Badigadi didn't teach Shirou magic for long, but the improvement Shirou got from his teaching was hard to put into words.
Maybe it was because he was a demon lord and naturally good at magic, or maybe Shirou's own knowledge had reached a breaking point, so he absorbed things quickly.
Anyway, with Badigadi's help, Shirou quickly mastered holy-level earth and fire magic.
The holy-level earth magic was called [Sandstorm]. It involved stirring up dust and creating strong winds and sand that covered the surrounding area. It not only blocked vision but also made it hard to breathe. It was essentially a combination of earth and wind magic.
The holy-level fire magic was called [Purgatory Fireball]. It involved highly compressing flames into a fireball and causing terrible widespread damage when it exploded. It was also a product of combining fire and wind magic.
According to Badigadi, once you reach the holy level, it's rare to see magic created from a single element. It's usually a combination of different elements.
The reason Shirou had been stuck at the advanced level and couldn't improve further was that he focused too much on single-element magic. He forgot that magic needs to develop in all areas to make progress.
So, with Badigadi's guidance, Shirou's magic developed in all directions this time.
Not only fire and earth magic, but also water and wind magic rose to the intermediate level. This allowed him to complete the holy-level [Sandstorm] and [Purgatory Fireball].
It was only at this point that Shirou realized that his sword magic had been in the realm of mixed magic from the beginning.
After his further development, his sword magic was essentially a type of holy-level magic.
Shirou could have claimed to be a holy-level earth or fire mage, but because sword magic was relatively simple and didn't have the extreme destruction or environmental effects of other holy-level magic, outsiders wouldn't believe him even if he said so.
Only experienced mages would realize how impressive Shirou's sword magic really was.
But anyway, Shirou now finally had the power of a holy-level mage.
Though he couldn't use it without chanting unless he used his sword magic.
But there weren't many mages in the world who could use chantless magic. Shirou only knew Rudeus and Fitz.
Even the Dragon God Orsted, whom he encountered before, had to do a simple chant when casting magic.
Wait, now that he thought about it, Sylphy, whom he met in Buena Village, seemed to be able to use chantless magic too?
So, Fitz and Sylphy...
It felt like there was some kind of coincidence.
Shirou suddenly thought of a possibility but wasn't sure enough to be certain. He could only keep the idea to himself for now and find a chance to confirm it later.
By the way, Badigadi also asked Shirou about Unlimited Blade Works.
Badigadi seemed to mistakenly think that Unlimited Blade Works was a type of barrier magic.
While Unlimited Blade Works was indeed a reality marble, it was very different from barrier magic in that world because it was essentially an outward display of a mental image, the ultimate expression of a person's spirit, not a barrier magic created purely through skill.
Since he had already shown this demon lord his Unlimited Blade Works, Shirou didn't hide much. He explained the ability of Unlimited Blade Works very simply and also brought up the problem that he couldn't use it properly right now.
"Hmm, I don't know much about barrier magic, but I think there's someone who would."
"Who?"
"The Dragon King Perugius. He is currently the only god-level mage in this world and a master of summoning and barrier magic. If it's a problem in the field of barrier magic, he will definitely be able to give you an answer."
"Dragon King..."
Shirou had naturally heard of this person.
Or rather, in the Asura Kingdom, everyone knew of him.
If he had the chance to discuss barrier magic with someone like that, Shirou would naturally be willing, but only if the other party was willing to talk to him.
At least Shirou didn't think he had the ability to meet such a big shot.
Badigadi showed an unreadable expression after hearing Shirou's thoughts.
But he didn't care too much. He just smiled and patted Shirou on the shoulder, then disappeared as mysteriously as he had appeared before, and no one knew where he went.
Shirou didn't care either. He continued to practice magic by himself for a while, then returned to his smithy and immediately saw Seven Star.
She seemed to have a habit of messing up her surroundings. Her room before was a complete mess.
Shirou's smithy was originally very clean and tidy, but after Seven Star came, it turned into a pigsty in just a few days.
Juliet spent all her time cleaning, but she couldn't keep up with Seven Star's mess.
Although the environment was a mess, Seven Star's research seemed to be very fruitful.
The initial plan for Distant Utopia that she completed was almost exactly what Shirou wanted, making him very glad that he had asked for her help.
The reason it went so smoothly was that Seven Star herself had some understanding of the concept of noble phantasms.
Compared to most people in this world, Seven Star had a clear understanding of Shirou's world, so she could understand many ideas without Shirou having to describe them. She was a very capable helper who would do things on her own without him having to say anything.
Of course, it would be better if she didn't make such a mess of the room.
Shirou returned to the smithy just to check on Seven Star's progress, but he didn't expect that as soon as he entered, the black-haired girl excitedly stood up and said happily, "Okay, the final design is complete. Hmm, Avalon has to have this function!"
"What?"
Shirou was confused by Seven Star's muttering.
Seven Star turned around at once, a happy smile on her face, and said, "I've finished designing all of Avalon's functions, including the ability to merge with the body and become one with its owner!"
"Huh? You can even do that?"
"Yeah, luckily Orsted showed me similar techniques before. It seems to be some kind of secret technique that the dragons used to have."
"A dragon's secret technique..."
Shirou felt a little guilty about Seven Star using Orsted's techniques to help him.
