Although Macao also knew that this hidden ravine path could get someone down the mountain faster, it was the central region of Vulcan activity, where the mid-ranked monster, the Vulcan Queen, resided. He had never once considered it a proper route for going down the mountain.
"I haven't gone the wrong way. I'm taking this path down on purpose. Isn't this the shortcut to the foot of the mountain?"
Geno had not intended to have any interaction with Macao, but since the man had come over and stopped him, he could only say a few simple words. He could not just pretend to be deaf and mute and keep walking in silence after being spoken to. That was obviously impossible.
Geno had no idea what the situation on this shortcut was like, so naturally he did not understand why Macao was blocking him now. Still, as someone who had watched Fairy Tail, even if he did not remember Macao in great detail, he at least knew the man was not a bad person. He was not some robber blocking the road.
"Kid, don't get the wrong idea. I do not have any bad intentions."
Macao was pretty sure his expression held no malice, but he still worried that suddenly stepping in front of the young man like this might make him uncomfortable, might make him think Macao was up to no good.
He did not bother explaining too much though. That was not his style.
"Since you know this ravine path is a shortcut down the mountain, you should also know what lies beyond it, right, kid?"
Macao simply assumed that Geno knew the ravine led into the central area where the Vulcans lived. Otherwise he would not know this route was a shortcut down. He just thought the young man was being reckless and impulsive.
Leaving aside the mid-ranked monster, the Vulcan Queen, even if the kid got lucky and managed to avoid her, the number of low-ranked Vulcans in there was still countless. He did not need to mention a whole pack. Just one Vulcan alone was not something that faint magic power he sensed in the young man's body could handle.
"Do you really think your luck is good enough that you won't run into a single Vulcan?"
Macao bent slightly and craned his neck, carefully sizing Geno up.
He was not a short man, but compared to Geno, he was still roughly half a head shorter.
"Luck, huh."
Geno could not help but shake his head.
"Uncle, I have no idea what you are talking about. All I know is that this is the shortcut down the mountain."
"As for these Vulcans you mentioned, that I do know. They are those monsters that look like monkeys, right."
Geno was no fool. He had not understood at first, but now that Macao had mentioned Vulcans and had also said there was no way his luck would be good enough to avoid them, it was obvious. The shortcut he was about to take had to be infested with Vulcans.
"So he is kindly warning me. But, honestly, it is hard to get on the same wavelength with him."
Geno slowly lowered his gaze, looking at this middle-aged man, or rather this uncle. In his heart he genuinely wanted to thank Macao for his good intentions in warning him. Yet he had no idea how to explain that the Vulcans Macao took so seriously were, to him, nothing more than stones he could casually kick aside.
"Right, from his perspective, taking down more than ten Vulcans is already a huge achievement. It must have taken a lot of hard battles. In his eyes, a Vulcan is a decent opponent. He can look up to a Vulcan a little, but he has no way of knowing the gulf between those monsters and the person standing in front of him."
"So that is how it is."
After hearing Geno speak, Macao finally withdrew his scrutinizing gaze with some relief. Just from the time he had spent observing him earlier, he had not sensed any magic in Geno's body that surpassed an ordinary mage. Yet Geno's calm, almost indifferent expression made him feel that the young man was no simple person, perhaps an older mage adept in Transformation Magic who had turned himself into a youthful form.
If that had been the case, everything would make sense. Knowing the danger yet daring to pass through that path, such a person might be powerful enough to walk out alive. A seasoned mage using Transformation Magic could easily conceal his magic power, suppressing it to the level of an average mage without any trouble.
But now that he had heard Geno's words, he realized he had been overthinking it. The kid did not seem to know anything at all. It was a good thing he had stopped him, otherwise this young man would never have gotten off the mountain alive. That would have been a tragedy in Macao's eyes.
"Kid, since you do not know what is going on, let me explain it to you."
"This ravine path is indeed a shortcut down the mountain, but what you do not know is that it also leads straight into the central region where Vulcans are most active. That place is crawling with them."
"Which means that once you go in, your chances of running into powerful Vulcan monsters are basically one hundred percent. And even if, by some miracle, you manage to avoid them, the Vulcan Queen lives in there too. She is a mid-ranked monster. That is no joke."
