After getting ashore, Gray saw Moen. He peeked around cautiously, then the whole person fell into a state of wild ecstasy.
"Hahaha! I won! It's my win!"
Gray raised both hands, clenched his fists, and cheered as he pumped his arms, like an MVP results screen. No one knew what he was getting so fired up about.
"Smack!"
"You idiot! What did you win?!"
Moen walked over and directly gave him a slap on the head, bringing the kid back to normal. As expected, a good smack worked wonders.
"Big Brother Moen! I'm the second to arrive, right?! Natsu and the others haven't arrived—don't tell me even Erza and Mirajane haven't arrived yet?"
Gray asked. Getting slapped didn't stop him from still looking excited.
"…"
Moen was speechless. Good grief, no wonder this kid was so excited, he thought he was the second to arrive.
"Erza and Mirajane already went on to the next stage. You're the fourth."
Moen said, decisively shattering Gray's illusion.
"Huh?"
Gray was instantly dumbfounded, his expression full of disbelief, mouth wide open.
"They already left, so why are you still here, Big Brother Moen?!"
Gray asked in great shock.
The reason he thought he was the second to arrive was because he saw Moen still here while there was no one else around.
By normal logic, Moen would definitely be the first to arrive, and since he was still here, then no one should be ahead of him. So Gray's thinking actually wasn't wrong.
Moen explained that he had another task, and after hearing it, Gray immediately deflated. His excitement had been for nothing. He had thought he surpassed Mirajane and Erza, but as expected, he was overthinking it.
Gray adjusted his mood and prepared to continue forward. This result didn't disappoint him too much anyway. From the start, he hadn't thought he could surpass Erza and Mirajane. It was just empty joy, but not enough to be a big blow.
However, before Gray could leave, more people arrived. He couldn't help but stop and watch curiously.
Elfman and Joey climbed ashore drenched. Joey, with his muscular build, relied purely on brute strength to swim. He was quite good at swimming, it was one of his regular training methods.
Although Elfman usually dressed in a refined manner, his body was actually very strong. Combined with using Take Over Magic, he possessed beast-like stamina and strength, swimming over quickly. He actually arrived sixth, which would probably surprise quite a few people.
"Not bad, Elfman."
Moen patted Elfman on the shoulder, looking satisfied. The kid had not let down his guidance. Elfman was much more mature now, and his magical talent was gradually being developed. He already had decent combat ability.
However, although Elfman had a large amount of magic power and a strong body, his talent for Take Over Magic could only be considered average. He wasn't as good as his sister Mirajane, and in terms of receiving and control, he was even a bit worse than his younger sister Lisanna.
As for Lisanna, her Take Over Magic talent was indeed good. She could receive various animals smoothly, even easily, but her own magic power was slightly lacking.
Elfman and Lisanna were like having Mirajane's talent split apart. If the two combined their talents, they might only be slightly inferior to a complete Mirajane.
"Hehe, I've been training according to your guidance, Big Brother Moen."
After receiving Moen's praise, Elfman happily laughed.
As he grew older and his body developed, Elfman felt that he had indeed become much stronger.
Although he couldn't compare to Sister Mira and the others, compared to ordinary mages, he was still considered talented—just not to the level of a prodigy.
But this level was already enough to satisfy Elfman. If he couldn't protect Sister Mira, he could still protect Lisanna.
"Have Erza and Mirajane already left?"
Joey greeted Moen, then asked curiously.
His question made Gray, who was watching nearby, blush. Good grief, was he the only one who had that misunderstanding?
Embarrassed, Gray covered his face and dashed into the forest, not waiting for Elfman and Joey, leaving the two looking at each other in confusion, not knowing what had suddenly gotten into him.
Moen shook his head with a smile. He felt that Gray's way of thinking had been somewhat influenced by Natsu, though at least he was still a bit more normal than Natsu, aside from suddenly stripping.
Well with that habit, it was hard to say Gray was more normal than Natsu.
