The Liberomancer [Isekai Progression LitRPG]

This project had taken a lot out of me not just monetarily, but also in terms of time. I had cut back on working just so that I could spend more time on this, and if I had failed, my next attempt would've been greatly stalled as I'd have to work longer hours to satisfy the amount of funds I would need. Thankfully, I was successful on my first attempt.

My first Rank Three grimoire! Not only that, but this was technically a new grimoire for this world. I would have been satisfied with just its success, but that was not all - I discovered that it gave a very useful skill!

"Ah, excellent work," Granny Qi said, when I rushed out of my room excitedly to tell her. She put down the dishes she was doing and gave me a warm smile. "I didn't think you would succeed on your first attempt."

Practically no one made their first Rank Three grimoire themselves and either bought them or were gifted them by their parents or some other patron. It was extraordinarily difficult to make a new Rank Three grimoire - the difference in length and complexity between Rank Two and Rank Three grimoires was immense. That was also why there was a huge price disparity between them, and also why though it was somewhat reasonable for even an ordinary person to try to become a Rank Two Liberomancer that was usually how far most people got unless they had some kind of help. That help could be in the form of having been born wealthy to the point where a Rank Thee grimoire wasn't out of their reach, or having someone who was willing to write a Rank Three grimoire for them - this was usually a parent or a close teacher.

Granny Qi had told me that Hei Nan had to save for around two years to buy a Rank Three template, which while cheaper than a grimoire, was still out of reach of most people and hard to get your hands on. Though buying Rank Three templates and grimoires became substantially easier and quicker for him after that. It had taken him that long as he had some other financial commitments during that time (Granny Qi told me that his parents, i.e., her in-laws, had been sick and needed the services of a healer very often during those days), but even if that had not been the case it probably still would've taken him two or three years to get his hands an actual grimoire.

From what I'd heard, it was not uncommon for people to be stuck at the peak of Rank Two for several years while they tried to find a Rank Three grimoire or template. Sometimes templates were unavailable and all one could seek out were grimoires. Given templates could be used over and over, some people refused to sell them, artificially driving up their scarcity. The difference between Rank Two and Rank Three was that of a single Rank Three grimoire, but this gap was nothing to sneeze at. Of course, once you had a Rank Three grimoire you could make copies of it and then sell it and it would be easier to get more Rank Three grimoires; it was getting that first Rank Three grimoire which was the real challenge.

That was the gap between Rank Two and Rank Three - as for the gap between Rank Three and Rank Four, forget about it! Rank Four grimoires weren't even sold on the market, and unless the stars shone greatly upon you and you were able to do something like marrying into royalty or were skilled enough to make a Rank Four grimoire yourself, forget about it!

The only reason I was able to get to Rank Three so quickly was because I was able to make a grimoire myself based on my knowledge from Earth.

Granny Qi didn't know about that, which is why she sounded so impressed by what I had done - it was very much out of her expectations.

Actually, I think if I told anyone what I had done, they wouldn't have believed it unless I showed them the new grimoire I'd made as proof. They also likely would've found my plan of quitting most of my work to try and make a Rank Three grimoire to be extremely foolish. Granny Qi also probably thought so too inwardly but did not express it.

"Well, the first one's free."

"Hm?"

"Just a saying where I'm from - basically kind of like 'beginner's luck,'" I told her. My first attempts at making grimoires had all been successful whether they were Rank One, Rank Two, or Rank Three. Though, part of the reason for this one going so swimmingly this time around was simply because I was copying someone else's work rather than thinking of something on my own. For that matter, the first grimoire I had made was also not something that I had personally created.

My grimoire distribution list was as follows:

