NOVEL WEB [Arc 0] Chapter 1 – Out of Stock
Arc 0 – State of the World
In the end, I didn't bother to do anything. Removing the weapon would mean going outside and facing people I really don't want to meet. That's the problem with boredom; you do stupid stuff when you don't know what to do with all the extra free time. And right now, I have plenty of it, and when I say plenty, I mean endless. Though technically, I could read the other books about politics and stuff that I don't really care about. Politics...I shudder, never again. Lemme rehearse the overall situation and carefully plan my next steps. So, I am obviously bored; I don't want to be bothered by too many social interactions or politics. Plus, I just can't reread everything again after the sixth time. I have to make a decision!
In a nutshell, I've started to read my collection for the seventh time. Hey, don't judge me, okay? My domain is just way too cuddly to replace it with the cold outside world. However, I might have a slight problem—my 'food' is running out. My food is actually some kind of liquid. What kind, you ask? That's a national secret! But lemme tell you this; it's fucking delicious. Ohh, the taste when it meets the lips and gently runs down the throat. The heat you feel when a honey-like fluid flows into your stomach and revives your spirit after a long tiring sleep. Yes, naps can be exhausting too!
Cough Cough, where was I? Ah right, my precious—totally not addicting—liquid. Soon it will be out of stock, and this would be a life-changing dilemma. Well, not because I actually need it for my life, but I absolutely need it for living. I do not require food per se, but what would be life without a small vice or two. It's not like I would go outside and start killing people because of this stuff. I totally never would do this! I am a ruthless decent person!
A-Anyways, back to the topic. I need to restock my food; rationing it is out of the question. Soo, what to do? The stock would be likely last for another three hundred years, but what are measly three hundred years in comparison to my sense of time. Knowing me, I just forget to refill my supply before it runs out, just because for me, time is something completely meaningless; therefore, I tend to overlook matters that have to do with it. Though, I still can remember the past mortal me, dreaming of immortality.
However, I cannot tell how long ago it was. Over time it's just shards and dark clouds of long-repressed thoughts and wasted emotions. Nothing particularly remarkable, but influencing your present actions nonetheless. Not that this matters in any way. Overall I can still say that I've not changed at all—the addiction love for my food is insatiable. As everybody can tell, I'm in the right mind. Let's just ignore my tendency for talking to myself, my weapons, books, potions, plants...; did I mention myself? Everything is A-OK!
As I ponder over my possibilities, I wander around aimlessly. On the outside, my realm is a simple wooden door; however, it's entirely different on the inside. There are not one, not two, but three doors in a plain white corridor. Well, it's not what people would expect, not that I care about what other beings would think about my marvelous design. Regardless of my fantastic entry area, the places behind these doors live up to the usual imposing standards.
The Endless Library is one of these. True to itself, wherever you look, whichever corner you turn in, sheer endless corridors await. Infinite floors pile up; everywhere, old mahogany bookshelves holding long forgotten treasures. Crystals illuminate this scenery and provide a comfortable atmosphere. Contrary to all of this, in reality, the endless aspect is merely a ruse.
Nonetheless, it is still gigantic; it took me only thousands of years to finish my collection for the first time—I mean the stuff that really interests me. However, the other subjects I have no interest in are covered by a far greater number of books. In the beginning, it was built with the purpose to continuously grow. At first, it only had around forty-three thousand, five hundred and sixty books contained. After hundreds of years, it was estimated that the library stores approximately twenty-five million objects. The bookshelves—strung together—would make a length of over three hundred kilometers. Now imagine how big this place is; add another breeze of fancy space mirror magic and voilà, Endless Library.
As soon as you enter, you are teleported into the center. It's an open circular area with everything you need for a great reading experience: tables, seats, comfy chairs...
Above it hangs a huge colorless crystal, which shines with the perfect light intensity and provides a pleasant feeling for the eyes. Of course, it's not the only reading area, but the others are my secret cozy nooks, even if no one else is here but me. You may think I might get lonely? Let me tell you; you can't miss what you never had. Or maybe I had something, but I don't happen to remember anything; I probably forgot it.
Anyhow besides the Endless Library, the other areas are not as massive. Behind door number two is my workshop. What do I do in there is nothing of importance to anyone except me. It's nasty, highly dangerous, and has many secret magic inventions. Logically, my storage rooms are in there too. In the past, I often went into this room for crafting, but over time it became meaningless. Why create something that will never have any use in a place where you don't need it, where all you have to do is think of anything, and it's just there.
