This morning, I woke up feeling refreshed. Now I think about it, I shouldn't have had any problem training last night. With the Gamers' Body and Mind working all night should be easy.
"System, do you know what happened last night?"
["Host, that was the sin of sloth. Don't take an SSR-ranked debuff lightly. It can influence you without your notice."]
"System, what effect can the other sins have?"
["It's quite hard to give a definitive answer. Imagine it's like slow poisoning, you won't notice it in time. Since mental skills won't work, my best advice is to try to indulge in one of them. Then you will feel the skills' activation."]
The system gives me a valid strategy.
"But system, how do I indulge in sins?"
["Well... You have a high ranking in cooking skills. You can take pride in it. On the other hand, you can beat up criminals to satisfy your wrath. You could create a collection of items like spells, books, etc., for greed. You can envy the strong to improve yourself. You can become a glutton for knowledge. For lust, just find a girlfriend. For sloth, take time off to relax. Overall, it's manageable. So, don't feel down."]
"Thanks", I say, as I start to think about my next move.
In the training room, I start today's training with light stretching.
Then I start mimicking Tohsaka's fighting style from last night. I will practice them until they become part of my instinct. I at least managed to memorize the parts Tohsaka taught me.
I stopped training when it was almost time to cook breakfast.
-----
While cooking, I heard the doorbell ring and Sakuras' soft voice, "I am home, Sempai!"
"Welcome Home, Sakura", I replied to her.
She comes to the kitchen to help me and asks me, "What are you going to make today, sempai?"
"Steamed rice, miso soup, grilled salmon, and natto. Sakura, can you please check the rice?" I tell her while I add miso paste to the broth.
As I cook, she stands beside me to help. I can't help but notice her hair looks gorgeous today. I reach out and play with a strand of her hair. She looks at me, startled, but doesn't pull away. I take her hand in mine. Pull her closer to me and hug her. She trembles in my arms. She turns towards me, and a healthy shade of pink dusts her cheeks.
"Sempai..." She started to talk, but I cut her off with a kiss. We kiss till we both are out of breath.
Once we separate, Sakura huskily says, "Sempai, please don't ever leave me."
Hearing her voice, my control breaks.
"I will never leave you." I kiss her again, this time more hungrily. Our hands roam on each other's bodies.
We break the kiss. This time, her eyes shine with light, and happiness radiates from her in waves. I swear I can see flowers blooming around her.
We finish making breakfast and set the table, then wait for Fuji-nee.
Fuji-nee enters the house with the grace of a raging elephant and immediately demands food while complaining about not being able to eat dinner here.
Then she notices Sakura's happy face and immediately starts teasing her, and she is late for school again.
-----
Sakura and I walk to school. There, I see her off at the Archery club and go towards my classroom.
Issei greets me with a polite hello and starts questioning me, "Hey Emiya, I heard that the witch is trying to get cozy with you?"
The witch is being Tohsaka.
"Don't let her appearance fool you. She is a two-faced liar. Be careful of her."
"Issei, she is not that bad."
"She bewitched you! I am going to get her."
"You will do no such thing."
-------
After school, Sakura is busy at the club, and I wanted to buy a gaming guide. So, I leave for the convenience store. At the school gate, I find Tohsaka waiting for me again.
While walking to the store, we do small talk. I found out that she is trying to avoid her guardian.
The closest game I found that matches my system is Grand Theft Auto. So I bought the game CD and gameplay guide. I will also need to buy a PlayStation to play the game. Maybe I should buy a Laptop instead. The way Rin is looking at those modern devices, I am sure I can hide my research from magus better if I use a digital method instead. Then I can just put the laptop in my inventory, and no one will find out.
"System, will it work?"
["Absolutely, host it will work."]
-----
After returning home, I set the CD and manual aside and went to my workshop with Tohsaska.
There, she starts teaching me common knowledge of the moonlit world. I ask her if mages can do spells like fireball or freeze someone. She says it's possible, but they need to have proper elemental affinity, enough prana, and many other details. But I ask the question, which is the reason I started this conversation.
"Tohsaka, what is an elemental affinity?"
"........", she looks at me for a while.
"Of course, he didn't teach you that." She says cheerfully with a fake smile.
"Elements are basic substances that shape the world. A magus with a particular elemental affinity can perform magecraft related to that element very easily." She starts explaining.
"Depending on the teachings of Thaumaturgical Systems, one could classify everything in reality into different sets of Elements. The mage association classifies wind, water, earth, fire, and void. There are also other uncommon elements. But knowing these should be enough for you."
"So, what is your element?"
"I am an Average One, that means I can use all five elements." She boasts proudly.
"How do I check my element?" I ask her.
"I could check your element myself if I had some tarot cards at hand," she replies.
So I project some cards for her. She checks my element and looks at me like I am an extraterrestrial lifeform.
"What did you find out?" I ask her.
"You element is void," she replies.
"Does that mean I can't cast fireball?"
"And Imaginary number and sword," she looks ready to blow a fuse. Before she does that, I ask for her help.
"Can you help me with these elements, Tohsaka?"
"Sure, why not. It could be a great learning experience for me", she tells me.
Situation defused.
She then starts teaching me about formalcraft.
----
Again, we are in the training room. Both of us get ready for the battle.
