Ah, sorry. I realized that I had been sitting on this for a few days and forgot to post it. Oops. I blame life for getting in the way.
Checklist 16: In Your Downtime, Enhance Your Ability to Work Better
"Servants, properly summoned Servants like Caster or Saber, are familiars after the type of Ghost Liners. They are commonly declared as the strongest of all possible familiars despite having more in common with summoned spirits rather than an extension of a magus. To manifest, an extension of the Heroic Spirit is pulled from the Throne of Heroes near the Root of Akasha and is given a Spirit Origin to possess."
Ritsuka stared blankly at Mash who had requested that they meet up in the library for their lesson on 'How to Be a Master'. Romani had felt that the less Ritsuka was able to embarrass Chaldea and Olga (primarily the latter) when he interacted with the future inspectors that were bound to come after the communication problem was resolved, the better.
The library wasn't what Ritsuka had expected. He had expected to see books. Instead there were numerous cubicles and hundreds of different screens of different shapes and sizes everywhere. Oh, and there were also several printers, devices and some strange machines that Ritsuka thought might be 3D printers or magical stuff.
Apparently, Chaldea had a digital library not a physical one.
"Um, Senpai?" Mash asked uncertainly as she slid her glasses up her nose. "Is there something you don't understand?"
"Yeah," Ritsuka nodded, feeling completely overwhelmed. "All of it."
Mash's shoulders slumped.
"O-Okay then. I'll just go get someone else, wait no, I can't do that," she muttered more to herself than him in her depression. "Everyone else is busy so I'll just have to do better. Um, is there something more basic than that?"
Ritsuka stayed silent as Mash thought to herself before she nodded in conclusion.
"Alright, I'll try again. Every being, human especially, that leaves behind a great achievement in the awareness of mankind, gets removed from the cycle of reincarnation and are sublimated into a being of higher rank. Those beings are called Heroic Spirits. When we summon a Servant, we make an indirect summon contract to the Throne of Heroes where a Heroic Spirit responds and sends a portion of itself to fill the vessel we prepared beforehand. That vessel is the Servant's Spirit Origin and it functions like a body with which a magus can make into a familiar. But since the Servant is like a cup receiving a part of the ocean, not all of the Heroic Spirit can come through. So only a part is available and that part is the part that bonds best with the vessel that was prepared. The vessels include the classification, such as Saber, Berserker, Caster, Archer, Assassin, Rider, and Lancer. Those seven are the standard classes and are further broken down into the cavalry classes and the knight classes but there is also the Extra Classes such as Shielder—"
"Whoa, whoa," Ritsuka protested, hand going up. "Too much! I can't get it all that fast!"
"Sorry," Mash apologized with a disappointed look on her face.
"It's better though," Ritsuka said, heart feeling pricked by her self-disappointment. "So basically, a Servant is a part of a famous person who became larger than life?"
"Um, yes," Mash said with a complicated expression on her face. "That is one way of seeing it…"
"And all humans reincarnate but if you manage to be one of those people, you no longer do so?" Ritsuka continued.
"Yes," Mash nodded.
"And we can summon those people? Like an Isekai except you summon a famous person instead of an average person?" Ritsuka continued.
"Isekai?" Mash tilted her head. "I don't know that word, sorry."
"Um, you know, the fictional genre where a person dies or is summoned to a new world and becomes very powerful with a cheat skill?" Ritsuka explained after a moment of surprise.
"Well, some of the Servants have been from parallel timelines such as the Third Grail War's two Sabers, so that isn't too inaccurate. And their skills and Noble Phantasms can change the world and provide significant advantages against their opponents. I guess we could call summoning a Servant as an Isekai," Mash continued, blinking before breaking out in a smile. "I'm glad you know a bit about it, Senpai."
"Well, except, this is real life and those were just fiction. I doubt it is too relevant. Probably only superficially the same like most fiction," Ritsuka waved away the praise. "And I don't know anything about the classes or Heroic Spirits so I appreciate you helping me."
"Right," Mash said with the bit of encouragement buoying her spirits up. "So we have the seven standard classes plus the extra classes. Each Class has a role that they fit into and the Servant manifests a facet of the Heroic Spirit that fits into that aspect. A Saber Servant would be different than a Lancer Servant even if they are based off of the same Heroic Spirit."
