March—the season when dandelions dance in the wind. As it did every year, all fifteen-year-olds throughout the Clover Kingdom gathered at their respective Grimoire Towers to participate in the Grimoire Acceptance Ceremony.
During the ceremony, not only would they receive their own grimoire, but it was also one of the rare opportunities in their lives to enhance their magic power.
Of course, both the quality of the grimoire and the amount of magic power one could improve depended entirely on natural talent.
Once again—it must be emphasized—this was a world where magic was everything, where life revolved around magic.
In this world, nearly every profession required the use of magic—even farmers working in the fields used it. Let alone those who dreamed of becoming Magic Knights.
There was more than one Grimoire Tower, and Charles, Asta, and Yuno were taken to the tower in their region by the priest of Hage Village.
On the way there, Charles saw many youths around his age walking into the cylindrical building.
Sunlight filtered through clover-shaped windows in the ceiling, dimly illuminating the tower's interior, yet allowing everyone to clearly see inside.
Bookshelves arranged in a circular layout were filled with thousands upon thousands of grimoires—at a glance, it was impossible to determine the exact number.
Standing before such a vast collection, Charles couldn't help but feel a sense of smallness.
These weren't ordinary books—they were grimoires infused with magic. With his extraordinary magic sensitivity, Charles could clearly feel the immense magic power, like stars shining in the heavens.
"Amazing! These are all grimoires?!"
Asta, as usual, expressed his astonishment loudly, drawing everyone's attention.
Charles frowned—he had already heard people whispering around them.
In the five years he had lived at the church in Hage, he'd heard far too many similar remarks. Just because someone was born in the lowest class, from the most remote and impoverished area, their future and dreams were automatically called into question.
Especially for Asta, who couldn't use even a single ounce of magic, he had become infamous in the surrounding regions. But most of that reputation came from being mocked.
"So annoying…"
Charles muttered, and suddenly, flames seemed to blaze from his body.
But it wasn't fire—it was the overwhelming surge of magic power he released. Because the magic was so dense, it condensed into the appearance of burning flames.
"So slow, it's unbearable."
As Charles finished his sentence, his magic flared out with full force, and the magical flames surged even higher.
Though not real fire, everyone in the tower—including those who had just been mocking others for being poor—felt the intense heat.
What's more, every grimoire in the tower began to tremble, as if quivering under Charles's magic.
The air itself grew thick, making it hard to breathe.
Only those Charles intentionally excluded—his companions from the church—could still stand upright. Everyone else was crushed by the pressure, unable even to straighten their backs.
No—there was still one person…
At the top of the tower, an old man with white hair and beard looked up, eyes gleaming from beneath the brim of his pointed wizard's hat. He stared at Charles in surprise.
"What incredible magic… This boy… is something else!"
Charles also sensed the powerful yet serene magic presence above and looked up at the old man.
"Another hidden master type," Charles thought to himself. He bowed politely to the tower master before withdrawing his magic.
The tower master smiled and murmured, "Surprisingly, he's a polite child."
He then floated down from above on a flying carpet and activated an amplification spell.
"Welcome, all of you, to the Grimoire Acceptance Ceremony. May your lives, from this point forward, walk alongside honesty, hope, and love!
I am the master of this Grimoire Tower. In our region, not to mention the Wizard King, we haven't even produced someone who could join the Magic Knights and achieve distinction!
I hope someone among you will become the Wizard King!"
As the tower master finished, everyone's eyes lit up.
Ever since the first Wizard King defeated the demon and saved humanity, the title had become a legend, a dream for everyone.
Especially for Asta—although he didn't shout about becoming the Wizard King like he usually did, his eyes were filled with determination.
Even Yuno, usually stoic, showed a faint trace of excitement on his face.
Suddenly, the tower master wore a rather exaggerated expression and declared, "Really, I'm not joking!"
As he spoke, his gaze shifted toward Charles. In the tower master's opinion, if anyone here could become the Wizard King, it was this boy.
After a slight cough, the tower master composed himself and continued, "Now then, let the Grimoire Acceptance Ceremony begin."
With his words, several grimoires on the shelves began to glow, floating into the air and flying down toward the youths below.
Everyone eagerly grabbed their grimoires and began examining them.
Some were large, some thick, some barely palm-sized—each grimoire was unique and peculiar in its own way.
Those who received their grimoires immediately began planning their futures.
The two who had mocked Asta earlier each received three-leaf clover grimoires and were already discussing taking the Magic Knight entrance test in six months.
Their voices were loud, clearly intending to show off, as if passing the exam was a certainty.
At that moment, a voice rang out:
"Um… Why hasn't my grimoire come yet?"
Asta knelt on one knee, arms raised as if to catch something—but his hands were empty. No grimoire had come to him.
The tower master had never seen this before. After a moment of silence, he finally said, "Well… come back next year."
"Whaaaat?!"
Asta's face twisted in disbelief, looking like a clown—prompting laughter from all around.
