The Grimoire Tower stood at the edge of Hage Village, standing tall, above the rolling green hills that surrounded it. Its weathered stone walls looked ancient, and were etched with faint traces of runes and moss creeping along the cracks. The tower itself was tall and narrow, spiraling upward for an considerable distance.
Inside, the tower was cool and echoing, the scent of old parchment and dust mingling with the sharp tingle of mana. Along the circular chamber, shelves lined the walls from floor to ceiling, filled with grimoires — each unique, each pulsing faintly with its owner's destined magic.
As of now, this tower was filled to brim with 15 year old youths, many filled with excitement and anticipation of the moment they were waiting for their entire lives.
*CHATTER! CHATTER!*
Suddenly through the chatter and small talk of the youths, burst an old, almost ancient voice.
"Welcome, young men and women. You each will begin walking down new path starting today. I wish you faith, hope and love. I am the master of this grimoire tower. We haven't had a wizard king from this area, nor have we had one achieve greatness by joining the magic knights. I sincerely wish that someone among you will become the wizard king! Now, it is time for the awarding of grimoires." With that the grimoire master ended his speech and hundreds of grimoires came to life, circling their owners.
The grimoires were of all types, big, small, thick, thin, long, short, etc.
*WHOOSH!*
Suddenly, the entire tower fell into a hush as a golden light erupted from one of the shelfs. A long forgotten 4 leafed grimoire descended from the shelf, heading straight for Yuno. Ray smirked internally at the nostalgic scene from the manga.
After some time almost everyone had their grimoires, except for two.
"Uhh... my grimoire's not coming." said asta, while Ray just looked dumb founded.
'WTH. OI YOU DAMN CELESTIAL, YOU DAMN SYSTEM! WHERE THE FUCK IS MY GRIMOIRE!'
"uh... try again next year." The grimoire tower master said, to the two, with pity clear in his eyes.
"whaaaa...." While asta was crashing out, Ray changed his focus from his not-yet-arrived grimoire to the quincy cross in his left hand.
"Could it be...?" He muttered to himself as he raised his hand, bringing the cross to eye level.
'It's no coincidence that the system gave me the quincy cross the moment i became 15 years old. after all, all people of this world get their grimoirs at the age of 15. so it MUST have some connection...' Ray thought to himself as he tried to put mana into the cross, however nothing happened. His brain entered overdrive again, and utilized his high IQ to make sense of things. He unconsciously began to absorb mana from the surroundings at an extremely high pace, and transferred it to the cross. It began glowing.
*GLINT! GLINT!*
*WHOOSH!*
"Wait a sec!" Ray widened his eyes, as a extremely bright light burst forth from the quincy cross engulfing the room. Everyone instinctively closed their eyes. Unseen by anyone, the quincy cross detached from his wrist and transformed into a grimoire, with a 4 leaf clover on it, while simultaneously, the light started to die down.
Ray shook his head, trying to reorient himself, and spotted the grimoire.
Similarly, the entire tower was dumb-founded. the grimoire was not your conventional one. It was metallic in color, {A/N: kind of like how metal looks.} with what looked suspiciously like Blut vene running through the entire thing.
Ray began trying to make sense of why the quincy cross had worked here and not back at hage village. However, he could only think of one thing.
'natural mana density...' Ray thought, 'the orphanage was at the outskirts of the forsaken realm meaning it had less mana density than normal. this is probably why the quincy cross wasnt able to form my grimoire there. This is also the reason why many people of the village have low magic power... However, this grimoire tower is an ancient structure, and closer to the capital. Hence, the mana density here is higher! No wonder it worked here!' Ray smiled as things started to click together.
While Ray was lost in his own world, asta was being mocked by the entire assembly of youths, as they exited one-by-one. And he fell deeper into distress when Yuno kept acting cold, which lead to asta misunderstanding his intent. {A/N: Damn Tsundere...}
However, at the very edge of the crowd a slender man with wavy black hair and a nasty burn on his left side of the face, gazed at Yuno's grimoire with unrestrained malice.
Ray exited the tower with the crowd and waited at the edge of the gates for asta and yuno, while still toying with his grimoire.
"Man i've got to say. This looks sick!" Ray exclaimed as he turned the grimoire over and over again.
*CLANG!*
*CLANG!*
Just then, from the forest behind him, the sounds of metal chains cut through the silence around him. Ray turned around in surprise and rushed towards the sound.
'This-' Ray thought to himself 'Revchi attacked Yuno this quick!? It wasn't supposed to be this early, I still had around half a hour, since, in the manga Yuno and Asta loitered around the tower for that long.'
