Following the moment of Yuuto closing his eyes, he allowed his mind to roam freely trying to find the sensation that had been bothering him since the time he had seen those floating fragments inside of Welt.
In the deep recess of Yuuto's mind, a person was standing by its edge as he followed the unknown force that was impatiently urging him to follow it.
Each step that he took created a ripple through this empty space but this suddenly stopped as he felt a sudden shift in his surroundings.
The now dark space that surrounded his vision was now replaced with the dim scenery of multiple rows of pristine white bookcases that looked empty from where he stood. Yuuto looked around in awe as the rows he currently saw continued to go on like it had no limit.
Curious to explore more he walked down the smooth marble aisle and continued to look around. The still air permeated with a calm and ethereal light as balls of dim lights floated near the ceiling.
Various blue crystal candles were also scattered around the vicinity as they illuminated parts of the library Yuuto had yet to go to.
"Damn..is this some sort of cheat I have..?"
Yuuto mumbled as his footsteps fell soundlessly thinking about how he seemingly had a whole library in the depths of his mind. After walking for a while, the previous empty bookcases now had some contents inside of them.
"...Go!..Go!..Hurry up and…!"
Distant murmurs began to escape from one of the books and out of curiosity Yuuto opened the book that had the hushed voices coming out of it.
"GO! GO! GO! GO!"
"Circle around him and find an opening!!"
As if his surroundings shattered like glass, the area around Yuuto began to slowly crumble away and what replaced it was the scene of a large gym where two people wearing headgears fighting right at its center.
"This was the Taekwondo National Tournament, wasn't it?"
Immersing himself in his new surroundings, he was able to see an image of himself sitting by the edge of the ring while screaming out directions for his friend who was fighting at the center.
"Even for being an idiot, he really had some great senses…" Yuuto crossed his arms as he stood beside his very own image and looked on the stage.
HIs friend who had previously asked about getting a break in a lazy manner was now swiftly passing by his opponents kicks while counterattacking whenever he saw an opening.
"He would kick now and knock out his opponent…"
Recollecting the scene perfectly, Yuuto's friend stepped back to dodge the opponent's side kick and by using the opening, a strong hook kick reached the opponents temple and knocked him out.
The scene before him began to crumble apart after seeing the ending and what was left was Yuuto standing back in the dim library where he held a book.
"So I'm guessing all these books are some sort of memory that I have…" Feeling the book that was in his hand, he began to move closer to the center as he also looked at the memories that were stored on the bookshelf.
Experiences such as him taking a test to trying out a spicy food that was way too hot for him to handle. All of these were presented to him in the form of a book.
[Ahh~ Harde—]
*Snap
"....Ahem, so this place also stored these kinds of memories…"
Yuuto coughed as he held a strong grip on the book that had just made an obscene sound. He calmly placed back the book that contained memories of his 'Homework Folder' and memorized its location just in case.
Leaving the book in its place, the area began to open up from its usual structure and a wide circular area was now visible.
It had the usual bookcases surrounding it but the atmosphere was a bit different as it was now furnished with a desk and a chair. It looked quite comfortable but Yuuto's attention was placed somewhere else.
"I don't know what to say but this book is the reason I got transported in the first place isn't it?"
Right beside the desk was a podium and in the middle of it floated a familiar looking book that had its ridges slightly open, showing off its blank pages.
As he got closer the book started to move and started to flap its cover as it moved around Yuuto.
"Were you the cause of that annoying feeling earlier…" Yuuto spoke to the book for some reason and in response it just plopped its weight on his head.
[....]
"I'm actually going insane aren't I…"
After noticing that he was talking to a floating book, he grabbed his face and pulled the item that was on his head and stared at it.
"Do you have any use other than floating around? Like there has to be more to this library other than storing memories."
[...]
Yuuto continued to stare at the book as he had found something quite interesting when he was browsing the memories that were placed on the bookshelves.
'There were also bits of memories of mosquitoes and other insects…'
Memories other than himself were somehow in the library and were ones of creatures that he had killed during his time during a school camping trip.
As if to reply to Yuuto's thoughts, the book wiggled itself out of his hands and slapped him across the face with its cover.
"THIS DAMN—!?"
Following the sensation of a hard cover hitting his face, foreign memories began to converge into Yuuto's mind and after a while, his rough breathing became calmer.
"So this place is called the [Memory of the World] and is able to record anything I see and experience as [Memories] and use them how I like."
The surge of information made his understanding of the place much better and he was able to look at the place a bit more differently.
"Damn if I knew this would happen I would have looked into the lore a bit more."
Yuuto clicked his tongue at his far-fetched idea as to what were the odds of him knowing that he would know that he would get transported into the game.
The book floated in front of Yuuto's face and getting ready to prepare himself for another potential attack from the book, moved backwards and warily watched it open its pages wider.
Bright shards of broken fragments floated outwards and one in particular made Yuuto's eyes turn wide.
[..That individual that just passed by… I was unable to access his Nexus…]
"Wait, isn't that me from the day I got attacked…"
Yuuto's eyes began to narrow and his next movements came naturally as his eyes began to let off a silverish white glow and the fragments rushed towards his forehead.
