A few days after the Eclipse Gate incident happened, The Royal Family holds a celebration in the rebuilt Royal Palace. They invite all the Mages who participate, including those who helped with the evacuation and dealing with the aftermath.
In the last few days, the Kingdom was focusing on rebuilding the city with the Mages' help. With all their magic, the construction could be done much faster. Working together also made the guilds' relationship better and the Mages have gotten closer than before the competition.
The one who contributed the most to the construction was Jura. He used his Earth Magic to rebuild most of the destroyed buildings. Other Earth Mages also helped the rebuilding process, but they couldn't be as fast as Jura and couldn't build as many buildings as him because he has much more magic power.
Ben also helped a lot though, he is a craftsman, after all, so there are many things he can do. But he didn't use his magic at all and didn't show a lot of his skills too. He only showed the necessary skills to help and those were enough.
In the last few days, Ben also thought about his battle with the Dragons. He could defeat them all, but he also got very tired after that. The after-effect of his Dragon Force was bad and it will be worse if he still needs to fight after using that.
"Big Bro Ben (Ben Aniki), how could you use Dragon Force at will? Do you also have a Dragon Lacrima in your body?" asks Sting with a very respectful tone in the celebration
Rogue is also with him and they talk with Ben normally. Sabertooth has apologized to Fairy Tail a few days ago with Sting leading them. They bowed deeply when apologizing and promised they'll never act like pricks anymore.
Fairy Tail forgave them because war between Guilds is normal. Though Jiemma & Minerva didn't come to apologize. They disappeared after the Eclipse Gate incident, but it's none of Fairy Tail's business.
Ben's battles against the Dragons amazed Sting & Rogue so much. He was the only one who could defeat real Dragons among them, after all. Since then, they start calling him Big Bro or Aniki which shows their admiration for him.
"Dragon Lacrima? Nah, I don't use something like that," says Ben calmly while drinking his wine.
Sting & Rogue are surprised, just like everyone else in the room. They all are listening to their conversations as soon as Sting asked about the Dragon Lacrima.
"T-then how could you use Dragon Force at will?" asks Rogue.
"Of course, it's because I'm strong," says Ben calmly.
The others are dumbfounded by that answer, but they can't deny it.
"It seems you don't understand," says Ben.
"N-No way, of course, we believe that you're strong. If you aren't, then no one in this world can be called strong," says Sting hastily.
"Sigh, you really don't understand. Listen, kids, all 1st Generation Dragon Slayers can use Dragon Force even without using Dragon Lacrimas like you. It's just that there are requirements that we need to fulfill. The most important and basic requirement is reaching a high level in your Dragon Slayer Magic. That's why I said that the reason is because I'm strong," says Ben.
"O-oh, so that's how it is," says Sting, finally understand it a little.
"But the required level for every Dragon Slayer is different. So even if 2 Dragon Slayers reach the same level, one of them might not be able to use Dragon Force yet," says Ben.
Sting & Rogue finally understand it for real after that explanation. Then Rogue asks, "Then, what's your required level?"
"Hmm, I don't know how to explain the level to you. But let's say I needed to be 3 times stronger than Jura just to unlock my Dragon Force naturally," says Ben.
Now everyone gets really surprised because they know how strong Jura is. But Ben needed to be 3 times stronger than that just to unlock his Dragon Force. That also means that Ben can defeat 2 Jura even before he could use Dragon Force.
"A-And when did you reach that level?" asks Sting.
"I think it's 2 years ago," says Ben nonchalantly.
Those who hear it can't even get shocked anymore, they just sigh. If Ben reached that level 2 years ago, that means he is already much stronger now. He might be 4 times stronger than Jura now in his basic form, and they're not wrong.
Just from MP alone, Ben has more than 1,6 million points already in his basic form. Jura's magic power is around 400 thousand points. Average S-Class Mages have 50 - 100 thousand points, while strong ones have 100 - 200 thousand, so Ben is ridiculously strong.
"If we didn't use Dragon Lacrimas, how strong do you think we need to be to unlock Dragon Force naturally?" asks Sting.
"Well, I don't know your magic that much, but I assure you it won't be as high as mine. Probably you would need to have Jura's level of raw power," says Ben.
"Uh, I'm glad I used a Dragon Lacrima," says Rogue.
Sting agrees with that and Ben can only sigh upon hearing that. Kids these days just don't want to work too hard. They want to achieve something great, but they don't want to work or think hard enough.
Luckily, they still want to improve themselves and ask Ben for advice. Others also come forward and they all ask Ben for advice about their problems. He doesn't hesitate to answer all their questions and give them good advice.
They all are very thankful for Ben's answers that give them enlightenment. It's very rare to get advice from high-level Mages like Ben. Most of them are very secretive and won't give good advice even if they answer.
They'll only tell things that they already know, which aren't useful at all. Those people's reason is the same, their ways to be that strong are their secret. But Ben doesn't care about it at all. He will give people advice, but it will still depend on them to use his advice and get stronger.
Ben knows very well that even with the same problem and the same solutions, not everyone can get the same result. But he'll still help them without hesitation. These guys aren't his enemies even though they are his guild's rivals.
A danger that can threaten this whole Kingdom, Continent, or even World might appear again. So rather than getting stronger alone, he will make many people get stronger too. There's a limit to what a single person can do no matter how strong one is.
Ben has tried to make everyone in his Guild grow stronger and the result is good. But the last incident made him realize that it's still not enough. So he wants to make more people stronger for the future.
He doesn't know what threat might come in the future. But he knows there are individuals that can threaten this whole world. There are 2 that he already know, Acnologia and Zeref. These 2's existences are enough reason for Ben to be worried.
The stronger he gets, the more he realized the danger those 2 possess. With his current level, Ben knows he can destroy this continent. So both Acnologia & Zeref must be able to do the same and surely do more than that.
Ben is still answering questions when Arcadios suddenly announces that the King will enter the hall. But instead of the King, Natsu comes out wearing The King's clothes and crown. It makes them dumbfounded and only Fairy Tail Mages find it amusing.
Anyway, the party continues and the next day, the Mages return to their towns. Fairy Tail returns to Magnolia and the townfolks have waited for them. They have prepared a big celebration for Fairy Tail's victory, so another big party is being held.
Then while he enjoys the celebration, Ben suddenly flinches and looks toward the forest. "Tsk, why's he here?"
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