Daily Life with Three Systems: Chapter 22

"Hey, Andy?" Rias notes. 

"Yeeees?" I ask slowly. 

"Makarov wanted to see you as soon as possible." The redhead informs. 

"He say why?" I question, looking over my archive window with a faint frown. 

"No... but I can take a pretty good guess... it's getting quite close to the S-Class Trials, isn't it?" She points out. 

"Aaaah. Right. He's probably calling me down to help him get some ideas for the Trials themselves." I nod slowly. 

"oooh... do you think you could-" the redhead begins with a bright smile. 

"No." I deadpan as I rise to my feet. 

"Awww Andy come on! We don't even abuse your S-Class ranking to go on missions!" The girl pouts. "Can't you give us a little hint?" 

"Nope! That'd ruin the fun." I exclaim. "Bye!" 

I quickly turn, open the window and flip outside, falling briefly as I fall from the second floor study, ignoring the stares of Rias and my familiar as I land face-first in the dirst below. 

I hop up a moment later, brushing myself off- making an archive window to act as a mirror, or in this case a back-facing camera- plucking a few strands of grass out of my hair and swiping away the dust on my knees. Then I sprint off. 

[Split] 

It has been about... two months since I began looking into Light Ecriture. 

Ugh. Spelling and grammar. 

I should also be getting a new quest sometime soon. 

That's useful. 

I slip into the guildhall, glancing around briefly. 

I look to the bar, Makarov isn't there, then to the second floor. Once more he isn't there so he's probably in his office. 

I quickly make my way over, knocking on the door. 

"Come in." I hear the older man's voice call from the other side. 

I step into the room, spotting Makarov sitting over a map, a frown on his face, Gildarts is sat in a chair, feet kicked up as he continues to drink. 

"Ah. Good. Andrew. You're here." Makarov sighs. "Please tell me you have ideas." 

"For... the S-Class Trials?" I ask after a moment. 

"Yes. It gets harder every year." The man groans, rubbing his face with his hands. "And this man isn't helping at all!" 

Gildarts drinks louder. 

"I've got... a few ideas we might be able to use." I begin. 

"TELL ME!" Makarov's eyes shine. 

"Well, what are we looking for first and foremost?" I question. 

"Strength." Gildarts cuts in. 

"An S-Class must be strong, yes, but there's some other values that are needed as well." Makarov agrees. 

"But strength is most important." Gildarts reiterates. 

"Alright, allow me to toss out a few random ideas I had." I mutter before I take a breath. 

"Labyrinth, Gordian Knot, Obstacle Course, Tournament." 

I see Makarov quickly writing things down. "Alright. Good. Good. We can't do a Labyrinth this year, that'll take some time to set up. But I'll put a pin in it for next year." 

"Combine the Obstacle course with the Labyrinth." Gildarts cuts in. "Weed out some of the weaker recommended that way." 

"Obstacle course... Labrynth... this is looking like a 'year after the next' trial... it'll cost a lot to set up as well." 

"Then monetize it." I suggest with a shrug. "Get some stands, a mage that can project images, and make a spectacle of it. Charge for tickets... and food." 

I can see the man's eyes practically turn into jewel symbols. "Ohohohoho HEHEHEHE!" 

Ahem He clears his throat before looking back to me. "Alright. Can you elaborate on the other two you said, a 'gordian knot' and a tournament?"  

"The tournament's pretty easy. Basically for that year we don't exactly have 's-class recommendations' and just allow anyone who wants to try to S-Class enter... or at the very least have FAR more recommended mages than normal. Like... sixteen or thirty two. Make it a nice even number. Then we just have them all beat the snot out of each other until one's left. That one person fights an S-class and if they can beat or impress them... S-Class." 

"I can get behind that!" Gildarts cackles. 

"That'll take time as well." The man mutters. 

"But it can also be monetized." I shrug. "As for the gordian knot... it's based off a legend... basically a king tied a truly impressive knot and claimed that whoever untied it was destined to rule the entire country." 

"Just break it." Gildarts huffs. 

"And that's what one man did. Walking up and cutting the knot in half with his sword, thus creating the phrase 'cutting the gordian knot'." I nod. 

"Ah... seems a little weak." The man grumbles. "Any mage could pass that." 

