1 Prologue
Dream
A state commonly experienced by living beings during unconsciousness, is where one encounters strange, imaginary events that defy the logic of reality. Scientists assert that the brain is responsible for dreaming in all living creatures and suggest that dreams have a purpose, although their exact nature remains undiscovered.
Sometimes, humans can achieve enlightenment, brilliant ideas, or even something as improbable as foresight in their dreams, but the reasons behind these phenomena are still shrouded in mystery.
Dreams vary in type, including lucid dreams, nightmares, ordinary dreams, and dark dreams. Everyone, at least once, has experienced these, and this holds true for a young man named Arata Souji.
Like anyone else, Arata has experienced all these phenomena throughout his life: nightmares that occasionally disturbed him, rare dark dreams reflecting his imaginative mind, and a solitary instance of a lucid dream.
On the surface, Arata seems no different from anyone else, but he harbors one bizarre experience that sets him apart. He had a vivid, years-long dream where he lived a second life from birth to adulthood. This might not sound unusual, considering that time can behave differently in dreams, with people experiencing months in a dream but only minutes passing in reality, or vice versa.
However, Arata's experience transcends normal limits, as he vividly recalls the memories of this second life, so real that it felt like he was reborn in another world.
In this dream, he was born and grew up in a medieval fantasy world filled with magic. He formed a close bond with a beautiful neighbor, evolving into a childhood sweetheart, and eventually marrying as an adult. Tragically, he awoke when his village was attacked by the troops of a demon king, dying alongside his family and wife.
Since then, Arata became obsessed with researching dreams, leading him to neglect his studies and perform poorly in high school. Driven by his obsession, he scoured papers and publications on the internet about dreams and even watched films related to dreams, like 'Inception' or 'Nightmare on Elm Street.'
After all who wouldn't want to experience a second, different life like Arata's previous dream? After extensive research, he desperately found out that his experience was unprecedented.
But soon he cheered up fueled by the possibilities of lucid dreaming, Arata turned to the internet and YouTube, learning how to induce lucid dreams and buying numerous sleeping pills due to his difficulty in falling asleep.
Day after day, he practiced without success, but his determination never wavered. His health deteriorated from the excessive use of sleeping pills, leading his family, especially his parents, to discover his abnormal behavior.
They confiscated all his sleeping pills and electronic devices, promising their return once he recovered from his obsessive state. Desperate, Arata consumed a large hidden stash of sleeping pills for one final attempt, vowing it to be his last.
Tragically, this decision led to his eternal sleep, leaving his family heartbroken and shocked by his death, which was later discovered to be caused by an overdose of sleeping pills.
"A strange ceiling..."
Opening his eyes, Arata spoke after seeing a ceiling that wasn't from his room. He quickly got up and looked around vigilantly.
"Did I succeed?"
That's what he thought, assuming his latest attempt had finally worked after so many tries.
A grin formed on his face, his heart pounding rapidly. He was slightly startled by how real this dream felt, but he ignored it and moved on to the next step.
"Alright, Arata! You need to focus and imagine the scenario you need now!"
He thought to himself, closing his eyes. Soon, he opened them again but felt disappointed as nothing had changed around him.
"Did it fail? Let me try again." He repeated the previous action but was disappointed again.
He didn't give up and tried numerous times, but it still didn't work, which made his heart race. He didn't know why, but something felt wrong.
The possibility crossed his mind that he might not be dreaming. He knew this was likely, but his heart refused to accept it.
Panic fluttered in his chest, but he forced calm upon himself, standing to examine his surroundings once more.
Grey walls surrounded him, a desk cluttered with a computer and books, a large wardrobe at the corner of the room, two large windows, and the bed he had risen from.
"This isn't my room, but why does everything feel so familiar?" He muttered, frowning, still not comprehending what was happening.
