Fantasy Libary

"Hmm..."

An unintentional whisper in sleep echoed in the quiet room.

Ark felt as if he had returned to the womb, his entire body bathed in warm water, his body and mind relaxed.

Just as Ark was about to sink into this comfort and fall into a deep sleep from which he never wanted to wake, a thought suddenly emerged in his mind.

[The person who meets the selected criteria has been chosen and successfully admitted to the library.]

[You have become the library administrator.]

This was a very pure voice.

Like a voice resonating directly in his mind, this thought appeared suddenly and woke Ark from his unconscious state.

*TIK!*

As Ark stood up unconsciously, the sound of water emerged around him.

Only then did Ark realize that he was actually soaking in water.

Strangely, although drenched, his clothes were not wet at all, and even his hair and body felt fresh and completely dry.

"What's happening?"

Ark looked confused.

*TIK!*

The sound of water continued to echo, clear in his ears, forcing Ark to set aside the confusion and doubts in his heart for the moment and look around.

Looking around, he couldn't help but be captivated by his surroundings.

Then, a vast space appeared before him.

The room was cylindrical in shape, with a diameter of at least several hundred meters and a height not much less, yet it didn't feel empty at all, but rather just right.

This was because the place was filled with countless bookshelves arranged in a specific manner at various locations.

Some bookshelves were placed on the floor, while others were stacked along the cylindrical walls, with books neatly arranged inside, creating a mysterious, serene, and intellectual atmosphere.

Additionally, the floor was covered with a deep red carpet, and there were corridors stretching along the walls and in the air. The ceiling was open, revealing a bright starry sky outside, with stars twinkling and blooming within, looking incredibly beautiful.

Ark was right in the center of this place, in an area surrounded by wooden railings and sunken slightly.

This area seemed designed for recreation. There was not only a large fountain but also pavilions, grassy lawns, and even a flower-made rocking chair. It looked like a paradise from a fairy tale.

Ark was in the fountain, soaking in crystal-clear water. Water continuously splashed from the center of the fountain, hitting his body, yet it didn't wet him at all, as if all of this was just an illusion.

"Where is this place?"

After being mesmerized by the beautiful scenery for a while, Ark finally snapped back to reality and began to ponder this question.

Then—

*BUZZz—!*

The previous thought emerged again.

Ark was immediately enveloped by this thought and unconsciously closed his eyes.

A few minutes later, when he opened his eyes again, there was no more confusion in them, only awareness and relief.

"...... So I've come to such a magical place?"

This is a space independent of the world, formed by the fantasies, curiosity, longing, desires, regrets, and other emotions and spirits about other worlds.

It exists nowhere, yet connects reality and fantasy.

Every book here is a different world imagined by someone.

Every page of these books is a life composed of someone else's fantasy.

collects these lives and fantasies, gathering them here and placing them on bookshelves.

This is the function of —to collect fantasies, turn them into books, make virtual worlds real, and create countless diverse and beautiful universes and dimensions.

However, there is a problem here.

"If you want to make a fantasy world real, you need to experience real life within it."

"The lives imagined by others are ultimately hollow. Without real people experiencing them, fantasies will remain just fantasies and never become reality."

"Therefore, since was formed, it was destined that someone would become its administrator, to live through those imaginary lives and experience those imaginary worlds."

Thus, Ark was the one chosen.

He became the first administrator of .

"...Have I finally found my true calling?"

Before coming here, Ark was a clerk at a bookstore.

His family was not happy. His parents divorced when he was young, and his grandparents raised him with great difficulty. However, after he went to college and became independent, they passed away one by one.

His parents had each started new families. He felt uncomfortable wherever he went and became the least popular person. So he only worked part-time while studying, and after obtaining a diploma that was neither high nor low, he became an unemployed college graduate. Then, he found a bookstore and applied for a job as a clerk, and only then did he feel somewhat settled.

Ark remembered that he was still sorting new books at the store last night. After finishing, it was late, so he lay down and fell asleep in the store's library.

Who would have thought that when he woke up, he would be chosen by and become its administrator.

"Alright."

Ark walked out of the fountain, with no trace of wetness on his body, and gazed at the starry sky outside the open dome. The starlight reflected in his eyes.

"Since reality is unsatisfying, let's just leave it behind."

"From today on, I am the administrator of ."

"It must be fun to explore countless fantasy worlds and experience real lives, right?"

Years of independent living had allowed Ark to develop a decent ability to adapt and accept.

Therefore, he quickly adapted and accepted his new identity, and began to figure out what to do and how to act.

*OM!*

At this moment, the invisible thought came for the third time.

Ark, who had already received a certain level of knowledge and understood the essence of , knew that this thought was actually itself.

has no will, intelligence, or emotions. It is like a rule itself. It only sends an invisible force when the administrator needs it, implanting the necessary knowledge into the other party.

The way it manifested was like a voice resonating directly in his mind. In fact, Ark didn't hear any sound, and no words appeared in his mind. He just imagined that when the library's power descended, he would receive this power in a form he could accept.

Now it was the same...

[You have become the library administrator.]

[As the administrator, you can receive rewards from the library and obtain the power most suited to you.]

[When the administrator completes life experiences, based on the beauty of the life experience and the authenticity of the world, the library will match the power of this reward and grant the administrator additional rewards.]

[Beginning to bestow power...]

Instantly, the entire began to change.

The ground emitted a faint light, and the books on the shelves glowed dimly or brightly one by one. Even the starry sky outside the open dome bloomed with starlight, and one by one, the stars became extremely bright and dazzling.

Bathed in this light, Ark only felt something expanding within his body.

In a short time, this expanding sensation spread throughout his body and completely formed into a book, flying out of his body.

"What is this…?"

Ark stared at the scene in a daze.

As he watched, the pages floating in front of him began to absorb the light radiating from the entire and started to burn.

After the pages of the book were completely burned, golden imprinted lines formed in the air.

The golden lines connected, intersected, and unraveled each other, eventually forming an extremely intricate and mysterious geometric pattern, which flew toward Ark and sank into his body.

At this moment, Ark almost instinctively knew what he had obtained...

[TS: The MC's name in the translation is Aize, but it was changed to Ark to avoid overlapping with the name Aizen from Bleach.]