Raphael was confused.
After spending last night reading a very interesting novel until sunrise, he thought he would have the most comfortable and relaxing dream the next day, making the most of the time off work he got that day.
But instead of the feeling of calm and comfort he usually felt when he woke up, what Raphael felt this time was an intense headache.
This headache was completely messing up what he could remember, with the memories of his life mixing with some memories of a completely different life in a fantasy world.
After what seemed like an eternity, the pain finally began to subside and Raphael managed to open his eyes, only to find himself in a completely strange room!
"Where am I?" Raphael whispered in fright as he looked around.
Unlike the simplicity of his apartment, the room he was now in was adorned with faded tapestries, dark and heavy wooden furniture, and a narrow window that overlooked a landscape he had never seen before... dense trees and a mist that covered what looked like a valley.
The light coming in was dim, and the air smelled musty and dusty, as if the place had been abandoned for a long time.
He tried to stand up, but his legs felt strangely light, and his hands... weren't his hands.
Confused, he looked at this, then at the rest of the body.
This was a younger, slimmer body, with pale skin and long fingers, very different from the calloused hands he had been used to for so many years.
Then a shiver ran down his spine.
'Have I transmigrated? It was the first thing he thought of when he compared his current situation with the novels he had read in the other world.
Memories that had previously been a chaotic blur began to fit together in his mind.
He was Raphael, yes, but not the Raphael who drew manga. He was Raphael von Kaelen, the third son of a minor noble family, known for his lack of aptitude for the sword, for magic, for politics, and for anything a noble should be good at.
He was the "failure" of the family, which led to him being exiled to this small, isolated castle that belonged to his eccentric grandfather... a forgotten place, far from the eyes and shame of the main family.
A wave of bitterness hit him.
In his previous life, he had failed in his dream of being an artist and accepted the humiliation of going back to school at an older age, always being seen as the bad example for the family's children and the neighbors.
Now, he woke up in a fantasy world, a place he had always dreamed of visiting through the novels he read, only to discover that here too he was a failure, an outcast, an exile.
The irony was cruel. He had exchanged one prison of mediocrity for another, even more isolated and hopeless.
"Hello? Anyone there?"
Curious about his surroundings, Raphael tried to call out, but no one answered.
So he got out of bed curiously and began to explore the place.
The castle was small, but it seemed vast and empty.
He wandered through the dusty corridors, past rusty armor and portraits of stern-looking ancestors who seemed to judge him.
Fortunately, his family wasn't so cruel as to send him here alone, so he had a few servants to look after the castle's upkeep and his safety.
As he passed these people, Raphael noticed that they were surprised for a few seconds, only to change their expressions to disappointment shortly afterwards.
Not feeling comfortable trying to talk to these servants, Raphael continued to explore the place.
The castle, although small by the noble standards of this world, was still a gigantic mansion that Raphael from the other world had never visited.
It was then that he entered a small library, or rather, a room full of old books.
Dusty, musty books filled the crooked shelves.
In the center of the room, on a solid wooden table covered in a thick layer of dust, there was a single object that seemed intact, without even a speck of dust above it.
It was a book, but unlike all the others, the cover of this one was dark leather, untitled, and seemed to absorb the dim light in the room.
This strange book intrigued Raphael.
'What a strange book... hasn't anyone seen such a unique book here before?' Raphael asked himself in confusion.
Thinking about the novels he had already read, an idea came to him. 'If I transmigrated, could this book be my possible golden finger? Maybe this could be an ancient grimoire with ancient magic that could make me a powerful Achmage?!'
Excited, Raphael quickly opened the mysterious book but the pages were blank!
Looking more carefully, Raphael realized that the first pages of the book had been torn out...
'No... no... no... it's not possible that my possible golden finger was destroyed before I even arrived?!' He began to despair.
Not knowing what to do, Raphael began to recite words that might have magical powers, such as "AbraKadabra", "SimSalabim", 'System', "Status" and anything else he could think of, hoping that perhaps the blank pages could be filled with ancient magical knowledge.
But unfortunately none of it worked.
Even though he tried everything he could think of, nothing made the book react.
Disappointed, Raphael began to feel sick and by instinct, the first thing he did was look for a pen.
Whenever he got nervous, excited, or any other extreme emotion, the first thing he thought of was drawing something he was looking at, the most calming action he knew how to do in the other world, and here it was no different either.
Finding an old quill next to a pot of ink, Raphael looked at a book on the shelf and began to draw, trying to clear his mind of the bad thoughts and anxiety that coming to an unknown world had left him with.
