Unlike Iori, who enjoyed the food wholeheartedly, Sella appeared very reserved. Since she was not used to using chopsticks, she used a fork to pick up the pan-fried dumplings and ate them in small bites.
She did not care about the taste. For her, whose sense of taste had dulled, even mapo tofu could only make her frown slightly.
While eating, her eyes could not help observing the outside situation, like a herbivore on the prairie, afraid that a cheetah might suddenly jump out from under some shade.
"Do not worry so much, nothing will happen… mm~" Iori comforted her while eating.
Hearing Iori's words, Sella relaxed quite a bit, but she was still somewhat nervous.
"The intense battle the night before last, we have undoubtedly entered Yggdmillennia's field of vision. Is it really okay to go out shopping so openly?"
"It is precisely because of that battle that we do not need to worry about Yggdmillennia causing trouble in the short term."
Iori picked up a napkin to wipe his mouth and said calmly, "There is a philosopher in the East who once said, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles."
"The most important thing in a war is victory or defeat, but with different positions, the standards for victory are also different."
"Mm~" Sella nodded. What Iori said was not anything profound, so she understood easily.
"As long as you understand Yggdmillennia's position, you can understand their strategy to a certain extent."
"What position?"
"The position of someone who already has the trophy before the competition begins."
Iori laughed lightly. "The Greater Grail is already in their hands. There is no need for them to risk their lives outside. They can just sit at home and wait for you to come. Having home-field advantage is very important."
Especially for Yggdmillennia.
There was some information Sella did not know yet. That was that Yggdmillennia's Lancer was Vlad III. That Servant was almost invincible within his own "territory." In a defensive battle, he feared no Servant.
In the original story, Amakusa sent Karna, the strongest firepower under his command, to restrain Vlad III.
As a "king," the reason Vlad III had to fight personally was largely because Yggdmillennia's Servants were generally one level weaker than the Red side.
And the dragon-slaying swordsman who was originally supposed to face the "Little Sun" had committed suicide… With insufficient top-tier combat power, he had no choice but to step in.
But in the current world line, Black Rider had become King Arthur, Berserker had become Asterios, and perhaps other Servants had changed as well.
Overall, their strength had increased quite a bit. Vlad III could completely sit in the center.
With such a powerful figure there, no one could take away the Greater Grail.
Under such circumstances, enjoying full home-field advantage, Yggdmillennia's tactics would naturally be more conservative.
Of course, Iori had not personally seen Black Lancer yet. Perhaps it had been replaced by someone else… But given Vlad III's deep connection to this land, there was no reason for Yggdmillennia's magi not to summon him.
"As for the battle the night before last, I am more inclined to think that Shuten Douji came out wandering on her own and attacked us on a whim."
"Otherwise, if three Servants had surrounded us from the start, it would have been hard for us to retreat unscathed, and Shuten Douji would not have lost half her life."
"It looks like we were forced to flee, but in fact, the most annoyed party might be Yggdmillennia, especially Assassin's Master."
"I see. That does explain what happened that night." Sella suddenly understood. "But will they not take revenge?"
"They will. But our priority is not high, because I pose 'no threat'!"
Iori spread his hands and smiled. "After that battle, the Black side should conclude that I am a Servant who excels at close combat and small-scale magecraft."
"Troublesome, but absolutely incapable of threatening Yggdmillennia's castle and the Greater Grail inside."
"Since that is the case, they will naturally focus their efforts on dealing with Servants who pose a greater threat, for example Red Lancer, that demigod who looks flashy and clearly excels at siege warfare."
"You always seem so confident." Sella looked at Iori's calm and composed face and could not help staring in a daze.
"You feel less like a warrior and more like a strategist from the East."
"I know a little, I know a little."
Iori smiled modestly. "Yggdmillennia, Amakusa, Shishigou, and us. Right now there is one Black, one Red, and one independent, making three camps."
"If I am not mistaken, Yggdmillennia will also probe Shishigou and Mordred. But after discovering that they are independent from Amakusa's camp, they will not continue to invest forces, just like how they ignore us."
"But whichever of the two major camps wins, we will be their next target?"
"It works the other way as well. We are also waiting for them to both suffer losses, or for one to die and one to be injured."
Iori narrowed his eyes and said thoughtfully, "There are still many variables in this war."
