Golden Ascension- Fate (Patreon)

Chapter 8


Sion looked at the girl sitting in front of her. Seeing how she is a foreigner, the purple-haired girl instantly understood that this girl was her competition.


However, a simple check has shown her that this girl has no mana emission.


That proves to the Alchemist girl that this black-haired girl is trying to play a regular girl to win Marcus over.


An understandable move, however from her research, starting a relationship with a lie like that does not bode well for the foundations of a relationship.


This is why Sion revealed herself to him like that. She is going as honest as possible.


Though she returned to listing what the teacher says, for the simple reason that appears that Marcus IS listening even though he is still drawing something.


The purple-haired twin-tail girl has a perfect time to see what her future boyfriend is doing. From her angle, after a few tries she was able to see what he is doing, she can guess that's the interior of…something.


It looks like the interior of a vehicle…or a building. It's quite big…


She can see corridors, rooms which house something…some sort of equipment. 


"What are you drawing?" Eventually, Sion could not contain her curiosity anymore.


"Interior of a Star Destroyer." 


To her surprise, he quite casually explained to her.


"Star… Destroyer?" It was a new word, she never heard of these two being used together like this!


"Yes, it's a one-kilometre-long spaceship." He quite simply explained it to her and even showed the drawing to her. He even turned a page and showed how it looks from the outside. 


However, Sion's reaction was something Marcus didn't expect! She looked pale! 


'It's impossible… Does she know what I am planning? No, she shouldn't. No one except for my Servants knows what I am planning and my Servants are loyal to me.' 


"I See… It's quite nice. Do you draw a lot of things?" She asked him curiously.


While seeing ships that will bring the end of human society is terrifying, it is a good time for Sion to talk with him more! 


She is not going to waste such an opportunity!


"Drawing is putting your idea on paper, I am using this to design and envision how my things are going to look." As he said that Sion's eyes slightly sparkled. It was as if she found a companion soul! Sure enough, she pulled out her notebook. Where Marcus one had cars on the cover her one was cuter-ish plushies.


However, when she opened her notebook, Marcus' eyes zoomed in. He could…understand what she was drawing. However, it was strange seeing another person writing instead of his!


"Do you… Understand what I wrote here?" She asked, with a hopeful voice.


"That's…Programming, you trying to… Improve calculation speed?" He answers with a not-that-certain tone, he is not used to seeing someone else work.


"...Wow…you truly do!" The purple-haired girl exclaimed with a happy tone. 


So her father was right! Marcus knows his stuff! Honestly, she wanted to see if he could pass her test. If he did then she is 100% onboard with having him as her boyfriend! 


"Was it supposed to be heard? It's basic maths…" He said with a frown.


"No! Don't be silly! It's a spiritron calculation!"


"You mean the formula you use as a basis for the numbers?" He asked with a small frown, which she slowly nodded.


"I see… so you use numbers in specific patterns with that formula being as a basis. I can guess that you are working on a powerful computer."


Halfway through his explanation, Sion was nodding her head multiple times! Yep, what he explained is exactly what she has been working on!


It was improvement work for her Atlas Academy TRI-HERMES.


"Yep! You guessed it! I can believe you figured it out like this!" The girl was so excited that for a moment she even forgot about her purpose here! She is more interested In talking with him about this!


"That's because I am working on my version of this." As he said that he turned some of the pages in his notebook and showed his work.


Sion's eyes widened because she understood what he was doing from a single glance! 


"You…You…is this for real? Are you using runemancy as the basis for an operational system!?" 


The girl tried to process how this is even possible for a 15-year-old!? As each rune has action and counter-action it's like trying to program something with natural forces! Spiritron usage is far easier… and manageable in her eyes! But this guy… He is going all out with his work!


Though… This…if he is doing this…to react at such a level… One's lifetime is not enough… No, she can't see how this is possible.


'This just doesn't add up…'


'Goldman family never studied Runemancy, there is no record of them using it throughout history, I studied everything possible about that family.'


Sion was baffled by this… insane advance on Runemancy, if he uses Runemancy and Alchemy at such a high level…then building those ships is not a pipe dream. No, it's just a means of manpower and resources. 


'In other words… He has the 'technology' to make his world conquest happen now the only thing he needs is resources, something for our profession quite easy to get, but the manpower? 


…


…


…


Her eyes widened as she realised where he will get the manpower!


'Homunculi!?' 


The moment the purple head connected all the dots the moment she paled…


He has everything needed! 


'This…means…he is already building it!' 


This means that the period between now and 2012 is the time he is making assets that will conquer the world! Metals created through alchemy, computers coded with runes, God knows what kind of weapons these beings will use.


'Gravity based?' 


The moment she realised that he perhaps mass produced weapons capable of using gravity as a weapon. It will be an utterly one-sided slaughter!


'No wonder TRI-HERMES calculated the end of current society… regular humans simply don't have the means to fight such weapons! If he can use gravity as a weapon he can use it for defence as well!'


"It's a three dimensional calculation software with four-letter coding. It's not a bad model, so far it worked well with my other creations." Marcus hummed with appreciation. While Sion signed anxiously. It was worse than she expected! If he finishes that thing, it will surpass TRI-HERMES! 


