The Liberomancer [Isekai Progression LitRPG]

As I exited the city, it was time to bring out my ride.

If I had found a way to fly, I probably could've been at the capital within two days, but despite all of my best efforts I'd been unable to on that part. I'd tried writing about flying birds, horses, even something about Amelia Earhart, but those grimoires had all turned to dust. Trying to make new Rank Three grimoires was a massive investment, meaning that each failure took nearly a month to write and it really stung when it didn't work out. Both for the fact that I'd failed again, and also because I'd spend the next week thinking about all the other things that I could've accomplished during that period of time.

Long story short, flying was out of the picture. I hadn't brought a cart or horse with me though, because I didn't need either of them. I carried my mount with me all the time.

[Summon Bear], I thought, and a monstrous creature appeared next to me. While summoning you could choose some of your summon's attributes to a degree like color, gender, and size - though you couldn't ask for something which broke the limits of what that creature was capable of. I had summoned the largest, strongest, and fastest bear that I could summon. But I couldn't, for example, summon a bear with pink fur as bears did not have pink fur. Not even in this world.

Bears in this world were not all that different from bears on Earth, sure, they were much bigger and apparently their fur and hide was a bit thicker, such that they were somewhat resistant, but not immune, to many melee weapons. Not to mention they were also slightly stronger and swifter than you'd expect, even considering their larger size, so there might have been some magical augmentation to their physical abilities as well.

Other than those tiny things though, they really didn't have any special magical abilities like the Tyrant Arachena's immunity to fire - not that they really needed any. This was a species which had been honed by thousands of years of evolutionary pressure to become a natural killing machine. In a straight up fight, it would without a doubt massacre an Elephant Frog despite both of them being Rank Two summons, though an Elephant Frog could just hop away to safety if it ever happened to chance upon a bear.

So what was this mountain of murderous strength and wicked claws doing right now?

It was trying to act cute.

It immediately stuck out its tongue once I summoned it, before rolling over as if expecting a belly rub.

Cheddar did the same thing whenever he thought that I was going to leave home in a ploy to get me to stay longer.

That was why it was behaving like a small puppy - because a summon's job was to serve its summoner, and it thought that by doing so, it would make me happy.

It wasn't wrong, but we had a schedule we were on, and even with my grimoires which increase the time it could stay active, there was still a total time limit of nine hours that it could stay in this world.

"Look, we're busy, no time for belly rubs," I said to it.

It gave me a sad look and tried to look as pitiful as possible - which wasn't very successful given how terrifying it otherwise was, but I am sad to admit that it still worked on me somewhat.

"Fine! Just for five minutes though!" I began rubbing its belly. "Who's a good boy? That's right, you are!"

It began letting out grunts of happiness, trying to imitate Cheddar once again, though it could not given its voice box was far removed from a tiny puppy's.

If anyone saw us they would no doubt start doubting what they were seeing, possibly wondering if they were hallucinating. If anything, I felt that this was one of the strangest things that I had done while in this world.

While rubbing its belly, I couldn't help but notice just how massive and sharp its claws were - yikes! If I had been told this was a domesticated pet who had been raised all its life to never lay a finger on humans, there would still be no chance I would go anywhere near it.

But, summons were bound by several rules - the chief one was 'you will not hurt your summoner!'

That's why I could do something like this without fearing for my safety; without worrying that it might accidentally tear my head off or something with a careless swipe.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

"Alright, that's enough, let's get this saddle on you," I said. I had had this saddle custom-made for a bear its size, and being a summon, it readily cooperated as I put it on.

I would be riding it for several days, and I wanted to be comfortable. It also had some extra attachments which helped me tie the rest of my stuff to the bear's back.

"Alright, let's head out!" I said, as it began trotting forward at a comfortable, but still swift pace.

We must've been quite a sight - though bears were a common summoning option in this part of this world, so most people would've realized how it was that I could ride a bear and be so relaxed while doing so. I wore my purple sash proudly, easily identifying myself as a Master Liberomancer to anyone with eyes to see.

