Ethan wasn't sure what this world would ultimately become. All he knew for certain was that the Einzbern family was finished. Even if those forces managed to rewrite the world's rules back to their original state, what had disappeared would remain gone. They wouldn't be resurrected just because the rules were restored.
The old bug was the same. Illya and Matou Sakura wouldn't return to their previous states either, at most regaining their lost Magic Circuits.
As for the Holy Grail, it had been destroyed by the previous rule changes. This meant that the Holy Grail War, a ritual specifically created for the Third Magic, was completely annihilated.
If no magus created a new Holy Grail, then even if the world's rules were restored, the Holy Grail War would never happen again.
"This doesn't affect us, right?"
"Pretty much."
Scathach rubbed her temples, feeling annoyed. Out of several spaces independent of the world, it seemed only her Land of Shadows had been affected. Was there some conspiracy hidden in this?
Ethan had already guessed the reason. It must have been Madeline's doing, her purpose obviously being to lure Scathach out.
"What's the situation with your Land of Shadows now?"
"It's turned into barren wasteland, not even ruins, just slightly better than complete nothingness."
What frustrated Scathach the most was that she had nowhere else to go, which was why she was staying here.
"That's really... quite miserable."
"Compared to how you look right now, it's not so bad."
After talking for a while, Ethan felt his condition worsen. Even his back unconsciously hunched a bit.
He didn't use Magecraft to conjure a mirror again. Instead, he asked Shirou where the mirror was and went to look at himself.
If he had looked like a seventy-year-old man when the battle ended, he now clearly looked over eighty. Though he could still be called a handsome old man, his weak, aged appearance was very obvious, like he was in the final stretch of his life.
"I need to solve this problem quickly."
Returning to the living room, Illya had recovered and was looking up at him.
"Is the situation very bad?"
"Not too bad. I need some time to deal with this problem."
Just as Ethan was considering whether to use the effects of the Titan Potion to stabilize his condition, a spatial rift suddenly appeared beside him, and then a message was transmitted.
The moment the spatial rift appeared, Ethan knew who was sending the message, so he readily accepted and checked it.
"It seems I need to leave for a bit."
"Are you leaving?"
The moment the spatial rift appeared, the few Heroic Spirits all sensed how powerful the being on the other side was. Cú Chulainn and Emiya, in particular, recognized this as one of the powerhouses who had helped Ethan distort the world's rules earlier.
Artoria, on the other hand, felt this aura was completely unfamiliar yet strangely familiar, which puzzled her greatly.
Only Illya cared about the fact that Ethan was leaving.
"Just going to chat with a friend."
Ethan originally wanted to ask Illya if she wanted to return to the castle in the suburbs. He instantly remembered that the two maids had been erased, and Illya living alone in the castle seemed a bit lonely. It might be better for her to stay here. At least she had her brother Shirou to look after her.
"Will you... come back?"
Ethan looked at Illya. In truth, he didn't need to come back here.
For him, this trip was just a vacation where he had unexpectedly encountered some situations. This world wasn't suitable as a base either.
So leaving completely and not returning was a perfectly normal choice.
"You want me to come back?"
Illya didn't speak, just pouted and glared at Ethan.
"What a difficult child."
"I'm not a child!"
Ethan waved his hand, ignoring the displeased Illya, and said to Shirou, "Get along well with your sister. I'll be back soon."
Unlike his previous uses of teleportation, Ethan didn't use the teleportation circle on his left hand. Instead, he connected with the spatial rift that hadn't completely dissipated. As he input spatial energy, the rift suddenly expanded, finally becoming a vibrant blue energy gate.
Unlike the teleportation gates Ethan usually used, looking into this gate from where he stood, he could only see surging blue energy and couldn't see what was on the other side. But he didn't hesitate at all, stepping directly into the teleportation gate... only, just as he stepped in, it seemed someone pushed him from behind?
"... "
After his vision was filled with blue for a moment, Ethan quickly saw a familiar scene. This place, full of various plants, filled with the scent of earth, grass, and flowers, as well as that familiar house, and the old man standing in front, quietly waiting for him.
