章 93: Chapter 93: Ian: The Specialized Weapon for Gildarts is Complete! Gildarts, Prepare to be Drained!

"Can someone like me, who has no talent for magic, still learn it?!"

Cornelia looked at Ian with uncertainty in her eyes.

Yes, as Gildarts' wife, Cornelia had naturally thought about practicing magic. However, her talent was just too poor—no matter how simple the magic, she couldn't master it and eventually had to give up.

"Of course..."

"As long as you're willing to work hard, there's nothing that can't be accomplished."

Ian nodded gently, comforting Cornelia as he spoke, and in the process, he imbued her with a dragon's attribute...

Cornelia's talent was so bad, it was something Ian rarely saw in his life! If Ian gave her overly powerful but complicated attributes right away, it would only hinder her progress.

Therefore, Ian chose the dragon attribute of 'Strength' for Cornelia.

An attribute where, by training her body, she could increase her magical power. Additionally, she could release her own physical power as a roar, which was as simple and straightforward as it could get.

Originally, this 'Strength' dragon-slaying attribute was something Ian had developed in response to Acnologia, who was almost entirely magic-immune in this world of magic. Inspired by muscle magic, he had created a conceptual dragon of strength.

Unfortunately, Ian had still underestimated things...

This self-created conceptual dragon-slaying magic had an upper limit that was not very high and could not be cultivated to the level of Saitama from "One Punch Man." As a result, it was impossible to kill the Black Dragon King Acnologia with it.

Thus, Ian abandoned this attribute...

However, although this magic couldn't deal with Acnologia, it was more than enough to deal with Gildarts.

Muscle Dragon Slayer Magic combined with Charm-type Devil Slayer Magic.

Strength plus charm! More than enough to exhaust that bastard Gildarts dry!

Ian wanted to see if Gildarts, who always looked down on him, was truly as strong as he claimed. Or if, in the end, he'd end up just like Ian, sipping oolong tea from a thermos every day just like him..

"From now on, hit the gym hard, Cornelia!"

"Books won't defeat Gildarts, but muscles will..."

Ian loudly declared to Cornelia, who lay weak on a hospital bed.

"As long as I can beat Gildarts!"

"I'd even sell my soul if I had to!"

"Starting today, the ladylike Cornelia of the past is dead. From now on, the muscle school mage, Cornelia Alberona, lives in this world."

It seemed that Ian awakened a hidden resolve deep within Cornelia. She swore that she would make that bastard Gildarts awaken his inner "feminine side."

"Alright! Cornelia, I have faith in you..."

"Go burn down the library!"

"And completely say goodbye to your past. We will build the largest gym in Fiore..."

Ian once again pointed out a path for Cornelia.

"I'm going to bid farewell to my past right now."

Cornelia's eyes burned with fierce determination. Though she hadn't officially joined the Fairy Tail guild, her synchronization rate with its members already exceeded 80%. She seemed destined to be a Fairy Tail mage.

What can I say?!

Perhaps it's true that people meant to be together are drawn to the same place?!

Although, in the end, for some unknown reason, this story of abandoning literature for martial arts, as it was passed down, changed from "the Cornelia of the past is dead" to "Cornelia is dead."

---

Fairy Tail Guild.

"Cornelia! My beloved Cornelia!!"

Gildarts wiped tears from his eyes, mourning the loss of his one true love.

---

Over the next days, with Cornelia busy training her muscles and Ian secluded in training, neither had time to care for Cana. At Ian's suggestion, a year later, in X773, they sent Cana to the Fairy Tail guild to find her good-for-nothing father.

Unfortunately, that bastard Gildarts was away on a mission at the time and wasn't in the guild.

Due to this missed encounter, and the fact that Gildarts didn't recognize Cana as his daughter upon returning to the guild, Cana grew particularly quiet and kept her secret—being Gildarts' daughter—bottled up inside, struggling silently for five years.

---

Time flew by like this.

In the blink of an eye, it was now the beginning of X774.

