Chapter 7
Marshall was baffled.
He turned the matter over in his head again and again until, at last, everything clicked.
After several days of extensive testing, he finally worked out how the system awarded Inspiration.
His earlier theory had only been partly correct.
Coming up with ideas for new magic really could provide a huge amount of Inspiration, but the act of invention itself was not the true cause.
The name had simply sent him down the wrong path.
Honestly, Marshall thought the stat would be more accurately called Joy.
Whenever he experienced a positive emotional response—whenever something made him genuinely happy—his Inspiration increased.
The greater the pleasure, the more points he received.
So creating a new spell did not directly generate Inspiration. It was the excitement and satisfaction he felt during the creative process that caused the increase.
The theory was not baseless.
In fact, it fit perfectly with one of the fundamental principles of magic in this world.
Emotion was power.
Makarov, one of the Ten Wizard Saints, had explained it to him himself.
Powerful emotions could cause a Mage’s magic power to surge, because the heart itself was part of magic.
Once Marshall understood that, everything else made sense.
Even when he did nothing, his Inspiration rose little by little because all he needed was a positive state of mind to keep growing stronger.
’Hahaha! This is perfect. Who knew life could be this wonderful?’
The sheer delight of finally understanding how his cheat worked immediately earned him almost a thousand Inspiration, further proving his theory!
At the moment, his reserves stood at—[Inspiration Points: 3,712]
That was already enough to learn four Level One spells.
However, when Marshall glanced at his greatest ability...
[Telepathy Magic LV4: 5,621/10,000,000]
"Hmm..."
It was barely a drop in the ocean!
The discovery was exciting, but he still had a very long way to go.
Fortunately, he was only six years old, he had plenty of time on his side.
Besides, spending points was never supposed to be his primary path to strength. Proper training would always be more important.
[Requip Magic LV1: 1,021/10,000]
At Level One, Marshall’s Requip Magic allowed him to store a limited number of clothes and simple items within a personal magical space, then summon or swap them instantly whenever he wished.
His storage capacity was still small, and changing several pieces of equipment at once required more concentration, but even at this level, it was an incredibly convenient ability.
More importantly, he had learned it entirely through his own efforts without spending any Inspiration.
...
A full week had passed between first encountering the spell and successfully casting it, but he had only spent two days seriously practicing it.
Apparently, his natural talent for magic really was quite good.
When Marshall first used Requip in the guildhall, it caused quite a stir.
Several of the older men immediately declared that another little monster had joined Fairy Tail!
Requip might be a relatively simple utility spell, but it was not something most people learned overnight.
Beginners usually needed one or two months to master it, so learning it within a week naturally made Marshall look like a genius.
Once a spell reached Level One and became something he could properly cast, he could gain further experience simply by using it repeatedly.
That meant progressing from Level One to Level Two should be fairly quick and would not require any Inspiration.
The most worthwhile stages for spending points were Level Zero to Level One and anything beyond Level Three.
The former offered the best value, while the latter would otherwise require endless practice or a breakthrough in the middle of battle.
So...
’All right, system. Dump the points in!’
[Crash Magic LV0 → LV1: 0/10,000]
...
Marshall went alone to Gray’s usual training spot beside the river to test his newly acquired spell.
Crash Magic was Gildarts’s signature ability, an immensely powerful form of high-level destructive magic.
It was also exceptionally difficult to learn.
Marshall had tried studying it seriously before, but the experience bar had barely moved, so he had put it aside for the time being.
Now that he understood his cheat and had enough Inspiration to spare, there was no reason to pass up such a powerful spell.
Although he possessed a high-level Telepathy spell and a considerable amount of magic power, he had almost no offensive ability.
That lack of protection had left him too nervous to venture anywhere alone.
Now that he finally had a powerful attack, he naturally wanted to see what it could do!
"Good. No one’s around. Let’s find out how this thing works~"
Telepathy had some use as a detection spell.
Marshall could roughly judge the direction and distance of nearby minds, and the closest passerby was currently more than three hundred meters away.
No one should interrupt him.
Standing beside the riverbank, he closed his eyes and carefully felt out the unfamiliar power.
Forcing Crash Magic up to Level One had not given him complete mastery of it.
His cheat measured experience, not proficiency.
Since he had never studied the spell systematically, he still did not fully understand how Crash Magic activated or exactly what effects it would produce.
All he possessed was a vague instinct—a strange sense that it ought to work because he believed it would.
He simply felt that he could crush anything in front of him.
It was much like when Telepathy had first awakened.
Marshall did not understand the mechanism, but somehow, he knew he could use it.
"Okay. I’ll start with a tiny test. Maybe hit the ground... No, the wall of the embankment should be safer."
In truth, the riverbank was not an ideal place to test destructive magic.
Unfortunately, Marshall was still too cautious to leave Magnolia and experiment in the forest.
Staying close to the guild seemed much safer. If anything went wrong, he could always call Makarov for help.
"Whew... All right. Lowest possible output..."
Marshall drew in a deep breath and faced the stone embankment.
He gathered magic power into his small fist and followed the instinct inside him, allowing the energy to form its own magic circle.
Then he released it.
The instant his fist moved, Marshall knew something had gone terribly wrong!
The spell on his hand began sucking in his magic power, dragging it out of his body in a wild, unstoppable torrent.
’Oh... Oh no!’
BOOOOOOM!
Crash Magic erupted before Marshall could stop it.
The brutally powerful spell shattered the embankment in front of him, sending cracks racing through the earth as though a small earthquake had struck the riverbank.
"WAAAH! MASTER, HELP!"
Before Marshall could react, the ground split beneath his feet and swallowed him.
River water immediately poured into the fissure, completely submerging him.
While he flailed in blind panic, something like a giant hand closed around him and lifted him straight out of the water.
"Cough! Cough, cough!"
"Marshall?! What happened? Did a dark guild attack you? Where’s the enemy?!"
Marshall opened his eyes and found himself sitting in the enormous palm of Makarov’s Giant Magic.
The Guild Master had heard his telepathic cry for help and rushed over.
Faced with Makarov’s anxious, worried expression, Marshall guiltily avoided his gaze and looked down at the place where he had cast the spell.
A huge chunk of the once-neat riverbank looked as though it had been scooped out with a spoon.
In its place was a new pond more than ten meters across.
Thankfully, there had been no houses or pedestrians nearby.
Aside from the destruction to the riverbank, he had not caused any serious damage.
Marshall let out a quiet breath of relief, only for his drenched body to stiffen when he remembered Makarov was still staring at him.
He slowly looked up at the Guild Master and held his thumb and index finger a tiny distance apart.
"Um... Master, there wasn’t an enemy. I was testing a spell, and there was just a... very small accident."
Makarov’s expression grew darker by the second.
Marshall’s head sank lower and lower between his shoulders.
Even his ’angelic cuteness’ seemed useless against the anger radiating from the old man.
"M-Master, I think I can explain. It really was an accident..."
"MARSHALL MATHERS!"