Chapter 305

Three months had passed since Marshall traveled a hundred years into the past, and in that relatively short period, his basic attributes had undergone astonishing changes.

[Stamina: (∞) / 54,455]

[Physical Power: 34,556 / 34,577]

[Magic Power: 200,203 / 202,610]

His maximum Magic Power had doubled compared with what it had been after the Tower of Heaven incident six months earlier, while his stamina and physical power had increased by roughly two to three times.

Furthermore, thanks to the Curse of Ankhseram, Marshall’s stamina was theoretically inexhaustible.

Whenever his body consumed too much energy, the curse would automatically draw upon its accumulated vitality to replenish his reserves, allowing him to continue operating long after an ordinary person would have collapsed.

In a sense, Marshall had already become almost impossible to defeat through conventional means.

After all, as long as he couldn’t die, could anyone really claim to have beaten him?

If he could maintain his current rate of improvement for the entire fourteen years, Marshall was confident that he’d eventually develop physical and magical attributes so absurd that even the strongest Mages would struggle to compete with him.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t particularly realistic.

Recently, he’d noticed that the growth of his stamina and physical power had begun slowing considerably.

His initial improvements had been extraordinary, but the benefits of each successive training session were becoming noticeably smaller.

Marshall suspected that he’d finally encountered one of the fundamental limitations of the human body.

No matter how much punishment his regenerative abilities allowed him to endure, there was only so far an ordinary human physique could develop before reaching a plateau.

And Marshall appeared to be approaching that point.

If he wanted to maintain his current rate of improvement, he could only think of one promising solution.

Dragonization.

More specifically, Dragon Slayer Magic.

By gradually transforming the physical characteristics of a human body toward those of a dragon, a Dragon Slayer could eventually acquire the extraordinary physique of the very creatures the Magic had originally been designed to defeat.

Acnologia was the most terrifying example.

According to the legends, the Black Dragon had originally been a human who became unimaginably powerful through Dragon Slayer Magic, eventually transforming into a dragon himself.

If Marshall had to choose the most effective path to overwhelming personal power in this world, Dragon Slayer Magic would certainly be one of the strongest candidates.

Unlike countless theoretical approaches, it had a rather convincing track record.

Unfortunately, Marshall’s own Dragon Slayer Magic was ridiculously selective about what it could consume.

His particular attribute was spacetime, meaning he could accelerate his development only by consuming Magic Power containing spatial or temporal properties.

When Marshall first arrived in the past, Tenrou Island had been saturated with residual spacetime energy left behind by the Heart of Time’s activation.

He’d eagerly consumed practically every trace he could find, enjoying what amounted to an enormous feast for his Dragon Slayer abilities.

But that was a one-time opportunity.

Even though Marshall was currently living in a historical era, ordinary space and time didn’t automatically contain the concentrated magical energy he needed.

After exhausting the residual power from his arrival, he found himself facing the same shortage again.

Unless he could discover some extraordinary location saturated with spacetime Magic Power, improving his Dragon Slayer abilities would be extremely difficult.

At present, his Dragon Power had only just broken through to LV3.

Still, that advancement had brought some interesting benefits.

Ordinarily, prolonged use of Dragon Slayer Magic caused a human body to gradually develop dragonlike characteristics.

That transformation also carried certain disadvantages, most famously the severe motion sickness experienced by Dragon Slayers when traveling aboard vehicles.

Marshall, however, was an exception.

Because the Curse of Ankhseram continuously restored his body to its established condition, his physical structure was unusually resistant to unwanted alterations.

Even as his Dragon Slayer abilities improved, the curse prevented the changes that would ordinarily disrupt his vestibular system and cause motion sickness.

In other words, Marshall could still ride vehicles without feeling sick.

Apparently, the divine curse operated on a more fundamental level than the physical changes induced by Dragon Slayer Magic.

For once, that actually worked in his favor.

‘Well, I suppose I should count that as another benefit.’

Reaching LV3 had also granted Marshall a new transformation ability that could reasonably be called Dragonization.

By actively releasing his Dragon Power, he could temporarily develop dragon scales across his skin while causing his Magic Power to surge dramatically.

The effect resembled Natsu’s explosive increases in strength, although Marshall’s version wasn’t nearly as overwhelming.

His current transformation could approximately double his Magic Power.

‘So… basically Kaioken times two?’

Marshall found the comparison rather amusing.

A twofold increase might not sound especially impressive compared with the ridiculous transformations he’d witnessed from other Mages, but it was still an extremely useful ability.

More importantly, he hadn’t discovered any significant side effects.