"I-I see, say… Are you interested in Spiritrons? If you study those your understanding of Spirit Origin and Saint Graph will increase. Those two are vital for Servants." Sion was thinking about how to…divert his attention from the society-ending stuff he is building at home!


"Hmm, I already improved my Servant's capacities with superior Vessels. Most of their parameters are up by the whole rank." 


"I see… Anyway…if you are interested I can show you a thing or two." 


The girl said with a slightly disappointed tone. It appears her hastily cooked plan didn't work. 


However she won't give up, they can still talk about the programming she showed and what he showed to her. Though she has no idea about runemancy. To even start understanding what he is doing she needs to grasp what these runes do in the first place.


"I will keep it in mind. Now, do you need some help with this?" He asked her as his curiosity was piqued. Sion smiled seeing that. While this is something she can solve herself, she wrote this down to pass time, however, she can use this to keep him occupied.


"Sure, I want to see how good you are~," The girl teased him, and there was a smirk on her face.


~~~ 


While all this was happening behind Rin's back, the black-haired girl's hand was shaking from anger which was boiling under her poker face. 


Same time panic started to settle in, the reason for that is that this purple-haired girl, which she believes is from Atlas Academy has fully revealed herself as being Magus. 


Rin is still thinking about how this girl passed the point where she was NOT thrown out by Marcus!?


Like from her understanding he is ruthless to outsiders. That guy went insane when he faced Marcus in battle! So how did this purple head pass it!?


Not only that but now this Atlas girl is feeding his curiosity and getting closer to him!


Not good! Not good at all!


The only consolidation she has is that tomorrow she will be visiting his house for dinner and she will be able to get close to his parents. 


A few minutes later the class was over and it was time to walk to the next classroom. This time Rin decided not to lose. Nope! She will be sitting with Marcus!


As they walked to Geography class, the black-haired girl made sure she was close to the Alchemist. It was quite amusing from another perspective how these two are acting, they are quite brazen.


Like Sion and Rin have him surrounded from both sides. Not allowing anyone to get close to him. Not only that but the pair don't pay attention to each other at all.


It is an extremely weird kind of situation, by this point anyone with some sense in their mind understood that the pair are here just for him. 


Now the question is why? Why did two girls transfer from distant countries to get with him!? How is he that special?  


These were the questions everyone was asking! What the hell is going on!?


So the moment Marcus took his seat Rin swiftly and elegantly took the seat next to him. Making Sion narrow her eyes for a bit. Though she didn't reveal any sort of anger, it's not visible, that is, however, she IS thinking about how to get rid of this opponent of hers.


Such a period is limited for Sion as the moment Marcus starts paying attention to this Japanese girl that moment Sion can't eliminate this threat to her! 


While the purple-haired girl is brooding, Rin was trying to control her smirk. She was victorious, however, she can't be complacent. Her opponent might take her seat next time!


"Rin… you do know that this seat belongs to Victor." 


"It's okay, he allowed me to sit here!" Rin said that while giving Marcus' friend a LOOK. She is almost threatening him!


"Y-Yes, it's fine…" Victor said that while taking his seat randomly at an empty table.


"What I said!" 


"Right… you can just tell me that you want to sit with me," Marcus said with an eye roll as he pulled out his maps and geography books. The Alchemist truly loves History and Geographic! This is what Sion and Rin noticed so they are trying to keep up with him.


"...You!…are you all Europeans this brazen!?" Rin said with an embarrassed blush.


"No, but you make it obvious enough." The Alchemist-turned-teen said while opening the books he did check over the wind patterns…

 

Rin was wondering what he is planning, as his actions are quite… Specific, same with Sion who was curiously looking at him as well. Maybe she will find more specifics on how he is planning his attack.


"...Yes, I suppose this is me getting back for missing an opportunity to sit with you at History." The black-haired girl said that while looking at Sion there was a frown on her face. 


"It's not our fault that you overslept." Marcus quite ruthlessly reminded her which made Rin put her head on the table. She tried to NOT mess up like this but it did happen!


Stupid Tohsaka luck! She growled internally. Though she had a bright idea the very next second!


"...Say…Marcus…can you help me with the missed classes? I don't get left behind more than necessary." Rin asked almost cheekily, the girl trying to capitalise his attention as much as possible.


"...Hmm… Don't know… I might have some things to do today." He genuinely considered that. To which Sion's eyes widened!


Does Marcus have a genuine interest in this Japanese girl!? The purple head can't understand how this girl has this much sway on him already!?


"I don't mind." Rin was already happy that he considered helping her. She can always try this again.


~~~ 


"Master…one of the Homunculi reached its operational limit," Hildr contacted her Master via their connection.


Marcus slightly closed his eyes and did some basic calculations in his mind.


"I see… Bring it to the Homunculi table. I will return to the workshop the moment I am done with the last class."


"Understood."


'Itt was almost on the clock, however, there are some inconsistencies with timing. I am going to need to check the memories.


Version 1.3 is much better but at the same time the inconsistencies start to pop alongside the patterns of self-consciousness.' 


Marcus pulled out his notebook and swiftly started to write with runes instead of numbers. Truthfully he found using runes much easier than the actual numbers 


Maybe it's something he developed over the hundreds of thousands of hours of using them. 


