His Origins, and How to Use the Grimoire

Liber followed the members of his Familia to Twilight Tower. They found an empty room for him to rest in.

The room was in the lower-middle section of the tower, near the western side. When he entered, the setting sun spilled inside, bathing the room in a deep wine-red glow.

One of the Familia members opened the door and said, "This will be your room from now on. Make yourself at home. If there's anything you need, just let us know, and we'll do our best to arrange it."

Liber said, "Thank you. Sorry for the trouble." The member then said goodbye, closed the door, and left.

Listening to the footsteps gradually fade away, Liber looked around the room, set down his backpack, and lay on the bed.

"Fourteen years. At last, I've taken a solid first step."

As Liber thought to himself and quietly reflected, he saw a vast starry sky in his mind. Most of the stars were faint points of light, but forty-six shone brilliantly.

Originally, only forty-one stars had been shining. After he joined a Familia, five more had appeared, bringing the total to forty-six.

"I wonder if those stars appeared because I met Loki or because I became part of the story. What are these stars for, anyway?" he murmured.

Liber had originally been a hard-working wage slave in modern society, uncertain about his future.

He'd once had a fairly stable job, but after the company's management changed, his own ordeal began.

As time went on, his workload increased and his pay was cut. Already bitterly resentful, he finally reached his limit after an argument and quit in a fit of anger.

For a while, he'd been sick of work. Living off his savings, he decided to take a break and travel across mountains and rivers to clear his head.

Once, while climbing a mountain, he spotted a bungee-jumping attraction and eagerly signed up.

He'd always loved the feeling of being up in the air. But as he plummeted, everything went black, and he lost consciousness.

When he woke again and became aware of his own existence, he was a ten-year-old child. As his memories blended together, he gradually realized that he had been reincarnated in another world.

He had become Liber Miller.

He had grown up in a small town near Orario. When he was ten, an accident sent him tumbling down a hillside, where he hit his head. After lying unconscious for several days, he woke up with his old memories restored.

As those memories resurfaced and merged, confirming one another, he suddenly realized that this world was very similar to a work he'd known in his previous life, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, commonly known as DanMachi.

This was a world of all kinds of vicious monsters, heroic tales celebrated by the people, and Orario, the city of dungeons, where gods gathered and Familias stood side by side.

Heroes and the Dungeon were the central themes of this world.

It was a Western-style fantasy world where magic and adventure intertwined with gods and monsters.

After learning about the world through his memories, Liber couldn't stop thinking about going to Orario and embarking on an adventure of his own.

But when he told his family in this world, they firmly refused.

In this world, he had been raised by his grandmother alone in a small town.

The people in town said that his father had once been an adventurer, but had died in an accident during an expedition. After his father's death, his mother was overcome with grief and grew frail. She passed away not long after giving birth to him.

His grandmother had been left to raise him alone. Having lost her closest family, she was deeply opposed to adventurers, and there was nothing he could do about it.

After all, the debt he owed her for raising him was real. He calmed down and thought it over, reminding himself that it was dangerous enough for a ten-year-old child to travel alone.

Besides, if he'd gone to Orario at the age of ten, he'd probably have been eaten alive.

Reality wasn't as beautiful as the stories, and Orario wasn't some perfect paradise.

After his only family refused his request to go to Orario and become an adventurer, Liber made a plan of his own.

In this medieval-style fantasy world, people were generally considered independent at sixteen. He would go to Orario and become an adventurer then.

Until that time, he would study, train, and diligently practice his martial skills so he could adventure on his own.

So, after his request was refused, he began carrying out his plan. First, he learned basic swordsmanship from the town guards. Then he helped out at the local blacksmith's shop to earn travel money, while training his body every day with diligence and discipline.

While helping at the smithy, he did his best to learn the craft, hoping to join the reputable, support-focused Hephaestus Familia and ensure he'd have time to grow stronger.

Time passed, and he had stuck to his plan for two years.

During a break one day, his grandmother took him to the storeroom and handed him an elaborately decorated book in an ornate cover.

His grandmother hesitated as she spoke.

"This is something your father left behind. It's called a grimoire. I don't know exactly what it does, but after he died, his Familia companions returned some of his belongings to us.

"The rest was just money and possessions. This was the only thing he specifically asked to leave for you, once you became an adventurer."

"I hadn't planned to give this to you, but I've watched you train and work hard to become an adventurer these past few years. I'm old now, and I can't do much to help you.

"So I thought I'd give it to you after all. Maybe it'll be of some help, Liber."

Liber accepted the grimoire with delight, and his resolve to become an adventurer grew even stronger. With this in hand, he was even more confident that he could become a top adventurer.

In the great magical nations of this world, there were people whose knowledge of magic had reached the pinnacle. They could create grimoires to help people with a magic slot awaken magic. These grimoires were divided into three types according to their quality and effects.

The first type of grimoire could grant a person a fixed spell. The spells obtained from these grimoires were usually fairly common.

Aside from the fact that owners of rare magic wouldn't be generous enough to give their spells to others, spells that were too advanced couldn't be stored in this kind of grimoire. First-type grimoires often cost tens of millions.

The second type was even more precious. Its creator imitated the Falna to draw out the magic best suited to the reader.

