Chapter 454: Both of Them Are Monsters
"Grandpa, aren't you coming with us?" Noah asked, looking a bit puzzled.
"If all of you leave, who is going to watch the guild?!" Makarov shot Noah a thoroughly exasperated glare.
"Grandpa, did you completely forget about my Thought Projections?" Noah couldn't help but slap his forehead. With a faint glow, a Thought Projection stepped right out of his body.
Makarov froze for a second, suddenly realizing that he had indeed completely forgotten about Noah's incredibly convenient magic.
"Alright, Grandpa, you're coming with us to Tenrou Island. Once we wake the First Master, I can just teleport you back if you want to return," Noah said. He then turned to Sorano and the others, "As for the First Master's condition, I'll explain it when we actually see her."
"Then hurry up and take us to Tenrou Island!" Sorano urged, her face full of impatience.
"I'll take us there right now."
With a wave of Noah's hand, the entire group vanished from the spot. Meanwhile, Noah's Thought Projection casually walked out of the room and headed downstairs to handle the guild's administrative affairs.
When everyone opened their eyes again, they found themselves standing on a lush island. Looking up, their gazes were instantly drawn to the impossibly colossal tree towering in the center of the island.
"Incredible! I can feel the air absolutely brimming with magic power!" Mirajane gasped in awe.
She felt as if she had just stepped into the guild's specially designed underground training facility. But the difference was that this was an entire island, and a rather large one at that. For the ambient magic in the open air to rival a concentrated, artificially constructed training ground, the sheer density of magic here was almost unfathomable.
"Of course. This is our guild's holy ground. It wouldn't be right if it wasn't special," Noah smiled.
"The environment here is gorgeous," Ultear remarked, looking around at the lush, untouched nature.
"Naturally. No humans live here normally, just some large native beasts, so the ecosystem is perfectly preserved," Noah explained.
"I still remember when you came here to take your S-Class promotion exam and successfully became an S-Class mage. I can't believe so many years have passed in the blink of an eye," Laxus said, his voice laced with heavy nostalgia.
"Yeah, Laxus and I stood off to the side and watched Noah's exam back then. We couldn't believe a kid that small was actually participating in the S-Class trials, let alone passing them," Cana nodded in agreement.
"Who was the examiner back then?" Sorano asked curiously.
"Who else? My stupid old man," Cana rolled her eyes, shooting a withering glare at Gildarts.
"Cana-chaaan~ How could you say that about your own father?!" Gildarts covered his face with his right hand, pretending to be heartbroken.
Cana's eye twitched violently before she turned back to Sorano and the others. "Though, to be fair, it was also during that exam that Gildarts and I finally acknowledged each other as father and daughter."
"Cana-chaaan~!" Hearing Cana say that, Gildarts immediately dropped his hand and lunged forward for a hug.
Cana swiftly planted a hand flat against his face, physically holding him at bay.
"So, what was the outcome of Noah and Gildarts's fight back then?" Erza asked Noah, completely unfazed by the father-daughter duo's daily routine.
"I lost, obviously. I didn't manage to put a single scratch on Gildarts," Noah chuckled.
No one was surprised by that result. Noah had only been eight years old at the time. If an eight-year-old had managed to injure a monster like Gildarts, that would have been terrifying.
"Even so, Noah had already met the fundamental requirements of an S-Class mage, so I naturally let him pass," Gildarts chimed in. He had stopped goofing around and now wore a serious expression. Cana also stopped pushing him away and simply stood comfortably by his side.
"Alright, let's go wake the First Master," Makarov announced.
Under Makarov's lead, the group walked inland until they arrived in front of a lone gravestone.
"This is the grave of our First Master, Mavis," Makarov told the group.
"Wait, where is the First Master? Don't tell me she's that glowing orb in the middle of the gravestone?" Sorano examined the sphere of light hovering directly within the monument. It was certainly the most bizarre feature here; normal graves didn't have floating orbs of light. Considering Noah had mentioned Mavis's state was "strange"—neither truly alive nor dead—it was only natural to assume she was the orb itself.
