After asking a few passersby for directions, Xi Feng and the girls finally arrived at Fairy Tail.
Looking at Fairy Tail's emblem, Xi Feng felt a surge of excitement. He was actually seeing the guild he had only ever watched in an anime with his own eyes.
Of course, Erza was excited too. Back in the Tower of Heaven, Grandpa Rob had always told her about Fairy Tail, making her curious about what sort of guild could leave him so attached to it. Now that she was here, however, she felt nervous and instinctively took Xi Feng's hand.
Xi Feng smiled gently and reassured her. "Relax. Let's go inside."
With that, Xi Feng led Erza and the other two girls to the entrance, pushed open the door, and walked in.
The lively guild turned toward the entrance when the door opened, and everyone saw a boy and three girls walk inside.
Unused to having so many eyes on them, Wendy and Kinana ducked straight behind Xi Feng.
"Hey, hey! You're scaring them!" a little girl's voice called out.
The four of them looked toward the voice and saw a girl in a yellow plaid outfit approach them. "Hello, my name is Cana Alberona. Is there something you need?"
Her introduction made Xi Feng pause, but he quickly recovered. Is she the Cana who grows up to be so sexy? She's cute as a kid too. Then he introduced them. "Hello. Grandpa Rob recommended that we come here to join the guild."
"Rob! Did you just say Rob?!" A deep voice rang out the moment Xi Feng finished speaking, and a short old man hurried over.
Xi Feng immediately recognized the short old man: Makarov Dreyar, Fairy Tail's fifth guild master.
Seeing how excited Makarov was, Xi Feng was reluctant to tell him what had happened to Rob, but he still nodded.
"Where is he? Why didn't he come back with you?!" Seeing Xi Feng nod, Makarov grew even more excited. After all these years of searching, he finally had news of his old friend. He grabbed Xi Feng's arm and questioned him urgently.
"He..."
Makarov's questions left Xi Feng and Erza unsure how to answer.
"Did he... did something happen to him...?" Their expressions said it all, giving Makarov an inkling of what had happened.
"Yes." Xi Feng nodded, then told him what had happened to Rob.
"..."
"How could this happen...?" Makarov stood dazed as he listened. His old friend had passed on before him. The older guild members who had known Rob were saddened as well.
"I never imagined Rob had been through so much. That fellow must be happy now, making me grieve for him." After mourning for a while, Makarov recovered and spoke as though making a joke. "Anyway, you're all here to join the guild, right?"
"Yes."
"Cana, take them over and stamp them with our guild mark."
"Yes." Cana nodded at Makarov's instruction, then turned to Xi Feng and the girls. "Follow me."
As Cana headed toward the counter, Xi Feng took the three girls along after her.
Taking out the stamp, Cana asked them gently, "What colors do you want, and where should I put them?"
"Gray. Put the guild mark on my right arm," Xi Feng said, pointing to his arm.
"I want dark blue, on my left arm," Erza said.
"I want sky blue, on my right shoulder."
"I want purple, on the back of my right hand."
Chapter 7: The First A-rank Mission
A month or two had passed since they joined Fairy Tail, and Xi Feng and the girls gradually settled in. Life here felt completely different from his days as a mercenary. Here, Xi Feng felt happiness and warmth.
During his time at the guild, Xi Feng took Erza and Wendy on a few missions to familiarize himself with his magic. As for Kinana, she could not use magic, so for now she could only work as a receptionist at the guild. Xi Feng wanted to teach her, but he had no idea how, and he knew very little of this world's written language. Being able to read the mission requests was already his limit. Thus, the matter went nowhere. Besides, he seemed to remember that Kinana in the original story liked Take Over magic. He would wait until Mirajane and her siblings arrived, then have Kinana learn alongside Lisanna.
"Xi Feng! I'm definitely going to beat you today!"
As usual, a black-haired boy with a bare torso raised his fist and charged straight at Xi Feng's handsome face.
With a thud, Xi Feng caught the boy's fist effortlessly. "Gray, I don't have time to teach you a lesson today. I'm going on a mission."
Indeed, this black-haired boy was one of the original story's main characters, Gray Fullbuster. Once, Gray had spotted Xi Feng practicing magic in the hills behind the guild and approached him to suggest a sparring match. Xi Feng thought it sounded good. How could he turn down a free sparring partner? In the end, however, it had been a completely one-sided beating. From then on, Gray had pestered Xi Feng, coming back every day for another thrashing.
"A mission? What kind?" Gray perked up at Xi Feng's words.
"Here, this one." Xi Feng showed Gray the request.
(Destroy the dark guild Evil Soul, located in xxx. Its guild master is an A-rank lightning mage. Mission rank: A. Reward: 250,000 J.)
"A-rank!" Gray's eyes lit up as he read the request in Xi Feng's hand. "Xi Feng, take me! Take me with you! I don't need any of the reward!"
"No."
Xi Feng refused outright. He had waited until Erza and the other girls went shopping before asking Makarov for this mission. Makarov had initially refused too, only approving it after considerable persuasion and exchanging a move or two with Xi Feng.
