The Liberomancer [Isekai Progression LitRPG]

"We should be able to get back to you in about four to six weeks or so with a final verdict," the manager said.

"Four to six weeks!?" I said incredulously, and then I remembered to keep my voice down. "Does it really take that long?"

"Again, my apologies, but we have to reach out to multiple neighboring countries and with the distances involved it will take a while," he said with an extremely apologetic look.

"Okay then," I said, and he gave a sigh of relief that I hadn't pushed that matter further.

From his expression, I could figure that it actually did seem to take that long and he wasn't just giving me a hard time. I sighed, this world, despite its magic, still mostly relied on technology from the middle ages and there was nothing as convenient as a telegram let alone the Internet. Four to six weeks, given the distances involved, was quite fast all things considered.

While heading back, I asked a shopkeeper I had known for a while to read the receipt for me - he had trouble writing anything other than numbers but could make out words fine and told me that it did look like a receipt for a grimoire and not one for pancakes or whatever.

"How did it go?" Granny Qi asked. Even she wasn't sure what the process to become a Master Liberomancer was like, given that Hei Nan had never applied himself.

"They told me that it'll take a while, but they should be able to get back to me," I told her. I now had a decision to make - I could try to make another new Rank Three grimoire or a copy of the one I had just made.

I did sort of have an idea for another Rank Thee grimoire, but I couldn't be sure that it would work. On the other hand, making a copy of something that had already worked was guaranteed to be a success and I could sell it for quite a pretty penny down the road. On the other hand, if I successfully made a different Rank Three grimoire it could be even more valuable than the one I'd just made.

"And do make sure to try to optimize your set now," Granny Qi reminded me while I was thinking of what to do next. "You may have reached Rank Three, but in a way that is the beginning; not the end, of your journey."

"I'm not technically at Rank Three yet-"

"-you know what I'm saying, don't you boy? Stop being coy!"

I did understand what Granny Qi was trying to say.

It was much harder to overwrite Rank Three grimoires because the cost of doing so was far greater, so I had to actually pay attention to what grimoires I memorized at Rank Three instead of just choosing whichever one I could get my hands on like I had done before. After all, even when I would have filled out all of my Rank Three slots, getting even a single Rank Four grimoire would be impossible unless I created it myself.

I thought about my current build - what was I missing?

First of all, when it came to offense, I was doing pretty good. [Fireball], [Crimson Lance], and the new skill I would gain when I finally read my new Rank Three grimoire more than covered my attacking options well enough. Not to mention even [Summon Elephant Frog] could be considered an offensive skill, so there was no need to focus more on that.

When it came to defense, however, it was clear that I needed to expand on what I had. If this were a video game, min-maxing to become an offensive glass cannon would be alright because if I died, I could just load back to my previous save, but I was pretty sure that this world did not give second chances. Right now all I had was [Miracle Save] which would prevent me from being one-shot, and [Paper Armor] that would block a single attack no matter how strong, but neither could be considered good defensive options. They could buy some time, but that was it.

One thing I could do was to get some kind of armor to protect my vital areas, even if it would be a bit cumbersome to carry around and use. Plate armor would be too heavy, but even hardened leather or wood provided good enough protection.

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The ideal solution would be if I could get something like [Arcane Armor] which was excellent at blocking damage, but that was a Rank Three grimoire and would be hard to find let alone buy. There were some Rank Two defensive abilities, but they were a lot less useful, though I might have to settle for one for the time being.

When it came to healing, I would have liked to have a Rank Three healing grimoire, though for obvious reasons they were in high demand. [Mend Injury] and [Regeneration] were fine for now, but they had their drawbacks. The main issue was that while they were fine for injuries, they did nothing to either ward against or heal either poison or disease.

Regarding disease, I had been quite fortunate and not gotten anything worse than a mild cold since I came to this world, though I knew from my time moonlighting in a healer's clinic that not only were there diseases from Earth, but also diseases that only existed in this world.

Regarding poison, there were lots of venomous creatures in this world and I would naturally want something to deal with them. Technically, if I was with the merchant caravan I'd be able to find a healer relatively easily, but I couldn't always rely on that. Even a Rank Two one would be hard to get and expensive, but I did think I could grab one in the coming months, or else buy one when I joined the merchant caravan.

Coming to stealth, [Invisibility] was fine for now.

When it came to scouting, [Unobstructed Sight] should've been good enough.

When it came to movement, I could hop onto the back of the Elephant Frog, and get away as it was very fast. It was actually more useful for movement rather than offense, and of course, it could serve as a sacrificial shield if needed.

But, there was something I badly wanted when it came to movement - I wanted a way to fly.

An actual flying spell or one that granted wings would be fine enough, either those or a summon like a pegasus or wyvern that could carry me would also work

While I did plan on staying with the merchant caravan for some time, there would likely come a time in the future where I would have to set out on my own. And there were so many advantages to flying - not only could it greatly shorten the amount of time needed to travel from place to place it would also let me cut over obstacles like mountains or ravines that would otherwise require huge detours.

There were also so many hazards that you could avoid while flying - the skies were relatively far safer than staying on land given that dragons, the largest and most dangerous flying predators, had been extinct for thousands of years. You wouldn't have to worry about things like bears or venomous snakes when you could just soar over them.

The issue was that it wasn't just me who thought they were very useful - naturally everyone else did as well. And all such grimoires to my knowledge, were Rank Three and so very hard to obtain - they all sold for multiples of what an ordinary Rank Three grimoire would sell for, if you could even find one. There was no one in all of Chipker who made one, and I would likely have to travel to Hitutsa in person or some other country where they were made in person to even have an opportunity to buy one.

Even with the high price though, for their usefulness it was more than worth it. There was a reason why so many creatures had evolved to have wings ranging from bugs to bats - because they were just that useful!

Lastly, coming to utility, I had [Create Water] - but I also wanted something that could make food. I knew of a spell known as [Fish Haul] that was Rank Two and could make a large amount of fish out of nothing using magic. With the recent feud between humans and lizardmen it had been a bit of a challenge to find a copy as it was something the lizardmen made and so I hadn't been able to find one as of yet, but was reasonably confident that I would be able to before heading off.

Most people would consider it a waste to dedicate a Rank Two slot to something just to make food. If it were a Rank One spell, it would be a different story - nearly everyone knew [Create Water] after all, but Rank Two slots were a different story as they were far more valuable. Not to mention that many would consider it to be a massive waste of mana as well. However, that was because most Liberomancers lived either within cities or with merchant caravans and had excellent logistical support.

Since there was a high chance I might end up exploring certain places on my own, I couldn't always count on that. I wasn't confident enough to be able to tell what kind of plants were safe to eat out in the wilderness and didn't have a grimoire for the same, and in the scenario I was say, lost in a cave or stranded on a deserted island, I'd find myself in deep soup. Well, not literally else I could just eat the soup, but the point of the matter was that I would be risking starvation.

It had been nearly a year, but I still vividly remembered the feeling of an empty stomach back when I was homeless. I did not want to go through that ever again.

That was basically what I thought I needed to add to my build - there were of course further optimizations that I could do, but that could wait and would likely take several years anyway.