Chapter 1: Chapter 1 First time in Fuyuki City
The Key of All Spirits.
This is what Roland called the ring on his hand.
Starting this morning, this gorgeous silver ring suddenly appeared on his hand. Because of its seamless touch as if it had merged with the skin, its presence was extremely low.
When Roland realized it belatedly and took it off in confusion, he discovered that there was something wrong with the ring. It had clearly been placed on the table, but the moment he closed the door, it reappeared in Roland's hand, as if it had never left.
Whether locked in a box or thrown out of the window, the next moment, the ring would reappear on his hand. Just as Roland was still worrying about how to deal with the Key of All Spirits and what the function of this thing that looked like a golden finger was, the clock on the wall had already reached noon.
Then, he suddenly traveled through time.
This is why Roland sat alone on the bench at the entrance of the park, wearing only a thin shirt and coat when everyone else was wearing winter clothes.
"So, is this Japan? Or is it the so-called parallel world?"
Roland looked around calmly. He was not an international student, but the signs on the surrounding high-rise buildings and the Japanese words on the street signs clearly revealed this.
Contrary to Roland's expectations, he was not surprised by the fact of traveling through the world itself.
Because, when he came to this new world, Roland, who was wearing the Key of All Spirits, had all kinds of abilities and information about the ring emerge in his mind.
The Key of All Spirits can not only travel through the world, but also give Roland various supernatural abilities. The reason why he chose Roland is very simple, because he has the qualifications.
This qualification does not refer to Roland's own wisdom, talent, or character, but the qualification to connect with unknown existences in the void.
In a nutshell, Roland is very inspired.
This qualification, which is insignificant and even somewhat dangerous in real life, is the reason why the Key of All Spirits binds Roland.
The Key of All Spirits contains many contracted spirits. They used to be some special beings. Some were gods that existed in the distant past, some were abnormal but powerful mortals, or even diverse races from other worlds. Except for a few special cases, most of these contracted spirits were in a state of half-dead, not even remnant souls.
In order to preserve their power and erase their will, the owner of the Key of All Spirits can use a contract to obtain the power of the contracted spirits at a certain price, and completely digest them after meeting certain conditions, making the power of the contracted spirits completely his own.
But in the final analysis, the Key of All Spirits is just a prop without self-awareness. Its power is incomplete when there is no user to drive it. After all, the contract is between two parties from the beginning.
As they wander aimlessly through the heavens and myriad worlds, mechanically searching for masters and creating new contract spirits, there are always some lucky contract spirits that, by chance, are not successfully collected after being created and are scattered throughout the worlds.
As the person chosen by the Key of All Spirits, Roland's mission is to collect these scattered contracted spirits and improve his own authority until he becomes the true master of the Key of All Spirits.
In many ways, the Key of All Spirits can be regarded as an excellent golden finger. Although it has a goal, it is not mandatory. If he is willing to give up, he can live in this world for the rest of his life.
As a simple prop, the Key of All Spirits would not impose any compulsory tasks on Roland, or any punishment for failure to complete them. The message it conveyed was only about how to increase his authority.
Apart from the fact that the first time he crossed over without any warning was a bit unexpected, Roland was very satisfied with the fact that he had obtained the golden finger. After all, he had no attachments in his original world.
"But is this really a different world?"
Roland felt a little embarrassed by the gazes from the people around him. Because it was at the entrance of the park, there were still some people coming in and out. Roland, who was only wearing a thin coat, was still somewhat conspicuous in the eyes of the people around him who had already started to put on thicker clothes.
If he wasn't just in his early twenties, and his age, which had not yet lost his childishness even in the ivory tower of the university, could serve as a cover-up, the curious looks cast at him would probably have increased several times.
After nearly half an hour of observation, Roland could preliminarily conclude that this was a world that had entered the modern era. Although he didn't know what the differences were in terms of historical and cultural development, judging from the level of technology, it should be earlier than his original world.
Judging by the clothes of passersby and the housewives playing with their children in the park, there shouldn't be any widely known supernatural abilities... at least not on the surface.
"Anyway, let's gather some information first."
Roland stood up and walked into the park. On a bench near the flower bed, an office worker in a suit had packed up his lunch box, stood up from the bench, and hurried out of the park.
He obviously had no intention of picking up the newspaper that he had casually folded and placed aside. Although Roland had only read newspapers when he was a child, he still knew a little about the status that this seemingly thin paper once had in the media.
