"Mm…"
A murmured sleep talk escaped unconsciously, echoing through the silent space.
Aize felt as if he had returned to his mother's womb, his entire body submerged in warm water—his mind and body completely at ease.
Just as he was about to fully immerse himself in this comfort and fall into a deep sleep he never wanted to wake from, a sudden presence of consciousness descended upon him.
[A suitable individual matching the selected criteria has been found and successfully accepted into the Library.]
[You are now the Librarian of the Library.]
It was an extremely pure thought.
Like a voice resonating directly in his mind, the message suddenly appeared, abruptly pulling Aize out of his unconscious state.
Splash!
As Aize instinctively sat up, the sound of water rippled around him.
Only then did he realize—he was indeed submerged in water.
Strangely enough, despite being in the water, his clothes weren't wet at all. Not even his hair or body felt damp; everything remained completely dry and fresh.
"W-What's going on?"
Aize looked around in bewilderment.
Splash splash…
The sound of water still echoed around him, clearly ringing in his ears. Azer had no choice but to set aside his confusion for the moment and survey his surroundings.
As he looked around, he couldn't help but be captivated by what he saw.
A vast space unfolded before him.
The entire space was cylindrical, at least several hundred meters in diameter, with an equally impressive height. Yet it didn't feel empty or overwhelming—instead, it felt just right.
The reason was clear: the space was filled with countless bookshelves, arranged in a specific pattern throughout the area.
Some shelves stood neatly on the ground, while others extended upward along the curved walls of the cylinder. Each was lined with books, all meticulously arranged, creating an atmosphere that was mysterious, tranquil, and intellectually rich.
Beyond that, a deep red carpet covered the floor. Balconies and walkways stretched out along the walls and through the air, and the ceiling was open—revealing a breathtaking starry sky beyond, where stars shimmered and twinkled beautifully above.
Aize found himself at the very center of this place — a sunken area enclosed by wooden railings.
It appeared to have been arranged as a leisure zone. Not only was there a large fountain, but also a pavilion, a grassy lawn, and even a hammock made of flowering vines — it looked just like a paradise out of a fairy tale.
Aize was in the fountain, soaking in the crystal-clear water. The spray of water kept shooting out from the center of the fountain, splashing onto his body, yet somehow never wetting him, as if everything was just an illusion.
"Where is this place?"
Drawn in by the beautiful scenery for quite some time, Aize finally came to his senses and began to wonder about this question.
And then—
"Bzzz—"
That same presence from before descended upon him once again.
Instantly wrapped in this powerful intent, Aize closed his eyes involuntarily.
Several minutes later, when he opened them again, the confusion was gone. In its place was clarity—and serenity.
"'The Library of Fantasies'… So this is the wondrous place I've come to?"
This was a space independent from the world, formed by the collective fantasies, curiosity, longing, admiration, regret, and sorrow of humankind toward other worlds.
It existed nowhere, yet connected reality with fantasy.
Every book here represented an imagined world created by someone else.
And every page within those books was a life imagined by someone else.
The Library of Fantasies collected these lives, these imaginations, preserving them here and placing them on shelf after shelf.
That was the library's purpose—to collect fantasies, turn them into books, and transform illusory worlds into reality, giving birth to countless diverse and marvelous universes and dimensions.
However, there was one problem with this place.
"To make a fantasy world become real, there must be a real person to experience it."
"The lives imagined by others are ultimately hollow. Without someone to truly live them, fantasy will remain fantasy—forever unable to become reality."
"And so, from the moment the Library of Fantasies came into existence, it was destined that someone would be chosen to become its librarian, to live out the imagined lives and journey through the imagined worlds."
Thus, Aize was chosen.
He became the first librarian of the Library of Fantasies.
"…So I guess I've finally found my true calling?"
Before arriving here, Aize had been just a bookstore clerk.
His family life had never been happy. His parents divorced when he was young, and his grandparents had raised him with great effort. By the time he reached college and became self-sufficient, they passed away peacefully.
His parents had since built new families of their own. No matter where he went, he never felt welcomed—always the outsider. So, he worked part-time while studying, and after graduating with a degree that was neither outstanding nor terrible, he became one of the many unemployed fresh graduates. Eventually, he found work at a bookstore as a clerk, and only then did his life find a semblance of stability.
Aize remembered that just last night, he had been organizing the newly arrived books at the store. Since it was already late by the time he finished, he lay down in the stockroom and fell asleep there.
Who would have thought that, upon waking up, he would be chosen by the Library of Fantasies and made its librarian?
"Oh well."
Stepping out of the fountain—his body still dry—Aize looked up at the starry sky beyond the open-air dome, the starlight reflected in his eyes.
"If reality is disappointing, then I'll cast it aside."
"From today onward, I am the librarian of the Library of Fantasies."
"To travel across countless worlds of fantasy and experience real lives… that sounds like it'll be quite the adventure, doesn't it?"
Years of living independently had given Aize a fairly decent ability to adapt and accept new realities.
So, he quickly adjusted to and accepted his new identity, and began to ponder what he should do and how he should proceed.
"Bzzz—"
At that moment, the formless presence descended for the third time.
Having already absorbed a certain amount of knowledge and understood the nature of the Library of Fantasies, Aize now realized that this presence was, in fact, the library itself.
The Library of Fantasies possessed no will of its own, no intellect, no emotion. Like a law or a system, it only manifested its formless power when the librarian required it, instilling the necessary knowledge into them.
Its form of communication was akin to a voice resonating directly in one's mind—though in truth, Aize didn't hear any sound, nor did he see any words in his mind. He merely received the library's power in a way his mind could comprehend.
And so it was again now…
[You have become the librarian of the Library.]
[As the librarian, you are entitled to receive a gift from the Library—an ability that most aligns with your nature.]
[When the librarian completes a life experience, the Library will, based on the richness of that life and the degree of realism of the world, provide additional compensation in coordination with the gifted ability.]
[Initiating the gift…]
In that instant, the entire Library of Fantasies began to shift.
The ground emitted a gentle glow. Books on the shelves radiated lights, some faint, some bright. Even the starry sky beyond the open dome seemed to bloom with radiance, the stars one by one growing incomparably brilliant.
Bathed in this glow, Aize felt something inside him begin to swell.
Soon, the swelling sensation overflowed from his body, materializing as a page of a book that floated out from within him.
"What is… this?"
Aize stared blankly at the scene before him.
Under his gaze, the page floating in front of him began to absorb the light radiating from the Library and then ignited into flames.
Once the page had burned away completely, golden patterns formed in midair.
The golden lines connected, intertwined, and traced intricate patterns, eventually forming an incredibly complex and mysterious geometric symbol, which then flew toward Aize and merged into his body.
In that instant, Aize instinctively understood exactly what it was he had received…