"Welcome back, Father."
No matter how conflicted Tohsaka Rin was internally, she still had to feign being a good daughter for now, as she needed to rely on Tohsaka Tokiomi to access magic.
"Hmm, Tohsaka Rin, it's truly wonderful that you've recovered," Tokiomi said with a gentle smile, looking down at Tohsaka Rin.
Undeniably, although Tokiomi caused the tragedy of Xiao Ying (Little Sakura)'s life, he fulfilled his duty as a father to Tohsaka Rin; he illuminated her path forward, gave her fatherly love, and arranged all her affairs before the Holy Grail War, leaving everything of the Tohsaka Family to her.
Therefore, as Tohsaka Rin, standing in her shoes and facing him, it was difficult to truly harbor hatred or disgust.
Phew, it seems I can't just sit by and watch this cheap dad get backstabbed by Father Kirei Kotomine again.
But speaking of it, is that legendary anti-teacher noble phantasm, the "Sword of Who Sends Gets Stabbed," really that cursed? Unbreakable unless by the Male Protagonist?
"It's already lunchtime, let's have a family meal together first," Aoi, who always put family first, always prioritized her husband.
"Hmm, alright," Tohsaka Tokiomi nodded in response.
Although Fuyuki City is in Japan, all the arrangements and layout of the Tohsaka Family are in the style of Western European nobility, including the courtyard, the house, and the interior furnishings.
Therefore, the dining room also featured a Western-style rectangular table, and Tohsaka Rin looked helplessly at the eight-minute-cooked steak the butler placed before her.
The dark brown bone-in steak, sprinkled with a rich aroma of black pepper, exuded an irresistible allure in the still-warm oil, paired with two soft-boiled eggs and pasta—a perfect lunch choice!
And for such an enticing lunch, Tohsaka Rin held her knife and fork, looking as serious as if facing a mortal enemy.
The slightly handsome young butler standing by her side, seeing Tohsaka Rin's troubled expression, spoke up: "Young Mistress, do you need me to cut it for you?"
Tohsaka Rin flinched at the sound, quickly turning her head and saying, "No! I can handle it myself!"
After speaking, she picked up the knife and fork, pressed down on a small piece of beef, and began to saw at it desperately with the knife.
Indeed, the problem Tohsaka Rin was facing now was that she couldn't cut it; even a piece of beef cooked to eight minutes was not something a two-year-old loli could cut.
Tohsaka Rin almost leaned her entire body onto the table, her small face flushed red, the dining knife in her hand sawing at the beef with difficulty like a saw.
In her heart, she cursed the Tohsaka Family's service industry for having no future, not knowing to cut the food for children before serving it.
Having been an adult in her past life, asking someone to cut her food and place it in front of her still felt awkward, giving her the illusion of being fed.
Besides, it's just a mere piece of beef, I don't believe I can't handle you!
Xiao Ying (Little Sakura), sitting in Aoi's lap, watched curiously as her sister 'battled' the steak, while she herself ate fruit salad from a silver plate with a spoon.
After much effort, she finally cut off a small piece and put it in her mouth.
Hmm, it tasted much better than the Western restaurants she went to in her previous life, but if she had to cut the entire portion, Tohsaka Rin would probably die of exhaustion at the dining table.
So, Tohsaka Rin, being straightforward, threw down her knife and fork, gave the butler a knowing look, and then spoke to Tokiomi, who was seated at the head of the table: "Father, was your recent outing for something important?"
"Tohsaka Rin..." Aoi softly called out, stopping Tohsaka Rin.
The essence of magic is mystery; outsiders cannot come into contact with it, even within magical families.
Therefore, Aoi never asked Tokiomi about anything.
At this moment, Tohsaka Tokiomi was in a rather good mood; he took a sip of red wine from his glass, gently swirling the stemware, and smiled, saying, "Speaking of which, it's a coincidence; my recent trip was for Tohsaka Rin's sake."
"For me?" Tohsaka Rin was quite surprised.
"Yes, ever since that accident, Tohsaka Rin's Magic Circuits have been continuously overdrawn and operating non-stop.
