Makarov did not plan to retaliate against Phantom Lord.
After all, the Council had already openly sided with the opposition. Taking the initiative to attack at this time would undoubtedly give the Council a reason to take action against his own guild.
If those idiots at the Council decided to pin the blame for starting a guild war on Fairy Tail, it would be a huge problem.
So Makarov chose to endure it and let it pass.
Everyone in the guild actually understood Makarov's good intentions; otherwise, these violent types would have attacked Phantom Lord long ago instead of staying in the temporary hall and sighing.
Seeing that Makarov, the guild master, had already made a decision, Hope and Erza didn't feel right saying anything more and could only choose to accept it.
Because of the guild's destruction, everyone was very irritable and didn't even have the mood to drown their sorrows in alcohol. So, as evening approached, the group dispersed, heading back to their homes or dorms.
Soon, Hope was the only one left in the entire guild.
He was lucky; his room hadn't been destroyed by those massive iron pillars, so it was still habitable.
Lying on the bed, Hope opened the system panel and counted the magics he had obtained through system cracking: Aera, Gods Foot, Wood Shaping, Plant, Curse: Death Curse, Take Over, Arc of the Great Tree, Arc of Time... a total of 8 magics.
Cracking 10 types of extraordinary power would unlock the final cracking slot as well as the system's final "Self-Analysis" function.
Hope planned to gather the last two types of magic today to fully unlock all the system functions.
Currently, the magics being cracked in the system were:
'True Moonlit God Slayer', 352 days remaining.
'Attachment Spell', 43 days remaining.
Extraordinary abilities waiting to be cracked: Magnetic Field Power (97 years), 'Card' magic (15 days).
Hope thought for a moment and decided to accelerate the cracking of 'Attachment Spell' and 'Card' magic.
'Attachment Spell' was very strong and practical; it was a top-tier magic for both combat and support. It would be best to get it as soon as possible.
As for 'Card' magic, Hope only chose it to make up the numbers.
Although this magic was also a comprehensive magic integrating offense, defense, and support, it unfortunately relied too much on magic Cards, and powerful magic Cards were extremely rare in this world.
Hope planned that after becoming proficient in 'Attachment Spell', he would make magic Cards himself. At that time, he could use them himself or act as a profiteer and sell them to Cana.
Getting up to take the magic crystals from under the bed, Hope issued a command to the system, "System, accelerate the cracking of 'Card' magic and 'Attachment Spell' for me."
As 58 magic crystals dimmed, the system's voice popped up.
[Ding~]
[Successfully accelerated by 58 days]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the extraordinary power—'Card' magic]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the extraordinary power—'Attachment Spell']
[Detected that the host has accumulated 10 types of extraordinary abilities through system cracking; the third cracking slot is unlocked, and the 'Self-Analysis' function is unlocked]
Hope couldn't wait to check the "Self-Analysis" function.
"Self-Analysis" could analyze all the extraordinary abilities he possessed and merge abilities of the same type.
For the current Hope, the function of this feature was to allow similar magics or demon curses to fuse, thereby obtaining a stronger magic.
For example: if he mastered 'Wood Shaping' and 'Ice-Make', then the "Self-Analysis" function could help him organize the operating methods of the two magics and finally merge them into a stronger Shaping magic that was perfectly compatible with both ice and wood attributes.
As long as Hope continuously collected magic, he could eventually cast a spell with several or even a dozen attributes in one move. That scene would be simply too beautiful.
Thinking of the promising future, Hope felt a surge of excitement in his heart, accompanied by a growl from his stomach.
Because the guild was severely damaged, there was no way to cook, so he hadn't eaten a single bite of food since he got back, only drinking water.
There was a saying in Hope's hometown: "Man is made of iron and rice is made of steel; if you miss a meal, you'll feel the hunger." So he planned to go out for dinner; anyway, he had money now and didn't need to be stingy.
However, when he reached the street and saw the closed shop doors one by one, the desire to spend that Hope had finally mustered was extinguished just like that.
He had still underestimated the impact of the guild's destruction.
Although "Fairy Tail" occasionally caused small commotions that annoyed people, in the hearts of the residents of Magnolia, they had actually always been the guardians of this city.
After all, since Fairy Tail was established, no Dark Guild that tried to target Magnolia had ever escaped unscathed; most were wiped out.
But now, someone actually dared to take action against Fairy Tail, which made the residents feel uneasy. So during this time, everyone went home early and tried not to go out at night.
Hope wandered around for a long time before he managed to buy a few unsold buns at a remote bakery on the far east side of town.
Chewing on the bread, Hope slowly walked toward the guild. As he became more and more integrated into the guild, he felt more troubled about whether to confess his identity to Makarov.
But on second thought, whether it was the identity of a "Phantom Undercover" or a "Council Agent," he hadn't actually done anything.
Not only had he not harmed Fairy Tail's interests at all, but he had also gotten hundreds of magic crystals for free from his direct superior, Doranbalt.
So what was there to hesitate about?
Hope decided to go find Makarov and confess tonight, immediately turning around to head toward Makarov's house in the west of the city.
While passing through South Gate Park, Hope saw from a distance the "Shadow Gear" team, known as Fairy Tail's "Weakest Team."
They were Levy, Salamander, and Droy.
But to be honest, Hope felt that the main reason this trio was called the "Weakest Team" was their own doing.
Levy liked reading and was a petite, quiet girl. Because of her personality, she didn't like fighting, so it was normal for her to be weaker in combat.
But as for the other two guys... Hope's 'Gods Foot' came from Salamander, and his 'Plant' magic came from Droy. Although these two magics had average offensive power, their functionality was very strong. With proper development, they shouldn't have fallen to the bottom.
The problem was that Droy and Salamander were both lovesick fools; they both had crushes on their childhood friend Levy, even though Levy had rejected their confessions countless times since they were kids.
It was said that once when Salamander confessed to Levy, he was rejected just two seconds after opening his mouth, before he even finished his confession, setting the guild record for the fastest confession failure.
But no matter how many times they were rejected, Salamander and Droy still didn't give up and pestered Levy every day.
With all their thoughts spent on pointless "unrequited love," how could these two guys have any time to improve their strength?
A weak literary girl plus two unenterprising simps—and thus, Fairy Tail's "Weakest Team" was born.
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