He Tore Through The Holy Grail War, And You Still Call Him A Dragon?

"…In short, within the magecraft system, a 'Reality Marble' is a great magecraft that manifests one's inner mental landscape according to their psychological inclination. Once activated, it replaces the surrounding space with a completely different scenery."

On the other end of the receiver, Shirou explained in detail. "In other words, by substituting oneself with the world, it seals space into a small container. This is essentially a prototype of a world, which is why it's also described as a 'world egg.'"

Inside an ancient library resembling a scripture pavilion, listening to Shirou's explanation, Lady Nüwa pulled out piles of scrolls and placed them on a red sandalwood table. Her half-serpentine body curled beneath her cheongsam hem, its edge brushing away a layer of ash.

As her gaze swept across the texts, she suddenly fell into silence. A memory struck her—the "Nibelungen" constructed by the Old Dragons.

Of course, "Nibelungen" was the Western magus term.

In the Divine Land, strange small worlds separated from reality were recorded in Daoist classics like the Cloud Book of the Seven Lots, often named "Dongtian Fudi" (Blessed Caverns and Lands of the Immortals).

These were said to be dwellings of immortals, or the products of magical arts like "a universe in the sleeve" or "a world inside a gourd."

Naturally, among long-standing noble families with deep accumulations, these so-called immortal abodes were in fact the residences of True Dragons (Old Dragons). Dragons of the third generation and above had power sufficient to create such realms detached from reality.

Weaker ones, such as fourth or fifth generation dragons, and even later descendants, stood little chance of forging something like the Nibelungen.

If even dragons were limited, then what of humans?

Thus, the noble families never paid much attention to such Daoist writings. After all, one couldn't truly ascend as an immortal or transform into a dragon. Those doctrines were dismissed as empty fantasies.

But things were different now. From Shirou's explanation of the magecraft circuit system, Lady Nüwa had confirmed the feasibility of "refining essence into qi."

That meant, advancing further—like the path of "refining qi into spirit"—might also be possible.

This Daoist saying of condensing essence and qi into the primordial spirit had once seemed absurd and without method. But with magical energy cultivation corresponding to "refining essence into qi," and with Reality Marble as a reference, Lady Nüwa vaguely understood: the step of refining qi into spirit was tightly connected to cultivating the inner mental landscape, the expansion of one's inner world.

Thus, true "transformation into spirit" should be like the Daoist Huangting Jing described—the practice of "visualizing the inner landscape."

"I found it," Lady Nüwa opened Annotations on the Jade Classic of the Inner Landscape of the Yellow Court.

"…Therefore it is said: the Yellow Court within is the heart. The 'landscape' is the image. The external image refers to the sun, moon, stars, and clouds. The internal image refers to the blood, muscles, bones, and organs. The heart resides inside the body. By contemplating the image of the whole, this is called the inner landscape."

So that was it. The mental landscape Shirou spoke of was essentially the Daoist "inner landscape"!

The Huangting Jing, as the philosophical source of Daoist inner alchemy, especially emphasized the unity of heaven and man. That is, "the human body as a small universe, and heaven and earth as the great universe." By means of visualization, one could construct an internal landscape mirroring the structure of the outer world.

Lady Nüwa's voice echoed among the scrolls. "Shirou, I've found a feasible path. Listen carefully…"

Her speech grew quick, her tone excited. It was as though the once-distant immortal path, veiled beyond mountains and clouds, had now revealed itself as a wide and open road.

If an individual's cultivation could create this "Reality Marble" inner cave-heaven…

Then, what if countless cultivators chose "heaven and man as one," merging their inner landscapes with the external world, combining the thirty-six heavens and seventy-two blessed lands into a single whole, forming a vast super-sized collective "inner cave-heaven"?

This was the grand diagram of thought! Visualize the inner world, refine form and dwell within, merge humanity with heaven! The universe is in your grasp, myriad transformations are born from your body, and the immortal path lies ahead!

———

"Eh? Huangting Jing…?"

Shirou almost wanted to say: no way, is he really going to start cultivating immortality?

…That old meme about Red A being a sword immortal—wasn't that just a joke among netizens? Turns out it could actually be realized through Daoist cultivation methods?

Still, for an immortal-level being to create something like a Reality Marble wasn't too far-fetched. After all, their scale rivaled gods. Opening up a "small world" was merely the manifestation of "a universe within the sleeve."