Although I don't know why a year of overdraft didn't burn out the Magic Circuits, continuing like this is not a solution.
This time, I went to the Clock Tower and exchanged a magical thesis from the Tohsaka Family for a technique to forcibly seal Magic Circuits from the Clock Tower's grand library.
But now it's not needed, which is actually a good thing."
Tohsaka Rin couldn't help but be stunned, and her gaze towards Tokiomi changed.
Tokiomi, he has such a human side?
Exchanging the Tohsaka Family's secret magical techniques for a method to seal Magic Circuits, forcibly sealed Magic Circuits also meant abandonment, so Tohsaka Rin would only be able to live as an ordinary person.
The purpose of doing this was entirely for Tohsaka Rin's life.
It seems Tokiomi wasn't as reckless in his pursuit of the origin and the Holy Grail as he was in the original story (yuanzhu), at least not yet.
For this current sentiment, I can't let you be stabbed to death by Father Kirei Kotomine again, but the Holy Grail... that's a pit; don't even think about it.
It's more practical to think about how to dismantle it.
"Father, I will inherit the Tohsaka Family's magic!" Tohsaka Rin solemnly said to Tokiomi.
"Oh?" In fact, Tokiomi still had some reservations after returning.
While it was good that Tohsaka Rin's magical power rampage had subsided, Tokiomi still thought Tohsaka Rin might reject magic because of that accident, so he considered whether his younger daughter, Xiao Ying (Little Sakura), should inherit the Tohsaka magic.
After all, in a recent test, Xiao Ying (Little Sakura) had already proven her excellent magical aptitude: forty main circuits plus thirty auxiliary circuits, which could be described as astonishingly brilliant in the world of Magicians.
What was even more surprising was that Xiao Ying (Little Sakura)'s magical attribute was the rare and unique imaginary element, Void!
But Tokiomi also had high expectations for Tohsaka Rin's aptitude; after all, her Magic Circuits, which didn't burn out even after a full year of magical power rampage, showed their resilience and endurance.
And Tohsaka Rin's strong, confident, and independent personality clearly pleased Tokiomi even more.
"Then, Tohsaka Rin, after dinner, come with me to the basement," Tokiomi said after a moment of thought.
Aoi, who had been sitting by, couldn't help but voice her concern: "Are we doing that again? Will Tohsaka Rin..."
"Don't worry, Mother, after this ordeal, I am no longer what I once was!" Tohsaka Rin said confidently, her right hand clasped to her chest.
Of course, she was confident; she had already made a round trip from the origin.
If a mere aptitude test still caused problems, then Tohsaka Rin's transmigration would have been in vain.
Tohsaka Rin also knew that the upcoming test would likely be the first deviation from her original world that her transmigration brought, the reason being the awakening of her origin, which could very likely result in her having different magical aptitude from the original Tohsaka Rin.
If 'attribute' is the fundamental element that defines magic, then 'origin' is something even deeper, defining the fundamental essence of existence.
origin is not just for Magicians, but a directionality that all existence is born with, believed to be inextricably linked to existence itself.
Magicians who strongly manifest their 'origin' sometimes deviate from usual attributes, with the origin itself becoming the attribute.
Many such Magicians excel, demonstrating their expertise.
Among them, Emiya Shirou, the Male Protagonist of Fate, is the most prominent example; his origin-inclined magical attribute is 'Sword,' so he, who was otherwise considered a waste no matter how one looked at it, reached an unmatched realm in the field of sword creation, even being recognized by the Will of the World and elevated to a Heroic Spirit.
After lunch, Tohsaka Rin followed Tohsaka Tokiomi to the Tohsaka Family's study.
The study, almost wider than the living room, was filled with exquisitely textured mahogany bookshelves, which were packed with various literary classics, astronomy, geography, historical classics, and celebrity biographies, but these were all superficial disguises.
By swapping the fifth line of "The Iliad" in the seventh bookshelf from the left with "The Death of King Arthur" in the second row, and then inverting "Mahabharata" in the sixth row and placing it back in its original position, a wall-mounted bookshelf automatically moved aside, revealing a hidden passage.
