Last night's practice has been enlightening. Making multiple copies of the same object at the same time has been quite challenging. Using Imaginary Number, it's possible to make multiple projections. But compared to one made with real data, they are fragile. I need to check their effectiveness later.
The new spell is unstable and unsuitable for combat. It just consumes a big chunk of the thought process to create usable data. Then the data is passed into the projection.
"System, is there a way to create multiple thought processes? That way, I can get projections and other steps ready while simultaneously creating necessary data and merging them when needed."
["Host, mages do have spells for that. You should ask Rin for help, since she is your teacher."]
"System, when will the system mall open?"
["Host, once you reach level 5 system mall will open."]
I check my level to see, I need 106 xp for that,
Level: 4 [44/150 exp]
"System, receive Character Quest reward."
[Ding~ Character Quest Analyzing started. You will receive the reward at midnight today.]
-----
After eating breakfast, Sakura and I went to school together and went to our respective classrooms.
Issei wanted me to repair the Air Conditioning of the student council room again. I did help him and told him he should get a budget for a new one.
He became happy that I had finally started fighting back against people exploiting me, but also became sad because he would need to make room from an already tight budget.
The rest of the day went by like yesterday. Our group of three returned home together.
This time, during training, Sakura wanted to join us, and Tohsaka didn't object. The atmosphere in the workshop became very awkward, with both of them sneaking glances at each other and at last deciding to ignore each other's existence.
I know that I am not close enough to Tohsaka to make them talk through their issues, so I show Tohsaka my new spell.
She was very amazed at me for making a midicore spell work to that extent. Then she asked me to show her what I had changed to the spell.
I began describing the process,
1. Judging the concept of creation: Something needs a reason to exist, which works as its concept of creation.
2. Hypothesizing the basic structure: Now, we will use the object's blueprint. The quality of the blueprint will determine the final product's quality, so get the blueprint using Structure analysis or another method.
3. Duplicating the composition material: Replicating the object's composition material with mana/prana.
4. Imitating the skill of its making: The process of how it was made.
5. Sympathizing with the experience of its growth: Figuring out how it got to this point and learning those experiences.
6. Reproducing the accumulated years: Converting the experience into usable data
7. Excelling every manufacturing process: Merging previous processes to get the final product.
When trying to make multiple objects with a single spell, the accumulated data gets lost. It's possible to create more copies if the spell is restarted. But now I am using Imaginary Numbers to fill the missing data, so we get the same object multiple times with a single spell.
Tohsaka looks very offended at my explanation. Somehow, what I was doing isn't projection magecraft but an utterly nonsensical spell that manages to spit at all the magecraft practitioners around the world, and somehow it works.
Then, she shows me a real projection, and it's utterly pathetic. I can see what went wrong right away. The object appears somewhat well from the outside, but it lacks a defined architecture, which causes the world to detect its flaws and correct them quickly. Aside from being a party trick or distraction, it has no other practical use.
My projection is a lot harder to detect as it holds a significant existence from the world's point of view, so they exist until their internal structure is destabilized or I force them to dematerialize.
In the end, Tohsaka forces me to teach her the spell.
Then I ask her if she knows any spells to have parallel thoughts simultaneously.
She replies, "There are some spells that can do that. The most popular of them are Memory Partition and Thought Acceleration. They are used by alchemists from Atlas Academy. I ask my guardian to check if I can get a hold of them. Think of it as a repayment for teaching me your spell. What are you planning to name it?"
"I think I will name it Tracing, and thanks for your efforts in advance."
After that, we practice a bit more, and then she leaves without combat training.
------
"Sakura, if you are upset about Tohsaka being here, you can just tell me," I tell Sakura.
"No, sempai, it's not like that. My grandfather told me I can be friends with both of you and learn new things from you guys, but I must return home on time every day," she tells me.
"I think he might be worried for you. Let me walk you home today."
"No sempai, you don't need to."
"I insist."
Then I take hold of her hand and walk her to her home.
For a long time, I knew that her family life wasn't good. I used to ignore them in pursuit of my dream of being a Hero of Justice. But now I want to be a hero for my closest people first.
