Level 6 Rune Magecraft—six total points of additional potency—meant that his runes, his mystery, would be sixty-four times stronger than a normal Level 6 rune script.
That was an absurd leap.
And on top of that, the "foundation" that powered Rune Magecraft—
[Magic Circuits] and [Mana]—
had also met the requirements for upgrades through idle training a few days ago.
[Magic Circuits], upgraded from green rarity to blue rarity, had exploded from nine circuits to thirty-six, and each circuit—just like the last time it had advanced from white to green—underwent a complete metamorphosis in precision, rotation speed, structural durability, and the quality of mana generated. In both quality and quantity, it had reached a level that could be called excellent among modern magi.
[Mana], upgraded from Lv.4 to Lv.5, rose another step in both quality and volume—and the newly gained 1 point of additional potency pushed his previous 16× amplification up to 32×.
Using 32× potency mana to drive 64× potency runes…
"So," Bai Ye said, "do you think I could fight a Holy Grail War now using magecraft alone?"
He raised a hand and swept it through the air. Mana poured out, and twenty-four rune letters manifested in midair.
Bai Ye looked toward Scáthach and Morgan.
"If you're careful, probably," Scáthach said.
Morgan's jewel-clear eyes flickered with a faint prismatic sheen as she studied the rune closest to her. "Servants have the advantage of Noble Phantasms, but Winterfell—no, Fuyuki—isn't a 'true' manifestation. The Noble Phantasms they can bring down here… for the more ordinary ones, their might really isn't much greater than your runes now."
"Hold on," Bai Ye cut in. "Why am I, a Master, comparing myself to Servants?"
Morgan paused. "Then what did you mean by 'fighting a Grail War using magecraft alone'?"
"Servant versus Servant, Master versus Master. Isn't that how the rules have always worked?"
"…If that makes you happy."
Morgan pinched the bridge of her nose, visibly done with him.
Over the past week, the last two "half-confirmed" Masters—previously obscured by fog-of-war—had both been identified.
First were the two outsiders with no connection to the Three Founding Families, and thus only formally locked in after arriving in Fuyuki—
One was the Clock Tower's Lord of the Department of Mineralogy, a first-class lecturer in Spirit Evocation, the head of the aristocratic Archibald family of the El-Melloi school's main line:
Kay neth El-Melloi Archibald.
The other was a Clock Tower student—an El-Melloi classroom pupil:
Waver Velvet.
The remaining "half" was the Einzbern family's homunculus:
Irisviel von Einzbern.
Those three, plus Tokiomi Tohsaka and Kirei Kotomine, whose identities had been confirmed on day one—
Even if Bai Ye used only rune magecraft, Morgan didn't think those five Masters, all tied together, could beat him.
That was why she'd subconsciously skipped straight past "Master fights" and compared him to Servants.
"Why not try it?" Scáthach suggested from the side. "Chances to cross blades with heroes and legends from every age aren't common."
"We'll see," Bai Ye said. "If I actually run into them, maybe. But 'magecraft only' is off the table. I didn't train martial arts just to look pretty."
With a casual twist of his fingers, he wiped the twenty-four runes from the air.
A few minutes later, in the living room—
Morgan, Scáthach, Sakura Matou… and Kama, who had been forcibly dragged away from Sakura's bedroom game corner and was now reduced to grinding on a handheld console as a temporary substitute meal—
Bai Ye spread a Fuyuki map across the table, already marked with key locations: Einzbern Castle, the Tohsaka residence, Fuyuki Church, the Hyatt Hotel, and more.
He addressed the one person and three Servants in front of him.
"From the moment the Einzbern Master and Servant set foot in Fuyuki at noon today, the Fourth Holy Grail War officially began.
"Even with the 'experience' accumulated across the first three wars—and the process getting more and more refined—it wouldn't be strange if this one drags on ten days or half a month. But normally, the opening night is never peaceful.
"So. Let's make some basic arrangements."
He paused briefly, then called a name.
"Kama."
Kama stopped the game and looked up at him, expression flat. "…If you insist, it's not like I can't fight. But let me be clear: my status screen says my Noble Phantasm is EX, but in practice it's at best a C-rank anti-personnel Noble Phantasm—and it's also limited by my parameters. With our Master's current situation, the only way to activate it is to burn Command Seals as fuel."
"…"
Sakura lowered her head silently, hearing the unspoken implication again: she was still holding them back.
Strictly speaking, she was already at the point where she could attempt to open her Magic Circuits and supply mana like a proper Master. With Morgan and Scáthach—two teachers from the Age of Gods—watching closely, there was little risk.
But after Morgan discussed it with Bai Ye and Scáthach, they decided Sakura should build her fundamentals longer.
"Don't overthink it. This has nothing to do with you," Bai Ye said, ruffling the girl's hair.
Besides, once a Servant reached a certain level, a "status screen" was essentially something you filled in with your eyes closed if you felt like it. Kama's five E-minus stats only proved that she wanted five E-minuses.
Compared to Bai Ye's original minimum plan—if all else fails, I'll personally smash through the Grail War with every martial art I know and see whether the corrupted Grail can get me a ticket into the world of mystery—the hand he held now was so good it was almost ridiculous. There was no reason to cling to Kama, a professional slacker whose only true goal was to coast and play.
"I called you first because your tasks are the fewest," Bai Ye said. "Tonight—no. Starting now, until this Grail War ends, you have exactly one job: keep Sakura safe. That's doable, right?"
"You don't need to ask," Kama said. "I would've done that anyway."
"Next."
Bai Ye looked to his Caster. "Morgan, you stay at the Matou residence for now. One, keep an eye on Sakura—if someone tries to catch us off guard on the first night, I want insurance. Two, with the preparations we've made over the last two weeks, you can monitor the entire city through the ritual network from here. Staying doesn't reduce your ability to support us."
"No problem," Morgan said with a nod.
"So my assignment is going out with you," Scáthach said, the only one not yet named.
"Yes. Even as a Caster, your parameters and that godslaying spear mean your class doesn't hinder your close combat at all."
Bai Ye nodded. "And no one can possibly know whether you're my Servant or my Servant's Servant. So tonight, you and I will go take a walk…"
....
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