Body stats, a cloak, and a scythe

As Hugo muttered the last phrase of the activation ritual in ancient Latin, he trembled slightly as a faint bizarre feeling enshrouded him… But it disappeared in an instant, leaving him with doubt that it was ever there at all.

Hugo withdrew his hand as he felt Infinitus tremble.

He opened one of his eyes to find the huge blood-red Grimoire shrinking at a pace fast enough to be seen by the naked eye. Hugo's eyes widened in shock, once again stumped by the bizarre occurrences in mysticism.

In a little while, the hovering Grimoire was condensed to the size of a small pocket dictionary. It no longer leaked any enigmatic aura and the image of a child seated cross-legged on a nine-petalled flower had disappeared. Only its name and the mystical symbols remained.

Hugo could feel a much deeper bond with the pentagram, hexagram, and infinity symbols on the blood-red cover of the Grimoire.

"The star-geometric figures and the infinity symbol are like control buttons for the Grimoire…" Hugo mused, feeling a mind-boggling connection with the symbols.

"This implies that I won't truly be the master of Infinitus until I connect with all the star-figures that were formerly on its cover," Hugo concluded as he observed the now small-sized Grimoire.

[Well! Screw it! I am sure I will find a way… Where is the fun in learning everything right at the very beginning? I will just treat this as a mathematical puzzle.]

"Indeed. I will just treat all these mystic enigmas as puzzles. I will relish the process of unraveling their secrets… Hihihi…"

"Eehh!"

[Is Bundi rubbing off on me? Why am I imitating her giggling style?]

[Time to check out the mysteries of the Grimoire. Hopefully, I won't be disappointed.] Hugo mused as he rubbed his palms together in anticipation.

He took a deep breath and grasped the small Grimoire in his right hand. After calming his mind, he pried the Grimoire open with his left hand.

"Eehh…!" Hugo was taken aback…

On Infinitus' first page, there weren't any enigmatic notes and spells as he had expected. Only a simple drawing of his face alongside some information appeared.

Hugo took a few seconds to read through the text on the first page…

Hugo (Human Race, 6 years & 8 days)

Mystic Realm ~ NA

** Strength ~ 0.32

** Vitality ~ 0.46

** Agility ~ 0.40

** Intelligence ~ 3.60

** Willpower ~ 3.10

** Charisma ~ 1.20

** Luck ~ 1.10

Spells mastered: Magnifying-sight (Low-level mind's eye).

Other mystic-professions: None.

Mystic Artifacts: Infinitus – The Grimoire of All Beginnings (activated), Orange-level Space – ring (not-activated)

Mystic-star power-rating: ZERO stars

"These appear to be the stats of my body's attributes," Hugo mused as he gazed at the first page that could have been mistaken for a witch doctor's report had he been in a pagan-civilization.

[Though not what I expected, the quantification of my body attributes will allow me to pace myself when treading the path of mysticism.] Hugo had started to come to terms with the new reality.

"Everything in the universe has a use. It only depends on whose hands it's in…" Hugo mumbled as he recalled a very popular poem published by 'The Rotarian' during the last years of his previous life.

[Life handed him a lemon,

As Life sometimes will do.

His friends looked on in pity,

Assuming he was through.

They came upon him later,

Reclining in the shade

In calm contentment, drinking

A glass of lemonade.]

"Hahaha…" Hugo laughed as he felt the slight seed of discontent that was starting to take root in him get washed away.

"There is no useless mystic-artifact, only a useless mystic. This will be my slogan now and in the future: If somebody hands you a lemon, make sweet-bitter lemonade of it." Hugo mumbled as he began to turn to the next page of the Grimoire.

A dark-skeleton in a black-hooded cloak appeared before his sight. Hugo winced despite himself as he took a glimpse at the realistic image of the skeleton that appeared poised to jump out of the page of Infinitus. Only its scythe was absent.

Beneath the hooded skeleton, a single phrase was inscribed in the same dark-ink as the hooded skeleton: 'Cloak of Thanatos (not-activated)'.