"To put it simply, an ordinary mage, or even one with some real skill, has almost no chance of getting out alive. Let alone someone like you, a young man."
"Kid, you are lucky you ran into your uncle here. Otherwise, if you had gone in there, you would have been finished."
Macao kept talking, while Geno only half listened. He could not help feeling a little helpless.
He found the whole situation somewhat amusing, yet he could not laugh. Macao was being genuinely kind. Geno could not repay kindness with ingratitude. He was not that sort of heartless person.
He just had no idea what to say. They were simply not on the same channel. He could not suddenly start throwing spells around in front of Macao to prove his strength. That would just make him look like a show-off, and there was no need for that.
True power did not need to be proven to others. As long as he understood himself and knew his own limits, that was enough. There was no such thing as an absolute strongest in this world. There was always a higher mountain beyond the one you saw.
Even he was not sure yet whether his current strength was enough to fight Zeref or the Black Dragon Acnologia. However, Geno was certain that his power already far surpassed that of the Ten Wizard Saints chosen by the Magic Council.
"Kid, listen to me. Do not go down this way. It is just a shortcut, nothing more. There is no need to gamble your life on it. You are still young. By the time you grow to my age, you might be a powerful mage. Then maybe you can come and challenge the monsters along this route."
Macao slung an arm around Geno's shoulder.
"But for now, do not go. The central region where the Vulcans live is nowhere near ordinary danger. It is not just you. Even your uncle here can only stand here and look at it from afar."
As he spoke, he pointed toward the path he had taken earlier.
"See that road... that road is slower, and if you do not use much magic, it will take dozens of hours to get down. But looking at you, kid, you do not seem to have spent much magic yet. If you use magic to speed yourself up, you should be able to reach the foot of the mountain in ten or so hours."
With that, Macao turned Geno toward the direction he was pointing at.
"Alright, off you go, kid. Head down."
Macao shook his head with a smile, then turned around, bent his knees, and leapt to another large boulder.
"No need to thank me. Even if your uncle just saved your life, it is nothing worth making a fuss over. I still have things to do, so I will be on my way."
Macao did not think too deeply about it. In his mind, Geno had probably been scared stiff by his explanation. After all, one wrong step here meant losing your life. Anyone would feel shaken after hearing that.
What he did not know was that Geno had barely listened to his warning.
Watching Macao channel his magic and hop from boulder to boulder into the distance, Geno let out a long breath.
"He is gone. I was just wondering how I should explain it to him. This is better."
A faint sense of satisfaction rose in his heart. He had not planned on interacting with Macao at all, yet in the end he still ended up exchanging a few words with him. Of course, he only knew that this was Fairy Tail's Macao because he had seen him in the anime. Macao, on the other hand, knew absolutely nothing about him. You could not really call that a connection.
Originally, Geno had barely remembered Macao from the anime. Now his impression of the man had deepened a little. His strength might not be impressive, but he was a good person. He could still kindly warn a stranger he did not know, and Geno himself happened to be somewhat troubled right now too.
"It is just... I cannot give him any real response."
It was not that Geno did not want to warn Macao about what would happen to him next. It was simply that the situation was too strange. There was no way to explain it. If he tried, Macao would not understand, and it would only create more problems. Geno did not want more complications. He just wanted to take a shortcut and get down the mountain a bit faster.
As for those low-ranked Vulcans, or even the mid-ranked Vulcan Queen that Macao had mentioned, Geno did not worry about them in the slightest. There was nothing on this mountain that posed a real threat to him.
By now, Macao was already far beyond Geno's line of sight. After resting for a while, he had recovered some of his strength and gone back to the outer regions where the Vulcans roamed, continuing to search for lonely ones he could defeat. He had to take down more Vulcans. He wanted to become a role model for his son, Romeo, so that Romeo would not be mocked by others. His father was not some useless mage who only knew how to drink. He was not inferior to any so-called Magic Knight.
"Even if it does not mean much, I should still say thank you."
Geno glanced once in the direction Macao had left, then, without any hesitation, walked straight toward the ravine path.
"Tap... tap..."
His steps landed lightly. Geno jumped down from the snowy boulder, and in the swirling wind and snow, his calm, composed figure soon vanished without a trace.