Chapter 2: Tremor Magic

"Finally won a game!"

"Congratulations."

The sky was darkening. After Nate generously used his developer privileges to transfer 1,000 points into Mirajane's account, she finally won her first game of Mahjong.

Nate didn't charge her for it. At this stage, the Internet was just getting started, and it was too early to start "harvesting" users.

Mirajane decided to treat Nate to a meal as a way of expressing her gratitude.

"Oh... is it that late already?" After the excitement of winning, Mirajane noticed the sky outside and said apologetically, "Nate-san, I'm so sorry to have taken up so much of your time."

"It's fine. I'm happy that you like my magic," Nate said, shaking his head. "And there's no need to be so formal—just call me Nate."

Mirajane smiled and nodded. "I understand, Nate. Anyway, welcome to Fairy Tail!"

In this world, magic was generally divided into two classifications: "Holder Magic" and "Caster Magic." Nate's magic clearly belonged to the former, as it required magic items to be used and was thus categorized as Holder Magic. In contrast, Caster Magic mages strengthen their own magic power through training and manifest magic directly, known as Caster Magic.

The Internet was a new type of Holder Magic. Mirajane had a feeling that it could bring great change to the world of magic.

She took out a magic seal. "Nate, where would you like the guild emblem?"

"On the back of my hand."

"What color?"

"You can choose the color too? Let's go with blue."

Nate removed his glove and exposed the back of his left hand to her. With a gentle press of the magic seal, the guild emblem was instantly imprinted.

"It's getting late. I'll take my leave for today."

"Alright, take care."

...

After saying goodbye to the guild's waitress, Nate left. He had rented an apartment near the guild for 70,000J per month. It came with hot water and furniture—a very reasonable price.

Back home, as he filled the bathtub with hot water, Nate eagerly opened the system.

[Task: Acquire one Internet user.]

[Reward: Paramecia-type Gura Gura no Mi (Tremor-Tremor Fruit).]

[Task completed!]

Claim reward?

Yes.

[Detected that the user is not in the One Piece world, converting reward...]

[Paramecia-type Tremor-Tremor Fruit → Caster Magic Tremor Magic!]

A surge of vast magic knowledge flooded Nate's mind. In an instant, he had mastered a new magic.

Standing beside the bathtub, Nate closed his eyes tightly and only opened them after a long while. He raised his right hand, and a faint white glow enveloped his fist.

"The Devil Fruit power has been adapted to this world's rules and turned into magic?"

"The only difference..." Nate mused. "Devil Fruit powers use physical strength, while magic consumes magic power."

Nate's lips curled into a satisfied smile. Magic power—something he had in abundance! His magic power wasn't particularly extraordinary yet, but...

All Internet users, when they used the Internet, consumed a small amount of magic power. Ninety-nine percent of it was used to maintain the Internet itself. The remaining one percent... flowed through the "network" into Nate's body, where it accumulated.

One percent might seem insignificant, but if enough people used the Internet, all those small contributions would build up, and his magic power could reach unimaginable levels!

[Host: Nate]

[Age: 20]

[Race: Human]

[Magic Power: ★☆]

[Magic: Internet, Tremor Magic]

Two classifications of magic—one Holder Magic, one Caster Magic.

"The Internet doesn't have any combat applications yet, but the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit is comparable to Super Magic."

Nate undressed and sank into the hot water. Above regular magic, there was "Super Magic," which stood for "Superior Magic," far more powerful than ordinary magic.

With the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's power, causing tsunamis, triggering earthquakes, or destroying a town would be easy. It certainly deserved the title of Super Magic!

As he pondered, a new task appeared.

[Task: Maintain 80 active users for three consecutive days, with an average daily usage time of two hours.]

[Reward: 1,000 rings.]

"Eighty daily active users? Two hours of daily usage? That doesn't seem too hard."

Lying in the bathtub, Nate stroked his chin in thought. Fairy Tail had a large number of members, at least a few hundred. If he gave each one a ring, it would be easy to meet the daily active user goal.