1. The demonic grimoire for which I had overwritten Polonius Advises Laertes to get the [Crimson Lance] spell

2. Sonnet 95 which gave +1 to my mana bar

3. An essay on the properties of water that granted [Create Water] as a spell

4. An essay on fire that granted [Create Flame] as a spell

5. A short summary of the major organ systems of the human body that granted [Soothe Wounds], a weak healing spell

6. An essay on basic geometry that gave +1 to my mana bar

7. The poem Rose had written about Cheddar that gave +1 to Luck

8. An essay on probability, that gave +1 to my mana bar

9. An essay on poker that gave +1 to Luck

10. An essay on dice games and gambling that gave +1 to Luck

11. A grimoire from Rob that gave [Minor Poison Resistance]

12. A poem I had written back in high school on how much I loved drinking coffee, which gave +1 to Resistance

13. A description of America's political system that gave +1 to Wisdom

14. A poem I had gotten from Rose that gave +1 to my mana bar (I had exchanged Sonnet 95 with her to get this)

15. A manual from Stella that I used that gave +1 to my mana bar, for which I had overwritten [Green Thumb]

16. A description of how soap was made and worked, that gave the [Clean] spell

17. An essay on various properties of triangles that gave +1 to my mana bar

18. A description of Newton's Three Laws of Motion that gave +1 to Speed

19. A grimoire I had gotten from one of my other coworkers that gave +1 to Charisma

20. An essay on how the stock market worked that gave +1 to Luck

21. A brief history of Egypt that gave +1 to Resistance

22. A description of basic Game Theory that gave +1 to Luck

23. A description of Lanchester's Law that gave +1 to Wisdom

24. A description of how ranged weapons had evolved from the common bow and arrow to the modern gun that gave +1 to Attack

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

25. The essay I had written on the sea that gave the [Poissonnier] ability

26. A description of how modern banks worked that gave +1 to Luck

27. A summary of The Wizard of Oz that granted [Wizard's Blessing], a passive ability that let you cast one spell a day free of its mana cost

28. A description of electronics that granted [Shock Stun]

29. The grimoire I had bought which needed to be written on scented paper that let you cast [Fragrance]

30. The grimoire of jokes I had bought that gave +1 to Luck

31. The grimoire that I had written with invisible ink that granted [Invisibility]

32. The grimoire that I bought that gave the spell [Fireball]

33. The grimoire I had won from the tournament that granted [Regeneration]

34. A grimoire on human biology that gave the [Mend Injury] spell

35. A grimoire I had bought that gave +1 to Wisdom

36. A grimoire on forensics that gave the [Unobstructed Sight] ability

37. A grimoire I had bought that gave +1 to my mana bar

38. A section of Romeo & Juliet that gave +1 to my mana bar

39. A grimoire I had traded for that gave +1 to Attack

40. Another grimoire I had traded for that gave +1 to Resistance

41. A short biography of Mahatma Gandhi that gave +1 to Wisdom

42. A grimoire on cryptocurrency that gave +1 to Luck

43. A grimoire on stock trading that gave +1 to Luck

44. A grimoire I had bought that gave the [Miracle Save] ability - once every 24 hours, an attack that would kill the user would instead drop them to a sliver of health

45. A grimoire on the Elephant Frog that gave the [Summon Elephant Frog] skill

46. A grimoire describing the Spirit Festival that gave +1 to my mana bar

47. An essay on some points about sailing that gave the [Water Lungs] skill, letting one breathe underwater for up to one hour

48. A grimoire from one of my coworkers that gave +1 to my mana bar

49. A grimoire from my coworkers that gave +1 to Attack

50. A grimoire from my coworkers that gave +1 to Speed

51. A grimoire from Lauren's shop that gave the [Paper Armor] ability- every 24 hours it would negate the damage done by the first attack that struck me completely

52. A grimoire from her shop that gave +1 to Speed

53. The grimoire Lauren gave me personally that gave +1 to Charisma

54. The grimoire Mark gave me which granted the passive skill [Longshot] which increased the range of all spells by ten percent

55. A short summary of points about the Elephant Frog that I began to understand after I could summon it that gave +1 to Luck

56. A description of various super heroes from back on Earth that granted the passive skill [Last Stand], which boosted Attack by twenty-five percent if the caster was below half health. This was in theory useful, but practically useless as there was no real reliable way to get yourself below half health.

57. A grimoire I had purchased that gave +1 to Speed

58. A description of the basics of trigonometry which gave +1 to my mana bar

59. An description of how islands were formed from underwater volcanos, that gave +1 to Wisdom

60. A short autobiography of my own life that gave the [Self Insight] skill, which increased my mana recovery rate by one percent for each point in Wisdom that I had gained via grimoires. This was supposedly beneficial, but the effect was overall so weak it was almost negligible currently; although it made me somewhat regret forgetting Polonius Advises Laertes as that had been a grimoire that raised wisdom. Given that increasing your total mana capacity also technically increased your mana recovery rate, I would probably be overwriting this later on.

Looking at it, it was clear that my build was a complete mess and all over the place when it came to which spells and skills I knew, which was a result of me trying to reach Rank Three as quickly as I could. My stat spread also wasn't optimized for anything; resulting in a very strange mishmash of a build. But that was fine, because I knew that it would be far easier to specialize and refine my build now.

Finally though, my effort had bore fruit as I grasped my latest creation in my hands.

"Anyway, I'll be heading out," I told Granny Qi. "I need to hand this over to the Liberomancer's Guild."