"Which is why I would modify it. Making the goal... less untying the knot and more retrieving an item I have tied INTO the knot. If they damage the item, they're disqualified... because more often than not, missions require you to retrieve things. Things the requester doesn't appreciate being broken. I feel that learning to restrain your magic is a very important thing an S-Class should know how to do." 

"..." 

"Hint... Hint..." I deadpan. 

"Oi oi! What the hell do you mean by that, brat." The man grumbles. 

"Makarov, can the Fairy Tail guild afford a second 'Gildarts Shift'?" 

The man grows ghostly pale, he looks as if he ages decades which is impressive as he's already as old as dirt. "Gods above... no..." 

"I still think that this might allow someone not suited for S-Class jobs to pass. They could get hurt really badly." 

"Yes." I nod once. "Which is why it's merely a 'First' trial. Like that box thing from last year. To thin the herd a bit. Let the second trial be strength based." 

"Works for me." The drunk man instantly relents. 

"..." 

I drag my fingers through the air, runic language appearing. 

"Sober." I declare as I flick the word at him. 

"Hm?" He looks over. 

Then the flustered drunk expression instantly fades. 

He blinks twice, looks down at his mug of alcohol, looks back. 

He leaps to his feet. "WHAT BLACK SORCERY IS THIS?!" 

"Soberness magic." I give the man a half-lidded stare.  

"I am APPALLED and HORRIFIED that such dark magic could even exist! What sort of monster created it?!" 

"How's your daughter?" I question, causing the man's attention to snap elsewhere.

"Oh she's the most precious thing! I'm teaching her how to use caster magic and everything!" He crosses his arms. "Hmph. But she still wants to keep using those silly cards... she should be using Crush magic like her pops." 

"Underestimating Holder magic is kind of foolish. Celestial spirit magic exists, after all... and I've actually been theorizing that there's an inverse 'infernal spirits'." I hum before looking back at Makarov. "So. Gordian Knot? We doing this? Because frankly it'll probably take me days of work to make even a single knot so I'd like a bit of warning here and now to get started on that." 

"The knot... is good." Makarov decides with a small nod. 

"Alright. How many do I need to make? Six again?" 

"Just four this year." The short man informs. "And I'd like to have them by at least the end of the month, but I suppose I could push the trials back a week or two if you need a little more time." 

"Got it. Have fun deciding the second Trial. I'm going to go work on the knots now." 

[Split] 

"Hrnnnnggg." I groan, rubbing my face with a hand. 

That took entirely too much time. 

"Oi. Boss. I'm back." I groan as I throw open the door. 

"Ah good! Andrew. Let's see what you've made!" 

With a flex of requip magic four large watermelon-sized spheres of coiled and knotted rope thud onto the table, each with two long strands that can be used to fasten it to whatever. 

"These are... impressive." The man admits after a moment.  

"You're welcome. Now. I'm going home and going to bed. Good luck with the S-Class trials." I offer a wave. "I'll probably show up to cheer on my friends." 

With that... I stand up and walk outside. 

[Split] 

I lay there, arm around Koneko's shoulders as she rests her head in the crook in my neck, Rias is on my other side, bust pressed against my side. 

Well. 

My sleep schedule's fucked. 

A tiny archive window appears showing the time. 

12:54 (AM) 

One AM... 

I open another archive window, a faint frown on my lips.  

I don't need to worry about waking up Koneko and Rias with this variant of my spells as only I can see them right now. 

Oh. 

Message. 

I guess this is my new quest? 

Magic Item Creation: 
Well, you've learned quite a few things over the past three years. Perhaps it's time you put it to the test. Make a magic item! The stronger the better. Use that brain of yours to create an item to rival that of the artificers in this world! 

Objective:  
Create at least one magic Item: [ ] 

Bonus Objective: 
Granted 'Bonus Points' depending on several factors such as the overall 'strength' of the magic item(s), the quantity, Scale, and the overall 'potential' for said magic item. Thus, creating something that functions like a celestial spirit, even one that is weaker than a copper spirit, would be worth a great amount of 'bonus points'. 

