ASS 21

The movie he chose was a fantasy one, set in a low technology world with different races and even magic. Though magic didn't play that big of a part, the adventure and the ordeals the main cast went through were what truly made the film special. Nevertheless, he believed they would enjoy the movie, and they did as it caught their attention right from the start.

The opening scene presented them with a Dark Lord, an evil magical artifact, and an army of wicked creatures, all things they were somewhat familiar with. Mira seemed fairly interested as she watched it in fascination, but Erza, on the other hand, had a frown as she stared at the opening battle.

Will wasn't at the point of being able to read her mind, but he didn't need to be a genius to figure this one out. The fight scene... just wasn't up to her standards, and he had to admit, Will wasn't as impressed as he thought he would be, especially after he saw Erza in action. Comparing her to the actors? They looked like kids playing with toys.

There wasn't much he could do to change that, as he just wasn't good enough with Super Archive to completely edit the scene. Maybe that was something he would be able to achieve in the future. For now, however, he could only try to make it an overall better experience.

"Ohh!" Mira exclaimed as the flatscreen increased in size, covering the entire wall in front of them.

Will pursed his lips, focusing on improving it even more. The screen took a slightly wider shape, the angles bending, almost making it feel like they were watching the movie from right beside the characters. He struggled for a bit more, but he managed to turn the sound into a stereo one, turning the film as realistic as he possibly could at that moment. Unfortunately, he lacked the ability to add even more effects, such as smell and touch.

"Is there anything else to that ring besides the vaguely described ability?" Mira inquired as the movie truly started.

"Invisibility, as you will shortly see," Will idly replied, still trying to figure out if there were ways to better the experience. "Also gives an overall boost to the abilities of the wearer. All of them, including increasing the wearer's lifespan, if I'm not mistaken."

"I see," Mira nodded, tilting her head to the side after. "Is it like one of those demon artifacts? It was mentioned that the Dark Lord infused part of his consciousness in it, so can he manifest like they do?"

"Like Lullaby?" Will asked, his eyes opening wide as he hadn't expected to be asked that.

"I'm not familiar with that name, but a couple of the demons I fought manifested themselves from an artifact," Mira casually answered, being the most experienced mage in Fairy Tail when it came to demons since her magic revolved around absorbing them. "Heard there were a few such other cases, and they only managed to slay the demons by destroying their artifacts."

"Yeah," Will scratched his head. "I think those are among the first Zeref created since the more successful ones have a human appearance or an almost human one," he speculated since he wasn't entirely sure on that one. Not to mention that the ones Zeref created were just a sub-branch of the demon race, a magical race that existed long before he started his experiments.

"But to answer your question, no, Sauron can't manifest from the ring," he said with confidence. "He can only influence the wearer, so they have the urge to return the ring to him."

"Aha," Mira nodded before inquiring. "I don't suppose he can take over the mind of the wearer like my magic?"

"No, no, no. Nothing like that," Will shook his head. "Just mentally urge the wearer, nothing more."

They continued watching the rest in silence, enjoying the movie, its music, and the adventure it presented. Erza was firmly snuggled against him, hugging him tight as if trying to merge their bodies together. Mira, on the other hand, was a bit more reserved. She wasn't exactly keeping a distance between them, but she wasn't pressing herself against him as much as the redhead. Though she hadn't pushed his arm away and appeared to be quite comfortable, with one of her hands gently resting on his thigh.

Content. That was one way to describe how he felt at that moment. Two incredible women on each side, one his girlfriend and the other a potential future girlfriend? He was in a one-of-a-kind situation, especially with how his business was also blooming. However, troubled times awaited them, and there was little he could do to prevent them. Plus, chances were he would get involved one way or another.

Growing stronger was the only way to ensure his future, and he also wouldn't be a liability if he became more powerful. The Heart-Shaped Herb already helped with that, improving his physique and magic, but that was far from enough.

