Hello, my name is Taki Kayaba and I am 23 this year, nothing more than a freshly college graduate who just happened to be lucky enough to land a dream job at a construction company as an "intern" Architect, working under my senior and learning to rope and to possibly succeed as his replacement when he retire in a few years.
There is nothing noticeable about me, nothing at all, just a plain mass produced cog that spins in the machine one calls "society". I did like what my parents asked me to do, study hard in school, get into the best possible college through scholarship, and finally get a job to support myself.
Other than that, they are dead to me, literally one is, after my mother died 5 years ago after giving birth to Misaki, my beloved little sister, my father immediately remarried to another woman and basically left us with my grandparents.
I questioned his decision in my mind, something about this felt odd to me, I am not surprised if he is the one who caused my mother to die in depression after giving birth to Misaki, thus I kinda do hated him.
But honestly, I don't really care anymore, I have family to take care of, more specifically my little sister, after getting my high-paying job, I managed to create a stable life for Misaki, trying to live up to the best possible standard as a father figure, in place of the man who left us with our grandparents, forcing them to use their retirement to look after us while he live a happy life with another woman.
But that is a topic for another time, currently I am in London, on a "business" tour, learning and studying architectural designs of old buildings and such to get inspiration, as on why you already know, it's for inspiration, but I doubt that was what the company management intention for this trip anyway, I already figured it out, they just want me to take a nice week long vacation, as a reward for the hard work I've been putting in.
I couldn't complain much about it knowing that it's a paid leave, I love having such good management under the company.
While in London, I might as well visit the famous "Big Ben" clock tower west of the Palace(which intended to be my next location of visiting) albeit you couldn't get through the gate due to obvious reasons.
But who said I can't just walk around outside the fence area admiring the beauty of arts? But of course let not forget the fact I need to buy souvenirs for my family, grandma would definitely love the teas, while grandpa? Well maybe a Cane would work, the old man likes to take walks, but his legs had been quite weak as of late.
The best of all deserve to be for my little sister, she loves reading books, albeit she doesn't understand most of it and needs explanation, what better to give her than maybe a large collection of Fairy Tales from the western world? I'm sure they have a shop for that here somewhere.
It wasn't long before I realized that- I am completely lost, abandoning the tour group and went on my own sound like a really dumb decision but there's no point in regretting it now.
"Where the hell is this place?" I couldn't help but to mutter quietly after looking at my surroundings now, from a busy metropolis to randomly somewhere in a very quiet and old neighborhood with old fashion shops voided by customers.
Walking down the old cobble street, something finally struck me, it was a feeling of familiarity, I was standing in front of an antique shop.
"The Thousand Dreams." That was the old antique shop name, the feeling was quite odd, I am sure that I never once visited this place before in my life, as a matter of fact, this is the first time I visited Britain and London!
I couldn't help myself and thus I entered the shop, which was full of displays ranging from old muskets to full suit medieval knights steel plated armor.
"Welcome, I'm sure I have all that you wished for." I was immediately greeted by the voice of a middle aged lady dressed neatly in a black wool sweater, of course she greeted me in the British accent of English, to my surprise, even with my crappy English speaking skill, I can perfectly understand her.
"Um, sorry to intrude, but what is this place?" I already know of the obvious answer.
"What does it look like? Of course it's a pawn shop, I lend money when people give me something to which I thought is beautiful, or worth owning, and if they can't pay back their debt, that item then belongs to me." she then pointed at all the displaying items. "Like all of these precious here." She then turned her gaze back on me.
"Now tell me, what do you wish for?" She smiled in a flirtatious fashion.
"I-uh, looking for a book, more specifically about fairy tales." I speak awkwardly in English with a bit of Japanese accent mixed in, I couldn't help it, English is hard!
"Pfft" the woman couldn't help but to break out in a fit of laughter. "Never would I have thought that someone would visit my shop, for books about fairy tales? You better off visiting a bookstore in downtown London ." she laughed for a good minute before finally calming down, I just stood there, quietly waiting, hoping to make myself look as small as possible, this is embarrassing… Who would actually pawn off books about fairy tales?!
"But, seeing such an amusing individual as yourself, I will make an exception, as a matter of fact, one of my clients has been… late on his payment on multiple occasions before he stopped paying his debt completely, he just happened to pawn off a very special book." She walked away from the counter and toward a glass displaying case, featuring a thick book that from guess, weighed at least 2-3 kilos.
She gently opened the glass display using a skeleton key before taking out the book and handing it to me.
"This little one is called "Book of Thousand Dreams" it is basically a compilation of countless stories and fairy tales, one that you seek..although most needed to be finished." she mutters the last few words in a low voice.
I don't know what she is talking about, but at least that is one item off from my bucket list, I'm sure Misaki would appreciate this.
"How much would that be… if I… my ask?" I asked her, she only smiled before giving me the book.
"Cost? Don't worry about it, you know, I'm starting to like you now, just consider the cost to be "finishing up the fairy tales." for me." she told me, it kind of a weird price, but at least I get it for free, right?
I then reached out to take hold of the book, however it seemed like I wasn't prepared for what coming next, as a powerful light assaulted me, my mind went blank- what just happened? Is all I could muster my thoughts to.
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[Welcome dear User, to the Realm of Thousand Dreams, where endless stories and imaginary fantasy lived on, and where your choice will change the outcome of such stories ending.]
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What are you talking about? The voice spoke in my head.
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[Here is your basic status]
[Name: Taki Kayaba]
[Physical Attribute: 1]
[Mind Attribute: 1]
[Anima: 100(please spend your starting bonus in the In-game shop)]
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Is this some kind of… games? What game is this? My thoughts continued to drift on.
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[Your First Story is determined to be- "To be King" Normal Difficulty]
[Story Setting: The story is set in a fictional medieval Britain, but goes by the name of Britannia, mirroring the legend of "King Arthur" but with a slight twist.]
[The Story World revolved around a young squire girl by the name of Artoria, who is also the illegitimate daughter of the late King of Britannia, whom upon his death send his newborn daughter to his most trusted Knight by the name of Ector Walden, to be raised in secret, aways from the darkness of the nobility and their court.
To make it worse, after his death, the king's sons began a civil war against one another for the right to the throne, setting the kingdom ablaze and into a crisis, greatly weakening it.
In order to stop the conflict from further escalating, the Royal Mage, the late king advisor set a challenge by enchanting a masterwork blade named Caliburn and impaled inside of a stone.
"Whoever pulled this blade from the stone, shall be the King of Britannia." he declared, being the most powerful mage of the country, no one questioned his authority and thus-... Story to be Continued]
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'Amazing' I thought, I couldn't wait to see what's going to happen next… Why won't you continue with the story?
[Mission Goal: A United Britannia] the voice in my head said, I blank out for a moment before being once again, zapped with a bright "hard" hitting light greeting me by slugging right in my forehead.