Where to start cutting?

In Type-Moon, the Atlas Institute, also known as the "Giant's Cellar," is located somewhere unknown deep within the Atlas Mountains. It carries on an ancient form of Alchemy that is vastly different from modern Alchemy.

The basis of this Alchemy is using "Thought Partition" to split one's mind into multiple personalities. These different personalities can rapidly connect and exchange information, multiplying their thought processes for high-speed calculations.

How high-speed?

For example, if you split into 3 personalities, it's 3*3*3=27, accelerating thought by 27 times. If you split into 4 personalities, it's 4*4*4*4=256, accelerating thought by 256 times!

It allows thought to accelerate exponentially, turning the human brain into a supercomputer!

Thanks to the advantage of high-speed thinking, the Alchemists of Atlas constantly create weapons far beyond the imagination of modern Magi. Among the most terrifying are the Seven Great Weapons of Destruction.

Because of this, there's always been a saying: Don't unseal Atlas, or the world will be destroyed seven times.

At this point, classmate Old Tang appropriately raised his hand to speak. "Can I ask something? What kind of grudge do these ancient Alchemists have with the world? Why do they always want to destroy it?"

Old Tang had watched all sorts of movies and TV shows growing up, and what he couldn't stand the most was how various villains in the shows would get provoked and want to destroy the world. Seriously, if you have a vendetta, go get revenge. Why do you have to go destroy the world and leave us ordinary folks with no way to live?

Emiya was silent for a moment, then said, "They create weapons of destruction to prevent the world from being destroyed."

"Huh??" Old Tang looked shocked. He had never been so speechless in his life.

"Uh, actually, their line of thinking is like this: To solve potential future crises that could destroy the world, they need weapons with equivalent performance."

For example, someday in the future, there might be a world-ending crisis caused by an "asteroid hitting Earth." So a certain Alchemist creates a gravity weapon that "can deflect an asteroid away from Earth."

But what if the asteroid doesn't come? Then if you use it in reverse, it becomes something that "pulls an asteroid to hit Earth."

So weapons of salvation and weapons of destruction are interconnected; it just depends on who is using them.

"...Hearing you explain it like that, brother, I'm starting to worry about the future of humanity," Old Tang said with a worried expression.

"These are a bunch of crazy researchers. Forget whether they can solve world-ending crises; I think they're at least 100% capable of destroying us humans first before that happens."

Emiya thought to himself, Bro, it's not just the Atlas Institute that's full of crazy people. You can't find many normal people among all the Magi on this planet.

However, according to the development in Fate/Extra, this Atlas Institute will strangely cease its lineage due to a declining birth rate, and by 2030, everyone will be dead except for one Homunculus. It seems people were already disappearing long before that...

With the topic started, the two began chatting about everything, just like ordinary men gathering and discussing the state of the world, casually spouting passionate words and commenting on the landscape... After who knows how long, they heard a call from outside again. The Wa Lord had arrived.

A snake shadow swiftly flew over, and a clear, pleasant voice simultaneously rang out.

"Oh dear, I've been arguing with those old folks from the noble families for ages. Today we're finally almost done negotiating. They still think a group of people can defeat me alone? Hehehe, they're all just hitting a rock with an egg, like clay chickens and pottery dogs!"

The Wa Lord looked quite pleased with herself. Actually, she herself felt there wasn't much to show off about, but whenever she saw Emiya, she couldn't help but reveal her true feelings and act a little temperamental, always like a娇俏 (jiāoqiào - charming and pretty) little girl who loves to show off in front of him.

Today she wore light makeup, with long black straight hair and blunt bangs paired with delicate, smoky eyebrows. A touch of vermilion on her lips blended into the translucent jade-like skin of her cheeks, adding a hint of rosy charm.

She quickly swished her dress and sat down next to Emiya. "Shirou, I've been busy with this and that these past few days and haven't had time to spend talking to you about that Thought Plate..."

