Arc 0 – State of the World

"I'm bored..." I sighed whilst sitting under an old oak tree, sipping on my tea.

I frowned at the taste. "Blurg, it's disgusting. Parsnip and ginger, who the fuck thought of this flavor?!" I asked myself and wondered how I'd never tasted it till now. It looked like my stocks were running low. Well, not that surprisingly, to be honest; after all, I was here for what now? Seven or eight millennia? Maybe nine...but not more than ten.

Whatever, tea wasn't my main problem now; it was the utter boredom I suffered from after I finished my collection of books again. And lemme tell ya something; you will do stupid stuff when you don't know what to do with all the extra free time you had—like thinking about removing a certain sealing sword.

I had plenty of time now, and when I said plenty, I meant endless. Though technically, I could just read the untouched books about politics and stuff that I didn't really care about. Politics...I shuddered—never again.

Whatever, lemme review the overall situation and carefully plan my next steps. So, I was obviously bored and didn't want to be bothered by political theories. Plus, I just couldn't reread my beloved collection again after the sixth time… right? The conclusion? Something had to be done!

In a nutshell, I started reading my anthology for the seventh time. Hey, no judging, okay? My domain was just way too cuddly to replace it with the cold outside world.

But when I turned the first page of the first book, I noticed little black cracks forming around my wrist joint and fingers. Annoying...

As it appeared, my ennui wasn't the only thing that was bugging me. With a flick of the finger, I summoned a red-colored flask and took a drink, eager to have my worries forgotten. Yet, I might have noticed a slight problem—my medicine, aka 'forbidden food', was running out.

Huh? What? Did you just ask me what the exact contents of this versatile liquid were? Wunh-wunh, national secret! But let me tell ya this; its inside was fucking delicious. Ohh, the taste when it met the lips and gently ran down the throat. The heat you felt when a honey-like fluid flowed into your stomach and revived your spirit after a long tiring sleep. Yes, naps could be tiring too!

Ahem, where was I? Ah right, my precious—totally not addicting—liquid, which I absolutely only used for medical purposes! It would soon be out of stock, which would kinda be a life-changing dilemma. Well, not because I actually needed it to survive, but I absolutely couldn’t live without it. Did I require medicine or food per se? Nah, but what would be life without a small vice or two. It wasn't like I would go outside and start killing people because of this stuff. I totally never would do this! I was a ruthless decent person!

A-Anyways, back to the topic. I needed to restock my fo—medicine; rationing was out of the question. Soo, what to do? The stock would likely last for another ten years, but what were measly ten years in comparison to my sense of time. Knowing me, I probably would forget to refill my supply before it ran out just because, for me, time was something completely meaningless; therefore, I tended to overlook matters that had to do with it. Though...I still could remember the past mortal me, dreaming of immortality.

However, I couldn't tell how long ago it was. Over time my memories became nothing but shards, dark clouds of long-repressed thoughts and wasted emotions. Nothing particularly remarkable, but influencing present actions nonetheless. Not that this mattered anyway. Overall I was still able to say that I'd not changed at all—the addiction love for my food was always insatiable. And, as everybody could tell, I was in the right mind. Let's just ignore my tendency for talking to myself, my weapons, books, potions, plants...; did I mention myself? Everything was A-OK!

As I pondered over my possibilities, I was already wandering around aimlessly without noticing it. On the outside, my realm was a simple wooden door, yet entirely different on the inside. There were not one, not two, but four doors in a plain white corridor. Not what people would expect... but I didn’t care for what other beings would think about my marvelous design. Regardless of my fantastic entry area, the places behind these doors lived up to the usual imposing standards.

The Endless Library was one of these. True to itself, wherever you looked, whichever corner you turned in, sheer endless corridors awaited. Infinite floors piled up; everywhere, old mahogany bookshelves holding long forgotten treasures. Crystals illuminated this scenery and provided a comfortable atmosphere. However, contrary to appearances, its endless corridors were merely a ruse.

Nonetheless, it was still gigantic; it took me thousands of years to finish my collection for the first time—obviously only including the stuff that really interested me. Regardless of my tastes, the other subjects I'd no interest in were covered by a far greater number of books. In the beginning, it was built with the purpose of continuous growth. At first, it only had around forty-three thousand, five hundred and sixty books contained. After thousands 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 was; add another breeze of fancy space mirror magic, and voilà, the Endless Library.

