Chapter 9: Moen's Training
"Boom!"
Natsu was slammed to the ground, his face twisted in pain. Even though he had poured all his strength into defending, he still couldn't withstand Moen's punch.
As for dodging—he had tried. But it was pointless. Moen's punches were simply too fast. And it wasn't like he was standing still either—on top of speed and power, Moen moved with incredible agility.
Natsu had come to a clear realization: the difference in strength between him and Moen wasn't just in one area—it was all-encompassing. No wonder he was so easily defeated.
"Again!"
Climbing back to his feet, Natsu's eyes burned with fighting spirit. This was exactly how strong someone he wanted to surpass should be!
"Damn it! Natsu, you jerk! It's my turn now!"
From the side, Gray jumped in, cutting Natsu off. Natsu had already spent two hours as a sparring partner—it was Gray's time to train!
"Hah?! What does this have to do with you? Go train by yourself!"
Natsu shot Gray a sharp glare. Moen had asked him to be the training partner. Why was Gray trying to butt in?
"What do you mean 'nothing to do with me'?! Before you came, I was the one training with Moen!"
Gray locked eyes with Natsu, and once again, the two butted heads, neither willing to give an inch.
At first, Gray had just been enjoying watching Natsu get beat up. But the longer he watched, the more uneasy he felt.
Training with Moen was exhausting and painful—but it was undeniably effective. If Natsu hogged all the sparring, wouldn't he be the one missing out?
So, Gray couldn't hold back anymore. He was going to reclaim his rightful spot as Moen's training partner!
"..."
Watching them, Moen couldn't help but chuckle. These two were really something else—actually fighting over who got to be the punching bag.
How would one describe their relationship?
Imagine a pile of poop on the ground. If one of them insisted on eating it, the other would absolutely fight him for a bite.
It was no exaggeration—these two were prime examples of pure stubbornness.
"Enough arguing. You two can come at me together. This time, I won't fight back—your job is to attack me."
Moen reached out and grabbed them both by the collars, pulling them apart yet again, then calmly announced the next training drill.
Earlier, Natsu's job had been to dodge Moen's attacks. Now it was Moen's turn to dodge theirs—and if he failed, he'd take the hit fair and square.
Moen's usual training was blunt and brutal, with an emphasis on real combat. It wasn't just physical training, strength building, or magical meditation—his focus was the battlefield. He even trained for things like pain tolerance and taking hits.
Being a mage wasn't some cozy fantasy life—it was a dangerous job full of real fighting, and yes, real death.
In this world, alongside official guilds like Fairy Tail, there were also unofficial "dark guilds."
The continent of Ishgar, where the Kingdom of Fiore was located, had an organization known as the Magic Council. It was this council that determined which guilds were legitimate and which were not.
The Magic Council maintained order in the magical world and supervised mages and their guilds, punishing rogue organizations and hunting down dark guilds.
These dark guilds had been banished and outlawed by the council. Their members were called dark mages—they took on illegal jobs like theft, assassination, and destruction. Conflicts between dark and legal guilds were common, and exterminating dark guilds was part of the duty of legal ones.
That's why Moen believed that any mage—especially those from a high-profile guild like Fairy Tail—had to be able to fight. Without real strength, they risked losing their lives. Dark mages didn't pull punches.
In this regard, Moen's thinking actually aligned somewhat with Laxus. The difference was, Moen wasn't nearly as extreme about it.
Chapter 10: The Value of All Members
Laxus wanted to turn the guild into a place for elites only—but Moen disagreed. He believed even the weaker, lower-ranked mages had their place in Fairy Tail. After all, someone needed to take on the low-difficulty, low-paying jobs. Those mundane requests were the foundation of the guild's day-to-day survival.
When it came to Fairy Tail's future—and even the position of guild master—Moen had his own ideas. After all, a tailor who doesn't want to be a chef is definitely not a good driver! (A chaotic way of saying: ambition matters.)
In this regard, Moen and Laxus were natural rivals. And that new mission he had just accepted? It suddenly felt even harder to complete.
"Huff… huff… I'm done. I'm dead!"
Two hours of training later, Natsu and Gray were lying sprawled on the ground like roadkill, gasping for air. Their stamina was completely drained, their magic nearly depleted, and their bodies ached all over—it felt like they'd just survived a brutal war.
Moen stood nearby, also breathing heavily. While his magic reserves were outstanding, even he was feeling the burn after taking on both of those maniacs at once. His energy had been burning away at high speed.
But as his magic flowed out, it also began rapidly regenerating.
Deep within Moen's body, a vast, starry expanse of magical energy slowly turned like a glowing galaxy. It radiated power, spilling out fresh magic, while his body hungrily absorbed stray energy from the surrounding environment.
Magic, in this world, was a special form of natural element. It existed both inside living beings and throughout the natural world.
Magic spells themselves were the result of a mage's internal magic resonating with that of the world—aligned in frequency and flow—before taking tangible form.
Many factors influenced a mage's magical power: life force, soul strength, emotion, sensitivity to ambient energy, and more. A person's talent as a mage wasn't defined by a single trait—it was the combination of many.
As for Moen's body, it possessed top-tier magical aptitude. His magic reserves, recovery rate, and his ability to absorb ambient magic—all were exceptional, even among his peers.
From the moment he first felt magic through meditation, Moen had known: he was born to be a mage.
"That's enough for today."
Looking at the exhausted Natsu and Gray collapsed on the ground, Moen ended the day's training. It was about time to eat anyway—and after dinner, they could shift to meditation training.
"FOOD!"
The moment "food" was mentioned, Natsu seemed to come back to life. For mages, eating and drinking well was important—an empty stomach could slow down magic recovery and leave the body weak.
The three of them returned to the first-floor hall of the guild building, found an open table, and started scanning the menu.
It was nearly 6 PM, and the hall was lively with guild members eating and chatting. Most mages without families took their meals at the guild—the prices here were way better than outside.