Journey across the Multiverse [LitRpg]

Morning sunlight filtered into the lecture hall, casting the room in a soft glow. At the front, Professor Hamza stood facing the rows of desks and sleepy students.

He cut a trim figure in his crisp white lab coat, which fell to mid-thigh on his slender frame. His short-cropped hair was more salt than pepper, matching the well-groomed goatee framing his mouth. Behind black-rimmed glasses, Hamza's bright blue eyes sparkled with a keen shine. 

With a black marker, Hamza began drawing a series of concentric circles on the whiteboard. Each ring grew wider as it expanded outward across the board, representing the hypothetical expansion of alternate universes.

"So," he said in a booming voice, "the concept of the multiverse theory is simple on paper. According to our current models, the observable universe is 46.5 billion lightyears in radius."

He glanced around at the room, noticing some students nodding off in the back row despite the early hour—time to get their attention.

"That estimate is correct...right?" Hamza called out, pitching his voice to rouse the dozing students.

The class mumbled an incoherent affirmation, not fully awake yet. Hamza suppressed a smirk, then continued on. He liked being a teacher.

"This sphere represents the extent of what our telescopes can presently detect. However, we believe our universe ballooned in size from a tiny speck around 14 billion years ago. What if that expansion never halted? What lies beyond the borders of the observable?"

Hamza let the questions hang in the air for effect. Gazing at the circles on the board, he imagined the possibilities - an infinite array of cosmos and laws of physics utterly alien to human conception. The thought that existence itself might be unknowably vaster than humanity could ever grasp fascinated him.

pointing to one of the larger concentric circles he'd drawn on the board.

"Let's imagine this sphere represents our own universe. Current theories propose that our cosmos ballooned into existence through a process called inflation, from an infinitesimal point to massive size in a fraction of a second."

His gaze grew thoughtful. "If inflation occurred infinitely, continuing to spawn more 'bubble universes,' there could potentially be an infinite array of other realities parallel to our own - each with their own distinct laws of physics and alien concepts."

He raised his brows, . "A mind-boggling idea, yes? The hypothetical collection of these infinite alternate universes is what we call the multiverse theory."

In the sea of disinterested faces, one student's hand hesitantly rose. Surprised but pleased, Hamza nodded at them. "Yes?"

"Could...could even fictional concepts exist somewhere out there?" they asked timidly.

Hamza smiled, a far-away look in his eyes. "In an infinite multiverse, the possibilities are endless. Anything imaginable could be reality somewhere."

The lecture hall bell suddenly rang out. "DING DING!"

As the students started packing up, Hamza announced with a wry grin, "Pop quiz tomorrow on everything we've covered recently. I hope you've paid attention!"

Despite their grumbling, the students acknowledged the surprise quiz with nods and tired smiles. They chorused disjointed goodbyes as they shuffled out the door. hamza reached out for the glass of water but it broke into pieces. This made him a little stumble back a little. yet no one seems to notice it.

Maybe everyone is sleepy. no reaction? weird

Groans echoed, but the students smiled back as they filed out with chorused goodbyes. Hamza tidied up, feeling satisfied. As monotonous as teaching could be, moments of genuine curiosity like today's made it rewarding. He breathed a satisfied sigh as he gathered his notes and textbooks. The day's classes were finally over. After bidding the campus staff farewell, he walked to the parking lot and loaded his suitcase into the backseat of his old Honda. 

Time to head home He thought with relief as he settled into the driver's seat of his aging Honda. The evening sky was awash in brilliant hues of orange and pink, and a refreshing breeze flowed through the open windows as he drove.

Soon he pulled into the driveway of his modest two-story house, its exterior blending seamlessly with the other homes in the quiet neighborhood. After parking in the small garage, Hamza stepped out and stretched his stiff muscles, glad to be back after a long day of lectures.

Inside, he immediately felt at ease. After a warm shower, Hamza prepared a simple dinner and ate in contented silence, save for the faint hum of the refrigerator. With all the lights turned off, the house was peaceful and still except for the occasional car passing outside.

Hamza sank happily onto the living room couch and flipped through TV channels until he found his favorite - Toonami. Settling on the familiar animated exploits of Samurai Jack, he felt childhood nostalgia wash over him.

As an introverted, orphaned man of 28, Hamza had grown comfortable in his solitary lifestyle after years of striving to become a professor. After years of grueling work and his dreadful past to become a professor, he had the opportunity to work at Giga University, where he had been lecturing for four years. Loneliness became his friend as he found the relationships a bother, and his loneliness had become so comfortable that he now enjoyed it. though he always questioned everything around him. It was like living in a bubble.

