"Hehe, I understand, I understand. I just followed out of curiosity at the time. It seemed like a good opportunity, so I couldn't resist taking action."
Marco laughed and explained, making Makarov shake his head helplessly.
The old man knew that Marco had a strong will of his own.
Though he claimed to understand now, if a similar situation arose again, this kid would likely still charge ahead.
All Makarov could do was remind him.
After sharing the information, the three chatted for a while longer before Marco and Mystogan left, returning together to Fairy Home.
"My house has plenty of rooms. You can rest here."
Marco brought Mystogan home and arranged a room for him. Indeed, Marco's guest rooms were quite abundant.
"Alright, I'll rest for a bit."
Mystogan didn't stand on ceremony and immediately went to rest.
He needed to recover his energy—intensely manipulating magic arrays and precisely navigating through space had taken a heavy toll on his mental state.
After all, he wasn't a Mage; he relied entirely on his mind to use these magical tools.
The tools might not get tired, but he did.
Once Mystogan was settled, Marco returned to his own room. After tidying up briefly, he sat solemnly on his bed.
'System, unlock the shop function.'
With a serious expression, Marco called out to the [Saint System] in his mind, ready to officially activate the new function he had previously unlocked using "Star Stones."
[Ding! Shop function unlocked!]
The system displayed a page filled with various icons, all categorized by constellation.
Marco looked through them one by one. Under each constellation, there was a series of skills and even Cloths, all still locked.
The already unlocked skills and Cloths were no longer displayed.
"Tsk~ This is really expensive!"
After a quick glance at the dazzling array of items in the shop, Marco sighed.
Beneath the icons for skills and Cloths, corresponding prices were listed, divided into three tiers: "Bronze," "Silver," and "Gold."
The "Bronze" tier naturally included [Bronze Saint Cloths] and skills for Bronze Saints, excluding the "Five Young Warriors," which had separate pricing.
The "Bronze" items weren't too expensive—a skill cost only 100 contribution points, and a [Bronze Saint Cloth] was 200 points.
Marco checked his current contribution points: 1000.
He wasn't sure how he'd earned them, but it was enough to acquire five [Bronze Saint Cloths] or ten "Bronze" tier skills.
Shifting his gaze to the "Silver" tier, the prices became much less appealing.
A "Silver" tier skill cost a straight 1000 contribution points, while a [Silver Cloth] was as high as 2000 points—ten times the "Bronze" tier.
What really made Marco sigh was the "Gold" tier pricing.
A "Gold" tier skill cost 5000 contribution points each, and a [Gold Cloth] reached a staggering 10,000 points.
Marco's contribution points could only cover a fraction of that.
[Ding! The current contribution points are complimentary. Subsequent contribution points can be obtained through system quests. Please check the contribution point quests.]
Just as Marco was utterly shocked by the prices of skills and Cloths, the [Saint System] popped up with a notification.
"So the initial 1,000 contribution points were complimentary. That's fine then."
Marco breathed a sigh of relief.
He had been wondering earlier—could this be the accumulation of all these years? If that were the case, then obtaining contribution points would be far too difficult.
It turned out that this mechanism hadn't been calculated before, and now everything was starting from scratch.
These 1,000 contribution points were a gift from the system, or perhaps brought by that "Star Stone."
While relieved, Marco shifted his gaze to the [Contribution Point Quests] interface, a subsidiary of the [Shop] interface, clearly designed specifically for the [Shop].
[Daily Quest: Complete one guild commission. Quest Reward: 10 contribution points.]
"There's even a daily quest!"
Upon seeing this first quest, Marco was astonished.
This meant that as long as he completed one guild quest every day, he would be guaranteed at least 10 contribution points daily.
That would amount to 3,650 contribution points in a year—equivalent to getting one-third of a [Gold Cloth] for free!
In three years, one entire [Gold Cloth]!
"Great, great, great! Now there's nothing more to say—time to grind!"
Marco leaped off his bed in one swift motion.
He checked the time—it was only 8:00 PM, and there were still four hours left in the day.
"Plenty of time!"
After throwing on his clothes, Marco dashed out of his house in a flash.
On the way, he had already equipped the [Aries Gold Cloth] and used "Instant Movement" to quickly return to the Fairy Tail guild hall.
"Whoosh!"
Marco's figure appeared right in front of the quest board, startling Nab, the "guardian" of the quest board.
"Marco? Why are you back so suddenly?" Nab asked curiously, his eyes filled with envy as he looked at Marco clad in gleaming golden armor.
Nab admired Marco's strength.
Although he himself didn't have to worry about material needs, his career as a Mage hadn't even started yet—he hadn't even completed his first quest.
"Of course, to do a quest."
Marco quickly scanned the quests on the board while distractedly answering Nab's question.
He needed to find one that could be completed quickly, which required a bit of luck, especially since there were only a little over three hours left in the day.
"Are you interested in these quests too?" Nab was puzzled.
The incredibly powerful "S-Class Mage," the "Star Rose God" Marco Dreyar—shouldn't he be taking on "S-Class Quests"?
Why was he here looking for normal quests to do?
Nab was all too familiar with this quest board.
He knew every quest on it like the back of his hand because he lingered here every day.
He knew exactly which quests had been taken, which were newly posted, and even how long each quest had been hanging there.
"Nab, do me a favor."
Marco's eyes lit up, clearly having thought of the same thing.
He turned to Nab, ready to seek help from this "quest board guardian."
"What kind of favor? If I can help, I definitely will." Nabu's eyes widened instantly.
He never expected Marco would actually need his help, and naturally, he was more than willing to assist.
Although he had been idling at the guild without taking on any missions, that didn't mean Nab was timid or weak.
In fact, his abilities were quite decent, and he wasn't the type to shy away from trouble. He was always ready to lend a hand to anyone in need, which earned him a fairly good reputation within the guild.
The thing about Nab was that he was simply stubborn—obsessed with finding a unique mission to kickstart his career as a Mage, unwilling to take on the tasks that others could easily handle.
"Help me find a mission that can be completed before midnight."
Marco made his request, placing high hopes on Nab.
This "Guardian of the Mission Board" was sure to provide him with a satisfactory answer!