Rewards: (Pick one of 4) 
One Random 'Epic' 'Base Modification'. 
One 'Chat Connection Selection' of your choosing 
One random book on any magical 'Crafting' profession such as arcane blacksmithing or alchemy. 
One Random 'Crafting' 'Base Modification' 

Bonus Rewards: 
1 Point: 
100,000 Jewel 
1 Pound of any 'Non-Magical' material 

5 Points: 
One random book on magic (Weighted towards the 'Weaker' side of magics) 
One random 'average' magic item (About on par with a pair of x32 Gale Force reading glasses) 

10 Points: 
1 book on magic of your choice (That is below a certain threshold of power, such as 'Fire Magic' or 'Iron-Make' but not something like 'Fairy Law') 
5 random book on magic (Weighted towards the 'Weaker' side of magics) 
One Random magic item.  

25 Points: 
One random book on magic (Weighted towards the 'Medium' side of magics) 
One Random 'Base Modification' of 'Rare' tier or lower. 
Shop Upgrade (Farmer's Market) 
Chat Upgrade (Calls and Face-Time) 

50 Points: 
50 random books on magic (Weighted towards the 'Weaker' side of magics) 
1 Additional Reward from the basic list. 
10 Celestial Spirit Keys of any rarity (But heavily weighted to Copper) 
Up to 10 books of 'Magical Crafting' (In which a rarer, more obscure, and more powerful crafting profession would require more books to give you an extensive overlook of the magic, with each 'book' truly only granting a few dozen pages worth of knowledge. 
Chat connection selection 

100 Points: 
Sharpshooter's Essence. 
10 Random books on magic. (With the weakest possible being 'average' magics 
One Black celestial spirit key of your choice, even from among the broken ones. 
One Item from a connected world (Within Reason) 
One 'Chat Group Creation' Token.

Time Limit: 12 months, 17 days, 23 hour, 3 minutes, 44 seconds (The time left until the year after next. This will be your ONLY quest this year so the rewards reflect that.) 

Well... this is certainly a long one... but the rewards! Hehehe! 

My eyes flick to Rias and Koneko. 

I... should probably get started on this right away. But... 

I'm kind of being used as a pillow for a cat girl and a redhead. 

The main question is... 'How do I slip out without waking them up'. 

[Split] 

As I sit the Ofuda aside I nod once. A quiet ding echoing out from my archive window. 

With that, the Quest completed. 

The base quest, at the very least. 

I pick the 'Crafting book', as realistically it could really help me in the near future. 

Out of all the rewards, that one's the best option by far. 

I may gain another profession to pursue in order to potentially earn more points. 

Heck, I might gain something absolutely broken like... uh... 

Etherious Creation?  

Maybe some sort of notebook on how to easily combine enchantments? 

Maybe just a book detailing a bunch of absolutely BROKEN enchantments? 

Either way. Whatever I get may be helpful for the progression of this quest. 

I sit the ofuda aside, allowing it to dry as I let out a long sigh, propping my head up with my hands. 

Maybe... I should have slept longer... 

ah well. That's a problem for future Andrew. 

[Split] 

Rias is practically vibrating with excitement, a bright smile on her face. "I can't wait! I'm going to make S-Class! Then we'll go on all these cool missions!" 

Ding-Dong 

"That's the book! Get it and let's get to the train station!" 

I quietly sip a small thermos of hot chocolate, rising to my feet as I am re-energized. 

I step over to the door, open it, then pick up the box on the other side, my thermos briefly floating as I tear the tape off. 

"Let's see what we got here." I mutter under my breath as I pull a fairly thick book from the box. "Ring magic?" 

"Huh." I hum, requiping it away as I collect my hot chocolate once more. "I'll work on that later, then." 

"So can we leave now?" Rias asks. 

"Fiiine fine." I wave off, taking another sip of my drink. "Oh, and thanks for the Hot Chocolate, Natsuki. It's really good." 

The pink haired girl blushes slightly and looks away. 

She used her magic to make it more energizing. Kind of like a magical coffee. 

I loathe coffee, so her being able to make this is REALLY helpful. 

"Are you going to come with?" I ponder as Rias grabs my wrist and begins dragging me towards the door. 

"U-Um... I could!" The girl decides, quickly slipping past me and grabbing her shoes. 

I gently free my arm from Rias' grasp and step over to the stairs. "Seilah, you're going to be the only one here. Keep the place safe." 

I don't get a verbal reply, but I know she can hear me. 

I turn to the others. "Alright. Let's go." 

[Split] 

"Alright my children! Let me tell you what you're going to be expected to do!" Makarov calls out, silencing the talking mages. "Rias Gremory, Koneko Toujou, Laxus Dreyar, and Valerie Tepes, step forwards." 

