Chapter 83
After graduation, Marshall wasted no time leaving the Magic Council Academy.
He had already obtained Super Archive Magic. If he didn’t escape now, what was he waiting for?
Any longer, and the headmaster might genuinely find some way to keep him there!
He had to admit, however, that Super Archive Magic had brought him two enormous surprises.
Super Archive was fundamentally a form of information-processing magic.
Marshall’s naturally awakened Telepathy Magic also revolved around gathering and processing information, which meant the two were essentially different branches of the same underlying power.
The key difference was that Super Archive connected its user to an unimaginably vast cloud database.
By exchanging information with that database, a Mage could perform all sorts of incredible tasks—sharing geographical coordinates across the world, searching and accessing information, uploading and downloading data...
Super Archive was practically the magical world’s internet combined with an intelligent terminal.
Since Marshall’s Telepathy Magic had already reached an extremely high level, learning Super Archive caused both abilities to merge into an entirely new category: Information Magic.
And it had retained its Level Four rating!
Marshall could boldly claim that there probably wasn’t anyone in the entire Magic Council who understood Super Archive better than he did now.
He wasn’t even certain whether the old headmaster had been telling the complete truth.
At least from Marshall’s perspective, regardless of whether Super Archive was truly a divine artifact, the Magic Council didn’t technically "own" it.
Super Archive was essentially an enormous magical cloud server.
Every Mage capable of connecting to it merely possessed a different level of access and operational authority.
No one held true ownership of the entire system.
Those permissions were also directly related to the user’s level of Information Magic.
Before Marshall connected to Super Archive, the Council could decide how much authority he was permitted to receive.
But now that his Information Magic had reached Level Four, he had effectively become one of the handful of people with the highest level of access.
Naturally, Marshall had no intention of telling anyone.
He was quietly enjoying his newfound fortune.
If the Magic Council discovered what he could actually do, there was a very real chance they would drag him away and lock him inside some research facility.
After all, Marshall now possessed enough authority to interfere with two of the Council’s strategic weapons:
Etherion and Face.
Before gaining Super Archive, Marshall had no idea the Council controlled anything that terrifying.
Both weapons were operated through the Super Archive system, yet the Council still handed out access rights as rewards to talented students...
This was a magical world with orbital magic arrays and the equivalent of nuclear weapons, but the people guarding the launch controls were remarkably casual about security.
The entire world really was one enormous improvised operation.
It gave Marshall the uncomfortable impression that a group of children had been left in charge of intercontinental missiles.
To be fair, he was an exceptional case.
No one could have predicted that his Information Magic would start at such an absurdly high level.
Ordinarily, progressing from first contact with Archive Magic to genuine mastery would require decades of dedicated study.
The Council probably believed that granting limited access wouldn’t create any immediate danger.
Most people in this world would burn through countless brain cells merely trying to understand how Archive Magic worked.
Marshall, who had come from an era of computers and the internet, found the entire system remarkably intuitive.
It barely required any effort.
Once he mastered Super Archive, almost nothing in the world remained completely hidden from him.
Almost.
Super Archive wasn’t omnipotent.
The first thing Marshall had excitedly searched for was information on Fairy Tail’s Three Great Fairy Magics.
The search result read:
The Three Great Fairy Magics: Three super spells created between X686 and X696 by Fairy Tail’s First Guild Master, Mavis Vermillion.
They consist of Fairy Law, Fairy Glitter, and Fairy Sphere.
Their known effects include... (omitted).
The complete spell structures have not been recorded within Super Archive.
Super Archive could only provide knowledge that someone had previously uploaded.
Anything no one had shared couldn’t be found there.
Most ancient Lost Magics were recorded somewhere in the database, but the system no longer possessed the ability to gather knowledge automatically.
New information had to be uploaded manually by its users.
The way modern Mages used Archive Magic actually resembled an exclusive magical forum.
People could publish posts, leave comments, and reply to one another.
Marshall even discovered several of his own research papers on newly developed magic inside the Archive.
When he checked who had uploaded them, he found the headmaster’s name.
Well...
At least the old man had properly credited Marshall as the original author, so he decided not to complain.
Many of those "posts" had attracted discussions and replies from other researchers.
It truly was a miniature internet community.
The only problem was how small the community remained.
Very few people in the world possessed permission to access Super Archive.
No wonder the academy rewarded its finest students with Archive privileges.
The entire system relied upon new generations of Mages contributing their knowledge.
Without them, Super Archive would eventually become a stagnant pool filled only with old information.
...
The moment Marshall returned home, he added another floor to his Mage Tower and constructed an enormous chamber devoted entirely to Super Archive Magic.
He could have sustained the whole system using only his own magic power, but doing so would have been exhausting.
With the assistance of specialized magical equipment, the burden became considerably lighter.
Once every instrument was installed, Marshall could unfold a map of the entire planet.
He could observe the terrain of every continent, track natural disasters, and monitor changes in global weather in real time.
In the past, Telepathy Magic had only allowed him to extract information from people’s minds.
Now, with the support of Super Archive, Marshall could gather information from the entire planet.
It wasn’t difficult to understand why the headmaster called it a divine artifact.
The greatest benefit Super Archive provided wasn’t the ability to study almost any recorded spell.
Nor was it the convenience of conducting experiments without constantly running to the library to search through books.
The system’s most powerful function was Information Infusion.
Super Archive could compress magical knowledge and directly implant it into another person’s mind, allowing them to learn powerful magic almost instantly.
For ordinary people, this function was extremely dangerous.
For Marshall...
Well, that was how he had always upgraded his abilities.
He even began to wonder whether his System was somehow related to Super Archive.
There were still obvious differences.
