Fairy Tail: This Healing Mage's hits hurt so much!

Finally, after relentless exploitation and manipulating Leo, Lucy managed to catch a Dream Pearl Fish.

She held the fish in both hands as if it were some rare treasure, her face beaming with the joy of "the rent is paid off."

Wendy delivered two in the end, a faint smile on her face. Although she was exhausted, she felt a great sense of accomplishment.

Xia Lulu followed beside her, her little hands on her hips.

Everyone else took their own fish back to eat, but Natsu's fish was half-eaten before it even reached the shore, and Happy was jumping up and down in frustration.

When we returned to Magnolia, just as we reached the edge of town, a piercing alarm blared throughout the entire street.

"Waaaaah... Activate Gildarts Mode! Activate Gildarts Mode!"

A sudden earthquake shook the ground violently, and the stone pavement beneath our feet seemed to be split open by an invisible hand, creating a wide passage in the middle of the street.

The houses on both sides were moved aside by mechanical devices like building blocks, revealing a straight, unobstructed avenue leading directly to the guild hall.

Lucy was startled and instinctively hid behind Erza, gripping the edge of Erza's armor tightly with both hands, peeking out with half her head out.

"What happened?! Magnolia has cracked open?! Was that an earthquake?!"

Wendy also hugged Mirajane's waist, shrinking behind her, her voice filled with obvious panic.

"What's going on? Have monsters attacked Magnolia?"

The others remained calm. Sunrise had his hands in his pockets, Natsu yawned, and Gray was expressionless.

Mirajane reached out and gently patted Wendy's head, her movements soft and her tone gentle as well.

"Don't worry, this is a model that Magnolia developed for Gildarts. Because he destroys buildings whenever he's distracted, and crashing into houses is commonplace for him, we simply opened a direct road to the guild for him, so he doesn't have to pay for several buildings every time he comes back."

Wendy, Lucy, and Charlotte all looked speechless, their expressions identical, and their lips twitched simultaneously.

Lucy's lips twitched even more violently, and her voice trembled.

"To transform the entire town for one person...that's just outrageous..."

Xia Lulu muttered to herself.

"The mages in this guild are all abnormal."

Gildarts scratched his head sheepishly and chuckled twice, but his smile clearly carried a hint of nonchalant acceptance.

"Hehe, please excuse the poor appearance. You'll get used to it."

The group walked straight to the guild entrance.

Gildarts stood at the guild entrance, looking up at the brand-new guild building. His mouth slowly opened, widening until his jaw almost dropped to the ground.

The brand-new stone exterior walls, the more imposing and magnificent gates than before, and even the windows have been replaced with stained glass, with sunlight casting colorful shadows on the ground through the glass.

"Wow... the guild has become so grand! How much did the guild leader embezzle?!"

"Gildars! What the hell are you talking about, you bastard?!"

Makarov's voice carried far through the guild, powerful and resonant, making the doorframes vibrate.

Immediately afterwards, a wine glass flew out from inside the door and hit Gildarts squarely on the forehead with a dull thud.

Gildarts touched the bump on his forehead, and instead of being annoyed, he burst into laughter, his laughter as hearty as a bell.

"Hahaha, the old man is still so healthy, it seems Riyao has been taking good care of your health!"

Another wine glass flew out of the guild, and Gildarts dodged it this time, laughing even more heartily.

Sunrise and Mirajane bid farewell to everyone at the guild entrance, with Sunrise waving to Gildarts.

"I'm going back to the manor first to prepare a potion for Gildarts."

Gildarts was taken aback by what he heard, subconsciously touched the wound under his cloak, and then nodded.

"Hey, can't you fix it in a flash like you do?"

He mimicked the movements made during the healing process, gesturing with both hands.

"The wound healed on its own when that emerald green light shone on it?"

Riyao rolled his eyes, his tone conveying a sense of disdain that said, "You're dreaming."

"Of course not, that's my own power. Repairing myself is easy. I know my own body best, I can heal myself with my eyes closed. Besides, you've lost an arm and a leg, and your muscles and bones are damaged. It's many times more difficult. Why would I use medicine to deplete my life energy?"

Gildarts scratched his nose and gave an awkward smile.

"Alright, I'll do as you say."

Wendy and Charlotte followed. Wendy jogged to catch up with Riyue, her little face full of anticipation and curiosity, her hands clasped in front of her chest.

"Brother Riyao, Sister Mira, wait for me! I want to see how potions are mixed! I only know how to use healing magic to heal directly; I've never seen the process of mixing potions before."

Xia Lulu hugged her arm with her little paws.

"I don't want to watch, I'm just keeping Wendy company."

Sunlight glanced back at Wendy, then smiled and nodded.

"Sure, we just happen to need a...helper."