"What was that?!"
"Totally amazing—in a bad way!"
"That's hilarious!"
"Unbelievable!"
Just then, a light flared, drawing everyone's attention.
In the glowing light, a grimoire slowly rotated, revealing the pattern on its cover.
The tower master, who had kept his eyes half-closed, opened them wide and whispered, "That's… a four-leaf clover!"
The demon god's skull was near Hage Village, and the statue of the first Wizard King at its peak was familiar to all.
The grimoire in the first Wizard King's hand bore a four-leaf clover emblem.
The book descended, and Yuno caught it in a cool, practiced motion. As if making a declaration, he said, "I will become… the Wizard King!"
If Asta said that, people would laugh. But with a four-leaf clover grimoire in hand, Yuno made everyone believe he just might achieve it.
The room erupted in cheers.
Amid the applause, another brilliant light burst forth—no less dazzling than Yuno's four-leaf clover grimoire.
Another four-leaf clover emblem. No one could believe it—two four-leaf clover grimoires in a single day.
Charles reached out and caught the grimoire. He didn't look at the clover on the front but instead turned it over to view the back cover.
There, he saw a unique crest—a winged dragon curled protectively around a flourishing ancient tree.
Strangely, the tree wasn't green like one might expect, but black like the night sky, speckled with silver starlight.
Charles suddenly recalled what Igneel once told him:
"Listen well, Charles! A powerful force sleeps within you—one that surpasses even dragons. If I had to call it something, I'd say it's the power of the gods.
One day, that power will awaken. When it does, don't let it go to your head. Stay true to yourself and keep moving forward!"
At the moment he received his grimoire, Charles understood what power Igneel had meant.
The Power of the World.
As the name implied, it was the power bestowed by the very concept of the world itself.
Charles opened the grimoire, and lines of magical text appeared automatically on its previously blank pages.
In this world, a grimoire revealed the magic a mage had mastered. When new text appeared, it meant new magic had been created.
Besides storing learned spells, a grimoire could also respond to its owner's deepest desires and manifest new magic—if the mage had enough power.
As Charles expected, the first spells that appeared weren't his Dragon Slayer spells from Igneel, but a new category: World Magic.
Two spells appeared. Just two—but they were enough to make Charles completely satisfied.
The first was World's Blessing, a passive spell.
Charles had thought his immunity to Dragon Slayer side effects was his "golden finger," but now he realized it was just one of this spell's effects.
To embrace all things—that was the world's fundamental nature.
World's Blessing had the following traits:
Synchronously enhances mana and physical strength; the effect increased with training.
Gave the user's mana the property of interacting with all forms of energy.
The second ability was what excited Charles most. In this world, demons came from the underworld, so normal magic had little effect on them. Only magic that could interact with other realms—so-called Nether Magic—worked in battle.
But with World's Blessing, Charles's Dragon Slayer Magic would also work on demons.
Other worlds had similar beings—like Six Paths-level characters in Naruto or Logia users in One Piece. Thanks to this, Charles wouldn't need to learn Sage Arts or Haki—he could fight them as-is.
And the reason he was thinking about other worlds was because of his second World Magic spell:
World Travel. As the name suggested, it allowed travel between different worlds. This was Charles's hope of returning to the Fairy Tail world.
Of course, since it involved dimensional travel, it required an enormous amount of magic power—far beyond what Charles could currently muster.
Still, he now had a clear goal. From now on, all he had to do was grow stronger in pursuit of it.
The grimoire continued flipping. Next appeared the spells Charles had learned from Igneel—Dragon Slayer Magic.
Fire Dragon's Iron Fist, Fire Dragon's Wing Attack, Fire Dragon's Sword Horn… Fire Dragon's Roar!
Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Crimson Lotus Exploding Flame Blade, Secret Art Variant Form: Crimson Phoenix Sword!
There were even spells Charles had conceptualized for years but never perfected due to limitations—now, in response to his desires, the grimoire had written them down automatically.
With a flick of his hand, Charles closed the grimoire.
Only now did he notice the astonished gazes around him. Unlike Yuno, Charles didn't make any declarations—he simply smiled at the people from the church.
Just then, Asta, who had remained kneeling the whole time, suddenly stood, turned to both of them, and shouted:
"Yuno, Charles! Just wait—I'll catch up to you soon. We're rivals, after all!"
Everyone in the tower fell silent for a second… then burst out laughing.
A guy without even a grimoire claiming to be the rival of two four-leaf clover holders—it was laughable beyond belief.
"Incredible!" Yuno had no reaction at all, just walked coldly past Asta.
Charles chuckled inwardly. What Yuno really meant was that he didn't believe the grimoire didn't choose Asta—but it sounded like he was just looking down on him.
Suddenly, Charles felt a chill on his back—a warning from his acute sense for hostility.
Narrowing his eyes, Charles looked toward the tall, thin figure of a man. He was certain that this was the one who had just emitted killing intent toward him.