Resurrection

Taking a shot in the dark, Tsukahara Meiji obediently channeled the meager burning power left in his magic circuits, following Da Vinci's command.

As Tsukahara Meiji's magic flowed out, a blue-green radiance surged across Karl's chest like a chaotic electric current. The patterns formed by blood served as the race track for the magic current, and the crystal fragments embedded in Karl's body, sensing the magic, acted as makeshift diffusion points. The shattered circuits reluctantly served as the base points, guiding the torrent of magic into Karl's solidified blood.

The healing magic array, originally designed to mend the body, had been shrunk down and sealed within a small card. To illustrate, it's like a handgun; you wouldn't see a handgun with a bullet chain draped over it because its rate of fire couldn't consume so many bullets. Nor would you see a Gatling gun using a handgun magazine; that small amount of ammunition simply wouldn't be enough.

Similarly, with Tsukahara Meiji's abysmal proficiency as a magus, what powerful healing magic could one expect from him? The reason Karl had previously stopped Tsukahara Meiji from using this precious healing magic card was because he knew that with the magic power of Tsukahara Meiji's "trump card," he couldn't possibly save his own body.

What he needed was a more potent healing spell.

It wasn't that magic couldn't save Karl, but rather that Tsukahara Meiji, a third-rate magus, was simply useless.

However, Da Vinci managed it.

Of course, he didn't understand magic. As a scientist, he had no involvement in anything mystical.

Karl's problem with the healing spell was that the spell was too weak to heal Karl.

And Tsukahara Meiji and Da Vinci's poor mastery of magecraft meant they couldn't use any other healing spells.

So, why not just improve this healing magic?

By integrating the acupuncture points of the human body with the magic array imprinted on the crystal fragments, they constructed the most efficient magic circulation loop. Externally, blood was used to continue building the magic array.

The crystal magic itself, the magic array constructed by Da Vinci, and the meridians of the human body—a total of three superimposed arrays—created a powerful healing array with a curative effect more than three times greater.

This was typical scientific thinking. If a problem arose that humans couldn't solve with their tools, they simply had to improve the tools until they could solve it.

But... this was almost unbelievable.

If he were human, it would be absolutely impossible, especially for a scientist to learn magic in such a short time.

Da Vinci wasn't summoned as a Servant without reason.

This person possessed neither outstanding martial fame nor legendary myths; he was just an ordinary person. For him to respond to the Holy Grail's summons, he naturally had his own merits.

He possessed the skill Sage Seeker EX.

This was the only power Da Vinci could be called a Servant for.

Frankly, Da Vinci was a genius, no doubt about it, but this world had many geniuses.

Yet, even so, there were only a handful who could rival Da Vinci. Einstein specialized in physics, Edison dedicated himself to invention and creation, but only Da Vinci's fields of expertise were so vast they could almost reach the level of "omniscient and omnipotent."

It wasn't just innate talent; more importantly, this genius was constantly exploring the unknown world. Painting, architecture, sculpture, invention... he made contributions in multiple fields, applying his genius with diligent research, ultimately obtaining wisdom that was nearly at the "blessing" level. "Rote learning" was a fitting description for Da Vinci.

This skill was the culmination of Da Vinci's lifelong pursuit of knowledge. It was the limit of human talent, or rather, the limit of the act of "learning." Da Vinci had acquired a power almost equivalent to a Noble Phantasm.

What he did was simple: he analyzed the circuits on Tsukahara Meiji's magic poker card. While he didn't understand magic, he used the principles of mechanical engineering, employing diagrams and text to understand magic as a structure similar to a circuit board. In a mere instant, he rapidly deciphered this new knowledge called "magic" depicted on the card through scientific methods.

Learning ability—this was Da Vinci's most outstanding trait.

It was also his only ability worth boasting about. In just an instant, he learned magic!

However, he lacked cultivation in magecraft, so he couldn't drive the magic himself. Therefore, Tsukahara Meiji's magic had to be used to power the circuits.

What he drew with the blood pattern was an amplification formation.

He analyzed and summarized the extensions of every node in the circuits, identifying patterns in a short period. Having spent his life exploring science, he had used scientific methods to write magecraft, which ran contrary to science!

The shattered crystal fragments acted as base points. Once magic was infused, it flowed along the bloodstains, constructing a massive recovery array on Karl. Coupled with the mana overflowing from the Leyline during the Servant summoning...

"Cough... cough cough!"

Karl coughed violently, expelling large amounts of bloody sputum from his mouth. The powerful healing spell manifested as a crude, almost miraculous healing method. It forcefully purified the toxins in his blood and then restored blood circulation.

Tsukahara Meiji felt both happy and worried.

He was happy that Karl was showing signs of recovery, coughing blood indicating the restoration of basic human functions, specifically "pain sensation."

However, he was worried whether this recovery magic could truly heal Karl.

In the silence, only the faint sound of magic flowing could be heard. The chirping of insects continued, but the barking of dogs was gone.

It made sense; after such a large-scale battle had erupted here, the stray dogs had likely fled long ago.

"...I thought I summoned a useless Servant."

Karl's voice came about five minutes later.

By this time, Tsukahara Meiji was experiencing a peculiar pain all over his body due to excessive mana consumption—a mix of soreness and burning. His arm, in particular, had suffered a direct hit from the Assassin, nearly shattering the bones in his shoulder. The intense pain radiated from his shoulder throughout his body, and dark red blood soaked through his clothes, sticking to him. Incidentally, Da Vinci hadn't taken blood from this area earlier because he considered that Tsukahara Meiji would be overwhelmed by the pain first.

Fractures were painful, but having bones shattered was naturally even more agonizing.

The magus in the dirt spoke with a tone heavy with mockery and self-deprecation. This sense of helplessness was perfectly suited to his current disheveled state.

As a proper Master, he could naturally discern his Servant's status at a glance; their data was far from excellent.

Yet, it was this weak Servant who had saved his life—Tsukahara Meiji lacked the ability to do so. Seeing Tsukahara Meiji's condition, Karl managed to draw a small amount of mana from his magic circuits and applied the healing spell to Tsukahara Meiji. Only then did he weakly collapse on the ground, looking up at the night sky.

Due to the city's bright lights, no stars were visible in the sky, only a lonely dark purple expanse.

"No, you did indeed summon a rather useless Servant. I might be a good tutor, painter, sculptor, or scientist. If you wished to explore academics with me, I would undoubtedly be your best choice... Unfortunately, as a Caster, I understand nothing of magecraft, which is truly a lamentable matter."

As if acutely sensing Karl's mood, Da Vinci's low, aged voice gained a touch of cheerfulness. He knew well that diverting to unrelated topics before discussing heavy matters could lighten the somber atmosphere.

"In any case, thank you. Whether it's a good hand or a bad hand, you'll never know the outcome until you play the game, will you?"

Karl's spirits were somewhat stable, but the increasingly deep furrows on his brow indicated that this was merely a forced smile. Reason demanded that he stop thinking about things he couldn't obtain...

The current situation was far from what he had anticipated. He hadn't summoned Saber, and he wasn't the Master of the Archer. The Caster's strength also made it difficult to cooperate with the Archer...

Truly, the worst possible hand...

However, Karl was unaware that, at the same moment, in another part of Qianxi City, near a different Leyline, someone shared the same sentiment.