“Radiant Rain!” As Cain’s voice echoed, a slightly complex magic circle unfolded in his palm.
Channeling his magic power through the array, six golden arrows of light shot out from his hand.
Boom!
The half-human-tall boulder ahead of him was struck by the six light arrows and instantly shattered into jagged pieces.
Looking at the destruction before him, Cain nodded with satisfaction.
He was clearly very pleased with the power of this strike.
The spell Radiant Rain was composed of three layered magic arrays: the core Holy Light Array, the mid-level Haste Array, and the outer Form: Arrow Array.
Because he naturally grasped the core array upon awakening his magic, he only had to focus on mastering the Haste and Form: Arrow minor arrays.
Learning to mentally draw the two minor arrays only took Cain half a day.
However, successfully nesting the three arrays together and making his magic power flow smoothly and stably through them had taken him a full month and a half.
And this was just the most basic form of the magic.
According to the magic textbook he had studied, Radiant Rain could be upgraded to an advanced spell called Radiant Plume Detonation.
For that, the mid-level array would need to expand from a single Haste command into a complex, multi-layered array consisting of Haste, Detonation, and Oscillation, while the outer array would shift from Form: Arrow to Form: Feather.
This placed extremely strict demands on a wizard’s magic control.
If a single mistake was made in the array construction, not only would the spell fail, but the resulting magical backlash would inflict severe damage on the wizard themselves.
Recalling how he had initially arrogantly planned to just invent his own original spells right off the bat, Cain couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh.
“Good thing no one knows about that, otherwise it would definitely be a permanent stain on my history.” “Well, it’s about time.” Cain checked the sky and felt it was getting late.
He gathered the medicinal herbs he had been passively foraging and headed deep into the eastern forest of Magnolia.
As he walked, he recalled the very first time he had brought herbs to Granny Porlyusica.
He remembered the utterly shocked expression on her face when she opened her door and saw him standing there.
Originally, Cain thought he would be cursed at and chased away with a broom, but Granny Porlyusica surprisingly didn’t kick him out.
When he carefully asked her for information regarding Holy Light Magic, she had answered him truthfully.
It was precisely Granny Porlyusica’s insights that gave Cain a clearer understanding of the true nature of his magic.
According to her, Holy Light Magic belonged to a category of magic that could be referred to as Age of Gods Magic or Divine Magic.
Legend had it that ancient wizards had absorbed the divine attributes bestowed upon them by the gods, which eventually led to the creation of sacred magics like Holy Light Magic.
Whether this lore was historical fact or myth, no one truly knew.
But one thing was absolutely certain: magic with divine attributes could not be learned through study.
It could only be naturally awakened from within the soul.
Furthermore, the so-called Age of Gods Magic belonged exclusively to the chosen spokespersons of the gods in the mortal realm.
Yet, after the ancient era ended, for some unknown reason, humanity lost the ability to awaken divine magic.
Over the centuries, it gradually disappeared from the world until it became nothing more than a myth.
Cain felt his magic didn’t seem all that different from standard Light Element Magic.
To this, Porlyusica coldly suggested that he probably just hadn’t unearthed the true, devastating power of Holy Light Magic yet.
On the way back from his memories, Cain couldn’t help but dwell on Porlyusica’s words.
Absorbing the divine attributes bestowed by gods?
Speaking of which, gods did exist in the Fairy Tail universe.
God Ankhseram, the supreme deity of life and death who had cursed Zeref with absolute immortality, was prime proof of that.
Although the gods largely served as background lore, considering Zeref had been walking the earth for over four hundred years, deities were a definitive reality.
Therefore, the origin story of divine magic wasn’t necessarily just a baseless rumor.
Come to think of it, during the Grand Magic Games timeline, didn’t the White Dragon Slayer from the Sabertooth guild also wield magic with holy attributes?
Oh, wait.
He had a Dragon Lacrima implanted inside him.
Never mind then.
Lost in these wild thoughts, Cain eventually arrived at the massive treehouse and politely knocked on the door.
Porlyusica opened it, saw Cain standing outside with a pile of fresh herbs, and didn’t look the least bit surprised.
“Come in,” she muttered, turning and walking back inside.
“Speak.
What questions do you have this time?” “Hehe.” Cain smiled sheepishly.
