2,135WARNING: THIS STORY WILL CONTAIN GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF VIOLENT AND/OR SEXUAL THEMES (but not in this chapter yet). See footnotes before wasting time on a story you wouldn't want to read anyway.
This tale is intended for an adult audience who knows the difference between reality and fiction. If you can't handle that, you are in the wrong place and probably not an adult yet (regardless of what your ID says)
All characters in the story are LEGAL ADULTS, whether they admit it or not. (PRO TIP: They aren't real people, don't worry about them.)
That night, the moon shone brightly above the city of Fuyuki. On the veranda of the Emiya's household, two figures sat basking in the gentle light.
"Leave it to me, old man. I'll become a hero in your place," the younger one promised.
"I'm relieved. I'll leave everything to you then."
Those were the last words that father and son exchanged. With a deep sigh, Emiya Kiritsugu passed away peacefully. A sharp contrast to a lifetime of conflicts.
With tears streaming down his face, Emiya Shirou watched his father exhale his final breath. There were many things Kiritsugu had omitted to tell his son. He never told him of his bloodied past, he never told him of his countless sins and he never told him of his role in the disaster that had orphaned him.
But he did tell him about his dream.
"Don't worry dad. I'll become a hero that can save everyone."
The last piece of a an incomplete puzzle finally fell in place, and for the first time since the infernal fire that had took away everything down to his memories, Emiya Shirou could finally see his purpose.
Emiya Kiritsugu might have died, but his dream lived on.
The repercussions would be greater than anyone could have imagined.
[You have slept in a bed. HP, MP and ST are fully restored]
Shirou blinked and stared at the semi-transparent floating square hovering in front of his face. For a moment he was so completely stunned by this strange event that his first thought was not of Kiritsugu, whose funeral had been held just the previous day.
He shook his head and bit back the swelling tears. What good would crying do?
He returned his gaze to the message box, eyeing it suspiciously, looking around for the source of this strange apparition, but was greeted only by the sight of his otherwise unremarkable room.
Being a Magus himself, Shirou knew that there were plenty of strange, supernatural things in the world. However the great majority of them were of the deadly sort and unlikely to happen spontaneously.
Warily, he rolled out of his futon but no matter, the floating square was always in front of his eyes. Even when he was facing the floor mid-roll it hovered precisely in the same relative position and distance to his face, even when said distance was further away than the floor itself.
Hell, he could even see it with his eyes closed.
That thing, he realized, wasn't in truly front of him, but rather into his vision. After an excruciatingly long minute of staring at it without nothing happening, Shirou took the chance of reaching out to touch where it appeared to be.
With a dull noise it collapsed onto itself and disappeared.
"What the hell?" he asked to the empty room, waving his hand pointlessly in front of his face. "Great, I'm hallucinating."
Sighing, he stood up, giving another careful look around the room. Finding nothing out of place, he shrugged and went to wash his face, putting this event behind himself as a product of his imagination. A result of sleeping a mere couple of hours after being awake for three days straight.
Unexpectedly, he hadn't been able to sleep right after Kiritsugu's death. As the only surviving relative, Shirou was right in the middle of the funerary arrangements, not to mention his own grief. Sleep had been the farthest thing from his mind for quite a while.
He was suddenly jerked out of his thoughts when he stepped in front of the mirror, where he could only stare blankly at his reflection... or rather above it.
[EMIYA SHIROU]
[THE GAMER]
[LV 1 - 0/1000]
"What." he said dumbly. He immediately looked above his head where the writing was supposed to be according to the mirror, but he found nothing there at all. Again he looked at his reflection, finding the apparition to be unchanged.
He tried to wave his hand above his head and watched in the mirror as they went through the writing without resistance and without dispelling it either. He tried rubbing his eyes as well as wiping the mirror but nothing bore any result. He took a steadying breath, closed his eyes and pulled the trigger inside of his mind.
"Trace On."
Pain surged through his body as he called forth his Magecraft, casting Structural analysis on the mirror. However, there was nothing out of place with the thing itself. It was just a normal piece of furniture. He then circled Mana through his body to rid himself of any mind-altering spell that could have been cast on him.
"Trigger Off," he exhaled, closing the connection to his Magecraft and opening his eyes.
