 These Tragic Souls and a Sword Reborn

in an Intergalactic Space Opera

Story Intro: "Welcome! I'm an evil god, though not that evil of a god!" is what they woke up to. Join our heroes and heroines, having just met their demise, displaced by an extradimensional event.”

Story Starts

-=&<o>&=-

Book 1 - The Empty Twin

Ch 0.1 Prologue

POV: Shirou Emiya

[Part 1 of 2]

Every few centuries, time freezes for a moment

Across all realities under the Kaleidoscope.

A self-correcting phenomenon

Acting as cosmic resets, healing the fundamental

boundaries of realities,

preventing destabilising encroachment

from the in-between, the outer, the greater,

and the beyond.

However, now and then, this temporal event splits,

becoming a Bifurcated Stall.

A singular chronal occurrence, yet

internally experienced as two distinct points in time—

lasting a moment, a minute, an hour, or any duration

in between—as a span of jarring normality

is momentarily wedged within,

cleaving it.

All those who meet their end within the stall

are flung across reality to the greater

their souls never reaching Akasha.

These tragic souls—displaced, dazed, and confused—

 unable to peer beyond the veil, unacknowledged

and ignorant.

Thirteen souls, amongst the billions, all set for what lies beyond:

space-faring, adventure, romance, drama, and discovery;

of expectations and blessings, both unknown.

But a threat must first be vanquished, an old one both lesser and greater

simultaneously whole yet shattered, weakened yet powerful.

First, a guide—a ferryman of sorts—

appears in the form of a child—

face unblemished and wrinkle-free,

yet with hair and beard old and grey—

The Kaleidoscope itself.

Their adventure starts beyond the bottom of the celestial dungeon.

-=&<o>&=-

“Wake up, faering, our sacrifice bore fruit, sail us towards new lands.”

“Wake up, Shirou, our faering, pierce the veil that shines at the ends of the world.”

-=&<o>&=-

“Welcome! I’m an evil god, though not that evil of a god!”

Woah! When I came to, I felt a sudden lurch—that feeling when you’re just drifting to sleep and your body jerks as if you’re falling. This time, however, my mind struggled to reconcile the sensation of plummeting with the sight of myself floating against the void’s beautiful, star-like backdrop.

After confirming I wasn’t actually falling, confusion brewed. A myriad of orbs floated around me, each orb unique, each surrounded by fiery wisps and tendrils of vibrant, differing colours—

“Ahem. Welcome! I’m an evil god, though not that evil of a god!”

Looking up—or what I assumed was up—the same backdrop extended further, surrounding me. Now that I thought of it, this resembled the deep space photos from our most powerful telescopes: images of millions upon billions of galaxy clusters. That’s precisely what everything around me looked like.

Was I floating in space?

“...!”

Raising my hands—well, I  thought  I raised my hands as all I saw were the same fiery wisps—

 “A–HEM! Welcome! I’m an e—”

“Cut the shit, Zelretch!”

My musings and confusions were interrupted by a familiar voice, a cherished friend of nine years, and a lover of about six. Rin Tohsaka. Her voice, loud and laced with a no-nonsense tone, didn't come from a woman of slende r build but from the glowing white orb with red fiery wisps surrounding it.

“Rin?”

“Shirou!”

“Shirou!”

“Senpai.”

Three distinct voices, one of which I had not heard for a very long time. The dam broke, and all the orbs surrounding us started talking, yelling out their confusion.

“Sak—”

“Sa—”

Clap!  Then, sudden silence. Our voices were now muted as our group instinctively gathered closer together.

Our trio of red, grey, and white. My heart filled with hope at the sight of purple, desperately wanting to confirm what I hoped wasn’t something I had misheard.

“Fourth time’s the charm—” a red tint flushed on the face of the child before us, now standing in front of a large throne slightly raised on an invisible platform. “I’m an evil god—you know—this isn’t how I divined this would go through.”

Now that I had a good look at the boy, some things felt off. His face was child-like, with the jarring features of greyed-out hair and beard.

Holding his chin in his hand, he said, “Well, things went differently from what I saw, but I digress; let’s not change the script any further.”

Opening his arms, palms facing upwards as if he was welcoming us, “Yes, I’m indeed an aspect of Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg and at the same time an aspect of the Kaleidoscope that has gained apotheosis.”

Yes, looking closer, despite appearing both young and old at the same time, in fact, one could say that this is just Zelretch, just made smaller and minus the wrinkles on his face. He was even wearing his usual black, militaristic-style robe.

I’d only met Rin’s mentor twice; usually, my companions encouraged me to pursue other things. I’d been recruited by the three branches of the Mage's Association, The Church, and even given personal missions by the vice director. I tried various hobbies, taking up culinary arts and some magus courses, mainly through the Department of Mineralogy.

I’d only met him when requested. The first time was when another Grail War suddenly popped up in America, where I faced that arrogant bastard for the second time.

Luckily, Grail servants were just copies of their throne-bound souls placed within a vessel, which further restricted their empowered legends; otherwise, I would have lost if Goldie hadn’t underestimated me for the second time.

Unfortunately, he had his gate fully open as he faced the only being he respected in his life; I had effectively become a third party, intervening in their skirmish.

And the second time was when the Ayle—

“Let’s address why a lot of you are confused,” Zelretch said, one arm on his waist, the other sweeping towards us.

