"Partners, huh..."
Gajeel leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, his iron-sword-like eyebrows furrowed, "What a pain. Can't I just work alone?"
"That won't do, Gajeel."
Levy climbed up from the table, pushed up her glasses, and said seriously, "The rules explicitly state that we must have partners. Besides... facing that lineup of examiners, it's absolutely impossible to pass alone."
"What about you, Levy?" Lucy asked curiously. "Is there anyone you want to invite?"
Levy's face flushed slightly, her gaze drifting involuntarily toward Gajeel before quickly looking away, "The partner I... I want to invite wouldn't be able to help me even if they were willing."
"Choosing a partner is indeed a problem. The person I want to invite isn't available either."
Gajeel lifted his chin slightly, "In that case... Levy, how about having the other two guys from your Engine Squad team up with us?"
Levy looked up in surprise, "Gajeel, you... you're actually taking the initiative to invite Droy and Salamander?"
"Hmph, I just couldn't be bothered to choose. The two of them aren't great at fighting, but they're actually somewhat useful."
Gajeel turned his face away, "And, you know... isn't teamwork required?"
As soon as Gajeel finished speaking, Droy and Salamander, who had been eavesdropping for quite a while, jumped out—wherever Levy was, these two guys who had a crush on her were sure to be.
Unfortunately, childhood friends can't beat the newcomer.
Looking at the eager gazes from her two longtime friends, Levy nodded, "If you don't mind, you can partner with me and Gajeel respectively."
Troy and Jede exchanged a glance, high-fived with a smile, and looked at Natsu and the others.
"Even though we are all companions, we won't back down on this!"
"We are absolutely going to make sure Levy passes this assessment!"
Gajeel, who was automatically ignored: You two guys are putting romance before friendship; I was the one who invited you...
Although there was a week to find suitable partners to form teams, almost all 8 participants had decided on their partners on the first day.
Levy chose Droy.
Bickslow, unable to partner with Levy, had no choice but to follow Gajeel.
Cana invited Lucy, winning over the young blonde girl with just a sentence about showing her the world.
Because Juvia spent all her time focused on Gray, she didn't have any close friends in the guild other than her old friend Gajeel. Fortunately, Lisanna noticed her awkwardness and took the initiative to offer to partner with her.
Juvia was so moved that she felt a little embarrassed, having almost considered Lisanna a love rival as well.
Fried, unsurprisingly, invited Bickslow, a fellow member of the Thunder God Tribe. Their level of tacit understanding was very high, which also left Evergreen, who was on the same team, dissatisfied.
Although she understood the captain's choice, in order to prove that she was no worse than Bickslow, Evergreen took the initiative to find Elfman, who hadn't decided who to invite yet, and forcibly became his temporary partner.
— —
— —
At night, at Fairy Tail.
Because the old three-story building was only renovated, Hope was still shamelessly living in the guild's lounge.
Under the bright magical light, Hope, who had no interest in the guild assessment, sat cross-legged on the lawn in the backyard, chin in one hand, looking at the 'Light Demon Slayer Magic' scroll spread out on the ground.
With the help of 'Archive Magic', Hope's learning progress was rapid. One week after obtaining this Demon Slayer Magic legacy, he had mastered 'Light Demon Slayer Magic'.
Hope had intended to teach 'Light Demon Slayer Magic' to others in the guild, but the only one qualified for 'Light Demon Slayer Magic' was Makarov; the others either lacked the aptitude or their magic power tended toward other attributes.
Makarov was getting on in years, and with 'Giant', 'Light Magic', and 'Fairy Law' in his arsenal, he had absolutely no intention of learning new magic.
So, having nothing better to do, Hope had recently been trying to reverse-engineer Demon Slayer Magic of other attributes through 'Light Demon Slayer Magic'.
Demon Slayer Magic can actually be seen as an imitation of Dragon Slayer Magic, as the principles of both are highly similar.
Dragon Slayer Magic attaches the power of a dragon to a person's body, while Demon Slayer Magic integrates the "Curse Power" unique to demons into the Mage's magic power.
Nowadays, most powerful demons have disappeared, making it difficult to catch a qualified demon to bring back as a "battery," but fortunately, Hope had a ready-made source of Curse Power.
Deliora's Soul.
Since unlocking Magnetic Field Power, Hope hadn't used the power of this detestable demon; in terms of physical enhancement and recovery, the former was superior to the latter.
He had intended to give Deliora's Soul to Mirajane, but Mirajane disliked that it looked too ugly, so now he simply used it to research Demon Slayer Magic, which could be considered making the best use of it.
Hope separated Deliora's Soul and stored it in a special glass jar infused with 'Light Demon Slayer Magic'. After carefully confirming there were no loopholes, he began to draw out the Curse Power.
It must be said that Deliora's Curse Power was very pure; it was worthy of being a Great Demon that could force Uru to use the Forbidden Magic 'Absolute Zero'.
Strands of Curse Power merged into the magic power Hope had separated, and under the precise manipulation of 'Enchantment', they merged into one without any resistance.
Unexpectedly, it succeeded on the first try.
Looking at the Demon Slayer Magic in his hand that was emitting purple cold air, Hope was in a great mood, "Researching magic and such is too simple. I really am a genius."
Although 'Enchantment' was the MVP...
However, the strange thing was that Hope had clearly not added any elements during the process, so the final Demon Slayer Magic obtained should have been the dark attribute of Deliora itself.
How could it be an ice attribute?
With doubts, Hope tried a few more times, adding water, fire, earth, and wood elements separately when combining the curse and magic, but surprisingly, the results were all the same as the first time.
Regardless of the elements added, the final result would only be ice-attribute Demon Slayer Magic.
There was nothing wrong with the magic power Hope separated, so the problem must lie with Deliora's Soul, but where did this naturally dark thing get an ice attribute?
Could it be because it was frozen for ten years...
Wait, frozen?
Hope suddenly thought of the description of 'Absolute Zero' in 'Archive Magic'; the price of using this magic was that the body would turn into eternal ice.
The destruction of the caster's physical body did not necessarily mean death.
Life forms are not limited to just the physical body; in this magical world, there are too many things that can carry a soul and will.
Suddenly, a bold guess sprouted in Hope's mind, and it became unstoppable.
After Uru used 'Absolute Zero', was it possible that her soul or will had attached to the ice sealing Deliora?
The seal had been lifted by 'Drops of Moonlight' several months ago, and now if he went back to look, there wouldn't even be a drop of ice water left, but there was another possibility...
Hope closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his left and right pupils were filled with golden and cyan light respectively. The golden one was naturally the 'Heavenly Eye' that could see through all magic power flow.
And the cyan eye magic was a magic he had pilfered from Mildian Magic Academy, a niche magic that could only see through spirits—'Spiritual Vision'.
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