“The Host has acquired the spell; ‘Earthern Spike’! The spell will be automatically transferred into the Host’s grimoire once he binds with it.”

“System, how do I summon my grimoire, you never gave me the option to bind it to quick use.”

“This is because the Host has to bind with it personally, once done, the Host is able to summon it on his own. This will be the first binding for you and your grimoire, for every failure, the binding between the Host and the grimoire would have a lower chance of success. The chances of such a low level grimoire failing to bind with its owner is so small that it’s next to nil, rarely any cases have been reported in the entire history of the wizard world. The only thing the host has to do is have a drop of blood be put into the indentation on the spine of the grimoire.”

Kezner gave a nod as the giant grimoire appeared in his hands. So he sat down on the floor and placed it on his lap. In this situation, most people would bite their lip or finger and drop blood that way. However, the first thought this Kezner had was to use his laceration from the mine. You have to keep in mind, it hadn’t been more than half an hour since he was presumed dead in the mines as a lowly slave, so this almost bone deep lash was still somewhat wet. Thankfully, clothing received from the System cleaned themselves.

Wiping the blood onto the indentation in the spine of his grimoire, Kezner stared at it in anticipation. The System chose him, so obviously this book would choose him as well… right?

The grimoire gently trembled as it absorbed his blood until it unbuckled itself and fluttered through its pages as if it was in the middle of a hurricane. A white light slowly gained a tinge of pink as it suddenly closed once more and buckled itself.

“D-did it work?” Kezner muttered to himself as he continued staring.

“Binding with grimoire has failed. Reason: The grimoire felt irritated.”

“W-what?!” Kezner’s voice almost screamed as he made sure his ‘ears’ weren’t playing tricks on him. Breathing and out, he laughed it off, “Heh heh, no sweat, it’ll work this time.”

Taking some more blood from his back, Kezner wiped it on the indentation again, and looked again in anticipation. The book unbuckled itself, the pages fluttered and this time, it was a pink light with a tinge of red until it closed and buckled once more.

“Binding with grimoire has failed. Reason: The grimoire has been angered.”

This time Kezner was enraged, “Angry?! You bastard, I’m angrier! Let’s do this again!”

Once more, Kezner placed blood on the indentation, and saw the pages flutter, this time with a red light, tinged with violet, and once again, Kezner was met with the familiar buckled gray book.

“Binding with grimoire has failed. Reason: The grimoire is furious!”

“What?!” With his face flushed red and hands clenched, Kezner was just as furious as the damn book. At this point, he was trembling in rage, and as he was about to punch the ever living shit out of this book, he calmed down.

“Maybe I’m going about this with the wrong mindset, maybe I just have to be calmer. Yes, if the book wants to be this arrogant, I have to have the same outlook. Arrogance and calmness.” After exhaling a deep breath, Kezner put some blood on the spine of the book and awaited the results.

Again, the grimoire’s pages fluttered in a more aggressive manner than usual, as a violet light came out, tinged with black. This time instead of the usual closing and buckling, the grimoire flew off his lap and had the fluttering pages face him as the light directly shone onto his calm yet indifferent mask of a face.

“Ha ha, I think it’s working. Now, I am your new master, bow down to me if you feel so reverent.” Kezner kept playing this arrogant charade.

As if it heard him, the grimoire’s pages fluttered as if it was in the middle of a tornado. It was like you could feel the pure rage coming off of it as its violet light started to darken, slowly mixing with the tinge of black.

“Detecting hostility from the Host’s grimoire. The chances of this going wrong for the Host were less than .00001%, yet against all odds, the Host’s luck still beat him down. The Wizard System will intervene as this is detrimental to the Host’s prospects if he lacks a grimoire this early on. Be warned, the Wizard System will do no such things in the future, this is only done because it was enforced by the Wizard System.

‘Grimoire Force Binding Protocol’ commencing, please standby.”

Kezner was speechless at what he heard, “Am I really that unlucky?”

Just as the violet light of the grimoire was about to turn completely pitch black, it paused until it aggressively fell down in front of Kezner. Still sitting on the floor, Kezner quickly reached for the grimoire, only to feel that it was slightly tugging itself away.

“Grimoire acquired; Grimoire of Wrath. A new ability and curse has been given.

Former Slave’s Physique: (+20%) to Strength, Vitality, and Endurance for a duration of 10 seconds. Cannot be reused for 1 day.

Jack of All Trades, Master of None (Grimoire): (+5%) to all stats for a duration of 1 minute. Cannot be reused for 20 minutes.

Deadly Sin of Wrath (Grimoire): Once thoroughly provoked and enraged by an external force, Stamina and Endurance are increased by (+50%), while being given the status of ‘Berserk’, for 5 minutes. Can be reused at any time.

Berserk - Blinded by rage, you will no longer be able to separate between friend and foe, only the living and dead. Your consciousness will lose its grip and you will go on a killing spree out of pure instinct. Your attacks will have no strategy, you will simply just by throwing whatever you have. Strength, Agility, and Vitality, increase by (+30%) until the status ends.

