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Gajeel groggily opened his eyes, looking up at a sky full of twinkling stars.
Is it night already? He swayed as he stood up, his head ringing. Gajeel was sore all over, feeling as if he'd been stuffed into a sandbag and beaten for several hours.
After reluctantly getting used to his body, Gajeel scanned his surroundings. Everywhere were rocks and debris from blasted ore, clearly a ruin.
"Where is this? Why am I here?"
Gajeel only remembered Noah wanting to tailor a plan for him to get stronger, and he'd agreed without hesitation. What happened after that, Gajeel couldn't quite recall.
He sat cross-legged, casually picked up a small piece of iron ore, and threw it into his mouth, crunching on it like candy.
Iron Dragon Slayer Magic allowed Gajeel to consume metal elements to replenish his stamina and Magic Power. The crushed ore didn't have a high iron content and didn't taste good, but Gajeel didn't care.
In the years Gajeel wandered before his foster father disappeared and he was taken in by Jose, he ate much worse than these ore scraps, just as Jose had said, picking up trash.
While recovering his stamina, Gajeel also tried to recall what exactly had happened to him.
It seemed to have started when he accepted Noah's training plan.
Under Noah's guidance, in just half a day, he'd initially learned Armament Haki, and Noah had even praised him as a "naturally endowed Armament Haki Body."
Thinking of this, Gajeel immediately activated his Haki, and his hand gripping the ore instantly took on a pitch black sheen. He clenched his fist slightly, and the ore block was crushed into powder, scattering through the gaps between his fingers.
As expected of Oresama!
Gajeel smiled smugly, then continued to recall.
After initially learning Armament Haki, Noah told Gajeel that the first phase of the training plan was over, and the second phase of training content was to forge a "Steel Body" for Gajeel.
Unlike other Dragon Slayer Magic,
Iron Dragon Slayer Magic allowed Gajeel's skin to turn into hard iron scales, giving him powerful defense, and also allowed his limbs to transform into various forms of cold weapons for combat.
But apart from the common "Roar" and "Secret Art" moves of Dragon Slayer Magic, Iron Dragon Slayer Magic could be said to be a Magic focused on physical damage.
The body is the weapon, so having a strong physique is extremely necessary for an Iron Dragon Slayer Mage.
The second phase of Noah's tailored training plan was to strengthen Gajeel's body, to further his Iron Dragon's Scales, and achieve the so-called "Steel Body."
How exactly was that done?
Gajeel's face instantly darkened—he'd remembered everything now.
When he woke up, he was sore all over. At the time, Gajeel felt like he'd been beaten up like a sandbag, but that description wasn't entirely accurate.
Because the truth was, with his Iron Dragon's Scales activated, he was pinned to the ground by Noah, Erza, and Mira, and then powerfully hammered dozens to hundreds of times by Doran's swinging hammer!
Noah euphemistically called it: If you want to increase the strength of "iron," you can only continuously temper it.
Simply put, Noah's plan was to put Gajeel through a physically literal "thousand temperings," forging his Iron Dragon's Scales into a "Steel Body."
This ruin was originally an abandoned mine, used as an "anvil" to forge Gajeel, this piece of "iron." The final result was that the "anvil" broke, and the "iron" being tempered passed out.
Gajeel was a bit frantic. He hadn't expected Noah's plan for him to get stronger to be so brutally straightforward.
Am I not human??
Am I really not human?!
The metal guy, with no one to speak up for him, angrily slammed his fist into the ground.
However, this single punch created a deep crater in the solid ground, and the spreading air blast crushed the surrounding ore fragments into dross.
Gajeel was stunned. When did his fist become so powerful?
Looking at his hand covered in grayish-black scales, Gajeel then realized that he'd unconsciously activated his Iron Dragon's Scales state, only this time his Iron Dragon's Fist was much stronger than before.
Observing his palm closely, Gajeel noticed that the iron scales on the back of his hand were no longer distinct, angular pieces—the scales had become a bit smoother, and the power they exerted had also increased.
If just the first "tempering" had such an effect, then after a few more hammerings from Old Man Doran, he'd be soaring!!
Gajeel had a premonition that when these individual Iron Dragon's Scales were hammered into a unified whole, that would be the time of his "Steel Body's" great completion.
"Steel Body" plus Armament Haki, wouldn't that make him the hardest man in the world!
The now calm Gajeel felt a touch of gratitude toward Noah. Although the process of getting stronger was brutal and grueling, it was actually exquisitely precise.
As expected of the "instructor's" tailored plan for him to get stronger!
Without further thought, Gajeel got up to find his junior. One part of Noah's plan for him to get stronger was to learn Doran's hammering technique.
"What? You're asking about the plan I tailored for Gajeel? Well, of course, I just thought it up on a whim when my brain got hot."
At the Iron Furnace Ridge Mage Market, seeing Noah happily picking out trinkets, Erza and Mira couldn't help but feel a sudden tightness in their hearts.
So it was a joke... But Gajeel was really tricked into being hammered all afternoon!
Thinking of the force with which Old Man Doran swung his hammer, Erza and Mira suddenly worried if Gajeel was still alive. If he died, wouldn't they be accessories to murder?
"Sorry, sorry, what I just said was a joke. Don't take it to heart."
Seeing the uneasy expressions of the two girls, Noah realized his joke had gone too far and quickly explained, "Old Man Doran and I had already discussed it. If you don't trust me, don't you trust a master blacksmith's control over force?"
After hearing Noah's explanation, Erza and Mira finally breathed a sigh of relief. They almost forgot, although Noah was a troublesome guy, he wouldn't come up with a plan that would put his comrades in mortal danger.
Moreover, Gajeel was Old Man Doran's ancestor, so they believed he would know his limits.
Mira put her hands on her hips, pouting. "Hmph, you scared us, Noah. How do you plan to compensate us?"
"No way, are you S-Class Mages really that fragile psychologically?" Noah expressed doubt.
Erza also chimed in with Mira. "Two beautiful women like us accompanying a man like you shopping, aren't you going to show some appreciation?"
Noah instantly gave them a dead-fish eye look. How did he remember that he was the one who was dragged out shopping... But complaints aside, Noah also knew that since he met Mira and Erza, he'd benefited from them quite a bit, so giving a gift was only right.
"Boss, I'll take these two."
After paying, Noah immediately handed over the items he bought from the stall to the two beautiful women accompanying him.
They were two crystal bracelets, one red and one white. These crystals had no special features, they were just durable.
"Eh, is this all you're giving us...?"
Though she complained, Mira had already put on the white crystal bracelet, showing she liked it very much.
Erza looked at the red bracelet, then suddenly used Requip, replacing her iconic knight armor with a red cheongsam.
Wearing the red bracelet, the red-haired girl in the cheongsam had a unique charm.