9 Prana

"Um… then, what do you know about Magecraft and Magic Circuits?"

"Hm? Let's see… Magic Circuits are a part of our soul and inborn. There's nothing we can do to change them, but we can add supplementary Circuits to boost our output. As for Magecraft, it's humanity's imitation of True Magic."

"Uh… hold on, let me check."

Rin started rummaging through the many books that lay splayed across the table of the study. Evidently, she was still in the fledgling stages of her training.

"Ah, here it is. Let's see… Magic Circuits… soul… True Magic… everything you said is… correct. How do you know all of this?"

"Like I said, my father is a Mage."

"Ah, that's right. You just seem… so unlike a Mage. I can't sense any Prana from you either…"

"I'm his adopted son. There will be no way for me to inherit his Magic Crest like you did with your father's, but that doesn't really bother me."

"A-Adopted? D-Did your parents know Emiya-san or something?"

"Hmm? My parents died in the fire a couple weeks ago. Oh, that fire was also because of the Grail War. The refuse of human desires seeped out and burned everything."

"No way… aren't you… sad? How can you talk about it so… easily?"

"Sad? What's the point in being sad? There's nothing that being sad can achieve. It's better to just move on and find something else to do."

"Move on…"

Rin was lost in thought for a good while. It wasn't until Shirou cleared his throat to get her attention that she regained her wits.

"Ah, sorry. Where were we? Oh, right. Um… I don't really know anything but Gem Magecraft, and I don't know how to train without a Magic Crest, so… I'll just lend you this book to read, okay?"

Rin handed a thick book over, whose title read, 'The Way of the Magus'.

"Isn't that… kind of useless? I could have gotten this book from my father."

What Shirou said couldn't be farther from the truth. Kiritsugu was no longer the representative of the Einzberns, so he would not have access to any Magecraft books. In the first place, he had vowed to put that life behind him.

Shirou was trying to get something more out of Rin. Some might say he's mean and lacks ethics for exhorting a little child, but he couldn't care less. What he needed was strength, not morals.

He had seen the 'dark side' of society in his past life as a salaryman. Bootlicking and grovelling, anything was permissible as long as the higher up liked it. And the only way to circumvent it? Have enough power, strength and influence.

Shirou knew well that he needed strength. Right now, he couldn't even stand up against normal companies and families, let alone those grounded in more than 200 years of Magus activity.

Yet at the same time, individual strength was not everything. He would need the help and support of others, like Rin. As for his financial status, he could always increase his Art and Music stats and sell manga and anime.

"Ahem."

"Ah, sorry. I was the one spacing out this time. Could you repeat that once more?"

"I said, I'll share with you the way I train, alright? But I don't think it will work for you, since you don't have a Magic Crest."

"Eh? Ah, alright."

"Then I'll start."

Rin got up from her chair and got into a meditation position on the ground. Shirou sat opposite her. The pair closed their eyes, as Rin carefully explained the process.

"At first, you probably won't be able to feel the Prana flowing within you. I'm not even sure if you have Magic Circuits at all. However, imagine a blob of energy within the centre your chest. That's your soul. Once you can see it, then you can start trying to feel Prana."

Shirou was already a step ahead of her. His soul had always been open to him, so he could move straight onto feeling Prana. However, Shirou's soul was different, so the process was also different.

For Rin, just seeing the soul would allow one to feel Prana, but Shirou had to be inside his soul to feel it.

Despite that, being inside his soul meant that he could actually see Prana, instead of just feeling it.

In his barren wasteland of a soul, he saw many tiny particles of energy floating around. At his will, they gathered around his body like moths to a flame and started dancing around happily.

After a while, these particles started moving into a certain pattern. They split up into pillars, surrounding Shirou like the Parthenon.

On the pillars were the patterns of Magic Circuits that Shirou had seen in the Fate/Stay Night anime.

Currently, he had a total of 27 pillars, which meant 27 Magic Circuits. However, Shirou knew the state of these Circuits.

They were practically useless for anything but Gradation Air and Reinforcement. Only when using these two Magecraft would his Circuits be able to show their true strength.

Suddenly, all the pillars around him started to shake and tremble. His Unlimited Blade Works also started to quiver like it was going through an earthquake.

A bright light blinded Shirou's vision. When he could open his eyes again, he saw a blue and golden sheath descending from the sky.

"Avalon…"

King Artoria's sheath, that Kiritsugu had placed inside Shirou's body. It was finally making an appearance.

Along with its appearance came many changes to his soul. First of all, the number of pillars surrounding him increased to 29. One for the DS system, and one for Avalon.

Shirou had no idea what that meant. Were they now part of his Magic Circuits, or were the pillars something else entirely?

Alas, there was no time for him to wonder, because he had been ejected from his soul straight afterwards.

---

Shirou opened his eyes with great force and breathed a forced sigh of relief. He was certain that there was nothing within his soul that could harm him, yet he couldn't help but be afraid.

After all, the DS system and Avalon can be considered foreign objects.

After scanning around the room to make sure he was really back in the real world, Shirou realized that Rin was still in deep meditation.

He could now see the Prana particles that were forming an aura around Rin. It was extremely weak compared to the aura that Avalon was letting off, but still impressive for a fledgling Mage. At least, from Shirou's view.

Looking down at his own body, he also noticed the same phenomenon. The Mana particles in the air were rushing toward his own body, before being completely sucked into his soul.

Shirou could tell that Avalon was the one absorbing all the Mana. The DS system was helping to keep his other Magic Circuits stabilized, and that was why it kicked him out of his own soul.

If he remained there, the amount of Mana would absolutely destroy his consciousness.

As Avalon absorbed more and more Mana, the surroundings in the UBW started to look more alive…