The Key of All Spirits.
That's what Roland called the ring on his hand.
Since this morning, this gorgeous silver ring had suddenly appeared on his hand. Because of the unobstructed touch that seemed to be integrated with his skin, it felt extremely light and unobtrusive.
After Roland discovered it belatedly and took it off in confusion, he noticed the abnormality of this ring. Even after placing it on the table, the moment the door was closed, it reappeared on Roland's finger, as if it had never left.
Whether locked in a box or thrown out of the window, the ring would reappear in his hand the next moment. Just as Roland was worrying about what to do with the Key of All Spirits and wondering if this thing that looked like a golden finger had any function, the clock on the wall struck twelve noon.
Then, he suddenly crossed over.
That's why Roland sat alone on the bench at the gate of the park, wearing only a thin shirt and coat while everyone else was bundled up in winter clothes.
"So, is this Japan? Or the so-called parallel world?"
Roland looked around calmly. He wasn't an international student, but the signboards hanging on nearby high-rise buildings and the Japanese characters on the street signs clearly revealed his location.
Contrary to Roland's expectations, he wasn't surprised by the fact that he had traveled to another world.
Because when he came to this new world, Roland—wearing the Key of All Spirits—had all kinds of abilities and information from the ring appear in his mind.
The Key of All Spirits could not only traverse worlds but also endow Roland with various supernatural abilities. The reason it chose Roland was also very simple: he had the aptitude.
This aptitude didn't refer to Roland's intelligence, talent, or personality, but rather the qualification to communicate with unknown existences in the void.
In short, Roland had high spiritual sensitivity.
This otherwise unremarkable and even somewhat dangerous aptitude in real life was exactly why the Key of All Spirits bound itself to Roland.
The Key of All Spirits contains many contracted spirits. These were once special beings—some gods from ancient times, some abnormal but powerful mortals, and even diverse races from other worlds. Except for a few special cases, most of these contracted spirits were half-dead, not even full remnants of souls.
To retain their power and erase their wills, the owner of the Key of All Spirits could obtain the power of the contracted spirits by paying a certain price through a binding and eventually completely digest them after fulfilling certain conditions, transforming their powers into his own.
But ultimately, the Key of All Spirits was just a tool without self-awareness. Its power was incomplete without the user's drive. After all, the contract was always a two-way deal from the start.
Wandering aimlessly across the myriad realms, searching mechanically for its master and occasionally creating new contracted spirits along the way, there would always be some lucky contracted spirits that weren't successfully reclaimed and ended up scattered across different worlds.
As the person selected by the Key of All Spirits, Roland's task was to recover these scattered contracted spirits and increase his authority until he became the true master of the Key of All Spirits.
In every sense, the Key of All Spirits was an excellent golden finger. Although it had a goal, it wasn't mandatory. If he wanted to live quietly in this world, that was perfectly fine too.
As a simple tool, the Key of All Spirits wouldn't issue any mandatory tasks to Roland, nor would it punish him if he failed to complete them. The messages it transmitted only told him how to gain more authority.
Aside from the initial unexpected teleportation, Roland was quite satisfied with having this golden finger, especially since he had no lingering attachments in his original world.
"But… is this really another world?"
Roland felt a bit awkward looking around. Because he was at the park entrance, there was still some foot traffic, and Roland, wearing only a thin coat, looked a bit out of place among the crowd already dressed warmly for winter.
If it weren't for the fact that he was still in his early twenties—an age that could be excused as youthful recklessness—the curious glances cast at him would have multiplied.
After nearly half an hour of observation, Roland could preliminarily conclude that this was a world that had entered modern times. Although he didn't know the historical and cultural differences yet, from the technological level, it seemed to be somewhat earlier than his original world.
Judging by the clothes of passersby and the housewives playing with children in the park, there didn't seem to be any supernatural abilities… at least none on the surface.
"In short, let's gather information first."
Roland stood up and walked into the park. On a bench near the flower bed, an office worker in a suit had already put away his lunch box. He stood up from the bench and hurried out of the park.
He clearly didn't plan to pick up the newspaper he had casually folded and set aside. Although Roland hadn't read newspapers since childhood, he still had some understanding of their once-prominent status in media.