'Yes, the percentage is slowly climbing up, curious, I suppose self-growing shackles would counter that but it would impact negatively on the development of all of this.'


Once doing his calculations Marcus put both of his elbows on the table and his fingers intertwined he looked like he was in deep thought. Rin who was paying attention to him most of the time could only be confused about what all of this meant! 


What just happened!? Why did he just flip right there and start to do something weird?


"I won't be able to help you today, I suppose we can do it tomorrow." The Alchemist said to Rin as he closed his notebook.


"Ehh?"


"As I said, something has come up. I need to get back home." Marcus reminded her of what he said just a few moments ago.


"I-I see…" The only thing Rin could do is simply cave in and accept it. She was quite a bit disappointed, but she is thinking that he is doing something Magecraft related so she won't be too noisy.


Though seeing how disappointed she was it was just too hard for Marcus to have his Grand Alchemist Poker face on.


"*Sigh* As I said we will be able to catch up tomorrow." 


"...Yes…I suppose." 


While all this was going on, Sion had a thoughtful look, she understood that one of his Servants, most likely Caster, had reported something and he needed to return to his Workshop.


Her theory is that he is already constructing his invasion fleet and his armies look more and more plausible. 


However, what begs the question is how… far this goes? How much did he have completed? Is it possible to stop this without causing a complete fallout?


For Sion, it's much more difficult because she wants to recruit him as her father asked AND she wants him for herself. However, at the same time, she wants this society to survive to some extent! 


This makes her extremely hard to decide how to proceed with this!


A few minutes later, Geography was over and everyone was going home, Marcus was one of the first to leave the classroom. This left Sion and Rin packing their stuff quite slow 


However, Sion soon started to speak with Rin in Japanese. 


"You do know he is not naive or dumb. He most likely already knows that you are Magus. So, I have no idea what you expect by pretending to be a regular girl." The purple-haired girl said in fluent Japanese, it got Rin slightly off balance. She didn't expect someone to speak in her native language like this.


"...You should already know why I am here. I am here for the same thing you are here for." 


"I am here to recruit him to Atlas Academy, my Academy is far more equipped to train and allow Alchemist talent to mature and grow. Unlike your Clock Tower."


"...I am not with the Clock Tower."


Sion's eyes widened for a bit, this got her slightly by surprise. So, there are independent families who wish to get him! She thought for a bit that such families would have no chance at all, thanks to the Boundary Field, but it appears Marcus allows people who don't emit mana to enter his Town.


'That's either an oversight by him or he just doesn't care…'


"So you are here to get him to marry you. Hmph… then you should have something great to offer of value to get him to notice." 


Still, the Atlas girl thinks that her chances are the biggest.


"Well, that's for Marcus to decide is it not? I already had dinner with him yesterday and I will have one tomorrow with this family." Rin said quite smugly as she enjoyed the face Sion was making. Fire has been lit up in the Alchemist girl's eyes!


