Arlo's sudden outburst drew the attention of several passersby, who stopped to stare at him curiously. His abrupt appearance out of thin air had not gone unnoticed, and the onlookers began to murmur amongst themselves, their eyes fixed on the peculiar sight before them.
'T-They're all looking at me...' Arlo thought nervously, his eyes darting left and right. 'I-Is it my clothes?'
It couldn't have been his looks, in terms of appearance Arlo was as average as they came. In height, physique and face.
He was an average all-rounder with curly black hair and orange eyes.
His casual orange tracksuit and white trainers on the other hand, stood out in stark contrast to the medieval attire of the inhabitants. Moreover, the fact that he was sitting on a chair in the middle of the road only added to the spectacle, further piquing the interest of the growing crowd.
While most young men would have been thrilled at the prospect of being transported to another world, Arlo, a shut-in who rarely ventured outside his room unless absolutely necessary, began to panic.
"A-Ahh..." His mouth and body trembled, overwhelmed by the unwanted attention.
Desperate for a way out of the situation, Arlo glanced down at the grimoire in his hands. His eyes quickly scanned the page, seeking a solution to his predicament.
To his relief, he spotted a variation of the same spell further down the page, accompanied by a note indicating that it would transport the caster back to their previous world.
Arlo's frightened eyes lit up with hope. He quickly opened his mouth to recite the chant, but before he could utter a single word, a robotic female voice resonated in his mind.
[You have unlocked Dimensional Magic.]
[Requirement Met.]
[Grimoire's System Synchronising...]
The unexpected interruption caught Arlo off guard, his thoughts momentarily derailed by the strange message. However, before he could fully process its meaning, a large hand fell upon his shoulder, gripping him from behind.
Startled, Arlo turned to face the owner of the hand, only to find himself dwarfed by a towering, muscular bald man clad in leather armor. As their eyes met, Arlo couldn't help but shiver.
"Shirer, whi sur na kun ma?" the man spoke.
Puzzled and drenched in cold sweat, Arlo realized he couldn't understand a single word the man had uttered. For the already anxious Arlo, this was the final straw.
Without hesitation, he looked down at the grimoire and began to chant the spell, his mouth trembling with each word. Despite his fear of slurring the incantation, the words flowed from his lips with surprising clarity.
As Arlo's chanting filled the air, the bald man who had approached him suddenly took a step back, his guard raised in anticipation. However, Arlo paid no heed to the man's reaction, his focus solely on the ancient tome before him.
A golden magic circle materialized beneath Arlo's feet, its intricate patterns pulsing with magical energy.
"H-Heed my call... Divine-Class Dimension Magic: World Transportation," Arlo declared, his voice wavering yet determined.
The moment the final syllable left his lips, a blinding light erupted from the grimoire, engulfing the surroundings in its radiant glow. In an instant, Arlo vanished, his figure disappearing as abruptly as it had appeared.
Confusion rippled through the crowd as the bald man lowered his guard, exchanging perplexed glances with the equally astonished onlookers. Murmurs of speculation and wonder filled the air as they tried to comprehend the extraordinary event they had just witnessed.
Unbeknownst to those on the ground, a single figure hovered several feet above, observing the scene. It was a girl, dressed in a long black robe and a pointed hat, her long silver hair cascading beneath the brim.
Her crimson eyes sparkled with amusement as she stared at the area where Arlo had been seated.
"Hmmm~" she hummed, smiling amusedly as a pair of fangs peeked out from her lips.
-
Arlo collapsed onto the floor of his room, his chest heaving as he gasped for air. His eyes darted left and right, slowly taking in the familiar surroundings before a wave of relief washed over him.
The sight of his cluttered room had never been so comforting.
"I... I'm back..." he whispered, his breathing gradually steadying.
His gaze drifted down to the grimoire still clutched in his hands. There was no denying the truth any longer—the book was real, and its power was undeniable.
"It's a genuine magic book..." Arlo marveled, his voice tinged with awe.
The grimoire had not only transported him to another world but also brought him back safely. As he stared at its cover, Arlo's mind raced with the endless possibilities and the potential value of such an artifact.
Before he realized it, a grin spread across his face, excitement bubbling up within him.
"With this... I might be able to change everything..." he muttered.
Arlo sprang to his feet, his heart pounding with anticipation. He raced out of his room, eager to share his incredible discovery with his mother and sister.
"Sylvia, Serena, you won't believe this!" he called out as he flung open the doors to their rooms.
To his surprise, both rooms were empty, the tidiness a stark contrast to the disarray of his own space.
"Ah, right. I wasn't in the other world for that long... they're still not back." Arlo sighed, a twinge of disappointment in his voice.
As he gazed at the pristine state of their rooms, Arlo felt a pang of self-consciousness, as if their tidiness was a silent jab at his own messiness.
"Come to think of it, I got carried away for a moment, but maybe keeping this a secret is a better idea," he pondered, gently closing the doors and retreating to his room. "If they end up telling the wrong people about something like this, they might try to steal it from me."
Arlo had heard tales of individuals stumbling upon rare items from gates, only to become targets as a result. Although he was uncertain of the grimoire's origins, he couldn't shake the feeling that his situation was similar.
With that realization, he retreated to his room and settled back into his chair, his gaze drifting to the alarm clock on his desk. The glowing digits read 8:02 PM.
"Hmm, I didn't check the time before I went to the other world, so I don't know how long a minute there equates to here," Arlo mused, his brow furrowing. "More importantly, isn't it a bit late? They're not usually out until this hour. Did something happen?"
A flicker of worry crossed his face as he glanced at his phone lying on the desk.
"Well, they didn't text me or anything. Maybe I'm just overthinking it," he sighed, his attention returning to the grimoire. "For now, I should focus on learning more about this book—"
Suddenly, Arlo's thoughts were interrupted by the same robotic voice that had echoed in his mind earlier.
[Grimoire System Synchronisation Complete.]
"What—"
[Arlo Axton.]
[Race: Human.]
[Core Rank: Awakened.]
[Level 1 (0/50)]
[HP: 100/100%]
[Energy: 100/100%]
[MP: 90/100%]
[Strength: 5]
[Agility: 5]
[Stamina: 5]
[Sense: 5]
[Mana: 0]
Arlo's confusion deepened as a glowing, translucent panel materialized before him, displaying a series of text and various tabs with icons at the top.
[Spells] (1)
[Ability] (1)
[Shop]
[Quests] (0)
[Mail] (0)
'Hold on, this is too much to process at once,' Arlo thought, his mind reeling. 'I just teleported to, I was just teleported to another world, and now I suddenly have a system? And It even displays my core rank…'