I enter the shed. There I see Lancer standing in the middle of the shed. She is still wearing her school outfit.

"You're not wearing your other outfit?"

"No. Why? Would you focus better if I did?"

"Uh, no. Thanks for answering my question though."

"Today we'll be focusing on your magic. Are you aware of the old Celtic traditions when we train? We wear war paint. Only war paint."

She's holding a bucket of paint and a paintbrush in both hands.

"Do I have to put on paint?"

"You don't want to get your clothes sweaty, no? Or would you rather wear the bodysuit I made for you instead?"

In an instant, she's holding a red bodysuit. Where did she even get that? Maybe this was a mistake to accept her apprenticeship…

"You know what, I'll just stick with my regular clothes, Lancer. Maybe another time, but not now."

Lancer's face turns to disappointment. She really wanted me to put on the outfit she made...

"Tell me, Emiya. What magic do you know of? I recall a previous conversation with Rin that you only use Reinforcement and Projection magic."

"Yeah. I'm not that amazing compared to Rin Tohsaka."

Lancer is absorbing all this info about me. From what I've seen of her, she's an amazing warrior. I must've disappointed her with my lack of talents. I wish my dad taught me more magic before he died. Lancer takes a deep breath.

"Alright. Here."

She hands me a pipe from the shed.

"Show me how you use magic, then I'll come up with a plan on how we can improve yourself. Go ahead and reinforce it."

She stares at me. Okay, this is making me kind of nervous. What if I anger her? I have to do what I did the previous night.

"Trace, on."

My whole body loosens up. I need to focus. I need to convert parts of my nerves into a Magic Circuit again. I feel pain that's like inserting a hot iron rod into my spine. As I do the procedure however…

"Emiya. Stop this instant."

I stop. My body hurts. Lancer forces me to stop making a Magic Circuit.

"Why Lancer?"

"I came from a time where magic is different than what it is right now. But I am aware of what a Magic Circuit is. My question to you is: You do know that what did you earlier could've killed you, right?"

I think she caught onto my habit. Well, I can't really lie to my Servant.

"No?"

"Look Emiya. What you did earlier was that you tried to make your nerves a Magic Circuit. You don't even need to do that, since I sense that you have your own. 27 to be exact. They seemed to have been used recently, though I'm going to assume you didn't knowingly open them up for the first time. How long have you been doing this?"

How long? I was taught magic, at least until Kiritsugu died. After his death, I still practice my magic on my own. I mean, doesn't everyone else creates their own Magic Circuits using their nerves? It seems to work. It did last night when I reinforced the poster.

"I've been doing it for around...ten years? I mean, you do create your own Magic Circuits, right? My dad died before he was able to continue teaching me magic, so all the things I've been doing the past five years are things I did on my own."

"..."

Lancer is stunned. Her face have that look of uncertainty to it. For the first time since I summoned her, she was shocked. She takes a deep breath.

"It's time for a lesson. I'll be teaching you how Magic Circuits works, because it seems to me that you've been doing something that could've killed you for the past ten years. Miraculously, you've survived that reckless process. Looks like your teacher didn't know about your habit, or did so and taught you the wrong way to use magic on purpose."

I prepared to take some mental notes for her lecture.

"You're born with an already decided amounts of circuits. Sometimes you're born with none, in which case, you'll have little to no magical capability. If you are born with circuits though, then you'll be able to use magic. The average amount is 20, but you surprisingly have an above average amount of 27. For the most part though, your circuits have been sleeping and been forgone for your fake circuits you've made. At least, until recently. I believe last night when you used magic during Berserker's attack, you unknowingly activated your Magic Circuits."

Is that what I did against Berserker? Used my real Magic Circuits?

"Wait, Lancer. I have a question."

"Yes?"

"What do you mean activated my circuits?"

"Each Magus has an image of a switch in their minds which they use to activate their circuits."

"Huh… So I saw an image of a firing hammer going down last night."

That's right. Last night when I attempted to project Berserker's sword, a firing hammer went down in my head. I felt my body burning up when it happened. Not only that, half my body turned numb.

