Once Alan fell asleep and began to dream, he was in a space that seemed to be endless. Alan didn't know if where he was could be called a room simply because of how vast it was. What he was looking at was a library that continued as far as he could see in any direction. A voice reached his ears, stopping him from admiring the scene he was seeing.
"You were really tired, weren't you," Izmos said. "No worries, we can continue our talk here."
"Mr. Izmos, Where am I?" Alan asked.
"You're in my head right now. More so, the part of my head that I have given you access to. You're only able to access this place when you are sleeping."
Alan started to walk around the library while listening to Izmos' explanation.
"Welcome to the library of genesis. Inside this library, you can find information about anything that has existed since the beginning of time. Just think about what you want, and the library will rearrange itself to bring you to where that information is stored."
"WHAT?!" Alan couldn't believe Izmos' words. "You really mean it?"
Alan immediately thought of his family's sword technique to test the library's functions. Books began flying everywhere, rearranging themselves until one book flew down and fell into Alan's hands.
Alan looked at the book in his hand in confusion. The book didn't look fancy like the other skill books he had seen in his life.
"Are you sure this is what I'm looking for?" Alan asked.
"Why don't you think about appraising it? It's one of the features that I provided to you with the thief system."
Alan did so, and just like when Izmos was released, a screen popped up in front of Alan's face.
[★★★★ - Teremun Sword Art]
[A sword art created by Farouq Teremun back in ancient Egypt. The sword art focuses on the dual wielding of Scimitars to deliver precise and lethal blows to opponents. When fully mastered, the user can replicate its movements with swords other than Scimitars.]
[Prerequisites: None]
[Understanding: 11.3%]
[Purchase: 20,000 exchange tokens]
Alan had a confused look on his face as he was reading the information that was displayed in front of him.
"This isn't my family's sword technique."
"Boy, I have been asleep for thousands of years. If your family's sword technique was developed while I was locked up, I would have no way of knowing it."
Alan kept staring at the information while thinking.
"It looks like you have some understanding of it. Perhaps your family's technique was based on the Teremun Style," Izmos said.
Alan agreed with what Izmos said because of the percentage of understanding displayed by the system. At this point, he already realized that the gift Izmos had given him was a system that worked similarly to a video game. He decided he would ask questions about the system later.
Right now, there was one thing confusing him. He had never seen his father use Scimitars. The only theory he could come up with was that one of his ancestors discovered the sword art and improved it to allow the use of all swords.
"Okay, I have a question," he asked Izmos. "How do I get these exchange tokens."
"I see. You already have a general idea of the system," Izmos replied. "Well, there are two ways of getting exchange tokens. You have to either feed me beings that have died or items that contain information, such as artifacts."
"So, I should have some exchange tokens since I fed you three humans, correct?"
"That's right. However, with beings that used to have lives, you don't always have to exchange them for tokens. Your system gives you three other options that you can choose."
"What are they."
"One is that you can peak in at their memories. The second allows you to steal an ability at random and unlock it in the library of genesis. The last option allows you to steal some of their mana and add it to your mana pool. This option is currently unavailable to you because you don't have any mana."
"Currently?" Alan asked.
Izmos smiled before telling the boy to open up his status page.
Alan thought about bringing up his status page, and a screen appeared before his face.
===[Status Page]===
Name: Alan Fross
Rank: F-
Exchange Tokens: 0 (Three Options Available)
HP: 100/100
MP: LOCKED (Curse Detected)
▷ Variable Stats
Strength: G-
Stamina: G-
Agility: G-
Perception: G-
Vitality: G-
Magic Power: G-
▷ Invariable Stats
Intelligence: SSS-
Luck: E
Charm: B-
Alan looked at his status page, and multiple thoughts ran through his mind. The main concern for him at the moment was his MP being locked.
Izmos looked at the boy and started explaining everything he was seeing.
"I'm assuming that this planet must have gone through a cataclysm while I was locked. Am I right, boy?"
"Yes, it happened over 100 years ago."
"I see. Well, this event usually happens to planets the gods have set their eyes on. Chaos descends upon the planet, dungeons appear with monsters residing in them, and mortals gain access to abilities."
"The gods caused the cataclysm?"
"Yes. It's all just entertainment for them. You see, I was one of the gods opposed to this idea which caused some of them to team up and trap for thousands of years."
Alan listened to Izmos' story but didn't know how to feel about it. Even though he was smart, he was still a child, and the idea of gods toying with humans made him feel a bit scared.
"Anyways, what the cataclysm also brought to this planet was mana. The mana in the air allows humans to awaken the ability to wield mana. Everyone should be able to accomplish this once they get old enough. However, there are ways to block one's mana meridians, causing the person affected to be unable to use mana. I'm afraid this is what happened to you."
Alan listened to Izmos' explanation which caused him to clench his fist in anger. Everything bad that happened to him was the result of somebody targeting him. He promised himself that once he found the person who was responsible, he would return the favor a hundred times over.
"Calm down... it's only a basic curse. Not many years have passed since this world changed, so not many people would know about this issue. Luckily for you, this library can help you fix this problem easily."
Alan's expression immediately changed once he heard those words.
"What do I need to do?"
"Well, first you need exchange tokens. Why don't you check your system notifications?"
Alan thought about his notification page, and it popped up before his eyes.
< Human: Tyler Matthews (D+) has been consumed >
< Human: Davis Holt (F+) has been consumed >
< Human: Jace Lowry (F+) has been consumed >
Underneath each notification, he saw the following information.
Options available:
1: Trade soul for exchange tokens
2: Steal an ability (Random)
3: Read memory
Even though he was tempted to use the first option for all of them, he decided to read the memory of the D+ individual since he assumed he was the leader.
"Now, think of everything you want to know before reading his memory. The more memories you read, the more strain will be put on your brain for trying to absorb them. It would be best to think only about the questions you want to be answered and nothing more."
Alan was fine with this. He only wanted to know a few things anyway. First, he wanted to know if there were more criminals he would have to watch out for. Second, he wanted to know the relationship between the criminals and the villagers. Finally, he wanted to know if they had a base so that he could loot them.
Once he thought of what he wanted to know, the system replied to his thoughts, and memories started to enter his mind. After they were done getting absorbed, Alan held his head, trying to process what he had just learned. The feeling wasn't bad, but it felt a little weird since it was his first time.
Thankfully, the information he learned was satisfying. Alan found out the location of their base and would loot them tomorrow. The criminals were former members of the village that got kicked out by the other townspeople. Also, there weren't more criminals that he would have to worry about.
He then proceeded to exchange the souls of the other two criminals for tokens.
< You have gained 153 exchange tokens >
< You have gained 106 exchange tokens >
"Will this be enough to fix my condition," Alan asked.
"Yes. I've got just the thing to fix this," Izmos said.
The library then rearranged itself until the two were standing before a vault.