Zeref's trails

"Now, gather around kids." Makarov beckoned while sitting on a tree stump, like a teacher telling the students to gather around for instructions.

The guild members gathered around Makarov, with the only exceptions being those who were injured from the trial just now, so they can only look from their stretchers.

"John, come here." Makarov smiled and tapped on the empty spot on his side.

John sat on that spot wondering what this old man wanted to do again, just as he sat on the stump, Makarov stood up and announced to all those present.

"In this S-class trial, John Osborne has demonstrated a great amount of strength that crushed all of his competitors."

"With the rules stated at the start of the trial, and with the witness of all of you here, I would announce that from here on forth."

"That John Osborne, will be promoted to S-rank!"

Along with his final shout, the surrounding people burst into clapping, even the ones defeated also clapped with them.

Even the grumpy Laxus also clapped, although he was still unwilling that he lost, he still acknowledges John's prowess.

Although he didn't become an S-class this year, the guild managed to get another S-class mage that is strong this year.

That's okay for him, there are still many years for him to become an S-class mage, as long as the guild becomes stronger, that's all that matters.

John also stood up and smiled, accepting the applause of the crowd, he finally reached S-class and finally has the qualification to truly wrestle with the strong of the continent.

"Okay, now that the announcement has been made, everyone can have fun on the island for three days before we need to return back to Magnolia," Makarov announced which caused cheers to erupt from the crowd.

"Old man, I have a question for you." John suddenly said from the side.

"Shoot."

"I would like to ask you in private."

"Stop being so wishy-washy kid, when I said shoot, shoot the question already and stop being a lady," Makarov grunted in annoyance.

"Well, can I have a branch of the Tenrou tree?" John asked dropping a nuke on Makarov's head.

'This kid! I shouldn't have promoted him to S-class!'

'He just got promoted and he already had his eyes on the Tenrou tree of the holy land of Fairy Tail!'

He was about to reject when a wind blew to his ears, 'Promise him', it was a woman's soft voice, Makarov stood up in shock and looked around to see if there was anyone near him other than the guild members.

Seeing that there was no one other than them, he closed his eyes and scanned the whole island, and still didn't see anyone other than them.

[Zeref: ....]

"Okay, you can take one branch, just one branch alright?! The Tenrou Tree is big so just one branch should be enough to satisfy all your wicked ideas." Makarov warned John repeatedly to only take one branch.

John also nodded repeatedly with a smile while laughing inside, 'The old man said one branch, but he didn't say how big it can be.'

"Okay, I'll go first," John said and was about to go when Cana stopped him and she asked.

"Aren't you gonna come to swim with us, John?" She asked with a pout when she saw that John is leaving once again.

"I'm sorry, Cana, I'll play with you later, since what I'm gonna do will only take a while. I'll give you a gift next time." John rubbed Cana's head with a smile and apologized.

"Okay..." Cana sadly nodded and then watched John entering the forest, she turned to Makarov who was sitting on the stump, and asked. "Old man Makarov, why does John always act like he's a grown-up?"

"It's because John didn't have someone to rely on since he was a child up til now, he probably acts like an adult because he thinks only by acting like one will he be able to stand alone." Makarov sighed and told Cana his conclusions.

"But, aren't we here for John? He can rely on us right?" Cana asked confusedly about why John was acting like that when they were here for him.

"Ah... Sigh*, it's hard to explain Cana, we can only wait for John to grow and ease up." Makarov sighed again with a difficult expression.

Meanwhile, John was smiling while looking for the biggest and longest branch on the Tenrou Tree, he was riding on Dragapult and quickly checked every branch that he saw.

It's hard to find the thickest branch since every branch that he saw has a thickness of at least 5 meters in diameter, which is already big, one can only imagine how thick the biggest branch will be.

He then discovered that the higher up the tree the bigger the branch so he just went to the top and he indeed saw the biggest branches but they were short, thick yes, but short.

So he went down from the top of the tree and tried to find the perfect ratio of thickness and longness of branches to be used.

He then found a branch that was 12 meters thick and about 33 meters long, it had a more perfect ratio than the other branches so he decided that it will be this one.

"There's only one problem, how am I supposed to cut this branch?!" John yelled loudly when he realized that he can't cut this by himself.

"It can't be helped, I'm sorry my wonderful creation that I have to use you like this." John apologized as he donned the Rahu Type 01 Mecha.

Using the blades of the mecha, John slowly but surely saw the whole branch down, only after 30 minutes or so.

He quickly put it inside a corner of the space once he cut it, and then he saw a small section of the crown got vacated when he did that.

He panicked and went to that area, he then saw that the sun was shining on a withered forest, black trunks, and cracked yellow ground.

John's eyes widened and he went down to take a look up close, his expression changed once he landed on the ground.

This area was devoid of any life, not even souls were wandering in the area, and every other life were afraid to approach the area.

"Zeref was here?" He muttered with great tension on his face, although he did get promoted to S-Class, that didn't mean that he will be able to contend against Zeref in his current state.

"It's good that Zeref still doesn't know about fairy heart, or else things would be different."

After that he jumped back on Dragapult's back and went to the resting area while thinking of what gift he should give to Cana.