Magecraft

Avalon, the sheath that granted immortality to its holder.

A gift from the Lady of the Lake when Caliburn was broken. It was now in Shirou's possession, manifesting inside his soul.

As it continued absorbing the Mana, it also started changing Shirou's soul.

Instead of the barren wasteland that was previously present in his soul, the area around the 29 pillars were starting to turn green and bloom with flowers.

The aura being released by the sheath was completely overwhelming. His Magic Circuits, which were initially rebelling against the foreign item, had been completely subdued.

Through their submission, Avalon gained even more Prana. However, it was not all bad.

Under the effects of Avalon, Shirou's Magic Circuits started to get strengthened, increasing their innate capacity.

Their capacity kept rising until they reached 20 units of Prana. With that much, Shirou's current max output was at 540 units.

Not only that, Shirou was now capable of using all types of Magecraft, not just Gradation Air and Reinforcement.

His DS system had notified him as such.

[Academics: 36

Physical ability: 22

Art: 10

Music: 5

Communication: 15

Charisma: 15

Prana: 540]

[Magecraft:

Magic Circuits: 27

Gradation Air: 0%

Reinforcement: 0%

Healing: 0%

Innate Time Control: 0%

Gem Magecraft: 0%

Origin Bullet: Locked

…

Actions:

Soul training

Gradation Air Practice

Reinforcement Practice

Healing Practice

Innate Time Control Practice

Gem Magecraft Practice]

The 'Healing' Magecraft was something that Shirou had never heard before. Checking its description, he found that it was a sub-Magecraft of Reinforcement.

With the help of Avalon, Shirou would be able to channel his Reinforcement into other people, 'reinforcing' their body's regeneration.

As for the other Magecraft, they were already within Shirou's knowledge.

In the case of Origin Bullet, it was locked because Shirou's body wasn't strong enough to handle the burden.

In all likelihood, once it was unlocked, Shirou could just project Origin Bullets into a gun. However, Shirou's Origin Bullets would contain his own Origin, which was the 'Sword'.

Much like how Kiritsugu's Origin Bullets would actualize his dual Origin of 'Severing and Binding' and practically cripple a Magus, Shirou would actualize his 'Sword' and replace a Magus's Magic Circuits. By replacing even the smallest part of the Magic Circuit, they would be rendered useless, as the path has an obstruction in it.

Also similar to Kiritsugu's Origin Bullets, they would have the largest effect when the target's Magic Circuits were in use.

Whether or not his Origin Bullets would be able to deal with Zouken was still unknown. However, in theory, he should be able to convert Zouken's connection with his worms into 'Swords', thus practically severing his connection.

Since Rin was still in her meditation, Shirou decided to try and get some Gradation Air practice in. Avalon was still overhauling his soul, so he wouldn't be able to do soul training.

---

About an hour later, both Shirou and Rin stopped their respective practice.

Within this one hour, Shirou had managed to advance his Gradation Air to 2%, probably because of his innate Origin of a 'Sword'.

The way Shirou's Gradation Air worked was different to other Projections. Other Magi would simply use their Prana to form an item, much like creating it, albeit temporarily.

However, Shirou's Gradation Air acted like a medium. The sword or weapon would come straight from his soul, his Unlimited Blade Works, and the Projection would simply draw it out.

As a result, the weapon produced is much closer to their original counterpart and doesn't consume as much of Shirou's Prana. Because of that, the original Shirou was able to theoretically able to Project as many weapons as his stamina allowed him to.

To the current Shirou, this meant that he would be able to focus his Prana on other Magecraft, like Reinforcement, Healing, or Innate Time Control.

"So, did you make any progress?"

[Choose!

A. Not really.

B. I'm probably stronger than you already.

C. A little bit.]

"I guess? I don't really know."

Shirou didn't want to expose his real progress to Rin. If she found out that he was already stronger than her in terms of Prana output, then she may assess him as a threat.

"Well, that's fine. It does take time after all. Even I had to spend at least six months before I felt the slightest bit of Prana."

Shirou was even more certain about his decision when she heard what Rin said. He would be treated like a freak if he was able to see Prana and Mana within an hour of practice.

"That's all for today… come back at some other time, yeah? And… maybe we can… do something else other than Magecraft."

[Choose!

A. No thanks.

B. Who would want to hang out with you?

C. Sure!]

"Huh? Uh… sure! I'll come back later."

With that, Shirou left the study and was led by the maid to the front of the mansion.

'I need to raise my favourability with her… so that I can get the blueprints for the Jewel Sword of Zelretch…'

Rin's current favourability meter read an impressive 32 points out of a total of 100. At 32 points, they would be considered normal friends. 40 points would be good friends, 60 points best friends, and 80 points were lovers.

At 100 points, it was the type of relationship where she wouldn't mind dying for him.

His Charisma and Conversation stats contributed to her initial impression, which made it easier for him to raise her favourability. However, from now on, it would take a lot longer and much more frequent interactions to increase it.

Therefore, Shirou decided that he would come by every day after school.

"Thanks for visiting Rin-ojousama, Emiya-sama. I never expected you to be a Mage as well."

"Hoh? You know about Mages? You must be pretty important then…"

"Indeed. I am the personal maid of Rin-oujousama, Kamoi Midori."

"Well, in any case, thanks for today, Kamoi-san."

"No, the pleasure was all mine. Please do come again, Emiya-sama."

After waving goodbye again, Shirou went back to the Emiya residence, excited to keep training.

---

When he got back home, Kiritsugu was waiting for him.

"How was your day, Shirou?"

"It was fine. I learned some Magecraft from a local Magus."

"M-Magecraft? Wait, who was the Magus?"

"Tohsaka."

"T-Tohsaka?! How do you know about them?"

"Nevermind that. For now, please teach me Innate Time Control."

This was another one of Shirou's plans in finding Rin. What Kiritsugu wanted to protect him from was the brutality of being involved in the Magus world. That was why he wouldn't teach him any Magecraft.

However, now that his Magic Circuits had awakened and he had already learned a bit of Magecraft, there was no way of preventing it anymore.

If that was the case, Shirou thought that Kiritsugu would rather teach him more about it so that he would be safe.

And his gamble paid off. Kiritsugu agreed to teach him his own Magecraft, including the way he fought.

They would begin training the day after. Also, since he was now considered a Magus, Kiritsugu had him quit school. Not only would it provide more time to train, it would also make doubly sure that his identity wouldn't be leaked.