FATE: Target of Grand Master

No reply means I'm making soup (Lan Muyan): Is the guild leader going to give out perks? It's been a long time since I joined the guild, and I'm finally getting to eat something good.

Lord Fengxian is invincible (Diao Yunshang): Great benefits! Great benefits! Give me even better benefits!

30,000 words a day (Feng Yan): Aren't you two being a bit too proactive?

No reply means you're just making soup (Lan Muyan): Not being proactive with benefits, you've got a problem with your head.

Lord Fengxian is invincible (Diao Yunshang): Well said!

30,000 words a day (Feng Yan): ...

(Feng Yan, posting 30,000 words daily): I just want to tell you that, based on my understanding of our leader, he must have already decided who to give it to before he sent it. No matter how eager you are now, it's useless. What's meant to be will be. Look at Linghu Shi, she's so quiet; maybe one of the items is for her.

Linghu Shi was targeted by the eccentric old woman: ...

Linghu Shi, who's been targeted by the eccentric old woman: Feng Yan, I haven't done anything to offend you, have I? Why are you ruining my reputation?!

It seems that even the usually taciturn Linghu Shi couldn't help but feel a little anticipation when faced with such a perk as receiving a gift dress.

It must be said that Feng Yan's judgment of Xia Yan was quite accurate, but this guy spoke too directly and offended the other three masters in one fell swoop.

In order to avoid the situation where good intentions lead to bad outcomes, Xia Yan stopped keeping everyone in suspense and revealed his plans.

Having collected all the Fairy Knights (Xia Yan): The two Mystic Codes I obtained are Origin Bullet and Magdalene's Shroud. I'll give Origin Bullet to Alan; you're the best shooter here.

Since the Shroud of Magdalene is specifically designed to target males, I originally intended to give it to one of the two female characters. Considering everything, I think Diao Yunshang's overall strength is currently weaker within our group, so this Craft Essence will be yours.

No reply means I'm making soup (Lan Muyan): Thank you, Commander! I will swear my loyalty to the Lighthouse to the death! I swear my loyalty to the Commander to the death!

Lord Fengxian is invincible (Diao Yunshang): Thank you, Commander! Love you! By the way, I will keep the reason I gave you and Lord Fengxian a secret, otherwise you will definitely get punched by him next time you meet.

Xia Yan smiled slightly.

Collect all the Fairy Knights (Xia Yan): Then I have to thank you.

Lord Fengxian is invincible (Diao Yunshang): You're welcome, it's only fair. By the way, who was it that said being proactive was useless? What a coincidence, the two most proactive people both got the costumes.

No reply means he's making soup (Lan Muyan): Yeah, who is it? It's so hard to guess.

Seeing that Feng Yan hadn't even used ellipses in the chat group this time, Xia Yan could already imagine how annoyed he was.

To prevent Lan Muyan and Diao Yunshang, those two who were taking advantage of the situation, from getting too cocky, Xia Yan immediately explained the method of gifting.

Collect all the Fairy Knights (Xia Yan): My safe house coordinates are practically public now, and you all probably know them. Calculate your own travel distances and let me know in advance. I'll discard the Mystic Codes before letting you acquire them. If the distance is too far, don't bother coming; make sure your own safe house has sufficient combat power for protection. As the number of Masters decreases, the probability of us encountering each other in the trials will increase, and I can give them to you then.

Lan Muyan and Diao Yunshang also stopped their playful antics and each calculated the distance to Xia Yan's safe house.

A moment later, both of them replied that they could come over.

Xia Yan fully trusted their judgment and didn't say anything more, agreeing with them on a time to pick up the dress.

Neither of them wanted to delay any longer, so they both decided to come and collect it immediately.

Afterwards, Xia Yan asked the others, as usual, if anything noteworthy had happened. Lan Muyan then recounted a situation he had encountered during the trial.

No reply means I'm making soup (Lan Muyan): I encountered two Shadow Servants in the trial. They were incredibly difficult to kill; even if you hit a vital point, they would quickly heal. Fortunately, the Servants they simulated weren't too strong, and after killing them about thirty times, I finally managed to defeat them.

This information immediately alerted Xia Yan. Wasn't this just like the Shadow Servants he had encountered in the trial, such as Kyo Shinko, Kyo Jack, and Asagami Fujino?

Xia Yan immediately questioned Lan Muyan in detail, but unfortunately, Lan Muyan's answer did not contain much useful information.

Like Xia Yan, Lan Muyan also encountered a situation where the final boss in the trial summoned two shadow followers.

Aside from being incredibly durable, the shadow followers didn't communicate with him at all. After killing two shadow followers and the BOSS in the trial, Lan Muyan didn't have a chance to ask them anything. The only thing he could be sure of was that these shadow followers were definitely not the kind of beings that should have been in the trial.

Although he didn't have much information, Xia Yan felt that there was some unknown force silently influencing this Master Trial.

After ending the conversation, Xia Yan sat on the living room sofa, reflecting on the situations he had encountered with the Shadow Followers.

In the very first Master Candidate Trial, Xia Yan encountered a Shadow Servant. However, given the circumstances at the time, it was likely just a design by BB, and its strength was merely that of an ordinary Assassin-class Shadow Servant. Apart from its class-specific skills that concealed its aura, it didn't even possess a Noble Phantasm.

The second instance was during the Absolute Demonic Front: Trials. At that time, the Shadow Servant was summoned by Typhon using his own abilities, which were nothing special, and their origins can be traced.

The third time was before this trial, when the army of clone Servants on the Holy Grail Front, although not shrouded in black mist like the Shadow Servants, had black mud components, greatly increasing their survivability. Their source seemed to be that "information broker" whom I had never seen before.

The fourth time was when I encountered three Shadow Servants in my previous trial. Not only had their combat power increased significantly, but they could also use Noble Phantasms. Although they were still somewhat inferior to the original Servants, combined with the Black Mud's durability, they were not much worse than the original Servants. Moreover, their origins were unknown.

Upon closer examination, Xia Yan discovered that these Shadow Servants seemed to be constantly getting stronger, something that even god-level Servants, as genuine Servants, could hardly achieve.

Since Servants are only a side aspect of Heroic Spirits, the stability of their Spirit Origin ensures a lower limit, but also locks in an upper limit.

While the limits of a Shadow Servant should not reach those of its original, genuine Servant, the magic power of the Black Mud might allow its inherently unstable Spirit Origin to be strengthened to the point of being comparable to that of a genuine Servant.

Even if they can't actually reach that level, their sheer numbers and resilience would make them an extremely difficult force to deal with.

During this trial, Xia Yan only encountered three Shadow Servants. If he had encountered thirty, no, perhaps only ten, plus the fully-formed Surut, they would have been wiped out.

Thinking of this, Xia Yan broke out in a cold sweat.