The Test Begins

El Canyon

Located on the border of the Fiore Kingdom, El Canyon stretched across two nations and was a naturally perilous place. Its depths were filled with all kinds of magical beasts.

Above the canyon, the guild master, Gildarts, Laxus, and Qian Guang stood before the bottomless abyss. Beastly roars occasionally echoed from within.

"Hey, hey, isn't this a little too ridiculous? This place is freaking enormous." Qian Guang felt maliciously targeted. Sirius Island and this gloomy canyon were completely different! The magical beasts inside might not be as powerful as those on Sirius Island, but he could get lost here!

"Heh, don't worry. Not only is it enormous, but the magical beasts are pretty tough too." Instead of reassuring him, Gildarts slung an arm around Qian Guang's shoulders and added fuel to the fire.

"So, old man, what's our mission?" Laxus asked with his arms crossed and an arrogant look on his face.

"Gildarts placed one hundred tokens throughout the canyon in advance. Your mission is to survive down there for ten days and find as many of those tokens as possible." As the guild master spoke, he took out a token and showed it to the two of them.

"Heh, a child's game." Laxus turned away, clearly uninterested.

"I think you're just afraid you won't find any tokens because of your bad luck." Qian Guang found it rather interesting. He considered himself quite lucky, after all. Though he had failed a thousand times while making mana restoration potions, he had finally made some progress. The effect was just weak, that was all.

No one knew how much Porlyusica regretted letting Qian Guang come around. Ever since he arrived, she had barely gotten a decent night's sleep. There were either foul odors or explosions, and sometimes she even had to save Qian Guang after he recklessly tested poison on himself. She felt as though she would lose ten years off her life.

"Tch. I think you're the one with bad luck." Laxus was unconcerned. He was equally confident in his own luck.

"Here, these are magic trackers. You must keep them on you at all times! They're to stop you from getting lost." Gildarts tossed each of them a card and another item.

"Oh, and these can show you the other person's location. You can steal each other's tokens too," Gildarts added after thinking it over.

The instant they heard that, the rock beneath their feet exploded. Howling wind and violent lightning clashed once more.

The two wore identical villainous grins. "Now we're talking. We have to fight after all. Kid, how about we settle this right here?"

"Hah, are there only muscles in your head? I still want to gather herbs." Qian Guang liked competing with Laxus, but that did not mean he had lost his mind.

Over the past year, the two had fought quite often. Relying on the versatility of his Copy Magic and his physical advantages, Qian Guang had barely managed a four-to-six record against him, though he had lost every time in the end.

Qian Guang had learned many kinds of magic over the past year, but he felt that none of them suited him particularly well. He could use them, but expecting him to use them brilliantly was another matter.

In the end, only the wind magic he used frequently and the wood magic he learned later worked somewhat well for him. Unfortunately, they were still a bit lacking against violent lightning. Hopefully, there would be plants down there.

"See you later, then." Qian Guang planned to seize favorable terrain first. Wind Wings formed around him as he dove straight down.

"Bastard! Stop right there!" Laxus was determined to fight first, since he also understood that his chances of winning were greater right now.

"Those two really are impatient. Still, Laxus finally has a rival." Gildarts smiled as he spoke to the guild master. After all, Laxus had always been unable to fit in with the other kids.

"Yes, they're all good children. You watch this place. I'm heading back." Seeing that there was nothing left for him to do, the guild master decided to return to the guild. If he was gone for too long, those good children might tear the guild apart.

"Tch, that blond bastard is really troublesome." Qian Guang hid on a black tree, covered in injuries. Who knew why there were trees inside a canyon?

"Looks like I spent too much time researching magic potions. I can't rely solely on my cheat ability. I need to work harder."

Laxus had caught up to him after all. The two had exchanged blows, and Qian Guang had held a slight advantage in the air, but he had still been hurt more badly. Laxus's attacks were simply too powerful. He had only managed to shake him off for the time being.

Qian Guang looked at the black plants around him and gave a sinister smile. "Just wait, Laxus. Before you get here, I'll prepare a nice gift for you."

Qian Guang was not worried that Laxus would not come. That guy only had fighting on his mind.

Qian Guang headed toward an area with more black plants.

Forest Sense. Once he entered the jungle, Qian Guang returned to his home turf. He used magic to sense the magical beasts within the forest.

"Too bad I can only sense life. Otherwise, I could find the tokens directly. Oh, this tree seems a little unusual." Qian Guang looked toward a tree brimming with magic power and malice.

"Stop pretending. I've seen through you." Qian Guang kicked it directly.

Whoosh!

The treant stopped hiding. Its branches lashed out at Qian Guang.

"Hey, hey, is that all? This is my first time meeting a treant." Looking at the slow branches, Qian Guang dodged without even needing to activate his Sharingan.

"Eek!"

"Your cry is way too bizarre. It doesn't suit a dark treant like you at all. You should be going 'Roar!'"

"Eek!"

"I'm done playing." Seeing that the uncooperative treant was no fun at all, Qian Guang sent it off with a blast of fire.

As the flames appeared, the entire forest began to stir. Qian Guang immediately knew that he could not use this place to trap Laxus. After all, his wood magic could not control treants.

"Come on, you little squeakers!"

"Eek, eek, eek!"

A great fire swept through the area.

One hour later.

Qian Guang looked at the treant-infested area, where nothing remained, and felt that he had gone a little overboard. There had been some rather rare poisonous ingredients here, after all.

"Whatever, the haul was pretty good." Looking at the five tokens in his hand, Qian Guang felt that the fire had been worth it. Five in one hour—over ten days, he could get at least fifty! Round that up, and victory was basically guaranteed!

Boom! Thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Damn it! Don't you ever look for tokens? You definitely didn't have a happy childhood!" Qian Guang chose to run. That guy was seriously haunting him.

The ninth day.

In another forest, this one looked ugly on the outside but was otherwise quite normal. Qian Guang had cleaned out all the magical beasts within it and set all kinds of traps around the area.

"Alright, this will do. Come on, Laxus! Don't call me underhanded!" Looking at the magic arrays, swamps, poisons, and other things he had set up, then at Laxus getting closer and closer on the tracker, Yang Qian felt victory was already within reach.

His methods might have been a little underhanded, but Laxus surely would not mind. Enemies would not politely challenge you to a fair duel, after all.

A bolt of lightning appeared outside the forest.

"Yo, kid. You've been pretty good at running these past few days. Are you playing hide-and-seek?" Laxus sensed the malice within the forest, but he did not care. He intended to crush everything with absolute strength.

"At least my childhood wasn't so miserable that I never played treasure hunting." The plants around Qian Guang began to move.

"Oh, that's true. I only ever played ghost-catching!" Savage lightning echoed through the forest as Laxus charged forward!