Chapter 3 : Where It All Begin
Levi Warwick stared at the wizard an old man in robes, visibly shaken, visibly sweating and asked himself a simple question:
When the hell did this all go wrong?
The answer wasn't today. No, today was just the result of something much dumber.
It started back then. That day.
Two thousand years ago.
Back when he was still just Levi Warwick: famous web novelist, chronic procrastinator, part-time caffeine addict, and full-time literary chaos gremlin.
Back then, life had been good. Really good. He was making more money than he'd ever expected to earn typing dramatic internal monologues and morally questionable anti-heroes. His most recent series My Demon Boyfriend Sues the Gods had hit number one on every platform that mattered. There were fan arts. Fan clubs. Conventions. He even got a custom body pillow from a reader once.
Yeah, he didn't talk about that last one.
That particular day, Levi had been doing something completely harmless.
He'd finished his latest novel.
A standalone. A work of tragic genius. A story so good he actually got teary reading his own ending. It was, as the kids said, fire.
After one final polish and a short victory dance in his chair, he hit Send emailing the manuscript off to his publisher for audit.
That was the last thing he remembered from Earth.
The very second his finger left the mouse…
Everything went black.
Not dim.
Not blurry.
Gone.
No fade-to-white. No swirling portal. No creepy truck-kun. Just click reality turned off like someone yanked the power cord on existence.
Then came the light.
And the books.
When Levi opened his eyes, he wasn't in his apartment.
He wasn't anywhere he recognized.
He was lying on a polished marble floor, the kind that looked like it had been buffed by angels using enchanted elbow grease. Overhead, a stained-glass ceiling shimmered with magical constellations the stars shifted slowly, as if breathing.
Everywhere he looked, bookshelves towered above him. Not your regular library rows either these shelves reached upward forever, curling and twisting, floating in impossible shapes that would've made a physicist weep.
Everything glowed faintly.
The air smelled like old parchment, candle smoke, and a hint of ozone. Magical. Majestic. Mysterious.
And dead silent.
Levi sat up slowly. Rubbed his eyes.
The moment he opened them again, he saw it.
The Cat.
A single chubby black cat sat in front of him, calm as anything, tail curled neatly around its paws. Round yellow eyes stared at him like they'd been waiting for centuries.
"...Meow," said the cat.
Levi stared back.
"…Okay," he muttered. "Either I've gone insane, or this is a very elaborate dream brought on by instant success and delayed sleep."
The cat blinked once, very slowly.
"You're real, right?" Levi said, reaching forward.
He patted the cat.
It was warm.
Soft.
Too smug.
Still purring.
"Right. Definitely real. Okay. Let's not panic yet."
The cat tilted its head.
Then, with no warning at all, a voice echoed in his mind:
System binding successful. Greeting, Host.
Levi flinched, his hand still on the cat.
"What the hell!" he yelped.
He looked around.
No speakers.
No screens.
No obvious source.
Just… the voice. Inside his head. Crisp, cheerful, and unnervingly chipper.
"…Did I just get isekai'd?" Levi asked aloud, not sure whether to laugh or scream.
Levi stared at the floating blue screen in front of him. It pulsed gently in the air, mockingly serene. A system prompt, glowing like it had all the answers in the world.
Too bad it acted like a smug little gremlin.
He crossed his arms. "Hey, System. Where am I?"
You are in the Library of Noctis.The Library that holds all forbidden knowledge.
Levi blinked. "Yeah, I got that part. The forbidden knowledge. Sounds very dramatic. Do I get a cloak or something?"
No response.
He raised an eyebrow. "Okay then. Let's try again: what is this place, actually? Why does it look like someone gave an architect divine steroids and told them to build a book cult?"
The Library of Noctis is a cosmic repository of all knowledge deemed too dangerous, too powerful, or too idiotic for any sane world to allow.
"That sounds promising."
It exists outside time and space. A detached realm that selects its caretakers based on very specific qualifications.
"Let me guess," Levi said, rolling his eyes, "I got chosen because of my unparalleled wisdom? My inner strength? My boundless intellect?"
No. You were the first person to click 'Send' at the exact microsecond the dimensional slot opened.
