Hmmm.

Brody frowned as he looked down at his bare arm. There was no green fur in sight, and while a moment ago he was bare chested, he was now once again wearing the sleeveless hoodie he'd put on this morning before ending up here.

…Where did it go when he assumed that weird Take Over monkey form? Beast Soul: Vulcan? Were Vulcan's beasts like the ones Elfman took over? He assumed so.

'Do I have a Requip space that automatically holds my clothes for me when I use Take Over?' he wondered. Or did his transformed state literally come over his physical body like a shell including his clothing? But, how did that work? Considering he could still feel?

He shook his head and banished those thoughts. It was magic, trying to pin logic on it was just going to give him a sore head.

Honestly, he should just be giddy that he somehow avoided death and now had magic powers.

Well, he'd love to but right now, he needed to secure a roof over his head for the moment. All he had to his name here, in this world, was the clothes on his back and a wallet filled with money that meant nothing in this world.

Thankfully, he'd found his way out of the forest easily enough and that led him to now.

In a little town known as Onibus Town.

A vaguely familiar name to Brody, but he couldn't pin why.

His feet led him through the streets of the small town, taking in the sights as he passed by a large theatre, and a train station at the edge of the town, before finally finding himself entering a bar he caught sight of a few drunken patrons stumbling out of.

A bar, especially in a place like this, would be a good place to pick up rumours of a place to work, and maybe just give him a place to sit down and think.

He entered through the doors and paused for a moment, taking in the place. It wasn't very busy, but there was a noticeable amount, a dozen or so people spread about, while the stools at the bar itself were empty and behind the bar stood a stout, older man with distinct laugh lines and long white hair.

Brody made his way over to the bar and sat down on the stool directly in front of the barkeep.

The man didn't say anything for a moment and just finished cleaning the glass he was drying with a towel, before setting it down. Then he looked Brody in the eye and gave him a cheerful smile, "What can I get you son?" he asked.

Hmm. Interesting, no suspicion on why a teenager his age was in a bar in the middle of the day. Sure, he'd bulked up a little after his little reverse buffet field trip that was noticeable to him even outside his Take Over form, and reflected the fact that he still felt massively stronger even in his normal form, but he still looked young.

He was only fifteen.

"Nothing right now," Brody shrugged, "Unless you know anywhere looking to hire or some odd jobs where I can make some quick cash?"

"How quick we talkin' lad?" The barkeep raised an eyebrow, "I know a few places round' here that could use a strapping lad like yourself to help out, heck I could."

Well, that was lucky.

"Considering all I've got is literally the clothes on my back and nowhere to go…" Brody trailed off with a self-deprecating smile before shrugging, "The kind that pays enough immediately for me to get a place to stay."

"Mmm, well, I've got a few empty rooms upstairs, you work for me you can stay in one of em', though usually they're two thousand five hundred jewel a night with breakfast and dinner included," the old barkeep replied, "Otherwise, you're gonna want to take a look at that." he added, raising his arm and jabbing his thumb at a large board held up on the wall to the side of the bar, a bunch of sheets of paper tacked to it.

"And what's that?" Brody asked, eyebrow raising.

"Mission board," the old man replied promptly, "Most missions get sent to guilds and the like, but there's no guarantee they'll be taken in a time frame needed, so most get posted around bars in the hopes of passing mages stopping for a drink seeing em' and decided to take them up. Granted, I say missions, but a lot of em' are just just silly things like helping clean mansions or carrying heavy crap around, though you'll find some doozies about too like getting of some big beasties out of the way."

Oh…right. Guilds. Somehow, despite knowing he was in the world of Fairy Tail, he'd completely missed that fact.

He could go join Fairy Tail if he wanted.

That would be…awesome. Getting to meet characters he'd only seen and admired through a screen before and once thought fictional. Getting to be around voluptuous, gorgeous beauties like Mirajane and Erza, or even the scantly clad Cana Alberona who was always walking around in what amounted to a bikini top.

…Also home to the centre of the series he'd seen though. The place where most of the events took place, and a target for murderous maniacs like Jose the head of Phantom Lord and even Grimoire Heart and more.

As amazing and strong as he felt now, he was very aware of the fact that Natsu even at the beginning of the series could crush dozens of Vulcan's easily, even Macao had by his own admission taken out nineteen of them before getting caught off guard by one and that was Macao…a total scrub.

He was far below the level of a scrub right now.

Fuck that.

For now at least.

Not to mention, he didn't even know when he was. For all he knew, it could be years before the canon timeline started, or he could be right in the middle of the seven year time period after Acnologia attacked Tenrou Island.

"Though I don't recommend goin' after any of them beasties unless you've got magic lad, otherwise it'll just be suicide." the old man added.