'Right, I've come to a medieval world with the identity of an exiled young nobleman, that's the basic premise for a protagonist in a novel and so far the only thing I lack is a golden finger... maybe I have a hidden talent that can be put to good use in this world?' He thought as his hands acted almost of their own accord.
With each stroke on the paper, Raphael felt calmer.
Despite being a failed artist, Raphael's talent for drawing was very good.
What stood in the way of his success was more complicated...
During the years he tried to pursue a career, one criticism always appeared in the comments: the protagonists he created all looked the same.
Even in different stories, with different styles, readers pointed out that the heroes had the same features, the same eyes... as if they were always the same character.
At first, Raphael tried to deny it, "It's just a coincidence," he would say, but deep down, he knew why.
He could never imagine a hero who wasn't, in some way, himself.
Whenever he created a new character, his instinct was to start with his own eyes, his own nose... as if, unconsciously, he was trying to redesign himself... only better, stronger, more confident, more... admirable.
In the end, Raphael recreated himself in the stories because he wanted to believe that, in some universe, he could be as good as these protagonists.
The most surprising thing was that apparently, the Raphael of this world also had some talent for art, since the quality of his drawings was better than those he did in the other world, even though he only had to use a quill and ink to draw.
When he finally finished copying the book in front of him, Raphael realized that he was exhausted!
But the strangest thing was that the book in his hand began to glow, as if it were awakening the power he had been searching for.
Ignoring the fatigue in his body, Raphael looked at the book with shining eyes.
"Please release powerful magic!" He clasped his hands together in front of his chest and prayed for something good.
When the light finally dimmed, a new object stood above the book Raphael had drawn... a book with the title [The Three Truths of Laufrey the Merciful].
"How did that book get there?" Raphael asked himself in confusion.
Looking more closely, he realized that the book he was looking at was actually the book he had drawn!
Curious, Raphael opened the book and realized that even the contents of that book were filled with the story and ideals of a woman named Laufrey!
To confirm that the content was the same, he quickly took the original book from the shelf and compared the two books side by side, and the content was exactly the same!
'Even without having read that book I was able to make a copy of the content it had?' Raphael was shocked by this. 'If I go to a magic store and copy the design of a magic book, wouldn't I be able to fill this library of magical knowledge without spending a penny?!'
This idea got Raphael very excited, until he remembered that in this small country town there wasn't even a magic store...
'What if I tried to draw money?! Wouldn't I have infinite money? Raphael thought excitedly, until he remembered that money in this world was magically enchanted to prevent counterfeiting.
In a world where magic existed, the best way to avoid magical counterfeiting was with magic itself, so this idea was out of the question.
Looking at the grimoire with curiosity, Raphael analyzed its pristine white cover and was confused.
'Why would a powerful wizard create such a grimoire? Perhaps for the convenience of no longer having to buy supplies?' He wondered, without understanding the real purpose of this book.
Knock Knock
Suddenly, the sound of someone politely knocking on the door arose.
Startled, Raphael quickly picked up the magic book and placed it on his lap beneath the new copy of the book he had made, trying to feign naturalness.
"Come in." Raphael replied in a calm, confident voice, the best representation he could give of the old Raphael.
Then the door opened, and an elderly man dressed like a butler opened the door.
At first he was curious as he looked around, but he quickly ignored this and focused his gaze on Raphael for a few seconds.
For Raphael, these seconds seemed like an eternity, it was as if this old man was analyzing his every detail and confirming that the boy in front of him was the young master he knew.
Apparently satisfied with what he saw, the old man took a book from under his arm and respectfully held it out to Raphael.
"Glad you're awake, Young Master, I was starting to get worried and even thought about waking you up myself, but don't worry, your insomnia will be over now that I've finally got a copy of the book you asked me for." The old man said as he bowed slightly.
Curious, Raphael reached forward and took the book the old man handed him.
This was a simple book, covered in a refined red leather with the title "The Great Argon Warrior III!".
As he read the title, a small memory popped into his mind, reminding him that the Raphael of this world was obsessed with this story to the point where he couldn't sleep properly before reading the next volume of it.
Opening the book with curiosity, Raphael began to read a little of the story to see what was so special about it, but the more he read, the greater the discontent on his face.
This caused the old butler to become confused.
"Is there something you don't like about this book, Young Master? Is it a forgery?" The man asked worriedly.
Raphael finally remembered that there was someone else there besides him and his face returned to normal. "I'm sorry, William, I don't think this book is a forgery, it's the content that I dislike so much."
This confused the old butler even more. "The contents of the book? What do you mean, Young Master? Everyone was praising this volume in the capital, I had to pay three gold coins to buy this edition for you..."
