Chapter 104: Training and Studying
Besides, the creation of a Dragon Slayer lacrima required a dragon's heart. Both dragon hearts and Dragon Slayer lacrima were impossibly rare. Laxus was lucky to have gotten one; Noah had no way of finding a second. And besides, the idea of shoving a foreign object into his body always felt strange to him. With his own growth rate, surpassing dragons was only a matter of time. Actually becoming one would be a net loss.
Therefore, Noah would not be learning Dragon Slayer magic right now. At most, he would research it, and perhaps reconsider after making some new discoveries in the future. Ideally, he could learn all the advantages of Dragon Slayer magic—such as eating one's element to replenish stamina and magic, and being immune to attacks of the same element—while discarding all the disadvantages, like dragonification or the motion sickness that came with it. But all of that would require him to learn much more, so he could only continue to work hard.
Noah stayed behind to watch Natsu and Wendy's training, and at the same time, to practice the Enchantment magic he had just learned. Wendy had used up almost all of her magic power casting that one spell, but in the training ground with its higher concentration of Ethernano, her Dragon Slayer magic began to take effect. She recovered very quickly, and in a short time, her magic and stamina were fully restored.
Seeing that Wendy was back to normal, Noah began to guide her through physical and magical conditioning exercises. Although the process was a bit difficult, and tears kept welling up in Wendy's eyes, she worked hard and persevered.
Nearby, Natsu, having recovered from his own spell usage, once again began attacking the stone wall with his various Dragon Slayer techniques. When he was finished, Noah went over to teach him how to better train his body and his magic power. Wanting to get stronger faster, Natsu studied very seriously.
The training session didn't last too long. Even if they could recover their magic and stamina, their mental fatigue couldn't be restored. When Noah saw that their mental states were deteriorating, he called a halt to their training and had them rest, while he himself continued to study Enchantment magic.
"Grant me the unshakeable strength of the steel arm! Arms!" Noah recited the chant, and a magic circle unfolded at his feet. He immediately felt the strength in his arms increase considerably.
Wendy, seeing that he had already learned another enchantment, looked at him with an expression of pure admiration. "Big Brother Noah, you're so amazing!"
"It's just that I've studied a lot, so I can pick things up this easily at the beginning. As I continue to study it more deeply, the difficulty will gradually increase. It won't be as fast as it is now."
"But that's still amazing! It took me so long just to learn that."
"You'll be able to do it too, Wendy. You'll become very strong."
"Really?" Wendy's eyes sparkled.
"Of course," Noah said to her gravely. "I guarantee it!"
Hearing his answer, a happy smile spread across Wendy's face. Seeing that she had recovered, Noah said to her, "Alright, that's enough training for today. Let's go find the others, and then we'll all head back together."
"Mhm!"
Noah and Wendy, calling over Natsu, went to find Ultear and the others. On the way, they saw Gray training. Natsu, who had just been exhausted, immediately started arguing with Gray after just two sentences, and they started fighting. Wendy, seeing this, was on the verge of tears and was about to go and stop them, but Noah picked her up.
"Don't worry about those two idiots. They'll stop when they get tired. Let's go find Ultear and the others first."
Cradled in his arms, a teary-eyed Wendy watched as Natsu and Gray brawled in Gray's training plot, disappearing as Noah carried her further away.
After they had gathered Erza, Ultear, and the others, they returned to Gray's training plot. They found both boys lying on the ground, panting heavily. Lyon was sitting nearby, laughing at them. The training plot had already shut down.
"Alright, we're heading back. Get up, you two."
Natsu and Gray struggled to their feet, glared at each other, and both snorted, "Hmph!" They both turned their heads away and then followed Noah and the others back.
When they arrived at Noah's house, they found that Simon and Kagura were already back. Erza and the other girls first went to help Wendy get her room set up. Noah also called Laxus over, and they held a welcome party for Natsu and Wendy.
After the party, Laxus was the first to leave, as he had a request to do the next day. Ultear, her disciples, and Cana helped clean up the mess before leaving as well.
Noah gathered the items he had bought for Natsu and walked with him to his house nearby, a small cabin built on the edge of the forest. He helped him clean up the place and put away his new things before finally leaving.
When Noah got back to his house, Erza had just finished bathing with Wendy, and they were chatting in the living room. Hearing Wendy say she felt a little insecure in the new environment, Erza courageously offered to sleep with her. She excitedly grabbed her own bedding, went to Wendy's room to drop it off, and then ran back out to pull Wendy back to the room, planning for them to go to sleep right now.
Noah had originally planned to have Wendy do some studying, but seeing as it was late and everyone was tired from the party, he let it go.
The next day, Noah began to train Natsu and Wendy, and then he would teach them literacy, not just vocabulary, but all sorts of necessary common knowledge. Natsu truly struggled with studying, but thankfully, Noah was very patient, because he had assigned a dedicated Thought Projection to teach him and Wendy. The first time Natsu and Wendy saw the Thought Projection, they were astonished. Wendy was almost scared to tears, until Noah explained what it was.
During this time, whenever Gildarts was back at the guild, Cana would be there too. Noah took the opportunity to ask him about the things he had seen on his travels, broadening his own knowledge. When he went over, he saw Natsu challenging Gildarts, only to be knocked out with a single punch. Noah ignored the minor incident. After listening to Gildarts' stories and learning about the direction of his future requests, Noah asked him to collect some materials for him on the way.
Gildarts readily agreed. He and Cana planned to rest for about half a month before setting out again, and collecting some materials along the way wouldn't be too much trouble.
Seeing that Gildarts had agreed, Noah returned to his daily routine: training and studying with Natsu and Wendy, and then doing his own training and research. Once the two of them had learned enough to do their daily training on their own, all Noah needed to do was teach them cultural knowledge.
It was worth noting that with Natsu having joined the training ground, the training atmosphere became significantly more active and intense.
~~~
Get early access to 50+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn