Olga pinched her nose and then exhaled roughly, the frustration very much visible on her face, facing Ritsuka, Rika, and Irenaeus, "So, let me see if I got the situation from your perspective correct. You three were promised greater opportunities, then were taken from your homes, and then found yourself in a somewhat shady organization made to save the world. Is that correct?"
All three of them nodded in assent without hesitation, which was contrasted with their faces marred by shock and fear by what had just occurred, which was something that they were still processing, the high of watching the combat finally wearing off
"Alright then… As much as I'd want to explain what Chaldea and everything else is in detail, I have to attend to a much MUCH bigger problem, so I'm going to leave you in the hands of a teacher to give a crash course on what you need to know. da Vinci, come on out."
At that, a strikingly beautiful and picturesque young lady, with brunette hair, walked out and stood next to the Director. She seemed somewhat familiar looking, like she was someone they were supposed to recognize, like some sort of celebrity, which was slightly off putting to the three newbies, given the supposed secretiveness of the organization that they were working with. Besides, that code name likely doesn't actually mean the woman in front of them was actually related to da Vinci… right?
Ritsuka, trying to parse out what her deal was, asked her "Sorry, if this is uh, a bit weird, but uh, could you pose like this?" and then struck a pose with one of his hands above the other, to which the new lady simply chuckled and nodded, mimicking him, seeming to enjoy the confusion and attention.
"Wait a damn minute…." Irenaeus muttered, his eyes popping out of his head, his brain finally figuring it out, but his brain being unable to figure out the name, before the other two shouted:
"Mona Lisa!"
"I'll be off now. da Vinci will give you a crash course on what you need to know."
"Good morning, everyone! I am genius extraordinaire, and absolute beauty, Leonardo da Vinci!"
"Weren't you a guy?" Irenaeus asked, quite bluntly, the madness of the whole situation seemingly getting to him and trying to salvage whatever semblance of normalcy he could find. "And wasn't Mona Lisa based off of one of your clients?"
"Man, woman, genderfluid, the technicolor in between…. I'm still the great polymath of the Renaissance period, da Vinci. Oh, and by the by, that was a misconception, that anecdote was a mix up with another painting that got lost to time. But enough about me, let's get started with your lessons, come on now, sit down."
After settling in, da Vinci began the lesson, switching between Japanese and English for the convenience of the three.
"You may have wondered: What is this organization's true purpose? Well, Chaldea is well, kind of what you've seen. An organization devoted to the security and continued survival of humanity. Our main purpose is to resolve distortions in space-time that are known as Singularities, which if unchecked, will basically destroy history, leading to the end of the world."
The three nodded, this was in essence just a very distilled version of what they heard at the conference when they first arrived. While this was helpful in basically giving a recap, this didn't really satisfy the main question they had. da Vinci, immediately seemed to pick up on this and began to explain "Now you may be asking what is magecraft? The answer is relatively simple: it's the ability to replicate modern day functions and abilities, but the normal materials are basically substituted with magical energy, which is basically like the magic version of gas, only tailored for the utilization of magecraft. If you're slightly confused about that, just think of it as a variation of the law of conservation of energy."
Rika raised her hand, wearing a somewhat cheeky smile on her face "Hey, sensei? So under that logic, magecraft is just a substitute for actually doing the stuff that was already possible without it, right?"
"If you're simply looking at it at the level of application, yes. There's more to it, but for the most part, that's correct. But seeing as you guys don't know the basics of, you're going to use Mystic Codes for the time being instead."
Ritsuka raised his own hand to ask a question, a look of intrigue on his face, "da Vinci-sensei, what do Mystic Codes do?"
"They're basically like training wheels or like baby's first magecraft spells, mainly you're going to use them to provide backup and assistance to your Servants." She explained, while passing out white uniforms with Chaldea's logo on it. " Which leads us to our next subject: You're probably wondering, amongst other things, 'What were those people we just encountered?' Well, to simplify the answer, they're, in essence, revived ghosts of legends, summoned to help defend humanity once again. They come in 7 standard classes. Saber, Archer, Lancer, Assassin, Caster, Rider, and Berserker."
"...Do all swordsmen need to be Sabers?" Ritsuka asked, finally getting the important question off his chest
"Not usually, but there is always some overlap… Why do you ask?"
Ritsuka nodded, as Rika got up to whisper in da Vinci's ear, her sight gradually turning from kind intrigue…. "Uh-huh, I am actually aware of that…" to pleasantly surprised, "Oh, really?" as she took in everything Rika was saying with gusto. "You really called someone like that "Hiko-chan"? And she didn't complain?"
"Well…? D-do you think we'll see her again?" Rika asked, her voice somewhat muted compared to normal. "The Director asked about it earlier on, but we decided against it, in the case that it could make things worse."
Da Vinci chuckled, patting Rika on the head, "I'm sure that now that you're here, you'll be able to see 'Hiko-chan' again. Although from the little you've told me and the I can only surmise she'd either be an Assassin or Saber… she'd be way too composed to be a Berserker…"
Ritsuka and Rika nodded, taking in the knowledge, while Irenaeus simply sat and stared, trying to wrap his head around all this, before tentatively raising his hand to focus on a subject he was focused about, mainly the very thing or rather person who was the catalyst for this major change in his life.
"Yes, Mister Irenaeus?" da Vinci asked.