“You all died at the same time—ummm generally,” he addressed us. He interrupted my train of thought, backtracking and babbling about how, since there were no causal connections between many of the deaths here, and adding to that the distance between multiple dimensions, you could swap the order in which people died, from a particular viewpoint.

The infamous troll, well, apparently now a god?

“YES!”

Is he answering my questio–

“YES!” Zelretch said in between his lecture on causality as if he could read my thoughts. “YES!”

Ignoring the surreal sight, I focused on examining my current self. I could see flickering grey tendrils and wisps. Whenever I thought of a specific action—well, not truly thought, rather whenever I performed an action like frowning or raising my hands—the colour of my wisps cycled between red, gold, and silver-grey.

Looking around me, the orbs, whom I assumed were my companions, were also cycling through a multitude of colours; the same went for the rest surrounding us, while the others maintained a single colour, only flickering every few moments.

Turning back to our current quarry—still needlessly babbling about theoretical sciences as he randomly interjects ‘Yes!’ and ‘No!’ while laughing out loud.

I’m not sure if these just appeared or if it was always there and I just noticed it—countless ‘screens’ floating above the supposedly self-proclaimed evil god. Projected within these screens were gruesome and violent events.

Multiple explosions, blooming into the shape of a mushroom.

Vehicles tumbling down ravines.

Cities being swallowed up by the Earth.

Just above his shoulder, I could see a large dragon laying waste to a walled city with an enormous spire at the centre.

Demon and alien invasions, wars, accidents, murder, suicide, abuse, the snuffing of a star, a meteor strike, monster rampage, the heat death of a universe, and countless versions of these events could be seen.

Directly above Zelretch’s head, I could see the reason why I am and most probably why my companions are here now. The success of the Aylesbury Ritual, the rebirth of the Dark Six, the subsequent wounding of Gaia, and then the rampage of the 5th and the 1st.  

But despite the death and violence, for some reason, all the people—and from what I see, a myriad of beings, elves, centaurs, goblins, otherworldly beings—don’t show anything identifiable.

With another clap, Zelretch redirected my attention, and all the previous floating displays vanished with a somewhat dignified cough, pretending he hadn’t gotten distracted on a tangent.

“Your confusion is quite easy to understand,” Zelretch said, pointing his nose up and grinning widely, proud, as if he were inviting praise.

“I made sure to wipe the experience of your death from your memories, and showing you uncensored footage of gruesome events might just give you guys unneeded trauma upon waking up in your next life.”

At the very least, this troll of an ‘evil god’ managed to do something good, though the manner in which he is doing all this through the Kaleidoscope perplexes me.

Again, as if reading my mind, he exclaimed, “Yes! Praise this benevolent evil god!” as he continued, “Then why do I profess to be an evil god—a question I'm sure many of you are currently wondering.”

“You didn’t mishear me a while ago; you’ll get a next life, an actual honest-to-goodness isekai adventure,” he eagerly explains. “Oops, a lot of you guys will not be getting that reference,” as he bops his head with his knuckle, not unlike how Illya does it to get away with things when she’s being a brat.

At this point, I’m getting irritated by his roundabout way of explaining things as I half-listen to his ramblings on how every few centuries, time stalls in all of the realities under the Kaleidoscope. A phenomenon that maintains boundaries between realities.

However, sometimes something anomalous happens when a separate pocket of flowing time across all realities becomes wedged within a stall, bifurcating it. These realities have self-correcting systems in place and can restore any error that happens during this bifurcated stall. However, all beings who die within this stall are thrown into a greater plane and are unable to enter the normal cycle of reincarnation through Akasha.

And since these realities under the Kaleidoscope are already self-corrected, reintroducing us into the cycle would be troublesome and inconvenient—well, that’s how he worded that.

“So instead, we’ll just throw you guys into realities beyond,” Zelretch said proudly as if this form of washing his hands of the problem is a great solution worthy of praise.

He further delved into this topic, rambling on about how, while from our point of view, giving someone who has died a second chance may seem kind, from the perspective of the countless realities beyond, suddenly inserting a random group of people might upset each reality’s homeostasis.

This then devolved into an explanation of how 'countless' didn't apply to every parallel universe beyond—for some reason, he'd been emphasising that particular word—which, in turn, led to a lecture on how certain infinities are smaller than others.

At this point, I’m actively tuning him out and looking around. To my left, I could see what I assumed to be Rin, slowly revolving around what I thought was Sakura.

The primary reason we undertook numerous missions for the various branches of the Mage’s Association and the Church was twofold: the second reason was almost identical to the first, but applied differently.

Unlike Rin and Illya, whom I have spent all of my time ever since waking up in the laboratory of Touko Aozaki—having spent two years in a puppet fashioned by Illya at the end of the clusterfuck of a 5th Holy Grail War.

We were trying to raise the necessary funds for two more operations with Touko. The first would be creating a body for Sakura, who, like me, had also been transferred into a vessel.

Illya’s body, tuned by the Einzberns to hold vast amounts of mana, was designed to serve as the Lesser Grail, absorbing all defeated Servants to activate the Greater Grail. However, she was never meant to survive past the 5th Holy Grail War, so a new body was essential. Furthermore, she desired a form that truly reflected her age, as she'd been eternally stuck in her prepubescent state.

—I say eternally, but another reason for the new body is her deteriorating state.

This was a constant complaint I’d heard, as she was insistent on entering a physical relationship with me alongside Rin. I only acquiesced to her demands when I stipulated that it would only happen once she received a new body, as, despite knowing her age, I couldn’t really bring myself to do so in her current—or rather, now previous—state, seeing as we are now wispy floating balls of light.