Another fun gimmick was that you were teleported to the center—an open circular area with everything you needed for a great reading experience: tables, seats, comfy chairs— as soon as you entered.

Above it hung a huge colorless crystal, which shone with perfect intensity and provided a pleasant feeling for the eyes. Of course, it wasn't the only reading area, but the others were my secret cozy nooks, even if nobody had ever entered this place before 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 didn't happen to remember anything; I probably forgot it.

And even if I had a master bedroom in my domain, I usually slept in one of those lovely nooks that I'd decorated comfortably. For most beings, it might be too simple, but I liked it there; it gave me a sense of homeliness. Home, huh? Another relic of the oblivion within myself...

Ya know, even if I've never been truly free, in those places, I felt freer than I'd ever possibly been since I came into this world. I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

Anyhow, besides the Endless Library, the other areas were not as massive. Behind door number two was my workshop. What I did in there was nothing of importance to anyone except me. It was nasty, highly dangerous, and had many secret magic inventions. Of course, my storage rooms were 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 didn't need it, where you only had to think of anything, and it simply plopped into existence.

Nevertheless, one shouldn't misunderstand what happened here. The imagined object was merely an empty shell. A clock will work, but the inside would be hollow. It only worked 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 just couldn't simply live. Complex things required complex thoughts. But why didn't the clock break after coming into existence, you asked?

Firstly, because it was already dead. Secondly, one simple task was the maximum without destroying itself. Meaning: I could tell how many hours had passed but not how many seconds and vice-versa. And I barely talked about the mechanical side. Magical creations are a totally different matter.

A typical clock needed to use gears to regulate the movement of the hands. A magical clock might have to use these, but this depended on how it was manufactured. If you used simple time magic, it worked without anything else inside except the mana or magic stone. Although I should mention that time magic itself was very difficult to comprehend.

Yes, my domain enabled endless possibilities, but the laws behind it were something even I couldn't grasp fully. I was already tired of thinking. Nonetheless, because I didn't need anything complex, I rarely used the workshop these days. I would use it to try to craft my medicine, but I was still failing at its recreation. My suspicion was that my domain's environmental mana caused this problem; further tests were required. I really wished I could just create it, but even if I spawned it into existence, it tasted bland and had no effect at all. It nearly drove me crazy.

Back to the doors, number three was my favorite spot for drinking tea. It was a lovely vast grassland. An artificial sun shone continually whilst fluffy clouds passed by, driven by a mild breeze. I was here every few thousand years—my tea sucked, obviously.

This place held no name, just a purpose: to cage. Oh, what melancholy. Whenever I was here, sadness overwhelmed me. So many thoughts, so many voices. They wanted me to do something, wanted me to free them; they wanted to live and love.

Pathetic, these mind tricks will not work on me! If they had wanted to love, they shouldn't have done what they did. If they had wanted to live, they shouldn't have questioned my-

I sighed; it didn't matter; they were long gone—just an afterimage of never-ending pain and guilt. Useless voices till the end.

But yeah, these were the rooms behind the doors. I could create more, but honestly, why bother? There was no need for me. There will never be, at least for me alone.

Mhm? What did you mean by 'I forgot one'? Oh, this one black door that looks like moving, shadowy, constantly dripping goo? Yeeaaah, no. Now was not the time to talk about this door...it will probably never be the right time to do so. So never fucking ask me about it again, understood?

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Teleporting around in my domain and thinking about a solution was way more tiresome than I thought it would be. Trying to think reasonably is hard. On the one hand, restock was inevitable; on the other hand, the outside world. Addiction Love for food—and the medical side, of course!—versus some sort of agoraphobia. Ultimately, the question was not what I wanted to do but which solution caused less pain.

Poor me, what ghastly future awaited this poor young flower maiden. What evil had I done? Well, I knew, although no evidence = no crime and I made sure that there was no evidence. Um, regardless of my obviously not existing crime records, comfortability was most vital for a stable me. Without my liquid, there was none.

Another sigh escaped me. I really needed to go outside, huh? I shook my head; all this shit gave me a headache. There was simply no way around it.

