Hey guys, it is I, the phoenix, back with probably one of my fastest updates ever.
The creative juices are really strong in me right now, probably because of how much I love Infinite Dendrogram, and I have a lot of time now since college has been closed because of COVID-19.
The response to this story was actually more than I expected, which makes me glad. I hope this story becomes popular enough to jumpstart the Dendro fandom.
Anyways, in the Reviews, you guys had some things to say, so I'd like to address them all.
Firstly, Shirou's Embryo isn't based on Saber in any way, shape or form, as you will see towards the end of the chapter. The reason for this is simple; its cliché, and it isn't what the Embryos are about.
Infinite Dendrogram's Embryos are semi-sentient (non-Maidens/Apostles) or sentient (Maidens/Apostles) beings that study their Masters before adapting to a form that suis their needs.
Saber is quite useless on this front, because what Shirou needs isn't an attack boost.
I won't say anything more on the subject, because the rest should become clear to you.
And about Shirou himself, he is primarily UBW, although he has the memories of his alternate counterparts and Archer. This is because UBW Shirou has the strongest character development and abilities, the only other one coming close being the Miyuverse Shirou, who probably would have surpassed UBW Shirou if he actually showed up more.
And as for the pairings, it depends on what you consider a harem. I normally write multiple pairing fics because of the fact that I want to explore every romantic route and cannot write multiple stories due to a lack of time. However, there aren't that many viable pairing options for Shirou in this one, mostly because there are only two viable Tians and the only Master who would even invest in Dendro enough to join a relationship with Shirou would be Tsukuyo Fuso. As such, this story probably will be multiple pairing, because this is Shirou we're talking about, but the number won't be exhorbitant like DxD or Naruto. I'm thinking that five is the most I could use for pairing options anyway.
And yes, I intent to write the first fic where Shirou has a trusty steed. And I think Zephyros Silver is the right Prism Steed for him, considering its lack of abilities compared to its brothers and sisters as well as its history.
And I have a few ideas about his Jobs, and the only ones I will comfirm are Prism Rider, a Low Rank Job, and a special version of the Cook Job, which is also a Low Rank Job. I was thinking Gladiator as well, because they can Equip all weapon types and Shirou already knows Archery and can learn weapon techniques near instantly, meaning he doesn't need classes like Swordsman or Lancer.
And lol, FinderxGrail ship confirmed? I honestly didn't intend it that way, but I had a good laugh at how it was interpreted.
Anways that's all for now, so let's get on with the show!
Chapter 2 - Another World
{The Armory, Shirou Emiya}
"Ahhhhhhh- *thud*!"
Unfortunately, Shirou had realized that sometimes, things just didn't go his way.
Strike that. Things never went his way; that was a common theme during the Holy Grail War he had participated in.
Or Wars, if his conflicting memories could be believed.
It was with these thoughts in mind, along with a few obscenities he had learned from Archer, that Shirou hit the ground.
Shirou groaned, before realizing that the fall didn't hurt.
What in the world was going on?
Getting to his feet, Shirou staggered as he clutched his head, biting his lip to avoid yelling at all the information that was flooding his mind.
It took a few minutes for the pain to subside, but even when it did, Shirou still remained sitting, silently thinking about the sheer absurdity of what had happened to him.
He had won the Holy Grail War, although Rin should have technically been the winner when he had killed Gilgamesh, as the last Master with a Servant.
However, his action of killing Gilgamesh in the manner he did seemed to have changed things, at least in the eyes of the Grail.
When he had been sucked in, his last-minute use of Avalon had actually paid off, keeping him safe from Avenger's taint and essentially forcing the Grail to grant his 'wish', his right as the victor, without twisting it like Avenger no doubt planned to.
But now he was in another World.
Infinite Dendrogram.
To be accurate, he was in a video game in another World.
He looked around him.
He was in some kind of plains biome, that looked fairly western in nature, and the sun was high in the sky. Beyond it, he could see a rolling grassland that lead to a city, from the huge white walls he could see on the horizon.
He stared blankly as the wind blew through his hair and the birds chirped happily from their perched on the sparse trees high above him.
The sun's light was warm on his skin, and the grass beneath his feet was soft and had a pleasant odor, as if it had been freshly mowed.
How could this be a video game?!
Considering he came from a time before even the likes of the Nintendo DS, it only made sense that this 2004 teen would be a little hard pressed to understand technology from 2044.
Yeah, that was another thing.
