Internet Magic in Fairy Tail

Chapter 191: Chapter 191: New Game! Pokémon!

Nate entered the guild and sat at the bar counter.

"Good morning, Mira."

"Good morning, Nate."

As usual, Mirajane gave him a warm smile. "I'll go get your breakfast," she said, turning to head into the kitchen.

Nate glanced at the other Mirajane—the one from the Edolas world.

"Good morning, Mirajane-san."

"Good morning, Nate-san."

Since they hadn't known each other long, they kept their greetings polite.

"Are you settling in alright here?"

"I'm happy to be a guest at Earth Land's Fairy Tail, and I had a lot of fun at yesterday's Harvest Festival," she said with a bright laugh. "But this isn't my home, so maybe it's about time I returned."

"You're absolutely welcome to stay longer."

Nate thought it over. This wasn't something he wanted to rush, especially since he could move freely between the two worlds.

"Please stay a bit longer," he continued. "When things settle down and Boss Lucy wraps up her work over there, I'll bring you all back."

"Boss Lucy..." Edolas Mirajane covered her mouth, laughing softly. "That's quite a fitting nickname."

"Then I'll gladly accept your invitation and stay a while longer. Thank you, Nate-san."

"No need to be so formal—just call me Nate."

"Alright, then you can call me Mira."

Nate hesitated. "Calling both of you 'Mira' might get confusing... How about I call you 'Miraj'?"

His Mirajane was "Mira," so calling the Edolas Mirajane "Miraj" would make it easier to distinguish between them—like they were twins, in a way.

The name amused Miraj, and she agreed with a smile.

While they chatted, Mirajane returned, placing Nate's breakfast on the counter. Nate thanked her and dug in, his mind already turning to the tasks ahead.

The development of the Magic Net couldn't stall out now. They were still only on alpha version 0.7, with a long way to go before reaching a polished, official release.

He saw three main priorities for now:

First, the [Magic Net Marketplace], which he assigned to one of his Thought Projection assistants to start coding.

Second, an [Online Banking System] to interface with real-world banks, which meant he'd have to ask Jude to set up the necessary meetings.

And third, a new game that would be enjoyable even for regular users with no magic skills.

Of these, the third was crucial. Currently, the majority of users on the Magic Net were ordinary people, so focusing on them was essential.

In fact, he had an idea for allowing ordinary people to participate in [Magic Arena]. It would just require tapping into the potential of [Magic Apps]. Yesterday's two successful activations of the super magic Fairy Law had proven the feasibility of the apps.

If Fairy Law could work through the app, why not standard magics? By coding in additional magics, he could enable ordinary people to access magic as well.

But this plan had a serious flaw...

Even if regular people could use a few magics via the app, they'd only be ordinary people with a few tricks up their sleeves—not true fighters.

Would they actually enjoy themselves in the [Magic Arena]?

"A game, huh? The most important thing is that people enjoy playing it," Nate thought to himself.

Initially, he'd planned an event, [Magic Arena: Oración Seis Challenge], but now he felt it might not be quite right for everyone.

"What I really need," he mused, "is a magic game that even regular folks can enjoy..."

An idea was forming. Since regular people weren't skilled in combat, why not let them play in a more strategic way—by commanding, rather than fighting themselves? Immediately, he thought of games like 'Pokémon' or 'Digimon.' With some inspiration from those, he could create something similar.

This world had plenty of magic creatures, and some could even talk. But turning magic beasts into controllable "creatures" might feel too predictable.

"You look like you're deep in thought," Mirajane observed him while he was eating, noting his distracted expression.

Nate looked up, and after a moment's thought, decided to share his dilemma with her.

"Sounds fun!" Both Mirajanes looked intrigued, exchanging a glance before Mirajane held up a finger, suggesting, "Hey, doesn't Lucy have a little spirit called 'Plue'?"

"Plue?" Nate imagined the tiny, white, pointy-nosed creature, which he'd only seen a few times. Cute, sure—but besides being adorable, it wasn't particularly useful. Lucy mainly kept it as a pet.

"Plue's adorable! If you could equip it with a Magic App and let players control Plue in battles, wouldn't that be interesting?" Mirajane grew more animated as she spoke, sounding like she wanted one for herself.

Nate considered her idea seriously. Surprisingly, it could work! Since Plue was a Celestial Spirit, there was no issue of mortality to worry about. Plus, it wasn't one of the zodiac spirits, so summoning it only required a silver key—available at around 20,000 J.

The only challenge was supply. The player base would number in the thousands. Did the Celestial Spirit World even have that many Plues? And how, exactly, were Celestial Spirits born, anyway?

"Mira, that's a great idea! Thanks!" Energized by the suggestion, Nate leaped up, leaving his breakfast behind, and immediately teleported to find Lucy.

In the blink of an eye, he appeared in Lucy's room, only to see her still in bed, sleeping soundly.

"Up close, the princess really does look lovely when she's sleeping."

Nate walked over to the bed and gave her cheek a gentle pat. "Wake up, it's time to get up!"

"Mm? Just five more minutes, Spetto-san..." she mumbled, rolling over in her half-asleep daze.

"Spetto-san?" Nate blinked. Ah, right—Lucy's housekeeper.

"If you don't wake up, I'll read your diary this time," he threatened teasingly.

The words barely left his mouth when Lucy's eyes shot open. "No! You wouldn't dare!"

"Morning."

She blinked in surprise, staring at him as she sat up.

"Wait a second," she said, realization dawning.

"What's in the diary that's such a big secret?" Nate raised a brow, feigning curiosity.

"Gah! Don't even think about it!" Flustered, she blushed before snapping, "Wait—why are you even in my room?"

"Did you forget? We slept together last night," Nate said with a straight face.

"Wha—?" Lucy glanced down at her pajamas. Still perfectly intact. Figures he was trying to trick her. She shot him an annoyed look.

"Why are you here so early?" she demanded, still groggy from the late night. She'd spent the evening too giddy to sleep, thrilled that she finally had a boyfriend! Next time Cana asked, "Lucy, how many boyfriends have you had?" she could skip the fibs and simply reply, "Nate is my boyfriend."

Nate interrupted her thoughts, "Why are you smiling like that?"

Lucy snapped back to the present, her cheeks still tinged pink. "So, what brings you here?"

"I'm designing a new game for regular people, and I need your help," he replied without preamble. "It's called 'Pokémon'—I mean, 'Celestial Pokémon.'"

~~~

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