(Systems Magecraft Class)
Emet found herself in a bit of a trying situation, to say the least. While properly speaking, all homunculi had a magic circuit unlike humans, the gradations ran all the way from extremely high-level specimens like the Masters who could anchor and connect multiple Servants while in a Singularity to ones who seemed to toe the line with not being able to exist as a homunculi.
Granted, their system of grading magecraft proficiency was like human certification levels, meaning that individuals could move up as they matured and improved their skills. However, by the time one was an adult, any hard 'physical' limits on their potential would have been thoroughly mapped out. Thus, it was inefficient for those with a lower-bounded potential to invest a lot of time honing generalist magecraft skills. In short, those found in Chaldea were well past the point that they could realistically transition upwards, as it were.
Certainly, after the summoning of Scathach there had been substantial improvements in the use of Runes, but that did not really carry over outside of that specific context. What they really needed were Caster Servants with different magecraft types that they could push off. Ideally some sort of teaching-type Servant who wasn't famous for raising heroes; such things were not scalable, as Siegfried would say.
From the start, Rune and Specialist tiers tended to use their magical circuits as task-specific tools or, as was the barest minimum, to maintain their connection to the System. Anyone who had been in the Standard tier for long enough that they were picked for a Chaldea assignment was not likely to be able to abruptly transition into the Research tier.
But here we are anyway.
"One of the things to recall for this exercise is that perception is not reality. Both in the case that there may be more to something than you can directly observe, but also in the more subtle situations where one encounters what humans might call an out-of-body experience. The latter is quite common when using a great deal of analysis techniques at once, because we are simply limited in the ability to process the information despite being able to cast the specific spells that generating that data-stream."
This step was one of the harder ones. Ironically, while it didn't seem directly related to the practice of magecraft, being able to reliably access different modes of cognition was critical to improvements in the Four Houses' brand of magecraft, because it was after all related to the exercise of will - something that was not easily applied to unknown processes.
"Because the default mode network is a physical part of the brain, well according to some human theories anyway, it is generally impossible for your mind to disconnect from your body even if it seems to during certain informationally-intensive processes. Hm, what was your question?"
"Generally impossible?"
Eyeing the speaker, Emet noted her usual white hair and red eyes. Or more specifically the lack of Matou's telltale purple coloration. "Don't use the Matou magecraft on someone else unless you're an expert in certain highly specific procedures." She couldn't be any more specific than that because, truth be told, she wasn't an expert like Doru and thus didn't know. "The System itself cannot support consciousness, so it's not possible to 'get lost' in it."
She paused to collect her thoughts. "What happens is similar to walking into a closed door or even a wall because you were distracted. Your standard sensory input isn't entering your cognitive space, and while you might certainly 'perceive' an object from above it or more usefully likely within it via your magecraft, but there's no 'you' above yourself and you can't be trapped inside the object."
l
(Matou Section)
"So if you compare these two-" Doru put up two ultrasound scans for his fellows. "On the left here, the arm, you see there's improved adhesion. Or at least there's not such a well-defined boundary between the Worm and human interface. However this right one here, which is near the spine, has not changed at all. X-rays and analysis magecraft all agree that, size aside of course, the main difference physically-speaking is that these larger specimens are like the primitive Crest Worms which have a thin shell of sorts."
The boundary clearly stood out to those experienced at catching the increasingly subtle differences between the modern Worm and homunculus tissues in similar scans. Of course they had noticed this issue even after Matthew's earliest full-body scans but unlike then there was now no hope that the situation might improve, because it had in the other cases but not these specific few.
"How did they grow that large without serious side-effects before now?" someone asked, not for the first time. No one attempted an answer; half because it was such a mystery to the group, but the other part of that was the suspicion that easy answers had died with the boy's mother.
Shrugging, Doru presented another pair of scans, these ones much harder to actually produce, showing the magical energy structures in the same two locations. Those could not immediately be carried out when Matthew's situation first reared its head because only a few experts could both do the analysis and produce the scans, the latter being essentially a 'by hand' process which had to be executed with precision by magecraft while one was handling the complicated analysis magecraft at the same instant.
"Fortunately there is improved integration here. But you can see the relative difference in progression." The left: structures of the dark Matou-type connection linked Matthew's magic circuits to those of the Worm which were closest to the surface. Visually, this was clean and orderly, if perhaps a bit late time-wise; though that last was not a hard fact since they didn't have such data on humans, let alone human children. However the right scan was quite alarming; there was a weblike structure across the shell of the large Worm which apparently was slowly penetrating, but only in the form of a hazy cloud.