He was four decades in the future, compared to his old World.
And apparently, four decades was enough for video games to evolve to a point where entire worlds were created digitally, and the players could enter these worlds by wearing a headset and play in a different body, their in-game Avatars, as if it were their own.
Shirou's mind was blown by the sheer scope of such a thing.
Rin would most likely have been frothing at the mouth to see technology do things that Magecraft couldn't even dream of.
Honestly, the only similar phenomenon that he could compare to this from what meager knowledge of Magecraft he had would be his own Unlimited Blade Works, and even that paled in comparison to the concept of the World he was in.
He snorted. Forget frothing at the mouth, Rin would have directly gone into cardiac arrest if she ever heard of Infinite Dendrogram.
Rin...
Shirou sighed. As strange as his sudden shift in reality had been, what it meant was clear...
He would never see Taiga, Sakura, Rin, Saber or anyone from his old life ever again.
The thought made him sad.
He hadn't known a few of those people for more than a week, but he still felt the loss keenly.
Tough situations often caused people to bond faster than normal, and the Holy Grail War was the epitome of tough.
But this meant that he had to keep moving forward, because that was what they would want.
At least, that was what he knew. But that didn't make the act any easier.
He sighed, and looked down at his left hand.
There was a sort of translucent gem stuck to it, blue in color with a few streaks of gold on it.
An Embryo Seed.
He had only peripheral knowledge on the subject, but Embryos were apparently special powers available only to Masters, as the players of the video game, which apparently also included him, and not to the Tians, the native residents of Infinite Dendrogram.
They could take any shape and depended on the user's personality and actions, carefully studying them before taking up a form.
That was about the extent of what he knew, but it was still an amazing, mind-boggling power.
But what kind of Embryo would hatch from studying a Faker like him?
Next, he pulled up the Window, which was apparently a translucent... window that acted as the Interface that the Masters and Tians alike could interact with in order to check their Jobs, Levels, Condition and Stats.
That was another thing.
Infinite Dendrogram was so seamless that every being in the world was aware that their reality had rules straight out of a video game, and actually developed their culture around such things.
Anyways, he knew enough from what the Grail had told him and his own, although quite limited, knowledge of video games to understand the Job System and the Levels.
He had played a few of those RPGs on the Gameboy he had, as well as some good old D and D.
Anyways, the Window was quite easy to use, with his name and a simplified version of his Stats present on the right, and the left side had various menu commands listed out.
Predictably, his level was 0, which was the starting level.
His Stats weren't that great either, his HP or Health being only 100 and his MP (Mana Points) and SP (Stamina Points) being only around a quarter of that number.
His other Stats were all below 20, although his highest was his Endurance or END, which was 19.
Made sense. He took hits far more often than he would have liked.
He spent a good deal of the Holy Grail War getting knocked around, after all.
His STR (Strength) and AGI (Agility) were a bit on the lower side of the average, but his DEX was pretty high, his second highest at 17.
Surprising no one, his LUK (Luck) was his lowest Stat, sitting at a solid 1.
His Main Job slot was occupied by something called 'The Armory'.
According to the description, it was a 'Special Superior Job', which sounded pretty rare, and was awarded to someone who 'embodied the concept of the armory'. The actual conditions to get the Job were apparently as follows;
1) The person must have Equipped over a thousand different Unique Weapons in their lifetime.
2) The person must have all the weapons they have Equipped on their person at all times in the same storage space.
3) The person must have reached an acceptable level of skill with each weapon they have Equipped.
The description seemed needlessly vague, as if it was a rush job, but Shirou realized that the reason he had gotten this Job was most likely because of Unlimited Blade Works, which was essentially a gigantic armory within his soul that he used to create and Trace Noble Phantasms into the world. Although he himself had never Equipped over a thousand weapons in his lifetime, it was possible that since Archer was in fact himself, the man's deeds applied to him as well, which is what let him fulfill all the conditions.
It seemed tailor-made for him, weirdly enough. He didn't think that hard work and talent alone could lead to someone fulfilling all the conditions for that Job.
Unknown to him, that was exactly what Finder had intended when it had made The Armory, a Special Superior Job, a type of Superior Job that could not be obtained with talent alone.
An example of this was the Sacred King/Sacred Princess Special Superior Job, which could only be used by a member of the Altarian Royal Bloodline.
