3 chapter 3 : Rusia
After several days, Gray left the chalet with great difficulty, he took several of Ul's books including the old thousands-year-old grimoire and headed towards the northeast of the continent where Ul was from, in the kingdom of Rusia (purely invented by me, it will enrich this lore unexploited by Mashima).
For a whole year, Gray wandered in this great kingdom and became accustomed to this place where the climate was very cold.
The Rusians were tough people, they were excellent warriors and their way of using magic was very different from that of the people of Fiore.
For conventional magic users, they were mostly made up of mages whose magic was used to control the elements of ice or water. Few other mages were diversified, but for the rest, they used magic for body strengthening.
The Rusian army used this enchantment to strengthen their non-mage soldiers a lot and if Fiore had the most powerful mages, Rusia had the largest and most powerful army thanks to their soldiers with physiques enhanced by their enchanted armor.
Gray's terrifying talent had made him learn a lot of things, including a new magic that he had been able to learn and perfect in the space of several months, mental magic that allowed him to delve into anyone's memory.
It was a fairly weak magic that basically allowed fragments of thoughts to be read in the hands of an average mage, but used in the right way by someone with high mental faculties, it could be devilishly useful.
Gray had invested himself fiercely in the search for clues concerning the writings used in the old grimoire and his research had led him to an old ruined temple in the north of the kingdom in its coldest zone.
The old temple really seemed to be several millennia old and was dedicated to a goddess named Morhana.
Gray visited the ruins and spent several days there looking for clues but found nothing.
On the morning of the fourth day, he was awakened by the presence of several people but he did not panic, his general lack of emotion since Ul's disappearance prevented him from being in this kind of state.
He was eventually seen in the ruins and the group consisted of several soldiers who accompanied an elderly man. Among the soldiers, one had different armor and carried a spear lazily over his shoulders.
« What is that ?! A kid ?!!!! »
"What is a child doing here?!"
"Hey kid, what are you doing here?" One of the soldiers asked Gray directly in the local language that Gray had assimilated, he had been there for a little over a year now.
Gray: I'm exploring these ruins.
When he said that, the soldiers started laughing at him and even the old man couldn't help but laugh.
"Are you exploring these ruins?!" Stop wasting our time, looking at your clothes you're definitely a street kid looking for shelter. GET OUT OF THERE BEFORE I LOSE PATIENCE. » The guy with the spear said arrogantly.
Gray: I was there before you, it's up to you to leave...
They immediately started laughing again and the guy with the spear started to get angry.
« See why I hate kids? Get this bug out of here and if it resists then use strong force. » He ordered and the soldiers walked towards Gray who watched them approach without the slightest fear in his eyes.
The old man had noticed Gray's look for a while and was quite intrigued that a child of around 10 already had that kind of look.
"Stop it right now..." The old man ordered and they all looked at him in astonishment before he walked towards Gray, he suddenly extended his hand towards Gray as a translucent chain appeared around the Gray's neck to bind him to the old man's hand.
The old man: I don't know who you are, but your look is not that of a normal child. This magic I used on you requires the person linked to only tell the truth so you will answer my questions.
Others :…
Gray was completely caught up in this magic and was in a daze.
The old man: I noticed a slight western accent in the way you speak. Who are you and where are you from?!
Gray: My name is Gray Fullbuster and I come from the kingdom of Fiore.
« A stranger ?!!! »
"How did he get here?!"
The old man: How old are you really?! Are you a spy?!
Gray: I took 10 years this year and I'm not a spy.
The old man: Why are you here?! How did you get to this ancient temple?
Gray: My beloved master was from this country and had in his possession a book whose texts were written in a script several millennia years old. I came here to understand these scriptures and understand what my master couldn't understand during his lifetime in order to continue where she left off.
The old man: Hmm?! In his lifetime ? Is your master dead? Who was he and how did he die?!
Gray: Her name was Ul Milkovic and she died protecting me from one of the demons from the book of Zeref, the same demon that destroyed my village and killed my parents.
The old man: By the mother goddess…
« He said Ul Milkovic! »
"The niece of the holy knight Milo?"
« Ul ?! The young prodigy who left the kingdom ? »
« He was that woman's disciple!! »
The old man looked at Gray for a moment before sighing and then releasing him from the spell.