She lunges at me like a cheetah. Due to the previous lesson kicking in, I dodge to the side and raise my hand to block the kick she throws at me. But it breaks my guard. While I'm off balance, she grabs me from the back at my midsection. I fire the imaginary gun in my mind, activate my magic circuit, and reinforce my body as best as I can, but fail to loosen her grip. So I hit her very hard with my elbow. That lets me get out of her grip. She was trying to German suplex me. That would have been a disaster.
We keep fighting until I lose this time. But I made sure to make it as hard as I could for her.
After that, I was going to start cooking. So, I invite her for dinner. I was a bit worried about Sakura's reaction. Maybe I should let her know that I am a magus.
----
While Tohsaka is sitting at the table, Sakura comes home. When she sees Tohsaka, she gets startled and immediately becomes sad.
"Sempai, what's Tohsaka sempai doing here?" She asks me.
"She is here to help me with something," I reply.
"Oh.. I see," light fades from her eyes.
I can't bear to see her like this. So, I look at Tohsaka and ask her, "Tohsaka, can I tell her about our project?" Tohsaka looks like she is about to witness the biggest joke of the century, and permits me to tell Sakura.
"Sakura, it might be very hard to believe." I began with a grave tone.
Sakura looks at me with curiosity.
"I am a magus, one who does supernatural stuff, and Tohsaka is helping me learn that," I say as I try to clear the misunderstanding.
"Oh. I already knew that," Sakura replies.
"How?" I ask while doing a very good out-of-water fish impression.
"Sempai, I am also a magus. I thought you already knew that. So, I didn't bring it up to you."
Rin looks at me with barely concealed laughter that says, Now you understand my sufferings.
With the misunderstandings cleared up. Sakura and I start cooking while Rin joins us in the kitchen to help us after some time.
Dinner goes peacefully, but I could feel subtle tension between Rin and Sakura.
After that, they leave the house together.
[Ding~ New Quest Added]
Main Quest:
-> Help Sakura and Rin Reconcile. {Rewards: exp +10000, 90% off voucher for system mall, 2 SSR-tokens, points +5000, Advanced healing magecraft knowledge.}
The new quest seems to have generous rewards. I am sure it will be quite difficult.
So, I put them out of my mind and started reading the Grand Theft Auto gaming manual. It partially matches my system. With the knowledge in my mind, I return to the shed for mage craft training.
--------
This time, I want to see if I can add movement to an object mid-projection. I got this idea yesterday when I noticed that if I throw an object and use Flash Air, it keeps the velocity. So, if I add velocity mid projection, then it will work as a very effective attack.
I break down the projection steps:
1. Judging the concept of creation.
2. Hypothesizing the basic structure.
3. Duplicating the composition material.
4. Imitating the skill of its making.
5. Sympathizing with the experience of its growth.
6. Reproducing the accumulated years.
7. Excelling every manufacturing process.
I can add velocity after the fifth step, but if I want to control its path, I need to do it at 7th step or after it, and I can't do complex paths with it. I remember I had an SR ticket from the last time.
"System, use the SR-ticket."
[Ding~Starting Gacha]
[1SR token has been used]
[Received: Basic Knowledge of Imaginary Number Element]
The system floods my mind with knowledge, and I realize it's actually a pretty useful element. I can easily incorporate it with my already existing magecraft.
With projection, I was able to make one object at a time. That is due to a lack of material during "Sympathizing with the experience of its growth" step. What I need isn't a prana or blueprint, but the history that the object has experienced. But I have only one set of history for that object in my mind; when that gets used up, other projections materialize improperly, causing it to destabilize and break down.
But I can give it false history with Imaginary Number. So I did that, and the derived object turned out quite odd. It wasn't par with the one with real history, the shapes looked identical, but it looked all black.
Looks like I will be spending this night experimenting with this new spell.
==================================================================
[A\N: That's it for today. The story will speed up from the next chapter. So buckle up, guys, it is going to be a wild ride.]
[Spirit Origin:
Name: Shirou Emiya
Title: The Gamer
Level: 4 [44/150 exp]
Class: Foreigner
Alignment: Neutral ・ Evil
HP: 11000->14000 [regen 1800 per min]
MP: 1500->2070
SP: 2000->2400 [regen 500 per min]
ATK: 500
Points:110
Params:
STR: F
END: A
VIT: A
AGI: F-
MP: EX
LUK: E-
NP: ??]
[Quests]:
World Quest:
->11 months and 29 days left
Main Quest:
-> Defeat Rin Tohsaka in unarmed combat. {Rewards: exp +100, STR upgrade to E rank, 2 UC-rank Tickets, Inventory limit+5}
-> Help Sakura and Rin Reconcile. {Rewards: exp +10000, 90% off voucher for system mall, 2 SSR-tokens, points +5000, Advanced healing magecraft knowledge.}
Character Quest:
->Increase your physical fitness
->Increase your magical fitness
->Increase your knowledge of the world and beings living there {knowledge about powerful beings yields better results}
->Learn/Improve skills
->Learn more about people you already have a relationship with {friends and foes, both are counted}
Side Quests:
->Unlock Immunity to Mystic Eye Of Death Perception
->Unlock Enuma Elish Nullification
->Upgrade Skill: Type ORT