"It would appear that complexity rises with size," Doru commented. Sakura herself had taught him that the pattern they were viewing was what happened when one side was not being overwhelmed by the other's relative strength. Of particular importance in this case was that it did not imply the Worm was near Matthew's strength, only that he was not able to draw it in quickly like with its smaller brethren.
Given their problems, and indeed on some level 'failures', with Crest Worms they had the advantage of several generations of selective breeding over, Doru couldn't help but wonder just how much Sakura had been keeping on the low down which might have caused their efforts to develop more fruitfully. Clearly, given the evidence from her son, she had confidence that this much harder problem could be reliably tackled.
"What's odd is that this implies physical integration isn't as necessary as we thought? I suppose that makes sense, since magecraft can certainly pass through the shell, does that mean the magecraft is also a physical link, though it doesn't show up on mundane scans?"
Doru nodded, thinking it was the most likely answer as well. "If they are already wrapped up in the magecraft structure, it may conceptually prevent any separation. But the issue is that it might actually require some form of maintenance, which we have no clue about and Matthew presumably has not yet learned." Everyone present knew about the need for 'outside' expert assistance for integration of even young Crest Worms.
"Well, we might be blessed with direct answers, if the Grail System feels like cooperating..."
l
(Servants' Lounge)
"The thing is, I certainly never heard about this Friend Points thing when I had a contract with Ruby," Chloe said after a brief lull into the group's conversation on the topic. "You think Ruby somehow got an upgrade in between Wars?"
"You know," Blackbeard suggested abruptly. "Considering these various cases, it seems that Ruby is the one constant character; could it be that in our story, so to speak, that she's actually the protagonist?"
"There's no way, right?" Mary scoffed while holding up her sword and gunsword as though comparing their role to the absent wand. "Magical girl shows aren't about their wands or spells, they are parts of the narrative sure but-"
"... we might not want to read too much into what the genre presents," Chloe mused. "We already know that Ruby, a mystic code, was constructed by Zelretch. So it isn't as though we're discussing some amalgamation of magical wands' legends which then turned into an actual wand that transforms girls into magical girls."
"Perhaps it's related to the current situation?" Anne asked. "Your own career wasn't even at the world-threat level, right?"
"Well no, but that's only as far as I remember; it wouldn't even be the end of the first major story arc, given there were more Class Cards to go before the usual season-ending twist and corresponding sequel plot hook," Chloe explained. "While it seems that in 'our' case, Ruby wasn't active until that brief point where it made a contract with Caster Sasaku."
"I seem to recall being told that you had a hand in that, though?" Gudako responded from the door while entering with the mentioned Servant in tow. "That aside, I was just looking for you."
"... that was, uh, what did you need me for?"
"We're about to run some summoning before the scheduled upgrades." Chloe caught onto the unspoken context immediately and it seemed that the group's discussion would be adjourned for the day.
"Oh right, well this is out of sequence, but: Sasaku, get out da Vinci's prototype," Gudako recalled. Nodding as the Rider's backpack obediently appeared in front of her, Sasaku reached in and pulled out a narrow but definitely too-long wooden box with several clasps on it, handing the item over to Blackbeard who took custody of it with some excitement.
"Could that be?!" Anne looked excited as well, watching the Archer pop open the lid to reveal what looked like a short-barreled rifle. Keeping a grip on the box with one hand, Blackbeard turned over the weapon, revealing that the wooden furniture was actually decorated; clearly a sign that the small Rider had gotten carried away despite the gun's already referenced prototypical nature.
"Sweet," Mary's immediate appreciation of the size of the cartridge she pulled out from its snug home under the gun was followed by confusion at the sight of its projectile catching the light.
"So this is the solution our resident genius inventor came up with," Chloe looked askance at the underside. "Internal magazine? No space... she went with single shot?"
"For now, anyway," Gudako confirmed her assessment. "In any case, the real prototype is the bullets, not the gun."
"What are these bullets anyway?" Mary asked, holding up the specimen in her hand. "Don't modern guns use smaller ones than in the old days?"
"They do." Blackbeard had already taken the measure of the rounds in the box. "That's just a copy of the mundane Fifty Browning. Though the bullet seems to be the crystallization of a 'Black Keys' Craft Essence, unless I miss my guess."
"Well spotted," Gudako nodded. "While I'd ask you to wait for Chloe's return to actually do trials in the Training Grounds, please head over and give all the details of the firearm a good examination. da Vinci didn't Grail-knowledge the details of such weapons, so it may well have any number of teething issues. Actually, definitely get that done before shooting any of the rounds, since they're kind of hard to manufacture."
