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When the group stepped into the guild hall, because of the early hour, there was no one in front of the huge request board.
The board was densely packed with various commission forms. From the newness and color of the paper, one could tell the urgency and difficulty of the tasks.
Cana familiarly pointed to a row of commissions in the lower area of the board and said to Shane and Erza, "Look here, this area usually has simple commissions suitable for newcomers to practice. Like moving goods for the grocery store, weeding the orchard, and so on..."
As she spoke, she pointed to a lost and found notice with a cute dog head drawn on it. "Look, there's a commission suitable for you right now."
Finding the lost Doberman 'Zebbie'?
Shane pinched his chin, his gaze lingering on the dog notice.
Although the reward wasn't high, the advantage was safety, and no need to leave the city.
But finding a lost dog in the huge Magnolia required knowing every street and alley in the city like the back of one's hand; otherwise, the time and energy invested would be completely disproportionate to the gain.
However... he suddenly thought that when entering the city, he saw a towering clock tower in the center. Standing on it, the entire city could be seen.
If he used [Clairvoyance], finding a dog shouldn't be difficult.
But if I'm reduced to using that Great Hero's Clairvoyance to find a dog, isn't that a bit too pathetic?
"Well, with Arash's personality, he would definitely be happy that his ability could help others." Shane smiled bitterly to himself, then shook his head and gave up the idea.
The most important thing right now was to solve the food and lodging problem. They needed a task with a higher reward that could let them live stably for a while.
Shane secretly felt the changes in his body. Thanks to Saber's Noble Phantasm constantly squeezing his stamina, he could feel that his Agility was about to break through to D Rank.
Right now, only his Magic Power remained at E Rank, motionless...
This was the shortcoming he wanted to make up for as soon as possible.
But Magic Power couldn't be improved by the warm flow of the Class Card. Relying solely on his own training would undoubtedly take a lot of time.
If he had to leave the city to complete commissions from time to time, wanting to improve quickly was obviously impossible.
Just as he was concentrating on thinking, Erza suddenly tugged his sleeve, leaned close to his ear, and whispered, "Shane... that pervert who didn't wear clothes yesterday is here again."
Shane came back to his senses and looked up to see a blue spiky-haired boy wearing only a pair of boxers, strutting toward them.
"Hey! You two newcomers over there!" The boy walked up, clapped his hands with a pah, full of momentum. "I noticed you yesterday; you actually didn't come to greet Senior Gray first!"
The corner of Shane's mouth twitched slightly. He really wanted to tell the other party that he noticed this performance art enthusiast yesterday, but instinctively felt it was troublesome and didn't want to get involved.
Didn't expect the other party to come looking for them instead.
Cana beside them couldn't help holding her forehead and roasting: "Gray, when did you become so arrogant?"
Levy standing next to her blushed, her finger timidly pointing at Gray, reminding in a low voice: "Gr-Gray... cl-clothes..."
"Hmm? Since when?" Gray then realized belatedly and looked down, discovering that he had become nearly naked at some point.
But he was only puzzled for a few seconds before ignoring his attire problem.
"Forget it, that's not important! Anyway, let's have a duel, rookies!" Gray scratched his head nonchalantly and shouted.
Shane figured it out; this guy didn't seem to have any malice, purely excess energy and bored out of his mind.
But Shane was at a critical juncture of "life and death."
"Sorry, we can't afford to eat anymore, no time to play with you. By the way, why don't you ask her?"
Shane said, glancing at Erza beside him.
The scarlet-haired girl's eyes were slightly bright, her body leaning forward unconsciously, obviously full of interest in the word "duel," wanting to try her hand with peers other than Shane.
"That kind of thing doesn't matter!" Gray waved his hand, staring at Shane with burning eyes. "Gildarts said you are very strong! Let's duel!"
He completely ignored the eager Erza and zeroed in on Shane.
The commotion here quickly attracted the attention of people around. It was boring early in the morning anyway; having something fun to watch immediately caused a few guys who didn't mind blowing things up to jeer:
"Oh oh oh! Is Gray starting to suppress newcomers? How excessive!"
"Fight, fight! Let me see the quality of the rookies!"
"Gray, if you lose to a rookie, I'll laugh at you for a whole year!"
Seeing that he was put on the spot, Shane sighed and scratched his cheek: "If we settle it quickly..."
"If you win, I'll treat you to meals for a week!"
Before Gray's voice fell, his whole person instantly entered the state. He bowed slightly, his right fist hitting his left palm with a bam, and invisible cold air seemed to begin permeating around him.
"You said it!" Hearing this, Shane's eyes lit up instantly. Didn't expect such a good thing.
Because it was indoors and space was limited, Shane didn't use the more proficient crimson longbow.
He neatly tore off the cloth strip wrapped around his right arm. With a thought, the cloth strip deformed and solidified rapidly in the glimmer, turning into two unsharpened black Tachis in the blink of an eye, held steadily in his hands.
"Oh? A Holder-type Mage?" Someone around uttered a light surprise.
Gray launched the attack first, stepping on the ground, his body rushing forward, punching straight at Shane's face.
His speed was definitely considered quite good among young people.
But Erza standing aside frowned slightly, a trace of doubt appearing on her face.
Why... does it feel... so weak?
She was used to sparring with Shane, especially recently. After Shane's Strength and Endurance ranks both increased, she was almost purely beaten every time they fought on the way to the guild.
Every time she slacked off slightly, she would meet continuous, seemingly endless offensives, with no power to fight back, forcing her to concentrate fully at all times.
But Gray's movements in front of her eyes—slow speed, weak power, full of openings.
"If it were me, dodge sideways while striking his ribs heavily with the hilt, then follow up..."
Several plans to end the battle instantly flashed through Erza's mind, inevitably making her somewhat disappointed.
In the field, Shane's battle continued.
He didn't rush to counterattack but moved his feet lightly, his body slightly sideways, calmly dodging Gray's straight punch. Seeing this, Gray attacked more urgently, fists and feet carrying cold wind, constantly pressing the attack, but couldn't even touch the corner of Shane's clothes.
"Tsk!" Gray couldn't help getting anxious, his hands crossing fist and palm, shouting: "Ice-Make: Hammer!"
In an instant, cold air gathered, and a huge ice crystal war hammer condensed out of thin air, carrying the sound of whistling wind, smashing ruthlessly toward the top of Shane's head!
This wasn't over. Gray immediately shouted again: "Ice-Make: Floor!"
Icy cold air spread rapidly with his feet as the center, instantly turning the surrounding ground into a smooth and cold mirror surface.
This magic... another magic that creates ice? Shane's eyes moved slightly, his expression finally becoming a bit more serious.
He remembered that back in the Tower of Heaven, that purple-clad girl behind the scenes seemed to use similar Ice Magic.