As his base Magic Power increased, the additional power provided by Dragonization would naturally increase as well.

An ability that doubled his current reserves was already valuable, and it would only become more dangerous as he grew stronger.

That gave Marshall another reliable option to keep in reserve for difficult battles.

Looking at his overall progress, the past three months had been exceptionally productive.

His strength had advanced to an entirely new level, and he was now reasonably confident that he could defeat Jose Porla or Bluenote Stinger in a one-on-one battle.

Those opponents with around 530,000 Magic Power?

Honestly, they didn’t seem particularly intimidating anymore.

There was something wonderful about having an extended period devoted entirely to improving himself.

He didn’t have to worry about guild missions, unexpected emergencies, or the countless distractions that had previously consumed his time.

Every day brought measurable progress, and Marshall thoroughly enjoyed the satisfaction of becoming stronger.

Unfortunately, that progress was beginning to slow.

“The rate of improvement has dropped far too much. Looks like my body’s finally approaching its limit.”

Marshall frowned as he teleported home from the depths of the ocean.

Ordinary physical-conditioning exercises were no longer producing worthwhile improvements, while his Dragon Slayer Magic couldn’t advance much further without a suitable source of spacetime energy.

That left him in an awkward position.

Continuing to subject himself to the same brutal training would still produce some results, but the efficiency had fallen too far to justify the effort.

Perhaps it was time to temporarily reduce his physical training and concentrate on his magical research instead.

With that decision made, Marshall returned to his house, only to discover a familiar little figure standing on a stool beside the window.

Zera was stretching onto her tiptoes, carefully wiping the glass with a cleaning cloth.

“Zera? Why are you doing the housework again?”

“Ah?!”

The little girl startled so badly that she nearly lost her balance.

Then she turned, saw Marshall standing in the doorway, and immediately brightened.

“Marshall! You’re back!”

She hopped down from the stool and hurried toward him, looking up with a faint blush on her cheeks.

“I-I just wanted to help out a little more. It’s not like I have anything else to do anyway…”

That might have been what she said, but her expression told a slightly different story.

She was practically radiating anticipation, clearly hoping Marshall would notice how hard she’d been working and praise her for it.

Marshall couldn’t help finding the little girl’s eagerness rather endearing.

He reached down and gently patted her head.

“Then thank you, Zera. But you should leave this sort of work to the mechanical maid from now on. You wouldn’t want to put someone else out of a job, would you?”

Zera smiled happily beneath his hand.

“Come on,” Marshall continued. “It’s time for your examination.”

“Mm-hmm!”

Zera nodded enthusiastically, rubbing her head against his hand like an affectionate kitten before obediently following him into the laboratory next door.

Although Marshall had originally told Zera that she would need to cooperate with his experiments in exchange for maintaining her physical form, his research over the past several months had been surprisingly uneventful.

Most of the procedures involved nothing more complicated than measuring her magical structure, recording changes in her manifested body, and collecting data about the stability of her existence.

There had been no dangerous experiments or frightening procedures.

Zera had initially worried that becoming a research subject would involve all sorts of terrifying experiences.

After all, she’d agreed to cooperate before she even knew exactly what Marshall intended to study.

But as the days passed, she gradually discovered that the examinations were remarkably easy.

She’d even begun to misunderstand his intentions.

In Zera’s mind, Marshall had probably invented the requirement that she become his research subject simply to give her an excuse to accept his help without feeling indebted.

He was such a kind person!

And the more she thought about it, the more she admired him.

From her perspective, Marshall was practically the ideal person to look up to.

He’d appeared on Tenrou Island seemingly out of nowhere, possessing extraordinary magical knowledge, remarkable abilities, and an almost unbelievable talent for creating things.

He was generally gentle with her, answered her questions patiently, and had even given her a physical form after she’d spent five years existing as an invisible ghost.

On top of that, he was exceptionally handsome.

For a sheltered little girl who had spent most of her life on an isolated island, it was hardly surprising that someone like Marshall had become the object of an innocent childhood crush.

Marshall himself remained largely oblivious to how deeply Zera admired him.

As far as he was concerned, he’d simply helped someone in an unusual situation and gained a valuable opportunity to study a rare magical phenomenon.

Fortunately, he was sensible enough to maintain appropriate boundaries.

He had no intention of encouraging a child’s romantic fantasies or taking advantage of her admiration.

Their arrangement remained exactly what it was supposed to be: Marshall provided magical support and carried out routine examinations, while Zera cooperated with his research.

And those examinations had finally produced some worthwhile conclusions.

