Chapter Six:Unlimited Blade Work And Oath Under The Snow

"One magic and two skills?!" Hephaestus exclaimed in shock. "And one of them is a skill that cannot be decoded?"

An adventurer's "status" are numerical values derived from the blessings of the gods, able to systematically characterize an adventurer various parameters. These include basic abilities, development abilities, magic, and skills. Level show the rank of an adventurer's, and generally it's their most important stat, a higher level adventurer are almost always superior to lower level adventurers in every way.

Status was the materialization of millennium of research and studies by the gods ever since they had descended to the lower world, so unsurprisingly, there are still some undiscovered potential of adventurer, that even the gods hasn't fully grasp. 

Basic abilities are divided into strength, endurance, dexterity, agility, and magic. Each one are ranked on a scale of 0 to 999, represented by letters ranging from I to S, with a total of 10 rank (I: 0-99, A: 800-899, S: 900-999). Through training and battle, adventurers can acquire experience.(excelia), an adventurer's rank in each of these areas increases the more experience you gain, and by repeating certain activity you can gain more experience in a particular basic ability. In general, the upper limit of your basic abilities is 999 (S).

Development abilities are sometimes gained upon rank up. These might include abilities such as Hunter, Blacksmith, Poison Resistance, Mage, Treatment, and Mystery, among many others. The appearance of these abilities is related to the different situations an adventurer encountered before they rank up. For instance, by encountering many poisonous monsters before they rank up might lead to the Poison Resistance skill. However, the exact conditions for acquiring many development abilities still remain unclear.

For all adventurers, who had just received their blessing(Falna), they start at Lv1, basic abilities 0 across the board, with no development abilities.

However, there are rare individuals who possess magic or skills right from the start. This is exceedingly uncommon, especially for someone to possess multiple magics or skills right after receiving their blessing.

What was even more astonishing, both *Unlimited Blade Works* and *Oath under the Snow* were skills that Hephaestus had never seen before. These weren't just common skill—they were rare skill.

"Is this the possibility of the lower world," the goddess couldn't help but feel excited.

It was said that Finn Deimne, the captain of the Loki Familia, also possessed multiple magics and skills when he first received his blessing, currently, that Pallum has become a renowned Level 6 adventurer in Orario, bearing the title of *Braver*.

Hephaestus eagerly began reading the details of Shirou's magic and skills.

**[Unlimited Blade Works]**  

- Summoning Magic  

- By consuming mana, materialize projections of real-world objects, replicas increase in quality based on the user's understanding of the item.

- For swords and similar weapons, mana consumption is significantly reduce and can be materialized without a chant.

**First-Tier Incantation:**  

- "Trace, on."

**Second-Tier Incantation:**  

- " Judging the concept of creation.

Hypothesizing the basic structure.

Duplicating the composition material.

Imitating its craftsmanship.

Sympathizing with the experience of its growth.

Reproducing the accumulated years.

Excelling every manufacturing process.

Come forth the sword of fantasy—"

**Third-Tier Incantation:**  

- [???]

"A summoning type magic for projecting items, huh, and it even has a three-tiered incantation with the third tier still locked..." Hephaestus marveled. "Shirou, I must say, my Familia is truly the perfect fit for you."

To better master the power of *Unlimited Blade Works*, one must deepen their understanding of the projected objects. And without a doubt, the best way to gain a better understanding of your weapons and equipment is by forging them with your own hands. 

In addition to forging, learning from the work of other craftsmen or even receiving direct guidance from high-level artisans, including the goddess of forging herself, are all ways to rapidly increase the mastery of*Unlimited Blade Works*.

"You even got me pumped up! I'm itching to forge a divine sword and see if your magic can replicate it!" Hephaestus exclaimed, amazed.

She then shifted her focus to Shirou's skills, noting that one of them remained undecoded, labeled as [??????]. This wasn't the first time such a thing had occurred, this might possibly indicated that the skill hadn't fully awakened yet, and that it needs to be unlocked by further leveling up. Of course, it could also mean that the skill has some sort of inherent restriction, such as a self-sealing trait that prevents it from being decoded, though the likelihood of that was low.

