Chapter 146
Caster led Shirou out of the temple and to the mountain lake nestling close by, just a short walk away. The night was chilling, with a brisk winter wind still blowing, so he was naturally shivering a bit as he was only wearing a long sleeved shirt that was just barely thick enough to block the cold form completely penetrating his body. At least it wasn't cold enough for snow to form here though, even though the altitude was high enough for it to happen.
Following Caster down the path to the waterside, they followed the edge of the lake and traced a path besides it, walking a little more until they came to a stop at a seemingly random spot to Shirou.
Caster stretched out her hand, feeling the leylines that passed under their feet, power coursing through the ancient veins of the land.
Satisfied with what she found, she summoned her staff into existence, the black rod and pink sash hanging on it appearing in her hands, with red and green tassels hanging near the end, the blue crystal at the top glowing bright as ever. Walking forward, she stood at a point not too far from the lake, poking out a hole in the ground with the butt of her staff, the metal bit sinking into the dirt.
"Sit here."
She pointed with her staff, indicating the hole she had just marked out.
Following her instructions, he went over and sat down on the point, sitting directly on top of the hole, settling cross-legged on the ground.
Caster looked at him, measuring the distance and dimensions of the magic circle she was going to use. The crystal on the top of her staff glowed as she used it to 'feel' out the leylines again, getting a general sense of the directions and magnitude of the flow.
The magic circle she was going to construct would help Shirou control his mana output, ensuring he didn't draw out too much power through his Magic Circuits to burn them up, and that if he did do so, he could vent it out of his body safely, into the leyline below them. For this reason, she needed to carefully judge the position of the leyline and directions it was flowing in, to make sure she aligned the magic circle and Shirou properly so he could tap into the ambient energy as well. Thankfully, the lake was a spiritual place that made the conduction of mana easier, helping an amateur such as Shirou manage his mana much more easily. It wasn't dense to the point of making it easy to overflow either, but was simply more conductive to casting magecraft.
If his magical energy spilled out with no control, there was no telling what could happen. His summoning was a product of such an accident after all. He'd accidentally summoned Saber with a minuscule portion of his magical energy, and a strong wish in his heart, activating the magic circle that had originally been used for Irisviel to last a little while longer. If he spilled it here, something like attracting wraiths or lesser Phantasmal Beasts was possible.
"Move a little backwards, and then shift one hand to the left."
After making some slight adjustments to Shirou's position, she started drawing out the magic circle with him as the center, carving the shape with the tip of her staff. Shirou simply sat in the middle, doing his best to not shiver as he waited for her to finish, keeping himself in place so as not to mess up her carving.
The magic circle wasn't too big, but there were plenty of details in it, with runes and glyphs that he found completely alien crowding the boundaries, forming a circle around him, and several bigger ones spaced evenly around the perimeter, as well in smaller circles within the overarching one, Several round shapes connected to each other, and he could see Caster digging out some larger shapes as well, her staff glowing with energy as it made the dirt disappear to form the desired shape.
Caster worked from the inside to the outside, avoiding the problem of accidentally stepping on the parts of the circle, and she finished by sealing the outermost line, the circle containing all the inner carvings. Lowering the top of her staff towards the circle, the crystal within glowing, she inserted her mana to activate the circle she had carved out with her own hands.
Most of the time, some type of physical substance was required to fill the lines of the circle, like blood, chalk, or liquified gemstones for Rin, in order to transmit the magical energy, in order to conduct the magical energy of the activator. But in this case, Caster's circle design, coupled with her absurd amount of magical power channeled through the crystal that glowed like an azure star was enough to kickstart the process.
In a heartbeat, the circle came alive, glowing a deep sapphire around Shirou as he became bathed in blue light, his Magic Circuits suddenly itching within his body.
"Open your Circuits."
He closed his eyes, the hammer striking in his head.
The moment they opened, he felt like there was a gush of water flowing out of them, energy from within pouring out, only to flow to somewhere even larger, the pressure within him reducing to a mere trickle. It was a harmonisation of scales, the circle tethering the boundaries between him and the leyline. His body grew warmer, resisting the winter chill as energy cycled through his entire being, od and mana running through Circuits, to the circle, and deep into the leylines, then back again.
"Keep it open! Don't try to close it any moment!"
Caster's words reached him through the curtain of concentration, his head nodding in response to show that he had heard her.
Seeing that there were no problems, Caster decided to give him the first catalyst he could try Projecting, a weaker one that had the least risk, though there was always a chance that something could go horribly wrong. In her hands, a short sword materialized, golden light forming the shape of a blade a bit short than he arm, a simple cross guard with a leather wrapped around the hilt, the middle of the blade hollow making it look more like a strip of metal was bent into a blade, rather than it having been hammered into the shape of one. The handle also had a strange circular decoration that was shaped like a circle, going all the way until it almost touched the crossguard, creating a shape similar to the symbol of Venus.
Secace was a sword that harboured a sinister effect when used, but it was also one of the least potent ones out of all her catalysts, and would probably be the easiest to Project, assuming he could do so. As long as he didn't hold it with the intent of using it, he should be fine. In any case, the power it held was sealed until the user cut themselves with it, the blood serving as a catalyst required to activate it.
She released her hold on the sword, and it floated over to Shirou, slowly coming to a stop in front of him.
"You can use this as a test first."
Shirou grasped the handle once it came near, and placed it on top of his lap, carefully handling it to avoid cutting himself, all the while keeping his Circuits running.
The leather grip fit snugly in his hands, and he tentatively touched the flat of the blade, or rather the inner edge of the hollow. His fingers felt the cool steel, brushing against the metal surface as he did his best to ignore the fact that he was holding a legendary weapon from a Heroic Spirit in his hands, focusing on using Structural Grasping to analyze the weapon.
His mind reached to the sword he was holding in his hands, feeling out the intricacies woven into each fold of steel, the cut of the leather wrapped around the handle, the edge ground and sharpened into it's deadly state. Every ridge on the handle, every line on the blade, each groove on the cross guard, the metallic bonds holding together the blade and more, almost everything that made Secace Secace was observed and recorded into his mind.
Of course, there were some things that he missed in his Structural Grasping, such as the history, and the effect it had, as well as how it was made, and the experience of it's wielders. His mind also failed him, some of the finer details disappearing as he struggled to fully comprehend the information his magecraft was telling him.
Pushing further, he abandoned the Structural Grasping he was performing, and using the blueprint he had obtained from scanning the weapon, he lifted a hand from Secace and began projecting into his empty hand.
The information and knowledge flowed into the empty air, shaping a weapon that was designed to be as close to Secace as possible.
Caster's eyes widened as she beheld the form shaping within the blue light gathering around Shirou's hands.