A month later, inside the halls of Dragon Cry Circle, Elefseria looked at Rowan Mercer with undisguised amazement.
"You really are a prodigy," he said. "When I was young, it took me three full years to grasp Dragon Slayer magic. You absorbed the theory in a single month. Your species must be extraordinary."
Rowan simply nodded.
The truth was less mystical than it sounded. Magical cats weren't inherently gifted scholars. Happy was proof enough. Rowan's progress came from something far less glamorous. For an entire month, every fragment of his mind had been focused on one thing. No distractions. No shortcuts. Just relentless study.
Theory mastered.
Which meant it was time for the final step.
"I'll take you to the Earth Dragon God's labyrinth," Elefseria continued. "You'll draw in a fragment of its power as a catalyst. Once you do, you'll become an Earth Dragon Slayer. You'll be able to strengthen yourself by consuming earth."
The world folded.
After several chained teleportations, Rowan found himself at the entrance of a colossal underground maze, its walls radiating an ancient, suffocating pressure.
No matter the method, Elefseria explained, all Dragon Slayer magic required the same foundation. Dragon power. Whether it came from direct instruction, a dragon crystal, or self-study, a living dragon's essence had to serve as the spark.
Elefseria himself had become a Dragon Slayer by secretly absorbing power from a spell dragon long ago. The same source had given him knowledge of Acnologia and the Five Dragon Gods.
The sealed Earth Dragon God was the reason Elefseria had agreed to teach Rowan at all.
"You only need to absorb the power here," Elefseria said. "Stay at the entrance."
Then he vanished, teleporting back to the guild.
Rowan didn't sit.
Instead, he stood quietly, thinking.
Over the past month, he'd learned far more than just spell formulas. The truth was, among the dragons who fled from the eastern continent, six had once stood above the rest. Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, and Moon.
And among them, the Earth Dragon God was the weakest.
Earth wasn't Rowan's first choice.
Earth magic offered him no meaningful synergy. The idea of chewing on rocks mid-battle to boost his power felt inelegant at best.
Fire was far more appealing.
Both the Middle-earth dragon crystal and the fire dragon essence from the wizarding world were aligned with flame. Choosing the Fire Dragon God would allow those powers to resonate instead of clash. Water risked incompatibility. Gold was a mystery. Even Elefseria didn't know that dragon's true name, making it impossible to track.
As for the Moon Dragon God, Rowan had tried.
The tracking spell failed completely.
Dead, sealed, shielded, or existing outside conventional space. Any of those were possible. He discarded the option.
Wood, however, intrigued him.
Wood fed fire. Wood symbolized life.
A Wood Dragon Slayer body might dramatically enhance vitality. That alone could offset the recoil of Fairy Law. If things ever went too far, a few ancient trees would restore what was lost.
He was also studying life magic from the elves in another world. Wood-aligned dragon power could accelerate that learning.
Whether reality would match theory remained to be seen.
Sneaking close enough to absorb power from a Dragon God wouldn't be easy. But trying cost nothing. Failure still left him with the Earth Dragon God as a fallback.
Worst case, he'd come back, eat some dirt, and move on.
And one day, when he was strong enough, maybe absorbing multiple dragon powers wouldn't be impossible. Acnologia's ability to devour all magic hadn't come from nowhere.
Now Rowan finally understood why Gildarts' crushing magic had failed so completely. Against Acnologia, the spell itself had been consumed. What struck the dragon wasn't magic at all, just a bare fist.
To defeat something like that, only raw force would matter.
He'd also learned the truth about dragon crystals.
They prevented full dragonification. A Dragon Slayer who relied on a crystal could never truly become a dragon. That was why Laxus would always remain humanoid.
Only those like Rowan, Natsu, and Gajeel carried that risk.
Which meant he had options.
Before reaching that point, embedding a dragon crystal could halt the transformation entirely. And unlike crystal-based Dragon Slayers, removing it wouldn't strip Rowan of his power.
Everything aligned.
Rowan spread his wings.
"Direction Revealed," he murmured. "Ignia."
A golden arrow flared into existence.
Without hesitation, he followed it into the sky.