Magic, Potions, and a Challenge

"Light Rain."

As Cain's voice fell, a somewhat complex magic array unfolded in his hand. Under the array's conversion of magic power, six golden arrows shot from his palm.

The waist-high rock ahead was struck by the six arrows of light and shattered.

Looking at the scene before him, Cain nodded in satisfaction. He was clearly pleased with this attack.

The spell Light Rain consisted of three magic arrays: the core Holy Light Array, the middle Speed Array, and the outer Shaping. Since he had automatically mastered the core array upon awakening his magic, he only needed to learn the two smaller arrays, Speed and Shaping.

It had taken Cain only half a day to learn how to draw the two smaller arrays. However, nesting all three arrays together and making the magic power flow smoothly through them had taken him a month and a half.

And this was only the most basic spell. According to that magic book, Light Rain could also be advanced into Light Feather Explosion. The middle array would change from a single Speed Array to a composite array of Speed, Explosion, and Vibration, while the outer layer would change from Shaping into feathers.

This placed extremely strict demands on a Mage's control over magic. A mistake would not merely cause the spell to fail—it would also inflict a certain degree of harm on the Mage themself.

Thinking back to how he had once wanted to create his own magic, Cain shook his head and laughed. "Good thing nobody knows about that, or it'd definitely become an embarrassing black mark in my history."

"Mm, about time." Cain looked at the sky and felt that the time had come. He gathered the herbs he had collected as usual and headed deep into the forest east of Magnolia.

As he walked, he recalled the surprised expression on Granny Porlyusica's face when he had first brought herbs to her.

Cain had originally thought he would be driven away, but Granny Porlyusica had not chased him off.

When he asked about Holy Light Magic, she had answered him truthfully as well.

It was also through Granny Porlyusica's words that Cain had gained a rough understanding of his magic.

According to Granny Porlyusica, Holy Light Magic could be called God Age Magic or Holy Magic.

Legend had it that Mages absorbed the Holy Attribute bestowed by gods, which was why Holy Magic such as Holy Light Magic came into being.

No one knew what the truth really was, but one thing was certain: Holy Attribute magic could not be mastered through study and could only awaken on its own.

And so-called God Age Magic referred to the representatives of gods in the human world.

However, for some unknown reason, after ancient times, people could no longer awaken Holy Magic. This caused Holy Magic to gradually disappear until it became nothing more than legend.

Cain felt that his magic was no different from ordinary Light Element Magic. Porlyusica believed that he might simply not have discovered Holy Light Magic's true power yet.

On his way back, Cain could not help thinking about what Porlyusica had said. Absorbing the Holy Attribute gifted by a god? Come to think of it, gods did exist in the Fairy Tail anime.

The Ankhseram God, the deity who had cursed Zeref with immortality.

Though he had only existed as background lore, the fact that Zeref had lived for more than four hundred years proved that gods truly existed.

Then the origins of Holy Magic might not necessarily be a rumor.

Come to think of it, during the Grand Magic Games, the person from Sabertooth who used White Dragon Slayer Magic seemed to possess the Holy Attribute too, right?

Oh, right. They had a Dragon Crystal in their body. Never mind, then.

While lost in these random thoughts, Cain arrived before the tree house and politely knocked on the door.

Porlyusica opened the door and was not surprised to see Cain standing outside with a pile of herbs. She simply said, "Come in," then turned and walked into the house.

"Go on, then. What are you here to ask about this time?"

"Hehe." Cain smiled sheepishly. Knowing that Porlyusica disliked meaningless chatter, he hurriedly asked, "Granny, why can the Magic Recovery Potion I made only restore twenty percent of my magic power? It's nowhere near the sixty percent described in the book."

"Did you bring the potion with you?"

"Mm-hm, I did." Cain handed over the Magic Recovery Potion he had made.

That was right—during this period, Cain had not only been studying magic, but also learning how to make potions.

He had not originally planned to do so, but he had always been reading books about herbs. It did not seem too difficult, so he decided to try it himself.

However, the finished product was far worse than what the book described. Since there happened to be an expert nearby, he naturally could not let that opportunity go to waste.

Porlyusica opened the stopper and took a sniff, immediately identifying the problem. "There are too many impurities in the Star-Moon Herb solution, which has affected the potency. Pay attention to purification. Insufficient heat is another reason."

Porlyusica did not object to Cain studying potions. After all, his Holy Light Magic already had healing effects, and this child had managed to process herbs quite well using nothing but the knowledge in books.

It showed that he had talent in this area as well.

After informing Cain of several things to watch out for when making Magic Recovery Potions, Porlyusica had him leave.

Though she did not dislike Cain as much as she disliked other people, she could not exactly say that she liked him either.

Cain did not linger. He obediently left the tree house.

Inside the guild.

Cana, who had just returned from a job with Little White, was surprised to see Cain sitting beside a table and chatting with Laxus.

"Why aren't you in the library today? What are you doing here instead?"

After all, aside from coming to the guild to accept or turn in jobs, Cain usually spent all his time reading in the library.

Little White had not seen Cain in quite some time either, and happily ran circles around his feet.

"I just learned a spell, so I'm taking a break."

Laxus, who had already heard about it from Cain, was not surprised at all. "Cain, now that you've learned magic, want to have a match?"

Looking at the eager Laxus, Cain refused without hesitation. "I've only just mastered one spell. I'm not even that proficient with it yet."

After more than two months in the guild, Cain had become familiar with nearly everyone there, except for Gildarts, who still had not returned.

At this time, Laxus was not as rebellious as he would become when he grew up. He was cheerful, and since he considered himself a little older than Cain and Cana, he took care of them like younger siblings.

Seeing Cain refuse, Laxus could not really continue pressing him. He could only say, "Then once you've mastered a few more spells, remember to come have a match with me."

Cain smiled and agreed. "Sure. Definitely."

Laxus was also delighted that Cain had agreed. He had only recently received his Dragon Crystal, and that massive magic power was no longer a burden.

Thus, he desperately wanted someone to spar with. Cain also understood that he could not get very far by studying behind closed doors forever. If it were not for the fact that he only knew Radiance and Light Rain—

—and had only just learned Light Rain—he definitely would have agreed.

"Hey, hey, if you two are going to fight, make sure to tell me. I'll come cheer you on," Cana hurriedly said from the side, afraid they would secretly fight without her.

"Hahaha, don't worry, Cana. We'll definitely tell you," Laxus replied with a laugh.

After resting for a day, Cain returned to his usual routine the next day, diving into the library whenever he had free time.

Like a dried-up sponge, he desperately absorbed the seawater called knowledge.

Time slipped away silently like that. Before he knew it, the year had passed, and a new one quietly arrived.