With that sudden jolt, Zelretch’s voice intensified, growing louder both audibly and within my—I suppose, metaphysical—mind.

“No communications shall be allowed amongst you as this is a sacred communion between you and your evil benefactor.” He said while bowing grandly and mockingly. “Though you can communicate with me one way, anything you say or think shall be heard by me—” A teasing grin played across his lips as he gave us a conspiratorial wink, “and me alone.”

“However! Unlike the normal tropes of transporting you to a different reality, there will be no ‘cheat skills’.” He continued, drawing air quotes with his fingers as he said the phrase "cheat skills."

“This is just a tradition I established on a whim during this phenomenon, so I will not be hearing any complaints from any of you, or else you can kiss this second chance goodbye. In fact, you are free to wander this greater plane eternally.”

That last ominous statement suggested that wandering this plane eternally was not a desirable option.

“But don’t worry—I’m giving you a freebie. You’ll be able to communicate perfectly in your new reality! —Well, generally, vocal chord terms and conditions still apply.” Zelretch said this with his arms crossed and nodded to himself. “Now, before the deportation process begins.” Zelretch waved towards us, and a sort of display or interface appeared in front of me.

I looked around, not seemingly able to read what was on the display of the immediate orbs surrounding me. I guessed the interface’s contents were only private to its owner,   as I spied the number 666 on top and a comment directly below which read ‘Hey. You know that’s Hell you’re walking into.’ Which, for some reason, irritated me.

"As another freebie from me, as you can see on the screen interface in front of you, it displays the number of points you can spend on this online-looking shop to better your second life in your new reality. The number depends on your general karma accumulated in life, so, generally speaking, a lot of you guys pretty average out to almost the same value. Though there shall be exceptions to this rule."

"Oh, and as a final—not so final—piece of advice, take your time; effort will never betray you!"

-=&<o>&=-

Still somewhat irritated by the comment, wondering how this would work—considering my current limblessness as I tried to extend one of my tendrils.

Although I wished to see more of the available items to purchase, the display immediately responded to my thoughts as the texts scrolled up—to be fair, it was actually pretty responsive. I figured Rin would probably be okay, as she’d been forced to adapt to recent technologies lately—having needed the internet and some knowledge on the deep web to contact Touko.

Well, Rin’s interesting quirks aside, while the interface is pretty responsive, frustratingly, there appeared to be no discernible order to how this is organised. Seeing a General Farming Skill above an Intermediate Accounting Skill in front of me. I imagined myself giving Zelretch a deadpan stare.

A search bar manifested right below the ‘Hey. You know that’s Hell you’re walking into.’ as Zelretch locked gazes, sticking his tongue out at me. The orbs around me flashed suddenly in unison, maybe surprised by the sudden appearance of the search bar.

I still grumbled in frustration; this didn’t help my predicament, since what I needed was to sort this disorganised mess.

“...!”

Just as I thought of sorting, the word sort appeared on the search bar and everything vanished—everything but ‘ Auto-Sort Skill’ and ‘ Manual-Sort Skill’ remained.

I couldn’t fathom why sorting would be a skill that costs points. An expensive 37 points for the ‘ Auto’  and 5 points for the ‘ Manual’ . Sixty-six minus thirty-seven—hmmm, seven, fifty-nine, then the thirty—so I’ll have six hundred twenty-nine left.

I sighed as I ‘clicked’ on the purchase button, purchasing the ‘ Auto-Sort Skill’ .

“Hohoho—somebody just asked, wondering if a skill isn’t available on the list.” Zelretch declared as he interrupted his babble about moving an infinite number of guests into rooms related to a prime number and their seat number.

He thumped his chest proudly as he said, “This benevolent evil god shall acquiesce to your wishes. Tell me about these skills that you want!”

While passively listening to the apparently benevolent Zelretch, I examined all the available purchases—including land, titles, and even items—which were now summarised into categories.

However, I do wonder why this isn’t alphabetised, as I spy ‘Inheritance’ at the top of the list. Maybe this is sorted to my preferences? As I checked what’s under ‘Inheritance’.

‘Inherit Previous Body’s Skills’ , ‘ Inherit Previous Life’s Assets’ , ‘ Inherit Claimable, Unclaimed Inheritance’ . Damn it, Zelretch, why are you selling me things I already previously know? And these aren’t cheap at 69, 80, and 150 points, respectively.

I looked up towards the troll, still babbling random facts, and he gave me a casual wink, further riling up my frustrations. Though the last skill intrigued me, I never really did have the time to look into Kiritsugu’s past life, apart from that incident—the mission with Flat infiltrating Van Fem’s casino.

Do I even have a time limit here? I waited for a moment, maybe Zelretch would provide me with a countdown timer, as I grew curious about the skills everyone would suggest. Then a new category popped to the top of my sorted list: ‘New Skills’

Looks like Zelretch isn’t providing a timer. Knowing him, it would probably be somewhere here for sale, and just like clockwork, when I viewed the ‘New Skills’ category—which was very long from what I can see—and on the top was ‘ Countdown Timer ’   for 100 damn points.

Brushing that aside, as I continued scrolling, the list kept expanding, and I found myself staring in confusion at the incoming skills: ‘ Plunder ’, ‘ Copy-skill ’, ‘ Heroic Aptitude ’, ‘ Demon Lord Aptitude ’, ‘ Sage Aptitude ’ , and what—’ EXP Modifiers ’?