The others shared similar thoughts, all staring intently at the glowing sphere.
"Haha, that's not the First Master. That is Fairy Glitter," Noah said. He reached out and gently tapped the orb. His hand was instantly repelled, and two lines of glowing text materialized above the gravestone.
"One of the Three Great Fairy Magics... Fairy Glitter is sealed here," Cana read the text aloud.
"Is this where you learned Fairy Glitter?" Ultear asked.
"Yeah. After my exam ended, the First Master taught it to me. I learned quite a few things from her back then. That was also when I learned the other two Great Fairy Magics: Fairy Law and Fairy Sphere," Noah explained. He then turned back to the gravestone. "I'll wake her up now."
With a swift motion of his finger, Noah traced a golden magic circle in the air, which flared brightly before fading away.
"That's it?" Sorano couldn't help but ask when Noah simply stood there afterward.
"Yep, that's it. Now we just wait for her to wake up," Noah smiled.
The group stood quietly, but they didn't have to wait long. A melodious, pleasant girl's voice suddenly echoed in their ears:
"Are you... Noah? How many years has it been?"
Immediately after, a petite figure with long, flowing blonde hair stepped straight out of the gravestone and materialized before them.
"It has been twelve years, First Master," Noah smiled warmly at the ethereal girl.
"You have grown so much! Time really does fly," Mavis sighed in amazement, looking up at Noah, who was now more than a full head taller than her.
It felt like just a blink of an eye ago that Noah was significantly shorter than her, yet now he towered over her. Witnessing this physical manifestation of the passage of time left her feeling slightly dazed.
After closing her eyes for a moment to steady her mind, Mavis looked at Noah and Makarov. "So, why have you awakened me? Is there a crisis the guild cannot resolve?"
"No, everything in the guild is perfectly fine. It's just that I want to use Tenrou Island as the venue for this year's S-Class promotion exams, so I came to ask for your permission, First Master," Makarov shook his head.
"Of course you can!" Mavis agreed without a second thought. She then looked at Laxus and the rest of the group behind them. "Are these the guild members participating in the exam?"
"No, they are all already S-Class mages who passed the exams previously," Noah said with a grin.
"All of them?!" Mavis's eyes instantly sparkled.
To think every single person here was an S-Class mage! She recognized Gildarts from twelve years ago; back then, his strength was already astonishing, but now, she could sense that his power had become unfathomably deep.
She also noticed the two women with dark purple hair were clearly mother and daughter, and she could feel an astonishing amount of magic radiating from the older woman (Ur). The rest of the group was incredibly young, practically bursting with vibrant, youthful energy.
Having witnessed Noah's S-Class exam firsthand, Mavis knew very well that the guild's promotion trials were no joke. Anyone who passed was guaranteed to be extraordinarily powerful. Seeing so many young, talented mages bearing the S-Class mantle filled her heart with boundless joy. She flashed a brilliant, radiant smile at Makarov.
"Third, you have managed the guild wonderfully!"
"Haha..." Makarov scratched the back of his head, looking slightly embarrassed but deeply proud of Mavis's praise.
"Let's conjure up some seats and catch up properly," Noah suggested.
No one had any objections. With a wave of his hand, Noah teleported everyone to a scenic spot by the shore and instantly constructed several wooden tables and chairs.
Once seated, Noah and Makarov began recounting the major events that had transpired over the past twelve years, with the others chiming in occasionally to add details. Mavis listened with rapt attention, the warm smile never leaving her face.
By the time they finished catching her up, several hours had already passed.
Realizing how late it was getting, Makarov hastily excused himself, asking Noah to send him back to the guild. Gildarts also decided to head back, so Noah teleported the two of them first.
Upon returning, Noah opened Archive, projecting a holographic blueprint for his planned modifications to Tenrou Island.
"First Master, this is the blueprint for the upgrades I'm planning for Tenrou Island."
Mavis barely even glanced at the blueprint. Instead, her eyes were locked onto the floating holographic screens of Archive, glittering with sheer fascination. "What kind of magic is this?! I have never seen anything like it before!"
