Chapter 60: The Second Floor
"Ren, are you going to take a job so soon?"
Mira, who had been wiping down the bar, looked up with her signature bright smile as Ren approached. She placed his usual breakfast order in front of him and asked casually. She had already, without him asking, specifically looked for several suitable high-paying quests for Ren. If he wanted to do them, she could directly recommend them, saving him the trouble of searching the crowded first-floor board.
Ren shook his head, taking a bite of his toast. "No, I think I'll be passing on quests for a while. For the next period, I need to focus on training my body."
Mira's hand, which was picking up a mug, paused. "Training? But you're already..."
"Training your body?!" Elfman, who was sitting at a nearby table, overheard and his eyes widened. "Ren, you're already a monster! What more body training do you need? A real man knows when he's strong!"
Elfman looked genuinely bewildered. In his eyes, Ren was a complete monster, someone who could stop a guild-wide brawl with a single transformation. If this monster still felt the need to get stronger, what hope was there for ordinary people like them?
Ren smiled at Elfman's typical declaration. "There's always someone stronger out there, Elfman. A real man knows he can always become stronger, right?"
"O-Oh! Y-Yeah! A man always strives for the top! Well said!" Elfman stammered, agreeing enthusiastically.
Ren turned back to Mira, his smile fading into a more serious, thoughtful expression. Lucy's appearance signified that the plot, the main story he knew, had truly begun. The timeline was in motion.
Soon, all sorts of formidable individuals would emerge from the shadows. The Oración Seis. The dark guild Grimoire Heart and its master, Hades. The demon-book guild, Tartaros. And, far in the future, the Alvarez Empire, led by the Spriggan 12 and the Dark Mage Zeref himself.
And then... there was the Black Dragon, Acnologia. The self-proclaimed Dragon King.
Ren had already faced a "Magic Dragon" and won, but he knew that creature was nothing. That dragon, in front of the true Black Dragon of the Apocalypse, Acnologia... it would be a one-shot kill. Less than an insect.
This knowledge, which only he possessed, made Ren feel a certain, pressing urgency. He couldn't just sit back and let events play out, not when he had the power to change them.
At the same time, he also felt a deep, eager impulse, a thrumming in his blood from his new Whitebeard form. He wanted to have a fierce fight with Acnologia, the strongest creature, and see who would truly break the world first.
Over the past six months, he had also discovered a crucial fact about his system. The stronger his own basic abilities were—his physical strength, his stamina, his durability—the greater the power he could display and control after receiving a character. His body was the vessel, and a stronger vessel could handle more power.
Therefore, when not on quests, Ren would train his body relentlessly. The system, ever so helpful, had even provided Ren with a grueling, superhuman training plan, which Ren had been strictly following.
"I'll head back for training now," Ren said, finishing his breakfast quickly. "Oh, by the way, Cana!"
"Hmm?" Cana looked up from the table she had already claimed, her head resting on her arms, surrounded by several empty mugs.
"The ten barrels of wine I promised to reward you with... they've been delivered to the guild storage. Drink to your heart's content," Ren said, waving his hand as he left.
Cana's face, which had been in a tipsy haze, lit up with pure, unadulterated surprise and joy. Ten barrels of wine was a huge gain for her. A normal fortune-telling session only earned a few thousand Jewel.
With the first ten barrels, she had already thoroughly fleeced Ren. She hadn't expected him to actually give her the additional ten barrels as a bonus.
Mira, hearing Ren's words, watched him go, her blue eyes thoughtful. She knew. That earthquake... Ren's good mood... and now a massive, twenty-barrel reward for Cana's "lucky time" divination. He must have summoned a new, and incredibly powerful, Heroic Spirit.
Each of his previous forms was an extraordinary powerhouse. She wondered what kind of monster he had summoned this time.
"He's truly a good man!" Cana sighed, her voice filled with genuine appreciation as she stared at the door Ren had left through. "Mira, if you don't want him, I'm really going to make a move, you know. He's a keeper."
Cana was genuinely starting to feel something for Ren. He was handsome, ridiculously powerful, and, most importantly, he was generous and could earn money—money that translated into alcohol. Such a good man was hard to find. If it weren't for the fact that Mira and Ren were already particularly close, she would truly pursue him actively.
"Oh, you! You should just get along well with your 'boyfriend number one'!" Mira replied, playfully rolling her eyes as she pointed at the new barrel Cana was already tapping.
Mira didn't pay much attention to what Cana said. She was very familiar with Cana and knew she was mostly joking.
...Mostly.
In fact, Mira herself had a bit of a complaint about Ren. She might be a bit slow to realize her own feelings, but that didn't mean she was stupid. She knew Ren liked her; he was the only man in the guild who was so consistently gentle and respectful, and who always, always sought her out. But wasn't he a little too... passive?