Her attention then moved to the other skill, *Oath under the Snow*.

**Oath under the Snow**

- Gain immunity to charm

- When acting to protect others: increased strength, durability, and enhanced magic and skill effects.

- When there is a bond with the protected target: greatly boosts strength, durability, agility, and magic and skill effects.

- When there is an intimate bond with the protected target: massively boosts all stats, increase stat growth, stat cap remove, and magic/skill effects massively increase.

- The skill's effects scale with the number and strength of bonds.

Hephaestus was at a momentarily loss of words.

This skill, how should she put it, it's without a doubt, immensely powerful, but... somehow, it conveyed an unusual vibe?

"Shirou..."

"Yes, Goddess?"

"You have the potential to become a harem king!"

"...Huh?"

"No, what I meant to say is...Shirou, you *should* strive to become a harem king!"

"Ha?!"

Hephaestus teased, her eyes narrowing slightly, a mysterious divine radiance swirling within them.

"*Oath under the Snow*. It's just like a skill a 'hero' would possessed. I wonder, who is it that this child wants to protect so badly?"

.....

Shirou watched as the goddess Hephaestus tossed the paper inscribed with his stats into the forge's flames, he had a bit of a mix feeling.

To be honest, he had a hunch that he might possess some sort of magic or skills related to *projection*, since that was the technique he constantly used in his past life's, the very action of projecting was so deeply ingrained in him that it might as well have been engraved into his very soul.

As for *Oath under the Snow*, it likely originated from his decision to forsake being a "hero of justice" in favor of protecting his "sister".—this event and his subsequent actions was what probably "ascended" it into a skill.

For a single girl, he had defeated six heroic spirits in a single night, and then continued fighting until his last breath. Thinking back on it now, he was indeed super reckless.

But, why would the skill description say someone with "intimate bonds," it should had say sister instead!

Hephaestus playfully poke fun of Shirou *Oath under the Snow* skill a bite more before shifting her tone.

"Shirou, I've locked and hidden your status, but there are ways in this world to forcibly unlock such things. Be sure to protect your back, and don't let it slip that you have the skill *Oath under the Snow*."

"As for *Unlimited Blade Works*, that magic can't be concealed once you use it, but your skills should remain hidden."

Hephaestus said this in a serious tone, but then her tone lightened again as she smiled.

"That said, even if they get exposed, don't worry too much. Your familia will protect you."

This was the advantage of being part of a top-tier familia. While Hephaestus' familia might not be the strongest in terms of combat strength, its dominance in production and commerce meant that even the three most powerful familias in Orario wouldn't easily dare provoke the Hephaestus' familia.—Orario largest weapon manufacturer

How many valis do you have, to dare challenge the Hephaestus Familia? Adventurer, you wouldn't want to fight monsters with some shoddy low quality weapons, now would you?"

---

"Oh right, I want to introduce you to our familia captain—"

*Boom!*

A loud explosion interrupted the goddess mid-sentence. Shirou felt the ground shake slightly, and a layer of dust drifted down, settling on Hephaestus' head.

"...Tsubaki," Hephaestus took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.

———-

Shirou

https://typemoon.fandom.com/wiki/Shirou_Emiya_(Fate/kaleid_-_Miyu%27s_World)?file=Fate_kaleid_liner_PRISMA_ILLYA_Oath_of_Snow_Visual_3.jpg

https://typemoon.fandom.com/wiki/Shirou_Emiya_(Fate/kaleid_-_Miyu%27s_World)?file=Sekka_BD_limited_edition_art_Hiroshi_Hiroyama.jpg

Tsubaki and Hephaestus 

https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/121756681#big_0

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/dungeon-ni-deai-o-motomeru/images/2/29/DanMachi_Volume_8_255.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150714003107