In reality, what she was thinking was that ever since their last date, she had become a busy person again and rarely saw Emiya. After reviewing things carefully, she always felt like something was missing from the final stage of that longed-for candlelight dinner.

It's decided! I'll pull him into another drinking session. She'd been busy for so long, it was time to indulge a little... The Wa Lord seemed to have developed a new hobby of sorts.

"Uh, but, I don't really understand that thing either—"

Emiya only remembered that it was the foundation of the Type-Moon Shenzhou Magecraft System. The principle was similar to cloud computing; when using Magecraft, one could request a large amount of computing resources, thus not being limited by individual Circuits...

Honestly, who can't talk the talk? But when it comes to actual operation, at this point in time, cloud computing hadn't even been proposed yet.

"It doesn't matter! You're the technical director, it's always good to talk more about your thoughts."

As she spoke, the Wa Lord's snake tail quietly climbed onto his waist. Although it seemed like a habitual action, Emiya's eyelids twitched as he watched. The Wa Lord's snake body seemed to have become even more intertwined and powerful after a few days apart. He felt her true intention wasn't the wine; her sword dance was aimed at...

"Oh, I suddenly remembered there's something I haven't done yet!"

Old Tang instantly understood and reacted very quickly. He let out a loud whistle, stood up, and left. Before leaving, he blinked his big eyes and gave a thumbs-up to show encouragement.

"Emiya, brother, I'm going out for a few days, haha. I need to find my Hunter contacts to get some goods from North America. Might be useful for the next operation!"

He was gone.

Emiya's eyes widened, and he reached out his hand, shouting, "Hey, Old Tang!" How could you leave me alone!

All that was left for Emiya was a solitary figure walking away with both arms raised and thumbs up. But from an outsider's perspective, at first glance, he looked exactly like a goofy, joyful face excitedly running away in a weird posture.

The Wa Lord next to Emiya had watched the series of interactions and was bent over laughing, her small chest heaving violently as she gasped for air. After she finished laughing, she looked at Emiya and softly exhaled, "Shirou, explain the Thought Plate to me. Come, the banquet is already prepared. Come with me back to the palace, and we'll drink and chat!"

"Uh, uh, can I say no—" Emiya remembered what happened that night they went out and thought to himself, Is this "drink and chat" of yours legitimate? Are you going to sneak something else in?

"No, you can't! Be obedient!" The Wa Lord interrupted, flicked her snake tail to tighten her hold, and her eyes sparkled, looking aggressive. At this moment, she was majestic and imposing.

Hiss, if only I had known earlier that boys could also be...

Late at night, somewhere on the shore of the Three Gorges Reservoir.

Old Tang gazed at the shimmering, lonely river view, and a nostalgic emotion flowed through his pure golden eyes, but it disappeared in an instant.

He was no longer the goofy Old Tang; he was Norton, the esteemed First Generation among the Dragon Clan in this world, the son of the Black King, one of the Four Great Monarchs, and the King of Bronze and Fire who controlled the "fire element."

"Go, bring up the 'Seven Deadly Sins'."

Norton spoke to the surface of the river.

Immediately, a turbulent churning sound came from beneath the water. A moment later, a huge black shadow accompanied by scorching white steam broke through the water. The moonlight faintly illuminated the dark scales and the dragon body several stories high.

The giant dragon that emerged from the water carried an ancient box to the shore. Its Golden Eye trembled and glowed as it faced Norton, seemingly excited and ecstatic. The next second, it was about to roar up at the sky to welcome the return of its king!

"Wait," Norton said. "Lower your head."

The Dragon Clan immediately obeyed, excitedly lowering its lofty head. Then it saw its usually majestic king actually gently and tenderly stroking its skull.

This incredible sight caused the longing and gratitude it had accumulated over thousands of years to surge like a mighty river, overflowing into—

Suddenly, it heard its great king muttering to itself:

"'Thought Partition'... Where should I start partitioning from?"

"Aow?"