Chapter 196: Setting Off
The next morning, everyone woke up early, grabbed their gear, and headed to the guild.
Ultear's group and the Strauss family arrived soon after. Gray, Lyon, Lisanna, Lisana, and Elfman were all there to see Ultear and Mirajane off. The rest of the guild members who were still in Magnolia had also gathered to give the team a proper send-off. They had heard from Sorano yesterday that the five of them were tackling an SS-Class Request together.
"Dammit! I wanna go on an SS-Class Request, too!" Natsu roared from the sidelines.
Gray immediately shut him down. "Save it, flame-brain. You're not even S-Class. What makes you think you can handle an SS-Class job?"
Natsu ignored him completely and got in Noah's face. "Noah! Take me with you!"
"Sure," Noah replied without even thinking. "Just last one minute against me."
Hearing that, Natsu instantly burst into flames. "I'm all fired up now! Take this, Noah!"
His fiery fist flew at Noah, but in the next second, Noah brought a single hand chop down on his head, planting him straight into the guild's floor.
"Your strength is still lacking, Natsu. We'll talk when you're stronger," Noah said.
As Natsu pulled himself out of the hole, Gray mocked him mercilessly. "You got one-shotted and you still wanna go on an SS-Class job?"
"You looking for a fight, droopy-eyes?!"
"Anytime, you squinty-eyed freak!"
The two immediately started brawling, and the rest of the guild began cheering them on, as usual.
"So, are you all ready?" Noah asked, standing up and turning to Ultear and the girls.
"Yep, all set. We can leave anytime," Ultear replied, with Erza and the others nodding.
"Good. Let's head out." He led the way out the guild doors, with the rest of the members following to see them off.
Noah took out a magic card from his pocket and, with a flash of light, the vehicle he'd modified yesterday appeared.
"Did you... did you modify this yourself?" Lisanna asked, marveling at it. The vehicle had four wheels and a wooden cabin, looking like a normal carriage... except for the two metal horses pulling it. They were so intricately sculpted, they looked almost alive.
"I did," Noah said, patting one of the metal steeds. "I didn't change the outside much, just reinforced it, improved the comfort and shock absorption, and added some basic defenses. The real upgrade is these two. They're magic-powered, can auto-navigate to a set destination, have some of their own offensive and defensive capabilities, and a few other tricks." He patted the horse again, and it let out a surprisingly realistic neigh.
"This is amazing!" Erza's eyes lit up, and she immediately went over to get a closer look at the metal horses.
Sorano was the first to pull back the door curtain and peek inside. The cabin was spacious, lined with what looked like incredibly comfortable fur pelts, and had a small table in the middle. "Nice, nice! This is way better than a normal carriage."
The rest of the guild members crowded around, oohing and aahing at the vehicle.
Thanks to their own storage magic, the five of them had no luggage to load. They just climbed aboard.
"Alright, Gramps, we're heading out!" Noah called from the driver's seat.
"Be careful out there!" Makarov waved.
"Will do!"
The five of them waved goodbye to the guild. The metal horses' hooves began to clip-clop against the cobblestones, pulling the carriage away from Magnolia.
After the guild finally disappeared from view in the rear window, they turned their attention back. Noah pulled out the stack of request forms, and they finalized their route.
Once that was settled, Noah pulled out a new "toy" he had just finished. It was a large, circular disk inscribed with complex runes, with several hand-shaped impressions around the edge. He also took out a few simple, blocky humanoid figures. They had no faces, just a head, limbs, and basic joints, and their hands were just flat fans. But they, too, were covered in runes that matched the disk.
"What is this, a toy? Did you make it?" Sorano asked, picking one up with a look of disdain. "It's so ugly. You couldn't at least paint it or something?"
"I was focused on tuning the system, not aesthetics," Noah replied. "I'll upgrade the models later. You can help design them if you want. Let me show you. See these handprints? You just place your hand on one, channel your magic, and you can connect to and control one of the dolls."
To demonstrate, Noah placed his hand on a print. One of the dolls on the disk immediately sprang to life and started throwing punches.
"This is to train our magic control, isn't it?" Erza asked, watching the doll's precise movements.
"And our reaction speed," Ultear added from the side.
Noah nodded. "I figured we'd get bored on the road, so I made this. It'll help pass the time and let us train a bit. Everyone, give it a try."
Hearing that, the girls each grabbed a doll and placed it on the disk. They put their hands on the prints, and soon all four dolls were moving.
Suddenly, Mirajane's doll landed a solid punch on Erza's, knocking it flat.
Erza shot a glare at Mirajane, who just gave her a smug, challenging smirk. You could practically feel Erza's anger spike. She immediately had her doll jump back to its feet and lunge at Mirajane's. The two figurines began to brawl, clack-clack-clacking on the disk.
"Ooh, this looks like fun!" Sorano cackled. "Come on, Ultear, let's go!" Her doll immediately launched an attack on Ultear's.
~~~
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