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Chapter 3 – Grimoire
A large book suddenly appeared in front of Allen, surprising him.
“F-fugyaaa!!!”
“Allen!?”
(Dang, I shouted by accident. J-just calm down. List the prime numbers.)
Since he was only one year old, he had no control over his emotions. Even though he was trying as hard as he could to control himself, he started crying at the top of his lungs.
Allen lived in a one-story house. Out front was the dirt-floor entryway, and behind that was a living room with a sunken hearth, where the family ate their meals together. There were two rooms on either side of the hearth, and Allen always slept in one of them, the nursery.
Theresia heard Allen’s cry, and rushed over.
(Oh no, she’s going to see the book.)
“Allen? Is everything alright?”
As soon as Allen thought it, the big book disappeared.
“Eah, ah.”
(Ugh, I can’t even babble properly. Well, I guess my mouth is still too underdeveloped for me to speak clearly.)
Allen smiled at Theresia, trying to say that nothing was wrong. Theresia patted him on the shoulders with a face that said “don’t surprise me like that”, and returned to the main room.
(Did she just miss it? No, I was definitely too late. Maybe other people can’t see the book?)
The book was definitely floating in Theresia’s line of sight, but she didn’t look towards it or anything. It seemed like maybe she couldn’t see it.
Thinking that there wouldn’t be a problem, Allen took the book back out again by willing it.
Bing.
(It’s a normal book. It looked like it had some sort of silver or white pattern on it, but it’s just a thick black book. I’m a summoner, so I can summon a book?)
Looking closely at the book, he could see that it was a thick, hardcover book. All black. It looked like one of those big dictionaries you’d find at the library. It was a plain book, with nothing on the spine or the cover.
(Hmmmm, rotate.)
When Allen willed it, the book rotated. In the same manner, he pulled it close, and touched it. It felt like a normal book.
(It’s as if there is an actual book floating around. Let’s try opening it.)
He tried to open it to the first page. It was floating in the air so he had to think it open.
(Oh! This is totally a status page!)
He was happier than ever. The first page of the book showed Allen’s status.
【 NAM 】 Allen
【 AGE 】 1
【 CLS 】 Summoner
【 LVL 】 1
【 H P 】 4 (40)
【 M P 】 2 (20)
【 ATK 】 1 (10)
【 DEF 】 1 (10)
【 AGL 】 2 (25)
【 INT 】 3 (30)
【 LCK 】 2 (25)
【 SKL 】 Summon <1>, Create <1>, Delete
【 EXP 】 0 / 1,000
(Hohoho, where do I start?)
Allen’s motto was “He who masters the status, masters the game.”
The trick was to find the optimal strategy by examining the stats.
(The parentheses next to HP and the brackets next to SKL are different. So they mean different things? Oh? There’s also something on the next page.)
・Skill LVL
【SUMMN】 1
【CREAT】 1
・Skill EXP
【CREAT】 0 / 1,000
・Obtainable Summons
【 BUG 】 H
【BEAST】 H
・HOLDER
【 BUG 】 H 0 cards
【BEAST】 H 0 cards
He checked the second page. Apparently, it showed the details of his summoner skills.
He compared the two pages.
(Since the skill level on page 2 is the same as the number in the brackets on page 1, those probably represent the skill level. The 4 next to HP is 1/10 of what’s in the parentheses. Maybe it represents a decrease in status due to age?)
Allen calculated that the stats for HP, MP, etc. were roughly 10% of the value in the parentheses. Naturally, there’d be a stat difference between adults and babies. He guessed that the numbers represented how his stats were lowered because of his age.
(Anything more than this would just be conjecture.)
He focused on what he could deduce, rather than making random guesses.
He looked at the second page.
(Summon and Create are different. Create has skill EXP, but Summon doesn’t. Is it at 0 because I’ve never used the skill? There’s a denominator. So if I earn 1,000 skill EXP, will it level up?)
He didn’t know how to get more experience points because it wasn’t explained anywhere.
However, for an experienced gamer, it’s common sense that skill EXP goes up as you used the skill.
(So it looks like I can summon bugs and beasts. What does the H mean?)
Rather than continuing to analyze his stats, where he couldn’t figure anything else out, he started to analyze the summoner skills themselves.
(In isekais, adventurers have ranks, like an S-rank adventurer. So does that mean… S A B C D E F G H… H is the ninth rank? No way. It goes that low? At least start me at E rank. I’ve never even heard of an H-rank monster.)
Back in the real world, Allen was primarily a gamer.
However, to recover from the fatigue of gaming and during commutes, he would read isekai light novels. So, he was pretty knowledgeable about isekai topics.
(That’s all I can really figure out for now. I’ll know once I summon it.)
Before attempting a summoning, he checked the other pages of the book, looking for any other information besides his status.
(There aren’t many pages, even though it’s so thick.)
The white pages were few in number and thick and floppy.
The next page was blank with a tall, rectangular indentation.
(Hm? Am I supposed to put something in here? There’s a total of 10 indentations, huh?)
It was just a rectangular indent without any information. He guessed that something like a card would fit in the indent. There were 4 indents per page, and 3 pages of indents.
(Is that it? Hm? The last page is glowing.)
He noticed a single, faintly glowing page, which he flipped to.
(Is this a letter? Or an announcement?)
Dear Mr. Allen,
Thank you for your continued support.
We hope you are enjoying your time in this world.
We sincerely apologize for the delay in sending the 【Grimoire】.
We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.
The class that you selected had not yet been tested, so the administrative procedures had not yet been completed.
All of our staff members worked diligently to complete it as quickly as possible.
Please note that we will not accept any questions about this book or class cancellations.
Sincerely,
Elmere
God of the Other World
When he read the letter, he learned why the book took so long to appear.
(Ah. Well, I’m the one who chose this class despite the warning that it wasn’t tested. And if it took a whole year to set up, then I’m sure it’ll be solid.)
Allen received the message from the God of the Other World with an unexpectedly positive attitude. He was reaffirmed in his belief that this world was a different world.
When he reached the end of the message, the words disappeared and the page was left blank.
(I guess that’s it. If there’s nothing else, I think I’ll try summoning something.)
Thus, Allen prepared to attempt his first summoning.
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Thanks for reading! 🙂
JATranslations 
I’ve never heard of H rank monsters, but I’ve definitely heard of “H” monsters!
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