Yet, before I went anywhere, I needed to prep some stuff, like relocating items to easily access them from the outside—space magic for the win. A must-have for every lazybones! Technically speaking, though, it was just the sub-branch of space magic: storage magic. And technically-technically, it was as challenging to learn as time magic. Not that I was terrific in either of them, decent at most. It sufficed. Nevertheless, it happened to be very convenient to be able to use them and they were not my main branches anyway. But let's save this talk for another time.

After putting most of the stuff I required in the storage area, my eyes wandered around over some of the inventions. Most of them were more like toys, emerged from sheer boredom. But not the one I was looking at right now. In the center floated a crystal surrounded by nine rings of different metals. The further away a circle was from the crystal, the larger it became. They all rotated at different speeds and in different directions. The rings absorbed the crystal's energy, stored it, and sent some back to it. This power fed the crystal, causing it to emit more energy. It was a cycle, but not a very good one.

The problem? The energy necessary to keep the crystal in a stable position where it didn't destroy the entire area consumed most of the radiated power it made. In addition, there was also a part that must be sent back to its origin so that the circuit didn't collapse. What was ultimately stored existed in such a tiny amount that it would take thousands of years to even cast simple fire magic. The invention was 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 became utter garbage—my poor ego. But the real problem lay with this freaking crystal. This thing was something out of this domain, world, universe? My experiments with magic led to the discovery that there existed some kind of freaky outer realm. It consisted primarily of pure destructive energy.

Anyway, siphoned some of it; got the crystal. Named it the Abyss Stone, even if it was a crystal. The name I gave my invention was Abyssal Depths—you never knew what lurks behind the endless darkness.

I threw it with the other prepared stuff for the outside. Maybe someone had found a way to solve my problem, that would be neat. With this, the storage should be good enough. I shouldn't be in need of anything else.

One more problem remained, and I didn't think I had a solution for it at the moment. My domain itself was located in some space-time fold of the outside world. The only connection between the world and my domain was the entrance door. After taking 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 lay the problem; they're fucking obvious to the right people. 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 had to do to get it was pull it from a stone. That really couldn't be that hard; it was just a fricking stone; destroy it, and get the weapon! After the blade was removed, part of the cave wall would disappear into the ground, clearing the way to the entrance. And even IF you managed to get all the way down here, you couldn't enter. After all, the entrance—an old wooden creaky door overgrown with ivy—was locked. Duh, what did ya expect? Of course, it would be. Didn't wanna have any creepy old fat pigs near me.

Buuuut, you could at least try to knock; maybe I'd open it. Even I knew how to be polite, ok? So why the fuck did nobody ever come to me all this time?! I rubbed my temples. Calm down, me, calm down.

Yet, the real dilemma was that I couldn't just move the door again once I was outside. The whole process was rather complicated and took a long time—a few hours or so. If I leave it here, somebody could try to break in without my constant protection. Yes, there were also wards around the door that told me when someone was trying to do something stupid, but I couldn't just teleport right back when I was too far away. No matter how many advantages the domain brought me, one of its most significant disadvantages was the anti-teleportation area it created in its immediate vicinity as long as it remained active.

By the way, another method of finding the entrance consisted of teleporting around the world and noticing exactly where it didn't work. Either way, should someone break in, a lot of damage could be done within my realm. To be honest, I doubted that anyone would be able to break through my protection spells, but better safe than sorry. But for now, it was what it was.

With nothing else on my list, I faced the inevitable. I opened the door, and cold, musty air flowed towards me. Immediately afterward, I heard the dripping of water on stone. Impure magical gemstones half protruding from the walls illuminated the cave in a variety of colors. I breathed in. I breathed out. I breathed in. I breathed out. I put one foot in the cave and felt the hard, uneven stone under me...should have gotten some footwear beforehand. I walked out, turned around, closed the door, and sealed it.

Suddenly my head felt like something was hammering against it with a shield. I fell to the ground while I held my head in pain.

"W-what is th-this!?" I whispered, utterly confused.

My head became heavier and heavier. My sight got blurry. Shortly before everything went black, a cold mechanic voice echoed through my inner self.

[System Message: Trying to integrate unknown being *"03"*]

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