21 (21) Fate system

"Ugh, fuck, everything hurts."

After waking up from the Hellish training, Alexander was laying on his bed, complaining. A day has passed since he and Scáthach met but their spar yesterday made an everlasting impression on him.

Tamamo, who was covering his arms with bondage, giggle at his childish behavior. "Fufu, I never saw this side yours, master, it's pretty cute."

Alexander could only sigh at her teasing. He was already getting used to it since she is been like this whenever they were alone together. He did not have to courage to push her away since the moment he wakes up, she was the one who taking care of him while he was asleep.

"But master, I must say, your body is recovering at an alarming rate."

Tamamo noticed this when she was cleaning his body from all the blood and dirt that covered his body, mind you that she did it without Alexander's permission but he didn't reprimand her since it doesn't hurt him in any way.

"Really? I never put that much thought into it..."

Now that she mentioned it, during his fight with berserker, his body was in a much worse state than he currently is, but after waking up, his body almost recovered to its peak state. Although some of the bones are still fractured, with the current speed of his recovery, he will recover in no time.

But this does not stop him from being curious as to why this was happening...

"Wait a minute, could be because of the unknown energy?" This thought immediately comes to mind.

("That's correct") Anna's robotic voice clears any doubts in his mind as his eyes brighten up. This means that unknown energy is extremely beneficial to his body.

"Unknown energy?" Tamamo asked. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he accidentally murmured it out loud. This becomes a habit that he developed in his past life, whenever he was in deep thought, he will say his thoughts out loud.

"Ah, it's nothing." He shakes his head as he rubs Tamamo silky hair to distract her. This works perfectly as she quickly forgot about it as she closed her eyes and smiles happily, clearly enjoying the head pat evidently by her tails as swings around back and forth. Safe to say, it was an adorable and endearing sight to the point that Alexander forgot about the pain he was experiencing a moment ago.

'Anna, that unknown energy, do you still have no idea to what it was, or where it comes from?' He momentarily stops his hand from patting Tamamo's head as he asked.

("Unfortunately, I still lack the necessary information to come up with an answer to that question.")

'I see, then monitor it for me whenever the energy appears. Could you do that?'

("Absolutely.")

"Master?"

Tamamo's words brought him to the present as she stared at him with a worried expression on her face.

"Don't worry, it's nothing." He pats her head one last time as he retreats his hand away from her head.

She was slightly sad about his actions but did not request any more head pats as she didn't want to be seen as clingy to her master. As such, she only supports him as he slowly raised from the bed.

"How's Scáthach? is she ok?" He casually asked.

"Master, you are too kind, do not worry, she was doing fine."

"I see, that's good to know."

After their small talk, he gently taps the red gemstone hanging by his neck as a brand new outfit similar to what he was wearing yesterday appeared as It now covered his half-naked body.

"Are you perhaps going somewhere?"

Alexander responded with a nod followed by, "hmm, I want to take a walk for a bit."

Tamamo was against the idea based on the frown that formed on her beautiful face.

"If you are worried, you can join me if you have the time."

His word brought joy to her face, "Really? can I?"

Looking at her expression which is similar to that of a child receiving a gift at Christmas, he could not help but laugh at her delightful expression. Her typical gracefulness is nowhere to be seen as it was replaced by a childlike demeanor. Alexander wonders if he was the only person where she could openly show this side of her.

"Of course, I couldn't see any reason as to why not."

Her face becomes even more bright as she gently grabs his right hand and drags him slowly outside as they began to walk in a random direction.

Their stroll was peacefully quiet. Tamamo returns to her graceful manner as she walked beside him one step behind. Alexander notice this behavior but he didn't question her, instead, he asked, "I been curious, what happened after I lost consciousness? Was there any worth mentioning?"

Hearing his question, she then remembered the scene where his tired body lay on the ground and his head peacefully lay on Scáthach's thighs...

"Tamamo?"

"Ah?!" her snap to face Alexander with a flustered expression, "It's nothing, master. As for your concern, nothing happened that is worth your attention."

Although Alexander wanted to ask further, he did not bother her to ask anything more as he could only change the subject and talk about irrelevant things for which Tamamo was thankful.

Along with their stroll, they met Romani who was in a hurry.

"Oh!" His face brightened when he saw Alexander. "Alex, perfect timing. I was about to call you."

"Did something happened? you seem to be in a good mood."

"Yeah, something great did happen."

"Oh?" This made Alexander and Tamamo curious.

"Thanks to your summoning yesterday, Da Vinci was able to gather some data to improve the fate system." He abruptly pauses as he continues, "Speaking of that woman, she appears to be so eager to meet you."

"I see, I do have an idea as to why." He was, of course, thinking of the deal he and she made about the grail.

"Anyways, the Fate system. Does it work now?"

"I apologize for interrupting, but what is this Fate system all about?" Tamamo asked.

"Oh, yes, I almost forgot that you are new to Chaldea. Well to explain, The Fate system or also known as The Guardian Heroic Spirit Summoning System "FATE" is one of the Chaldeas inventions used for summoning Heroic spirits as servants. It was completed in 2004 but the success rate is still below fifty percent. However, thanks to Alex's summoning, Da Vinci made a breakthrough."

