"What exactly is a Devil Fruit?"
Loki asked curiously, "Does it have something to do with the power of demons?"
A trace of vigilance appeared in Loki's eyes.
She absolutely would not allow her adorable Ais to have anything to do with demons.
"It has nothing to do with demons."
Rowan shook his head.
"Devil Fruits are also something from another world. They're fruits that grant powerful abilities to whoever eats them."
"The reason they're called Devil Fruits is because once you eat one, the sea rejects you. You lose the ability to swim and become completely helpless in water."
"So people thought it was like being cursed by a demon, and that's how the name 'Devil Fruit' came about."
"In my opinion, they're more like Superpower Fruits—or Magic Fruits."
"Once you eat one, you immediately gain a powerful ability. You don't need years of training. As long as you have enough stamina, you can use its power."
"There's the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, which lets someone control lightning; the Ice-Ice Fruit, which grants control over freezing cold; and the Magma-Magma Fruit, which allows its user to control magma and even transform into magma."
"These are collectively known as Logia-type Devil Fruits."
"Unfortunately, I don't have any Logias right now."
"I do have Zoan-type and Paramecia-type Devil Fruits, though."
Rowan then demonstrated several Devil Fruit abilities to everyone present—
the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, the Azure Dragon Fruit, and the Phoenix Fruit.
Everyone stared in astonishment.
After hearing Rowan's explanation and witnessing the power of Devil Fruits firsthand, Ais fell into deep thought.
Paramecia-type Devil Fruits could grant all sorts of unbelievable abilities.
Zoan-type Devil Fruits, on the other hand, could greatly enhance a person's physical abilities.
Mythical Zoans were even more outrageous.
Not only did they grant tremendously powerful bodies, but they also came with extraordinary supernatural abilities.
For example, the Eight-Headed Serpent Fruit could supposedly grant its user eight lives.
That was ridiculously powerful.
After hearing about Mythical Zoans, Loki could not help blurting out,
"Hey, hey, hey! Do you have a Fenrir Fruit?"
As everyone knew, in Norse mythology, Fenrir—the giant wolf who killed Odin—was one of Loki's children.
So when Loki heard that Mythical Zoans existed, it was only natural that she wanted a Fenrir Fruit.
As for whom she planned to give it to—
wasn't that obvious?
Ais was probably the one most qualified to become Loki's "child" in that sense.
Of course, that did not mean no one else could receive it.
Ais simply had the highest chance.
After all, everyone in the Loki Familia knew just how much Loki adored Ais.
"There is such a fruit, but I haven't gotten my hands on it yet."
Rowan answered honestly.
"You can consider a different fruit."
Seeing this, Loki left the final decision to Ais.
The Fenrir Fruit held special meaning to her. If that particular fruit was unavailable, then she did not particularly care which other Devil Fruit Ais chose.
After thinking it over carefully, Ais ultimately chose the Phoenix Fruit.
It not only granted tremendous regenerative abilities, but also immense vitality.
As long as she had enough stamina, she would barely need to fear injury and could continue fighting an enemy all day long.
With the Phoenix Fruit, Ais might even be capable of challenging opponents above her own Level.
Riveria, however, did not choose a Zoan Devil Fruit after considering her options.
She was already an elf and had no desire to alter her race.
She did not choose a Paramecia either.
Compared with Devil Fruits and their inherent weakness, she preferred magic.
Rowan had no objections.
After all, magic was not inherently weaker than Devil Fruits.
If anything, it could be even more powerful.
It had no fixed weakness, and with enough magical power, it could overturn practically anything.
Of course, compared with a Devil Fruit, which granted an ability simply by being eaten, magic required actual study and training.
That naturally raised the barrier to entry.
But Riveria was the strongest mage in the Labyrinth City of Orario and bore the title Nine Hell.
Learning magic was almost as natural to her as eating and drinking.
The learning requirement barely existed for someone like her.
Rowan asked curiously,
"What kind of magic do you want to learn?"
After thinking for a moment, Riveria gave her answer.
She did not want to learn just one kind of magic.
She wanted to learn a whole collection.
In other words—
she wanted to empty out Rowan's entire library of more than a thousand spells.
Rowan immediately laughed.
"You really are greedy."
Riveria calmly replied,
"Learning magic is inherently an act of greed."
"Without desire and greed for knowledge, no one would ever pursue magic."
"Well said."
Rowan applauded.
"You want to learn my magic? Fine. I don't mind."
"But what are you going to pay?"
"Those thousand-plus spells are very expensive."
Knowledge had different levels of value.
Some knowledge was cheap.
Other knowledge was incredibly precious.
And magical knowledge in particular belonged among the most expensive kinds of knowledge imaginable.