Silent overtook the library and as he closed his eyes to digest these fragments through the knowledge he had gotten from the book.
"So they weren't explicitly after me but I was unlucky to have gotten the attention of one of them."
Yuuto opened his eyes and feeling the weight of the book resting on his head, he looked at it strangely.
"But a Cremator from the Garden of Recollection huh." He thought about the memories of the deceased individuals that chased after him.
Although not directly, Yuuto was able to get the memories of the individuals that he had killed, proving his theory after seeing the memories of mosquitoes in the bookshelves prior.
'It's unfortunate but it's better than him killing me to get my memories.'
He recalled the intense emotion of rage and anger he had gotten from the person's memories and how he would have killed Yuuto after healing his wound that he had gotten from the pen stabbing him in the thigh.
Walking up to the chair and desk, Yuuto browsed through the memories and found a bit of information that shocked him.
The main perpetrator that led the group that attacked him was a Cremator of the Garden of Recollection that followed the Aeon Fuli.
Compared to the Memokeeps who treasure all sorts of memories that they could collect, Cremators find memories as having a certain quality and 'worthless' memories should be destroyed so as to not taint the land Fuli created.
"He came to my world through the help of an unknown identity to find an object that is said to create memories of the highest quality."
Thanks to absorbing the person's [Memories] Yuuto was able to recollect some information that had come from that person and more knowledge about memories.
Raising his hand a faint white iridescent glow appeared and some fragments began to fly towards him from the surrounding bookshelves, rotating around him.
Each living person contains a certain space that is called a Memory Nexus or [Nexus]
This space contains their memories that are ingrained into them and are grouped up into three layers.
[Surface Memories] that float around the other layer contain a person's recent recollections or short term memories a person could say.
[Prominent Memories] float around the middle area and these ones hold a significant impact on a person's life such as an important experience. Knowledge and skills fall under this category.
"The final layer is just a theory as it usually is never seen since it basically makes up a person's existence."
Yuuto tapped his finger on the table as this info was a bit surprising to him.
[Core Memories] are ones that are in the center of the [Nexus] and they contain a significant and fundamental memory/event that is believed to play a central role in shaping an individual's existence.
"In his memory however it said that no one is able to see a [Core Memory] but why was I able to see it…" Yuuto recalled the scene he saw in Welt and felt like it had matched the description.
The tapping moved faster as Yuuto tried to think of a reason but he stopped and leaned his back into the chair.
"Yeah, I need to stop thinking for now."
From things such as an actual entity that came from Star Rail into his world to somehow seeing an object that is said to be only in theory.
Yuuto felt more questions pop up rather than them getting answered.
Letting out a heavy sigh he felt a sudden pressure on his head and looked up to see the image of a book.
"Is my head that comfy?"
[....]
"Yeah I'm totally going insane."
Yuuto chuckled a bit after he talked to himself and got up to browse through the current memories that he has.
"Thanks to that Cremator my [Memory Manipulation] is better than normal so why don't I try to explore this library more."
Feeling like a path has now opened up to him, Yuuto walked through the vast bookshelves to find ways of how he could use these memories to get stronger and survive in this dangerous world.
***
In a small cabin room, a man's steady breaths were audible before his body began to move slightly and his deep green eyes opened with a sliver of white aura pulsed through them.
Looking at his surroundings, Yuuto got up and silently walked to the middle of the room and closed his eyes to test something he found while searching for ways to get stronger.
'Think of that idiot's movements..'
Recalling the memory of his friend fighting during the Taekwondo Nationals, a small fragment began to appear in Yuuto's head.
"[Load].."
Saying these words, the fragment fused with his mind and Yuuto's body began to move.
Lowering his center of gravity, Yuuto began to move around the room using swift and steady movements while also executing a powerful spinning hook kick alongside other ones.
The power and speed that came off Yuuto's leg snap was surprising to see due to his thinner figure but the power that came off it was similar to an experienced Taekwondo fighter.
"Okay this is pretty useful but it looks like my body is unable to fully replicate it…"
Yuuto fell to the ground as he felt his legs shaking due to the intense movements he had just experienced and felt like the words of his friend were somewhat correct.
"I need to train my body to get stronger first…"
*Knock Knock~
"Yes?"
As he was laying on the floor, a knock interrupted his words and Yuuto got up to open the door even with his legs shaking considerably.
"Did you have a good sleep Yuuto!"
"Yeah, the bed sheets were pretty soft so it was comfortable."
"Hehe, Pom-Pom and Himeko were the ones who chose those ones so they would be pretty happy to hear your words."
March laughed happily as she heard his compliments on the bed sheets.
"Breakfast is almost ready so I was told to call you and see if you were awake."
"Thanks for that. I'm pretty hungry so we can go but just let me get my coat."
"Alright! I'll wait for you outside."
Quickly getting his school coat, Yuuto walked alongside March but his movement was a bit stiff due to overexerting his body earlier.
But the allure of eating food gave him the strength to walk towards the location where everyone else was waiting.