Wood Release

Makarov took a satisfied swig of his drink and added indistinctly:

"Mm, that's settled. As for requests... Cana!"

Makarov called to the little girl in a green dress some distance away:

"Come help Blanc learn how requests work."

"Okay, Master." Cana jogged over and greeted Blanc with easy confidence.

"Hello, I'm Cana Alberona. Come with me. I'll explain how to take requests."

"All right. Sorry for the trouble."

Just as they were about to leave, a shirtless Gray suddenly ran over and blocked their path.

"Hold on. My name is Gray Fullbuster." Gray strode up to Blanc, lifting his chin, his eyes brimming with fighting spirit. "I heard you earlier. You're a mage too, right? Since you're new here, fight me! Let's see how strong you are."

Watching Gray jump out to challenge him, Cana pressed a hand to her forehead, speechless.

"Gray, put your clothes on first."

"Huh? When did my clothes disappear?!" Gray looked horrified.

The sight stirred a subtle delight in Blanc. Experiencing a classic scene from the anime in person was just too much fun.

His lips curved slightly. "Sure. I don't mind a little sparring."

The moment Blanc finished speaking, several tables of old hands who had been competing over drinks turned toward them in unison, as though they had sniffed out some entertainment.

"Oh?" Wakaba adjusted his sunglasses and grinned. "Gray's picking another fight?"

Macao set his mug down on the table, his smile positively wicked. "The new kid actually accepted right away? He's got guts!"

"Hey, hey! They're fighting! They're fighting!" Someone shouted first, and the whole hall erupted. "Move the tables! Move the chairs! Make room! Don't block my view!"

Chair legs scraped across the floor as several idle members scrambled to clear a space in the middle, their practiced movements suggesting this was far from the first time.

Cana rubbed her temple and waved helplessly at both sides.

"Can't you people act normal...? Blanc, be careful. Gray doesn't know how to hold back."

"Who doesn't know how to hold back?!" Gray folded his arms, looking excited. "You're pretty bold, newbie! Don't cry when you lose!"

"Exactly!" Wakaba raised a hand to egg them on. "Kid against kid! Fair fight! Loser buys drinks!"

"What kind of kid drinks alcohol?!" Macao immediately protested, then amended his words. "Then the loser buys juice! Or runs out to buy us booze!"

"Agreed!"

The scattered cheers instantly made the hall even noisier. Some slapped tables, others whistled, and a few were already placing bets in hushed voices.

"I bet on Gray. That kid's been practicing his Make Magic pretty hard."

"I bet on the new kid. His eyes were steady when the Master introduced him. He doesn't look ordinary."

On the counter, Makarov watched with narrowed eyes over his drink. Rather than stopping them, he cheerfully added fuel to the fire.

"You can fight, but know your limits. Break any tables or chairs, and you'll pay for them yourselves. Also, Gray-find your clothes and put them back on when you're done!"

"I know!" Gray shouted excitedly, walking into the cleared space and waving Blanc over. "Come on, newbie!"

Blanc stepped into the open space and stood opposite Gray with a smile. "Then let's have a good match."

Gray immediately took a fighting stance, then began explaining with fiery confidence.

"My magic is Ice-Make Magic! It combines the caster's magic power and imagination to create matter out of thin air and change its shape! It's magic with incredible freedom!"

Blanc looked at Gray and said, "What a coincidence. I use Make Magic too, only mine is Wood-Make Magic."

At that, Macao and Wakaba immediately perked up on the sidelines.

"Make against Make? What a coincidence. This should be a good show," Macao said with a grin.

Wakaba adjusted his sunglasses too. "Ice against wood, both Make Magic. That'll make for an interesting match. Now I'm looking forward to it."

Cana glanced at the chipped tables and chairs around them and silently thought, Wood-Make Magic... Does that mean someone can fix the guild's broken tables and chairs for free now?

Had Blanc known what Cana was thinking, he probably wouldn't have known whether to laugh or cry. The guild was still relatively restrained. Once Natsu and that bunch of walking disasters joined in a few years, when wouldn't the furniture be broken? He had no desire to become a full-time carpenter.

He would leave the repairs to Laki, another Wood Make user who would join later.

Hearing Macao and Wakaba, Gray exclaimed excitedly, "Then let's start! Ice-Make: Ice Geyser!"

Gray slammed both hands onto the ground. A mass of sharp ice pillars instantly burst from the floor in front of him like a row of crystalline blades, charging straight toward Blanc with a bitter chill.

Blanc's expression remained unchanged as he clapped his hands crisply in front of him.

Boom!

Several thick wooden stakes erupted from the ground, fitting tightly together into a curved wooden wall that blocked every one of Gray's ice pillars. Ice fragments flew everywhere, but the wall didn't budge.

"What?!" Gray gasped.

Before he could react, Blanc clapped his hands again, his magic power stirring faintly within him.

A vine suddenly shot from the ground, darting toward Gray at astonishing speed like a nimble snake.

Gray reacted swiftly, twisting aside and narrowly dodging the first attack.

But then the earth beside his feet burst apart, and several more vines sprang out, binding him tightly.

Gray struggled desperately, but the vines only tightened. Stranger still, he discovered to his horror that they were slowly draining his strength and magic power into his opponent! Within seconds, his legs went weak, and he lost all ability to resist.

"Damn it, this guy's magic is weird. It can actually absorb my stamina!" Gray said helplessly.

The fight ended in an instant.

"Wood Release: Binding." Blanc had come up with the name on the spot. Essentially, his Make Magic only required him to clap his hands, and whatever he imagined would appear. He had no fixed move names, but remembering that everyone in the original story called out their spells, he decided to follow local custom and shout something too.

He called it Wood Release rather than Wood Make because Blanc's magic wasn't simply Make Magic. He combined Wood Make with other magic to achieve effects similar to Wood Release.

When he had discovered those two types of magic in Grimoire Heart, he had wondered whether combining them could reproduce Hashirama Senju's Wood Release.

Eventually, he found that he could combine them, but doing so required a continuous expenditure of several times the magic power.

For an ordinary mage, that meant sacrificing endurance for powerful effects. For Blanc, it was simply powerful, because endurance wasn't an issue for him.

The hall went silent for a full two seconds.

Some of those who had been cheering and betting still held their drinks halfway up; others had only just moved their chairs aside. The match had barely begun, yet the outcome was already decided.

"That's... it?" Macao blinked, apparently still trying to process what had happened.

Wakaba adjusted his sunglasses, looked at Gray still bound tightly in the vines, and nodded.

"One defense, one attack, then a bind. That was fast. Gray really ran into a wall this time."

Cana jogged over to help pull the vines away. Seeing that, Blanc released his hands, and the thick vines dissolved into gentle green light.

Cana glanced at Blanc, then at the marks left by the wooden stakes, a hint of surprise in her voice.

"That was much faster than I expected. You're really strong, Blanc."

On the counter, Makarov slowly lowered his mug. His gaze grew unfathomably deep. Though his smile remained gentle, his voice carried the sharp insight of a veteran mage.

"Clean and decisive. But, child, your vines could absorb stamina. That isn't an effect of Wood Make, is it? What drained Gray's strength just now felt more like another kind of magic."

Blanc nodded without hiding anything.

"You're right, Master. Wood Make alone can't do that. That spell actually combined two kinds of magic. The other magic I use is Nature Magic."

"Nature Magic?" Cana repeated softly.

Makarov froze for a moment, then his eyes lit up. He set his mug on the counter, his voice rising.

"Nature Magic?! That's an extremely rare and powerful form of ancient magic! It lets you resonate directly with all things in nature and manipulate nature's power. Very few people in the magic world today have truly mastered it! You little rascal, you actually know it?!"

The hall exploded.

"Ancient magic?!" Macao sprang to his feet, his chair scraping across the floor. "He knows ancient magic at ten? You're kidding!"

Wakaba adjusted his sunglasses, unable to suppress his grin.

"We've struck gold. Our guild's really going to shine now-we've got another monster of a genius!"

"It's combination magic!" someone shouted. "Make plus Nature? That's ridiculously strong!"

Gray rubbed his aching wrists and climbed to his feet. Though he still sounded defiant, the way he looked at Blanc had completely changed.

"What the heck! So it was combination magic. Fine, I was careless this time, but next time... I won't lose so quickly!"

Makarov burst into laughter and hopped excitedly off the counter. He raised a hand and gave Blanc's shoulder several hearty pats, his voice full of undisguised delight.

"Good! Good! Good! Having a child like you join Fairy Tail makes this old man proud! But..." He winked, his tone relaxed yet serious. "The stronger the ancient magic, the more carefully you must use it. Against your comrades, knowing when to stop is enough."

