Atlas doesn't remember falling asleep or waking up, but here he is, sitting in a bed of grass with lingering tiredness clinging to his bones. His body that was sore a day ago is now light and the forever feeling of tiredness that clung to him is gone.
He's surrounded by a grassy terrain: grass, vines, and trees were scattered senselessly and on the vines hung grapes and exotic fruits. The fruits were round and luscious. The sight of it alone watered his mouth and dulled his senses. He wanted a bite.
A mature voice playfully chirps, "I wouldn't touch the fruit of this domain if I were you."
Atlas tilted his head upward his glance being met with unnaturally green eyes. His body, now fully awake and running, ached with hunger. If he can't eat the fruit then what can he eat here?
"Eating that fruit at your current soul level would wipe you from existence." The man diligently explained far too seriously for it to be a joke.
Atlas blinked twice, his blurry vision clearing staying calm to gather a sense of his surroundings. He smells grass, perfume, and the earth. His tongue felt like cotton with nothing but salt on his taste buds. He hears running water, the man's voice, and gushes of wind, he feels nothing, his touch numb to everything.
This isn't a dream. His mind informs him belatedly. He let out a muffled groan moving away from the strange-eyed man.
"This would be our first official meeting, would it not?" The man said pleasantly but Atlas couldn't help but feel that the tone was faked. He didn't know why but the sound of his voice seemed forced.
He got a better look at the man that had unique yet handsome characteristics. Firstly the man is wearing a black chinese changshan robe with gold designs embedded in it. His hair is long and tied messily in a low horsetail ponytail. His hair color is an unnatural dark green that shun vividly under the rays of the sun similar to his eyes that are also green but the color is much more bright— a lime green. What caught Atlas attention more than anything else was the man's pupils; they are a glowing silver in contrast to his lime green irises making the man's features godly. And lastly he has a milky rich unblemished hazelnut skin tone. His muscles were outlined through his changsan and his feet are shoeless.
Atlas, being 5'5, tan skinned, with dark brown hair and black eyes looked basic in comparison to the man.
"You are unnervingly calm in spite of your circumstances." The man pointed out with a pout to his lip and his shoulders raised childishly.
Atlas lightly huffed in agreement. Somehow he was knocked unconscious then awoken in some kind of mystical forest— kidnapped and possibly drugged. The amount of people who would do this to him is more than several. He should be scared, he could be, but he experienced worse and he didn't feel a sense of danger yet. He had to stay calm if he didn't he was no longer in control.
"What a weird one you are, I might have gotten an unstable host this time." The man sighed before standing to his full height. He looked 5'9 or 6'0 foot-ish Atlas couldn't really tell.
"Nevermind that, since you are in an understanding state of mind I am more than happy to explain your circumstances." The man clapped joyously, Altas tilted his head leaning forward into his knees that he folded up into his chest.
"You are one of the lucky one-of-a-ton… or maybe unlucky one-of-a-ton that soul has been sucked into my system— well it isn't my system, but I can't exactly get into technicalities on that…" The man endlessly spoke, causing Atlas' nose to scrunch up in displeasure. The more the man talked the more confused he became.
"You, my dear host, have became the thousandth employee of the man-taming system." The man spun around playfully.
"The man taming system is just that, a system that is set up for hosts to tame men so they can survive the afterlife until their souls are strong enough to be granted a wish and sent to an actual much more preferred afterlife." Atlas expression slowly yet surely started turning annoyed at the strangers dialog.
"Fun fact; This system is one of the many systems that is formed to anchor the multiverse as a whole. You may wonder why something as frivolous as romantic systems exists to protect universes. It is more for fun the old way was rather… yeah…" The man paused looking away with a dark look in his eye.
" So you're basically going to be holding the stability of your universe on your shoulders!" The man shouted, excitedly clapping. Atlas wondered what was even the point of the explanation. The green guy talked an awful lot of nothing. Atlas really wanted him to be quiet for a minutes so he can prevent the growing headache from the nonsense being spoke.
"You will obtain a male capture target to tame by hopping through multiple universes formed by webnovels and popular tropes. If you think about it this is more like slavery because you don't really have a choice to do or don't do this, and no matter how it seems you don't get as much of a reward as you work for. Refusing to do it will lead to harsh painful punishments attempting to end your life will result in drawbacks…"
Atlas lips went agape and his fist clenched around the fabric of his pants. Stunned at how seriously the man talked about everything despite it sounding like a joke. What the hell was going on? When did he die? Was he being lied to?
The last thing he remembers was getting on a bus since his car was stolen— he was in Oklahoma on business. He was already running behind, he couldn't really afford to wait, he should have gotten an uber but his phone was stolen with his car. He must have died on that bus.
