Cassian was looking at the many job descriptions on the mission board, comparing their pay, with their difficulty and time necessary to spent on.
'Bandit group extermination… would take three days minimum, and only 70k jewels…
Retrieving some old legendary sword… barely any clues… even the 9 million jewels sound bad at that…
This one…' After a few job requests, Cassian finally found one that looked somewhat interesting.
[Hodras extermination]
Rank: B
Reward: 200k
Location: Tuly Village
Description: A horde of Hodras has been settling close by, and continue to destroy any agricultural fields around. If no one stops them, they will destroy our entire harvest, this year. Please help us!
'Hmm, Tuly Village should lay between here and Hargeon, if I remember correctly… so the location is alright. The reward also seems enough, especially since they seem to really need help… Whatever! I'll take it.'
With his mind made up, Cassian took the job request from the board, and brought it over to the Master, and Mira, who were both at the bar, at the moment.
"Master! I'd like to take this job! Is that alright?" He stepped close, and sat down close to where the master was sitting on the counter, before handing the piece of paper to the short old man.
He took it, and gave it a good read, "Hmm, Hodras aren't particularly dangerous alone, but can become a problem in a horde… Would you have any problems with another person tagging along? Just to make sure, everything is alright."
Cassian just shrugged, "Sure, why not! Gotta get to learn some names anyway."
"Gray! Get over here, for a second!" The little Master called out, only for the same guy that had been entirely naked in the chaos previously, to step forward, still only dressed in underwear.
"What is it, Master?" Gray asked, not even caring for his missing clothes, apparently.
"*sigh* would you accompany our newest member on his first mission? It would be this one," The Master asked, before handing the job request to him.
When he got it in his hands, his eyes lit up for a second, "Oh, this one! Yeah, sure. I already had my eyes on this one, too."
Gray then turned to Cassian, with a grin on his face, "Guess we gotta form a team, for this mission, then. Are you good with heading out, tomorrow morning? We should be able to be back, by evening. Oh, you can also have the entire reward, since this is your first mission. Just invite me for a drink afterwards, haha."
Okay, maybe Cassian's first impression had been wrong, ...or not.
"Gray, where is your underwear?" Mira asked, in a gentle tone, while pointing at the black-haired guy.
"Huh? How did this happen?!" He exclaimed, before quickly getting his underwear back on.
He then went back to his prior seat, only turning around once more, "Let's meet at the train station, at 8, alright?"
Cassian nodded in response, and Gray sat back down, where he had sat before.
"Mira, can I get a drink, too?" He asked the pretty waitress.
"Sure, what do you want?"
Not really knowing what existed here, Cassian was unsure, "Just surprise me!"
A few moments later, after Mira had mixed a little something, he was presented with a drink in a mug. He took a swig, and it seemed to be a rather strong fruity liquor.
It was good.
With something to drink, Cassian turned to the Master, and asked what he had been wondering, ever since yesterday, "Master, why is the guild called Fairy Tail? Where did this come from?"
Both people present, seemed somewhat surprised by the sudden interest, but Makarov just smiled, before beginning, "Well, the first master thought of the name. She had always wanted to see a real fairy, and there was also that question around that time… 'Do fairies have Tails?' That, is where our name came from."
This just made Cassian even more intrigued, and since he felt a bit playful, he responded in kind, "Well, do you think I have a tail?"
The two of them could only look at him, with clear confusion on their faces, but it was Mira that spoke, "What do you mean? Should you have?"
"No, I don't think so, but it was your question, just now, right Master?" He teased a bit more, only to continue, before Makarov could even say anything, "I mean, I'm a fairy, after all."
Cassian then drank the remaining liquor in one go, and stood up, all the while having a huge grin on his face.
When he was gone, having walked out of the guild, Mira turned to the Master, "I don't want to think bad about him, but…"
She left the rest unsaid, but he could understand what she meant, regardless of words said, "I'm honestly not sure, myself. There is something different about his leaking magic, too, but I can't fully put my finger on it…"
Mira seemed even more shocked, upon hearing this, "You could accurately feel his magic? I couldn't sense anything really, there was some kind of Haze over it."
"Yes. He seems to have some secrets of his own… but, who in fairy tail doesn't have a past. It is simply on us, to give him a space, where can feel safe, and trusted, right?"
The Master was right, and Mira understood that immediately, which caused an even more radiant smile to appear on her face, after a short gloom had passed over her face, just seconds ago.
---
Meanwhile, Cassian who had left the guild building, just a few minutes ago, was now already outside of Magnolia, looking for a suitable place to spend the night.
Though, this wouldn't be to sleep, but to train in his own magic, for a change.
The last time he did, was back in the castle, which was most likely, also the catalyst to his early goodbye.
During that time, Cassian had tried to create a 'real' magic, related to space. There was his first mistake, though.
In this world, hundreds of different types of magic exist, and just one of those is spatial magic. But, exactly that, is the problem. It already exists, and can therefore be explained, as well as copied.
He would need to find a niche, where there was no prior, already established path, but rather one where he would be the one to create it. If he needed something related to space, after even that, then he would need to try to reverse-engineer the already existing types of magic, in that category.
Now, though, he would step away from the space part, and instead concentrate on the other part of his 'success', before.
While already theorizing about his next steps, Cassian found a good place, to meditate, and rest for the night. It was the very barrier to the forest, but just outside of it.
Ever since his rebirth, he simply felt more at home, when he was outside in the nature. It was most definitely, due to the fae blood in his veins. After all, it had also fundamentally changed his entire body, as well as magic pathways.