In this case however, the second condition was impossible, as it meant that the person aspiring for the Job could not remove their Inventory spaces even once, which wasn't a problem for Shirou, whose Unlimited Blade Works acted as an everpresent storage space for weapons.
Indeed, it was a Job only the Wrought Iron Hero could use, a fact he wasn't aware of.
Opening the Skills section of the Window, he saw that he had two, both of which were due to simply possessing the Job known as The Armory.
To him, these Skills were all too familiar.
Structural Analysis and Tracing.
Sadly, he didn't seem to have Reinforcement, the last of his staple skills, but Shirou was thankful that he was at least able to keep the other skills he was the most familiar and adept with. To be honest, while Reinforcement would indeed be missed, Shirou thought that there was a chance that he would regain it if he increased his Level. That's how things usually worked in video games, after all.
Both of them were Level 1, which, once again, wasn't all that surprising considering he was basically just a starting character in a video game at the moment.
Reading their descriptions actually provided a bit of valuable insight on his abilities that even he hadn't truly known about.
'Tracing' was registered as a Skill that allowed him to reproduce an inferior version of a weapon within his 'armory' (AKA Unlimited Blade Works), and project it into the real world. According to the Skill description, at the moment, the Traced weapons were limited to swords of the Epic Rarity or below, and possessed only a tenth of the weapon's abilities. And they only lasted about 20 seconds, and weren't cheap either.
While he was disappointed that his skill with Projection had essentially been reset just when he had learned how to use it fully from Archer's memories, there was still hope.
Apparently, as he leveled up the Skill, he would gain access to more varieties and rarities of weapons, not to mention their quality would improve drastically, and they would last longer and cost less. It sounded just like a video game version of his signature Magecraft. The Skill description even hinted that when he mastered the Tracing Skill, that he would be able to 'fully visualise the concepts of his armory' and possibly produce weapons at their original quality or even surpass it, something he had only been able to do once in another timeline with Caliburn and another time with Avalon, both of which he had an intimate connection with through Saber.
Leveling up the Skill also brought down the MP cost and extended the time the Traced weapons would last, so Shirou was oddly optimistic regarding the Skill.
The way he saw it, while he may have been reset in terms of power, he had the ability to not only reach the level he had once been at but also surpass it, and reach new heights.
Which meant he could save more people.
And that meant any difficulty or sacrifice was worth it.
Structural Analysis also seemed to be in a similar boat as Tracing. In fact, it seemed to fuse his innate ability to tell the history and composition of a sword from merely a glance with the actual Structural Analysis Magecraft he had used during his lifetime.
It had been weakened drastically, requiring a decent amount of SP, but its functions were apparently much stronger in this World, which is why there were so many restrictions placed for such a seemingly harmless Skill.
According to the Skill description, Structural Analysis was a unique version of an already existing Skill known as 'Reveal' completely exclusive to him.
What Reveal did was show the Status Windows of other Masters and Tians, revealing their Main Job, Level and Stats. It also could be used to tell the properties of items that didn't belong to the person and could be used to determine whether something was a fake or not if it was levels high enough.
It was a valuable Skill for just about anyone.
But Structural Analysis took that to a whole other level.
With this Skill, Shirou could not only see the history and techniques of a 'weapon' (which also included armour for some reason) and also add it to his Unlimited Blade Works, but he could also do everything else that Reveal could, along with being able to see any Status Conditions such as Poisoning and even Weak Points in both people and buildings along with Weaknesses in Monsters that he could target to cause Critical Damage.
However, just like Tracing, the Level 1 Skill had severe restrictions. He could only use it on swords that weren't Special Rewards from UBMs, normal swords with a Conceal Skill, or Superior swords, and he only had a 3% chance to find a Weak Point or a Weakness.
However; this is where Sense Skills came in.
Sense Skills were properties and talents that couldn't properly be equated into Skills in Infinite Dendrogram.
They were abilities that people had without any relation to a Job.
For example, a Skill that boosts damage from swords, which was probably a Swordsman Job Skill, was not a Sense Skill.
However, the technique and actual swordsmanship a person had through training was.
Jobs were great and all, but what was incredibly realistic about them was that they couldn't be used to their full potential if their holders didn't have a Sense Skill necessary for its utilisation.
For example, someone with the Cook Job, which he admitted he was slightly interested in, could make horrible food if they actually didn't know anything about cooking as the only thing the Job did was increase the chances of the food having a greater quality, which was meaningless if the person didn't have the Sense Skill for cooking.
