Passing through the bustling town and seeing all sorts of dazzling new things, the old man and the young boy, Makarov and Ankh, arrived at the entrance of the Fairy Tail guild.
Looking at the magnificent building before him, Ankh's mouth fell slightly open.
"For a wizard guild, it's rare to see one built so beautifully," he said in astonishment.
Hearing Ankh praise the guild, Makarov's mustache curled up with pride.
"Hahaha, not at all, not at all..." he laughed.
"It's a pity the master looks so foolish," Ankh said as he walked to the guild entrance, pushed open the doors, and went inside.
Makarov was instantly petrified on the spot.
He then sighed helplessly.
'What a sharp-tongued little brat.'
As the guild doors swung open, a gentle, bright sunlight spilled into the guild hall.
The interior of the Fairy Tail guild was designed like a luxurious tavern.
Many wizards with powerful magic sat at tables, drinking, laughing, and brawling.
When everyone saw the doors open and a strange child walk in, their chatter quieted down in unison.
Being stared at by so many people, Ankh felt no discomfort at all.
Instead, he calmly sized up the members inside the guild.
Ankh didn't recognize most of the people here and couldn't put a name to their faces.
However, there was a small group of children sitting around a table who were not only about his age, but whose faces were also somewhat familiar to him.
A certain half-naked, smug-looking kid; a scarlet-haired girl wearing armor; and the last one... Short, cherry-blossom-pink hair, upturned eyes that made him look full of energy, and a white scarf wrapped around his neck.
'The big boss and her two lackeys.'
Ankh remembered this boy was the male protagonist of Fairy Tail.
His name should be Natsu...
Ankh's gaze lingered on Natsu for only a moment before moving on.
At this time, Makarov also walked in.
Placing a hand on Ankh's shoulder, he smiled and announced to the crowd.
"Everyone, he is a new member of Fairy Tail! Be sure to get along with him!"
After speaking, Makarov turned to Ankh, his mustache twitching as he smiled.
"Introduce yourself."
Ankh frowned and said in a low voice, "My name is Ankh."
[Ankh Seram...]
Ankh gave a subtle nod in his mind, then paused and said.
"Ankh Seram. That's my name."
The crowd fell silent in unison.
Then, a huge cheer erupted!
"What a devilishly beautiful little lady! Right, Wakaba!"
The guild members waved their hands enthusiastically to greet Ankh.
As one of the guild's elders, Macao Conbolt raised his glass and spoke with a feigned, world-weary sigh.
As Macao's rival and friend, Wakaba, sporting an impressive pompadour, took a drag from his cigarette and sneered.
"You're getting old and your eyes are going bad Macao. That's clearly a boy!"
Although his features were indeed softer and more beautiful than even Erza's or Cana's at the same age...
The guild members showed no signs of rejection toward Ankh's arrival; on the contrary, they all warmly welcomed him.
Thanks to Master Makarov's benevolent heart, Fairy Tail had entered a period of nurturing the new generation, so new members were generally much younger.
There was Cana, who had joined early on; Erza and Gray, who had joined in succession over the years; and the little fire-breathing brat Natsu, who had just arrived last year.
So now, the entire Fairy Tail guild was filled with the unique atmosphere of youth.
What the guild members didn't know was that this group of still-inconspicuous, troublemaking kids would one day become Fairy Tail's most formidable golden generation.
The people of Fairy Tail were very friendly to Ankh, which actually made him a little unaccustomed to it.
[Interesting... Ankh, this guild might be worth staying in...] Seram said with great interest in his mind.
Ankh asked impassively, 'Is something wrong?'
[Deep beneath this building, there's a very creative fluctuation of magic power.]
Ankh asked, puzzled, 'What do you mean?'
[Immortality and undeath, combined with the genius research of a descendant, unexpectedly fused to create a special vessel that can produce infinite magic power...]
Infinite magic power?
Ankh tilted his head, his eyes shining with a keen light.
'Can we get our hands on it?'
Unexpectedly, Seram suddenly sounded disdainful and huffed.
[It's just a crude research method. This kind of artificial infinite magic power, while obtaining a pseudo-divine level of magic, comes at the cost of being unable to unleash the true potential of one's own magic.]
Ankh scratched his head, not knowing what to say.
Was Seram's standard just too high, or was his own knowledge too shallow... At his current stage, he thought having infinite magic power was pretty damn awesome.
[Infinite magic power is nothing special. However, within this guild, if you're just replenishing consumed magic power, it's certainly fine to draw from that mysterious infinite source.]
'I see.'
In that case, even if he exhausted his magic while training outside, he would have an infinite source to constantly replenish it.
It was practically a sacred ground for training.
Ankh clenched his fists and said helplessly, 'But Seram, I can't feel any magic power underground at all...'
[Relax... I'll help you.]
As the two were whispering and planning his future training regimen, the clatter of armor sounded from the side.
Ankh turned around warily to see the heroic-looking, scarlet-haired girl, clad head-to-toe in form-fitting light armor, clanking over to his side.
She greeted him in a friendly manner.
"Hello, Ankh. My name is Erza Scarlet."
'Erza.'
'According to the memories of my past life, she's one of the future S-Class wizards, with the title "Titania."'
However, having had his senses sealed for so many years, Ankh's current social skills were, frankly, a bit...
"Mm."
After a long moment, Ankh managed to squeeze a grunt from his throat in response.
Fortunately, Erza had good hearing, or she might have thought he was ignoring her... But it was fine.
Erza didn't mind too much.
Children who joined the guild at a young age were often a bit withdrawn.
Like herself, for example
. When she first joined the guild, she had behaved even worse than Ankh.
"The Master asked me to show you around the guild," Erza said with a smile, her hands on her hips, her light armor clanking continuously.
Ankh nodded and said, "Thank you."
With that, Erza led Ankh around, taking him on a tour of several places.
As a famous guild in Magnolia, Fairy Tail naturally occupied a large area and was even equipped with dormitories exclusively for its members.
Ankh waved his hand speechlessly, seeing off Erza who had brazenly barged into the boys' dormitory, and then entered the room Makarov had arranged for him.
The dormitory room was quite nice.
It seemed someone had specially cleaned it beforehand, and the furnishings and decor felt very thoughtfully arranged.
Ankh was very satisfied with his living quarters.
After cautiously inspecting the room, he smiled.
"Let's begin, Seram. What magic do you want me to learn?"