However, he only had 100 rings. They came from a beginner's package, including the Internet magic itself. One of the rings he wore himself, with full developer privileges. Of the remaining 99, he had given one to Mirajane, leaving 98 to distribute.

This meant that even if he distributed all the rings, he would need to ensure that 80% of the users spent at least two hours a day on the Internet for three consecutive days.

"Should be doable." Based on Mirajane's behavior today, Nate felt confident that the task wouldn't be too difficult.

Speaking of Mirajane, Nate immediately opened the Internet and searched for the ID "The Departing Traveler."

Online (Currently playing Mahjong).

Nate chuckled. This task was a sure thing—he didn't even need to do anything. With a click, he sent a friend request.

At the same time, in the women's dormitory at Fairy Tail, unlike Nate's 70,000J per month apartment, the women's dormitory cost 100,000J a month. As a former S-Class mage, Mirajane wasn't short on money, so she naturally chose better living conditions.

At this moment, Mirajane was also soaking in a bath, playing Mahjong while bathing. She had grown a bit addicted to the game. Suddenly, a small red dot appeared next to the [Private Messages] icon in the upper-right corner of the interface.

"Huh?"

Mirajane tapped the red dot, and a notification popped up.

[User "Sigma Male" has sent you a friend request. Would you like to accept?]

[Message: It's Nate.]

"Sigma Male is Nate's Internet nickname? What does Sigma mean?" Mirajane blinked her pretty eyes. So there was a friend-adding feature? She hadn't known.

After accepting the request, a chat window appeared.

Sigma Male: "Still playing Mahjong?"

The Departing Traveler: "How do you know?!"

The Departing Traveler: "Ah... does your magic have surveillance features?!"

After sending that message, Mirajane's face turned red. She was in the bath! Wasn't everything being seen? She quickly sank deeper into the bubbles, leaving only half her face above the water.

Sigma Male: "Friends can see if you're online, and if you are, it shows what you're doing in parentheses."

"Is that how it works?" Mirajane whispered softly, exploring the friends list and, sure enough, saw her only friend. Sigma Male, online (Idle).

Phew—

Mirajane breathed a sigh of relief and quickly typed.

The Departing Traveler: "Sorry, I misunderstood. I'm really sorry."

Sigma Male: "I'm heartbroken that you doubted my me..."

The Departing Traveler: "I'm truly sorry, Nate... What can I do to make it up to you?"

Sigma Male: "...Treat me to two meals? I'm not really upset; I just rented a place and have no money left for food."

Mirajane paused, then chuckled as she typed.

The Departing Traveler: "Got it, I'll treat you to a meal! There are plenty of requests at the guild, I'll keep an eye out for you."

Sigma Male: "Thank you, Waitress-san."

Seeing the "waitress" title, Mirajane couldn't help but smile brightly. People had called her that before, but chatting through the Internet felt completely different.

Sigma Male: "The other two games are fun too. You should give them a try."

Sigma Male: "I'm going to rest now. Goodnight."

Mirajane was startled and hurriedly replied.

The Departing Traveler: "Goodnight, see you tomorrow."

She then stared blankly at the chat window for two minutes with no further response. Mirajane puffed her cheeks slightly in annoyance but then thought Nate must have fallen asleep.

"The other games, huh?"

As the Mahjong game finished, Mirajane followed his suggestion and opened the infamous Poker. And she continued playing until the early hours of the morning.

...

Nate wasn't actually going to sleep; he had work to do. After getting out of the bathtub, he dried his hair and body, threw on a bathrobe, and sat down at his desk. He activated the magic programming interface.

"Writing code before crossing into this world, still writing code after crossing." A born coding prodigy!

Nate joked to himself. His programming skills were decent—he had even won a college competition. Compared to coding on a computer, the programming and development functions of Internet magic were much simpler.

"Let's develop a [Library] feature."

"Allow users to scan and upload the contents of magic books..."

"In the future, it'll be much easier to learn new magic!"

After a night of hard work, he didn't sleep until 3 a.m.

When he woke up the next day, it was already noon. Without even eating, he quickly washed up and headed for the guild.

He really was out of money for food. Time to find the waitress for a free meal!