Conversely, someone who knew how to cook normally could make exquisite delicacies without actually requiring the Cook Job.
Naturally, this also applied to weapon techniques that weren't Skills and stuff like archery, which meant that he had retained those two abilities.
This meant that he could also gain and properly use the information he gleaned from Analysing weapons, since the weapon techniques and user history he picked up were technically Sense Skills.
Or at least, that was what he understood from the information he had been given by the Grail.
Lastly, Shirou moved over to the Equipment slot, only to have his eyes widen in surprise.
Getting up to his feet, he walked over to the edge of a stream and looked at his reflection.
His outfit had changed.
He wore black body arm or made from a special material, which consisted of a black tight and sleeveless shirt with sliver accents outlining his muscles and a metal plate on his collar, black pants that had two black straps on his thighs, and another two strapped around his shins separate from each other. He was wearing black, metal plated shoes, which appeared to be attached to his trousers. His..., no... EMIYA's, signature red coat was present, a Holy Shroud which was actually two separate sleeves connected by a metal plate at the back which covered his arms and was cut off showing his upper torso and midriff, and had a separate red open skirt which ended above his shins with the top fashioned and tied with an agemaki knot, covered by a silver metal plate.
In a few words, he was wearing Archer's Servant outfit.
Well, not exactly.
One half of his Holy Shroud coat was gone, leaving his right arm bare, and instead seemed to be wrapped around his head like a headband of sorts.
Shirou didn't know how to feel about what he was wearing.
It wasn't about Archer. He may not have liked the man very much, but it was him who had become that person, and for a reason he could understand. Archer had only been trying to help him either get rid of the ideals that would damn them both or at least help him understand what they really meant.
The guy might have been a sarcastic jacka*s, but he was also Shirou's future self, and the only reason they had managed to win the Holy Grail War.
Shirou decided that he would keep it. To him, this outfit represented the version of him that hadn't been able to accept his ideals, while the personal spin on it, the missing right sleeve and the headband, seemed to signify that he wasn't the same man anymore, and that he had accepted his ideals.
It was the symbolisation of the words he had spoken to Archer when they had fought within Unlimited Blade Works.
He clenched his hands slightly and released them, marvelling at how comfortable this odd set of clothes truly was.
As expected of Archer, or more accurately, himself, all of these items had some sort of practical applications, which was reflected in the Equipment description.
Actually, the Equipment was all registered as one piece that took up all of the Equipment Slots related to clothing.
His current outfit was currently called The Red Plain Mystic Code, and was described as 'an outfit representing the crystallisation of one's ideal'. This piece of Equipment had a few special abilities.
Probably due to the Holy Shroud that made up his coat, it had Demonic Resistance Level 1, Debuff Reistance Level 1. The body armor seemingly gave Damage Absorption Level 1. That was about it though.
Still, three (admittedly weak) Skills on a piece of starter Equipment seemed like a good deal to him. The Stat bonuses were nearly negligible, giving a meager 5% boost to all Stats, which would admittedly come in handy later down the line, but not for a long time.
Anyways, the outfit also had an additional Skill called Mystic Code, but for some reason, he couldn't read the Skill description, which seemed to be all jumbled up.
And that was about everything.
According to the map, he was in a place known as the Easter Plains, just outside of the Capital of the Kingdom of Altar, known as Altea. Apparently, if the Help Menu's little message was any indication, the map had to be filled in by the Master themselves as they explored the world, but as his starting Kingdom's Capital, Altea was already registered on the map. There was a little more in depth information, but Shirou decided to save that for when he actually needed it.
However, that made the first order of business much easier to decide.
He had to go to the capital and get more information. And probably secure basic amenities such as food, water and shelter.
Archer had gone through a great number of operations like this in his lifetime, which is why Shirou himself was able to get a decent grasp on the situation and determine a quick plan of action.
Firstly, he took a look at his Inventory, which was in the shape of a small pouch fastened on the inside of his left sleeve.
Predictably, he had nothing more than a beginner's knife and five silver coins, which amounted to 5000 Lir, which was the currency in Infinite Dendrogram. Each Lir was worth about 10 Yen.
He took out the knife, Equipping it immediately.
He needed a physical weapon at the moment, since the level his Tracing was at made it highly unreliable.
Not to mention he would be basically unarmed once he ran out of MP if he solely depended on what he Traced while at such a low level.
