Universal Library

"What? Where am I?"

Looking around the room he found himself in, Alex could see walls filled with bookshelves wherever he looked. The entire room was filled with only books filling up the wall everywhere he looked. The entire Library looks to go on forever as the walls were just covered with a never-ending line of books.

Looking behind him he could clearly see a door. Although the door seemed normal, almost like a simple metal door, but when he looked at the door more carefully the rusty door seemed to come to life. It was as if the door was imbued with some type of powerful force that seemed to shine a light directly into his soul.

The more he stared at the door the more clearly the light shone. The word exit seemed to come alive through the door as if showing him the only way out of the library. 'The only way out... read every single book... only once you finish shall you be given an easy way out'

"What the hell does that even mean?! how am I supposed to read every single book when the library seems infinite?! What do you want me to count every single atom in my body next?!"

Releasing a heavy sigh all he could do was look at the library that seemed to stretch past what he could see. Only after staring into the distance for a while did he walk up to the first closest bookshelf and pick up a book. "Might as well start somewhere...*sigh*"

As he opened the book titled 'Basic Mind Calming' he began to read the squiggles on the paper which quickly turned into actual words filling his mind. The writing was clearly not in any type of language he's ever learned yet as he looked at the squiggles that filled the page everything seemed to make sense. 'To calm one's mind, is to calm one soul, is to calm everything about one person.'

The more he read the book, the calmer he felt it was as if he physically became calmer just by reading the squiggles. Before this, he was slightly freaking out, after all, who wouldn't freak out seeing a mysterious Library just randomly appear. Only after being in the library and being stunned for so long and receiving some type of task from the door did he even begin to do something. But now as he started reading the book he was finally calming down.

***

Before he knew it the entire book was finished as his mind was clear feeling as if everything was right in the world. His heart rate was calm, his thoughts were smooth, his eyesight was clear, and his hearing was perfect.

As if he was in a trance he started reading more and more books picking them up one after another. The first bookshelf he had picked was filled with books for calming the mind. Time passed quickly and soon the entire bookshelf was finished, every single book on the bookshelf was finished. There was nothing left to read.

With a great calm feeling spreading throughout his body, Alex moved on to the Bookshelf to his right and picked up the next book, and without wasting any more time it began to read once again. 'Basic Breathing Techniques'

As if time was non-existent, Alex simply picked up the book, read it, and moved on to the next. But this time there was something different as he read the book his breathing changed as if by instinct he started using the techniques written in the book. Strangely as he picked up another book it seemed to get more complex. As the breathing techniques became more complex, Alex found that his body was following the directions in the book to perfection.

One after another each book was finished. After finishing one book body felt healthier. After finishing two books, his body felt lighter. The more he read the better he felt. Each book seemingly becoming more complex the more he read. The complexity didn't change his reading speed as no matter what was written, everything could be clearly understood.

Time passed quickly. Alex soon found that he had finished reading the entire bookshelf before he knew it. Without even realizing he moved onto the next bookshelf to his right. 'Basic Energy Sensing'

Once again the words in the book seemed to have an effect on Alex. As if in a trance Alex could feel the strange powers seeming to converge onto him. It was as if the most basic energies in the universe could be clearly felt in the easiest to understand state.

Time passed quickly and soon another bookshelf was finished. In a trance, unable to understand what was going on, Alex kept reading. One bookshelf was all about cooking techniques, another about cutting techniques, another about sword techniques, and spear techniques, but the one thing that stood out was that all the techniques were at the basic level.

Time passed, days, weeks, months. There was no clear way of knowing how much time passed, but slowly and surely, thousands of books were read at a fast pace.

***

After an endless amount of time Alex found himself sitting in the library with hundreds of books scattered around him. He had no idea how long he had stayed there, no idea how long he had spent reading without stopping, without eating, without drinking.

As if woken up from a trance, he quickly stood up and seemed to remember every single thing he had read. From recipes, to cultivation techniques, to creation techniques, and everything in between.

He could clearly feel his body had gotten stronger as if he had infinite power flowing through his limbs and infinite knowledge flowing through his mind it was almost like everything was right with the world.

Alex could now feel how weird it was to not have eaten or drinken anything for who knows how long. After thinking about it for a while more he gave up and simply started looking around the library he has already read all about. Most of the books he had read were about starting techniques, but there were also several others that didn't have anything to do with techniques and were only information. These types of books had pure unfiltered information on how to do specific tasks, for example creating a separate space in the world, or even creating some type of wormhole magic.

Now, having spent so long alone and without really knowing what had happened did he feel the desire to contact others. Without waiting much longer he did his best to activate the powers he felt coursing through his veins and created a wormhole to another dimension, another world, another plane of existence, something he hadn't learned from the library.