I deadpanned a stare at the two floating orbs beside me when I spied, at the end of the list, ‘ The Kaleidoscope ’ and ‘ Heaven’s Feel ’, both at 999,999 points. The two orbs, which I assumed represented Rin and Illya, flared violently, likely reacting to the exorbitant price.

“Oh, and—” Zelretch suddenly interjected out loud and again in our mind, “to those unfamiliar with this trope of a gamified prequel to your next life, I’ll provide a help guide.”

‘ Help Guide ’ flashes at the bottom of my list. “This benevolent god will also add a small basic description and a tiny description of each skill, but if you need something more in-depth, I suggest you purchase the ‘ Help Guide ’.”

Given Taiga as a guardian, and even Lord El Melloi II’s habit of reading manga whenever he felt lazy, I wasn’t entirely disconnected from popular culture.

I was familiar with the isekai trope, yet the ‘boon’ Zelretch had seen fit to bestow for free came with descriptions like the ‘ Copy-Skill ’: 'Copies a skill 😐. Non-refundable. - 100 points', and ‘ Heroic Aptitude ’: 'Pretty much self-explanatory, what are you, a moron? Non-Refundable - 120 points'.

Not wanting to be subjected to purchasing something that might have hidden side effects, given that, from what I remembered, many of these new skills looked pretty much like things that I would classify as cheat skills, which, according to Zelretch, weren’t allowed. I rationalised as I purchased the ‘ Help Guide ’ for 20 points, given that ‘ Plunder ,  Copy-Skill ’, and even ‘ Heroic ,  Demon Lord ’,   and ‘ Sage ’ aptitude skills are cheaper than ‘ Inherit Claimable, Unclaimed Inheritance ’.

I felt both vindicated and exasperated—thankful that I had purchased the ‘ Help Guide ’—as I look at the description of these skills.

“ Plunder :   Steals skill away from the target. You can use it as if it were originally yours. You do not need to know the name of your target skill, as it will easily target what you want. Stolen skills will return to their original owner upon death. The user’s lifespan will be reduced by 4% x the saturation level of the stolen skill; that total amount will be transferred to the target. Please note that the reduction in lifespan is relative to the user’s maximum lifespan. (Any skill that has no levels is treated as saturation level 5. Any skill with a letter ranking will start at level 5 x the numerical value of their nth place +/- 2.5 for each - or + symbol after. The lower the rank, the lower the number.) Non-refundable. - 80 Points.”

Well, considering Plunder is quite the sinister skill to begin with, its description is head-achingly evil. Zelretch’s self-proclamation might be accurate in this case. Perhaps that’s why he said there were no cheat skills.

I frowned as I reread the description, wondering what Saturation level meant. A text bubble suddenly appeared, reading: Saturation level (sat lvl.) indicates the ease with which you can learn, train, and experiment with skills. For example: If you bought ‘ Straight Sword Mastery ’, it will provide you with the necessary basic knowledge and muscle memory for fundamental skills related to the aptitude, along with the wisdom to reach mastery. However, a sat lvl. 1 would require five times more effort to achieve mastery than a sat lvl. 5 ‘ Straight Sword Mastery ’.

I guess it was more straightforward than I thought, and fair. His statement about effort never betraying you echoed in my mind.

I scrolled to the top, mentally commanding it to revert to my preferences instead of the previous sorting by the latest added.  

“ Heroic Aptitude : Gain the ability to learn almost every light-aligned and neutral skill. You’ll be a magnet for all the events and trouble plaguing your new reality. It’s up to you to save everyone, hero! Non-Refundable - 120 points”

I mentally snorted at the ‘ Heroic Aptitude ’ , despite rejecting that part of me, it still unfortunately persists in my psyche. During that time, in that mannequin Illya constructed for me, before they were able to hire Touko Aozaki for a new body, I was actually conscious and still connected to Archer.

Witnessing everything he—or perhaps I—experienced, feeling every emotion he felt as all his ideals became perverted, and enduring the endless cycle of self-hate just to undo his mistakes—all of that brought many things into perspective. Regrettably, upon waking up, I felt utterly lost.

The support of Rin and Illya, combined with the goal of earning enough for their new bodies, was what anchored me. I truly appreciated their understanding of how difficult it was to keep up with me, for I had been a broken person since that great fire, and my ideals—the very essence of my being—had been shattered when the Holy Grail ended.

While we completed numerous missions for the Clocktower, the Wandering Seas, Atlas, and even the Church, I was also encouraged to find myself. Thus, I balanced magus lessons, trying to find hobbies, taking culinary classes, and taking missions; I even had a rebellious phase—of which we shall never speak! Ever!

“ Copy-Skill : Can only learn new skills through this. Must know the exact name of the skill and its current level; otherwise, it’ll be locked. Successfully copied skills mirror the saturation level of the copy minus five. You can only learn how to use the skill from the person you copied it from. Non-Refundable - 100 points”

Goldie’s voice echoed in my head. I imagined him sneering, ‘Once a mongrel, always a mongrel!’  followed by the ever-so-annoying ‘Faker.’ ‘ Copy-Skill ’ merely seemed like a convoluted ‘tutor-me’ skill. Was this not simply learning from a teacher?