If he fought Orsted in the future and her techniques were revealed, Orsted might realize Seven Star's betrayal and persecute her.
Shirou didn't want the people around him to be hurt because of his problems.
But Seven Star herself didn't seem to have any worries about this. She just excitedly handed the design to Shirou and asked him to forge it.
Seeing Seven Star looking forward to the finished product even more than he was, Shirou still couldn't refuse, even though he still had reservations.
So, he explained his concerns first, and as expected, Seven Star didn't care at all.
The girl didn't seem to think about how terrifying it was to betray the Dragon God. She casually said she didn't care at all, then continued to live in the smithy.
Yes, probably because the smithy was bigger than Seven Star's own lab, and Juliet was there to serve her, she had no intention of moving out and completely treated it like her own home.
Because the smithy was large and Juliet liked Seven Star, she didn't complain at all, so Shirou didn't bother to chase her away and just let her stay there.
Another reason Seven Star stayed might have been that she loved Shirou's cooking.
Yes, Seven Star already knew that Shirou was good at cooking. After tasting his food for the first time, her eyes lit up, and she looked like she wouldn't complain about being isekai'd as long as she could eat Emiya's food.
Shirou even suspected that she wouldn't want to go back to her original world if things continued like this.
But anyway, Shirou was still very grateful for Seven Star's help. Having someone who knew his true identity by his side made him feel very relaxed.
Soon, Shirou wholeheartedly devoted himself to forging the noble phantasm Avalon.
Seven Star's design was very complex.
On the surface, it just looked like adding some simple magic circles during the forging process, but in reality, the magic circles were subtly connected, and some were so exaggerated that even Shirou couldn't understand them fully.
At first, he could copy Seven Star's requested magic circles.
But later, his own abilities reached their limit, and he had to seek help from Principal Jinas.
Principal Jinas wasn't interested in forging, so he had ignored Shirou's smithy, but after hearing about the magic circles, he came to help immediately, only to find himself in the same predicament as Shirou.
Unexpectedly, even the dignified king-level mage couldn't complete the carving of Seven Star's magic circles. Shirou was undoubtedly in a difficult situation.
Helpless, Shirou could only resort to numbers, gathering all the mages he could find to help him complete the creation of the magic circles.
Fortunately, this was a magic university, and there was no shortage of mages.
And because Shirou himself was famous, most mages wouldn't refuse his request, and Shirou was generous enough to offer rewards.
Therefore, countless Palu laborers came to answer the call.
Rudeus and Fitz were naturally among them.
Compared to ordinary mages, the two chantless mages, Rudeus and Fitz, performed much better.
Carving magic circles was an extremely difficult task that required a lot of effort to complete. If you could skip the chanting step, the efficiency of completing the magic circles would naturally increase greatly.
"By the way, Shirou, what kind of item are you making?"
Because Shirou's forging was so loud, even Princess Ariel was attracted.
When she arrived, she was surprised by the huge smithy, and then she asked Shirou what he was making.
"Uh, it's a magic tool..."
In order to prevent Ariel from realizing the connection between himself and Muramasa, Shirou naturally wouldn't admit that he was forging weapons and instead used forging a magic tool as a cover.
In fact, Avalon was more like a magic tool than a weapon, so it wasn't really a lie.
"A magic tool?"
Ariel nodded thoughtfully after hearing this answer. "Are you short on funds? I might be able to help."
"In that regard... Principal Jinas has already given me a lot of help."
"Huh, that stingy principal is willing to help you?"
Ariel looked suspicious and surprised by Shirou's identity.
Shirou scratched his head awkwardly.
He naturally didn't want Ariel to know his identity, but the forging of Avalon was so loud that he couldn't hide it even if he wanted to.
He could only grit his teeth and pretend.
After entertaining Ariel, Shirou returned to the forging site.
Seven Star was supervising the mages carving the magic circles and complaining from time to time.
"These mages nowadays are really useless. They can't even carve such simple magic circles?"
Seven Star said casually, not caring that the mages on site were glaring at her.
"This is really hard."
Rudeus sighed. "I spent a whole day and could only complete one magic circle."
"You can make one a day?"
Fitz next to him was stunned. "I spent three days and couldn't even finish half of one..."
"After all, these magic circles are exaggerated in both quality and quantity."
Rudeus waved his hand silently.
In fact, the two of them were already considered amazingly efficient among most mages.
Most mages took a long time to complete even one line, and they weren't as efficient as them at all.
And Fitz was much worse than Rudeus.
After all, although Fitz could also use chantless magic, he didn't have Rudeus's huge magic reserves.
Rudeus's magic reserves were so exaggerated that he could make magic circles all day without stopping without any problems. He could be called the most capable elite worker.
Fitz seemed to be discouraged by this, after all, she still had some pride in the field of magic.
Of course, Fitz was used to being defeated by Rudeus.
The problem was that the young Juliet also displayed an amazing talent for carving magic circles. As a Dwarf from the mines, she was naturally skilled with her fingers, and like Sylphy back then, Rudeus had taught her how to use magic from a young age, so her magic power was slowly increasing.
Although Juliet couldn't compare to Rudeus, she had already surpassed Fitz and could carve one magic circle every three days.
With so many excellent Palu workers working for him, Shirou's Avalon was progressing rapidly.
In less than half a month, the second version of [Distant Utopia] was completed, and this version was almost the finished product!
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