Selected World: Fate World
Anchored Story: Fate/Zero
Main Quest: Participate in the Fourth Holy Grail War and obtain at least 10,000 fun points from relevant characters.
…”This exchange has been very fruitful for me.
Thank you, Tohsaka, for your generous guidance.”
March 14, 1993, Japan, Fuyuki City, Tohsaka Residence.
Lynch, dressed in a grey Armani suit, with a popular slicked-back hairstyle favored by successful individuals, appearing to be in his early twenties, exuding the aura of a top Western university student, and possessing a handsomeness that would make even Daniel Wu bow down, politely expressed his gratitude to the man before him.
That was a man of about thirty, with a mustache and a middle part in his hair, dressed in a red suit, exuding an elegant aura from head to toe.
His name was Tohsaka Tokiomi, outwardly a wealthy ordinary man in Fuyuki City, from a family with a centuries-old legacy, a successful individual with numerous properties in Fuyuki City and across Japan.
Privately, he was the administrator of Fuyuki City’s spiritual pulse, the current head of one of Japan’s many Magus families, a figure in the Magus world responsible for managing supernatural affairs in the Fuyuki City area.
Facing Lynch’s gratitude, Tohsaka Tokiomi, fully embodying the host’s hospitality, nodded slightly with an elegant yet polite smile, saying, “You are too kind, Lynch.
To learn about the unique Magus system of that mysterious ancient country from a Chinese Magus like you is a great gain for me as well.
I hope we will have the opportunity to meet again in the future.”
Lynch smiled and nodded: “There certainly will be.
Well then, Tokiomi, I shall take my leave first.”
After speaking, he left the Tohsaka Family under Tohsaka Tokiomi’s farewell, got into a special car arranged by Tohsaka Tokiomi for his departure, and thus left the Tohsaka Residence, heading to his hotel.
Tohsaka Tokiomi watched the vehicle disappear into the distance before turning to go back inside.
However, his elegant smile had vanished, replaced by an indifferent expression, as if the earlier warmth had been nothing but a facade.
This was indeed the case, as Magi in the Type-Moon World were all scum, most lacking even normal human emotions.
While Tohsaka Tokiomi wasn’t utterly deranged, he was a very traditional Magus.
Except for a very few people outside his family, Tohsaka Tokiomi harbored no emotions, only cold calculations.
However, this was irrelevant to the departed Lynch, as he had achieved his goal and was very satisfied with his gains, now contemplating how to find amusement next.
After all, as a transmigration ‘player’, Lynch had a main quest he had to complete, and he also had to frantically seek amusement.
Because, as the Fourth Calamity whose profession was ‘Masked Fool’, seeking amusement was Lynch’s way of growing stronger and obtaining rewards.
Yes, Lynch was not from this world.
He was a Transmigrator, originally a Fun Seeker (One who seeks amusement) on Earth, also an orphan.
His hobby was finding all sorts of amusement online, such as various parody fan creations.
Sometimes he would also create amusement himself, like producing various amusing videos or memes.
His life was ordinary and relaxed enough.
However, whether it was a pure accident or Lynch’s Fun Seeker (One who seeks amusement) attribute was noticed by some higher-dimensional entities who wanted him to become amusement and better utilize his Fun Seeker (One who seeks amusement) nature, a thing called the ‘amusement system’ suddenly found Lynch.
It then turned Lynch into a Fourth Calamity who could travel through different worlds, with the profession of ‘Masked Fool’, representing Fun Seeker (One who seeks amusement)s.
The current world was the classic “Fate” world from anime, specifically the “Fate/Zero” timeline representing the Fourth Holy Grail War.
However, this was not Lynch’s first world, but his second.
The previous world was “Chainsaw Man.” In that world, as a novice, Lynch failed.
After all, it was his first time being a pure Fun Seeker (One who seeks amusement), and he was still holding back, which directly led to the main quest’s failure and his expulsion from the world.
Yes, the amusement system’s failure penalty for Lynch was expulsion from the world, and everything obtained in that world could not be taken away.
