Dan Lei immediately realized that the Holy Grail, which he had already brought under his control, being able to travel to other worlds must have been granted by either Xa or Fuli—or possibly by the two of them working together.
After all, Star Rail's imaginary-number universe was incredibly versatile. Each galaxy was a world, and traveling between worlds meant crossing the unknown imaginary-number void between them, a distance that was exceedingly difficult to traverse.
Of course, similar worlds were endless throughout the universe. There might be countless Earths and countless solar systems. After all, names were given by people. If the natives called the planet beneath their feet Earth, then it was Earth.
Moreover, the existence of similarities between worlds was practically confirmed in the Star Rail Universe. There was no need to be surprised if one encountered two people with the same name and surname, nearly identical appearances and personalities, and even broadly similar lives. It was all perfectly normal.
So when Dan Lei traveled from the Type-Moon World to the Star Rail Universe, he accepted the fact almost immediately, because he vaguely remembered that one of Fate's timelines from his previous life had officially announced a collaboration with Star Rail.
Thus, it was perfectly normal for his wish to return home through the Root to fail halfway because the Holy Grail ran out of energy and fell into the Star Rail Universe.
It was also perfectly normal for the Holy Grail to be transformed into a "ship" by a Star, explicitly encouraging him to travel to other worlds.
All right, what the hell was normal about this? Anything blessed by a Star was a priceless treasure to every faction in the Star Rail Universe, yet it had now been stuffed directly into his body. The two Stars, Equilibrium and Remembrance, definitely had ulterior motives.
The motives of the Stars were easy enough to guess. Xa only wanted to maintain balance in the universe in every sense of the word, while Fuli merely wanted to collect memories.
Dan Lei could accept the latter. There was quite a bit of information about different worlds in his mind, though very few details. It was understandable if Fuli wanted him to investigate them.
But as for the former, Dan Lei could not understand how he had possibly earned the ability to influence the balance of the universe.
Still, looking at the Holy Grail's travel function, Dan Lei felt that he should at least try traveling to another world.
Only then could he find out what traveling would bring him.
Since he did not know whether his soul or his physical body would travel, and did not even know how much time the journey would consume,
Dan Lei first hung a sign reading "in seclusion" on the workshop door. That way, no one would suspect anything even if he disappeared for several months.
After all, the people of Luofu were accustomed to a slow-paced life. It was perfectly normal for a craftsman to enter seclusion and not appear for several months.
Once that was done, Dan Lei dug quite a few weapons out of his small warehouse. Luofu did not prohibit weapons, and after a simple registration, anyone could carry them.
Besides, Dan Lei had not spent all these years cooped up in the Imprisonment Court playing with puppets. He had also studied the Cloud Chant Technique and the combat techniques used by the Ten Lords' Commission to apprehend criminals. After all, according to the Ten Lords' Commission's promotion track, Dan Lei was eventually meant to develop toward becoming a judge.
However, Dan Lei's combat skills could only be described as beginner-level. If he casually found an official Cloud Knight on Luofu and they fought purely hand-to-hand, Dan Lei would most likely be the one to lose.
Therefore, after bringing a pile of talismans and daggers, along with a large quantity of compressed food, Dan Lei composed himself and activated the Holy Grail's world-travel function.
Just as the Holy Grail had previously taken him away from the Type-Moon World, the moment he activated the world-travel function, a deep spatial aperture appeared before him. Then his consciousness was sucked inside.
From the outside, Dan Lei's entire body was drawn into the aperture. However, apart from his clothes, none of the things he was carrying went through with him. They simply fell to the ground where he had stood.
Dan Lei only felt as if he had once again entered that Root passage resembling a tunnel through space and time.
This time, however, only one or two seconds seemed to pass before Dan Lei felt himself land.
After observing his surroundings, Dan Lei discovered that he seemed to have been thrown into a forest covered in white snow.
However, Dan Lei was certain that this was Earth—or rather, a planet whose environment was infinitely close to Earth's.
Because the moment he arrived, Dan Lei sensed the Great Source that was so familiar to him: Earth's Great Source.
For an instant, Dan Lei even thought he had returned to the Type-Moon Universe.
But after sensing it carefully, Dan Lei discovered that this planet's Great Source seemed slightly weaker than the one in the Type-Moon Universe. The quality of the mana drifting through nature was even lower, though there appeared to be considerably more of it.
It seemed that there should not be many cultivators on this planet—or, more precisely, on the land beneath his feet—who could make use of the Great Source.
Just as Dan Lei was studying this planet's Great Source, his left hand suddenly felt scalding, as if boiling water had been poured over it.
He raised his left hand and saw three Command Spells appear directly on the back of it.
Seeing the Command Spells, Dan Lei immediately sensed the Holy Grail's condition.
He then received one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.
The good news was that the Holy Grail's basic function was still working. It allowed Dan Lei to use Ley Line energy to summon Heroic Spirits.
However, the strength of the Heroic Spirit he could summon would depend on the strength of the Ley Line and Dan Lei's own ability.
The bad news was that nearly all the mana in the Holy Grail responsible for traveling between worlds had been exhausted. It could no longer help him travel back to the Star Rail Universe. He had to fully recharge the Holy Grail's energy before he could return.
If time flowed at the same rate in both worlds, there was no way he could explain disappearing for several decades—or even just a few years—for no reason.
Moreover, none of his equipment had come with him. Apart from the clothes covering his body, he had nothing on him.
However, Dan Lei was not worried about his safety at the moment. The state of this planet's Great Source proved that monsters surpassing the True Ancestor level of the Type-Moon Universe were unlikely to exist here, and the average level of its monsters would also be lower than in the Type-Moon Universe.
Besides, Dan Lei could absorb mana normally here, and the power of the Abundance Destiny had not been sealed.
Although he could not claim that his combat power matched the period when he had simultaneously borrowed Siegfried's and Frankenstein's power, in terms of mana alone, once he regained his feel for it, he could directly rank among the most talented modern magi in the Type-Moon Universe.
After all, he was now a genuine descendant of a Dragon Kind.
One had to understand that Aoko had learned ordinary offensive spell formations while teaching him to create puppets. Without mana acting as a constraint, it would be no trouble at all for Dan Lei to go to the Clock Tower and be evaluated as a Sacrificial Position Formation Master.
After summarizing his current combat strength, Dan Lei decided to summon the Heroic Spirit first.
After all, he was exploring an unknown world. Having another Heroic Spirit as a bodyguard could only be a good thing.
He had not gone far through the woods when Dan Lei encountered a deer, further confirming that this was Earth.
What happened next was simple. He picked up a stone, used Reinforcement Magecraft to enhance his physical strength, and knocked the deer unconscious with a single blow.
Then he found a Ley Line node with relatively abundant spiritual energy, leveled the ground, and used the deer's blood to draw a Servant summoning circle.
Since he could not find any kind of relic this time, Dan Lei directly began reciting the incantation after completing the summoning circle.
(The incantation should be something everyone can recite from memory by now, so I won't pad the word count here. Kind readers, please fill it in in the comments section.)
As the incantation was recited, the summoning circle erupted with blue light. When the final note fell, a Heroic Spirit descended. She wore a sleeveless, dark-purple vest over a purple kimono, paired with a light-colored sash, and held a long katana in her hand.
Her eyes seemed to flash with a sharp gaze capable of piercing through the human body. She said,
"Servant Assassin has answered the summons. Are you my Master?"
Before you continue