If he himself could learn from this and discover the path to opening a Reality Marble, it wasn't unreasonable. He had no complaints—just that it felt like Unlimited Blade Works had somehow taken a strange turn into xianxia…

"Alright, alright, I've written all that down. The concepts really do overlap… Huh? Ship over the family Daoist scriptures?"

Shirou then heard Lady Nüwa planning to package and send him those ancient texts. "Thank you so much… but aren't these books important?"

"What's important about them? These scrolls have just been gathering dust in the attic. If not for your call, who knows how long they'd stay forgotten? No need to thank me—you should be thanking me, and thanking the texts themselves…"

On the other end, Lady Nüwa's mood suddenly brightened. Her words flowed like honey, pouring out compliment after compliment. Shirou awkwardly fended her off for a long while before finally cutting the conversation short and hanging up.

"Ugh! Why do I feel like Lady Nüwa always has this strange heat in her attitude? This time it seemed even more intense…"

Shirou couldn't help but mutter. Could it be that Lady Nüwa was entering some kind of spring fever? He feared that next time they spoke in private, her words might rush headlong into unspeakable territory.

Even so, his head was still filled with Lady Nüwa's Daoist theories. Whether or not she sent over those scriptures didn't really matter.

Shirou's specialty was turning wild ideas into practical applications. As for theory—grasping the essentials and key points was enough. It wasn't like he needed to cram for an exam.

"But you seemed pretty happy chatting with her. From the sound of her tone, she practically wanted to package herself into a delivery box just to meet you," Nono muttered, tapping her feet firmly on the floor with sharp thuds to show her displeasure.

"…I think your idea of 'happy' isn't quite the same as mine with Lady Nüwa."

Shirou spread his hands. "I can't even be sure what exactly she was happy about. At least for me, I was happy because thanks to her help, I found a solution for the Reality Marble problem."

Nono gave a dry laugh, a faint chill rising on her face.

"I can guess what she was happy about—she's set her eyes on you again. Her eager tone sounded like a reclusive, starved shut-in woman desperately seducing a handsome man away from home. Too bad someone here gets the hint but refuses to act."

Though she said this, her voice carried a sour note, like that of a stubborn, unwilling defeatist.

Shirou bent down to pick up an empty beer can that had rolled under a shelf. Brushing past Nono, he tidied up the floor. As his toe nudged the display rack, the Noble Phantasm katana hanging there buzzed faintly.

"If I really did fall into perfect harmony with Lady Nüwa, wouldn't someone else start getting anxious?"

Nono's cold look quickly melted into a flushed embarrassment. Hugging her arms, she turned her face away, hiding her expression behind the folds of her clothes. "Forget that. Just tell me if the problem's solved. Weren't you the one saying no one else could help you?"

"Alright, you're right."

Shirou tossed the can into the trash and turned back to her. Then he noticed Nono's pale, unblemished wrist—it caught his eye.

He reached out like lightning and grabbed her right hand.

"What are you doing!"

Nono was startled, but instead of fiercely resisting, she only gave a token struggle before letting him hold it.

The reason was simple. They had spent enough time together. Even if she'd gone off to stake out the Genji Building alone for days, her trust hadn't diminished in the slightest. Deep down, Nono knew Shirou would never harm her.

Shirou examined her right hand, then her equally unmarked left, frowning before releasing her. "Strange… even now, you still don't have Command Spells?"

"Command Spells?" Nono quickly understood. "You mean those engravings that can forcibly order Servants?"

"Yeah. That's the proof of being a Master. Even though you and Melusine have a contract, Command Spells are what certify your participation in the Holy Grail War."

Shirou's mind swirled with doubts. No matter how special one's identity—even the Little Grail, Illya—still had Command Spells.

True, Illya's circuits had been specially modified. They were massive and overflowing with prana, and could even substitute for Command Spells. But in essence, they were still circuits, more like crystallized prana to supply her Servant. They lacked the true compulsory command function of genuine Command Spells.

"Strange, none at all? Maybe because I summoned early, I wasn't registered on the Grail's Master list."

Nono rotated her wrist carelessly. "So, does that make Melusine this war's stray Lancer? Meaning there's another proper Lancer out there who hasn't shown up yet?"

"Exactly," Shirou nodded.

"I figured Melusine was an extra because Saber Attila appeared even before the Holy Grail War officially began. In other words, from the start, this war was designed to allow stray Heroic Spirits to wander outside the system."

(End of Chapter)

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