As good as his current boost was, it was nothing compared to the likes of Acnologia and Zeref. Not to mention the gods he recently met, which he couldn't even measure their strength accurately. The Eldest did end up scaring that unknown dragon as if it was just a simple thing for him to do, proving to him once more that God Slayer, or just God Magic, was a level above Dragon Magic.

And that was his path for the future, learning whatever the Eldest was teaching him. Will, however, needed to find a way to return, and thankfully, he already knew how. He just had to learn how to enter his astral form on his own or teleport.

With that in mind, he started slowly translating the books in his mind while they enjoyed the movie. Might as well get this done as quickly as possible. Plus, the sooner he learned how to do that, the quicker he would get to learn from the Eldest.

Maybe, just maybe, he might become strong enough to prevent some of the more... unfortunate events. Both of the girls would've ended up getting caught by one of the Dark Guilds, and their treatment would've been torturous, to say the least.

Will might've already prevented that future, though. At least one part of it. As soon as Erza was outfitted with her new equipment, which should grow in strength the more it was used, she would become a force of nature, and that's not even counting the fact that she was now exploring her Telekinesis more thanks to him.

Mira, he wasn't sure how he could help her, but he really didn't need to do something special there. She was already strong, and she was getting into shape long before canon started. Absorbing the souls of demons was her way of growing more powerful, which he couldn't assist her with at the moment, but... he could always make something with the new herbs he brought back.

Will would seriously have to look and focus on his Alchemy, much more than for creating simple products to sell to the public. He could help a lot of people with that, giving them a not much-needed boost, but surely a welcomed one. Fulfilling his promise to Twilight Ogre Guildmaster was also on his mind since the more S-class wizards Ishgar had, the better prepared they would be for the Alvarez Empire. Plus, it was nice to have a plethora of S-class mages backing him up if he got into trouble.

Not to mention he also had to find a way to help Irene now. Will should've probably kept his mouth shut on that, but he felt like Erza needed to know. Plus, he liked talking, or more like, he enjoyed feeling smart, having all the information, and smugly informing others about it.

Good thing he didn't get the Super-Soldier Serum because he might've turned into one of those villains that liked to monologue about their plans, only to end up informing their enemies of how to defeat them. His greed—something he realized while being in this world—would have also been enhanced, and that would've caused even more issues.

"This is wrong," Erza's words snapped him back to reality as she stared at a fighting scene with a frown. "His stance is weak, his holding the sword clumsily, and his not using the torch enough to defend himself with it," she was far from being happy as she criticized Aragorn's fight.

"It's not meant to be a realistic one," Mira answered, a giggle escaping her mouth. "It's like the theater plays at the capital," she continued, getting a bit more comfortable as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Even if some of them use magic, they still can't replicate the fights that..." Mira took a gulp. "That you are used to."

"I think... I understand," Erza slowly nodded, though her eyes were still narrowed, scrutinizing every action during the fight.

"The movie is supposed to tell a story, and it's played by regular people," Will explained as well. "They literally can't reproduce your feats. They just capture a particular scene with certain angles and edit it as best as they can afterward. Keep in mind, no magic whatsoever was involved in their making."

"And that's really impressive," Mira said, looking quite surprised about the no magic part.

"I suppose so," Erza begrudgingly accepted.

"And this is one of the older ones," Will added after, both turning to him with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah, there are newer ones that have much better editing. I just figured this one is a good start since it has a more familiar setting. For the others, you will need to learn a thing or two beforehand."

"I'm enjoying it so far," Mira chuckled, though she did seem fairly interested in those newer ones he mentioned. "I do want to see if those little guys will succeed in their mission of destroying the ring," she turned back to the movie.

"We will watch the better ones?" Erza asked, her lips pursed as her eyes practically begged him for that, desperately wishing to see the better fight scenes.

"Yes, we will," he replied, her lips spreading wide in a cheerful smile. "After we finish this one," Will continued, and she nodded with a determined expression. "And the next two movies that are part of the series," he added, watching her lips purse into a frown.

