Hell and Daily Life

"Have you ever met Grandeeney?" Carla asks turning toward Alex.

"No, Dragons rarely show themselves to humans other than their slayers. I have heard of her though" He replied.

He didn't have the slightest clue how he ended up being able to replicate the aura of Grandeeney, but if he had to guess he would say it was probably her own doing.

Grandeeney, like the other Dragons, was currently using Wendy as a vessel in order to keep her from turning into a Dragon.

He obviously couldn't tell them that, but it was the only thing that made any sense to him. It was certainly more likely then him "accidentally" creating a perfectly matching aura.

'They should be unique after all' he thought still in a daze.

After consoling the crying child for a while she finally calmed completely down, she was still hugging the boots like they were the most precious thing in existence though.

"Thank you for this Alex", Wendy started. "When my mother disappeared I didn't have anything but my magic to remind me of her, but now I do. I will cherish them forever" Wendy said with a beaming smile and voice filled with all the determination the child could muster.

"I am happy that I was able to create something for you with so much meaning" Alex replied.

"Though I myself am still unsure how the aura was added, it was not an unwelcomed addition if it made you so happy" Alex said with a small smile to the clearly very happy child.

"It is truly mysterious, but I too am happy for you Wendy" Carla agreed with a smile.

After discussing Grandeeney a while longer, the trio decided it was time to test the new items.

Carla and Wendy just wanted to play with their new toys while Alex wanted to see the items performance.

He wanted to make sure they functioned properly and make adjustments if he needed too, no artisan wanted to put their name on faulty or shoddy work after all.

They went through the mana consumption and control required first to see if the objects were usable or sustainable.

He had to make some mild adjustments to the efficiency but it was relatively simple so he counted it as a win.

It took no time at all till Wendy was bouncing around in the air laughing uncontrollably, her and Carla were currently playing tag.

They were not very high off the ground and were using the treetops to hide behind.

Alex simply watched their antics until they got tired and came back down.

"You looked like you were having a blast up there" Alex commented as Wendy and Carla sat down.

"That was soo much fun!" Wendy exclaimed.

"Yes... When you increase your control and can start using wind at the same time, you will be able to increase your speed and emulate true flight" Carla said to the over excited child.

"I Can't wait!! Soon I will be able to fly on my own like the 2 of you!" Wendy shouted with a giant smile on her face.

"You two go get freshened up while I get dinner started. I will be starting your physical training from tomorrow onward so you're gonna want all the rest you can get from here on out" Alex said, breaking them out of their excitement with the slightly evil smile he had on his face.

The following morning found Wendy and Carla in a pitiful state, they were not physical fighters so they had never bothered to train their bodies.

Needless to say they didn't have the stamina to go for very long.

Alex wanted to make sure he didn't permanently injure them or stunt their development as they were still young and growing.

He mostly kept to lighter exercises and stamina training.

He also taught them some very basic melee stances and hand to hand combat techniques, he did not know much himself but he knew enough to augment his own magic.

Since Alex and Wendy were both slayer wizards he knew it would be beneficial for her to learn them as well.

It was mostly proper breathing and blocking techniques but every little bit would help.

Each night after they were done their exhausting routine, Alex would force them to expend all their magic to the point just before mana fatigue.

Wendy was forced to spend it using her healing magic as it was her most draining spell and Carla was forced to try actively controlling her clairvoyance.

It left he two girls in a state of complete and utter exhaustion, both mentally and physically.

The first couple days of training they didn't even make it back to their beds before passing out from exhaustion.

Alex thought he might be going a bit too hard on them but after seeing their progress in such a short time he wasn't going to stop unless they actually said something themselves.

Wendy being able to heal the stiff and sore muscles the next day probably really helped it their progress and being able to endure this hell.

A week of torture quickly passed and Alex was stunned at their speed of progression.

He knew he could easily have the same progression speed but he was kind of broken.

To say he was impressed by their determination and diligence would be an understatement.

