1 Chapter 01 - Stealing the Firebolt Grimoire.
[Chapter Size: 2400 Words.]
Third Person POV.
Somewhere in Orario
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Third Person POV -
"A book about magic?!" asked a young man no older than 15, with surprise and excitement in his voice.
"Yes, a customer left it here, so you can take it to learn a bit about the magic you've been wanting! You've always complained about not being able to increase that stat, so maybe this will help. Just return it after you've read it, Bell-kun," said the beautiful gray-haired waitress, Syr Flova, as she handed a peculiar book to the young adventurer with white hair.
"Really?! Thank you so much, Miss Syr!" said the excited young man. Looking at the book in his hands, he seemed radiant with the anticipation of learning more about magic, as he currently had no spells and couldn't increase that stat in his Falna, which remained at zero.
"Maybe this will really help me!" he thought to himself as he studied the book's cover in front of him for several seconds.
Bell bid farewell to the waitress and began running back to the old abandoned church where he and his goddess lived alone. Meanwhile, a young woman in front of the famous bar "Hostess of Fertility" watched the adventurer running through the streets of Orario and getting further away. Her eyes sparkled with an amethyst hue, revealing a mischievous look. However, her expression quickly changed when an authoritative voice reprimanded her.
"SYR! Get back inside and start working! Customers are starting to arrive, and we're about to open!" The voice echoed from inside the pub, causing the young woman to lose her composure and rush back inside.
Meanwhile, Bell continued running, lost in happy thoughts as he entered the Orario slums and approached the abandoned church. However, his distracted mind caused him to collide with someone else without noticing. Being an adventurer, Bell had a sturdier body than the other party, who seemed to be an ordinary person. This made the ordinary person fall to the ground like a marionette.
"SORRY! NO!... I MEAN... I'M SORRY FOR THAT!" Bell quickly exclaimed when he realized he had unintentionally knocked someone down and rushed to help.
"Are you okay..." replied the other person cautiously, revealing a tone of pain.
"Are you really okay?" Bell asked with concern, extending a hand to assist the man who had fallen.
Bell helped him to his feet, but he was still concerned for the ordinary person. He had come to Orario with the goal of becoming a hero and clearly didn't want to harm ordinary people.
Bell noticed that the man, seemingly in his twenties like most of the waitresses he knew, got up with his help and tried to brush some of the dirt off his clothes. He turned his face to Bell and gave a shy smile. Bell noticed that the man was poorly dressed and had an unpleasant odor, but he didn't mind these details, as he was more concerned about the idea of having hurt someone.
"It was nothing, but I have to admit, you're quite strong, kid. Are you an adventurer by any chance?" He asked without anger in his voice. Bell was relieved by the other person's reaction and responded enthusiastically.
"Yes, I'm a level 1 adventurer, but I'll soon reach new heights! Still, I'm sorry about that!" Bell bowed as a sign of apology to the ordinary man.
"It's alright, young adventurer. I can continue on my way. Thanks for the help either way, young adventurer," said the man, thanking Bell, and began walking in the opposite direction.
"Goodbye, take care!"
Seeing that the man was fine as he continued down the slum streets, Bell bid farewell and continued running toward the abandoned church.
Upon entering the church, he announced his presence as enthusiastically as possible.
"Goddess Hestia! Goddess Hestia!" He called for his goddess multiple times with excitement.
"Hmm? What's up, Bell-kun? Did something happen for you to be so happy?" Hestia appeared in the hallway, narrowing her eyes at Bell, who was extremely excited as he called for her.
"And what if Bell has done something with that Aiz Wallenstein... what?" She thought, annoyed. Hestia didn't want Bell getting close to the Loki Familia adventurer since he had acquired that strange ability. Bell was developing because of her, but he wasn't aware of it, as he kept that hidden from his goddess.
"Goddess Hestia, I managed to borrow a book to learn about magic!" He said excitedly.
"A book? Let me see it, where is it?" She asked, curious about the book Bell had obtained.
"Here!" He said, raising his hands in front of his goddess. However, at that moment, Bell realized he had nothing in his hands.
"EHH?" Bell exclaimed in confusion, seeing only empty air where the book should have been.
"EHHHHHH!?" He shouted even louder and more startled, realizing he had lost the borrowed book.
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A Certain Goddess's POV
Atop the Babel Tower.
"WHAT HAPPENED?!" came an angry voice. A voice that usually sounded sensual, but had completely lost its composure at that moment.
"I stopped watching for just a few minutes, there's no way something like this could happen on the way back from the Hostess of Fertility!" roared the goddess's voice, trying to understand what had happened for Bell to lose the book she had indirectly given to the adventurer.
"Goddess Freya? Did something happen? May I inquire about the reason for your anger?" said a muscular man who entered the room as soon as he heard his goddess roar in anger.
Rarely did something like this happen since he had been taken in by his goddess and joined her familia a few decades ago. Usually, his goddess had control over all situations, and seeing her in that state enraged him as well. He would do anything to punish anyone who upset her to that extent.
"Something isn't right here... I don't need your help yet, Ottar, but be prepared for when I call for you," Freya warned with a bit more calmness in her voice, although her anger was still apparent.
"As you wish, Goddess Freya," he said, leaving the room.
Freya continued to observe the adventurer's despair as he continued searching for the lost book in his arms. He was the same boy who had caught her attention a week ago, and she wished to see his development, as his soul was pure and potentially unique in all her long existence in the mortal world. However, the grimoire she had planned to give him to learn some spells disappeared somehow while he was on his way back home, and she had no clue how that happened. She had always been in control of everything, and this event annoyed her more than any other in recent years.
