The First Round of the Exam Ends
Laxus stared expressionlessly at the two unconscious figures on the ground, remaining silent for a moment.
He then bent down, picked up Freed and Bickslow in one hand, as if carrying two tattered sacks, and turned to walk towards the meeting point after the first exam.
When Laxus arrived, a considerable number of people had already gathered at the meeting point.
Apart from Jiang Bai, Natsu, and Happy's group, all the other teams that passed or were eliminated have arrived.
Erza looked at the two unconscious Thunder God Tribe that Laxus was carrying, and instead of being surprised, she nodded approvingly.
"As expected, Laxus, you're quite responsible."
"That's great!" Lucy exclaimed, patting her chest in relief.
"We're not the only ones who got eliminated!"
As soon as she finished speaking, two more groups of people walked out of the woods looking dejected.
The two teams, Levy and Gajeel, and Juvia Lisanna, had just decided their match.
"Hey! We lost too." Lisanna was quite philosophical about it, still smiling.
Gray glanced around at the people present and began to calculate silently in his mind.
"So, out of the eight groups, only five passed the first test?"
"Speaking of which," Loke's gaze fell on Elfman, a mocking smile on his face,
"Elfman, I never would have guessed you could beat your sister Mirajane."
When Elfman was called out in public, his manly face instantly turned bright red, and he stammered for a long time, unable to utter a complete sentence.
"This... ah... is because..."
Evergreen, who had been so audacious in making the "marriage declaration" back then, was now blushing and turning her head to the side, not daring to look at the crowd.
Mirajane, ever the understanding one, smiled and came to their rescue.
"It's because Evergreen said that Elfman and I would get married after this assessment. I was a bit at a loss, which gave them the opportunity."
"Marry?!"
"Really?!"
This news instantly caused an uproar among the crowd.
Erza heard the word "marriage," her eyes lit up, and she began to uncontrollably imagine herself wearing a pure white wedding dress when she married Jiang Bai.
As she was thinking, steam began to slowly rise from the top of her head.
"But now that I think about it," Mirajane added with a laugh.
"Evergreen probably just said that on purpose to distract me."
"If it's true, I wish you all the best, Evergreen," Laxus said, unusually.
Just then, Natsu's energetic voice came from not far away.
Jiang Bai, Natsu, and Happy finally arrived.
"Hey! Jiang Bai," Happy flew to Jiang Bai's side and asked, puzzled.
"Since you're coming with us, why did you let Natsu go first?"
Jiang Bai replied matter-of-factly, "Don't you think it would be more meaningful to let those who pass go first, carrying their glory?"
Natsu was clearly in a very good mood at the moment and didn't pay any attention to such a small detail.
He spotted his arch-nemesis, Gray, in the crowd at a glance, and immediately rushed over, mocking him with extreme arrogance:
"Hey! Exhibitionist Gray! You're not the unlucky guy who ran into Uncle Gildarts, are you?"
Gray, not to be outdone, stepped forward and gave a cold snort.
"Hmph! I bet you came with Jiang Bai, so he must have been the examiner you ran into, right? You got a beating, didn't you, with those slanted eyes!"
"Tch!" Natsu puffed out his chest smugly.
"I passed Jiang Bai's test squarely!"
"Ha! I passed Uncle Gildarts' test too!" Gray, equally unwilling to be outdone.
"What?!"
"Natsu actually passed Jiang Bai's test!"
"Gray isn't bad either! He's Gildarts, after all!"
The surrounding companions gasped in disbelief.
You should know that Jiang Bai and Gildarts are recognized as two insurmountable mountains in the guild!
Ignoring the shock of the crowd, Natsu and Gray, the two arch-enemies, directly headbutted each other.
Natsu: "That Gildarts must have gone easy on us!"
Gray: "That's exactly what I was going to say! Jiang Bai must have had a hard time controlling his strength so he wouldn't accidentally kill you!"
Jiang Bai didn't bother with those two clowns and walked straight to Erza and Mirajane.
"Natsu and Gray have both grown to this level."
Erza looked at the two still locked in a standoff and couldn't help but sigh.
"Hmm!" Jiang Bai nodded and commented.
"Natsu and Gray are both very talented. Especially Natsu; as Dragon Slayer, the more excited he is, the stronger he becomes."
"If it really came down to a fight, neither of you two might be a match for Natsu in your current form."
Hearing Jiang Bai's high praise, Erza and Mirajane didn't show any particular reaction on their faces.
For them, hearing that their guildmates have become stronger only brings them genuine joy.
"Wendy," Lucy asked curiously, moving closer to Wendy.
Did you pass too? Who were the examiners?
"We..." Wendy smiled a little shyly.
"We were lucky to have chosen the passage that allowed us to 'go through'."
"Wow! That's so lucky!" Lucy exclaimed enviously.
Natsu and Gray, who were still arguing, also stopped for the time being.
"Speaking of which, I remember Wendy's partner was Mest, right?" Gray recalled.
"Did he take the S-Class Exam before, and almost pass it?"
"That's right!" Elfman also remembered.
"Weren't my brother-in-law the final examiner for the past few years? Mest almost passed him; he's definitely a strong competitor this time! He's a real man!"
Hearing that someone had almost gotten past Jiang Bai, even Laxus couldn't help but glance at the man Mest a couple more times.
However, the more Laxus looked at it, the more awkward it felt.
Although he had previously looked down on most of the guild members, it was undeniable that he remembered the face and name of every single one of them clearly.
But this Mest... he really has absolutely no recollection of her.
Logically speaking, someone who almost passed Jiang Bai's test should be quite capable, not so unremarkable as to go unnoticed, right?
"Speaking of which,"
As the guild's battle maniac, Natsu has challenged almost anyone in the guild with a bit of strength to a duel.
He scratched his head, looking puzzled, and said, "How come I have no recollection of ever fighting this Mest?"
"Hey! I don't remember either," Happy chimed in.
Hearing the crowd's discussion, Mest, who was standing at the edge of the crowd, suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.
His magic is unique. Once the person whose memories have been altered learns the truth that "their memories have been modified," the magic will automatically become ineffective, and all the modified memories will be restored on their own.
He was incredibly nervous, terrified that if these people talked any longer, they would expose his undercover identity.
Fortunately, Natsu and Gray only said a few words casually and quickly returned to their great debate about "who is stronger," without paying any more attention to the matter.
In the crowd, Jiang Bai and Makarov, who had been standing aside silently observing everything, exchanged a glance without saying a word.
But this was the path Mest herself chose.
Let him scare himself then.
Makarov naturally knew Mest's true identity.
He was indeed a member of the Fairy Tail guild, but in order to infiltrate the Magic Council as an undercover agent, he used magic to seal and alter the memories of everyone in the guild, including his own.
Makarov was the only one whose memories were not altered.
As for Jiang Bai, it was because his mental strength was simply too powerful, to an inconceivable degree.
Mest's memory magic, let alone modify it, would be completely crushed by the invisible mental force field just by getting close to Jiang Bai, and it wouldn't be able to affect Jiang Bai's memories in the slightest.
It's kind of funny, actually.
Mest volunteered to Magic Council for the sake of the guild's future.
As a result, because he sealed away his own memories, he now genuinely believes he is a member of the Fairy Magic Council, and goes to great lengths to return to Fairy Tail to Magic Council.
It's unclear what his ultimate goal was in performing this "Mission: Impossible" maneuver.