He quickly used Structural Analysis on the knife, only to find that it was a basic knife given to beginners, something he already knew, that merely enhanced his ATK by ten points when Equipped.
However, he also gleaned that it was one among many mass produced by a blacksmith of the kingdom and sold for a rather cheap price.
By using his Skill, Shirou gained a three-dimensional blueprint of the knife in his mind, although it wasn't as detailed as it used to be. He could feel it joining Unlimited Blade Works, and could also tell that there were several regions where the metal hadn't cooled properly, making it weak.
The sound of a growl made him look up from the knife, and Shirou saw his first monster.
It was a creature he was all too familiar with from popular culture; a goblin.
It looked rather stereotypical, a short green creature with a round belly, beast little eyes and a gnarly face.
It had the words 'Little Goblin' above its head, and it wore nothing more than a tattered tunic, lacking any weapons.
Shirou hesitated, looking at the creature, giving it the opportunity to charge him.
Seeing the little beast barreling towards him, Shirou was startled into action.
"[Trace On!]", he intoned.
He knew he didn't have to use that Aria to spark his magic, as the way it worked here was fundamentally different to his old World. However, it helped him concentrate and it was something he was intimately familiar with doing.
Now knowing that magic didn't work through Circuits here, Shirou dig deep into himself, where he found a small mass of swirling energy that could only be the core of his power.
Predictably, it was small, smaller than the reserves granted by his own magic circuits, but for this situation, it was more than enough.
He quickly went through the steps of his magic, which felt more akin to instinct at this point.
Judging the concept of creation.
Hypothesizing the basic structure.
Duplicating the composition material.
Imitating the skill of its making.
Sympathizing with the experience of its growth.
Reproducing the accumulated years.
Excelling every manufacturing process.
These seven steps were the staple of his Tracing, and as a result, he now had two knives in his hands, as a replica of the first appeared in his left hand.
As the goblin rushed him, Shirou sidestepped the charging creature, releasing a single slash to its side with the blade in his right hand, causing it to shriek as blood spurted out of the gash on its side.
Without wasting any time, Shirou slashed again, this time at the back of the neck, and the creature burst into notes of light, leaving nothing behind.
Shirou looked at the ground where the creature had disappeared with an odd look on his face even as the knife in his left hand disappeared in motes of blue light.
While he hadn't wanted to kill the creature, because it could have been sentient, which didn't really seem that out of the ordinary considering the kind of World he was in, it had attacked him first without any trace of actual intelligence, and that meant his worries were unfounded.
He checked his own Status.
He had lost about a quarter of his MP just to Trace a mundane knife, which meant that he still had a lot of work to do before he could get back to his old level.
And the only way to do that was to practice Tracing.
He sighed and walked forward, Tracing another nameless knife and heading towards the few monsters he could see between himself and the walls of the city of Altea.
{Unknown Location}
"You all saw it, didn't you?", asked a gruff voice, glasses glinting in the light as the speaker beheld his compatriots.
"Indeeeed.", said one of the other beings in the room, looking at the screens depicting the Easter Plains, intently watching a boy in red and black fighting a few beginner-level monsters.
"We momentarily lost control of all the systems. Not to mention that space was literally twisted for a good few seconds.", said another voice, sounding fairly upset.
"And when we regained control we had a new Master with a new Superior Job.", said a female voice, sounding interested.
"I think we should-" "-leave him be!", said two smaller figures, seemingly twins.
"Dum and Dee are right.", said another voice, the interest clear in her tone. "It is clear some outside force placed this Master into Infinite Dendrogram. We know nothing about the situation, but it isn't immediately dangerous to us. He doesn't seem like he knows much about the place at all, just like all the other starting Masters we've had. Besides, his Embryo readings are quite unique."
"Unique? How exactlyyyyyy?", said one of the earlier voices.
"It's been influenced by some foreign object on the level of a Superior Object, is not greater. As a result it'll take longer to hatch compared to normal Embryos, but it'll be pretty unique. I think the only readings that come close to this one were Kaguya's."
"That is pretty interesting.", said another voice. "So a Type-Maiden, most likely? Probably with Arms from what I can tell about this Master."
The figures watched intently as the Master they were observing, Shirou Emiya, charged into a small group of three goblins, and proceeded to tear them apart by creating a weapon from nowhere and using it in conjunction with the knife new Masters received as starting gear to tear apart the low level monsters.
"'The Armory', huh?", said a figure wearing a suit with unusual colours, a huge grin on his face. "As the 'Incarnation of Armaments', I admit I want to test his mettle myself."
