"Thud!"
Natsu fell to the ground, grimacing in pain.
Even though he had used all his strength to defend, he still couldn't withstand Marco's fists.
As for dodging, he had tried that too, but it was completely impossible.
The punches were too fast and Marco wasn't just standing still - his fists were not only quick and heavy, but his footwork was also very agile.
Natsu now understood that there was a huge gap between his and Marco's strength.
No wonder he had been so easily defeated.
"Again!"
Natsu got up from the ground, his eyes full of fighting spirit.
As a goal he wanted to chase, this was how strong Marco should be!
"Damn it! Natsu you bastard! It's my turn now!"
Gray jumped out from the side, calling out to stop Natsu.
Natsu had already been sparring for two hours, now it was his turn!
"Huh?! What does this have to do with you?! Go practice on your own!"
Natsu glared at Gray in annoyance.
Marco had called him to be a sparring partner, but Gray just had to butt in.
"What do you mean it has nothing to do with me?! Before you came, I was always the one sparring with Marco!"
Gray glared angrily at Natsu and the two started butting heads again, neither willing to back down.
At first, Gray had been somewhat amused watching Natsu, but as he watched, he started to feel something was off.
Training with Marco, although tough and tiring, really could bring improvement.
If Natsu was always Marco's sparring partner, wouldn't he be at a huge disadvantage?!
So Gray couldn't hold back anymore.
He wanted to reclaim his right to be the sparring partner!
"."
Seeing this scene, Marco found it amusing.
These two really were born with incompatible personalities, even fighting over who gets to be beaten up.
How to describe the relationship between these two?
Suppose there was a pile of shit on the ground.
If one of them absolutely had to eat it, the other would definitely rush over to grab a bite or two as well.
This description wasn't exaggerated at all.
These two were both first-class stubborn mules.
"Stop arguing. You can both come at me together. This time I won't fight back, you two attack me."
Marco reached out and pried their heads apart, separating the two from butting heads again.
Then he announced the new training methods.
The previous training was having Natsu dodge his attacks.
Now it was his turn to dodge.
If he couldn't dodge, he would take the hits head-on.
Marco's usual training content was quite brutal, focusing primarily on actual combat.
It wasn't just pure physical training, strength, magic power meditation, etc.
He was a true practical fighter and even included training in taking hits and enduring pain.
Being a mage wasn't a safe game of make-believe, but a dangerous profession highly related to fighting and killing.
People could die.
In this world, there were legal guilds like Fairy Tail and naturally there were also "Dark Guilds".
On the continent of Ishgar where the Kingdom of Fiore was located, there was an organization called the Magic Council.
The distinction between legal and dark was determined by the Magic Council.
The Magic Council maintained the stability of the magical world on the continent of Ishgar, while also being responsible for monitoring the behavior of members of various mage guilds, punishing rule-breaking guilds and pursuing Dark Guilds.
Dark Guilds were guilds that had been expelled and wanted by the Magic Council.
Their members were all Dark Mages who specialized in taking on illegal jobs including theft, assassination and destruction.
Wars often broke out between Dark Guilds and legal guilds, and legal guilds also had the responsibility of eradicating Dark Guilds.
So Marco believed that as a mage, especially a mage from a famous large guild like Fairy Tail, one must have decent combat ability.
Otherwise, they could be in mortal danger - Dark Guild members wouldn't show mercy.
On this point, Marco's thinking was somewhat similar to Laxus', just not as extreme as Laxus.
Laxus wanted to make the guild completely elite, but Marco believed weak mages and low-level mages were also necessary, because the guild needed people to take on those low-difficulty, low-paying quests.
That was the foundation for the guild's continued existence.
Regarding the future development of the Fairy Tail guild and the position of guild master, Marco also had some ideas.
On this point, Marco and Laxus were direct competitors, making that recently obtained task even more difficult to complete.
*****
"Huff... huff... I can't go on, I'm exhausted!"
After two hours of training, Gray and Natsu lay on the ground like two dead dogs, their chests heaving as they gasped for breath.
Their stamina was depleted, magic power nearly exhausted and their whole bodies ached and were powerless, as if they had just fought a great battle.
Marco stood to the side of the two, also somewhat out of breath.
Although his magic power was excellent, facing the onslaught of these two little beasts had rapidly consumed it.
As his magic power dissipated, it was also quickly regenerating.
Inside Marco's body, a magic power source like a cosmic starry sea was emitting light, slowly rotating and constantly releasing magic power.
His body was also greedily absorbing the magic power floating in nature.
Magic power was a special natural element that existed both within living creatures and widely throughout all things in nature. (ehternano)
Magic was the product of the resonance and matching vibrations between the magic power inside the body and the magic power in nature.
There were many factors that affected magic power and magic, including a person's life force, soul, emotions, resonance with natural vibrations, perception of magic power, and so on.
A person's talent as a mage was not determined by a single factor.
Marco's body possessed excellent magic power talent.
The amount of magic power, the speed of magic power recovery and the absorption rate of external magic power were all at the top among mages of the same age.
The first time he sensed magic power through meditation, Marco understood that he was born to be a mage!
"Let's end here for today."
Seeing Natsu and Gray already collapsed on the ground, Marco announced the end of training.
It was about time to eat and after eating they would do meditation training.
"Food!"
Hearing it was time to eat, Natsu seemed to regain his strength.
Eating well was also quite important for mages.
Being hungry would affect magic power recovery speed and make the body weak.
The three returned to the first floor hall of the guild building, found a table to sit at and started ordering from the menu.
It was almost 6 PM and many of the guild's mages were having dinner.
Mages without families basically had all three meals at the guild, as the prices were much cheaper than outside.