How come the Ace of Cups isn't considered the Holy Grail?

The monster that was created wasn't an effect monster... Is it because of the materials?

D+ grade materials can only be used to create ordinary monsters?

Or is it that the magic in the gem is not enough, and he needs to add more magic?

"Let's refine a few more and see..."

This time, You Du threw a few more gems into the whirlpool.

Isn't it common sense that archers in Chapter Four don't use bows?

"Hmm... what time is it now..."

With the sun high in the sky, Rin Tohsaka reluctantly reached out from under the covers, picked up the alarm clock on the bedside table, and glanced at the time.

The time shown above is... 12 o'clock?

"You're late?!"

Seeing that it was already noon, Rin Tohsaka, realizing she had skipped all morning classes, was instantly wide awake and sat bolt upright in bed.

"No, I remember the clock at home is an hour fast, so it should be 11 o'clock now. Phew... I can relax now—what a joke!"

"Doesn't this just not change the status quo at all?!"

Perhaps realizing that her absence from class was irreversible, Rin Tohsaka sat on her bed for a while before sighing, having already made up her mind.

"I'll ask for leave. I'll just say I'm sick. Besides, as the Master who's about to participate in the Holy Grail War, I should be showing Archer around the city rather than going to class!"

"That's right, this is what a good Master should do, definitely not to slack off—haa~"

With a sleepy yawn, Rin Tohsaka dragged her heavy body downstairs to wash up.

Although she went to bed a little late last night, sleeping straight through to noon was still too long, and she couldn't continue to sleep so lazily!

"Strange... Is it because I used up too much mana summoning the Servant yesterday? I feel so tired... I can't muster any energy..."

Looking at her listless reflection in the mirror, Rin Tohsaka felt a little strange, but didn't think much of it. After washing up and changing her clothes, she was about to call Yuuto out when she remembered that he had said he was going to the basement to experiment with some things last night.

"Is he still in the basement?"

……

"They're all Gem Knight cards..."

After using up all the gems, Yuuto looked thoughtfully at the dozen or so Gem Knight cards laid out on the table.

Over the course of last night, he tried changing the type of gems used in the transmutation, changing the number of gems added, and even smashing or cutting the gems before transmuting.

But no matter how they were made, the cards that were finally created were all cards of the Gem Knight type, most of which were Normal Monsters, and there was only one Fusion Monster.

He initially thought the lack of Jade Beasts was due to probability, but now it seems that Jade Beasts might require higher quality gem materials.

Or is it that more than just gems are needed to create a Gem Beast card?

"Archer! Are you there?"

Huh? She woke up so early?

Upon hearing Rin Tohsaka's voice, Yuuto snapped out of his daze, glanced at the alarm clock beside him, and suddenly realized what was happening.

Is it already noon?

"So you're here, Archer. Why aren't you saying anything?"

As she descended the stairs, Rin Tohsaka approached Yuuto and looked at the neatly arranged cards on the table, asking curiously:

"Is this what you said you wanted to experiment with last night?"

Putting aside what he was just thinking about, Yuuto nodded: "More or less. These cards were made by me using alchemy, uh... they should be considered a kind of Mystic Code, but they are also my Noble Phantasms."

Since he didn't have any ideas at the moment, Yuuto simply picked up a [Gem Knight: Little Ri] card and introduced it to Rin Tohsaka.

“These star-rated cards are monster cards. Once you inject magic power, you can summon the monster on the card. Hmm... you can think of them as something like a Servant or a Familiar.”

"As for the monster's strength, well... I can't say the upper limit, but the lower limit is at least comparable to the combat power of an ordinary magician or servant."

As for powerful figures like [Creation Dragon], who, according to the card story, can create a world with a wave of their hand, Yuuto felt it was unnecessary to tell Rin Tohsaka about it for the time being, so as not to scare her.

Yuwatari spoke calmly, but Rin Tohsaka, as a listener, was far from calm upon hearing his words.

Noble Phantasms are symbols of Heroic Spirits, materialized miracles derived from their own deeds and legends. They may take the form of weapons wielded by the Heroic Spirit or certain skills.

