The Trial Begins!

Three days passed, and at last, the promised day arrived. Fairy Tail's members had gathered in the hall, watching the stage before them with excited expressions as it lay covered by an enormous red curtain.

"Finally! It's that time again!" Gray said excitedly.

"Yeah, yeah! I wonder who'll be competing this year, and who the examiners will be? I bet I've got a pretty good chance of being picked this year~" Natsu was equally fired up, rubbing his fists together with boundless enthusiasm.

"Cut the crap. You think you'd get picked? Go home, wash up, and sleep. I've got a better shot than you." Gray sneered at Natsu, the mockery rolling right off his tongue.

"What did you say, you exhibitionist? Want me to flatten you?" Just as the two continued bickering and seemed ready to come to blows, the huge red curtain slowly began to rise.

As the curtain opened, three people stood above them. Makarov stood in the center, with Erza and Laxus at his sides.

"Huh? Laxus is back? Wait, both he and Erza are up there... could it be?!" Someone noticed that the two standing beside Makarov were both already S-Class Mages.

"Could this year's examiners be Laxus and Erza?! Wasn't there only one examiner in previous years?" The crowd began to murmur.

"Quiet, all of you! Listen to me!" Makarov shouted.

"Master! Who can take the S-Class Mage Trial this year?" "Hurry up and announce it!" "I can't wait any longer!" The crowd remained noisy.

Makarov took a deep breath, enlarged one of his arms, and slammed it heavily against the floor. Only when they saw Makarov getting angry did everyone finally quiet down.

Makarov cleared his throat and declared loudly, "Everyone! According to Fairy Tail's rules throughout the years, I will now officially announce the list of participants for the S-Class Mage Trial!"

"Oh! Hurry up and announce it!" "This is what we've been waiting for!" "I've definitely made it this time!" Everyone cheered excitedly.

"I have seen all of your efforts, strength, and maturity over the past year." Makarov paused before continuing loudly, "Therefore! I announce that those participating in this year's S-Class Mage Promotion Trial are..."

"Cana Alperona!" Cana suddenly lifted her head, her face full of surprise. Ed looked at this guildmate he rarely saw but had heard Mira and the others mention many times, and congratulated her. "Congratulations, Cana!"

"Thanks, Ed. I'll definitely pass the S-Class Trial this time. I won't fail like I did last time!" Cana thanked Ed, her expression equally serious.

"Huh? This is Cana's second time?" Ed whispered into Mira's ear.

"That's right. Cana and I took the trial together last year, but I was the one who passed." Mira whispered back, "She probably didn't expect to be selected two years in a row."

"Second!" Makarov continued loudly.

"Ed!"

The moment Ed heard his name, he answered excitedly, "Ossu!" "Congratulations, Ed. Do your best~" Mira encouraged him.

"Don't worry. As your boyfriend, I'll definitely ace this trial!"

"Those two things have absolutely nothing to do with each other, do they? Sigh... Well, if you're still fooling around like this, I guess you're pretty confident?" Mira looked at Ed helplessly. Ed patted his chest. "Of course. Just wait for the good news!"

"All right, those two are the participants for this trial." Makarov finished announcing the candidates and began revealing the next details.

"This trial will take place on an uninhabited island in the eastern sea. The specific content will be announced in three days. Dismissed!"

"Damn it, I lost out to Ed, who only joined the guild a year ago. I must not be strong enough yet. I need to keep training! I'm fired up!" Natsu was inexplicably fired up.

"Pathetic Natsu. You can't even beat me, and you want to beat Ed?" Gray, who had once been defeated by Ed, mocked him.

"You fucking itching for a beating?" Natsu immediately got in his face.

"Then try me!" The two were like sodium and water—once they came into contact, they exploded. They were practically fighting all the time.

Soon, three days passed. Ed and Cana arrived at the harbor, waved vigorously at the members seeing them off, and boarded a ship for the trial site.

As time passed, the ship gradually drew closer to the island where the trial would take place. When Makarov saw the island faintly appearing in the distance, he called Ed and Cana out from the cabin to announce the rules of the trial.

"You two, listen carefully. I will now announce the specific rules of Fairy Tail's S-Class Trial!"

Makarov paused, then continued, "This trial is a twenty-four-hour survival challenge. You must spend twenty-four hours on the island and procure your own food and a place to rest."

"Sounds pretty easy." Looking out at the vast sea, Ed knew that as a mage surrounded by the ocean, he had no need to worry about food.

There were ways to get water, too. He could just find a container, fill it with seawater, use fire to evaporate it, and collect the condensed vapor. It was no challenge at all. In fact, even going without food or water would be fine if it came to that.

"Hmph! Being S-Class isn't just about survival. Exploration and combat are both indispensable!" Makarov could tell from Ed's expression that he was taking it too lightly.

"Erza and Laxus are already on the island, and many magical beasts have been placed there. They will attack you directly."

"At the same time, the magical beasts carry four different secret letters. Every two letters can be combined into a message, recording Erza's and Laxus's locations respectively. I will now announce your specific objectives!"

"First! Survive for twenty-four hours! Second! Collect at least one complete set of secret letters and decipher the message! Third! Follow the message to Erza's or Laxus's location and gain their approval! Complete all three objectives to pass the trial! That's all! Is that clear? Do you understand?!"

"Clear!" "Understood!" Ed and Cana answered loudly at the same time.

"Very good. There is one more thing to note. If neither of you has reached the third objective by the final hour, Erza and Laxus will begin attacking you directly. Even if you defeat them then, you will still fail the trial if you have not completed the first two objectives."

Makarov paused and said seriously, "The missions undertaken by S-Class Mages are extremely dangerous. Even if your raw strength has reached the threshold for S-Class, if you lack the necessary intelligence and plan to brute-force an S-Class Mission with strength alone, you're simply courting death. So take this trial seriously, understand?!"

Seeing Ed and Cana nod seriously, Makarov said, "One more thing: if neither of you completes the trial, then no one will become an S-Class Mage this time. Now that all the rules have been explained, if there are no questions, the trial officially begins!"

"The island is still some distance away, isn't it?!" Ed shouted as he looked at the island at least five hundred meters away. "That's part of the trial too. Figure it out yourselves!"

"Then let's go!" Cana immediately jumped into the sea and began swimming toward the uninhabited island.

Seeing that, Ed pulled out a kunai and pinched it between his fingers. He drew his arm back, gathered magic power in it, and readied Monster Strength. "Then... let's begin!"