Chapter 95
After selling Makarov a magnificent dream of Fairy Tail’s future, Marshall happily disappeared from sight.
As the only person in Fairy Tail with a functioning brain, he felt the weight of his responsibilities keenly.
The people carrying out his plans on the front lines only needed to charge ahead and get things done.
As the mastermind responsible for strategy, however, Marshall had far more complicated matters to consider.
In truth, from the moment he regained the memories of his previous life and joined Fairy Tail, Marshall had always thought the profession of Mage was hopelessly outdated.
The work was dangerous and unstable, the pay was inconsistent, and there were practically no protections or benefits.
If the people in Fairy Tail hadn’t been so sincere and welcoming, Marshall might genuinely have considered settling somewhere else.
A guild was little more than a job-brokerage platform.
Mages functioned like mercenaries, accepting whatever requests happened to be available.
Since most jobs were fairly easy for competent Mages, they still lived rather relaxed lives.
That was one reason Fairy Tail remained so lively every day.
Most members had no particular long-term goals.
When they had money, they drank and wasted time.
When they ran low, they accepted a job, earned enough to get by, and rested for another few days.
They were the living embodiment of working three days and taking the next two off.
That wasn’t entirely their fault.
It was simply a limitation of the era—or, more accurately, a result of this world’s historical development.
A little over a century ago, Mage guilds hadn’t even existed.
Many regions still viewed magic as an evil power, and witch hunts had occasionally taken place.
The social standing of Mages had only risen gradually during the past hundred years.
To older Mages, the current era—where practitioners of magic could openly work and receive public respect—already seemed wonderful.
Perhaps that sense of satisfaction was also why the Magic Council had never attempted to place itself above the nations of Ishgar.
Marshall didn’t care about any of that.
He possessed knowledge and experience far beyond this age, so naturally he wouldn’t be satisfied with the current way of life.
When he lacked power, he had no choice but to serve as a beast of burden.
Now that he possessed strength, no one was going to force him to keep living that way.
Marshall’s moral boundaries might have been flexible, but he still understood the importance of repaying kindness.
Gildarts had saved his life, while Fairy Tail had taken him in when he was still a helpless child.
Those were a huge debts and he intended to repay them.
Marshall had been planning how to improve the lives and treatment of Fairy Tail’s members for years.
He simply hadn’t possessed the age, status, or strength to push such ideas before.
No one took the grand plans of a child seriously!
That was why he had started with something more fitting for his age, such as building a theme park.
Now, however, Marshall was the top graduate of the Magic Council Academy.
Through tangible achievements, he had proven to Makarov that his intelligence wasn’t merely childish boasting.
Only then had he gained enough influence to convince the Guild Master to support his plans.
His immediate objective was to strengthen Fairy Tail’s foundations.
First, they would cultivate the land already beneath their feet and fully develop their home territory.
Marshall intended to transform Magnolia from a modest town into a thriving metropolis.
He wanted to establish several large businesses—preferably including proper factories—that would provide more opportunities and stable employment for both guild members and ordinary residents.
More jobs would stimulate the economy, increase consumption, and bring the entire region to life.
The world’s existing level of production was already fairly advanced. They even possessed magical vehicles.
Developing something as basic as an electrical generator would be laughably easy, especially when Lacrima capable of storing magic power already provided an almost perfect energy source.
Once they pushed the technological tree slightly further, assembly plants could begin operating.
And once the industrial age took its first true step forward, it would never stop.
The people themselves would discover where progress needed to go next.
Marshall didn’t need to involve himself too deeply in ordinary improvements to civilian life.
As a Mage, he cared more about the future of Mages.
Controlling their own voice through a publishing company was merely the first step.
After that, Marshall intended to use magic to leap directly over the industrial age and enter the information age.
The magical communication terminal was the perfect opening move.
Phones weren’t something only Mages could use.
The potential market was almost limitless, and whoever entered first would earn a fortune.
The current prototype terminals only supported simple calls, recorded messages, photographs, and video, but those limitations were temporary.
Once Marshall managed to separate a portion of Super Archive’s authority into an independent structure, he might be able to create a private server and drag Earth Land directly into the age of networks.
Of course, that wouldn’t happen quickly.
Even after merging the experience he had gained through Card Magic, Marshall’s Magic-Item Crafting skill was only Level Two.
Fortunately, he had captured an expert whose skill in magical-item production was at least Level Three.
Mystogan.
With that rare talent helping him, Marshall estimated that they could solve the technical problems preventing mass production of communication terminals within a few years.
All of this lengthy explanation ultimately served to establish one simple fact:
Marshall had delegated every part of the economic-development plan to someone else.
He had his own work to do.
After graduating from the academy, his Thought Projection gained much more time for research.
Marshall had become so accustomed to dividing his attention that having his main body and projection conduct separate work no longer affected him at all.
Unfortunately, he had accumulated far too many research projects.
Even splitting himself into two still wasn’t enough.
So it wasn’t that Marshall was too lazy to assist Makarov with management.
He genuinely had no free time.
What was he doing instead?
Researching magic, grinding experience, and strengthening himself, naturally.
Everything else was ultimately temporary.
Only strength could guarantee that all his plans survived.
Marshall’s real body was restructuring Information Magic and Light Magic.
His Thought Projection was delving deeper into Script Magic and studying the construction of Celestial Spirits and magical items—or rather, conducting experiments into the creation of artificial magical life.
Both projects were extremely important to his future strength, so Marshall had no intention of setting either aside.
The main body’s project had begun with his earlier inspiration to shock Lisanna through a screen.
That idea made him realize how much of Information Magic’s potential he had overlooked.
The magic that had accompanied him since his awakening wasn’t limited to overhearing other people’s thoughts.
Marshall could now state with confidence that the "voices" he heard were actually tiny electromagnetic signals produced by the human brain and decoded through magic.
In other words, brain waves.
Archive Magic worked through the same fundamental principles.
Compressing information, transmitting it, and implanting it directly into another person’s mind were all applications of electromagnetic waves.
That meant Information Magic should be fully capable of emitting and manipulating electromagnetic radiation.
And if that was true...
Marshall might be able to develop Heat-Ray Magic!
"Hehehe..."
The reason his Light Magic lacked truly destructive offensive power was that the spectrum of light it produced remained too stable.
Marshall couldn’t freely adjust its wavelength or frequency across a sufficiently wide range.
Information Magic might be able to compensate for that weakness.
If he successfully created Heat-Ray Magic, Marshall would move one step closer to becoming Superman!
Unfortunately, the research wasn’t progressing smoothly.
Combining two distinct magical systems was far more difficult than expected.
Perhaps he truly needed to raise Light Magic to Level Four first.
Still, when one path closed, another often opened.
Although the research conducted by Marshall’s main body had temporarily stalled, his Thought Projection had achieved a new breakthrough in the artificial magical-life experiment...