Chapter 140: Personal Storage Space
At the beginning of the year, Simon had finally saved up enough money. He bought a three-story house near Noah's, and he and Kagura moved in. He had this idea for a long time and had been continuously taking on requests to achieve it; he was one of the most diligent members of the guild.
Seeing him working so hard to earn money, but also that he never asked for a loan, Noah had privately asked Kagura about it.
"My brother felt that living at your house was already troubling you enough, Big Brother Noah," she had told him. "So he didn't want to trouble you with this as well. Besides, I helped save up too! We bought this house with the money we both saved. It's very meaningful!" When she spoke of their new house, Kagura's eyes sparkled.
About a year ago, she had received Makarov's approval to start taking requests. After learning that her brother wanted to buy a house, she had also pitched in. Due to her strength and age, she could only take on local jobs, but she gave most of her earnings to her brother for the house fund. Even though her contribution was only a small part of the total price, she was extremely happy.
Seeing that Simon had no intention of borrowing money, Noah didn't bring it up again. He just paid a little more attention to him and would answer his magic-related questions in as much detail as possible to help him improve his strength.
Now that Simon and Kagura finally had their own house, the others were very happy for them. Everyone helped them hold a housewarming party to celebrate. Noah promised them that if they ever wanted to come back and live at his place, they were always welcome; their rooms would be kept for them. That night, they all partied late at Simon's house before heading home.
From the next day on, everyone in the guild returned to their daily lives. Ultear went with Ur to do S-Class requests, and Cana went with Gildarts. Simon and Kagura would also often visit Noah's house. Kagura would come to see Erza; the two of them were very close, and Erza was very fond of her "little sister." Simon would come to ask Noah for advice. Since Noah was often at home, was the same age, and was an incredibly powerful wizard, he would always answer his questions in great detail.
The others did what they needed to do—requests, training—and everyone fell into an orderly routine.
Noah also continued his own studies and research. This time, he was researching how to add a storage space to the guild mark. It was very inconvenient to carry things around. Although he knew Requip magic and could use magic cards to store items, both methods had their drawbacks.
Requip magic was generally used to store weapons in another dimension, which could then be summoned when needed. If he were to put other items in there, what if he accidentally pulled one out during a fight? For example, if he needed a shield but pulled out a cake, wouldn't he be easily killed? Using the Requip space to store everyday items was not a good idea. Similarly, if he used magic cards and the card was lost, everything inside would be lost with it. Cards were small and easy to lose, and they weren't very secure; they could be easily destroyed.
So, Noah began to research how to combine the two concepts—to add a space similar to a magic card's inside the guild mark, allowing it to store items. He would then add a modified version of Requip magic to it, allowing all guild members to take out or store items with just a thought.
This space needed to be extremely stable and secure, and also simple enough that any guild member could use it with just a thought, even if they had no magic power of their own. The guild mark already stored magic, and Noah had recently expanded its storage capacity and reduced its passive consumption. Even without any magic replenishment, as long as the shield and teleportation weren't activated, the mark's basic magic could run for a month in a magic-less environment without any problem. Activating the item storage would increase magic consumption, and the user would be notified of how much magic was left. The magic reserved for the shield and teleportation would not be included in this calculation; only when all other stored magic was depleted would the user be notified that this last reserve existed. How to use it would be up to them to decide.
After a long period of research and testing, Noah finally completed the design of the storage space and successfully added it to the guild mark. After confirming there were no issues, he upgraded the marks for all the guild members.
The members with the updated marks immediately began to test it out, excitedly storing and retrieving the things around them—a cup in, a cup out, a cup in, a cup out—having a great time.
"This is so much more convenient! You can just throw anything inside!" Gray marveled. Usually, he had to carry his personal items on requests, and for long trips, he had to bring a change of clothes. Now, with this personal space, he could travel light and bring even more things with him.
"Can't the space be any bigger? I still want to put more luggage inside," Erza said after trying out the new function. She was very happy, as it meant she no longer had to drag her huge pile of luggage everywhere, but she felt the space was a little small.
"It's not small. It's two meters long, wide, and high. That's eight cubic meters. You can fit a lot of things in there, and it should be enough for your daily necessities. You don't actually use most of the luggage you bring, do you?" Noah had always wanted to ask her why she brought so much with her.
"Of course I use it! It has a lot of my favorite clothes in it!"
No, you don't. You'd be better off bringing more armor, the other guild members thought to themselves.
Noah shook his head and didn't press the issue. "The storage space is this big for now. With my current technology, this size is the most stable, secure, and covert. When my skills improve in the future, I can expand the size. For now, you'll have to make do."
"That's good enough! Thank you, Noah!" Hearing his words, Erza smiled and thanked him, then happily went off with the other girls to discuss what they were going to put inside.
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