She is quite nervous. I bring her close to me to reassure her.
------
Her home is on the rich side of town. There is her house, an old mansion.
We enter its yard, and I feel the bounded field enveloping us. There I see an old man with a kind smile.
"Thank you, Emiya, you've safely escorted my granddaughter here. Please come in and have a seat."
"Thank you," I say as I enter her home and sit at the table.
"Sakura, please give him a glass of water." Sakura goes to the kitchen to fetch me water.
"Young man, I heard you are also a friend of my grandson. He is quite outgoing, but Sakura is withdrawn, so I thank you for taking care of her," he says.
While his words are indeed kind, the aura of decay and killing intent emitting from him tells that he is the real monster of this house.
I drink the water and bid sakura farewell, then leave the house without showing my inner turmoil to them.
-----------
After returning home, I take a look at the new quests I have received
Main Quest:
-> Kill Zouken Matou. {Rewards: 500,000xp, 10,000 points, skill: Anti Evil(passive), SSR-ticket *2}
-> End Sakura's suffering. {Rewards: 100,000xp, 25,000 points, Expert Level knowledge of Imaginary Number magecraft, SSR-ticket *1, Unknown(Depends on how you end her suffering)}
It looks like Sakura's situation is more critical than I imagined. With the amount of XP the quests are giving, neither killing Zouken nor saving Sakura will be easy. Currently, I am weak, and I don't know enough about him to launch a direct attack on him. So, I do only one thing I can, grinding my skills.
I keep practicing till I hear the system's voice.
[Ding~ Character Reward calculation complete]
[Report:
->You have learned unarmed combat, Bajiquan.
->You have refined your magecraft and created a new spell: Tracing
->You have improved your magecraft.
->You have learned about the Clock Tower.
->You have learned about Rin Tohsaka, Sakura Matou, and Zouken Matou
Rewards:
5000XP,
100,000 Yen,
20 Rare-tickets,
Inner World Seed,
Knowledge of the Kama Sutra,
Medium-sized sapphire *50]
I look at the rewards and can't help but ask, "System, why is there Kama Sutra knowledge in reward?"
["Host, You have been in contact with someone who is an expert in that subject. Now do you want to receive the rewards?"]
"Receive," I command, as I ponder who could be the expert.
A massive amount of knowledge appears in my mind. Who knew it could be this complicated? Then I look through my mind and find a small world growing there.
It has a clear night sky with shining stars and a rotating disk-like structure at the very far corner of vision, glowing unearthly green and providing light. Wherever you look, it stays at the corner of your vision. Crystaline Structure can be seen approaching from the horizon.
The ground is dry and rough, with cracks. But some places have moisture. There are also hills and ponds. The hill looks like they are slowly regaining life as it has grass growing on it. The ponds contain a Void element instead of water.
On a particular hill, I see a scabbard. It's one of the most beautiful things I have seen. Its name is Avalon, the Ever Distant Utopia. Normally, I wouldn't be able to get any details from it. But it has been with me for so long that I learn about its history.
I see how it was created by fairies. It was given to King Arthur by Lady Vivian. How King Arthur was a woman. Her struggle for her kingdom. Its downfall, and then she loses The Seath due to Morgan Le Fay's machinations.
I can understand why Guinevere did that....
It was found by Richard I during his life and stored in a box; centuries later, it was excavated in Cornwall at the request of the Einzberns shortly before the Fourth Holy Grail War. It was used to summon King Arthur as a Saber-class servant. But it was kept hidden from her.
It was then used to extend the life of Irisviel von Einzbern wife of Kiritsugu. Kiritsugu also had a child with her.
Then I see Kiritsugu using it to improve his magecraft's effect to fight a person. His order to destroy the holy grail.
Later, rescuing me from the fire and using it to save me. Till now it's inside me.
As I digest the information, I get a new quest alert.