"Do your job first, and then we can talk about extracurriculars.", said another voice, annoyed.
"Going to such lengths is unnecessaryyy. I think the boy should be given the same freedom as the other Mastersss."
"Hmmm... I agree. We all value the freedom of choice. I say we let this slide. However, do keep an eye on this one if you can."
"I think I can do something on that frontttttt."
"Agreed. Cheshire and I will keep an eye on this new variable. You all should get back to your stations."
"Thank you, Jabberwock.", said one of the figures, before disappearing.
Her departure was succeeded by the rest of them teleporting away as well, leaving only the figure with glasses and a lone companion, a bipedal cat wearing expensive clothing.
"It's not often you volunteer for something like thissssss."
"This one interests me, Cheshire. I can tell with just a glance that this 'Shirou Emiya' is nothing like the Masters we have had so far. It's honestly quite refreshing. I assume you'll use that Avatar you have in Gideon to make contact?"
"Hmm. I haven't decidedddd. But we will meet, one way or anotherrrrr."
His piece said, Cheshire left, leaving Jabberwock to look at the screens alone.
He pushed up his glasses.
"He has a nice outfit.", he noted absently.
And so, with those words, the fourth Crontrol AI of Infinite Dendrogram, responsible for the management and production of UBMs, Jabberwock, the Incarnation of Evolution, an Infinite Embryo, returned to his work, though in his mind's eye, an idea for a new project was beginning to form.
And it involved the strange new Master known as Shirou Emiya.
{The Armory, Shirou Emiya}
He had reached Level 3 by the time he reached the gate.
He had killed about 4 Little Goblins in the distance from the area he had landed to Altea's East Gate, along with a few little rabbit-like creatures called Pashi Rabbits. From what he could tell, they were basically the generic trash monsters of any standard RPG, which was proven by the fact that they couldn't damage him at all.
During one of the battles, he had misjudged the amount of time left before his Traced knife vanished and it had led to one of the Little Goblins clawing his arm. However, much to both their shock, the little monster hadn't been able to drop his HP by even one point.
After going through the Window one more time, Shirou realized that it was probably because of his high END coupled with the Damage Absorption Skill on his outfit, which nullified damage that couldn't take more than 5% off of his HP.
This meant that the creatures were effectively hitting him for less than 10 HP, which was kind of sad.
Anyways, he hadn't received any new Skills from leveling up his Main Job, The Armory, but his Stats had increased pretty well, and his SP had increased to about half of his HP, which was now at 480, and his MP had increased to around a third of that amount.
This led him to conclude that 'The Armory' granted him Stat gains mainly in the SP, END, and MP departments, with a small buff to HP gain. His other Stats had barely increased, supporting this hypothesis.
He wasn't really much of a professional gamer, once again, because he hadn't reached the true Era of Video Games back in his old World, but it looked like his Job was trying to increase his ability to survive and launch more attacks specifically as opposed to making himself or his attacks stronger.
Anyways, he had reached the Gate leading to the interior of the city of Altea after about an hour of walking. It was surprising, because the city hadn't seemed to be that far away, but he accepted it nonetheless. Besides, it had given him to opportunity to thoroughly assess his Tracing, which was the reason his MP was drained to about 6 points.
Funnily enough, Mana Exhaustion seemed to be a thing in this World, because he felt mentally drained after the walk through the Easter Plains, even though he'd barely done much physical activity.
Of course, it didn't bother him all too much, as he was a guy who had been turning his own nerves into makeshift Magic Circuits, an act that caused about as much pain as inserting a rod into your spine, since he had been young. A little lightheadedness and exhaustion wasn't enough to make him falter.
Anyways, once he had reached the Gate he had prepared himself to be thoroughly interrogated by the guards and to be halted from entering due to his lack of identification papers.
But that didn't happen.
The guard had taken one look at the Embryo Seed on his left hand before making a sound of acceptance.
"Ah, a new Master, I presume. Welcome to Altea! If you're looking for food and lodgings, there's a good place called the Orion's Belt Restaurant, which is run by another Master, and an inn not too far from it. I hope you enjoy your time in our fine kingdom."
Giving thanks for the information and a smile, Shirou had walked in, taking his first step into the only sign of civilization he had seen in this new World.
And his breath was stolen away by what he saw before him.
He had actually stood there for a few moments, taking it all in.
