Because Tang Skybreaker's will had already been erased by Wu Ling, his Spirit Ring offered no resistance at all. Wu Ling absorbed it smoothly.
However, because Wu Ling had destroyed not only Tang Skybreaker's will but also his power, he did not gain much additional Spirit Power from it. His Spirit Power rose only to level eighty-one, and the small world around him began collapsing at terrifying speed.
Before long, Wu Ling exhaled. Two purple, two black, three red, and one golden Spirit Ring appeared around him.
"Whew. Perfect. My eighth Spirit Ring. The Hassan among Hassans, First Hassan!"
Wu Ling excitedly sensed the power inside him. Even after obtaining Karna, he still could not suppress his excitement for this Old Man of the Mountain.
"And because this came from a million-year Soul Beast, this First Hassan is still the Grand version!"
In FGO, a Saint Graph was something like a vessel. It housed a Heroic Spirit and allowed that spirit to walk the world again.
Some Servants, however, were extremely powerful by nature. An ordinary Saint Graph might not be able to contain their full strength, which was why it had to be expanded through repeated Saint Graph ascensions.
Perhaps because the Magecraft system itself was imperfect, even a Saint Graph raised to its limit still could not fully express the true power of certain Heroic Spirits.
That meant gods and exceptionally powerful Heroic Spirits summoned as Servants and loaded into the vessel of a Saint Graph had a ceiling on their strength.
A Grand Saint Graph was different. Its capacity far exceeded that of an ordinary Saint Graph. A Heroic Spirit loaded into that vessel could display one hundred percent of their strength.
To put it in game terms, an ordinary Saint Graph was like a cup with a capacity of ten. After ascension, it could at most expand to fifty. That was why every Servant had a level cap. No matter how strong the Heroic Spirit or deity had been in life, they could only display power within that limit.
A Grand Saint Graph was like a cup with a capacity of one hundred. If it could be filled, it could express one hundred points of power. In other words, it broke through the normal level cap. Naturally, that made it much stronger.
For Wu Ling, the Grand Saint Graph's effect did more than strengthen the Servant. It also expanded his own output.
Take Karna's god-slaying spear, for example. Vasavi Shakti was powerful, but because of the legend behind it, its power was fixed. Even if Wu Ling poured in more Spirit Power, he could only extend the duration of the attack, not increase the damage itself.
But if the seventh Spirit Ring that represented Karna possessed a Grand Saint Graph, then Vasavi Shakti's upper limit would be broken. As long as Wu Ling had enough Spirit Power, doubling its destructive force would not be impossible.
Aside from the Grand vessel itself, First Hassan was also a Servant who delighted Wu Ling. Tang Skybreaker's status as a "Death God" had given him some guesses, but FGO had more death-related figures than First Hassan alone, so Wu Ling had not dared to make a final judgment. Judging from the result, the compatibility with the Grand Saint Graph had confirmed First Hassan from another angle.
As for why Wu Ling wanted this "ordinary human" over those gods, the reason was simple. Every Grand Servant candidate had to reach an extremely high standard in both ability and legend. They were the pinnacle of their classes.
There were multiple possible Grand candidates, chosen according to the era and the specific countermeasure required. Assassin alone was the exception. The Grand Assassin seat had been limited to the Old Man of the Mountain, then became vacant after the Seventh Singularity.
As for why Tezcatlipoca in Lostbelt 7 could appear as a Grand Assassin, that was because he shared mountain and mist associations with First Hassan and temporarily substituted for the position. His own nature was still closer to Grand Berserker.
First Hassan did not have a perfectly matching historical person behind him. He was a Type-Moon creation derived from the legends and history of the Old Man of the Mountain.
In the setting, no one in the Hashshashin Order had ever seen First Hassan. If someone saw him, their life had already reached its end. As the origin of the Old Man of the Mountain, he also carried the duty of judging the order's corruption, choosing to live as its watcher.
The order itself had been founded under divine teachings, but its executors could still commit human evil. For that reason, First Hassan would never allow the order to decay. Those who followed divine teachings and then sank into human desire were guilty of the deepest blasphemy.
The corruption of the order also meant the fall of its leader, the Old Man of the Mountain. Whether the fall was spiritual or technical, one who declined was no longer worthy of the name. Decline meant death. By severing the head, First Hassan pardoned that sin and left hope to the next Old Man of the Mountain.
To give righteous meaning to the abnormal duty of assassinating assassins, he did not use hidden blades or concealed weapons. Instead, he chose a greatsword and shield, weapons meant for frontal combat. If someone saw that skeletal swordsman, it meant their end had already arrived.
First Hassan granted Wu Ling many abilities. The most powerful among them was not a weapon like Karna's, but a set of techniques that had reached the boundary of life and death. Two skills in particular were the reason Wu Ling was so excited.
The first was At the Boundary. The sword of the one who constantly wandered the boundary of the valley was said to inflict the possibility of instant death upon all attacks. In the valley, he became familiar with death and assimilated with it, gaining resistance to instant death and fear. After becoming a Servant, he had left that boundary behind, so the rank dropped to A. Even so, if Wu Ling attacked with that greatsword, anyone struck by it might face instant death.
The second was Evening Bell, the bell that announced the coming of a funeral. When death arrived, the evening bell rang. It was a special skill born from the unification of attack and ritual. This swordsman did not choose targets to kill by his own will. When someone became a dead man who had lost the proper time of death, he granted salvation in the Lord's place. All of it was the will of heaven. And because it was the will of heaven, the fate of anyone who saw this swordsman was already sealed.
Sensing the sacred power of death within him, Wu Ling wanted to summon First Hassan right then and experience his power. But suddenly, the ground beneath his feet began to collapse. Looking around, he saw that ninety percent of the small world had already vanished. The forest outside was gone. Even the village had disappeared by half.
"Looks like I can only return home before I test First Hassan's power."
As he spoke, flames erupted beneath Wu Ling's feet and propelled him out of the collapsing world.