"Oh? This place is quite pretty!"
The purple-haired beautiful girl wearing tight-fitting clothing of an unclear material, with skin faintly visible and no protective effect whatsoever, was very casually looking around, completely lacking the self-awareness of an uninvited intruder.
"The way you look now... you're just missing a snow-white beard."
Merlin didn't mind the intruder at all, just kept staring at Ethan.
Compared to how he used to look, the current Ethan was a rare sight. It was foreseeable that he wouldn't maintain this appearance for too long. He would soon solve his problem and return to his normal state.
"And then I can live in seclusion here with you, right?"
"I'm not living in seclusion. I often travel around and see things."
Merlin waved his hand, inviting Ethan to sit on a nearby wooden chair. As he waved, the plants beside where there had only been two chairs facing each other grew rapidly, quickly forming a third chair.
Ethan, having sat down, actually let out a long breath. Seeing him like this, Merlin sighed, "Your situation is quite bad."
"So I need to solve it quickly."
Scathach walked around, but she didn't presume to go into the house. After circling around, she sat down on the newly appeared chair and curiously observed Ethan and Merlin.
She felt her power was severely weakened. Many spells couldn't be used in this world, and her mana circulation wasn't smooth enough.
With her vast experience, she immediately understood that she had arrived in a completely different world.
The Magecraft system of the Nasuverse, or rather, the magical system, is based on the Root. This makes the magi or magicians of the Nasuverse more like users of power rather than owners, because the Root is the special entity that possesses these abilities.
Therefore, when leaving the range that the Root can influence, the Nasuverse, many spells and Magecraft become unusable.
Considering the special nature of the Root, it's not just spells and Magecraft that become unusable. Many special powers in the Nasuverse involve the Root.
After everyone sat down, Merlin first briefly greeted Scathach, then began discussing Ethan's physical condition with him.
"Actually, this is an opportunity for you." With a wave of Merlin's hand, various fruits and juices appeared on the wooden table in front of them to entertain the two guests. "I think you've realized this yourself."
"I was too naive to think I could just keep progressing toward the peak previously."
Ethan's previous progress and rate of improvement could be described as astonishing. In just a few decades, he had gone from having nothing, strictly speaking not completely without foundation, to reaching his current demigod level. This rate of progress was something anyone should be proud of.
He himself was originally quite proud of this and was pleased with his achievements.
But this special situation suddenly made him aware of hidden dangers he hadn't noticed before. Although his strength had been rapidly increasing, he had been stuck at the demigod level for a long time. While his power was constantly improving, there was a distance to becoming a true god, as if there was a mountain peak he couldn't climb over.
At that time, he thought it was just insufficient strength and that he just needed to keep improving.
"In the past, I thought the potions I created were very perfect. Although they didn't make me instantly stronger, they retained infinite possibilities... Now I realize that what I thought was perfect was just due to my ignorance."
The reason for his slowing improvement came from Ethan's method of advancement. Using potions to enhance his potential, although the effect was good every time, each use left some special toxins in his body.
He had indeed tried his best to create powerful potions to enhance his potential, but to say they were perfect, he could only say that his vision and knowledge at that time were too shallow, which was why he had that judgment.
This time, casting Magecraft beyond his strength, with the help of the two masters, the Ancient One and Merlin, while allowing him to touch upon a higher level of power, finally made him discover the hidden problems within himself.
"Actually, these problems are nothing. Compared to everything that can be gained, such a small hidden danger is negligible for many people."
"Exactly. Even if I had known about these hidden dangers, I would still have done it. For me at that time, there was simply no better choice."
Ethan didn't feel regret. If he hadn't done that, he wouldn't have been able to grow to his current level in such a short time. He might have run out of lifespan as just an ordinary magus.
Moreover, these hidden dangers were not unsolvable. They just required a long time to gradually eliminate them.
Besides slowly eliminating the hidden dangers in his body over a long period, another method was to reincarnate with his memories and mental power, while his mana could be temporarily stored in some special containers and retrieved at a suitable time.
However, Merlin had specifically called him over, clearly having another way to help him solve this problem, so he didn't have to choose to delete and restart.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)