"Then that's your switch. Now, since you converted part of your nerves into Magic Circuits, when you activated your circuits last night your body entered a state of shock. It wasn't used to all that magical energy flowing through your body because of your unused circuits. It'll take a while before your body adjust to it, but we don't have a while. Luckily, I can help speed up that process which would take years to about thirty minutes. Take off your shirt, Emiya."

First Archer, now Lancer? A lot of Servants want to see me shirtless for some reason. I comply and I take off my shirt. Lancer slowly walks around me, observing my now naked chest.

"Looks like you don't have any Magic Crests either. This makes teaching you magic much more difficult. They're basically the inheritance of knowledge from a lineage, circuits given form. They allow you to use spells that your ancestors had mastered easily. You said you were adopted, right? So even then, I don't think you could of inherited your father's old crest because you're not part of his lineage, or it'd be extremely difficult to transplant it."

I nod at her statement. Being taught magic would be much more difficult than I thought it'd be.

"We'll both sit down. Turn around. I'll put my hand on your back. It may be cold, but don't let it bother you. It may hurt, but I'm not only going to be speeding up the process of your magic circuits adjusting to your body, I'll be healing them as well. "

I take a deep breath as we both sat down. I close my eyes and turn around.

"Ready?"

"Yeah. Ready Lancer."

"Try not to scream."

I start to regret my decision as my whole body feels pain. Lancer's magical energy is flowing through my body. Years and years of converting my nerves to circuits is being undone right now. It hurts. It really hurts…!

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"Shh. Emiya. Quiet."

Quiet? How can I stay quiet when all I'm feeling is pain right now?!

"Ah...guh...kuh…"

"Don't worry. You'll feel pain for the first fifteen minutes, though eventually you'll get used to it."

That's not helpful at all!

"Agh…"

"Oh? Those constant grunts could be mistaken for something else, Emiya. Something much naughtier. Hmhm, maybe you're enjoying this? Who are you thinking of? Are you replacing me with Rin? Sakura perhaps? Hm, maybe even Taiga? Or maybe you're just thinking of me? Sorry Emiya, but that's a no."

Lancer, that's not funny at all. You're not the one whose body is trying to readjust itself after years of doing magic wrong. Converting my nerves to Magic Circuits was the dumbest idea I've ever done. At least I know not to do it again. After a while I no longer feel Lancer's magical energy flowing through me.

"There. This should do the trick."

My body falls forward. I can't move my body right now. After all, I did convert part of my nerves into Magic Circuits. If I had known earlier while Kiritsugu was alive, I wouldn't be feeling this much pain right now. At least I'm still conscious.

"Lancer… please don't do that again."

"I'm not the one who created fake Magic Circuits. As long as you don't create any fake ones again, you'll be fine."

I can't argue about that. I didn't know till recently. Eventually, I'm able to move my body, so I stand up. I glance at the clock. An hour has passed, but it felt like an eternity. I pick up the pipe from earlier.

"You still want me to reinforce this object?"

Lancer nods at me. With my newfound knowledge, I think I can manage to reinforce this with success.

"Trace, on."

A firing hammer goes down in my mind. My circuits flare up. My body heats up a bit. I analyze the structure of the pipe. Things like what it's made of and the manufacturing process are in my mind. To do Reinforcement correctly, I need to to understand the structure of the object fully. I have experience doing so, as I fixed a lot of things at my school. So this step is easy for me to do. It's the next step that I have trouble with, and hopefully what Lancer did to my body would help me with that. Reinforcement is increasing the effectiveness of something, like say, the sharpness of a knife, the level of nutrition in food or your eyes to see things farther away. Failing to reinforce something, however, is like poison. The object would reject the mana, and if used on a living object, they'll probably die at worst, or end up being injured. I pour my mana through the pipe. I just need to fill this pipe with as much magical energy as I can with the correct amount, and I should be good.

A few seconds later, I stop the flow of mana between the pipe and I. I think I did it. It was a success. But to make sure, I hand it to Lancer.

