1 Chapter 01: Into the Sewers

You see, waking up in an unfamiliar world was not that of a novelty for him. Being a lucid dreamer, he was able to mostly maintain his focus and calm as he felt pain on the back of his head... He looked around first, the darkness and dampness of the surrounding area was heavy, it made the air thick with this weird and very uncomfortable warmth to it. 'One, two, three, four, five... six, seven, eight, nine, ten- No, I must've counted it wrong.' Blinkig haphazardly and slowly getting into panic mode, he once more counted his fingers, making the reality check: '-ten. Fuck, oh fuck, oh shit oh fuck oh shit-' It was almost a reflex at this point, but while he was internally panicking, he asserted his surroundings. Meet Atlas, or rather, Atlas...? What was his surname again? He knows he's the son of- wait, who was his mother again? No, that's not right. He remembers clearly that his father's name was-

Wait... why can't he remember?

'Okay, at least I remember my first name... Atlas. Atlas it is.' This was a disorienting situation, but he was used to this- He doesn't remember exactly why, but he's got the sensation that maybe he had experience with being in highly stressful situations? Even though he could feel panic grip his heartstrings and play it like a fiddle, his mind was still analytical and observant. He noticed the hole above him, where he most likely had either fallen from or been thrown down, and looking at his own body- it was a rather nice body, all things considered... He had some fat, not a lot of it, but definitely a body of someone who doesn't exercise regularly. He had long fingers that had calluses, a sign of someone who is hard working, and he also had various tiny scars across his arms, they looked like small cuts too. 'Self inflicted?' An option not to be dismissed, but not to be analyzed further because he saw the glaring problem he was going to have- the lack of legs.

From halfway up the thigh down, he had no legs.

Only these stumps that still hurt. 'Ah, that's why I didn't notice I don't have legs.' Because he was feeling what was called Phantom Limb Syndrome a condition in which patients experience sensations, whether painful or otherwise, in a limb that does not exist. It has been reported to occur in 80-100% of amputees, and typically has a chronic course, often resistant to treatment. 'And the Phantom Pain too.' He winced slightly at the stabbing sensation of pain in an invisible and long gone pair of legs, which was really weird! He moved his stumps a little bit before he shrugged- adapt. That's what he'll do! 'Don't have legs? Drag myself with my arms. Don't have arms? Wiggle like a worm- if worms can do it, so can I!' He was able to place both hands on the wet and sloppy ground, he cringed at the sensation before looking down to see this green goo that looked really disgusting. "Urgh- oh, my voice sounds different... younger?" So he was younger? It was definitely his voice, he could tell and feel it deep within his soul, it was his voice.

'Also, what the fuck is that?' He narrowed his eyes when he this small and translucent book icon in the corner of his vision, and no matter where he looked, it would move alongside his vision with no hesitation. It was almost like an unseen hound attached to the side of his vision, like on of those criptids from American culture or whatever... what was his name again? Hidebehind or something like that? That one that if it stays still, it can simply hide whenever and wherever and its almlst impossible to notice they're there. He focused for a moment on the floating book icon and he could see it expand for a split second and-

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Library is Open

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Q&A | Manifest | Configurations

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'...what is this...' There was this almost, metaphysical understanding of the thing before him. It was a manifestation of a single word: Library. Just by wondering what this was, he knew what it was- a library, containing the knowledge of thousands of different worlds with different concepts, nations, people, and thoughts. It was simply amazing, to have access to such magnificent and incredible source of knowledge... 'I mean, is there anything to help me, here and now, to get out of this situation?' He wiped his greened hand on his shirt- it was dirty anyway -before he guided his index finger to touch the screen and- it passed right through it. "Ah... right." It was only in his head, after all! Instead, he imagined a single finger touching the words [Configurations] in front of his eyes- immediately, the screen faded into another, and this one had a few other things.