"If I've really been kidnapped, why did I wake up in such a comfortable room? No kidnapper would treat their captive well, right? Unless they're a yandere?" He joked to himself, though he doubted such a scenario. After all, he was quite certain his appearance wasn't the kind to drive someone madly in love.
Approaching the desk, he noticed a phone lying there. Picking it up, he turned it on, only to be greeted by a password screen.
"Great, now I need a password," he sighed, about to toss it aside when a sudden, unbidden memory-guided his fingers to input the correct code.
"It's open," he murmured, quickly scrolling through the phone. Unfamiliar memories started to flood his mind - faces he didn't recognize, memories he'd never lived. They were all from the perspective of someone else, yet eerily sharing his name.
The memories were fragmented, recent events and snippets from a few years past. While they offered some clues to his current predicament, they left him more puzzled than before.
From these fragments, a shocking realization dawned on him: he hadn't been kidnapped. Instead, it appeared he had somehow reincarnated into a parallel version of himself, a possibility that seemed as fantastical as it was bewildering.
Though unsure about the specifics of this 'parallel' reality, it was the only explanation that made sense given the scant evidence at his disposal.
"But damn, I'm so envious of this handsome face!" Arata shouted enviously as he gazed at the phone, displaying the face of a young man who could be described as a 'Bishounen' or beautiful boy.
His skin was fair and flawless, with eyes as blue as the sky and long, curly black hair cascading to his shoulders. Anyone seeing this face would think, 'This man is both beautiful and handsome at the same time.'
Someone with such looks could easily become a famous idol, relying solely on their appearance. Perhaps if Arata had such a face in the past, he wouldn't be single or a loner otaku with few friends.
"But it's strange, this face bears quite a resemblance to my own. Maybe this is what I would look like in an upgraded, ultra version," he joked to himself, smiling narcissistically while touching his face.
After thoroughly examining and admiring his image, Arata left his bedroom. There he noticed the typical layout of a Japanese apartment.
Curiously, he approached the window and opened it, his eyes widening as he saw a beautiful world outside the apartment.
"It's beautiful…"
The apartment buildings and houses were adorned with beautiful trees everywhere. It wasn't just their beauty that captivated him, but the sky and colors he saw everywhere blended harmoniously, creating a colorful world vastly different from the one he knew before.
It never crossed his mind that he could experience the special anime vibe, like watching a Makoto Shinkai film come to life.
With the gentle breeze mixing with the beautiful sunlight, all Arata could think was how happy he was to have arrived in this world.
Smiling, he took a deep breath before shouting, "New world, here I come!!!"
But soon, his face turned very red as he realized his previous behavior was seen as weird by everyone, making him extremely embarrassed by his cringe-worthy actions.
"Damn it! I'm so cringe! I'll never do that again," he muttered, hiding from people's gazes and headbutting the wall in frustration.
After calming himself, Rozen stood up and sat on the sofa, pondering his current situation. From what he had seen, it was clear that he had reincarnated into an anime world.
But the problem was, which anime world had he arrived in? With that thought, he opened the internet again, searching for information that could serve as a clue.
"Shinomiya Zaibatsu…Hyakkou Private Academy, Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced, and Totsuki Culinary Academy? Interesting, it seems I've been reincarnated into an ordinary anime world?" He smiled as he said this, feeling a mix of happiness and disappointment.
Happy because his life was safe but disappointed as there seemed no way for him to become powerful and witness his fantasies come to life.
"Well, it can't be helped," he sighed, leaning back on the sofa, staring at the ceiling in contemplation.
'My family, they must be grieving now. I hope my parents don't remain heartbroken forever over my death.'
He sighed again, continuing to gaze at the ceiling. Eventually, sleepiness overcame him, and he slowly drifted off to sleep.
"This is?" Arata asked, confused as he stared at the chaotic world around him. He distinctly remembered falling asleep, yet here he was, awakening in this strange world.
Without realizing it, he murmured, "Is this perhaps a dream?"
