The remaining monsters in Kirala Snow Mountain were not as strong as the Frost Lizards. In other words, the ones that were too strong had already been cleared out by the Frost Lizards, so the rest were either fast or well hidden, and none of them could fight well.
However, because of their scattered distribution, Caesar and Mirajane still spent half a month cleaning up Kirala Snow Mountain.
The reward was generous, and the client was very polite, giving both Caesar and Mirajane a membership card each.
This membership card was quite valuable. The boat fare to Christopher's Island was free, all public transportation was free, ordinary hotel rooms were free, amusement facility tickets were half-price, and there was a 40% discount on food and drinks.
So, after completing the commission, Caesar and Mirajane didn't return to Magnolia immediately. Instead, they spent the New Year here, relaxing for over half a month before setting off on the journey home.
Sitting on the train to Magnolia, Caesar lay on his berth as the game interface appeared before him.
Name: Caesar (Purple)Level: 42Physical: 1266+ (1143)Strength: 1697+ (1340)Agility: 1129+ (1247)Skills: Take Over Magic, Space Dragon Slayer MagicEquipment: Hyorinmaru, Philosopher's StoneFirst lineup: …Second lineup: …Third lineup: …
Finally, a purple card!
Feeling the vast magic power within him, Caesar realized for the first time that he finally wasn't so lacking in magic power. Of course, that was only true for his current un-upgraded red card. Once it was upgraded, the magic power he had now would quickly feel insufficient again.
"Still, at this rate, even without Infinite Magic, a red card's own magic reserves are enough to handle high-intensity battles."
Caesar sighed inwardly. Of course, that didn't mean he would give up on Infinite Magic. He would still do a few ten-pulls whenever he had the time—though always within the limit of the Seven Deadly Sins banner.
Unfortunately, drawing Merlin's card was proving difficult. After nearly fifty ten-pulls, the Merlin fragments—combined with the ones he'd gotten before—were just enough to synthesize one card, plus ten extra fragments.
It was still a long way from reaching one hundred Merlin cards.
Aside from upgrading red cards, Caesar was determined to collect all 100 Merlin cards. The gold card requirements for upgrading purple cards into gold also gave him headaches.
He was more interested in the Philosopher's Stone. As for the Collapse Jade, since his cards could continuously upgrade, it felt a bit useless—unless he considered using it for his Death and Hollow cards, where the Collapse Jade could break the restrictions between them.
In Caesar's eyes, the Philosopher's Stone—capable of offsetting the cost of equivalent exchange—was far more useful. He could even use it to bypass the curse of the God of Death and snatch people back from its grasp.
But to fully utilize the Philosopher's Stone, he needed the Alchemy trait so it could truly shine.
Of course, other traits were strong too—like the Saiyan trait, Limit Breakthrough, and Food Demon. But Caesar thought that Infinite Magic alone could make him unbeatable, so the more practical Philosopher's Stone appealed to him more than raw power boosts.
The Alchemy trait also increased mastery over knowledge and truth, giving him a learning buff that was far from weak. Even better, all gold-card alchemists from Fullmetal Alchemist had it, making it easy to collect. And since the Philosopher's Stone was an item card, gathering 300 of them was far easier than obtaining 100 Merlin character cards.
Right now, there was even a limited-time Philosopher's Stone card pool. After 100 ten-pulls, Caesar had already collected 23 Philosopher's Stones—the drop rate was terrifyingly high.
…
In the new year, the Fairy Tail guild was as lively as ever.
When Caesar and Mirajane returned, it was just in time for lunch. Caesar waved his hand, summoning a huge pile of meat, and invited everyone to dig in.
One Frost Lizard was only enough for a single meal for the guild, but everyone praised the rich taste of meat carrying dragon blood.
Even Makarov ate more than usual, savoring the tender steak. Looking at Caesar beside him, he said, "I didn't expect you to complete that ten-year mission. Did you use the strongest heroic spirit again?"
"Yeah," Caesar replied, swallowing his bite, then exhaling in satisfaction. "I felt like I was about to hit a bottleneck. This mission helped me break through, and then… it was a one-shot kill."
Makarov rolled his eyes. "A trump card is still a trump card. Don't use it all the time. If you get too used to it, you'll lose sight of your real strength. And once you run out of magic power… I'm sure you know the consequences."
"I know, Master," Caesar nodded.
Knowing how strong Zeref and Acnologia were, Caesar was fully aware that unless he could one-shot someone like Serena the way Acnologia could, it was better to be cautious.
While eating, he chatted with Makarov and learned that Erza had won the S-Class Promotion last year.
She'd even tied with Laxus, overwhelming the other candidates with pure power.
Caesar wasn't surprised. As Erza continued taking commissions and investing rewards into new armors and weapons, her strength only grew.
Of course, she was still poor. But now, as an S-Class wizard, she had access to S-Class commissions—and her once-empty purse finally had savings. She even rented an entire floor of the girls' dormitory just to store her armor.
It was proof that S-Class was a real turning point. Once you passed, a single mission could fund you for a year. If you failed, you had to keep working hard just to get by.
As Caesar sighed at the thought, the guild members around him suddenly began collapsing one by one.
Feeling drowsy himself, he looked toward the door—where Mystogan walked in slowly.