Still, don't misunderstand what is happening. The imagined object is just an empty shell. A clock will work, but the inside is hollow. It only works because of the thought of how it should work if it were crafted normally. I once created an animal—dead within seconds. Why? Because I just spawned it; an image can't live. Complex things need complex thoughts. But why does the clock don't break after coming into existence, you ask?
Firstly, because it's already dead. Secondly, one simple task is the maximum without destroying itself. Meaning, I can tell how many hours have passed, but not how many seconds and vice-versa. And I'm barely talking about the mechanical side. Magical creations are a totally different matter. A typical clock needs to use gears to regulate the movement of the hands. A magical clock might have to use these, but this depends on how it's manufactured. If you use simple time magic, it works without anything else inside except the mana or magic stone. Although, I should mention that time magic itself is very difficult to comprehend.
My domain enables endless possibilities, but the laws behind it are something even I can't grasp fully. I'm already tired of thinking. Nonetheless, because I don't need anything complex, I rarely use the workshop these days. I would use it to craft my food, but I am still failing at its recreation. My suspicion is that my domain's environmental mana is causing this problem; further tests are required. I really wish I could just create it, but even if I spawn it into existing, it tastes bland. It nearly drives me crazy.
Back to the doors, number three is my favorite spot for drinking tea. It's a vast grassland. An artificial sun shines continually whilst fluffy clouds pass by, driven by a mild breeze. I'm here every few thousand years—my tea sucks. This place holds no name, just a purpose: to cage. Oh, what melancholy. Whenever I am here, sadness overwhelms me. So many thoughts, so many voices. They want me to do something, want me to free them, they want to live and love.
Pathetic, these mind tricks will not work on me. If they had wanted to love, they should not have done what they did. If they had wanted to live, they should not have questioned my...
It doesn't matter; they are long gone—just an afterimage of neverending pain and guilt. Useless souls till the end.
But yeah, these are the rooms behind the doors. I could create more, but honestly, why bother? There is no need for me. There will never be, at least for me alone.
Teleporting around in my domain and thinking about a solution is way more tiresome than I thought it would be. Trying to weighing reason is hard. On the one hand, restock is inevitable; on the other hand, the outside world. Addiction Love for food versus some sort of agoraphobia. Ultimately, the question is not what do I want to do but which solution causes less pain.
Poor me, what ghastly future awaits this young maiden. What evil have I done? Well, I know, although no evidence, no crime; I made sure of that. Regardless of my obviously not existing crime records, comfortability is most vital for a stable me. Without my liquid, there's none.
A sigh escapes me. I really need to go outside, huh. I shake my head; all this shit gives me a headache. There's no way around it.
Yet, before I go anywhere, I need to prep some stuff: relocating items to easily access them from the outside—space magic for the win. It's a must-have for every lazybones. Technically speaking, it's just the subbranch: storage magic. And technically-technically, it's as challenging to learn as time magic. Not that I'm terrific in either of them, decent at most. It suffices. Nevertheless, it is very convenient to be able to use them; they are not my main branches anyway. But let's save this talk for another time.
After I put most of the stuff I need in the storage area, my eyes wander around over some of the inventions. Most of them are more like toys, emerged from sheer boredom. But not the one I'm looking at right now. In the center floats a crystal surrounded by nine rings of different metals. The further away a circle is from the crystal, the larger it becomes. They all rotate at different speeds and in different directions. The rings absorb the energy that the crystal emits, store it and send some back to it. This power feeds the crystal, causing it to emit more energy. It is a cycle, but not a very good one.
The problem is that the energy necessary to keep the crystal in a stable position where it does not directly destroy the entire environment consumes most of the radiated and stored power. In addition, there is also a part that must be sent back to its origin so that the circuit does not collapse. What is ultimately stored is such a tiny amount that it would take thousands of years to even cast simple fire magic. The invention is basically a very, very expensive, and time-consuming way to light a campfire in the evening...if you waited long enough beforehand.
My most incredible creation is utter garbage—my poor ego. But the real problem lies with this freaking crystal. This thing is something out of this domain, world, universe? My experiments with magic lead to the discovery that there is some kind of freaky outer realm. It's primarily of pure destructive energy. Anyway, siphoned some of it; got the crystal. Named it abyss stone, even if it's a crystal. The name I gave my invention was Abyssal Depths—you never know what lurks behind the endless darkness.
I throw it to the prepared stuff for the outside. Maybe someone found a way to solve my problem, would be neet. With this, the storage should be good enough. I don't think I need anything else.