{A/N: Nope. Its not explicitly mentioned in the manga, I just made it up. After all, It IS a fanfic, and not the actual damn novel. Lets just call it changing some facts for plot convenience.}
By the time Ray arrived, Asta had already awakened his grimoire. almost as if receiving an epiphany, Ray blurted out the absolute peak words from the original to himself.
"The three clover leafs' each represent Faith, Hope, and Love..." Ray said as the grimoire slowly opened.
*BOOM!*
"Within the Fourth, dwells good luck..." From the open grimoire an black, and rusty great sword emerged, falling and cracking the area around it.
"In the fifth leaf... resides... the Devil!" Ray exclaimed as asta gripped the sword and swung it at Rivechi, destroying his chains with a swing.
*SLASH!*
Asta let out a hearty roar and screamed "My magic... is never Giving up!" and swung again, this hitting rivechi square in the chest. "Even without magical powers! I'll become the Wizard King!!!"
Ray felt overwhelmed from the scene in front of him as asta stood huffing and puffing over his first victory.
*DING!*
All criteria achieved!
Displaying user's Interface for one last time!
'Huh? System?' Ray thought in confusion. the system was acting up today. it had appeared without him calling it out.
*DING!*
User Data:
Name: Ray
Race: Human (Quincy)
Age: 15 (+18.6)
Magic - 500 (+500 Reishi)
STR - 20 (Affects User's natural Strength)
DEX - 23 (Affects User's Natural Speed)
DEF - 16 (Affects User's Natural Toughness)
INT - 143 IQ (Gifted)
Innate Talents: [Archery (Unsealed)], [Aiming (Unsealed)], [Combat Instinct (Unsealed)], [Hand-To-Hand Combat (Unsealed)]
Grimoire - Received!
Grimoire form - Quincy cross
Spells - [Seele Schneider], [Hirenkyaku]
*DING!*
Displaying to user, the criteria required to unequip system...
1) Reach age 15 [✅]
2) Receive grimoire [✅]
3) Awaken grimoire [✅]
4) Witness the true start of Asta [✅]
*DING!*
All criteria achieved! disbandingsystem!
*DING!*
Secondary criteria achieved!
Sending user to soul palace to receive the message!
Without giving him time to react he felt himself losing consciousness and he blacked out.
__The Soul Palace__
"Welcome back kid." The celestial's voice boomed through the throne room, as Ray slowly regained consciousness.
His eyes widened at the familiar yet distant figure who had given him a headache, while trying to understand more about, for the last 15 years.
"Damn, bitch. What made you call me here again. Wanna die?' Ray cussed at the immortal being.
The celestial froze for a second, then burst out laughing.
"Good one boy! It's been so long since anyone has threatened me. By the way, I dislike being called bitch. I would prefer if you would call me the Soul emperor. Or if that is too formal then Reio is suitable too." The celestial said, with a hint of mischief in his eyes.
Ray's eyes widened at the title.
"Reio? Like the one from bleach?" Ray asked, curiosity peaked.
"Yes and no. the Reio you speak of was a product of my imagination. the entire bleach verse that the author on earth created, became an actual world when i read through it. You can think of it like me creating worlds unconsciously. quite similarly to how you humans breathe and not notice it."
"Whoa. so anyway, we're getting sidetracked. why did you call me here?" Ray asked, before refocusing himself.
"Ah, well the thing is, i have an quest for you my boy. mostly for my own entertainment, but if you do consider it, Ill be happy." The Reio said, with a serious tone.
"The black clover world you are in has been disconnected from the original plot. as of now, all the people you see are all real humans. i know that you have not yet accepted this world as your own. you still see the world through the eyes of a reader. but beware the plot wont unfold as it did in the manga. you've seen a demo already. rivechi attacked yuno half an hour earlier than in the manga. this is because he wanted to finish the fight quickly and come after you. your presence is starting to affect the story line as well. so beware my boy." the reio said solemnly.
Ray nodded in understanding.
"Hence, I ask this of you. please keep the story on rails. dont let it diverge too much. or else, the demons will use this instability to enter the world earlier than planned. i know this is too much to ask of you. but i dont plan on sharing this burden with you, with out giving you some rewards as well." The reio smiled ever so slightly.
"The black clover world has its own version of soul reapers and hollows. if you want your reishi stat that you see in you user interface to increase, interact with those beings more. And also, till you become a magic knight, you will enter an period of static growth for your physical specs. This is the mild penalty i put in for disbanding the system. Because if i let you grow in those 6 months you will become a monster very fast. And c'mon, who doesn't like a weak, struggling, yet ever growing and evolving character in ANY story. Good luck Ray. I hope this shall be our last encounter."
With that extreme monologue over, the Reio raised his hand again and whisked Ray back to the black clover world before Ray could speak.