"Lucy, Gray."
Marco pondered briefly as he looked at the young man and woman before him, but quickly composed himself.
Since he had already decided not to let them come into contact with Memory of Time, he might as well act as if nothing had happened.
"Marco-san, what are we learning today?"
Seeing Marco remain silent, Lucy asked curiously.
Both she and Gray had already crossed that most important threshold—they had connected with their constellations.
In theory, they could already graduate, and all that remained was for them to work hard on their own to refine their skills.
Ever since crossing that threshold, connecting with their constellations, and obtaining the "Cygnus Cloth," Marco had rarely given them lessons anymore.
He only let them train on their own, deepening their connection with their constellations.
As the saying goes, 'A teacher opens the door, but the student must walk through it.'
Of course, the lessons that were discontinued were only those about connecting with constellations.
They still had to train their bodies rigorously, practice combat techniques, and master various martial arts.
If anything, this was much more demanding than the lessons on constellation connection.
This time, Marco had called them over and informed them in advance that it wouldn't be a combat lesson, so both Lucy and Gray were quite looking forward to it.
"Nothing much, just checking on your progress." Marco spoke with a stern expression, and upon hearing his words, Lucy and Gray also became serious, no longer joking around.
"Training and getting stronger is like sailing against the current—if you don't advance, you will fall behind. One day without practice, and your hands and feet grow clumsy; two days without practice, and your skills are halved; three days without practice, and you become an outsider."
Marco clasped his hands behind his back, pacing back and forth in front of Lucy and Gray, spouting one words after another, making the young man and woman listen intently with pursed lips.
"Although I won't check your progress every day, based on your talents, I can estimate how much progress you should have made over time. I can tell whether you've been training diligently or not."
Marco smiled.
His words sounded a bit exaggerated, but coming from him, Lucy and Gray didn't dare to refute him.
After all, in the realm of 'New Celestial Spirit Magic,' Marco was the absolute and undisputed authority.
The talents of his students were all quantified in Marco's eyes.
He could indeed assess what level they should be at.
Their senpai, Hisui, served as an example and a benchmark, allowing Marco to evaluate Lucy and Gray.
The main focus was on evaluating Lucy, as her overall score was almost on par with Hisui's.
As for Gray, Marco had to overestimate him as much as possible, since this guy's overall score was absurdly high.
A genius must be held to a standard befitting a genius.
"Marco-san, I've been practicing diligently every day!" Lucy replied earnestly.
She was well aware that her talent was inferior to Gray's—this was far too obvious.
Thus, she could only rely on double the effort to catch up, fearing she would fall too far behind.
"Me too!"
Gray reacted just as quickly, immediately asserting that he had also been working hard.
"Words alone are useless—I need to see it with my own eyes. Both of you, put on your Cygnus Cloths and connect with the Cygnus constellation. Let's first see how well you're connected to your constellations and how much power you can harness." Marco smiled and spoke directly.
"Alright!"
Gray and Lucy exchanged a glance, then without hesitation, summoned their Cygnus Cloths.
Though Marco hadn't suggested a competition, the two clearly wanted to test who had a stronger connection with the Cygnus constellation chart.
As the Cygnus constellation chart manifested, two similarly styled "Cygnus Battle Attires" in gender-specific color schemes emerged from the starlight, flying toward the pair and enveloping them.
"Hum!!!"
Both Lucy and Gray began connecting with "Cygnus," summoning starlight to channel Star Magic upon themselves.
Behind the two children, the Cygnus constellation chart materialized while the celestial map shimmered overhead.
Star Magic split into two streams descending upon Lucy and Gray respectively.
The outcome was immediately apparent—the stream flowing toward Gray was noticeably more substantial.
Both children became shrouded in Star Magic, radiating a soft stellar glow.
Gray's starlight appeared denser, his Star Magic more condensed, clearly surpassing Lucy's.
"..."
Witnessing this scene, Lucy couldn't help feeling disheartened.
Had all her efforts still fallen short compared to her "junior" Gray?
She had started learning 'Celestial Spirit Magic' way earlier, yet Gray had overtaken her.
What slightly comforted Lucy was that Gray hadn't just surpassed her—he had even exceeded their senpai Hisui.
"Good progress, Lucy. Your dedication shows in your training."
Observing the young pair, Marco first commented on Lucy's performance.
Rather than criticizing her, he praised her evident improvement—a clear result of diligent practice.
Though she lagged behind Gray, her progress remained commendable.
Gray's case was simply due to his exceptionally high compatibility rating, making it unfair to measure him against standards like Hisui or Lucy.
"As for you Gray... have you been slacking off lately?"
Marco narrowed his eyes at Gray, his tone disapproving.
The boy's progress seemed mediocre, completely overshadowed by Lucy's strides.
This wasn't because Lucy had more room for growth—compared to Marco, Gray also possessed vast potential.
His current development simply indicated less intensive training than Lucy's.
"Uh, yes... but... I haven't been lazy! I've been researching how to use Star Magic to enhance my Ice-Make Magic!"
Questioned by Marco, Gray looked momentarily embarrassed but quickly defended himself.
He'd been experimenting with channeling Star Magic through his signature Ice-Make Magic.
While his "Diamond Dust Fist" proved formidable, combining it with "Ice-Make Magic" would undoubtedly yield greater power.
Gray knew Natsu had also learned Marco Celestial Spirit Magic and inherited the "Leo Minor" constellation.
This meant his advantage would soon vanish once Natsu caught up—a urgency driving Gray to innovate.
"You rascal..."
Marco couldn't hide his surprise at Gray's explanation.
The boy actually had the initiative to integrate Star Magic with his expertise in "Ice-Make Magic."
Hisui and Lucy were both originally the most orthodox Celestial Spirit Mages, specializing in "old-Celestial Spirit Magic."
Now that they had learned Marco's "new Celestial Spirit Magic," their combat style had completely shifted toward the latter.
Of course, they could still summon Celestial Spirits, but they rarely did so.
If they could handle a battle on their own, there was naturally no need to bother the Celestial Spirits.
Marco had told them that one day in the Celestial Spirit World was equivalent to three months in the human world.
After learning this, the two girls became very considerate of the spirits' feelings and seldom summoned them again.