Things that should be noticed always were unnoticeable to others. he didnt understand at first but maybe it was just that nobody bothered to care. 

Im thinking too much again. maybe I forgot my meds.

Turning on the TV, he settled into the couch to watch one of his beloved childhood shows, Samurai Jack on Toonami. It always inspired him to be as brave and determined as Jack. Many cartoons had helped Hamza become a better person, and he was re-watching the classic to refresh his memory.

As the credits rolled, Hamza thought fondly, "I love Genndy Tartakovsky's work. Such imaginative, fun cartoons."

He briefly considered - if life had gone differently, maybe he could have become an animator too. But with an internal shake of his head, he dismissed the idea. "Nope, too much work."

Hamza had never handled large workloads well. The steady routine of teaching suited him perfectly fine.

By 10 PM, Hamza was winding down for bed. he took a few pills as always and swelled them with water. Otherwise, he would hallucinate things that happened around him. It was a condition he still didnt have an answer to. Even the doctors were skeptical if it was trauma and loneliness or a psychological thing. Hamza turned off the TV after enjoying a nostalgic evening of cartoons. he had eaten his medicine now with classes awaiting him in the morning, he wanted to turn in early tonight.

But as he lay in bed, sleep eluded him. His restless mind was still too alert. "I just can't sleep," he muttered.

Reaching for his phone, Hamza pulled up a light novel to pass the time. He often read fiction before bed, pondering the plausibility of cosmic ideas like the multiverse theory. As an astrophysics aficionado, such speculative concepts fascinated him.

Lately, Hamza had spent most of his sparse free time immersed in novels, TV shows, and movies - always searching for glimpses of profound truths buried in their imaginary worlds. He saw wondrous possibilities in the multiverse hypothesis. Could alternate realities like those in stories actually exist?

Just as he was about to put down his phone, it chimed with a notification.

"Ding."

There was a direct message from an anonymous user, the sender's number far too long to be a legitimate phone number. It had more than 100 digits. Confused and intrigued, Hamza read the message.

"Become my avatar and journey across the MULTIVERSE. You like fiction, right? You might like it. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Hamza couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the message. It was clearly a prank or a joke of some kind. he replied out of humor

"But the fact that he mentioned multiverse? My student? some troll that took my lectures? hmmm"

He was thinking about what to do. who could send something so absurd? In most cases, people would rather avoid even replying and just leave it unread. It was someone trolling him. hamza had a weird sense of humor and laughed at it. trying a reply. he was sure that it might be one of his students.

Hamza quickly replied to the message, feeling a bit sleepy.

[lets have some fun with it]

"Sure. The multiverse is vast and mysterious, and I'm sure you have much to learn about it. But don't worry, I'm a good teacher. I can teach you something about it."

Hamza chuckled to himself before drifting off to sleep. Trolling scam emails and calls that demanded personal information was one of his hobbies - he enjoyed messing with the perpetrators out of sheer amusement. It was a small way of taking a stand against the endless stream of scams and phishing attempts that seemed to plague the internet.

================================================================================================================================================================================

Walking up as the light was shining on Hamza. It felt like morning had come. He opened his eyes and woke slowly while yawning. he saw his surroundings but it was white. nothing but white

"...."

he rubbed his eyes again as he thought something was wrong he saw nothing but white color.

"what? WTF. Another hallucination?"

After opening his eyes he just saw a plane with nothingness. Just emptiness with white color in an endless plain. He was standing on nothing as if he was floating. he tried to see his body but he had no body as he looked around.

"HOW? WHAT IS THIS? WHERE AM I"

"What is wrong with my vision? why am I seeing myself from a different perspective? 3rd person vision? What are these thoughts" 

My head hurts

So much information clogged his mind. many visions were converging. it was like he was experiencing the strongest hallucination. he could see himself muttering the same in a vision. 

"Past present and future? 3rd person vision? WTF is this? I just heard the same words coming from my own mouth moments ago."

"AHAHHAHA MY LITTLE LAMB WOKE UP"

Laughter echoed through the empty void. As Hamza concentrated on it he could not comprehend the being that spoke to it. he could not see it. only hear its reverb voice.