Perhaps the spells Rowan knew were not especially rare in the world of Fairy Tail.
After all, that was a world where magic flourished everywhere.
But in this world, magic was far more valuable than most people could imagine.
Take the protagonist Bell as an example.
In the original story, Bell obtained a grimoire through Freya's arrangements and learned a spell.
It was only one ordinary spell.
If Rowan remembered correctly, it was called Firebolt.
A rapid-fire magic that required no chant and launched a lightning-fast burst of flame at the enemy.
To Rowan, a spell like that was almost laughably simple.
And yet—
even such a basic spell was worth more than one hundred million valis.
Ais's weapon, by comparison, only cost tens of millions.
Of course, Rowan understood that what made it so expensive was not necessarily the spell itself.
It was the grimoire.
That book could allow someone who knew absolutely nothing about magic to learn a spell practically overnight.
That was why it was so valuable.
But that did not mean magic itself was cheap.
In truth, magic in this world was far more expensive than most people imagined.
To put it bluntly—
even if the entire Loki Familia were sold off, they still could not afford the value of more than a thousand different spells.
So Rowan was genuinely curious.
What gave Riveria the confidence to make such an outrageous request?
Then Riveria casually said something that left Rowan stunned.
"Can I write you an IOU?"
"No!"
Rowan rejected her without even thinking.
He had expected Riveria to propose some brilliant arrangement.
And this was it?
An IOU?
What did writing an IOU mean?
Wasn't she basically trying to freeload?
Naturally, Rowan refused.
Only someone whose head had been crushed in a door would agree to let Riveria write an IOU for something like this.
He almost laughed from anger.
No—
he actually did laugh.
"I thought I was already shameless enough."
"But I never imagined the great Nine Hell herself could be even more shameless than me."
"How did you even manage to say 'Can I write you an IOU?' with a straight face?"
"I'm embarrassed for you."
Riveria smiled awkwardly, then turned her head toward Loki.
Rowan instantly became furious.
"I was wondering why the great Nine Hell, a member of the elven royal family, would make such an unreasonable request."
"So it was you, Loki!"
"You really do keep finding new ways to lower my opinion of you."
Loki was completely unfazed.
"So an IOU really isn't an option?"
"Absolutely not."
Rowan rejected the suggestion without hesitation.
Freeloading was impossible.
There was no way in hell he would let Loki freeload off him.
Loki was helpless.
Since her plan to get everything for free had failed, she could only negotiate the price normally.
Rowan did not ask Loki for money in exchange for Ais's Phoenix Fruit.
Money meant very little to people like them.
If Rowan wanted money, he could obtain huge amounts whenever he wished.
What he asked Loki for instead were rare materials and rare forms of magic.
One should never underestimate Loki.
Her Familia was one of the strongest in the Labyrinth City of Orario and possessed plenty of valuable treasures.
Not to mention that Loki herself was a goddess who knew quite a bit of magic.
Therefore, barter was the most suitable method.
Using ordinary money for a transaction like this would be the stupidest option.
After a round of bargaining, Rowan obtained two grimoires and several rare materials from Loki.
In exchange, aside from giving Ais the Phoenix Fruit, he would also teach Riveria three completely different kinds of magic.
On the surface, it might have looked as though Rowan had gotten the worse end of the deal.
But Rowan did not think so at all.
On the contrary, he felt that he had made a very good profit.
Likewise, Loki also believed that she had profited greatly.
She had exchanged a pile of things they were not using for powerful magic.
More importantly—
these spells could be taught to others.
That meant the Loki Familia could pass them down from generation to generation and train one powerful mage after another.
As for which three spells Riveria would learn—
Rowan allowed her to choose for herself.
After thinking carefully, Riveria chose Card Magic first.
Specifically, the kind of magic capable of sealing both objects and people inside cards.
This magic held enormous practical value for the Loki Familia.
It meant that during future expeditions, they would no longer need to carry mountains of supplies with them.
They could simply seal everything into cards and save an enormous amount of space.
And the magic could seal more than just objects.
It could even seal monsters.
Whether used for combat or storage, it was extremely convenient.
For her second choice, Riveria selected Time Magic.
After all, the ability to stop time was extraordinarily useful.
Whether attacking monsters or supporting allies, it created an enormous margin for error.
Learning it was practically guaranteed to be worthwhile.
For the final spell, Riveria asked Rowan to recommend something.
Rowan recommended Enchantment Magic.
That's right—
the same Enchantment Magic used by Erza's mother, Irene Belserion.
It was a form of magic capable of adding magical properties to virtually any object.
Rather than being primarily an offensive spell, it worked by enchanting objects or living beings with magical effects.
And in Rowan's opinion—
this magic suited Riveria extremely well.
~~~
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