63. S-Class Laxus

The Tower of Heaven has been destroyed and Ultear won't manipulate Jellal now. But Alex isn't sure if nothing related to that will happen in the future.

After all, he doesn't believe that the young Ultear in the story could manipulate Jellal without any help. He suspects that Hades, a.k.a Precht Gaebolg, the Guild Master of Griomire Heart surely was involved in it.

Hades was the one who taught Ultear her Arc of Time magic in the story. He was also a Zeref worshipper, so it would make much more sense if Hades was the one who ordered Ultear to manipulate Jellal and he was also the one who taught Ultear how to do it.

That's why Alex still needs to be careful of Hades and Grimoire Heart because even if they don't control Jellal or anyone from the Tower of Heaven as the result of it being destroyed, they surely will still plan something else.

But Alex can't do anything with his current power, so he should focus on getting stronger first. That way, he can solve most of the future problems with his power. While power isn't everything, it will surely help to solve most problems in this world.

A few days later, the S-Class exam finally finishes, and as Alex has predicted, Laxus passes the exam. It actually happens a year faster than it should be, but Alex doesn't realize that because he can't remember the exact details of many events.

Even if he doesn't know it, he knows that he has affected Laxus a lot so far. Laxus sees Alex as his rival and best friend. After all, Laxus only hangs out with Alex while he isn't that close with the other Guild members.

Maybe it's because their ages aren't that far apart, they have similar power levels, have similar levels of maturity, have similar interests, etc. Alex is the only one who can talk well with Laxus, mostly because Alex already knows about Laxus from the story, so it really helps him understand Laxus.

The current Laxus might look cold sometimes, but he isn't the arrogant Laxus who uses the whole town for his game to take over the Guild Master position. He is still just a teenager who still values his Guild a lot but doesn't know how to express his emotions.

So he often acts distant and rarely talks while he is with the others. But he would be more open when he is with Alex. His curiosity with Alex's power led to rivalry and it became friendship.

Thanks to his close friendship with Alex, Laxus is now more open and closer with the other Guild members. Well, he still knows how to behave, so he is more like the adult version of him after he returns to the Guild after the Tenrou Island event.

"Oh? Who is this? Isn't this the normal-ranked Mage, Alex? Ah, there are normal-ranked Mages around you too." Laxus smirks smugly at Alex and the other young Mages when he returns with the S-Class exam group.

"Tsk! So annoying." Alex is very displeased by how Laxus brags for being promoted. Though it seems some bird brains don't understand why Laxus talks like that, like Natsu.

"Why are you talking like that, Laxus? Did you hit your head when taking the exam?"

"Idiot, he calls us normal-ranked because he has been promoted to S-Class." Gray explains it to Natsu.

"WHAT?! LAXUS IS AN S-CLASS NOW?" Natsu is really shocked, making Laxus even more smug.

Makarov then confirms it by announcing that Laxus is the one who passes this year's S-Class exam. They finally have a new S-Class after quite a long time.

Their other S-Classes have retired or left the Guild to make their own Guilds, like Master Bob of Blue Pegasus and Master Goldmine of Quatro Cerberus. So they really need new S-Classes to take more S-Class jobs and keep their reputation, and now they finally have a new one.

"Heh, S-Class jobs, huh? Should I take you guys to do these high-paying S-Class jobs?" Laxus asks smugly at the young Mages.

"BRING ME! TAKE ME!" Natsu and Gray stupidly ask him to bring them for those S-Class jobs, which he obviously refuses while laughing because he only teases them.

The only one he'll really consider to bring on those S-Class jobs is Alex. But Alex has told Laxus so many times that he won't do any S-Class jobs before he becomes an S-Class himself.

So he won't team up with Laxus to do any S-Class jobs, and Laxus doesn't have a problem with that. He understands that Alex wants to properly climb his way to be an S-Class with his own effort and method that Laxus can respect.

Laxus is actually excited to wait for Alex in the S-Class level because then they can compete even better like who can do more S-Class jobs, who can take harder jobs, etc.

"Next year, I will step onto that 2nd floor too." Alex stands while crossing his arms in front of Laxus.

"You better be. I won't wait for the 2nd year." Laxus smirks while also crossing his arms.

Both of them stare at each other very intensely, making the Guild Hall feel very cold. But the intense situation breaks immediately when Makarov starts the celebration by raising a big glass of beer.

The Guild has a party, as usual. They celebrate Laxus's promotion while also cheering up the failed candidates. Though the ones who failed are already pretty old and said they'd retire soon if they can't become S-Class in 3 years.

It will be too dangerous to keep working as a Mage with their levels as they get older. Also, they want to focus on their families because most of them already have kids.

Anyway, after being an S-Class, Laxus doesn't immediately try to take any S-Class job. He does research on the danger of S-Class jobs and realizes that taking it alone like Gildarts is too dangerous, so he needs a team.

His first option is Alex, but Alex already said he won't take any S-Class job before being an S-Class himself. There are others who are strong too, but none of them can work well with Laxus, so he needs to recruit new people.

But it's not easy to find new people whose abilities can support his abilities out of nowhere. Most good Mages also have joined Guilds, but he needs them to join Fairy Tail, making it even more difficult.

So he can only take it slowly while doing jobs. Maybe he will find suitable people for his team while going around doing jobs. There are some S-Class jobs that can be done alone even though it makes the difficulty higher, but Laxus still wants to try them to test his real power.

Alex knows Laxus will find teammates even without his help, so he doesn't meddle in it. He has his own things to do anyway, like looking for ways to hasten the seal-breaking process to free more Tailed Beasts.

Right now, the 4th seal is already broken by around 60%. I will break in a year even if Alex doesn't absorb magic power from magical creatures. But he wants to break it faster, so he needs to keep absorbing magical creatures' magic power.

He's also still looking for the gigantic magic weapon that Oracion Seis wants in the story, Nirvana. It is hidden near Cait Shelter's location, but he still hasn't heard anything about a Guild named Cait Shelter.

Well, it's a kind of fake Guild made for Wendy by the spirit of the Chief that guards Nirvana. Maybe it will be known quite later when Wendy is strong enough to take jobs outside the forest, but Alex doesn't know when.

In the first place, he doesn't know how a fake Guild like that can be a Legal Guild and even work together with Fairy Tail and Blue Pegasus to protect Nirvana. It makes Alex suspect Makarov. Maybe the old man has some connections with that Chief spirit.

He can't ask Makarov about it, so he can only try to look into it himself. But he still hasn't found the correct location to find Nirvana after looking for it these last few months. Maybe he was using the wrong way to find it or simply asked the wrong people, so he needs to re-evaluate his method.

Alex tries to look into history books because Nirvana was made hundreds of years ago. There aren't many people who know about it now, but maybe there will be some records about it. So he needs to check history books.

That's why he always goes to the public libraries whenever he goes to different towns when doing jobs. He can't find anything even after a few months, but something important to the story happens in year X778. The Strauss siblings join Fairy Tail.

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Ch. 113: Too Easy for Alex