[EMIYA SHIROU]
[THE GAMER]
[LV 1 - 0/1000]
"Ok. I have lost it," he decided. "I'm crazy, that's how it is."
Seeing no way out of it, he shook his head, he slid out of his clothes and into the bath to wash himself.
Fifteen minutes later he had dried himself, dressed back up and walked out of the bathroom, pointedly ignoring the mirror on his way out.
He set up to prepare breakfast. With practiced ease, he juggled knives and forks, pots and pans. His skills behind the counter were impressive for a someone his age, but they had been a necessary survival skill in that house, as Kiritsugu couldn't have cooked a decent meal to save his life.
[Your COOKING skill has reached LV 15]
"Wha!" Shirou exclaimed, almost falling from the stool he was standing on to reach the stove. Again he was confronted with a strange apparition. "What the hell is this thing?"
[NEW QUEST: A Gamer's Experience]
[OBJECTIVE: Understand the MYSTIC EYES OF GAME PERCEPTION]
[Reward for Success: 300 XP]
[Reward for Failure: Repeat QUEST]
[Accept?]
[Y/N]
Shirou stared and stared, until he resigned himself to the fact that this thing wasn't going away on its own, no matter how long he ignored it. Taking a deep breath, he reached for the Y button, hesitating for one last time. What if this thing, whatever it was, worked like a Geass? What if it latched on him permanently once he pressed that button?
He pushed the [N] button instead.
[NEW QUEST: A Gamer's Experience]
[OBJECTIVE: Understand the MYSTIC EYES OF GAME PERCEPTION]
[Reward for Success: 300 XP]
[Reward for Failure: Repeat QUEST]
[QUEST IS MANDATORY!]
[OK]
This time, there was only one button for him to press. Sighing, he resigned himself to figure out whether he was crazy or not at terms that weren't his own.
[CONGRATULATIONS]
[For a strange quirk of FATE, genetic lottery, Word of God or countless other possible reasons you have awoken the ability MYSTIC EYES of GAME PERCEPTION. From here onward, you will experience your life and the world around you like a game.]
"..." There was nothing he could say to that so he kept on reading.
[For more information and options access the Main Menu. The Main Menu can be reached by calling it out.]
"Uh... Main Menu?" Shirou said tentatively
[STATUS]
[INVENTORY]
[EQUIPMENT]
[SKILLS & TITLES]
[QUESTS]
[REPUTATION]
Shirou viciously pinched his cheek, feeling no pain whatsoever. Right, that explained everything. He was still asleep and dreaming. Feeling much more relaxed, he decided to play along and hit the [STATUS] button. A window opened with his image, identical down to his clothing, and a series of values besides and under it.
[EMIYA SHIROU]
[THE GAMER]
[LV. 1 - 0/1000]
[HP: 100][MP: 35][MC: 27][ST: 200][SP: 0]
[ATK: 20][DEF:20]
"Ok, so these are my stats, uh? This really look like a videogame. Gotta be the most detailed dream ever," he chuckled. It did not feel like a dream at all. "Let's see some more details."
[HP] Health Points. How much life you've got left in you. You die if it reaches 0.
[MP] Mana Points. How much Mana you have at your disposal. If Magic is performed with 0 MP, HP are used instead. If both MP and HP are 0 MC are used instead.
[MC] Magic Circuits. The numbers of Circuits you have. This value also represent how much Mana you can use in a single action. Spells that require more MP that this value cannot be performed even with sufficient MP.
[STR] Stamina Points. Your physical energy. This value represent how much you can go without resting. If it reaches 0 you suffer a penalty. ST drops naturally by 1 every waking hour. The base value is 10x [DEX] + 10x [STR].
[SP] Stat Points. You can use this points to improve other stats as you prefer. They are rewarded upon Leveling Up and (rarely) by completing Quests.
The more he looked at it, the less it felt like a product of his imagination. He wasn't a stranger to vivid dreams, but this was far too removed from his experience. Since he was a still a kid, he played video games in his free time on occasion, but he was never so interested in them that he would dream about being a game character. He either dreamt of the fire or, strangely enough, about swords.