"Huh?" Ritsuka blinked. "How is that possible?"
"They are different facets of the same person," Mash repeated. "A Saber would be the part of the Heroic Spirit best suited to swordsmanship. A Lancer would reflect the time that a Heroic Spirit was at their best in using a lance or spear. For example, if a Heroic Spirit from Europe's Medieval Age had their peak in life for using a lance be several years before they hit their peak for swordsmanship, the Lancer would be younger than the Saber even if both were summoned."
"So, a Servant would be able to draw upon different parts of one's life?" Ritsuka scrounged up his brow. "Like one could be a child form or an adult form of the same person?"
"Yes, exactly!" Mash beamed at him and Ritsuka felt himself smile back.
"Um, what are the roles that you mentioned again?" the new magus asked, curious. "I remember Saber, Caster, and Lancer, but uh, what were the others?"
"Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and Berserker," Mash repeated.
"Saber, Archer, and Lancer I can get," Ritsuka said, brain drawing connections. "I'm guessing Caster and Assassin are mages and assassin? And Berserker would be—"
Both Ristuka and Mash shivered as memories of the rampaging giant flashed.
"Right," Ritsuka swallowed. "I can see it now. But why would a Rider be wanted?"
"I think Rider was the first one we fought," Mash said helpfully. "Riders are typically fast classes who ride powerful beasts into battle. Often, a Rider is the Servant with the most or strongest Noble Phantasms in a Grail War. But there are a lot of Heroic Spirits who break convention so the classes are more like an emphasis for the Servant rather than a neat fit."
"So every class has something in common?" Ritsuka analyzed. "Like how all squares, rhombuses, diamonds, and rectangles are parallelograms but each one is unique and some might not resemble it at all? Like the Archer who fought by throwing swords?"
"Precisely," Mash nodded in agreement. "By knowing the Class, you have an idea of what the Servant is good in and what skills they have but they might not use them like how you would expect. Archer was good at ranged fighting and had Magic Resistance, like his class suggested but he also was very good at close combat. However, each class has one skill that they have in common. Like every member of the Knight classes, who are Saber, Archer, and Lancers, having the Magic Resistance skill. The Archer class has Independent Action in addition to Magic Resistance. But Riders, who are of the Cavalry class, also have Magic Resistance along with the Riding skill. The other member of the Cavalry classes are Casters, with either or both Item Creation or Territory Creation, and Assassins who have Presence Concealment which makes it harder for Servants or magi to perceive them. The final class is Berserker who trade sanity for even greater power, which is reflected by their possession of Madness Enhancement."
"So what are those skills?" Ritsuka asked bewildered. "I remember Olga saying that Magic Resistance blocked magic but what does Riding do? Besides knowing how to ride a horse."
"Riding affects what vehicles and mounts a Servant can ride," Mash explained. "C and B rank allows them to ride most vehicles regardless of if the vehicle existed when they were alive. A rank lets them ride everything but Divine and Phantasmal beasts. A+ lets the Servant ride even them but not Dragons."
"So what rank would they need to ride a dragon?" Ritsuka wondered.
"Um, they would need a different skill or their legend to specifically include riding a dragon," Mash bit her lip. "I'm not too sure about it, actually. I don't know of any Heroic Spirit besides Saint Martha whose legend involves taming a dragon. It is theorized that if she was summoned as a Rider, she might have the ability to ride the dragon Tarasque. However, dragons are really rare so I doubt we will ever see any even in a Singularity."
"Shucks," Ritsuka cursed. He didn't want to curse near Mash as she had this sort of innocent air that he just didn't want to defile. Like telling a kid excited for Christmas that Santa wasn't real. "I really wanted to ride a dragon."
Mash just looked at him like he was crazy.
"Dragons are really scary, Senpai," she scolded. "They are the pinnacle of Phantasmal Beasts and are the strongest in every category. Their breath contains more magical energy than a high-class magus could produce in a lifetime and they devour humans simply by existing. Even if they don't attack humans first, why would you want to ride one?"
"It just sounded cool," Ritsuka weakly defended himself. "You know like in video games, you could sometimes ride a dragon?"
"Senpai," Mash said sternly. "This is not a video game. Don't do stuff that will get you killed because we do not have save points."
