I made a mistake regarding the time frame of when the Holy Grail War was to take place.
Fortunately, I realized this after eavesdropping on more of Byakuya’s ramblings about the encroaching conflict.
This was because I used Sakura’s age instead of Shinji’s as reference, which in hindsight, was a bit stupid as she was repeatedly mentioned to be younger than Shirou, who was relative in terms of age with Shinji.
In my defense, who the hell paid attention to Shinji’s age when he wasn’t even the slightest bit relevant in Fate/Zero?
Thankfully, I actually had more time than anticipated.
It was around two more years than the five I had first assumed, meaning that the war would take place when I was seven, or at least, close to that age!
It wasn’t that much better than being five in the Grail War, but it was certainly better than what I thought.
By then, I needed to summon a Servant powerful enough to obliterate all of Zouken’s Crest Worms.
It was important that I did this before the Holy Grail War even started as doing so after would be contradictory to my plan of preventing the worm pit incident.
This should be relatively feasible as Heracles was summoned long before the Fifth Holy Grail War even started.
I just had to find a decent Catalyst to ensure the resulting Servant was powerful enough for my plan.
The ideal situation would be if I ended up summoning a Berserker.
It didn’t matter to me how bad the reputation of this Class was.
I’d gladly accept even Satan himself if he could wipe out the Matou.
As for what happened next…
well, trying to win the Holy Grail War would be pointless.
After all, the Grail had already been corrupted by Angra Mainyu.
Even if I wished for eternal life, it would just turn me into a rock!
This was one of the primary reasons I wanted a Berserker as this particular Class of Servant tended to be crazy and uncontrollable.
Once the matter with Zouken was settled, I would not hesitate to use my Command Seals to make them kill themself should they turn on me, relinquishing my position as a Master.
Though in the case that Berserker turned out more reasonable than expected, or had the mental strength to resist all of my Command Seals, I’d just give them to another Master to deal with.
Preferably someone who was both forthright and not particularly cunning like Waver so that this choice wouldn’t bite me in the ass later.
I then planned to go into hiding somewhere far, far away from Fuyuki City with Sakura in tow to wait out the war’s end.
This was the general outline of my vision, which could be subject to change later down the line.
…But that’s still far away in the future.
Currently, I sat atop the carpet in the middle of my room.
Three years had passed since the death of Shina Matou, and my life had not changed as dramatically as I had hoped.
A glass of wine rested before me, one that I had stolen from the kitchen as my father often left such alcoholic beverages lying around the estate.
Despite marrying for political reasons, Byakuya seemed to have genuinely loved Shina.
After her death, he became an alcoholic who struggled to meet my gaze, probably due to the resemblance I had to her.
Yet he remained a good enough father in my estimation.
It could always be worse.
The wine I took from him was not for myself, of course.
Swimming inside that small pool of grape wine was a fat, inebriated white silkworm.
This was the Liquor Worm I had refined with my own method.
As expected, it fed on wine, beer, sake, and other alcoholic drinks that were available.
As a Rank 1, it did not eat much, but did so quite often as it could become hungry mere hours after it had last eaten.
Perhaps it was a stroke of luck that my father had turned into an alcoholic the moment I had gained the method to refine the Liquor Worm.
What a reasonable coincidence, am I right?
I waited for the Liquor Worm to finish its meal before putting it back in my Aperture.
Immediately, I injected it with a steady flow of Primeval Essence as my Primeval Sea turned a darker shade, displaying its increased quality.
Through the three years that had passed, I had spent most of that time cultivating.
This was one of the advantages of being so young as I had nothing else better or more fun to do than sit in silence, continuously putting cracks on my Aperture walls.
Conversely, I did not have any Primeval Stones to help me replenish my Primeval Energy after it had been depleted much like the Gu Masters of Reverend Insanity, forcing me to wait unbearably long for it to recover.
This was quite detrimental as my Aperture walls regenerated on their own given enough time.
If my rate of recovery was slower than the Aperture’s regeneration, it would be very hard to break through.