[STR: 10][DEX: 10][INT: 10][WIS: 25][CHR: 22]
[STR] STRENGTH. Your physical prowess. This value represents how strong you are as well as your attack power. Starting value is 1x [AGE]
[DEX] DEXTERITY. This value represents your agility and speed. Starting value is 1x [AGE]
[INT] INTELLIGENCE. This value represents your knowledge and logic ability. Starting value is 1x [AGE]
[WIS] WISDOM. This value represents your awareness, both of yourself and the world around you. Starting value is 1x [AGE]
[CHR] Charisma. This value represents your willpower and your presence. Starting value is 1x [AGE]
There were small arrow-like button to the left and right of this stats. He assumed they were used to apply [SP] if there were any available. He didn't have any, so he rolled back to the Main Menu and entered the Skills subsection. He was nearly drowned in data.
[ATK] ATTACK: The amount of damage you can potentially deliver with you current stats and equipment. Actual damage depends on the opponent's own stats and equipment, as well as other factors
[DEF] DEFENSE: The amount of damage you can absorb without losing health, with your current stats and equipment.
Skills and Titles
[MYSTIC EYES OF GAME PERCEPTION] Allows to experience life as a game.
"So this should be why I'm seeing this stuff?" Mystic eyes were a rare thing, usually a result of centuries of selective breeding, supernatural bloodlines or some kind of trauma. He didn't know about the first and the second, since he had amnesia, but he certainly qualified for the third.
[MEoGP/GAMER BODY]: Experiencing the world as a Game has changed you deeply. You now have the body of a game character. Sleeping in a bed restores 100% HP, MP and ST. Sleeping on the ground restores 80% and sleeping in the cold restores only 25%.
A sense of dread crept upon him. Although having the body of a game character looked good at a first glance, he wasn't sure how truly he had been changed. What if there was something else out of place he didn't notice?
[MAGECRAFT/STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS - LV 75]: The ability to understand the structure of inanimate objects in exchange of Mana. You are extremely good at this and you can Grasp most things easily. 2MP/object
That sounded about right. So far, Structural Analysis was the only Mystery he could perform well on a consistent basis.
[MAGECRAFT/PROJECTION - LV 3]: Allows to materialize objects from Mana. You are not good at this yet. 10MP/object
[MAGECRAFT/REINFORCEMENT - LV 2]: Allows to strengthen an aspect of an object a little. You are not good at this yet. 15MP/aspect
Again, it was more or less correct as far as he could tell. Neither Projection nor Reinforcement came easily to him. Sometimes he managed to perform them, but most times he failed.
Each skill, he noticed, had a small bar next to it that he assumed indicated how much experience he needed to level it up.
[MAGECRAFT/NERVE CIRCUIT - LV 55] The ability to create a makeshift Circuit out of your nerves. At this level you can create a temporary Circuit out of combat with a 100% chance of success in exchange of 1 HP and 10 ST, a 55% chance of making a Circuit during combat in exchange of 5 HP and 10 ST. In addition, failure to perform costs a permanent penalty of 1 INT.
"Wait, what?" Nerve Circuits? Why Nerve Circuits? They were only just Circuits.
[CRAFTING/COOKING - LV 27] The ability to prepare meals. Your ability is higher than the average adult. +2% reputation gain during meals. At this level a meal restores 27 [ST].
"Yes, well. Thank you for that, dad."
[CRAFTING/ELECTRONICS - LV 5] The ability to fiddle with electronic devices. Your ability is impressive for someone of your age. At this level you can understand how to fix simple things. Your ability to do so yourself depends on the required [DEX] and/or [STR].
[CRAFTING/MECHANICS - LV 5] The ability to fiddle with mechanical devices. Your ability is impressive for someone of your age. At this level you can understand how to fix simple things. Your ability to do so yourself depends on the required [DEX] and/or [STR].
[ELEMENT/SWORD]: You are naturally in tune with all things bladed. + 500% gains/success to all blade-related activities.
[ORIGIN/SWORD]: You are naturally in tune with all things bladed. + 500% gains/success to all blade related-activities.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he said reading the last two skills. "Sword and Sword? Kiritsugu said he couldn't tell what my Origin and Element are. Though this would explain why I suck at Magecraft.
[Un£1m1t3d 8£ad3 W0rk$ - LV1: 0%]: ? ERROR: [?] not sufficient.
"Huh? A glitch? A locked ability?"
[MENTAL/BROKEN]: You suffer from a deep trauma. The way you think is not the same as ordinary people. This experience grants you a +15 [WIS] but your common sense is askew because of it, resulting in a permanent -40% to all further [WIS] gains.