No wonder Marcus was like this! This girl had some sort of head start! But how did this Japanese girl learn about him faster than her Atlas or Clock Tower!? This doesn't make sense!


~~~~~~With Marcus~~~~~~ 


After doing all of his after-school rituals Marcus went to his workshop, thankfully there was no one in the house to keep him out from outside so the Alchemist swiftly snuck into his workshop and walked to the main area.


His eyes ended up on the Homunculi laying on the table.


A few moments later both of his Servants have manifested. Thrud and Artoria Fae are with him always on standby while Ortlinde and Hildr suppose to watch over Homunculi, but that has dropped to just Hildr and his Artoria Maid who was forced to chip in.


The maid is not happy that she is not being used for 'maid duties' her maid duties are slightly warped… For some reason being a borderline assassin is considered part of maid duties. It's most likely from all that cosplaying she had been doing before becoming a separate Heroic Spirit.


Regardless, it's amusing for Marcus, and at the same time, he has a good opportunity to use Maid's talents for weapons. The pale blond just loves shooting more than using her sword by this point. Which is a weird and slightly concerning sight.


"Nice work Hildr."


The pink-haired Valkyrie manifested a few seconds later. She had a small smirk on her lips while at the same time fighting off a blush. Thrud was looking at her sister with a slight frown.  


Her Master has not praised her this year! Which made her try harder in the future!


"It was no problem! Just doing what you asked!" The Valkyrie tried to play it off as humbly as possible however one could see she loves being praised like this.


Marcus saw it too, so he decided to use a 'killer blow'. He patted her head. Which made Thrud blush as well. As Hildr couldn't control herself and a chain reaction was sent through their Valkyrie network. 


Since Odin made them connect mentally, they can share their memories and feelings. So Hildr sends this feeling to Ortlinde and Thrud. While Thrud saw this, Ortlinde was caught by surprise and the black-haired Valkyrie had no idea what was going on!


"Good girl, good girls are rewarded for their work." As he said that he of course abused this situation and touched the small wings on her head. 


It was fascinating to experience. 


"M-Master… m-my thanks… B-But…" Seeing that it was getting out of hand he pulled back and looked at the Homunculus laying on the table. 


Hildr slightly reeled back from this her blush was getting out of hand, she was relieved and at the same time disappointed that her Master pulled back. By this point, she was greedy and didn't allow this specific pampering to be sent to the other two Valkyries! Yep, she only allowed the initial head pat but not the prolonged one to spread!


They should do their very best in their work if they want to be rewarded like she just did!


While the Valkyrie minds were in the gutter, the Alchemist in question was in front of the Homunculi; he activated the table and accessed the memories of this particular Homunculi. 


The method of this is quite peculiar, he specifically designed it for easy memory access. The memories form in a form of runes which can be downloaded in the form of waves. The table itself is the key to all of that.


In other words, the moment you put your head on this table the table will read the brain pulses and will allow being downloaded in the form of runes. 


However, the issue lies that accessing a human mind is much harder not to mention altering these memories. That's because, at the very core, it's electrical pulses and not mana waves in a form of runes like his homunculus.


While the homunculus brain he created  was altered to allow memories to be downloaded, uploaded, and altered to fit with what Marcus wants. 


This is the foundation of the network he is building. He is building an ever-lasting army that technically can't die. They will lose their bodies but their memories will be recorded and placed in another body or machine, depending on what opponents they will face.


Thankfully for Marcus, he doesn't need to watch every single memory, no he has his Legio-OS, and his pseudo A.I. already can differentiate and pick up anomalies in these memories. 


"Three this time, more than last time." Marcus saw the display in the cloudy hologram above the laying homunculus.


"Last time it was one…was it?" His Caster said that as she remembered. 


"It was."


As he said that he made the memory run, they could see how homunculus was doing his work and there was a certain reaction from it. It had panic? It sensed its body failing! 


"Survival instincts? Fear of the unknown?" The maid said with a frown as she watched it.


"It appears so, this is curious…" 


Truthfully the Valkyries are feeling… Quite… well…Deja Vu? As in they see themselves in this… The more they watched this the more they could understand. These things are becoming self-aware and individualistic. 


They would have weird-ish angry feelings at their Master if he was making them forcefully have short lives. But they are not as they know that he is simply working towards a more perfect model and these Homunculi don't truly die. Instead, their memories are put in a different container to continue to live.


After watching signs of instinctual fear of death and being self-aware that their bodies are falling apart. Marcus downloaded all these memories. 


He then fixed up the body and decided to do some memory-altering. Marcus understood that they have developed basic fears. So, now he needs to combat these fears. Fears are good, but too much and you will be unreasonable. 


To fight that he will give them knowledge of the 'Afterlife' their afterlife. Unlike other beings, the afterlife of his homunculus is completely different. 


Yep, they don't truly die, they return, better, stronger, and smarter. With this Marcus will have their fears disappear. 


So to do that he sent the memory to his main computer and started his work.


By the early evening, he was done. He had the specific blueprint for this base memory. Once he was done he uploaded the altered and improved memories to the homunculus.


The flesh automata opened its eyes. And looked around in slight confusion. At that moment it realised that it needed to get up.


"How are you version 1.04 model 1?" At this moment he is calling them by numbers but as they get more advanced they will have their unique names. That is important for them, he wants to see them name themselves. 


"Optimal condition. Ready for work." Homunculi said that with enthusiasm.


Marcus for a bit smirked internally, it appears pseudo-faith is truly a powerful tool.


"Good, Hildr take it back to its workplace."


The pink head Valkyrie slowly nodded and took Homunculi to its workstation. 


"What was the improvement?" Very curious Artoria Caster walked over. Her eyes were sparkling for a bit and she noticed that something was…better about this version unlike the previous one.


"I let them know what happens to them when they stop functioning." Marcus simply explained to his Servant.


"From my observation so far they will treat this like religion." 


The Alchemist said with a thoughtful look, not only that but he will be able to work with this and further improve their functionality.


"I see…I am curious to see how this will continue to work." The Caster was the most curious about this while the Maid Artoria was still the most sceptical, there is always part of her that says that they will rebel against their creator because of some absurdity. While the blonde Valkyrie didn't care either way how this is progressing, the most important part is the treatment of these creations. She hopes that they don't do something stupid and cause their Master to act radically. 


This reminds her of her elder sister, one could say that Brinhildr's fate has traumatised the Valkyries, making them as obedient as possible towards Odin.


After fixing up the Homunculi and recording the changes, Marcus proceeded to check out the work on the extension of his Workshop.


Well, calling it an extension doesn't truly fit as it can be considered a separate building underground, connected via an underground road.


Not only that but it takes around 5 to 8 minutes of walking via this underground road. The best thing he could come up with is that it's a workshop complex.


Once there one wouldn't think it's a massive complex with drydocks, R&D, Military Barracks, or a source of infinite energy. 


As it's just wide double-doors with a small car park. 


Even then there is nothing else on the walls, just grey walls, and nothing else. Those two doors make it look like it's just that… doors in a wall…


Minimalistic as one could get.


Once one passes these doors they are in a corridor with a wide ceiling. To both sides, there are pairs of lifts and in front of them are the doors with a sign R&D.


Instead of going forward, Marcus took a lift to floor -3. It was the Assembly line floor. 


Once there he walked past quite an empty and not yet-developed floor. One could see that there are no walls yet.  Only columns exist to some degree which indicates where the Assembly line ends and where the Drydocks begin.


As Marcus walked over to the edge he could see Drydocks stretching as far as one could see. However, this is where he noticed an issue.


As someone who never built such massive ships before he skipped a simple issue…it's dark, it's very dark!


He could see lights in the distance. As those come from the walls. All his walls have built In light projectors. It's a precursor to a holographic projector which will roll out when LEGION is operational.


However, lights in between are not present. It's dark, this leads him to think about reconstructing the flooring. Making it similar to the floor is how the Assembly Line is built. It's extremely flexible and can rearrange and go up and down in segments. In other words, an extremely flexible surface.


It will be extremely helpful in building the Star Destroyers he wants. 


'This is what happens when you are so used to space that you forget about flooring and lighting…'


Marcus sighed, another oversight, he built his Blackbird in space with his Sky Wolf suit on. Lighting was not an issue when you can see regardless of the lack of light. His homunculus doesn't have it. And just upgrading all of them at once will take longer than building lights here.


'I suppose for now I will add those light projectors one can put on his head.'


After thinking about that he jumped into the drydocks, and there was around a 50-metre drop. Once there he could feel the true scale of this place! It was an enormous 1-kilometre-wide cavern! It's simply huge and dark! He could see extremely small lines of light In the front, it is quite a bit of distance away from him!


"Does it have to be this dark?" The Clueless Fae asked him as she was looking around just as he was.


"No, it's another oversight of mine. You could say I messed up with the design. 


'That happens when you don't have an A.I. keeping track of your things.'


"I see, so you do mess up from time to time." She pointed that out ruthlessly. Marcus' eyebrow twitched for a bit. He was thinking of tickling this obnoxious Fairy….


"Yes, that happens when you get used to different circumstances." He said that with a shrug as they decided to explore the cavern for a bit.


He wants to have a feel for a bit of how a 1-KM-long spaceship would feel like walking around inside of one.


After all, he is planning to make capital ships even bigger…


