Half a Year

Qi Yan stepped out of his house, pressed both hands to the ground, bent one leg forward and stretched the other behind him, taking a runner's starting stance.

Boom—!

Qi Yan drove his foot down hard, and his body vanished in an instant.

Meanwhile, after dinner, the citizens strolling through the streets of Magnolia Town suddenly felt a fierce gust sweep past them.

"Ah—!"

A young girl in a dress suddenly had her skirt blown up, giving some of the people nearby an eyeful. She hurriedly pressed it down with her hands.

"Hm? Why did the wind pick up?"

There had clearly been no wind tonight. Why had such a powerful gust suddenly risen?

About several dozen seconds later.

Whoosh!

Qi Yan reappeared in front of his house.

Whoosh—!

When Qi Yan suddenly stopped, a fierce gust blew hard enough to send the stones on the ground rolling.

"Thirty-three seconds."

He did not need a timer. His body was like a machine, capable of measuring time precisely to several decimal places.

Even Qi Yan was so stunned by that number that he could not speak.

In order to adapt to the strength of his transformation as quickly as possible, he completed the basic training tasks assigned by the system every day.

Although those tasks offered no rewards whatsoever, improving his physical fitness was itself the greatest reward.

The first time Qi Yan ran a lap around Magnolia Town, it had taken him over thirty minutes.

And now, it had taken him only a little over thirty seconds.

A lap around Magnolia from here was roughly 10,000 meters.

He had taken thirty-three seconds, meaning he had covered nearly 300 meters every second.

"Three hundred meters per second!!"

After calculating that number, even Qi Yan was startled. That was already close to the speed of sound, wasn't it?

He truly was a monster. His speed was so fast that even Satoru Gojo's Six Eyes could not track him.

Moreover, Qi Yan could feel that his own physical strength still restrained Toji Fushiguro's performance. If he could fully unleash it, his speed might even exceed the speed of sound.

"Strong! This is insanely strong!"

Qi Yan was thrilled. This golden character was incredible. Mira really was his lucky goddess.

Qi Yan released his Take Over form.

Just as he released it.

An intense pain surged through every muscle in his body.

"Uwaaaaaah!!"

Qi Yan could not help letting out a cry of agony.

It hurt! It hurt so badly!!

Qi Yan had never experienced pain like this before. The pain in his muscles felt even worse than a broken bone.

"System! What exactly is going on?"

Whenever he could not figure something out, he could just ask the system.

[The host has increased his physical fitness beyond its limit. As his own constitution is far too inadequate to keep up, this has caused muscle pain.]

"What?! There's actually a side effect like this?! Why didn't you tell me earlier?!"

[The host never asked!]

[Actually, as long as the host continues training and masters Sun Breathing, Total Concentration: Constant, the pain will be greatly reduced.]

So that meant it would still hurt!

Seeing the system say that, Qi Yan gritted his teeth in frustration. But the pain had already left him with no energy to complain.

He could only lie motionless on his bed. Even a passing breeze made him grimace in pain. He did not even dare scream, because screaming made it hurt even more.

A night passed, and Qi Yan hurt for the entire night. Never before had a night felt so long.

Only when the sun slowly rose and sunlight shone over him could he barely move again. At the very least, he could barely move his fingers.

Qi Yan opened the system panel.

Then he selected the blue, green, and white character cards.

[Recover these character cards?]

"Yes!"

[Recovery successful! Congratulations, your magic power has increased by ☆!]

A surge of magic power flowed from his magic source, nourishing his entire body. At once, he felt the pain in his body ease considerably.

"System, what is going on here? I recovered so many character cards this time! Why did I only get half a star of magic power?"

Magic power was the foundation of everything. Only with greater magic power could he better unleash the strength of the characters he had received.

[This is all calculated according to the algorithm. The higher the magic power star rating, the greater the cost of leveling up!]

"It's always algorithms, algorithms. What kind of algorithm is this, exactly?"

[Increasing magic power from four stars to five stars requires 1,000 magic power points!]

[Recovering a white card grants 10 points, a green card grants 20 points, a blue card grants 50 points, a purple card grants 800 points, and a golden card grants 3,000 points.]

Qi Yan's mouth twitched when he saw those prices. There really was an algorithm behind it.

Purple and golden cards appeared to have the highest value, but Qi Yan still thought it was far too low.

Even a thousand or ten thousand blue character cards could not compare to a single golden character card. Sure enough, everything below blue was just an experience card.

He would not be able to go to the guild today. Besides, he had taken on several high-intensity jobs these past few days and was feeling tired. This was a good chance to rest while his body recovered.

Just as Qi Yan lay down and dozed off for a moment, a noisy commotion came from outside.

"Qi Yan!! Qi Yan!!"

Qi Yan groggily opened the door and saw a crowd standing outside his home.

They were all familiar faces: Natsu, Gray, Happy, Erza, Mira, Elfman, Levy, Laki...

Qi Yan could not help widening his eyes. "Y-you... why are you all here?"

"We came to play with you!!"

Everyone answered in unison.

Mira said with a smile, "Didn't you move into a new house? Everyone heard about it, so we came to celebrate your housewarming."

Qi Yan slapped his forehead. "Sorry! I've been so busy lately that I completely forgot about it. Welcome, welcome! I'll go buy groceries and cook right away."

Qi Yan remembered that he had promised to treat Mira to a meal.

Erza said, "No need! We brought everything! Let's have a barbecue party here today!"

"Woohoooo!!"

As they spoke, everyone got busy. Some lit fires, some grilled meat, and others brought out their specialties. The whole courtyard became lively in an instant.

Soon, everyone gathered together, eating meat, drinking, and chatting amid laughter.

The sight left Qi Yan in a slight daze. It felt as though his home had not been this lively for a very long time.

The party lasted until midnight before everyone reluctantly left.

After everyone had gone, Qi Yan lay on his bed, thinking back on the day's events.

"Guild... companions..."

It was as though only at that moment did he truly understand what a guild and companions meant.

Only then did he feel that he had truly become a member of Fairy Tail.

"This feeling isn't bad!"

Time flew by like an arrow.

Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

Eastern Ishgar Continent

Orario Kingdom

Inside a hidden building.

At that moment, over a thousand people dressed in black robes had gathered there, carrying out a mysterious ritual.

In the center of the crowd, a group of people had been tied to wooden frames erected from the ground. Beneath those frames lay piles of firewood.

There were several hundred of them, men and women alike, their mouths all gagged. Only their eyes, filled with terror and despair, stared at the people around them.

A masked man stepped forward. "From this moment on, we will begin the sacrificial ritual!!"

"These villagers are innocent. These three hundred pure lives will guide him to descend upon this place!!"

"The great Black Mage, Zeref!!!"

"Woohoooo!!!"

All the black-robed people shouted excitedly.

"For the sake of walking alongside him in this world, the sacrifice shall begin—!!"

Suddenly!!!

Boom—!!

An explosion destroyed the main gate.

"What happened?!"

A slightly flippant male voice rang out:

"Ahh~! You really made yourselves hard to find!"

Soon, a young man with freckles on his face, an orange cowboy hat, and a bare upper body walked in through the gate.

"Yo! Good evening, you bastards from the Black Magic Cult!"