Dating Caster

"Caster told me to let you know it's fine; she doesn't consider this level of thing worth worrying about. She already cast a bit of magecraft on us just now, so the owner of the barrier won't notice a thing."

"@#￥%...&!"

Would it kill you to say that sooner?

In that instant, he felt as if he could see the corners of her mouth curling up beneath that purple hood, watching him with a mischievous, wicked smile.

He sighed inwardly.

This woman is too difficult to deal with.

He simply gave up on overthinking and, acting as if he had nothing to lose, took Little Shirou and headed up to the room number on the key card.

I refuse to believe she would gamble with both of our lives!

"Hmm?"

In the presidential suite on the top floor of the Hyatt Hotel, a Lemon Head holding a wine glass suddenly stopped his movements.

"What is it?" The red-haired beauty beside him noticed the anomaly and asked.

"There was a sudden signal of an intruder in the barrier just now, but it vanished after only a few breaths," Lemon Head replied truthfully.

"My lord, do you need me to go investigate?"

A handsome man suddenly appeared beside Lemon Head.

"I think my level of magecraft doesn't require you to point fingers!" Lemon Head glanced at the man kneeling on one knee with disgust and mocked him.

"I actually think Lancer has a point," the red-haired beauty suddenly chimed in. "The Holy Grail War has already begun; we cannot afford to let our guard down at any time."

Lemon Head took the red-haired beauty's words to heart. After she finished speaking, he ordered Lancer, "In that case, Lancer, go and investigate!"

"Be sure to watch your own safety," the red-haired beauty instructed Lancer earnestly.

"As you command!" Lancer sighed almost imperceptibly before vanishing from the spot.

Watching the place where Lancer had disappeared, the jealousy in Lemon Head's eyes grew even more intense.

"Are we really going to be okay here?"

Although he had acted nonchalant while checking in, now that they were right under the enemy's nose... after arriving in the room, Wang Xiaoming still felt a bit uneasy.

"It's just a barrier spell, don't be so flustered." Medea manifested in the room and rolled her eyes at him; being worried about this level of magecraft was truly an insult to her as a Caster. But after glancing at the equally anxious Little Shirou, Medea sighed helplessly.

It seems I'm being underestimated... If I don't show something now, future cooperation might be troublesome.

Tsk, working with laymen is truly exhausting.

Suppressing her displeasure, Medea stood up and pointed toward the center of the living room. A building model composed of blue fluorescent light hovered in the center of the room, and the level of detail in its construction left Wang Xiaoming in awe. This is basically a damn hologram!

Medea then pointed to a glowing dot in the middle and continued, "This is the owner of this barrier."

Her fair, delicate fingers traced a symbol in the air with a certain rhythm, and the hotel projection instantly turned red. At the same time, the appearance of some "extra" things left Wang Xiaoming dumbfounded.

Is this... magecraft...?

In the projected image before him, three massive ring-shaped magic circles were slowly rotating around the main structure of the Hyatt Hotel. Each large circle was nested with hundreds of smaller magic circles, and each small circle was composed of hundreds of unknown runes. From a distance, it looked as magnificent and mysterious as the rings surrounding Jupiter. Observing them up close, one could see their movements were interlocked, full of the beauty of order, like the gears of a high-precision mechanical instrument.

If this scene were truly scaled up to the size of the actual building, the impact would be enough to take one's breath away.

"Heh, are you scared by this?" Medea's soft chuckle interrupted Wang Xiaoming's train of thought. "Well, for you people who are still ordinary, magecraft is indeed a novel thing. Take a good look; consider this your first lesson in stepping into the world of magecraft."

Medea pointed to the ring-shaped circles and explained, "This magic barrier is a composite grand spell that takes the advantages of the defensive barriers from the three major systems: alchemy, spiritism, and summoning. Twenty-four of the thirty-two floors of the building are within the barrier's defensive range, including the ventilation ducts and sewers. Most of the corridors have been spatially displaced, and there are dozens of evil spirits and phantasms patrolling here. Even an Assassin would likely find it difficult to pass through here without being noticed."

Wang Xiaoming looked at the red dots representing evil spirits and traps on the floors, his facial muscles tightening. This isn't a workshop; it's clearly a magic fortress!

"What? Scared?" Medea made no effort to hide the mockery in her tone. She forcibly twisted Wang Xiaoming's head toward her. From a distance, this action of cupping his face seemed quite intimate, but Wang Xiaoming saw only coldness in Medea's beautiful eyes.