Main Quest:
-> Find what is the Holy Grail War. {rewards: 2000XP, ???}
Side Quest:
->Find what happened during the Fourth Holy Grail War. {reward: 25,000XP, ???}
->Find what happened to Irisviel von Einzbern and her daughter. {reward: 25,000XP, ???}
I check my spirit origin:
[Spirit Origin:
Name: Shirou Emiya
Title: The Gamer
Level: 4 ->10 [294/10,000 XP]
Class: Foreigner
Alignment: Neutral ・ Evil
HP: 14000->20000 [regen 2000 per min]
MP: 2070->3570
SP: 2400->3000 [regen 1200 per min]
ATK: 500->1000
Points:110
Params:
STR: F->E
END: A
VIT: A
AGI: F- ->E-
MP: EX
LUK: E-
NP: ??]
["Host, you have unlocked the system mall. Do you want to check it?"]
"Check mall"
System Shopping Mall:
General:
1. Azoth Sword. (100 points)
2. Random Spell tome. (500 point)
3. Advanced Formalcraft Knowledge. (5000 points)
4. Unnamed Muramasa Sword. (6500 points)
5. Common Compound Bow. (9 points)
6. Phoenix tears *10. (2100 points)
7. Skill High-speed incantation. (15000 points)
8. Moon princess's hair *5. (1Million points)
9. Spell: The Goal Of Life Is Death. (9500 points)
10. Modern Rune Knowledge: Basic. (3000 points)
Gacha:
1. Common ticket *1 (10 points)
2. UC ticket *1 (500 points)
3. Rare ticket *1 (10,000 points)
4. SR ticket *1 (50,000 points)
5. SSR ticket *1 (1,000,000 points)
Conversion:
100 common tokens ->1UC token
100 UC tokens->1 R token
100 R token -> 1 SR token
100 SR token ->1 SSR token
Flash Sell:
->A lion Plushe (1 point)
I decided not to buy anything today.
"System, draw 20 rare gacha", I decided to use them.
[Ding~Starting Gacha]
[20R token has been used]
[Received:
Black key * 4,
Super Spicy Mapo Tofu *3,
Stamina Potion *4,
50,000Yen* 4,
T-26 Soviet Tank *1,
Mana potion *2,
Big-sized Topaz*2]
The gacha draw wasn't that bad. I should have collected more and combined them into SSR.
Now knowing what is at stake, I intensify my training. With help from Rin, I was able to improve my magecraft rapidly. On the other hand, I was trying to find a way to help Sakura. I felt that rushing won't help her situation at all. Quietly finding a solution is the way to go.
Days passed by like this. Fuji-nee's punishment time was over. So, when she found that I was alone with two girls during her absence, she went ballistic. But Rin's quick thinking saved me from her anger.
Then one day, Rin found out about my father from her guardian and decided that she wanted answers.
==================================================================
[A\N: Avalon Part was unexpected even for me. Since he has a passive Observe skill along with his highly efficient Structure Analysis, he got the result. Fingers crossed this doesn't mess up the story.]
[Spirit Origin:
Name: Shirou Emiya
Title: The Gamer
Level: 4 ->10 [294/10,000 XP]
Class: Foreigner
Alignment: Neutral ・ Evil
HP: 14000->20000 [regen 2000 per min]
MP: 2070->3570
SP: 2400->3000 [regen 1200 per min]
ATK: 500->1000
Points:110
Params:
STR: F->E
END: A
VIT: A
AGI: F- ->E-
MP: EX
LUK: E-
NP: ??]
[Quests]:
World Quest:
->11 months and 8 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.}
-> Kill Zouken Matou. {Rewards: 500,000xp, 10,000 points, skill: Anti Evil(passive), SSR-ticket *2}
-> End Sakura's suffering. {Rewards: 100,000xp, 25,000 points, Expert Level knowledge of Imaginary Number magecraft, SSR-ticket *1, Unknown(Depends on how you end her suffering)}
> Find what is the Holy Grail War. {rewards: 2000XP, ???}
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
->Find what happened during the Fourth Holy Grail War. {reward: 25,000XP, ???}
->Find what happened to Irisviel von Einzbern and her daughter. {reward: 25,000XP, ???}