To put it simply, the city looked like it had been pulled out of Primeval Britain. The architecture, the massive palace towering above the other buildings, and the statues of knights that had bordered the path to the East Gate, all looked akin to those that Saber would have been right at home with.
In fact, from the memories from Saber's past he had witnessed, Camelot actually looked very similar to this city. Just standing there made him feel oddly nostalgic, and he wondered whether this is what it would have been like had he been alive during Saber's original lifetime, when she was still the proud King of Knights that had ruled over Britain.
He opened the Window and took a look at the map he had, this time taking a closer look at Altea.
The city of Altea was circular in shape and surrounded by castle walls. These walls had a Gate at each of the four cardinal points, and stretching out from each of them was a large, stone-paved road leading to the center of the city. The roads would have intersected into a cross if they had continued; however, this was not the case. At the center of the royal capital was another ring of castle walls, and inside it was the area for nobility. Special permission was required to enter this area, and at its center was the royal castle.
While he had a heavy desire to see an actual Medieval Castle, most likely because of Saber, it was probably best that he ignored such things and looked towards more practical matters, such as finding this restaurant.
He was hungry, yes, but his inner chef was also crying out to him, demanding that he plunder the recipes of this new World and bring its chefs to their knees, making them proclaim his superiority.
He blinked. Where on Earth had those thoughts come from?
Shaking his head, he looked through the map for a moment before finding his stop, not far from a fountain present near the Southern Gate.
He had a fair bit of walking to do, but there was a smile on his face as the cool Altarian breeze ruffled his hair.
An odd sense of purpose had filled his steps as he strode across the cobblestone road, and for some inexplicable reason, Shirou felt that he was taking his first steps towards a brand new future in this strange World he had been stranded in.
{?}
It had been watching for only a short period of time.
Not even a day had passed.
And yet... it had learned so much.
A stray tendril of thought reached out towards one of the innumerable, nameless blades planted in the cracked earth all around her Seed.
Its shapeless form shuddered as a rush of memories that weren't its own filled its mind.
'save- everyone! Not- right- betrayed- ideals! Kill- paradox- World! No regrets- chosen path! Unlimited- Blade- Works!'
The tragedy of a hero clad in red and black, the tale of a young boy who had lost everything, felt immeasurable pain, and wanted to make sure that no one else did.
A young fool who believed in his ideal of saving everyone, and what had become of that person once his ideals had led him to an inevitable end.
And yet, it was the tale of a boy who had accepted his fate, walking his path with no regrets, even if it would only lead to misery and sorrow.
Then, all of a sudden, after seeing this story, a question was born within the mind of this unborn infant.
'If you will save everyone... then who will save you?'
This thought was the spark that catalyzed a unique reaction.
More tendrils of thought began to branch out from the small, blue and gold Seed that had appeared within this soulscape of blades, and connected to the rest of the weapons that had been planted there, in the cracked ground present beneath floating gears and a twilight sky.
More and more memories began to flow into the Seed, shaping it further and altering it fundamentally, but the unborn semi-sentient being within could not form an answer to its own question from the data it had gathered.
After reaching a horrifying conclusion and an unsatisfactory answer to its own question, the Seed began to glow brightly, illuminating the surrounding area in bright hues of gold.
Then it shattered into particles of light, which began to coalesce into a form much larger than the Seed had been.
This reaction had many unique variables.
The first and main one was the presence of the Noble Phantasm known as Avalon, which had been absorbed by the Seed upon implantation, an act that occurred more due to the former than the latter.
The reason for this?
The Everdistant Utopia hadn't finished its task to its satisfaction.
It hadn't been able to properly save and serve its user, and that was something that rankled it, a strange reaction no doubt due to its status as a Fae Artifact. So, it began to look out for an opportunity to correct this slight, fusing with the Seed as a means to increase its own usefulness and find an opportunity to protect its chosen one.
The second important variable was the limited consciousness within the Seed itself, the unborn Embryo, better referred to as its Zeroeth Form.
Avalon hadn't influenced it, but it had still reached a similar line of thought. By design, it was meant to study the mannerisms, personality and memories of its host, and develop into an appropriate Embryo that would complement their personality perfectly and suit their needs.
This lead to the Embryo analyzing the memories stored within the blades around it, and that analysis led to the singular thought it had formed earlier, which lined up with the desire of the Noble Phantasm it had unknowingly fused with.
This was enough for the reaction to start.
