Lucy's Improvement Plan

Lucy sat at the dining table, her bottom squirming as if it had thorns, and she poked at the food in her bowl with her chopsticks for ages without managing to pick up more than a few bites.

Natsu and Happy were completely oblivious, as the dragon and the cat were busy eating, their cheeks puffed out like hamsters, their chopsticks fighting over the last piece of meat in the plate.

Mirajane nudged Riyao with her elbow and gestured with her chin toward Lucy.

Lucy seems to have something to say.

Riyao followed her gaze and saw Lucy with her head down, her face almost buried in the bowl.

"I thought she needed to use the restroom."

Mirajane poked Riyao's forehead in annoyance.

What are you thinking about?

Natsu, with his sharp ears, heard what Riyao said.

He looked up at Lucy, his mouth full of food, and mumbled a gesture toward the toilet.

"Lucy, do you need to use the restroom? It's over there."

Lucy's face flushed instantly, and she slammed her hand on the table.

"Idiot! Who needs to go to the toilet?!"

"Hey, I just heard Riyao say that."

Natsu swallowed the food in his mouth with a gulp, looking completely puzzled.

Did he say something wrong?

A burst of laughter erupted at the dining table.

Lisanna smiled and shook her head, then thoughtfully asked Lucy.

"Lucy, is something wrong? Just say it, we're all family."

"That's right, that's right..."

Lucy started fidgeting again, twisting her fingers together and glancing at Riyao sitting opposite her every now and then out of the corner of her eye.

This scene precisely triggered Happy's underlying code.

Without the slightest hesitation, Happy instinctively clicked his tongue.

"They're having an affair!!"

The next second, Happy was caught in Mirajane's hand. Mirajane looked at him with a smile, her eyes strangely kind.

"Oh? Happy, what are you talking about?"

Happy made two "ooh" sounds, its limbs flailing wildly in the air, its eyes filled with terror as if it had seen the end of the world.

Mirajane turned to look at Lucy, Lucy frantically waved her hands, her face turning pale.

"No, no, no! I wanted to ask about Celestial Spirit Magic! Really!"

"Just say it next time, okay?"

"Uh-huh..."

Lucy nodded frantically like a chick pecking at rice, afraid that if she nodded too slowly she would be stared at by Mirajane's "nuclearly kind" eyes.

Riyao twitched the corner of his mouth.

This Happy hopeless; he just never learns his lesson.

Natsu continued eating, head down, without even looking up.

Hobbits are nothing Happy rice.

After dinner, Happy tied Mirajane up and hung him from the Parasol Tree in the yard, where he swayed back and forth like a little wind chime.

"I made a mistake, I'm sorry..."

Happy swayed listlessly.

Carla shook her head. That stupid tomcat deserved it.

Mirajane clapped her hands and sat back down in her chair. Riyao picked up a piece of fish with his chopsticks and held it to her lips.

Open your mouth, ah.

Mirajane obediently opened her mouth and ate the fish.

Riyao then turned to look at Lucy, somewhat puzzled.

"Asking about Celestial Spirit Magic? Isn't it just taking out the key and saying 'open the door'? Besides, what's there to be embarrassed about? Being all coy and hesitant, just like Gray last time."

Gray, who was at home, sneezed and realized his clothes were missing, so he started looking for them.

Lucy scratched her head and chuckled awkwardly.

"I saw Gray's pig tattoo last time, so I'm a little..."

Oh! You want to get a pig tattoo too!

Riyao suddenly realized.

No, no!

Lucy nearly jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, her face turning red all the way to the roots of her neck.

Riyao stopped teasing her, put away his joking expression, and began to think seriously.

"Celestial Spirit Magic is a type of magic that relies on possession; frankly, it doesn't require much skill. As long as you have enough magic power, you can open Double Gate Opening or three doors. I've already given you the method for learning the Star Dress, so why are you still thinking of taking shortcuts...?"

He paused, mentally reviewing the principles of several types of magic.

"By the way, it can be done like Take Over Magic."

Mirajane's eyes lit up, and he quickly understood what Riyao wanted to say.

"Like partial reception, right? That's certainly possible; it would save a lot of magic power."

Lisanna and Elfman both nodded.

"Although my brother Elfman and I can both receive the full force, in battle we only manage to resolve situations by partially receiving the force."

"A real man should learn to conserve magic!"

Elfman swallowed the food in his mouth, tilted his head back and shouted, his fists clenched tightly.

Wendy and Carla shook their heads, clearly unfazed by Elfman's "manly declaration."

The Riyao, the morning Lucy.

"Give me the Star Dress learning scroll I gave you before, I'll revise it."

Lucy took a scroll out of her small bag and handed it to Riyao.

The scroll looked old, with frayed edges, clearly having been handled quite a bit.

Riyao unfurled the scroll, which was densely covered with the cultivation methods for the Star Dress.

He stared at it for a few seconds, then picked up a pen and started scribbling and revising on it.

Mirajane also leaned closer to look, her eyes following the movement of Riyao's pen tip.

Suddenly she pointed to the spot that Riyao had just modified.

"That's not how it's supposed to be."

"Emmm, that's good enough. Lucy won't be able to tell anyway."

Riyao casually remarked, and continued making corrections.

Lucy's eyes widened, and she slammed her hand on the table, standing up.

"Hey!! Don't change it randomly!! What if I accidentally die from practicing a split?!"

"Isn't that because I'm the kingdom's number one healing mage?"

Riyao didn't even look up.

"Don't use me to inflate your sales figures!!"

Lucy broke down and wailed.

Ignoring Lucy's protests, Riyao and Mirajane huddled together, continuing to modify the scroll.

They would occasionally exchange a few words, pointing at a particular rune, arguing about it, and then continue making changes.

Lucy watched in horror.

The two of them revised faster and faster, as if they were having a competition to see who could write the fastest.

Mirajane made a change, and Riyao added a comment next to it. Riyao drew a circuit, and Mirajane added another annotation.

After some modifications, the scroll was filled with densely packed new content.

Riyao blew the ink away with satisfaction and handed it to Lucy.

"Alright, take it back and practice it properly. But this is only a temporary solution; increasing your magic power is the key. If your magic pool isn't deep enough, all techniques are useless."

Lucy took the scroll, her expression as complicated as if she had just eaten a whole lemon.

"Did you add anything unnecessarily?"

"You don't believe me, but you don't believe my Mira either?"

Mirajane, standing next to Riyao, raised his little head, a "I'm a professional" expression on his face.

Lucy glanced down at the scroll; it contained at least twice the amount of information, with dense annotations and arrows that made her dizzy just looking at it.

"That's more than double the original amount?! Is that right?!"

"Don't be fooled by Mirajane, Lisanna, and Elfman's ability to Take Over Magic into thinking it's simple and easy to understand. It involves very complex things: how magic circuits are reconstructed, how the body adapts to external magic, where the critical point for the absorption ratio is... it's all about the details."

As Riyao spoke, the three Strauss sisters all raised their heads in unison, looking very proud.

Natsu glanced at the scroll, then immediately turned his head away.

"Dragon Slayer Magic is still the best; it's simple and easy to understand."

Riyao gave Natsu a disdainful look.

Then I silently gave Igneel a thumbs up in my mind.

The Fire Dragon King truly deserves to be called a top-tier teacher in the dragon world for being able to teach Natsu Dragon Slayer Magic.

It's simply a miracle in the history of education.