"Okay!" Erza nodded, turning back to the screen.

"Don't worry, the next ones get better fight scenes," Will comforted her, tilting his head to the side. "I think," he added quietly.

"What?" Erza's head snapped towards him.

"Nothing," he replied with a grin while Mira chuckled from beside him, having heard him perfectly.

A silence followed as they focused on the movie, and they slowly got more and more into it. The concept was interesting, the music was great, and it was presented intriguingly. Before the three knew it, they fell asleep, all tightly snuggled on the couch.

Morning came with the sun chasing the moon away, and Will had to admit, waking up with two beauties using him as a pillow was something else. They were also hugging each other, adding more to the scene as they cuddled closely. A blanket covered them all, which he recognized as the one Erza took out when the two of them previously fell asleep on the couch.

Will felt at peace, but that only lasted until he checked the time, finding out it was less than half an hour before his store's opening time, and it was a Monday.

"Oh shit," he murmured, slowly trying to wiggle his way out without waking the two up. However, Erza was a hugger, and she just tightened her grasp on him.

"Princess..." He whispered, lightly nudging her and only receiving a low groan in response. "I have to get up to open the store, and..." he paused, looking at the other sleeping beauty. "And Mira needs to as well," he added, poking her as well.

A bout of early morning moans later, both Mira and Will got up in a rush, while Erza just wrapped herself in her blanket with a slight pout.

"I don't know if I have enough time to get to Fairy Hills, fix myself up, and return on time," Mira said, a tinge of panic in her voice.

"You can clean yourself here," Will shrugged. "I have a few extra sets of toiletries," he said, getting a weird look from Mira, which prompted him to continue. "Hey, I had money to spend and figured Erza might not always bring some with her."

"How sweet of you," Mira giggled pleasantly with a mischievous glint flashing in her eyes. "I don't suppose you also bought a bunch of dresses for her? Ones that could fit me as well?" She asked, looking down at the wrinkled dress she was wearing.

"Please, you look lovely in anything you wear," he waved her off. "If you straighten up the dress a bit, people won't even notice."

"Go on," Mira urged him, biting her lower lip and wiggling her eyebrows.

"Maybe later," Will winked at her. "Because we still have to get ready."

"Right," she nodded as they both quickly fixed themselves up. Soon enough, they got ready and left minutes before opening time, finding Dird and Oxi to be already waiting outside the front door.

"Morning," Will greeted them, wincing as he completely forgot about those two and had not prepared coffee or sandwiches for them.

"Sup, boss," they returned the greeting, Dird excitedly staring at him while Oxi had a smug look on his face.

"Uh, sorry, boys, but I don't have coffee and breakfast with me today," Will told them as he unlocked the store, all of them entering inside.

"You don't?" Dird looked crestfallen, his shoulders sagging as his lips weakly trembled.

"It's okay, boss," Oxi said with a knowing smile. "We understand."

"We do?" Dird turned to his partner with a tilt of his head.

"Yeah," Oxi replied, discreetly nudging his head in Mira's direction. "We do."

It took him a moment, but Dird soon nodded, a look of revelation replacing his confused expression. "She ate all of the sandwiches, right?" He leaned in and whispered.

Oxi just blinked at his partner before sighing in a moment. "Yeah, let's go with that," he said, shaking his head in defeat. "I'm gonna take a quick smoke before the customers start coming," Oxi quickly left, quite disappointed with his friend's deduction skills. Then again, Dird was never known for his thinking capabilities.

Finding himself back in his alchemy room, Will felt like it had been forever since he was there to work while, in actuality, it had been just two Earthland days. The couple of adventures he went on just made it seem longer, especially the one to the MCU, as time was slowed down while they were there.

"Let's get back into this," Will pumped himself up as he took a deep breath. He had a lot of work ahead of him, including multiple contracts he had to complete. Then there were also the many new products he was yet to release since his workload had increased quite a bit after Mira started working for him.