Fortunately, the Liquor Worm was as reliable as it was in the source material.
Using this Food Path Gu, I was able to quickly break through to the Middle Stage and was now on my way to the next milestone.
…In fact, I could feel it right now.
Focusing inward, I mentally tugged and pulled at my Primeval Sea, willing it to push outward in ginormous tides.
My Primeval Essence reacted as it surged, the forest green mist-like aura pushing against the Aperture’s membranous walls.
Before long, it completely broke apart as a large amount of my Primeval Essence was turned into a new, more solidified membrane.
With this, I entered the Rank 1 Upper Stage!
I had achieved in three years what Michizane needed nine to accomplish.
Such was the disparity of our talent and resources.
Nevertheless, I was filled with a sense of awe and triumph.
There really was nothing more relieving in this world than the sensation of breaking through a cultivation realm.
It felt like a massive weight had been lifted off my shoulders as I let out a sigh and observed the Liquor Worm inside my Aperture.
The little Gu was utterly disorientated when it came in contact with my forest green Primeval Essence, buffering like an old computer that had just installed a brand new program.
Fortunately, it soon adjusted and converted my Upper Stage Primeval Essence into Peak Stage Primeval Essence, turning it blackish green.
Out of the four Gu that Michizane had successfully refined, only the Liquor Worm was truly compatible with me.
Be that as may, unless he refined a higher ranking healing Gu in the next dream, I wasn’t going to invest much in the Blood Path.
That’s not to say I won’t be refining any.
What I meant was that I was not going to specialize in this Path or favour it more than any other.
With my circumstances, feeding Blood Path Gu would be troublesome.
After all, I didn’t have a jackal girl that could heal my wounds with a single swipe of her hands.
Even if I had chosen that healing Gu option, it would not have been ideal either as a Rank 1 healing Gu would still leave noticeable scars, which would be difficult to explain.
As for harvesting the blood of others, that too was unrealistic.
It was just not practical here in the modern era where surveillance systems were all over the place.
The human blood that those Gu usually consumed could be substituted with even larger amounts of animal blood, but going on a killing spree in the forest would also attract the wrong kind of attention.
Furthermore, I was afraid that practicing the Blood Path might inadvertently lead to me getting labeled as a Magus who had turned himself into a Dead Apostle, one of the natural enemies of humanity.
If that were to happen, I’d be lucky if the Holy Church only sent someone of Kirei’s calibre to finish me off…
Now if only the Simulation Gu had recovered, I thought to myself as I gazed at the only other Gu in my Aperture.
Compared to when my first simulated dream ended, the Simulation Gu’s condition had definitely improved.
However, it remained unable to be used.
The only assurance I had that it hadn’t turned useless was because it had now almost returned to its original state, meaning that I should be able to use it relatively soon.
‘Soon’ might take forever though considering I’ve already waited for three entire years!
‘Ah, if only it wasn’t a Rank 1,’ I thought bitterly to myself.
The Simulation Gu had many flaws and drawbacks, but this extremely long hibernation was the worst of them all.
I could only hope that this was because it was Rank 1 and that it would decrease with time.
This was my Vital Gu, after all…
Hearing footsteps closing in on my room, I bolted up and snatched the wine glass off of the carpet, hiding it under my bed as I turned around and waited for whoever it was to enter.
The bedroom door creaked open as in came the man who resembled my current body the most, Byakuya.
“Shinji,” he greeted in a refreshed tone, certainly appearing far more joyful than his usual demeanor.
“You’ve already woken up?
That’s good.
Let’s go wash up and have breakfast.
It’s your first day today, aren’t you excited?”
For the record, although I had my own room, I still needed to rely on Byakuya for certain things like bathing.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t do these things myself, but I needed to play the part of a toddler, and so I simply let it happen.
“First day?” I repeated with a wary gaze.
“What first day?”
Byakuya smiled as he recounted, “Didn’t you remember what I told you last night?
It’s your first day at kindergarten!”
We’re close, please quit teasing me.