I was not going to use it right away as I intended to submit it as part of my application to become a Master Liberomancer first.

There was a different receptionist at the Liberomancer's Guild today, and when I told her I had made a new Rank Three grimoire and wished to submit it for inspection so that I could become a Master Liberomancer, she opened and closed her mouth a few times looking like she had no idea what to do further. Perhaps my request was just that out of the ordinary?

"Ah, please wait just a minute sir," she said as she fetched someone who looked like the manager. He went over the grimoire I had made.

"Ah, well," he said nervously, also not seeming to know exactly what to do. "Well, sir, we need to submit this to the central guild headquarters in the capital and also reach out to the neighboring countries. There are some forms that need to be filled out…"

"I'll need help with that since I can't-"

"-yes, yes, of course," he said with a small smile. "I know who you are. That news with the demonic grimoire echoed far and wide." It seemed that the Liberomancer's Guild had been keeping a close eye on me after that incident. He picked up an ink brush and offered to fill out the form for me himself.

"And how much will this cost in total?"

"Nothing, sir," he said. "I mean to say don't worry about the cost as the guild will take care of it so long as this really is a new Rank Three grimoire. Ah, but I do need to warn you - the Liberomancer's Guild does not look kindly upon fraud, and if it were to turn out that you knowingly submitted this work as your original creation when it was in fact someone else's; there will be consequences ranging from a fine to possible imprisonment. Ah, my sincerest apologies, I of course do not wish to insinuate that your esteemed self would have done something of that sort, it's just that I have to make that clear, it's part of my job, you know…"

He was sweating slightly although the weather was still quite frosty at this time.

Not only did he seem kind of nervous, he was also being oddly cooperative. Although I wasn't going to complain about that, still I found the whole thing kind of odd.

For one, they weren't asking for any kind of fee like they usually would (before, it seemed like they had a fee even for breathing on their premises), and two, the manager was offering to do this extremely basic paperwork on my behalf himself instead of handing it off to someone else.

As for the punishment if it was found that this was something that had already been made, well, I had no real issue with that because at the very least it would tell me that there was someone else in the world who could write in English. Meaning that said person had likely come from Earth, especially if they had written out Charlotte's Web. On the other hand, if even with the guild's resources they could not find a copy, I could be almost absolutely sure that someone like that did not exist.

Not to mention they would likely have to prove that I had maliciously done so, which would be rather hard I'd imagine. I highly doubted that an actual prison sentence would be on the table.

What counted as a 'new grimoire?' Many works of literature are somewhat derived from each other and can even be quite similar. For stat-raising grimoires it was easy enough to verify if it was truly new because if it wasn't, someone who already knew a similar grimoire wouldn't be able to use it. So, if it was a stat-raising grimoire the guild would look for similar texts and people who had learned them and ask for their opinion on the matter.

For grimoires that granted spells it was a bit different and more of a gray area. There were many grimoires which were very different and yet for whatever reason granted the same skill or spell. You couldn't learn two of those simultaneously, so it was at the guild's discretion whether to consider a text new or not, and was likely based on how similar it was to other texts.

Of course, if you made a grimoire that granted a spell or skill which did not exist that was guaranteed to be approved. However, given the long history of Liberomancy in the world that was highly unlikely to happen. I had never heard of the skill that the grimoire I made gave, but that didn't mean that it didn't exist- just that I hadn't heard of it. It was possible that if the guild dug deep enough with its resources, it would find the same skill given by some different text.

I answered whatever he asked as his hand moved across the form with practiced expertise. There was only one thing that I wanted to make sure of before I handed off this grimoire to them. "Ah, can I get a receipt that you took this from me for my own records?"

The receptionist looked slightly miffed at the audacity of my request, but the manager just said, "Of course."

I couldn't read what was on the receipt so I would have to take his word for it until I could find someone I trusted to read it over for me. The reason I wanted it was because I wanted to make sure that after all the effort I put into making this grimoire it didn't suddenly end up 'misplaced' or 'lost' by the guild.

I didn't think that the guild would do something like that on purpose - as it was, although I thought that most of their rules were unfair, they did follow them and enforced them impartially for the most part (I hadn't forgotten about the incident with Drake).

However, I still wanted something as concrete evidence that this transaction had occurred. If they did lose it, while I couldn't get the grimoire itself back, I could ask for an appropriate price as compensation at the very least if I had a receipt. I would still have to write the whole thing again, which would be a massive pain, but I'd have something to show for my trouble. As it was, my funds were quickly dwindling and if this didn't pan out I would have to start thinking of some alternative means of sustaining myself.