"Come on this should be easy you Buffon. hurry up"

The voice started belittling him as if he was doing something wrong. he could somehow predict its pouty face for some reason

After a few moments, Hamza was able to see the entity that was speaking to him. It was a being that defied description. Hamza could not think of how to describe what it looked like. 

It is as if im looking at something that is changing forms instantly or something. My mind hurts to comprehend it.

It looked down at Hamza as if he was beneath him, its otherworldly gaze piercing through him.

Suddenly, the entity transformed itself into a lady-like figure of the same height as Hamza and approached him. Its hands roamed over his body, touching him everywhere as if to claim him. Hamza was frozen in shock, unable to comprehend what was happening. He could feel the entity's presence emanating, a force, unlike anything he had ever experienced.

"Oh! My little lamb is finally fully integrated. You've formed a body. How delightful."

Hamza recoils in disgust at the touch, that was studying his body. after a while, he somehow was able to make sense of the form both of them had.

"What is this? I look exactly like a black mannequin. And why can I see myself in the third person?"

"What are you? Where is this place? What's happening to me?" Hamza's voice is laced with fear and uncertainty.

"Questions, questions, questions. How annoying." the entity said in a bored tone.

The voice was high pitch like a woman's and was dripping with sarcasm as she took a step closer to Hamza with each word, causing Hamza to take a step back in fear. The woman is like a black mannequin, with no facial features aside from a busty female figure. But it's the terrifying aura emanating from her that truly terrifies Hamza.

"You know what? I'll just answer all your questions like this." In a flash, all of Hamza's questions are answered in their mind, rendering them speechless with awe.

Im a pet? What the hell is going on? That stupid message was from this entity.

The goddess manifests an orb from her palm, with countless threads emanating from it. The sight fills Hamza with terror.

"Let's skip the boring stuff. You need to save some verses. This sphere is in danger because a parasite will devour everything in many verses, gaining too much power. You'll be spawned into them before the parasite can consume them completely. Your job is to try to prevent it from absorbing everything in existence"

The goddess holds a ball floating in her other palm, projecting multiple screens showing the character Samurai Jack on them.

"This is the omniverse containing Samurai Jack in its entirety, including all infinite timelines and parallel worlds. Eventually, the parasite will escape from here and will devour this verse first, giving it the opportunity to roam freely throughout the place called Omni-nexus. Basically, it's a place containing everything."

"It contains everything. Every conceivable Omniverse exists or will exist in the Omni-nexus. For example, you've watched shows like Demon Slayer, One Punch Man, and DanMachi, right? They exist separately. Everything with a concept is like a node that exists separately in the omni-nexus. They are just as real as you are."

"Yeah, they're just fictional characters. I guess you're going to tell me they exist because of the multiverse theory." 

how could a theory like this even exist for fuck sake? it's a fucking paradox itself

"Every concept has a node. There is also a hierarchy of nodes. You are just one of the few a node that is up there in the hierarchy. To you, they might be fiction or just imagination with creativity. But they have their own existence. I just pulled you into the lower dimensions so you can interact with them."

"Why me? What absurd, fucking reason did you do that?" Hamza's frustration boils over.

"ahah.. Why not? You agreed to my terms, so here we are. It might even be fun. You'll probably die a few times, but who cares?" The goddess lets out a sadistic laugh.

"Motivated?"

Hamza is at a loss for words, completely speechless.

So I'm just here because I agreed? Wow! im stupid

Hamza fell down on his knees as he could not accept such an excuse.

so I'm a toy to her. My life, my peaceful life all gone because a damn god was bored? I feel the pain of MCS in fiction. I want to go home. but why can't she choose anyone else? why me?

Hamza was literally contemplating how Unlucky he was. Seeing him like that the goddess patted his head

"Cheer up my pet. I will give you the means for you to unlock your true power in the process. You are a god now. you have to make decisions about what will happen in the course of your journey across the multiverse of verses. Aku might become a threat to all of infinite existence"

"what? aku from Samurai Jack? Huh!"

facepalm

[author] 

 Sup. How do you like the introduction to the series? any thoughts? also just a heads up this series will be somewhat funny yet grimdark at the same time. Sometimes the humor might not land. also, The first 1 and 2 chapters are just introduction chapters with hidden messages, plot points as well and mysteries. Chapter 3 is where you should start if you don't feel like reading fluff. If you can get past that we get to dive deep starting at chapter 4 in the story. you can skip to chapter 3 where the mechanics and litrpg stuff are discussed. it definitely amazing and interesting. just give it a chance till chapter 5. thats all I ask.[/author]