Ron froze.
Of all the places he might have expected to meet Laxus for the first time, the guild library had never crossed his mind.
Then again, judging by the way Laxus dressed, no one would have guessed he was the type to borrow books.
When Ron continued standing there without reacting, his hand still resting on the book, Laxus’s frown deepened.
“Tch.
I said I’m taking this book.
Didn’t you hear me?!”
Crackle—crackle—
As he spoke, the hand pressing against the book’s spine began trembling.
Several threads of golden lightning suddenly leaped from his fingers.
Laxus flinched and immediately pulled his hand back.
Bending over, he clutched his wrist tightly with his other hand and tried to suppress the runaway magic.
Once the trembling stopped, the electricity dancing across his skin gradually faded into the air, leaving behind a faint smell of burning.
A bead of cold sweat rolled down Laxus’s forehead.
He released a quiet breath of relief, let go of his wrist, and looked toward Ron.
Then he froze.
Ron was already sitting on the floor, his eyes wide and his brows raised in terror as he stared up at him.
“I-I’m sorry!”
Tears gathered in the corners of Ron’s eyes, and his lips trembled as he stammered.
“Hey, I didn’t do that on purpose…”
Laxus had never expected him to be frightened so badly.
He genuinely had not meant for his magic to leak out!
Feeling a little guilty, he stepped forward and reached down to help Ron up.
Ron immediately scrambled backward, the fear on his face becoming even more convincing.
“N-No, thank you!”
He hurried to his feet, hunching his shoulders as he held both hands out to keep Laxus away.
Seeing his reaction, Laxus stopped where he was.
Ron nervously glanced over the shelves and grabbed the first book within reach.
“You can have that one.
I’ll just borrow this instead.”
Still wearing a frightened expression, he showed Laxus the book in his hands—Expanding the Magic Container.
Before Laxus could respond, Ron rushed to the counter, informed Vee which book he was borrowing, and fled without looking back.
He ran out of Fairy Tail and continued for some distance before gradually slowing down.
Once he was sure no one was nearby, his expression returned to normal.
He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with one finger and glanced back toward the guild.
Naturally, the entire performance had been an act.
Ron had begun to recognize certain patterns in the system’s roleplay evaluation.
Leaving a powerful first impression on someone dramatically increased his completion rate, provided his behavior matched the character he was portraying.
Acting wildly out of character would accomplish nothing.
Besides, after that brief encounter, Ron suspected Laxus needed the other book more than he did.
Based on the original story’s timeline, Laxus had probably only recently undergone the procedure to implant a Dragon Lacrima into his body.
The cross-shaped scar over his right eye was proof.
“So that’s why he came to the library.
He must be looking for a way to stabilize the magic inside him.”
Thanks to Laxus, Ron had accidentally found a book better suited to his own needs.
Holding Expanding the Magic Container, he headed toward the theatre tent.
…
Meanwhile, back in Fairy Tail’s library, Vee had risen from behind the counter and was watching Laxus with open amusement.
“Oh dear.
You scared him away.”
Laxus glared at her while clutching The Compatibility Between the Body and Magic Power.
“Shut up.”
He opened his mouth to defend himself, but after remembering how his emotions had caused his magic to run wild, he closed his eyes instead and took several deep breaths.
Once he had calmed down, he opened his eyes and held the book out to Vee.
Seeing his expression, she decided to offer a little more information.
“That boy’s name is Ron.
He’s around ten years old.
“It isn’t often someone close to your age joins the guild.
Why not try spending some time with him?”
Laxus rolled his eyes and ignored her suggestion.
When had the old man recruited another member?
Ron clearly possessed no combat ability whatsoever.
If the guild kept accepting weaklings like him, it would never become truly powerful.
Besides, Laxus was eleven.
Strictly speaking, they were not the same age!
Someone that timid would never be capable of supporting Fairy Tail.
When Vee saw that he was ignoring her, she puffed out her cheeks and handed him the book.
Apparently, Ron had failed to capture Laxus’s interest.
She considered how she might convince Laxus to seek him out on his own, then her eyes lit up.
Just as Laxus turned to leave, she added in a deliberately provoking tone, “What a shame.
I suppose a certain someone will never realize that a boy his own age completely fooled him with nothing but acting.”
As expected, Laxus stopped in his tracks.
His eyes widened as he slowly turned around.
“What exactly did you mean by that?”
Several veins appeared on his forehead.
…
Time passed quickly, and before long, another three days had gone by.
Ron sat cross-legged in his room, calmly sensing his magic power as it circulated through the container inside his body.
Everyone in the world of Fairy Tail possessed magic container, but their structure differed from person to person.
Talented Mages were born capable of holding vast amounts of magic power, while others possessed only a tiny reserve.
That did not mean someone born with little magic could never improve.
Magic had been studied and developed for centuries, producing countless methods for increasing a Mage’s reserves.
Ron was currently using the simplest one—gradually nourishing and expanding his magic container so they could carry more magic power.
He carefully guided his magic toward the cotainer in his body, slowly strengthening it and encouraging it to grow wider and longer.
After roughly an hour, Ron finally opened his eyes and smiled.
Sure enough, his status had changed.
[Talent: Magic Power Capacity (D)]
He had finally raised his magic reserves.
Practicing spells should now be considerably more efficient, which meant it was time to focus more seriously on his magic.
However, Ron had another problem.
The character card was almost out of time.
[Time Remaining: 4 minutes, 57 seconds.]
[Current Roleplay Completion: 67%.]
He had managed to reach one hundred percent before his previous two cards expired, but this time had been much harder.
The main problem was Hanatarō’s personality.
His defining traits were subtle and rarely attracted much attention.
Portraying a minor character without any particularly dramatic qualities made it far more difficult to raise the completion rate.
Ron had only recognized that weakness after it was already too late.
Reigen and Rock Lee had been much easier because their personalities were so distinctive.
Still, it did not matter too much.
He had made another useful discovery during these three days.
By repeatedly reviewing the book and revisiting the knowledge stored in his mind, [Magic Container (D)] had appeared in his skill list during the final few hours of the card’s duration.
That was probably thanks to his A-rank Learning Aptitude.
Without it, he would never have mastered the material so quickly.
This meant that whenever a future character card contained a knowledge-based ability, he might not need to choose it as his reward.
Repeatedly reviewing the knowledge could be enough to learn it himself.
Whether the same method would work for C-rank knowledge skills remained to be seen.
With nothing more to do, Ron lay back on his bed and waited for the card’s remaining minutes to expire.
Soon, the familiar evaluation messages appeared before him.
[The character card’s duration has expired.
Beginning final evaluation…]
[Final Result: Roleplay Completion 68%.]
[Average Roleplay achieved.
Only Ability One from the current character card has been unlocked for selection.]
[Magic Container (D) already detected on the host’s status.
Replacing duplicate ability with an item reward.]
[Reward delivered to the Multiversal Item Storage.
Please inspect it personally.]
Ron blinked.
The Multiversal Item Storage appeared before him.
The second slot was glowing, revealing an object that resembled a small white lighter.
[Memory Scrambler (D): A single-use utility item.
Upon activation, it can blur a target’s recent memories.]
Ron stared at it blankly.
The system could give replacement items too?