1 The First Prelude to Eternity

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A strange creature was floating in the colorless space. There were no concepts of time and space within the place. No mortals could live in the place because the place's true nature was beyond their puny brain to comprehend, and if they forced their brains to comprehend the place's nature, their brain would melt in instant. Such was the complexity of the place…

However, this story wasn't about the place, instead, this was about the strange creature. The creature had the appearance of an eyeball, but the similarity with an eyeball was only that. Most of the creature's surface was gleaming with metallic black color and was covered by glowing circuitry lines that merge into the neon-colored iris, and the color of this creature's iris was the same with the color of those circuitry lines. Additionally, the creature had a light yellow pupil in the center of the iris, which was blinking in a steady interval.

At first glance, the creature seemed like a nightmarish creature that came straight out of a horror sci-fi movie created by a mad producer, but the truth is, the creature was the supreme being in the Fictional Universe. The creature was an existence akin to God… Wait! Allow us to reword it! The creature was the God of the Fictional Universe!

And what is the Fictional Universe? You might question the meaning of that name. In summary, the Fictional Universe was a metaphysical realm made from mankind's collective subconscious thoughts and their beliefs about fiction. Fictional Universe at the same time was both imaginary and reality, existing as both matter and dream…

Back to the mysterious creature, the creature was called Administrator ― or Admin for short. Admin had a single purpose as long as it exists, which was to manage the circulation of 'Resource' to keep the Fictional Universe existing. And the above-mentioned Resource was metaphorical energy produced by the subconscious desires and collective beliefs of mankind from Reality.

The abovementioned mankind was not any mankind that Admin could find in its imaginary universe like weeds on the roadside. The type of mankind in question was a kind of mankind who lived in Reality, whose subconscious desires and beliefs had given birth to the singularity such as the Fictional Universe, the Administrator, and other similar existences within this metaphysical realm.

By the way, the Reality mentioned above was our world, and we can be considered as special existences. At least, in this story. But, we had strayed from the topic again…

Admin dwelt in the centermost of this imaginary universe, and even though this being never left this place, it always knew what happened, what was currently happening, and limited knowledge of what would happen in the future of the Fictional Universe. With that, if you assumed that Admin was omniscient, even though the omniscient of Admin wasn't perfect, you are not wrong! And with the authority of Admin in this imaginary universe, Admin was also omnipotent.

Of course, Admin's power was limited only to this imaginary universe. Still, it made Admin into the most absolute supreme being above all the most powerful fictional characters that were ever being created by mankind's ideas. And yet, even though Admin was the absolute existence in this imaginary universe, Admin still had an equal existence. And truth be told, this equal was also a threat to Admin's existence…

The singularity that could threaten the Fictional Universe and Admin was created from the realistic outlook of mankind who was disillusioned by their harsh reality. Admin called this existence with a code: [Other]… It can be said that Other was the natural counter of the Fictional Universe, and with that, Admin itself.

Although they were made from the collective subconscious of mankind, which meant they share a similar origin, Other had an unfair advantage against Fictional Universe and Admin. Other exists solely to erase the Fictional Universe, a nature that presented a gross disadvantage for Admin that wants to preserve the continuity of the Fictional Universe and its existence.

Admin couldn't accept the end just like that! Admin had tried countless attempts to fight off the encroachment of Other, and yet all Admin's attempts had met with utter failure. Admin had sent off the strongest characters — heroes, antiheroes, and villains — from each fictional world within the Fictional Universe, but those characters only ended up as a gentle breeze that hit Other.

Meanwhile, Countless worlds that Admin had created as a makeshift barricade to slow down Other meant nothing because this calamitous existence devoured them in the blink of an eye.

It was like throwing countless eggs onto the boulder, and those eggs couldn't even scratch the boulder… or perhaps, the more fitting metaphor is, like throwing pebbles into an ocean, and those pebbles disappeared in the ocean meaninglessly. What a tragedy! Such action is nothing but a waste of resources that could be used for better things!

After countless fruitless endeavors, Admin realized it lacked 'something' that could affect Other. Arriving at that conclusion, Admin suddenly had an idea: "What if I summon someone from Reality?"

The reason behind Admin's idea is since the Fictional Universe and Other were made from humanity's collective subconscious, a person from Reality surely the answer Admin needs! But summoning someone from Reality is a topic easier said than done! Although Admin was the absolute being in the Fictional Universe, Admin was only peerless in this imaginary universe! Admin couldn't affect someone outside of this imaginary universe and couldn't summon a person from Reality through conventional means that often happened in the usual Portal Fantasy stories you might have read.

Admin intimately understood the concept of Hero Summoning from many fictional worlds within this imaginary universe. All fictional ideas that were thought out by mankind existed in this imaginary universe, after all. And 'Portal Fantasy/Isekai' is a well-known enough genre of fiction. There were countless worlds wherein that kind of phenomenon happened, which were still existing at this moment or had been devoured by Other.