Banditry was far more common now, even with the governor doing his best to stamp it out - but I had no doubt that because of the simple fact that I was riding a bear, no one would dare try anything.

When the above thought came into my head, I sighed.

No!

The quickest way to die in Libraria was to think that you were invincible. Granny Qi's words echoed from before when she had been warning me about something like this.

The Ruler of the Astral Winds was far stronger than I was now, but had still been blindsided and then slain by the Blood-Emperor.

Forget him, Drake was stronger than I was, but during the siege, a lucky hit to the head had knocked him out unconscious - during which his powers and abilities were useless. He might've died if I hadn't leapt off the wall in order to save him.

No matter how strong you were, you could always be taken by surprise.

That's why I had realized that [Paper Armor] was actually far more useful of a defensive ability than I had previously thought - mainly because it did not need conscious activation, and it stopped a single blow, no matter how powerful it was.

Say, for example, that I had learned how to use [Ansoon's Blessing] rather than being an idiot and allowing it to be damaged beyond repair during the siege - on paper it was a far stronger defensive ability as it made you invulnerable for an entire minute, regardless of how many strikes you took.

The issue remained that it required conscious activation, and would not do anything say, if someone had already stabbed you in the chest while you were distracted and had not activated it yet.

As I thought of this, I retrieved my helmet and decided to put it on. It was made of wood and not steel, but did provide a good deal of protection nonetheless. A blow to the head that could potentially kill or incapacitate me was something I'd like to avoid, given I had seen firsthand just how devastating it had been when it happened to Drake.

I had bought a set of leather jerkin armor, which also included a wooden chest piece.

It would've definitely been better if I wore full plate armor - but the most exerting job I had ever performed prior to coming here had been as a coffee shop barista. There was no way that I could handle moving around in plate armor without training.

Sure, I had been here for a year and I could've tried some training or practicing to get used to a set - but I had found it more important to focus on getting better at Liberomancy. As it was I could not have afforded a full set of plate armor until I had reached Rank Three, so I wouldn't have had much time to practice with it regardless.

Still, the main reason for the leather jerkin and the helmet was so that my vital areas would have some degree of protection, during which I could buy time for one of my summons to become a defensive wall for me while I struck back at the enemy. Or, if overwhelmed, used [Invisibility] to get away.

As it was, [Regeneration] should've eventually taken care of any non-fatal injuries, though hopefully it would never come to that.

It was due to all of these considerations that it was far safer to travel in groups, and traveling with something like a merchant caravan was the best but I couldn't possibly wait for the time that it would take to come back to Arconia. Who even knew if they would come back next year either - there were still some dryads wandering around, so there was a tiny chance they might decide to skip Chipker next year as well.

We made very good time, and managed to reach Granny Qi's village before the allotted nine hours was up.

The village wasn't exactly on the direct route to the capital, but I had wanted to drop by to settle some things so taking a minor detour wasn't a major issue.

I found the leader of the mercenaries I had hired, and handed him a bag of coins. "Here - sorry some of the pay was late, but I got it just like I'd told you."

"Many thanks, Master Liberomancer," he said in response.

"Any issues around here?"

"No, as a matter of fact, there have been many rumors spreading around saying there is a Rank Three Liberomancer in this area, so no one troubles us," he said with a tiny smile. "And… we might've had a hand in making sure those rumors were spread as much as possible."

I nodded. "Good - if it'll help keep you guys safe, it's fine."

I assured Suki Tang that I had left enough funds to pay the guard's salaries for the next six months, as well as a tiny amount for a village emergency fund. I was sure that Granny Qi wouldn't let them fall on hard times either should all of that run out.

"We should be able to start farming for the fall season," she told me. "By then we'll be ready, and by this time next year it will almost be like nothing had ever happened."

The reason the village could recover so quickly was thanks to a massive amount of external support - namely from Granny Qi and I, but I was more than happy to do so.

If anything, I wished I could've done even more and lent out a hand to the other villages around Arconia as well, but there was a limit to what I could accomplish on my lonesome.