"I know, I know," Ritsuka accepted the rebuke before getting back into lesson mode. "So what is a phantasmal beast?"
"A Phantasmal beast is an animal who does not belong to any of the normal species, like mammal, plant, or reptile. Basically, the creatures of fantasy. They are further broken down into three categories, each ranked by the strength of its Mystery which corresponds to their age. The weakest is Monstrous and they go up to Mythical and then Divine. Monstrous can be taken as familiars but not Mythical. Divine Beasts however are so powerful that modern magi can not even hope to harm them. We are simply too weak."
"If we can't harm them, then what would have happened if we had seen one in Fuyuki?" Ritsuka asked. "Would we have to run like we did against Berserker? Are they that powerful?"
"I think so," Mash hesitantly agreed. "However, after the start of the Age of Man, almost all Mythical and Divine Beasts left to the Reverse Side of the World so we wouldn't encounter such. Just in case though, we summoned Servants to be prepared as Singularities don't conform with the usual rules. Servants have a powerful strength in Mystery so depending on the Heroic Spirit, they can fight such creatures."
"What is Mystery?" Ritsuka asked. "You say it like it is something different from a mystery novel."
"Mysteries are things that aren't assimilated by the human order, or widespread knowledge of humanity. It is the concepts, the unknown, that humanity has not mastered," Mash taught, trying to convey the grandeur of Mystery. "If humanity has completely mastered the concept, then it no longer has Mystery, yet if humanity knows it but still struggles to define it in context of everything else already assimilated into understanding, it possesses some Mystery. But if no one understands it, it possesses great amounts of Mystery. In the end, a magus is someone who studies Mystery and keeps it hidden and unknown from everyone else so that it stays a Mystery."
"So Magi are like scientists," Ritsuka said, things clicking into place.
"Not quite," Mash hedged. "Magi are opposite yet similar to scientists. A magus tries to learn more but keeps their research secret. A scientist makes it known to everyone. As a warning, asking a magus about how their magecraft works is a big taboo, so don't do it Senpai."
"So I can't learn magic then." Ritsuka asked feeling rather down. "A magus wouldn't want to teach me."
"Some spells and their associated Mysteries are only spread among magi and are widely spread at that. Basic things like Reinforcement, Welding back into the original shape, and Projection. But they are pretty weak, usually." Mash hesitated. "I think Mr. Emiya made a breakthrough in those fields in order to make Noble Phantasms. Doing something so powerful should be impossible but I don't know how it was done."
"And we can't ask," Ritsuka concluded glumly.
"He is a spellcaster so he might tell you," Mash said wavering. "But he probably won't and it is a bad habit to get into. Most of Chaldea leans a tad closer to spellcasters than most Magi as our objective is the perpetuation of mankind but we are still magi. The continuation of mankind is necessary for Magi to continue their research after all and Chaldea's resources for research is a big factor in why so many extremely talented magi work for us."
"Wait, what's a spellcaster? Are they different from magi?" He asked, somewhat confused.
"Spellcasters are magi who don't focus on research. To them, magecraft is a tool to their objective, not something to be researched," Mash explained. "That's why most magi look down on spellcasters. It is an insult to a magus to be called a spellcaster as it spits on their inherited knowledge from their ancestors that is passed down from generation to generation. And several magi hold that using a spell outside of research at all is a waste. There are a lot of philosophies on how to use magecraft."
"Insult," Ritsuka repeated as he noted it down into the notebook Mash had procured for him. "Got it."
"Also, magi have a very specific terminology that they use. You need to be familiar with it as they will look down on you if you don't understand what you are saying," Mash hesitated again before looking away. "And Olga would certainly kick you out if you embarrass her in front of the inspectors."
"She wouldn't, would she?" Ritsuka stated before realizing that Mash was serious.
"She actually has before," Mash leaned forward in a lowered voice. "One researcher offended a Pride, a high-middle rank magus, when the Mages Association sent an inspection team. Olga threw him out. Almost threw him out into the snow but she only sealed the doors behind him."
"Oh," Ritsuka realized. Maybe Olga wasn't joking about kicking him out? "So I should be worried."
"That would be best Senpai," Mash agreed as she turned on a terminal computer next to her and started typing in with a speed that dwarf Ritsuka's best. "Which is why we are going to start with a book about the structure of the Mage's Association."
