Gajeel had always been bothered by not having his own "cat." Although he had never mentioned it to anyone, anyone slightly perceptive could tell.
Moen had long noticed this problem. After all, Gajeel's personality wasn't one that could hide things. The guy had even run through streets and alleys searching for his own cat, only to end up being chased and scratched by cats, making a bit of a joke of himself. Fortunately, his thick skin made him unafraid, otherwise he would have been covered in scratches.
Of course, some people could notice it, and some couldn't. For example, the more slow-witted ones, Natsu had no idea Gajeel had such thoughts, otherwise he would definitely mock Gajeel mercilessly.
"I might lose to anyone, but I won't lose to you and Gray!"
Natsu looked at Gajeel, his whole body fired up. Right now, Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel were in a competitive mode of chasing each other, none of the three willing to admit defeat to the others.
Of course, since Gajeel had joined the guild a bit later, Natsu and Gray only treated him as an extra rival to provoke. Between the two of them, longtime enemies, things were even more heated.
"Two dumb dragons."
Gray stood there bare-chested, wearing only shorts, hands on his hips, looking down on Natsu and Gajeel with disdain. He was also participating in the exam alone.
This time, Gray had come mainly to broaden his horizons and didn't think he would succeed. Of course, he would still give it his all, at least to see the gap between himself and an S-Class Mage.
Although he was often easily knocked down by Moen, Gray had never seriously fought Laxus. He also wanted to see just how strong Laxus was, and whose pressure felt greater between him and Moen.
"Quiet!"
Makarov spoke up, stopping the noise below. Everyone immediately quieted down and looked at him expectantly.
Of course, there were also veterans in the group who were participating for the second or third time. They were quite familiar with what would come next.
These "veterans" were willing to try again for two reasons: first, they were inspired by Gildarts; second, Gildarts was not an examiner this time!
Gildarts had taken on a job and left in front of everyone, which meant it was certain he wouldn't appear as an examiner for this S-Class exam.
Because the exam start time was only a few days after Gildarts left, someone had even specifically asked, his mission would take him very far away, and there was absolutely no way he could return in time.
Having been heavily discouraged by Gildarts before, they naturally wanted to try again this time. With Gildarts absent, it was obvious who the examiner would be—definitely Laxus, who had been staying in the guild recently.
Laxus's age, combined with the fact that he had only recently been promoted to S-Class, gave everyone confidence. Of course, they didn't think they could defeat Laxus, as he already had quite a reputation.
Their thinking was simple: as long as they performed a little better against Laxus than they had against Gildarts, maybe Laxus would let them pass?
Maybe Laxus's standards weren't as high as Gildarts's?
"Follow me properly, don't let anyone fall behind!"
Makarov didn't care about the children's thoughts. He led the group out, leaving Magnolia Town.
The group marched grandly to the train station and boarded a train heading for Hargeon. This immediately silenced the constantly talking Natsu and Gajeel, both of them wilted on the spot.
After arriving in Hargeon, before Natsu and Gajeel could recover, Makarov led everyone onto a ship.
"…"
Both Natsu and Gajeel wore expressions of despair. Had the exam already begun? Why was it tormenting them like this?!
Standing at the bow, looking at the children on deck, Makarov cleared his throat, preparing to announce the arrangements.
At this moment, the group was on a large ship, already out at sea. Looking around, there was nothing but endless blue water in every direction.
"Natsu, Gajeel, listen carefully."
Moen reminded the two lying off to the side like corpses. The main part was about to begin, even if they were just here to make up the numbers, they should at least listen seriously.
"Alright…"
Although Moen thought they were just making up the numbers, Natsu and Gajeel clearly didn't think so. The two forced themselves up to listen to Makarov explain the rules.
The ship had already been sailing for quite a while, so it wasn't strange at all that Natsu and Gajeel felt so miserable. Seasickness was indeed a top-tier torment, only those who experienced it would understand.
If they drifted at sea any longer, Natsu and Gajeel wouldn't need to take the exam—they could just head back home.
In fact, if those two had been made to swim behind the ship, it might have been more comfortable and even helped train their bodies.
"The rules are simple. See that island ahead? Go to that island. Only the first nine teams to arrive will qualify for the next stage. Then find Laxus. As for the following tests, once you gain his approval, Laxus will tell you."
Under everyone's gaze, Makarov slowly explained the rules.
Everyone followed the direction he pointed and looked. Sure enough, a small black dot had already appeared on the distant sea—it was an island.
"So far?!"
Someone exclaimed. The ship had already stopped and was no longer moving forward. Clearly, they would be starting from here.
"The first nine teams?"
Everyone looked at each other, this would eliminate more than half of them at once!
There were over twenty participants in total. Several people were competing alone—Moen, Erza, Mirajane, Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, Cana, while the rest had formed nine teams. Altogether, there were sixteen teams.
Before even reaching the exam location, more than half would be eliminated. Did the competition have to be this intense?!
As soon as this rule was announced, the experienced participants who had joined before all changed expressions. Although there were indeed many participants this time, raising the difficulty this high all at once was too excessive, this would eliminate the majority in one go!
Although the content of the S-Class exam was not fixed, this time's rules were clearly much stricter.
"No matter what methods you use, as long as you're in the first nine teams, it counts."
Makarov continued, emphasizing this point. Then, without giving everyone time to think, he shouted loudly:
"The exam officially begins!"
"Splash!"
At the very first moment, some veterans who had participated before jumped off the ship and went straight into the sea, starting to swim. This was the most simple and unadorned method—relying purely on physical strength to push forward.
Moen recognized at a glance that it was the "super muscle-type Mage," Joey. That guy took the lead, slicing through the sea like a swordfish, leaving behind a white trail as he swam forward at great speed.