During this whole time he was not idle, every night when Wendy was practicing her healing he would watch the process with rapt attention.

At first she didn't have the stamina and mana to last very long so it took 3 days of watching for him to be able to re-create the process, effectively learning his own healing spell.

During the day he joined them in their physical training and sometimes went hunting or just spent his time getting better at his enchanting.

After a full week of training like this he finally called them for a change. "Good, you both have the physical routine memorized" he started.

"From now on you will be able to choose your own training style and frequency.

My suggestion would be to train something else each day in order to break it up and keep things from getting too boring.

You should also focus on having fun and finding a hobby or something you can use to unwind.

Training is very beneficial but shouldn't dominate your childhood" Alex said to the two tired looking girls.

They both adopted thoughtful expressions but didn't say anything.

He let them have a moment of thought before he added "If you think of anything you want or need please let me know, my skill in creating and enchanting has grown a lot.

Given enough time and ideas I don't think there is anything I can't create" He said with a kind smile.

They had worked very hard this week and if there previous weeks of training was any indication, they would continue to do so.

He did not want them to burn out.

They did end up changing their routine around a little but not by much.

They had been able too see and feel the changes first hand and were ecstatic.

They ended up rotating between physical and magical training each day of the week with weekends being relaxation days.

Mostly they spent these days in the forest hunting or playing around.

They had asked Alex if he would make a small pool for them to swim in as they had to travel quite far down the river to find a spot deep enough to actually enjoy.

Alex happily agreed and even took it a step further, he made a massive cavern underground big enough for an Olympic sized pool.

One side was quite deep, at least 20 feet that slowly tapered up to a shallow end. He had slides, diving boards and a rope swing.

He even created many pool toys like tubes and balls to play with.

Off to the side of the big pool there was a hot tub, it was easily big enough for 15 people and included jets/bubbles.

The whole place was enchanted with cleaning, self repair and regulated heat.

The final touch to the whole area was a giant light lacrima he created to emulate the sun, it easily lit the whole place and could be dimmed at will.

He had treated this whole experience as a way to test how far his own abilities had come and was extremely satisfied with the results.

When he finally let the girls come down they were stunned, they had expected something bigger than what they had asked for as Alex was kind of an overachiever, but never expected this.

"Oh Wow!!" both girls exclaimed at the same time. "This is absolutely amazing Alex! How did you create it all soo fast?!" Wendy asked with stars in her eyes as she looked around the area.

"I knew you were an overachiever, but this is a little excessive don't you think?" Carla asked, she was still incredibly happy and excited to use the pool but thought it might be too much.

"Naw!" Alex chuckled "It was a lot of fun to create it all and I wanted to see if I could, besides I've wanted a hot tub for a while and just kept putting it off" He replied with a smile as he took in his handiwork.

Like it does, time past for the trio.

They had all grown significantly in their own way and were happy with their lives.

Six months had gone by and they had also grown closer together and treated each other like family.

Alex made sure the two girls wanted for nothing, he could create almost anything given enough time, except for consumables.

It wasn't an issue though as the forest was abundant and Hargeon wasn't too far away.

Alex had long ago run out of things to teach the girls and it was harder for them to mimic his actions than it was for him to mimic theirs, he did not know the proper way to teach magics and found out in a hurry they could not learn {Mana Manipulation} or at least not his version.

Without the proper knowledge to teach them he could only get them to focus on the spells and training they already knew.

Their improvement made him extremely happy as it meant they could protect themselves without him.

If he had to guess he would say that Wendy was already stronger than 'start of canon' Natsu.

Carla's progress was harder to gauge as she didn't use combat magics at all, but she had full control over her clairvoyance even if she didn't have the magic capacity to actively control it long enough to make a difference.

She was able to keep the nightmares from appearing though and could also cheat like hell at any card games.

Having control of her magic and knowing its effects had the added bonus of allowing her genuine happiness and drastically improved her attitude towards others.