Dream of The Beginning

It was like a dream. 

At the Sacred Sanctuary outside the bound of time and space, faintly, she seemed to hear a prayer.

Passing through innumerable time and distance, as if the hand of Destiny had willed it in a whim; an earnest and sincere wish of a proud, lonely heart from distant world had found its way to her.

Her lips curled upward slightly. She decided to answer that heartfelt wish. Albeit a little, at that time, she was undoubtedly smiling...

~

"This time. I am sure, it'll definitely work!"

Ryan held a transparent, glass-like sphere the size of soccer ball on his hand with a look of full concentration. Within that sphere, hot-red plasma was winding itself, trying to make a rotation in place. 

Ryan carefully guided its trajectory. Otherwise, one wrong move and it would go–

Kaboom!!! 

A loud sound of explosion and tremor shocked the workshop.

The sphere in Ryan's hand had exploded into fragmented lights, dyeing the room with red-gold color. Strangely, there was no other obvious damages to the workshop beside those colorful flashes.

"…failed. Again." 

Lancer commented from the side. Looking at the quiet Ryan, she felt like she had to say something.

"You are going to demolish the house soon one of these days, Master. Just what are you trying to create here?"

"Ha…Haha! Hahaha!!!"

Have these continuous failures frustrated him that much?

Lancer tilted her head a bit. She genuinely felt worried for him.

After laughing for a while, Ryan turned to Lancer. He did not look sad or bothered over his many failures.

"You know what, Lancer, it's not strange that I fail so much when I try to create this thing. I am trying to create a Sun, after all. Even if the scale is so much smaller than the real one, it is still a prototype of star." 

Creating a Sun… is that something a human could do? More than that, even the idea for trying to create it is not something a normal human would dream about, no? 

"A star…? Why would you even wish to create one?" Surprise colored her eyes when she heard his bold claim.

"Guess, it's because it seems interesting. Tony Stark could create his own mini 'Sun', then why can't I try to create one myself?" 

That "Tony Stark" he mentioned, was that person really produced such great feat like that? Why don't I ever hear their name in the Throne of Heroes?? 

Lancer kept her calm despite the questions inside her mind. 

Ryan's element was Wind and Fire, this made it so he had better affinity to spells aligned to those elements. 

While his major attribute was Imaginary Numbers. This attribute granted him the ability to open temporary imaginary space; a space identified as linear yet also illusionary to the real world. He kept most of his projection weapons inside these imaginary numbers space, unlike a certain Archer who pulled his swords from his Reality Marble. 

Ryan felt that he also got an additional attribute after absorbing Black Iri, but until now, he had yet to find out what kind of new attribute he got. 

This time, in his attempt to create a 'Sun', Ryan did the experiment inside an imaginary space he had opened temporarily. Because, what he wanted to do was to emulate the process of nuclear fusion happening inside the Sun's core. 

The use of imaginary space was to reduce the risk in case any accident happened, like the explosion from before. In case of failure, the residual energy would dissipate into the "sea of nothingness", rather than damaging him or the surrounding area. Then, in case his experiment was successful, he could replicate the feat in real world with just some necessary adjustments. 

That was a method Ryan concluded so he could do the experiment safely without damaging the world too much, as all the risks happened inside an imaginary numbers space. 

"The matter that I want to do would need a lot of energy. I can't just depend on the world's Mana; therefore, I need to have my own source of Mana."

To the side, Lancer looked like she still had not comprehended his meaning. Instead, it seemed like she had more questions after hearing what Ryan said.

Ryan, as if seeing through her confusion, went toward nearby power socket. As his hand reached out to it, a large burst of electricity rushed out of the outlet, quickly gathering on his palm. 

Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt!! 

"Lightning, since ancient time, is thought to be symbol of destruction, a punishment from Heaven. However, there is also a myth about the first lifeform born on the world after the ocean was struck by lightning. 

"As such, it is believed that lightning has a duality aspect to it; the concept of creation and destruction, of life and death." 

At this point, Ryan's Mystic Eyes had unknowingly been activated. His eyes glowed with purple haze. 

"If Mana is considered as life energy, and an established phenomena like lightning also has the property of life, then wouldn't it possible to convert said phenomena back into Mana?" 

Ryan's eyes seemed to see through the essence of the burst of electricity in his palm. It was as if he was controlling an invisible hand to manipulate the electric burst on his hand; as the electric burst slowly calmed down, it was also reduced in size, slowly gaining a solid property when it was gathering into one cluster by the seconds. 

"No matter if the source is from an individual or the World, it is only a matter of composition. Then, if we 'slightly' arrange its structure... we should be able to get– this." 

Under Lancer's astonished eyes, a marvelous sight was unfolding inside the workshop. The electric burst on Ryan's hand had disappeared, instead, what replaced its place was a group of crystal-clear, translucent dust. 

"And that is...?" 

"Behold, Lancer. These are Mana crystal, free of impurities, albeit dust-sized." 

Ryan sprinkled the translucent dusts. As he chanted a simple spell, the dust-sized Mana crystal was transformed into a glowing radiance, bearing similar image like an aurora. 

"This is a spell I devised. The name is [Electric-Mana Conversion Formulae]. I intend to do more about this spell, like converting heat energy into Mana. 

"After all, Fire also has dual attribute of life and death similar with lightning, as it bears the concept of destruction and rebirth. But, for now it could only be utilized to convert electricity into Mana. 

"Hey, did you just laugh on me, Lancer?" 

"No. It must be your imagination, Master." Lancer replied with stoic face. 

He might have the talent to be an incredible Magus, but his naming sense... in all honesty, it still has room for improvement. Hold it in, myself! It's not appropriate to laugh at Master. 

Whether she was laughing inside or not, no one could really tell beside herself… 

Ryan shrugged. He continued, "Although, the conversion rate is still terrible; merely 5%. But, I should still be able to improve this magic formula, perfecting it to the next stage." 

Five percent of the expected result. It was too little in Ryan's opinion. He still needed to increase it to at least fifty percent. If this spell had reached his targeted efficiency, he could move on to his next plan. 

Though, part of the reason the result was too little because Ryan emphasized on purity of resulted Mana. He could get larger result if he lowered the standard, but what he got would be mana crystal with lightning attribute, not a pure mana crystal that could be used for various purpose. 

If his miniature 'Sun' could be properly maintained with relatively low-cost, and the mana conversion rate had higher efficiency, he could literally provide himself with nearly unlimited Mana. That was one of his goal in this project. 

In case the materials on Earth was insufficient for him, then at that time, he would just obtain them from outer space... 

"It sounds grand and all, Master, but what does it have to do with the Grail War?" 

Lancer asked suddenly. 

Hearing her question, Ryan only smiled. Then, with so much confidence, he lightly replied, "Nothing. It has absolutely nothing to do with the current Holy Grail War." 

Words seemed to stuck on her throat. She was unable to muster proper response as she was stunned hearing Ryan's reply. 

[...the victim, Naoto Kawasaki, is a High school student. He was found dead at the side of Mion river. The reason for his death is suspected to be heart attack...] 

[...serial case murderer is on the run! This has been the seventh case this week. Similar with the previous six cases, the victim was killed with sharp bullet to their heart. Dear citizen, if you see suspicious person, please don't hesitate to report it to relevant authorities...] 

The news from the TV brought Lancer to her senses. It was the first time she saw Ryan looked serious as he listened to the news. 

"Master, the Holy Grail War has begun. When will we move out?" 

"No. It hasn't really begun yet. These cases are merely skirmish. We will move out when all of the seven Servants have been summoned, Lancer." 

"...as you wish. Then, if you would excuse me–" 

Lancer was about to transform back into her spiritual form when Ryan called out to her. 

"Wait a minute, Lancer. I am really stumped now, and my ideas are running out… I'm in urgent need of some refreshments! Please, could you kindly allow me to have the usual course?" 

Ryan's eyes were gleaming with unusual attraction at that moment. He held Lancer's hand as he pulled her into his side. 

"That… is that really necessary now?" She managed to keep her composed look, but there was no denying that her ears had turned slightly red. 

"What're you saying? Of course, it's important. It's a way to level up our bond fast, my dear King. And also the proper method to do Mana transfer. Or, do you… dislike me for doing that to you, Lancer?" 

"It's not that–" 

Lancer had yet to finish her words before someone's lips suddenly coveted hers. That invader did not spend much time before he reached out his tongue, reaching out to hers as it pulled, and pushed hers from time to time as it was happily playing tag with hers.  

At that time, their eyes met each other as their lips glued together for a while. She felt like she was electrocuted, as she was stunned at the rising sensation which slowly awakened inside her. 

"Then isn't that fine? Because I really want to do it with you, Lancer. And it will feel even better if you like it too." 

Ryan spoke softly. His warm breath lightly blew on her face as their lips separated, leaving a thin thread of saliva as proof of what they just did. 

  

"…I just feel that we skipped many steps, Ryan..." 

Ryan was stunned hearing what she said. He also felt somewhat guilty. 

It was no wonder she felt that way. He kinda talked her into the act back then after he harassed and seduced her almost daily since her summoning two weeks ago. The peak was on the seventh day after she was summoned, it was at that time when Ryan finally managed to get her on his bed. 

Well, there was no excuse from him. Because, from the first time he laid his sight on her, Ryan had a strong feeling that he wanted to be with her. Otherwise, if he missed this chance, he would mostly regret it for all his life later on... 

It was truly a different attraction than what he felt toward Hinako Akuta. Although Ryan also felt attracted to Hinako, but what he felt to her would be mostly fleshly desire. He realized it would be nigh-impossible to change her heart. A love and yearning that had been kept, nurtured for thousand years... That was really a terrific record. 

"I had a feeling we might end up like this in the end, one way or another. I just didn't expect it to be this fast. I am not saying I regret it. Although unexpected, but I like how you see me as a woman, Ryan. It's just that... don't you feel it seemed a little bit rushed, no?" 

They had moved into nearby sofa as they chatted. Lancer was twirling Ryan's hair as he rested on her lap. 

Ehm, not gonna lie, her thicc thighs really feels wonderful! 

Ryan thought so while listening to her. 

"...you're right. It's my fault. Well, I think it's also partially your fault though, you're just that much irresistible, Artoria. 

"Like a goddess from fairy world, your radiance has captured my heart the first time I laid my eyes on you." 

"You won't get anything with that praise, Ryan." Small chuckle escaped her lips as she saw his teasing look. 

At this intimate moments, she subconsciously called his name directly as she felt it was more appropriate. 

When it is for official duty, she would refer him as the Master. Meanwhile, in their private times, it would not be wrong for her to call him by his given name, right? 

Ryan also seems to like it that way too. 

"For now, I guess this will suffice. Like you said, we can take our time to get back the things we have missed on, Artoria." 

Ryan felt at ease as he closed his eyes. Resting on her lap, Ryan slowly felt sleepy. 

He felt like he seemed to have forgotten something... But, no matter, he would just take a rest first now. 

He really did feel tired after doing all those experiments which largely exhausted his spirit and mana each time he did them. 

. . .