Chapter 3: Duel Preparations, This Really Feels Like a Tradition
Ren quickly found the blacksmith shop.
"Boss, are you here? You've got a customer!"
A muscular man walked out and spoke to Ren. "What do you need made? Bringing your own materials, or using mine? A weapon? Armor? I can make anything. I'm the best blacksmith in town!"
"Do you have paper and a pen? I need some special throwing knives."
"Here. Take it."
Ren took them and quickly drew a design for Flying Thunder God throwing knives. "Make them in this style. Start with thirty. Can you do it?"
"Don't underestimate me. Thirty of these? One day is enough. I'm the best blacksmith in town!"
"How much total?"
"If I provide the materials, it's 1,000 J each. Thirty thousand J total."
"That's expensive! Give me a discount. I'll need a lot more of these later!"
"I'm the best blacksmith in town. My craftsmanship is worth the price. But if you provide the materials, I can do 500 J each."
"I don't have materials either." Ren scratched his head and sighed in resignation. "Fine. Thirty thousand J. I'll pick them up tomorrow afternoon. No problem?"
"I'm the best blacksmith in town!" The big guy kept bragging. "Come tomorrow morning and they'll be ready. You're a Fairy Tail wizard, right?" He glanced at the mark on Ren's hand. "I won't take a deposit. Tomorrow afternoon, pay and take the goods."
"Alright. I'll leave it to you."
"Relax, I'm the best in—"
"Yeah, yeah, I know, you're the best blacksmith in town. Please stop repeating it. Your filler is about to hit a hundred words." Ren cut him off in a flash.
"Hmph!" The blacksmith looked displeased at being interrupted and started studying the drawing.
Ren left the shop and checked the time. "I've been busy all morning and still haven't eaten. I'll go back to the guild, eat, rest a bit, and see if there are any easy jobs I can take."
With a flash of golden light, Ren pushed open the guild doors and headed straight for the bar. "Give me a huge meal. Preferably with meat."
As he ate and rested, Ren could feel his magic power slowly recovering.
He walked to the job board and stared at the wide variety of requests, struggling to decide.
"Hmm… This morning's delivery paid 50,000 J. The throwing knives cost 30,000 J. Lunch was 300 J. But rent is due next month. I don't have enough. I need more jobs."
"This one is a missing person job… pays 20,000 J, but it's far, and I'm not great at searching."
"Oh, this one pays a lot. 500,000 J. Let me see… subjugate a giant magical beast. A subjugation job…"
Ren thought about what he was most familiar with right now: Flying Thunder God, and that half-finished explosive strength that nearly ruined his arm with one punch.
"I should wait on that. At least I need to get one solid offensive ability under control first."
"Wait, this one is…" Ren's attention snapped to a different request. "Reward 10,000 J… find… Tiger… return… Yeah. This one!"
Ren decisively tore it down and said to Makarov, "Old man, I'm taking this job!"
"This one? No problem. The client is a noble lady from out of town. She's about to leave Magnolia and has been worried sick over it. Go on, kid!"
Not long after, Ren followed the directions to a patch of woods. He tossed several stones marked with Flying Thunder God around the area and placed some meat he'd brought from the guild, then hid.
After a while, a cat crawled out of the bushes, with a red bow on its right ear.
It seemed to smell the meat and slowly approached, wary as it looked around.
Ren waited for the moment the cat lowered its head and opened its mouth, then activated Flying Thunder God.
With a flash of golden light, Ren successfully grabbed the cat by the scruff of its neck.
The cat struggled violently, like it already knew what being caught meant, but it was useless. It was just a kitten, and it couldn't stop Ren from taking it back to the client.
"Little Tiger!" The noble lady snatched the cat from Ren's hands, hugged it tightly, and rubbed her face all over it.
Watching the cat get squeezed out of shape in the arms of a noble lady built like an elderly miniature Big Mom, Ren shivered. "Yeah… cat-finding jobs really are a tradition. No choice but to do it."
Ren watched as Little Tiger, weakly resisting, was carried off as the lady began her journey home. He silently prayed that the cat would live a healthy life. As for happiness, he chose not to think about it.
When night fell, Ren returned to the dorms and started training. Even before transmigrating, he liked working out. He didn't have proper equipment now, but push-ups and planks were still doable.
"197… 198… 199… 200!"
After finishing, Ren tried to refine his explosive strength.
"That punch last time had huge power, but my arm couldn't handle it again. It has to be the magic power burst. I figure I should split the magic power into two parts: one part explodes outward, the other protects my body from the recoil."
"Yeah. Let's try it. I'll use my left hand."
Ren opened the window, picked up a cup from the table, aimed into the distance, and began charging.
"I'll use less magic power first. Gather it… coat the arm… then split it into three parts. Protect the joints… protect the muscles… then the final part is the burst."
Ren suddenly released the magic power along his arm and threw the cup. It shot up into the sky until it disappeared from view.
"Nice! This works. As long as the magic power I burst out doesn't exceed what I'm using to protect my muscles and joints, there's no impact at all."
"Once I master this, subjugation jobs should be fine. If I keep doing delivery jobs, when will I ever afford a house? Even grinding for five years might not do it."
"Alright. Train more tomorrow. I need to get to the point where I can enter the state instantly without slowly charging, then I'll let Gray experience a loving punch."
With sweet fantasies of punching Gray and kicking Natsu, Ren gradually fell asleep.
Morning sunlight streamed through the window. Ren opened his eyes.
"Ah, that was great. Alright, push hard. I'm going to master this by noon."
Ren stretched and got up, heading to the hills behind the dorms to train his explosive strength.
Time flowed, and with Ren's constant attempts, afternoon arrived quickly.
"Good enough. At full power I still need to charge, and I can't hold it for long. But tomorrow is just sparring, not all-out. If I hold back a bit, I can keep the state for a long time."
Ren nodded in satisfaction. "Oh right, my throwing knives should be ready. Go, go, go!"
Ren went to the blacksmith shop. "Boss! I'm here on time to pick up the order. It's done, right?"
"Of course it's done! I'm the—"
"Stop. Here's the money. Bring the goods out." Ren cut him off again.
"Take it." The blacksmith reluctantly shut his mouth and handed over a bundle.
Ren opened it and saw the completed Flying Thunder God throwing knives. "Perfect. Exactly like I imagined. I haven't thrown this kind of weapon much before. Great. I've still got time this afternoon. I'll go practice."
Whoosh. Ren returned to the woods and began placing Flying Thunder God marks on the knives.
After marking them all, he started practicing throws.
After a full afternoon of hard training, he wasn't hitting bullseyes every time, but he could do this:
Within 5 meters, he hit whatever he aimed at.
Within 10 meters, the error stayed under 10 centimeters.
Within 20 meters, the error stayed under 1 meter.
From 40 to 60 meters, it was basically luck.
From 60 to 80 meters, landing anything at all was a miracle.
Beyond 80 meters, without explosive strength, he couldn't even throw that far.
"Good. Now all that's left is tomorrow." Ren was fully prepared, meaning he was fully prepared to beat up Gray.