That was something he had to resolve soon. Purchasing a magic book from his system was one way to solve his problem, or he could potentially ask Makarov for help with that. However, that would just pile even more stuff on his plate, and he was already having trouble balancing it. Magic to learn, texts to translate, alchemy to study, plants to grow... adding even more to that list just wasn't a smart idea.

Getting someone to help him, like an apprentice of sorts, seemed like the obvious choice. However, he wasn't really looking forward to revealing so many of his secrets to other people. Erza knew most of them, but she definitely wasn't up for this position. She would accept without hesitation if he asked, but he didn't want to put her on the spot like that.

'Maybe I can find a solution to my problem in the system store,' Will idly thought while working, mentally bringing up the shop list. It took him a minute or so, but he finally found what he was looking for. 'This could work. I might need some help before I buy this, though.'

The Heart-Shaped Herb was something he consumed with the intention of getting stronger, though it came with the benefit of making his work much more relaxed. He didn't tire as easily as he did before, and Will moved with grace he previously didn't have, springing from one workstation to another and keeping track of all of them with ease.

Though he still didn't get to making his new products since he just had that much work on his hands. Not to mention that ingredients were starting to run dry as most of them needed time to grow. Will had sent a message to the Merchant Guild, but he was still waiting for a response on that, and he might have to find a different way. He was growing quite a few herbs on his own, but they were far from enough, and he needed to plant his newly purchased ones as well.

Which brought yet another one of his current issues to light. Will was lacking space for all the projects he wished to do. Well, he still had that property on the other side of the store, though that one needed to be rebuilt. Hiring the Fortune company was always an option, but... Will didn't trust them anymore after they tried pulling one under his feet. However, maybe there was another option as he remembered there was a certain Wood-Make user in Fairy Tail.

Either way, that was something he would save for the next day as he already had plans for the afternoon.

"Where are we going?" Erza asked as they exited his home after he stored everything they needed in his pocket space.

"Just outside the city," Will replied as he locked the door before turning to her. "And we can," he took off running mid sentence. "RACE THERE!" He called out, grinning as he rushed towards the outskirts of the city.

Some might call him a cheater due to his actions, but if one wasn't cheating, then they just weren't trying hard enough. Plus, he didn't think he could beat Erza in a fair race. This way, he at least had...

"I'm not gonna lose!" Erza yelled out as she ran past him, quickly taking the lead.

'You gotta be kidding me!' Will stared in disbelief as the distance between them kept increasing by the second. He knew she was physically on another level, but he figured the herb would've shortened the gap a bit, at least enough to give him a small chance. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

'There must be something I can do...' he thought hard as he pushed himself to his limits, and an idea came to his mind. 'That could work...'

Will activated Super Archive, mentally reaching out to Erza. He wasn't at the level where he could forcefully form a connection with someone else, but she was already familiar with his magic and didn't fight him.

'Will?' Erza questioned, not pausing even for a moment as she continued sprinting.

Instead of verbally responding, Wil sent a compilation of their passionate session from yesterday alongside all the emotions and feelings he felt at that moment.

Erza faltered in her steps, stumbling and nearly tripping before she caught herself and regained her balance. She froze in place, her eyes blinking rapidly as a small trail of blood leaked from her nose. Her breathing grew heavier while she stared off in the distance, completely forgetting about their race.

'Yes!' Will cheered. 'It worked!' He couldn't lie that her competitiveness hadn't gotten to him, and he wanted to win just as much as she did, to prove himself to Erza and even himself. Again, Will might've implored some dubious tactics, but a win was a win, and no one could say otherwise.

The finishing line was soon within his sight when he suddenly stopped in place, his entire body freezing as if an invisible prison surrounded him. Try as he might, he couldn't break free no matter how much he struggled.

"I won't let you win!" Erza declared as she ran past him, having regained herself.

"But... but..." Will just defeatedly stared at her, watching her reach their finishing line right in front of his very eyes. "That's cheating!"

Erza just turned to him, her hands proudly on her waist as she declared with a smug smile. "I win!"

