I took a deep breath as I calmed myself down after my little celebration, leaving the bathroom and taking a seat on the couch. "System, show me my three new skills."
[Skills]
Observation Haki: E (A Sixth Sense of Sorts, allowing one to perceive the world around them and foresee attacks.)
"Ah, this is useful to know," I hummed. "Since I only just obtained it, my mastery of it is low, so it's only Rank E. No doubt if I train it in the future, it'll be stronger… I imagine in order to reach the level of Clairvoyance or Future Vision; I'll need to hit Rank A… Maybe B if I'm lucky, or EX if I'm not."
Ethercraft (Shadow): E (Magic of another realm, currently aligned with the Shadow Element.)
"Ethercraft?" I murmured, tasting the name on my lips. "It must be referring to Ethernano used in the Fairy Tail Universe… It's just explaining it in a way that people can understand, I guess. Manipulating Ether and converting its element to shadow…" I paused. "Huh, I have a lot more inherent knowledge on Magecraft than I realised… This will help with training."
Primordial Runes (The Possession and Knowledge of Runes that come about from an Old Era. This skill has no rank as the knowledge of Runes is all existing, it is up to the user on how to use them.)
"No rank…" I nodded. "That lines up with what I know. The knowledge of the Runes is omnipresent in the mind. It is up to me on how I train and use this power, and for what purpose."
I took another breath and exhaled slowly, helping calm my mind further. "System, why do I feel so calm?" I asked. It felt unnatural for me to be this calm given I was dead… I thought I would be having some kind of crisis, but I felt fine.
[An application of the Throne of Heroes. Your mind is adjusting to the Throne of Heroes and your role as a Heroic Spirit, as such things concerning your passing or the fact you are dead will no longer bother you.]
Hm… That made sense. After all, if every Heroic Spirit were angry about their death, then each of them would be wishing to come back to life in Grail Wars, and that would just… Not be great for the world as a whole.
I suppose it would help in the long term… I was dead. There was no changing that, I just had to live with it from now on. But…
"What is my wish?"
I myself couldn't think of anything off the top of my head that I would want to change about my life… After all, I had lived a fairly ordinary if not lonely life for the most part. What was the use in changing anything in my past?
Power for the sake of power also wasn't something I was interested in… I didn't have any massive goals or aspirations like Iskander who wanted to conquer the world, or Mordred who desired for a chance to draw the Sword of Selection to prove herself to Artoria.
Just what on Earth did I have as a wish?
Wasn't your wish obvious from the start?
… That's right… Why was I thinking so hard about it? My wish…
I wanted to meet them. All the characters in the anime and manga that I loved. I wanted to be part of their stories.
I wanted to fight alongside Issei and the other members of the ORC against the Khaos Brigade.
I wanted to train alongside Naruto and Sasuke and study the arts of the Shinobi.
I wanted to sail with the Straw Hat Pirates and help Luffy become King of the Pirates.
I wanted to join Fairy Tail and have all sorts of adventures!
"My wish… Is to be able to travel to other dimensions," I murmured.
The Second True Magic – Kaleidoscope. The Operation of Parallel Worlds.
One of the Five True Magics alongside Denial of Nothingness, Heaven's Feel, the Fourth, and Magic Blue.
It was wielded by Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, one of only three living true magicians. Alongside the unknown wielder of the Fourth- who magi all over the world agree must exist- and Aoko Aozaki, who wielded Magic Blue.
In the Tsukihime Worlds, he was cursed by Crimson Moon and became a Dead Apostle, forging a close relationship with Arcueid Brunestud, the White Princess of the True Ancestors, almost like a grandfather to her.
In Fate Worlds, he was not cursed by Crimson Moon and instead had other means to extend his lifespan. He taught the Tohsaka Family, instructing them and being something like an idol for the family, to the point that the family's wish was to obtain Kaleidoscope.
He was also, unquestionably, one of the most powerful characters in the Type-Moon Universe. In Fate worlds, he was one of the minds behind the Heaven's Feel ritual… If my memory wasn't wrong, he was the one behind Command Spells and connecting to the Throne of Heroes, but I could be mistaken about that.
Regardless, there was no question that the Second Magic was definitely my ideal… If I ever wanted to travel to other worlds, I would need to win a Holy Grail War and then obtain sufficient mastery over the Second… Or hope I got something as a reward from the system.
Regardless, now that I had a clear objective in my mind, I felt much better about actually going to fight in a Holy Grail War.
"Right…" I sighed and rubbed the back of my head. "Next issue… Is that I need to train, and this place isn't big enough… System, does this place have an area where I can train my magic?"
Raising my physical stats wasn't something I believed I'd be able to do. Unlike other Heroic Spirits, I was someone from the modern world. More than that, I was from a non-magical world as far as I knew.
Unlike bodies from magical worlds which had inherent benefits associated with them, especially in the Age of the Gods, I didn't have anything like that. Nor did I know any special ways to train or increase my strength… I could end up cultivating my strength in the completely wrong way, and then make a reward from the system useless to me.
That wasn't to say I'd neglect training my body, but my only real class was Caster. As far as I recalled, Pretender didn't really have any benefits besides deceiving people and the world.
And besides, if an Extra Class showed up in a normal grail war, then it would be put on hold to deal with them most likely unless I was an Avenger summoned in the Third War or a Ruler summoned in a Greater Holy Grail War.
[If you head outside of your house, you will find an open field suitable for training. The field will not be excessively big and will have a boundary. As you get stronger and raise your rank as a Heroic Spirit, the Realm will expand and obtain more benefits.]
Ah, so once again it all came down to strength… Well, that was fine. I would just have to work extra hard.
"System, just to clarify, I won't age, right?"
[Host will indeed not age. Host has obtained Type 9 Immortality due to becoming a Heroic Spirit.]
"And what is Type 9 Immortality?" I asked.
[Type 9 Immortality is also known as Transcendental and is possessed by almost every Heroic Spirit. Their true forms are separated from the realm where they can be killed. You are a recording in the Throne of Heroes, even though your entire soul is present here unlike other Heroic Spirits. Even if your existence were to be erased in another world, soul and all, you would simply return to the Throne of Heroes. The only way to erase your existence would be through an extreme circumstance such as King Solomon's Ars Nova, which removes all of his records from the Throne of Heroes.]
"… The Time of Parting Hath Come, I Am the One Who Surrenders the World," I murmured in reminiscence…
My eyes widened as I felt the ground shake very slightly and I looked around. "… Okay, no mentioning super powerful Noble Phantasms that can fuck with the Throne of Heroes again," I murmured.
I slowly stood up from the couch and made my way to the door. Pushing it open, I found myself in a lush field of grass with a forest surrounding me.
Making my way to the trees, a red barrier indicated the 'edge' of the forest, preventing me from going any further. As I moved away, the red barrier vanished.
"So, the trees are the limit of my realm then," I murmured. "That's fine, this realm is big enough for now…" I took a breath and looked up at the sky.
It was time to get to train my newly acquired skills. Because I planned to win the Holy Grail and obtain the Second Magic.