Dragon Slayer Magic

Aibo might have learned Dragon Slayer Magic, but it was unlikely that Aibo had actually learned Dragon Slayer Magic.

Natsu had only taught Aibo for one day before Aibo gave up on him.

His teaching method was all, "Do this and this, then that and that, and then do this and this to cast magic." No normal human could understand it. It was not even like playing the lute to a cow—it was like the cow was playing the lute.

Fortunately, Aibo had a cheat. He still managed to light up the skill [Dragon Slayer Magic LV0: 0.1%].

Then he encountered magic that was even harder to learn than Crush Magic.

After several days of practicing in an utterly abstract manner, the experience bar had not increased at all. He had no idea whether Natsu's teaching was the problem or whether this magic was simply absurdly difficult to learn.

Still, it did not matter. Aibo had a cheat.

He spent 1,000 Inspiration Points to raise Dragon Slayer Magic to LV1, and then... something else happened that Aibo could not understand.

[Dragon Slayer Magic LV0] disappeared, becoming [Enchant Magic LV1] + [Heteromorphic Magic EXP +1000] + [Dragon Seed: 0].

Aibo was full of question marks. Enchant Magic... he seemed to have read about it in some book. He could understand gaining 1,000 Heteromorphic Magic EXP, but what the hell was this [Dragon Seed]?

Aibo had heard Natsu explain that Dragon Slayer Magic allowed humans to wield the power of dragons, transforming one's physique toward that of a dragon. It was magic meant to slay dragons.

But now Dragon Slayer Magic was gone from his skill list, and he could no longer gain experience through practice.

After pouring in Inspiration Points earlier, Aibo had grasped the principles behind Dragon Slayer Magic. Based on his understanding... without this "Dragon Seed," it was impossible to learn Dragon Slayer Magic.

The sky had fallen. Aibo was speechless. He was out of options.

"Aibo! Aibo! Boo-hoo-hoo!"

Her voice arrived before she did. The door was slammed open by a white-haired beauty dressed all in black. With a bubble hanging from her nose, Mirajane threw her arms around Aibo and burst into tears.

"??? Mira? What happened?"

"Boo-hoo... I'm tellin' you... Elfman... Lisanna... they did it for me... Take Over Mag... how can they be... so nice..."

Mirajane spoke in broken, slurred fragments that made no sense, but Aibo still learned the whole story from her thoughts.

It turned out that Elfman and Lisanna had secretly gone to learn Take Over Magic so that Mirajane, who acted all cold and aloof at the guild, would not feel lonely. They had just surprised her with it, moving Mirajane beyond words.

Mirajane was stubborn and thin-skinned. Too embarrassed to cry in front of her younger brother and sister, she had actually run away—then come all the way to his house to cling to him and cry.

Aibo did not know whether to laugh or cry. Ever since Mira had revealed her other side in front of him, she had become a little too uninhibited.

At the guild, Mira was still that arrogant, forceful delinquent girl from before. After falling out with certain people, she felt too embarrassed and often sat alone, pretending to be all cool.

But when she was alone with Aibo, she became a little girl who liked hearing him call her big sister. She had even turned Aibo into some kind of emotional dumping ground and safe harbor, running over to bother him whenever anything came up.

At the end of the day, she was still a mentally immature little girl, right at that chuunibyou age.

Honestly, Aibo was starting to get a little tired of her.

"Alright, alright, stop crying. You ran off like that—Elfman and Lisanna must be heartbroken. They should be the ones crying, shouldn't they?"

"They absolutely aren't! Don't underestimate the bond between me and my little brother and sister! And hurry up and call me big sister."

"No. I don't have a big sister as embarrassing as you."

"If I can't be the big sister, I can be the little sister instead! Aibo, turn back into your fifteen-year-old self and let me see~ I can call you big brother too, hehe."

Mira pinched the soft flesh on Aibo's cheek, grinning happily.

Strictly speaking, Mira had not really changed at all. Her little-devil personality had always been the same. She had merely cast off the burden of being the "big sister" in front of Aibo, completely let herself go, and could not even be bothered to pretend anymore.

In a way, Mira and Aibo were rather alike. Both were used to living behind masks, both enjoyed watching other people make fools of themselves, and both were Family Heroes who cherished the family they had now...

Perhaps because they were of the same kind, Aibo did not really pretend to be a child around Mira either. The two got along quite casually.

"Stop bothering me. I'm not as free as you are. I need to study magic, so get lost already."

"So heartless! So cold! I shared my happiest feelings with you the very first chance I got! And now you're kicking me out!"

"...Then should I leave?"

