章 45: Chapter 24.1 - Otherworldly Reflections [1]
[[Kaleidoscope] Skill Book]
-Requires 900 Intelligence and Wisdom to use-
The second true magic; Observation and operation of parallel universes. With this, one ascends beyond the dimensional plane, becoming one capable of traveling beyond the borders of the universe. The depth of this magic is forever unknown, for just like there are infinite universes laid within the great unknown, the things one could do with this magic are far too many to list.
There have only been two individuals capable of wielding it: Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, and Tohsaka Rin.
And now, you have become one as well.
Well, here it is, the one and only. I got this when I finally finished the quest about altering Shirou's fate, but I haven't even opened my inventory and checked it until now. Honestly, I nearly forgot about it, and it's only when I returned from [Pito'Kraul] did I remember.
Well, that, and the fact that my Wisdom was still about 60 points below the required number.
But no more! After having my 65 extra Stat Points remain in my status, I've finally used them to bring my Wisdom above 900.
I'm...actually somewhat afraid of what doing this might bring. Skills as big as this one usually affected other skills that are connected to it in some way. I have no way of knowing, my eyes incapable of taking in the scale of what might happen when I make use of this Skill Book and become a Magician.
However, is the unknown not the spice of life?
So, with the innocent looking Skill Book in my hands, I take in a small breath before tapping it, bringing up the familiar notification.
[Use item? Yes/No]
With building resolution, I tap [Yes],
And everything exploded.
Reality breaks around me, knowledge filling every corner of my mind. My eyes are forced open, Mystic Eyes flaring in activation, and I quickly activate [Mental Partition] to better handle the influx of information.
My eyes see everything. I see the beginning of the universe, and the event behind it. I see the end, and what lies beyond it. I see the fabric of reality broken down into their origins, turned into concepts understandable using the stories and formulas humans have invented. I see the law of the universe in their purest form.
Information continues to bombard my mind, and blood begins to leak from my head, but I remain steadfast, gritting my teeth as I braced on.
I see the origins of this world, of the world Hanami comes from, from the universe my soul came from, from the universe parallel to them all, and continuing to every universe that has existed, that exists, and ones that will come to exist in a future no one could possibly know.
I see demons, gods, divine beasts, and ancient monsters. I see beings from another world, servants sitting within the [Throne of Heroes], and monsters living within the reverse side of the world. I see the lives of every conscious being that lived, lives, and will live. I see truth, concepts of the universe given corporeal form, and the will of the universe.
I stand before the gates of truth, and before it, I see infinity, and-
Something inside me shatters.
Like a puppet with its strings cut, I drop onto the floor, my body frozen as I'm changed. My body, powerful it may have been, but it wouldn't have been enough. My Magic Circuits are forcibly altered, upgraded. My mind, one that's distinctly human, would never be able to handle the usage of True Magics, so it is changed, expanded.
Pain ruptures through me as I'm altered, but I stay silent, biting down on my lip with enough force to draw blood.
Then, suddenly, it all ends, and for the first time in what felt like hours, I'm able to breathe.
Everything hurts, which isn't much of a surprise. Having your body be remade isn't a very comfortable procedure, but, I am still conscious, and that's quite a surprise.
Seeing as I can't really move, I decide to bring up my status sheet, just to see what's changed and all.
And, well, there sure are some fairly massive changes.
[High Human]
A human who has ascended past the natural limits any living being should've been unable to break. A human whose strength and power who'd begun to breach into the territory of the Divine. A paragon of evolution, a mark, a sign that there truly are no limits any living being could never pass.
As a High Human, your [Level Limit] of 100 has been lifted
All Exp gain is doubled
All damage dealt is increased by 20%, and all damage taken is reduced by 20%
With your existence, and through your influence, the barrier barring evolution can be lifted
Yep, that's right. I've evolved past being a normal [Human]!
That first line isn't all that special, since changing to other [Races] would also lift the level cap, but the other lines are pretty damn interesting. Double Exp for everything is understandable, that 20% buff on all attacks is wonderful, and the 20% reduced damage I'll passively take will ensure I live on for longer.
But that fourth line, what does that even mean? [The barrier barring evolution can be lifted]? What the hell does that mean?
Then, slowly, the answer dawns on me.
As living beings grow, their evolution would slow down as they reach their prime forms, but that is a trap, for there will always be a plateau higher than before. If what I assume is correct, then I can break down the wall stopping things from growing beyond their natural limits. Stagnant existences like gods could grow with my influence, and humans normally constrained to the limits of their flesh and blood can grow past their limits.
