong here. "Can't you, like, find another cabin? We were having a good time here, you know?"
"Please, ladies, everyone should have the chance to bask in my greatness," he said, placating the two before looking at me, his head tilting to the side.
I was at a loss for words, not knowing what I was to say in this situation. The nice lady did inform me that this was my cabin for my trip and that I shouldn't just enter any other random ones or else I might get kicked out. Something I'd rather avoid since I used my last remaining Jewels to purchase the ticket.
It wasn't that big of a loss, and I could turn into a panther and run all the way to Magnolia, but I wanted to enjoy this, damn it. This train was fast and looked far more comfortable than my wolf, the seats being really soft and comfy.
"Since we'll be riding together for a bit, why don't we introduce ourselves?" He asked, his smile never leaving his face. "Those two are Alice and Beatrice, and I'm Loke."
"As if he didn't already know who you are," the girls said at the same time, both rolling their eyes. "You are, after all, the top ranked Mage you want to have as a boyfriend."
So this Loke guy was famous? And a Mage at that? Were all Mages weird like this?
Granted, this was only the second one I'd met, but Laxus was an asshole… kind of, and Loke… Well, he had two girls hanging from his arms. I wouldn't say I knew much about relationships, but I thought relationships were just between two people. Maybe it was different if you were a Mage. But what if both people were Mages? Then what?
"Hello," I said, deciding not to dwell on that for the moment. "I'm Leon."
"Haa?" Loke leaned in, his eyeglasses falling a bit to reveal his brown eyes. "Really now? What a coincidence."
"What do you mean?" How was my name being Leon a coincidence?
"Well." Loke leaned back, arms wrapping around the girls and bringing them closer to him. "I used to know someone with a name like yours."
"Really? What was he like?" I asked with no small amount of interest as I had never met someone with my name.
"He… he was the greatest, the most amazing, and the strongest out there," Loke said with a weird tone, his eyes staring at me but not at the same time. "So where is someone with such a great name going? "
"To Magnolia," I answered, relaxing a little bit.
"This meeting was truly destined to happen. If you are looking for a job in Magnolia, then you can rely on me! Quite a few people owe me a favor or two there. Like, Nora, a restaurant owner, Yvone, the Head Librarian…"
On and on, he went, listing female name after female name, all apparently owing him favors. You know, Loke was actually a nice guy. I could see how he somehow became the top ranked Mage a girl would want as a boyfriend. He was a friendly dude that was even willing to help out a stranger like me.
"That's fine. I actually wanted to check out Fairy Tail first," I said. If I ended up not liking the place, I would most likely end up leaving the town and continue traveling around.
"Interested in being a Mage?" Loke looked at me for a moment before shaking his head. "I wouldn't recommend it. I have quite the eye for promising Mages. Comes with experience, you know? And how do I put this… you don't really have what it takes to be one."
That annoyed me. Sure, I was still skinny due to not eating that much before, but I was actually strong now and growing stronger by the day. And my Magic offered me unlimited potential to improve everything about myself.
I didn't feel like arguing with Loke about this. I knew I was good enough to become a great Mage. Right now, I might not be the strongest–seeing Laxus' destructive Magic and his incredible speed proved as much–but I was growing at an incredible rate. As long as I didn't slow down, I was certain I could accomplish the same.
Right, instead of arguing with him, I decided to spend my time in a more productive way. There was that book I got from the general store in Clover Town. I might as well read about the various flora in Fiore since my food was constantly running low. If I knew what was edible and what was not, I could just replenish my food no matter where I was.
I mentally brought up my Inventory, taking a moment to locate the book. My invisible storage box was starting to get a bit clustered since I had picked up the habit of throwing anything I thought was useful inside it.
"Hey, don't ignore him!" One of the girls said just as I pulled out my book. Silence followed after, with the only sound being of me flipping the pages. Oh, and I almost forgot my Gale-Force Reading Glasses. Those things were just amazing, allowing me to read four times faster. And there were even better ones! Sadly, I didn't have the money to purchase them back then.
"Huh…" I saw Loke taking of his glasses and rubbing his eyes out of the corner of my vision. "I must really be getting rusty…"
"So…" Loke began speaking. "Why do you want to join Fairy Tail?"
"I don't know if I want to join the Guild yet," I said while continuing to read my book. "An asshole did tell me to join, but I want to check out the place first before deciding."
"An asshole?" Loke asked before shaking his head and smirking. "Never mind that. Say, if you are looking for a reason to join, I can give you several."
"Hmm?" I looked at him, pausing my reading for a moment.
"Let's start with Mira, then there's…" And he began listing off female names again. At least, I recognized one of them this time. Unless Mira wasn't Mirajane, but they sounded similar enough to me.
Loke really had his priorities, didn't he? He seemed to think the girls in the Guild were the only reason to join Fairy Tail.
The two women he was with didn't appreciate it when he began describing how beautiful those fairies were and started pinching him. However, they still stayed by his side and were calmed down in seconds after just a few words from him.
You know, I could learn a thing or two about Seduction from Loke as he obviously had the Skill at a high level. If I raised it high enough, I might even get multiple girlfriends like him even though I'd never had even a single one before.
I watched him closely as Loke, observing how he handled the girls. He spent just enough time on one, saying sweet words to her and then moving onto the other before she got annoyed. His attention was perfectly split between the two, ensuring that they were both happy.
It was fascinating and informative to see this. Just watching was enough to make me understand how to talk with multiple girls, but… there was something off about Loke himself.
I couldn't say exactly what though. It wasn't his mannerisms or the way he spoke. Maybe it was because he was a Mage, or maybe it was due to something else, but he didn't feel like a human to me. It was probably the former since this was the first Mage I spend more than a few minutes with as Laxus ran off before I could ask him anything.