A grimoire of this kind could very well grant someone a spell with great potential that suited them perfectly. That was why these grimoires were often impossible to buy, no matter the price.

As for the third type, in addition to awakening magic like the second type, it could also possibly grant the reader an extra magic slot, provided they still had fewer than the maximum of three.

Thanks to the possibility of gaining an extra magic slot, third-type grimoires were priceless.

At the time, he hadn't known what type of grimoire he'd received. But regardless, having one meant he'd be far more successful after becoming an adventurer.

After that, he changed his goal. Instead of joining the Familia he'd originally planned on, he decided to join Loki Familia, compete with the top adventurers, and take part in the story's unfolding.

He trained even harder. After learning swordsmanship, he also made time to learn how to butcher game from the village's Hunters, steeling his nerves in the process.

He kept this up for a year and a half. When Liber was thirteen, he experienced the sorrow of losing a loved one.

The only family he had in this world passed away quietly on a cold autumn night.

After his grandmother's death, he suddenly noticed a starry sky in his mind. Most of the stars were tiny, twinkling lights, but forty of them kept flashing with brilliant radiance. That was when he realized that he hadn't come to this world alone—he also possessed some kind of strange power.

But no matter how he tried, he couldn't figure out how to light up or use the stars. Then, at the age of fourteen, one more star appeared. He seemed to understand that the number of stars was somehow related to his age. The total matched the combined number of years he'd lived in his previous and current lives.

The plan he'd made had already been shaken by his grandmother's death and the appearance of his ability.

He had become even more uncertain. He'd already been lonely in this world, and now he had no one left to hold him back.

Besides, the original story of DanMachi moved very quickly. He needed to join a Familia as soon as possible and secure time to grow.

Liber fell silent for a long while before revising his plan. He was an orphan in this world now, so he decided to risk everything and burn his bridges. He gathered up a few of his grandmother's belongings, sold off some of their possessions, and converted everything into travel money.

Then, at the age of fourteen, he set out for Orario.

After a month and a half on the road, he finally reached Orario, the city of dungeons.

As he recalled everything, his heart filled with emotion.

At last, Liber sat up and took the beautifully decorated, jewel-encrusted grimoire from his waist pouch.

"I've kept this in my hands for years, but I never dared to open it. I was afraid opening it would use it up. At last, I can use it today," he murmured.

"What could be inside?" he wondered.

Liber undid the clasps securing the grimoire and opened the book, which had no title. He studied it carefully. The next moment, the book completely captivated his mind.

"Haha! Self-analysis: the super-magic lecture that can even teach an idiot!"

Strange words echoed in Liber's ears.

"Full-throttle charge! Not a moment of grief for my own disappearance—welcome to the idiot's learning classroom!"

The familiar words and familiar feeling made Liber realize completely: this was the Grimoire of Enlightenment.

"Magic can generally be divided into two types: innate and acquired.

"Innate magic needs no explanation. It refers to magic related to the nature of an object or the foundation of a race.

"Since ancient times, magical races have been able to learn magic at an early age by combining their innate talents with training and rituals. Although their magic tends to have fixed attributes, it usually produces powerful, large-scale effects."

"Acquired magic is a possibility that sprouts through the medium of the Falna. It is also self-actualization. It follows no rules, but branches into infinite possibilities. It is heavily influenced by [Experience]."

As he kept reading and listening to the voice in his ears, Liber felt his mind grow more and more active.

"Magic is interest. This factor is especially important for acquired magic. What do you take an interest in? What do you identify with? What do you feel—hatred, admiration, sorrow, longing? The trigger lies within you. Under the Falna, your heart is laid bare."

The words and the voice from the book intertwined in his mind. The text gradually drifted out of the pages and surrounded him, pulling him into a world of words.

An image slowly appeared before him. The words wove themselves into strokes, and the features gradually took shape. It was a human face.

The familiar face was drawn and outlined in all-black strokes, a picture made of words.

"Ask, and you shall be questioned. Ask, and you shall be answered. If you desire, then look closely. An ugly mirror that allows no falsehood is ready and waiting."

No, that's me. He looked at the three-dimensional face made of words.

It was another true self, one he didn't know.

"What is magic to you?"

Hearing the other self's question, Liber answered naturally.

"It's something wondrous, something I can't encounter in everyday life."

Liber thought of the time he'd reached out as a child to touch a bubble shining with all seven colors.

"What is magic to you?"

"It's space—a mysterious, ever-changing space that can be altered at will."

Liber thought of Master Ancient One's Mirror Dimension in the Marvel movies. He had watched the screen in wonder and curiosity.

"What form should magic take for you?"

"It should be simple, casual, and unconstrained. It should always surround me, ready to be used according to my wishes."

Liber thought of Gilgamesh in the Type-Moon world, casually using his vast treasury whenever he pleased. He envied how convenient that power was.

"What do you wish for in magic?"

"I want magic that can grow without limit."

Whenever magic came to mind, he thought of the Explosion spell from KonoSuba, a spell used throughout the story that never faded from the spotlight.

Naturally, he wanted a simple, powerful spell like that.

"That's all? How lazy and greedy."

"Sorry. I'm just that greedy."

"But that's who I am."

The other self inside the book smiled.