Levy

Ul compared his fist with that of a certain unreliable Little Old Man!

Then!

He quietly walked into the Fairy Tail Guild library...

Ul wasn't planning to take a job today. Making money was important, but what he was about to do was just as important...

In the world of Fairy Tail, magic wasn't particularly rare!

Aside from a few extremely rare and special kinds of magic, most ordinary magic was traded like any other commodity. If someone wanted to learn magic, they could simply buy it from a magic shop.

Of course!

They needed money first!

And for Ul right now, that was an obstacle he couldn't overcome.

Fortunately, he had joined Fairy Tail.

Fairy Tail actually had a lot of magic stored away, and most of it was freely available to guild members. If a member wanted to learn something, they could borrow the books at will.

That might sound like a great deal, but in practice, this restriction—or lack thereof—didn't make much difference to the guild members.

Learning magic wasn't easy!

Most Mages in this world only studied one kind of magic, because even a single kind was enough to occupy them for a lifetime!

Everyone had limited talent and energy...

Any Mage who studied several kinds of magic was either out of their mind or possessed such monstrous talent that they were practically superhuman!

Otherwise...

Ordinary people would never dare try it!

Emmmm!

I guess now we have to add one more cheat user to the list.

Ul's natural talent was only D-rank for water magic!

It wasn't completely impossible to become a powerful Mage with that kind of talent alone, but... Ul knew his own limitations.

Still, although his natural talent was poor, the passive ability he'd gained from the system was anything but.

Lava Body had given Ul talent in both earth and rock magic. He didn't yet know exactly how good it was, but he figured it couldn't be any worse than his talent for water magic!

Hardly anyone ever came to the library. To put it bluntly, the people in the guild didn't exactly look like the type to study seriously!

When Ul entered the library...

There was only one person inside.

She was a petite, blue-haired girl. If Ul hadn't recognized her, he never would have guessed she was about his age.

When Ul came in, the girl was standing on tiptoe, struggling to reach a book on the shelf...

Seeing this!

Ul walked over, took down the book she wanted, and handed it to her.

"Were you looking for this book?"

"Ah... thank you!" The blue-haired girl glanced up at Ul, then hurriedly took the book. Her cheeks flushed slightly as she shyly murmured her thanks.

"You're welcome!" Ul smiled.

"My name's Ul. I just joined the guild recently!" Ul introduced himself.

"My name's Levy!" Levy spoke so softly that, if they hadn't been alone in the quiet library, Ul might not have heard her.

Levy was quite different from the girl Ul remembered... though she was about the same size.

The Levy Ul remembered had been a quiet girl. She'd been a little introverted, but nowhere near as shy as she was now...

Still, Ul wasn't surprised!

After all, that had been four years later!

After chatting with Levy for a bit, Ul began searching the library for the books he needed.

Learning a kind of magic wasn't as simple as finding a book and copying what it showed!

Generally speaking!

Learning magic required a lot of theoretical knowledge to support it.

To successfully draw a Magic Circle, one had to first perform calculations using magic formulas...

In other words!

If Ul wanted to learn earth magic, he would need at least two or three books on magic theory to supplement the basic magic textbook before he could learn it...

Ordinary magic textbooks were easy to find in the library, since most of the books there were organized by category.

But the theory books that went along with a particular magic textbook were much harder to find. There were too many of them, and Ul had no idea which ones would suit his needs best.

"Um... if you're looking for a book, I can help you..."

Just as Ul was scratching his head in frustration, a timid voice suddenly came from behind him!

Hearing that voice...

Ul's eyes lit up.

That's right!

How could I have forgotten about this bookworm?

The girl was tiny and her strength was average, but she was a true bookworm!

If Ul remembered correctly, Levy's greatest hobbies were reading and studying ancient languages. Even her magic was cast through words...

"Then I'll have to trouble you!"

Ul quickly explained what he needed to Levy.

Then, in less than a minute, all the books Ul needed appeared in front of him...

"Thanks for your help!" Ul said.

"You're welcome!" After helping Ul find the books, Levy returned to her shy demeanor.

Ul didn't choose a high-level magic as his starting point. With his current strength and talent, it would be difficult to control magic like that. Besides... even if he tried to learn it by force, there was no guarantee he'd succeed!

After all, not everyone was like some red-haired uncle who could use Super High-Level Magic as his basic magic.

Ul chose three basic earth magics and one Lower-Level Magic as a trial, both to learn earth magic and to test the earth-magic talent granted by his Lava Body passive ability.