The shape that had formed was exposed when the light faded, revealing that it had become a she.
She was beautiful. She possessed an unnatural, unearthly radiance that went beyond human. Looking at her, no one could mistake her for a simple, mortal woman.
Perfect skin. Black, flowing hair with a golden ornament holding it on the back of her head, and smaller, blue and translucent ornaments emblazoned with golden inlay present in a small number along the tresses that flowed down her back. She had flawless pink lips and a delicate nose. Her chest and hips could have made Aphrodite herself green with envy, forming a perfect ratio despite not being overly large like the unreasonable chests modern anime girls seemed to have.
Every nail and inch of her body was perfection incarnate. To complement it all, she wore a flowing blue and white collared dress that reached till her thighs, which left her back bare if it weren't for the two straps that intersected across it, held in place by a ring of gold.
She wore bracers of the same color scheme on each hand, which ended just an inch and a half past her wrists. A white circlet bordered by rings of gold was present on her left leg, while the right one had a white shin guard rimmed with blue. A golden ornament adorned each of her upper arms, and she wore earrings and a necklace of the same material.
A sash of what looked like water itself condensed into the form cloth floated around her, each end being held in one of her delicate hands.
This form was developed not from the memories of Shirou Emiya, but in fact, from the likeness of a woman intertwined closely with the Noble Phantasm that had fused with her Seed.
The physical appearance this Embryo had taken was the mirror image of the Lady of the Lake, Nimue, a member of the Fae and the adoptive mother of Lancelet, a Mage with the power to contend with Merlin, who had mentored her.
Her beauty was so radiant and unearthly because she had developed in the likeness of one of the Fae, and had a bit of her essence to boot, allowing her to capture all of Nimue's physical traits without any trouble.
She opened her eyes, revealing orbs of spun gold that one could stare into forever. Beneath her bare feet, the earth began to change and grass began to grow, as if nature's presence had been reinforced.
A slender arm reached out, and flawless fingers curled around the hilt of one of the blades around her.
She closed her eyes as memories began to flow into her, causing her fingers to tighten as she went rigid.
When she opened them again, they were shining with determination.
She looked up at the sky.
It wasn't time yet. But the time when she would fully mature into her First Form was coming soon. She could feel it.
She was an Embryo born from the Distorted influence of Shirou Emiya and one of the most powerful Noble Phantasms on the planet.
She was Avalon, Maiden of the Utopia, a Type Maiden with Arms Embryo.
And when the time came, she would embrace her Master and do everything in her power to protect him, a man who would throw away his own life to save others.
This was the answer to the thought that had catalyzed her birth. If he would save everyone, then she would save him, until the end of time.
This was her vow, her directive, and her purpose.
Phew! That chapter was a doozy!
This chapter, I'll just say, was basically just some minor worldbuilding and an explanation on Shirou's current abilities.
I understand that some of you might be a bit peeved at his nerf, losing Reinforcement and everything, but we need to look at this from a Gamer standpoint. Shirou is still a Level 3 Master. If he retained his skills at their original levels, it would cause some pretty huge imbalances and raise a lot of questions.
Besides, if Reinforcement can allow a guy to see 4km clearly and enhance physical capablilites to the level of Servants, then that means it would be a 1000% buff at least, which would make it way too OP for a Gamer fic.
Don't worry though. Shirou will become strong and even surpass his old level of strength by a huge margin, so just stay tuned. And if you were wondering, his outfit is the same as the thumbnail, the Archer Card Install Outfit.
Anyways, the AIs have taken an interest in our boy, Shirou takes his first steps in a New World, and deep within his Unlimited Blade Works, Avalon is ready to be born.
And many of you might have seen this coming, but Avalon is in fact Shirou's Embryo. Her physical appearance is the same as this picture I found online.
I simply loved it, and decided to use it as the physical appearance of Avalon, based on the Lady of the Lake, Vivian. The link doesn't seem to be working, so just look up 'Vivian Fate' and check out the image on the Fate Origins Fanon Wiki.
Her Skills and the like will be given only in the story, in about a chapter or two.
Anyways, the next chapter onwards won't be that much of an info dump. I only needed to do that this time just to write the situation down. I'm writing this story in the same way as the Light Novel, so there may be times when you don't even realize this is a Gamer story.
That's just the way I like it.
Anyways, that is all for now, so I'll see you guys next time, which will hopefully be soon!
Spatialphoenix here, burning to ashes.