[MENTAL/HERO COMPLEX] You value other people's lives more than your own. You literally cannot kill to save your life. - 100% all criticals to save yourself + 100% to all criticals when protecting someone else. This unrelenting mentality grants you a +10 [CHR]
"Err..."
[MENTAL/PAIN THRESHOLD - LV: MAX]: You have been making Magic Circuits out of your nerves for years, which is as painful as stabbing a burning iron rod into your spine. This insane practice has however granted you an equally insane resistance to pain. No matter how much your body is wounded you suffer no penalties. LV MAX unlocked [DIE HARD]
[MENTAL/FORGOTTEN CIRCUITS] You have never used your native Circuits and as a result they have begun to atrophy. You cannot perform Magecraft with them until they have recovered.
"What the...? I've been doing it wrong the whole time? Goddamnit, dad. You lazy bum."
[PHYSICAL/DIE HARD] People die when they are killed. But not you. Allows for continued action even when HP has reached 0 as long as you have either ST or MP left. ST and MP drop by 1 each minute even if no action is taken when HP is 0.
"Never mind, dad. We're cool."
[MAGUS] He who walks with Death. A practitioner of Magecraft.
"Sounds about right."
[SWORD INCARNATION] Because of your aligned Origin and Element you are yourself a living sword. A further +1000% gains/success to all blade related activities is granted but a -90% penalty to all gain/success concerning non-blade related Magecrafts is applied. Weapons and armors structures are permanently memorized, down to their history, with just a glance. Mana cost for all Magecrafts is 1MP for each blade and 4MP for each shield and armor, regardless of item or spell level. All activities involving blades cost only 1ST.
"Crap. Talk about over-specialization. I'm going to have a hard time improving at anything if this is true. On the other hand, maybe I should pick up kendo? I was thinking about trying my hand at kyudo but with this..."
[HERO IN TRAINING] You chose the path of a hero, but you still don't know what it means. You go out of your way to help people and you never turn down a request for help.
"Well, I wouldn't say never turning anyone away but..."
[TWICE ORPHAN] You lost your parents, twice. Sucks to be you. Most people pity you. +10% to all [REPUTATION] gain with characters with [GOOD] alignment for every altruistic action you perform. +50% [REPUTATION] gains with other orphans, regardless of current relationship and alignment.
"I'm being pitied by my own ability? I'm not sure how I should feel about that. Hmm? Reputation?"
[POLITE] You are well mannered and respectful. +10% [REPUTATION] gains with all [LAWFUL] and [NEUTRAL] aligned people, as well as for every person of your age and above.
"Well, isn't that just normal?"
[WISE BEYOND YOUR YEARS] Because your [WIS] is over twice your [AGE] you appear more mature than your peers. +20% all REPUTATION gains.
"I... guess? I never really got along with my classmates."
"Shirou? Are you talking to yourself?" a voice called from the living room. Shirou nearly jumped out of his skin.
"F-Fuji-nee! I... this is..." he stuttered, desperately looking for an excuse.
"What are you doing staring into space like that?"
"Into space?" he asked. Couldn't she see it? Right, he was the one with the Mystic Eyes. He was likely the only person who could see and interact with this strange ability. "Right, sorry. I spaced out for a while," he lied, feeling relieved. There was no way he could explain Taiga about things like Mystic Eyes. It was a Magus's duty was to keep the supernatural a secret.
Taiga, the daughter from the Yakuza family next door, was sort of a surrogate sister to Shirou, as well as a teacher at his school. Kiritsugu had named her Shirou's guardian until he came of age, therefore she would check up on him regularly. Above her head there was a writing much like above Shirou's in his reflection.
[FUJIMURA TAIGA]
[TIGER OF FUYUKI]
[LV.25]
Shirou temporarily disregarded it in favor of looking at her appearance. Usually an upbeat, happy-go-lucky woman in her mid-twenties, Taiga looked like she hadn't been sleeping well in a while. It wasn't really surprising, as it was obvious even to him that she had a crush on his late father. Her red eyes told a tale of nights spent crying.
"Are you sure you're alright?" she asked with concern.
"Yeah... just, you know, thoughts. So... I was making breakfast," he said, changing the subject. "Wanna eat with me?"