In the past half hour, whether it was the mothers quietly chatting while watching their children play, or the salarymen taking a lunch break, no one had taken out a mobile phone. Even those in a hurry checked the time using wristwatches or a large clock standing in the middle of the lawn.
For someone from a modern society, this was a novel sight. Even in the old-fashioned neighborhood he had rented in before crossing over—where there were hardly any young people—there were always elderly folks playing loud videos on their phones in groups.
Unless something unexpected happened, this newspaper should give him a lot of useful information. Even so, Roland didn't expect to fully solve the mystery of where he was just by reading a newspaper.
Roland unfolded the newspaper, sat down, hid his expression behind it, and scanned the Japanese characters he could recognize.
The first thing that caught his attention was the small black text above the newspaper column. Next to the date, it also said Heisei 6 in brackets.
"1994… is this the bubble economy period?"
Roland instinctively looked from the left and was dazzled by the dense pseudonyms and tiny classified ads. For someone without much language foundation, reading a text-heavy newspaper wasn't exactly pleasant.
The goddess of fate always seemed to enjoy playing tricks.
Just when Roland thought he wouldn't find anything useful and started scanning the headlines, he spotted something that made his heart skip.
—11.2 degrees in Fuyuki City, highest in recent years.
And next to the headline, a bold black logo declared the newspaper's name:
Fuyuki News.
He was all too familiar with that name. Even if he didn't dare to call himself a hardcore fan, Roland had seen plenty of works from that series.
And if he really had traveled to Fuyuki City as an ordinary person… even though Roland prided himself on staying calm, he couldn't help but stiffen.
Fuyuki City's notorious daily life of nuclear peace was well known to him.
He didn't know the exact year, but given the era, the current timeline was undoubtedly around the Fourth Holy Grail War.
Roland took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, forcing himself to calm down, though he couldn't entirely suppress the unease that had settled in.
By convention, shouldn't a new game start in a more forgiving setting, like an apocalyptic academy? Dropping a normal person straight into the Nasuverse seemed… excessive.
If there was a silver lining, it was that after carefully reading the newspaper, aside from a tiny column about a recent murder, Roland didn't see any sensational news like gas explosions. It seemed the Fourth War hadn't officially kicked off yet.
But that wasn't much comfort. In the biting northern wind of a winter afternoon, Roland's mood was sinking lower and lower, just like the falling temperature.
He zipped his coat up as far as it would go, hugging himself tightly to preserve body heat. Roland touched his empty stomach and realized he had another immediate problem.
Compared to the distant threat of the Holy Grail War, the more pressing issue was where to sleep tonight and what to eat for the next meal.
Right now, he was facing the triple debuff of a language barrier, no ID, and being penniless in a strange city. After the novelty of transmigration wore off, fear of the future quickly surged up.
It's often only when people are in danger that they realize how precious a peaceful life really is.
Watching the newspaper tremble in the wind, Roland's face darkened, and he wondered if fate was playing a cruel joke on him. Was this really the start of his new life?
"And isn't the 'homeless achievement' supposed to happen on the other side of the continent? I thought high school kids were Japan's specialty…"
Muttering angrily, Roland slapped his face to clear his mind. He wasn't someone to sit still when things got tough. Besides, even if he could throw away the Key of All Spirits and quit now… he wouldn't.
No one could turn away from a miracle that was within reach.
And he still had one last shot to turn things around.
Roland rubbed the ring on his finger, focusing on the message he sensed from it.
Key of All Spirits
—Current Contracted Spirits: None
—Number of Contract Draws: 1
This ring wasn't a wish-granting machine, nor could it let him freely choose whatever ability he liked like some convenient god system. But as a tool that could create contracts across the heavens and worlds, would it really be indifferent to the person it had chosen?
Roland didn't expect world-breaking power. Just like a contracted spirit wasn't a priceless Doraemon, he longed for something simple—a real chance.
"Draw contract," Roland muttered after a long pause, and silently gave his first order.
He closed his eyes, and waited for the fate to come.
Then, the chaotic silver light appeared in his closed eyes
---- Kira Yoshikage