Normally, a Servant possesses one to several Noble Phantasms. If what Yuuto said is correct, and each of his cards is a Noble Phantasm, then just looking at the ones laid out on the table, he already has more than a dozen Noble Phantasms.

Not to mention that when she summoned him last night, Rin Tohsaka clearly remembered that there was a whole stack of cards like these in the device Yuwatari was wearing on his left arm.

If all of those were Noble Phantasms, wouldn't that mean...?

Rin Tohsaka suddenly realized that her vision was still somewhat short-sighted; she couldn't even imagine what it would be like to use such a large number of Noble Phantasms.

However, if all these Noble Phantasms were to be used, the amount of magic power required would be an extremely terrifying amount, and even she would not be able to bear such a burden.

However, what surprised her even more than this was something else.

"Alchemy? You say you're an alchemist?"

She remembered that the servant she summoned last night should be an Archer-class Servant, right?

How did you, an alchemist, become an Archer?

Shouldn't it be Caster?

Could it be because of the Noble Phantasm...?

Rin Tohsaka glanced at the cards on the table, then mentally rejected them repeatedly.

No, no, no, these cards don't seem to have anything to do with archers at all, do they?

The fact that it summons familiars to fight is more like Caster's style!

Moreover, how could an alchemist who could create more than a dozen magical artifacts equivalent to Noble Phantasms in just one night remain unknown?

But why couldn't she find any information related to the name 'Youdu' after searching for so long yesterday?

Did he use a pseudonym throughout his life?

At this moment, countless complex thoughts intertwined in Rin Tohsaka's mind, ultimately being summarized by her brain into one sentence—

It seems she summoned an extraordinary Servant...

"By the way, Archer, how many of those gems I kept in the basement did you use?"

"All."

"……Eh?"

On this day, a mournful cry of poverty echoed from the basement of the Tohsaka family's residence.

……

The Matou family.

As the False Servants' Book, created using one Command Seal, was completed, the remaining two Command Seals in Matou Sakura's hand slowly disappeared, leaving only a bruise-like mark.

Short and thin, looking as if he could be blown over by a gust of wind at any moment, Matou Zouken stood in front of Matou Sakura and Matou Shinji, leaning on his cane.

He watched his grandson, who had no magical talent whatsoever, receive the two Command Seals from Matou Sakura, who refused to participate in the Holy Grail War, and then become Rider's Master by replacing her with the Book of False Servants. He raised his hand and tapped the floor with the tip of his cane.

knock --

Shinji Matou, who had always been afraid of his grandfather, quickly composed himself upon hearing the voice, and then heard Zouken Matou ask him:

"Shinji, although you are now Rider's Master, have you considered how you, without magic circuits, will provide Rider with magical energy?"

"This...I...that..."

Faced with his grandfather's gentle tone, which barely even sounded like an interrogation, Shinji Matou felt cold sweat pouring down his forehead, and he stammered, unable to say anything.

How could he know such a thing?

Keep in mind that Matou Sakura was planning to run away from home before she summoned Rider!

Even when he saw that Matou Sakura didn't want to participate in the Holy Grail War, he, who was never taken seriously, just casually asked Matou Zouken to replace Matou Sakura, without ever thinking that his grandfather would agree to such a thing.

Now, suddenly being questioned by Zouken Matou, he, who knows very little about magic, naturally couldn't answer anything.

Seeing Shinji Matou so terrified he couldn't even finish a sentence, Zouken Matou's expression remained unchanged. He simply smiled sinisterly and said:

"Since you don't know, then I'll give you a hint..."

"For Servants who exist as spirits, human souls are an excellent tonic..."

Chapter Five: The Alchemist's Curiosity is as Heavy as a Cat's

"I should have thought of that... How could alchemy be something that doesn't cost money..."

Wearing a long red trench coat, Rin Tohsaka sat opposite Yuuto, sighing helplessly, still feeling sorry for the dozens of gems she had prepared for the Holy Grail War.

Although the gems were only recently purchased, so they didn't contain much magic, was it the magic that she was worried about?