"What about the Alter Ego class?" Irenaeus asked. "Where do they fit into this? Are they like some sort of lesser class or something?"
"Well…. They're more or less an oddity. They fall under the extra classes category, along with the Ruler and Avenger classes."
"da Vinci-sensei! How do we use magic?" Ritsuka asked.
"Well, technically speaking, you're going to be using Magecraft, Magic is…. A whole different ballpark. And to answer your question: in short, first, usually you have to concentrate on the mana in the environment or wherever else then you use an incantation, which are usually used as a sort of self-focusing mechanism. Seeing as getting you to learn the fundamental basics would take a bit too much time and honestly isn't the main point…. The Mystic Codes will do for now. Oh! And while you're here, you mind staying still? I need to confirm a few things." She used her odd looking staff and waved it around the three before looking, nodding and muttering "Huh… Negative."
Rika then spoke up, "da Vinci-sensei, what are you doing?"
"Oh, I had to do a quick check on all of you. You remember the other Masters that went with you to the Singularity? Well, what happened to them also happened to basically every other Master here. They're all comatose, covered in wounds, and even if they were awake, they'd be all crippled, physically and in terms of magecraft."
Ritsuka and Rika's hearts sank at that statement, while Irenaeus began to shake. Was this the result of their curiosity and desire for the truth? They've crippled the most competent people that could actually do something about the situation, and now they were stuck with them, a trio of newcomers who were likely just hired to fill space. Maybe that was why the Director left in such a hurry, to do some form of damage control, but then again, given her annoyance and general demeanor… maybe she'd try to do things herself? Could she do it herself?
(TIMESKIP)
After the continuation of their thorough, yet easily understandable lesson, via an impromptu random Q&A, da Vinci took the three into a particularly peculiar spacious room. In said room, was the shield that was used in the previous Singularity by Mash, laying smack dab in the middle of the room on the floor, along with several other seemingly illegible inscriptions on the ground, all in a circle around the shield.
'Probably a magecraft thing.' the three decided in their heads.
Irenaeus took the opportunity to speak up before muttering to himself, "Ms. da Vinci… Uh, that's never going to sound not weird, uh, what's this room?"
da Vinci replied while handing out odd rainbow-colored rocks, each of them receiving three "This is where you're going to summon your Servants. Normally you would've been limited to a few, and you are for now, but because of our situation, we're going to try to be lenient with the amount of Servants who get summoned. These beauties here are called Saint Quartz, and they'll serve as catalysts for your summons."
Rika upon receiving the three Saint Quartz, the mystical crystals seeming to glimmer in her hand, shining with wonder, declared with a determined smile on her face. "Alright! Let's get to summoning!"
Irenaeus was befuddled by this odd way of procuring allies, failing to see how on Earth this was going to assist their endeavors in restoring the world. "So, do we just, uh, you know throw the Quartz in?"
Rika shrugged "Honestly, I am not really sure. Well, here goes something, I guess." She chucked the rainbow rocks into the circle and onto the shield, and in an instant, it caused an odd whirring noise and several rings of light that gradually transitioned to colors of the rainbow to appear, while the Saint Quartz had dissolved into thin air.
The whirring and the lights finally ceased and in its place was a small explosion of light and from it emerged a man with white hair and a red cloak of some sort, simply walking around the room, taking in his surroundings, and the people in the room. Rika's eyes lit up and she hopped up and down, and began to clap, the childlike wonder in her eyes very much tangible and was a sentiment felt by the two other Masters in the room, da Vinci giggling at her reaction, murmuring, "It really gets you the first time it works, doesn't it?"
After the initial rush of excitement wore off, and the building desire to try and accomplish the same spectacle overtook him, Ritsuka shrugged his shoulders and decided to throw caution to the wind and go along with it as well and hurled the Saint Quartz into the center and out emerged from the light was a familiar face, once again they were face to face with the dark, gothic armor of the Saber they had encountered in the thick undergrowth of the previous Singularity, and she seemed just as distant as before, only less put up on.
Irenaeus, wearing a deadpan look while his hands shook, tried to settle down, shrugging as he threw his own into the circle and once again, third verse, same as the first, another familiar face appeared. The same lady who seemed to be a slowly ever-present permeating presence in his life made her presence known and reappeared in front of him once more
The three that were summoned introduced themselves in order of their summoning, seeing that it seemed to be a good time to do so, given that now that the people who had summoned them had finally turned their heads to look at them
"Archer class Servant. I have been summoned and come at your request."
"...I have come in response to your summons. Are you the one who is to be my Master?"
"Alter-Ego class Servant. Let us fight and work to achieve our goals. Best regards." Keziah's face shifted from a neutral, and rather pensive face and she began grinning ear to ear when she realized where she was and upon seeing Ritsuka and Rika, her voice became a lot more peppy and cheerful "It's you guys! From before!" and when she laid eyes upon Irenaeus, she ran towards him and with a beaming smile on her face, she embraced him in her arms.
Irenaeus politely smiled at her recognition, and returned the embrace in kind, although the look of shock upon receiving such a hug was somewhat obvious to everyone else. "It's a pleasure to see you again."
da Vinci spoke up, "I'm surprised. We were having some difficulties with getting the FATE summoning system to work, but with Mash's shield as the catalyst, everything seems to be… working smoothly. Alright, then, seeing as it's getting late, I'll send you to your accommodations. You're going to be rather busy from here on out."