"Speaking of which!"

"In just a few days, Deliora will attack Gray's village, right?!"

"What would happen if I went there now?"

"Will I meet the simulated version of myself from that timeline?"

Thinking this, Ian left a letter for Cornelia, roughly explaining that he was going on a journey. Whether it was the gym or the library, everything was handed over to Cornelia.

By the way, although Cornelia had talked about burning the library, she didn't actually do it—instead, she handed it over to someone else to manage...

The library Cornelia burned was the one in her heart. All she saw now was 'muscle'. This made Ian apprehensive. He worried for Girdarts, fearing that after Cornelia reached her peak, she might crush him!

Thinking like that, Ian felt a bit excited. He could hardly wait to see Gildarts' devastated expression.

Afterward, as Ian approached the icy land of the eastern Fiore Kingdom, the simulation period ended! Regrettably, he wasn't able to meet his counterpart from a different timeline.

---

Time returned to June, summer of X779.

Fiore Kingdom.

Magnolia Town.

Inside Ian's villa, he slowly opened his eyes.

"Phew!"

The first thing Ian did when he regained consciousness was, without hesitation, claim his rewards from the simulation.

"System! Claim rewards!"

At that moment, Ian couldn't wait to increase his power.

"Boom!"

With a rumble...

The magical power within Ian soared, rising from the 'Heavenly King' level to the 'Spriggan 12' level.

Ian estimated that, at his current strength, even without using dragon-slaying magic or entering Dragon Force mode, he could fight God Serena—who had returned from training on the Western Continent—to a standstill.

As for Ian activating Dragon Force, he wouldn't even need a second punch to take down Serena!

"Progress! Getting stronger! Feels great!"

Ian moved his body a little, revealing a smile.

"Buzz!"

Just as Ian was reveling in his continuous progress, with a hum, a portal suddenly formed in front of him. Selene the Moon Dragon and Irene appeared, stepping into Ian's room in his villa.

"Oh my, Ian~"

"Your strength has grown!"

"I hope that your upcoming performance matches your power—don't disappoint me."

Selene, noticing Ian's massive leap in strength, licked her lips lightly and smiled at him.

"No worries, Ian~"

"I will treat you gently~"

Irene looked at Ian with endless tenderness in her eyes. She smiled brightly, genuinely happy about Ian's progress.

"Spare me, please!"

Ian looked at Irene and Selene, who came to challenge him just as his strength had improved, and his hair stood on end as he spoke helplessly.

---

A few days later.

Fiore Kingdom.

The former Phantom Lord guild.

"From today onwards, these individuals will be joining us, Phantom..."

"I mean, as part of the Guardians of Luminance! Applaud, everyone!"

Jose stood at the podium, beside him were Jellal and others, powerful wizards who had left Grimoire Heart and temporarily joined the guild.

"It's Lumen's Guardians."

Jellal rolled his eyes. Jose really didn't pay attention to details, even getting the guild's name wrong, which left Jellal somewhat speechless. He finally understood why Precht had sent him over to keep things in check—there was a reason.

"Right, right..."

"My head's just not in it!"

"I meant to say Lumen's Guardians."

Upon hearing this, Jose Porla's eyes lit up, and he bowed his head humbly.

'Hehehe...'

'Lumen? Guardians? Whatever...'

'Damn Grimoire Heart, damn Fairy Tail!'

'Just wait until I gain enough power; then I'll come for you all.'

Jose thought maliciously. With his talent, it wasn't impossible for him to reach the 'Heavenly King' level as long as he trained hard!

In fact, after being defeated several times, Jose had vaguely touched upon the threshold of human limits. Given five more years, he could perhaps gain power comparable to Jura during the Grand Magic Games...

With this rate of improvement, in fifty years at most, by the time he was Makarov's age, he would be one of the inhuman level 'Heavenly Kings'. He would make those who looked down on him pay a heavy price, whether they were from Grimoire Heart or Fairy Tail!

As for now, the situation was stronger than he was—Jose chose to endure.

