The Black-Haired Turtle

"Ah, where did that mole run off to? It was way too fast."

After learning from the village chief that there were dozens of moles, Qian Guang immediately set off. He didn't want to miss his New Year, but he still had to figure out what to do with all those moles.

Killing them all would be too cruel, right? So this was where the difficulty of an S-rank mission lay.

That damn Laxus definitely knew what the mission involved, which was why he'd laughed so happily!

Next time, he should make the medicine stronger!

Qian Guang headed deeper into the mountains. He had sensed their presence just now, but they were too cunning!

They had run off again!

He could only keep tracking them.

"Good thing this place isn't big. If it were like El Canyon, I think I'd be stuck here for a while."

Qian Guang casually dealt with a large bear that tried to ambush him. Maybe it was because he'd spent too long around Big Bear, but every bear he encountered felt like it had paws smaller than Big Bear's. He didn't even feel like eating bear paws anymore.

Sigh, what a pity. One of his few hobbies had vanished again.

Big Bear: I fucking thank you! You're still thinking about my paws even now?!

"Huh, I think I found them."

The plants relayed information to Qian Guang. Several moles were gathered together bullying someone. Ah, no, bullying animals.

This time, Qian Guang had learned his lesson. To avoid scaring them away, he decided to sneak over quietly.

Passive Skill: Stealth! Activated!

Qian Guang sneakily hid behind a tree to scout out the enemy. ｜д•´)

Several sleazy moles were punching and kicking three deer—two adults and one fawn.

The two adult deer were around six meters and five meters tall respectively, but against sheer numbers, they were being bullied badly. They could only desperately protect their child.

One of the stag's antlers had already snapped off, while the doe beside him had a deep wound on her hind leg, down to the bone. The fawn trembled beside its mother, occasionally licking her wound.

!!!

Damn it!

Deer were so adorable—how dared these sleazy rats bully them?!

(ﾉ｀⊿´)ﾉ

Qian Guang instantly teleported above one mole's head and gave it a hard smack on the back of the neck!

"Smack!"

Mole A was instantly knocked unconscious.

At the same time, Qian Guang's magic circle lit up, and howling winds punished these bullies who preyed on the weak.

"Aaaahhhhhh!!!"

So not only were these things ugly, even their screams were uniquely awful.

Unfortunately, only four were left. The rest had sold out their teammates without the slightest hesitation or guilt.

"Bellow!"

Seeing the enemies around them retreat, the stag could no longer hold on and collapsed to his knees.

"Baa."

The fawn panicked. Although it was still afraid of this unfamiliar creature, it anxiously ran over and nudged its father, trying to push him back up.

"Baa!"

The doe's eyes were also filled with tears, but she knew that the human before them had saved them.

She walked up to Qian Guang and knelt, lowering her head in thanks.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't, don't. This is the first time I've received such a grand bow from a deer."

"Well, I only did it for the mission. It's not like I came here specifically to save you."

Perhaps because he had spent too much time with Mirajane, Qian Guang had picked up a bit of a tsundere streak too.

Qian Guang patted the doe's head. Looking at her injured hind leg, a jade-green magic circle lit up in his hand.

"Buzz."

The doe felt as though she had returned to her childhood, lying against her mother's belly.

It was warm all over, especially her hind leg. It didn't hurt at all anymore.

The fawn had initially thought this human was going to hurt its mother and had been about to bare its teeth at him.

But upon seeing the magic circle brimming with life force, it froze on the spot. It just forgot to pull its teeth back in.

A perfectly good deer ended up looking like a donkey.

Qian Guang looked at the fawn strangely. Without antlers, it looked nowhere near as majestic and elegant as its father. And was that bared-teeth expression cosplaying a donkey?

It was pretty convincing.

The doe also returned to her senses from her previous state. She felt her hind leg and discovered that she could no longer feel any pain.

She cautiously took two steps. It was just like before she had been injured!

Her big deer eyes were full of confusion, but she was even more delighted that her husband seemed to be saved as well.

"Baa baa!"

She anxiously circled Qian Guang, gently trying to nudge him, hoping he would save her husband.

"Alright, alright, stop acting cute. I'll go take a look."

Qian Guang gave the deer another pet. The feel was so good!

He walked toward the stag, but his eyes remained fixed on the fawn.

Come to think of it, wouldn't such a small deer feel even better to pet? But this deer didn't look very smart. Petting an idiot shouldn't be illegal, right?

The fawn finally pulled its big teeth back in. Seeing the human inspect it twice, it fearfully backed away a few steps. Somehow, it felt as though it had been insulted.

The green magic circle lit up again. Looking at the stag's wounds of all sizes, Qian Guang decided he should just wipe out all the moles.

Earlier, he had thought there were too many moles and that killing was inadvisable. But these things were not only sleazy and fond of bullying the weak, they didn't even clock in and out on time.

Kill them!

The stag slowly opened his eyes. He had already seen a black-cloaked figure carrying a scythe approaching him, but for some reason, it had suddenly disappeared.

"Baa!"

Seeing his father wake up, the fawn happily ran over, ready to cuddle with him.

The stag perfunctorily nudged his child, then looked at Qian Guang gratefully.

"Baa!"

The stag struggled to stand. Most of his injuries had already healed under the magic, and the rest would have to be recuperated on his own.

But Qian Guang wasn't worried that they wouldn't be able to find herbs beneficial to themselves.

"Alright, alright, go find some medicine to nourish yourselves. I'm going to clean up the moles."

Qian Guang patted the stag. Unfortunately, he wasn't tall enough to reach its head. Still, he had to say, you weren't as nice to pet as your wife.

Hearing the word "moles," the stag grew a little agitated, stamping in place repeatedly while his wife kept soothing him.