"Damn it! Such a fast reaction!"
This sudden start caught everyone off guard for a moment, but Joey's incredible reaction quickly made everyone else respond as well.
For a time, it was truly "eight immortals crossing the sea, each displaying their own abilities." Only the top nine teams could qualify to enter the next round, so naturally, no one would hold back now, they all had to bring out their real skills and fight for it.
For Gray, this round was simply too easy. He jumped directly into the sea, clasped his hands together, and the seawater beneath his feet instantly froze into ice, continuously extending forward into an ice path. Running on ice was much faster than swimming.
Seeing this, some people tried to follow Gray and run along his ice path, but after only a couple of steps, they slipped and fell straight into the sea.
"Hahaha! Did you think running on ice was that easy?!"
Gray laughed out loud. Since he dared to create such an ice path, he naturally wasn't afraid of others following him, because not everyone could walk on ice as if it were flat ground like him, he was even more at ease on it than on land. Anyone trying to imitate him would only fall miserably.
Seeing this, Gajeel immediately gave up the idea of following behind Gray and honestly jumped into the sea to start swimming.
Facts proved that most Mages' magic was useless in this round, leaving them with no choice but to swim across honestly.
"Haha! Take your time swimming! I'll be going ahead!"
Natsu was flying in the sky, mocking Gajeel. Of course, he wasn't flying on his own, he was being carried by Happy, who spread his white wings and dragged Natsu through the air.
Seeing this scene, Gajeel gritted his teeth in frustration, feeling even more annoyed that he didn't have a "cat." If he had one, he could fly too!
There were quite a few who could fly, and Happy carrying Natsu was actually the slowest and most difficult among them.
After all, Happy was still young, his magic power wasn't very abundant, and for Exceeds, flying with wings was actually a form of magic, once their magic power was depleted, their wings would disappear.
"Take it slow, Happy, Natsu."
Moen summoned his crows and easily flew past Happy and Natsu, leaving behind a sentence. Based on Moen's judgment, it was impossible for Happy to carry Natsu all the way to the island, his magic power was being consumed too quickly, and he would likely "crash" before long.
In Moen's view, Natsu would probably be eliminated in this first round, because after the "crash," he would still have to swim while dragging Happy along. There was no way he would just abandon Happy after his magic power was exhausted.
Looking at it this way, Natsu would actually have been better off swimming from the beginning. This was a strategic mistake, and being eliminated wouldn't be unjustified.
"Damn it! Happy, hang in there! Overtake Big Brother Moen!"
Being overtaken by Moen made Natsu fired up. He urged Happy, wanting him to fly faster. Since he couldn't help, he could only cheer for Happy verbally.
"I'm already trying my best!"
Happy dragged Natsu along, flapping his wings continuously to accelerate. He was truly doing his best, because in essence, his ability to fly didn't rely on flapping wings, but on magic power.
However, Happy's efforts didn't allow them to surpass Moen. Instead, the gap only kept growing, and they could no longer even see Moen's "taillights."
"Whoosh!"
Not only could they not surpass Moen, they couldn't even maintain their current ranking. Erza, clad in black winged armor, swiftly flew past them, and the wind she generated caused Happy to wobble in the air.
"Damn Erza!"
Natsu had just complained when another "whoosh" sounded beside them—it was Mirajane, who had taken over a demon form and spread her wings as she flew past them.
Mirajane didn't even glance at them; her eyes were fixed tightly on Erza ahead.
"."
Natsu, swaying like a kite in the air for a couple of turns, was already too tired to complain.
But he wasn't dizzy, because he didn't treat Happy as a vehicle. Still, looking at the figures ahead that were already disappearing, he began to vaguely sense something was wrong, he and Happy didn't seem to have any advantage.
Although Moen didn't start the earliest, he was the first to arrive.
With the support of his magic power, the crows sped forward like fighter jets, bringing him to the island in no time.
This island was called Tenrou Island, also known as the "Island of Fairies." According to Grandpa Makarov, "fairies" had once lived here, though whether that was true or not, Moen couldn't be sure, this was also his first time visiting.
For the Fairy Tail guild, this place held extremely special significance.
This was the guild's sacred ground and also the resting place of the First Guild Master, Mavis. Only members of the Fairy Tail guild could enter here; in a sense, this was also the guild's territory.
Around Tenrou Island and within its land, there was an extremely powerful magical energy. This magic distorted others' vision, hiding the island, making it difficult for outsiders to discover it.
Especially for ordinary people without magic power, they would naturally bypass the area, so even without guards, almost no one would come to this island.
From the sky, Moen could see that the island's appearance was very unique. There was a towering giant tree on the island, extremely eye-catching, as if the entire island was a potted plant growing on the sea, with the land below serving as the base of that enormous tree.
Not every guild exam was held on Tenrou Island. This time, because there were many participants, this large venue was chosen.
If it had only been Moen, Erza, and Mirajane participating like at the beginning, then the exam location wouldn't have been Tenrou Island.
As the first to reach the destination, Moen admired the scenery for a moment. He wasn't in a hurry; instead, he waited for the others to arrive.
Without any suspense, the second to arrive was Erza. Clad in her Black Wing Armor, which had flying capabilities, and powered by her immense magic, naturally no one could surpass her.
"Moen? Are we waiting here for the others to arrive together?"
After seeing the prominent "Finish" sign on the beach, Erza landed and walked toward Moen. She had already spotted him from the sky, crouching there playing with crabs.
"No need to wait. You can proceed to the next round."
Looking at Erza, Moen gestured for her to continue forward. Waiting for others was his task, something Grandpa Makarov had just assigned to him. How should he put it? This was probably the price of being "pre-selected" having to do some work that didn't belong to examinees.
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