"Hey, Gray, let's have another match."
Inside the guild hall, Silas Frost walked toward Gray with an unnervingly bright smile.
Gray glanced at him, rubbed his green eyes, then turned his head away and left without a word.
"...Erza, let's go train."
Across the room, Erza sitting with her back to Silas suddenly trembled despite the armor covering her body. She stood up at once, forcing a smile that looked more like she was about to cry.
"Sorry, Silas, I have something urgent to take care of. I'll be going first!"
She immediately bolted out of the guild before he could stop her.
Silas reached out instinctively, but Erza only ran faster.
"Then… Cana "
"You're sexually harassing me."
Cana, dressed in her usual outfit, didn't even look at him. She hugged her barrel of wine, muttered coldly, and left without turning her head.
"Uncle Macao "
"I've got something to do at home!"
"Uncle Wakaba "
"Xiao ah, Silas I'm getting married. Let's talk another time."
"The artist inside "
"I need to go outside to sketch from life. You go ahead without me!"
"Uh, Dad "
"Here's another job I can entrust to someone else. I'm leaving. No more chatting!"
Silas: …
Ever since discovering that combat with magic could actually raise his level, Silas had fallen into a battle frenzy.
But as a result, he couldn't even pick up commission jobs for a while. Either others grabbed them before him, or Master Makarov directly forbade him from accepting them. With no other option, he threw himself headlong into nonstop training, pouring all his focus into sharpening his strength.
At first, he dragged Gray and Erza along, but once they realized they could no longer keep up with him and couldn't endure his relentless training pace they began to avoid him outright.
So Silas turned his "demonic claws" toward the rest of the guild.
At first, he struggled to find good ways to challenge his guildmates. But as he continued training and combined his abilities with the various cards he'd obtained, his combat experience and raw power skyrocketed.
In no time, he was pressing everyone in the guild down and beating them soundly.
And that was how things turned out.
Silas Frost sat with a troubled look, leaning against the table.
He opened his character interface.
Name: Silas Frost
Level: 10
Body: 27 + (184)
Strength: 28 + (173)
Agility: 28 + (201)
In the span of time, he had raised his level by ten all at once. And now, having reached level ten, Silas felt he could finally unlock two of the ability cards bound to him. This was a true breakthrough.
What's more, he speculated that if his level continued to rise, he might unlock even more cards perhaps all six. And if that happened… he would be holding six max-level red cards at once.
Just imagining it made Silas's blood race. With such power, he could crush even the Black Dragon, Acnologia, underfoot.
Unfortunately, the guild wasn't cooperating with him at all. No one gave him the chance to keep grinding for experience.
Looking at the frustrated but still determined Silas, Master Makarov chuckled softly. He slid a commission form across the table.
"Silas, take this one. I think you're ready to try some punitive missions."
Silas picked up the form and glanced at it. His eyes lit up immediately.
The commission was a Punishment Mission: Subjugate the Lizardmen.
This kind of high-intensity mission was something Makarov had never allowed him to accept before. Even punitive jobs he had been given were trivial defeating rabbits or other weak monsters.
Now it made sense to Silas. The reason he hadn't leveled up before was that those creatures were too weak to provide any experience. Only by battling people with real strength like Erza and the others had he been able to gain anything and rise in level.
Thinking about it, Silas sighed. His "golden finger" ability was only half-functional. There were no hints or guidance. Everything he had to figure out on his own. It was exhausting at times.
"Guild Leader Grandpa, I'll take this mission!" Silas declared without hesitation.
He remembered the Lizardmen clearly. They were powerful demons, adept at water and earth magic, dwelling deep in swamps. If they broke free and ran rampant, they could wreak havoc on nearby villages and towns.
Not to mention, the reward for this commission was around 200,000J.
Just this alone was enough reason for Silas Frost to make the trip.
At the same time, he could test it if defeating a Lizardman also granted him experience, then he wouldn't need to keep ambushing guild members for training. Instead, he could focus on clearing missions to grow stronger.
After tidying himself up and changing into a fresh set of clothes, Silas boarded the Magnolia train bound for the client's town.
…
Saint Carolan Town.
It took about a full day's ride before Silas finally arrived at the small lakeside town.
Stepping off the train, the first thing he noticed was the bustling street lined with stalls. Many people were selling a local specialty fruit. Curious, Silas bought a few to taste.
The moment he bit into one, juice splashed across his lips. The fruit's appearance resembled a pear, but the taste was closer to a watermelon sweet, refreshing, and full of water.
After asking around, Silas learned this fruit was the town's prized specialty. The gardeners here relied on cultivating and selling it for their livelihood.
It was also tied to the commission.
Apparently, while the townsfolk were harvesting the fruits, a Lizardman had suddenly appeared, rampaging and disrupting their work. That was why they had turned to Fairy Tail for help.
"Lizardmen are skilled swimmers. And here…"
Silas Frost glanced at the wide expanse of water nearby. "With the lake so close, I'm guessing this one specializes in water-type magic. That's going to make things a little tricky."
After gathering what information he could, Silas rubbed his temples in frustration. Many times, the hardest part of a mission wasn't subduing the demon it was finding its tracks in the first place.
"No leads for now. Better to contact the client directly and get a clearer picture."
Finishing the fruit he had been chewing on, Silas went to find the commissioner or rather, commissioners. This particular request had been jointly filed by several orchard households pooling their resources. That explained the generous reward of 200,000J.
From their accounts, Silas learned that the fruit trees they cultivated the same juicy fruits he had just eaten required enormous amounts of water to grow. Because of that, orchards in Saint Carolan relied heavily on the surrounding water sources.
The region's lakes and waterways created perfect conditions for the crops… but also left them vulnerable. If a water-adept magical creature like a Lizardman invaded, the damage could be catastrophic.
According to the farmers, in just one night, their orchards had already lost more than a hundred fruits.
The scale of the damage was enormous equivalent to several hundred thousand J in losses.
If things continued like this every day, the orchard owners wouldn't be able to endure it.
They had already tried organizing their own resistance, but the Lizardmen crushed them with ease. Many workers were left badly injured.
So this time, the group of orchard families pooled their money together and filed a commission with the Local Guild Presidents' Alliance. From there, the request was passed down to Fairy Tail.
"So, the Lizardmen's target is the orchards. That must mean they're planning to settle down here," Silas Frost muttered as he pieced things together. "With people already injured, this can't be ignored. And if they only move at night…"
He paused, then looked directly at the anxious gardeners.
"I understand the situation. Tonight, I'll stand guard over the orchards. When the Lizardmen appear leave them to me."
....
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