Chapitre 8: Chapter 9: Scáthach
For the first time, Li Xiang arrived at the main teaching building of the Clock Tower.
The towering, dark-gray structure reached a height of a hundred meters, crowned with a massive clock facing in four directions. The clock face had a diameter of seven meters, with an hour hand measuring 2.75 meters and a minute hand of 4.27 meters. The bell tolled once every hour, and its chime reverberated throughout the entire Department of General Fundamentals.
Upon entering, Li Xiang noticed a blue floor plan on the right wall. After locating his classroom, he began ascending the spiral staircase to the third floor.
He curiously observed the decorations lining the hallway. Unlike the minimalistic, blank walls of the Department of Modern Magecraft, these walls were adorned with numerous oil paintings. The names associated with these paintings were all familiar to him.
If he could sell these, Li Xiang figured he could finally achieve his lifelong dream: overnight wealth.
"Sorry!"
Li Xiang felt a sudden bump against his back.
He turned around to find someone bowing their head in apology. Reflexively, he responded, "It's okay, I was just lost in thought. You..."
Before he could finish, he froze.
A deathly pale face appeared before him, with dark circles under its eyes that could rival a panda's.
"Hello, my name is Flynn Eli. Are you also a student in the Department of General Fundamentals? I haven't seen you before."
"I'm just sitting in on the lecture," Li Xiang said, as they walked into the classroom together. He patted Flynn on the shoulder, speaking in a concerned tone, "Friend, let me give you some advice: try to get some rest at night and manage your time better."
"No, no, no, you've misunderstood. I have insomnia."
"No worries, I understand."
"?"
Flynn sighed. "I'm not lying—I really have insomnia. I don't know why, but lately, I've been having terrible sleep. Every time I fall asleep, I end up having bizarre nightmares."
Wait a second.
That sounds familiar. Isn't that exactly what happened to me when I was cursed?
"Do you remember what the dreams were about?" Li Xiang asked, now intrigued.
"The content of the dreams..."
Flynn seemed pained as he held his head. "Most of the dreams are fragmented, with no coherent story."
That sounded like a typical dream. Li Xiang had experienced something similar—waking up suddenly from a nightmare, heart pounding, with only a vague sense of dread, and the details always slipping away upon waking.
"But there's one thing," Flynn recalled, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen. "In almost every dream, I see a certain flower. I'm not sure of its exact name, but it looks a bit like a rose. Let me draw it for you."
His drawing skills were decent, and soon a black flower took shape on the paper.
"It does look like a rose," Li Xiang mused. He was reminded of an anime he had watched, ID: Invaded, where the rose was a crucial element—perhaps a sort of marker in the dream.
"Anyway, class is about to start." Flynn took out his textbook. "If this continues for a few more days, I'm planning to ask a friend from the Department of Invocation to see if I'm under some sort of curse."
Li Xiang nodded. After all, in the Nasuverse, anything inexplicable was likely related to magecraft.
"Please open your textbooks."
An elderly man dressed in casual clothes tapped his cane against the floor, the sharp sound echoing through the spacious classroom.
This was Stellan Jeff, a senior lecturer in the Department of General Fundamentals.
Li Xiang opened his copy of Thaumaturgical Foundations and saw that Stellan was listed as the editor-in-chief.
"Thaumaturgical Foundations is one of the most basic principles a magus must understand. 'Thaumaturgy' refers to the planet's inherent magical energy, which we call the 'Greater Source.' By contrast, the magical energy within individuals is termed the 'Lesser Source.' During the Age of Gods, magi could directly tap into the magical energy in the atmosphere, enabling high-speed incantations with immense power."
"But in the modern era, the total amount of Greater Source energy has been steadily declining, forcing magi to develop Magic Circuits—a specialized form of neural tissue used to release their own magical energy. This process involves expending life force to generate mana. Compared to the Greater Source, the energy from the Lesser Source is negligible, its capacity determined by the quality and quantity of an individual's Magic Circuits."
"Setting aside Magic Crests for a moment, modern magecraft has seen a significant decrease in power. To compensate, magi now employ incantations that can be as long as ten syllables to fully gather their magical energy."
"Those with ill intentions often seek shortcuts, such as using barriers and magical arrays to convert the life force of ordinary people into their own mana. I must remind everyone here: do not entertain such thoughts. If caught, you will be hunted by both the Mage's Association and the Holy Church, and no one can escape their wrath..."
After the tower's clock chimed three times, Stellan abruptly ended the lecture and dismissed the class.
Li Xiang checked his system log but found no corresponding update.
"Irigal, I just attended a lecture. Why didn't it show any progress?"
[Because it wasn't about magecraft or a skill. Pure knowledge doesn't trigger a progress update," Irigal explained before suddenly asking, "Master, do you want to accept a new quest?]
"I can accept quests on my own?"
[Of course! This system is designed to consider your preferences. Quests unrelated to you won't be forced upon you. In other words, you would've encountered the earlier quests even without the system.]
"Wait a minute. While the previous quests were indeed relevant to me, the main quest was something you forced on me."
[Ah? Well...]
Irigal stammered for a moment before saying, "Come on, you've come to the Nasuverse; you've got to participate in the Holy Grail War. Wouldn't it be a waste if you didn't?"
"Not a waste at all!"
Li Xiang's response was immediate. The idea might sound good, but reality was harsh. Look at the Masters and Servants in the Fifth Holy Grail War—no matter which route you followed, a lot of people ended up dead. If not for the system's main quest, Li Xiang would have been content to spend his life studying quietly at the Clock Tower.
"..."
Irigal was getting frustrated. Why wasn't this Master following the script? She took a deep breath and said, [Think about it: as a Master, you could summon your favorite Servants, like Ereshkigal, Artoria, or Jeanne Alter.]
"I admit, I've thought about that," Li Xiang didn't deny it. When playing the game, who hasn't fantasized about summoning a five-star Servant and becoming a Master?
"But the odds are slim. Eresh is the goddess of the Underworld; she can't be summoned directly. Artoria is already Shirou Emiya's Servant, and with the sheath of Excalibur inside him, it's unlikely I could outcompete him. As for Jeanne Alter, she was summoned by Gilles de Rais through the Holy Grail. If I tried to find her relic, I'd probably just end up summoning Jeanne d'Arc."
[Not necessarily!]
Irigal suddenly sounded cheerful. [The reward for Side Quest 3 includes a clue to a relic that could summon any Servant, including Ereshkigal. So, do you want to participate in the Holy Grail War now? Whether you win or lose, you'll have a chance to interact with them.]
"..."
Damn, are you the devil?
Li Xiang was definitely tempted.
"Tell me more about this quest."
[Okay!]
Irigal seemed delighted. "Originally, it had nothing to do with you. If you don't accept the quest, the issue will be resolved by the Clock Tower instructors in a few days."
"Is it related to Flynn?"
Li Xiang thought for a moment and realized that Flynn was the only person he had interacted with today who could trigger a quest.
[Exactly. The system can detect mages with similar power levels to yours, and here are Flynn's attributes. Once you see them, you'll understand.]
---
Name: Flynn Eli
Gender: Male
Class: Magus
Rank: Apprentice
Elemental Attribute: Wind
Magic Crest: None
Magic Circuits: 5
Status: Haunted by a ghost.
---
"Haunted by a ghost?"
[Yes, he's being targeted by a ghost. So, Master, do you want to accept this quest?]
Li Xiang hesitated. To be honest, his relationship with Flynn was too shallow to risk his life for him. "Can you tell me what the reward for this quest is?"
[Scáthach's combat training.]
"???"
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone