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*****
The next day, George no longer shadowed Emiya Shirou. Instead, he threw himself entirely into the stack of magic books before him.
As he quickly finished them one after another, he gained a thorough understanding of this world's magecraft and the so-called Holy Grail War.
To begin with, the races here were not limited to humans. There were also vampires, phantasmal species, and homunculi.
Vampires were rare. Most phantasmal beings had migrated to the Reverse Side of the World. Homunculi were creations of ancient magi, born from alchemy.
In the present age, the still-active races were mostly humans and human magi.
Human magi were divided into two types: magi who used "magecraft," and true "magicians."
The distinction lay here: anything that could theoretically be achieved by modern science was magecraft, while magic referred to things that modern technology could never accomplish.
In ancient times, when science had not yet advanced, most practitioners were called magicians. As science progressed, nearly all of them became magi.
Those who could still be labeled "magicians" were extremely few.
But whether one was a magician or a magus, one needed to be born with magic circuits.
Only those with magic circuits could convert vitality into mana and use it to activate thaumaturgical formulae—performing various magical techniques.
These techniques were primarily divided into seven elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Void, Imaginary, and Nothingness.
The classification differed from the elemental systems of his previous world, but the idea was similar enough, nothing too surprising.
What interested him was that this world's magi attached "attributes" or "traits" to their magecraft—meaning they ascribed concepts to the seven elements and thus expanded their versatility.
For example, if you gave the Fire element the trait of "reinforcement," the flames would burn more intensely.
If Water received the reinforcement trait, it would swell in volume and flow with greater force.
According to the texts, truly powerful magicians fought using concepts and concepts alone.
Neither of the two libraries that provided him these books recorded any high-powered spells. Most of the writings focused on fundamental principles.
However, George didn't need destructive spells. He already possessed enough powerful techniques. His goal was to absorb new magical theories and refine his own system.
As for the Holy Grail War, the books offered a clear account.
The story dated back to the Age of Gods.
The Age of Gods referred to the era when deities flourished, divided into the First and Second Ages.
The First Age spanned the Jurassic to the Cretaceous.
The Second Age stretched from around 12,000 BCE to roughly 4,000 or 5,000 BCE.
At that time, the world was ruled by the gods. They had nothing to do with the planet's will or human will—they were the embodiment of natural concepts.
Eventually, the gods perished. Neither library recorded the exact cause.
From that point onward, human magi set their ultimate goal as reaching the "Root."
What was the "Root"?
In a magus's view, the Root was the Swirl of the Root—the source of all causes, the origin of all creation.
Reaching the Root meant eternal life, mastery over all laws of the world, and the ability to create a new world—becoming a god of creation.
Countless magi tried countless methods, and the Holy Grail War was one of those attempts.
The Grail War was founded by three mage families known as the "Three Families."
They were: the Tohsaka family, who provided the land; the Matou family, who developed the Heroic Spirit summoning magecraft; and the Einzbern family, who created the Grail itself.
The reason the books in his possession were so detailed was because they came from the libraries of two of these founding families.
However, the Three Families had long since declined. The Tohsaka line was now down to a single high-school magus, Tohsaka Rin.
In the Matou family, aside from the elderly head Matou Zouken and the talentless Matou Shinji, no members remained.
Matou Sakura had once been adopted from the Tohsaka family as their successor—she was also Rin's younger sister—but from what he saw of her life in the Matou household today, things didn't seem pleasant.
As for the Einzberns, they were a special clan.
In the Age of Gods, they were disciples of the wielder of the Third Magic. Using superb alchemy, they jointly created a lineage.
By coincidence, they had once created a homunculus known as the "Saint of Winter," Justeaze.
But because it was a fluke, they never managed to create another homunculus of equal caliber, no matter how hard they tried.
Centuries later, the magi among them gave in to their own limitations—some left the castle, others ended their lives.
The homunculi the Einzberns left behind had been abandoned by their creators, but they inherited their ideals and continued their research.
Eventually, Justeaze offered herself as a sacrifice and transformed into a magic circuit that could draw mana from the leylines—this became the Greater Grail.
Only with the abundant mana of the Greater Grail could the Matou family's summoning circles connect to the Throne of Heroes and begin a true Holy Grail War.
Under normal rules, seven magi would be chosen, each summoning a Servant from one of seven classes: Saber, Rider, Lancer, Archer, Caster, Assassin, and Berserker.
The seven participants would battle under the supervision of the Church and the Mage's Association. The victor would claim the Lesser Grail and, through the ritual, realize any wish.
Of course, according to the records, the first four Wars had all failed. This was the fifth.
The first Holy Grail War took place around 1800. At that time, the Masters had no Command Seals, and many summoned Servants refused to obey orders.
The ritual collapsed before it even took shape.
The second War occurred around 1860. Though the Command Seals existed by then, other problems caused failure.
The third War happened around 1930. Because World War II armies became involved, the Lesser Grail was destroyed, the Greater Grail malfunctioned, and the ritual failed again.
The fourth War took place around 1990. No clear reason was recorded, but it ended in failure nonetheless.
Now it was the year 2000—the fifth Holy Grail War.
"So that means whether the Grail can truly grant every wish, or lead to the Swirl of the Root, granting immortality and mastery of the world's laws, is completely uncertain."
George had been genuinely intrigued by the Lesser Grail, which was supposed to fulfill any desire. But after reading the accounts of the first four Wars, he couldn't help but scoff.
After all that explanation, everything still seemed nothing more than the old speculation of the Three Families. To date, not a single success had been achieved.
"Still, it's worth trying."
Though he doubted the ritual could truly achieve those lofty goals, George still felt it was worth participating.
First, the entire ritual had significant research value.
Second, on the off-chance it actually worked—if he could use the ritual to reach this world's Swirl of the Root and gain control over its laws—
Then his personal small world might be perfected instantly, ascending to the level of a self-contained universe.
And even if it failed, he would lose nothing.
From what he had observed, in this age without gods, nothing in this world could pose a threat to him.
Even if someone summoned a true god-class Heroic Spirit, there was nothing to fear.
(End of this chapter)