"Well, luckily for me I'm a bit of a mage," Brody replied with another shrug, he'd find out when he was later, "But, putting that aside for now, what kinda rates do you offer old man?"

Taking care of getting a place to stay, was more important.

"Hoh, a mage eh? Don't see too many round these parts with Magnolia bein' so close," the old man whistled, "And it's simple pay lad. Ten hour shifts, five days a week and six hundred and fifty jewels an hour. We're not that big a place, so I can't offer any more than that. And I'm gettin' old and need the help after my last helper ran off to get married to some socialite girl after winning a big cash prize, the dumb brat."

Hmm.

So that would be what? 195,000 Jewels a month?

He wasn't really sure how good that was, the most he had to go on for reference was Lucy going on about how much her apartment cost monthly, which was seventy-five thousand Jewels.

The closest he could fathom that to, was seven hundred and fifty pounds a month in rent to make sense in his head. So, divide by a hundred? Which would be in his own homes currency, £1950 a month?

That, with his living situation taken care of, and both breakfast and dinner provided, was actually pretty good by his estimates.

"When can I start?" Brody eagerly asked the old man.

"Tomorrow," the barkeep replied with a snort, "You're eager, eh? Well, I won't turn away the help. But you said you didn't have anywhere to stay or anything to your name, so we'll just get you settled in a room tonight, get you some grub and I'll show you the ropes of how things work tonight, then we can start you fresh tomorrow."

"Oh," Brody blinked before smiling at the man, "Fine with me, I'll do my best not to disappoint you then old man."

"Names Garrick lad, remember it," the newly introduced Garrick snorted and held out his hand to the teenager, "And I don't doubt it, sides' even if you're a klutz, havin' a mage in my employ will be good for keepin' the rowdy ones from making too much of a ruckus."

"Brody and fine by me." The teen laughed and took the mans hand, shaking it.

This would be a good place to get his bearings and decide on what exactly he wanted to do going forward.

"What kinda magic to you use anyway lad?" Garrick asked when he released his hand a moment later.

"Take Over magic," the teen replied, "Nothing too flashy right now, but I dealt with a few of the vulcans in the forest and used it on them, so they won't be bothering anybody from now on."

"Oh? That's interestin'." Garrick mused, bushy white eyebrows rising high on his forehead.

"In what way?" Brody asked, confused, his own brows furrowing.

The old bar tender jabbed his thumb at the mission board, "Take a looksie, you'll see it right in the middle of the board, it's an ongoing thing." he said.

Blinking at his words, Brody rose from the stool he was sitting on and made his way over to the board.

There were dozens of sheets of paper on it, and like Garrick said he noticed a ton of them that were simple things like carrying a refrigerator or couch to a different location for a few thousand jewels.

Not bad to be honest, with his massive increase in strength he could do a bunch of these easily and quickly without any risk to himself. Something to keep in mind for his free days when he wouldn't be working he supposed.

And had learned his way around.

Finally his eyes went to the middle of the board, where a distinct piece of paper sat pinned, and the title atop it said it all.

'Vulcan Extermination'.

'Hoh?' Brody hummed with interest and quickly began reading over the sheet of paper, his lips tugging into a grin as he read.

To be exact, it was a simple mission or quest. For each Vulcan dealt with, the one who did it would be provided with thirty thousand jewels. Apparently because of just how large the forest was that he'd found himself within, so large it spread over a fast distance that spanned across multiple towns and cities and went right on to high plains and wastelands, many a magical beast found themselves drawn to the forest and living there.

And Vulcans especially of the creatures that lived within, were a big problem because they were sexually attracted to human females and would assault them on sight and human males, that were generally on average much weaker than them, were perfect targets for their Take Over magic.

Basically, because of those factors, there was a thirty thousand jewel bounty on the heads of any Vulcan. And he would be paid for them, as long as he could prove he'd did them in.

'Well now, isn't that interesting?' Brody mused.

He wondered where he went to cash in? Because right now, he could definitely prove he'd taken care of at least one Vulcan and he wouldn't say no to thirty thousand jewels filling up his empty pockets.

That was roughly the equivalent of three hundred quid back home.

Since he wasn't going to be working until tomorrow, Brody decided to test his luck. And after finding out exactly where he went to cash in on the bounties by asking Garrack and finding out that it was a mission established by the mayor of the city, he headed out.

As he expected, he could not provide proof of taking care of two forest vulcans, so he ended up only getting paid for one.

Not that he was complaining at all.

It was free cash after all and the woman who had been overseeing it, the mayor's secretary and a pretty older brown haired lady in smart glasses, had given him quite the ego boost when he transformed into his Vulcan form and he caught her ogling him.


A week passed quickly.