~~~


Once after walking around for a bit he jumped back into the Assembly line floor. 


He checked the times and found out that he still has around 2 hours before his parents start returning.


Thinking for a bit he decided to get up into the garage and start working on the car.


As it would start being strange that he is spending this much time and the car still looks the same as it was a few summers ago!


So once he changed into spare clothes he walked over to the garage and proceeded to do some work. He is gonna cheat on some things and at the same time he will be doing it the old classic way.


After a few missteps, he started to recall how to fix a car's internal combustion engine. Not only that but his father did provide him with spare parts needed to fix this car.


Now the thing is how will he proceed? Should he fix it completely? But if he does that then he won't go have an excuse to be in the garage. However, he can't pretend he ain't doing anything either. He would look dumb.


This leads him to need to find an excuse…


'I suppose I could do something with Victor… I Do have a secondary entrance to my workshop.' 


As he was thinking about this he used Alchemy to remove any sort of dirt the engine had, it only took a few seconds but it looked like a brand-new BMW engine. Once he was done with this he then proceeded to work on it.


Removing broken parts and adding the replacement ones which he cleaned up and reinforced before doing so.


By the time his father returned home, Marcus was halfway done with the engine.


He was thinking to stick with 'moderation' but it doesn't work this way, once you start doing you just continue doing it.


"How is it going?"


"Halfway done with replacing all the broken parts." 


"Not bad! You should be done with it before you get your licence." 


'Licence huh…'


For a bit, he had a few flashbacks of how it went last time. He did ace it, However this time? He needs to catch up on theory. It has been ages…


A few moments later Roland inspected his son's car, he quickly noticed how clean it was. The car was freaking polished and almost looked brand new! And that is an impressive amount of dedication to make it look like that! Especially the engine part! From the looks of it was fully taken apart and individually put back together! That's what he believed had happened!


Not realising that Marcus did all that in just a few hours!


"Very good, very good indeed! Are you sure you don't want to try to work half-time at my place?" He asked with a smirk. Now after seeing how he fixed this BMW, he is itching to put his son into his car shop.


"Yeah…I might skip it."


"Hmm, sad to hear, but I guess I understand, you still have Rin to woo." Roland teased Marcus for a bit. While the Alchemist slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath.


"I suppose, I still need to check if I have products for all the things which I want to cook."


Hearing how he was ignored and focused on cooking made the older Goldman a little bit sad! Is his son partially immune to teasing!? 


Nope, he is not but he is good at focusing on the things at hand. So he just detaches himself from the outside world when he needs it.


As Marcus walked into his house he went to the bathroom where he washed off any oil he had.


Then he walked to the kitchen, and checked out the fridge, he had a mental list of things he needed. Seeing that there is some stuff lacking he decided to fill it up over the night since he won't be truly sleeping the whole night. He needs to catch up on all the lost time he had with Sion's and Rin's interference.


Especially now with that oversight more work is piling up. He has even more stuff to do! Before he can even think of rolling out his Star Destroyers!


