(Sincere thanks to 'Bing Yue Ying', 'Long Tiani', 'Er Ci Yuan Wo Men De Meng', 'You·', 'I Am Only Myself', 'Crying Hymn', '703's Rabbit', 'Yun Qi Qing Gu', ' on One Alone', 'Little Otaku', 'Yakumo Holy Night', 'Wandering in a World Without You', 'Shao Feng Ye', 'Xiong Mao A!', and 'Future Domain' for their rewards!)
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Magnolia, by the forest river...
The sound of running water echoed clearly through the uninhabited forest.
The cries of birds, beasts, and insects also lingered ceaselessly in the surroundings.
A gentle breeze drifted past, carrying swaths of green leaves and clouds of dust.
Everything seemed so natural.
Standing by the riverbank, Noah leisurely closed his eyes. Beads floated in the air around him, constantly rising and falling.
Upon closer inspection, one could see that each bead floating around Noah was covered by a faint, ghostly glow. As the beads bobbed up and down, the light brightened and dimmed, looking exceptionally mysterious.
No one knew how long this scene had lasted, nor how long Noah had maintained that posture. The surroundings remained utterly silent.
Until, at a certain moment, the arrival of a figure finally broke the silence.
Following the path she had walked continuously for three months and had become completely familiar with, Erza arrived at the riverbank. Looking at Noah's back as he stood ahead with his eyes closed and beads floating around him, she could not help but smile.
"You're still the same as always, arriving much earlier than me..."
The corners of Noah's lips also lifted slightly. With a thought, the beads floating around him drifted toward the ground as though held up by invisible hands.
Only after every bead had gently landed on the ground did Noah open his eyes and turn around.
"Can't be helped. You have to learn swordsmanship as soon as you arrive. If I didn't come earlier than you, wouldn't I have no time to train my magic control?"
Although Noah had been training his swordsmanship with Erza in this secret base that no one knew about for the past three months, hoping to gain some combat ability, Noah knew where his true advantage lay.
Magic power!
The immense magic power within him, beyond the reach of ordinary people, was what truly made Noah strong!
Naturally, Noah would not abandon what truly made him powerful just to learn some sword techniques. Even though he had to train swordsmanship with Erza every day, Noah still set aside plenty of time to continue training his control over magic power.
Learning swordsmanship could give Noah a certain degree of combat ability!
Learning magic, combined with Noah's terrifyingly powerful magic power, could make him a powerhouse even Makarov believed would surpass him sooner or later!
Furthermore, magic was the mainstream of this world. All these factors told Noah that he could not put the cart before the horse.
Therefore, Noah was still very good at arranging his time reasonably for training in all areas.
As a result, over these three months, Noah's control over his magic power had improved by leaps and bounds, while his swordsmanship had also made considerable progress.
"Diligence is a good thing, and it really suits you. Unlike Gray, who only knows how to come challenge me to duels all day. Instead of wasting time like that, he should be training!"
Over the past three months, spending at least twelve hours together every day and improving together had made Noah and Erza the people in Fairy Tail who understood each other best. Naturally, they were also clearer than anyone about each other's progress in strength.
Thus, Erza stopped wasting words. She stretched out her hand, and magic light blossomed in it, forming a Knight Sword that fell into her grasp.
"Then it's time to begin today's training!"
Noah nodded. As he crouched down and grasped the sheathed Knight Sword lying on the ground, he smiled at Erza.
"Looks like over these three months, it wasn't just your swordsmanship that improved. You've also become much more proficient with Requip Magic. That Requip speed just now was nearly twice as fast as before!"
"I've used it every day for three months, so of course I've improved!" Erza pointed the Knight Sword in her hand at Noah from afar, battle intent beginning to rise in her stern eyes.
"Don't think you're the only one who has improved in areas besides swordsmanship!"
Hearing Erza's seemingly confrontational words, Noah knew that she was fired up. The expression on his face slowly faded, becoming as still as an ancient well, while his hand rested on the hilt of his sword.
Amid the clear scrape of blade against scabbard, Noah's right hand, marked with the Fairy Tail guild emblem on its back, drew the Knight Sword. Its guard was a slightly curved, long strip, and its entire body glittered like ice. The sharp tip pointed at Erza opposite him.
"Come!"
The instant his voice fell, the two small figures facing each other vanished from where they stood at the same time.
Clang—!
Almost simultaneously, a loud clash of steel rang out in the center of the field. A rather fierce shockwave burst forth, blasting away stones, dust, and fallen leaves within several meters of the point of impact, clearing out an empty circle.
Gripping the Knight Sword tightly, Noah looked up at the other Knight Sword stabbing toward him as viciously as a venomous snake. He took a light breath and violently swung his sword.
Ding—!
The tip of the incoming Knight Sword struck the body of Noah's Knight Sword without missing by an inch, but under the crushing force of Noah's swing, it was heavily pressed back into an alarmingly dangerous curve. Its tip nearly touched Erza's hand gripping the hilt.
"As expected of a boy, you're really strong!"
Having suffered a small loss in their first exchange, Erza did not panic. Instead, she smiled. Her sword hand tightened and moved, and the Knight Sword being suppressed by Noah's sword twisted strangely. Its tip sent sparks flying across Noah's blade before suddenly stabbing forward.
"Hah—!" The moment the Knight Sword moved, Erza gave a low cry. Magic power suddenly surged across the blade, transforming into serpent-like arcs of electricity that flickered and crossed, producing a series of hissing sounds.
Seeing Erza actually use magic power directly, Noah was startled as well.
Everyone in the world knew that magic power was the fuel for using magic. Only those with magic power could use magic and fight.
But in truth, aside from serving as fuel for magic, magic power had many uses to a certain extent. In this world, it was common to convert pure magic power into motive force and use it as an energy source for items and tools.
Furthermore, people capable of using magic power could also use pure magic power to strengthen their physical abilities to a certain extent.
That was exactly what Erza was doing now.
Although using magic power this way was certainly much weaker than using the same amount of magic power to cast magic with strengthening effects, it was still better than nothing.
At the very least, with Erza's magic power supporting her, the natural disadvantage of men being stronger than women had completely vanished. In terms of force, she had even surpassed Noah.
"That's cheating! You know I can't use magic power whenever I want!"
Noah stepped back in irritation, raising his Knight Sword and bringing a sharp gust of wind with it as he viciously slashed at the sword thrusting toward him.
Clang—!
The two Knight Swords collided fiercely a moment later. Powerful force struck both of them at once, but Noah ended up taking another step back.
"It's not over yet!"
Seeing Noah involuntarily retreat a step while gripping his Knight Sword, Erza cried out sharply. She showed no intention of holding back as she followed through with another thrust, heavily striking the blade of Noah's Knight Sword, which he had only managed to raise in defense because of his retreat.
Ding—!
After a crisp ring, Noah felt a thick force surge from the Knight Sword in his hand, turning into a direct impact that jolted his palm with pain and made him loosen his grip on the sword.
Whoosh—!
The sharp Knight Sword was knocked straight out of Noah's hand, spinning through the air like a windmill.
Crack!
Finally, amid a cracking sound, Noah's sword embedded itself upside down in the ground some distance away.
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