She nodded and they sat at the table together. Strangely enough, even though he had forgotten about the food he was preparing, nothing had burned or was even slightly undercooked, which shouldn't have been possible under ordinary circumstances. A quirk of the Crafting category? Was it possible that he wouldn't fail an action of it was sufficiently below his skill level? Shirou couldn't still wrap his mind around this thing. He was fairly convinced he was dreaming.
Over breakfast they talked about a lot if things, carefully avoiding any mention of Kiritsugu for each other's sake, but still dancing around the subject to make sure they were coping well.
"I'm going back to school today," he said as he put the dishes into the sink.
"Are you sure you are ready? There's no need to rush."
"Yeah," he confirmed. "There's no point in hanging around the house all by myself. Besides, he wouldn't have wanted anyone to mope around on his behalf."
"... Yeah, he was that kind of guy. Well then, I'll be seeing you at school. Or do you need me to accompany you?"
"Please," he scoffed, rolling his eyes. "I may be young, but I know my way around the city. I'll be fine."
"Alright then, see you later and thanks for breakfast."
"Later, Fuji-nee."
As soon as she left the room, Shirou closed all the boxes from his Mystic Eyes. He would have liked to fiddle with the ability a bit more but he had already decided to go back to school. He didn't like much going back on his choices and frankly, this sudden development was a sufficient break from routine to last him for a while.
[NEW QUEST: A student's life]
[OBJECTIVE: Attend classes]
[Reward for completion: 100 XP, +100 Reputation with Fujimura Taiga]
[Consequences for failure: - 100 Reputation with Fujimura Taiga, bad grades]
[Accept?]
[Y][N]
It kept getting weirder and weirder, but he nonetheless pressed [Y]. If this things had no intention of going away on its own, he'd see through it himself.
[QUEST: A student's life COMPLETE]
[+100 XP, +100 Reputation with Fujimura Taiga]
[Due to your focus in class, your INT went up by 1]
This screen popped up the moment the school bell rung. Shirou waved it away discreetly and made his way out of the classroom. Having skipped a couple of days due to Kiritsugu's death, Shirou was sufficiently wrapped into his classes that he didn't have the chance to spare much thought to his weird ability. It was a bit disconcerting to see everyone with names and levels floating over their heads, but by the time he arrived at school he had already gotten used to it.
He had finally accepted that he wasn't dreaming at this point, mostly because it was too vivid and long-lasting to be a product of his imagination. Furthermore, he knew Mystic Eyes were an actual thing due to Kiritsugu's teachings in Magecraft.
However, he hadn't hear of such things as Mystic Eyes of Game Perception before. Granted, people didn't exactly advertise this sort of things because they would either be considered crazy or the Clock Tower would swoop in and throw them in a cell for experimentation. Possibly both.
So, Shirou decided that he would test out this ability on his own. Not that he had anyone he could speak with about it even if he'd wanted. Magi were supposed to keep the existence of the supernatural among themselves, and the only other Magus Shirou knew of was the recently departed Kiritsugu. He was all alone in this.
Thinking about it with a cool head, there was no reason to believe that it was part of a plot to harm him. Magus or not, he was still a child and quite easy to hurt directly if anyone wished so. Therefore it would have been too convoluted a plan for that purpose. Secondly, he hadn't done anything to warrant any animosity from anyone.
All clues pointed toward it being the natural ability it said it was. It could very well be a results of genetics, but since he had no recollection of his biological parents it could not be confirmed. As such, he decided to just roll with it. If it was half as awesome as he thought it'd be, becoming a hero would be a breeze.
That is, if he knew what being a hero meant at all. Well, when in need of knowledge, one should go where knowledge is stored and the closest place that fit the description was the school library.
[You have entered a special area]
[SCHOOL LIBRARY]
[While in this area, your INT gains are doubled.]
[Warning: excessive use of special areas could cause negative statuses]
'Neat,' he thought. 'So if I study here I get double the stats. I wonder what other places I could go for boosts.'
As he thought so, he pulled out the dictionary from the shelf and quickly flipped to the page he was looking for.
hero
1. a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.
2. a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal
3. the principal male character in a story, play, film, etc.
4. Classical Mythology:
- a being of godlike prowess and beneficence who often came to be honored as a divinity.
- (in the Homeric period) a warrior-chieftain of special strength, courage, or ability.