Chains of Everlasting Hatred (Grimoire - Curse - Passive): Being despised and unaccepted by your grimoire, yet are forced to cooperate with it, your grimoire will do its best to spite you at any given chance, especially when your life's on the line. Currently this curse is in its weakest state, the chance of the grimoire being able to do anything is currently 0%, however, this chance increases by 10% every time a chain breaks. The stronger the grimoire and its owner, the more likely a chain is to break. There are currently 9 chains, the highest chance of intervention by the grimoire is 90%.”

“System, what the… what happened?!” Kezner yelled out loud as he looked at his new ability and curse.

“The Host has acquired the Grimoire of Wrath, in other words, it is angry that it has binded with the Host and wants to leave immediately. Since it hates the Host, it will do the best it can to screw the Host over in almost any given situation. The Wizard System will not intervene in whatever happens between the Host and his grimoire. There are two ways to resolve this curse, the first is to extinguish the spirit of the grimoire and give it a new one after all of the chains break, this will remove all curses and abilities on the grimoire. The second way is to resolve the hatred between the Host and the grimoire through civil means, however, this would mean that the grimoire would need to advance to the point it is able to condense its spirit completely.”

“I want to extinguish its spirit, how do I do that?” Kezner almost started to plead. Deadly Sin of Wrath and Jack of All Trades, Master of None were cool and all, but the curse outweighed both of them, plus, he would likely get a new ability with a new spirit within his grimoire anyways.

“To extinguish the spirit of a grimoire, you would require either a high level Diviner mage or need to create your own array. The Diviner mage would barely be able to pull this off, but would most likely need to sacrifice their own lifespan in order to break through all nine chains and extinguish the spirit, so the more chains that are broken, the lesser the burden. However, creating your own array wouldn’t have any of these problems, but require extreme amounts of resources and energy.”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“Ugh, so I’m stuck like this?!” Kezner couldn’t help but lay on his back from his criss-crossed position and groan in frustration. Sitting back up, he let out a sigh, “Fine, so be it, we’re here now, we’ll just cross that bridge when we get there.”

Putting the grimoire back on his legs, he searched it once more, only to find a shiny purple crystal on the spine of the grimoire. It was in the indentation where he put his blood, actually, now that he looked at it, the purple crystal resembled the light from the grimoire earlier…

Whatever, that didn’t matter now. Kezner found the grimoire unbuckled, meaning he finally had access to its insides. Opening the cover to the first page, he read the title “Earthern Spike”, with a description underneath it. His gaze gently moved over the words while only understanding a word or two, “Hey uh, System, can you please read this for me?”

It was unknown whether the Wizard System had emotions and whether it would feel amusement or pity, “Target the bare ground or naturally formed wall to shoot out a cone-shaped spike in a single direction. 1 Endurance Required, 1 Affinity Required.”

“I see…” Kezner mumbled as he thought about the different ways he could use this, but a constant problem occurred, this spell could basically only be used in the wilderness, so if he was being robbed, he would be on his own, unless… “Heh, I’ll check later to see if that works.”

“Well, System, what do I do now? I’ve gotten ahold of all of the basic equipment and abilities of being a wizard?” Kezner asked in his mind, he couldn’t wait to start wizarding things up.

“Seeing how early in the day it is, it is recommended that the Host goes to the nearby forest, Mitun’s Forest, and hunt at least one wild beast. Once hunted, submit it to the local Hunter’s Guild to receive compensation from the guild. When you enter the forest, the Wizard System will hand you your first major quest.”

“A-alright, let’s go then.”, Kezner was very apprehensive about going outside in general, though he knew he had to. Being a slave, he had rarely seen anyone else but fellow slaves and those who commanded them, so being in a city with people who weren’t slaves or slave owners, was a new experience that made him tremble in nervousness.

With a thought, he put back his wand and grimoire, and reached for the door in his strange get up. He was still wearing his gray hat, cloak, and boots, which made him look silly and like a freak, but he obviously didn’t know that.

Stepping out of the room, he looked left and right in awe. He had never seen lights attached to walls, other than the mines, this place must be pretty high end. In reality, this tavern was one of the cheapest ones in the city, you could find one on almost any street.

Kezner quickly located the stairway leading to the first floor, which he presumed was the first floor. Though he had never been to a city, or anywhere else but the slave living quarters, the slave living quarters were located on the second floor, so the exit was on the first floor, near the slave cafeteria, so it was natural for Kezner to go downstairs when looking for an exit.

Slowly going down the unfamiliar stairs, Kezner looked past the railing and saw an assortment of rugs, tables, and chairs. There was barely anyone eating or drinking, and those that did seemed old and tired, most likely retired folk that had nothing better to do at this point of their lives but wait around for their burial.

They all gave a quick glance at the fella walking down the stairs and looked away, only to do a double take. What in god’s name was this kid wearing? They were unable to see the upper half of their face, but were able to tell from the frame of the body and scarred hands that this was a young man, probably with a story.

When living in a city, the first thing you learn is keep your head down and ignore whoever you see. There were many eccentrics in this world, some of them had power, some of them had influence, but most had the ability to ruin one’s life if they got in the way. So they only judged the young man in their minds, while looking away, it was none of their business to begin with.

