Chapter 119: The Battle Power of a Dedicated Fan
As Ska began his long-awaited lecture, Edward didn't linger too long in the Alchemy Tower. However, when he was about to use the teleportation array to return to Nosrick City, Administrator Hohenheim suddenly used his psychic resonance ability to communicate with him:
"Someone wants to meet you."
"Someone wants to meet me? Who?"
Even Edward hadn't expected someone to want to meet him at this time, so he froze in place for a moment, surprised.
"The Arch Mage of the Mental and Spiritual Studies Branch. She's waiting for you now in the second-floor hall of the Mage Tower," Hohenheim replied directly.
"The Mental and Spiritual Studies Branch?"
Edward hesitated. He didn't understand why an Arch Mage from such a seemingly unrelated field would seek him out. After thinking it over, he turned back toward the teleportation array leading to the Mage Tower. Shortly afterward, he arrived at the designated location and met the mysterious Arch Mage.
She was a young-looking woman who appeared to be in her early twenties. Of course, Edward didn't question her actual age—after all, as an Arch Mage, altering her appearance would have been a trivial task for her.
While Arch Mages like Hohenheim didn't usually bother changing their appearances, that didn't mean it wasn't possible. A female mage like her might care about her looks and use magic accordingly.
"Uh, sorry to keep you waiting. I'm Edward Durin. You must be the Arch Mage of the Mental and Spiritual Studies Branch?"
The woman standing before him gave a slight bow before responding, "Yes, I'm Rosa, the Arch Mage of the Mental and Spiritual Studies Branch. Edward, the reason I've summoned you isn't for anything trivial, but rather because of Fate/Zero, which you screened at the Imperial Mage Academy some time ago."
"Fate/Zero? You're here to urge me to release new episodes?"
Edward's instinctive response caught Rosa off guard. Before she could react, Edward quickly added, "Haha, just kidding. There's no way an Arch Mage would come all the way here just to rush me for more episodes, right?"
Hearing Edward's self-deprecating comment, Rosa calmly replied, "Well, if my presence could indeed hasten the release of Fate/Zero's second chapter, it would certainly align with my goals..."
"Ah?"
For a moment, the awkwardness of their opening exchange left them at a standstill. However, since both of them were top-tier spellcasters—a Grand Mage and an Arch Mage—it didn't take long for them to find common ground, and they ended up chatting for more than ten minutes during the introduction alone.
This wasn't out of politeness but merely a standard probing process. After all, Edward and Rosa had no prior acquaintance. It was their first meeting, and they didn't even belong to the same faction of mages. In such a situation, as mages, they needed to gauge each other's level of understanding on the subject they wished to discuss next.
This situation could be likened to two experts from cutting-edge technological fields cautiously engaging in conversation. However, for easier understanding, it's more apt to compare it to two anime fans meeting for the first time.
Imagine you're at university and you see someone who seems interested in anime (regardless of gender). Wanting to expand your circle of fellow fans, you wouldn't just walk up and bluntly ask, "Hey, do you like anime?" Most people wouldn't feel comfortable being that direct. Even if you managed to do it, it could go either way—if the person turns out to be a fellow fan, you might end up laughing together like idiots afterward. But if they aren't, things could become awkward for both of you.
Therefore, to gauge the other person's background while maintaining your dignity, there's only one natural course of action: engage in surface-level conversation while casually dropping some references, jokes, or iconic phrases from anime. You might also deliberately display a phone wallpaper featuring Saber to observe the other person's reaction and determine if they are familiar with the Type-Moon universe, or employ similar methods in other areas.
For example, during a conversation, you could use phrases like "I'm totally hyped!" or "But I refuse!" to test whether the other person is a JoJo fan, or purposefully show off your phone wallpaper of Saber to see if they recognize anything related to Type-Moon. If they respond positively, it's clear they belong to your circle, and you can proceed to engage in a deeper, more entertaining conversation. However, if they don't get your references, it means they're either not into anime or only casually interested, in which case the conversation would naturally shift to a more formal and polite tone, without any awkwardness.
Similarly, when two highly skilled mages from different fields meet for the first time, their initial interaction resembles the above scenario, making it easy to understand, right?
