Hearing Nightingale's words, Takumi's pupils contracted, his eyes dodging, subconsciously wanting to turn his head away.
Nightingale didn't stop him because her goal had already been achieved.
"Tell the truth, how long has it been since you rested properly?"
Nightingale's serious expression seemed to say, "I am a doctor, you can't hide it from me."
Takumi was silent.
"It's been a while... probably since I first obtained this ability?"
The first Singularity, considered he went late, so could only stage life-and-death speed. The early and middle stages of the second Singularity had a normal rhythm. In the third Singularity, under the accumulation of various coincidences, his speed was definitely much faster than the original protagonist, but even so, Jason and the others pushed the plot even faster than him. Needless to say about the fourth Singularity, speedrun was required.
So being cautious, after spending almost a month making sufficient preparations, he headed to the Singularity non-stop.
Result was still a step late, failing to save Rama.
Besides the fast progress of Singularities, Takumi also found that various events here seemed more realistic.
Although Romulus went easy, he shouldn't have released his Noble Phantasm in the original plot; Hector wasn't a rowing champion, he called for support from Jason's side; Jason's actions were fast, and from the beginning ordered Heracles absolutely not to touch the Ark of the Covenant.
This Singularity didn't even pretend anymore. Takumi clearly remembered the one guarding Sita was Beowulf, not Fergus. Medb's reaction was also ridiculously fast. He spent half a day gathering friendly forces, and Medb simultaneously launched a full-scale attack.
Seeing changes, it was hard for Takumi to say whether he was happy or melancholy. Changes meant Takumi could indeed do many things, but also meant with his actions and deepening, things easily headed to an unknown territory. Whether he could stop it then was a problem.
"So facing various possible unknowns, I can only seize any bit of time to make myself stronger, thereby obtaining the ability to handle changes with ease. Even if I work desperately hard now, it's better than not even having a chance to work desperately then."
"But even so, that Beast waiting for me at the end, I still haven't found a way to deal with him..."
Looking at the clear large halo hovering in the sky, Takumi sighed deeply.
Takumi's current skill combination and stats were very strong and unsolvable, right?
But facing the Goddess Lion King of the Sixth Singularity, Tiamat of the Seventh Singularity, and Goetia of the Final Singularity, Takumi thought he couldn't see a single hope of winning. Probably all he could do was run away. If he ran, they indeed couldn't catch up.
But in that case, might as well equip him with the original [Escapist]. At least the current him using [Escapist] could truly perform a grand escape—if he still had the qualification to use it.
"The former me never extravagantly hoped to defeat that Beast. What I wanted to do was just empty my brain, conquer every Singularity with full strength, go as far as I could go. I never thought I was qualified to stand in front of him."
"But it's different now. I won't choose to escape anymore. I choose to rack my brains to obtain a way to defeat him."
"It was also at this time that I, who truly took this matter to heart, felt the pressure I hadn't felt before..."
The heavy responsibility of saving humanity seemed to truly fall on him.
Takumi said slowly.
All abilities he obtained were basically manifestations of [Heart of Fire] reflecting his heart's prayers.
Being able to be compatible with Spirit Origins was because Takumi believed in Servants' power more than himself. The residue of Spirit Origins, in a sense, was also to provide fuel for [Heart of Fire].
[Escapist] was because he wanted to run away, to escape. "Crescent Moon and Three Stars" was because his learning progress was too slow, needing a method sufficient to let him master various abilities and combat skills quickly. "Heart Of Fire" was because he wanted a Noble Phantasm truly belonging to himself...
Sounded indeed like wishes coming true. At the same time, this was also the reason Takumi named it "power capable of causing miracles."
But there were also limitations. All mighty power and miracles would only manifest within his body, and wouldn't diffuse outward.
"Crescent Moon and Three Stars" also had a side effect that wasn't really a side effect for Takumi.
Little people fighting in the flames of Takumi's pupils was the manifestation of honing his skills in "dreams." For him, no matter when and where, he could constantly hone his skills.
One day in reality, one year in "dream." Although the process and form weren't exactly like this, if wanted to understand quickly, could barely use this metaphor.
Takumi wasn't a genius in the true sense like Li Xiaoyao who learned at a glance. His genius was built on memorizing the opponent's various moves in his heart, then demonstrating them again and again in "dreams" at the fastest speed. After thousands of drills, he could always learn, then rely on the power of [Heart of Fire] to imprint what he learned in "dreams" onto his body, letting the body adapt to various martial arts as well.
"Causality Sure-Hit" wasn't in this category. It was more metaphysical. Takumi also learned it suddenly. If asked to describe the feeling, he could only say "swish-pa" and he learned it. The remaining proficiency steps were the performance of "Crescent Moon and Three Stars."
And since Takumi obtained this ability, for the first thirteen days, except for necessary physiological needs, he almost wholeheartedly threw his time into "dreaming," seeking to master various combat skills he had seen faster.
During subsequent preparation work, Takumi wasn't idle either. While continuing to "dream" to hone skills, he also "dreamed" to master magecraft and manufacturing knowledge he failed to master before.
Could be said he treated himself as several people in a day. Even before sleeping, he couldn't help checking for gaps again.
True sleeping time was extremely little.
At least in honing combat skills, Takumi really put in sweat + effort.
But the consequence of doing so was also obvious. Takumi was very tired, not physically tired, but mentally and spiritually tired.
Only because his talent was related to "Heart," plus his constitution was strong enough to let him squander, otherwise if another person played like this, they would have died unknown times long ago.
"You are nervous?"
Listening to Takumi's explanation in a flat tone, Nightingale was thoughtful, then asked.
"Nervous? I seem to be indeed more nervous than I imagined."
"Why?"
Facing Nightingale's questioning, Takumi took a deep breath then exhaled, saying:
"...You haven't experienced my perspective so probably don't know. The experience I 'saw' is different from my current experience."
"I don't know if it's the problem of me, this big butterfly, but it... shouldn't be this fast."