That's not what I meant and you know it! Now where are we going?" sighed the teen, walking after him.
"Why my house of course! Even someone like you should be able to figure that out, after all you want to get those wounds treated don't you?" replied Zelretch happily.
"I swear to God, Zelretch I will stab you with Gae Bolg," growled Issei as his left eye began twitching.
"We're here!" cheered the magician, ignoring him completely.
Looking up Issei's eye began twitching again as he turned back to his companion, "Zelretch this is a maid café."
"So it is," replied Zelretch before walking inside.
Issei briefly debated leaving and forgetting about the crazy old man but the pain of his wounds forced him to follow with a sigh.
Upon entering the café Issei immediately fell as the floor beneath him faded away and he was sent tumbling down some sort of slide built into the floor.
Suddenly he saw light growing larger and prayed that he was in for a soft landing, he shouldn't have bothered.
"So did you enjoy the ride?" asked an amused Zelretch while Issei slowly picked himself up off the floor and resisted the urge to summon Gae Bolg.
Glaring at the magician Issei hissed as he felt his wounds begin closing up while Zelretch attended to them with some form of healing magic,
"that was a good start boy I'm very impressed, taking on two Fallen Angels without any practice using the cards and only in the Include state," congratulated Zelretch.
"Fallen Angels? What are you talking about?" replied Issei.
"Oh you know the stories, angels that sinned and were cast out of heaven for their crimes," answered the magician with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"Enough about that tell me how did it feel using the cards for the first time?"
Issei frowned at the sudden change of topic but decided to humor the old man as he brought out the Lancer card from the cardholder.
"It felt good…I've never felt that kind of power before but at the same time it felt like I wasn't in full control of my body. Like I was a puppet dancing to some else's strings."
"That feeling will pass in time as you become more in tune with the card's Heroic Spirit," assured Zelretch.
"Heroic Spirit?" repeated Issei in confusion.
"Indeed they are the souls of some of the most heroic and infamous figures in human history who upon their deaths ascended into the Throne of Heroes,
complete with the power of their legends that usually manifest as what we call Noble Phantasms," explained the magician with a surprisingly serious expression.
"Like Gae Bolg?" guessed the teen.
Zelretch nodded before continuing, "yes Gae Bolg the legendary spear of the demigod Cú Chulainn is a good example of one. But remember not all are as obvious and easy to use as that one."
"That 'Fallen Angel' I was fighting talked about Cú Chulainn like he was still alive so how can he be in the Throne of Heroes?" argued Issei.
"Ah that's actually rather simple, you see all the Heroic spirits used in your cards are actually from another world,"
he replied, happily causing Issei's eye to twitch once more as he explained the Holy Grail war and 2nd true magic called Kaleidoscope.
"Let me just see if I got this right, you and these cards are from an alternate reality where the souls of dead heroes and villains fight for the chance to win this
'Holy Grail,' and that you came here by using an incredible type of 'true' magic called Kaleidoscope that lets you travel to different worlds?" he stated as he began rubbing his temples.
"Different times and versions of that war but yes that is the general idea, glad you understand it," commented the magician, ignoring the death stare that Issei sent his way.
"Now then, time to check to see if the cards are working properly, boy I need you to use the Lancer card."
Issei debated disobeying just to spite him but as usual his common sense quickly made him throw that option out the window and the teen sighed before he grasped the glowing card, "Include Lancer."
Sure enough the card's glow intensified before it morphed into the recognizable shape of Gae Bolg, resting comfortably in the teen's grasp.
Zelretch just walked over to examine the spear before he muttered more words in a language Issei didn't understand and nodded, apparently satisfied with his recent test.
Seeing this Issei dismissed Gae Bolg, which then transformed back into the card that he then put back in the holder.
As he looked at the other six in the holder Issei's curiosity began to grow at what other Noble Phantasms each contained.
"It won't work," informed Zelretch, guessing his thoughts.
"What do you mean?" replied the teen as he put the other six cards back into the holder.
"Each of those cards require you to be in tune so to speak with the Heroic Spirit it contains in order to be used, so far you only have a high enough connection to the Lancer class.
The others might as well be tarot cards for all the good they'd do in combat," informed the magician.
Issei just sighed, "So how do I increase this 'connection' to the cards?"
"They'll naturally increase over time and with training, but the process can be sped up in different circumstances depending on the Heroic Spirit itself," elaborated the magician.
"What do you mean?" the teen asked with a frown.
"If you find yourself in a similar situation that the Heroic Spirit faced then it will likely improve your connection to that card," explained Zelretch.
"And how am I supposed to do that? The chances of that happening is slim to nil," complain Issei.
The magician nodded happily, "exactly which is why we will be focusing on training instead."
"Training? Where am I supposed to do training?" he grumbled.