Three Months of Non-Stop Training

(Many thanks to the donations from 'Bing Yue Ying,' 'Long Tiani,' 'Er Ci Yuan Wo Men De Meng,' 'You Yu,' 'Wo Jin Wei Wo,' 'Ku Qi De Zan Ge,' '703's Rabbit,' 'Yun Qi Qing Gu,' 'Du Zhao Yi Ren,' 'Xiao Zhai,' 'Ba Yun Sheng Ye,' 'Wandering in a World Without You,' 'Shao Feng Ye,' 'Xiong Mao A!,' and 'Wei Lai Yu'!)

(Desperately seeking collections! Recommendations! Clicks! Tomorrow is Friday! Friends! Please lend this book a hand!)

Magnolia, forest riverbank...

The sound of flowing water echoed clearly through the desolate forest.

The chirping of birds and buzzing of insects lingered around, coming and going without end.

A gentle breeze blew softly, carrying away patches of green leaves and stirring up clouds of dust.

Everything felt so natural.

Standing by the riverbank, Noah closed his eyes in a leisurely manner, beads floating in the air around him, bobbing up and down without pause.

If one looked closely, they would notice a faint, hazy light covering the outlines of those beads suspended around Noah. As they rose and fell, the light flickered between bright and dim, exuding an extraordinary mystery.

No one knew how long this scene had persisted, nor how much time had passed with Noah remaining in this state, leaving the surroundings steeped in silence.

Until, at some point, the arrival of a figure finally broke the stillness.

Following the path she had walked continuously for three months and had grown thoroughly familiar with, Erza arrived at the riverbank. She looked at Noah's back—his eyes shut tight, beads floating around him—and couldn't help but smile.

"Just like before, you're much earlier than me..."

The corners of Noah's mouth curled up slightly as well. With a flicker of his mind, the beads floating around him drifted downward, as if carried by invisible hands.

Once all the beads had gently settled on the ground, Noah opened his eyes and turned around.

"Can't be helped. Since you have to start learning swordsmanship as soon as you get here, if I weren't earlier, wouldn't I have no time to train my magic control?"

Though over these three months, Noah had been training his swordsmanship with Erza in this secret base known to no one else, striving to gain some combat ability, he knew where his true advantage lay.

Magic!

The immense magic power within him, unmatched by others, was what truly made Noah strong!

Naturally, Noah wouldn't abandon his real strength just to learn some sword techniques. Even though he had to train in swordsmanship with Erza every day, he still set aside plenty of time to continue honing his magic control.

Learning swordsmanship gave Noah a certain degree of combat ability.

Learning magic, with his terrifyingly powerful magic reserves, could make him a mage whom even Makarov believed would eventually be surpassed.

Add to that the fact that magic was the mainstream of this world—all these factors told Noah not to put the cart before the horse.

Thus, Noah was good at arranging his time reasonably for training in various areas.

This also meant that over these three months, not only had his magic control improved significantly, but his swordsmanship had also made considerable progress.

"Diligence is a good thing, and it's just like you. Unlike Gray, who only knows to challenge me to duels all day—with that kind of time, he'd be better off training!"

Over three months, spending at least twelve hours together every day and growing together had made Noah and Erza the people who understood each other best in Fairy Tail. They were naturally the most aware of each other's progress in strength.

So Erza didn't waste any more words. She stretched out her hand, and a glow of magic blossomed in her palm, forming a Knight Sword that dropped into her grasp.

"Then, let's begin today's training!"

Noah nodded, crouching down to pick up a sheathed Knight Sword lying on the ground, and smiled at Erza.

"It seems that over these three months, you've improved not only in swordsmanship but also in Requip Magic—it's gotten much smoother. Your latest Requip speed is nearly twice as fast as before!"

"Using it every day for three months naturally leads to progress!" Erza pointed her Knight Sword at Noah, a fighting spirit rising in her resolute eyes. "Don't think you're the only one who's improved in areas other than swordsmanship!"

Hearing Erza's almost confrontational words, Noah knew she was getting fired up. He slowly withdrew his expression, becoming calm and impassive, his hand resting on the sword's hilt.

With a clear scraping sound of the blade against the sheath, Noah's right hand—bearing the Fairy Tail guild mark on its back—drew out the Knight Sword. Its guard was slightly curved, the blade long and narrow, shimmering like ice, and its sharp tip pointed at Erza across from him.

"Come!"

As the words fell, the two small figures standing face to face vanished from their spots at the same time.

"Clang—!"

Almost instantly, a sharp clash of steel rang out in the center of the field. A fierce shockwave burst forth, blowing away stones, dust, and fallen leaves within several meters of the impact point, clearing an empty circle.

Gripping his Knight Sword tightly, Noah looked up at the other Knight Sword thrusting toward him like a venomous snake. He took a light breath and swung his sword with force.

"Ding—!"

The incoming sword's tip struck the blade of Noah's Knight Sword dead-on, but under the heavy swing, it was pressed back into a dangerously sharp arc, the tip nearly grazing Erza's hand on the hilt.

"As expected of a boy, you've got quite the strength!"

Having suffered a slight disadvantage at the first contact, Erza was not alarmed but smiled instead. Her grip on the sword tightened, and with a subtle motion, the Knight Sword being pressed by Noah twisted oddly. Its tip scraped across Noah's blade, sending sparks flying, then suddenly thrust forward fiercely.

"Hah—!" As the sword moved, Erza let out a low shout. A surge of magic erupted from the blade, twisting like serpentine arcs of lightning, crackling with a 'sizzling' sound.

Seeing Erza directly use magic, Noah was startled.

Everyone in the world knew that magic was the fuel for casting spells—only those with magic could use it to fight.

But in truth, aside from being fuel for magic, magic power had many other uses. Converting pure magic into energy to power tools and devices was common everywhere in this world.

Beyond that, those who could use magic could also enhance their physical abilities to a certain extent with pure magic.

And that was exactly what Erza was doing now.

Although using magical power in this way was certainly far weaker than using the same amount of mana to cast an equivalent strengthening spell, it was still better than nothing.

At the very least, with Erza's magical support, the natural disadvantage of men having greater physical strength than women was completely eliminated—in fact, her force even surpassed Noah's.

"How underhanded! You know full well I can't use magic freely!"

Somewhat embarrassed and angry, Noah took a step back, raising the Knight Sword in his hand. It whistled through the air with a sharp gust as he viciously slashed toward the long sword thrusting at him.

Clang!

The Knight Swords collided violently an instant later, and the immense force acted upon both of them simultaneously. The result was that Noah took another step back.

"It's not over yet!"

Watching Noah, who was gripping the Knight Sword and had involuntarily retreated a step, Erza let out a clear shout, showing no intention of holding back. She smoothly thrust her Knight Sword forward again, striking heavily against the blade of Noah's sword, which he had only just managed to raise in defense after his retreat.

Ding!

After a crisp ringing sound, Noah felt a heavy force suddenly transmit through the Knight Sword in his hand, turning into a direct shock that stung his palm and forced him to loosen his grip.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The sharp Knight Sword was knocked straight out of Noah's hand, spinning through the air like a windmill.

Crack!

Finally, with a sound of splintering, Noah's sword landed blade-first in the ground not far away.