I guess maybe with this, I could learn things outside of my elemental alignment. Mentally filing that and ‘ Magic Aptitude: Omni ’—a skill that grants me basic alignment to all elements with a caveat that learning would be harder. However, the fact that learning harder wasn't tied to specific magic gave me pause. These were skills I was interested in.

I didn’t even know what kind of reality we were transferring to. Backing out of the ‘New Skills’ category, I saw General Knowledge  now sat at the top of the list, above ‘ I nheritance’ and ‘Interested Skills’.

According to the description, this was the aggregate average knowledge known by sentient beings in your reality, and it was even only 15 points.

Deciding it was an easy purchase, I wondered how to access this knowledge. As I considered my new reality, information flooded my mind.

Suddenly, I learned the reality—or at least the segment we were bound for—was a vast galactic empire. This empire was governed equally by both nobles, under a Grand Emperor, and a democratic faction, led by a Grand Chancellor. Regrettably, this colossal galaxy, large enough to consume 150 Andromeda galaxies with space left for dozens of Milky Ways, contained more than just this one governing body.

In this galaxy, skirmishes were common in frontier space among various entities, including governing bodies, syndicates, pirates, neutral systems, and rogue entities. At the heart of it all, a neutral party composed of cosmic space monks tried to mediate among these factions for the greater good of the galaxy.

As more information continued to flow into my mind, integrating as if it had always been there naturally, I considered my options.

Well, first we’d need some resources. According to the descriptions of the ‘ Inherit Previous Life’s Assets ’ and ‘ Inherit Claimable, Unclaimed Inheritance ’, any currency would be converted to the next reality’s currency, adjusted to its purchasing power.

My points, now down to 289 after I purchased the three, I decided to consider purchasing both ‘ Copy-Skill ’ and ‘ Magic Aptitude: Omni ’ as I explored the ‘ Interested Skills ’ category. I frowned as I saw them both greyed out and lacking a purchase button.

What? As I looked around, I could see that many of the skills were no longer available, like the ‘ Copy-Skill ’ and ‘ Magic Aptitude: Omni ’; they were now greyed out, lacking a purchase button, and now grouped under a new category called ‘Unavailable’.

I didn’t even know how my purchase affected me. As I scrolled around, I saw that my list shifted again. Upon reaching the top, I saw ‘Status Screens’.

“‘ Basic Status View ’: A basic status summary is tattooed on your back. A basic blood ritual can copy your status to a physical medium for your viewing pleasure. (Your status, written in runes and symbols, is readable only by souls transported to the same reality as you. Your tattoo disappears over time, but it will reappear during your next blood ritual or under other special circumstances. While in between realities, you can view your current status on screen.) Please note that you will not be able to view your saturation levels and lettered rankings with this. Non-Refundable. - 2 points”

As I quickly scanned the other options for ‘status screens’, I cringed at the price of the next level, which started at 30 points for just a basic augmented reality status screen with saturation levels.

Thinking that I didn’t need a convenient way to view my purchased skills, and that knowing my saturation levels was not necessary—especially after purchase—I purchased the ‘ Basic Status View ’, knowing I could at least view it on screen for the moment.

Regardless, as I returned to the main menu, my interface screen had updated. Instead of the column showing my purchased screens, it now provides much more information.

-=&<o>&=-

Name: Shirou Muramasa-Emiya (Updated)

Age: 25

Race: ??Processing??/Sword Incarnation (Updating)

Element: Sword

Origin: Sword

—----------

Magic Circuits: 27 | Total output of 270 units.

Magic Crest: Muramasa Family Crest - 91 | Total output of 637 units. (New)

Emiya Family Crest - 10 | Total output 80 units. (New)

Phantom Arm - Partially Integrated | Increase the output of circuits on the left

arm by 100%| Total additional output: 230 units. (Updated)

Avalon - Integrating (Updating)

Total Od Output: 947 units (Updated)

—----------

Skills:

Dual-Wielding Mastery (Updated)

Kendo Mastery (Updated)

Kenjutsu Mastery (Updated)

Straight-Sword Mastery (Updated)

Melee Weapon Mastery (Updated)

Close Quarters Mastery (Updated)

Spear-Wielding Mastery (Updated)

Unarmed Combat Mastery (Updated)

Bajiquan Mastery (Updated)         

Marksmanship Mastery (Updated)         

Archery Mastery (Updated)         

Magecraft Aptitude

Gradation Air Aptitude

Alteration Aptitude

Tracing Aptitude

Reinforcement Aptitude

Bounded Field Aptitude

Runes Aptitude

Alchemy Aptitude

Earth’s Gastronomy Aptitude

Reality Marble: Externalised

                         Internalised (New)

Magecraft (Updated)

Magic Resistance (New)

Mind’s Eye (True) (New)

Clairvoyance (New)

Muramasa Magecraft Aptitude (New)

Emiya Magecraft Aptitude (New)

?Processing? Magic Aptitude: (New)

Auto-Sort Skill (New)

Help Guide (New)

General Knowledge (New)

Basic Status View (New)

Equipment:

Bag of Temporary Holding (Expires within 18 galactic months.) (New)

-=&<o>&=-

Well, at least it showed my Od output, which is quite satisfying, as my investment in inheritance skills has borne fruit, yielding almost the same output as Rin. However, I may have found out why a lot of the skills are no longer purchasable, as I looked at both my elemental alignment and origin.

