As the breathing ended, abundant magical energy flowed in his blood.
Takumi, sitting in the main seat of Chaldea, finally lowered his head to look at the table in front of him.
Diary, mask, eye patch...
And—a prosthetic arm.
A prosthetic arm with a considerable metallic texture, flashing with the cold light metal should have, lay quietly in front of Takumi.
As he said before, he became smarter. Various books that seemed obscure and difficult to understand before, now he could infer other things from one fact just by looking casually.
Even Da Vinci's various tool designs, the current Takumi could see through a thing or two, instead of just barely picking up ready-made ones like before.
As for this prosthetic arm appearing in front of Takumi, naturally, it was also crafted by Takumi himself.
Maybe not as flexible, precise, and multi-functional as Da Vinci's creation, but it won in being hard enough, sturdy enough!
Takumi's idea was very simple. Compared to those fancy functions, he valued practicality more.
Then what is practicality?
Is there anything more practical than sturdiness capable of withstanding intense battles and bearing his own Strength parameter in battle?
But after all, the materials used were just materials found in Chaldea. No matter how sturdy, it wouldn't be excessively sturdy.
Takumi picked up the prosthetic arm, connecting it to his right shoulder.
Because the strength of the materials used was relatively high, the weight of the prosthetic arm wasn't low, at least not something ordinary people could use easily.
Click click click...
Accompanying the sound of mechanical rotation and engagement, Takumi sensed he could already drive this prosthetic arm.
Takumi instinctively moved the fingers of the prosthetic arm.
"Still a bit inflexible compared to the original..."
Looking at the moving fingers, Takumi, who could now be called a combat master, could easily detect the incoordination within.
But Takumi didn't care too much. Instead, he stood up, took two steps to a relatively open place.
Swung his arm forcefully.
Whoosh——!
The strong wind generated by the arm swing—no, it could already be called a gale. Even the heavy diary on the table was blown open by this gust of wind, unknown how many pages flipped, and slid several centimeters on the table.
"Enough."
As long as it could withstand battle, it was a good prosthetic arm!
Checking the prosthetic arm, Takumi checked the equipment on his body again.
Now the clothes on Takumi were finally no longer that standard Mystic Code with few uses, but a combat suit he made for himself.
Overall black, with bags on both sides of the waist, black boots on his feet. The right sleeve was removed to facilitate disassembly and equipping the prosthetic arm.
Also no redundant functions. The only two things worth mentioning were probably automatic cleaning, and possessing commendable heat resistance and defense.
As for why put effort into heat resistance and fireproofing?
Can only say Takumi designing it like this must have his reasons.
"Preparation time has been long enough. It's time to officially head to the Fifth Singularity."
"Delayed for so long, don't know what the situation inside has become..."
Takumi said, a trace of worry flashing in his eyes.
He himself was naturally a cautious person.
Otherwise, even if he couldn't learn anything, he wouldn't have dawdled for more than five months before finally heading to Singularity F.
If he had the current smart brain back then, he would have trained to become a Sword God of Ten Mile Slope (RPG grind reference) before heading to the Singularity no matter what.
As for why so hurried later... Ah haha, had self-destructive tendencies before, everyone understands.
So now Takumi with a smart brain, besides the thirteen days of mental martial arts practice, spent more than ten days making the prosthetic arm and combat suit.
Incidentally re-learned the operation methods of various Chaldea equipment systematically. Going back and forth, it had been almost a month since he finished conquering the Fourth Singularity.
However, precisely because of this, Takumi discovered a blind spot he had never noticed or subconsciously ignored.
Chaldea transported Masters to the past through the Rayshift system, thereby repairing the Human Order.
But this method actually had a prerequisite—the Master shifted to the past time must be observed and proven by Chaldea staff constantly to guarantee their existence, preventing certain terrifying things from happening.
So here comes the question. There's only me in this Chaldea. Who the hell proves my existence?
Takumi did take the Master aptitude test, i.e., Rayshift aptitude test, scoring nearly perfect.
But this shouldn't go as far as ignoring basic rules, right?
Chaldea's system itself had a not weak AI. Takumi could barely learn to use various Chaldea equipment in a relatively short time before; the AI at least took 80% of the credit. After all, who had the leisure to explain various Chaldea equipment to a person with zero foundation with fool-proof explanations?
Including but not limited to: To use Xx function, press this button first, then this button, then this... level.
But Takumi could be sure. Although Chaldea's AI could do a lot of things for him, it itself didn't possess consciousness comparable to humans. It was just a Chaldea auxiliary plugin, far inferior to the staff capable of working in Chaldea, who were at least genius-level.
But even adding the special nature of the Foreigner class, presumably it shouldn't go as far as not needing Chaldea's observation and proof...
"After igniting the [Heart of Fire], I searched Chaldea again. Mash's shield and Doctor's ring were nowhere to be found."
Both were Noble Phantasms themselves, existences capable of being spiritualized. When the Incineration of Humanity invaded Chaldea, it wasn't impossible that they were also "burned" back to Spiritrons along with it.
Moreover, Takumi might not be able to use these two Noble Phantasms anyway. Gone is gone.
But...
"Then where did Fou go?"
Takumi's suspicious eyes scanned the entire Central Control Room.
Fou's true name was Cath Palug, also known as the Primate Murder, the "Beast IV" holding the principle of [Comparison].
Although only fierce at home, besides being very good at dealing with humans, its combat power probably wasn't terribly strong.
But it was an existence of the same level as Goetia after all. The Incineration of Humanity could kill other humans; could it be that even it was "burned" away?
Waited for a dozen seconds. The entire space was quiet for a dozen seconds.
Takumi, failing to find Fou's tracks for a long time, had to put away his disappointed gaze, then prepared for Rayshift according to the original plan.
Whatever the reason, Takumi must start acting quickly.
Otherwise, if delayed too long leading to irreversible changes in the Singularity—even the current him might not be able to turn the tables against the wind.
Takumi took a step, his figure disappearing instantly.
When appearing again, he was already in the Rayshift Chamber.
And on the table of the Control Room, the items originally messed up by Takumi moving his prosthetic arm also returned to order unknowingly.
[Rayshift starting in 3, 2, 1...]
As Chaldea's broadcast voice finished playing, Takumi disappeared from Chaldea again.
And the destination this time was—
American Revolutionary War era.
Shortly after Takumi left Chaldea, a small white cute beast, looking like a cat but also like a rabbit, suddenly jumped out from somewhere unknown.
With a few jumps, it squatted on the main seat of the Central Control Room.
"Fou, fou~"
Hm, finally discovered? Truly reckless and dull human. If I hadn't lent you the Authority of [Independent Manifestation], do you think you could be safe and sound until now?
Fou raised its head, looking tsundere.
However, the next second it couldn't keep up the act. The whole beast collapsed on the chair, sticking out its tongue.
Phew... phew... lending Authority to others is so tiring. Fortunately, his speed of conquering was fast before. Now that he became a Foreigner, finally can relax a bit...