Life had a habit of being like that really. Despite the literal world changing circumstances Brody found himself going through, it didn't take long before he acclimated to his surroundings and fell into a routine.

That was perhaps the greatest strength of the human race. Their ability to adapt to new surroundings, should they be willing to put the work in.

He'd get up in the morning, go through some exercises to train his body…which had gotten rather extreme now in comparison to what they used to be with how strong he'd gotten.

He'd flip on the switch and transform into his vulcan form until his magic was completely depleted, then head down to a lovely breakfast made by Enna, the elderly wife of Garrack who did all the cooking at small time inn.

He'd walk around the town of Onibus to learn where everything was, grab a few books to read up on some topics and then work his ten hour shift at the bar and help out Garrick, getting his dinner during his break.

And then to top the night off, he'd use up whatever magic power he'd managed to recover through the day before hitting the sack.

It was simple, easy and routine.

Which brought him to now, the morning a week after he'd arrived in Fiore, casually walking through the forest on the outskirts of the town, eyes peeled.

It was Vulcan hunting season after all.

He had a few hours to kill before before his shift, and he'd decided today that instead of just using up all his magic power, he'd see if he could hunt find some vulcans.

By the estimates of the Mayor, there was a total of around thirty or so of the Forest Vulcans living throughout the forest, give or take a few.

Well, sans three.

The two he'd taken care of and taken over his first day in this world, and the one he'd come across yesterday.

With his two days off, he'd decided to test his limits in the forest, since there wasn't much room for him to push himself in town without breaking something, and while he was in the middle of literally bench pressing a boulder, while being in utter awe of himself, one had caught sight of him and tried to jump him.

He'd proceeded to smash its head in with the boulder he was lifting. Well, to be more precise the idiot monkey had ran face first right into it when he'd thrust it up and left itself open for him to lay a beating into its skull and knock it the hell out.

…As it turned out, the tail of a vulcan cut off was enough proof for him to claim the bounty on them.

It had confirmed something though and put hunting vulcans and other such beasts to one of his top priorities.

He had gotten stronger through taking over the vulcan yesterday. It was only by a fraction of how strong he was now, but he'd noticed it. His magic power, strength, agility, even his reflexes, they'd increased just a bit to be noticeable.

Brody really had no idea what he was doing, but he did know one thing. He needed to be strong.

Even if he never joined Fairy Tail or any guild at all, there was one thing he couldn't be sure of.

He'd learned it was the year X784. Coincidentally, the year the canon events began taking off.

And that brought up the question.

What timeline was he in?

Was he in the one where ten thousand dragons would spring forth and ravage the world and set Acnologia into motion where he'd turn the whole place into a wasteland.

Or was he in the timeline where Rogue would ditch that timeline and come back to mind control dragons and try and kill Acnologia with them…which if came to pass would just set him off anyway. And that wasn't counting the whole Alvarez Empire thing who were going to invade at some point. Or Tartaros before that who would try and destroy all magic and had a hard on for torturing and killing humans.

In the end it didn't matter really what timeline he was in, he'd eventually be confronted with some horribly strong monstrous mage, demon or dragon at some point even if he didn't want to get involved and would die without the strength to fight back.

'Which is why getting stronger, even if it's just a little bit at a time is my number one priority right now.' he mused. It made him a bit jittery to think about, but he had time, so it wasn't that bad.

Still, he found himself wanting to get stronger to feel a bit more at ease around here.

Honestly, when he thought about it. He was really lucky to go through what he did when he first arrived. If he didn't, he wouldn't have any magic at all and would literally just be a faceless background commoner waiting to get squashed.

Unless he got like a dragon lacrima like Laxus or Rogue. He wouldn't have his own Ethernano container at that point, but it would be something.

'Course, not that getting my hands on one would be easy at all.' Brody rolled his eyes and snorted. For one, he didn't even know the process of creating a dragon lacrima and buying one? As if, they gave the user lost magic, they'd be hella expensive. He'd need to work for years before he could afford one, if even then and he'd no idea where he'd even buy one in the first place, he somehow doubted the local magic store would have one in stock.

Well, he knew where a bunch dragon corpses were. And he did know where a single dragon who was still around right now, albeit, as a fraction of what he once was and barely clinging to life.

Atlas Flame.

…He'd just need to find where the hell the Sun Village was.

And somehow convince the dragon that could kill him with a sneeze to…what? Imbue his essence in a lacrima or something?

'Yeah and Erza Scarlet will turn up to offer me a lapdance after my shift tonight.' he rolled his eyes with a laugh of derision.

If only though.

From his experiences so far with the vulcans, and what he knew of other users of Take Over magic and the time Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Wendy, Erza and such got their second origin unlocked by Ultear, he'd put together a theory.

