Chương 8: Chapter 8

: Training

A new life begins.

At 5:30 in the morning, Justeaze would wake up Shinji on time, and then Shinji would go room by room, waking up his drowsy father, uncle, and sister. The entire family then exercises together.

It is essential to determine whether an ordinary person or a magus has a good physique. This was the first lesson that Justeaze, a newly appointed Matou family magecraft teacher, taught her three students.

Justeaze was an artificial being created to replicate the Third Magic. Although she had mastered the Third Magic, her fragile body and inability to grow due to her artificial nature limited the magecraft to a finite range. Justeaze did not want her three students to follow in her footsteps, especially Shinji, who had formed a contract and wanted to freely use the Noble Phantasm he obtained from Perseus. Good physical condition is of utmost importance.

Both Shinji and Kariya understood Justeaze's intentions, as they had the maturity of adults. Sakura, although a bit of a sleepyhead, obediently woke up and cooperated with the semi-coaxing, semi-supervision of Shinji and Kariya, quickly getting used to the routine.

The only person who complained was Byakuya, the only ordinary person in the house. He did not need training and was only dragged into morning exercises because Shinji felt irritated, seeing him sleeping late.

To be honest, it was difficult for someone who occasionally stayed up late into the night to wake up early, but Shinji had a way: coercion and persuasion.

Coercion: If you do not wake up early to exercise, Sakura and I will cause trouble at night. With those "dragging anchors, let us see how you can chase after girls. If that does not work, I will have Caster keep an eye on you. I do not believe you can still have a mood for drinking with her staring at you expressionlessly.

Persuasion: This is for your good. How can you enjoy a nightlife without a good physique? Have you seen Caster? She hardly sleeps, but still looks radiant. Aren't you envious? Do you not want to try the physical training methods she has taught? Besides, trying it will not do any harm.

With this dual approach, Byakuya bid farewell to his beloved nightlife and joined the morning exercise routine.

The first-morning exercise activity was jogging. They would start from the Matou residence, go south along the residential streets, turn east on the main street, make a loop around the residential area, and then return to the Matou residence.

Shinji had specifically planned the jogging route, not only because of its good road conditions and pleasant environment but also because it conveniently passed by the front of the Tohsaka residence. It fulfilled a mother's wish to see her daughter, gave Sakura a chance to see her sister and mother, provided Kariya, the best backup in Fuyuki City, with comfort and motivation, and also showcased the Matou family's attitude towards Sakura, accomplishing multiple goals with one action.

To prevent anyone from the Tohsaka or Einzbern family from discovering her, Justeaze never appears in front of others. Including Shinji himself, everyone in the Matou family was subtly influenced and forbidden from revealing any information about Justeaze to the outside world.

Shinji's calculations were not in vain. Approximately a week later, a gentle and beautiful woman appeared on the window on the second floor of the Tohsaka house. Seeing this figure, Sakura would smile with extra joy, and Kariya would become particularly serious. Shinji knew that it was Tohsaka Aoi.

The next day, Aoi was accompanied by a cute girl with twin tails, waving excitedly toward Sakura and Kariya. That was Sakura's sister, Tohsaka Rin, the future head of the Tohsaka family.

On the third day, Aoi and Rin came directly to the front door of the Matou residence and greeted the group with dignity. Accompanied by a man wearing a red suit and sporting a small beard on his chin, there was no doubt that he was the current head of the Tohsaka family, the fifth-generation head, Tohsaka Tokiomi.

At first sight of this man, Shinji knew why Kariya had fallen flat in matters of the heart.

In terms of appearance, demeanor, and behavior, the refined Tokiomi was far superior to the rebellious and geeky Kariya. Kariya was also hesitant to involve his beloved women in the worms' nest, which held him back and caused him to lose the only advantage of a childhood friend. It was only natural that he would be defeated by heavenly Tokiomi.

However, Shinji, who knew Tokiomi's true nature and followed the anime quote "Everything is Tokiomi's fault," had no favorable impression of him. Compared to Kariya, who expressed anger and laughter at the meeting, Tokiomi's constant elegance made people feel fake and unreal. The most evident display of this was his seemingly calm but arrogant pleasantries with Kariya, as well as his deliberate oppression of Aoi and Rin's affectionate behavior towards Sakura.

To Tokiomi, since Sakura had entered the Matou family, she was a member of the Matou family and should not be bound by past familial relationships. This attitude hurts young Sakura and intensifies the anger that has been built up in Kariya's heart. If it were not for Aoi, Rin, or Sakura's sake, he might have erupted on the spot. Although the outcome would undoubtedly be Kariya's defeat, this genuine and unpretentious attitude further convinced Shinji that his approach was correct.

Since then, Kariya has become even more determined, reaching the point of working tirelessly day and night. Whether it was systematic strengthening training after the morning exercises or subsequent magecraft lessons, Kariya always exceeded expectations. He would often collapse from exhaustion and Justeaze would have to waste her precious magic power, which was already scarce, to heal him. Although Justeaze was able to manifest in the world in a way similar to a Servant thanks to her contract with Shinji, she lost her connection to the Holy Grail system from the moment she manifested. All of the magical powers she used for magecraft came solely from Shinji, who provided it.

There are two sources of magical power in a magi: one is to convert their life force into magical energy through magic circuits, and the other is to go a step further and use their bodies as converters to draw magical energy from the outside world, creating magical energy that can be used by humans.

The latter can generate much more magical power than the former can, but it is also much more difficult. Only excellent surgeons can proficiently master this technique.

Shinji's magic circuits in terms of quality and quantity were top-notch, but because he couldn't draw magical energy from the outside world, relying only on his magical power was barely enough to sustain Justeaze's daily consumption. Using magecraft would burden Shinji even more. After several consecutive attempts, Shinji set a limit for Kariya to avoid slowing down his training progress.

Of course, Kariya's hard work was not without benefit. Besides rapidly improving his abilities, Shinji and Sakura also worked hard and made remarkable progress under his guidance.

Three months later, Kariya was able to independently perform simple magecraft, and soon both Shinji and Sakura reached this level as well.

Half a year later, Kariya inherited the magic crests of the Matou family. After Zouken turned himself into a worm, the magic crest was maintained separately. Shinji and Sakura were still young and not ready to receive the crest early; therefore, Kariya was the best candidate. From the moment the crest was engraved on his body, Kariya could already be considered as a magi—a rookie–to be precise. This also meant that the management of the Matou family's spiritual lands was back on track, and Byakuya no longer needed to make excuses to appeal to business partners in various places.

Nine months later, Shinji became a rookie magi.

On the day he became a magi, a peculiar red crest appeared on his body.