FATE: Target of Grand Master

Indeed, when Linghu Shi saw Tiamat standing next to Xia Yan, he was completely stunned.

How did you manage to summon Tiamat?

After hearing Xia Yan's story, Linghu Shi was even more shocked.

Not only Tiamat, but even Draco wants to get this man. What secret does he hold?

Except for the moment when Xia Yan was preparing to attack, when his body turned black for a brief moment to represent fear, his body remained white throughout. His emotions did not fluctuate much, and his story made sense. Could it be that he really was our Master, imprisoned by Draco, as he claimed?

"Son, it seems this little girl doesn't quite trust you. Shall we go?"

Tiamat provided the timely assist.

Little girl? Are you talking about me?

Linghu Shi looked down at her rather thin figure. Although she was indeed not very fleshy, she shouldn't be mistaken for a little girl.

No! Now is not the time to worry about that!

"Wait a moment!"

Linghu Shi put away the Imaginary Number Magic, summoned Arthur and Richard back to her side, then bowed slightly to Xia Yan and apologized, "I'm sorry, I did have some doubts about your identity before, please forgive me."

"Little one, this girl's attitude changed so quickly, it's very suspicious."

Tiamat continued to play the bad cop and provide assists.

Xia Yan smiled and waved his hand to indicate that everything was alright. He then said to Linghu Shi, "It's alright. It's necessary to remain thoughtful and vigilant. Now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up and I've retrieved my servant, let's discuss our next move."

Linghu Shi nodded.

"Xia Yan, let me confirm, you only have Tiamat as your Servant?"

Xia Yan shook his head: "Of course not."

"Should we go find your other Servants first?"

"No. I can sense them, but I can't pinpoint their location. Rather than wasting time searching for them, I want to check the current situation first. Don't misunderstand, even if I don't go looking for them, they will look for me. Compared to us searching aimlessly like headless flies, I have masters among my Servants who are very skilled in magic. They will find me much more efficiently than we find them."

Linghu Shi put himself in her shoes and realized that she was right.

"What situation do you want to confirm?"

Seeing that Linghu Shi did not continue to discuss the topic of followers, Xia Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

"You are the first Master I have encountered in this trial, so I know almost nothing about the current situation. I hope you can tell me everything you know."

Linghu Shi lowered his head and pondered for a moment, seemingly considering where to begin.

"This trial is the arcade version of the Seventh Singularity, the prosperous city of Babylon, that much is certain. I met the other two shortly after I arrived here. They were already together and had probably already informed each other of their identities. They were very much in sync in both their decisions and actions."

When the other two Masters were mentioned, Linghu Shi revealed undisguised disgust.

"They are a man and a woman. The man is named Mochizuki Yusuke, and the woman is named Tano Kazuya. Neither of them has revealed their full Servants. As far as I know, Mochizuki Yusuke has the Assassin-class Servant Mochizuki Chiyome, and Tano Kazuya has Taira Kagekiyo."

"How do you know they're from the same Master group?" Xia Yan asked.

"I started by revealing that I was a free agent who hadn't joined a Master group, but I wanted to join one, though I didn't know which one to join. Then I specifically asked each of them which Master group they were in. They were a bit clever; one honestly said he was from 'the gathering place of human evil,' and the other said he was 'I'm going to tear apart Servants with my bare hands.' Unfortunately, I could see through who was lying. There's really no point in lying about these kinds of questions. Either don't answer, or just tell the truth. The only reason they deliberately lied was to prevent me from realizing that they were actually in the same Master group."

"Who among them lied?"

"That woman named Tano and Aya. They should both be members of the 'Human Evil Gathering Place'."

Xia Yan thought to himself: They're all from the island nation, and they're all in the same Master group, so it's understandable that they stick together.

"I remember you said you didn't trust those two, but in this trial, our goal should be the same: to defeat Draco. If we fight amongst ourselves before we defeat her, everyone will probably die here. They should understand that."

Although Linghu Shi's words were quite credible, Xia Yan did not immediately accept them entirely. As he had just said, it was necessary to remain thoughtful and vigilant.

"Although they didn't openly bully me, they would use manipulative tactics like 'If you want to join the Master Group, you have to show the corresponding strength and complete certain tasks' to test me and make me do relatively dangerous things."

"So, you refused?"

"No, I agreed. Actually, going to the palace to investigate was both a task they gave me and something I wanted to do. Of course, I struggled with it before reluctantly agreeing."

It seems that although Linghu Shi's relationship with the other two island master is not completely broken, they are only superficially united. It is impossible for them to fight Draco in the same way that the Lighthouse and others united to fight Tiamat.

While Xia Yan couldn't immediately answer the question of whether Tiamat or Draco was stronger, Draco, as the mastermind behind Arcade's Seventh Singularity and the big boss who brought the Singularity to a close, held a position equivalent to Goetia's role in "Humanity Burning." He was the culprit behind the entire story of Arcade, and his strength and influence were undeniable.

This is quite different from that disgraceful Beast-class warrior next door who was beaten to tears.

Although Linghu Shi's full strength has not yet been revealed to Xia Yan, the two of them alone are definitely not enough to defeat Draco.

"How about we try to find some lone Servants? If I remember correctly, Arcade Seven Singularity also has five lone Servants such as Noah, Berserker Lancelot, Kintoki, Tamamo-no-Mae, and Enkidu," Xia Yan suggested.

"Regarding this area, I actually did look for it intentionally before. Although I wouldn't say I searched every place, I certainly didn't encounter any lone Servants."

Given Linghu Shi's previous performance, it's not surprising that he would think of seeking out lone Servants first. However, if the number of lone Servants provided in the trial is less than in the original work, it can only prove one thing: that the overall strength of Linghu Shi and the other two Masters has surpassed the level of the original work.

In the original work, Gudako, Mash, and Tiamat have a total of seven Servants. Currently, Linghu Shi and the other two have four known Servants. Just to be even, they are still three short. Not to mention that the quality of the solo Servants deducted from the Trials is very high. Based on this estimate, it is very likely that Linghu Shi and the other two each have two to three more Servants hidden on average.

By this calculation, there are at least ten Servants in total, whose strength should not be underestimated. However, their relationship could break down at any time, which is an opportunity that Xia Yan needs to carefully maintain and utilize.

Xia Yan suddenly felt like a spy in the Three Kingdoms Kill game, having to maneuver back and forth between the loyalists and the rebels, balancing the strength of both sides, and without revealing his spy identity.