"I'm off."

Just as Qian Guang was about to leave, the stag grabbed the corner of his clothes in its mouth and gently nudged him.

He watched the stag nudge him, then look in one direction, before nudging him again.

"You mean I should go that way?"

The stag nodded and lowered himself, wanting Qian Guang to ride on him.

"Ah, this... you're practically becoming a spirit beast."

Qian Guang did not refuse. He carefully climbed on. How rare—riding a six-meter-tall deer really was different. Awesome! ✧٩(ˊωˋ*)و✧

One human and three deer arrived before a cave. Unfortunately, the entrance was blocked by a stone, sealed perfectly tight.

Qian Guang sensed it. There really were quite a few lifeforms inside, and two of them possessed considerable magic power.

Then he looked at the burrows in front of the stone. Case closed—this was the moles' main base.

Come to think of it, did moles live inside mountain caves?

(•́ω•̀٥)

Forget it. If no one mentioned it, it was probably just an otherworldly feature.

Qian Guang got off the deer and patted the stag in thanks.

"Go on. It might be dangerous if you stay here. I can handle it alone, so take care of your injuries."

The stag's family looked deeply at Qian Guang, as if they wanted to imprint him in their minds.

For the first time, the fawn took the initiative to approach Qian Guang and gently bumped him.

Qian Guang naturally gave it a pet.

Heaven and earth bore witness—it had brought itself over. Petting an idiot wasn't illegal this time.

Mm, your mother still felt better.

After saying goodbye to the family, Qian Guang turned his gaze back to the stone.

He had no desire to crawl through burrows, and there was no way he could outrun them underground.

He liked breaking things with brute force!

It was also a good chance to test just how powerful his Sage Body was. He always felt like his might be fake.

Not to mention someone like Hashirama—even Tsunade, that counterfeit, could chop apart Gundams.

Qian Guang first circled the stone, checking whether there was any chance of pulling it out.

Unfortunately, it was lodged too tightly, without even the slightest gap. There was only a small, flat opening at the bottom of the stone, but there was no way he could crawl through it.

"Sigh, what a pity for such a complete boulder."

Qian Guang thought the stone looked rather nice. It was very smooth too, without any sharp edges. It would be a pity to smash it, but his mission was more important.

"Bang—crack!"

The enormous impact made the surrounding mountainside tremble, but the stone was completely unharmed. No, there was a tiny crack, but it quickly repaired itself.

Qian Guang was surprised for two reasons. First was the stone's hardness. If he hadn't tested his strength before, he would have suspected that staying up too late lately had made him weak.

Second, he sensed magic power from the stone—the feeling had appeared just as the crack repaired itself.

"This is fascinating. Is this some kind of treasure? Can it be used in medicine?"

He circled the stone several times and scraped off some powder with a small knife. He had become obsessed with mixing medicine lately and felt like anything he saw could be used as an ingredient.

He had even stored the antler that the deer had shed earlier.

It had to be said, spatial magic was incredibly useful. After awakening his Mangekyō, Qian Guang had become even more adept at spatial magic. He had developed a Spatial Pocket, and it was quite large.

Now he truly had a dimensional pocket. He could really pull things out from behind his back! Let Makarov figure it out himself!

Qian Guang knocked on the stone with his hand, intending to smash it and pack it away.

He assumed a stance, preparing to use ten percent of his full strength.

"Boom boom—crack!"

Rubble continually rolled down from the mountainside beside him.

A huge crack appeared in the stone before him, but it quickly healed as well. Still, Qian Guang saw that there was another layer of shell inside... 33 Novel Network

Caw caw caw...

Crows flew across the sky.

Qian Guang looked at his hand. That was right, he had used his full strength. Though he was still young, he could barely break Susanoo with it.

A little unconvinced, he looked at a rock beside him, walked over, and threw a punch.

The rock shattered into powder.

Qian Guang looked at the smooth stone with a resentful gaze.

He raised his hand, ready to continue bombarding it.

But Qian Guang suddenly sensed a life force.

He stopped his fist and stared at the stone in astonishment.

This thing was alive?!

Σ(°△°|||)︴

Had the stone become a spirit?

Something seemed to be trying to crawl out from the flat opening.

Qian Guang stepped back. Better to be cautious. He knew he always ran into something strange. Hopefully it wasn't a blond punk this time.

From the sound of it, something long was slowly crawling out.

It couldn't be a snake, could it? Was this a snake's home? Then what were these burrows?

Snakes could dig holes now?

"Eh, I'm stuck again. Can someone come help me out?" A not-too-bright voice rang out from the opening.

Qian Guang didn't move. He peered into the opening from the front and only saw a clump of black.

"Pop~"

The ground trembled, followed by a sound like a finger finally being pulled out of a glass bottle.

What exactly was stuck in there?!

A massive turtle head emerged from underground. Only then did Qian Guang realize the opening wasn't flat; part of it was simply buried beneath the ground.

"Ah, that hurts." It was hard to imagine that this turtle had a magnetic young man's voice.

Qian Guang had already turned to stone the moment that head emerged. Not because this thing could talk—after all, he had even seen flying cats.

But!

Who could tell him why that turtle had long, straight black hair?!

So, anyone want turtle jelly tonight?

"Kid! Was it you who disturbed your turtle—this little turtle will be leaving now."

Seeing the black aura constantly rising from Qian Guang, the turtle wisely chickened out.

It wanted to run, but it had forgotten that it was still stuck in the opening. Just as it tried to stretch itself out, a red-eyed patient appeared before it holding scissors.

"No!!!!"

.Provided by Qian Wei, Fairy Tail: Starting with Dual Kamui