Everything felt so right as the Wormhole created a type of fog, a fog that acted as a way to visualize the wormhole itself. Although he didn't understand much he quickly stepped forward without any hesitation and tried to enter the warm hole

Bang

"Why the f*** does the fog not let me through?! What kind of stupidity is this?!"

Alex, not really understanding why he can't walk through the fog and simply leave the library, tried it again.

*Bang*

"What the hell!"

As he screamed and frustration all he could do is look at the fog and Channel all his power into his fist as he punched into the fog once again hoping for something to change.

*BANG*

As his fist hit the fog it shattered, completely destroying the Gateway he had created. Strangely, nothing else seemed to break.

Angry and Confused Alex paced around the library at high speeds wondering why he couldn't leave. He had gained quite a lot of power learning the basics yet seemed powerless.

Eventually, he reached the metal door again. This was the door that was behind him after he had arrived in the library. It was only now he remembered the words the door had told him.

"To exit is to read everything."

As he realized this he soon found out that he had only read the books at the beginning of the library the first aisle. As if on Instinct he quickly activated his calming techniques that quickly calmed his mind. Taking a deep breath he realized he was truly trapped in this never-ending Library till he could finish every single book that there is to read.

It was then suddenly an idea popped in his mind. If the first aisle was all about basic techniques then maybe he only feels strong for now but isn't actually strong, so he must read more aisles to find a book that will make him stronger than anyone. If he becomes all powerful nothing can chain him down.

The more he thought of it the more sense it made.

'All I have to do is read a couple more aisles, and a few more books, and if I get into that weird trance again I'll finish before I know it!'

Now brimming with confidence Alex quickly moved on to the next aisle without any more hesitation and started reading the next book. 'Starter Fire Techniques'

***

Time passed quickly again and before he knew it he finished another aisle. Still, he did not stop... Next aisle...

***

As if driven by Madness Alex quickly finished 20 different aisles. Each aisle had at least a million books at the bare minimum. Yet even with that many books Alex had finished 20 different aisles and had reached forms of extremely Advanced Techniques he never thought were possible. Of course, these techniques were a combination of everything he learned. No book was labeled 'advanced' or anything like it.

Once again Alex tried to open a gateway to another world even if he knew nothing about it he wanted to leave the old library as his mind was deteriorating simply reading every day all day for every moment of his existence.

Taking a deep breath he looked back with melancholy. At the library he spent so much time in... and, tried to walk forward once again.

*Bang*

Just as before he was trapped with no exit.

"Who the hell are you!? Why do you think you can trap me here for no God damn reason!? Eventually, I shall Escape! It is only a matter of time. Only a matter of time...it is only a matter of time...

***

Time passed and just as quickly another 20 aisles were finished, but Alex didn't stop there he kept reading and reading. It was only when there were 10 bookshelves left, he showed a slight smile as the Insanity in his eyes revealed his true thoughts.

"Just a little more... Just a little more..."

***

"Finally... after so long the last book..."

Soon the book was finished... Just as he closed the book a loud voice seemed to reverberate throughout the library, "Second level opening."

Cursing at how there's actually another level he has to deal with Alex simply closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Taking a deep breath he once again activated a different more powerful Wormhole Magic. Everything worked just as before, a white mist enveloped a portion of the library, but pushing on it felt like a soft wall that would not allow him to leave.

"F*ck!" Punching the white mist is shattered once again. Luckily this time he had an idea, something that was brewing in his mind for a while now. Activating a clairvoyant spell, Alex connected his mind to another world.

Staring into the void, Alex was able to see a world with green grass, beautiful trees, and a blue sky. Feeling a desire to see a world like that, Alex thought of all the books he had read about creation Magic. Without waiting any longer Alex activated a space Magic to create a dimensional space that in most cases would be a blank void, but with all the knowledge he had gathered he was able to quickly terraform that void and make it into a copy of what he had just seen.

Technically speaking this place he had just created was inside the Library, so with great hope, Alex activated the doorway and entered the space. This time there was no resistance, no wall, nothing that stopped him from entering this space. Excitedly Alex smelled the fresh air, everything in the dimensional space was real. The air was truly being recycled by the trees making oxygen for him to breathe.

The new place gave Alex a new perspective. The fresh air allowed him to think clearly. Suddenly new idea sparked to his mind. Quickly activating the clairvoyance spell, Alex looked through the world he had found before eventually finding a single person.

Once again activating the wormhole spell, Alex a two-way door right in front of the person. Just as expected, the person walked into the Mist without realizing what happened until after they walked through. Soon right in front of him, the person appeared giving him the first contact he had in so long.