Gildarts walked into the guild, and before he even stepped over the threshold, he saw Cana, who was completely drunk, sitting by the bar.

She was slumped over the table, a pile of empty wine barrels in front of her, her cheeks flushed, mumbling something incoherently, and clutching a wine glass in her hand.

Gildarts paused for a moment, his smile growing even wider.

"Kana, Daddy's home."

Cana groggily raised her head, glanced at Gildarts through her drunken eyes, and her vision blurred for a few seconds.

Then his pupils contracted sharply, and the effects of the alcohol seemed to be instantly dispelled by some stronger emotion. His face changed in a second, transforming from a drunken daze into an angry and aggrieved expression.

"You damned old man! You finally decided to come back?! You've been gone for three years! Three years! Do you know how I've lived these past three years?!"

Cana's fists rained down on Gildarts' chest and shoulders, and she kicked him in the shin, making a series of loud thuds.

Gildarts stood motionless, letting Cana punch and kick him without showing any pain. Instead, he looked happy, smiling like Natsu.

"I'm sorry, Kana, Daddy's back."

The guild members tacitly looked away, some drinking, some chatting, and no one bothered the father and daughter.

Lucy stood in the doorway, watching this scene, covering her face and muttering a complaint through her fingers.

"Why is the guild's strongest mage so...unimpressive?"

Happy flew above Lucy's head, his two little paws covering his mouth, grinning, his tail wagging like a rattle.

"Lucy was probably trying to be inappropriate, hehe."

"Shut up, you stinky cat."

Lucy slapped Happy away.

Gray approached Uru, and Juvia was already standing behind her, expertly massaging her shoulders with a technique so professional it looked like she'd practiced it a thousand times.

"Uru, continue teaching me how to master Ice Form."

Gray stood in front of Uru, his hands in his pockets, his tone calm, but his brows were slightly furrowed and there was a hint of barely perceptible anxiety in his eyes.

Ulu spat out the sunflower seed shells, glanced at him sideways, and looked somewhat surprised.

"Huh? You've already mastered it, what else do you need me to teach you? I've already taught you everything I need to teach you about my Ice Style."

Gray paused for a moment, his lips moving as if he were carefully choosing his words.

"How about... a dynamic ice-themed design?"

Uru rolled his eyes, popped another sunflower seed into his mouth, chewed it a couple of times, and spoke in a casual tone as if he were talking nonsense.

"Simply put, 'shaping magic' is about creating any shape you want. Whether it's dynamic or static depends on your mindset. If you want it to move, it can move. The key is whether you have that image in your mind, not whether I teach you or not."

Jubia nodded vigorously beside him, removed his hands from Uru's shoulders, and made a gesture of swirling water, looking very serious.

"Juvia knows this! My water flows however I want, it flows however I want, it turns however I want, entirely according to my will!"

Gray didn't respond, his brow furrowing even more. It wasn't that he didn't understand the principle; he just... couldn't find the direction.

Recent battles have been increasingly difficult for him; Sunburst's casual ice attacks are even stronger and more domineering than his own, and Natsu's flames are constantly evolving.

His ice-themed style seems to have hit a bottleneck, and he just can't seem to get past it.

Moreover, the S-level assessment for this year is approaching, and he must become stronger.

Ulu cracked some sunflower seeds, turned his head to look at his silly apprentice, and a knowing glint flashed in his eyes.

She knew Gray too well; this kid was prone to getting stuck on things, and the more he tried to break through, the less he could.

"I used to be pretty much the same, stuck in a bottleneck I couldn't break out of."

Uru patted the sunflower seed crumbs off his hands, his tone casual but serious.

"Why don't you go ask Riyao? His magical theory is much better than mine. Aren't most of his spells self-created? Hundred Tactics, Life Mimicry, and all those strange moves—he figured them all out himself. This guy's understanding of magic is much deeper than ours, these old guys."

Gray's lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just mumbled an "um".

Gray felt lost, as if a thorn was stuck in his heart, making him restless.

He walked out of the guild alone, wandering aimlessly through the streets. His mind was filled with Uru's words and the image of the blue ice crystal Tang sword he used during the battle with Sunshine. The cold aura that was even more frigid and domineering than his own ice made him feel both resentful and secretly envious.

Juvia secretly followed Gray, somewhat worried.

After struggling internally for a long time, I unknowingly arrived at the gate of Riyao's manor.

He stood outside the iron gate, hands in his pockets, staring at the manor gate for a long time, his face full of conflict.

The aroma of food wafted from inside, along with Wendy's surprised exclamations and Xia Lulu's disdainful grumbling.

Gray took a deep breath, then exhaled, muttering to himself.

"Weren't they coming back to prepare the medicine? I just went in to see what he was up to...it had nothing to do with asking him for advice or anything."

He reached out and pushed open the iron gate, but his steps were a beat slower than usual.