"Did I reinforce this right?"

She closely examines the pipe. She crouches down, and swings the pipe at a broken appliance. A slight crack appears on the appliance, and the pipe becomes slightly bent.

"Hmm. You still need to work on transferring mana to another object. But this isn't bad for your first try, especially when using your real circuits."

I smile. I actually succeeded. Out of reflex, I hug Lancer.

"Thanks, Lancer! You're amazing! Without you, I don't think I could've done this."

Lancer struggles in my grip. She isn't using her full strength to escape. Her whole face turns a bright shade of red.

"While I appreciate your kind gesture towards me, can you please let go? This is the only time you'll ever hear me say this to you Emiya, but put on your shirt."

I release her. I look down. Oh right, I forgot to put on my shirt.

"Sorry, Lancer."

I quickly put on my shirt. I look around the room. I notice the pots that I projected earlier, even before I summoned Lancer. I pick one up.

"Hey, Lancer? Could you take a look at this Projection?"

She takes it from my hands. Like the pipe from before, she examines it. She shakes it around and she smashes it to the ground. It breaks into many pieces, before disappearing.

"Why did you break it, Lancer?"

"At close examination, I can immediately tell that you've projected this more than a few weeks back, correct?"

I nod my head in response.

"But something's weird about your Projection. Usually they only last a few hours, but the pot you projected lasts more than that. Last night when you projected Berserker's sword, I can tell that Projection of that sword is different from normal Projection. A pot is simple to project, even a flawed one, but it's still worth noting that it shouldn't last more than a week, at most. And that's when it's a great projection. Usual projections lasts for only a couple of minutes."

Lancer's spear appears in her hand. In a second, another copy appears, this time in her other hand.

"See this? I can use Projection too. Though, my copies are much much weaker than the original spear itself. Usually, it's a spell that's regarded by many as worthless, though if you study it hard enough, you can take something that's deemed "useless" by many, and make it fit for yourself. At first I only use one spear, the original, but over time I decided to try my hand at dual wielding spears, and so I became proficient at creating replicas of it. I haven't actually taught any of my students how to use Projection, but seeing your Projections, I think I'll start teaching you how to. You seem proficient at it."

Wow, Lancer's amazing. She can create copies of her spears easily? Not only that, she can dual wield spears? She's crazy, but in a good way. No wonder Caster is scared of her, if I was facing a woman who is able to wield two long ranged melee weapons in close combat, I'd probably doubt I could win a fight with her at all.

"Wait. I still don't get what you mean about my Projections being different from regular Projections. Especially the time I tried to use it against Berserker."

I don't know what I did back there. I just remembered I was seeing and doing things that weren't my own and that the blade shattered in one hit.

"I was far away from you when Berserker attacked, but I could tell from a glance, you did more than replicated Berserker's sword. You were holding it the same way he did, and even took the same stance as him. That's something interesting I noticed."

Is that's why I saw someone else's memories in my mind at the time? I do know I felt like I wasn't in control of myself when I did that swing. Lancer's spears both disappear.

"But that's for another time. I still need to think some things over about your Projections. For now, I'd just like you to keep practicing Reinforcement for now. I'm not sure if I could teach you Rune magic, since you might not be compatible with it, but I can at least help you out in things you do excel in. I could also try teaching you Runes anyways, but we won't do that till another day. Maybe tomorrow?"

I nod my head. Tomorrow sounds good. She's been speaking for quite a while now. I glance at the clock again. Another fifteen minutes has passed. The time is around 11 PM. Lancer looks at the clock too.

"I apologize for my lengthy discussions, Emiya. I'll try and speak to you about matters such as this earlier."

"No, it's fine. I learned a few new things today, and that's all that matters. I'll go ahead and practice Reinforcement now."

With Lancer finished talking, I practice my Reinforcement on objects throughout the shed. Ever since I found out about my natural Magic Circuits, my Reinforcement success rate has gone up tremendously. I still fail to reinforce all objects correctly, but I can at least reinforce more things better now. Though my reinforcement skills are still subpar, certain objects such as knives are the easiest for me to reinforce. I wonder if I can reinforce my body now…

"Hey Lancer, are you good at reinforcing your own body?"

