The next, Kazu started working on creating magic bullets.
'Master said he should be back in a few days. At most a week. So, I will just train on my own until then.' Makarov had told Kazu that Macao and Wakaba had gone on a mission.
A small blue sphere made of Ethernano materialised in front of Kazu. The next second, it shot straight.
However, the more it went away from Kazu, the more unstable it became until it fuzzled out completely after a few metres.
'From what I read, this problem will be solved by creating a proper structure at the micro level and upgrading it requires the same. Luckily, I have some experience with this, so it shouldn't take that long. The difficult part will be making multiple of these and throwing them simultaneously, along with increasing the offensive power.'
"I heard you are done with external enhancement from Cana?"
Kazu looked to his side and noticed Gray coming his way. Behind him was Erza.
"Yeah. Just done. I am now going for projectiles. Magic Bullets. Will need your help when I start going for multi-tasking."
"Don't worry. It's pretty simple to scale after you get used to doing it for 2 and 3 things. Though takes time. Anyway, meet Erza. She's going to be our new training partner and—"
Gray smirked. "Your new sparring partner, as I wasn't giving you much of a challenge lately."
Gray was facing Kazu, so Erza missed the look on his face.
'What did I do to him to do such a thing to me. Almost as if he wants to take revenge against me. Bastard.' Kazu internally cursed at him while outwardly smiling.
"Oh. Nice to meet you. I am Kazu." He held one of his hands to Erza, who shook it.
"Nice to meet you. Gray had told many things about you. Your diligence has moved me." She said with an approving expression.
"Is that so?" Kazu glanced at Gray, who now had his back to him, looking at the lake.
'What else did you tell her?'
"Should we have a spar to test things?" She asked.
"Sure. Gray will be the referee then." 'Well, I don't mind fighting her. I am curious about how I measure against one of the future strongest characters in the series. From what Cana told me, she recently awakened her magic powers and yet defeated Gray. This is bound to get interesting.'
They soon stood against each other near the lake, away from the tavern.
"Well, when I say 3, the match begins," Gray said before looking at the two, who were in combat position.
"3!"
THUD
Kazu kicked the ground and appeared in front of Erza.
His Ethernano-covered fist inches away from her gut.
KLANG
A sword materialised in front of Erza, which took the brunt of his attack.
WHOOSH
She was sent hurtling backwards like a broken kite.
Kazu didn't give her a breathing space and rushed after her.
Moments later, he appeared in front of Erza, who was still mid-air and kicked at her.
BOOM
This time, Erza was able to react and swung her sword in an upper slash, meeting his Ethernano-covered foot.
She was sent flying again. However, this time she was mentally prepared and landed gracefully.
Kazu appeared on her side and punched at her sword.
BOOOM
Erza only skidded a few inches back, holding her ground.
"Your speed is impressive," Erza commented.
"That's pretty good strength you have got there." 'No wonder Gray lost. She is able to match my enhanced strength without any proper enhancement. That's some great physique right there.' Kazu thought while inspecting her muscles, wondering how that small frame packed so much punch.
He then jumped back, dodging a branch that had rushed at him.
"Telekinises? Shame that you don't have many proper weapons. When you get money in future, you should invest it there." Kazu said while looking at multiple objects surrounding him. Branches, sharp stones, dirt.
"Yes. I plan to." She said.
All the objects rushed at Kazu.
KLANG
Before they could touch them, they hit an invisible wall.
"Barrier?"
"Yes."
Erza slightly flinched as she heard the sound from beside her.
She was barely able to see Kazu's fist moving at her. Her hands moved and stood in the path.
"Not bad instincts." He commented before, his fist's trajectory changed like a snake.
Instead of rushing at her face, it was now heading towards her gut.
"You lack experience."
BOOM
"Keugh." Erza coughed out spit as she felt the impact.
Her eyes shut for a second before she opened them.
Kazu was nowhere in sight.
She immediately slashed behind her.
WHOOSH
Nothing.
"Pretty normal response." She heard from the above as a kick met her wrist, causing her to lose her sword.