He wouldn’t truly die; if he died, it would only be judged as a mission failure, and he would be forcibly kicked out of the current world.
This was also the reason for Lynch’s failure in the previous world; he was instantly killed by the Great Boss, the Darkness Devil, in that world, experiencing death for free once.
Because of this direct experience and understanding, Lynch, who had successfully ‘enlightened himself in the Dragon Field’, let go in this second world.
Without any worries, his Fun Seeker (One who seeks amusement) attribute completely erupted.
Today, Lynch visited Tohsaka Tokiomi as a traveler from the Chinese Magus world, then left after chatting with him about various topics for a while.
Throughout the entire process, Lynch’s performance was unremarkable, with no outrageous behavior.
Clearly, this did not align with the habits of a Fun Seeker (One who seeks amusement), indicating that Lynch had an ulterior motive for doing so and was brewing something big.
Indeed, that was the case.
Now, Lynch opened his player panel, looking at the gains after interacting with Tohsaka Tokiomi.
character card: Tohsaka Tokiomi
Effect: When used, you can transform into ‘Tohsaka Tokiomi’ for 2 hours.
During this period, you must maintain Tohsaka Tokiomi’s persona.
Breaking the persona will reduce the duration, and severely breaking it will cause the impersonation to fail.
In Lynch’s view, this item appeared on Tohsaka Tokiomi.
The condition to obtain it was to stay within two meters of Tohsaka Tokiomi for 10 minutes.
Just before, he, in the identity of a’successor to an ancient Eastern Magus family’, conversed with Tohsaka Tokiomi in the living room for over ten minutes, thereby acquiring this item.
A character card, in short, is an item that allows one to transform into another person.
After use, one can become that person and possess all their related abilities, but without their memories.
In short, it’s a perfect disguise in terms of appearance and abilities.
Theoretically, after using it, it would still be easy for familiar people to notice something amiss.
However, this was not a problem for Lynch, as he also had an inherent talent skill as a Masked Fool.
Perfect Acting (Passive): When performing, you can automatically immerse yourself in the role, making it difficult for others to detect flaws.
Believe me, with this skill, you could directly defeat those acclaimed actors and actresses in terms of acting.
Yes, this skill combined with the character card made for a perfect performance.
And because this skill was passive, it meant Lynch could enter acting mode at any time.
The reason he could chat and laugh with Tohsaka Tokiomi as a’successor to an ancient Eastern Magus family’ without the latter noticing anything amiss was due to this skill.
Therefore, if Lynch wanted to, it would be very easy for him to impersonate Tohsaka Tokiomi and deceive others.
Undoubtedly, this would be a very amusing affair.
If managed well, performing a play of ‘The Real and Fake Tohsaka Tokiomi’, ‘Tohsaka Tokiomi: Huh?
I’ve become a stand-in!’, ‘Madam, don’t look back, I am your husband!’, ‘Children, I am your father!’ and other such amusing scenarios would be no problem.
Yes, this was a very amusing thing.
But…
was this enough?
Was this kind of amusement sufficient?
Lynch felt it wasn’t enough, even finding it too cliché.
Therefore, he wanted greater amusement, a more unexpected development.
Thus, Lynch directly opened his system personal panel.
Player: Lynch
Level: 3
Profession: Masked Fool
Strength: 8
Agility: 6
Endurance: 10
Spirit: 8
fun points: 281
After glancing at his personal panel, Lynch’s gaze fell to the very bottom of the character interface.
Below, there were three special frames, whose function was called ‘character card Solidification Slots’.
The effect was simple: after placing a drawn character card into them, it would not disappear after use but could be used repeatedly.
Yes, these drawn character cards were all one-time use items; once used, they were gone.
However, the Masked Fool’s professional function allowed for character card solidification, making character cards reusable.
A maximum of three character cards could be solidified simultaneously.
To replace them with new ones, an already solidified character card would need to be destroyed—obviously, this function was to prevent ‘players’ from exploiting a bug by constantly swapping to ensure all character cards could always be used.
There are also restrictions on its use; each use has an effective duration of 2 hours, and there’s a 24-hour cooldown after use, meaning it can only be used once a day at most.
After solidifying Tohsaka Tokiomi’s character card, Lynch opened the skill book, which contained two skills.
Besides ‘Perfect Acting,’ the other skill was’Setting Modification.’
Its effect is to modify the settings of a character card.
Using this skill requires consuming a certain amount of fun points, which are a special currency unique to the Masked Fool.
fun points are generated when one’s actions cause strong emotional reactions in specific individuals.
The specific individuals determined by this system are well-known characters from various worlds.
For example, Tohsaka Tokiomi and his family would be included.
The amount of fun points these individuals can generate is also tied to their character positioning and strength.
For instance, protagonists in various stories generally generate more fun points than supporting characters, but powerful supporting characters or those with top-tier talents can also generate a high amount of fun points.
As for those who don’t have roles in various stories, even a national leader would only be classified as a ‘passerby’ and wouldn’t generate fun points.
The 281 fun points Lynch currently possesses were accumulated during his month in this world.
The Tohsaka Family contributed 201 of those points, and he even managed to obtain a character card from Tohsaka Tokiomi, making him truly a lucky star for Lynch.
Therefore, to repay this lucky star, Lynch was determined to put on a good show, allowing Tohsaka Tokiomi to deeply experience the Fun Seeker’s ability to stir things up.
Of course, Lynch is one to repay kindness and will strive to save Tohsaka Tokiomi from dire straits.
As for how those dire straits came about, let’s not worry about that.
Now, Lynch anchored Tohsaka Tokiomi’s character card and activated the Setting Modification skill.
Immediately, the system’s voice echoed in Lynch’s mind, asking how he wanted to modify the character card’s settings and directly displaying the rules for modification.
The rule was that the modified setting must conform to the target’s established persona and could not completely change the target in an unrelated direction.
For example, Tohsaka Tokiomi’s character card could be modified using different phases of his life, such as his youth or old age.
Settings from parallel world versions of Tohsaka Tokiomi could also be used, such as the Servant Universe Tohsaka Tokiomi who appeared in the Fate mobile game.
It could even use the settings of a gender-bent Tohsaka Tokiomi from fan art, as long as the system identified the character as ‘Tohsaka Tokiomi.’
It could be said that this skill was quite versatile, and being directly connected to the system, Lynch could discuss various modification possibilities with it.
And because he could discuss it, Lynch’s extraordinary wisdom found room to shine, and he immediately put forward his request.
“Excellent!
I want to change this character card’s setting to ‘Iron Man Tohsaka Tokiomi,’ who is Tony Stark reincarnated!”
[System:???]
No, Host, are you lucid?
What kind of ridiculous setting is Tony Stark, Iron Man, reincarnating as Tohsaka Tokiomi and still being Iron Man?
These two are completely unrelated, aren’t they?
Even if you were playing a voice actor gag, like the Aizen Tokiomi from fan-made videos, that would be slightly more reasonable!
But Iron Man Tohsaka Tokiomi has absolutely no connection!
Without hesitation, the system vehemently complained to Lynch and rejected such a nonsensical setting modification.
Lynch was not surprised by this and showed no disappointment; instead, he revealed a joyful smile.
“So, it’s not that it can’t be done, but that it doesn’t conform to the rules, right?”
[System: Yes.
Therefore, don’t use phrases like ‘rules are meant to be broken’ to demand I execute the setting modification.
There’s a conflict in the underlying code.]
Lynch, however, was smiling, a smile full of profound meaning: “Excellent.
So, if it conforms to the rules, it can be modified, right?
Then, let’s talk about the commonalities between Tony Stark and Tohsaka Tokiomi!”
[System: What commonalities do those two have?]
Lynch: “Oh, there are many!
Just activate the comparison judgment.”
Comparison judgment is a hidden function of the’Setting Modification’ skill.
Its effect is to activate when the system determines there’s no similarity in the modification direction.
Once activated, a progress bar appears, with the goal of finding 8 similar settings.
After all 8 settings are found and a plausible summary is provided, the modification judgment can be forcibly completed.
Now, that progress bar appeared.
“Tony Stark is a seeker of truth; Tohsaka Tokiomi is a seeker of the Root.”
“Tony Stark likes red, his Iron Man suits are various shades of red; Tohsaka Tokiomi also likes red, his clothes are various shades of red.”
“Tony Stark has a loving wife and daughter; Tohsaka Tokiomi also has a loving wife and daughters.”
“Tony Stark is wealthy and enjoys scientific research; Tohsaka Tokiomi is also wealthy and enjoys magical research.”
“Tony Stark’s parents are deceased; Tohsaka Tokiomi’s parents are also deceased.”
“Tony Stark died in a war; Tohsaka Tokiomi also died in a war.”
“Tony Stark didn’t see his daughter grow up; Tohsaka Tokiomi also didn’t see his daughters grow up.”
“Tony Stark was betrayed by his’son’ Ultron; Tohsaka Tokiomi was also betrayed by his disciple, Father Mapo.”
“Summary: They have so many common points, so I think that after Tony Stark died in ‘Avengers 4,’ in the endless multiverse, one Tony Stark reincarnated as Tohsaka Tokiomi, then at a certain age awakened his past life memories, remembered he was Iron Man, and thus became Iron Man Tohsaka Tokiomi in the Fate World.
Doesn’t that seem quite reasonable?”
Instantly, all eight comparison points lit up, the progress bar filled, and the final summary was judged ‘reasonable,’ completing the comparison judgment.
[System:…
You’re a genius!!!]
The system was convinced.
This Fun Seeker Host really knows how to stir things up, managing to connect two completely unrelated individuals and find so many commonalities.
It was truly incredible.
Although many of the commonalities were dark humor and could be considered far-fetched, they met the activation conditions for the’Setting Modification’ skill, as evidenced by the fully filled progress bar for all eight comparison points.
Therefore, the system immediately deducted 200 fun points from Lynch, expanded Tohsaka Tokiomi’s character card, and began the setting modification process.
It wasn’t directly and completely modified by the system; Lynch, as the Host, could also participate, applying his personal understanding and customization to certain aspects of the setting.
As long as it was ‘reasonable,’ the setting modification could be completed and manifested through the character card.
For example, Lynch stated that this ‘Iron Man Tohsaka Tokiomi’ could create the nanotech Iron Man suit, the Bleeding Edge Armor, seen in ‘Avengers 3.’ The reason given was that besides technology, the Fate World also has magic, and the reincarnated ‘Iron Man Tohsaka Tokiomi’ would surely perfectly utilize his dual talents, thus combining the two.
After all, there’s even a Sorcerer Supreme Iron Man in the Marvel Universe, so it’s only natural for ‘Iron Man Tohsaka Tokiomi’ to become adept in both magic and science, combining their talents to create nanotech Iron Man suits that can also use magic.
Because this reasoning was logical and reasonable, the system directly approved this setting modification.
This included things that completely disregarded the law of conservation of mass-energy, but this is the amusement system.
As long as there’s a rule-compliant reason, it won’t restrict the Host’s actions and will even pay out of its own pocket to fulfill the Host’s requests.
The ‘Iron Man Tohsaka Tokiomi’ setting modification would undoubtedly make the amusement system pay out of its own pocket, but it still did so.
Because…
it was rule-compliant, and it would be incredibly fun!
The moment the modification was complete, Lynch, who had returned to his hotel, smiled with pleasure.
“Then, let the fun of this Fourth Holy Grail War begin!”
Without hesitation, Lynch used the character card, whose name had already changed to ‘Iron Man Tohsaka Tokiomi.’
Lynch, however, was smiling, a smile full of profound meaning: “Excellent.
So, if it conforms to the rules, it can be modified, right?
Then, let’s talk about the commonalities between Tony Stark and Tohsaka Tokiomi!”