He had finally managed to get this mission. Why would he bring this little tagalong? Besides, Xi Feng wanted to test his own strength.
"Aaargh! Why?! Why did the master let you take an A-rank mission but not me?!" Gray shouted indignantly.
"Want to know why?" Seeing Gray's reaction, Xi Feng beckoned him closer.
"Yes, yes!" Gray nodded repeatedly.
"The reason is... I'm stronger than you! Hahaha!" Xi Feng burst out laughing.
"Aaargh! Damn it! Just you wait, Xi Feng! One day, I'll be stronger than you!" Gray shouted at his retreating back.
"Then I'll look forward to it!" Xi Feng waved without looking back and walked out of the guild.
"I hope that brat will be all right." Makarov, who had been watching them from the second floor, looked worried. Then he shook his head. "He should be fine."
Watching Xi Feng leave, Makarov recalled what had happened.
"Master, you promised. If I can make you acknowledge that I have A-rank strength, you'll let me take A-rank missions," Xi Feng said, looking at Makarov as he panted for breath.
"Then show me whether you have what it takes," Makarov said calmly, though his eyes held a trace of astonishment. During their fight, Xi Feng's awareness and reactions had been first-rate, nothing like a child's. He had remained calm and composed throughout, not at all like a hot-blooded youth.
Makarov had always assumed Xi Feng used Requip Magic, since he kept producing one weapon after another. Over time, however, he had sensed something was wrong. This magic did not seem like Requip Magic. It was more as though the weapons were being created.
If that's true, it's terrifying! Makarov shook his head repeatedly at the thought.
"Master, let me show you my current strength."
"Let's see it, then." Xi Feng's words piqued Makarov's interest, and a longsword appeared in Xi Feng's hand.
The sword was roughly three feet long and four inches wide, with a hilt colored blue and gold. Anyone who had watched Fate would recognize it: Excalibur, the Sword of Promised Victory.
Indeed, this was Artoria's sword of kings. Xi Feng knew that if he kept dragging out the fight, he would eventually run out of magic power. He might as well stake everything on a single attempt, so he used his remaining magic power to project this sword of kings.
Just projecting this sword is already exhausting. If I unleash Excalibur too, won't I collapse on the spot? Xi Feng thought as he struggled to stay upright.
Looking at the projected Excalibur, Makarov's expression grew grave. He could sense that this weapon was very different from the ones Xi Feng had "created" earlier. It contained an immense amount of magic power.
"Going all out, are you?" Makarov cast aside his dismissiveness and watched Xi Feng warily.
The next moment, Xi Feng raised Excalibur high and poured his magic power into it. A shaft of light shot into the sky as he shouted, "Excalibur!!!!"
Makarov's eyes filled with shock. This magic power was fully on the level of an S-Class spell. The boy was astonishing.
"Brat, don't you know how to respect your elders?!" Snapping back to his senses, Makarov silently cursed as the enormous blade of light descended toward him. He immediately defended himself, a magic circle appearing beneath his feet.
"Three God Pillars!"
Boom! The blade of light struck the Three God Pillars with a tremendous crash.
"Cough, cough, cough! You brat, don't you know how to respect your elders?" Makarov grumbled once the smoke cleared. Then he noticed Xi Feng lying on the ground.
Makarov hurried over to check on him and finally let out a relieved breath. He had merely passed out from exhaustion. However, Makarov's gaze turned serious again. If the boy had possessed more magic power, his spell might have been cut apart.
"What a strange boy." Makarov shook his head, picked Xi Feng up, and left.
Five days later, at the Evil Soul guild in xxx.
"I'm so bored. Life is so dull."
"Well, we're just a couple of lowly mages."
At that moment, the two Evil Soul mages on guard duty were passing the time with idle chatter.
Just then, a boy appeared in their field of vision in the distance.
"Looks like someone's over there?"
"Come on, let's check it out."
The two grunt mages tightened their grips on their weapons and approached the boy warily.
"Hey, kid! Stop right there! What are you doing here?"
Seeing that he was only a boy, the two grunt mages relaxed, then immediately adopted a domineering attitude.
"Me?" The boy narrowed his eyes at the grunt mages blocking his path. The next instant, silver light flashed. Both mages' eyes widened before they collapsed to the ground, a faint, thin line appearing across each neck. A blade over a meter long had appeared in the boy's previously empty hand.
Looking at the two men on the ground, the boy said flatly, "I'm here to take your lives."
With that, he walked straight into the dark guild.
Inside the guild, Evil Soul's master, Nickel, had his eyes half closed as he enjoyed a massage from beautiful women, thoroughly at ease in his life of wine and debauchery.
"M-Master! Bad news! Someone's attacking us!"
Just as Nickel was fantasizing about an orgy, one of his subordinates rushed in.
"What?!" Hearing his subordinate's words, Nickel shot to his feet and grabbed him. "How many are there?"
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