Chapter 48: The Giant of Light
Ultear, on the other hand, watched with sparkling eyes. As someone who had just started learning Ice-Make magic, even though her own progress was fast, she could clearly see the immense gap between herself and Noah. She didn't feel jealous of him, but rather happy. After all, it was Noah who had helped her during her escape, and it was because of him that she and her mother were able to clear up their misunderstanding and reunite. Naturally, the stronger Noah was, the happier she felt.
Just then, Noah dispelled the ice giant and teleported back to the ground. "Thank you for your teachings," he said to Ur. "I've made great progress in many areas, and there's an idea I've had that I can now bring to life."
"What idea? Can you tell me?" Ur was very curious.
"Rather than explaining, why don't I just give it a try right now? The preparations are more or less complete. Everyone, please step back."
The group quickly moved a safe distance away. Noah clapped his hands together, and his magic power surged forth. A pillar of golden magic shot into the sky. The atmosphere trembled, the ground shook, and the snow on the ground was blasted away. The immense pressure from his magic forced Ur and the others to retreat even further.
Ultear was incredibly curious about what Noah was doing. "What kind of spell is Noah casting? Why does it need so much magic power?"
"I don't know, but its power should be immense," Ur guessed from the side.
In the distance, Noah reined in his magic power. A giant, golden head began to form behind him, followed by shoulders, a torso, arms, thighs, and finally, feet. What appeared before them was a golden giant, dozens of meters tall. The giant emitted a soft, gentle light that wasn't blinding, but its sheer size created an overwhelming sense of pressure.
Seeing that Noah seemed to have succeeded, Ur and the others walked over. "Did you shape this with Light Magic?" she asked, amazed.
"Mhm. Light Magic is what I'm most familiar with, so of course, it was the first thing I considered for shaping. But light is unstable, and my shaping skills were terrible, which is why I came to you for help." Noah maintained the output of magic as he turned his head to look at the Giant of Light he had created. "Now that the foundation is laid, I can start adding all sorts of different things to it in the future."
"Noah, why do you like making such big things? Doesn't it consume a lot of magic?" Ultear was curious why he always created such massive constructs, whether it was with ice or light.
"It's simple. Don't you think it's cool? Being strong is a temporary thing, but being cool is for life. Of course, you have to make things big and cool. Besides, huge creations have huge power. Imagine the range and force of a single punch from a giant like this. Also, I have enough magic power, and it recovers quickly, so I'm not afraid of wasting it."
The others all let out sounds of envy. They all wished they had that much magic power.
"You might not be able to have as much magic as I do, but if you want more magic, you can."
Everyone immediately turned to look at Noah with expectant eyes.
"If you want stronger magic, besides constantly training your magic power, you can also train your body."
"Train our bodies? You mean improving our physical constitution, like you always say?" Gray asked.
"I've explained the principle before. If you try it for a while, you should see obvious results. Now, I have to start my next phase of research."
The Giant of Light began to shrink until it was about the same size as Noah. He then began to experiment on the figure of light, trying to add a function that would allow it to automatically gather magic power. The others also went to the side to begin their own training, though they kept stealing curious glances at Noah and the light-person, especially when it would suddenly flash.
Noah didn't just want to add an auto-recovery function to his light-person; he wanted to add it to all his spells. This would make his magic even more powerful and open up more possibilities. Time passed as Noah became engrossed in his research.
After some discussion, the group decided to intensify their physical training. Every morning, the large group living at Noah's house, along with Cana who had joined them since Gildarts was home for the time being, would all start by using Noah's Gravity Magic for physical conditioning before moving on to their individual training.
Noah continued his research. On Tenrou Island, Mavis had fallen back into her deep sleep. Noah didn't disturb her; he didn't yet have the ability to solve her problem. Fortunately, he had already copied all the books from Tenrou Island to his home library for easy access. Combined with Fairy Tail's own collection and the books he had purchased, he had more than enough material for his research for now. After the current turmoil had passed, Noah planned to visit other guilds and organizations with large libraries to further enrich his knowledge.
Over a month passed in the blink of an eye. Cana began to travel with Gildarts again, doing missions and seeing the world, so the number of people in their daily training group decreased by one.
The matter of the Magic Development Bureau was also finally concluded. A large number of personnel, including many high-ranking officials, were sentenced. Without their help, Brain could never have been so rampant. Noah and Ur, who had played a major role in the incident, became well-known. Ur was already famous for her strength, and many had said she was a shoo-in for the Ten Wizard Saints, so few people dared to have any ideas about her.
But Noah was an unknown. At most, people had heard that he became an S-Class wizard of Fairy Tail at the age of eight, and at the time, many had secretly laughed that Makarov must be getting old and senile. And although Noah had contributed a great deal to the subjugation of the dark magic cult and had used powerful magic, the people who were there weren't skilled enough to judge exactly how strong he was. As a result, a large number of people, whether for revenge or other reasons, planned to carry out some clandestine retaliatory actions against him—at the very least, to cause him some trouble.
However, their plans were thwarted because Noah never left Magnolia, and any other schemes were blocked by Makarov. It wasn't until after the Bureau incident was over that Makarov released the news he had previously forbidden the guild members from spreading: that Noah had single-handedly and successfully subjugated Deliora. He reported it to the Magic Council.
This news made everyone who heard it think they had misheard. Becoming an S-Class wizard at eight was already ridiculous enough. Now, at ten, he had defeated Deliora? They had to be joking. But when people were sent to investigate the reported location, they indeed found traces of Deliora's activity. The surrounding area was covered in signs of a massive battle, and the terrain had been significantly altered. After inspection, they confirmed that Deliora had indeed vanished from that spot. The credibility of its destruction rose sharply, and Noah's strength was confirmed to a certain degree. A wizard who could potentially defeat Deliora head-on was extremely terrifying. As a result, the malicious intent directed at Noah was greatly reduced.
Makarov also used this opportunity to find out who his friends and enemies were, gathering a great deal of intelligence. And with Noah's demonstrated strength and Ur's joining, Fairy Tail's reputation soared.
Time passed, and the year X775 arrived. Noah was now eleven years old. He had a huge breakthrough in his magic research: all of his spells could now automatically absorb ambient magic power after being cast, and the absorption rate could be adjusted at will. He had also made great progress in other areas of research, and his strength had increased even further.
It was at this time that Noah decided it was time to meet someone—a person responsible for connecting to the past.