It took nearly a month for Noah to finish upgrading the magic on all the guild marks.

After ensuring every member's mark was updated, he went to the training grounds to check on Wendy's progress with her new offensive magic.

"Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!"

As soon as he arrived, he saw Wendy with her arms wreathed in visible gales of wind. She swung them like wings, smashing them against a stone training wall.

BOOM!

The wind slammed into the stone with a deafening crash, sending shrapnel flying.

"Not bad, Wendy! You learn fast," Noah said with a smile. "And as expected, the magic to fight dragons is incredibly powerful."

"That's only because you and Brother Natsu are good teachers!" Wendy said, stopping her training and walking over, wiping sweat from her brow.

She explained that she had managed to develop a few offensive Dragon Slayer moves but was still working on mastering them, which was why she hadn't been on any missions with Yukino and Meredy. She was eager to get back to them, so she was training hard.

Noah had her demonstrate. The forms were all solid, but she was still unpracticed. Her slow, deliberate attacks were fine, but she'd run into problems if she tried to speed up. That was something only repetitive practice could fix.

Just then, Natsu showed up at the training grounds. The moment he saw Noah, he charged over for a fight.

Noah didn't refuse, treating it as a light warm-up. He simply stood there, blocking Natsu's barrage.

As usual, Natsu was quickly exhausted. Noah created a flame in his hand, packed with light magic, and tossed it to him. Natsu swallowed it in one gulp. His magic and stamina were instantly restored, so much so that excess fire began to leak from his body.

But this time, something was different. Noah flashed in front of Natsu, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Hold still. Let me see something."

Natsu froze, confused. Wendy, Carla, and Happy all came over, Wendy looking particularly nervous, as if something was wrong.

"It's fine," Noah reassured her, "it's a good thing."

He looked closely at Natsu's face. Small, scale-like markings had appeared at the corners of his eyes. He tapped them with his finger. They were hard.

"How do you feel right now?" Noah asked.

Natsu took a moment to assess himself. "I feel... way stronger than usual," he said, sounding surprised. "Like, everything is stronger."

"Mhm. You've just entered the very first stage of Dragon Force."

"Dragon Force?" Natsu and Wendy echoed, confused.

"Think about it," Noah explained patiently. "Do you two think you're strong enough to hurt a real dragon right now?"

"No..." Natsu and Wendy both shook their heads. Having lived with Igneel and Grandeeney, they knew better than anyone what a real dragon was. At their current level, they probably couldn't even scratch a dragon's scales.

"Dragons have incredibly tough bodies and high magic resistance," Noah said. "Ordinary magic is useless. The only things that can reliably hurt a dragon are... other dragons. Or, Dragon Slayer magic, which imbues you with draconic properties.

"Dragon Force is the state that allows a Dragon Slayer to unleash their full power, to bring out those draconic properties completely. It's considered the ultimate state of a Dragon Slayer, and it's said that only in this state can a wizard truly be on par with a dragon."

Natsu's eyes lit up. "So I'm in Dragon Force right now? Does that mean I can finally beat you?!" He started shadow-boxing, looking at Noah with a fiery battle-lust.

Noah promptly chopped him on the head, hard enough to make his eyes water.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. You're barely touching the rudiments of Dragon Force, and you only got here because you ate my magic. Wait until you can enter this state on your own before you talk about beating me."

Natsu rubbed his head but wasn't discouraged. He knew, even as he said it, that he still wasn't strong enough to beat Noah. But he was always confident he would, one day.

"So, how do I train to do it myself?" he asked.

"It's simple. You train. You build your magic and your body. Only when your body and magic container are strong enough can you form the foundation to enter Dragon Force on your own. It's a fundamental change, a 'qualitative leap.' You can't force it. The only reason you're even in this 'prototype' state is because my flame gave you a boost of compatible magic and stimulated your body."

"I see... Alright, then I'm going to train! I'm gonna beat you one day, Noah!" Natsu declared, waving to Happy. "Come on, Happy!" He sprinted off toward his own training spot.

"Bye, Noah! Bye, Wendy-kun!" Happy called, flying after him.

After they left, Wendy got back to her own practice. Noah watched for a bit, and seeing she was on the right track, he returned to his own training.

This became the new routine: Natsu would recover, challenge Noah, and get beaten. Wendy would watch and learn. Natsu would run out of magic, Noah would feed him a Light Flame, and they'd go again, until Natsu was too mentally exhausted to move.

A week later, Wendy had become proficient with her new, Natsu-inspired, Sky Dragon attack magic.

~~~

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