[Greek Mythology] Night
Act.07
Act.07
As the saying goes, comparison is the thief of joy. Let's first look at the stats of the other Berserker-class heroes. First, there's Lancelot, who should appear in this Fourth Holy Grail War.
His Magic Power is C, and Luck is B; all other stats are A or A+. Hercules, the demigod hero appearing in the Fifth Holy Grail War, also has A or A+ stats except for Luck (B).
As for Nyx, who was summoned, his Magic Power is slightly lower at D, but all other stats are E. What does E mean? It means he's slightly better than average, but not even as good as a Church Monk. Zouken Matou says he could easily take on ten of these Servants with one hand!
"Hmph, Kariya, you really are a useless piece of trash, summoning such a worthless Heroic Spirit." While Matou Zouken hadn't held out much hope for Kariya winning the Holy Grail War from the start, he hadn't expected to summon something so ineffective.
"I'd better go train Sakura. With the Tohsaka family's talent and my guidance, she should be able to become a qualified Master."
"Wait! Zouken!" Matou Kariya cried out anxiously. He had endured so much suffering to protect Aoi-senpai's child from falling into the hands of that filthy old man, Zouken. Was everything about to turn to dust?
Meanwhile, ignored by the two, Nix, dressed provocatively and standing in the center of the magic circle, was asking the system what was going on.
"You mean, my attributes, the numerical value representing a Heroic Spirit's abilities, are too low?"
"Yes, host. The system just discovered this as well," the system replied. "The world's consciousness, what they call the Root, misunderstands the host's power."
"Misunderstanding?"
"From the information you received from the Holy Grail, you should be able to see its purpose, right? It's a tool created by magicians to reach the Root, not some omnipotent wish-granting machine."
Nix nodded. When the Holy Grail transmitted the information about the Holy Grail War to him, he already realized that things were definitely not as described in the data.
As a primordial god, Nix could say with certainty that no matter the world, there is absolutely no such thing as an "omnipotent" wish-granting machine. If there are tools that can grant wishes, then yes, there are. Altering time, space, and even causality through powerful force can, to some extent, achieve the fulfillment of wishes.
However, such wish-granting tools are not omnipotent. Even Chaos, who claims to be omniscient and omnipotent, has a prerequisite: in his current world, he is omniscient and omnipotent towards life below the level of a primordial god. The current Chaos cannot interfere with the future, and similarly, the future Chaos cannot interfere with the present. To entrust one's own inability to achieve something through a so-called wish-granting machine is a profound irony for those heroic spirits who have made illustrious contributions—if their wishes are granted using the machine, what meaning do they have for the precious experiences they once had in striving for those wishes?
Out of skepticism about this omnipotent wish-granting machine, Nix used a small portion of his power and ultimately discovered that this so-called Holy Grail was actually an instrument for exploring the laws of nature. Its creator had, through some means, created a bridge—the Holy Grail—that could reach a part of the world's origin.
The so-called Holy Grail War is also about using the Holy Grail's magic to summon the heroic spirits residing on the Throne of Heroes as projections to fight in the mortal world.
"It was during this process of summoning projections that a misunderstanding occurred," the system said. "All Heroic Spirits are projected according to their original data on the Throne of Heroes, but the host is not a Heroic Spirit on the Throne of Heroes, so there's no option to use them as a reference point. The Holy Grail wanted to directly probe the host's own power as a basis, but of course, it couldn't comprehend the power of a primordial god; this power is far greater than the origin it itself aspires to reach."
"You mean, the Holy Grail originally wanted to set my values according to my own power, but failed because it couldn't detect it?" Nix concluded, then thought something was off. "If it couldn't detect it, how come there are such weak values now?"
"Oh dear, host, don't be so blunt~" The system suddenly whined in Nix's mind in a disgustingly coquettish tone.
"Ugh! Please have mercy! I feel like I'm going to throw up all the food I've eaten over millions of years." "The Holy Grail can't detect the host, but it can detect other things about the host~ For example, a cute and powerfully capable system~"
"...You mean, this weak stat is your attribute?"
"System, I'm just an auxiliary tool, of course my stats aren't high!" The system said this with complete confidence, completely ignoring the fact that it was the weakest of its batch of systems.
"..."
Nix felt utterly powerless against this eccentric system.
"Then what is my true situation?"
"Hmm...unable to be displayed numerically, roughly equivalent to a demigod Heroic Spirit."
"Sounds alright..."
While Nix and the system were discussing this, Zouken Matou had already left the basement, leaving only Kariya and Nix.
Kariya hesitated for a moment. The summoning was a fait accompli, and what had to be faced had to be faced, so he walked up to Nix.
"Um, you should have some understanding of the current situation by now, right?" he asked. The boy before him looked only about 15 or 16 years old. Although Heroic Spirits were ancient beings who had been dead for countless years, people were still easily deceived by appearances.
Would such a boy be sent to fight those powerful Heroic Spirits? Kariya frowned, completely forgetting that the boy before him was also a Heroic Spirit.
"Oh, yes." Nix quickly snapped out of his daze and greeted his partner in this world. This was crucial to whether he could successfully achieve his goal. "You're the magician who summoned me?"
Matou Kariya nodded.
"My name is Matou Kariya, and I'm your... Master." Speaking to a beautiful boy like this gave Kariya the feeling of being the male lead in a third-rate erotic film.
"My name is Nix. Nice to meet you!" Nix told him his name based on some greetings he remembered, and the two had a basic understanding of each other.
"Anyway, let's leave here first," Kariya said. "Go to my room first, I'll find you some clothes. Your current robe—well, it's not really suitable for this era."
"Okay! Thank you!" Upon hearing that he could change out of his indecent robe, Nix was practically moved to tears. Finally! He'd returned from the Stone Age to modern society!!
So, the young Nix happily followed behind Matou Kariya, leaving the basement.
Nix: My partner seems pretty good~
Matou Kariya: Nix? I've never heard of any famous hero with that name, but with those stats, he probably isn't a famous hero either… I should check his information later.
System: Hmm… Should I remind the host that he can actually conjure clothes with magic?