What she was heartbroken about was the money she spent on buying the gemstones!

Thinking back to the excitement she felt when she learned the other person was a top alchemist before leaving home, she felt an urge to wish upon the Holy Grail to go back to last night and stop her ignorant self.

At least don't say things like "use it as you please"!

They are currently sitting in a Chinese restaurant called Hongzhou Banquet Hall Taishan.

This is the only Chinese restaurant in the entire shopping street. The owner's name is Ba, and she is a cute little girl in a cheongsam with two buns in her hair.

She stopped waving the pot in her hand; the snow-white tofu inside had been soaked in bright red chili peppers. After a short while, she came out of the kitchen carrying two steaming plates of Mapo Tofu, which looked as red as surging lava.

The suggestion to eat here was made by You Du, who was curious about the extra-spicy Mapo Tofu that a certain priest loved.

His gaze was fixed on the plate in the other person's hand, and he noticed that the air around it was distorted due to the high temperature.

It's just like the streets of Chongqing you see when you go out at midday on a hot summer day.

Even if it's freshly cooked Mapo Tofu, there's something obviously wrong with the temperature, right?

"We've kept you waiting, guests!"

With a friendly and adorable smile always on her face, as if she harbored no ill intentions, she placed two plates of Mapo Tofu, which looked like they might kill someone on the spot, on the table between the two of them.

"These are the Mapo Tofu set meals and the Extra Spicy Mapo Tofu set meals ordered by the two of you. The rice and miso soup will be served to you shortly!"

"Wow, so red!" Looking at the white cubes floating in the boiling crimson broth on the plate, Rin Tohsaka couldn't care less about the dozens of gems she had lost. She quickly covered her nose and leaned back.

The air around the Mapo Tofu seemed to be filled with the smell of chili peppers. Just a little bit of the pungent spiciness hit her nasal cavity, making Rin Tohsaka feel a burning pain in her nose.

Is this thing really edible?

Rin Tohsaka looked at the plate of Mapo Tofu with some hesitation.

When she first heard that her servant was curious about the restaurant, she didn't think much of it, assuming it was just an ordinary Chinese restaurant. After all, she remembered that her nominal guardian, Kirei Kotomine, often ate at this restaurant.

Since lunch was lunchtime anyway, they brought Yuto, who had been freed from his spiritual form, inside.

But now...

She glanced at the plate of "extra spicy" Mapo Tofu in front of You Du across the street, and felt that apart from the fact that the soup was a little redder and thicker than her own Mapo Tofu, it didn't seem to be any different.

Looking at the plate of Mapo Tofu in front of him, even Yuwatari, who had taken the initiative to come to this restaurant, couldn't help but hesitate.

Unlike Rin Tohsaka's dish, his extra spicy Mapo Tofu didn't have much of an aroma, but looking at the thick, bubbly soup in the dish, like popped bubblegum...

Uh... he's a Heroic Spirit now, so he shouldn't get stomach problems from eating spicy food, right?

In the end, curiosity overcame fear. You Du scooped up a spoonful of tofu, blew on it to cool it down, and then put it in his mouth along with the thick soup.

After sitting there for a moment, he put down his spoon and exhaled deeply.

"Phew...not bad..."

After saying that, it disintegrated into countless particles of light in front of Rin Tohsaka's horrified gaze.

"Archer?!"

"Your rice and miso soup are here—wait, where's the other guest?"

In the end, Yudo managed to reassemble into his body, and with his own willpower and the superior physical qualities of a Servant, he managed to finish the plate of extra-spicy Mapo Tofu while repeatedly transforming into his spirit form.

"It's terrifying! Every bite of Mapo Tofu makes me feel like I'm being called from Valhalla..."

After leaving the Red Continent Banquet Hall in Taishan, Rin Tohsaka, though not as exaggerated as Yuuto, was still quite shaken by the spiciness. Hearing the lingering fear in Yuuto's voice, she couldn't help but roll her eyes at him speechlessly.

"Since you can't eat spicy food, why not just order the Mapo Tofu with normal spiciness from the start?"