In the previous half hour, no one took out their mobile phone to play, whether it was the mothers who were quietly watching the children playing or chatting on the side, or the office workers who came to this pleasant park for lunch or meals. Even the office workers who were very tight on time only used the watch on their wrist or the tall flagpole-like wall clock in the center of the lawn to confirm the time.
This was a very fresh sight for him who lived in a modern society. You know, in the old residential area where he lived before he traveled through time, where there were almost no young people, there were also a few people playing short videos at high volume among the groups of elderly people.
If nothing unexpected happens, this newspaper should be able to give him a lot of information. Even so, Roland did not expect to solve his doubts about the world he lives in through a newspaper.
Roland unfolded the newspaper and sat on a chair. He used the large newspaper to cover his expression while scanning the Chinese characters he knew.
The first thing that caught his attention was the small black words above the newspaper column. Next to the numbers showing the date, the words "Heisei 6" were written in brackets.
"1994, that was the bubble economy period, right?"
Roland subconsciously started reading from the left, and was dazzled by the densely packed pseudonyms and the small notices separated into columns. For someone without a language foundation, reading a newspaper with text as the main carrier is not a good experience.
The goddess of fate always seems to like to reveal her cunning side inadvertently.
Just when Roland thought he would gain nothing and began to pay attention to the headlines in the newspapers that were mainly written in Chinese characters, he saw a headline.
——Fuyuki City has the highest temperature in the past at 11.2 degrees Celsius
To the right of the title, a sign-like font printed in black print states the name of the newspaper.
Fuyuki News.
He was very familiar with this term. In other words, although he did not dare to call himself a fan of the Type-Moon, Roland had also watched quite a few works in this series.
But if he really traveled to Fuyuki City as an ordinary person, even though Roland thought he was still calm, he couldn't hold it in anymore.
Roland had already heard a lot about the daily life of the nuclear war in Fuyuki City.
Although the exact year is unknown, judging from the era, the current time point is undoubtedly the Fourth Holy Grail War.
Roland took a deep breath and exhaled, forcing himself to calm down. But even so, his crazy emotions could only fade into a trance.
According to convention, even if there is a trial, shouldn't it start with High School of the Dead? Isn't it a bit beyond the scope to put the first stop of normal people in the Type-Moon world? The
silver lining is that after flipping through the newspapers, Roland didn't find any news that would cause a sensation, such as gas explosions, except for a small column on the side about people being killed. The fourth war must not have officially started yet.
But this did not serve as a comfort. On that winter afternoon, the ruthless attitude of the north wind was just like Roland's current state of mind, which was gradually falling to the bottom in the bleakness.
He zipped up his coat to the top and wrapped himself as tightly as possible to preserve his body temperature. Roland touched his stomach and realized another more realistic problem.
Compared to the illusory Fourth Holy Grail War that was far away in the horizon, where to stay tonight and what to eat for the next meal were the issues that needed his more attention.
He now suffers from the triple debuffs of not being able to speak the language, being an unregistered resident, and being penniless, and he is also in a strange city. After getting rid of the novelty of time travel, fear and terror about the future immediately surged into his heart.
Only when people are in danger can they realize the beauty that is easily overlooked in peaceful life.
Looking at the newspaper in his hand trembling in the wind, Roland's face darkened. He almost wondered if this was a hint from the heavens. He had just traveled through time and this was what happened to him?
"Besides, the achievement of a homeless person is not earned here, right? Shouldn't it be on the other side of the continent? High school students are a specialty of Japan, right?"
Roland patted his face as he spoke these words, trying to dispel his anxiety. He couldn't just sit there and wait for death when something happened. Moreover, even if he was given a chance to give up the Key of All Souls, he would still choose to hold on to it.
No one would ignore a miracle that is so close at hand.
Moreover, he still has a chance to reverse his fate.
Roland stroked the ring on his hand, feeling the message conveyed by the other party.
Key of All Spirits
——Holding Spirits Contract: None
——Number of times to extract a contract spirit: 1
This ring is not a wishing machine, nor can it freely select the desired ability like the convenient main god, but it is a prop that can create contract spirits in the heavens and the worlds. It is impossible for it to have no perception of the person it chooses, right?
Roland does not desire the power to destroy the world, just as the contract spirit is not a Doraemon without any price, but he longs for a chance.
"Extract the contract spirit."
Roland pondered for a while, silently issued an order in his heart, closed his eyes, and waited for fate to come.
Then, a chaotic silver-white light appeared in his closed eyes, shrinking, twisting, and conveying the result.
——Kira Yoshikage