I prompted my interface to display all remaining magical skills I could purchase, revealing only four abilities: ‘ Conceptual Crossover ’, ‘ Non-Elemental Psionic Aptitude ’, ‘ Non-Elemental Magic Aptitude ’, and ‘ Cosmic Force Aptitude ’.

According to the ‘ Help Guide ’, unlike mastery, an aptitude doesn’t provide knowledge for immediate mastery; instead, it grants general knowledge, and you benefit from experimenting, researching, and learning the craft.

I quickly purchased all of them for a total of 57 points. Only the basic saturation level is needed for each of them. At the same time, ‘ Conceptual Crossover ’—which basically allows me to use concepts from other magical systems and adapt them to mine or what I’m familiar with—was a single-purchase skill without any saturation levels. Now what should I do next?

I centred myself to assess my current situation. First, hopefully, when I get my second life, Illya, Rin and Sakura—well, hopefully I’m correct in my assumption that the extra purple orb is Sakura—will still be with me. Should we get separated, I'll need the necessary skills to explore the galaxy in search of them.

That'll probably be the worst-case scenario that's actionable. The scenarios where we would either be reborn without our previous memories or in different realities entirely are ones I cannot find a solution to without extraordinary intervention, especially if my memory is erased.

Notwithstanding my promise to search for her endlessly—a memory of Arturia dissolving into motes of light as I disconnected her from the maligned Grail popped into my mind—it appeared, at this point, to be a lost cause, as I was getting transported to a different reality.

I paused, briefly worrying about whether I would be with my loved ones. I hadn’t even considered how Sakura could be here, as she was… trapped… in… that…

“...!”

Oh yeah! Rin always wore the jewel that housed Sakura, and we all were caught in that attack by ORT as it converted everything into a crystal wasteland.

Well, either way, whether we are together or get separated, I would need to know how to traverse the galaxy. It also sounds like a good idea to embark on an adventure and explore this vast new reality.

Hmmm… Although I currently have a problem with ‘ General Knowledge ’, I don’t really know what other skills I need to survive in this new reality. While I currently have loose ideas about my goals, I genuinely want to explore the galaxy. With that thought, my display reorganised again to show just one option.

“ Hint : Your benevolent evil god will provide you proper guidance so you can achieve success! Teehee.. - 2 points. (Doubles in cost after every purchase.)

What’s this ‘Teehee’ in the end? I’m not looking up, I'm sure he’s taunting me again. Even with that thought, I still purchased the ‘ Hint ’, as the ‘ Help Guide ’ and ‘ General Knowledge ’ have been quite helpful so far, and the only troublesome things I’ve seen are the skills added by request.

After the purchase, a message bubble suddenly popped up to my right:

“The best way for you to explore the galaxy without significant problems is to be either in the military or pursue the legal routes of an adventurer, mercenary, bounty hunter, trader, or transporter.

I assume that you value your freedom, so we are going with the non-military option.

The skills and equipment for being an adventurer, mercenary, or even a bounty hunter aren’t mutually exclusive; you could even undertake trading and transport on the side. So here is what I recommend.”

My screen was reorganised again into three categories. “Transfer Process”, “Knowledge and Learning”, and “Other Skills”.

What’s this transfer process?   As I ‘clicked’ on this, I almost screamed out loud in frustration—well, screaming at this point would be considered moot, given our current muteness.

“‘ Reborn as a blank slate ’: You get randomly reborn into a new life with your potential but without your previous life’s memories. You will be reborn x years in the past, where x is your current age multiplied by a random value between 0.01 and 1. (You might get random flashbacks, and the possibility of unlocking your previous memories is not 0%) - 0 Points. (This is your default choice.)”

I do hope they see this option. Slightly panicking about what I would do if they were reborn as a blank slate. Scouring the whole galaxy for them would be such a pain, as I looked at the only option that appealed to me.

“‘ Direct Transfer ’: You’ll physically appear in a randomly selected place that’ll give you the best opportunity, though success isn’t guaranteed. (You’ll not have any official records, but getting that eventually will not pose too many problems.) Non-refundable. - 20 points.”

Returning to the previous menu screen, only ‘ Knowledge and Learning ’ and ‘ Other Skills ’ remained. “Please display all recommended skills under both categories.” I nudged the interface with this thought; it readily acquiesced. At the same time, I requested that the text bubble to my right be moved, which then stated: “Since you will be directly transferred to your new reality, acquiring skills that aren’t just at the basic level isn’t recommended.”

As I pondered this recommendation, I mentally rearranged the recommended skills by order of importance. At least, this is what I believe is the correct order, since ‘ Auto-Sort Skill ’ seemed to tap into my preferences.

“ Adventurer, Mercenary, and Bounty Hunter Knowledge Bundle : Rank E | The knowledge, wisdom, tactics, and skills needed in these professions. Non-refundable. - 5 points”

“ Riding : Rank E | The innate ability to use any mount/vehicle. As long as it moves and it’s controllable, it falls under this purview. Non-refundable. - 5 points”

“ Weapon & Armour Smith Aptitude : Lv. 1 | The aptitude to build and maintain modern weapons & armour. Non-refundable. - 0.5 points” (Discounted)

“ Engineering Knowledge : Rank E | The knowledge, wisdom, and skills needed by someone who is a non-specialised engineer. Non-refundable. - 4 points”

“ Flora, Fauna, and Fungi Knowledge : Rank E | Non-specialised knowledge on flora, fauna, and fungi around the galaxy. Non-refundable. - 2 points”

