The door opened with a soft slide. Wu Ling returned to the room that belonged to him.
Sigurd and the other Servants had already been released. They were now forming contracts with Fujimaru Ritsuka through Chaldea so they could remain for the long term. Wu Ling had returned to his room first because of several matters.
The first matter concerned Fou.
To the people of Chaldea, Fou looked like a strange, adorable beast that was neither rabbit nor cat.
Wu Ling knew better. Fou's True Name was Cath Palug. It was the Fourth Beast, holder of the Principle of Comparison. It fed on competition and growth between humans, on envy and regret. It possessed the trait of becoming stronger than its opponent and was, in theory, a Beast of Calamity that could never be defeated. In another world, the Tsukihime world, it was also known as Primate Murder.
An ordinary Servant might fail to recognize it. But Wu Ling was the King of Heroic Spirits, and he had even used Tiamat's power before. Under normal circumstances, he should have been able to see through Fou's essence.
The result was that he could not.
Fou's body was so clean that it looked like a truly ordinary animal.
There were two possibilities. Either Wu Ling could not detect it, or...
According to a certain famous detective, once every impossibility had been removed, whatever remained must be the truth, no matter how impossible it seemed. But Wu Ling was not a detective. He also was not omniscient. Maybe he really could not detect it. After all, Fou had wandered freely through Chaldea for years without being identified. It must have some way to hide itself.
Thinking that, Wu Ling drank water and pushed down those unnecessary thoughts. Then he sat cross-legged on the bed.
The second matter was Tiamat.
At the beginning, after he used the Principle of Return to reach the Type Moon world, he had not used Tiamat's power against those ten thousand Excalibur blasts because the terrain had restricted him.
But when he faced Melusine earlier, Wu Ling had prepared a fallback plan the moment he confirmed her identity. If negotiations failed, he would use the Sea of Life that came from Tiamat.
Yes. Against Melusine, who held three Holy Grails, Wu Ling's first idea had been to use Tiamat's ability for an absolute kill. If he relied on any other Servant, he could not be one hundred percent sure he could keep her from escaping.
But when he tried to use it, he discovered, to his alarm, that Tiamat's ability had solidified. He could not use it at all. Fortunately, the negotiation had succeeded. Otherwise, he truly did not know how the result would have turned out.
Wu Ling sat on the bed. The illusion of the Throne of Heroic Spirits appeared behind him. He sank his mind into it and began a careful investigation.
"Let me see what is going on."
Inside Wu Ling's perception, the Throne of Heroic Spirits could be divided into three parts.
The first part contained the nine Heroic Spirits summoned through his Spirit Rings: Sasaki Kojiro, Hassan of the Hundred Personas, and the others.
Because those nine Servants had fused with Soul Land's rules, they had effectively formed soul contracts with Wu Ling.
Their true Heroic Spirit originals still existed in the Throne of Heroes, but these nine Servants now possessed consciousnesses different from those originals. They were completely independent from the Throne of Heroes. At the same time, as Wu Ling's own strength had increased, they had all received different degrees of reinforcement.
Their powers had already been branded onto his soul. Combined with his body and martial skill, which now surpassed the originals in some areas, even if those nine disappeared, Wu Ling would not suffer any real damage. Still, they were the foundation of his strength. If they could remain stable, that was best.
Wu Ling nodded in satisfaction and continued investigating another area.
That second area was the summoning section. The Servants he had once summoned with the souls of Titled Sages and hundred thousand year Soul Beasts were there.
After arriving in the Type Moon world, that region had undergone a change. Deep inside, it seemed to have connected to the real Throne of Heroes. Now, not only could he summon Servants he had summoned before, if he had enough ability, he could also summon Servants he had never summoned.
For example, if he sent a message into the Throne of Heroes saying, "Mordred, your father is amazing," or "purple haired old woman," there was a high chance he could summon Mordred or Scathach.
Of course, he could summon them, but that did not mean he could control them. After they appeared, whether they attacked the summoner was another matter.
"Nothing wrong here either."
After confirming the first two regions were stable, Wu Ling finally moved toward his real target.
Truthfully, he had always doubted Tiamat's power.
He had heard that Tiamat might become a Servant, but he knew nothing about the details. When he transmigrated, the Japanese server had only just opened Part 2 Chapter 7, and he had crossed over before even reading it.
According to the information he obtained from the Throne of Heroic Spirits, he could only summon Servants that existed in his own memory, and he needed at least a clear impression of that Servant. By that logic, this summon should not have been possible.
That left one possibility. Tiamat's power had already been hidden inside his Throne of Heroic Spirits. Once his strength reached a certain threshold, it awakened automatically and gave him the coordinates needed to return to the Type Moon world.
But if that were the case, a portion of the Principle of Return should have been enough. He should not have been able to use the Sea of Life at all. Yet he had indeed used it before. That was what Wu Ling could not understand.
He arrived at the part tied to Tiamat's power.
In that place, the originally golden world was covered in black threads.
At the source of those threads, Wu Ling discovered a seed.
Wu Ling narrowed his eyes and stared at that seed for a long time. Then he let out a deep sigh.
"Mother, what deep love. I hope this is not what I think it is. Otherwise..."
A cold light flashed through Wu Ling's eyes.
He was a person who repaid kindness. That was true. But if someone demanded repayment by holding kindness over him, then burned the bridge after crossing it, they should not blame him for becoming ungrateful.
His stomach suddenly growled.
The sound pulled Wu Ling's attention away.
"I can survive without eating now, but the feeling of not eating is still unpleasant. I should get something."
Wu Ling left his room and headed to the kitchen.
Fujimaru Ritsuka, Mash, and the others were eating there. The moment Mash saw Wu Ling arrive, she waved to him.
"Mister Wu Ling, over here."
Wu Ling sat opposite the two of them.
"Oh, Ritsuka and Mash. You are eating here too?"
"Yes. Today's menu is golden apples. Golden apple juice, golden apple pie, and golden apple curry. They all taste good. You should try some, Mister Wu Ling."
"Golden apples from legend, huh? Then I really do need to taste them properly today."