"I…what happened?! My head hurts…" Gray complained.
The old man: Little one, my name is Ivan and I am the master of the royal library. I have studied these ancient letters and I am the only man to my knowledge who has succeeded in interpreting them after almost 50 years of study. Your master, Ul Milkovic was the child of an old friend who helped me in my research.
Gray: Wait...how do you know my master's name?!
Ivan: It's not important. I can take you on as an assistant at the royal library and teach you what I know, but you will also have to work as a cupbearer at the palace.
Gray:…
« WHAT ?! This kid is a stranger!!! » The guy with the spear complained immediately.
Ivan: You'll have him monitored if you want and if he does anything suspicious, you'll have complete freedom of action. (to Gray) I have an immense debt that I owed to your master's mother that I couldn't pay neither to her nor to her daughter, I will teach you what I know about these scriptures to pay this debt. You agree ?!
Gray: For how long?
Ivan: As much as necessary but at the slightest misstep I will send you back.
Gray: Okay.
So, Gray was taken to Moskhu, the capital of the kingdom where he joined the library to assist Ivan as well as serve in the palace as a cupbearer and for the next eight months, Gray achieved his goals with enormous gains additional.
Ivan had realized the monstrous genius of this child and his speed of understanding which made him a perfect student as well as an assistant.
In eight months, Gray had completely assimilated the ancient alphabet and had even helped Ivan understand certain symbols since Gray himself had advanced on his own.
That wasn't all because Gray had met the 6 holy knights of the kingdom, they were the 6 generals of Rusia, the 6 most powerful warriors who had reached the peak of their arts.
Sword, Spear, Bow & daggers (by a single knight), Saber, magic rifle and fists were their respective disciplines. As a cupbearer, Gray had already met them several times at the palace.
Lev, the boy who had a spear the day Gray met Ivan was actually Yelena's number one disciple, the holy knight of the spear.
Yelena was a very beautiful red-haired woman with a fairly muscular but attractive body, she had reached the peak of her art and as with the other holy knights, her spear was an enchanted weapon with destructive power.
The holy knights were so powerful that they were compared to the 10 holy mages in terms of power.
Of course, Gray never stopped training in ice magic, Ul's legacy. Yet the magic he was completely frightening in was mind magic in which he was now able to copy the memories of any person and print them in some way in his own memory.
This feat was only possible because Gray had a perfect memory and extraordinary brain abilities.
This magic was a cheat because in the hands of an intelligent person like Gray, it allowed him to take on anyone's experience and that's what he did with the holy knights and even Ivan without anyone realizing anything.
Gray's mental magic was truly astonishing, he may not have the power of the holy knights but their dexterity was His now.
He had not yet tried to read the old, multi-millennial grimoire, he served and developed his knowledge in the library where he learned a lot about ice magic and his boundaries were no longer limited to simple modeling.
One day during winter, Gray was out in the snow wearing only boxers (yes, he has the same habit of taking off his clothes at any time).
He closed his eyes and brought his hands together to suddenly create a horse made of ice.
He concentrated enough and suddenly the horse started to rear up and start galloping all over the place while Gray himself had a look of disbelief on his face.
He had just given a high level of consciousness to an ice creation and it was not his first attempt but his first success, the ice horse behaved like a real horse.
Gray had achieved a horribly frightening feat at only 10 years and 11 months old, a feat that would make any mage of the same Art tremble and call him a devil because what he had just done came close to creating life.
This high-level consciousness was like implanting a complex artificial intelligence into his creation although it required considerable concentration.
After this success, Gray understood that it was time for him to leave, he had achieved his goal and had to return to Fiore where magic was more developed and diversified in order to seek a reversal spell for Ul from the best mages.
Ivan really feared this departure because Gray was by far the most talented person he knew and really wanted him to stay here with him so that maybe one day he could serve the kingdom. However, he knew very well that the child would refuse.
Gray never caused any problems at the palace, he always did what was asked of him, did not respond to provocation and was very discreet.
He had never done anything suspicious and even when it was necessary to train, he asked Ivan's permission, specifying where exactly he was going to train and he did it every day until he was extremely exhausted.
He finally said goodbye to Ivan who had given him enough money and to the palace staff who had been kind to him before flying towards Fiore on the back of a large ice eagle that he had created.