Blanc swayed slightly under the pats and nodded with a smile.

"Understood, Master. I'll be careful."

"Good!" Makarov picked up his mug again and raised it toward the others. "Raise your glasses! Let's celebrate the incredible new kid in our guild!"

"Agreed!"

The cheers rose again, even louder than during the match.

"By the way, do you have a place to stay? The guild has dormitories. If you don't have anywhere, you can apply for a room. You can owe the rent for now and pay it later."

"I do. I'm staying at an inn right now. I plan to finish a job first, then find somewhere to rent. I'll pass on the dorms. I'm more used to living alone."

Fairy Tail had a boys' dormitory? If I remember right, the guild dorms cost more than renting outside in the original story. Was the extra money going toward repairs? With that bunch living together, the dorms would probably need fixing every few days.

"All right. The request process is basically what I explained earlier. Newcomers just starting out like us can only take everyday, noncombat jobs, like delivering letters or goods and finding cats. But you're strong, Blanc. If the Master approves, you can take combat requests, like clearing out magical beasts," Cana said.

"But remember, the second floor is the s-class mission area. Beginner mages can't take those. Only those who pass the guild's s-class exam and become recognized S-Class Mages can go upstairs for requests. If you're not S-Class, you can't even go up there."

"Got it. Thank you, Cana," Blanc said.

S-Class Mages were the strongest fighters in any guild, but Fairy Tail's S-Class carried even more weight. Its assessment was a full level harder than those of other guilds.

The Phantom Lord arc in the original story made that clear. The Element 4, Phantom Lord's S-Class Mages, had been around Natsu and Gray's strength at the time. In Fairy Tail, that only made them standouts among the A-Class ranks, still short of Fairy Tail's S-Class standard.

Other guilds probably awarded S-Class to anyone strong enough to handle ordinary s-class missions, whereas Fairy Tail required its mages to handle those missions with ease.

It was much like Jujutsu Kaisen, where a Jujutsu Sorcerer who could exorcise special-grade cursed spirits qualified for grade one, while someone who could sweep them aside qualified for special grade.

Blanc estimated his current strength to be roughly equal to Natsu and Gray at the beginning of the story.

Although Blanc's infinite magic power let him cast endlessly, his current output wasn't strong enough. Even using Wood Release at full strength, he was probably only comparable to the weakened First Hokage Orochimaru had reincarnated during the invasion of Konoha. One Advent of a World of Trees would only summon a rooftop-sized grove, enough to cause the Third Hokage a little trouble.

But as his body grew and he kept training, its magic capacity would continue to increase, and Blanc's output would grow stronger too.

He figured that by adulthood, reaching Hashirama Senju's level-summoning a forest with a clap, building giant mechs, and conjuring enormous Buddhas-shouldn't be much of a problem.

Still, despite his promising future, remembering that the final boss, the Black Dragon, was immune to magic made his cheat feel a little inadequate. He didn't know how the original protagonists had defeated it, either.

But the boss fight is still a long way off. No need to overthink it. I'll take things one step at a time. If they could deal with the Black Dragon in the original story, there's no reason adding a powerful fighter like me should make things worse.

For now, let's decide what my first job after joining Fairy Tail should be.

"Find Lucky, the missing puppy belonging to weapons shop owner Linus-10,000 J." Pass.

"Find Little Meow, tavern owner Selena's pet kitten-10,000 J." Pass.

"Help Lower Creek Village harvest rice-20,000 J." Pass.

Couldn't someone who isn't a mage do these everyday jobs? This feels like looking at Konoha's genin mission list.

"Clear out the wild boars harassing Creekside Village-100,000 J." This looks good. At least it's a combat job, and it isn't too difficult for me. Perfect for a first practice run. I'm running low on money, too, so 100,000 J is a decent reward. This is the one.

Blanc pulled down the request sheet and walked toward the counter.

"Master, could you register this for me? I'd like to take this job."

Makarov took the request sheet and looked it over.

"Oh, a combat job. Want to reconsider? For your first request, you should pick something simple to get familiar with things. Jumping straight into combat carries some risk."

"This one, Master. Don't worry. I'm strong."

"Normally, a young newcomer like you, Blanc, would only be allowed to take noncombat requests to build experience. But given your strength, I'll make an exception. You can't go alone, though. You need to find an experienced senior to accompany you."

"I see."

