"Oh, is this Fairy Tail? It's really nice!"
As night fell, at the entrance of the Fairy Tail Guild, Caesar and Mirajane finally arrived. Mirajane looked at the guild building and couldn't help but speak.
The lights in the guild were brightly lit at this moment, and most people chose to come over for dinner to reward themselves after a hard day's work. The guild was especially lively at night.
"Come in. This is definitely the best guild in the Kingdom of Fiore."
Caesar opened the door and walked into the guild with Mirajane and her two younger siblings.
"Oh, Caesar, welcome back."
"That was fast. Did you already complete the commission?"
"Nab, look at this person."
"Get lost."
"Caesar! Let's show off!"
"Natsu is at it again. Natsu is flying again!"
After punching Natsu away, Caesar greeted the others.
At that moment, everyone noticed the three white-haired kids behind him.
"Is this... your little girlfriend?"
"Huh?"
Mirajane's forehead twitched with visible veins. She was ready to start a fight.
Fortunately, Lisanna and Elfman were there to hold her back. They pulled her away and followed Caesar to the counter.
"Master, the commission has been completed."
He handed the completed request form to Makarov, then pointed at the three siblings.
"The eldest one I met while completing the request is named Mirajane, and the younger ones are her siblings, Elfman and Lisanna. Mirajane has awakened Take Over Magic, and since they had nowhere to go, I brought them back."
"Oh? Born with awakened Take Over Magic? It seems the little girl might be more talented than you."
Makarov looked at Mirajane, a bit surprised.
People who awaken magic on their own generally have exceptional talent. Since they had no place to go, joining the guild was clearly the best option.
Soon, Mirajane and her siblings officially joined Fairy Tail.
However, since it was already late, proper accommodations couldn't be arranged immediately.
Mirajane and Lisanna were easy to settle—they could stay in the girls' dorms—but Elfman was a different story.
"Elfman, just stay with me for the night."
Caesar said, "It's no problem for me."
"Alright."
Makarov nodded, and the three siblings were temporarily settled.
After taking them to dinner, Caesar looked around the guild but didn't see Erza anywhere.
"Gray, where's Erza?"
Caesar stopped Gray, who was wearing only his underwear, and asked.
"She took a subjugation mission and went to defeat some monsters. Ugh, when will it be my turn to take a mission like that?"
Gray answered, looking annoyed.
"Ice cube idiot, maybe in your next life you'll be first to take a subjugation mission!"
Natsu rubbed his face and teased him directly.
"What did you say, stinky fire?!"
"Why? You don't wanna accept it?"
"Let's fight!"
"Bring it on!"
"You two, knock it off already."
Caesar bonked them both on the head, and Natsu and Gray crouched down, covering their heads.
Caesar shook his fists. He had to admit, their heads were ridiculously hard—it actually hurt to hit them.
"It would be great if Jiro could be synthesized."
Caesar thought as he ate. If he had access to the Knocking Guns, he wouldn't need to punch them at all. A single hit would have them flying and reflect on their actions.
"This guild is really lively."
Lisanna looked around as she ate and whispered to Caesar, "Is it always like this?"
"Yeah. You'll get used to it. When it's this lively, it kind of feels like a family, right?"
Caesar replied while shoveling down food.
Mirajane and her siblings were stunned for a moment, then smiled.
Yeah. They didn't hate this kind of atmosphere at all.
…
"Caesar."
Just as Caesar was about to finish his dinner, a familiar voice spoke up.
Caesar looked up and saw Laxus walking over with headphones on. Seeing Mirajane and her siblings beside Caesar, Laxus frowned slightly, then said, "I have something to talk to you about."
"Right here's fine."
Caesar finished his last bite of rice without leaving a grain, then looked at Laxus. "Say what you need to say."
Laxus glanced around and saw the guild members pretending not to eavesdrop, though their ears were practically antennae. Embarrassed, Laxus coughed and said,
"I heard you're aiming increase your magic power. I have some info on how to increase your magic reserves—interested?"
"You do?"
Caesar was surprised, then nodded. "Definitely."
"This is a potion recipe that can increase your magic reserves. But the ingredients are rare. If you manage to brew it, there's about a 20% chance your magic power will increase by half."
Laxus handed Caesar a note from his pocket. "But the success rate is extremely low—whether it's the brewing process or the effect after drinking it. That's why this kind of potion isn't very popular."
Caesar looked at the ingredients listed on the note and was momentarily stunned.
"The frost from marigolds after the first frost, blood from flying squirrels in the Abyss of Ertuo, mermaid tears from the West Sea Cave, and more than 80% high-purity magic crystals."
As he scanned the list, Caesar finally understood why this potion wasn't mainstream.
First off, it was insanely expensive!
Just estimating the material cost would run at least 10 million J.
Then there was the success rate for brewing it—only about 40%.
Even worse, the effect only had a 20% chance of actually increasing magic.
In other words, if you didn't prepare a dozen batches or more, you probably wouldn't succeed even once.
Realistically, you'd need hundreds of millions of J to see results!
That's hundreds of millions of jewels!
Even winning the Grand Magic Games only gave 30 million J.
This wasn't magic training. This was blatant pay-to-win nonsense!
Thinking of this, Caesar suddenly remembered Ultear's method. It was clearly more cost-effective.
"Wait a minute!"
Caesar's eyes lit up, and he immediately switched to his possessed form—borrowing Edward Elric's alchemical knowledge.
He looked at the recipe again.
With a flood of alchemy-related information rushing into his brain, Caesar analyzed the properties of the listed materials and suddenly had a breakthrough idea.
"It looks like... I can find cheaper alternatives!"
The effect would be weaker, of course, but if he could solve the problem of potion resistance, it could be taken repeatedly—and that would increase the overall results!
The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.
Exiting the possession state, Caesar waved the note at Laxus.
"Thanks. This helps a lot."
"Glad to hear it."
Laxus exhaled and then looked at Caesar seriously.
"Caesar, I remember you haven't formed a team yet. How about we form one together?"
Caesar: Huh?
Everyone: Huh?!!!