Mash stood aside for him to walk over to the monitor.
"I got the books in Japanese, Senpai," Mash said as Ritsuka looked at the title screen. "Oh, um, I forgot to ask but did you want the books in digital or print? I mean, some people like to study on paper and for them we can use the printers, it wouldn't take a moment and we have a lot of paper-"
"I'm fine with digital," Ritsuka interrupted as he clicked one page forward. And blinked as he saw the page number 2/1342. "Um, how big is this book?"
"1,257 pages," Mash said. "If we exclude the glossary."
"I've never read anything that long," Ritsuka mumbled.
"You haven't?" Mash blinked in confusion. "Why not?"
Ritsuka stared in minute horror at the girl who thought of herself as his kouhai.
What did she read that she considered over 1,000 pages as normal?
Ritsuka panted as he got off the treadmill.
He was fit and he enjoyed playing sports and games with his friends. But Mash had wanted him to keep his fitness up so physical exercise was now a part of his daily routine.
"Good work Senpai. Much better than what I can do," Mash handed him a water bottle before hitting a few buttons including the one labeled 'SAVE' on the machine. "Why don't you take a short break and then we can start magecraft lessons."
Ritsuka brightened up as he eagerly gulped down the water. He had a capacity to be a mage! And while opening his circuits hurt, the ability to do magic was still exciting. If only he knew how. While the recruiter had filed paperwork, someone else had opened up his circuits, taught him how to make and use a trigger and then loaded him on a plane to Chaldea.
"Um, Senpai?" Mash hesitantly asked with a wrinkled nose as she held up her clipboard to her face. "Please make sure you take a shower."
Ritsuka blinked before sniffing himself and grimaced. Yup. He definitely smelled.
Half an hour later, he and Mash were in a different room, ready to begin. Or at least, after he had explained how little he knew to Mash.
"Hmm," Mash frowned. "So you basically know nothing."
"Yeah," Ritsuka nodded excitedly. "But I am ready to learn!"
Mash smiled a little at his enthusiasm. "That's a good attitude, Senpai. I guess the first thing to do is to teach you how to put magical energy into things. We have several Mystic Codes you can start on. Such as the Chaldea's Master Uniform."
"You mean my clothes?" Ritsuka blinked as he looked down at himself.
"Yes, our clothes are specially made for Rayshifting," Mash nodded. "Otherwise, we would be Rayshifted to the past without anything to wear."
"What?" Ritsuka blinked and then blushed as he imagined Mash without wearing any.
Hey, he was a teenager still. He still had his hormones!
"Only spiritual entities can Rayshift," Mash continued on, blissfully unaware of the thoughts Ritsuka was chasing out of his head. "So we had to use special materials for Chaldea's uniforms. After that expenditure cost, it simply made sense to pay a little more to turn them into Mystic Codes as well. Or so I heard from rumors. The default uniform has wound closure, flash air displacement, and sharpness reinforcement functions available. While you can use the functions repeatedly, it wears away on the material and reduces its effectiveness if done too close together."
"R-Right," Ritsuka said, once again focused on what Mash was saying. "So is that like enchantments or…?"
"Mystic Codes, Senpai," Mash corrected. "I don't think you got to them in your reading yet. There are three types of Mystic Codes, Amplifiers, which either amplify or store magical energy to be used in conjunction with a spell, Specialized, which when activated and given magical energy, perform the Mystery that they use, and Miscellaneous, which is everything else. The uniforms are in the second category so as to enable anyone wearing them to do certain Mysteries judged to be of the most utility. In addition, Chaldea's Command Seals can be treated as the first category, an Amplifier with tremendous magical energy stored. In truth, they are a Mystery and interface with the FATE system, not a Mystic Code but the method of activating it is about the same."
"Really? These?" Ritsuka looked down at the three red marks on his right hand. "Cool. So to use a 'Mystic Code'?" At Mash's nod, he continued. "I have to activate it by giving it magical energy?" Mash nodded again. "So how do I give it magical energy?"
"Um, in principle, it is pretty basic really," Mash fidgeted. "You run magical energy through your circuits and give it a purpose, which in this case, you just tell it to activate the Mystic Code. Normally, it can be rather hard. You have to invoke the Mystery in the right way or else it will go wrong. If done wrong, it can do some pretty nasty stuff, like kill you or ruin your magic circuits, or possibly even worse."