"Of course I am. For you, I think it'll be even easier."

I guess I'll try it out later. Or since we're still awake...

"You know, I'm going to try reinforce my body. You can heal me if I mess up, right? "

She nods her head. Okay. My circuits are still on, so all I need to do is reinforce my body. I choose my right fist. I use structural grasp on myself. What is that golden object inside of me? I ignore it for now. My right hand. I flow mana throughout my body, focusing on reinforcing my hand. Each and every bone and muscles in that area will be reinforced. I cut off the flow of mana. That should be it. Time to test it out.

I scan the shed. A plank. Clenching my right fist, I punch the plank. It shatters in half. I did it. I can reinforce my body as well! Lancer's eyes weren't paying attention to me though. Her eyes were gazing into the distance before returning to the present.

"Are you okay Lancer?"

"Yes. Don't worry about it. I'm fine. I know I told you to put your shirt back on, but mind if you take it off again? I'd like to do something."

I take off my shirt once again.

"Okay. Now lay down."

I proceed to lay on my back.

"I'll be painting something on your chest, if you don't mind."

Taking a small paintbrush, she dips it in black paint, and starts drawing on my chest. I adjust my head a bit. She's drawing characters I don't know of on my chest. While she's my Servant, this feels really uncomfortable. I don't know what she's planning, but as long as it helps me, I can deal with this.

"What are you exactly doing with all this paint on me…?"

"I'm drawing runes on your chest."

Runes… On my chest?! Is she crazy?

"Runes? Am I going to die?"

"Don't be silly. All I'm going to do is figure out your Element and Origin."

"What does that mean?"

"To put it into basic terms...Element is what makes up the world, and there's five elements to be exact: Wind, Earth, Water, Fire, and Void, which is also known as ether. Usually a magus would have one of these five elements, though some would have more. Depending on your Element, that's usually what you can. So if I had the element of "Fire", then I can control and utilize fire magic, but I can't use the other four. As for my classification? You could say that I'm an Average One. That's someone who uses all five of the elements. But I can use more than the five elements."

"So, the thing you did with Berserker was…"

"Yes. It was fire magic. While I do indeed have my own Magic Circuits, I prefer using Runes instead."

"What about Origin?"

"Origin defines someone's existence. It's the orientation of one's soul, the foundation of one's existence. It also affects one's way of living, depending on their Origin. Because they'll never stray away from their origin if they're awakened to it. Under the Magecraft system, Origin describes precise details while Element indicates a direct alignment. Even those who has no Elemental affinity, they'll be able to cast spells as long as they follow their Origin."

So even someone like me who only knows Reinforcement and projection can use magic as long as I know what my origin is. Lancer stops painting on me and pushed the paint and brush away.

"I'm done. Now, just stay still. The runes on your chest will glow, but don't fret. "

She placed her right hand on top of my chest. It's above my heart. Deciding to tease me, she runs her fingers through my chest.

"You're certainly fit for a teen…"

"Uh… Can you check my origin and element now, Lancer? "

"Sorry."

With her hand placed on my chest, I feel her magical energy pass through me. The paint glows bright in the shed. This doesn't hinders Lancer though. The light flashes before dimming again, like a person who flicks a switch on and off repeatedly. I can only hear my heartbeat and both of our breaths at this moment. The process continues a few more minutes, before I can't feel any more mana flow.

"Well, now I know a few more things from you. Emiya? "

"Yes?"

"Are you aware your origin and element are both Sword?"

"Wait...Sword?"

"Yes, Sword. This is...unique to say. Not only do you have an uncommon element and origin, they're both the same. You know the word for those who have the same element and origin, right? They're called Incarnation."

So I'm an Incarnation huh… If my element and origin is sword, is that why I can't use any other magecraft?

"This is a lot to take in, Lancer. Can I get the paint removed now? "

"Sure. I'll wipe you off with a wet cloth. "

Lancer momentarily leaves the shed before returning with a wet cloth. I'm still lying on my back. She wipes my chest to remove the paint. To think that my Servant is cleaning me is just strange.

