Everyone in the Guild woke up the moment Mystogan's figure disappeared, with only Natsu still sound asleep, unresponsive.
"Is that feeling Mystogan?"
"It's that guy again, his sleep magic is really strong!"
The members of the Chariot Engine team rubbed their heads to ease their still-drowsy minds, sighing with emotion about Mystogan.
"Huh, Mystogan is?" Lucy rubbed her eyes, half-opened them, and asked softly.
"He's one of Fairy Tail's strongest candidates!" Elfman replied to Lucy with sweat dripping down his face and a serious expression.
"Bang! Yes, but for some reason, he doesn't seem to want people to see his true face. Even when Erza was assessing him, she didn't get a chance to see it." Gray slammed the table, feeling a bit unwilling himself; he hadn't expected that even after so much training, he still couldn't resist Mystogan's sleep magic.
"Huh, no way, that's too strange! Even Erza hasn't seen him!" Lucy looked incredulous, turning to Erza, who also had an unwilling expression.
"Hey, hey, Erza, stay calm!" Kana and Levy advised from the side.
She could already sense the anger and unwillingness from Erza, whose hair was flying with her magic power.
"So, besides the Master, Zorn, and Laxus, no one has seen his true face," Gray continued.
"Huh? Laxus, where, where?" Natsu immediately woke up from his stupor at the mention of the name, turning to look around, but didn't find Laxus.
"Natsu, why are you so reactive to Laxus's name? Weren't you just defeated by Erza?" Gray retorted, a bit speechless.
"Damn it, I don't care! I'm going to challenge all the S-Class Mages in the Guild!" Natsu yelled, breathing fire.
"However, Laxus and Mirajane are almost done with their S-Class mission, so they should be back soon. You can challenge him then."
Zorn looked at the fire-breathing Natsu, speechless. Natsu's vitality was truly boundless! He had been half-dead just a moment ago.
"Damn it, I want to do S-Class missions too!" Natsu, as if his desires had been stirred, stared intently at the second floor, his longing gaze slowly causing a strong struggle within him, but his footsteps slowly moved towards the second floor.
Master Makarov seemed to sense something, and a giant arm immediately sealed off the second floor: "You're not worthy yet, Natsu. I will absolutely not let you go to the second floor."
"Old man, I will definitely become an S-Class Mage this year, just you wait! Happy, let's go." Natsu was instantly so angry he stamped his feet, and strode out of the Guild with Happy.
Lucy looked at the situation, a bit confused herself!
Zorn sighed at this. It seemed Natsu would still secretly come to take mission requests tonight. Alas, he had originally planned to take a good rest these few days.
After all, when the Master was holding a meeting, he heard Kana say that Laxus and Mirajane's return also involved something big to report to the Master, so it seemed the matter was not small.
Thinking of this, Zorn shook his head, no longer dwelling on the matter. Being with Kana was the most important thing.
So Zorn took Kana out to stroll through the night market.
----Separator----
In the Guild in the evening.
"Lucy, we're leaving first."
"Okay! Sayonara."
Only Levy, who was reading books, and Lucy remained in the Guild; the other members had all gone home.
"Alright, thanks for waiting for me, Lucy. Hmm? What are you thinking about?" Levy packed up her things and turned to ask Lucy, who was still looking at the second floor with some confusion.
"It's just that the Master just said something about not being able to go to the second floor. Why would he say that, Levy?" Lucy was completely baffled, having thought about it for so long, and only now had the chance to ask.
"Well, that's a bit too early for Lucy."
"Actually, the jobs on the second-floor bulletin board are much more difficult than the jobs on the first floor. Even a slight oversight could lead to death; they are very dangerous missions."
Levy spoke with a bit of fear. Although she had never actually done a second-floor mission, from the many books and documents she had read, she was very familiar with some S-Class missions.
"Only S-Class Mages can take on these missions!!!"
"However, there's also a good point: the mission rewards are very high. Zorn even bought a house in this town outright with mission prize money."
After emphasizing the dangers, Levy then turned to tell Lucy about the only benefit of such missions: the reward.
"Ah!"
Hearing that even a slight oversight in the mission's difficulty could lead to death, she gasped aloud, not for the mission prize money, as she was the young lady of a corporate conglomerate.
"Then what is an S-Class Mage?" After her surprise, Lucy quickly asked a more crucial question.
"That's a title only a Magician who has been granted the qualification by the Master can receive! However, so far, only six people have received this title: they are..." Levy told Lucy excitedly, finally leaving her in suspense, as most of the Guild's current reputation was indeed gained by S-Class Mages.
"Gildarts"
"Zorn"
"Laxus"
"Erza"
"Mirajane"
"Mystogan"
"Only these six people. This order is also the chronological order in which they became S-Class."
"Ah, they're really strong!" Lucy's face was full of longing at this point.
"But you absolutely must not aim for that S-Class. Those missions are truly, no matter how many lives you have, not enough to survive!" Levy leaned towards Lucy and warned her.
"It seems so!"
"Mhm, good, then let's go, it's getting late." Levy finished her juice on the table in one gulp, then pulled Lucy's hand, having mostly tidied up the Guild.
Then, at a crossroads, they waved goodbye to each other.
Lucy walked alone by the river, her heart now exceptionally excited. Through Levy, she had gained a clear understanding of the current power structure of the Fairy Tail Guild.
She was also glad she had joined. "Yosh, I'll work hard tomorrow too, haha, that's great."
Lucy walked along, thinking happily, not even hearing the concerned words of the uncle by the river, simply immersed in her own world.
She had no idea that an uninvited guest had arrived at her house.
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