"I've got it covered!"
Mavis patted her chest and agreed immediately.
She was actually looking forward to it—looking forward to seeing the standout talents of this new era appear before her so she could judge for herself which one she liked best.
As a spirit, Mavis was not someone just anyone could see.
One had to possess a certain level of strength before they could truly perceive her existence.
That alone already served as a screening test.
If they could not even see Mavis, then there was really no need to proceed any further—unless Mavis herself chose to make an exception.
An examiner had her own will and personal preferences.
If there happened to be a contestant she particularly liked, then Mavis could naturally reveal herself in person, teach that child magic, and let them pass her trial.
Although it was said that anyone bearing the Fairy Tail guild mark could see Mavis, that only applied when she was not deliberately hiding herself.
If she truly chose to conceal herself, even Makarov would not be able to detect her.
Of course, this time Mavis definitely would not hide with her full power.
Otherwise, the youngsters could search until the end of time and still never find her.
...
After settling things with Mavis, Marco returned to the guild and organized everyone to head for Tenrou Island for the exam.
At this very moment, Mavis was surely already watching everything unfold.
This exam would absolutely be the one in which the First Guild Master had the strongest sense of involvement, because this time she had the authority to personally eliminate candidates.
In the past, although Marco would occasionally come by, chatting a bit with the "old relic" when he had nothing better to do, studying Tenrou Island and that enormous Tenrou Tree, Mavis never really felt much "involved."
At most, Marco would casually tell her a few things about how the guild was developing now.
But this time was different.
Mavis felt as though she had truly returned to the guild once again. It made the heart that had long since gone quiet seem to start beating anew.
Just as Marco had said, maybe she really could try leaving Tenrou Island, walking through the outside world, and returning to the Fairy Tail guild hall for a look?
Mavis had already started entertaining that thought.
The present-day Fairy Tail might actually be very interesting.
More than eighty years had passed. The old faces were gone, and the world had changed, but every new generation had its own story.
Watching the stories of Fairy Tail's new members unfold might actually be fun.
Mavis found herself secretly tempted.
"I doubt I need to go over the exam rules again, do I?"
Standing at the bow of the ship and looking at the guildmates below, Marco began his final summary.
The exam was about to officially begin.
Mirajane, Erza, Gildarts, and Makarov had all gone ahead first, already returning to their respective positions.
"You just need to move forward, forward, and keep moving forward. There are three stages in total. If you clear them all, you'll become an S-Class Wizard. Go all out—don't hold anything back!"
Marco briefly explained the exam setup, then waved his hand and officially declared the test begun.
Just like before, the first step was to figure out a way onto Tenrou Island. The only difference this time was that people would not be eliminated so quickly.
As long as they could reach the island within the allotted time, it counted.
Freed, who had been standing by the edge of the ship all along, jumped out first.
And the instant he leaped, he used a spell.
"Runes: No disembarking!"
Freed's move was absolutely shameless.
He himself jumped off the ship, then used Dark Écriture: Wings to sprout wings and fly off—while using runes to prevent the other guild members from leaving the ship.
"What the heck?! Freed, you bastard!"
Natsu and Happy lunged forward at once, only to slam straight into the invisible barrier of the rune field.
The boy and the cat both clutched their heads and stared in disbelief at Freed flying away.
No one had expected him to pull something like this.
"Don't panic. It'll unlock in five minutes."
After flying off, Freed tossed down that one line, then ignored everyone else and flapped his wings straight toward Tenrou Island.
"Marco! This is allowed?!"
Cana looked at Marco, a little flustered.
She had never imagined something like this to happen!
"Of course it is. I said not to hold anything back. As long as you don't deliberately injure your comrades, any method is fair game."
Standing at the bow, Marco gave his answer with a smile.
Naturally, he was not going to stop Freed. This was a perfectly normal move and did not violate the rules of the exam.
"So this is allowed too?!"
Everyone was stunned, but there was nothing they could do about it.
Freed really had not hurt them.
The rune simply limited the time they could leave the ship—it had no offensive power whatsoever.
"Freed's runes... aren't going to be easy to break."
Gray's expression turned serious.
He tried testing it, and if they wanted to force their way through by brute strength, it would probably cost a fair amount of magic power.
If everyone was going to have to wait five minutes anyway, then wasting magic power was pointless.
They might as well let Freed get a head start.
Buzz!
"Evergreen is permitted to pass."
Gray had just decided to wait and conserve strength when, on the other side, Evergreen rewrote the rune's rules.
With fairy wings spreading behind her, she flew straight out.
"What?! Since when was that possible?!"
Gray's jaw dropped. How was there someone else who could get a head start?!
"I've spent enough time with Freed, and gone on enough jobs with him, that rewriting a rune field at this level isn't a problem for me."
Evergreen gave a sly smile, tossed back that line, and then flew off as well—only one minute behind Freed.
All eyes immediately turned in unison toward Bickslow.
If Evergreen could rewrite the rune, then what about Bickslow?
He was also one of the Thunder God Tribe, also always with Freed, also always on missions with him.
Maybe he could do it too—
They had already missed the chance and let Evergreen get away.
They absolutely could not let Bickslow get away too. He had to take everyone else out with him!
"Why are you all looking at me? I seriously can't do it! Who said you automatically learn your teammates' magic? Other people's magic is hard to learn!"
Bickslow immediately grew awkward under everyone's stares and hurried to explain himself.
Not everyone had the talent to learn multiple kinds of magic!
Most people already had a hard enough time just developing their own magic well—where would they find the energy to study someone else's?
"Only Lucy and Hisui are permitted to pass!"
Bickslow had just finished explaining when, on the other side, Lucy and Hisui had already reconstructed the rune field again.
The two of them jumped off the ship together.
Though they were a little slower than Evergreen, they had only taken one extra minute.
Everyone else still had three more minutes to wait.
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