Super Archive consumed magic power to compress and implant information, and the process carried considerable side effects.
If the Mage couldn’t withstand the strain, it could cause serious damage to the brain.
Marshall’s System only consumed Inspiration, and its upgrades produced almost no harmful side effects.
His cheat was clearly the superior version.
Since the infusion function wasn’t particularly surprising to him, the most useful improvement was actually Global Coordinate Sharing.
Marshall could now teleport to almost any point on the planet whenever he wished.
There was no longer any need to wander across the world manually unlocking the map.
For a Spatial Mage, this function was almost impossibly convenient.
After completing the Super Archive chamber, Marshall immediately began playing with the projected globe.
He enlarged the Kingdom of Fiore until it filled the room.
Unfortunately, the map only displayed the general terrain. Its resolution wasn’t high enough to reveal individual towns or buildings.
That would need further improvement.
Then Marshall noticed something strange.
"What’s happening with the weather over there?"
A violent atmospheric disturbance had appeared on the map.
"A typhoon? A tornado?"
He narrowed his eyes.
"That isn’t particularly far from Magnolia..."
Before Marshall could investigate further, he felt the spatial mark he had left on Mira suddenly activate.
It was the first time anyone had ever triggered one of his emergency marks.
’Mira is in danger?!’
Marshall vanished instantly.
...
Some time earlier...
"Come on, Elfman! Your big sister is taking you to attempt a more dangerous Take Over!"
Mira excitedly waved an S-Class job request in front of him.
"Your body is already stronger than mine, so you should be capable of receiving more powerful creatures now."
She pointed to the creature described on the page.
"What do you think about this Beast King? I have a feeling it would suit you perfectly."
Elfman had grown enormous under the constant stimulation of Marshall’s Body-Conditioning Magic.
He was already tall and heavily built, standing close to one hundred and eighty centimeters.
Since he was still developing, he could easily grow beyond two meters within another couple of years.
There probably wasn’t another person in Fairy Tail with a more imposing physique.
However, although Elfman had gained considerably more confidence, he remained fairly shy.
His magic had never been particularly strong.
The ordinary beasts he could receive were too weak to provide any meaningful improvement, and he still couldn’t compete with Natsu or Gray in a serious battle.
Mira saw his frustration and became increasingly worried.
She had been an S-Class Mage for more than half a year now and had already earned some fame in the magical world under the title The Demon.
Unfortunately, Erza’s reputation continued overshadowing hers.
The thought drove Mira mad.
Her own strength wouldn’t increase significantly in the near future, so she decided to strengthen her younger siblings instead.
Even if she had to combine the reputations of all three Strauss siblings, she would defeat Erza at least once!
This particular S-Class job seemed perfect.
With Mira’s current strength, dealing with one Beast King should have been easy.
So she brought Elfman and Lisanna along.
At first, everything proceeded smoothly.
The Beast King was stronger than Mira had expected, but both she and Elfman possessed bodies that Marshall had reinforced over the years.
The battle was difficult, yet they ultimately emerged victorious.
Elfman successfully received the Beast King.
"How do you feel, Elfman?" Mira asked.
"It’s... a little difficult."
Elfman breathed heavily, then gave her a determined smile.
"But I think I can handle it. I can keep it under control."
Mira smiled proudly.
She turned toward Lisanna, intending to pull her sister into a celebratory hug.
At that exact moment, a violent wind erupted from nowhere.
The weather changed in an instant.
Dark clouds twisted overhead as a massive tornado connected heaven and earth.
"W-What’s happening?!"
Mira struggled to remain standing.
"This wind is too strong!"
Her eyes widened.
"Lisanna! Hurry! Grab my hand!"
The gale arrived too quickly.
It vanished just as suddenly.
When Mira and Elfman finally regained their senses, the surrounding area had been reduced to a devastated mess.
And Lisanna—Lisanna was gone!
Even her magical presence had completely disappeared.
Mira’s and Elfman’s faces turned deathly pale.
"Lisanna?"
Mira spun around desperately.
"Lisanna?! Where are you?!"
"Come out! Don’t frighten your sister!"
"LISANNA!"
Beside her, Elfman suddenly felt something go terribly wrong.
His Beast King Take Over had never fully stabilized.
The moment his concentration collapsed, the creature seized the opportunity to break through his control and reverse the spell, taking over Elfman instead.
"Sister! Something’s wrong!"
Elfman clutched his head as his body began transforming.
"I can’t control it!"
"Sister, run! Hurry!"
A monstrous roar tore from his throat.
"ROOOAAAR!"
Elfman fought desperately, but his resistance wasn’t enough.
The Beast King overwhelmed his mind, stripped away his reason, and launched itself at Mira.
"No! Wait!"
Mira raised her arms to defend herself.
"Elfman, stop!"
"Why now...?"
Her thoughts were already in chaos.
"Lisanna, where are you?!"
Mira exchanged several blows with the rampaging Beast King, but the earlier battle had nearly exhausted both her magic power and physical strength.
She was quickly forced onto the defensive.
For the first time, Mira completely panicked.
’What do I do?’
’What am I supposed to do?!’
’Someone... Please, someone help me!’
Then she remembered.
Marshall had left a spatial mark on her body!
"Marshall!"
Mira poured her remaining magic into the mark.
"Help me—!"
"MARSHALLLLLLLLLL!"
"I’m here."
Light flashed.
Marshall appeared beside Mira, wrapped one arm securely around her waist, and calmly raised his free hand.
The Beast King’s enormous fist crashed into his palm.
Marshall stopped it without taking a single step backward.
"Don’t be afraid."
His voice remained quiet and steady.
"I’m here now."
Mira had never imagined that merely hearing someone’s voice could make her feel so safe.