- (in later antiquity) an immortal being; demigod.
So, in loose terms, a hero was some kind of person who did great act and that was looked up to A person whose skills and deeds leave people in awe. Frankly, it wasn't something he aspired to be. He didn't care much for recognition, but since he knew of no other course of action he'd try to stick with that.
Well, that was easier said than done. Shirou didn't want to be a just any hero. He wanted to become a hero of justice. That meant he had to help people in need. Surely there was somebody, somewhere who could use his help, right? He'd have to look for himself, he guessed.
He left the library and went home to fiddle with his Gamer skill a little more.
[QUEST: A Gamer's Experience COMPLETE]
[Reward for Success: 300 XP]
The screen came up after he took a peek into the remaining sub-menus of his Gamer ability. [Equipment], as the name suggested, explained the buffs granted by his worn item. [Quests] listed all on-going quests and explained that people that gave them out would have an exclamation mark over their names.
The [Reputation] screen was interesting enough. It put into numbers the kind of relationships he had with "relevant characters". That is to say anyone whose influence in his life was more than passing. Taiga was there with a whooping + 5000 points ranking their relationship as "Siblings" with a further 5000 to go to reach the next level. That left him perplexed. What could there be above siblings? Considering that they weren't tied by blood it was pretty much the best kind of relationship they could hope for, wasn't it?
Well, she had fifteen years on him so she could technically be his mother, but no matter what level they relationship got to, Taiga was less mature than Shirou, so it was unlikely that their bond would evolve in that of mother and child. Oh, well. Maybe it would just cap at 10000 without increasing further.
Anyway, the only thing he could do was waiting and see how things would evolve. Besides, his concerns laid elsewhere. Shirou wasn't a genius by any stretch of the imagination, but the Gamer system was simple enough for anyone to understand. Even someone who had just a passing knowledge of video games.
If his experience from that morning held true across the board, his stats would increase by performing actions related to them. If his INT went up by studying and going to school, then it stood to reason that the other Stats would act accordingly. Physical training would increase his STR and activities focused on agility would boost his DEX.
That left the matter of his WIS and CHR. Wisdom, as far as he understood, was the awareness that came from experiencing life, while Charisma was the way he appeared to others. A higher value would make him more convincing, as well as make him appear more reliable. If he was right, he needed STR, DEX and INT to see Quests completed, but it was likely that some Quest would not be available until he had sufficient CHR to convince anyone he could succeed at them.
At his age, the people that would entrust him with anything important were very few.
Seeing how he hadn't the slightest clue as how to raise his CHR, other than assigning points to it, he decided that he would grind his other Stats the regular way while keeping the points from leveling up for CHR and WIS.
[+1 WIS for thinking things through]
"Yes," he pumped his fist in excitement.
There was another thing he quickly realized. This ability was broken in a good way. The beginning stats were the same as his age except for those influenced by experiences most people didn't have, such as surviving the fire from five years before.
One point meant an year of development in each stat. Granted, perhaps the progression wasn't exactly linear, but at the beginning stages each point was equal to one year of personal growth. With 11 point of INT to his 10 years of age hes was supposedly one year ahead of his peers in mental development.
Well, he couldn't prove it just yet. He still had to study the things he needed to know in order to test if this theory was right. Increasing his INT didn't magically download knowledge into his brain. However, he could still try his hand at everything else.
Changing into a pair of shorts and running shoes he went out for a jog.
[+1 DEX from running constantly]
[+1 DEX from running constantly]
[+1 DEX from running constantly]
Shirou couldn't contain his giddiness. He had run for nearly three hours and his DEX had gone up three times. More importantly, he was never once short of breath. He was healthy as anyone his age, but before that day he would eventually have to stop and catch his breath. Now he wasn't tired in the least and could have kept on running for a long while. With a glance to his stats he saw that his Stamina had gone down of about 30 points. At that rate, it meant he could have kept going for fifteen hours with energy to spare.
It was beyond insane.
He would have gone for another run, but Taiga was bound to arrive for dinner sometime soon and he didn't want to disappoint her. After a quick shower he was back at the stove and the smell of food was soon drifting through the house.
That night, after Taiga had left, Shirou sat into the tool shed that doubled as his workshop
[You have entered a special area]
[WORKSHOP]
[While in this area, all your spells cost half.]