"It is not something that can be decided by words and imagination alone… As for which side the goddess of victory will lift her skirt for, that remains to be seen."
"…"
"Hmm? What is wrong?"
Iori noticed Sella seemed distracted and reminded her. The silver-haired girl came back to her senses and quickly looked away in embarrassment.
"Why have you been staring at me? Is there something on my face?"
'This man is a bad person!'
Sella felt depressed. She thought it was hard to answer that question, and although Iori clearly knew he should not ask it, he still asked it with ill intent.
"I just feel that you are a little different… eh?"
The silver-haired girl originally only meant to brush it off casually, but after speaking she subconsciously felt something was not right. She turned her head to look at Iori seriously, her delicate brows slightly furrowed.
This "seriousness" was different from before. Earlier, she was admiring his features and expression.
This time, she was observing and examining the state of her contracted Servant from the perspective of a magus and a Master.
However, Iori's specific parameters had always been difficult to interpret. Up until now, Sella did not even know what his Noble Phantasm was.
Even if she stared with wide eyes, she could not find any specific difference. She only vaguely felt that something had changed.
"Berserker, you… I feel like… is it my imagination? You seem a little stronger."
"Is that so? I feel quite normal, nothing special."
Iori smiled calmly. "But strictly speaking, a few trivial things did happen."
"Trivial things?"
Sella blinked and asked curiously, "Can you tell me about them?"
"It is nothing important. My status parameters increased a little."
"What?"
Sella was first shocked, then her expression changed as she said seriously, "That is impossible!"
"Hmm?"
"No matter how talented they were in life, Heroic Spirits are all 'dead.' The summoned Servants are only a certain aspect of history."
"Their abilities and Noble Phantasms are fixed. Aside from the Master's aptitude having some influence, under normal circumstances they cannot be changed."
"Even though Servants possess a spiritual foundation similar to a physical body, they are not living humans. There is no such thing as 'growth potential'!"
Sella spoke firmly. The fact that Servants cannot "grow" is common knowledge in the Holy Grail War, so she was full of doubt about Iori's claim.
Iori calmly took a sip of tea, cleared his throat, and then slowly began to explain, "What you said is indeed correct, but that is only common knowledge."
"The Holy Grail War and Heroic Spirits themselves are existences beyond common sense."
"Although magi can create summoning rituals to bring heroes of history back into the world, they are merely exploiting loopholes in the rules of the world."
"In reality, they have never truly mastered the mystery of 'Heroic Spirit summoning.' Their understanding of the spiritual foundation is like blind men touching an elephant."
After hearing this, Sella pressed her lips together. She knew that what Iori said was true.
Although summoning Servants seems commonplace in certain gacha games, in reality it is a miracle beyond grand magecraft."
"It is a self-defense mechanism activated by the Counter Force, Alaya, when facing disasters that threaten the continuation of civilization."
"It summons heroes from the Throne of Heroes to prevent the disaster from occurring or to eliminate its source."
"Even for the Counter Force, this is a final line of defense rarely used. Normally, smaller troubles are handled by dispatching its own enforcers, the so-called "Guardians."
In other words, the "Heroic Spirit summoning ritual" is a method of the Counter Force. Humans cannot truly master such miracles.
Whether it is the orthodox Holy Grail War of the Three Families or various pirated subcategory Grail Wars, the Heroic Spirits they summon are essentially lower-spec versions.
According to the setting of FGO, Heroic Spirits summoned by the Counter Force are equipped with Grand spiritual foundations, allowing them to maximize their power, almost equivalent to their true selves on the Throne of Heroes.
As for the ordinary spiritual foundations in the Holy Grail War…
To put it this way, if a Heroic Spirit is considered the pilot, then the Grand spiritual foundation is like a top-tier mobile suit, while the ordinary spiritual foundation is just a mass-produced unit. A few outstanding ones might get a special customization, but that is all.
There is no comparison at all.
In other words, no matter how much wisdom magi exhaust, they can only carry out the crudest imitation. They have never truly understood this ritual.
Interestingly, even so, magi generally have a tendency to look down on Servants. Many treat them as "familiars." Yet in every Holy Grail War, there are always a few examples reminding people:
Even with the most ordinary spiritual foundation, Servants are absolutely not something humans can easily control.
The more arrogant the magus, the more tragic the ending.
