Prologue: Warehouse Part 1

Prologue: Warehouse Part 1

Illusion and reality.

Where does the line begin and where does it end?

Is it all in our heads? Is our views on reality what makes reality a reality?

What happens when our reality is proven to be illusion?

When we dream, are we dreaming of an illusion or is it when we wake up that we are in fact dreaming and the dreamer exists in reality.

It's an interesting concept right?

Well there a very simple reason I'm thinking about it, and that reason is that I am currently questioning that concept right now.

Who am I? No idea.

Family and friends? No memories.

World I'm from? Earth I think.

Anime and books I read? Crystal clear.

Really, how the hell can I forget all the rest and simply remember what I enjoyed for entertainment as the only clear memory in my mind.

Currently I was in an empty warehouse like room that barely had enough light to see the walls and ceiling without any door.

The light came from an iPad to my side that was currently lit up and making soft *beep* noises from a notification.

What did it say? No idea. I was still trying to make sense of this situation and haven't moved from my spot lying on the floor.

'Ok, strange room, lack of memory, iPad….. well, I'm not in pain right?'

Should I be freaking out? Maybe, I don't really know.

Most of my memory might be gone but habits still remain. And I'm pretty sure I was a laid back guy in my last life.

I still felt my emotions, I just didn't really mind what came my way, life on earth was to boring and stressful to really care.

The last thing I can recall is reading a fanfiction of a Jumpchain when there was a glass breaking sound, then there was a bunch of psychedelic colors, then pain, lots and lots of pain, and then nothing… until I woke up here.

And when I say I woke up here, I mean my consciousness did, my body on the other hand, was foreign to me seeing as how I was pretty sure I was in my early 20's and now I'm in a child's body.

After a few more minutes just lying there debating on if this was reality or a dream, I decided to sit up and see whatever the hell was going on in this strange place and what the hell happened to me.

I reached over and tapped the screen of the iPad, and a second later, it flashed, slightly blinding me, and then a voice came out.

{"Testing, testing, is this thing on?"}

I blinked the light from my eyes and looked to see that the screen was showing a large man with striking red eyes sitting on a leather chair by a fire.

{"Ah, there we go. Hello young man!

I know this might be a bit strange for you, but I'll explain things in this recording, it's not a live feed so please pay attention.

First off, my name is Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, you may refer to me as Zelretch."}

…

'Oh fuck me.'

With a clear memory of anime and fanfiction, I knew exactly who this man was, and I was suddenly both excited and afraid.

This man was the emperor… of trolls.

{"I believe your world had an interesting animation of my own world. It was interesting as it was created by someone who reincarnated into your old world from my own, but there are endless worlds and endless possibilities, so don't think too much on it.

Now, as the user of the second true magic, the Kaleidoscope, I tend to travel through multiverses and perform experiments from time to time.

In my latest one, I was attempting to contain a large amount of my own magic into a container when my concentration slipped as I had a most ingenious prank idea.

Before I could regain control, I accidently caused a multiversal explosion, propelling me through a few planes of existence until I landed in yours, and accidently killed you from landing on you.

I thank you for cushioning my fall."}

…

I don't know if I should be insulted or not…. Why does he have to speak so politely when complimenting/insulting me?

{"Moving on, after discovering your noble sacrifice, I decided to try and repay you, but it seemed my experiment's explosion caused my magic to protect my body, and when I landed on you, my magic affected your soul as your body died."}

'If your magic protected you then how was my sacrifice noble???'

{"It wasn't hard to chase your soul on its journey, but I marveled at what I discovered. Truly, you are a special young man." }

I blinked at that.

'I'm special?'

{"You are…. incredibly lucky!"}

…

'Fuck you to buddy.'

{"Haha don't look down on luck my young friend. When I say you are lucky, I meant it.

The chances of what I discovered happening are so small, it could happen a few times in an entire universe's cycle. Which is going from the big bang until the universe implodes in on itself if you didn't understand.

You see, there cannot be two holders of a True Magic at the same time. You happened to have a large compatibility with the second magic like myself!

Unfortunately, your world had no understanding of magic and even if it did, it would be a long path for you to be able to actively use the second magic even with me gone.

But that doesn't matter now!

In my failure of an experiment, the energy from the second true magic exploded on your body. It killed you physically, but spiritually, it seeped deep into your soul." }

'Go on.'

{"I have effectively, and accidently, created a being who is similar to myself and yet without the control behind it.

