Internet Magic in Fairy Tail

Chapter 204: Chapter 204: Cana Finally Told the Truth to Gildarts

That evening, Nate returned to his apartment.

He had spent the entire afternoon observing Pokémon battles and hadn't found any strange bugs so far. Checking the game's backend, he discovered that the highest-level Pokémon currently belonged to Natsu—his Charmander had already reached level 10.

Charmander evolves at level 16, and at the rate Natsu was grinding, he'd reach that within two or three days. So, Nate decided he needed to get Charmander's evolved form ready soon.

Fortunately, that would be simple. Essentially, it was just a matter of updating the appearance of the Celestial doll, not a big deal.

"But... is leveling up happening a bit too quickly?" Nate pondered. But maybe it wasn't that fast. After all, there were over a thousand different Pokémon, and players wouldn't stick to training just one—they'd end up collecting and training multiple Pokémon.

Plus, Nate had capped the maximum Pokémon level at 50. Once they reached that, leveling up wouldn't improve their stats any further. If players wanted to make their Pokémon stronger, they'd have to get creative.

For example, Natsu was personally training his Charmander in Dragon Slayer magic. That kind of extra effort would undoubtedly make his Charmander stronger than the average one.

"Real-world battles seem fine, but I also need to implement online battles," Nate said, opening the coding tool on the Magic Net platform.

Time to start copying! He could just reuse the code from [Magic Arena]. Well, not exactly copying—let's call it "secondary code application."

The only real adjustment was allowing each player to carry a maximum of six Pokémon in battles. Other than that, everything else could be structured similarly to [Magic Arena], with ranks from Bronze Trainer to Silver Trainer... all the way up to Master Trainer at the top.

Nate got fully absorbed in the "joy of code reuse." Before he knew it, an hour had passed, and he received a private message from Natsu.

Natsu: "Nate, battle me in a Pokémon match! ??"

What's this guy doing up so late? Nate sighed, wondering if all that energy couldn't be put to better use—like writing code. Although, knowing Natsu, coding was out of the question.

Sigma Male: "Find someone else, I'm busy."

Natsu: "Everyone else went to bed... ??"

Do I look like someone who never needs sleep? Nate thought, then sent Natsu a screenshot.

Sigma Male: "[Level 50 Pikachu Screenshot]"

Sigma Male: "You sure you want to battle me? ??"

Natsu: "??"

Natsu: "You're merciless! Totally merciless!"

Sigma Male: "You've got this, Natsu. You're destined to become a Gym Leader someday. Keep at it!"

Natsu: "What's a Gym Leader?"

Sigma Male: "It's the title given to the strongest trainer in a guild—a title only you could hold!"

Natsu: "Oh, I'm fired up now!"

Sigma Male: "Then go! Train hard, with the goal of becoming a Gym Leader!"

Natsu: "Got it! Later, Nate!"

Phew... finally managed to get rid of him.

Nate sighed in relief. Of course, it wasn't all just a brush-off. He was seriously considering organizing a Pokémon tournament down the line, where players could challenge gyms and collect badges.

As for the gyms, they could be hosted by the various mage guilds.

But that was still far off in the future. The game was barely in its early stages; that idea would have to wait for now.

Nate went back to coding, but soon received another message.

Drink with Me: "Thank you, Nate! I finally told my dad!"

Drink with Me: "[Photo of dinner at a restaurant.jpg]"

Cana had sent him a photo, showing her and Gildarts sharing a meal at a restaurant.

Nate thought to himself, "Turns out things are easier said online—no pressure of a face-to-face confession."

Sigma Male: "Congratulations."

Drink with Me: "It's all thanks to you for giving me the courage! I'd like to properly thank you. How about a date next time?"

Sigma Male: "I have a feeling you'll drag me to a bar, and it'll just end up being me drinking with you..."

Drink with Me: "What's wrong with that? I started drinking when I was 13! ??"

Sigma Male: "Hold on. Isn't the legal age for drinking in Fiore 15?"

Drink with Me: "Hehe, ??"

Drink with Me: "I mean it's really a date, not just for drinking!"

'I don't buy it,' Nate thought. 'It's bound to turn into a drinking session.'

He remembered Mirajane mentioning that a solid 30% of the guild's yearly bar expenses went straight into Cana's stomach. In fact, most of the money Cana made from missions went back into buying drinks at the guild. Given the choice, Nate would much rather spend time with his girlfriends... well, 'all' of them.

Sigma Male: "Only if you promise not to drink."

Drink with Me: "Alright, alright! A week without drinking—I'll do it!"

Sigma Male: "Just to go on a date with me? ???♂?"

Drink with Me: "That's not why!"

Drink with Me: "Anyway, I'm a woman of my word!"

Sigma Male: "Alright then, I'll hold you to it."

Drink with Me: "Thanks! Gotta go back to dinner with my dad. See you!"

But just moments after saying goodbye, she messaged him again.

Drink with Me: "Oh no... he saw me texting you! ???♀?"

Wait, 'he saw her'?

Nate felt a sudden unease, and sure enough, the next moment, a friend request popped up.

[User "Gone Fishing" has sent you a friend request. Do you accept?]

'Gildarts, this isn't what it looks like! It's your daughter who asked me on a date!' Nate hesitated for a moment, but then clicked accept.

Gone Fishing: "Thank you, Nate."

'Thank me? For going on a date with Cana?' It took Nate a second to figure out what Gildarts was referring to.

Gone Fishing: "Cana told me it was thanks to you that she found the courage to tell me who she was."

So that was it. Nate replied quickly.

Sigma Male: "You're welcome—it was nothing."

Gone Fishing: "It may have been a small thing to you, but to me, it meant a great deal."

Gone Fishing: "During my travels, I met many women, but the only one I truly loved and married was Cana's mother."

Gone Fishing: "I didn't know she was pregnant when I left, and by the time I learned, I'd also heard she'd passed away unexpectedly."

Gone Fishing: "In any case, I owe you for this. Thank you."

'Gildarts types fast,' Nate thought. Each message popped up before he had a chance to respond.

Sigma Male: 'Think nothing of it. We help each other out in the guild.'

Gone Fishing: 'Well, I owe you one. If you ever need help, don't hesitate to ask.'

And with that, the chat ended.

Nate rubbed his chin, amused. 'Guess he didn't even mention the date part, huh?'

~~~

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