The booming silence was apparent, as Kezner made his way to the obvious exit, it had a doormat and bell chimes, it was different compared to the few other doors. Stepping out, Kezner looked side to side and stopped to ask in his mind, “System, where’s this Mitun’s Forest located?”

“Figure it out yourself.”

“Alright… how do I do that?” Kezner had never had any real social interactions before, he had only ever conversed with other slaves, and even that was limited to small talk.

“Host, just go up to someone and ask them. Most people would know its location and wouldn’t act with hostility.”

And with that, Kezner walked up to a middle-aged man in a nervous manner with his fingers fidgeting, and quickly asked, “E-excuse me sir, do you know how to get to Mitun’s Forest?”

“Eh? I’m guessing you’re on your first mission as a hunter, don’t be nervous, this old man remembers his young days, though I failed the mission, I was accepted to one of the branch guilds…” The man was a chatterbox and just kept rambling on talking about his past.

Kezner was somewhat fascinated, but midway through the story, shook his head as he asked again, “But do you know how to get to it…?”

“Oh sure, you just go down Hazelnut Street until you reach the Hunters Guild, then take a right…” The man, though talked a lot, gave very specific details on the route to go, making it a lot easier to navigate this large city, his pointing also aided his explanation.

And with that, Kezner said goodbye and walked towards where the man told him. The man walked the opposite direction and smiled while he muttered, “What a weird kid.”

---

It took a solid half hour of walking to get to the entrance of Mitun’s Forest, thankfully it wasn’t even noon yet and it was currently the middle of summer, giving Kezner a lot of daylight.

“Major Mission Available: Kill a wild beast and submit it to the Hunter’s Guild for compensation.

Time Limit: None

Basic Reward: Either an advanced version of ‘Earthern Spike’ or a basic spell of another element.

Optional Rewards: Novice Wizard Gloves, Unlock Advanced Stat: Dexterity”

Before the entrance of the forest, it was an empty field of grass, while a little more walking would show the entrance, where it was full of trees with only one pathway to walk. Kezner stood dead center in the entrance as he was a little scared to walk into the forest. The sun was bright while the forest seemed dark and gloomy, with barely any sunlight moving past the canopy. He didn’t have a good feeling about this…

“Bah, whatever, worse comes to worst, I die.” Taking that perspective, he became even more frightened.

Slapping his cheeks, he closed his eyes and rushed into the forest, he didn’t want to waste anymore time and decided to man up. He was now a wizard and it was to prove to himself that he was wizard material, this wouldn’t be the last time he had to dash into danger. However, a few meters in the trail, he had heard rustling from a nearby tree, causing him to dash even faster back towards the entrance.

He was panting for breath as he stared towards where he once was only to see a small squirrel running up to where he once stood and sniff around. With a sigh of relief, Kezner walked towards it with a chuckle. He was foolish to trust his gut and dash away from such a small and harmless creature, “It’s a pretty cute mouse, maybe I should keep it, what could I call it, Mousey? Nah, that’s bland, I named the last three mice the same thing…”

However, he paused once he saw a light brown spider the length of his forearm hop off of a nearby branch and dig its fangs into the pure and innocent squirrel. After it quietly and swiftly consumed the squirrel, its eight eyes gazed towards Kezner. In any other situation, the spider’s eyes would look cute as well, but after seeing what it did to that squirrel, those were the eight eyes of the devil. So with a gulp, he slowly made his way backwards towards the entrance.

Earlier when he was speed walking towards Mitun’s Forest, he overheard multiple different people reassuring themselves that they would be safe because the wild beasts couldn’t leave the forest.

But, just as Kezner moved backwards, the spider hissed as if it commanded that Kezner stayed still to be eaten. With this, Kezner became terrified, but just when he was about to restart his mad dash, he suddenly stopped and summoned his grimoire and wand. Wasn’t he here just for this kind of situation?

His grimoire wasn’t necessarily heavy, just large, so he had to coddle it with one arm around it like it was a baby to hold it still. Looking over “Earthern Spike”’s page, his eyes gazed over the words and focused on the symbol underneath the description.

The symbols for drawn spells were related to the Language of Magic. Different elements and types of magic had their different strokes and patterns, usually corresponding to their “feel”. Earth magic specifically had more rigid and perpendicular lines, however, every spell had a common occurrence, and that was the plus and circle that encompassed the entire drawing (⊕). The plus basically laid out the length of the two axises, while the circle, which had to touch the four points of a cross, finalized the spell. Keep in mind, the perpendicular lines of the plus had to be of equal length.

The size of a spell was important as it determined the amount of mana required, in turn, the amount of strain on a wizard. Creating a large drawing would consume a lot of surrounding mana, putting a large strain on the body, if a wizard overexerted themselves, they could die. However, creating a large drawing would be a lot easier than a smaller one and allows more room for error. A small drawing would have a smaller strain yet require exact precision, or else the spell would fizzle.

Kezner took a deep breath, as he raised his wand and towards the ground, underneath the spider, “It’s showtime…”