"Wendy, can you use Troya?" Rhode's heart wasn't hard enough.
"Okay." Wendy obediently cast the spell.
"Revive!" Natsu suddenly jumped up, "You guys, let's settle this once and for all!"
The deck suddenly became noisy. Natsu had the stance of wanting to take everyone down before even landing on the island, shouting here and there.
Rhode scratched his ear, "I regret it; next time, I'll just let him lean over the railing and puke. At least it'll be quieter."
Some of the group were noisy, some waited quietly, and some wandered around.
As the ship sailed smoothly, the weather got increasingly hot.
Except for Gray, everyone's clothing became progressively lesser.
They slowly transitioned from winter clothes to summer wear.
Even though it seemed that the ship hadn't traveled far, the drastic change in weather made Rhode almost think he had arrived at the Grand Line.
The most exaggerated thing was that even switching to swimsuits and beachwear wasn't enough to bear the heat.
If those old gentlemen from the guild were here, they'd probably be quite happy...
Not to mention Wendy and Reby, Lucy, Kana, and Ibarglin were each experts in their own right.
Though Lisana wasn't as good as her sister, she was still incredibly gifted.
At this moment, Rhode especially missed Mira.
And also missed the various styles of swimsuits Mira had stashed in the corner of her wardrobe.
But soon he didn't have the mood to think about that; the President had said it would be hot after they set off, but didn't mention it would be this hot.
"Gray, make some ice!"
Gray refused, "No, if I make a little ice, it'll melt quickly."
"Then make a lot!"
"I need...to conserve my Magic Power."
Rhode felt like he'd hit himself with his own boomerang, "I have the Crown of Insight!"
"That still won't work..." Gray was almost losing it from the heat, yet insisted on not making any ice to cool down.
Except for Natsu, the Fire Mage, almost everyone else was feeling too drained from the heat.
The most confusing thing was Jubia, who was dressed thickly, even with a heavy hat, yet wasn't sweating at all despite the heat.
Could it be because water has a high specific heat capacity?
The heat even brought up physics knowledge; hmm, half of his brain was probably fried.
After much difficulty enduring this unbearably hot sea area, Rhode spotted a small black dot in the distance.
As the ship approached, the silhouette of Celestial Wolf Island came into Rhode's view.
It was more like seeing a giant umbrella than an island.
An extraordinarily tall tree stretched like a huge umbrella over the small island, its canopy appearing only slightly smaller than the coastline from a distance.
"Brats." Makarov stood on high ground in a floral shirt, beach shorts, and flip-flops, holding a small fan.
Carla stood beside him, not much shorter than the President.
Feeling uneasy, she had requested to accompany the President, with her temporary position being 'Chief Examiner's Assistant.'
Though there wasn't really anything for her to do.
"There is Celestial Wolf Island, the exam site for this test, and also the resting place of our Fairy Tail's First Generation President, Mavis Vermilion.
"On this island, there are many rare animals, hidden dangers, and I hear fairies have even appeared on this island before."
The group stared into the distance, either with wonder or anticipation, as Mest tried hard to control his expression, keeping himself from getting too excited.
Makarov cleared his throat, "Listen up, I'm about to explain the rules for the first part of the exam."
Everyone listened attentively.
"You see that part of the island with smoke rising from it? That's where Kildas, Erza, and Mira have set up a bonfire.
"In the past two days, the three of them have built nine passageways there, and your goal is for each group to choose a passage and reach the endpoint!"
"Of course, you'll face obstacles along the way. Among these nine passageways, three are guarded by those three people.
"The other six converge two by two, meaning everyone needs to defeat their opponent to pass."
Reby said, somewhat fearfully, "Doesn't that mean encountering Kildas is a nightmare?"
"Not necessarily. If Kana encounters him, perhaps he'll go easy," Lucy thought about how Kildas usually acted, then added, "No, that uncle would definitely go easy."
Loki said, "Furthermore, if Rhode, Elfman, and Lisana run into Mira, maybe she will too..."
Makarov nonchalantly replied, "That possibility exists, but don't worry too much because theoretically speaking, each S-Class Mage in charge of this stage will give you some level of care."
Hapi hesitated, "But...it's hard to imagine Erza going easy."
Everyone else felt the same; Erza, a person who even played snowball fights so hard people would break bones.
"That's not...ugh..." Natsu wanted to give his thoughts, but as Troya's effect wore off, his face began to look bad.
"Useless Fire Dragon," Gajeel scoffed.
"It's okay to think that way because the first exam, by its original design, isn't a completely fair test," Makarov chuckled, "Strength and luck are both parts of this exam!"
"So out of these nine groups, at least three will be eliminated in the first round, with at most six eliminated..." Reby calculated, feeling increasingly hopeless.
Gajeel draped his arm over Reby's head, "Tch~ Isn't that great? No matter which path, there's a fight to be had."
Though the opponents might be strong, Gajeel thought that after the training from the Mountain Sub-Dragon and his hard work, he should be able to handle them.
The stronger the opponent, the more fun the fight!
"Did everyone hear clearly? Then...the exam begins!"
These are the times when you notice, Natsu has a brain but just doesn't like using it.
"Ha...Hapi!"
"Aye!"
As the President's words ended, and while others were still puzzling over why the ship hadn't docked, Natsu, who had been seasick, was already being carried by Hapi, flying off.
"Ahahaha... We're going to..." Natsu only had a few seconds to boast before crashing headfirst into an invisible wall.
Complex text lit up from the ship's rail, appearing in mid-air, and densely packed purple-black characters formed an invisible wall.
"A Technique? Fried!"
They were all familiar with this; once activated, even the President couldn't force his way through in a short time.
"Dark Ecriture: Wings!"
Fried wrote complex strokes on himself, and a pair of black wings appeared behind him, "Sorry, I must go ahead, Bigus...hmm?"
As soon as Fried took to the air, he felt someone grabbing his ankle.
Looking back, Rhode's right hand had transformed into a Dragon Claw, tightly clutching him.
The man, wearing a pair of non-prescription glasses, pretended to adjust his glasses with his left hand, "I saw you wandering aimlessly on the ship a while ago. If you don't open a gate for us, you're not leaving either."
Wendy had already put on her new non-prescription glasses, standing beside Rhode, looking warily at Biguslo.
Fried: "..."
This wasn't in the script.