In short, this conversation started with Rosa, being a higher-ranked mage —An Arch Mage—and the one who initiated the meeting, as the probing party. As for the outcome of her probe...
Despite the probing nature of Rosa's questions, Edward answered them all in an orderly manner. He neither deliberately hid anything nor was capable of hiding much—after all, at this level of discourse, failing to answer even one question or giving a vague response would indicate a lack of desire or qualification to continue the discussion.
To use the earlier analogy, it's like person A asking, "Hey, have you noticed Type-Moon has been putting out a lot of new anime lately?" If person B (Edward) gave a half-hearted response like, "Oh, really? That's pretty cool," the conversation would end right there. A would assume that B isn't a Type-Moon fan and thus lacks the qualifications for further discussion, so naturally, the topic would shift away from anything related to Type-Moon.
To prevent that scenario, Edward needed to respond with something like, "Oh, yeah, I've noticed! Poor Waver just keeps getting worked to death, but I'm still really looking forward to the third Heaven's Feel movie." A response like this would instantly convey that Edward was indeed part of the fandom, opening the door for a deeper, more spirited discussion.
Applying the same logic to the conversation between two mages, their back-and-forth exchange of magical theories resembled this kind of mutual recognition process.
As a specialist in spiritual studies, Rosa's questions were imbued with the underlying challenge of "Do you truly understand what I'm saying?" Despite not being an expert in spiritual studies himself, Edward had an advantage—he was a seasoned Type-Moon fan in his previous life!
Back in his original world, he had been a dedicated Type-Moon otaku, constantly debating obscure Type-Moon lore and characters' power levels with fellow fans online. This prior experience enabled him to instinctively and precisely answer Rosa's questions, and, at times, even point out flaws in her statements.
After all, compared to the meticulous fans who endlessly referenced obscure lore and owned more Type-Moon artbooks than they could count, Rosa's theoretical questions were somewhat amateurish in terms of their probing technique, even if their content was sophisticated.
Edward casually answered her supposedly "tricky" questions, and, drawing on his vast Type-Moon knowledge, even managed to stump Rosa with his counter-questions—bringing up concepts like Alaya, Counter Force, the fundamental meaning of the Origin Theory, and the connection between Reality Marbles and Origins.
He even came dangerously close to blurting out some exclusive Type-Moon concepts, such as the distinction between magecraft and true magic, the nature of the Root, and the reason behind the decline of the Age of Gods. If such information leaked, Edward feared he might be pestered endlessly by these inquisitive mages for answers.
Ultimately, with one side "spouting nonsense" and the other earnestly treating his words as profound truth, the rapport between Edward and Rosa naturally improved. Rosa, overwhelmed by the groundbreaking "theories" Edward presented, was left pale-faced and nearly on the verge of kneeling in reverence. After all, the knowledge Edward shared was far beyond what any ordinary mage could comprehend—it bordered on the realm of a true sage from another world.
By the end of the ten-minute conversation, Rosa could no longer view Edward as an ordinary prodigy. Previously, she had assumed that Edward's ability to create something like Fate/Zero was due to having a powerful mentor behind the scenes. Now, even if such a mentor did exist, she believed that Edward himself was undoubtedly a deeply knowledgeable mage with profound insight into spiritual studies.
For Rosa, Edward's words had offered more inspiration than her previous mentors ever had. Consequently, her demeanor shifted to one of growing respect. By the end of their conversation, she even abandoned the informal "Edward" in favor of the more respectful "Mr. Edward" when addressing him.
This shift occurred for two main reasons. First, Edward's ability to "talk nonsense" was exceptional, and second, his dual-life experience—combining memories from both worlds—gave him unique perspectives far beyond those of other mages. He could describe concepts from his previous world in a way that made sense to those in this world.
Although the two fields were entirely different, Edward's foundation in a more advanced civilization, combined with his genuine status as a Grand Mage in this world, meant that even his most offhand remarks could strike Rosa as groundbreaking insights. To her, trapped within the confines of this world's magical paradigms, Edward's words were nothing short of revolutionary.
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