"Kill me?" Ristuka gulped. Well, no one ever claimed learning magic was easy. Or safe.
"That is why magi train for years," Mash explained. "If you understand the Mystery, it becomes easier to use. Or you use a Mystic Code that someone else made and use that instead and let it do the risky work of enacting a Mystery and you just provide the energy to power it. We're going to start with a different Mystic Code which is pretty forgiving.
"Namely, just plays a song," Mash brought up a wooden toy music box. "This is just a basic tool and doesn't do much but if you mess up, it shouldn't hurt anyone. Just tell it 'play' and it should start."
"Okay," Ritsuka nodded as he reached out to the music box. "But wouldn't the Uniform work as well for practice?"
"It could," Mash allowed. "However, if you do wound closure wrong, you might close a vein and cut off blood flow to a limb or vital organ. If you do flash air wrong, you could end up splitting someone in half. And sharpness enhancement might cut someone."
"Right," Ritsuka swallowed as Mash casually mentioned the different ways he could kill someone with just his uniform. "Let's play a song then. So I just tell my magical energy to go to the music box or Mystic Code?"
"Yes, Senpai," Mash affirmed submissively.
Ritsuka breathed in and imagined the sound and light of a truck rushing down on him and flipped his circuits on.
Mash watched attentively as he laid his hand on the box. "Play," Ritsuka commanded.
Silence.
"Not a bad start, Senpai," Mash encouraged. "Try to imagine it more though. You are reaching into yourself and persuading the magical energy to react. You need to believe it will work."
Ritsuka nodded and tried again.
Hours later, a heavily sweating Ritsuka could get the box to play one out of four times. If you counted over half of his successes as weak enough to start the box but not enough to play it above a whisper.
"I think this is good enough for today, Senpai," Mash announced as she took the music box back. "We can do some more practice tomorrow."
"Okay," Ritsuka inhaled as he closed his circuits and the magical pressure she was feeling from him lessened. "So, what about Command Seals? What do I have to do to use them?"
"To be honest, I've never used a Command Seal," Mash confessed. "I know the theory but I never had any"
"Why?" Ritsuka furrowed his brow in obvious confusion.
"Because I am a Demi-Servant," Mash confessed, feeling a tad uncomfortable. "FATE is designed so that a Servant registered to it will not be able to be a Master or receive Command Seals."
"Oh," Ritsuka looked awkward. "Sorry."
"What for, Senpai?" Mash tilted her head. It was for the best that she was a Demi-Servant and not a Master. "If I wasn't a Demi-Servant, I would be frozen with the rest of the Masters."
"That's true," Ritsuka admitted. "Thanks for that, Mash. We couldn't have done it without you."
Mash felt blood rush to her cheeks at the gratitude and she fidgeted but eventually she managed to nod as she didn't feel like she could find the words right now.
"So how do I use Command Seals? You said they are magical reserves, but how do I tap into them?" Ritsuka asked, breaking her out of her awkwardness.
"Well, let's begin with their history. The originals, Command Spells, were invented by the Makiri Zouken for use in the Fuyuki Grail Wars," Mash began, the history of Command Spells and Command Seals coming to mind. "They are a powerful resource that allowed a Master to give an absolute order to a Servant. In addition, they were extremely condensed magical energy.
"Unfortunately, we couldn't get any help from the Einzbern, Tohsaka or the Matou families so our Command Seals are lacking in comparison," Mash sighed wistfully. Some ancient magi just couldn't be matched by dozens of geniuses working together. "You can use them to power a Mystic Code or to insert a lot of power into a Servant but the builders of FATE couldn't match the genius of Makiri so we couldn't give the function of absolute orders to our Command Seals. Instead, they just act as a symbol of authority and powerful magical energy that resonates with Servants.
"The bright side is that FATE can give more Command Seals and that they aren't limited to one Servant." Mash sat up straighter as she felt pride in her organization course through her. "The coded limit is three Command Seals per Master, but if one is used, we can replace them if given enough time and energy."
"So I could have used a Command Seal to strengthen your Noble Phantasm when we fought against Saber?" Ritsuka asked as he followed along.
