"What does it matter?" Shane said nonchalantly while skillfully setting up the grill.
Gray was busy laying large pieces of meat on the grill, the dripping fat making a tempting sizzle.
He agreed vaguely, "Yeah, yeah, I haven't eaten anything good for a long time—"
Since being "swindled" out of his savings by Shane last time, his recent days had indeed been tight, not having seen meat for a long time.
"Exactly! It was already cunning enough for you to bring us to eat buffet; what's wrong with inviting Gray too? We need to eat our money's worth!"
Shane also chimed in from the side. His initial goal was to seek revenge on Cana. At this moment, on the point of "making the payer bleed," he and Gray rarely reached a united front.
Cana turned her head wanting to seek support from Erza, only to find a small mountain already piled up on the plate in front of Erza.
She was focused on sending sizzling meat slices into her mouth, cheeks stuffed full like a hamster, obviously having no time for anything else.
Cana looked at these three "hungry wolves" and completely gave up struggling.
"—Eat, eat, it's a buffet anyway."
She touched her wallet, calculating silently in her heart.
The 30,000 Jewels commission money just paid out, plus this meal, her savings accumulated by doing small commissions without leaving the city usually, were gone by a small half at once.
This was also the reason why Shane was "appeased" just by being treated to a buffet meal.
At the dinner table, the group chatted casually, finishing the meal lively.
By the time Shane and Erza returned home, the night was deep.
After washing up, Shane fell onto the bed, staring at the ceiling, feeling that in the two days back in Magnolia, the rhythm of life was even more irregular than when outside, staying up late almost every day.
However, his brain didn't rest immediately.
Instead, he began to review the battle with Ivan just now.
This could probably be considered the strongest opponent he had encountered in the true sense since transmigration.
Although he verbally belittled the opponent as worthless, he still understood the principle of "despise the enemy strategically, take the enemy seriously tactically."
The experience that should be absorbed couldn't be less at all.
Reviewing the entire battle process, Shane found that his current combat system, compared to before, had actually become quite complete.
Long-range suppression with Arash's archery, close combat confrontation with Senji Muramasa's sword skills.
Even added a powerful Noble Phantasm that could seal the victory, deciding the outcome.
Reality Marble!
Therefore, although Ivan's magic was weird and tricky, what really brought him pressure was actually only that surging Magic Power like a tide.
Previously, perhaps because the opponents encountered completely couldn't force out his limits, he subconsciously ignored his shortcoming in the basic element of "Magic Power."
But this time, Ivan's strong Magic Power as an S-Class Mage formed suppression at one point during the battle, forcing Shane to start facing it squarely and pay attention to this link.
"Magic Power—" Shane muttered to himself in a low voice, his gaze seeming to want to penetrate the ceiling and look at the starry sky.
He found that after coming to Magnolia, the goal of learning magic originally set had been constantly disrupted by various emergencies, not truly started until now.
Mhm, it's time to settle down a bit.
He closed his eyes, starting to plan the upcoming training in his mind.
First of all, the urgent task was naturally to learn Requip Magic.
This not only helped magic training itself but could also leverage Senji Muramasa's forging skills to strengthen the power of Arash's archery, increasing diversity during combat.
As for whether to learn other magic to perfect the system after learning Requip, Shane didn't think that much for the time being.
Firstly, he hadn't encountered magic that particularly interested him; secondly, he also worried about biting off more than he could chew.
If he really wanted to learn new magic in the future, it wouldn't be too late to ask the Master after mastering Requip Magic solidly.
As for using the "Deep Summoning" authority he had always reserved to summon a Caster to improve Magic Power.
He didn't even consider this idea.
Enduring for so long, wasn't it for the locked Classes and Traits in the Book of Heroic Spirits?
Now just need to wait for the settlement of the "Initiation" trial, then pass the S-Class Trial; at most one year, he could gather enough authority.
Impossible to give up at such a time.
Thus, Shane set his future plan, reducing going out starting tomorrow and focusing on training.
Early the next morning, a long-lost, rhythmic knock on the door woke Shane from his dream.
He rubbed his sleepy eyes and opened the door. The morning light outside was faint; Erza was standing there gracefully.
She seemed to have just tidied up too, scarlet hair tied neatly behind her head, wearing a clean white sleeveless top and dark blue short skirt, appearing fresh and full of vitality.
"Feels like haven't been woken up by you like this for a long time." Shane yawned, feeling somewhat emotional.
During this period, they had been running around outside; such a calm morning was truly rare.
"Wait for me a bit."
---
Because it was agreed that he would make breakfast today, Shane finished washing up quickly.
When he walked out of the room, Erza was waiting quietly in the living room, morning light outlining her increasingly clear and beautiful face.
Shane approached, suddenly noticing something, and sized her up carefully.
"Erza," he walked a few steps closer, sizing her up with slight curiosity, "did you grow taller?"
Saying this, he naturally pulled the girl in front of him, gesturing between his and her head with his hand.
The girl's body proportions were already good; looking closely at this moment, her legs seemed even more slender.
"Speaking of growing taller, Shane, you grew even faster, right?"
The tip of her nose was surrounded by the scent of faint soap fragrance from Shane just finishing washing, making Erza's eyes dodge slightly.
Shane was stunned hearing this; he really hadn't paid special attention to his own changes.
He subconsciously used the door frame as a reference to compare, only then discovering with surprise that compared to when he just came out of the Tower of Heaven a few months ago, he had actually shot up more than ten centimeters!
And Erza probably only grew four or five centimeters. The two who were about the same height originally, now he was already half a head taller than the other party.
"Reasonably speaking, girls should grow faster at this age range—"
Shane pinched his chin in thought, then attributed this anomaly to the continuous tempering and nourishment of the body by the Class Card.
"Didn't expect you to be so attentive." Shane teased with a smile.
Erza thought, I've been watching you all the time; of course I can notice.
At the same time, she couldn't help retorting, "Didn't you also notice I grew taller?"
"Because we are always together; of course I know." Shane answered as a matter of course.
This overly direct and honest answer made Erza speechless for a moment, not knowing how to continue the conversation.
She turned quickly, walked to the dining table, sat down, and changed the topic stiffly: "What are you making this morning?"
Mentioning cooking, Shane immediately got spirited. He specially bought ingredients last night just to show off this morning.
"Make shrimp dumplings for you to eat."