“ Learning Aptitude : Lv. 1 | The ability to learn new things. (As this covers everything, your ability to learn will be half as slow as a specialised aptitude. This stacks with other aptitudes.) Non-refundable. - 4 points”

“ Modern Computer Knowledge : Rank E | The ability to navigate modern software around the galaxy. Non-refundable. - 4 points”

“ Monster Knowledge : Rank E | Specialised knowledge on monsters. Non-refundable. - 4 points”

“ Adventurer, Mercenary, and Bounty Hunter Aptitude Bundle : Lv. 1 | The ability to improve your knowledge, wisdom, tactics, and the skills needed in these professions. Non-refundable. - 2 points”

“ General Economics Knowledge : Rank E | General knowledge on the production, distribution, consumption and value of goods and services. Non-refundable. - 2 points”

My problem with this system was that I couldn’t just hover over points before purchasing; I was a little afraid of overcommitting when upgrading these skills. I realised I’d need to proceed slowly.

After 207 karmic points, much stress and too many escaped sighs, and with 7 points to spare, this is what I came up with.

Adventurer, Mercenary, and Bounty Hunter Knowledge Bundle : Rank B - 34 points — Upgrade to A

Adventurer, Mercenary, and Bounty Hunter Aptitude Bundle : ‘ sat lvl. ’ 9 - 17 points ‘ Riding ’: Rank B - 34 points

‘ Weapon & Armour Smith Aptitude ’: ‘ sat lvl. ’ 16 - 12 points

‘ Engineering Knowledge ’: Rank B - 30 points

‘ Flora, Fauna, and Fungi Knowledge ’: Rank C - 13 points

‘ Learning Aptitude ’: ‘ sat lvl. ’ 13 - 24 points

‘ Modern Computer Knowledge ’: Rank C+ - 25 points

‘ Monster Knowledge ’: Rank B - 12 points ‘ General Economics Knowledge ’: Rank D - 6 points

Luckily, I purchased both the ‘ Adventurer, Mercenary, and Bounty Hunter Knowledge Bundle ’ and ‘ Adventurer, Mercenary, and Bounty Hunter Aptitude Bundle ’ as the ‘ Monster Knowledge ’ was discounted, and after raising ‘ Monster Knowledge ’ to Rank B, the ‘ Adventurer, Mercenary, and Bounty Hunter Knowledge Bundle ’ received a free upgrade to A.

Before I finish, what should I do with my remaining 7 points? As I did this, I again mentally nudged my interface to show skills that cost seven or lower. I looked at my top choices.

“ Cooking Aptitude : Lv. 1 | The aptitude to prepare edible dishes around the galaxy. Non-refundable. - 3 points”

Why didn’t I think of this? Mentally smacking myself in the head: The food and ingredients might be vastly different in this new reality. So in my opinion, this was a must-buy. I then looked at the second choice.

‘What do you recommend for my general actions in the first two years of my new life?’ I thought, purchasing my second ‘ Hint ’ from our Benevolent Evil God.

“Time’s up!” Zelretch serendipitously declared, standing and raising his right arm above his head, and with a snap of his finger, more than half of the souls vanished. “Those were the ones who either didn’t set their ‘Transfer Process’ or intentionally opted for a clean slate without their previous life’s memories.”

I sighed in relief as my three companions, Rin, Illya, and Sakura, were still here.

Another snap echoed, and more than half of the remaining souls vanished. “Like the previous batch, those are the ones who want to be reborn old-school-style but with their memories intact.”

With a shit-eating grin, Zelretch gestured to the remaining souls. “That’ll give the rest of you a goal if you get separated from your friends, families, and/or loved ones.” He paused for effect. “Don’t fret, as generally the souls near you will be sent to the same realities, so the possibility of a reunion is not zero percent.”

I breathed a nonexistent sigh of relief as my companions didn’t choose to get reborn from scratch.

“Again, generally your destination has already been set, but souls closest to you will be transported into the same place in the other reality, so bunch up.”

Zelretch raised his hands, ready to snap his fingers, and began counting down.

10….

My companions and I began to huddle up. Illya’s white orb excitedly bobbed up and down as Rin pushed Sakura into our centre.

9…

Then, as I looked behind my companion’s soul, I saw what looked like a silver soul herding a group of three towards our group.

8… 7… 6…

As this happened, I tried—as much as a mute floating ball of light can—to gesture to my companions away from the group of four barrelling towards us, so I too began herding them.

5… 4… 3…

Unfortunately, I didn’t see the group of three who remained stationary, huddled together in the direction from which I was trying to herd my group away from the group of four.

2…

In the end, two more souls from opposite directions came crashing behind the group of four and the group of three beside us.

As I resign myself to this fate—I do hope these new people won’t be trouble.

1…

HEY! I PURCHASED A SECOND HINT! That was my last thought before everything turned dark.

“Develop the frontier planet. Your adventure will begin at the bottom of the dungeon. Register your team at Tarmein Prime.”

-=&<o>&=-

Flashback

February 5, 2004

I stumbled into the final chamber with multiple blades jutting out through my body after that harrowing fight. Ignoring the feeling of loss, we, together with Caster and Rider, finally defeated the corrupted Saber. "I probably shouldn't have left Tohsaka & Illya, and just followed what we originally planned," I grumbled to myself as I braced myself.

“Trace On,” I said, as I projected that witch’s dagger, an ornamental, brittle-looking thing. This dagger wasn’t made to be a weapon. All it does is sever any type of sorcery it can cut.

