Gajeel groggily opened his eyes and looked up to see a star-studded night sky.
Is it already evening...?
Gajeel stood up unsteadily, his head buzzing. Every part of his body ached, as if he had been stuffed into a sandbag and beaten up for hours.
Having barely adapted to his body, Gajeel glanced around at his surroundings. Everywhere were rocks and debris from blasted ore, resembling a ruin.
"Where am I? Why am I here?"
Gajeel only remembered that Noah wanted to tailor a plan to make him stronger, and he agreed without hesitation. Gajeel couldn't quite remember what happened after that.
He sat cross-legged, picked up a small piece of iron ore, and threw it into his mouth, making a crunching sound like chewing candy.
The [Iron Dragon Slayer] magic allows Gajeel to consume metal elements to replenish his stamina and magic power. The scraps of ore have a low iron content and don't taste good, but Gajeel doesn't care.
Before his adoptive father disappeared and he was taken in by Joseph, Gajeru had eaten far worse food than these ore scraps during the years he wandered around, just as Joseph said, he scavenged for garbage.
While recovering his strength, Gajeel also tried to recall what exactly happened to him.
It seems to have started with accepting Noah's training program.
Under Noah's guidance, he learned the basics of Armament Haki in just half a day. Noah even boasted that he had a "natural Armament Haki body".
Thinking of this, Gajeel immediately activated his Haki, and his palm holding the ore suddenly appeared with a jet-black luster. He clenched his palm slightly, and the ore was crushed into powder, which scattered from between his fingers.
As expected of me!
Gajeel smiled smugly, then continued reminiscing.
After learning the basics of Armament Haki, Noah told Gajeel that the first phase of the training program was over, and the second phase was to forge Gajeel's "Iron Body".
Unlike other dragon-slaying magic.
[Iron Dragon Slayer] can transform Gajeel's skin into hard iron scales, granting him powerful defense, and also allows his limbs to transform into various forms of melee weapons for combat.
However, aside from the "Roar" and "Secret Technique" moves common to Dragon Slayer magic, [Iron Dragon Slayer] can be considered a magic that primarily deals physical damage.
The body is a weapon, so having a strong physique is extremely necessary for an Iron Dragon Slayer Mage.
The second phase of Noah's customized training program was to strengthen Gajeel's body, further enhance his "Iron Scales," and defeat the so-called "Iron Body."
So how exactly is it done?
Gajeel's face immediately darkened; he had remembered everything by now.
When I woke up, my whole body ached. Gajeel felt like he had been beaten up as a punching bag, but that description is not accurate.
The truth is, after activating "Iron Scales," he was pinned to the ground by Noah, Erza, and Mira, and then Dolan swung his hammer and pounded him dozens or even hundreds of times!
Noah famously said: If you want to add the strength of "iron", you have to keep forging it.
Simply put, Noah's plan was to physically "forge" Gajeel, turning his "iron scales" into an "iron body".
This ruin was originally an abandoned mine, which was used as an "anvil" to forge Gajeel, this piece of "iron". In the end, the "anvil" broke, and the "iron" being forged also fainted.
Gajeel was somewhat frustrated. He hadn't expected Noah's plan to make him stronger to be so crude and straightforward.
Am I not human?
Am I even human?!
Frustrated that no one spoke up for him, the metalworker angrily slammed his fist into the ground.
However, this punch created a deep crater in the thick ground, and the spreading shockwave crushed the surrounding ore into dust.
Gajeel was stunned. When did his fists become so powerful?
Looking at his hands covered in gray-black scales, Gajeel realized that he had unknowingly activated the "Iron Scale" state, but this time his iron fist was much stronger than before.
Upon closer inspection of his palm, Gajeel noticed that the iron scales on the back of his hand were no longer sharp, individual pieces; they had become smoother, and their power had increased somewhat.
If the first "training" has such an effect, then after being trained a few more times by old man Dolan, won't he take off?!
Gajeel had a premonition that when these individual "iron scales" were hammered into a single piece, that would be the moment when his "iron body" would be fully formed.
With an "iron body" and [Armament Haki], wouldn't that make him the toughest man in the world?
As Gajeel calmed down, he felt a surge of gratitude towards Noah. Although the process of becoming stronger was brutal and torturous, it was actually perfectly timed and ingenious.
No wonder it's a "coach's" tailor-made plan to help me get stronger!
Without further thought, Gajeel got up to find his successor. One of the ways Noah gave him to become stronger was to learn Dolan's hammer technique.
——————————————————
"What? You're asking about the plan I customized for Gajeel? Of course, that was just something I came up with on a whim."
At the Ironforge Ridge Magic Market, Erza and Mira felt a sudden tightness in their chests as they watched Noah happily selecting trinkets.
Was it all a joke...?
Kogajeru was genuinely fooled and spent the entire afternoon beating him up!
Thinking of the force with which Master Dolan swung his hammer, Erza and Mira suddenly felt a little worried, wondering if Gajeel was still alive. If he was dead, wouldn't they be accomplices in his murder?
"Sorry, sorry, I was just joking. Please don't take it to heart."
Seeing the two girls' uneasy expressions, Noah realized that his joke had gone too far and quickly explained, "Old man Dolan and I had already discussed it. If you don't believe me, don't you believe a master blacksmith's control over force?"
After hearing Noah's explanation, Erza and Mira breathed a sigh of relief. They had almost forgotten that although Noah was a lazy bum, he would never make a plan that would put his companions in danger.
Moreover, Gajeel is an ancestor of Dolan, so I believe Master Dolan will know what he's doing.
Mira, hands on her hips, huffed and puffed out. "Hmph, you scared us! Noah, how are you going to make it up to us?"
"No way, can you S-class mages be that mentally fragile?" Noah expressed his doubt.
Erza chimed in, joining Mira in the teasing: "We're two beautiful women accompanying a man like you shopping, aren't you going to offer us something in return?"
Noah immediately gave a deadpan look; how come he remembered being the one dragged out shopping...?
Despite his complaints, Noah knew that he had benefited greatly from Mira and Erza since they met, so it was only right to give them a gift.
"Boss, I'll take both of these."
After paying, Noah immediately distributed the items he had bought from the stall to the two beautiful women who were with him.
Those were two crystal bracelets, one red and one white. This kind of crystal has no special features, except that it is durable.
"Hey, this is all you're giving us..."
Despite her apparent disdain, Mira had already put on the white crystal bracelet, clearly showing how much she liked it.
Erza looked at the red bracelet, then suddenly activated [Costume Change], replacing her signature knight's armor with a red cheongsam.
Wearing a red bracelet, the red-haired girl in a cheongsam has a unique charm.
×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×-×
Read Extra Chapter Visit My Patreon
I have only 1 tier
19$ Tier – Access to 40 advance chapters
patreon.com/Lempil
patreon.com/Lempil