"I guess we better get along to the summoning then," the smaller Archer reminded her Master.
l
(Summoning Room)
Chloe was not surprised to see the Saber from her previous War waiting for them outside the Vault door to the Summoning Room. Within, the usual number of homunculi were running the standard pre-ritual checks while warded boxes of Saint Quartz and other relevant items sat in the shaded area near the doorway to the actual ritual chamber.
"You know, I wonder that it's possible to do some magecrafts, but not others, while transformed," Sasaku remarked to her wand as, headcount of Gudako and the three Servants complete, the Vault doors began to close as everyone else began operating the cutoffs.
"I think you can do regular-level things, but not Servant-level ones," Gudako guessed. "Triggering the summoning ritual obviously isn't the latter since we can do it. Really, a human could as well if the System actually allowed them to do so. Level-wise, it's the equivalent of pressing a button, just that said button is hidden and is only pressed by the use of magical energy. In short: a relay so that the user is not directly exposed to the discharge of disintegrating Saint Quartz."
There was some excitement in the air as the first set of four crystals were loaded into place. Gudako and Sasaku were additionally nervous, and though they elected not to say anything, the other Servants picked up on it and were on their guard. Kojirou in particular made sure that, as they retreated to the walls of the Summoning Room, Gudako was safely within his shadow, as it were.
"Ok, triggering in: three, two, one, now!"
The resulting explosion was entirely normal, in fact by considering how much or rather how little ambient energy was being flushed from the system, it seemed to Sasaku, standing near the epicenter, that...
"I think we've got one!" announced one of those at the terminals. "System suggests the class should be: Saber."
"We can see that," Kojirou remarked with some amusement, observing directly with his trained warrior's eye the cherry-blossom kimono-clad young swordswoman in front of the Ruler who had just summoned her."
"Shinsengumi's First Unit Captain?" Sasaku asked for confirmation.
"Okita Souji has arrived! Are you my Master?" the Saber asked in confusion, quickly identifying the person before her as a fellow Servant. Not exactly unexpected given that it was Chaldea, after all.
"Close enough, yeah?" Gudako chuckled and waved the pair over. "Let me guess, you had to pack your things and couldn't get on the previous summoning train before we left for London? Just messing with you."
"I hope that this third time around we can work together without issues," Okita said politely to Kojirou. "Though I've heard through the Saber Class grapevine that you copied my special technique?"
"Now's not the time," Gudako interrupted them as the technical crew gave them the all-clear to begin the second summoning. "We're ready so kick it off !"
Shrugging as Ruby hurriedly flew around to her back, the better to avoid being thrown against a wall by the soon coming wave of magical energy, Sasaku went through the usual countdown before starting the ritual.
"... it's a scroll," she announced finally. Everyone came over to look at the Craft Essence as she unrolled it to examine what might be recorded within.
"It's a poster?" Gudako asked incredulously. "I would have expected that sort of paraphernalia from your Friend Point runs, not these high-energy ones."
"It's a poster of Medusa," Kojirou observed of the depiction of their last unreturning member. "And it has something to it besides just the image."
"Reminds me: do you still have that item from the Archer we met back then?" Okita prompted Gudako. "I hope that it will bring up the 'right' Nobunaga."
"Good thinking," Gudako said approvingly, walking over and checking the boxes until she found one with the correct label. "Think it was being checked before we went to London. Had a core of the Event's Grail fragment... Sasaku, why don't you try using your Friend Point energy and see if it can pull through for us as advertised?"
"We were going to run through the Points anyway," the Ruler agreed. "Well let's see how it works. Ready? Three..."
"... Mwahahaha ! I am the Demon Archer Nobunaga, the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven! Very well... I will allow you to... be..." the self-proclaimed Demon Archer slowed down her introduction as numerous swords were unsheathed and pointed in her direction upon the instincts of the Servants present.
"Ah," Gudako grinned while directing everyone else to stand down. "You're the female one. This your friend, Okita? She laughs just like the other one, so we got a bit worried for a moment."
l
Notes:
Though there were two Nobunagas in the FGO Honnoji Event, and the Chapter 25 Event here, there's also the great section in the GudaGuda Order Drama CD (see minute 37ish at Youtube: v=3PtVropCefA by DenZeroSubs)
Obviously in this Chaldea Sabers are not disproportionately represented, since we have Kojirou, Artoria Pendragon (Lily-Alter), and just now Okita. To contrast, there are four Rulers.
I use Black Grail CEs to hold all the CE XP whenever converting CEs and Friend Points during the triple success anniversary period. There's a big stack of level 60 Verdant Black Keys (the red ones) in my Second Archive. That's what earlier inspired the various stories about using Black Keys in another series here on the site, but those aren't taking place in "this" Chaldea.