"Yes, you could have. While I dislike saying this, given that you knew so little," Mash winced alongside Ritsuka. She knew it was cruel and it hurt, but it was true. And by setting up a basemark for his lessons in magecraft, he would feel much more confident when he progressed to being able to use a Command Seal. But it didn't feel good to be the one to say it. "I figured that you might have struggled with getting the Command Seal to constructively resonate, so I didn't mention it while we were in the Singularity. And while the Command Seal is not dissimilar to capacitors in that they store and release a phenomenal amount of magical energy in one go, the nature of how the power is released is up to the Master. You can have it be constructive resonance which will significantly empower the Servant, or destructively interfere, which will destabilize the Servant's Spirit Origin."
At Ritsuka's look of confusion, Mash fidgeted. She needed to say it more clearly. "And um, destabilizing a Spirit Origin destroys its cohesion, causing a chain reaction of mutual destruction for both the expended Command Seal and the Spirit Origin, which will kill the Servant. So, I would appreciate it if your intentions with a Command Seal is constructive interference with me or my Noble Phantasm."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Ritsuka blurted out, waving his hands wildly. Obviously, her joke had fallen flat. "You mean the Command Seal can kill you? Why would anyone want that?"
"Yes, Senpai, it can kill me." Mash admitted. He held the power of life and death over her. "It is Chaldea's option of last resort if a summoned Servant becomes dangerous to Chaldea. The Master will have a sure-fire way to kill the Servant as long as they have a Command Seal."
Ritsuka stared at his hand in horror. "I don't want this," He whispered almost as if he let his thoughts slipped.
"Or you could use it to make me much stronger," Mash hurried to say. "For example, if you had used it on me the first time Lord Chaldeas had clashed with Excalibur, we could have strengthened Lord Chaldeas so that it wouldn't have broken at all."
Ritsuka was still silent as he thought over what Mash had said. Mash waited patiently, letting him come to grips with the power he had over her. The power to kill and the power to save all on his hand in three red marks.
"So how can I make sure I never accidentally use it to kill you?" Ritsuka asked after a minute.
"Well, you have to invoke it first. Your intentions when invoking it will help a lot," Mash answered, relaxing a little. It would be a comfort to know that her Senpai could always help strengthen her whenever she was weak. "If you intend to help, you probably won't destructively interfere. But to evoke, just concentrate on the Command Seal, imagine the shape of it, and release it. You can chant an aria and then mention 'Command Seal' to make it easier. Same thing if you want to use the Command Seal for your own Mystic Code or a spell once you learn a few. I heard that if you focus on the bond between yourself and your Servant, it will help you give its power to a specific Servant."
"So, I just say a chant and mention 'Command Seal'?" Ritsuka double-checked. "Like I could just say 'Mash use this Command Seal!' or something like that and it won't ever kill you?"
Mash stiffened as Ritsuka spoke, waving her hands around and opening her mouth as she tried to stop him.
Only for nothing to happen. No flash of light, no sudden strange tastes, or feeling of pressure. Even the three marks on his hand stayed exactly the same.
"I don't think it worked," Ritsuka said into the awkward silence.
"That doesn't make sense. It should have- Oh." Mash asked, coming to a realization. She shifted in her seat a little, belatedly realizing what had gone wrong. "Um, Senpai, did you turn on your circuits?"
"Oh," Ritsuka flushed red in embarrassment. "Right, I'll do that."
But before Ritsuka could turn his trigger on, Mash interrupted.
"And, um, since Chaldea is currently having power issues, I don't think it is a good idea to use a Command Seal right now," Mash hurriedly put forth as she stretched an arm across the table, stopping a little short of actually touching him. Would it be rude if she touched him? "We don't have the spare power to regenerate a Command Seal without putting something offline."
"Oh, right," Ritsuka smiled nervously, running a hand through his hair. "Um, I'll wait to test it then."
"That'll be good, Senpai," Mash said with a small smile on her face. "I look forward to it. Your use of a Command Seal, I mean. I'm sure you'll use them wisely."
As the teacher and student, or kouhai and senpai, walked through the hallways heading to dinner, Ritsuka spoke. "You know, Mash."
"What, Senpai?" Mash asked before seeing Fou run towards her and stopped. "Oh, hey Fou!"