She had already hinted as obviously as she knew how. Did she have to be the one to confess? Honestly. For all his power and intelligence, he was such a blockhead, completely clueless about a girl's feelings.
A week passed in a flash.
"...997, 998, 999, 1000!"
In a clearing deep in the woods outside Magnolia, Ren, his body gleaming with sweat, completed his final one-armed push-up. A giant boulder, easily weighing several tons, was balanced precariously on his back.
After reaching 1000, Ren roared and explosively pushed the boulder off his back, sending it crashing into a nearby tree. He lay on the ground, his chest heaving as he panted heavily.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have completed your week-long intensive training mission! Physical attributes have noticeably increased!]
"Hah... has a week passed already?" Ren panted, a grin on his face. "Then it's time to go to work."
Physical training was important, but work—missions—was even more important. Completing an S-Class Quest could reward him with a ten-pull gacha. Even if he didn't get a gold card, recycling the junk cards could provide magic power, which was his main method of increasing his magic power.
Ren returned to his room, quickly washed up, and then headed to the guild.
Pushing open the guild doors, he was greeted by the familiar, lively chaos.
"Ren!"
"Hey, Ren, you're here!"
As soon as Ren entered the guild, many people saw him and greeted him with smiles and waves. He responded to each of them, his presence clearly a welcome one.
"Ren, you're here!"
Mira's eyes lit up slightly when she saw Ren arrive, a genuine happiness in her expression. A week without him had made the guild feel a little... less stable.
"Yes!" Ren said, sliding into his usual seat at the bar. "I've rested for several days, so it's time to go to work. Are there any suitable quests for me upstairs?"
The "upstairs" Ren referred to was the second floor of the guild hall, where all the highly difficult S-Class Quests were located.
"Yes, you've come at a good time," Mira said, her smile widening. "An S-Class Quest just came in these past few days. It's a high-priority one."
Ren's eyes lit up. "Then I'll go up and take a look."
S-Class Quests were rare due to their extreme difficulty. Before becoming an S-Class Mage, he wasn't qualified to even look at them. After becoming one, he would take every single one he found. They were, after all, a free ten-pull gacha.
Ren quickly walked towards the staircase leading to the second floor. It would be bad if Laxus, Mystogan, or Erza got there first.
Lucy, who was sitting at a nearby table with a very-much-recovered Natsu and Happy, saw this and asked with a puzzled expression, "Isn't the quest board right over there on the first floor? Why is Ren going to the second floor?"
Mira smiled and explained, "The quests on the first-floor quest board are all ordinary quests, Lucy. The quests on the second-floor quest board are of a difficulty that the first floor cannot even compare to. Those are S-Class Quests."
"S-Class?!"
Lucy felt as if she had heard an extraordinary new term. She'd read about S-Class Mages, but she'd never considered what an S-Class Quest entailed.
"One misjudgment in any of those quests can cost you your life," Mira continued, her tone becoming serious, losing its usual cheer. "But accordingly, the quest rewards are also astronomically high."
"Wow—!"
Lucy thought the quests on the first-floor quest board were dangerous enough; she couldn't imagine how dangerous the quests on the second floor must be.
"Only those Mages personally approved by the Master can undertake S-Class Quests," Mira said. "Currently, including Ren, there are only six qualified individuals in our entire guild: Ren, Erza, Laxus, Mystogan... and of course, Gildarts."
"Don't aim for S-Class Quests, Lucy," Mira advised, her voice gentle again. "These are life-threatening jobs."
"I wouldn't dream of it!" Lucy said quickly, shaking her head.
She valued her life the most. She was still so young, with plenty of good times ahead, and she didn't want to risk her life for that kind of work.
Ren had now arrived at the quiet, empty quest room on the second floor.
At this moment, there was only one S-Class Quest hanging solitarily on the massive quest board. Ren went over and took a look.
[Quest Name: Please Save Our Island.]
[Rank: S-Class]
[Quest Content: The villagers of Galuna Island have been cursed by the moon. Please, powerful Mage, lift this curse.]
[Quest Reward: 7,000,000 Jewel + Gold Celestial Spirit Key!]
"Oh? It's this quest!"
Upon seeing the name of this quest, Ren immediately recalled the plot surrounding it. It was the only S-Class Quest explicitly presented in the Fairy Tail anime, so he remembered it quite vividly.
If one didn't understand the complex situation involving Lyon, Deliora, and the Moon Drip, this quest would be almost impossible to start, let alone complete.
However, if one knew the reason... the quest was super simple.
Ren naturally couldn't miss such a quest—a free 7 million Jewel, a rare Gold Key, and a ten-pull from the system. He immediately tore the request off the board.
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