After receiving the grimoire from Tokiomi, Rin began her journey of cultivation. But Rin quickly encountered a troubling problem: she was learning too fast and had nothing left to learn!
Here, Rin finally thoroughly experienced the power of End Magic, hailed by "God" as an unparalleled cheat.
The automatic completion of any magic allowed her, after reading through and understanding the operational process, to perfectly release that magic at its highest level, with absolutely no need for practice or training.
"Lightness of Wind," "Gather Fire," "Harmony of Light," "Healing Magic," "Idle Person Repulsion Barrier," "Protection Spell," "Thrown Weapon Protection," "Magic Infusion"... The low-level magic spells Tokiomi had selected for Rin to practice for ten years were all read by Rin in one afternoon. Reading them meant she could use them, and she used them with unprecedented perfection—perhaps not unparalleled, but certainly unsurpassed.
But Rin realized a very serious problem: her magic power couldn't keep up!
Even with nearly 500 Magic Circuits, the consumption couldn't be sustained. Even a simple Healing Magic consumed three small sections of a conventional Magus's Magic Power. Three small sections of magic were already considered high-level magic (Unlimited Blade Works was only five small sections)!
Perhaps the effect was no less than three small sections of magic, but the consumption itself made it impossible for Rin to sustain, and Rin herself couldn't even reduce the output of magic power to lessen the spell's power.
This also made Rin understand that she wasn't truly strong; what was strong was End Magic, not her.
A qualified Magus would not be unable to control their own Magic Power freely. Rin now released magic simply by following the learned operational method and flipping the switch of her Magic Circuits. End Magic would automatically complete the magic formula along the flow of magic, without any of Rin's own deductions or calculations.
Although the spell was perfected by End Magic, Rin could not manipulate the flow of magic at will. As long as she released it, she had to go all out. This was definitely not the method of a qualified Magus.
Furthermore, the lack of magic power was also due to Rin's insufficient training and development of her own Magic Circuits. A powerful Magus does not necessarily need many Magic Circuits.
The unparalleled puppeteer in the magical world, "Grand Puppeteer" Aozaki Touko, had only about 50 Magic Circuits in total, including both main and sub-circuits, but the training and development of each, and the precision of her magic manipulation, reached an astonishing level.
Whether magic power is sufficient depends not only on the refinement of Magic Circuits, but also on how to restrain the loss and dispersion of magic power, and how to economize its use—all of which a Magus must master. The number of Magic Circuits is only potential; how far one can develop depends on the individual!
Rin, deeply aware of her shortcomings, did not secretly rummage through the grimoires on the bookshelf after finishing the low-level magic Tokiomi had given her.
Because even low-level magic had already overwhelmed her magic power. If it were high-level magic, after being completed by End Magic, it would likely cause Rin to die from magic power exhaustion.
Therefore, after learning magic, Rin began to concentrate fully on studying magic theory. Rin knew very well that the path of magic was the pursuit of knowledge; she had to accelerate her understanding and comprehension of the mysterious. The Analysis (analysis) of the mysterious was a Magus's true power. Low-level mysteries were meaningless before high-level ones; this was the principle.
At the same time, Rin was also fully honing her Magic Circuits. This was especially important for her, because her time was truly pressing; she didn't have decades or centuries to make steady, incremental progress.
Six years later would be the Fourth Holy Grail War. If she did nothing, Sakura would be sent to the Matou Family to suffer humiliation, Tokiomi would die from his disciple's betrayal, and Aoi would be crippled and driven insane by schemes.
Putting aside Rin's own hardship of supporting the Tohsaka Family at a young age, if Rin didn't want to just watch these tragedies unfold, she had to possess enough strength to interfere with everything. And when the Fourth Holy Grail War began, she would have just turned eight years old.
Rin immersed herself in magic almost to the point of forgetting food and sleep, doing everything possible to increase her power, deepen her understanding of the mysterious, and find a suitable development path for her current situation.
After half a year of various investigations and comparisons, Rin comprehensively judged that the most suitable path for her currently was Reinforcement Magic!
This was because End Magic would maximally complete the purpose that magic power was intended to achieve. For example, if Rin's purpose for using magic power was to cast Healing Magic, then End Magic would complete the effect of Healing Magic to its limit.
And Rin's purpose for releasing magic power was to cast Reinforcement! End Magic would automatically amplify the reinforcement effect that magic power could produce to its limit, while the amount of magic power invested itself was controlled by Rin herself.
Upon realizing this, a person's image couldn't help but surface in Rin's mind: Bazett.
Bazett Fraga McRemitz! That simple-minded, strong-limbed, short-haired woman in a suit who fought by strengthening her body and limbs with Rune Magic!
She was an enforcer of a sealing designation for the Mage's Association, affiliated with the Clock Tower in London. A super powerhouse who, like a certain teacher, could single-handedly take on Heroic Spirits, and most importantly, she actually killed a Heroic Spirit! Although it relied on her family's noble phantasm, it was still an unprecedented feat!
And now, Rin was about to embark on the same path; Young Miss Rin's art style was completely breaking down... "So, modern Maguss still have more potential in close combat..." Rin muttered regretfully, eyes unfocused, as she flipped through the book, repeatedly hypnotizing herself that becoming a warrior for melee combat was definitely more promising than becoming a mage who could only stand aside and cast fireballs... It was strange, really. The Nasuverse was clearly a world where Maguss ran rampant, yet close-combat melee professions here seemed to be much stronger than those orthodox Maguss, with each one boasting explosive combat power.
First, there was Shizukusa Jūjirō from Mahoyo, who knocked out the Golden Wolf with a single punch; then there was a certain teacher who crushed Rider and punched Saber; Aozaki Aoko, the Fifth Magic human rocket launcher; Bazett, who single-handedly took on Cú Chulainn; even Tohsaka Rin once got up close with Caster, using a set of Baji Quan (Eight Extremes Fist) to stun her.
However, even in close combat, the power of magic was still used, so it couldn't be considered purely a warrior's style. Indeed, melee combat for mages was the way to go; chanting spells and casting fireballs was no longer effective.
"If I'm going to take the close-quarters martial arts route, I must choose a martial art as a foundation. Should I choose Baji Quan (Eight Extremes Fist) like in the original work/canon? It doesn't necessarily have to be a fighting style; my reinforcement magic can also be applied to weapons, so..."
"Dong!" Facts proved that walking while reading a book and spacing out, muttering to oneself, was very dangerous, even indoors. The elegant and beautiful Young Miss Rin, not learning her lesson, very—un-elegantly—collided head-first with a bookshelf.
Before she could fully recover and understand what was happening, a grimoire, one punch thick and two Cihai dictionaries in size, with a hard cover, appeared just in time for a critical hit, falling in a straight free-fall from the top shelf of the three-meter-high bookshelf, its hard cover striking accurately!
KO!
Young Miss Rin, with very un-elegant spiral eyes, passed out in a terrible, splayed-out posture... A while later... Rin's consciousness gradually returned, her head aching as if hit directly by a brick. Not only was she hit, but it was a critical hit!
Rubbing her head, she tried to sit up, but couldn't.
What's pressing on me?
Rin opened her eyes in confusion and saw a huge hardcover book pressing down on her. Rin laboriously pushed the book aside and sat up, feeling dizzy and lightheaded. While rubbing her head, she couldn't help but curiously turn to look at the large book on the floor that had almost sent her back to the Root to sleep... "Eh!? This is..."
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