As a proud transmigrator, Aito naturally had a cheat ability.
His cheat, however, was remarkably plain.
It only gave him a basic Status Panel— [Vitality: 21/21] [Stamina: 16/16] [Magic Power: 351/352] And a simple Skill Panel— [Telepathy Magic LV4, 230/10000000] [Meditation LV0, 233/1000] [Crush Magic LV0, 23/1000] Plus one more value whose purpose remained unclear.
[Inspiration Points: 648] That was it.
This unassuming panel quantified his physical attributes and the experience bars for his skills.
In the basic panel, Vitality was probably his HP, Stamina was his endurance, and Magic Power was obviously his mana.
Those three were easy enough to understand.
The maximum values could grow.
In just a few days, each had already increased by several points.
The Skill Panel was a little more complicated, but Aito had mostly figured out how it worked.
At first, he thought the bars represented proficiency.
Later, he realized they were actually experience bars.
Whenever he correctly used a skill, its experience increased.
So what counted as “correct use”?
Just now, while Aito was zoning out and emptying his mind, countless noises entered his head, yet [Telepathy Magic] gained no experience.
But the moment he deliberately focused on “listening” to Cana’s thoughts, the experience bar rose.
In other words, skill experience increased whenever Aito deliberately, correctly, and successfully used that skill.
His Telepathy Magic had awakened at LV4 from the start.
Aito suspected he might be just a tiny bit freakishly talented at it.
That was probably also the main reason he couldn’t control his mind-reading very well.
A high skill level only meant the effect was powerful.
It had nothing to do with how practiced he was.
He had only possessed Telepathy Magic for a few days.
Naturally, he hadn’t fully mastered it yet.
Besides that, he had learned [Meditation] and [Crush Magic] from Gildarts.
[Meditation] was a skill that trained his Magic Power.
In fact, learning Meditation was what helped Aito figure out how the Skill Panel worked.
[Crush Magic] was the powerful magic Gildarts used all the time.
Aito wanted to learn it, and Gildarts was crazy enough to teach him.
Unfortunately, Aito hadn’t actually learned it yet.
Those few experience points had come from pure dumb luck.
As for [Inspiration Points], Aito still had no idea what they did.
His cheat didn’t exactly come with a manual, but having something was better than having nothing.
Watching a progress bar rise was oddly satisfying, especially when that progress directly affected his own strength.
So Aito wasn’t stingy about using his abilities.
If not for the headaches, he’d gladly spend every second training.
Like right now— ‘Wow, old man.
So this is the kind of shameless flirt you really are?
Airo already has a boyfriend.
Could you at least show some restraint?’ Gildarts had long since gotten used to Aito’s voice suddenly appearing inside his head.
Telepathy Magic could actually be blocked by cutting off the flow of Magic Power, but Gildarts hadn’t done that.
For one thing, Aito cast Telepathy almost instinctively.
The magic fluctuations were so faint that they were hard to notice unless someone paid close attention.
For another, Gildarts no longer treated Aito like an ordinary child.
After spending several days together, he’d realized the boy was far more mature than someone his age should be.
So Gildarts didn’t bother being polite when he answered.
‘Get lost!
Adult relationships aren’t as simple as they look to a brat like you!
And get out of Airo’s arms already!
Go play with the other kids!’ On the surface, Gildarts was still flirting with Airo, but the subtle, envious glances he kept shooting over carried one obvious message.
‘You little bastard.
Get out of Airo’s arms!’ ‘…’ Aito wiggled and snuggled into Airo’s embrace, then flashed Gildarts a ‘Momonosuke-style smile.’ Gildarts: “???” ‘You damn brat!
What the hell are you doing?!
(งᵒ̌皿ᵒ̌)ง⁼³₌₃’ ‘Too loud~ Seriously, Gildarts, shouldn’t someone your age already be married?’ ‘Hmph.
What would a brat know?
Marriage is a man’s grave!
I’m not about to tie myself down to one woman!’ ‘You’re the worst, old man!’ Aito had originally planned to tell Gildarts about Cana right away.
Now, though, he figured Cana’s feelings shouldn’t be ignored either.
Better to wait.
Gildarts clearly had no idea the little girl beside him was his daughter, and Cana hadn’t told him.
There had to be more to the story.
Aito decided to watch for a while before interfering.
Sure, the guy had saved his life, but did he have to be this much of a scumbag?
Aito strongly condemned him.
He shot Gildarts a look of pure contempt.
Gildarts ground his teeth, both angry and jealous, but there was nothing he could do.
Out of sight, out of mind—he turned away and went to challenge someone else to a drinking contest.
“Little Aito, you’ll stay in the guild dormitory for now.
After I get off work, I’ll take you shopping for some daily necessities.” “Of course, they aren’t free.
Think of it as a guild benefit.
Once you start earning money from jobs, you can pay the guild back.” Airo held Aito while explaining the guild rules and benefits.
Aito could tell Fairy Tail was extremely friendly toward newcomers.
Gildarts hadn’t lied.
This really was a good place for him.
He knew very little about the world of magic.
His old village had been isolated, and he’d never had any real contact with Mages.
Now he was alone in the world.
He may have awakened a “superpower,” but he had almost no combat ability.
Staying here and slowly building up his strength seemed like the best choice.
Besides, Aito was genuinely interested in this world’s magic.
“Airo, how about Gray and I take our new little brother shopping?
We’re not doing anything anyway.
Right, Gray?” Cana stood on tiptoe against the table, then elbowed Gray halfway through her suggestion.
Gray stared at her.
“Oi!
I don’t want to go shopping with some brat!
I’m going to train!” “Idiot Gray!
You’re not going anywhere!” ‘I still need to figure out what his relationship with Dad is.
That hair color is really bothering me!’ Aito glanced at Cana as she grabbed Gray.
‘Does this girl seriously think I’m Gildarts’s illegitimate son?’ ‘Tch.
Our hair isn’t even the same color.
Your dad’s is orange-red, mine is pale cherry-pink.
That’s completely different, okay?’ Then Aito looked at Cana’s black hair.
His eyes darted around for a moment before an idea quickly came to him.
He tilted his head up toward Airo.
“Big Sis Airo, I want to go play with them.” Gray: “?” “Hmmm~ All right.
Then I’ll leave little Aito with Cana and Gray for now.” Airo thought Cana’s suggestion made sense, though she reluctantly set Aito down.
The boy was so soft, warm, and adorable that she felt she could have happily held him all day.
“Here.
This is money for his daily necessities.
Be careful out there, okay?” “Got it~ I’m strong, you know.
Let’s go!” Cana stuffed the 10,000 Jewels into her pocket, took Aito by one hand, grabbed Gray with the other, and dashed out of the guild.
“Oi!
OI!
Cana, let go!
I don’t want to gooooo!” …