Age of the Gods, Greece.
In the Arcadian Mountains, outside the cave of Mount Pelion.
As nightfall approached, the goddess of night, Nyx, from ancient Greek mythology, drove her chariot from the underworld to the mortal realm, scattering the veil of night across the sky.
Under the twilight glow before sunset, the centaur sage Chiron held a golden lyre (harp), playing its beautiful strings while slowly walking out of the cave to stand before two young boys.
He lowered his head, looked at the two young children in front of him, smiled gently, and said softly: "Children, why have you come here?"
The two boys glanced at each other, and then the boy with blonde hair and blue eyes took the lead to take a step forward, raising his head, mustering his courage, and loudly answered the towering centaur,
"I am here in pursuit of justice!"
Hearing his words, Sage Chiron nodded gently without saying much.
After all, he had long known this student, who was destined by fate to come here, and he had been waiting for the boy for a long time.
His name was Theseus, the future king of Athens.
At the same time, he is also a great hero who will be renowned throughout ancient Greece in the future!
"What about you, kid?"
Then, Chiron, with a gentle smile, turned his gaze to the other child.
A child who, in the future, he had seen, did not appear or exist.
The boy had a good-looking face, youthful and tender, with emerald eyes as beautiful as jewels.
"I am here to become a hero."
The young man looked up at the centaur sage and answered resolutely,
"My greatest wish in this life is to die gloriously in the path of becoming a hero or, in some grand endeavour, to be remembered and sung by people!"
That day, Chiron learned the boy's name.
Promise...
...
...
Three years later,
Inside the cave of Mount Pelion.
The morning sunlight was soft and warm, filling the room with a refreshing wooden fragrance.
Promise, who had already woken up, was sitting by the window, wearing an ancient Greek scholar attire.
This was made by the sage Chiron for his students.
It was mainly white in colour and engraved with the magic of the gods to protect those who had not yet grown up.
His emerald green eyes stared at the rising sun, playing with an exquisite rank card in his hand and murmured to himself,
"Come to think of it, more than three years have passed..."
After saying that, he lowered his head and looked at the class card in his hand.
A piece of information appeared in his eyes.
[
Name: Promise
Age: 16
Era: Ancient Greek Mythology
Identity: Transmigrator
Heroic Spirit Rank: Unconfirmed
Heroic Spirit Quality: F (Unknown)
Heroic Spirit Legend: Befriended the future king of Athens, Theseus, and together they studied under the centaur sage Chiron...
]
He quietly observed the rank card information projection, visible only to him.
Indeed, Promise was a transmigrator.
He did not belong to this era or this world.
However, he did not originally transmigrate to ancient mythical Greece from the very beginning.
The time and place he actually transmigrated to was the Clock Tower, a modern magic (Mage's) association located on the outskirts of London, England.
He was a student of the Clock Tower, and his teacher was an old acquaintance, Waver Velvet, who inherited the name of El-Melloi!
But the Magus family that he transmigrated through was a declining one, with the previous generation's family head suddenly disappearing with the family's magic crest; the family struggled to maintain its operations and remained in search even until now, to no avail.
Even though the new family head worked hard enough, nothing changed.
Losing the magic crest meant the end of the family's magus lineage, rendering their existence unnecessary, leading to their eventual expulsion from the Clock Tower.
Yet, Promise was not particularly concerned about this.
Because he had prepared himself mentally, knowing that even if he left the Clock Tower, at least in his lifetime, his family would not collapse immediately, allowing him to live comfortably under the protection of the "big tree".
But just as he had resigned himself to this fate and had even prepared his withdrawal paperwork,
It was as if awakening from a dream, Promise 'woke up'.
In fact, his transmigration was not the type where he took over someone else's body; he was reborn, having forgotten everything until he woke up from the dream that night.
In this way, he not only remembered his past life but also instantly understood what kind of dangerous world he had entered upon awakening as a transmigrator.
At the same time, he also remembered the Holy Grail War, the Foundation of Chaldea, and the Burning of Humanity!
But fortunately, when he woke up and realised all this, he also naturally understood the real reason for his 'awakening'... his transmigrator's golden finger had arrived.
Yup, the cheat necessary to survive and flourish in the known and unknown world.
That was the heroic spirit class card in his hand at this moment!
At the same time, this was also the reason why he was currently in ancient Greece.
Inside the wooden cabin of Mount Pelion, he played with the Heroic Spirit rank card in his hand.
Its appearance was somewhat similar to the class cards in the parallel universe of the magical girl Illya, but its essence was different.
Because it wasn't about stealing the power of the Heroic Spirits from the Throne of Heroes for use but rather for shaping.
"So, to put it simply, this thing allows me to travel to various eras to leave behind legends, ultimately making my way to the Throne of Heroes."
"At the same time, the me currently in the age of gods in Greece is not my real body. My true body is still within the Clock Tower. This body here is merely a projection created by this rank card..."
Thinking of this, Promise glanced at the F rank, the quality of being unknown among Heroic Spirits.
"And as we all know, the so-called heroic spirits are the beings transformed into heroes whose great achievements have been left as legends after their death and have become objects of faith."
"The grander the legend left behind, the higher the quality of the Heroic Spirit. And the only event in front of me that is worthy of becoming a legend is undoubtedly becoming a disciple of the centaur sage Chiron."
"In layman's terms, the higher the quality of the Heroic Spirit, the more powerful the strength I acquire!"
With that, Promise put down the Heroic Spirit rank card in his hand, rested his chin on his hand, and muttered thoughtfully:
"Although I have no interest in the Holy Grail War, the matter of Chaldea cannot be ignored.
After all, in the scenario where the human foundation is completely incinerated, aside from those staying in Chaldea, it seemed everyone else was dead... or was it frozen?"
"And even though the world I am in does not have the burning of the human foundation, this world does have weird things like vampires, True Ancestors, and Dead Apostles."
"So, no matter how you look at it, my purpose now is very simple and clear."
That is to gain strength through this Heroic Spirit rank card, the strength that can allow him to deal with all sorts of unexpected situations calmly!
Then he lightly tossed the rank card into the air, where it vanished but would reappear at his mere thought.
It's worth mentioning that this Heroic Spirit rank card was not a one-time use.
Once he completes a legend and makes his way to the Throne of Heroes, it will split into a corresponding rank card, leaving behind an empty original.
So, as long as he wants to, he can carry out this process countless times!
Therefore....
"I will become a hero, and..."
As he spoke, he raised the corners of his mouth slightly, turned around and walked towards the outside of the wooden house.
"Let the bards sing of my story; let the people remember my legend forever!"
"In the end... to die a glorious death!"
"Dying with a bang!"
Because stepping onto the Throne of Heroes has a prerequisite: one must be dead.
However, for Promise, who has an infinite number of retries, this clearly poses no issue, allowing him to seek death without any psychological burden.
So,
"Teacher Chiron!"
In the early morning, the black-haired, emerald-eyed young man came before the centaur sage Chiron, bursting with enthusiasm,
"I want to go down the mountain; I want to become a great hero!"
After hearing this, Chiron put down the golden harp he was playing, glanced at Promise, sighed softly, and then repeated the words he answered almost every morning.
"No!"