The Legend of Nameless (Patreon)

CHAPTER 2

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Walking through the dense forest, he noted that his physical parameters had increased a lot.

His speed was now so fast, he had no idea how he even knew where to strike at the right time, with Archer's arm giving him the instinctive flicker of timing to swing his blade.

His perception was better than ever, with his sight and smell senses having the most prominent change, being able to see detailed leaves to being able to smell wildlife from a far distance away.

His strength was able to donut a tree with ease, along with being able to wield Kanshou and Bakuya, both were heavy due to the meteorite ore that Gan Jiang used to create.

Speaking of Gan Jiang...

"Trace — On."

He mutters as a gun fires in his head, his magic circuits flaring to life as the blades materialize in his fists.

The weapons, Kanshou and Bakuya. C ranked Noble Phantasms that were low cost to maintain and "trace", made by the blacksmith Gan Jiang to gift to his king, King of Wu.

They were beautiful, in a sense. Made for the sake of crafting, as if questioning the meaning of the swordsmith, than for any real idea behind their creation.

Created without vanity, and lack a sense of purpose found in other swords.

Contained no fighting spirit to defeat others nor a competitive spirit to beat other weapons, and contained neither the desire to be famous nor the faith to accomplish great deeds.

They had no meaning, that's why Archer favored the twin blades, they symbolize the hypocrisy of the guardian's ideals.

For now, he could only "trace" the twin blades. No doubt he could do more with Projection if he took off the Shroud of Martin on his hand, but he'd not rather let Archer's spirit origin swallow him whole.

But they would do for now, since because they were Archer's main Noble Phantasms, he doubts that he could wield any better weapon, especially with this arm of his, as it passively flows Archer's battle experience and physical abilities into his head.

Meaning, Kanshou and Bakuya were the best weapons that he could wield as Colt Lee.

Letting them dematerialize from the physical world into blue motes, he sighs as he continued walking aimlessly. He already did the stick method, letting a stick fall to decide his direction, so he was going to keep walking until he reached some form of civilization.

A few hours later, he realized that he didn't need food or sleep, since Od was all a Servant needs to survive, pseudo or not. That was very, very useful. Too bad he couldn't dematerialize, seems that being a pseudo-Servant doesn't allow one to phase.

A good few hours spent though, as he managed to twisted and turned the kinks of his new abilities, testing them out one by one, and got a pretty good idea of his abilities, hypothetically.

First, Structural Grasp. It showed a blueprint of an object by flowing Od through it, with Archer being able to save a lot of Od by sending thin blankets of Od onto an object. Colt's control over his spells were horrible, approximately wasting over 70% of Od compared to Archer.

Second, Reinforcement. Now, this one comes instinctively from Archer's arm. Maybe it was due to Archer using this spell too often, but the arm automatically "reinforces" his limbs with just a thought. It pairs with Structural Grasp, with Reinforcement flooding holes that Structural Grasp finds in his body to strengthen his body to the limit.

Third, Alteration. He doesn't really understand the spell, but it basically adds a new "property" to an object, but it cannot be a property that can not be scientifically done. In example, you can add the "explode on contact" property on a rock, but you can't add a "phase through objects" property.

A rock can't go through things, but it can be go boom.... Something like that, still didn't get the spell. Heck, even Archer doesn't use it much. He only used it mainly to create explosive and tracking arrows.

And then the thesis of Emiya Shirou and Archer, Projection. More specifically the advanced version, Tracing.

Projection is the materialization of objects, in accordance to the caster’s imagination. The problem with this spell, was that it was inferior and less efficient than normal Reinforcement.

In example, using Projection to recreate a sword while spending ten units of Magical Energy in the process, the weapon will have an overall strength of three or four.

Meanwhile, if he uses that same Magical Energy to reinforce an existing blade, he will get a weapon with a power of twenty or thirty.

With Structural Grasp and Reinforcement added into the mix though, Tracing is formed. Emiya Shirou is a fucking genius, not only does Tracing reproduce the shape and substance of an object, but also its entire history as well.

Using 7 steps of Tracing that he created, he is able to recreate Noble Phantasms that are one grade lower than the actual, original versions. Even if it was lower graded, they still were Noble Phantasms, Crystallization Mysteries or Symbols of a Legend.

That was just insane.

Hearing sudden movements near him, he snapped out of his thoughts, whispering the aria that Archer used to chant as his mental trigger.

"Trace — On."

The hammer of a gun falls in his head, and his magic circuits activated.

The handles of Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in his hands as he raised them both into an open stance, his guard raised when another pack of Beowolves appeared, this time with a much larger Beowolf behind them.

Steeling his mind, he reinforces his body before he charged at them.

-

After three days of constant walking and killing the Grimm, he finally reached some form of civilization. 

A ghost village. It was devoided of any human presence, with his senses not picking up any human signatures at all. Marks of combat were clear, from the scratch marks, bullet holes, even a sign of arson was present.

Well, it would be a temporary base to rest in before continuing his journey. 

Getting into one of the houses that was still in good shape and doesn't threaten to crumble before him, he took a sit on one of the beds before activating his circuits, imagining the hammer of a gun falling in his head and muttering his aria.

His circuits brimmed to life as he placed his shrouded arm on the building and closed his eyes. Sending a blanket of Od through the whole building, he tested the limit of his 27 magic circuits as he started to reinforce the whole building. 

From the foundation to the woods and pillars that strengthen the hold of the building, he sweats profoundly at the amount of stress he was managing, carefully pumping as much Od to a hole as it could hold. 

A few more minutes later, he gasps as he moved his arm before grinning. 

After all that, his Od lost about 70% of its capacity, a good indicator of his limit in terms of magical energy. And he could feel his circuits passively converting the mana in the surroundings to Od, however slowly it was. 

Turning off his circuits, he laid on the bed, breathing a sigh as he contemplated of his situation. 

To think that just a few days ago, he was a normal person who wanted to seek adrenaline rushes in America. He even booked a session to skydive after finding a discount online, which prompted him to take a vacation from college.

That caused him to chuckle. What a fool he was. 

Now he was stuck with an arm that was slowly corroding his spirit, and a task to save a world that is much different from what he knew.

He'd never regret accepting that deal though, because of it, he was alive (Technically) and had a bunch of adrenaline moments from fighting.

Closing his eyes, he let his consciousness fade as he dreamed of a hill of blades, unknowing of the presence of a Servant watching him.

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A week later, he was still moving, walking forward in a direction like a machine.

Seriously, where in the hell is civilization?

He had flooded his legs with Od before jumping as hard as he could, to get a bird's view of the world. 

He'd saw a few villages that were close to each other, so he quickly ran towards them, only to find them empty and abandoned. 

This was darker than he thought. Didn't really shock him through, the creatures of Grimm outnumber the citizens of this world. He only just sighed before moving onwards. 

Surely, he would encounter people soon, right?

Surely, his luck wasn't that bad, right?

Right?