[AOTFL] Chapter 1: Administrator of the Fantasy Library

"Mm..."

A muttered sleep-talk escaped unconsciously and echoed through the silent space.

Zexuan felt as if he had returned to his mother's womb, as though his whole body was soaking in warm water, with his body and mind completely relaxed.

Just as he was about to fully sink into this comfort, slipping into a sleep he didn't want to wake from, a sudden presence descended upon him.

[A being matching the selected target has been chosen and successfully brought into the Fantasy Library.]

[Aoran Zexuan has become the Administrator of the Fantasy Library.]

It was a very pure kind of presence, like a voice that sounded directly in his mind—it suddenly appeared without warning, pulling Zexuan from his unconscious state.

Splash!

As Zexuan instinctively sat up, the sound of water splashing around him rang out, and only then did he realize that he was soaking in water.

Strangely enough, even though he was in the water, his clothes were completely dry, while his hair and body felt fresh, not the slightest bit wet.

"What the hell is going on...?"

Zexuan muttered, looking completely confused.

Splash-Splash—

As the sound of the water continued to echo, clearly reaching his ears, Zexuan was forced to push aside the confusion and questions in his heart for now and look around. When he scanned his surroundings, he couldn't help but be drawn in by the environment around him.

What entered Zexuan's view was an incredibly spacious area that was cylindrical in shape, easily several hundred meters in diameter, and just as tall. Yet it didn't feel empty at all, but instead felt like it was perfectly sized.

As for why it appeared this way, it was entirely because of the countless bookshelves, all arranged throughout the area in a specific pattern.

Some of the shelves were set on the ground, while others were stacked upward along the cylindrical walls, and inside them, books were neatly lined up one by one, creating an atmosphere that felt mysterious, tranquil, and intellectual.

In addition to this, not only was the floor covered with a deep red carpet, but there were also corridors extending along the walls and into the air. Meanwhile, the ceiling was open, revealing a dazzling starry sky that shimmered and bloomed across it, looking incredibly beautiful.

Zexuan was right at the center of this place, in a sunken area surrounded by a wooden fence that seemed to be set up as a resting area.

Not only was there a large fountain here, but there was also a pavilion, a lawn, and even a swing bed woven from flowering vines—it truly resembled a paradise straight out of a fairy tale.

Zexuan was in the very fountain, soaking in the crystal-clear water as streams of water continuously sprayed from the center of the fountain, hitting his body—yet not a drop managed to wet him, as though it was all just an illusion.

"Where the hell is this place?"

Drawn in by the beautiful scenery for a long while, Zexuan finally snapped out of it and began to wonder about this question, until—

Zing—

Suddenly, that same sense of presence descended once more.

Zexuan was instantly enveloped by it, his eyes closing involuntarily.

A few minutes later, when he opened them again, the confusion in his eyes had vanished, and in its place was realization and acceptance.

"Fantasy Library... So, this is the kind of magical place I ended up in?"

It was a space formed from humanity's fantasies and thoughts about other worlds—emotions, spirit, imagination, curiosity, yearning, longing, regret, and sorrow—completely separate from the real world.

It did not exist anywhere, yet it connected reality with fantasy.

Every book here was a different fantasy world imagined by someone.

Every page in these books was a life woven from someone's fantasies.

Meanwhile, the Fantasy Library collected these fantasy worlds and lives, storing and arranging them on its many shelves.

Evidently, this was the purpose of the Fantasy Library—to collect fantasies, turn them into books, and make fantasy worlds reality, creating countless diverse and wonderful universes or dimensions.

However, there was one problem.

If one wanted a fantasy world to become reality, then someone had to live a life in it.

A life imagined by someone else was ultimately hollow, so without someone to truly experience it, a fantasy would always remain a fantasy and would never become reality.

Because of this, from the very moment the Fantasy Library took form, it was destined that someone had to become its 'Administrator', to live out those fantasized lives, to experience those fantasized worlds.

And so, Zexuan was chosen to become the Administrator of the Fantasy Library.

"I guess I finally found a job that fits me...?"

Before arriving here, Zexuan had worked as a clerk at a bookstore.

In fact, his family wasn't exactly happy because his parents divorced when he was young, and it was his grandparents who worked hard to raise him. By the time he entered university and could support himself, they had both passed away peacefully, one after the other, while his parents had long since built new families of their own.

In the end, no matter which side he went to, he never felt welcome and always felt like an outsider. He ended up juggling part-time work and school, got a degree that wasn't really good or bad, and graduated straight into unemployment.

Eventually, he applied for a job at a bookstore and became a clerk, which was the first time things started to feel a little more stable.

Zexuan remembered that just last night, he was still organizing a new batch of books at the store, but when he finished, it was so late that he just lay down in the stockroom and fell asleep.

He never would have guessed that when he woke up, he would be chosen by the Fantasy Library to become its Administrator.

"Well, whatever..."

Stepping out from the fountain, Zexuan looked up at the starlit sky beyond the open dome, the starlight shimmering in his eyes.

"If reality sucks, then I'll just leave it behind."

"Starting today, I'm the Administrator of the Fantasy Library."

"Traveling through countless fantasy worlds and living lives there... sounds like a blast, doesn't it?"

Years of living on his own had trained Zexuan to be fairly adaptable and pretty good at accepting whatever came his way. As a result, he quickly adapted to and accepted his identity and began to think about what to do and how to act next.

Zing—

Suddenly, the formless presence descended for the third time.

Having already received a certain amount of knowledge and understood the nature of the Fantasy Library, Zexuan knew that this presence was, in fact, the Fantasy Library itself.

It had no will of its own, nor any intellect or emotion, and its presence was more like a law or rule, only manifesting its formless power when the Administrator needed it, instilling the necessary knowledge into the recipient.

Its manifestation felt like a voice directly echoing in the mind, while in reality, Zexuan heard no sound, nor did any words appear in his mind. It was merely the Fantasy Library's power descending, where he would receive it in whatever form he could comprehend.

Now was no different.

[You have become the Administrator of the Fantasy Library.]

[As the Administrator, you will receive a gift from the Fantasy Library, bestowing upon you a power most suited to you.]

[When the Administrator completes a life experience, depending on the greatness of the life experience and the degree of return to reality of the fantasy world, the Fantasy Library will reward the Administrator with additional compensation in accordance with the power bestowed.]

[Beginning power bestowal...]

In an instant, the entire Fantasy Library began to shift—the floor gave off a faint glow while the books on each shelf lit up one after another, some dimly, some brightly. Even the starry sky beyond the open dome sparkled with starlight, each star becoming brilliantly radiant one after another.

Bathed in this glow, Zexuan felt as if something inside him was swelling.

Before long, the swelling sensation burst outward, and to his surprise, it formed a page that flew out from within his body.

"What... is this...?"

Zexuan stared blankly at the scene.

Under his stare, the floating page before him began to absorb the light emitted by the Fantasy Library before suddenly catching fire.

Once the page had burned away completely, golden lines began forming in midair—they connected, intertwined, and outlined one another, finally forming an intricate and mysterious geometric pattern that then flew toward Zexuan and sank into his body.

In that instant, Zexuan instinctively understood what he had received.