You young lad, are an incomplete user of the second true magic. I say incomplete because you have no magic, no understanding of the true magic, and absolutely no control of said magic.

When you died, the magic grasped onto the more varied part of your mind, which was full of anime, movies, and books, leaving you with full memories of them while the majority of the rest died with your body.

The magic is currently completely on a 'random' mode and will never stop until you are able to grab it by the reigns so to speak.

And even then, you will never be able to use it like me, unless I die, which is unlikely to happen for many eons. Still, you will be capable of lesser multiversal travel!

The magic will continue to send you into various worlds for various times until you gain control, and after you gain control, you will only be able to go back or forward, but with control of the time spent in each world." }

'… that… is pretty cool. Not gonna lie, I can't be mad at something like this.'

{"So there's good news and bad news.

Bad news, you died and can never return to your former universe until you gain control.

Good news, you were an orphan without family and your original world is incredibly boring.

Bad news, your body was squashed.

Good news, your soul was seeped in magic and I gifted you a homunculus body!

Bad news, the time you spend in new worlds will be completely random until you gain control.

Good news, you get to explore many new worlds!

Bad news, you can still die in these worlds.

Good news, you can gain powers from these worlds!"}

I felt myself twitching in annoyance at this bastards way of speaking.

'Say everything at once you ass. Stop trying to excite me and bring me down one after the other.'

One part of that made me pale, however.

The idea that the emperor of trolls gave me a new body….

My hands shot down like lightning toward my crotch and I sighed in relief.

'Oh thank god, I still have my boy, I'm still a male. No offense to other genders but I like being a male thank you very much.'

The guy took a break to sip some tea.

{"It's exciting no? In truth, I took a look at your past, and saw how bored you were, so where's the harm in some risky adventure right?

You lost your old life, old memories, and old body, and you are being sent through worlds against your will without being able to guide where you go, but it's not all that bad.

You get to experience some of what has always been a unique ability of mine.

It might have been an accident, but you would be a Kohai or little brother to me on the path of multiverse travel.

I honestly don't know how to replicate the effect of what I did to you by accident, but even then, I want to see if your worthy of the title of being my little brother.

Therefore, I'm giving you a few tests."}

I thought about that for a minute, and I couldn't help but nod.

'The guys a dick, but it's not like I could say I'm upset with this scenario. As for being his little brother, well…. I would like to pass. Please ignore my existence.'

Zelretch smiled in the camera.

{"Ha, you're probably seeing my point of view now."}

'No, no I'm not.'

{"Each world is unique with different laws, and even with my magic acting like a master key to enter these worlds, there is only so much I can help you with as you don't actually have the magic I do, your just being affected by my magic without being the holder.

So while you can enter worlds, what you can gain from them will be limited as the world itself will suppress foreign entities.

I've given you three things to help you on your journey, as gifts from me. Despite the fact that I killed you on accident, they will be part of the test's I give you.

If you survive, I would be delighted to enjoy some tea and talk about our experiences."}

'Asshole.'

{"First I will tell you your gifts. Those three things are:

1. Your own personal pocket dimension! It's the space your currently in. Let's call it a warehouse.

I have tied the space to your soul so it will be natural to use it. It's like a video game inventory that you can enter, but there are many limitation to it as I'm the one who created it and not you. If you want to improve it, learn your own magic.

- This is a storage space, not an active magic you can use for combat. You can't use it to attack or defend you in a fight.

- Until you learn more about space magic or gain some other unique ability, you can only access the warehouse and inventory through this iPad.

- You can only place items you actually own inside.

- You can only put things inside by touching them with your hands.

- The space is limited and any item you take out will be within 5 feet of you, so no storing a giant boulder just to take it out and drop it on your enemy unless you want to go *splat*.

- There is no mental inventory list, you need to physically find it through the inventory list on the iPad.

- You cannot bring living beings inside unless you own them, or they are tied to your soul.

- And finally, when you're in a new world, you won't be able to physically enter the space as you like. You will only be able to access it as a game like inventory.

I set it up this way so you don't turtle up and hide away as that would be boring and sad. The rules I placed were that you can enter the space once a month, for up to 48 hours, with a time ratio of 1:10. Meaning 48 hours inside equals 4.8 hours outside. As soon as you enter, the timer will begin to count down, so just because you leave doesn't mean you can 'Save' time for later.

Once a year, on new year's, you can enter for up to two week at the same ratio.