"Ehh~ But I'm about to head out alone to do a commission. Before I leave, I only wanted to spend this precious time with Aibo, boo-hoo~ I'm an annoying little pest that everyone hates. I understand. I'll leave quietly."

[Come comfort me! Call me big sister! Hurry! Come on!]

Mira wiped at her fake tears, but the eye peeking through her fingers shone like a little lightbulb. Aibo was so annoyed that he laughed. What kind of bizarre circuitry did this goofy kid have in her brain?

"Let me see your guild emblem."

"Huh? What for?"

Mira raised one slender leg clad in short shorts. Her emblem was stamped on her thigh, and she had chosen pink.

"I'm adding another mark."

Aibo pressed his hand against it, leaving behind his Flying Thunder God mark.

"...Since you have nothing better to do, stay here and help me research magic."

"Okay, okay! I can stay with you all day!"

Aibo had little means of dealing with Mira, so he might as well use her for an experiment.

Although the skill [Dragon Slayer Magic] had disappeared, the knowledge Aibo had learned had not. He had more or less understood the principles behind Dragon Slayer Magic.

Dragon Slayer Magic was a composite magic. Its core was to draw "dragon power" from a "Dragon Seed," transform it through Heteromorphic Magic into magical power of a particular special attribute, then use "Enchant Magic" to attach its "dragon attribute" to the human body, allowing a human to possess the power of a dragon.

Therefore, Dragon Slayer Magic was essentially an application of Enchant Magic. However, the creator of the magic had been remarkably clever. Like Celestial Spirit Magic, they had programmed all the intermediate steps, so musclehead mages like Natsu had no idea they also knew Enchant Magic.

Enchant Magic was magic that could directly grant all kinds of magical effects to objects or human bodies. In Aibo's understanding, it was applying buffs—and permanent buffs at that.

Dragon Slayer Magic could continuously attach the dragon power within a "Dragon Seed" to the human body. In theory, whatever attribute the Dragon Seed possessed determined which attribute of Dragon Slayer Magic one could learn.

For example, Natsu definitely possessed a fire-attribute Dragon Seed, which was why he was a [Fire Dragon Slayer Mage]. The flames he normally ate were not actually digested in his stomach, but stored within the Dragon Seed in his body.

Aibo, on the other hand, had no Dragon Seed. He possessed neither dragon power nor the ability to store special elements in his body, so he could not use Dragon Slayer Magic.

This was the first magic Aibo had ever encountered that he could not learn. If he truly wanted to continue learning Dragon Slayer Magic, he first had to find a "Dragon Seed" containing dragon power?

For the moment, Aibo had no clue where to start. But he could first test the effects of Enchant Magic. This magic seemed even more exciting than Dragon Slayer Magic.

LV1 Enchant Magic seemed capable of attaching certain elemental effects to the human body. Aibo took Mira's hand and attached the light element to her palm.

Then Mira's hand "lit up," radiating a dazzling glow.

"Huh? What is this? My hand is glowing!"

Every magical element had certain fixed magical properties. Fire had "burning" and "scorching heat," ice had "coldness" and "stillness," earth had "solidity" and "weight"...

The properties of light were "brightness" and "extreme speed." Its destructive power might not be high, but it was definitely fast.

"Let's go outside first..."

Aibo moved with Mira to the edge of the forest and pointed at a large rock in the distance.

"See if you can fire the light from your hand at that?"

Mira pondered for a moment, then threw a punch with her glowing little fist.

Aibo could sense her magic power becoming a golden fist-shaped light that shot outward, striking the distant rock in an instant with a dull thud.

"Cool! It seems... not that hard?"

"Interesting. Let's try again!"

Aibo placed both hands on Mira, turning her entire body into a glittering "light person."

"You've been strengthened. Go! I choose you, Mira! Use Lightspeed Attack!"

"..."

Mira felt that something was a little strange, but she still followed his command. She took one step forward, and in the next instant appeared before the large rock. With one punch, the rock shattered into pieces.

Mira stared blankly at her fist, then suddenly screamed.

"Ah! Ow, ow, ow! It hurts so much!!!"

Mira clutched her little fist and hopped around in place, her eyes brimming with tears as she looked at Aibo. But she did not see the slightest trace of concern or sympathy in him. His eyes held only excitement and exhilaration.

"So fast! That movement just now should have been the maximum speed you can withstand. With the speed stacked up, your punch unleashed power far beyond normal. Luckily, your physical body is strong enough. If it had been me, I'm afraid my wrist would have broken. Enchant Magic is actually this powerful? Come on, let's conduct the next test..."

"W-wait, Aibo, I suddenly remembered that I might have something to do..."

"Mira, big sister?"

"Please order your big sister around as much as you like!"