Learning Magic

The warmth in his arms and that weighty resolve made Jiang Bai's desire to grow stronger more intense than ever.

This was no longer just about surviving in this unfamiliar world.

It was also about protecting.

Protecting the girl who was willing to put on armor for him and stand between him and danger.

After watching Erza dash excitedly toward the woods near the guild, saying she was going to practice her Requip Magic, Jiang Bai walked straight over to Makarov without hesitation. The old man was sitting comfortably at the bar, enjoying a drink.

"Old man."

Jiang Bai's voice was calm, but the seriousness in his eyes made Makarov put down his glass.

"Oh? What is it, little Jiang Bai?"

"I want to learn some magic," Jiang Bai said, getting straight to the point. "Does the guild have any books on mental or spatial magic?"

Makarov's eyes lit up at once.

The boy had barely recovered from his injuries, and he was already eager to learn stronger magic.

That drive was a great comfort to him as guild master.

"Of course we do!" Makarov leaped down from his barstool. "Follow me!"

He led Jiang Bai through the noisy hall to an inconspicuous corner on the guild's second floor and pushed open a heavy wooden door that looked very old.

A distinctive aroma of old paper and ink wafted out to meet them.

Behind the door was an enormous circular space, packed from floor to ceiling with towering bookshelves crammed full of magic books of varying thicknesses.

"This is Fairy Tail's underground library, our pride and joy."

Makarov put his hands on his hips, his voice full of pride. "Almost all the magical knowledge the guild has collected since its founding is stored here."

He paused, then added, "Of course, some magic is too powerful or has special methods of inheritance, so it isn't kept here."

Jiang Bai understood.

It made perfect sense. Fairy Law, for example, was one of Fairy Tail's Three Great Magic. Forbidden magic of that level couldn't possibly be left on a shelf for anyone to peruse.

Though that magic was powerful enough to erase everyone the caster regarded as an "enemy," if the caster lacked the magic power to sustain it, it would consume their own life force instead.

"All right, take your time looking around."

Makarov patted Jiang Bai on the shoulder and said with a chuckle, "There are too many books here, so I won't stay with you. I have to keep an eye on those brats, or they might tear the guild down again."

With that, the old man turned and left, humming a little tune.

Jiang Bai took a deep breath and stepped into this hall of knowledge.

Fortunately, the books here weren't piled up at random.

Every bookshelf bore a clear category label: Elemental Magic, Molding Magic, Take Over Magic, Ancient Magic...

That saved him a great deal of trouble.

He soon found the bookshelf labeled "mental" in a corner.

But when he saw what was on it, he couldn't help freezing.

The entire large bookshelf held only two thin booklets.

One was called Mental Link.

The other was called Mental Perception.

A little puzzled, Jiang Bai first picked up Mental Link and opened it.

The contents were simple. It was a support spell that allowed the user to communicate silently with one or more designated people on a mental level.

It was quite useful for passing information during team missions.

He nodded and put the booklet away, then picked up the other one—Mental Perception.

But after just a couple of glances, his expression turned strange.

The book described in detail how to draw on one's own magic power to sense fluctuations of magic in the surrounding environment, signs of life, and the goodwill or malice others harbored toward oneself.

Th-this is the ability I've been using ever since I came to this world, isn't it?

Sensing that dark mage's location, sensing how Granny Porlyusica had a sharp tongue but a soft heart, sensing Erza's pure desire to protect...

Jiang Bai blinked and flipped through a few more pages.

The book also said that Mental Perception was the foundation of all mental magic. Only after mastering it could one learn more advanced mental spells.

So... this is something you have to learn?

I was born knowing how to do it? And I figured it out without a teacher?

Jiang Bai couldn't help rubbing his chin as the corners of his mouth rose wildly beyond his control.

Sure enough, he was a genius through and through.

Although what Jiang Bai found in the Mental Magic category fell far short of his expectations, and he hadn't found the powerful spells he had imagined that could control minds or create illusions, he still put Mental Link away.

More skills never hurt. He understood that much.

Jiang Bai seemed to have completely forgotten that his Telekinesis, which already allowed him to levitate and fly, was an unattainable, ultra-high-level spell in the eyes of any other mental mage.

Amid a little self-admiration and some disappointment in the guild's collection, he turned his attention to an even rarer category of magic—Space Magic.

Unlike Mental Magic, which at least had two books as well as other books explaining it, the Space Magic bookshelf looked even more desolate.

Jiang Bai searched the entire library before finally finding three ancient-looking books on spatial magic in a dusty corner on the top level.

Space Transfer, Space Cutting, and Space Pouch.

Just those three, and not a single one more.

Jiang Bai first picked up Space Transfer. He could already cast similar magic himself, but that had mostly been an instinctive outburst at the brink of life and death.

The book explained in detail how to establish spatial coordinates for precise, low-cost teleportation, rather than only being able to fix a general direction as he had before.

"This is useful." Jiang Bai nodded and put the book away too.

Next, he opened Space Cutting.

The book's description was simple: compress spatial power into an invisible blade and release it. In theory, it could cut through any substance.

It sounded cool, but Jiang Bai merely curled his lip.

He knew very well that in the world of Fairy Tail, space itself wasn't particularly tough.

A mage on Gildarts's level could use his own terrifying, overwhelming magic power to forcibly scatter and destroy the blade wave from a little trick like this.

Still, it should be quite convenient for clearing out weaker enemies and small fry.

It wasn't much use, but it would be a shame to discard it.

Finally, Jiang Bai's gaze fell on the most inconspicuous-looking book, Space Pouch.

He casually opened it, but after reading only a few lines of the introduction, his eyes lit up and his breathing grew a little quick.

The magic recorded in this book used the caster's own spatial magic power to open an independent subspace of roughly ten square meters around the body.

Most importantly, this subspace remained stationary relative to the caster. In other words, wherever the caster went, the space would follow like a shadow.

Th-this is just like the "space rings" that are everywhere in fantasy novels!

Jiang Bai's heart pounded. This was definitely his biggest gain of the day!

A picture instantly appeared in his mind: one day in the future, Erza was preparing to go on a mission, with a dozen enormous carriages loaded with all kinds of luggage following behind her...

Just thinking about that scene made Jiang Bai feel a little embarrassed.

No, he absolutely couldn't let his Erza go through so much trouble.

With this Space Pouch, Erza would never again have to lug such a huge pile of luggage everywhere she went.

Jiang Bai had even begun planning to find a way to improve the magic once he had mastered it completely, compressing this "portable warehouse" into a real, easy-to-carry "space ring."

When that time came, he would put it on Erza himself.