Hugo was overflowing with joy. Back on Earth, he had heard a lot of stories about cloaks. Some claimed that there were occultic-cloaks that could make one invisible or strengthen the wearer. Although Hugo had taken these to be legends told to liven the nightlife back on Earth, he now knew better.

Are legends 'really' legends, and myths 'really' myths? This was a question that Hugo couldn't answer at the moment. However, if the myths of Earth bore even a trivial shred of actuality, then this 'Cloak of Thanatos' would be a formidable spell.

"I need to quickly become a mystic." Hugo once again vowed as he suppressed his bubbly-emotions.

Hugo calmed his mind and turned to the next page of the Grimoire.

A dark scythe with a large purple eye embedded in its blade appeared on the page. The eye was as mesmeric as before with a sprinkling of dark ciphers glittering within its iris. The ciphers were scattered haphazardly, leaking a primordial but menacing aura.

Below the image, only a single phrase was inscribed… 'Scythe of Thanatos (not-activated)'.

Hugo was not surprised by the scythe since he had inferred its presence after seeing the cloak inscribed on the second page.

Hugo once again turned the page, but his eyes were met again with the first page showing his body stats.

[Only a page with my body's stats and the other two with two spells… But this means that the pages will increase as I learn more spells. I have to become a mystic soon.] Hugo deliberated as he once again studied his body attributes.

[My strength, agility, and vitality attributes are less than one! As I am still in the body of a child, this may imply that a common adult could have a figure of '1.0' in each of his attributes. But I can't be sure. I need to confirm this through observation.]

[My intelligence, willpower, charisma, and luck attributes are above one. This is likely due to the sole fact that I advanced my soul. In theory, I should have a mind that is three times more efficient than a common man. This is probably the reason for my 'magnifying-eye'.]

"I need to prepare to go to the blacksmith's workshop. I can check out the rest later. Treading the path of mysticism will require patience…" Hugo deliberated as he prepared to take-back Infinitus.

He calmed his mind, steadied his heart, and started visualizing the Grimoire disappearing from his room and materializing back in his spiritual world. In a blink, Infinitus – the Grimoire of all beginnings vanished from the attic and appeared back in his spiritual world.

"Yeh! …" Hugo pumped his fist in celebration but then noticed that an image of a small book had been inscribed on the palm of his right hand. It resembled a small black tattoo imprinted with black ink.

"This is the visual manifestation of mastering the Grimoire…"

"Bam… Bam… Little Hugo are you alright? Is anything the problem? Why are you still locked in your room at this time?" Tracy's high pitched voice interrupted Hugo's musings.

Hugo was dazed.

[I thought it was still morning. Why does Tracy's voice sound concerned?] He contemplated as he hastily stuffed the curving-knife under his mattress before responding.

"Aunt Tracy! I was so excited yesterday… I didn't get any wink of sleep until the wee hours of the morning…" Hugo tried his best to sound dreary from sleep as he unlocked the door for his aunt.

"Are you sure that everything is all right? I have been on your door for more than five minutes… You are only six and shouldn't be doing some weird things in your room! What were you doing?" Words came out of Tracy's mouth at the pace of a machine gun.

"Eehh!"

"Why do you seem surprised? What were you doing? …The Matriarch was even threatening to breakdown your door, or better your window…"

"Nothing… I was just in deep sleep. I couldn't hear anything outside." Hugo replied while trying to suppress his panic.

[Oh! mama mia… If the Matriarch had decided to breakdown the door earlier, I would be done for. I need to be more careful.]

"Stop gawking. Hurry and wash up. It's the first day of your apprenticeship, yet you're already late." Tracy's tone was both authoritative and concerned.

"Okay… Okay… I will dress up right away." Hugo replied.

After shooing away his aunt, Hugo readied himself for the apprenticeship.

Very soon, Hugo was fully dressed in a pair of khaki trousers and a long-sleeved black shirt. This kind of clothing was ubiquitous in Giza town since virtually every young man or boy owned one.

He gave his room one last glance to make sure that everything was in order before leaving. As Hugo entered the dining room, he was dumbfounded by the presence of the same unexpected visitor that had been here just yesterday.

The Blacksmith was seated comfortably, chatting with the Matriarch over breakfast…