Fairy Tail: You Call This Celestial Spirit Magic?!

After searching around the outskirts of the forest, Marco came up empty-handed.

Well, not entirely empty-handed - he found a small, dilapidated abandoned village.

The village was in ruins and the architectural style looked quite old.

"Is this some tribal ruins?" Marco stepped into the village.

It was worth searching - he thought Jellal and Wendy might be resting here.

However, just as Marco entered the village and hadn't even started searching thoroughly, the village revealed its extraordinary nature.

"Whoosh!!!"

A terrifying wave of magic suddenly enveloped the entire ruined village.

This powerful magical wave had no malice and wasn't an offensive spell.

In fact, Marco couldn't tell what kind of magic it was at all.

He only sensed that the caster's magic power was unbelievably vast - could they be cheating?!

Marco looked around, frowning as he observed.

This magic had no offensive power and didn't seem to be aimed at him.

He was very curious what the caster was doing with such a big display.

Then, Marco was shocked by what happened in the village.

Before his eyes, the previously empty and dilapidated village suddenly became lively, with a bunch of villagers suddenly appearing!

They just materialized out of thin air!

Instantly formed from that immense magic power!

"What the... What kind of shitty magic is this?!"

Marco's jaw dropped as he stared blankly at everything unfolding before him.

Even with his vast knowledge and experience, he was stunned speechless.

"Could these be Thought Projections?" After regaining his senses, Marco had a guess.

Thought Projection was a concept common in various ACG works.

Marco didn't know about other worlds, but in this world, Thought Projections were entities similar to clones that split off from a living being with a soul, but lacked their own consciousness.

Of course, these were Thought Projections created by living people.

There was another possibility for forming Thought Projections - from a deceased person's strong lingering attachments or unfulfilled wishes.

Thought Projections born under these circumstances were basically projections of the deceased's soul and memories, with personalities not much different from when they were alive.

Thought Projections looked no different from ordinary people.

As manifestations of magic power, they gave the impression of being ordinary mages.

Most mages had difficulty detecting any difference.

These suddenly appearing "villagers" clearly seemed like manufactured Thought Projection clones.

But the problem was, in that massive magical wave just now, there was only one person magical signature.

This meant all these clones... were created by a single person?

"Creak."

Just as Marco was utterly baffled, the door of one house opened.

A small old man dressed somewhat like a Native American walked out.

And behind him, a figure Marco had been searching for appeared.

"Wendy, look, aren't these all our guild companions? So many people, all of them are members of our guild!" the old man said to Wendy with a smile on his face.

"Wow! There really are so many peoples!" Wendy's little face was flushed red, looking quite excited.

There were still some tears in her eyes, as if she had just been crying.

"Eh?!"

The excited Wendy turned her head and saw Marco.

Her expression froze and she let out an adorable surprised sound.

"Grandpa, is this guild called Fairy Tail?" Wendy looked at the old man beside her, her big eyes blinking as she asked this question that left the old man puzzled.

Clearly, the name 'Fairy Tail' had been firmly remembered by Wendy.

"Fairy Tail? Um, no it's not," Roubaul shook his head.

Although he hadn't decided on a name for this newly established guild yet, it certainly couldn't be called 'Fairy Tail'.

He hadn't even heard of this guild before, but clearly one already existed with that name.

At the same time, Roubaul's gaze also turned to the dumbfounded Marco.

"Kid, who are you?" Roubaul spoke up first, his brows furrowing.

When he had created all those Thought Projections just now, was this kid already here?

Did he see everything?

"Ahem, hello, I'm Marco, Marco Dreyar, a mage of Fairy Tail. I came looking for Wendy and Jellal," Marco coughed and immediately introduced himself, also stating his purpose, as both of them looked at him, including the surrounding Thought Projections all turning to look.

Marco had already figured out that the strangely dressed old man next to Wendy must be the caster from earlier.

That incredibly powerful mage who could create a bunch of Thought Projections with diverse appearances and forms!

The most outrageous thing was, Marco had noticed, those manufactured Thought Projections all seemed very lifelike.

This truly shocked Marco.

How was this any different from directly 'creating people with magic'?!

Surely this old man didn't have multiple personality disorder, with all these clones being his different personalities?

Compared to directly "creating people with magic", Marco was more willing to believe this old man had multiple personality disorder.

At least that was easier to accept than the former.

"Wendy, do you know this kid?" Hearing Marco's words, Roubaul looked at Wendy.

He thought they must know each other - Wendy mentioning "Fairy Tail" earlier was probably because of this Marco Dreyar.

"Mm! I know him!" Wendy nodded vigorously, then took a few small steps forward to Marco's side.

With a curious expression, she asked.

"Big brother, did you come looking for me and Jellal?"

"Yes. Where's Jellal? I don't see him," Marco nodded, then looked around.

He really didn't see Jellal anywhere.

"Jellal... Grandpa Roubaul said he had some very urgent business to take care of..."

Marco brought up Jellal and Wendy's expression changed, becoming somewhat aggrieved.

Her eyes began to well up with tears again.

Seeing Wendy's pouting, teary-eyed face, Marco roughly understood what had happened.

That guy Jellal had most likely entrusted Wendy to this old man care.

That guy had seemed eager to leave even back in the forest, probably because he truly had some urgent matter to deal with.

"It's alright Wendy. He didn't abandon you, he just didn't want you to be in danger."

Marco crouched down, reached out to pat Wendy's head and looked her in the eye.

With a bright smile on his face, he spoke to comfort Wendy.

"Sniff!"

Hearing Marco's words, Wendy sniffled, her two little hands messily wiping at her face, trying to wipe away her tears.