If it weren’t for him, Ultear would have eventually joined the Dark Guild Grimoire Heart, becoming one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory.
Though that life full of darkness and manipulation wasn’t what she truly wanted.
But later on, she would have realized her mistakes and founded the independent guild Crime Sorcière alongside Jellal, dedicating her life to atoning for her past sins.
And during the Grand Magic Games, she would use an ultimate forbidden magic that literally reversed time, sacrificing her own youth to save countless lives.
Though her ending was tragic—a beautiful young woman transformed into a frail old lady—she survived.
She was supposed to live!
But now, simply because he showed up, everything was ruined.
Eight-year-old Ultear had lost her life.
Aside from him and maybe Ur, there was probably no one left in the world who even remembered she existed.
Guilt, self-blame, agony, and regret constantly churned in his heart, whipping him over and over again like a thorny vine, causing unbearable pain.
Finally, the tears he had been holding back broke through the dam.
Clutching his blanket, Cain wept silently in the darkness of his dorm room.
Meanwhile, aboard the Grimoire Heart airship.
Ultear, who was quietly reading a book, suddenly let out a small sneeze.
She rubbed her nose, a bit confused.
“Strange.
Am I catching a cold?
I should probably put on another layer.” After draping a coat over her shoulders, she buried her attention back into the book in front of her.
This book detailed fascinating theories and anecdotes about the magic of Time, and Ultear was completely captivated by it.
She wondered if she could be just like the protagonist in the book—if she could master Time Magic and travel back to the past.
If she could do that, she could finally ask Ur why she had abandoned her.
And she could also go back and tell Cain that he didn’t need to knock her out.
If he had just asked, she would have willingly chosen to stay behind in his place.
The morning sun filtered through the window, landing softly on Cain’s face.
He hadn’t slept a wink.
By now, the crippling self-blame and regret had completely vanished from his face, replaced entirely by a cold, burning hatred for Brain.
After a long night of reflection, he realized that feeling sorry for himself was utterly useless.
The only way to honor Ultear’s memory was to kill Brain and avenge her.
Cain also realized a crucial truth: this wasn’t an anime or a novel where everything was perfectly dictated by a script.
This was a living, breathing world.
The people here were real, with real flesh and blood, and actions had real, irreversible consequences.
Therefore, to ensure he never had to experience this kind of helpless agony ever again, he needed to cultivate his magic far harder than before.
Sure, the ultimate final boss, Acnologia, would eventually be dealt with by the Dragon Slayers.
But what about all the other threats?
He would inevitably run into dangerous situations, and he couldn’t just run and hide behind the main cast every single time.
Now that his goal was set, it was time to put his plans into action.
“Let’s start by running two laps around Magnolia.” After splashing some cold water on his face, Cain charged out of the dorms and began his run around the city at a breakneck pace.
The local townsfolk were already getting used to his antics.
Over the past few days, they had seen this little blonde boy out for his morning jog without fail.
“Hey Cain!
Grab a ham and chicken sandwich!
You’ll run faster with some food in your belly!” “Save one for me, Uncle Bardo!
I’ll eat it when I finish my run!” “Hahaha, you got it!
I’ll keep one warm for you!” Two laps later, completely drenched in sweat, Cain walked into the guild hall carrying an extra-large ham and chicken sandwich specially made by Uncle Bardo.
He had already finished the beginner’s reading book.
Today, he wanted to dive into the library and look up information regarding Holy Light Magic.
Cain was certain his magic wasn’t the first of its kind to appear in this world.
The more he could learn about it, the deeper he could develop and refine his own abilities.
By the request board, Wakaba was standing with his hands on his hips, looking conflicted.
He originally wanted to grab a drink with his best buddy, Macao, but it turned out Macao was out on a job.
Drinking alone was boring, so he figured he might as well take a job too.
He eventually found a decent escort mission.
It wasn’t too difficult and paid well, but it would take a few days to complete.
As Wakaba was registering the job at the front desk, he spotted Cain walking in with massive dark circles under his eyes.
Surprised, he asked, “Cain, what’s wrong with you?
Did you not sleep at all last night?” “Yeah, didn’t get much rest.