With a hint of doubt, he tried to control the surroundings, and sure enough, the world, previously filled with chaotic colors, transformed into his apartment room.
"So, I really can control dreams? But at the cost of reincarnating into another world? This is truly bizarre," he muttered, his lips twitching at the realization. But what could he do? After all, reincarnation wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
"But what is this weird feeling I've had since dreaming?" His face frowned, and before he could react, a surge of vast information flooded his mind, causing both the dream world and Arata to freeze in place.
After a moment, Arata recovered, but now his face was a mix of excitement, happiness, oddity, and confusion.
"I am now Dream of the Endless? No, that's not quite right. I've become an existence similar to him but a different being, without restrictions."
"I don't have troublesome rules, so I can use my power wherever I want. And I'm also an Imagination Embodiment, which makes me conceptually stronger than Morpheus right now!" He grinned excitedly. Although being a Dream Embodiment was powerful enough, who wouldn't want to be stronger?
"But…" Arata's face clouded with concern, "I'm a lot weaker than him. I can only perform universal feats with my current power. It's still far from being as strong as Morpheus."
Yes, he was honestly a bit disappointed, but it still made him very happy, as he hadn't expected his cheat to turn him into an overpowered being like a Dream Lord.
"Maybe I can do something to increase my power. For now, let's test this power of mine!" he grinned excitedly, unleashing all his newfound strength.
In the next moment, his entire figure transformed. A flowing robe adorned with cosmic and celestial patterns appeared, making it seem as if space itself had merged with it. The robe cloaked him, obscuring his face under the hood, rendering his figure mysterious, majestic, and ethereal.
"God damn! This is so awesome!" He exclaimed with a delighted smile but then composed himself and began to release his power.
"Although I can only perform universal feats in reality, in the realm of dreams, I can do anything I want!" With that thought, he transformed his apartment world into a void and began to create multiverses with his power.
From the empty void emerged a singular point, an anomaly exploding into life, spawning a multiverse that birthed universes of infinite scale.
Space and time came into existence simultaneously after the creation of the multiverse. From there, each universe spawned its infinite parallel versions, each differing due to the various possibilities and choices within.
Arata was struck dumb, utterly fascinated by his own creation. What he witnessed right now would forever be etched in his memory.
He continued to observe it all – universes where ordinary life flourished, some others universes birthed cultivation realms, and some spawned worlds of fantasy and superpowers.
Many events unfolded within these universes: the rise of gods or god-like beings, the emergence and fall of civilizations, tales of demon kings and heroes, and even the destruction of entire universes.
After what seemed like an eternity of observation, Arata finally decided to cease, sighing deeply. The stories he witnessed were the most thrilling he had ever experienced in his life.
"Multiverse...it's really amazing." His eyes, like starry skies, gazed upon the multiverse with reminiscence and nostalgia. With a blink, his eyes returned to their former state, before the creation of the multiverse.
"By the way, how long have I been observing the Multiverse?" He pondered, though it felt like just a moment to him.
"Well, it doesn't matter. Now, let's go back to reality, even though I'm very curious about the limits of my power, especially since I didn't feel anything after creating a Multiverse just now." Soon, he exited his dream realm and emerged in reality, still in his godly form.
"This is incredible, only a few moments have passed in reality after all that," Arata marveled at the time dilation of his dream realm after looking at the time passing on the clock of his phone.
He had thought years might have passed, but only moments had elapsed in the real world. Once again, he felt satisfaction with the power he now possessed.
"With that settled, now let's find out how to strengthen my power on a realistic scale," Arata said, returning to his human form and stepping out of his apartment.
(Author's Note: I'm back again. I apologize for dropping my previous fanfic; I really hate my habit of procrastination. Hopefully, I won't abandon this fanfic as I have high expectations for it. Oh, and don't worry, there will be elements of fantasy and action, even though the protagonist reincarnates into a slice-of-life world.)
