Chapter 534 - 534: Won't That Cause Trouble For You?

"Alright, the First Master is a young, beautiful woman in her twenties, not over a hundred years old," Noah chuckled, raising his hands in surrender. He naturally wasn't going to argue with Mavis when she was pouting like that.

Honestly, he agreed with her logic. Having spent the vast majority of her existence locked in a timeless stasis, completely devoid of consciousness or experience, it didn't seem fair to tack those ninety empty years onto her actual age.

"However, the rest of the world isn't going to see it that way," Noah pointed out with a wry smile.

"Ugh..." Mavis's shoulders instantly slumped, her pout deepening.

Noah was right. The rest of the world operated on basic chronological math: born in X673, currently X785. Ergo, she was 112 years old.

Noah smiled affectionately at the sulking founder. If he didn't already know her history, looking at the petite, vibrant, incredibly cute girl standing in front of him, he would have assumed she was barely a teenager. No one in their right mind would look at Mavis Vermillion and think, Ah yes, a 112-year-old woman.

"Alright, let's put the age debate aside for now," Mavis said, shaking off her gloom and clapping her hands together, her expression turning serious. "Since we've established a viable theoretical framework for the countermeasures, the next step is to run multiple stress tests to identify any potential flaws or oversights in the design, right?"

"Exactly," Noah nodded. "We need to run dozens of simulations, accounting for every conceivable extreme scenario, to ensure the artifact doesn't fail when you need it most."

"I excel at this! Let me run the theoretical models," Mavis volunteered eagerly. She immediately closed her eyes, utilizing her peerless tactical intellect to mentally simulate hundreds of different environmental and combat scenarios, hunting for potential weak points in the artifact's design.

Noah didn't remain idle. He began running his own mental simulations, simultaneously instructing his Archive network to process the same variables.

Having two peerless magical geniuses and an advanced magical supercomputer running independent stress tests practically eliminated the possibility of an oversight.

After roughly an hour, Mavis and Noah both opened their eyes. They compiled a detailed list of potential vulnerabilities they had identified and cross-referenced it with the Archive's data output, generating a finalized, comprehensive testing protocol.

While Noah began constructing and calibrating the specialized testing equipment, Mavis took the opportunity to rest her mind.

Once everything was prepped, the two of them dove back into the grueling cycle of live-fire testing.

Over the next few days, Noah subjected Mavis and the prototype artifacts to absolute hell. They triggered the curse in extreme environments: high-pressure underwater simulations, extreme heat, absolute zero blizzards, and even magical vacuums.

With every failure or minor fluctuation, Noah meticulously refined the runic code and upgraded the physical materials of the artifacts.

Eventually, he perfected the design. The finalized artifacts were incredibly durable, capable of withstanding significant kinetic impacts without breaking. The life-force-conversion barrier deployed seamlessly and completely invisibly, and the spatial displacement trigger was instantaneous.

"Hah... I think... we finally got it," Mavis panted heavily, floating gently down to the ground after successfully teleporting out of yet another simulated eruption.

"We did. All stress tests have been completed flawlessly. The telemetry data is perfect. We have officially succeeded," Noah announced, a wide, triumphant smile spreading across his face as he locked the final lines of code into his Archive.

Hearing Noah's confirmation, Mavis broke into a brilliant, radiant smile. Over the past week, she had triggered the Curse of Ankhseram more times than she had in her entire life combined. The mental and emotional exhaustion was crushing.

But it had all been worth it. She was finally safe. She could finally live as a normal person without living in constant terror of accidentally murdering her family.

"You did an incredible job, First Master. Your endurance is remarkable," Makarov said gently, walking over to her. He had watched her suffer through every single agonizing eruption. The sheer willpower required to repeatedly subject herself to that trauma was staggering. It truly was a foul, demonic curse.

"It's nothing!" Mavis beamed, waving off his concern. She was simply too happy to care about the lingering exhaustion.

"So, are we heading back to the guildhall now?" Mavis asked, turning to Noah, her eyes sparkling with intense anticipation. With the countermeasures finalized, she was desperate to physically walk through the doors of the guild she had founded.

"Actually, no. We're heading to Tenrou Island," Noah replied, casually dismantling his diagnostic equipment.

"Tenrou Island? Why aren't we going back to the guild?" Mavis blinked in confusion.

"Because the guildhall is practically empty right now. Almost everyone is currently on Tenrou Island working on the airship retrofit," Noah explained with a chuckle.

While Noah and Mavis had been running their grueling curse trials on the barren island, the rest of the guild hadn't been idle. The massive stockpile of materials Noah had procured had been processed, and under the strict supervision of Noah's Thought Projections, the absolute overhaul of the Grimoire Heart airship had officially begun.

The entire guild had thrown themselves into the project with fiery enthusiasm. Surprisingly, the usually chaotic, brawling members had drastically reigned in their destructive tendencies while working. This was going to be their ship. They had personally hauled the materials. If they broke something, they'd have to spend weeks fixing it.