Levi stared.
"...You're telling me I got drafted into magical librarian hell by lag?"
Correct.
He let out a long, sharp exhale. "Perfect. Absolutely perfect. What happened to fate? Destiny? Mysterious lineage? Magical bloodlines? You're telling me I got picked by RNGesus?"
RNGesus has a 0.04% selection rate. Congratulations.
Levi dragged his hands down his face. "Unbelievable."
Also, congratulations again. You have been successfully bound to your new role.
"Oh, joy. Speaking of which what exactly is my role here?"
Your role is to be the Librarian.
"Yes, I know that. You've said it three times now. But what does that mean? What do I actually do?"
The Librarian is the keeper of balance. The recommender of tomes. The quiet authority in a realm of knowledge.
Levi narrowed his eyes. "That sounds like something you'd print on a motivational poster. Be specific."
The Library is self-cleaning.
Self repairing. It organizes itself.
You, Host, must simply remain available for patron visits and recommend appropriate books.
"…That's it?"
Yes.
"No mopping floors? No reshelving cursed tomes that scream at you when you alphabetize them wrong?"
No.
"No sealing evil gods back into enchanted paperbacks?"
Not unless you hand one to the wrong person.
Levi paused. "Wait, what?"
Nothing.
"Oh no, you don't get to 'nothing' me, you glowing search bar with a superiority complex. What happens if I give the wrong book to someone?"
Consequences.
"Helpful. Very helpful."
He paced in a small circle, the cat weaving casually around his legs. "So I'm just... stuck here forever recommending books to random people? No exit? No bathroom? What happens when I need food?"
The screen blinked once.
Food will be provided.
"How?"
Golems.
Levi turned toward the nearest corridor. "Like... rock golems?"
One is already on its way with tea and toasted bread.
"...Okay, that's actually weirdly comforting."
He paused.
And then, cautiously, asked the question that had been simmering in the back of his mind like a cursed soup:
"Can I go back to my world?"
Silence.
For one terrifying moment, he thought the System had shut off again.
Then the screen flickered.
Regarding whether the Host may return to your original world...
Levi leaned in. "Yes?"
...
His fingers tightened around the handle of his mug.
I won't tell you.
Levi screamed.
"YOU SON OF A—"
He nearly hurled the mug. The only reason he didn't was because it was still full of tea and he had standards.
"Are you serious?! That's your answer? 'I won't tell you'?! What are you, a sarcastic dungeon master? That's not mysterious, that's just mean!"
System reserves the right to withhold information that might damage host motivation.
"I'm going to damage your face."
System has no face.
"Then I'll make one."
He paced faster now, the cat watching with mild amusement as he gestured wildly at the glowing text.
"Do you know what I was doing before this? I just sent a manuscript! That's it! That's all I did! I hit 'Send' and now I'm in magical book prison with a sarcastic UI and a demon cat!"
The cat, still curled on a floating cushion, purred.
The screen pulsed again.
System detects emotional instability. Recommending calming material:
Book "So You've Been Abducted by a Cosmic Institution: A Beginner's Guide to Eternal Employment."
Levi stared. "That's a real book?"
Yes. The author died on page 42.
"…I'm going to die here, aren't I?"
Possibly.
"Great. Just... amazing."
He sank into the nearest beanbag chair, which immediately adjusted to cradle his defeated posture like it had trained for this moment.
He stared up at the ceiling of slowly moving stars.
And sighed.
Long.
Heavy.
Annoyed.
"…System?"
Yes, Host?
"…Screw you."
Acknowledged.
Levi lay sprawled across a beanbag that had lovingly molded itself into the shape of despair. One arm dangled dramatically off the side. His eyes stared blankly at the swirling constellations on the ceiling of the Library of Noctis constellations that were definitely moving and possibly judging him.
"Okay," he muttered. "Let's recap."
He lifted one finger.
"Woke up in magical eldritch library."
Second finger.
"System says I'm the 'Librarian,' which apparently means unpaid book butler."
Third.
"Can't leave."
Fourth.
"System is a bastard."
The floating screen chimed gently, as if pleased to be mentioned.