The four mages, three of which could be argued to be my friends. 

Two of which actively try and fuck me fairly regularly. 

"Now. Before we start... Andrew if you would." 

"Archive: Scrying eyes." 

With a flash four small floating orbs shaped vaguely like eyes appear in the air. They're actually something I've been working on for a while. A dome-shaped archive screen that records the things it sees and projects it on... 

"Archive: Viewing Window." 

A magic circle appears in front of my hands as I throw my hands out behind master makarov, a large flat screen of archive magic appears, quickly linking with the scrying eyes and projecting four separate windows that show the point of view of the little scrying eyes appearing. 

I let out a yawn and walk towards the crowd. "Good luck." 

"Now. Within this forest are four knots. Your first task is to find them, and untie them, retrieving an item that was woven within. The first two to return will proceed to the next trial." Makarov explains to the S-Class applicants. 

I finally make my way back across the little picnic area the guild had created, taking a seat beside Natsuki. 

Instead of traveling across Fiore like last year, we just sort of wandered off into the forest. Deep enough that we won't bother Magnolia with our shenanigans. 

"So... do you think they have a chance to win?" Natsuki asks slowly. 

"Who?" I ask, eyes flicking over to the girl. 

"Um... Rias, Koneko, and Valerie?" She clarifies. 

"Well." I mutter as I watch Master Makarov swing his arm down and the others dart into the forest the screen up above changes as the scrying eyes quickly follow after the four, the only following Laxus struggling to keep up as he turns into lightning and streaks towards a distant mountain, the place Makarov had me place the Gordian Knots. 

He'll get there first. 

"To be honest?" I scratch the side of my head. "Of the group of four, Rias will either be the first finished or the first disqualified. It just kind of depends on how good her control is." 

"Control?" The girl echoes. 

"Oh. The goal for this trial is to use your magic to cut the knots. You know. Gordian Knots. Like the legend?" 

"Oh! Right. But... you put an object- oh I see... if they damage the object they get disqualified, right?" 

"Mhmm." I nod once. As for the others? Koneko's strong, she could likely just tear the ropes but she may risk breaking the wooden rings of the necklace. Valerie's pretty good at wind magic, so that could be used to cut the ropes as well... Laxus is kind of unlucky here. His magic's more good for burning than cutting, but he does have a head start so he may be able to pull something off. But among the group he probably has the lowest chance of passing... maybe if Koneko and Rias both mess up." 

"Take your bets!" I hear Cana cheer in the distance, raising a large stack of jewel above her head. "Who'll pass this first trial!" 

"They're... betting?" The pinkette beside me questions. 

"Yep. I'd totally join in, but eh... seems a little unfair... cause with divination I could probably cheat." 

"Could... you?" Natsuki mutters, taking on a pondering expression, there's a faint glint deep in her eyes. 

"Natsuki. No." I huff with a small smirk. 

"But just think of how many snacks you could buy!" She whines causing me to roll my eyes. 

The camera finally catches up to Laxus as he had landed, he stares up at an absolutely massive knot, a look of genuine disbelief on his face. 

He lets out a long groan, lightning sparking between his index finger and thumb as he slightly climbs up the tree to reach the rope keeping the sphere tied up above the ground. 

The rope fizzles and hisses, then with a snap the ball of rope falls to the floor with a thud.  

Koneko reaches it next, then about thirty seconds it's Valerie. 

Rias is the final one to make it, she looks at the orb, huffs, then holds out a single finger. 

A small orb of destruction rests at the end of the digit as she presses it gently into the ball. 

It's as if she took an MS-Paint 'erase' tool and simple deleted a small section of one of the ropes, causing it to snap open. 

She does it again and again, the ropes beginning to fall off the orb like one of those blooming onions you could get at some steakhouses. 

Snap Snap Snap 

The ropes continue to snap under her little bead of destruction energy as- 

Valerie is trying to untie the knot... seemingly not realizing the goal is to cut it. 

That's... kind of cute actually. 

Anyways, Rias eventually begins to uncover a red cord necklace that has numerous wooden loops on it as Koneko slashes once at her ball to open it up, her normally monotone and flat expression seems to brighten up? 

Oh wait... 

Cat... 

Ball of yarn... 

Huh... 

Is this really going to be a race between Laxus and Rias? 