The strange fluffy little creature made a running leap and landed on her face. It wasn't the most fun to experience but she was used to Fou's greetings by now. Fou slid over to her shoulder and yipped "Fou," once to let her know he was stable and she could continue.
"Ah, you're so cute," Ritsuka cooed over Fou as he reached over to scratch behind Fou's ears. Mash couldn't as he was on her shoulder but Ritsuka could.
"Fou!" Mash watched as Fou puffed himself up in pride and contentment as he accepted his tribute of scratches and rubs.
"What were you saying Senpai?" Mash asked after a moment of waiting.
"Oh, I was just thinking," Ritsuka said as he drew his hand away, letting her to start walking. She hadn't done too much today but she was a little hungry. Her Master was bound to be hungrier though as he had done exercise and used his Circuits a lot more than she had. "I think I wouldn't mind learning more about Servants and how to support them."
"So you want to focus your magecraft on familiarcraft?" Mash tilted her head a bit and tapped the cheek away from Fou with one finger. "I can help a bit with that, some starting lessons at least."
"Yeah, familiarcraft is the name for supporting Servants, right?" At Mash's confirming nod, Ritsuka continued enthusiastically. "Like if I can power up a Servant or make them stronger with a normal spell, that would be great. I can't fight like you or cast spells like Caster but if I can be a support, that would be still be awesome."
"W-Well, I don't think I can help with that," Mash demurred as she looked away. "I am not that great at the practical aspects of magecraft myself and Palingenesis, altering a Servant's Spirit Origin, is high-level stuff. I'm better at the theory than the practical, sorry."
"Nothing to be ashamed about," Ritsuka disagreed, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know this stuff and while I have a headache now, it was interesting. At least the bits I understood."
"T-Thank you," Mash stuttered as they pair turned a corridor and saw Mr. Emiya ahead of them. Fou hissed quietly at the man, almost as if he didn't like him but Mash could only hear the animal's dislike.
"Emiya-san," Ritsuka called out in greeting before descending into some Japanese that Mash didn't know.
Mr. Emiya turned around and responded in a similar deluge of Japanese.
Mash turned between the two as they continued conversing in the foreign tongue, completely lost as to what they were saying, even as Fou seemed to arch his back in hostility.
Then Mr. Emiya waved at her and said her last name before switching to English. "Sorry about that, Kyrielight. We should have conversed in English instead."
"Yeah, sorry, Mash," Ritsuka bowed to her. "That was rude of me."
"No, don't worry about it, Senpai," Mash tried to let go past her. "You are Japanese so it only makes sense for you to be a bit homesick for your mother tongue."
"Still, it was rude of us to exclude you," Ritsuka insisted.
"It's alright," Mash tried to move on. "Um, Mr. Emiya, sir?"
"Just call me Shirou or Emiya," Mr. Emiya shrugged, the tall man. "You don't have to be that formal with me."
"Um, right, Mr. Emiya," Mash stumbled on before taking a breath to center herself before asking what she was worried about. "How is the work to get the Director out going?"
Emiya's face puckered like he had tasted something vile. "I'm making progress but things are a tad slow to be honest. Caster just released me for a dinner break and I am really hoping to get something to wash the taste of blood and fluids out."
"Blood?" Ritsuka scrounged up his nose in disgust. "That can't be healthy."
"It's definitely not on my list of top ten or fifty favorite drinks," Emiya said in agreement. "But the sole advantage of being able to keep on doing magecraft after I've exhausted my reserves makes it worthwhile."
"Reserves?" Ritsuka asked in confusion.
"Magi can infuse magical energy into their body fluids," Mash explained. "It makes for a limited way to give energy or to store it for later use if you think you'll run out. Or you can sell it to another Magi and make some money that way."
"Huh," Ritsuka said in thought. "I'll have to remember that if I ever need a little extra spending money."
"It can be risky," Mr. Emiya warned. "Some fields of magecraft can use blood or other things from your body and use that to influence or curse you."
"Oh," Ritsuka said as a frown crossed his face. "Like voodoo dolls?"
"That is one magecraft that will get stronger if they can make link between your fluids and you," Mr. Emiya agreed. "So what has our newest Master and Demi-Servant been up to today?"
The trio plus Fou entered the cafeteria, conversing about what they had done and learned.