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Configurations

Subtitles - On/Off

Background Music - On/Off

Background Sounds Subtitles - On/Off

Clock - On/Off

Alarm - On/Off

Night Mode - On/Off

Interdimensional GPS - On/Off

Calm Mind Mode - On/Off

Book Autocopy - On/Off

Archive Storage Percentage - On/Off

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"Huh..." Reading over and over the ten options he had, Atlas was able to discern what each and every single one of these did. The moment he looked at the he realized what they could do, almost as if knowledge blossomed within his mind like a pale white flower. "Interesting." Truly interesting, seeing as these options were rather simple in concept and in action, but he could think of a few ways he could use them- They were also given a set of rules and specifics of what applied to them.

Let me explain.

Subtitles - A very easy one to understand, right? People speak and words appear in front of them that only he can see. These words are in tbe English language, and he can read them to understand what others are saying. This could only work if lip movement is happening, meaning that he could not secretly infiltrate psychic conversations between people, sadly. Also, it only translated words and language, it didn't mean he would be able to speak that person's language, he would only understand what they're saying. It doesn't work on plans or animals, but it may work on other sentient plant-like or animal-like species (I am Groot).

Background Music - This was rather interesting... Once he turns it on, he will hear the ambient song. The song that would be playing around him depending on where he was or what he was doing. This was great for boss battles because it would automatically start playing boss music, but at other moments it would just be weird sounds. Not that he would mind, it sounds like he is listening to the world around him (He could also think of an application for this- certain people have certain musics associated with them. This could be used as an alarm system!) with his heart and soul.

Background Sounds Subtitles - This one was a combination of the previous too. Instead, there would be a small section of his vision that would have this little chat box where description of noises around him would be placed. Like in Minecraft, he would be able to read things like <Footsteps > or <Water Moving> or something like that- this could also be used as a rudimentary surveillance system. There wasn't any specifics about the range of this thing, but there were no indications of it ever having range. (He imagined reading something along the lines of <Serial Killer Approaching> and he shuttered)

Clock - Just a good ol' clock. It's [10:07 AM] right now.

Alarm - Just a regular alarm. He could set it up, and it would ring inside his head- great for timing things.

Night Mode - It made the bright screen way softer and looking darker too. It made his eyes relax a little, he kept it on.

Interdimensional GPS - This one was the most interesting of them all in his opinion. It was both a GPS as well as a maping function, marking the places he has been and making this internal mental map of everywhere he has been before. The GPS function was weird because it used him as both the "satellite" and the "receiver", meaning his mind would receive directions to where to go depending on where the location was- and now here's the catch. The GPS only works if he has some sort of magic within him- no matter what type, he needs to know at least one type of magic for this to work. Hey, at least the map function works okay and he can only see this small dot where he was, meaning this was the only spot he has ever been. A sewer... great.

Calm Mind Mode - This one here explained how he hasn't freaked out yet, which is great honesty. This "mode" suppressed his emotions of panic to a certain degree, making him rational enough to function and not fuck up everything! This was really helpful actually, which was why he was able to read this entire list of things without freaking out about the fact that he didn't know where he was. He was going to keep this one active because it also gave a minor protection against psychics and other mental attacks, which was great and useful until he learns how to do that himself and protect himself against it.

Book Autocopy - Oh, this function here was rather wonky...? It basically copied down every information he could touch into books within his mind, those books were stored away and he could read them later. The wonky thing is that it didn't really define "information" well, which to his understanding and if he is right about this, he could technically touch a computer and store every single file within it inside his head, which sounds both awesome and painful. And... memories, memories also counted as information. (Does this mean he can touch someone and absorb their memories?)

Archive Storage Percentage - This one was easy to understand- it simply showed how much of his archive he has filled with books. These were the books copied from Book Autocopy and this wasn't really useful at the moment.

And that's about it in [Configurations], he wanted to take a look-see at the other options, but he suddenly saw in the corner of his eyes-

[<Footsteps approaching>]

[<Water Splashing>]

[<Heavy Footsteps>]

-and, well, what could he realistically do? He pulled himself towards the end of this sewer tunnel. He looked back as he slowly dragged himself- his body wasn't strong, okay? Give him a break! -and what he saw scared him enough that he almost let out a girly scream. It's not every single day of your damn life you see a big, 7 feet tall (at least) crocodile walking on two feet like a man!

"[King Croc (Menacingly): I smell fresh meat...]"

Oh, hey.

The Subtitles work.