[T/N: The next 80-90 chapters mark the beginning of the Type-Moon arc, so it won't be very long—just a transitional piece, but it will take place in China. For the readers who don't like Chinese much, you can skip this arc. Also, I don't have much experience translating Chinese, such as names, references, so there might be some mistakes. If you were to notice them, please point them out, I'll correct them as soon as possible. The next arc will be Re: Zero, so stay tuned for that.]
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The sensation of the world spinning came and went swiftly. The moment Roy felt solid ground beneath his feet, his eyes snapped open.
Within his pitch-black double pupils, galaxies seemed to shimmer like a curse. An immense, alien magic surged through his Body of the Holy Son, ready at any moment to unleash a devastating strike capable of toppling mountains and parting seas.
The first priority upon arriving in a new world was naturally to assess his surroundings. Though Roy's previous two crossings—one where he was reborn as an infant, the other where he appeared in Israel—had been entirely uneventful, that didn't guarantee future journeys would be equally safe.
What if he materialized in the middle of a battle between powerful beings? Or worse, someone immediately greeted him with, "Dalang, time for your medicine"? That would be... amusing.
After a minute of silent vigilance, his senses attuned to any hostility, Roy finally relaxed slightly upon confirming there was no immediate danger.
"The air is somewhat stale—ventilation here isn't ideal."
With a thought, Roy began manipulating the airflow in the area. This was a secondary ability of his Lord of Light, granting him limited control over light, flame, wind, and lightning. Combined with the myriad magecraft and esoteric arts he'd learned from the Campione world, even without the Campiones' natural talent for perception, Roy could effectively function as a human radar.
Truth be told, Roy often looked down on the Campiones from his original world—they were little more than reckless brutes. Despite having the ability and time to study magecraft and broaden their capabilities, aside from Luo Hao, none of them showed the slightest interest in magic.
In that world, the Campione represented the pinnacle of power, which was the only reason these reckless warriors could survive. Had they been in a higher-tier world, they would have died without even knowing how—their methods were far too simplistic.
Under the dual influence of his Authority and magecraft, Roy gained a general understanding of his surroundings.
He was underground, in a complex of structures. A vast hollow had been excavated beneath the surface. A quick glance at the still-functional underground buildings told him this was ancient times, and moreover, in the Middle Kingdom. The stuffy, poorly ventilated air made sense—it was a limitation of ancient technology.
Judging by the architecture and the furnishings inside, this complex wasn't a tomb. Roy hadn't become some grave robber; this was likely an underground facility from an ancient dynasty.
"The 'bond' with Romani Archaman is incredibly strong. This is his world!"
Roy murmured to himself, having anticipated this outcome.
As the saying goes, "It's better to ask the doer for the undoing." Since the magecraft related to Human Order had been taught to him by King Solomon, it stood to reason that the method to lift the Human Order Curse was connected to the world where King Solomon resided.
"Fate…"
Though not a hardcore otaku, Roy was an enthusiast of anime, games, and novels. Naturally, he was familiar with the famous Fate series. While he couldn't claim encyclopedic knowledge of the franchise, he knew the basics.
Back in the real world, Roy hadn't delved deeply into various anime works because Aiwass had warned him that knowing too much could easily create 'cognitive barriers.' In worlds where Roy existed, their fate and development had already diverged from the original trajectory. Assuming events would unfold as they did in the original works would only lead to disastrous miscalculations.
For instance, in the Campione world, the actual course of events differed drastically from the original story.
Thus, Roy avoided deepening his understanding of these works to prevent cognitive dissonance. In his view, the so-called authors weren't the creators of these worlds depicted in their works. Rather, these worlds existed independently, and the authors merely served as receivers, translating them into stories.
"But King Solomon is already dead at this point."
Roy could sense his 'bond' with King Solomon and discern that the latter had long since passed. Meeting a living King Solomon was now impossible.
"The Greater Source of magical energy still exists here. It's far stronger than the real world, which had virtually none—a true Age of Decline. But it's slightly weaker than the Campione world… though that's not absolute. The Greater Source here is in a state of gradual depletion. If we went back another thousand years, the magical energy here would likely have been denser than in the Campione world."
Roy used his perception and various magecraft to test this world.
The Greater Source of magical energy could sometimes serve as a measure of mystery. For example, in the Campione world, the reason Heretic Gods could descend was precisely because the Greater Source was abundant, allowing them to cross from the realm of the undying into the mortal world.
The magical energy of the World's Origin in this world must have been far stronger than that of the Campione world at the beginning. However, now that the World's Origin's magical energy is waning, mystery is also beginning to decline. In other words, this is a world where the upper limit of mystery is extremely high, but the lower limit is also extremely low—polarization is severe, unlike the Campione world where mystery has remained stable from thousands of years ago until the modern era.
As for when the World's Origin's magical energy was at its peak in this world, Roy could guess with his ass—it was undoubtedly the Age of Gods, when deities roamed everywhere.
"But compared to the level of mystery, the strangest thing about this world is the Human Order."
Roy's expression turned intrigued. The Human Order in this world wasn't connected as a unified whole but was instead divided by region. Though Roy couldn't perceive the entire world, his mastery of the Human Order Correction Formula and Human Order Incineration Protocol made him highly sensitive to the Human Order. He could sense that the land beneath his feet was currently the place with the strongest Human Order in the world.
"It's not entirely unexplainable. While the ancient Chinese region had already established human civilization, some places might still have been in the late stages of the Age of Gods. Naturally, the scale of the Human Order would differ. It would probably take a few more centuries for the Human Order of the entire world to unify."
"...Fortunately, the Human Order curse affecting me is tied to the 'Campione world.' Though the Human Order shares similarities, it isn't unified across the multiverse. In this world, I don't have to worry about the Human Order curse for the time being. Luck has finally returned to normal, but I must resolve the curse before it spreads here."
"I can't sense Scáthach's presence. Hmm, that makes sense—the Land of Shadows already exists beyond the world, its connection to this world's causality faint. It's normal not to find her. Besides, even if I could locate her, the Scáthach of this world might not be the one I know... Then again, given the wisdom she gained from the abyss, she should be capable of self-convergence across parallel worlds. This isn't cross-world convergence, so the difficulty is much lower. Maybe there's only one Scáthach in this world now—who knows?"
"...The foundation of Christianity doesn't exist yet, meaning the current time is either before the Common Era or before the 4th century CE. The Christian foundation was only established in the 4th century. The foundations of Judaism and magecraft, however, do exist—and the one who established them is an old acquaintance: King Solomon!"
In just a short time, Roy had used his knowledge and the power at his disposal to gain a general understanding of this world. After reaching these basic conclusions, he finally turned his attention to the surrounding architecture and environment.
He had already confirmed his location as ancient Huaxia and could roughly estimate the time period. Now, all he needed was a quick glance at the architectural layout, written characters, and other details to easily pinpoint the exact era.
"This place... why does it look like a modern research facility? Or maybe an alchemy workshop?"
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