The Liberomancer [Isekai Progression LitRPG]

I couldn't believe my ears, let alone my eyes.

"Wait- how did you get out of prison? Why are you here? And why did the guards up front let you in?" The apartment complex here in the capital was a gated community with a few guards posted near the entrance so that random people couldn't just waltz in.

Back in Arconia it hadn't been like that, but each individual house there had a wall around it and a gate. The area in Arconia where it was located had been low in crime and they expected us to hire private security if we really wanted something like that, but there were regular patrols of guards in that area so there was no real need. That was how those villagers had been so easily able to invite more people in without me knowing during the siege.

Here, though, there was a proper wall around the apartment complex.

So how did he get inside?

"Ah, allow me to answer your questions in order, Teacher," Sun Jiao said. "First off, I was released from prison after cooperating with the guards and helping them catch the rest of my former team as well as a few other bandit groups I happened to be aware of. Ah, being a Liberomancer might've slightly helped in convincing them to let me go so long as I behaved and provided my assistance - though I am still on probation for the next three years. As for why I am here - naturally it is to continue on my journey of Liberomancy by becoming your student! And thirdly, they let me in when they saw that I was a Liberomancer myself and was here to visit you - though to be frank, Teacher, I do realize now that the security around this place is rather questionable if they let someone like me inside so easily. If you will but give me a moment, I will go out and have a word with these guards. They cannot possibly be so lax when someone as important as you is dependent on their vigilance."

It took me a moment to process that. "So, you sold out your old friends? You know, people don't think highly of people who sell their friends out." There was a reason why it was said, 'the deepest layer of Hell is reserved for traitors and mutineers.'

"Well, Teacher, they did betray me first by abandoning me and running away when I was caught," he said. I recalled one of his friends scampering off into the night when the Tyrant Arachnea had caught him. "And so, I think outing them is merely repaying that kindness. Not to mention - did you not say earlier that you couldn't take me as a disciple because of the path that I had chosen? I think I've atoned for that by ensuring the capture of my comrades, don't you think?"

"I guess so…" I said, not sure how to counter that kind of logic. Sure, no one likes a snitch, but at the same time, how would some criminals be caught? "But hold your horses! I never said I'd take you in as my student!"

"But Teacher," Sun Jiao continued, "when I first saw you sleeping in that clearing, I could tell at once that there was something remarkable about you - although I have to admit that I hadn't expected to be ambushed by a giant spider. I think it was fate itself that decreed that we would meet like that, and become master and apprentice!"

"I… look, if you've turned a new leaf, that's great," I said. "But I can't be anyone's teacher right now. You'll need to find someone else if you want to study under someone."

"Teacher," Sun Jiao said, "I am afraid that all other roads in my life had been blocked off. As it is, no one was willing to employ me before, and my most recent criminal record would only make my prior status even lower. I would have no future outside, save for becoming a common beggar."

"I… I'm sorry about that, but I really can't take an apprentice right now," I said.

"In that case, Teacher," Sun Jiao said. "It would mean that I would once again be forced to go outside to commit crimes in order to support myself. And then I would end up back in prison, kudos to you." He sighed and turned around.

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"Wait!" I called out to him.

Ten minutes later, as he was sitting in my apartment, and I was rubbing my forehead, wondering how I got into this mess. I realized that he had played me. Making me think that I was somehow responsible for what he would do - gaslighting likely wasn't a word in this world yet given gas lights hadn't been invented, but it described his manipulation perfectly. I couldn't deny that he definitely had a way with words. I did consider throwing him out, but some part of me did feel bad for him.

However, I also felt annoyed at the Liberomancer's Guild - had they really gone so easy on this guy? Or was it simply their influence that had led to his lighter sentence? Or was the guild not involved in any capacity whatsoever, and it was only the common folk's reverence for Liberomancers in general that had led to this kind of soft-handed approach to his misdeeds?

"I thank you, Teacher, for your kindness - whatsoever the mighty Spider King of Arconia needs, I will be sure to do, don't hesitate to ask!" he said.

"So… you know that name?"

"Well, not before I had uh, tried to rob you, otherwise I… would not have tried to," Sun Jiao said. "That reminded me Teacher - can you please tell me the habitat of where that giant spider normally lives, so that I can always make it a point to stay at least a thousand miles away from that area ensuring I never run into it?"

"I honestly don't know," I said. Being able to summon a creature gave you a lot of knowledge about it - likes its powers and weaknesses, but habitat was something different. It was not something that was an integral part of that creature - an Elephant Frog could migrate to another region of Libraria rather easily, couldn't it? At most you might get to know if a creature preferred, say, sea water or fresh water. But there could be many ideal climates for it scattered throughout the world.

"Ah," Sun Jiao said. "That is… rather unfortunate that even Teacher doesn't know…"

"Coming things then," I said. "I want you to show me what you can do."

"What?"

"You want to learn Liberomancy, don't you?" I asked. "I want to know how good you are." I handed him some ink and paper. "Write one of the grimoires you know - or try to make your own if you can."

"Ah, what is this?" he asked, taking an odd look at the fountain pen I'd given him.

"Right, you might be more comfortable with this," I said, handing him an ink brush.

"Okay, let me show you what I can do!" he said.

I could tell there was something off immediately by the way he gripped the ink brush - granted, it had taken me a while to get used to it and I had never really mastered it like the others did, but he was handling it much like you'd expect someone only vaguely familiar with using it to do so. He was holding it wrong, using his whole fist rather than gripping it like a pen initially before seemingly remembering the right way to hold it. Comparing him to my coworkers who I had seen also use ink brushes, he seemed to struggle at a level comparable to what a young child might do.

Sure, he could write, but while I didn't know much of the human language even now, it seemed more like a fanciful drawing than something made by a practiced hand.

He also took far too long to write it - the amount of mana that was used up while writing and reading depended on a combination of the work's length and speed. So being able to speed read or write faster with practice would shave off not only some time, but some of the mana spent as well. That could very well add up to make a significant difference in the long run if you made several grimoires a day, like I had to when I worked in Lauren's shop.

"I'm done!" he said, seeming proud, though his face fell when he saw my expression. "Uh, Teacher, why are you giving me a look that seems to say, 'This person is hopeless?'"

I changed my expression as quickly as I could. Right, I had to remind myself of one thing: most Liberomancers were at Sun Jiao's level. Well, that might not be entirely true, I was guessing the average was slightly higher than him, but there were quite a number who were worse than him.

Basically, he was performing near average when you took Liberomancers as a whole - many of them could get no further than Rank One. My thoughts drifted back towards my old coworkers at Lauren's shop - I had started off long after they had save for the most recent new guy, and yet I now outranked them. Not to mention the few times I had worked creating water for the city. Those people were also nothing really remarkable.

These people were a fraction of a fraction of the total population of Liberomancers. They were better than I was currently, which is why I constantly thought about how I had to work harder to beat them. But, the fact still remained that they were the best Liberomancers in the entire country.

But, because I had only preoccupied my thoughts as well as most of my time with such people, it had skewed my impression of what an 'average' Liberomancer was.

If we had any hope of going ahead with this, I needed to keep that in mind.