Be that as it may, Admin could still summon someone from Reality, but not through the normal means that normally happened in those Portal Fantasy/Isekai-based worlds. Because of the nature of the Fictional Universe, Admin cannot summon someone's physical body, only this person's ego summoned to Fictional Universe…

Besides, summoning the ego of a person from Reality is an arduous and costly endeavor. Admin must sacrifice an exorbitant amount of Resources. And lately, the Resource is very scarce and only enough to maintain the continuity of the Fictional Universe with a little spare to slow down the progress of Other! It is clear to anyone that the Fictional Universe is currently in a precarious situation, without even counting the threat of Other…

The reason behind this Resource deficiency is, as time progressed in Reality, mankind collectively become stagnant and lazy because of the convenience of the modern-day era. They stopped producing substantial ideas and beliefs, they lacking inspiration and imagination, which were important to generate enough Resources to sustain the Fictional Universe.

And so, Admin experienced Resource deficiency. Still, with Admin's mechanical precision and godly skill in management, Admin was able to save up the extra Resource for an emergency. Even so, it was unclear if Admin's savings are enough for the summoning. Admin has never done this, after all. There is a chance Admin needs more than its savings to complete the summoning.

"…I shall do it!" The desperate Admin made up the choice decisively.

Admin consumed the emergency Resource and opened a connection to the collective subconscious of mankind. And just by doing that alone had taken almost the entirety of Admin's savings. Around 70% of the savings used up to create a connection between this metaphysical realm and the collective subconscious of mankind! Admin also realized its emergency savings weren't enough to summon someone's ego from Reality!

"Should I use the Resource to sustain Fictional Universe for this?"

Admin carefully weighed its decision. This wasn't a simple matter like choosing your dinner! If the Resource that must be circulated in Fictional Universe is used up, countless worlds will cease to exist at once! And without those worlds to slow down Other, that disaster would have quickly and easily get closer to the centermost of the Fictional Universe. However, if Admin's plan succeeds, Other won't be able to get closer to Admin's location. It truly is a dangerous gamble!

But, since Admin had already spent 70% of the savings, Admin couldn't stop just like that! Since Admin was already knee-deep in the water, it resolved to wholly dive in! It was all or nothing, a do or die situation… it was a fitting metaphor for Admin's situation…

Back to Admin, after gathering its resolve, Admin continued and searched for someone that fits its needs but quickly discovered another problem! Admin was unable to take anyone from Reality as it pleases! Admin couldn't summon someone charismatic that could sway the masses, who was the kind of person Admin needs the most!

A person with the power to sway the masses has an important connection with the collective subconscious of mankind. Someone like that can generate overabundant Resource to sustain the Fictional Universe. Admin believed in such a person can fight off Other.

However, such a person is very important in Reality, and Admin could not summon that kind of person. In the end, Admin narrows down the list of the candidates, choosing anyone it can summon with ease…

Somehow, all the candidates Admin was allowed to summon were Otaku or Weeaboo that aren't significant in Reality. They were good-for-nothing people, a kind who never gave any significant contribution to society. Their willpower is also mediocre…

Truth be told, Admin wanted someone better than that, but Admin was forced to accept such a type of people. While being mindful of the usable Resource, Admin picked out the candidates with the cheapest Resource to summon. From here, Admin discovered the candidates were Otaku and Weeaboo who didn't mind getting summoned to another world…

They wished to get summoned to another world, becoming the typical Isekai Protagonist. They were delusional people who thought Reality was boring, difficult, or both. They know that being summoned to another world is something that only happens in fiction but still wishing to get the opportunity to experience that…

They were people without family or significant others to tie them down in Reality. And this kind of person was surprisingly many. After that, Admin checked out the willpower of each candidate and found some people who matched its needs. Admin picked one from these people and summoned the person's ego to its place.

After summoning the ego of this person, Admin found its connection to the collective subconscious of mankind had been cut off. Perhaps, it was the instinct of mankind's subconscious to protect themselves. That aside, this presented a bigger problem for Admin. Since the Fictional Universe was cut off from the collective subconscious of mankind within Reality, it wouldn't receive the Resource to sustain the Fictional Universe anymore!

If Admin had the same biology as humans, Admin would have surely wept in despair, or maybe even coughed up blood due to sudden high blood pressure because of extreme anger and intense shock. This made Admin feeling deeply wronged! It only wanted to preserve its existence, but why it faced a hardship yet again!

Admin's regret was bottomless, but it could do nothing about it. As the saying goes, there is no use in crying over spilled milk… At least, Admin had someone from Reality that had the potential to become a Resource generator for the Fictional Universe. As a matter of fact, Admin was desperately grasping a lifeline here, deluding itself that all is well. Although Admin achieved what it sought out, Fictional Universe was in a further pinch now!

Putting aside the regret and indignation, Admin began experimenting with this person. Since the concept of space and time is irrelevant within its place, it was unknown how long Admin experimented with this person. Maybe it was only for a split second, maybe it was for countless years. No one but Admin knew of how long it has experimented on this person if the concept of time exists in its place…

And regarding Admin's experiment, it was trying to stimulate this person's subconscious desire and willpower using dreams and illusions…