Atlas lips drew into a thin line as everything started making sense. He was a firm believer of not questioning what he didn't need to, so he didn't really care enough to have a religion; it wasn't necessarily dire to his survival. That being said, he didn't ever think the after life would be like this.
"Rewind— actually don't, I-I get it." Atlas fumbled over his words blinking a few times.
"So I've died but instead of moving on my soul got stolen up by this system and that accident caused me to become an overworked, under paid slave?"
"Correct, but! slavery is such a bad word~."
"That's the word you just used!"
"Ah, did I really?" The man whispered blinking his eyes innocently, causing Atlas to groan
Okay, the bright side is that he gets one wish granted and an afterlife that he can choose. The downside is that he doesn't know how many life times he'd be forced to do before his soul gets fixed. But who's to say he wasn't just hallucinating? Or drugged? He found that far more possible.
"We have therapy sessions in between universes for mental health. Some worlds cause Ptsd, trauma, and multiple mental disorders." Atlas' expression darkened, giving the taller man a judgmental stare, the man smiled.
"So are you a robot, or code, or something?" Atlas finally spoke, sighing.
"As if the multiverse would use codes to control its stability, robots mentoring and guiding the very people who help keep everything alive is dangerous. Sounds like something from a novel." The man scoffed, crossing his arms, the edge of his lip tilting down in displeasure.
"Nevermind that, I'm a life form born from the void to keep it in order. I'm one of the trillion Cosmolings ."
Atlas grew more confused by the second. "Cosmo-Ling? And what do you mean void?"
"That information in detail is beyond you, you're basically a baby not even passing the age of 100. I will tell you more if you finish your first mission with an A." The man sung out in a sing song voice.
Atlas sighed, in the grander scheme of things he is basically a baby. That really didn't matter! why cant he just die?! He didn't want to do this!! What does he look like, a demigod? Why would he want to hold the heavens on his back?!
"So shouldn't I get training or something before I go?" The man's face went blank, his smile turning up into a grin. He stared at Altas as if he just saw a newborn baby roll on its back.
He raised his hand and snapped his fingering causing Atlas vision to go black.
"Training commenced."
His vision remained black but replaced with the cheerful man's voice was a serene woman's voice.
"Soul level newcomer— mission chosen randomly— mental capability taken into account." The woman's voice spoke sternly as if she was accessing a sheet of paper.
"Novelverse acquired, captured target set, role chosen, body set." The woman spoke with a tired sound to her voice Atlas felt his soul shudder. An unfamiliar tingly feeling enrapturing the cells in his body pulling at something deep down in his chest— his soul?
"Do you wish to use information points on plot?"
"Information points? How many do I have and how can I get more?"
"You have twenty eight information points. Once your intellect grows, so will your information points. With growth of wisdom information points will be acquired after each mission. You can also gain these by finding hidden plots and making breakthroughs in the worlds you enter."
"How many points are taken for each question I ask?"
"Summaries and plotlines cost ten information points each; those two things are very different. Personalities, past, afterstories and chapters from the original book cost anything in between 20-100."
"Oh, okay can I get the plotline?"
"Story name is given to you for free. It is called "Race Towards The Crown; The Peasant Girls' Chance!"
The woman diligently informed Atlas. The story title caused him to raise an eyebrow, he has an idea of the plot.
"The female lead is named Siv who is an orphan born with a never forgetting memory. Starting off as an orphan Siv had to work harder than a regular commoner to get into a good Academy. Other than that, despite being an orphan of a poor neighborhood Siv lived a relatively okay life but she had bigger dreams for herself and her orphanage. The story starts off with Siv entering a high class academy Highbrow northern Institution; for the young gifted highly intuitive scholars. Which is abbreviated as H.N.I Academy. Once in the academy Siv used her looks to get the Male lead's attention, his name being Alaric Ryan Elsher Carssus. Catching his attetion the crown prince puts her into the race."
Atlas slowly takes in the information. So the male lead is the crown prince and the female lead is an orphaned genius. They'll be hard to deceive since both should have experience with deception.
"Now that's where you appear; Yule Erik Summerfield. The boy Yule is a rich tormented noble. He has a rather fierce personality that can be mistaken for villainous. He is just as genius as Siv, if not smarter, he's diligent in all he does, and with all things considered he is a very strong minded young man. That being said…" The woman's voice dragged off, obviously holding Yule in high regards.
"He is a frail and sickly young man, he has been that way ever since he was born. He was written to enter the Empress race just to add flavor to the story. The Empress battle is as it sounds a battle to fight over the position of crown princess and eventually become the Empress."