2. Your body. The homunculus body I made while imbuing it with my kaleidoscope magic, will be able to adapt to any world you enter and whatever ability you gain will flawlessly blend into the body without any incompatibility.

3. This iPad. Now I want you to be very careful with this device as it's a masterpiece of mine that I built with materials from multiple worlds. It's pretty durable, but not indestructible.

This iPad will be your holy grail for the foreseeable future. I tied it into the magic that is seeped into your soul.

What it can do is:

- Tell you what world you're going to next.

- Tell you what part of the timeline your being entered into.

- Keep track of the 7 dimension coordinates of the worlds you go to. When you gain control and want to go back, the iPad will be your gate.

- Acts as the key to your warehouse.

- Allow you to choose what abilities you will be able to gain from each new world.

To break that down for you. It tells you when and where you going. It's the gate to go backwards. It's the key to your warehouse and inventory. And the last point is the most important.

As I said with your new body, I imbued it with my magic to create a homunculus body that can adapt to new worlds and their individual laws.

So while you can gain access to any world, you don't get access to all the things someone actually born in that world could gain.

Any item in the world itself that could enhance you is fair game, but you will not naturally be able to have what everyone else has.

For example, in the world of One Piece, you will not naturally have the ability to use Haki, or their natural durability and healing factors. Devil fruit are fair game because they are items in the world itself that anyone can use.

So it limits what you can do, but the abilities you do gain are yours and you can improve them as much as you wish while your homunculus body perfectly adapts to accept the abilities. You can choose Haki as an ability, but you would be forced to pick which type.

What abilities you can gain from each world are all different in quantity and quality, but the iPad will quantify those choices and present them to you before you enter each world. Beware that your choice is permanent.

And finally, until you gain access to space magic, the iPad will be how you enter or exit the warehouse. To use the inventory, you will have to scroll through the inventory list.

Quite beautiful gifts no?" }

Hitting the pause button of the video, I took a minute to process all that new info.

I basically just got told I have a gamers body, with only a single life, a warehouse/inventory space with a time ratio, and an iPad that acts like a terminal from those Jumpchain fanfics…. I regret nothing.

I hit the play button again.

{"Now for the last part, my tests for you.

One of the apps you will find on this iPad is a messenger app that is currently connected to me.

I want you to survive three worlds, to prove to me that you have the potential to reach a higher level.

That's your first test.

After that, I will start giving you random quests to challenge you for various reasons and I want to see how you deal with them.

I am a busy man and don't have time to watch over you, so at the end of each world, send me a message and we can talk.

If you survive three worlds, I'll pop in and take a look at you to make sure your body and soul are adapting well.

And remember, while I can assist you if you need help, I believe in equivalent exchange. I helped you this time because I killed you and I was very interested in what happened with you, but next time, you will need to give me something in exchange for anything you wish from me.

If you pass all my tests, I'll actually accept you as my little brother and be much more willing to help you and play an active role. I have many abilities and skills at my disposal from the thousands of worlds I've been to, so don't think it might not be worth it.

I truly wish to have someone to be able to converse with about this style of magic, so please survive, and grow stronger!

I hope to hear from you soon young one.

Best of luck."}

And with that, the video ended, and the home screen of the iPad popped up.

I sat there as the light from the iPad dimmed and processed all of this.

Was I angry I died? Not really, I don't feel like I missed out on much. If I was an orphan like he said, I had no family waiting for me, and I get the feeling I was incredibly bored.

Was I angry I was in this situation? I can't say I'm a fan of being pulled along without any control, but I also don't really mind it in this situation.

This is similar to all those Jumpchain fanfics I was always reading. Instead of a Jumpchain-Chan, I just have an immortal pranking vampire with the master key to multiverse travel as a possible big brother who wants me to entertain him.

Does that bother me? Hm… I'm unsure. I think I need to train my pranking skills in a few worlds before I can say if it does.

Ha, let's see if I can out prank the emperor of pranksters. I must train with the masters of pranking whenever I can.

Shrugging things off and going with the flow, I picked up the iPad and scrolled through the apps.

It was a basic iPad, it took pictures, played music, sent multiversal messages to contact addresses, could connect to any nearby Wi-Fi connection to stream the internet, and allowed me to use my warehouse.

Oh this is cool; it can play any song from my memory.

Pictures are taken in high quality 4k.

Messages can be sent over dimensions.

Wi-Fi…needs a nearby connection? Why is this the only normal function?

And there is an app called inventory, clicking on it showed a Skyrim like inventory list with just one item. Me.