Life was like that; endure long enough, and it would all pass...

Keep enduring, and you'd get used to it eventually.

"From now on!"

"The entire guild must abide by my management."

"Seeing me is like seeing Jose himself. You can consider me as vice-guild master. Any objections?!"

Jellal stood with his hands behind his back, his body straight like an ancient pine tree, his gaze radiating a chilling intent.

"Huh? Says who?"

As Jellal finished speaking, Gajeel, who had been searching for his dinner in the trash heap, raised his head, dissatisfied. He grew up following the law of the jungle and did not accept any rules—only the right of strength.

"Gajeel has stepped up..."

"Well, these newcomers were too arrogant!"

"Gajeel, give them hell..."

"Show some spirit, don't lose face!"

The members of Phantom Lord, who were all cunning by nature, grinned when they saw Gajeel stand up, cheering with excitement as they watched Gajeel's defiance against Jellal and the others.

Next, whether Gajeel lost or Jellal lost, they were happy to see it happen.

"Boom!"

However, just as the cheers fell, Gajeel saw a flash, and before he knew it, Jellal, who had been on the stage, was in front of him, punching him in the face.

"Boom!"

With a deafening crash, Gajeel was immediately laid flat on the ground, losing consciousness.

"What?!"

In an instant, everyone present was stunned. They knew these newcomers were probably powerful but never expected them to be this powerful?!

In an instant, they knocked out Gajeel, one of the guild's top ten members with massive potential, an Iron Dragon Slayer mage?! It was simply unbelievable...

"Anyone else?"

Jellal, after punching Gajeel out, raised his head and looked at everyone present, speaking with a cold expression.

"Uh..."

For a moment, everyone went silent. No one dared to provoke Jellal and his group any longer.

"Who are these people?!"

"A strong mage like this, how could I not have heard of them?!"

Among the crowd, Totomaru, one of the four elemental mages, and an S-class mage of Phantom Lord, frowned in confusion. With his knowledge of the magic world, if Jellal had such terrifying strength, he should have known it by now.

"Hehehe..."

"By the way, Jellal, Rustyrose, Sorano, Erik, and Richard, from today onward, are S-class mages of our guild!"

"Let's cheer for having five more S-class mages in the guild!"

Jose smiled as he watched everything before him. Suddenly, Jellal's arrival didn't seem so bad after all!

At the very least, their presence brought the guild's power closer to Fairy Tail on the surface, even though, strictly speaking, these people were also from Fairy Tail.

Yeah, using Fairy Tail's own people against them! Jose really thought he was a genius.

And so, just like that...

Phantom Lord gained five new S-class mages.

Yes, Phantom's S-class assessment depended entirely on Jose's mood; if he felt good, he'd casually appoint an S-class mage.

For a time, Phantom Lord had nine S-class mages, while Fairy Tail only had Ian, Gildarts, Ultear, and Erza—no matter how you looked at it, Phantom had the upper hand!

Jose: "I don't care. Nine to four, the advantage is mine!"

Meanwhile.

Cana, having finally received a letter from her mother, went to find her irresponsible father, who was always drinking and messing around at the guild.

"Gildarts..."

Cana called Gildarts by name directly.

"What is it, My dear little Cana~"

Gildarts, like some disgusting greasy uncle...

Well, he was a disgusting greasy uncle...

He approached up to Cana, constantly fawning over her.

From time to time, Gildarts would joke to the others around, "Look, this is Cana, my darling daughter!"

"My mother is coming to Fairy Tail. You better be prepared."

Cana took a deep breath and said softly to Gildarts.

"Oh! Oh! Oh..."

"So your mother's coming back, huh?!"

"Honestly, I do miss Cornelia quite a bit."

Gildarts nodded with a smile.

Then, Gildarts noticed something was wrong. He frowned and looked at Cana in shock, saying: "Wait, Cana, who did you just say was coming to the guild? I mean your mother, my most beloved Cornelia, isn't she already dead?"

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