Hearing that requirement, Blanc scanned the room. Going with an adult would easily make him the one being looked after, and then whose job would it really be? Someone his own age would be more convenient.

At this point, the only guild members his age were Laxus, Cana, and Gray.

Laxus was nowhere in sight, probably out on a job. Blanc wondered what he was like at this point.

As Blanc recalled, Laxus had entered his rebellious phase after becoming an S-Class Mage. He couldn't stand guild members seeing him only as the Master's grandson and overlooking his own accomplishments. That, coupled with Ivan's expulsion, had turned him into an angry hothead. Blanc wondered whether he was already that awkwardly prickly type.

Blanc didn't know how strong Cana was yet. He hadn't seen her fight, so he couldn't judge, nor did he know whether she had begun studying Card Magic.

Gray, on the other hand, had given him a rough idea of his level during their match. He could cast instantly and dodge a probing vine attack. He had offensive power and decent reflexes.

Although he was still far weaker than his future self, he was already stronger than some ordinary adults. He was more than capable of dealing with normal wild boars.

With that thought, Blanc turned his gaze toward Gray.

"Gray! I've got a combat job that needs a team. Want to come along?"

"Huh? A combat job? A team?" The shirt Gray had only half put on immediately fell back to the floor. He strode up to Blanc, lifting his chin excitedly without even checking the request.

"Sure! I'll show you what I can do on a real job! This time, I definitely won't lose to you!"

"Hey, Gray, your clothes..."

"Huh? I'll put them on later!" Gray waved a hand and leaned over to read the sheet. "Clearing out wild boars? Nice! Way more interesting than finding cats!"

Behind the counter, Makarov's mustache bristled in anger at the sight, and he slapped the counter.

"Hold on! I said to find an experienced senior-not for you two little brats to team up and run off! Ordinary or not, wild boars still make this a combat request. Sending two little kids on a combat job is too dangerous!"

Blanc turned to the old man, his tone faintly teasing, though every word hit the point.

"But, Master, you clearly said to 'find an experienced senior to accompany me.'"

He turned sideways and pointed to Gray, who was already rubbing his hands eagerly.

"Gray joined before I did, he's taken requests, and he's got the strength. Isn't that exactly an experienced senior? You never said the senior had to be an adult."

Makarov: "..."

The hall went quiet for a second before a few people failed to hold back their laughter.

"He's got you cornered, Master." Wakaba held his sunglasses, his shoulders shaking slightly.

Macao stifled a laugh too. "Logically... I don't think you can argue with that."

"Y-you bastards, what are you laughing at?!" Makarov's old face reddened, and he angrily pointed at the two boys and shouted, "I obviously meant a mature, dependable senior who can keep things under control! Not a brat who strips and starts fights at the drop of a hat!"

"Who strips at the drop of a hat?!" Gray immediately bristled.

Blanc kept looking at Makarov and calmly added:

"So, Master, are you going back on your word?"

Makarov was instantly speechless. His mustache twitched in anger, and he grabbed his mug and took a heavy swig, as though trying to swallow his frustration. Finally, the old man deflated completely and tugged irritably at his jester hat.

"...I really can't do anything with you two! Fine, fine, take it! But listen carefully-if you run into something you can't handle, retreat immediately! No pushing yourselves!"

Makarov's tone slowly settled. He picked up his mug again and looked at the two eager boys. A trace of worry remained in his eyes, but he no longer tried to stop them.

He paused, his gaze shifting from Blanc to Gray, serious and solemn:

"Fairy Tail has no wizards who can't handle their own affairs. Once you've accepted a job, you must complete it with your own two hands. How you find your way, how you face the dangers along the road-"

"These are all steps you must take to become wizards who can stand on their own. I may worry about you, but I will never make your choices for you."

His words stirred something in Blanc's heart, and he nodded earnestly:

"We'll handle it, Master."

Gray straightened up too, his excited expression turning serious this time:

"Of course! I'll keep an eye on this guy-no, I mean, we'll finish the job together!"

Only then did Makarov smile again and wave a hand:

"Go on. Coming back safely is the best answer you can give this old man."

"Yes!"

The two answered in unison and pushed open the guild doors at almost a jog. Warm afternoon sunlight fell over them, stretching their shadows far behind them.

On the counter, Makarov watched them leave with a faint smile of pride, then took another swig of his drink as though he already had a headache and muttered:

"...Honestly, another little troublemaker."