Laxus stared fiercely into Lucas's eyes, but Lucas met his gaze without flinching.
After a moment, Laxus said, "I hope your strength is as tough as your mouth when the time comes. Let's go."
Laxus turned and left with the Thunder Legion.
"That guy is getting more and more annoying," Mira said bluntly. If they could still chat a couple of years ago, Laxus had become increasingly unbearable in the last two years, always looking down on others.
"Yeah! Isn't he just the Master's grandson? What's so great about that? Why look down on people?" Gray was also annoyed with Laxus.
"Lucas, be careful. Laxus is very strong," Erza said to Lucas with a serious expression.
Lucas nodded. "I know."
As a transmigrator who had read the original work, he knew Laxus's strength better than anyone. Laxus wasn't just strong; he was very strong.
Strong people didn't become strong overnight; it often took generations of effort.
Mage guilds were gatherings of elites within the magical world.
To be a mage in a guild meant one likely had pure magical lineage.
The stronger the individual, the higher the magical potential of their offspring.
The Master's father was a powerhouse who passed on powerful magic to the Master, and Laxus inherited that power from his grandfather.
It was achieved through the efforts of generation after generation.
Because Laxus's innate magic power was too great, his young body could barely withstand it, causing Makarov much guilt.
Later, Laxus's father, Ivan, somehow obtained a Dragon Lacrima and implanted it to suppress Laxus's rampant magic power.
Watching Laxus always shout about being the strongest might make him seem arrogant—especially since Gildarts was clearly stronger.
But after reading the 100 Years Quest arc, one realizes Laxus might not have been lying.
The Dragon Lacrima allowed Laxus to learn Dragon Slayer Magic and gave him a powerful physique, but it also limited his true power.
Second Generation Dragon Slayers are just artificial replicas created by Dragon Lacrimas; they can't be considered true Dragon Slayers.
It was like installing a converter inside Laxus's body to transform his innate magic into Dragon Slayer Magic.
This conversion process had huge losses. Even 50% efficiency would be good. This forcefully capped Laxus's strength by at least half.
In terms of pure magical talent, Laxus might be at the very top of the entire Fairy Tail world.
But top-tier talent or not, Laxus was currently too young to be Lucas's opponent.
"Alright, no time to waste. Lucas, we're going back to train. Since I said it, I will definitely help you become an S-Class Mage."
In the afternoon, Lucas saw Erza pulling a cart full of bags to his doorstep.
Lucas was instantly dumbfounded.
"Erza??"
"For the next week, I'm going to train with you. Your place is spacious and the scenery is nice; it's perfect for training."
Lucas thought to himself: What is this? Don't you know men and women should keep their distance?
"What are you standing there for? Aren't you going to help?"
Seeing Lucas frozen in place, Erza immediately asked him to help move the luggage.
Lucas quickly helped move the luggage into the house.
Fortunately, he had built the house spacious enough; otherwise, it really wouldn't have fit all of Erza's luggage.
After organizing the luggage, Erza began sparring with Lucas.
Ever since realizing that sparring with Lucas improved her strength rapidly, Erza would spar with him from time to time.
Lucas naturally wouldn't refuse.
Erza herself was a genius, and sparring with her also improved Lucas's combat skills significantly.
An hour later, they stopped.
"You've gotten stronger again," Erza said to Lucas, looking a bit tired.
She was the person who could most clearly feel Lucas getting stronger. In the beginning, when they sparred without magic, she could see that Lucas's combat level without magical enhancement was really about the same as an ordinary person.
But as time went on, Lucas's combat skills improved more and more. Especially in the last two weeks, without using magic, she had started to be suppressed by Lucas.
And remember, Lucas's true strength was his magic.
"You've gotten stronger too."
Since joining the Fairy Tail guild, Lucas had been tempered his body every night with 'Dragon God Transformation' while cultivating the Meditation Law to refine his mana.
Coupled with his already good aptitude, his strength had naturally increased tremendously.
"Lucas, let's have a serious match."
After resting enough, Erza stood up and said to Lucas.
"Hm? Why?"
"The S-Class exam is coming up. We don't know the content of the exam. As your partner, I naturally need to understand your true strength and moves so we can coordinate better."
"Uh... there's no need for that."
Honestly, he enjoyed his life in Fairy Tail, so he didn't really want to expose his full strength.
"You look down on me?"
"Of course not."
"Then have a serious match with me."
Seeing Erza's look that said "I'll be angry if you don't agree," Lucas could only helplessly agree. "Alright."
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