Right, moving on. I found a user manual!

It explained the next few apps for me.

Updates, World Info, Track Your Progress, Status, Settings, and World Power Selection.

Updates was for the future when Zelretch or eventually I needed to add or fix things.

World info was for telling me what world was next and when I could or would be forced to enter. It also shared how much time I had left in each world, oh! I could toggle that timer onto the main screen, doing that now.

Track Your Progress was for recording the worlds I went to, in their exact coordinates so I don't get mixed up with parallel versions of the same world, apparently there was a lot of those.

Status showed me just my name, age, and abilities. No game like 'stats' or exp.

Settings was pretty basic, allowed me to toggle different settings and oh cool! There's a size alteration option.

'Wait, what exactly is getting its size altered?'

There were three options, small, medium, and large.

Shrugging, I clicked on small.

The next second, the iPad shrunk to a small iPhone size.

'… ok, this is really cool, I give you props Zelretch.'

I played with it and small is iPhone size, medium is iPad size, and large is well, a big flat screen tv size.

Not gonna lie, I played with that a few times watching it grow and shrink for fun. It will be much more convenient to keep it in small form.

Moving on!

World Power Selection was for me to choose what powers I could use in each world!

Zelretch already explained that I wouldn't be able to use all the usual powers a resident in the world could, and that I would have to choose before entering a world.

I'm not entirely sure what he means by that, but I will find out soon enough.

{Status:

Name: N/A

Age: 11

Abilities: N/A

Notes: Noob, grow some hair on your chest and lose that ability V-Card.}

…

..

.

'Ohoho~ Game on you fucker, game on.'

I could already tell, this wasn't an AI or anything, but it was the program Zelretch put in. The bastard started the war already.

Pushing past that, I noticed my age and that I had no name and it allowed me to input my own.

'So I'm eleven now? Well that explains the small body. But what was my name?'

I actually couldn't recall it, I guess my memory from that area was also gone.

*Shrug*

'Well whatever, new life, new name. What should I choose?'

My mind flashed through plenty of names, mostly from anime, books, and fanfics, and I realized most would be cliché or a rip off.

'Fuck it, let's keep it simple. How about… Jin, yeah, simple and short, Jin.'

I typed in the name and I got a pop up.

[Name chosen as 'Jin', confirm? If selected, name cannot be changed unless under special circumstances.]

I hit the confirm button without much care.

Just then, the room started shaking slightly.

'Hm? Am I dying again?'

The iPad lit up and World Info was automatically opened.

[First world reached!

World: Harry Potter

Timeline: 1991, 1971, 1942

Time in world: One year.]

'Harry Potter? I can rock this. Great starting world.

Let's see, its giving me an option for the timeline? Manual, check the manual.'

Opening the manual showed that I only get to pick between whatever timelines I'm offered. If only one is shown, I get no choice.

'Ok, 91 is Canon, 71 is…. Isn't that when Harry's parents went to Hogwarts? And 42 is obviously WW2.

Yeah, sorry to all the readers but I'm taking canon. I don't know shit about the other two options.'

Once the year was chosen, the app closed, and World Power Selection automatically opened.

[CHOOSE YOUR POWER.]

'Wait! Pause, timeout.

*Pft* hahahaha, fuck that was cliché and it even had a sound effect when it popped up with lightning and blood visual effects.'

It took me a minute to calm down from that one, it was good.

[CHOOSE YOUR POWER.

World: Harry Potter.

Options: 1 Main, 1 branch, 1 electives, 3 extras.

Main:

[Magic]

Branch:

[Charms] [Transfiguration] [Dark Arts] [Legilimency] [Occlumency] [Divination] [Astronomy] [Potions]

Electives:

[History of Magic] [Arithmancy] [Ancient Runes] [Wards] [Healing] [Alchemy] [Rituals] [Herbology] [Defense against the Dark Arts]

Extras:

[Veela Charm] [Magic Resistance] [Parseltounge] [Ligimens] [occumens] [Animagus] [Metamorph (3)] [The Sight] ]

'… ok, my head hurts again. Manual!'

Pulling up the manual again, I got some more information here.

Main abilities are things that each person is born with in the world and that I can gain. If there is only one option, I have to choose it.

Branches are where I get to expand on. Choosing a branch gives me a high level of talent for that path, but it bares me from other paths.

To explain it simply, if I choose transfiguration, I will get a X10 exp multiplier for it, while any other branch of magic would get a -10X multiplier for learning or using.