"I was so close," Will sniffed as she released him, walking over to her with a pout. He recovered soon after and grabbed onto her hand. "Come on, we are almost there."

A short walk later, they reached a spot he saw yesterday, one he spotted when he ran back to Magnolia Town. It was a bit out of the way, but it was the perfect place for what he planned as it was secluded enough between a bunch of trees.

"This is it?" Erza asked as she looked around.

"Yup," he nodded, taking out a blanket from his pocket space and placing it on the grass. "We're gonna have a picnic date!"

"A picnic?!" Erza eyes lit up, her entire body shaking with excitement. "I've never been on a picnic!" She continued after he nodded in confirmation. "And now I'm going to have a picnic," Erza paused, turning to him with a bright smile. "And with you!"

"Yep!" Will nodded as he took out everything else, neatly arranging the food on top of the blanket. Just as he finished, a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind.

"Thank you," Erza whispered in his ear as she nestled her head against his neck, her hot breath tickling his skin. "Really, thank you so much!"

"You're welcome, princess," Will replied, gently patting her hands. "Now, I prepared some sandwiches with different ingredients," he said after she released him, pointing out the food he'd made as they sat down. "Some of them you might like, but of course, I also have some strawberry cakes just for you."

Will probably should've expected what happened next as Erza ignored the sandwiches and grabbed onto the cakes without hesitation. "Yeah, I should've figured. Guess I'm eating the sandwiches," he muttered as he picked up one of them.

After they had their share, they found themselves lying on top of the blanket with Erza neatly snuggled against him. "What do we do now?" She asked, a hand reaching out to play with his hair.

"Well, people usually eat, talk and just spend time together on a picnic," he replied, running his fingers through her hair.

"We already do that together," Erza muttered with a contemplative look on her face. "How about..." she paused and licked her lips. "We do something else?"

"Like what?" Will grinned, already having an idea where she was going.

"You said you wanted me to train you, right?" Erza said, excitedly looking at him. "This place looks like a perfect place for that!"

"Huh?" Will muttered as she threw him a curveball. "Well, you're not wrong."

"Come on," Erza stood up, pulling him up with her. "What do you want to start with?" She eagerly asked. "A sword? A mace? Or maybe a spear? What kind of weapon would you like to learn how to use?"

"I'm not much of a weapon guy, but if I had to choose, I'd say a gun," Will answered after thinking it over. "Though I don't think I need that much training in how to use a gun since it's fairly simple."

"A... gun?" Erza questioned, looking betrayed by his answer.

"I wouldn't mind learning some hand to hand," he quickly added. "I do need to get used to my improved physique. Plus, learning how to defend myself seems like a smart idea."

"Hand to hand?" Erza replied with a grin. "I can do that!" She exclaimed, raising her hands into a stance. "Show me what you got!"

"Wait, wait, wait," Will waved his hands left and right. "I haven't really been in a fight all my life. We should start with the basics first."

"Right, basics," Erza nodded to herself. "Okay, show me your stance."

Will did as told, and he instantly knew something was wrong from seeing her expression. She was biting her lower lip, huffing as she tried to say something but stopped herself before doing so.

"Come on, just hit me with it," Will urged her on, knowing his posture was far from perfect. He could've probably searched up a martial arts stance from the information he had downloaded and imitated it, but he wanted to give her the chance to teach him.

However, he should've picked his words better as his vision suddenly turned black before his body weakly thumped on the ground.

"Wh-what?" Will uttered as she slowly got up, seeing two blurry Erza's in front of him.

"Your stance was awful!" Erza stated without even waiting for him to recover. "You need to bend your knees more and straighten your back," she started reprimanding him as she fixed up his posture.

"Like this?" Will asked, seeing her nod.

"Much better," Erza replied before she blurred, and his vision turned black once more.

"Come on, get up," the slave master ruthlessly urged him as Will tried to figure out what was left and right.

'What did I get myself into?' Were his thoughts moments before a fist flashed in his vision