Sella suddenly realized that as a homunculus, she too had unconsciously become arrogant like ordinary magi… Perhaps this was also a prejudice accumulated over generations within Einzbern.
"A Servant's parameters are not fixed. Just the methods I know for strengthening Servants already include several."
Iori thought for a moment, excluding the method in FGO of farming materials from monsters, and he also did not plan to reveal that he was still "alive."
After all, whether the state of a Shinigami counts as a living human is also hard to say. Compared to Heroic Spirits, a Shinigami simply has growth potential.
"First is a holy relic. Although most relics can only serve as a medium of 'fate' to summon a Servant, some well-preserved relics or those containing strong mystery can be used as magical tools or even Noble Phantasms."
"The Rhine Gold you collected is this type, is it not? If it were given to a Servant with the attribute of 'dragon' or 'dragon slayer,' would it be surprising if their parameters increased?"
"No… that is indeed very possible." Sella nodded. She had already set aside so-called common sense and listened carefully to Iori's explanation.
Iori did not mention another good example, that is King Arthur in the main Fate series. The relic used to summon her was her scabbard.
The scabbard itself was her Noble Phantasm. Arthur with the scabbard and Arthur without it were on completely different levels.
"Another possibility is that the Servant holds a legend that causes their strength to fluctuate."
Iori continued, "For example, the Sun Knight Gawain. His strength during the day and night is completely different. Similarly, in the Far East there is Toyotomi Hideyoshi. "
"Known as the Child of the Sun, his life experience sublimated into a Noble Phantasm where his power increases day by day and then gradually declines in a cycle."
"Of course, these follow certain patterns."
"There are also irregular ones, for example the knight Astolfo. He has the legend of 'borrowing others' weapons,' so he might equip Noble Phantasms left by others, thereby changing his strength."
"There is even our opponent, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada."
"After gaining a physical body, a Servant can naturally improve through training. And that guy has a special constitution. Not only his parameters, even his magic circuits are constantly changing!"
Speaking of Amakusa, he is truly an inspiring example. After gaining a second life and physical body, instead of enjoying life, he went to the Middle East to be a companion of justice, and diligently dug for decades.
Look at a certain other golden rich man who also gained a physical body. After staying in Fuyuki for ten years, he turned into a shut-in collector.
"Then… which type are you?"
Sella opened the small suitcase she carried with her, took out a small bottle, poured some pigment onto the table, and quickly drew a symbol with her finger.
A faint magical fluctuation spread out, temporarily shielding this area so that sound could not travel out, as if separated by thick glass.
What Iori was about to say was closely related to his strength. As a Master, Sella acted very cautiously.
"Because I am a wanderer cast out from home. If I want to return to the divine realm, I must achieve merit outside!"
Iori said seriously, "You know that the Holy Grail War can only summon Servants with ordinary spiritual foundations and cannot summon gods, right?"
After Sella nodded, he continued, "So even though my 'true body' is a chief god, under normal circumstances I cannot descend. Even if I wear a disguise, I must at least abandon most of my divinity."
After all, this is just a Holy Grail War, not some chaotic singularity. Overly outrageous beings cannot appear.
"However, because of my deeds in life, after being summoned I gained a rather special spiritual foundation attribute."
"Simply put, I descend into this world as an 'exile,' possessing only an ordinary spiritual foundation and extremely weak fame bonus."
"But as I act in this world, whenever I accomplish achievements, my spiritual foundation will receive additional reinforcement and gain fame bonuses."
"Especially achievements that match my life experiences will greatly increase my fame, and may even grant me corresponding Noble Phantasms."
"If I complete all important achievements and reach the extreme, I can return to the divine realm as recorded, that is, obtain a spiritual foundation comparable to a god."
"It is just that normally there are not so many opportunities…"
"In the previous battle, it was precisely because I encountered Shuten Douji. Due to compatibility, the reinforcement of my spiritual foundation was much greater than before, which is why you noticed it."
"Unfortunately, just injuring her had such an effect. If I had cut off her head, my sword might already be firing beams…"
"There is actually such a unique Servant?!" Even though Sella was mentally prepared, she was still shocked.
"Is this not like reenacting a hero's epic? And Iori… your true body is actually a god?"
"Who knows. Perhaps I am just a mortal warrior who accidentally took on a god's name."
Iori smiled slightly. The increase in his strength was also partly because he obtained a bond CG from Sella… but there was no need to explain that to her.
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