#614 - Holy Grail War (Part 2)

The next day, George stopped tracking Shirou Emiya and instead devoted himself entirely to the magic books.

As he rapidly devoured one magic book after another, he gained a comprehensive understanding of the magic in this world and the so-called Holy Grail War.

Firstly, the races in this world are not limited to humans; there are also vampires, Phantasmal Species, and artificial humans.

Vampires are relatively rare, Phantasmal Species have mostly migrated to the Reverse Side of the World, and artificial humans are products of alchemy created by ancient mages.

The main active forces in this world are still humans and human mages.

Human mages are further divided into two types: Magicians and Magic Users.

The distinction lies in the fact that Magecraft can be achieved with modern technology, while Magic cannot.

In the past, when technology was underdeveloped, most mages were called Magic Users, but with the advancement of technology, they have mostly become Magicians.

Those who can be called Magic Users are now extremely rare.

However, whether Magician or Magic User, they need to have innate magic circuits within their bodies.

Because only by possessing magic circuits within the body can they convert life force into magical energy to drive magical formulas and use various kinds of magic.

These magics are mainly divided into seven major elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Void, Illusion, and Nothingness.

Although the elemental classification is different from his previous world, it's not too far off and not particularly strange.

Interestingly, the mages of this world add "characteristics" to magic, that is, they attach meaning to the seven major element magics and expand their versatility.

For example, when the characteristic of strengthening is given to the fire element, the fire will burn even stronger.

When the characteristic of strengthening is given to the water element, the water will increase its volume more violently and accelerate its flow.

And according to the magic books, truly powerful Magic Users fight with concepts against concepts.

Neither family's collection contained records of powerful magic, most of them were about basic principles.

However, George didn't need any powerful magic; he wasn't lacking in powerful magic himself. His main goal was to learn new magical concepts and improve his own magical system.

As for the Holy Grail War, the books explained it very clearly.

The story begins in the Age of Gods.

The Age of Gods refers to the era when gods flourished, divided into the First Age of Gods and the Second Age of Gods.

The First Age of Gods was the Jurassic-Cretaceous period.

The Second Age of Gods was from 12000 BC to 4500 BC.

At that time, the world was ruled by gods, and the gods were the embodiment of natural concepts, unrelated to the will of the planet or the will of humans.

Later, the gods declined, but neither family's books recorded the details of their decline.

In any case, from then on, human mages took reaching the "Root" as their ultimate goal.

What is the "Root"?

In the concept of mages, the Root is the Vortex of Origin, the cause of everything in the world, the source of everything.

As long as one reaches the "Root", they can achieve immortality, master all the laws of the world, and even create new worlds, becoming a creator god.

Thus, countless mages made various attempts, and the Holy Grail War is one of them.

The Holy Grail War was founded by three magus families, also known as the "Three Families."

Namely, the Tohsaka family, who provided the land, the Matou family, who created the Heroic Spirit summoning magic, and the Einzbern family, who created the Holy Grail.

The reason why the magic books he obtained had such detailed records was because they came from two of the families that created the Holy Grail War.

However, the Three Families have now declined. The Tohsaka family now only has Rin Tohsaka, a high school magical girl.

The Matou family has no one left except the old family head, Zouken Matou, and Shinji Matou, who has no magical talent.

Sakura Matou is an adopted heir from the Tohsaka family and is Rin Tohsaka's younger sister, but today he saw that she didn't seem to be having a good time in the Matou family.

As for the Einzbern family, it is a special family.

In the Age of Gods, they were originally created by the disciples of the Third Magic User, using superb alchemy.

It was also by chance that they created the artificial human Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern, known as the "Winter's Saint."

But because it was by chance, no matter how hard they tried afterward, they could not create an artificial human of the same caliber again.

Hundreds of years later, the mages succumbed to the limitations of their own talents, some left the castle, and some ended their lives.

The remaining artificial humans of Einzbern, although abandoned by their creators, inherited the mages' ideas and continued their research.

After that, Justeaze sacrificed herself and transformed into a magic circuit that could connect to the earth veins and draw magical energy, which is the so-called Greater Grail.

The abundant magical energy provided by the Greater Grail allows the Servant summoning magic circle created by the Matou family to connect to the Throne of Heroes and start the real Holy Grail War.

In a normal Holy Grail War, seven mages are selected to summon Servants representing the Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and Berserker classes.

The seven selected individuals kill each other under the supervision of the Church and the Mage's Association, and the final victor can obtain the Lesser Grail and use this ritual to fulfill any wish.

Of course, according to the records, the previous four all failed, and this is the fifth time.

The first Holy Grail War took place around 1800 AD. At that time, the Masters did not have Command Spells, and the summoned Servants were not all willing to obey orders.

In the end, the ritual failed before it could even form.

The second Holy Grail War took place around 1860 AD. Although the Command Spells were completed, it failed for other reasons.

The third Holy Grail War took place around 1930 AD. Because human armies participated in World War II, the Lesser Grail was destroyed, and the Greater Grail also had problems. It also failed.

The fourth Holy Grail War took place around 1990 AD. There is no record of the reason, but it also failed.

Now it is 2000 AD, the Fifth Holy Grail War.

"So, whether or not all wishes can be fulfilled after winning the Holy Grail War, whether or not one can reach the Vortex of Origin, and obtain immortality and control the laws of the entire world, is not certain at all."

George was originally quite interested in the Lesser Grail, which could fulfill any wish, but after reading the records of the previous four Holy Grail Wars, he couldn't help but chuckle.

Because after talking for so long, everything was just the speculation of the Three Families in the past, and it has not really succeeded until now.

"It's worth a try."

Although he felt that this so-called Holy Grail War ritual probably wouldn't achieve that effect, George still thought it was worth participating in.

First of all, this entire ritual has a lot of research value.

Secondly, if it really works, if he can use the ritual to enter the Vortex of Origin of this world and master all the laws of this world,

Then his small world should be able to be directly perfected and reach the level of a single universe.

Finally, even if it doesn't work, there's no loss anyway.

Because he could see that in this era without gods, there shouldn't be anything that could pose a threat to him.

Even if someone summoned a true god-level Heroic Spirit, there was nothing to fear.