Knowing Porlyusica despised idle chatter, he got straight to the point.
“Granny, why does the Mana Potion I brewed only restore twenty percent of a person’s magic power, falling far short of the sixty percent stated in the book?” “Did you bring the potion with you?” “Yeah, I did.” Cain reached into his pouch and handed over a small vial of his homemade Magic Power Recovery Potion.
That’s right.
During this past month and a half, Cain hadn’t just been practicing magic arrays; he had also been teaching himself alchemy and potion brewing.
He hadn’t planned on it originally, but since he was always reading books on magical herbs to prepare gifts for Porlyusica, he felt the process didn’t seem too difficult.
So, he decided to try brewing a few simple concoctions himself.
But the final product’s effectiveness was way off from the textbook description.
Since he had a world-class medical expert right in front of him, he naturally wasn’t going to let the opportunity go to waste.
Porlyusica popped the cork, took a single sniff, and instantly diagnosed the problem.
“There are far too many impurities in your Lunar Star Herb extract, which heavily degrades the final efficacy.
You need to focus on purification.
Furthermore, your temperature control during the simmering phase was insufficient; that’s another reason it failed.” Porlyusica wasn’t actually opposed to Cain learning potion-making.
After all, his Holy Light Magic inherently possessed powerful healing properties.
Paired with the fact that this child could process raw herbs so flawlessly relying solely on library books, it proved he had a genuine, rare talent for the medical arts.
After barking a few more strict pointers regarding the potion’s brewing process, she shooed him out the door.
Although she didn’t hate Cain as much as she hated the rest of humanity, she certainly wouldn’t admit to liking him.
Cain didn’t pester her.
Having gotten the answers he needed, he obediently left the treehouse.
Inside the Fairy Tail guild.
Cana, who had just returned from completing a request with Shiro, was surprised to see Cain sitting at a table casually chatting with Laxus.
“Why aren’t you in the library today?
What are you doing out here?” Normally, aside from the brief moments he spent picking up or turning in simple requests, Cain practically lived in the library.
Shiro hadn’t seen Cain in a while either and happily bounded over, running excited circles around his feet.
“I finally finished learning a new spell, so I decided to take a break and relax for the day.” Laxus, sitting next to him, had already heard the news from Cain, so he wasn’t surprised.
“Cain, since you’ve finally got an offensive spell down, wanna spar?” Looking at the eager, battle-hungry Laxus, Cain refused without a second of hesitation.
“I literally just mastered one spell.
I’m not even used to casting it in combat yet!” Having been in the guild for a few months now, Cain was familiar with almost everyone, save for Gildarts, who still hadn’t returned from his century quest.
At this current point in time, Laxus’s personality was nothing like the arrogant, rebellious jerk he would become as an adult.
He was very cheerful, outgoing, and seeing himself as the older kid of the group, naturally took care of Cain and Cana like an older brother.
Seeing Cain definitively refuse, he couldn’t force the issue.
“Alright, fine.
But once you’ve got a few more spells under your belt, make sure you fight me!” Cain smiled and nodded.
“Yeah, definitely.” Laxus grinned, satisfied with the promise.
He had recently been implanted with the Lightning Dragon Lacrima, and his massive magic power was no longer a life-threatening burden on his frail body.
With his newfound strength, he was desperate for a decent sparring partner to test his limits.
Cain also knew that training entirely alone behind closed doors would only get him so far.
Combat experience was crucial.
If it weren’t for the fact that his entire arsenal consisted of one blinding flash (Radiance) and one projectile attack (Radiant Rain), he definitely would have agreed to the match.
“Hey, hey!
When you two fight, make sure you tell me!
I want to come watch and cheer for both of you!” Cana quickly chimed in, terrified they would sneak off and fight secretly without her.
“Hahaha, don’t worry, Cana.
We’ll definitely let you know,” Laxus promised with a booming laugh.
After enjoying a single day of well-deserved rest, Cain returned to his usual grueling routine the very next morning.
Whenever he had free time, he buried himself in the library.
Like a parched sponge, he desperately soaked up the vast, endless ocean of magical knowledge.
Time slipped away quietly and peacefully.
Before they knew it, an entire year had passed, and a new year softly arrived in the Kingdom of Fiore.