[Warning: excessive use of special areas could cause negative statuses]
Sitting cross-legged on the concrete floor, Shirou pondered over what the ability had said about his Magic Circuits, namely that he hadn't been using them at all, while instead making a new circuit out of his nerves instead. While he got a couple of nifty skills out of it, it had stunted his growth as a Magus. To make matter worse he had no idea how to begin repairing the damage he had done to himself.
Knowing that he was doing things wrong didn't tell him how to do them right. Sitting there he tried to focus on himself and get a feel for his natural circuits in the same manner Kiritsugu had first taught Shirou had finally convinced him to do so.
Was Kiritsugu just not good at teaching or had Shirou himself misunderstood something?
He spent the whole night trying, but when the sun rose he hadn't made a single step toward a solution.
Fortunately, with Gamer ability he had no need to sleep or rest as long as he had Stamina to spare, so he could get ready for the day without feeling tired at all, replenishing his Stamina by eating.
[NEW QUEST: A student's life]
[OBJECTIVE: Attend classes]
[Reward for completion: 100 XP, +100 Reputation with Fujimura Taiga]
[Consequences for failure: - 100 Reputation with Fujimura Taiga, bad grades]
[Accept?]
[Y][N]
Well, well, well. Repeatable quests were a thing after all.
[QUEST: A student's life COMPLETE]
[+100 XP, +100 Reputation with Fujimura Taiga]
'This time there was no INT bonus,' Shirou observed on his way out of school. As disappointing as it was, it wasn't very surprising. Like in most things, progression is easier at the early stages. The next increase in INT would like come again very soon, but the intervals between increment would only increase at each step. Oh well, he still received acquired experience just by going to school, so he wasn't about to complain.
At home, he once again donned his running clothes and went out for a jog.
[+1 DEX from running constantly]
[+1 DEX from running constantly]
[+1 DEX from running constantly]
[+1 DEX from running constantly]
[+1 DEX from running constantly]
This time he kept it up for six hours straight, but got only five point in DEX. The curve was starting to get steeper. His stamina was also starting to get dangerously low. He hadn't slept at all the previous night and consumed a great deal of energy by exercising. He got a bit of stamina back when he ate but he would have to get some sleep. He didn't know what would be the consequences for reaching 0 stamina, and he rather wouldn't find out if he could help it.
That evening Taiga didn't come for dinner because she had other things to do, and after a shower Shirou spent only a hour in his Workshop trying to figure how to use his Circuits before going to sleep.
A whole week went by during which Shirou tried his hand at developing his Gamer skills, bringing both his DEX and STR to a whooping 25. His INT halted at 15 but he didn't waste any effort trying to grind it, considering he would be spending his morning at school anyway. Investing even more time in it would be redundant. The daily repetitions of the quest "a student's life" made him level up once, granting him an extra SP to assign as he wished. He kept it there for the time being, intending to spend it the moment he hit a wall in his growth.
As for the applied effects of his Stats, with his level of strength he could easily lift three times his weight and jump as far as three meters high, while his DEX made him capable of doing flips in mid air worthy of a gold medal winner at the Olympics. In all likelihood it was also due to how small and light he was compared to an adult with comparable Stats, but it was awesome nonetheless. 15 point of INT were more than enough to breeze through all of his homework in a matter of minutes, which left him with plenty of time to do just about anything else.
Now convinced that his Gamer power was the real deal, Shirou decided that looking around the neighborhood for possible Quests would be a good way to spend the weekend.
AN: For the sake of this story, the age of all the characters at the time of the 4th war have been upped by five years. You can do the math yourself.
The current chapter is already 5 years after that event, so everyone has aged accordingly.
FOOTNOTES: This story will contain depictions of:
HETEROSEXUALITY (M/F), HOMOSEXUALITY (F/F), SEXUAL PROMISCUITY, RAPE, MIND CONTROL, MORAL CORRUPTION, CHEATING (NETORI) BODY SHAPING (willing and unwilling), PROSTITUTION, SADISM, MASOCHISM and UNDERAGE SEX.
If you are not fine with all of the above and others that are not yet mentioned please read no further.
The author doesn't condone acts of actual rape or other illegal sexual practices UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE. If you feel the need to replicate in real life some of the events described in here, SEEK A MENTAL HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL.