Chapter 14
More than a month passed in the blink of an eye, and Marshall gradually settled into a steady routine.
He woke early each morning, drank a glass of milk, and began his morning exercises.
He spent the rest of the morning at home practicing and testing various skills, then arrived at the guild right on time for lunch.
His afternoons were spent asking the others for advice on magic and occasionally helping out as a server.
After dinner, he played with his friends for a while, then returned to Little Garden to work on the next Chapter of his novel and meditate.
He always went to bed before eleven, never allowing the day’s exhaustion to carry over into the next morning.
Everyone in the guild agreed that Marshall was a perfectly normal child.
His disciplined lifestyle kept him in a good mood almost constantly, and naturally, the rewards were enormous.
The first was his progress with magic.
Marshall learned Lightning Magic from Laxus, Light Magic and Giant Magic from Makarov, and Transformation Magic from Airo.
He also persuaded several other guild members to teach him Water Magic, Sand Magic, and Shadow Magic.
Of course, he had only studied those spells.
He had not actually mastered most of them yet, and very few had reached Level One.
For the time being, Marshall had no intention of spending Inspiration Points on them. He only wanted them listed on his panel for later.
His most important discovery came from a young Mage named Mest, who taught him Teleportation Magic.
It could also be described as instantaneous movement, which was every bit as impressive as it sounded.
More importantly, Marshall learned it at an astonishing speed, mastering the basics in only a single day!
Then, when he finally raised Teleportation Magic to a full thousand experience points, something unexpected happened.
Both—[Requip Magic LV1: 2,139/10,000] and—[Teleportation Magic LV0: 1,000/1,000] vanished from the panel.
In their place appeared an entirely new spell.
[Spatial Magic LV1: 6,979/10,000!]
Marshall was genuinely stunned.
Apparently, the system still had a few pleasant surprises hidden away!
If two spells belonged to the same branch and were mastered naturally rather than raised through Inspiration, their experience would merge into a higher-level skill—and the thousand points used to complete the lower spell would be returned at double value.
After acquiring Level One Spatial Magic, Marshall could still use both Requip and Teleportation.
Better yet, Spatial Magic itself was already close to reaching Level Two.
This also allowed him to reach an important conclusion.
Of all the magic he had studied, Spatial Magic had the greatest compatibility with him.
Requip could only transport inanimate objects such as clothing, while Teleportation allowed him to move his entire body through space.
Teleportation consumed a considerable amount of magic power and could not be cast instantly yet, but those were minor problems.
Once the spell leveled up, both weaknesses would surely improve.
Marshall was already considering ways to develop techniques of his own.
Something like Blink, perhaps.
Or even the Flying Thunder God Technique!
His progress with magic had been tremendous, and his basic status now looked like this:
[Energy: 25/25]
[Stamina: 20/20]
[Magic Power: 401/404]
Every attribute had improved, and his Magic Power had finally passed four hundred.
His mastered spells were listed below.
[Telepathy Magic LV4: 20,086/10,000,000]
[Spatial Magic LV1: 6,979/10,000]
[Meditation LV1: 3,456/10,000]
[Script Magic LV1: 3,364/10,000] — [Solid Script LV0: 207/1,000]
[Magic Power Control LV1: 3,208/10,000]
[Molding Magic LV1: 1,959/10,000]
[Fire Magic LV1: 404/10,000]
[Crash Magic LV1: 33/10,000]
Most of those were spells he had already possessed before.
Spatial Magic was rapidly approaching Level Two, while Meditation and Script Magic continued advancing at roughly the same pace thanks to how often he used them.
His newly mastered spells were:
[Light Magic LV1: 1,111/10,000]
[Lightning Magic LV1: 888/10,000]
[Water Magic LV1: 678/10,000]
[Enhancement Magic LV1: 168/10,000]
[Ice Magic LV1: 66/10,000]
[Transformation Magic LV1: 50/10,000]
The elemental spells were not particularly difficult to learn, so Marshall had taken the time to bring all of them to Level One.
Light Magic had advanced the fastest and seemed to have the best compatibility with him after Spatial Magic.
Enhancement Magic was not originally recognized as a separate form of magic.
It was simply an application of magic power that reinforced the body, much like Magic Power Control.
Marshall had created the skill himself using Inspiration.
With Enhancement Magic, he could easily lift objects several times heavier than his own body.
Unfortunately, he did not take part in the guild’s daily brawls, and no one was going to drag a six-year-old into a real fight.
As a result, he rarely used the spell except when moving heavy objects.
Transformation Magic was his most recent acquisition, though Level One could only change him into another child with slightly different features.
He could barely alter his size at all, which left him rather disappointed.
Beyond those were plenty of Level Zero spells he had yet to master, but listing every one of them would have been a waste of time.
Marshall now understood why most Mages in this world specialized in only one or two forms of magic.
Learning too many at once made it impossible to give any of them proper attention.
Spreading himself too thin would only hold him back.
He had already decided that Spatial Magic would become his main focus.
Magic involving space and time was always among the most powerful, and since he possessed genuine talent for it, he naturally intended to develop that gift as far as possible.
Aside from magic, he also had several ordinary skills.
[Writing LV1: 1,587/10,000]
[Drawing LV1: 104/10,000]
[Body Training LV0: 509/1,000]
[Cooking LV0: 250/1,000]
[Music Performance LV0: 9/1,000]
There had been little change in most of them, and Marshall did not pay them much attention.
Body Training was the only one he cared about, since it would probably become useful in the future.
Unfortunately, his body was still too young, so progress remained painfully slow.
Still, he had plenty of time.
Marshall had barely spent any Inspiration over the past month.
He had become a hoarder, steadily accumulating points until he now possessed—[Inspiration: 29,686!]
Nearly thirty thousand points!
That was enough to learn more than twenty minor skills or raise three skills all the way to Level Two!
Even so, Marshall had no intention of spending them yet.
Simply watching the number continue to rise was enough to make him happy.
There was nothing he urgently needed, so he might as well save them.
Besides, the system was disappointingly flawed.
Spells raised through Inspiration had unstable foundations, meaning he still had to practice them himself before he could fully control them.
What kind of cheat left its user with extra homework?
Even without relying heavily on the system, Marshall’s learning speed was already considered astonishing.
Everyone in the guild openly regarded him as a young genius.
He could save the greater surprises for his friends in the future.
With magic covered, there was also the matter of money.
Naruto had now been serialized in this world’s newspapers for more than a month.
The Land of Waves arc had just concluded, and the response from readers had been overwhelmingly positive.
Apparently, the cultural impact of a story from another world was not something to underestimate.
The novel had already gained a modest reputation throughout Fiore.
Not long ago, with Makarov’s help, Marshall had entered into further agreements with both the Fiore Daily and Sorcerer Weekly.
The first agreement covered the publication of the novel’s first collected volume.
The second was for a new manga serialization of Naruto in Sorcerer Weekly.
Originally, Marshall had negotiated with the Fiore Daily for the manga as well, but Sorcerer Weekly suddenly entered the discussion and offered far more money.
A person should never allow pride to come between them and a fortune, so that was how matters ultimately ended.
Reedus would naturally serve as the manga’s main artist, while Marshall provided the rights and basic character designs.
Before long, he should be able to earn money while lying comfortably at home.
A cause for celebration.
Nothing else especially important had happened during the past month.
Fairy Tail remained as loud and chaotic as ever, Gildarts had yet to return, and Marshall spent his days enjoying the rare gift of a peaceful childhood with his friends.
He had expected today to be another ordinary day.
Then a little girl appeared outside the guildhall.
Her clothing was torn, her body was covered in injuries, and dirt stained her from head to toe.
She looked up weakly at the guild’s sign.
"Fairy Tail... Is this the place Grandpa Rob told me about?"