After Gray left, Moen continued waiting for the others. Including him, six groups had already arrived. There were only three advancement spots left, so the remaining slots were few.
Joey and Elfman were not in a hurry to leave, because neither of them were solo—they both still had teammates.
So, neither Joey nor Elfman had actually secured advancement yet.
For two-person teams, it wasn't based on one person's result, but the average of both. That was also why Joey and Elfman had not arrived together with their teammates, they had to go all out first to secure rankings.
Joey was paired with Cana. This team was formed under Moen's recommendation, because he knew Joey was quite strong and would have advantages in many possible events. As a pure physical combat type, he could at least secure the baseline.
And Cana was known for being all-rounded. Her cards could produce many effects and could be useful in various situations. Therefore, Joey wasn't at a disadvantage in this combination rather, he could get help in areas he found troublesome.
Joey was one year younger than Laxus, being 17 this year. Laxus had passed the S-Class exam at 17 last year, which was already the youngest record. Joey didn't think he could break it, but at least he could try. He was quite confident in himself.
Moen's evaluation of this was "his muscles have been trained into his brain." The gap between Joey and Laxus was probably as big as the "power of nine dragons."
The three of them chatted casually here, while the companions behind them also began arriving one after another.
Seventh place and eighth place were both veteran teams from before, with all members arriving together. In such cases, there was naturally no need to average anything.
After confirming their rankings, they continued toward the next stage. The ninth place was also a veteran, but his teammate was still behind, so he could only wait anxiously.
For a two-person team, the ninth-place position was extremely awkward.
If they wanted to advance, they could only hope that the teammates of other two-person teams performed worse. They also had to be wary of the solo participants behind them, after averaging results, those people might directly take their place and advance.
Soon, tenth and eleventh place arrived—one with cherry-pink hair and one with black hair. It was Natsu and Gajeel. The two chased each other closely. Natsu was slightly behind, and on his head lay a magic-exhausted Happy.
"Ahhh!!!"
Seeing the finish line from afar, the two roared together. Natsu was slightly behind but was desperately catching up. He had to take care of the listless Happy, otherwise, he would have already surpassed Gajeel.
"Come on, Natsu!"
Elfman shouted from the shore. He was obviously more familiar with Natsu.
However, Elfman's encouragement had the opposite effect. During the final sprint, Natsu accidentally flung Happy away.
"Happy!"
This sudden situation directly decided the final outcome. Natsu had to stop to save Happy. Although a magic-exhausted Happy wouldn't drown, it would definitely be difficult for him to swim back on his own. Of course, Natsu wouldn't leave him behind and go ahead alone.
With no choice, Natsu decisively turned back to rescue Happy, who was floating on the sea.
Just as Moen had predicted at the beginning, the "two-person team" of Happy and Natsu ended up with the effect of 1+1 < 2.
Mainly because they didn't think things through. Seeing others fly, Natsu also had Happy carry him while flying and even mocked Gajeel for swimming. In the end, he exhausted Happy so much that they crashed midway. For the latter half, Happy could only lie on Natsu's head. If one swam and one flew, they might have reached the finish together long ago.
"I won! I won! Fifth place!"
After getting ashore, Gajeel was practically a copy of Gray earlier. He shouted excitedly. Seeing that only Moen and the others were on the shore, he thought he was in fifth place.
"You're wrong. It's tenth place."
Moen said. These words directly made Gajeel freeze on the spot.
"How is that possible?!"
Gajeel widened his eyes. Tenth place?! Wouldn't that mean he was eliminated directly?!
"It's fine. Tenth place doesn't necessarily mean there's no chance."
Moen continued to explain. Then he saw the ninth-place person beside him become excited, because his teammate had already caught up. As long as they surpassed Natsu, they would steadily advance!
"Natsu! Swim! Hurry up!"
After learning this, Gajeel immediately turned around and cheered for Natsu.
This left Natsu, who had just pulled Happy out of the sea, completely confused. That guy Gajeel was actually cheering for him?!
It's a trap!
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