Chapter 11: Creating Homies! A Pervert Named Gray!
Looking at the guild mark on the inside of his forearm, Ren couldn't help smiling.
A natural sense of belonging rose in his heart.
Because Ren and Erza had just arrived in Magnolia and didn't have a place to live, Makarov assigned them two dorm rooms.
Most guild mages already had their own homes, so the dorms had been left unused for a long time.
Dust covered everything.
After cleaning up the dorm, Ren lay on the single bed with his hands behind his head.
He opened the system's virtual panel.
When he met Makarov, the Big Mom template progress had increased by \(25\%\).
Then after arriving at the guild and meeting many members, the progress jumped straight to \(85\%\).
He was just one step away from fully replicating the Big Mom template.
Lying on the bed, Ren excitedly claimed all the rewards.
A flood of memories poured into his mind.
His three types of Haki were strengthened.
And the Soul-Soul Fruit ability appeared in his mind as well.
As he accepted the reward, everything about using and developing the Soul-Soul Fruit was completely copied into his memories.
Ren opened his eyes, a faint, eerie light flickering within them.
He lightly waved his arm through the air, and a bluish glow surged from between his fingers.
It was a soul he had extracted from within himself.
In the original story, Big Mom used souls to create three special Homies.
A soul infused into flame created Prometheus.
A soul infused into a thundercloud created Zeus.
A soul infused into a blade created Napoleon.
Those three special Homies were extremely powerful and always guarded Big Mom's side.
Now that he had the Soul-Soul Fruit ability, Ren naturally wanted to create Homies of his own.
He scanned the empty dorm. There was only a single bed, a wardrobe, and a crude table.
Ren sighed helplessly and drew the soul back into his body, deciding to wait until he had a better chance to use it.
Big Mom's swordsmanship was strong too, and these rewards practically included all of Big Mom's abilities.
There were still three reward claims left, and Ren couldn't help feeling curious about what else he might get next.
After traveling through the night for several days, plus the short fight with Mirajane today, Ren felt mentally exhausted.
Before long, he fell asleep on the bed.
That night, in the dorm next door, Erza lay awake with her arm raised, staring at the black Fairy Tail mark on the inside of her forearm. A blissful smile slowly formed on her face.
She turned her head to look at the wall. Ren was right on the other side.
Erza felt completely satisfied.
She closed her eyes and quickly drifted off.
Even after she fell asleep, a smile still lingered at the corners of her mouth.
The next day, Ren went to Makarov and looked at him sincerely. "Guild Master, Erza can't use magic. I hope everyone in the guild can teach Erza."
Makarov studied Ren's earnest expression in silence for a moment, then lifted his head to meet Ren's eyes. "Don't worry, Ren. I'll personally teach Erza!"
Ren nodded, gratitude in his eyes.
He bowed slightly to Makarov and said, "Thank you, Guild Master!"
"Hahaha, we're family!"
Makarov laughed loudly and raised his right hand to pat Ren, even though he had to reach up.
In the days that followed, Ren went out alone to take on requests.
Under Makarov's careful guidance, Erza quickly awakened her magic too.
Just like in the original story, the magic Erza awakened was still Requip Magic.
…
One day, a white cloud floated high in the sky. A boy lay on top of it with his hands behind his head, eyes closed, taking a nap.
"Master, we're almost back at the guild."
At that moment, a human-like face suddenly appeared on the cloud beneath the boy, speaking to him.
The boy opened his eyes. A glimmer flowed through his gray-brown pupils.
"Alright. Speed up."
He glanced at the outline of a town in the distance, yawned, and sat up.
The cloud accelerated, turning into a streak of light as it shot toward the town.
Before long, it reached the air above Magnolia. Ren leapt down from the cloud.
The white cloud descended as well, floating beside Ren.
"Yo, Ren, you're back!"
"Ren, did the request go well?"
"Welcome back, Ren!"
The people of Magnolia were warm and friendly. Not long after Ren arrived, he'd already gotten familiar with them.
Seeing everyone greet him enthusiastically, Ren smiled and waved.
"Alright, everyone, I'm heading back to the guild to turn in the request. We'll chat next time."
After saying goodbye, Ren strolled along the streets of Magnolia.
He quickly reached the Fairy Tail entrance.
Before Ren could push the door open, the guild doors suddenly burst outward.
A liquor bottle flew straight at Ren's head.
In the instant before it hit him, the white cloud beside him turned pitch-black, becoming a dark thundercloud that floated in front of Ren.
With a loud crack, lightning flashed across Ren's sight.
The bottle shattered completely the moment the lightning struck.
As the bang echoed, the noisy guild hall fell quiet, and everyone inside turned to look.
"Yo, everyone."
Ren smiled and waved at the crowd.
"Whose bottle was that?"
Seeing Ren's gentle smile, a chill ran through the guild members.
With perfect coordination, they stepped aside and pointed at a black-haired boy not far away.
"Gray!"
Watching everyone scatter, the black-haired boy still didn't understand what was going on.
"When did our guild get a pervert who strips in broad daylight?"
Ren's mouth twitched as he looked at the naked guy in front of him.
"Huh?! When?!"
Hearing the word "pervert," the black-haired boy immediately looked down at himself.
His expression changed, and he hurriedly grabbed clothes from the side and put them on.