That the more magic power one had, the more their physical abilities were enhanced by that innate magic power.

Which made something else click for him. Just why Laxus, Cobra and especially God Serena were such powerhouses as Second Generation Dragon Slayers.

The dragon lacrima did not just grant them Dragon Slayer magic. But, it gave them instant access to another vast well of magic in their body, that then enhanced their physical abilities as well.

Considering God Serena had freaking eight of them inside his body, Brody doubted the man had trained much of all to get stronger in his entire life and got where he was through those eight dragon lacrima's.

He had no idea how the man got his hands on them, though Brody was betting he was some lucky super rich kid born with a shiny golden spoon in his spoiled little mouth. He definitely gave off that feel to him from what he saw of the flamboyant self centred man.

If only he were so lucky.

Alas, nothing for it. All he could do was train and learn.

And hunt stupid green pencil headed monkeys.

'Something to look into though.' he mused as he continued his way through the forest, pausing briefly as he caught sight of a large purple serpent coiled around a tree branch above, before moving on.

It didn't have wings, so it probably wasn't magical.

Anyway, he knew where roughly Atlas Flame was, he just needed to pinpoint exactly where the Sun Village was.

Atlas Flame was the guardian flame of that village and wasn't really violent these days. So it was unlikely that the dragon would attack him for asking.

It would suck if the dragon denied him, but, it was definitely worth a shot…when he was strong enough to make the journey at least.

"Oooo ooo! Me winner!"

Speaking of getting stronger though. An almost too familiar stupid oafish voice echoed from a clearing not far ahead of him.

Picking up his pace into a quick jog, Brody quickly made his way towards the clearing and paused at the tree line a few moments later.

And caught sight of a massive muscle bound behemoth of a green monkey tailed ape, pencil head and all beating on its chest and celebrating in victory as it stood over another near identical giant green ape face down on the ground, beaten, bruised and bloodied.

"Brog eat Sog!" it cheered.

Rog, Brog and Sog. They sure had a very….intelligent naming scheme, huh? There was probably one out there named Dog or even Hog.

And it looked so happy too.

He supposed it was about time he ruined its day. What? He'd decided he hated monkeys after his very first day here.

"Beast Soul: Vulcan!" Brody declared, ironically as he pulled on his magic power.

Green light shimmered around his body and he felt as his body grew slightly and his muscled bulged, as fur formed on his arms and upper body and a long tail sprouted from his backside.

Raw power filled him, feeling like his strength increased nearly twice over.

He didn't bother with any grand declaration, or shouting at it to draw its attention or anything silly like that. And he didn't wait for it turn around and notice him so they could have a fair honourable fight.

Instead, Brody tensed his legs, crouched a bit, and then sprung forward like coiled spring, shooting forward with a strength and speed he couldn't have fathomed before he ended up here a week ago.

And buried the blunt of his knee right centre at the small of the giant green apes spine with all his strength.

The forest vulcan froze mid-celebration, a choking gasping splutter leaving its throat as the air was driven from its lungs as the force of his strike reverberated through its body.

He pulled his knee back and the giant wall of green fur and purple muscle, toppled backwards and landed flat on its back, not even able to whimper as it heaved and choked trying to force air back into its lungs.

"Brody wins actually." he looked down at the vulcan as its eyes widened in fear.

He lifted his boot clad foot up, before bringing it down and stomping down on its face with all his strength.

He heard a crunch, felt it too and the huge magical apes eyes rolled up into the back of its skull as it passed out.

…Or possibly died.

He wasn't too sure, nor did he care.

Cuz-

"And lunch is served." Brody laughed to himself as he took in both of the downed forms of the forest vulcans.

Whom he then proceeded to rip the tails clean off of with. Those were a free sixty thousand jewels for him after all.

Before getting down to the real order of business with and using his magic to consume both of their bodies and souls.

When he was done, Brody looked down at his arms, clenching and unclenching his fists and just taking in the increase he felt in his strength.

Again, it wasn't absolutely massive or something. In total, less then a ten percent increase per each one, and he wasn't that strong compared to the likes of even probably thirteen year old Romeo, but it added up, each one helped.

It was almost too bad the vulcans were a finite source.

They made such good meals.


And we return with chapter 2 yay.

So with this, Brody has secured himself a living space and a way to make cash and survive, while at the same time, having a steady stream of steamed monkey dumplings to chow down on, yay monkey food. We're up to chapter 7 on the Pa-atreon if anybody wants to read ahead.

Anyway, again, shameless Pa-atreon plug. I've got one, go by the same username on there, easy to find and all that jazz. Support me if you want, it'd be swell, but don't feel pressured lads and ladies, I'll be uploading my stuff outside it regardless and not keeping it all behind a paywall or anything like that.