Hearing the price of this book, Raphael was shocked. "People are paying 3 gold coins to buy this book, William?"
William was a little embarrassed, but answered honestly. "The original price of the book is 2 gold coins, Young Master, the extra coin was spent to order the book from such a long distance."
Raphael stared at the book in his hand again, before flipping through the pages with curiosity once more.
This story was completely unpalatable, especially to him, a reader of webnovels, manga and modern comics, books made for the general public, focused on making the reading experience as simple and comfortable as possible.
Instead of reading a page of pointless, far-fetched descriptions about how poetic the colors of the ornaments in the protagonist's castle were, even a poem that the protagonist "made up on the spot", Raphael preferred the practicality of a simpler, well-told story, with the focus of the text being on what happened and the really interesting things that developed the story.
And even if he disregarded the pointless descriptions, the plot of this book was only on the level of the most complex fairy tales, nothing close to a Lord of the Rings to justify the public becoming so enamored of it.
'What a waste...' Raphael sighed, all the more so for knowing that almost all of his savings had probably been spent on this piece of crap.
As far as he could remember, his father had given him 6 gold coins, enough to support a small nobleman's lifestyle for at least 6 months, or a family of commoners for 6 years, but just on this useless book in front of him, 3 gold coins had been spent...
With his savings depleted, Raphael would have to beg his father for more money, and hope that the man would be benevolent enough to send him enough to support himself for a few more months until he started receiving taxes from this small territory.
The more Raphael thought about it, the more stressed he became.
'Now I understand why the old Raphael's family hated him so much...' Raphael felt his head begin to ache.
Seeing the old butler worried, Raphael felt bad. This man was probably one of the few people who really liked Raphael.
As far as he could remember, one day the old Raphael was wandering around his family's town drunk and came across this old man crying in the street.
Curious, the drunken Raphael approached to understand why the old commoner was crying, something he had never bothered with before, only to discover that the man was desperate because he didn't have the money to pay a healer to save his granddaughter.
As a rare gesture of charity, Raphael gave the man a silver coin, just enough to pay for the healer, and left without worrying about the person.
Surprisingly, a week later the old man appeared again, this time kneeling in front of the von Kaelen family mansion, begging to be able to repay Raphael's kindness.
As the role of Raphael's butler was vacant, since no butler could resist dealing with the troublesome young man, and the investigations into the old man's past were clean, the old man ended up becoming the spoiled young man's personal butler.
"Don't worry, William, it's not your fault." Raphael reassured the man, "I just realized what a foolish thing I'd done by wasting money on something so useless..."
But instead of reassuring the old man, Raphael's last sentence made the man even more shocked, staring at Raphael with even more fervor and astonishment.
Keeping his composure, William bowed as he nodded and left the room, probably to try and reassure himself of this shocking scene, leaving Raphael alone.
'I don't want to have to beg for money from someone who probably hates me...' Raphael thought in frustration.
It was hard enough asking his family for money in the other world, and they loved him very much, imagine doing it in this world for a family that hated him? Impossible.
Then he remembered something magical...
The book he had found!
'With a magic book like that, as long as I have a good idea, it shouldn't be hard to raise money, right?!' Raphael thought curiously. 'With a book that allows me to copy things, I could copy some of the soldiers' swords and sell them around town, a sword of 'noble guard' quality, but sold at a lower price than the nobles ask for... it's a good deal.'
The problem with this idea became apparent when Raphael tried to stand up and felt weakness coursing through his body.
This made him realize that even if he could draw the swords, if drawing a book was already so exhausting for him, drawing a sword would be even worse.
'The weakness I'm feeling is even worse than in the other world...' Raphael thought confusedly.
It took him a while to realize that he wasn't just feeling physical fatigue, but also magical fatigue!
According to Raphael's memories of this world, he remembered the few magic lessons he'd had, before being discarded by the instructor for lack of talent.
But despite having only a few lessons, Raphael had still learned to feel and control his own Mana slightly.
And what he was feeling now was that he was almost at zero Mana.
Realizing that he had probably spent Mana while using the grimoire, Raphael thought worriedly, 'Crap, if my Mana can only make one book and it's already depleted, making anything else more complex or heavy would be impossible...'
The more he understood about this book, the more frustrated he became.
Realizing that he was feeling unwell, Raphael stood up and took a deep breath. "Calm down, Raphael, you don't need to despair, with a grimoire like this, you just need a good idea to deal with this problem."
Looking at the two books in his hand, and thinking how bad such a popular story was, an idea came to his mind.
'Wait... if this book is worth 2 gold coins, couldn't I copy this book and resell the copy?!' Raphael thought in surprise.