Wrought King of Iron

Chapter 9: First Step

What decides a person's value? What makes someone worth more than another? In the magi world, those with better mastery of magecraft are valued more by society. Those who are incapable or incompetent with the use of magecraft are seen as mere rabble in comparison. But the flaw in assigning one's value to their achievements and abilities is that, no one is perfect. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. There is always something that one can contribute, therefore the concept of value isn't something you can assign to another. Magi have different expertise in magecraft, and so just because they are bad at one thing doesn't mean they are worthless.
It was so obvious to me then, but everyone falls victim to doubt.

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Waiting for Tohsaka outside of the classroom of the extraordinary professor Lord El-Melloi II was a daily occurrence. The class was held for the truly exceptional and talented mages, so of course that would include Tohsaka, and Luvia was also part of the class which explains why the two knew each other unbeknownst to me. In the library the other day, Tohsaka got a bit jealous and essentially interrogated me as if I was a criminal, asking how I knew Luvia. All I told her was that we got lost on the same street and met that way. I did not want to worry her with matters that didn't concern her, so I remained silent about the assassination attempt.

The class ended, and the students of that class started spilling out of the doors, bubbly and excited, talking about new magecraft they learned from that lesson. I waited for a few minutes, however Tohsaka didn't come out, and neither did Luvia. Of course, they must be fighting.

'Who the hell are you, and why are you always loitering here?' An unfamiliar voice angrily questioned me.
It was a man around my age, with dark skin and bright, white hair. His eyes were a fluorescent green, and the arrogance he exuded when he spoke, made me think he would have harsh, sharp eyes, but, they were lifeless and hollow. He reminded me of Archer, but with significantly less muscle. He had just come through the door.

I didn't know what I had done to make him mad, so I responded politely.
'My name is Shirou Emiya, and a foreign student at Clocktower. Who may you be?'

'Are you Rin Tohsaka's disciple then?'
So this guy must be classmates with Tohsaka. No wonder he acted like he owns the place. There is something about him that rubs me the wrong way. 

'Yes, I am. Who are you?'
His face contorted into a disapproving scowl, and he glared at me. I was even more uncomfortable due to the fact that his eyes didn't match his expression. It was as if they lit up, and were now full of life, in contrast to his earlier empty eyes, lacking in emotion.

'I assume that, having been taught by such a brilliant magus, you are proficient in many areas of magecraft. But you certainly don't look like a magus at all. Well, which types of thaumaturgy do you excel at, that is assuming you can use any at all?'
He already knew that my skills were lacking, and yet he was provoking me anyway. What a troublesome person.

'As you may have guessed, I am not very talented at most areas of magecraft, however I can use reinforcement magic to a decent degree, and I excel at using projection magic.'
After I said that, this strange man grinned. It was slight, as not to let me catch on, but I could tell, because these sort of smirks were somewhat synonymous with another white haired magus I knew, having seen him do it all of the time.

In an loud voice he shouted, 'Projection magecraft!? Your expertise is wasted on such a useless craft. What can you even accomplish with such pathetic magecraft? Absolutely nothing. 
I wasn't particularly surprised by his reaction, as the majority of magi are under the impression that everything produced by projection is unusable.
'Replicating tools can only make hollow shells!'