"It's a relatively new magic developed in recent years called Archive. The principle is converting information and data into a magical format..." Noah gave her a brief rundown of how Archive functioned.
"That is incredible!" Mavis looked entirely mesmerized.
Seeing her reaction, Noah smiled. "If you want to learn it, First Master, I can teach you."
"Really?!" Meredy's eyes went wide, staring at Noah.
Noah nodded seriously. "Even though I learned this magic from the Magic Council's archives, there's no rule against teaching it to others. Since this magic is purely for data management and lacks both offensive and defensive capabilities—along with having very low general combat utility—not many people bother learning it."
"This magic is incredibly useful! If utilized correctly, it could massively elevate one's capabilities across the board," Mavis stated with absolute certainty. The moment she understood the principles and effects of the magic, her genius mind had already formulated dozens of revolutionary ways to apply it.
"That's true, but unfortunately, the vast majority of mages only have the capacity to master one or two types of magic. They simply don't have the time or energy to learn auxiliary spells," Noah shook his head. Since most mages were limited, they naturally prioritized magic with high destructive power, strong defense, or versatile combat applications. A purely administrative spell like Archive, which offered no direct combat benefits, was naturally ignored.
Mavis nodded in understanding; she knew the limits of modern mages all too well.
"Let me look at your blueprint first," Mavis said, finally turning her attention to the holographic projection of Tenrou Island.
"I don't quite understand this part here..."
It didn't take Mavis long to analyze the entire blueprint. However, Noah had incorporated several new, highly advanced magical theories that hadn't existed during her time, prompting her to ask questions.
Taking one look at what confused her, Noah immediately understood the issue. "First Master, the parts you don't understand utilize modern magical developments that were discovered over the past few decades. It's only natural you wouldn't recognize them. How about this: I'll teach you the Archive magic first, then directly transfer all the modern magical data and research I've compiled into your database. Once you finish reviewing it, we can discuss the island's modifications."
"That sounds wonderful!" Mavis beamed excitedly at the prospect of learning new magic and devouring decades of unknown research.
Without bothering to move away from the group, Noah immediately began teaching Mavis the fundamentals of Archive.
Curious about this highly convenient magic Noah constantly used, Ultear, Sorano, and the others stuck around to listen to the lesson.
However, they very quickly realized they had made a terrible mistake. They couldn't even remotely keep up with the processing speed of those two.
At first, they managed to follow along. But soon, Noah would explain a concept, and while the rest of them were still furrowing their brows trying to process it, Mavis had already mastered it and was firing back questions about advanced, theoretical extrapolations. Noah would answer instantly, diving straight into the next high-level concept before anyone else had even digested the previous one.
Within minutes, the rest of the S-Class mages found themselves entirely lost, listening to what sounded like an alien language. Defeated, they silently walked away, realizing that standing next to those two was just a brutal blow to their self-esteem.
"I knew Noah was a freak of nature when it came to magic, but I didn't expect the First Master to be just as freakishly smart!" Sorano complained to Ultear and the others.
"The First Master is a legendary genius. She single-handedly modified and created the Three Great Fairy Magics," Laxus pointed out. "If I remember correctly, the First Master was born in X673, and Fairy Tail was founded in April of X686. That means she established Fairy Tail when she was only thirteen years old. And her recorded year of death is X697... meaning she was only twenty-four."
Hearing Laxus's explanation, everyone's jaws dropped in shock. They had no idea she had founded Fairy Tail at such an incredibly young age, nor that she had "died" so early. No wonder she still looked like a teenager.
"Wait, have none of you actually read any of these records? This is basic guild history. It's literally sitting in the guild's library," Laxus's mouth twitched as he looked at their stunned faces.
"Ahaha... well, whenever we go to the library, it's usually just to look up information for our quests. We've never actually read the historical archives," Sorano laughed awkwardly.
The others nodded in equally awkward agreement. Whenever they visited the library, it was strictly for mission prep; none of them had ever bothered to read up on the guild's actual history.
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