"Haah....more artificial slop..."
"
A young man with black hair and orange eyes wearing a black coat could be seen sorting through a multitude of books inside a grand library. He looked extremely distressed as he would flip through several books simultaneously, as if searching for something.
"Will, I encourage you to pick one soon. You've been at it for eight whole months now. You'll be nineteen soon.... Decisiveness is an important skill in life, you know."
The young man, named William, would sigh before picking up the two books he had set aside and placing them on a table next to him.
"Yes, yes...I've narrowed it down to two books as of now, I'm just not sure which one to pick...."
This was a grand library tucked away underground. Its owner was a man named Kaelus, a wise scholar. A calm-looking man with black hair and bright yellow eyes who always wore a smile. He hired William as a librarian and also served as his mentor.
In this world, a system known as the Library of Alexandria emerged. It first appeared more than three years ago, when people started disappearing randomly. At the time, no one knew how it had happened, but one similarity among all the people was that a storybook was next to them. It was a source of great tragedy for a while, until one of the people who disappeared came back.
This person told their story, a story of getting sucked into the book they were reading, getting transported into an unfamiliar body, and living an unfamiliar life. Ending with them finishing the story, they were transported into it. This person then reported gaining supernatural powers from this experience. Which then threw the world into chaos. With all sorts of governments and greedy people trying to get their hands on supernatural abilities. This person later became known as the Progenitor.
"Whenever I'm in a situation like yours, I flip a coin to decide what to do."
Kaelus would produce a one yuan coin from his pocket before flicking it in the air and catching it in the palm of his hand. Heads.
"I guess you'll be going with the first book then!"
Kaelus would pick up one of the two books and hand it to William with a warm smile, the same one he wore when he met Will for the first time, all those years ago. When William found his grand library by accident. Back then, he was trying to find a nice spot where he could relax and get away from the struggles of the modern world, which included schoolwork and constantly being overshadowed by his older brother and sister. Kaelus felt a sense of sympathy for this lost child and decided to give him a job at his library, where he could read all the books he wanted to.
"Now remember, when you begin your first story, you must try to retain your sense of self, or else you'll be assimilated into the character you were transported into, instantly dying."
Kaelus would warn William calmly, like a worried caretaker.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Besides, weren't you the one who said I was made for this world?"
William would tease Kaelus with a grin on his face.
Kaelus would sigh and reply, saying.
"Nevertheless, don't falter for a single second out there, remember the lessons I taught you, okay?"
"Okay. Don't die while I'm gone, master."
William would pick up the book Kaelus had chosen for him and walk to the center of the Library. The key to activating the summoning spell was to spill blood on the book, so he took out a small needle from his pocket and pierced his finger slightly. He withstood the stinging and hovered his finger over the open book, letting the blood fall.
*Drip. Drip.*
All of a sudden, the blood was absorbed into the pages, and William's body started to turn illusory; he started to float around the book like being whisked by a miniature tornado, before being completely and utterly sucked into the pages of the book.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The next thing William saw was a black void with a strange-looking screen in front of him.
"So this is it, huh. What kind of crappy author designed this?"
William would shake his head while saying. His eyes were glued to the screen in front of him.
[Welcome, Potential Reader. To the Library of Alexandria.]
[Name : William Wei]
[Status: Human]
The next section was what William was excited for the most: attributes. These were buffs given to skills people possessed in their everyday lives, enhancing them in preparation for their first story.
[Attributes: Average, Linguist, Plagiarist, Reader, Calculator, Monster]
[Average : You are hopelessly average at anything you do, whether it be Math, Physics, or being socially accepted. This attribute can be offset by modifiers.]
"Sheesh, a bit rude, much?"
[Linguist : This person is an expert in everything linguistic, whether it be speech, writing, or poetry.]
"At least I'm decent at something."
[Plagiarist: You have the uncanny ability to impersonate other people, whether it is their movements or their mannerisms, to a shocking degree.]
"That's...handy, I guess."
[Reader: You possess the ability to read exceptionally fast, as well as process and digest information from what you read just as fast.]
"All those years of reading novels at three o'clock in the morning were worth it!"
[Calculator: Through years and years of being forced not to use a calculator, you developed an extremely powerful mental calculation skill]
"Well, that one's just a call out to most people like me..."
The next attribute was a lot longer than the others, perhaps it was the rarest one in his possession.
[Monster: You are a monster. And the most terrifying kind at that. Throughout your years of life, you became numb to loss. Your emotions have been dulled because of this. You lie to people as if it were natural, not batting a single eye at it. You copy people's mannerisms to act as if you were like them. Despite knowing deep down you aren't. You possess the ability to stay calm in any scenario and cast away your humanity at a moment's notice.]
William would sigh while looking at the screen solemnly, seemingly understanding something.
"I guess that's why he said I was made for this world...anyhow, it should be starting soon."
As he said that, a new screen would pop up in front of him, displaying some new information.
[Story Chosen : The Odyssey]
[Loading story shortly....please hold.]