Descending the spiraling staircase that extended underground, Tohsaka Rin followed behind Tokiomi, taking one step at a time.
After walking approximately five meters underground, they reached the end, where two tightly closed antique iron doors automatically opened as Tokiomi approached, revealing the hidden space behind them.
Rin followed Tokiomi's footsteps and entered, feeling a strange energy sweep over her the moment she stepped in, but nothing happened.
"Rin, this is our Tohsaka Family's Magic Workshop. Here, the wisdom and achievements of our Tohsaka Family's ancestors are stored! It is the cornerstone for our Tohsaka Family to reach the Root. Of course, you are still young and won't understand now. You just need to know that only those with the Tohsaka Family bloodline can pass through that door unharmed. Even your mother cannot do this," Tokiomi said with immense pride in his voice.
Rin stepped into the stone chamber. The spacious chamber was filled with various novel tools. On one table, there were piles of colorful gems and strangely drawn blueprints. The entire chamber was illuminated by a cool, ethereal blue light from the gems. In a corner, there was a display bookshelf, likely holding the Tohsaka Family's research on magical theories and collected tomes of sorcery throughout the generations.
Oh, that sweep over my body must have been a recognition barrier. If anyone not of the Tohsaka Family approached, it would likely trigger countless magical traps buried beneath. Eh? What is this? This drawing on the blueprint, I seem to have seen it somewhere before.
Rin, curiously looking around, suddenly spotted a very familiar array drawn on a white paper that had fallen onto the table. But as she tried to get a closer look, a large hand blocked her view.
Tokiomi covered Rin's line of sight with his hand and sternly warned, "Rin, do not touch anything here. Do not even look at those drawn blueprints and texts. For someone who has not formally encountered the Way of Magic, even a glance can cause an incurable shock to the soul."
"Mm." Rin nodded in agreement, but she briefly recalled the pattern on that blueprint in her mind. Wasn't it the Holy Grail War's Heroic Spirit summoning array! That's right, there's less than six years left until the Holy Grail War. Everything must be prepared as early as possible. Tokiomi has probably already commissioned someone to search for a holy relic in the ancient Babylonian ruins of the Two Rivers basin.
Just as Rin was still curiously observing everything around her, Tokiomi pulled a book from the bookshelf, led Rin to the table, and opened the book. The contents were all blank pages. Tokiomi said, "Rin, place your hand on the page. You will feel something enter your body. Do not resist it, understand?"
"Mm." After responding, Rin took a deep breath and placed her small palm on the right page.
Instantly! The moment Rin's palm touched the book, a circle of blue ripples spread across the page. Rin felt an invisible wave rush into her body through her arm at an extremely fast speed. At the same time, she felt a lock within her body open! She seemed to see lines like circuits running through her body. These were Magic Circuits!
The wave transmitted from the page flowed down the Magic Circuits in her arm. Rin clearly saw that the originally dim Magic Circuits were rapidly activated under the wash of the magical energy wave. In her internal vision, emerald-colored conduits connected and ran parallel to each other, weaving into a complete circulatory network throughout her body. Finally, after circulating once through her body, the magical energy wave returned to Rin's arm and flowed back into the book.
It really changed!
Rin now saw her Magic Circuits internally. The vast network of magical energy almost permeated every corner of Rin's entire body, with only her left lower leg being a blank area; all other locations were covered by Magic Circuits! Although Rin couldn't count how many there were, this was definitely not the forty main circuits and thirty auxiliary circuits from the original story (yuanzhu).
After receiving the magical energy wave that flowed back from Rin's body, the tome of sorcery erupted with a repulsive force, pushing Rin's hand away. Then, flames ignited on the page. After the flames swept across the page, they left behind two symbols beyond any writing Rin recognized, and a linear human figure pattern.
The moment Tokiomi saw what was depicted on the page, his pupils suddenly dilated! "The End?! 365 main circuits and 108 auxiliary circuits!"
At this moment, Rin looked up at Tokiomi, and Tokiomi simultaneously looked down at her. Rin saw shock, confusion, pleasant surprise, and also hope in Tokiomi's eyes!