"So, does the success rate went up or what?"

"We are still in the middle of an experiment. But Da Vinci guaranteed that the chance of success is above eighty percent."

"Above eighty? That's not bad. Well, do you need me for something?"

"Da Vinci wanted to summon more servants to Chaldea-"

"And she wanted me to become the master for these servants? then what about Ritsuka?"

"Yes, since you and Fujimaru are the only available masters Chaldea have, naturally, he will also participate in the experiment."

Alexander pause for a moment before he said, "Sure, I'll be your little guinea pig for the day."

'Free servants? don't mind if I do.' He internally smirked. The thought of getting more retainers excited him.

"Don't say it like that," his thoughts were halted by Romani's voice who wears frowned. It would seem that Alexander's words trigger something within him. Alexander took notice of this.

"Anyway, it seems that your condition is okay, if you have time, come and stop by at the experimentation room. Your help will be needed."

The experimentation room, as the name suggests, it is where Chaldea conducts its experiments. Most notably, this was the place where Chaldea was able to summon its three known successful servants. This being; Solomon, Galahad, and Da Vinci. And by recent events, the number of servants may exponentially grow...

"Sure, I'll stop by later,"

"Great. If you are still having problems with your health, the infirmary is open."

Alexander nodded as they went on their way. They talked about miscellaneous things in their life which improve their understanding of one another.

Tamamo was the one who is leading the conversation since she could tell that Alexander was not a talkative person. Her knowledge when she was a court lady of Emperor Toba become useful as she leads the discussion...

(An: I'll expand on her backstory in the future. If you're eager to know, her past is fully explained in the wiki. Go read there.)

"Oh, Master, isn't that Scáthach?"

She briefly stops as she pointed at the purple-haired woman sitting on a bench calmly reading a book. She was engrossed in her reading that it would seem like that she wasn't able to notice Alexander and Tamamo approach her.

"Do the two of you need me?" She asked while her eyes were still glued to the book.

"I just want to check up on you to make sure your okay. Looking at your appearance, it would seem that was the case." Alexander's voice turns soft when he remembered the vague memory of Scáthach's face when he lost consciousness. Her condition was quite severe from what he could remember. Looking at her now, he was glad that she was okay.

"There's no need to concern about my health, Master, but thank you nonetheless." She lifts her head as she stared at Alexander's eyes as she said those words.

Ultimately, it would seem that she was not in the mood for a conversation as she continued back to reading her book. Alexander and Tamamo do not want to disturb her any longer, so they continue their little adventure. Unbeknownst to them, however, the moment they disappear in her view, Scáthach, bit her bottom lip as she tried to hide the intense pain she was feeling.

She was not okay as she tried to appear to be, after her battle with Alexander, she suffers from foreign mana that causes havoc in her body. It all started since her fight with Alexander.

"...When was the last time I felt such intense pain? Master, I hope that you will be the one who will end my existence..."

********

October 23, 2015. 2:31 pm

A few days have passed since the summoning of Scáthach, a few things have changed within Chaldea. For once, the existence of Scáthach brought a great change to Chaldea's education system, weird as it may sound.

The purpose of such a system is to teach master candidates knowledge related to magecraft. This system, however, was abolished since Chaldea has only two master candidates at the moment, being Alexander and Ritsuka. When Scáthach learns of this information, she decided to uses this opportunity to teach herself, albeit in her unique way.

Her students were, of course, the three that she trains a few days ago (Alexander, Tamamo, and Mash). Her subjects primarily focused on fighting and runes to which the latter heavily confuse her two female students.

"Shishou, I'm sorry but... I think that runes are not my specialty." Mash, who was wearing a student uniform, timidly raised her hand as she announced.

"Yes, I felt the same way. My specialty is witchcraft. I apologize, shishou, but I would have to pass on this lesson." Tamamo, who was also wearing a similar outfit, follow up with Mash's words.

"I'm aware that the two of you have nonexistent talent in runes." Her sharp words cut through both of the women's pride. She ignores the dissatisfied look that she received as she continues, "The reason why I drag the two of you here was so that whenever you faced an opponent who specializes in runes, you will have the basic knowledge to grasp the enemy's strengths and weaknesses granting you the advantage in the fight."

The dissatisfied look immediately disappears as both girls understand her point. This made both girls listen to the lecture more intently. Alexander, on the other hand, absorbs all knowledge like a sponge. Unlike the two women, Alexander has a talent for runes. Scáthach immediately took note of this as she dismissed the two and began to teach him more advanced knowledge in runes to test his aptitude.

The result came as a surprise to Scáthach as she didn't expect Alexander to catch up at all. This motivated her, it has been a long time since she began to instruct a talented pupil like Alexander.

Their discussion continues until sunset to which Scáthach eventually ended the lecture.

The mentally fatigued Alexander went to his room and went to sleep. Officially ending the day.

(An: Short chapter than usual, to which I apologize. I know that there is not much action at the moment. But don't worry, it will only take a few chapters before our casts enter the Orleans singularity. So be patient, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter.)