Chapter 171: Departure
"Are you sure you're okay? That battle was so intense," Ultear asked, not entirely convinced. The others also looked at Noah with concern.
He shook his head. "I'm fine. I've already recovered a good deal of my magic power; taking everyone back won't be a problem. My stamina is fine, too. Let's go back. It's not good to just be floating around out here."
Ultear looked at his expression and saw that he wasn't just putting on a brave face. When they had first pulled him from the sea, his face had been deathly pale, but now, some color had returned. And looking around at everyone standing on a giant ice raft in the middle of the ocean... he was right. The guild members didn't object any further.
Noah raised his right hand, and in an instant, the entire guild was back inside the guild hall.
Returning to the familiar space, the guild immediately erupted into a lively clamor. The adults were all excitedly discussing the battle. Noah's and Gildarts's performance had completely shattered their perceptions, and they needed to talk about it to process the shock. Since both of them had fallen into the sea at the same time, they unanimously concluded that Noah's and Gildarts's strength was now equal; they were both the strongest wizards in the guild. To have two such paradigm-shiftingly powerful wizards in their guild filled them with immense pride and excitement.
The younger generation, on the other hand, had rushed straight to the training ground the moment they returned. They had been incredibly inspired by the duel. Seeing the strength of the people right beside them gave them a clear goal to strive for.
Ur also took on several S and SS-Class requests and departed. She too wanted to improve. Someone right next to her had already succeeded, and she knew that if she continued to work hard, she could also reach that level of strength. Even if she couldn't, she wouldn't be left too far behind.
Although Noah and Gildarts had recovered a fair bit thanks to the potions, they both decided to go home and rest. They had both gained a lot from the battle and needed time to think, process, and digest what they had learned. In the end, Cana accompanied Gildarts home, and Erza went with Noah.
When they got back to their respective homes, both Cana and Erza were unceremoniously chased off to the training grounds by their companions. "Everyone is training so enthusiastically, you should join them. It's not like we can't take care of ourselves. We just used up a lot of energy and got a little hurt, that's all."
Cana and Erza couldn't argue with them and had no choice but to leave them be and go to the training ground themselves. They happened to meet at the entrance, and when they shared a knowing smile, they both knew the other had been kicked out as well. They went in to train together.
A few days later, Gildarts's body had finally made a full recovery. When Noah saw him, he felt that Gildarts's presence had become much deeper; his strength had clearly improved.
"You've still decided to do the 100-Year Quest?" Noah asked, the moment they met.
"Ah. This time, it's not to seek pressure and a breakthrough. It's to broaden my horizons, to see what a quest that no one has completed in over a hundred years is really like," Gildarts explained to Noah and Makarov. He had just broken through his own bottleneck and had achieved significant growth. He no longer needed to seek out pressure to challenge himself. But he was genuinely curious about what the 100-Year Quest was, and why so many powerful people had failed to complete it for so long.
"Have you discussed it with Cana?" Noah asked.
Gildarts nodded, a blissful look on his face. "Of course. A decision this important, of course I had to discuss it with my Cana-chan. She's very supportive."
Since Cana was in support of it, Makarov and Noah didn't say anything to try and stop him.
"As far as I know, no one who has taken that quest has ever returned," Makarov said, his tone grave. "You must be careful. If you can't complete it, then abandon the mission. Don't lose your life. Being alive is more important than anything."
Gildarts knew this was the Master's way of showing his concern and nodded in agreement.
Noah thought for a moment. "Come to my house a little later. I just got a lot of inspiration from setting up the defensive magic for the guild and the city. I'll upgrade the magic on your guild mark for you, improve its defensive power, and give you a better chance of survival."
Gildarts didn't refuse. Whether for Cana or for himself, the more life-saving measures, the better.
After setting a time, Noah went home to prepare. This time, he was going to create a custom-made defensive spell for Gildarts's guild mark, maximizing its defensive power and reaction speed. After all, some dangers were both fast and deadly. If the shield couldn't deploy in time, it was useless.
When Gildarts arrived at his house, Noah was already ready. He first expanded the magic storage capacity of the mark on Gildarts's body. Using an extremely complex spell, he increased its capacity until it could hold Gildarts's entire magic power reserve. That is, within that tiny space, it could now store the full magical energy of a wizard as powerful as Gildarts. To prevent any problems, Noah laid down a large number of stabilization spells to ensure its safety. After all, if that thing blew up, the person would go with it.
Then, he integrated the new defensive magic he had been developing into the guild mark. This version was much faster and stronger than the previous one, and of course, consumed much more magic. He also increased the teleportation range to 1000 kilometers and added concealment magic to it, so that after moving, he couldn't be tracked. He also enhanced the communication function, making its signal stronger, more covert, and longer-ranged, while also reducing its magic consumption and increasing its security. These were all operations that would have been impossible to perform on anyone less powerful than Gildarts.
After more than twenty days of hard work, Noah finally completed all the modifications. He then ran various tests to ensure all the functions were working properly.
During this process, Noah also got to see firsthand just how much Gildarts had grown. After their battle, he had improved significantly in every aspect, from his magic power to his control. This, of course, made the operation more difficult for Noah, but it also gave him greater confidence in Gildarts's safety.
When all the work was done, Noah gave Gildarts two of the precious recovery potions he had given to Makarov for emergencies, as well as two full sets of various other potions, ensuring he had enough to treat himself and deal with any difficulties he might encounter.
And then, with everyone in the guild seeing him off, Gildarts departed, beginning his new journey.
Noah looked at Cana, who had a worried expression on her face the moment her father turned to leave. "Since you're so worried about him, why did you agree to let him go?"
"Before, he was like a wanderer," Cana said sincerely. "But now, he's been with me for so many years. He wants to travel, to see new things. I can't stop him. I have to wish him well."
"If you can think of it that way, then I won't say anything more. But you don't need to be so worried. Didn't I add a communication function to his mark? As long as your magic power is sufficient, you can contact him over long distances. The stronger your magic, the greater the range. You should go and train hard!"
Cana was stunned. She had been so worried about her father leaving that she had completely forgotten about that. Realizing this, she became excited. As long as she could contact him, she wouldn't have to be so worried, right?
"Thank you, Noah!" she said excitedly. "I'm going to go train right now!" She then ran off towards the training ground.
Noah watched her go. Now that she has a goal to work towards, she'll get even stronger. She won't have a situation where she fails the S-Class trial several times in a row.
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