Chapter 3: Grimoire

Allen was astonished to see the large book just appear right in front of his eyes. 

“Fu-fuugyaaa!!!”

“Allen?!”

(Oh shoot, I reflexively started crying. C-calm down, me. Count numbers.)

Being only 1 year old, he couldn’t control his emotions properly and ended up crying out loud due to the book appearing suddenly. He desperately tried restraining himself. 

Allen lived in a one-storied building. There was earth flooring at the center and beyond it was a living room with a sunken fireplace where the 3 had their meals. The fireplace was in between two rooms, Allen always slept in one of them. 

In other words, a child’s room. Hearing Allen’s loud crying voice, Theresa came rushing over. 

(No good, she will end up seeing this book. D-disappear.)

“Allen? You OK?”

Just as Allen wished it, the large book disappeared from sight. 

“Ai, ai.”

(Haa, it’s troublesome talking in this form. Well, it’s only because the mouth hasn’t developed properly yet.)

Allen smiled at Theresa, expressing that there was no problem. Theresa looked relieved and her expression looked like “Don’t scare me like that, alright?” before she went back to the center. 

(She didn’t find out, right? I am pretty sure I was out, timing wise. Can it be that other people can’t see this?)

The book should have been visible both timing wise and vision wise but it seemed like she saw nothing out of ordinary. As if she didn’t notice. 

Thinking that it wouldn’t be a problem, Allen tried bringing out the book again with his thought. 

-Ting- 

(It came out rather easily. It seemed there’s greyish pattern on this thick jet black book. Was I able to summon it ‘cause I am a summoner?)

He surveyed the book in detail. It was quite the thick book, with a jet black hard cover. Like the thick dictionaries you can find in national libraries. It was a plain book, with nothing printed on the binding nor the front of the book. 

(Hmm, hmm, turn)

As Allen made commands with his thoughts, the book started revolving. He tried touching it by bringing it closer and it felt like a normal book as well. 

(It feels like an actual book is floating here… I guess I will try opening it)

He opened up page number 1. As it was floating in the air, he had to think of it like before. 

(Ohh! Isn’t this the status?!!)

A great joy like never before filled him up from within. Allen’s status was printed on the first page. 

«Name» Allen

«Age» 1

«Occupation» Summoner

«Level» 1

«Strength» 4 (40)

«Magical power» 2 (20)

«Offense» 1 (10)

«Stamina» 1 (10)

«Agility» 2 (25)

«Knowledge» 3 (30)

«Luck» 2 (25)

«Skill» Summon <1>, Create <1>, Delete

«EXP» 0/1000

(Hoho? How should I take this?)

Allen’s favorite motto was “The one who controls the status, controls the game”. 

The essential part is how one is going to find the clue to conquer the game from the status. 

(The brackets beside strength and skill are different, huh? I assume these mean different things and so the brackets are different as well? Oh? There’s something on the second page as well.)

«Summon» 1

«Create» 1

«Create» 0/1000

«Insect» H

«Beast» H

«Insect» H 0

«Beast» H 0

He looked over the contents of the second page. It seemed to be the details about the summon skills. 

He compared the first and the second page. 

(The skill level on the 2nd page is the same as the number inside the brackets on the 1st page so this number inside the bracket most probably indicates the skill level… then the strength 4 is about 1/10th of the number inside the bracket so does the signify the status decrease in relation with my age?)

According to Allen’s guess, the status like magical power and strength more or less have 1/10th of the number inside the bracket. It is only obvious for there to be a status difference between an adult and a baby. He assumes that this is indicating the status subtraction in relation with the age. 

(Anything more than this would go beyond the extent of conjecture.)

Instead of coming up with an analysis where he can’t determine the answer, he would rather start thinking from the things he does understand. 

He glanced over to the 2nd page. 

(Summon and create are different. There’s a skill EXP for create but not for summon. Is it 0 ‘cause I haven’t used the skill once yet? Judging from the fact that there’s a denominator, I am guessing the skill would level up if I gain 1000 EXP.)

He couldn’t be sure as the condition to increase skill EXP was not listed there. 

However, for a gamer who has played through countless games, it was only general knowledge to him that the skill EXP would increase upon usage. 

(From the looks of it, I can summon insects and beasts? What’s the H for?)

Instead of looking at the status he didn’t understand, he shifted his glance to the skill status on the 2nd page to proceed with his analysis. 

(‘Isekais’ have ranks for adventurers most of the time, like S rank adventurer. If I go with that, then… S A B C D E F G H… is it the 9th in rank then? Nah, there’s no way it would start from such a low rank, it should at least be an E. I have never even seen an H rank monster.)

Allen was a gamer in the real world. 

However, to recover from the fatigue of playing games, it was normal for him to read isekai light novels on his commute to work. He had considerably high isekai knowledge. 

(I guess this is about as much I understand now. I’ll think about it more once I summon something.)

Before trying to summon anything, he tried looking over the other pages. He looked to see if there were any other info. 

(There’s not many pages. Even though the book is so thick…)

The page count wasn’t high.

There was a cavity on the next blank page. A long vertical quadrilateral cavity. 

(Mm? Does something go in here? There’s about 10 of these quadrilaterals, eh? I see.)

There were no explanations to it, just quadrilaterals. He assumed something like a card could be put inside. There were about 4 of these on the first page which crossed over to the 3rd page. 

(Is this all? Mm? The page at the end is glowing..)

He noticed that a single page was faintly glowing. He tried opening it. 

(T-this… is this a letter or a notice?)

«Dear Allen-sama

I am much indebted to you. 

Are you enjoying this isekai?

I am extremely sorry that the delivery of your Grimoire was late. 

Please accept my humble apology. 

As you had selected an occupation we did not finish testing, the administration procedures were incomplete. 

The entire staff created this in haste to present to you. 

Furthermore, we are not taking any questions regarding this book or any cancellations of your occupation. We hope you understand.

From the Isekai God, Herme.»

As he read the content of the letter, it revealed the details about why the delivery of this book was delayed. 

(I see. Well, it was me who ignored the notice about the testing period and chose this occupation after all. Besides, if they worked a whole year to set-up this occupation, I can expect it to be something robust.)

Allen had received the letter from the isekai God surprisingly positively. And so his belief of this being a completely different world had been reaffirmed. 

Once he had read to the end, the letters started disappearing, making the page blank. 

(I guess that’s it. If I didn’t miss anything else, I would like to try this summon thing now.)

Allen tried his first summoning. 

Definitely did not expect that letter.