Atlas hummed understandingly. Add flavor? If Yule as a character was already in a bad situation why did he enter a race to become the Empress? There actually are thousands of reasons why he would have entered the race. Like for power, money, to get out of a bad situation, he could have been forced, he could have promised someone. How exactly was a guy even able to enter in a Empress race?
"The Empress race is designed to find the highest qualified ruler; it doesn't matter if you are a noble or not. The kingdom in this world would be the closest you'd find to a democracy. The royal family gathers contestants they see fit to be empress. There are a total of five rounds to this test. The Sieving, Innovator Domain, The Overhaul, Face Off, and Dead End." The woman finished yet curiosity was still strong in Atlas' heart.
"How many points does it take to get the whole plotline of my character?" Atlas questioned with a yawn
"Since it is the body you will be entering it would be only twelve points any other character would be twenty points."
"Than, I would like to know the plot of my character finnish to end."
"Yule Erik Summerfield is a nobleman, the youngest son to the summerfield name. Your mother's name is Juno Eulalia Crawford Summerfield. She is from a house that has a hard time fertilizing. It isn't uncommon for women in her family to die once given birth. Knowing this Yule father Ignatius Flint Whitmore Summerfield did his best to bed her without impregnating her. But things happen and it was found out that Juno has grown pregnant with Yule. Jokingly the Emperor had set a decree that states that the first baby that Juno has will be put into the Empress race. Of course the Emperor knew two things. One, Ignatius wouldn't allow Juno to get pregnant Two, the Crawford lineage; Juno house, has a strict male female birthing habit since Juno was a woman her baby was meant to be male."
Atlas hummed once more, that explains a few things.
"Despite all of this Juno wasn't giving up her baby, already accepting her faith long before she married. So Ignatius set out to find a mage who can make an antidote that would not only dave his wife but turn his baby female."
So the world has magic.
"The antidote was made but not even the strongest mage alchemy could prevent faith. Juno in the end died giving birth to a male Yule. Ignatius was enraged and nearly started a war with the magic tower but the emperor stopped him once he realized that Yule was able to give birth somehow.
Only the royal family, the mage, and Yule's father knows of this. Yule's birth angered nearly everyone who adored Juno, which is basically the whole kingdom. And Ignatius hated him because not only did Yule birth kill Juno it also killed Ignatius second wife. Like sisters Juno and Ignatius' second wife grew up close. Once it was said that they would be marrying the same man their sisterhood didn't at all falter if anything they grew closer.
Ignatius' second wife was a very fertile woman unlike Juno. She had a total of eight children with him. After her eight child her body grew frail, unable to do much. Once she found out about Juno's death she had a heart attack and died.
Growing up Yule grew a timid yet arrogant personality that was fueled by his poor treatment in his house. Yule's father neglected him. His half-siblings tormented him with the maids and his schoolmates. The only way to get out of his horrid life was putting his all into the Empress race and win. He cared little for the country and wanted to be the next Duke in the Summerfield family. But he wasn't in the position to choose or want more than he was given.
Meeting the female lead he saw her as an immediate threat and did everything in his power to get her to give up and or lose. His every attempt made him look bad after seeing how things only got worse Yule gave up. He knew he wasn't fit for the crown. Yet in the end he was tricked into trying to assassinate Siv. Siv in the end felt bad for him and his history so she stopped his execution and begged the royal family to only take away his nobility.
Making him a commoner made his future far better than his life in the summerfield house. Yule with only an empty bag of gold was found dead in the kingdom's dirtiest slums. This starts the second book 'Avenging Yule' where the female lead gets rid of the Summerfield dukedom by uncovering all their secrets and making Yule a statue at the place he died. A dark underground was also revealed to exit "
Atlas felt himself paling, what the hell?! Why is this the first world! This sounds too long and hard. Wait, who even is his capture target?
"Alaric Ryan Elsher Carssus."
He's failing, yep he's failing on his first world. Everyone hates him and he's a cannon fodder for the next book how the hell is he going to fix this!
Yule's life is basically a hell! Nothing was Yule's fault if anything it was Yule's father's fault for not knowing when to pull out or just stop having sex. He had eight children!
If it was Atlas in Yule position he would probably have turned into a tenacious villain— actually he might just become a villain by killing his family members and doing underhanded stuff to destroy the kingdom starting with the academy.
That sounds like a nice idea. Right, he nearly forgot he had a capture target! But who doesn't love a good ol' villain x hero story?
"Soul transportation has begun, prepare yourself!"
Wait! Shit! He wasn't ready! He wants to nap before he goes!
"Storyline starts from chapter one, which is lucky in your unlucky situation."
Alas, he's fallen to hell…