Once he checked out the fridge he walked into his room and swiftly went to his notebook and started to think about how to implement the flooring he had in mind.


~~~ 


As the morning was there Marcus was feeling a little bit strange, he doesn't mind cooking for his parents. But, he never cooked for anyone else. It was a strange feeling of… pressure? He can't call it anxiety, since he knows his cooking is freaking good. He has centuries of experience. 


So, he can classify it as pressure, a pressure to perform at maximum efficiency.


This made him start preparation quite early, though his mother's teasing has been annoying to deal with.


This is why he completely ignored her, this made her stop teasing and allowed him to focus on making perfection.


The best part was that his parents didn't say anything about food products magically appearing in the fridge overnight.


They all decided that it was Marcus doing his preparation.


In truth, it was only that he never bought anything…


"You do know that you don't need to cook a feast…" Rose said with some concern as she saw all four spots of the cooker on, from her understanding Marcus is cooking at least four dishes…


"And it's not, with how light this stuff is it will be all gone by tomorrow." The Alchemist said with 100% confidence.


"Oh? You think we will eat it again?" She asked curiously. 


"Of course, it's my cooking we are talking about." 


Hearing such arrogance in his voice she smacked him on his shoulder.


"Such arrogance. Fine, let's see how good this stuff is!" 


Marcus simply eye-rolled at her, around a few hours later there was a ring on the doors. 


'She is here. It's impressive how easily she found this place with few directions.'


"Mom, open up! I am busy here!" 


The Alchemist-turned-teen said that while he was busy cooking up a storm. He prepared a few European, Indian, and even Japanese stuff. He especially went out of his way to make Sushi.


Yep, sushi, it's something he has not eaten for ages, thanks to Rin he got reminded that this stuff does exist.


So now after a few minutes of memory diving, he recalled a few recipes. 


~~~~~~With Rin, Few Minutes Ago~~~~~~ 


The Black Haired twin tail girl was walking through quite an empty suburban street. She was slightly freaked out about how… Calm and quiet the whole area is! It's simply…peaceful!


'No wonder Marcus ruthlessly continues to protect this place!'


It's obvious why! Even in Miyama district where her house is not this quiet! 


Though she can't ignore the elephant in the room, she can sense that this place is the centre of the Boundary Field, she can sense that this place is where mana is sent out to engulf the whole of the town. 


Whatever Mana generator he is using it's simply monstrous in size!


Rin was wondering if it was he who created this source of energy or if he found it in his ancestor's house. It is simply hard to believe that he was the one who created it. 


However, if he is the one who did it then…


'Kaleidoscope did say that he is a true genius…' 


It's one of the reasons why Rin is trying this hard! 


Eventually, she arrived at Marcus' house, she saw two cars parked in the driveway and the garage at the end. For a second she got the urge not to look at it… It was a strange urgency.


'Intent-based Magecraft… It appears the workshop is in the garage.'


The Tohsaka Heiress thought with a frown, now she wonders how long it will take her to enter that place.


Normally in Magi traditions, she needs to be married or at least engaged to enter another Magi Workshop or some sort of high-level permission like being an apprentice. 


So, even if she is a friend she won't have a chance to glance at someone like Marcus who is conservative and suspicious to the point that he deployed a Town-wide Boundary field to know if there are any sort of people or creatures which emit mana.


After taking a deep breath and gently slapping her cheeks Rin entered the territory of the Goldman family and walked up four stairs and then rang the bell at the front doors. 


'Right! I didn't forget anything, got my sweets and chocolates…' The girl was doing last-minute checks even if it was already too late to do it.


She quickly checked her clothes and her hair, then she heard a person walking over and opening the door.


"Hello, Rin! You are just on time!" 


For a second the black-haired girl grimaced internally. The culture barrier is still showing its fangs to her. Hearing how she was called by her first name made her a little bit shy…


"Hello, Mrs—-"


But, she wasn't allowed to continue as Rose just pulled her into the house. 


"Don't worry about it, Marcus is still in the kitchen, I think he is trying too hard!" 


The girl got confused! Like a lot! This is so strange! 


Though she got swiftly adjusted and just got into the groove. Though she did receive a pair of slippers along the way.


"Umm…I didn't know what to get…so I got some…sweets?" 


"Ohh! So kind of you! But you shouldn't worry about sweets! Marcus is making a cake as well!".


For a second Rin's brain short-circuits!


He is making a cake!?


"H-He is baking a cake!?" 


Now she is feeling pressure. She thought she could be a better cook so that she could have an advantage!


"I know right? Never saw him do it!" Rose pulled Rin inside the living room. She already saw the table had a bunch of dishes and she could see some sort of artist's flare on it. 


Truthfully, the more she sees this stuff the more she is intimidated and… feeling the itch to show off her culinary skills. She can't be beaten in this domain!


"Strange? Don't you think… We should make sure he doesn't mess it up?" Rin tried to find out if he failed or not in baking a cake!


"Maybe~ but I do have faith in his cooking skills, he never failed to Impress me before." Marcus' mother said with a smile, which made the black-haired girl slightly uneasy.


The pair walked to the kitchen, and their noses were assaulted by an avalanche of smells. The first thing Rin saw was Marcus almost like a maestro in a concert but instead of music, it was cooking.


This was where Rin was quite a bit perplexed, one to be this good in the kitchen needs to spend years, but… it just doesn't make sense.


Marcus is her age! And she has been cooking for the majority of her life! And yet she can't even do half of the things he is doing… He was doing three dishes and a cake at once! 


