Gotta Get This Body Fit

Aibo had been in a rather bad mood lately, because he had run into quite a few problems, in every sense of the word.

The first was with improving his strength...

Ever since learning Take Over Magic, Aibo had not learned any new magic. On one hand, he wanted to stockpile inspiration points; on the other, he needed to consolidate and further develop his core abilities.

Aibo's current base stats looked like this:

[Stamina: 72/72]

[Energy: 64/64]

[Magic Power: 2690/2890]

Among Aibo's skills, the highest-level one was still [Telepathy Magic LV4: 110,182/10,000,000] (1.1%).

Next was [Meditation LV3: 187,254/1,000,000] (18.7%).

Then came several of his core abilities, whose experience bar progress was now displayed directly as percentages:

[Space Magic LV3: 14.7%]

[Word Magic LV3: 13.4%]

[Magic Power Control LV3: 13.1%]

[Light Magic LV3: 10.4%]

And several spells whose levels he had forcibly raised by spending inspiration points in order to research Summoning Card Magic:

[Soul Magic LV3: 1.2%]

[Connection Magic LV3: 0.7%]

[Contract Magic LV3: 0.4%]

Beyond that, there were some secondary abilities aside from his core skills:

[Enhancement Magic LV2] [Mold Magic LV2] [Gravity Magic LV2] [Transformation Magic LV2] [Wind Magic LV2]

As for the huge pile of remaining LV1 spells, he could not be bothered listing them all. He simply knew too many spells by now; he had learned most of the magic used by people in the guild to one extent or another.

Things like [Memory Magic LV1], [Dance Magic LV1], [Spirit Summoning Magic (converted into Soul Magic experience)]...

Lastly, there was [Inspiration Points: 440,652].

He had actually been in a good mood for a while. He had more or less made up for the inspiration points he had spent before, and at this rate—six hundred thousand a year—he should be able to raise Meditation to LV4 by the end of the year.

Everything appeared to be steadily improving, but the trouble Aibo had encountered was not reflected on his stat panel—

The rate at which his magic power grew had slowed.

Since he placed great importance on increasing his magic power, Aibo had deliberately extended his meditation time. He had even invested quite a few inspiration points into Meditation, but if it could not level up, there was not much point.

Although his Meditation had yet to reach LV4, the rate at which LV3 increased magic power was still extremely fast. Among the younger generation, only Erza, Mirajane, and Cana had more magic power than he did.

Aibo's senses had become increasingly sensitive to magic power, so he noticed that his magic power had been rising more slowly during meditation lately.

So he went straight to the guild master for advice and got his answer: his physique was too weak.

Gildarts had already emphasized the importance of the body to Aibo before. Aibo had accepted the need to exercise, and he went jogging every morning for the most part. His [Body Training LV1] skill was already 35.6% of the way to leveling up.

Morning jogging! That was something he had never managed to stick with in his previous life. Aibo felt that he was already incredibly disciplined, incredibly impressive, and sometimes he even praised himself for it...

But now it seemed that this level of exercise was completely insufficient?

That made Aibo very unhappy. In his eyes, training the body was not only exhausting but time-consuming. Compared to efficient ways of farming experience like "writing books," "floating," and "transforming," body training had terrible value for the effort.

There were plenty of muscle-brained idiots in the guild who became happy whenever they trained and got stronger, but Aibo was clearly not one of them. He preferred the joy of learning new knowledge.

But mages in this world apparently could not grow stronger just by reading books. If their bodies were not strong enough, they could not contain more magic power. If their magic power exceeded the limit they could bear, it would instead harm their bodies.

That was way too un-magical.

Aibo now had only two paths before him. One was to let his magic power grow naturally, turn his attention to researching other magic, and wait until he was older and his body had matured, when the limit of magic power he could contain would naturally increase.

The second was naturally to find a way to improve his physical strength. Saitama training, hellish workouts, stimulating his body's development—eat more, grow faster, and raise his magic power limit.

Aibo could not wait to grow up passively, so he would not choose the first option. If he chose that path, then even learning Level 4 Meditation later would be useless. He did not want to slow down his growth.

But he was also unwilling to suffer through low-efficiency workouts every day. Wouldn't that make him some crude martial brute?

So Aibo began searching for a kind of magic that could strengthen his body while he trained it...

He had thought magic that gave him both would be rare, but then... he found it immediately. It had been right under his nose all along; he had simply overlooked it.

The legendary lost ancient magic—Dragon Slayer Magic.

Natsu's magic. Aibo had wanted to learn it before, but he had gotten too busy and forgotten about it.

Natsu's magic could greatly increase physical strength. The guy was absurdly durable. He habitually provoked every member of the guild and was often beaten unconscious by Erza, yet he would come back the next day as if nothing had happened and continue provoking people. His vitality was so powerful he barely seemed human.

But Aibo and Natsu were just fundamentally incompatible. One was the guild's universally acknowledged good kid, while the other was Magnolia's ultimate demon child. On top of that, Aibo was friends with Gray, Natsu's sworn rival, which made their relationship... well, it was not exactly terrible. It was just average.

That was precisely why Aibo had previously overlooked the "treasure" right beside him.

But now, in order to solve the problem of his slow magic power growth, Aibo had no choice but to "have a word" with Natsu.

Aibo arrived at the guild and first looked around for anyone fighting. Sure enough, Natsu was involved.

Natsu was fighting Gray again. The reason seemed to be that while Natsu was cooking meat, Gray had blown on the fire and put it out.

Come to think of it, ever since Aibo got Virgo, he rarely ate at the guild anymore. The all-purpose maid's cooking was simply superb.

Once the two had paused their fight, Aibo floated over to Natsu while holding up a ball of multicolored flame.

"Natsu, don't be mad. I'll treat you to this."

"Hm? Oh, it's Aibo. What kind of fire is this? Let me try it—whoaaaa!! So delicious! How can it be this good?! Is there more? Is there more?"

"There is. I'll make you some more..."

Aibo knew that Natsu could replenish his magic power and stimulate his body's vitality by eating flames.

At first, Aibo had curiously observed and studied it, but aside from discovering that flames containing magic power tasted better, he had gained nothing.

This kaleidoscopic flame contained trace amounts of magic power from many elements—starlight, lightning, ice, metal, wood, water, fire, earth, and a little of everything else. It was no surprise that Natsu found it delicious.

"This is the first time I've ever eaten flames this tasty! Aibo, how did you do it?!"

Natsu excitedly grabbed Aibo by both shoulders and shook him wildly. Aibo was on the verge of tears. He really could not handle this level of enthusiasm.

"Oi! You idiot fireball, let go of Aibo!"

"Huh!? You perverted stripping freak, Aibo came to see me. Is it any of your business?"

"Bastard! If you dare bully Aibo, you'll have to get through me first!"

"I'm not bullying Aibo! Did your brain freeze over?!"

Seeing that the two were about to start round two, Aibo hurried forward to stop them.

"Don't fight, don't fight. I really did come to see Natsu about something..."

"Did you hear that! Get lost, ice idiot! Aibo's my little brother now! Hahaha!"

...Forget it, forget it. No point arguing with a little kid.

"Natsu, can you teach me your magic? I'm very interested in Dragon Slayer Magic."

"Sure, no problem! Uh... but just so you know, I can't teach people, okay? Don't blame me if you can't learn it."

"It's fine. Just teach me. I'll figure out the rest myself."