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A Certain Grimoire Thief's POV
Elsewhere, a
few kilometers from the same abandoned church, in an alley in the middle of the Orario slums.
A young man with short blond hair, appearing to be around 21 years old, with a star on his forehead, was leaning against a wall, out of sight of others. He was seated while reading a strange book.
This young man was the same one who had collided with Bell some time ago. He had pretended to fall on purpose so that Bell wouldn't notice when he stealthily took the book from the adventurer. It wasn't something he liked to do, but it was necessary. Just over a week ago, memories of another world had flooded his mind, and he had been living miserably as a result of some events triggered by those memories. When those memories surfaced, a system with a challenging mission had appeared, making his life even more difficult.
"I thought my arrival in this world would be peaceful... But that damn God must have done this on purpose. I remember my past life at 21, the age at which I died on Earth. And now, this damn mission makes me live a miserable life..." He was frustrated, thinking about the events of the past few weeks.
He had no more money or a place to sleep. Unfortunately, he looked like a complete beggar as he slept on the streets of Orario. His clothes weren't torn, but they were dirty.
While reading the book, the grimoire suddenly glowed, and all its content disappeared, leaving only blank pages.
"It's like in the anime! Finally!" he exclaimed happily, with a cheerful laugh.
"A week! A week living like a beggar in this place, doing whatever I could to get money and food, and I finally managed to get the book as planned!" He was frustrated as he looked at the screen that appeared in his mind.
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[Infinite Mana System]
[Status: Locked, Reason: Complete the Initial Mission]
[Initial Mission: Learn a Spell without Interacting with Any Gods!]
[Reward: System Unlock]
[Punishment: If you speak to any god during this time, the system will be permanently locked.]
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My name is Lucius Drakenar, and in a way, I've been trapped in this world with my memories for a week, thanks to the reincarnation cycle. When I died in my former life, in a place called Earth, I was transported to a cosmic plane and encountered a higher being known as the Creator. This being chose me to reincarnate into a world of its choosing, which, to my surprise, seemed to function like an entertainment story.
After discovering the world to which I would be sent, I was entitled to make a single wish. Without wasting time, I chose to have infinite energy to use spells and a system to acquire new spells. After all, in a magical world with these conditions, I could easily become the best, right?
However, the higher being hesitated to grant my wish, claiming it was two wishes. After about five minutes of negotiation, I finally persuaded it.
When I woke up in this world with my memories, I realized I was in the body of a man of the same age and with the same name as I had in my past life.
With my memories, I was furious about the situation I found myself in. In this world, or at least the me without memories, was part of a God's family in the city. The family was of medium size, with a Level 4 Captain, while the family's average was Level 2. However, this world's Lucius hadn't evolved much since he entered the family, even after two years. His stats remained at Level 1.
This made him despised by everyone in the family, considered the weakest and most useless of all. He even had a relationship with a half-elf from the same family, a Level 2 adventurer, which ended before he was expelled. It didn't take long for his own God to decide to get rid of him because he no longer saw hope in Lucius and believed he was a waste of resources. Moreover, he became the subject of jokes among the other Gods.
Lucius spent a year brooding over this, not understanding why his talent was so bad and why his stats remained so low. He worked harder than anyone else in the family, risking his life and spending entire nights on the lower dungeon floors trying to increase his strength, but everything seemed in vain.
It was painful to be despised by everyone and hear the cruel words they said about him. However, losing the Falna was even worse, as it was rare in the city. Moreover, for an adventurer, it was a career death sentence.
It wasn't just a matter of family dissolution; he had been expelled. No God would trust an adventurer expelled from his old family. No divine being would accept him. On the day of his expulsion, he was depressed and ready to leave the city. However, his memories of life on Earth finally merged with the memories of Lucius born in Danmachi.
With these two combined, he discovered that Lucius Drakenar from Earth and Lucius Drakenar from Danmachi were the same person, except for the difference in appearance. At that moment, he was identical to Julius Novachrono, the Magic Emperor of Black Clover, but with the same personality he had in his previous life.
However, he also found out that, due to his wish for infinite energy, the system had blocked his growth potential until he reached the age at which he died on Earth. When he realized this, his previous life awakened and his memories merged, something that happened a week ago.
When the memories merged, he became even more frustrated with his situation. Without a Falna, he couldn't grow, and he realized that having infinite magic energy meant nothing without the ability to use it. Even if he could learn spells on his own, he was human and lacked the magical talent of the elves. It would take years for him to develop his abilities.
However, an initial mission appeared, giving him a chance to change his situation.
He was excited, but when he saw that the initial mission challenged him to learn a spell without interacting with any of the city's Gods, he was a bit frustrated. This would greatly limit his options in Orario, where Gods were abundant. Speaking to any adventurer could attract his God's attention, and he needed a grimoire, something well beyond his means.
He spent the entire week without money, avoiding banks and rich people who could lead to Gods, and doing what he could to eat and avoid encounters with Gods.
It was then that he planned to steal the grimoire that would give Bell the Firebolt spell. He discovered Bell's timeline and realized that taking Bell's grimoire would be his best chance to learn a spell and complete the mission
.
Even without knowing what the future held and without a place to call home, as his family lived in an empire across the sea, he did what he could to survive alone and complete the mission.
"But I finally did it! It was risky for Freya to see me take the grimoire, but in the end, it worked out. I promise I'll reward Bell one day! I swear!" Lucius said happily.
As he celebrated, remembering the difficult times he had endured, hungry and sleeping in the slum alleys, a message appeared before him.
[Learn a Spell without Interacting with a God Mission, Completed!]
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