Her eyes darted up as she looked at Kazu standing in the air, before sending another kick her way.
She deflected it with her hand.
"Grrh..." Her entire arm shook. Her bones rattled.
She then engaged him in close combat without any weapons.
Kazu not only deflected every counterattack, but also wore her down with 2 direct hits.
'There!' She used her telekinesis to use her lost sword to attack Kazu from behind.
Kazu didn't move.
KLANG
The sword hit the barrier with a loud sound. However, the latter didn't break.
THUD
This distraction caused Kazu to get another direct hit.
Erza coughed up blood as she dropped to the ground.
"Let's not continue. I am afraid that you might need to buy a new armour if we continue." Kazu commented as he stretched out his hand.
Erza looked at his hand for a few seconds before weakly nodding. She took her hand and got up.
"Let's go to the infirmary to patch up." He said before looking at Gray, who had a blank look on his face.
'Tch. I thought the match would be a close one. Oh well, at least it's satisfying seeing somebody else get overwhelmed other than me.' Gray thought before following them in the infirmary.
'Well, I need to somehow bridge the gap as it will continue to grow.' He thought as he looked at the duo in front of him.
---
"Let's have a cooking competition!" Cana said while looking at the trio.
"We were going to train," Kazu muttered. It was the evening of the same day when Erza lost.
Cana folded her arms. "You guys can always do that after dinner. Plus, it's an important skill to survive outside the city. So, we need to assess our skills properly."
Kazu didn't look convinced. 'Well, no time better than the present. It will take time for Macao to come back. I will be busy for the next few months.' He hesitantly nodded.
"A cooking competition? I only know some basic dishes." Erza muttered.
Cana patted her on the shoulders. "Well, I am no different. But, everyone is like that here, right?" She said while looking at the other two.
"I have 5 years of experience. I can at least make food edible."
"I have 3 years of experience."
Kazu and Gray looked at each other in surprise after saying that.
"..." Cana speechlessly looked at the duo.
"Uh... Well, you know. Experience doesn't equate to skill necessarily. As Master always says, practice doesn't make you perfect. Perfect practice makes you perfect." She nodded to herself, her words more to her than the others.
Gray shrugged. "Oh, well. Let's just let the results speak for themselves."
The quartlet made their way towards Kazu's house for the competition, as his house was the only one that had space to house 4 people simultaneously.
"How much rent is it per month? I will guess to be 60k." Gray asked, looking around the room. This was his second time coming to Kazu's house. Last time, he hadn't had a proper look.
Well, there was not much to look at. Apart from a futon, there were some basic cooking appliances for a single person. They even had to bring their utensils along with the cooking equipment them.
"69k Yuls." Kazu shrugged.
Cana put her pan on the counter. "I am going to buy a house instead of renting in a few years. Do you guys know how much it costs?"
Kazu glanced at her. "I had the same thought. So, I checked last year. The prices start from 50 million."
Cana blinked. "THAT's so EXPENSIVE."
Gray deadpanned at her. "Well, it's not that much considering that a year's rent for this house is nearly 1 Million Yuls. So, you could live like this for 50 years if prices do not spike, which they definitely will as the guild is going to get more famous in the future and thus will be the town."
Cana thought for a few seconds. Her face changed from shock to confusion before settling on sadness. "How long will it take me to buy a house then?"
"Well..." Kazu thought for a second. "On average, a mission rewards you with 200k. We are talking about average wizards in the guild. I have seen the stats myself." He said before Cana could open her mouth to retort.
Gray suspiciously looked at him. "Wait, how do you know that? Doesn't guild master do that stuff?"
Kazu shrugged. "Actually, I had once helped the master with his financing. After that, he made me do it on more occasions and seeing my work, he hired me to do that."
'Well, initially, it was due to my instincts helping me calculate faster than a calculator, as it still takes a few seconds to input the number. So, I am pretty fast in that regard. Moreover, my prior knowledge of being from my previous world did help me understand the work itself and make some decisions in understanding the job itself.'
"Wait, how much do you earn then?" Cana asked.
***
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