Chapter 41
Marshall had not been in the best mood lately.
He had run into quite a few problems—of several different varieties.
The first involved his progress as a Mage.
After learning Take Over Magic, Marshall had deliberately stopped picking up new spells.
Partly, he wanted to save his Inspiration, but he also needed time to consolidate and develop his core abilities.
His current basic status looked like this:
[Energy: 72/72]
[Stamina: 64/64]
[Magic Power: 2,690/2,890]
The highest-level skill on his panel was still:
[Telepathy Magic LV4: 110,182/10,000,000 — 1.1%]
Next came:
[Meditation LV3: 187,254/1,000,000 — 18.7%]
After that were his central abilities. Since the numbers were becoming unwieldy, the System had begun displaying their progress as percentages instead.
[Spatial Magic LV3: 14.7%]
[Script Magic LV3: 13.4%]
[Magic Power Control LV3: 13.1%]
[Light Magic LV3: 10.4%]
Then there were the spells he had forcibly raised with Inspiration while researching Summoning Card Magic:
[Soul Magic LV3: 1.2%]
[Link Magic LV3: 0.7%]
[Contract Magic LV3: 0.4%]
Beyond those, he possessed several secondary abilities outside his main skill set:
[Enhancement Magic LV2]
[Molding Magic LV2]
[Gravity Magic LV2]
[Transformation Magic LV2]
[Wind Magic LV2]
He could not be bothered to list the enormous pile of Level One spells beneath them.
Marshall knew far too many kinds of magic.
By now, he had learned at least the basics of nearly every spell used by someone in Fairy Tail.
There was Memory Magic LV1, Dance Magic LV1, and even Spirit Channeling Magic, which had eventually been absorbed into Soul Magic as experience.
Finally, there was:
[Inspiration: 440,652]
Marshall had been in a good mood for most of the past few months, so he had already regained almost everything he spent earlier.
At his current rate—roughly six hundred thousand points per year—he should be able to raise Meditation to Level Four before the end of the year.
Everything appeared to be progressing steadily.
Unfortunately, the problem Marshall had encountered was not displayed on the panel.
His magic power was growing more slowly.
Since he placed great importance on increasing his reserves, Marshall had deliberately extended the amount of time he spent meditating.
He had also invested a significant amount of Inspiration into the skill.
But none of that mattered if his Meditation could no longer produce meaningful results before reaching the next level.
Level Three Meditation was already extremely effective.
Among Fairy Tail’s younger generation, only Erza, Mirajane, and Cana now possessed more magic power than Marshall.
His sensitivity toward magic power had also grown considerably, which was why he noticed that each meditation session had recently begun producing less progress.
Marshall immediately went to Makarov for advice.
The Guild Master gave him a simple explanation.
His body was too weak.
Gildarts had already emphasized the importance of physical conditioning, and Marshall had accepted his advice.
He went jogging almost every morning, and his Body Conditioning LV1 had already reached 35.6%.
Morning runs!
Marshall had never managed to maintain that habit in his previous life.
He considered his current self extraordinarily disciplined and occasionally praised himself for the achievement.
Apparently, that amount of exercise was still nowhere near enough.
Marshall was deeply unhappy about this discovery.
Physical training was exhausting and time-consuming.
Compared to efficient methods of gaining experience such as writing, hovering, or maintaining a transformation, Body Conditioning offered an absolutely miserable return on investment.
Fairy Tail contained plenty of muscle-brained idiots who became happier whenever training made them stronger.
Marshall was not one of them.
He preferred the satisfaction of understanding new knowledge.
Unfortunately, Mages in this world could not become powerful by reading books alone.
A body that lacked sufficient strength could not contain an ever-growing quantity of magic power.
If one’s reserves exceeded what the body could endure, the magic itself would begin causing physical damage.
That did not feel magical at all.
Marshall now had only two options.
The first was to allow his magic power to increase naturally while turning his attention toward researching other spells.
As he grew older and his body matured, the amount of magic power he could hold would rise on its own.
The second was to strengthen his body directly.
He could throw himself into some Saitama-style hellish workout, stimulate his growth, eat more, and develop quickly enough to raise his physical limits.