"You better not be thinking of strange thoughts."

"I'm not!"

"Denial is the first step to acceptance, Emiya. I know you're a teen who is getting cleaned up by a beautiful Ulster woman such as I, but keep your mind clean too. I don't want my Master to be distracted all the time, you know."

Okay, now she's just messing around with me. She finishes up wiping all the paint from my chest. I stand up. This time, I decide not to put on my shirt. I'll be taking a shower anyways and while the paint is all gone, I don't want to get the scent all over my shirt.

"Anyways, Lancer? What are we going to do now that we know my origin and element? "

"I'd have to think it over. Usually my students had one of the five elements but since you're one of the first with an uncommon element and origin, I'm not sure what to do with you. I'll have to think of ways to train you which utilizes your unique trait when we find out more. Though this does explain why you can't use any of the five elements: because you're not built for them."

"I see. I'm not sure what are we really going to do since if sword is my element, I can't really do anything besides magic that involve swords, right? "

"Correct. Looks like you're catching on pretty quickly, five stars!"

"Five stars?"

"Nothing. Just a evaluation of some of your answers."

That's… kind of strange. But I'm not going to ask her about that unless I want to get stab by that spear of hers.

"Okay then. This means tomorrow we'll focus on what to do about my other abilities, right? "

"Yes. For today, just focus on your Reinforcement. Today we've made a lot of progress than where you currently were."

She smiles at me so I decide to smile back. Perhaps having Lancer as my servant isn't all that bad.

"I like you, Lancer. "

Her eyes widen. Her facial expression changes. She looks angry at me yet her cheeks are red. Did I said something wrong to embarrass her?

"Excuse me?"

"I said I like you, Lancer. At first I wasn't sure about this Master thing but you're a cool person. Helping out some magus like me is nice of you. I think I can get used to this."

I scratch my cheek. Lancer blinks a few times before closing her eyes. She gives out a long sigh.

"I wasn't expecting that from you. You truly are different from others, Emiya."

"It's not everyday you summon someone who call themselves a Servant, especially someone who call themselves Lancer."

I shrug my shoulders in response. This is weird and all but at least I'm getting used to this.

"If you're not aware, Lancer isn't my real name. We servants merely use the class names as placeholders for our true name. And no, I'm not telling you my real name. At least, not now. If you're kidnapped and interrogated, there's a high chance that a master will try and force you to reveal my name which would be bad for the both of us. I hope you understand."

She answered questions which I was planning to ask. I can understand why she'd hide her name, since because becoming a master, I have a target on my back now. Especially since last night another master tried to kill me. Though I still have another question regarding her name.

"Let's say you tell me your true name though. How would that benefit me? "

"The only benefit you'll get is that you'll know who I am and an understanding of my abilities. Aside from that, it's better if we kept this a secret. Though if you're really are curious I can give you two hints: my name strikes fear just by being said and I'm an Ulster born. "

If her name strikes just by being said… I don't think I need to worry.

"I understand. You can tell me your name when you think it's time."

I glance at the clock. Our discussion took another thirty minutes. It's going to be 12 AM soon.

"Wow, it's that time already? We've spent a lot of time talking… "

"Like I said before, my apologizes Emiya." Lancer is holding her left shoulder with her right hand while looking at the ground.

"It's fine. What matters is that I learned about using my magic circuits and what's my origin and element is. Not only that, I learned a few new things today things thanks to you."

I put my left hand on her right shoulder and I smile at her. She looks up at me. Our faces are only a few inches away from each other. She reaches out to my hair using her left hand and starts patting my head.

"W-what are you doing, Lancer?"

"Giving you a head pat, Emiya. You've improved today."

She then messes up my hair by running her hand through my hair. My hair sticks up a bit. I fix my hair.

"Hey! This isn't fun at all!"

"Oh? I'm enjoying this. Watching your reactions towards me is quite interesting. " She stops.

