After receiving the grimoire given by Tokiomi, Rin began her journey of cultivation. But Rin quickly encountered a troubling problem: she was learning too fast and had nothing left to learn!
Here, Rin finally fully experienced the power of Finale Magic Power, hailed by 'God' as peerless and a great cheat.
The automatic completion of any magic meant that after understanding the operational process by reading it once, she could perfectly release that magic at its highest level, with no need for practice or training.
"Lightness of Wind," "Gather Fire," "Harmony of Light," "Healing Magic," "Idle Person Dispersion Bounded Field," "Protection Spell," "Thrown Weapon Protection," "Magic Power Infusion"... The low-level magic that Tokiomi had selected for Rin to practice for ten years was read by Rin in one afternoon. Reading it meant she could use it, and she used it with unprecedented perfection. Perhaps not peerless, but certainly unsurpassed.
But Rin realized a very serious problem: the Magic Power supply couldn't keep up!
Even with nearly 500 Magic Circuits, the consumption still couldn't be sustained. Even a simple Healing Magic required the Magic Power of a conventional Magician's three small sections of magic. Three small sections of magic is already considered high-level magic (Unlimited Blade Works is only five small sections)!
Perhaps the effect was no less than three small sections of magic, but the consumption itself made it impossible for Rin to sustain. And Rin herself couldn't even reduce the Magic Power output to lessen the magic's power.
This also made Rin realize that she was not truly strong; what was strong was only Finale Magic Power, not her.
A qualified Magician would never be unable to control their own Magic Power freely. Rin's current magic release merely followed the learned operational method and then opened the switch of her Magic Circuits. Finale Magic Power would then automatically complete the magic formula along the flow of Magic Power, without any of Rin's own deduction or calculation.
Although the spell formula was completed to perfection by Finale Magic Power, Rin could not manipulate the flow of Magic Power at will. As long as she released it, she had to go all out. This was definitely not the release method of a qualified Magician.
Furthermore, the lack of Magic Power was also due to Rin's insufficient training and development of her own Magic Circuits. Powerful Magicians do not necessarily need many Magic Circuits.
The unprecedented puppeteer in the magic world, Aozaki Touko, the Throneless of the Human Puppet Master, had only about 50 Magic Circuits, including both main and auxiliary. But the training and development of each one, and the precision of her Magic Power manipulation, reached an astonishing level.
Whether Magic Power is sufficient depends not only on the refinement of Magic Circuits, but also on how to control Magic Power loss and dispersion, and how to economize Magic Power use. These are all things a Magician must master. The number of Magic Circuits is only potential; how far it can be developed still depends on the person!
Rin, deeply aware of her shortcomings, did not secretly go through the tomes of sorcery on the bookshelf after finishing the low-level magic Tokiomi had given her.
Because low-level magic had already overwhelmed her Magic Power. If it were high-level magic, after being completed by Finale Magic Power, it would likely directly cause Rin to die from Magic Power exhaustion.
So after learning magic, Rin began to concentrate on studying magic theory. Rin knew very well that the path of magic is the pursuit of knowledge. She must accelerate her cognition and understanding of the mysterious. The analysis of the mysterious is the true power of a Magician. Low-level mysteries are meaningless in the face of high-level ones; that is the principle.
At the same time, Rin was also fully honing her Magic Circuits. This was especially important for her, because her time was truly pressing. She did not have decades or centuries to steadily advance step by step.
Six years later would be the Fourth Holy Grail War. If she did nothing, Sakura would be sent to the Matou Family to suffer humiliation, Tokiomi would die from his disciple's betrayal, and Aoi would be crippled and mentally unstable due to scheming.
Aside from Rin's own hardship in supporting the Tohsaka Family at a young age, if Rin did not want to sit by and watch these tragedies unfold, she had to possess enough strength to interfere with everything. And when the Fourth Holy Grail War began, she would just turn eight.
Rin delved into magic almost forgetting to eat and sleep, doing everything possible to increase her power, deepen her understanding of the mysterious, and find a development path suitable for her current situation.
After half a year of various verifications and comparisons, Rin comprehensively judged that the most suitable path for her now was Reinforcement Magic!
Because Finale Magic Power completes the ultimate purpose of the Magic Power. For example, if Rin's purpose for Magic Power is to cast Healing Magic, then Finale Magic Power will complete the effect of Healing Magic to its limit.
And Rin's purpose for releasing Magic Power is to perform Reinforcement! Finale Magic Power will automatically amplify the reinforcement effect that Magic Power can produce to its limit, while the amount of Magic Power invested is controlled by Rin herself.
Upon realizing this, a person's image couldn't help but surface in Rin's mind: Bazett.
Bazett Fraga McRemitz! That simple-minded, strong-limbed, short-haired woman in a suit who fought by strengthening her body and limbs with Rune Magic!
She was an enforcer of a sealing designation for the Mage's Association, affiliated with the Clock Tower in London. A super powerhouse who, like a certain teacher, could single-handedly take on Heroic Spirits, and most importantly, she actually killed a Heroic Spirit! Although it relied on her family's noble phantasm, it was still an unprecedented feat!
And now, Rin was about to embark on the same path; Young Miss Rin's art style was completely breaking down... "So, modern Magicians still have more potential in close combat..." Rin muttered regretfully, eyes unfocused, as she flipped through the book, repeatedly hypnotizing herself that becoming a warrior for melee combat was definitely more promising than becoming a mage who could only stand aside and cast fireballs... It was strange, really. The Moon World was clearly a world where Magicians ran rampant, yet close-combat melee professions here seemed to be much stronger than those orthodox Magicians, with each one boasting explosive combat power.
First, there was Shizukusa Jūjirō from Mahoyo, who knocked out the Golden Wolf with a single punch; then there was a certain teacher who crushed Rider and punched Saber; Aozaki Aoko, the Fifth Magic human rocket launcher; Bazett, who single-handedly took on Cú Chulainn; even Tohsaka Rin once got up close with Caster, using a set of Eight Extremes Fist to stun her.
However, even in close combat, the power of magic was still used, so it couldn't be considered purely a warrior's style. Indeed, melee combat for mages was the way to go; chanting spells and casting fireballs was no longer effective.
"If I'm going to take the close-quarters martial arts route, I must choose a martial art as a foundation. Should I choose Eight Extremes Fist like in the original story? It doesn't necessarily have to be a fighting style; my reinforcement magic can also be applied to weapons, so..."
"Dong!" Facts proved that walking while reading a book and spacing out, muttering to oneself, was very dangerous, even indoors. The elegant and beautiful Young Miss Rin, not learning her lesson, very—un-elegantly—collided head-first with a bookshelf.
Before she could fully recover and understand what was happening, a grimoire, one punch thick and two Cihai dictionaries in size, with a hard cover, appeared just in time for a critical hit, falling in a straight free-fall from the top shelf of the three-meter-high bookshelf, its hard cover striking accurately!
KO!
Young Miss Rin, with very un-elegant spiral eyes, passed out in a terrible, splayed-out posture... A while later... Rin's consciousness gradually returned, her head aching as if hit directly by a brick. Not only was she hit, but it was a critical hit!
Rubbing her head, she tried to sit up, but couldn't.
What's pressing on me?
Rin opened her eyes in confusion and saw a huge hardcover book pressing down on her. Rin laboriously pushed the book aside and sat up, feeling dizzy and lightheaded. While rubbing her head, she couldn't help but curiously turn to look at the large book on the floor that had almost sent her back to the Root to sleep... "Eh!? This is..."