I can't quite hold back a grin at the realization.
[Mystic Eyes of Myriad Perception Lv 67 – 15%]
A pair of eyes granted to those who have awakened to their connections to the root, the well of all existence. A fragment of its infinity now resides in you, manifesting as a pair of eyes, a bright swirling blue. Through it, every and all things shall be open to you, and will understand any and all existence.
Allows you to see the description of objects you glance at
Allows you to analyze things you see at a glance
Capable of viewing the history of any object, from its creation to the present
Allows you to see through darkness and illusions
Allows you to view beyond the boundary of the universe
Your eyes will always perceive the truth, no matter what
Using this on an object too high-leveled will hurt you
?
-Note: Due to the skill [Kaleidoscope], Skill Exp gain has been doubled-
As expected, my mystic eyes are changed as well by what I'd just gone through. That doubled Exp gain is kinda broken, especially since the bonus will be doubled again because of my new Race. It's probably why the usage of my mystic eyes throughout the experience caused the skill to jump over 25 levels from where it was.
There's the new unknown line on the bottom there, and, of course, there's also that line about me being able to see things from beyond this universe, but that's rather expected.
And finally,
Name: Tsunaka Hanami
Age: 17
Sex: Female
Race: High Human
Class: [Caster], [Empty]
Level: 65 Exp: 8,312,202,424/25,000,000,000
HP: 193,110/512,200 (20488HP/min) (x2)
MP: 103,122/244,400 (23985MP/min) (x2)
Stamina: 4% (788%/hour)
Strength: 787.5 (+83.5) (x2)
Vitality: 788 (x2)
Dexterity: 505.1 (+96.5)
Intelligence: 969.5 (+312.5)
Wisdom: 922.5 (+202.5)
Luck: 232.8
Stat Points: 5
Money: 4,112,045,012 ¥
Yep, look at that MP and MP Regen. Just, damn. Having my magic circuits be upgraded to Rank A was already great enough, even if it did hurt like hell, having my MP Regen be doubled as well?
Now that's just overkill.
Although, considering the horrors within and outside this plane of existence, I suppose something like this isn't something all that amazing.
Still, I can't quite help but smile slightly, already wondering just what I can do with all these new changes.
However, that can wait for a later date.
There's some more changes I haven't covered yet, but I'm a bit too tired to do anything else. My stamina's gone down to 4%, my MP's only half filled, and my HP took quite a hit throughout that painful experience.
I think it's ample time to rest, no?
So, with a gentle sigh, I let my eyes close.
~~~
[You have slept over a comfortable wooden floor. HP, MP, and Stamina fully recovered!]
...Nice.
"Ngh…" Slowly, I push myself up, stretching my aching limbs as I do so. Sleeping on grass might be better than sleeping on a floor according to the system, but it sure doesn't make my body ache less after the nap.
Yawning, I stand. Rubbing my eyes, I take a small breath, and with some excitement, I activate my mystic eyes, eager to see what the new improvements are like.
And, well, it feels...strange. Information over the multiverse is now presented, concepts normally impossible to be understood by the human brain now revealed. Where before only the facets of this reality are visible, I can now see beyond that, observing into worlds beyond that, and the void sitting between this world and the next.
It's almost like looking within a funhouse mirror, with other reflections of similar universes surrounding every area of my sight, and just like a funhouse, each reflection is slightly different, slightly distorted.
I guess that's why it's called [Kaleidoscope] in the first place.
That aside, it's nice that the floor was comfortable enough for me to fully recover my status. It'd be awfully inconvenient if I went to [Pito'Kraul] all tired and stuff.
Of course, a floor being 'comfortable' isn't something normal, at all. At most, it'll probably recover about 3 quarters of my maximum. So why is this floor special? Actually, where even is this?
That, is something I can proudly claim to be mine, and also where my one trillion Yen disappeared to.
Some time during the Fourth Holy Grail War, I'd promised Shirou to buy ourselves a house, you know, for us two to enjoy. The thing is, I don't really want to have a house down on Earth, especially with how turbulent the world is after what was essentially a spoiler to a possible apocalypse.
So I decided to just buy one here in [Yuriele].
The thing is, I don't want to just make a house on [Dun Stadia]. I think the space our house would take will be better used for other things there. I don't really want to just have a house in some other country, since I don't want to be tied down to it and al.