Or it's just her mind trying to categorise something her brain can't explain to her with her current set of skills.


"Mark! Rin is here!" Rose got Marcus out of his cooking trance as he turned around and looked at the intruders 


"Hmm?"


His eyes ended up on the girl, those red ribbons on her twin tails instantly got his attention.


For a second he stared longer than necessary but then he snapped out.


"Oh…Hi! You look great! But for now wait I will finish this in… 15 minutes tops, and cake in another 20?" 


His answer was a jumbled mess of praise for her looks and of course food he was cooking.


Marcus' mother was the first one to react as she grabbed blushing Rin and pulled her out of the kitchen, she doesn't want him to mess up!


She was proud of how he praised the girl! Even if it was a confusing mix of food, he still did it! 


"Don't worry he did mean that you look pretty! My boy is quite blunt when he wants to be. And I believe he was blunt at this moment!"


The girl slowly nodded, this was quite a surprise attack on her, which made her already lose in this fight. However, her crafty mind is telling her that this is fine!


Even if she crumbles before him, this means he likes her, and if it's positioned in a way she will end up as his girlfriend!


However, her pride won't allow such an easy defeat! She would make him embarrassed at least before she would crumble before him!


As she was thinking about him she didn't realise that she was practically surrounded by Marcus' Mother AND Father!


Yep! Their questions will soon descend upon her!


~~~ 


As Marcus brought in the curry he saw both of his parents slightly sniffing, as if they were almost crying. 


'For the love of all the Cosmic Gods what just happened here?'


"Mark! You must hear this!"


He rolled his eyes for a bit before placing the pot with curry on the table.


"What is it, mom?" He asked with a sigh.


"Rin's situation! Both of her parents are dead and she is here all alone! Don't worry sweetheart you always have a place here!" As she said that Marcus' mother once again hugged her. 


Making Rin continue to experience over-the-top weirdness, she never imagined someone else's mother could be this affectionate and even overbearing because the girl simply has no guts to say no to her! Especially in front of Marcus who just looked at her with a resigned look.


Now that his mother mentioned Rin's parents he remembered that Fate is extremely fucked up! Like Rin's father died in Holy Grail War, followed by her Mother a few years later, then he thought about Shirou…Emiya? The kid with swords, both his parents got cooked in the fire while he was adopted by a dying man who caused the fire, that's fucked up, then Sakura Matou, ex-Tohsaka, adopted by a bug man, whose bugs do things to her and then her adopted brother does things to her.


Finally, the last heroine and the face of the franchise… Saber…her family issues are as weird as the rest… from her father impregnating a woman who is not his wife, to Merlin doing some rituals to give Saber dragon core, then her older sister Morgan causing as much chaos as possible to destroy Saber's rule… 


'All in all, so much drama, but you will do anything to get those readers, and I can guarantee that the creator of this is just doing this on purpose to get people invested in this…'


'Though my world conquest's desire simply pales in comparison with the amount of fuckery Fate can provide…' 


'I am not even going to try to compete there.'


As he thought about this. He decided… to be in the same boat as his parents. Since she is trying so hard.


"Sounds bad. She didn't tell any of this yet. We will talk about this later, let me finish with this." As Marcus said that he went back to the kitchen.


While Rin continues to be hugged by Rose who was simply pampering the 'poor' girl.


Though a few minutes later at the dinner table, the four people were seated. Marcus' parents had teasing smiles on their faces as the black-haired girl was seated next to Marcus. 


The thing was they were not even trying as it's usually how they are seated. The spot next to their son is always empty but not today. 


Today Rin was occupying it.


"I did some mixed stuff here, I want to see what you like and what you don't." He said to the girl. His plan is very basic and simple. He created an array of food and now he will figure out her taste for food so that he could prepare more of the stuff she likes in the future.


"You don't say…" The girl was feeling slightly intimidated by the amount of stuff there is on the table! Are they celebrating something or what!?


"Yep, just try out."


"...You don't expect me to finish all of it?" She asked with some worry.


"Nope, I am asking to test it out." He said with an eye roll.


"Fine…" Eventually, she caved in. Her plan is already out of the window. She doesn't even understand what is going on. This family is just like that…weird. In a good way.


Thankfully she saw a lot of familiar dishes so she didn't need to force herself to try them, she already can predict what kind of taste she would get. 


However, her eyes slightly widened, as her taste buds were assaulted strongly.


"...This is good…" She doesn't want to admit it but he has her on the ropes! This only makes her want to try to get better! Hell! She needs to get better! 


As she continued to taste his food the bigger the dark cloud was gathering above her head. Not only were his Japanese dishes better than hers but even curry was better!


Eventually, before even realising she has stuffed herself full!


"...No…no...no more…please…" Rin gave up, she leaned her back into the chair.


This was evil…she didn't expect Marcus to be this evil… not only did he beat her this bad in cooking but he even forced her to stuff herself full of his food. 


Even his parents were reeling in from the quality stuff he produced. 


"...Mark…how on Earth did you make this good? Do they teach you cooking in school?" Roland said while he ended up sitting… almost laying… on the couch, he could barely move to get the TV remote.


Marcus who was observing this could only shake his head, his father is being Drama Queen now…


"They do."


"They Do!?"


"Yep, in the sixth year, we had metalwork, working with wood, food making, and even stitching." The alchemist said that while quite fondly remembering how he was utterly not interested in anything except metalwork and a few electronics. He didn't like it so much that he still remembers it now. 


He is not thinking about this time around, this time around he aced everything, he is thinking about his first life. He can still recall that stuff. Even if it's just flashbacks…


"Huh… I see…" 


"Anyway, the cake should be ready in a few more minutes."


His words made everyone groan. No one was holding back.


~~~ 


After all the food is done Marcus' parents allow the pair to do their thing. They were too full to care anymore… 


So the Alchemist decided to take Rin to his room, the girl in question was waiting for this… However, she was quite disappointed at how utterly barren his room was!


This again… Was weird for her! 


'Is it because all of his stuff is in his workshop!?' She bit her lower lip as she realised that this might be the case!


Though her brain could not care anymore she just ended up sitting on his bed. Since he ended up sitting on the chair.


"...I give up… I don't think I can win this…"


"Win what?"


"Cooking… Your food is far better than mine…" She said while ending up falling to the side. Her head ended up on the pillow, it started to pull her into drowsiness.


"Well, I was trying to impress," Marcus said while pulling out his notebook and returning to his work.


"...I think you overdid it…but it's nice to know that you tried to do that…" Sure enough, Rin ended up falling asleep.


Marcus just smiled seeing that. Well, it appears he WILL get some time to do some work.


"Master…she has fallen asleep." Artoria Caster said while she was looking at the girl from her spirit form.


"I know, this is a good time for me to get some work done!" The Alchemist was quite a bit gleeful about this. But at the same time, he would look at Rin's sleeping form. It's quite strange to see her in his room!


Though eventually, he decided to help her, as the way she is sleeping will bite her back. 


So he sends a few runes her way. She ended up laying properly on her back. She was dressed to impress with a smart and cute combo red dress with a shirt.


Not to continue looking at her he was thinking of pulling a blanket on her but he realised that he doesn't have a simple blanket! All of them are quite stuffy and it gets hot under one. So he swiftly created one with his Alchemy. 


Before using another rune to make this blanket cover her.


With all the prep work done, he could relax and continue with his design! He needs to finish making his floor in the Drydocks areas!


~~~ 


A few hours later Rin slowly started to wake up, her dreams were utterly weird! One she imagined being chased by a crazy purple-haired girl who for some reason wanted to stuff her full of food!


Then she ends up being saved by Marcus, her knight/Boyfriend who starts cooking for her and then starts feeding her as well!


Slowly it has turned into a horror story as she ended up being chained to the dinner table and forced to swallow an endless amount of food! 


"So weird… So horrible!" She said that without even caring or realising where she was in! 


"Rin you up?" 


Hearing Marcus' voice she snapped out of her drowsiness and snapped her gaze to the side. 


She realised that she was in his room! Sleeping in his bed!


'Ohhhhh CRAP!!!'


"Relax, jeez." Marcus rolled his eyes as he realised that this girl started to panic; she might end up entangled in the bed sheets if she continues like this.


"S-Sorry! I fell asleep! It was just too comfortable!" 


"Relax, it's fine. I guess it's partially my fault that I made this much food." He said with a shrug as he didn't mind her falling asleep, it was quite cute. Sadly he doesn't have the means to record it apart from saving it as memory. 


'*Sigh* Should I make more advanced phones? Because if this continues it will be ages until proper phones will make their appearance.' 


Just thinking about this made him realise that he Is just adding more work for himself. But he does miss his smartphone. He still had one at the end of his previous life. Though by that point it wasn't a phone but more like a terminal for data…


"...Fine…" In the end, she stopped whatever panic attack she had and dropped Into bed. 


Though slowly a blush from embarrassment started to creep into her cheeks. 


Rin's current mental score is 2-1 Marcus is leading… Just in a single day, today, he overtook her and made her feel quite a bit intimidated to fight back.


Thinking for a bit she then realised that she messed up even more, she forgot to bring her school bag as well… They were supposed to study, more like him paying attention to her while he helps her to catch up!


However, she forgot it! Now she just wants to find a hole and hide there for the rest of the week or a month!


"...I forgot…I forgot my school bag!"


"...That's fine. We can do something else or do you want to go home?" He said that while continuing to do his thing which Rin can't see from her angle!


"No! It's fine! Say… What are you doing? You have been constantly drawing something!" She asked the same thing Sion did, by this point her curiosity piqued just like it was with the purple-haired girl. For her, it's simply because of how seriously he is working on that!


"Designing, I am quite good at it. First I put my idea on paper and then I check if I can turn it into a reality." 


She nodded at his words… Slowly she got up from the bed. It was quite warm but now as they say she needs to face the reality outside of her comfort zone.


Rin walked over and looked at what he was drawing… It took her some time… But, she eventually realised that it was the floor of some sort… Quite advanced she has no idea about half of the things she saw, but the general principle is something she understands. This floor is segmented and can move parts independently.


'Something for his workshop… Just from looking at this, I want to see his workshop.'


"...Say… do you perhaps know how…" She thought about this for a bit before continuing." Work on gems?"