Laxus is doing surprisingly well, using electricity to cut through the ropes. He's playing it really slow though, stomping out the embers that appear from his lightning as he cuts rope after rope. 

Valerie manages to untie the ball from the tree, Rias has rendered her ball a bunch of scraps and is now carefully removing the rope I coiled through the wooden rings. 

Laxus has just uncovered the first part of his necklace, and Koneko... 

I took my eyes off her for ten seconds how did she- 

She... uh... 

Cut a large section of the ball off and is now trying to free her own necklace from the halves. 

Huh. 

Her tails lash back and forth, a look of satisfaction on her face as she finally grabs the necklace. 

Rias has already started on her way back and shortly after Koneko follows, touki flickering across her body as she rushes through the forest. 

She completely ignores branches as they snap on her body, Rias flying up above in the sky. 

"WOMAN!" A large green and purple gorilla leaps out at Koneko, but she slides under his grasping hands and kicks it in the dick hard enough to lift it off the ground. 

I can hear the male spectators let out a low 'ooooh'. Even I find myself closing my legs slightly and wincing. 

With a simple twist she breaks its elbow then lands three bone crushing punches on its upper torso and face. 

It flops back, heavily disorientated... then she darts off like she didn't just savagely beat an ten foot tall sentient magical monkey like it owed her money. 

Rias lands with a huff, crossing her arms with a satisfied smirk. "Oh? I'm first?" 

Koneko bursts through the treeline a moment later. "Tch. Giant green monkey. Made me late." 

"The mages continuing to the next trial are Koneko Toujou and Rias Gremory!" Makarov calls out causing the guild to cheer. "Andrew. Can you tell the others to return?" 

"On it." I begin as I raise my hands, magic circles appearing as Archive windows appear next to the two remaining mages. 

Laxus lets out a growl, spiking the remains of his ball into the floor, it looks like he's about halfway done. "DAMN IT!" 

Valerie pouts slightly only just having gotten the sphere untied from the tree. 

She picks it up and turns, transforming into a swarm of bats as she begins to make her way back. 

Laxus is back first, landing with a crackle that slightly craters the ground. He crosses his arms, scoffing as he walks away. 

Seems like someone's in his angsty teen stages. 

Valerie appears shortly after, coalescing from a swarm of bats, the gordian knot in her hands. 

She perks up upon seeing Laxus and quickly makes her way over, sitting beside him and continuing to try and untie the knot. 

"So... uh... am I seeing something that isn't there?" I question under my breath to Natsuki. 

"Huh?" Natsuki mutters. "Oh. Valerie and Laxus? Hm... I don't know. They're kind of cute together. But Valerie's a little old for him, right? I think she might just be doting on him like an elder sibling." 

"Eh. Fair." I shrug. "If there is something there, good for her. If not. Whatever. Not my business either way." 

The pinkette nods along with me then with a flash summons a small box of cocktail sandwiches from her requip space. You know, those little ones cut into triangles with the crust cut off. Anyways, she learned the basics of requip magic, and while she doesn't really intend to go 'all in' with it, spending ages to expand her storage space, she agrees that it is an incredibly useful magic. 

"Would you like a sandwich, Andy?" The girl turns to look at me, causing me to smile and nod once. 

"Allow me to explain the second trial if you two are prepared." Makarov calls out, the four scrying cameras now floating around the three wizards. 

"Your goal..." He raises his hand, lifting a pendant with the fairy tail symbol on it up above his head, the cameras zoom in on it giving everyone a good look. "Is to take this pendant... from me." 

"Welp. Rias' fucked." I mutter, taking a bite of my sandwich. It has some really nice cold-cut meat in it. I'm not exactly sure which it is out of pastrami, salami, ham, and all that, but it's good whatever it is. 

"She is?" Natsuki whispers. 

"You will have thirty minutes starting in sixty seconds... Andrew if you would?" 

"Huh-" I blink at my name being called out. "Ah- sure?" 

With a few taps of archive a timer is added to the spectator window. The number sixty appears on it then begins to count down. 

The second it reaches fifty nine, Makarov turns and hops off into the forest. "Huh... he can run pretty fast for an old guy." 

I turn back to Natsuki. "Anyways, to answer your question... This is a physical challenge... Koneko is naturally stronger than Rias, plus she has Touki to further enhance her body. So... she has a much higher chance of actually stealing the pendant." 

"If she can manage... however... is to be determined. Makarov is quite strong."