Thanks to their focused cooperation, the progress was incredibly rapid. The structural framing and primary system overhauls were already complete, and they were currently working on the interior renovations based on Noah's finalized blueprints.

"They've already started the renovations?!" Mavis asked, her eyes widening in surprise. She had been so focused on the curse trials she hadn't realized the airship project was moving so quickly.

"Yeah. Anyone who isn't currently running a mission to pay rent is on the island working. There's only a skeleton crew managing the desk in Magnolia. If you want to see everyone, Tenrou is the place to be," Noah smiled.

"Then let's go to Tenrou Island right now!" Mavis declared instantly.

A guild wasn't a building; it was the people. If her family was on the island, then that's where she wanted to be.

"Give me a minute to pack up the lab, and we'll head out," Noah said, sealing a massive diagnostic console into a magical card.

"I'll help!" Mavis offered eagerly.

Noah handed her a stack of blank storage cards, and the two of them quickly swept across the island, rapidly sealing all the advanced machinery. Once the primary island was cleared, they hopped over to the secondary island and packed up Mavis's temporary stone cottage, leaving no trace they had ever been there.

"Grandpa," Noah spoke up as he sealed the final crate. "The First Master physically returning to the world is impossible to hide. We need a solid, airtight cover story for the public."

A woman who had supposedly died over eighty years ago suddenly reappearing in her physical prime would inevitably trigger massive, unwanted scrutiny. Given Fairy Tail's current, meteoric rise in global fame, the spotlight on them was already blinding. They didn't fear conflict, but avoiding unnecessary political and magical inquisitions was highly preferable.

"What do you suggest?" Makarov asked, stroking his mustache.

"We tell the truth—mostly," Noah replied. "We simply state that eighty years ago, the First Master suffered catastrophic, near-fatal injuries. She barely survived and fell into a profound, comatose stasis to heal. She remained asleep in the guild's deepest sanctum until recently, when my advanced medical treatments finally managed to awaken her.

"We absolutely cannot mention Zeref, Fairy Heart, or the Curse of Ankhseram. Those three secrets alone are enough to plunge the continent into a world war."

True immortality was the ultimate, corrupting temptation. If the world learned Mavis was immortal, every dark guild, corrupt politician, and power-hungry king on the continent would hunt her down to extract the secret. Keeping the curse a secret was non-negotiable.

Noah's proposed cover story was elegant precisely because it was technically true; it simply omitted the apocalyptic details. Furthermore, as Noah's reputation as a peerless magical genius continued to grow, the public would easily believe he possessed the medical expertise to awaken someone from a decades-long magical coma.

"That is a perfectly sound cover story. We'll go with that," Makarov nodded in agreement.

"But Noah, won't that cause a massive amount of trouble for you?" Mavis asked, her brow furrowing in deep concern.

While the cover story protected her secrets, it painted a massive target on Noah's back.

If the public believed Noah's medical prowess was capable of not only reviving someone from an eighty-year coma but also perfectly preserving their youth... every single wealthy, dying aristocrat and power-hungry mage in the world would desperately seek him out. Immortality and eternal youth were the ultimate prizes.

Mavis understood the dark, greedy nature of humanity better than most. She was terrified that desperate individuals would resort to violence, kidnapping, or blackmail to force Noah to treat them.

"It's fine. The only people I truly care about are already inside the guild, and they can protect themselves. As for Uncle Jude and Sister Layla, I've already taken extensive precautions," Noah smiled dismissively.

Noah had secretly enchanted both Layla and Jude with specialized, high-tier defensive variants of the Fairy Tail guild mark. The enchantments provided absolute passive defense and would immediately initiate an emergency spatial displacement while transmitting a high-priority distress signal to Noah if they were ever attacked. Even if a Wizard Saint attempted to assassinate them, they would escape unharmed.

"Furthermore, I'm not exactly known for my gentle temper. If someone is stupid enough to target me or my family, they had better be prepared for the absolute, apocalyptic consequences," Noah's eyes narrowed slightly, a dangerous glint flashing in his pupils.

"And honestly, the stronger my public reputation becomes, the less likely anyone is to try anything stupid. Only a complete idiot attempts to use force against overwhelming, god-like power. The smart ones will try to bribe me, and I can just ignore them."

Magic was a terrifying, unpredictable variable. Assassinating an average mage was one thing. Attempting to assassinate a monster who had gone toe-to-toe with the Black Dragon was suicidal insanity. No one with half a brain would risk the inevitable, devastating retaliation.

"As long as you are confident in your security, that's fine. But you still need to remain vigilant," Makarov advised.

"If anyone ever gives you trouble because of this, you must tell me immediately. This is my burden, and I will help you shoulder it," Mavis stated firmly, her spectral eyes locked onto Noah's.

~~~

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