After collecting sufficient data, Marshall was now reasonably confident that Zera’s current existence resembled a Thought Projection.

She could still study and use Magic, but she possessed no independent magical reserves.

Any Magic Power she consumed had to be supplied by either Marshall or Mavis.

Throughout the time Marshall had been observing her, Zera’s condition had remained remarkably stable.

Although Mavis’s influence over her existence was absolute in certain respects, its direct effects on Zera’s everyday activities were surprisingly limited.

The real problem lay elsewhere.

Zera’s true essence was still contained within Mavis.

The closest comparison Marshall could think of was that Mavis had somehow absorbed Zera’s entire existence into herself.

It was almost as though she’d used Take Over Magic on Zera.

However, that comparison wasn’t entirely accurate either.

Ordinary Take Over Magic allowed a Mage to absorb or acquire the characteristics and abilities of another being, drawing upon that power through transformation.

What Mavis had accomplished was fundamentally different.

She hadn’t simply inherited Zera’s abilities or copied her physical characteristics.

Instead, she’d somehow preserved the very foundation of Zera’s existence.

The more Marshall studied the phenomenon, the more it reminded him of the Curse of Ankhseram.

Perhaps Mavis possessed an unusual ability that operated on similar principles, allowing her to absorb another person’s Life Point into her own First Origin.

Once Zera’s Life Point was safely contained within Mavis, her remaining soul could then manifest outside as something resembling a Thought Projection.

That explanation was still theoretical, but it accounted for several observations that other magical models couldn’t explain.

Even with Marshall’s extensive experience and knowledge, he’d never encountered anything quite like it.

Unfortunately, understanding the general structure of Zera’s existence didn’t mean he knew how to save her.

If he wanted to truly restore Zera to life, he would somehow have to extract her Life Point from within Mavis and establish it inside an independent body.

That was far easier said than done.

Worse, there was a serious risk associated with making Mavis aware of what had happened.

If the First Master realized that Zera had actually died, she might unconsciously withdraw the magical phenomenon sustaining her friend’s external manifestation.

In that case, Zera’s remaining soul could be drawn back into Mavis along with her Life Point, potentially causing the girl to disappear altogether.

Marshall couldn’t afford to let that happen.

But as long as Mavis remained unaware of the truth, he couldn’t simply ask her to release Zera’s Life Point either.

The situation was frustratingly complicated.

After considering the available options, Marshall concluded that the only potentially workable solution was to retrieve Zera’s Life Point from Mavis without Mavis consciously realizing what was happening.

That raised another problem.

He’d never attempted to explore someone else’s First Origin in such depth before.

Marshall had certainly come into contact with other people’s First Origins while helping his guildmates unlock their Second Origins.

Those procedures required careful manipulation of the body’s magical structure, and he’d gained considerable experience directing Magic Power through the relevant pathways.

However, he’d never attempted to enter and investigate the deepest structures of another person’s First Origin.

His earlier work had focused on guiding magical energy, not examining everything contained within the First Origin itself.

He had no idea whether such an investigation was even possible, much less how to perform it safely.

And if he made a mistake while exploring Mavis’s First Origin, there was no telling what might happen to Zera.

Marshall frowned as he considered the problem.

Then, quite suddenly, he remembered something.

‘Wait a minute…’

A particular experience from his earlier research came back to him.

When he’d examined the First Origins of Natsu, Wendy, and several other Dragon Slayers, he’d encountered a powerful force that prevented him from probing any deeper.

At the time, he’d assumed it was some unusual defensive reaction associated with Dragon Slayer Magic.

After all, Dragon Slayers possessed highly specialized magical systems, and their bodies underwent changes that ordinary Mages never experienced.

But now that Marshall had discovered what was hidden inside Mavis’s First Origin, another possibility occurred to him.

‘Hold on.’

‘What if their First Origins contain something too?’

His eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

‘What if the reason I couldn’t examine them properly was that there was already someone inside?’

The force that had repelled him back then had been far stronger than anything associated with Zera’s fragile existence.

If his new hypothesis was correct, whatever was concealed within those Dragon Slayers would have to be extraordinarily powerful.

Marshall mentally reviewed the people he’d examined.

Natsu.

Wendy.

The other Dragon Slayers.

Then he thought about their unusual magical abilities, their connections to dragons, and the powerful presences that had blocked his attempts to explore their First Origins.

A startling possibility suddenly emerged.

‘Wait…’

‘Don’t tell me…’

‘Could there actually be dragons inside them?!’

Marshall went still.

He had the distinct feeling that he’d just stumbled upon an enormous secret without even meaning to.