Host summary: 3 out of 4 correct. Acceptable.
"Acceptable?! I am one sentence away from having a breakdown. Do you know what I used to do before this?"
Yes. Web novel author.
Genre: Fantasy.
Subcategory: Psychological damage with occasional shirtless sword men.
Levi squinted. "You really read my metadata, huh?"
Yes. The system is thorough.
"And evil."
Also correct.
Levi sat up slowly, rubbing his temples. The cat — Luna — stretched across the table and lazily swatted at a floating candle as if it were part of her daily routine of not caring that reality had broken around them.
"…Fine," Levi said. "Let's just get it over with. I know how this works. You've explained the place. You've vaguely implied I'll never leave. But you haven't given me a quest yet."
Silence.
He narrowed his eyes. "I know you've got one."
The screen pulsed.
And pulsed again.
And then, with an almost theatrical pause:
MAIN QUEST ACTIVATED.
Levi groaned. "Of course. Let's hear it."
Objective: Read all the books in the Library of Noctis.
He blinked.
Then tilted his head.
"…What?"
Time Limit: None.
Reward: The first patron will come.
Penalty: None. You simply remain here. Forever.
"Hold on wait, wait, wait." He shot up to his feet. "You want me to read every book in this place?"
Yes.
"There are millions of books here!"
14,387,021 as of this moment. More are added periodically as the multiverse generates new forbidden content.
Levi froze.
His mouth worked uselessly for a moment before any sound came out.
"…You're telling me I have to read all of them. And then then a patron will come?"
Correct.
He turned in a circle, gesturing wildly at the shelves that vanished into the horizon.
"There's not even a ladder! How do I even get to half these books?!"
Floating platforms.
"How do I know which ones are safe to read?"
You don't.
"How long is the average book?"
Varies. The shortest is five pages. The longest is four hundred and seventy-two thousand. It's bound in screaming leather.
Levi paused. "...Screaming leather?"
It screams. When touched. Or insulted.
He sat back down with the energy of someone losing an argument to gravity.
The cat jumped into his lap, as if sensing his defeat.
"So," Levi muttered,
"if I want to do literally anything else with my existence, I have to read fourteen million possibly cursed books, some of which scream, some of which probably whisper sweet void-madness into your skull, and none of which are organized by genre?"
Correct.
He looked up at the glowing screen, eyes full of rage, sarcasm, and resignation.
"You could've just let me die, you know."
Where's the fun in that?
Levi inhaled. Held it. Exhaled.
"System?"
Yes, Host?
"…Curse you."
Curse acknowledged.
Levi leaned back, arms crossed.
"Fine. You want me to read the books? I'll read them."
He pointed to a nearby shelf. Its labels were handwritten in what looked like dried blood and Latin.
"Starting there. Let's see what nightmare fuel I'm being served first."
He stood up and reached for a book that hummed slightly when touched. Its title was:
"My Dad Build a Soul Prison He is the strongest person in the world"
"…Charming a Novel is it"
He opened it.
The first page whispered something in a language he didn't know but somehow felt in his molars.
He shut it again.
"Alright. That's a good start."
The black cat hopped up onto the table beside him, tail flicking with lazy confidence as if it owned the place. Levi glanced at it warily.
"You're not gonna start talking, are you?" he muttered. The cat blinked at him. Silent. Unbothered. Mysterious.
It started grooming itself midair while perched on a levitating cushion.
"Right. Just here to supervise my descent into madness then. Cool. Love that."
He rubbed his face with both hands. "You don't even have a name. You just show up, look smug, and act like all of this is normal."
The cat yawned.
Levi scowled. "Great. Even the emotional support animal has an attitude."
Black cat purred beside him.
"You think this is funny, don't you?"
"Meow."
He sighed, then looked toward the next shelf.
"Let's get to work, then."
Behind him, the System silently updated his status:
Books Read: 1 / 14,387,021
Estimated Completion Time: 342 Years
Progress: 0.00000695%
Levi didn't see it.
But somehow, he felt it.
And somewhere deep in the core of the Library of Noctis…
The shelves rustled.
Something ancient and curious stirred.
And a book spine softly pulsed.
Waiting.