Looking at the three acting all lovingly made me feel… jealous. I didn't necessarily want what they had, but I'd always been alone with no one that cared about me.
'A family…' That something I longed for. I never knew my parents, I didn't even know if they were out there somewhere. Did they abandon me for some reason? I couldn't know for sure. But if they had due to some stupid reason of me being cursed or whatever, I didn't really care about finding out.
Instead of thinking if I had a family, it was better to plan of making a new one for myself. However, I'd first have to find a place to settle down before even thinking about that.
Gah, all this thinking ruined my mood. I peeked at the three, seeing them act all lovey-dovey and quickly shook my head. I'd rather not risk getting the girls annoyed by asking Loke some questions about Fairy Tail. Better to just use my time by doing something productive. Like trying to improve one of my Spells for example.
Unfortunately, there was only a single available option for me at the moment since I was in an enclosed space. I could've tried improving my Beast Soul, but I was sure it would be a bit too disruptive here, so I focused on what had become my most useful Spell.
What could I do to improve Body Enhancement? A lot of things came to my mind when thinking about that. One of the first was to just reduce the Mana it costs, so I can keep it active at all times. However, I never ran into the issue of not having enough Mana, so I skipped that for the moment.
Next I thought about incorporating lightning I copied from Laxus even further into my Spell. I envisioned sending streaks of lightning every time I struck someone with my fists or my weapon. That would turn me into a really scary opponent to fight since I'd be able to damage my opponents even if I missed my attacks or just didn't get a good hit in.
I decided against it after seeing the three eating their faces, choosing not to disturb them for the moment. Instead, I focused on improving what the Spell was best at, namely making me stronger. Since I already had experience with that, I managed to improve the Spell in no time at all.
Or maybe not as when I opened my eyes, the three weren't kissing any longer. Loke was looking at me oddly again, though I ignored him for the time being since I felt like I could push my Spell even further.
"Since you'll be visiting Fairy Tail, I'm gonna give you some advice if you want to snag one of the girls there," Loke said with a smirk while the two girls were barely holding back their snickering.
What was so funny about that? Did they think I didn't have a chance? I did, right? I wasn't that ugly, right?
Ahh, that was just a useless distraction! The Spell, I was improving the Spell!
"Mira? She's… a sweet girl, but she likes the aggressive approach. You gotta be forceful when talking with her, yeah? Don't even give her a chance to say no. Go straight for the kiss, even feel her up when you are doing it." The girls continued snickering while I did my best to ignore them.
"Erza? Just walk up and punch her in the face before declaring her your girlfriend. She likes a guy that's…"
The door of the cabin swung open at that moment, and a stunning woman with long red hair stepped inside. She wore armor unlike every other girl I'd seen, but that did little to deter from her looks.
"I like a guy that's what?" Erza, I assumed, stepped inside, eyes blazing with fury.
"Oh, shit…" Loke whispered, his face going deathly pale.
I understood why just a second later when she appeared in front of him in a flash before pummeling him right in the face, knocking him out with a single punch.
Right, I knew how I wanted to upgrade my Spell at that moment. I had to be strong enough to endure such attacks without getting knocked out. Wouldn't want to embarrass myself like Loke, now would I?
"Don't go around ruining the image of our Guild by speaking nonsense!" Erza said to the now unconscious Loke.
"I apologize for my Guild member's misconducts. Please don't take his words seriously or I would have to knock you out as well," Erza said, bowing deeply and giving me a perfect view of something… incredible.
"That's fine," I quickly replied. "I was working on my Magic and mostly ignoring his words."
"That's a great mindset to have." Erza nodded in approval. "We should strive to improve ourselves at any opportunity."
"It's a pleasure to meet someone like you, I'm Erza Scarlet," she introduced herself, offering me a hand.
"The pleasure is all mine," I said and shook her hand, pulling on every little thing I knew about Seduction to not make myself look like an ass here. "I'm Leon. I… don't really have a family name."
"Don't let that keep you down," Erza replied with kind and understanding eyes. "I'm sure you will earn your own with a mindset like that."
"If you don't mind, can I ask you a bit about Fairy Tail and what's it like?" I asked, knowing that she was part of the Guild. Loke was also a member, but he hadn't mentioned that earlier.
"Of course! There are a lot of words I can use to describe Fairy Tail, and the behavior of some of its members might give our Guild a bad reputation." Erza looked at the knocked out Loke. "But the best way to describe Fairy Tail is calling it one big family."
"A family, huh?" That sounded really nice. Almost too good even since that was one of the reasons I left the village, to find… to make my own family.
"Yes! Are you interested in joining the Guild?" Erza asked.
"Someone did tell me to join and that he expected to find me there, but I wanted to see it for myself first before making a decision," I replied.
"Who was it?" Erza asked.
"He said his name is Laxus," I informed her, watching her reaction carefully.
"If Laxus personally recommended you to join, then you must be a powerful Mage," Erza replied after just a moment of being surprised. She then explained, "Laxus is one of our strongest Mages and is the one that has completed the most S-class quests in the past couple of years."
Damn! That guy was a really big deal, huh? I still wasn't sure S-class exactly meant, but I assumed it was important with the way Erza spoke about it.
"We have arrived at Magnolia," she then said, moments before the train stopped.
"If you wish, I can show you the Guild building and introduce you to some of the members right now," Erza offered after she grabbed the knocked out Loke and threw him over her shoulder like he was a bag of potatoes. The two girls didn't even let out a single sounds, pretending as if they didn't exist.
This girl was… just as scary as she was beautiful, and I wasn't sure due to which of the two was my heart beating so fast. I definitely wanted to spend some more time with Erza and get to know her better, but I could explore the city a bit to mentally prepare myself before making my way to the Guild on my own.