Ben goes to Akane Beach with the girls for vacation. They arrive in Akane Beach after 3 hours. The girls immediately change their clothes and run to the water to play.
Ben just lay down on a beach chair and enjoy the sunlight. Sunbathing on a beach has never felt this comfortable to him. His body keeps absorbing the sunlight and being strengthened. The strengthening is very slow, but it's free, so Ben won't refuse it.
'AI Chip, how's the progress on Sun Mode?' asks Ben in his mind.
[It has reached 65.66% and will finish in around 2 months.]
'As I thought, the lack of Gravity Magic references are slowing it down, huh?' ponders Ben.
[Yes, it will be a lot faster if there are more Gravity Magic references. The Sun Mode can also be strengthened if we have more references.]
'I will do what I can to find more knowledge about Gravity Magic. But for now, we need to do it with what we have,' thinks Ben.
Ben stop his discussion with AI Chip and looks at his stats,
[Name: Ben Cooper
Age: 13
Status: Alive
MP: 73,550/73,550
STR: 122
AGI: 116
STA: 120
INT: 135]
'Nothing change except my MP that raised by 9 points. It has become harder to raise my power as I get stronger. The battle with Yetis didn't force me to surpass my limit, but just to utilize what I have. Maybe that's why my stats didn't change,' thinks Ben.
Ben leaves the troublesome stuff and focuses on relaxing. It's rare for him to enjoy a day without hard training or doing his job. He has done his daily training this morning, so he can rest now.
The girls also enjoy the new scenery and environment. They always get surrounded by trees in the forest. Sure they have a lake, but it's nothing compared to the vast sea.
They enjoy their vacation on the beach until evening. The girls want to see the sunset, after all. They're mesmerized by the sunset scenery on the beach.
After seeing the sunset, they have dinner in a restaurant before going home. The others will get worried if they leave for too long.
"Ben nii-san, let's buy some seafood ingredients for everyone," says Wendy in the car.
"Alright, but we will go to Hargeon Port. They have more seafood variations there," says Ben.
Ben & the girls go to Hargeon Port to buy the seafood. They can't get the freshest catches because it's night already. The freshest catches are only available in the morning. But it's fine, the seafood here is still good.
After they fill the car's trunk with many kinds of seafood, they leave Hargeon Port. They follow the highway that will lead to Oshibana through 3 towns which are Magnolia, Onibus, & Kunugi.
They've visited Onibus & Kunugi before, but haven't visited Magnolia. That town is a big guild's territory and they never get a job from that town. So they never had any reason to go there before.
"I heard the guild in Magnolia is the current strongest guild in Fiore," says Carla.
"Fairy Tail, huh? They're indeed considered as the current strongest guild. They have many great feats since their guild's creation," says Ben.
"Can our Guild reach that level one day?" asks Wendy curiously.
"It's possible, as long as we keep getting stronger and complete our jobs. It will take years to do that, but we need to keep working on it," says Ben.
The girls smile and get more motivated to get stronger. They can't take jobs like Ben now, so they can only train to get stronger. When they can finally take jobs like Ben, they will surely complete them perfectly.
Ben smiles seeing them happy & get motivated. But then he remembers when Roubaul refuses his ex-students. It still seems strange to him that Roubaul was so adamant to refuse them.
Roubaul's reasons were logical to him. But he can't shake off the feeling that there is something more than that. He can feel it, but he can't point out what's that strange thing is.
Ben shakes his head and leaves that thought, 'Sigh, maybe I'm just too paranoid. Gramps' reasons might be the real reasons. I shouldn't think much about it and focus on the current & future.'
Ben keeps driving on the highway toward Magnolia. Then suddenly, he sees 3 kids with white hair walking on the dark road. He gets intrigued by it and stops beside those 3 kids.
There are 2 girls and 1 boy that seem to be siblings there. The boy is the tallest among them and he carried the smallest girl with short hair on his back. Then the other girl with long hair is walking alone.
Ben opens his door's window to ask them, "Do you need a ride?"
"Tch, mind your own business!" replies the girl with long hair.
"Nee-chan, maybe we should take his offer. Lisanna is very tired already and Magnolia is still quite far," says the boy to the long-haired girl.
The long-haired girl that seems to be the oldest look at the little girl who looks very tired. She finally agree while grumbling on her own.
The 3 siblings enter the car and sit behind. Ben then drives the car to Magnolia while talking with the boy who wants to answer. His little sister is sleeping while his big sister doesn't want to talk at all.
The 3 siblings' names are Mirajane, Elfman, and Lisanna from the Strauss family. They are mages from Fairy Tail Guild in Magnolia. They've just returned from taking a job near Hargeon Port. But they lost their pocket money, so they can't take the train.
"You're mages too, huh? We're also mages, although our guild is still small," says Ben.
"Oh, what's your Guild's name?" asks Elfman.
"Cait Shelter, it's just a small guild, so you probably don't know it," says Ben.
Elfman scratches his head and giggles embarrassedly. Ben just laughs it off and tells Elfman that it's okay. Their guild is small and isolated, so it's normal for people to not know them. It's a normal reaction that Ben always got when taking jobs.
Wendy, Bella, & Carla look at the 3 siblings curiously. But they're shy, so they just peek at the siblings from the front seat. When Elfman looks at them, they immediately hide again and make Elfman feel bad.
"Hmm, do you wear the MP absorber device in your leg?" asks Elfman curiously because Ben doesn't wear the device to absorb his magic power to supply the car's energy on his hand.
"No, I don't wear anything. This is the latest model that used lacrima for fuel instead of mage's MP," says Ben.
Elfman gets surprised and Mirajane also gets interested now. The latest model is very expensive and not anyone can have it. Even their guild only has one for their Guild Master's personal transportation.
Wendy, Bella, & Carla want to brag that Ben was the one who invented it, but he stop them. There's no need to brag about it to the siblings. They won't believe it either way, so it's better to keep silent.
They have some small talks until they reach Magnolia in half an hour. Ben drops the 3 siblings in front of the town gate. They don't enter the town because they need to go home fast.
Elfman thanks them while Mirajane still doesn't say anything and Lisanna is still sleeping. Ben waves his hand to them before leaving the location.
He drives fast and arrives at the village in 2 hours. The girls are tired, so they immediately go to their home & sleep. It's been a fun day for them.
______________________________________________________________
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