chapter 6 : A friendly duel
As Gray was enjoying his apple juice, someone placed their hand on his shoulder and he slowly looked over to see Erza.
Gray: What do you want?
Erza: Ah uh hello new guy, Gray right? I'm Erza, I wanted to apologize for being so threatening yesterday, Natsu is a bit like my little brother.
Gray: Natsu?! Ah, the aggressive boy! He's getting better ?
Erza: This idiot has been restless since he woke up and is looking for you all over the city to get his revenge...
Gray: A revenge? For what ? It wasn't even a fight, I don't care.
Erza: Macao said you are very strong, do you know how to use this sword?
Gray: Pretty good, yeah. Why ?!
Erza: It's not every day that I get to meet a fellow swordsman and more, in the same guild. I would like to have a duel with you, maybe I could teach you some things.
Gray: No offense, but I'm not interested.
Erza: (Pats his back) Come on, this will help us get to know each other better. I have long hoped that another swordsman would join the guild. So, a duel?!
"HEY GUYS, ERZA AND THE NEW GUY ARE GOING TO HAVE A DUE!" One of the members alerted the others who began to encourage them.
They knew that Erza was strong, very strong even and that according to Macao, Gray was too so they wanted to see them in action.
Makarov: It's out of the question if it's to break everything again.
Macao: Come on old master, I'm sure you're curious about the kid too.
Makarov: (crying) my furniture...
Erza: (draws) Come on new guy, don't tell me you're afraid of a girl...
The others: wooooooooooh
Mirajane: Hey new guy, if you kick Erza's ass you can ask me out.
Mest: He said he was interested in you ?!
Mirajane: STFU !
Gray sighed before standing up and nodding to Erza to accept his duel he kept his sword in its sheath and held it without warning.
Erza: You're not drawing?! What is this pose?!
Gray: (yawns)
"Underestimating your opponent is a big mistake" Erza said before attacking but Gray did nothing but lazily dodge her attacks.
He avoided Erza's first, second, third sword attack and deflected the rest without much effort while the others were quite impressed.
"Look how he's dodging all that!"
"Erza isn't slow though"
"He doesn't move very fast himself, that just means he doesn't just dodge because he's fast but because he can see and read his attacks without any problem. I wonder where such a child comes from..." Makarov said solemnly while massaging his mustache.
Erza: You're much stronger than I imagined but you shouldn't-(stops)
Others :…
No one understood what had just happened, Erza was speaking when in a split second, the sheath of Gray's short sword was already placed under her throat. It was fast, much too fast and sudden for even Erza to react.
Gray: I win, if this had been a real fight then your throat would be slit. You're still very strong and fast, plus you didn't use magic.
Erza: I lost...this...that's good. Let's become friends okay?
Gray: (smiles) If you want, okay Erza.
"You...you can ask me out whenever you want..." Mirajane said seductively while leaning on Gray's shoulder.
Erza: He's not interested in bats.
They started arguing when suddenly the door was violently opened from the outside.
"THEY TOLD ME HE WAS THERE. WHERE ARE YOU THE New GUY ?! I'M GONNA BURN YOU INTO ASHES..." Natsu entered with Happy and Lisanna, he saw Gray in the distance and walked towards him.
Gray: That moron again?!
"May I know why you're shirtless?!" » Canna asked Gray who hadn't even noticed that he had undressed and that's when everyone saw his scars.
Makarov himself was surprised, when he placed the guild mark on Gray's chest, Gray only opened his shirt a little so he couldn't have seen them.
"Sorry, it's a bad habit" He said as he got dressed.
Erza: How did you get all these scars?
Gray: It's nothing, I don't really want to talk about it.
Erza:…
Natsu: Tsk I don't even want to fight anymore.
Mirajane: At the same time, you would have taken a beating, he beat Erza in a duel.
Natsu + Happy + Lisanna: WHAT??!!!!
Gray: It wasn't a real duel, I was just faster...
Natsu: I changed my mind, come and fight me...
Gray: What if I invite you to eat instead?
Natsu: You're my new friend.
« He figured it out Natsu so quickly!!! » the others said with shock.
After that dinner, anyone would have thought that the matter would be settled but it was the start of a long series of arguments between these two boys, arguments that would forge a certain bond between Natsu and Gray, bonds that He will also forge with some members of the guild.
Two months later, he met Gildarts, the most powerful mage in the guild who even recognized frightening potential in Gray.
By meeting certain members of the guild he was able to record in his memory other types of magic, his favorite of which was certainly Mest's teleportation.
Mest, still quite young, did not yet fully control his instantaneous movement magic, taking into account the space in which he appears required a lot of calculation and precision, a problem that Gray did not have and whose talent gave him to develop this magic with its frightening potential very quickly.
He wondered why people in general were content to use the same magic over and over again instead of learning new ones that could serve them in many different circumstances and the only logical explanation was that only people with high potential could learn more than two types of magic.
Learning magic in normal times was not simple unlike his case and required several years of training and training, you had to get used to this magic and make it part of you to master it.
Thus, learning another type of magic would be like integrating a foreign body into us, which would require several more years of learning but above all, adaptation.
Even with talent, it would take time, cases like Makarov or Purehito (Hades) were the example of these people mastering several magics but with a very long experience necessary.
Those who were true geniuses could skillfully master two even if these magics were complex like Ultear who had both time and ice magic.
Geniuses who dedicated their time to a single magic could reach the human peak of these magics, which gave them the power to annihilate nations, this is the case of the 12 Spriggan of Alvarez for example.
Gray on the other hand is not an innate genius but a complete anomaly resulting from a tragic accident and his genius breaks all limits.