Which means that I just needed to buy my own island.
The [Claim Key] wasn't all that much of a problem, at least at first. 15 billion isn't really much when I have a trillion.
But then [Rights] came.
They're special privileges I'm able to get as the island owner. Some can stop monsters from spawning entirely, one makes it so falling off is impossible, and another makes magical energy especially rich there, making the island the perfect place for training. Of course, me being me, I decided that I wanted to buy most of them.
The problem?
They're really expensive. Really, really, expensive.
I was confident in spending just 15 billion, but then it grew to 115 billion, then to 300 billion. Before I knew it, my spending had reached the trillions, and I can only stare in horror as I watch the last 15 billion fade away as I bought the [Island Claim Key].
Seriously, if claiming [Rights] like that is so expensive, then who the hell made [Dun Stadia]!? The price for that place would've been crazy!
Well, unless you're someone like Gilgamesh that is. She can probably just pull out one of her treasures and easily buy an island with all the [Rights] she wanted.
Now, I might have bought an island, but I still didn't have the house. Luckily, this one didn't actually need a lot of money, so I didn't need to feel the anguish of watching the funds I'd begun to regain drop again.
It also helped that one of the [Rights] I bought, [Swift Builder], gave me complete control on how to shape my islands and the structures atop it. I still had to give it the materials my house needed of course, but with my proficiency in tearing down trees and ecosystems, the initial lack of building materials was swiftly solved.
The house is based on the one Shirou had, just much bigger and filled with more things. As much as I would like it, I doubt only Shirou and I will be using this, so I made sure to fill it with as many things one might need.
I'd explain more, but I'll save the finer details for a later date.
Which finally brings us to the 'comfortable' floor.
...That sure was a long tangent.
Anyway, since I still had many things I haven't explored using [Swift Builder], I decided to tinker around a bit. You know, see what some of the options will do. One of them basically enchanted the floor with magecraft, making the floor comfortable and warm. It's sort of a failsafe in case one of us tires out and just drops onto the floor.
With both Shirou and I as inhabitants, that's probably bound to happen one day. And, well, that's pretty much it.
Um...what was I supposed to do again?
Oh! Right, I need to go to [Pito'Kraul] and meet up with Fruel.
Well, time to go!
~~~
"Wow, this place is pretty nice…"
"Is it? It feels quite suffocating for me." Fruel comments back, and Hanami shrugs by his side.
It'd been a fairly normal day for the elf. He'd arrived to continue his work, notes from the investigation he made the night before neatly packed in his hands. Hanami appeared a couple hours past noon, looking just as energetic as usual.
Though that may be, there was something different about her. She seemed to have gained something, her presence became bigger, fuller. Still, as he always does, he didn't ask.
An hour passed, and a messenger suddenly appeared, sending them an invitation to meet with the current acting councilmen. Apparently, they wanted to know about how much progress has been made on the case, though why they didn't simply come to the building they worked in was a mystery.
Nevertheless, not long after they entered, 12 elves came in, bearing themselves with confidence and pride.
All of them seem to be new additions, replacing the older generations he'd come to know fairly well. He knows only barely of who they are, knowing their names and family but not much else.
He doesn't really care if they're the new figures of authority. They are all faceless individuals to him.
With a silent sigh, Fruel schools his expression.
"Good morning, Mr. Fruel, Ms. Hanami." The leading councilman greets.
"Good morning to you as well sir." He says with a bow. Silently, he takes a glance to his side and sees Hanami casually waving at the man, either unknowing or uncaring of the annoyed glares coming due to the lack of respect.
With the pleasantries completed, so begins their conference. The leading councilman asks about their task and he answers to the best of his abilities, though withholding the fact that Hanami currently holds the 11 artifacts she'd taken from that strange room down below the clouds. He doubts they'd appreciate that.
He never truly liked these sorts of situations. The one seated are always scheming, always looking for things that don't always exist. It's expected really, but he wishes the councilmen could at least be somewhat discreet in their whisperings.
Then, the conversation shifts.
"I see, then, Ms. Hanami, what say you? Will you continue to stay here in [Pito'Kraul]?" He asks, a gleam in his eyes.
"Hmm?" She closes her eyes and hums, seemingly in thought, before frankly saying, "Nope."
The leading councilman's eyebrow twitches slightly. "Oh, and why is that? You said you have no further duties to this 'Fuyuki' after its destruction, did you not?"