Maybe without it, he would've even been able to use other kinds of magic, native to this world. Though, he wouldn't trade it in, regardless. It had its benefits, and he enjoyed those. Also, he had already received two dragon lacrima, which already gave him a type of magic, native to this world.
Cassian could only shake his head, to get all of the distracting thoughts out of his mind, to concentrate on what he was trying to achieve.
This time, he couldn't just remain in that state, for as long as he did, the last time. He needed his consciousness to remain with his body, and yet, he was trying to do the exact opposite.
Sitting on the ground in a comfortable, meditative position, Cassian slowly circulated his magic, as he had done, when he was chasing that fleeting feeling.
The next moment, his magic spread around him, in a semi-circular radius. Or, maybe it was even fully circular, but Cassian wasn't concentrating on what lay below the grass, all around him.
With his magic spreading through his 'zone', even with closes eyes, he was able to see, and feel everything around.
Just then, his spread out senses took some movement, from the forest in. A small pack of Giant Anteaters.
He was surprised that any monsters would live so close to a human settlement, but welcomed it, for his experiments.
When they came closer, he used his magic exactly like he did, back at the castle, which stopped anything, besides pure energy, like ethernano, from getting into his zone.
The only reason he could use it so fast, this time, was because the last time had been like the process from 0 → 1. This time, he was basically already on 1, but wanted 2, which was still easier to get done, since there was already a foundation, to rely on.
Before fully activating it, though, he waited for the pack to come closer, and only when they were mere meters away, did he truly activate the spell.
'Space Lock.'
It was the name Cassian had come up with, since it seemed rather fitting.
Not even a second, after the spell was activated, the Anteaters crashed into the wall, without any visible results.
'Success!' Cassian thought, as he slowly stood up, from his position, and went over to the part of his zone, where they were still trying to get inside, all while consciously keeping his zone active.
He probably could've made the zone follow his steps, pushing them even further back, but did not do so, since he wanted to test a few things.
As he was now standing, right before the wall, keeping the three monsters out, he touched the wall, and besides a little magical resistance, encountered nothing else, even when his fingers slipped out for a second, and he pulled them back inside.
This meant that he could create such a zone, and possible even leave it, though that was still to see.
For the moment, he wanted to try something else.
Cassian concentrated his will on the part of the wall, where one of them was constantly trying to get inside, without any results, and then, just as it was beginning its next attempt, willed the wall to give way, causing the monster to stumble inside.
'This should be credited to the upgrade in [Magic Control], right?' He reasoned, after it worked on the very first try.
Now, he had one of them inside with him.
Test 1: Try the will magic on it.
...failure.
It did not even seem to notice the intention, and simply rushed at him, even shooting out its long tongue at him.
Cassian merely dodged, and then proceeded to create more distance again, with the use of Mana Burst.
Then, while the Anteater was trying to get him, and he was dodging its attacks, he was already hypothesizing about the reason for the failure.
'Hmm, it is in my zone, so, not everything in it can be influenced… What is the difference…?'
He was thinking as hard as he could, but the answer seemed right out of his grasp, once again. After a few minutes of fruitless thoughts, and nonsensical ideas, his mind unconsciously began wandering again.
Wandering to the senses his zone gifted him, to the way he was able to unleash his magic, to how he could influence it…
'Well, now I feel stupid!' Cassian thought, while already starting on the most logical solution.
He released just a tiny bit more magic into the zone, which seemed to not be dispersed freely over the entire sphere, but much rather acted like a mist, slowly closing in on the Anteater.
There creature managed merely two more attacks with its tongue, and its right paw, before the magical mist finally entered its body.
Test 2: Concentrate my Will on the magic within it!
Cassian then focused his concentration on the monster itself, only to very minutely sense a little something, within the tall creature. And, this little something should be his magic.
Next, he focused his entire being on it, trying to concentrate on it, with every fiber of his being.
*Thud*
"…"
The moment he had taken control of the magic in the Anteater… it had collapsed.
...success…?
Cassian went over to it, very carefully, not knowing what to expect exactly.
When he reached it, he noticed how blood was slowly flowing out of the Anteater's eyes, and nose…
'Have I… somehow concentrated his brain…? I need a lot more training with this, before using it for myself, or in a fight…' He concluded, after seeing the results, of his second test's, first try.
In the end, Cassian also tried the same thing with the other two monster's, with reasonable results.
The second one seemed to become obedient and calm, even following a 'sit' command, while the third one… its head exploded…
If these test made one thing clear, 'real' magic could be rather random sometimes. It seemed like he would still need to make his own Magecraft system, after all.
Still, since that would take a while, for tomorrow, if he needed to use Magic, he could always use the dragon slayer magics inside of him.
The rest of his night, until the early morning, was then split among his dragon slayer magics a bit more.
All the while, a pair of eyes watched him constantly from the forest. Something Cassian was mostly unaware of, due to the missing magic, in the watcher's body.
-x-
Well, first tries on his unique magic. Any thoughts on it, yet? I can say; it will be a lot more versatile, than it seems right now.
As for what follows, there will be a short mission next, before we get to Eisenwald. I want to say it now; he will participate in most of the the more important arcs, while doing his own things, for others.
There are also some parts planned, where he will indirectly participate in arcs.
Generally, even without really joining Team Natsu, since he will make his own, he will have his own influence on the story. Though, sometimes it may seem not much, there will be moments where it will matter.
And as a last point, because of suggestions, which fit well into the picture i had for him, his powerset will be very heavily be influenced by a certain group of knights... ;)