"Let's have you practice your Reinforcement for a bit. Then we'll head to bed. Don't forget to be ready for school. I'll be there. As for tomorrow? I'll let you know what we'll do after school when we get home."

I practice my magecraft for another thirty minutes. For that time, all Lancer did was watch me practice. The more I practice, the faster I get at reinforcing. If I have another day or so, I think I can even get my time to under a second. Eventually, I decide to rest and head towards my home with Lancer. I gather my clothes and head towards to the bathroom to shower.

"Today's been a long day…" I say to no one in particular while in the shower.

I process the events that happened. Lancer became a substitute teacher at my school, I learned that you do not make your own magic circuits, and I practiced Reinforcement which I have a much better grasp on. I haven't had any Servant encounters since last night. That's my issue right now. What am I going to do about about this war?

Can I really save everyone, even those who can't be saved?

I think back to Archer's words. He told me that I'll be in a situation where I can't save everyone. Does he mean that deaths in such conflicts are inevitable? Can I win this war without any deaths of Masters and use the Grail for good? Too many questions fills up my head with no answers.

"You're spending quite a large amount of time in the shower."

Lancer says to me. I didn't kept track of how long I'm in the bathroom. I usually take short showers, but this time I've took longer. I turn off the shower, dress myself, and leave the bathroom.

"Is something wrong, Emiya? Would you like to talk to me about it?

"No, it's fine. I just needed some time to think. You're going to shower?"

Lancer nods her head. Looks like she has some clothes ready too.

"Exactly how much were the clothes you bought?"

"How much? I don't recommend looking at this month's bill."

I give out a small sigh… Looks like I'm going to have to work overtime when this war is over. As Lancer enters the bathroom, I head towards my room, lay down on my back, and stare at the ceiling. I can't really focus right now, nor do I think I can as long as this war is still going on. The door slides open as I see Lancer, with clothes I haven't seen before. She closes the door and turns off the lights. Is she wearing that to sleep? She's wearing black shorts which went down to her thighs and a black camisole.

"Wow, Lancer. You must really like the clothes in this era. That fits you well."

She walks over. I glance over her, lifting half my body up with my hands facing outwards. She stretches her legs, before sitting in front me on her knees. Our eyes meet. My heart beats faster.

"Oh, Emiya~"

To describe what my Servant been doing with me, I'd have a dictionary filled with words. But there are two words that immediately pops up in my mind: she's foxy.

"Have you changed your mind yet?"

She says with an alluring voice. Our faces are only a few inches away from each other. She reaches in with her right hand, putting her index finger underneath my chin. She wraps her left arm around my shoulder. She moves closer, pulling me forward till I can feel her breath. Our noses are close to touching.

"Perhaps… "

Lancer takes a short pause before continuing her sentence.

"...I can sleep with you now?" She says to me with a smile.

I'm surprised I'm still keeping my sanity right now. I gulped. Sweat forms around my forehead. My heart beats the fastest it has ever been. I can smell the shampoo from her hair which fills my nose.

"Lancer…"

I breath in.

"This is making me uncomfortable."

She removes her finger from my chin. She crosses her arms. She pouts at me while looking away with her eyes closed.

"You're no fun."

My Servant really loves to mess around with me. Why is she acting like this around me anyways? Maybe if I accept one of her requests she'll mess with me less?

"Lancer. I'll allow you to sleep next to me, just for today. You did help me out."

Her expression change.

"You're not as boring as I thought you'd be."

She grabs a pillow and place it next to mine.

"Emiya?"

"Yes?"

We're both lying flat on our backs. Lancer is on my right side. I turn my head to face her and she does the same for me.

"I know that you've been bothered by me for the short amount of time I've been here but I'd like to thank you."

"Uh...You're welcome?" I'm not really sure how to reply since I don't know why she's just thanking me out of the blue.

"You won't understand right now… But I'll tell you when the time is right. Good night, Emiya."

Telling me some vague words, she faces the ceiling and starts to sleep. I place the blanket on top of both Lancer and me. I stare at the ceiling before I fall asleep.