Marshall had no patience to wait for adulthood, so the first choice was unacceptable.
Even if he managed to raise Meditation to Level Four, it would be useless if his body could not handle the resulting growth.
He had no intention of slowing the pace at which he became stronger.
But neither did he want to spend every day miserably performing inefficient physical exercises.
Wouldn’t that turn him into some crude martial brute?
Therefore, Marshall began searching for a form of magic that could strengthen his body simply through practicing it.
He assumed that a spell capable of giving him everything he wanted would be extremely rare.
Instead, he found one almost immediately.
It had been directly beneath his nose the entire time.
The legendary Ancient Lost Magic—Dragon Slayer Magic!
Natsu’s magic.
Marshall had intended to learn it before, but he became so busy that the idea slipped his mind.
Dragon Slayer Magic could dramatically strengthen the caster’s body.
Natsu was absurdly difficult to injure.
The idiot habitually provoked every member of the guild and was regularly beaten unconscious by Erza, yet he would return the following morning in perfect health and immediately begin provoking everyone again.
His vitality barely seemed human.
Unfortunately, Marshall and Natsu were not particularly compatible.
One was publicly regarded as Fairy Tail’s perfectly behaved little darling.
The other was Magnolia’s ultimate menace.
Marshall was also close friends with Natsu’s sworn enemy, Gray, so his relationship with Natsu was...
Well, it was not exactly bad.
It was merely average.
That was why Marshall had overlooked the treasure sitting right beside him.
Now that his magic-power growth had begun slowing, however, he had no choice but to approach Natsu.
...
Marshall entered the guildhall and first checked to see who was fighting.
Unsurprisingly, Natsu was involved.
He and Gray had started another brawl.
Apparently, Natsu had been using his flames to cook some meat when Gray leaned over and blew the fire out.
Come to think of it, Marshall rarely ate at the guildhall anymore now that he had Virgo.
The all-purpose maid’s cooking was simply too good.
Marshall waited until the latest round of fighting ended, then floated over to Natsu while holding a multicolored flame in his palm.
"Natsu, don’t be angry anymore. Here, try this."
"Huh? Oh, it’s you, Marshall." Natsu leaned toward the flame curiously. "What kind of fire is that? Let me taste—WHOOOAAA!"
His eyes exploded with excitement.
"THAT’S AMAZING! Why does it taste so good?! Do you have any more?!"
"I do. I’ll make you another one."
Marshall knew Natsu could replenish his magic power and stimulate his body’s vitality by eating flames.
He had studied the process out of curiosity before, but aside from discovering that flames containing magic power tasted better, he had learned very little.
The colorful flame in his hand contained tiny traces of several elemental attributes.
Starlight, lightning, ice, metal, wood, water, fire, earth—he had mixed a little of everything into it.
It was hardly surprising that Natsu found the flavor interesting.
"I’ve never eaten fire this good before!" Natsu grabbed Marshall by both shoulders and shook him wildly.
"How did you make it?!"
Marshall felt like crying.
He really could not endure this level of enthusiasm!
"Oi! You flaming idiot, let go of Marshall!"
"Hah?!" Natsu whipped around toward Gray. "You stripping freak! Marshall came here to see me! What does it have to do with you?"
"If you want to bully Marshall, you’ll have to get through me first!"
"I’m not bullying him! Did you freeze your own brain?!"
The two looked ready to begin their second round.
Marshall hurried between them.
"Stop fighting. I really did come because I needed something from Natsu."
"You hear that? Get lost, ice-for-brains!" Natsu threw an arm around Marshall’s shoulders and laughed triumphantly.
"Marshall is my buddy now! Hahahaha!"
A vein throbbed on Marshall’s forehead.
’Calm down. He’s only a child. There’s no reason to argue with him.’
"Natsu, could you teach me your magic?" Marshall asked. "I’m very interested in Dragon Slayer Magic."
"Sure! No problem!"
Natsu agreed without hesitation, then scratched his head.
"Uh... I should warn you first, though. I have no idea how to teach anybody. If you can’t understand me, you can’t blame me!"
"That’s fine. Just show me whatever you know."
Marshall smiled.
"I’ll figure out the rest myself."