One more problem remains, and I don't think I have a solution for it at the moment. You know, the domain itself is located in some space-time fold of the outside world. The only connection between the world and my domain is the entrance door. After I took a leave of absence from work, I moved it away to a secret place—a cavern beneath a temple. Putting some wards around, hidden passages, and other totally innocuous stuff ensured the safety of my secrecy.
And here lies the problem, they're fucking obvious. Sure, you will not instantly find the domain entrance, but you will easily find the temple and the cave. I even put a sword in there as bait. All you need to do to get it is by pulling it from a stone. That really can't be that hard. I mean, it's just a fricking stone; destroy the stone, get the weapon. After the blade is removed, part of the cave wall will disappear into the ground, clearing the way to the entrance. And even if you manage to get all the way to it, you cannot enter. My entrance is an old wooden creaky door, overgrown with ivy. It's locked. Duh, what ya expect? Of course, it would be. Don't wanna have any creepy old fat pigs near me.
Buuuut, you can knock; maybe I'll open it. Even I know how to be polite, ok? Nevertheless, the real dilemma is that I can't just move the door again. The whole process is rather complicated and takes a long time. If I leave it here, without my protection, somebody could try to break in. Yes, there are also wards around the door that tell me when someone is trying to do something stupid, yet I can't just teleport right back when I'm too far away. No matter how many advantages the domain brings me, one of its most significant disadvantages is that you can't teleport into the immediate vicinity of it.
By the way, another method to find the entrance is to teleport around the world and see where exactly it doesn't work. Either way, should someone break in, a lot of damage could be done within my realm. To be honest, I doubt that anyone will be able to break through my protection spells, but better safe than sorry. But for now, it is what it is.
With nothing else on my list, I face the inevitable. I open the door, and cold, musty air flows towards me. Immediately afterward, I hear the dripping of water on stone. Impure magical gemstones half protruding from the walls illuminate the cave in a variety of colors. I breathe in. I breathe out. I breathe in. I breathe out. I put one foot in the cave and feel the hard, uneven stone under me...should have gotten some footwork beforehand. I walk out, turn around, close the door and seal it.
The cave has changed more than anticipated. The stalagmites and stalactites have grown significantly, which is certainly not a good omen. How long was I down here? Weeell, I stopped counting after two thousand years, but it can't have been so terribly long, can it?! I go further up the tunnel with hesitant steps, and everywhere I encounter the inescapable proofs that my short vacation has lasted clearly much longer than initially planned. Did anyone even look for me? I think they have simply forgotten...
Well, nothing can be done about it. What happened, happened. All the better for me, to be honest. If they've given up the search, if they indeed stopped looking for me, I guess that means they've found a replacement. Ahh, wonderful! But I never need to feel stressed anymore.
Still, now I kinda want to know how the world has changed in the meantime. When I left, I took some things that may have been important for future progress, but how much might have changed?
After a while, I reach the moveable cave wall and activate the lever I've placed beforehand on this side—yeah, no magic involved in this one—and enter the main cave. Yep, sword-in-stone still there. Bummer! Are people really this stupid? It's literally a sword in a stone; use a god damn pickaxe or stupid explosion spells. Goddess, it can't be that hard.
Annoyed, I go to the blade, pull it out, and point to the ceiling.
"By the Power of..." I begin to shout but stop myself before saying something idiotic. "Something's off," I mutter.
I examined the weapon. This is my creation, but yet, it isn't. Somebody tampered with it. It radiates weird power that tries to affect me, mind you, in a good way. Anyhow, what the fuck?! Which asshole laid hands on my sword? Ohh, I'm so gonna get you!
I examine the ruined, ravished object again and take a more detailed look. Somehow the emanated energy feels similar to a Higher Blessing. Are there any beings besides me that are capable of this? I pour mana into the blade and try to understand the effects. I can feel energy threads enveloping the weapon but can't pinpoint where they come from. Some of these threads attempt to connect to me. I try to understand what they want to achieve but to no avail. They give me some kind of 'Bonus Stats'; what the hell is even that? These so-called Stats are somewhat linked to some sort of 'System.' Another term I don't know.
A feeling of wrongness overcomes me. The world changed in a way I yet fail to comprehend. Everything looks the same, though it somehow feels different. What exactly happened while I was in seclusion? Why did I feel nothing about these changes, did my domain protect me? Distress with a touch of excitement spreads through my body.
"I think I might enjoy this new world," I proclaim and walk to the cave exit.
The sharp natural daylight blinds me for a second—haven't seen any for a long time. I step out from behind a pillar and see the temple complex for the second time since its creation. I'm completely aghast.
"This must be some kind of cruel joke, right?"