As a foreign entity into the world, I will have to choose which path the Second True Magic allows me to take, while other paths will act like a curse on my being forever.

However those curses are only in direct relation to the world in question, not others.

Some of these negative multipliers can be offset by different worlds and what choices I make, but for simplicity sake, I simply will be stuck with whatever I choose.

Electives are sub categories for whatever branch I choose. Unlike a branch, which gives me a 10X and -10X multiplier, electives are more of a 2X and -2X multiplier. They give me smaller talent bonuses but also have less restrictions on others for learning and using.

Extras are natural abilities some rare people can be born with. It seems that because of my homunculus body, I have a much better adaption for this worlds natural abilities. Cool.

'Ok, so I need to make a choice and stick with it…. Let's see.

There's a lot of ways I could do this, but fuck it, I choose Charms. Why? Well it's the most versatile and the others have limits.

Transfiguration is cool and my second choice, but it's quite limited, even if those limits can be pushed in many ways.

Dark Arts is only useful for directly or indirectly harming others, and it tends to taint the soul or mind.

Legilimency is awesome, but I don't want to focus all my magic talent on that.

Same with occlumency.

Divination is a load of crap. Yes you might see the future, but you will see one possible point in the infinite options out there. Cause and effect change the future each second.

Astronomy is a cool study but its only useful if you want to use rituals.

Potions are really useful, but again, charms is more fun.'

With my choice for Charms, many of the electives were greyed out, leaving me to choose between:

[History of Magic] [Arithmancy] [Wards] [Healing] [Defense against the Dark Arts]

'I choose [Wards], seems more fun and compatible with Charms.'

Now onto the extra's.

Veela charm is already greyed out, I guess its female only.

Magic resistance is a good option, but I feel like I could find other ways to achieve that.

Parseltongue is cool depending on how I want to deal with things.

Ligimens is useful, but not as useful as occumens.

Animagus is a must, I chose charms so my transfiguration talent will be shit. And I really love the idea of turning into an animal.

Metamorph is cool, but its saying I need to use 3 full points for that one. Using 1 or 2 will only make me a partial Metamorph.

And 'The Sight' I'll pass. It says its completely random and not 100% accurate even if it may help you see things that might happen to you in the future. Its more self-defense divination but still not accurate.

I thought about how I want to do things in this worlds and the future, and I made my choice.

'I choose [Parseltounge] [Occumens] [Animagus].'

Parseltongue because I want to make the most of this world. I had a few ideas and not a lot of time.

Occumens because I really want the ability to organize my mind even if I wasn't willing to focus my 'Branch' on it. It will save me a lot of time and effort if I can organize my mind.

And Animagus because I really wanted it. Without talent in transfiguration or potions, I have no idea how long it would take to achieve it.

It was annoying to give up Ligimens but honestly, the other options are more attractive to me then reading others minds.

I can still learn Legilimency, but it would take me a long time.

[Main: Magic

Branch: Charms

Elective: Wards

Extras: Parseltounge, Occumens, Animagus.

Confirm?]

I nodded and hit confirm.

The room shook once more and a beam of light shot from the iPad to the wall of the warehouse, creating a swirling door of light.

[Go toward the light.]

I stared between the words and the door with blank eyes.

'Really Zelretch? You're really milking this me dying thing.

…

Eh, can't blame the guy, I would do the same thing.'

The room shook slightly like a warning.

'Well, it looks like that my que.'

Standing up for the first time, I brushed some imaginary dust off my pants and walked over.

'Hm, I think another benefit of this homunculus body is not having coordination issues.'

It didn't feel awkward despite being de-aged.

As I reached the door, I took a deep breath and firmed my eyes.

My leg stretched out to cross the threshold as I spoke my first words out loud.

"A journey of a thousand steps begins with the first *RRRR* Ah! What the fuck!"

Instead of going through the damn thing, I slammed face first into a hard barrier and heard a buzzing sound like I got the wrong answer in a game.

Rubbing my throbbing face with one hand, I looked down at the iPad and saw a pop up.

[Choose starting location!~]

'Zelretch…. *deep breaths* you will get him back one day…. Yes, that's right, it will happen, eventually.'

Taking a few calming breaths and beginning an inner mantra of 'I will get you Zelretch', I typed in 'The Leaky Cauldron.'

[Choice made, please proceed and enjoy!]

'Fuck you.'

While flipping off the iPad, I stepped into the light.