Chapter 39: Payday

After entering August, the weather seemed to get even hotter. Magnolia had decent greenery, with trees visible everywhere, which resulted in an incessant chorus of cicadas.

When one is calm, listening to it might even feel pleasant—like this is exactly how summer is supposed to be.

But if you're not in a good mood, it just feels annoying.

The ceiling fan in the guild turned slowly, providing a barely-there breeze to the noisy tavern.

In this kind of heat, Rhodes felt even the sound of everyone's chatter seemed filled with warmth.

In fact, there were quite a few people in the tavern who felt as restless and lethargic as Rhodes, with some even struggling to speak, only finding slight relief by gulping down a few sips of cold beer.

At times like this, Gray became one of the most popular people.

Though he himself was sweating profusely, he couldn't refuse everyone's pleas, turning into an ice-making machine.

It did have some perks for him, though—those benefiting from his help didn't have the nerve to remind him to put his clothes back on.

Of course, these people did not include Natsu.

This guy was entirely unaffected; even in such heat, he still had the energy to run around, sometimes even doing weird dances.

Mira came over with an empty cup, added some ice, poured in a drink, and handed it to Rhodes. "You don't look too well."

"Thanks." Rhodes grimaced, "I didn't sleep well last night—too hot, and the mosquitoes were really bad."

The mosquito repellent left behind by Goodman when he moved out had just run out, and Rhodes reminded himself to remember to buy a new bottle after work.

Mira gave him a sympathetic look. "That must have been tough... Where's Worm? I haven't seen him these past couple of days."

"Too hot, so he doesn't want to come out. The ungrateful fellow's hiding in the Howling Abyss to keep cool."

Rhodes picked up the cup and pressed it against his forehead. The cool touch made him feel a bit better.

"I have a feeling things just aren't going my way lately—even my magic isn't growing as much as it used to."

"That's because your magic level is already pretty good. The same growth won't feel as significant as before."

"Am I really doing well?"

"At least Jet and Marcus are nowhere near your level anymore..." Mira gently covered her mouth, feeling that saying this was perhaps a bit impolite to Jet and Marcus.

When Rhodes first obtained the Stone Beetle, it already gave Jet headaches, not to mention now that his magic power had increased considerably and he also had the "Three Wolves."

The "Three Wolves" was the nickname for his set of summoned beasts, which included two Shadow Wolves and one Large Shadow Wolf.

The Shadow Wolves were about the size of a tiger, significantly larger and more imposing than ordinary wolves—kind of like saber-toothed tigers.

The Large Shadow Wolf was even bigger and had two heads.

When the three massive wolves crouched and bared their fangs, they looked extremely fierce, giving off a "don't mess with me" vibe.

After numerous tests and sparring sessions with his companions, Rhodes confirmed that they were more agile and better at attacking than the Stone Beetle.

Besides the basic pounce and bite attacks, the Shadow Wolves had keen senses of smell for tracking and excelled in stealth and ambush from the shadows—just like their name implied.

While they might have been weak in the game, they were quite strong here—at least Kana couldn't easily hit them with her cards like she could with the Stone Beetle.

As for the magic needed to summon them, it was about the same as three River Crabs, comparable to the Stone Beetle.

Rhodes could now command both the Stone Beetle and the Shadow Wolves simultaneously. Once a fight started, it quickly turned from a one-on-one to a gang-up, giving him a significant advantage.

The problem that came with it was that Rhodes himself became a bigger target.

Currently, there were two effective ways to handle this: either ride the River Crab and run far away or follow the Stone Beetle underground, getting as far as possible within the limited breath-holding time.

These tactics might seem cowardly, but they worked well.

However, they were only temporary solutions. To truly solve the problem, he needed to become stronger himself.

One way was to continually train his body and practice martial arts, which would require long-term dedication.

Another way was to learn one or two spells that would boost his capabilities, but that approach...

Rhodes asked, "It seems like everyone only specializes in one type of magic. Why not learn several, to handle different situations better?"

"Because there's not enough time or energy," Mira replied. "Learning magic and increasing magic power both take a lot of time and effort.

If you learn multiple types of magic at the same time, you might end up not mastering any for a long period. It's better to focus your energy on one type.

Think about it—if you added another type of magic training into your current schedule, would you even have time for it?"

Rhodes thought about it. Meditation and physical training were the foundations for getting stronger, and he couldn't let those slide.

The proficiency of his summoning magic was also crucial, as it helped reduce his incantation time, so that practice time couldn't be cut either.

Then there was work...

He couldn't just do nothing and live off the guild—after all, even Nab, who rarely took on missions, occasionally did part-time work to make ends meet.

And then there was study time.

Maybe once his common knowledge was caught up, he could use that time to learn another kind of magic.

For now...

"How about cutting into my sleep time?"

"No way!" Mira immediately objected, raising her index finger to indicate the importance of what she was about to say.

"Sleep is essential for restoring mental strength. You mentioned your schedule before, right?

It's already pretty intense. If you cut into your sleep to train magic, you could end up with magic deficiency syndrome!"

Magic deficiency syndrome—Rhodes had read about it in books. It often happened when magic power was overdrawn.

Once triggered, the mild case could lead to fainting, while the severe case could result in sudden death. For a mage, it was extremely dangerous.

Training so hard to get stronger that you end up killing yourself... that'd be way too foolish.

Rhodes replied seriously, "Got it."

There's no time to train now, but that doesn't mean never. Everything has its priority.

Once he completed his current goals—filling in his knowledge gaps and shortening incantation times—he'd naturally have time to train in other things.

He'd only been learning for less than a month; there was no need to rush it.

"Stop looking so worried—let me tell you some good news."

Mira seemed to let out a sigh of relief and put a stack of bills on the counter. "Ta-da... it's payday!"

"So early!" Rhodes excitedly picked up the cash and counted. Twelve thousand Jewels, not one short. He asked,

"Wait, isn't this a bit off? I haven't worked a full month yet."

Mira thought for a moment. "The day we did the shopping counted as overtime."

"Well... thank you."

He felt grateful not only for the guild's support but also for Mira finding an excuse for him.

Rhodes realized that this wasn't the summer job at a hotel that he used to have; this was the guild, Fairy Tail.

Mira waved at Laki, who was chatting with some companions nearby. "Laki, come get your pay!"

"Coming!" Laki took her pay—she worked full-time, so her stack was thicker than Rhodes's.

"Finally got the monetary value of my time and labor..."

The monetary value of time and labor—Laki's quirky way of phrasing things.

Rhodes decided to remove that phrase from his vocabulary. Correcting his common language skills was challenging enough; he didn't need to add this.

Laki rubbed the money against her cheek affectionately. "Now I can buy a few more 'little cuties.'"

Little cuties...

Alright then.