But it’s fine.” Cain swallowed the last bite of his sandwich and looked at the man curiously.
“Uncle Wakaba, you actually take jobs?” Wakaba looked highly offended.
“Hey!
Do you think all I do around here is drink?!” Seeing Cain nod honestly, Wakaba felt an immediate need to salvage his reputation in front of the rookie.
“Listen here, kid!
I’m a veteran of this guild!
The only reason I’m usually drinking is that there haven’t been any requests worthy of my skills!
But when the right job comes along, of course I take it!” With that, Wakaba turned his nose up, ignored Cain, and confidently strutted out of the guild.
Cain watched him leave, genuinely amazed.
Just then, Cana sidled up next to him and whispered, “Actually, Macao just left on a job.
Wakaba doesn’t have anyone to drink with, so he just decided to take a job too.” “I knew it.” After chatting with Cana for a bit, Cain headed toward the library.
Watching him walk away, Makarov finally let out a small sigh of relief.
He could tell the boy had managed to pull himself out of his grief.
Cain spent hours scouring the library shelves, but he couldn’t find a single book mentioning Holy Light Magic.
However, he did find plenty of books detailing standard Light Element Magic.
This guild has such a massive library, but they don’t even employ a librarian?
Cain complained internally.
Wait.
If I can’t find what I need here, I can just ask Granny Porlyusica!
But Granny Porlyusica hates people bothering her constantly…
Hmm, what should I do?
Soon, Cain hatched a plan.
He could bring Porlyusica some rare medicinal herbs as a gift!
That way, he could naturally slip in a few questions about his magic while he was there.
Surely she wouldn’t refuse him if he brought her something useful.
As someone who had grown up in modern society, Cain knew exactly how to grease the wheels of a social relationship.
However, Cain didn’t immediately rush to the section on medicinal herbs.
They had just visited Porlyusica yesterday; going back today would seem too obvious and annoying.
Instead, he grabbed the books on Light Magic and a thick tome titled Comprehensive Guide to Magic Fundamentals and sat down to read.
Flipping open the Comprehensive Guide, Cain was instantly engrossed by the contents.
The book read: “To cast a spell, a wizard must construct a Magic Circle.
A Magic Circle is composed of three primary layers: the Core Array, the Mid-Level Array, and the Outer Array.” “The Core is the fundamental nature of the magic being used.
For example, Fire Magic’s core is Fire; Water Magic’s core is Water.” “The Mid-Level Array dictates the spell’s effect or property.
If the Core is Fire, and the Mid-Level Array adds the property of ‘Explosion,’ then the resulting fire spell will detonate upon impact.” “Finally, the Outer Array determines the spell’s physical form.
If you set the Outer Array’s form to a ‘Sphere,’ combining it with the previous layers results in the spell: Exploding Fireball.” “A spell can only ever have one Core Array, but it can have multiple Mid-Level and Outer Arrays.
However, the more Mid-Level and Outer Arrays you add, the exponentially greater the magic power consumption becomes.” “Furthermore, simply adding more arrays does not automatically make a spell better.
The more complex the Mid-Level and Outer Arrays become, the higher the probability of the spell collapsing and failing entirely.” Reading this, Cain couldn’t help but compare it to computer programming.
The arrays were like lines of code, and a successfully cast spell was a perfectly executed program.
If you bloated the code with too many conflicting commands, you would inevitably create bugs.
At best, the spell would misfire; at worst, the entire magic circle would overload and explode in the caster’s face.
With this, Cain finally had a solid grasp of how magic operated.
He looked at the simple, blank magic circle he had conjured yesterday.
“Because I naturally awakened Holy Light Magic, my magic automatically comes with the Holy Light Core Array.
I don’t need to learn how to construct a Core.
All I need to do is learn how to weave the Mid-Level and Outer Arrays to shape the spells!” Flipping to the back of the book, Cain noticed a small, handwritten note left by the author: “The theories above apply to the vast majority of Elemental Magics, but not all of them.” Looks like whoever wrote this book was pretty thorough.
Cain stretched his arms, hearing his joints pop.
Without realizing it, he had been reading for the entire day.