"You wanted to know what I did, didn't you? Then take a deep breath and watch closely. I don't need you to understand the process; I just need your simple, shallow brain—which isn't even as good as a Morgan Worm—to understand one thing—"

Medea raised her staff and pointed it at the center of the room. A faint blue rune drifted lightly toward the red magic circle in the projection.

Wang Xiaoming's gaze followed the blue dot as it dove headfirst into one of the small magic circles within the grand array.

The precise arrangement of runes in the small circle was disrupted, and all the runes were forced to shift positions, which caused a subtle change in the movement of the entire small magic circle. Then, in Wang Xiaoming's shocked eyes, the blue color began to spread like a viral infection, spreading from the small circle to the giant circle, and then invading another giant circle. In just a few seconds, the entire view was filled with dazzling blue. Even Wang Xiaoming could see that the angle and speed of the entire array's operation had undergone subtle changes.

Wang Xiaoming no longer knew what words to use to describe his feelings. Shock? No, that feeling was more akin to fear...

If he ever truly became a formal mage, that feeling would likely be magnified a thousand times over at that moment.

To exhaust a lifetime of learning, only to dance in the palm of someone else's hand...

Medea ignored Wang Xiaoming's shock. She tapped Wang Xiaoming on the head with the staff that had just easily altered the grand spell, and then said the words she hadn't finished earlier, one by one:

"--Do. Not. Question. My. Magecraft. Again."

If the collection exceeds three hundred today, I will add a chapter (:з"∠)

Everyone keep it up, I will too.

Chapter 12. Aptitude

"Since everything has been handled, then now all that's left is..." After dealing with the matters of the base, Medea suddenly turned her gaze toward Wang Xiaoming.

"W-what are you planning to do?" Wang Xiaoming felt a chill run down his spine after being thoroughly scrutinized.

"Since you both want to learn magecraft, I naturally have to test your aptitude first." Medea stopped teasing Wang Xiaoming.

Wang Xiaoming nodded, then looked down at Little Shirou. Seeing the boy still in a daze, he figured he hadn't yet recovered from what he had just witnessed.

"Was that magecraft just now?" Having snapped out of it, Little Shirou looked at Medea with sparkling eyes. "That was amazing!"

No one dislikes being praised, especially when the praise comes from a child without a shred of guile.

"Do you want to learn?" Medea asked Little Shirou.

"I do!" Little Shirou blurted out.

"Then come here." Medea half-crouched and beckoned to Little Shirou.

"We're starting now. Don't be nervous; it's just a small test."

Watching Little Shirou approach her with some trepidation, Medea offered a word of comfort before placing her hand on his forehead. After a bright but gentle light flashed, Medea pulled her hand away, stood up, and studied the boy, who had just opened his eyes, with a look of slight surprise.

"So, how is he doing?" Although he already knew about Little Shirou's aptitude for magecraft, the mischievous Wang Xiaoming still wanted to see Medea a little surprised.

"Twenty-three Magic Circuits and a strange magical affinity." Medea gave her answer.

There were few things in magecraft that could surprise Medea. While twenty-three Magic Circuits were considered excellent aptitude in the modern era, they weren't much in her eyes. However, she hadn't expected to discover an additional element that didn't belong to the five great elements of Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Kong, nor the two imaginary elements of Void.

As expected—

Seeing the look of astonishment on Medea's face, Wang Xiaoming felt secretly smug.

"Looking at that expression, you must have known about this for a long time, right?"

The second Medea saw Wang Xiaoming's expression, she understood the man's petty thoughts and said coldly, "Why don't you teach him yourself, then?"

"Sorry, sorry... I admit I was wrong!" Hearing this, Wang Xiaoming quickly apologized with a forced smile. He had no idea how to teach anyone; he didn't even have the brains to trick people.

"Since you're wrong, why don't you tell me what you know?" Seeing Wang Xiaoming get deflated, Medea rolled her eyes and said. Yet, even she didn't notice the slight upward curve at the corner of her mouth.

Can't mess with her, definitely can't mess with her.

After realizing this reality, a twitching-lipped Wang Xiaoming honestly told Medea what he remembered about Little Shirou's magical affinity:

"Shirou's affinity should be Sword. This affinity makes it impossible for him to learn magecraft involving the five elements, but it will be a great help for the Reality Marble he will manifest in the future."

"A Reality Marble... is it?" Medea looked thoughtful, then turned her gaze toward the bewildered Little Shirou. "Little Master, I am truly curious about your future story now."

"Let's talk about that later... later..." Wang Xiaoming said with a dry laugh toward Medea. What could he say? Should he tell her that she would steal this child's Servant and privately brainwash him?

"Forget it. Come here first and let me check your aptitude."

Giving Wang Xiaoming a sharp glare, the clever Medea naturally saw that he was deliberately hiding something. She guessed that she probably appeared in that story too, playing some unflattering role. As for what Wang Xiaoming had said earlier about her future ten years from now, Medea only believed half of it. She wasn't the type to sit idly by and wait for death, even if it meant resorting to unscrupulous means.

But that was ten years from now, or perhaps a version of herself in a parallel world; it had nothing to do with the present. For now, Medea only needed to think about how to survive until the end.

Seeing that Medea's expression wasn't very good, Wang Xiaoming didn't dare to delay. He stepped in front of her, and as the light faded, he opened his eyes and waited eagerly for the answer.

"..."

Medea didn't speak the answer immediately; instead, she gave Wang Xiaoming a strange look.

"It's not that I have no aptitude for magecraft, is it?" Medea's expression gave Wang Xiaoming a bad premonition.

"One Magic Circuit can't exactly be called 'none,' can it?" Medea countered.

"..."

[Magic Circuit] is an essential organ for humans to convert mana within their bodies. There is a saying that the number of Magic Circuits represents the upper limit of a magus's achievements in this life. While one-sided, it certainly has its logic.

Initially, Medea had thought that based on Wang Xiaoming's previous performance, his aptitude would be more outstanding than an ordinary magus, but... with only one Magic Circuit, he probably didn't even qualify to be an apprentice.

"It's nothing, as long as I can get a foot in the door, it's fine."

Wang Xiaoming scratched his head. Although he felt a bit disappointed—who doesn't have a "Dragon Overlord" fantasy in their heart?—he let it go the next second. Learning magic was just to gain the qualification to participate in the Holy Grail War. He hadn't expected much from his aptitude anyway; he wasn't like Little Shirou, who possessed a natural-born protagonist template.

"Heh~" Medea suddenly sneered. "Since you are going to learn magecraft from me, don't harbor such half-hearted thoughts!"

"Yes, yes, yes."

Wang Xiaoming rolled his eyes and echoed her:

"Then I'll be in your care from now on, Teacher Medea."

"I can't do it anymore, I just can't."

Lying on the bed, Wang Xiaoming wore an expression of utter hopelessness.

Medea mocked Wang Xiaoming in silence with a look of disdain.

"I quit!" Wang Xiaoming closed his eyes, forcing himself to ignore Medea.

Don't misunderstand; this was just the struggle of a salted fish.

"Teacher Medea, look, is it like this?"

At this moment, Little Shirou's youthful voice rang out in the room.

Although the two had a Master-Servant relationship, Little Shirou still insisted on calling her "Teacher" during their lessons.

Little Shirou held a newspaper provided by the hotel in his hands.

[Trace on]

A flash of light flickered, and the newspaper in his hands underwent a change; despite being an ordinary paper, it now gave off a sensation of sharpness.

"What the hell!" Wang Xiaoming couldn't help but curse out loud.

[Reinforcement Magecraft]

Wang Xiaoming had previously told Medea about this magecraft that Little Shirou would eventually master with ease, so under Medea's guidance, the two of them had begun by attempting to learn this specific technique.

But the problem was, how much time had even passed, and this kid was already getting the hang of it?

The newspaper quickly returned to its original state, and Little Shirou, having exhausted his magical energy, looked up at Medea with eyes full of anticipation.

Medea did not disappoint him, nor was she stingy with her praise. "Little Master did well, far better than certain other people."

What else could the caught-in-the-crossfire Wang Xiaoming say? Under Little Shirou's gaze, he had no choice but to get up and continue practicing the basics of magecraft that Medea had taught him.

[The most miserable thing in life is not that many people are better than you, but that those who are better than you are working even harder than you.]

Wang Xiaoming finally grasped the meaning of this sentence, and he also understood the heartache of the person who had said it. Looking at the unresponsive newspaper in his own hands, he thought back to the newspaper in Little Shirou's hands just a moment ago.

"This life is completely impossible to live!"

All of the great reporter Wang's countless grievances finally coalesced into this one sentence.

Additional chapter before noon~

Thanks to all the big shots.

Chapter 13. The Opening Match! And Medea's Deduction (Bonus)