This was my final gamble as I rushed towards her, while those ribbon-like tentacles surged towards me.

With a final cry and stab, her connection to the corrupted greater grail was severed. Both of us fell into a crumpled heap of mess, as both of us succumbed to the damage done to our bodies. For her, while her body looks pristine and undamaged, the Grail has been a part of her being since childhood. The sudden severing of that connection and the feedback from channelling seemingly endless amounts of energy brought her into shock.

As for me, I could no longer resist his arm’s corruption of me. As I lay dying, countless swords protruding from my back, I looked at her. I reach out to clasp my hand over hers, pondering whether or not my decisions were correct.

The last memory I had before waking in that sealing designate’s lab was, “Rin, quick! Give me two containers or any vessel for me to trans—”

-=&<o>&=-

Location

Grakkan Empire

System: Unknown | Planet: Unknown

Date:

Grakkan Standard (GknS)| System | Local | Galactic Standard (GS)

‘Revolution’ / ‘Prime Satellite’ / ‘Rotation’ / ‘Time’

GknS 34k6.rev-70% / 10.rev-40% / 255.rot-50% / 12:00:01

System: Unknown | Local: Unknown

GS 13k9.rev-47% / 8.rev-46% / 255.rot-73% / 26:25:18

-=&<o>&=-

Light, that’s what's been rudely barging into my closed eyes as I found myself lying in a tangled heap of randomly strewn arms and legs. I grumbled to myself, opening up my eyes to a picturesque orange-hued sky with some clouds splattered across its canvas. As I tilt my head a bit, I spy the curvature of an enormous moon—well satellite in this case over the peaks of the forest to my left.

I looked around me, quickly concluding there was no really safe way for me to sit up without causing any misunderstanding. Yeah, I’ve been a witness and/or victim of too many of those situations when I was in the Clocktower and on the field.  

I sighed   as I firmly crossed my arms and just looked up at the sky, enjoying this brief moment of relaxation before what could inevitably be a problematic situation.

“You look troubled there for a moment.” A bright, foxy-sounding voice suddenly interjected.

I tilted my head back and slightly to the right towards the voice. I saw grey hair, a forehead, grey brows and grey eyes. As for the rest of the person, my head can’t tilt that far.

“I can’t seem to get up without any potential misunderstandings,” I grumbled towards the floating forehead and eyes—at least, that’s what it looked like from my perspective; honestly, it seemed rather amusing.

“You’re not thinking something rude, are you?” The eyes at the edge of my periphery seemed to be reading my thoughts, narrowing, while her grey-coloured eyebrows furrowed.

Wait, was there mind-reading skill in that dumb mess of a purchasing store? I panicked inwardly. As I shifted slightly, one of the bodies beside me, who had been facing away, turned and hugged my chest, trapping my left arm as she rested her head on my shoulder.

This movement caused another, who was curled up around my waist, to roll over and lie flat between my legs. Her head was on my stomach as she snored loudly, lifting her shirt to scratch at her stomach.

“Hmmm, looks like I was correct—”

“No, it’s just your imagination!” I quickly interjected. “I just woke up, so my brain isn’t still catching yet”, as I tried to loosen the girl’s hold on me.

“Hey, wake up.” I whispered, poking the brown, somewhat bushy-haired girl’s head with my index finger. I did the same to the light blonde girl who was between my legs and on top of me.

Instead of loosening her grip, the girl clung on tighter. She threw a leg over, her thigh resting on the other girl’s face and using my stomach as a pillow.

The girl grumbled and pushed the offending limb away. Scooching lower, she turned to her right, her face now against my crotch as she clung to my leg. Unfortunately, she accidentally kicked another light blonde girl who was to my right.

The sleeping blonde girl that was kicked groaned slightly and kicked out both her legs, hitting me on the ribs and thankfully missing the face of a redhead being spooned by another blonde. She then lay spread out, grabbed one of the redhead's legs with one arm, and continued to sleep.

“ARgh, would it be possible for you to help me wake up the people surrounding us or at least help me get up?” I groaned, attempting to redirect the conversation towards my predicament while trying to ignore the pain in my side.

“2,000 credits per person, and 20,000 credits for helping you get up!”

As I sharply turned towards her, it was now my turn to narrow my eyes and furrow my brow. It looked like she at least had the ‘ General Knowledge’ skill.

Despite the size of this galaxy and the myriad of independent galactic nations, empires, federations, and other entities, there was only one officially recognised currency: the galactic credit. This was due to an unaffiliated governing body called the Consortium Primaris—a galactic equivalent of the United Nations. It was a third-party organisation that moderated between galactic nations, empires, federations, and other entities for the greater good of the galaxy.

Having just one type of currency would prevent certain governing groups from trying to control and manipulate the value of their currency to their benefit.

Especially when response times for information and communication were measured in light-years, having a galactic currency controlled by an ‘unbiased’ central government helped mitigate problems that might develop.

Although some places considered themselves outside the Consortium, where valuable stones were used as a form of currency.

“Could I open up a tab?” I deadpanned at her as she slightly tilted her head and gave me a wink.

“Senpai?”

-=&<o>&=-

END

📅Story Tracker|Story ETAs📅

Follow me on my other socials

and stack additional voting

points on the story of your

choosing.

𝕏Twitter𝕏

🔞𝕏Twitter𝕏 🔞

t Tumblr t

🤖Discord🤖

🦋BlueSky🦋