The solid surge of strength running between Shane's muscles and bones made him nod slightly.
He wasn't surprised that his Strength had broken into D-rank at this moment.
Back when he was at the Heartfilia estate, he'd already felt he was nearing the bottleneck.
If anything, he felt the breakthrough had come a little late.
"Relying on manifestation alone to squeeze my stamina really is less efficient than running both tracks at once…"
He scratched his head, about to savor the post-breakthrough changes—when the communication lacrima in his pocket suddenly started vibrating.
He walked to a tree at the edge of the clearing and activated the lacrima. Ultear's expressionless face appeared in the halo of light.
"I found a lead on that Super Magic," she said flatly, with no emotion in her voice. "Get ready. I'll come meet you tomorrow."
Then the call cut off, clean and decisive.
Shane stared at the lacrima in his hand, a little surprised.
She actually gave advance notice this time?
Before, she'd never warned him—she'd just appear out of nowhere like a surprise inspection.
That "young lady" really did seem different from before.
Putting the thought aside, he returned to the clearing and clapped his hands at Natsu and Gray, who were still sprawled on the ground catching their breath.
"Alright. That's it for today."
With a thought, the heavy iron rings on their wrists and ankles dissolved into motes of light and vanished. "From now on, you two train on your own using this routine."
The instant the rings disappeared, an indescribable lightness hit them—like they were about to float.
"Ooooh! I feel so light! I'm crazy strong now!" Natsu whooped, pumping his fists as flames leaked uncontrollably from his mouth and nose.
Gray didn't say anything, but he swiftly and smoothly molded an ice blade barehanded and slashed it through the air, clearly pleased with the improvement.
The two of them were so absorbed in testing their newfound strength that they completely ignored Shane.
Watching them, Shane's eyelids drooped. He felt a little unbalanced.
He couldn't understand it—Erza beat these two into trauma. They treated her like a tiger.
But when it came to him, they were still this loud, disrespectful, hyper mess.
And it wasn't like he'd held back—he'd even accidentally sent Natsu flying just now.
Still… on second thought, maybe it wasn't a bad thing.
If these idiots started standing at attention and trembling every time they saw him the way they did with Erza, he'd probably feel uncomfortable.
"Anyway, I've got something to take care of, so don't slack off while I'm gone."
He tossed out the warning and didn't even bother watching the two clowns start wrestling again. He turned and left.
"Something came up?" Erza walked over, looking like she still wasn't done having fun.
She'd been unusually invested in the "instructor" role these past few days—helping comrades improve while also sharpening herself. It had been fulfilling.
"Mm…" Shane hesitated slightly. "Ultear contacted me just now. She says she'll be coming tomorrow."
He honestly didn't want Ultear showing up so soon.
The "lock" inside him for Lancer was already on the verge of breaking. He'd been planning to at least force it fully open before splitting up from Erza.
Ultear's sudden reappearance threw off his training schedule.
"I see." Erza simply tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Her face gave nothing away.
Shane glanced at her a few times, puzzled. He distinctly remembered Erza being pretty warm toward Ultear.
Why was she suddenly so flat about it?
Back home, the first thing Shane did was grab paper and a pen.
He'd been so busy drilling Natsu and Gray these past days that he'd nearly forgotten to write to Layla.
He leaned over the desk, the pen scratching across the page, briefly explaining that he'd found one of the five children—and tactfully asking whether she could contact Anna. He had questions about "dragons" and "four hundred years ago," and hoped for answers.
He folded the letter carefully, sealed it in an envelope, and stamped it with wax.
Shane let out a quiet sigh. If Igneel would just answer his questions directly, he wouldn't have to jump through so many hoops.
But ever since that brief meeting in the mental space, no matter how he tried to reach out, it was like shouting into the sea—no response at all.
That fire dragon clearly had no intention of showing himself again.
When he finished, Shane turned around.
Because of their earlier agreement, Erza had brought a chair over and was sitting beside him reading.
The book was titled Sorcerer Magazine—but not the issue they'd bought last time. She'd already finished that.
This was a new issue she'd apparently had someone buy for her.
Shane was curious. Why was she so attached to Sorcerer Magazine?
Was there really some hidden intel about other guilds buried among all those "sexy mage" spreads?
Sensing his gaze, Erza looked up from the pages and tilted her head slightly. "Done writing? Are we going into town to mail it?"
As she spoke, she snapped the magazine shut and set it aside, looking ready to go with him immediately.
Seeing how readily she supported him, Shane couldn't help feeling a twinge of guilt.
These days, Erza really had been giving it her all without complaint.
She'd stayed close to him to help with training, and even put her usual guild jobs on hold—rarely just staying in Magnolia for so long.
Then Erza seemed to remember something. She gathered her legs beneath her skirt and looked at him with genuine confusion in her dark eyes.
"By the way, if your magic improves faster the closer you are to me… then why, when we rest at night…"
"…don't we stay together?"
Her expression was extremely serious. "Does the effect disappear at night?"
It had clearly been bothering her for a while. She'd just been too busy playing instructor to think it through until now.
Shane's face didn't change. His voice stayed steady. "Yeah. Basically, the acceleration effect doesn't really work at night."
It was, of course, a lie.
The "heartlight resonance" effect ran twenty-four hours a day—Erza's "human accelerator" was always active.
He said it purely because Erza was too earnest.
If he told her the truth, she'd likely push for maximum efficiency and demand they sleep together again—like before.
Shane was worried that if he gave in for the sake of faster progress, it might gradually become another hard-to-cancel "household routine," just like the whole "hot spring back-scrubbing" situation.
Erza seriously lacked common sense in that area, and it never seemed to stick no matter how many times he corrected her.
And as she got older, her figure was visibly maturing—Shane felt he needed to draw boundaries early.
Otherwise it started to feel like he was taking advantage of someone naïve, and that left him with a weird sense of guilt.
So he told the lie, cleanly, to stop Erza from spiraling into that question.
Erza nodded thoughtfully, seeming to accept it, and didn't press further.
Shane quietly exhaled in relief, picked up the sealed envelope, and said, "Come on. Walk with me and we'll mail it."
~~~
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