"I'm a nomad." She says with a shrug. "I have a house and all, and I have people waiting for me, but I move around a lot. I'm a bit of an adventurer you see? Some I go on my decision, and others are trips I'm forced into by some circumstance. I've never really been tied down to a single place for too long."
"I see. That's a shame. You'd have become a wonderful citizen." He says, and Hanami simply shrugs again. Again, the man's eyebrow twitches, more obviously this time. Fruel can't quite hide the slight smile he has.
He isn't sure if it's Hanami's tendency to act on her own or her disregard for the councilmen's expectation that makes her such an interesting individual to follow. Perhaps it's a bit of both.
"Is that all, sir?" Fruel decides to ask, and the man stares at him with some surprise at the sudden intrusion. "Though it has been a pleasant time, I believe we must return to continue our analysis."
"...Very well."
"Thank you sir." And so, he turns to leave, Hanami following by his side.
But the world suddenly shifts, sound turns to static, the walls around them paling and losing their color. Fruel feels something probing into his mind, reaching and digging in like some sort of mental parasite.
Before it all stops, and Fruel doesn't to hide his wide smile.
"W-What!?" He hears one of the councilmen ask, one that distinctly sounds like Count Voskrow, the man who's been attempting to become king. Fruel turns and sees the other councilmen frozen, their eyes blank and their face emotionless.
"Mm, you might've forgotten this, Voskrow, but I'm a former member of the council." He moves his eyes to the man, who's now shaking, his lips pressed into a thin line. "Council meetings such as this must be planned with all that attends it. Both the councilmen and the one called in must be informed days before the actual meeting takes place."
"For a meeting to suddenly be told to us this morning, with no forewarning, I don't doubt many would find it strange."
Voskrow ground his teeth. "T-Take them down!"
Immediately, the 11 other members of the council come to life, magic gathering around them.
Fast they may be, but Hanami is faster.
With speeds incomprehensible to the naked eye, Hanami blurs through the room, knocking the councilmen unconscious with but a single hit with the hilt of her sword. She reappears by his side just a second later, smiling all the while, and Voskrow swiftly pales as he looks at his unconscious comrades.
Silently, he jerks his eyes towards him, and he looks down in fear as dirt and stones climb up his body.
"For now, do sleep." Fruel says with no short amount of amusement before tightening the climbing dirt and stone around the man's neck.
It doesn't take long before Voskrow falls unconscious.
~~~
"A dead end as well?" Fruel asks, and Hanami sighs in agreement, shutting her eyes in annoyance.
"Yeah. I mean, most of these guys are controlled by something, but whatever it is, it's able to escape my eyes." She says with a soft growl, grumbling in annoyance at the lack of information she got even with her newly empowered eyes. "Either it's specifically made to counter my eyes, or…" She leaves the sentence hanging as she opens her eyes.
Once again, Fruel feels a shiver creep up his back as he sees those shifting eyes, it's blue now adorned with a ring of shards colored in bright gold. Whatever the girl had done last night, it'd made her mystical eyes even more powerful than it already was, so much so that she proclaims it can 'see beyond this world'. It could simply be hyperbole, but he somehow doubts that. The girl doesn't seem to be one to lie about such a thing.
That aside however, if she has become capable of seeing beyond this world, then that leaves two possibilities: Either the artifact that went missing was created with some specialized spell to counter mystical eyes like hers, or that artifact had somehow gone beyond this world, gone so far that Hanami's eyes are unable to track them.
That second possibility might sound rather ridiculous, but seeing as there exists a new world under the clouds, the existence of other worlds even beyond that isn't so strange. Still, if the artifact did somehow go beyond what Hanami's eyes can track, then where did it go, and how?
They don't have the answer to both, but Hanami has theorized that the one currently in possession of the artifact had gone through something known as the [Dimensional Gap], the void between worlds. It's an area far too remote, far too dangerous, far too magical for any living being to even dare try and enter.
The shifting space would tear your limbs apart, the incredible amount of magic there would crush you to dust, and the area so isolated that your soul would never be able to return upon death, instead swallowed up and destroyed.
It's a rather frightening concept, one he immediately pushed back into the back of his mind.
They spent the rest of the afternoon busied with the new events that'd transpired, Hanami mostly sitting still as her mystical eyes worked their magic while Fruel paced around the room, thoughts filling his head as he did his best to make sense of them.
That, and come up with a reasonable explanation of why all the councilmen are suddenly unconscious.
Fruel sighs.
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