History.

Outside.

Alex strolled through the main city of the Sect, taking in the sights of the ancient Chinese-style buildings and the peculiarly dressed folks with long hair flowing.

"Whoa, this place is massive! But where the heck is that library?" Alex mumbled to himself, glancing around to spot some people chatting.

He walked up to one of them and asked, "Hey, Senior Brother, can you show me the way to the library?"

The chubby man's eyes widened in surprise, "Wait a sec, BIG BROTHER LI???" he blurted out, looking completely shocked. "Is that you, Big Brother Li?!"

"Big Brother Li?"

"He's alive?"

A crowd started forming around them, and Alex felt a bit embarrassed, thinking, "Ugh, of course, I run into someone I know. Why's my luck so messed up?"

Putting on a sheepish grin, he replied, "Yup, I'm alive and kicking, thanks to Elder Tianlong's mercy. So, my dude, where's that library?"

The chubby man gave Alex an odd look, then sighed and said, "Chang Li said you lost your memories, and I guess he's right. Let me take you to the Celestial Dao Repository Library."

He turned to the crowd and shouted, "Alright, folks, step back! Big Brother Li is just fine, okay?"

"Are you sure?" someone asked, looking concerned.

BANG!!

The chubby man unleashed his aura, and the crowd scattered like leaves in the wind.

"So, spill it, Big Brother Li. How did you lose your memories?" the curious chubby man asked.

Alex scratched his head, "Uhh, I think I went a bit overboard with the drinks. Must've chugged down something that messed up my memory, Bro."

The chubby man smiled warmly, reintroducing himself, "Oh, right, introductions! I'm Han Li. You saved me from those jerks among the Inner Disciples a while back. Man, I owe you big time for that."

"Haha, seriously? Well, I'm glad I could help," Alex replied, playing along even though he had no recollection of the incident.

--

Ten minutes later, Alex found himself gazing at a gigantic pavilion. It made those castles from his past world look like child's play, with its golden decorations, red rubies, and carvings of mythical creatures, all in traditional Chinese style.

"Whoa, this place is lit! And this is just the Outer Sect Library? I can't imagine what the Inner and Core sects look like," Alex thought, as Han Li boasted about their sect's beauty.

Han Li said, "Feel free to go in and check things out with the Elder, but don't go above the first floor or you'll be in deep trouble. Anyway, I gotta hit the training grounds, Big Brother Li."

Alex turned back and said, "Thanks, Brother Han, I owe you one for this."

"HAHAHA, no worries! Drinks on you later!" Han Li laughed, heading off.

--

Taking a deep breath, Alex entered the library.

"Name," a deep voice came from a nearby old man, sitting with his eyes closed on a pillow.

"Ale--- Zhi Li," Alex responded.

The Elder grunted, warning him, "Three hours, and no dawdling or else!"

With shelves stacked with countless books reaching up to the ceiling, the library was a sight to behold, adorned with carvings of mythical creatures that had Alex gawking.

He made a beeline for the history section, pulling out some dusty cultivation manuals, and settled down to read, everyone was just sitting on the floor even if there were many tables that you could sit on, Alex didn't want to do anything that would make him look like a country boy so he sat down the floor like others and put down cultivation looking manuals on his lap to read.

"8000 Years ago, the heavens were shaken by a war among immortals. nobody knows who were the immortals that fought each other, and why did they fight in a world like ours but everything changed when Sword Immortal split the world into Wujin and Wuzhao, people speculate he did that to end the war of the immortals, giving rise to Wujin Wizhao, the Limitless Five Essences."

The legend spoke of uniting the realms, setting off a disaster that would rock both the Immortal and Mortal Realms alike, Tales tell us if ever our world are combined another war would start that would destroy our world entirely.

Sword Grandmaster Li Tianfeng here, ready to tell you about the forgotten war," the book declared.

Alex read many different books no matter what they said, even if it was some kind of fairytale or real history he read all of them, and his speed was very quick reading but nobody noticed it as he cleared entire books by himself.

2.5 hours later

Pop!

Alex closed his last book and stood there for a while, digesting everything and remembering just What The Hell he just read, he was looking at the bookshelves silently without much excitement...

As Alex read on more and more, his excitement waned, realizing that this wasn't a fantasy paradise, but a harsh and war-torn reality. No time for fairy tales, just survival of the fittest. Commoners had it rough, civilizations were slaughtered, if you were a commoner that couldn't cultivate you were treated as dirt and thrown away without any hesitation, and no matter how smart you were, history didn't give a hoot, only strong people were immortalized.

"Immortals," Alex remembered, spotting them in almost every tale.

"Hah... Hah... Hah... Alright, bring it on! I'll get stronger and make my way back to Earth!" He smiled, then the grin faded, replaced by worry.

In a sudden panic, he exclaimed, "HOLY CRAP, WHAT KIND OF MESS HAVE I LANDED IN? I NEED TO POWER UP AND SKEDADDLE, BRO, OH MY GOD!" Fear gripped him like a clingy pet.

With newfound determination mixed with a good dose of anxiety, Alex spun around and headed for the exit. "Time to level up, and fast!"

And so began his wild journey of growth and survival in this war-torn world, praying to every gaming deity he'd make it back in one piece.

End of Chapter.